Happy Birthday to the inspiration of this blog, Michael Cage! Happy birthday also to the always elegant Gianluigi Buffon.

Soul Glo Sports Cage's NFL Preview

Same old Eli.

Trenches. Guts. Turnovers.

Notable players in the CFL

The time of the year has come again for me where I try hard to get into the CFL because really there aren't much sports out there. I wanted to find out what players I know of maybe from College or NFL who play in the CFL currently. I lazily googled and I couldn't find anywhere that has a list of ex NFL current players in the CFL . It shouldn't be this hard to find this. So i decided to do my own research and go roster by roster to see who I recognize. At the end of this article I'll review who I saw and make my decision on who I'll be rooting for.

BC Lions: 
John Beck- ex Dolphins QB draft pick bust (I'm a Dolphins fan so already made decision, the hell with the BC Lions)

Winnipeg Blue Bombers:
Brian Brohm- hey I remember him! Former Louisville star QB, older brother is Jeff.
Robert Marve: He finally graduated from college? HOLY SHIT! (QB for Miami Hurricanes and Purdue)
Bruce Johnson: ex Miami Hurricane and New York Giants DB

Edmonton Eskimos: 
Pat White: Failed Bill Parcells era draft pick for the Dolphins

Hamilton Tiger-Cats:
Dan LeFevour: I actually remember this guy from Central Michigan because he left college as the all time total touchdowns leader (broken since then in 2011)
Jacory Harris: Quite possibly the worst starting QB in Miami Hurricanes history. Um yeah I'll pass on this team...

Calgary Stampeders:
Drew Tate: Ex Iowa QB

Toronto Argonauts:
No one I recognize, this might actually be a good thing.

Saskatchewan Roughriders:
 On team name alone I like this team more already. I totally copy pasted the team name too.This is how RoughRiders roll.
Macho Harris: They have a guy named Macho!
Tino Sunseri: They have a Tino!
They also have a Sisco....

Montreal Alouettes:
Chad Johnsons team. Fun to watch this team based on him alone.
Troy Smith: notable for being an ex Ravens QB. Oh and he won a Heisman Trophy at Ohio State.

Ottawa REDBLACKS:
Henry Burris: 39 year old QB. Ex usual sucky Chicago Bears QB.

Okay as you can see not many notables on any of these teams while scanning through their rosters. Who should I root for this year? Probably no one but it would be Winnipeg for now. Bruce Johnson being on the team is kinda cool.

Michael Cage - THE REAL DEAL

look who makes an appearance in the NYTimes article below!

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/sports/basketball/a-generational-wealth-of-nba-talent.html?ref=sports&_r=0

unfortunately the jheri curls aren't in existence anymore.


credit: Stuart Palley for the New York Times

Looking back at SI magazine October 26th 1981 issue

The 1981 Yankees were really something, and so were their fans! Throwing fireworks , baseballs and who knows what else:

FSU vs Pitt

Fred Lebow of the New York Marathon dissing the Chicago Marathon

Looking back at SI June 2nd 1980

June 2nd 1980

Johnny Rutherford was the shiznit in the Indy racing world

Baba Booey.... among others telling us about their experience seeing the Islanders win the cup

The 1980 Mets get a new owner and o hey look Fred Wilpon. Lot of classic footage in the yearbook of the 1980 season.

Willie Shoemaker and Magic Johnson made a commercial



#1 song at the time....never seen the Funky town video till today, its uh exactly what I expected I guess

Random music at the time, DEVO

Looking back at old random magazines and their content using youtube

Sports Illustrated December 7th 1981 issue

I thought I'd start of this historical look back of old magazines  and what was inside of them using current youtube videos would be interesting for retro sake and sometimes funny. I want to start it off by doing the first SI magazine that was put out after I was born.  Most of the stuff however that I will post from now on will also come from magazines I own.

1st thing I thought about when i saw the cover was the great song from Wings called Band On The Run. I remember seeing a book about Paul McCartney once called Man On The Run , I know a few people who think man on the run is the lyric in the song, not band. Anyways this the soundtrack to this magazine, yeah wtf.

I will post videos from around that time from ads (or closely related to) in the magazine as well. Cameras have come a long way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyc6aR1EXgo

Talking clocks was a thing:

TAKE A BITE OUT OF CRIME

"she-devil" -all LA Rams fans

PITT vs Penn State

Iron Bowl 1981

Article about Herb Brooks not feeling at home with the New York Rangers. Here he is pissed off about something else though

I woudve hit it...

