Attention

Attention Loyal Readers:

Around The Corn Sports Blog will not be posting until after Shark Week has concluded.

Sincerely,

K. Becks

No, I’m just kidding. However, it does seem like everything else on TV does take a backseat when Shark Week is on the Discovery Channel. Twice during work today I changed the channel to ESPN and came back thirty minutes later with the TV mysteriously switched to the Discovery Channel. In other words, I’m going to have to put the DirecTV controller somewhere no one else can find it tomorrow.

Sharks may be taking center stage this week, but a certain “island” is competing for the spotlight, for better or worse. The island I’m talking about is “Revis Island”, or more specifically, Darrelle Revis. Today the New York Jets began training camp without their All-Pro cornerback, who is sitting out due to a contract dispute. Revis wants to become the highest paid cornerback in the league, and go figure, the Jets don’t really want to pay him enough for that to happen. I think the Jets are handling this situation very smartly. For Revis to become the highest paid cornerback in the league, his contract would have to exceed Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha’s three year, 45.3 million dollar contract extension that he signed last season. The Jets don’t want to pay that kind of money because, quite frankly, Oakland made a poor decision in dishing out that much money to a defensive player. It is true that Revis is possibly the best defensive player in the league, and it is also true that if the Jets don’t have him on the field, their defense will likely suffer at least a little bit. However, he isn’t worth more than 45.3 million dollars to the Jets, or any other franchise. Nnamdi Asomugha, for as good as he is, isn’t worth that kind of money either; he just is lucky enough to play for a franchise with a dysfunctional front office (seems contradictive, right?) that agreed to pay him that outrageous sum of money. The Jets don’t have to worry; they’ll sign Revis, and for a reasonable amount.

So, on a scale of one to ten, how silly does Albert Haynesworth look now? A month ago, Haynesworth made a huge deal about having to play in a 3-4 defense, and now he is too out of shape to complete the Redskins conditioning test. I don’t think this is really about Haynesworth’s lack of conditioning. This is about him learning that Coach Mike Shanahan runs the show, and if you don’t like the way it is run, too bad. Shanahan is humbling Haynesworth, and we all know that the big defensive tackle is in dire need of some humble pie. When he finally does pass the conditioning test, I don’t think we’ll be hearing much from Albert Haynesworth until the season is underway. After this humiliation, Haynesworth should get the message that he isn’t bigger than the Redskins, especially with Shanahan at the helm.

The more I think about it, the more I am starting to believe that the Ochocinco and T.O. marriage could be a great thing both off the field and on the field. Whenever I see them in an interview together, there is no denying that they are cocky as hell. However, it also is apparent that both men are aware of what kind of things can be achieved if they put aside their personal agendas and work together. In a sense, it’s almost like the Miami Heat situation, only on a much smaller scale. Cincinnati is in no way the overwhelming favorite to win the Super Bowl like the Heat will be to win the NBA championship, but the Bengals do have the offensive weapons to overwhelm almost any defense that they will have to face. They also seem to realize that if they demand less for themselves and sacrifice for the good of the team, that they have the ability to reach heights that neither of them could reach on their own at this point in time. Could T.O. really have matured, and realized that this is his last chance at a Super Bowl ring? We’ll be able to tell early on, as Cincinnati has to play New England and Baltimore in their first two regular season games.

About seventy-five percent of my readership (in other words, three of the four of you) have already told me that you are anxiously anticipating my college football preview. Well, I have good news for you all; tomorrow I will begin my college football preview by breaking down one conference per day until I have covered each major conference (major in my eyes, of course). I will be working across the United States from East to West, which means that all you Pac-10 fans (come to think of it, I don’t know if I have any readers who fit the bill) will have to wait awhile before I tell you all that I think that a team who is ineligible to participate in postseason play will win your conference. Oops. Anyway, college football will be the focus of many of my future posts for at least the next week. Hopefully I will get some conversation started either here or on the Facebook fan page, or as always, you can email me at aroundthecornsportsblog@gmail.com. Thanks everyone.

– K. Becks