Thursday, February 25, 2010

Wayne Bridge is a big pussy.

Here's a story for you. This guy you knew at work was banging this hot chick. Then they had a kid. Then they broke up. Meanwhile, you're kind of a dick, so you cheat on your wife with your co-worker's ex-chick. Your co-worker found out you banged his ex-chick and now says he can't work with you, storms into the boss' office, jumps on the boss' desk, pulls his pants down and takes a big ole shit.

You must be thinking to yourself, "Why the FUCK would your co-worker give two shits that you banged his ex-chick? That's what happens when you break up with a chick; she has sex with someone else." If you're thinking this, then you feel the exact same way I do about Wayne Bridge:

Wayne Bridge is a big pussy.

Terry cheated on his wife by banging Wayne Bridge's ex-girlfriend, and now Bridge won't accept a call up from Capello to play on the NATIONAL TEAM OF ENGLAND because he "in no mood to forgive Terry after his alleged affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the mother of his child." -ESPN What a fucking baby. This is the kind of guy who gets mad that someone had sex with his first girlfriend after he himself had sex with 20 girls after her. "Ex" does not mean "forever property" you pansy ass motherfucker. If I had a chance to bang your ex, I would too. I probably wouldn't cheat on my wife, but I and 1 million other dudes want to, and probably have, had sex with your ex. Get over it. You should be giving him a high-five. So what if you had a kid with her? What, you going to be greedy about who she can give birth to, too? Grow some hair on your fucking chest and play for England. You just made a big deal about nothing.

Big Win For Mourinho, Inter

- In what's been probably the most highly anticipated match of this year's Champions League so far, Jose Mourinho's old club, Chelsea, visited the San Siro yesterday to take on his current club, Inter Milan. Mourinho won back to back Premier League titles while at Chelsea, and has had similar success in Serie A at Inter, but the pressure is on this year to bring home Inter's first Champions League title since 2000.

INTER 2, CHELSEA 1
Mourinho's boys come out of the home end of their matchup with a 1 goal lead, but Chelsea did get a very valuable away goal, so it's not time to light up the victory cigar just yet. Milito scored in the 3rd minute to put Inter up right away, but Salomon Kalou tied it early in the second half. Esteban Cambiasso put the nerazzuri ahead just 4 minutes later, and that wasn't the end of the pain for Chelsea. Later in the match world class goalkeeper Petr Cech was injured and had to be removed from the match. If he's out for an extended period (and reports are he is going to be out for a month), it will damage Chelsea's Premier League chances and their hopes of getting a win or a scoreless draw in the second leg to advance to the quarterfinals.

CSKA 1, SEVILLA 1
Not as high on the marquee as other Champions League Round of 16 matches, but no less important. CSKA got a 35 yard goal from Chilean Mark Gonzalez in the 66th minute to salvage a 1-1 draw in frigid Moscow. CSKA's still alive, faring much better than their last Champions League appearance, when they got bounced out of the group stages with a horrible 0-5-1 record.

- The 3rd time was the charm for Stoke City as we finally got a winner in their Round of 16 FA Cup match against Man City. Ryan Shawcross had the go ahead goal in extra time and Tuncay added the final tally minutes later to give Stoke the 3-1 win. Stoke advances to the final 8, where they will join Reading, Aston Villa, and Tottenham, who also won yesterday.

- Inter may be ahead in their Champions League match with Chelsea, but the race in Serie A is getting tighter. AC Milan pulled within 4 points of them with a 2-1 win at Fiorentina yesterday. Milan now leads Roma by 1 point for second place.

- The US National Team had a tune up yesterday against El Salvador. Well, actually it was a group of guys wearing US uniforms, but most of the people actually who will be on the team in South Africa weren't there. The US won 2-1. Hoooray.

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NFL NEWS!

DUNTA ROBINSON
Was the 10th overall pick in the 2004 draft and has yet to make a Pro Bowl, so the Texans are allowing him to ply his trade elsewhere. He'll leave the Texans as their all-time leader in interceptions. He made almost $10 mil last year for Houston as their franchise tagged player.

KNOWSHON MORENO
Is accused of knocking out a UGA freshman in a bar fight. Knowshon, after you leave college, no good can come of going back there to hang out. None. Stop doing it. I say this from experience.

