GO FOR 2

Yahoo! Sports reported today that, because of prolonged illness, Brock Lesnar will not be able to defend his title at UFC 106 this November. His scheduled opponent, Shane Carwin, told Yahoo! that “My heart just sank, as you can imagine . . . ” when he heard that the fight would be postponed. Now, to his credit, Carwin has yet to say anything bad-mouthing Lesnar in regards to this (give him time, though), and rightfully so.

Dana White said he only knew that Lesnar had been ill and unable to train for weeks, but could not confirm that Lesnar had H1N1 flu. A lot of people are probably going to jump on Lesnar for this, but there’s no reason, fighters pull out because of injury all the time. If you don’t think being sick counts as injury (usually guys pull out because of ligament issues sustained during grappling in practice), then here are some things to consider. Conditioning is considered one of the marks of a good fighter, and missing almost a full month of training with only one month until your fight is absolutely going to kill your conditioning. Second, Lesnar – like many fighters – has to cut weight prior to weigh-ins. Cutting weight is hard on your body when you’re healthy, but it would absolutely drain a fighter who has been sick (read: dehydrated) for weeks in advance of having to cut weight. Third, whether you love or hate Lesnar, you can’t argue that this man loves to compete and to prove himself. There just isn’t an argument that he’s scared or not confident, I’m sure this bothers Lesnar twice as much as Carwin. The man has simply been ill, and wants to go out and fight when he’s at his best. Just like every other fighter out there.

Who’s Number 1 Now?

Well, 28 minutes into the Saints-Dolphins game yesterday I was mulling the idea of giving this award to the bye-week Broncos. The way I like to imagine it, Sean Payton knew I was struggling and told the Saints to quit sandbagging it and go for the win. New Orleans incredible come-from-behind victory keeps them in the top spot this week, and in many ways its the most impressive victory I’ve watched them post yet.

The Saints have won games with ridiculous offense (Week 2 at Philadelphia: 421 yards of offense and 48 points), they’ve won with suffocating defense (Week 4 hosting the NY Jets: forced 4 turnovers and scored 14 defensive points), but this is the first time we’ve seen the play from behind (they never trailer entering week 7), and its the first time we’ve Saints put everything together in order to secure a come from behind win – on the road no less. The way in which every single piece of this team plays his part really showed in the second half. Tough, between-the-tackles running by Bell and Thomas, Darren Sharper logging his 3rd pick six on the season, Reggie Bush scoring with a SIX YARD DIVE on that reverse….this team is simply going to be hard to stop because there isn’t one area an opponent can focus on shutting down.

Back to the Bottom

Well, the Titans weren’t playing this week, so I won’t put them here (hey, its the first week they haven’t recorder a loss!). Instead, I’m sending the Raiders to the bottom of league after the 38-0 clubbing that the struggling Jets laid on on Oakland in the bay this week proved last week’s win over the Eagles was clearly a fluke. Who do the Raiders have to thank for the resurgance of their inability to play football? JaMarcus Russell, of course. Now, after the game Russel actually said “I don’t think it’s my fault, though…do you?” First, JaMarcus, the reporters are there to ask you questions, not the other way around. And second, yes, every single person alive thinks this was your fault.

Russell coughed up a fumble, and heaved two picks, one of which was just a real beaut’. Russell dropped back under pressure, and got rid of the ball to a wide open…Jim Leonhard…who plays for the Jets. Yeah, you’ve heard that joke before, but it’s never been more applicable. Leonhard was the only guy within 10 yards of the ball. Literally. And its not like this was some downfield heave…its more like Russell actually thought that was his check-down man who was just wearing a different uniform for fun.

Player of the Week

Jairus Byrd, S, Buffalo:  Ok, so you’re thinking pretty much anybody could stand downfield and pick of a Jake Delhomme pass at this point…and you’re probably right. But Byrd picked a great time to snag his first two career interceptions, and the Bills finally won a game they can feel proud about (yeah, the Browns are that bad).

