Last Thursday, Football lost a legendary Quarterback as former Bears QB, Ed Brown died at 78. Brown played for 12 seasons in the NFL, appearing in two Pro Bowls and led the Chicago Bears to the 1956 NFL Title Game(a 47-7 loss to the New York Giants). However, before he was a Bear he played for the San Francisco Dons. In 1951 Brown was the star Quarterback for the Dons and it was that season football died at the University...all because of their beliefs. It was going into that season that the University of San Francisco had held a meeting in which they considered dropping Football do to not being able to afford the costs of supporting a team.
So most students and alumnists along with the fans were concerned about the team's future. The fear of losing the program motivated the team as the finished the season 9-0 and ranked 14th Nationally in the AP Poll. Most Bowls were reluctant to invite the undefeated Dons due to their competition but finally, following their final game of the season, The Dons were invited to play in the Orange Bowl in Miami. However, there was a catch. The only way the Orange Bowl Committee would allow the Dons to play would be if they left their African-American players at home(it was a custom prior to the mid-50's that any team that fielded African-American players would have to leave them at the campus if they were to play an SEC school or in any Bowl Game in the South).
USF, refused, however, and as a result, the Orange Bowl Committee revoked their invitation. The declining of the invitation would ultimately lead the end of the program(had they accepted the money from the game would've kept the program afloat)as the Dons would never field another game for over 15 years, where they unsuccessfully returned as a Division III school. Now, 56 years later, Brown is gone just like many of the USF Dons, but their refusal to bench their African-American players led to a change in College Football. It was after that the NCAA had decided to change things lifting the "Whites Only" rule of the South for Interconference games and Bowl Games. However, it wouldn't be for another 20 years that the SEC would allow African-Americans to play on the Varsity Teams. However, it was the integrity of the Dons that began a change in College Football.
So for that I give credit to the San Francisco Dons and I say goodbye to a legendary Quarterback in Ed Brown.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Hank Aaron
So I'm browsing the net today, and I go on Wikipedia hoping to find an answer to a question someone asked when under the "In the News" section, I notice that Barry Bonds has hit his 756th Home Run. Well its finally happen, Bonds has finally broken the Home Run record to the delight of no one not even his godfather, Willie Mays. What has occured tonight is a true robbery of honesty and integrity. The once great home run record is now a sham because someone decided to juice up because they realized they will never be as good as their father.
I'll say it, I supported Mark McGwire when he broke Roger Maris' record, I supported Barry Bonds when he broke McGwire's record, and I even supported Rafael Palmeiro when he hit his 3,000th ball. In the years since, Mark McGwire has refused to address his steroid accusations, Palmeiro has lost all integrity and trust, and now Bonds sits a-top the most prestigious record in all of sports. I never supported this to occur, I never wanted Hank's record to be broken and I never thought I'd see the day where I actually stop watching a sport I'd supported in all 11 years of being a sports fan(Baseball fan since 1997). But with the recent events and the fact another dick(this one coincidently nicknamed A-Rod)is almost guarenteed to break it, I may just give up on Baseball all together.
One of the things I've always wanted to do along with calling a Super Bowl is to call a World Series where the Orioles finally break out and end their 20 plus year drought but its hard to support a sport full of sham and cheats. The bottom line is you will never convince me that Barry Bonds earned that record without some kind of boost. My only hope is his doctor, who is sitting in a California jail cell wasting away finds it in him to tell the truth and show some integrity. Let me just say no matter what Wikipedia says, no matter what ESPN say, and no matter what Sports Almanac(which I get yearly)says, or Major League Baseball says, Hank Aaron will always be the all-time leader.
I'll say it, I supported Mark McGwire when he broke Roger Maris' record, I supported Barry Bonds when he broke McGwire's record, and I even supported Rafael Palmeiro when he hit his 3,000th ball. In the years since, Mark McGwire has refused to address his steroid accusations, Palmeiro has lost all integrity and trust, and now Bonds sits a-top the most prestigious record in all of sports. I never supported this to occur, I never wanted Hank's record to be broken and I never thought I'd see the day where I actually stop watching a sport I'd supported in all 11 years of being a sports fan(Baseball fan since 1997). But with the recent events and the fact another dick(this one coincidently nicknamed A-Rod)is almost guarenteed to break it, I may just give up on Baseball all together.
One of the things I've always wanted to do along with calling a Super Bowl is to call a World Series where the Orioles finally break out and end their 20 plus year drought but its hard to support a sport full of sham and cheats. The bottom line is you will never convince me that Barry Bonds earned that record without some kind of boost. My only hope is his doctor, who is sitting in a California jail cell wasting away finds it in him to tell the truth and show some integrity. Let me just say no matter what Wikipedia says, no matter what ESPN say, and no matter what Sports Almanac(which I get yearly)says, or Major League Baseball says, Hank Aaron will always be the all-time leader.
2007 NFL Predictions
Hot of the presses folks! Here is my predictions for the 2007 NFL Season. Lets start off with the playoff seedings.
AFC:
1.San Diego Chargers(AFC West Champions)
2.Indianapolis Colts(AFC South Champions)
3.Baltimore Ravens(AFC North Champions)
4.New England Patriots(AFC East Champions)
5.Kansas City Chiefs(Wildcard)
6.New York Jets(Wildcard)
NFC:
1.San Francisco 49ers(NFC West)
2.New Orleans Saints(NFC South)
3.Philadelphia Eagles(NFC East)
4.Chicago Bears(NFC North)
5.Seattle Seahawks(Wildcard)
6.St.Louis Rams(Wildcard)
Playoff Predictions
AFC:
Wildcard:
Ravens over Jets
Patriots over Chiefs
Divisionals:
Chargers over Ravens
Patriots over Colts
AFC Title Game:
Patriots over Chargers
NFC:
Wildcard:
Eagles over Rams
Seahawks over Bears
Divisionals:
49ers over Eagles
Saints over Seahawks
NFC Title Game:
Saints over 49ers
Super Bowl XLII:
Saints over Patriots
MVP:Drew Brees
AFC:
1.San Diego Chargers(AFC West Champions)
2.Indianapolis Colts(AFC South Champions)
3.Baltimore Ravens(AFC North Champions)
4.New England Patriots(AFC East Champions)
5.Kansas City Chiefs(Wildcard)
6.New York Jets(Wildcard)
NFC:
1.San Francisco 49ers(NFC West)
2.New Orleans Saints(NFC South)
3.Philadelphia Eagles(NFC East)
4.Chicago Bears(NFC North)
5.Seattle Seahawks(Wildcard)
6.St.Louis Rams(Wildcard)
Playoff Predictions
AFC:
Wildcard:
Ravens over Jets
Patriots over Chiefs
Divisionals:
Chargers over Ravens
Patriots over Colts
AFC Title Game:
Patriots over Chargers
NFC:
Wildcard:
Eagles over Rams
Seahawks over Bears
Divisionals:
49ers over Eagles
Saints over Seahawks
NFC Title Game:
Saints over 49ers
Super Bowl XLII:
Saints over Patriots
MVP:Drew Brees
Joey Basford vs ESPN
A month ago I wrote a blog about my war with the media. In it I mentioned that I hate how bias it is and the way they never have their facts completely straight and point fingers. Along with that I mentioned I wanted to be a Journalist which brings me to this blog. In the past few years I've wanted to not only be a Journalist but also a Sports Commentator. I mean, my dream is to call at least one World Series, the Super Bowl and a major College Football game, working for ESPN.
But day after day I don't want to work for ESPN because I've came to a realization that ESPN is the most biased sports network out there(when it comes to bias we're talking FOX News levels). If you only watched ESPN you'd think that the Yankees and Red Sox were the only Baseball team, USC was the most presitgious and best football team in the world, and the Patriots and Colts were the only thing the NFL has to offer. Theres especially one thing that drives me crazy and its Mark May. Mark May is an analyst for College Football and a former offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins.
Never before in my life have I've seen a guy who disagrees with everything I say. I swear to god the guy is the anti-Joey Basford. His lips are attached to USC's ass(the guy went to Pittsburgh and hypes SC as god). And I know its required that every non-Notre Dame fan should hate Notre Dame by default but this guy seems to be holding a grudge toward the school because everytime he mentions them its something negative. I mean, hell during the NFL Draft they were giving the championship to New England before the season even began.
Its as if, no matter how good other teams are or how bad the Saux, Yanks, Trojans, Colts, and Pats are the same teams seem to be the main subject of every show. Come to think of it, I remember barely any talk about the Rams between 1999-2002, its as if they only existed in the playoffs. And I guarentee you this, back in April the Orioles blew a 7-2 lead against the Yanks in a game where the Yanks rallied to win 10-7 winning of an A-Rod grandslam. I guarentee you if the Orioles had done that they would be talking about the Yankees losing the game and not the Orioles winning it. Hell they'd probably never mention the Orioles in it and just talk about the Yanks collapsing.
The same goes for another Oriole collapse(May against the Red Sox)where they led 5-0 in the bottom of the 9th and the Saux won 6-5. I bet if anything had it been the other way around it would not have been mentioned until the 40 minute mark, or so, of Sportscenter. Thats just how biased the network is. Another thing is, when you're watching the debates on ESPN it seems as if every analyst has the same opinion and are being fed what to say and what not to say its ridiculous.
They also seem to find any excuse to take shots at Professional Wrestling, even though they've said its not a sport...so why are they talking about it? The network is so ass backwards it isn't funny. They had a Pay-Per-View a few weeks ago. The Pay-Per-View was for POKER. Yes POKER, as in you had to pay 20 bucks to see Poker of Pay-Per-View whereas they air it at least 10 times a day on there 5 networks and how thats a sport is beyond me. Worldwide Leader of Sports my ass...
But day after day I don't want to work for ESPN because I've came to a realization that ESPN is the most biased sports network out there(when it comes to bias we're talking FOX News levels). If you only watched ESPN you'd think that the Yankees and Red Sox were the only Baseball team, USC was the most presitgious and best football team in the world, and the Patriots and Colts were the only thing the NFL has to offer. Theres especially one thing that drives me crazy and its Mark May. Mark May is an analyst for College Football and a former offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins.
Never before in my life have I've seen a guy who disagrees with everything I say. I swear to god the guy is the anti-Joey Basford. His lips are attached to USC's ass(the guy went to Pittsburgh and hypes SC as god). And I know its required that every non-Notre Dame fan should hate Notre Dame by default but this guy seems to be holding a grudge toward the school because everytime he mentions them its something negative. I mean, hell during the NFL Draft they were giving the championship to New England before the season even began.
Its as if, no matter how good other teams are or how bad the Saux, Yanks, Trojans, Colts, and Pats are the same teams seem to be the main subject of every show. Come to think of it, I remember barely any talk about the Rams between 1999-2002, its as if they only existed in the playoffs. And I guarentee you this, back in April the Orioles blew a 7-2 lead against the Yanks in a game where the Yanks rallied to win 10-7 winning of an A-Rod grandslam. I guarentee you if the Orioles had done that they would be talking about the Yankees losing the game and not the Orioles winning it. Hell they'd probably never mention the Orioles in it and just talk about the Yanks collapsing.
The same goes for another Oriole collapse(May against the Red Sox)where they led 5-0 in the bottom of the 9th and the Saux won 6-5. I bet if anything had it been the other way around it would not have been mentioned until the 40 minute mark, or so, of Sportscenter. Thats just how biased the network is. Another thing is, when you're watching the debates on ESPN it seems as if every analyst has the same opinion and are being fed what to say and what not to say its ridiculous.
They also seem to find any excuse to take shots at Professional Wrestling, even though they've said its not a sport...so why are they talking about it? The network is so ass backwards it isn't funny. They had a Pay-Per-View a few weeks ago. The Pay-Per-View was for POKER. Yes POKER, as in you had to pay 20 bucks to see Poker of Pay-Per-View whereas they air it at least 10 times a day on there 5 networks and how thats a sport is beyond me. Worldwide Leader of Sports my ass...
Cal Ripken Jr.
Yesterday as some of you may or may not know, Cal Ripken Junior was inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame and I want to congraduate Cal and apoligize because I was unable to get to Cooperstown this weekend for the introduction. Cal's illustrius career began as he was growing up in Aberdeen, Maryland. With no College Baseball experience needed, Cal became a pro instantly playing for the Rochester Red Wings(The Orioles AAA minor league affiliate). Ripken's most notable highlight was playing in the longest professional baseball game of all-time. On April 18, 1981, the Rochester Red Wings faced off against the Pawtucket Red Sox.
The game went on for a very long amount of time. It was at 3 in the morning that the president of the International League, Harold Cooper was contacted. Finally, at 4:09am the game was stopped after the 32nd inning to resume at another date(Rochester eventually won 3-2). On August 10, 1981, Ripken made his debut wearing the Orange and Black of the Baltimore Orioles. For the next 20 years, Ripken was the face of the franchise, and in 1982 won Rookie of the Year in the American League.
It was in 1983 that Cal captured his first(and only) World Series ring as the Orioles defeated the Phillies 4 games to 1, making the final out of game 5. In 1987, Ripken felt like he was home, when his father, Cal Sr. became manager of the Baltimore Orioles and his brother, Billy joined the team. It was short-lived, however, as Cal Sr. was fired after going 67-95 in 1987 and 0-6 in 1988. It would take, oh but a few years before people started noticing Cal's consecutive game record.
After numerous risks of injury and letters from fans asking Ripken to take a game off and not break the record, Ripken finally broke the record on September 6, 1995 against the California Angels in a game where the President even showed up. Following the top of the 5th the record became official and Ripken was given a 22 minute standing ovation from the fans and players on both teams. Despite the length of the event, ESPN(who was broadcasting the game) never went to a commericial throughout.
On September 20, 1998, Cal decided to end the streak at 2,632. In June 2001, Cal announced that he would retire from baseball. Following the announcement it was announced that Cal had been voted into the All-Star Game at Safeco Field in Seattle. In a tribute to Cal's career, Shortstop, Alex Rodriguez switched positions with Cal putting Ripken back at his old position for one night. Cal would hit a home run en route to a victory for the American League and was named MVP.
In October, Cal retired after 20 years of playing. Recently, Cal released two books, "Get in the Game"(a motivational guide) and "The Longest Season"(a book detailing the Orioles' disasterous 1988 season).
To me, Cal Ripken is the last great player of the game because he's one of the last "real" players. In his 20 years he never took steroids, he never held the Orioles up for money, and when the tough got going(the 1988 season) he didn't flee to New York just because he thought he was better than any other player. Cal represents the model person that everyone should be when it comes to baseball. For that I congraduate Cal for his magnificent career and his induction into the Hall of Fame. Good job, old friend.
The game went on for a very long amount of time. It was at 3 in the morning that the president of the International League, Harold Cooper was contacted. Finally, at 4:09am the game was stopped after the 32nd inning to resume at another date(Rochester eventually won 3-2). On August 10, 1981, Ripken made his debut wearing the Orange and Black of the Baltimore Orioles. For the next 20 years, Ripken was the face of the franchise, and in 1982 won Rookie of the Year in the American League.
It was in 1983 that Cal captured his first(and only) World Series ring as the Orioles defeated the Phillies 4 games to 1, making the final out of game 5. In 1987, Ripken felt like he was home, when his father, Cal Sr. became manager of the Baltimore Orioles and his brother, Billy joined the team. It was short-lived, however, as Cal Sr. was fired after going 67-95 in 1987 and 0-6 in 1988. It would take, oh but a few years before people started noticing Cal's consecutive game record.
After numerous risks of injury and letters from fans asking Ripken to take a game off and not break the record, Ripken finally broke the record on September 6, 1995 against the California Angels in a game where the President even showed up. Following the top of the 5th the record became official and Ripken was given a 22 minute standing ovation from the fans and players on both teams. Despite the length of the event, ESPN(who was broadcasting the game) never went to a commericial throughout.
On September 20, 1998, Cal decided to end the streak at 2,632. In June 2001, Cal announced that he would retire from baseball. Following the announcement it was announced that Cal had been voted into the All-Star Game at Safeco Field in Seattle. In a tribute to Cal's career, Shortstop, Alex Rodriguez switched positions with Cal putting Ripken back at his old position for one night. Cal would hit a home run en route to a victory for the American League and was named MVP.
In October, Cal retired after 20 years of playing. Recently, Cal released two books, "Get in the Game"(a motivational guide) and "The Longest Season"(a book detailing the Orioles' disasterous 1988 season).
To me, Cal Ripken is the last great player of the game because he's one of the last "real" players. In his 20 years he never took steroids, he never held the Orioles up for money, and when the tough got going(the 1988 season) he didn't flee to New York just because he thought he was better than any other player. Cal represents the model person that everyone should be when it comes to baseball. For that I congraduate Cal for his magnificent career and his induction into the Hall of Fame. Good job, old friend.
RIP Bill Walsh 1931-2007
As the first of my FOUR blogs today I'd like to dedicate this first one to one of the greatest coaches of all-time...Bill Walsh, for today he died at the age of 75. Bill was born on November 30, 1931 in L.A. starting his football career at Chatham Glenwood High School in the mid 1940's. Walsh was recruited to play at San Jose State as a Wide Receiver and a boxer at the same time. His first coaching stint was head coach for Washington High School in Fremont. It was there he began to work his way up through the coaching ranks.
He would head to the University of California before becoming head coach for rival school Stanford. At Stanford Walsh went 17-7 in a 2 year span, but couldn't give the Cardinal a Pac 8 championship. In 1979 he became head coach for a fledgling San Francisco 49ers football team that had struggled throughout the 1970s. Within 2 years he was able to turn the 49ers into one of the best teams in the NFL. The 49ers turn around would come full circle in the 1981 NFC Championship as they faced off against the Dallas Cowboys at Candlestick Park.
The game would be known as "The Catch"(pictured below). With 58 seconds to go and at the Dallas 6. Joe Montana was flushed out of the pocket and chased down by Dallas defenders as he scrambled he managed to get the ball off and seemingly out-of-nowhere Dwight Clark made the catch to tie the game at 27 and eventually give the Niners a 28-27 victory and a birth to Super Bowl XVI.
The next week(yes the Super Bowl used to be the week after), the 49ers jumped out to a 20-0 lead and eventually won Super Bowl XVI, 26-21 over the Cincinnati Bengals. It was only the beginning for Bill Walsh and a 49ers dynasty that lasted 20 years.
Using the West Coast offense he developed, Walsh and the Niners together would win 2 more Super Bowls(XIX over the Dolphins and XXIII over the Bengals). It was following Super Bowl XXIII that Bill Walsh announced retirement from coaching. He would be a commentator for three years for NBC, before returning to Stanford. However, Walsh's 2nd run in Stanford failed to live up to the first and he permanantly retired from the game in 1994. In 2004, Walsh announced that he had been diagnosed with leukemia. He would spend the final years of his life battling the disease before dying today at 10:45am at his home in California.
Basically, today is a sad day for Football fans all over the world as another great is loss. A great coach who produced perhaps, the best dynasty in sports and is credited for bringing out such coaches as Mike Holmgren(Seattle Seahawks), George Seifert(former 49er head coach) and Dennis Green(former Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings coach). For that I say, Rest in Peace to a great coach, father, and offensive mastermind.
He would head to the University of California before becoming head coach for rival school Stanford. At Stanford Walsh went 17-7 in a 2 year span, but couldn't give the Cardinal a Pac 8 championship. In 1979 he became head coach for a fledgling San Francisco 49ers football team that had struggled throughout the 1970s. Within 2 years he was able to turn the 49ers into one of the best teams in the NFL. The 49ers turn around would come full circle in the 1981 NFC Championship as they faced off against the Dallas Cowboys at Candlestick Park.
The game would be known as "The Catch"(pictured below). With 58 seconds to go and at the Dallas 6. Joe Montana was flushed out of the pocket and chased down by Dallas defenders as he scrambled he managed to get the ball off and seemingly out-of-nowhere Dwight Clark made the catch to tie the game at 27 and eventually give the Niners a 28-27 victory and a birth to Super Bowl XVI.
The next week(yes the Super Bowl used to be the week after), the 49ers jumped out to a 20-0 lead and eventually won Super Bowl XVI, 26-21 over the Cincinnati Bengals. It was only the beginning for Bill Walsh and a 49ers dynasty that lasted 20 years.
Using the West Coast offense he developed, Walsh and the Niners together would win 2 more Super Bowls(XIX over the Dolphins and XXIII over the Bengals). It was following Super Bowl XXIII that Bill Walsh announced retirement from coaching. He would be a commentator for three years for NBC, before returning to Stanford. However, Walsh's 2nd run in Stanford failed to live up to the first and he permanantly retired from the game in 1994. In 2004, Walsh announced that he had been diagnosed with leukemia. He would spend the final years of his life battling the disease before dying today at 10:45am at his home in California.
Basically, today is a sad day for Football fans all over the world as another great is loss. A great coach who produced perhaps, the best dynasty in sports and is credited for bringing out such coaches as Mike Holmgren(Seattle Seahawks), George Seifert(former 49er head coach) and Dennis Green(former Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings coach). For that I say, Rest in Peace to a great coach, father, and offensive mastermind.
Joey Basford vs The Media
I read the news today...oh boy and Paris Hilton is...out of jail...so why should I care? As some of you may or may not know the career I plan on pursuing is in Journalism whether its Sports Journalism or Broadcast Journalism. But day-after-day this dream turns into a nightmare of sorts mainly from the so-called "experts" in the news business. What I'm refering to is the stupidity of these people and how they treat less significant events as more important to the real-issues around the world. Allow me to get started with earlier this week.