CASEY HAMPTON
Has agreed to terms with the Steelers. The 5 time Pro Bowler is getting $11M in guaranteed money from the Steelers to continue to be their nose tackle.

THOMAS JONES
His contract says the Jets pay him$5.8M next year, and unless he agrees to scale that down a little, the Jets are going to say you'll get nothing and like it, and release him.

JASON CAMPBELL
The Washington Post has printed a trade rumor that has the beleaguered Redskins QB going to Buffalo for safety Donte Whitner. If this happens, Campbell will almost certainly continue to be beleaguered.

GARY BRACKETT
The Colts have opted not to tag the MLB with their horseshoe mark, so he is free to seek other opportunities. I think all the Colts' linebackers should be set free after they let Brees complete 32 of 38 passes all underneath or whatever it was in the Super Bowl. Geez, bat some of that shit away or something.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Champions League MegaPowers Doddering In Round of 16, Peppers, LT Movin' On

- It's been an interesting Round of 16 in the Champions League so far. Last week, we had powerhouse Real Madrid falling in the first leg of their matchup with B-listers Lyon, Arsenal getting beat by Porto, a perennial power but in a weak Portugese league, and AC Milan losing 3-2 at home to Man U. The trend we're seeing is powerhouse clubs like Real and Arsenal in real danger of getting eliminated in the Round of 16. Yesterday, it was defending Champions Barcelona's turn to come up short of expectations.

STUTTGART 1, BARCELONA 1
On paper this looked like a walkover matchup for Barca. The defending La Liga and European champs and current leaders of La Liga against the ninth place club in the supposedly inferior Bundesliga? Seems like a mismatch. However, Barca had to leave it all out on the pitch just to come away with a 1-1 draw in the first leg of this matchup. Barca trailed 1-0 going into the locker room at half, on a goal from Stuttgart's Cacau. Zlatan Ibrahimovic tied it early in the second half, and Barca could only manage a 1-1 tie despite dominating possession and coming close to going ahead on another Ibrahimovic opportunity later in the match.

BORDEAUX 1, OLYMPIAKOS 0
Let it be known that for the purposes of this year's Champions League, Bordeaux is my team. The plucky French side impressed in the group stage, beating out Bayern Munich and Juventus for first place in their group, and they continue to impress with a 1-0 away win to open their elimination match against Greek side Olympiakos. Bordeaux leads Ligue 1 and now looks like they are set to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals, and if Lyon can hang on against Real we'll have a bizarre instance of 1/4 of the remaining Champions League club being from Ligue 1, which is a surprise to say the least.

We've got more Champions League action today. Sevilla goes to Moscow to face CSKA, and in the marquee match of this whole tournament so far, Jose Mourinho hosts his old club, Chelsea. The rumors are flying that if Mourinho doesn't bring home the Champions League trophy this year, he could be gone, possibly replaced by Bordeaux's coach.

- There was a Premier League match yesterday too. Man U rebounded from their loss to Everton this past weekend, taking it out on West Ham 3-0 at Old Trafford. 2 more goals for Wayne Rooney, giving him 23 on the season. Michael Owen also scored. United is now one point back of Chelsea for the league lead.

******
NFL news!

- LADANIAN TOMLINSON
As expected, he's been released by the Chargers. Where next for LT? Well, he wants to play for a winner, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say he is going to end up with New England, who has a long and storied history of signing of old running backs (Corey Dillon, Fred Taylor). The thing is, LT averaged 3.3 yards per carry last year in an offense that had a great passing game to take that 8th man out of the box. I really don't think he has anything left. Prove me wrong, LT. Prove me wrong.

-JULIUS PEPPERS
Has been granted his freedom by the Panthers. In my book, he's the big prize of this weird free agent season where there's no salary cap but certain teams aren't allowed to sign anybody. Peppers has double digit sack totals each of the last two seasons. Rumor is the Bears have designs on making him one of Rod Marinelli's Rushmen.

-TERRELL OWENS
Ochocinco has been lobbying for the Bengals to sign him, but it looks like that's going nowhere. Good thing too. I had them both on one of my fantasy teams last year. That team went 2-10-1. Horrible locker room.

