Congrats to the Sheriff

Peyton Manning has now thrown the most number of touchdowns in the history of the NFL. He broke the record yesterday in style by shredding the vaunted and slightly overrated niners defense with a win on national TV.  The sheriff is well on his way to accumulating the numbers befitting the best QB in the history of the game - the new Dan Marino, owner of every single meaningful QB record in the book. And unlike Marino, he might have a shot at being recognized as the best ever because he has a Super Bowl ring as well. As a Marino fan, it pains me to see all his records get obliterated one by one by these QBs. The game has changed a lot and the records are not the same anymore. With that said, Peyton is a true legend and he is as good as Marino, if not better. He would have gotten to a lot of these numbers with or without the help of the modern NFL rules. It's truly a joy to watch the sheriff throw the football around when is on fire. He looks completely unstoppable most of the time.

Completing a pass in the NFL, even in this day and age, is hard and there are many QBs who remind you of that fact every Sunday. Just look at Andy Dalton's performance yesterday. But Peyton makes it look so easy. It's beautiful to watch the velocity, trajectory, and the accuracy on his balls. The only other QB that dominates the game quite like him in today's NFL is Aaron Rodgers. These two are in a class of their own and there is no real, near-term threat to Peyton's record because Rodgers started his career a little late sitting behind Favre. He may not have the time to put up Peyton's numbers despite his brilliance. The next legitimate threat to Sheriff's numbers might actually be the little Sheriff, Andrew Luck, who is also having an incredible season this year. Luck himself is so good that there is no regret in Indianapolis about letting Peyton go despite how good Peyton has been in Denver. Thats because Luck is just a younger, smarter, humbler, and more athletic version of Peyton. But he needs another 15+ years of sustained excellence to catchup to this record. Given the direction the sport if moving in, passing is only going to get easier and somebody will break Peyton's record sooner or later. But congrats to the sheriff here and now on his latest achievement.

Peyton and the Broncos look very much on track to get back to the Super Bowl. Then again, Peyton always looks great in October more so than in February. That is one knock against him. The team he lost to last year in the Super Bowl, the Seahawks, are looking rather mediocre and losing to teams like the Rams. The niners have a bunch of injuries and suspensions and are not looking great either. This opens up a great opportunity for the Arizona Cardinals who are leading the NFC West, the best division in the NFL, with a 5-1 record. The Cards have a couple of tough games coming up and have to still deal with the good niners, seahawks, eagles, and cowboys team in the NFC, but they are looking solid with a well-balanced offense and a stout defense. It should be a good stretch run in the NFC west. But then again, it always is across the NFL and thats why we like it so much as an entertainment option. Lets hope the Cardinals make it far this year. AFC West, NFC North, and NFC East are the other three divisions that are going to go to the wire. The NY Giants are not going to make it, but the SF Giants are probably going to win the World Series in 6 games. Thats my pick for the baseball World Series starting tomorrow.

Seasonal Transitions

It's been a busy summer and I have not been blogging a lot. I can't believe summer is already over and we are transitioning to fall. This time of the year means the sports calendar is pretty busy- not that the sports calendar is ever barren for us serious sports fans anytime of the year! We got our collective national obsession called the NFL in full throttle right now, college football is ramping up, and the MLB playoffs is flowing fine. We love the playoffs in any sport, but major league baseball probably has the highest bump in terms of edge-of-the-seat drama from the regular season to the playoffs. And especially this year, every other playoff game seems to be going extra innings. The drama started rather painfully for me with the Oakland A's blowing a 7-3 lead late in their wildcard contest against the Kansas City Royals and losing the game and the season in extras. That game was a microcosm of the last two months of the A's season and not a happy one at that. Their sudden and ugly reversal in fortunes can be directly traced on the calendar to the Lester for Cespedes trade - a trade I supported whole heartedly. Whether or not that's what caused the disastrous slide, we will never know. But I am ready to at least accept that the trade did not work. It was still a good gamble, but sometimes gambles don't work. Thats why its's called a gamble.

As controversial and equally loved and criticized as Billy Beane is, this season and that trade is the biggest blot on his resume to date. GMs, coaches, and other leaders will never publicly accept failure or that they made a wrong call, but I am surprised Billy is still defending the trade and is saying he will do it all over again. That's where I separate from Billy. I liked his effort and I supported his trade, but I will NOT do it all over again given that we now know what happened since the trade. If I am allowed to rewind time, I would rather try and see what happens with Cespedes. It can't be worse than what we saw since July. Billy says he saw both the Angles and the A's problems coming and thats why he did the trade. He maintains the A's would have missed the playoffs without Lester and the trade. I don't buy that only because the A's were not just a little different since July, they were flat out horrible. Sure, Billy and everybody else saw the Angles surging, but you can't tell me he predicted the A's would be this bad all of a sudden and you can't convince me that they would have been worse with Cespedes. But we will never know and the season is now over. Regardless of what Billy says, his resume is a little uglier because of this trade - fair or not. The harder truth to swallow for the A's fans is that this was their best chance to win it all and next year figures to be a lot more challenging. 

The Kansas City Royals, who put the A's out of their misery, continued their post-season brilliance on the road at Anaheim as if they do this playoff thing every year. Thats pretty impressive for a team that has missed the big dance for 25 straight years! I am totally on-board with them putting the Angles to rest in the ALDS. At least the A's fans don't have to deal with the Angels celebrating. The team across the bay from Oakland, San Francisco Giants, have won both their road playoff games as well much like the Royals and are back home to host and possibly eliminate the Washington Nationals. The Giants had a couple of horrible months much like the A's, but they picked a slightly better time for that bad stretch. They righted the ship towards the end of the season and are now rolling in the playoffs. They won a 18-inning game yesterday that they were trailing 1-0 in the 9-Th. You just can't put the Giants away that easily in this Brian Sabean era. A Giants-Dodgers NLCS will be epic, though the St. Louis Cardinals might have something to say about that. In any case, looks like we might have two wildcard teams in the championship series. The playoff games have been greatly entertaining and hopefully, the trend continues rest of this playoffs.

