Every now and then on this site, we try to offer up some praise to someone. It may be a writer who published a nice article, a celeb doing good, or an athlete being a stand-up guy. This time around, it’s an athlete… Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez. (Yes, we know we made a post making fun of the Chiefs yesterday.)

Tony Gonzalez is the real deal all the way around.  Two weeks ago he became no. 1 on the list in receiving yards for a tight end. He has played his entire career for the Chefs and has played no less than 15 games in a season for them.  But why praise Tony now?

Because he was not traded by the Chiefs.  Here’s how it went down: Gonzalez quietly asked the KC owner to try to trade him to a team contending for the playoffs.  Tony’s getting older and the Chiefs are clearly rebuilding, so he wanted a chance to get to the Super Bowl.  He didn’t make a show, mouth off to reporters, start half-assing it on the field.  He just asked the owner to try to trade him so he could have a chance at a title.

The owner’s price was a bit too high and no deal was worked out.  Of course, Gonzalez was not thrilled that he will remain in KC, but he has said that he will do his best to help out the young guys on the team and move the team forward as best he can.

Compare this to…

(1) Terrell Owens getting the ball thrown his way 18 times and having the nerve to say the Cowboys were  not getting him the ball enough.

(2) Chad Johnson giving an interviews about his potential touchdown dances, despite having scored only one touchdown all season.

(3) Adam Jones doing all his “Pacman” things, no matter how many second chances he gets.

(4) Plaxico Burresss getting suspended for a game because he cannot show up for team meetings on time or even call in.

(5) Steve Smith punching his own team in the face and sending him to the hospital.

And then there’s Tony Gonzalez.  Yeah, Tony was in the news during the off-season… for saving a man’s life in a restaurant.  You can check here to read about Gonzalez helping a man who was choking to death in restaurant in Huntington Beach in July.

It’s just too bad that mostly what year in the NFL are the mouths of guys like T.O. or the actions of guys like Jones.  Or heck, event hat stunt Manny Ramirez pulled in Boston.  He wanted a trade, so he started walking down the first baseline and claiming phantom injuries.  Not Tony’s style, and he should be commended for that.

We’ll end with the following quote from this article on FoxSports about Gonzalez.  We can’t even fathom those yahoos we listed up above even having a thought like this enter their selfish brains…

“But you know what? I can’t cry about it. If anything, this has motivated me even more. I’m a Chief, will be happy to be a Chief and will bust my butt for the Chiefs. I was never not happy being a Chief. I just wanted the chance to spend my last couple of years winning a title, not rebuilding. But I’m here to help rebuild, I’ll work with all our young guys and get after it like I always have.”

(1) When your star tight end asks for a trade so he can have a chance at a Super Bowl and it does not happen, the headline on your newspaper’s website says that the tight end’s teammates felt bad for him not being traded.  As in this story, which leads with “Chiefs Players Feel For Gonzalez.”

(2) Just below the story about your star tight end, there’s the “question of the week” regarding your team’s quarterback.  And here’s exactly how that question reads:  “When Brodie Croyle returns to the lineup on Oct. 19 against Tennessee, how long before he suffers an injury that will sideline him again?”  Notice, the question is not “if” he will get injured, but “when.”  The poll had 53% of voters saying the first game back, while 9% lied to themselves and voted that he would stay healthy.  At least they are assuming he will be sidelined due to injury and not poor play.

(3) Herm Edwards is your head coach.

We were looking over the Harris Interactive poll earlier today, as this poll matters since it counts in the BCS standings. Here’s what stood out to us: Michigan received 17 votes. Michigan! The team that just fell to 2-4 with a home loss to Toledo. There were people voting in this poll that felt Michigan deserved to be ranked. And it’s these same people that help determine who plays for the national championship. Is there any chance they get it right?

To us, there is just absolutely no possible way that any person who is qualified to vote on college football polls could think Michigan is one of the 25 best teams in the country. Some of the teams behind Michigan in votes for the Harris poll are: Connecticut (5-1 record), South Carolina (5-2 with 4 wins in a row), Cincinnati (5-1 record), Notre Dame (beat Michigan 35-17), and Illinois (beat Michigan 45-20).

Yet, there were still voters out there that thought Michigan deserved to be ranked. Michigan!

