Solomon Wilcots isn't necessarily a fan of this site, but if he ends up boxing Chad Johnson, I'll certainly be a fan of his. Wilcox recently wrote a blog post detailing how he would help Johnson out this season, and Ocho Cinco didn't take kindly to the suggestions and Twittered that he wanted to fight him. Wilcox, of course, fired back....

Johnson: "They always find a way to say something negative no matter how focused i am, damn Solomon Wilcox, i want to fight him now, somebody set itup"

Wilcox: "Chad has dropped more balls than Jay-Z has dropped albums. But we certainly can get in the ring. I'm lovin' this. I'm lovin' it. ... You can get in a training ring for, what, two months, and now he think he's the heavyweight champ. Let's do it, brah! Let's do it. Ya better ask somebody, Chad."

Ah yes....more Bengal on Bengal violence. That team is so dysfunctional, that they're starting fights with former players. Too funny. I say current MMAer Michael Westbrook should get involved, and just make this thing a Royal Rumble. Seriously though, I know we've had our issues in the past Solomon, but if you can shut up Johnson, I promise to never joke about Charles Davis again (fingers crossed).

Chad Ochocinco and Solomon Wilcots sound like they want to fight (Shutdown Corner)
My advice for Ochocinco: Focus on football (The Wisdom of Solomon)

Good lord...I'm writing checks my body can't cash these days. I say I'm going to be back to regular posting, and what happens??? My Internet access is lost for a half a day. Let's make this quick because I'm sure you sick of the Super Bowl talk (plus I need to get back to Tiki Barber updates).

What the "Others" are saying (quotes from Sports Biz Daily):













Richard Sandomir, who yesterday complained about the lack of crowd shots on CBS’ Super Bowl telecast, notes CBS “said that the weather caused so much condensation on its camera lenses that it used whatever cameras were not fogged or misted over to show the game.” CBS showed fans four times and crowd shots twice. CBS Sports VP/Communications LeslieAnne Wade: “It wasn’t a philosophical thing, but it was what was going on with the cameras.” But Sandomir writes the wet cameras “should not have prevented CBS from providing a couple of looks at weather radar ... or forecasts of when the rain might end”- NY Times

Bill Taaffe writes while CBS studio analyst Boomer Esiason “made cogent points,” Shannon Sharpe “runs his motormouth in a monotone and it’s next to impossible to focus on what he’s saying.” Game callers Jim Nantz and Phil Simms had a “somewhat uneven performance”- Las Vegas Review

Leonard Shapiro writes CBS "took a safe and mostly sound approach to its entire Super Bowl production." But many of the stories in CBS's pregame coverage "were rather predictable and none of them exactly broke much new ground." CBS "simply chose to ignore some of the biggest stories of the week in its Sunday coverage"- Washington Post

There were some small glitches. CBS missed a live snap in the third quarter. The announcers didn't seem sure where Bears ace kick returner Devin Hester was positioned on a second-quarter Indianapolis Colts kickoff. And CBS lost audio in a live pregame talk with Chicago's Brian Urlacher. And CBS didn't predict all the rain. Said Nantz in the second quarter: "I failed meteorology school." (Said Simms: "You would have given the teacher an apple and changed the grade.")

Before the kickoff, CBS didn't fumble — or turn in any amazing plays. Super Bowl pregame shows can't really unearth anything terribly new anyway given how much all things Super Bowl have been chewed over.- USA Today
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And that was really just the start of the bad reviews......

I think the overall feeling is that CBS' coverage was very underwhelming. Phil Simms yelled for no apparent reason because the crowd was silent the entire game. Jim Nantz almost seemed bored with the whole thing. I don't even remember seeing Sam Ryan or Lesley Visser. And I only saw Wilcots and Tasker once.

The two things about the broadcast that I noticed the most were A) Almost Zero crowd shots, and B) No discussion of the weather.

Sure it was raining but it's the damn Super Bowl. I'm sure Bears fans were going crazy in the stands, but there were absolutely no shots of them at all. The weather thing blew my mind though. Nantz even said on the missed extra point that Hunter Smith "mis-handled the snap". Yes he "mis-handled" it, but do you think it might have been because of the torrential downpour?!?!

