BoSox Tavern

How did you spend your Sunday?

2012-02-19T21:32:00.000-05:00

Watching sports, of course, especially since this is my last Sunday off for awhile. Oh, and the day was finished off by an awesome pork roast.
First, I "watched" Liverpool beat Brighton 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup. I wasn't able to actually watch it because the match wasn't on TV here but I kept an eye on the live updates online. The big story here is that Brighton had THREE own goals, two of them by the same poor chap. Liverpool will face Stoke City in the next round in March.
Next, I watched pole qualifying for next weekend's Daytona 500. Carl Edwards won the pole, and the two Petty cars are starting in the top 15. Kasey Kahne will start around 25th. You can find where your favorite drivers will start on your own.
While I'm watching Daytona 500 qualifying, I'm also starting to watch the Bruins against the Wild (let me say how much I like the Wild's green home sweater. It's one of my favorites) and the final round of the PGA tournament from Riviera Country Club, where Lefty would be teeing off last with a share of the lead. I didn't watch a lot of the Bruins game because I could tell early on it was going to be another of those where they'd outplay and outshoot the other team but continue to be stonewalled by great goaltending. In this case I was right, as Niklas Backstrom stopped 48 Bruin shots on the way to a 2-0 shutout.

So I focused on the golf tournament to see whether Phil could win two in a row. Bill Haas holds the clubhouse lead at 7 under with Phil and Keegan Bradley one behind as they play the par 5 17th hole. So both Phil and Keegan need to birdie the 17th to tie, since there had only been 28 birdies on the 18th hole all week. Well, they both struggle on the 17th and par it, needing to birdie the 18th to tie and go to a playoff with Haas. Phil gets on in two at the back of the green and miraculously birdies his 26 footer from the fringe -- miraculous since he hadn't sunk a put all day. The crowd erupts, of course. You gotta love Phil's flare for the dramatic. Next comes Keegan, who calmly sinks a 15 footer. Unbelievable, they both get the necessary birdies and so we have a three-way sudden death playoff.
Back to 18 again, where all three players par the hole. Then it's on to the drivable par 4 10th hole -- where Phil ends up in the ruff on one side, Keegan in the bunker on the same side and Haas in the ruff on the other side...none of them have a chance at a birdie. Haas goes first and decides to shoot "sideways" to a wider part of the green, leaving about a 50 footer. Phil hits a very good flop shot that still wouldn't hold on and trickles into the bunker on the other side. Keegan's bunker shot holds on to the back fringe about 15 feet from the hole. So it looks like the outcome will be three pars and on to the next hole, EXCEPT that Haas sinks his 50 footer for a birdie and the win. Great golf tournament.
What I didn't have time for was watching the Celtics game tonight, though I did see an update that said KJ didn't start and Rondo was thrown out of the game against the Pistons, and the Celts were trailing.. Oh, and apparently Linsanity struck again today as well, as the Knicks snapped the Mavs winning streak.
The best part of the day though was spending it with someone I care for a lot and eating her wonderful pork roast.

What Would You Give For Rick Nash?

2012-02-19T13:32:00.000-05:00

During last night’s beatdown of my Toronto Maple Leafs, I watched CBC’s Hot Stove segment during the second intermission and Elloitte Friedman stated it would take two prospects, a player (assuming a good one) and a first-round draft pick.

My Leafs are one of the few teams Nash would agree to be traded to, but should they make a trade when they have other glaring needs? The Leafs need a #1 goalie. James Reimer not only has been inconsistent but he’s lost his confidence. They also need a true #1 center. Tyler Bozak and Mikhail Grabovski are good players, but on any other team they would be centering the second line. The Leafs also need a top-pairing defenseman that can actually play defense and hit. Luke Schenn, like Reimer, does it infrequently and has also lost his confidence.

Rick Nash won’t stop the puck but he would be just the player to make Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul more dangerous than they already are. What would it take to get him? I’d propose Grabovski, Schenn, either Nazem Kadri or Joe Colborne, plus a first round pick. Grabbo is in a slump but he’s capable of nearly a point a game production. Schenn will turn out fine, but a change of scenery rather than seat time in the press box is what he needs right now. Kadri is not a bust, but with Nikolai Kulemin and Joffrey Lupul in front of him he’ll never get a chance to play on the top two lines in Toronto.

This is a steep price to pay, but how often do you get a chance to acquire a top player like Rick Nash?

2012 Shootout

2012-02-19T09:38:00.000-05:00

Since the schedule for my new job will soon have me working every Sunday, watching last night's Bud Shootout will be the only Nascar I get to watch for awhile, thus blog about.
I very much enjoyed the race. I have been a fan of the pack racing, though I believe this particular reincarnation needs some tinkering. Is pack racing safer than tandem racing? The safety issues in my mind with tandem racing are two -- the closing rate and speed disparity of the different tandems but perhaps the bigger issue was the fact that the pusher couldn't see ANYTHING except for the bumper of the car he was pushing. The safety issues with pack racing are obvious -- sometimes 43 cars all in one big pack, unable to separate from each other; thus, no matter how great these drivers are, someone else's mistake or lack of judgment will eventually collect several cars in a track-blocking melee. And given the rule change that has lowered the spoiler in these cars (in an attempt to get away from the tandem racing), the rear ends of these cars are very, very unstable. Hopefully an adjustment can be made to make them more stable but still make it difficult to hook up in a tandem.
Enough of that boring stuff and on to a little talk about the race itself. I am no fan of Kyle Busch. We all know the reasons why someone would not be a fan, so I don't need to go into that. But if you didn't already think he was the best wheelman in the sport, you need look no further than not one but two saves he made last night that I dare say no one else in the sport could have made.

Look at the angle of sidewaysness (made that up for fun) of his car in the above photo. Tell me another driver who could have saved his car at 180 plus mph in that position; and his car was in this position twice, not once, during this "wreck," say nothing about the fact that he's going from the 30 degrees of banking to the flatter infield. One of the very best saves I've ever seen and he had another save very much like it later in the race. Somehow after saving his car twice, with some damage, he was able to push Tony Stewart to the front on the last lap and then pass Stewart by a bumper at the finish line for the win.
Very entertaining, white knuckle racing last night. I'm wicked bummed I won't get to see the 500. Kudos go out to Marcos Ambrose in the Richard Petty Motorsports #9 car, who finished 3rd. The Tasmanian Devil is looking like he's taking well to this style of racing. I think if Kyle Busch had tried to pass Tony Stewart 100 or so feet sooner, this race would have fallen to Ambrose.

Win #40 for Lefty

2012-02-12T18:15:00.002-05:00

Being that there was not much on TV this Sunday for a sports fan, I found the PGA Pebble Beach ProAm on and see my man Lefty has just taken the lead. Wouldn't you just love to play at Pebble Beach, and play reasonably well at that? (For me that would mean not being a complete embarrassment) It was always one of my favorite courses to play when playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour.
Getting caught up, I find out that Charlie Wi had a 3 stroke lead over Tiger Woods and 5 over Phil to start the day. Then Tiger has his struggles and Phil goes 5 under in the first 6 holes. Going to the back 9, Phil had a one shot lead over some nobody. He only had one birdy through the next six holes but poured in two 30-40 footers for par, one on the same hole that Tiger had just put one in from the bunker for a birdie.
So not only am I watching Phil play well at one of the most gorgeous and storied courses in the world, he's playing with Tiger; and you can see them both playing off each other and Phil getting the best of Tiger on this day. If they had been playing match-play, the match would've been over after 13 holes, Phil winning 7-5. Phil and Tiger have only been paired together 10 times, with Tiger winning three of those tourneys, Phil 2.
Oh, and our favorite Mayor of Carmel made a booth visit Another interesting side note: Bill Belichik played in this tournament with Ricky Barnes, whose father was a punter for Patriots back in the '70s.
So I'm heading back to work tomorrow and likely won't be blogging as much; and since I haven't blogged about golf in a long time, I thought I'd at least write a short one about Lefty's 40th career PGA Tour victory, his fourth at Pebble Beach. He fired a 64 to easily take home the trophy, becoming the 8th player ever with 40 plus victories.

One last anecdote: Coming off the green, his wife Amy gives him a hug and says "I'm so happy for you. What a round...are you kidding me?!"

The North West Darby

2012-02-11T10:02:00.001-05:00

Obviously I was pressing my luck challenging Rick in this latest edition of the North West Darby, Liverpool versus Manchester United in the English Premier League, given that it was being played at Old Trafford and Liverpool had had decent success against ManU so far this year in Premier League and FA Cup matches. So ManU was certainly due and the odds-on favorite.
I didn't realize when I challenged Rick that every meeting between these two teams is referred to as the North West Darby. I presumed one matchup a year was set aside and given that title for bragging rights. Obviously Rick is a ManU fan and I a newly-minted Liverpool fan, thus the potential for a blog challenge; but this matchup is always a big deal given that it's a matchup between the two most storied and successful teams in the history of English pro football -- a matchup akin to the Red Sox versus the Yankees in a sport that's far, far more popular worldwide. It is also a big deal for this match because ManU is two points out of the league lead and Liverpool four points out of fourth place, which at season's end would mean a berth for them in next year's Champions League.
The drama started even before the game, given that this was the first meeting of the two sides since Luis Suarez' return from an eight-game suspension for racial abuse against ManU's Patrice Evra, and then Suarez' apparent refusal to shake Evra's hand pre-game.
I won't speak too much of the actual game play -- it's not my forte even in sports I'm literate in -- but I will say from the outset that ManU looked the better team with their precise passing, even on deep balls; whereas, Liverpool, especially when they had a break in the offensive end, lacked the communication for that last critical pass. But Glen Johnson of Liverpool missed the best opportunity of the first half, which ended scoreless. I went and took a shower, started a load of laundry and came back later than I would have thought -- 15 minutes into the second half and saw ManU was up 2-0. What did I miss? Apparently two Wayne Rooney goals. Liverpool did put on a lot of pressure late, resulting in a consolation goal for Luis Suarez at the 80 minute mark, and a couple of other great missed opportunities for the Reds, resulting in a 2-1 win for Manchester United.
Well, on to the next match for Liverpool, with particular focus on the upcoming Carling Cup final and 5th round matchup in the FA Cup. So if Liverpool does fall short of the top 4, winning those cups will make the season. They have only themselves to blame, given how many ties Liverpool has had this season against the bottom third of the Premier League.

(Note: I know how to spell derby but for effect I'm spelling it the way it's pronounced over there)

Not Really About the Maine Red Claws

2012-02-10T12:24:00.000-05:00

JMC and I went to see the Maine Red Claws play the Erie Bay Hawks in a D-League game at the Expo in Portland on January 20th. One of us was going to write a blog about our attendance but we never got around to it and there really wasn't much to write about, since I have blogged about going there once already and nothing stood out (I thought at the time anyway) about the game itself. There are a couple of funny anecdotes that happened on the way to the game, which I'll get to in a moment; but as far as commenting on the game based on what we saw that night, I would have only commented that the Red Claws were overmatched, despite a reasonably close final score of 122-113, especially in that they had no answer for Erie's 6' 3" point guard, who ended up having a triple/double. You can see video highlights of the game here, which if you do will give away the surprise.
First, I'll go back to the brief anecdotes and then I'll reveal why I finally decided to blog about going to the game. I parked the car where I always do when I go to see the Sea Dogs or Red Claws (the venues being side by side) at an office building parking lot about 5 blocks away. Our intention was to grab a bite to eat somewhere between the car and the arena, and we decided on Amato's Italian Sandwich Shop on St. John's Street. We had over a half hour to get our order, eat and walk the 2 or 3 blocks to the game. So I ordered a Cuban and some hot wings, JMC ordered a meatball sub and a dessert pastry. It took a good 10 minutes for our order to be ready (JMC's dad called while we're waiting and he can tell you that story) and just before it was, JMC leans over to me and says, "You know, there's no tables in here."
So now we have this messy sit-down food to-go and it's like 30 degrees out. So we're walking down the sidewalks, over snow banks eating this messy food with our fingers freezing, throwing chicken bones in the snow banks. (This is where you laugh heartily because you got a good visual) The other story is that we got to the arena before our food was finished but we were mostly full. So we bet on whether, if we left the bags of food on the sidewalk against the arena, the food would still be there when we came out. I won the bet because I said it would be because it was too cold and the game was on, so the arena workers wouldn't bother. If I've left out anything, hopefully JMC will fill you in in the comments.
So why am I finally deciding to write this blog? Well, for a few days, even if you don't follow the NBA, you've probably been hearing about the rookie point guard who's been a sensation for the NY Knicks in their last three games. Well, given the fact this point guard is of Asian decent, you'd think it would've clicked sooner than this morning that the Erie Bay Hawks are the NY Knicks D-League team and the unguardable point guard we saw a few weeks ago was Asian; in fact, his last name was Lin. Yeah, that Jeremy Lin...the Asian decent, Harvard grad point guard who's been lighting it up for the Knicks lately.
This guy right here:

Go to NBA.com and it's his face you see first, even before LeBron. The Knickerbockers host the Lakers tonight, with Jeremy Lin as the likely starting point guard. "Lin, an undrafted guard from Harvard, has led the Knicks to three straight wins, scoring more than 20 points in each game." And even though Lin was born in the US, the Chinese and Taiwanese are scrambling to air his games. And I thought all I had to talk about was chicken wings on frozen fingers.

The Truth is, he's #2

2012-02-08T12:09:00.000-05:00

That above title may not be such a big deal in most circumstances but when you're #2 on the Boston Celtics all-time scoring list, that, sir, is a big freakin' deal.

That's #2 for the most successful franchise in the history of the NBA. Granted, Celtics' history is not littered with the greatest scorers of all time -- they always won as a team -- but he passed Larry "The Legend" Bird to get to this perch and I think it about time we start to appreciate the career of Paul Pierce. No, he will not be remembered as one of the greatest players of all time but he will be a Hall of Famer when his career is done.
Watch this video of the guys from CSNNE argue about Paul's place in Celtic history.

At 34 years of age he has a few more years to pad his stats from where he currently is, which is just below 22,000 career points and a .45 field goal percentage. As the guys in the video point out, he's a very good all-around player. He also has a ring and was the Finals MVP. He is currently 28th on the NBA all-time scoring list. Here's a list of the players ahead of him on the list who are not in the Hall of Fame: Kobe, Shaq, Reggie Miller, Iverson, KG, Dirk, Ray Allen, Tim Duncan and Gary Payton. Take a look at this list and maybe more telling is all the Hall of Famers who scored fewer points than The Truth, guys like Magic, McAdoo and George Gervin.
No matter how you shake it though, this was a great night for Paul, a player who wears the green very well.

How I Won The Picks

2012-02-08T12:03:00.000-05:00

As a result of winning both the regular season weekly picks and then carrying it on through the playoffs and Super Bowl, Zeb has asked me to post a blog. Now, I don’t know if he meant posting how I won or a blog post of my choice, but I’m going to go with how I won and post a blog of my choice at a later time – promise, Zeb.

I didn’t start the season off really great, actually being in third place and down a couple of picks early on. I guess I was picking teams on past reputations, which was hard to do with the lock-out and short preseason. Some teams started off really hot, like the Redskins and Bills, which I stayed away from because of last season’s performances, and I lost points there; and, ultimately, when I went to pick them to win, they showed their true mettle and started to lose.

Another difficulty in making my choices was teams playing so well one week and then losing so badly the next? I think a lot of us didn’t expect the Eagles to start so poorly, the drastic fall of the Buccaneers, and the Chargers fade in the middle of the season.

I started watching who the pros were picking. I’d search websites to see if I could glean an edge that maybe others hadn’t seen. I started playing the pick ‘em on Yahoo to see if my picks were far afield from others, and I also looked to see who my competition on this board was picking to see if I was missing something.

I got lucky that my personal favorite team, (remember I’m not just a fan but part owner), the Packers, won their first 15 games. I anticipated the resurgence of the Lions, the depth of the Bears struggles with the loss of Cutler, and the glee of watching the Vikings downward spiral. I also knew that the loss of Peyton Manning to the Colts was extremely costly to them, and went with the “Suck for Luck” attitude.

It took me until week 4 to win the weekly pick ‘em, but I was still down to Zeb by four picks. However, in week 5, Zeb went 5-8, which I went 8-5 to close the gap and trail by one win. Week 6 saw the freaky week where Zeb initially picked against his team, and then he and I end up equally split in the total points for Monday’s game. Week 7 was when I took the lead in picks and weekly wins and never gave it up.

I want to thank Brent for keeping tally throughout the season. I know his time was tight, but he always managed to get the results out for us. It’s a long season, which means it’s a long, hard chore for him to do.

I also want to thank everyone who played this season, especially some of the wild ways in which you guys used your imagination to select your teams. Way to spice things up to keep it from getting boring.

So, next year? Let’s say we do it again.

They Overachieved

2012-02-07T12:24:00.000-05:00

Just to add some balance to the New England Patriots' 2011 season, not that it will help take the sting away from losing a Super Bowl they should have won; but the Patriots did overachieve and did so in a big way.
What else can you say about a team with the #31 defense in the league (around #16 if you look at points allowed)? This is a team with huge, gaping deficiencies on both sides of the ball. Defensively they had no pass rush to speak of, certainly no pass rusher who scared anyone; and isn't this the most anemic secondary you can remember playing in a Super Bowl? They didn't have anything remotely resembling a shutdown cornerback. And singling out these two most glaring weaknesses takes the spotlight off a linebacking corps that is average at best. Hey NFL fans of teams other than the Patriots, name a member of the Pats defense not named Vince Wilfork? I'll be surprised if you can even come up with Patrick Chung or Jerod Mayo.
Then let's look at the offense. This is arguably the best offense in the league when it comes to scoring points but who on that side of the ball would you drool over having on your team other than Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski? Everyone says Wes Welker is a system player but I won't blame if you want Wes or maybe Aaron Hernandez. But you have to admit it's amazing what the Patriots do considering they have no deep threat whatsoever and only have a marginal running game, which by the way makes it even more amazing how well the Patriots do with play action. Basically every defense knows the Patriots are going to throw inside a little box between the linebackers and safeties; and even when defenses over-compensate to try to take that away, the Patriots still manage to run up big yards and points.
So just imagine what the Patriots could do with just an above-average pass rusher and an above-average cover cornerback on defense and a wideout who could actually get behind coverage just once in a while.
Oh, lest I forget, the other way the Patriots overachieved was the play of the defense in this Super Bowl. Now it can be said they couldn't get Manning off the field at times and, other than a couple of sacks early, were unable to put any pressure on him. But if before the game was played you were told that defense was going to hold that Giant offense to 13 points until 4 minutes to go in the game, wouldn't you have run to your bookie to place an enormous amount of cash on the Patriots to win that Super Bowl?

Super Bowl XLVI

2012-02-06T09:04:00.000-05:00

Hopefully writing this will be somewhat cathartic -- I doubt it. Right now this hurts more than Super Bowl XLII, which has lingered with me as badly as the 1986 World Series. Not that winning SB XLVI would have erased XLII but the way we lost yesterday is doubly painful.
Given the way these two teams were playing coming into this game, with the Giants' offense nearly as potent as the Patriots' and that the Giants' defense was capable of giving the Patriots problems, coupled with a Patriot defense that only scares Patriot fans, you had to think this was a terrible matchup for the Patriots. Given that background, if you were told that the Patriot defense would hold the Giants to 15 points with four minutes to go in the game and that the Giant defensive front would not harass Tom Brady during this game but that the Giants still won, I think you'd have said I was crazy. Tom Brady had a bad game. He refused to take a victory that was repeatedly offered to him.
Despite how he played, just one break going the Patriots' way in this game would have changed the outcome. I'm not saying all the luck went the Giants' way -- well, yes, I am. Even if I disregard the fact that the Giants fumbled three times but got away with them all, there's still the fact that they caught Tom Brady on a bad day. You couldn't ask for better luck than that.
The shoulda-coulda-woulda list from a Patriot fan standpoint will linger a long, long time.

The intentional grounding call on the Patriots' first play of the game (more on that later), which results in a safety and two points for the Giants, as well as a punt and great field position for the Giants
The offside penalty on the Patriots during that subsequent drive, which nullified the Pats recovering a Giant fumble, resulting in the Giants getting 7 points instead of none
The Tom Brady interception in the 3rd quarter with the Patriots already up by 8 points (reminiscent of a similar interception in the end zone, taking 3 points off the board, in SB XLII) (also reminiscent of the interception he threw in this year's AFC Championship game that nearly cost them that game); we're driving and it's first down and he decides to throw a jump ball to a tight end with a bad ankle. On replay I have to think Brady was trying to throw that ball much deeper than it went. That's the only place where Gronkowski was open. The Giants take that interception and drive back down the field for a FG
Except that wouldn't have happened if another fumble by the Giants didn't have eyes or the fact that Rob Ninkovich is offside on a 3rd down play where we stopped them. This one stands out in a big way. Obviously if we had recovered that fumble, it's a gift 3 points, maybe more and puts the game away; but even the offside gives us the ball back with good field position instead of them taking that lucky break and going down and scoring a FG
Three Giant fumbles in this game that the Patriots never got. I've already covered two of them. The 3rd was a strip of a Giant receiver in Patriot territory. As the ball is coming out, there are four Patriot defenders five yards or less away toward the goal line and 3 Giant players at least five yards away all back in the other direction. Which way did the ball bounce when it came out? Toward the Giant players and nowhere near the Patriots. I can't remember if that's a drive where the Giants scored 3 or 7 but they did score.
Despite all of the previous ones, they're moot if the "greatest QB of all time" does his job. The Patriots are up by two points with the ball and are driving toward Giant territory, burning time off the clock. Brady throws a bad pass to an open Welker, causing Wes to have to leap to his fullest while on the run and completely rotate around. Does Welker catch that ball 3/4 of the time anyway? Probably. But he was wide open and even a half-ass pass is easier to catch than that one. On the very next play he badly throws behind an open Deion Branch coming across the middle. The throw is so badly behind Branch that if we'd had any luck in this game, the defender would've been six inches closer to Branch and then run over him as Branch tried to stop to catch this ball. The result of these two bad throws at a minimum is stopping a Patriot drive that would've been first down within Giant territory with about 4 minutes to go in the game.

I've changed my mind about whining about the intentional grounding call. It is the kind of call where the refs help determine the outcome though. NEVER have I seen intentional grounding called on first down where the QB is not scrambling nor in the grasp and the ball is thrown down the middle of the field. Was it intentional grounding? Technically yes (don't bother bringing up the tuck rule -- each bad call stands on its own). The problem I have is that the rule is backwards. The rule is written supposedly to take interpretation of intent out of the game. Well, Brady's ball didn't look like intentional grounding to anyone except for one ref initially, whereas the one Manning throws much later in the game (just like thousands every year) looks obviously intentional but is not technically.
But it should have been and maybe still was irrelevant because somehow the Patriot defense holds the Giants to 7 points in the first half and the Patriots score a touchdown just before halftime to take a 10-9 lead. And then the Patriots get the ball first for the second half and drive down the field for a TD, going up by 8 points. They have the momentum and it looks like the Patriot D has the Giants stopped again, but for the aforementioned Ninkovich offside.
I'll wrap this up by using a comment I posted on Facebook last night, that maybe now (probably not) the Patriot fan base and sports media will finally get off Drew Bledsoe's back. Since the last Patriot Super Bowl victory, Tom Brady is something like 4 and 4 in the playoffs, with two one-and-outs in '09 and '10, a poor showing in this year's AFC Championship and two subpar performances in the last two Super Bowls, the latter two eminently winnable games that even a lesser QB would have won. These two would have truly put him at the top of the QB heap -- hell, even one of the two would've secured his legacy.

Watching A Couple Of Big Trucks Play

2012-02-04T11:29:00.000-05:00

Last night in Fargo, ND, the Advanced Auto Parts Monster Jam tour performed at the Fargo Dome. It was an exciting show, but with Monster Jam holding 6 different shows this weekend throughout the country, it makes sense that there were lesser known trucks here. 8 trucks made it here and it must mean that Fargo is bigger on the scale of shows than others that only had 6 show up. Half of those trucks didn't really do much or even make it out to the freestyle event.

The 8 trucks that were there were Desperado (pictured above), Martial Law, Michigan Ice Monster, Ground Pounder, Iron Outlaw, Bounty Hunter, Spiderman, and Grave Digger. The drivers that you associate with those trucks weren't there. There was no Randy Andersen driving Bigfoot, Bari Musawwir driving Spiderman, no Jimmy Cretin driving Bounty Hunter. Some fans were disappointed in that, but it didn't detract from the show.

The first event was quad racing. They billed one team from Minneapolis and one team from Fargo. (Really!!!) Anyways, it was 6 laps of watching quads go around in a circle. For me, it brought back memories, but my son didn't care for it. I guess it is there to extend the show length.

The first event for the monster trucks was the Sky Wheelie contest. The winner of that was Spiderman. Personally, I think that Desperado was cheated out of the victory. He did two nice on the back wheels rolling over the crush cars, While Spicerman did the half jump/half wheelie to get the win. No problems for anybody there, but in the racing, oh boy, would there be problems.

Next we had quad racing again. This was the 2nd heat. Same people, same quads, just a different race. On, and they had the storyline of the two team captains of the quad teams getting into an argument about how each other was racing. Can you feel the excitement? And the greatest thing was that each of the captains weren't in the running to win the races. And the racer that won the race would go by the captains and not get interviewed by the emcee, but the captains would. Classic.

Next up on the docket was the Monster Truck racing event. The results:

1st Round
Ice Monster beat Desperado who broke a rear drive shaft during the event.
Ground Pounder beat Spiderman
Grave Digger beat Iron Outlaw
Bounty Hunter beat Martial Law after Martial Law corkscrewed through his first corner and flipped himself.

2nd Round
Grave Digger beat Ice Monster
Bounty Hunter beat Ground Pounder

Finals:
Bounty Hunter beat Ground Pounder
Grave Digger broke a front drive shaft in the second round contest and could not make it out onto the course. Ice Monster was working on what I believe were electrical issues, so he couldn't replace Grave Digger. So we got a rematch of the semi-finals and Ground Pounder was never in it.

We came to the main event for the quad racing. Team Fargo wins, the two captains call each other dirty and cry babies and the winner doesn't get interviewed again and has his quad stall on him when he tries to get back to the pits.

Then we had Megasaurus make his appearance. The backstory and music were overkill for what he actually did.

Intermission came and we had entertainment from the extreme RC club out of Minneapolis. They decided to have their little RC cars jump the obstacles that the Monster Trucks would in freestyle. One guy jumped his Maximum Destruction RC car off the highest jump and it landed on the roof. Needless to say that vehicle needed to get fixed after the show. The body was all mangled and it was limping off the floor with one wheel being dragged behind.

Out of intermission it is Freestyle time. Desperado makes it back in time just to roll around on his wheels through the course. He is leaking some sort of fluid. Gets a score of 10. Next is Martial Law who has some sort of problems after he rolls in the racing and goes about 30 seconds and parks it. The best part of that was watching him throw out his steering wheel and gloves out of the front windowless opening in frustration. Next up was the Michigan Ice Monster who sheered off his front Drivers Side wheel after 12 seconds. He was done after that. Ground Pounder reported that he was done due to mechanical issues and didn't make it out for the event. Next was Iron Outlaw who made it all 90 seconds and was rewarded with a score of 21. Bounty Hunter came out and did well with a 24 and ran about 2 minutes extra after the event was over for him. Bounty Hunter was the only truck that did donuts here, successfully. Spiderman came out and received a 26. And he decided to extend his run, only he tried to perform a donut and promptly flipped onto his roof. Finally was Grave Digger, he did his jumps, nothing else and was awarded the win with a 27.