Billy Doubles Down

Oakland A's GM Billy Beane has already proved to us that he is all in this season, but he still found a way to double down at the trade deadline this week. Just like he did with the Jeff Samardzija trade when the A's were not really rumored to be in the running until Samardzija actually landed in Oakland, Billy scored another star pitcher in Jon Lester. This was a blockbuster, a rental, and not as popular a trade as the Samardzija trade was with the A's fans. I like both the trades and give Billy full marks as always. A's have been good in the past and Billy has gotten a lot of accolades, but they have always been a cute story and a surprising underdog. Never have they been the front-runner and a favorite to win it all and thats exactly what they are now, thanks to Billy's aggressive pursuit of star pitching. This is a  different reality for the A's and I love it as an A's fan. It's not that A's have not had star pitching in the past - who can forget Tim Hudson-Mark Mulder-Barry Zito, but they have not had trues aces since the big-3 were broken up. Even the 2006 ALCS team that lost to Detroit and a young Justin Verlander had Zito and Haren and good pitching like any other A's team, but Hudson and Mulder had already left town. Billy has finally decided he needs star pitching to win it all. Playoffs may be a crapshoot, but your odds go way up if you have Lester and Samardzija.

So why are the A's fans not unanimously excited about this trade? The reason is mostly emotional. Fans are a lot more opinionated and disappointed when big league stars are traded away as opposed to prospects even if that prospect is a stud like Addison Russell. In addition to that, all A's fans, including yours truly, love Yoenis Cespedes and thats who Billy gave up to get Lester. Cespedes is one of our own. He was the first, head-scratching, pleasantly surprising, power move by the new Billy we are seeing these days. Billy signed Cespedes for quite some money by A's standards and even outbid some big market teams for the little known Cuban transplant. Aside from being a rare, free market success story for the A's, Cespedes was good and has been the A's only highlight-reel talent. Whether it's winning the home run derby or doing well in the playoffs or throwing out unsuspecting Angels hitters at the home plate, Cespedes always had a flair for the dramatic and we loved and trusted him. But at the end of the day, he is a .256 hitter and a suspect outfielder, albeit with a hose for an arm. Also, the A's have lately been a light hitting team with good young pitching. But this year, they are leading the league on offense. So Billy is saying we should be able to lose Cespedes and still be offensively as good or even better than the last two years. And their pitching is going to be way better. Last but not the least, both Cespedes and Lester are going to be expensive free agents at the end of the season that Billy can't afford to sign anyways and if you look at them as mere rentals for the rest of this season, you have to like Lester over Cespedes. I wish Cespedes good luck and I will definitely miss him.

If A's fans put their emotional attachment to Cespedes aside and look at this rationally, they will agree with Billy. Sure, his hitting will be missed - especially considering he was the only consistent hitter the last two playoffs, but there is enough flexibility in this lineup to compensate for that and a pitching lineup of Lester, Samardzija, Gray, and Kazmir is priceless. As scary as it is to have the Angles and their 155 million-dollar payroll breathing down their necks for the division, the real thorn in the A's side has been the Detroit Tigers and their 162 million-dollar payroll. Billy has been doing a tremendous job of handling them both with a 83 million-dollar payroll, but he needs to beat the stellar pitching and MVP hitting of the Detroit Tigers in the playoffs and thats what his pitching pursuits this year is all about. Unfortunately, the biggest downer of the trade deadline for the A's came a few hours after they acquired Lester when Dave Dombrowski and the Tigers responded and stole David Price from Tampa Bay. It's a all-out arms race and that made the trade deadline fascinating and exciting. I do think both Lester and Price are a little over-rated and not quite in the class of Kershaw or King Felix, but then again, who is! These were still good trades and great arms to add to those two teams. I can't wait for a playoff matchup between Lester-Gray-Kazmir-Samardzija versus Scherzer-Price-Verlander-Sanchez.  I might still have to agree with the talking heads on TV and give a slight edge to the Tigers with their last three Cy Young winners and playoff experience, not to speak of Miggy Cabrera and that lineup. 

But first things first for the the Oakland Athletics. They are going to have to fight the Angels and their lineup all season long for the division, though the Angels pitching is a little suspect. These two teams have the two best records in all of baseball and how much more exciting can the rest of the season get for the A's. I wish them the best of luck! Nobody said winning the World Series is going to be a walk in the park. On a different note, the NFL pre-season will be off and running this weekend with the hall of game, but I wanted to give a special shout out to the MLB hall of famers inducted last weekend. It was a historically stellar class and congrats to all of the inductees. It included 300-game winners Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, slugger Frank Thomas and managers Joe Torre, Bobby Cox and Oakland's own Tony La Russa. Baseball historians are saying this was probably the third best HOF class ever.  We should definitely take a moment to appreciate these dudes we all saw perform in the recent past. Professor Maddux was the first baseball star I liked and my three-sport triumvirate when I started watching American professional sports back in the day were Dan Marino, Kevin Johnson, and Greg Maddux. KJ was the only one of those three that I had a team association with. The other two were from teams I didn't care about. Coincidentally, all three are considered under-performers as far as winning championships go. That probably says something about me and my values as well. But thats neither here nor there. The talent of those three was undeniable and congrats again to Professor Maddux on a hall of fame career.

He got this one right.

LeBron James got this one right. His "decision" in 2010 was a narcissistic disaster and the fact that he didn't realize that until 2012 only made it worse. People jokingly referred to his free agency this season as "indecision" or "decision 2.0", but he was determined to keep this one on the down low and handle things right. He refused to open his mouth the entire time. He didn't even publicly meet any teams except the heat - he owed that much to Pat Riley and the gang out of courtesy, if not anything else. And he didn't even have a press conference to announce his signing. He wrote a letter penned by Lee Jenkins on SI and flew away to Brazil. The letter (http://www.si.com/nba/2014/07/11/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers) was beautifully penned and ends with a "I am coming home" message which was music to many ears, including mine. The letter struck all the right notes and touched on everything relevant.

LeBron in that letter came off as a humble, loyal, home-sick, forgiving,  apologetic, superstar and he also made sure he drove the fan expectations down - a far cry from the "not 6, not 7" days. He gained a lot of fans back and a championship or two in Ohio is going to make him incredibly popular and we might finally have a legitimate threat to Michael Jordan for GOAT - Greatest Of All Time. He definitely knows what he is doing here and is trying to go in a different direction to build a unique legacy. He is way past just the ring counts - he is not winning that argument anyways since he has already lost 3 finals. MJ is 6-0 and LeBron is 2-3. But winning for his small-market home town and a resume along the lines of 4 championships and 8 finals appearance or something like that in addition to all the ridiculous stats he is already putting up is going to be hard to ignore.

