This is not a repeat of 2009, 2008, 2007....wait how many years has Bill Simmons worked at ESPN? Anyway, Simmons had a bit of a Twitter meltdown yesterday after learning that his scoop, which hadn't been taken seriously was credited to Adam Schefter. Bill had reported that Tom Brady had broken three ribs way back on December 10th, but his employer didn't believe the claim until it was reported by a "real reporter"....




Well let's get one thing out of the way first. Of course Bill cares, or he wouldn't be drawing attention to it. Of course it's terrible when someone gets credit for something that you've found first, but what do you expect? Breaking the story, and with "their guys", is all ESPN cares about and they're notorious for claiming credit from others. Just ask Jay Glazer.

All in all, I think this spells the end for Simmons and ESPN. I thought that his (brilliant) work, and time spent on ESPN's 30 for 30, would give him new life.....but apparently there's still an underlying element of mistrust.

Bill Simmons Hammers ESPN's Twitter Policy (Huff Post)

It seems like just yesterday that Tom Brady completely shunned MNF sideline reporter Suzy Kolber, but it actually took place all the way back in Week One. The Patriots haven't back since then, but Suzy remembers the dis and plans on hunting the QB down following tonight's game against the Saints. Via The Huddle....

Brady hastily tried to dodge an on-field interview with Kolber after a Week 1 win against the Bills. A persistent Kolber ran with Brady off the field and finally cajoled him into answering a few questions.

Now with the Patriots due back on MNF again, Kolber is set for another postgame meeting. ESPN's Kenny Mayne jokingly had Kolber training with Tyson Gay, whose 9.69 100-meter dash is a U.S. record.

Kolber, in ESPN's Mayne Event this week, playfully set in a sprinter's starting block and said:

"I'm getting you this time, Brady."

Well that's good. I think she got him last time actually, but it's good that she can joke about it. Now the question is whether the Pats will win or not, so she has the opportunity.

As Tom Brady returns to 'MNF,' ESPN's Suzy Kolber says 'I'm getting you this time' (The Huddle)

(P.S.- Yes, there will be a live-blog tonight)

If anyone stuck around for the halftime show on Sunday Night Football, they were given a treat. Rodney Harrison decided to call out one of his former teammates, and it caught me so off guard, that I had to rewind it about seven times. Here's the clip if you missed it....

Obviously as a defensive player Harrison would side with Ray Lewis, but to call out his former quarterback like that is usually unheard of. It's no secret that the league protects quarterbacks, and is it wrong for Brady to lobby for the flag? Maybe, but it happens in every sport and really isn't a big enough deal to tell someone to "take their skirt off" though. Still, it was hilarious.

Video: Rodney Harrison Tells Tom Brady to Take His Skirt Off (BSO)

Ah Suzy. Ever the professional, even when a player tells you they don't even want to talk to you. Just keep that hair bouncing until he acknowledges you. Well at least she didn't try to hook up with him on live television (*ahem* Andrea Kremer! *cough*)....

I don't know what it is about this preseason, that makes it seem like it's been dragging on forever, but Football can't come soon enough. That's why every Football related release gets me completely amped. For example, the latest "Is It Monday Yet?" commercial from ESPN....

Are we really only into week one of the preseason? Good lord. You can probably expect a Brett Favre edition of these in about a day.

We'll be doing some more live blogging tonight over at 12StepDrop at 8pm. Brady's back and Jon Gruden makes his debut on Monday (well Thursday) Night Football.

If you haven't been by 12StepDrop yet, checkout the Chatter section. It filters out all the useless tweets by the players and shows you just their thoughts on camp and their teams. Just what the internet needs, more fantasy data.

See you back here at 8 ...

I stopped watching Entourage about two season ago, but with some of the recent athlete cameos they've put together, I might be getting back in. First it was Michael Phelps doing a walk-by, and now the crew while be hanging with New England Pats' QB, Tom Brady. Pop Sugar (via DSpin) has the details and photos....

Tom Brady got to work — if you could call it that — on a golf course filming Entourage with the cast yesterday. The QB signed on to guest star as himself playing in a celebrity golf tournament on the HBO series and executive producer Mark Wahlberg couldn't resist getting in on the scene as well. The boys hit the links, playing around with each other between takes and having a few laughs at Kevin Dillon's outfit. Hopefully Tom took it easy on his knee, though there are no complaints here seeing a handful of handsome men, starring a few Boston favorites, all together.