The last event of the night was a 6 car demolition derby. Went about 8 minutes. One car almost went airborne twice due to angles he took and went over the front of vehicles he was trying to hit.

Overall, it was a nice show. One thing that I would do different for the Monster Trucks is keep all of them in back and introduce them individually. Here all but Spiderman and Grave Digger were already out on the floor and sitting there. Those two got special entrances for the crowd. I don't understand why Monster jam doesn't do that for all the trucks. I understand that the Michigan Ice Monster and Martial Law aren't wholesale brand names for fans let alone people that don't follow the sport week in and week out. But make them special for those fans in attendance. Make them want to know more about that specific truck and make them want to purchase the merchandise (more on that in a minute) of those trucks that they saw. Don't make it look like they are the generic ones and have a couple that stand out from the rest.

As for merchandise, there are more trucks out there than Grave Digger. (To Monster Jam marketers and merchandising executives: We want items from the trucks we are seeing that night and not just Grave Digger.) Digger had 6 different shirts, 3 different caps, 2 fleece blankets, and specialty merchandise geared towards him at the venue. Spiderman had a shirt, hat, and puffy pillow. Same with Iron Man. Monster Mutt Rottweiler had about the same. There was no merchandise for 6 of the trucks there. I was willing to shell out inflated prices to have a Martial Law T-Shirt there. I would have even though about a Bounty Hunter or Michigan Ice Monster T-Shirt, but they were no where to be found. But I could have a Grave Digger 2-DVD set about the career of the truck or the toy sword that was made for the vehicle. Make one of your stands non-Grave Digger and the other 3 or 4 that you do have heavy on Grave Digger. But make it where it doesn't seem that the only thing you are worried about is the overhyped truck that is 30 years old.

Like I said before, I enjoyed the show and I would recommend anyone that wants to have a good time for a couple of hours to attend a show. Even if you aren't a gearhead.

NHL Trade Deadline

2012-02-01T11:21:00.001-05:00

Coming out of the All Star break is the time when the trade deadline talks heat up; and since at least two of our writers' teams are likely to be active, the Leafs and the Canes, we should be talking about it. I will also not be surprised if the Bruins do something, for two reasons which I'll get to in a bit.


Suter and or Weber could be dealt

This excellent article in The Bleacher Report is a good starting point, as they point out the 12 teams most likely to be active before the trade deadline, including Carolina and Toronto; and it's their opinion that the big prize out there will be Nashville's Ryan Suter, followed by any one of three players from the Anaheim Ducks. Suter would be one helluva get, one that would fit perfectly in a Bruin sweater; but he will come at a high price, a price that would cost the Bruins their chemistry potentially.
The Carolina Hurricanes need to rebuild and they do have pieces of value, Ruutu key among them. They won't (or certainly shouldn't) trade Ward, Skinner or Staal but everyone else should be available. The Toronto Maple Leafs are very much in the hunt for a playoff spot, their GM has a history of making blockbuster moves and they have to keep moving forward since they are the franchise with the most pressure to win in the league.
I'll leave it up to my colleagues to comment on their respective teams further. I'll just close by making a couple of comments about the Bruins. What has been different between the unbeatable team of December to mid-January and the team of the last couple of weeks? Defense. And it seems the Bruins always covet defensemen, especially puck-handling, power-play-leading defensemen. Since the last two attempts to fill that void on this team have seemingly failed with the underwhelming play of Joe Corvo, I will not be surprised to see the Bs pick up that kind of player, especially if they can get that kind of guy without giving up a top guy from the current roster or a high prospect.
The other way the Bruins could get involved in a trade, and involved in a very big way, is if they decide now is the time to trade Tim Thomas. Reasons not to trade Tim Thomas: He's the best goalie in the league and the biggest reason the Bruins won the Stanley Cup last year. Arguably they cannot repeat without him. There are, however, many more reason to trade him, though I'm not so sure between now and the trade deadline will be the time. What is going to push this more than anything else in my opinion is if Tuukka Rask says this is his last season in Boston unless the Bs become his team. That would create a dilemma for the Bruins obviously but one I would prefer they address after this season. I would keep Thomas, splitting time pretty much equally with Rask through the end of the season and then ride the hot goalie through the playoffs. Now if a guy like Ryan Suter could be had for Thomas, I'd have to consider it. That's not going to happen since Nashville doesn't need a goalie; but if someone overwhelmed the Bruins with an offer for Thomas, they'd have to consider it. Rask needs to be resigned and if that means he has to be made the #1 goalie to achieve that, then so be it. He's not quite 25 years old, is having arguably a better season thus far than Tim Thomas, has had a fantastic season as the starting goalie once before; and Tim Thomas is almost 38 years old, is not quite the goalie he was last year and will never bring you more in return than in the middle of the season when teams are most desperate, to say nothing about the possibility that he's becoming a locker room liability. It would be nothing if not exciting to see what might be thrown at the Bruins in an effort to get a championship goalie.

On to Wembley

2012-01-30T12:21:00.000-05:00

I thought this article about Craig Bellamy getting a goal against his former club, Manchester City, to propel his current club and the one he dreamed of playing for as a boy, Liverpool, into the Carling Cup final at Wembley Stadium against his hometown team, Cardiff City, was a nice segue for this neophyte English Premier League fan to talk for just a moment about soccer -- gulp!
I've never been much of a soccer fan (I find the game dull and can't stand the flopping and diving) but have to admit that watching the high level of play of the EPL has changed that a little. When the same ownership group that owns the Boston Red Sox bought Liverpool, I became curious as to what all the fuss was about. When I read about the fact that the team they bought was the most storied, and infamous (read about Hillsborough and Heysel), in English pro soccer history, I became interested to learn what the league was all about.

So I've adopted Liverpool as my favorite team, even though I watch very few games (I'm not that big a fan) but what fascinates me much more than the game play is the history and, for lack of a better word, format of European soccer. I'm going to attempt to explain, with a small base of knowledge, how this works and why I find it fascinating. Hopefully the other EPL fans here will bail me out. Every European league has a tiered system where the best teams play in the top tier, the next best in the second tier and so on. In the English League that amounts to four tiers with around 20 teams per tier. Every year, amidst the regular EPL season, there is an elimination tournament played amongst all the teams of the four tiers, 92 teams, that is the Carling Cup or League Cup. The championship game will be played at Wembley Stadium between Liverpool and Cardiff City, a "second tier" team that came all the way through. Liverpool has won this tournament a record seven times.

Liverpool defeated Manchester United (har har, Rick!) this weekend to advance to the quarter finals of an even bigger English soccer tournament, the FA Cup, where they'll take on Brighton. Aside from winning the League Cup, which is won solely by accumulating the most points during the season, the FA Cup or Football Association Challenge Cup is the most prestigious in the EPL. From The Wiki:

The FA Cup was first held in 1871–72. Entry is open to all teams who compete in the Premier League, the Football League and in steps one to five of the FA National League System, as well as selected teams in step 6.^[3] This means that clubs of all standards compete, from the largest clubs in England and Wales down to amateur village teams. The tournament has become known for the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament and even theoretically win the Cup, although lower division teams rarely progress beyond the early stages. The qualification rounds and a system of byes mean that the very smallest and very biggest teams almost never meet.

Obviously what makes it fun as a fan is that your lower tier teams get to take a shot at the big boys and sometimes even knock them off. Imagine a semi-pro baseball team that has played in your neck of the woods for a hundred years getting to play in a big tournament every year with the likes of the Yankees. As a sports history buff, it is this kind of thing that makes European soccer interesting to me. Manchester United has won the most of these cups.
But wait, there's more -- one more that I'll describe but there's even more than that. What's notable is the UEFA Champions League, which is another tournament that runs during the regular seasons of all of the major European soccer leagues that pits the top teams (1 to 5 teams depending upon the strength of the league) from each league in a battle to determine the champion of all champions. There's nothing else like this in any other sport. The championship game of this tournament is the largest viewed annual sporting event in the world, even bigger than the Super Bowl. It would be like a dozen countries each having a Super Bowl and then a tournament ensued after that pitting all the Super Bowl champions. It's like the World Cup, except it's played every year and pits professional teams against each other rather than country all star teams. Real Madrid has won this tournament the most times, 9, with Liverpool having won it 5, the most of any EPL team.
Liverpool is obviously favored to win its 8th Carling Cup and is in good position in the FA Cup tourney, although there are still many good teams remaining at this point. Since Liverpool did not finish high enough in the EPL last year to qualify to play in the UEFA Champions League this year and are not going to win the EPL league title this year, winning the Carling and possibly the FA would be a very big deal for this storied club.
I'm also writing this post as my punishment for not having the guts to blog challenge Rick regarding this weekend's match between Liverpool and Manchester United...missed opportunity. I won't hesitate if that opportunity presents itself deeper in the tourney, RJ.

Ranking the Super Bowls

2012-01-26T14:57:00.001-05:00

This should be an interesting exercise, even though I don't intend to rank all 45 games; but Peter Schrager at FoxSports.com does just that today in this great slideshow. I wish there was a way to share the slideshow within this blog but alas...

I'll just make a few comments and observations about his rankings and the games, then endeavor to list my top 5. I would encourage you all to list your top 5 as well.
I was surprised to see the Patriots' thrashing at the hands of the Bears not be closer to the bottom of this list but Schrager's rankings use an historical factor. So in his opinion, given the greatness of the Bears defense, he ranks that game near the bottom of the middle pack of games, 28th overall, whereas to most of us it is one of the least competitive games of all time, though it is special to me as a Patriot fan being that it's their first trip to the Super Bowl, that I saw them win a playoff game in LA on the way and because it's the only one where we'll ever see the true Patriot uniform. If you go through the slideshow, on the right of each picture of each game you can see his reasoning and point system.
He ranks Super Bow XLII as the #1 game, which I would disagree with and not because the Patriots lost. It was a great game and historic from the standpoint of the Patriots being undefeated going into that game but there are a few more games I found more exciting and competitive. I see the value of his including a compelling or historical factor, which is why SBs III and VII are so high; but I won't be trying to do that. I agree with much of his bottom third, which is littered with all those blowouts from the 1980s and early '90s.
My list will not be exactly a top 5. I'll just take a handful of what I think are the best games and rank just the top one.

Super Bowl XXXVIII, Patriots over Panthers, he has 13th. This is one of the most exciting games ever and nearly goes into overtime. Maybe because it was a defensive stalemate early on is why he has it ranked this low but the back-and-forth fireworks of the second half make this one very memorable.
Super Bowl XIII, Steelers over Cowboys was a great, great game of the titans of the time. I'm old enough to remember watching this game, which was littered with all-time-great players, ditto Super Bowl X with the same teams and many of the same players. I think XIII was the better game.
Super Bowl XXIII, 49ers over Bengals. While their first Super Bowl matchup (the Kenny Anderson Bengals) was a very good game, this "rematch" with the Boomer Esiason Bengals was taut and thrilling all the way to the end. Were you too rooting for the Bengals in this one?
Super Bowl XXXIV, Rams over Titans. The underdog Titans played their butts off and contained the Greatest Show on Turf for most of this game. This is the first one that I really thought was headed to overtime, just a couple of yards and/or a few seconds from it. Great game.
My #1, Super Bowl XXXVI, Patriots over Rams. Yes, I may be a bit biased but Schrager has it at #2. Regardless of the fact that the Pats lost XLII, I still think this is the better game. You've got a team called the Patriots, underdogs, playing the Super Bowl of the 9/11 season, coming out of the tunnel announced just as a team, no individual players, who proceed to stifle the heavily-favored Rams, coming up with big plays. This game is close the whole way and the level of disbelief that this huge underdog just might pull this off was thrilling, coming right down to a last second field goal. And remember, that field goal is only possible because the Pats shockingly decided to try to drive the ball deep from their end instead of running out the clock and going to overtime. Adam Vinatieri strikes again!
Honorable mentions: The aforementioned XLII -- yes, a great game and a big upset and I'm still very much upset about it, regardless of what happens this year. To me it's a great game if the Pats go undefeated. Super III, I was six or seven years old and I don't remember it. Super Bowl XXV, wide right. Not as well played as people remember. I still feel bad for the Bills, since they lost 3 more in a row after this one. XLIII, Steelers over Cardinals -- this one would stand out even more if it had happened amongst a bunch of '80s blowouts instead of happening around a string of the greatest Super Bowls of all time. Super Bowl VII, the undefeated season for the Dolphins culminates here. I guess I should include an honorable mention to Super Bowl XXXII, the John Elway determination bowl. Aren't I right in remembering this is the first really close Super Bowl since the '70s?

I'm proud to be a Patriot fan, where whether they win or lose, like the Red Sox they almost always play in memorable championship games. Go Patriots! Here's hoping that Super Bowl XLVI is a leisurely Patriot blowout, though that would be as big a surprise as any. Please click the link and watch the slideshow to refresh your memory and to have reason to agree or disagree with the author and or yours truly, then put your top 5ish in the comments.

It’s Almost That Time Of Year Again

2012-01-26T05:52:00.000-05:00

Did you know the Rolex 24 at Daytona is almost here? The Grand-Am series will begin a new season this weekend and Speed HD will be carrying approximately 13 hours of live racing coverage starting at 11:30am PST on Saturday morning. The network will carry the race up until 7pm PST and then resume at 6am PST on Sunday morning until the race concludes.

I’ll be rooting for McDreamy (aka Patrick Dempsey) and his Dempsey Racing team as they defend their Rolex 24 at Daytona championship in the hotly contested GT division in their Mazda RX-8. This year there’s 45 other GT entries so McDreamy and his crew will have their work cut out for them this time.

NASCAR drivers competing in this year’s event include Juan Pablo Montoya, Christian Fittipaldi, Michael McDowell, Max Papis, A.J. Allmendinger, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Travis Pastrama, Michael Waltrip and Boris Said.

A contingent from Corvette Racing that includes Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen will drive the #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette in the DP (Daytona Prototype) division. And let’s not forget AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson, who will be one of four drivers in the #50 BMW/Riley prototype.

It should be a fun weekend of racing and I can’t wait!

Patriots/Ravens

2012-01-24T11:35:00.003-05:00

In response to my sharing a link on Facebook regarding tom-brady-bill-belichick-survive-stupidest-decision-of-all-time-and-other-leftover-patriots-thoughts and sharing this comment ("There are a lot of good insights here regarding the game, though this one is the most "shocking" to me: The rushing touchdown was also just the third postseason rushing touchdown of Brady's career, and his first since the '04 playoffs. Impossibly, those three rushing touchdowns rank third in Patriots history, behind only Curtis Martin (5) and Corey Dillon (4).") one of our authors, who has yet to make a post of her own on this blog, left an excellent comment that I tried to encourage her to use as the basis for a blog post, to no avail. She's shy and needs some encouragement, even though I've told her she has excellent insights.

So I'm doing the next best thing by taking her comment and pasting it in as a guest blog by ocbananagirl:

I really like this article, or I really like this article after the initial criticism about the pass and the call to pass at that moment of time in the game. I just want to concentrate on all the good and I am not going to worry about that erroneous decision. Honestly I am surprised that the Pats are in the Super Bowl. I mean let's be honest, did we really think this could happen this year? I thought that this year was going to be a rebuilding year. I did not think the defense could do it looking back on this whole season. The defense though was the shining star in this last game, and even though Flacco had the Game of his life (believe me it was the game of his life, he was my fantasy QB for 2 years) the defense was able to contain Ray Rice, who for most of this season was unstoppable. That in itself was unbelievable and I didn't realize that they had it in them, or really I thought they were working up to this level but I didn't think we would see it this season, I shouldn't have had any doubt though with Mr Hoodie crafting this up like some wizard putting together potions.. Yeah, Yeah I know Brady looked bad but not as bad as the last game with the Jets last year, and then we found out that he was injured and I have a feeling that this may also come to be also. Now Brady has two weeks rest and two weeks to think about the Giants, and luckily for Patriots Nation we have never ever seen him have two bad games in a row. So I am feeling more confident with the next game than the game before, although I really don't want to think about it - something along the lines of " better to have gone to the Super Bowl and lost than to have never gone to the Super Bowl." For me it's not the Super Bowl; it is putting big ~~blew~~ blue in their place, I want a smack down! So Bill, please leave your pensive thoughts alone, I need you to get your hoodie on and do your wizardry for one more game and please, please be that jerk who smacks down the Giants, do it for Patriots Nation!

Rereading this makes me think we need to encourage her to write a weekly fantasy blog next season. Wouldn't you agree? She's also an excellent cook/chef who owns a seasonal cafe on the Jersey coast, and I've tried to encourage her to post a pub food recipe for us. So let's give her the encouragement she deserves. This place could use a woman's perspective.

He Facebooked It

2012-01-24T00:20:00.000-05:00

"I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People. This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government. Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL." – Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, on his Facebook page, January 23, 2012.

And as an individual exercising my rights as a free citizen I believe noted Glenn Beck devotee Tim Thomas and his Gadsden flag hockey mask are full of it.

Where was all this indignation from Thomas when things in this country were more screwed up two years ago? He would have made a more credible partisan, anti-government statement if he had sat out the 2010 Winter Olympics instead of skipping out on the Bruins’ celebration at the White House. With the exception of a few petulant Pittsburgh Steelers a few seasons ago, athletes always attend events at the White House honoring them regardless if they agreed with the President’s politics or not. Even Scott Niedermayer, who from all accounts is on the other side of the world in political ideology from Thomas, attended the White House ceremony when President George W. Bush honored the Anaheim Ducks.

Today’s actions weren’t about Tim Thomas, the free citizen. They were about Tim Thomas putting himself above the team, disrespecting the current President of the United States in a way only petty, spoiled athletes in other sports do and embarrassing the NHL.

I’m highly disappointed in Tim Thomas. I would have had a lot more respect for him if he had said he couldn’t make it to today’s event at the White House because Peggy from USA Prime Credit didn’t pay his cab fare rather than this passive-aggressive excuse of a (non) political statement on his Facebook page.

A Vancouver Fan's Angry Retort To Bruins Fans

2012-01-19T21:32:00.000-05:00

It is a good touch using clips from the Daily Show. And if this means that I am a Bruins hater for liking this, then I guess that is what I am. It does bring into question though, does each fan base for their respective sports teams practice hypocrisy?

Happy Non-Anniversary

2012-01-19T12:34:00.000-05:00

Ten years ago today, the Oakland Raiders were screwed by the NFL and the New England Patriots went on to win a Super Bowl they did not deserve to be in.

Anyone who lives outside of New England knows the “tuck rule” was an obscure (censored) call the refs pulled out of their (censored) just to screw the Raiders out of getting their fourth Lombardi Trophy. Tom Brady fumbled. I will maintain that view until the day I die.

The above is video of the game with audio from the Raiders broadcast team of Greg Papa and Tom Flores. Now you’ll have to excuse me while I go pelt my buddy Zebster with a snow ball.

Stay Classy, Crimson Tide Fans!

2012-01-17T21:44:00.002-05:00

Alabama might be winners on the field, but their fan base leaves something to be desired.

Alabama walked away from the BCS championship game last week with a 21-0 victory over LSU, but the joy of their second BCS title in three years has been dampened by a viral video showing an Alabama fan sexually assaulting an unconscious LSU fan.

Some background: the video taken from a cell phone first appeared on the YouTube channel for “BamaSportsForum” (which has since been deleted) and was picked up by Deadspin.com two days ago. The incident took place at a Krystal restaurant on Bourbon Street the night of the BCS championship game.

The video, about five minutes long, features several Alabama fans hazing, poking and taking pictures of the unconscious man. Then, one individual exposes himself and places his genitals on the unconscious fan before a restaurant employee steps in to disperse the crowd.

Stupidity by fans is becoming more and more common, both in the professional ranks as well as the amateur ranks. This is one of the downsides of sports. Fans become brainwashed into thinking that harrassing, fighting, and humiliating fans of the other team somehow makes them a real fan of their team. Most of it comes from getting blitzed by the alcohol that the stadiums sell and by the booze that is smuggled into the venue.

But here it seems that an LSU fan drank himself to unconsciousness because his team had an offense that looked like a grade school quarterback was running it. Anyways, instead of anybody there that saw the man passed out and decided to call the cops or get management from the restaurant out there, Tide fans decided to humiliate this guy. He deserves to be humiliated because I am almost certain that the guy was trying to get to his car and drive away plowed. But not to be humiliated by Crimson Tide fans by poking him, hazing him, and then one of the idiots deciding that the guy would look good as a ball sac resting place.

This thought process that we have to denigrate and humiliate our opponents and their fans needs to stop. In hockey, it has happened to fans of the visiting team in news reports in Montreal, Boston, New York, Philly, Chicago, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Vancouver. I am sure that it has happened in the other cities as well, but hasn't made the national news. In football, fans have been attacked in Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, New York, Kansas City, Baltimore, Minnesota, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Houston. Those are ones that I can remember off the top of my head. And it happens in the college ranks, as noted above, and high school ranks as well. The sports that America has are not supposed to be bloodsport. And usually it isn't on the field. Off the field, that is now debatable.

The Beauty of Pro Football

2012-01-17T19:48:00.002-05:00

I'm probably going to take some heat from the fellas after this post, but I need to lead in with an anecdote first.

About 5 years ago, I used to work in the corporate offices of a Fortune 500 IT-based company. I was told that one of the employees was a Washington Redskins cheerleader. I didn't know her and never met her, and honestly never thought about trying to meet her. A year later, I lucked up on a 40-yard line, Section 141, Row 5 ticket--damn near on the Redskins sideline. Throughout the game, the "Redskinettes" divided themselves into fourths--with a quarter of the squad stationed in quadrants: between the endzones and the 35 yard line, on both sides of the field. At each quarter, they'd rotate quadrants. Throughout the game, I was treated to some pretteh...pretteh...pretteh...pretteh...pretteh good looking ladies. No--hell no, they were damn, outstandingly HOT ladies!!! In the 2nd quarter, my eye caught one particularly vulcanic blonde.

You know the routine, they jumped and bounced and bent over doing their cheerleader thing...(Lord help me!). I remembered this particular blonde because I couldn't get her "bend over" routine out of my mind! Anyway, two days later (Tuesday), I found myself in a meeting in the corporate conference room about to be briefed on our project by an engineer. To my surprise, in walked that blonde--the Redskin cheerleader everyone was talking about! It turns out she was the HEAD cheerleader (and I know why!) But peep this: She was the engineer giving the brief! Brothers, let me tell you--I had no idea what she was saying because for 15 minutes my mind was consumed with the picture of the previous Sunday's "bend over" and I was secretly trying to Googling her picture on my BB. Yep, it was her!

Now, why did I tell you that story? (...here comes the part where I'll probably lose my "man card"...) Brothers, for the life of me, I can't figure out WHY there are cheerleaders of any kind in pro sports, especially football! I mean, think about it: Most folks in the stadium are actually watching the game (I know I am--about 80% of the time; the other 20% is spent standing in line for that $6 hotdog or looking around for the $9 beer man.) But I always ask myself: Why are these gals here? And I don't mind calling them "gals" when every Sunday, nothing but a 3-inch swath of cloth separates my eyes from "Ms. Hoo-Ha!" Whom are they here for? The majority of the fans at FedEx field (those of us in the upper deck) can't even see these girls. Those in the lower deck can't see them unless you're sittig in Row 5. You could say on any day, half of the fans in the stadium are women--so are the sexy cheerleaders being sexy for the women, too? Somehow, I doubt it. An easy third of the fans are kids--certainly the "bend over" isn't for little Joey (I hope not....not yet!), and half of the kids are girls (probably dreaming about growing up to be a cheerleader!) You can't hear them do any cheers--for the most part, they don't say anything, they just bounce, and giggle, and bend over. And if you could hear them, I've never seen 90,000 fans react to the cheers of the Redskins cheerleaders! ("Sis-boom-bee! Kick 'em in the knee! Sis-boom-bass! Kick 'em in the other knee!")

So, what is the pay off for NFL cheerleaders? What's their purpose? What does the team get out of their presence? Other than TV exposure and a trip to the Pro Bowl, what do they get out of it? And do we as fans really care?? Now, don't get me wrong, I'm as red-blooded as the next guy, but I just don't understand the purpose of the cheerleader! And to be honest about it (and maybe I'm being a little prudish), I have a big problem with the blatant objectification and exploitation of women, and I get a little dismayed when I see them exploit themselves (then I get pissed when those same women try to get self-righteous at me for buying what they're selling: "Hey! What are you looking at, old fart pervert?!") (sheesh! I didn't tatoo words across your clevage or give you the BCT (butt-crack tattoo), then make you wear a low cut blouse and low-rise jeans!)

I found myself very troubled by that cheerleader project engineer. I mean, how could I take her seriously when once a week she's mooning me with her bouncing the jublies--cajoling and begging me to look at her butt. One day she's giving me and 90,000 of my best friends the public soft porn act, and the next day, she's talking to me about algebraic topology of locally Euclidean metrization of infinitely differentiable Riemannian manifold! I don't get it!!! Oh, and have you noticed, except for the usual pom-pom shaking, the networks don't show ANY cheerleader routines on TV-broadcasted games, you have to be at the stadium (in Row 5) to see that show.

The NBA has cheerleaders....and now the NHL has them....why?!? Thank God baseball has remained unspoiled to the evil influence of curvaceous, brainac, super model wannabes! I wouldn't be able to take much more of it! ;-)

Respect for the Competition

2012-01-17T16:21:00.000-05:00

If you always respect your competition, you always have a chance. Ray Lewis may have a man crush on Tom Brady but it's out of respect. But it's mutual too and there's no fiercer competitors than those two guys. It should be an interesting game this weekend, a battle of wills between Ray Lewis and Ed Reed on one side versus Tom Brady and his weapons on the other. Don't get me wrong, the opposite sides matter too; but if the Ravens can't contain the Pats offense, I don't think it matters how well the Ravens' offense plays or how bad the Patriots' defense plays. If the Ravens do a decent job of containing the Patriot offense, then the game could then be decided on the legs of Ray Rice but probably more so on the arm of Joe Flacco. Put another way, the game in my opinion will be decided by the Patriot offensive line, which is very good but is it good enough to keep a determined Raven defense off Tom Brady's back. I think so but we'll see.
If you've never seen the clip below of Ray Lewis and Darrelle Revis waxing poetic on Tom Brady, it's pretty cool. Couldn't you listen to Ray Lewis read the phone book?

NFL Gut Check

2012-01-16T18:41:00.002-05:00

Okay, let me pull up my favorite Laz-E-Boy....(..screeech...)...now to get a cold brew....(slamming the fridge...)....and to warm up the microphone, 'cause I'm about to pontificate. This is not going to be a rant about the Packers or any particular NFL team, I'm just taking a moment in the Tavern to vent.

