Suns win one

Tonight the Suns beat the Celtics 88-71. Suns don't win many games when they score only 88. Actually the suns don't win many games these days period! So it's a pleasant surprise for suns fans when they beat top-notch teams like the Celtics. Granted, the good old celtics were playing on back-to-back nights on the road, but these are still the eastern conference leading celtics with the big-3 or 4 or 5 or whatever number of great players on that roster you want to recognize. Thus the inconsistent and mediocre suns season continues. They lost by 34 points at Denver and then went on a nice 5 game winning streak against some bad teams (and the knicks). Then they lost 3 in a row to even worse teams. Now, they beat the celtics at home to get to 21-24. They supposedly had a team meeting recently with some front office suits in the room and this game is touted as a strong response coming out of that meeting. Whatever the cause was, this is a sold result, but they are still what their record indicates and it indicates nothing but mediocrity.

I am not sure how the suns owner Robert Sarver can show up in public after taking a team that went to the western conference finals just 8 months back and turning it into a 11-Th placed team with a 21-24 record. Most suns fans were not too disturbed when he let Amare walk. We were all caught up in what Amare can't do - namely defend well or rebound consistently, but what was lost was what he can do and what he did do for the suns. People forgot Amare was Blake Griffin before Blake Girffin and it was not going to be easy to replace his production. Poor guy never got his due in Phoenix and he never lost it and turned on the city like some knucklehead superstars do. Thats just amazing considering how rough a background he comes from. My respect for him constantly keeps going up looking at the way he plays and conducts himself. I am glad the Suns fans gave him a nice ovation when he visited. That was absolutely the appropriate response for Amare.

Without Amare, the season was meandering along when the front office pulled the Vince Carter - Hedo trade. Not a bad trade for the future in terms of cap room, but does nothing for this year. It took a already floundering team and added lack of chemistry to it's list of problems. Now, Steve Nash has to get used to 3 new players and try and incorporate them into his offense. Not the kind of rebuilding project he is looking for at 37. I love Grant Hill, but at 38, if he is Nash's best fast-break option and also the most reliable defender, the team is not being managed well. So what do you do with this team and the veterans, especially Steve Nash? I don't want him to be traded, but why waste his time and talent with this roster? Sarver and others keep talking about still making the playoffs. NBA teams constantly try to make the playoffs as if that means something. The truth is, making the playoffs means nothing except more money for the owners. It saves the coach's job and causes some momentary excitement, but if you are not contending, what's the point in just making the playoffs? It's a meaningful goal only for a young team on the rise. Making it to the playoffs as an eight seed only to lose to the Spurs or the Lakers in 5 games cannot be a goal for this Suns team led by a 37 year old superstar.

Nash is still playing at the high-level, but his assists that used to be slam dunks (and 1) when Amare was around are now a hit or miss layup attempts with Gortat and Lopez. I am amazed Nash is still averaging 11 assists per game. Marcin Gortat actually had a great 19-17 game tonight against the Celtics. May be this is the turning point we have all been waiting for. May be he cements his place at the center position and the Suns find some chemistry with this new group. May be the team meeting sparks a sustained run. The Celtics didn't play well today, but they did play tough and the game had a few tense moments and pushing and shoving followed by a few ejections. May be the team rallies around this and takes off. Remember how the Cleveland game ended up changing Miami's fortunes? I am searching for something here because I don't want to see Nash struggle for a mediocre team. Yes, a playoff berth is the best this team can do and it doesn't mean much. But it's still better than nothing and it will at least give Nash a shot. Plus it will put some money in the owner's pocket and might encourage him to be more aggressive next year. Nash and Hill might still have a year left in their young legs and I don't want that to go to waste.

Packers-V-Steelers

The Super Bowl lineup is now set. The Packers and the Steelers got the job done today in almost similar fashion. They both looked like they were going to blowout their opponent in the first half, but slowed down significantly in the second half to let the Bears and the Jets back into the game. But they did hold on at the end to win close games by a score or less. I am not a big big-ben fan - couldn't resist the opportunity to use 2 "big" back-to-back, but you gotta give the devil it's due. Nobody clutches up like this guy and he is almost impossible to bring down. He rarely plays "pretty" or puts up big numbers, but he always seems to make plays in the 4-Th quarter. His QB rating in this game was 35.5, but there were 2 third down plays late in the game when the ball was in his hands and he completed big passes to help the Steelers kill the clock. The second one was typical Ben as he got out of the pocket and found a receiver in the crowd just past the first down marker. All Rex Ryan could do was throw down his headset in disgust.

The Jets had a shot today, but they should have scored during that long drive in the 4-Th quarter when they stalled at the goal-line. That drive reminded me of the stalled Oregon's drive against Auburn in the college championship game. Of course the other option for the Jets would have been to have actually shown up in the first half. They didn't do either and hence lost the game. If you have as bad a first half as the Jets did, you need a flawless second half to have any shot at winning. The Jets were almost there, but not quite. Rex deserves some credit for half-time adjustments, but he can now work on preparing a script for next year's "hard knocks". That show should go back-to-back with the Jets because it's going to be a letdown next season with any other team. As part of his script, Rexy should mix in a home playoff game too. He has played 6 road playoff games in 2 years and has gone 4-2. Pretty impressive in it's own right, but a home playoff game wont hurt their chances.

The Packers generated their own excitement today as they let the Bears back into the game after a 14-0 first-half lead. Cutler got injured mysteriously and the Bears took a step back from bad to worse momentarily when Todd Collins stepped in. But then they put in the third string QB Caleb Hanie and he turned the game around for the Bears. He drove them for a TD and made things interesting, but threw an interception on 4-Th down late in the game to finish things off. Apparently the Bears fans are burning Cutler's jersey for not playing through an injury which they think was not major. I guess tomorrow's MRI will reveal the damage and at this stage, Cutler may actually be wishing it shows a ligament tear or something serious. But the fans are playing doctor right now and are pissed at Cutler for not being tough enough. Controversy always seems to find Cutler or may be he finds them. He is the exact opposite of Aaron Rodgers, who seems to have managed his young career flawlessly up to this point. I sure hope he adds a Super Bowl championship to his resume.

Sport Illustrated rarely gets it right, but their Super Bowl pick this season - Steelers over the Packers. Pretty impressive though I sure hope they are wrong about the eventual champion.

Talk and Walk

If you talk the talk, you got to walk the walk. This is why most people don't talk the talk. This is especially true in sports where people are afraid they may not be able to walk the walk, so they don't resort to any controversial trash talking. Athletes and coaches often display fake humility and false respect when they talk about the other team and try not to give them any bulletin-board material. Modern day sports is really soft and mellow when it comes to trash talking and hating the rival teams. Blame it on free agency, or the realities of the 24X7 media with a constant eye on everything or may be it's just a more evolved society we live in today. Whatever the reason is, teams don't hate and go after each other in the media like they used to. However, life, like fashion, always goes around in circles and this trend of decency and decorum between teams might be changing too.

At the forefront of this revolution, if you can call it that, are the New York Jets led by Rex Ryan. In 2 years, this guy has single handedly changed the landscape of the NFL. He is brash, loud and anything but shy. His team has taken his lead and they also say and do whatever they want. Antonio Cromartie shocked everybody when he dropped an A-expletive on Tom Brady of all people. Guys don't do that these days, especially with superstar QBs with a spotless image. Of course the Jets were perfectly at ease with such behavior while Bill Belichick, on the other hand, would still not bite. The entire Patriots contingent would not respond, including Brady. I was hoping Brady would take a shot or two, but he probably thought he would win the game and then drop some trash on the Jets. Dude never got a chance. Wes Welker was the only guy who would venture out into the wild, but he got benched by the Hoodie for the first possession of last weekend's game. I thought what Welker did was smart and hilarious. He dropped 11 feet or toe references during the course of a normal interview with an obvious eye on Rex Ryan's "foot porn".