It seems highly likely at this point that voters will be deciding amongst a number of teams on who will play for the title. the chances of just 2 undefeated teams in the top 2 spots is not of high probability. Which means that these voters will be the ones deciding who gets that shot at a championship. And some guy out there will be filling out his ballot in December that right now thinks Michigan is a top 25 team. Are those voters relatives of Rich Rodriguez? Die hard Michigan alums?

There’s really no explanation for it. Yet, the same guy that thinks a 2-4 team is a good team is the guy who will send your team to the Fiesta Bowl instead of Miami.

After the Dodgers-Phillies playoff game last night, there was an interview on SportsCenter of Russell Martin. Not only is Martin the catcher for the Dodgers. And not only did Martin score a run in the team’s 7-2 win. But Martin also introduced a new word into our lexicon. Aggressivity. What a word! Thanks, Russell.

We recently learned that the NFL has fined Minnesota defensive back Antoine Winfield $10,000 for an excessive celebration following his return of a blocked punt in Monday Night’s game against the Saints. The celebration in question involved Winfield running directly to the goal post, jumping up and wrapping his legs around the padding, and sliding to the turf. “Logically,” if Winfield had jumped into the crowd in celebration, that would have been considered a “Lambeau Leap” and deserved no fine.

Commissioner Goodell has remained silent as to whether the goal post will be removed from the Superdome for its part in the celebration.

One of our writers here recently checked his email and found an open letter from PETA in it, urging his support. The letter was in response to this recent event in the Aleutian Islands. We felt obliged to pass the letter along here on the CIV blog…

Dear Sir or Madam,

On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters, I’d like to bring to your attention an incident that is of grave concern to us. Recently, the Kasatochi Volcano in the central Aleutian Islands of Alaska erupted unexpectedly. This thoughtless and heartless volcano managed to, as the news report put it, turn a “small green island rich with seabirds and ocean mammals into a sterile gray lump.”

We will not stand for this, and neither should you.

PETA will not stand by and watch seemingly inactive volcanoes erupt without a moments notice and kill helpless animals. In this unnecessary and violent eruption, tens of thousands of fledgling auklets and petrels perished in their rocky nests and the bird habitat of the island was completely destroyed. This situation is entirely different - and far more gut-wrenching - from the Mount Vesuvius eruption back in A.D. 79, as mainly humans were killed in that event. These are animals we are talking about here!

We are asking you to join us in boycotting the Aleutian Islands and other volcanoes across the world. Take a stand against these heartless and cowardly eruptions that are killing all varieties of animals with no concern for the animal’s well being. Think about that poor auklet, who was one day sitting on a rocky cliff and then was destroyed needlessly by that volcano. These volcanoes cannot be allowed to continue to wreak this havoc on animals across the globe.

We ask you to please join us picketing at the following volcanoes at the following times:

–9:00 a.m. on Monday, October13, on Adak Island in the Aleutians near the Kasatochi Volcano.

–12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 14, at the base of Mount Ranier in Washington state.

–10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 15, at Mauna Loa in Hawaii.

–10:00 a.m. on Thursday, Ocotber 16, at Mauna Loa in Hawaii. (Note: we are picketing at two different times since this is the largest volcano on earth, where our voice can best be heard).

–2:00 p.m. on Friday, October 17, at Mount Merapi in Indonesia.

We will be handing out buttons that read, “Hell no! You can’t blow!” at each of these rallies. Please join us and show your support for these animals. And help us show these volcanoes that we will not stand for their thoughtless eruptions.

Sincerely,

Janey Walton — Assistant to the Traveling Secretary

Two things had to happen to make this post possible. The first, we watched “Superbad” on dvd just last week (not the first time to see it). Second, we caught a re-run of ESPN’s coverage of the 2008 World Series of Poker last night. One of the poker players we saw play many a hand was one Adam Schoenfeld. The commentators discussed how Schoenfeld had played in many World Series events through his career but had yet to cash (we won’t give away his fate in the WSOP).

Oddly enough, the one thing they failed to mention is that Schoenfeld absolutely has to be related to McLovin. Right?

Adam Schoendfeld and McLovin

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Few people know this, but Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville has actually directed a commercial for SportsCenter. This came in his first year at Auburn, 1999. Tuberville received just one instruction for directing the commercial: ESPN wanted a tone of relaxation and not panicking in the face of Y2K. And as we know, Tuberville has a firm grasp on what’s considered not panicking.

Below is the commercial Tommy came up with: