Divisional Round - Day 1

Interesting slate of games this weekend, particularly today.

The big bear is hungry!

The afternoon game pegs the hottest team in the AFC against the team who lead the way all season.  Baltimore travels to Tennessee to take on the well reseted Titans for a chance to go to the AFC championship game.  Tennessee hasn't spent a day out of first place all year, and with Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch returning to action, presumably at full strength, Tennessee looks ready.  Don't sleep on the Titans here, they have a coach, Jeff Fischer, and a quarterback, Kerry Collins, who have been there before, both playing in a multitude of playoff games.

Sure Baltimore has a big D, but they are a turnover based team, if they don't score twice defensively, they will not win this game.  Tennessee does not turn the ball over frequently and I'd put more faith in Kerry Collins than rookie Joe Flacco who has shown some life, but is only playing in his 18th NFL game.  I say Tennessee 17 - Baltimore 10.

The night game has Arizona traveling to the east coast to take on Carolina.  Arizona has been unsuccessful all year (0-5) traveling east, including a week 8 loss to the Panthers in Carolina.  Kurt Warner may have found new life, but Anquan Boldin is questionable to play which will certainly hurt the Cards dangerous passing game.  It's no secret Carolina prefers to run the football and run the football some more, and then run it some more after that.  Arizona was able to stifle Michael Turner last week, but I don't see them stopping the relentless thunder and lighting attack of D'Angelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart.   As long as Jake Delhomme doesn't turn the ball over more than twice, I don't see Arizona winning.  I'd take Carolina 31 - Arizona 28.

The BCS National Championship (sorry Utah)

Tonight will officially put an end to the seemingly endless college football bowl season.  The Florida Gators led by former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow will match up against reigning Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford.  The last time Heisman trophy winners faced off in a national championship game was when USC's Matt Leinert led the romp of Jason White's Oklahoma Sooners.

Unfortunately for the Sooners, tonight should shake out in a similar fashion.  Look for the Florida defense to give the Sooners fits all night, this aint no Big 12 shootout tonight.  Florida 34 - Oklahoma 18.

REALLY?? starring Andy Pettite

So news broke today that FORMER Yankee starting pitcher Andy Pettite has turned down the 1 year $10million offer from the Yanks.  I can't imagine him turning it down for any other reason than retirement, although an official announcement hasn't been made.  If he does decide to go to another team for more money, expect Yankee fans to be pisssssssedd.  

A little surprised by this story, and look for more to develop soon.

Yankees Rotation (now featuring Joba Chamberlain)

The biggest improvement clearly came in the way of the two hottest pitching free agents around, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.  Sabathia is a clear ace, immediately he will be the top of the rotation and if he doesn't win 20 games i'd be shocked.  Anytime a pitcher gets signed for so many years there is cause for concern, but CC has shown thusfar he is capable of a heavy workload.  Burnett worries me a bit,  his three good years in his career were two contract years and an arbitration year.  Hopefully his humility is genuine and his former tutor Roy Halladay taught him the true zen of pitching.  

The signing of CC shows that Brian Cashman and the Yankees did have a plan when they didn't pull the trigger on a Johan Santana trade.  I'm not saying CC is Johan, but he is as close as it gets with plenty of upside.

Joba moves to a solid rotation spot which to me isn't even an argument anymore.  You want a guy with this kind of talent pitching 200 innings as opposed to being an 8th inning guy and only pitching 70, it's a no brainer.  More outs...less runs scored...more wins, end of story.  Plus the bullpen is pretty solid and doesn't need Joba.  Mo is still automatic, and Veras, Bruney and Ramirez should shake out the late innings.  Dave Robertson showed a ton of promise and youngster Phil Coke may see some innings sooner rather than later.

The rotation how I see it....

1. CC Sabathia

2. Chien-Ming Wang

3. AJ Burnett

4. Joba Chamberlain

5. Pettite/Hughes/Kennedy

The rotation is built strong, and will compete for the best in baseball.  The thing to look at here is that 1-3 and 1-4 we match up with anyone, so the curse of first round eliminations may be behind us.  This is a very strong playoff type rotation that also has the depth to make it through a 162 game season.

The question mark comes at the 5th spot.  As of now Andy Pettitte hasn't accepted the Yankees offer and all indications are that the Yanks are ready to move on.  This leaves the 5th spot up for grabs, it should be a nice competition in spring training between Kennedy and Hughes, and Dan Giese, who showed he could pitch in the big leagues in spot starts last season.  No matter what, we can't do worse than we did last year with Kennedy and Hughes so odds are one will emerge as a 10 game winner.  My money is still on Hughes, but we'll see how it shakes out.

