“All we’re trying to do IS WIN A MOTHER F–KIN’ GAME!!!”
—Josh McDaniels
head coach, Denver Broncos
Hands down, my favourite McDaniels quote.
In case you weren’t watching the Broncos-Giants game last Thanksgiving, or didn’t see the youtube clip before the NFL had it pulled off the web:
all we're trying to do
Coming out of a commercial break following that second field goal, the NFL Network showed a clip of McDaniels yelling at his players on the sideline saying, “All we’re trying to do is win a [expletive] game!”
The vulgarity was clearly audible to viewers, and announcer Bob Papa immediately apologized to viewers.
In an interview with The Associated Press and the Denver Post, Eric Weinberger, executive producer of the NFL Network, apologized to viewers and McDaniels for the “terrible mistake.”
“It was on delay. We wish we would have caught it and bleeped it,” Weinberger said. “We apologize for ever airing anything like that, absolutely, especially on Thanksgiving.”
Weinberger added, “Everyone [watching on TV] thought it was live because it was in live speed and it looked live. It came out of the truck. Honestly, we would never go live and raise audio levels on anyone live. On the sidelines, we would never do that. We came out of break and rolled it. It’s a mistake.”
Kudos to Weinberger for not making excuses for the guys in the truck, although he did kind of throw them under the bus with the follow-up line about “we would never go live . . . ” But if they’re already in the truck, throwing them under the bus wouldn’t really hurt them; it might just snarl traffic a bit while everyone waits for the tow trucks to arrive. And I’m pretty sure Weinberger has good car insurance. If not, perhaps he’d be interested in some new laws that have been passed recently . . .
I don’t know why, but for some reason this “terrible mistake” by the NFL Network was the moment that almost got me up on the McBandwagon. Especially when I read Tiger’s one-line follow-up:
“It’s the NFL Network. It doesn’t surprise me,” McDaniels told The Denver Post.
My feelings exactly.
But my time spent almost-on-the-McBandwagon was rather short. It’s too far in the past to hash out exactly what part of the 2009 McTrainwreck made me once again lose faith in young Tiger’s head-coachship. Suffice to say, it wasn’t long before I was once again referring to my beloved orange-and-blue patio lights as “Bears Lights.” I now leave four bulbs dimmed in that wondrous string of C9 lights in memory of Shanahan, Cutler, Marshall, and Scheffler.
It is now almost May, and the NFL draft has all fantasy football veterans jonesing for the upcoming season. I include myself in this company, and take this moment to predict a first-place finish for the Mighty MOG in the Liga 2010. As I think about my ff history, particularly my rookie year, I can’t help but notice a certain similarity to the McBroncos’ 2010 draft.
I had no idea what the hell I was doing that first year. It was 2006, and I only vaguely understood the way the whole fantasy thing worked. When draft-time rolled around, I found myself using Yahoo’s default rankings to make my selections. Here are the results of my stellar rookie draft:
As an historical sidenote: I drafted a player named Chad Johnson, not Chad Ochocinco. It seems that the effects of his name-change have rippled retroactively into the Yahoo archives.
My first pick: a big-name WR. My second: a long-shot QB. I thought I was being clever, “reaching” for these two players when everyone else was still picking RBs. I was putting my eggs in the Bengals’ basket. And, although I cheered for the ohio tigermen most fervently, the QB was a bust and the WR only got good AFTER I’d traded him about halfway through the season.
Compare to the Broncos’ first two picks in the 2010 draft. First pick: Demaryius Thomas, a big-name WR. Second: Tim Tebow, a long-shot QB.
The NFL draft cannot be used as a true analog to a fantasy draft. I’m well aware of that. But I also think Josh was putting his eggs in a bengal-like basket. Couple that with his emotional outbursts and larger-than-life ego, and Tiger seems like a pretty good nickname for him.
I love a long-shot gamble. Maybe it will pay off. But I’m not a McBeliever by any stretch. All I can say is go get ’em, Tiger. Now that we’ve gotten rid of Cutler, Marshall, and Scheffler, maybe we can get down to business and win a few MOTHER F–KIN’ GAMES.
-Prof.
MOG to win it all this year? The Internet keeps serving up more and more laughs.
Laugh all you like, AR. Laugh from your lofty seat where you ride shotgun on the McBandwagon. But it will be Grendel’s Mothers who are left laughing atop the Liga ere the year is through.