Guess whose back....
Mehrt : Welcome to Nyne and the Mehrt, and Nyne, it feels AWESOME to say that again.
Nyne: Wow, I'm back in the 20th century, we've used the word AWESOME so much. But yeah, it's pretty good to be back. Or, if I have to say it, AWESOME! Like, totally!
Mehrt: *laughs* Anyway we're shaking the rust off and coming at you with our sports banter weekly. And well, its NFL preseason so we'd be amiss to not start with the king of sports. Nyne, we all know that preseason is not a good judge of what will happen in the NFL, re: Colts, but what has stood out to you as a major development this preseason?
Nyne: Well, if I might be so blunt about it as a Redskins fan, I'm on fire about Albert Haynesworth - if that idiot wasn't so fat, I would kick him in the ass without fear of getting my foot stuck. Who does he think he is, anyway? He tries to hold out for more money, never mind the fact that he's not done anything worth noting for the team, and then just to try to stick it to Shanahan, he bails out of practice because of a headache. No, son - Percy Harvin gets headaches. You get the 'I'm not moving my fat ass' ache. If he had any sense at all, he'd better take the money and try to waddle [not run] because when the lockout gets here, he more than likely will be holed up in a Motel 6 with Jamarcus Russell sipping on some sizzurp.
Mehrt: But Nyne, tell us how you really feel. Honestly, Haynesworth is one of the glaring reasons people don't have any respect for athlete's, and yeah I use that term lightly for Haynesworth, as people. Considering football, I almost never begrudge a player for wanting money, a career can end at any moment in the NFL, but really, you need to be a player first, which Haynesworth is not.
Nyne: I can't hate on the more money aspect, but I can hate on the lack of [respect]. And right now, in the presser after the BAL / WAS game, he swears up and down that the organization is trying to make him look bad because he didn't go to the offseason training camp. Are you kidding me?!?!? Shanahan don't play that!
Mehrt He didn't need the organization to make him look bad, he did that himself on the field. I think he's deserving of a Keyshawn Johnson "C'mon Man!"
Nyne: I second that emotion. It's just frustrating as a fan to watch this buffoonery [yes, I said that word] go on.
Mehrt: So forgetting fandom for a sec, the real major story from preseaon for you is?
Nyne: Brett Favre's kinda obvious, you think?
Mehrt: The giant elephant in the corner. Ya know, if he wants to skip training camp and play, why doesn't he just say so. I think most teams would let him slide. It is Brett Favre.
Nyne: Peyton Manning is Peyton Manning but he shows up in training camp. And hell, Joe Montana was Joe Montana even if he was wearing a Chiefs uniform, but that man showed up to training camp. I don't deny that Favre is truly one of the greats, but what makes him such a special frakkin snowflake that we get the LeBron treatment on whether he comes to play every year or not?
Mehrt: Fair enough, and I'm certainly not supporting the idea, I'm just saying, if either of those guys tried it, they'd get away with it too. Stars get different treatment in the NFL, just a fact.
Nyne: Right, but how far can you separate the stars from the rest of the [team] before people start resenting the star and digging their heels in about it? If I'm a regular joe and trying to come in and do my job every day, and this guy is making the biggest deal about whether or not to come in and [then] gets a free pass from a camp where I'm sweating my so-and-so's off twice a day, I'll still play, but I'd play a little less hard for a guy like that.
Mehrt: You're more or less are talking third stringers when you talk about guys like that, No one's going to notice if they don't play quite as hard. Now if a number one receiver did something like that, you'd have a point, but that ain't happening. For what it's worth, I do get it, I mean after what happened to my boy Eli last week, I kinda wouldn't mind seeing him take training camp off either.
Nyne: You know, when I replay Eli's hit in my head, I see Eli going one way and his helmet going another. I didn't know they hit that hard in preseason. But back to the topic - kinda - that's one of the arguments against so much preseason. Some guys need it, and you're only doing preseason to check out the second and third string guys. Why would you put your stars in line to get hurt like that in the first place? Josh Freeman, starting QB for the Bucs broke his thumb last night.
