Scott Fujita signs one-day contract in Machu Picchu
Fujita Always Made Me Think Of Fajitas
Former NFL linebacker Scott Fujita announced his retirement on Monday while sitting on top of Machu Picchu.
“What better place to reach the end of the road than here at 10,000 feet above sea level, in the Peruvian Andes overlooking Machu Picchu with my dear friend Steve Gleason?” Fujita said. “I’ve been fortunate to play in this league for a long time and for some great organizations, but there is no doubt that my times spent in New Orleans were some of the best years of my life. The way the team and the community embraced us when we first arrived, and the way they continue to do so, even today, shows how deep this connection is. I’m honored to be a part of this organization and so proud to retire as a New Orleans Saint.”
Sean Payton parties at the Playboy party
Good Times
How does one celebrate a new contract? If you’re New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton you do what I would do and head to the Playboy Super Bowl party.
Saints claim their bus was egged at Atlanta airport
Class
Upscale travel is one of the many luxuries that NFL players enjoy. But the New Orleans Saints received a rude welcome to Atlanta ahead of Thursday night’s game with the Falcons when their ride was egged Wednesday by airport workers.
Backup quarterback Chase Daniel was the first Saints player to tweet about it:
“Wow, as we’re boarding buses on the Tarmac @ Atlanta airport, we start getting eggs thrown @ us by airport workers! Guess they do hate us!”
Tight end Jimmy Graham chimed in shortly after.
“Bus just got egged after landing in ATL by the ramp workers,” Graham wrote on Twitter. Classy! ‘RISE Up’ smh.”
Mama Margie’s Major Meltdown: Marcus Vick
Marcus Vick
Every Thursday Sports Grind Entertainment will present you with the Mama Margie’s Major Meltdown. The recipient of this honor goes to Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick’s brother Marcus who took to Twitter to voice his frustrations of seeing his brother sacked 7 times against the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football. Marcus was so upset he begged for his brother o be traded out of the city of brotherly love and complained about the offensive line. It was so much of a meltdown that reports had asked Michael to responded on it shortly after the 28-13 loss.
Vicks Alters Drew Brees Birthmark In Ad
Trademark
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has a birthmark on his left cheek but according to Vicks newst ad campaign they decided it should be moved over to the right side. The image on the left is correct. The image on the right shows a birthmark on Brees’ left cheek that doesn’t actually exist.
Atari Bigby’s Player Introduction
It started with “The U” and “THE Ohio State University” before evolving to high schools and even Pop Warner teams. But now NFL players are just making up whatever they please during the starting lineup introductions of primetime network games. We’ve seen this before with alma maters like Ike Taylor’s “Swaggin” and Terrell Suggs’ “Ball So Hard University” but have a new one from San Diego Chargers safety Atari Bigby from the “University of Jah, Rastafari” during the Sunday night contest against New Orleans Saints.
Sean Payton Delivers Inspiring Speech To North Texas
Sean Payton is back in front of a football team but it’s not the New Orleans Saints instead it’s the University of North Texas, the first time he has addressed a football team in 3 months.
He talked about everything from challenges he faced with the Saints to the Mean Green’s season opener against LSU. He also talked about his current coaching gig with his son’s sixth-grade football team.
“I’ve got kids looking at dandelions and picking their boogers,” Payton said. “I’m trying to put in 50 plays.”
Sign At Jonathan Vilma’s Restaurant Says Not To Serve Roger Goodell
No Shirts, No Shoes, No Service
If NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell ever is looking for some BBQ in Miami there is one place he isn’t welcomed at, Brother Jimmy’s BBQ. The restaurant is owned in part by New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma.
A photo of Goodell is tape to a window at Brother Jimmy’s and in all caps surrounding the commissioner’s mug, the message reads: “DO NOT SERVE THIS MAN.”
The signs are indeed posted on all of the restaurant’s front windows and inside the dining room.
Brother Jimmy’s is also owned by Denver Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams, Carolina Panthers linebacker Jon Beason all of whom are University of Miami alums.
Sean Payton To Get A Divorce
First The Fat Boys Breakup
So with all the free time on his hands after being suspended by the NFL for the entire season, New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton has decided not to use the quality time with the wife, instead is getting divorced, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
In the filing for divorce from his wife Beth, he’s citing “discord or conflict of personalities between Petitioner and Respondent that destroys the legitimate ends of the marriage relationship and prevents any reasonable expectation of reconciliation.”
We have also learned that Beth has filed a counter-petition in the matter, asking for “exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the children in Tarrant County, Texas”, as well as the exclusive right to make decisions about the medical, legal and educational interests of the couple’s two children, and she has requested that Sean Payton pay child support.
