Leaf Me Alone!

When the big boys fall, they sure do fall hard.

Such was the case with Ryan Leaf. Leaf was one of the hottest prospects coming out of college in 1998. It was a crowded year; Leaf finished third in the Heisman vote that year, losing out to Peyton Manning (second) and Charles Woodson (first). Regardless, Leaf caused waves during the draft, and went second to the San Diego Chargers who gave away quite a lot to get that coveted second spot.

Leaf went on to a memorable start that season, winning his first two pre-season games -- a feat last matched by John Elway. Those two games, however, were the last two memorable games of Leaf's career.

The third game was a mess, with some memorable statistics: 1-for-15 for 4 yards and 5 interceptions. After the game, leaf took out his mighty anger on a reporter, and had to be restrained by Junior Seau. The Chargers went on to lose 15 games that season behind Leaf's Not-So-Mighty arm. Leaf left the Chargers shortly after and met his ultimate demise following several quite brief stops with the Buccaneers, Cowboys, and Seahawks.

We all miss ya, Ryan -- NOT!

Jim vs. Jim

This one almost slipped out of my conscious, had it not been for the large billboard of Jim Rome I saw in Culver City last night.

Back in the day, before his persona became too much for him to live up to, Jim Rome actually was quite an a-hole. One of his more famous targets was Jim Everett, whom he repeatedly mocked as "Chris Evert", famous female tennis pro, due to his aversion to being hit after multiple concussions.

Rome finally had the cojones to invite Everett to be a guest on his show in 1994. As soon as Everett sat down, Rome launched into the "Chris" bit, at which point Everett all but threatened Rome with physical violence, predicting that Rome would cool off. Of course he didn't, and what followed was this gem of a clip.