Archive for October, 2011

WATERCOOLER CHAT: STANFORD’S TRIPLE OVERTIME WIN, SUNDAY NFL WRAPUP

FOOTBALL

In College Football,  Stanford’s Andrew Luck solidified his place in football lore and made NFL teams salivate even more. Luck showed why he’s so special by engineering a 56-48  triple overtime win over rival USC.  Stanford has now pulled to an exciting #4 in the BCS standings.

Speaking of Andrew Luck, the winless Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts continued their quest for the worst record of the season (and therefore access to the number one pick….which will be Luck) by yet again losing their Sunday games. The Dolphins just missed a win over the Giants when with 5 minutes left in the game, Eli Manning connected on a touchdown pass for a 20-17 win. And, for the Colts, well, their season just keeps going downhill.  The Tennessee Titans crushed them 27-10.

In other NFL news, Eagles’ QB Michael Vick helped his team score on their first 6 possessions to lead the Eagles to a huge win over the Cowboys (34-7) and the Denver Bronco’s QB Tim Tebow experiment went a bit awry as the Detroit Lions sacked him 7 times for a 45-10 win.

 

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WATERCOOLER CHAT: FORCED GAME SEVEN, MISHAP DURING SERIES

BASEBALL

In Major League Baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals have forced a game seven of the World Series. This will be the first final elimination, winner take-all game of the World Series since 2002 and the Cardinals are looking to do something that hasn’t been done since 1975: win game six and game seven to win it all. Thursday night’s game was like a tennis match with volleys going back and forth over the net with several unforced errors. There were several ties and lead changes throughout the game and at some points it looked as though neither team wanted to win the game with a combined five errors on the night between the two teams.

Then, things got really exciting!!!! Our hero of the night ended up being St. Louis’ young third basemen David Freese. In the bottom of the ninth, he tripled over the head of Ranger’s outfielder Nelson Cruz. That hit knocked in the game tying runs with two outs. In the 10th inning, Texas responded with a Josh Hamilton two-run homerun. It looked as though the Cardinals’ magic was running out, but in the bottom half of the inning St. Louis responded with three runs to put the back-and-forth ball game to an end. The game-winning run came off the bat of the same guy who tied it in the ninth, David Freese. He hit a shot to centerfield and it flew over the wall to win the ball game and force a final game.

The final game looks to be very exciting just like this entire series has been. The pitching matchup will be announced very close to game time and it would be a shock if Cardinals manager, Tony La Russa, doesn’t send out their ace pitcher, Chris Carpenter.

FOOTBALL

In college football, the SEC may have made a little mistake during the World Series. On their website for just minutes a public letter was on the website welcoming Mizzou to the SEC. The letter was quickly taken down, but not before the media got a hold of it and the damage was done. It was dated Monday Oct. 22, but this may be foreshadowing what is to come in the next few days in the conference realignment scene. Also, there are reports of Boise State in talks with the Big East to move into their conference during this shuffle.

 

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WATERCOOLER CHAT: GAME 6 POSTPONED, NBA NO GAME, WVU MOVE MAY NOT HAPPEN

BASEBALL

In Major League Baseball, Game six of the World Series was postponed. With a storm on the radar heading straight for St. Louis, Major League Baseball and the Commissioner’s Office decided it was best for the teams and for the fans to push game six and a potential game seven back.  And even though, with 20/20 hindsight vision, the game in St. Louis could have been played. But now looking forward, how will it  affect the teams and their play on the field? Well, Jaime Garcia will still pitch game six for the Cardinals and Kyle Lohse will be ready to go if Garcia doesn’t pitch as well as he did in the second game of the series. And if there is a game seven, it would be hard to imagine that the Cardinal ace, Chris Carpenter, won’t get the call. On the Rangers end, Colby Lewis and C.J. Wilson will probably get the calls for games six and seven respectively. They will be looking to close out the series against a Cardinals lineup that is being switched around because of injuries affecting Matt Holliday. Holliday has been unable to protect Albert Pujols in the series and it is being said that if these games were during the regular season, he would be on the disabled list.

BASKETBALL

In the world of basketball, the NBA season does not look to be starting anytime soon. Days following the commissioner’s announcement about more than 100 games being cancelled, and a message from President Obama telling the NBA to get their act together and learn from the NFL, talks between the NBA and the Players Association lasted 15 hours. The talks ran past 3 a.m. and were the first bright spot in a while for the negotiations. This all occurred as superstars LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul withdrew from a global exhibition tour beginning Wednesday.

