710 ESPN's "SMOG" - Steve Mason's Blog

The underpaid David Garrard finally gets some appreciation.

Jacksonville QB David Garrard stopped by The Steve Mason Show on Thursday, and he was pretty psyched about winning the Vizio Top Value Performer Award. This is a pretty cool idea. It's the first time Vizio has ever done it. The award goes to the guy who, as voted by fans, has the greatest value to his team compared to his salary.

6 former NFL GMs, including Ron Wolf and Tom Donahoe and Ernie Accorsi, came up with a list of finalists, then fans voted for the winner online. Garrard beat out Cleveland QB Derek Anderson (made only $440K this year), Bears WR/kick returner Devin Hester ($1.2M), Green Bay WR Greg Jennings ($364K), Giants RB Brandon Jacobs ($440K) and Denver wideout Brandon Marshall ($366K).

Garrard made only $1.1M for the 2007-08 season, but he had the 3rd-highest QB rating in the league at 102.2. He led the Jacksonville Jaguars to an 11-5 record with 18 TDs and only 3 picks. He also led the Jags to a Wild Card Weekend playoff win over Pittsburgh, with his late-game long 4th down scramble as one of the keys to the upset.

In my interview with him, he says it's nice to get the award, but you only want to win it once. He told me that there are quiet negotiations for an extension since his contract ends after next season. He deserves every penny he gets. David has got all of the intangibles to lead Jacksonville even deeper into the playoffs next year and beyond.

Wow. Me with the legendary Barry Sanders and the Kansas Comet, Gale Sayers!

When I was growing up in Toledo, Ohio, Barry Sanders was always a very big deal.

When Barry was at Oklahoma St., he had what might be the most amazing season in college football history. In 1988, he AVERAGED over 200 yards per game and he surpassed 300 yards IN 4 GAMES! He scored at least 2 TDs in 11 straight games, and he delivered 9 3 TD games. That's INSANE.

The Heisman Trophy winner joined me on the show on Wednesday, and it was a big thrill. Here's a link to the interview. My theory on why Barry walked away so suddenly has always been that it was the combination of being in a hopeless situation in Detroit and being a bit allergic to the spotlight. He's a bit shy. A little stand-off-ish. Slightly uncomfortable with all of the attention.

There are 2 kinds of famous people. Those that are famous because of the what they do, but are uncomfortable in the spotlight (like Barry). And people who are well-known because of what they do and love as much attention as they can get. Players like Michael Irvin, Shannon Sharpe, Terrell Owens and Peyton Manning just "eat up" being famous.

Even broadcasters follow fit into these categories. Just because somebody is on TV or radio doesn't necessarily mean that they're completely out-going. A guy like Colin Cowherd is a naturally gregarious guy, and I think he likes being known. Being recognized. Believe it or not, I'm in the Barry Sanders category. I love being on the air. When I'm not at work, I'm kinda shy. Just a bit of a recluse. Weirdly, having known Jim Rome for many years, he's really the same kind of quiet person...except when he's on the air. Even a blowhard (I mean that in a good way) like Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton is a quiet guy, a family guy, and a truly decent guy through-and-through. In real life, he's not the loudmouth know-it-all who has done sports talk all these years in Southern California.

One other related story about Barry Sanders. When I met the great Gale Sayers at Mike Ditka's Gridiron Greats Dinner Wednesday night (see photo below), he told me that the only running back he's ever seen that reminds him of Gale Sayers is, none-other-than, Barry.

I was a little nervous putting a microphone in Gale's face. He's got a certain mystique. I've only seen brief clips of him. In fact, I can't find any of his runs on YouTube. The story of Brian Piccolo is always part of the Sayers story. Who didn't cry at that movie? Check out the trailer for Brian's Song.

It was an honor and pleasure to meet and spend a couple of minutes with Gale. He's a living legend.

 

 

Big bad Charger defensive end Igor Olshanski on TSMS

DE Igor Olshanski is a cool guy, born in the Ukraine, and part of San Diego's defensive front that helped to force the great Tom Brady into throwing 3 picks  in the AFC title game. He's a budding businessman with a line of nutritional supplements called IgorSHS. The SHS stands for Super Human Strength. When I talked to Igor, I asked him if he actually has Super Human Strength, and he said, "Compared to you....yes." Here's a link to his website. I tried one of his MegaBars, and it was really good (and apparently organic and all of that healthy mumbo jumbo).

