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Sunday, January 25, 2009

MSVU WBBall, AUS MBball notes, Raptors






MSVU Women's Basketball
Saturday night I went out to Mount Saint Vincent University to watch the women's basketball team play the St.Thomas Tommies. Why? The Mystics were going for their 60th consecutive regular season victory. The Tommies were also undefeated on the season at 10-0, so the game had the makings of great drama. I took a recorder from CKDU along and interviewed Head Coach Dyrick McDermott and a couple of players. The story will air on CKDU on Wed. morning around 9 am (88.1 or ckdu.ca).
The one question I was asking myself as I left the gym after a relatively easy MSVU victory; How is this guy not coaching at the AUS level? I asked him if he applied for any or all of the three openings that came available over the summer at Nova Scotia universities. He said he did, respected the hiring choice of each school, and his only focus now is winning a national championship at the college level with the Mount.
If you see this guy coach, and the way his kids play, it's absolutely crazy that he is not a fulltime coach at the University level. Not only is he intense, driven, and demanding, but he is a great communicator and has a wealth of basketball knowledge to pass on to his players, who play 40 minutes of intense basketball every single game.
If X, SMU, and Acadia hired better candidates than this guy, they must have hired some pretty incredible basketball coaches.

X Taking Control of AUS Mens Bball
Look who's back on top of the AUS. After a short absence, the ST FX X-Men are staking thier claim as AUS powerhouse once again. Coach Konchalski's boys are 10-1, after beating the SMU Huskies by 1 point today in Antigonish.
The X-Men should be undefeated, but a costly mistake vs the Huskies last month at the tower cost them a chance at a perfect season. With the game tied at 70, X's Alberto Rodriguez had a chance to win the game on a breakaway lay-up with a few seconds left on the clock. Rodriguez missed the layup, then followed SMU's Mark McLaughlin who had grabbed the rebound. Wrong guy to foul.
Mclaughlin hit two foul shots at the other end and the Huskies stole a W.
The X-Men have not let that bitter defeat slow them down. They now have 30 points at the midway point, 8 points better than Cape Breton and SMU who are tied for second.

Axemen Fading
After losing their Head Coach and some valuable players from last year's team that made the national final, Acadia was expected to come down this year, but still be a contender. Not too much so far.
The Axemen are 4-9 and tied with MUN for 6th place. Three of Acadia's 4 wins have come vs re-building UNB (congrats to Coach Brent Baker for beating MUN over the weekend. He's a great guy, in a difficult spot, trying to turn around a once proud program that has gone dramatically south in recent years). Acadia is 0-7 vs the top 5 teams in the conference.
The biggest problem? Last year's AUS MVP, Lionel Saintil is out for the rest of the season to back injury. They only had him for 2 conference games at the most. So they've now lost 5 of their 6 best players from last year!
Interim head coach Steve Bauer will need for potential rookies of the year, Casey Fox and Justin Boutilier, to step up in hurry!

Joey Haywood
If you haven't seen Joey Haywood of Saint Mary's play yet, you're missing out. The guy was a streetball legend in Vancouver known as "King Handles" before Ross Quackenbush fell upon him (as it seems only Coach Quack can). Now the first year guard is leading the league in scoring with 23 points a game, and maybe the most exciting player in the conference in a long time. To say he's quick would be an understatement.
Good news for fans, he's also a hardworking, dedicated student so he may be around for a long time.

Carleton/Ottawa
Just noticed that the Score (ch.55) is showing Ottawa vs Carleton on Wed. night this week. Should be a great one. Asides from the inner city rivalry, Ottawa is ranked #2 in the country, while Carleton is in their familiar spot at #1. I saw Carleton play an exhibition game in September vs. the Kansas Jayhawks (champs) and they were very impressive, losing to KU by 1 point. Last month they beat X by 20 points at the Rod Shoveller tourney.
Should be fun to watch.

Raptors Coming On?
Well the Raptors have won 2 in row after taking care of the horrible Sacramento Kings today in Toronto. Could the Raptors be gaining momentum heading into their pivotal 4 game stretch in early February, when they'll face the Magic, Cavs, Lakers, and Hornets?

Before that they'll play at the Nets, and then back home vs the Milwaukee Bucks, who just lost Michael Redd for the rest of the season. If the Raps can win those 2, that'll be 4 in a row and it will give them alot of confidence heading into that tough stretch of games, which could determine whether or not they will be sellers or buyers come trading season.
Jermaine O'Neal looked good today with 11 pts and 10 rebs, so hopefully that will further entice Miami to give up Shawn Marion in exchange for JO.

