Bleacher Report - Articles by Jeremy Meyer

The LFL's Los Angeles Temptations Media Day

Jeremy Meyer — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:50:21 -0500

Amidst the media hoard at Los Angeles Coliseum, where the Lingerie Football League's Los Angeles Temptations had a day of full availability, we spent some time looking as the hoard of photographers who took pictures with various Temptation players, plus the Temptation Coach.

The first person we had the opportunity to speak with was the Founder/Chairman as well as Interim Commissioner of the LFL Mitch Mortaza who gave us the 411 on the league. He also gave us a few news notes in regards to the future of the league next year with four expansion teams.

He also gave us the 411 by saying "I wouldn't say a gimmick. It started out as a half time attraction and it definitely drew a huge audience through the years that it aired and we decided if we are having that kind of success with a television special, what could happen if we built more of a year round model like the NFL and put teams in these football rich markets?

He made sure to tell us that he was just the commissioner right now. "Interim commissioner—we're going to get a real commissioner here." We have several big candidates who have worked in pro sports before so we will be naming somebody by the end of the season.

He was also asked about Dennis Rodman, who was supposed to be the commissioner, when it was just the Lingerie Bowl. Mr Mortaza said "When we were goofing around with it, we had Dennis, who's a great personality. Now that it's a real legitimate sport, we need to bring in someone that has a background in running a league."

This after the attendance numbers have been 20 percent higher then they expected. TV ratings have been first or second in markets in prime time with adults 25-55.

There will be new teams joining the league next season according to Mr. Mortaza in the following markets- Houston, San Jose in the West and Nashville and Orlando in the East.

He also added not all of the teams are owned by the league and that you could possibly own a team if you're interested. The leases of the buildings are being signed and ownership groups are being set up.

That's right! For a few million dollar investments, you can own one of the franchises in the league. Mortaza did mention the the league owns 51 percent of the teams while outside investors/owners own the rest. Check LFLUS.com for more information.

We sat down individually with WR/RB No. 16 Britainie DeGarbott. DeGarbott expressed a state of calm focus and referred to the determination in beating Seattle on Friday for the team's first home game of the inaugural season of the LFL. She also discussed her relationship status and how girls would've gotten injured if she played in the original Bowl games.

"I have not played in the previous Bowls. I probably would've injured many players (Laughs) if I had played."

"This is because they weren't really athletes back then—oh yeah but my agent had recommended it to me as a joke but little did he know how much I love football!"

"I love all sports and I took him seriously and then went to the try outs which hundreds of girls came out for."

"I was lucky to get picked!"

She discussed that she plays two positions so its a lot like Arena football. "Honestly, I'm not the kind of person to predict a win." She really does think that LA will win Friday night. She believes in her girls and they have a better roster and have played tougher teams then Seattle.

"Hopefully we can catch them off guard and smack them in the mouth"

She has gotten no marriage proposals yet and said she was a big dork forever in High School. She added she had no friends and sat alone during lunch. Britainie was also in drama club and wore glasses. Then, one day, "It just happened! I don't know what happened exactly! Maybe just recently (laughing) I think its the uniform...yeah total nerd at heart! I don't see myself as this "lingerie sexy".

Britainie did mention that she doesn't have a guy at home but is waiting for someone to come and sweep her off her feet. "I really want someone that's an athlete like me,healthy,fun and a positive thinker. She also mentioned that she's a nurse for her "real job" and so being healthy being physically active is really important to me."

"I'm probably the least high maintenance of anyone on the team. When Ms. DeGarbott said that I was added that we should go to Carls Jr and to which she replied "I said healthy!" to which I quickly answered "Well they do have salad!" to which she responded she said "deal whatever lol."

Temptations head coach David Bizub was next on our list to interview. He was very open and discussed the team, tryouts, as well as his opinion on Friday nights game. We also discussed how he was hired for the job. He mentioned that he has been with the team since the very beginning when the LA team was known as "Team Dream."

