"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~ Aristotle

January 10, 2011

The two biggest games of the weekend . . .well one over the weekend and one last night involved the Denver Broncos hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers in the last wild card matchup of the weekend and the BCS National Championship featuring a re-match of the regular season game between Alabama and LSU. I have to admit the Denver win surprised me as well as every so-called expert/analyst out there.  I don't think anyone expected Tim Tebow to pass for 316 yards on the #1 defense in the league.  And NO-ONE, including Denver Bronco fans, expected the game to go to overtime where the game would be won on the first play via an 80 yard TD pass from Tim Tebow to Demaryius Thomas.  I gotta give it up to John Fox and the Bronco coaching staff, they completely out-coached Mike Tomlin and the Steeler staff.  The lone overtime play is a prime-example.  During regulation on first down, 20 out of 22 times on first down, the Broncos ran the ball.  On the first play of overtime, they ran the play-action that nearly the entire Pittsburgh defense bit on leaving Thomas with single coverage.  The catch and stiff arm, along with blazing speed down the sideline, put an end to the Steelers hopes for a 7th ring.  What does this mean for the Broncos?  Tim Tebow, in my opinion, has earned the right to be the starter next season.  He still needs work on his mechanics of throwing, but he's proven that his option and ability to run along with the utter lack of respect for passing make it tough for teams to beat them.  One other note:  They better figure out a way for that defense to stop New England this weekend or their Super Bowl dream for this season is put to an end.  For the Steelers, they need to go re-load.  Hearing rumors that Hines Ward may retire and if he does, I give a big salute to him.  I may not have been a big fan of the Steeler (quite the opposite in fact), but he's a definite baller who has always played the game with passion and ferocity. Moving on to the BCS National Championship:  Alabama wanted payback.  They missed three field goals and had one blocked in the previous meeting in Tuscaloosa.  Aside from the missed field goals and LSU's offense apparently deciding to spend the evening in Baton Rouge, it was nearly a carbon copy of the first time around with a few differences.  Bama threw A LOT on first down and did it with success.  They only punted three times for the entire game.  Sure they got five field goals when drives stalled, but they were sustained drives that ate a lot of time off the clock and the Tide defense played lights out.  Jordan Jefferson looked like a deer in the headlights at times last night.  The closest the Tigers came to scoring was midway through the fourth quarter when they got down around the Alabama 30 yard line (the only drive that crossed mid-field all night for LSU), but it stalled and ended when on 4th and 18, Jefferson fumbled when the Tide rolled over him back at the 50.  Trent Richardson put a punctuation mark on the night with the lone touchdown of the game on a 34 yard run making the final 21-0 (the Bama kicker, Shelley, missed the extra point which is only appropriate for the game . . .I guess).  Overall, Alabama's defense played amazingly well, helped in no small part by LSU's seeming lack of a game plan or the ability to make any sort of adjustment.  I watched a good portion of the West Virgina v. LSU game earlier this year and all of last night's game and there is no doubt in my mind that Oklahoma State could have moved the ball up and down the field on LSU's pass defense which seems to be a bit of an Achilles Heel. No doubt both teams will be ranked in the top 3 when the 2012 pre-season polls are released in a few weeks, but for now: CONGRATULATIONS - ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE - 2011 BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.