Mehrt: It becomes a symptom of starters playing with guys trying to make the team. Naturally the guys trying to be guy 52 on the roster are going to play harder, leaving starters, who may be mailing it in a bit in a game that's meaningless, open for injury. I hate preseason. Coaches need to plan better is preseason is going to be this long.
Nyne: The league is talking about making the regular season 18 games, so just take those extra two games out of the preseason and there you go.
Mehrt : I don't know if I like the idea of 18 games, I love football, but isn't 16 a good number? I mean the season lasts from about now, through the winter. Isn't it long enough?
Nyne: *sighs happily* There's never long enough for football.
Mehrt: Yeah, but what's the quality of those 2 extra games gonna be? We already have one bye week, and still the last couple weeks of the season can be a bit sloppy, even for teams in a race. What's 2 extra weeks gonna do?
Nyne: Make the owners more money and make fans like me happier? *sweet smile*
Mehrt: Will you be happy if your team plays like shit those 2 games and miss the playoffs because of it?\
Nyne: ...but the Redskins play like shit every year! XD!
Mehrt: At least you're honest. I'm not sold on the idea, but then again my opinion means about as much as contracts in the NFL so yeah. It's NFL preseason, and that means college football is also right around the corner. Why, oh why, was there so much hoopla with the conferences this summer?
Nyne: Because as opposed to NFL owners being greedy, now you have college AD's being greedy, and [that] makes me mad. Last I checked, college was an institution for learning, not a farm league for the NFL. On top of that, it REALLY pisses me off that the AD's are getting greedier and greedier and still these student-athletes aren't getting paid one red cent for the MILLIONS that they make their schools. And then, when not paying the students comes to bite the school in the behind [Hi, Reggie Bush!] then the school wants to wash their hands of the player. Well, if you're going to wash your hands of the player, you better make dadgum sure you wash your hands of all the money he made you too!
Mehrt: This rant brought to you by Nyne. You know this is all the symptom of a bigger illness in college football called the BCS. I just don't get why we can't get a playoff system in place. Wouldn't more games mean more money for them?
Nyne: You're asking people to [think] Eric. *chuckles* But to have the playoffs instead of the BCS is asking ESPN to give up some money and they're not that willing to do that. As if being bankrolled by Disney didn't make them happy enough, right? In my head, ESPN having to televise more games means having to share that money with more schools and I don't think Mickey would like that very much.
Mehrt: Yeah, they'd rather give LeBron an hour to say, "Miami."
Nyne: Oh, don't get me started on why I can't stand ESPN right now...
Mehrt: *laughs* I won't. Instead I’ll get you're predictions for the college season.
Nyne: I'll be really quick - I don't really see how anyone is going to stop Alabama this year.
Mehrt: That's it; your national champ is Alabama, no USC or Texas consideration?
Nyne: USC is on the slide to me and Texas maaaaaay come close, but in my opinion, Alabama looks most like the team that won it all last year. So I have to put my money with Alabama. Of course, that might go out the window if they lose to Penn State on 11 September, but...
Mehrt: They won't lose to Penn State, or any other Big 10 team. The big 10 sucks.
Nyne: Adding Nebraska to the mix didn't help them any. Am I wrong for thinking that Nebraska got too chicken for the Big 12 and that they decided to go to the Big Ten just because there might be easier conference prey in those waters?
Mehrt: Oh that's absolutely what happened. Let's see, Michigan St., Minnesota, Purdue, and yes, Michigan. Yeah, they definitely went for an easier way into the BCS.
Nyne: Not to mention Indiana. Part of it though is that the Big Ten has their own network, so that Nebraska gets more money and more exposure. It's not the 80s when Nebraska actually had good teams and were on TV all the time. They did what they had to do, but I'm not a fan of them doing it. You take your licks in your own conference year after year.
Mehrt: It's not even the 90's when they were still relevant. It'll work for them, but no, this can only be bad for college football on the whole in the end. Watching ESPN of course while we blog and they just broke that Lou Pinella will not wait for the end of the season to retire, today will be his last day. What will you remember most about the Pinella era?