"The girls have become more athletic and more competitive. The game has become a lot more aggressive and a lot more competitive over the years. Even the first year, the fans who actually showed up to the event were quite shocked to see that it was real football"

We are 1-1 right now and, hopefully, about to be 2-1. We'll beat Seattle. I asked him to discuss Seattle a little bit "Seattle is a tough team. They're 2-0, and haven't been beaten yet. We have to realize they haven't lost yet, so its our job to take advantage of that and take it to them.

We discussed and hoped that maybe Seattle would come in to this game being kind of cocky and lose because of this. When I added he should take a look at USC as an example all he could do what smile and have no comment in regards to that matter. He did say USC is a great program is a huge fan of Pete Carroll.

Back on topic, he said "I'm not scared of Seattle. I know they're going to come in and be tough. I discussed with the coach the fact of not being intimidated but asked if the girls were. Coach said "The girls are not scared of anyone! They're more afraid of our coaches then they are of the players on the other team."

The Seattle team wasn't at the media day so we were not able to get any information on them.

The Los Angeles Temptations will take the field at the LA Sports Arena on Friday. Kick off is set for 9pm with tailgating beginning at 5pm. Check local listings at KDOC in Los Angeles or LFLUS.com for the online stream where you can also find some Temptations gear.

TICKETS: TICKETMASTER.COM OR 1.800.745.3000

LINE: LOS ANGELES -2 43 OVER/UNDER

ARENA: LOS ANGELES SPORTS ARENA (ARTIFICIAL TURF)

KICKOFF: 9PM PST

Stanford Women Defeat USC With Ease to Win Pac-10 Title

Jeremy Meyer — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:07:41 -0400

The sixth-seeded USC Trojans (11-10,17-15) lost in the championship game Sunday night to the top-seeded Stanford Cardinal (20-1, 30-4) at the Galen Center, 89-64. With tonight's win, the Cardinal gets an automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.

“Our team is playing with a lot of confidence," Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. "I think they have really listened to the directions that our coaches have given them. I think we have great leadership with our captains. Everyone is just focused on doing what we need them to do. I think we have to be one of the most improved teams in America."

Stanford's 25-point margin of victory was the most in a title game history. Stanford also defeated California last year, 56-35, and has now won three Pac-10 championships in a row. They have one six of the eight total tournaments that have been played.

The 89 points scored by Stanford were the most scored in a tournament title game and second-most in any tournament game (both previous highs owned by Stanford as well). Their 239 total points scored in three tournament games also broke a record which previously held by the Cardinal.

If that were not enough, Stanford also set tournament records for rebounds (48), field goals made (35), field goal attempts (71) and field goal percentage (.493).

The USC Women of Troy gave the Stanford Cardinal a reasonable challenge until the second period, when Stanford's lead became insurmountable. With 3:19 on the clock, Stanford led by 35 points.

Most championship victories are followed by some sort of celebration. Not so for Stanford's team. Senior forward and team captain Jillian Harmon is off to study for a test. And she's not the only one—the team has finals starting Monday.

"I see it as six more games and I think our team is playing the best we have played all season right now," Harmon said. "I want to play with these players six more times. They are my best friends and I want it to go as long as it possibly can.”

Sophomore forward Kayla Pedersen had a game-high 25 points as well as the game-high in rebounds, with nine. Freshman forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike who had 14 points and seven rebounds.

“Everything kind of came together in the second half, so we were able to pull away,” Pedersen said.

USC senior guard Camille LeNoir scored her team's high with 13 points, followed closely by sophomore center Kari LaPlante, with 12 points and four rebounds.

“We're not quitters. We never have been and I think we fought until the end,” LeNoir said.

The Trojans put up a fight in the first period, actually holding a lead over the Cardinal for brief moment before Stanford woke up and never looked back. They lead 33-24 at the half.

After the game, the All-Tournament Team was announced:

Jillian Harmon (F, Stanford)
Camille LeNoir (G, USC)
Nyingifa Atonye (F, UCLA)
Nnemkadi Ogwumike (F, Stanford)
Ashley Walker (F, California)

As well as the Most Outstanding Player, Kayla Pedersen (F Stanford).

