5/19/09

Blog... what blog?

And the Number 1 overall pick goes to…
…The LA Clippers, in fact. The lottery process was pretty disappointing this year with the first eight picks come up as all chalk. The Kings (best odds at winning the Blake Griffin lottery) fell three spots down to #4 overall, and the only interesting moment was when they revealed the last three teams were the Clippers, Memphis, and Oklahoma City.
            Seeing OKC get the first pick would’ve been like a perfect storm of things for (no pun intended) the Thunder. Their next year’s starting line up would have had a combination of Russell Westbrook (one of the brightest rookie point guards in the league), Kevin Durant (perhaps the best pure-scorer in the league), Jeff Green (a high-potential forward entering his second year), and Blake Griffin (the #1 overall pick who just won nearly every collegiate award possible last year).
            Instead, the pick goes to LA’s second team. The Clips had the #1 overall pick ten years ago in 1998, and used it (unfortunately) on Michael Olowokandi. The situation really sucks for Blake Griffin. Instead of going to a team that had a very real chance of a run at the title in 2 or 3 years, he goes to a Clippers team that has some of the worst management in all of sports.
What’s worse is that the Clippers really have that “losing atmosphere” that can destroy even the most talented players. Elton Brand knew it and he left town as soon as he could. Baron Davis signed with LAC this year and immediately realized he was in for the worst year of his life. There is so much pressure on Griffin’s shoulders to turn this team around quickly, or else he’ll be enveloped in the cloud of negative attitude the same way Mr. Eko was enveloped by the Black Smoke Monster.
Brett Favre?
            To no one’s surprise, Brett Favre wants back into the league. To my surprise at least, some team actually wants him. Teams need to realize that Favre is past his time and is really nota very good quarterback anymore.
Many people are quick to point out his imploding over the last few weeks, but many people don’t realize his how bad his performance in the first few weeks really was. Favre was throwing up the same lame ducks he was in week one as he was in week 17 – the only difference is that Favre got lucky a few times in the early part of the season and he didn’t get lucky towards the end. It’s not the kind of thing that would ever show up in the box score, but when you realize that Favre is about to turn 40, has a partially torn bicep and contemplating having surgery unfamiliar to him, and working with a new system, it all points to the same message: Avoid Brett Favre.
But we know the Vikings are desperate for a quarterback to help Adrian Peterson develop. And we know Brett Favre would love nothing more than to stick it to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers for their disrespectful behavior  (according to Favre) this past summer. I’m willing to bet that if the Vikings can beat the Packers next year, the reason won’t be Favre. ADP is a stud and the Packers defense is pretty poor. Favre doesn’t change that, no matter how many records he holds or games he has won in the past.
So about this Twitter business….
            Twitter has fulfilled its apparent destiny and really taken off in the last few months. But who is Twitter, a new, internet/mobile-based social networking site most popular with? It’s actually most popular among middle-aged/older people and celebrities, while it lacks support from the high school/college crowd that is so obsessed with Facebook and MySpace.
            The reason why? Twitter is just a dumbed-down version of Facebook: it allows you to update people on your status (a la Facebook status) without the creep/stalk potential that the real Facebook gives you. It allows older people, who may not be as computer-savvy as the younger generation, to stay connected without getting to complex or sharing too much information.
            Twitter’s also great because it lets you keep up with celebrities. There used to be a time when the only time you’d hear a celebrity or athlete speak is when they gave an interview, and even then you knew the answers were so scripted that you never get a feel for the athlete’s real personality.
Twitter changes all that. There is no middleman now between celebrities and fans. Celebs have full discretion over what they say and how they say it. There’s no fear of quotes being taken out of context or having to answer questions that they don’t want to.
My question is why companies feel they can somehow convert Twitter’s popularity into something positive for the company.  Every company seems to have a Twitter now, whether it’s appropriate for them to have one or not. Recently I interviewed for a travel agency to work in the Marketing department, and they told me one of my responsiblities would be maintaining the company’s Twitter account. Why would anyone need to know what this company was doing on an up-to-the-minute basis? That’s not it though. Hulu has a Twitter, Amazon.com has a Twitter. Monster.com has a Twitter. Does anyone know why? I sure don’t. Let’s leave the tweets to the celebs and athletes (aka people we care about).

MORE TO COME!!!

Posted in , , , , , , , , , , , , by Curbside Critic

1 Have an opinion? - Click Here to Comment!
1/18/09

If Joe Buck Can Do it...

My favorite day of the week is finally here! Unfortunately in a
few weeks, this day turns into my least favorite day of the week.
Why? Well, I love Sundays where football is being played for obvious
reasons but I can't stand all other Sundays. Why? Well for one, it
means the work week is only a day away, and for another, I'm
convinced that it rains more often on Sundays. I haven't been able to
prove it yet, but it has something to do with driving patterns,
prevailing winds, and acid rain. But we're here to talk about
football.