Watching Sacramento struggle to get decent shots today and looking like a shell of the team that was so great just 6 years ago, it made me think of Rick Adelman, and why the Kings ever let him go. Adelman is a great coach, and his teams alway get good looking shots at the basket, regardless of their talent level. Now Adelman is in Houston, and the Kings have a coach in way over his head, who had to step in for Reggie Theus, who was a horrible coach. You would think these small market teams would follow the lead of the Utah Jazz who have held on to Jerry Sloan for 21 years. When you find a great coach who likes being a part of your organization, hold on to him. Why fire him and end up with a coach who is not as good?

Thursday, January 22, 2009

January, 22



Cardinals Making A Believer Out of Skeptics...Except Me
Have to give props to Dave Lalande for picking the Cards on sunday. Can their miracle run contiunue in the Super Bowl vs the Steelers. No. But, it`ll be fun watching them try. Pittsburgh is not a team that routs their opponents, they just put you away slowly but surely. So the Cardinals should be within striking distance for most of the game.

I heard one analysis say that Arizona has had a very fortunate run to the big game, and I have to agree. I said throughout the season that the NFC south was the most overrated division in football, so watching them beat Atlanta and Carolina was not surprising (although I did not pick them in either game). As for the Eagles, I think Philly lost that game more than the Cardinals won it.

Philly seemed to think they were just going to show up and win in the first half. They put it together in the second half but Mcnabb missed on too many passes. Although, Larry Fitzgerald is a man among boys, Curt Warner is a very calming presence for the team who still throws the best short pass in the NFL (the type of pass that Mcnabb struggles with), and that winning touchdown playcall was excellent by the Offensvie Coordinator.

I'm taking the Steelers by 10 for all the reasons I've talked about at length in previous posts.

Dave Hodge Commentary on Fighting
Dave Hodge will never be confused for a sports reporter of the common man. His persona has always been that of an aloof intellectual who would rather sip wine and watch Golf then drink beer and watch a hockey game. But his elegant commentary about fighting in the NHL, aired on TSN a couple nights back, was bang on.
Basically Hodge asked for fans who enjoy fighting in hockey, to simply admit that they want fighting to stay in hockey because they like watching guys fight. Don't try to intellectualize or play the purist game by saying things like; "Fighting is ingrained in hockey culture", "If you don't have fighting the sticks will come up", or my favorite, " It protects the star players" (insert Dave Semenko reference here).
Those who think fighting should be banned will respect your opinion much more if you just tell the truth; You like watching hockey players fight. Period.
TSN Just Posted the Transcript of Hodge's Commentary on the Website, here it is in it's entirety.
"For better or worse - and I happen to think it's always better to discuss contentious issues than to ignore them - the "fighting in hockey" debate is raging again.
The only trouble is, there's nothing new in the arguments from either side.
But I'd like to propose a change that might make the dinosaurs and the granola eaters - as they were labeled on the weekend - agree on something.
I want the fans of fighting to be just that - I want them to admit that a hockey game with a fight is better than one without - simply because it's more entertaining.
I want them to say they want the guy from their team to beat up the guy from the other team because it makes them feel good.
I'd like to hear that they want fighting in hockey because it's too long to wait for the next UFC telecast.
I have no argument for that - you like it, I don't - let's carry on as hockey fans.
What I'm tired of hearing is the stuff that attempts to explain the "benefits" of hockey fights, or the "need" to continue them.
They're part of hockey, we are told. So was the red line, until it was removed.
Without fights, players would swing their sticks at each other. Not if they wanted to avoid a long suspension and the possibility of jail time.
You must be able to protect your skilled players. You mean, if you couldn't do it with fists, somebody might try to body check a goal scorer? I'd like to see more of that.
Players need fighting as an outlet. What about players with visors? The pro-fighting lobby itself says they shouldn't fight. So what's their outlet and what's the argument when they're all wearing visors?
Hockey would become less popular and profitable without fights. Ah, but for some reason, customers are willing to pay more money for playoff games than they pay for regular season games and it's the playoff games that seldom contain fights.
Tell me you want hockey to have fights - don't tell me hockey needs to have fights. And we'll all get along better."
Raptors Receive Failing Grade
Steve Aschburner wrote this about the Raptors in his column on cnnsi, where he dished out mid season grades to all 30 NBA teams.
Toronto Raptors: It's not easy to earn a grade this harsh. You would need to underachieve dramatically, abruptly fire your recent Coach of the Year (Sam Mitchell), have a showy offseason move (trading for Jermaine O'Neal) blow up in your face, turn your lone superstar into a cranky finger-pointer who might want out, cope badly with a key injury (Jose Calderon), run off a string of losses and drown in trade rumors a month before the NBA deadline. Ladies and gentlemen, your ... Toronto ... Raptors! Grade: F

