Packers are Favre real!

Turkey day means one thing - football. There were 3 NFL games today and they also had a big-time College game between ASU and USC. I would have rather taken the ASU-UofA match-up on Friday after thanksgiving like the old days after looking at this one. ASU looked completely out-classed by the trojans. From the first snap, ASU just could not wrap up the USC guys and bring them down. Awful tackling usually means one thing. The athletes on the other side are either quicker or stronger or both. Unfortunately that was the case today. ASU is still long ways from challenging USC. They had problems tackling and stopping them and on offense, ASU could not run against them at all. The USC pass-rush was also ferocious and with Rudy Carpenter holding on to the ball too long like he always does, the passing game was stuffed as well. The USC line almost killed Rudy. All things considered, this was a great season for ASU and Dennis Erickson, but they aint going to the Rose Bowl. They have lost to both USC and Oregon and that will stop them in most tie-break calculations.

In the pros, it was all about Brett Favre. Dude is looking as good as he has ever looked and he picked the Detroit defense apart with his quick passing. The Packers are spreading the WRs out and killing people with Brett's passes. He is playing at a very high-level and their offensive chemistry is off the charts. The kids are playing hard and their defense is no joke either. Mike Martz and Jon Kitna looked amateurish against the Packers D. Martz needs to go upstairs and do some real work. I don't see his offensive genius with this offense which has enough talent on paper to do some damage. Both their wide receivers are absolute studs - Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson and Kevin Jones and Jon Kitna aren't bad either. In the other game, not sure why the Jets even showed up at Dallas. That game was over long before it started. There's no way the Jets beat the Cowboys. Now the real game is between the 10-1 Pack and the 10-1 Boys next Thursday. It's like the mid to late 90's all over again! Unfortunately none of us can see it because NFL has this game on the stupid NFL channel.

Shake it like a Salt-Shaker!

Another weekend, another major shake-up in college football. 2 top-5 teams lost - Oregon and Oklahoma. Oregon's loss at the hands of Arizona opens the door again for ASU to win the Pac-10. It's still too early for ASU to dream about a BCS berth because they have to play the Trojans on turkey-day and then the slimy Wildcats, but how ironic would it be if Arizona helps Arizona State win the Pac-10? But really it was Dennis Dixon's injury that killed the Ducks. That team has got nothin' goin' on outside that QB. His backup Brady Leaf is pretty good for his last name, but he can't do what what double-D does for that offense. Now the ASU-USC game on Thursday becomes huge. It might be for all the marbles in the Pacific, at least for ASU.

The other big-shot team to lose this weekend was Oklahoma. They lost to Texas Tech and nothing wrong with that. I am not a big fan of Bob Stoops and I like the Texas Tech offense. They just seem to chuck it around year in and year out. This was the 11-Th time this year a top 5 team has lost to an unranked team. How awesome is that? I am loving college football like never before.

No major surprises in the NFL this weekend. New England beat up on Buffalo like a drum and ended with a 56-10 win. They look truly unstoppable. They did not punt the ball even once when their first team offense was on the field. Brady and Moss are playing pitch and catch all over the field, especially in the end-zone. Both Moss and TO had 4 TDs each this weekend. God must have slotted this NFL weekend as the "pure evil weekend" or something. The Colts barely squeaked past the Chiefs and looked mediocre. Pittsburgh lost to the Jets and had to deal with the proverbial "who the hell loses to the Jets?" question while the Chargers lost to the Jaguars and made the Jags look like the best team in the AFC for no reason.

All this means the Patriots have pretty much won the AFC for all practical purposes. Our only hope is for the Colts to get healthy and get good again in a hurry. Otherwise, we might be reduced to watching the hoody go for it on 4Th-and-2 in the 4-Th quarter of the Super Bowl leading 38-10 against the Cowboys. On the bright side, I guess we can get to know which of the 2 evil wide-receivers does the God really like to have a Super Bowl ring.

Celts, King and the Suns

Celts, King and the Suns

The NBA season is rolling and the only disappointing thing for me is the quality of the NBA league pass transmission. Seems like they are down-converting the HD transmission and sending it non-HD in most cases. Some games look horrible on my HD-TV. I wish the League pass moved to HD wherever available. Still it's NBA basketball and is real fun to flip the channels and see a whole bunch of games from all over. I love being able to TIVO every Suns game and watch it whenever I can.