Movember related beer commercial

The good and bad of 1981 Tony Dorsett

NINETY NINE YARDS AND A HALF


Thats how you treat a car!...

QUEEN, EPIC





theres an ad for ESPN saying you can watch sports anytime you want. Sports like frisbee! I miss random crap on ESPN


song from the top album at the time

random  music of the time, Depeche Mode

Our Allegiances

what teams do we root for professionally? well, time to shed a little light on that.

eddie - probably the original ringleader of the SD guys. the teams he roots for are varied and many:

• soccer: arsenal. borussia dortmund. inter milan. real madrid. millonarios of colombia. seattle sounders.
• baseball: st. louis cardinals (jerk), and the florida marlins.
• football: miami dolphins.
• basketball: miami heat. at least he's stuck with them since dj seiks.
• hockey: florida panthers. 

ian - the only guy across the pond.

• soccer: valencia. bolton. stoke city because of his intense hatred for them, and because jonze said so. fc gresley.
• hockey: washington capitals. because USA.

BUTTS - every team he roots for is cursed.

• soccer: sunderland initially but couldn't stand to watch getting dicked over every week. so now he roots for tottenham. and lol they haven't been to the champions league since.
• baseball: texas rangers. it beats rooting for the astros.
• basketball: san antonio spurs. big on fundamentals and "boring" basketball.
• football: new orleans saints. good on butters to stick with his hometown team from a distance.
• hockey: dallas stars.

bassel - works at a major sports network. doesn't really give a shit about sports somehow.

• soccer: liverpool fc. maybe this will be the year. if only they'd ditch their 2013-14 away kits. LA galaxy.
• baseball: the cubs. wtf?
• hockey: pittsburgh penguins and probably the kings.
• basketball: the clippers. because LA.
• football: the LA rams, even though they haven't been in LA for about 20 years. jim "don't call me chris" everett. JUST RAM IT.

verndogs - probably the most rabid sports fan among us. somehow encapsulates everything i hate about the average sports fan. the stugotz.

• soccer: manchester united. doesn't root overtly for a la liga team but he has a real madrid and barcelona shirt. has a bayern munich shirt somewhere. dallies with the red bulls but can't wait to jump ship if another MLS team is in the ny metro area. werder bremen in the bundesliga, formerly borussia moenchengladbach. so random, just like vern.
• baseball: formerly a fan of the yankees and mets until i convinced him he needed to choose one, so he chose the mets. i wonder if he hates me for that.
• football: J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS. because stugotz.
• basketball: knicks. hating the dolans since forever.
• hockey: rangers. see above re: the knicks.

jonze - the biggest hater in the group. just hates on everything.

• soccer: chelsea fc. seems appropriate. all italian teams and irish teams on principle.
• baseball: the white sox. roots for an actual winner.
• basketball: the bulls, but watches 15 seconds of basketball a season.
• football: DA BEERS.
• hockey: the blackhawks. another winner.

trunks - the only ballboy of the group. at it since 1998.

• soccer: manchester united. pseudo bayern munich fan. can't watch serie a without falling asleep. la liga matches are entertaining with pepe smash. red bull arena in harrison, nj is nice.
• baseball: the mets. back in the day, games were 50 cents, thanks to my elementary school.
• basketball: the knicks. ugh.
• hockey: the rangers. sather has to have incriminating photos of dolan somewhere. the avalanche because joe sakic was elegant.
• football: the giants. dave brown and danny kanell were legends.

SD guys' Pac-12 Allegiances. Handy Primer

easy reference guide for the SD guys' pac-12 allegiances

the brit - oregon. he gets it because it's just easier for him to root for the best team.
verndogs - southern cal. because he hates the trojans so much.
trunks - oregon state. because SJU, and hipster allegedly.
butters - washington state. ryan leaf was cursed.
eddie - arizona state. online follows ASU girls on tumblr
bas - UCLA. because LA.
jonze - originally stanford, but given another bay area school, CAL, because tons of asian people in the UC system.