All of this is great for the NFL. The league sure can use a little more character and edge in it'e personalities. People calling each other expletives is not great, but things like what Ryan and Welker did adds a lot of personality to these games and builds rivalries. There are not many quality rivalries right now, but seems like the Jets are building a whole bunch of them all by themselves. A few years back when the NFL re-aligned, they sent a survey to teams asking them to identify their biggest rival. All the teams in the then AFC West (except the Raiders) identified the Oakland Raiders as their primary rival. I think in a year or 2, the New York Jets might be voted as the hated rival by the entire league. Rex Ryan tried his best to piss off Peyton Manning and then Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. But the Jets backed it all up with victories against both the teams. For the second year in a row, they are going to the AFC championship game after 2 road playoff wins. Thats no fluke ladies and gentleman. This team is special and whatever they are doing is working. They can talk and then back it up on the football field.

The Jets win over the Patriots was especially impressive considering they just lost 45-3 at Foxboro few weeks back. Rex doesn't just talk, but also coaches. He came up with a brilliant game-plan to throttle MVP Brady and the Patriots offense and completely changed the game on the hoody. Win or lose, I don't remember hoody getting out-coached too many times, but he was against Ryan and the Jets. Sexy Rexy is brash, loud, funny and he seems to be beloved in his locker room. They want to play for him and win for him. Not sure if his style will work with a mediocre team or a losing team, but he is the king of NY right now as the Jets are a game away from the Super Bowl. They have a legitimate shot at making it to the Super Bowl, though they are unusually gracious and humble towards the Steelers. Not sure why the Steelers are treated so special, but I am sure there is some method to this madness. This seems to be Rex's chosen approach to the Steelers - quite different from his attitude towards the Colts or the Patriots. The Jets did beat the Steelers at the ketchup bottle in December. May be he is scared Polamalu, who missed that game, is going to whack them this time around, which is very likely.

In any case, Jets-Steelers will be a great game. To quote Bart Scott - "can't wait".

Stanford lucks out

Stanford is front and center of the football universe right now. They scored an impressive 40-12 victory over virginia tech in the orange bowl and since then, Stanford's coach Jim Harbaugh and their QB Andrew Luck have dominated the sports pages across the country. Jim Harbaugh was the most sought after coach in all of football this week - may be ever, and rightfully so. 3 NFL teams - Denver, San Francisco and Miami, were after him and Stanford threw money at him to try and retain him as well. Finally, Harbaugh committed to stick with the Bay Area but not with Stanford. He was announced as the new head coach of the San Francisco 49'ers. What Harbaugh had done at the farm after taking over a 1-11 Stanford team is pretty impressive. In a short time, he took them to a BCS bowl and won it in style. I have always been a big fan of Harbaugh since his "captain comeback" days with the Colts. I wish him good luck in the NFL where is brother is not doing bad either as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Of course, Harbaugh should thank his stud QB Luck for a lot of his success this year, but Harbaugh deserves his share of the spotlight too.

Luck was super efficient against Va Tech and the Hokies looked all confused in the second half trying to deal with him and that offense. He has all the pro-skills and looked every bit like the projected first pick in the NFL draft. Obviously, the other major news of the week was concerning his future. He cut the conversation short by shocking everybody. He has decided to stay back at Stanford instead of making millions of dollars. Staying back in school is always risky for pro-prospects and is especially risky for a projected first pick and even more so for Luck given the uncertainty of the labor situation in the NFL right now. The labor situation is one reason he is staying back, but depending on how the NFL resolves it and when they decide to implement the rookie wage scale (starting 2011 or 2012), he could lose tens of millions of dollars. Now add to it the fact that Jim Harbaugh is gone, you really have to say Luck is rolling the dice here. There are several cases of athletes over the years, including Jake Locker - the other popular Pac-10 QB this season, who decided to stay back in school and lost some shine and draft position. As good as Luck is, he can suffer a similar fate especially with the coaching situation now at Stanford.

The closest parallel that comes to my mind is Peyton Manning. He came back to school even when he was guaranteed be a top pick. It worked out well for Peyton as he was still the first pick the next year and is now headed towards being the best QB ever in the history of the NFL. Luck would have to be very lucky to follow in those footsteps. Aside from the obvious dangers of an injury, the problem for Luck is going to be the unsettled coaching situation at Stanford and all the changes in his offensive line. This decision must have been a lot tougher call for Luck than it was for Manning, but he has made the same call nonetheless. Coincidentally, Manning's decision from the late 90's is in the news this week because of his playoff matchup against the NY Jets. One of the suspicion for why Manning went back to school was that he wanted to avoid playing for the Jets, who had the first pick in 1997. Luck is dealing with the same theory involving the Carolina Panthers, who have this year's first pick. I don't think Luck is trying to avoid the Panthers, but only he knows for sure.

In any case, It's great news for Stanford and it's fans. Having Luck back will give them a huge boost, especially after losing Harbaugh. A QB of Luck's stature doesn't come along too often in college and Stanford gets him for another year. This makes their coaching job more attractive as well. The only frustrating part for Stanford is how they are nothing more than a training ground for top coaches. Even if they hire the best, they are going to lose him after a few years because they can't compete with top college programs and NFL teams that came after that successful coach after a few years. However, losing Harbaugh to the NFL is better than losing him to a bigger name college program like Michigan. It would have been a repeat of losing Tyrone Willingham to Notre Dame and that would have been even more frustrating to the cardinal faithful. At least now, they can expect Luck to get them a few wins. They can also pat themselves on the back for spotting and hiring 2 sought after coaching talents in Ty Wilingham and Jim Harbaugh within a few years of each other. Somebody is doing the right hiring at Stanford. Lets see what they do next.

The small 10

The Big 10 conference got it's behind kicked today in the New Year day bowl games. The non-AQ (thats my favorite abbreviation these days - non automatic qualifiers) TCU beat Wisconsin in the grand daddy today. It was a close game that ended 21-19. Thats a huge win for the AQ guys, who have consistently done well in the BCS bowls. In fact, thats why they are even allowed in these days after having a tougher time getting in during the first few years of BCS. The conference that should not be allowed in to the BCS games automatically is actually the Big East. Ever since Miami and Va Tech left the conference, they have been awful. After Cincinnati stunk up the BCS joint the last 2 years, it was UConn's turn today as they lost 48-20 to Oklahoma in the Fiesta bowl. Good for Oklahoma and Bob Stoops because they have looked horrible the last few years in the BCS games themselves. I feel like the Big East has single handedly diluted the BCS bowls the last few years. NCAA should definitely revisit this conference's AQ status for BCS the next time they look at it.

As for the Big 10, they again had all kinds of problems against more athletic teams and conferences. While TCU beat Wisconsin, Florida beat Joe-Pa and Penn state in a close contest for the Outback bowl. Miss state crushed Michigan 52-14 and Alabama rolled tide all over Michigan State 49-7. No special teams trick plays in this one for Michigan state. And Northwestern lost to Texas Tech 45-38 to complete the 5 losses in one day for the Big 10. This after all the controversy surrounding the Ohio state suckeyes. ESPN's Mark May ripped the NCAA for the soft penalty for the OSU players and he blamed it on NCAA's partial treatment of it's preferred conferences like the Big 10. His theory is that the penalty would have included the BCS bowl game suspension as well if it was a different school from the SEC or something. NCAA does look stupid that they suspended the guys for games next year, but they get to play in a couple of days in the bowl game. But thats what TV and money does to whatever little integrity thats left of the NCAA. Of course, it probably won't help the Big 10 on the field as I totally expect Arkansas to beat OSU in the Sugar bowl with or without these fools.

