F1 Hungarian Grand Prix and The Return of Football Trash!!!

Well, you knew sooner or later the Masters of the Football Universe (MOTFUs) would prove their superiority to the mental midgets in Congress and get the deal done so as to not cook the golden goose. For once, Daniel Snyder is looking better than the other DC Deciders, although that is a relatively pitiful spectrum of comparison. Well, whatever, we gots teh football back on the burner, and that is awesome. Before we get to that, however, there is the little matter of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

There was no Grand Prix in Hungary in 1961, so we will pick up with the season long retrospective of the 1961 Yankee Champion with the Italian GP at Monza in early September. This weeks tilt is at the the Hungaroring, just outside of Budapest. It is a dusty course that has many of the limitations on overtaking and competitiveness of Monaco without an ounce of the charm and elegance. In other words, as a circuit, it is bleech.

Sebastian Vettel still has a 77 point lead over his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, and 82 points over a resurgent Lewis Hamilton of McLaren. They simply are not going to catch Vettel, but the remainder of the season looks to be much more competitive across the board and the race for all positions but the Championship will be fierce. Practice revealed Hamilton still fast, followed by Alonso and Button. The other marques waited just a little too late to catch up Red Bull, but they clearly have as to speed.

The BIG news is the continued Murdochization of F1, and it is not welcome:

The bad news comes from Britain, where the country’s F1 fans are seething over the announcement that the BBC and Sky Sports have signed a joint deal to show Formula One from 2012 to 2018, with only half the races being shown on free-to-air TV and the other half on pay TV.

More coverage of the SkyTV deal with F1 here; and the sad truth on where all the riches of F1 are going is to a spoiled little rich bitch. Well, at any rate, at least the race is back to live broadcast in the US again, with coverage starting at 7:30am EST and 4:30am PST on SpeedTV.

Now, and without further adieu (i.e. before Marcy kills me), we move to NFL FOOTBALL!!! Yea! It’s back! Thanks to universe masters that actually can cut a deal without screwing the pooch royally, the NFL is back and the agreement mandates a whole decade of uninterrupted football free of labor disputes. And with that, we are off on a flurry of signings trades and activity. Let’s take a look at what is up with that.

As Ms. Wheel has already pointed out, and somewhat unexpectedly, Bill Bel and the Pats have pulled another fast one and made a huge splash by signing both Fat Albert Haynesworth and Ochocinco. Even money on whether this is genius or catastrophe. Just to throw a little water on the parade, here is Jason Whitlock:

Albert Haynesworth has no love for football. He plays the game because he’s good at it and it financially rewards him. The money he bilked the Redskins for is all he ever wanted from the game. Mission accomplished.

He has no desire to be an all-time great. His effort will always be inconsistent. He is not Randy Moss, an edge player whose penchant for taking plays off can be worked around. Haynesworth, a defensive tackle, is a cancer at the heart of a defense. His unwillingness to work breaks down the entire unit. Defenses are built on trust, gap control and every man filling his lane. You can’t have trust with Haynesworth in the middle of your defense.
….
And I don’t get Ochocinco, either.

It’s a myth that Ochocinco has some great love of football. Ochocinco has a love of attention. He spent the entire offseason attention-whoring. He rode bulls and race cars. He tried out for soccer. He did whatever he could to attract the attention of ESPN cameras.

Sound familiar?

It’s the same act he pulls on the football field. The alleged Patriots Way is that no man is bigger than the team. From the name on the back of his jersey, Ochocinco contradicts Belichick’s philosophy.

Well, oky doky then. The good news for the Pats is, despite earlier predictions, the Jets Jets Jets didn’t really get as much done as they hoped. Read, they could not pull off signing Nnamdi Asomugha. They resigned Santonio Holmes, but that isn’t enough to separate from Belichick and Bieber Brady (Ooops, Scribe informs me Giselle mad Tom get a haircut, and he will now be known as “Dancin Queen Brady“). The Fish picked up Reggie Bush but still have a hole at quarterback. Still may be in play for the only real story left in free agency, Kyle Orton, but less likely with their signing of journeyman Matt Moore. Bills are still lame. A team that did get some immediate help at QB is the Titans, who signed Matt Hasselbeck, who will lead them and groom Jake Locker for the future. With Peyton Manning ailing, and the Colts nothing without him, the AFC South could be up for grabs.