Why Your Team Sucks 2013: New Orleans Saints

My points to Drew Magery of Deadspin:

Die hard Saints fan since I was a wee boy in the 1980s. Born and raised in New Orleans. I remember those early Mora years when we were scrapping for wins with a great defense and a mediocre offense. The good ol' days. I stood by the Saints all those years: the shortcomings in the early 90s; the Wade Wilson and "Chris" Everett (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlksqIm3xvI) project; the Ditka years with the Billy Joes and no name receivers; the Haslett years; the Aaron Brooks years (see 2013 Tampa Bay Bucs. I see them as a mirror of the early 2000 Saints); the Katrina year; the post Katrina years. It's been a long road between the early Mora years and Sean Payton. My thoughts:

Why we don't suck:

1. Saints got Sean Payton. One of the best coaches in the NFL right now. He's a great coach, and knows what the fuck he's doing when it comes down to the 4th quarter in a close game. The Saints have never had that type of coach before Payton. They usually loved to punt and hope the defense would give the ball back. Not this time.
2. Saints got Drew Brees. One of the best quarterbacks in the NFL right now. Grateful he has agreed to stay in New Orleans. Sure the Saints signed him to the current amount of the New Orleans GNI, but he is worth it. The fact the Saints have enough in the payroll to keep Jimmy Graham and Mark Ingram in the payroll shocks me.
3. Saints got Darren Sproles. He is a mighty mouse in a football uniform. Everyone loves to talk about Brees and Graham being the best at their positions, but Sproles is very underrated. He does everything for the Saints. Run. Catch. Return. Too bad he's too small to play defense. We can throw him in as a nickel back. Saints need all the help they can get.
4. Saints have good fans. We stick to the end of the game even when we lose. Everytime I go to the dome, a good group of fans are out there cheering and celebrating. We don't care about the outcome. We love our Saints. One of the best fan bases in my opinion.
5. Close vicinity to the CBD (Central Business District). I am a fan of stadiums in walking distance of the hotel. I don't want to have to worry about parking in some 100 square foot lot and have to pay $40 to get my car sardined with 100 other cars. I can walk out of the hotel, enjoy a nice breakfast at the Ruby Slipper. Get a nice plate of shrimp and grits or eggs... Whatever you prefer. Order a nice cup of mimosa. Walk out and enjoy the nice downtown scenery for another hour or so until you take a nice 15-20 minute stroll to the dome. If not the Ruby Slipper, Mother's the place to be for a nice home cooked breakfast.

Why we suck:

1. Mercedes-Benz Superdome. I have to complain about this. After all these years, we have grown up and known the building as the Louisiana Superdome. It is a proud trademark of New Orleans. What do they do? Fuckin' change the name to Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Why the fuck would you want to change the building name to that? It's also not like the stadium seats are made of leather like a Mercedes car. Not the best seats compared to other stadiums. Also the Mardi Gras lights at night? I hate it. I blame Tom Benson for this, which leads to .....
2. Tom Benson. Fuck Tom Benson. He's the one who broke up the Dome Patrol, brought in Ditka thinking he can change the team, let Randy Mueller go after that upstart 2000 season, and didn't have the balls to fire Haslett. On top of that, I can count numerous times he has wanted to move the team out of New Orleans. LA? San Antonio? Fuck Tom Benson. Him and his terrible boogie dance.
3. Saints history. I am OK with letting the 70s slide since they were still a young team. I am somewhat OK with letting the 80s slide before Mora and Jim Finks came aboard. However, I will not let it slide how many times the Saints have been the butt of sports history before Sean Payton came along. The only thing worse being a Saints fan was being a Cubs fan. Everyone knew the Saints would never win a critical game. We knew they would somehow choke at the last minute. Good example of Saints history (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOeocX2D9Ks).
4. Saints paid Brees too much money. Sure the Saints kept one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, but what does this cost? Guys like Grubbs, De La Puente, and Streif protecting him. Sure the Saints have protected Brees well the past couple of years, but eventually something is going to give. They can barely develop the running game. Ingram looks overrated. Which leads to..
5. Saints defense. Worst defense in NFL history in 2012. What do they do? Hire Rob motherfuckin' Ryan. What? Did the Saints not see what he did in Dallas? Come on. He isn't going to help this defense. On top of that, they barely upgraded the defense after that disastrous year. No name nickel and dime backs. I see their defense struggling again in 2013.
6. Saints have horrible fans. Terrible flip floppers. One week they are claiming they're going to the Super Bowl. Next week they are going after everyone's heads. No clear vision of what's really wrong. Go to any barber shop on North Rampart or Magazine, and there are true tell tale signs of flip flopper fans.
7. Terrible location. It right next to the Poydras and Howard exits. No wonder the traffic is at a standstill backed up 10 miles 1 1/2 hours before game time. If you want to get to the Crescent City Connection bridge going east on a Sunday on gameday? Forget about it. You might as well take the long way through the suicidal Huey P Long bridge to get to the Westbank, Algiers, or Chalmette. On top of that, it's right across the street from the ghetto. Cross under the I-10 bridge outside the Superdome, and you just reduced your life risk level.
8. Self-entitlement. Fans feel they "deserve" a football team after all they been through. What the fuck is that all about? You're lucky to have two professional sports teams in your city. A lot of thriving cities wish to have a professional sports team. What? New Orleans needs the Saints because the city will die if the team leaves? Don't pin this blame on the football franchise. Blame your city's shortcomings on yourself.
9. Saints chants. I am ok with the "who dat". Sure it makes us fans look illiterate and drunk bellands. I am proud to be a Saints fan. However, what I don't agree with is the constant "who dat" shouts everywhere you go. It destroys the meaning of what it is. What does it mean? Don't ask me. It is a broken version of "Who dat going to beat dem Saints?". Also the "black and gold. super bowl" and "geaux saints". Stop it.
10. People who put "who dat" as their middle name on facebook. her (https://www.facebook.com/dwannalb), him (https://www.facebook.com/druptonogood), definately him (https://www.facebook.com/steveironmcgee), him (https://www.facebook.com/turbosupra), her (https://www.facebook.com/heartay), and her (https://www.facebook.com/stephanie.w.veron). Stop it.
11. This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHIFLNWZBfA

Random Classics: Mark 'Hard Hittin' Whiten's 4 Home Run game

One of my earliest memories of  HR bad assery came from Mark Whiten. Playing for 9 teams in 11 years, Mark was an unlikely source for this great moment. This game was the second of a doubleheader as the Cardinals had lost the 1st game in a tough fashion with a Reggie Sanders triple driving in 2 runs to end the game 14-13.


11:28min Whiten's 1st at bat and the bases were loaded. Interesting to see that Mark went 0-4 in the day game. Has there ever been a player who had 2 completely different games as he did?

12:19min Whiten hits a grand slam immediately after the Reds pitching coach leaves the meeting on the mound. Nice job, pitching coach.

12:59 Joe Torre is mildly pleased.

1:10:27min Whiten's 2nd HR comes on a 1st pitch.7 RBI's after 2 at bats, not too shabby.

1:26:00 Whiten's 3rd HR. Whiten has a President Obama 'drop the mic' moment as he lets his bat drop with swag.3 more RBI's come in 10 total for the day so far. Joe Torre is mildly pleased. Joe Buck started singing the SportsCenter tune. SportsCenter was at their height of popularity during this time and Mark Whiten became an instant celeb after the game.

1:45:25 Whiten's 4th and historic HR came against noted Nasty Boy/crazy person Rob Dibble, who has a tattoo of Ichiro's name on his ass (find out why in the link) http://espn.go.com/talent/danpatrick/s/2001/1217/1297168.html

Joe Buck sings the SportsCenter tune again. 12 RBI's on 4 at bats for the game. Unreal.

Also in 1993

Random Classic: 1991 Blazers vs Lakers Game 6, the last hurrah for the 80s era of basketball

13secs Danny Ainge, the most annoying face in NBA history

 1:16min in retrospect James Worthys nagging injury was a big reason why the Bulls Lakers NBA finals was not as good as it coud've been,this is forgotten by many this day.

 1:23min Buck Williams was among many NBA players and athletes from other sports who rocked the goggles. Goggles of those sorts are hardly seen anymore and it's a shame because I feel it added a little more personality to each player.

 And ah yes the NBA on NBC OG intro. The best one.

 43.3 seconds left in the game and the Lakers have to hold on to a 3 point lead. The Lakers crowd at the Forum seemed to be louder than the Laker fans now.

 56secs Terry porter trying to draw the foul by leaning in on his shot but makes it anyways.Cuts it down to 1. Wouldn't this strategy be considered looking just as bad as flopping? Terry very lucky the shot went in. An uncoordinated shot is not the smartest idea.

 1:21mins Magic passing off one of his patented hook shots with 2 seconds on the shot clock to Vlade who has to attempt a shot in a rush and is blocked right away. Could Vlade have dunked it? Maybe. But he sensed Cliff Robinson was near to him. This possession would be scrutinized by media gasbags if it happened today. But of course only if the Lakers lost.