As some of you may have heard at around 2:30 Monday afternoon Police investigated the home of WWE wrestler Chris Benoit. Over the weekend and on Monday, Benoit killed his wife, Nancy, and son Daniel, before taking his own life. At first, it wasn't such a big deal as the media plain ignored it. However, it was late Monday night that the details were released on what occured and its sent people who had seen Benoit wrestle on TV(this includes me as I was(an whenever I'm bored)a wrestling fan for part of the early 2000's, fake? sure, just suspend belief when watching it no matter how stupid the things you see on the show are.) I was quite surprise by the story as I had seen Benoit as a guy who couldn't really do any harm when I watched it. What didn't surprise was how the media portrayed it.
Immediately the media attacked the WWE(for whom Benoit worked for when he died)and said that Benoit's outburst was from steroids(which if your read the symptons DOES match Benoit in the weekend but he killed them over a 2-day span so I really don't think it could've gone THAT long). Now while the media did present SOME valid facts(there have been many professional wrestlers that have died under 45 since 1985 but most were not from steroid use)they also blew things out of proportion(not knowing what they're talking about when they discussed Benoit's career is one example). And it seems all these journalists have the same opinion that WWE is evil and killed Chris Benoit and his family and that any opinion that goes against what the media is saying is null and void and means nothing.
An example of this was the other night. With nothing going on or to do I turned to Nancy Grace and she is interviewing a a man by the name of Bret Hart, IIRC. It was during this interview that Bret started making some good and valid points and then for no reason Grace just cuts him off. Its as if they hear what they want to hear and not any other opinion. Then theres Bill O'Reilly. Big Bill is on Fox News and he blamed Nancy and her son's death on Nancy, herself stating that she should've known the relationship she was getting into saying it about her and another woman killed by her man. I had to stop watching because these journalists are giving me a headache.
Then we get to Paris Hilton...
Let me start by saying that the whole "Paris Interview Countdown" ticker on CNN was the absolute stupidest thing I've ever seen. Why should I care about Paris Hilton's jail time its as if they're saying "Yeah we know that the country is in the middle of a war and Bin Laden is on the loose but PARIS HILTON IS OUT OF JAIL OMGZZZ". Then we got her fangirls and fanguys sitting on the edge of the TV watching the ticker going "YAY PARIS IS FREEEEE! War in Iraq? Bleh. PARIS IS FREE OH MY GODZ I FEEL SORRY FOR A RICH PRIVELAGED BITCH WHO GOES AROUND MAKING FUN OF COMMON FOLK." Seriously Paris being free is not news, sure its noteworthy but to dedicate a 15 minute segment to it and 7 minutes to the murder of a pregnaut woman makes ZERO sense to me.
But of course in a world full of greed and rich plastic whores, this is more significant and ratings worth more than say...Bin Laden being captured or the seriousness of a trend of pregnaut women getting killed by their boyfriends and spouses. I'm not tryng to offend anyone but the bottom line is anyone who agrees with Bill O'Reilly is an idiot, Nancy Grace is annoying and a bitch(she drove a woman to suicide once by yelling at her for 10 minutes on air), and Geraldo Reviera is the worst journalist ever. Maybe I was born in the wrong time because of my stark seriousness approach toward this but I'm stuck here and I have to face it but nonetheless these people don't deserve the name "Journalist".
As some of you may have heard at around 2:30 Monday afternoon Police investigated the home of WWE wrestler Chris Benoit. Over the weekend and on Monday, Benoit killed his wife, Nancy, and son Daniel, before taking his own life. At first, it wasn't such a big deal as the media plain ignored it. However, it was late Monday night that the details were released on what occured and its sent people who had seen Benoit wrestle on TV(this includes me as I was(an whenever I'm bored)a wrestling fan for part of the early 2000's, fake? sure, just suspend belief when watching it no matter how stupid the things you see on the show are.) I was quite surprise by the story as I had seen Benoit as a guy who couldn't really do any harm when I watched it. What didn't surprise was how the media portrayed it.
Immediately the media attacked the WWE(for whom Benoit worked for when he died)and said that Benoit's outburst was from steroids(which if your read the symptons DOES match Benoit in the weekend but he killed them over a 2-day span so I really don't think it could've gone THAT long). Now while the media did present SOME valid facts(there have been many professional wrestlers that have died under 45 since 1985 but most were not from steroid use)they also blew things out of proportion(not knowing what they're talking about when they discussed Benoit's career is one example). And it seems all these journalists have the same opinion that WWE is evil and killed Chris Benoit and his family and that any opinion that goes against what the media is saying is null and void and means nothing.
An example of this was the other night. With nothing going on or to do I turned to Nancy Grace and she is interviewing a a man by the name of Bret Hart, IIRC. It was during this interview that Bret started making some good and valid points and then for no reason Grace just cuts him off. Its as if they hear what they want to hear and not any other opinion. Then theres Bill O'Reilly. Big Bill is on Fox News and he blamed Nancy and her son's death on Nancy, herself stating that she should've known the relationship she was getting into saying it about her and another woman killed by her man. I had to stop watching because these journalists are giving me a headache.
Then we get to Paris Hilton...
Let me start by saying that the whole "Paris Interview Countdown" ticker on CNN was the absolute stupidest thing I've ever seen. Why should I care about Paris Hilton's jail time its as if they're saying "Yeah we know that the country is in the middle of a war and Bin Laden is on the loose but PARIS HILTON IS OUT OF JAIL OMGZZZ". Then we got her fangirls and fanguys sitting on the edge of the TV watching the ticker going "YAY PARIS IS FREEEEE! War in Iraq? Bleh. PARIS IS FREE OH MY GODZ I FEEL SORRY FOR A RICH PRIVELAGED BITCH WHO GOES AROUND MAKING FUN OF COMMON FOLK." Seriously Paris being free is not news, sure its noteworthy but to dedicate a 15 minute segment to it and 7 minutes to the murder of a pregnaut woman makes ZERO sense to me.
But of course in a world full of greed and rich plastic whores, this is more significant and ratings worth more than say...Bin Laden being captured or the seriousness of a trend of pregnaut women getting killed by their boyfriends and spouses. I'm not tryng to offend anyone but the bottom line is anyone who agrees with Bill O'Reilly is an idiot, Nancy Grace is annoying and a bitch(she drove a woman to suicide once by yelling at her for 10 minutes on air), and Geraldo Reviera is the worst journalist ever. Maybe I was born in the wrong time because of my stark seriousness approach toward this but I'm stuck here and I have to face it but nonetheless these people don't deserve the name "Journalist".
RIP NFL Europe 1991-2007
June 29, 2007 is a tragic day as one of the greatest things since slice bread passed away. After 16 years of poor attendence and lackluster games, NFL Europa has died. The prime suspect in the death is one, Roger Goddell, commisioner of the National Football League. Goddell stated that the cause of death was homicide because the bitch owned him money(NFL lost 30 million a year from it). Now while NFL Europe may seem like a bust it really was a start for many-a-player in getting to the NFL by sharpening their skills. Some include the likes of Kurt Warner, Adam Vinatieri, and Jon Kitna. To know the story of NFL Europe you must go back to 1991 when it was founded as the World League of American Football(WLAF).
The original intention of the league was a world-wide league with teams in London, Barcelona, Frankfort, New York/New Jersey, Montreal, Orlando, Raliegh, Birmingham, San Antonio, and Sacremento. With games in the spring the 1st World Bowl was held on June 6, 1991 on ABC. By the end of the day the London Monarchs were champions defeating Barcelona 21-0. Despite a somewhat successful first season the WLAF struggled in the 2nd season when all of the European teams had a losing record thus hurting the original intent of trying to make American Football popular in Europe and the league ceased operations.
In 1995 the league re-booted without the American teams but with new franchises in Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, and Edinburgh. However, the league was still haunted by problems including with the London Monarchs. In 1997, the league decided to rename the London Monarchs the England Monarchs and have them play in three different cities:London, Birmingham, and Bristol. On the weekend of Super Bowl XXXII it was announced that the WLAF would be renamed NFL Europe, however from there the league began its slow death.
The first big blow was the end of the England Monarchs who folded after the 1998 season. The Monarchs would be replaced by the Berlin Thunder. In 2002 Barcelona was bought by FC Barcelona but would fold a week later. Replacing Barcelona would be yet another German team this time as the Hamburg Sea Devils. With the death of the Scottish Claymores in 2005 the league became down to six teams. However, it managed to draw the highest attendence since 1992, but it didn't stop its critics from refering it as NFL Germany(5/6 of the league was German teams while there was one in Amsterdam thus kinda killing the "Europe" aspect).
In 2006, with the TV Deal with FOX dead, the league was re-branded NFL Europa and games began airing on the NFL Network. On June 23, 2007, World Bowl XV was held Frankfort, Germany as Hamburg defeated Frankfurt 37-28 thus becoming the last NFL Europe champion. Overall in a sense you can say NFL Europe was a success mainly because of the careers it launched. But in a simular sight you can say it failed. But whether you love it or hate it, you must respect what it did even if it made dumb expansions toward the end(nothin but German teams)it tried to bring American Football into Europe in despite it ending I think it helped set a foundation toward globalizing the sport even if it doesn't happen in the next 100 years. For that I thank NFL Europe. So I say goodbye to a league that despite not being successful or even having "quality" games did a good job trying to help the expansion of American Football.
The original intention of the league was a world-wide league with teams in London, Barcelona, Frankfort, New York/New Jersey, Montreal, Orlando, Raliegh, Birmingham, San Antonio, and Sacremento. With games in the spring the 1st World Bowl was held on June 6, 1991 on ABC. By the end of the day the London Monarchs were champions defeating Barcelona 21-0. Despite a somewhat successful first season the WLAF struggled in the 2nd season when all of the European teams had a losing record thus hurting the original intent of trying to make American Football popular in Europe and the league ceased operations.
In 1995 the league re-booted without the American teams but with new franchises in Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, and Edinburgh. However, the league was still haunted by problems including with the London Monarchs. In 1997, the league decided to rename the London Monarchs the England Monarchs and have them play in three different cities:London, Birmingham, and Bristol. On the weekend of Super Bowl XXXII it was announced that the WLAF would be renamed NFL Europe, however from there the league began its slow death.
The first big blow was the end of the England Monarchs who folded after the 1998 season. The Monarchs would be replaced by the Berlin Thunder. In 2002 Barcelona was bought by FC Barcelona but would fold a week later. Replacing Barcelona would be yet another German team this time as the Hamburg Sea Devils. With the death of the Scottish Claymores in 2005 the league became down to six teams. However, it managed to draw the highest attendence since 1992, but it didn't stop its critics from refering it as NFL Germany(5/6 of the league was German teams while there was one in Amsterdam thus kinda killing the "Europe" aspect).
In 2006, with the TV Deal with FOX dead, the league was re-branded NFL Europa and games began airing on the NFL Network. On June 23, 2007, World Bowl XV was held Frankfort, Germany as Hamburg defeated Frankfurt 37-28 thus becoming the last NFL Europe champion. Overall in a sense you can say NFL Europe was a success mainly because of the careers it launched. But in a simular sight you can say it failed. But whether you love it or hate it, you must respect what it did even if it made dumb expansions toward the end(nothin but German teams)it tried to bring American Football into Europe in despite it ending I think it helped set a foundation toward globalizing the sport even if it doesn't happen in the next 100 years. For that I thank NFL Europe. So I say goodbye to a league that despite not being successful or even having "quality" games did a good job trying to help the expansion of American Football.
Len Bias
As some of you know I'm a major Maryland Terrapins fan. Dating from the days of Steve Blake to the darkest days(The Mike Jones era) and some of you may not know but June 19th is always a sad day for Terp fans and alumni...especially the Bias family. Len Bias was born November 18, 1963 in Landover, Maryland. It was at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville that Bias became a star with his amazing leaping ability and talent. One of the highest recruited players in the state Bias choose to stay home and attend the University of Maryland, who at that time was a promising team and potential National Championship canididate.
At Maryland, Bias was considered by some as the best player in College Basketball and even drew comparisons to Michael Jordan. In the 1985-1986 season Bias was named ACC Male Athlete of the Year, and was projected to go in the Top 5 of the NBA Draft. Weeks leading up to the draft the Boston Celtics gained the No.2 draft pick from Seattle. On June 17, 1986 the NBA Draft was held and the Celtics drafted Bias. After the draft Bias flew to Boston where he signed the deal with the Celtics and the future looked bright for Bias and Boston.
At 11pm on June 18th, Bias flew back to College Park. It was at 3am that Bias returned to his dorm room. It was at the time Bias consumed a large amount of cocaine. While talking to a roommate, Bias collapsed and suffered a seizure. It was between 6:25 and 6:32am that Len Bias died at the age of 22. The news of Bias death shocked the sports world and led to stricter laws on cocaine. Bias death impacted not only cocaine laws but many other things. The Boston Celtics organziation was stunned by the announcement and from there things went downhill and the organization would collapse, losing the 1987 NBA Finals to the Lakers and the death of Reggie Lewis in 1992 would be the ultimate end to the dynasty. The University of Maryland's Basketball team itself was put in question and it led to the resignation of long-time coach Lefty Driesel. It would take 12 years for the team to rebound.
Immediately after Bias death, his family filed a lawsuit of Bias agent and representative for failing to give the Bias family the life insurance they were guarenteed, however it was unsuccessful. Tragedy would strike the family again on December 11, 1990 when Len's younger brother Jay was shot to death after a dispute at Prince George's Plaza, Jay, a high school star was also hyped as one of the top recruits coming out of High School.
These days Len Bias is put down along the ranks of Ernie Davis, Hank Gathers, and Reggie Lewis as a "What if?". In my opinion, Bias was the key piece missing to a potential Celtics championship and 1990's dynasty. I'm always sadden to see someone with such great talent as Len had die, even if I wasn't around to see him myself. Over the years, though I've seen footage of old Maryland games and Bias, in my mind is probably the greatest basketball player in the history of the team and would've possibly been the greatest basketball player of all time.
Bias' death is why I recently changed to an Anti-Drug stand because over the years many great people have died from drug use(ex:Morrison,Monroe)and most of these people are young and(Bias included)had great futures and potential promise in them. I wish the best for the Bias family because I know today is a very sad day for them.
Bias' death is why I recently changed to an Anti-Drug stand because over the years many great people have died from drug use(ex:Morrison,Monroe)and most of these people are young and(Bias included)had great futures and potential promise in them. I wish the best for the Bias family because I know today is a very sad day for them.
Michael Vick and The Off-Field Behavior of NFL Players
I'm the type that doesn't approve of things "immoral". Immoral meaning things that to me are wrong and stupid in some sense. In the past I've attacked the Miami Hurricanes Football team by calling them "a bunch of damn dirty thugs" and the NBA for being more about "Hip Hop" than basketball. However, recently the NFL has been just as bad(or even worse). Michael Vick, Pacman Jones, and Tank Johnson...all three of these men have been making headlines throughout the 2007 Off-Season for all the wrong reasons.
As you all may or may not know Michael Vick has been linked to a "Dog Fighting" ring. Recently, it has gotten worse and all evidence has pointed to Vick knowing about it and being involved with it. A few weeks ago reports surfaced that the police have reason to believe that there are 30 dead dogs buried in the backyard of the house that Michael Vick used to own(that he sold recently) and according to a few of his friends Vick is a major player(as in money) when it comes to dog fighting(as I saw on Sportscenter). The whole story has made me sick and to me is not only hurting himself but fans who look up to Vick and the entire Atlanta Falcons organization.
Adam "Pacman" Jones in only a span of 19 months had 10 encounters with the law and most recently was in Las Vegas at the NBA All-Star Weekend he went to a strip club, and threw up several 1 dollar bills at the strippers but when one stripper took money from him he slammed her head on the ground trying to get it back leading to a gun fight with Security where one man was left paralyzed. Finally, Tank Johnson has had his own share of trouble. Two days before the New Year he was charged with possession of illegal weapons in his Arizona home. When police raided the house, he fled abandoning his children and went out to a strip club the next night where his security guard was shot thus leading to more trouble for Tank. He was eventually arrested and sentenced to 45 days in jail.
What I am saying is that the NFL needs to be more discipline. Now not too disciplinal(because I feel some of their decisions such as banning endzone celebrations make no sense) but enough to send a message to the players in the league because that was what kept players from trouble back in the pre-merge(pre-1970)era. Vince Lombardi and George Halas...two of the greatest coaches of all time, and Pete Rozelle(the NFL Commisioner responsible for the modern day NFL)would've never tolerated these actions. Now the punishments handed down I do agree with(though I believe that Pacman Jones should get a life-time ban)and I hope that it sends it message to the NFL players because I'd hate to see the NFL turn into the NBA where players(Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson(the Golden State player not the Rams RB)for example) are always in trouble because all it does is give the league a bad image.
As you all may or may not know Michael Vick has been linked to a "Dog Fighting" ring. Recently, it has gotten worse and all evidence has pointed to Vick knowing about it and being involved with it. A few weeks ago reports surfaced that the police have reason to believe that there are 30 dead dogs buried in the backyard of the house that Michael Vick used to own(that he sold recently) and according to a few of his friends Vick is a major player(as in money) when it comes to dog fighting(as I saw on Sportscenter). The whole story has made me sick and to me is not only hurting himself but fans who look up to Vick and the entire Atlanta Falcons organization.
Adam "Pacman" Jones in only a span of 19 months had 10 encounters with the law and most recently was in Las Vegas at the NBA All-Star Weekend he went to a strip club, and threw up several 1 dollar bills at the strippers but when one stripper took money from him he slammed her head on the ground trying to get it back leading to a gun fight with Security where one man was left paralyzed. Finally, Tank Johnson has had his own share of trouble. Two days before the New Year he was charged with possession of illegal weapons in his Arizona home. When police raided the house, he fled abandoning his children and went out to a strip club the next night where his security guard was shot thus leading to more trouble for Tank. He was eventually arrested and sentenced to 45 days in jail.
What I am saying is that the NFL needs to be more discipline. Now not too disciplinal(because I feel some of their decisions such as banning endzone celebrations make no sense) but enough to send a message to the players in the league because that was what kept players from trouble back in the pre-merge(pre-1970)era. Vince Lombardi and George Halas...two of the greatest coaches of all time, and Pete Rozelle(the NFL Commisioner responsible for the modern day NFL)would've never tolerated these actions. Now the punishments handed down I do agree with(though I believe that Pacman Jones should get a life-time ban)and I hope that it sends it message to the NFL players because I'd hate to see the NFL turn into the NBA where players(Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson(the Golden State player not the Rams RB)for example) are always in trouble because all it does is give the league a bad image.
Kobe Bryant
I'm a huge Lakers fan(and some of you may or may not know that)and as a Lakers fan I am currently upset at the whole "Kobe Bryant" situation. As you all know when the Lakers were winning championships I was a huge Kobe Bryant fan. Then we lost the 2003 Western Conference Semi-Finals to the Spurs and it all went downhill after that. In the off-season we managed to nab Karl Malone and Gary Payton...but we also had controversy. It was in the Summer of 2003 Kobe Bryant was accused of raping a girl at a hotel in Colorado.
In that case I supported Bryant and claimed that she was just trying to get money. When the 03-04 season started the Lakers were dominant and the rape accusations were dropped(due to evidence she was with 3 other men that weekend). The Lakers started with a huge win streak(total cannot remember but I remember them being 15-0 at one point) and made the playoffs. The problem was we practically weren't stable going in. Nearly every star player on the team(Bryant,O'Neil,Payton,and Malone)had issues with one another and the Lakers collapsed in the NBA Finals losing 4-1 to the Detroit Pistons.
Just when I thought things were already bad....it got worse. I witnessed the dream dynasty die as Shaq was traded,Payton was traded,Malone retired,and Phil Jackson retired. Right there I jumped on Bryant and blamed him for the Lakers problems including Shaq's departure. Rudy Tomjonavich was named coach but heart problems ended that in January 2005. Since then Phil Jackson has been re-hired and Shaq has won a championship...and the Lakers haven't made it back to the Finals since. Recently the Lake Show was knocked out in Round 1(again) by the Phoenix Suns.
On Sunday night I was sitting in my cousin's friend's house and his friend got a message on his cell phone stating that Kobe wanted Jerry West back as GM or he wants to be traded. Now while I hate Kobe to no end, I believe trading him would kill the team. In March I finally accepted that the team was no good and Kobe was the only thing keeping the team in contention and I've seen this(he scores all the points and the rest of the team don't even play defense). People call Kobe a ball hog but when he doesn't score over 40(or in some cases 30)the team loses 95 percent of the time) whereas we win 99.9% of the time he does.
I can understand frustration, the team has made a piss poor effort at giving him talent to help him(See:Brown, Kwame). Bottom line is I hope we can keep him here and try to get some talent to assist him. But at the same time I am tired of his bs(claiming that he didn't run Shaq to Miami)and want to trade him for a "Steve Nash" type of player or two. I'm torn and all I can hope for is a Lakers revival and not the bizarre offspring of Post-1997 Baltimore Orioles and the Post-Lovie Smith era Saint Louis Rams defense.
In that case I supported Bryant and claimed that she was just trying to get money. When the 03-04 season started the Lakers were dominant and the rape accusations were dropped(due to evidence she was with 3 other men that weekend). The Lakers started with a huge win streak(total cannot remember but I remember them being 15-0 at one point) and made the playoffs. The problem was we practically weren't stable going in. Nearly every star player on the team(Bryant,O'Neil,Payton,and Malone)had issues with one another and the Lakers collapsed in the NBA Finals losing 4-1 to the Detroit Pistons.
Just when I thought things were already bad....it got worse. I witnessed the dream dynasty die as Shaq was traded,Payton was traded,Malone retired,and Phil Jackson retired. Right there I jumped on Bryant and blamed him for the Lakers problems including Shaq's departure. Rudy Tomjonavich was named coach but heart problems ended that in January 2005. Since then Phil Jackson has been re-hired and Shaq has won a championship...and the Lakers haven't made it back to the Finals since. Recently the Lake Show was knocked out in Round 1(again) by the Phoenix Suns.