Nyne: Well, he was a neighborhood legend in Tampa long before he ever hit the national stage. Once he went national, there were the base throwing, there were his fiery sermons [especially when he was managing the Rays because wow, during those days they could be frustrating]...I think his passion for the game is what I'll remember most. He was Billy Martin without the alcohol.
Mehrt: I don't think we'll ever have a person in the majors as firery as Sweet Lou ever again. The passion he showed, whether his team was in it or not, is just something you don't see in MLB these days.
Or in any other sport for that matter. The other thing, this is the man that made A-Rod into an incredible player, before steroids. And i think some would suggest that not having Pinella there at his side may have been a factor in him going astray.
Nyne: Ozzie Guillen is still in the majors, and he's fiery, but he's more a fiery idiot than fiery passionate. And that's true - when I was reading through some of our older episodes, I used to love A-Rod because he was hitting all these homers and he was clean but ever since he admitted to doing some sort of performance enhancers, it's just ruined it for me. And you're right - maybe the lack of a good mentor for him was a contributing factor.
Mehrt: Is Pinella a Hall of Famer? I say yes.
Nyne: I agree. It's hard to ignore his contributions to the game.
Mehrt : That and, there's just some people you instantly think of when you think baseball, and Sweet Lou is one of them. A great manager, and for all his attitude, a pretty damned good person. Nyne, your turn, what you got for us?
Nyne: Well, I haven't watched wrestling in forever, but it seems that I live in a world where The Miz has a belt. Or at least is in within sniffing distance of one, one of the two.
Mehrt: Well the Miz is... yeah this is so where I got it.... AWESOME! But anyway, Big Finish, you set?
Nyne: Just bring it. *grins
Mehrt Kyle Busch swept the three races at Bristol this weekend. First time ever done, thoughts?
Nyne: I love his reaction to the guy that called him an ass in the pre-race introductions: "Well, I passed him, and that was about it." Do we have any comments on Mariotti getting arrested for felony domestic?
Mehrt: You said it to me best while we were discussing what to talk about, don't make fun of a guys.... We didn't really talk about it so quick, LeBron to Miami, good or bad?
Nyne: Bad on a whole lot of levels, but mostly because it's not always a good idea to go where your friends go. If D Wade jumps off the Brooklyn bridge... Football tonight - Vikes and Niners. Do we see Favre tonight or do we care?
Mehrt: Yes and no. Call me when the season proper starts. Does Pinella win his last game as a manager against the Braves today?
Nyne: The Cubs being the Cubs will outweigh Lou [managing] the Cubs. So that means no. They lose this one. Speaking of people from Tampa, the DRays are a game behind the Yankees. Can they overtake 'em?
Mehrt: Someone reading this will be pissed at me for this, but yeah, they'll win the East. Nationals won't make a decision on Strasburg til there's an MRI. Did they do too much too soon with him?
Nyne: Yes, yes, and hell yes but the other side to that is, you strike while the iron is hot. They might have asked too much too soon of him. Off topic, your girl Mickie James is in country music now. Thoughts on her CD?
Mehrt: If you like country music but it, if you like Mickie James buy it. If you don't like country music, still buy it. It’s really good. Last one, why did it take us so long to do this again?
Nyne: Let's see...I had a baby in 07, you worked ridiculous hours, I was off of the internet for an entire year and...you're still working ridiculous hours. But we're back, and better than ever across two social media platforms! Facebook [a work in progress] and LiveJournal [http://community.livejournal.com/9andmehrtsports]. You, the sports loving public won't be able to hide from [us]!
Mehrt: Even though they'll probably try. but if they don't want to they can also follow us on twitter, @mehrt1 and @nyneshaydee. Who knows, if i get some followers, I might actually tweet some more. Anyway, that's it for us, see ya next week, we are Nyne and the Mehrt....
Nyne: And this has been a World Takeover Production. Because really, we could take over the world with this. And you do need to tweet more.