It's championship week, which some football purists prefer more
than Super Bowl because they say all the media glitz and glamour take
away from the game itself. So for those purists (and my own personal
interest) SS will do our own play-by-play of today's action, but only
the early game because we don't yet have a contract to cover CBS
games (and it'd be too much writing). But before we get to the
action, let's give you our prediction for today and a quick side
note.
The Arizona Cardinals come in as the four-seed that everyone wrote
off because of their poor late-season performances. Arizona got
outscored 116-42 over the last three weeks of the regular season, and
Kurt Warner looked every bit like the 37-year old he was, and not the
MVP candidate that he was earlier in the season. Then they beat
Atlanta, and soundly trumped Carolina, and still are getting no
respect. In fact, right after the NFC Championship matchup was
decided, one of ESPN.com's heavyweight writers wrote that the Eagles
were a lock for the Super Bowl. But the Cardinals deserve our
respect. Any team that can beat Carolina the way the Cardinals did
last week has a chance each week, and certainly shouldn't be written
off. Prediction: Cardinals by 3. It should be close, but Fitzgerald
will be too much for the Eagles to handle.

*Side Note: A sad and unfortunate side
effect of the playoffs happens when there are only a few teams still
playing games, like there is right now. Because there are so few
teams left, the majority of NFL fans are left unable to root for
their team, and what you end up with is every ho-hum fan pretending
like they care about one of the superstars left in the playoffs. I
can't tell you how many times I've heard some douche-bag say, “Kurt
Warner is my man!” or “Yeah Ed Reed! You're my boy!”. They say
this, when in fact all they know about this player is whatever piece
they did on him on Sportscenter, or the one likable off-field fact
that they said about him during last week's broadcast. Douche-bags.
Now to the game:
3:10 - Unfortunately I missed out on the pre-game hoopla
and the first few plays by Arizona. Roommates can be such a bother
sometimes. But with that aside, the Cardinals and Eagles are already
in progress. Edgerrin James just ripped off a nice 16-yard run. I
wouldn't be surprised if later we find out the whole playing time
fiasco that James was upset about was in fact a ploy put on by Ken
Whisenhunt to keep James fresh for the playoffs. Considering how
unexpected and surprising the Cardinals current run is, this doesn't
seem so farfetched.

3:14 – Warner to Fitzgerald over the middle for a
Cardinal touchdown. Quick starts usually don't mean much, but the
Cardinals just made moving the ball look very easy
against the Eagles.
3:26 – David Akers knocks down
a pretty routine field goal. Then during the break we see the
long-anticipated Manning-Williams brother-sister Oreo race. I bet the
Manning brothers are glad that they're both out of the playoffs. It
looks like they were able to take that time off and devote it to
practicing for the big matchup against the Williams sisters in the
Oreo Double Stuf Racing League. Would they even be able to compete
against the Serena and Venus if they both still had football games to
prepare for? What about if only one of them was still in the
playoffs? Would there strife in the Manning household because one of
the brothers wasn't taking the DSRL seriously enough? These are the
things I think about during football games.
3:33 – LeBron James just
signed with the Cleveland Browns! (Yeah, it sounds just as stupid in
writing as it does when he said it on television. That's what I
thought.)
3:36 – McNabb had a ball over
the middle tipped sky-high, the Cardinals picked it off, then had the
ball stripped from behind by DeSean Jackson.
3:38 – The last 4 passes from
McNabb have gone like this: behind DeSean Jackson over the middle and
incomplete, interception, incomplete on a throw that went over the
wrong shoulder to Greg Lewis, and a completion on a ball that was low
and behind Hank Baskett. For all the talk of the resurgent Eagles and
McNabb proving himself after he was benched, I'm still not convinced.
The Eagles defense deserves a lot of credit (giving up no more than
14 points in the last 6 games) and Westbrook has come back healthy
and remains one of the best playmakers in football. It should be an
interesting off-season for McNabb if the Eagles lose today.
3:46 – Akers hooks a 47-yard
field goal wide right. (No good! Wide right!). The telecast then
shows Matt Leinart celebrating jumping up and down like Automatica
Gramatica. Good work, Matt.
3:48 – A sweep flea-flicker
results in another touchdown for Fitzgerald. Defenses are still
allowing Fitz to run free with single coverage. Even with the
play-fake, you have to commit more than one (stumbling) body to
Fitzgerald. But until they do, I'd love to see Warner throwing up
more jump balls and Fitzgerald doing his best Dwight Howard
imitation.
3:54 – McNabb gets sacked
after standing in the pocket and holding onto the ball for a just
under than 14 second. Luckily he gets bailed out by a holding call
away from the play. Still wondering why the second-coming of McNabb
doesn't use his legs more.
3:56 – I like the dual
running-back set that the Eagles are using. We know they don't have a
real bruising running back, but with the dual-backs (Buckhalter with
Westbrook), some of the pressure is taken off of Westbrook because
Buckhalter is very capable of carrying the ball up the middle.
4:05 – For the amount of flack I gave Axe for marketing a product that's supposed to make you smell
like chocolate, I feel like I have to come clean here. I got a can of
this stuff as a Christmas present, and it is easily one of the best
smelling body sprays. And I say this, knowing full well that I smell
like the inside of the bag of Lindt truffles when I wear it.
4:07 – Great screen by the
Cardinals where they faked the wheel-route to the running back on one
side then tossed it to the Leonard Pope on the other side. The
result? Pope had four lineman blocking in front of him and a 12-yard
gain. There is definitely more than meets the eye when it comes to
this Arizona coaching staff. Hm...
4:12 – Fitz
is single covered. Fade route. Touchdown. Seriously, what is going on
in the minds of Andy Reid and Jim Johnson? After Fitzgerald caught
two touchdown passes, and after the Cardinals threw to Fitz in single
coverage, and after they got a pass interference call on that last
play, the Eagles still give
Fitzgerald single coverage, this time with Sheldon Brown on coverage.
I guess the Eagles are thinking Fitzgerald is so completely locked in
that it doesn't matter how many they have covering him. He's like
Jordan in the Finals, Tiger on Sunday, or Scott Boras when he's
mugging an old woman for the change in her purse. You can do whatever
you like, but there's no stopping these guys.
4:20 – McNabb 2.0 sees the
blitz coming and decides to throw the ball as far away from any
receiver as possible, yet still in the field of play. Just because
the other team has a quarterback whose age, by comparison, makes you
look like a rookie, doesn't mean you should being playing like a
rookie.
4:27 – Eagles
safety Quintin Demps cheap shots Kurt Warner as he's walking down the
field following a play. That play reminded me of that scene in The
Replacements when the
replacement players decide to set the tone by going all Chuck Norris
on the pro players. It must be tough for the Eagles to play this game
knowing there's such a big disparity in talent. Also, the violence
between the two scenes was sort of similar.