Before I get started, let me say, for the record, that I HATE the New Jerk G'ain'ts! Thanks Green Bay, for that 15-1 record, you really put it where it counted yesterday.

I know for some fans, this was a particularly sweet couple of NFL weekends, for many others (Saints, Texans, Pittsburg (no "h"), and particularly Packers fans...and the millions who took the Vegas line for them), this was the sorriest couple of weekends in their lives. For me, however, it just proved a point I've kept to my inner self for a long time: The NFL (and by extension, their "minor league," the NCAA) continue to play the fans as chumps! Except this weekend, one team--the Packers--simply played themselves!

During the Berry Bonds drug thing, my consistent opinion about him and professional athletes taking performance enhancing drugs, has been: So what! They're pros--they give nothing back and take all they can. We PAY to see baseballs hit into the bay. Secretly, we want to see broken bones on evey play. We don't like cheaters, but we obviously don't mind "beaters" (the wife or dog kind--ya hear me, Lawrence and Michael?). I don't care what the pros do, because they're pros! If they want to get drunk all night, I say let 'em! If they want to smoke pot during the game--go for it, as long as you get the job done. Many will say this sets a bad example for the college kiddies. Ah, yeah, I'm sure the big time NCAA players (those schools jumping over themselves like crabs in a barrell for the big corporate sponsorship contracts and the lucrative ($$$) conferences where the roads traveled by NFL scouts are paved with asphalt) pay no attention to the cameras, tattoos, sex-pot cheerleaders, and fat cat boosters.

We could arguably say that half the NFL simply did not get their jobs done this weekend. Let's take the Pack, for example, arguably the best team in the NFL (I'm sure the Boston Patriots will challenge me on that). What do they do to prepare for their FIRST playoff game this year? They let their players "rest" during the last 2-3 weeks of the season. And what was the payoff? 388 total yards, 4 sacks, 3 fumbles, 1 interception, and 20 points. Nice prep work, Gang Green!

Sitting through an excruciatingly painful Washington Redskins season, I thought I'd put my foot through my 60" LCD every time I saw a Skins player play to the field camera everytime he caught the ball, or spin the ball like a top in triumph because they made a first down (after starting from the 8 yard line), or bump chests and/or helmets because they made a tackle (despite a 1st half 25 point deficit on the scoreboard).

Watching the BCS championship---uh, in the middle of January...in the middle of the NFL playoffs---tells me that none of this is really about...how did ABC put it decades ago: "...the human drama of athletic competition," nah, this is now all about the thrill of profits and the agony of the deficit. It's not about athleticism for its own sake, but athletics for profit and politics.

I ranted recently about those bonehead Marines caught on YouTube peeing on dead Taliban; to me, it was a pure matter of professional soldiers who lost their bearing--they lost self-discipline and self-control. In sports today--professional and collegiate, this egotistic mentality that demands that "it" be all about ME, is pervasive and sickens me. I long for the day when the professional footballer plays EVERY game, and if selected for the Pro Bowl, he PLAYS that game, too. I pine for the day when both the pro and the college athlete would just make the tackle, then rush back to the huddle to get the next play. But as it is, the fans--in a desperate attempt to get their own 15-minutes of fame, pander to both the pro and collegiate athlete like they were true Adonises. And they pander back to us, soaking up all the adoration (and revenue) they can get.

Charles Barkley was right, and sports (particularly collegiate sports) is purely a business! Except for those cheese-head, pig-nosed, dress-wearing, zero degrees bare-chested crazies in the endzones, does anyone in the OTHER seats really think the pro (or collegiate) athlete cares about the "fans?" They care more about the cameras. Hey Joe, you want my Coke?

Alright Green Bay, lose the arm-length tattoos, the end-zone leaps, get some hair cuts, and a 10:00 bed check. You just let a 9-7, wild-card, clown car team, into the "Stupor" Bowl, a team primed for the golf course in December after getting its ass kicked (twice) by the sorrier than sorry Washington Redskins. But now, thanks to the "double check," they're headed to Indianapolis. Thanks, Green Bay!

Oh, and by the way--who tries an on-side kick in the 2nd quarter? Seriously?!? (SMH!)

Rockin' The Red

2012-01-14T15:14:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my lovely wife for her thoughful Christmas gift! In addition to an authentic "home" Washington Redskins jersey, she also bought me this 80's era throwback of the Washington Capitals. What makes it so great is she actually knew that Rod Langway is my favorite Cap! She rocks! Maybe I'll treat her to a game next week!

The True Undisputed Division I Football National Champion

2012-01-13T22:44:00.000-05:00

Now I know that according to the national media and most college fans, that the Crimson Tide from Alabama are the National Champions in college football. And I will concur with that. However, take another look at the title of this post. I used the word undisputed. There is dispute in the Division I FBS ranks about whether Alabama deserved to be in the National Championship game and there is still dispute about whether or not they are the best team. After all, there were people that gave first place votes to Oklahoma State and LSU after all the bowl games were played. Well, in the Division I FCS ranks, there are no disputes about which team is the best in the land. That distinction goes to the North Dakota State Bison. Pronounced Bizon. After a Championship game victory in Frisco, TX 17-6 over the previously unbeaten and #1 Ranked Sam Houston State Bearkats.

The Bison have been in the FCS ranks of Division I since 2004. The first 4 seasons, the Bison were not eligable for postseason play. For the past 2, the Bison have been in the playoffs. In 2010, the bison and their fans were not happy about the way that their season ended. Around these parts, it is known as being jobbed in Washington, amongst other names. We believed that the officials caused the Bison to lose their Quarterfinal game against Eastern Washington. And for the 2011 season, the Bison had the focus to right what they believe was the wrong perpetrated on them the year before.

In the first half of the title game, the Bison offense was sputtering against the Bearkats defense. It looked like the offense we had against Youngstown State, which was the Bison's only loss of the season. However, the defense was playing the best game of the season for them. The Bearkats which were averaging over 500 yards per game for the season had only 52 yards of total offense in the first quarter. The Breakats had 210 total yards this game. Sam Houston State averaged 39 points per game. In the first half, they were held to 6 points. The Bison fumbled the ball once and also had an interception the first half. Down 6-3 at half, the Bison needed a spark and would get it from the Running Back turned punter.

Early in the third quarter, the Bison offense went 3 and out yet again. However the Bison coaching staff had seen something earlier on a partially blocked punt. The Bearkats weren't protecting the outside of the punt formation. So the Bison called a fake punt for Matt Voigtlander to run around the left side of the formation. He carried the ball 27 yards for a first down. With a new set of downs, the Bison called a middle screen pass on the next play to D.J. McNorton from the Bearkats 39. It was a beautiful call. McNorton got into the endzone for a 10-6 lead and the defense continued to play their best game of the year. Voighlander was a big difference in this game. He punted 10 times and had a net average of 44.2 yards. He pinned the Bearkats inside their 20 yard line 4 times.

In the middle of the 4th quarter, the game was still 10-6 until the Bison defense rose up one more time this season and freshman linebacker Travis Beck dropped back into coverage, intercepted a pass and ran 63 yards to the Sam Houston State 1 yard line. Beck won MVP for the game. Brock Jensen, ND State QB, ran the ball in for a 1 yard touchdown and gave the Bison a 17-6 lead. The Bison defense came up with another interception and ended the dreams of the Bearkats ending up National Champions in their backyard.

The title game was a defensive struggle, which Sam Houston State was not used to this year. The Bison were 1 of 13 on third down. The Bearkats weren't much better going 4 for 18 on third down. Sam Houston State was 1 of 4 on fourth down. The Bison who averaged 177 yards rushing and 176 yards passing this year per game ended the game with balance as well. 115 yards rushing and 120 yards passing.

This is North Dakota State's 9th National Championship in Football. The previous 8 have been in Division II or below. Here is the understatement of the year from coach Craig Bohl: “We had a couple of tough years there, and our guys wanted to make sure they returned Bison football back to national prominence. It’s not easy to do.” Coach Bohl, it might not be an easy thing to do, but you have done it. Bison football is back to national prominence.

The 5 Things That I Am Following This Weekend (Plus One)

2012-01-13T21:48:00.003-05:00

1) The NFL Playoffs. Does Tebow Time continue or do the Patriots end the magical ride? The Texans and Ravens are the same type of team. In the NFC, do the defenses of New York and San Francisco defeat the offenses of Green Bay and New Orleans respectively? And will an offficial's call decide victory for one team or another?

2) NASCAR speed trials at Daytona. The average speed for the cars is over 205 MPH and can reach over 210 MPH. While safety technology has continued to improve, the increasing of speeds that NASCAR is reporting is starting to become very serious. They cannot just continue to mess with the restrictor plates and hope for the best on the super speedways. The sanctioning body is going to have to do something drastic over the next couple of years.

3) North Dakota vs. Minnesota in WCHA hockey. This is the last weekend that the Gophers and the team formerly known as the Fighting Sioux will meet as conference opponents. Yes, I know that this is a homer pick, but guess what? It is something that I am following very closely. North Dakota is in 7th place of the WCHA and the Gophers are in 1st. However, the Sreen and White are looking better than they did at the start of the season and they are known for playing real good hockey in the 2nd half of the season.

4) UFC 142. ~~I am not a big mixed martial arts fan.~~ Let me revise that. I used to be a big mixed martial arts fan back when they called UFC a renegade and outlaw sport. Back when the sport wasn't so technical and you saw two warriors get into the octagon and they fought for everything and there weren't weight divisions. The reason that I am interested right now is that UFC has a network deal, but it seems now more than ever, that the talent has been diluted. Brock Lesnar used to be the big draw for a couple of years, but now he has retired with his heart not into the sport anymore. Maybe the achieving of mainstream acceptance is going to be the beginning of the end for the UFC as a big deal.

5) From the files of a specific thing, the evolution of Les Miles from LSU. After reading the article on Yahoo Sports! called Les Miles: Heart and Heartbreak, I would submit that he is the ultimate college football head coach. The story shows the compromises that he makes and also how he is comfortable in his own skin. I give a salute to Les Miles for what he does, not just because his LSU teams are a perennial power in the SEC and the nation, but about how he conducts himself and isn't a power hungry individual like other coaches are around the nation.

6) Here is a tale of the Clark family of Chicago. It is sad and inspiring all at once. R.I.P. Rocky. God Bless Your Soul.

Another Win for the Rats of the NHL

2012-01-13T09:43:00.000-05:00

Luckily, though, the Bruins won the game. Here's the situation:
In tonight's Bruins/Canadiens game PK Subban charges and targets David Krejci's head with an elbow. Andy Ference immediately comes to Krejci's aide and tries to engage Subban. At least two problems here: One, Subban turtles instead of fighting back; two, Subban is only called for an elbow on a hit that you could see live on TV from across the ice was a hit to the head; three, Ference is given a double minor for sticking up for his teammate. So what results is a Canadien power play and a resulting Canadien power play goal. Another win for the rats. Montreal and Vancouver thrive on power plays and one of their best tactics is to have certain guys deliver a "minor" dirty hit, knowing it's the type of hit that will draw immediate retribution; and if they don't engage in the resultant fight, they're going to get a power play.
As of right now there's no video clip of Subban's hit. I'm counting on Brendan Shanahan to levee at least some punishment on Subban for a hit that was obviously intentional; and while not particularly vicious, is the type that has caused several concussions. Plus, I need his explanation video for this blog.
Let me interject a quick tale of the tape here. David Krejci 6 feet, 188 pounds; Andy Ference 5' 11", 189 pounds; PK Subban aka The Turtle 6 feet, 206 pounds. While I thought Subban was bigger than that, he's still bigger than either Krejci or Ference.
This is exactly what Robbie's talking about when he raves about getting rid of the third-man-in penalty, and it's exactly why the Bruins are an admired team amongst NHL fans and the Canadiens and Canucks are not.
Speaking of the Canadiens, they had a player who spoke out publicly about his team's lousy play. What did the Canadiens do? They traded said Michael Cammalleri to the Calgary Flames, which is their right if they don't want that kind of truth telling in their organization; but I find it very telling about their principles when you find out who they traded Cammy for. Yes, that Rene Bourque.

Just a quick aside: How can one of the very best two-way players in the league with the best plus/minus rating (except for the two wingers on his line that he feeds) get snubbed for the All Star team? Patrice Bergeron is the Rodney Dangerfield of the NHL.

Not Exhibit A For Great Basketball

2012-01-12T12:07:00.000-05:00

Last night's matchup between the defending NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks and my Boston Celtics, two of the best/better teams in the league, was not particularly good hoops to watch but I had to since Brent took me up on my ill-advised blog challenge. The Celtics were unable to score any points at all in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the game -- missing layups and open short jumpers galore -- although the Mavs apparently felt bad for the Celtics and only scored four points themselves over that time frame.

Both teams looked rusty and/or tired or worse, especially early on. The Celtics hadn't played in four days and the Mavs were playing the second game of back-to-back road games. So because of the lockout, which created almost no preseason for these teams, who both overhauled their rosters, there is still very little chemistry. It was not pretty to watch.
Dirk Nowitski had an off night, though he did score and got fouled on a drive to the bucket with five seconds remaining in a tie game to give the Mavs a three-point lead and ultimate victory over the Celtics, who had fought back from a couple of double-digit leads to tie it late on a Paul Pierce three-pointer. Pierce, who had a foot injury and missed the tiny preseason and the first three games of the regular season, still looked rusty and was not much of a factor in the game. Were it not for the steals and drives to the hoop of Rajon Rondo, the Celts would have never been in this game.
It was good to see former Celtic Delonte West have a home and play well. Say what you will about him, he's a team guy who plays hard and has a good basketball IQ. Shawn Marion was the difference in this game in my opinion and Rick Carlisle's ejection early in the second half seemed to give the Mavs a spark that ultimately gave them a two-digit lead. Carlisle had had enough of Kevin Garnett mugging Dirk on the defensive end. Garnett has not played all that well so far this season, even on defense, his calling card.
I like the Celtics' offseason acquisitions for their bench but the team will only go so far (barely above .500 in my opinion) if Rondo is the only one of their four stars to play well every night. Right now they are looking over the hill.
These two teams play each other once more this season. Hopefully the Celtics can at least even it up.

In Support of Enforcers in the NHL

2012-01-11T13:05:00.001-05:00

This post is not going to be an essay regarding fighting in the NHL. You're either for it or against it but it's here to stay in my opinion. I do feel enforcers need an official NHL end-of-season award that, if done correctly, can be an example for the value of the position and possibly even help weed out some of the worst aspects that come with enforcers and fighting. Plus, those of us who feel strongly about their value in the game feel they should be awarded for doing it the right way.
So I'm just going to lay out a point system that I would weigh very heavily in deciding the Enforcer of the Year Award, understanding that all of the NHL awards are voted on but the voters do use statistics. The intangibles would be things like do they fight clean (no biting, etc), do they continue to punch when the fight is over, are they really trying to hurt someone or are just fighting because that's the job, do they turn down fights against nonenforcers, things like that. Anything you'd like to add regarding intangibles, i.e. the code? Obviously there needs to be a threshold of fighting penalty minutes to even be considered eligible.

One of the jobs of the enforcer is to rally the troops. So I propose that if a goal is scored within five minutes, unless the period ends, of a fight that the enforcer be given two points.
Five points awarded for each five-minute fighting major.
One point deducted for each nonfighting penalty minute served, except for third man in, since I consider that part of his job.
Two points deducted per each minute served for nonfighting major penalties, to obviously try to weed out the real dangerous goonery.
Since enforcers aren't really paid to score goals but are more valuable when they can do both, I propose two points for each goal scored, one for each assist.
I would use the end of season plus/minus. So add or subtract one point per.
Since the NHL keeps track of blocked shots, award one point for each.
Have I left anything out?

I'm looking for suggestions for the name of the award, since all NHL awards are named after people. For now the name will be The Shawn Thornton Enforcer of the Year Award.

Where Is The Accountability In Columbus?

2012-01-09T21:02:00.001-05:00

The firing of Scott Arniel was inevitable in Columbus. The Blue Jackets have the worst record in the league. At 11-25-5 and 27 points, the Blue Jackets are behind teams that have already changed their coaches like the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and St. Louis Blues. They are 20 points behind the 8th Place Dallas Stars. So, the possibility of making the playoffs is slim and none. But I believe that he isn't the only person that should have been fired. How Scott Howson, the teams GM still has a job is beside me. His lackluster performance in his duties have caused this problem.

His signing of Jeff Carter hasn't paid dividends. He has missed 10 games with a broken foot and is now out with a separated shoulder. In 30 games that Carter has played, he has 10 goals and 7 assists. The chemistry with Rick Nash is slow to develop, if it ever does. Carter is -8 for his plus/minus rating.

The Steve Mason run in Columbus should have been done a long time ago. He was pulled for the fourth time this season in a 7-4 loss to the 2nd to last place Anaheim Ducks. Mason parlayed his real good looking rookie season into a contract which the Blue Jackets for some strange reason continue to try to make Mason earn with his play. Trade him for a sewing repair kit for any holes that the netting behind the net might have.

Steve Wisnewski, also a big signing this past offseason for the Blue Jackets hasn't panned out either. He has played 29 games. He is out for 6 weeks with a broken ankle. He has 2 goals and 15 assists for 17 points this year. The defenseman has a -18 rating. And as bad as hit +\- rating is, it isn't the worst on the team. That goes to perennial All-Star, Rick Nash. At a -20, he is the player on the Blue Jackets that is the worst in the category.

Now comes word that the Blue Jackets are ready to deal some players away. Vinny Prospal who leads the team with 30 points is trade bait because of his impending Unrestricted Free Agent status after this year. Samuel Pahlsson is an expiring contract who will get some attention from playoff teams, especially since he is in positive territory from the +\- rating. There are others that the Blue Jackets would be willing to trade away and their long term contracts, but there isn't lots of return from those players.

Columbus has a decision to make this year and need to make it soon. Do they decide to keep the Big 3 of Nash, Carter and Wisnewski or do they decide to trade those players with an eye towards gaining yet more prospects that over the years haven't panned out for them? And no matter what the brain trust decides, Scott Howson shouldn't be part of making that decision. He should be out on the street right along side Scott Arniel today. Because if he is the best person that they can find for the GM post, then the Blue Jackets deserve to languish as the worst team in the league.

Game 9 to the Nucks, ring still with the Bruins

2012-01-09T17:08:00.002-05:00

I've titled this post that way just in case the Canucks think they somehow got even this weekend. The Bruins won 5 of the 8 games played last year and the Canucks won this one. All they proved is they have a dangerous power play and on this one day successfully baited the Bruins into giving them 11 of them, which they took advantage of four times. It was still obvious who the better team was and who controlled the game.
Below I'm copying a couple of comments I've made in the midst of a discussion with a friend that turned out so lengthy on my part it might as well be a blog post.

As a Bruin fan who truly believes his team plays tough the right way, I'm pissed at Marchand for taking the focus off that and potentially tainting it. He's becoming a dirty player. I think one more even mildly dirty play will brand him going forward as a dirty player. He's proven he has skills that don't require the dirty stuff to succeed. The play in game 9 was a dirty play and it hurt the Bruins. They win this game otherwise. As of this writing, his punishment hasn't been handed down yet. I won't be disagreeing with whatever it is.
Where I have a problem with Vigneault and Gillis is the hypocrisy, as stated in this piece on NESN.com. I don't think Marchand had the thought that "I'm going to hurt this guy." But he did need to have the thought that "What I'm about to do is illegal and it's illegal because it can really hurt someone." Not that it matters but I have a hard time imagining he knew who it was that was coming at him. The only point there is that Vigneault is trying to make it sound like Marchand did it to pay back Salo because he thinks Salo's a dirty player. It happened so fast I can't imagine he knew who it was that was coming. But that's pretty much irrelevant. He absolutely shouldn't have done it.
It's a regular season game and so losing it to them doesn't really matter, though I wish they hadn't been sucked into that Montreal style baiting. They've done a great job not doing it but this game they didn't.
Everyone knows that the two chippiest teams in the league are Montreal and Vancouver, defined as constant spearing, slashing, biting when the refs aren't looking; and the Bruins have the rep as being the biggest, toughest and least tolerant team regarding that stuff. I do worry about the Bruins losing that high ground.
Another thing: Shawn Thornton is the most respected enforcer in the league. When a fourth liner like Weise tries to hurt a first liner like Horton and engages in a fight, which Horton didn't back down from, Weise better expect to hear from Thornton. The ref is on record as saying that he understood Thornton and Weise were gonna go and told them to wait for the whistle, which is why when that pussy backed off, he went to the box anyway. Today Weise is trying to say he was jawing with and was planning on going with McQuaid. Bwahahaha You had a death wish, so you'd rather fight McQuaid than Thornton? BS Thornton would pound you and that would be it...McQuaid's on a whole other level.
There is a reason that a poll taken during the Cup Finals last year showed that the vast majority of Canadian hockey fans who were not fans of the Nucks were rooting for the Bruins to win. That tells you a lot about how much most hockey fans hate that arrogant bunch of whiners and floppers and cheap shot artists; that a country that loves its hockey and hasn't had a Canadian team win in almost 20 years would root against one of their own.
As for the big brawl that got Lucic a game misconduct: Where we see it starting is with Thornton "slashing" or jabbing at Burrows' skates (and since this is happening as shifts are coming off the ice for both teams, my assumption is that Thornton does this in response to something that happened on the ice but maybe not), whereupon Burrows attempts to jab at Thornton. I don't consider those two things equal but it's fine if you do. Thornton then goes after Burrows, which results in five Canucks coming to Burrows' defense and Lucic, one skate on the bench, one out, decides to join in. Then, of course, the rest of the Bruins on the ice jump in as well but that only happens after it's six Canucks against Thornton (and that's if you don't count the guys on the Canuck bench giving him nuggies.) Somehow out of that Thornton gets a penalty for roughing or instigating and Lucic gets a five-minute game misconduct for coming off the bench, which was later rescinded by the league but the Bruins did unfairly as a result go two men down and lose Lucic for the rest of the game. Where was a six men on the ice penalty for Vancouver or a penalty for third man in, which they had three culprits? The refs saw things differently than I did and I can live with that. I just want to attempt to paint what I think is a fair picture.
The Canucks are a team of instigating rats who run and hide behind the refs when it's time to pay, and the Bruins always make you pay. In so doing, they can appear to be a dirty or overly physical team. If that makes some folks dislike the Bruins, I think they can live with that. I know I can.

PS If you get a chance to listen to Don Cherry's comments about this game, he'll crack you up or piss you off but worth it either way. He's obviously no fan of the Canucks. And I am done now on this topic. I have it off my chest. So feel free, everyone, to comment however you like, agree or disagree. I'll let you have the last word

UPDATE: The punishment for Brad Marchand is now in and I've included Brendan Shanahan's explanation video below. I do have to say that the angles of that incident shown in the below video are different than what I saw watching the game on NESN. The camera angle below which is directly behind Marchand as he approaches Salo sheds a new light on the incident for me. It looks much worse and premeditated than it does from the angles of the NESN cameras. He deserved the maximum of five games.

5 Things That I'm Following This Weekend

2012-01-06T22:02:00.001-05:00

1. NHL Realignment. The NHLPA did not give their blessing to realignment, so the proposed 4 conferences and playoffs within each conference is now put on hold. Watch for this "issue" which the CBA says that the NHLPA has no imput on to become a bargaining chip in the upcoming CBA negotiations. Donald Fehr caused problems with MLB, I fear that he is starting with the NHL.

2. The Division I-AA Championship Game between Sam Houston State and North Dakota State in Frisco, TX. The stadium holds 20,500 people. Both schools were asking for thousands of more tickets. The #1 and #2 seeds in the playoffs made it to the championship. It should be good.

3. The NFL Playoffs. The game that I want to see is Detroit-New Orleans. I have picked the Saints to win, but the more I look at the game, the more I am thinking that the Lions could pull off the upset. Also, I want to see the Steelers and all of their injuries go play the Broncos who are physical and just might be able to out muscle the walking injured.

4. The Canucks-Bruins hockey game Saturday. I am real interested in how the game is called more than anything. You know that there is still real bad blood there, mostly from the Canucks side about the perceived lack of calls on Boston during the finals. It will also be interesting to see how far the Bruins try to get under the Canuck's skin.

5. The Penn State reported hiring of Bill O'Brien. According to sources, he will be formally introduced on Saturday. I want to see if there are more former players that go off the reservation like Lavar Arrington and others. The administration is correct in what they are doing by hiring a head coach that has no ties what so ever to Penn State. That way, the clouds over the university, while not gone, do become less because there is no hint of having somebody that might have known the dark secrets that have come out lately being the head coach and keeping any of the other deep dark secrets out of the spotlight.

Patriots and playoff format rant

2012-01-03T18:59:00.002-05:00

First, the Patriots: Look at this list of the top winning teams in the last four NFL seasons -- New England, Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Atlanta, New Orleans -- and tell me which one of those teams do the Patriots most resemble. Answer coming up shortly. You want to say they're most like Pittsburgh, etc, because of the relatively recent Super Bowl success and all the regular season wins but the Patriots are most like the Falcons because over the last four years neither of them has a playoff win. All of the other teams in that list have won playoff games over that span. So until the Patriots start turning the best regular season win totals in the league into playoff success, you should view them the same way you view the Falcons -- gee, that's nice but not good enough after awhile. The Falcons have won just 5 less regular season games over the last 4 years than the Patriots.
When you add that bit of information to the way the Patriots have played over the last few regular season games this year -- getting way behind because the defense couldn't stop a Pop Warner team and then the offense wakes up and they win big -- is a potential recipe for another early playoff exit, especially if what I'm going to rant about in a minute comes to fruition. Letting teams march down the field against you unabated for the first 3 or 4 series of a game at the same time the offense is taking a nap is a recipe for getting your ass kicked in the playoffs against teams that have the defensive and offensive might and balance to keep you down enough so that you can't quite catch up. Yes, the defense rises up situationally and does enough to halt the onslaught while the Patriot offense overwhelms bad teams into playing a way they're not comfortable, creating turnovers and quick outs and field position. Will that work against the likes of the Steelers and Ravens? Probably not. I don't even like the odds of it working against the Bengals or Texans.
We'll see for this year but the front office and player development and scouting departments need to start doing a whole lot better job in the draft when selecting defensive players, and the team needs to decide that great defensive players like Richard Seymour, Asante Samuel, et al, are worth their weight in Super Bowl glory and pay them to stay.
So while I would rather be a Patriot fan than a Bills fan, winning a lot of regular season games is unsatisfying. And let me ask you a question about the Super Bowl. As a Patriots fan, would you rather make it to the Super Bowl and lose or not make it at all?