I can't believe we are already in the last week of the NFL season. There are a lot of scenarios to be played out tomorrow. The AFC is pretty much set with only the relative standings to be decided. The only open issue is the AFC South championship, but with Indy hosting Tennessee tomorrow, it's their division to lose. NFC is more interesting with 2 spots still up for grabs. The NFC West championship is still open. Seattle is hosting St. Louis and I totally want them to win. I don't care about either of these teams, but it would be totally awesome to have a 7-9 team in the playoffs. They not only get to make the playoffs, they will be hosting a playoff game against a team with a better record. It would be even more awesome if the Giants and the Bucs stay home with a 10-6 record while Seattle is stinking it up in the playoffs. I sure hope the Hawks bring it home tomorrow. The other wild-card spot is Green Bay's to lose. If they win, they are in. If they lose, the Giants can get in with a win. Bucs have the toughest route there since they need both the Packers and the Giants to lose. Unlikely given the opponents. Packers have the tough Bears, but it's at home and the Bears may not play their starters all game. Lets see what happens. I want the Packers to make it. I think they are the best team among the wild-card bunch and will be a tough out in the playoffs.

Is it the Spurs year again?

The Spurs are playing .875 ball. They have a habit of winning championships in the odd numbered years and you have to wonder if 2011 is their year again. Their game against the Mavs today was not as big as originally projected because of the injury to Nowitzki. Coach Popovich termed it a lose-lose game because if they won, it's no big deal since Nowitzki was out and if they lose, they will have to deal with the fact that they couldn't even beat a Mavs team without Nowitzki. But the Spurs beat the Mavs anyways for an impressive 28-4 record to end 2010. They are entering 2011 as the best team in all of the NBA and they are a completely different team this season. They have de-emphasized Tim Duncan a little bit and play a more up-tempo style. They let their versatile offensive stars like Parker and Ginobli strut their stuff and they have a couple of young, athletic scorers to run and gun with them. As a consequence, their defense is not as good as it used to be, but they are scoring more than enough to win games.

Greg Popovich is one of the smartest coaches in the league. He has not won a championship since 2007 and seems to have put some thought into how to win again with this roster. His teams have always won with Timmy and defense, but father time is slowly catching up to Timmy and he has slowed down a little. More importantly, their game-plan has not been working the last couple of years and Pop has decided to switch things up. Actually, the Spurs have always had some offensive talent ever since they got Parker and Ginobli, but that was not the emphasis in Pop's world by design. He wanted the team to think defense first, Duncan in the low post second and everything else was a distant third. Now, he is unlocking the offensive potential of this team and trading off some defense and Tim Duncan in the process. And the beauty is, this is the right strategy at the right time for the Spurs given where Duncan is in his career and where the Spurs have been with respect to the rest of the league the last couple of years.

The challenge for Pop is going to be the playoffs. It would be interesting to see if the Spurs play this style or go back to basics in the playoffs. They do have Timmy available, but is it practical to turn him on and off like that? Would the rookies and the younger Spurs be able to adjust to a different style in the playoffs if Pop decides to go that route? These are interesting questions I am sure Pop is thinking about already. They did beat the Lakers the other day with Timmy having a 2 point, 4 rebound night, but that dog probably aint gonna hunt in the playoffs. Lets see if the Spurs get all the way to the finals behind this new strategy and an improved offense. In the East, the Heat are still rolling. They spanked the Lakers on Christmas day and are looking unbeatable these days. Dwayne Wade has had 2 consecutive 40 point nights to lead them over the Knicks and the Rockets. The Celtics are still the favorites in the East, but with Garnett out for a couple of weeks and with the new look Magic, the East is going to get really interesting. Great way to start 2011 in the NBA.

Lets go bowling

To nobody's surprise, we are well into the college bowl season now. The length, the number of bowls and the stupidity of the sponsors are all getting worse every year. This year, the national championship game is not until the 10-Th of January. Pretty soon, we will be watching college football on Martin Luther King's day. There are 35 bowl games in all with bowls named after "uDrove", "R+L carriers" and "AdvoCare V100". It would be cool to get one of them bowl games named after myself next year. I am a huge sports fan, but have never really gotten into these bowl games since I don't see a point in a lot of them. I will watch them if I am at home and there are no other pro games to watch at that time. And some of these games are fun and nail-biting like any sporting event has the potential to be, but outside of the elite bowls, there is not much for me to get excited about. So clearly, you can see where I fall on the college football playoffs discussion. Absolutely bring on the playoffs and nuke some of these bowls. And playoffs will nuke some of these bowls. Thats exactly why the NCAA doesn't want it.

The bowl season is a good time for reflection on our lives as a sports fan since it also coincides with the end of the year when we are supposed to do resolutions and evaluate our life and all that nonsense anyways. I split the bowls into 3 parts. The first is the set of games prior to Christmas. These bowls starts earlier and earlier every year and I think it started on the 18-Th this year, but I am not sure. Ideally, it's good if you didn't know there are bowl games going on before christmas, but if you do, pretend like you didn't know. Of course, there will be a few good ones like Utah-V-Boise State, but for the most part, the pre-xmas bowls will feature match-ups like the 7-6 BYU versus the 6-7 UTEP. If you find yourself watching these games with rapt attention, please check yourself into GA - Gambleholics Anonymous! Honestly, gambling is the only reason to watch these games unless you are an alum, or in some cases, even if you are an alum. The march madness play-in game between the 64-Th and 65-Th seed is the only other sporting event that comes close to these bowl games in it's irrelevancy while also being marketed as an important sporting event.

The second phase of bowls are between Christmas and New Year. This is, for the most part used to be the meat of the bowl season leading up to the real big ones. I am not even sure anymore because of all the mish-mash of bowl games strewn across the calendar both before Xmas and after New Years. But if you are watching these bowl games closely, time to get a girlfriend! Something is slightly off in your life and lets go get a new life. It's the holiday season, schools and most of the workplaces have time-off and if all we are doing is watching these bowl games, life is not too bad, but aint great either. At the cost of sounding a little judgmental, I would recommend you shake things up a little. The third and final phase starts with Jan 1-St and this is where you have the big hitters like the grand-daddy Rose and the Orange and the Sugar. These are the games we should be watching and if you are not, then you are too busy. May be it's time to re-evaluate your priorities and re-connect with your inner sports fan. May be you are spending too much time at work or with "honey dues" and you should step back a little to enjoy some sugar (bowl). It will do you some good.

Of course, since they introduced the championship game a week later, they have dirtied up this third phase as well with a bunch of filler bowls leading all the way up to Jan 10-Th. For instance, Pittsburgh is playing Kentucky on Jan 8-Th. They are both better off playing basketball instead this time of the year, but thats neither here nor there. So when I say watch the post-new-year bowl games, I mean the real ones, not the "BBVA Compass Bowl". By the way, how perfectly named is that bowl! As I am writing my thoughts on how to use the bowl season as a compass to our lives, there is actually a bowl called compass bowl. In short, if you are watching the compass bowl start to finish, you need to change direction in your life. That pretty much sums up my 2 cents on the bowl season. As someone who has been on all sides of this bowl compass (except the gambling side), I thought I will share my opinions with you. But lets not forget to have fun with college football this holiday season. Lets go bowling, but hopefully not 35 times.

Dogs beware

This is Michael Vick's world and the rest of the NFL is just living in it. He says dogs are welcome in his new world, but I am not convinced yet. But the guy has been awesome on the field and is a legitimate MVP candidate. Everything he touches or involved in turns to gold this season. The game of week 15 was clearly the Eagles win over the Giants. They were down 31-10 with just 8 minutes to go in the 4-Th quarter and Vick brought them back to tie the game. Then with just a few seconds to go for OT, DeSean Jackson took a ill-advised punt to the house to give the Eagles an improbable and shocking 38-31 victory. Punter Matt Dodge had no business kicking it to Jackson in the first place. This was against a good team and a great defense in the Giants.

