Week 4 NFL Results

Well it was a tight one again this week, but for the first time all year I have broken the .500 mark will a dominant 7-6 performance. It is too bad i didn't keep the 7 that i got correct with my proline picks. Every week there is always the 1 game that trips me up on my ticket and screws me over. This is why I am not a hardcore gambler, it is always that 1 game, even the $2 bets that lose is still tough to take.

But there is always next week! Check back Friday as I take yet another stab at it.
...and "Boom Goes The Dynamite".

Around the Horn

The Mets managed to choke out another September collapse, the second time in 2 years.
This time it was’t to the epic proportion it was last year but still not good.
It was kind of a weird atmosphere after being eliminated from the playoffs to have a celebration to close Shea Stadium, it sure was no Yankee Stadium.
Question: How does Omar Minaya get a 4 year extension with this team? and, How can a bullpen be that awful?

Win less St. Louis Rams fired coach Scott Linehan?
0-4, no hope for a turn around, what took so long?
Marc Bulger must be the happiest man in town today, he may get to see the field again.

CC Sabathia threw a complete game on 3 days rest for the 3rd time in a row.
Either he is a freak or it proves that like I said in an earlier blog, let pitchers pitch, don’t baby them and their arms will only get stronger.
p.s. CC PUT A CURVE IN YOUR HAT AND PUT IT ON STRAIGHT, you look like an ass just like all those straight brimmed punks at the mall

Matt Flynn saw some snaps in relief of an injured Aaron Rogers for the Green Bay Packers.
Good work on managements part to get a credible veteran backup. I am not saying Brett Farve but maybe have traded Farve for Pennington not a draft pick. There must be a one of the Detmer’s or isn’t there another Hasslebeck out there looking for work

T.O. got 1/3 of all the plays that the Cowboys ran, and they lost and he complained about not being used enough.
Marion Barber had 8 runs and Felix Jones didn't get 1 play from scrimmage. I think that they may have more of a beef about not getting the ball enough. Probably a good reason why the Cowboys lost

Week 4 NFL Picks

After 2 weeks of less than 50% I am looking for a bounce back week.

There are some tough lines this week and for some of these teams you don't know who is going to show up and who will take the week off so here we will take a swing for the fences and see what happens. Check back next week for the results, or before just to be enlightened by the regular Blogging!

The way it should be

The Sports scene once again makes sense again and all of the stars have aligned.

Until the Red Sox’s final out last night I couldn’t completely believe that the Yankees would be eliminated. How many times over the last 4 years have people early and mid and even late season say the Yankees are done only to see them reel off a ton of games and once again make it in. I was worried that it would come down to the last 3 games at Fenway with a 1 game playoff at the end...the 13 year run is officially over and my braves record of 14 still stands (double bonus that all were division titles in the case of the Braves)

The Detroit Lions finally removed Matt Millen from his roll as President and GM. This once great franchise...hahaha, even I have to laugh at that. Lets just call them Barry Sanders old team has been even worse then a disappointment for many years. Maybe they can get someone with some better vision and knowledge of drafts and pro scouting. You can’t complete a chapter let alone the book without turning the page.

Only thing that cold have made this better would be if the Cubs or Braves managed to win the World Series.

On par- but over par

Just as I suspected this weeks games were a bit challenging and I was pretty surprised with some of the outcomes. I hate the backdoor covers and learned that there is no such thing as "garbage time" or "meaningless field goal". Some of these teams need to listen to Herm Edwards..WE PLAY TO WIN THE GAME.
I like the looks of week 4 a bit better and hope to get some respectability back in the coming week after the 7-9 performance this week.
Friday I will have the week 4 picks.

Around the Horn

Brian Griese threw it up 67 times in Sunday’s game. (38-67, 407)
Says very little for the running game for Tampa Bay, says a lot for the prestigious Michigan Wolverines pedigree for QB’s

Former Michigan QB Tom Brady is my early season MVP candidate.
After watching New England play, Brady hasn’t even played a full quarter and is out for the year and clearly he is the most valuable to his team.

The Mets, after last years collapse or choke job or whatever you want to call it look like they want to make it an annual event.
Sure it isn’t of historic proportions as it was last year but they seem to be trying to do everything in their power to give it away again. As a Braves fan, I will watch and enjoy.