Those are some dapper looking, young lads! I don't know how I'd feel about Brady playing Golf during his recovery, but you have to get moving at some point. I'll be sure to have the video when the appearance airs.

Tom Brady Tees Up on the Set of Entourage (Pop Sugar)
Tom Brady Wants To Be Your Superhero (Deadspin)

Many of you may have heard that Tom Brady went on The Fan 590 in Toronto yesterday evening to discuss among other things, how exactly his knee is doing. The move seemed odd on the surface, but ever since "Spygate", Brady has seemed less and less thrilled with the Boston Sports Media. Sort of the anti-Schilling if you will. Here's the clip from the show, which really has nothing to do with this post, but I wanted to share if you missed it.

If you listened to the whole thing, you probably found it as tame as I did (and the whole pain product endorsement a bit odd), but I still find it interesting that he decided to go on in Toronto. If he was really trying to piss of the Boston Media, I would think he would go on a show in New York, which is what makes this move even more odd. This summer should be a real fun one in Massachusetts!

Tom Brady Interview (590 The Fan)
Tom Brady Speaks....To Canada??? (BSO)

Man, tough week for the "Leader" huh? First they decide not to piss off Brett Favre by ignoring a story, thus making everyone else mad at them. And yesterday, they decided to go ahead with a rumored report on Tom Brady, thus making the Patriots mad at them. Here's the skinny....

ESPN reported yesterday, via an unamed source close to the Patriots, that the team was mad at Tom Brady for not using team doctors for surgery. Well late last night the Patriots decided to issue the following statement....

"Today, ESPN cited an unnamed source who supposedly expressed the feelings of the Patriots ‘organization.’ This unsubstantiated report does not represent the team's views whatsoever. We have supported Tom Brady one hundred percent from day one of this process and will continue to do so. We issued a statement last Saturday expressing our complete organizational support for Tom. That support includes all aspects of the process. Unfortunately, our statement was not mentioned or referenced in ESPN’s report. Today, we reiterate our total support for Tom as he recovers from his injury."

Now on the surface, that seems pretty harmless right? While it ultimately is, it's extremely curious that immediately after ignoring the Favre item, they would go with a rumored story of this nature. It's an odd decision at best, but not the thing that sticks out to me.

The bigger issue though in reporting rumored stories about the Patriots is that the network has already pissed off that team enough with Spygate. What happens of the "media anointed champs", The Dallas Cowboys, lose their next two games (very possible against the Bucs and Giants)? With the Cowboys virtually out of the Playoff picture, they're upsetting the other huge ratings giver in the Pats. I don't know what it is, but the network almost has a vendetta against that team now.

Maybe ESPN should take a few plays off. It's just been a crazy week, and NFL season, for the "Leader". Tom Brady already can't stand you, you might not want to anger the "Golden Boy" even more (you won't like Tommy when he's angry).

Patriots release statement (Boston Globe)
Tom Brady Calls Out ESPN (Awful Announcing)

I wasn't aware of this, but Fanhouse plays a fun little game with Tony Kornheiser every Monday night. They count how many times Favre mentions certain quarterback's names, and as you can imagine....the results are hilarious. The first attempt was how many times he said Brett Favre's name back in Week Three, but yesterday he dropped the name of a QB, that wasn't playing in the game, double the one actually playing. Via Fanhaus....

Anyway, the object of last night's game was to count how many times everyone's least favorite Monday night commentator mentioned Tom Brady (the guy not playing) by name, as opposed to Matt Cassel (the guy playing). The results were staggering, but not surprising. The final count: Tom Brady: 22, Matt Cassel: 9

Before the opening kickoff the score was already 5-1 in favor of Brady.

On a night where Cassel completed 75% of his passes and threw three touchdowns, helping lead the Patriots to a 41 point performance on offense, Kornheiser, one of the guys announcing the game, referenced him by name nine times. He referenced a guy not playing 22 times. That's incredible, and completely predictable.

Too funny and may I reiterate the predictable part. You don't know how boring it is to watch a blowout game when you already know EVERYTHING that the announcers are going to say. We don't need to get into the whole Kornheiser is terrible on MNF thing again, but good lord....is he terrible or what?

