Tretakoff Musings

It's been one heck of an offseason for the nation's most popular sport. The greatest quarterback of all time up and left the team he's been with for 2 decades for sunny Tampa (oh, and he inspired his Hall of Fame tight end to come out of retirement to join him). The NFL Draft will be in two days and, for the first time, entirely virtual and socially distant , thanks to the ravages of the 2019-2020 pandemic (I'm tired of typing "covid-19." "CV19," or "novel coronavirus;" looking for a substitute). We have two state of the art stadiums opening this year (in LA and Las Vegas ), as well as a team moving to a new city (say hello to the Las Vegas Raiders; I'm still not used to seeing those words together). But none of that matters. We need to talk about the important stuff here. The things that make football fans be fans.  The things that light up the hearts of those of us that follow the game, as well as those retailers that despera...

In case you missed it, professional football is back. Ok, at least semi-professional football. The XFL, having burst on the scene years ago as a half baked cocaine-induced, steroid fueled reimagining of football and professional wrestling. It went about as well as you can imagine, lasting a single season with nothing to show for it than " He Hate Me " jerseys and Tommy Maddox's improbable redemption. It's biggest curse was not the insanity of it's additions, but the poor quality of football play: it was all style and no substance. This weekend, XFL 2.0 kicked off, and they have learned from the past iterations. I took in all 4 of the inaugural games, and tweeted my observations. I've collected them here, and augmented, so enjoy! Thoughts on the #XFL2020 so far: - Love the kickoff change. Much safer. - Post TD choices are silly. - Houston's uniforms look fantastic. LA's & DC's look completely generic. Seattle's look surpris...

Very cool feature from Yahoo! Sports, when you play their Fantasy Football game: they use a company to create simulated news stories , based on your fantasy performance in the week. Hadn't seen this before, but, now that my team has advanced to the Super Bowl (against my brother in law), I was amused by the simultaneous pseudo fame, as well as the rueful harbinger for the automated threat to journalism. On to next week's big game! Go Cowboys! Playoffs: Marin Cowboys Brings Down SB CHAMPS G-MEN Marin Cowboys (10-5) 117.14 SB CHAMPS G-MEN (9-6) 86.64 Alfred Morris put up 21.30 points and Julio Jones scored 21.20 as Marin Cowboys beat SB CHAMPS G-MEN, 117.14 - 86.64. Marin Cowboys has been just plain unbeatable and has now won seven straight. This win avenges a 90.38 - 77.68 loss to SB CHAMPS G-MEN back in Week 8. Marin Cowboys Smooth Moves With 21.30 points against a projected 13.63, Alfred Morris ranked ninth in the league in scoring and has now overachieved in four...

Apologies to those readers who are not football fans, Dallas Cowboys fans, or fans of uniform minutiae. You might want to skip this post, if those subjects are not what you are interested in. It's Thanksgiving week, and that means we have the great tradition of Thanksgiving Day NFL football. For many years, there have been two teams that have played on that day: the Detroit Lions and my own favorite, the Dallas Cowboys. While the two teams do not play each other, they each host a nationally televised game, and the coincidence of both teams sporting blue and silver color schemes is always fun. Of course, the irony is that, for this game only, both teams break out the special uniforms which are often a departure from their normal ones. Sometimes, they are throwbacks, like these Detroit gems . Other times, they are these atrocities like Dallas briefly wore; these days, Dallas sticks to their official "throwbacks, " which are...meh. However, as a longtime Dallas Cowb...

A few months ago, I heralded the impact iPads were having on the NFL . Specifically, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had ditched their behemoth playbooks for the sleek, infinitely better tablet edition. Unfortunately, in all great movements, there are the occasional setbacks, and this one has temporarily sacked the Bucs. The players forgot to charge the iPads . Let me emphasize that again: the Bucs have shifted back (at least for now) to monstrous paper playbooks, losing the ability to have accompanying video and animation, because some players who are paid millions of dollars can't figure out that shiny thing with the 12 hour battery occasionally needs to sip a little performance enhancement? And the Bucs spent the bucks to get those tablets in the hands of the players, but can't run a few power strips and charging cords to the locker room? Seriously? Look, these players all have cell phones and seem to have them charged with no issue. I'd bet good money that they all hav...

