The MLB season ended in style today as the WhiteSox and the Twins played a gem of a game that ended with the Sox making the playoffs with a 1-0 win. Typical playoff baseball with playoff tension and it set us all in the mood for the real playoffs starting tomorrow. Jim Thome hit a home run for the only run in the game, though he did look and sound like a 50 year old coach during the post-game interview. Two dudes called Blackburn and Danks pitched a hell of a game. Too bad, one guy had to lose. The Twins were in the playoffs for 2 days, but then they were "unplayoffed" today. Great season anyways for them given all the stars they lost.
Now on to the playoffs. We get to hear the goofy psycho Ozzie Guillen for a few more days. Brewers and Philly kick it off tomorrow. CC can't pitch because he pitched Sunday, but it should still be a good game. Dodgers and Cubs will also be at it tomorrow and the night-cap will feature the RedSox and Angels. Jon Lester - V - John Lackey should be a good one. The Dodgers look like the RedSox-West as Derek Lowe is starting and of course Manny will be the center-piece. Derek Lowe can actually win this game. Well if he is not busy cheating on his wife with some news reporter!
The biggest and weirdest news of the day involved Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders. Al came out today and finally fired Lane Kiffin, He refused to pay the remainder of his salary and made it look like he was firing a scum-bag liar. These 2 are definitely not parting as friends and I have no idea who is lying. Al is saying he spoke with Lane all the time, but Lane keeps claiming he never spoke to Al. He also read some letter that he sent to Lane. High drama in the Bay Area, but who cares since the Raiders have become the laughing stock of the NFL for a few years now. This episode seems like Mike Shanahan all over again - Al firing a young, offensive minded, first time head coach and refusing to pay him. Lane Kiffin sure hopes he ends up just like Shanahan with the rest of his career. But I really doubt if Lane Kiffin will even get a head coaching job anytime soon. As hard as he tried, Al failed to be the first owner to fire a coach this season. The Rams kicked out Scott Linehan even earlier and Jim Haslett takes over in Saint Louis.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Fun has started
It feels like the college season just started yesterday, but it's already 5 weeks old. This season has been kind of quiet on the upset front until now and then this weekend happened. I felt like I was a year younger and it was 2007 all over again. One top 10 team after another biting the dust and some of them looking totally outclassed against so-called lesser opponents. The biggest shocker was what happened in Corvallis on Thursday. Just when Pete Carroll was starting to prepare for his near-guaranteed Championship game in January, the Oregon State Beavers took them to school. They shut them out 21-0 in the first half and won the game 27-21. Freshman Jacquizz Rodgers ran all over the Trojans and made them look silly. He pretty much sealed the USC's season at least for now.
This was followed by an eventful Saturday topped by the stupid blackout in Athens, Georgia. The Georgia Bulldogs went for the black unis and made sure all 90000 fans were clad in black. This was supposed to scare Alabama or something, but the Tide turned the so-called blackout into lights-out for Georgia. They dropped a 31-0 beat-down on the 3Rd seed Georgia in the first half and won the game 41-30. I am sure Nick Saban is still denying that he is coaching at Alabama and might even be pretending like he is still coaching the Dolphins, but he sure is doing a good job at Alabama. He has them ranked all the way up at the 2 spot. I am sure the Bama faithful is thrilled at their coach. SEC is not the conference for safe predictions, but I think their game at LSU on Nov-18 might be the de-facto national Championship. Lets see how it plays out.
Number 4 Florida and number 9 Wisconsin lost to Mississippi and Michigan respectively. Florida probably thought they were now the favorites after the USC loss. So close yet so far. But in this day and age of parity in college football, one loss teams can still go all the way. Last year, it felt like a circular ranking scheme where the top teams lost, dropped down and then again the new top teams lost and the team that dropped down earlier percolated up again to the top. This season could very well be similar. So teams like Florida, Georgia, USC and may be even the Suckeyes could work their way up again if upsets galore. But as of now, Oklahama, Alabama, LSU, Missouri and Texas make up the top 5. Thats some strong showing for Big-12 and how about that Texas-OU game? Can't wait for it. Bring it on!
This was followed by an eventful Saturday topped by the stupid blackout in Athens, Georgia. The Georgia Bulldogs went for the black unis and made sure all 90000 fans were clad in black. This was supposed to scare Alabama or something, but the Tide turned the so-called blackout into lights-out for Georgia. They dropped a 31-0 beat-down on the 3Rd seed Georgia in the first half and won the game 41-30. I am sure Nick Saban is still denying that he is coaching at Alabama and might even be pretending like he is still coaching the Dolphins, but he sure is doing a good job at Alabama. He has them ranked all the way up at the 2 spot. I am sure the Bama faithful is thrilled at their coach. SEC is not the conference for safe predictions, but I think their game at LSU on Nov-18 might be the de-facto national Championship. Lets see how it plays out.
Number 4 Florida and number 9 Wisconsin lost to Mississippi and Michigan respectively. Florida probably thought they were now the favorites after the USC loss. So close yet so far. But in this day and age of parity in college football, one loss teams can still go all the way. Last year, it felt like a circular ranking scheme where the top teams lost, dropped down and then again the new top teams lost and the team that dropped down earlier percolated up again to the top. This season could very well be similar. So teams like Florida, Georgia, USC and may be even the Suckeyes could work their way up again if upsets galore. But as of now, Oklahama, Alabama, LSU, Missouri and Texas make up the top 5. Thats some strong showing for Big-12 and how about that Texas-OU game? Can't wait for it. Bring it on!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Great Rental
The real-estate market has been down for a while. House prices have been collapsing and renting sounds more and more like a good idea these days. One rental that was a brilliant idea was the Brewers buying C.C. Sabathia at the trade deadline. The Brewers probably won't retain CC or Ben Sheets next season, but they achieved what they wanted to with that trade - make the playoffs after 26 years. Amazing that they made the playoffs even after firing their coach Ned Yost recently. You see these trade deadline rentals all the time, almost every year. Teams in contention go get somebody for the short-term from the "clearance sale" section of other teams. Oakland A's Billy Beane used to be the expert at this.
