The Favre hype is all over your TV. He is going to play the Packers next Monday and that should be awesome. But on top of it, he is coming of a game-winning TD last Sunday. It was a great throw and a better catch to beat the Niners who played a great game and should have won it. He was the story of the NFL weekend and the talking heads on TV were all sucking up to him big time. These were the same fools who were ripping him during the off-season. Of course this only proves my usual adage that two things that sound contradictory can both be true. I guess I can't blame these TV guys all that much. Favre's act during the off-season was stupid. But he is a great player and he is doing for the Vikings what they exactly want him to do. I am pretty sure they don't win that game last weekend without Favre. Regardless of what the other Vikings QBs would have or could have done during the course of the game, they definitely wouldn't have been able to do what Favre did with that fiinal drive.
I found that play still very interesting. As sports fans, we live and die by inches. If that throw was a few inches off or even if the throw was the same, but the receiver landed a few inches further away or if his defenders were a few inches closer to the ball and tapped it away, we wouldn't be hyping Brett Favre's performance in that game all that much. But the play worked out and we can't stop talking about him. Sports is such a bottom-line business that makes you the hero if you win and you are nothing special if you lose. Rest of it are mere details. The other thing that struck me with that play was, how one's reputation and who he or she is matters to the exclusion of everything else. Favre threw to Greg Lewis - good throw and a great catch. But Favre still walks away with most of the honors in our eyes. I was wondering what if it was Trent Edwards to Terrell Owens? TO would have garnered most of the kudos because he is TO. The sports world is strange like that sometimes, but we love it because real life can be even stranger.
Anyways we get to see Favre V Aaron Rodgers next Monday. Can't complain. Last weekend, Detroit won after a long time. It might get some people fired in Washington. The Lions had to win sometime since they can't keep losing for the rest of eternity. So I don't see why the Redskins are taking it so personally! In college, ASU lost a tough one at Georgia. It could have been a great win, but it was not meant to be. The only guy who is probably more hyped than Favre right now is Tim Tebow. Dude suffered a concussion last weekend and there's 24X7 coverage on him since then. In the MLB, the season is winding down, but the usual drama is missing. Teams have big leads and there is no real pennant chase. Where's the parity in baseball? The only drama the last couple of days has involved Detroit and Minnesota, but thats not very interesting as Detroit is leading by 3 after today's game. Time to bring on the playoffs already. MLB playoffs are fun, especially for me when the RedSox and the Yankees play each other and I am pulling for both of them to lose! In other news, the NHL season is starting already. Not that I care, but this means the NBA can't be that far behind. Good times!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Weekend of the Mannings
The Manning brothers owned week 2 of the NFL. They showed us once again why they are the number 1 football family in the World. Peyton Manning is one of the best ever and Eli is charting his own course and building his own legacy. First it was Eli on Sunday night cooly and calmly guiding the Giants past the Cowboys at that mega-stadium out there in Dallas. Romo helped him out by playing horribly, but Eli did have to drive them down the field for a field goal in the last 3 minutes. He threw for 330 yards and 2 TDs in the game and made stars out of Mario Manningham and the (other) Steve Smith. He proved once again that good QBs do more for the receivers than good receivers ever do to help QBs. That stadium and that scoreboard look gorgeous and they look even better when the Boys lose. I wish I can watch a game there one of these days. It was an event and LeBron was there prompting Chris Collinsworth to remark "it's not a party unless LeBron shows up these days". interesting. Is LeBron over-exposed? Thats a conversation for another day and time.
Peyton Manning owned Monday night as he won the game against the Dolphins under very unusual circumstances. Miami dominated the time of possession to the tune of 45.07 minutes to 14.53 minutes and still lost. How is that even possible? I guess Peyton's brilliance is the primary reason for this. He threw for a 80 yard TD to open the game and a 48 yard game-winner at the end, which meant the Colts scored 14 points in 44 seconds. The rest of the way, Miami ran and ran and milked the clock. Their wildcat ran to perfection again. Brian Billick calls it a gimmick and Steve Young calls it a fad, but the way Miami runs it, it seems to work every-time. The Dolphins are even selling jerseys with "wildcat" on the back! I wouldn't mind owning one of those. But when the time came for a big play at the end, Miami just had nowhere to go. I like Chad Pennington a lot, but that final 2-minute drive must qualify as the worst 2-minute drill ever. In fact, it was not even a 2 minute drive, he actually had more than 3 minutes to go, not to mention the 2 timeouts. But they ran a play a minute until Chad suddenly seemed to realize he was in the 4-Th and not the 3-Rd quarter. But to me, the Dolphins lost the game the previous drive when the game was tied and they were in field goal range. They had a 3-Rd and 6 and after Chad and Ted Ginn Jr. had converted on a trillion 3-Rd downs all day, they called a run and settled for 3. Even the Raiders with JaMarcus Russell would have called a pass play at that point. I don't know what the coaches were thinking and it serves them right that Manning scored a TD soon after (in 32 seconds) to take the lead back for good.
Great Monday night game again though. NFL has been even better than advertised so far. John Feinstein made an interesting point that a 0-2 hole in the NFL is like a 20 game losing streak in the MLB. Thats true if you consider the fact that the NFL season is 16 games long and MLB is 162 games long. Another data point to illustrate how and why the NFL is so intense start to finish. There were a lot of interesting games last weekend. I was happy to see Kurt Warner and the Cardinals get back on track. Warner completed 24/26 passes and thats just insane! There are some murmurs about L-Fitz not getting the ball enough, but I think it will all be fine soon. Jacksonville apparently can't sellout these games and they seem to be in a bigger blackout hell than the Raiders. Speaking of the Raiders, they beat the KC Chiefs 13-10 behind JaMarcus Russell who was his usual self completing just 7/24 passes for a robust 109 yards. Matt Cassel should have been depressed and completely shocked after this game. On the positive side, if Cassel can recover from this disaster, he can handle anything the rest of his career. New Orleans and San Francisco continued from where they left off last week and won their 2-Nd game. Saints are for real and the Niners will let us know next week when they go outside their division and take on Adrian Peterson, Brett Favre and the Vikings. I can't think of another runner quite like AP when it comes to seeking out contact. The guy just takes defenders head-on and never shies away from contact. And considering the speed at which he is coming at them, it should be a nightmare for the guys in the secondary.
