Flashback to the original HBO ‘Hard Knocks’ at Ravens training camp

With the Ravens back on the show, some football fans have been flashing back to that inaugural season.

Monday’s news cycle brought the exciting announcement that NFL Films and HBO’s Hard Knocks series will, for the first time, chronicle an entire NFL division. The AFC North was selected, and it will be covered during the reality series “In Season” portion.

This marks the Baltimore Ravens’ first appearance on the popular program since its inception in 2001.

The Ravens were coming off the franchise’s first Super Bowl win at the time.

Once again, the Ravens are making Hard Knocks history, as they become one of four teams to be in the first divisional edition, complementing their status as the series’ inaugural team selected. According to both NFL Films and HBO, the production was “the first sports-based reality series” in television history.

For the first twenty years of the series’ history, the focus was on the training camp portion of the season only. Then, in 2021, the Indianapolis Colts became the first team to participate in the in-season edition.

This year will mark the first time Hard Knocks has an offseason edition, with the New York Giants selected as the subject matter. With the Ravens back on the show, some football fans have been flashing back to that inaugural season.

The video below features arguably the most iconic clip from that first season: Tim Anderson bringing down the house with his hilarious lampoon of Shannon Sharpe at the rookie talent show.

Watching Sharpe’s reaction, as he loses his mind with laughter, makes the bit much funnier. In the same episode, Todd Heap did a spot-on impersonation of coach Brian Billick, which was pretty hilarious as well.

If you want to watch the first full episode of the entire series, it is embedded here below:

 

Tim Anderson is a free agent as the Chicago White Sox recommit to losing

The Tim Anderson era in Chicago is over

The height of the success for the Chicago White Sox over the last decade or so came during the inaugural Field of Dreams game in 2021.

Trailing the New York Yankees by one run in the bottom of the ninth inning, Tim Anderson stepped to the plate with one on, one out and launched the first pitch he saw from Zack Britton deep into the Iowa corn fields, screaming “it’s over” as he rounded the bases.

Well, it certainly is now.

The White Sox officially parted ways with Anderson on Saturday, declining the $14 million club option on his contract and making the two-time All-Star and former batting champion a free agent.

This is as much as a surprise as it isn’t.

Anderson is coming off a career-worst season in which he slashed .245/.286/.296 with one home run in 123 games. The final image of him in Chicago will likely be either getting knocked out by Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez or the tabloid-like interest in his personal life.

He was the face of a much-hyped (and ultimately disastrous) White Sox rebuild. Someone who was at times touted as the future face of baseball and was routinely accused of disrespecting the game.

Now Anderson is available for any number of contenders and rising clubs to sign a bit below market value to resurrect his career ahead of his age 31 season.

He’ll instantly be considered one of the top shortstops on the market considering his ceiling and, well, the rest of the available free agents at the position. Javier Baez, Brandon Crawford, Amed Rosario and Nick Ahmed don’t really move the needle like they once did.

Which doesn’t really let the White Sox off the hook here, either. There are no clear upgrades they could sign. Certainly no one who already has a connection with the South Side like Anderson does.

Anderson will be better off. He’ll likely land with a team that has a trustworthy coaching staff, strong clubhouse culture and a history of winning. Essentially everything the White Sox do not have.

Chicago, led now by general manager Chris Getz, will continue to mold themselves into the new Kansas City Royals by poaching every coach and player from a franchise that’s been irrelevant since winning the World Series in 2015.

Look no further than the team’s reported interest in catcher Salvador Perez and Whit Merrifield. Cutting Anderson is only further evidence of Getz’ desire to add the 33-year-old Perez, since there’s very little chance those two  could exist in the same clubhouse.

These are not the moves of a serious team looking to avoiding another full rebuild. This is exactly what you do to build the foundation for a tank job. It’s hard to view the Anderson decision as anything else.

More than anything else, it’s a warning sign.

It’s going to be another long summer on the South Side next year. But Sox fans will have to endure a much longer winter first.

Marcus Freeman fourth on list of coaches most likely to win in a fight

Don’t mess with him.

Fighting in sports seems to be on a lot of people’s brains lately. Those of us in the Chicago area who regrettably cheer for the struggling White Sox still are reeling from Jose Ramirez knocking down Tim Anderson recently. The memes and shade that came from it are another chapter in a season no one in the fan base wants to remember.

This may or may not be related to the latest list from Big Game Boomer, social media’s college football chart and list aficionado. He decided to list college football’s top 50 coaches who would win in a fight, and [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] was ranked fourth:

Hopefully, we don’t have to see Freeman fight anybody as it would give Notre Dame some unwanted attention and subject it to ridicule. But the 6-foot-1 coach’s playing weight as an Ohio State linebacker was 240 pounds. That is not a build anyone in their right mind wants to mess with.