On Sunday night I was sitting in my cousin's friend's house and his friend got a message on his cell phone stating that Kobe wanted Jerry West back as GM or he wants to be traded. Now while I hate Kobe to no end, I believe trading him would kill the team. In March I finally accepted that the team was no good and Kobe was the only thing keeping the team in contention and I've seen this(he scores all the points and the rest of the team don't even play defense). People call Kobe a ball hog but when he doesn't score over 40(or in some cases 30)the team loses 95 percent of the time) whereas we win 99.9% of the time he does.
I can understand frustration, the team has made a piss poor effort at giving him talent to help him(See:Brown, Kwame). Bottom line is I hope we can keep him here and try to get some talent to assist him. But at the same time I am tired of his bs(claiming that he didn't run Shaq to Miami)and want to trade him for a "Steve Nash" type of player or two. I'm torn and all I can hope for is a Lakers revival and not the bizarre offspring of Post-1997 Baltimore Orioles and the Post-Lovie Smith era Saint Louis Rams defense.
College Football Predictions May 2007
Spring Practice is over...and the 2nd round predictions are ready. The only thing is I can't make too many predictions til at least the 3rd round. These predictions cover the latest on my National Title prediction and teams to keep an eye on in each major conference so without further ado.
Teams to Look out for:
ACC:
Miami-As mentioned earlier with Randy Shannon at the helm I believe Miami will make a comeback and it starts here. Personally I see the Canes winning 9 or 10 games this season and possibly reaching the Gator Bowl if not that, however, then the Peach Bowl.
Florida State-The Noles had an off year and now that Jeff Bowden is gone I can see them rebuilding and possibly winning the ACC this year .
Big 12:
Nebraska-They ARE back, yes the Cornhuskers after a 5 year hiatus dating back to the 2002 Rose Bowl will be back in a major bowl game this year featuring what appears to be an amazing defense. The first big step was beating Michigan in the Alamo Bowl. The next step is now winning the Big 12. The Big 12 in the last few years has been held hostage by Texas and Oklahoma(and Kansas State by that was random and made OU look like a bunch of bitches in the eyes of the College Football Nation). They fell two TD's short of beating the Sooners in the 06 Title Game and I believe the Huskers can see glory just around the corner.
Big East:
South Florida-Yes I am saying it I believe South Florida is a threat to WVU and Louisville this year. Not only that but I believe South Florida may indeed WIN the Big East this year. Louisville and Rutgers are still contenders but I think South Florida will beat them AND West Virginia in Tampa. South Florida is the fastest rising Football program in all College Sports. 10 years ago South Florida didn't even exist in Football(as in May 10, 1997). However they played their first game 4 months later and in 4 years moved to D-1 football status. They joined the CUSA in 2003 and the Big East in 2005. It was also that year they beat the No.9 Louisville Cardinals in a 45-14 rout and just last year they knocked off WVU in Morgantown in their biggest win yet. Now if they can repeat they will, in fact be Big East Champions.
Big Ten:
Indiana-I'm not saying they will make a major BCS Bowl Game or win the Big Ten but I believe the Hoosiers will finally break on through and earn a bowl bid this year. They been the joke of the Big Ten for years now and they're sick of it and despite last year's setbacks(Including a blow out loss versus Michigan) I think they will do some damage in the Big Ten and have a winning season.
SEC:
South Carolina-10 years ago the Gamecocks were the joke of College Football(even going 0-11 in 1998) but Lou Holtz breathed new life into them and the Gamecocks jumped back and made the Outback Bowl two years in a row before slipping into mediocrity. In 2005 Steve Spurrier became Head Coach and with recruiting at its highest ever at USC I believe the Gamecocks have a HUGE opportunity to make a mark this year and at best make the SEC Title Game. I don't think, however, that they can win it now but give them another two to three years and I guarentee you that they will be playing for a NATIONAL Championship.
As for the National Championship prediction I still have USC and Michigan playing in the Superdome for the Title but as I continue hearing and seeing from both schools their stock keeps dropping. I mean SC lost two good receivers in Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett while Michigan lost several key defensive players. So look for this prediction to possibly change when Round 3 hits the Saturday before the Season starts.
Teams to Look out for:
ACC:
Miami-As mentioned earlier with Randy Shannon at the helm I believe Miami will make a comeback and it starts here. Personally I see the Canes winning 9 or 10 games this season and possibly reaching the Gator Bowl if not that, however, then the Peach Bowl.
Florida State-The Noles had an off year and now that Jeff Bowden is gone I can see them rebuilding and possibly winning the ACC this year .
Big 12:
Nebraska-They ARE back, yes the Cornhuskers after a 5 year hiatus dating back to the 2002 Rose Bowl will be back in a major bowl game this year featuring what appears to be an amazing defense. The first big step was beating Michigan in the Alamo Bowl. The next step is now winning the Big 12. The Big 12 in the last few years has been held hostage by Texas and Oklahoma(and Kansas State by that was random and made OU look like a bunch of bitches in the eyes of the College Football Nation). They fell two TD's short of beating the Sooners in the 06 Title Game and I believe the Huskers can see glory just around the corner.
Big East:
South Florida-Yes I am saying it I believe South Florida is a threat to WVU and Louisville this year. Not only that but I believe South Florida may indeed WIN the Big East this year. Louisville and Rutgers are still contenders but I think South Florida will beat them AND West Virginia in Tampa. South Florida is the fastest rising Football program in all College Sports. 10 years ago South Florida didn't even exist in Football(as in May 10, 1997). However they played their first game 4 months later and in 4 years moved to D-1 football status. They joined the CUSA in 2003 and the Big East in 2005. It was also that year they beat the No.9 Louisville Cardinals in a 45-14 rout and just last year they knocked off WVU in Morgantown in their biggest win yet. Now if they can repeat they will, in fact be Big East Champions.
Big Ten:
Indiana-I'm not saying they will make a major BCS Bowl Game or win the Big Ten but I believe the Hoosiers will finally break on through and earn a bowl bid this year. They been the joke of the Big Ten for years now and they're sick of it and despite last year's setbacks(Including a blow out loss versus Michigan) I think they will do some damage in the Big Ten and have a winning season.
SEC:
South Carolina-10 years ago the Gamecocks were the joke of College Football(even going 0-11 in 1998) but Lou Holtz breathed new life into them and the Gamecocks jumped back and made the Outback Bowl two years in a row before slipping into mediocrity. In 2005 Steve Spurrier became Head Coach and with recruiting at its highest ever at USC I believe the Gamecocks have a HUGE opportunity to make a mark this year and at best make the SEC Title Game. I don't think, however, that they can win it now but give them another two to three years and I guarentee you that they will be playing for a NATIONAL Championship.
As for the National Championship prediction I still have USC and Michigan playing in the Superdome for the Title but as I continue hearing and seeing from both schools their stock keeps dropping. I mean SC lost two good receivers in Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett while Michigan lost several key defensive players. So look for this prediction to possibly change when Round 3 hits the Saturday before the Season starts.
The 2007 NFL Draft
Just ended several hours ago and some of my thoughts on some picks
1.Oakland Raiders pick JaMarcus Russell and Michael Bush:Great pick by Oakland to say they don't need a QB would be a lie and it was evident in several games especially in the Rams game where Brooks threw 5 picks against a crummy Rams defense. Speaking of the Raiders offense vs a crummy Rams defense...Michael Bush(drafted 100 overall) is a good pick even though he missed the entire 2006 College Football season(with exception for the Kentucky game where he shattered his leg)and I believe was the ingrediant missing for Louisville last year and had he been around they would've been National Champs if Oakland can get themselves a line THEN they are in business.
2.Detroit Lions pick Calvin Johnson:No surprise here considering Matt Millen is the Worst GM in History. Calvin is an ACC Reciever and I'm an ACC guy and I wish the best for Calvin he is a phenominal receiver but I fear he may waste away in Detroit under the lack of an O-Line to support his QB and the fact his Offense Coordinator is Mike Martz.
3.Cleveland Browns pick Joe Thomas and Brady Quinn:Good idea picking Thomas before Quinn because you need a Lineman to compliment your QB and even though I have doubted and bashed Quinn since the Michigan game I believe he might actually do SOMETHING in Cleveland because anything(but Chris Chandler) is better than Charlie Frye.
4.Miami Dolphins pick Ted Ginn and John Beck:Good choice by getting Ginn he is a fantastic receiver and kick returner(just ask the Florida Gators)but Beck I'm questioning. I've only seen Beck on two occasions(The Las Vegas Bowl against Oregon and the GW touchdown against Utah)and he was pretty good but you have to consider if he can really translate into the NFL. Give the Mountain West credit and all but Beck doesn't seem like the QB you want in big games due to
lack of big game expirience but Kurt Warner came from Northern Iowa, Brett Favre came from Southern Miss, and Doug Williams came from Grambling State and College is a REALLY different game than the NFL so just because they don't come from a BCS conference doesn't mean they won't do well in the NFL so we'll just have to wait.
5.Saint Louis Rams draft Adam Carriker and Brian Leonard:Damn those Texans and their drafting of Okoye but nevertheless these are two good picks and I like the idea of Leonard being on our team he was good at Rutgers and he is guranteed to be better than Joey Goodspeed.
Big Winner:The Oakland Raiders they got a great Quarterback in Russell and a good Running Back in Bush
Other Notes:
Jerry Jones, "Dallas don't need anyone":Like I need more proof that this guy is the dumbest owner ever. I'm not taking anything away from the Cowboys but there are problems with that team at certain positions(think T.O.) and not addressing them is kinda dumb. I mean he fired Jimmy Johnson and he likes T.O. no wonder Dallas hasn't won anything in years there idiot owner is killing them.
Patriots Get Moss:Lovely...excuse my language but I'm FUCKING tired of the FUCKING Patriots. Good god I never thought I'd hate any Football team more than the Washington Redskins but the Pats just keep adding and my worse fear may be coming true and that is the Patriots becoming the "New York Yankees" of the NFL.USC,West Virginia, and the Patriots...just shoot me now so my last Football memory is the Rams/Redskins game and not the Trojans/Mountaineers/Pats dominating Football.
I guess I woke up in 1994:I'm probably the only person who heard this but at the beginning of Day 2 of the draft the announcer stated "Welcome to Day 2 of the NFL Draft, The Los Angeles Raiders are on the clock". I was sitting next to my dad who said, "Did he just say Los Angeles Raiders?". In the past year alone I've heard Mike Bulger, Stanley Jackson, and David Rivers and now apparently Al Davis did a 360 and decided to move the Raiders back to L.A. Funny moment nonetheless.
Welp thats it for me and the NFL til July so don't expect me to write about the league(unless SOMETHING happens) til then.
1.Oakland Raiders pick JaMarcus Russell and Michael Bush:Great pick by Oakland to say they don't need a QB would be a lie and it was evident in several games especially in the Rams game where Brooks threw 5 picks against a crummy Rams defense. Speaking of the Raiders offense vs a crummy Rams defense...Michael Bush(drafted 100 overall) is a good pick even though he missed the entire 2006 College Football season(with exception for the Kentucky game where he shattered his leg)and I believe was the ingrediant missing for Louisville last year and had he been around they would've been National Champs if Oakland can get themselves a line THEN they are in business.
2.Detroit Lions pick Calvin Johnson:No surprise here considering Matt Millen is the Worst GM in History. Calvin is an ACC Reciever and I'm an ACC guy and I wish the best for Calvin he is a phenominal receiver but I fear he may waste away in Detroit under the lack of an O-Line to support his QB and the fact his Offense Coordinator is Mike Martz.
3.Cleveland Browns pick Joe Thomas and Brady Quinn:Good idea picking Thomas before Quinn because you need a Lineman to compliment your QB and even though I have doubted and bashed Quinn since the Michigan game I believe he might actually do SOMETHING in Cleveland because anything(but Chris Chandler) is better than Charlie Frye.
4.Miami Dolphins pick Ted Ginn and John Beck:Good choice by getting Ginn he is a fantastic receiver and kick returner(just ask the Florida Gators)but Beck I'm questioning. I've only seen Beck on two occasions(The Las Vegas Bowl against Oregon and the GW touchdown against Utah)and he was pretty good but you have to consider if he can really translate into the NFL. Give the Mountain West credit and all but Beck doesn't seem like the QB you want in big games due to
lack of big game expirience but Kurt Warner came from Northern Iowa, Brett Favre came from Southern Miss, and Doug Williams came from Grambling State and College is a REALLY different game than the NFL so just because they don't come from a BCS conference doesn't mean they won't do well in the NFL so we'll just have to wait.
5.Saint Louis Rams draft Adam Carriker and Brian Leonard:Damn those Texans and their drafting of Okoye but nevertheless these are two good picks and I like the idea of Leonard being on our team he was good at Rutgers and he is guranteed to be better than Joey Goodspeed.
Big Winner:The Oakland Raiders they got a great Quarterback in Russell and a good Running Back in Bush
Other Notes:
Jerry Jones, "Dallas don't need anyone":Like I need more proof that this guy is the dumbest owner ever. I'm not taking anything away from the Cowboys but there are problems with that team at certain positions(think T.O.) and not addressing them is kinda dumb. I mean he fired Jimmy Johnson and he likes T.O. no wonder Dallas hasn't won anything in years there idiot owner is killing them.
Patriots Get Moss:Lovely...excuse my language but I'm FUCKING tired of the FUCKING Patriots. Good god I never thought I'd hate any Football team more than the Washington Redskins but the Pats just keep adding and my worse fear may be coming true and that is the Patriots becoming the "New York Yankees" of the NFL.USC,West Virginia, and the Patriots...just shoot me now so my last Football memory is the Rams/Redskins game and not the Trojans/Mountaineers/Pats dominating Football.
I guess I woke up in 1994:I'm probably the only person who heard this but at the beginning of Day 2 of the draft the announcer stated "Welcome to Day 2 of the NFL Draft, The Los Angeles Raiders are on the clock". I was sitting next to my dad who said, "Did he just say Los Angeles Raiders?". In the past year alone I've heard Mike Bulger, Stanley Jackson, and David Rivers and now apparently Al Davis did a 360 and decided to move the Raiders back to L.A. Funny moment nonetheless.
Welp thats it for me and the NFL til July so don't expect me to write about the league(unless SOMETHING happens) til then.
NBA Playoff Predictions 2007
East:
Chicago over Miami
Detroit over Orlando
New Jersey over Toronto
Cleveland over Washington
Detroit over Chicago
Cleveland over New Jersey
Cleveland over Detroit
West:
Houston over Utah
Phoenix over Los Angeles
San Antonio over Denver
Dallas over Golden State
Phoenix over San Antonio
Dallas over Houston
Phoenix over Dallas
NBA Finals:Phoenix over Cleveland
So overall I see the Phoenix Suns winning the 2007 NBA Finals
Chicago over Miami
Detroit over Orlando
New Jersey over Toronto
Cleveland over Washington
Detroit over Chicago
Cleveland over New Jersey
Cleveland over Detroit
West:
Houston over Utah
Phoenix over Los Angeles
San Antonio over Denver
Dallas over Golden State
Phoenix over San Antonio
Dallas over Houston
Phoenix over Dallas
NBA Finals:Phoenix over Cleveland
So overall I see the Phoenix Suns winning the 2007 NBA Finals
Virginia Tech Shootings
When you're young you think that nothing could ever happen to you, and as you grow older and into your teens you keep that mindset. In reality anything can happen as documented by 9/11 and Columbine(more on that later). On April 20, 1999 no one expected school to go the way it did. Rachel Scott did not expect to to be killed by a classmate, neither did Cassie Bernall or John Tomlin. By the end of the day 13 people were dead with twelve under the age of 18. Today 33 people died in a place that Football coach Frank Beamer described as a friendly environment.
What I am saying is, "What kind of world is this?". What kind of world is it where you have to keep your eyes open all the time in risk of getting killed by a man with a gun? What kind of world is it when you can't even go to school? Counting today's and the Columbine shootings their have been a total of 10 school shootings in this country since the very day I started school in August 1996. There has been 3 in the past year alone and 12 since April 22, 1991(The day I was born).
What kind of world is it that a man can just get a gun easily and kill people with no problem? What causes people to do this? Who is the man responsible for this? What caused this man to go into the school and kill people the way he did? Was it something someone said? Was it something that happened? Was it that no one was listening to him or even asking to help?
Either way there is no excuse for what he did. Because of him many young people are dead tonight and the lives of the friends and family that cared for these people are damaged all because of him. I don't know what to say anymore, when you hear about a school shooting, any school shooting especially with the death toll as large as this one you just don't know what to do or even say. I don't even feel safe anymore you hear about this stuff and it makes you wonder, "What kind of world do we live in"
I am not trying to scare anyone, only trying to say something with the way this generation has turned out how can we know we are safe when things like these are occuring seemingly everyday. On one final note my thoughts and prayers are dedicated tonight for the families and friends of the victims. The 8th anniversary of Columbine is Friday and it just seems that with the way people are these days that we are living in a world where danger is at every turn on the road and anything can happen.
What I am saying is, "What kind of world is this?". What kind of world is it where you have to keep your eyes open all the time in risk of getting killed by a man with a gun? What kind of world is it when you can't even go to school? Counting today's and the Columbine shootings their have been a total of 10 school shootings in this country since the very day I started school in August 1996. There has been 3 in the past year alone and 12 since April 22, 1991(The day I was born).
What kind of world is it that a man can just get a gun easily and kill people with no problem? What causes people to do this? Who is the man responsible for this? What caused this man to go into the school and kill people the way he did? Was it something someone said? Was it something that happened? Was it that no one was listening to him or even asking to help?
Either way there is no excuse for what he did. Because of him many young people are dead tonight and the lives of the friends and family that cared for these people are damaged all because of him. I don't know what to say anymore, when you hear about a school shooting, any school shooting especially with the death toll as large as this one you just don't know what to do or even say. I don't even feel safe anymore you hear about this stuff and it makes you wonder, "What kind of world do we live in"
I am not trying to scare anyone, only trying to say something with the way this generation has turned out how can we know we are safe when things like these are occuring seemingly everyday. On one final note my thoughts and prayers are dedicated tonight for the families and friends of the victims. The 8th anniversary of Columbine is Friday and it just seems that with the way people are these days that we are living in a world where danger is at every turn on the road and anything can happen.
Nebraska Spring Game
Like I said I have no life so I decided to watch the Nebraska spring game on Saturday. Some things I observed was the Black Shirt defense living up to its reputation with Red destroying White 38-0. Nebraska also used the game to have their fans get a glimpse on two candidates for the starting Quarterback job as Sam Keller the transfer out of Arizona State faced off with Joe Ganz. I can't quite remember some of the stats but I was impressed with Ganz speed and I feel that the Huskers should go with him as the starter. Overall Nebraska can be a huge threat this year especially come September when the face USC in Lincoln. Keep an eye on the Huskers.
South Carolina Spring Game
The other day....since I have no life I watched the South Carolina spring Game on ESPNU and here is some notes from it. Starting Quarterback Blake Mitchell looked horrible throwing 2 interceptions and not even scoring a single touchdown. The backup freshman QB Chris Smelley, however looked WAY superior going 10/22 for 83 yards while Mitchell went 13/39 for 150 yards. One standout, however was Cory Boyd who scored two touchdowns for Black as they beat Garnet 14-7. Along with Boyd was the defense who looked amazing out there. So keep an eye on the Gamecocks this year and that tough defense along with Boyd.
South Carolina also debuted new uniforms. To get an idea on what they look like think Atlanta Falcons with white helmets its almost like that. Finally, November 10th will be a big day for the Gamecocks as they face the Florida Gators at home and lookin at this defense it may be a long day for Urban Meyer and the Gators.
South Carolina also debuted new uniforms. To get an idea on what they look like think Atlanta Falcons with white helmets its almost like that. Finally, November 10th will be a big day for the Gamecocks as they face the Florida Gators at home and lookin at this defense it may be a long day for Urban Meyer and the Gators.
Randy Shannon:The Savior of Miami Footballl
When I first heard Miami hired Randy Shannon as their head coach I immediately asked, "Who?". However, over the next 4 months I did a little research(something I NEVER do) and found out that he's a fantastic defensive minded coach(Miami's defense ranked 6th,7th,2nd,28th,4th and 7th dating back to 2001). I also read a lot of his life story. He grew up in the Liberty City section of Miami(a very rough neighborhood). Life was tough for Randy as he lost his father at age 3 during a shooting and 3 of his siblings died in the 80's from AIDS contemplated from drug use.
Randy was a linebacker for "The U" playing for the 1987 Hurricane Squad that beat Oklahoma for the National Title in the Orange Bowl(Shannon was also part of the infamous 1986 Canes that lost to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl which was called by the announcers as "Good"(Penn State) vs "Evil"(Miami, who was being dubbed as "Thug U" for their behavior which qas made worse when they showed up to a dinner before the game in Camo fatigues). In 1989 Shannon was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys but was gone a year later.
Shannon returned to Miami in 1991 as a graduate assistant and eventually became the D-Line coach. He would later become a defensive coach with the Miami Dolphins from 1998-2000 before returning to "The U" once again as the defensive coordinator. On December 8, 2006, Miami named Shannon their head coach after a mediocre year by coach Larry Coker. Now while you all think "Meh" I think National Champions by the end of the decade and here is why.