Monday, January 19, 2009

Raptors, NFL, News and Notes










Raptors Backcourt Scores 48 Points! Raptors Lose.
Jay Triano took a gamble on sunday and started Anthony Parker and Joey Graham in the backcourt vs the Phoenix Suns. The result; 48 points! Throw in Jamario Moon's 16 and you have 64 points from the Guard/Forward spot, considered to be the Raps glaring weakness.
That's the good news. The bad news? The Raptors still lost, 117-113. Their 5th in a row if you're counting.
Bargnani and Bosh contributed 35 points on 50 % shooting. So how can the Raptors still come out on the losing end, when five players score in double figures? I guess you would have to ask Jack Armstrong and Leo Rautins (a very nice man by the way. I sent him an e-mail over the summer asking if he would be interested in an interview for a book I was considering writing on canadian coaches. Not only did he write back saying he would, he gave me tips on how to get started and a list of coaches I should interview).
But in my humble opinion, asides from the Raptors inability to defend and their lack of athleticism at the guard and forward spots, the following changes need to be made;

The Jay Triano experiment needs to come to an end. It was a bold move by Colangelo and we all want to see Triano succeed, but the team is playing worse than ever. The one positive of Triano's tenure is that Bargnani has thrived. But is that because of Triano`s presence as Head Coach, or because Sam Mitchell isn't there anymore?
Avery Johnson would be a perfect fit for this team. Or any of the older coaches who always seem available to try and settle a team down and get them to play technically sound bball would do, i.e Mike Fratello, Hubie Brown, or Jeff Van Gundy.

Jermaine O`Neal must go, while all the shop talk is still hot and teams are desiring his services. I read this morning that the Lakers are interested in shipping Lamar Odom for O`Neal, and there have been rumours of a Shawn Marion deal involving the Heat. Marion would be the ideal candidate. He would bring an automatic upgade in athleticism and he has a good history with Brian Colangelo from their days in Phoenix.

Finally, the Raptors have too many guys who are just good enough to get you beat. Jamario Moon, Graham, Parker, Chris Humphries. These players will do lots of nice things during a game, but in the end you still lose.
The problem with these players is that they are MEDIOCRE. So painfully average. Not too beat a dead horse, but their lack of athleticism kills the Raps. This was obvious during yesterday`s game vs Phoenix. Amare Stoudamire, Leandro Barbosa, Matt Barnes, Jason Richardson, even Grant Hill. These guys can run and jump all day long, and Steve Nash is the perfect QB for this group of thoroughbreds. Imagine Jose Calderon with that bunch, the Raptors would be serious contenders.

Raptors Lose 6th Straight
We all know Jamario Moon can't guard a chair, well today in Atlanta, Chris Bosh had enough. Bosh walked over to Moon in the second half and began yelling at him right on the floor. It looked like Bosh was attempting to show Moon how to position himself correctly defending the ball on the perimeter.
How did Moon respond? On the next play he left his feet on a Mike Bibby upfake, and fouled him as Bibby tried to shoot over the helpless defender.
So Jamario decided to make amends on the offensive end. With the Raptors trailing by 1 point, Bosh was stripped on a drive to the basket with 1 minute left. The Hawks decided to go for the score rather than hold for a good shot and ended up getting a ridiculous looking spinning layup that hit the bottom of the basket, bouncing down into Raptors hands. The ball made it's way to Moon, who, for reasons unknown to anyone in the building, fired up a three pointer with 20 seconds left on the shot clock, 31 left in the game. Brick.
The Hawks rebounded, hit a jumper on the offensive end, game over. Thanks Jamario.
Any chance another team will take this guy off the Raptor's hands, maybe as a throw in with Jermaine O'Neal.
As I wrote earlier, the Raptors play just well enough to lose. Time to make some changes. Despite all this losing, the Raps are still just a few games out of a playoff spot, with half a seson left to play.

Triano's Record Not Too Good

Now that the Jay Triano honeymoon is officially over, it's time to objectively look at how Triano has fared as Head Coach. The record: 8 wins....18 losses. The Raps have had injuries, but they had injuries with Sam Mitchell, and they were 8-9 under him. The Raptors have played tough teams...yes. But they are 2-12 vs teams with records over .500. 2 wins! That means they are 6-6 vs teams below .500, and some of those losses were awful. They've lost games to the Pacers, Warriors, Kings, and Oklahoma City! The Thunder for god's sake!
The Raps next 2 games are at Detroit and Chicago. Think they'll get one of those? Maybe the Bulls.
Then they start February with 4 straight vs. the Magic, Cavaliers, Lakers, and Hornets. Those 4 teams are a combined 120 - 36!! That could be the stretch that puts the Raptors away for good.
Getting back to Triano, it's just not happening. Time for a change at the Head Coach position, packaged with some player movement, to try and salvage a horrible season.

The Curious Case of Chris Bosh
Is it just me or does Chris Bosh seem to be aging right before our eyes. He looks like he is in peak shape, but he seems to labour up and down the floor, doesn't seem to jump as high, and has lost alot of quickness. He has really bulked up since his rookie season but you have to wonder if it has slowed him down.

