Shouzer

I love me some Denver Broncos.  It’s a fact.  Recently, they’ve been a bit crazy–I don’t think anybody could deny that.  ”Oh my, our starting QB has only been in the league three years, but he’s already been to the pro bowl and led the #2 offense in the league?  That boy needs to be traded!”  ”It was our defense that sucked last year?  Ranked 29th while the offense sat at 2nd?  No way…  Let’s draft a bunch of offensive players this year.”

Seriously, they’re crazy, but until the team plays a game under new head coach Josh McDaniels, I was generally willing to just wait it out.  He’s certainly crazy, but maybe he’s just crazy enough to be a genius.  However, I happened to read this article in the Denver Post, and I couldn’t agree with it more.

Essentially, Brandon Marshall has asked for a new contract (and subsequently for a trade), and Dave Krieger is arguing that he deserves it.  Well, you know what?  He’s right.  Typically I don’t like players sitting out OTAs or camp for new contracts.  If you signed the first one, be a man and stick with it.  That’s what I said when T.O. got a whiny in Philly.

But to me, a rookie contract is different.  Depending on where you’re drafted, you generally don’t have much choice in the matter.  Generally the thought is to go out and prove yourself and you’ll get paid.  Well, in three years in the league, Marshall has already established himself as a legitimate #1 and arguably one of the best in the league at that (he went to the pro bowl last year, too).

Pay him what he deserves.  Life’s short in the NFL, and in this case, he really is doing what’s right for his family.  I love Eddie Royal and Brandon Stokley, but neither of them are #1s.

The NBA Playoffs have been pretty great this year.  Aside from the Lakers, the only teams left are teams that haven’t been overly successful in recent years.  Sure, the Cavs and the Nuggets have made the playoffs a few times recently, but they’ve never had any sort of major impact.  This year, along with the Magic, they’ve both got a legitimate chance to go to the finals.  Not just that, but every game in the semis has come down to the wire and regardless of who you’re rooting for, they’ve been fun to watch (albeit likely very nerve-racking).

Honestly, it just doesn’t get much better than this:

I happened to catch this clip the other day, and it seemed worth posting.  Over the years of watching SportsCenter, I’ve sort of come to the decision that I like Hockey highlights the best.  There’s just something about them that keeps ‘em unique–most baseball highlights look the same to me (you can only dive in so many directions to catch a ball), for instance.  Anyway, enjoy.

I know. It’s shocking. The Final Four has given people a reason to go to Detroit though. They had a big music festival down by the river front this weekend. I caught Gavin Degraw live there (for free) followed by a pep rally with each of the four bands performing. The weather was gorgeous, and spirits were high.

It’s pretty cool having a local team in the Final Four and now in the championship game. Probably at least 75% of the people downtown today were wearing the green and white. I’ve only been here for 10 months, and even I’m feeling it. MSU has been an underdog in their last two days, and they have systematically defeated their Golliathian opponents. It’s been a lot of fun to watch, and it’s been a lot of fun to be here in the atmosphere of it all.

This area has had a pretty bad year. Detroit has been slowing dying for at least a decade, but it’s on the mat now. The next few months will determine its fate, but at least for one weekend, people here can have some excitement and joy in their lives.

I happened to catch this “editorial” about Warner’s new contract with the Cardinals, and I have to agree with it.  Frankly, I’ve always hated the notion that God takes sides in sporting events (and wars, for that matter, but that’s another story).  If that’s true, that means the other side never stood a chance, and then what’s the point?

Given that, I’ve never really cared for it when athletes are strongly outspoken about their faith, and you never hear a single interview with them when God isn’t mentioned like twelve times.  Sure, I understand that your faith is important to you–that’s a good thing.  But I don’t want to hear about it when it’s almost a certainty that you’re not taking it serious anyway.  Jesus said, “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”  Oh yeah, but here Warner is being a bitch because he’s being offered $10 mil/year instead of $12 or something.  Whatever.

I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to say the Steelers got lucky, but they did get the majority of the calls, including a “we’re not going to review this” call from the refs on the last play of the game.  Sure, the Cards would have had no choice but to throw a hail mary, but who would you rather have trying to bring that down than Larry Fitzgerald.  Oh well, it was a great game nonetheless.

Anyway, I just read a quick editorial by James Carville, in which he basically puts it to Rush Limbaugh.  Honestly, I guess that’s probably not very tough, given Rush has a history of saying moronic, racist, painkiller-induced, small-minded comments.  Still, it’s worth a read.  Check it here.