Number 1, he can relate to most players. Some of Miami's players come from rough neighborhoods in the city which is the exact conditions that Shannon grew up in and unlike Larry Coker he can relate to their problems and help them. Number 2, he's changing the school. In the offseason Shannon has added new rules to discipline players and keep them out of trouble. Here are some of these rules:
1.Miss class no start
2.Fall below GPA can't leave campus
3.No hats or phones on Football facility
4.No hats at Dinner
5.No firearms
6.Have fun but any trouble will lead to suspension
7.You must be a Junior or Senior to live off campus
I see these rules as big and helpful for the school which players were said to have "No Discipline". Shannon has also helped Miami recruiting wise landing Guard Harland Gunn(No.2 in the country), Quarterback Robert Marve, defensive star Allen Bailey, defender Adewale Ojomo, along with Chris Perry and running back Lee Chambers. On September 8th Shannon will have his first test as the Canes go to Norman and face the Oklahoma Sooners. Keep an eye on the Canes because I see good things coming their way and that goes for Pete Carroll, Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel and other D-1 coaches.
Randy was a linebacker for "The U" playing for the 1987 Hurricane Squad that beat Oklahoma for the National Title in the Orange Bowl(Shannon was also part of the infamous 1986 Canes that lost to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl which was called by the announcers as "Good"(Penn State) vs "Evil"(Miami, who was being dubbed as "Thug U" for their behavior which qas made worse when they showed up to a dinner before the game in Camo fatigues). In 1989 Shannon was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys but was gone a year later.
Shannon returned to Miami in 1991 as a graduate assistant and eventually became the D-Line coach. He would later become a defensive coach with the Miami Dolphins from 1998-2000 before returning to "The U" once again as the defensive coordinator. On December 8, 2006, Miami named Shannon their head coach after a mediocre year by coach Larry Coker. Now while you all think "Meh" I think National Champions by the end of the decade and here is why.
Number 1, he can relate to most players. Some of Miami's players come from rough neighborhoods in the city which is the exact conditions that Shannon grew up in and unlike Larry Coker he can relate to their problems and help them. Number 2, he's changing the school. In the offseason Shannon has added new rules to discipline players and keep them out of trouble. Here are some of these rules:
1.Miss class no start
2.Fall below GPA can't leave campus
3.No hats or phones on Football facility
4.No hats at Dinner
5.No firearms
6.Have fun but any trouble will lead to suspension
7.You must be a Junior or Senior to live off campus
I see these rules as big and helpful for the school which players were said to have "No Discipline". Shannon has also helped Miami recruiting wise landing Guard Harland Gunn(No.2 in the country), Quarterback Robert Marve, defensive star Allen Bailey, defender Adewale Ojomo, along with Chris Perry and running back Lee Chambers. On September 8th Shannon will have his first test as the Canes go to Norman and face the Oklahoma Sooners. Keep an eye on the Canes because I see good things coming their way and that goes for Pete Carroll, Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel and other D-1 coaches.
Oklahoma Spring Game
Yesterday I watched the University of Oklahoma Spring game on ESPN. The defense looked fantastic besides giving up 2 big plays so keep an eye on them this year. The offense looked sluggish to start, however, but they managed to get better as it went on behind Freshman Running Back DeMarco Murray. Keep an eye on this Sooner defense and the Freshman Back Murray who may be a Heisman winner when its all said and done.
March Madness Preview
The regular season for College Basketball is over. So now we have the Tournament. Here are my picks for the Tournament.
Sweet 16:Florida,Butler,Oregon,Wisconsin,Kansas,Southern Illinois.Pittsburgh,UCLA,Marquette,Texas,Vanderbilt,Georgetown,Ohio State,Tennessee,Texas A&M,Memphis
Elite 8:Florida vs Oregon,Kansas vs UCLA,Texas vs Georgetown,Ohio State vs Texas A&M
Final 4:Florida vs UCLA and Texas vs Texas A&M
National Championship:Florida vs Texas
My Pick and the 2007 National Champion:Texas
My reasoning for picking Texas is I see them coming out following the loss in the Big 12 title game and blowing out New Mexico State in Round 1 and getting through the rest of their region to get to the Final 4 and play their arch nemesis Texas A&M in a rematch from a week ago. I believe in Durant and the Longhorns(despite me picking them to go the Final 4 last year and losing to UCONN in the finals.)this time they will go all the way and win their first Basketball title.
Now for the Weekly Awards
Game of the Week:Wake Forest vs Georgia Tech from Round 1 of the ACC Tournament
Team of the Week:NC State for making a HUGE run in the ACC Tournament despite losing to UNC in the finals
Player of the Week:Shaun King for his 10 touchdown effort on Thursday
See you Thursday for the NCAA Tournament
Sweet 16:Florida,Butler,Oregon,Wisconsin,Kansas,Southern Illinois.Pittsburgh,UCLA,Marquette,Texas,Vanderbilt,Georgetown,Ohio State,Tennessee,Texas A&M,Memphis
Elite 8:Florida vs Oregon,Kansas vs UCLA,Texas vs Georgetown,Ohio State vs Texas A&M
Final 4:Florida vs UCLA and Texas vs Texas A&M
National Championship:Florida vs Texas
My Pick and the 2007 National Champion:Texas
My reasoning for picking Texas is I see them coming out following the loss in the Big 12 title game and blowing out New Mexico State in Round 1 and getting through the rest of their region to get to the Final 4 and play their arch nemesis Texas A&M in a rematch from a week ago. I believe in Durant and the Longhorns(despite me picking them to go the Final 4 last year and losing to UCONN in the finals.)this time they will go all the way and win their first Basketball title.
Now for the Weekly Awards
Game of the Week:Wake Forest vs Georgia Tech from Round 1 of the ACC Tournament
Team of the Week:NC State for making a HUGE run in the ACC Tournament despite losing to UNC in the finals
Player of the Week:Shaun King for his 10 touchdown effort on Thursday
See you Thursday for the NCAA Tournament
Sports Weekly:March 4th
Ah yes my 3 week break has ended and a lot of things have occured in the world of sports since. But instead of recapping everything since the 11th of February I'll just start at February 26th. This week in College Basketball some teams earned a spot into the NCAA Tournament by winning their conference championships. Those teams include:Eastern Kentucky(Ohio Valley Conference Champion), Davidson(Southern Conference Champion), Belmont(Atlantic Sun Champion), Creighton(Missouri Valley), Winthrop(Big South Champion) and Pennsylvania(Ivy League Champ by record). More conference championships will occur throughout the week as March Madness begins.
It wasn't just in the mid-majors things occured but the Top 25 featured some shake-ups. On Monday Syracuse upset Georgetown winning 72-58, however the Hoyas bounced back and earned the No.1 Seed in the Big East tournament. On Tuesday Tennessee pulled off a major win over defending National Champion Florida Gators in a game that featured Lady Vols coach(and most winningest College Basketball coach of all time)Pat Summit show a different side of herself as she donned a cheerleader outfit and sang Rocky Top, a rarity for Summitt as shes been percieved over the years as a disciplinary coach. Tuesday also featured BYU snap Air Force's 30 game home win streak beating them 62-58. Wednesday night,however featured a fantastic game as Texas knocked off rival Texas A&M 98-96 in Double OT.
Thursday night featured FIVE top 25 teams fall. The first occuring with UCLA knocking off Washington State 53-45. In a huge upset Georgia Tech knocked off North Carolina 84-77 along with another upset as Utah State knocked off No.9 Nevada 79-77. The Washington Huskies pulled off 1 of 2 big wins as they beat the No.24 USC Trojans 85-70,and to conclude Thursday Virginia beat rival Virginia Tech 69-56.
Saturday featured more Top 25 teams falling as the No.2 Bruins of UCLA lost to Washington 58-51, Marquette beat No.12 Pittsburgh 75-71, Washington State beat No.24 USC 88-86 in another double OT game, and Wake Forest upset Virginia 79-72. One final upset occured today with Creighton upsetting No.11 Southern Illinois 67-61. Onto the ladies game where big story of the week was No.25 NC State beating the unbeaten and No.1 Duke Blue Devils 70-65 in the ACC Tournament Semi-Finals. Unfortunately for NC State they went on to lose the final against North Carolina. The other champion crowned today was Vanderbilt who beat LSU in the SEC Tournament Finals. Like the Men's game there will be more champions throughout the week.
Now onto Arena Football where today was the beginning of a new era for the league. However some people didn't get to see the game today. ESPN decided to go with regional coverage and only some ABC affiliates decided to air the game. One of the affiliates that didn't was mine so I never go to see todays game instead I'm currently watching the L.A. Avengers vs San Jose Sabercats on FSN no problem since LA is my favorite team. Anyways heres the results of Week
1. Some notable games includes Columbus escaping Nashville 58-56(after leading 44-29 entering Quarter 4), Georgia knocking off Arizona 69-65,the main highlight of that game however, was Georgia QB Chris Greison throwing for 9 touchdowns with 6 to reciever Tony Bergeron.
Other games included Utah escaping New Orleans 63-61,and defending AFL Champion,Chicago Rush losing to the Kansas City Brigade 54-41. For those interested in seeing the Arena Football league you can find it scattered on various FSN affiliates but you can see it Nationally next Monday on ESPN 2 as the L.A. Avengers face off with the Orlando Predators at 7pm Monday, March 12th. We conclude our Sports recaps with the NBA. Some highlights this week featured the Dallas Mavericks winning their 15th straight with a win over Orlando. At 50-9 and 23 games remaining it is very possible for the Mavs to break the 35 year old record of 33 straight set by the 72 Lakers. Other highlights included a double OT thriller with Boston knocking off Minnesota 124-117 and Ben Gordon along with Michael Redd combing for 100 in a 126-121 Bulls win.
Now time for the weekly awards
Game of the Week:Texas vs Texas A&M(Helluva ball game)
Team of the Week:Washington Huskies Basketball(beating SC and UCLA)
Player of the Week:Chris Greison of the Georgia Force
Now the Monthly Awards for February 2007
Game of the Month:The 2007 Daytona 500(Don't watch the sport but it was a helluva finish)
Team of the Month:The Dallas Mavericks(Unbeaten in February)
Player of the Month:Kevin Durant of the Texas Longhorns Basketball team
The reccomended Game of the Week isn't just one game but several
I reccomend you watch Tournament Week airing on ESPN trust me you'll love it.
See you next week for the March Madness Preview Edition your all access pass for both Men's and Women's Tournaments.
It wasn't just in the mid-majors things occured but the Top 25 featured some shake-ups. On Monday Syracuse upset Georgetown winning 72-58, however the Hoyas bounced back and earned the No.1 Seed in the Big East tournament. On Tuesday Tennessee pulled off a major win over defending National Champion Florida Gators in a game that featured Lady Vols coach(and most winningest College Basketball coach of all time)Pat Summit show a different side of herself as she donned a cheerleader outfit and sang Rocky Top, a rarity for Summitt as shes been percieved over the years as a disciplinary coach. Tuesday also featured BYU snap Air Force's 30 game home win streak beating them 62-58. Wednesday night,however featured a fantastic game as Texas knocked off rival Texas A&M 98-96 in Double OT.
Thursday night featured FIVE top 25 teams fall. The first occuring with UCLA knocking off Washington State 53-45. In a huge upset Georgia Tech knocked off North Carolina 84-77 along with another upset as Utah State knocked off No.9 Nevada 79-77. The Washington Huskies pulled off 1 of 2 big wins as they beat the No.24 USC Trojans 85-70,and to conclude Thursday Virginia beat rival Virginia Tech 69-56.
Saturday featured more Top 25 teams falling as the No.2 Bruins of UCLA lost to Washington 58-51, Marquette beat No.12 Pittsburgh 75-71, Washington State beat No.24 USC 88-86 in another double OT game, and Wake Forest upset Virginia 79-72. One final upset occured today with Creighton upsetting No.11 Southern Illinois 67-61. Onto the ladies game where big story of the week was No.25 NC State beating the unbeaten and No.1 Duke Blue Devils 70-65 in the ACC Tournament Semi-Finals. Unfortunately for NC State they went on to lose the final against North Carolina. The other champion crowned today was Vanderbilt who beat LSU in the SEC Tournament Finals. Like the Men's game there will be more champions throughout the week.
Now onto Arena Football where today was the beginning of a new era for the league. However some people didn't get to see the game today. ESPN decided to go with regional coverage and only some ABC affiliates decided to air the game. One of the affiliates that didn't was mine so I never go to see todays game instead I'm currently watching the L.A. Avengers vs San Jose Sabercats on FSN no problem since LA is my favorite team. Anyways heres the results of Week
1. Some notable games includes Columbus escaping Nashville 58-56(after leading 44-29 entering Quarter 4), Georgia knocking off Arizona 69-65,the main highlight of that game however, was Georgia QB Chris Greison throwing for 9 touchdowns with 6 to reciever Tony Bergeron.
Other games included Utah escaping New Orleans 63-61,and defending AFL Champion,Chicago Rush losing to the Kansas City Brigade 54-41. For those interested in seeing the Arena Football league you can find it scattered on various FSN affiliates but you can see it Nationally next Monday on ESPN 2 as the L.A. Avengers face off with the Orlando Predators at 7pm Monday, March 12th. We conclude our Sports recaps with the NBA. Some highlights this week featured the Dallas Mavericks winning their 15th straight with a win over Orlando. At 50-9 and 23 games remaining it is very possible for the Mavs to break the 35 year old record of 33 straight set by the 72 Lakers. Other highlights included a double OT thriller with Boston knocking off Minnesota 124-117 and Ben Gordon along with Michael Redd combing for 100 in a 126-121 Bulls win.
Now time for the weekly awards
Game of the Week:Texas vs Texas A&M(Helluva ball game)
Team of the Week:Washington Huskies Basketball(beating SC and UCLA)
Player of the Week:Chris Greison of the Georgia Force
Now the Monthly Awards for February 2007
Game of the Month:The 2007 Daytona 500(Don't watch the sport but it was a helluva finish)
Team of the Month:The Dallas Mavericks(Unbeaten in February)
Player of the Month:Kevin Durant of the Texas Longhorns Basketball team
The reccomended Game of the Week isn't just one game but several
I reccomend you watch Tournament Week airing on ESPN trust me you'll love it.
See you next week for the March Madness Preview Edition your all access pass for both Men's and Women's Tournaments.
Sports Weekly:February 11th
The big news this week is that USC has recruited(and signed)Runningback Joe McKnight from Louisiana meaning that recruits No.1,2,and 3 are going to USC meaning if you're an SC fan expect some more titles coming your way....or possibly not.Along with this story comes some controversy as McKnight mentioned that he made his decision courtesy of Coach Pete Carroll AND former USC Star Running Back and New Orleans Saint Reggie Bush.As you all may or may not know Reggie Bush is in the dog house with USC over violations such as Bush recieving gifts and money while playing in his final year with USC.Not only that but IF Bush DID speak with McKnight than USC is in a major heap of trouble because NCAA rules clearly state that former players are prohibited from speaking with recruits and this could severely damage the Trojans if this is true.More details may come in the several months leading into the 07-08 season.Other news about recruiting features two other top 10 recruits,Noel Devine and Marvin Austin signing with West Virginia and North Carolina respectively(much to dismay).And on that note I will announce my current Top 5 predictions for next year(First set of 3).
1.USC
2.Michigan
3.West Virginia
4.Florida
5.LSU
With those predictions I see the National Title Game being USC vs Michigan but that may change when the 2nd round of predictions are released in May.
Now moving onto the NFL.The big story was the Dallas Cowboys hiring Wade Phillips as Head Coach.Phillips was formerly Defensive Coordinator of San Diego and has been head coach with New Orleans(1985),Denver(1993-94),and Buffalo(1998-2000).Now it may seem bad for you Dallas fanatics but the guy is actually a pretty good coach who while leading the team will also contribute to the defense.Another story was the Pro Bowl which was played yesterday.The NFC trailed 28-14 with 5:00 left and tied it at 28 with under 2 left.However,a Nate Kaeding field goal ended the game and the AFC won 31-28.
Onto College Basketball where Rivalry Week ran wild.Some of the highlights of this week featured Texas A&M beat Texas 100-82,UCLA getting past USC 70-65,Florida escaping Kentucky 64-61,West Virginia upsetting UCLA 70-65,and Oklahoma State beating Texas Tech in a Double OT thriller 93-91.However the big story in College Basketball was Duke losing its third and FOURTH straight game(a rarity in Duke basketball).On Wednesday the Blue Devils lost to rival North Carolina 79-73 and today they fell to the Terrapins of Maryland 72-60.
Finally,in the NBA this week Dallas blew out Houston 95-74,Golden State beating Chicago 123-121 in OT after a missed shot by Ben Gordon at the buzzer,and Boston losing their 18th straight game to Minnesota.My favorite moment of the week however was Gilbert Arenas scoring only 9 points against Portland thus shutting him up a bit.Now onto the Weekly Awards.
Game of the Week:Oklahoma State vs Texas Tech from February 10th
Player of the Week:Dwight Howard for the kickass dunk ending
Team of the Week:Dallas Mavericks for going 42-9
Finally I recommend that this week you all tune in to NBA All-Star Weekend starting at 7 on Friday Night with the Celebrity Game on ESPN.Then at 9 on TNT its the Rookie Challenge.Then on Saturday Night at 8:30(on TNT) its the Shooting Stars competion/skills challenge/3-point shootout/slam dunk contest.Finally,it concludes next Sunday also on TNT with the game itself.Trust me it'll be awesome.
1.USC
2.Michigan
3.West Virginia
4.Florida
5.LSU
With those predictions I see the National Title Game being USC vs Michigan but that may change when the 2nd round of predictions are released in May.
Now moving onto the NFL.The big story was the Dallas Cowboys hiring Wade Phillips as Head Coach.Phillips was formerly Defensive Coordinator of San Diego and has been head coach with New Orleans(1985),Denver(1993-94),and Buffalo(1998-2000).Now it may seem bad for you Dallas fanatics but the guy is actually a pretty good coach who while leading the team will also contribute to the defense.Another story was the Pro Bowl which was played yesterday.The NFC trailed 28-14 with 5:00 left and tied it at 28 with under 2 left.However,a Nate Kaeding field goal ended the game and the AFC won 31-28.
Onto College Basketball where Rivalry Week ran wild.Some of the highlights of this week featured Texas A&M beat Texas 100-82,UCLA getting past USC 70-65,Florida escaping Kentucky 64-61,West Virginia upsetting UCLA 70-65,and Oklahoma State beating Texas Tech in a Double OT thriller 93-91.However the big story in College Basketball was Duke losing its third and FOURTH straight game(a rarity in Duke basketball).On Wednesday the Blue Devils lost to rival North Carolina 79-73 and today they fell to the Terrapins of Maryland 72-60.
Finally,in the NBA this week Dallas blew out Houston 95-74,Golden State beating Chicago 123-121 in OT after a missed shot by Ben Gordon at the buzzer,and Boston losing their 18th straight game to Minnesota.My favorite moment of the week however was Gilbert Arenas scoring only 9 points against Portland thus shutting him up a bit.Now onto the Weekly Awards.
Game of the Week:Oklahoma State vs Texas Tech from February 10th
Player of the Week:Dwight Howard for the kickass dunk ending
Team of the Week:Dallas Mavericks for going 42-9
Finally I recommend that this week you all tune in to NBA All-Star Weekend starting at 7 on Friday Night with the Celebrity Game on ESPN.Then at 9 on TNT its the Rookie Challenge.Then on Saturday Night at 8:30(on TNT) its the Shooting Stars competion/skills challenge/3-point shootout/slam dunk contest.Finally,it concludes next Sunday also on TNT with the game itself.Trust me it'll be awesome.
Sports Weekly:February 4th
Lets get down to business
Superbowl XLI was played today as the Indianapolis Colts defeated the Chicago Bears 29-17.Peyton Manning finally wins the big one and gets the MVP Honors in the process.Now the game itself was alright(Still doesn't top SB 34(gee I wonder why?)but it was better than last years schmoz)but too many dumb plays(Grossman fumbling worse than Jordan Palmer in the Senior Bowl last week)and miscues(the botched extra point)somewhat hurt the quality of the game.It was practically all Chicago in the 1st Quarter as Devin Hester returned a kick return for 92 yards(first man to return the opening kick)to put Chi-Town up 7-0.A Manning INT courtesy of "The Wildcat" Chris Harris(5 points to whoever gets the reference).But Indy rebounded to make it 7-6 following a botch PAT.By the end of the quarter it was 14-6 Chicago.
From there,however everything just went in Indy's favor as they took a 16-14 lead at halftime,killed half the 3rd quarter and won the game 29-17.Overall I believe what killed the Bears the most was the inability to stop Manning on passing and Rex Grossman's bobbled snaps and INTs in the 2nd half.What helped the Colts was a tough defense and perfect passing by Manning(besides the INT in the first quarter).Overall congratulations Indy and good luck for next year.
Now moving onto Men's College Basketball which will be the main focus of Sports Weekly starting with next week's issue.Our first highlight of the week occured on Monday as the Kansas Jayhawks jumped out to a 27-0 lead on Nebraska and went on to win 76-56.On Tuesday,Notre Dame scored 61 points in the first half en route to a 103-91 win in the Carrierdome(first road team to do that)against Syracuse and the No.25 Indiana Hoosiers beat the No.2 Badgers of Wisconsin 71-66 ending the 17 game win streak of the Badgers.On Thursday three Top 25 schools fell as UCLA beat Oregon 69-57,unranked Virginia beat No.10 Duke 68-66 and Washington State knocked off Arizona 72-66.
Finally,this weekend TEN Top 25 teams fell(9 of them on Saturday)as NC State beat state rival North Carolina 83-79,Texas A&M FINALLY beat Kansas(first win ever against KU)69-66,USC beat Oregon 71-68,Colorado beat Oklahoma State 89-77,Boston College destroyed Virginia Tech 80-59,South Florida beat Notre Dame 69-63,Georgia Tech beat Clemson 80-62,Kansas State beat Texas 73-72,Iowa beat Indiana 81-75,and finally Florida State FINALLY beats Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium 68-67.It'll be quite interesting what tomorrows Top 25 will look like.