January 5, 2011

NFL Playoffs - Big Games this weekend include: Saturday - 4:30 PM - Cincinnati vs. Houston - Cincy's defense is for real and Houston is down to their third string rookie QB.  I'm going with the Bengals in this one. Saturday - 8:00 PM - Detroit vs. New Orleans - It's in New Orleans - nice run this season for the Lions, but it ends this weekend.  Done deal, Boss. Sunday - 1:00 PM - Atlanta vs. New York Giants - Eli's experience and homefield will be the difference here. Sunday - 4:30 PM - Pittsburg vs. Denver - This is the end of the Tebow Train for this season.  Sure Big Ben is hobbled right now, but the Broncos passing game isn't good and they will be playing the best defense in the NFL this weekend. ================================= (other teams) Dallas - It's time for Jerry Jones to step back into the owner's box and hire a GM to run the team.  He's quickly turning into the league's next Al Davis losing touch with the reality of his team.  Yes, Jerry, the Boys won three Super Bowls with you as GM, but then they put the hard salary cap in place and Dallas has now won only a single playoff game in the last 15 years.  Cleveland - Listened to the Browns press conference with Mike Holmgren today and it seems more and more that while your average Cleveland fan is pretty rabid about their team, they know nothing about patience with new management.  The Browns have just finished the season with a first year head coach and an incredibly young team while installing the West Coast offense, but fans continually call in to local sports talk shows complaining that they need to dump Holmgren, they need to dump Shurmur, they need to move on from the Colt McCoy era . . . which has lasted ALMOST one complete season.  Anyone who is familiar at all with the state of Cleveland Browns football and the state it was in when Mike Holgren came on board has to admit that they aren't going to be competitive overnight.  For those Browns fans out there that look on this season as an utter failure, keep in mind, the Browns had the #10 defense in the league this year in scoring and yards per game and the #2 defense against the pass.  They are almost home on defense (still need some work in the run defense).  Now they need to bust humps to improve the offense.  Just let Mike Holmgren do his thing and watch.  NCAA Football Bowl season is winding down and we've had some crazy games the most recent of which was last night's Orange Bowl between West Virginia and Clemson.  I have to admit, I didn't stay up and watch.  I kind of gave up on it being an entertaining game when WVU scored right before half-time to make it 49-20 in favor of the Mountaineers who went on to win 70-33.  There have been some very entertaining bowls though.  The Fiesta Bowl between Stanford and Oklahoma State went to over time where the Pokes pulled off the biggest win in eons 41-38.  The Rose Bowl was another "nothin' but offense game" with over 1100 yards of offense and 83 points scored between the teams with the Oregon Ducks emerging victorious over the Wisconsin Badgers (batter of the timid sounding mascots game) 45-38.  The Sugar Bowl was the most disappointing BCS matchup between two incredibly undeserving teams (Michigan and Virginia Tech).  Sure the Orange Bowl was a boring blowout, but the Sugar was a cripple fight between two teams that did everything they could to try and hand the game to the other team.  In the end Michigan did just enough and won in overtime 23-20.  Aside from the BCS National Re-Match between Alabama and LSU, the only "big" game left is the Cotton Bowl which isn't being playing in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, but rather over at Jerry's World . . .er . . .Cowboys Stadium in Arlington between the pass-happy Arkansas Razorbacks and the overachieving Kansas State Wildcats.  The game will be Friday night and could be a lot of fun to watch if Kansas State can keep pace with Arkansas the way they did in Stillwater against Oklahoma State earlier this season.

December 6, 2011

GOOD DAY!!!  It's a rainy, nasty, cold day here in Cleveland, Ohio.  I've got a college football bowl pick 'ems group set up on Yahoo.  If you're interested in joining, Email me at don@averagejoesports.com for the details and an invite (No money involved, just bragging rights) COLLEGE FOOTBALL - BCS - WHAT A FRICKIN' FARCE!!! So really, what exactly is all the talk about the regular season being a playoff if we're just going to have a re-match between two teams who in their combined schedules only played one top 20 ranked team outside their own conference? Are you serious?  Are you telling me that a season's worth of games means nothing because of one loss in double overtime on the road?  What about the home loss by the Crimson Tide?  I don't care how many field goals they missed.  It was a home loss!!!  Yes, it was a terrific defensive struggle, but it was also a very sloppy game played on offense by BOTH teams.  Oklahoma State deserves a shot.  You'll hear the pundits say things like, "It's apparent that Alabama is the second best team in the country right now, so this is a good matchup."  Really??  Base on what?  As long as these so-called "experts" are so sure Alabama can, without any doubt and based on nothing aside from opinion, dominate any team NOT LSU in the country, I will go ahead and say this: Based on the same "observation" and "opinion," Any team that has not played either Alabama or LSU up to this point or in the SEC can and would win the BCS championship game given and opportunity.  Don't try to negate me.  Until it happens, we'll never know if I'm right or wrong. NFL Notes How many more ways can the Cowboys discover to lose games?  (hangs head)  Tim Tebow - is he for real?  Maybe.  But keep in mind that during this 5 game win streak, the combined records of the opponents they've beaten during that stretch is 25-34 - not exactly world beater stuff. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers - HOLY JEEZ!  The dude is an assassin - marching down the field in 58 seconds on 4 plays to set up the game winning field goal against the Giants on Sunday.  They may not lose one with their remaining regular season schedule being Oakland, at KC, Chicago and the tail-spinning Detroit Lions. Cleveland Browns - C'mon, man!  Don't abandon the run when it's working . . .in the rain . . .against the RAVENS!! And speaking of swearing to God Almighty - WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, NDAMUKONG SUH!!?!??  You need to get your head on straight. Sandusky I've read a lot about this case and I don't want to say a lot about it.  I think it's become a full blown circus and refuse to give yet another pedastal to it here.  Suffice it to say, I think it's despicable what this man has allegedly done and if the university covered it up - shut the football program down and auction off the assets to the highest bidder with the proceeds divided evenly among the victims.