4:37 – Just before the half,
Anquan Boldin did something very smart. With time winding down and
the Cardinals approaching field goal distance, Boldin caught a screen
pass near the right-hash and had two blocks in front of him. From
here, Boldin had three choices; he could either try to gain yards,
run out of bounds, or both. The first instinct here is to run out of
bounds, and try to save the clock. But with just 4 seconds on the
clock, you can't be sure that he'd make it out of bounds and have the
refs stop the clock before time ran out. Instead, Boldin, realizing
his team still had one timeout, ran straight ahead into a defender
and got tackled, and stopped the clock. Because of Boldin, the
Cardinals were able to send Neil Rackers in to extend the lead to
24-6. A smart play would have been to try and run out of bounds. The
smarter play is what Boldin did right there.
4:59 – To add onto McNabb's
very sub-par performance, Donovan gets blitzed from his blindside by
Adrian Wilson and fumbles, turning the ball over. Ball protection is
something you should be stressing to a college or rookie QB, not a
10-year veteran.
5:03 – Arizona is forced to
punt and can't take advantage of the turnover. But here's a question:
Where is Brian Dawkins? We know he's not covering Larry Fitzgerald
(because no one is), so what has he been doing all game? For someone
who was recently compared to Wolverine on NFL Live, Dawkins has been
very quiet in the first half. Big players are supposed to show up in
big games, not shy away from the limelight. This is especially
surprising considering Dawkins is the heart and soul of one of the
best defensive units in the league.
5:10 – Good
throw by McNabb to Kevin Curtis through double coverage. I wouldn't
be surprised if there was a Hollywood-caliber speech in the Eagles
locker room at halftime. But I bet it wasn't by McNabb or Dawkins. I
think it was Brian Westbrook. He may be all quiet to the media, but
when he's in that locker room, with the season on the line, he would
have that internal fire to deliver a real good pump-up speech. And
who on that team wouldn't listen to him? He's arguably their best
player with an unquestionable work ethic and commitment. He'd be like
Ivory Christian in Friday Night Lights,
a guy who was real quiet all year until he saw his last chance at a
championship slip away, and said to himself, “Not without a fight”,
and finally fires up his whole team. The Eagles ended up scoring on
this drive, then pushing the next Arizona drive back five yards, so
it seems his alleged speech work.

