Quick Notes

The Caps won their last preseason game against the Nashville Predators 2-1. Washington's goals came from Jay Beagle and Mike Green, and goaltender Michael Neuvirth was 13/14 in saves, as he started the entire game.

Today, Matt Hendricks, the LadyHatTrick award winner of the preseason (he scored a hat trick in Washington's 6-2 win over Columbus) signed a one-year contract with the Caps.

In case you were wondering, one of the Caps' blast-from-the-past players, Brian Willsie, was released and places on waivers...
...Okay, I didn't think you cared either. I just thought to let you know.

Tomorrow, the Capitals play their first game at the Verizon Center this preseason against the Boston Bruins (1-1-1 in preseason) at 7:00 pm. By now, the Caps have cut their roster down to 33 players in time for tomorrow's match. Washington will follow tomorrow's game with another face-off against the Bruins on Wednesday, this time in Boston.

Finally, as a sidenote, there's an on-going battle among outsiders about who is to be the #1 starting goalie this season for Washington: Semyon Varlamov or Michael Neuvirth. Both have been very good in their first two starts (Varlamov played 30 minutes in Columbus and stopped all shots), and both have seen significant time with the big club. Now that the job is between the two, I will ask you which do you think should start for the Caps.

Stay tuned for more Caps' notes/news soon. Just an update to make sure everyone knows I'm alive.

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NFC East Notes:

The Dallas Cowboys finally won their first game of the season by the way in a solid 27-13 victory over the Houston Texans. The Redskins and Giants both lost, however, and the Eagles continue to perform strongly with Michael Vick as their starting quarterback. Nonetheless, the Eagles have had the easiest schedule in the division, so I'm not putting too much weight on that.

Just thought I'd share.

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MLB Notes:

You'll get MLB notes once the playoffs begin.

NFL Conference Championship games

After last week's total embarrassment going 0-4 in the NFL playoff picks, I achieve redemption today by going 2-0 with last week's prediction of the Colts and Saints making it to Super Bowl XLIV.

Jets and Colts

The Colts and Jets began the Sunday afternoon excitement in a game that a lot of people had going either way. I was confident, however, in the Colts ultimately taking the game.

The game didn't start that way, though. The first quarter ended scoreless, but the whole first half of the game was entirely controlled by NY. Often, the Colts would go through a drive marching down the field, yet they would end up leaving the drive with only 3 points.

Meanwhile, the Jets would respond with touchdowns, giving them, at one point, a 17-6 lead. The Colts put up one more touchdown toward the end of the 2nd quarter, making it 17-13, and putting the team back in contention.

On Twitter, I continuously read conversations, saying the Jets had this one, and the Colts were going to be upset, and all that nonsense. The only doubt I had was because I have this problem with sports gods and the teams that I choose to win. But that's another story for another day...

I maintained my faith, despite all of the doubters on Twitter asking me about this being the biggest upset ever. Game ain't over yet!...

...Well, it wasn't over until the Colts touchdown that came about 7 minutes into the second half to Pierre Garcon. Garcon, who ended up with 151 yards on 11 receptions, and the other big guy for the game, Austin Collie (123 yards on 7 receptions), were able to offensively lead Indianapolis to a 30-17 win over the seemingly unstoppable Jets.

1 down, 1 more to go for me.

With the Jets coming off of a win against the San Diego Chargers, a serious run game, and the top rated defense this playoff season, it did look hard to go against the momentum. Also, with the skeptics of the Colts' ability to get their receivers around Jets safety Darrelle Revis, and the idea of "resting starters" it made the Colts look weaker.

But that's exactly what it was; an illusion. It was all in their heads to rationalize why the Colts could lose to justify why the Jets would win. But no worries. I understand.

Vikes and Saints

The next game was enough to cause a heart attack for anyone who wasn't even a fan of either team. I can tell you that as a Dallas Cowboys fan, who now technically could care less about who wins the Super Bowl, I was DYING at the suspense this game provided.

The beginning of the Saints/Vikings match had the makings of a shootout between the two teams, which I think a lot of people had expected.

Now I had expected the shenanigans that occurred with Adrian Peterson to happen the previous week with Dallas (I guarantee you they would have won that way), but the Saints seemed to take ownice of my game plan and forced AP to fumble - more than once.

In fact, the Vikings had a bajillion turnovers. AP most of all must been using that wave-grease that Cowboys WR Roy Williams usually uses that makes him drop balls. As much as I knew the lack of ball control issue, WHAT TEAM GETS 6 FUMBLES!? The Saints made sure to get points off of the turnovers.

Nonetheless, the Vikings remained tied after the 7 minute mark in the 4th quarter, 28-28. The Saints let them hang around after all. But once again, the Saints defense forced the INT from Brett Favre in Saints territory, ruining the opportunity the Vikes had in winning the game in regulation.

This nail-biter now headed to OT. The Saints began OT on offense, and, rather quickly via passes and Vikes penalties, entered into the Minnesota side of the field. Thanks to a suave completion to Meachem from Brees, the Saints were at the Vikings' 22 yard line. An incompletion following that play caused a 4th and 3 to go situation.

Long story short, Saints kick a 40 yard field goal, actually make it, and the Saints made the Super Bowl for the first time in their franchise's history.

BTW, Drew Brees made a nice post-game outfit selection. Sharp, my friend, sharp.

Super Bowl XLIV Picks

The Super Bowl winner will be the Colts. I will explain why after we see all the players waste time at the Pro Bowl.

The Obvious is Too Obvious?

So the two #1 seeds face off in the Super Bowl as I predicted last week, the Colts and the Saints. It would have been easy to call this way back since the regular season.

But that's just the problem! It's just too obvious. I actually believe that everybody knew this matchup was coming. But who wants to pick the obvious teams? It looks like lazy pick because it's so easy to say they're clearly the two best teams. How often does that happen that legitimately, the two best teams in the league face each other in a championship game?

By seeding, this is the third time the two #1 teams played each other in the Super Bowl. But did that always mean that they were really that good? The world was, in fact, in denial about picking the Colts and Saints. As I explained before, people rationalized who was going to win besides the Colts or Saints.

People constantly tried to pick some sort of underdog because it seems every year, some team people least expected to make it, makes it. I mean, that makes sense, right? I suppose. And then you think about it, and this year, it really would make sense that these were the two best teams. We will see which one is actually THE BEST... in 2 weeks :-)

The Jets. (Yes, with the period at the end)

Ahh yes. The Jets lost. Good run, but you weren't beating the Colts. I won't rub it in though. I'm just going to say that Rex Ryan should have continued the "negative reinforcement" strategy.

In my mind, I see that strategy works the best. When you admit that things are going well for your team, it just messes the world order up, and makes every one work less hard. But mostly messes up the world order.

Saying your team is going to win it all in the conference championship game isn't going to work. This has been proven over and over again i.e. Tracey McGrady, Sports Illustrated (before the teams freakin' win anything they get on a cover), etc. Please, keep putting up the front that you need to play better and I promise you, the gods will allow things to work for you.

All jokes aside, however, (not entirely joking but anyway...) the Colts are a smart-as-hell team with a well-working coaching staff and players that know better. They wouldn't dare let the Jets win. After all, the Colts have a mean defense as well, in case you weren't paying attention.

Penguins and Flyers

Before all the football, there was hockey on NBC, the Flyers and the Penguins. Pittsburgh won in an also exciting sports outing by a score of 5-4.