Pedersen is the second sophomore to be named Most Outstanding Player. Stanford's Nicole Powell received the honor in 2002, and Candice Wiggins, also from Stanford, won as a freshman in 2005.

“I'm proud of my kids. They scrapped as best they could and I think the third night you get tired of leaning on these big bodies and I think they kind of just ran out of gas.” USC head coach Mark Trakh said. “Stanford played a heck of a game. They beat us in every facet of the game. I think the big thing was that they where just so big and they're skilled inside.”

Courtesy of SportsPageMagazine.com
Photo Courtesy of Eric Wade

Stanford Defeats UCLA With Ease To Advance To Pac-10 Tournament Finals

Jeremy Meyer — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:04:41 -0400

LOS ANGELES - The fourth-ranked UCLA Bruins (10-10, 17-15) were defeated by the top-seeded Stanford Cardinal (19-1, 29-4) Saturday night at the Galen Center, 73-47.

Stanford swept UCLA again in the semifinals, just as it has done three times this season. UCLA has dropped three of four tournament semifinal games, and all of them have been against Stanford.

Stanford's freshman forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike had a fantastic game, scoring 15 points and 10 rebounds, followed by junior guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude and freshman forward/center Sarah Boothe, who had 12 points apiece.

“In the beginning of the season, as a freshman, you're new not only to the team, but also to the school, and you're trying to get used to things," Ogwumike said. "Right now, I feel like I really know what's going on. I have our sets down. I know how we need to get things done, so I'm mixing my game into that.”

Stanford is 25-0 when leading at halftime and will be making its eighth tournament championship game appearance Sunday night.

The Cardinal came out hungry at the start of the game and quickly took a 10-point lead before surging ahead to a 20-plus-point lead in the second half, which they held through the rest of the game, even leading by as many as 35.

“I thought that was a really important game for us," Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer, who won her 600th coaching victory with the win, said. "I thought our team was very focused. We had seen the end of the USC-Cal game and we knew we had to play really well. UCLA is an extremely athletic and aggressive team. They're very talented and we had to work very hard to come out with this win.”

UCLA sophomore forward Nina Earl had eight points and sophomore guard Doreena Cambell had six points and six rebounds. Bruins freshman forward Atonye Nyingifa grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.

“Stanford is solid across the board," UCLA head coach Nikki Caldwell said. "They are a team that has multiple weapons offensively. They are big, they are strong, they they are long. They did a great job of really disrupting us offensively and exploiting some of our defensive looks we had.”

The Stanford Cardinal will take on the USC Trojans Sunday night for the Championship at 6pm at the Galen Center. The game will also be broadcast on FSN.

Courtesy of SportsPageMagazine.com
Photo Courtesy of Eric Wade

The USC Women of Troy Upset Cal on Controversial Call, Advance to Pac-10 Final

Jeremy Meyer — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:02:19 -0400

The No. 2 seed California Golden Bears (16-4, 25-6) were defeated by the No. 6 seed USC Women of Troy (11-9, 17-14) Saturday night in the semifinals at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, 69-67.

With Cal down two and 0.3 seconds left in the game, USC fans went silent as Cal junior guard Ashley Walker got a high-arcing inbounds pass under the basket and quickly hit a layup to tie the score.

Cal celebrated, and everyone at the Galen Center thought the game was going into overtime. But after an 11-minute review, the officials waved off the basket and the Women of Troy took the win. This was the third USC-Cal game this season decided by two points.

USC, who snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Golden Bears (their last win was February 2005), will appear in the Pac-10 title game for the first time ever. The Women of Troy are now 17-14 on the season and 6-7 in the tournament.

Official Bob Scofiled made a short statement regarding the ruling and the amount of time the refs took to make their decision:

“At the three-tenths of a second mark you can only tip at the basket. We determined that it was gathered and that the shot was no good.

"We wanted to know if the clock had started on time to make sure everything was good. It is what we looked for at the time and we looked at it three times from three different angles.”