*Side Note – There is no limit
to the amount of money I would pay to have access to all the locker
room speeches ever made. I wouldn't watch them when I was about to
play sports or go to the gym. I'd just watch them before I run my
daily errands. To have that kind of motivation at my fingertips, I'd
never be late for a meeting or flake on a commitment ever again. It
gives me chills just thinking about it.
5:29 – McNabb just threw
another touchdown pass to his tight end Brent Celek, making the score
19-24 in favor of Arizona. A few notable things from that play:



  1. On the scoring play, with Celek
    well on his way into the endzone, Hank Baskett curled back and
    literally blew up both Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a Cardinal
    linebacker on a strong (but clean) block. I like the physical
    attitude that the Eagles are playing with, and right now it seems
    like the Cardinals are knocked on their ass by it, both physically
    and mentally.



  2. As the Eagles celebrated around
    Brent Celek, Celek and another Eagles player literally “Eiffel Tower-ed” a referee, as the two high-fived with a referee helpless
    trapped between them. It probably deserved a flag for excessive
    celebration, but I bet the referee didn't want to draw any more
    attention to what just happened to him.



  3. David Akers missed the extra
    point! Never mind that the Eagles probably should have gone for two
    instead of one, Akers' kicking game is absolutely miserable right
    now. Can the Eagles bench him, in an attempt to fire him up? Maybe
    then he'll come back and make bad throws to receivers but take
    credit for stellar performances by his team's defense. That's the
    Eagles formula for winning isn't it?
5:38 – Brian Dawkins! Finally he makes a play, this time on rookie phenom (read: overrated) Tim Hightower. On the very next play, Warner throws incomplete and the Cardinals have to punt. The Cardinals look very rattled right now. It's looking like this game will come down to who can overcome their own mistakes. Can Arizona hang onto a game which should have been well in hand by halftime, or will Philly overcome McNabb's shaky first half and shoddy secondary play? We'll find out soon!
5:44 – Touchdown Iggles! DeSean Jackson makes a catch a-la Torry Holt for the score. After they go for two and miss, the Eagles are up by one. If Cardinals lose this game, where does this game fall in terms of greatest NFL playoff chokes? The Cardinals should have been able to punch their ticket to Miami, but instead let the Eagles back into the game. History will be nice to the Cards and let them forget this game, because they were such big underdogs going into the game, but really this would be a pretty historic loss for Arizona if it ends up that way.
5:56 – The replay of the last play shows a nice shot of Asante Samuel's butt crack. Wonderful.
5:59 – In the commercial for Guitar Hero with Heidi Klum, she makes absolutely no effort to pretend like she's playing the guitar-controller. Whoever the director of this commercial was, I'm sure he was too distracted by her body to care what she did with the guitar. I'm not calling out the director, because I would be distracted, too. It's just another example of why gender inequality may actually be working in favor of women.
6:01 – I was about to complain about how the Cardinals have abandoned throwing to Larry Fitz, despite receiving single coverage, but they proved me wrong (again) by scoring a TD plus the two-pointer. Touche Cardinals. Cardinals are now up by seven. These are going to be an exciting final three minutes.
6:05 – Again McNabb, with all his receivers covered, hangs onto the ball instead of taking off with it. He knows he can make plays with his feet, and yet chooses not to. If he's saving his body for later in the season, shouldn't now be that “later in the season”, with two-plus minutes left, down by seven points in the NFC championship game?
6:09 – McNabb!!! Two more passes, two more bad balls. One was high over the middle (a ball which can get your receiver killed) on second down, and the other was a ball behind his receiver on third down (which can get your playoff hopes killed). I really wasn't expecting to harp on #5 all afternoon, but really, he is playing awful ball right now.
6:11 – The Miller Lite commercial that says “How can you watch nine hours of football this weekend? Easy! Skip the Sunday afternoon game!” just went from mildly clever to wildly inappropriate. It was kind of clever last week when there were four games on, because you'd watch nine hours by watching three games and skipping one (simple math) but now, with only two games on this weekend, the question they pose is actually a very difficult one to answer. If I wanted to watch nine hours of football this weekend, how could I? Certainly skipping one of the two games would hurt my chances of meeting my hourly football quota, not help it. Shame on Miller Lite, for making me think they knew of a way to provide us with an additional three hours of football coverage this weekend.
6:13 - 4th down... McNabb throws... incomplete! The replay shows that (in my opinion) the Cardinals got away with pass interference, but Kevin Curtis still had a very good shot at catching that ball. Congratulations are in order for the Cardinals.
6:15 – Even though the game is over, I feel like this needs to be pointed out. No one has a worse perception of what constitutes a first down than Cardinals TE Leonard Pope. On at least three separate occasions during this game, you can see Pope signaling first down on plays where he was near the first down, but clearly two feet short. I get that he's trying to sell the call, but he really looks like an idiot when everyone around him, including his teammates, is setting up for third down and he's still trying to get the first.
Cardinals 32 – Eagles 25: NFC Post-game Thoughts
McNabb really killed the Eagles today. The Eagles management needs to take a good hard look at McNabb and consider his status for the future. I'd looking to the draft to replace McNabb, because Kolb is not the answer. The Eagles have a lot of the pieces in place (strong defense, dynamic running back, capable receivers), and maybe all they need is a change at the helm.
Whoever wins the Steelers/Ravens game, the line for the Super Bowl should be either even or in-favor of the Cardinals. The Cardinals were four-point dogs to the Eagles in this game, after being 10-point unders against the Panthers. They trounced the Panthers, and beat the Eagles in a game that never should have been that close. The only way I give points to the AFC is if the Steelers win, and even then maybe only two or three. The Cardinals look that good right now.
Looking back on the Eagles/Cardinals game, everyone thought this game was over by halftime, and I think this got inside the heads of the Cardinal's players. They came out very very flat in the second half and let the Eagles back into the game. Teams like playing the underdog card, which the Cardinals deserve to play, but I think after handling the Eagles for two quarters, the Cardinals let themselves relax. If they get the lead in the Super Bowl, don't expect that to happen again.
They need to stop doing post-game interviews with the most emotional guys on the field. After the Cardinals big win, the on-field reporter tried to get an interview out of Adrian Wilson, the longest-tenured Cardinal. Wilson was so emotional that he couldn't really muster up too many words, which made for some very awkward on-air silence. I doubt that they'll ever stop doing these interview, but anything is possiblllllllleeee!
Congratulations to the Arizona Cardinals! If you win one more game, you can have your own personalized Sports Illustrated commercial. Now I get to watch my boy Ed Reed show the Steelers what's what. Or maybe man Hines Ward will show him how it's done! (Ah, I hate myself already!) Next week, why I hate Rick Reilly.
*Editor's Note – I wrote this article while watching Sunday's Eagles-Cardinals game, and edited it aesthetically afterwards. All comments were made at the time of, but most were edited later so that you wouldn't be reading chicken scratch. Thanks for reading!