Now onto the ladies.On Monday in a Big Ten matchup Ohio State beat Purdue 64-55 in West Lafeyette.Tuesday featured a Big East battle as Rutgers beat Marquette 66-56.Wednesday proved to be a major shake-up as unranked Texas beat No.8 Oklahoma 67-62 in a Rivalry game.Thursday turned out being a night of TWO major upsets as Georgia Tech beat No.4 Maryland 77-72 in Atlanta while Georgia beat LSU in a Top 15 battle 53-51.Finally,this weekend UCONN beat Marquette 52-48,Nebraska beat Baylor 76-67,and Cal beat Stanford 72-57.
While we're at hoops lets head to the NBA.This week in the NBA the T-Wolves ended the Suns streak winning 121-112 at home.In a battle for Eastern Conference supremacy the Wiz beat the Pistons 104-99.The win was so big for Washington they forgot they had a game the next night and lost to Toronto 119-109.That night(Wednesday)also featured Utah beating San Antonio in a Western Conference War 97-93.Thing didn't get better for the Spurs the next night as they lost to the Suns 103-87.
This weekend featured Bryant/Arenas II(this year at least) as the Lakers beat the Wizards 118-102 with Bryant winning 39-37 in scoring.Another big game occured as Utah beat Phoenix 108-105 thus being 7 games closer to them(good luck covering THAT).Finally this weekend the
Pistons beat the Cavs 90-78.The main story,however,in the NBA this week was Kobe Bryant's suspension.Now I know your all going to call me bias considering I'm a Lakers fan BUT allow me to note I HATE Kobe Bryant mainly for the schtick he pulled in 2004 starting with the rape case.Despite hating Bryant I highly disagree with the suspension mainly because from the looks of the tape it appeared that it was accidental as Bryants arm was going down when it hit the Spurs player following a shot.The bad part was though that it wasn't even called in the game so go figure right?
Now we move onto the Weekly Awards
Player of the Week(January 29th-February 4th):Peyton Manning
Game of the Week:NC State vs North Carolina(Men's Basketball)
Team of the Week:The Indianapolis Colts
Now we move onto the Monthly awards for the month of January(winner of Game of the Month advances to the 2nd round of the End of the Year Awards tournament)
Player of the Month:Peyton Manning
Team of the Month:Indianapolis Colts
Game of the Month:Boise State vs Oklahoma
For recommendations I recommend you watch the Pro Bowl on Saturday(6pm on CBS)but if Football ain't your thing than I suggest watching Duke vs North Carolina on Wednesday Night at 9pm on ESPN.Speaking of Wednesday I suggest you tune in whenever you get home that day to ESPN or ESPN News or(if you have it)ESPNU where its signing day for College Football featuring players such as Joe McNight(No.1 on ESPN),Noel Devine,Terry Toliver,Marvin Austin,and Allen Bailey commit to the College they will be attending starting next season.
Thank you and have a wonderful week,there will be a 2nd edition BTW of Sports Weekly out tomorrow that documents the career of Ricky Proehl who retired today as a Super Bowl champion.
Superbowl XLI was played today as the Indianapolis Colts defeated the Chicago Bears 29-17.Peyton Manning finally wins the big one and gets the MVP Honors in the process.Now the game itself was alright(Still doesn't top SB 34(gee I wonder why?)but it was better than last years schmoz)but too many dumb plays(Grossman fumbling worse than Jordan Palmer in the Senior Bowl last week)and miscues(the botched extra point)somewhat hurt the quality of the game.It was practically all Chicago in the 1st Quarter as Devin Hester returned a kick return for 92 yards(first man to return the opening kick)to put Chi-Town up 7-0.A Manning INT courtesy of "The Wildcat" Chris Harris(5 points to whoever gets the reference).But Indy rebounded to make it 7-6 following a botch PAT.By the end of the quarter it was 14-6 Chicago.
From there,however everything just went in Indy's favor as they took a 16-14 lead at halftime,killed half the 3rd quarter and won the game 29-17.Overall I believe what killed the Bears the most was the inability to stop Manning on passing and Rex Grossman's bobbled snaps and INTs in the 2nd half.What helped the Colts was a tough defense and perfect passing by Manning(besides the INT in the first quarter).Overall congratulations Indy and good luck for next year.
Now moving onto Men's College Basketball which will be the main focus of Sports Weekly starting with next week's issue.Our first highlight of the week occured on Monday as the Kansas Jayhawks jumped out to a 27-0 lead on Nebraska and went on to win 76-56.On Tuesday,Notre Dame scored 61 points in the first half en route to a 103-91 win in the Carrierdome(first road team to do that)against Syracuse and the No.25 Indiana Hoosiers beat the No.2 Badgers of Wisconsin 71-66 ending the 17 game win streak of the Badgers.On Thursday three Top 25 schools fell as UCLA beat Oregon 69-57,unranked Virginia beat No.10 Duke 68-66 and Washington State knocked off Arizona 72-66.
Finally,this weekend TEN Top 25 teams fell(9 of them on Saturday)as NC State beat state rival North Carolina 83-79,Texas A&M FINALLY beat Kansas(first win ever against KU)69-66,USC beat Oregon 71-68,Colorado beat Oklahoma State 89-77,Boston College destroyed Virginia Tech 80-59,South Florida beat Notre Dame 69-63,Georgia Tech beat Clemson 80-62,Kansas State beat Texas 73-72,Iowa beat Indiana 81-75,and finally Florida State FINALLY beats Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium 68-67.It'll be quite interesting what tomorrows Top 25 will look like.
Now onto the ladies.On Monday in a Big Ten matchup Ohio State beat Purdue 64-55 in West Lafeyette.Tuesday featured a Big East battle as Rutgers beat Marquette 66-56.Wednesday proved to be a major shake-up as unranked Texas beat No.8 Oklahoma 67-62 in a Rivalry game.Thursday turned out being a night of TWO major upsets as Georgia Tech beat No.4 Maryland 77-72 in Atlanta while Georgia beat LSU in a Top 15 battle 53-51.Finally,this weekend UCONN beat Marquette 52-48,Nebraska beat Baylor 76-67,and Cal beat Stanford 72-57.
While we're at hoops lets head to the NBA.This week in the NBA the T-Wolves ended the Suns streak winning 121-112 at home.In a battle for Eastern Conference supremacy the Wiz beat the Pistons 104-99.The win was so big for Washington they forgot they had a game the next night and lost to Toronto 119-109.That night(Wednesday)also featured Utah beating San Antonio in a Western Conference War 97-93.Thing didn't get better for the Spurs the next night as they lost to the Suns 103-87.
This weekend featured Bryant/Arenas II(this year at least) as the Lakers beat the Wizards 118-102 with Bryant winning 39-37 in scoring.Another big game occured as Utah beat Phoenix 108-105 thus being 7 games closer to them(good luck covering THAT).Finally this weekend the
Pistons beat the Cavs 90-78.The main story,however,in the NBA this week was Kobe Bryant's suspension.Now I know your all going to call me bias considering I'm a Lakers fan BUT allow me to note I HATE Kobe Bryant mainly for the schtick he pulled in 2004 starting with the rape case.Despite hating Bryant I highly disagree with the suspension mainly because from the looks of the tape it appeared that it was accidental as Bryants arm was going down when it hit the Spurs player following a shot.The bad part was though that it wasn't even called in the game so go figure right?
Now we move onto the Weekly Awards
Player of the Week(January 29th-February 4th):Peyton Manning
Game of the Week:NC State vs North Carolina(Men's Basketball)
Team of the Week:The Indianapolis Colts
Now we move onto the Monthly awards for the month of January(winner of Game of the Month advances to the 2nd round of the End of the Year Awards tournament)
Player of the Month:Peyton Manning
Team of the Month:Indianapolis Colts
Game of the Month:Boise State vs Oklahoma
For recommendations I recommend you watch the Pro Bowl on Saturday(6pm on CBS)but if Football ain't your thing than I suggest watching Duke vs North Carolina on Wednesday Night at 9pm on ESPN.Speaking of Wednesday I suggest you tune in whenever you get home that day to ESPN or ESPN News or(if you have it)ESPNU where its signing day for College Football featuring players such as Joe McNight(No.1 on ESPN),Noel Devine,Terry Toliver,Marvin Austin,and Allen Bailey commit to the College they will be attending starting next season.
Thank you and have a wonderful week,there will be a 2nd edition BTW of Sports Weekly out tomorrow that documents the career of Ricky Proehl who retired today as a Super Bowl champion.
Super Bowl XLI Preview
Better late than never I suppose
Anyways...lets get to the topic.As everyone(and their mothers)know Superbowl XLI will be played this weekend...in Miami...at 6:25pm...on CBS...Sunday.So lets give the buildup here.We begin with the 2005-2006 season.In 2005 the Indianapolis Colts began the year 13-0.That unbeaten record would end in Week 15 against the Chargers where San Diego won in Indy 26-17,and just when things couldn't get worse for Dungy and the Colts things took a downhill slide.On December 22nd of that very year Coach Tony Dungy recieved a phone call from Lutz,Florida where his son James lived.It was then Tony had found out that his 18 year old son had died from an apparent suicide.Dungy missed the game against Seattle two days later and the Colts lost 28-13 without their starters and their head coach.Despite losing 2 of 3 to conclude the season the Colts managed to retain their No.1 seed in the playoffs and homefield advantage.
Two weeks later the Colts faced the Steelers in Indianapolis.It was six weeks earlier on Monday Night Football where the Colts beat the Steelers 26-7 at home.However they weren't facing the same team they faced earlier.Instead they faced a tougher more aggresive Steelers squad.It was evident in the first quarter where Pittsburgh jumped out to a 14-0 lead.By the 3rd Quarter it was 21-3 in favor of Pitt.
The Colts rallied in the 4th with 2 touchdowns to make it 21-18.Late in the 4th Quarter the Colts had a chance to win the game when on 4th and 16 Peyton Manning was sacked and was down at the 2.On the next play the ball was given to Jerome Bettis...who fumbled for the first time all year.The ball was suddenly picked up by Cornerback Nick Harper who ran it to the Colts 42 before being met by Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.The Colts managed to drive to the Pittsburgh 29 where they went to attempt a 46 yard field goal what happened next marked the end of one man's career.
Kicker Mike Vanderjact of the Colts,who is/was the most accurate kicker in NFL History missed the kick to the right.The Steelers went on to win Superbowl XL and Vanderjact was gone the next day.Coming into the 2006-2007 season the Colts had high expectations with the signing of Adam Vinatieri,the most clutch kicker in NFL History.Indy started out the season with a 9-0 record before heading to Irving,Texas to face the 5-4 Cowboys.Despite Dallas kicker,Mike Vanderjact(Yes the SAME guy)missing 2 field goals the Boys managed to upset the Colts 21-14.The Colts would finish the last 6 games going 3-3 with losses to Houston,Jacksonville,and Tennesssee.
Coming into the playoffs there was doubt whether or not Indy's defense could stop first round opponet Kansas City and Running Back Larry Johnson.At the end the Colts' D managed to stop them winning 23-8.People for sure thought it was over when they returned to Baltimore to face the Ravens.Baltimore's defense prevented any touchdowns...as did Indy's as the Colts won 15-6 off of 3 Adam Vinatieri field goals.Suddenly things were swinging toward the Colts advantage.
Coming into the game against New England in the AFC Championship the Colts were underdogs due to falling short against New England twice(24-14 in the 04 AFC Title game and 20-3 in the 05 AFC Divisionals).However,for Indy,third time was a charm.Despite falling back 21-3 early the Colts managed to rally and win 38-34 at home beating the Pats in the playoffs for the first time ever.Now with 3 out of the 4 problems out of the way(Larry Johnson,Baltimore's D and Fans,and New England)the Colts are en route to their third Superbowl appearence.Some players to watch out for Indy are:Quarterback Peyton Manning,Running Back Joseph Addai,and Safety Bob Sanders.Now onto Chicago.
In 2005 the Bears went 11-5 behind Quarterback Kyle Orton(for most of the year)suddenly Rex Grossman was given back his job as Quarterback and the Bears drew No.2 in the playoffs.In the Divisional Round the Bears took on the Carolina Panthers.Carolina came out ready to play as they jumped out to a 13-0 lead making it 16-7 at halftime.The Bears wouldn't take the lead throughout the game losing 29-21.Carolina would go on to lose to Seattle in the NFC Championship.2006 kicked off with Chicago going into Lambeau Field and blowing out Green Bay 26-0 becoming the first team to shut out Brett Favre's Packers.Chicago would continue to dominate destroying Detroit,Seattle,and Buffalo by a combined total of 111-20.It appeared to be a repeat of the 1985 Bears who went 18-1 and destroyed almost every team out there.However that almost ended in Week 6 in Glendale.
Arizona,behind QB Matt Leinart jumped to a 20-0 lead at Halftime and led 23-3 with 1:47 left in the 3rd Quarter.Suddenly things shifted to Chicago's favor when a 3 yard fumble recovery made it a 13 point deficit.It became a 6 point deficit when Charles Tillman ran recovered a 50 yard fumble for a touchdown.It was sealed with a Devin Hester punt return to give the Bears a 24-23 victory.Chicago recovered from the close loss the following week by defeating San Francisco 41-10(after leading 41-0 at Halftime)on Halloween weekend.However Chicago's perfect season was suddenly stopped with a 31-13 loss to Miami...the same team who ended the 85 Bears perfect season.
Chicago jumped back up winning 38-20 against the Giants,and 10-0 against the Jets both in Giants Stadium.The Bears then headed to Foxboro where they faced the Patriots and fell short 17-13.Chicago proceeded the next week to beat the Vikings at home 23-12 and "destroyed" the Rams 42-27 on Monday Night Football.The next two weeks however were close scares for Chicago.At home against Tampa the Bears went up 24-3 with 5:22 left in the 3rd Quarter.However,the Buccaneers pulled within 7 at the beginning of the 4th Quarter.Chicago tried to pull away at 31-17 but the Bucs scored twice to send the game into overtime at 31-31.Kicker Robbie Gould missed a field goal but bounced back to win it 34-31.
The second occured against Detroit where they barely escaped winning 26-21.Week 17,however for the Bears would be no escape.On New Years Eve the Bears faced the Green Bay Packers who they destroyed in Week 1.Green Bay went up 23-0 at halftime and never looked back as they won 26-7.Rex Grossman(who claimed that he thought he would only be in a really short amount of time and didn't care because he was going to party later that night)turned the ball over 4 times and had a Quarterback rating of 0.This made Bears fans wonder if their Quarterback could lead them to victory.
The Bears faced off in the Divisional Playoffs two weeks later against the Seattle Seahawks,for whom they beat 37-6 just two months earlier.Seattle led 24-21 with 4 minutes left when a Robbie Gould field goal made it a tie.In overtime a second Gould field goal won the game for Chicago 27-24.The Bears advanced to the NFC Championship for the first time since 1985.The Bears immediately pounced on the Saints making it 16-0 midway thru the 2nd Quarter.In the 3rd Quarter the Saints came close at 16-14 but a safety turned the game around and the Bears won it 39-14 going on a 23-0 run to end it.Now Chicago faces the odds as a 7 point underdog and a Quarterback in doubt after being called the Worst Superbowl QB ever by the New York Times.Some key players to watch out for in Chicago are:Running Back Cedric Benson,Wide Reciever Muhsin Muhammad,and Linebacker Brian Urlacher.
So here we have it two teams seeking their 2nd Superbowl title.One team looking to bring the magic of the George Halas days into the game and the other seeking to have possesion of a trophy(The Colts' Superbowl V trophy is owned by Georgia Frontiere,owner of the St.Louis Rams whose husband,Carroll Rosenbloom owned the Colts from 1953 to 1972.That year he swapped ownership with LA Rams owner Robert Isray and took the trophy with him.The Colts' replacement trophy is in possesion of the City of Baltimore who was given it following the Colts' move to Indy in 1984 by the NFL.).It is also two Quarterbacks looking to prove something.For Rex Grossman its to show that he is worth a damn and deserving of where he is and for Peyton Manning its proving that he can be a Superbowl winner and not a Dan Marino.
With that its now time for my pick.As much as I would love to see Indy pull it off I have a feeling,the same feeling I had when Pittsburgh won Superbowl XL,and the same feeling when Florida beat Ohio State.That feeling is that Chicago will win this game and their 2nd Superbowl.I think it will be a close game and Rex Grossman will have a big day with help from the Chicago Defense and win the Superbowl for him and his team.This is due to the "Don't doubt anyone" theory where the team people are doubting will impress and conquer.
Thats the Superbowl preview edition.Now for the weekly awards
Game of the Week:Virginia vs Clemson only due to Virginia's miracle comeback
MVP of the Week:Again slow week and I never watched too much sports so this will not be handed out
Team of the Week:Chicago Bulls for ending the Mavs streak.
See you next week for the Superbowl Recap following the game.Remember the game is at 6:25pm on CBS.
I also wish best of luck to the owners of the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro who was put to sleep early this morning.
RIP
Anyways...lets get to the topic.As everyone(and their mothers)know Superbowl XLI will be played this weekend...in Miami...at 6:25pm...on CBS...Sunday.So lets give the buildup here.We begin with the 2005-2006 season.In 2005 the Indianapolis Colts began the year 13-0.That unbeaten record would end in Week 15 against the Chargers where San Diego won in Indy 26-17,and just when things couldn't get worse for Dungy and the Colts things took a downhill slide.On December 22nd of that very year Coach Tony Dungy recieved a phone call from Lutz,Florida where his son James lived.It was then Tony had found out that his 18 year old son had died from an apparent suicide.Dungy missed the game against Seattle two days later and the Colts lost 28-13 without their starters and their head coach.Despite losing 2 of 3 to conclude the season the Colts managed to retain their No.1 seed in the playoffs and homefield advantage.
Two weeks later the Colts faced the Steelers in Indianapolis.It was six weeks earlier on Monday Night Football where the Colts beat the Steelers 26-7 at home.However they weren't facing the same team they faced earlier.Instead they faced a tougher more aggresive Steelers squad.It was evident in the first quarter where Pittsburgh jumped out to a 14-0 lead.By the 3rd Quarter it was 21-3 in favor of Pitt.
The Colts rallied in the 4th with 2 touchdowns to make it 21-18.Late in the 4th Quarter the Colts had a chance to win the game when on 4th and 16 Peyton Manning was sacked and was down at the 2.On the next play the ball was given to Jerome Bettis...who fumbled for the first time all year.The ball was suddenly picked up by Cornerback Nick Harper who ran it to the Colts 42 before being met by Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.The Colts managed to drive to the Pittsburgh 29 where they went to attempt a 46 yard field goal what happened next marked the end of one man's career.
Kicker Mike Vanderjact of the Colts,who is/was the most accurate kicker in NFL History missed the kick to the right.The Steelers went on to win Superbowl XL and Vanderjact was gone the next day.Coming into the 2006-2007 season the Colts had high expectations with the signing of Adam Vinatieri,the most clutch kicker in NFL History.Indy started out the season with a 9-0 record before heading to Irving,Texas to face the 5-4 Cowboys.Despite Dallas kicker,Mike Vanderjact(Yes the SAME guy)missing 2 field goals the Boys managed to upset the Colts 21-14.The Colts would finish the last 6 games going 3-3 with losses to Houston,Jacksonville,and Tennesssee.
Coming into the playoffs there was doubt whether or not Indy's defense could stop first round opponet Kansas City and Running Back Larry Johnson.At the end the Colts' D managed to stop them winning 23-8.People for sure thought it was over when they returned to Baltimore to face the Ravens.Baltimore's defense prevented any touchdowns...as did Indy's as the Colts won 15-6 off of 3 Adam Vinatieri field goals.Suddenly things were swinging toward the Colts advantage.
Coming into the game against New England in the AFC Championship the Colts were underdogs due to falling short against New England twice(24-14 in the 04 AFC Title game and 20-3 in the 05 AFC Divisionals).However,for Indy,third time was a charm.Despite falling back 21-3 early the Colts managed to rally and win 38-34 at home beating the Pats in the playoffs for the first time ever.Now with 3 out of the 4 problems out of the way(Larry Johnson,Baltimore's D and Fans,and New England)the Colts are en route to their third Superbowl appearence.Some players to watch out for Indy are:Quarterback Peyton Manning,Running Back Joseph Addai,and Safety Bob Sanders.Now onto Chicago.
In 2005 the Bears went 11-5 behind Quarterback Kyle Orton(for most of the year)suddenly Rex Grossman was given back his job as Quarterback and the Bears drew No.2 in the playoffs.In the Divisional Round the Bears took on the Carolina Panthers.Carolina came out ready to play as they jumped out to a 13-0 lead making it 16-7 at halftime.The Bears wouldn't take the lead throughout the game losing 29-21.Carolina would go on to lose to Seattle in the NFC Championship.2006 kicked off with Chicago going into Lambeau Field and blowing out Green Bay 26-0 becoming the first team to shut out Brett Favre's Packers.Chicago would continue to dominate destroying Detroit,Seattle,and Buffalo by a combined total of 111-20.It appeared to be a repeat of the 1985 Bears who went 18-1 and destroyed almost every team out there.However that almost ended in Week 6 in Glendale.
Arizona,behind QB Matt Leinart jumped to a 20-0 lead at Halftime and led 23-3 with 1:47 left in the 3rd Quarter.Suddenly things shifted to Chicago's favor when a 3 yard fumble recovery made it a 13 point deficit.It became a 6 point deficit when Charles Tillman ran recovered a 50 yard fumble for a touchdown.It was sealed with a Devin Hester punt return to give the Bears a 24-23 victory.Chicago recovered from the close loss the following week by defeating San Francisco 41-10(after leading 41-0 at Halftime)on Halloween weekend.However Chicago's perfect season was suddenly stopped with a 31-13 loss to Miami...the same team who ended the 85 Bears perfect season.