It's never obvious how good or bad these rentals work out. Even if the guy puts up good numbers, you can never conclusively say this is why the team made the playoffs and they would have missed it without him. Even with a super successful rental like Manny in LA this year, you can't really put a number on his impact. But there is no way the Brewers make the playoffs without CC - no way in hell ! Forget all the intangibles and the emotional lift he gave the team with his domination every 5-Th day, the raw numbers are just too good. He is 11-2 with a 1.7 ERA and 7 complete games in half a season. Brewers won 14 of his 17 starts - thats .823 baseball. Tell me who else could have done it for them? Even if the guy who CC replaced had been good and pitched .600 or .700 baseball (highly unlikely), the Brewers would have still missed the playoffs considering they beat the NY Mets by just 1 game for the Wild Card. I am not even talking about the fact that CC took the ball today in a must-win game on 3 days rest and pitched a complete game for a playoff-clinching win. CC has been an absolute stud this year and the best rental ever!
I am happy for the Brewers. This took them 26 years and thats way too long for a good fan base. As for the team they eliminated, the Mets shockingly choked away their division lead for the second consecutive season. The NY tabloids are killing them and they dont even care Brett Favre threw 6 TDs for the Jets today. The Mets went 4-6 in the last ten to lose the division to the Phillies. Now Phillies meet the Brewers. Should be a good series except for Network TV. Thats 2 small markets fighting it out. At least the other 2 NLDS features huge markets - LA Dodgers V Chicago Cubs. That should be fun with Manny and his .396 average being the major attraction. In the AL, the White-Sox have a make-up game tomorrow against the Detroit Tigers which will tell us if they need a one game playoff against the Twins for the right to play the DevilRays in the real playoffs. A little convoluted, but should be good drama.
It's never obvious how good or bad these rentals work out. Even if the guy puts up good numbers, you can never conclusively say this is why the team made the playoffs and they would have missed it without him. Even with a super successful rental like Manny in LA this year, you can't really put a number on his impact. But there is no way the Brewers make the playoffs without CC - no way in hell ! Forget all the intangibles and the emotional lift he gave the team with his domination every 5-Th day, the raw numbers are just too good. He is 11-2 with a 1.7 ERA and 7 complete games in half a season. Brewers won 14 of his 17 starts - thats .823 baseball. Tell me who else could have done it for them? Even if the guy who CC replaced had been good and pitched .600 or .700 baseball (highly unlikely), the Brewers would have still missed the playoffs considering they beat the NY Mets by just 1 game for the Wild Card. I am not even talking about the fact that CC took the ball today in a must-win game on 3 days rest and pitched a complete game for a playoff-clinching win. CC has been an absolute stud this year and the best rental ever!
I am happy for the Brewers. This took them 26 years and thats way too long for a good fan base. As for the team they eliminated, the Mets shockingly choked away their division lead for the second consecutive season. The NY tabloids are killing them and they dont even care Brett Favre threw 6 TDs for the Jets today. The Mets went 4-6 in the last ten to lose the division to the Phillies. Now Phillies meet the Brewers. Should be a good series except for Network TV. Thats 2 small markets fighting it out. At least the other 2 NLDS features huge markets - LA Dodgers V Chicago Cubs. That should be fun with Manny and his .396 average being the major attraction. In the AL, the White-Sox have a make-up game tomorrow against the Detroit Tigers which will tell us if they need a one game playoff against the Twins for the right to play the DevilRays in the real playoffs. A little convoluted, but should be good drama.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Boys are for Real
Week 3 in the NFL established a few things. The Cowboys are clearly the team to beat. Romo is good, but then again he is always good in the Summer and Fall. When Winter starts and the playoffs roll around, thats when he disappears to Mexico as his game disappears into thin air. But all kidding aside, he is one of the top QBs in the league and he and his offense put on a show last weekend against the Eagles. Their defense looked shaky against McNabb and the gang and we didn't know if that game featured 2 great offenses or 2 bad defenses or both.
It turns both Philly and the Cowboys are not that bad defensively. The Cowboys slowed down A-Rod and the Packers at Lambeau. The Packers offense has been on fire until this game and this game was a little bit of a "come back to earth" situation for A-Rod. By the way, it's funny how the Jets and Favre came down to Earth too this weekend as the Chargers took care of the Jets pretty easily. Anyways, the Cowboys defense did what it had to and stifled the Pack. NFC is the Cowboys' conference to lose right now. NFC East looks unstoppable. The Giants are also on a roll and even the Skins are not bad. What the Eagles D did to Pittsturgh was even more impressive than the Dallas D. They abused Ben Roethlisberger and made Pittsburgh look ordinary. Big Ben spent half the game lying on his back.
The other shocker of the weekend was Miami and Ronnie Brown running all over the Patriots. The Matt Cassel experiment is not going well for the Pats. They miss Tom Brady and they lost 38-13 to a horrible Miami team. Cassel has done nothing for them yet and we are a week or 2 away from Randy Moss going "operation shutdown" on the entire New England area. It might very well be an end of an era in the NFL as the Patriots defense has not looked this ordinary in years. Also the Colts are 1-2 and are looking mediocre right now. They can't stop the run just like a few years back and with Peyton returning from a surgery, the offense looks just a little off. It's amazing how the Colts D tanks every time Bob Sanders doesn't play. These 2 teams defined this era in the NFL and they both may not go far this season. However, I am not ready to bury Manning and the Colts yet. He'll at least get the offense fixed soon.