Scapegoat of the Week

Chester Taylor, RB, Minnesota:  No, I’m not just being nice to Brett Favre on this one, the stip-sack on the previous series shouldn’t have happened. But the fact is that on that last drive Minnesota had an easy shot at the tie, and a good shot at the win, and Taylor flat missed that pass. Sure, it looked a little high, but it was a screen pass…those are going to be high every time because the QB is often throwing over a defensive end or linebacker. So the punchline is: Taylor had every reason to expect the ball would be high (not in the chest), he got his hands on it, and rather than just dropping it he re-directed the ball right into multiple defenders. I guarantee you Taylor is going to have a read headache when he watches this footage.

Embarrassment of the Week

William Gay, CB, Pittsburgh:  Yeah, his team won the game, but Adrian Peterson went through him like he was cardboard box and then walked on his face. Peterson caught the ball, turned, lowered his shoulder, and just went right through the waiting Gay. Not only did Gay get planted, but Peterson then chose to walk right over the top of him and keep going en-route to a first down. Gay may be one of the only guys on a team that won this week who won’t be turning on SportsCenter until after next Sunday.

Last week a horrible tragedy occurred when University of Connecticut sophomore cornerback Jasper Howard was stabbed to death following his team’s win over Louisville. This week a lot of attention has been focused on how this team full of amazing and resilient young men has responded to the loss of a friend and teammate, and rightfully so. It would be difficult to deal with the loss of a friend, but to do it while still remaining committed to your team and school is incredible. While UConn players and the Howard family have dealt with this horrible situation many ahtletes, students, and everyday people from all across the country have gone out of their way to let the UConn team and the Howard family know that they have support in their dark hour. However, I think it’s important to note the very impresive actions of UConn’s first opponent since Howard’s slaying: the West Virginia Mountaineers. The entire WVU student body and administration showed a great amount of respect and integrity in all the ways that they chose to help honor and remember a fallen player…and part of the reason is likely because they’ve had practice helping to deal with tragedy.

Today a banner hung at the tunnel entrance to Mountaineer Field, that banner was signed by WVU students, fans, and football players. it read:

“Today we are all Huskies”

When the UConn players took the field they recieved one of the longest standing ovations ever given at Mountaineer Field. Prior to the game the teams also met at midfield for a handshake, but even a casual observer could see just how many hugs were given instead. Armbands and pins with Howard’s number and initials were also made by WVU students and thousands were passed out among the crowd. Other WVU fans took it upon themselves to bring signs and banners remembering Howard. Even UConn fans who traveled to the game made note of how many WVU fans stopped them to say good luck, and share condolences. Perhaps the most impressive thing that WVU did was play the game however. The didn’t take it easy on the UConn players, both teams absolutely played their hearts out, and the Mountaineers emerged victorious at the end of the day…but both teams are sure to walk away very impressed with one another as football players and as human beings.

It’s difficult not to be impressed with how the WVU players and fans welcomed, consoled, and competed with their UConn counterparts. When seeing all of this unfold I couldn’t help but think that this attitude was instilled in WVU a long time ago, by perhaps their most famous coach in another time of tragedy.

On November 14, 1970, Southern Airways Flight 932 crashed on its way from Kinston, North Carolina to West Virginia. When it crashed, it took with it 75 lives, including those of most of the Marshall Thundering Herd football team and coaching staff. When the crash occurred Marshall still had one game left to play in the 1970 season, that game was never played, but not for lack of effort. Marshall’s in-state rival, and its new coach Bobby Bowden, petitioned the NCAA to dress as the Marshall team and play their final game, but were denied. The following season Marshall earned a special exemption allowing the team to play freshman, but with a new coach and without an experienced offensive line the team could hardly use any of its current playbook. Bowden decided to allow new Marshall coach Jack Lengyel and his assistants access to all of WVU’s playbooks and game film so that they could learn the veer option offense which WVU had become excellent at running (this offense doesn’t require a very experienced or powerful O-line). Bowden also immediately had green crosses and the initials “MU” added to WVU’s helmets, and the team wore them for the entire 1971 season.

Whether Bowden’s actions forever instilled this kind of pride and respect in the WVU program, or whether the people up in Morgantown simply come that way is unknown. But in the faces of two terrible tragedies the WVU team and everyone involved has responded admirably, and they’ve done it simply because it was the right thing to do.

