Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to any gentiles who read this blog.

here's a present for all, very cool article

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=3165287&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos1

Some excitement still left for Week 17

The NFL has seen an unprecedented lack of parody this year, and for the first team in recent memory, there seem to be several dominant teams. Starting with the 15-0 Pats, the 13-2 Colts and Cowboys, and the 12-3 Packers, there could be 4 teams with 13 wins for the first time since the turn of the century. However, despite the fact that 10 of the 12 playoff spots have been filled, several games still have playoff implications. Tennessee and Cleveland are both still alive for the AFC's 6th and final playoff sport. The Titans travel to Indianapolis to play a Colts team with nothing to play for (Dungy has already admitted that Manning and Addai will both play a half at most), and the Browns host the 4-11 Niners. Should both teams win or both teams lose, the Titans have the tiebreaker.

Over in the NFC, the Redskins, Vikings and Saints are all still alive. The 'Skins are in the driver's seat, and are in a with a win. The Vikings need a win and a Skins loss or tie, while the Saints need a win and losses from both teams. The Redskins host the Cowboys (also playing a meaningless game), who will certainly be resting an already injured Terrell Owens. Minnesota finishes in Denver and the Saints will travel to Chicago.

Here are the games to watch in Week 17,

(Games with playoff implications)
Tennessee @ Indianapolis
San Fransisco @ Tennessee
Dallas @ Washington
Minnesota @ Denver
New Orleans @ Chicago

(Games with historic implications)
New England @ New York Giants

(Games to determine #3 and #4 seeds)
San Diego @ Oakland
Pittsburgh @ Baltimore



"Getcha Popcorn Ready"

The honeymoon is over..

I think it's safe to say America's obsession with Boise State is over. After their stunning win in last year's Fiesta Bowl, both America and the voters fell in love with the Broncos. A 2 loss team in the WAC, they still managed to stay in the top 25 at #24. After Broncos dropped the Hawaii Bowl to 7-5 East Carolina tonight, expect Chris Peterson's bunch to fall out of popular opinion and back into the sea of mid-major mediocrity. Not even another Ian Johnson on-screen proposal can save them.

NBA Rumblings

1) Don't look now, but the Oden-less Portland Trailblazers have won 10 in a row, and sit just one game behind division leading Denver. The young core of Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Martell Webster, Channing Frye and Jarrett Jack have brought Portland back into contention. Vets Steve Blake and Joel Przybilla have fit nicely into their roles, as the team is enjoying shocking success. With a strong young nucleus, this is a team that will compete in the West for the next 5 years. Imagine this 2008 lineup:

Blake, Roy, Webster, Aldrige and Oden: With Frye, Jack and Outlaw coming of the bench

This team is a better PG away from being the class of the West.

2) Unfortunately, it appears another Boston team is truly dominant. As much as I tried to write off the quick start as a hot streak, the Celtics really are this good. At 22-3, they have already built themselves a 9 game division lead, and are currently outscoring opponents by an average of 14 points per game. Rajon Rondo is developing into a very solid player, giving the Celtics the role player they needed. However, be wary if one of the Big Three goes down, as the teams only weakness is its lack of depth.

3) Today, Kobe became the youngest player ever to score 20,000 points, beating Wilt Chamberlain by approximately two weeks. Quite an impressive achievement, but Kobe is still just over half way to Wilt's all time record. Somehow, I don't see Kobe playing another 10-12 season and breaking this record. However, Kobe has to considered the most dominant scorer of this era. While guys like Shaq, Duncan, and LeBron will go down as better players, Kobe holds the title as the best scorer of the post-Jordan era, and there's still no one I'd rather have taking the big shot with the game on the line.

Week Wrap-Up

Apologies for the lack of posts the past few days, things have gotten hectic as I ended semester 7/8. Here's a few comments on some recent stories:

1) Gotta love the brilliance of Andy Pettitte, Brian Roberts and Fernando Vina. "I admit I took HGH once, but it was only to heal from an injury, and I NEVER took steroids." Their PR personnel is magnificent, as Andy came off smelling like a sweet rose. I'll leave it up to you whether or not these guys are full of crap, but regardless, this was the best way to explain the rumors and save face. Still no word from the Rocket yet, who has infinitely more explaining to do.