Speaking of the Suns, they are one of the biggest story again with their 7-2 record. They look awesome with Grant Hill. They are fun to watch as always and MP3 Nash is getting better with age like fine wine and Heather Locklear. He is casually dropping 15 dimes a game and if Amare is out, put him down for 30 points as well. There is really not many surprises in the West except for the 9-2 New Orleans. The Spurs, Mavs are right there at the top and Denver and Utah are joining these teams up there as well. The West is BRUTAL as ever, but so far it sure looks like the Suns have nothing to worry about except Timmy and the Spurs. The only other real surprise in the West are the 1-6 Warriors. They sure can turn it around and probably will, but in the West you don't want to dig yourself too big a hole.

As for the L-East, it's all about the Celts. I am happy for KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce since I like all 3 of them. They are 8-0 and are looking as legit as any team ever can in Mid-November. Everybody knew they had the talent, but they have resoundingly answered questions about their depth and also how quickly and how well the stars can gel. They seem to have quickly found solid role players and a dependable line-up and are getting solid contributions from Rajon Rando, James Posey, Kendrick Perkins and Eddie House. I think Danny Ainge is well on his way to being voted the Executive of the Year. What he has done is simply remarkable. The reason their chemistry is so good and they are able to dominate this early is KG. I call him the "Nash among big men". He is so unselfish and plays so hard, that building a team around him is easier done than said. Unless you are Kevin McHale that is. KG also plays defense and what more do you want to play winning ball in the NBA? They have the Truth to dominate the scoring, they got Ray Allen hitting the 3's and KG takes care of everything else. It's a perfect mix right now.

The other big story for me is the King. LBJ has come out to play this year. There was some concern last year about how he has taken a step back and was also accused of sleep-walking trough the first half of the season. This year, he looks totally different. He is playing hard, he is playing great defense and is passing even more than before. I can't believe how willingly he sets up teammates for scores. If only Kobe had that skill. If LeBron plays with a high-level commitment, it might be game over for most of the other teams. The Cavs came out West and actually went back home with a 500 record. Thats like playing 850 ball at home against the L-East. LeBron was pretty impressive on the road and he then went back home to beat the Jazz with a ridiculous 40-10-9 game. That was after he had a 39-13-14 game against the Magic in a 117-116 loss. LBJ might take his game one more level higher this season and amaze us even more.

Call me when you are in my block!

There has been a lot of controversy recently around Don Shula calling the Patriots season "tainted" because of spy-gate. The 1972 Dolphins always come off looking petty and juvenile with their Champagne bottle popping celebration every year when the last unbeaten team loses. But I have to agree with Don Shula about the "taint". May be it's just because I hate the hoody and the Pats, but he does seem to have a point. But today, I think I found my most favorite 72 Dolphin - RB Mercury Morris. He was talking trash to the Pats about how they are barely half-way to perfection and all this talk about 17-0 is premature to say the least. He might have came out with the best quote ever. "Don't call me when they're in my town, call me when they're on my block." Thats awesome. I'll be adding this to my lingo pretty soon!

Speaking of the Dolphins, the league re-instated Ricky Williams. I am a big supporter of this yoga-loving, world-travelling, new-age running back. I welcome him back with open arms. The other big Dolphins news is that they are going to start rookie John Beck this weekend at QB. John who? It's amazing how bad the QB talent in this league is right now. Recently I was talking to my friend about our fellow Sun-Devil Jake Plummer, who is busy playing professional doubles handball with his elder brother. I told him that if Plummer comes back, he should have a starting job within 10 minutes. I am a big fan of the Snake, but even grading him conservatively and dispassionately, he is clearly in the top half (top 16) of QBs in this league. I was watching Alex Smith this Monday and could not stomach how low the QB play has dropped even with the proud Montana-Young 49'ers. Here's the list of QBs I would rank higher than Plummer

Peyton Manning
Tom Brady
Drew Brees
Ben Roethlisberger
Brett Favre
Tony Romo
Matt Hasselback
Donavan McNabb
Carson Palmer
Marc Bulger
Eli Manning
Jay Cutler
Jon Kitna

As you can see, I am trying to be real fair here. I have even ranked Jay Cutler and Jon Kitna above him. Why am I in such a giving mood? I really don't know. But the point is, aside from this list, I will argue for Plummer against any other starter in the league today. Give me Plummer over Jeff Garcia or Jake Delhomme. You can have your over-the-hill Warner or Culpepper or McNair or Trent Greene, I'll take Plummer. Leinart and Vince Young and Philip Rivers can't even Carry Jake's jock, at least not yet. Even if you rank some these guys over Jake, he is clearly a quality starter in todays NFL. May be he should come back and make one more team watchable on Sundays.