Kyle Busch was dominant in Dover Nationwide race
Kyle Busch was first eliminated in Dover Sprint Cup race with engine failure.
Looks like Kyle chose the wrong race as he has dug himself into a hole in the Chase Championship that will be tough to get out of...No, No, dig up stupid!

Yankee Stadium saw its last game on Sunday.
Did anyone else think that it was a little odd and frankly unjust that it was a game involving the Baltimore Orioles and not the Boston Red Sox?

Blues defenseman Erik Johnson suffered a knee injury. Johnson is a promising young defenseman and high prospect. He was attempting to stop his golf cart and step out to hit his next shot when he jammed his right foot between the accelerator and brake.
This would never happen to a Toronto Maple Leafs player as they have had more then enough practice on the golf course after missing the playoffs the last 3 years.

John Ferguson Junior has been hired as pro scout director in San Jose
Yes, that sound you just heard was Joe Thornton flipping pages looking for that opt-out clause in his contract

Week 3 NFL Picks

Coming off the heels of a 7-8 week I am not looking forward to this weeks games. Looking at the Proline form there are a lot of games that i just don't like and lines that further complicate matters. It is tough to determine if teams are as good as they look or as bad as they seem. That is why we play the games. So without further delay here are this weeks picks against the spread. I am going to need a lot of luck this week, the confidence just isn't there.

No-mar baseball for Garciaparra

Mr. Mia Hamm- Ramon (call me Nomar) Garciaparra went down...again with an injury. Quick someone call Ripley's because they arn't going to believe it. It seems that every time you turn around this once decent and relatively solid player is dinged up and missing time. I never got the allure of Ramon even when he was having somewhat productive years in Boston how people thought he was as good as they did. I am glad that GM Theo Epstine dropped him when he did, goes to show that he is a top rate GM. I too thought he was over rated then and even more so now and yet teams keep throwing money at him. To me he is just an average player who's OCD type behaviour at the plate is just difficult to watch, with the feet and the gloves and, well, the whole production. When watching the highlights from the game I thought I was watching soccer (I guess being married to the best female soccer player that the US you pick up the same traits) when the announcer said something like... And Garciaparra goes down like he was shot!
Not the first time someone has said that about Ramon and it probably won't be the last.

Jeter - A big hit at Yankee Stadium

Derek Jeter, the current Mr.Yankee went 2-for-3 the other night to break a tie with Lou Gehrig for most hits all-time at Yankee Stadium. The two hits give Jeter 1,271 to Gehrig's 1,269. The hit came in Jeter's 8,002nd major league at-bat, and he passed Gehrig for second on the Yankees' career list behind Mickey Mantle (8,102). This is just another notch in Jeters belt to prove that he is one of the all time Yankee great. Now I hate the Yankees as much as the next guy and I am very happy that it looks like their streak of 13 straight playoff appearances will come to an end. I am a huge Braves fan and I want the Braves 14 straight division titles/playoff appearances not to be matched by the boys from the Bronx. With that being said I do respect what Jeter has done through out his career. He is one of the greatest clutch performers of all time, the ultimate professional, a class act all the way, The Captain. It won’t take too long after he decides to retire before you see his bust in the New Yankee Stadium with his #2 retired along with the other all time Yankee greats, the likes of Mantle, Ruth, Dimaggio et al. Yankee Stadium will close this Sunday after the last home game of the season and it is fitting that the House That Ruth Built is going to become the House that Jeter closed down with every hit and hustle play he has has over his Hall of Fame career.
Congratulations Derek, this record is one that will not be broken.

Rough first week

Ok so after 1 week of NFL picks against the spread we are sitting at a not surprising sub .500 record with a less then stellar 7-8 after the Houston game was postponed due to having only half a roof on their stadium.
It was a great week to watch games with all the calls, missed calls, blown calls, Riverboat gambler calls, and pure offensive onslaughts. Tough act for week 2 to live up to but we shall see.
Lets hope that this weeks picks are better, all I want is to average a .500 record...that's not too much to ask, is it?