Chicago jumped back up winning 38-20 against the Giants,and 10-0 against the Jets both in Giants Stadium.The Bears then headed to Foxboro where they faced the Patriots and fell short 17-13.Chicago proceeded the next week to beat the Vikings at home 23-12 and "destroyed" the Rams 42-27 on Monday Night Football.The next two weeks however were close scares for Chicago.At home against Tampa the Bears went up 24-3 with 5:22 left in the 3rd Quarter.However,the Buccaneers pulled within 7 at the beginning of the 4th Quarter.Chicago tried to pull away at 31-17 but the Bucs scored twice to send the game into overtime at 31-31.Kicker Robbie Gould missed a field goal but bounced back to win it 34-31.
The second occured against Detroit where they barely escaped winning 26-21.Week 17,however for the Bears would be no escape.On New Years Eve the Bears faced the Green Bay Packers who they destroyed in Week 1.Green Bay went up 23-0 at halftime and never looked back as they won 26-7.Rex Grossman(who claimed that he thought he would only be in a really short amount of time and didn't care because he was going to party later that night)turned the ball over 4 times and had a Quarterback rating of 0.This made Bears fans wonder if their Quarterback could lead them to victory.
The Bears faced off in the Divisional Playoffs two weeks later against the Seattle Seahawks,for whom they beat 37-6 just two months earlier.Seattle led 24-21 with 4 minutes left when a Robbie Gould field goal made it a tie.In overtime a second Gould field goal won the game for Chicago 27-24.The Bears advanced to the NFC Championship for the first time since 1985.The Bears immediately pounced on the Saints making it 16-0 midway thru the 2nd Quarter.In the 3rd Quarter the Saints came close at 16-14 but a safety turned the game around and the Bears won it 39-14 going on a 23-0 run to end it.Now Chicago faces the odds as a 7 point underdog and a Quarterback in doubt after being called the Worst Superbowl QB ever by the New York Times.Some key players to watch out for in Chicago are:Running Back Cedric Benson,Wide Reciever Muhsin Muhammad,and Linebacker Brian Urlacher.
So here we have it two teams seeking their 2nd Superbowl title.One team looking to bring the magic of the George Halas days into the game and the other seeking to have possesion of a trophy(The Colts' Superbowl V trophy is owned by Georgia Frontiere,owner of the St.Louis Rams whose husband,Carroll Rosenbloom owned the Colts from 1953 to 1972.That year he swapped ownership with LA Rams owner Robert Isray and took the trophy with him.The Colts' replacement trophy is in possesion of the City of Baltimore who was given it following the Colts' move to Indy in 1984 by the NFL.).It is also two Quarterbacks looking to prove something.For Rex Grossman its to show that he is worth a damn and deserving of where he is and for Peyton Manning its proving that he can be a Superbowl winner and not a Dan Marino.
With that its now time for my pick.As much as I would love to see Indy pull it off I have a feeling,the same feeling I had when Pittsburgh won Superbowl XL,and the same feeling when Florida beat Ohio State.That feeling is that Chicago will win this game and their 2nd Superbowl.I think it will be a close game and Rex Grossman will have a big day with help from the Chicago Defense and win the Superbowl for him and his team.This is due to the "Don't doubt anyone" theory where the team people are doubting will impress and conquer.
Thats the Superbowl preview edition.Now for the weekly awards
Game of the Week:Virginia vs Clemson only due to Virginia's miracle comeback
MVP of the Week:Again slow week and I never watched too much sports so this will not be handed out
Team of the Week:Chicago Bulls for ending the Mavs streak.
See you next week for the Superbowl Recap following the game.Remember the game is at 6:25pm on CBS.
I also wish best of luck to the owners of the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro who was put to sleep early this morning.
RIP
Sports Weekly:January 21st
Its 10:30 at night....lets get started.First off,we start with the NFC Championship where the Chicago Bears absolutely destroyed the New Orleans Saints 39-14 in a HUGE blowout.Chicago jumped up to a 16-0 lead in the 2nd Quarter but the Saints pulled within 2.However,Chicago ended the game scoring 23 unanswered to win the game and advance to their 2nd Superbowl(and first since Superbowl XX).In the AFC Championship the Colts fell behind 21-3 in the 2nd Quarter and tied it at 21 in the 3rd Quarter.But at the end the Colts rallied to win 38-34 to advance to only its third superbowl in 38 years.
Lets preview this game for a bit with some history to both squads.Both Chicago and Indianapolis were part of the Original NFL(the now current NFC)from 1953-1970 meeting twice a year.In their first meeting in Baltimore the Colts won 13-9.The last time they met was in 2004 where the Colts won 41-10 in Chicago.Currently,Indy leads the all-time series 22-17.For the Bears its their 2nd Superbowl appearence.There first(and only prior to today)was in Superbowl XX where they defeated the Patriots 46-10.As for Indy,they made two appearences in the first 5 Superbowls.
In Superbowl III the Colts lost the Joe Namath's New York Jets 16-7 in a major upset.There second appearence was in Superbowl V where the Colts beat the Cowboys 16-13 in what was known as the "Blooper Bowl" for its 11 turnovers and poorly timed plays.Now moving onto College Basketball where several big games were played this week.Starting with Tuesday where #14 Oklahoma State beat the 23rd rank Texas Longhorns 105-103 in triple overtime in the best College Basketball game I've seen all year.On Wednesday the Tar Heels of North Carolina destroyed Clemson 77-55.On Saturday the Bruins of UCLA beat Arizona 73-69 in a close battle between two Pac 10 powers and Texas A&M destroyed Oklahoma State 67-49 in a battle between two Top 15 teams.
In the NBA this week the Wizards beat the Jazz on a last second 3 pointer 108-105 courtesy of Gilbert Arenas.Along with that game on Monday the Lakers beat the Heat 124-118 in Overtime in the never-ending Shaq and D-Wade vs Kobe fued.A little more happened with L.A. this week as they defeated the Spurs 100-96 on Wednesday but was blown out by the Mavs 114-95 the next day and earlier today the Mavs defeated the Heat 99-93 in the NBA Finals rematch.To show how short this blog is this week lets head to the Weekly Awards.
Game of the Week:Colts vs Patriots
MVP of the Week:Gilbert Arenas
Team of the Week:Phoenix Suns
Finally,I recommend that this week you watch Texas A&M vs Texas Tech which will be on Wednesday Night because if Tech can beat Kansas at home they can do it again Wednesday at home too.If you can't find the game(ESPN doesn't have it listed nor is it on any other channel)than I also recommend Spurs against Lakers on Sunday 3:30 on ABC.
See you next week the REAL Superbowl preview.
Lets preview this game for a bit with some history to both squads.Both Chicago and Indianapolis were part of the Original NFL(the now current NFC)from 1953-1970 meeting twice a year.In their first meeting in Baltimore the Colts won 13-9.The last time they met was in 2004 where the Colts won 41-10 in Chicago.Currently,Indy leads the all-time series 22-17.For the Bears its their 2nd Superbowl appearence.There first(and only prior to today)was in Superbowl XX where they defeated the Patriots 46-10.As for Indy,they made two appearences in the first 5 Superbowls.
In Superbowl III the Colts lost the Joe Namath's New York Jets 16-7 in a major upset.There second appearence was in Superbowl V where the Colts beat the Cowboys 16-13 in what was known as the "Blooper Bowl" for its 11 turnovers and poorly timed plays.Now moving onto College Basketball where several big games were played this week.Starting with Tuesday where #14 Oklahoma State beat the 23rd rank Texas Longhorns 105-103 in triple overtime in the best College Basketball game I've seen all year.On Wednesday the Tar Heels of North Carolina destroyed Clemson 77-55.On Saturday the Bruins of UCLA beat Arizona 73-69 in a close battle between two Pac 10 powers and Texas A&M destroyed Oklahoma State 67-49 in a battle between two Top 15 teams.
In the NBA this week the Wizards beat the Jazz on a last second 3 pointer 108-105 courtesy of Gilbert Arenas.Along with that game on Monday the Lakers beat the Heat 124-118 in Overtime in the never-ending Shaq and D-Wade vs Kobe fued.A little more happened with L.A. this week as they defeated the Spurs 100-96 on Wednesday but was blown out by the Mavs 114-95 the next day and earlier today the Mavs defeated the Heat 99-93 in the NBA Finals rematch.To show how short this blog is this week lets head to the Weekly Awards.
Game of the Week:Colts vs Patriots
MVP of the Week:Gilbert Arenas
Team of the Week:Phoenix Suns
Finally,I recommend that this week you watch Texas A&M vs Texas Tech which will be on Wednesday Night because if Tech can beat Kansas at home they can do it again Wednesday at home too.If you can't find the game(ESPN doesn't have it listed nor is it on any other channel)than I also recommend Spurs against Lakers on Sunday 3:30 on ABC.
See you next week the REAL Superbowl preview.
My Fellow Maryland Fans
This week brought tragedy and triumph.On Wednesday night the Men's team fell short to the Hurricanes of Miami by a score of 63-58(much to my dismay)but they rebounded to beat the previously unbeaten Tigers of Clemson,92-87 at home.This week the Lady Terps blew out the Lady Canes in Miami 111-53 only to get destroyed(also to my dismay) 81-62.Hopefully they rebound and are able to run the table again this year.Overall mediocre week for Terp fans but we beat Clemson and that matters the most.Our next game is Tuesday in Charlottesville against the Cavs of Virginia.
Lets make it 16-3
Lets make it 16-3
Sports Weekly:January 14th
No time for shenanigans lets get down to business.The divisional round of the NFL Playoffs were played Today..and yesterday and some games saw some upsets.The 1st game was Indianapolis returning to Baltimore to face the Ravens.In a game with no touchdowns and no safetys the Colts upset the Ravens 15-6 to advance to the AFC Championship for the 1st time in 3 years.The 2nd game on Saturday featured the Saints edgeing past the Eagles 27-24 to advance to their first NFC Championship in team history.Earlier today the Bears beat the Seahawks in OT 27-24 in a much better game than their October debacle.
Finally,just a few minutes ago the Patriots knocked off the Chargers(to the delight of no one)24-21 when Nate Kaeding's 54 yard kick came short to the right.So this sets up Patriots/Colts(again)usually this game features the Pats dominating and winning at home but this time its in the RCA Dome(bout time!)these two faced off on Sunday Night Football with the Colts winning 27-20 in Foxboro.The NFC Championship shall be Bears against Saints.The last time they met was last season in Baton Rouge where the Bears pulled off a 20-17 victory.Now we go to College Football where 2 bowl games occured this week.
In the GMAC Bowl Southern Mississippi defeated Ohio 28-7 and on Monday Night the Florida Gators proved to everyone that they're for real as they destroyed the Buckeyes 41-14 in a game where Troy Smith only had 35 passing yards with 82 total yards for the Buckeyes.People questioned whether or not the AP Poll would vote Boise State or Florida as National Champion and in the end the AP Poll declared Florida the champion of College Football.Thus meaning a Mid-Major goes unbeaten,beats a major conference champion in a BCS Bowl,and only gets a No.5 rank with two 1 loss teams(Florida and OHIO STATE) and two 2 loss teams(LSU and USC) ranked ahead of them all because they're not in the Big 12,Big Ten,SEC,ACC,Big East,or Pac 10.....whatever.
If it was up to me Boise State would be No.1 by the following scenario(that makes sense)
Boise State beat Oregon State who beat USC who beat Arkansas who beat Auburn who beat LSU who lost to Florida who also lost to Auburn and beat Ohio State who beat Michigan.The AP Poll(and BCS) fails at logic.Bottom line is if you're going to have this system at least have it so it makes SOME sense.Meanwhile in College Basketball this week both No.1 teams fell as Virginia Tech knocked off the No.1 men's team,North Carolina 94-88 in Blacksburg on Saturday and just a few hours earlier the Duke Lady Blue Devils knocked off the Lady Terrapins(much to my dismay)81-62 in Durham.Another big win came when the Maryland Terrapins(Mens) beat the previously unbeaten Clemson Tigers 92-87 yesterday rebounding from a heartbreaker against Miami.
So if anything expect Florida to take the Men's Top 25 and Duke to take the women's.Nothing happened in the NBA so no need to talk about it.So now lets get random.Now for the College
Football awards.
Worst Team of the Year:Duke(September 17,2005...the last time Duke won a game.Now you can debate that Florida International is worse but this is FIU's 2nd season in 1-A Football.In the past 3 seasons Duke is 3-31.Their last road win was Novemeber 22,2003 against North Carolina.To make matters worse they were outscored 100-13 in their first four games.They even lost AT HOME to Richmond.Its redicolus that an ACC team can't beat a Division 1-AA team in their home stadium.I can't see a light in the tunnel for the Blue Devils but I said the same thing about Rutgers a few years ago and look where they are now.
Inspiration of the Year:Wake Forest-When you think of the ACC Champion you'd usually think either Florida State or Miami.Well thats what most people thought coming into the 2006 Season but to the shock of many,FSU and Miami finished with 6-6 records and 3-5 against the ACC.To show how upside down things were compared to last year the Top 5 contenders to win the ACC Title coming into November was:Maryland,Boston College,Virginia Tech,Clemson,and Wake Forest.Preseason projections had the Demon Deacons finishing last in the ACC Atlantic Division...they were about to be shocked.The Demon Deacons kicked off the season with a 20-13 win over Syracuse,then the next suffered a scare but manage to beat Duke 14-13.At this point no one was convinced that Wake was good but 3 games later they were 5-0 heading into the October 7th game against Clemson.After jumping out to a 17-3 lead a botched field goal gave Clemson the touchdown and the Tigers went on to win 27-17.People started questioning Wake but the Deacons responded with victories over NC State,North Carolina,Boston College and a 30-0 blow out of Florida State.The last time the Noles were shut out was on September 18,1976.However,Wake slipped the next week losing 24-6 to Virginia Tech on Senior day.However,a Boston College lost set up Wake for a Atlantic Division championship game against the Maryland Terrapins at College Park and much to my displeasure Wake won in convincing fashion 38-24.It was off to the last place people expected them...the ACC Championship.On December 2nd in Jacksonville,Wake pulled off a 9-6 upset of Georgia Tech to win the ACC Title and earn a birth to the Orange Bowl for the first time ever.Despite coming up short against the Cardinals of Louisville,Wake managed to pull off a great season that will never be forgotten by Wake Forest,its fans,and College Football fanatics.
Player of the Year:Troy Smith-Despite getting destroyed by the Gators in the title game,Smith still managed to win the Heisman trophy(even though it was given to him a month prior to the game)he managed to throw 30 touchdowns(with 4 against Michigan)2,542 passing yards.
Conference of the Year:Big 10-Featuring the 12-1 Buckeyes,11-2 Wolverines,12-1 Badgers,and the 9-4 Nittany Lions of Penn State.
Mid-Major National Champion:Boise State-13-0 simply the best mid-major team in College Football.
Team of the Year:Boise State-This my friends is the real National Champion of 2006.Coming into this season the Broncos of Boise were trying to break through the majors and shut up the critics.Boise kicked off the season blowing out Sacremento State at home 45-0.The next week they played their first major game of the year defeating Oregon State 42-14 on Smurf Turf.Boise started out conference play with a 17-10 win against Wyoming on the road.In their first real challenge of the year they defeated Colt Brennan and the Hawaii Warriors 41-34 at home.Boise then went on the road and blew out Utah 36-3.
The next four games they defeated Louisiana Tech,New Mexico State,Idaho,and Fresno State all by a combine total of 182-89.Talk suddenly began about Boise State possibly being a BCS Buster and making a BCS Game.Following a close game at San Jose State they blew out Utah State(49-10) and Nevada(38-7) thus winning the WAC and earning a trip to the Fiesta Bowl against the Sooners of Oklahoma where the Broncos proved to all to be "The Team" as they defeated Oklahoma 43-42 in a shootout in overtime.Despite going 13-0 the Broncos only finished No.5 in the AP Poll and got no share of the National Championship.
Overall,however the 2006-2007 season of College Football will be always remembered in my book as the year of the Bronco.
Game of the Year(and Bowl Game of the Year):Boise State vs Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl-5 years ago no one would ever have predicted this game to happen in a BCS game.Boise State was founded in 1932 as Boise Jr. College but didn't become a University until 1974.Boise Junior College expirirenced early football success in 1958 when they went unbeaten and was declared National Champion of Jr.Colleges.In 1980 they won their first NCAA Championship in I-AA football.In 1996 the schools hard work had payed off as they were promoted to I-A.
In their two seasons they combined for 6-17 but they haven't had a losing season since 1997(where they went 4-7).In 2003 the Broncos announced that rather than playing in the Humanitarian Bowl at their home stadium they would travel to Fort Worth to play TCU in the Fort Worth Bowl.At the end the Broncos defeated Texas Christian by a score of 34-31.The next season Boise went unbeaten in the regular season only to lose 44-40 against the Cardinals of Louisville in the Liberty Bowl.Last season was a "meh" type of season as the Broncos lost to Boston College in the MPC Computers Bowl 27-21 after trailing 27-0 in the 4th Quarter.As I said earlier they ran the table thus setting up this game.
The Broncos jumped out to a 14-0 lead early in the 1st Quarter but the Sooners quickly pulled within 7 and eventually 4 coming toward the end of the 2nd Quarter when a 32 yard Jared Zabransky touchdown pass made it 21-10 at halftime.A Paul Thompson INT in the 3rd quarter led the Broncos to a 28-10 lead as stunned Sooner fans looked on.Coming into the final quarter the Sooners pulled within 11 and with a 28 yard field goal made it 28-20.With 1:26 left Thompson connected with Chaney to make it 28-26 and with a two point conversion,28-28.
A panicking Jared Zabransky then made a major mistake as his pass was picked off by Marcus Walker to make it 35-28 Sooners with 1:02 left.The Broncos drove to midfield but faced 4th and 18 with 18 seconds left.Zabransky threw a 15 yard pass to Drisan James...which was then tossed to Jerard Rabb who ran the ball 35 yards for the game tying touchdown.With 7 seconds left the Sooners took a knee and the game was sent to Overtime.Boise won the toss in OT but elected to play defense.On the first play from scrimmage,Adrian Peterson ran 25 yards to make it 42-35 in favor of the Sooners.It suddenly didn't look good for the Underdog Broncos of Boise.
It was suddenly 4th and 2 for Boise at the 5 yard line when they made a risky call as Zabransky ran from his QB position to the left and Wide Reciever Vinny Perretta took the snap,ran to the right and tossed a pass into the endzone to TE Derek Schouman to make it 42-41 in favor of OU.Rather than going for the extra point and sending it to a 2nd OT(and keeping me up another 5-10 minutes)the Broncos elected to go for 2 and ran the Statue of Liberty play to defeat the Sooners 43-42.What makes this game so great was the story coming in(Are the Broncos worthy of a BCS Bowl bid and can a Mid-Major team(Boise State) beat an established football school(Oklahoma),the game play itself(OU rallying from a 28-10 hole to take the lead with under 2 minutes remaining),the final 1:26 of the game(with OT),the ending(Wide Reciever Option scores the touchdown and the Statue of Liberty play wins the game along with Ian Johnson proposing to his girlfirend in the postgame interview).Overall the game AND bowl game of the year and maybe,just maybe the greatest game in history.
Now we move on with the Weekly Awards
Game of the Week:North Carolina vs Virginia Tech(Men's Basketball)
Team of the Week:Virginia Tech Basketball
MVP of the Week:Adam Vinatieri
Finally,just a few minutes ago the Patriots knocked off the Chargers(to the delight of no one)24-21 when Nate Kaeding's 54 yard kick came short to the right.So this sets up Patriots/Colts(again)usually this game features the Pats dominating and winning at home but this time its in the RCA Dome(bout time!)these two faced off on Sunday Night Football with the Colts winning 27-20 in Foxboro.The NFC Championship shall be Bears against Saints.The last time they met was last season in Baton Rouge where the Bears pulled off a 20-17 victory.Now we go to College Football where 2 bowl games occured this week.
In the GMAC Bowl Southern Mississippi defeated Ohio 28-7 and on Monday Night the Florida Gators proved to everyone that they're for real as they destroyed the Buckeyes 41-14 in a game where Troy Smith only had 35 passing yards with 82 total yards for the Buckeyes.People questioned whether or not the AP Poll would vote Boise State or Florida as National Champion and in the end the AP Poll declared Florida the champion of College Football.Thus meaning a Mid-Major goes unbeaten,beats a major conference champion in a BCS Bowl,and only gets a No.5 rank with two 1 loss teams(Florida and OHIO STATE) and two 2 loss teams(LSU and USC) ranked ahead of them all because they're not in the Big 12,Big Ten,SEC,ACC,Big East,or Pac 10.....whatever.
If it was up to me Boise State would be No.1 by the following scenario(that makes sense)
Boise State beat Oregon State who beat USC who beat Arkansas who beat Auburn who beat LSU who lost to Florida who also lost to Auburn and beat Ohio State who beat Michigan.The AP Poll(and BCS) fails at logic.Bottom line is if you're going to have this system at least have it so it makes SOME sense.Meanwhile in College Basketball this week both No.1 teams fell as Virginia Tech knocked off the No.1 men's team,North Carolina 94-88 in Blacksburg on Saturday and just a few hours earlier the Duke Lady Blue Devils knocked off the Lady Terrapins(much to my dismay)81-62 in Durham.Another big win came when the Maryland Terrapins(Mens) beat the previously unbeaten Clemson Tigers 92-87 yesterday rebounding from a heartbreaker against Miami.