AL All-star team (aka The New York Yankees) - Hitters

With the impending finalization of the Mark Teixiera megadeal, the time is right for a post on the New York Yankees.  The Yankees spent the offseason cleaning up the free agent market after purging a few "dead weight" type contracts (Pavano, Giambi, Abreau, Pettitte, Mussina to name a few) freeing up a seemingly endless stream of cash.  This cash was turned immediately into the top two free agent pitchers on the markey, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, and the best 1st baseman not named Pujols, Mark Teixiera.

Yankee haters may cry foul...but they are playing by the rules and there is no question the Yankees are good for baseball.  The complaint isn't that the Yankees are putting millions upon millions into the on field product, the complaint is that other owners can't keep up with what the Yankees spend on players and still maintain a constant flow of millions into their own personal accounts.

Here's the opening day lineup, the way i see it...

1. Johnny Damon, LF

2. Derek Jeter, SS

3. Alex Rodriguez, 3B

4. Mark Texiera, 1B

5. Hideki Matsui, DH

6. Jorge Posada, C

7. Robinson Cano, 2B

8. Nick Swisher, RF

9. Melky Cabrera, CF

A quit rundown, spots 1-4 speak for themselves...basically a lock, the only difference being the occasional day off for Damon with him as DH, he's still the best leadoff option.  Something that does still concern me is that A-Rod will still be the guy that has to drive in the big run.  He is going to see the best pitches he could ask for...however if he fails to drive in the run, Tex is not beyond taking a walk in a big situation, and with only Hideki Matsui protecting him, he likely won't see anything too spectacular to hit.  Depending on how Jorge's shoulder is and how consistently he is in the lineup, we may see a juxtapose between him and Matsui at 5/6.

I may be asking too much of Cano in the 7 hole here.  Although he may not replicate his 2007 season, I can't see him doing as poorly as he did last year...so assuming he levels out somewhere in between, he should be solid.  Swish is a big mystery to me, he had the lowest BA in the league last year but he is a money ball guy, he should see a lot of pitches and walk...if he hits 20 hr's I'd be elated.  Cabrera is in the same boat as Cano...he finished last season in the minors and hopefully has had a wakeup call.  In actuality he is only keeping the spot warm for Austin Jackson, so any production between him and Brett Gardner, as well as a plus arm, should be fine for the 9 hole.

Wildcard weekend does not disappoint...(unless you are a colts, vikings, dolphins, or falcons fan)

Greetings...it's been a while.

By the looks of things, I can see you aren't happy.  Afterall who could blame you, your team has gotten so far...struggled mightily to get into the postseason, a true honor these days....

Anyway, the journey to the post season is long and hard...you rooted, you cheered, you cringed, and when the regular season ended, you celebrated, a postseason birth.  And now, for three unlucky teams, and one really REALLY unlucky team, the season has ended abruptly.

It's ok, I feel your pain, I am a J-J-J-...I can do this, I am a J-J-J-, alsmost got it, J-J-Jets fan.  In the words of the joker, here we go.  Enjoy this San Diego Chargers Cheerleader for the moment.

First thing's first...

Arizona Cardinals 30 - Atlanta Falcons 24

This game really caught me by surprise, the Cardinals came out of the gates looking hungry and playoff ready, no one saw that coming considering the way they stumbled into the post season having clinched so early on.  Dominique Rogers-Cromartie was all over the field collecting 10 tackles and a pick.  Kurt Warner connected with Larry Fitzgerald on a big flea flicker early in the first and Arizona was able to run the ball with a resurgent Edgerrin James and hold off Matt Ryan and the unusually inconsistent Atlanta offense.

Arizona faces an interesting matchup with Carolina next week, if they are able to stop the run the way they did against Atlanta, then they can really do some damage.

San Diego Chargers 23 - Indianapolis Colts 17

In the night cap for Saturday's festivities, the game proved to be more tightly contested than some may have originally thought.  There were two real heroes in this one.  First off, in typical January fashion, LT was nowhere to be found again.  Well LT be damned, in steps the diminutive former K-State star, Darren Sproles with the game of his life.  When all was said and done he had 328 total yards, and two touchdowns including the game winner in OT.  The other hero in this one was SD punter Mike Scifres, with a Madden-like 6 punts inside the 20 yard line and an average of 57 yards per punt, even 310 yards of Peyton Manning gold wasn't enough to overcome.  This was a field position battle all night and it was won by the Bolts.  They now move on the face the Steelers in Pitt where they will certainly be the biggest underdog of the weekend.