This comes mere days away from the couple’s 20th wedding anniversary on July 11th.
Drew Brees Becomes Cab Driver
I knew finically it was gonna get rough for New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees but not so much that he had get a job as a cabbie. Actually Brees got behind the wheel to help spread the word about concussion prevention with the help of Dick’s Sporting Goods.
“Who Dat Cabbie?” features Brees engaging his passengers in a concussion-centric version of the popular Discovery program “Cash Cab.”
NFL Creates Anonymous Tip Line To Report Bounties
Bounties? We Don't Need No Stinking Bounties
While the denials that there was never a New Orleans Saints bounty program continue to get louder and louder, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell continues to stay the course of ridding the league of bounties.
After meeting with Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Goodell announced that the NFL would be creating a tip line for players to report infractions. The tip line would allow players to anonymously inform the league of the existence of bounties and bounty programs.
“We’ve taken very strong action to make sure they’re not part of sports going forward,” Goodell said. “And that the integrity of our game and the safety of our players is paramount. And that we’re going to take very aggressive steps to protect that.”
Along with the tip line, the NFL will send out communication to its teams “making it extremely clear that we have a policy, we’ve had a policy, and we will enforce our policies against bounties if violations occur.” They will also add a “bounties” section to player handbooks and hang posters promoting the tip line in locker rooms.
Mama Margie’s Major Meltdown: New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
Every Thursday Sports Grind Entertainment will present you with the Mama Margie’s Major Meltdown. The recipient of this honor goes to the New Orleans Saints trying to trash the NFL commissioner because of the bounty system they had. This includes quarterback Drew Brees who drew parallels of WMDs to the bounty system, assistant head coach Joe Vitt offering to take a lie detector to prove his innocents, Jonathan Vilma calling the proceedings a sham and former Saints player Anthony Hargrove saying it’s not his voice heard on NFL Films tapes.
Mickey Loomis To Help Run New Orleans Hornets
Bounty On Spurs Next?
Suspended New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis will have a prominent role in the front office of the city’s NBA team.
Loomis, suspended eight games by the NFL for his role in the Saints bounty scandal, will oversee basketball operations with the New Orleans Hornets general manager reporting to him.
Tom Benson agreed to purchase the Hornets last month for a reported $338 million.
In addition to the NFL suspension, Loomis is under investigation for possible wiretapping violations. Louisiana state law enforcement officials announced last month they are working with the FBI probing allegations that Loomis eavesdropped on opponents through listening devices at the Superdome.
Loomis, 55, will continue to run Saints football operations until the end of training camp. His NFL suspension begins with the regular season’s first week.
Free Sean Payton Rap Video
Apparently the hip hop community in New Orleans thinks Sean Payton needs to be freed. For those that agree that the NFL needs to stop hatin’ on Payton and the rest of the New Orleans Saints involved in the Bounty Gate scandal, than you will appreciate 504 Phat Boi’s new song “Free Sean Payton”.
Last I checked Payton is not locked up?
Sean Payton To Keep On Coaching
Seems So Long Ago Now
Suspended New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton says he will continue to coach during he’s year long suspension instead of taking a job as a football analyst.
Payton said he plans to spend more time with his family while he is away from the job and that includes coaching his 12 year old son Connor and his Dallas based team.
Payton said the support he has received from fans is “humbling.” Payton could take a television job but would not be allowed in NFL stadiums during the season.
“We’ve got the greatest fans in this sport,” Payton said. “There’s a close relationship that I … don’t take for granted.”
“I look forward to cutting the oranges, hauling the Gatorade and watching my son play every game — and being a part of calling plays for his offense and doing some things like that that really get me excited and I know get him excited.”
WTF: New Orleans Saints Fan
Pay Me The Money
The New Orleans Saints are going through football hell ever since the season ended. Their team lost their head coach for a year, their general manager and assistant head coach for six games all because of bounties and lying to Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Now new revelations have come up in the past couple of days about their general manager Mickey Loomis tapping visiting coach conversations for three years. All this has gone on and their fans have yet to find out which players will be suspended or for how long.
So what is a Saints fan suppose to do in this time of misery? Turn to comedy.
Filmmaker Says Releasing Gregg Williams Audio His Right
Fight The Fight
Documentary filmmaker Sam Pamphilon says he did not need authorization to release the controversial audio recording of former Saints assistant Gregg Williams. Over the weekend Steve Gleason, the retired Saints player who’s the subject of Pamphilon’s film, issued a statement saying “I feel deflated and disappointed. I feel frustrated and distracted.”
