Archive for May, 2009

This is an offseason review I am doing for Don Delco, of No Logo Needed, which is probably the best Browns blog out there.  Not like the Browns matter, or anything.  So, he sent me some questions and I will provide answers to them.   AFC North Offseason Review: Baltimore Ravens Overall Record: 11-5 (AFC North: 4-2) Key Losses: LB Bart Scott, S Jim Leohnard, K Matt Stover, C Jason Brown, CB Chris McAllister, FB Lorenzo Neal Key Free Agent Signings: CB Dominique Foxworth, C Matt Birk, TE L.J. Smith, QB John Beck, CB Chris Carr Key Draft Selections: 1st [...]

The undrafted free agent kicker,  who signed almost immediately after the draft, is one of my personal favorite college kickers.  He will be competing with Steve Hauschka for the starting job, and has a great leg. Gano was born in Scotland Will be 22 by Week 1 At 6’1″, 192 pounds, Gano is a big guy Was a punter and kickoff specialist his first three years at Florida State Was regarded as one of the nation’s best punters in the three years Was 24-26 in field goals in his senior year Only 2 missed field goals were from 52 and [...]

All that you need to know about Kelley Washington: Will be 30 by Week 1 Full name is James Kelley Washington Played football, basketball and baseball at Sherando High School in Stephens City, VA. Never played receiver in high school, only quarterback and cornerback Played both football and baseball at Tennessee Had one of the most prolific seasons for a UT freshman: 70 rec, 1080 yards, 7 TD Was 22 as a freshman because of a failed attempt at a baseball career.  In 4 seasons as a Marlins prospect: .213 avg, 9 HR, .270 OBP Left for the NFL after [...]

So on The Ebony Bird, we’re in a time right now where there’s not tons of news about the Ravens, so new ideas have to be generated.  As I said before, I’ll be doing a player spotlight series.  This will be the subjects of  the future posts.  This isn’t really in any order, but Washington will be the first, and will be up by Friday. Kelley Washington, WR Paul Kruger, DE Chris Carr, CB Dominique Foxworth, CB Cedric Peerman, RB Drew Willy, QB Graham Gano, K Steve Hauschka, K Daniel Ellerbee, LB Tavares Gooden, LB Jameel McClain, LB Lardarius Webb, [...]

I found myself wondering why exactly we Ravens fans despise the Steelers so much.  So, I pulled an Abraham Lincoln and started jotting down ideas on a napkin.  Here is my final list of 20. They’re pretty good.  People always hate the successful Their city smells terrible Their color scheme is the color of acidic diarrhea Their city smells terrible Their quarterback somehow wins a lot of games even though he isn’t really that good a QB They always find the diamond in the rough coaches Their fans are stupid and crazy THEIR CITY SMELLS TERRIBLE They don’t like crabs [...]

So, today Peter King released his pre-pre-pre season power rankings.  He ranked the Ravens #8, which I believe is a fair ranking. Personally, he’s not my favorite NFL writer, but he works hard and that shows in his stuff.  Check the full power rankings out here, I’m just going to provide the Ravens’ blurb. 8. Baltimore Quick. Who is Greg Mattison? You’re a big fan, and you didn’t even recognize the name of the new Baltimore defensive coordinator. The big challenge for Mattison will be to get this group to respond to him the way it responded to Rex Ryan. But Ray Lewis and [...]

So FanSided, this blog’s network, is starting to expand and grow quickly.  They’ve added tons of baseball blogs and many NBA blogs.  They even have an NHL presence, and their Capitals blog is excellent, if you’re a local Caps fan.  They just launched a great new home site last week, and now it is finally full-functional.  The design is great, and it has a nice dropdown menu for all the blogs.  Sorry about the lack of good posts lately, this is finals week, and my schedule should be cleared up soon.   fansided.com

After the season, Fabian Washington had surgery to fix up his neck and shoulder.  I got an email from the PR Coordinator at IMG Academies, an all-sports school/complex that has produced some great athletes over the years.  Fabian lives in Bradenton, FL where the academy is, and he participated in a Q&A session with the blogger at the academy.  Definitely check it out, it seems like he’s one of these guys who are going to be a big part of the team that we don’t know much about.  Since there are more than a couple of these, for most of [...]

This event will be awesome.  Guess what it is, a spelling bee.  I received an email from Kat Kirsch, one of the directors of the event, and here it is, directly copied and pasted for you.  You should definitely at least try to get there, I think that I will be in attendance and contending for the win: CAN YOU SPELL F-L-A-C-C-O?   ESPN ZONE HOSTS SECOND ANNUAL  SPORTS SPELLING BEE COMPETITION   Fans Square Off in Sports Spell-Off, Vie for Sports Spelling Bee Title   WHAT: Timed with the 82nd Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, ESPN Zone will pay tribute [...]

The Jets are apparently interested in former Titans and Cowboys cornerback, but more importantly, notorious felon Pacman Adam Jones.  After the Jets became Ravens North this offseason, signing defensive stars Bart Scott and Jim Leohnard from Baltimore, and attempting to ink nickel back Corey Ivy, the 2nd-best team in New York wants the guy whose nightly routine is hanging out at strip clubs at 2:30 AM.  His agent is hoping that he signs with a team before training camp, but my question is, “who would ever want to be his agent?” Now, this paragraph is where this story gets interesting.  The [...]