In the NFC, the sleeper team may be the Falcons. The Dirty Birds picked up defensive end extraordinaire Ray Edwards, late of the Vikings; and added stud receiver Julio Jones in the draft. Both are going to really solidify an already very good team. The Cardinals didn’t do a lot, but the one significant move was a huge one in getting starting quarterback Kevin Kolb from the Iggles. Kolb is young, schooled by Andy Reid and has a cannon for an arm. That alone puts the Cards back in the mix in the NFC West and will make Spidey Fitzgerald a happy man. Still a weak division, but is going to be a lot of fun to watch, especially if Jim Harbaugh can firm up Alex Smith and the Niners and Sam Bradford continues to progress for the Rams

The Eagles have made themselves quite a bit better with the addition of star cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, who left the Raiders and could not be landed by the salivating Jets. Eagles also picked up Antonio Cromartie-Rogers in the Kolb trade with the Cards, and have gone from weak to very strong at CB. With their linebackers and Asante Samuel, the Eagles will be tough on defense. Better hope Mike Vick stays healthy though, because they now have Vince Young as backup, and Young cannot run the West Coast offense for shit. Andy Reid might want to risk getting a wang shot from Brett late at night and keep Favre on speed dial. Giants look like they may just resign Plaxico, which would be a decent move; but their draft was horrid and Eli is more bad than good lately. Redskins still suck, although they jettisoned the Haynesworth lead anchor and contract. Cowboys get Romo back, but jettisoned a LOT of talent, including on their O-Line; that is gonna hurt.

Oh, and the Cowboys also dumped flighty prima donna wideout Roy Williams. Williams was not exactly a genius, was a malcontent and had ping pong paddles for hands. So pairing Rock For Brain Roy with the sterling personality and self absorbed bonehead Jay Cutler is an obvious stroke of Einstein for the Bears. McNabb ain’t enough to help the Vikes, so the Pack should get another title in the NFC Central/North/Whatever. I actually think the Lions may be the second best team in the division at this point.

There are a lot of other moves and grooves, but I will leave that up to you folks in the comments.

Oh, and as a parting shot, the US State Dept has refused visas for the Ugandan Little League team; crushing their hopes of being the first African team to ever qualify for LIttle League World Series. Sad.

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45 replies
  1. nomo says:

    <em Well, at any rate, at least the race is back to live broadcast in the US again, with coverage starting at 7:30am EST and 4:30am PST on SpeedTV. At 5 am EST I am watching, live, F1 practice and I will be watching Qually live and the race all free and all on the ‘net.

    Unfortunately So Africa and the All Blacks are on at the same time so I have to watch a split screen. Thank goodness the F1 practice is over before the 2nd England vs India test match begins….busy busy on the free sports ‘net.

    My super Pats are once again proving that Bill is Master of the Universe. An angry Haynesworth chasing the QBs is going to be a sight to see in Foxborough and Chad Johnson is a great addition to the receiving corps. Both recalcitrant players will buckle under to the wishes of Wilfork in the dressing room or will find themselves sitting at home wishing they were heading for the Super Bowl with the Pats,

  2. nomolos says:

    Jeeze I buggered that up, amazing what a wrong username will bring you:

    Well, at any rate, at least the race is back to live broadcast in the US again, with coverage starting at 7:30am EST and 4:30am PST on SpeedTV. I am watching, live, F1 practice and I will be watching Qually live and the race all free and all on the ‘net.

    Unfortunately So Africa and the All Blacks are on at the same time so I have to watch a split screen. Thank goodness the F1 practice is over before the 2nd England vs India test match begins….busy busy on the free sports ‘net.

    My super Pats are once again proving that Bill is Master of the Universe. An angry Haynesworth chasing the QBs is going to be a sight to see in Foxborough and Chad Johnson is a great addition to the receiving corps. Both recalcitrant players will buckle under to the wishes of Wilfork in the dressing room or will find themselves sitting at home wishing they were heading for the Super Bowl with the Pats,

  3. nomolos says:

    Just to throw a little water on the parade, here is Jason Whitlock:

    Whitlock supported Imus during the time of Imus’ racist/misogynist comments, he works for Faux Sports and, to show his real bias, he is from Indianapolis. Of course he doesn’t like the Pats…I wouldn’t either if my team was consistently beaten by them.

  4. emptywheel says:

    @nomolos: I suspect bmaz had to look far and wide to find someone opposed to BOTH those trades. I can see the caution about Haynesworth (though still–for a fifth round pick, that’s a gamble worth taking). But the reason I put the Ochocinco/BillBel YouTube on my last post is it reminds me of the way BillBel was watching out for Wes Welker while he was in Miami. Obviously, it’s hard NOT to notice Ochocinco, but I think BillBel sees players he wants when he can get them at a cheap price, and I think Ochocinco is one of those. Those picks from BillBel usually have a way of working out.