Now, I hate to make a spectacle of hockey games because hockey is an amazing game, aside from the fights and shenanigans that happen around the game. But this was actually HILARIOUS and I had to share it because if you read carefully, you'll see how much sense this makes.

If you don't know already, one previous game between the two teams included an incident where Flyers' Scott Hartnell was accused of biting the finger of Kris Letang in a fight.

Here, this time, the accusations are from the Flyers' Aaron Asham, stating that the Penguins' goon, Matt Cooke, bit his finger.

All I'm going to say is, since when is it that "usually if you bite somebody"? LMAO! Because people just go around biting people in and out of hockey... oh Aaron Asham...

Here you go, from Puck Daddy's Greg Wyshynski: Penguins-Flyers Game Ends in Another Biting Accusation

*Sidenote: I will admit, after my relationship with a Lightning fan, that Matt Cooke was indeed slightly dirty even as a player on the Caps, and that hit on Vincent Lecavlier was uncalled for. This seems pointless, but I needed this off my conscience.

The Hockey Writers

Enjoy my last piece here on the Caps and Penguins game last week. The critics were hushed in the 6-3 victory over Pittsburgh. Ahhh, yes... #puckfittsburgh.

Happy reading!

NFL Divisional Playoffs - Disappointment

This is how I felt

Hello everybody!

So the NFL Divisional playoff series are now over and I was COMPLETELY, ENTIRELY WRONG in my picks to win. In fact, I was so wrong, I could probably be terminally depressed at the level of incorrectness I had. I'd might as well pack up and go home and sue myself for falsely posing myself as a knowledgeable sports fan...

...Okay, I won't take it that far, but considering I was 0-4 all weekend, picked 3 upsets that went the way they were supposed to, and the only non-upset I picked (Chargers/Jets), there was the hidden upset.

But that's not all my fault. I mean, I'm sure the majority of the world picked the Chargers to beat the Jets. A good number had the Cowboys beating the Vikings. There were more than enough cases of a few brave (and smart) souls chose the Ravens over the Colts. I can tell you that plenty others had the Cardinals winning in a close game against the Saints.

My biggest explanation here for why I failed so badly in my picks was that I mistook these teams who had bye-weeks who were "well-rested" for being "too rested". But apparently, for 3 out of the 4 teams, that was just the NFL just officially played my life. It went sort of like this:

Saints 45, Cardinals 14
Colts 20, Ravens 3
Vikings 34, Cowboys 3
Jets 17, Chargers 14

My Excuses:
Contrary to what I may say, I DO pick teams for a reason, although when I explain them now, it will sound like an excuse. To all my Greeks reading this, please don't ask for the stanzas of "Excuses". I already went through all that. So here we go...

• I picked the Cardinals because of the way the Saints ended the season and the fact that they had a bye-week. I don't know why - maybe it's because the Cowboys had a bye-week their last playoff entry and lost - but I thought that the teams that had sub-par endings and the extra week off would lose. I should have known better because of the close call with the Cardinals in the previous game against the Packers. They should have lost and didn't. Oh well.
• I picked the Ravens because of in their regular-season matchup; the Ravens came pretty close to beating the Colts in a battle of field goals. Also, the Colts were the team that I thought had too much rest. Finally, I was impressed with the way the Ravens played the Patriots in the first round. So I thought, with a little bit of offensive tweaking, they could hang in there at least against the Colts. However, I completely forgot that the Colts were, in fact, the Colts, and they knew better than to sleep in every day, only to wake up to some afternoon television (Maury or something). Shame on me.
• Yes, I chose the Dallas Cowboys to beat the Vikings. Before you assume I did it because of bias, I did not. I chose them because they were on fire. I thought they were the most serious team in this year's playoffs. Their defense went SO hard, with 2 back-to-back shutouts to end the season, and continued the great defensive plays in the first game against the Eagles. The Cowboys offense also came out the last game to win their first playoff game in 13 years. I had to be convinced that Dallas had it going for them.
  There was an underlying feeling, however, that they will have the same type of game they had when they played against the Packers in Green Bay. For some reason, Tony Romo and his squad can't play well west of Dallas, Texas! I also would like to put Nick Folk... I mean Shaun Suisham on the firing squad for killing any shot that Dallas would have at scoring some more points. That underlying feeling of a bad game came to be true, and my heart was broken. Now I need an alternative team.
• I can tell you right now that alternative team will not be the Jets, though. But I'll get to that in a bit. The Chargers were the team that actually played well down the stretch of the end of the NFL season. They won a close one in their last game against the Redskins, but still, one would assume that was a fluke. It seemed more like a foreshadowing of what would happen next. Regardless, I'm still going to say that this was an effort won by the Jets, rather than saying the Chargers lost it. The Jets have been put onto something after the regular season that allows them their defense to REALLY come out and just suffocate the opposing team's offensive talents. I also say the Jets won because the Chargers made it very close, very late, but the Jets held on and won the game. What can I say?

The Jets...

To continue on the issue of the Jets seeing abnormal success this postseason, this is a situation that was created by people like Colts head coach Jim Caldwell. I'm sorry if I offend some people here, but the Jets were LET into the playoffs. They were straight handed two games by the Colts and Bengals to enter into the playoffs. I'll put on the DC dialect for a second and rephrase a sentence and tell those two teams, "Y'all shoulda done NEVER gave that team a playoff spot!"

Now, I'm not saying that the Jets were given a playoff spot to be condescending towards the Jets. My statement is only referring to the fact that because the Jets were allowed in, it gave them new life; therefore, they plan to act upon it. Thus, I fear for the Colts because they may have given the Jets a pass to beat them at the end of the season, but now the question is: how uncompetitive was that game? It's a legitimate question to me.

The Jets did really beat the Bengals in the first round. They beat the Chargers, who seemed impossible to beat just the day before. So can they beat the Colts? We'll see if that comes to bite them in the butt.

I'm just hoping I don't hear those "woe-is-me" Jets fans celebrating so I'm hoping they don't win in spite... >:-D... It also would destroy me to see the Yankees AND the Jets win. But that's just me...

Pick of Shame

Yes. I will still make picks for the conference championship games. Let's go:
NY Jets vs. Indianapolis Colts @3pm -- Colts
Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints @6:30pm -- Saints

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Check out the site thehockeywriters.com and see "The Writers" section. A name might look slightly familiar to you ;-).

NFL Week 17 - Last week of the season :-(

The last week of the NFL season has come and gone. After all of the crazy scenarios that were possible (especially in the AFC) and the debacle of who's to be rested and such, the playoff picture has been set.

With the real games starting this coming Saturday, what ended up happening was that 3 of the 4 of these final match-ups will be the same match-ups that we will be seeing this coming weekend. The teams lined up are as follows:

Saturday:
NY Jets vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys

Sunday:
Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots
Green Bay Packers vs. Arizona Cardinals

*Indianapolis Colts, San Diego, New Orleans Saints, and Minnesota Vikings with a 1st round bye.

Even though these are the folks who potentially have a shot at winning the championship, there are a couple of honorable mentions that I would like to give out before we get to who wins real stuff...

Honorable mentions

Houston Texans: They finished this season 9-7 today after defeating the Patriots 34-27. This would be the first time they finished over .500 since they entered the League in 2002. Then they decided to do it against the Pats, while also almost beating the Colts earlier on in the season. The Texans also almost made the playoffs for the first time, doing their part to win, and only needed the Jets to lose to the Bengals tonight. Their QB Matt Schaub has had more passing yards than anyone else this season as well. Even though Houston is staying at home this season, they've come a long way, so watch out in the next few years.