Baltimore Ravens 29 - Miami Dolphins 9

Not much to this game, a less than pedestrian performance by the comeback player of the year Chad Pennington and a swarming Ravens defense was able to collect 4 picks including 2 by Ed Reed.  Miami was never able to overcome the turnovers and Baltimore ran away with this one.  Offensively Baltimore was atrocious,  Flacco connected on only 9 of 23 passes.  If they don't get at least 1 defensive TD per game, they don't stand a chance.  Next week at Tennessee should be a fun one to watch at the very least.

Philadelphia Eagles 26 - Minnesota Vikings 14

In a game that had Giants fans surely holding their breath, the Eagles showed that they are making a serious run at the NFC this postseason.  The Eagles turned the ball over twice but Asante Samuel's pick six in the second quarter proved to be enough, as icing on the cake, Brian Westbrook took a screen pass 71 yards for the score, proving once again that he is the most important player on the hottest team right now.  Look for them to give the Giants a lot of trouble next week in the Meadowlands.

Blackhawks' resurgence adds allure to Winter Classic

By Brian Fitzsimmons, PA SportsTicker

The Chicago Blackhawks have been hearing the buzz all season long.

Sure, their resurgence toward the top of Chicago’s sports scene - coupled with the stellar play of 20-year-old captain Jonathan Toews and reigning Calder Trophy winner Patrick Kane - has helped.

But the electricity generated by the Blackhawks’ dynamic duo only adds to the allure of the upcoming Winter Classic, which will be played New Year’s Day at Wrigley Field.

“We’ve been hearing about it everywhere we go in the city since this summer and since the press conference,” Toews said. “When it was officially announced that we were going to have that game, I think the city of Chicago is really excited about it.

“I think it kind of goes along with the whole hype of how the Hawks are back in this city, and hockey is back. I think it’s a lot of fun for us to walk down the street and have people at restaurants and everywhere we go talking to us about it.”

“The Road to the NHL Winter Classic” will reach Wrigley Field on Tuesday, as the 53-foot NHL Refrigeration Trailer - which will make the skating rink for the annual outdoor game - rolls onto Waveland Avenue.

The trailer will be greeted by Blackhawks president John McDonough and legend Bobby Hull along with Cubs chairman Crane Kenney.

Last season’s Winter Classic drew 3.7 million viewers, making it the most viewed NHL regular-season game since January 27, 1996.

You’d better believe the Blackhawks’ matchup against the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings in this year’s game will surely attract another strong audience.

Lately, the Blackhawks are used to having all eyes on them.

They currently lead the league in attendance and have sold out all 15 home games at the United Center, averaging more than 20,500 fans.

Chicago is trudging through a five-year playoff drought and has qualified for the postseason just once in the last 10 seasons. Surely, the tides are about to turn.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Toews said. “I think it’s obvious I was a pretty lucky kid on draft day to go to Chicago. I never imagined that my first few years in the league would be this exciting - and this historical in a way - (because) it’s been a struggling franchise.

“Now, we’ve been making headlines across the league for things that our team and our organization has been doing on and off the ice. So, I think we have a young and exciting team right now. A lot of potential, a lot of star players - it’s just a lot of fun to be part of in so many ways.”

It’s remarkable to think that in February, 2004, ESPN named the Blackhawks the worst franchise in professional sports.

Indeed, they were shunned for much of the 1990s and early 2000s, due to anger over several policies installed by their late owner Bill Wirtz, who did not allow home games to be televised in the Chicago area.

Now, every home game has been aired and a wide variety of hockey fans have become accustomed to the high-scoring Blackhawks, who are second in the Central Division - behind only Detroit.

Coming off an impressive 20-goal, 54-point effort in his rookie campaign, Toews has continued to blossom into a star, while Kane is currently in second place among Western Conference forwards in the All-Star fan balloting.

In fact, Kane can become the first Hawk to start an All-Star Game since Chris Chelios in 1997.

Both youngsters - along with Patrick Sharp, Martin Havlat and rookie sensation Kris Versteeg - have helped Chicago become one of the most dangerous offensive teams in the league.

“Obviously, it helps when (Kane) is a year older and (Toews), and (Sharp) has his confidence going,” said Chicago defenseman Brian Campbell, who was signed as a highly coveted free agent in the offseason.

After a 1-2-1 start this season, coach Denis Savard was fired and the Blackhawks brought in former Colorado Avalanche leader Joel Quenneville. Since then, they are 15-4-1 overall and 9-1-3 at home.

Tied with the Anaheim Ducks for fourth place in the Western Conference entering Tuesday’s games, Chicago is finally more than just the Cubs.

And yes, it’s a buzz worth hearing.