Tony Kornheiser Loves Tom Brady, Apparently Doesn't Care About Matt Cassel (Fanhouse)

Okay, I'll admit it....I'm fascinated by Peter King. No, not because I think his writing is amazing, or that he has virtually the whole NFL in his cell phone. None of that. It's really the fact that he just doesn't care. He'll write an article that contradicts something he wrote a day ago and isn't even fazed. He's like Derek Jeter in that Gatorade commercial, "but for me the next article begins when the last one ends."

Well that brings us to some stellar research that reader PW put in regarding the relationship between Peter King and Tom Brady. In PK's latest article, he posted the following email exchange about Brady and Matt Cassel....

From Brian Maxwell, of Minneapolis: "I know it's early but if the Pats win the Super Bowl this year with Matt Cassel, does it reflect negatively on Tom Brady's legacy? I think if that happens, we can stop the "greatest of all-time" talk.''

PK: Not sure I've heard anyone call Brady the greatest of all-time. But you're right. Cassel has made one start. Brady has made 128, has won 79 percent of them, is 14-3 in the postseason, is 3-1 in Super Bowls. I understand your point -- that if the Patriots go far into January, then it takes some of the shine off Brady's star. But we're not even far into September.

Now it struck both PW and I, very odd that Peter King would say that he has , "never heard someone call Brady the greatest of all-time," when King himself has probably written those exact words about a million times in Brady's career. Let's take a look shall we....

October 5, 2004
Patriots QB Tom Brady is as cool as a man can be when the rush is on (Sports Illustrated)

"Playing like this is the biggest reason why the Patriots are poised to set the all-time record for consecutive wins Sunday against Miami. Tom Brady is simply an unflappable player, one of the greatest pressure players I've ever seen."

December 19, 2005
Brady, Pats are back; Bolts end Colts' perfection bid (Sports Illustrated)

"I was in the Brady-for-Sportsman crowd, probably as a leader of the pack. This morning, I'm not here to say he's better than Peyton Manning, worse than Peyton Manning, the same as Peyton Manning, because, let's face it, they're both all-timers."

October 23, 2007
Pats-Colts, Brady-Manning ... let the arguments begin (Sports Illustrated)

"Tony Kornheiser asked Ron Jaworski Monday night on ESPN who he thought is better right now -- Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. Jaworski looked like he'd rather answer this question: "Which of your daughters is your favorite?'' The answer is simple. We're living in an era with three of the best 10 quarterbacks (Manning, Brady, Brett Favre) ever to play. We'll have years to debate what order you'd put them in, and more great ones will be added as time passes."

November. 6th 2007
Personnel chiefs Scott Pioli and Bill Polian are behind the success in New England and Indy (Sports Illustrated)

"Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are already among the alltime greats."

January 14, 2008
Observations from a nearly perfect NFL weekend (Sports Illustrated)

"Tom Brady was a ref's buried whistle and a stunning drop by Mr. Hands Wes Welker from being 28-for-28 the other night. Are we watching the best quarterback of all time in mid-career? Are we watching, maybe three of the best five or six of all time?"

And all of that research was done in the matter of about 10 minutes using Google. I can understand forgetting certain stances or predictions that you've written in over twenty years of Football reporting, but come on! He's devoted entire articles to that same "All-time Greatest" debate about twenty times since Brady's been in the league. The guy is either like Guy Pearce in "Memento" and he's working backwards and sideways, or he's just messing with everybody. Either way, he continues to blow my mind.

You do not want to make Tom Brady angry. You will not like him when he's angry. Yesterday the Golden Boy laid into the NFL-N for comments that Sterling Sharpe made about backup Pats QB, Matt Cassel. Sharpe and Marshall Faulk were pretty critical of Cassel in his last game against the Bucs, but neither said anything that out of line. The most I can gather is that Sharpe said that the Patriots shouldn't be “too comfortable” with their backup QB.

Well that angered Brady and he had this to say on WEEI yesterday. Via The Boston Herald....

“Watching Matt (Sunday) night, hearing all the criticism, I don’t even know where that was coming from,” he said. “That was so far from what I was watching. The quarterback has a lot of responsibility out there. I thought Matt was making good decisions. He was really decisive with his throws. Was every throw perfect? No. But that doesn’t happen so often anyway.

“I see Matt every day in practice and the improvement he makes. I love what I see in Matt. I have a lot of confidence in Matt . . . for the three guys sitting in the booth, I thought it was unfair to criticize the way they were criticizing, because I don’t think they really knew what was happening.”

