Are you smarter than a NFL Quarterback?

Have you all heard of the Wonderlic exam? This thing is pretty interesting. Essentially, its the SAT's for college quarterbacks. It has 50 questions and last 12 minutes and is supposed to test a qb's ability to make quick decisions, pattern formation, etc.

Because you know, algebra is SO essential in football, right?

But, with the draft coming up, I was wondering who had the highs and lows and how it actually reflected on their playing ability. The average score is 21, and the highest reported contemporary player got a 48 in NINE minutes. That would be Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bills quarterback and Harvard graduate. With a 3.7 GPA. In economics. Hopefully this means he will invest his millions of dollars well, and not end up on a VH1 show after his NFL career.

So if he is the current highest, who is the lowest? Good ol' Wikipedia (confirmed by Walters Football Site...not sure how reputable it is, but accuracy isn't REALLY what this site is about) states that Vince Young supposedly scored a 6 on his first try. Which means he got his name right? Maybe? He apparently retook the test, and got a 16. I'm pretty sure all that "jump" indicates is that he is a bad guesser. 

However, maybe the big test is of emotional intelligence. Vince Young ended up having a huge blow out and Terrell Owens style melt downs, and got traded to be the back up QB to Michael Vick of the Eagles. Yep, backup to the guy who organized dog fighting. Bet he never anticipated his career ending THAT way...

This is the guy who scored a 48?

After reading about the test, of course I wanted to know how I would do. I have a college degree (2!) and a Masters...I must do okay on the test, right? (Good god I hope I do) 

On ESPN's fake Wonderlic indicator (i'm sure its as accurate as that mood ring I had in middle school) I got 11 out of the 15 fake questions in the 5 minutes. Maybe I should give Ryan Fitzpatrick a call?

Try is! How did you do? 

Vegan athletes

I have recently gone vegan - survived four months of no cheese, which is a minor miracle!I have received all kinds of flak from my (male) co workers regarding my new diet, generally as they wolf down their 2nd helping of Popeyes.  I read a lot of vegan food blogs for recipe ideas and inspiration, and recently was on bodybuilding.com for some protein powder. I got to thinking - if they make this stuff, there has to be an audience outside of people like me.

Sure enough, there are quite a few. Not exactly what I would picture as vegans though. The first article I found was called "The 247lb vegan". That's one big dude, and none other than Tony Gonzalez, the hall of famer tight end.

Not exactly a small guy!

Another guy who I have never heard of, Mac Tanzig, is an MMA fighter who is vegan. He is a terrifying guy (MMA is kind of scary all together. But that's a whole other blog post). He apparently has gone vegan for ethical reasons. Ironic that a guy who professionally beats up people for a living feels bad about eating meat..

gross

The very, very best though is that there is a whole web site dedicated to vegan body builders. Its like this secret network of huge guys who share tofu recipes as they get oiled up in their mankini. Gross, but kind of fascinating. Their daily diets resemble elephants. 

And just the other day I read that the Williams sister's are not only going vegan, but raw too. That is intense - I wonder if they will look any differently now?

Any other athletes that you know that are vegan? And more importantly, will the Williams sisters start to look different on this raw diet?

Tim Tebow dating Taylor Swift

I'm sure i'm not the first on the internet to have this idea, but really - it's brilliant.

I'm no huge fan of Tim Tebow. God knows that he is everywhere these days. ESPN was pretty much the Tebow Network. Tebowing, then Teboozing, swept over Christmas parties and sports bars at least in the Tampa area, (I cant even imagine what Colorado was like), and my dear co-worker will send out the Tebow news story of the day, no matter how hard we try to unsubscribe. He just is not that great of a QB, he is no where near the Brady department, and i'm still waiting for his sex scandal to come out, but besides all that, he seems like a nice guy.

I watched some interview with him (which of course I cannot find) where he talked about his upcoming match against Kyle Orton (who formerly played ahead of him on the Broncos, then was traded mid season due to popular demand by the Broncos fans) and all he had to say was something along the lines of: He is a nice guy, I wish him the best, I'm rooting for him.

SERIOUSLY?

I mean, a nice change from the trash talking days of Terrel Owens, but come on. Its as believable as Taylor Swift being surprised for winning her 298th award for song of the year. I love T-Swizzle like you would not believe, but at some point there is TOO nice.

But maybe that is what would make them work. Taylor Swift is way public about her bad break ups and boyfriends (every song on every CD, practically). Imagine the lyrics she could come up with if her and Tebow broke up? I'm no song writer, but I can imagine something about a 50 yard line, scoring touch downs, and sacking her emotions. Maybe too racy for the two of them?


Well, there at least wont be any lines about intercepting his heart - he would have to throw the ball for that!

(look, they agree!)

What do you think? Plausible couple? Maybe we can get Patti Stanger to do a celebrity match maker...

Joe Flacco vs Mark Sanchez aka Battle of the Brows:

There are so many comparisons of football players -stats, skill levels and every measurement important to predicting the next win. But really, I care very little about stats and skills than I do appearance and back stories. So low and behold, the first of what I hope is a series of match ups.

I think everyone has seen Mark's latest magazine cover (how can you miss it!? Its awesome) and Joe is only known for the unibrow.  I’ve been a fan of these two since they entered the NFL (Joe, 2008, Mark in 2009.) Both ended up as rookie starters, and now both have made it to my Fantasy League.