Posted in , , , , , , , , , , by Curbside Critic

0 Have an opinion? - Click Here to Comment!
12/3/08

Dollars and Sense

Home-Field Advantage?
During Week 13 in the NFL, 15 games were played. Of these 15, 10 were one by the road team, only 5 were won by the home team. If that number doesn't mean much to you, imagine that out of every 3 random football fans who went to see their team play this past Thursday/Sunday/Monday, 2 went home pissed.

Considering the amount of money people pay to go to football games, not to mention the amount of time and effort it takes to get to the game, sit in the weather, and find ways around the 2 beer per person limit, the average NFL isn't getting very much bang for their buck.

Detroit Fans: We're #2!
According to some sources, on the list of most dangerous cities in America, Detroit is #2, behind only Camden, NJ. Can anyone blame the citizens of Detroit for resorting to criminal activities? In the past calendar year, the Tigers acquired the likes of Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis only to finish dead last in the division, the Pistons get beat by the eventual champion Boston Celtics in 6 games and in the next season see Chauncey Billups shipped off to Denver and the end of their archetypal “team” mold, and the Lions are well on their way to 0-16. The lone bright spot in Hockey Town is a bright one, with the Red Wings bringing home the Stanley Cup.
Detroit isn't just the #2 most dangerous city though. It also deserves the #2 ranking as “Most Pitiful Sports City in America”. Coming in narrowly at #1 has to be Seattle. It's karma for Seattle though, after Mariner Moose single-handedly tried to end Coco Crisp's career last year.

Native-American turned Investment Broker
If you haven't visited your nearest casino in the last few years, it may be about time you did. Also, if you have your money tied up in traditional investment products (stocks, bonds, CD's, etc), it may be about time you took them out. Don't believe me? Consider the following:
The interest rate received on bonds, CD's, and savings accounts are all based of the rate the Fed sets. Lower rates set by the Fed means you get a lower interest rate on your savings, vice versa. With the economy as bad as it is, the Fed sets the interest rate very very low in an effort to discourage consumers from putting their money away in savings accounts and to encourage spending. The low amounts of accrued interest discourages saving, and if you factor in current inflation rates (estimated by economists at 5%), even funds in a high-yield savings account at 3.00% APY are losing about 2% of its purchasing power a year. By setting the interest rate low, the Fed is hoping people will find better use for their money investing it in other things, such as tangible goods, services or stocks. But with the way the Wall Street is right now and President-elect Barack Obama still to take office, it's too unstable for people to confidently say that the market has hit bottom and that it is time to invest.
So what's a person to do with all the money that they would have normally saved or invested in the market? Well, you could pay off your credit card debt (which I highly recommend). But if you're in the business of making more money of your money, I suggest going to Vegas and making a killing there. The reason is the effects of inflation and the rate the Fed sets are largely ignored by casino. When you bet on any game, you're playing against the casino and the odds, and if you can beat them, you are rewarded as such. In blackjack, if you beat the dealer you pay out 1:1 against your bet. Casino's don't adjust their odds based on how the current economy is, whether the economy is in a recession or boom. The risk is always going to be there, but the risk and return are both always going to be consistent. The main reason traditional savings opportunities are beneficial is that they have low risk with middle-of-the-road returns. But when the returns shrink and the risk is elevated on these traditional investments, by comparison the risk you take while gambling is reduced. Everything is relative, so although you may think that gambling is too risky, when the economy is about to bottom-out as it is right now, there is never going to be a more opportune time to try your luck.