The best result of the weekend was of course New England losing to the J-E-T-S. Those guys talked trash all week and then backed it up by crushing the mighty NE Patriots with ease. I can't believe how good they are and how strong Mark Sanchez is. Dude seems to be from the Matty Ice school of rookie QBs and he looks a lot more mature than the Jets QB last year - Brett Favre! The defense came after Brady and shut him down. They kept Moss bottled up too with just 24 yards. Impressive! The Pats are a stupid Buffalo fumble away from being 0-2. NFL can be an upside down World sometimes. Off the field, Niners are accusing the Jets of some tampering with Michael Crabtree and now the Jets coach is saying they want to play the Niners! These guys are not kidding around. They want to crush everybody. The other AFC superpowers - Chargers and the Steelers, both lost as well. Cutler played much better as the Bears beat the Steelers and Ray Lewis made an amazing game ending tackle to make sure the Chargers lost despite the 436 yards passing by Philip Rivers. More great early season games. Houston and Tennessee played a good one as well as the Texans got back on track. Chris Johnson had 284 total yards in the loss, but he couldn't overcome the Matt Schaub-Andre Johnson connection. This game featured some of the most wide-open receivers I have ever seen in the NFL. I am not talking "NFL open", I am talking "there is nobody within 20 feet of the receiver" open. Both defenses looked like San Jose state against USC in certain plays and in one play, Houston completely forgot about Chris Johnson and he was all alone running by himself along the sidelines. Tennessee is in trouble and @ NY Jets is the last thing they need. We will see what happens next week.
Peyton Manning owned Monday night as he won the game against the Dolphins under very unusual circumstances. Miami dominated the time of possession to the tune of 45.07 minutes to 14.53 minutes and still lost. How is that even possible? I guess Peyton's brilliance is the primary reason for this. He threw for a 80 yard TD to open the game and a 48 yard game-winner at the end, which meant the Colts scored 14 points in 44 seconds. The rest of the way, Miami ran and ran and milked the clock. Their wildcat ran to perfection again. Brian Billick calls it a gimmick and Steve Young calls it a fad, but the way Miami runs it, it seems to work every-time. The Dolphins are even selling jerseys with "wildcat" on the back! I wouldn't mind owning one of those. But when the time came for a big play at the end, Miami just had nowhere to go. I like Chad Pennington a lot, but that final 2-minute drive must qualify as the worst 2-minute drill ever. In fact, it was not even a 2 minute drive, he actually had more than 3 minutes to go, not to mention the 2 timeouts. But they ran a play a minute until Chad suddenly seemed to realize he was in the 4-Th and not the 3-Rd quarter. But to me, the Dolphins lost the game the previous drive when the game was tied and they were in field goal range. They had a 3-Rd and 6 and after Chad and Ted Ginn Jr. had converted on a trillion 3-Rd downs all day, they called a run and settled for 3. Even the Raiders with JaMarcus Russell would have called a pass play at that point. I don't know what the coaches were thinking and it serves them right that Manning scored a TD soon after (in 32 seconds) to take the lead back for good.
Great Monday night game again though. NFL has been even better than advertised so far. John Feinstein made an interesting point that a 0-2 hole in the NFL is like a 20 game losing streak in the MLB. Thats true if you consider the fact that the NFL season is 16 games long and MLB is 162 games long. Another data point to illustrate how and why the NFL is so intense start to finish. There were a lot of interesting games last weekend. I was happy to see Kurt Warner and the Cardinals get back on track. Warner completed 24/26 passes and thats just insane! There are some murmurs about L-Fitz not getting the ball enough, but I think it will all be fine soon. Jacksonville apparently can't sellout these games and they seem to be in a bigger blackout hell than the Raiders. Speaking of the Raiders, they beat the KC Chiefs 13-10 behind JaMarcus Russell who was his usual self completing just 7/24 passes for a robust 109 yards. Matt Cassel should have been depressed and completely shocked after this game. On the positive side, if Cassel can recover from this disaster, he can handle anything the rest of his career. New Orleans and San Francisco continued from where they left off last week and won their 2-Nd game. Saints are for real and the Niners will let us know next week when they go outside their division and take on Adrian Peterson, Brett Favre and the Vikings. I can't think of another runner quite like AP when it comes to seeking out contact. The guy just takes defenders head-on and never shies away from contact. And considering the speed at which he is coming at them, it should be a nightmare for the guys in the secondary.
The best result of the weekend was of course New England losing to the J-E-T-S. Those guys talked trash all week and then backed it up by crushing the mighty NE Patriots with ease. I can't believe how good they are and how strong Mark Sanchez is. Dude seems to be from the Matty Ice school of rookie QBs and he looks a lot more mature than the Jets QB last year - Brett Favre! The defense came after Brady and shut him down. They kept Moss bottled up too with just 24 yards. Impressive! The Pats are a stupid Buffalo fumble away from being 0-2. NFL can be an upside down World sometimes. Off the field, Niners are accusing the Jets of some tampering with Michael Crabtree and now the Jets coach is saying they want to play the Niners! These guys are not kidding around. They want to crush everybody. The other AFC superpowers - Chargers and the Steelers, both lost as well. Cutler played much better as the Bears beat the Steelers and Ray Lewis made an amazing game ending tackle to make sure the Chargers lost despite the 436 yards passing by Philip Rivers. More great early season games. Houston and Tennessee played a good one as well as the Texans got back on track. Chris Johnson had 284 total yards in the loss, but he couldn't overcome the Matt Schaub-Andre Johnson connection. This game featured some of the most wide-open receivers I have ever seen in the NFL. I am not talking "NFL open", I am talking "there is nobody within 20 feet of the receiver" open. Both defenses looked like San Jose state against USC in certain plays and in one play, Houston completely forgot about Chris Johnson and he was all alone running by himself along the sidelines. Tennessee is in trouble and @ NY Jets is the last thing they need. We will see what happens next week.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Better early than late?
