One last rant before Winter turns to Spring.

Cubed: Pissed Off Cousin-Winter Sports

Plenty of stuff in the sports world pissed me off this year.  Have a listen.

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THE NFL HAS AN IMAGE TO UPHOLD. SO DO I.

By now, you’ve all heard the story of Robert Irsay sneaking the Baltimore Colts out of town in Mayflower moving trucks. What you haven’t heard is my personal story and how that move affected me directly.

Robert Irsay. Dead and still hated in Baltimore

My dad used to take my brothers and me to the old Baltimore Colts training complex in Owings Mills, back when you could still attend practices and mingle with the players.  One day I played catch with wide receiver, Raymond Butler.  Wore #80.

Not to be confused with Raymond Berry

Raymond asked me if I’d like to be a ball boy the following season.  I couldn’t believe it!  Hell yes I wanted be a ball boy!  My dad talked with some of the Colts staff and, next season, I was gonna be a ball boy for the Baltimore Colts!  I was so fired up!  My dad was fired up too because he knew it meant free tickets.  We couldn’t wait!  But next season never came.
It was a cold, snowy night on March 28, 1984.  I was sleeping soundly next to my fraternal twin brother in our identical twin beds.  My dad woke me out of my sleep.  He had this look in his eye.  I knew it was something serious.  He said, “The Colts are gone.”  Huh?  “The Colts left.  They’re gone.  Snuck out of town.  We don’t have a football team anymore. They’re headed for Indianapolis.”  Wait.  What?!?!  Where?!?!  I knew about Annapolis but I’d never heard of Indianapolis.  I was so confused.  Imagine if someone woke you out of your sleep tonight and told you that pizza was gone.  It doesn’t exist anymore.  You’d freak out!  That’s how big this was to me.
By the time Baltimore got a new football team it was 1996.  My dad had been dead for almost seven years.  He didn’t live long enough to see football return to Baltimore.  Anytime the Ravens play the Colts, the games always mean a little something more to me.  When the Ravens won their Super Bowl it helped dull the pain but I can’t root for the Colts – even when the Ravens need them to win.  It’s like rooting for your ex-wife to hit the lotto.  Not gonna happen.

Kuh Kaw!

- Ryan Sickler, Ravens Blogger

CLICK HERE FOR MY OFFICIAL NFL RAVENS BLOG
MY UNEDITED BLOG IS BELOW.
THE NFL HAS AN IMAGE TO UPHOLD. SO DO I.

Simply put, this was ugly.  From the game to the barking fans, there was nothing pretty about this one.
The Browns name seems to fit now more than ever.  They’re certainly leaving their “mark” all over the NFL this season.  Week by week, city by city, they are stinking it up.  I’ve seen better special-ed football teams.  And the faith I had in Ravens kicker, Steve Hauschka is gone.  Just like the faith I used to have that Whitney Houston would get her shit together.

I’m every woman…on crack

My sources tell me that Hauschka kicked his way off the Ravens last night and most likely out of the NFL.  He missed another easy field goal and had an extra point blocked.  I’m not gonna sit here and pity a kicker but the irony in the NFL is, well, ironic.  Brady Quinn still has his job today after a miserable season.  Derek Anderson still has his job after a miserable season.  And, for some reason, Frank Walker still has his job after a miserable career. It doesn’t work that way for a kicker.  You make em?  You stay.  You miss em?  You’re giving back-alley hand jobs for a nickel.
Hauschka doesn’t have the mental toughness to kick out of this rut.  He’s replacing one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history on a team that was a game away from the Super Bowl last year.  Three points is huge in the NFL.  Hell, three inches is huge in the NFL, which is the same thing I tell my girlfriend when we’re gettin busy but she ain’t buyin it.  Just ask the Patriots what a difference a few inches makes after Belichick’s bonehead call cost them a game.
The one bright spot was Lardarius Webb.  The dude was all over the field on defense and special teams.  Ozzie may have found another gem.  The verdict is still out on Lardarius and the Ravens and the next two weeks are gonna show us who this team really is.
Next up, Indianapolis.  If Peyton Manning doesn’t rip our secondary apart, I have a weird feeling Matt Stover is gonna trot out on the field at the end of the game and attempt to do what he did for us all those years.

Kuh Kaw!

- Ryan Sickler, Ravens Blogger