More great news from the killing paper front: another team in the NFL has decided to shift from paper-based playbooks to the tablet (in this case, like so many, the iPad). The Denver Broncos have decided to join the Baltimore Ravens and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in tossing out the massive, obsolete and frequently outdated complicated NFL playbooks in favor of an iPad. This is a trend that needs to continue. Now, maybe Denver feels the time is right, as they have a new quarterback who is known for calling his own plays at the line, but the fact that this is updateable, and can be enhanced with actual video of the team running the play, means this is a trend that's here to stay. And who knows? Much like videogames have trained an entire generation to be future Air Force drone aircraft operators, or have influenced cockpit display design , who's to say that the next Bill Parcells won't use their version of Madden on the iPad to parlay into an NFL head coaching job? It...

I just have to say, Bill Simmons' Grantland has matured and blossomed: it has become a staple for me for funny, insightful sports and culture related reading. If you are a fan of good writing and sports, there is frankly nothing better out there. Some examples, just from today: The staff of Grantland published a recap of the emails exchanged between the staff during yesterday's NFL Championship games.  "The move to hire multiple ex-Oz cast members to shill for insurance companies fascinates me. We're one step away from Simon Adebisi holding a machete to somebody's neck until they tearfully agree to switch their renter's insurance."  "I'll be shocked if Gronkowski doesn't have a sizable role in the Expendables sequel."  "How severe a neck injury would Peyton Manning have to suffer to keep him out of commercials? I think it'd take a full decapitation, and even then he'd probably still get in some New Era ads." ...

With this weekend's NFL title games, it seems the subtext is the spectre of the rematch between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. Bill Simmons sums it up best with his column today : Q: Since you never answer my long thought-out mailbag questions, I'm going to ask you a simple one. What you and your dad gonna do when Patriots vs Giants II runs wild on you? Could a new Level of Losing be created? — Pat Frappier, Ottawa SG: Why do people keep sending me (or any other Patriots fan) this e-mail? Here's a newsflash: If the Patriots make it to the Super Bowl, we ALL want the Giants. Don't you realize that would be the best possible way to extinguish every awful memory from Super Bowl 42? And that we'd have a chance to do it in Indianapolis, the scene of the other Super Bowl that got away, when the Pats blew a 20-point lead to the 2006 Colts and gakked a third-and-3 that could have ended the game (and led to a trouncing over Rex G...

I was checking out a story on Chris Simms , the occasional backup quarterback for the Titans and son of former NY Giants QB, Phil Simms. I've always admired the guts of this man, as he played an entire half of a football game with a ruptured spleen. That's seriously  tough. Anyway, I was amused that the story, about Simms losing a key ruling in a traffic stop where he was suspected to be under the influence of marijuana, described him in a "zombie" like state. The ad that ran intext with the article? Shows Saints QB Drew Brees in a state that could easily be described as "zombie like." That's either really good ad targeting or really bad ad targeting. Either way, makes for a funny distratcion!

As Bill Maher likes to call Fantasy Football, I finished 2nd this year, my best finish since 2007. This year, I started with the stalwart Tony Romo and Chris Johnson, and ended up relying on Josh Freeman and DeSean Jackson to upset the #'s 4 and 1 seeds to the eventual 11 point defeat in the Championship. Luckily, since there was some $ on the line, it might help to cover the side bet of lunch and a bottle of wine I will be paying out to the perennial champion, Steve. Congrats to Dread, but remember: it's not just revenge I'll be after; it's a reckoning.

No, the NFL season continues on. But my Fantasy season has come to an inglorious end. I've had several great seasons , but this one doesn't rank up there. In 2006, I took it all. 2007, I came 1 win short of the title. Last year, I snuck into the playoffs after having given up, and managed to even get through the first round. This season? Not so much. Despite having the #1 pick of the draft (which I did NOT arrange for, as commissioner, despite conspiracy theories to the contrary) which I used on fantasy stud Adrian Peterson, and my beloved Cowboy gunslinger Tony Romo as my QB, and even a new iPhone app to manage my team , I failed to make the playoffs for the first time in my fantasy career. I finished on a high note, as the image shows here, with yet another strong performance. In fact, in my league, I scored the 4th most points all season. Yet I could not overcome the attention deficit that my work life imposed, causing me to make late adjustments and poor lineup choices. Th...