Vick has been part of several such jaw-dropping performances this season. The only thing that could have made this better for him is if he had thrown a "buzzer beating" 80 yard TD instead of Jackson scoring on the punt return. Vick has slowed down a little bit since that great game he had against the Redskins. The Giants game was in some sense the mirror image of that game. He scored a load of TDs in the first few minutes against the Redskins and now in the last few minutes against the Giants. He is a legitimate MVP candidate and the other top contender is Tom Brady. Brady has been near flawless this season and Vick is not far behind. I don't love or hate Vick these days, but it's amazing how quickly we forgive athletes if they play well on the field. He got a massive standing ovation at the 76'ers game against the Lakers and even Kobe had to stop and look.

Pittsburgh and NY Jets played a great game and the Jets came through 22-17 to stop the bleeding for now. It was an impressive win and it reestablishes them as a contender. Sexy Rexy can now go back to humoring us with more stupid quotes. Speaking of Sexy Rexy, the other Rexy (Grossman) started for Washington and had a good game. I am not sure what Shanahan is doing with Donovan McNabb, but Mike has benched him for the rest of the season. McNabb's agent is saying he has never been disrespected quite like this and I have to agree, McNabb is a star QB and treat him with some respect for God's sake. I don't know what Shanny is trying to do with these moves. Shany has not won a single playoff game since he benched my man Jake Plummer in favor of the baby-faced Cutler. I would chalk it up to bad karma.

In life, showing up is half the battle. If you consistently show up, regardless of what you do, you will do well because most people don't even show up. Brett Favre definitely scores big on this front. I was shocked to see him start the Monday nighter against the Bears after sitting out just 1 week. Unfortunately, he got beat up again and is probably done for the year now. The disastrous season continued for him as the Bears then crushed the Vikings 40-14. In other big games of the week, Ravens beat the Saints and the Colts beat the Jaguars to show them they are still the big boss in that division. Tim Tebow started for the Broncos and God shed some tears of joy resulting in some rain in Oakland. Run DMC and the Raidas won easily, but Tebow did rush well and threw and rushed for a TD each.

The trade to nowhere?

So far, my NBA predictions have been off the mark this season. Thats always going to happen once in a while and thats the beauty of sports, but you still like to think your expert opinions are correct more often than not! I buried the Heat after their shaky start and they seem to have totally turned it around after that trip to Cleveland. The Cavs might have blown it for the entire league with their ineptitude and lack of heart and pride in that game. I still think the Heat are not good enough to win it all or even win the L-East, but they do seem to have a better handle on playing together and might be good enough go really deep in the playoffs. I also thought the Fakers are looking good enough to may be threaten the 70 win plateau. I was wrong, though I was not entirely serious about the 70 win mark. Some years, teams do look like they are threatening 70 when they go on a long streak and it never really happens. But my point was, the Fakers looked really unbeatable and I think they still are very good. They are still everybody's pick to win it all, but they are nowhere near 70-win good. I am totally fine with it given I am no Faker-fan. I also thought the Warriors were going to be decent, but they seem to be back to where they always belong - the cellar. The suns looked good to me despite their early season record through a tough schedule.

The suns are hovering around 500 though their schedule has been rough. It's not as rough as it was to start the season as the schedule has evened out a little bit given that we have played 25 games, but they are looking more and more like a true .500 team. The loss of Amare has taken it's toll and it's kinda revealing how important he was and how good he is considering that the Knicks are rolling at 16-12 while the suns are 12-13. There is always this discussion about whether guys get over-valued because they look so good playing with Nash and if they will do well without Nash. Guys like Marion have proved that Nash adds more value to them than they ever did to Nash, but with Amare, it's not the case. Amare has proved that he is a true superstar by averaging 26-9 for the Knicks. Coincidentally, Nash's assist numbers are slightly down and his 3-point shooting is down to 33%. I don't think thats directly related to Amare's departure, but one has to wonder. He is still shooting a career high 51.4% and has more than 10 assists a game - both very impressive given his age and the state of this team. We all know the Suns were going to take a step back without Amare, because you need talent in this league and Nash can't compensate for everything. But the more surprising part has been how good Amare has looked in his new colors. Also, the new pieces for the Suns like Hedo have not really jelled and hence the tough predicament.

While I was sadly getting close to being resigned to a season of giving (away wins) and mediocrity, the suns have engineered a trade. It's very interesting in the sense that any change and shake-up is good and trades are great because it shakes up 2 teams. The Magic, for instance, have done exactly that with these trades. They get Hedo back and J-Rich and also Gilbert Arenas for Rashard Lewis from the Wizards. The Magic are making some desperate moves to win now and have given up some cap flexibility, but they have improved. They have gotten a little smaller and have some duplication at certain positions - JRich and Gilbert, but overall they are better. They had no business getting rid of Hedo in the first place. He was perfect for them. As for the suns, I am surprised a old team even got older at a key position, They now have a 33 year old shooting guard instead of a 31 year-old guy in J-Rich. They also hope that Vinsanity now replaces the productivity of J-Rich, who was the scoring leader for the suns. The suns also get some cash in return. With this stupid ownership group, the money part of it was probably the main motivation for the trade - they get some cash, flexibility plus they get out of Hedo's contract. This ownership group has constantly acted cheap and thrown away expensive assets. So I expect them to do the same with the first round pick they got.

However the official reason for the trade is defense. The suns are as usual leading the league in points scored, but they have the worst FG% against in the league and they give up the 2-Nd most points in the league and that explains the record. So they wanted size and defense and are hoping Marcin Gortat will give them both. Also, Pietrus should be a good defender as well. Thats the hope, but I am not entirely buying it. Vinsanity is old and flaky and I am not sure if he can even match J-Rich's consistency and scoring. The potential is there, but a whole lot of other things have been missing with this guy his entire career. I like his talent, but I don't trust him. As for the other pieces, they are nice, but I am not sure how much Gortat is going to provide over and above Lopez and how do those 2 play together? I like Pietrus as a piece around Nash and he can even defend some fools, but he needs to get healthy as well. As a fan, you always have hope, but I feel like this is a trade to nowhere or at best, a lateral move. They are hoping for better chemistry around Nash and I would definitely be curios to check it out. But I don't have much expectations and I still feel like this team is going nowhere. I sure hope my suns prove me wrong with this prediction as well. Speaking of predictions, the Magic just proved me right with 2 of my prior takes. I said the Rashard Lewis contract was stupid and they would do worse with Vince than with Hedo. Let me pat myself on the back for those on the way out.

On a totally unrelated note, fellow sun-devil James Harden is just awesome!

The roof caves in

The scariest and the most fascinating sight in the NFL last weekend was the roof at the Metrodome in Minnesota collapsing under the weight of a lot of snow. Thank God nobody was in the stadium when this happened since it was early in the morning. I can't even imagine what would have happened if this had occurred during the game. This video is a must-see on youtube if you had not seen it yet. Vikings game against the Giants was moved to Detroit on Monday night. This scene was a metaphor for the Vikings and Brett Favre's season. Despite the extra day, Favre could not go ending his impressive streaks of continuous starts at 297. This has been an utterly disastrous season for the ole' gunslinger. Between his 10 TD, 18 interception season, a 5-8 record, 2 losses against the Packers, the sexting scandal, firing of Childress and now the end of the amazing streak, the roof has definitely caved in on Brett Favre as well.

This has been one of those seasons where Favre would have gained more reputation sitting at home instead of playing. Good for him that he gets to deposit his 12 mill plus incentives in the bank and derive some comfort out of it. Of course the Vikings have no replacement for him and Tarvaris Jackson proved that at Detroit against the Giants. Now experts are saying the Vikings should audition Jackson for 3 weeks so they can decide what to do with the QB position next season since Favre should be definitely gone. There is really no point in playing Favre though Leslie Frazier still says he will play again this year if healthy. I think they should just shut Favre down and get this team to turn the page. The Favre era is over after one unbelievably great seasons and one horrible season. Whatever the Favre-haters and Packer fans wanted last year from Favre, they got it all this year and then some!

