PRESEASON WEEK THREE PREVIEW SPECTACU—oh, whatever.

This weekend marks Week 3 of the NFL Preseason, which as ESPN and sports talk radio will constantly remind you is the first meaningful slate of games of the season as the starters oftentimes play deeper into the second half and the playbooks are more compl—BORING.

Preseason football sucks, regardless of what week it is. The only thing separating it from watching the kids on your block play with a Nerf ball is that you deal with less judgmental glares from those around you as you watch it. Note that I said less, not none. You should be judged if you are excited to watch these games.



That bit of business out of the way, let's get PUMPED for the first annual JT O Sullivan Lives Preseason Week Three Preview Spectacular! Let the "games" begin!

The Worst We Have to Offer

Football is back, and once again I spend my weekends staring at a TV screen, watching people I only vaguely care about deliver head and neck injuries to their colleagues in the interest of advancing an oblong spheroid across an imaginary plane. This probably says something quite damning about my morals and character, but this is the culture in which I was raised and I shall likely continue to do so as long as I live in the Land of the Free.

I enjoy this all for some perverse reason, but it always makes me feel slightly gross at the same time. Nothing, though, makes me feel grosser than those uncomfortable times before and between actual football games. The networks that profit from this whole professional football thing place a handful of former gridiron tradesmen together at a table, place one slick TV 'personality' to their left, and leave them to talk about weekly goings on for hours at a time. I attempt to watch these displays in the interest of becoming better 'informed' about something that my brain already wastes entirely too much energy on, but they always make me feel bad about myself, my country, and my species. A sticky, gritty feeling starts brewing in my stomach, as if I had just taken one rather large lick of the floor of a New York City subway car.

Packer Predictions: Weeks 15-17

How to make these last three contests as exciting and compelling as possible? Well, I have a hunch. I think the season's going to play out in a way that will assure shockingly high Nielson ratings, ecstasy amongst ESPN talking heads, and a death blow to all Tebow talk.  Here we go:

Week 15: A call is placed to a rural Mississippi area code Saturday evening. A 40-something man looking haggard, distressed, and dissatisfied slowly moves toward his phone. It's an old Sports Illustrated football phone. Not cordless, but it's always done the job. He grabs the receiver and in a earthy drawl asks: "Who the hell is it?" A few seconds of silence. "Brett, this is Scott Pioli, the general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs." A few more seconds go by. "I've been waiting for your call," Brett responds. "I'll be at Arrowhead tomorrow morning."

While Kyle Orton sulks on the sidelines, Brett Favre somehow breathes some life into a horrible offense. He doesn't look young, but he's hanging in there, converting some key third downs and taking advantage of two straight possessions in which the Packers are forced to punt. With two minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs get the ball and find themselves down only six points. It's clear to everyone watching that this was somehow destined to happen. Brett's last hurrah. The offense steadily moves down the field, and find themselves on the Packer 40 yard line. 35 seconds to go and one timeout remaining. Brett lines up under center, surveys the defense. Looks like cover 2. A hard count. Favre takes the snap, drops back three steps, goes through his first read, second read, then sees something out of the corner of his eye. Stevie Breaston - Brett pump fakes once, then launches a bullet. One of the fastet balls you've seen. Into triple coverage. Tramon Williams returns it for a touchdown. Final Score: Packers 37, Chiefs 24.

No Soup For You, Minnesota: Donovan McNabb to be Released by Vikings

ESPN's Adam Scheftler is reporting that Donovan McNabb's reign in Minnesota is soon to be over, with the Vikings planning to release the veteran quarterback by the end of the day.

McNabb started in five games for the Vikings this year where his biggest impact to the team was promoting Vikings punter Chris Kluwe's band "Tripping Icarus" during a post-game press conference.

Happy Trails McNabb. May many songs of glory be sung about your Vikings tenure. And may they all be sung by the band "Tripping Icarus."

JTOSL Podcast Episode 3: Turkey Talk

Our GI tracts still clogged with gravy, we analyze why the Lions weren't able to give the Packers as much trouble as they should have, why the Bears lost to a team that drafts kickers in the first round, and why the Vikings stink.  Looking ahead to the coming games, Tristan doesn't have that feeling, Josh is pessimistic, and Alex thinks Kyle Orton is a "golden god."

JTOSL 112911 by Tristan Dreisbach on Mixcloud

Fear the Bears? Or Fear the Beard?

Kyle Orton is currently listed third on the Kansas City Chief's QB depth chart. This will afford drunken Bears fans the opportunity of throwing old number eighteen replica jerseys at him as soon as the first Hanie incompletion hits the Kentucky bluegrass of Soldier Field. Hanie's uneven quarterback performance has many Chicago faithful looking wistfully back at a time where the man behind center was more consistently a winner and more consistently sporting a beard on his neck.

Lay Off My Boy

"I didn't do it on porpoise!"

I've drafted several posts about the Ndamukong Suh situation--its something that clearly needs to be addressed. I've thought about several different angles. I'm irritated, as I have expressed already in the short life of this blog, that the media is spending more time talking about it than about actual football. I'm irritated that people are overreacting. I'm irritated that he made a bonehead play and really hurt our team in that game and potentially in future games if he is unable to play due to a suspension. There's really not that much else to say. I am compelled to post however, because there is one thing that nobody is saying. There is one thing I can't get past, that I would like people to remember when forming their opinions of Ndamukong Suh, a player whose personality I've never liked, but whose work ethic and professionalism off the field have never left me concerned about him as a member of the team for which I root.


Ndamukong Suh is just 24 years old. He is in his second year as a professional. How did you act in the second year of your career? You may not have kicked anybody, but you certainly made some mistakes. Suh cannot get much better physically. Most NFL players can't. The reason players get better for the first few years of their careers is because they get smarter. They gain experience. They learn. Give the kid a break. He's got a long career ahead of him.