NYPD Blues?
So the G-Men of New York have found themselves in quite a bit of trouble this past weekend. Plaxico Burress was at night club, allegedly with other Giants teammates, and discharged a firearm into his own leg. The story from there is hazy, but apparently he was picked up by teammate Antonio Pierce, taken to a hospital where he received treatment from a doctor while using a false name.
Already we're seeing the fallout of these events. Mayor Bloomberg has already demanded that Burress be prosecuted to the “fullest extent of the law”. Plax has also been suspended by the team for at 4 games, and there could still be an additional suspensions handed out under the NFL's personal conduct policy. Antonio Pierce is being investigated, and his SUV was impounded today for police to search. The doctor who treated Burress has already been suspended by the hospital. Meanwhile, the Giants have continued their domination of the league and improved their record to 11-1. Dominik Hixon and Amani Toomer are making Giants fans forget all about their malcontent wide-receiver.
Last week, I said that Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb should consider themselves on the hot seat, a statement which I think still holds true for the former (Reid) but retract for the latter. This week, I say Plaxico Burress doesn't wear a Giants jersey after this season. Yes, I realize they tied him up to a big contract this year, but the NFL operates in a way that teams can balk on a player's contract if the player balks on the law (read: Michael Vick). Given the way the Giants have played with him, and the way they dealt with a certain problematic tight end, I say Tom Coughlin finds a way to find Plax a new home.

It's Christmas Time Again, Charlie (Weis)
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick announced that Charlie Weis would stay at ND another year, after finishing 6-6 this year and just 7 games over .500 in his 4 years as head coach. In related news, Matt Millen was seen giving Mr. Swarbrick advice on how to run a program into the ground.

Big Paycheck for the Little Guy
Dustin Pedroia got an extension for the Red Sox worth upwards of $40 million over six years. Pedroia is coming off an MVP season in just his second season in the league. Many fans remember Pedroia as a go-getter his rookie year as well, but few fans remember what it was like to be DP at the beginning of his rookie year. At the end of his first full month as a starter in April of '07, Pedroia was batting just .182 and fans were calling for his head. The Sox had a capable player sitting on the bench in Alex Cora, and Boston fans are notorious for calling out a player when he's down. Francona stuck with the 5' 9” rookie, who then went on to hit .415 in May, and never below .299 in any of the following months. Needless to say, Francona made the right call.

Funny or Mean?
As a nod to tradition, Pete Carroll has decided that his USC Trojans would wear their red home jerseys this weekend when they got into the Coliseum and play UCLA. The tradition dates back to when USC and UCLA shared the stadium, and both teams would wear the home jerseys. Pac-10 rules state that if USC wears their home jerseys, they will be penalized 2 timeouts, one for either half.
UCLA coach Rick Neuheisal has already said that he digs the idea, and that if USC were penalized he would call timeouts at the start of each half to even things out. Some people have questioned whether or not Neuheisal would actually do this come gametime, but take it one step further. What if, to really stick to USC, who could win this game quite easily, UCLA wore their away jerseys? UCLA fans should consider it a slap in the face by USC if the Trojans wore their home jerseys on Saturday. I get it that USC used to play their home games their, but it's not their house anymore. And what better way to get back at someone, than to slap them right back in the face?


Something to look forward to next week:
Top 10 list of players who wish they were somewhere else right now.

Posted in , , , , , , , , , by Curbside Critic

0 Have an opinion? - Click Here to Comment!
11/15/08

NEXT

ESPN the Magazine puts out a special issue each year, titled NEXT, about the next up-and-coming stars in sports. Previous NEXT athletes have included LeBron James (2003), Adrian Peterson (2004), Reggie Bush (2006), and Dwight Howard (2007). To say the least, if you're featured in this issue, the future looks bright for you.

But honestly, I've heard enough about these athletes. Every year there will be another pitcher, quarterback, point guard etc to laud over because those sports always get the most coverage. It's not covering something (or someone) new or exciting if the it's the same thing year after year, but with just a different name.

Here's the real NEXT that ESPN should cover: Which sport will be the next to join (or even replace) one of the current big 3 sports. Football, baseball, and basketball (in that order) have the largest fan bases in America, and every sports-jock radio show or sports section you pick up will cover these sports more than anything else.

