SB Nation just re-designed their site portal, and it looks absolutely fantastic. I'll be honest, I thought their old portal sucked. It was just too confusing to follow what was going on in the network. Now, it is soooooooo much easier and fan friendly. This re-designed portal is one of many changes coming to the network. If you haven't noticed, several sites (like MHR, BTB, and POD) have had a bit of a face lift, with new comments features and a nicer front page. Soon, we at Stampede Blue will receive a similar nip tuck. It seems though that we are one of the last sites to get the new stuff. I guess when your team wins the Super Bowl, the other teams get jealous and conspire against you. That damn Stampede Blue won it all. Make sure he's the LAST ONE to get the new site tools.
Here are the bullets:
- A sure sign the world is coming to an end, that soon we will have human sacrifices, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria: Bob Kravitz wrote a good editorial. Actually, it's more of a fluff piece, but with all the Colts bashing they do over at the Star, it is nice to see a little fluff now and then. This one is about Charlie Johnson, the under-rated rookie RT that dominated Chicago's Adewale Ogunleye in the Super Bowl. Here are some nice clips from the article:
"I just remember him (Diem) coming off the field (in the Super Bowl) after we'd scored late in the second quarter,'' Johnson said. "He said, 'My ankle, something's not right.' He went over to the bench and the trainers were working on him, I asked him, 'What's happening?' He just looked at me and said, 'Go get it.' "
If Manning was slow to notice that Johnson had joined the team, the opposition was not. Johnson remembered the moment he came in, Bears defenders began yelling, "Hey, we've got a rookie here. Number 74. We've got a rook. We've got a rook.''
Well, the rook played like a 10-year veteran. The Bears didn't sniff Manning in the second half, and the two-headed running game, led by Addai and Rhodes, danced through holes that looked as if they'd been opened by a stick of dynamite.
"It's a real credit to Charlie, especially in the no-huddle because we only huddle on the first play of the drive, I really didn't know (Ryan) Diem got hurt until probably four or five series after he was injured,'' Manning said. "That tells you how comfortable everybody was when he came in. At certain positions, it's 'Wait a minute, timeout, we've got a rookie in here and we need to change our approach.' But we had none of that with Charlie."
- Again, I have no idea why Rotoworld thinks Daunte Culpepper is coming to Indy. According to The Phinsider, citing PFT, the situation between Culpepper and the Dolphins is going to turn ugly. If I know Bill Polian I know he'll want no part of that mess.
- I forogt to mention last week that the Colts might start using Roy Hall as a returner. I think this, coupled with TJ Rushing getting the nod to do returns fulltime, is why Terrence Wilkins is not re-signed. Remember, Wilkins replaced Troy Walter because Troy simply had no big play ability. He was "solid," but "solid" is not what I want in a KR or PR. I want a game changer. Without Devon Hester, the Super Bowl would have been even more of a laugher than it was. Wilkins' TD against the Jags early in the season was huge in the colts winning that game. I believe in all the years Troy Walters returned kicks and punts for the Colts, he never scored. With Rushing and Hall, the Colts are looking for scoring and more big plays from the return games.
- Ok, I'm starting to feel better about the Colts cheerleading prospects.
- One of the many things I hoped would happen if the Colts won a Super Bowl is we are starting to see a small community of Colts bloggers popping up. Actually, many of these sites were around before Peyton, Bob, and Dungy hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in Miami. Still, with the Colts finally winning it all, we're starting to witness more and more Colts bloggers and on-line fan communities pop up. This is great! Sites like our regular resident bsanders37's The Screening Jock, 18 to 88, and jdh's Charlie Weis Ate My Baby are some of the many Colts-related sites providing some good fan content on the Internets. Such communities are strong for teams like Washington and Dallas because they have long traditions. With the Colts, we are building ours, and with that we are building a strong fan community.
- I'm planning on attending Training Camp tihs year and live-blogging (as best I can) from the event. Last year I wanted to attend, but circumstances threw a monkey wrench in the whole thing. Because the site got some good publicity during the SB run, there's a good chance I can attend camp and give you folks some "from the field" updates come August. Stay tuned.
- We have roughly 7 people confirmed for the Stampede Blue Fantasy Football League. I'd like to get 12. If you are interested, let me or ppr314 know. We'd love to have as many people involved as possible. I get dibs on that Peyton Manning guy.