- BRIAN WESTBROOK
The biggest contributor to that 2-10-1 season has been released by the Eagles. Westbrook had big time concussion problems, and we should all hope he hangs em up for his own good.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Giant Killers Everton Take Down Man U


- Not a bad 10 days work for Everton. A week after downing Chelsea at Goodison Park, they faced the other club battling for the lead in the EPL, and took them down too. After falling behind 1-0 on an early goal by the very handsomely compensated Dimitar Berbatov, Everton outscored mighty Man U 3-0 to get their second huge upset win in as many weeks. Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Dan Gosling, and Jack Rodwell, who was born in 1991, born in 1991, holy geez, had the goals for Everton. Man U possible a little worn down by their midweek 3-2 Champions League win over AC Milan.

- Chelsea was able to pounce on United's slipup to extend their lead to 4 points with a 2-0 win at Wolverhampton. 2 goals for Didier Drogba, who is having a monster season with 25 goals now in all competitions.

- Arsenal rebounded from an error-filled 2-1 loss to Porto earlier in the week to pick up 3 points on Man U and move within 2 points of second place with a 2-0 win over visiting Sunderland. Goals for Bendtner and Fabregas.

- While Man U and Chelsea play volleyball with the top spot, theres also a compelling race for 4th and the Premiership's final Champions League spot. Liverpool and Man City are two of the teams in hot pursuit, and they faced each other this weekend at City of Manchester Stadium. Soccernet.com described the encounter as a "goalless bore draw", so there you go.

-Not boring at all were the other 2 clubs after that 4th spot. Tottenham is now tied with City for that fourth spot following a 3-0 demolition at Wigan. Roman Pavlyuchenko, who wants out, put himself on display with 2 goals. Aston Villa put themselves 1 point back with an entertaining 5-2 win over Burnley, featuring 2 goals from Stewart Downing.

- An apparently roused Barca side roared back from their first La Liga defeat of the season, which came last week, destroying Racing Santander 4-0. Thierry Henry, back in the starting lineup after a bit of an exile, had a goal, as did Iniesta, Marquez, and Thiago. Their eternal rivals and current pursuers, Real Madrid, answered with a 6-2 torpedoing of Villarreal's yellow submarine the next day behind a brilliant performance from Cristiano Ronaldo. A nice win for Real as they remain 2 points back of Barca, but it still doesn't erase the huge failure earlier in the week against Lyon in the Champions League.

- Sevilla dealt a crushing blow to Mallorca's Champions League hopes with a 3-1 win on the island. It was the first blemish for Mallorca at home this year. The match saw 3 red cards. Sevilla holds the 4th and final Champions League spot from La Liga, and now Mallorca is 5 points back of them.

- Serie A leaders Inter had a tough tuneup for their midweek Champions League clash with Chelsea. They played the final 40 minutes of their 0-0 draw with Sampdoria with only 9 men after Walter Samuel and Ivan Cordoba were sent off. Sampdoria is one of six teams scrambling for Serie A's final Champions League spot. The team currently on top of that car wreck is Juventus, whose 2-1 win at Bologna this weekend vaulted them into 4th and gave them back to back Serie A wins for the first time since November.

- AS Roma picked up 2 points on Inter thanks to their 1-0 win over Catania, and now are just 5 points behind Inter for the league lead. AC Milan kept themselves within shouting distance with a 2-0 win at Bari with goals from Marco Boriello and Pato. They trail Inter by 7 points.

- In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen both missed opportunities to put themselves on top. Bayern came out flat after their Champions League victory earlier in the week, and could manage only a 1-1 draw at 19th place Nurnberg. Leverkusen failed to take advantage, battling to a 2-2 draw albeit against some much better competition, Werder Bremen.

*****
Aaaand now some updates on your very favorite NFL Players..

VINCE WILFORK
- The Pats' stalwart DT won't get a chance to test the free agency waters, his ass has just been franchised!

RANDY MOSS
- Says 2010 will be his last year with the Patriots.

CHRIS SAMUELS
- It's probably a wrap for the Redskins' 6 time Pro Bowl OT Chris Samuels. The Redskins have said they will operate under the assumption he is retiring after the neck injury he suffered last year.

ANTRELL ROLLE
- A $4M roster bonus due to him if the Cards keep him probably means the safety is going to be released this week, and the Bears are interested.