Damian Cox on The Reporters
Damian Cox of the Toronto Star made a great point on sunday morning's "The Reporters" on TSN. Referring to that evening's AFC championship between the Ravens and Steelers, Cox said that tonight we'll be watching an absolutely violent football game...and there will not be one fight. So why is there fighting in hockey?
An excellent question.
If a couple of guys had dropped the helmets, would that have prevented Willie Mcgahee's injury in the 4th quarter? No.
At no point did I hear one of the guys in the studio at halftime say, " The game is getting a little chippy out there, we need a good scrap to keep guys honest."
No other sport in the world, with the exception of Rugby, makes NHL hockey look so silly.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Marion for O'Neal...Please!!

This is an article I just read from Yahoo Sports;
"As Jermaine O'Neal and his troublesome right knee returned to the Toronto lineup on Friday night, perhaps no one studied the Toronto Raptors center more closely than Pat Riley. The Miami Heat president has been seriously considering a trade package for O'Neal that would send Shawn Marion to Toronto, multiple league sources said. Yet Riley first needs to see O'Neal's progress before he'll make the leap of faith on a trade. Nevertheless, O'Neal, 30, was telling league associates as recently as Friday that he believes there's a good chance he'll end up in Miami. "If he's healthy," one source close to O'Neal said Friday, "it could very well happen." League executives say that Riley has been determined to make a deal for a center, and has had substantive talks with Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo"

How sweet would this deal be for Raptors fans. Toronto finally gets the athletic swingman they desperately need, and they get rid of O'Neal, who has been a huge dissapointment since his acquisition from the Pacers.
I know I've been lobbying for a Bargnani trade for an athletic 2/3, but this would work out even better. You would have a starting 5 of Calderon, Parker/Moon (take your pick), Marion, Bargnani, and Bosh. Love it. C'mon Colangelo! Make it happen.

Clemson/Wake
I'm watching Clemson and Wake Forest right now, Wake was leading 58-44, but Clemson, at home, has cut the score to 61-60. The Clemson crowd is going so crazy I can't even hear Brent Musberger! You have to love College Bball.

Sens/Habs
Absolute must win game for the Senators. Coming off 2 consecutive wins and all the hype of a hot new goaltender just called up from the AHL, a win vs the Canadiens would go a long way in showing the Ottawa fan base and Bryan Murray that this group of underachievers still has life left in them. So far they've run into 2 problems.
1) 2 of the Sens 3 best players (Spezza, Alfredson) were in the box when MTL went ahead 1-0.
2) Scotiabank Place sounds and looks like the Habs playing a home game in the eighties, wearing their whites and playing in The Forum! Seems like there are more Habs fans than Sens fans!

Great pass by Lang on the second Habs goal! It seems like the Sens have come to play at least, so it should be a decent game...you knew the Canadiens were going to bring it, if the Sens can match their intensity they may just pull out a win.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Thursday, Jan 15

Sens Win 2 in A Row!
The Ottawa Senators have a winning streak! Let the push for the playoffs begin!
Probably not. But if the Sens are ever going to turn their horrible season around, they have to use this momentum to take at least 2 of 3 at home next week vs playoff shoe-ins, the Habs, Caps, and Devils.
Saturday night's game vs Montreal should be a doozy, assuming the Sens come to play...with this group you never know.

Michel Terrien's Days Numbered in Pittsburgh?
Get the suspicion that Coach Terrien feels like a parent whose kids don't listen to him anymore?
The Penguins are growing up and they may be getting tired of Terrien's authoritative leadership. His hard nosed style seemed like a perfect fit for a young team that needed a strong hand a couple of years ago, but as with a lot of disciplinary coaches, that style grows tiresome to professional athletes after a short while. The Senators were tired of Craig Hartsburgh as soon as he stepped on the ice for his first practice!
The Penguins are flying under the radar as a dissapointment because everybody wants to talk about how bad the Senators are, but if the Penguins continue to putter away in 10th place, expect a coaching change, even though they signed Terrien to an extension before the season.

Michael Farber on Sean Avery
Great piece by Michael Farber on Sean Avery. It was in the Jan.12 issue of SI and can be found in "The Vault" section of the website, cnnsi. Here' an excerpt;
"Avery was guilty of hockey's deadliest sin: being a lousy teammate. There can be room for personal agendas in other sports—think Terrell Owens with the Cowboys—but hockey takes a dim view of square pegs in their perfectly rounded holes. The ethos is different. Unlike baseball clubhouses, where players sit facing their stalls, or football locker rooms, where players are segregated by position, a hockey dressing room is designed so all players face toward the center, gazing at one another. Avery did not look at his teammates in Dallas. Between periods he would often sit by himself in the hallway, headphones on, a citizen of Planet Sean. When Avery was in the dressing room, according to Stars veteran Mike Modano, he was often on his phone, discussing a potential book deal or his movie project, a romantic comedy based on the life of the only NHL player to spend his summer as an intern at Vogue. (Avery handled a variety of assignments including assisting on fashion shoots and "guest editing" on mensvogue.com during his time at the magazine last year.)"

