I'm not a huge baseball fan, though I do enjoy the playoffs.
I also don't enjoy watching mentally weak players fold in the clutch. I've talked about problems I've seen Peyton Manning fix in his play in the clutch. I disagree when Bill Simmons writes the same thing about Kevin Garnett. So I always kind of disliked Alex Rodriguez.
I have no side in the whole Yankees-Red Sox thing but I did think A-fraud's slap at the ball in 04 was lame.
I also had A-Rod steal a girl from me by simply standing 20 feet away in Miami a few years back.
So I'm in no way an Alex Rodriguez fan.
Still this news makes me sad.
I want to believe that we live in a world where athletes are successful because they work harder, and are more gifted than I am physically. I want to believe in " The Natural", Lebron James and guys who naturally run a 4.4 forty yard dash at 250 lbs.
But with the money, fame and adoration available in sports, we've officially entered the era of no boundaries. It doesn't matter how talented a player is they're always looking for a competitive edge. Even all time talents like A-Rod, Bonds and Clemens.
It's funny how we praise competitiveness in athletes. As long as it's by the rules. And as long as it's not for personal gain. Michael Jordan(whom I love) punched at least 2 teammates (both of whom were white) and ruined the career of so many backup shooting guards that the Bulls had to stop drafting them. He also ruined Clyde Drexler's career. But he did it within the rules. Brett Favre has cost his teams SEVERAL legitimate chances at the Super Bowl with stupid interceptions, but again he's praised for just wanting to win so badly. Again within the rules.
But what happens when the athlete who isn't as mentally strong, or who craves attention, or is just a sociopath, hears that they have to do anything they can to get ahead. I can understand why these guys did it. Especially Clemens and Bonds who had seen the game pass them by. And despite having already had hall of fame careers they would have had to accept at least slowing down a little, until eventually they have to give the game up. Which is much better than what happened to Bonds last season, when the game gave him up. Left him on the sidelines all year reiterating how he wasn't retired.
A-Rod, makes less sense. He doesn't seem to care that much. Isn't that what everyone(myself included) criticizes him for? He's was supposed to be this incredible talent who worked as hard as anyone. He didn't seem to have Bonds, or Clemens work ethic. But he worked hard, always put up numbers when it didn't count and folded when it did. What made him decide to juice? Especially on a Rangers team that wasn't going anywhere... He already had a 252 Million dollar contract. What made him do it?
Some people say A-Rod wants everyone to love him. That he needs constant validation and praise. That he's sensitive. I don't know if any of that is true. But it seems like he expects people to see him as he isn't. It seems like he wants to be someone like Jeter who is strong, silent, respected, clutch, a winner. And the truth about Rodriguez at this point in his career is that he's none of those things. And it's my theory that maybe he was trying to be who he thought we wanted him to be. He was trying to be the hard worker, the gym rat, the compeititor.
Or maybe he just wanted bigger arms and pecs... It is ARod.
T
Monday, February 9, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
The Lebronacalypse was postponed...
I want to start this post out by saying for the record; Lebron James confuses the hell out of me.
He plays for 3 and a half months like the first coming. For the first time I actually feel like I'm a witness to something great, in fact as the Jordan fanatic I am, I actually uttered the words " He could go down as the greatest basketball player of all time. Better than MJ."
Here's what I was thinking. Lebron this season has been better than anyone I remember watching other than Jordan. His defense is better than Magic's ever was. His ability to get to the rim anytime on anyone, is more useful to his team than Bird's vaunted shooting. He's become one of the top 5-10 defensive players in the league and certainly the most consistent perimeter defender this year. Has anybody else succesfully guarded Chris Paul, and David West and Paul Pierce and KG in the same game? Does anybody besides Dwight Howard block more shots from the weak side? Has anybody ever been more of a home run threat on cross court passes? That game against The Raptors, when he had 7 dunks in the first half was crazy... In the words of Bill Simmons he looked like he made the leap this year.
Then he went to Boston on national TV and destroyed them. Took Pierce out of the game while scoring 38 in a 15 point victory. Simmons was ready to declare the Eastern conference done for the next 10-12 years. I thought all signs pointed to this. Until I saw that he had to play Kobe on MLK day in LA. What better coming out party? You take down the champs in Boston and a few weeks later destroy the challengers and declare it's Lebron's league now. The Lebronacalypse had begun to seem like a reality.
On an old video about Jordan they have an interview with Magic. He talks about how for years, Larry Bird and he were waiting for Michael to come up and take the crown and the championship. And then Magic says, boy did he come and take it.
I figured Monday was going to be Lebron's moment to come and take it. Everyone in the league has been calling him it's best player since the opening tip of the season. The Cavs are very much in the mix for the # 1 seed in the East, so every game counts. It's Martin Luther King's Day, right before the inaugeration of the first African-American President, the only Politician Lebron openly supported. And most importantly you're playing the #1 team in the West, a team there's a realistic chance you might face in the finals. And their star player just happens to be Kobe Bryant. The current holder of the title, best player in the NBA.
So I figured you could pencil Lebron in for a 40-50 point night and possibly a triple double. I'd hoped for a close game where Lebron and Kobe would guard each other in crunch time. Or at least for a Cavs blowout that Lebron padded his stats in. And then I had decided it will be over. If Lebron goes into LA and asserts his will over Kobe and the Lakers, a new era has started. The Lebronacalypse. A period of time where he's such a good player that wherever he goes they'll win 50-70 games depending on his teammates, then in a 7 game playoff series he destroys the other team. Every year for 10-12 years. I was warning friends about the supposed secret pact Wade, Bosh and Lebron made in China about going to the Knicks in 2010. I was telling people the Lebronacalypse was coming. I even called my friend Cam( a Lakers fan, and a guy who argues Magic was better than Jordan) to taunt him and remind him to watch Lebron as often as he could because " we're watching something special."
