Relax! Johnny Depp Is Not Dead! No Car Crash, No Nothing!

Why do people get worked up over these hoaxes? Johnny Depp isn’t dead. Let’s all relax. This was a hoax from years ago that was re-released somehow today, and it just blew up in the Twitter-sphere. That is the scary thing about social media; the fire spreads almost too quickly on rumors. Crazy that people may wake up only to find this rumor disappeared.

An overnight sensation would be the right word to use.

Conan O’Brien’s Opening Remark On Tuesday Late-Night

“Hello, my name is Conan O’Brien, and I soon may be available for parties!”

-Conan O’Brien is leaning on NBC in his monologue today. Hilarious.

Also see: Conan’s Monday Monologue Video Blasting NBC

Free Cab Rides Listing For New Years

Free Cab Rides on New Years will be great for those who can’t get home after the party. Remember, these ride offers usually aren’t for people getting rides to parties. But check out the list; contains information for most cities in the country.

Maniac Notes Daily: Moss Redeemed, Delonte West, & Nike’s Black Santa

Randy Moss redeemed

Randy Moss scores three touchdowns in the Patriots rout of the Jaguars today. The fans were cheering “Randy! Randy!” as the game wound down.

For those fans ( Randy Moss quote: “My real fans” ) who have stood behind Moss this season, you were redeemed with this game ( although it was an “ok” game by Moss, nothing spectacular ). For those fans who were bashing Randy Moss over the last couple of weeks ( *cough* WEEI *cough* Big Show *cough**cough* Michael Felger ):

Go Screw Yourselves

Bandwagon jumpers will nonetheless get back on Randy’s side, even though we all should’ve been on his side the whole time. Good job Moss.

Belichick’s “Ghost Defense”

This is the 2nd game that Belichick is using his Ghost Defense. Essentially having a bunch of guys at the line of scrimmage moving around without being set, making it hard for the offensive line to know who is rushing the QB or who’s staying back.

Wilfork and Warren didn’t play in this game, so Belichick had to come up with some zany schemes to stifle the run game. Getting after Garrard with great pressure by the line was a bonus; the pass-rush looked amazing today, and it had a lot of help since the lead nullified the Jags from using the run game to  their advantage.

Wouldn’t be surprised if this Ghost Defense becomes part of the normal defensive play-set going into the playoffs; it has been used so little over the years, there probably isn’t enough video to overcome this gimmick defense easily.

This Ghost Defense today was different because they employed two down-lineman on the edges ( the five gaps ), and stuffed the middle full of linebackers/small lineman. I don’t think I have ever seen this in the NFL, although I have seen other Ghost Defenses used with Eric Mangini and I believe Rex Ryan over the last couple of years.

At the same time, using it too much will allow teams to defend against it better in the future. Kudos to Belichick for thinking of this scheme, and keeping it fresh for games such as these ( ie: games with enough injuries to result in unorthodox play-calling.

Delonte’s Success Equals Cleveland Cavs Success

It does. When he is on his game, he creates a huge distraction on the court for a lot of teams. He can shoot, he has good court vision to pass the ball off, and he will take it to the hoop in a heartbeat. He has had some off-the-court and mental issues that have plagued him this season, and it has affected his playing time.

Lakers fans were too busy acting like animals to notice the trend on the court on Christmas day; when Delonte plays his best, he solidifies the bench, and gives Lebron another weapon to pass it off when he gets surrounded going towards the hoop. Delonte West is the X-Factor for the Cavs; they don’t win the championship if he isn’t on his game. Period.

Nike’s Black Santa: A point to make.

I have seen some comments to the Nike commercials with The reindeer rap and Santa, Lebron, & Kobe Bryant muppets. Some people were quick to point out that Santa was black ( the Santa rap was performed by KRS One, which is great to see an old-school hip-hop homage ), which is fine. But, in case anyone is bothered by Nike’s depiction of an “urban” Santa, here is some history for you.

Quoted From The Book “For God, Country, & Coca-Cola”:

While Coca-Cola has had a subtle, pervasive influence on our culture, it had directly shaped the way we think of Santa. Prior to the (Haddon) Sunblom illustrations, the Christmas saint had been variously illustrated wearing blue, yellow, green, or red. In European art, he was usually tall and gaunt, whereas Clement Moore had depicted him as an elf in “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”

After the soft drink ads, Santa would forever more be a huge, fat, relentless happy man with a broad belt and black hip boots- and he would wear Coca-Cola red.

Coca-Cola commissioned artist Haddon Sunblom to create a marketable Santa that would fit Coca-Cola’s advertising campaigns to get more people to drink soda in the colder months. Not only did this campaign work, but it etched one of the most important and popular icons in American, and possibly human, history. (Note: There were other similar versions of a jolly fat Santa before Sundblom, but Coca-Cola cemented the archetype that stayed with our culture up until the present.).

So, any perception of Santa is reasonable, considering our current perception was created by a corporation to push a sugar drink. Merry Xmas.

Yanks, Tigers, Diamondbacks In Talks of Huge 3-Way Trade

FoxSports muckrakers Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal are reporting that the Yankees, Tigers, and D’Backs are in the midst of making a huge three-way deal.

The Yanks would receive Curtis Granderson and some prospects. Arizona would get Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy. And the Tigers would get flame-throwing sinkerballer Max Scherzer, and Austin Jackson, Phil Coke, and Michael Dunn from the Yankees.