    That said, since 85 still has never gotten away from Revis Island, I’m not sure it helps you win the division.

  5. emptywheel says:

    bmaz

    It seems like Peyton agrees with you:

    In what is developing as one of the unique stories in a most unique NFL offseason, an injured Peyton Manning is resisting Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay’s attempts to make him the highest-paid player in the NFL, the quarterback acknowledged to the Indianapolis Star-News and reaffirmed to ESPN.

    A Colts source said Manning told Irsay a five-year, $100-million proposal that was heavily back-loaded in the final two years was not necessary to give him a $20 million average that no NFL player has ever attained. Manning is content with a salary equal to or less than what Patriots quarterback Tom Brady received in an $18 million a year deal in 2010. Irsay is trying to persuade him otherwise.

    Manning met with Irsay and team president Bill Polian on Thursday to communicate his feelings on the new contract and encouraged them to spend money saved on his potential deal to re-sign Colts free agents while building the team’s talent level and depth chart.

    “While I appreciate Jim Irsay offering to make me the highest-paid player,” Manning told The Indianapolis Star, “I told him I’d rather he save that money and keep whoever it is … (running back) Joe Addai, (left tackle) Charlie Johnson… whoever that may be. I’m willing to take less than they’ve offered if they are going to take that money to keep players we need to keep and go get other players. All I want is for them to have the cap and the cash to keep the players they want to keep and to sign other players.

  6. GulfCoastPirate says:

    Manning translation:

    It’s not worth an extra few million a year if all it gets me is multiple 300+ pounders knocking me on my ass 25 times a game.

    Smart guy ……………

  7. mzchief says:

    More coverage of the SkyTV deal with F1 here; and the sad truth on where all the riches of F1 are going is to a spoiled little rich bitch.

    Wow– that place would make a nice hospital or educational facility for a small country. What a waste.

  8. emptywheel says:

    @GulfCoastPirate: Right. Or, “Look, I did a shitload last year w/o much help. But I can’t do that walking in injured. So can you PLEASE start to get me a supporting cast to prevent me from looking like another has-been QB by the end of the season?”

  9. P J Evans says:

    @mzchief:
    I was thinking a resort hotel, given the size of it. (It’s bigger than a lot of apartment buildings. Makes me wonder who Spelling paid off to get the plans approved and permits pulled.)

  10. mzchief says:

    @P J Evans: Yeah, but the pool looks a bit small and under equipped for that and how many more resort hotels do we really need? But give it handicap access, heat it up to the proper temperature (gotta have a good chemistry and filtration system) and it’s a rehab facility. Whadda ya think?

  11. GulfCoastPirate says:

    EW – That’s another way of putting it.

    Hey, why was there no mention of the Texans? We have an Aggie coach. Do you not think we can overcome that handicap? I hear they taught him how to count to three during the lockout so he can keep track of how many time-outs he has each half.

    I thought I heard that Vince Young is now the backup in Philly. That’s some quarterback crew they’ve got now. How did Reid end up with two running QB’s? I bet Kolb’s glad to get out of that place.

  12. GulfCoastPirate says:

    I know there was no college talk included here but is Auburn still the national champs or have they been taken to the woodshed yet?

    And, and, and – the pirate himself, Mike Leach, has a new book out. Lots of dissing on that asshole Kent Hance who was one of the architects of the SWC breakup deal. You gotta love a guy who leaves college to go coach high school in Key West.

  13. P J Evans says:

    @mzchief:
    If vans can be rounded up, yeah, it would do fine. (From what I can see of its neighborhood in aerials – ‘Holmby Hills’, between Bel Air and Beverly Hills – most of the houses are McMansions, and some are palaces.)

  14. scribe says:

    Heh.

    Big Ben is down with What Silverback Harrison Said, so much so that he invited 92 to his wedding last week.

    I have to say, I think most of the players in the No Fun League are similarly down with What Silverback Said, just that they won’t say it out loud.

    I note too that the Stillers are looking at Plexiglas – why, I dunno. Maybe the local PD needs to get more DV calls than it has since he left for NY, free agency, and Dannemora (or wherever it was upstate that he spent the last two years).