2) Florida State gets caught in an academic cheating scandal. In other shocking news, the sun rose this morning, and set later this evening. Surprise, surprise. I've been dubbing this team as a group of cheater since 1999, when they boasted several illegitimate players. Peter Warrick gets caught red handed in a robbery, and only misses TWO games. Chris Weinke shows up at the age of 26, and Sebastian Janikowski manages to maintain a 2.0 GPA while knowing approximately 4 words of English and never being spotted on campus. This has been a corrupt program for decades, and it is about time they got caught.

3) Rich Rodriguez to Michigan. If I am to take credit for Petrino's departure, I'll have to take a hit here, as this one surprised me. I honestly don't buy into the fact that Rodriguez is a great coach. He took over a successful program with a ton of incoming talent, and despite playing in a weak conference with a weak OOC schedule, could not land a BCS championship. Not to mention coaching his team to one of the biggest choke jobs in NCAA history, a final week loss to hapless Pittsburgh (led by Dave Wannestedt) to fall out of a guaranteed national championship berth. With Miles and even Greg Schiano saying no, it appears they didn't have more attractive options, but I personally don't love this fit for the maize and blue.

Kudos to Schiano by the way. Here's a guy in the midst of creating a national powerhouse from scratch and having the opportunity to hear his name mentioned with Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno and Frank Beamer, as coaches who have single handedly built college football powerhouses. The allure of the big name job did not sway him, and give credit to Shiano for staying loyal.

4) 1-13!! The Dolphins finally pulled one out, with an overtime victory over the Baltimore Ravens. I did not celebrate like we won the Super Bowl as the team did, but I am certainly glad the team will stay out of the record books for eternal infamy. I give the guys credit, as it has looked the previous two weeks as if the team had given up. Cam Cameron somehow kept the team motivated, and may have saved his job in the process. The win takes a lot of pressure of the team, and will allow them to play with slightly more confidence. Next up: play with a tremendous amount of pride defending the '72 Dolphins as the only undefeated team ever. For the Phish to have a shot in New England, they will have to play a flawless game, with incredible passion and hope to catch the Pats on an off day. I would bet infinite money against it, but oh boy, what a story it would be...

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Shanahan

Erratic teams are a norm in sports, and the phrase "You never know which team will show up" has been beaten to death. But this year's Denver Broncos have taken this to a new level. Every week it seems a different team has shown up, as I have pegged the Broncos at some point in the year as anything from a Superbowl contender to a team worthy of a top 5 draft pick. Granted, this is a team with an inexperienced quarterback, a running back by committee approach, and is still grieving the death of Darrent Williams from New Years. However, explain the volatility in some their performances this year.

Week 5: San Diego 41, Denver 3
Week 7: Denver 31, Pittsburgh 28

Week 9: Detroit 44, Denver 7
Week 11: Denver 34, Tennessee 20

Week 14: Denver 41, Kansas City 7
Week 15: Houston 31, Denver 13

A nightmare team for gamblers, the Broncos are simply a crapshoot. Here are their 2 remaining games and my predictions:

Week 16: @ San Diego. Denver 55, SD 10
Week 17: Minnesota. Min 62, Denver 3.

The 'Mitch' Hunt

All things considered, I think the MLB dodged a bit of a bullet yesterday. Regardless of Senator Mitchell's request, the names are, and will continue to be the story. As I said in my previous post, baseball could not afford an iconic player to be named in these investigations. Granted, Bonds and Clemens are about as big as you can get, but both of these guys had already been convicted in the public eye. The judgment has been out on Bonds for years and anyone who doesn;t suspected a 40+ year old pitcher winning Cy Youngs is not in touch with reality. Additionally, while great players, both Bonds and Clemens are hated figures. Arguments can be made for both as the greatest hitter and pitcher of all time, but neither is loved nor revered. The saddest name is Andy Pettitte, a star pitcher with a reputation as clean as a whistle. Pettitte is a guy no one had pegged, and is the most surprising name in the lot of all-stars including Miguel Tejada, Eric Gagne and Paul Lo Duca. Obviously, Paulie being named is a dissapointment to those Mets fans that learned to love him over the past few years. But with his incredible passion for the game, and psychotic competitive nature, I can't say I'm shocked he tried to get an edge. It's certainly not a good day for baseball, but my initial reaction, and one that appears to be echoed around the league is, "It could have been a lot worse."