Every year, USC looses a game that they are not supposed to. It's always to an unranked Pac-10 team. Yesterday, it looks like they decided it's better to get this obligatory yearly loss out of the way early in the season rather than late. They lost their Pac-10 opener on the road to Washington 16-13. Washington is unranked. As a matter of fact, they are just happy to be still in Division-1 football given that they went 0-12 last year. Now they have beat the big and mighty USC. This loss has dropped USC to number 12 - behind schools like Boise State, Miami, Oklahoma and Va Tech and way behind Cal. I wonder if USC is thinking that they can recover from an early season loss better than a late season loss when it comes to BCS berths. Unfortunately, such courtesies are only extended by our beloved voters to East Coast schools like Florida! If you lose to an unranked Pac-10 team, you are pretty much done.
But this goes to show that Pac-10 is usually better than advertised. Why would USC keep losing to unranked teams in Pac-10 even though they routinely crush Big-10 big-dawgs like Ohio State and Penn state. I think the Pac-10 teams are hard to beat especially on the road. Most of them have decent offenses, though this particular contest was a low scoring one. Also, while the West Coast has "weak" sports fans in general, that description fits California and Arizona more than the North Western states. They have higher levels of passion for college football since most of the Oregon and Washington schools are located in small, campus towns with very little professional sports interests and lots of rain! So going into those hostile environments and coming out with a W is easier said than done. Of course, there is something wrong with USC's mindset and their coach that this happens every year. For all the credit Pete Carroll gets for resurrecting the program at USC, I think he has under-achieved with what he has got. May be he should have 4 or 5 rings instead of the 1.5 he's got if only his teams played with the same focus every game.
Great win for Washington even though USC played without quarterback Matt Barkley and defensive star Taylor Mays. Now let's see if USC gets it's act together against a good Cal team in a couple of weeks. Speaking of Cal, my main (Heis)man Jahvid Best ran for 131 yards and five touchdowns in a 35-21 victory at Minnesota. He is on track. The other great game of the week was Virginia Tech V Nebraska. Va Tech's mediocre QB Tyrod Taylor clinched the game for them with a game-winner. Great win for the Hokies - 16-15. The other surprising results of the week were Oregon upsetting Utah and Florida State over BYU.
I knew FSU was good, but I was surprised that they crushed BYU on the road. Tennessee and Lane Kiffin had a good day. They lost 13-23 to Florida, but weren't they supposed to lose 60-3 or something? Not sure what happened to Florida there. I am now thinking they are going to lose a game this season if not 2. If they and Texas stay on course, the Championship game is all theirs as of now. Lets see what happens.
ASU beat Louisiana-Monroe 38-14, but they start their season for real at number 23 Georgia next weekend. I am nervous!
But this goes to show that Pac-10 is usually better than advertised. Why would USC keep losing to unranked teams in Pac-10 even though they routinely crush Big-10 big-dawgs like Ohio State and Penn state. I think the Pac-10 teams are hard to beat especially on the road. Most of them have decent offenses, though this particular contest was a low scoring one. Also, while the West Coast has "weak" sports fans in general, that description fits California and Arizona more than the North Western states. They have higher levels of passion for college football since most of the Oregon and Washington schools are located in small, campus towns with very little professional sports interests and lots of rain! So going into those hostile environments and coming out with a W is easier said than done. Of course, there is something wrong with USC's mindset and their coach that this happens every year. For all the credit Pete Carroll gets for resurrecting the program at USC, I think he has under-achieved with what he has got. May be he should have 4 or 5 rings instead of the 1.5 he's got if only his teams played with the same focus every game.
Great win for Washington even though USC played without quarterback Matt Barkley and defensive star Taylor Mays. Now let's see if USC gets it's act together against a good Cal team in a couple of weeks. Speaking of Cal, my main (Heis)man Jahvid Best ran for 131 yards and five touchdowns in a 35-21 victory at Minnesota. He is on track. The other great game of the week was Virginia Tech V Nebraska. Va Tech's mediocre QB Tyrod Taylor clinched the game for them with a game-winner. Great win for the Hokies - 16-15. The other surprising results of the week were Oregon upsetting Utah and Florida State over BYU.
I knew FSU was good, but I was surprised that they crushed BYU on the road. Tennessee and Lane Kiffin had a good day. They lost 13-23 to Florida, but weren't they supposed to lose 60-3 or something? Not sure what happened to Florida there. I am now thinking they are going to lose a game this season if not 2. If they and Texas stay on course, the Championship game is all theirs as of now. Lets see what happens.
ASU beat Louisiana-Monroe 38-14, but they start their season for real at number 23 Georgia next weekend. I am nervous!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Is the U back?
Miami won again today. They played an interesting season opener against Florida State on Labor day and won the game at the end just like the good old days. And today they beat the 14-Th ranked team in Georgia Tech. I like their QB Jacory Harris. Both Harris and their coach Randy Shannon seem to have a decent and classy demeanor thats so rare at the U. More power to them. They are now ranked and should be moving up next week. I am already getting a little tired of USC and Matt Barkley. ESPN is constantly talking about him after just one good game. I said the hype machine will be all over this kid, but I didn't know it would be this bad this quick. The other story of the week in college is Tennessee @ Florida. Lane Kiffin's trash talking earlier in the year is the story here, but unfortunately, the game should be no-contest and a non story.