 1:43mins the Dick Enberg oh my makes an appearance.His oh my's always had different variations of it. This particular one showed a I can't believe the Lakers screwed up that possession.

 1:47mins Snapper Jones gets on Magics side right away and starts blaming everything on Vlade.The good ol days when the great players were highly repected by the announcers. Lets go after the European guy. 

4:20mins It's hard to imagine that's what the Blazers wanted to do on their last possession.Magic showing the heads up play at the end of it running down the clock all the way to 0.1 seconds. I haven't seen anyone do that in a while.

 5:36mins over excited hugging and WOOPS

 5:44mins AC Green finally lost his virginity while trying to leave the court.

 7:04mins great reaction footage of Magic. The excitement for a Jordan vs Magic finals seemed to trump everything else. It didn't live up to the hype as it more signaled a dawn of a new era of basketball.

 Also in 1991....
Prince - Diamonds and Pearls - MyVideo

                                                           Okay, we're back.

we here at soul glo did not really celebrate our 1-year anniversary (june 3, 2011 was the date of our first post). i know what i was doing this past sunday though: stocking up on supplies at BJ's; lamenting the united states men's national team's lackluster showing against canada in an international friendly; watching the mets take their third game against the cards; and barely winning at another trivia night. i think the others agree that all these activities are worthy of the sports cage's esteem. hear hear, and hopefully the whole lot of us contribute more this coming year.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1205/mr.T.rare.photos/content.1.html

I'll just let this sit here........

NBA Class of 1996

Random Classics : Why Shawn Kemp pointed at Lister after dunking on him

One of the most memorable dunks I remember seeing as a kid was this beautiful, in your face, I just took your manhood, oh and I'm going to point at you and make you even more embarrassed and you're going to accept it cause I OWN YOU motherbleeper! Anyways...I always thought as awesome as it was,it seemed,well kind of rude of Shawn to do that, dontcha think? Wasn't dunking on him enough? Well back then I didn't have cable, and I only got to see this highlight video when I would watch NBA Inside Stuff, or random highlight films or NBA commercials. Only until recently did I find out the back story as to why Shawn showed up Alton, and oh boy is this dunk even more awesome now.Video below shows why.

Steve Nash : The 2005-2010 seasons

As time is drawing near for the 38 year old point guard Steve Nash and retirement is in the horizon, let us reminisce what is probably one of the greatest statistical stretch of seasons ever. We may talk about Michael Jordan's dominance in the 80's and 90s, Wilt Chamberlain's scoring and rebounding numbers in the 60's, Oscar Robertson's triple double averages in the 1961 and 1962 seasons, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar's dominance in the 1970s, and John Stockton's dominance among point guards in terms of amount of assists from the late 80's to mid 90's.

What Steve Nash did from the 2005-2010 seasons was unprecedented. During this time, he shot more than or equal to 50% field goals, 90% free throws (in the 2006-07 season, he did shoot 89.9% from the free throw line. Let's just round that up to 90% for this moment), 40% from the 3 point line, 10 assists a game (in the 2008-09 season he did average 9.7 assists a game, but let's just round that up to 10 for this moment). These are incredible offensive numbers. We are talking about mastery in precision shooting that has not been seen in the NBA since Larry Bird.

Let's take a look at this by the numbers. Here is the list of players who shot better than 50% from the field, and 90% from the free throw line:


Full statistics here

To add to the statistics that detail his shooting performances, he was a good point guard who passed the ball at ease. Here are the list of NBA players who shot better than 50% from the field and averaged 10 assists a game in a season:


Full statistics here

A unique offensive player at his player at the finest. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about his defensive skills, as he was known to be a defensive liability on several occasions. I do not think we will see another player like Steve Nash.

Stat of the Day: Serge Ibaka 10+ blocks - Feb 2012

On February 20, 2012, Serge Ibaka blocked 11 shots, assisting the Oklahoma City Thunder in a 124-118 victory over the Denver Nuggets. This is his 3rd game in the fiscal month he has blocked more than 10 shots in a game.

Why is this significant? Since the 1985-86 season, one other person has blocked more than 10 shots in a fiscal calendar month. The player? David Robinson in Feb 1990. Former players who were known for their shot blocking abilities such as Manute Bol, Shawn Bradley, Mark Eaton, Dikembe Mutombo, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Marcus Camby were not able to achieve this feat.

Stats here

Congratulations to Serge Ibaka.