Atlanta Falcons: I didn't realize this until it was pointed out, but the Falcons never had back-to-back winning seasons until last season's 11-5 record and this season's 9-7 record. Not even during the Vick days did the team have 2 consecutive over-.500 seasons. But regardless, Matt Ryan however has silently improved year by year and has made the Falcons competitive. It might have been more noticeable had the Saints not overshadowed their division with pretending to go undefeated throughout the season. Nonetheless, Atlanta won't be a team to be reconciled with, especially if the balance of power allows only 1 team from the NFC East in the future.


Carolina Panthers: They were not over .500 this year, or even in the running for a playoff spot. But even after their atrocious start to the year, the Panthers finish the season 8-8. They could have chosen to try and fight the Lions and the Rams for the #1 draft pick. They could have fired coach John Fox for losing, or the players could have resigned and finished poorly. But the Panthers stayed with it, and played hard in their final games - including beating Minnesota 26-7, and giving the Giants the business and taking them out the playoffs essentially by a score of 41-9. I will say, however, that Jake Delhomme's days might be over in Carolina.

Kyle Orton: And finally, I would like to give honorable mention to Mr. Kyle Orton, QB of the Denver Broncos. How the hell this man has remained in the NFL, is beyond me. It's not even like he's been in and out of starting for teams, but since he was starter for the Bears, he has been named a starting QB. In my mind, after playing at Purdue, he was chillen on the street, and Da Bears came around and asked him to toss a football. He does. And then they were like, you have a pretty decent spiral and you can throw far. We need a new QB since Grossman didn't work out. Come with us. And that was how Mr. Orton became an NFL QB. Then he showed that he failed, and then went to Denver. Only to not be the biggest reason Denver fails, because in fact their coach took that honor. Mr. Josh McDaniels chose to constantly call out his players, especially his personal nemesis, WR Brandon Marshall, and refused to coach the team properly. Thus, Kyle Orton got away with being a failure, and he will probably remain the Broncos' starter. Gosh man, how do you do it? You go, boy!

The Honorable Honorable Mention goes to Aaron Rodgers. Not just because I want to put a picture of him up here, but because he was able to have the 4th highest QB rating this season, and get his team to the playoffs, AND throw for only 7 INTs (2nd lowest) with the offensive line he had. Sure, he was only sacked like, 50 times, along with being rushed and hit and hurried and whatever other action done to him by opposing defenses... but he definitely got his team where they needed to be, throwing for 30 touchdowns and allowing them to have a shot at the Super Bowl. What a stud... QB.

I don't know what it is but I like this look over the clean cut one... We can see his toughness with the skull cap and beard

I guess as a side honor, we can congratulate the St. Louis Rams on the #1 pick, and the Detroit Lions for having 3 wins on the year....

... Oh and the Cleveland Browns for having new life - 4 straight wins and Mike Holmgren as their new president. Maybe life won't be so bad in the Dog Pound...

...And I am leaving the Washington Redskins out of this. They've endured enough this year.

Playoff Picture

Many people I have noticed feel as though most of the playoff teams completely mailed it in this last game of the season, knowing that they were going to the playoffs the following weekend i.e. the Eagles, Bengals, Patriots, and the obvious ones, the Saints and the Colts.

Of course that was the case with the Colts, who oh-so upset the hell out of the world when they mailed in their season the 2nd to final week of the season, and to a degree, the Saints, although I do think the Saints' first 2 loses were genuine. Either way, I agree, some teams did put it away and left it for the playoffs.

But if you seriously think the Eagles didn't want home-field advantage, I don't know what you're smoking but it must be good. Dallas, having exorcised the December/late season demons this season to regain their NFC East champ status, has a good shot of repeating a win on Saturday. Of course, I wouldn't say the Cowboys will shut out the Eagles, but the Cowboys have shown that they might be able to get over that playoff game hump. We will see.

The Bengals and Jets game could also be a mail in. I might have to agree with that one somewhat, seeing as the Jets wouldn't have scored that many points had Cincinnati really tried. But the Jets do have a lot of confidence and momentum riding into the playoffs. They have a pretty decent defense, and with one of the NFL's premier cornerbacks Darrelle Revis, they might be able to do the "impossible" (according to now Chad JOHNSON again) and stop the Bengals offense, the way they got to the playoffs.

I hope that the Colts didn't forget to play football, because even though I'm still baffled at how the world got so upset at their blatant refusal to have an undefeated season, I still am not sure how the way their last two games are going to help them. While I don't personally feel like an NFL team cheated me of something I should have, I am concerned for the fact that the Colts are probably facing more pressure to win the Super Bowl than had they not tried their antics to "rest players". Having technically 3 weeks off before the playoffs is not always a good thing.

Oh, you want predictions? Very quickly, I will call the winners of the 1st round of the NFL playoffs: Bengals, Cowboys, Ravens, and the Packers. Kind of arbitrary, right?

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Hope you enjoyed this NFL season as much as I did. I thought it was one of the more entertaining years in football recently. Definitely looking forward to the playoffs now. May the best team win!

I'm back! One more post before the big one...

I'm back! Classes are over, and I have more time for you all! Still busy, but I'll do what I can.

While I was gone there have been some developments in the world that I did not comment on until this point. One included that Tiger Woods nonsense that belongs on E-hollywood or something like that, and not on ESPN.

I was hoping that it would just go away and that it would be this little incident that happened, and I wouldn't have to comment on it. But it hasn't. There have been some (meaning like 2) pieces of good analysis in a sports view on his "transgressions" and how that would affect things, in a moderate format. Unfortunately though, the women are now coming out of nowhere and keeping this story alive and making it sound more like a gossip story than sports.

I stole this plea to let these shenanigans go from my good friend, Marc Cowans from his Facebook page lol. It basically says everything that's needed to be said on the matter on a sports site... and I didn't feel like talking about it anymore.

"We deserve nothing. I cannot believe, nor do I understand, the American media
or blogosphere. Yes, I understand that Tiger has cheated on his wife, but in
light of true crime. But the questionable moral judgment from individuals like
Mark Sanford, Elliott Spitzer, and Bill Clinton deserves this level of
scrutiny much more than a man whose success we measure in fairways hit and the
number of colored jackets in his closet. Now that he has taken a leave of
absence, please let this story go. I wonder how low you want to see him go. smh
(shaking my head)"

So as you can see, sure, he did something awful and terrible. But it's not our place or the sports world place to pay attention to all the details. It doesn't affect our lives as it would if a politician was spending their time taking part in "transgressions" over fixing a bill or something.

It's not like Woods killed somebody. He cheated on his wife. He does NOT get a pass on this at all, and yes I am judging him in my head because as a woman, it's quite disgusting, going out
there doing any and every woman out there (and going bare? Really? That's asking for judgement)... I digress...

But for real, men, especially athletes, are going to cheat. I expect them to cheat anyway, but that's a personal problem. The story was relevant to the point that he got into a car accident and is okay. After that, it was superflouous. Please, leave the issue.

Ovie: too tough?

In lieu of Alexander Ovechkin’s recent suspension after a knee-on-knee hit on Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Tim Gleason, and a game misconduct in the previous game against the Sabres, many have begun to ask the question if Ovechkin’s playing style is too dirty. They question the fact that he’s the league’s highest scoring player, but plays a style of hockey that endangers not only others’ careers, but also his own career.

Far too often have people accused European players, especially Russians, of being too soft when they play, and that they are too afraid to make a hit on an opposing player. So now I find it extremely interesting that people are now complaining that Ovechkin is too rough and should tone it down.