Gleason is battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and allowed Pamphilon to capture his struggle with the disease. He played for the Saints from 2000 to 2007 and maintains a strong relationship with the club, which has backed his efforts to improve the lives of those living with the debilitating symptoms of ALS.
Pamphilon and Gleason disagree on the terms of their agreement.
“We do have a production agreement that I followed,” Pamphilon told Yahoo! Sports. “I can’t understand why Steve would think it’s in his best interest to prevent me from telling the truth about Gregg Williams.”
Gleason claims otherwise, saying “nothing can be released without my explicit approval. … I did not authorize the public release of any recordings.”
Yahoo! Sports reported there’s nothing in the contract to prevent either Pamphilon or Gleason from releasing any material before the film is completed.
“It is true that from the beginning Steve and his wife (Michel) were opposed to releasing this footage and I felt strongly that the public had a right to hear this material and judge for themselves,” Pamphilon said.
“To this end, we agreed upon a third party, a person of high character who both Steve and I trust implicitly, to mediate and advise us on the final decision. When I received a call from this person saying to release the audio ‘the sooner the better,’ I did just that. … ”
“The material I shot with Steve this past year was unbelievably compelling and there was no doubt this film would have been HUGE,” Pamphilon continued in his statement to Yahoo! Sports. “In effect, yesterday, I gave up a sure thing, to do what myself and many other parents would consider the right thing. I feel as strongly today as I have from the beginning that the audio speaks for itself and that the public had a right to hear it.”
Senator Calls Hearing To Examine Bounties In NFL
Bounties? We Don't Need No Stinking Bounties
The Senate wants to grill the NFL about bounties. And the NBA, NHL, NCAA and Major League Baseball are invited, too.
Sen. Dick Durbin is setting up a Judiciary Committee hearing about bounties in professional football and other major sports in the wake of news that New Orleans Saints players received extra cash for hits that hurt particular opponents.
The assistant Senate majority leader, an Illinois Democrat, said Thursday he wants to examine whether federal law should make such bounty systems a crime.
“Let’s be real basic about it here. If this activity were taking place off of a sporting field, away from a court, nobody would have a second thought (about whether it’s wrong). `You mean, someone paid you to go out and hurt someone?’” Durbin said in a telephone interview before raising the issue on the floor of the Senate.
“It goes way beyond the rules of any sporting contest, at least team contest, to intentionally inflict harm on another person for a financial reward,” he said.
His announcement came a day after the NFL took a harsh stand on bounties, suspending Saints head coach Sean Payton for all of next season, and indefinitely banning their former defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams. Saints general manager Mickey Loomis was barred for half of 2012, an assistant coach got a six-game ban, and the team also was docked two second-round draft picks and $500,000.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell still needs to decide what penalties to give players who were involved in the Saints’ scheme from 2009-11.
“I am encouraged by what the National Football League did. What they came down with as a penalty on the New Orleans Saints was decisive and historic,” Durbin said, adding that he thought the league was “taking this very seriously.”
But moving forward, the NFL and other leagues must “come up with standards to make sure this isn’t going to happen again,” he said. Otherwise, lawmakers will need to “at least explore whether it is necessary to have federal legislation in this area.”
One possibility, Durbin explained, would be to extend federal sports bribery laws to cover bounties, so that “if someone offers in a team sports situation some sort of value, money or otherwise, to intentionally hurt another player, that, in fact, would be a crime.”
In an email to the AP, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello wrote: “Commissioner Goodell has taken strong action to ensure that bounties are eliminated from the NFL. We have not heard from Senator Durbin but would be pleased to discuss the matter with him.”
Under the bounty system overseen in New Orleans by Williams – who was hired in January by the St. Louis Rams – the targeted players included quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton, Brett Favre and Kurt Warner. “Knockouts” were worth $1,500 and “cart-offs” $1,000, with payments doubled or tripled for the playoffs.
According to the league, Saints defensive captain Jonathan Vilma offered $10,000 to any player who knocked then-Vikings QB Favre out of the 2010 NFC championship game.
Durbin isn’t sure when the hearing will happen, but he said it could be two to three weeks from now.
Warren Sapp Says Jeremy Shockey Is Saints Bounty Snitch
Snitches Get Stitches
NFL Network analyst Warren Sapp says he’s “heard” who the whistle-blower in the Saints bounty case is. When a Twitter follower of the former NFL player guessed Jeremy Shockey, Sapp responded, “BINGO!”
Shockey, a former tight end in New Orleans from 2008-2010, would have witnessed the first two years of the bounty program under def. coordinator Gregg Williams which paid defensive players for harming opponents.