So if anything expect Florida to take the Men's Top 25 and Duke to take the women's.Nothing happened in the NBA so no need to talk about it.So now lets get random.Now for the College
Football awards.
Worst Team of the Year:Duke(September 17,2005...the last time Duke won a game.Now you can debate that Florida International is worse but this is FIU's 2nd season in 1-A Football.In the past 3 seasons Duke is 3-31.Their last road win was Novemeber 22,2003 against North Carolina.To make matters worse they were outscored 100-13 in their first four games.They even lost AT HOME to Richmond.Its redicolus that an ACC team can't beat a Division 1-AA team in their home stadium.I can't see a light in the tunnel for the Blue Devils but I said the same thing about Rutgers a few years ago and look where they are now.
Inspiration of the Year:Wake Forest-When you think of the ACC Champion you'd usually think either Florida State or Miami.Well thats what most people thought coming into the 2006 Season but to the shock of many,FSU and Miami finished with 6-6 records and 3-5 against the ACC.To show how upside down things were compared to last year the Top 5 contenders to win the ACC Title coming into November was:Maryland,Boston College,Virginia Tech,Clemson,and Wake Forest.Preseason projections had the Demon Deacons finishing last in the ACC Atlantic Division...they were about to be shocked.The Demon Deacons kicked off the season with a 20-13 win over Syracuse,then the next suffered a scare but manage to beat Duke 14-13.At this point no one was convinced that Wake was good but 3 games later they were 5-0 heading into the October 7th game against Clemson.After jumping out to a 17-3 lead a botched field goal gave Clemson the touchdown and the Tigers went on to win 27-17.People started questioning Wake but the Deacons responded with victories over NC State,North Carolina,Boston College and a 30-0 blow out of Florida State.The last time the Noles were shut out was on September 18,1976.However,Wake slipped the next week losing 24-6 to Virginia Tech on Senior day.However,a Boston College lost set up Wake for a Atlantic Division championship game against the Maryland Terrapins at College Park and much to my displeasure Wake won in convincing fashion 38-24.It was off to the last place people expected them...the ACC Championship.On December 2nd in Jacksonville,Wake pulled off a 9-6 upset of Georgia Tech to win the ACC Title and earn a birth to the Orange Bowl for the first time ever.Despite coming up short against the Cardinals of Louisville,Wake managed to pull off a great season that will never be forgotten by Wake Forest,its fans,and College Football fanatics.
Player of the Year:Troy Smith-Despite getting destroyed by the Gators in the title game,Smith still managed to win the Heisman trophy(even though it was given to him a month prior to the game)he managed to throw 30 touchdowns(with 4 against Michigan)2,542 passing yards.
Conference of the Year:Big 10-Featuring the 12-1 Buckeyes,11-2 Wolverines,12-1 Badgers,and the 9-4 Nittany Lions of Penn State.
Mid-Major National Champion:Boise State-13-0 simply the best mid-major team in College Football.
Team of the Year:Boise State-This my friends is the real National Champion of 2006.Coming into this season the Broncos of Boise were trying to break through the majors and shut up the critics.Boise kicked off the season blowing out Sacremento State at home 45-0.The next week they played their first major game of the year defeating Oregon State 42-14 on Smurf Turf.Boise started out conference play with a 17-10 win against Wyoming on the road.In their first real challenge of the year they defeated Colt Brennan and the Hawaii Warriors 41-34 at home.Boise then went on the road and blew out Utah 36-3.
The next four games they defeated Louisiana Tech,New Mexico State,Idaho,and Fresno State all by a combine total of 182-89.Talk suddenly began about Boise State possibly being a BCS Buster and making a BCS Game.Following a close game at San Jose State they blew out Utah State(49-10) and Nevada(38-7) thus winning the WAC and earning a trip to the Fiesta Bowl against the Sooners of Oklahoma where the Broncos proved to all to be "The Team" as they defeated Oklahoma 43-42 in a shootout in overtime.Despite going 13-0 the Broncos only finished No.5 in the AP Poll and got no share of the National Championship.
Overall,however the 2006-2007 season of College Football will be always remembered in my book as the year of the Bronco.
Game of the Year(and Bowl Game of the Year):Boise State vs Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl-5 years ago no one would ever have predicted this game to happen in a BCS game.Boise State was founded in 1932 as Boise Jr. College but didn't become a University until 1974.Boise Junior College expirirenced early football success in 1958 when they went unbeaten and was declared National Champion of Jr.Colleges.In 1980 they won their first NCAA Championship in I-AA football.In 1996 the schools hard work had payed off as they were promoted to I-A.
In their two seasons they combined for 6-17 but they haven't had a losing season since 1997(where they went 4-7).In 2003 the Broncos announced that rather than playing in the Humanitarian Bowl at their home stadium they would travel to Fort Worth to play TCU in the Fort Worth Bowl.At the end the Broncos defeated Texas Christian by a score of 34-31.The next season Boise went unbeaten in the regular season only to lose 44-40 against the Cardinals of Louisville in the Liberty Bowl.Last season was a "meh" type of season as the Broncos lost to Boston College in the MPC Computers Bowl 27-21 after trailing 27-0 in the 4th Quarter.As I said earlier they ran the table thus setting up this game.
The Broncos jumped out to a 14-0 lead early in the 1st Quarter but the Sooners quickly pulled within 7 and eventually 4 coming toward the end of the 2nd Quarter when a 32 yard Jared Zabransky touchdown pass made it 21-10 at halftime.A Paul Thompson INT in the 3rd quarter led the Broncos to a 28-10 lead as stunned Sooner fans looked on.Coming into the final quarter the Sooners pulled within 11 and with a 28 yard field goal made it 28-20.With 1:26 left Thompson connected with Chaney to make it 28-26 and with a two point conversion,28-28.
A panicking Jared Zabransky then made a major mistake as his pass was picked off by Marcus Walker to make it 35-28 Sooners with 1:02 left.The Broncos drove to midfield but faced 4th and 18 with 18 seconds left.Zabransky threw a 15 yard pass to Drisan James...which was then tossed to Jerard Rabb who ran the ball 35 yards for the game tying touchdown.With 7 seconds left the Sooners took a knee and the game was sent to Overtime.Boise won the toss in OT but elected to play defense.On the first play from scrimmage,Adrian Peterson ran 25 yards to make it 42-35 in favor of the Sooners.It suddenly didn't look good for the Underdog Broncos of Boise.
It was suddenly 4th and 2 for Boise at the 5 yard line when they made a risky call as Zabransky ran from his QB position to the left and Wide Reciever Vinny Perretta took the snap,ran to the right and tossed a pass into the endzone to TE Derek Schouman to make it 42-41 in favor of OU.Rather than going for the extra point and sending it to a 2nd OT(and keeping me up another 5-10 minutes)the Broncos elected to go for 2 and ran the Statue of Liberty play to defeat the Sooners 43-42.What makes this game so great was the story coming in(Are the Broncos worthy of a BCS Bowl bid and can a Mid-Major team(Boise State) beat an established football school(Oklahoma),the game play itself(OU rallying from a 28-10 hole to take the lead with under 2 minutes remaining),the final 1:26 of the game(with OT),the ending(Wide Reciever Option scores the touchdown and the Statue of Liberty play wins the game along with Ian Johnson proposing to his girlfirend in the postgame interview).Overall the game AND bowl game of the year and maybe,just maybe the greatest game in history.
Now we move on with the Weekly Awards
Game of the Week:North Carolina vs Virginia Tech(Men's Basketball)
Team of the Week:Virginia Tech Basketball
MVP of the Week:Adam Vinatieri
Sports Weekly:January 7th
No views last week? DAMN!
Oh well anyways the first round of the playoffs have come to a close as 8 teams remain in the Superbowl hunt.Yesterday the Colts virtually shut down Larry Johnson and the Chiefs offense holding LJ to 32 yards in a 23-8 rout.A botched field goal gave the Seattle Seahawks the win against the Dallas Cowboys 21-20.Just 4 hours ago the Patriots blew out the Jets 37-16 as Teacher beat Student.And just 20 minutes ago a David Akers kick lifted the Eagles to a 23-20 win over the New York Football Giants.
We now move onto the Quarterfinals as the Ravens face the Colts on Saturday at 4:30 on CBS.The last time these two met was in Baltimore during the 2005 Season as the Colts won 24-7.At 8pm on FOX Saturday the Saints are comin as they face the Eagles.The last time these two faced off was in 2003 where the Eagles won 33-20 in Philly.The Saints are coming into this game having lost 6 straight to the Eagles with the last win coming in 1991 in Veterans Stadium.
On Sunday at 1pm on FOX Seattle travels to the Midwest as they face the Bears.Last time they met was in Chicago and the final score was 37-6 and it was just 3 months ago.At 4:30 the Chargers face the Patriots in San Diego.The last time they faced off was in the 05 season where the Chargers won 41-17 in Foxboro.The Pats haven't beaten the Chargers since the 01 season where they won in OT 29-26.
Despite this week I stand by my Superbowl pick being Philly and San Diego.9 bowl games were played this week(with one currently in progress) as Penn State,Auburn,Wisconsin,and West Virginia(after trailing 35-17) came up on top New Years Day in the undercard.In the Big 2 that day the USC Trojans practically dismantled Michigan winning 32-18 and Boise State pulled off a huge upset using 3 trick plays(Hook and Ladder,Wide Reciever Pass,and Statue of Liberty)to defeat the Sooners of Oklahoma by a score of 43-42 in OT.On Tuesday Louisville beat Wake Forest 24-13 in the Orange Bowl.On Wednesday LSU completely destroyed Notre Dame 41-14.
And finally yesterday,Cincinnati won the first ever International Bowl over Western Michigan 27-24 in Toronto.Currently,Ohio University is playing Southern Miss in the GMAC Bowl.Bowls will conclude tomorrow as Ohio State plays Florida in the National Championship.In the world of College Basketball this week,two unbeatens went down as USC beat Oregon 84-82 following that lost Oregon bounced back to beat the No.1 UCLA Bruins 68-66 thus leaving Clemson(16-0) as the only unbeaten in Men's Division 1 Basketball.Speaking of ACC Basketball,Virginia Tech went to Cameron Indoor Stadium yesterday and knocked off the No.5 Blue Devils 69-67.
And speaking of Duke,the Lady Blue Devils knocked off the Lady Hokies 86-54 in Blacksburg to go 16-0.They aren't the only Ladies team unbeaten in the ACC as the No.2 Tar Heels knocked off Va.Tech on Thursday and just yesterday the No.1 Maryland Terrapins blew out the Spartans of Michigan State 97-57 in College Park.Conference play begins this week in all College Basketball.Alright it is now time for the weekly awards.
Game of the Week:Boise State vs Oklahoma(with this it also becomes a GOTY Nominee for next January)
Team of the Week:Oregon Ducks Basketball
MVP of the Week:Ian Johnson of Boise State Football
I also recommend you to watch tomorrow night's National Championship game as the
Recommended Game of the Week.You can watch this game Monday Night at 8:15 on FOX as Florida takes on Ohio State.
Speaking of this game I've been holding out for over a month now but I feel its time for me to make my pick for this game.I've been thinking about it and going by the result of the Capitol One
Bowl and The Outback Bowl where 2 Big 10 Teams(Wisconsin and Penn State) beat 2 SEC Teams who Florida had beaten(Tennessee and Arkansas).Another thing thats influencing my decision is the way all BCS games have gone down.What does USC,Boise State,Louisville,and LSU all have in common? They all wore white jerseys.It seems that the team with the white jersey would win the game so naturally I would pick Florida as they will most likely be in White.
But I will not make a pick for this due to the difficulty of picking this game.
Once again I have no pick so I hope thats cleared up.Thats all for this weeks edition I'll be back Next Sunday for a recap of the BCS National Championship,the NFL Playoffs,and College Basketball.
Also in case your wondering on this blog the following sports will be mentioned:Baseball(Pro and College but only during the College Playoffs),Basketball(NBA and College),Football(Pro,College,AND Arena),and Hockey(only during the Stanley Cup).The following sports however will NOT be mentioned:Golf(not important to me),Hockey(regular season),NASCAR(I just can't accept it as a sport due to the lack of atheleticism),Pro Wrestling(as much as I appreciate the athleticism of the wrestlers I can't have an analysis of a pre-determined sport),and the X-Games(could care less).
That is all for now I will write again next Sunday same time,same place,same blog.
Oh well anyways the first round of the playoffs have come to a close as 8 teams remain in the Superbowl hunt.Yesterday the Colts virtually shut down Larry Johnson and the Chiefs offense holding LJ to 32 yards in a 23-8 rout.A botched field goal gave the Seattle Seahawks the win against the Dallas Cowboys 21-20.Just 4 hours ago the Patriots blew out the Jets 37-16 as Teacher beat Student.And just 20 minutes ago a David Akers kick lifted the Eagles to a 23-20 win over the New York Football Giants.
We now move onto the Quarterfinals as the Ravens face the Colts on Saturday at 4:30 on CBS.The last time these two met was in Baltimore during the 2005 Season as the Colts won 24-7.At 8pm on FOX Saturday the Saints are comin as they face the Eagles.The last time these two faced off was in 2003 where the Eagles won 33-20 in Philly.The Saints are coming into this game having lost 6 straight to the Eagles with the last win coming in 1991 in Veterans Stadium.
On Sunday at 1pm on FOX Seattle travels to the Midwest as they face the Bears.Last time they met was in Chicago and the final score was 37-6 and it was just 3 months ago.At 4:30 the Chargers face the Patriots in San Diego.The last time they faced off was in the 05 season where the Chargers won 41-17 in Foxboro.The Pats haven't beaten the Chargers since the 01 season where they won in OT 29-26.
Despite this week I stand by my Superbowl pick being Philly and San Diego.9 bowl games were played this week(with one currently in progress) as Penn State,Auburn,Wisconsin,and West Virginia(after trailing 35-17) came up on top New Years Day in the undercard.In the Big 2 that day the USC Trojans practically dismantled Michigan winning 32-18 and Boise State pulled off a huge upset using 3 trick plays(Hook and Ladder,Wide Reciever Pass,and Statue of Liberty)to defeat the Sooners of Oklahoma by a score of 43-42 in OT.On Tuesday Louisville beat Wake Forest 24-13 in the Orange Bowl.On Wednesday LSU completely destroyed Notre Dame 41-14.
And finally yesterday,Cincinnati won the first ever International Bowl over Western Michigan 27-24 in Toronto.Currently,Ohio University is playing Southern Miss in the GMAC Bowl.Bowls will conclude tomorrow as Ohio State plays Florida in the National Championship.In the world of College Basketball this week,two unbeatens went down as USC beat Oregon 84-82 following that lost Oregon bounced back to beat the No.1 UCLA Bruins 68-66 thus leaving Clemson(16-0) as the only unbeaten in Men's Division 1 Basketball.Speaking of ACC Basketball,Virginia Tech went to Cameron Indoor Stadium yesterday and knocked off the No.5 Blue Devils 69-67.
And speaking of Duke,the Lady Blue Devils knocked off the Lady Hokies 86-54 in Blacksburg to go 16-0.They aren't the only Ladies team unbeaten in the ACC as the No.2 Tar Heels knocked off Va.Tech on Thursday and just yesterday the No.1 Maryland Terrapins blew out the Spartans of Michigan State 97-57 in College Park.Conference play begins this week in all College Basketball.Alright it is now time for the weekly awards.
Game of the Week:Boise State vs Oklahoma(with this it also becomes a GOTY Nominee for next January)
Team of the Week:Oregon Ducks Basketball
MVP of the Week:Ian Johnson of Boise State Football
I also recommend you to watch tomorrow night's National Championship game as the
Recommended Game of the Week.You can watch this game Monday Night at 8:15 on FOX as Florida takes on Ohio State.
Speaking of this game I've been holding out for over a month now but I feel its time for me to make my pick for this game.I've been thinking about it and going by the result of the Capitol One
Bowl and The Outback Bowl where 2 Big 10 Teams(Wisconsin and Penn State) beat 2 SEC Teams who Florida had beaten(Tennessee and Arkansas).Another thing thats influencing my decision is the way all BCS games have gone down.What does USC,Boise State,Louisville,and LSU all have in common? They all wore white jerseys.It seems that the team with the white jersey would win the game so naturally I would pick Florida as they will most likely be in White.
But I will not make a pick for this due to the difficulty of picking this game.
Once again I have no pick so I hope thats cleared up.Thats all for this weeks edition I'll be back Next Sunday for a recap of the BCS National Championship,the NFL Playoffs,and College Basketball.
Also in case your wondering on this blog the following sports will be mentioned:Baseball(Pro and College but only during the College Playoffs),Basketball(NBA and College),Football(Pro,College,AND Arena),and Hockey(only during the Stanley Cup).The following sports however will NOT be mentioned:Golf(not important to me),Hockey(regular season),NASCAR(I just can't accept it as a sport due to the lack of atheleticism),Pro Wrestling(as much as I appreciate the athleticism of the wrestlers I can't have an analysis of a pre-determined sport),and the X-Games(could care less).
That is all for now I will write again next Sunday same time,same place,same blog.
Sports Weekly:January 1st
Well its that time again the playoffs are upon us.Sadly my 8-8 Rams failed to qualify courtesy of waiting until December to win.(Here's to you defense).But that won't prevent me from sitting down and killing 3 and half hours watching football so now its time for me to make my picks for the 2006 Playoffs.
AFC:
Wildcard:
Chiefs over Colts-Yes I'm going for a first round upset.Why? Because of the way the Colts performed in the past 3 weeks.I see Larry Johnson having a big day and the Chiefs walking into the RCA Dome with a win.
Jets over Patriots-The Jets have been hot since the Chicago game and the last time they went to New England they walked in,held Tom Brady and the Patriots offense to 7 points and won decisively I see a repeat here.
Divisional Playoffs:
Chargers over Chiefs-Last time KC went to San Diego they were beaten soundly I see it again here
Ravens over Jets-I think the Baltimore D will be too much for Pennington and the Jets.
AFC Championship:
Chargers over Ravens-I know the Ravens D beat San Diego in Week 4 but this is different.For one,that was Week 4 a lot has changed since then and two,this is cold and sometimes rainy Baltimore this is sunny San Diego I see the Chargers beating Ravens and going to Superbowl XLI.
NFC Playoffs:
NFC Wild Card:
Seahawks over Dallas-Dallas has been horrible this month(They lost to Detroit!) and this game is in Seattle I see another L for Dallas.
Eagles over Giants-I counted Philly out a month ago but ever since the Carolina game they have been on it and the last time these two met Philly won 36-22 in the Meadowlands I see another win for Philly.
NFC Divisional:
Bears over Seahawks-The last time these two met in Chicago the Bears won 37-6.Whats that tell ya?
Eagles over Saints-New Orleans,in my opinion hasn't been the same since the lost to Washington 2 weeks ago.Philly has been hot and I see them pulling off the upset and knocking off Bush and Brees in New Orleans.
NFC Championship:
Eagles over Bears-Call me an idiot but looking at this Eagle team I see something thats going to get them past Chicago in a huge upset and to Miami for the Superbowl for the 2nd time in 3 years.
Superbowl XLI:
Chargers over Eagles-This is where the Eagles fuel finally runs out I see a nice little high scoring game with the Chargers pulling it off and LaDanian Tomlinson getting MVP Honors.
Now off to St.Louis
Coming into this year I actually thought we had a good team.The three problems we had for the previous 2 years were gone(Larry Marmie,Mike Martz,and injuries which made 2005 the Worst Rams team I've ever seen).The first month was amazing as we started out 2-1 and were 4-1 entering Week 6 against Seattle.I say what hurt us was that game.Had Josh Brown missed that kick I believe that our season would've turned out a whole lot different.I believe that kick killed our confidence for the rest of the season and I think we would be up there with the Saints and Bears had he missed.From that point on until the December 11th game against Chicago we went down hill and was 5-8 and had lost 7 out of our last 8 heading to Oakland.We blew them out 20-0,beat Washington in OT 37-31,and concluded our season with a 41-21 blowout of Minnesota.I now sit here wondering what would've happened if Josh Brown missed BOTH Field Goals?We would be 10-6 and most likely facing either Seattle or Dallas in Round 1 and I possibly would've given them a shot at winning the Superbowl but alas it didn't happen.I'm not dissapointed I should've expected less because of the new coaching staff but overall its still better than last years mediocre 6-10 season and better than the 8-8 squad we had in 2004.Will we be back next year? I don't know but we're 100x the team we were in 2005 and 50x the team in 04.Heres looking toward August when we kick off our (pre)season.
Now over to College Park.The Terps concluded the season with a 24-7 win over the Boilermakers of Purdue to finish 9-4.To say that I'm happy would be an understatement and very very happy with the way the 2006 Season turned out.Coming into this season I didn't expect much and predicted our record to be 6-6 and playing where Miami played at tonight(Bronco Stadium aka Smurf Turf) but the fact we were contenders for the ACC Title to the week BEFORE the championship made the season for me and restored confidence in my team which had been previously erased from two consecutive 5-6 seasons and marked the return of my trademark Maryland hat after a two year absense.Next season I don't expect much with Hollenback and Wilson leaving but I'll wait til I see our recruits and spring practice reports on TV in April to judge for myself for next year.Overall great season lets do it again next year!
And now onto my Bowl Picks.I entered this week with a 6-0 record and went 11-4 following the Miami/Nevada game to go 17-4 my best record after 21 games and theres around 11 more I believe with 6 tomorrow(Cotton,Capitol One,Gator,Outback,Rose,and Fiesta).Let me remind you picks for those games(Auburn,Arkansas,West Virginia,Tennessee,USC,and Oklahoma).So hopefully I'll be 23-4 by the time January 2nd begins and finish 28-4 overall.