Now, on to a quick rant about the playoff format. What is the point of being the #1 seed if you could end up playing the third best team (arguably the best team) in the second round? Because the NFL seeds division winners with bad records higher than wild card teams with great records AND then doesn't reseed them after the first round, you're better off being the #2 seeded Ravens than you are the #1 seeded Patriots, unless the Bengals beat the Texans. The Steelers won one less game than the Patriots and are arguably the best team in the AFC but are the 5th seed. If the Steelers beat the Broncos (yeah right, if) and the Texans beat the Bengals, then in the second round you'll have the 12-3 Patriots, the #1 seed, playing the 11-4 Steelers, the #5 seed, while the 11-4 Ravens, the #2 seed, play the 10-6 Texans, the #3 seed.
I understand and can live with giving the division winners the higher seed in the first round and hosting a playoff game but then everyone should have to reseed after that first round based on record. This has been a repeated issue since the NFL went to four divisions. Every year you have a bad team winning a bad division hosting a playoff game against a much better team, which is kinda unfair to the better team, but it makes a mockery of the seedings and gives unfair advantages to lower seeded teams over higher seeded teams. Yup, I am afraid of the Steelers but fair is fair, we shouldn't be seeing them in the second round. If I had my way, there'd be two conferences and six teams make the playoffs from each conference based solely on record and seeded accordingly. I'd even rather have 8 teams with the traditional 1 versus 8 and so on matchups without a bye week than what we have now.

Another Season of Redskin Mediocrity

2012-01-02T17:50:00.001-05:00

Well, another 5-11 Redskins season under the belt! Mission Accomplished! 136-184 over the last 20 years.

Washington, DC, is not "sports" town as can be defined by cities like Chicago, Boston, or New York, but the locals certainly love sports as well as anyone, and locally, the area enjoys a fair share of winners, from high schools to the collegiate athletics. Professionally, Washington doesn't have a lot to brag about: the Bullets (Wizards) have made it to the NBA's big dance four times, winning one; the original Senators went to the World Series three times (losing all three times) in the 1920s/30s, but never in the modern era; the Washington Capitals went to the Stanley Cup once and was swept by the Red Wings (we've had our way with the Wings ever since). The DC United has the greatest success record, having gone to the championship game five times, winning four!

However, the Washington Redskins are probably the most beloved team in the DC area, and we can brag about having fans up and down the Eastern seaboard. Our glory days were the 80s under demi-God, Joe Saint Gibbs. But that was then....this is now.

It hurts to be a Washington fan--of any of our teams. Because Washington, DC, is a transitory city, it's not surprising to find our stadiums and arenas half full of the opposing team on any given day. But it hurts especially bad when you're a losing team and half of the 90,000 fans at FedEx stadium are wearing someone else's colors. I don't think any other American sports town goes through that. It makes for a particularly long Metro ride (or Beltway slog) home.

In addition to having a particularly sorry team, Washington Redskins fans also have to deal with a particularly sorry owner! I've been to many pro sports venues across the country, and win or lose, I always feel like I'm a part of the team--a part of the town's sports culture because everywhere you go in the stadium, you're bombarded by the teams logo, colors, etc. Take a casual walk around the oval at FedEx Field and all you see is the purple/green/orange colors of FedEx; the stadium employees wear FedEx clothes--until you're in the stands looking at the field, you don't feel like you're at a Redskins game when they're losing, you feel like you're in a FedEx warehouse with a bunch of Eagles customers.

Since the 1991 Super Bowl, the Redskins have seen the playoffs a total of four (4) times in 20 years! That's beyond pitiful. Sometimes, I think Danny Snyder is treating the Skins like the owner of the Cleveland Indians in the movie "Major League," encouraging the team to lose so he can relocate them! And the team seems to be accommodating him!

I'm going to spare you about any rants about Shanahan, Snyder, or the players. It's impossible to put a finger on any one thing that is the problem in Washington. It seems like our 20-year rebuilding plan will have to go into its 21st year! I will give you this one rant: Until the Skins start winning, I truly wish they'd quit the chest thumping, profiling and celebrating on the field when they actually make a tackle, or catch the ball. For the Redskins, we have been "there" before, I wish now we'd just play with dignity. Scrimmage line chest-bumping and low-fiving isn't putting points on the board, or fans in the seats. Clearly, it's putting money in someone's pockets!

Hail to the Redskins....(I guess)....

Plundering The Pirate Ship

2012-01-02T16:55:00.000-05:00

Well, the 2011 season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't end like I thought it would. At the beginning of the season, I had hopes for a wild card birth in the NFC playoffs and possibly making it to the divisional round. And at 4-2, I could see that the season was going well. After all, we had beaten the Falcons and Saints, the two major rivals in the NFC South. Then we let the game against the Bears slip away and all of our flaws were exposed. We had 9 consecutive losses after the Bears loss. The team didn't show up for the last four games of the season, ending against Atlanta where we fell behind 42-0 in the first half.

The team has fired head coach, Raheem Morris today, after 3 years on the job. It was time. And now the Buccaneers will come in and hire an experienced coach, trying to reverse the situation that Coach Morris found himself in.

RANT I: Um, there is such a thing as skill in the skill positions. If you aren't a fan of the Buccaneers, you probably don't know the Wide Receivers that the Buccaneers have. There is a reason for that. The skill level of that position isn't what you would call All-Pro. In fact, after Williams and Benn, there isn't lots of production. A third or fourth receiver that you might of actually heard of would be nice. And can we figure out how to get a backup for LaGarrette Blount that has basically the same running style? I think that the QB position is taken care of with Josh Freeman and Josh Johnson as the backup. Kellen Winslow Jr. hasn't been bad, but hasn't been the player that most of us fans thought that he would be.

RANT II: With a new staff coming into One Buccaneers Place, maybe we can have an offensive coordinator that can figure out that we are not a 50 pass per game team. We run the ball. There were games where we would run the ball 10 to 15 times. That is not the way that we can win. Grind out the ball because the defenses are becoming more and more designed to stop the pass. Make them react to what you do on offense, not allowing them to play their defenses that they love.

RANT III: The GM, Mark Dominic, needs to hit more on those high round draft picks. He has some decent drafts but not one that makes you think that this is the draft that will be one of the all time greats. The past 3 years has netted 6 picks in the top 2 rounds. 2009: Josh Freeman. 2010: Gerald McCoy, Brian Price, and Arrelious Benn. 2011: Adrian Clayborn and Da'Quan Bowers. He also needs to identify the free agents that the Bucs should try to retain and ones that might make a difference for the team. Letting Barrett Ruud go was a mistake in many people minds and allowed the linebacking corps to take a step back this past season.

RANT IV: This one is about the ownership. Figure out what you want. If you want to be a high and mighty owner for Manchester United, then be the owners of Man U. If you want to be the owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then be the owners of the Bucs. But stop trying to do both. The division of attention isn't doing either team any favors. Oh and since you are rich and stuff, let's figure out how to start paying for talent on the American Football Field. We weren't even close to the Salary Cap. Spending that additional $10 Million per year might bring in some better talented players which in turn might bring more wins and in turn might start getting the fans back to the stadium. And if you are still having financial difficulties, then sell the team to a person that will make the Buccaneers the priority.

RANT V: For the past 3 years, I have heard from the talking heads of the organization that we will be committed to stopping the run. The last time I checked, the defense is still like a sieve when it comes to run defense, and it is mostly the defensive line that takes the brunt of this. Gerald McCoy hasn't been able to stay healthy for his career so far. Brian Price looks like he might turn into a bust after two unproductive seasons. Da'Quan Bowers coming off microfracture surgery didn't look so good this year. The first round draft choice of Adrian Clayborn is looking good though. 8 sacks in his rookie year and 3 forced fumbles. It got so bad this past year, that we actually had Albert Haynesworth starting for us. The new Defensive Coordinator better figure out how to get these high draft choices on the defensive line to become a force to be reckoned with.

RANT VI: In the first game against the Falcons, the Buccaneers fought (literally) for the win. The team was hungry and played like it. The last part of the season, they acted like dogs and played half-assed. Whoever is on the coaching staff needs to tighten up the ship and have these guys play with passion. I wouldn't care if the team went 1-15, if they were out there each and every game fighting until the final seconds trying to win the game. Real Bucs fans are used to losing seasons, what we cannot stand however is the lackadaisical play that we saw this year. For us, those players that just came in for the paycheck and didn't care about the losing need to be shipped out immediately. We want heart and drive in our players. We didn't see enough of that this year.

Still Searching For Success

2012-01-02T02:00:00.000-05:00

The pain endures, and this time it’s going to hurt all winter and spring. The Raiders should be in the playoffs, but when you lose three of your final four games you don’t deserve to be there.

Even though the Denver Broncos did everything they could to hand the AFC West division crown to the Oakland Raiders, my team couldn’t stop the San Diego Chargers offense even if they had put a wall of Plexiglas at the goal line from one end zone pylon to the other. As a result, the Raiders’ streak of nine straight seasons without a playoff appearance continues.

And the Denver Broncos, despite a JaMarcus Russell-like performance from Tim Tebow, will move on to face the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs as the AFC West champion – and without a winning record.

RANT, PART I: Raiders defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan should be fired on Black Monday. Why did he allow a down lineman or a linebacker with a leg injury cover the other team’s best receiver on a deep pattern? Is he nuts? Or just stupid? That brilliant move cost us the game against the Lions two weeks ago and hurt us again in today’s game against the Chargers. I’m tired of seeing a talented team get steam rolled by opponents because they’re playing a defensive scheme that does not play to their strengths.

RANT, PART II: I like Carson Palmer a lot but he has to do a much better job with clock management in the future. His mistakes at the end of the first half cost us three points and could have swung the momentum of the game in the Raiders favor. Hopefully a full offseason with the Raiders will solve that problem. Otherwise I think he’s the quarterback that’s going to lead us back to the Super Bowl one day.

RANT, PART III: I really like coach Hue Jackson. I’m glad he’s pissed off at today’s performance. I had a huge smile on my face when I watched his expletive-laden postgame press conference. He will take a harder approach with the Raiders next season. However, it all comes down to “Just win, baby!” The team has to win, regardless of the methods he will use to get it done.

RANT, PART IV: The Raiders are once again the NFL record holders for the most penalties in a season. They MUST cut down on those stupid mistakes that allow their opponents to keep offensive drives alive or else they will never attain a winning record. Don’t grab a face mask unless you’re going to wrench someone’s head off. Don’t hit someone above the shoulder unless you’re going to knock them into next Tuesday. Personal foul penalties only hurt the Raiders unless the other team gets injured because of them, like in the old days when John Madden was the head coach.

Scoreboard Watching On New Year’s Day

2011-12-31T11:29:00.001-05:00

This could be the final weekend of Oakland Raiders football. The good news is they can qualify for their first playoff berth in nine seasons as long as they beat the San Diego Chargers at home and either of the following scenarios plays out:

RAIDERS WIN THE AFC WEST DIVISION IF:

Raiders beat the Chargers and the Broncos lose to the Chiefs. The Raiders would finish with a better record than the Broncos, which is necessary since the Broncos own the tiebreaker.

RAIDERS GET A WILD CARD BERTH IF:

Raiders beat the Chargers, Broncos beat the Chiefs, Ravens beat the Bengals and either the Jets beat the Dolphins or the Texans beat the Titans. In this scenario the Raiders win the tiebreaker against the Bengals, Jets and Titans.

That come from ahead loss against the Lions two weeks ago cost the Raiders dearly. If they had won, the AFC West would have been wrapped up already since I do NOT see them losing to a Chargers team that has absolutely nothing to play for. After tomorrow’s game, we’re expecting Norv Turner to be fired by the Chargers but it’s possible general manager A.J. Smith will also walk the plank.

Can the Jets beat the Dolphins? I hear Reggie Bush is injured, which helps tremendously. Can the Ravens beat the Bengals? I can see it happening. Can the Texans beat the Titans? Absolutely. Wade Phillips is back at work and his defense should also be back to where it was before he was hospitalized.

Tomorrow the local FOX and CBS affiliates will broadcast the Jets-Dolphins and the Panthers-Saints games in the morning and then I’ll be watching the Raiders-Chargers game on CBS with one eye on the scoreboard in the afternoon.

It should be a fun New Year’s Day regardless how this turns out for the Raiders.

Who needs Shanny?

2011-12-29T11:59:00.001-05:00

Shanny's doing a good job in my opinion and I think his role is a very important one but obviously the Boston Bruins don't need him to stick up for them. Do you think Shanny should or will penalize Raffi Torres for this hit on Andrew Ference last night? Doesn't matter, I suspect, in the eyes of the Bruins...Adam McQuaid took care of it already. Just taking care of our own.

You would think Raffi would have learned his lesson by now, particularly given how things went during last year's Stanley Cup Finals.
Love 'em or hate 'em, you know if you screw with the Bruins, they'll beat you on the score board and kick your ass if you deserve it, unflinchingly.

Houston Antwine 1939-2011

2011-12-28T13:28:00.001-05:00

This is a name football fans my age and younger are mostly unfamiliar with, especially if you're not from the New England area. Houston Antwine died Monday of heart failure at the age of 72, ironically the day before his wife would die of lung cancer.
Antwine is a member of the Patriots 50th Anniversary team, as well as a member of the All-Time AFL team. He played tackle for the Pats from 1961 (the year I was born) until 1971, amassing 39 sacks during that time and along with Jim Lee "Earthquake" Hunt formed a formidable tackle duo during the '60s. Antwine was a six-time AFL All Star. He played his college football at Southern Illinois. He was also a nominee, though not selected, for the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2011.
There's some cool old game footage in a short video at this link, which is slightly different than the video below.

In other Patriots "news," enjoy the new sidebar photo, which takes care of two fetishes (at least) in one.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T12:55:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas, sports fans, readers of BoSox Tavern and, since it's the only sport on today, hoops fans.

One good thing about the NBA lockout is it allowed the scheduling of five very compelling games today, starting off with the Celtics at the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. You have the Celtics (sans Paul Pierce), the most storied franchise in the league's history, with four superstars and one last chance at another championship, against a Knick team that's finally relevant again, playing in the most historic arena in the country. It is good for the league and sports fans to have the Knicks competitive again. New York City is not only the biggest media market in the country but it is far and away the biggest basketball city in the country.
If you didn't get to see the NBA on TNT commercial that aired just before tip-off, look for it. It's an excellent blending of new and old video clips that is very well done and realistic looking; Dirk against Bird, for instance.
Do you plan on watching any games today? Are you glad the NBA is back? You can consider this post as an open forum to make any comment you'd like regarding the NBA.
Here's the lineup on TV today: Celtics @ Knicks; in a rematch of last year's NBA Finals, Heat @ Mavericks -- I assume we'll see a banner raising -- Bulls @ Lakers in a matchup that could be a preview for the finals; Orlando @ Oklahoma City, superstars and one team capable of being in the finals; finishing off with the new-look and maybe for the first time relevant Clippers against Golden State. The Clippers will be very fun to watch this year.
UPDATE: Here's that Forever NBA commercial:

I know many of my generation rave about the '80s NBA of Bird and Magic, et al, but for me it was the '70s. It may have been a bad era for the health of the league but to me as a teenager the flare of the league at that time was so much fun. It was a flare with innocence, as opposed to whatever the current corporate NBA is called.

He Said It

2011-12-25T12:03:00.000-05:00

He cost me fantasy playoffs last week. He spewed his mouth about playing really hard for his fantasy owners and rushed for 60 yards while I had Reggie Bush on my bench, who got 27 pts. AP is done. He will be out almost all next season. Going to be bad Adrian. – Yahoo! commenter “Brett”, giving his two cents on an article about Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson injuring his knee in yesterday’s win over the Washington Redskins.

This is why I hate fantasy football, or to be precise, why I give the stink eye to someone who confesses they play fantasy football. It’s one thing to leave a high-scoring player on the bench. It’s cold and heartless to tell the world a player suffering a severe leg injury cost them their precious league title.

Jay Williams

2011-12-21T18:20:00.001-05:00

Jason Williams, not Jayson Williams. I'm not the biggest basketball fan, especially college hoops; but I knew who he was coming out of Duke and being drafted 2nd overall, behind Yao Ming, by the Chicago Bulls. Then, of course, I heard about his career-ending motorcycle accident after his rookie season and all the hew and cry about how stupid he was. But to be honest, I had no idea who Jay Williams was as a person and had no idea what happened to him after his accident, whether he ever played again or even walked.
I was channel flipping this afternoon and just happened to catch this interview with him on "Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable." You can tell he sincerely does not feel sorry for himself and listen to him explain why he wouldn't change anything.

One of the best interviews I've seen in quite some time. Don't you wish, as I do, that people like him are still playing and those who don't appreciate their gifts are the ones who had the motorcycle accident?

Embarrassment of riches

2011-12-20T17:10:00.001-05:00

With the Patriots win over the Broncos on Sunday, they've become AFC East Champs for the 9th time in the last 11 years and sit on top of the AFC; but that's not really anything that we ~~selfish and spoiled~~ incredibly fortunate New England area sports fans care about. We care about winning the big one and that just got even more difficult with the loss of Andre Carter Sunday. It's hard to imagine this defense could be any worse but Carter was the Patriots' best and only real pass rusher. But they find a way to win games, and the one thing that separates them from most other franchises is the fact they don't make dumb mistakes and don't go into slumps.
Do the Patriots really have a legitimate chance of winning the Super Bowl? Well, watching them beat the Broncos (which is a big PHEW, by the way. I couldn't have taken the embarrassment) makes me optimistic and pessimistic. The Broncos ran all over the Pats in the first quarter but the Pats made some adjustments, got some opportunistic turnovers and capitalized. And watching teams that I feel are better than the Pats get beat this weekend makes me more optimistic; BUT there are teams out there with offenses as good or nearly as good as the Pats but with better defenses. I feel like the Pats would beat the Steelers and Ravens and Texans more often than not and, therefore, have a solid chance to go to the Super Bowl; but getting there and losing is of no interest to me. I certainly have concerns about their chances of beating Green Bay and New Orleans; in fact, I don't like their chances. So while I'd rather have the Pats win than lose regular season games; it doesn't do that much for me knowing we're likely not going to win the Super Bowl.

On to your defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins, who continue to look like the best team in the NHL. Even when they don't play well, they win. Look at their goal differential, plus 48, which makes my alter ego shut up a little bit. The alter ego worries that not having a sniper could be a problem.
Did you enjoy that absolute beat-down of the Flyers late last week? I know they've lost a couple of key players but that game wasn't even as close as the score. And then on to beating the Habs last night, which makes up a little bit for losing a home-and-home to them earlier this season, which came at the end of the Bruins 3-7 start. Can you imagine the Bruins' record if they'd started the same way they've played over the last 22 games (19-2-1)? Or if their other #1 line of Krecji, Horton and Lucic was clicking all the time?
I really don't have too much to say -- their play and record speaks for itself -- other than to put in a plug for Patrice Bergeron, who I argue has gone overlooked as one of the best two-way players and best defensive forwards in the league. At the very least he should finally be nominated for, if not win, the Selke this year. Here's a brief two-minute video showing the goal and a brief conversation. The video I want showing the goal from a couple of angles and slowed down isn't available.

Here's a bonus video for you folks who can't get enough Gronk...Gronk at TD Garden.

5 Stories That I Am Following

2011-12-19T19:00:00.001-05:00

1) Chris Jaffe's two articles on the Cooperstown case for:. The first one was on Tim Raines and the second on Jeff Bagwell. They are both HOF worthy IMO, but probably won't make the cut again.

2) The Div I-AA FCS Subdivision championship game. The ND State Bison are rolling after destroying Georgia Southern in the semi-finals. That is the Georgia Southern team that put up 23 points on Alabama. They put up 7 on the Bison defense. 'Bama sucks.

3) The LeBron Rule in the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement which prohibits players from holding an ownership stake in a player-management firm or from acting as NBPA certified agents. Betcha the brick is proud to have a rule named after him.

4) The Lucic suspension for his boarding of Philly's Zac Rinaldo. It might have not warranted a suspension, but the B's have gotten away with some dirty shots with only fines, not suspensions. It is probably a make-up call by Brendan Shanahan, who is starting to look less by the book and more judgement call like Colin Campbell was.

5) Sean Salisbury has fallen. It used to be that he would comment and call on some real football. Now he is the main play-by-play guy on Lingerie Football. That comes close to being former WWE Wrestler Chyna performing at strip clubs and porn shoots.

He Said It

2011-12-17T11:35:00.000-05:00

“I mean, look at Tim Tebow. I like Tim, but you have a tendency to want to — I don’t want to see Tim do bad — but look what happens after he wins a football game. If you watched SportsCenter today, it was Tim Tebow then something else, Tim Tebow then something else, and Tim Tebow then something else. When we beat the Steelers, were we on TV? No. I couldn’t even find a Baltimore Ravens highlight. I think that’s kinda the way it is around Baltimore. We don’t always get our respect but you gotta deal with it and go out there every week and just win football games.” -- Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco told WNST radio in Baltimore, via NFL.com, December 16, 2011

Forgive me for laughing but it’s hilarious that someone from an East Coast team complains about team coverage on ESPN. Every time I turn on SportsCenter it’s Yankees this, Red Sox that, Jets this… and I hardly ever see a report on a West Coast team unless the story is too big to ignore, such as the O.J. Simpson police chase on the 405 freeway.

Former San Diego Padres closer Heath Bell was right. There IS an East Coast bias on ESPN and that’s why I hardly watch them anymore. If all I wanted was East Coast highlights I’d call my cable operator and ask for NESN.

A Blog Challenge Loser

2011-12-15T20:03:00.002-05:00

My friend, Zeb--you know, that hoser from Maine--enticed me into a "blog challenge" over the Redskins vs. Patriots game. The loser has to extol the virtues of the winner. In light of the fact that the Redskins do, without debate, suck, I "could" say the Patriots game showed a lot of promise--Hulu, our rook running back, really showed his hinney (literally) by almost rushing for more yards than Gross Wrecksman threw....I "could" say even Gross Man played a comparatively good game considering his previous outings....I "could" say the zebras held a vendetta against the Skins, and that personal foul call against London Fletcher (which led to a Pats score) was...well, you know...it was the backbreaker...I could say this was the first time the Pats have ever beaten the Reskins on the road.

I could say all of those things, but to what end? The Redskins still suck, and the Patriots still won, and they're probably going to win their division (...again...(yawn!)...). But I'm NOT going to say those things because that's not what the challenge is all about. It's about giving the Pats their due!

Despite Zeb's Facebook postings that the Pats' defense sucked (I couldn't figure out why we kept scoring like we did--very uncharacteristic of sorry Skins teams), the fact remains, their offense was stellar and that Brady guy is tremendous in the pocket (his girlfriend(s) are still hot, right?). So, HERE'S TO THE BOSTON PATRIOTS!!! Good game, fellas! It seems like Boston is the place to be to bask in the glory of professional sports championships (except for soccer, the MLS New England--they suck (don't they have a mascot name?)). Gotta tip my hat to Zebster and the Pats, but I am glad we couldn't work out being at FedEx to watch the game. While he would have been happier than a duck in cold water, I would have been miserable in the cold, watching my team lose--freezing my butt off. BUT, hey, we lost with dignity, so that's a positive! And the Pats knew we played them tough--that's another positive!

Oh, and here's also to the ubiquitous Boston fan--damn, these guys are everywhere!!! No matter where I go or which stadium/arena I'm in, I can always count on a ton of Bruins, Patriots, Celtics, and Sox fans to yell louder than Skins/Bullets/Nats/Caps fans.....(why is that? hmmm......)

GO BEARS ("Bruins")!!!

Who's the most Boston?

2011-12-15T16:05:00.000-05:00

The subtitle here could be "Has success ruined the Boston sports brand?"

People outside of New England make unfair assumptions about New Englanders; that since we're more liberal and cultured, having the best colleges and museums, etc, that this isn't a working class area. Nothing could be further from the truth and the truth is reflected in what we appreciate about our sports teams.
Boston is currently the most successful major sports town in the country, with all four major teams having won championships in the last 10 years, a total of seven championships in all. But if I were to ask you, New England sports fan, which teams do you identify with most from 1 to 4, how would you answer? I would posit that the polling would show the Bruins #1 and maybe the Red Sox #4, and I'll explain myself shortly. If you had asked this question five years ago, the order would be completely different, with either the Red Sox or Patriots on top. And don't confuse this question with a strict popularity question because, even in New England now, football is #1 with the Red Sox close on their heels.
But do we really emotionally connect with the make-up of these two franchises like we used to, when the Red Sox, the "Idiots," had just won the '04 World Series with a great comeback against the Yankees and a team that, while it had its superstars, won because of its grinders or the Patriots, who were winning their third Super Bowl with much the same tenacity? We loved Tom Brady then and still do but I submit what we loved most about the Patriot teams of that time were the grinders and the emphasis on defense. Even though we won some high-scoring Super Bowls, the team was originally built defense first. But after winning those high-scoring Super Bowls and especially after getting a taste of Brady to Randy Moss, the system with the Patriots has changed. We've now become the Dan Fouts Chargers or the, gulp, Peyton Manning Colts. We're fun to watch and we have great regular seasons but we fall way short in the playoffs. I know I'm not the only one that wishes our team was more like the Steelers or Ravens or Bruins.
The Red Sox fall as far as #4 on this list because by and large we don't relate to these current players. Sure, Youk and Pedroia are our kinda guys, but even big, loveable Papi has worn on us. Granted, if this current team had just won the World Series, we wouldn't be seeing these warts the same way as we are given that they collapsed in a monumental way instead. But the culture has changed because we won and because ownership upped the ante in terms of paying for big free agents instead of building from within. It started with the embarrassing "Manny being Manny" nonsense and has seeped throughout the team's culture, hopefully ending with chicken and beer in the clubhouse. I would rather watch the Bruins.
In a pure popularity contest the Celtics would finish 4th; yes, the team with more championships than the other three combined. That's because this is not really a basketball town. It becomes one only when the team is winning AND the brand is relatable -- Larry Bird, Dave Cowens, et al. And while the current Big 3 are superstar players individually, they play as a team and their head coach's philosophy is to play as a team and defense first. These guys play hard and we generally like them as people. You can make the argument that the Celtics are currently the #2 team when it comes to which teams play a style that we appreciate.
Look at the four current managers/coaches, excepting Valentine, who just got here and hasn't coached the Red Sox yet; but I can certainly say that Tito Francona was the one who didn't really fit. If I give you Francona, Belichick, Julien and Rivers, three of them are very much alike in their no-excuses attitude toward winning and one is not. So there's a trend there with the coaches matching the style of play we appreciate.
I know the Bruins are the team who's won the most recent championship but I submit they're #1 on this list much more because this is a hockey town and this is the kind of team New England sports fans, especially hockey fans, truly appreciate and adore. This is a lunch pail team -- defense and goal tending first, depth and tenacity and teamwork; a team that plays by "the code," which while maybe is more important in hockey than the other sports, it's still very damn important to us when we view all our teams. No prima donas need apply.
Here's hoping that this current team that's beloved because of Chara and Lucic, The Brat and Timmy and Thornton (said with a Southie accent) doesn't in a few years become a team more like the Canucks than the Big Bad Bruins of Orr.

9th row, blue line

2011-12-13T19:03:00.001-05:00

Thanks to AA and the company he works for, we had great seats for the game at TD Garden against the Toronto Maple Leafs last week, which the Bruins won 4-1 to complete the home-and-home sweep.