Steelers/Eagles This Weekend
Sounds risk free, but I think these teams advance. I've been picking the Steelers since week 10, and the Eagles are playing the best football in the NFL. The Steelers are too tough and battle tested after that grueling schedule. The Eagles beat up on the champs on their own turf last week. Hopefully it will be a better game then the 15-6 Eagles victory when the two teams played in October.

Steelers/Ravens Should be Classic
This game is going to be great. They may not combine for 20 points but it will be flat out "smash mouth" football. The weather should be freezing and the crowd will be crazy! Baltimore will walk in there with all that cocky swagger. Can't wait!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Jan 13 Quick Hitters

Signs of Life in Ottawa
The Sens win!! Ottawa won their first game of 2009 tonight, a 5-1 whipping of Carolina. It's now or never for the Sens. If they can take care of Atlanta tomorrow night, they can begin to gather some momentum before heading home for 3 games vs. the Habs, Caps, and Devils.

Bruins Own the Habs
Another Bruins win over Montreal. Boston is 3-0-1 this year vs their divisional rivals.

High Pricetag for Lowe
Another ridiculous signing in Baseball. The Braves inked Derek Lowe to a 4 year, 60 million deal. Free agents who had decent seasons last year are really cashing in. How can Mike Mussina (20 wins) stay retired?!

Jim Rice Makes the HOF
I love that Jim Rice made the Hall of Fame on his final ballot. Red Sox games on sunday afternoons in the early 80's are one my earliest sports television memories, and Jim Rice was the signature player on a bunch of Boston teams that were good, but never great. His flick of the bat after pulling the ball over the green monster was a classic visual.

Rickey Gets in on Rickey's First Ballot
Rickey Henderson will always be known for referring to himself in the third person, and occasionally saying baffling things (When he ran into John Olerud for the first time as Met's teammates, Henderson said ,"Hey, I used to play with another guy who wore a helmet in the field!" That was John Olerud. They were teammates on the Jays in 1993.) However, Henderson was one of the greatest players of all time, and for a period in the late eighties/early nineties, he may have been baseball's most dominating player.

Raptors Need To Trade Bargnani
Sound crazy? Not really. Andrea is starting to play pretty good basketball and you can bet other teams are starting to notice. The current mix of Raptors is not working, and Bryan Colangelo has to do something to make the team more athletic at the 2 and 3 spot. Now is the time to start shopping Bargnani around the league to see if Toronto can get an upper tier shooting guard who can bring much needed quickness and athleticism to the team.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

NFL..BCS..NHL

Syd the Kid...Strange Dude?
Is Sydney Crosby a weird cat? Coming off the heels of his strange attack on the crotch of Boris Valabik with his gloves still on while Valatik was engaged with another Pens player, comes his most recent attempt to be a tough guy, an unprecedented "battle" with Brett Mclean of the Panthers.
After a face off in the Panther's end vs. Mclean (Mclean won the draw), Crosby shook off his gloves, grabbed a confused and startled Mclean and began shaking him the way an irate mother would shake her 2 year old in the grocery store.
After finally pulling Mclean's jersey over his head, Crosby landed a couple of...."punches", before dragging Mclean to the ice.
After the game, a still dazed and confused Mclean told the media that he heard Crosby say something before the puck was dropped, but he didn't understand what he had said. Then after winning the draw, he was shocked to find himself on the opposite end of a good old shake down.
Needless to say, Crosby's latest attempts to be a tough guy have been disturbing at best, and downright weird at worst.

Hartsburg Era Has To Come To an End
Coming off the heels of a 1-6-1 road trip, the Senators lost to the New York Rangers 2-0 in the comfy confines of Scotiabank Place (if you've been there, you know how comfy they are).
It is officially time for the Craig Hartburg experiment to come to an end in Ottawa.
Even Hartsburg wishes it would come to an end. In a phone interview yesterday with a local Ottawa radio station, Hartsburg sounded like a man alone in his living room, standing on a stool, with a rope around his neck! He has literally thrown in the towel. Who can blame him? He has tried everything to get this quircky group of pre madonnas and ego maniacs to give an honest effort at least, to absolutely no avail.
The Senators have looked horrible all season, and it gets worse and worse with each passing day.
It's not Hartsburg's fault. No doubt he is a good coach and a good man. But for some reason he cannot get through to this group of overpaid underachievers. Who knows if anyone can?
This team needs to be completely overhauled and rebuilt. But first, put poor Craig out of his misery. Take this wounded dog out back and shoot him. Then he can return to junior hockey where his style of coaching seems to fit best.
As for this group of Senators, they should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. They are a disgrace to the sport.