USC head coach Mark Trakh was confident that the officials would make the call they did, since he had been on the other end of the same ruling the year before.

“We were playing Oregon State last year," Trakh said. "There were 0.3 seconds on the clock. The officials came over to us and said 'Whatever play you run, it's got to be a tip. It cannot be a catch.' We ran the exact same play that Cal ran.

"Nadia Parker went up and caught the ball, she made the basket, our kids went nuts. The referees huddled, just like they huddled here. They called it a catch. You cannot catch. It was the correct call in the loss to Oregon State for us, and it was the correct call tonight.”

USC scored first in tonight's matchup, and Cal failed to score on their first free-throw opportunities.

Senior forward/center Devanei Hampton got Cal on the board, but USC had an eight-point lead with 13:00 remaining in the first period.

The first half was all USC, as the Trojans dominated from the start and the Golden Bears did not have a chance to compete against their very strong defense. USC led at halftime, 31-24.

The Golden Bears then came back in the second period and would have sent the game into overtime if not for the final referee decision.

“Everybody did their part to get us back into the game," Walker said. "It was a hard-fought game and it came down to the wire.”

Walker had 29 points and 15 rebounds for Cal, followed by senior center Devanei Hampton with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Walker and Hampton were as much of a weapon on offense as they were on defense. Junior guard Alexis Gray-Lawson had eight rebounds, four each on offense and defense.

USC's senior guard Camille LeNoir had 25 points, followed by junior guard Hailey Dunham with 12 points and four rebounds. Sophomore center Kari LaPlante added 10 defensive rebounds.

LeNoir said only three words regarding the controversial ruling that may have won them the game.

“It's a rule.”

LeNoir scored in double figures for the second time in the tournament and 22nd time this season. Her 25 points were the sixth best in a tournament semifinal game. 21 came in the second half.

“It was just really a hard-fought game, and it is just sad that somebody had to come up on the short end,” Cal head coach Joanne Boyle said. "I could not be more proud of them. They gave everything in their tank.

"We put ourselves in a hole a little bit early, but they fought tooth and nail to get back into it, and I feel they did everything they could to win this game.”

Gray-Lawson was asked about her recent knee sprain.

“I'm fine," she said. "All I can do is to continue to rehab and get better. I personally feel like I am at 100 percent right now.”

After failing to beat a ranked team this season prior to the tournament, USC has done so twice in two days (They beat No. 16/25 Arizona State to advance to the semis, 70-65).

USC will be the lowest-seeded team ever to appear in the tournament championship game. They will try to duplicate the feat of their men's team, who won an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament earlier Saturday.

"We made it more interesting than we should have down the stretch, but it was a great game," Trakh said. "I'm just really thrilled that we're in the Pac-10 finals.”

For the eighth time in eight years, the No. 2 seed will not win the tournament.

The California Golden Bears now fall to 16-4 (25-6) and the USC Women of Troy improve to 10-9 (20-11). USC will face the winner of the second semifinal of the evening, either Stanford (18-1, 28-4) or UCLA (10-9, 17-14).

Courtesy of SportsPageMagazine.com
Photo Courtesy of Eric Wade

Whitcomb's 28 Leads Huskies Past Ducks

Jeremy Meyer — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:58:20 -0400

LOS ANGELES –Sami Whitcomb had 28 points and five rebounds and Laura McLellan scored 15 points and seven rebounds as the Washington Huskies beat the Oregon Ducks 69-43 Thursday night to advance to the quarterfinals of the women's Pac-10 tournament.

Whitcomb, a junior guard, hit 11 of 18 from the floor. Oregon attempted to rally from a 12-point second-half deficit behind 15 points from sophomore forward Ellie Manou and 13 from junior guard Micaela Cocks -- but it was not enough to take on the hungry Washington team.

Ducks junior guard Taylor Lilley went down in the first period with a concussion, ending her playing in Thursday's game.