Tuck Rule

Justin Tuck of the NY football Giants got flagged on the play for this "hit" and was later fined $7,500 from the league office. Roger Goodell is on some kind of McCarthyan crusade here trying to smoke out and eliminate the big hitters in the league. Show that to your kids learning to play the game, that is a textbook, perfect form tackle - wrap up, facemask in the chest and drive through.

Just give the qb's flags from now on, this is a joke.

Here's the thing:

The NFL encourages players growing to astronomical proportions (naturally or unnaturally). Look at the size of the average lineman drafted out of college in the last 5-6 years, proof enough. Big dudes sell! It sells under armour, it sells whey protein, it sells EAS systems. The NFL policy is make money off their bodies anyway they can, fatten them up when they are in the league and slim them down with nutrisystem after

Brooks Bollinger should get fined for holding on to the ball for so long, or Flozell Adams for getting SMOKED on that whiff of a block, not Justin Tuck. I'm cryin foul on this one, I really hope this fine doesn't stand up and doesn't continue a trend.

How can you ask these guys to lighten up their hits on qbs when you have giants like Big Ben or Donovan McNabb shedding tacklers weekly? This is bad for the league, next thing you know there will be no tackling at all, and hell if they aren't gonna tackle, why block? Lets just play 7 on 7's with no contact, that will be good for the league...

Franchises That Make Me LOL

The decision to write this came solely on a whim, sparked by yet another questionable decision by the Knicks that I will describe later. It made me think how much humor I find when stupid people do stupid things. I figured then, for completion purposes, to publicly call out those organizations that have failed to the point that I actually have laughed at them.

Detroit Lions
The franchise that has drafted a wide receiver in the first round of four of the last six drafts never ceases to amaze me. For years, they continually employed a man that has driven a team into the ground that still gets a national spotlight on Thanksgiving. Finally, they fired GM/CEO/Moron Matt Millen in the first right move they have made in years, but just when I was ready to give the 0-7 Lions a much needed break, quarterback Dan Orlovsky does this.

Kansas City Chiefs
Herm Edwards, Damon Huard, Brodie Croyle, and (yes, he's good, but a disaster right now) Larry Johnson.

Pittsburgh Pirates
95, 94, 95, 95, 89, 87, 89, 100, 93, 83, 93. Those were the loss totals for the Pirates over the last 11 years. How terrible is a franchise if they can't have at least one winning season in the past 16 years. It's one thing to be bad, but give the Pirates credit, at least they are consistent.

New York Knicks
Where do I begin? This is the reason I even wrote this in the first place. This abomination all started with the idiotic hiring of Isiah Thomas. Thomas destroyed everything Larry Bird had built up for the Pacers but was named the President of Basketball Operations for the Knicks in 2003. Since then, he has taken one of the most popular franchises in sports and demolished them to insignificance. The Knicks have made one bad decision after another, starting with a trade for Stephon Marbury orchestrated by Isiah Thomas. Factor in an awful trade for Eddie Curry where the Knicks gave up two first round picks, neither of which was protected in case the Knicks ended up in the lottery. As a side note, Sports Illustrated reported that Eddie Curry sat on an exercise ball during the offseason and popped it. I can't help but laugh at this team. Finally, after firing Isiah Thomas, (years too late) they seemed to be on the way to recovery with smart signings of Mike D'Antoni and Donnie Walsh. After everything started looking brighter, the Knicks announced today that they cut Patrick Ewing, Jr. to get the roster down to the required 15. Maybe on a basketball standpoint this isn't the worst move in the world, but this franchise has absolutely nothing going for it at this point. Any sign of good expectations, no matter how slim, is a step in the right direction, and even if Ewing, Jr. never plays, simply having the name "Patrick Ewing" on the Knicks should make both Knicks fans smile. But alas, the stupid decision was made by the stupid people, and the Knicks have sent me from LOLing to ROFLing once more.

How to fix the Yankees (part 329847293874)

Let me say right off the bat that the rumors of the demise of the New York Yankees has been Tragically over exaggerated. Lets take a look, as I always like to do, at the numbers that tell the true story. As you see here,

The first thing you have to consider, obviously, is wins. It is the one defining, lasting characteristic of a season. The number of wins the Yankees ended up with may surprise you, that number is 89. To put that in perspective, when they won the World Series in 2000, they finished with 87 wins. In 2007 they finished with 94 wins. The problem this year was that they played in one of the strongest divisions in the history of major league baseball. The Rays and Red Sox both went deep into the playoffs and had 97 and 95 wins respectively. Since there can only be one wildcard, the Sox edged them out. If the playoffs were decided by merit only and there were no divisions, just the top 8 teams, they Yankees would have been a 7 seed, they finished with more wins than the Dodgers who made the playoffs, and had Joe Torre. I'm just saying.