But how long can it last? The average America, your Joe-Sportscenter, can't really be satisfied with just 3 sports to obsess over, can he? 3 sports can't successfully canvas the 4 seasons, could they?

We might be able to live with 3 sports, but for argument's sake, let's say they couldn't. Which other sport could successfully join the ranks of our nations elite pastimes? Which new sport could compete with the Super Bowl, March Madness, the BCS-debacle, and the Little League World Series for our nations undivided attention? After extensive research, we can boil down the suitors to 3, each with their own advantages and drawbacks.

The Longshot: Nascar

Auto racing has always been a part of this country's rich, illustrious history. Today, we have both Nascar and Indy racing, with Nascar getting considerable more attention with the advent of the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. There's a good amount of name recognition right now in Nascar, including a nice mix of veterans and rookies. Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logono, to name a few. This sport could really take off if they somehow managed to get Danica Patrick over from the IRL. Rumors have been fluttering around that, but so far they've just been rumors.

Why it won't work: The Point System
Nascar just doesn't fit into our sports system. For starters, the point system is wayyy to complicated. No one knows what it means, and no one can really figure it out. Anytime you see Nascar standings, you see the leader, everyone else, and how many points behind they all are. Does anyone even know how many points are a lot or a little? If someone told you that Jimmie Johnson held a 141-point lead over Carl Edwards with 1 race left, would you know that meant JJ is a better lock to win than Bernard Pollard for "Season Killer of the Year" award? Doubt it.

How they can fix it: KISS [Keep It Simple, Stupid]
According to Nascar 101 on Nascar's official website, "a race winner can earn a maximum of 195 points" per race. There are points awarded for leading laps, leading the most laps, and overall finish. This is never going to work. A fringe fan of Nascar is never going to take a peek at the standings and think, "Oh my gosh, JJ only needs to lead 14 laps and finish in 32nd to beat out a first place finish by Carl Edwards and win the Sprint Cup by 13 points." If people can't even figure out what 12 items means in a grocery store, they sure as hell can't get this straight. Ditch the algorithim that is your point system, and then we'll talk Nascar.

The Darkhorse: Hockey

I'll admit that of the 3 sports I'm going to talk about here, hockey is my personal favorite. I love the free-flowing style of play, the tough-as-nails players that play it, and that Crosby kid is something else. But for whatever reason, hockey has fallen off the map in recent years. Sure, the strike probably sent a lot of it's niche fans packing, but it's always been just that: a niche sport. Hockey reminds me of a girl who you used to be in a relationship with, but now you see her for booty calls only. When you see her it's late at night, you're probably drunk, and you can't think of anything better to do. Yup, that pretty much sums up the relatinoship most sportsfans have with hockey.

Why it won't work: Canada
I'm pretty sure the real reason why no one cares about hockey and hasn't yet broken from niche sport status is because our little brother Canada is so good at it. Everyone knows that Canada's best could beat America's finest any day, any time. And no one ever likes getting beat up by their younger siblings. Another, more valid reason, why hockey gets no love is the timing of its season. Hockey opens its season around Week 8 in the NFL, which is about the same time the NBA is tipping off. This means that by the time the NHL season really gets underway, the NFL regular season is ending and the playoffs starting, and college football is getting ready to crown a champion. Not to mention the entire NBA season runs side-by-side with the NHL. The timing just means that someone is going to get ignored, and unfortunately its the NHL.

How they can fix it: More gimmicks
The NHL spent the longest time appealing to it's private fan base. And then they lost them. Every single one of them. Bickering over dollars and cents. Which is probably the last thing that their true fans would ever worry about if they were making the same kind of money league was pulling down. Well since you've lost them for good, don't even try to get them back. Start appealing to the younger generation, the ones who love flashy uni's, student-priced tickets, and towel cannons shooting cheap cotton 20 rows into the upper deck. Keep dolling out the swag, and you'll find more seats getting filled each day. Who knows, maybe they'll even start caring about sport, like your old fans did.

The Favorite: Lacrosse
That's right. Lacrosse. The sport that has a swelling, young fan base coming out of the Northeast is getting ready to spread across the country. With the exception of the incident with the Duke team a few years back, lacrosse has done nothing but build momentum to take off. Among high schools and colleges, lacrosse is quickly becoming the most popular sport, behind only football in terms of enrollment numbers.

Why it will work: The youth movement
Everything new in this country picked up steam because the youth was behind it (Barack Obama anyone?) Lacrosse has slowly been building steam with the youth because it's easily one of the best casual sports, the same way 1-1 basketball or pickup football is. Hockey's too tough, because half the year it's too warm to play and you have to buy extra equipment for street hockey. And Nascar, obviously you can't bomb around your neighborhood at 200 mph. With lacrosse, it's just a stick and a ball and a wall, or a friend if you have one. What could be simpler?