Mehrt: We'll see where this goes.
Nyne: To the top, baby!
Nyne: Wow, I'm back in the 20th century, we've used the word AWESOME so much. But yeah, it's pretty good to be back. Or, if I have to say it, AWESOME! Like, totally!
Mehrt: *laughs* Anyway we're shaking the rust off and coming at you with our sports banter weekly. And well, its NFL preseason so we'd be amiss to not start with the king of sports. Nyne, we all know that preseason is not a good judge of what will happen in the NFL, re: Colts, but what has stood out to you as a major development this preseason?
Nyne: Well, if I might be so blunt about it as a Redskins fan, I'm on fire about Albert Haynesworth - if that idiot wasn't so fat, I would kick him in the ass without fear of getting my foot stuck. Who does he think he is, anyway? He tries to hold out for more money, never mind the fact that he's not done anything worth noting for the team, and then just to try to stick it to Shanahan, he bails out of practice because of a headache. No, son - Percy Harvin gets headaches. You get the 'I'm not moving my fat ass' ache. If he had any sense at all, he'd better take the money and try to waddle [not run] because when the lockout gets here, he more than likely will be holed up in a Motel 6 with Jamarcus Russell sipping on some sizzurp.
Mehrt: But Nyne, tell us how you really feel. Honestly, Haynesworth is one of the glaring reasons people don't have any respect for athlete's, and yeah I use that term lightly for Haynesworth, as people. Considering football, I almost never begrudge a player for wanting money, a career can end at any moment in the NFL, but really, you need to be a player first, which Haynesworth is not.
Nyne: I can't hate on the more money aspect, but I can hate on the lack of [respect]. And right now, in the presser after the BAL / WAS game, he swears up and down that the organization is trying to make him look bad because he didn't go to the offseason training camp. Are you kidding me?!?!? Shanahan don't play that!
Mehrt He didn't need the organization to make him look bad, he did that himself on the field. I think he's deserving of a Keyshawn Johnson "C'mon Man!"
Nyne: I second that emotion. It's just frustrating as a fan to watch this buffoonery [yes, I said that word] go on.
Mehrt: So forgetting fandom for a sec, the real major story from preseaon for you is?
Nyne: Brett Favre's kinda obvious, you think?
Mehrt: The giant elephant in the corner. Ya know, if he wants to skip training camp and play, why doesn't he just say so. I think most teams would let him slide. It is Brett Favre.
Nyne: Peyton Manning is Peyton Manning but he shows up in training camp. And hell, Joe Montana was Joe Montana even if he was wearing a Chiefs uniform, but that man showed up to training camp. I don't deny that Favre is truly one of the greats, but what makes him such a special frakkin snowflake that we get the LeBron treatment on whether he comes to play every year or not?
Mehrt: Fair enough, and I'm certainly not supporting the idea, I'm just saying, if either of those guys tried it, they'd get away with it too. Stars get different treatment in the NFL, just a fact.
Nyne: Right, but how far can you separate the stars from the rest of the [team] before people start resenting the star and digging their heels in about it? If I'm a regular joe and trying to come in and do my job every day, and this guy is making the biggest deal about whether or not to come in and [then] gets a free pass from a camp where I'm sweating my so-and-so's off twice a day, I'll still play, but I'd play a little less hard for a guy like that.
Mehrt: You're more or less are talking third stringers when you talk about guys like that, No one's going to notice if they don't play quite as hard. Now if a number one receiver did something like that, you'd have a point, but that ain't happening. For what it's worth, I do get it, I mean after what happened to my boy Eli last week, I kinda wouldn't mind seeing him take training camp off either.
Nyne: You know, when I replay Eli's hit in my head, I see Eli going one way and his helmet going another. I didn't know they hit that hard in preseason. But back to the topic - kinda - that's one of the arguments against so much preseason. Some guys need it, and you're only doing preseason to check out the second and third string guys. Why would you put your stars in line to get hurt like that in the first place? Josh Freeman, starting QB for the Bucs broke his thumb last night.