Steve Nashty!

The NBA season is heating up and Steve Nashty is one of the big stories again. He is already in MVP form and this is in an year when he says he didn't come in top shape like last season because he took time off and wanted to pace himself for the long year. But with Amare sitting out for 3 games after playing 2, Nash had to step up and boy did he ever. Tonight against the Heat, Amare actually played but was ejected in the third. Nash went on a personal 11 point run in the 4-Th to lead the Suns to a victory. Matrix had a 17-24 night. Thats amazing. Nash ended up with a 30-2-8 night. Here's his numbers in the season and more and more I look at these numbers year after year, I am convinced he is one of the top-5 guy in the league and is deserving of every praise he gets. He is averaging 22.2 pts, 8.6 assists, 4.4 boards and is shooting 55% from the field and 54% from 3. Are you kidding me! Is this a 6'-3" white kid from Canada or Wilt Chamberlain?

The Suns are now 4-2 and looking good. I was a little concerned about how they'll start but so far so good. Surprisingly the paper-clips are leading the Pacific and they lost their first game (against Detroit) only today. This shows how talented the Clips are. They can do this even without Elton Brand. Lets see how long they can keep this going. The other exciting team from the Pacific, the Warriors have started 0-5 and they can't win a game in-spite of Boom Dizzle playing like a madman. They played a fantastic game yesterday against their bete-noire Dallas and came up short again. Baron Davis had 37 points, but he needed at least 3 more to send the game to OT. Overall I think the W's will be fine and fun to watch.

In the L-east, Boston is as legit as advertised but Miami is struggling without D-Wade and are 0-5. Shaq scored 25 against the Suns D and that says more about the Suns-D than Shaq these days! Thats how much things have changed with Shaq. He is nowhere near his peak right now. Celts on the other hand are just having fun with the big 3. They have won in every which way possible and are the only undefeated team in the NBA. What's up with Boston and undefeated teams? The Pats are dominating the NFL. Redsox swept the rockies in the World Series and now this. One guy even had a 82-0 sign at their game. The other guy having some fun this season is Sacramento's Kevin Martin. This guy is now in competition with stars like LeBron James in scoring categories. Dude is averaging 26 points for the season with Bibby and Artest not playing.

Colts blow it!

This was a great sports weekend with the ASU-Oregon game on Sat and the Colts-Pats match-up on Sun. The football weekend was nicely sand-wiched between 2 Suns game for me - Fri against the Fakers and Sun night against King James. But now that the games have ended, I am not too happy with the results. I went 1-3 starting with the Suns losing badly on Fri in their home opener to the Fakers. Then ASU loses at Eugene in a rather disturbing fashion. The Colts look like they were going to shock the World by knocking off the Pats, but then with 9 mins to go in the 4-Th quarter, they lose the game by not scoring again as the Pats poured in 2 TDs. Finally, the Suns score a meagre 38 in the first half, but luckily turn it around to beat the Cavs on Jerry Colangelo's "ring of honor" night.

First, ASU. They played a frustrating game in Eugene as they blew some early opportunities and some late opportunities and just did not execute. As always they were behind 21-3 early, but it was not because of their offense starting slowly. The defense could not stop that dude Dennis Dixon and their offense, but the offense moved the ball. They just couldn't punch it in from the 5 yard line. Curious call by the coaches to run on all 3 downs instead of mixing it up even with Rudy Carpenter's sore thumb. So instead of starting the game 7-7, it was 7-3. Oregon scored 2 more times before ASU scored to get the game to 21-10. Suddenly the defense found a way to slow down double-D in the second quarter, This is when Rudy screwed up big time with the 2-min drill before half-time. He completely mis-managed the clock and ran just one play from the 25 yard line with 45 seconds on the clock. ASU had to settle for a field goal that was missed and the Devils who had an opportunity to go in 21-20 ended up with a 21-13 half-time score.

Still not bad for the Devils, but again Dennis Dixon could not be stopped in the 3-Rd quarter. They kept scoring and the Devils either stalled on their own or scored field-goals instead of TDs. The deficit was too high to overcome in the 4-Th even with double-D injured and on the sideline. We got to see Ryan Leaf's brother on the field, but Rudy Carpenter just did not have a great game. ASU lived off of it's running game and they just could not pass protect for Rudy. When he had the time, he did OK, but couple of turnovers in the fourth sealed the deal for Oregon. Great win for the program and a bad loss for the Devils. The championship game is out of the window now for the Devils, but they still need to win out and hope for a BCS bowl. You know what, that ain't all that bad considering where they started this season.