BRANDON MARSHALL
- Oooold news but found this nugget from his 2007 DUI arrest report interesting:

"I hate Denver. I hope I get traded. I hate this f—ing city .. Why aren’t you guys out looking for (late Denver CB Darrent) Williams’ killer?"

Ooooooohkayyyyy...


Thursday, February 18, 2010

Porto Surprises Arsenal

PORTO 2, ARSENAL 1
In each of the past 2 years, 3 out of the 4 Champions League semifinalists have come from England. This year is a little different. 2008 semifinalist Liverpool is already out and trying to muddle thru the Europa League, and now 2009 semifinalist Arsenal is in a 2-1 hole after yesterday's loss at Porto.

Backup goalie Lukasz Fabianski wore the goat horns for Arsenal, giving up a pair of weak goals. Porto opened the scoring in the 11th minute when a cross from Silvestre Varela was bungled by Fabianski and found its way over the goal line. The recently exhumed Sol Campbell managed to tie it just seven minutes later, heading in a corner.

The winning goal came in controversial fashion. Fabianski was ruled to have picked up a backpass while out of the penalty area, which of course is handball. The referee, who happened to be the same ref for Thierry Henry's Hand of God goal that got France into the World Cup a few months ago, awarded a free kick, which was quickly taken and converted for the winning score. Arsenio Wenger was not happy.

BAYERN MUNICH 2, FIORENTINA 1
Compared to this match, the Porto/Arsenal refereeing performance looked like a masterpiece. Arjen Robben scored for Bayern on a PK, and Fiorentina's Per Kroldrup equalised early in the second half. Then things got weird. Fiorentina's Massimo Gobbi was sent off for a pretty mundane tackle, Bayern's Miroslav Klose received only a yellow for a much more aggressive challenge later in the match, and then Klose scored the winner for Bayern on a header in the last minute even though he was clearly offside. So clearly that the referee has since apologized for allowing the goal to stand. Oh well, too late now.

- Lots of action in the round of 32 in the NIT of Europe, the Europa Cup today. A few of the European glitterati were in action:

- Liverpool got a late goal from David "Eggnog" Ngog to beat Romanian champs Unirea Urzecini 1-0.

- AS Roma may be red hottt in Serie A, but they are in danger of being 100% done in Euro play after losing 3-2 at Panathinaikos yesterday. The alien looking Djibril Cisse had the winning goal in the 89th minute.

- Valencia, who is 3rd place in La Liga, suffered a bit of embarrassment losing 1-0 at Belgian club Brugge.

- Juventus won 2-1 at Ajax with 2 goals from Amauri as they try and salvage something out of a miserable season.


*****
Some quick updates on some NFL players

- DEANGELO WILLIAMS
Apparently he has a pay to view website? Arrrre you serrious? Who would pay for this? He posted on this website that he is going to have surgery.

- SEBASTIAN JANIKOWSKI
Has received a 4 year $16M extension from the Raiders with $9M of that guaranteed. Which leads me to wonder how much the Germans paid the piano player on the Hindenburg.

- LEONARD LITTLE
Apparently Jim Haslett, the world famous former head coach of the Florida Tuskers and current Redskins DC, has his eye on unrestricted free agent Leonard Little. Little has 87 1/2 sacks in his 12 year career and 1 drunken manslaughter, which he survived to get arrested for DUI again after that. He's a swell guy.

- MARK SANCHEZ
Had knee surgery yesterday.

- LADANIAN TOMLINSON
Might be headed to the Chiefs to do a job share with Jamaal Charles.

- KEVIN KOLB
Hasn't been approached by the Eagles about a contract extension. The Eagles are stupidly planning on bringing McNabb back last year thinking the 12th time is the charm rather than turning things over to Kolb, who looked good when he got to play last year.

-CLINTON PORTIS
Is guaranteed $6.9M from the Redskins next year, and their coaches say on film he looks like he has something left. I'm pretty sure though that the film they are watching is from 2006.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

OP Radio 1

Omar P and Patrick N talking about sports. This first episode they talk about MMA, Olympic Hockey, and Omar's mom.

