Atlanta Falcons and QB Matt Ryan Defeat Baltimore Ravens With 4th Quarter Drive

While it wasn't Atlanta Falcons 2008 NFL 1st Round Draft pick QB Matt Ryan's  best statistical game (in BCSsportsweekly photo), that was the 39 to 32 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, the Falcons 26 to 21 win over the AFC Baltimore Ravens at The Georgia Dome in Atlanta was the game many can point to where Ryan came of age.

Down by 6 points with just over 1 minute in the game, Ryan directed an 80 yard drive, capped with a 35 yard pass to Falcons Wide Receiver Rodney White for the go-ahead score.

The Falcons came in with an excellent game plan that featured quick passes out of shotgun formations, and play action. They threw a whopping 50 times, completing 32, for 316 yards and three touchdowns, against no interceptions. Ryan finished with a quarterback rating of 101.8, and sent a message.

For teams that believed they could load up their defense to stop the Falcons ground game, and place the ball in the hands of Ryan, the message was simple: he will beat you. Ryan showed an ice-cool calm, and seemed to welcome the 4th quarter situation he was placed in.

The Falcons of 2010 are a fun team to watch, and it's not too much of a stretch to say we may see them play either the Oakland Raiders or the same Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl.

But they've got a big test to come against the red-hot Green Bay Packers November 28th at The Georgia Dome.

Gene Shalit And "Critic's Corner" Gone After 40 Years On NBC Today

Gene Shalit, the New Yorker with the horn-rimmed glasses, handlebar mustache, and all around look of a bespectacled afro-haired puffer fish, has closed the door on the production of bombs to throw at movies from his segment "Critic's Corner" on NBC's Today Show.

The "Critic's Corner" lasted for 40 years on The Today Show. According to The Huffington Post, Today Show Executive Producer Jim Bell said that such a span of time on one show is "a feat unlikely to ever be matched."

Given the volume and flow of media today, he's right.

Gene Shalit was given a great sendoff on Thursday's Today Show, as he walks into a comfortable retirement fitting for an 84-year-old giant of the entertainment industry.

Chevron Ecuador Case: Steven Donziger In Big Trouble With Judge Kaplan

In seeking a motion to quash Chevron's request to dipose him, Steven Donziger, the ringleader and mastermind of the plot to defraud the American Oil Giant of up to $27 Billion by claiming it left the Ecuadorian Amazon envrionmentally damaged, when it did not, placed himself in big trouble.

The resulting 52-page ruling by heavyweight New York U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan casts a dark light on the legal career of Steven Donziger, and rubber-stamps every assertion this blogger made in this video below on August 14th 2008:



Particularly damning is this statement by the judge:

On behalf of the Lago Agrio plaintiffs, Donziger, directly or indirectly, has lobbiedthe Ecuadorian and United States governments, raised money to support the litigation efforts,organized the plaintiffs’ media campaign, and solicited and interacted with celebrity supporters. Donziger’s statements, conduct, and demeanor in Crude and the outtakes, as well as other evidence,suggest that many of his activities have had little to do with the performance of legal services anda great deal to do with political activity, intimidation of the Ecuadorian courts, attempts to procurecriminal prosecutions for the purpose of extracting a settlement, and presenting a message to theworld media. This becomes even clearer when one considers still other statements and incidentsdepicted in Crude and the outtakes.

It's for those activities that legal observers have said Donziger is in possible criminal trouble. All of this he's done can result in the loss of his ability to practice law.

Stay tuned.

The Daily Beast Merges With Newsweek, Creating "BeastWeek"

The Daily Beast, the news site ran by Tina Brown (Businessinsider.com photo at left) and with a staff this blogger pointed to as devoid of blacks when the website was established in 2008, is completing a merger with Howard Fineman's old media home Newsweek.  

When it's completed, this blogger will call it BeastWeek.

According to The New York Observer, Brown, the web and editorial staffs will merge, and Brown will be in charge of the combined tribe.  The merger itself will be a 50-50 ownership split.  Reportedly, Newsweek owner Sidney Harman and IAC Chairman Barry Diller could not agree on an operating system for BeastWeek, but have worked through their differences and are close to something they can agree on.  (Really, they should have spent more time on a New Media business plan, but I digress.)

Newsweek and The Daily Beast are both just not performing well, so without a sound plan and financial backing, it's not likely BeastWeek will fair much better.   It's not enough to merge two media organizations, but roll the dice and create a new way of distributing media in a cost effective yet impactive way.