He gave us all a feel-good, cool story and you don't have to be a Cleveland cavs fan to appreciate this.  Some of the LeBron apologists in the media were calling us all "haters" when LeBron was in Miami. They missed a basic point. Fans don't owe their fandom to anybody! I am not beholden to like LeBron or anybody just because he jumps the highest for his dunks or drops the sweetest dimes. Fans have every right to like or hate anybody for any reason as long as they keep it civil and don't make it personal. No fan asked to put LeBron in jail for leaving Cleveland in 2010, but he or she had every right to like LeBron in 2009 and change their mind and not like him in 2011. We see this everyday when athletes change teams and fans go from cheering to booing or vice versa just based on the laundry. We accept this, but somehow some people in the media didn't get why people disliked LeBron after the "decision." The "decision" took a feel good, small market, home town story away and some fans lost all incentive to pull for LeBron once he moved to Miami.

Fans don't owe the athletes anything. After all, fans pay LeBron, it's not the other way around. Customer is God in any business and it's LeBron's job to impress the customer.  The "decision" did the exact opposite - both the modus operandi and the end result were wrong in the minds of many fans. May be because the media is so involved with the sport and LeBron was clearly the best basketball player in the world, some people in the media couldn't see why people did not like or root for LeBron. Well, I hate the term "casual fans", but casual fans like or dislike an athlete for many reasons and the summer of 2010 gave them a truckload of reasons to hate LeBron. It's on him, not the fans. The league was not happy either for a completely different reason. The league made many changes in 2011 during the lockout just to prevent the kind of superstar conglomeration that the Miami heat created in the previous off-season.

One of the less appreciated aspect of the big 3 was how rare and unusual it was for 3 of the top 5 draft picks from the same draft to come together in their prime. This absolutely threatened the competitive balance and the whole logic of the draft in the NBA. Imagine a league where the top guys from every draft ganged up after their initial contracts and ended up in cities of their choice. Though, to be fair, these 3 did re-sign with their respective teams once after their rookie contracts before joining forces in 2010. But still, if LeBron, Wade, and Bosh could gang up in their prime, it would have probably been easier for guys from the other drafts to do it - given that the big 3 were superstars from a historically top-notch draft and it will cost a lot less and involve lesser egos with top picks from your typical, average draft. This scared the league as it threatened the system and the whole notion of parity and put too much power in the hands of the players. The NBA fixed it in a hurry, to the point that the same big 3 in 2014 faced much bigger problem re-signing with the heat though they were heat's own free agents this time around and had all kinds of "Bird rights".

LeBron has changed the culture of NBA free agency with his move in 2010 and superstars now are constantly trying to team up with each other. But the system has made it extremely difficult to do it. So after a lot of talk this off-season, stars were forced to go their separate ways. LeBron seems to always pioneer new ways to build a legendary career. He left town and teamed up with two other superstars who he was competing against in 2010. Now, he is going back to his small market, home team to try to win a championship for a downtrodden franchise. Few stars get a chance to do this. Neither MJ, nor Bird, nor Magic can claim to have done that. So he is charting his own course here. More power to him. It was interesting to see him hold the entire league hostage for a week without uttering a word. Everybody, including other stars were forced to wait for his move before free agency resumed again. He is wielding unprecedented power right now and wielding it well I might add. As a suns fan, I am getting ready to root for a suns-cavs finals every year. Some of us root for good things and the davids of this world against narcissistic things and the goliaths. I have no problem supporting LeBron now proving that us fans can change our mind and keep things fair if only the athlete does the "right thing". In the words of the king, "who am I to hold a grudge?"

In Billy we trust!

The Oakland Athletics have the best record in the Major leagues. They have won the AL West two years in a row and are looking even better this year. In 2012, they won the division with a nail-biting series at the end to put the heavily favored Texas Rangers away after the Rangers had gotten all the way to the World Series the previous two years. Nobody, even in the Bay Area, knew any of the players on the A's roster at that time. It was perceived as an amazing run locally and a fluke nationally. Last year, the A's won the division a little more comfortably, but they were still an anonymous team nationally and the local fans had barely gotten used to these guys. The national media was a little confused as to what to make of this team. There were no superstars, but the pitching was deep and terrific and the team just kept winning and surprising everybody. They proved 2012 was no fluke and that they are legit. Of course, both seasons, they lost to the more celebrated, higher-payroll, star-studded Detroit Tigers team in the ALDS in a five game series though they won the division over the more celebrated, higher-payroll, star-studded Angels and the Rangers. They came into 2014 with decent expectations - even nationally, and have been better than expected.

The 2014 A's have broken through. And Billy Beane went all in last week when he traded for Jeff Samardzija, one of the most sought after pitchers on the trade block. He did mortgage the future a little bit by trading his can't miss shortstop prospect Addison Russell, but he signaled finally that he wants to win the World Series and he is right in the middle of the window to do it. It may not have been a coincidence that the trade came right after a sweep at Detroit, but it was a coup nonetheless. A's were not rumored to be in the running for Samardzija, but they scored him early and comfortably. Billy decided to fortify a starting rotation that has already looked stellar so far. You could tell he was a little concerned about some of these arms - some young and some retread, slowing down later in the season. So he infused some new star arms into to mix. The pitching is so strong that the guy he demoted to the minors to create roster space was Tommy Milone, who had just pitched 6 scoreless innings! Billy is clearly getting ready for late October and he may not be done wheeling and dealing. He knows that Detroit will be around and their stars - both power hitters and pitchers, have to be neutralized. He now has the pitching to compete in any series against anyone and I love it.

The A's have often added to their teams mid-season when they were in contention. But usually, it's a rental for the remainder of the season and mostly hitters or bullpen help. Billy has rarely added a star starting pitcher via a trade and this has been a pleasant surprise to the A's fans. Samardzija started for the A's right away and gave them a gem of a start to go with a win. So life is all good in Oakland right now. Between their best record in the league, consistent winning over the last three years, Cespedes' highlight reel throws to the plate, and now the Samardzija trade, they are not anonymous anymore. The league knows them well and they have six dudes in the all-star game. They will be the fancy pick to win it all, though the Angels are breathing down their neck for the division. Billy has always maintained, I might add rightfully so, that the MLB playoffs are a crapshoot. Given his low payroll, all he can do is get them there and the rest is just luck and a pitcher or two getting hot or cold at the right moment. But this year, he has decided to do something about the crapshoot. He wants to go in with a bevy of hot pitchers and increase his odds of one of theoe guys getting hot and shutting some fools down in October. Thats exactly what he is going for.

