Your morning roundup for Dec. 12, the day we learned the benefits of prison sojourns. Photo via Ryan W. Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors.
What we watched: On the Giants' second possession against the Cowboys, the New York offense had a 1st and goal from the four-yard line. Eli Manning threw consecutive fades to Hakeem Nicks and Travis Beckum, both of which fell incomplete. Not to go all Gregg Easterbook here, but I will never understand the fade—so many things can go awry. You have two boundary lines and a defensive back to contend with, and in most cases you wind up with nothing better than a jump ball. It seems like an overly complicated maneuver when you have, you know, four yards to go. Run the ball.
What we're watching (all times EST, unless noted): Manchester City at Chelsea in English Premiere League soccer at 2:50 (ESPN2). New Jersey at Tampa Bay in NHL hockey at 7 (Versus). St. Louis at Seattle in NFL football at 8:30 (ESPN).
Read Me
Bang it here for more: "I'm not sure what Mike Florio's purpose is, but his weekly appearances on NBC's Football Night in America are keeping him from discovering it. Each week, he faux-banters with Peter King while trying to make reading a Huffington Post listicle of the day's football news off an iPad2 seem natural. Usually it seems the opposite. Unengaged by news or analysis, the viewer is left to stare at Florio's complexion and let his mind wander. Instead of someone like Collinsworth or Dungy breaking down film, Florio reveals that some vampires aren't sexless teens, sexless Victorians or street-brawling brutes who also have sex. For some, the Dark Gift manifests as little more than looking like a pallid, venial, social-climbing CPA who apparently cannot die." [Et tu, Mr. Destructo?]
This Date In Deadspin History
Dec. 9, 2010: Wrestling Confronts The "Finger Up The Ass" Menace
Elsewhere
Your weekly Cris Collinsworth awkard metaphor: "[Jason Pierre Paul]'s like an octopus coming at you, arms and legs, you think he's got 8 different arms flailing at you." [SNF]
Tim Tebow agrees that Marion Barber is an idiot: "‘I might have thanked the Lord when he did that,' Tebow said. 'He obviously, probably shouldn't do that, and that kept us in it. I mean, we probably would have had 10 seconds left if he stayed in bounds.'" [Daily Herald]
Your "speed bag to the face" interlude:
This is actually happening: "First look at the ‘World Peace' #15 jersey. http://pic.twitter.com/aXjr9MPZ." [@Lakers]
Dwight Howard is officially disgruntled: "‘The stuff that I have asked for, the stuff I felt our team needed to get better, none of it has happened,' Howard said. ‘That's not me being cocky but I want to be involved with the organization. I've been here for a long time, I don't want to sit around.' In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel Sunday night, Smith said he had consulted Howard on trades and other moves. ‘When it's your best player, you really do consult your best player on everything? You do,' Smith said. ‘So you consult your best player on free agency. You consult your best players on trades. And that's not uncommon. And I have done that.'"[ESPN]
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