Then Lebron comes out and shoots 9 for 25 in a blowout loss. Yes, He was in a shooting slup. Yes, it's only one game. Yes Kobe is still a lockdown defender and it's hard for anyone to score on him. Still, Lebron looked like Superman getting exposed to Kryptonite and you could see it. So maybe Lebron still needs another year until he's ready to come up and take the title of game's best player.
Kobe played an almost identical game with a dislocated finger. For some reason he also decided to tell us about how he tried to shoot the ball off his non dislocated fingers. Thanks for the clear up there Mamba, I was thinking you shot the ball off the finger it hurt most on. Silly me. But the fact remains he scored 15 of his 20 after intermission. At the half the game was close. Then Kobe stepped up and Lebron couldn't duplicate the effort. This, along with the fact that Kobe made the 3 that saved the Redeem Team, makes me have to reassess my best player playing right now rankings and possibly give the Mamba back the top spot.
Lebron nailed his first buzzer beater, last night in Golden State. Most people probably were excited by it. I was a little surprised the Cavs needed a buzzer beater to beat the GSW but it doesn't matter. With time expiring Lebron took a 17 foot fallaway jumper and nailed it. The Cavs were down 104-105 so if he misses this shot they lose an embarrassing game. Those shots to me are the true game winners. If a game is tied and you miss, you go to overtime. If you're down and you miss, you lose. I think that's one of the reasons everyone remembers MJ's original shot at Cleveland in 88. The Bulls were down and it was the final seconds of the deciding game of a first round series. MJ hits the shot and the Cavs season was over. If he missed it, the Bulls season would have been over. So Lebron hits this shot and I'm supposed to be all impressed. But honestly I was just wondering why he faded away so much.
It's entirely possible that Lebron will continue to tease NBA fans and basketball lovers like this. Showing glimpses, and fading all season. It's possible that he'll continue to play amazing well by the numbers this season and then kick it up a gear in the playoffs. It's possible he makes the finals and wins, or loses. I don't know anymore. I have no doubt he'll become the best player in the league in the next 3-4 years. I just wonder if he'll ever reach his potential.
T
He plays for 3 and a half months like the first coming. For the first time I actually feel like I'm a witness to something great, in fact as the Jordan fanatic I am, I actually uttered the words " He could go down as the greatest basketball player of all time. Better than MJ."
Here's what I was thinking. Lebron this season has been better than anyone I remember watching other than Jordan. His defense is better than Magic's ever was. His ability to get to the rim anytime on anyone, is more useful to his team than Bird's vaunted shooting. He's become one of the top 5-10 defensive players in the league and certainly the most consistent perimeter defender this year. Has anybody else succesfully guarded Chris Paul, and David West and Paul Pierce and KG in the same game? Does anybody besides Dwight Howard block more shots from the weak side? Has anybody ever been more of a home run threat on cross court passes? That game against The Raptors, when he had 7 dunks in the first half was crazy... In the words of Bill Simmons he looked like he made the leap this year.
Then he went to Boston on national TV and destroyed them. Took Pierce out of the game while scoring 38 in a 15 point victory. Simmons was ready to declare the Eastern conference done for the next 10-12 years. I thought all signs pointed to this. Until I saw that he had to play Kobe on MLK day in LA. What better coming out party? You take down the champs in Boston and a few weeks later destroy the challengers and declare it's Lebron's league now. The Lebronacalypse had begun to seem like a reality.
On an old video about Jordan they have an interview with Magic. He talks about how for years, Larry Bird and he were waiting for Michael to come up and take the crown and the championship. And then Magic says, boy did he come and take it.
I figured Monday was going to be Lebron's moment to come and take it. Everyone in the league has been calling him it's best player since the opening tip of the season. The Cavs are very much in the mix for the # 1 seed in the East, so every game counts. It's Martin Luther King's Day, right before the inaugeration of the first African-American President, the only Politician Lebron openly supported. And most importantly you're playing the #1 team in the West, a team there's a realistic chance you might face in the finals. And their star player just happens to be Kobe Bryant. The current holder of the title, best player in the NBA.
So I figured you could pencil Lebron in for a 40-50 point night and possibly a triple double. I'd hoped for a close game where Lebron and Kobe would guard each other in crunch time. Or at least for a Cavs blowout that Lebron padded his stats in. And then I had decided it will be over. If Lebron goes into LA and asserts his will over Kobe and the Lakers, a new era has started. The Lebronacalypse. A period of time where he's such a good player that wherever he goes they'll win 50-70 games depending on his teammates, then in a 7 game playoff series he destroys the other team. Every year for 10-12 years. I was warning friends about the supposed secret pact Wade, Bosh and Lebron made in China about going to the Knicks in 2010. I was telling people the Lebronacalypse was coming. I even called my friend Cam( a Lakers fan, and a guy who argues Magic was better than Jordan) to taunt him and remind him to watch Lebron as often as he could because " we're watching something special."
Then Lebron comes out and shoots 9 for 25 in a blowout loss. Yes, He was in a shooting slup. Yes, it's only one game. Yes Kobe is still a lockdown defender and it's hard for anyone to score on him. Still, Lebron looked like Superman getting exposed to Kryptonite and you could see it. So maybe Lebron still needs another year until he's ready to come up and take the title of game's best player.