Moneyball is so year 2000, but this team the last three years has been Billy's masterpiece and more impressive than even those moneyball teams. The A's have the fourth lowest payroll in the league and have been out-performing the big money spenders as always. The moneyball concepts have been co-opted by every other team and is nothing unique anymore. So Billy has found other ways to exploit market inefficiencies - he had to. He is loaded with pitching as always and some great signings and trades are behind it.  But platooning is the specialty of this version of the A's - the new moneyball if you will. The A's matchup their hitters against pitchers and rotate them in and out. The lack of stars gives them more flexibility to do this. Not only does it help the team to platoon these guys, it also puts them in the best position to succeed. Just to illustrate the point, they sometimes start three catchers. Aside from pitcher Scott Kazmir, outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, and now Samardzija, the other A's all-stars are third baseman Josh Donaldson, catcher Derek Norris, first baseman/outfielder Brandon Moss, and closer Sean Doolittle. Thats an impressive list of no-name stars who get the job done. It's just a matter of time before this platooning approach becomes the new fad and A's front office dudes like David Forst and Farhan Zaidi get GM jobs elsewhere, but Billy is trying to win one before all that happens. All he needs is just one World Series ring to cement his legacy as one of the best GMs ever and I hope he gets it done this year.

WWLD Summer

Time flies. I can't believe it's been four years already since the last WWLD summer. Once again, the biggest question of the summer is, "What Will LeBron James Do?" This will not be quite the emotional ride it was the last time around - unless you are a passionate Miami heat fan, which in and of itself might be an oxymoron given how flaky the heat fans usually are. Most of the NBA fans are watching this with a detached curiosity, almost daring LeBron to make this free agency the vulgar drama that it was the last time around. Unlike the last time when he was with the Cavaliers, he is the big, bad goliath now and the average fan doesn't have a dog in this fight. They are just waiting on the sidelines ready to pounce on him if he takes a mis-step. He better not make this a mess and subject us to another stupid "decision". If I was LeBron, I will keep this quick, clean, and quiet. As quiet as it possibly can be in today's twitter-fueled culture. It's already big news, but he cannot afford to mismanage it like he did last time.

As for what LeBron is actually going to do, obviously he has the world at his feet. It should be awesome to be the world's best at anything. LeBron is unquestionably the best basketball player in the world. The attention he demands and commands and the love he is going to get from teams coast-to-coast is going to be very flattering. The options are seemingly endless. There are rumors about how the clippers would be a great fit and how the rockets have all the talent in the world to surround him with. But seriously, does he really have that many options? Fans will have a field day if he goes to yet another team chasing a ring. You can call them haters all you want, but LeBron will be giving everybody even more reasons to hate if he goes to a third team in five years. It won't be illegal or even unethical by any stretch of the imagination, but it sure will be weird. It will be an unusual career path for a legendary athlete and will cheapen his legacy. Who exactly are we talking about here - the world's best basketball player or Jarrett Jack?

How many superstars, let alone legends, have played for three teams before they turn 30? I can't think of any. The closest I can think of in recent history is Shaquille O'Neal, who ended up playing for 6 teams and won his last championship in Miami in his early thirties. But even he was past 30 and had to move to Miami primarily because of the unusual drama with Kobe in LA. There have been cases of legends moving to other teams as they age and pursue that elusive ring or teams deciding to move away from aging superstars. Cases in point - Karl Malone and Charles Barkley in their old age or more recently, Peyton Manning. But Peyton had to relocate to Denver only because the colts decided to move on . Rarely does a legend move on his own from team to team in the prime of his career. LeBron will be pioneering a new trend if he does move, but it won't be the most endearing or legendary trend. If he goes to another team with a bunch of superstars, he will become the laughing stock again and rightfully so. NBA pros should be chasing LeBron for a ring, not the other way around. Given all that, I see only one of two destinations in reality for him. He either re-signs with the heat or shocks everybody and goes back to the Cleveland cavaliers.

He can sell the move to the cavs as a "home coming" and the fans will welcome him back with open arms, even the ones who burnt his jersey four years back. Cavs are considered a long-shot because they are a few years away from contending, but LeBron can take any four guys from the local YMCA to the second round of the Eastern conference playoffs. And the cavs talent ain't that bad - definitely young, but not bad. I would rather play with Kyrie Irving than Dwyane Wade at this stage of Wade's career. Granted, the cavs don't have Chris Bosh or a winning culture, but they do have the first pick in this year's draft and a bunch of young, under-achieving assets. LeBron can fix the culture just by showing up. I am not saying he would or he should go back to Cleveland but he could. Any other destination outside of Miami and Cleveland, he will lose a lot of face. The chances are, he will stay in Miami, but if Wade and Bosh pick up their expensive options, it's going to be very interesting and difficult for LeBron to stay. Miami would have no flexibility to improve in that case. Thats what makes this free agency fascinating. I still can't see him going to a new city, but then again, I have been wrong about his choices before and won't be surprised if I am wrong again.

Sweet Redemption

“We’ll do it this time," said Tim Duncan after winning the Western conference finals and earning the right to play the Miami heat in the finals. That quote made a lot of news because that pretty much qualifies as vulgar trash talking coming from the choir boys of San Antonio, especially Timmy. That was the ultimate indicator of how much the spurs were hurting from last year's disastrous defeat. We knew that last year's loss was a depressing and devastating punch to their gut, but the spurs are not the kind that wears their emotions on their sleeves or verbalizes them. But when Timmy spoke after the western conference finals, you could tell they were very driven to take back the gift they had given to the heat last year. Not only did they want to make it back to the finals and win it all this time, they wanted the heat and only the heat. And they got them. The spurs were not careful what they wished for and they didn't care.

Spurs knew they were better than the heat last year and were confident they have improved a bit this year. More than getting better, the loss last year was motivating and driving them everyday. The heat, on the other hand, had gotten slightly worse and couldn't even land the best record in the putrid eastern conference. LeBron had gotten better as always, but Wade had taken another couple of steps back in his accelerated journey "over the hill".  Is he the oldest 32 year-old ever? He is just four months older than Tony Parker, but plays like he is four years older than Tim Duncan. He is still good, but the drop-off from his peak is surprising and just too rapid for somebody who has not really been through devastating injuries. Wade was once considered MJ to LeBron's Scottie. Now, LeBron is carrying him every trip down the floor along with the other Miami scrubs.  

