Is Jay Cutler controversy media created?

A Wednesday wouldn't normally be a busy day in the world of the NFL, but with it being Bears/Packers week, things usually get interesting. As I'm combing around Twitter today I come across a link from ProFootball Talk that says Fox admitted to falsifying headlines in the season opener against the Falcons.

The admittal of such things only cements my thoughts that the whole controversy surrounding Jay in the NFC Championship game last January was created by the media and specifically Fox, which broadcast the NFC Championship game.

Let's be real, a TV director of a live sporting event has a shot of all the cameras in front of them and can dictate when they show a certain camera. It's why you don't see a shot of the coach picking his nose at random times of the game or warming himself up and usually see him yelling at someone when you would expect him to be.
The quote from the Fox Sports producer was that the falsified headlines were used to better portray the national perception. Well, if you had to make them up, how did they show the national perception? I know for a fact the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times talked with practically the entire Bears locker room and every single guy in that locker room had Jay's back.

But that wouldn't fit the perception many have of Jay. They'll say they saw him on the sideline in that game "pouting" and "keeping to himself" and not "cheering on his teammates like Charles Woodson in the Super Bowl." Well, how do you know he wasn't? We were shown six random seconds with Jay kept to himself on the sideline. Who's to say he hadn't been talking with Caleb Hanie, the backup quarterback, about what to look for.

Why am I talking about this? Only because Fox has made this great decision to make the news up and tell us what to think. Makes sense this is the same organization as Fox News which also owned the News of the Wold in Britain that hacked voice mails of so many in London. I guess we shouldn't expect anything more from a company with those types of journalistic ethics.

Helping things out, I guess, too, is the fact that it is also Bears-Packers week. That also brings me to furthering the perception of Jay was his reaction to questions in the conference call with Packers beat reporters today. The reporters were asking about the incident from January and he came back with one-word answers and was no help to them. The fact of the matter is if I'm sick of talking about it, he's most certainly sick and tired of dealing with it. That's a dead horse and doesn't need to be kicked anymore. The story is up on Packers.com, if you want to take a look for yourself, and I'm pretty sure they have the audio to go with the transcript.

If I'm going to cover some media, I laughed when I saw these guys rush to Twitter and post this right away how they were shut down by him when asking questions about the game from months ago. I know these reporters aren't around Jay every day like the beat writers from the Tribune and Sun-Times, but one should know they might get some sort of reaction similar to this.

On top of it, Cutler and even coach Lovie Smith were dealing with the Fox nonsense with the Chicago media today with Lovie pretty much playing the "we get no respect" card to the team given this development. And, he's totally right.

Tomorrow is the full Bears-Packers preview, plus my NFL Week 3 picks.

Championship Sunday is just around the corner!

First off, I'd like to say my apologies for all of the photos turning into "Bandwidth Exceeded" graphics the last couple of days. I got an E-mail yesterday that said I had exceeded my 10 GB bandwidth at Photobucket. I think that means the site is doing pretty good and I had to upgrade my photo hosting to allow for an unlimited bandwidth.

Now that we got that out of the way, lets' get into making my Super Bowl picks. Now that both of my preseason picks (the Chargers and the Bears. Yes I know. Thought we had a shot to get one right), it's back to the drawing board. I like both matchups Sunday and should be two great games.
Let's start with the 2 p.m. game that has the Jets going to Indy to play the Colts. A lot is being made of the history of these franchises, but to be honest, that means nothing to the guys on the field. It's great history, but will have no effect on what happens Sunday.
Was looking over this week's Sports Illustrated, I am a subscriber, and they break things down. Looking at how the Colts did what they had to do to the Ravens, I'm saying we get more of that this week. Peyton is too smart and will find the holes in this defense to get the Colts out front. On the other side of the ball, the Colts D has been playing great and if they can get to Mark Sanchez and knock him out of his game, they'll make it easy. This will be about stopping the run for them and if they can keep Thomas Jones quiet for the day. The Colts are pretty one-dimensional relying on the pass almost exclusively and that should allow the Jets to put Reggie Wayne out on Revis Island for the day and let them keep a the extra safety deep to keep an eye on Dallas Clark.
I must say though, I really like the Colts to earn this win. Remember, the only reason the Jets are here is because the Chargers lost that game. They beat themselves. The Jets just lucked out. Yes I just said that.
On the NFC side, its the Vikings and Saints. I think everyone is expecting this game to be a shootout. I'd say if it becomes that, the Saints will be right at home. Putting pressure on Brett Favre to have to score points usually leads to turnovers. The fact that the Vikings have lost their last three home games plays a part in this, too. I don't really like anyone going into the Superdome and getting a win. Now if the game were in the Humpty Dump, I'd probably be saying the Vikes have the upper hand, but we're in Nawleans and for that it's time for the Saints to March on. Drew Brees is just cool in the big games and if he can get production out of Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush like he got last week, the Saints will give that vaunted Minnesota D fits.
For the Vikings, finding a way to get Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor off and running is going to be a key for them. Take pressure off Favre until he has to make the play. He seems to play within himself more in those situations. Not to mention the Saints defense isn't that good and getting them to bring that extra guy into the box will allow "Brent" to play the 1-on-1 matchups that could lead to big plays.
Like I said, I like this being a close game. I'm not so sure it will be as high scoring as people think, but I like the Saints.

Here we go, the official picks...
AFC Title Game: Colts over Jets, 20-17. Jets D will make some plays to keep it close, but not enough of them.
NFC Title Game: Saints over Vikings, 24-20. Another close one with the Saints making the big plays let and Favre making at least one of his patented "dumb" plays that costs the Purple Dumpster Divers the ballgame.

Keeping it on the Vikings, did you hear this awful Prince fight song he was inspired to write after going to the game last week? Eesh! Stick to Purple Rain!



This next item is something from last night's Conan. Tonight is his last Tonight Show and if he brings guys like Pee Wee, then it's going to be good. If you know me, you know I love PW and he was awesome on this. Check it!



Alright boys and girls, time for today's Nussie Hunter. Was checking something on Asylum today, who counted down the most exposed women of the last decade. Remarkably one of them hasn't graced our pages. Yep, Jessica Alba. She is part of the Jessica trifecta and somehow the Nussie Hunter has gone over 100 posts without her. Well, not anymore. Guess I'm helping in the over exposure, but hell. She looked good in that cat suit in Fantastic 4! ... And here.