Haha! This picture had me rolling on the floor.

So what the hell do these people want?!?!

As a Capitals fan, I would like to defend Ovechkin’s actions during these past few games and his overall style of hockey. Unfortunately, I can’t allow Ovechkin to make knee-on-knee hits on other players. Even his coach, Bruce Boudreau, isn't a huge fan of his recent acts of aggression. He calls his playing style “reckless”.

And of course it’s reckless! The worst part about his knee-on-knee hit was that Gleason wasn’t even hurt! Ovechkin was the one who was day-to-day with an injury from the hit. I fear that if Ovechkin were to continue playing with reckless abandon, he DOES, in fact, run the risk of giving himself a possibly career-ending injury. As the Capitals’ star player, the face of the NHL, and possibly one of the greatest to ever play in the NHL, that would be a DISASTER.

But do I necessarily want him to change his game? Not really... Yes, I would like Ovechkin to thinking about how he plans to make a hit, especially since now, the referees are going to scrutinize him. Ovechkin, being as big and strong as he is, should consider the force and angle at which he chooses to make a hit on an opposing player.

However, I am not going to ask him to stop being aggressive toward other players, and I want him to continue to deliver bone-crushing hits (cleanly). His badass-ness is what draws his fans in; his mixture of a European scoring touch and a North American sense of toughness.

People complain too much about Ovechkin. He's too tough, he's too cocky, he's too talkative, he's too fun, he hits too hard, why is he blocking shots, he's too direspectful, he's this, he's that. It's annoying! Why would people prefer the usual unmarketable hockey player?

Ovie's charisma, talent, style, and yes, craziness have all won over millions of fans. Even fans who couldn't convert to Caps fans are at least Ovechkin fans. He, alone, could keep the NHL alive among a wide audience. I definitely had a conversation last night with a guy from Kenya about Alex Ovechkin. How 'bout that!

He's refreshing to the league and its fans. We can't afford lose him to injury, but we also can't afford to diminish his star quality. I mean, Ovie is that guy that guys can have a man-crush on, but ladies can still love - yup, I said it. Aside from being an unconventional stud, that badass attitude when he says "No one can kill me" has us all hooked.

You wouldn't want to change that now, would you?

Week 14 Picks

Sunday

Saints over Falcons

Ravens over Lions (I wouldn't be surprised if it went the other way though)

Packers way over Bears

Texans over Seahawks

Colts over Broncos

Dolphins over Jaguars (always wanted to know, are there jaguars in Jacksonville?)

Sabres... I mean Bills over Cheifs

Vikings over Bengals (I want to watch this one)

Patriots barely over Panthers (because if they lose they'll have to go into time-out like a kindergartner... right Adalius Thomas?)

Jets over Buccaneers

Titans back, over Rams

Raiders over Redskins (Raiders look fly all of a sudden)

sigh... Chargers over Cowboys (don't say I don't have any faith in my team. I think Dallas has a shot if they play WELL. Dumb penalties aren't going to cut it.)

Eagles over Giants

Monday

Cardinals over 49'ers (surprise day maybe if the reverse happens?)

Finally...

The story will appear in the next post. Enjoy it! I hope it's somewhat informative. Apparently my professor loved it, so we'll see if you do, too.

Caps with a solid 2-0 win against the Sabres

So I'm back home from school for Thanksgiving break - VERY crazy but finally no work or classes to concern myself with. This means that not only do I get to eat a whole lot tomorrow and watch football, but I can finally watch Caps games live on my television! No radio; don't have to go anywhere; don't have to
watch some bootleg version... LIVE AT HOME!

This meant that I was able to sit down and focus and see for myself what this team does well and what it needs to work on. Granted, I've been visualizing through radio broadcasts, reading post game reports, and watching just to see the team win at bars and restaurants. So now I can see it from a truly analytical perspective.

The Caps played the Buffalo Sabres tonight at the Verizon Center, and they ended up winning 2-0 after a series of epic events. We'll get there though.

The Capitals began the game as they normally would, spending quality time with the opposing team's zone, but not getting too many quality chances. he first goal of the game was scored 6 minutes in by Alex Ovechkin from a nasty wrister, where Ryan Miller couldn't do anything to stop it. After that, however, the scoring chances in the first period were 5-1 in the Sabres' favor.

Aside from the number of scoring chances, the Caps seemed to keep the Sabres with minimal opportunities and shots following the first period. The Caps themselves seemed to posses the puck more at the same time.

Through 2 periods there were no penalties, until about halfway through the 3rd period:

Scenerio #1: *through my eyes* Alex Ovechkin, a typically hard hitting player, went to the much smaller Patrick Kaleta on the Sabres, and did quite a hard body check on the side into the glass, but nonetheless it was a great hard hit on a player that didn't brace himself properly.

Scenerio #2 (the one that matters):*through the officials' eyes* Ovechkin recieves a boarding major penalty, a game misconduct; thus, he was kicked out of the game.

So this puts the Caps in a particularly interesting situation: A team that has problems on the penalty kill, a 1-goal lead, and no more Ovechkin, this was quite the nerve-wrecker. However, the Capitals didn't even allow a shot by the Sabres the whole 5 minute power play, and also managed to kill off one more penalty toward the end of the 3rd period.

Eric Fehr then gave the Caps some insurance, and the team held off a last stand by the Sabres to win 2-0.

What I noted

As I mentioned before, I was able to follow the Caps more closely tonight, and actually be able to truly scrutinize the team's play. In doing so, found a few points that contributed to tonight's win,and that the team did differently from previous matches.

Me with my analytical face to watch the Caps game - in my bed lol

• The team seemed to sacrifice massive offensive power and shots in exchange for a more solid defensive presence. Saw multiple blocked shots, a more aggrssive defense, and quick disposal of rebounds.
  
• Related to defense, The 4th foward, Mike Green, reset himself in time from offensive plays to return back to his post on defense.
• The Caps took the penalty kill seriously tonight. A team traditionally with PK problems, especially this season, it was nice to see a strong effort being perfect on the kill.
  
• The team played a full-60 minute game; contrary to the normal 40-minute offensive outburst and then defensively collapsing, killing their leads. Mind you, the Caps have had a lead in EVERY game this season (25 games), only to lose it in devastating fashion.
  
• When Alex Ovechkin was taken out of the game, the other lines stepped up and continued to produce.
• When Alex Ovechkin was in the game, he was constantly out there creating chances and kept his legs moving.
• Dumb penalties were kept to a minimum (the killer in the 3rd period of the Senators loss), and by minimum, I mean we had one dumb penalty (the one on Ovie was questionable).
• Caps have hella injuries. Good rotation of lines, especially on defense. People will come back soon, but we're deep in Hershey, so it's not soooo bad.
  
• Simeyon Varlamov is reliable. The saves he was making were borderline miraculous. Congrats on his first regular season shutout by the way.
  
• All of this occurs after Bruce Boudreau accusedthe team of quitting on him, and questioning the capability of the Caps to hold a lead, saying that during the 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators, he had a feeling the Caps would lose the lead and didn't want to pull the "hate to say I told you so".
  

Hopefully the Caps don't need that type of encouragement ALL the time if they want to win. They have an opportunity now to redeem themselves against the Montreal Canadiens.

Allen Iverson - Retired?

Okay, I'm hearing conflicting reports. Comcast Sportsnet says that Iverson has not really retired. He is seriously considering it, but he will have further communication with his former head coach at Georgetown, John Thompson, to discuss whether he should or should not retire.