Speaking of the Packers, Aaron Rodgers suffered a concussion and the Packers shockingly lost at Detroit. This severely hurts their playoff chances given how difficult the rest of their schedule is. They may end up 9-7 and still miss the playoffs. My dream of a sub-500 team from the NFC West making the playoffs is still alive. 13 weeks in, the entire division is sill under 500. The only team in the entire NFL that has clinched the playoff position is the NE Patriots. They went into Chicago and creamed the Bears in inclement weather. It's amazing how good this team plays in bad weather. They may be the only team that does not change their passing game for the snow and handle the weather like it's no big deal. I don't know how the Pats and Brady do it, especially without Randy Moss or any top receiver of that caliber. The best game of the weekend was the Raiders at Jaguars. It's a better league if the Raiders are good and they seem to be almost there. Darren McFadden is an absolute stud and the Raiders almost won a big game on the road after many moons. They are almost there but not yet.

When you win, say little. When you lose, say less.

That was Tom Brady quoting his head coach after their game against the Jets. As much as I would like to hate these 2 guys, it's getting really hard with each passing week as their body of work just seems to get better and better. At 10-2, they have the best record in the AFC in a year that was supposed to be a rebuilding year and on top of that, they traded away Randy Moss, their most potent weapon on offense. These 2 guys are ultimate professionals and great role-models for professionalism. It's amazing to watch Brady bite his teeth and rally his troops on the sidelines even during games they are leading 30-6 or whatever. Even today, he plays with a chip on his shoulder and seems like a perfectionist. No wonder he is married to a super-model. The hoody seems like a perfectionist too. He is the ultimate operator of a franchise. The Patriot are so consistent with how they approach players, situations, media etc. top to bottom in that organization. If somebody veers off the beaten path, he is gone. And other organizations have tried to steal their system through assistant coaches like Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel and Josh McDaniels, but none of them have been the same without the hoody. McDaniels was a disaster and Denver finally let him go before he got rid of few more studs from the Broncos roster.

The hoody and Brady made sure the much hyped Jets-Pats Monday night game was a non-event. This was supposedly for all the AFC East marbles between 2 coaches and teams so culturally different. At the end of the night, Rex Ryan had to eat a 45-3 score wrapped in a humble pie. Brady scored 4 TDs and threw for 326 yards against the vaunted Jets defense. The talking heads on TV went gaga over hoody's game-plan and the quick, precision passing offense Brady ran all night to slice and dice the Jets. One more feather in the cap of these Pats. They may have another Super Bowl in them this year and if he Steelers are on the way, we know the Pats will walk all over them. Speaking of the Stillers, is there a better rivalry in the NFL than the Ravens-V-Steelers? While the Jets-Pats fell way short of expectation, Ravens-Steelers was every bit as exciting as advertised. It was a hard-fought game with some amazing hits and collisions. The game started off with a broken nose for Ben Roethlisberger, but Ben closed the deal at the end thanks to Troy Polamalu's hit on Flacco and the subsequent fumble. Is there a better defensive player in the league than Polamalu? This guy's speed, strength and aggression stands out even during a physical Ravens-Steelers game.

Manning and the Colts are moving in the wrong direction. Lots of passing yards and lots of scoring, but Manning is also throwing lots of interceptions and pick-6's and the Colts are riding a 3 game losing streak. It's no coincidence that Manning's interception numbers have sky-rocketed since Dallas Clark's injury. The Colts have some issues right now and if they don't fix them soon, they may miss the playoffs. In the NFC, the Bears are continuing to win. I don't understand this team at all, but I have to start giving them their due. At 8-4, the Packers may not even make the playoffs because of these Bears and a few other quality teams in the NFC. Of course, the NFC West still stinks and some bad team is going to make it and give us a bad playoff game. In the NBA, the Suns are still going back and forth and seem to be settling into a 500 bteam. Thats not good. The Heat are making my prediction of their demise seem pre-mature. They went into Cleveland and crushed the Cavs. That seems to have rejuvenated the team and are on a surprising 6 game winning streak. The schedule is soft right now, but they are winning some road games and today's win at Utah was impressive. Let see if this is something permanent.

Week 13 also means the fantasy football regular season is done. Unfortunately, I missed the playoffs in both my leagues despite having 2 good teams. I need to take responsibility for the bad showing. I guess I am no Bill Belichick.

You heard it here first!

I am going to go out on a limb and say that they will blow up this Miami Heat team in a year or 2. I actually give them 18 months. By the summer of 2012, they will have to trade away one of the two and let either LeBron or Wade take his talents to some other city. I know it's just 18 games, but I see structural problems. Sure they will get rid of coach Spo and sure, Riles will come down and the team will improve. They will listen to him and he has the stature to implement some interesting things with these fools. Also he will make defense a priority and that in and of itself will be worth 5 more regular season wins. Of course, they have enough talent to make it to the playoffs in the East under coach Spo or under my grandma for that matter. Riley's coaching will only upgrade the team to a much deeper playoff run, but I don't see championship credentials in this team. And thats not just because of the lack of a strong supporting cast or lack of depth. Those are peripheral issues that are actually fixable over a couple of seasons, if not right now.

The fundamental problem I see is that Wade and LeBron are not complimentary pieces. They want to and have no problems playing together, but they are not adding value to each other. Chemistry is a difficult science. It is very important in any sport, but more so in basketball and it's very hard to predict until the players actually play together. Unless you have a great glue guy like Stevie Nash who brings everybody together and makes them all better, it's hard to predict how guys play with each other. So nobody, myself included, ever commented on the potential fit of the Wade-LeBron duo. We all assumed it will work and it does for many stretches, but it's not consistent. You need a Jordan and a Pippen and I am afraid the Heat have 2 Jordans who are not as good as Jordan of course, and they have no Pippen. People don't appreciate Pippen and how important he was for the Bulls. He was very talented, but more importantly, was ultra-versatile. Plus he had the attitude and maturity to fill in any gaps for that Bulls team. He did everything that MJ couldn't or wouldn't do on a given night.

With Wade and LeBron, there are issues. They both came in to the league together and became big-time stars separately. Now they are together, but their games don't work together. The only options for them would be to make a Pippen out of Lebron, Thats not because he is the inferior talent or has been unproductive so far. It is only because he is the more versatile of the 2 and Wade can't do everything a Pippen or a LeBron can do. So turn the offense over to Wade and see if LeBron can do all thats needed to fill in the gaps. But who can make LeBron do that or is it even fair to LeBron to fit him into that role? He is one of the potential all-time greats and how can you make him a second option? So there is no easy way to make these 2 players complimentary. Short of giving them 2 balls and 2 hoops (and possibly 2 strip clubs in south beach), it's going to be hard to maximize their potential. It's not that they are hogging the ball or fighting for it, but they are not able to work well together. When LeBron is dominating the ball, Wade is nowhere to be seen and when Wade is on fire, it looks like they are over-paying LeBron for nothing. They both do similar things and are not both useful at the same time. They are not great rebounders or defenders or 3-point shooters. They don't have a great low-post game or a dependable jump-shot. Their style may be different, but their output and roles are very similar. And this despite the fact that LeBron is a triple-double threat every night.

Of course, chemistry builds over time and players evolve too. One or both can become a great 3-point shooter or an awesome defender and things can change. Richard Jefferson is supposed to have finally found his spot with the Spurs after an entire season. So 18 games doesn't make a season. But like I said, I see structural problems (not dead people :-) ) and I don't see an easy way out. The great expectations and lack of salary cap doesn't help either and I suspect this system collapses under it's own weight and the Heat will be forced to trade either Wade or LeBron after 2 futile seasons. Thats my prediction. Last time, Riley fired Stan Van Gundy and collected a easy ring with Wade and Shaq, but he may not be able to pull that scam again. He can and will fire coach Spo, but he ain't winning the championship with this group. This once again proves it's not easy or efficient to have 2 talented wing players as your superstars and 1-2 punch. It's always easier to build a team with a wing and a big combo - Kobe-Shaq, Shaq-Wade, Kobe-Pau. Their positions and their roles on the court are complimentary by design. Not the case with Wade-LeBron and thats what makes the Jordan-Pippen combo all the more impressive.

