1. John Urschel Shines on Real Sports on HBO
Did you all catch the Ravens’ guard/resident math genius John Urschel on HBO’s Real Sports? Here are a few of the things we learned:
1. His bedroom is amazingly Spartan. Like, a bed and that’s it.
2. He’s teaching himself to speak Russian…just because.
3. His teammates let him blather on about math, just to indulge him, but don’t actually pay attention.
4. On a scale from 0 to a million, Joe Flacco cares “0” that his guard is getting his PhD in applied mathematics at MIT.
5. Urschel’s mom is a baller, too, putting herself through law school when John was a boy.
6. He called himself a genius once—and will never do it again.
7.
He knows about the risks of playing football to his precious brain, but
believes it’s worth it. “I’m doing two things I love,” he explains. “I
enjoy carving out my own path.”
You can watch the whole segment on HBOGo or watch a trailer for the episode below.
2. Justin Tucker boots 75-yard field goal in Pro Bowl practice
And he made it look easy. His fellow Pro Bowlers were impressed. Is this guy the greatest non-quarterback weapon in football, or what?
Celebrate with your teammates! #ProBowl pic.twitter.com/5u7Ei3QboF — Justin Tucker (@jtuck9) January 26, 2017
3. Arena Football Gets Its Name
The team, which will play this spring at Royal Farms Arena, will be called the Baltimore Brigade and their uniforms will be navy blue and silver, with tinted visors on the helmets. The logo, a large B in a pentagon shape, is meant to represent Fort McHenry (if they say so). One cool detail? Their pants legs will have both the words “Brigade” and “Charm City” running down the sides. Also, one of our players is named “Big Play” Reggie Gray, so that sounds promising.
4. Terps Off to Best Start in 18 Years
This was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but the scrappy Terps, who have three freshmen in the starting lineup, have other ideas. With Tuesday’s win against Rutgers, the team—anchored by Melo Trimble’s clutch leadership, strong play off the bench by Jaylen Brantley, and that remarkably talented and poised group of freshmen—have improved their record to 18-2, their best start in 18 years. (Yes, even better than last year’s highly touted team that went to the Sweet 16). Better still, they’re in first place in the Big Ten and ranked #22 in the country. It hasn’t always been pretty (they tend to let inferior teams get back into games), but it’s always been exciting—and effective. Watch the fun youngins take on Minnesota, Saturday afternoon on the Big 10 Network.
5. Big Ben considering retirement. Suuuure.
After Sunday’s 36-17 rout at the hand of the Patriots, Ben Roethlisberger said that he wasn’t sure if he was coming back next year. “I’m going to take some time and evaluate with my family and really do a lot of praying about it and make sure it’s the right thing for me and my family,” he said. While we’d love nothing more than to see the Ravens nemesis out of the league, something tells us the $18 million he’s slated to receive next year will be sufficiently convincing. Laugh along with skeptical baltimoreravens.com columnist Sarah Ellison here.