However, ESPN is all talking about "Iverson's legacy" and it's on their bottomline.

This Iverson situation, being a local-story of sorts, I think I'm going to stick with the Comcast reports; considering he hasn't even officially filed the papers.

So don't fuss yet you ladies who only watched basketball to watch Allen Iverson, it's not QUITE over; just yet. And you'll see him on TV somewhere anyway.

Turkey Day/Weekend Football Picks

Thursday:
Green Bay over Detriot
Dallas over Oakland
Giants over Broncos

Sunday:
Tennesee over Arizona
Philadelphia over Redskins
Tampa Bay over Atlanta
Miami over Buffalo
St. Louis over Seattle <-- Just for kicks Carolina over Jets Indianapolis over Houston San Diego over Kansas City San Francisco over Jacksonville Minnesota over Chicago Steelers over Baltimore

Monday:
My heart says New Orleans, mind says New England
*prove me wrong please!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finally, R.I.P. to D.C. icon Abe Pollin, former Caps' owner and now-former Wizards' owner...

Hopefully everyone has a great Thanksgiving break, and throughout the rest of the holidays. Umm.. I know I keep saying I'm going all incognito and stuff, and I am. Trust me. I am. But I will keep appearing every now and then. But until my huge story is out, don't expect to see me. LOL.

Philly, New York, and Mad Football

In this Sunday in sports, the Philadelphia Eagles demolished the New York Giants and the New York Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies. I was hoping that Philly would sweep NY, but I guess you can't have it all.

In Game 4 of the World Series, the Phillies had Joe Blanton on the mound and the Yankees put on CC Sabathia on short rest. The Yankees immediately took control, getting 2 runs in the 1st inning.

It wasn't until the 4th inning when the Phillies came back and tied the game. The second run was questionable, however, as Ryan Howard coming from 2nd base ran and dove to touch home plate, but he never made contact with it.

What I found funny was just by how much he missed it,considering not only his hand missing the plate, but the fact that even his leg could have touched it and it flew right over.

At 2-2, the Yankees fired right back, scoring two more runs to go up 4-2 in the 5th inning, and recieve the 4th run on a sort of "soft" play. Nonetheless, the Phillies were back down.

The Phillies seemed sluggish for the rest of the game until the 7th inning when Chase Utley reminded Sabathia of the 2-homer performance he had in Game 1 by crushing the ball, putting the Phillies down by only 1 run.

Pedro Feliz followed suit by homering in the 8th inning, tying the game at 4. Unfortunately for the Phillies, the top of the 9th was their worst inning yet as they put Brad Lidge in the game. Lidge gave up 3 runs after allowing Johnny Damon to literally run around the bases.

Lidge started off smoothly, causing Hedeki Matsui to pop out and then struck out Derek Jeter. Then after Johnny Damon's single, he stole 2nd base, got up from his slide and continued on to 3rd base, which the Phillies seemed to forget about.

After the defensive mental lapse by Philadelphia, the Yankees took 3 runs in the 9th, and took out the Phillies 1-2-3 to win 7-4. They now have a comanding 3-1 series lead on the Phillies.

I wouldn't completely count out the Phillies yet, but of course, this doesn't look good for Philadelphia fans/residents/those who hate the Yankees. It would be absolutely epic if the Philles were to come back from being down 3-1 in a series, but it would be difficult.

It would be nice if Big-Mouth Jimmy Rollins would have backed up his pretentious prediction on the series, but he hasn't done much for the Phillies to win. And if they want a chance to win, he will have to get things going for their offense so that people like Howard and Utley have more to work with. I mean, a 2-run shot is better than a solo shot...

Game 5 will be tomorrow, same time, 7:57... still haven't recieved an answer as to what that's about. Stay tuned for a pitching matchup between Cliff Lee and A.J. Burnette.

NFL Week 8

The halfway point of the NFL season has been one of the more interesting weeks all season.

Rams 17, Lions 10

I would like to start off that I am shocked that the Lions couldn't pull the win against the St. Louis Rams, considering they were FAVORITED to take it! But they ended up losing (as they always do) 17-10. I'm even more shocked that the score was a lot higher than I had expected. I predicted somewhere between 6-3 to 9-7. But nope! Freakin' 17-10! lol...

Ravens 30, Broncos 7

It was delightful to see the Ravens play well again, defeating the Denver Broncos 30-7. Denver is now no longer undefeated, leaving only the New Orleans Saints as the only undefeated team left. The Broncos did play more subpar teams than quality teams, except for Dallas and New England (or have they really changed their names to the Boston Patriots now?). However, 30-7 was a prime victory for the Ravens, who have suffered from 3 straight of hard losses against the Bengals, Patriots, and Minnesota.

Vikings 38, Packers 26

Minnesota and Green Bay faced off today - yes, yes, Brett Favre's first game back to Green Bay as a non-Packer. When FOX went to the broadcast of the Packers game, all I heard was hostility. It was kind of hilarious to hear the massive amounts of boos, and to see all the Favre bashing signs in large contrast to the "We still love you" and "We miss you" signs for Favre.

The first half was awful for Green Bay. The Packers' offensive line gave Aaron Rodgers NO time. When he did have time, he was subject to being diven to the ground by 300 men. So there was little success, if any, for the Packers in the first half.

With the Vikings up 17-3 going into the 2nd half, however, the Packers had a hightened sense of awareness. They decided to pick themselves up and score 17 points in the 3rd quarter, and with just over 10 minutes to go, they were only down 31-26...

...And then Brett Favre comes in and destroys Green Bay's dreams of an epic comeback as Minnesota did on their own turf. After the Packers failed on the 2 pt conversion after their touchdown and missed the 51-yard field goal, Minnesota got a touchdown with 3:09 to run the game. Green Bay was unable to get anywhere, as they reverted back to 1st half form, and then Minnesota took the ball away, and won the game. The End.

Cowboys 38, Seahawks 17

In other games, Dallas played the way they should, defeating the Seahawks 38-17. The Cowboys have usually played poorly and have had to cut it close in the end of games against lower teams, but this game, they clearly looked superior. Good look for the team as they play the Eagles next week.

Eagles 40, Giants 17

Speaking of the Eagles, they destroyed the Giants 40-17 at home. With the number of turnovers throughout the whole game and the lack of concern by the Giants, I feel like they deserved to lose like that. Plus it humbles the NY fans/people.

And Tennesee beat Jacksonville 30-13... Congratz on the win today, Titans. You are now no longer winless. Vince Young was the QB today... think about that.

Phew! A lot of typing today. But a lot happened lately! I had to update y'all! Thanks for reading!

The Red Sox have clinched the AL Wild Card!

So I have been mad all weekend because my Twitter and Facebook were spammed with mass statuses regarding the Yankees and this past weekend in their series against the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees spent their time clinching the AL East Division, a playoff berth and obtaining their 100th win for this season. You would think they won the World Series already with the ruckus about their weekend.

At the same time, I had figured that the Red Sox would also make the playoffs - it would only be a little matter of time before it happened, and I could celebrate, too.

The Red Sox got lucky tonight, clinching the AL Wild Card spot with the Texas Rangers' 5-2 loss to the LA Angels despite losing their own game to the Toronto Blue Jays 8-7. The loss today counted as Boston's 5th straight.

This situation now sets the Red Sox in a playoff series with the LA Angels, again. In 6 years, the two teams have met 4 times, and this meeting would mark the 3rd consecutive year the Angels and Red Sox square off. Seeing that Boston has dominated the playoff series between the two teams, this looks like an easy write-off for the Sox.