The model Harman and Diller should copy for BeastWeek is Associated Content or The Examiner, and with an eye toward eventual acquisition by a large web organization like AOL.  But BeastWeek has to form itself into a must-be-at product (note that), and even with the sure-fire combination of Megan McCain's sexy intellect, nothing short of a complete overhaul of the media delivery system between Newsweek and The Daily Beast will really turn things around.

BeastWeek.  Because it will either grow to a beast of an organization that devoirs the week in news, or be the dying media beast spending weeks on life support.

Time will tell.

Tucker Carlson Fakes Keith Olbermann, Breaks NY Law

Apparently having nothing better to do now that his website The Daily Caller reached 1.5 million visitors per month (Hey Tucker, you're in striking distance of Zennie62.com, so watch out) , Couch-Potato Conservative Columnist and TV Pundit Tucker Carlson decided to play "Fake Keith Olbermann" and send angry emails to a Philadelphia Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky last weekend. (Thankfully Carlson didn't go after Walgreens CEO and Walgreens CFO for a "Health Care Reform-friendly" business model, instead.)

Tucker planned to establish that ability back in July of this year, when he purchased Olbermann's domain name, taking advantage of the fact that Keith and his people at MSNBC would be so careless as to leave a domain name that should be owned by him available for just anyone to buy.

Then, when Keith was suspended by MSNBC President Phil Griffin last Friday, Carlson pounced.

Bykofsky innocently used the email keith@keitholbermann.com to contact the person he thought was Keith, only to unknowingly get Carlson, who was in a mood to clown around.

Carlson, posing as Olbermann, had written a series of biting emails in response to a column Stu wrote that concluded FOX News' Bill O'Reilly was more "fair and balanced" than the real Keith Olbermann.  Here's a sample of the emails exchanged:

——– Original Message ——–

Subject: [SPAM] From the Philadelphia Daily News

From: “Bykofsky, Stu”

Date: Fri, November 05, 2010 1:44 pm

To:

Mr. Olbermann:

I’d like an opportunity to speak to you about your current situation.

I am doing a column for publication Monday. I will be here until 6 p.m., but won’t finish until 1 p.m. tomorrow.

If you would rather respond via email, what I want to know, essentially, is the following:

Do you think you were treated fairly by MSNBC?

Do you consider yourself a journalist or a commentator?

If a journalist, is it proper for you to give your opinions?

If a commentator, should you be anchoring a newscast, such as Tuesday night’s election program?

Do you regret chastising others (Rupert Murdoch) for making political donations?

Is there a difference between what he did and what you did?

Thank you.

Stu Bykofsky

Columnist

Philadelphia Daily News

215-854-5977

From: keith@keitholbermann.com [mailto:keith@keitholbermann.com]

Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 2:46 PM

To: Bykofsky, Stu

Subject: RE: [SPAM] From the Philadelphia Daily News

Mr. Bykofsky:

Unfortunately your column (which I just saw) had already run before I read this email. What a shame. I assume you saw the irony in attacking someone for betraying journalism, while you, a self-described journalist, failed to get a single quote from the person you were attacking. Pathetic. Indeed, beneath contempt. How dare you pose as the heir to Murrow.

You didn’t wait for the facts before writing your screed, but for what it’s worth I, unlike you, am a journalist, not a hack. Was I treated fairly by MSNBC? It’s hard to imagine a dumber question, as I don’t work for MSNBC, but for NBC News. As I’ve said publicly before, Phil Griffin is not my boss (thank god), nor is he intellectually qualified to be. Phil pretends otherwise in public. I’m not his shrink, but I assume it makes him feel better. The remarkable thing is that fools like you believe his fantasies. That pleases Phil, but only exposes your ignorance. The proof? I’ll be anchoring on election night 2012, long after Phil Griffin has moved on to a job for which he’s actually qualified, perhaps on QVC.

I hope that clears up your misconceptions.

KO

You get the idea.

It goes on and the exchange is posted at the blog site Phawker. But the bottom line, as Stu admitted over at Phawker, he'd been punked.

And Carlson's little stunt appears to be illegal. Stu uses the text from, then link to a legal website by Lisa J. Sotto of Hunton & Williams, and informing that New York State made Internet impersonation a crime in 2008:

Specifically, New York’s Internet impersonation law amends section 190.25 of the Penal Law by adding Subdivision 4, making it a crime to impersonate another person by electronic means, including through use of a website, with the intent to obtain a benefit or injure or defraud another person.

But even with that information, neither Stu, nor Keith has said they would file charges against Tucker Carlson.

Stay tuned.