Sacre Bleu! It's Champions League Matchday

- So I was gone this past weekend as you know. Conveniently enough, pretty much next to nothing happened in either version of football. A quick rundown on the minor goings on:

- A late goal from Stilyan Petrov staved off elimination in the 5th round of the FA Cup for Aston Villa, they will face Crystal Palace in a replay on Wednesday. Palace is playing to pay off their debts and the replay serves them good as they will get a fat payout for it. It's kind of like Herschel Krustofsky's Clown Related Entertainment Show after he got busted by the IRS.

- Chelsea, Portsmouth, Birmingham City, and Fulham have all advanced to the FA Cup Quarterfinals.

- Barcelona is no longer unbeaten in La Liga. Atletico Madrid nipped them 2-1 on Sunday. Barca's lead over second place Real Madrid is now just 2 points, as Real closed the gap with a 3-0 pounding of last place Xerez behind 2 goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, who was returning from suspension for throwin' elbows a few weeks back.

- An uneventful weekend in Serie A. First place Inter muddled to a scoreless draw at Napoli. Napoli sits in 4th place six points back of AC Milan, who they have an outside chance of catching for the 3rd and final Champions League spot in Serie A. Juventus got their first win under their new coach, Alberto Zaccheroni, as a Alessandro Del Piero PK gave them a 3-2 win over Genoa.

--OK now that we've got all that out of the way, today we had our first matches in the Champions League Round of 16.

AT AC MILAN 2, MANCHESTER UNITED 3

Well, this one didn't disappoint. Ronaldinho opened the scoring in the third minute, putting one home on a play initiated off a David Beckham set piece to put Milan up 1-0 early. Milan continued to dominate the action early, generating a bunch of scoring chances.

None of them were successful, but a freakish goal by Paul Scholes scored with his enchanted left shin after he wiffed with his right foot tied things up at 1 in the 36th minute.

Wayne Rooney, who is having a career year and might be the best player in the world right now, took over after that. He headed one home in the 66th minute to put Man U up, then made it 3-1 with another goal just 8 minutes later. Milan got a a late goal from Clarence Seedorf to make it 3-2. Might turn out to be a big one since this series is won or lost on aggregate goals, might not.

AT LYON 1, REAL MADRID 0
wOwww Patrick, your team got beat by the fourth place team in the French league.

That's what Real Madrid usually does though, nobody gets knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16 like they do. They've done it 5 years in a row and now are working on a sixth. Jean Makoun, who has un goal in 19 Ligue 1 matches this year, had the game's lone tally.


- Tomorrow it's Fiorentina, who somehow is still alive in this thing despite being in 11th place in Serie A and winless in their last 5 matches, visting Bayern Munich, who hasn't lost since Bordeaux beat them in the group stage on Nov 3. A very banged up (missing 5 regulars) Arsenal travels to Portugal to take on a mysterious Porto squad led by someone named "Hulk", one name.

****
- The Bengals had some reasonable amount of success with their NFL halfway house program last year, so in keeping with that they signed former Jags WR and cocaine enthusiast Matt Jones, and worked out rainmaking sociopath Pacman Jones.

- Some bizarre goings on in Miami. Joey Porter, who just 2 seasons ago had 17 1/2 sacks to lead the league, and still had a pretty good year with 9 sacks last year despite being unhappy and in a reduced role, was released by the Dolphins. Then he was un-released with the Dolphins saying it was not a "valid termination". Anybody want a guy who has had 26 1/2 sacks in the last 2 years? If I'm a GM I'm thinking I kinda do.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

I'm In Florida...Be Back Monday

I'm in Port Charlotte Florida, taking in the healing 44 degree temperatures. Be back Monday to cover this weekend's action.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Congrats! You are a hypocrite racist.

Not shortly after I make a six episode bukake-fest on Sepp Blatter that took four months to make, he makes my videos even more relevant with his latest retarded blasts. Seppy's crying about people saying South Africa is a pretty terrible and unsafe pick for a World Cup. Gee, maybe it has something to do with people getting capped in Angola. By the way, Togo, the people that got capped, got banned for two tournaments for pulling out of this year's tournament because they were mourning players that died. I don't see how that is not proof enough that South Africa is a shithole. People died because of your tournament and you banned them for pulling out. How do you think they will react when teams from the World Cup come and get capped? Seppy thinks it's nonsense that people are scared of South Africa because the attack on Togo players was political. So you're telling me that there are no political tensions when the REST OF THE WORLD comes strolling into their home? Exposed again, dickless!