The first two games of the series were close and Miami even won one. The series went back to Miami and suddenly, the offensive floodgates were open for the spurs. They carved up the vaunted Miami defense almost every trip down the floor. The adjustment from last year was to move the ball swiftly and precisely to thwart Miami's swarming defense. Miami had no counter adjustment to offer. They did have some success stealing some of the passes in the first two games, but the spurs fixed that soon. Miami was done once Kawhi Leonard woke up from his two game slumber at the start of the series. The big three of the spurs didn't have to do much more than the next three -  Kawhi Leonard, Boris Diaw, and Danny Green as everybody was pitching in on offense. Diaw brought me back memories of his time with the Phoenix suns. 

The suns should have been winning championships eight years back with Diaw's skills surrounded by a team of passing, cutting, and shooting wizards. Diaw was working the same concepts in this series but with the wrong team. He got it done and so did the spurs as a team. Huge win for coach Greg Popovich, who deservedly won the coach of the year this season. The offensive flow was spectacular and Pop's defense never disappoints. His flexibility in transforming a Duncan centric post-up offense to a cutting, moving, 3-point shooting masterpiece deserves a lot of credit. So does his leadership in guiding the team past a devastating loss last year. It was a collective failure last year with Ginobli missing free throws, Pop pulling Duncan out at the wrong moments of game 6, and Duncan missing easy shots in game 7. They responded with a collective, team success this year. Congrats to everybody in the Spurs organization. They have sent LeBron into another summer of confusion and should keep us fans entertained. 

All Tied Up!

LeBron James is the best basketball player in the world - cramps or no cramps. Unfortunately for the Spurs, he showed it in game two to "steal" home court advantage. I have "steal" in quotes because home court is not going to be a big factor in the first six games of this series. Both teams are veteran teams with a lot of championship experience. Home court will probably matter in game seven, but the Spurs have to get there first. They would have loved to go up 2-0 - who wouldn't, but it's not the end of the world that they lost a game at home. The bigger question for the Spurs is, if LeBron had not cramped up in game 1, would they be down 0-2 and will the series be over for all practical purposes? That game was incredibly close when LeBron tightened up and couldn't move. If he had stayed in, it would have been another nail baiter like game two and it's anybody's guess which Spurs player would have missed how many free throws to blow it. Missed free throws continue to haunt the Spurs. After blowing game six last year with many missed free throws, they missed four straight in game two during a key fourth quarter stretch to make their life harder and LeBron's easier.

The Spurs probably are the better team in this series, but the best player plays for the Heat. And LeBron James is the best player on the court by a lot! If we shave ten years off of Duncan, he might come close, but not today. Given that, the Spurs have to play well as a unit and find out a way to slow down LeBron. This is where Kawhi Leonard comes in. He bothered LeBron a lot last year, but not so much thus far in this series. He has to make a bigger impact defensively. And the problem for the Spurs is, they are a little more dependent on Kawhi overall including his offense this year than they were last year as he is improving as a player every year. So if defending LeBron is affecting the rest of his game and is not slowing down LeBron either, the Spurs are in trouble. They need Sugar K Leonard to at least come through at one end. Let's see if the change of scenery revitalizes him in Miami. The Heat are not as good as they used to be because of Wade's decline. But they are no chopped liver either. Between Bosh, Ray, Wade, and others, they are still a load to handle. This series will be tight, long, and fun. I still like the Spurs in seven.

LeBron got a lot of heat for cramping up in game one. I didn't get that at all. It's not like he can control cramps or he was looking for excuses to sit out and lose that game to go down 0-1. What is he being criticized for? With that said, I was happy in someways to note that LeBron haters are still alive and well and are just waiting to come out of the woodwork. I have still not reconciled with him moving to Miami and continue to root against him. If I flashback four years to when he signed with the Heat, LeBron was clearly on track to becoming the best player in the world, if not one already. But Wade was a better scorer and  there were some question marks about LeBron's game. He had to endure some "Scottie Pippen" chants. Things are now completely different. He has erased most of those question marks and evolved into the undisputed leader of this Miami team. Wade has aged not so gracefully, but even a healthier, younger Wade has no shot at being anything more than a distant second fiddle to this version of the king. LeBron is a transcendent talent, but the reality is, his legacy is still hanging in a balance. A defeat in this series would send him to 2-3 record in the finals with a "cramps" cherry on top. Thats not good for his resume. All of this means only one thing - LeBron's towering presence will decide this series.

Predictable Four

Miami  versus Indiana in the East and San Antonio versus Oklahoma City in the West. Couldn't we all have guessed this at the beginning of the season? If there is one issue with the NBA, it's the predictability. Even with the ridiculously surprising first round of the playoffs this year, NBA is still the most predictable of all the leagues. NBA season is long and the playoffs are seven game series. This makes sure the best teams always bubble up. NFL seasons are shorter and the playoff games are obviously one game elimination contests. But thats not even the real reason for the parity, which has always been one of NFL's big charm. Very few Super Bowl champions even get back to the big game next year and the Super Bowl losers are typically lucky to even make it back to the playoffs. NFL's rigid salary cap and the large sizes of rosters are what makes it difficult for good teams to stay good and bad teams to stay bad. In the NBA, rosters are small and if you have a LeBron James, you are assured of playoffs every year. You add Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to that mix, life becomes real good and will continue to be good for years.

Major League Baseball does have a long season like the NBA that promotes consistency and predictability and does not have single-elimination playoff games - except for the new wild-card round. But it's still al lot less predictable than the NBA because it's just a different game. The starting pitcher means so much in that sport and one great pitcher on a roll can swing the series one way or the other all by himself. This happens a lot, especially in the wild card and five-game divisional series rounds. So NBA is clearly the most predictable. Thats not all bad. It's also the most "stable" playoffs, There is something to be said about the best teams always making it to the top. I have always thought MLB playoffs are the worst in this regard. After a grueling, 162-game season, a singular pitching performance can negate everything and foist a new champion on us.  Luck and random occurrences rarely impact NBA playoffs like it does other sports, though we do spend a lot of time talking about referees and calls.