Similar story with the Colts on Sunday. They did great to bottle up Tom Brady and also rode Joseph Addai to to a 20-10 lead with 9 mins to go in the game. Then Brady went Brady. He connected on long bombs to Randy Moss and Donte Stallworth on 2 consecutive TD drives. Peyton just could not move the ball enough to score in that 4-th quarter. I wonder how the game would have looked if the Colts had Marvelous Marvin. I think Colts win if Peyton had one more weapon in Marvin. But even with all the injuries, the Colts looked very good today. They ran all over the Pats and were in control for 3 quarters. They intercepted Brady twice and all they had to do was close it out. That didn't happen and now they probably have to go in to a frozen Boston in Jan for another AFC championship game. But the Colts did show they are a real good football team and all this hype about how this game would be a Patriots blow-out turned out to be just that - hype. Chris Collinsworth is even saying the Pats are the best ever team in the history of the NFL! I think that boy needs to take it easy! May be now he can say that the 2007 Colts are the second best team in the history of the game since they only lost 20-24. In other games, I gotta tell you this Adrian Peterson is an absolute stud! Almost 300 yards rushing for a rookie against a decent Chargers D. This guy's burst and power is awesome to watch.

As for the Suns, they got embarrassed by the Fakers in their home opener on Friday. They looked listless and their offense is just not flowing yet. This offense takes a while to heat up every year and I don't think we should panic yet. Ballers need to get into "run and gun" game shape, incorporate new pieces like Grant Hill and also the shooters need to get their rhythm going with those 3-bombs. This is exactly why the Suns go on huge winning streaks often. It's kind of a streaky style they play that thrives on rhythm and chemistry. Tonight, they started badly against the Cavs as well, but the second half was much better. MP3 is in mid-season form, but the best is yet to come from the others. Amare missed tonight's game against the Cavs, but the Suns hung on instead of using that as an excuse. Colangelo's ring of honor celebration at half-time was pretty nice with Chuck, KJ, Majerle and the gang in the house. As for the Fakers, they start hot every year and this year seem no different. They look real good right now, but lets see how far it goes. Andrew Bynum is in top shape and looks pretty impressive. Boston looks like the real deal in the East and it should be a fun season.

Suns welcome Durant home!

Suns started their season on the road as Seattle welcomed Kevin Durant to the NBA. Durant was very impressive though the other rookie Jeff Green was a little up and down. Durant ended up with 27 pts on 11/23 shooting, though it was against our friendly Suns defense. The Suns didn't quite blow the Sonics out, but they did what they had to do in the 4-Th quarter. Sonics faded in the 4-Th like all young teams do for the second straight night. They have some young pieces and some size as well that bothered the Suns as usual. But the Suns offense got the job done at the end though their 3-point shooting was not quite there except for the MP3 and Marcus Banks. It was nice to see Banks come in and contribute.

Mike D used 8 guys with even a 9-Th guy, Brian Skinner, getting some minutes when Amare got in foul trouble. Grant Hill started and played 33 mins and had a 13-5-6 night. Good start for the vet despite going 1/7 from 3-land with an odd looking shot! Amare was awesome with 23-11 and Marion was Matrix with 14-11. It was business as usual for the Suns though I expected them to score close to 120 in this game. They got to 106 and thats good enough on most nights. In other games, Detroit took care of a Wade-less Miami as Ricky Davis scored 23 and Shaq looked lost scoring just 9 pts. Utah lost to Houston at home after dominating the Warriors on the road. Of course thats going to happen if T-Mac sets the house on fire with 47 on 17/27 shooting. Amazing night for T-Mac as he neutralized C-Booze's 30-16 game.

Anyways, now on to the Lakers for the Suns as tomorrow might be the last time they face Kobe Bryant in a Lakers uniform. It's going to be weird when he leaves. Here's the Suns game 1 box score saved here for posterity in this, their first championship season. Yes, I can dream.