Around the Horn

Wth all the postponed, cancelled and relocated games over the weekend due to Hurricane Ike made the sports scene a scheduling nightmare.
What is worse I heard that Ike was so dangerously powerful and destructive that Tina Turner had to postpone her current tour and retreat even more inland!

The San Diego Chargers lost in the last seconds for the second straight week. This time it was partially the result of an admitted blown call by the usually great and respected Ed Hochuli.
Norv Turner and The Chargers can only be so upset as Hochuli is an established lawyer that has huge guns in his Smedium shirt, not one to mess with. If Hochuli was on the San Diego D the Broncos would not have rolled the dice in that ballsy call and gone for 2

As a Michigan fan it was an epic game to watch as USC beat the living crap out of THE Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday
Again Coach Tressel blew the big one on the national stage, hang your head all the way back to Columbus nice drop of some 10 spots in the polls...no stickers on the helmets this week fellas!

Rough week for the Patriots and extended family.First Tom Brady goes down with a torn ACL and torn MCL and Notre Dame coach Charlie Weiss did the same after being taken out by one of his own players with help from a Michigan player
What’s the matter Tom, Charlie stayed in the game until the end couldn’t you? And you call yourself an athlete

Wayne Gretzky will again be part of Team Canada but not as Executive Director. Possibly that opens the door for Steve Yzerman to take that position.
The FOG (Friends of Gretzky) may be lifting from Hockey Canada’s men’s team

Chris Cooley wanted to show the readers of his popular blog some of the study materials the players were given by coach Jim Zorn.
A good idea and good of him to show the behind the scene happenings of the NFL.Next time consider using a picture that doesn’t let your junk show for all to see, may I suggest a towel, jogging pants, a pair of boxers or even a jock...Chris put that thing away, you’ll scare the children

U of T's Varsity Blues broke a 49 game losing streak versus the University of Waterloo at the beginning of the season, the first win since 2001.
This was a huge win for U of T, breaking the longest Canadian University losing streak but more importantly allowed the bare-chested guys from the phys. ed. department to fervently chant "Waterloo smells like poo"

Carlos Zambrano pitched the quietest No Hitter in recent memory after being played in Milwaukee as a home game for Houston due to Hurricane Ike.
Few people seemed to talk about it or praise it as a great feat. Dan Patrick said it right it was like a game of Clue.. Zambrano- in Milwaukee against the Astros-with a 4 seam fastball

MLS in Ottawa? Noooooooooooooo!

Tuesday looks to be a sad day for Ottawa Sports. Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk will officially announce his bid for a Major League Soccer franchise at a press conference. The first time Mr. Melnyk came onto the Ottawa scene he came in on a white horse and saved the Ottawa Senators from bankruptcy. Sure it was probably a decent investment for him but he also got a great deal...buy low right? In any event he was a hero.The Sens have enjoyed much success in his time as the owner, perhaps not the ultimate success in terms of the Stanley Cup but great consistency. Well that good will that he earned has dried up in my mind with this new news. Melnyk, who has revealed plans to build a "world-class" stadium in Ottawa, had previously stated his intention to go after a franchise, which will cost at least $40 million US. Sure this is a very big long shot right now and won’t be an issue for some time and many years now, as there are many cites that are sure to be well ahead of Ottawa (including Canadian Cities Vancouver and Montreal) but just the prospect of a dirty soccer team coming to town pains me. It isn’t the money, the stadium issue or the Soccer team itself (although I have made it very clear that I have little or no use for soccer at any level, at any time), it would be the “fans”. That is all we need is some wannabe wanker posers thinking they are in Liverpool or something trying to emulate what garbage they see on Saturday mornings on Sportsnet. Heads up on hoodlums in the streets, urine bombs from the top level, projectiles thrown about flair's shot from the stands and just all around unruly behavior in the stands.Then of course part 2 of the negatives that would come with an MLS team...the soccer itself. There would be chaos..there would be the oranges shortage that would come due to the halftime snacks, stretchers would become in high demand as they would be used for all the embellished injuries each game and who knows what else. You want to see soccer become a Toronto FC fan and go to Toronto to see a game.

And here are some examples from where no one can dispute...
The Simpsons:

Announcer: This match will decide which nation is the greatest on Earth: Mexico or Portugal!