Cardinals Rolling over Panthers
The Arizona Cardinals love to prove people wrong don`t they. For the second straight week they are beating up on a team that everyone predicted would beat up on them. Last week it was the Falcons, this week it`s the Carolina Panthers.
The Cards are dominating the Panthers in every aspect of the game and making it look very easy. Leading 27-7 halfway thru the 3rd quarter, the Cards are threatening again, intercepting Jake Delhomme and now have a first down at the Panthers 30 yard line.
The Cards look fast, strong, unified, and determined to play in the NFC championship game, where they`ll be expected to lose once again. Personally, I`m becoming a believer.

AFC Championship...Ravens at San Diego!
Just so you know..if the Chargers somehow find a way to beat Pittsburgh tomorrow, they will host Baltimore in the AFC championship. A team that was 4-8 just over a month ago, could see the road to the super bowl go through their home stadium! Have you ever seen a year where an 11-5 team didn`t make the playoffs (Patriots), a 12-4 team travelled the first week as a wildcard (Colts), and an 8-8 team, that had been dead in the water at 4-8, hosted the conference championship. Well, if you don`t want to see it, cheer for the black and gold tomorrow.


Philly to Beat the G-Men Tomorrow
Always take the team playing the best football heading into, and through the playoffs. That's the Eagles.
The Eagles have been the best team in football the past month. The Giants have really struggled since losing/banishing Plaxico Burress.

Steelers too Battle Tested to Lose at Home
As mentioned before in this blog, the Steelers went 12-4 against the toughest schedule played by any NFL team since 1976 (Giants). This season the Steelers played the Ravens (twice), Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, Colts, Chargers, Patriots, and Titans. That's 9 games vs teams with a combined record of 85-42!! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa???????????
Take the Steelers at home, over a Chargers team that managed to salvage what had been a very dissapointing season.

Will the Chargers Fire Turner?
Assuming the Chargers lose, will San Diego management part ways with Norv Turner. As mentioned before, the Mike Shanahan firing in Denver changes everything. You have to think San Diego would be tempted to make a run at Shanahan.
Also, Shanahan loves sticking it to teams that fire him (i.e. Raiders). You can bet that he would be enticed by the prospect of playing the Broncos twice a season.
Keeping that in mind, I am shocked that the rebuilding K.C. Chiefs have not fired Herm Edwards, in favour of taking a run at Shanahan. It would seem like a natural fit. A team that Shanahan could build from the ground up, and a chance to play the Raiders and Broncos twice a year to appease his vindictive personality.

Tim Tebow
Usually it is nauseating to hear broadcasters talk about one player the entire game (see Brett Favre as a Packer), but in the case of Tim Tebow, I dont think so. Thom Brenneman must have mentioned about 100 times during the national championship game about how wonderful of a young man Tebow is blah blah blah. But you know what..he is an incredible young man.
This is a guy who spends his summer travelling overseas in impoverished lands, helping people in whatever way he can. He goes to prisons and gives motivational speeches to inmates. Finally, he may be one of the greatest college football players of all time...and he still has 1 year of eligibility left. If Tebow returns for his senior season, which I think he should, he may become the most legendary college football player of all time.Especially if he leads Florida to another national championship (USC may have something to say about this in 09). The craziest thing about this Florida team, you could argue that Tebow is the 2nd toughest guy on the squad....Percy Harvin racked up 180 yards on a bum ankle in the championship game vs the Sooners...that guy is TOUGH!

Nick Harris Saying Tebow Would be the 4th Best QB in Big 12
Alot of people scoffed at Oklahoma Sooner Nick Harris for saying that Tim Tebow would be the 4th best qb in the Big 12 if he played in the conference. But before you call Harris crazy, think about it. This year the Big 12 had Colt Mckoy (Texas), Sam Bradford (Oklahoma), Graham Harrell (Texas Tech), Chase Daniel (Mizzou), and Todd Reesing (Kansas). All of these qb's, with the exception of Reesing who is prob. too short, may end up as better NFL prospects/players than Tebow. So the statement is really not that far off. Furthermore, I'd be willing to guess that none of the Big 12 coaches who have the above mentioned qb's on their roster, would rather have Tebow.