Drew Brees on The Steve Mason Show

 

It's hard to find anybody that has anything bad to say about Drew Brees. As a Charger fan, I had really hoped that AJ Smith might keep Drew and deal Phil Rivers after the 2005 season. I think that Brees might have been the difference-maker in both last year's Divisional Playoff loss to New England and this year's AFC championship game with the dreaded, evil, hated-yet-still-undefeated Pats.

I'm not writing off Phil. He made big strides this year, and getting his knee scoped 6 days before the AFC Championship Game 2 weeks ago, definitely shows me what he's made of. But, Brees threw for 3,100+ yards in 2005 with 27 TDs and 7 INTs with a 104.3 quarterback rating. Maybe with Drew at the helm in 2006, combined with LT's monstrous MVP season, would have been enough to get San Diego to its 2nd Super Bowl. We'll never know for sure. The Chargers used 2006 as a developmental year for Rivers instead.

When I talked with Drew on Wednesday, he told me that he thinks everything worked out best by him getting dealt to the Big Easy. As he pointed out, New Orleans went all the way to the NFC Championship Game last year, and San Diego got to the AFC title game this year, but still, I wonder what might have been....

Snapshots & Interviews from Giants Hotel Media Session

Lawrence Tynes is the kicker for the Giants who redeemed himself in OT of the NFC Championship Game against Green Bay. I was all excited to talk to him because he was born in Scotland, and I love accents. No Scottish accent at all. He grew up on "the Redneck Riviera" in Florida. Great guy though. In this interview, he gives me of his best brogue, talks about how he uses "The Secret" and even says, "Lucky Charms, they're magicaly delicious" as a Scot would.

In my interview with Reuben Droughns of the Giants, I told him that he has won lots of fantasy leagues during his good seasons and screwed up lots of fantasy teams when he has underperformed.

This is "the man who would be Shockey." Tight end Kevin Boss hs taken over for the injured Jeremy Shockey. He caught his first TD pass on December 16 against the Redskins. Now he's getting ready for Super Bowl 42. Not bad for a 5th round draft pick out of Western Oregon University.

His birth certificate says Torrance, but he is known to the world as Tank Daniels. He's a linebacker from Division II Harding. It's safe to say that he won't have an impact on Sunday, but he's an All Pro nice guy. Listen to my interview with Tank at this link.

Cornerback Darren Barnett is at his first Super Bowl. He was an undrafted free agent signed by the Giants, and is pretty blown away by all of the attention he's getting.

Linebacker Chase Blackburn is from my home state of Ohio. He returned an interception for a TD against Washington in Week 16 for New York. His name makes him sound like the heir to some family fortune, but he says he's a working class guy.

Give it up for long-snapper Jay Alford. This is a rough gig as far as I'm concerned. If he does it right, nobody cares. If he does it wrong, he becomes the ultimate goat. He told me that punter Jeff Feagles has saved his ass on a lot of his high snaps.

They don't call him "The Round Mound of Touchdown" for nothin'. Quarterback Jared Lorenzen will probably be the #3 quarterback for Sunday. He's played at Kentucky, and he's always been kind on an oddity. He doesn't look like a QB. He says that he's always been "thick." He's built like an offensive lineman.

Super Bowl Media Day Snapshots & Interviews - The New England Patriots

Sammy Morris told me that he loves American Idol. His all-time favorite Idol contestant was "the guy with the goofy teeth." We figured out that he was talking about Elliot Yamin.

Running back Kyle Eckel has just finished his first season on the active roster. He says that his time at the Naval Academy was good preparation for Bill Belichek.

This is tight end Ben Watson, who had 36 catches with 6 TDs for the undefeated Pats this year. He told me that the one thing we don't know about Bill Belichek is that he has a sense of humor (although, he says he didn't realize coach was funny until his 3rd year playing for him).

Chris Hanson is the absolutely humorless punter for New England. Not funny. No joking around. Clearly not known for his sparkling personality. He's lucky the Pats don't pay him by the punt. He was only called on 44 times in the regular season, just under 3 punts per game.

This guy was a highly-touted wide receiver for the Bengals who never quite panned out. Kelley Washington has become a special teams star in his first season with the Patriots. He says his season highlight came in the AFC championship game when he kept a Chris Hanson punt out of the endzone and kept the Chargers inside the 5 to start a key drive. This New England team does all the little things right.

The tallest New England Patriot is Wes Britt, listed at 6'8", 320 pounds. I told him that he's big enough to demand his own podium like Tom Brady, but he was having a good time mingling with the common folks.