The new kids on the block are the Tennessee Titans and the Buffalo Bills. Not sure how legit they both are, but they are both 3-0. The Bills almost lost to the Raiders at home, but the Raiders couldn't close the deal. Trent Edwards woke up in time to win this game. I was really impressed with this young QB. The Titans are going to be fine as long as Kerry Collins starts. No guarantees if and when Vince Young comes back. The stories of his emotional problems and mental instability are really bizarre. It goes to show how everybody has their daemons and the rich and the famous are not as happy as we think they are or they should be. Life is challenging regardless of what place you are at. Hope he gets his head fixed and gets back on the field, but the truth is, he is not a good QB yet.
The other bizarre story is this thing going on with Lane Kiffin and Al Davis. Al wants to get rid of him, but is still waiting for him to resign so that he doesn't have to pay him the reminder of his contract. But Lane is saying he will never quit. There is a report everyday about how Kiffin will be fired tomorrow, but tomorrow never comes. This is another one of those "only in Raiderland" type stories. Al Davis looks real old these days, but he looks determined to kill the Raider organization before he passes away himself. In other games, Minnesota won it's first game as Frerotte started and played half-way decent. In Denver, Cutler and the Broncos continued their winning ways though the Saints and Drew Brees almost out-scored them in an offensive contest of epic proportions. Tampa Bay won a game behind Brian Griese's 67 passes and 407 yards.
Mike Martz and the Niners took care of Detroit rather easily as JTO is fast becoming the new rage in SFO. Sweet revenge for both JTO and Martz. One of the younger Fords promptly came out and said he would fire Matt Millen if he had the authority - a direct shot at his dad (and Millen of course). But he is about 6 years too late. The only thing more shocking than W being allowed to run this country for 8 years is Matt Millen running the Lions for about the same period. Definitely makes you wonder if there is some truth to Charles Barkeley's theory for such situations - "this guy should have a picture of his boss's wife having sex with a monkey!".
It turns both Philly and the Cowboys are not that bad defensively. The Cowboys slowed down A-Rod and the Packers at Lambeau. The Packers offense has been on fire until this game and this game was a little bit of a "come back to earth" situation for A-Rod. By the way, it's funny how the Jets and Favre came down to Earth too this weekend as the Chargers took care of the Jets pretty easily. Anyways, the Cowboys defense did what it had to and stifled the Pack. NFC is the Cowboys' conference to lose right now. NFC East looks unstoppable. The Giants are also on a roll and even the Skins are not bad. What the Eagles D did to Pittsturgh was even more impressive than the Dallas D. They abused Ben Roethlisberger and made Pittsburgh look ordinary. Big Ben spent half the game lying on his back.
The other shocker of the weekend was Miami and Ronnie Brown running all over the Patriots. The Matt Cassel experiment is not going well for the Pats. They miss Tom Brady and they lost 38-13 to a horrible Miami team. Cassel has done nothing for them yet and we are a week or 2 away from Randy Moss going "operation shutdown" on the entire New England area. It might very well be an end of an era in the NFL as the Patriots defense has not looked this ordinary in years. Also the Colts are 1-2 and are looking mediocre right now. They can't stop the run just like a few years back and with Peyton returning from a surgery, the offense looks just a little off. It's amazing how the Colts D tanks every time Bob Sanders doesn't play. These 2 teams defined this era in the NFL and they both may not go far this season. However, I am not ready to bury Manning and the Colts yet. He'll at least get the offense fixed soon.
The new kids on the block are the Tennessee Titans and the Buffalo Bills. Not sure how legit they both are, but they are both 3-0. The Bills almost lost to the Raiders at home, but the Raiders couldn't close the deal. Trent Edwards woke up in time to win this game. I was really impressed with this young QB. The Titans are going to be fine as long as Kerry Collins starts. No guarantees if and when Vince Young comes back. The stories of his emotional problems and mental instability are really bizarre. It goes to show how everybody has their daemons and the rich and the famous are not as happy as we think they are or they should be. Life is challenging regardless of what place you are at. Hope he gets his head fixed and gets back on the field, but the truth is, he is not a good QB yet.
The other bizarre story is this thing going on with Lane Kiffin and Al Davis. Al wants to get rid of him, but is still waiting for him to resign so that he doesn't have to pay him the reminder of his contract. But Lane is saying he will never quit. There is a report everyday about how Kiffin will be fired tomorrow, but tomorrow never comes. This is another one of those "only in Raiderland" type stories. Al Davis looks real old these days, but he looks determined to kill the Raider organization before he passes away himself. In other games, Minnesota won it's first game as Frerotte started and played half-way decent. In Denver, Cutler and the Broncos continued their winning ways though the Saints and Drew Brees almost out-scored them in an offensive contest of epic proportions. Tampa Bay won a game behind Brian Griese's 67 passes and 407 yards.
Mike Martz and the Niners took care of Detroit rather easily as JTO is fast becoming the new rage in SFO. Sweet revenge for both JTO and Martz. One of the younger Fords promptly came out and said he would fire Matt Millen if he had the authority - a direct shot at his dad (and Millen of course). But he is about 6 years too late. The only thing more shocking than W being allowed to run this country for 8 years is Matt Millen running the Lions for about the same period. Definitely makes you wonder if there is some truth to Charles Barkeley's theory for such situations - "this guy should have a picture of his boss's wife having sex with a monkey!".
Friday, September 19, 2008
10 is better than 9
Yankees are 9 games behind the Tampa Bay Devilrays. This sentence is such music to my ears I wouldn't mind saying or typing it a few more times. And yes I'll stop calling them the Devilrays only when they make the playoffs, which interestingly enough, is going to happen this year in all probability. The only thing better than the Yanks trailing the AL East leader by 9 might be them trailing by 10. That could happen as early as tomorrow. It's an interesting end to their existence in the Yankee stadium. The last game in the legendary stadium is this Sunday and the Yankees are going to leave their old digs without a playoff game.
