Who In The NFL Doesn't Like Osi Umenyiora?

This weekend we get the compelling matchup of the New York Giants facing the Miami Dolphins. Were the game not being played in London, England I probably wouldn't care all that much, and I'm a Dolphins fan.

As part of the festivities, a 26-foot tall animatronic version of Dolphins' defensive end Jason Taylor has been put together in London's Trafalgar Square. While JT is one of the more recognizable players in the NFL, choosing him is a bit odd considering that Giants' defensive end Osi Umenyiora was born in London and lived there for seven years.

It seems even more odd now considering that the Giants are currently one of the hottest teams in the NFC, if not the NFL, and the Dolphins are struggling to not go 0-16. Though, I'm sure the decision to use Taylor was made many months ago.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear Umenyiora mention it after he sacks Cleo Lemon a hundred times on Sunday, however.

And yes, that's Christian Slater standing in front of the JT statue with the mayor of London.

The Dolphins Sure Are Doing Their Best To Screw Their Fans

With the decisions that the Miami Dolphins have made over the past few months you would think that they just went undefeated, and won another Super Bowl trophy. However, with them coming off of a 6-10 season where some newly acquired pieces never really fell into place, you have to wonder if they even want the fans to show up to Dolphin Stadium this season. Let's recap some of decisions that have upset the Dolphin faithful:

March: Trade Wes Welker to the Patriots. Welker was not only a good returner, but he had also turned out to be a pretty good receiver. In addition to that, he had become a fan favorite in South Florida. Trading him away, especially to a division rival, didn't sit well with a lot of fans.

March-June: Screw around with the Trent Green deal. Early in the offseason it became apparent that Miami was interested in Green. I fully understand that they didn't want to overpay for him, but at some point you have to realize that it's likely your two starting quarterbacks from the previous season aren't going to be with the team. The sooner he gets signed, the quicker he gets accustomed to the system and the rest of the team. If he truly is the guy that can help you win games, then bumping up the offer just a bit isn't that big of a deal.

April: Pass on Brady Quinn to draft Ted Ginn Jr. Sure, some "experts" said that Quinn's arm strength wasn't all that great, and that he seemed to disappear in "big games". However, new coach Cam Cameron could have given the Dolphins a new face for their organization by drafting Quinn after he basically fell into their lap. Here's a team that's been struggling to find a QB to build a team around for seven years. Drafting Quinn, at the very least, sends a message to the fans that you're doing everything you can to find the next Dan Marino. Drafting Ginn says that you should have kept Welker.

February-June: Losing a home game to London. On the surface, promoting the NFL to international audiences seems like a great idea. However, many Dolphins fans weren't happy that they lost a home game this season. Though, some team was going to have to be first, and it just turned out to be the Dolphins and Giants. Yet, instead of making everything as smooth as possible, Miami Dolphins' officials have announced that any season ticket holders that purchase tickets to the game in London must show their I.D. when they go to pick them up at Wembley Stadium. That might not sound like a big deal, but the fans aren't happy with it because the same policy isn't enacted for other games, such as the Super Bowl.

Here are a few quotes from Miami Dolphins season ticket holders, the core audience that Miami sells to:

"It's bad enough they're taking a home game away from us — now you've got to pick them up in person?" Mike Dean said. "Let's say I got ill when it came time to go. What if I want to give my tickets to you? I can't give them to you. I have to go on my deathbed?"

"I can win Super Bowl tickets in a lottery and sell those. They allow that," Kathy Harmon said. "For example, with the Super Bowl, we're in a lottery. A lot of people take it [and re-sell the tickets] so they can finance next year's season tickets. Why would they protect somebody for this and not for the Super Bowl?"

And I'm sure that those opinions do reflect a number of others. It's a shame that a team that had such high expectations leading into last season has led their fans to hoping that they don't screw up too badly anymore.

Isn't This That Olympic Logo That Causes Seizures?

Will at Deadspin covered the unveiling of the 2012 Summer Olympics logo, but I wanted to post a follow-up.

Apparently, some people have experienced epileptic seizures after viewing the logo.

"Epilepsy Action, a British health charity, said 10 people had complained about the animation and some had suffered seizures from watching images depicting a diver plunging into a pool.

The Olympic group said it has taken steps to remove the animation from the Web site and will now re-edit the film."

Ten people in three days(the report was released on the 7th)? That's a little more than three people per day, and seeing how we're still five years away from the start of these Olympics that could result in over 5,000 epileptic episodes before the Opening Ceremonies. Yeah, great job on choosing that logo Olympic organizers. Though, with the TV ratings trending downward maybe this is a ploy to boost ratings. You know, induce seizures so that you can't change the channel and keep the ratings up.

Somewhere, Homer Simpson is thrilled with this logo choice.