X Outscores Acadia 24-5 in OT
X vs Acadia was on TV tonight and it was a great game. It went to overtime with the score notched at 85 points apiece. In overtime, the X-Men outscored the Axemen 24-5 in the 5 minute period to win 109-90. 24-5 in overtime! Wow!
The X-Women are 7-1 and tied for 1st place with 18 points, very surprising.
Acadia women are now 0-8 and tied with UPEI for last place. I guess coaching in the AUS isn't as easy as it seems, eh Bev?
Dal men are ranked for the first time in YEARS. Coming off their ranking they had impressive wins over Acadia and UNB.
Don't look now but here come the Dal women that everyone expected to be the best team in the conference.
Congrats to the SMU women on getting their 2nd win at UPEI. If Acadia and UPEI keep it up, the rebuilding Huskies may actually make the playoffs as a 6th seed.
Love the SMU men's team. Coming off their huge win over X on thursday, they lay a fat egg at UPEI, losing 77-71. But come March, they'll be the toughest team in the AUS to beat.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Monday, January 5

Milton Bradley Gets Long Overdue Payday?
Milton Bradley just signed a 3 year contract with the Chicago Cubs for 30 million dollars. 1o million per for Milton Bradley!! The Gods must be crazy.
Bradley is coming off the best season of his career, in which he hit 22 home runs and drove in 77. His second best season was three years ago when he had 19 dingers and 67 rbis.
He is a sub par defensive outfielder. He's only played 2 one hundred game seasons in a nine year career, and one of those was 101 games.
Bradley's two most significant achievements have been embarrasments. First, he got into a bottle throwing altercation with Oakland Athletic's fans about four years ago. Second, he strained his ACL and missed the rest of the season by arguing with an umpire when he was a San Diego Padre. As manager Bud Black tried to settle Bradley down, Milton fell and twisted his knee.
10 Million for Milton Bradley!
The Cubs will be Bradley's 7th team in 10 years. Bradley is not a threat on the basepaths. He is a horrible "clubhouse guy". There is not a fan in the country that would pay the prcie of a ticket just to see him play. There is no way that Bradley is one of the top 100 players in the game.
1o million for Milton Bradley.
Unbelievable.

College Football Bowl Games
I love College Football. Love it. As much as the NFL? I don't know, the NFL is pretty special. But it's close.
Although, if there is a highly anticipated National Championship game, like this week's Florida/Oklahoma game, I'll make absolute sure not to miss it. I've had a memo on the fridge for about a week telling Alissa to not make any plans for me on thursday night, because I'm not doing anything except sitting on the couch watching that game.
4 years ago I missed the USC/Texas championship to go out with a friend who was leaving town. The game turned out to be legendary. I promised myself that would never happen again.
I love the bowl games. I wrote in an earlier post about how much I love the smaller bowls, featuring smaller schools. Tomorrow night's GMAC bowl should be great. But the big bowl games are very special.
So far the bowl games have been a little dissapointing. The media tried to convince us that Penn State could play with USC in the Rose Bowl. By the end of the first half it was 31-7 for the Trojans and the jig was up.
The Sugar Bowl was alot of fun, watching the underdog Utah Utes beat SEC powerhouse Alabama. The only problem was that Alabama never had control of the game and Utah won by 14. If Bama had gone ahead at some point, it could have been reminicent of Boise State's classic win over Oklahoma 2 years ago.
The Orange Bowl was a bore (Virginia Tech and Cincinatti in the Orange Bowl on new year's day?)
Tonight's Fiesta Bowl was a great game. Texas beat Ohio State 24-21 on a last minute td drive. The Buckeyes have lost a BCS bowl for the third straight year, but gave a much better showing than the 2 previous losses. You have to feel for the Buckeyes. But if they would have made 1 big play on defence on the last drive, especially on the 4th down and 4, they would be Fiesta champs right now and back on the road to being respected.

Why I love College Football
First, I love the bands. Tonight was a great example. Ohio State's marching band on the field prior to the game, spelling out Ohio with the traditional dotting of the I. A marching brigadeer leads the tuba player out to the spot where he takes his post. It's great.
Or the Texas band, after every big Longhorn's play, doing a different dance and play the schools fight song.
Second, I love the atmoshere. It's different than the NFL. NFL crowds are alot of noise, but it's kind of chaotic. College crowds are alot more cheerful, with out the aid of alcohol. The stadium is divided into school colours, each student, alumnus, and parent proudly wearing burnt orange, or crimson, or baby blue. The cheerleaders are awesome. The aforementioned bands, the mascots, the flag carriers. The roar of the crowd when their team takes the field, " Here come the 'Horns!" Love it.
Third, I like the different types of offence. The NFL is so much of the same; QB, RB, FB, TE, and 2 Wide Recievers. The coaches all run the same stuff. In college, you have the option, the spread, the wishbone (classic). Tonight, Ohio State put their starting qb at wide receiver, brought in the back up, and had him throw a fade pattern for a touchdown pass to the starting qb! Awesome.
Plus the trick plays. Remember Boise State vs Oklahoma. Boise State tied the game on a hook and lateral from midfield to send it to OT. In OT the running back took a pitch and threw a td pass. Then they went for 2 and won the game on the statue of liberty play. The Boise State Broncos beat the mighty Oklahoma Sooners! Then, the star running back who scored the winning 2 point convert (Rob Johnson?), while being interviewed surrounded by crazy fans, proposed to his girlfriend, a Boise State cheerleader! She said yes.
That kind of thing only happens in College Football.
Fourth, the kids make mistakes. Sure NFL players make mistakes, but not that many. These kids make the kind of mistakes that just break your heart. Complete mental breakdowns that can only happen to a 20 year old kid playing the biggest game of his life in front of 100,000 fans, not too mention the millions watching on TV (see Chris Webber). It adds to the drama and makes the sport that much more human.
Finally, there are lots of big plays. Far more big plays than in the NFL. In a typical NFL game you may get 3 or 4 plays over 30 yards. In a typical college game you're likely to get over 10 plays that go for huge yardage. In a college game, teams can put up 20 points in a heartbeat. In college you can get scores like 61-41 (Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State in December).
I haven't even mentioned the rivalries. Ohio State vs Michigan, Florida vs LSU, Notre Dame vs USC, Oklahoma vs Texas. These are football games that the student body will camp out all semester to get tickets for.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Another Colt/Chargers Classic