The other good thing about the Yankees struggles is that it'll shut ESPN up a little bit. If the Yanks were also good this year, ESPN might run a tribute to the stadium 24X7. Now it'll still be on, but just a little subdued. Personally, I would have liked to watch a game at the old stadium. I guess I missed it. Actually, I was kinda surprised the Yankees even decided to move out. This will never happen to Fenway or Wrigley. But then again the Yankee stadium is quite historic and legendary, but as a stadium, it's not quite the icon that Wrigley or Fenway is. I have not been to any of those stadiums, but I have hung out for a while outside Wrigley and I fell in love immediately.
The lovable losers of Wrigley won another big game today. They came from behind in the 9-Th, tied and then beat the Brewers for another bad loss for the Brew-crew. "Yost is toast" as Yahoo sports put it, but they still have issues. By the way, I love that heading for some reason, though it was very predictable and quite unimaginative. If the Brewers miss the playoffs again, its going to be very disappointing for the Wisconsinites. Luckily for them Aaron Rodgers in his first 2 starts has looked like Dan Marino and Joe Montana rolled into one. The Brewers still have a shot and I hope they cash it in. If not, they could be in trouble soon as CC and Ben Sheets are looking to break the bank in free agency this winter. Of course most of our banks might be bankrupt by then or we the tax payers might be owning them. but thats neither here nor there.
Anyways, back to sports, my DBacks are hovering around .500 threatening no one. They did win against Tim Lincecum today as the Giants wasted another great start from this dude. I have not seen him pitch a bad game all season. He is a true ace. The Giants are doing to him what the Minnesota Vikings are doing with Adrian Peterson. Which brings me to the NFL. I hate saying "I told you so", but I did tell you so. The Vikings have finally benched Jackson and are starting Frerotte just like I asked them to a few days back. It's a no-brainer after Jackson's performance the first 2 weeks. It should be interesting to see this team now if Adrian in healthy. He is missing some practice time this week. Hopefully it's nothing major. The Chiefs are starting somebody called Thigpen at QB. May be they should just request USC's Mark Sanchez to play for them on Sunday after his college games on Saturdays.
The other good thing about the Yankees struggles is that it'll shut ESPN up a little bit. If the Yanks were also good this year, ESPN might run a tribute to the stadium 24X7. Now it'll still be on, but just a little subdued. Personally, I would have liked to watch a game at the old stadium. I guess I missed it. Actually, I was kinda surprised the Yankees even decided to move out. This will never happen to Fenway or Wrigley. But then again the Yankee stadium is quite historic and legendary, but as a stadium, it's not quite the icon that Wrigley or Fenway is. I have not been to any of those stadiums, but I have hung out for a while outside Wrigley and I fell in love immediately.
The lovable losers of Wrigley won another big game today. They came from behind in the 9-Th, tied and then beat the Brewers for another bad loss for the Brew-crew. "Yost is toast" as Yahoo sports put it, but they still have issues. By the way, I love that heading for some reason, though it was very predictable and quite unimaginative. If the Brewers miss the playoffs again, its going to be very disappointing for the Wisconsinites. Luckily for them Aaron Rodgers in his first 2 starts has looked like Dan Marino and Joe Montana rolled into one. The Brewers still have a shot and I hope they cash it in. If not, they could be in trouble soon as CC and Ben Sheets are looking to break the bank in free agency this winter. Of course most of our banks might be bankrupt by then or we the tax payers might be owning them. but thats neither here nor there.
Anyways, back to sports, my DBacks are hovering around .500 threatening no one. They did win against Tim Lincecum today as the Giants wasted another great start from this dude. I have not seen him pitch a bad game all season. He is a true ace. The Giants are doing to him what the Minnesota Vikings are doing with Adrian Peterson. Which brings me to the NFL. I hate saying "I told you so", but I did tell you so. The Vikings have finally benched Jackson and are starting Frerotte just like I asked them to a few days back. It's a no-brainer after Jackson's performance the first 2 weeks. It should be interesting to see this team now if Adrian in healthy. He is missing some practice time this week. Hopefully it's nothing major. The Chiefs are starting somebody called Thigpen at QB. May be they should just request USC's Mark Sanchez to play for them on Sunday after his college games on Saturdays.
Monday, September 15, 2008
McNabb blows it
Another week of football is in the books. College Saturday was a disaster as ASU lost to UNLV long before the so-called "big game" next week against Georgia. They may have been looking ahead, or they may just be bad. It's probably the later more than the former. It was a pretty bad week for the Pac-10 as Cal lost at Maryland and UCLA got blanked 59-0 by BYU. The only good news of the week was the Trojans crushing the overrated Ohio State Suckeyes 35-3. That'll shut them up for a week or 2. The surprising result of the week was Notre Dame beating Michigan 35-17. I mean they are both bad, but I am surprised every time the Domers win these days. Auburn beat Mississippi State 3-2. What? Is this football or baseball from the 1960's?
In the NFL, another interesting week. For the second straight week, Minnesota showed us how to waste the prime of a great running back. They lost 18-15 to the Colts since they couldn't score TDs. Adrian Peterson ran for 160 yards and all the Vikings could do with it was score field goals. Of course if you stay close to Peyton, he is going to pass you by sooner or later and thats exactly what he did. The Vikings D was so good, but you can't keep Peyton down for that long. You got to score TDs and put some distance and pressure on him. I think it's time for Gus Frerotte to step in. It's not acceptable that the Vikings are 0-2, the same record as Kansas City with 10 times the talent except for one QB.
How bad is Kansas City if they are losing 23-8 to the Oakland Raiders? McFadden rushed up and down the field for 164 yards and Justin Fargas and Michael Bush combined for 133 more. For the Chiefs, Larry Johnson looked listless. If he loses his job today, he might not even get a job as Michael Bush's backup. I would set 8 as the over-under for the number of games before Herm Edwards gets fired. His team is pathetic. Another coach in trouble could be Marvin Lewis as the Cincinnati Bengals continued their slide from last season with a 24-7 loss to Tennessee. How can the Bengals score just 7 points with Ocho Cinco, TJ Housh and Carson Palmer?
As for the good teams. Aaron Rodgers is a stud! He had a dream first half in his game against Detroit. He threw for 328 yards and 3 TDs in the game. The Giants won again, but then again it was against the Rams, another rotten team. New England won against Favre and the Jets as they scored just 19 points and won with an all-around game. Thats the new Patriots for you. Matt Cassel is not going to throw for 50 TDs this season and Moss may not run wild, but he'll win enough games as their starting QB. By the way, Sammy Morris had stats of 0 yds rushing and 1 rushing TD. Makes me very happy as the fantasy owner of Lawrence Maroney! Kurt Warner had 361 yards and 3 TDs as both Fitzgerald and Boldin went nuts for the Cards.
The games of the week were clearly the San Diego-Denver contest and the Monday nighter between Philly and Dallas. Philly blew a great chance on the road as they did everything right on offense for a while, but self-destructed late in the game. Donovan McNabb is great, but I got to say, he is still missing something. He doesn't seem to come through at the end. He muffed 2 hand-offs to Westbrook late in the game and the second one came at a very bad time. He seemed to have confused himself and faked a handoff to Westbrook only to actually try and handoff to him after a double-clutch. Of course they didn't connect and the fumble was lost. McNabb looked as good as Romo and the boys, but he just could not finish.
Romo is clearly one of the best QBs in the league. It's amazing how suddenly many of these young QBs are turning out to be very good. Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler and Philip Rivers being the other good ones. The surprise to me is Philip Rivers. He was shaky even late last season and he seems to have grown leaps and bounds since the playoffs last year under Norv Turner. Both him and Cutler were near perfect in that Denver-San Diego game. Shanahan pulled a big one when he went for 2 at the end. You almost never see this in football. May be in College once a year, but never in the NFL. Thats shows you his confidence in Cutler and the offense.
But the story of the game were the 2 bad calls that went against the Chargers. The non-call on the fumble at the end before the Denver TD, which even Cutler accepts was a fumble, was a horrible call. It was so obvious that I walked away from the TV when that happened and completely missed the ending because I thought the Chargers have sealed the win with that fumble. I was shocked later when I learnt that Denver won that game. Denver also got the ball on a supposed San Diego fumble in the first quarter which was not a fumble. Turner challenged it in time, but they couldn't overturn it because the replay machine did not work. What the hell is going on with the NFL? I don't know why bad luck always seems to chase Norv Turner. But at least he has a good team and a good QB. They should be fine eventually though LT looks a little hurt.
In the NFL, another interesting week. For the second straight week, Minnesota showed us how to waste the prime of a great running back. They lost 18-15 to the Colts since they couldn't score TDs. Adrian Peterson ran for 160 yards and all the Vikings could do with it was score field goals. Of course if you stay close to Peyton, he is going to pass you by sooner or later and thats exactly what he did. The Vikings D was so good, but you can't keep Peyton down for that long. You got to score TDs and put some distance and pressure on him. I think it's time for Gus Frerotte to step in. It's not acceptable that the Vikings are 0-2, the same record as Kansas City with 10 times the talent except for one QB.
How bad is Kansas City if they are losing 23-8 to the Oakland Raiders? McFadden rushed up and down the field for 164 yards and Justin Fargas and Michael Bush combined for 133 more. For the Chiefs, Larry Johnson looked listless. If he loses his job today, he might not even get a job as Michael Bush's backup. I would set 8 as the over-under for the number of games before Herm Edwards gets fired. His team is pathetic. Another coach in trouble could be Marvin Lewis as the Cincinnati Bengals continued their slide from last season with a 24-7 loss to Tennessee. How can the Bengals score just 7 points with Ocho Cinco, TJ Housh and Carson Palmer?
As for the good teams. Aaron Rodgers is a stud! He had a dream first half in his game against Detroit. He threw for 328 yards and 3 TDs in the game. The Giants won again, but then again it was against the Rams, another rotten team. New England won against Favre and the Jets as they scored just 19 points and won with an all-around game. Thats the new Patriots for you. Matt Cassel is not going to throw for 50 TDs this season and Moss may not run wild, but he'll win enough games as their starting QB. By the way, Sammy Morris had stats of 0 yds rushing and 1 rushing TD. Makes me very happy as the fantasy owner of Lawrence Maroney! Kurt Warner had 361 yards and 3 TDs as both Fitzgerald and Boldin went nuts for the Cards.
The games of the week were clearly the San Diego-Denver contest and the Monday nighter between Philly and Dallas. Philly blew a great chance on the road as they did everything right on offense for a while, but self-destructed late in the game. Donovan McNabb is great, but I got to say, he is still missing something. He doesn't seem to come through at the end. He muffed 2 hand-offs to Westbrook late in the game and the second one came at a very bad time. He seemed to have confused himself and faked a handoff to Westbrook only to actually try and handoff to him after a double-clutch. Of course they didn't connect and the fumble was lost. McNabb looked as good as Romo and the boys, but he just could not finish.
Romo is clearly one of the best QBs in the league. It's amazing how suddenly many of these young QBs are turning out to be very good. Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler and Philip Rivers being the other good ones. The surprise to me is Philip Rivers. He was shaky even late last season and he seems to have grown leaps and bounds since the playoffs last year under Norv Turner. Both him and Cutler were near perfect in that Denver-San Diego game. Shanahan pulled a big one when he went for 2 at the end. You almost never see this in football. May be in College once a year, but never in the NFL. Thats shows you his confidence in Cutler and the offense.