FOOTBALL

In College Football, West Virginia’s move to the Big XII is not a given. Louisville may just take, what was thought to be the Mountaineers spot. But nothing will be official until Missouri moves to the SEC.

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WATERCOOLER CHAT: WVU JOINS BIG 12, TO MAKES COMEBACK, CUBS SAVIOR

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In college football, it looks like it’s official:  West Virginia will join the Big 12.  This comes on the heels of Syracuse and UCONN most likely joining the ACC (in football at least), and because of those departures, everybody is pretty much jumping ship on the Big East.  And the Big 12, a conference that is actually playing quite well this year, even better than the SEC as a whole you could argue, could use a solid program like West Virginia in the mix.  They are almost consistently at the top of the standings in the Big East and will be able to compete with the teams in the Big 12.  After all, they hung in there with #1 seed LSU this year.  The only issue is this doesn’t make much geographical sense — WVU will be traveling a lot.

And in the NFL, it looks like Terrell Owens is making a comeback.  However, it also looks like nobody in the NFL cares.  Terrell Owens, after recovering from an injury, put on a workout in Calabasas, CA, except not one NFL scout showed up.  Not ONE team.  The event was covered by the media and ESPN, and will definitely be available for teams to take a lookout.  But the fact that absolutely nobody of import was there is more a sign of retaliation by the league potentially for Owens’ behavior in the past.  They just don’t want anything to do with him.  Then again, it’s hard to deny that Owens was one of the best wide receivers of the past 20 years and still might have a little spark left in him.

BASEBALL

Finally, in some unrelated World Series news out of baseball, the Chicago Cubs may have found their savior.  After a string of losing seasons, the Cubs have brought in former Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein to be their team president.  He will be charged with the difficult task of fielding a winning team.  Many Cubs fans may have given up on such a thought, but Epstein is the best in the business at organizing winning squads.  In 10 years with the Red Sox, he made them a super winner and even won 2 World Series titles.  He has now promised Cubs fans that they will win a World Series soon.  Cubs fans… be excited!

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WATERCOOLER CHAT: MNF, NOTRE DAME NOT THE SAME, GAME 6

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In the NFL, it was Monday Night Football between the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars.  The Ravens have been pretty solid this season, even beating up on a strong Houston Texans offense last week.  The Jaguars, on the other hand, have been struggling.  They put in rookie QB Blaine Gabbert, who is using this season to get adjusted to the NFL, but nobody thought they had a chance against Baltimore… even IN Jacksonville.  The Jags wanted to prove everybody wrong, and their defense came out and just suffocated the Ravens.  They kept them scoreless for 3 quarters.  The Jags offense was average at best, but it was efficient enough to give them a safe lead.  The Ravens got a TD from a Flacco pass to Anquan Boldin, but it was too little too late.  The Jags held Baltimore to 146 TOTAL yards of offense — a performance that Jacksonville fans can surely be proud of. Jacksonville 12, Baltimore 7.

And in some college football news, this past weekend USC marched into Notre Dame and beat them pretty soundly, even though Notre Dame was favored to win.  Notre Dame looked very sloppy out there… like they couldn’t keep up.  USC quarterback Matt Barkley said flat out that he thought Notre Dame gave up in the game.  Pretty bold statement.  He supported it saying that he thought Notre Dame would strategically use their timeouts midway through the 4th quarter to force USC to throw or dare them to run.  But with 7 minutes left, Notre Dame didn’t call one.  So Barkley said he thought they were saving them until the end.  But, in under 2 minutes, Notre Dame still didn’t use their time-outs, which means, in Barkley’s viewpoint, that they pretty much threw in the towel.  At this point, Notre Dame just doesn’t have the talent to compete with the big boys like they did in the 80s and 90s.  That’s why you see their head coach going on ESPN all the time, and why they wore those gorgeously gold helmets — it’s all for the flare of recruiting the big talent.  Perhaps they will rise again.  And, if now, you can always watch the movie Rudy to get your Notre Dame fix.

