Over 11,000 tickets remain unsold for this weekend’s Vikings-Eagles playoff game in the Metrodome. The explanation for this is simple. It’s because … um … actually, no, it’s not simple. There is absolutely no reason why they cannot sell out this game. Cheap seats are going for under $40, and there are plenty available — I just checked:

That’s right: 40-freakin’-dollars. Not to come off as Richy McMoneystacks (seriously, I blog for a living. It’s not a high paying gig. Although living in mom’s basement saves me rent money), but it’s pretty pathetic that a team that hasn’t hosted a playoff game in eight years can’t even get fans to fork over the money for a Wild Card ticket. That’s cheaper than I’ve ever paid for regular season nose bleed seats. Ohhh, but what about the economy? Whatever. That is my response to that. 40 bucks is not a lot of money, ever, and if you think it is, then you should stop paying $30 a month to be on the internet right now.

The team has until 3:30PM tomorrow to find some fans, otherwise all those people living in the Twin Cities who were too cheap to buy tickets will have to drive up to Grand Rapids to see the game on T.V.

ESPN analyst Cris Carter has made his dislike for Terrell Owens quite clear all season. But while it’s one thing to say T.O. isn’t a team player, or that he’s a locker room cancer, it’s another thing altogether to suggest that, if you ran the Cowboys, you would take one bullet, load it in your gun and shoot Owens. Listen to Carter yesterday on Mike and Mike in the Morning:

One might think this was just a little slip of the tongue; he got a carried away and made an honest mistake. More likely, however, it was a premeditated line of attack, seeing as Carter said virtually the same exact thing later in the day on the Tirico and Van Pelt Show:

"If I got a gun I got one bullet in it, I shoot T.O. right now. Right on the spot. I have a press conference my first day they hire me, I have him come, I put a bullet right there sitting in him."

Certainly, Carter is referring to metaphorical bullets and would never actually shoot T.O. But if he’s going to, might we suggest not calling a press conference for the occasion.

(Via Pro Football Talk)

If you missed the Alamo Bowl last night between Missouri and Northwestern, then you certainly don’t know Chase Daniel’s family as well as the rest of us. Someone made the massive mistake of giving up the location of Chase’s family to ESPN, which then had its cameras focused on his kin all night. This was like restraining order levels of infatuation. Without exaggeration, ESPN probably showed the Daniels somewhere around 35 times. Here’s just a taste, which contain Chase’s sister losing her mind followed by his mother crying after Mizzou stopped Northwestern in OT to win the game:

That’s some genuine excitement right there for their brother/son who just played in, and won, his last game ever with the Tigers. But, according to Jason Whitlock, the Daniel family and all of Missouri should be ashamed of themselves for celebrating a victory:

The Tigers danced across the Alamodome as if they’d beaten Kansas or won the Big 12 title.

When he was handed the microphone at the Alamo Bowl trophy ceremony, Gary Pinkel shrieked: “How ’bout dem Tigers?!?”

I wondered what game I’d just watched.

The one I watched was an embarrassment for the Tigers. An inferior opponent had outplayed them for most of the night, settled for a moral victory in the fourth quarter and gave up in overtime.

With that, I believe Whitlock has just invented a new category of victory: an embarrassing win. I’ve heard of winning ugly or lucky or whatever, but since when is winning a game — you know, the ultimate objective of sports competition — something to be ashamed of? It’s embarrassing for the Tigers because they didn’t cover the spread? Or because the season, as a whole, didn’t meet expectations? They won the freakin’ game. For many of them, including Daniel, it was their last game ever. Let them celebrate however the hell they want.

While we’re here, I’m also looking in your general direction, Matt Hayes, for raining on Florida State’s parade. Really, we’ve reached curmudgeon levels so epic that we’re scolding 18-22 year old kids for being overjoyed after winning a bowl game? Outrage comes awfully cheap these days.

The NFL is making wholesale changes to the Pro Bowl in 2010. Reportedly, the game will move to a week before the Super Bowl and will be played in the same city as the title game, that being Miami in ‘10. No word on whether or not this will make anyone care about the game. I suspect it won’t. Hawaii, however, doesn’t wanna let go of its one connection (ed. note: not named “Colt Brennan”) to the NFL:

Hawaii tourism officials have lobbied in recent months to extend the game’s current contract, which expires after this season’s Pro Bowl, pointing to the fact that it’s been sold out every year since moving to Honolulu and generates about $30.5 million in visitor spending and tax revenues.

Oh heavens, how ever will the Hawaiian people lure mainlanders to their crystal clear waters, white sand beaches and all around perfect paradise without some half-assed exhibition football contest? According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, they’ll fill this massive tourist void by hosting international soccer matches, the only sporting contest that Americans probably care less about than the Pro Bowl. But maybe Hawaiians are into soccer. Really, I have no idea. Everything I know about the islands I learned from Maui Fever. (Fact: The most important thing to Hawaiians is deciding which mesh trucker hat to wear that day.)

As for the proposed changes, The Sporting Blog would like to fully endorse them, although they still don’t address the real issue here: Why are they still playing this game at all?

Al
Michaels and John Madden made note of Jay Cutler’s free-flowing honesty last
night during the broadcast of the Chargers/Broncos game. Cutler’s got a knack
for saying what’s on his mind, unfiltered, to anyone at any time.

The following comes from Michael
Silver’s Morning Rush:

The San Diego Chargers had just won the AFC West title in resounding fashion, defeating the Broncos, 52-21, to earn the right to host the Indianapolis Colts in a first-round playoff game six days later, and Cutler stopped to answer an unambiguous question: Was it fair to conclude that the team he just played is for real?

“These guys?” the Pro Bowl quarterback asked, gesturing to the players celebrating behind him. “San Diego? No, I don’t think so. I think Indy’ll handle ‘em pretty good. We really can’t stop anybody, and that’s the bottom line.”

Geez. How bad must a man be beaten before the thought of humility enters his
mind? Apparently, a 31-point mashing doesn’t do the job.

Cutler trashing San Diego, I can understand, though. They’re 8-8, they’re an
easy target, he doesn’t like Philip Rivers, and losing makes him feel emotional
and frowny. That part doesn’t surprise or bother me.

But the "our defense can’t stop anyone" is a pretty brave card for
Cutler to be playing, is it not? Especially considering that Cutler himself had
a one touchdown, two interception night. These were key interceptions, too, that
cost the Broncos dearly.

Yes, it’s true that the Broncos defense was and is awful, but it’s not like
Cutler was a worldbeater last night. Denver’s average gain per pass play was 6.4
compared to San Diego’s 9.2, and they held the ball for only 23 minutes of the
game. This isn’t a great San Diego defense that Denver played, either.

It might do Cutler some good to develop a little bit of a filter. So far, it
looks like he’s gotten away with saying he’s got a better arm than John Elway
and throwing his own defense under the bus, but sooner or later, it’ll catch up
with him.