    I expect the Stillers will add another trucklike RB and, as refresher training during camp, put Mendenhall through the fumble-prevention drills he used to endure: give him a football and tell the defensive players that, if they can get the ball back to the D’s meeting room, Mendenhall has to pay $100 to the guy who gets the ball there. Sort of Ultimate Keep-Away. I think the Stillers and their management are more pissed at Harrison for taking his criticisms outside than they are at him for making them. They have enough self-awareness to recognize he’s right. And I think they’ll view Harrison’s comments on the Fumblematic as wanting to make some more money off him and Ultimate Keep-Away.

    Don’t be surprised if Tiki Barber winds up in black-n-gold before camp is done. I think the Jints will pass on him and his ego.

    I’m still waiting for more of the pent-up internal stresses in the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS to come bursting to the surface, making Revis Island look like the last days of Atlantis. I was betting on the Jets getting Nnamdi (or however you spell it) and then their defensive backfield imploding in a mess of ego, anger and glory-hunting CBs colliding while chasing the same receiver. My bet also included low-probability/high-damage stuff, but I’ll just settle for the usual Jets’ way of finding a way to come ever so short.

    And as to the Patsies? I think Cheatin’ Bill has a lot still to answer for. And the Dancin’ Queen Brady (hereafter “DQ” or “DQB”) needs to learn to move his feet. Given his performance at Carneval in Rio, I don’t think he’s learned, yet.

    So, I’m going to enjoy the rest of the summer and keep an eye on football but devote my attention to baseball. After all: the Pirates have a winning record!

    • bmaz says:

      Yeah, sure, the Stillers should pick up Plax and Tiki, because you can’t have enough ignorant assholes to keep Harrison company in that department.

  15. rosalind says:

    LA Stadium: the inexorable march towards a downtown Farmers Field soldiers on (and yes, the powers-that-be seem hell bent on that idiotic name that conjures up manure & overalls). Local greedheads are filling up sports radio airwaves with dreams of absconding with two – two! – teams (Rams! Raiders!).

    Dodger Divorce: The team bankruptcy judge has ordered Frank McCourt and Bud Selig to play nice. Frank has made Bud aware that any spotlight on his personal & team creative financing will be re-directed at the other owners and Bud in particular. The term mutual assured destruction springs to mind.

    As for the good love gone bad between Frank and his former Jamie, their lawyer fees for the divorce are at $35 million and counting.

  16. scribe says:

    @bmaz: Silverback is not an ignorant asshole; what he said about Goodell is what all or most of the NFLPA membership thought, and what he said about Ben and Fumblematic was, unfortunately, accurate.

    OTOH, Tiki is an egomaniac asshole and quite intelligent, but he couldn’t keep his unit inside his drawers, nor his mouth shut and was pretty egregious about both. When he was swinging his jaws, though, it was all about Tiki and not about winning.

    And, In Re Plexiglas, he’ll go with whomever will deign to offer him a minimum contract. He might get some performance incentives, but those would be purely gratuitous – a gift from management. He’s got no choice there, and no choice but to be a model citizen. It’s easier to be a model citizen in PGH than in NYC so if Plexiglas has any sense (or decent representation) he’ll wind up there. But he has little choice in the matter.

  17. GulfCoastPirate says:

    You better watch how you talk about the governor. He’s going to have about 50000 wild and crazy fundie friends at his big prayer-out in the taxpayer funded baseball park we built for our AA team (otherwise known as the Astros) next week. They may have their god throw thunderbolts in your direction talking like that.

    Besides, he wants to be president now so he’s joined back up.

  18. freepatriot says:

    this year i got nuttin

    but I do seem to member the washington has a habit of winning the superbowl in years with labor troubles

    so the skins are the pick

    I aint happa about it, but thats all I got …

  19. JohnT says:

    @emptywheel:

    And to GulfCoastPirate and bmaz

    FWIW, I really liked the Colts draft this year. Not making any predictions, but I think they had one of the top draft classes

    And, as much as I liked the Colts draft, the Pats cleaned up. I don’t think you could put em in the same category as the ’74 Steelers or the ’81 49ers (yet), but Bill Bel really worked it

  20. JohnLopresti says:

    After Perry jawboned TX senator Whitmire into busting the ~2003 out-of-state Santa Fe encampment of regerrymander quorum robbers, I still had not heard of his Chicago coif. It took the beloved, now deceased, Molly Ivins to clarify that attribute in one of her “personals” columns quite a few years ago.

    So I was thinking of jolts out of the blue, what with gcp’s abjurations, and fpat appears to select Gibbs’ and LT’s former team.