Cards suck

Today's monday night football was one of the worst performances you will ever see by the Arizona Cardinals, even by their unbelievably low standard. There is really no reason for the Cards to suck like this against a mediocre Niners team at home. With Fitz and Breaston on offense and decent talent on defense, it's really hard to see what ails this team. QB Derek Anderson is not even that bad, but he is no Kurt Warner and Warner's retirement has completely changed the complexion of this team. Anderson was also caught smiling with a teammate on the sidelines and that became an issue later. Some reporter questioned him on that and he flipped. I feel for this guy. I am sure he works had, but the talent is just not there. I think he was just smiling with his teammate on the sideline and I always find it funny that the media makes a big deal out of losing players smiling on the sideline. You are supposed to sit there looking like one of your close relative just got shot. It's OK if that's fake remorse - which is what it is with most players, but you are just not supposed to look normal or have any kind of fun if you are losing. Not sure why the demeanor matters so much, but it just does for some folks.

DA definitely didn't do anything to earn the right to laugh tonight. He made most fans cry watching his throws and this offense and the Cards defense was even worse. They couldn't stop the run to save their lives. Gore got hurt in the first 5 minutes of the game, but he already had 50+ yards rushing and backup Westbrook ended up with 130 yards rushing. They didn't get any pressure on the young QB Troy Smith or the old RB Brian Westbrook. Niners looked like World beaters after looking like the Cards last weekend against the Bucs. The NFC West is horrible and the rookie QB Sam Bradford might end up leading the Rams to the playoffs. He is very good for a rookie and they beat the Denver Broncos on the road while Seattle lost at home. It would be awesome if a team wins this division with a 7-9 record. I always want a team to win a division with a losing record. And what would be even funnier if that team also goes onto win the Super Bowl. That probably would never happen, but the first request might actually be satisfied this year in this horrible NFC West.

There were a few indelible images from this football weekend, and some of them were from shockingly bad plays. Buffalo's Steve Johnson's drop of the game winning TD pass in the end zone should be on the top of the list. It was hard to watch his emotional post-game interview after the loss. At least the Bills have nothing to play for and that should help him handle this better. It would have been much worse if he lost the game with playoff position or a Super Bowl trip on the line. He was open and Fitzpatrick's pass fell right on his hands. He just dropped it inexplicably. The good news for the Bills fans is that they might have the QB of the future in Fitz. This dude is good. The other disturbing image of the week was the Boise State kicker missing gimme field goals that would have won the game both in the 4-Th quarter and OT thereby losing the game for Boise State and putting an end to a supposed championship run and an undefeated season. I was pulling for Boise State and TCU to stay unbeaten and crash the BCS party. Now that dream is gone though TCU is still in the run. The best play of the weekend, if not the entire college football season was made by Oklahoma State defensive back Broderick Brown who jumped outside the lines and tapped an attempted out-of-bounds pass onto the field of play where his teammate caught the ball for an interception. Heady, unselfish and athletic - the very attributes that define a good football player.

Wild wild west

The Western conference in the NBA is supposed to be finally slowing down this year after some talent movement to the East. But there are some crazy records in the West right now and it looks scarier than ever. San Antonio is 10-1 for the first time in their history and they are still not even leading their division! The Hornets are 10-1 too and are finally realizing the potential they showed us 2 seasons back. We were all wondering what happened to them the last 2 years and CP3 even wanted out. But now they have come back strong. The Spurs are as good as ever and slightly better that last year because Richard Jefferson is looking better than before in their uniform and Parker looks a little more focussed with all the divorce news floating around. Duncan just surpassed the Admiral Robinson to become the franchise's scoring leader. As usual they have their yearly steal from the draft - James Anderson contributing.

The Lakers are of course 11-2 with their 2 losses coming against the Suns and the Nuggets back-to-back. They are still the best team by far and are pretty much making the NBA regular season look meaningless. But these other teams in the West are threatening them just a little bit. The Jazz at 8-5 are barely holding onto the 7-Th spot, but they have had a bunch of impressive, come from behind wins including a shocker in Miami where they embarrassed the small 3. But today, the Jazz lost to the Spurs big 3. Dallas, OKC and Portland are as good as expected and the Warriors are looking surprisingly good at 7-5. Watch out for this Warriors team. They are no joke. They score a lot as always, but now they can also rebound, especially when David Lee is healthy and available.

This leaves the Suns and the Nuggets looking in from the outside. I think things will change, especially with the Suns having such a brutal start to the schedule, but the West will be rough as always. The Suns have already played the Spurs, Jazz, Lakers - twice, Heat, Denver and the Magic with a lot of those games being on the road. This combined with the fact that the team is new and still learning to play with each other and the fact that Nash has missed a game already, it's not bad that they are 6-6. The schedule will loosen up eventually and if they are still healthy, they should be fine. I was hoping they will beat the small 3 and the Miami Heat, but it was not meant to be. Bosh and the Heat crushed them. Hopefully we will get them in Phoenix later. Speaking of the Heat, one of the few funny catchphrases in the stupid sportscenters these days is when one of the anchors always introduce the team visiting the Heat as "The Charlotte Bobcats took their talent to South Beach today". I love the pun! I am still amazed Bron "took his talents to South Beach". I used to be such a "believer" in this guy, but now I want them to lose every game.

Vick is sick

I couldn't believe my eyes when I glanced at the score of the Eagles-Redskins game during Monday night football towards the end of the first quarter. It read 28-0. I don't think I have ever seen such a score in Q1 of a pro game. Michael Vick just went nuts. I can't believe how good this guy is playing right now. The entire sports media is in awe of this guy today and I have to say, rightfully so. He threw for 333 yards and 4 TDs and rushed for 80 more and 2 TDs. Are you kidding me? What's this, Tim Tebow and Florida versus Cincinnati? This didn't look like a pro game against a semi-decent Redskins team.

Vick actually looked like himself from his good old college days at Va Tech. Ironically, this is exactly what I thought he would become when I used to be his fan when he was in College. But that potential was never realized and as if to add insult to injury, he ended up in jail. Just when we thought his career was done, he comes back out of jail and coach Andy Reid seems to have completely resurrected his career. Of course, Vick himself I am sure is a changed man after that stint in the jail and that helps. But he was never the kind of passer he is right now before he hooked up with Reid.

I hate to admit this, but Vick might be unstoppable after all. Took him a while to get here and there were some unsavory detours along the way, but he might have finally arrived. Of course he has just played a few games this season and it's way too early to put him in the hall of fame, but he sure looked impressive Monday night. Just his fantasy numbers was newsworthy considering how ridiculous it was - close to 50. One of the record breaking nights for a QB and he missed just 8 passes. Now there's talk of a MVP award and his games have become must-see TV again already. May be time for Favre to retire for the 15-Th time and turn over the reins to Vick.

MLB has started handing out it's stupid off-season awards. Actually good awards but stupid timing. Roy Halladay won the NL Cy Young. Well deserved for sure. So was the Rookie of the Year winners - Neftali Feliz in the AL and Buster Posey in the NL. Buster Posey was the biggest no-brainer ever. The guy pretty much turned around the season for the Giants, a season that eventually ended with a championship for them. I don't know if people understand his impact on the team, but it was humongous. It was his call-up that turned around the hitting, the attitude and the excitement surrounding the team. He brought both tangible and intangible benefits to the team. R.O.Y indeed.