Now I know that Brady has to stick up for his friend and teammate, but let's be honest here....Faulk will be a HOFer and Sharpe would have been if not for injuries. I think they're pretty qualified to say if a QB is having a bad day. With Brady himself being injured, it's also a pretty good point to raise in a preseason game.

Cassel himself responded himself after the "criticism" and had this to say: "It’s interesting to me because those guys were in the same shoes at one point in their career, and they should understand how hard it is to go out there and perform each and every week.”

Now I didn't hear the conversation firsthand, but if you're seriously that defensive about a random announcer's comments in the freaking preseason, maybe the NFL isn't the place for you. This whole "The World is against us" routine the Patriots try to pull off every single week is getting old. And good for Sterling, he's standing by his assessment....

“It looked as though the passing offense made a change, as a confidence-building thing with some of the throws for Matt,” Sharpe said. “I could be way off on that. Maybe I missed the boat, and if so, I apologize. But from a player’s perspective, I’m looking at it like, he’s already been in the situation for three years now and he’s in a quarterback battle with a rookie and a guy without much experience? If he’s in a battle, you’d expect him to win it. . . . This was his opportunity to separate himself from the other guys. He has to show why he is the No. 2 guy in New England. So I put more pressure on Matt to perform than I did (Kevin) O’Connell. You bet I did.”

Honesty is the best policy when it comes to announcing, and if a player stinks, I don't want an announcer holding anything back. With ESPN and CBS kissing the Pats collective ass whenever they can, it's great to hear someone take a stand. Bravo Sterling.

Sterling Sharpe’s words for Matt Cassel defended (Boston Herald)

The video game world is abuzz today with the release of some of the rankings for Madden 2009. The early indications are that Madden did a pretty good job with the team rankings but the QB ones are a little jacked up. First the teams via Shutdown Corner...


Everything looks pretty good, but there's no way the Vikings should be a 90. I'll let the Eagles be ranked higher than the Skins but not the Vikings. Especially when Washington hung 32 on the team when they could have locked up a Playoff spot. Anywho, homerism aside those look pretty spot on. Now onto the QBs via Sports Gamer (click for larger view).....


Okay, a few quick thoughts here. Rex Grossman has an 84 in accuracy?!?! That's news to me. Also, Chad Pennington has an 82 in arm strength? He must be only allowed to throw 10 yard outs in the game. Other than that....Derek Anderson seems to have been shafted a bit and Tom Brady is officially the best quarterback, and Tavaris Jackson is the worst the game has ever seen.

Madden '09 likes the Patriots, but not Tarvaris Jackson (Shutdown Corner)
Madden 09: Quarterback Ratings (Sports Gamer)

It's not often that the star athletes that ESPN usually panders to calls them out, but I submit to you one Thomas Edward Brady Jr. Brady was on WEEI's Big Show yesterday to promote a charity event when the hosts decided to throw some Spygate questions at the Patriots QB. Here's his response....

"That's the way guys make it. They say the craziest things. I think that's what, that's what, that's what ESPN has become. ESPN to me is like MTV without the...without the highlights."- Tom Brady

Well then. You'd think that when arguably the best QB in the game says you're turning into MTV someone would listen, but I'm sure ESPN will just laugh this one off. It's tough for an entity like ESPN to please everyone (lord knows they try), but when a Sport's biggest player (on and off the field) isn't a fan of your network....you might be in trouble.

Tom Brady: not a big fan of ESPN or the Jets (Small White Ball)

There's a hilarious story out of Boston today. Apparently Law & Order SVU modeled a character after Tom Brady and get this.....the character was the prime suspect in a gay murder!

Here are the similarities: A pro football player who wears No. 12 (Check!), has a cleft chin (Check!), date a supermodel galpal (Check!), plays in a red-and-blue stadium (Check!), and is “the best quarterback in football” (Enh...debatable, but Check!). Now for the rest of the story via the Boston Herald.....

Anyway, the QB ends up getting arrested and convicted for the crime - even though someone else did it - but who cares about any of that? We’re still trying to get over the image of the faux Brady in the faux Gillette Stadium being questioned by the faux detectives during practice. We damn near fell off the couch!

