"NFL Football is Back!" 2011 Season Thread

[Al B. Sure!]

What are the Cowboys trying to be for Halloween? A high school team?

[Al B. Sure!]

Oh I get it. The Cowboys are trying to be the Washington Redskins last year on that Sunday night game when Vick had 6 TDs. They're doing a pretty good impersonation with their coverages.

[Al B. Sure!]

5:49 3rd qtr.

          	CP/AT	YDS	TD	INT
T. Tebow	5/17	46	0	0

                      CP/AT	YDS	TD	INT
M. Stafford	21/29	267	3	0

Hey, Slowwhand:

13:21 4th Quarter

Dallas Passing
C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT NFL RATING
T. Romo 7/15 56 3.7 0 1 28.7






(Both are on my fantasy team )

[SlowwHand]

Time of Pos. 13:08 34:08

[Al B. Sure!]

Time of Pos. 13:08 34:08

Tell Rob Ryan to learn how to coach a defense.

[Al B. Sure!]

As a Giants fan, I appreciate the 2-game lead in the NFC East.

[Sava]

awesome day for Tebow
3 fumbles... 1 INT

and now a career 48.1% pass completion percentage

this kid is going places

[Boris Godunov]

Wow of the Week: The Eagles
Ow of the Week: The Redskins
LOL of the Week: The Broncos
Huh? of the Week: The Rams...?

[Boris Godunov]

Bwahaha, best pic of the week:

[Sava]

hahah stupid tebow

[Al B. Sure!]

[Jonny]

Fun with Google!

[Al B. Sure!]

[Al B. Sure!]

The NFL needs Tebow to succeed. America needs Tebow to succeed.

Read this from ESPN's Matthew Berry:

"Sure."

Not the most exciting or original answer, of course, but I suspect you would have had an identical reaction when posed the same question.

"Would you like to meet Tim Tebow?" my friend had asked.

"Sure," I answered. "Why not?"

I was never a huge Tebow fan. Not a hater either, but I'm not a huge fan of either the Florida Gators or even college football in general, so I didn't get the hero worship and adulation that had been heaped on him ad nauseam throughout his college career. But whatever. I already had my drink, I didn't know very many people at the party, he's always seemed nice enough ... what the hell. Let's go meet Tim Tebow.

So my friend brings me over, we shake hands and say hello. I told him who I was, what I did and mentioned that we had, in fact, just talked about him on the podcast. He had just been drafted a little while ago, so I told him that we had speculated on what his fantasy value might be in Denver.

He was very pleasant, said he wasn't sure what his role would be with the Broncos yet but would do whatever the coaches asked of him and that he was excited to start the new chapter of his career. I wish him luck, we shake hands, I walk away. Maybe we talked for an entire minute. Maybe.

So whatever, right? Nice enough guy, typical party small talk, now I can say I've met Tim Tebow. There you go. Time for another drink.

Maybe four hours later, the party is winding down. I'm walking toward the back to collect my buddy and on the way, I pass Tebow coming back the other way with his brother, whom I had also met. And I give Tim a slight head nod. You know, the kind of slight head nod you give to your co-workers when you pass them in the hallway to acknowledge you realize they are there and don't want it to be awkward but also don't want anyone to feel they have to stop and talk. So I gave Tim one of those as I keep walking past him.

He stops. And turns to me.

"Hey Matthew. It was really great to meet you. Good luck with the podcast this year!"

He recounts every single thing we talked about and shakes my hand one more time. I shake it back with what I am sure is a stunned expression on my face.

And it was in that moment I totally got it. I understood the Tebow mania. And became a huge fan of his.

I'm not going to lie: Tim Tebow makes me want to be a better man. I'm probably not going to try very hard, but he makes me want to.

Look, I've had a very weird, charmed, Forrest Gump-like life. I spent 12 years in Los Angeles as a television and film writer/producer. And then I've been with ESPN for five years. And as a result of both jobs and thanks to my younger brother (a Hollywood manager) and ex-wife (a high-ranking Hollywood executive), I've met a ton of well-known athletes, celebrities, actors, rock stars, you name it. Tons. That's not a brag -- almost anyone in show business or the sports industry can say the same thing, so it's not like I am anything special. But of all the famous people I've met, this was the most genuine, the most uncalculated, the most impressive interaction I'd ever had.

When you are as famous as Tim Tebow, someone approaches you every 30 seconds and tells you their life story. They went to Florida. They were in the stands when he made some big play. They watched that game with their dying grandfather. They've always been a big fan. They went to grade school with his cousin. He won them their fantasy league last year. Whatever. Everyone has a story or some anecdote or just wants to say hi, get a picture, have a moment. Every 30 seconds. Every day of his life. It can be exhausting.

And yet, generally, famous people are nice. People are coming up, they're saying nice things to you, it's easy to be pleasant back. I didn't love talking to Alex Rodriguez when I met him. Jim Belushi, Paul Hogan and oddly, the members of Cheap Trick were fairly unpleasant people. But usually, folks are nice. Nice in a "oh yeah, great to meet ya, cocktail party " kind of way, but nice.

This was different. After we finish our podcast, I have to record a 15-second promo and I literally have to turn to Nate and ask "What did we talk about again?" I can't remember what I ate for dinner last night. But Tim Tebow remembered a four-hour-old, one-minute conversation among the hundred he must have had and managed to make me feel like he was genuinely pleased to have met me. So I was impressed. But more importantly, I got why people were so reverent for him and why I think he will be successful in the NFL. You want to play hard for that guy. You saw the lift his teammates got when he came in; they played with more passion. There's no question. I realize it all sounds sort of school girl crush-ish and it probably is on some level. I'm genuinely a fan. And that doesn't happen often. In 30 seconds, Tim Tebow completely changed the way I thought about him.

[Guynemer]

Fun with Google!

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