Photo by Bro

Just a few highlights: I picked Ell up at his house and we struck out for AA's in New Hampshire, where we'd be spending the night after the game. The trip down was uneventful, except for a stop at the NH State Liquor Store where I picked up that bottle of Johnny Walker Green Label that I blogged about already. I did crack it open once we arrived at AA's, whereupon the bourbon snobs turned up their noses. But we all had a drink together and piled in the car for the trip down to Boston.
Now I can't remember the name of the pub we went to near the Garden where we waited for Bro to drive up but I can highly recommend their Buffalo Chicken Nachos, which we washed down with some Sam Adams Brick Red.
Once Bro arrived and after we ate some more grub and drank some more beer, we walked on over to the Garden. Before the game, Bro and I walked around to the various pro shops looking for just the right hat, which of course we didn't find. Love ya, Bro.
Once in our seats, we settled in for a spirited game. The Leafs just eventually got worn down by the Bruins depth and style of play. It's not a good matchup for the young Leafs but we couldn't be happier to be there for a game the Bruins won. This clip, where the Bruins had the puck in the Leafs' zone for two minutes, exemplifies how the latter stages of the game went.

This took place at the other end of the ice from us but we still had a great view of it and I remember suddenly realizing the Bs had had control for an inordinate length of time. We were on the "right" blue line though for two of the prettier goals that the Bruins scored that night. The seats were so close you could see the play develop right in front of you and the puck being passed right onto the tape and tipped into the goal.
The other "game highlight" for me was catching a t-shirt out of one of those guns during intermission. AA and Bro went out during the break but Ell and I stayed. Once the Ice Girls skated out, I immediately fell in love with one of them and didn't hear anything the announcer said; otherwise, I would've known ahead of time that the t-shirt my sweetheart shot to me was not Bruins SWAG but rather from Chipotle Mexican Grill. It's a nice souvenir nonetheless, as is the ticket stub from the game that has a big picture of Cam Neely holding the Stanley Cup over his head.
After the game, Ell and I road back with AA to his house (Bro went back to his house and his new baby), where we proceeded to stay up all night drinking and listening to tunes in AA's dungeon.

The Aftermath Of Xavier-Cincinnati

2011-12-12T21:49:00.002-05:00

Well, that was anti-climatic. After people were actually cheering that a coach would hold his kids responsible for the thuggery that they displayed on the court, Cincinnati and the Basketball program wimped out. At least they are having the kids do PR work. For Xavier, the Mouseketeers basically said that they didn't really care.

The fallout for Cincinnati: Yancy Gates, who sucker-punched a Xavier player got 6 games. Cheikh Mbodj also received 6 games for a suspension after stomping on the head of the Xavier player that Gates sucker-punched. Octavius Ellis also got 6 games off for his actions. Ge'Lawn Guyn got 1 game to sit and think about it.

My reaction: Not even close to being good enough. I would have given Gates 10 games and made him earn his way back onto the team. For Mbodj, there is no excuse for stomping on somebody's head. That would be an indefinite suspension. I might be able to think about reinstatement after February had ended. For Ellis and Guyn, the games are about right, but they would be on probation and have to be role models as do the others, or be thrown off the team.

The fallout for Xavier: Tu Holloway, who started this entire thing by taunting the Cincinnati bench and players got 1 game. Mark Lyons received a 2 game suspension. Dez Wells and Landon Amos for 4 games.

My reaction: Xavier is worried more about getting into the NCAA tournament than teaching the players on the basketball team what it means to be an adult and acting as a representative of the University. Holloway should be sat for at least 10 games. Why? For starting the entire thing, with his "I own this city" crack at the Cincinnati bench, for after the brawl standing on top of the scorers table and inciting the Xavier crowd who wanted Bearcat blood, for being an idiot after the game in the post-game press conference and saying that the Xavier team was "gangsta" and also saying that in rivalries, these things happen. He hasn't learned a damn thing about anything after this. Sit his ass down, I don't care if he is one of the best guards in college basketball. College is for teaching young men like Holloway, and sitting his ass down for games and make him be on the bench for his suspension would hurt and drive home a point that thuggery is not acceptable, even in rivalry games. Hell, it might actually teach his entitled ass that there is more to life than basketball. Lyons should get 6 games. He swung at a Bearcat and what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

Overall, it just shows that college basketball is just the minor leagues for the NBA and the missions that each University has in their PR brochures are just words. Because there is no way that these slap on the wrists help develop the kids that did wrong. All it does is teaches them that they can get away with doing bad things because of their talent.

Saturday Roundup

2011-12-11T01:26:00.001-05:00

I am toying with an idea of doing a roundup on either Saturday or Sunday of the main sports stories. Let's see what develops.

1) Robert Griffith III won the Heisman Trophy. The Baylor QB won 5 of the 6 regions of the country. The Far West went for runner-up Andrew Luck of Stanford. For me, he wasn't the best QB in the country.

2) The Chris Paul trade has been killed for a 2nd time. This time it wasn't the NBA office that killed it, but the Lakers. In other news, rumors have the Lakers trading Lamar Odom to the Mavericks for a trade exemption and it looks like the rumored Dwight Howard to the Lakers deal is moving forward. The Lakers have two years before the clamping down of salaries comes into play, it looks like they are trying to make the most of it.

3) Ryan Braun tested positive for PEDs during the post-season and the second test came up negative a few weeks later. So which is it, he cheated the test on the second one, or was it a false positive on the first one? And does this make baseball's drug testing look like a joke?

4) The Xavier-Cincinnati basketball game broke out into a fight with less than 10 seconds left. The Cincinnati coach took his players jerseys away and asked them if they wanted to be on the team, while the Xavier kids called themselves gangstas, said that they were disrespected, and acted like goons. The best line is from the Cincinnati Coach: “Toughness is doing the right thing. True toughness, you walk away from it. Youtake your ass-whipping and go home.” And that is his own team that he is talking about there.

5) Navy took their winning streak to a decade over Army. I would like nothing better than a victory for the Golden Knights sometime within the next decade.

And a bonus story: Two elementary school teachers from the same district in New York were arrested for going at it like rabbits at the Bills-Titans game last weekend in the men's bathroom. The funny thing about this is that the man's wife confirmed that her husband was arrested coming out of the bathroom and that she wasn't the lady that was arrested with him.

The Heisman Trophy Ballot Of Mine

2011-12-10T13:24:00.001-05:00

The Heisman Trophy Finalists:

1) Montee Ball, RB, Wisconsin - 1759 Yards, Led Nation in Touchdowns, 32 Rushing Touchdowns, 6.4 Yards Per Carry, 38 Total TDs, 1 Passing TD.

2) Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor - Led Nation In Passer Rating (192.3), 3,998 Passing Yards, 36 TDs. 72.4% Completion %,

3) Andrew Luck , QB, Stanford - 3,170 Yards, 35 Touchdowns, 70% Completion %, 167.5 Passer Rating (5th In Nation)

4) Tyrann Mathieu , DB, LSU, - 71 Tackles, 5 forced fumbles, 2 interceptions, 420 yards and 2 TDs on punt returns.

5) Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama - 1583 yards, 20 Touchdowns 6.0 Yards Per Carry.

If I had a vote, this is the way that my Heisman ballot would look:

1) Montee Ball, Wisconsin

2) Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State 73.9 Completion %, 3507 Yards Passing, 41 TDs, Passer Rating 176.3, 4th In Nation.

3) Robert Griffin III, Baylor.

4) Case Keenum, Houston 71.7 Completion %, 5099 Yards Passing, 45 TDs, Passer Rating 177.9, 3rd In Nation.

5) Tyrann Mathieu, LSU.

My Thoughts:

Montee Ball has had the best year of any football player in college football. Period. That is the way I look at the Heisman. He will pass Barry Sanders record of 40 TDs in a season if he scores 3 in the Bowl game. No one is even close. He won't win it in real life, but he deserves it.

Kellen Moore would be my pick if Ball hadn't have had a big end of the Big 10 season, especially against the Michigan State Spartans. This is a player that commanded the Broncos offense to rolling the scoreboards mightily during the first halves. There were some second halves that he would sit for most of it because the Broncos were so far ahead.

RG III, was the most electrifying player this year. However, if being the Heisman trophy winner is coming up big in the biggest of games, which people are knocking Andrew Luck for, RG III doesn't fit the bill.

Case Keenum went nuts in the Houston offensive system. One yard shy of 5,100 yards says that he can throw the ball. The completeion percentage is lower than I would like, and he was in many games where the blowout was complete and the team was trying to pad his stats for the Heisman.

Tyrann Mathieu is a sure fire pro when he decides to turn pro. He is the leader of the best defense in the nation. However, the SEC argument about being the best conference in the land hurts his candidacy in my eyes. If the SEC is such a great conference, then his stats aren't as great as they should be.

As for Luck and Richardson, they have far too much hype for the Heisman compared to the stats and results for their respective seasons. Luck's stats weren't as dominant as people thought coming into the season and while he played solid in the big games, there wasn't that one performance that he shined and brought the Cardinal to victory while the team was obviously outplayed. Richardson plays for Alabama where the defense won more games than the offense. Monte Ball has better stats and has been more of a catalyst for the offense in Wisconsin than Richardson has been for 'Bama.

Answer Me This

2011-12-09T12:21:00.001-05:00

Did the NBA make a mistake in putting the kibosh on the Chris Paul trade to the Lakers? There are many facets to this when trying to decide whether it's a mistake -- legality, fairness, practicality and so on. As an aside, I find it ironic that part of the argument leading up to the new CBA was the league/owners wanting to keep the league from becoming a few top teams and the rest being farm clubs to those top teams. So I can understand not wanting to let this happen from that standpoint. I have a problem with the timing, since the players involved knew they were traded. (It's not a big deal but it's still there. It's a business and these are big boys.) I wonder if the league has now made it impossible for the Hornets to either trade Paul at all, thus losing him in free agency and getting zip in return, or receiving anything close in return to what this deal gave them. Stay tuned!

How do you feel about this new trend in the NBA where it seems like the players are in charge of where they end up playing? Fair is fair, I guess. We would all feel as though we deserve to work where we want if we're qualified and have offers. The problem to me is that this exacerbates the haves and have-nots issue. The players, especially NBA players, all want to play in LA, NY or South Beach. It's interesting as a Boston fan to feel second class. I know..."tough, how does that feel?" I get it but it is strange. They all can't play there, of course, but it does give the Lakers in particular first pick of the litter and more than half the league no pick of the litter (the litter being the best players in the league).
The "league" owns the Hornets. So how did the league agree to this deal and then the league step in and put the kibosh on it?

Does the NBA have a right, is it fair, to put the kibosh on a trade like this? Is your answer to this question affected by the fact that the league owns and manages the Hornets?

How do you feel about leagues stepping in and deciding whether trades are right or wrong, fair or unfair? There's not a lot of history for this. There is the famous case in baseball where the Commissioner refused to allow the Oakland A's to dump three stars to the Red Sox in the early '70s. I remember being pretty upset about that. It would've given the Sox a team that likely would have won a couple of World Series; but looking back on it now, that was a salary dump trade where the A's got nowhere near back what they would've given. I think leagues should look out for the league as a whole, even if doing something like this opens them up to criticism and we're likely going to think it was unnecessary and unfair in some instances. I do think they have the right. Whether it's wise in each instance is certainly another question.

Do you see this trade as being lopsided in favor of anyone? It's a three-way deal, so that makes it harder to look at in that vein. It looks to me like the Hornets received pretty good value out of this trade but it has the appearance of the Lakers receiving Chris Paul for Pau Gasol and Mr. Kardashian. So to me the team that's the "culprit" here is Houston, who in essence gave the Hornets the value they wanted in return for Paul, enabling the Lakers to not have to give equal to what they got. That's the part that bothers me.

Is this deal going to end up happening anyway?

Would losing Odom and Gasol but gaining Paul make the Lakers the prohibitive favorite this year? I'm not sure about prohibitive but they're certainly in the top 2 or 3. The question would be whether one ball is enough for Kobe and Paul; and with Bynum's injury tendency, it would leave the Lakers weak up front.

Would your opinions about this deal change if the Lakers then went out and traded for Dwight Howard? My opinions wouldn't change. I'd just be more upset and would feel it proves the point that the Lakers have an unfair advantage in making trades and proves the point that they gave up too little to get Paul if they still have enough ammunition to then trade for Howard. How can one team have enough to trade for the #1 big man in the league and arguably the #1 point guard in the league and still retain the #1 player in the league? The answer is that they have other teams over a barrel and can force a situation where a team has to take what they offer or else.

So while something may be fair to the one or the few doesn't mean it's fair to the group as a whole or to other single entities. Rumors have it that Howard wants to go to Brooklyn, so this may be moot. But I can tell you I won't be watching any NBA this season if the Lakers end up with both Paul and Howard.

Answer Me This

2011-12-08T19:43:00.000-05:00

Below are some questions that occur to me as a result of Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson signing with the Angels today. I have put my thoughts down but I'm much more interested in what other people think about these and other baseball Winter Meeting issues.

You didn't see the Angels opening up their pocketbooks, did you, or at least to this degree? I obviously did not.
How big of an impact does Albert Pujols signing with the Angels have on their chances of winning their division? I think the Rangers are still the favorites but C.J. Wilson is no longer with the Rangers but is now with the Angels. The Angels have the #s 3, 4 & 5 wins above replacement pitchers from last year. Both of these teams have new TV deals and have money to spend. I think it's good for baseball overall.
One so-called expert said he feels that now the AL West is stronger than the AL East. Do you agree with that? In a word, no. The Rangers, though in a close battle, without CJ Wilson are arguably the 4th best team behind the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays. The Angels, though much improved now, are not as good as those four teams.
Does Artie Moreno deciding to spend all this money have anything to do with the fact that the Dodgers will soon have new ownership and be stable again? It's hard to believe it doesn't have something to do with it. I get the feeling that he's used to winning at everything and is tired of the Angels finishes since he bought the team.
How do you feel about Pujols' decision seemingly being based entirely on money? It seems that's the case, since he's leaving the defending champs and it could be argued even after this deal the Cardinals are better than the Angels.
What does this mean for the Cardinals next season? If they don't go after Prince Fielder and if Prince signs outside the division, that becomes one of the weakest divisions in baseball, though I suppose that means it's still winnable by the Cardinals.
Did the Cardinals do enough to be blameless in losing Pujols?
The Miami Marlins have a new stadium and money to spend, and went out and got Jose Reyes, Heath Bell and Mark Buehrle. What do you think about their chances in the NL East next year and whether anyone in South Beach will give a damn? Apparently Hanley Ramirez wants nothing to do with playing 3rd. So that's a big thing that's up in the air with that team. They have a lot of good young players and were competitive last year but they're in the same division with the Phillies and the Braves. I don't see this being a baseball market ever, new stadium or not. The fans didn't come out when they were winning and the stadium wasn't a good enough excuse for me.
It does seem odd having all this money flying around and the Yanks and Sox not involved, huh? It's not a free agent market full of big names but what else do you see happening during this off season. Prince Fielder is still out there.

Sports, eh

2011-12-08T10:59:00.002-05:00

If you are new to our blog and want to know what we're about, then watch these short educational videos and you'll no longer wonder.

Bob and Doug are correct, more hockey, less football. Did you know the Bruins/Penguins game outdrew Monday Night Football in the Boston market?

So it's important to remember while visiting BoSox Tavern and having a few Tuborgs and some back bacon while watching hockey that you should still exercise to keep your body healthy.

Unfortunately, the next couple of educational videos are unavailable in embed form. So please follow this link to Strange Brew Hockey, remembering to protect your left nut as well as your right, and last beer to learn what not to do with the last beer.

So in summary, we're about sports, eh, first and foremost, then food and alcohol as well. Don't forget your toque, it's getting cold out.

Thanks Bob and Doug. I put this together while drinking a Canada Dry.

Johnny Walker Green Label

2011-12-07T13:53:00.001-05:00

The word "blended" to the ears of scotch snobs usually elicits a negative reaction. Now I'm new to the world of scotch and admittedly do not have the most discerning palate but what I have discovered is that I much prefer single malts, which means single vat and not a blend. I currently own two bottles of fine 12-year-old single-malts, a Glenfiddich and a Glenlivet, both of which are lovely (the English in me coming out). Both of these come from the same region but have very different and distinctive tastes. So in my quest to see what else was out there and possibly go up a step in quality, I did some research reading scotch reviews on blogs and narrowed it down to two choices, the 15-year-old Glenfiddich Solara and the 15-year-old Johnny Walker Green Label. But when I discovered that the Johnny Walker was a blend, I had decided to go with the Glenfiddich.
While I was waiting for last weekend to get here and visit the New Hampshire State Liquor Store where booze is cheaper, I received a reply to an email I had sent to the blog writer I liked the most. I had mentioned what I had experienced and discovered thus far and where I was leaning in my next purchase, and he talked me into the Johnny Walker.

Go for the Johnny Walker Green. The Glenfiddich Solara is excellent, but I think the Green has the edge and is excellent for someone like you who is just getting into scotch. It will not disappoint! Matter of fact, I had an old college chum over last weekend and got out a new bottle of Green Label and while it has been maybe a year since my last glass of it, I shook my head at how damn good it is! Tremendous stuff and I think you will like it because it is somewhat similar to Glenfiddich 12.

Thanks, Jason, for your help...you were right. Although I have YET to try the Solara, I am very happy with the Johnny Walker Green and drank about a third of the bottle last weekend after the Bruins game, listening to tunes in AA's dungeon. (Thanks again, bud, for the great ticket, grub, tunes and friendship) I would highly recommend Jason's blog for scotch reviews, including his review of Johnny Walker Green Label. Cheers to you, Jason!
The Green Label is very complex, owing to the fact that it's a blend of four 15-year-old single-malts from four different distillers from the four corners of Scotland. From the Johnny Walker website:

Four signature malts provide the key taste influences for this 15-year-old whisky. Talisker™ introduces power and depth of character, Caol Ila™ contributes mystery and intensity and, at its heart, Cragganmore™ provides a sweet maltiness, while Linkwood™ adds a final touch of finesse.

So if you've had the Black Label, which I have, and didn't like it, don't use that as a reason not to try this. This has opened my mind a bit regarding single malts versus blends, though I still plan to mostly stick to single malts for now; but who knows where my preferences will go the more I try different ones.

Statement Game

2011-12-06T09:08:00.002-05:00

The Boston Bruins are now 14-0-1 in their last 15 games as the result of a convincing 3-1 win over the Penguins in Pittsburgh last night. Claude Julien downplayed that this was a statement or measuring stick game, essentially saying that to get real high about this game could lead to being too low coming into less sexy games; that the Bruins take it one game at a time and figure out how to win one game at a time. If you look at how this game was won and who contributed in key ways, it is very hard to argue with him. Early key goals were scored by Gregory Campbell and Benoit Pouliot.

The Bruins killed off two 5-on-3s last night totaling 3 minutes and 10 seconds, thanks to great saves by Tim Thomas, of course, but equally because of the patient and perfect defense of the other three guys on the ice. Then Tyler Seguin, who had less ice time than usual due to the team having to kill all that penalty time, gets a power play goal early in the 3rd period to essentially put this one away, especially given how solidly defensively the Bruins were playing and how on top of his game Thomas was.
Thomas has won 10 straight games, including three shutouts, with a .950 save percentage and 1.7 GAA over that time. Give Marc-Andre Fluery credit though. He had a few stand-on-your-head saves last night that kept the game closer than it really was. If you take away those saves and the two 5-on-3s, the score would have reflected even more closely how much Boston dominated this game, despite being outshot by the Penguins. In fact, David Krejci hit pipe twice in this game.
This was a very spirited game, reflected in a little chipiness, a couple of fights and a lot of yapping (even between Crosby and Krejci). It was obvious how much both teams wanted this one. Hopefully the Bruins did as Julien said and didn't get too high because they play again tonight in The Peg for the first time in over 15 years, a perfect setup for a trap game. But ever since they started this current run, after starting very slowly with a 3-7 record, they have avoided letdowns by not being too high or too low. We shall see tonight.

Around the sports world (open thread)

2011-12-05T12:10:00.001-05:00

I'll touch on a few things briefly but don't be afraid to comment on something I didn't mention.

The Major League Baseball Winter Meetings have begun, though the Miami Marlins got a head start last night by signing Jose Reyes to a big, long-term deal. What do you think about this signing and how it affects the Marlins chances of winning a division that has the Phillies and Braves already loaded? Rumors have it that they're going to go after Albert Pujols. Do you have an opinion on who will go where or what you'd like to see your team do at the Winter Meetings?

Ron Santo was just voted in the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Do you have an opinion on his worthiness to be in the Hall? I'm on the fence myself but I will say this: It's too bad the Veterans Committee didn't do this a couple years ago when Santo was still alive.

Kurt Busch was just released from his contract with Penske Racing. How shocking is that, that a former Champion who's still very much in his prime, arguably one of the top 10 drivers in NASCAR, has been released without a ride for next season? There are no open rides either, although if there suddenly were an open sponsored ride, he'd have to be at the top of the list, wouldn't he? Where do you see him ending up? What kind of message does that send to his kid brother, who is more talented but without a championship and more of a hothead than Kurt? Who is Roger Penske going to put in that seat; one of the available guys like David Ragan (all of whom would be a step down from Busch) or Sam Hornish, who's already in the stable but has never performed in a stock car like he did in an Indy car? Or maybe lure someone away who already has a ride? I haven't seen this mentioned but it wouldn't surprise me. Then that would open up a ride for Kurt Busch. Kurt could possibly find a sponsor and shop that to a team in an effort to get them to add another car but that'll be a tough sell given what happened that lead to his release from Penske.

Would you like to talk about the NFL games this weekend? There's plenty to talk about, from the Packers remaining undefeated to the Broncos and Tim Tebow winning again to Jason Garrett icing his own kicker in the Cowboys loss to the Cardinals or how the playoffs are shaping up or how your team is doing.

So feel free to talk about the NHL, the NBA, the EPL or the fact that even though this wasn't an official event, Tiger Woods won his first tournament in two years at the Chevron World Challenge.

UPDATE: Apparently Adam Vinatieri was booed in Foxboro on Sunday. What the hell is up with that? The greatest clutch kicker in NFL history, a guy who never whined, who got exempted twice and who only left after they didn't want to pay him, the guy who is the most responsible for them even getting to and winning that first Super Bowl. And this isn't even his first trip back to Foxboro, is it? This is a held, idiotic, wrong minded grudge lasting that long?

More BS From The BCS

2011-12-05T00:22:00.001-05:00

On Sunday, the Final BCS rankings were announced and the SEC scored two teams in the title game. And while almost everybody South of the Mason-Dixon line is happy out to the plains of West Texas, the rest of the country is shaking their heads and saying that it is a bunch of crap. Except those that work for the four-lettered sports station who has been pushing for this for over a month now. The BCS got this wrong again. It seems like every 2 years or so, we have problems with this stupid ranking system that the BCS puts forth. Let's go through history and show why the SEC zealots should be ashamed of themselves.

2000 - the BCS Title Game: Oklahoma vs. Florida State. This was the first fiasco with the BCS. Miami and Washington along with FSU had 10-1 records. Miami had defeated the Seminoles and Washington had beaten the Canes. In a flop of a National Championship game, Oklahoma won 13-2. Miami and Washington destroyed their opponents in their respective Bowl games making the BCS formula obsolete and a new one becoming the working model. The second one didn't last long.

2001 - The BCS Title Game: Miami vs. Nebraska. Holy crap, were there upset football fans from the South over this one. Nebraska was awarded the #2 slot in the BCS when they didn't win their own conference. The West was not thrilled either because Oregon thought that they should have been in the title game. But when Colorado upset the Huskers to claim the Big 12 North crown and got blown out by the Ducks 38-16 in the Fiesta Bowl, the cries grew louder and louder from football fans all across the country that a non-Conference Champion should not play for the national championship. Remember this, SEC fans?

2003- BCS Title Game: LSU vs. Oklahoma. Yet again, the name recognition overcomes the performance on the football field. In the Big 12 Championship game, Kansas State beats Oklahoma giving them matching 11-1 records. And the name recognition of a perennial power allows Oklahoma to be selected into the title game. K-State was better that year by a good margin, but since Oklahoma had their preseason high ranking and name value, the Sooners went on to lose the BCS title game to LSU 21-14. This time USC was yelling that a Non-conference winner should not be allowed to play for the title.

2004 - BCS Title Game: USC vs. Oklahoma. SEC fans were screaming about this one again. Auburn had went through the SEC undefeated and looked like they might be the best team in the land. Alas, they didn't have the name recognition to overtake either USC or Oklahoma. And they became even angrier when the Trojans blew the doors off the Sooners 55-19. Utah also went undefeated that season.

2006 - BCS Title Game: Ohio State vs. Florida. While the BCS got this one right, it is the way that SEC fans and coaches went about it that still sticks in my craw when it comes to their argument. Michigan had lost to Ohio State in a great game. And there was talk about a rematch in the BCS title game. Well, when Nick Saban was asked about it, he said that Michigan had their shot and somebody else deserved that spot in the title game. I wonder what he says about the 2011 BCS fiasco we are having right now? And the SEC was making threats about things and their fans were claiming that the BCS was biased against the SEC. In the end, it worked out where Florida made a drastic climb into the #2 spot over the Wolverines and won the title. And they got their way about not having a rematch in the National Championship game. Wonder if they will argue about that same principle in 2011?

2007: BCS Title Game: Ohio State vs. LSU. This is one where the SEC got the big benefit of the doubt. LSU had 2 losses, but got into the title game over Georgia, USC, and Oklahoma. LSU did win the national title and we started to see the SEC bias that the BCS has. And it isn't the computers. It is the human polls. Because most writers and coaches will give the benefit of the doubt ot a school that has a storied past. Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State from the Big 10 have all benefited from that fact as well as Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and other schools from the SEC. It is the way that the human voters vote. Especially coaches.

2011: BCS Title Game: LSU vs. Alabama. I don't care if this game might be entertaining. I don't care if these two schools have tons of history behind them. LSU is the #1 in college football. As for Alabama, in my way of seeing things, they might not be even #3. Go back to 2001 and 2004 and see what SEC fans were saying about a non-conference winner playing for the National Championship. I agreed with them then. See what the SEC fans in 2006 were screaming about when there was a possibility of an Ohio State - Michigan rematch for the National Championship. I agreed with them then as well.

The SEC argument about the polls and computers spit out the two teams and that is it, is a complete line of Bulls***! They have argued again and again that the BCS shouldn't reward a team that didn't win their League title. They have argued that a rematch of a Regular season game shouldn't be played for the National Championship. So what happens this year? Because it might favor a team or a league that they like, they argue the exact opposite points that they have been doing for the past decade. Well, I ain't go to be a b**** for ESPN, the BCS, the SEC, or anybody else. I will continue to say that if you do not win your Conference Championship, you cannot play for the BCS National Championship. And that goes for each and every conference in the country. I will continue to say that a rematch of a regular season game is not allowed in the BCS National Championship game. You had a shot a defeating a team and lost, then you don't get a rematch in #1 vs. #2 game because you have already proven which team is the dominant one. There are over 120 BCS football teams out there. Someone else deserves the shot at defeating the team that a school proved that year that they couldn't.

I am not a shill for Oklahoma State. In fact, I am a B1G fan. My favorite team is the Iowa Hawkeyes. I do see biases in voting and perceptions. The two changes that I would have take place in the BCS system in addition to the two provisions above is that there are no official polls taken ranking the college teams until week #5. If that would have happened this year, you would have a very different Top 25 poll at the end of this season. And I would take away the vote from the coaches. Let's see here. These gentlemen are working at least 70 hours a week to prepare for their football games. And then we ask for them to watch and rank other teams? That is ludicrous. Hire 70 people for the sole purpose of watching games and evaluating the teams. I am tired of administrative assistants filling out coaches votes for the polls. Ask almost any head coach about a team like Iowa State. They won't know diddly squat about the team. Ask them about TCU. Same thing. TCU is ranked #15. But the head coaches don't care about TCU unless they are going to play them.