    Basically, I do not do football, so I probably will not notice the season and its seasonings. Though I know the Smith of the playbook camps has strong competition, but I am not sure if the 9rs signed Alex or when that threshold occurs. I observed a few O line positions got early draft picks on the 9rs.

    Then, trashing the trash, I want to add something about grizzly bears; it kind of fits with O line players, but only because the two are of similar dimension physically, if one is to judge by appearances. It is a series of senior biologist wildlife expert articles by a wonderful writer Louisa Willcox. Last week she explained that double- to quintuple-snowpack has kept the grizzlies closer to low elevations, increasing camper confrontations, and possibly more than just standing one’s turf.

    This week Ms. Willcox describes in a Scotish earthcraft reminiscence, the similarities between the witches who cursed the thane of Cawdor [disclosure, likely a relative of mine], and the triple-impact of environmentally cascaded factors that have made the uplands incrementally less of a foodsource, or home range, to grizzlies; with the news that the Obama administration US Fish and Wildlife Service has served notice that it might, but only just might review the very first extinction of an entire forest species, the witebark pine of the northern Rocky Mts., for EndangeredSpeciesAct listing. Sort of a non-declaration declaration. I think US FWS’s link to the federal register listing is there.

    All that, without even mentioning magyar racecar driver Villona of musical inclinations.

  21. bmaz says:

    Well, it looks like the Cardinals have added a pretty serviceable cornerback, Richard Marshall formerly of Carolina, to go opposite of super rookie Pat Peterson from LSU who was widely proclaimed to be the best position player/athlete in the draft. So they got that going for them in addition to the new starting QB.

  22. P J Evans says:

    @rosalind:
    I wish the bar association would take a closer look at Frank’s lawyer, the one who changed the pre-nup after it was signed, without telling Jamie. (It isn’t clear from what he said, but I’d bet Frank knew all about it beforehand.)

  23. P J Evans says:

    @watercarrier4diogenes:
    They have rules, and it was mentioned by the third comment that one of the orange powers had been notified. It was pretty egregious. (I really don’t know why some people think no one reads more than one political blog and start dissing the others. Makes me think they’re trolls at heart.)

  24. bmaz says:

    @P J Evans:

    Heh, Shirley you jest. McCourt has all the leadership acumen as Obama; not only has he not made a bar referral, the attorney, Larry Silversten, is suing HIM, saying he is lying about them malpracticing and that he owes them hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fees.

  25. P J Evans says:

    @bmaz:
    Not actually mutually exclusive.
    I can see the lawyer doing it, and I can see Frank not paying his bills because he’s run out of money (and has way too many people looking closely at him these days).

  26. freepatriot says:

    the Redskins always win in a year after a strike

    I don’t know why, and I don’t much care for the skins

    but I can’t deny history

    an I’m considerin the lockout to be the same as astrike

  27. bmaz says:

    Jesus, now the Eagles have signed ex Packer standout DLine standout Cullen Jenkins. Fear the Iggle!

  28. scribe says:

    This one’s the song to sing
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b97wo2Ekww&feature=related

    This one has a good soundtrack and an explanatory display on why they sell beer in plastic bottles nowadays
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuw8Kjin9jw&NR=1

    But, lately, I’ve been liking this team “fight” song for Eintracht Frankfurt, a footie team relegated to the 2d Bundesliga this year.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKLBWDEboTU&feature=related
    The tag line is “Erbarme [zu spaet] Die Hesse Komme!”, which translates to “Repent! (Too late) The Hessians are coming!”

  29. Cregan says:

    I am filled with optimism for Raiders, but know my optimism will hit the shoals of reality soon. But, at this point, we are undefeated!

    Same with Notre Dame.

    Meantime, I’ll be searching around for someone to root for that can win.

  30. jo6pac says:

    @Cregan:
    Oh please they just gave away the best player on the team a CB. I was a Raider Fan when they played here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Youell_Field

    Growing up in Niles, Calif. even had few that lived near by but when the moved to LA and Bill Walsh went to the 9ers that all changed. Al has lost the edge and hopefully the on his death the owners can move back to Raider Nation winning way

  31. bmaz says:

    @scribe: and @emptywheel

    Yeah it is like LeBron took his talents to Philly Beach and they are celebrating their championships. But, last I heard, the Pack still have both Mr. Rogers and the Lombardi Trophy.

  32. P J Evans says:

    @jo6pac:
    I remember Youell Field too. (My mother respected Valli, but not Davis.)
    There might be a hole big enough to bury Al Davis’s ego in, but it’s going to be an open-pit mine, or at least a gravel pit.

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