Kobe played an almost identical game with a dislocated finger. For some reason he also decided to tell us about how he tried to shoot the ball off his non dislocated fingers. Thanks for the clear up there Mamba, I was thinking you shot the ball off the finger it hurt most on. Silly me. But the fact remains he scored 15 of his 20 after intermission. At the half the game was close. Then Kobe stepped up and Lebron couldn't duplicate the effort. This, along with the fact that Kobe made the 3 that saved the Redeem Team, makes me have to reassess my best player playing right now rankings and possibly give the Mamba back the top spot.
Lebron nailed his first buzzer beater, last night in Golden State. Most people probably were excited by it. I was a little surprised the Cavs needed a buzzer beater to beat the GSW but it doesn't matter. With time expiring Lebron took a 17 foot fallaway jumper and nailed it. The Cavs were down 104-105 so if he misses this shot they lose an embarrassing game. Those shots to me are the true game winners. If a game is tied and you miss, you go to overtime. If you're down and you miss, you lose. I think that's one of the reasons everyone remembers MJ's original shot at Cleveland in 88. The Bulls were down and it was the final seconds of the deciding game of a first round series. MJ hits the shot and the Cavs season was over. If he missed it, the Bulls season would have been over. So Lebron hits this shot and I'm supposed to be all impressed. But honestly I was just wondering why he faded away so much.
It's entirely possible that Lebron will continue to tease NBA fans and basketball lovers like this. Showing glimpses, and fading all season. It's possible that he'll continue to play amazing well by the numbers this season and then kick it up a gear in the playoffs. It's possible he makes the finals and wins, or loses. I don't know anymore. I have no doubt he'll become the best player in the league in the next 3-4 years. I just wonder if he'll ever reach his potential.
T
Sunday, January 18, 2009
NFC Championship: WTF?
So far I'm 0 for 1 on recorded sports picks...
Probably should get used to that.
I went against my theory that in a game where two teams are evenly matched, you should always bet on the team who has the best player on the field. In the NFC championship this would have been Larry Fitzgerald.
The reason being, I did not think The Arizona Cardinals were anywhere near as good as the Philadelphia Eagles. Not even close. Philly had to go through the rugged NFC East division, lost a number of fluky games, and was ranked # 1 overall in DVOA by Football Outsiders.
The Cardinals meanwhile went 6-0 in their division ( Against The Rams, The Seahawks and the 49ers) and 2-8 against the rest of the league. Including giving 56 points to the Jets, 48 to this same Eagles team on Thanksgiving, and 47 to the Patriots two weeks before the playoffs.
You would think, or at least I did, that a wide receiver cannot possibly dominate a football game against a team with three good cornerbacks and Brian Dawkins. Right? Especially not after he destroyed The Carolina Panthers a week earlier because they decided not to double team him. Right? I get that Anquan Boldin was back and Kurt Warner was spectacular and religious all at the same time, but really? Jim Johnson is a defensive genius and he lets Fitzgerald get 3 touchdowns in the first half?
That was really the end of the game for The Eagles. Mcnabb was horrid in the first half and spectacular in the second. Until... Crunch time. I swear Donovan must hear the music from jaws when his team is down and he has to rally them back. Has there ever been a less clutch athlete? He's the Anti-John Elway. If you're rooting for the other team and Mcnabb has the ball with less than 5 minutes to go, you just wait for him to mess up. The same way I waited for Karl Malone to mess up, the same way I wait for Tony Romo to mess up.
Some guys just can't deal with pressure. Mcnabb is one of them. That's not the only reason TO and him couldn't get along, but it was one of them. One of the fascinating things about sports is how much it bares athletes psychology to the world. Mcnabb is not someone you can count on when the chips are down. He's probably like that in his day to day life as well. Can you imagine Mcnabb as a firefighter whose always great in drills, but freezes up as soon as there's a fire? I sure can.
If you can seperate Mcnabb from his annoying public persona, he has been(when healthy) one of the 5 best QBs in the league for almost a decade. But the numbers don't lie. He's been to 5 NFC championship games in 8 years and lost 4 of them. The one time he did break through to The Super Bowl he lost to Tom Brady. He also dry heaved through the most important two minute drill of his career. If you had switched Mcnabb with any of the other top 5 QBs over the last few years, I think The Eagles win a Super Bowl. Or two.
But that wasn't the story today, it was all about Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald. What won't be mentioned enough was the great job the defense did. I know they sucked really badly in during the season. But there is some talent on that side of the ball especially Bertrand Berry and Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie. Though Cromartie did get burned when he tipped a ball that Desean Jackson(A suprisingly good # 1 receiver) turned into a touchdown that gave the Eagles the lead after being down almost 20 points.
Overall the game came down to an 8 minute long drive after that play. Warner and Fitzgerald and Edgerrain James and Tim Hightower all stepped up. The Eagles couldn't get a stop and ultimately Warner hit Hightower for an 8 yard touchdown that sent Mcnabb onto the field down 7 with less than 3 minutes left. By now we all know how that story ends.
T
Probably should get used to that.
I went against my theory that in a game where two teams are evenly matched, you should always bet on the team who has the best player on the field. In the NFC championship this would have been Larry Fitzgerald.
The reason being, I did not think The Arizona Cardinals were anywhere near as good as the Philadelphia Eagles. Not even close. Philly had to go through the rugged NFC East division, lost a number of fluky games, and was ranked # 1 overall in DVOA by Football Outsiders.
