Here are some thought-provoking & comical quotes/notes from the closing segment of this week’s episode of the show, “The Sports Reporters”. “The Sports Reporters” airs on Sunday mornings at 8:30am (EST) on ESPN, right before “Colin’s New Football Show”. It is then re-aired at 9:30am (EST) on ESPN News. In my opinion, this is one of the few shows on ESPN that offers quality, thought-provoking commentary and analysis by intelligent sports writers. It’s also one of the few shows where you will get honest opinion about the college and professional sports leagues such as the NFL (which is probably why it’s aired at 9:30am on a Sunday). Regardless, this is one of my favorite shows; reason being is they point out and offer down-to-earth commentary on topics such as…..

Isreal Gutierrez’s (Miami Herald) opinion (quotes bolded)…
…The Cleveland Browns recent trade, where they chose to send their star running back Trent Richardson to the Indiananpolis Colts in reutrn for the Colts first-round pick in next year’s NFL draft.

If you’re a Cleveland Browns fan, this hasn’t been the start you imagined to the 2013 season. For die-hard fans in Cleveland, this week might make you think twice about renewing your Browns season tickets or purchasing a jersey of the teams next major draft pick.

The Browns management offered their fans “another swift kick to their  collective teeth” this week by trading the only player worth buying a ticket to come see play. Browns management can try to “soften the blow of trading Trent Richardson by explaining that he doesn’t fit in the Browns system“. But, fans in Cleveland, who have to suffer through another re-building year, wake up on this week 3 NFL Sunday wishing that the 2014 NFL Draft were here and once again.

To the Browns fan hoping that the new regime in Cleveland can finally get it right; just watch the games this year “try to forget that your majority owner is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan“.

My Thoughts
This may be the only team I ever seen make the decision to pack in the season after just two weeks.  I actually feel sorry for the Browns fans as they deserve much better than one playoff game since getting their franchise back. My guess is that the NFL officials are going to give them some favorable whistles in he coming weeks, just so the TV product doesn’t dry up in the Cleveland metro area (beginning to think that is how the NFL works nowadays and Goodells job is to make sure the money doesn’t stop flowing from all markets).  The Cleveland Browns current odds to win the Superbowl are currently 500-1.

Bryan Burell’s (St. Louis Post Dispatch) thoughts (quotes bolded)…
…on Bo Pelini, and Nebraska’s final decision (after mulling it over) to not reprimand or fire Pelini for his comments about fans….

“Newsflash! Bo Pelini is human” and gets upset like anyone else. The Nebraska head coach will indeed “say things in private conversations that he would not like everyone else to hear“, similar to how the every day person will mutter words under their breath or complain about your boss to your spouse.

The fact that Nebraska trustees even “let him stew for a few days” before responding was “tasteless“. This was all because some idiot taped and shared a private conversion “about fair-weather Husker fans” in a come from behind victory in 2011.

Nebraska should have instantly put their support behind Pelini, acknowledging that this was a private conversions, followed by promising the fire the moron who leaked the taped conversation int he first place.

Furthermore, Any fan who believes this is the first coach to say something unkind about fans may be the most naive person in the world, sort of like the nonsense that is spewed by fans on twitter everyday when their team is losing.

My Thoughts
In the modern social media age of sports it’s more about “what have you done for me this quarter” rather than “lately”.   The downside of the sports fan with a twitter account, even the saddest loser has a voice and everything is magnified.  Nebraska fans should still be on their knees kissing Pelini’s royal behind.  He not only saved Nebraska football from entering the never-ending “Mush Stew” that is college football irrelevant programs, but he also put them back on the map recruiting wise.

The college football national championshp odds from Carbon Sportsbook had Nebraska at 40 to 1 to win it all this year heading into the season and are a threat to win the Big 12 Title.  Pre-Bo Pelini, you’d find them at 250 to 1 or worse.  Delusional Nebraksa fans might want to take a step back and realize that they aren’t Alabama (or even Ohio State).

“Proud Detroiter”, Mitch Album’s (Detroit Free Press) thoughts…
…on the sudden pitching slump of Justin Verlander (quotes in bold).

Someone please “tell the aliens who have stolen Justin Verlander, the playoffs are coming and we need him back“

This year’s Justin Verlander is a far cry from Cy-Young winner that we saw last season. He’s currently only one game over .500 and his era this year is a “full run higher than last year“.

This now leaves the Detroit Tigers (5 to 1 odds to win the World Series) with a rather minor “dilemma“. Should Verlander be the number one pitcher heading in the post-season? Record-wise, he is the 5th best starer on the Tigers this season. Meanwhile Annbel Sanchez has looked great lately and Matt Sherzer has 20 wins already. His career post-season era is over 6.00 and hasn’t been the greatest post-season pitcher (with the exception of his first two start last season). Is it “an insult” to Verlander if the Tigers don’t send him out in game one of their first post-season series.

This decision would be “a lot easier if the aliens just dropped ol’ Justin back off“

My Thoughts
This isn’t even a question.  Justin Verlander is their ace heading into the post-season.  Unlike last season, perhaps Verlander is saving his focus and his best stuff for October. The Tigers are currently the favorite to win the ALCS at 2-1, which is about the same as the Boston Red Sox current odds to win the ALCS. 

4) John Saunders (ESPN) with tidbits on…
…the utterly ridiculous price of attending the Superbowl nowadays.

“The average American citenzen will never go to the Superbowl“. This is all due to the insane costs of attending football’s biggest game.

Just flying to New York around the time of the Superbowl is outrageous. But the NFL doing is it’s best this year to make sure you “don’t feel bad if you can’t afford to fly to New York for the Superbowl“. Why shouldn’t you feel bad? Well, because “even if you could afford the airfare, you couldn’t afford the ticket.”

The face-value cost of a (top-end seating) Superbowl ticket this year is $2,600. For the same cost of a 2013 top-dollar Superbowl ticket, you can fly round trip from Los Angeles to New York City a few times, but could also pay for a hotel and a few broadway shows (and perhaps a knicks game).

In fairness, the NFL has’t forgotten about the “little guy“. They are reserving 1,000 nose-bleed seats for the lottery system; where of course, they hold your money and refund it a few weeks or months later if you don’t win any seats. The lottery tickets, if you are lucky enough to win, can be purchased at the “low, low price of $500 each”

But just to make sure “nobody can make money” from the Superbowl tickets sold in the lottery, you can’t pick them up until gameday at the stadium!!

“After all, the NFL would hate to see anyone get taken advantage of“

My Thoughts
This is the very best of the quotes this morning, and it’s why I love John Saunders.  Major networks with NFL contracts (such as ESPN) are rarely ever critical of the NFL.  Bloggers, and anyone who considers them a sports reporter, should take every opportunity to expose any and all hypocrisies or injustices that come from major sports monopolies like the NFL.  

The current Superbowl odds from JustBet Sportsbook (100% Bonus when using this link) as of Sunday morning on 9/24 have the Denver Broncos as the favorite at 3/1 with the Seahawks and the 49ers trailing.