Shockey responded incredulously to Sapp’s tweet: “really?? Wow did I also have something to do with the um scandal?”
Sapp was originally critical of the unidentified Saints’ “snitch” when the NFL released its findings in early March. Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White expressed a similar sentiment in a tweet Wednesday: “By the way y’all got a lot of snitches in your locker room and organization no loyalty”
Shockey is now a free agent after spending a season in Carolina Panthers. Both players attended the University of Miami, and Sapp spent 13 years in the league before retiring in 2007
NFLPA Launches Review Of New Orleans Saints Bounties
Saints Go Marching In
The NFL Players Association, just like the NFL, is deeply troubled by the reports of the New Orleans Saints’ bounty policy under former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, and is launching its own comprehensive review of the situation.
The NFLPA released a statement Wednesday to announce its intent to examine how the team violated the terms of league’s collective bargaining agreement.
“The NFLPA negotiated vigorously to protect our players from coercive actions that compromise health and safety. The current CBA contains detailed rules on what clubs and coaches can and cannot do in terms of practice schedules and places limitations on the amount of contact.
“These rules include how clubs and coaches can be punished for violations of those safeguards. The statements made by New Orleans Saints management and coaches confirm that they engaged in improper and coercive activities.”
Not only is Williams, now with the St. Louis Rams, under fire for his role in instituting a player reward system for injuring opponents, but his former colleagues in New Orleans, coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis, are also feeling the heat. All three have acknowledged the Saints had a bounty pool for big hits.
The NFLPA’s main goal is to take the necessary measures to better protect players going forward.
“If the facts prove that players voluntarily and willingly participated in conduct that jeopardized health and safety, we will work with them and the league to put in place additional safeguards to prevent this in the future,” the NFLPA statement continued.
“Dangerous play and acts on the field by players intended to injure have no place in football. We must do better to ensure that this activity is not a part of our game.”
Mama Margie’s Major Meltdown: New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
Every Thursday Sports Grind Entertainment will present you with the Mama Margie’s Major Meltdown. The recipient of this honor goes to the New Orleans Saints for the revelation that their players for three years had bounties on players and for slapping the franchise tag on Super Bowl winning quarterback Drew Brees.
New Orleans Saints GM Says Drew Brees Good But Not Great
Face
New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis has called Super Bowl winning quarterback Drew Brees “very good” when reporters called him “great” in an interview during at the NFL combine. This comes on the heels of the Saints possibly placing the franchise tag on Brews come Monday if no deal is struck.
The sides are around five million dollars apart on a new contract. The Saints are making moves to free up salary-cap money, such as a guaranteed deal for defensive end Will Smith that should free at least $5 million. That move will put the Saints at roughly $19 million under the salary cap, assuming the cap remains close to $120 million.
Brees, threw for an NFL-record 5,476 and 46 touchdowns last season and was named the NFL Offensive Player of the Year, The NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year, The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year awards, and the face of the NFL Players Association.
Saints Fan Shoots Two 49ers Fans After Win
It's Just A Game Man
Donald Ayro, a New Orleans Saints fan shot two men rooting for the San Francisco 49ers in the parking lot of an Applebee’s restaurant in Duluth, Ga. shortly after San Francisco eliminated New Orleans in the NFC Divisional playoff on Saturday.
Christopher Middleton was shot in the stomach and is in critical condition, while his friend Corey Adams suffered a minor wound to the head. Adams was treated at the scene and then was taken to identify Ayro, who police apprehended driving south away from the scene. Police arrested Ayro, 31, after he fled the scene. He was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
NFL Says Officials Made 2 Mistakes On Drew Brees Fumble
What Do You Think About That Mike Pereira
The NFL says officials in Saturday’s Detroit Lions-New Orleans Saints NFC Wild Card game erred twice on the same play.The league office made the admission in an email Sunday night. First, an inadvertent whistle negated a touchdown by the Lions after they ran back a Drew Brees fumble with 5:39 remaining in the second quarter. The TD would have given the Lions a 20-7 lead.
Then, referee Tony Corrente, who ruled that Brees had fumbled, incorrectly gave the ball to the Lions after the play was blown dead. By rule, the Saints should have retained possession because of the inadvertent whistle.
The league’s statement read in part: “Because the ruling on the field was a fumble, and the whistle came before the recovery, the play is dead because of the inadvertent whistle and the Saints should have retained possession of the ball. New Orleans would then have had the choice to put the ball in play at the spot where possession was lost or to replay the down. Inadvertent whistles are not reviewable.”