Anyway, there is obvious temptation to hit the panic button, but prudence is imperative...prudence of course is relative, Yankee prudence. So some quick hit thoughts about how to fix the Yanks:

1. Sign Mark Texiera

This goes without saying, we fill 1b with as solid a position player as there is in the league and do it for less money than Giambi was due to receive, no brainer. Get Tex, spare no cost.

2. Bring back Moose

This may seem unpopular, but the guy had 20 wins and was an absolute ace. He has finally adjusted to his new velocity, or lack there of, and should be able to be as suitable a 4/5th starter as there is in the league. Give him 2 years, let him get to 300 wins (he stands at 270). The money is an issue, its better to overpay short term than lock up a guy long term, which brings me to....

3. Leave CC alone

There is no way this guy with that body can last 7 years effectively and deserves the kind of money he will be asking for. Don't even bother getting in the bidding war, steer clear. He is a disaster waiting to happen and having him locked up long term will end up being a burden later on. Again, pay short term, spare your long term.

4. Re-sign Pavano

Another possibly unpopular move, but we have sunk $40 Mil to get this guy healthy and have nothing to show for it, if we get him short term again, 2-3 years, with options for maybe a 4th and 5th, we can have a solid back of the rotation guy with a newly repaired elbow, if nothing else this will be a great insurance policy.

5. Cano and Melky

Yea, I don't know what to do with these two, but they need to play better or we are doomed haha.

Any comments?

Hockey, eh

So the hockey season is in full swing and so far, the Devils of New Jersey are looking fairly good, (besides this weekend's games). Obviously since we played the two teams I hate the most this week, The Rangers and Flyers, and God hates my sports teams, they lost all three. Martin Brodeur made just a silly save that had no business being saved, he is a phenom. The stinkbomb thrown on the ice Saturday during OT was obviously a sign of class from the always amicable Philadelphia fans and the reason the Devils lost.

Zach Parise and Patrick Zajac are two emerging stars and hopefully we lock them up for the long term, obviously adding another scorer would help and getting Holik and Rolston back will be a boost.

Les Miserables (read: NY Jets Fans)

Another week and another pathetic stumble to the finish line victory by the head of scouting for the Detroit Lions Brett Favre and the boys in Green (yes you may recall they do actually wear green jerseys and are not the Titans, they are 6-0).

The most notable point of this game was the once again yawn-inspiring offense from Brian Schottenheimer and Man-not a genius. A few things to point out about the offense by the numbers:

135

As in135 rushing yards against a Chief team that is last in the league in rush defense, take away a 60 yard run (by far the longest rush of the season by a Jet) by Leon Washington, and they posted a pathetic 75 yards, or an average of 3.3 yards per carry. A pedestrian number for an offensive line that boasts 4 number 1 picks. This brings us to...

6

As in 6 offensive touches for Leon Washington. The guy is the most explosive player on the team bar none, the only player who can create his own space and the only player who is a threat to break free every time he touches the ball. The fact that he only got 6 touches is a crime, 3 rushes, one of which he broke free for a 60 yarder on what was nothing more than an iso up the middle, and 3 catches, one being a dump pass he took for 18 yards and the score. I can't make it any clearer, get this guy the ball!!!

1

As in less than 1 yard to go on a 3rd down play late in the game in the Jets zone. Instead of pounding it up the gut with Jones, or even rolling out on a playfake and dumping off to a back or one of the three amigos we have playing TE, we decide to send one on Fed Ex overnight air in a laughable pass that was nowhere near a completion. Yes throw the ball deep, no not on 3rd and one in our own zone.

3.9

As in 3.9 yards per carry by featured back Thomas Jones. I always thought Jones was a serviceable runner, but thats basically all he is. He is only capable of getting what you give him. One thing our offense lacks is the possibility of getting a first down on 1st and 10 or 2nd and 8-10 on a run play. Curtis Martin did this beautifully, he was the master of the 12 yard run when we needed it. He would rarely break out for 60-80, but boy was he good at getting 12, Emmit Smith was the same way. Jones just barrels into where he's supposed to go and hopes momentum takes him home, not a very creative runner.

In closing, the Jets are never going to be dominant in a game they should be dominant in, and will probably never be out of a game they should be out of, they are gonna hang around punchdrunk and hopefully steal enough wins to make the playoffs. The defense is playing great, and Kerry Rhodes is probably the best safety in the NFL right now.

This week at Buffalo will be the first real test since the New England game, this is a big game.