Overall it was a pretty boring Super Bowl, and CBS didn't help.















Grades:

Jim Nantz- C-
Phil Simms- D+
Solomon Wilcots- C
Steve Tasker- C
Sam Ryan- Incomplete
Lesley Visser- Incomplete
Pregame- B-
Halftime Show- Umm....didn't watch.

So who am I to tell CBS what to do right? You go the entire season without any real sideline reporters, which was effing brilliant.......and then you bring them ALL back for the Playoffs and Super Bowl. And by all I mean ALL 4. How in the hell are 4 sideline reporters supposed to work? Do they each get a quarter? Well either way here they are in all of their glory. I'm going to give them current grades and then we can see if they did better or worse in the Super Bowl. It'll be fun....trust me. Trust me!

Steve Tasker:

Steven is a good ole' boy. He loves hunting and is sort of a maniac. You have to be to play your entire career as a gunner on special teams. How do I know he was a maniac? Well you may or may not remember, but Tasker was ejected in his final game for protesting a muffed punt, and bumped a referee. Good Stuff.

Other things you may or may not know.....

• Majored in Communications at Northwestern.
• Played in 7 Pro Bowls
• Stands 5'8"
• Does Play-by-Play for Bills in the Preseason
• Often confused with Don Beebe
  
• He REALLY loves hunting

Steve's been on CBS since he retired in 1997. They went through a huge shuffle that year and he somehow ended up with the job after a screen test. Steve has been steadily climbing my list of acceptable color guys, and is pretty damn funny during a broadcast.

Quotes:

"It's never as bad as it seems and never as good as it seems either."

"The Buffalo Bills are a punch line. We were always the team that couldn't win the big game. But we kept getting to the big game."

"Well, the best part about it for me after having been a player is the fact that there is no scoreboard for us in the booth. We don’t really care who wins, what we want is a competitive game. And for the player of course, that’s not what he wants."

Current Grade: B
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Solomon Wilcots:

Solomon on the other hand is the straight-laced serious type. Boomer Esiason's boy is not the best at the sideline stuff as evidenced by the Bill Belichick Incident (great band name), but you can't really blame him for that. Solomon has actually gone on record as saying that Rextasy is a "good quarterback" and that he likes that Lovie Smith "let's the kid go out and make mistakes" (hmm let's see how much Lovie likes that if he does it in the Super Bowl)

Other things you may or may not know.....

• Solomon was a DB in the league for six years.
• Has a kid name Skylar (I hate that name)
• Likes to eat chicken in the nude (Not true, but I really couldn't find anything else)

Unlike Steve Tasker....I'm not a big Wilcots fan. He botches names all the time and he has that "I played the game, and you don't know what you're talking about" attitude that drives me nuts (*ahem Phil Simms!). What the hell....let's watch it again....



The best part is how depressed Solomon sound afterwards. "Okay Coach."

Other Quotes:

"Whenever you have a group of good coaches, good teachers and good leaders, you wind up being taught so well you tend to know things and maybe see things other people don't."

"Current players share with me in a way they probably wouldn't to an outsider, to a guy who hasn't been in the locker room. Not taking anything away from a guy who hasn't, you can still come to an understanding about the game, but having played provides a great sense of enlightenment." (What a dick.)

Current Grade: C- (Only because I don't loathe him like some of the others)

So there you have them your Sideline Reporters for the Super Bo.......oh wait.....I said that there were four right? Well they aren't exactly sideline reporters, so they get their own post. Learn more about the two "Embed-eds" a little later on, and leave your Tasker/Wilcots thoughts in the 'ments.

Solomon Wilcots....just stop asking questions. Bill wants none of you!



My favorite part isn't Boomer laughing like a madman, but Shannon Sharpe exclaiming, "I'm going to the Super Bowl......I'm going to the Super Bowl!" Yep.....that's your Super Bowl pregame and halftime team. Stellar.

Thanks to AA operative Zander for the find.