In the NFL, Monday night gave us two great games. We were reminded once again why NFL is the king in this country. These games are close, they are played at a high level and they matter. Every game - 1 through 16, matter. The offensive execution in game 1 is sometimes bad, but teams still play hard and give it their all for a W. Thats the beauty of a 16 game season as opposed to a 82 or a 162 game season. We were also reminded last Monday of the luckiest guy on the planet - Tom Brady. In addition to bagging supermodel Gisele Bundchen, he won his season opener at home last Monday when he had no business winning. Buffalo had that game locked up when they fumbled a kickoff return with a couple of minutes to go in the game. It's a cliche to say "you do not want to give that guy another chance", but you just do not want to give Tom Brady another chance like that. He went to Ben Watson again and won the game with a sweet TD. The Bills lost the game in the last 3 minutes after dominating the game all through. I am sure the Bills fans were thrilled about this loss.
In game 2, the Raiders were surprisingly competitive and even dominant in the trenches. They bottled up the Chargers for most of the night and ran all over them in the first half. But Philip Rivers took the Chargers down the field for a game winner. This has been an interesting sidebar of the early season football this year. A lot of offenses did nothing all game, but went down the field for a victory at the end. From USC to the Packers to the Chargers, it was the same story. Disappointing loss for the Raiders, but they have something to cheer about. They look much improved, but they still have a long way to go. JaMarcus Russell needs to develop a lot. He is quite raw and can't carry them to victories yet. They have to win despite him and not because of him and thats going to be tough. But to be fair to him, he did his job in this game and put the Raiders ahead in the 4-Th quarter but the defense let the Chargers score and win.
There seem to be many interesting off the field stories in sports the last few days. First there was the "Serena-gate" where she went ballistic on a line judge and got penalized a point on a match point. It sounds tough, but she earned it. She went nuts and deserved to be docked a point. Then Federer misbehaved during his finals on Monday. He used an expletive and got fined later and coming from Federer, it was a little surprising and became big news. He seemed frustrated to the point that he looked out of sorts after that argument and lost the Finals. It happens to the best I guess.
Michael Jordan is getting some grief too for his act in the Hall Of fame ceremony. People are saying his speech was bitter and angry. He went on and on about all the perceived or real insults he had to endure throughout his basketball life and thanked those guys for motivating him! That sure is an odd hall of fame speech. I thought the only interesting point was about Byron Russell. Mike told us how Russell met him during Mike's first retirement and claimed that he could have guarded him if he was still in the NBA. I didn't know about this and how ironic is it that Russell had to guard Mike in the NBA finals, not once but twice. Overall, the feeling is that Mike didn't give a classy speech. Stockton and Robinson on the the other hand gave us the usual humble speech. I especially remember Stockton saying that he was never the best player in his team his entire life. Thats humility and thats what we need more of in the Hall of Fame speeches.
In the NFL, Monday night gave us two great games. We were reminded once again why NFL is the king in this country. These games are close, they are played at a high level and they matter. Every game - 1 through 16, matter. The offensive execution in game 1 is sometimes bad, but teams still play hard and give it their all for a W. Thats the beauty of a 16 game season as opposed to a 82 or a 162 game season. We were also reminded last Monday of the luckiest guy on the planet - Tom Brady. In addition to bagging supermodel Gisele Bundchen, he won his season opener at home last Monday when he had no business winning. Buffalo had that game locked up when they fumbled a kickoff return with a couple of minutes to go in the game. It's a cliche to say "you do not want to give that guy another chance", but you just do not want to give Tom Brady another chance like that. He went to Ben Watson again and won the game with a sweet TD. The Bills lost the game in the last 3 minutes after dominating the game all through. I am sure the Bills fans were thrilled about this loss.
In game 2, the Raiders were surprisingly competitive and even dominant in the trenches. They bottled up the Chargers for most of the night and ran all over them in the first half. But Philip Rivers took the Chargers down the field for a game winner. This has been an interesting sidebar of the early season football this year. A lot of offenses did nothing all game, but went down the field for a victory at the end. From USC to the Packers to the Chargers, it was the same story. Disappointing loss for the Raiders, but they have something to cheer about. They look much improved, but they still have a long way to go. JaMarcus Russell needs to develop a lot. He is quite raw and can't carry them to victories yet. They have to win despite him and not because of him and thats going to be tough. But to be fair to him, he did his job in this game and put the Raiders ahead in the 4-Th quarter but the defense let the Chargers score and win.
There seem to be many interesting off the field stories in sports the last few days. First there was the "Serena-gate" where she went ballistic on a line judge and got penalized a point on a match point. It sounds tough, but she earned it. She went nuts and deserved to be docked a point. Then Federer misbehaved during his finals on Monday. He used an expletive and got fined later and coming from Federer, it was a little surprising and became big news. He seemed frustrated to the point that he looked out of sorts after that argument and lost the Finals. It happens to the best I guess.
Michael Jordan is getting some grief too for his act in the Hall Of fame ceremony. People are saying his speech was bitter and angry. He went on and on about all the perceived or real insults he had to endure throughout his basketball life and thanked those guys for motivating him! That sure is an odd hall of fame speech. I thought the only interesting point was about Byron Russell. Mike told us how Russell met him during Mike's first retirement and claimed that he could have guarded him if he was still in the NBA. I didn't know about this and how ironic is it that Russell had to guard Mike in the NBA finals, not once but twice. Overall, the feeling is that Mike didn't give a classy speech. Stockton and Robinson on the the other hand gave us the usual humble speech. I especially remember Stockton saying that he was never the best player in his team his entire life. Thats humility and thats what we need more of in the Hall of Fame speeches.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Week 1 is a Brees!