BASEBALL

And in the World Series:  Game 6.  We’re tied at 2 and the Cards were hoping for a win on the road so they would only need one win at home.  They jumped out to an early lead behind clutch hits from Yadier Molina and Skip Schumaker.  It was 2-0 Cardinals.  Then Mitch Moreland homered for the Rangers to pull within 1 run.  And later, in the 6th, Adrian Beltre smashed one out of the park to tie the game.  Suddenly, the Cardinals were scared.  And in the 8th, the Rangers momentum continued when Mike Napoli crushed one to deep right field to bring in 2 more runs.  And the Rangers were up 4-2.  Then they brought in their main man — closer Neftali Feliz.  He pitched masterfully to maintain the lead and give the Rangers a 3-2 lead in the World Series.  One more win… and they’re finally World Champs.  Texas 4, St. Louis 2.

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WATERCOOLER CHAT: BCS SURPRISES, TEBOW DEBUT, RANGERS TAKE GAME 4

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In college football, two surprising match-ups that changed the BCS standings.

First up, it was #7 Wisconsin heading into Michigan State.  Wisconsin has been dominant this season, but many experts thought that they haven’t seen a real test yet.  Michigan State gave them all they could handle, stopping their running attack (somewhat) and even carving up their defense.  However, with the score tied at 31, Michigan State threw a HAIL MARY down the field into a a crowded defense.  They got lucky, as the defense batted down the pass directly to a Michigan State receiver who, while surprised, jumped into the end zone.  And with that, Michigan State practically ended Wisconsin’s National Championship hopes.  Michigan State 37, Wisconsin 31.

And in Oklahoma, the Sooners were expected to destroy yet another opponent.  However, Texas Tech has been rather enigmatic this season.  They can essentially score at will, although their defense is suspect.  Shockingly, the Texas Tech Red Raiders jumped out to a 31-7 lead.  If Oklahoma wanted to catch up, they would need to do it in under a half.  They did make a surging comeback, but their field goal kicker missed two easy field goals to make the comeback even more difficult.  They tried an on-side kick late trailing by 3 with under a minute, but the Red Raiders recovered and pulled off the upset at the Sooners house.  That will also pretty much do it for Oklahoma’s title hopes.  Then again, if they can beat Oklahoma State later this season, they might still have a chance.  Texas Tech 41, Oklahoma 38.

And in the NFL, it was (yet another) debut of Tim Tebow.  Prior to the game at Dolphin stadium, they honored the 2008 Florida Gators National Championship team (of which Tebow was the star).  He accepted the honor, then wanted to prove that he was, in fact, worthy of being an NFL starting quarterback.  The Broncos fell behind 15-0 and couldn’t get anything going.  But, in the 4th quarter, Tebow turned on the jets.  He had 65 rushing yards, and connected for two touchdowns to even the game at 15.  And we were headed to overtime, where Tebow did just enough to get them in field goal range where Matt Prater booted a 52-yarder to win the game.  Tebow does have some magic about him.  Denver 18, Miami 15.

BASEBALL

It was Game 4 of the World Series.  The Cardinals absolutely crushed the Rangers in Game 3, and the Rangers knew they had no choice but to even this up.  Derek Holland took the mound for the Rangers and delivered a masterful performance.  He gave up only 2 hits in 8 innings.  Josh Hamilton gave the Rangers a lead in the first inning with a double that brought in a run, and in the 9th inning Mike Napoli crushed a 3-run shot to left field to give the Rangers a comfortable 4-0 lead, if you can say it’s comfortable vs. a high-scoring Cardinals teams.  And… it would be, as Rangers closer Neftali Feliz came in to keep the Cardinals in check and help the Rangers take Game 4.  Now it’s a best of 3, and if you haven’t watched so far — this is the time to tune in.  Texas 4, St. Louis 0.

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WATERCOOLER CHAT: SERIES TIED AT 1-1, LSU PLAYERS SUSPENDED, HARRISON’S BRAIN TUMOR

BASEBALL

It was Game 2 of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals.  The Cardinals grabbed Game 1 and have kept the strong Texas bats in check.  That would stay consistent last night as the solid Cardinals pitching and cold weather would make Texas earn those hits.  It was a pitcher’s duel for most of the game, until the the Cardinals finally got out to a 1-0 lead from a clutch hit by Allen Craig.  It looked like the Cards would grab yet another game as they sent their superstar closer Jason Motte to the mound.  But some crafty base-running would put the Rangers in a good spot.  Then Josh Hamilton smacked a single to bring in a run, and Michael Young hit a sacrifice fly to bring in another.  That gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead in the 9th and the Cardinals couldn’t square it up.  The series now heads back to Texas, and Cardinals fans may have seen their last game with Albert Pujols in a Cardinals jersey.  Texas 2, St. Louis 1.