The Cardinals meanwhile went 6-0 in their division ( Against The Rams, The Seahawks and the 49ers) and 2-8 against the rest of the league. Including giving 56 points to the Jets, 48 to this same Eagles team on Thanksgiving, and 47 to the Patriots two weeks before the playoffs.
You would think, or at least I did, that a wide receiver cannot possibly dominate a football game against a team with three good cornerbacks and Brian Dawkins. Right? Especially not after he destroyed The Carolina Panthers a week earlier because they decided not to double team him. Right? I get that Anquan Boldin was back and Kurt Warner was spectacular and religious all at the same time, but really? Jim Johnson is a defensive genius and he lets Fitzgerald get 3 touchdowns in the first half?
That was really the end of the game for The Eagles. Mcnabb was horrid in the first half and spectacular in the second. Until... Crunch time. I swear Donovan must hear the music from jaws when his team is down and he has to rally them back. Has there ever been a less clutch athlete? He's the Anti-John Elway. If you're rooting for the other team and Mcnabb has the ball with less than 5 minutes to go, you just wait for him to mess up. The same way I waited for Karl Malone to mess up, the same way I wait for Tony Romo to mess up.
Some guys just can't deal with pressure. Mcnabb is one of them. That's not the only reason TO and him couldn't get along, but it was one of them. One of the fascinating things about sports is how much it bares athletes psychology to the world. Mcnabb is not someone you can count on when the chips are down. He's probably like that in his day to day life as well. Can you imagine Mcnabb as a firefighter whose always great in drills, but freezes up as soon as there's a fire? I sure can.
If you can seperate Mcnabb from his annoying public persona, he has been(when healthy) one of the 5 best QBs in the league for almost a decade. But the numbers don't lie. He's been to 5 NFC championship games in 8 years and lost 4 of them. The one time he did break through to The Super Bowl he lost to Tom Brady. He also dry heaved through the most important two minute drill of his career. If you had switched Mcnabb with any of the other top 5 QBs over the last few years, I think The Eagles win a Super Bowl. Or two.
But that wasn't the story today, it was all about Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald. What won't be mentioned enough was the great job the defense did. I know they sucked really badly in during the season. But there is some talent on that side of the ball especially Bertrand Berry and Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie. Though Cromartie did get burned when he tipped a ball that Desean Jackson(A suprisingly good # 1 receiver) turned into a touchdown that gave the Eagles the lead after being down almost 20 points.
Overall the game came down to an 8 minute long drive after that play. Warner and Fitzgerald and Edgerrain James and Tim Hightower all stepped up. The Eagles couldn't get a stop and ultimately Warner hit Hightower for an 8 yard touchdown that sent Mcnabb onto the field down 7 with less than 3 minutes left. By now we all know how that story ends.
T
Friday, January 16, 2009
Championship Weekend Picks
I have no idea what's going on with The NFL this year. None. ZERO. Zip.
I also have been markedly less interested since Tom Brady got assassinated in KC 8 minutes into the season. But in the spirit of the season, I'll be giving my random ideas on who's going to win this weekend and why.
NFC Championship Game or The team that will lose the Super Bowl.
Arizona comes in as the underdog and the home team, that's a good combination. Philly is the top ranked team by DVOA the stat of choice favored by actual football experts over at Football Outsiders.com Philly has a choking quarterback whose thrown up in a Super Bowl during a crucial 2 minute drill. Arizona is quarterbacked by 37 year old Kurt Warner. Pittsburgh's quarterback had a concussion in week 17, has a safety that's pivotal to their defensive gameplan who will gut it out, and beat the Ravens on a super fluky touchdown call a few weeks ago. The Ravens are a 6th seed who are led by a rookie QB completing 46% of his passes during the playoffs.
I have NO idea what's going to happen. I could talk myself into any of these 4 teams. But I'm going to go with the match ups and teams that I have to talk myself into least.
Pittsburgh looked like the best team in the playoffs last week. But it played an SD team that had run out of mojo, couldn't run the ball and was a defensive nightmare. The point is Baltimore would have looked good against them too. Baltimore played IMO the best team overall this year. They needed an inury to Chris Johnson, a couple of really bad penalties from the Titans and a blatent no call on the play clock running out to beat them. They still kept things close and the bounces went their way. Much the way New England won the snow game in 01. The Ravens look like a team of destiny, and they're my overall pick this year. Now I have very little confidence in this pick since their QB is a rookie. The only way I was able to pick them was by looking at how HORRIFICALLY badly Joe Flacco is playing right now. He's completing less than half his passes and has 1 TD in 2 games. He really can't play much worse unless he has a rash of turnovers. Which so far this year he doesn't seem to have. He may not play great, but he doesn't turn it over much. Can Mcgahee and Mcclain (Mcrunningbacks?) get it done against a VERY good Pittsburgh defense? Who knows? Here's what I think, Ed Reed is the best player on the field this game. The Steelers will (hopefully) not be able to run on the Ravens, which means a still less than a month out of a concussion Rothlisberger will have to throw to win. I like the chances of Ed Reed making a play, even though there's been a ton of hype about Reed the last few weeks. I think Baltimore wins a close 17-14 game.