TV Announcer: You'll see all your favorite soccer stars. Like Ariaga! Ariaga II! Bariaga! Aruglia! And Pizzoza!
Homer: Oh, I never heard of those people.
TV Announcer: And they'll all be signing autographs!
Homer: Woo-hoo!

Mexican Announcer: Halfback passes to center, back to wing, back to center, center holds it! Holds it! Holds It!

Just Say No to the MLS, we are all better off without it.

NFL Picks Week 2

PROGRAMMING NOTE:
Around the Horn will be moved from its regular Friday Time slot to make room for the NFL Picks.
It will be moved to a yet to be determined day so STAY TUNED!

So here is the plan. Friday’s I will post my NFL Football prognostications for each weeks games. I am starting Week 2 so I could see some of the teams in action and try and get a feel.
I will give the final tally on Tuesday as to the success/FAILURE rate. Games will be selected against the spread that has been provided by Proline at the time of the predictions.
Over the course of the season I will keep track of the record and use that to prove why I should NOT play Proline.
I am by no means saying I am an expert, or that I will even hit 50%, heck I don’t even think I would take my own advice (also note that this is going in early on Fridays before some injury reports.....Ok, Ok enough excuses) but maybe I will get lucky and end up with a good record. Who knows. Let the games begin!

Down And Out - The Tom Brady Story

Not much is left to be said about the New England Patriots and of Tom Brady. Most of the angles have been covered by this point. All I can say is that from the moment that I saw his leg bend the wrong way while watching the game I knew it was bad, the fans knew it was bad, the team knew it was bad, but most of all Brady knew it was bad. You could see both the disappointment and the pain on his face.
What New England will do is anyone’s guess, and guess they must....as Coach Belichick usually plays it close to the vest. A few QB's have been contacted and/or signed eg. Matt Gutierrez. They are still a good team and are one of few teams that a next guy in line mentality that may be able to handle the adversity but it will be an uphill battle.

Gone for the season is tough but what is worse is not knowing what kind of player will come back after surgery and rehab. It is a lot to expect the same player to return and it will be interesting to see whet level he can perform at and for how long. Lets not forget it was Brady who took over the team when then starter and thought to be franchise QB Drew Bledsoe went down with injury and except for 1 playoff game never gave the job back. Could history repeat itself? Will Matt Cassel take the ball and run with it? Remember he was behind many a good QB throughout his career (Carson Palmer and Matt Lienart at USC and Brady in New England) and is probably a pretty good QB just waiting for his chance, and in New England...wouldn’t surprise me one bit. I hope that is not the case as I am a fan of what Brady has done but only time will tell.

To some it is debatable about overall greatness and Hall of Fame worthiness, to me there is no doubt. Top 5 All Time and no brainer Hall of Famer. The Super Bowls, the undefeated regular season and the TD passing record and most importantly the Michigan pedigree all add up to one of the all time greats. Here is to hoping for a fast and successful recovery and that there is still a job for him when he returns.

Retrofitting - Toronto Style

The year: 1996

~The Olympics were being held in Atlanta, Georgia. Turner Field was not yet a baseball diamond as it was was just built as the Olympic Stadium and later converted
~Yasser Arafat is re-elected president of the Palestinian Authority.
~The Dallas Cowboys become the first NFL franchise to win 3 Super Bowls in a span of 4 years.
~The British Government announces that Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease) has been likely transmitted to people.
~Steffi Graf defeats Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the longest ever women’s final at the French Open to win her 19th Grand Slam title.
~The Colorado Avalanche win their first Stanley Cup in their first season based out of Denver, Colorado, defeating the Florida Panthers.

Ok. enough of the history lesson but this was also when the following 3 men were in control of all the Pro Sports in Toronto.
Cliff Fletcher- GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs
Cito Gaston- Manager of the Toronto Blue Jays
Don Mathews- Head Coach of the Toronto Argonauts

Flash forward to 2008 who are in these spots right now??
Cliff Fletcher- GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs
Cito Gaston- Manager of the Toronto Blue Jays
Don Mathews- Head Coach of the Toronto Argonauts

Today Don Mathews was named as the new Head Coach of the Argo’s taking over for the fired Rich Stubler. Either this is a case of Toronto sports teams going nouveau or they are all just lazy and figured "It kinda worked last time, lets catch that lightning in a bottle"
None of the above even get partial credit for creativity that is for sure but in all three cases they actually make sense and may actually work. Lets just wash our hands with the last 12 years and pretend that 2008 is really 1997.
If the Toronto sports scene wasn’t so dysfunctional it probably wouldn’t even be interesting.