FOOTBALL

In college football, #1 LSU will host Auburn this weekend.  Many thought this would be an easy win for LSU due to their stellar defense, namely that of “The Honey Badger”, Tyrann Mathieu.  However, it looks like The Honey Badger and two other LSU players have tested positive for synthetic marijuana.  Because of this, LSU is suspending Mathieu, Tharold Simon, and Spencer Ware for the game.  This will make LSU soft on defense and if Auburn can bring a stellar ‘A’ game, they might just stand a chance against the Tigers.  After all, LSU is known for their defense, but their offense hasn’t exactly been a scoring machine.  If Auburn can stop LSU on offense, they might just have a shot to put up some decent points and win the game.

FOOTBALL

Finally, in the NFL, some crazy news.  The Philadelphia Eagles agreed to a trade that would send back-up running-back Ronnie Brown to the Detroit Lions in exchange for running-back Jerome Harrison.  The Lions need a running-back after Jahvid Best suffered a concussion and may have to sit out the remainder of the season.  Upon any trade, all players involved must take a full physical to ensure there are no major hidden injuries.  In Jerome Harrison’s case, they discovered he had a brain tumor.  That of course voided the trade, but also made Harrison aware of something very serious.  Doctors said the tumor was treatable, but may not have been if they would have caught it later.  So essentially, had he not been traded, they never would have found it.  While this is a terrible situation for Harrison, he is lucky that the Lions decided to trade him.  It could most likely save his life.

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WATERCOOLER CHAT: CARDINALS TAKE 1-0 LEAD, BECK STARTING FOR REDSKINS, RYAN THROWS JABS

BASEBALL

 

it was Game 1 of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals.  Even though the Rangers have a far better record, because the National League won the all-star game (a just-for-fun exhibition game), the Cardinals get home field advantage in the World Series.  So how would it play out?  The game was nothing short of exciting.  It was a pitcher’s duel until the 4th inning, when the Cardinals’ Lance Berkman hit a shot to right field to bring in 2 runs.  2-0 Cards.  But then, in the 5th, the Rangers Mike Napoli got a hold of a ball and smashed it out of the park.  That was a 2-run homer, and we’ve got ourselves a tie ball game.  In the 6th, the Cardinals put in pitch hitter Allen Craig and he hit a hook single to right field and the Rangers outfielder just couldn’t make the play.  That brought in a run and gave the Cards a 3-2 lead.  The Cardinals pitching held the Rangers in check the rest of the way, especially their long bearded closer Jason Motte, who has been dominant this post-season.  And the Cardinals take a 1-0 lead in the World Series… but it’s far from over.  St. Louis 3, Texas 2.

FOOTBALL

In the NFL, the Washington Redskins are having some starting quarterback turmoil.  They started the season with Rex Grossman, who looked like he actually might play decently, giving the Redskins a few wins.  But, recently, Grossman proved that he was still… Rex Grossman, poorly handling the defensive pressure and throwing picks left and right.  So, the Redskins had a choice to make:  Either stick with Grossman or go with promising back-up John Beck.  The word “promising” used only to suggest that he couldn’t possibly play worse than Grossman, right?  Well, yesterday, the Redskins decided that John Beck is their guy going forward.  Prior to the season, during the lockout, Beck was brought in from Miami, and even publicly said that he WILL be the Redskins starting QB.  Hopefully his time on the bench was humbling, and he’ll be able to give the Skins the spark that they need.

Finally, in some more gossipy NFL news, New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, a man who loves the media, threw some jabs at Chargers coach Norv Turner.  The Chargers and Jets are set to play Sunday, and Ryan is definitely trying to rile him up.  In 2007, Rex Ryan interviewed to be the head coach of the Chargers, but they went with Turner.  When a reporter asked Rex Ryan how he would have fared as head coach of the Chargers at that time, Ryan said he would have had a couple rings because those teams were loaded (which is true).  Norv Turner didn’t like that, and in a media conference he uttered out loud “Where are all those rings that Rex Ryan promised with the Jets?”.  So you can definitely expect an awkward handshake before and after the game at midfield.

