Tuesday, May 03, 2005

More Stuff

First things first: I'm glad Kellen Winslow didn't kill himself on his motorcycle this weekend, but honestly, how dumb do you have to be wheeling around a parking lot at 35-mph on one of these things when you don't even know how to ride it? Between the Bulls' Jay Williams and Winslow, professional sports leagues should give considerable thought, as part of rookie orientation, to showing those high school videos where the reckless teen cracks his skull open on the pavement, and dies a slow, painful death because he didn't follow the rules of the road as taught by Mr. Humphrey, the driver's ed teacher.

I must have missed the memo about how crotch rockets are making a comeback among young professional athletes who haven't yet mastered the ability to ride a bike. Doesn't Winslow have a minicamp he should be preparing for? Especially given the fact that he only played in two games last season before breaking his leg? Still, there's a bright side -- Winslow was wearing a helmet during his accident. Of course he forgot to buckle it, so it came off his head when he slammed into the curb, but why quibble?

***
Bob Costas left a comment concerning my favorite fat, bombastic local Pittsburgh radio guy, Mark Madden. Specifically, there's a story in the Times Online about the dust up Madden and Stan Savran had in January. What's funny is that Madden, formerly involved with pro wrestling, admits that he was more interested in boosting ratings than actually taking a swipe at Savran as being "a shill" for the Steelers. That sounds about right. Luckily for the fat phantom, it didn't really have any effect on his listeners (who Savran described "as morons"), while Savran improved:
"Of course, Madden felt the intellectual wrestling match, while helping both shows, would mean he would be the beneficiary in terms of better ratings. In fact, according to Abitron's winter ratings, Madden didn't move much (from fourth to fifth overall in the men 25-54 demographic, just a few percentage points), but Savran jumped from 17th to 11th."
In my best Nelson Muntz voice: Ha Ha! It couldn't have happened to a nicer jerk.

***
Since minicamp doesn't start until this weekend for the Steelers, here's something to keep you busy: college highlights of the Steelers first round pick, TE Heath Miller, and the new Plaxico Burress, 4th round pick, WR Fred Gibson (For the record, I stole both of these from Steeler Watch, a Steelers message board).