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium - Beware Refs... (Courtesy of Chris Bohn - Flickr CCL)

Sticking with our theme of poor officiating, we now turn to the SEC and Sunday’s showdown between Arkansas and Florida. The crew made several poor calls during the game, but the kicker here is that its the second time this particular crew has garnered attention for making bad calls this year. So the solution? The SEC is going Ed Hochuli on their asses and sitting them down for a game.

 Now this may not sound like a big issue, but this is the first time ever that the SEC has publicly suspended an officiating crew. Since the crew will miss its upcoming October 31 game (spooky, right?) the officials will not see the field as a crew until November 14.

What caused this? well a rash of pretty questionable small calls throughout the game, but a massively ridiculous unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in the game (against Arkansas) while Florida was rallying is what garnered the most attention. Now, while you can’t say this call cost the Razorbacks the game (no one call ever does), it is interesting that it seemed to benefit Florida in their hour of need. Michael Wilbon suggested this afternoon that there’s a reason so many penalties lately have been favoring the team which draws big attention and big television ratings (Florida, NY Yankees, Etc…)  Wilbon isn’t suggesting that anyone is being paid off here, he’s just saying that subconsciously refs tend to favor the ’star’ team. Not only does this make sense, it makes perfect sense. Ever heard of the NBA? Ever notice how Kobe or LeBron gets the call at the rim almost every time? It’s because the officials just have this tendency to lean toward the star power when in doubt. Im not at all shocked that this takes place outside the NBA (and the rouging the passer calls against Tom Brady 2 weeks ago are living proof that the NFL swings this way).

So who sees the upcoming problem? Refs tend to favor the star teams a little, maybe that leads to some controversial calls when you go back and look over the game film. Well the SEC’s actions are showing that the league is afraid of being seen as favoring a star team…the SEC is almost guaranteed to get itself into a situation where it only suspends and reprimands refs who screw up when a big name team is involved. So when a crew screws up a Mississippi State – Kentucky matchup, and the SEC does nothing, those schools are going to flip about the unfair treatment.

Think the SEC just opened Pandora’s Box? There’s a good chance…good luck closing it.

So I’m pretty sure that the NBA locked out its regular refs…but anyone who’s been watching the MLB Playoffs has to be wondering if Bud Selig surreptitiously ditched his normal officials too…

Let’s face it, baseball is played on an enormous field, and unlike football the action isn’t so easy to track – so things are going to be missed. Maybe it was this logic that kept everyone sane during the divisional matchups when we saw a rash of bad calls. But simple ’shit happens’ logic isn’t going to fly anymore, not after last night’s ALCS game. Sure, there were some standard blown calls, like the tag on Nick Swisher at second that was ruled safe, or maybe Nick Swisher’s leaving the bag early (thank god someone with bionic vision called that, because I couldn’t see it on the side-by-side replay…). But the big one is being referred to by some as the worst call ever.

Yeah, McClellan personally blew two calls in this game, and the massive debacle at 3rd in the top of the fifth was just a total disaster. I’m not talking unfortunate accident, like Chernobyl…I’m talking total, miserable disaster.

Tim McClelland's Fault? Don't Rule It Out... (Flickr/msvg CCL)

If you want the details of the debacle, click the link above and head over Big League Stew. While its loading, try to keep in mind that in baseball, you aren’t generally safe if you’re just hanging near a base…but I’m no expert.

So baseball purists who don’t think there’s room for the instant replay, it’s time to start wrapping your head around it now, because there’s never been such strong evidence of its need. Fighting instant replay is just delaying the inevitable and driving everyone mad because of nonsense like this.

So by now you’ve seen/heard about Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher rocking a Peyton Manning jersey the other night. Fisher was at a charity event and was introducing former Colts coach and role model extraordinaire Tony Dungy.

For those of you who haven’t tuned into the World Wide Leader in Sports recently, I’ll recap. Fisher walked on stage, turned around, and started to unbutton his shirt – a lot of people probably worried this was going in a different direction. Instead of pulling a Demi Moore, Fisher pulled off his shirt to reveal a Manning Jersey, and then suddenly Tennessee fans were wishing it had been some kind of creepy strip-tease. Fisher made sure everybody got a good look, then came up to the mic and dropped this beauty: “I just wanted to feel like a winner.”