In Arizona there's nothing that's going to make me forget that Philly pasted the Cardinals 48-20 on Thanksgiving. I know they had to put the pads back on and get back to basics but they still lost less than 2 months ago to this team by 4 touchdowns. I'm going against the best player on the field theory, because there's no one better than Larry Fitzgerald on the field, but Philly seems MUCH better than Arizona. I think the defense consistently confuses and blitzes the hell out of everyone. And ya know who they're blitzing? Kurt Warner. The same Kurt Warner who can't move sideways and promised his kids they could get a puppy if the Cards get to the Super Bowl. Plus the Cardinals can't run and I don't buy their defense. They shut down the Falcons and their rookie QB and were the benefit of Jake Delholmme's meltdown disaster of doom. This one looks like a no brainer. Then again so did Atlanta, and Carolina... I'm going with Philly 31-13.
I have no faith in these picks and I'm going back to watching the NBA where Lebron is better than everyone else and we're pretty sure the Lakers and Celtics are good too.
I hate football this year.
T
I also have been markedly less interested since Tom Brady got assassinated in KC 8 minutes into the season. But in the spirit of the season, I'll be giving my random ideas on who's going to win this weekend and why.
NFC Championship Game or The team that will lose the Super Bowl.
Arizona comes in as the underdog and the home team, that's a good combination. Philly is the top ranked team by DVOA the stat of choice favored by actual football experts over at Football Outsiders.com Philly has a choking quarterback whose thrown up in a Super Bowl during a crucial 2 minute drill. Arizona is quarterbacked by 37 year old Kurt Warner. Pittsburgh's quarterback had a concussion in week 17, has a safety that's pivotal to their defensive gameplan who will gut it out, and beat the Ravens on a super fluky touchdown call a few weeks ago. The Ravens are a 6th seed who are led by a rookie QB completing 46% of his passes during the playoffs.
I have NO idea what's going to happen. I could talk myself into any of these 4 teams. But I'm going to go with the match ups and teams that I have to talk myself into least.
Pittsburgh looked like the best team in the playoffs last week. But it played an SD team that had run out of mojo, couldn't run the ball and was a defensive nightmare. The point is Baltimore would have looked good against them too. Baltimore played IMO the best team overall this year. They needed an inury to Chris Johnson, a couple of really bad penalties from the Titans and a blatent no call on the play clock running out to beat them. They still kept things close and the bounces went their way. Much the way New England won the snow game in 01. The Ravens look like a team of destiny, and they're my overall pick this year. Now I have very little confidence in this pick since their QB is a rookie. The only way I was able to pick them was by looking at how HORRIFICALLY badly Joe Flacco is playing right now. He's completing less than half his passes and has 1 TD in 2 games. He really can't play much worse unless he has a rash of turnovers. Which so far this year he doesn't seem to have. He may not play great, but he doesn't turn it over much. Can Mcgahee and Mcclain (Mcrunningbacks?) get it done against a VERY good Pittsburgh defense? Who knows? Here's what I think, Ed Reed is the best player on the field this game. The Steelers will (hopefully) not be able to run on the Ravens, which means a still less than a month out of a concussion Rothlisberger will have to throw to win. I like the chances of Ed Reed making a play, even though there's been a ton of hype about Reed the last few weeks. I think Baltimore wins a close 17-14 game.
In Arizona there's nothing that's going to make me forget that Philly pasted the Cardinals 48-20 on Thanksgiving. I know they had to put the pads back on and get back to basics but they still lost less than 2 months ago to this team by 4 touchdowns. I'm going against the best player on the field theory, because there's no one better than Larry Fitzgerald on the field, but Philly seems MUCH better than Arizona. I think the defense consistently confuses and blitzes the hell out of everyone. And ya know who they're blitzing? Kurt Warner. The same Kurt Warner who can't move sideways and promised his kids they could get a puppy if the Cards get to the Super Bowl. Plus the Cardinals can't run and I don't buy their defense. They shut down the Falcons and their rookie QB and were the benefit of Jake Delholmme's meltdown disaster of doom. This one looks like a no brainer. Then again so did Atlanta, and Carolina... I'm going with Philly 31-13.
I have no faith in these picks and I'm going back to watching the NBA where Lebron is better than everyone else and we're pretty sure the Lakers and Celtics are good too.
I hate football this year.
T
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Kobe Juggles his Balls too Early
In continuing my public trend of hating on Kobe Bryant, I'll post this sports column on the regular blog.
Last night with 12 seconds left in a 108-109 game with his team trailing the Spurs in San Antonio Kobe Bryant hit a huge 3 from the left wing. He then ruined my favorite sports dance of the last 10 years. The dance he ruined was his interpretation of Sam Cassel's big balls dance. You know the one where he cradles what would be humongous testicles.
You can watch the clip Here it's about 25 seconds in.
The problem with young master Kobe's premature celebration was that there were still 12 seconds on the clock so when Derek Fisher assumed that since he fouled Chris Quinn in the final seconds the other night in Miami he could do the same to Mason. After all this is the same Fisher who once had time to catch turn and shoot in 0.4 seconds, as well as the same Fisher who landed ON Brent Barry last year in the final seconds. This year; no dice. He over played Mason, Mason spun nailed a mid range J and got sent to the line for the winning points.
Then Kobe does the most cowardly disgusting thing a so called "go to guy" can do in the waning seconds. He passes out of a double team to Trevor Ariza. I'm sorry but there's no way D-Wade gives that ball up, or Lebron or Pierce. You're down one, drive against the double team and hit the mid range shot. Kobe is soo anxious to show us that he's playing the "right" way that he actually almost always ends up making a mistake. Either he shoots when he should pass or he passes when he should shoot. He needs to get it through his head that he will NEVER win most fans back, he's never going to be mentioned as anything other than the 2nd best shooting guard of all time ( a horrible insult to Jerry West BTW) and he will always be feared not loved. Bill Simmons wrote years ago that he should embrace the dark side and become a bad guy. I'm not willing to go that far, but I will offer this. It's obvious Kobe doesn't care about anyone other than himself. So his selfless play is actually the ultimate form of selfishness. He's not doing it because he believes in team basketball (anyone who watched him 05-06 knows that's not true) he's not doing it because he thinks it gives him the best chance to win. No he's playing neutered like he has this year because he thinks it's what people want to see. The worst part is that we gave him that idea and an MVP award last year.