Colts/Chargers go to OT
Another great game featuring the Colts and Chargers. This was the great thing about San Diego coming back and taking away the AFC West from Denver...the Chargers are a good football team, giving Indy all they can handle. Denver would have been down 2 touchdowns by the end of the first half.

LT Out, Insert Dynamic Back-UpBold
Where does San Diego find these back up running backs? This is the 2nd year in a row that LT has been unable to go in the playoffs, so the backup comes in and runs wild. Last year it was Michael Turner, whose brilliant post season running parlayed into a rich free agent contract with Atlanta. Tonight it's Darren Sproules. Punt returns, hand offs, passes out of the backfield, he now has 304 combined yards. 304 combined yards!!

Gates Will Not Be Stopped
Antonio Gates is having a monster game. One first down catch after another, usually dragging Colts defenders along the way. This from a guy who is supposed to be injured!

Colts Self Destruct
Holding calls, facemasks, missed tackles. The Colts didn't lose the game on San Diego's OT touchdown drive, they gave it away. Very uncharacteristic of a Tony Dungy team. Regardless it was a great game. Gotta feel for the Colts, after overcoming so many injuries, winning so many games on grit, finishing with 12 wins and having to travel for a first round wild card game! I've never seen a season where an 11-5 team doesn't make the playoffs (Patriots), and a 12-4 team has to travel as a wildcard entry. Crazy. Usually 12-4 gets you a bye and a home game, maybe even home field throughout.

Chargers Have The Colts Number
This is the second year in a row the Chargers eliminated the Colts in the playoffs. Last year in the divisional round, San Diego won at Indy.

San Diego Super Chargers
Get ready to start hearing this song again on NFL preview shows. Who would have ever thought the Chargers would be playing meaningful playoff games in January. Five weeks ago this team was 4-8 and just mathematically still eligible for playoffs. Denver collapsed, San Diego picked up some steam with a creampuff win over Oakland, had a miracle comeback vs the Chiefs, beat the Bucs in Tampa Bay, then put the Broncos out of their misery with a win in San Diego. Now they're on their way to Pittsburgh or Tennessee. Remarkable. One of those incredible stories of the year that doesn't get enough media attention because the Chargers play on the west coast.

328 For Sproules
Darren Spoules runs for a 24 yard touchdown to win the game in ot, finishing with 328 combined yards. Nuts. The guys 5'6"!

Oilers New/Old Uniforms
I love the Oilers bringing back thier old uniforms from the Gretzky days. Why did they change in the first place? So many teams change uniforms only to realize they had it right the first time, and end up going back to the old unis. For example;
New York Jets
Vancouver Canucks
New York Islanders (3rd jersey)
Philadelphia Flyers (3rd jersey)
Pittsburgh Penguins (3rd jersey)
Buffalo Sabres (3rd jersey)
In the case of the teams who wear their retros as a 3rd jersey, it's simply a marketing ploy to sell merchandise. But the 3rd jersey retros look better than the new jerseys. Are you telling me the new Buffalo Sabres unis with the giant snail on the front look better than the retros with the picture of a buffalo and a sabre. Not a chance.
Those baby blue Penguins jerseys from the seventies are sweet too. Now if we can just get the L.A. Kings to go back to the gold and purple of the Marcel Dionne era.
If the Habs, Rangers, Red Wings, and Blackhawks have been wearing the same jersey for over 60 years, why is every other team so horny to change?

Fitzy/Bolquin are Monsters
Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin of the Arizona Cardinals are wide receiving beasts! I'd love to see those two matched up with the Ravens secondary featuring Ed Reed. The average cornerback in the NFL is about 5'10" 180. These two guys look like they belong in the UFC or MMA. (sidenote, Bolquin pulled up with a hammy on his td run, may not play next week).

Philly Wins Tomorrow
I picked Atlanta to beat Arizona and was wrong, but there is no way the Vikings beat Philly tomorrow. The Eagles vs the Giants next week is going to be huge.