Like a school on a Saturday: NO CLASS

January 14, 2007

Roosevelt Colvin (Patriot linebacker): I did a lot of taunting after the buzzer went off.

Shawne Merriman (Charger linebacker): You’ve won three Super Bowls. You don’t do that. That’s not showing any class at all.

LaDanian Tomlinson (Charger running back): I would never, ever, react in that way because I’m a very classy person.

Shaun Phillips (Charger linebacker): We have class. And that’s how classless individuals act. But Shaun Phillips will have a personal grudge against them the rest of his career. If we would have beaten them, we would have taken our hats off to them and moved on.

Alexander Mackenzie (Patriots fan): Discrimination has been outlawed based on gender, race, national origin, and creed ("Chargers shut out Pats," Jan. 10 ). I find it unimaginable that a public facility, where tickets for entry are sold, can allow discrimination based on the national "location" of citizens. I feel all who can afford to go to San Diego should sue the NFL for allowing this un-American policy to exist in any of its franchises. To allow the dissing of half the fans of any game is shameful, and I am very angry that "America's Game" has allowed it. All Americans should be disgusted, and if any other team than mine was playing, and either team followed this policy, I would make a point of not watching the game.

January 7, 2007
Shawne Merriman (SouthCoastToday): I'm a playmaker," Merriman said. "That is how I classify myself. I don't do just one thing. I don't just rush the passer. I don't just play the run. I'm not just a run-stopper. I drop a lot in coverage and I do everything. I'm a playmaker."
There's another rare aspect to Merriman's game. Of all the prominent athletes who have been accused of using steroids, Merriman is among the few who have actually tested positive for using them. He missed a quarter of the regular season, four games, to a drug suspension, reportedly for using Nandrolone, an anabolic steroid. Merriman says the faulty test was the result of a tainted supplement, which he thought was legal.
"Like I said from day one, it was a mistake on my part because I wasn't knowledgeable about banned supplements or substances," said Merriman, who dropped an appeal of his suspension. "When you're doing something for so long, you get confident in doing it, even though you don't know it until you get knocked. That's what happened with me. I took my suspension and I moved on."
Merriman issued his first bulletin-board statement of the week when he visited CBS during the halftime of last Sunday's Pats-Jets playoff game, and the broadcast team asked him to pick a winner.
Merriman picked the Jets, because, he said, New York had done a good job keeping the Pats off the scoreboard — even though New England had 17 points and a seven-point lead after two quarters.

October 2, 2005
Marty Schottenheimer (Chargers coach): "I would have bet a lot of money, if I were a gambler, that with today's system, you couldn't achieve what the Patriots achieved the last four years. I'd never bet against Bill Belichick on anything. I don't know him well, but what he's done here is remarkable. But how much can you take?'"But Patriots quarterback Tom Brady saw those bouquets as roses being left at New England's graveside.Three days after Schottenheimer lauded the Patriots, Brady used his Wednesday press conference to say, "I just assume you talk about your own team. You don't talk about our team. .... He's not our coach. We'll let our coach talk about our team. We'll let our players talk about our team. The only thing we ever do is give respect to the other teams because that's what they deserve. They played a good game. They beat us. That's what it is -- no more, no less. It's one game."

A generation ago ...
Margaret Thatcher: "Being a leader is like being a lady, if you have to go around telling people you are one, you aren't."

Today
CaveatBettor: Yeah, what she said, and I think class is like leadership, you charger ladies.