I was just reading a quick article on ESPN that says Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett’s jobs with the Cowboys are safe, according to Jerry Jones.  Now, you could certainly argue that Phillips has done a less than stellar job with the Cowboys and that Garrett’s offense wasn’t has high-powered as it was last year.  But my question is should one bad year even warrant questions on whether their jobs are safe?

Seriously, Bill Cowher coached in Pittsburgh for 15 years before winning a Super Bowl.  Granted, he’d made it there before and had other successful teams, but shit, it’s not like his team was always dominant.  When was the last time the Titans won a Super Bowl?  Um, never?  Yet, Jeff Fisher has been their coach since ’94.  This year they’re one of the best teams in the league.

My point is that sometimes it takes a while to get the right pieces in place for your team.  Sometimes injuries really do wreck a season (the Broncos have had 6 RBs put on IR this year).  Sometimes another team in your division is just having a great year.  None of that means you’re doing a bad job.  None of that means you should lose your job.  But nowadays, if you don’t start 4-0, you’re on the hot seat.  If you have two 8-8 years in a row, you’re probably getting fired.  If you don’t win the Super Bowl, you don’t get an extension.  WTF is wrong with people?

You’d think it would be fairly obvious when it’s the only major sport without a playoff that something is wrong.  Clue #1.  Every single year there seems to be at least some controversy about who should be playing in the national championship.  Clue #2.  Damn near everybody and their mother–including the next President–thinks there should be a playoff system put in place.  Now of course being president doesn’t make you a sports expert, but still…  Clue #3.

Honestly, the argument that a lack of a playoff makes the regular season more exciting is fuckin’ stupid.  Are you telling me that it somehow made Texas/Oklahoma or Texas/Texas Tech better games?  Of course not.  In fact, they were such good games, I’d love to see rematches in the playoffs…  I really can see the argument.  If you lose one game, you’re liable to not be the national champion, even if it was a fluke.  That makes sense, but more often than not that’s not how it plays out.  This year is a perfect example of that.

Beyond that, though, the ranking system is pretty ridiculous, too.  How is Oklahoma above Texas now?  Because Oklahoma blew out a team that beat Texas?  Who really gives a shit?  Texas beat Oklahoma, and at a neutral location, no less.  Honestly, it’s not that impressive that Oklahoma beat Texas Tech at home.  Every team in the country has an advantage at home.  The only team of the three that had an impressive win in that sense was Texas.

Honestly I’m all for Texas not playing in a national championship–they won it all a few years ago, so I’m happy for somebody else to have a chance.  But frankly, they deserve it more than Oklahoma this year.  They beat them, and they didn’t have to play at home to do it.

I took great satisfaction in watching the bottom-feeding Rams destroy the vaunted Cowboys. It was like poetic justice to watch that team fall apart. Jerry Jones has collect a team full of “big personalities”, but personalities don’t win championships. That’s what I always say.

I actually didn’t start watching the game until the second quarter, which is a shame considering all the best stuff happened in the first. I was streaming in on my computer as I watched the Bills vs. Chargers on the TV. I meant to add super-fast internet as another modern convenience that was rocking my apartment in my last post, but it slipped my mind.

Anyway, I think the big key to the game was the 42 yd TD catch by Donnie Avery as well as his near miss on the much longer pass play later in the game. That deep threat kept the Cowboys defense from focusing on the run throughout the game, freeing Jackson to run over them for 160yds.

The success of the offense kept the defense off the field and fresh, as well as motivated. This allowed them to get consistent pressure on the QB and force some big turnovers.

It is hard to judge if the Rams are better or if the Cowboys have just imploded that much, but I would say it’s a combination of the two. The victory was impressive in my mind, but I’m not expecting a playoff run at this point. I’m not even hoping for a hiring of Haslett full time yet, as many writers are. I do have renewed hope in their abilities though, and I am starting to really enjoy the NFL again. I was starting to prefer *gasp* NCAA football, but loyalty is no longer wavering.

I think the Rams will be hard-pressed to beat the Patriots next week. The keys to that game are stopping the run and establishing some passing threat. Once again, if they can stop the run, they can force Cassle to make mistakes under pressure, and a credible passing threat will open things up for Jackson against a pretty good defense.

Realistically, the Patriots are just too good at this point, especially at home, but the game in 2 weeks versus the Cardinals is an obvious must-win for the Rams to have a snow ball’s chance at the playoffs.

it gives me great pleasure to announce that i am adopting the tampa bay rays as “my” major league baseball team, and i am endorsing them for the world series.

this selection comes naturally as the rays are a florida based expansion team, just like my nba team, the orlando magic, and my nfl team, the jacksonville jaguars.

from this point forward, when asked the question, “what’s your team?” in reference to the mlb, i will amend my answer of “anybody who beats the yankees” to “the tampa bay rays, and anybody who beats the yankees.”

Yeah, I was excited. I was following the game on ESPN play-by-play, and I have a P2P video going as well. The video was laggy and delayed, but it was better than nothing.

The thing that made me very happy about this win was that they did it with the defense. For years the defense has been a stone around the neck of the organization. Now, they are winning the game despite poor play from the offense.

They’ve got a long way to go, but if the defense can keep playing staunchly, the offense should come around as Bulger gets his confidence back. It’s nice to have some hope again. It would be nice if they could manage not to crush it.

Update: I was very happy to see 3 NFC East teams go down this week. One of the best things about the NFL is the parity, and it was discouraging to think that a division could so thoroughly dominate everyone else. Considering those 3 teams went down the Cardinals, the Rams, and the Browns, it shows any team can win any week.

I boycotted the NFL Sunday afternoon games. They gave me Detroit vs. Chicago and Dallas vs. Cincinnati. The first game was ridiculously boring, and the I’m tired of watching the Cowboys.

I watched season 1 of Chuck instead. That is a great show. It’s funny and action-packed. The main character, Chuck, has a goofy yet lovable charm. Adam Baldwin plays a NSA agent that is practically a carbon copy of his character on Firefly, and I loved that character. Of course, there is the ultra-hot CIA agent protecting Chuck as well. She’s more than just a pretty face too. I’m pretty impressed with her acting skills as well. She manages to convey her burning desire for Chuck with pure emotion. They have great chemistry.

Al came over to watch the Michigan vs. Illinois game at the Big House. It was cool going to a college game as it’s been a while since I’ve done that. There were 109k+ people there, which made it even more cool. Illinois destroyed Michigan. They just dominated them in every aspect of the game. The Michigan fans did not take it well. I was pretty disappointed with them. They were yelling at the refs over extremely obvious calls. It was just rude. I would expect someone who was completely decked out in football apparel to have some concept of the rules regarding pass interference. It would appear that I was wrong.

There was one really good moment in the Detroit vs. Chicago game, and I was fortunate enough to catch it live. What I love most about this is that Lovey Smith challenged this play despite getting the pass interference call. He was so confident in his team’s ability to beat the Lions that he could essentially throw away a challenge. The catch was sick, and it deserved to be recognized.

I ran across this story about Ed Hochuli this morning, and I thought it was worth sharing.

Ed Hochuli, the NFL ref who botched a call at the end of the San Diego-Denver game that allowed the Broncos to keep possession and go on to score the winning points, has been receiving hundreds of e-mails from irate fans.

Even crazier? He’s responding to them.

“I’m getting hundreds of emails — hate mail — but I’m responding to it all,” Hochuli said in a posting on the San Diego Union-Tribune Web site. “People deserve a response.

“You can rest assured that nothing anyone can say can make me feel worse than I already feel about my mistake on the fumble play. You have no idea. … Affecting the outcome of a game is a devastating feeling. Officials strive for perfection — I failed miserably. Although it does no good to say it, I am very, very sorry.”

I really appreciate that Hochuli is being a man and admitting his mistake in this situation. I’m so tired of people (read: public figures) pretending they are flawless. Hochuli is human. He screwed up, and his actions should and will have consequences. The NFL has said he will be graded down, and that will probably cost him a spot in the playoffs. I think those consequences are appropriate, and I’m glad Hochuli is accepting them.

1. The local CBS affiliate decided to waive their right to show an early game. Do you know what that means? It means I’m stuck watching Green Bay vs. Detroit. Well, at least Detroit’s lack of defense will make this game exciting to watch. There should be lots of big plays. Thanks CBS.

2. The Rams decided to sign Eddie Kennison this week to replace injured Drew Bennett. To do so, they had to drop one of their 7th round draft picks, a LB. They claimed that they wanted Kennison to bring a veteran presence to the team. That’s probably the biggest load of BS I’ve ever heard. As if they don’t have enough veterans on this team. The geriatric squad is teaming with veteran leadership. They should consider adding some youth and vigor to the lineup.

Is it me, or is the Rams’ ownership trying to pull a Major League to get the team moved back to LA? They are stacking the team with old, washed-up players and asking the city for a new stadium. It’s as if they are trying to anger the city of St. Louis. Sadly, this might actually be true….

One final note on the Rams. The guys on the ESPN pregame show debated whether the Rams would allow more sacks or score more points this week against the Giants. It sounds laughable, but it’s actually a pretty valid debate. Last week, they allowed for sacks to match up with their three points.