Quick, who said this?
“When this happened last year, that was something I took to heart. I think that goes back to, ‘What was really important to me?’ And that was the relationships. How can I build better relationships. I didn’t put my head in the sand and just say ‘Everyone’s wrong.’ I felt I had to look into myself and figure out a way to make people know that I cared about them, make time for relationships. Sometimes when you’re in a busy job, you kind of overlook some of those things. I felt that wasn’t the right thing to do, and how was I going to work on that? … For people to not know how you feel, whether it’s your friends or your family, that’s hurtful to me.”
Hint: He works for a team in the National Football League. Answer below.
X X X
John Scott has been resuscitated and freed to achieve his destiny as the captain of the Pacific Division All-Stars, which has caused hockey purists across two countries to gnash each others’ teeth in a disturbingly kinky display of dental hijinks. Of course, purists of any kind are to be avoided at all costs because they are just plain buzzkills, but in this case, with something as transcendently useless as the NHL All-Star Game (any format, any time), they are particularly miserable because they try to impose integrity and dignity upon a cheap and perishable bit of fluffy nonsense – like buying a home and having it redecorated like a 1950s style New Orleans brothel.
In short, hell yes John Scott, and nothing else matters.
[RELATED: Despite trade and demotion, Scott to be at NHL All-Star Game]
X X X
Chip Kelly speaks tomorrow, and here’s hoping the presser goes like this:
“I’m the coach, and I won’t be taking any questions, now or ever, and neither will these two suits up here with me. I am far too important and our work too vital for me or them to be bothered by anyone. Now piss off, the lot of you.”
You’d run through a beaded curtain for the man, I tell you.
[MAIOCCO: Preview of Chip Kelly's first 49ers press conference]
X X X
Arsenal defender Nacho Monreal just signed a new contract with the club, which matters only because his name is Nacho Monreal, which is the best.
X X X
A number of disenfranchised St. Louis Rams fans have asked Canadian Football League media relations hired fist Paulo Senra expanding to Missouri – one person suggesting St. Louis hold the team until Halifax gets a stadium built, another suggesting an entirely new team called the St. Louis Roughrams. The last time the CFL tried this (the Baltimore Stallions nearly colonized the entire country), it swore off the States forever, but now that everybody has Grey Cup fever (as the perfect antidote to Super Bowl Seizures), Senra chose to reply with kindness and vague hope for a grander future.
Yes, I thought it was a particularly cruel forfeit as well.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
[Ratto at the 2015 Grey Cup]
X X X
This is the perfect Super Bowl Week place to crash – as long as you don’t need to sit, stretch your arms or legs, or crane your neck.
X X X
Pete Rose is the latest inductee into the Cincinnati Reds hall of fame. Who wants to bet he wears a Phillies cap for the plaque? Other than him, I mean.
[RELATED: Reds to induct Rose to team's Hall of Fame, retire No. 14]
X X X
Canada’s a nice place these days (well, all days, really, but let’s not be pedantic), but it’s especially good to be Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock, whose salary has jumped nearly a third, to $9 million/year, because like all NHL players and staff, his eight-year, $50M deal is based on the American dollar, which is currently pegged at $1.45 Canadian.
But not every player thrives, according to James Mirtle of the Toronto Glove and Mail, quoting former player and money manager Stewart Gavin. “The player it hurts the most is a U.S.-based player who has his life there that consumes U.S. dollars. They’re seeing that hit on escrow and a net loss of their income. A Canadian player can lose it on the salary, but then he picks some up on the currency exchange. We’re doing some trades here recently at close to 44 (extra) cents on the dollar. It’s nice when they see that lift.”
And here in the States? Players still have to hear about political debates in a Presidential cycle, which are their own form of unauthorized torture.
X X X
Answer: Former and future Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, who fell afoul of both Chip Kelly and Tom Gamble and has now gotten warm-and-cuddly religion ever since team owner Jeffrey Lurie talked about how important the niceties of human behavior are on the job.
Why this is important: We can compare and contrast them to what we get Wednesday morning in Santa Clara. If we get anything at all, that is.
X X X
And finally, the San Diego Chargers have copyrighted “Los Angeles Chargers,” for the obvious reason. The Oakland Raiders, for their part, have copyrighted “The World Is A Possibility For The Raider Nation,” because Mark Davis lives in a happy and uncomplicated world.