Alright, now rabid fans and people who don’t know anything about Jeff Fisher are going to say this is an act of treason, and Fisher shouldn’t be taking shots at his 0-6 football team. Well, sucks to be you guys, because none of that was going on here. Fisher is one of those well-respected coaches who seems to be friends with most of the big time coaches in the NFL, he is close personal friends with Tony Dungy, and he was playing the crowd at a charity event to help out a friend. Ok, so there’s the fact that he wore the jersey to get a laugh and help out a good cause…but come on, why the shot at his own team? Well he wasn’t taking a shot at them, he was showing his confidence in them. Don’t believe me? You take life way too literally. A coach who is really disappointed in his team, who is really out of ideas and really really just wants the season to end doesn’t make good-natured quips about them. He does exactly what, oh say, Eric Mangini does…absolutely nothing. Bottom line: Fish’ believes he has a good team, and doesn’t think they’re so fragile and helpless that he needs to walk on eggshells with them 24/7.

So when Fisher got called on this and the firestorm of stupid began, what did he do? He apologized…kinda.

“I really apologize if I offended anybody, but if you’re offended over the nature of that type of thing, then I think you need to rethink things.”

Zing. He apologized then smacked you in the face with reality: its time to grow up and see that there are bigger things in life than football. Like Fisher said all along, this was for charity…even if his team was so fragile that this kind of thing might actually cause a little locker room strife, he would absolutely do it again in a heatbeat.

Its nice to see a coach as confident as Fisher, lets hope his team puts together a few wins so that we get to see more of him in the future.

You all know SportsCenter, it recently celebrated 30 years of taking up 90% of ESPN’s airtime. Seriously, this show is on the air for about 35 hours a day, which is unique because its basically a 1 hour long show running on a huge loop. So why am I not sick of it? There’s lots of reasons: Solid reporting by experienced and respected insiders, plenty of former pro players and coaches in every major sport (they’re unique too, because they have the only former NFL players who speak English….sorry Emmitt Smith). But the real reason I still love SportsCenter after all these years: they absolutely, in no way, take themselves too seriously.

No, seriously. This was a feature, and it was amazing. (Flickr.com/catalinantohi CCL)

Pictured above was one of SportsCenter’s featured stories this afternoon. Seriously. You may have seen the cool video of the pigeon who appeared to participate in kickoff coverage for the Raiders during their surprise upset of the Eagles on Sunday (shouldn’t the bird be helping out the Eagles? Dirty little traitor). If you haven’t seen the video, then enjoy:

 watch?v=yztN2X6jUOM&feature=player_embedded

Ok, so its a cool video, but why am I making such a big deal out of this? I mean, the video was shown on pretty much every sports show/website/awesome blog I write…Well, SportsCenter took this whole thing a step further. A big, hilarious step further. Remember during NFL draft time when SportsCenter goes in-depth and breaks down a draft prospect? You see where I’m going.

First, they broke down the video, noting “The pigeon shows excellent discipline here, look at that lane responsibility” Not only is this witty, but its correct. The pigeon stays in his lane the whole way down, there’s no way a returner is going to get the corner with him there. The commentary is also doubly clever, because the anchors were breaking this film down in terms of basic football fundamentals (know your assignment, play your gap, do your job) – and in this game fundamentals were sorely lacking from the actual players on the field.

For me the highlight was the player breakdown though. Here’s what you need to know according to SportsCenter:

Name:  Pigeon

Height/Weight:  12-15″ /10-16 ounces

Flight Speed:  28-82 MPH

Lifespan:  2-3 years in the wild, 16 in captivity

Trivia: Used to relay messages during wars

Come on, those last two were priceless. Utterly random, completely unrelated to football while still being relevant, and totally a breath of fresh air from repetetive analysis and breakdown. And yes, they did notice that Al Davis only likes player with speed – so his mid-season signing of “the pigeon” wasn’t really a surprise.

You’ve heard the weirdest stat of the year, right? Every team the Redskins have played was winless coming into the game…now 3 of them aren’t. This wasn’t a big deal in week 1 (when everybody was winless) or week 2…but now we’re almost half way through the season here … this is getting really disturbing. Luckily for the ‘Skins that streak stops here, next week’s opponent, Philadelphia, is kind enough not to bring a winless schedule into the game.

Who else is to blame? We'll figure out once we're through with you. (Photo Courtesy of Keith Allison, Flickr CCL)

So, weird statistics aside, this team sucks. There, I came out and said it. The offensive line is allowing way too much pressure inside, and is producing average run-blocking at best. Jason Campbell is starting to look a lot like JaMarcus Russell – he can heave the ball around the field, but he can’t hit anything with it. Back-up QB Todd Collins apparently had one good pass left in him, and he used it up on his first play in the game. And head coach Jim Zorn, who is taking too much of the blame, still deserves a lot of the blame. Zorn’s play calling has been questionable, his players have no fire or urgency at all, and the man just looks flat-out defeated at every press conference. The only unit you can’t really blame here is there defense, of course, while they’ve been solid they haven’t been dynamic. The D isn’t scoring, isn’t creating a lot of turnovers, and the fact that they’re holding opponent’s point totals low clearly doesn’t matter.

So what’s the next step? Jim Zorn was just stripped of his play calling duties, those will be handed over Sherm ‘Dan Snyder clearly has no confidence in you’ Lewis. What’s the problem with this? Hard to nail that down, there’s like 10. Now I just said Zorn’s play calling hasn’t been great, but hell, what makes you think Lewis is going to do any better? He doesn’t know these players, he doesn’t know this system, he’s been with the team all of 2 weeks, and he hasn’t even been in the NFL for 2 years. There’s also the message this sends to the players. Remember last week when they called on Snyder to give Zorn a vote of confidence and confirm that he would not be fired before the seaon’s end? Well clearly Snyder thought ‘vote of confidence’ and ’strip you of your duties and kick you in the face’  were interchangeable. Now the players are not only defeated, depressed, and confused, but they’re actually ignored and snubbed now too.

On top of these woes, numerous outlets are now reporting that sources have told them Snyder offered the coaching reigns to ousted Broncos leader Mike Shanahan, who politely refused the offer to come help the Titanic by scooping out water with a bucket. No coach is going to want to take over a team mid-season – its an absolute headache because you don’t have time to evaluate players and make roster decisions, you can’t bring in your own coordinators, and you immediately come into a bad situation with a ton of pressure.

The Skins need to just leave Zorn in there, leave Campbell in there, and let them play out the season. If things are still this bad when week 17 wraps up, Snyder can (and will) clean house and start all over. That means a big name coach (regardless of his current skills and plans), a bunch of big name players and lauded draft picks (regardless of how little team chemistry there is or how many people caution him against playing real-life fantasy football), and the opportunity to start this whole mess over from the beginning.

Al Davis would be proud. Hail to the Skins.

The way I planned to run-down the NFL season - before my absence was forced for the first 5 weeks – was to give my quick thoughts on some important points from the week’s games. Not everybody gets included, not everything gets mentioned, so if you feel I slighted your team … there’s always next week.

Bengals don’t go down to the wire…it’s a bad thing

So up through week 5 every Bengals game was decided by 7 points or less and came down to the final drive. That streak ended on Sunday, and it didn’t end well for the boys in orange and black. Matt Schaub and the Texans strolled into Cinci and walked away with a 28-17 win. There were no flukes here, either, which is going to leave lingering questions about both teams. The Bengals turned the ball over 3 times, and were outgained 472 to 296 in total yardage…at home. So is the Bengals surprise run over? Are the Texans finally ready to make some noise? Will we ever see any consistancy from anyone?

The saddest team in football

See – you don’t even know who I’m going to put here…that’s how many awful teams there are this year. Well, this space is currently reserved for the Tennessee Titans. Sure, the Rams are winless, the Chiefs are winless, the Bucs are winless, and the Redskins and Raiders are still jokes (Feeling good, right Lions fans? You don’t even get mentioned in this stuff anymore!). However, no team is playing as bad at the Titans, and no team is doing it so unexpectedly. This is almost exactly the same team that went 10-0 last season before finishing up 13-3. Seriously. Very little changed here.

DT Albert Haynesworth left, Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz left…and I’m out. Nobody in Tennessee thought losing these two would be such a huge blow, but 6 weeks deep you just can’t deny it. The Titans gave up 619 yards and 59 points to the Patriots this week – which might not seem so bad – except these aren’t the 2007 Patriots here. The Patriots have only crossed the 30 point line once before this year (against a Giant’s D that doesn’t know what pass defense is), and the Pats were fresh off a 300 yard/17 point effort against the Broncos.

The time to hit the Panic Button has long passed, this team needs work. A new QB and a new defense…oh, some receivers might not hurt … and a better O-line …. looking at the defensive coordinator and secondary coach would be a good idea … enjoy the up-coming rebuilding year Titans fans.

The best team in the league keeps right on rolling

Now you knew what was coming, Saints fans. The Drew Brees machine just handed the G-men a 48-27 beat down (don’t feel too good about the 27 either, Giants fans, a lot of that was garbage time. You earned 17 of those). Drew Brees has so many weapons that its ridiculous. Marques Colston, Lance Moore, and Robert Meachem are all making secondaries look foolish right now. Jeremy Shockey is absolutely, unquestionably back in form. Pierre Thomas can run, and Reggie Bush can do anything when he gets in space. But what makes this team special is the new-found defense. Gregg Williams (you miss him, right ‘Skins fans?) is dialing up some exotic looks and sending serious pressure, and it’s really working, opposing quarterbacks look really uncomfortable facing the Saints. Darren Sharper has joined the Brett Favre/Brian Dawkins ‘who cares if I’m old, I’m still amazing’ club. Sharper has 5 picks, 2 returned for touchdowns, and had another pick six called back this weekend on a roughing the passer call.

This is officially the best team in football right now, and everyone in the NFC can officially worry.

And the runner up…

Sorry Vikings, but right now you just don’t have the resume to top the Saints. That said, this team is going to keep making noise well past week 17. The biggest question coming into the season was: If defenses pack the box with 8 or 9 guys, can Brett Favre take advantage of the man-coverage? 69.7 completion percentage, 12 TDs 2 INTs through 6 games….asked and answered. Apparently all that ‘Favre is injury free’ and ‘Favre knows this system well’ talk wasn’t hollow, this team now the best rusher in football and a legitimate pass attack. As for the defenses struggles against Baltimore in the 4th quarter on Sunday, I’m going to let that go. Baltimore is playing real offense this year with second-year stud Joe Flacco and top 5 rusher Ray Rice. And after losing two in a row, Baltimore was  desperate for a win. So really, the Vikings D was in a tough spot and held up juuust well enough. Besides, with Jaren Allen back there this defense will always be a factor.

My real worries about Minnesota are two-fold. 1) Can Favre stay healthy for the whole season and into the playoffs? I’m inclined to say yes. He isn’t getting hit much this year, he’s playing a LOT of dome games, and the Vikes are being conscious with the amount of work he receives in practice. That said, only time is really going to tell. And 2) Is Brad Childress going to show some killer instinct? This is based largely off that last drive against the Ravens where the Vikes only came away with 3 without even trying to get 7. Sure, its an isolated incident, but it easily could have lost the game. Childress needs to show that he can go for the jugular and use his surprisingly hot pass offense to finish off teams in the 4th quarter…he’s not used to it…but he needs to adjust quick.

Hopefully everyone remembers the above line from the highschool sports mocking hilarity of Not Another Teen Movie, if not, I won’t hold it against you.

Just a quick update on where the hell I’ve been: I recently transferred law schools, and for those of you in-the-know, that process is an absolute disaster requiring you to sink endless hours of your life into catching up on an entirely new system. Want an analogy? Imagine an NFL quarterback being traded mid-season from a pro-style offense to a west-coast offense, using entirely different terminology, and being expected to start the up-coming game. Yeah, it sucks.

Anywho, since I’ve been away we’ve seen the MLB playoff starts, the NFL regular season start, and the college football season start…so I didn’t really have anything to write about anyway.

I’ll do my best to take it from here on out, hopefully my return will encourage some coaches to man up at midseason and GO FOR 2  a little more often!