Well...

Right now, the Red Sox are struggling mightily, especially for the calibur of their team. With the 5 straight losses, and 5 more games left this year, one can hope that the Sox get everything together. In 9 games against the Angels this year Boston has also ended up 4-5.

However, Boston hasn't always been particularly telling in the regular season of how well they play teams in the playoffs though. Also in favor of the Sox, key players like Josh Beckett, who have been out with injuries lately, will be returning soon.

So while this series will NOT be an easy sweep in my eyes, I have pretty good faith that the Red Sox can create a positive result by the end. Alas, note that I'm neither confirming nor denying a particular playoff result. I will say though that 2004 occurred on a Wild Card year. I'm just saying...

Ojo del Twins???

On a more exciting note, I am closely following the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins series, which should define who is going to play the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs.

I'm pulling for the Twins, because I'm a Joe Mauer fan, and I'll face it; the Twins have put in so much work to get this division, especially without Justin Morneau in the lineup, that it would really suck for them not to make it.

My main issue though is that I won't be mad at whoever wins the division, because that team just better beat the Yankees, and we'll all be in good standing!

NFL Week 3 Personal Highlights

Before I finish (it's late here on the East side of the States!), I would like to give a high and mighty shout out to the Dallas Cowboys for winning our first game in the new house. I thank Carolina Panthers' QB Jake Delhomme for the late interception and the total revival of the Dallas defense in the 4th quarter.

However, I'm not a fan of the play calling at the 1-yard line in that drive where Dallas only got a field goal; TWO passes at the 1-yard line? Really?!?! Really could have avoided the field goal situation - because you also could have gone for it on that 4th down! But what do I know - I'm not an NFL coach.

But Wade Phillips made up for it by calling for the 2-point conversion on the extra point oppoortunity after the interception-for-the-touchdown, calling a nice run play. Thanks buddy.

And one more shout out to the Detroit Lions. This one is for you. I haven't been able to blog for a few days due to time constraints, but I'm putting this one out here for the Lions. Your 19-game losing streak has been snapped.

They must thank the Washington Redskins for failing to have any sort of offense in the game. Their defense didn't even do the usually decent job either in this game. So Detriot can rest in peace knowing that they have won, while the Redskins must live with the loss. I'm sure they've "put it in the past" by now (cliche statement - you know they're still mad).



*Finally, please put my cousin in your prayers and your thoughts. He was shot on Monday. He is alive and in the hospital, but the family wants a full recovery. Thank you.

NFL Week 1

Of course I'm happy that the Cowboys won, and the Redskins lost, but tell me why I'm still blown at the Bill and Patriots game? LOL!

The complete weekend/weekday opening football is over. I can say with confidence that this has been an entertaining first week for the NFL.

Cowboys 34, Buccaneers 21

To begin, the first game I watched was the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (because the Cowboys won, they deserve the "boys" back in the name versus the typical Cow[boy]s). Dallas ended up winning 34-21, but they could have won by more. I was displeased with the Cowboys first half performance. The offense did absolutely nothing, and was not helped by a missed pass interference that should have been called on Ronde Barber.

Dallas' defense wasn't doing much better in the first half as well, with Cadillac Williams on the Bucs giving them hell.

The second half was much better for the Cowboys though. Tony Romo turned out to have a pretty nice day with 344 yards passing and all of his passes for touchdowns went deep - over 40 yards... Imagine the winning score for Dallas, had they a better first half and didn't give up 14 points in the 4th quarter...

For the Bucs though, Williams was real nice out there, and Byron Leftwich had a pretty good showing as well, especially for being Byron Leftwich.

Giants 23, Redskins 17

Just about the Washington Redskins game, the New York Giants won 23-17, but the game was not as close as the score suggested.

By the 2nd quarter, the Giants ended up with a 17-0 lead, with the latest touchdown coming from a fumble recovery by the Giants.

The Redskins had a slightly better showing in the second half, but could not create any sort of rhythm on offense against the Giants' defense.

Point in case: after a 35-yard run by Clinton Portis on the Redskins, the Skins could only follow up with 50 more rushing yards the whole game.

Of course, the reaction suggests that Jason Campbell still can't get the Skins over the hump, but aside from the fact that a small (REALLY small) part of me actually hopes he succeeds in a way, I think he did all right with what he was faced with.

The Skins are not the team to beat in the NFC East in my eyes. They were facing a team that could very well take the division. After this, the Skins go on to play a stretch of games where they play teams that have failed at being any kind of good the past few seasons. The Giants will move on the the Cowboys.

Patriots 25, Bills 24

Most people are going to say the New England/Boston Patriots won this game in dramatic fashion 25-24, but I'm going to go out on a limb, and say the Buffalo Bills lost this one in ultimate screw-up fashion.

I'll admit, I missed the first part of the game because of the Juan Martin Del Potro and Roger Federer's tennis match where Federer lost in 5 sets was on where I was eating dinner. Granted, it was the US Open final, and the underdog ended up winning in a long match, but I still feel as though NFL football should have been on the TV.

Nonetheless, technology proved to be a savior, and I got first half stats before being able to return to my place of living to watch the second half. The Bills were leading 14-10 at halftime, and when I finally got back to my room, they were up 17-10.

Terrell Owens only had one catch at this point as well. Which led me to believe that the Bills could really win this game since they were able to utilize their other parts of the offense. It really looked good there.

It looked even better when Buffalo got the 24-13 lead and it was about 2 minutes to go in the game.

Until they gave up another touchdown and fumbled the ball deep in their territory after the kickoff, giving the Pats excellent field position to get the last and final touchdown... all of a sudden, it was 25-24 Patriots.

It wasn't quite over as the Bills began their final drive with about 50 seconds to go. That is ample time to create a situation to at least get into decent field goal position.

However, poor time management and multiple sacks proved costly for Buffalo.

Therefore, the Patriots did not win the game (also provided that Tom Brady wasn't as great as he normally is), but the Bills CHOKED. Somebody please perform the Heimlech Manuever - the Bills keep chocking. This is now the 12th straight time the Patriots defeated the Bills.

Tsk tsk... And I was really pulling for Buffalo...

Chargers 24, Raiders 20

This game was another situation where there was an underdog team winning, had the lead way late into the game, and then lost it even later to lose. The Oakland Raiders also choked to lose 24-20 to the San Diego Chargers.

Despite the score at the end of the first half, the Raiders seemed to dominate on defense early on, creating multiple turnovers and only allowing the Chargers 77 rushing yards. New addition Richard Seymour ended up with 2 sacks and 6 tackles, showing that he was ready to play and improve the Oakland defense.

Oakland lost the lead in the 4th quarter, but regained it, scoring a late touchdown with about 2:40 to go in the game. All they had to do was to continue their showing on defense that they had in the beginning of the 1st quarter.

Yet, the Raiders failed when it mattered, giving the Chargers 14 points in the 4th quarter and allowing Phillip Rivers to complete 6 out of 7 passes on the game-winning 84-yard drive.

The winning drive for San Diego left only 18 seconds on the clock, with which Oakland had to work. JaMarcus Russell threw a desperation pass, only to have it intercepted.

Oakland not only choked like Buffalo, but they ALSO have been defeated by their opponent 12 times in a row. The hell is THAT about?!

Side(line) Notes - haha!

Some other notes about the weekend/weekday...

Donovan McNabb got injured, which, to be honest, is no surprise to me. He is one of the more fragile quarterbacks; as good as he is and as much as I would pick McNabb over a lot of quarterbacks.