Lets take a look at their draft photos to start the match up:

Check out the brows on both these guys. It’s something serious. I know Mark is known for his dimples (they are nice) check out the brows. They have potential to get seriously out of hand. And although Joe has gotten some help (see example here) Mark has had a better grip on his since the beginning. Probably someone mentioned to him he will be on National TV every. single. week.

Love life

No doubt Joe Flacco is the winner in this category.  Joe met his now wife, Dana, in his senior year of high school. Fast forward nine years, they are married in the same chapel his parents got married at. And not only is she super cute, she must be a pretty awesome chick to take these photos…

Close up…look, nice brows!

Ridiculously cute. And is Jason Prezant around to do my wedding?

Now…on to Mark.

Mark is a whole different story. Starting with his time a USC where he was accused of sexually assaulting a girl. NICE. Maybe there should be a club for him, Ben Rothlesburger and other great, stand up characters. Now, the charges were dropped and nothing else came from it, but still. You know Joe would never be in a situation like that.

Since the draft, there have been an endless string of girlfriend rumors. I didn’t really investigate all of them (honestly, there were WAY too many) but the most recent has him hooking up with a 17 year old girl. Way to go Ben, I mean Mark.

His first GQ ad is making a lot more sense....

Apparently being the 5^th draft pick makes you eligible for GQ?  Look at those thighs…yeecch.  And there are also rumors he has his last name tattooed on the inside of his lip. Gross.

Charity work

I'm going to call this one a draw. Mark has the worlds greatest back story when it comes to charity work. He works with the Atlas Foundation  which is kind of like the Make a Wish Foundation. Mark meets Aiden Binkley, a 11 year old with terminal cancer. What was supposed to be a one time meet turned into a friendship. From the article in ESPN:

“They became texting buddies and, one day, Sanchez surprised Aiden's parents 

by asking, "Can I come over?" When Sanchez arrived, the boy was sleeping.

 Sanchez sat at Aiden's feet, waiting until he woke up.

"He opened his eyes and there was Mark, sitting on the couch," Lisa said. 

"He was so sweet."They ended up having a long conversation, like a couple of old friends. 

Aiden took Sanchez to his bedroom and showed him his sports stuff, including his hockey stick.”   

(Read the whole story here…worth the time!)   

Super sweet! (and I'm going to avoid any creepy references here, because the article really makes it awesome and not weird that he wants to hang out with 11 year olds)

But now onto Joe…there isn’t anything as well publized as Mark’s story, but what you can dig up is freakin phenomenal. Currently they are selling Flaccos Unibrow’s to raise money for the Raven’s Courage House and St. Vincents. Flacco fully endorsed this, and that are pretty sexy, if I do say so myself.

Last year he went as “the Situation” to a Halloween charity fundraiser, and went as far as shaving lightning bolts and the state of New Jersey into his head. No spray tan though, he was still his trademark translucent color.  Can't wait for this years costume....

Stats

In actual football stats, Mark tops Joe. But only slightly.  Mark may have better stats, but this blog isn’t about stats. Its about back stories, and the people. But in case someone asks....

                               Joe                                         Mark

                          Rating:                  80.9                                       78.2
                          Yards:                   3610                                       3474
                          Touch Downs:      20                                           26

My winner? Joe Flacco!

What do you think?

Tips for successfully choosing a sports bar

If you find yourself heading to a sports bar, instead of say, having a nice brunch or a picnic outside, here are some ideas to survive the day.

A smoke free bar.
Even if you are a smoker, no one wants to sit in a cloud of toxic gas for 4 or 5 hours. And smokers, at a non smoking bar you have a GREAT reason to excuse yourself every 15 or 20 minutes or so.

Find the food
Try to negotiate a bar with good food. Not that hot wings at hooters isn’t awesome every now and then, but if this is a regular experience you will need something that doesn’t get topped with blue cheese dressing. I started to resemble a lineman by the end of my first football season. 

Company
If you can convince a girlfriend to come by and visit you, DO IT! It will help pass the time substantially. Group viewings are always a smart idea – someone will be willing to talk to you. On that same note, never, ever, go with your guy and one of his friends. I guarantee that the time will be spent drooling on yourself as they sit  in silence except for the occasional exclamation about some play. They will then look surprised/annoyed when you try to make conversation.  (nope, not bitter…)

Entertainment
Iphone, Kindle, Ipad, book…hell an Etch-a-Sketch will do in times like these. The people watching will be good, but even that can only last so long.

Attire
Comfort is king here. If you get stuck sitting around eating wings and drinking beer, elastic waistbands are your friend.  Warm clothes are good (why IS the a/c always up so high?)  Sheknows.com Suggests wearing something cute and low cut, but Im not so sure She REALLY know. Why give him cleavage AND sports? Talk about a two for one. What do you get? A bunch of drunks yelling at a TV screen? Not even Mark Sanchez can make that okay. Save the boobs for the picnic or brunch. 

If none of this works, drink heavily and start planning next weekend. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!


New Year's is a great time to start new things, including this blog. I have played around with the idea of doing this for a while - even went as far as getting a twitter feed and creating a few posts to "get ready". Obviously getting ready basically equaled never posting.


I'm saying forget organizing, planning and prepping, I'm just going to write. Get out there and just play (to keep on a sports metaphor) and see where the blog takes me. It will be rooted in sports, but be more of a space for  random comments and thoughts as I spend my weekends in sports bar.


Here I go!