Mehrt: It becomes a symptom of starters playing with guys trying to make the team. Naturally the guys trying to be guy 52 on the roster are going to play harder, leaving starters, who may be mailing it in a bit in a game that's meaningless, open for injury. I hate preseason. Coaches need to plan better is preseason is going to be this long.
Nyne: The league is talking about making the regular season 18 games, so just take those extra two games out of the preseason and there you go.
Mehrt : I don't know if I like the idea of 18 games, I love football, but isn't 16 a good number? I mean the season lasts from about now, through the winter. Isn't it long enough?
Nyne: *sighs happily* There's never long enough for football.
Mehrt: Yeah, but what's the quality of those 2 extra games gonna be? We already have one bye week, and still the last couple weeks of the season can be a bit sloppy, even for teams in a race. What's 2 extra weeks gonna do?
Nyne: Make the owners more money and make fans like me happier? *sweet smile*
Mehrt: Will you be happy if your team plays like shit those 2 games and miss the playoffs because of it?\
Nyne: ...but the Redskins play like shit every year! XD!
Mehrt: At least you're honest. I'm not sold on the idea, but then again my opinion means about as much as contracts in the NFL so yeah. It's NFL preseason, and that means college football is also right around the corner. Why, oh why, was there so much hoopla with the conferences this summer?
Nyne: Because as opposed to NFL owners being greedy, now you have college AD's being greedy, and [that] makes me mad. Last I checked, college was an institution for learning, not a farm league for the NFL. On top of that, it REALLY pisses me off that the AD's are getting greedier and greedier and still these student-athletes aren't getting paid one red cent for the MILLIONS that they make their schools. And then, when not paying the students comes to bite the school in the behind [Hi, Reggie Bush!] then the school wants to wash their hands of the player. Well, if you're going to wash your hands of the player, you better make dadgum sure you wash your hands of all the money he made you too!
Mehrt: This rant brought to you by Nyne. You know this is all the symptom of a bigger illness in college football called the BCS. I just don't get why we can't get a playoff system in place. Wouldn't more games mean more money for them?
Nyne: You're asking people to [think] Eric. *chuckles* But to have the playoffs instead of the BCS is asking ESPN to give up some money and they're not that willing to do that. As if being bankrolled by Disney didn't make them happy enough, right? In my head, ESPN having to televise more games means having to share that money with more schools and I don't think Mickey would like that very much.
Mehrt: Yeah, they'd rather give LeBron an hour to say, "Miami."
Nyne: Oh, don't get me started on why I can't stand ESPN right now...
Mehrt: *laughs* I won't. Instead I’ll get you're predictions for the college season.
Nyne: I'll be really quick - I don't really see how anyone is going to stop Alabama this year.
Mehrt: That's it; your national champ is Alabama, no USC or Texas consideration?
Nyne: USC is on the slide to me and Texas maaaaaay come close, but in my opinion, Alabama looks most like the team that won it all last year. So I have to put my money with Alabama. Of course, that might go out the window if they lose to Penn State on 11 September, but...
Mehrt: They won't lose to Penn State, or any other Big 10 team. The big 10 sucks.
Nyne: Adding Nebraska to the mix didn't help them any. Am I wrong for thinking that Nebraska got too chicken for the Big 12 and that they decided to go to the Big Ten just because there might be easier conference prey in those waters?
Mehrt: Oh that's absolutely what happened. Let's see, Michigan St., Minnesota, Purdue, and yes, Michigan. Yeah, they definitely went for an easier way into the BCS.
Nyne: Not to mention Indiana. Part of it though is that the Big Ten has their own network, so that Nebraska gets more money and more exposure. It's not the 80s when Nebraska actually had good teams and were on TV all the time. They did what they had to do, but I'm not a fan of them doing it. You take your licks in your own conference year after year.
Mehrt: It's not even the 90's when they were still relevant. It'll work for them, but no, this can only be bad for college football on the whole in the end. Watching ESPN of course while we blog and they just broke that Lou Pinella will not wait for the end of the season to retire, today will be his last day. What will you remember most about the Pinella era?