In response, the Philadelphia Eagles quickly sign Jeff Garcia and try to make roster space for him. Garcia knows the offense, having been in Philadelphia before and his last time with the Eagles, he led them to the playoffs. So it would be a good move to have him around.

Just to note though, there's another guy who, by Week 3, could play a little bit, and his name is Mike Vick. However, the choice to sign Garcia clearly states that the Eagles are not ready to have Vick play - I don't blame them after his unsatisfying performaces in the preseason, and the fact that he does need re-adjustment time to the NFL.

But if Vick could play for the Eagles, and actually be successful with them, that would be a pretty nice comeback story for the ages. I believe that regardless of other people's opinions about that...

...Props to the Green Bay Packers though for the comeback win. I couldn't write about it (Come on now! I already did four games and I'm only human!), but that was a REALLY fun game to watch. As for the Bears; step your game up. In fact, all these teams playing and choking - step your game up!..

... And of course, congrats to Juan Martin del Potro on his first US Open win, and on defeating the guy who won the last 5 US Opens... I think his name is something like Roger Federer. You might have heard of him. It is an amazing accomplishment for del Potro - just too bad it competed with Monday Night Football on my end.

... Finally, Mark Sanchez played pretty well Sunday. The End (watch ESPN for the rest of that, they'll be all up on the Sanchez coverage, trust me).


*RIP Patrick Swayze... To Wong Foo (Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar) - most underrated movie ever - sooo funny.

NHL or the Olympics? And Opening Night for the NFL!

NHL superstar Alexander Ovechkin made a profound statement Wednesday to ESPN.com about going to the Olympics: "I don't care... I'll go play in the Olympic Games for my country. If somebody says to me, 'You can't play,' see ya."

The skilled Washington Capitals winger is referring to the NHL's proposal to suspend players for going to play for their respective countries in the 2014 Olympics, which will be in Sochi, Russia in order to discourage NHL players from interrupting their seasons with the NHL to go to the Olympics.

One reason many owners and NHL exceutives are concerned about their players and the possibility of injuries that affect their playing status when they return to the League. The risk of injury in the Olympics is possible and it has occurred before.

The most recent and crucial injury suffered in the Olympics by an NHL player was former goaltender Dominik Hasek when he was with the Senators. Of course, as NHL followers know, Hasek never really recovered from that injury and the goaltending duties were eventually handed to Ray Emery, while Hasek left the team and retired.

However, major injuries from the Olympics are not common, and players often come back and after a game or two get back to regular season action. As for Alex Ovechkin, tough as he is, he would probably come back to the Capitals first game back.

The other concern is the break that the NHL takes in the middle of the season. Games are stopped for about two weeks in February for the Winter Olympics and teams are concerned about the mindset of teams after that break. Also of course, is the concern over time lost in gaining money from games.

But if players, especially at the caliber and celebrity status of Alex Ovechkin, want to play for their country, and make statements like Ovechkin did, it would not be wise for the NHL to go through with suspending players for wanting to represent their country of origin. Considering the next Olympics take place in Russia, and the number of players that are originally from there, it would be a BAD look for the NHL to do that.

If the NHL were to seriously suspend or discourage players in anyway for wanting to win their country a medal in 2014, I see it happening like this: Alex Ovechkin could very well go ahead and play in the Olympics. The NHL will suspend him, along with a couple of other players. What happens then is that not only do fans get angry, but players get angry. It's also a possiblity that other leagues will take note, and all those international players the NHL get will transfer to those leagues for more personal freedom.

Therefore, the NHL needs to be smart about this one. Do they really want to lose fans and players over a couple of weeks in the season? The NHL already suffers from poor decisions made by executives and the commisioner Gary Bettman. They do not like to focus on the correct way to make business. But if they want to remain a league, they will have to refrain from suspending players for being patriotic. You don't want Ovie to ruin you. The loss from suspension is greater than the gain.

Note to NHL: get it together.

Notes...

NFL Opening Night

Today was the opening day for NFL football. I was very excited to come back from a long hard day and a fire drill to kick back and watch some football.

It turned out to be a really exciting game. The Pittsburgh Steelers seemed to have the upper-hand most of the time, with the Tennesee Titans showing up on bursts of energy and skillful performance. And despite the fact that it was low-scoring all night, there was much intensity and aggresiveness from both teams - remained action-packed. The only thing is, that it's games like this where you wish that they could play more overtime instead of the anti-climactic first possession ender on a field goal.

What I'm concerned about though is this Madden Curse that is oh-so true... Troy Pololamlu... And you want to tell me that him being out 3-6 weeks possibly has nothing to do with being on the cover of Madden 10? Those who don't believe in it are in denial...

Now for Sunday, I'm going to go out and enjoy a full-fledged day of football, and watch my team, the Cowboys, play :)

Still not the Hamilton Coyotes?

Jim Ballsillie (I saw someone joke around and call it Balls-silly - which made my day).... I'm getting REALLY tired of seeing text after text every day from my NHL notifications that tell me the NHL has denied the Phoenix Coyotes from moving to Hamilton, Ontario.

My issue is that WHO CARES ABOUT THE COYOTES?! For real though? Who does!? People are not really fighting to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix, so why not make more money with the team and move them to a market that ACTUALLY CARES about a hockey team? Try again in Phoenix when the NHL is a major sport again. This may be continued at a later date.

The Caps' starting goalie is...

And finally, I'm happy to see Simeon Varlamov loving Arturs Irbe, his new goalie coach, and his new mask. Although coach Bruce Boudreau has stated that Jose Theodore is the official starter, he also claims that if Varlamov ends up playing better than Theodore, then he could very well then be the starter over Theodore at a later date. I'm pulling for Varly, but whoever starts needs to get my hockey team to a Stanley Cup!

Is This News??? Favre is Back?

This is ridiculous... I'm only annoyed because this is actually being reported. It bothers me that you can be Brett Favre, and skip traning camp all together, have everybody talking as if Tavares Jackson is the starter, and all of this stuff, and then on a whim say I'm back and sign for 10-12 million to play for a year.

Brett Favre coming back makes things difficult for not only me and the viewers of any sports television, but for the Vikings players and staff. What are they to do when Favre comes AFTER training camp and AFTER preseason, and then start the season green as hell talking about some, "Okay receievers! Time to catch from Brett Favre!" or "Hey linemen! First game of the season, you'll learn block for Brett!" If I'm playing on the team, what am I supposed to make of all this time of training camp and preseason? I would definitely question the whole process that every other football player has to go through.

As for Favre, this is obnoxious. Why is this the biggest story today? We all knew it was gonna happen. I didn't want it to, but we knew it was about that time when Favre would make a random appearance and say, "Hey! I wana play," and then it's covered like a big surprise.
I wish he'd stay in Mississippi. I really do. Just enjoy your life. Please. Don't come out of the woodworks to try and play a couple games out of the year to show your face, and make me see your face non-stop now for my whole (usually enjoyable) time of football season.

For real though, I'm just going to pass over this and show no emotion, like as if this was another celebrity gossip story. I mean, that's what ESPN does these days anyway...

Notes...

Vinny Prospal is back, reunited with his former coach, John Tortorella after singing with the NY Rangers for $1.1 million. Trust me though, the Rangers will not win the Stanley Cup this year because of this.

Patrick Kane, the a-hole who couldn't just spare some change to his cab driver along with his brother, is looking for a plea deal on his robbery and assault charges that he recieved. Tsk tsk...