Week 1 of the NFL is in the books, except for the 2 Monday nighters tomorrow. The story today was definitely the Brandon Stockley TD in the final seconds of the Denver-Cincinnati game. Denver ended up with one of the luckiest wins you'll ever see in the NFL. The Bengals were completely in control of this game with just seconds on the clock with Denver backed all the way deep and trailing by a point. Orton stepped back to make another one of his mediocre throws towards Brandon Marshall, who looked clueless most of the day and was not even in same book, let alone the same page as Orton. In addition to all this, he was double covered and since Brandon Stokley was also around the same area, Stokley's defender followed the ball and left Stokley alone. This came back to bite the Bengals in the butt, though you can't really fault the defender for aggressively going after ball. Marshall's defender jumped up and tipped the ball away and just when you thought it was going to fall incomplete, it went straight to Stokley. Stokley caught it and was wide open. There was nobody between him and the end-zone and he scored the game winning, 87 yard TD rather easily. The most interesting part of the play to me was Stokley taking a detour before stepping in to the end-zone since there were no defenders anywhere near and he wanted to burn some more clock. Some guys are just smart like that. Of course his coach Josh McDaniels has been kinda making dumb moves all off-season, but he lucked out with a huge win.
Jay Cutler on the other hand lost the Sunday nighter to Green Bay on a 4 interception night. Aaron Rodgers gets a big 4-Th quarter win and he sure looked like Brett Favre throwing that game winner to Greg Jennings. GB's offense looked horrible, but A-Rod closed the deal at the end. Then Al Harris finished Cutler off with an interception which looked eerily similar to his game ending interception in OT a few years back in the playoffs against Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks. The offensive stud of the week though was Drew Brees. This guy is a spectacular QB. It took him a while to kick-start his career, but he has been super lately. I didn't like it when the Chargers let him go in favor of Philip Rivers, but Rivers ain't bad either. I sure hope Rivers aint bad, because I have him in my fantasy roster. But Brees made his fantasy owners very happy today throwing for 358 yards and 6 TDs. Some of his throws are so crisp and on target, it' awesome to watch him play. Speaking of fantasy stars, Adrian Peterson helped his owners today with 180 yards and 3 TDs. AP is the top dog in fantasy these days, but we have been talking about LaDainian Tomlinson like he had a horrible 2008 and he is way past his prime. But you know what, he had 1500+ yards from scrimmage and scored 12 TDs last year. How much were we really expecting from this guy last season? Granted, he didn't run for 1900 yards like AP or close to 2000 yards like he himself did the previous 3 years, but he still had a good season despite the injury and all. He might do great again this season too. He starts off against the Raiders Monday night and of course he kills them. The poor Raiders will start tomorrow and hope not to lose to the Chargers for the 800Th straight time.
Favre didn't look spectacular today, but he didn't have to against the Cleveland Browns. I feel for the Browns fans. The light at the end of the tunnel seems to be from another oncoming train. I don't know about this Brady Quinn dude. He didn't look good at all. Speaking of QBs who didn't look good, Kurt Warner looked very shaky today. The reigning NFC champs lost to the Niners, whose defense looks pretty robust. Their coach Mike Singletary seems to have really improved the team and he is getting a lot of run this season in the Bay Area. He has become the face of the franchise and it will be interesting to see how the Niners do. Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks seem to be healthy and good too this season. Cards and Warner better get their act together soon. Looks like the NFC West might be a three horse race. Mark Sanchez looked awesome today. I think the culture of rookie QBs are changing these days. After Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco did well last year - especially Ryan, Sanchez looked on target today (18/31 for 272 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT). May be more college programs are running real pro style offenses these days that prepares these talented guys. Matthew Stafford looked more like a typical rookie though. But he's got an awesome arm for sure. Both Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco did well today. They seemed to be continuing from where they left off. The other QB who seems to be continuing from where he left off is Big Benjamin Roethlisberger. I used to say he is over-rated, but he has become a great QB and in the season opener on Thursday, he did his 4-Th quarter thing again against the Titans after sucking for the first 3 quarters. He is fast becoming as big as the big boys Peyton and Brady. He is good! His pump fakes are awesome. Lets see how Brady does tomorrow coming back from the injury.
Jay Cutler on the other hand lost the Sunday nighter to Green Bay on a 4 interception night. Aaron Rodgers gets a big 4-Th quarter win and he sure looked like Brett Favre throwing that game winner to Greg Jennings. GB's offense looked horrible, but A-Rod closed the deal at the end. Then Al Harris finished Cutler off with an interception which looked eerily similar to his game ending interception in OT a few years back in the playoffs against Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks. The offensive stud of the week though was Drew Brees. This guy is a spectacular QB. It took him a while to kick-start his career, but he has been super lately. I didn't like it when the Chargers let him go in favor of Philip Rivers, but Rivers ain't bad either. I sure hope Rivers aint bad, because I have him in my fantasy roster. But Brees made his fantasy owners very happy today throwing for 358 yards and 6 TDs. Some of his throws are so crisp and on target, it' awesome to watch him play. Speaking of fantasy stars, Adrian Peterson helped his owners today with 180 yards and 3 TDs. AP is the top dog in fantasy these days, but we have been talking about LaDainian Tomlinson like he had a horrible 2008 and he is way past his prime. But you know what, he had 1500+ yards from scrimmage and scored 12 TDs last year. How much were we really expecting from this guy last season? Granted, he didn't run for 1900 yards like AP or close to 2000 yards like he himself did the previous 3 years, but he still had a good season despite the injury and all. He might do great again this season too. He starts off against the Raiders Monday night and of course he kills them. The poor Raiders will start tomorrow and hope not to lose to the Chargers for the 800Th straight time.