So if you happen to see Freeman somewhere, don’t say or do anything to make him test what he truly is capable of. You’re going to have a really bad time if you do. No one wants to be the next Tim Anderson right now.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

New Tim Anderson, Jose Ramirez fight breakdown video shows stuff you may have missed

A video breaks down all the stuff you may have missed from the brawl.

When there’s something wild that happens in baseball — or, actually, in any sport! — we can count on one thing to happen afterwards.

It’s Jomboy coming in with a video breakdown that may include lip reading. Despite the fact we’ve seen a lot from the Tim Anderson and Jose Ramirez fight — from the Howard Cosell-esque radio call to the hilarious 3D MLB Gameday view — there’s still stuff to see.

Like, I didn’t know that Eloy Jimenez got hurt (but ultimately stayed in the game) or the look that Andrew Vaughn gave Anderson once the White Sox shortstop stepped back out on to the field.

Here you go:

The 3D MLB Gameday view of the Tim Anderson, Jose Ramirez fight is high comedy

This is so funny.

There was so much to take in from the fist fight between Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson and Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez.

There was the Howard Cosell radio call of Anderson going down, there was Andrew Vaughn carrying Anderson away, and there were the photos of the whole melee that transpired.

And now, because MLB now gives us 3D images from games thanks to Gameday, we can see what it looked like virtually.

And what it looked like was pure chaos, as if someone programmed a video game to do something really funny.

Check this out, but be warned, there’s A LOT OF NSFW LANGAUGE AHEAD:

Jose Ramirez accuses Tim Anderson of ‘disrespecting the game’ before brutal fight

Here’s what Ramirez said about the fight after the game.

Looking for what sparked the melee between the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox?

Well, we know it was Tim Anderson and Jose Ramirez squaring off and throwing punches, of course, which included Anderson getting knocked down by a right to the jaw.

But what was it that made Ramirez so mad?

MORE: The brutal Tim Anderson, Jose Ramirez fight in 12 photos

Through an interpreter, Ramirez had this to say: “I think he’s been disrespecting the game for a while. It’s not from yesterday or from before. I even had the chance to tell him during the game, ‘Don’t do this stuff, that’s disrespectful, don’t start tagging people like that.'”

“Because in reality,” he continued, “we’re here trying to find ways to provide for our families. When he does the a thing like he does on the bases, it can get somebody out of the game. So for me, I was telling him to stop doing that and then as soon as the play happened, he tagged me again really hard, more than needed, and then he just said, ‘I want to fight.’ And if you want to fight, I have to defend myself.”

Video appears to show ex-White Sox Lucas Giolito reenacting the Jose Ramirez, Tim Anderson fight to Angels teammate

Word has gotten around FAST about the fight.

The Tim Anderson and Jose Ramirez fight seen ’round the world is already making shockwaves across baseball.

Specifically, it looks like people are going to focus on Ramirez nailing Anderson with a punch that knocked down the Chicago White Sox shortstop and maybe the aftermath that included Andrew Vaughn carrying Anderson away.

MORE: The brutal Tim Anderson, Jose Ramirez fight in 12 photos

Word might have gotten around to ex-White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito, who was filmed by someone miming punches to one of his new Los Angeles Angels teammates. Was he telling that Angel about the fight? Looks that way!

Andrew Vaughn carried Tim Anderson away, was the real MVP of the Guardians – White Sox brawl

The real MVP of the basebrawl between the White Sox and Guardians.

There was so much to take in from what ended up being a serious basebrawl on Saturday between the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox.

There was, at the center of it, Jose Ramirez and Tim Anderson throwing actual haymakers at each other before the Guardians third baseman sent the White Sox shortstop sprawling to the dirt with one punch that led to Cleveland radio invoking Howard Cosell.

MORE: The brutal Tim Anderson, Jose Ramirez fight in 12 photos

And then there was Parts 2 and 3 of the brawl, which led to Anderson’s teammate Andrew Vaughn literally picking up the shortstop and bringing him to the dugout, seemingly with ease:

Good work.

The brutal Tim Anderson, Jose Ramirez fight in 12 photos

Whoa. This was a huge fight!

Who knew it was going to be Fight Night on Saturday in baseball?

Perhaps not since Jose Bautista got decked by Rougned Odor have we seen two baseball players square off and actually throw punches, until Jose Ramirez and Tim Anderson did, with Ramirez nailing Anderson with a punch that knocked the Chicago White Sox shortstop down and leading to a “DOWN GOES ANDERSON!” call.

What led to that whole thing? We’ll find out, I’m sure. But there are a bunch of photos snapped of the whole thing that led to quite a brawl with other players.

Here’s a look: