So the New York Yankees have been eliminated from the playoffs by the Detroit Lions. Let me get congratulating the Tigers out of the way. CONGRATULATIONS DETROIT TIGERS AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS. There is no shame in losing to the Tigers, they have arguably the best pitcher and the best hitter in baseball on their payroll as well as a core of talent around them that had many predicting they would get this far anyway. Unfortunately for the Tigers the story of this ALCS will be how terrible the Yankees looked.
You've all heard the stats from the series for the vaunted Yankees lineup many of whom couldn't hit a beach ball let alone a baseball the way they were swinging the bats. It was so bad that many "big name" players were benched at various times in the four games due to how bad they were slumping. These names included Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson, and Alex Rodriguez.
Yes that Alex Rodriguez. Listen I'm not an A-Rod hater, in fact like many of you I marveled at his talent when he first entered the big leagues as a Seattle Mariner blessed with every tool you would want in a ball player. You can't hate him because multiple times in his career owners have felt the need to give him the richest contract in major American sports history, for many years his talent warranted it. But the last contract that the Yankees gave him may well go down as the worst in sports history.
He is now 37 years old and they owe him over 100 million dollars over the next five years. 100 million dollars to a guy you aren't even sure can play everyday at an average level let alone at a highest paid player in baseball level. What should the Yankees do? How do their fans feel about this?
The Yankees should at the very least try and trade A-Rod, problem is no one is going to eat this salary. So they will either pay him to play poorly for them or pay him to play poorly for someone else. Remember the scene in 'Money Ball' when Billy Beane is talking to David Justice about how much the Yankees were paying him to play against them? I have a feeling that's where this is headed. Yankees fans should come in off the ledge. You will still have the highest payroll in baseball and while many players are getting long in the tooth the team should still be competitive.
And just for the record yes I was happy to see them get swept out of the playoffs and look so bad doing it. To my friends who are real Yankees fans this is not me rubbing it in. I respect those of you who were fans before they started winning again......all 9 of you.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
All Is Fair In Love And Baseball
The San Francisco Giants defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 to tie the NLCS at 1-1. And that should have been the story of the game but it will not be. Early in the game the Cardinal's Matt Holliday took out Giant's second baseman Marco Scutaro while trying to break up a double play with what can best be described as a borderline slide. That is how it can best be described, I'm going to tell you how it should be described....DIRTY.
Baseball for all its boringness, quirkiness, however you as a fan want to describe it is a game with a strict set of written and unwritten rules. Many of the unwritten rules revolve around being respectful of your opponent. If you are not respectful you can, and should, expect some retaliation. I'm not calling Holliday a dirty player and I have never heard him referred to as such. But this was unquestionably a dirty play and that being said he should expect to get drilled in the back with the first pitch he sees in his next at bat. And that is the way it should be handled by the Giants. What I don't want to see is the Giants go after a middle infielder with a hard take out slide. That to me is like throwing at the batter after someone hits a homerun off you.
Hopefully the umpires and Major League Baseball don't overreact when/if the Giants throw at Holliday. The game has policed itself for over 100 years and despite the efforts of league officials it should continue to do so. Hopefully the series goes to a seventh game and is tied in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on second, two outs and Scutaro at the plate.
Baseball for all its boringness, quirkiness, however you as a fan want to describe it is a game with a strict set of written and unwritten rules. Many of the unwritten rules revolve around being respectful of your opponent. If you are not respectful you can, and should, expect some retaliation. I'm not calling Holliday a dirty player and I have never heard him referred to as such. But this was unquestionably a dirty play and that being said he should expect to get drilled in the back with the first pitch he sees in his next at bat. And that is the way it should be handled by the Giants. What I don't want to see is the Giants go after a middle infielder with a hard take out slide. That to me is like throwing at the batter after someone hits a homerun off you.
Hopefully the umpires and Major League Baseball don't overreact when/if the Giants throw at Holliday. The game has policed itself for over 100 years and despite the efforts of league officials it should continue to do so. Hopefully the series goes to a seventh game and is tied in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on second, two outs and Scutaro at the plate.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Money Ball
The Oakland A's have done it again. They have come out of nowhere to snatch the A.L. West crown from the Texas Rangers. The 2-time defending American League champion Texas Rangers. How did they do it? Where did this team come from? Did most fans even have any idea that they had a shot at winning the division? More importantly, who are these guys?
Here is how they did it. Pitching, pitching, pitching, and more pitching. The genius that is Billy Beane, who most of you only know about through the movie Money Ball, is that this guy finds young pitchers. Jarrod Parker, Tommy Millone, and A.J. Griffin could easily be Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, and Tim Hudson from the early 2000's. Now pitching is not the only reason they have gotten here. Josh Reddick surprised everyone by hitting 32 home runs. Yoenis Cespedes turned out to be worth the money they paid him after he defected from Cuba.
Typical Billy Beane team. Use the assets you have at your disposal as a small market franchise, make 1 or 2 moves to sort of solidify your ball club, sleep walk through the first half of the season, get hot after the all star game and win your division when no one expects you to. The Oakland A's have done it again, given how little money they actually have to spend this is truly remarkable.
Here is how they did it. Pitching, pitching, pitching, and more pitching. The genius that is Billy Beane, who most of you only know about through the movie Money Ball, is that this guy finds young pitchers. Jarrod Parker, Tommy Millone, and A.J. Griffin could easily be Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, and Tim Hudson from the early 2000's. Now pitching is not the only reason they have gotten here. Josh Reddick surprised everyone by hitting 32 home runs. Yoenis Cespedes turned out to be worth the money they paid him after he defected from Cuba.
Typical Billy Beane team. Use the assets you have at your disposal as a small market franchise, make 1 or 2 moves to sort of solidify your ball club, sleep walk through the first half of the season, get hot after the all star game and win your division when no one expects you to. The Oakland A's have done it again, given how little money they actually have to spend this is truly remarkable.
How can you not be romantic about baseball?
Monday, September 24, 2012
There's A Flag On The Play
Week 3 of the NFL season is almost over and there is one universal thing that fans of all 32 teams can agree on. These replacement referees are terrible! And that's being as nice as I can possibly be. Anyone who knows me knows there were a few expletives involved with how I really feel.
Football is possibly the toughest game to officiate, we all know this. To have hastily trained replacements (scabs as many of you would refer to them) doing a job that even the most seasoned 'NFL' official can not do flawlessly is a disgrace. The league talks about wanting to protect the players from themselves with all the rules changes and fines to crack down on the violent nature of the game. Yet you are allowing them to work in an environment now more dangerous than ever because those now in control of the game don't know what they are doing.
It can be said and argued that to this point that at least no game's outcome has been decided because of the poor officiating, this will be debated until the 'REAL' officials come back to work. But the game is much different. It's slower and lacks the flow we are generally accustomed to seeing when watching NFL football. I hope the reported $100,000 per team more that it would take to resolve the biggest issue involved in this strike is not true. If so then the owners/league should be ashamed of themselves. You put your billion dollar league's most valuable assets, it's players, at risk for what is pocket change for most of you owners. And you wonder why no ones sides with you in labor disputes. Billionaires who pay millionaires but won't spend thousands to protect the millionaires and the integrity of the game that makes them billionaires.
Football is possibly the toughest game to officiate, we all know this. To have hastily trained replacements (scabs as many of you would refer to them) doing a job that even the most seasoned 'NFL' official can not do flawlessly is a disgrace. The league talks about wanting to protect the players from themselves with all the rules changes and fines to crack down on the violent nature of the game. Yet you are allowing them to work in an environment now more dangerous than ever because those now in control of the game don't know what they are doing.
It can be said and argued that to this point that at least no game's outcome has been decided because of the poor officiating, this will be debated until the 'REAL' officials come back to work. But the game is much different. It's slower and lacks the flow we are generally accustomed to seeing when watching NFL football. I hope the reported $100,000 per team more that it would take to resolve the biggest issue involved in this strike is not true. If so then the owners/league should be ashamed of themselves. You put your billion dollar league's most valuable assets, it's players, at risk for what is pocket change for most of you owners. And you wonder why no ones sides with you in labor disputes. Billionaires who pay millionaires but won't spend thousands to protect the millionaires and the integrity of the game that makes them billionaires.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Game Changer
GAME CHANGER.....this phrase can mean many things in many sports but it is probably most often used in football. A big wide receiver who runs like the wind (Randy Moss). An ankle braking running back who cuts on a dime and leaves change (Barry Sanders). A menacing linebacker out of North Carolina who literally changed the game (Lawrence Taylor). Or a rookie quarterback with a cannon for an arm and world class speed (RGIII or Bob Griffin as he is known to us Giants fans). All these guys are perfect examples of what we consider game changers. Well the NFL lost perhaps one of the biggest game changers in it's history today.
Steve Sabol, president of NFL films, died today after a year and a half battle with brain cancer. If you don't know who this man is then you simply haven't been watching NFL footbal for the last 50 years. Sabol and his dad changed the way we watched the game and have as much to do with the success of the NFL as any one, or in their case two people, could have without having ever played a down in the league.
I never knew an NFL without NFL films and I can't imagine where the game would be or how I would view it were it not for the way the game is shot. Almost everything you see in a football broadcast as far as viewing the game comes from NFL films. For that I thank Steve Sabol.
Hey NFL Hall of Fame you inducted his dad in 2011 which took too long. This man should have already been in as well. I encourage to make it your priority in 2013.
Steve Sabol, president of NFL films, died today after a year and a half battle with brain cancer. If you don't know who this man is then you simply haven't been watching NFL footbal for the last 50 years. Sabol and his dad changed the way we watched the game and have as much to do with the success of the NFL as any one, or in their case two people, could have without having ever played a down in the league.
I never knew an NFL without NFL films and I can't imagine where the game would be or how I would view it were it not for the way the game is shot. Almost everything you see in a football broadcast as far as viewing the game comes from NFL films. For that I thank Steve Sabol.
Hey NFL Hall of Fame you inducted his dad in 2011 which took too long. This man should have already been in as well. I encourage to make it your priority in 2013.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Irish Eyes Are Smiling
Dear ACC,
We are aware of your desire to be considered one of the "Big Boys" of college football. To do so you will need to add a couple of more schools who others perceive to be of elite or near elite status as a football school. To this we have a solution for you. We the University of Notre Dame will gladly accept an offer to join your conference..... in every sport except the one that you actually need us for, football.
Listen this benefits us both. We get to keep our independent status in football and our TV contract with NBC while reaping many of the perks of being attached to a conference of your stature. You get our other sports in which we are mediocre to good at best but our women's basketball is near elite status. This is obviously a win win for both parties involved.
We can not wait to get started and we look forward to helping you build your reputation as a football power conference.
Sincerely,
Notre Dame
We are aware of your desire to be considered one of the "Big Boys" of college football. To do so you will need to add a couple of more schools who others perceive to be of elite or near elite status as a football school. To this we have a solution for you. We the University of Notre Dame will gladly accept an offer to join your conference..... in every sport except the one that you actually need us for, football.
Listen this benefits us both. We get to keep our independent status in football and our TV contract with NBC while reaping many of the perks of being attached to a conference of your stature. You get our other sports in which we are mediocre to good at best but our women's basketball is near elite status. This is obviously a win win for both parties involved.
We can not wait to get started and we look forward to helping you build your reputation as a football power conference.
Sincerely,
Notre Dame
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
National's Security
As this baseball season winds down and the pennant races start to heat up the biggest story down the stretch may not be what teams will potentially collapse or who will get hot and grab a wild card spot. The biggest story is the dilemma facing the Washington Nationals and what to do with their young starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg.
Strasburg is perhaps the most hyped pitching prospect to come along in the last 20 years. After a great career at San Diego State, where he was coached by Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, he was the 1st pick in the 2009 MLB draft. He signed the largest contract ever awarded to any drafted player and when he made his debut in 2010 it seemed he was worth every dollar having struck out 14 batters in his first start in the big leagues. Unfortunately things didn't go the way we had hoped and later that season Strasburg tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and required Tommy John surgery. After a year away from baseball he returned late last year for a few starts and showed the promise that he had previously shown of being a dominant pitcher.
Entering the 2012 season the Nationals had a plan. Limit their young ace to 160 innings in an effort to protect his arm, his future, and the future of the franchise. They had used this strategy with another young pitcher, Jordan Zimmermann, and it appears to have been a successful one. But a funny thing happened on the way to inning number 160. The Nationals, perennial contenders for a high draft pick, are out of nowhere a fantastic team and competing for not only a playoff spot but the best record in all of baseball. Now with Strasburg closing in on the limit they have set for him they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do they want to go into the post season without their best pitcher? Can they renege on the promise they made to only allow him 160 (or so) innings because it's in the best interest of the team to have him pitching down the stretch and in the playoffs? Or do they stay the course and do what's in the best interest of Strasburg's arm?
It's an interesting problem to have but it is still a problem. Currently he is scheduled to make what would be his last start around September 12th if all goes as planned. As long as they qualify we won't really hear much about this for the last few weeks of the season. But what if they collapse down the stretch and just sneak into the playoffs with one of the wild card spots and then have a 1 game playoff, win or go home situation? Do you bring back your ace who now hasn't pitched in 3 weeks to start what is the biggest game in Nationals history? Inquiring minds want to know.
Strasburg is perhaps the most hyped pitching prospect to come along in the last 20 years. After a great career at San Diego State, where he was coached by Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, he was the 1st pick in the 2009 MLB draft. He signed the largest contract ever awarded to any drafted player and when he made his debut in 2010 it seemed he was worth every dollar having struck out 14 batters in his first start in the big leagues. Unfortunately things didn't go the way we had hoped and later that season Strasburg tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and required Tommy John surgery. After a year away from baseball he returned late last year for a few starts and showed the promise that he had previously shown of being a dominant pitcher.
Entering the 2012 season the Nationals had a plan. Limit their young ace to 160 innings in an effort to protect his arm, his future, and the future of the franchise. They had used this strategy with another young pitcher, Jordan Zimmermann, and it appears to have been a successful one. But a funny thing happened on the way to inning number 160. The Nationals, perennial contenders for a high draft pick, are out of nowhere a fantastic team and competing for not only a playoff spot but the best record in all of baseball. Now with Strasburg closing in on the limit they have set for him they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do they want to go into the post season without their best pitcher? Can they renege on the promise they made to only allow him 160 (or so) innings because it's in the best interest of the team to have him pitching down the stretch and in the playoffs? Or do they stay the course and do what's in the best interest of Strasburg's arm?
It's an interesting problem to have but it is still a problem. Currently he is scheduled to make what would be his last start around September 12th if all goes as planned. As long as they qualify we won't really hear much about this for the last few weeks of the season. But what if they collapse down the stretch and just sneak into the playoffs with one of the wild card spots and then have a 1 game playoff, win or go home situation? Do you bring back your ace who now hasn't pitched in 3 weeks to start what is the biggest game in Nationals history? Inquiring minds want to know.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
IS THIS THING ON?
Hello my friends out there on the interweb. I know again it has been some time since we here at BOT4Q hit you all with a podcast and an even longer time since my last blog post and I do apologize. But know that we haven't been sitting around with our thumbs up our butts doing nothing. We were recently approached to do a podcast sponsored by a local company with the focus being on college football here in the state of North Carolina. It took some time to get things going but it is now official. Demetri and I are the hosts of the new podcast The RealTailgate.com College Football Show.
The show will be available through multiple outlets including iTunes and the website realtailgate.com and you can also follow us on twitter @realtailgate and join our facebook page Real Tailgate. We appreciate you guys continuing to follow all that we do and your patience with us as we work through getting this all going. We hope you enjoy the show.
I will be back to a regular blog schedule in the near future. If you have anything you would like to hear an opinion on as always feel free to throw it my way. Thank you again for your support.
The show will be available through multiple outlets including iTunes and the website realtailgate.com and you can also follow us on twitter @realtailgate and join our facebook page Real Tailgate. We appreciate you guys continuing to follow all that we do and your patience with us as we work through getting this all going. We hope you enjoy the show.
I will be back to a regular blog schedule in the near future. If you have anything you would like to hear an opinion on as always feel free to throw it my way. Thank you again for your support.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
LIVESTRONG... With a little help?!?
After years of speculation, he said she said, and strong denials the USADA has finally formally charged 7 time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong with doping. There will be a hearing and ultimately an arbitration panel will decide whether or not those wins will be have to be vacated. What does all this mean for Armstrong? For his legacy? For his charitable work?
Nothing. If we are honest about it cycling is barely a blip on the radar screen of most American sports fans. If we are willing to forgive and forget about the PED use by our heroes in the more prominent sports we certainly will have no such problem doing the same for Armstrong should he be found guilty. His legacy will be tainted to an extent but again, it's cycling. Most Americans couldn't tell you who would be considered our greatest cyclist if the title is stripped from Armstrong again should he be found guilty. (BTW it would be Greg LeMond) His charitable work won't suffer. While his celebrity is valuable at this point I'm not sure he really needs his image to be squeaky clean to continue to raise money for cancer research. It's cancer! It doesn't need a celebrity face to make people want to help cure it.
Hopefully this all goes down fairly quickly and we will have an end of some sort to the last decade of prominent athletes being on trial for doping. At least until the next future HOF baseball player shows up for a season and needs a new hat size.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
It Was All A Dream
It's been a long time. I shouldn't have left you. Without a fly blog to......read?!? Tried to invoke a little Eric B. and Rakim to the start of this blog but it just didn't flow the way I wanted to. If you don't know the song google search 'I Know You Got Soul'. Anyway, I know it's been quite some time since my last post. As many of you know I have been doing the weekly podcast with Demetri and thank you to all who have been listening. Since we are on a bit of a hiatus due to some scheduling conflicts and Demetri being back on the radio (congrats my friend) it looks like I will again have the time to blog. And what better way to get back to it than to discuss the greatest sports team ever assembled. The Dream Team.
It has been twenty years since FIBA decided it was ok for NBA players to participate in the Olympic games and we sent the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and a host of hall of fame players to Barcelona to show the world how to play basketball. This was all spawned by the U.S. losing the gold medal to the Soviets in 1988. I won't bore you with the whole story but I will encourage you to check out the documentary 'The Dream Team' that NBATV recently debuted. What I do want to do is talk about how that team and their performance in those Olympics changed the basketball world.
Let's first look at the influence it had internationally. While it was already huge, the success of that team probably catapulted basketball into position only behind soccer as the #2 sport in the world and I would argue that the gap is closing fast. That team showed the world a whole new level of basketball and it has spawned a boom of international players who are now not only good enough to play in the league but to even dominate. Look at Dirk Nowitski who led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA championship last year. Or Tony Parker, who may be the best point guard in the league. This list goes on and on. International players now make up nearly 20% of the players in the NBA. I would say if one of the goals was to expand the game world wide, the other being to bring the gold back to America, mission accomplished.
Now let's look at how that team changed things here and I'm going to offer a perspective a little different than any I have ever heard. And it is relevant to what's going on in the NBA finals. That team, in my opinion, began the current culture of superstar players wanting to play together. You could argue they were the first traveling AAU all star team, a concept that was foreign then but is huge in basketball here in America today. Many of the stars of that team have been asked if they would do anything like what you see many young superstar players doing today, best example being the Heat with LeBron, D Wade, and Chris Bosh joining together to try and win championships. To a man they all say NO, they wanted to kill each other, couldn't imagine doing it. Inadvertently though I think The Dream Team started this culture. In the documentary and in interviews I had seen of the players before now, they all talked about how they developed relationships with the other great players. And how the competitive environment pushed them. And how they would be lobbying to play on certain teams in practice. These are all things that you hear from traveling AAU teams and now you are seeing manifest itself in the NBA with every team trying to put together 2 or 3 superstar players with the hopes of winning a championship.
If the Miami Heat, the first team in what is becoming the new NBA, are able to win the championship with their 'Big Three' after having lost in the finals in year one of this experiment last year we will have officially seen a changing of the mentality of players. And superstar players will do what they can to get to teams where they can play together. As all sports fans know, players will always be judged by if they won a title. America's greatest players getting together in 1992 to dominate the world started all this. That's why they will forever be the only DREAM TEAM! But I do have a new nickname for them, I'm going to start calling them 'THE BLUEPRINT'.
Let's first look at the influence it had internationally. While it was already huge, the success of that team probably catapulted basketball into position only behind soccer as the #2 sport in the world and I would argue that the gap is closing fast. That team showed the world a whole new level of basketball and it has spawned a boom of international players who are now not only good enough to play in the league but to even dominate. Look at Dirk Nowitski who led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA championship last year. Or Tony Parker, who may be the best point guard in the league. This list goes on and on. International players now make up nearly 20% of the players in the NBA. I would say if one of the goals was to expand the game world wide, the other being to bring the gold back to America, mission accomplished.
Now let's look at how that team changed things here and I'm going to offer a perspective a little different than any I have ever heard. And it is relevant to what's going on in the NBA finals. That team, in my opinion, began the current culture of superstar players wanting to play together. You could argue they were the first traveling AAU all star team, a concept that was foreign then but is huge in basketball here in America today. Many of the stars of that team have been asked if they would do anything like what you see many young superstar players doing today, best example being the Heat with LeBron, D Wade, and Chris Bosh joining together to try and win championships. To a man they all say NO, they wanted to kill each other, couldn't imagine doing it. Inadvertently though I think The Dream Team started this culture. In the documentary and in interviews I had seen of the players before now, they all talked about how they developed relationships with the other great players. And how the competitive environment pushed them. And how they would be lobbying to play on certain teams in practice. These are all things that you hear from traveling AAU teams and now you are seeing manifest itself in the NBA with every team trying to put together 2 or 3 superstar players with the hopes of winning a championship.
If the Miami Heat, the first team in what is becoming the new NBA, are able to win the championship with their 'Big Three' after having lost in the finals in year one of this experiment last year we will have officially seen a changing of the mentality of players. And superstar players will do what they can to get to teams where they can play together. As all sports fans know, players will always be judged by if they won a title. America's greatest players getting together in 1992 to dominate the world started all this. That's why they will forever be the only DREAM TEAM! But I do have a new nickname for them, I'm going to start calling them 'THE BLUEPRINT'.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Summitt Reached
University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt announced her retirement today less than a year after revealing that she was suffering from early onset dementia. There are many things that we can say about this amazing woman but I will only say two. She is without question one of the best coaches and leaders of people of all time regardless of what arena you consider. And after Title IX she is the most important person in women's sports in history. The sports world and the world in general will be a darker place without your presence Coach Summitt.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Hatfield-McCoy
8 miles. And no I'm not talking about the Eminem movie. 8 miles is all that separates the 2 schools involved in the BEST rivalry in all of sports. As is often the case the UNC vs. Duke game tonight will decide the ACC regular season championship and start the chatter this week about who will win the ACC tournament championship. But for me this game is what sports and rivalries are all about.
What do you think is the best rivalry in sports? Yankees/Red Sox? Michigan/OSU? LeBron/4th quarter? None of these matches the intensity and consistent excellence that is UNC/Duke. And that is why even the most casual of sports fan will be glued to a television set tonight to watch it play out one more time.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
You Can Put It On The Board!
With the Super Bowl only a few days away there is plenty to talk about surrounding the game. The rematch of the game from 4 years ago when the Giants ended the Patriots undefeated season. Tom Brady potentially winning his 4th Super Bowl as a starter and where that places him in the conversation of best ever. If Eli Manning wins his 2nd is he now the best Manning QB and is he Hall of Fame bound? The fact that Eli is going for his 2nd in Peyton's home stadium against Peyton's chief rival. The match up between the 2 head coaches who worked together under Bill Parcells. I'm not going to talk about any of those things.