Favre didn't look spectacular today, but he didn't have to against the Cleveland Browns. I feel for the Browns fans. The light at the end of the tunnel seems to be from another oncoming train. I don't know about this Brady Quinn dude. He didn't look good at all. Speaking of QBs who didn't look good, Kurt Warner looked very shaky today. The reigning NFC champs lost to the Niners, whose defense looks pretty robust. Their coach Mike Singletary seems to have really improved the team and he is getting a lot of run this season in the Bay Area. He has become the face of the franchise and it will be interesting to see how the Niners do. Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks seem to be healthy and good too this season. Cards and Warner better get their act together soon. Looks like the NFC West might be a three horse race. Mark Sanchez looked awesome today. I think the culture of rookie QBs are changing these days. After Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco did well last year - especially Ryan, Sanchez looked on target today (18/31 for 272 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT). May be more college programs are running real pro style offenses these days that prepares these talented guys. Matthew Stafford looked more like a typical rookie though. But he's got an awesome arm for sure. Both Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco did well today. They seemed to be continuing from where they left off. The other QB who seems to be continuing from where he left off is Big Benjamin Roethlisberger. I used to say he is over-rated, but he has become a great QB and in the season opener on Thursday, he did his 4-Th quarter thing again against the Titans after sucking for the first 3 quarters. He is fast becoming as big as the big boys Peyton and Brady. He is good! His pump fakes are awesome. Lets see how Brady does tomorrow coming back from the injury.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Ohio State's worst nightmare - USC and Michigan win!
The newest USC stud I guess is Matt Barkley. The true freshman, who was a surprise pick to start at QB over Aaron Corp JR. and the erstwhile superstar recruit Mitch Mustain, went into the shoe and beat Ohio State 18-15 behind a game winning fourth quarter drive late in the game. It was an impressive drive in the money quarter, though it was not all easy for Barkley. USC started strong and scored on a fourth down, but the buckeyes answered back. USC had trouble moving the ball after that. They seemed to a little more comfortable on offense than the buckeyes, but clearly the freshman had trouble moving the ball consistently. The USC offensive line looked impressive anytime there was a 3-Rd and 1 or a 4-Th and 1. Barkley could sneak behind them for a couple of yards whenever they wanted. But still things didn't all come together for the Trojans.
The game stayed close and in the second half, Ohio State actually started to control the field position battle. USC was constantly backed up and Barkley just could not move them forward. But finally he did what he had to and moved them 95 yards for the go ahead score. USC's shifty running back Joe McKnight was a big part of that drive and USC went home happy. They are legit and whether you like it or not, you are gonna start hearing about Matt Barkley as much as you did about Mark Sanchez, Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer. Dude is too young and sounds a little bit like a moron, but he became a star today. Kudos to Pete Carroll for rolling the dice on a true freshman and he was rewarded with a win today that took his record against the Big 10 to 7-0. I am happy every time the suckeyes lose and it's even better if they lose to a Pac 10 team.
Barkely was not the only true freshmen doing his thing today. Michigan's Tate Forcier was even more impressive in his second college game ever against the Domers. It was an instant classic as the Wolverines beat the Irish 38-34. Both offenses were spectacular and the game was tight most of the second half. This dude Forcier is an athlete. He can move and can make plays outside the pocket. It's fun to watch him. Not a bad loss for the Domers either. It was close and they looked good even in a loss. It might be another major bowl for Notre Dame and probably another embarrassing loss when all is said and done this season.
In other games, Oklahoma state beat Georgia last week and jumped to number 5 in the ranking only to lose to Houston this week 45-35. I love upsets and parity in college football and this game showcased both. This was Houston's first win over a top 5 team in 25 years. It's interesting to see many unheralded college programs crack the top 25 or beat top 25 teams - BYU, Boise State, TCU, Utah, UNC, Cincinnati and Houston. Of course Boise State is becoming a regular these days. The other interesting result of the day was UCLA beating Tennessee 19 -14 on the road. Good day for the Pac 10. Speaking of Pac 10, I am pulling for a Pac 10 Heisman this year as well - Cal's Jahvid Best. This guy is a stud. He is Usain Bolt in football gear. He has got pure sprinter speed and is averaging about 10 yards a carry so far this season. Of course number 10 Cal has not played anybody yet. I'll be keeping an eye on him all season long.
The game stayed close and in the second half, Ohio State actually started to control the field position battle. USC was constantly backed up and Barkley just could not move them forward. But finally he did what he had to and moved them 95 yards for the go ahead score. USC's shifty running back Joe McKnight was a big part of that drive and USC went home happy. They are legit and whether you like it or not, you are gonna start hearing about Matt Barkley as much as you did about Mark Sanchez, Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer. Dude is too young and sounds a little bit like a moron, but he became a star today. Kudos to Pete Carroll for rolling the dice on a true freshman and he was rewarded with a win today that took his record against the Big 10 to 7-0. I am happy every time the suckeyes lose and it's even better if they lose to a Pac 10 team.
Barkely was not the only true freshmen doing his thing today. Michigan's Tate Forcier was even more impressive in his second college game ever against the Domers. It was an instant classic as the Wolverines beat the Irish 38-34. Both offenses were spectacular and the game was tight most of the second half. This dude Forcier is an athlete. He can move and can make plays outside the pocket. It's fun to watch him. Not a bad loss for the Domers either. It was close and they looked good even in a loss. It might be another major bowl for Notre Dame and probably another embarrassing loss when all is said and done this season.
In other games, Oklahoma state beat Georgia last week and jumped to number 5 in the ranking only to lose to Houston this week 45-35. I love upsets and parity in college football and this game showcased both. This was Houston's first win over a top 5 team in 25 years. It's interesting to see many unheralded college programs crack the top 25 or beat top 25 teams - BYU, Boise State, TCU, Utah, UNC, Cincinnati and Houston. Of course Boise State is becoming a regular these days. The other interesting result of the day was UCLA beating Tennessee 19 -14 on the road. Good day for the Pac 10. Speaking of Pac 10, I am pulling for a Pac 10 Heisman this year as well - Cal's Jahvid Best. This guy is a stud. He is Usain Bolt in football gear. He has got pure sprinter speed and is averaging about 10 yards a carry so far this season. Of course number 10 Cal has not played anybody yet. I'll be keeping an eye on him all season long.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
J.H.O.F
Jordan is in the news again. ESPN always goes to him once in 4 months or if the news cycle is slow, whichever is earlier. Nobody can keep the people glued to their TV quite like MJ even today. But this time the news is about him going to the Hall of Fame. This should be the biggest no-brainer ever. Is this really even news? The only news here is that they are moving the ceremony to a bigger place to fit all of the fans. This is one of those rare inductions where the guy coming in adds more to the hall than what the hall can add to him. MJ's entry elevates the guys who are already there. He lends them more credibility. I was thinking he probably deserves a different recognition - an even more exclusive club that should only allow people of MJ's calibre. This club should be named after Jordan himself. Let's call it the Jordan Hall of Fame for all of sports - JHOF.