The Bottom Line: If a sport is easy to play. People will play it. If people will play it, people will want to be good at it. And from this, sprouts competition, teams, rivalries, and everything else we love about sports. Lacrosse has it. And that's why it's NEXT.

Posted in , , , , , by Curbside Critic

1 Have an opinion? - Click Here to Comment!
11/14/08

No Reason

Like most Americans, I love sports. But they are, by no means, perfect.

You could embody all seven of the deadly sins in the sports realm. Ladies lusting over the likes of Grady Sizemore and Tom Brady; the eternal greed of Scott Boras; the sloth that is Prince Fielder; the list goes on and on.

But my biggest beef with sports is when every0ne (and I mean everyone) notices something wrong with sports, yet nothing is done to fix it. When there is something so blatantly wrong in any given sport, there is no reason why it should not be changed. This is especially true when the solutions are just as blatant. Maybe the head honchos in each sport are just stubborn. Maybe they relish in the fact that their system is imperfect. Or maybe they are just oblivious to these issues. Well, if this is the case, I will gladly take it upon myself to enlighten them. They are as follows:

1) NFL Overtime Rules

Last night, the Patriots played the Jets for first place in the AFC East. Regulation ended with Matt Cassel conducting a very Brady/Favre-esque last-second drive, culminating with a pass to Randy Moss to tie the game and send it to overtime (note: guess who Randy Moss was covered by? None other than former-Patriot Ty Law, who the Jets signed a little more than 48 hours before the game). Move to overtime. The Jets win the coin toss, drive downfield, and win the game without the Patriots ever touching the ball.

There is no reason: the NFL hasn't abandonded their OT rules and adopted the college football overtime.

How many times can you remember your team losing in OT without ever getting a chance to rebuttle? And even if your team wins like this, doesn't it feel a little cheap? Almost like you're playing a game of Monopoly and you flip over the board before everyone realizes you just landed on Boardwalk and owe someone $5000 when you only have a pewter racecar to your name?

It's not like the solution to this is real difficult to think up. College football's already done the work for you. I'm even willing to say that college football has the most exciting OT of any sport. Even better than the shootout in hockey (more on that later). Every team gets a chance at the ball, and after 2 OT's, teams have to go for 2 on conversions. Absolutely breath-taking. Everytime. I can understand if the NFL wants to alter those rules a bit, (perhaps back up the starting field position by 10-15 yards) but something must be done! Each off-season the NFL meets to discuss rule changes to make the game better. Why hasn't this been resolved yet? Here's looking at you Roger Goodell.

2) NCAA Football BCS vs. Playoffs

As if this hasn't been discussed enough. You've heard it all too many times, but I'd just like to reiterate this point one more time.

There is no reason: there isn't a playoff to determine the national champion in college football.

Here's another situation where all the league has to do is look directly below them to find a viable solution. Division 1AA (or whatever it's called now) uses a playoff system to determine the winner each year, which has been Appalachian State the last 3 years. And no one's complaining down there.

There have been arguments across the board by pro-BCS advocates. It'll make the season too long, the regular season would mean less, fans would care less week to week, there are too many endorsements for the bowl games. Whatever. If President-elect Barack Obama, says the one thing he would change in sports is BCS system, I'd listen.

A college playoff would be the most exciting thing 3 weeks in sports since March Madness. Imagine all the new rivalries that would come out of this. You can't tell me that the regular season games would be meaningless, either. Since USC lost to Oregon St. this year and tumbled down the rankings, how many of you have actually watched their games? Or realized that they're playing unbelievable defense. The current BCS ranking system has turned the regular season into a waiting game to see when a team will get upset and blow their shot at a national title. After that first loss happens, no one cares if they finish 12-1 or 6-7. It just doesn't matter. Change to a playoff, and every game will determine your seed, if you face this team or that team in the playoffs, and people will once again care.

3) NHL Point System

Personally, I would like to see the NHL become relevant again in sports pop-culture. And I think it could do it with a little time. Hockey is one of the more visually appealing games to watch and attend, given the prices of tickets across the league. But here's a tip for NHL. Ditch the one point for an OT-loss.

There is no reason: NHL teams should get a point just for losing in OT.

Since when do we reward our athletes for being second best? Never. So why in today's NHL, with the grittiest athletes of any sports, should we give them half the reward of a win, for a loss? Especially as teams get closer to the playoffs, teams can start jockeying for ties in regulation, rather than gunning for wins. The OT-point also devalues the shootout, which should be the most exciting one-on-one showdown in all of sports. The NHL needs to draw that line between winners and losers, and stop rewarding teams for being good, but not good enough.

Posted in , , , , , , , , by Curbside Critic

5 Have an opinion? - Click Here to Comment!
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)