In my favorite league, the association, my favorite team is doing great. Suns' early season schedule looks like something a die-hard Suns hater would have come up with in his copious free time, but they are still 6-4 with 2 strong wins recently. Just when I was wondering if the Lakers would win 72 games, they lost to the Nuggets on the road. The Suns then beat the Fakers right in LA using 22 3-point bombs and followed it up with a win against Denver at home on a back-to-back night. Now onto Miami to take on the Heat. The only problem is, beating that Heat team may not be as impressive as the previous 2 wins! Great quote heard on the radio - "is it just me or does Pat Riley really look closer to the bench every time they show him on TV during Heat games". Riley might come down and steal another championship, but this team may not be good enough to win one this year. The only bad news for the Suns is that Robin Lopez is injured and they got even smaller if thats even possible.

Programmatic non-fit

Vikings coach Brad Childress might have come up with the quote of the year, if not the decade in the NFL. When asked why did he cut Randy Moss, he said Moss was a programmatic non-fit. Thats so cool! I am going to start using this term everywhere. I have always wondered if I was a programmatic non-fit in this World. But thats neither here nor there. Coming back to Chilly, I have always disliked him since last year. I thought he has been sounding a little arrogant and way too self-important ever since he started winning with Favre last season. But I love him now! As weird as it sounds coming from a football coach, thats the best description for Moss. Considering that Moss's recent issues range from disrespecting the head-coach to yelling and screaming at the caterers, "programmatic non-fit" sounds fitting - pun intended. I was shocked that they actually went ahead and cut him after trading the Pats a 3-Rd round pick for him. Moss is still a threat in the field and of course a threat to caterers and other off the field apparently, but still, Chilly had no business cutting him. Apparently he didn't tell his ownership either. So the ownership went out and interviewed the players to see if they should hold onto Moss and fire Chilly instead! Chilly better put his house in Minnesota on the market. Even before the Moss mess, Chilly's time there was coming to an end soon, but the Moss fiasco will seal his fate for sure. Favre is done too. That team is in a world of trouble, and most of it self-inflicted by either Favre or Chilly or both.

This has been a strange week in the NFL newswire. Mike Shanahan benched McNabb last Sunday for the final 2 minutes and gave a weak excuse that Rex Grossman, of all people, had a better handle on his 2-minute drill and hence was inserted into the game. The only good handle Rex has his own - sexy Rexy. Dude usually takes planned 10-minute drives and makes them a quick and dirty 2-minute drill - typically featuring a 3 and out. So Shanahan's comments were strange at so many different levels. Shanahan sounded like a "programmatic non-fit" after that comment. He then came back next day and made it worse. He said he pulled McNabb because he was not well-conditioned for a 2-minute drill. Now Terrell Owens is referring to McNabb throwing up during the Super Bowl and is agreeing with Shanahan. Here's a good rule of thumb in the NFL. If TO is agreeing with you, you are saying something stupid. I think Shanahan could have just said McNabb was benched because of his performance and things would have been so much better. It sounds like Shanahan came up with something initially to make it sound better than a good old benching, but later decided to throw McNabb under the bus anyways. Weird! Even Tom Brady got sucked into the stupidity of this week as he suggested he doesn't make any decisions in New England and if they listened to him, Lawyer Milloy and Deion Branch would have never left. He was answering a question about whether the Pats should claim Randy Moss off waivers. Brady said all this with a smile and didn't end up stirring any controversy, but it sounded a little odd coming from a "programmatic fit" like Brady from the ultimate program - hoody's Pats. Hoody is go well put-together, even Moss had high praise for him after last week's loss and that was actually the start of the issues for Moss and Chilly - at least publicly.

If only the games tomorrow are as good as the action during the week, life will be good.

A Giant week

The San Francisco Giants actually sealed the deal and won their first championship in SF after 52 years. It was great news for the Bay Area that has been in a sports funk the last few years. There are a lot of teams in the area, but most of them have been extremely mediocre lately since the great run by the niners in the nineties. The Giants have been pretty bad since Bonds left and this year was not supposed to be any different. They had built a good pitching staff the last couple of years, but their hitting has been downright garbage since Bonds retired. The most over-used phrase in baseball is probably "playoffs are all about pitching". While this is true, you will often see games in the playoffs that are 8-6 or 11-3. This is because the playoff teams often feature good hitting in addition to good pitching and on some nights, hitting trumps pitching and thats especially true in the American League. But this year, the playoffs were truly about pitching. Between the Giants and the Phillies, the NL pitching was out of the world and Cliff Lee basically carried the Rangers through the AL playoffs.

Not to take anything away from the Giants' timely hitting, but their pitching was awesome - both starters and their bullpen were phenomenal. They had 2 shutouts and a one run game in the 5 World Series game thanks to Lincecum, Cain and Bumgarner. Their entire starting rotation is comprised of talented, young and most importantly, home-grown pitchers. The aforementioned three studs were all first rounders and Jonathan Sanchez was a 27-Th round pick by the Giants. This is a rarity in this day and age. No wonder the Giants fan base feels this good about their team. While I am not a Giants fan, I have to admit that this team is the exact opposite of the mercenary Yankee model and I like that about this team. Their most expensive pitcher, Barry Zito didn't even make the playoff roster. Their biggest offensive weapon - Buster Posey, is also home-grown and young. He is clearly the MVP of this team. It's his call-up to the bigs and the subsequent promotion to every-day catcher status after the trade of Bengie Molina that was the turning point of this season. The team's hitting was so bad on paper, that a lot of the pieces were accumulated over the course of the season and they were not even part of the starting day roster. Posey was called up, Pat Burrell was signed late and the playoff hero Cody Ross was added in August. Thats the exact opposite of the 200 million dollar Yankees lineup for instance since it was assembled last December and January by spending millions and zillions of dollars.

Of course the youth and pitching on this roster has the fans dreaming about a dynasty and multiple championships. While the Giants are going to be good, nothing is guaranteed in life, especially with pitching. Doesn't it feel like just yesterday we were all gushing about Kerry Wood, Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano? Forget a championship or the Cubs, these 3 dudes are barely even relevant as individual pitchers anymore. Thats how fickle pitchers and their arms can be. But even assuming the Giants studs stay strong and Posey improves, championships are not easy and thats what makes them special. Dynasties have become a thing of the past in both football and baseball and it happens only in basketball these days. Baseball at least has some notion of dynasties because of the high-spending teams like the Yankees and Redsox that are at least expected to have a winning season and a possible playoff berth most years. Otherwise, for the most part, teams that make it to the Super Bowl or the World Series don't even get back to the playoffs next year. The Phillies made it to 2 straight World Series and the NLCS this year and thats as impressive a 3 year stretch as you will see these days with teams not named the New York Yankees. It's doable, but the Giants fans can't assume it's a given. Not to rehash a old theory, but the Giants still need some hitting. It's one thing to catch lightning in a bottle over a 10 or a 15 game stretch and win the championship, but they can't assume this will happen every October. They still need a lineup that scales to handle a 162 game season. They need to upgrade their hitting, but they may not be as far off as we originally thought, especially with the development of Buster Posey.

With all this said and done about baseball, we all know football is the real national past time as Sunday night showed us. The Steelers-Saints regular season game outdrew game 4 of the World Series on TV and I was not even surprised. Of course the one million or so Giants fan who gathered at the parade yesterday don't care. They are just happy their Giants won.

We got a series on our hands now

The World Series is getting interesting now. The Rangers went back home and won game 3. So far, the great pitching of the Giants has looked like it's too much for the Rangers to handle. It's not just their starting pitching, but the Giants bullpen aint bad either. Ironically, their famous and amusingly interesting closer, Brian Wilson, might be the weakest link of that bullpen. The Rangers on the other hand have a rather shaky bullpen and they seemed too dependent on Cliff Lee when the series started. The Giants got Lee out of game 1 pretty early and rather easily. Of course Lincecum was not great either, but the Giants didn't care since they won. Cain was spectacular in game 2 as he shut fools down. The game was close until the texas bullpen started spraying the ball all over the place. Walk after walk meant a hit here or there was going to score 2 or 3 runs and thats exactly what happened. But now, if they win tomorrow, this series becomes fascinatingly close. Tommy Hunter versus Bumgarner should be interesting to watch.

