So Antoine Bethea.  No doubt, a great player.  Awesome, in fact.  But how do you pronounce his name?

Last year, it seemed to me like everyone was pronouncing it "buh-THAY-uh".   This year, most of the announcers are calling him "buh-THAY"  and removing the "uh" at the end.  Does anybody know how HE prefers his name to be pronounced?  I don't want to scream at the idiot announcers for something that I have wrong.  I want to be right in my estimation that Tony Kornheiser is an idiot. Anyone?  Anyone?                                                                                                              

Who knew it could happen?  Warren Sapp has said some really dumb things, and has generally shown himself to be not a very nice person over the years.  But today he got it right.

 Al Davis needs to go.  I don't know how you fire an owner, but someone in the NFL needs to step up and tell this man to go take a flying leap.  He has ruined this team and has poisoned the NFL with his actions. 

Don't get me wrong, as a Colts fan, I dislike the Raiders.  As a Chiefs fan, I detest the Raiders.  As a human being, I wish they would just go away.  But there are legitimate athletes on that team who want to play to win, and Al Davis isn't letting them. 

I saw my first-ever, live NFL game on December 18th, 2006: Colts vs Bengals, MNF.  I went home that night and put my name on the waiting list.  That spring (after the Super Bowl), I was notified that I wouldn't be getting any seats.  They did have some single seats available, however. I thought, well, one seat is better than none.  I grabbed one on the upper level, as close to the 50 yard line as I could get.  I sat on the 20 yard line all last season.

So this year, I understood that there were gong to be an additional 5000 seats available in the new stadium, and I, as a season ticket holder, would get my seat request filled before anybody on the waiting list.  Hoo-ray! There's no way I won't get my extra seat now, I thought.

Then I get a letter this spring that tells me, "Due to the continually high renewal rates and increased demand for season tickets, we were not able to fulfill your request at this time."   This makes me mad.  Am I mad at the Colts?  Naah. I'm mad because I know for a fact that people buy season tickets for the express purpose of selling them for 2-3x face value.  I know of a guy who lives in California and has two seats.  My friend sits next to these two seats.  He told me that in the 12 years he has been going to Colts games, those seats have always been filled by people who bought their tickets on stubhub.com.  The guy hasn't sat there in 12 years! 

I am sure that some of the seats purchased were done so for new people in families that want to go to the games. I have no probem with that.  If you were a season ticket holder longer than me, and you want to take your kids now, or whatever, fine.    What ticks me off is the people that are buying tickets just so they can profit. 

Dare I say we should imitate the Patriots in this area:  prohibit season ticket holders from selling their tickets for greater than face value?  If the Colts did that, the people buying tickets just for profit would give up their seats.  There would be two benefits to this change:

1. More Colts fans would be able to come to the games

2. Fewer tickets would be sold on stubhub.com, etc. to  fans of the opposing team.

Maybe then I could take my son to a game without paying $200 for a $64 seat.   

ok, this is hilarious.  you have to see this video. 

The Onion (satire website) breaks news that a NHL player makes it to the big leagues:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/nhl_star_called_up_to_big_leagues

I got this on the extra mustard section of Sports Illustrated.  That's usually a good source for funny stuff.  Boy do I hate the 75 word limit on this posting a new entry stuff.  Really, really, really, really, really hate it.

I don't know why this is bugging me so much, but people keep misspelling his last name.  I guess it's because I have a hard last name that starts with P and people put a K in it when there is only supposed to be a C.   Yeah. That must be it. 

The man's name is Mike Pollak.  Not Pollack.

From www.colts.com:

Colts Select Offensive Lineman Mike Pollak of Arizona State in Second Round
INDIANAPOLIS - The Colts waited more than five and a half hours to make their first selection of the 2008 NFL Draft.
When they got a chance to pick, they went offensive line.

The Colts, after not having a first-round draft selection for the first time in four years, made their first selection around 8:40 p.m. Saturday, taking center Mike Pollak of Arizona State with the No.  
 
28 selection of the second round, the 59th selection overall.

Pollak, in a conference call with Indianapolis media shortly after his selection, said Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy told him shortly after his selection he will get a chance to compete for a starting position at offensive guard.

Pollak (6-feet-3, 293 pounds) started 13 games at center each of the past two seasons. He was an All-Pac 10 selection as a senior and a second-team selection as a junior.

OK, so I'm watching the NFL Network coverage of the schedule release.  They are of course talking about how hard the Steelers' and Colts' schedules are, and how easy the Patriots schedule is.  

But what is Adam Schefter going on and on about?  The Patriots undefeated record!

That's right....in the eyes of certain people, the Patriots are STILL undefeated (in the regular season). Adam takes great joy in pointing out that December 2006 was the last time the Patsies lost a regular season game.  19 games long, their streak is!  What's more, Mr. Schefter has written off the first four teams the Pats play, saying that they are going to have at least 23 straight regular season wins.  

When will the fawning stop? They choked, already!  I would love it if the Chiefs shellacked them (I know, not going to happen, but it's a nice dream) in their home/season opener!

Sitting here tonight, I turned on the NFL network (sorry to those of you who haven't switched to Direct TV yet), and what do I see? A replay of the 1994 Bears/Vikings game (the "Cris Carter" OT catch game).

Del Rio wearing pads and tackling someone! He's wearing purple! He's on defense!

A few minutes later, they cut to the Viking's booth...look! It's Tony Dungy, the Vikings defensive coordinator.  Aaah!

Dungy was Del Rio's boss?  What kind of Bizarro world is this? How is it that Dungy is such a class act, and Del Rio is such a tool? Did he learn nothing from Dungy? I guess that just shows that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't teach Del Rio JACK about football.  

Is Ben going anywhere?

The New Yawk Jets might be a good place for him. The article also states that he has visited with Cincinnati.  

My only question is this: he is a restricted free agent. If he doesn't sign with another team, how much do the Colts have to pay him this year?

IF he does go, perhaps we should get a tight end in the 2nd round? Hmmm.  Thoughts?

We got him for six years!

http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d806c49d9&template=with-video&confirm=true

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7901108

They don't say how much, but who cares, right? I mean, now we have one of the best TE's in the league signed, along with many other key positions.  QB, RB, WR, TE, etc. Wow.  The next several years should prove to be pretty fun.

NFL.com says that Bob Sanders is injured and will not be going to the pro bowl.  Anybody know what injury they are talking about?

I guess this is good news, because we now know that he won't get injured playing a meaningless game.