But the story of the game were the 2 bad calls that went against the Chargers. The non-call on the fumble at the end before the Denver TD, which even Cutler accepts was a fumble, was a horrible call. It was so obvious that I walked away from the TV when that happened and completely missed the ending because I thought the Chargers have sealed the win with that fumble. I was shocked later when I learnt that Denver won that game. Denver also got the ball on a supposed San Diego fumble in the first quarter which was not a fumble. Turner challenged it in time, but they couldn't overturn it because the replay machine did not work. What the hell is going on with the NFL? I don't know why bad luck always seems to chase Norv Turner. But at least he has a good team and a good QB. They should be fine eventually though LT looks a little hurt.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
A-Rod looks good
NFL's week-1 came to an end with the Monday night double-header. Aaron Rodgers looked terrific. Not a surprise to me at all since I have had great hopes for this guy since college. He was accurate and poised. Played mistake free and his work with his legs were an added bonus. It must have felt real good for him when he did the Lambeau leap after a rushing TD. But I was more impressed with his throw low and tight for the passing TD. He went through his reads and threw it to his 3-Rd or 4-Th option at a spot where only the receiver could lay his hands on the ball. Good start, but this is just one game.
On the other side, I can't believe the Vikings went into this season with all the talent in the World, but Tarvaris Jackson at QB. That guy sucks and AD can carry the Vikings to great places if only they get even decent play at QB. These days, teams are just too obsessed with youth and potential and they don't realize that talent, even if old, can take some teams places. This is a side-effect of sky rocketing salaries and the desire of teams to find the next big thing often ignoring the current "good thing" that can help you win now.
Coming back to A-Rod, I always thought he was the better QB in that 2005 draft. The Niners made Alex Smith the number 1 pick and that flawed marriage seems to be finally over. He lost his starting job this season and now he is out for the season with his shoulder problem. What's remaining now is for the Niners to cut him next summer to save some cap and for Alex to end up in the bench somewhere else. He deserves one more shot but it's unlikely he'll get it in San Francisco. In fact, a change of scenery is always good and he is better off somewhere else. Good luck to him. He has some physical tools and lets see what he does with it.
Speaking of injured QBs, Tom Brady is out with both a torn ACL and MCL. Can he come back and do what he is used to doing? I would guess so because he is not much of a runner. He can always hang in there in the pocket and make throws like Dan Marino or something. But it's still going to be tough because the last big-name QB to have this same injury was Daunte Culpepper and we all know what happened to him. He has disappeared into thin air and he is actually retired as of last week. Lets just hope his career continues at a high-level.
On Monday night, we also had the misfortune of watching the Oakland Raiders. They looked horrible. JaMarcus Russell looked real bad too. He can throw long, but has no touch or accuracy and his decision making is suspect. But he is very young and raw and I don't want to beat him up too much yet. But the product that the Raiders put on the field is horrible. Russell actually ended with decent stats, but they couldn't score on offense or stop Denver from scoring on defense. I am not sure how good Jay Cutler and the Broncos are going to be this season, but the Raiders sure made them look like the best team in the league.
On the other side, I can't believe the Vikings went into this season with all the talent in the World, but Tarvaris Jackson at QB. That guy sucks and AD can carry the Vikings to great places if only they get even decent play at QB. These days, teams are just too obsessed with youth and potential and they don't realize that talent, even if old, can take some teams places. This is a side-effect of sky rocketing salaries and the desire of teams to find the next big thing often ignoring the current "good thing" that can help you win now.
Coming back to A-Rod, I always thought he was the better QB in that 2005 draft. The Niners made Alex Smith the number 1 pick and that flawed marriage seems to be finally over. He lost his starting job this season and now he is out for the season with his shoulder problem. What's remaining now is for the Niners to cut him next summer to save some cap and for Alex to end up in the bench somewhere else. He deserves one more shot but it's unlikely he'll get it in San Francisco. In fact, a change of scenery is always good and he is better off somewhere else. Good luck to him. He has some physical tools and lets see what he does with it.
Speaking of injured QBs, Tom Brady is out with both a torn ACL and MCL. Can he come back and do what he is used to doing? I would guess so because he is not much of a runner. He can always hang in there in the pocket and make throws like Dan Marino or something. But it's still going to be tough because the last big-name QB to have this same injury was Daunte Culpepper and we all know what happened to him. He has disappeared into thin air and he is actually retired as of last week. Lets just hope his career continues at a high-level.
On Monday night, we also had the misfortune of watching the Oakland Raiders. They looked horrible. JaMarcus Russell looked real bad too. He can throw long, but has no touch or accuracy and his decision making is suspect. But he is very young and raw and I don't want to beat him up too much yet. But the product that the Raiders put on the field is horrible. Russell actually ended with decent stats, but they couldn't score on offense or stop Denver from scoring on defense. I am not sure how good Jay Cutler and the Broncos are going to be this season, but the Raiders sure made them look like the best team in the league.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Fun, fun week 1
NFL was in full flow today and I am sure a lot of Sports fans gladly welcomed it into their living rooms just like I did today. Many games, many stories, but these are the things that stuck with me.
Obviously the injury to Tom Brady is the biggest news. Reports are saying he is out for the season. Thats a shocker for the New England fans and is also a loss of a bankable superstar for the NFL. Thats too bad. I wonder if Matt Cassel can take over and do very well and dent Tom Brady's legend a little bit. I doubt it though since Matt is very inexperienced and Tom Brady is pretty good. Gone or the days when I used to think Brady was over-rated. He has definitely worked his way up the QB rankings pretty well.
Vince Young left his game with an injury as well, though he is expected to return soon. Tennessee also surprisingly beat Jacksonville.
Chad Pennington started for Miami and was is 1/6 for -1 yards at one point. It looked ugly, but he turned it around later. Ricky Williams also started and I am glad about that. NFL can use more vegan yogis.