Nothing has changed with Kobe he's still the most petulant, angry, sociopathic athlete of the 21st century. He just has better teammates now and has realized that if he says the right things, and doesn't shoot as much people like him more. The problem is that it suppresses the thing about Kobe that makes him special. His killer instinct. The Kobe of 05-06 calmly drains a 19 footer over the double team and then glares at teammates and Spurs alike. The thing that makes Kobe special is his unique ability to tune everything out EXCEPT the game. Specifically except the guy he's guarding and being guarded by. Kobe was the first person to play a video game in real life. Remember the 63 in 3 quarters against the Grizzlies? Or the 81 against the Raptors? He did things people only did in video games because he didn't care if his teammates stood around while he went 1 on 5 successfully. But when he gets criticized as he has been for the last few years for not winning or playing the "right" way he goes into pout mode. Like in Phoenix or Sacramento a few years ago when in deciding playoff games he took one shot in the first or second half. Now he's gotten too smart to pout so he does something even more disgusting, he passes the game winning shot to teammates unworthy of it. This is not like Lebron passing up the layup to throw the ball to Gooden in the corner. Lebron actually is an unselfish player who thinks pass before shoot. He also destroyed the Pistons with 48 very selfish and needed points in game 5 of that series. No Kobe is just trying to make a point. And he's selfish enough to lose a game to do it.
Last night with 12 seconds left in a 108-109 game with his team trailing the Spurs in San Antonio Kobe Bryant hit a huge 3 from the left wing. He then ruined my favorite sports dance of the last 10 years. The dance he ruined was his interpretation of Sam Cassel's big balls dance. You know the one where he cradles what would be humongous testicles.
You can watch the clip Here it's about 25 seconds in.
The problem with young master Kobe's premature celebration was that there were still 12 seconds on the clock so when Derek Fisher assumed that since he fouled Chris Quinn in the final seconds the other night in Miami he could do the same to Mason. After all this is the same Fisher who once had time to catch turn and shoot in 0.4 seconds, as well as the same Fisher who landed ON Brent Barry last year in the final seconds. This year; no dice. He over played Mason, Mason spun nailed a mid range J and got sent to the line for the winning points.
Then Kobe does the most cowardly disgusting thing a so called "go to guy" can do in the waning seconds. He passes out of a double team to Trevor Ariza. I'm sorry but there's no way D-Wade gives that ball up, or Lebron or Pierce. You're down one, drive against the double team and hit the mid range shot. Kobe is soo anxious to show us that he's playing the "right" way that he actually almost always ends up making a mistake. Either he shoots when he should pass or he passes when he should shoot. He needs to get it through his head that he will NEVER win most fans back, he's never going to be mentioned as anything other than the 2nd best shooting guard of all time ( a horrible insult to Jerry West BTW) and he will always be feared not loved. Bill Simmons wrote years ago that he should embrace the dark side and become a bad guy. I'm not willing to go that far, but I will offer this. It's obvious Kobe doesn't care about anyone other than himself. So his selfless play is actually the ultimate form of selfishness. He's not doing it because he believes in team basketball (anyone who watched him 05-06 knows that's not true) he's not doing it because he thinks it gives him the best chance to win. No he's playing neutered like he has this year because he thinks it's what people want to see. The worst part is that we gave him that idea and an MVP award last year.
Nothing has changed with Kobe he's still the most petulant, angry, sociopathic athlete of the 21st century. He just has better teammates now and has realized that if he says the right things, and doesn't shoot as much people like him more. The problem is that it suppresses the thing about Kobe that makes him special. His killer instinct. The Kobe of 05-06 calmly drains a 19 footer over the double team and then glares at teammates and Spurs alike. The thing that makes Kobe special is his unique ability to tune everything out EXCEPT the game. Specifically except the guy he's guarding and being guarded by. Kobe was the first person to play a video game in real life. Remember the 63 in 3 quarters against the Grizzlies? Or the 81 against the Raptors? He did things people only did in video games because he didn't care if his teammates stood around while he went 1 on 5 successfully. But when he gets criticized as he has been for the last few years for not winning or playing the "right" way he goes into pout mode. Like in Phoenix or Sacramento a few years ago when in deciding playoff games he took one shot in the first or second half. Now he's gotten too smart to pout so he does something even more disgusting, he passes the game winning shot to teammates unworthy of it. This is not like Lebron passing up the layup to throw the ball to Gooden in the corner. Lebron actually is an unselfish player who thinks pass before shoot. He also destroyed the Pistons with 48 very selfish and needed points in game 5 of that series. No Kobe is just trying to make a point. And he's selfish enough to lose a game to do it.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Larry Fitzgerald is a Grown Ass Man
I often refer to players who have stepped up to the superstar level as Grown Ass Men.
Tom Brady is a Grown Ass Man, Michael Jordan the Grownest of Men, Peyton Manning loath as I am to admit is a Grown Ass Man, as is Kobe.