The JHOF should be restricted to the creme de la creme of pro athletes - superstar athletes who transcend their sport and totally define their era in their respective sport. Their "era" should at least be 8 to 10 years long and these guys and gals should be in the all century teams in their sport. I am sure I will overlook some names here, but the JHOF should only accept people like MJ, Muhammad Ali, Joe Montana, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. I would have added Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus to the list if only they played a real sport. Even Kobe, Shaq and Tom Brady should only be considered in their third ballot several years after their retirement. And Tim Duncan and Troy Aikman should be outside looking in along with the rest of us. The JHOF should only vote for this thing once in 5 years. It should be built distinct from all other hall of fames in the middle of nowhere. I even have a spot for it - right on the "four corners" north of Arzona where 4 state lines supposedly meet. It sure is in the middle of nowhere and the JHOF will at least help the tourists feel less stupid about driving for hours to see two intersecting straight lines. The JHOF should be a small room and given it's exclusivity, they wouldn't have to expand this room for about 100 years or so.
The only thing left to decide is, does Anna Kournikova belong in the JHOF? Just kidding folks. But seriously though, MJ is special and some videos on Yahoo sports reminded me once again of how good he was. These are clips from his rookie season and the early years of his career. A few things stood out for me. First and foremost his large hands, which according to Phil Jackson is a big difference between him and Kobe because Kobe can't quite squeeze the ball like MJ. Even 25 years later, MJ's hang-time and athleticism looks impressive. Given the combination of improvements in health sciences over the last 20 years and the wannabe-Jordans trying to fly like him, todays stars should be as good as MJ if not better athletically. But his hang-time still looks unbelievable. But aside from all those physical and athletic characteristics, his pure basketball skills you see in these videos impressed me the most. His understanding of the angles on the court, the use of the back-board and the ability to exploit the soft spots on defense combined with his aggressiveness and relentlessness made him pretty unstoppable even in his rookie year. And I was surprised to see him attack on defense and play that well on that side of the ball even in his rookie season. Sorry guys, Kobe and LeBron are great, but they are not even close to this guy yet. And they are not even in the same planet if you just compare the earlier years of their respective careers (even after adjusting for the fact these two came out of high school). So do check these videos out.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Vintage-video-Young-Michael-Jordan-highlights;_ylt=ApUI6Rx7k5SubSVEv_oEivK8vLYF?urn=nba,187344
The JHOF should be restricted to the creme de la creme of pro athletes - superstar athletes who transcend their sport and totally define their era in their respective sport. Their "era" should at least be 8 to 10 years long and these guys and gals should be in the all century teams in their sport. I am sure I will overlook some names here, but the JHOF should only accept people like MJ, Muhammad Ali, Joe Montana, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. I would have added Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus to the list if only they played a real sport. Even Kobe, Shaq and Tom Brady should only be considered in their third ballot several years after their retirement. And Tim Duncan and Troy Aikman should be outside looking in along with the rest of us. The JHOF should only vote for this thing once in 5 years. It should be built distinct from all other hall of fames in the middle of nowhere. I even have a spot for it - right on the "four corners" north of Arzona where 4 state lines supposedly meet. It sure is in the middle of nowhere and the JHOF will at least help the tourists feel less stupid about driving for hours to see two intersecting straight lines. The JHOF should be a small room and given it's exclusivity, they wouldn't have to expand this room for about 100 years or so.
The only thing left to decide is, does Anna Kournikova belong in the JHOF? Just kidding folks. But seriously though, MJ is special and some videos on Yahoo sports reminded me once again of how good he was. These are clips from his rookie season and the early years of his career. A few things stood out for me. First and foremost his large hands, which according to Phil Jackson is a big difference between him and Kobe because Kobe can't quite squeeze the ball like MJ. Even 25 years later, MJ's hang-time and athleticism looks impressive. Given the combination of improvements in health sciences over the last 20 years and the wannabe-Jordans trying to fly like him, todays stars should be as good as MJ if not better athletically. But his hang-time still looks unbelievable. But aside from all those physical and athletic characteristics, his pure basketball skills you see in these videos impressed me the most. His understanding of the angles on the court, the use of the back-board and the ability to exploit the soft spots on defense combined with his aggressiveness and relentlessness made him pretty unstoppable even in his rookie year. And I was surprised to see him attack on defense and play that well on that side of the ball even in his rookie season. Sorry guys, Kobe and LeBron are great, but they are not even close to this guy yet. And they are not even in the same planet if you just compare the earlier years of their respective careers (even after adjusting for the fact these two came out of high school). So do check these videos out.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Vintage-video-Young-Michael-Jordan-highlights;_ylt=ApUI6Rx7k5SubSVEv_oEivK8vLYF?urn=nba,187344
Sunday, September 06, 2009
First Saturday
One of my friend, who is not a big sports fan, says he likes football but he does not like the all-encompassing nature of football. I beg to differ and I am sure most football fans will agree with me. We love football precisely because of it's all-encompassing nature. For instance, I had two fantasy football drafts today and yesterday was the first Saturday of the College football season. I was in and out Saturday morning, but I made sure I was in front of the TV for the Va Tech-Alabama game. I turned on the TV at 5 PM and football kept me company all evening and all night as I was doing my fantasy research as well. It was almost 11 PM by the time the West coast games on TV ended. There was a few good ones too, which is very rare this early in the season. The Alabama-VaTech game was good all the way and the LSU-Washington one was good too. It's exciting times for football fans as we get to watch college ball on TV and wait with bated breath for the NFL and the fantasy season.
