| 09 February 2012
At least twice a year I try to catch up with our Detroit buddy, Big Al Beaton, who is one of the most original football bloggers and radio personalities in the biz.
Big Al Beaton does the Detroit Lions blog called The Wayne Fontes Experience. He also appears on local Detroit radio sports talk shows.
Big Al takes shots at whoever or whatever is most deserving at the moment--- it suits him. This week he's taking on Detroit Free Press NFL beat writer Drew Sharp, who I guess is the Motor City's version of Philly's Paul Domowitch...
Seems Drew Sharp is building a following over his campaign to urge the NFL Rules Committee to install a new category of scoring on offense: call it the "2-point Field Goal"...
Big Al does not like the idea one bit.
"I try to ignore the Freep's resident contrarian and in-house hack Drew Sharp, but I had to post my thoughts after he unleashed another gem of a column. The latest piece de ridiculousness is his suggestion for an NFL rules change.
The league is constantly tweaking the rules, such as charging defensive backs with assault and battery for looking at a wide receiver the wrong way. But the NFL Competition Committee should seriously consider making a field goal of fewer than 30 yards worth two points instead of three.
"I stopped reading after that paragraph, as I was choking on laughter.
"Now that I've regained my composure, I have 2 thoughts about Sharp's proposal:
1. On a list of 100 problems the NFL has, the worth of a chip shot field goal is number 569. The NFL has several serious problems they need to tackle (from reducing head injuries to improving officiating) instead of worrying over piss ant complaints over games being decided by gimme field goals.
"If Sharp seriously feels NFL rules changes are needed, how about championing this instead? Have a rule deciding once and for effing all what exactly is a catch and not a catch. Eliminate the gray area so Mike Pereira is put out of a job. Enough of the "process of the catch" bullshit. Stab the "process" in the heart, kill it with fire and throw it on the same smoldering trash pile as Matt Millen's GM career."
2. [Here Big Al launches into a photoshop essay dedicated to Drew Sharp's IQ as measured on traditional scales of intelligence...]
I get Big Al's point... to which I would add, have we not noticed how many FG's are actually missed underneath 30 yards? Did we not just witness an AFC championship game that ended on a 23-yard miss?
Now something I could actually go for would be a "4-point Field Goal" for a kick of 60 yards or longer...but like Big Al says, the NFL has more important things to consider reviewing and changing before we even get close to the subject of traditional FG scoring.
Moving in a different direction, Big Al gives us a nice review of the NFL's new Verizon app for android phones...
"I do love technology and messing around with gadgets. So when Verizon and the NFL offered me an opportunity to play with an Android smartphone running an exclusive mobile app, I jumped at it. For the past week, I've been using Verizon's NFL Mobile app for Android on a Pantech Breakout 4G phone running Honeycomb."
"As useful as any NFL mobile app will be to a football fan, Verizon's version of the app has a killer feature: Live streaming video from the NFL Network. Killer, that is, as long as you can tolerate watching the likes of Steve Mariucci, Warren Sapp and Dieon Sanders over your smartphone. Sacrifices must be made for the sake of advancing technology..."
Verizon streamed NBC's Super Bowl broadcast live via the app as well.
"I played with the mobile app extensively during the Super Bowl, putting it through it's paces, taking a screenshots along the way. Video can be watched over the phone's data stream (the Breakout is a 4G phone, but in my neck of the woods I could only receive 3G speeds) or wifi. Unsurprisingly, I got the best video quality on my home network, which is running wireless G speeds."
The big game, live on a 4" screen!
Belichick isn't happy...
This was the NFL Network's live stream during the Super Bowl.
You could also stream the radio play by play.
I tried to connect to the Super Bowl stream using 3G,
but had connection issues during the game.
"Sunday night I could only connect intermittently to Verizon's 3G network while at home, but that's not necessarily a problem with the app or phone. I'd swear my house is actually a Faraday Cage in disguise, as cell reception is an issue, no matter the network provider. After the game ended, I had a much easier time connecting to Verizon's network."
"Overall, I have to admit I loved using the app, especially the live streaming video features. When you're on the go, there's no better way to get your NFL news fix than over live streaming NFL Network video."
"As for the gang of analysts and talking heads on the NFL Network, and especially NFL Total Access...I just grit my teeth and learn to deal. It's a a small price to pay."
You can see a bunch more screen shots and video commentary by Big Al Beaton on the new Verizon NFL app for androids at his site The Wayne Fontes Experience. Thanks for the time, Big Al !
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