On Saturday with my money riding against him ( I was in Vegas it was legal) Larry Fitzgerald became a Grown Ass Man.
He torched the second seeded ( and heavily favored) Panthers secondary for 8 catches for an eye popping 161 yards. Re-read that. He had 130 yards in the first half as The Cardinals turned the game into a blowout and handed The Panthers their first loss at home this year.
It's my opinion that Fitzgerald took the opportunity to seize the crown from the last guy to wear the title " League's BEST wide reciever." That's right on the opposite sideline was another Grown Ass Man of a wideout. Carolina's Steve Smith. While he seems like a thug from the whole ya know coldcocking his teammate thing, Smith is a beast. Remember the playoff game against Chicago where he single handedly sent The Bears home? Remember him going up and making plays against bigger cornerbacks consistently for the last 3-5 years? Steve Smith was the best reciever in the league. Until now.
Fitzgerald snatched the crown and at least 3 highlight reel catches including a touchdown you have to see to believe. Fitzgerald combines the physicality of a Terrell Owens with the smarts of a Hines Ward. He's tall, he can jump, he's got great hands, speed and instincts. Watch the way he ALWAYS stretches the ball out toward the goal line. Watch the ability to go up in traffic and make circus catches CONSISTENTLY. He's unreal. The only reciever even close in the league is a motivated Randy Moss. And if Moss was always motivated he would by the greatest reciever of all time by far. No disrespect to Jerry Rice, who worked really hard and was amazing, no Reciever has ever been more feared by a defense than Moss. He just doesn't have it mentally. He's just kinda a frontrunner, and I say this as a HUGE Moss fan. Fitzgerald has always competed even before The Cards were relevant.
The best thing about this game was not just watching a player who was supposed to be good jump a level. I've watched Fitzgerald a few times and seen his numbers for the last few years, but no one really knew how good he was, cause he was on ya know... The Cardinals. On a National stage, missing his almost as equally talented partner Anquan Boldin, with an anemic running game and the always in danger of meltdown Kurt Warner, Fitzgerald stepped up. The only way The Cards win this game are if Fitzgerald goes off. And he did. That's what the great ones do. It's what Moss hasn't done yet, it's what (gulp) Terrell Owens did in the Super Bowl a few years ago. He imposed his will on a situation. Not to mention a defense that should have been double teaming and spying him all day but didn't until the second half when they were down 20. That was almost as amazing of a subplot as Fitzgerald making the leap... Who else are you scared of on The Cards? Edgerrin James? Kurt Warner? Steve Breaston? How do you not double a guy who's supposedly one of the best in the league. Especially without Boldin to make you pay for it. The Panthers must have talked themselves into some crazy logic. I imagine it went like this:
John Fox: Edge really looked explosive in that game against the Falcons.
Mike Trgovac: Yeah and you remember when Edge was 23? He could beat you.
John Fox: Yeah and the more Kurt Warner throws it, the more he'll throw picks right?
Mike Trgovac: Yeah we want him throwing, we should bait him by single covering Larry Fitzgerald. They'll NEVER see it coming!
John Fox: Not double Fitzgerald? Brillant! Let's get back to this Guinness!
Seriously?
And now Boldin should be back for The NFC championship game which The Cards are hosting in a dome. Remember that Warner has gotten to The Super Bowl before in a dome, in St Louis. And now you have to single cover the best reciever in the league with his confidence sky high. If I'm Ken Whisenhunt I'm throwing to Fitzgerald 15-20 times this game and not even pretending to have a running game. You're not gonna run on Philly anyway, and they're not gonna run much if Westbrook is hurt. Air it out this week. This is one of those situations where the best player on the field can affect the game. It's what Bill Simmons would call an Alpha Dog game. Let Fitzgerald get the ball in his hands and see if he can win the game for you. He's the best player on the field Sun. If I'm the Cardinals I don't wanna foget that.
T
Tom Brady is a Grown Ass Man, Michael Jordan the Grownest of Men, Peyton Manning loath as I am to admit is a Grown Ass Man, as is Kobe.
On Saturday with my money riding against him ( I was in Vegas it was legal) Larry Fitzgerald became a Grown Ass Man.
He torched the second seeded ( and heavily favored) Panthers secondary for 8 catches for an eye popping 161 yards. Re-read that. He had 130 yards in the first half as The Cardinals turned the game into a blowout and handed The Panthers their first loss at home this year.
It's my opinion that Fitzgerald took the opportunity to seize the crown from the last guy to wear the title " League's BEST wide reciever." That's right on the opposite sideline was another Grown Ass Man of a wideout. Carolina's Steve Smith. While he seems like a thug from the whole ya know coldcocking his teammate thing, Smith is a beast. Remember the playoff game against Chicago where he single handedly sent The Bears home? Remember him going up and making plays against bigger cornerbacks consistently for the last 3-5 years? Steve Smith was the best reciever in the league. Until now.
Fitzgerald snatched the crown and at least 3 highlight reel catches including a touchdown you have to see to believe. Fitzgerald combines the physicality of a Terrell Owens with the smarts of a Hines Ward. He's tall, he can jump, he's got great hands, speed and instincts. Watch the way he ALWAYS stretches the ball out toward the goal line. Watch the ability to go up in traffic and make circus catches CONSISTENTLY. He's unreal. The only reciever even close in the league is a motivated Randy Moss. And if Moss was always motivated he would by the greatest reciever of all time by far. No disrespect to Jerry Rice, who worked really hard and was amazing, no Reciever has ever been more feared by a defense than Moss. He just doesn't have it mentally. He's just kinda a frontrunner, and I say this as a HUGE Moss fan. Fitzgerald has always competed even before The Cards were relevant.