Virginia Tech hung in there and made an interesting game out of it. But honestly, they were not talented as Alabama, especially on offense. They competed thanks to "Beamer ball" on special teams and some good defense, but Bama pulled away late in the game and put them away. Most other top 5 teams had a field day crushing their opponents - Florida, Texas and USC. Of course I am all about the upset. The big one was number 3 Oklahoma losing to BYU. Heisman winner Sam Bradford was injured and had to leave the game. With him went their chances of winning this game. His return is still uncertain and Oklahoma's title hopes are in serious trouble. But then again, they lost to Texas and still ended up in the championship game ahead of them last year. Number 6 Ohio state sneaked past Navy 31-27. Navy lined up for a 2 point play that would have tied it, but the suck-eyes intercepted the ball and took it the other way. Now they can get ready for their huge game against USC next week and get embarrassed as always.
The season actually started with a bang on Thursday as Oregon went into Boise and got embarrassed on the blue field. They were supposed to take revenge for the loss at home last season, but the Ducks ended up with another L in this rivalry now. To make matters worse, RB LeGarrette Blount punched a dude in the face and almost went Ron Artest on the crowd. Luckily he was restrained from attacking the crowd, but the punch has got him suspended for the year. Thats harsh! I can see a 3 or 4 game suspension, but I don't think it deserves a full-season. After all, the Boise State dude provoked him with a tap to his shoulder and some trash talking after the game. Who does that after the game? But I guess Blount's past caught up to him more than the present and he got punished hard. Trying to get into the crowd is never a smart idea and that made his situation worse. Blount has since called Boise State defensive end Byron Hout and coach Chris Petersen to apologize for the punch. I hope they reduce his "sentence".
Virginia Tech hung in there and made an interesting game out of it. But honestly, they were not talented as Alabama, especially on offense. They competed thanks to "Beamer ball" on special teams and some good defense, but Bama pulled away late in the game and put them away. Most other top 5 teams had a field day crushing their opponents - Florida, Texas and USC. Of course I am all about the upset. The big one was number 3 Oklahoma losing to BYU. Heisman winner Sam Bradford was injured and had to leave the game. With him went their chances of winning this game. His return is still uncertain and Oklahoma's title hopes are in serious trouble. But then again, they lost to Texas and still ended up in the championship game ahead of them last year. Number 6 Ohio state sneaked past Navy 31-27. Navy lined up for a 2 point play that would have tied it, but the suck-eyes intercepted the ball and took it the other way. Now they can get ready for their huge game against USC next week and get embarrassed as always.
The season actually started with a bang on Thursday as Oregon went into Boise and got embarrassed on the blue field. They were supposed to take revenge for the loss at home last season, but the Ducks ended up with another L in this rivalry now. To make matters worse, RB LeGarrette Blount punched a dude in the face and almost went Ron Artest on the crowd. Luckily he was restrained from attacking the crowd, but the punch has got him suspended for the year. Thats harsh! I can see a 3 or 4 game suspension, but I don't think it deserves a full-season. After all, the Boise State dude provoked him with a tap to his shoulder and some trash talking after the game. Who does that after the game? But I guess Blount's past caught up to him more than the present and he got punished hard. Trying to get into the crowd is never a smart idea and that made his situation worse. Blount has since called Boise State defensive end Byron Hout and coach Chris Petersen to apologize for the punch. I hope they reduce his "sentence".
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Welcome back football
The college football season starts tomorrow. It sure makes the disappearance of summer less painful to handle. South Carolina is kicking off the season against N.C.State. Seems like the Ole' ball coach gets to start the football season on the kickoff Thursday every year. I don't like the very early season games mostly because they tend to be one-sided. Case in point - Charleston state at Florida. The point spread is a robust 63. It might be a good investment to put 10 bugs on CSU. But still the fact that the season is starting is exciting in and of itself. The game of the weekend is number 5 Alabama V number 7 Virginia Tech. That should be a good one. Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, USC and Alabama round out the pre-season top 5. Lets see how it looks in January. I hate pre-season rankings. They should wait until week 2 before ranking anything.
Pro football is on its way into your living room too. Brett Favre had a good pre-season game 2. Much better than his first pre-season game. Now his ribs are hurt. Somehow this feels like it's going to end badly - much worse than how it ended with the Jets. I sure hope he plays through the season and keeps the Vikings exciting to watch. They are a good team. The Broncos and their rookie coach are now in trouble with Brandon Marshall. He wants out and I am not sure what they are going to do with him. That team is in deep trouble. Michael Crabtree is still holding out and the 49'ers are the only team that has not signed it's top pick in this year's draft. Makes no sense whatsoever for Crabtree to be doing what he is doing. I thought the rookie holdouts in the NFL rarely extend into the training camp these days. Crabtree is going "(semi) old school" on the niners.
Pro football is on its way into your living room too. Brett Favre had a good pre-season game 2. Much better than his first pre-season game. Now his ribs are hurt. Somehow this feels like it's going to end badly - much worse than how it ended with the Jets. I sure hope he plays through the season and keeps the Vikings exciting to watch. They are a good team. The Broncos and their rookie coach are now in trouble with Brandon Marshall. He wants out and I am not sure what they are going to do with him. That team is in deep trouble. Michael Crabtree is still holding out and the 49'ers are the only team that has not signed it's top pick in this year's draft. Makes no sense whatsoever for Crabtree to be doing what he is doing. I thought the rookie holdouts in the NFL rarely extend into the training camp these days. Crabtree is going "(semi) old school" on the niners.
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