The BCS isn't a good idea, but unless there is a playoff where you extend the season by 2 or 3 games, then this is what we have. We need to make it the best that we can to assure ourselves that we get rid of all the controversy that we can. Right now, that isn't happening. And the next BCS Title Game is a product of not doing the best thing for the BCS to actually get the two best teams out on the field playing for the National Championship. I hope that LSU comes out and destroys Alabama by at least 21 points. Then we have another bad title game and the SEC has egg on their face because of it.

They Just Keep On Winning

2011-12-04T00:07:00.000-05:00

Zebster and I had a “blog challenge” this past week. My Toronto Maple Leafs played a home-and-home series against his Boston Bruins on Wednesday and Saturday and our bet was who was going to win this series. As you can tell from this picture of a brutal check by Milan Lucic on Mike Van Ryn from a few seasons ago things didn’t go well for yours truly.

WEDNESDAY: Bruins 6 – Leafs 3

This game was out of hand before I got home from the office. I recorded the game on my DVR and somehow I sat through the whole thing. Lucic destroyed the Leafs defense with his stick this time, potting two goals. Both Tyler Seguin and Phil Kessel had an assist each, but Seguin get the nod because Kessel was a –3. Ouch!

SATURDAY: Bruins 4 – Leafs 1

Not even the return of Optimus Reim (James Reimer) in net fazed the Bruins as they won their second straight game and fourth overall against the Leafs. At least the Leafs didn’t roll over and die like they did in their previous three contests but the results were the same.

This game was out of hand once the Bruins scored their third goal early in the third period. That was about the time when I picked up my Android tablet and started reading Shorthanded: The Untold Story Of The Seals and periodically looked at the television when something happened.

The good news? The Leafs are a very respectable 14-6-2 against the rest of the NHL. Maybe we’re still playoff bound but there’s no way the Leafs can match up with the Bruins unless Burkie steals another Joffrey Lupul or Dion Phaneuf from another NHL team in his next midseason blockbuster trade.

Boston Pro Sports Roundtable

2011-11-30T10:23:00.001-05:00

Why are we having this discussion? Well, Boston is the center of the pro sports universe, right? Or, we're having this discussion because there are things to talk about with every New England team and I'd like to hear your thoughts on these topics.

First, of course, because they are first in our hearts, is the signing FINALLY of Bobby Valentine as the Red Sox new manager. There should be no shortage of opinions regarding this signing. Is he the right fit, just for a while or over the long haul? I certainly have my concerns that he can still be a loose cannon and take things too far, thus upsetting too many fragile egos and not being able to bring chemistry to this team; BUT I feel a big personality, big energy guy is what's needed right now. He is also a very bright baseball guy who knows his Xs and Os. Will he handle Dice K, given that he speaks Japanese and managed in Japan, the way he should've been handled all along? Now that he's signed, we can also get on with the job of putting the pieces together with this team. Would you like to see David Ortiz stay? For the right price and length of contract, yes; but I'm certainly concerned, given some of his childish antics last year, that he won't get along with Valentine. Do you go out and make some splash in the free agent market or do you get some complimentary pieces and see what you really have in the farm system? I know I'd like to get the focus more on the farm system than relying on building the team with free agents. Are you concerned about having a young, first-time general manager between a forceful manager and team president?

Let's talk about the Celtics, now that apparently there will be an NBA this year. The Celtics have an aging Big 3 plus Rondo and only a couple of other guys currently on the roster. The big talk in the last day or two is that Danny Ainge might be actively trying to trade Rondo. How do you feel about that? Well, if it's Chris Paul we'd be getting, in my mind that's a no-brainer. We do need to start looking beyond the Big 3 Era. Do you let those guys' contracts run out, field a bad team and try to rebuild through the draft over a few years or do you trade the one tradeable guy you have, which, again if it's Paul you get in return, would give you another run at a title and he'd be the keystone piece to build around once at least Garnett and Allen's contracts expire. Do you want to bring Big Baby Davis back? Talk about the Celtics any way you'd like.

The Patriots are currently 8-3 and have a cupcake schedule the rest of the way. The bad thing about that schedule is that it'll be very difficult to gauge whether this defense is truly improving and whether it'll be good enough to get us to the Super Bowl. Personally, I have no interest going to the Super Bowl if it means losing. If somehow the Packers get upset in the NFC playoffs, then it's wide open and I'll take my chances. The patchwork secondary has improved but I'm concerned we've already hit the ceiling with that bunch. I'm still not sure we have a consistent pass rush, which we will need to take the pressure off that secondary. I'm concerned, as great as this offense is, that the offensive line has looked vulnerable and teams are only having to cover half the field because there's no real deep threat, which does make it possible for teams to contain this offense.

The Bruins are back to looking like the best team in the league. They're not there alone, of course, but I like their chances. (I used all 3 theres in one sentence) Any concerns at all? Maybe the fact that David Krejki is always going to be inconsistent. His contract runs out at the end of this year. I would like to have one more guy on this team who can consistently bury the puck, which is most helpful when the Bruins are outplaying their opponent but can't score. Come playoff time, especially on special teams, that kind of guy can make all the difference in a tight series. I will be at the Bruins' game against the Leafs this Saturday night. So I won't say anything more here, plus I have covered the Bruins more than the other teams lately.
UPDATE 12/2/11: The Bruins signed David Krejci to a three-year extension yesterday. So that locks up another key piece of this deep, young team. Although it'd be easier to trade him now that he's signed, I think the Bruins want to keep him.

College Football Predictions Results - Week 13

2011-11-30T00:40:00.001-05:00

Rivalry week doesn't like me. Only 4 wins this week and I am limping to the finish line with the Championship games coming up this week. The Underdog picks killed me this week and the Road Underdog picks for the year fell under .500

LOSS 1) #3 Arkansas (+14) at #1 LSU - Arkansas 17, LSU 41. This game showed that LSU is the best team in the country by far. Next up for the Tigers, Georgia. For the Razorbacks, they are hoping for some things to go right for them to achieve a BCS invite.

WIN 2) #20 Penn State at #15 Wisconsin (-16) - Penn State 7, Wisconsin 45. Wisconsin gets their rematch against Michigan State in the Big 10 Title game. The Badgers are the better talented team, and look like they have hit their stride again.

LOSS 3) #18 Clemson (+3) at #14 South Carolina - Clemson 13, South Carolina 34. Clemson limps into the ACC title game rematch against Virginia Tech. Watch for the Tigers to get blown out in that game.

LOSS 4) Ohio State at #17 Michigan (-7.5) - Ohio State 34, Michigan 40. Brady Hoke got Michigan a win vs. the Buckeyes for the 1st time in 8 years. Now we will see what he can do with a famous coach patrolling the Buckeyes sideline in Urban Meyer.

WIN 5) #22 Notre Dame at #4 Stanford (-6.5) - Notre Dame 14, Stanford 28. Stanford is a good team, but could not become a team that even made their championship game.

LOSS 6) #2 Alabama at Auburn (+21.5) - Alabama 42, Auburn 14. Auburn has never been a favorite of mine. The past two years have provided more ammunition for my deep dislike for the Tigers because almost each and every game that i pick with Auburn in it, I lose. Of course the institution has the Tiger as a mascot and calls out WAR EAGLE! No wonder I can't wrap my head around what they are.

WIN 7) UCLA at #10 USC (-15.5) - UCLA 0, USC 50. Well, Rick Neuheisel has been fired from UCLA. Although the Bruins are in the PAC-12 title game, the true best team from the South Division are the Men from Troy. Lane Kiffin has done a good job this year with the Trojans and I am waiting to see what he can do when the Trojans are off probation.

LOSS 8) Texas at Texas A&M (-6.5) - Texas 27, Texas A&M 25. This rivalry is on ice until at least 2019 with A&M going to the SEC. The Aggies choked yet again this season. Just wait until they start playing Alabama and LSU each and every year. Please do not serve the Aggies anything that have bones.

LOSS 9) #8 Houston at Tulsa (+3) - Houston 48, Tulsa 16. Case Keenum and the Cougars have finally convinced me that they are a good team. It looks like they will get a BCS bid, possibly along with TCU.

WIN 10) Pittsburgh (+8) at West Virginia - Pittsburgh 21, West Virginia 22. The Mountaineers are still in the running for the Big East title and the AQ for the Big East in the BCS. That just shows you how bad the Big East has been this year.

Additional Two

LOSS 11) Iowa (+9.5) at Nebraska - Iowa 7, Nebraska 20. Nebraska is being mentioned as a perennial power in the Big 12, Iowa is not. Maybe Kirk Ferentz needs to shake things up in Iowa City.

LOSS 12) East Carolina (+2.5) at Marshall - East Carolina 27, Marshall 34 (OT). Marshall became bowl eligible with this win. East Carolina did not.

Week 13 Results: 4-8 Record. 1-6 Picking Underdogs. 3-2 Picking Favorites. 1-4 Road Underdog. 0-2 Home Underdog. 0-0 Road Favorites. 3-2 Home Favorites.

Season Results: 92-62-3 Record. 59.6 Win Percentage. 22-25 Picking Underdogs. 70-37-3 Picking Favorites. 17-14 Road Underdog. 5-11 Home Underdog. 27-16-1 Road Favorites. 43-21-2 Home Favorites.

The Way A Purge Should Be Done!

2011-11-28T22:18:00.001-05:00

And in the second purging of a team that I like, the Houston Astros fired their President and GM after the fall from the top in 2005 to the absolute bottom in 2011. And believe me, there is a Champagne bottle that is at least half empty in my house because of it.

Jim Crane should be nominated for Man of the Month for the purchase of the Houston Astros and then also deciding that the Phillies plant Ed Wade and Astros front office person Tal Smith for 35 years and no World Series titles that have came the 'Stros way needed to go and to start over with what he has purchased.

The most reviled GM in Astros history, Ed Wade will be remembered in Houston as the guy who loved trading with the Philadelphia Phillies and most fans feel that he got ripped off each and every time he did a trade with the Phillies. Hunter Pence and Roy Oswalt were the two big names traded to Philly, with 1/2 of Oswalt's salary being paid by the Astros. I wish that the Astros would take a chance on a veteran starter and find somebody that would pay 1/2 of his salary.

Wade also traded away Lance Berkman to the St. Louis Cardinals. I am surprised that we even got a bag of balls in that trade, seeing that Wade undervalued each and every piece he traded away. Michael Bourne went over to Atlanta for a song and a promise. The only person on the roster that anybody even has a passing interest in is Wandy Rodriguez and he will probably be traded because having a Left-handed Front Line pitcher is worth more in trade than with a team that has no talent. And no, Carlos Lee isn't talented.

Jim Crane had $70 Million chopped off the Purchase Price to agree to switch to the American League in 2013. Nice Business savvy. Now hopefully, he can bring in a baseball man for the GM and pair it with his Business acumen and start riding roughshod over the weak AL West around 2015.

One Half Of The Purge Is Done

2011-11-28T16:19:00.001-05:00

He had to know that this was coming!

This season has been an embarrassment for us fans of the Carolina Hurricanes. It started in the off-season when the team couldn't figure out what they wanted to do. Joni Pitkanen was gone and then suddenly resigned to multiple years. Erik Cole was a priority for the team to resign and then left for a good deal in Montreal. Then the regular season started. We did sign Tomas Kaberle and he has been a disappointment, with 5 assists and sitting at a -10. Eric Staal has been stuck in neutral all year, the defense has been playing the 'Ole option all year long allowing shots to rain down on Cam Ward. The Canes are converting on the power play at a 12.2% clip. Good enough for 29th in the league. The penalty killing unit is barely over 80%. So something had to happen. And it did Monday.

Paul Maurice was fired. As the Head Coach, he is going to take the heat from the front office and he did. However, he had proven in his head coaching career, that he wasn't the guy to get the most out of his team. He didn't do it in his first stint with the Canes, finishing with a record under .500 and that is with a year that the team went to the Stanley Cup finals. He definitely didn't do it with the Toronto Maple Leafs. They didn't get into the playoffs during his stint there. So after it was decided that Peter Laviolette was fired in December of 2008, that Paul Maurice would come back. Cam Ward stood on his head that season and got the Canes back to the Eastern Conference finals that year after barely qualifying for the playoffs. Then for the 2009-2010 season, with high expectations, the team crashed and burned and didn't come close to the playoffs. For the 2010-2011 season, nothing special was expected for the team. They went into the last game of the season needing a win to qualify for the playoffs. They were blitzed by the Lightning 6-2 and finished 9th in the East. This year, we have a losing season with 20 points accumulated. We are the 14th out of the 15th best team in the East. Only the Islanders have fewer points. In fact, we are just 5 points ahead of Columbus. The Blue Jackets are considered by almost everybody as the worst team in the league. The firing was justified and I am glad that it happened.

However, there needs to be another head to roll. And that is the President/GM Jim Rutherford. Look at the results of the Hurricanes since they won the Cup in 2006. 2007 - Missed Playoffs. 2008 - Qualified for the playoffs in 7th place. 2009 - Missed Playoffs. 2010 - Missed Playoffs. 2011 - Currently in 14th Place in the East. Two coaching changes have taken place. Look at the lines for the Hurricanes:

Top Line: Skinner-Staal-Ruutu
2nd Line: Ponikarovski-Jokinen-LaRose
3rd Line: Tlusty-Brandon Sutter-Dwyer
4th Line: Stewart-Brent-Brett Sutter

Defensemen:

Gleason
Faulk
Pitkanen
McBain
Allen
Joslin
Harrison
Kaberle

Goalies:

Ward
Boucher

Now be honest here. Is there more than 3 or 4 players listed here that you want on your team? For myself, I like 3 of the Centers, 1 of the Left Wingers, 2 of the Defensemen, and the Starting Goalie. That is 7 of the 20 players that I am happy to have on the team. The other 13? If they leave, I am like hopefully there is someone better coming in to play. And while I do really appreciate the skill side of the game, the Hurricanes are like the Buffalo Sabres. Soft. Where in hell are the players that have some skill and are willing to goon it up with the teams like the Bruins, Rangers, and others when the situation requires it? The makeup of this team is flawed and has been flawed for the past 5 years. The defense is soft, there isn't enough high end talent on the team, there is no rough and physical presence, and the GM is always talking about how he can't compete in the finances. I call BS. It is time for Jim Rutherford to be "promoted" to full time President of Hockey Operations. He is a minority owner in the hockey team, so let's boot his happy ass upstairs and bring in a GM that will start to figure out how to get this team back to a competitive status and start becoming the team that us fans know should be the top team in the Southeast. Our franchise is better than the Panthers, Lightning, and Capitals. Us fans know that in our hearts. And it is time for the owner, Peter Karmanos, to get the organization back to becoming one of those franchises that prove that they should be taken seriously every year. And the first step is to bring in a General Manager who is only the General Manager.

2011 Grey Cup

2011-11-28T08:44:00.002-05:00

Travis Lulay

The following is a guest blog by DaSnake, who's been kind enough to let us in on what's going on north of the border. Hopefully you will appreciate this guest blog on a topic that we wouldn't be talking about but are certainly interested in. Thanks DaSnake.

The B.C. Lions won the 99th Grey Cup yesterday, 34-23, over Winnipeg. The last times they won the cup was 1994 against the Baltimore Stallions. (also 2000 and 2006) How did a U.S. team play in a Canadian final? Well the CFL was hurting for money in the early 90's and allowed some American teams to play in the Canadian league.

The Lions QB Travis Lulay won the Canadian Most Valuable Player and tonight won the Grey Cup MVP. The game started out good for the Lions but seemed to slow going into the second half. Whether it was jitters or just a need of coaching to come into the locker room and give a talk to the team, it seemed to work because the Lions came into the second half and never looked back.

It again got interesting in the fourth quarter with a dropped interception and then a dropped pass that was reviewed by the zebras. With the Bruce pass being viewed as a reception, the nails in the coffin seemed in place.

This was a great game. The fervor was not over rode by the Occupy Vancouver baloney; and the half billion dollar stadium rebuild took a backseat to the main show, the game. The only so-called sensation was the scuffle between former QB Joe Kapp and former defensive player Angelo Mosca. I don't have to mention this because if you go to Youtube, you can see for yourself. Good game, good people and a great final. Congrats Lions.

Trivia: Redskins/Cowboys Rivalry

2011-11-27T12:31:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting bit of Redskins/Cowboys trivia.

I've been a Redskins fan all my life and I have to admit that I did not know
this piece of trivia: Here is the true origin of the Redskins/Cowboys
"rivalry." We all know the story of coach George Allen's motivating the
70's Redskins by conniving a media fight with then Cowboys coach Tom Landry,
and the rest, as they say, is history. But is it?

Well, it seems in the late 50's just before the original "Texans" (the AFL
"Dallas Texans") bolted for Kansas City (now the KC Chiefs), the Texas oil
millionaire Clint Murchison petitioned the NFL for a franchise, but they had
just one stick in the mud--Washington Redskins owner, George Preston
Marshall. Murchison signed a deal with Marshall to purchase the Redskins,
and everything was going smoothly, but Marshall suddenly changed the terms
of the agreement, and Murchison refused to sign and the deal fell through.
Jilted, Marshall refused to agree to allow Murchison to be granted an
expansion team--they needed a unanimous vote by all owners for a team to be
approved, and Marshall refused to vote yes. Now, it seems the marching band
leader for the Redskins, who wrote the Redskins fight song ("Hail To The
Redskins") ended up getting into a pissing contest with Marshall. The
bandleader owned the rights to the song (not Marshall) and being pissed with
Marshall, he approached Murchison in Dallas and sold him the song for
$2,500. This deal occurred right before the second owner's vote for the
Dallas franchise. Moments before the vote was to be taken, Murchison let it
out to Marshall that he owned the fight song and unless Marshall voted to
approve the Dallas franchise, he would sue Marshall every time the Redskins
band played the fight song--he threatened to refuse to let Marshall play it
during any of his games that year! Marshall eventually gave in and
Murchison turned over the rights, and Marshall gave his "yes" vote that
formed the 1960 Dallas Cowboys.

And so a rivalry was born!!!

Not only did I find that story interesting and ironic, but the irony of the
"cowboys and indians" history of the KC Chiefs is also an interesting
tidbit!

11 Straight (sorta)

2011-11-25T17:00:00.000-05:00

The Bruins lost to the Detroit Red Wings today in the NHL's first-ever Thanksgiving Tradition something or other, which I love, especially when you pair the defending Cup Champs, who play 40 miles from the site of the first Thanksgiving, and the other team in the who's the best team in the league argument with the Penguins. As a hockey fan, you couldn't have asked for a better game to watch; two Original Six teams playing at a high level, with plenty of stars on display. Both teams showed up and played hard. They both obviously wanted the W and it showed. Excellent game.
It's no surprise the Red Wings won once it got beyond OT, the only time of the game where Detroit could dictate open ice. Tuukka Rask was shown a lot of confidence getting to start this high profile matchup in net instead of Tim Thomas, and Tuukka acquitted himself well; but he was overmatched in the Shootout against the likes of Pavel Datsyuk (a player who should get much more mention in the league's best player debate) and the other Detroit snipers, including Todd Bertuzzi, who scored the game winner.

The difference in this game was UMaine alum Jimmy Howard in goal for Detroit. The Bruins' depth and tenacity dominated large portions of this game but Howard kept the Bruins to only two goals. The Bruins forechecked Detroit to death. Seriously, how many teams can "get away" with that against Detroit with all their skilled offensive players? The Bruins outshot Detroit 43-31, which is a stunning stat when you consider the styles of these two teams.
You have a hard time after watching this game coming away with any other conclusion than the Bruins along with Detroit and Pittsburgh are the best teams in the league. What's odd about the Bruins though is this: As I've said many times, I think the Bruins are the deepest team, the toughest team, the tightest team but certainly not the most skilled team, which shows when you get to a Shootout and think who's a real threat one-on-one against the goalie other than Tyler Sequin? Which is why you saw Benoit Pouliot in the Shootout last game.
So the Bruins will take the point and head to Winnipeg to start a new streak tomorrow night.

Scotch and Jazz

2011-11-24T23:27:00.001-05:00

I know neither scotch nor jazz fits the sports pub theme but it's the mood I'm in tonight and just wanted to throw a curveball. So I'm sitting here sipping some Glenfiddich on the rocks and listening to some jazz. I'll only share one but I'll tell you all the ones I went through tonight.

This song most definitely fits sipping scotch. Can't you hear the ice cubes jangling in the glass?

I listened to these songs in this order as I was sipping my scotch: "La Vie en Rose," Louis Armstrong; "Summertime," Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald; "Black Coffee," Ella Fitzgerald; "The Very Thought of You," Nat King Cole; "Unforgettable," Nat King Cole; then "Stormy Weather" by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and my favorite version, Etta James.
Hope you enjoyed my little interlude. Back to our usual programming.

College Football Predicitions - Week 13

2011-11-24T19:31:00.001-05:00

It's rivalry week and the games this year seem to have extra importance to them. Be it the end of rivalries, division titles or possible national championship implications, these games seem to be vying for attention by the public.

1) #3 Arkansas (+14) at #1 LSU - This is the big game of what they term rivalry week. LSU is going to win but the Razorbacks keep it within a touchdown.

2) #20 Penn State at #15 Wisconsin (-16) - Wisconsin has the chance to win the first Leaders division title at home. Otherwise, it is Penn State with the title. I expect the most talented team in the Big 10 to show up and destroy the Nittany Lions.

3) #18 Clemson (+3) at #14 South Carolina - Another overrated SEC team is in this game. Clemson isn't anything special from the ACC, but they should win this game against a wounded Soutch Carolina team.

4) Ohio State at #17 Michigan (-7.5) - Would anyone be shocked if the Wolverines laid an egg in this game? Me neither. But I am expecting Brady Hoke to wake up the ghosts of Wolverines past and throttle the rudderless Buckeyes.

5) #22 Notre Dame at #4 Stanford (-6.5) - Stanford needs to back up their crying about their BCS ranking being too low with a near perfect game against Notre Dame. I think that they do.

6) #2 Alabama at Auburn (+21.5) - Auburn isn't in the same class as Alabama this year. However, I expect that Tiger pride to keep it within 3 Touchdowns. I would love to see the upset in this game though. WAR EAGLE!

7) UCLA at #10 USC (-15.5) - Can somebody tell me how in the world UCLA is in the driver's seat to represent the PAC-12 South in the title game? That is just embarrassing. If UCLA does make it to the PAC-12 title game and loses, they will be 6-7 and not eligible to go bowling. Lane kiffin and the Trojans end their year winning the Battle of LA.

8) Texas at Texas A&M (-6.5) - This rivalry is on ice until at least 2019 with A&M going to the SEC. The Aggies have many complaints against Texas on the football field and as an institution. They better get all those frustrations out during this game. Aggies big.

9) #8 Houston at Tulsa (+3) - Tulsa has lost 3 games. The teams that they have lost to? Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Boise State. Better than any of the teams that Houston has played. Give me the Golden hurricane and the upset of one of the last 2 undefeated teams here.

10) Pittsburgh (+8) at West Virginia - The game that might determine the Big East champion and these two teams can't wait to get out of the conference. Given the way that the Big East has played out this year, I am taking the underdog to continue to cause havoc.

Additional Two

11) Iowa (+9.5) at Nebraska - I am showing my loyalty here. The Huskers should win and win big, but something tells me that Ferentz has something up his sleeve to pull out a victory for the Hawkeyes here.

12) East Carolina (+2.5) at Marshall - I picked this game just because. Look for the Pirates to squeak out a victory here.

College Football Predictions Results - Week 12

2011-11-24T11:53:00.001-05:00

A .500 record for last week is good seeing that I was counting on Oregon and Oklahoma to have big victories. Even though I am going to finish the year over .500, I am disappointed over the past month in my picking games.

LOSS 1) No. 18 USC at No. 4 Oregon (-14.5) - USC 38, Oregon 35. The Trojans showed up and physically beat the Ducks. The Trojans aren't going to the PAC-12 Title game due to NCAA sanctions, but they are the best team in the PAC-12 South. The Ducks will still play in the title game if they can continue to own Oregon State. However, there place in the BCS Championship game went out the window.

LOSS 2) No. 5 Oklahoma (-13.5) at No. 25 Baylor - Oklahoma 38, Baylor 45. Ugh. Oklahoma based on their results this year, was overrated throughout this year. Baylor is good, but not Top 25 good. Especially beating Top 10 teams good. The Sooners let their possibility at the BCS Title game slip through their fingers again. A possible BCS birth for Oklahoma or a date in the Cotton Bowl.

WIN 3) No. 17 Nebraska at No. 20 Michigan (-2.5) - Nebraska 17, Michigan 45. Michigan came out and got that ground game rolling. Nebraska completed 9 passes the entire game. That is not the recipe to win in the Big House. Ever think that possibly the SEC and Big 12 are a little overrated? Because there was talk that Nebraska could roll to an undefeated Big 10 title at the beginning of the season. Well, where has that gotten them? Multiple losses in the Big 10 and a couple of them not even close. They might be second in their division, based upon the game vs. Iowa.

WIN 4) No. 1 LSU (-28.5) at Mississippi - LSU 52, Mississippi 3. Les miles is cruising towards an undefeated season. Ole Miss is cruising towards a new start for the program. And the new start isn't going to help them much unless they get somebody that relishes the thought of a 5 to 10 year rebuilding process.

LOSS 5) No. 21 Penn State at Ohio State (-7) - Penn State 20, Ohio State 14. The Nittany Lions learn their fate in regards to the Big 10 title game next week when they play Wisconsin. Ohio State, while they will be playing in a bowl game, will be under new management next year. There are way too many reports of Urban Meyer coming to Columbus to discount it. It will be interesting to see what he does there.

WIN 6) SMU at No. 11 Houston (-20) - SMU 7, Houston 37. Houston is the team this year that gets the raw deal because of the polls early in the season. If the polls started in Week 3 or 4, they might have more love. They weren't taken seriously in the beginning, not being put in the Top 25. And so while they have went undefeated, they might not be able to bust the BCS formula this year. And if that is the case, then there are further tweaks to the BCS formula that need to happen.

LOSS 7) Kentucky at No. 13 Georgia (-27.5) - Kentucky 10, Georgia 19. Mark Richt might have saved his job after an 0-2 start by getting to the SEC Title game, but the SEC East is by far the weaker division of the conference. They do have the chance of upsetting the BCS by winning the SEC. That would cause one of the SEC West teams of Arkansas, Alabama, or LSU to be ineligible for the BCS. And I can hear the screaming all the way up here in North Dakota.

LOSS 8) Vanderbilt (-1.5) at Tennessee - Vanderbilt 21, Tennessee 27 (OT). In the SEC, 2 wrongs make a right allowing the Vols to win without getting the ball in OT. An official blew the Vol DB down by contact. And then in an violation of replay protocol, the replay booth said that the runner wasn't down and the score is allowed to stand. Both of these teams aren't good, but allowing the rules to be broken to decide the fates of these two teams in regard to post-season possibilities is wrong.