Jim Nance was totally confused when Pennington completed a pass to David Martin. For some reason, he thought that was Favre to Bubba Franks and talked about how these 2 guys have done this many times before. Or not! To be fair to Nance, it was a confusing game with both QBs at new places. Even I was sub-consciously thinking Chad Pennington every time I saw Brett Favre take the snap in a Jets uniform because I am so used to seeing Chad at that spot.
Speaking of Favre, he did well. He connected on a bomb to Jerricho Cotchery and then threw the ball up for grabs on a 4-Th and 13 play that conveniently ended up in a Jets receiver's hands. Typical Brett Favre. Fun to watch. I was surprised to see very little from Laveranues Coles though.
Atlanta had a fantastic season opener. Matty Ice's first pass in the NFL was a TD bomb. That should have felt great for the Rookie. Michael Turner ran all over the Lions D and I guess Matty didn't have to do much after that pass, Both these new-comers looked very good for ATL.
McNabb was awesome. He looked healthy and unstoppable. Their Wide Receivers were catching balls all over the field and that has not happened a whole lot in Philly during the McNabb era except for TO. Speedy rookie from Cal, DeSean Jackson had a great game both receiving and returning.
The other half of the Philly game was the horrible St. Louis Rams. I was really sad to see the STL Rams offense. The "greatest show on Turf" days are long gone and they look very ordinary these days. I miss those days with the ball flying all over the place with Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt reeling in 40 yard passes from Kurt Warner or Marc Bulger. Torry Holt caught just one pass in this game and their supposed number 2 receiver, Drew Bennett caught one pass and was hurt right after that catch. It's going to be another long season in STL.
Speaking of the old Rams, Mike Martz has come west to the Niners and has brought a QB with him. J.T. O'Sullivan was not bad. He seems to be very poised and did make some throws that Alex Smith can't or won't. Frank Gore had a great game too. But the Cards just would not give them the ball. The Niners defense had no answer to the Cards run or pass game in the second half and the Cards killed the clock effectively. Seems like Ken Whisenhunt at least for a day was able to bring the Pittsburgh Steelers football to the Cards. The Niners turned the ball over 5 times. Typical Martz offense.
Chicago went in and shocked the Colts as did Carolina at San Diego. The Colts opened a new stadium, but had to go home disappointed. I think they'll be fine, but they didn't look all that sharp today. Big win for the Bears and they may have something special in that rookie Matt Forte.
Obviously the injury to Tom Brady is the biggest news. Reports are saying he is out for the season. Thats a shocker for the New England fans and is also a loss of a bankable superstar for the NFL. Thats too bad. I wonder if Matt Cassel can take over and do very well and dent Tom Brady's legend a little bit. I doubt it though since Matt is very inexperienced and Tom Brady is pretty good. Gone or the days when I used to think Brady was over-rated. He has definitely worked his way up the QB rankings pretty well.
Vince Young left his game with an injury as well, though he is expected to return soon. Tennessee also surprisingly beat Jacksonville.
Chad Pennington started for Miami and was is 1/6 for -1 yards at one point. It looked ugly, but he turned it around later. Ricky Williams also started and I am glad about that. NFL can use more vegan yogis.
Jim Nance was totally confused when Pennington completed a pass to David Martin. For some reason, he thought that was Favre to Bubba Franks and talked about how these 2 guys have done this many times before. Or not! To be fair to Nance, it was a confusing game with both QBs at new places. Even I was sub-consciously thinking Chad Pennington every time I saw Brett Favre take the snap in a Jets uniform because I am so used to seeing Chad at that spot.
Speaking of Favre, he did well. He connected on a bomb to Jerricho Cotchery and then threw the ball up for grabs on a 4-Th and 13 play that conveniently ended up in a Jets receiver's hands. Typical Brett Favre. Fun to watch. I was surprised to see very little from Laveranues Coles though.
Atlanta had a fantastic season opener. Matty Ice's first pass in the NFL was a TD bomb. That should have felt great for the Rookie. Michael Turner ran all over the Lions D and I guess Matty didn't have to do much after that pass, Both these new-comers looked very good for ATL.
McNabb was awesome. He looked healthy and unstoppable. Their Wide Receivers were catching balls all over the field and that has not happened a whole lot in Philly during the McNabb era except for TO. Speedy rookie from Cal, DeSean Jackson had a great game both receiving and returning.
The other half of the Philly game was the horrible St. Louis Rams. I was really sad to see the STL Rams offense. The "greatest show on Turf" days are long gone and they look very ordinary these days. I miss those days with the ball flying all over the place with Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt reeling in 40 yard passes from Kurt Warner or Marc Bulger. Torry Holt caught just one pass in this game and their supposed number 2 receiver, Drew Bennett caught one pass and was hurt right after that catch. It's going to be another long season in STL.
Speaking of the old Rams, Mike Martz has come west to the Niners and has brought a QB with him. J.T. O'Sullivan was not bad. He seems to be very poised and did make some throws that Alex Smith can't or won't. Frank Gore had a great game too. But the Cards just would not give them the ball. The Niners defense had no answer to the Cards run or pass game in the second half and the Cards killed the clock effectively. Seems like Ken Whisenhunt at least for a day was able to bring the Pittsburgh Steelers football to the Cards. The Niners turned the ball over 5 times. Typical Martz offense.
Chicago went in and shocked the Colts as did Carolina at San Diego. The Colts opened a new stadium, but had to go home disappointed. I think they'll be fine, but they didn't look all that sharp today. Big win for the Bears and they may have something special in that rookie Matt Forte.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Here comes the NFL
NFL kicked off the season with the now usual Thursday night kick-off. Two problems this time though. One, the game was earlier than usual because of the stupid Republican National Convention. So it missed prime-time in most parts of the country. Secondly, I would have also scheduled a better game than the Giants-Redskins match-up. The Giants, I have to say, are one of the weakest returning Super Bowl Champs. They were lucky and they peaked at the right time last year to knock off the Patriots. I am glad they did, but still they were not a great team then and they are worse now. Plus, the Redskins have been average to garbage for a while now. I know they have a great football tradition and all that, but I would have definitely kept them out of a national TV season opener.