The trade seems to be pushed hard by the D-Backs, but one of the teams vetoed it, so it seems like the players involved will change around until the Yankees or Tigers find the right mix.

The Yankees still haven’t made up their mind about Damon, but it could be worth it in the short term to have Granderson come through as the primary centerfielder ( have they given up on Brett Gardner & Hotel Melky?). The thing is with Granderson is that he will make $8 million in 2011 and$10 million in 2012. He is an amazing player, and one must wonder if that huge ballpark hinders his ability to focus on hitting line-drives ( his average and OBP is somewhat of a red-flag for this type of player ).

But Granderson is 28 years-old, and if his soggy batting average is a facet of the ballpark he plays in, I am in wonder what havoc he can wreak playing at Yankee Stadium half the year, and Fenway Park for an extra 9.

The Tigers would get Max Scherzer, which to the Diamondbacks I say: “WTF are you doing!?!” in my best Lewis Black impression.

Scherzer has top-of-the-rotation stuff. So does Jackson, but one must wonder how much help he had from the light-hitting AL Central and that massive ballpark. No one knows if Ian Kennedy is going to pan out, but if he gets to where many people think he will be, this could be a steal. Could I emphasize greatly, since he could easily do a Cliff Lee, dazzle until 2012, and they wouldn’t be able to afford him when his service time allows him to jump ship.

It looks more even the more I think about it, but the D-backs should somehow ask for a bat if they are going to put out their 2nd best “stuff” pitcher ( behind Brandon Webb ).

You can view the live update by Rosenthal here on Fox Sports.

Rodney,Lyon Both Decline Arbritration From Tigers. WTF?!?

Does anyone know what these guys were expecting from arbitration? Because from my view of these guys, they are great pitchers, but I am unsure if there is much competition for getting these guys on any MLB rosters.

Rodney’s WHIP is a whopping 1.41. Brandon Lyon has great stuff, but he has been in the league for many years now, and hasn’t shown anyone he can take the reins as a closer. The only teams that would probably need them are not really in any playoff hunt ( unless the Pittsburgh would like to somehow think the Capps-Rodney tandem will start of championship-is-upon-us riot ).

The teams that are in the hunt and could use some bullpen weapons may not offer more to these players than whatever they could get in arbitration.

The Red Sox land Lyon? For what? We’ve already had him. Fernando Rodney to get money as a closer? After just one “successful?” year, who would think of picking him up? He had one blown save, which is pretty amazing, but with the economy in its condition, who is going to take a chance on him?

Bobby Bowden To Resign; Was This Guy Even Coaching His Team?

From The Wham Articles:

It was pretty well-known that the complexities of football preparation and gameplay had passed Bobby Bowden a long time ago.

The current head coach of the Florida State Seminoles is allegedly planning to announce his resignation tomorrow, according to sources from ESPN. He has many coaches on his staff, and although as figure he is one of the most powerful and influential people in college sports, it has been questioned how much influence he has on his football team’s day-to-day operations.

If you don’t believe, here is a quote from Mr. Bowden in 2005 after a loss to the Gators:

“I don’t feel like I need to be as hands-on as I used to be. In the old days everything started and stopped with me, but now I have a good staff of assistants. Real dependable guys. Hell, I don’t need to wear no headsets or crazy microphones during games. I don’t have to do jack shit. I can just stand there and read the paper if I want. Or better yet, have one of my assistants read it for me.”

Also remember the infamous transcript where he forgot the score to a game against Clemson earlier this year ( re-printing transcript ):

Bowden: “Both of us made errors. We probably scored on some of their errors — I didn’t keep up with it. But we’d turn the ball over and they’d go down and score. Then we’d turn it over and they didn’t score. They’d turn it over back. And the game kind of went that way. We felt very comfortable. We knew it was a battle.

“How late was it 24-21 in our favor? How late did it get? Did that get into the fourth quarter?”

Reporter: “Nine and a half minutes left.”

Bowden: “Left in the game?”

Reporter: “Yes.”

Bowden: “So you’re feeling comfortable, but you know that it ain’t won yet. Then of course the dam broke.”

A few minutes later, Bowden was asked this question by another reporter.

Reporter: “In the second half, when it seemed like momentum started to switch, how hard was it to try to reverse that?”

Bowden: “You mean when they got it (momentum)? Well, actually … you know, they had to kick off to us. We had a what? A three-point ….? Did we have the lead at the half?”

(Reporter nods).

Bowden: “We had a three-point lead at the half, I think. Then they had to kick off to us. We needed to take it down and win the darn game right there. We didn’t do it. They stopped us. Then we kicked it to them and then they probably scored.”

Reporter: “They went ahead and then you guys came back.”

Bowden: “Huh?”

Reporter: “They went ahead and then you guys came back again.”

Bowden: “Did we get ahead of them again after that?”

Reporter: “Yeah.”

Bowden: “Then we got back ahead, huh? Umm, it was going that way, you know it? I felt very comfortable that if they could score, we could score. That’s the way I felt, you know it? We’ve done it all year. But then we started turning the ball over.”
Transcript from Deadspin.com

Would you want Bobby to have an extension to coach your team if he isn’t really coaching? Do you think he still means something to the program, considering he built the thing from scratch?