LOSS 9) California at No. 8 Stanford (-20) - California 28, Stanford 31. Stanford is griping about the BCS standings that Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State are ranked above them. Well, they had the chance to be #2 in the poll, but got destroyed by Oregon. This game didn't convince anybody that they are one of the two best teams in the country.

WIN 10) Harvard (-8) at Yale - Harvard 45, Yale 7. Neither of these two teams matter in major college football. While they have a storied rivalry, they perform way better in the classroom.

Additional Two

WIN 11) Mississippi State at No. 6 Arkansas (-12) - Mississippi State17, Arkansas 44. Arkansas has the chance to take LSU out this coming week. Both teams have a shot at the BCS title game, and both teams have the possibility of not making it to the SEC title game. Crazy, isn't it. A season of expectations fell flat for the Bulldogs. Time to regroup and try to close the gap between themselves and the cream of the SEC West.

WIN 12) No. 10 Boise State (-16) at San Diego State - Boise State 52, San Diego State 35. Boise is relegated to a lower tier bowl due to a 1-point loss to TCU earlier this year. And they are one of the top 10 teams in the country. Another flaw in the BCS system. However, the Broncos should be proud of the way they played this year and the amount of games that they called off the dogs against teams that weren't as good as they were.

Week 12 Results: 6-6 Record. 0-0 Picking Underdogs. 6-6 Picking Favorites. 0-0 Road Underdog. 0-0 Home Underdog. 3-3 Road Favorites. 3-3 Home Favorites.

Season Results: 88-54-3 Record. 61.7 Win Percentage. 21-19 Picking Underdogs. 67-35-3 Picking Favorites. 16-10 Road Underdog. 5-9 Home Underdog. 27-16-1 Road Favorites. 40-19-2 Home Favorites.

10 Straight!

2011-11-24T10:47:00.000-05:00

Benoit Pouliot scores the only goal in the shootout, in the 5th round at that, to give the Bruins a 4-3 OT victory. It looked like the goalies were not going to let in any goals during the shootout until Pouliot, oft in the doghouse but given a boost of confidence, slipped a wrister past Jhonas Enroth for the game winner to give the Boston Bruins their 10th straight win. With this win the Bruins have basically gone from the cellar to the penthouse, playing like the team that plays as a team and won the Stanley Cup last year. They are imposing their will on most teams and are playing like a team.
The Bruins were down 3-1 late in the second period but the second half of games is when the Bruins' superior depth, defense and goal tending wear teams down. They are very arguably the best 5-on-5 team in the NHL and not arguably the deepest team. Brad Marchand scored late in the second to make it 3-2 and then Captain Zdeno Chara scored the tieing goal in the third. The Bruins had to defense short handed for the last minute of regulation and the first minute of OT to get to the shootout.

Other notes from the game: Paul Gaustad bravely took on Milan Lucic the first time Lucic was on the ice. Milan got the best of Gaustad but Bruin fans respect what he did, taking one for his team and standing up for his teammates...something they should've done the last time they met.
Thomas Vanek scores for the Sabres every time they play the Bruins and he did again tonight.

A big test comes next on Friday when the Bruins take on the Red Wings in Detroit . I'd love to not be playing this game when the Bs are due for a loss. Yes, that's a built-in excuse that I'm getting out there ahead of time.

I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday.

The Obligatory Packers Post

2011-11-23T21:47:00.001-05:00

On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers ran their record to 10-0 with a 35-26 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The outcome of that game is the reason that I am writing this post. I was sure that Tampa Bay would win, so I made an agreement with another person on this blog to write the Green Bay post if Tampa lost. So here I am.

Green Bay has a very nice offense going for it. Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback in the league, bar none, at the current time. He spreads the ball around to about 10 different receivers every game. The offensive line has looked good and James Starks does do some good things on the ground. People are calling them unstoppable, but I think that is not correct. You can hold Green Bay to under 28 points a game even with their offense. But the secret to that is not to overlook their defense.

Many experts write off the defense of the Packers. That is not the way to beat this team. The way to beat the Packers is to overestimate the defense. Make the offense that is going against them realize that the Green Bay defense is the key. Almost every game, the Packers have multiple takeaways and almost every game they have a defensive score or a turnover caused in the red zone of the opponent. I have seen enough Packer games to realize that the defense is looking for momentum shifting plays. The big hit causing a fumble, an interception that leads to a return for touchdown. So far, it has served them well. But if you take a look at ESPN and Fox Sports, they both learned something from last Sunday's Battle of the Bays. How to beat the Packers.

The first thing is a strong running game. The Packers defense is not built to stay on the field for 12+ plays of a drive that chews up yards and time off the clock. LeGarrett Blount and the Bucs proved it last week. When Blount is averaging almost 9 yards a carry, the opponent should realize that the defense isn't primarily playing for the run. But the thing here isn't lining up in a full house backfield and run up the gut. It is spreading out the defense with 3 or 4 wide and then hitting a gap in the defense. The Packers love playing 5 DB's against those formations and also play 4 LBs for most of that time. That leaves 2 DL in the game. If you watch Hawk and Matthews, they love speeding around the tackles for sacks. Use that against them and run between the Guard and Tackle. They aren't that speedy and there are lanes there which can be exploited.

The second thing is to use the short crossing passing game. This is where the majority of your passes need to be with the Packers defense. And I am not talking just one receiver. I am talking 3 receivers. You are able to pass with these routes because there are usually 3 blitzers coming out of the Packer defense. A slight pick on the man to man coverages that the secondary plays could spring the receiver for big gains. Running vertical with their secondary isn't the way to go. They are too good.

The third thing is to control the Special Teams battle. The Packers have good special teams but sometimes can be sloppy. Get in their heads with good and disciplined coverage on kicks and you might get a turnover because of that sloppiness.

Finally, on defense don't give up the big play. When playing the Packers, your defense has to play smart disciplined football. And even though the Packers scored 35 points on Sunday, you could tell by the reactions of their offensive players on the sidelines, they were getting frustrated by the Buccaneers defense. The Bucs played smart defense and did not let up most of the explosive plays that the Packers are used to.

Yes, the Packers were better than the Buccaneers on Sunday. And yes, the Packers are going to the playoffs, while the Buccaneers will only play 16 games this season. However, I will state right now that the first team that does beat the Packers this year, and yes there will be at least one, will do so utilizing some sort of plan based on the Buccaneers performance on Sunday against the Green and Gold.

Carl Edwards is a Champion too

2011-11-22T10:35:00.003-05:00

I told you that that pass that Tony Stewart made on Jeff Burton (or Burton gave) would be the difference in the championship, although if that pass hadn't happened, then we'd be looking at a situation where Stewart lost the championship by one point despite winning five Chase races...not good either.
I know all kinds of people are tickled with this artificial form of determining a championship but I've been on the record since the Chase format came into being that I didn't like it; still don't like it. No championship ever in any sport should be decided on a tie breaker. That's what you get when you jerryrig a format. I submit that Nascar should have been prepared for this possibility and decided if it came to pass that there was a tie, that there would be dual champions. Think of the additional press that would garner, people arguing those merits and saying Tony was the more deserving, probably so. But having the most points at the end of the season should make you the champion. It shouldn't matter whether someone else has the same number of points as well.
Make no mistake, Tony went out and took it but he only had the chance because of a phony format. Previous year's Chase, Tony doesn't win it. Any season without the Chase, Tony doesn't win it. So I feel bad about a guy losing a championship because he was on the wrong side of the format. Carl Edwards had the highest average finish in Chase history. More importantly, he had the highest average finish in this Chase. And even though this is a number NASCAR doesn't publish on purpose, Edwards earned the most points this year. Wins is the best tie breaker if you're gonna have one but I'm vehemently against the idea. I don't care if you have to run another race. But who really would be complaining if they gave out two trophies last night?
And I've said similar things about the other sports where you let in too many teams into the playoffs and one team just squeaks in, gets hot and wins a championship, ala the Cardinals this year, the Packers last year, etc. Don't like it and never will. Let's use this extreme example to make the point that this new system vastly undervalues the regular season: One driver has a miraculous first 26 races to the season, say winning 10 races. Then let's say that that same driver wins 3 Chase races but is also wrecked out of 3 through no fault of his own and that another driver has a Chase like Edwards had this year, with a 4.5ish average finish and ends up with more points than the driver who won 13 races during the season.
So just because the guy who ended hot and with the most wins becomes champion isn't any more fair necessarily than a scenario where he doesn't. That's what you can get with a phony system.
But my biggest issue with this by far is the fact that it ended with a tie. If Tony had won by one point, I would feel Edwards kinda got screwed but the other guy earned more points than he did. That's not what happened here.
Also, Carl Edwards is a champion because of the classy way he handled all this. If he feels the way I do, he hasn't said it and I think that's the right thing to do as a driver.

American League MVP (open thread)

2011-11-21T14:28:00.001-05:00

It was just announced that Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers is the 2011 AL MVP, over Jacoby Ellsbury of the Red Sox who came in 2nd place.

So this opens up once again the old debate about whether a pitcher should even be considered for MVP, much less win the award. I may surprise some of you, especially since a very deserving player from my beloved BoSox came in 2nd and would have won had pitchers not been eligible; but I submit that there is no single position on the baseball field more capable of dominating a game, winning a game SINGLE HANDEDLY than the pitcher, thus being the most valuable. I do feel it should be the very rare instance where this happens because your position player is out there every day driving in runs and playing defense but during those 162 games how many times can you say that position player single handedly won the game?
So perhaps what we should have and had all along is three awards -- one for the best pitcher, one for the best position player and an MVP. I feel that the voters would feel much less constrained if they didn't feel they were taking an award from an outstanding position player.
Your thoughts?

The Finale At Homestead For The 2011 Sprint Cup

2011-11-21T00:03:00.001-05:00

The 2011 Finale of the Sprint Cup was held at Homestead earlier today. The man pictured above, Tony Stewart, became the first driver-owner since 1992 when the late Alan Kulwicki won the NASCAR Championship. Stewart, whose nickname is Smoke, won his third championship, although if you saw his stats and the way he was racing coming into the Chase, he wouldn't have been a favorite. He had no wins, was running in the mid-teens and was running races engaged in a feud with Brian Vickers which cost him more than a few dollars fixing his cars after the wrecks. His crew chief, Darien Grubb, was told that he wasn't going to be back next year. So what does the Office Depot team do? They go out and win 5 races in the chase, and win the Tiebreaker with Carl Edwards about who won the most races during the season 5-1.

The start of the race didn't look like Stewart was going to have a shot. Just 4 laps into the race Kurt Busch has his transmission go out and lots of debris came out of the 22 car. One of the pieces went through the mesh on the front of Stewart's car. Somehow, it didn't put a hole in the radiator. (I would love to see the picture of the radiator taken out of the Homestead car. I bet there was a dent at the very least). Anyways, that was Lucky Break #1. Lucky Break #2 for this race was the rain that came right after the hole was put into the mesh. That allowed the #14 crew to have extra time to work on that and get the problem fixed. Stewart restarted after the rain in 40th place. It was the first of many times that he would start from the back of the field.

Stewart raced up to 23rd and another caution allowed his crew to work on the beaten up car already some more. He restarted the race in 32nd. Meanwhile, Edwards was driving up front and doing everything that he could do to ensure that there was no drama about the championship. In fact, Edwards led this race over 115 laps. Stewart knew that he had a strong car and was telling his crew about how the 99 team would be ashamed when he won the race after coming back from the back of the field twice. It just went along with the rest of the chase where Stewart was flapping his gums and telling the world that he would finish with his third championship. Every chance he got, he was telling Edwards that he was coming to win and there was nothing that the #99 team could do. Well, he had the chance to prove it today.

During a second rain delay that lasted 75 minutes, Stewart was still bragging about what the end would bring. He told ESPN, ''We are fixin' to keep delivering this whoopin'; we got more in mind for him the rest of the day.'' And I am almost certain that Edwards heard that quote. And he had to be a bit worried. Stewart was passing cars right and left going through the field. In fact, at the end of the race, Stewart had passed 118 cars on the way to victory in the race and the season. But the best driving that Smoke was to do hadn't been done yet. And the crew chief that was told that he wasn't coming back next year made the call of the year to allow Stewart the chance at immortality.

After racing resumed, Stewart was a man possessed. He was making three and four-wide passes to try and catch up to Edwards. And then Darien Grubb made the decision of the season. Stewart was out front after green flag pit stops and told Stewart to conserve fuel. Even as people who had completed their pit stops were gaining anywhere from 1 to 2 seconds on Stewart. He ran out of gas on his way into the pits. And the car fired right up after the fuel stop. He had outran Edwards on the tank of fuel by at least 10 laps. And the lap after Stewart came out, a yellow flag was thrown for rain yet again. At the final restart, he was fourth, not needing to pit again, while his competitors needed one more stop. It was at that point that Smoke saw the light at the end of the tunnel and went for it. He passed AJ Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch to take the lead and not look back. Edwards finished in 2nd, and the points were tied, but in the end, Stewart was correct in last week's statement. All I have to do is win the race next week, and whatever Carl does does not matter.

In the big scheme of things, the Chase has done what it is designed to do. It allowed for the last couple of races at the end of the season to mean something and the ability for NASCAR to hype it's product that used to get crushed by coverage of the NFL. For those that don't like the Chase, I agree with you, but get over it. NASCAR got tired of people winning the Championship by 400 points or something close to it. So they decided to make it where racers that were having good seasons got a second bite at the apple by declaring there was a special format where only select individuals could win the championship. It also made lots of sponsors happy. If you are Carl's Jr. and you are on the 10th place car during the old format, you might get mentioned once or twice a race. Now, you are mentioned for a good amount of time for at least one race and if the driver does well at the first stop of the Chase, then you get even more publicity. Makes keeping those sponsors paying out major dollars easier.

As for Carl Edwards, I did gain back some respect for him. He showed class in his losing the Championship that in all probabilities should have been his. He did the interviews, went and shaked Stewart's hand and was friendly to all. But you know that this has to tear him apart inside. If only one point more had been scored by him or one point less scored by Stewart, he would be the champion. I am sure that the Edwards fans out there are screaming that the pass of Jeff Burton by Tony Stewart at the end of the race of one of the Chase races was given to Stewart by Burton and that is what caused this fiasco. Well, if that is the case, then let's call Roush on his team orders to help any of their teammates in the chase a fiasco as well. And the one thing I do get a crack-up about is that the Ford Racing division has said that Roush is basically the factory team for Ford. Stewart-Haas for Chevy? Not so much.

This year, just like every year had it's share of controversies, hard feelings, and good racing. Next year will be the same. And while the cast of characters fighting for the championship might be different, if NASCAR has it's way, there will be two drivers with a shot at winning the championship in Homestead driving their asses off in pursuit at immortality.

For A King's Ransom

2011-11-20T08:34:00.000-05:00

Much thanks to DaSnake for pointing out this story -- actually, the story at the site Throwback is two stories in one, the story of King Kelly and another regarding the rare autograph of his that was recently "discovered" and is going up for auction.

The story is an excellent read, especially if you're unfamiliar with the character King Kelly, one of the early stars of baseball in the late 1800s, or if you're interested in sports memorabilia.
Kelly was a flamboyant man and baseball player for the Chicago White Stockings and Boston Beaneaters of the National League, a real self promoter. Despite this fact, it is thought that less than 10 of his autograph are in existence today; and to find one in such great condition with such a great story behind its discovery, will likely result in this piece going at auction for a "King's ransom."
Here is a quote from another online article regarding this auction: "What SCP Auctions calls the "greatest 19th Century baseball autograph find in hobby history" is making an impression on collectors of rare baseball memorabilia--and those fascinated by the pro game's early history." If that's not a good enough teaser for you, well, I guess nothing would be.
The bidding was to have ended last night, though the only information I can find thus far is that the bidding had passed $100,000. I will endeavor to report the final winning bid, unless someone beats me to it. Thanks again, DaSnake, for pointing this out. And to answer your question in the comments: Unfortunately that is the only way to communicate on a blog but don't worry, leave a comment anywhere at anytime.

College Football Predictions - Week 12

2011-11-18T23:53:00.001-05:00

Oh boy, this week might get bad for me. Out of the 12 games that I am picking, not a single one am I going with the underdog. The only two that I really considered was Nebraska and Penn State. Let's go with the favorites and hopefully ride into a big week picking winners.

1) No. 18 USC at No. 4 Oregon (-14.5) - Well, this is the Trojans bowl game for this year. Since they are banished from a bowl game, the PAC-12 bylaws also keep them out of the Championship game for the league. I expect them to play hard, but ultimately not be able to keep up with the quack attack that took out Stanford last week. LaMichael James is over his injuries and looks like he is one of the best backs in the nation. Sorry, Lane Kiffin, but the Trojans are not talented enough at this point to keep the Ducks from winning this game.

2) No. 5 Oklahoma (-13.5) at No. 25 Baylor - Another Top 25 matchup, another Top 25 blowout according to yours truly. Baylor isn't that talented. RG III is a great college quarterback, but the Sooners defense should be up for the job. Bob Stoops has the Sooners rolling into the Bedlam game.

3) No. 17 Nebraska at No. 20 Michigan (-2.5) - The reason that I took Michigan in this game is Denard Robinson and the lack of passing from Nebraska. If either of those reasons are not there, I would take the Cornhuskers to romp easily.

4) No. 1 LSU (-28.5) at Mississippi - Ole Miss has a new Athletic Director and new Head Football Coach next year. The only thing going for the Rebels is history. Last year LSU struggled to beat them. The previous two years, LSU lost. I don't see history repeating itself.

5) No. 21 Penn State at Ohio State (-7) - I am sure that Bob Bradley has been on a rollercoaster ride over the past two weeks. I am glad that I don't have his job of trying to keep the Nittany Lions together and focused on football. Penn State is the better team, but going on the road and still dealing with the distractions is too much for Penn State.

6) SMU at No. 11 Houston (-20) - Case Keenum has monster numbers as the Cougars are lighting up scoreboards all over C-USA. The thing is that the Houston defense sometimes takes games off. I don't think that is the case this week with the Mustangs coming to town. June Jones should be applauded for turning around the SMU program after 20 years of mediocrity at best.

7) Kentucky at No. 13 Georgia (-27.5) - The Bulldogs have rebounded from an 0-2 start for 8 straight wins. I see #9 here as the Kentucky Wildcats are still a bottom feeding SEC team in football. While Joker Philips seems like a good coach, he needs help in getting Wildcat football to the upper echelon of the SEC.

8) Vanderbilt (-1.5) at Tennessee - It is a sad day to be a Tennessee Volunteer and see that Vanderbilt is favored to win a football game against the Rocky Top Orange. Vandy is looking good and has been fighting teams hard and making them earn wins. I expect the Commodores to win by double digits.

9) California at No. 8 Stanford (-20) - With their BCS Championship Title Game hopes crushed by the Ducks last week, the Cardinal should be able to take out their anger on a Cal team that isn't up to their usual standards.

10) Harvard (-8) at Yale - Harvard is a scoring machine in the Ivy League. They have scored at least 35 points in their past 6 games. Yale hasn't scored that many in any of their last 6. The Yale QB should have went for the Rhodes Scholarship interview because the Bulldogs are going to get whipped.

Additional Two

11) Mississippi State at No. 6 Arkansas (-12) - Mississippi State has a good defense. But the offense sputters along. That is one thing that Arkansas doesn't have to worry about, the sputtering of the offense. Arkansas is looking forward to LSU and should take this contest rather easily.

12) No. 10 Boise State (-16) at San Diego State - I do not envy the Aztecs. The last time Boise lost, they came back and won their next game by 36. Kellen Moore should have 5 or 6 TD passes and the Broncos bounce back from a bad performance vs. TCU.

College Football Prediction Results - Week 11

2011-11-18T22:11:00.001-05:00

I am disappointed in this week. Only 7 wins and losses by Boise State and LSU in the point spread hurt because they had been covering all year long.

WIN 1) No. 6 Oregon (+3) at No. 3 Stanford - Oregon 53, Stanford 30. Oregon is the big dog of the PAC-12 and proved it in this game. LaMichael James scored 3 times and the Ducks rolled over the Cardinal easily in this game. Andrew Luck might be the Heisman Trophy winner, and possible #1 overall pick in the NFL draft, but this game proves that the best team wins championships.

WIN 2) No. 10 Virginia Tech (-1.5) at No. 20 Georgia Tech - Virginia Tech 37, Georgia Tech 26. The Hokies might be the best team in the ACC again, with Clemson looking like they are going to falter yet again late in this season. Beating Georgia Tech on the road goes a long way in establishing that fact.

WIN 3) No. 19 Nebraska (-2) at No. 12 Penn State - Nebraska 17, Penn State 14. This game was emotionally filled with everything that had gone on in Happy Valley the preceding week. The Huskers are the better team but the passing game needs to improve quickly.

LOSS 4) TCU at No. 5 Boise State (-13) - TCU 36, Boise State 35. If I am Chris Peterson, I am finding a kicking coach specifically for field goal attempts. That and I am putting a TCU logo in the locker room to remind my players each and every day of the team that has taken us out of BCS Championship game consideration at least twice.

WIN 5) No. 24 Auburn at No. 14 Georgia (-13) - Auburn 7, Georgia 45. The Bulldogs are going to be the SEC East representative in Atlanta for the SEC Championship game. They can throw a monkey wrench in the BCS by winning that game. And while the SEC is the best conference in the land, it is in spite of the East which Georgia leads this year.

WIN 6) Tennessee at No. 8 Arkansas (-13) - Tennessee 7, Arkansas 49. The Hogs next game is against LSU. The winner has the SEC West title and a date against Georgia in Atlanta. The Vols are becoming the Vanderbilt Commodores Plus. They can't hold up against the good teams and might pull out a victory here or there in SEC play.

LOSS 7) Wake Forest at No. 9 Clemson (-15.5) - Wake Forest 28, Clemson 31. This game shouldn't have been this close. Clemson throughout the year has been the better team and with Wake faltering down the stretch, it looked like a easy Clemson victory. Guess that's why they play the games.

TIE 8) No. 4 Alabama (-17) at Mississippi State - Alabama 24, Mississippi State 7. Alabama came back from the loss against LSU, but not as strongly as I thought they would. The Tide are still hoping for a BCS rematch against LSU. That is the one game I don't want to see.

LOSS 9) No. 2 Oklahoma State at Texas Tech (+19.5) - Oklahoma State 66, Texas Tech 6. The Cowboys scored early and often in this game. They also showed the country why they should be favored in the Bedlam game. It was also nice to see that the defense actually decided to stop an offense.

WIN 10) Miami (Fla.) (+9.5) at Florida State - Miami 19, Florida State 23. Both coaches have their respective programs on the rebound and Jumbo Fisher has shown that the succession plan after Bobby Bowden was a good one. This rivalry will become more heated in the next couple of years.

Additional Two

WIN 11) Washington at No. 18 USC (-13) - Washington 17, USC 40. Lane Kiffin is showing that he can coach a major BCS Conference team. The Volunteer year might have wised him up a bit about how to go about the college ranks as far as coaching. Look for the Trojans to be a force in the BCS after probation is over.

LOSS 12) Western Kentucky at No. 1 LSU (-41.5) - Western Kentucky 9, LSU 42. The Tigers offense looked disjointed in the first half. The second, it looked like the offense righted itself. They need to be clicking against Arkansas or otherwise they might find themselves with a loss and out of the BCS Ttile game.

Week 11 Results: 7-4-1 Record. 2-1 Picking Underdogs. 5-3-1 Picking Favorites. 2-0 Road Underdog. 0-1 Home Underdog. 2-0-1 Road Favorites. 3-3 Home Favorites.

Season Results: 82-48-3 Record. 62.8 Win Percentage. 21-19 Picking Underdogs. 61-29-3 Picking Favorites. 16-10 Road Underdog. 5-9 Home Underdog. 24-13-1 Road Favorites. 37-16-2 Home Favorites.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-11-18T10:08:00.000-05:00


Cousin Lynnsey drinking my (3rd) Prelude

No, not Christmas...bah humbug. It's the most wonderful time of the year because Shipyard Brewing's Prelude Special Ale is available again. As many of you know, my go-to beer is Shipyard's excellent Export Ale but the Prelude I love even more. It is not one of those fruity, pumpkiny, overly-spiced winter abominations; it is just what the title says, a nice heavy special ale with a rich nutty flavor.

Last evening was the official launch party date for Prelude, coinciding with Maine Beer Week, and was held at the four Portland Pie locations. So yours truly and four other family members met at the Scarborough location to eat some very fine pizza, have fun together and, of course, partake in several Prelude Ales.

I'm not very good at describing flavors or discerning spices...you'll just have to go get your own. I promise you will love this just as much as we do. Rick and George, this is the very same present I brought you last winter. Suffice to say we all had a very good time together and drank several glasses of this very fine ale (and kept an eye on the Bruin game too).

No Basketball for you

2011-11-16T15:39:00.004-05:00

When asked, I proudly tell people I'm a Celtics fan. I'm starting to wonder if I am being honest with them or myself.

I certainly was a fan during the JoJo White/Dave Cowens days. No doubt that continued during the Larry Bird era. I've blocked out what Wikipedia refers to as "tragedy and decline '93-'98," and was excited when the "big three" joined the team for the 2007-2008. I watched a few regular season games, followed the season in the newspaper and on the web and then thoroughly enjoyed the playoffs. I watched fewer games last year, only glanced at the standings during the season and didn't cry when we were eliminated from the playoffs.

So, now basketball isn't happening - except our pickup games at the park - and I'm honestly not missing it. Is it the players, the NBA or is it me?

Maybe there's just too much stuff going on - the McRib is back, for example.

Welcome back to Victory Lane, Kasey Kahne

2011-11-14T11:46:00.000-05:00

I can't wait to make a post with that title regarding a win by the 43 car; it's been a long, long time. But I'm happy my other favorite driver, Kasey Kahne, found his way back there this weekend.

Kasey has been one of my favorite drivers (along with whoever is driving for Richard Petty) since he broke in driving the #9 Dodge for Ray Evernham. He's a very talented driver who's been a winner at different types of tracks and is respected by his competitors. I wish he was still driving a Dodge and/or still driving for RPM but I'm still a fan and glad to see him get this monkey off his back, even if it was in a Toyota.
I can't seem to find a statistic that shows the points earned by EVERY driver since the Chase started but I contend my three favorite drivers (43, 4 & 9) are right at the top 5 since the Chase started, which makes me optimistic that Kasey will be in the Chase next year, his first driving the 5 car for Hendrick, and that for the first time since the Chase came into being we'll see a Richard Petty owned car in the Chase.
I like Elliott Sadler personally but that was a bonehead move in the Nationwide race on Saturday. He put himself in a position to be a moving roadblock. I don't blame anyone who ran into him. If I'm driving behind him and he passes me, it's fair for me to assume he's faster than me, not suddenly pull a half a car length in front of me going considerably slower than me. I don't think Leffler could have missed him if he wanted to, other than stopping on the track when he saw that fool move at the beginning. I saw a lot of that during the Cup race, drivers diving down low to the flat spot and either losing ground to the cars they were trying to pass or coming up in front of those cars going way too slow to be there.
Now with Carl Edwards coming in to Phoenix with a 3 point lead, then finishing one position ahead of Tony Stewart but Stewart leading the most laps takes us to Homestead next weekend with Edwards still holding that 3 point lead. Who do you want to win the championship AND who do you think will? I'm rooting for Edwards but I can't help but wonder if that one point Stewart picked up at the end of the race yesterday passing Jeff Burton will be the difference. Edwards has traditionally been better than anyone at Homestead of late but this one's for all the marbles.
Anything else Nascar you'd like to talk about?