I want to talk about 'bulletin board material'. Why do we call it that when a player from a team expresses confidence in his own team? If player 'X' says "we are going to beat team 'Y' and we will do it by doing thing 'Z'" all of sudden we ask the question did that player just give team 'Y' bulletin board material to inspire and motivate them? Are you fucking kidding me people? These are professional athletes who get paid handsomely to go out and beat the other team. They don't need motivation other than their salaries and the opportunity to be a world champ. I would hope the other team doesn't expect player 'X' to say "yeah I think those guys are going to blow us out, I'm not even sure why we are showing up!"
So people please stop it with all the talk about bulletin board material. Root for or against whoever you choose. And know that the players weren't motivated by anything players on the other team said. They are motivated by the trophy, the ring, and the potential dollars they can earn by playing their best on the biggest of stages. PERIOD!
I want to talk about 'bulletin board material'. Why do we call it that when a player from a team expresses confidence in his own team? If player 'X' says "we are going to beat team 'Y' and we will do it by doing thing 'Z'" all of sudden we ask the question did that player just give team 'Y' bulletin board material to inspire and motivate them? Are you fucking kidding me people? These are professional athletes who get paid handsomely to go out and beat the other team. They don't need motivation other than their salaries and the opportunity to be a world champ. I would hope the other team doesn't expect player 'X' to say "yeah I think those guys are going to blow us out, I'm not even sure why we are showing up!"
So people please stop it with all the talk about bulletin board material. Root for or against whoever you choose. And know that the players weren't motivated by anything players on the other team said. They are motivated by the trophy, the ring, and the potential dollars they can earn by playing their best on the biggest of stages. PERIOD!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
R.I.P. Joe Paterno
I've have been asked repeatedly over the last few days if I was going to do a blog about the death of Joe Paterno. And frankly it is a subject that I have been hesitant to tackle. Mostly because I have not been able to decide what his legacy will be to me. After a few days of thinking about it, considering all factors, and even discussing it in our weekly podcast, I have finally made a little peace on the subject with myself.
Undoubtedly Paterno made a terrible mistake in his handling of the child sex abuse scandal involving his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. But our lives are more than the mistakes we make and ultimately this man certainly did more good than bad with his time here on Earth.
That is how I will remember him. As a man who changed thousands of lives for the better.
R.I.P. Joe Pa.
Undoubtedly Paterno made a terrible mistake in his handling of the child sex abuse scandal involving his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. But our lives are more than the mistakes we make and ultimately this man certainly did more good than bad with his time here on Earth.
That is how I will remember him. As a man who changed thousands of lives for the better.
R.I.P. Joe Pa.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
ROLL, TIDE! ROLL!!
The University of Alabama Crimson Tide emphatically answered any questions about whether or not they deserved to have a spot in the BCS National Championship game by beating LSU 21-0. That score is no where near indicative of how dominant the Crimson Tide were in embarrassing the Bayou Bengals. LSU had a total of 92 yards of offense. That's not a typo, yes I said 92 YARDS OF TOTAL OFFENSE. For perspective Tide RB Trent Richardson had 96 yards by himself. The outcome was never really in doubt as LSU only had 4 offensive snaps in Bama territory, all on their 2nd to last drive of the game, and the only questions really where whether Bama would score a touchdown or would their kicker have all the points.
Is Bama the best team in college football? This victory would suggest that and it probably is true. Do we still need a playoff? ABSOLUTELY!! But that is an argument for another day. Today I will just say congratulations to the Alabama Crimson Tide 2012 BCS National Champions.
Is Bama the best team in college football? This victory would suggest that and it probably is true. Do we still need a playoff? ABSOLUTELY!! But that is an argument for another day. Today I will just say congratulations to the Alabama Crimson Tide 2012 BCS National Champions.
ROLL, TIDE! ROLL!!
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