The best thing about this game was not just watching a player who was supposed to be good jump a level. I've watched Fitzgerald a few times and seen his numbers for the last few years, but no one really knew how good he was, cause he was on ya know... The Cardinals. On a National stage, missing his almost as equally talented partner Anquan Boldin, with an anemic running game and the always in danger of meltdown Kurt Warner, Fitzgerald stepped up. The only way The Cards win this game are if Fitzgerald goes off. And he did. That's what the great ones do. It's what Moss hasn't done yet, it's what (gulp) Terrell Owens did in the Super Bowl a few years ago. He imposed his will on a situation. Not to mention a defense that should have been double teaming and spying him all day but didn't until the second half when they were down 20. That was almost as amazing of a subplot as Fitzgerald making the leap... Who else are you scared of on The Cards? Edgerrin James? Kurt Warner? Steve Breaston? How do you not double a guy who's supposedly one of the best in the league. Especially without Boldin to make you pay for it. The Panthers must have talked themselves into some crazy logic. I imagine it went like this:
John Fox: Edge really looked explosive in that game against the Falcons.
Mike Trgovac: Yeah and you remember when Edge was 23? He could beat you.
John Fox: Yeah and the more Kurt Warner throws it, the more he'll throw picks right?
Mike Trgovac: Yeah we want him throwing, we should bait him by single covering Larry Fitzgerald. They'll NEVER see it coming!
John Fox: Not double Fitzgerald? Brillant! Let's get back to this Guinness!
Seriously?
And now Boldin should be back for The NFC championship game which The Cards are hosting in a dome. Remember that Warner has gotten to The Super Bowl before in a dome, in St Louis. And now you have to single cover the best reciever in the league with his confidence sky high. If I'm Ken Whisenhunt I'm throwing to Fitzgerald 15-20 times this game and not even pretending to have a running game. You're not gonna run on Philly anyway, and they're not gonna run much if Westbrook is hurt. Air it out this week. This is one of those situations where the best player on the field can affect the game. It's what Bill Simmons would call an Alpha Dog game. Let Fitzgerald get the ball in his hands and see if he can win the game for you. He's the best player on the field Sun. If I'm the Cardinals I don't wanna foget that.
T
Wed: NFL Column- They thought The Pats were Bad...
So I was whaling on my triceps in the gym when a strange thought hit me. Another strange thought just hit me as I read that sentence but I digress...
So I read this article earlier Two Marvin Harrisons
It led me to think A: that more NFL players than just Michael Vick, Rae Carruth and Ray Lewis are involved in serious crimes.B: Maybe Marvin Harrison isn't the pussy I've always thought he was and C: How well do we actually know our athletes?
I've always said that I don't EVER want to meet Michael Jordan, because I've loved him so much, for so long. If MJ were a dick to me, or was sleazy or pretentious I'd lose a lot of enjoyment I've had and continue to have reading about and watching his career.
I want our athletes to be paragons of virtue, I want them to be faithful to their wives(good luck) to tell the truth(even less likely) and to reflect the virtues of humanity and competition. Maybe it's asking too much. It's almost certainly asking too much judging by the recent public humiliations of Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds. Considering that Ray Lewis might go back to the Super Bowl despite allegedly being involved in a murder from another Super Bowl party. Hell Pacman Jones was suspended by the league for a year and got in a fight with his bodyguard while supposedly on his best behavior.
Now it turns out Marvin Harrison might be the NFL's version of Nino Brown. We're just missing the image of him handing out Turkeys in a fur coat at this point. How many other athletes stay out of the spotlight and in the streets? Why aren't more of the alleged incidents in the article reported? Why don't teams spend more on background checks once they already have a superstar? Or is it that they adopt a don't ask, don't tell policy? Who is ultimately responsible and how many more athletes like Marvin Harrison allegedly is are there?
There's a lot of questions about athletes out there and I'm not sure we want to know the answers...
T
So I read this article earlier Two Marvin Harrisons
It led me to think A: that more NFL players than just Michael Vick, Rae Carruth and Ray Lewis are involved in serious crimes.B: Maybe Marvin Harrison isn't the pussy I've always thought he was and C: How well do we actually know our athletes?
I've always said that I don't EVER want to meet Michael Jordan, because I've loved him so much, for so long. If MJ were a dick to me, or was sleazy or pretentious I'd lose a lot of enjoyment I've had and continue to have reading about and watching his career.
I want our athletes to be paragons of virtue, I want them to be faithful to their wives(good luck) to tell the truth(even less likely) and to reflect the virtues of humanity and competition. Maybe it's asking too much. It's almost certainly asking too much judging by the recent public humiliations of Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds. Considering that Ray Lewis might go back to the Super Bowl despite allegedly being involved in a murder from another Super Bowl party. Hell Pacman Jones was suspended by the league for a year and got in a fight with his bodyguard while supposedly on his best behavior.
Now it turns out Marvin Harrison might be the NFL's version of Nino Brown. We're just missing the image of him handing out Turkeys in a fur coat at this point. How many other athletes stay out of the spotlight and in the streets? Why aren't more of the alleged incidents in the article reported? Why don't teams spend more on background checks once they already have a superstar? Or is it that they adopt a don't ask, don't tell policy? Who is ultimately responsible and how many more athletes like Marvin Harrison allegedly is are there?
There's a lot of questions about athletes out there and I'm not sure we want to know the answers...
T
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