Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Busy Weekend

This is a fun time of the year when baseball playoffs intersects with America's real past-time - football. Playoffs are the only time when we really pay close attention to baseball these days and there were quite a few interesting baseball games the last few days starting with the new wild-card games on Friday. The weekend was packed with baseball playoffs competing with college and pro football. I navigated away from the NFL to catch the A's play and lose a tough one Sunday afternoon, a game decided by wild pitches and a costly error. Both the A's and the San Francisco Giants have pulled one back today to stay alive at 2-1. The giants are in a tough spot with 2 more to go on the road. The A's are at home, but might have to face Justin Verlander in game 5 - that's no fun. But the A's had a great win today with Brett Anderson coming back from a 20-day injury layoff to pitch great right under the playoff glare and Coco Crisp robbing Price Fielder with a great catch to make up for his 2-run error on Sunday. The other 2 series are both tied at 1-1 going back to their respective home fields for 3 games. Those home teams - Nationals and the Yankees, are feeling good about themselves.

Can you believe that the NFL season is almost 1/3 of the way done already! The niners re-established themselves as the favorites again after back-to-back weeks of dismantling AFC East teams. Neither the jets nor the bills are respectable teams, but the way the niners embarrassed them speaks volume about the capabilities of the niners and Jim Harbaugh. I am a big Harbaugh fan, but he is truly a psychotic football nut. He is probably impossible to deal with in person and looks like an arrogant and haughty control freak. But he is a football genius. The niners have this athletic quarterback Colin Kaepernick who is even rumored to be the future of the franchise beyond Alex Smith. They drafted him in the second round in 2011 and he has a big arm too. So Harbaugh unleashed his legs on the Jets to out-Tebow them. While ESPN has been waiting for Tebow-time with the Jets for the past several months, Harbaugh shows them how it's done. He posts a shut-out on the Jets and Tebows them for good effect. Of course, that made some of the niner faithful - those who are always looking to get rid of Alex Smith, ask for Kaeprnick to take over. So Harbaugh unleashes Alex Smith against the Bills at home. He completed 18 out of 24 for 303 yards and 3 TDs - very un-Alex Smith like numbers. Looks like Harbaugh has made this year his personal experiment and he is not even using all his weapons yet. I am sure he is saving Randy Moss for the later half of the season and the playoffs.

Niners do have one loss, but it's on the road against the Vikings, a Vikings team that looks increasingly legitimate with every passing week. They have Adrian Peterson back running effectively and Percy Harvin doing everything. Christian Ponder is playing good too. The play of young quarterbacks has been a great story of this season. RGIII, who got hurt this week, may have the most impressive numbers, but several young guns are lighting it up. Playing quarterback has never been easier in the NFL, and these talented guys are taking full advantage. Andrew Luck defeated Aaron Rodgers and the Packers and is looking like the real deal. Ryan Tannehill also looks like the guy Miami has been searching for ever since Dan Marino retired. Tannehill is finally known for more than just his beautiful wife. Even 0-5 Cleveland's Brandon Weeden looks good and the Browns fans might finally have some hope. Second year guys Dalton, Ponder, Locker, and even Gabbert are all looking solid. The only 2 guys that I don't trust are Cam Newton and Russell Wilson. But Russell Wilson is winning now, though I feel Seattle may be slightly better off with Matt Flynn. That day might be coming, but for now, all is well in the rookie land. With 10 out of the 32 teams in the league featuring either a rookie or a second year QB, the league is looking like a Chuck E. Cheese.

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