Around the Horn

ESPN has a show called Around the Horn
Not only did they steal the name from me but the show is not good and diminishes this Friday feature. If i had legal ground I would sue, and all I would want is that they send me ESPN programing here in Canada without CRTC regulations screwing me over

Great response from tennis player Andy Roddick regarding the injuries or phantom injuries that Novak Djokovic seems to en cure increasingly more often in matches
"I’ve got to feel good because (Djokovic) has got about 16 injuries," Roddick told the crowd, adding fuel to the fire of their ongoing fued when asked about a Djokovic ankle injury....It is just too bad that he lost to Djokovic later on.
"Isn’t it both of them? And a back? and a hip? And a cramp... bird flu... anthrax. SARS, common cough and a cold.

Olympic hammer throw medallists investigated for doping
Is nothing sacred anymore? How can the purity of the hammer throw be tainted?

Rafael Nadal played Mardy Fish at the US Open in a match that began at 11:30 pm and ended at 2;11 am..the third latest finish at the Open
Even the allure of the #1 player couldn’t keep me up for this one. The late sessions are cool but come on, your crushing your own potential ratings.
At least it wasn’t like the match in Australlia that went to near 5am.

It went Supersonic to Thunder in record time. The former Seattle team relocated to Okalhoma City and have now been named Thunder
In a shocking move at the press conference they played AC/DC’s Thunderstruck.
The potential for a good marketing logo was there but alas they came up short. When I played for a team called Thunder we actually had a cool logo and it was far from a professional team.

Tatum Bell lost his job as running back with the Lions, Rudi Johnson gained a job as running back with the Lions, but lost his underwear
Bell apparently took two Gucci bags that Johnson had received as a Pro Bowl gift, included was about $200 in cash along with his ID and the credit cards. He got the bags back empty, and this is the NFL not the CFL..I just hope that they wern’t his "LUCKY DRAWS"

The Montreal Canadiens are looking at playing an outdoor game at Olympic Stadium as part of their 100th anniversary celebrations.
Great cash grab if you can get 39,000+ in at most likely a somewhat inflated price point.
Opening up the roof at the Big O is like opening Pandoras Box, once it is open you may never get it closed again. Get the hardhats out because you know the concrete is going to fall like rain!

Daunte Culpepper has retired, gone after 9 seasons at only 31
A former MVP and one half of one of the best QB/WR tandems ever can’t even hold a clipboard anymore. A shredded knee has taken him off the map and out of the league.

History Made - PVR That Home Run!

Last Thursday Major League Baseball began a new venture into the realm of technology....the use of "limited" replay.
Last night was the first time that replay was actually used to uphold a decision on the field of a home run by, and fittingly so Alex Rodriguez. The "Lightening Rod" hit his 549th homer putting him into 12 place all time passing Mike Schmidt. The ball was a towering shot that was hit above the fair/foul pole. The umpires gathered, left the field to review the video, a process that took 2 minutes, 15 seconds and upheld the call.
As for most sports they have already adopted such a system and have had it in place for some time now. Even the CFL had it first, which is a little embarrassing. nevertheless MLB has it at their disposal but only for disputed home runs and only at the decression of the umpiring crew chief, unlike the NFL there are no challenges.
In fitting MLB fashion they screwed up but implementing this 3/4 of the way through the season with no testing but here were are and lets go from here.
It is an interesting venture and one that is a good idea in theory, but then again Communism works in theory too.
Home Run calls are one thing, however there are other plays that may be just as important that are unreviewable. The one thing about baseball is that 1 small seemingly unimportant play sets off a chain of events that dictates how the situation will become resolved, more so then any other sport, it really is all about the flow of a play until its completion.
This is why C.C. Sabathia’s potential no hitter could not, and should not have been overturned. Yes it was a bad call to call that play a hit and not an error but you can’t reverse it now if you wanted to. Based on that 1 hit being on the board would have not only changed the mindset of the pitcher, his approach to the rest of the game, the increasing drama and stress and how the team played behind him. Just like the home run debate 1 call changed the outcome of that entire game.
Surely in the future it will be tweaked and more will become reviewable, I just hope they know when to say when and draw the line.
In a sport like baseball you can’t take the element of human error out of the game, it is part of the fabric of the sport and one of the reasons the game is great.