"That's real unfortunate and I guess it's a bit of a reflection of our season," Oregon head coach Bev Smith said of Lilley. "We battled through injuries all year, and having Taylor in and out of our lineup, she's a pretty important person for us. But I think our team has battled through that before and I think Washington was very opportunistic in taking advantage of that, and that is what good teams do".

Washington took command of the game early and led 32-24 at the half. Whitcomb had 14 points in the first half and was followed by junior forward/center Laura McLellan, with nine.

“I was just excited about this game," Whitcomb said. "We were all really fired up and we wanted to come out here and just send a message from the beginning. We executed on defense and I think that opened a lot for us offensively.”

Oregon's freshman forward Amanda Johnson had nine; Manou scored five.

"For all of our abilities, capabilities and vulnerabilities we didn't end the season as we would have wanted; we probably didn't start the season as we wanted, but in between that I think there was some growth and I think that's what you try to ask for as a coach, as a teacher and mentor," Smith said.

The Oregon Ducks fall to 6-13/10-20. The Washington Huskies 4-15/8-21 will take on the second-seeded California Golden Bears (15-3 24-5) Friday at 5pm at the Galen Center.

“We think it's a pretty solid match-up," Washington coach Tia Jackson said, referring to playing Cal on Friday. "Are they a great team? Absolutely. Are we playing some really good basketball right now? Yes, and it's pretty comparable to how Cal is doing. We're going to enjoy this until midnight tonight. Tomorrow's a new day. It's what March Madness is all about.”

Courtesy of SportsPageMagazine.com
Photo Courtesy of Eric Wade

On The Sideline—Monday Morning Quarterback

Jeremy Meyer — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:09:02 -0400

I have a question for all of you reading this column, and that is how many of you have been watching a sporting event on tv or if your lucky enough to be in the stand at a game for the sake of this story, I will be using football. So how many times have you been screaming at the football coach or the players because they made the wrong call, did not catch the pass or make that interception so needed for your team to win the game in question.

I have know been writing about football for about five years and to tell you the truth, I have been thinking the exact same thing in my head while I am sitting in the press box at the Staple Center or freezing my butt off while covering a high school football team.

Why is it that we always think that we can do it so much better then the people on the field who tried out and or who gets paid four times as much as I do to cover the games?

I used to go to Santa Monica College as a student, football reporter and even as part of the staff and I would say I have a pretty good relationship with the coaching staff so good that the defensive line coach had asked me a handful of times to actually join the team instead of writing about them as a member of the media.

So a few weeks ago now I was talking to some friends and co-workers to see what they thought about me letting go of the pen and notebook and actually going out to play defensive line for the college? Some thought it was a great idea because I had gained a few extra pounds and I needed to lose it.

The big thing is that I had not picked up a weight or run more then a very slow mile in about 6 some years and I was not sure if I was in good enough shape to even think about making the team. But I tried anyways and the day after the fall semester started, I walked into the defensive lines coach’s office and asked him if he was serious about me trying out for the team.

I was sent to the head coach who told me to get my butt to practice and that is what I did but what I did not think about was my lack of training, exercise or that I have been smoking cigarettes for the last 10 years and that worked out well enough to let me play three years of high school. Football, but this was college and on the first day they made us work out hard and my body was screaming for help. Just so I can make a very long story on my experience trying to play college football, my body hurt all over the place from my arms to my legs that was moving and shaking like if my legs where made of gelatin. During my first week of practice I believe I puked twice and sometimes ran the end of my supposed run the pace of a turtle instead of a rabbit. It was bad and people told me to stick a fork in it, because I was done.

The thing is I did not want to quit the team before the end of week two and that was the running of the 220 yards full speed 4 times and that was when my body was like No No No its time to call it a night and after puking a little without actually puking I was forced to walk over to the defensive line coach and say I can’t do it and all he could do was laugh.

That’s when I knew that my career playing any kind of football at any level higher then high school was out of the question at this time. I do believe if I had trained for a few weeks prior to joining the team I could have lasted longer then I did and if they had started practice of slower then what they did my body could have gotten used to the exercise. But none of the above happened and I was forced to write this story on how I moved from being a Monday Morning Quarterback sitting in the press box to being down on the field.