Now its time for my recommended game of the week.This time instead of a whole lot of games I'll just give you one and that is the Rose Bowl which will be ABC tomorrow at 4:30/1:30 pacific on ABC as USC takes on Michigan in the consolation game of the BCS and what I predict will be THE game of 2007.
On that note I'd like to hand my awards for the 2006 NFL Season.Here are the awards.
MVP:Devin Hester-At the beginning of the season no one expected Hester to do as well he has done this season.He has returned 6 for touchdowns this year:A game winning punt return against Arizona for 83 yards,the memorable 108 yard Field Goal return against New York,and two kick returns for a touchdown against St.Louis.In my opinion they should try him as a Wide Reciever even though they did it for one play against Tampa I feel that they should try it in preseason next year and give it a shot full time if he does well overall THE player of the year in the National Football League.
Team of the Year:San Diego Chargers-Last year they didn't even the playoffs but this year they're on fire with a 14-2 record.Not only this but they have managed to have an explosive offense.The first two games they outscored both Oakland and Tennessee 67-7.After slipping against Baltimore they won two straight including a 48-19 rout of San Francisco.They lost to KC by 3 the next week but haven't loss since.Not only that but they've managed to score more than 20 in 13 of their games this year and have dropped 40 plus 4 times this season.Overall Phillip Rivers and LaDamien Tomlinson have made San Diego the team to beat and the team of the year.
Comeback Team of the Year:New Orleans Saints-In 2005 the Saints suffered from losing their home in New Orleans and a 3-13 season.Over the off season the Saints signed Drew Brees and drafted Reggie Bush and now stand at 10-6 with the No.2 seed in the NFC Playoffs.
Worst Team of the Year:Oakland Raiders-Wow what a difference 3 years makes.It was just 2003 that this team was playing for the Superbowl and now here they stand in the basement of the NFL in the Brady Quinn lottery.They started out 0-5 but won two straight over Arizona and Pittsburgh but haven't won since.Not only that but they've lost every road game this year.The last time they won on the road was November 20th of last year against the Skins.To make matters worse they've only scored 3 touchdowns this month and lost to Houston Texans in a game where the Texans had -5 passing yards.They've been shut out 3 times this season,failed to score a touchdown in 6 games and didn't even score one until Week 4.Aaron Brooks has turned out to be a major flop for this team and Art Shell won't even have a job by the time Superbowl XLI hits.It'll be amazing if he makes it after this sham of a year.
Game of the Year:Chicago vs Arizona-(Now I know your wondering what makes this the game of the year well a few things do.Number 1 the game itself has a good story to it that being the Bears are 5-0 coming off a 37-6 rout of Seattle and a 40-7 blowout against Buffalo while there opponets the Arizona Cardinals are 1-4 and are considered to be the worst franchise in NFL history by many.Not only that but its Matt Leinart's Monday Night Football debut and here he has a chance to defeat the unbeaten Bears.To the shock of many the Cards jump out to a 20-0 lead at halftime.Chicago manages to score midway through the 3rd quarter to make it 20-3 but Arizona makes it 23-3 with 1:47 left in the 3rd Quarter that is where Chicago began to comeback.With 2 seconds left in the 3rd a fumble return pulled the Bears within 13.With 5:00 left Chicago pulled within 7 to make it 23-17 and after Arizona failed to convert on 3rd down they punted the ball away only to have Devin Hester return it for 83 yards for the gamewinning score and come from behind victory.
Coach of the Year:Eric Mangini-NO ONE expected the Jets to make the playoffs because of the inexpirience of there Head Coach(who is the first to be born AFTER Monday Night Football was launched)and he managed to bring them to the playoffs.With Mangini I see a bright future for the Jets.
Now for my Year End Awards for 2006
Athletes of the Year:Vince Young-When 2006 began Young was playing for the National Championship of College Football for the University of Texas against the unbeaten USC Trojans.In that game Young managed to pass for 267 yards,rush for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns of 14,17,and 8 which clinched the game.In April Young was drafted by the Tennessee Titans.Young made his first start for the Titans on October 1st against the Dallas Cowboys.Young managed to pass for 155 yards and one passing touchdown but in the end it wasn't enough as Dallas prevailed 45-14.The next week Young and the Titans shocked everyone by nearly beating the Indianapolis Colts but fell short 14-13 in the RCA Dome.At this point the Titans were 0-5 and Young was 0-2 as a starter but things started picking up for Young following two consecutive wins over Washington and Houston.Only for the Titans to be blown out 37-7 in Jacksoville in a game where Young managed to get 163 passing yards.Young and the Titans stunned people again jumping out to a 26-7 lead on the Baltimore Ravens in Week 10 but at the end fell short losing 27-26.The Titans were now 2-7 with no sign of anything but they haven't loss since.Young the next week helped the Titans pull of a 31-13 upset of the Eagles.Yung rallied the Titans from being down 21-0 with under 10 minutes remaining to win 24-21 against the Giants leading to a showdown the following week against the Indianapolis Colts.The heavily favored Colts jumped out to a 14-0 lead when the Titans closed the cap at 14-10 at halftime.The Titans took the lead with 12:24 remaining in the 4th quarter.A Vinatieri field goal tied it at 17 with 2:38 left in the game.Young drove the Titans toward the Indianapolis 42 yard line and with 7 seconds left Titan kicker Rob Bironas nailed a 60 yard kick to give the Titans a 20-17 edge.Young threw for 163 yards and 2 touchdowns The following week Young returned home to Houston where he threw for 218 yards and won the game in overtime with a 39 yard run giving the Titans a 26-20 victory.Against Jacksonville Young had an off day as it was the Titans D that led them to a 24-17 victory over the Jags.And just last week Young threw for 183 yards and 2 touchdown with 61 yards rushing to give the Titans a 30-29 edge over the Bills.So in a matter of 1 year Vince Young has managed to lead Texas to a National Championship defeating a team comprised of 2 Heisman trophy winners,turn a 2-7 team around to an 8-7 record in his ROOKIE year,and lead that team over BOTH Manning brothers.Definatly the athlete of the year and despite losing today he had the most passing yards in the game and managed to win 6 out of the last 7 games for Tennessee.
Game of the Year:USC vs Texas-What makes this the game of 2006 is that you had everything to this game.It had hype,star power,and phenominal athletes.The story coming into this game was that USC hadn't loss a game since the 2003 season and was looking towards their 3rd straight National Championship something that had been never done with 2 Heisman trophy winners on their squad,that being Leinart and Bush of course.For Texas it was the opportunity to recapture something that had been missing since 1969...a National Championship.In the past few seasons prior to this the only thing that kept Texas from a BCS Bowl bid and the Big 12 Title was the Oklahoma Sooners.The Longhorns had managed to defeat the Sooners and advance toward the Big 12 Championship and for Vince Young to make the gurantee happen as in 2005 he and the Longhorns beat Michigan and afterwards Young stated that he'll be back in the Rose Bowl next year.The game itself turned out to be what people expected as USC dominated early leaning toward a 7-0 lead to start.Bush then caught a pass from Leinart on the next possesion but a lateral by Bush proved costly as they turned the ball over.Texas then scored 16 unanswered to make it a 9 point lead but a field goal before halftime pulled the Trojans within 6 at 16-10.USC regained the lead in the 3rd at 17-16 but the Longhorns bounced back to take a 23-17 lead.USC would then score again at 24-23.A missed kick by the Longhorns gave the ball back to the Trojans and suddenly it was 31-23 in favor of USC.Another Longhorn field goal made it 31-26.With 6 minutes left the Trojans scored again to make it 38-26.Texas managed to score quick to pull within 5 and on USC's next possesion on 4th and 2 with a little over 2 minutes left the Trojans handed the ball to LenDale White who was stopped short turning the ball over to the Longhorns.Vince Young then worked his magic and with 19 seconds to go on 4th and Goal he ran in the gamewinning Touchdown to give Texas the 41-38 victory in what I call the greatest college football game of all time for reasons stated earlier.
Now onto the most important topic of the day NFL Player wise.In case you weren't watching the Green Bay Packers played the Chicago Bears on NBC earlier this evening and won 26-7 with Brett Favre possibly playing his final NFL game ever.Watching his reaction in the post game report I believe he may be gone just going by him tearing up and the picture he took with the teammates.In my opinion I believe he should retire he's given 15 good years and he had great performance tonight and it would be a great way of going out.So Brett,I know you don't know me nor are you reading this but retire now you've accomplished everything and you have nothing to prove I just don't want to see someone who is as great as you are take the Chris Chandler path and wind up playing 2nd string QB for the St.Louis Rams and throwing several INTS and being the shadow of your former self.Its been a great run Brett but I believe its time for you to hang it up and hand over the team to Aaron Rogers.I've seen him play for California and I think he can be a potential great leader for this team in the future.
AFC:
Wildcard:
Chiefs over Colts-Yes I'm going for a first round upset.Why? Because of the way the Colts performed in the past 3 weeks.I see Larry Johnson having a big day and the Chiefs walking into the RCA Dome with a win.
Jets over Patriots-The Jets have been hot since the Chicago game and the last time they went to New England they walked in,held Tom Brady and the Patriots offense to 7 points and won decisively I see a repeat here.
Divisional Playoffs:
Chargers over Chiefs-Last time KC went to San Diego they were beaten soundly I see it again here
Ravens over Jets-I think the Baltimore D will be too much for Pennington and the Jets.
AFC Championship:
Chargers over Ravens-I know the Ravens D beat San Diego in Week 4 but this is different.For one,that was Week 4 a lot has changed since then and two,this is cold and sometimes rainy Baltimore this is sunny San Diego I see the Chargers beating Ravens and going to Superbowl XLI.
NFC Playoffs:
NFC Wild Card:
Seahawks over Dallas-Dallas has been horrible this month(They lost to Detroit!) and this game is in Seattle I see another L for Dallas.
Eagles over Giants-I counted Philly out a month ago but ever since the Carolina game they have been on it and the last time these two met Philly won 36-22 in the Meadowlands I see another win for Philly.
NFC Divisional:
Bears over Seahawks-The last time these two met in Chicago the Bears won 37-6.Whats that tell ya?
Eagles over Saints-New Orleans,in my opinion hasn't been the same since the lost to Washington 2 weeks ago.Philly has been hot and I see them pulling off the upset and knocking off Bush and Brees in New Orleans.
NFC Championship:
Eagles over Bears-Call me an idiot but looking at this Eagle team I see something thats going to get them past Chicago in a huge upset and to Miami for the Superbowl for the 2nd time in 3 years.
Superbowl XLI:
Chargers over Eagles-This is where the Eagles fuel finally runs out I see a nice little high scoring game with the Chargers pulling it off and LaDanian Tomlinson getting MVP Honors.
Now off to St.Louis
Coming into this year I actually thought we had a good team.The three problems we had for the previous 2 years were gone(Larry Marmie,Mike Martz,and injuries which made 2005 the Worst Rams team I've ever seen).The first month was amazing as we started out 2-1 and were 4-1 entering Week 6 against Seattle.I say what hurt us was that game.Had Josh Brown missed that kick I believe that our season would've turned out a whole lot different.I believe that kick killed our confidence for the rest of the season and I think we would be up there with the Saints and Bears had he missed.From that point on until the December 11th game against Chicago we went down hill and was 5-8 and had lost 7 out of our last 8 heading to Oakland.We blew them out 20-0,beat Washington in OT 37-31,and concluded our season with a 41-21 blowout of Minnesota.I now sit here wondering what would've happened if Josh Brown missed BOTH Field Goals?We would be 10-6 and most likely facing either Seattle or Dallas in Round 1 and I possibly would've given them a shot at winning the Superbowl but alas it didn't happen.I'm not dissapointed I should've expected less because of the new coaching staff but overall its still better than last years mediocre 6-10 season and better than the 8-8 squad we had in 2004.Will we be back next year? I don't know but we're 100x the team we were in 2005 and 50x the team in 04.Heres looking toward August when we kick off our (pre)season.
Now over to College Park.The Terps concluded the season with a 24-7 win over the Boilermakers of Purdue to finish 9-4.To say that I'm happy would be an understatement and very very happy with the way the 2006 Season turned out.Coming into this season I didn't expect much and predicted our record to be 6-6 and playing where Miami played at tonight(Bronco Stadium aka Smurf Turf) but the fact we were contenders for the ACC Title to the week BEFORE the championship made the season for me and restored confidence in my team which had been previously erased from two consecutive 5-6 seasons and marked the return of my trademark Maryland hat after a two year absense.Next season I don't expect much with Hollenback and Wilson leaving but I'll wait til I see our recruits and spring practice reports on TV in April to judge for myself for next year.Overall great season lets do it again next year!
And now onto my Bowl Picks.I entered this week with a 6-0 record and went 11-4 following the Miami/Nevada game to go 17-4 my best record after 21 games and theres around 11 more I believe with 6 tomorrow(Cotton,Capitol One,Gator,Outback,Rose,and Fiesta).Let me remind you picks for those games(Auburn,Arkansas,West Virginia,Tennessee,USC,and Oklahoma).So hopefully I'll be 23-4 by the time January 2nd begins and finish 28-4 overall.
Now its time for my recommended game of the week.This time instead of a whole lot of games I'll just give you one and that is the Rose Bowl which will be ABC tomorrow at 4:30/1:30 pacific on ABC as USC takes on Michigan in the consolation game of the BCS and what I predict will be THE game of 2007.
On that note I'd like to hand my awards for the 2006 NFL Season.Here are the awards.
MVP:Devin Hester-At the beginning of the season no one expected Hester to do as well he has done this season.He has returned 6 for touchdowns this year:A game winning punt return against Arizona for 83 yards,the memorable 108 yard Field Goal return against New York,and two kick returns for a touchdown against St.Louis.In my opinion they should try him as a Wide Reciever even though they did it for one play against Tampa I feel that they should try it in preseason next year and give it a shot full time if he does well overall THE player of the year in the National Football League.
Team of the Year:San Diego Chargers-Last year they didn't even the playoffs but this year they're on fire with a 14-2 record.Not only this but they have managed to have an explosive offense.The first two games they outscored both Oakland and Tennessee 67-7.After slipping against Baltimore they won two straight including a 48-19 rout of San Francisco.They lost to KC by 3 the next week but haven't loss since.Not only that but they've managed to score more than 20 in 13 of their games this year and have dropped 40 plus 4 times this season.Overall Phillip Rivers and LaDamien Tomlinson have made San Diego the team to beat and the team of the year.
Comeback Team of the Year:New Orleans Saints-In 2005 the Saints suffered from losing their home in New Orleans and a 3-13 season.Over the off season the Saints signed Drew Brees and drafted Reggie Bush and now stand at 10-6 with the No.2 seed in the NFC Playoffs.
Worst Team of the Year:Oakland Raiders-Wow what a difference 3 years makes.It was just 2003 that this team was playing for the Superbowl and now here they stand in the basement of the NFL in the Brady Quinn lottery.They started out 0-5 but won two straight over Arizona and Pittsburgh but haven't won since.Not only that but they've lost every road game this year.The last time they won on the road was November 20th of last year against the Skins.To make matters worse they've only scored 3 touchdowns this month and lost to Houston Texans in a game where the Texans had -5 passing yards.They've been shut out 3 times this season,failed to score a touchdown in 6 games and didn't even score one until Week 4.Aaron Brooks has turned out to be a major flop for this team and Art Shell won't even have a job by the time Superbowl XLI hits.It'll be amazing if he makes it after this sham of a year.
Game of the Year:Chicago vs Arizona-(Now I know your wondering what makes this the game of the year well a few things do.Number 1 the game itself has a good story to it that being the Bears are 5-0 coming off a 37-6 rout of Seattle and a 40-7 blowout against Buffalo while there opponets the Arizona Cardinals are 1-4 and are considered to be the worst franchise in NFL history by many.Not only that but its Matt Leinart's Monday Night Football debut and here he has a chance to defeat the unbeaten Bears.To the shock of many the Cards jump out to a 20-0 lead at halftime.Chicago manages to score midway through the 3rd quarter to make it 20-3 but Arizona makes it 23-3 with 1:47 left in the 3rd Quarter that is where Chicago began to comeback.With 2 seconds left in the 3rd a fumble return pulled the Bears within 13.With 5:00 left Chicago pulled within 7 to make it 23-17 and after Arizona failed to convert on 3rd down they punted the ball away only to have Devin Hester return it for 83 yards for the gamewinning score and come from behind victory.
Coach of the Year:Eric Mangini-NO ONE expected the Jets to make the playoffs because of the inexpirience of there Head Coach(who is the first to be born AFTER Monday Night Football was launched)and he managed to bring them to the playoffs.With Mangini I see a bright future for the Jets.
Now for my Year End Awards for 2006
Athletes of the Year:Vince Young-When 2006 began Young was playing for the National Championship of College Football for the University of Texas against the unbeaten USC Trojans.In that game Young managed to pass for 267 yards,rush for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns of 14,17,and 8 which clinched the game.In April Young was drafted by the Tennessee Titans.Young made his first start for the Titans on October 1st against the Dallas Cowboys.Young managed to pass for 155 yards and one passing touchdown but in the end it wasn't enough as Dallas prevailed 45-14.The next week Young and the Titans shocked everyone by nearly beating the Indianapolis Colts but fell short 14-13 in the RCA Dome.At this point the Titans were 0-5 and Young was 0-2 as a starter but things started picking up for Young following two consecutive wins over Washington and Houston.Only for the Titans to be blown out 37-7 in Jacksoville in a game where Young managed to get 163 passing yards.Young and the Titans stunned people again jumping out to a 26-7 lead on the Baltimore Ravens in Week 10 but at the end fell short losing 27-26.The Titans were now 2-7 with no sign of anything but they haven't loss since.Young the next week helped the Titans pull of a 31-13 upset of the Eagles.Yung rallied the Titans from being down 21-0 with under 10 minutes remaining to win 24-21 against the Giants leading to a showdown the following week against the Indianapolis Colts.The heavily favored Colts jumped out to a 14-0 lead when the Titans closed the cap at 14-10 at halftime.The Titans took the lead with 12:24 remaining in the 4th quarter.A Vinatieri field goal tied it at 17 with 2:38 left in the game.Young drove the Titans toward the Indianapolis 42 yard line and with 7 seconds left Titan kicker Rob Bironas nailed a 60 yard kick to give the Titans a 20-17 edge.Young threw for 163 yards and 2 touchdowns The following week Young returned home to Houston where he threw for 218 yards and won the game in overtime with a 39 yard run giving the Titans a 26-20 victory.Against Jacksonville Young had an off day as it was the Titans D that led them to a 24-17 victory over the Jags.And just last week Young threw for 183 yards and 2 touchdown with 61 yards rushing to give the Titans a 30-29 edge over the Bills.So in a matter of 1 year Vince Young has managed to lead Texas to a National Championship defeating a team comprised of 2 Heisman trophy winners,turn a 2-7 team around to an 8-7 record in his ROOKIE year,and lead that team over BOTH Manning brothers.Definatly the athlete of the year and despite losing today he had the most passing yards in the game and managed to win 6 out of the last 7 games for Tennessee.
Game of the Year:USC vs Texas-What makes this the game of 2006 is that you had everything to this game.It had hype,star power,and phenominal athletes.The story coming into this game was that USC hadn't loss a game since the 2003 season and was looking towards their 3rd straight National Championship something that had been never done with 2 Heisman trophy winners on their squad,that being Leinart and Bush of course.For Texas it was the opportunity to recapture something that had been missing since 1969...a National Championship.In the past few seasons prior to this the only thing that kept Texas from a BCS Bowl bid and the Big 12 Title was the Oklahoma Sooners.The Longhorns had managed to defeat the Sooners and advance toward the Big 12 Championship and for Vince Young to make the gurantee happen as in 2005 he and the Longhorns beat Michigan and afterwards Young stated that he'll be back in the Rose Bowl next year.The game itself turned out to be what people expected as USC dominated early leaning toward a 7-0 lead to start.Bush then caught a pass from Leinart on the next possesion but a lateral by Bush proved costly as they turned the ball over.Texas then scored 16 unanswered to make it a 9 point lead but a field goal before halftime pulled the Trojans within 6 at 16-10.USC regained the lead in the 3rd at 17-16 but the Longhorns bounced back to take a 23-17 lead.USC would then score again at 24-23.A missed kick by the Longhorns gave the ball back to the Trojans and suddenly it was 31-23 in favor of USC.Another Longhorn field goal made it 31-26.With 6 minutes left the Trojans scored again to make it 38-26.Texas managed to score quick to pull within 5 and on USC's next possesion on 4th and 2 with a little over 2 minutes left the Trojans handed the ball to LenDale White who was stopped short turning the ball over to the Longhorns.Vince Young then worked his magic and with 19 seconds to go on 4th and Goal he ran in the gamewinning Touchdown to give Texas the 41-38 victory in what I call the greatest college football game of all time for reasons stated earlier.
Now onto the most important topic of the day NFL Player wise.In case you weren't watching the Green Bay Packers played the Chicago Bears on NBC earlier this evening and won 26-7 with Brett Favre possibly playing his final NFL game ever.Watching his reaction in the post game report I believe he may be gone just going by him tearing up and the picture he took with the teammates.In my opinion I believe he should retire he's given 15 good years and he had great performance tonight and it would be a great way of going out.So Brett,I know you don't know me nor are you reading this but retire now you've accomplished everything and you have nothing to prove I just don't want to see someone who is as great as you are take the Chris Chandler path and wind up playing 2nd string QB for the St.Louis Rams and throwing several INTS and being the shadow of your former self.Its been a great run Brett but I believe its time for you to hang it up and hand over the team to Aaron Rogers.I've seen him play for California and I think he can be a potential great leader for this team in the future.
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