We all knew these four teams will be where they are now. This doesn't mean the playoffs have not been fun so far or there is no reason to watch the regular season. After all, the sport does boast of the World's best athletes and the games - even the regular season games, can provide high quality entertainment. But the point is, we could be watching a Miami-San Antonio finals for the second year in a row. Miami most probably is going to make it to its fourth straight finals. At least thats what the league is hoping for as an Indiana finals will be a ratings disaster since the western conference finalists are already small market teams. The only surprise in terms of what we expected at the beginning of the season is that Indiana wanted and earned home court and Miami has to start the series on the road. Similarly in the west, OKC and San Antonio are the last two season's finalists and one of them is going to be there again. We could argue that OKC had the better prospects at the beginning of the season and it's a bit of a surprise they didn't end up with the best record in the west

Indiana took the circuitous route to get here with all kinds of inconsistency and drama since the all-star break, but they are here now with home court in their hands. They should have enough motivation and drive to get up and perform at a high level against Miami, the one team they hate and have been obsessed with for all the right reasons. Anything less than perfect basketball against LeBron and the Heat will send Indiana fishing with Kenny sooner than later. They better bring their A-game, which has been MIA for months now. Thats why I have to grudgingly pick Miami to win this series. I pick San Antonio to win the west. Serge Ibaka's injury is a bummer for OKC and us fans who wanted to watch a great series between these two great teams. It almost feels like the NBA could actually avoid injuries and put a better finals on the table if they stop playing all those regular season games and directly start the playoffs or the finals. Lets hope for a healthy and fun Miami - San Antonio finals this season. Of course, I won't complain if Indiana proves me wrong and eliminates Miami.  But Adam Silver and the TV channels will.

I miss the first round

After the amazing first round of the NBA playoffs, I knew the second round would be a bit of a letdown and it has been just that so far. These playoffs will have several great moments between now and the finals, but it may never be as good as the ridiculously fun first round, which featured five game 7s including a record breaking three game 7s in one day. There were fifty games total in the first round - which was the highest ever, and eight overtime games with Memphis and OKC playing four straight OT games. There were a couple of buzzer beaters, one of which brought Vince Carter back from the dead and the other pushed Damian Lillard on to the mainstream. Now the playoffs have settled into more of a regular rhythm with the big boys and the upstarts fighting it out as usual. The unpredictability of the first round is gone, but there should still be enough drama for us fans to enjoy. The Heat and the Spurs seem to be having it too easy right now at home. I am sure their lives will get a little tougher and the series will become a lot tighter on the road - especially for the Spurs. But those two teams look like they might be replaying their finals series from last year.

The Pacers and the Thunder are locked in a 1-1 tie and even if they win their respective series - which I expect them to, I am not sure if they can seriously challenge the Heat or the Spurs. The Pacers have home court, which they worked real hard for throughout the season. Of course their story is now well chronicled as they started floundering after the all-star game and their troubles are continuing through the first and second round of the playoffs. I think they will step up and play their best against the Heat because that team has been the red-rag to the Indiana bull for almost three years now. Thats why they wanted home court and if they can't get up for a Eastern conference finals against the Heat, God save them. But they do need to get there first and I won't be surprised if they get dumped by the Wizards. The upstart Wizards are surprisingly a great team with a lot of talent, athleticism, and size and they are gelling at the right time. Game 3 will tell us a lot about both the tied series.

I have always had this theory that the winner of game 3 takes the series if the series is tied 1-1. I believe the theory has been confirmed by some stats as well lately. But in the crazy first round, my theory was right only with two of the five series that were tied 1-1 after two games. I was wrong with two other series, with the weird Indiana team being one of the outliers. The Spurs were the fifth team which almost won game 3 on the road before Vince Carter rolled back the clock by a dozen years and hit that buzzer beater. Basically that game 3 doesn't count in my book. In general, if the road team wins one of the first two games on the road against the higher seed, the higher seed either wrests the momentum with that game 3 win or the lower seed establishes control and equality with a home win. There is always this talk about "stealing home court" with one of those wins in the first two games, but it really doesn't mean a whole lot if the team gives it right back in game 3. This has especially been true this year where the games have been so tight in round 1 with a lot of road wins and upsets.

I am especially interested in seeing what the Clippers do in their game 3 against the Thunder. The Clippers probably have the most complete roster in these playoffs, but I think they are still a year away from challenging the real top dawgs. DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin's development this year has catapulted them into the elite category. DeAndre can be an absolute beast on certain days against some teams. They are a little young and still make way too many mistakes to challenge the Spurs. Whoever comes out of the West this year should be able to legitimately challenge and win against the Heat.

The Clippers-Warriors series was the most fun in the first round though it ended up costing Mark Johnson his job. Mark Jackson was definitely good at motivating and leading his players, but he was not a great coach when it came to X's and O's and by all reports, was not too good with other details of coaching either including dealing with his management. He got a lot of credit for turning around a down-trodden franchise, but honestly, neither Jackson, nor his players, nor the owners had anything to do with how bad the Warriors were in 1999 or 2003. So how does the history matter here except for some feel good sentiment among the fans over the last 2 years? It's not like Jackson took Latrell Spreewell and Tood Fuller to the playoffs. This is a different team altogether. He should be evaluated purely on the basis of what he did with this team. They won 51 games, and he deserves a pay raise if he took a 45-win team and manufactured 51 wins out of them. But the coach will get fired these days if he took a team with 55-win talent and won 51 games with it. It's hard to tell what's the reality with this good, but not great Warriors roster. But his bosses clearly think they could and should have done better. That doomed M-Jax at the end. No need to shed any tears or cry foul at this. We have seen way too many 50-win coaches get fired lately. M-Jax will land on his feet anyways and good luck to him rest of the way.

Silver Hammer

NBA commissioner Adam Silver brought down the hammer hard this week on psycho Donald Sterling. It was one of those rare situations where nobody- even the ones most offended by Sterling's stupid utterances, could ask for more than what Adam handed down in terms of a punishment. He suspended him for life, fined him the maximum allowable 2.5 million dollars, and vowed to force him to sell his team. He showed no pity. He is being universally praised by the media and, most importantly, the NBA players who are his employees. A defining moment for Silver who has been the commish for just a few months and he might very well be remembered for this decision the rest of his tenure. It was the right decision morally and from a business perspective as well. It would have been perceived as too harsh in some circles if not for that fact that Sterling is a repeat offender who has just been dodging this for a long, long time. Some of the stuff Sterling has done in the past with his real-estate projects with respect to housing discrimination is shocking and much more offensive than what he said on this recording.  He finally got caught though everybody already knew he was a racist and a nut-job. He has zero apologists and that tells you all you need to know about this guy.

Some callers on sports radio and even Mark Cuban the day before the verdict were worried about this leading us down a slippery slope. How much can the NBA get involved with moral and social judgements? Sterling didn't break any laws and he does have his freedom of speech, especially inside the walls of his house. Ironically, the only illegal activity here might have been the recording that was leaked to TMZ if Sterling didn't know he was being taped. Also, there is the concern about where does the NBA stop now? What happens if another owner makes a homophobic comment for instance? This was Cuban's concern though he fully supported Silver after the verdict. What these arguments are missing is that this is not a legal or moral decision as much as it is a business decision. Nobody can put Sterling in jail for what he said and he has every right to free speech. But owning a NBA franchise is a privilege and not a constitutional right. Businesses always have bylaws and contracts which lets them fire people if they start hurting their business. This is exactly what happened here. People get fired across America for incompetence everyday. Employees, who have never done anything illegal ever in their life, routinely lose their job at IBM or Microsoft or Citibank. So NBA has every right to take action against it's people if they hurt business in any way, shape, or form.

Sterling will go to court and might even win, but NBA absolutely did the right thing for itself here. Sterling deserves to be "fired" for both incompetence and unacceptable behavior. It was in the NBA's best interest to punish him. A business has many stakeholders and one of the most important ones are the employees, though they are often ignored in corporate America. The NBA players are the employees here, albeit well-paid ones. The players are predominantly black and were really irate at Sterling to the point the specter of a playoff boycott was a realistic possibility. That would have been unprecedented and amazing and I almost wish it had happened just for the shock value. Commish Silver had to do the right thing to please his employees because they are important in any business, but even more so in a sports league where they are the product. Does that mean Silver doesn't deserve any credit for taking a moral stand? Of course he does because he took a difficult decision which was also morally right. And even making the right decision from a purely business perspective is leadership and deserves a lot of credit.

As for the slippery slope argument, I don't see one. We can sit here and pretend like there are no double standards and unfairness in the world, but we all know that's a lie. A few years back, Roger Clemens, made a racist and inappropriate joke about Koreans and Japanese in America when Korea and  Japan played each other in the World Baseball classic. Nobody cared or even criticized him. If anybody had made a similar joke about blacks, they would have been roasted over the coals. I was really upset at his comments, but at the same time, I do understand that Koreans don't have the same numbers, cultural relevance, or historic baggage as blacks do in America. So of course the reactions were different and Clemens got off easy. Thats life. Let's say another NBA owner comes out tomorrow and says something inappropriate about gays or women or Belgians, what does the Commish do? I strongly believe the Commish will do what his business needs dictate and nothing more or less.

First of all, his players may get upset with that, but not to the same extent as with Sterling because few of them are gay, there are probably a couple of Belgians, and definitely no women. Offending blacks is a lot more personal for the NBA players than any of the above. As for the customers, offending women would be the hardest to deal with for the league, followed by gays, and last and of course the least, Belgians. And the owner who is doing the offending probably doesn't have the same rap-sheet as Sterling. My point here is, there are too many variables here and the Commish does not owe the same punishment to every other owner or offender. That would be morally consistent, but there are enough excuses to not do that if the Commish or the other owners don't want to. I would like him to do the morally right thing, but I know enough about life to realize each situation will be treated on it's own merit and there will be double standards. The bottom-line is, we now have a Commish who has shown us he can be strong, he can lead, and he can stand on the side of the good. Kudos to Adam Silver for starting his tenure with a bang.  We can all now get back to the first round playoff games, which have been epic. Sterling's stupidity distracted all of us for a few days. Commish's swift and strong action has put the focus squarely back on the games, where it belongs.

Omaha!

Before the Super Bowl, there was a lot of talk about what the game, or more specifically a loss in the game, would mean to Peyton Manning's legacy. At that time, I agreed with most experts that this game would have minimal impact on his legacy. The man has built a impressive resume over a decade and a half and put up ungodly numbers. He was coming off a record breaking year and if he plays for another couple of years, he is guaranteed to own pretty much all the records for a QB. More importantly, he already has a super bowl ring and it felt like a second ring would be huge, but he would be in the best-ever conversation with or without it. But then again, none of us expected a 43-8 drubbing at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks and their legion of boom. This was not all Manning's fault, but he didn't help a whole lot and he definitely couldn't pull the Broncos out of it. Now, the legacy questions are for real after this unmitigated disaster. QBs are measured by championships and the sheriff has lost 2 of the 3 super bowls he has played in. Even his baby brother has 2 super bowls in the bag. Peyton has some explaining to do.

The game started off ominously for Denver as the first offensive snap sailed over Peyton's head. There was a lot of attention leading up to the game on what Peyton does at the line of scrimmage and all the "omaha" calls he blurts out. And then he couldn't even connect on the first snap. The center hiked the ball when Peyton was still moving around trying to fix things. This gave Seattle a safety and the ball. The Denver offense never found the rhythm and their defense was toothless as always. I am not a big fan of crediting big hits with more impact than just the scope of that one play, but Kam Chancellor’s hit on Demaryius Thomas on the Broncos’ first pass might have been a big tone-setter. The Legion of Boom made a statement right away. Percy Harvin made his mark felt early as well and he actually put the game away with his kickoff return TD at the start of the second half. There was still some hope for the Broncos at 22-0, but Harvin's jets made it 29-0 and it was pretty much curtains at that point. Demaryius Thomas' fumble was another bone-crushing blow to Denver's comeback efforts and they never really got anything going even in garbage time. It was a total domination by the Seahawks defense.

For all the attention the "omaha" audibles got leading up to the game, it became a mockery during the game as the Seattle fans across the country started shouting it at the TV to mock every Broncos mistake on offense. It became their unofficial war-cry as Peyton was rendered ineffective by Seattle's defense. Credit goes to Pete Carroll and his staff for shutting down the most prolific offense. Speaking of legacy, the real legacy this super bowl impacted big-time was Pete Carroll's. The man now has both a college and a pro championship. Thats big! His QB Russell Wilson is a made man now as well with a championship in just his second year. He is not the most effective QB and you could even say he is a little bit over-rated, but he is hard-working and a great decision maker. Clearly, he deserves some if not a lot of credit for the championship, but he will get a lot of credit being the QB. As for Peyton Manning, not sure if he can make it to another Super Bowl given his age. I can only imagine how much more grief he will be taking now if he didn't even have that one ring already. I do expect him to have another season or 2 of stellar QB play, but a second super bowl might be easier said than done. We shall see in 2014.