Conan O'Brien: Now on TBS

Conan O'Brien returns to late night TV after an 8 month hiatus as stipulated by his severance agreement with NBC. The fallout with NBC started when the network decided to push the "Tonight Show" back half an hour and give the time slot to Jay Leno. Jay Leno's new show hadn't been doing well in the ratings and it was thought that this was due competition with crime dramas in the new time slot. NBC believed that by pushing the show back ratings would improve. Conan refused to budge on this matter though and made a public statement saying that "I sincerely believe that delaying 'The Tonight Show' into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting," he said. "'The Tonight Show' at 12:05 simply isn't 'The Tonight Show." The disagreement ended with Conan O'Brien leaving the "Tonight Show" after only 7 months with a 33 million dollar severance deal for himself and another 12 million for his staff and the condition that Conan O'brien would not return to TV for 8 months.

Conan O'Brien's new show on TBS aired Monday November 12th at 11/10c. The new show is simply called "Conan" and the comedian joked that his reasoning for this was "So that I'd be harder to replace." The first episode had guest appearances by Seth Rogen, Lea Michele from the cast of "Glee" and featured Jack White as the musical guest.

Conan poked fun at NBC during the beginning monologue of his new show and even poked fun at himself for his new "basic cable" status throughout the show. In the introduction sketch, Conan is handed a folded piece of paper by a TBS executive who is presenting Conan with their offer for the show. The folded piece of paper reads, "Less," and then when unfolded the word "Much," is revealed above it. Conan even renamed the house band to the "Basic Cable Band."

In one of the many promos for his new show, that were run in the weeks before its debut, Conan asks the viewers, "Are you ready for a whole new kind of late night TV?......... Good. Neither am I." Conan has held true to that promise, the new show is much like the other ones. What do I have to say about this? "That's right Conan, don't change a thing, we love you just the way you are."

John Bobst

Jenn Sterger Gives NFL Evidence Of Photos Of Brett Favre's Privates (TMZ)

According to TMZ.oom today and just 18 minutes ago as of this writing, New York Jets Sideline Reporter Jenn Sterger gave the NFL (National Football League) evidence called "overwheming" that Minnesota Vikings Quarterback Brett Favre sent photos of his privates to her two years ago, when he was the quarterback for the New York Jets.

The 26-year old Sterger (is this the year for 26-year olds? Tim Lincecum's that age!) and here lawyer and her manager met with NFL security chief Milt Ahlerich and another league investigator in Manhattan, according to The New York Post.

For a time, Sterger resisted the overtures to visit with the NFL, but then changed her mind just less than two weeks ago.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/jenn_sterger_meets_with_messages_YdInLjV7Qpa3dNuRqux0WO#ixzz151dttZqo

Jenn Sterger's manager Phil Reese said the "Sterger team" expects "swift action" by the NFL after today's three hour meeting at what ESPN says is an "undisclosed location." There, Jenn Sterger gave the NFL a "substantial amount beyond what had already been reported," but just what that was, was not explained. One can only imagine.

Deadspin Broke The Story

To Recap, here's what was reported at Zennie62.com on Friday, October 8th:

On Wednesday, Deadspin Editor Al Daulerio posted a video on Deadspin that contains two photos of what's reported to be Brett Favre's dick. The move was totally unnecessary from this blogger's view.

Moreover, Deadspin did nothing to warm the video viewer of what they were about to see midway through the video, unless you happen to read the text below it first. Nothing. The penis photos just popped up, no pun intended. But what's this all about?

Jenn Sterger.

It extends back two years to when Brett played for the Jets and Jenn Sterger, a now-26-year old model and broadcaster along the lines of Inez Sainz, was with the Jets in the capacity of sideline reporter.

Jenn Sterger

As Deadspin explains it, Favre allegedly retained the help of Jets PR man Jared Winley in an effort to meet the hot Sterger in person. Once Brett got her phone number, he allegedly left several messages asking to see her, and sent the infamous text photos.

But Jared Winley says he never met or knew Jenn Sterger and that "he was not the main PR contact for Favre" according to Deadspin.

Al Daulerio's having a hard time, no pun intended, getting anyone to go on the record about this story. Jenn Sterger won't talk. Brett Favre will not deal with it. And no one from the Jets wants to hear about it. Moreover, the photos were obtained from a "third party" as Daulerio says, who also will not go on the record.

Then the voice, the one reported to sound like Brett Favre, is being question as well. Indeed, it looks like the story has little in the way of legs. But then, today, it got worse for Brett.

Now, two women have surfaced at Deadspin, claiming that Brett sent leud texts to them as well. Yikes.

According to FOX Sports, Brett Favre did admit to calling Jenn Sterger, but says he has no idea where the photos came from.

See: TMZ.com