It is time to get rid of one of the anthems at NHL games. The Canadian and USA national anthems are sung. Why?
Don’t give me the line that there are many Canadian players in the league. Look around the other sports. Plenty of players from outside the USA. Don’t tell me there are teams in Canada when we have a team in the MLB that hails from Canada.
So why?
Don’t give the Aretha Franklin answer R-E-S-P-E-C-T . That is lame.
If the home ice is Canadian, play “O Canada” and if it is American play “The Star Spangled Banner“.
Two are not needed. Let’s just face-off and play hockey!
Ok, let’s chat. Which do you like to watch, the NBA or College basketball? It is time to choose.
Let me give you BOTH sides and let you ride the bandwagon I have created for you.
COLLEGE- I know the NBA talent is amazing, but what I love about college basketball are all the different styles. You have teams that love to run and gun, teams that slow things down and take all the shot clock. You have teams that play all sorts of different zones to neutralize an opponent.
And then there’s March Madness. The best 2 weeks of basketball ever. Because it’s the beauty of you lose, you’re done. A really good team can get beat if they’re off and the other team is on fire. An Ivy League school can beat a powerhouse. George Mason can get to the Final Four. It’s great.
NBA basketball is all the same. Dump it into the post and isolation. There’s no cutting. The playoffs are decent, but give me college basketball any day.
NBA- in the NBA we see experienced players who have more skill than college players
it’s better to watch NBA to its a much faster game with lots of points
better players, better facilities. College is too slow paced (35 sec shot clock), too many bad players, and the game play in general isn’t as high a quality as NBA play.
So what do you say? In a few weeks I will be writing another column giving my opinions and answer this eternal question as to which is better to watch, College Basketball or NBA Basketball?
Last year we heard ever week that the Detroit Lions might be the worst team ever to play n the NFL. Right behind them came the St Louis Rams. Now, the Lions have gotten off the “schnied” and won a game and the hapless Rams are mired in futility.
Where do the Rams fit in? Let’s look at some other dismal teams that have graced the NFL columns as having been really a bad team.
1. The 1976 Tampa Bay Bucs in their first season was able to march to a 0-14 record. They averaged fewer than 9 points per game and were shutout five times. Steve Spurrier, their QB, threw only seven touchdowns all year and his longest completion was for 38 yards. Now that is an inadequate offense. On defense they were beaten by an average of 20 points per game.
2. The 1990 Pats went 1-15 and scored a touchdown or less in 5 games. The only win was by to points. They did get 24 points in an opening day loss.
3. The 1973 Oilers completed a record of 1-13. Some say the 1972 team was equally bad. They gave up 447 points and scored 199. That, my friends, is some lopsided scoring. They were shutout 14 times but the defense muscled up one game and held the Vikings to 19 points.
4. The 1934 Cincinnati Reds (that is correct) ended with a record of 0-8. The futility o the offensive side was so bad they scored one touchdown and one PAT all season. The defense gave up over 240 points in the eight game season.
5. The 1980 Saints under the quarterbacking of papa Manning (Archie) ended with a 1-15 record. Manning threw a whopping 509 passes but the running game was nonexistent (actually just anemic) with the leading rusher totaling 366 yards.
Now let’s revisit the Rams numbers. Two quarterbacks have thrown 3 TD’s and 2 INTS in 4 games. The two main running backs have ZERO touchdowns and average a bit over 5 yds per carry. The wide receivers have not fared any better. They have collectively gotten one TD and averaged close to 10 yards per reception.
What does this mean?
It means the 2009 St Louis Rams are on their way to being one of the WORST teams EVER in the National Football League. They have a shot at being the all time worst team.
An “unconfirmed” list of the 2003 Steroid Users was leaked from RotoInfo just yesterday. Here is the link from RotoInfo and here is the list below. Thoughts?
Exciting times for MLB fans. Major League Baseball will be launching the MLB Network on January 1st across cable networks. Here is a little of what you can expect.
On paper, the MLB Network looks like nirvana for hard-core fans. The net’s flagship show, “MLB Tonight,” will air every day except Sunday during the regular season from 6 p.m. Eastern time until a half hour after the evening’s final game has concluded. It will broadcast a game every Thursday night and cover any number of events in and around the game. Additionally, the network will tap the league’s trove of historical footage for documentaries and series such as “Prime 9,” a countdown show devoted to the game’s best moments and performers (center fielders, dramatic home runs, etc.).
Sounds great. Looking forward to MLB 24-7 365 days a year.
Some big changes this week as the Colts drop down a tier and the Pats continue to free fall.
TIER A
Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos
Philadelphia Eagles
New York Giants
Pittsburgh Steelers
TIER B
Green Bay Packers
Indianapolis Colts
New England Patriots
San Diego Chargers
TIER C
New Orleans Saints
Tennessee Titans
Minnesota Vikings
Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers
Baltimore Ravens
New York Jets
Arizona Cardinals
Jacksonville Jaguars
Chicago Bears
TIER D
Cleveland Browns
Seattle Seahawks
Washington Redskins
Atlanta Falcons
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
San Francisco 49ers
Cincinnati Bengals
Houston Texans
TIER E
Miami Dolphins
Oakland Raiders
Detroit Lions
Kansas City Chiefs
St. Louis Rams
It hadn’t happened since Milt Pappas was around in 1972. Carlos Zambrano did the unthinkable Sunday night by throwing a no hitter against the Houston Astros, in Milwaukee, beating them 5-0. This was Zambrano’s first outing since September 2nd. He stated,
“I guess I’m back!”
The game was being played in Milwaukee due to hurricane like conditions in Houston. Another first, it was the first neutral site no-hitter ever in baseball. Just over 23,000 were in attendance for the no-no but literally 22,999 were Cubs fans. This was just the 2nd no hitter of the year and first for the Cubbies in over 30 years. Congrats to Zambrano and the Cubs.
P.S. – Tedd Lilly pitched 7.2 innings of no-hit ball the next night. Talk about dominating starting pitching!
Not a lot of change in spots here but a few. Denver is creeping up to a Teir A team while the Eagles and Colts are barely holding on there.
TIER A
Dallas Cowboys
Pittsburgh Steelers
Indianapolis Colts
Philadelphia Eagles
TIER B
Denver Broncos
New England Patriots
New York Giants
Green Bay Packers
San Diego Chargers
TIER C
New Orleans Saints
Carolina Panthers
Buffalo Bills
New York Jets
Arizona Cardinals
Jacksonville Jaguars
Chicago Bears
Minnesota Vikings
Tennessee Titans
Cleveland Browns
TIER D
Baltimore Ravens
Seattle Seahawks
Atlanta Falcons
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
San Francisco 49ers
Houston Texans
Washington Redskins
Cincinnati Bengals
TIER E
Detroit Lions
Kansas City Chiefs
Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins
St. Louis Rams
Not only did Notre Dame put a beating on the Wolverines this past Saturday, but their coach Charlie Weis got a beating put on him! In the 2nd quarter of the game an Irish player was knocked into Weis tearing ligaments in his left knee. Yikes! Ouch! That’s a big guy to take a fall like that. Weis is expected to have surgery here very soon. When asked about it, Weis commented.
“Tommy Brady’s got nothing on me.”
The Fighting Irish didn’t lose a step after their coach went down.and went on to pound Michigan 35-17. Weis went on to say.
“I feel like an athlete. First time in my life. I never saw it coming. I just knew as soon as I was hit.”
The final verdict on Weis was a torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligament. Weis will be ready for gameday this coming Saturday!
An “unconfirmed” list of the 2003 Steroid Users was leaked from RotoInfo just yesterday. Here is the 