Nyne: Well, he was a neighborhood legend in Tampa long before he ever hit the national stage. Once he went national, there were the base throwing, there were his fiery sermons [especially when he was managing the Rays because wow, during those days they could be frustrating]...I think his passion for the game is what I'll remember most. He was Billy Martin without the alcohol.
Mehrt: I don't think we'll ever have a person in the majors as firery as Sweet Lou ever again. The passion he showed, whether his team was in it or not, is just something you don't see in MLB these days.
Or in any other sport for that matter. The other thing, this is the man that made A-Rod into an incredible player, before steroids. And i think some would suggest that not having Pinella there at his side may have been a factor in him going astray.
Nyne: Ozzie Guillen is still in the majors, and he's fiery, but he's more a fiery idiot than fiery passionate. And that's true - when I was reading through some of our older episodes, I used to love A-Rod because he was hitting all these homers and he was clean but ever since he admitted to doing some sort of performance enhancers, it's just ruined it for me. And you're right - maybe the lack of a good mentor for him was a contributing factor.
Mehrt: Is Pinella a Hall of Famer? I say yes.
Nyne: I agree. It's hard to ignore his contributions to the game.
Mehrt : That and, there's just some people you instantly think of when you think baseball, and Sweet Lou is one of them. A great manager, and for all his attitude, a pretty damned good person. Nyne, your turn, what you got for us?
Nyne: Well, I haven't watched wrestling in forever, but it seems that I live in a world where The Miz has a belt. Or at least is in within sniffing distance of one, one of the two.
Mehrt: Well the Miz is... yeah this is so where I got it.... AWESOME! But anyway, Big Finish, you set?
Nyne: Just bring it. *grins
Mehrt Kyle Busch swept the three races at Bristol this weekend. First time ever done, thoughts?
Nyne: I love his reaction to the guy that called him an ass in the pre-race introductions: "Well, I passed him, and that was about it." Do we have any comments on Mariotti getting arrested for felony domestic?
Mehrt: You said it to me best while we were discussing what to talk about, don't make fun of a guys.... We didn't really talk about it so quick, LeBron to Miami, good or bad?
Nyne: Bad on a whole lot of levels, but mostly because it's not always a good idea to go where your friends go. If D Wade jumps off the Brooklyn bridge... Football tonight - Vikes and Niners. Do we see Favre tonight or do we care?
Mehrt: Yes and no. Call me when the season proper starts. Does Pinella win his last game as a manager against the Braves today?
Nyne: The Cubs being the Cubs will outweigh Lou [managing] the Cubs. So that means no. They lose this one. Speaking of people from Tampa, the DRays are a game behind the Yankees. Can they overtake 'em?
Mehrt: Someone reading this will be pissed at me for this, but yeah, they'll win the East. Nationals won't make a decision on Strasburg til there's an MRI. Did they do too much too soon with him?
Nyne: Yes, yes, and hell yes but the other side to that is, you strike while the iron is hot. They might have asked too much too soon of him. Off topic, your girl Mickie James is in country music now. Thoughts on her CD?
Mehrt: If you like country music but it, if you like Mickie James buy it. If you don't like country music, still buy it. It’s really good. Last one, why did it take us so long to do this again?
Nyne: Let's see...I had a baby in 07, you worked ridiculous hours, I was off of the internet for an entire year and...you're still working ridiculous hours. But we're back, and better than ever across two social media platforms! Facebook [a work in progress] and LiveJournal [http://community.livejournal.com/9andmehrtsports]. You, the sports loving public won't be able to hide from [us]!
Mehrt: Even though they'll probably try. but if they don't want to they can also follow us on twitter, @mehrt1 and @nyneshaydee. Who knows, if i get some followers, I might actually tweet some more. Anyway, that's it for us, see ya next week, we are Nyne and the Mehrt....
Nyne: And this has been a World Takeover Production. Because really, we could take over the world with this. And you do need to tweet more.
Mehrt: We'll see where this goes.
Nyne: To the top, baby!