December 4, 2011

I'll be doing a Gamecast of the Denver Broncos vs. the Minnesota Vikings beginning at 1:00 PM Eastern - you can follow that by clicking here HEY!  Look at this!  I'm not pulling my annual "Go into a shell and don't bother blogging when OU drops a big game" pattern!  WOO-HOO!  Woo . . .hoo? So some quick thoughts on the games yesterday: CUSA championship:  Houston lost to Southern Miss and cost the conference their first BCS appearance.  The Eagles came up with more plays and hade a balanced attack owning the Cougars in this one 49-28.  Moral of the story: When it's windy as hell for your game, you better have a run game to fall back on to balance against the conditions SEC Championship: Georgia held LSU to 8 yards of total offense in the first half, but due to a TD punt return by LSU's honey-badger (Tyrann Mathieu) along with miscues and two dropped TD passes only led 10-7.  The second half proved and entirely different story as LSU came out and reeled off 35 unanswered points to win the game 42-10.  Moral of the story: Football games last TWO halves and not just one. Bedlam: Turnovers and dropped passes were the order of the evening for the Sooners on offense.  On defense, they started the game missing Ronnell Lewis at defensive end and Frank Alexander got injured and left the game.  The rest of the defense did a passable job at limiting Brandon Weeden to only 217 passing yards and no TD's . . .what the did NOT do, however was show any semblance of a run defense giving up 278 yards rushing including over 100 rushing yards each by Poke runningbacks Randle and Smith.  Oklahoma State comes away with a serious statement victory 44-10. Moral of the story: ACH!!  Adjustments!  Make them faster!! Big Ten Championship: Another shootout between Wisconsin and Michigan State with the Badgers coming away with the win this time around 42-39.  The end was shaping up similarly with Wisky having to punt on 4th and 3 to the Spartans late possibly setting up another game winning drive for MSU . . .if only that defender hadn't run into the punter giving Wisky the first down followed by three kneel downs and a win.  Moral of the story: Don't run into kickers . ..better yet, don't come close enough for your shadow to touch them.  Punters have an genetic disposition to flop if a stiff breeze hits them. I'll post more later today during the NFL games. ==================================================================================================

December 1, 2011

It's conference championship week for college football and here's my take on a few matchups. PAC12 Championship – With SC and the post season ban, Oregon gets a walk-over game for their CCG against 6-6 UCLA - BAD B1G Championship - Wisconsin and Michigan State looks evenly matched and both actually won their respective divisions.  The Badgers get an opportunity to avenge one of the hail-mary losses - GOOD BIG XII - Though they don't have an official "conference championship game" this year, the OU v. Oklahoma State game in Stillwater becomes the defacto championship on Saturday night.  Both teams have bad losses.  Both teams have loads of passing offense, but neither has really presented a hardcore running game.  That could be pivotal as the forecast for gametime is expected to be in the mid-40s and raining. ACC Championship - To a casual observer VaTech looks like the hands-down favorite at 11-1 vs. 9-3 Clemson who lost 3 of their last 4 games, however they are the only team to beat the Hokies this season shutting them down in Blacksburg 23-3.  Both teams get a shot at redemption of their season with VT having an extremely long shot (as in slim to next to none) at the BCS Championship if LSU and OkState somehow both get blown the out. - GOOD The SEC Championship has been presented by the media as a formality for the Geaux.  Georgia lost their first two games of the season (one they didn't really show up to against Boise and a close one to South Carolina), since then they've won all their games by an average score of 34-13 - could be a great game - INTRIGUING