Just remember that its easy to scream at someone from 50-100 yards away, but it’s a lot harder to actually go out and give it a try. But don’t think that this two weeks has scarred me away from trying to make the team again next season or since I am writing about the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football league, maybe I will see in a few months if I have what it takes to stand with the Avengers.

Arena Football: Avengers Fall to the Philadelphia Soul With Scoreless Fourth Quarter

Jeremy Meyer — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:06:03 -0400

The Philadelphia Soul held the Los Angeles Avengers scoreless in the fourth quarter and walked away with a 71-34 victory on Thursday night in front of 13,398 at the Staples Center.

The Soul (4-0) continued their dominance in the National Eastern Conference.

The player that the Avengers were not looking forward to seeing again was the current Soul star receiver Chris Jackson, who spent the 2000-2004 seasons with the Avengers before being let go in free agency. Jackson had six touchdowns for 167 in the Soul’s victory over the Avengers.

" I knew they would come out ready to roll, they struggled a week ago on the road, but I knew that the staff would have them ready to roll,” said Soul coach Brent Munsey.

Sonny Cumbie went 18-30 for 152 yards and three touchdowns, but he was also intercepted once and sacked four times by the hungry Soul defense.

Cumbie answered by connecting with his receiving corps. Kevin Ingram was ahead of the pack with 113 yards and two touchdowns, while LaShaun Ward had 10 yards and a score.

But Lonnie Ford was a big hit on the field on Thursday as he scored two touchdowns with only six yards.

Ford would be the last Avenger to score with 7:21 left in the third quarter, as the Soul defense would not give the Avengers another chance.

Soul quarterback Matt D’Orazio went 28-42 for 338 yards and 8 touchdowns. His target of choice was of course Mr. Jackson, who also shared the spotlight with Larry Brackins who had 95 yards and a touchdown. Cliff Dell got 63 yards and a touchdown to round out the scoring for the Soul.

The Avengers will hit the road again for a game in Michigan on Sunday March 20th against the Grand Rapids Rampage.

On the Sideline: Rants About Super Bowl Media Day

Jeremy Meyer — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 14:55:33 -0500

To start things off, congratulations to the New York Giants for winning it all and taking a spot in history.

For destroying the bitter dream of the New England Patriots getting a perfect 19-0 season and joining the 1972 Miami Dolphins' company.

But before I go too much off topic, let's take it back to the week before the big game at the NFL Media Day.

According to the NFL, 116 different media outlets got credentials for the event, but the funny part of it all was of all that the media thought it was better to finish eating the breakfast buffet put out then to actually do some real work and go interview the players.

That was just the beginning of what people will always remember as the circus they call Super Bowl Media Day.

Outlets that have not covered a single football game all year take the field and disrupt it all for the real journalists that actually have deadlines and media outlets that need to get an interview with Tom Brady or Eli Manning before they go to print for tomorrow's paper.

But instead we get attractive women asking really stupid questions, like the Spanish reporter that asked almost every player on the field, including the much publicized “Will you marry me” given to Tom Brady.

Now if this was not enough, we had Entertainment Tonight correspondent Maria Menounos wearing a credential over her Tom Brady jersey. Don’t get me wrong, but if I tried to wear anything that showed I was giving more love for one of the teams, I would be waiting somewhere called the unemployment line.

But since this isn't real sports media, everything is a OK and they can wear whatever they want. Speaking of wearing whatever they wanted, the Spanish reporter who asked Brady to marry her at least came prepared incase he said yes.

How can the NFL let people like that in to the stadium?

Now if that was enough horror for all of you, how about the Telemundo reporter who thought he was funny using a puppet to interview Darren Barnett, a member of the Giants' practice squad?

You got to love the NFL, and we'll talk a lot about it in the upcoming weeks.

Jeremy Meyer is an NFL Columnist SPMSportspage.com. His column can be found online every Monday.

If you want to send Meyer any hate mail or love letters, please send them to Jmeyer@spmsportsinc.com