In football, Auburn survived the curse of the first seed as they went on the road and beat Ole Miss to stay at the top. Oregon crushed USC to stay undefeated. Two more undefeated teams lost today - Missouri and Michigan State. Both got embarrassed and thats good news for one loss teams like Alabama. BCS is a mess now and will be a different mess by the time it's all said and done. I guess thats what we like about College football - at least thats what we are told. ASU won 42-0 against Washington. Thats neither here nor there. A dominant scoreboard from a team that has looked anything but lately. To be fair to the Devils, they did play Oregon pretty close early in the season, may be before Oregon fond itself. Lets see if Oregon can punch this one in and take it all the way home for Pac-10.

In the NFL, it's all about Brett Favre. Dude is definitely hurt and probably should sit down, but won't because of his streak. Childress and Favre are talking like they both are in different planets. I have a feeling this is going to end real bad in all fronts. I think Favre starts tomorrow, loses, probably gets hurt more and loses his continuous streak next week. Chilly threw Favre under the bus last week after Favre repeatedly threw the ball into the chest of Packer defenders. Since then they have been going back and forth and this is going to get a lot worse before Chilly gets fired and Favre retires end if the year. NBA is on and apparently the Heat games are getting amazing ratings. The Suns are 1-2, but have looked good so far. The schedule is brutal, but I am surprised how fluid they look.

NBA, MLB, NFL and NCAA

What a time of the year this is. College Saturday, NFL Sunday (and Monday), World Series and the NBA season is kicking off tomorrow. The Suns play tomorrow along with the Heat and the Fakers. I am really not as excited as usual for this season because of 2 reasons. I decided I don't like the Heat and this season is going to be all about the Heat. I don't think they are going to win 72+ games nor the championship, but they are going to be VERY good and thats going to be very irritating the way ESPN has been covering this team so far. Of course the other reason is that the Suns are without Amare and probably are not going far. I am not a pre-season dork, but they have a horrible 2-6 record. They have some talent, but no size. What's new? So a lot will depend on chemistry and Nash. You look at the Suns and you are certain that their defense can never get worse, but they always seem to make that happen. With Hedo and the advancing age of Nash and Hill, their defense will be even worse this year. But overall I will reserve judgement on the team until December. I am hoping they are good, but I am afraid they'll be mediocre. As for the others, I have been a Laker hater all my life, but am suddenly finding myself hoping they beat the Heat in the Finals. Thats how much I don't like LeBron in a Heat uniform.

The World Series nobody wanted or expected is here - Giants versus the Rangers. I am very curious to see the TV ratings on this. Both SF and Dallas are decent sized television markets, but the rest of the country don't follow these teams and the East Coast will be basically checked out of this series. Plus, even locally, the Rangers are not that big a franchise though I am sure the local area is very excited about them now that they are in the World Series. But as a team that has never won a playoff series from a predominantly football region, the Rangers are not one of those big-ticket franchises. The Giants are at least decent locally. Of course one of the most amazing things in sports is how with every advancing round in the playoffs, the hype and the fan-base of the team grows exponentially. I don't want to call these people band wagoners, but they are something. They are not your serious sports fan for sure and they come out of the woodwork in droves as the team advances each round. The SF Bay Area is currently firmly in the grip of World Series hype. Neither team was picked by anybody to even make the playoffs, but they are now in the World Series. This series will feature some tremendous pitching match-ups much like the previous rounds of the playoffs. The series should kick-off with a Lee-Lincecum match-up. Should be fun. I don't know who I like in this series. I don't care who wins, I will be watching

NFL doesn't stop for the World Series and they don't have to given that the horrible, regular season Tennessee-Jacksonville game last Monday crushed the Yankees ALCS game on TV ratings. So the national sport continues after all the brouhaha all last week about hits and helmet to helmet collisions. Too many concussions and too much noise later by the defensive players on how the league is over-reacting. May be they are, but I like the basic idea that the player need to be tacked, not necessarily hit. Oftentimes, the defender hits the offensive player because he can, not because he need to. The way I see it is, the league is legislating against unnecessary hits. Those have always been part of football, but I don't mind taking them away. Doesn't really change the game for me that much. I don't watch it to see the "jacked up" highlight hits. I don't mind protecting the players better given that the athletes are constantly getting bigger, stronger and faster in these days of advanced health sciences and medical advancements. The game is constantly becoming safer and thats good. Injuries are part of the game, but it's sad to see guys get injured. For instance, today, Romo got hurt and is out. I don't want anybody to get injured, but I especially get frustrated when bad teams that I don't like suffer injuries. Suddenly the bad team gets a convenient excuse for their incompetence. The Cowboys are exactly in that situation - an incompetent team that is 1-5 with an injured QB now.

The NFL results this week were all over the place - like the Raiders and DMF crushing the Broncos 59-14. You really have to parse through the standings to figure out which team is doing what. It's about time we throw the pre-season rankings out. Speaking of rankings, in college, once again a number 1 seed lost and now, BCS says it's Auburn's turn to lose. They have them at one after they beat LSU. Not sure why the BCS hates Oregon and Boise State, not to mention TCU, Michigan State or TCU - the other undefeated teams. But they don't think Oregon is number 1 even after they pummeled UCLA 60-13. And this is the UCLA team that crushed Texas 34-12. Oregon is ranked number 1 in the coaches and other polls, but not in BCS. Of course some of these undefeated teams, may be even Oregon will lose and we will be watching these ranking go upside down a couple more time before all is said and done.

Torture

The San Francisco giants games are affectionately called "torture" by their fans. This is because they have been in a high-pressure, playoff push since early Sept and in actual playoffs this month and they always play agonizingly close games. They have great pitching and questionable hitting. This means they play a lot of close, low-scoring games that end up torturing their fans until the last pitch. I can't remember too many giants games that were blowouts one way or the other. Brian Wilson joked today "I got anxiety. I got a mini-ulcer developing". Now, they are really torturing the Philies who are trailing the series 3-1. Roy Halladay is pitching tomorrow, but then again, so is Timmy Lincecum. The giants pitching is good enough to neutralize the Phillies pitching and this dude Cody Ross has looked like Babe Ruth so far. Hitting was supposed to be Phillies strength, but so far this entire playoffs has been about pitching. Oswalt volunteered to pitch the ninth inning today and lost the game. The whiz-kid Buster Posey had 4 hits including a key one in the 9-Th against Oswalt. Posey is clearly the Giant's MVP this season. What a talent he is!

The giants are playing very well right now and the chemistry is building and the experience of growing. I can easily see Lincecum slamming the door on the Phillies tomorrow. The Giants are the under-dogs and there still seems to a lot of fans nationally who are just assuming the Phillies will win 3 in a row and take the series. Thats easier said than done. H2O with Halladay, Hamels and Oswalt is pretty formidable, but Sanchez, Cain and Lincecum are no slouches either except in the nick-name department. Closing out this series is gonna be difficult for the Giants like Texas learnt today, but the Giants will have their horse on the mound tomorrow. All stars are aligned for the giants. Texas, on the other hand, is now going back home leading 3-2 and they got 2 games to close the Yankees out. Hope they don't slack off in game 6 hoping Cliff Lee will take care of things in game 7. I can't believe the SF giants or the Texas rangers could be World Series bound, but it could happen. A Giants-Rangers World Series might be the league and the television channel's worst nightmare. In any case, the giants fans don't care. They are just ready for another torture tomorrow.