Great news for football fans: DirecTV's " Red Zone" service will now be available to non-DirecTV subscribers , as part of a new deal between the NFL and the satellite carrier. What is Red Zone? "The Red Zone channel works much like the NFL Network's pre-season No Huddle program that goes from game to game. The premise of the Red Zone Channel is to bounce from game to game as a team moves the ball inside their opponents 20-yard line. A narrator alerts the viewer to an on-screen game change with a brief explanation of what is currently going on in that game." Best of all, hidden in the announcement was this juicy morsel: "Under terms of the deal with the satellite carrier, the “Red Zone” channel that shows live cut-ins from all Sunday afternoon games will be available to cable TV, wireless devices and the Internet. " NFL on iPhone, baby! Woo-hoo! Only 6 more months until the season kicks off with the Patriots against T.O's new team, the Bills. O...

The Bill Parcells soap opera continues this week, and not for the reasons you might expect. Sure, three coaches in the NFL have just been axed, and more are likely to follow, and normally when you hear about coaching opportunities, a huge shadow looms over each: Parcells (although the other Bill, Cowher, is starting to compete). The latest drama is on his success with the Miami Dolphins as the head of football operations. Turns out, his contract is unique in that if the owner sells the team, he can walk away, and be fully paid for his whole contract. So, the hand wringing begins: will he stay or won't he? This is a guy who twice put his hall of fame election on hold by refusing to stay unretired and come out to restore respectability to a franchise, so who's to say he won't again? He's had the magic touch, both as a coach and an executive, for now five major NFL franchises. He brought the New York Giants two Superbowl rings. He brought the Patriots to a Superbowl. He...

Yesterday, as I sat in the House Of Blues in Las Vegas, I almost choked on my sandwich. The TV above the bar reported that my beloved Dallas Cowboys had two major developments : Adam "Pacman" Jones was suspended again by the NFL for a recent altercation in a men's room. That one, I had no issues with; Pacman, despite his once great talent, is a trouble magnet, and he simply should have known better than to get in any altercation, misunderstood or otherwise. Sure, it's unfortunate that the secondary lost a proven talent, and, combined with the injury to Terrence Newman, will be a tough loss. No, it was the second headline that got me: Roy Williams , one of Detroit's famous three straight top WR draft picks, was coming to the Cowboys, in return for multiple draft picks, including a first round pick next year. How does this make any sense? The Cowboys already have T.O., who is clearly one of the NFL's top receivers. He has recently been starting to pull his frust...

Very savvy move by NFL.com: today, they promote a feature that lets football fans create their own highlight packages , complete with video, classic sound, and graphics. This type of loosening of the tightly controlled ties is what makes fans excited, and gets viral. The only miss? An easy, visible way to share your videos as embeds on your site. Sure, it's free, so they want to drive traffic to NFL.com to view, but we already have YouTibe; do we not realize there is a market level of expectation? That aside, I'm damn impressed. And kudos for the classic NFL Films soundtracks to boot!

Good news today on the new cast of Inside The NFL, now on Showtime. Replacing Bob Costas, Dan Marino, and Cris Carter are Phil Simms and James Brown; Chris Collinsworth will be the lone holdover. I'm so happy to see JB in a non-CBS environment. He was the glue of the Fox pregame show for many years; it ain't the same without him. I'll miss Costas' no holds barred approach, but JB, you had me at hello.

Years ago, a fledgling cable network, The Discovery Channel, was desperate to draw viewers. Their traditional focus of science-based programming was only getting the PBS-crowd, and not even as many, so they expanded their breadth by moving into the occasional documentary. In one, they followed a father and son in upstate New York who were making a family go of building custom motorcycles. The documentary focused on the mix of combustible personalities, how hard it was for family to work together, but how they overcame differences and leveraged their individual strengths to produce a uniquely American piece of craftsmanship. It was a hit, and the network jumped on it, turning the profile into a full series, American Chopper . What made the series work in the early years were the absolutely climactic battles between Paul Jr., who's innovative designs and creative focus were breathtaking, and Paul Sr., who overcame personal demons to forge a business, but longed to marry his metalwork...

Good news today for NFL Films fans like me. Courtesy of the always-entertaining MJD , word comes that the venerable Inside The NFL that has aired on HBO almost since its inception, has risen from the dead . For those that were not aware, this past season was the last of the highlight show's long run, leaving Dan Marino, Bob Costas, Cris Carter, and Chris Collinsworth out of a job. Of course, they had those cushy Sunday morning gigs to fall back on, and Costas is practically his own brand by now, so not too many tears. But Showtime wisely recognized the built-in audience, and swept in to revive it. No word yet if the staff is back, too, but one can hope that the NFL Films staff members that were laid off as a result of HBO's earlier decision will be back. How about it, Dan? Kick in a little of that salary?