Phoenix
Player Pos Min FGM-FGA FTM-FTA 3M-3A OR-TR A Blk Stl TO PF Pts
G. Hill F 34 5-12 2-4 1-7 0-6 5 0 0 2 1 13
S. Marion F 34 7-10 0-2 0-2 0-11 1 1 2 1 1 14
A. Stoudemire C 32 10-20 3-4 0-1 4-11 1 1 1 3 4 23
S. Nash G 34 6-13 3-3 3-6 0-7 12 0 1 7 1 18
R. Bell G 32 2-9 0-0 2-7 0-1 1 0 1 3 3 6
L. Barbosa 28 3-7 2-2 1-4 0-2 5 0 3 1 2 9
B. Diaw 26 3-5 1-2 0-1 0-4 6 0 2 1 0 7
M. Banks 14 4-6 0-0 4-5 0-1 0 0 0 1 2 12
B. Skinner 8 2-2 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 0 1 0 0 4
A. Tucker DNP -- COACH'S DECISION
E. Piatkowski DNP -- COACH'S DECISION
S. Marks DNP -- INACTIVE
D. Strawberry DNP -- COACH'S DECISION
Totals 240 42-84
(.500) 11-17
(.647) 11-33
(.333) 5-44 31 2 11 19 14 106


Seattle
Player Pos Min FGM-FGA FTM-FTA 3M-3A OR-TR A Blk Stl TO PF Pts
C. Wilcox F 35 11-17 1-2 0-0 4-11 2 0 3 2 2 23
D. Wilkins F 30 4-14 3-4 1-2 2-8 4 0 2 1 1 12
N. Collison C 32 4-8 0-0 0-0 2-7 1 1 1 1 2 8
K. Durant G 39 11-23 3-4 2-6 0-5 1 1 0 6 2 27
E. Watson G 31 3-8 0-0 1-2 2-6 8 0 1 4 3 7
J. Petro 22 2-5 2-2 0-0 0-6 0 0 2 1 4 6
J. Green 21 3-12 2-2 0-2 0-4 1 0 1 1 1 8
D. West 13 1-5 0-0 0-0 0-1 3 0 0 1 1 2
W. Szczerbiak 8 2-5 1-1 1-1 0-1 1 0 0 1 1 6
L. Ridnour 8 0-2 0-0 0-0 1-1 3 0 0 0 0 0
M. Sene DNP -- COACH'S DECISION
M. Gelabale DNP -- COACH'S DECISION
R. Swift DNP -- INACTIVE
K. Thomas DNP -- INACTIVE
Totals 240 41-99
(.414) 12-15
(.800) 5-13
(.385) 11-50 24 2 10 18 17 99

Suns ready to roll!

Suns go in to Seattle to open 07-08. It would be great to see the gang on TV with Grant Hill joining the party. What should the Suns fans expect from this game? First and foremost, a "W" is a must. I expect the Suns to blow Seattle out. The Sonics are playing on a back-to-back night and they couldn't quite hang with Denver tonight. The Suns better handle them easily. I want to see high-percentage shooting from the Suns. They should set the tempo early in the season. Look at Spurs and their 2-0 record. The big-3 in the Spurs are looking bigger than ever. Ginobli did the honors today for them against the Grizz in OT. Back to the Suns, I want to see strong games from Matrix and Amare for different reasons. Matrix, because he should show us he has put the trade rumors behind him Amare because of the surgery. It's also important Suns showcase some new talent. Grant is the obvious choice, but I wouldn't mind seeing some good contributions from Tucker or Strawberry or even Banks. Only thing better than the Phoenix Suns is a new and improved Phoenix Suns.

Thats my wish-list and check back tomorrow to see how it plays out. All of this is important because the West looks as brutal as ever. San Antonio and Dallas have started right where they left off last season. Dallas shut down Cleveland pretty easily, though thats not saying a whole lot. LeBron needs a lot of help. Utah handled the Warriors pretty easily and they are a load to handle. Too big, too talented, too disciplined for the Warriors or for that matter, the Suns. Denver should be better with AI and Melo having 1/2 season under their belt and K-Mart being back. Houston should be better with Adelman as the coach and with Steve Francis coming back and so should be the Warriors with an year of chemistry under their belt. So it's very important for the Suns to stay on top from day 1. The Pacific division doesn't look too difficult with the Lakers, Clippers and the Kings having huge issues. It might end up being a 2 horse race between the Suns and the Warriors. But the Suns need to show the future starts today

In other news, Gil did what he does best as he hit a game-tying 3 to send the game to OT. Wizards lost in OT though. Kobe rumors are still dominating the NBA chatter. I can't belive the Bulls won't give up Luol Deng even for Kobe! I still think Kobe ends up there. In San Antonio, the rich get richer as the Spus locked up Tim Duncan for 2 more years. Thats bad news for the Suns.