 
I have no way of knowing if Maria Menounos from Access Hollywood and The Today Show is a longtime New England fan or a bandwagon jumper, but Wes Britt didn't seem to care. She is pretty smokin' hot.

This is DT Rashad Moore, who is a beast at 325. He was funny telling me that "'Aint nobody here to talk to Rashad Moore."

The third string quarterback for New England is Matt Guttierez. He finished the year with a 118.7 quarterback rating, throwing 1 pass and completing it for 15 yards. He's also listed with 5 rushing attempts for -13. I'm thinking those were kneeldowns in the "victory formation"?

Wide receiver Jabar Gaffney is in his 2nd year with New England, and he really started to settle into the offense with 36 catches and 5 TD grabs. I joked with him about his serious, big diamond earrings. He says he wore them special for Media Day.

Ryan O'Callaghan concedes that he's only the 2nd tallest Patriot, trailing the previously mentioned Wes Britt. He's big all the same, a 6'7" tackle. He had just been interviewed by Kellie Pickler (former American Idol contestant),who's working as Jay Leno's reporter at Super Bowl 42.

You probably heard us talking about the way Media Day works on The Steve Mason Show today. The big stars like Tom Brady, Bill Bellichek, Rodney Harrison, Junior Seau, etc., all get podiums like the one above. This is as close as I could get to Randy Moss in all of the day's mayhem.

The "Real Mrs. Tom Brady." Is she hot?

This is the girl all of America is talking about. Ines Sainz from TV Azteca in Mexico City showed up at today's Super Bowl Media Day at Glendale in a wedding dress. The moment I entered the stadium with Dave Singer, I knew that "the girl in the wedding dress" had to be my top interview priority.

She told me that she is "the real Mrs. Tom Brady," and that she was to planning  to propose to Tom Brady, which she did. After Brady declined, she proposed to Eli Manning, who also said, "No thanks!"

Gotta give it up for her. She was the most-talked-about person at Super Bowl Media Day, which is no small feat.

What do you think? Is she hot? The general consensus among the assembled media was that she's about in the 7 or 8 range.

7 great years for TD and now an All-Pro broadcaster.

Terrell Davis is now an analyst on NFL Total Access on the NFL Network, and, in just a couple of minutes today, I found out that he's as good on the air as he was between the tackles (he's at the very end of the hour).

7 years, 7,600 yards and 2 Super Bowl rings before his knees gave out on him. No member of the Hall of Fame had as many touchdowns (56) as Terrell had in his first 4 seasons.

The best rookie running back since Eric Dickerson: Adrian Peterson.

A.D.. As in "All Day." As in this guy can run and break tackles and gain tough yards and dazzle with breakaway speed all day long.

Adrian Peterson was the 7th pick in the first round of the 2007 draft. 6 players taken before him. He's a huge impact guy and the Rookie of the Year winner, but none of the players taken before him seem to be "train wrecks" (at least not yet).

Oakland took JaMarcus Russell at #1. He might pan out. Way too early to know.

WR Calvin Johnson went #2 to Detroit. He had a decent rookie year with 48 catches and 4 TD grabs.

Cleveland had 3rd choice, and they went with tackle Joe Thomas from Wisconsin. He's a left tackle and had a successful season, finishing 2nd to Peterson for NFL Rookie of the Year.

DE Gaines Adams went next to Tampa Bay. He led all rookies in sacks with 6, and he registered 35 tackles and 2 forced fumbles.

And DB LaRon Landry was the Redskins' choice at #6. He started as a strong safety, but moved to free safety after the tragic death of Sean Taylor. He grabbed 2 picks in a losing effort for the Skins in their Wild Card playoff loss against Seattle. With Taylor gone, this seems like Landry could be critical for Washington.

A.D. showed up in the first hour of The Steve Mason Show today, so you can hear him in the Hour 1 Podcast.

You never know who you're going to meet at the Super Bowl.

Although I never got a complete story, this Miss Nevada appeared to be co-hosting a sports talk show for a Las Vegas station today at radio row. I have no idea if she has any sports knowledge, and I don't think the guys she was on the air with care about her football IQ.

After some research, I figured out her name is Helen Salas, and she was last year's Miss Nevada. She was the 4th runner-up at Miss USA (not Miss America, which was over the weekend in Las Vegas).

Below is a modeling shot of Ms. Salas. She's no Abby McGrew, but she's hot.