With all that said, this game signaled the start of the 08 NFL season and we are all better off because of it. The Giants won after an rather impressive start. Eli led them to a TD on their very first drive and it looked impressive. But things slowed down after that and it was pretty much a defensive struggle. In fact, there was no scoring whatsoever in the entire second half. It was a decent game, but nothing exciting. I am expecting better games this Sunday. I am looking forward to many games including Carolina @ San Diego, Dallas @ Cleveland, Minnesota @ Green Bay and Denver @ Oakland. Lets see what happens. The second week of College Football seems to have a relatively flat schedule - kind of an appetizer for NFL this Sunday and the college schedule next weekend. Though Vandy already upset the Ole' ball coach and South Carolina to kick-off week 2. There is Florida-Miami though it is not what it used to be.
With all that said, this game signaled the start of the 08 NFL season and we are all better off because of it. The Giants won after an rather impressive start. Eli led them to a TD on their very first drive and it looked impressive. But things slowed down after that and it was pretty much a defensive struggle. In fact, there was no scoring whatsoever in the entire second half. It was a decent game, but nothing exciting. I am expecting better games this Sunday. I am looking forward to many games including Carolina @ San Diego, Dallas @ Cleveland, Minnesota @ Green Bay and Denver @ Oakland. Lets see what happens. The second week of College Football seems to have a relatively flat schedule - kind of an appetizer for NFL this Sunday and the college schedule next weekend. Though Vandy already upset the Ole' ball coach and South Carolina to kick-off week 2. There is Florida-Miami though it is not what it used to be.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Good to have football back
This is a great weekend since we got to welcome football back. Football is the best and the only good thing about the end of summer. It's a sad day when we realize the summer days for the year just flew by, but then we have football to console us. First college and next week the big daddy - the NFL, is coming to our living rooms. How can you complain? We get to play our fantasy football too, which is almost a parallel sporting universe these days.
My fantasy drafts are always pretty late. So I personally flip the switch from no-football to all-football within a couple of days and that elevates my excitement level higher and sooner than a gradual escalation would. Yesterday I got to see some football on TV and today I started my fantasy draft preparation and I am excited as you can tell. After the season we had in college last year, I can't wait to see what'll happen this year. I can't possibly imagine it being better than last year, but I'll take a season half as exciting actually.
Plus Arizona State is ranked 15-Th and they get to play No-1 Georgia at home early. I am both terrified and excited by that game. As for week 1, ASU won easily and so did most of the top teams as you would expect. I thought it was hilarious that Michigan lost their season opener again and this time to Utah after last year's Appalachian State disaster. Different coach but the same result at the Big House. Virginia Tech got upset by East Carolina in another shocker. ACC these days is not what it used to be. I wonder if they want to kick Va Tech and Miami back to the Big East :-)
The other major upset of week 1 was in the biggest game of week 1 - num 9 Clemson V num 24 Alabama. Once again, Clemson disappointed it's fan-base and convinced them that the Tigers and their coach Tommy Bowden are some of the biggest under-achievers in the sport. Bowden may not survive this season. Expectations were real high at Clemson. They may still win the ACC, but losing to Alabama like they did can't help their national title dreams. I guess thats why it's called a "dream". It would be weird if both papa Bowden and Tommy Bowden are pushed out after this season. Could easily happen because Florida State is real bad these days and they need to rebuild.
USC looked impressive on the road at Virginia and the other USC - University of South Carolina under the ole' ball coach didn't look that impressive. Looks like Steve Spurrier is not going to do all that well with SC in the SEC this year as well. But the bottom line is , the scores don't matter, the results of week 1 are just a side-bar. The real story is that football is back in our lives.
My fantasy drafts are always pretty late. So I personally flip the switch from no-football to all-football within a couple of days and that elevates my excitement level higher and sooner than a gradual escalation would. Yesterday I got to see some football on TV and today I started my fantasy draft preparation and I am excited as you can tell. After the season we had in college last year, I can't wait to see what'll happen this year. I can't possibly imagine it being better than last year, but I'll take a season half as exciting actually.
Plus Arizona State is ranked 15-Th and they get to play No-1 Georgia at home early. I am both terrified and excited by that game. As for week 1, ASU won easily and so did most of the top teams as you would expect. I thought it was hilarious that Michigan lost their season opener again and this time to Utah after last year's Appalachian State disaster. Different coach but the same result at the Big House. Virginia Tech got upset by East Carolina in another shocker. ACC these days is not what it used to be. I wonder if they want to kick Va Tech and Miami back to the Big East :-)
The other major upset of week 1 was in the biggest game of week 1 - num 9 Clemson V num 24 Alabama. Once again, Clemson disappointed it's fan-base and convinced them that the Tigers and their coach Tommy Bowden are some of the biggest under-achievers in the sport. Bowden may not survive this season. Expectations were real high at Clemson. They may still win the ACC, but losing to Alabama like they did can't help their national title dreams. I guess thats why it's called a "dream". It would be weird if both papa Bowden and Tommy Bowden are pushed out after this season. Could easily happen because Florida State is real bad these days and they need to rebuild.
USC looked impressive on the road at Virginia and the other USC - University of South Carolina under the ole' ball coach didn't look that impressive. Looks like Steve Spurrier is not going to do all that well with SC in the SEC this year as well. But the bottom line is , the scores don't matter, the results of week 1 are just a side-bar. The real story is that football is back in our lives.
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