November 2, 2011

COLLEGE FOOTBALL:                                                                                                                                 Let me start off by following up on my picks for college football conference champs last week: Everything remains the same with a couple of exceptions and notes on previous picks - The Big XII - Oklahoma.  With the way they played in Manhattan, it appears the Sooners got the wake-up call they needed when they neglected to show up until the third quarter against Texas Tech.  ACC - Still Clemson - I think Clemson still wins the ACC despite the loss to a fired up Georgia Tech squad.  The Tigers still have Wake Forest (a home game) and a game at NC State left in regular season conference play - neither should pose a problem for the BIG PAW PRINT!  (I doubt this is what they call themselves, but it's what I think of every time I see their helmets).    Big Ten - With Wisconsin laying an egg against Ohio State (or the Buckeyes putting up a monster performance depending on who you ask) I'm up in the air now between Penn State and Nebraska - Sorry Wolverine fans, Michigan has shown they aren't very effective against teams with any semblence of defense, so I think Nebraska wins the Legend Division and Penn State wins the Leaders Division (Can someone get a memo out to the Big 10 to rename their divisions, because "Leaders" and "Legends" just sounds silly with the mediocre play in conference this year)      Side note:  Wisconsin lost on a big pass play late in the game for the second week in a row - Ohio State wide-receiver Corey Brown said they just kind of made up the big play on the fly, so apparently the spirit of Bill Cosby infected them and led to the following discussion in the huddle:           Braxton Miller - Smith, you're the piece of glass.           Devin Smith - I don't wanna be the piece of glass, I wanna be the bottle cap.           Miller - Okay, Brown, you go down 10 steps and cut left behind the black Chevy. Hall, you run down to my house and wait in the living room.  Boren, you go down the 3rd streeet, catch the "J" bus, have them open the doors at 19th street - I'll fake it to ya!           Smith - What about me?           Miller - You go long! PAC 12 - Still Stanford - They got a scare against USC last week going to triple OT before a fumble by USC's Curtis McNeal at the 4 yard line sealed the deal for the Cardinal ruining an otherwise great night for the junior runningback.  Oregon is Stanford's lone remaining "big test," but with Oregon's poor pass defense, I think Stanford handles them well. MAC - After a crazy second half, 123 total points and 1121 total yards of offense between the two teams, Northern Illinois just took the reigns from the Toledo Rockets with a 63-60 win last night in one of those lovely Tuesday night mid-major matchups. In other college football news - Missouri is leaving the Big XII for the SEC . . .or at least that seems to be unofficially-official since the SEC posted in on their website "by accident" and then took it down.  West Virginia is leaving the floundering Big East to take Mizzou's spot in the Big XII - that is if they aren't forced to stay for the 27 month period required by the Big East by-laws (litigation is in process between WVU and the Big East now - not kidding).  The Big East, in turn has invited six (6) schools to join - Boise State, Navy & Air Force for football only and SMU, Houston and Central Florida for all sports.  Let the great $$$$money$$$ . . .conference shuffle continue!!! NFL:                                                                                                                                 Biggest story this week seems to be Miami and Indianapolis remaining tied for first in the Andrew Luck lottery draft - St. Louis took a step backwards with this as they beat New Orleans 31-21.  The acqusition of Brandon Lloyd from Denver, Steven Jackson being 100% and the Saints playing the worst game I've seen from them in quite some time. Another big one is Tim Tebow getting the start again this week against the Lions after pulling out a surprise late last week against the "we-find-ways-to-lose" Dolphins.  Tebow was quite a bit less impressive this weekend passing 18 of 39 for 172 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT and was sacked 7 times in a 45-10 loss.  The bigger story was when Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch celebrated his sack by getting in on the latest crazy of "Tebowing" in the prayer pose Tim takes after he scores.  There was some stirrings of anger at this action, saying Tulloch was insulting Christians, but I say this, CHILL OUT!  No one seemed to have a problem with the Falcons D-lineman doing the Aaron Rodgers "Discount Double Check" move after they sacked the Green Bay QB.    NBA:                                                                                                                                 No common ground seems to have been found between owners and players - the only thing that is certain?  As each day passes the big losers are the fans. NHL:                                                                                                                                 In case you missed it, the season is under way and the Toronto Maple Leafs are in first place in the Northeast thanks in no small part going to Phil Kessel with a league leading 18 points (10 goals and 8 assists)!!!  Go Leafs!!!

10/28/11 - My Picks for Conference Champs

These are as of 10/28/2011 Not anything scientific, just my opinions - we'll revisit this at the end of the season ACC - Clemson - they have started slow a couple of time, but just keep finding ways to win Big 12 - Oklahoma State - if OU comes out strong this week against KSU, this will change and be a toss up between OU & OkState - and the game in Stillwater becomes the defacto Conference Championship Game Big East - Cincinnati - stumbled badly against Tenn, but appeared to have taken a lesson from it and are playing solid ball now Big Ten - Wisconsin - despite the stumble against MSU, they are still the team to beat in B1G CUSA - Houston - Keenum is the real deal (in terms of CUSA) - Southern Miss is playing well, but they don't have the guns to keep pace with the Cougars in the CCG MAC - Toledo - despite the blowout loss against Boise, they've had tough losses to tOSU and Cuse (which was kinda stolen from them) and rolling through their MAC schedule - don't see anyone in conference hanging with them Mountain West - DUH - Boise - sorry Frogs (TCU), as you head out the door to join the Big 12 next year, they're going to be handing you a nice parting gift (aka: a butt whuppin) in two weeks PAC 12 - Stanford - and Luck will secure the Heisman - Oregon is the only real threat, IMO, but with the Cardinal coming off a game against Oregon State and the Ducks coming off of a Washington matchup, I think Stanford is in better shape physically and Stanford's defense will be the difference SEC - Bama - I think they beat LSU in a close one only because the game is in T-Town Sun Belt - Arkansas State - toughest test left on their schedule is LA-Lafayette and it's a home game WAC - Hawaii - Will have a tough test @Nevada in a couple of weeks, but their offense will win (no one in the WAC seems to play defense now that Boise is gone . . .not that anyone aside from Boise really ever did)