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WATERCOOLER CHAT: QUARTERBACK NEWS, MAGIC DISSES LEBRON

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In the NFL, a few pieces of quarterback news:

First off, the Oakland Raiders have had a pretty decent season thus far.  Even their starting quarterback Jason Campbell has shown signs that he could be their franchise quarterback.  However, just as he was starting to warm-up, he went down with an injury and is most likely done for the season.  So what would the Raiders do?  Would they turn to Ohio State rookie Terrelle Pryor or head to the free agent market?  There was one guy out there who nobody had talked about for a while:  Carson Palmer.  Palmer decided to retire this season and NOT play for the Bengals.  He wanted out of Cincy badly!  This chance came along, and the Raiders snatched him up in exchange for some first and second round draft picks.  Palmer is the kind of talented QB who might thrive given new scenery.  He has the potential to do for the Raiders what Kurt Warner did for the Cardinals a few years ago — leading them to a Super Bowl.  This is a good move for the Raiders, and shows their fans that they are serious about winning this year.

And in Minnesota, it looks like the now-yearly Donovan McNabb experiment has failed again.  McNabb was brought in to steer the ship of a decent Vikings team due to the absence of Brett Favre.  Only problem is McNabb has played horribly and the Vikings are off to a terrible start.  Fortunately for the Vikes, they drafted Florida State’s Christian Ponder early in the first round (during the lockout) under the cautious assumption that they might not get a QB on the free agent market.  Since it most likely looks like the Vikings won’t make the playoffs this year, they are starting the Christian Ponder project early — unveiling him as the starter when they take on the Packers Sunday.  After all, if he’s going to be their future, might as well get him started against what will be his toughest opponent in the next coming years.  It’s good practice.

Finally, in an interview with Magic Johnson, a reporter asked Magic Johnson what he would like his legacy to be.  Magic answered:  “That’s easy: Putting people to work in minority communities.  There’s going to always be great players in basketball. There’s going to always be guys who win championships in the NBA, except LeBron …”  Note the last part, “Except LeBron”.  Magic said he was just teasing LeBron in good fun, but went on to identify another thing he found funny.  Magic said he’s always asked, “Who do you think is better — Kobe or LeBron?” and Magic is always taken aback, answering Kobe has 5 titles — LeBron 0.  It’s just that simple.  But, in the end, Magic said that he’s not hating on LeBron.  After all, LeBron can average a triple-double, and he’s only going to get better.

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WATERCOOLER CHAT: MNF LEADS TO LUCK SWEEPSTAKES, LLOYD NEW HOME, HOWARD WANTS OUT

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In the NFL, it was Monday Night Football between the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.  The Dolphins are a broken team right now, and are first in line for the Andrew Luck sweepstakes (the best QB in college football).  Last week, they lost their starting QB for the season, and hobbled into this game hoping that Matt Moore could lead them to a victory against a very strong Jets defense.  Fortunately for the Dolphins, the Jets didn’t play very well.  They were confused out there, and their play-calling was extremely suspect.  However, they got a Pick-6 interception from their star cornerback Darrelle Revis, and  receiver Santonio Holmes reeled in a TD pass.  The Dolphins are now 0-5 and the Jets are 3-3 and hoping to get on the right side of .500 next week.  NY Jets 24, Miami 6.

Elsewhere in the NFL, pro-bowl wide-receiver Brandon Lloyd has found a new home.  The Broncos were shopping him for draft picks and finally found a buyer in the St. Louis Rams.  The Rams are completely depleted at wide-receiver.  Quarterback Sam Bradford’s favorite target, Danny Amendola, is out for the season and the guy they brought in to improve the passing game, Mike Sims-Walker from Jacksonville, has been a complete bust.  They’re hoping that adding Lloyd will at least give Bradford a capable receiver to throw to.  In exchange, they sent the Rams a 6th round pick which could transform into a 5th round pick if Lloyd records 30 receptions the rest of the year (thus proving he was valuable).  Either way, both of these teams are still in rebuilding mode.

BASKETBALL

Finally, in some rare NBA news, Orlando Magic superstar Dwight Howard said he was conflicted about whether to stay in Orlando or go play in a larger market.  Howard said he really loves Orlando, because he feels very welcomed and appreciated by everybody there.  After all, they have burgers named after him and a website pleading for him NOT to leave.  But, at the same time, he said that he’s not sure what else he can do for the team, and it becomes increasingly clear that Orlando just isn’t the market to attract more big name talent.  Plus, speaking of their head coach Stan Van Gundy, Howard said he liked him as a person, but that he yells a lot and is very negative.  Howard tries then to be positive with his teammates; to lift them up so they play at their highest level.

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