And the New York Jets' Shonn Greene certainly did entertain me yesterday. If you didn't catch the Jets 28-21 upset victory over New England, Greene scored a touchdown to put the Jets up by 14 points in the waning minutes. Pretty much game over. And to signify that fact, Greene celebrated the TD by laying down and taking a little nap in the endzone, using the football as his pillow (as shown above). In short: "Nap time" for the Patriots.Just for good measure, it seemed like all of the Jets' "players, coaches, trainers, fans, press corps, rodeo clowns, and escaped mental patients converged on Greene" to wake him from his slumber and join in the celebration. And to top things off, Greene -- after being awakened -- sprinted off the field doing his best impersonation of a jet airliner (a common gesture by the Jets players, but Greene's "flight" was perhaps the best effort of the day).
Through some combination of all of these events, Greene drew a 15-yard "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalty that was assessed on the "ensuing" (can't we just say "next" or "following"?) kickoff. But the game was essentially over, with only 1:46 left on the clock. If the Jets had found a way to lose that game at that point, it certainly would not have been because of Greene's penalty. It wasn't like Greene's TD had merely put the Jets up by one score.
Which brings me to the sourpuss, Grumpy Gus reaction of CBS' old prude play-by-by announcer Jim Nantz. Nantz, who doubles as the network's main Golf Whisperer, has apparently been hanging around too many stuff country clubs and golf courses and, perhaps, should be put out to pasture like so many Pat Summeralls. His reaction:
"I've never understood the absurdity of all the self-aggrandizing and now you're going to cost your team 15 yards on the kick and you're going to give Brady and his unit a chance to do something."
Wrong, Jimmy boy. As stated, the game was over. Have a little fun, dude! This wasn't the back nine at Augusta National. And BTW: "Self-aggrandizing"? Who are you -- Nancy Pelosi or Karl Rove? Who talks that way? Why not toss some "robust," "vitriolic," "paradigm" or "capitulation" blasts into the mix why you're at it? If you're going to talk like some out-of-touch DC beltway insider, you might as well use the whole vocabulary!
For the record, I personally found Greene's routine to be hilarious. And I don't mean merely "LOL" funny, which has come to be the Internet age's way of fake-laughing through a keyboard. Nope. I actually busted out in laughter watching Greene's whole scene yesterday. The only thing better would have been for Greene to break out a little blanket and maybe a nightcap as appropriate props. Now that would have been really funny!
Final thought: Pro sports could use a few more teams like the Jets (just not too many more) -- the brash, arrogant team completely molded in the over-the-top personality of its head coach, Rex Ryan. As indicated, I wouldn't want every pro sports team to mirror the Jets, but it's certainly entertaining to have some of those teams around. Especially in the No Fun League.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Video-CBS-announcer-bashes-Jets-absurd-touchd?urn=nfl-308377
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/575289-nfl-playoffs-2011-new-york-jets-pittsburgh-steelers-and-mondays-top-nfl-news/entry/42688-shonn-greene-taking-a-nap-in-the-end-zone-draws-flag-who-cares
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/galleries/jets_look_to_back_up_talk_vs_patriots/jets_look_to_back_up_talk_vs_patriots.html
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