We rang up team spokesguy Stacey James, who was shocked - shocked! - at the “SVU” storyline, which, as you know, is usually “ripped from the headlines.” But James declined comment.

A spokeswoman for NBC, which airs the show created by Dick Wolf, who grew up in New York - but, oddly, went to high school at Bill Belichick’s alma mater, Phillips Academy in Andover - also had little to say.

“NBC has no comment,” said Amanda Ruisi. “L & O is fiction.”

They even call the fake Gisele a beard at one point. How f'ing funny is that! If you look even more into the whole thing you can point to the fact that the show takes place in New York City and could be yet another jab to their good friends to the North.

‘SVU’ closet case slams close to home (Boston Herald)

Of course Tom handled this like he does everything else and even told the chica she was beautiful. He's such a catch....

"I got a few Mrs. Bradys in my life."- Tom Brady

I'm pretty sure he meant his mom and girlfriend, but there's a couple different ways to view that comment. Good stuff.

I don't think that I've ever had the pleasure of watching Media Day live before in my life. You always hear a collection of the crazyiness later in the day, but watching it live is draining my soul. Highlights so far.

1. Sal Pal will not play your silly games Tonight Show and Kelli Pickler (Via MDS at Fanhouse)

I found it fairly amusing when she (Pickler) approached ESPN's Sal Paolantonio, who looked like he was about as interested in talking to her as he was in getting a root canal. Paolantonio was one of the few members of the media who treated media day as though it was an opportunity to do some actual work, and he refused to talk to Pickler when she tried to ask him about having media credentials. Instead, Paolantonio pointed to Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Bob Ford and said, "Bob will play along." He did.

2. The Crazy Spanish lady who asked Tom Brady to marry her (Via NJ.com)

Ines Gomez Mont, a reporter for TV Azteca, came to Media Day at University of Phoenix Stadium intent on asking one question: Will you marry me, Tom Brady?

Sporting a cropped wedding dress and veil, she shouted her proposal from a mob of reporters. Brady's response? "What's your name?" (Video coming shortly)

3. Plaxico Burress' Glasses....



4. Deion being on-air and letting others jump in front of him to ask Brandon Jacobs questions.

5. Michael Strahan singing Alicia Keys.

6. Rich Eisen calling Jeff Feagles an "OG"

7. Plax busting on New England's.....well as he called it...."Pep Rally".

"I didn't know they had pep rallies in Professional Sports. I thought I left that in High School."- PB (Comment of the day)

(I'll update as things move along....the Giants are on the field now and it seems like most of the Media members have left the building after the Pats were through)

I know that in all likely hood that these babies are going to be flying off the shelves after February 3rd, but here's the best part about this fabulous 19-0 t-shirt.....you can purchase it in time for the Super Bowl!

19-0.org has produced unique t-shirts to commemorate the National Champions of Professional Football. These t-shirts are Premium Quality Hanes and Fruit of the Loom 50/50 Heavyweight 5.4 oz. T-Shirts (50% cotton helps reduce skrinkage). We have built this site to allow you the opportunity to voice your opinion about your favorite team in New England. They sure do give a new meaning to “patriots”. Get your 19-0 supporting t-shirt now and wear it with pride. Show everyone that you are a “patriot” too!

Just think how awesome it would be to show your friends how much of a fan you are with this thing! I mean Giants Fans will love you for your honesty (they knew they didn't have a shot anyway) and Pats fans will love you for NOT jinxing their team.

If only it came in pink....
No way! And it looks like I could wear it as a nightgown too. That's the balls. I'm so buying one of these and praying for a Giants win.

19-0 Shirts, Wear It When It Happens (19-0.org)

Do you see this? I can't even begin to describe how terrible this picture is for New England fans. I mean do you see those roses? Doesn't Tom know that white roses mean that you're saying that you're just friends?!?! Giselle is going to be devastated.

How is he going to be able to concentrate these upcoming two weeks? I mean this is almost a "Jessica Simpson" level distraction. How can Tommy even preapare with......what's that? Ohhhh!!!!!!!!!


Brady spotted in what appears to be walking boot (Boston.com)

Here's the Tom Brady/Brady Bunch piece on Countdown if you missed it. Kind of humorous kind of cheesy.

S2N will be here for a live-blog and then an open thread will be up for the late game. Have a great day and enjoy the last "real" Football games of the year before we get the American Idolized SuperBowl in two weeks.