The Big Bad Bruins are back

2011-11-13T11:14:00.001-05:00

Thanks Brent, for the link and the blog idea. The Bruins have scored 30 goals in the last 5 games and also still playing the kind of tough hockey with 4 lines that won them the Cup last year.
But let's talk about Milan Lucic's hit on Sabre goalie Ryan Miller last night.

Lucic could've been gentler but that was a dead heat race to the puck. By the time he realized (5 feet away?) that Miller was going to beat him to the puck and he's at full speed, how much time does he have to miss Miller? Lucic gets a charging call because he didn't try harder to miss Miller? Fair enough, if that's what the call is for. If the call is for hitting him, then I disagree because it was unavoidable. It's not even charging by definition but I don't think the Bruins mind. I know you all think I'm biased but what would be the basis for a suspension?
No one comes out of the crease more than Tim Thomas and no Bruin fan should have a problem if he gets run into. Other teams know that if they do run into Thomas, they're gonna get their asses kicked though. Obviously nobody worries about that with the Sabres. That intimidated them right out of what was a close game at the time. Do it again, Milan!

Real College Football

2011-11-12T20:50:00.004-05:00

College football should be limited to Army/Navy, Harvard/Yale and Williams/Amherst, places where the rivalries are historically second to none and where football is not the reason for being a student at these institutions. Go to a game where the players are not on scholarship and I dare you that you can't tell the difference in the desire level. To hell with arguing about the bowl system versus a playoff; I say take all of Division I football, take it out of the colleges and make a professional minor league.
I know I won't be making any friends with this post but this is basically a New Englander's attitude regarding college football, especially in light of yet another scandal; this one probably the worst of them, particularly when you consider it's happening at a program considered historically clean. I guess because I come from New England, where college football has always been a different thing than it's evolved into in other parts of the country is why I would much rather watch professional football or student athletes playing football at some small college.
I know none of this will ever happen given how popular college football is in this country and how much money it makes for all the schools involved but as long as an amateur sport is played for profit, bad people will take advantage and bad things will continue to happen.

UPDATE: This fantastic (the correct words don't exist) guest editorial just showed up tonight on the Washington Post. I strongly encourage everyone to read it. It's one of the best/worst things I've read in quite sometime. Here's the opening paragraph...that should be enough to grab you.

I’m 31, an Iraq war veteran, a Penn State graduate, a Catholic, a native of State College, acquaintance of Jerry Sandusky’s, and a product of his Second Mile foundation.

Just Win, Baby

2011-11-11T11:18:00.001-05:00

I had a good chuckle this morning when the San Diego CW6 News morning team of Marc Bailey and Heather Myers were forced to wear Raider colors during the broadcast. This is what happened after they bet weatherman C. S. Keys that their San Diego Chargers would beat his (my) Oakland Raiders last night.

Back in the day I used to do “jersey bets” all the time. I’d go head to head with someone in the office. Whoever lost had to not only wear the other team’s jersey for the whole day, but they got their picture taken and the photo was sent via email to the entire office. A number of coworkers had their picture taken with my Raiders jersey, and there may or may not be a pic of me wearing a Cleveland Browns jersey. I won’t admit to it.

QUESTION: Have you ever done a jersey bet or something similar? If so, how did it go?

The 1-3-1 trap explained

2011-11-11T08:11:00.001-05:00

I'm sharing this video because my fellow authors here can never get enough Jack Edwards but you'll have to admit Jack brings a personality and passion to this that makes hockey great.

If you'd like to read the article that this video is from, you can read it here: Jack Edwards and the Holy Grail

Didn't we go through this whole discussion 10 years ago or so, with the league finally instituting some rule changes because the trap was "killing the game?"

What We Should Be Focusing On In Happy Valley

2011-11-10T00:38:00.002-05:00

Instead of focusing on the hypocrisy of the Leadership at Penn State and how those people could actually think that they were right, we are mostly forgetting what we should be focusing on. The health and welfare of the boys that were (allegedly) abused. My rants on this situation about Joe Paterno and the University of Penn State can wait for another day. My thoughts and prayers are with the families and the people that were abused by a coach on the Penn State staff. I hope that sometime in the very near future, they can find peace within themselves about what has happened.

College Football Predictions - Week 11

2011-11-09T22:58:00.001-05:00

This week, should be a good one. However, the Penn State - Nebraska game has all of a sudden changed in stature and scrutiny. Joe Paterno is out as coach and it is Senior Day on Saturday at the (Not So) Happy Valley. Vegas has also fell in love with the number 13 this week. 4 out of the 12 games have a 13 point line.

1) No. 6 Oregon (+3) at No. 3 Stanford - The Big game of the week. Ducks-Cardinal. For what should be the PAC-12 representative in the BCS. LaMichael James is back for the Ducks and that should be the difference for the Ducks. I think that Andrew Luck will win the Heisman, but that doesn't do anything for this game. I am going with the Ducks because of the speed and the accumulated Big Game experience they bring to the table. Whichever team does win this game should be able to win the PAC-12 Championship Game over either Arizona State or UCLA.

2) No. 10 Virginia Tech (-1.5) at No. 20 Georgia Tech - Frank Beamer has the Hokies back in the Top 10 and he will keep the Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech from upsetting the Hokies.

3) No. 19 Nebraska (-2) at No. 12 Penn State - This game is going to feel weird. Joe Pa is no longer the coach at Penn State. Nebraska is fighting to win their division in the Big 10. And both teams are in the Top 20. I will take the team that is not in turmoil, and it is possible that the psyche of the Nittany Lions might not be at full strength.

4) TCU at No. 5 Boise State (-13) - I will take Boise all day every day in this game. I have a feeling that Caoch Peterson isn't having a hard time keeping the Broncos attention. I am sure that there is revenge on their minds for past years. Plus, the Broncos are on target for a perfect season and Winning the MWC in their first (and possibly only) season.

5) No. 24 Auburn at No. 14 Georgia (-13) - The Bulldogs are the paradox for the SEC. They are starting to be touted by SEC fans as a real good team, possibly the 3rd or 4th best in the conference. They could wrap-up the East Division this weekend with help from Florida. Auburn are not Road Warriors. Look for the 'Dawgs to roll.

6) Tennessee at No. 8 Arkansas (-13) - The Hogs have a real chance to win the SEC still. The Big game comes when they play LSU. If they beat LSU, and win against Tennessee, they are the SEC West Champ. And that beyond anything else is an upset of epic proportions.

7) Wake Forest at No. 9 Clemson (-15.5) - Clemson has had two weeks to stew about their first loss of the season. Wake Forest is going the wrong way after beating Florida State. those two things will cause a blowout win for Clemson.

8) No. 4 Alabama (-17) at Mississippi State - Do you think that Nick Saban has put a burr under the saddle of the Tide players collectively? I do and the Bulldogs will feel the wrath of those players.

9) No. 2 Oklahoma State at Texas Tech (+19.5) - Tech will not win this game, but the Oklahoma State defense will allow the Red Raiders to score point for point with the Cowboys until the end of the game.

10) Miami (Fla.) (+9.5) at Florida State - I don't believe that there are 9 points separating the Canes and Noles. Al Golden has done a wonderful job with Miami, as has Jumbo Fisher with Florida State. I expect for both of these programs to rebound into national powers within the next 5 years.

Additional Two

11) Washington at No. 18 USC (-13) - Lane Kiffin has stabilized the Trojans after the Reggie Bush/Pete Carroll fiasco. I believe that Tennessee would like to have him back. The Trojans are playing well and should be able to handle the Huskies.

12) Western Kentucky at No. 1 LSU (-41.5) - The Hilltoppers aren't in the Tigers class. Watch for LSU to try and prove that the Alabama game was a hiccup.

College Football Predictions Results - Week 10

2011-11-09T22:36:00.001-05:00

Well, the foam helmet didn't work. Maybe next week I will wear the Bison jacket. You know the #1 team in the country in the Football Championship Subdivision. A .500 record is not good enough. However, i am doing better against the spread against College Football Talk. Their record against the spread is 69-47-2.

WIN 1) No. 1 LSU (+6) at No. 2 Alabama - LSU 9, Alabama 6. For the Game of the Century, it sucked golf balls. All that was shown in this game is that both teams have very good defenses and the quarterbacks for each of these team are adequate at best. As for those people out there that want a rematch in the BCS title game, watch this game again and tell me that you want this yet again. I guarantee that a rematch would be the same way and both teams would look worse.

WIN 2) No. 10 South Carolina at No. 8 Arkansas (-5) - South Carolina 28, Arkansas 44. Arkansas still has their fate in their own hands as far as winning the SEC. I don't think that they will, but they have been better than I thought they were. As for South Carolina, Florida could knock them out of the SEC East race on Saturday.

LOSS 3) No. 17 Kansas State at No. 3 Oklahoma State (-21) - Kansas State 45, Oklahoma State 52. While Oklahoma State stayed undefeated, you have to worry about their defense giving up all of those points. Kansas State, while losing those games to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State has had a better season than anybody expected.

LOSS 4) Texas A&M (+13.5) at No. 7 Oklahoma - Texas A&M 25, Oklahoma 41. Oklahoma still has a shot at the BCS championship game. They need for about 4 teams to lose, but they are on the doorstep. Beating Oklahoma State in the Bedlam game would really help that cause.

WIN 5) No. 6 Oregon (-15) at Washington - Oregon 34, Washington 17. The Ducks are in the same boat as the Sooners. They have a team ahead of them in the standings that they play and if they win, which would help their case of being a 1 loss team in the BCS title game. Beating Stanford would also have Oregon in the PAC-12 title game against Arizona State or UCLA. Oregon is better than those two teams any day of the week. So the Stanford-Oregon game is basically for the PAC-12 BCS berth.

WIN 6) No. 23 Cincinnati (-2.5) at Pittsburgh - Cincinnati 26, Pittsburgh 23. The example of the weakness of the Big East is Cincinnati. The Bearcats are undefeated in conference play. If the Bearcats win the Big East, the Big East is really in need of better teams.

LOSS 7) Texas Tech (+10) at Texas - Texas Tech 20, Texas 52. Maybe this will be the game that Texas decides to get up for each and every year since A&M won't be on the schedule anymore. If that is the case, then the Red Raiders need to get the intensity up for the Longhorns, because it didn't show in this game.

LOSS 8) No. 4 Stanford at Oregon State (+20.5) - Stanford 38, Oregon State 13. The game was close until the Beavers self-destructed in the second half. The Cardinal have their biggest test this year on Saturday. Playing the Ducks is never easy and both teams are looking for more than just the PAC-12 title.

LOSS 9) Notre Dame (-13.5) at Wake Forest - Notre Dame 24, Wake Forest 17. I hate picking Notre Dame games and I don't like the Golden Domers personally. How is it that they look like world beaters one week and play down to the competition the next? This is the Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde team of college football.

LOSS 10) Army at Air Force (-15) - Army 14, Air Force 24. It still pains me that the Golden Knights aren't as good as their service academy brethren. The Falcons won the Commander's Cup with this win and my congratulations go out to them. Enjoy it and rub Navy's face in it.

Additional Two

WIN 11) Louisville (+12.5) at No. 24 West Virginia - Louisville 38, West Virginia 35. Bill Stewart was run out of West Virginia because his teams would lose 3 or 4 games a year. Well, he is gone and the trend has continued, at least for this year. And the hopes for the Mountaineers were large in the preseason. The Big East championship and possibly running the table. Expectations came up short.

WIN 12) Purdue at No. 19 Wisconsin (-26.5) - Purdue 17, Wisconsin 62. The Badgers still have a chance to be in the Big 10 championship game. Purdue not so much after this game.

Week 10 Results: 6-6 Record. 2-3 Picking Underdogs. 4-3 Picking Favorites. 2-2 Road Underdog. 0-1 Home Underdog. 2-1 Road Favorites. 2-2 Home Favorites.

Season Results: 75-44-2 Record. 62.8 Win Percentage. 19-18 Picking Underdogs. 56-26-2 Picking Favorites. 14-10 Road Underdog. 5-8 Home Underdog. 22-13 Road Favorites. 34-13-2 Home Favorites.

A Great Year For North Dakota Collegiate Football

2011-11-08T22:50:00.000-05:00

Introducing the 3 Football teams in the State of North Dakota that are in the national football polls of their respective divisions.

This is the logo of the Valley City State Vikings. Currently they are 9-1 in the NAIA. They are ranked #12 in the nation. The NAIA playoff pairings are announced on Sunday. It looks like the Vikings will make the playoffs as an independent with the Dakota Athletic Conference not recognized as a conference since the conference went from 8 teams to 4 last year.

The current logo of the Fighting Sioux of the University of North Dakota. They are ranked #22 in the current FCS polls that were released on Sunday. They are 6-3 this year so far, but 2 out of the 3 losses came at the hands of Idaho and Fresno State who are BCS schools. They still have their fate in their own hands about winning the Great West title. Not bad for a school who is still transitioning into Division I.

Last, but definately not least, we have the North Dakota State Bison. Currently they are 9-0 on the season. They are also ranked #1 in the nation for the FCS division. The Bison have gone on the road and rolled the Minnesota Golden Gophers and won a showdown with then #3 Northern Iowa 27-19. The closest game that they have played was a 9-3 victory over Southern Illinois. 1 win out of their last 2 games will give them a share of the Missouri Valley Conference title, which the Bison haven't won before.

We here in North Dakota are proud of what our local schools are accomplishing. And yes, I should get to a game or three each year, but this year has been nuts for me. If the Vikings do get a game at home, I will be there. If the Bison get a home game, I will try to get tickets. However, the Bison are selling out at over 20,000+ people attending each game. And if I do go, I will post about it.

He Said It (Via Open Letter)

2011-11-06T13:24:00.000-05:00

To all,
I've had a lot of time today to sit and reflect, and try to put my thoughts into words as best I can.
I want to sincerely apologize for my actions during Friday night's Truck Series race at Texas.
I apologize to my fans, all my sponsors, everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports.
After talking with my team, it's great to have their support and encouragement to assure me that there are better days ahead. Even though this took place while driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, I am sorry for how difficult this has been for everyone associated with Joe Gibbs Racing's Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series teams.
I'd also like to apologize to Ron Hornaday Jr., and everyone associated with the No. 33 team in the Truck Series.
I understand why I was taken out of the car for the rest of the weekend. NASCAR officials had to act, and I accept their punishment and take full responsibility for my actions.
As a racecar driver, the hardest thing to do is to sit on the sidelines listening to cars on the track when you know you should be out there competing. For this, I have no one to blame but myself.
Through a lot of support from the people around me, I feel like I've made a lot of strides this year, but this was certainly a step backward. Moving forward, I will do everything I possibly can to represent everyone involved in a positive manner. However, I know my long-term actions will have more of a bearing than anything I say right now.
Sincerely,
Kyle Busch

I’ve had a lot of time this weekend as well to reflect on what happened during Friday’s Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch hooked Ron Hornaday Jr.’s rear bumper and put him into the Turn 3 wall on Lap 13 after both of them made contact with each other while lapping a slower truck as you’ll see below.

In the interview Busch gave after the incident, not only did he show no remorse for his actions but he blamed the other drivers for his wrecks during the last four races.

It’s always been about Kyle Busch and no one else ever since this man-child was wedged into the seat of the #5 by Rick Hendrick. Enough!

My thoughts are this: the old Kyle Busch would never have endangered another driver’s life and/or their championship hopes when he lost his temper. The “new” Kyle Busch crossed that line Friday night. Luckily, Hornaday Jr. was uninjured in the incident but he’ll have to wait another year to win another CWTS championship.

The reality is, an angry Kyle Busch is infinitely more dangerous to other drivers behind the wheel of a stock car than Jeremy Mayfield ever was on meth. Allegedly, of course.

I think we’ve had enough of these Busch league antics. It’s time for an intervention. While I agree with NASCAR parking Busch for the weekend, I want to see more done so this doesn’t happen again. Unfortunately we can’t get Jimmy Spencer to slug Kyle Busch like he did to his older brother Kurt, so instead I’d like to see him enrolled in an anger management program so this doesn’t ever happen again. Failing that, I’d love for his sponsors to leave him and/or for Busch to get kicked to the curb by Joe Gibbs Racing.

Losing the ability to do what he loves might be the only thing left that will get Kyle Busch’s attention that he, not the other drivers, have a problem.

My Plan For The Columbus Blue Jackets

2011-11-06T01:37:00.000-05:00

The time has come for the first GM to be fired this NHL season. That distinction should go to Scott Howson of the Columbus Blue Jackets. His plan of bringing in higher salaried players has backfired so far this year. Did you know that the Blue Jackets are the sixth highest in payroll at this point of time? They have $81,000 of cap room. That means that the Columbus Blue Jackets are paying salaries of around $64 Million this year. And for what? A 2-11-1 record. 5 Points. And already 6 points behind the 14th place team in the West. Might have to start calling them the New York Rangers of the West.

Anyways, I would keep coach Scott Arniel for the time being. He has the confidence of the players in the room. The Captain, Rick Nash, has publicly come out in support of the GM and coach. The coach deserves to stay, the GM not so much. And if you bring back Ken Hitchcock to coach after firing him, you just get the problems of the past couple of years back in the locker room and the players will continue to resent him. Stick with Arniel for this season. See if he has the chops for actually coaching an NHL team. You can fire him easily enough after the season is over.

Whoever the Blue Jackets bring in as the temporary GM, the first thing that they need to do is try to find a trading partner that will take Steve Mason. His confidence is shot in Columbus, the fans are turning on him after a couple of lackluster seasons, and he is now starting to let in the more than occasional soft goal. If this season is lost, then trade him for prospects (if someone will give them up), do an internal audit of how a Blue-Chip prospect like Mason failed and change the way that the Goalies are trained and handled in the minors as well as the NHL level. Then play the two goalies that you hope will be the keepers of the net for the next 5 years and let them have a shot at seeing what the NHL level is all about.

The team needs to think about players before they start signing them. The top line for the Blue Jackets right now is LW Vinnie Prospal, C Derick Brassard, RW Rick Nash. Which one of these players should actually be on a Top line? The 2nd Line doesn't look much better. LW Matt Calvert, C Antoine Vermette, RW Ryan Johanson. I didn't realize that this was the AHL. I understand that C Jeff Carter and LW Kristian Huselius are currently out, but that doesn't plug most of the holes in the Top 2 lines. And the defensive corps have been atrocious this year so far. Switch them with the AHL kids, and the AHL corps might actually perform better.

So in short, fire the GM for assembling this lackluster crop of Blue Jackets, find a trading partner for Steve Mason, keep Scott Arniel for the time being and start focusing on getting the talent out of the players in the minor leagues. They have tried the last step for years and could never get the talent to develop where others thought that the players could be. Evaluate how you are doing things down in the minors, change it, and develop those players that should be able to help you within the next couple of years. If that isn't possible, then trade your most valuable trade chip in Rick Nash to a team for high end prospects. Otherwise, the team will continue to flounder and there is no one else to blame besides the people in the Blue Jackets organization.

College Football Predictions - Week 10

2011-11-04T20:42:00.001-04:00

Well, after last week, the Hawkeye socks are put away when I am picking games. The luck has finally left from those. However, the luck from the Jamestown College Foam Football Helmet is still there. I am wearing that as I pick these games.

1) No. 1 LSU (+6) at No. 2 Alabama - the game of the year according to the hype which is already in overload. The road team in this series has a 2:1 ratio of victories. The Tigers have been higher in the ratings all year and I think that continues. The statistics for the year all say the Tide roll, but going against the data, I am picking LSU.

2) No. 10 South Carolina at No. 8 Arkansas (-5) - South Carolina isn't the same team without Garcia and Lattimer. Arkansas still plays through the air. I'll take the Hogs to win this battle of Top 10 teams.

3) No. 17 Kansas State at No. 3 Oklahoma State (-21) - K-State got blown out by Oklahoma at home last week. This week, the Oklahoma team that has the better record is the opponent. The results though, will be the same.

4) Texas A&M (+13.5) at No. 7 Oklahoma - Texas A&M is a good team when they want to play. I am going to say that they want to play against Oklahoma.

5) No. 6 Oregon (-15) at Washington - I have Oregon being better than Stanford and the Huskies looked bad against the Cardinal. I expect the Ducks to roll up at least 50 points in a blowout win.

6) No. 23 Cincinnati (-2.5) at Pittsburgh - The invisible school that could earn a berth in the BCS, Cincinnati is invading Pittsburgh and playing a disappointing Pittsburgh team. Give me the Bearcats to do to the Panthers what they did to the Wolfpack of NC State.

7) Texas Tech (+10) at Texas - Texas Tech upset Oklahoma 2 weeks ago and then got blown out by Iowa State. Apparently the Red Raiders like the big games and don't show up for the bottom feeders. Playing Texas for them is a big game, and I expect them to show up.

8) No. 4 Stanford at Oregon State (+20.5) - Yes, Stanford is the better team, but coming off that emotional win against USC last weekend, I think that the Cardinal have a let down. They still win, but it will be closer than people think.

9) Notre Dame (-13.5) at Wake Forest - Another week of trying to figure out Notre Dame. Let's just pick the Golden Domers and hope for the best.

10) Army at Air Force (-15) - This pains me. I am a veteran of the Army and to see the football program in the shape that it is and not even be competitive with the other service academies irritates me. Take the Falcons.

Additional Two

11) Louisville (+12.5) at No. 24 West Virginia - Another up and down team in West Virginia. Louisville has a good program and should be able to take advantage of the defense that the Mountaineers play.

12) Purdue at No. 19 Wisconsin (-26.5) - If the Badgers cannot get up for this game after two last-minute losses against Ohio State and Michigan State, then they deserve not to be in the Big 10 title game. I expect the Badgers to go bananas and roll up the score on the underrated Boilermakers.

High School Memory

2011-11-04T15:57:00.001-04:00

First a quick thanks to Zeb for turning me on to the Tavern. Like Zeb, I spent some time in the Marine Corps, so I'm a slow learner. If I screw something up or violate any rules, there's a good chance that it was unintentional.

I posted something on Facebook yesterday that might (or might not) be worth sharing:

Scotty and his Canadian friends crushed my Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I circled around him a few times before directly confronting him. Turns out he's actually a great guy - maybe kicking Boston's butt wasn't personal after all? He ended up winning 9 Stanley Cups, the most in history. By the way, the crying in high school wasn't a total melt down, sissy fit kind of thing. It was more of a silent manly tear rolling down my cheek. Not like my emotional collapse when the Yankees beat the Red Sox in 1978. Does anyone know if Bucky Dent is planning a trip to Sarasota?

I received quite a few comments, but my favorite from Elena: "Good God John, it's time to pull up your big boy panties and move on.. Geez.."

College Football Prediction Results - Week 9

2011-11-03T22:18:00.001-04:00

An ugly week for my picks. I don't like picking Notre Dame or Texas A&M games. I also thought that a couple of teams would rebound better than they did. All of that combined for my 1st losing week of the season.

WIN 1) No. 6 Clemson at Georgia Tech (+4.5) - Clemson 17, Georgia Tech 31. Another undefeated team bites the dust. The Tigers finally lost. It was about time. Although the Tigers will still be in the ACC Title game and possible BCS Bowl game, they aren't what anybody would call dominant.

WIN 2) No. 11 Oklahoma (-13.5) at No. 10 Kansas State - Oklahoma 58, Kansas State 17. This battle of the unbeatens ended in a rout. The Sooners are eying the Bedlam game against Oklahoma State and a possible chance at the BCS Championship game.

WIN 3) No. 9 Michigan State at No. 13 Nebraska (-3.5) - Michigan State 10, Nebraska 17. The Cornhuskers only have one more thing to do to be a participant in the inaugural Big 10 title game. That is to beat Iowa. That shouldn't be difficult.

WIN 4) Baylor at No. 3 Oklahoma State (-15) - Baylor 24, Oklahoma State 59. Mike Gundy has the Cowboys firing on all cylinders. They need to stay focused on Kansas State, not look forward to Oklahoma. They are the dark horse to make the BCS Championship game. The reason? Everybody is still doubting the Cowboys and the talent of the team.

LOSS 5) No. 4 Stanford (-9.5) at No.20 USC - Stanford 56, USC 48 (OT). USC took their shot and had Stanford on the ropes. However, the Cardinal came back and pulled out the win. It does make me hesitant about seeing Stanford beat Oregon for the PAC-12 North title.

LOSS 6) No. 22 Georgia vs. Florida (+1) at Jacksonville, Fla. - Georgia 24, Florida 20. The Largest Cocktail Party was close, and it just shows how far the Gators have fallen from the heights they were at just a few short years ago.

LOSS 7) Navy (+20) at Notre Dame - Navy 14, Notre Dame 56. I told you that this was the hardest game for me to pick this week. The two teams I can't get an accurate read on this year are Notre Dame and Texas A&M.

LOSS 8) No. 12 Wisconsin (-7.5) at Ohio State - Wisconsin 29, Ohio State 33. What is up with the Badgers? They have the best talent in the Big 10. Bret Bielema is a real good coach. Maybe the expectations were just too much for them to handle this year. But to lose to Ohio State in the fashion that they did, it's gotta hurt the Drunk Sconies bad.

LOSS 9) No. 25 West Virginia at Rutgers (+5.5) - West Virginia 41, Rutgers 31. The Hokies defense was still disappointing, but the offense kept on firing throughout the game and pulled out a 10 point win from a 3 point deficit going into the 4th Quarter.

LOSS 10) No. 14 South Carolina at Tennessee (+3.5) - South Carolina 14, Tennessee 3. This was an ugly game. A total of 238 yards passing was earned this game. South Carolina won with rushing the ball 53 times. The Vols are starting to look like Vanderbilt.

Additional Two

WIN 11) Rice at No. 18 Houston (-25.5) - Rice 34, Houston 73. The Big East is trying to get Houston into their conference. The better fit would be in the Big XII. The Cougars throw the ball around, but the defense need work. It looks like they might go undefeated.

LOSS 12) Missouri at No. 16 Texas A&M (-15) - Missouri 38, Texas A&M 31 (OT). The Aggies are hot and cold. The bad thing is that you can't predict which one they are before they hit the field. Oh well, this is the last game between these two in the Big XII. The next time they meet will be in the SEC.

Week 8 Results: 5-7 Record. 1-4 Picking Underdogs. 4-3 Picking Favorites. 0-1 Road Underdog. 1-3 Home Underdog. 1-2 Road Favorites. 3-1 Home Favorites.

Season Results: 69-38-2 Record. 64.2 Win Percentage. 17-15 Picking Underdogs. 52-23-2 Picking Favorites. 12-8 Road Underdog. 5-7 Home Underdog. 20-12 Road Favorites. 32-11-2 Home Favorites.