Greatness Revisited

Sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same - even in the parity stricken NFL. When the season started, expectations were high for Seattle, San Francisco, and Denver. And of course New England with Brady and Belichick are always supposed to be good regardless of circumstances. We are now in the championship week and these 4 teams are the ones still left standing. This despite all the excitement generated towards the end of the season for the so-called "hot" teams like San Diego, Carolina, and Philadelphia. They became fashionable picks among several talking heads and the recent trend over the last few years of wild card teams that are on a roll towards the end of the season making it and sometimes winning the super bowl helped taint some of their picks as well. But at the end of the day, good teams are good teams and these 4 teams were legitimate contenders from day 1. Of course, we might have thought the same about teams like the Atlanta Falcons and the Houston Texans back in August, but these 3 teams were in an even higher class. They are not just teams with good record with an one dimensional strength like the Saints with Drew Brees. These teams have a good defense and a solid running game. Of course, nobody knows what the Patriots have, but they have Tom Brady. As impressive as his resume is, what he did this year leading this team to the AFC championship game might be the highlight of his career. And all of a sudden, the Patriots running game looks better than ever too making this weekend's contests all the more intriguing.

All these teams had challenges along the way. The niners offense and Colin Kaepernick looked lost at the beginning of the season. It was 2009 all over again for the niners with Frank Gore being the only bankable asset. Kap and the offense look a lot better now with the addition of Michael Crabtree late in the season. The Seahawks offense on the other hand looked a little lost towards the end of the season, which can be big problem this weekend unless the beast mode and the 12-Th man get it done like last week. Denver's defense turned out to be worse than originally thought and they also have to deal with the usual question marks about Peyton Manning's big game moxie, though that will be a bigger factor rest of the way than it was during the regular season. Despite all of these ups and downs, these 3 teams stayed true to their pre-season expectations and came through with a bang in the playoffs. The niners had to win on the road under tough conditions in Green Bay and in Carolina to get to this point and they look better than ever. But the most amazing performance here has to be what the patriots have done this season with that roster and the slew of injuries. They did not have the best of rosters and free agency, injuries, and murder cases weakened their receiving core. Brady had his lowest completion percentage, QB rating, and the most sacks in years. But they ended the season with an impressive 12-4 record and here they are at their third straight AFC title game. How can you not give credit to Brady when they were winning week after week by just 2 or 3 points?  Bill Belichick deserves a lot of credit too. You got to give the devil it's due.

We use the word "great" flippantly in sports. There are several ways to look at greatness, but one quote I like is "Success Isn’t Always About Greatness. It’s About Consistency. Consistent Hard Work Gains Success. Greatness Will Come."  Both Brady and Manning personify this. In a league built for parity, it's amazing to see these two consistently perform at a very high level. Football is the ultimate team sports, but these 2 QBs contribute to their team's success as much as the rest of their organizations combined. Not only are these two great at what they do, they also keep running into each other all the time. Dan Marino and John Elway rarely played each other for instance, but Brady has beaten Manning 10 out of 14 times including a 2-1 record in the playoffs and a big, come from behind win earlier this season - a game that added more doubts about the aforementioned Manning moxie. The playoff contests between them have gone to the home team every time and they have split the 2 AFC championship dates so far. Brady is the ultimate parity-killer as he will be at his 8-Th AFC championship game this weekend. A mind-boggling stat thats so much beyond the realm of possibility for even a super-star QB like Drew Brees. Given their age, this might very well be the last time they play each other, but then again, I won't be least bit surprised if they play in another 3 AFC championship games against each other. Thats how consistent they both are. I have not had a whole lot of success picking against Brady this season, but I am going to do it again. Manning and the home team pulls this one off. In the NFC, it's hard for anybody to go into Seattle and win, but if anybody can do it, it has to be crazy Jim Harbaugh and his niners with their new-found attitude and their always consistent defense. 

Bring on the Niners-Broncos Super Bowl. Lets party like it's 1990!

Wildness Abound

The NFL wildcard weekend featured a lot of wildness. With New England and Denver on a bye and with no New York teams in the big dance, the top billing went to the San Francisco-Green Bay matchup on Sunday and it didn't disappoint. Colin Kaepernick has had an up and down season, but one thing he always seems to be able to do is run against the packers. He rushed for 98 yards in just 7 attempts. Thats efficient to say the least. Aaron Rodgers and Eddie Lacy did their best to make this a close game, but Kap led the niners on a game winning drive and bled the clock all the way down to zero leaving no time for A-Rod to do to the Niners what he did to the Bears last weekend. It was a frustrating day for the Packers as they lost for the fourth time in two years against the Niners with two of those losses at home and two of them in the playoffs. Harbaugh seem to have their number and it's because of the superior defense at his disposal. The Packers have the better QB, but he can't do it all. The defense has to seal some running holes and they didn't do it today. Now the Niners goto Carolina.

The other California team went into Cincinnati and kicked off what promises to be an horrible off-season for Andy Dalton. Dalton had a horrible second half and threw 2 interceptions in this game. I wouldn't call this a big upset since the Chargers have been on a role lately and the Bengals and Dalton have had many question marks hanging over them anyways. But both games today featured California teams going into cold weather stadiums and coming out victors. The Chargers are next going into Denver for their third contest this season. Road teams have won both games this season and Peyton Manning will be in almost as much trouble as Andy Dalton if Rivers and the Chargers get over him on the road next weekend. For all the records Manning smashed this year - which nobody seems to care about a whole lot anyways, his playoff credentials are still in some scrutiny and he needs to at least get to the Super Bowl this year, if not win it. He has a hot San Diego team coming in and it should be another close playoff contest for us fans. Nothing's easy this time of the year in the NFL.

If todays' games were fun, yesterday's games were wild. The Saints got the road monkey off their back with a great win in Philadelphia. The Eagles were a lot of people's trendy pick, but the Saints actually flexed their defensive muscle to get the job done. In fact, until New Orleans cornerback Keenan Lewis suffered a head injury in the third quarter, the Eagles offense was non-existent. DeSean Jackson got untracked a little bit after that injury and the game got tight. Now the Saints get to goto Seattle again and get some revenge for the playoff loss a few years back - the game where "Beast Mode" was actually born.  And I feel like they have the defense for it. But the craziest game of the weekend was the one where Andrew Luck had to go beast mode to come back from 28 points down to win at home. The Chiefs and Alex Smith played well enough to win despite a string on injuries during the game including one to their main man Jamaal Charles. But in this era of amazing and stress-free quarterback play, Luck was not going to be contained with T.Y.Hilton running wild by his side. It's going to be very interesting to see what he can do next weekend in New England against Tom Brady. Fast and predictable growth for Luck from a wild card loss on the road in year 1 to divisional round against Brady and the hoody in year 2.