Don't forget to vote in the poll to your left, and hey! Follow me on Twitter! ZetaSportsFan1... You don't wanna miss any of my posts anyway!

English Premier League Overview: Underdogs Maybe?

Before I begin on my post today, I would like to apologize to my audience for not having a post for about 3 days... I just moved back to campus and because we were all unprepared for the fact that my room is smaller than every other room here, it's taken a little bit of time to rearrange the place and set our things up. And let's not forget, I'm a college student, and so the weekend was host to a few late night excursions on the town... Nonetheless, I'm back here and it might not be every day, but I will try my best not to go past 3 days.

Back to what we love...

So I thought it was rather funny that when I was looking at Sky Sports' expectations for particular games over the weekend, they were so wrong in their predictions, that I HAD to write about it.

I may not be an Arsenal fan, but I was actually appalled that they chose Arsenal to draw 1-1 with Everton on Saturday August 15th. The ACTUAL result however was a 6-1 thrashing by Arsenal.


Liverpool was the favorite to win 2-1 in the Liverpool/Tottenham match, especially considering their 3-1 win against Tottenham at the end of the previous season and the fact that Tottenham has failed to win many of their past opening matches. Tottenham outplayed Liverpool though, beating them 2-1, and only allowing the one goal because of a penalty kick made by Stephen Gerrard.


Manchester United played Birmingham on the 16th for their first match after winning it all last season. Sky Sports predicted a 3-0 victory for Man U. Even though Manchester United pulled off a usual win on Sunday, they only won 1-0, and had Birmingham actually capitalized on the chances they had at the net, they could have scored a couple goals or two and completely throw f the standings for the first day of the season.


Basically, Sky Sports needs to recheck itself - granted it was the opening week for the EPL, and they were basing their predictions off of the results from last season, but maybe when we all make predictions, let's not always choose the obvious answer...


Notes...

In other news, Marc Bulger - injured again. Like for real though, why can't football players just keep their fingers and toes in check? Everybody ends up breaking off their index fingers, middle fingers, or big toes, or pinkie toes... YES YOU T.O. TOO! Come on now! I feel like all football players (and players in other sports should follow suit) should wear a metal glove when their outside of the football field so that they can actually be productive on the field. Marc Bulger may just need to be in a bubble - It's no mystery why the Rams have been one of the worst teams in the NFL for the past few years...


Sorry O's fans, but they traded Aubrey Huff for a minor leaguer today. The Orioles still stink, and for the sake of the state I live in, I hope the O's can get it together and actually get some real pitchers and have consistency. Even the Nats have ben more consistent at times than the Orioles this year...


Speaking of the Nats, they should start thinking about whether their gonna sign this draft pick... by that I mean they SHOULD sign him...
*The Nats signed Strasburg to the largest contract for a draft pick ever. 4 years as well. Good call Nats. Thanks for listening.


Finally, T.O. returns for limited practice. His toe.


New poll is up as well... Who will win the fewest games in the NFL? Just felt like asking. So feel free to vote and then comment on either the post tonight or the poll and explain why you said what you said. Enjoy!

Open Bar

When It Actually Matters...

Let's begin with a question: Why is Steve Phillips on the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast? Just asking. I mean, you went my whole life basically with Joe Morgan and Jon Miller, and then you just add Steve Phillips... just wondering...

All righty, well, anyway... So the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox completed their four-game series in the Bronx tonight on that Sunday Night Baseball broadcast. Although Jason Bay finally returned tonight to the lineup, it's a tad bit noteworthy note that David Ortiz wasn't in it. According to Jon Miller's words, he just "isn't hitting" and apparently the sitting wasn't because of the whole steriod fiasco, despite his press conference taking place yesterday claiming he DIDN'T take steriods (no comment lol). Although, if he just "isn't hitting," in that case, everyone should have just sat out.

After a mad long time with no score, the Yankees got the first run of the game on an A-Rod solo in the 7th. The 8th inning however was a HUGE uplift for the Red Sox as recent addition, Victor Martinez, hit a two-run homer to put Boston ahead 2-1, giving them the first lead since the first game. Jon Lester also pitched an exceptional game giving up zero runs through 7 innings.

Things seemed positive for the Sox for them to turn things around. However, The Red Sox's bullpen woes continued in the bottom of the 8th when Johnny Damon soloed one to tie, followed by Mark Teixeira's solo to give the Yankees the lead. The game automatically went the Yankees way, reminiscent of last night's game, scoring a total of 4 runs that one inning to lead 5-2.

After a last effort by the Sox to score, putting in David Ortiz, ending up with 2 runners on the bases.... Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out to first, and the Sox lost 5-2.

Therefore, the Red Sox have fallen to 6 games behind the Yankees, and have dug themselves in a little hole (not insurmountable - it is still early August). Nonetheless, this isn't fun to watch; a team that played so well to begin the season, and had the Yankees 8-0 in all head-to-head matchups, starting to falter as they are swept by their division and arch rivals toward the latter part of the season.

I've Missed You So...

Oh NFL... I've missed you so much. I had to watch the Buffalo Bills play the Tennesee Titans in those You know, I wonder how many people are actually concerned about the match-up between the Buffalo Bills and the Tennesee Titans. I doubt that folks are watching this, anticipating this game to suggest the next big rivalry in the NFL. However, I know that me, my buddies, the people next door, and I'm sure even you, were watching this and any preseason game because... WE LOVE FOOTBALL!!!!! and everything that goes with it - beer, wings, excess food, bier, BBQs, friends, tv's, excuses to go to bars on Mondays... cuervo...

Personally, I definitely, DEFINITELY am also happy to see Tony Romo Jessica-Simpson-less and ready to focus on performing at a level to push the Cowboys over that playoff winless streak. It only makes sense, as I feel as though Romo's leash is just about only a collar at this point (at least with me). So if we make no further moves beyond what we have for the past 13 years, somebody's paying for it, and we'll see that it wasn't all T.O.'s fault (>_>)...

I look foward to the entire football season itself as well. Personally, I AM excited to see T.O. on the Bills and to see if they can stop losing Super Bowls one of these days (sentimental favorite maybe?). I don't know about you, but I WANT to see who's really overrated and who's really underrated. Me, I DESIRE to see passes, running plays, blocking, catches, dusty-looking coaches on the sidelines, touchdowns, field goals, dreads, and tackling - grandiose, bone-crushing tackles where you see the mouth piece fly out and you can hear all the air escaping the victims lungs.

The point is, NFL, we have ALL have missed you, and we look foward to the joys (and yes, the pains) that you shall bring forth this season.

Cheap Shots

In my favorite sport, Patrick Kane, a young and talented winger on the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL... charged with robbery... It doesn't make sense to me when athletes get charged with robbery, considering all the money they make. I mean, for real?!!? You're gonna go hard on a old cab-driver cause he didn't give you the exact change back, but you don't go that hard on the ice? I mean trust, I love his skills on the ice, but come on! Really!?! Oh well... I wish a lot of good things for that franchise, especially after the rise from the dead this past season. But it hasn't been the best offseason with Marian Hossa and the contract issues, goalie situations, and now Patrick Kane acting a fool.

Walk-off...

And that's all folks for tonight... Don't forget to participate in the poll to the left of your page on the surging Nationals (We're gonna call it surging as they haven't played this well in like, ever). They have confidence, they have swag now, they might have a permanent general manager finally, and things seem to just be coming together... Could it be, that they might win the World Series one day in the near future? Or will it be a VERY long time before that happens? Vote now!

-Angie