Basketball, Canadian Style...Sort Of

Over the weekend I was able to take in the Can Am Shootout at Scotiabank Place which saw a double header of the Ottawa Gee Gees vs. South Alabama Jaguars in the first game followed by The Carleton Ravens versus the defending NCAA National Champion Kansas Jayhawks. The turnout was decent, not packed but as far as basketball in Ottawa goes I’d say pretty impressive (announced a shade over 7,000, although that may be generous). The 2nd match was really why I was there. To see, effectively the top teams from each country, obviously Kansas lost a few players from last year that led the comeback against Memphis in the Tournament and Carleton was upset and its run of CIS championships have been halted but still probably the best program in the country, it was still a good bill.The first game live up to what it was...a warm up, the game had little flow, poor execution and just a parade to the free throw line.Even the announcer sounded 2nd rate, basketball was not his forte. It was like the guy from the epic Fresh Prince Episode and every time he spoke to announce a basket all I heard was “In your face Will Smith, it doesn’t get any better then this” and “In your face Markus Stokes, Bel Air Prep up by 1”. In the second game of the double header it was clear that I wasn’t the only one more geared for that tilt. It was night and day from the first contest. That game was fast, the shooting was good, plays and passes were crisp and executed and the ball movement... well there actually was some. Even just looking at the team Kansas looked better, the players just looked bigger carried themselves larger and had more of tat, lets say “swagger”. I am sure that the Jayhawks didn’t throw their #1 lineup out and it is still very early in the year for college basketball so it is more about learning and in some cases probably just making the team.I don’t put too much stock in that Carleton managed to only lose by 1 but it was still a good showing and they hug with he team they played.It is rare that a defending National Champion would be in Canada playing let alone in Ottawa so this was a must see event for me to see. The cost was great and the entertainment value was great. For that reason is why I would like to take in the World JR. Hockey Tournament. Local and something that won’t come around too often, if ever again especially so conveniently close.

A Year for the "Ages"

After the story of the young baseball player that was not allowed to pitch because he was too good. It re-hashed my questions about age of athletes. As we are still only slightly removed from the Olympics and we are getting to the point where it and gymnastics will fall off the interest table I figured that I should touch on the young Chinese gymnasts again, and then I guess let it go since it looks like optics and proof are 2 very different things.

The IOC asked the International Gymnastics Federation to investigate possible violations as to the ages of members of the Chinese Gymnastics team.
Throughout the Olympics questions had been raised as to the true age of these VERY YOUNG looking girls. Younger gymnasts are considered to have an advantage because they are more flexible, and are likely to have an easier time doing the tough skills the sport requires. They also aren’t as likely to have a history of injuries or fear of failure. The age restriction was introduced to protect the athletes and their bodies from abuse (I know that sounds like the cop-out from the baseball people but i believe that it is really apples and oranges). It comes as little surprise that the Chinese are at the front of this story as they are not knows for the best human rights record, youth labour and being upfront or truthful.

It does seem awfully convenient that the documents that they use to prove the age of these girls are government issued and the when they control everything the documents, you can’t figure are worth the paper they are written on.

I am just glad that the US Team have other achievements and medals to make up for the ones that they are getting screwed out of. Sure the medal haul would be more impressive and potentially make them a few more dollars in endorsements after the games but at least they aren’t coming back empty handed.

There was a hope late during the games or shortly after that there was the possibility that there was info that may prove some impropriety and could “vault” the US team to a Team Gold and give Nastia Lukin the Gold in the uneven bars which she deserved anyway since she never “lost” but tied.

That is like saying in soccer it is 0-0 but you had 3 more shots on net so you win, craziness. Although if any sport would be foolish enough to do something i bet it would be soccer