Then Blatter cries that Europe takes all the best things from Africa and now they are taking the best players from there. Hey, douchebag. How about you mention that Africa fucking sucks with the worst standard of living in the universe, and that when Europe "takes" African players, they are actually giving these people better lives. Oh, those fucking Europeans! That makes you a racist, Seppy. Stop calling Europeans a bunch of slave owners.


Seppy's still in denial of being a racist asshole with his excellent commentary on the John Terry controversy. He decided to open his mouth and say that South Americans would call John Terry a hero for fucking someone's girlfriend while he's still married. Hey, dickhead. Not all South Americans support infidelity you fucking asshole. This guy goes off talking shit on South Americans and ALL OF EUROPE while he hit and runs from the scene of his accident. Sepp Blatter's a racist hypocrite that calls out everyone that tells the truth. This guy thinks he's God of Soccer, and so he runs his mouth about the most retarded shit. Maybe Seppy should turn that moral compass on himself and realize he's got more in common with Hitler than he does with God.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Bad Day for Euro Powers

- There were a lot of powerhouse clubs in midweek action yesterday, and it wasn't a very good day for most of them.

- EPL leaders Chelsea suffered a rare defeat, losing 2-1 at Everton. Louis Saha scored his 12th and 13th goals of the season for the Toffees, and could have had a hat trick had he not failed to score on a PK. It was Everton's first win over Chelsea since 2000.

- Chelsea's loss gave Man U a golden opportunity to pick up some points and move back into the league lead. They failed to fully capitalize though, earning only a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa. They were probably fortunate to save that 1 point, as they played shorthanded most of the game after Nani got sent off in the 29th minute. Adding injury to insult, Ryan Giggs fractured his arm in the match and will be gone for at least 4 weeks. The tie coupled with Chelsea's loss pulls United within 1 point of the league lead. Villa is 2 points back of Liverpool and Man City in the race for 4th.

- Arsenal and Liverpool had a big clash at the Emirates, and it was the Gunners who came away with a 1-0 victory, preserving their faint hopes for a Premiership title this season. Abou Diaby headed in a cross for the match's only score. Liverpool remains tied with Man City for the 4th and final Champions League spot in the EPL. Arsenal is in 3rd place, 6 back of Chelsea and 5 back of Man U.

- Liverpool's loss gave Tottenham a chance to put themselves all alone in 4th place with a win at EPL bottom feeders Wolverhampton, but the Spurs did not jingle or jangle, stumbling to a 1-0 defeat. They have just 1 victory so far in 2010, and have opened the floodgates for a mess of contenders for 4th place.

- Serie A leaders Inter were in action at middle of the table Parma yesterday, and could only come away with a 1-1 draw. A win would have given them a double digit points lead, but as it stands they still are in a pretty commanding position with a 9 point lead over 2nd place AS Roma.

- Sevilla has advanced to the finals of the Copa del Rey. They beat Getafe 2-1 on the aggregate despite losing 1-0 in the second leg yesterday. This was a rematch of the 2007 Copa final which Sevilla also won. Sevilla will almost certainly face Atletico Madrid in the final, as Atletico holds a 4-0 advantage in their semi.

- A high profile player is heading to MLS. Raul, Real Madrid's longtime captain and all time leading scorer, will be playing for the New York Red Bulls this year. Raul is 32 and has seen his status at the club diminish as his age increases, but it's a nice signing for MLS.

****
- Chris Berman might be moving to the NFL Network. The result of this will be that I will now watch the ESPN pregame show.

- Gary Kubiak has gotten an extension from the Texans after coaching them to their first winning season in their history. He is 31-33 as coach of the Texans, and has been handsomely rewarded for his mediocrity, as he is signed to be head coach thru 2012.

- The NFL rebuffed Rush Limbaugh's attempt to buy the St. Louis Rams earlier this year, and now have found an owner for this really bad team. It's Illinois businessman Shahid Khan. Marketing campaign for 2010- St. Louis Rams- Feel the Wrath of Khan!!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

KABOOOM...Blogging From the Center of the Illinois Earthquake

- So those of you who live on the west coast, like Patrick, are probably used to this type of thing but living in the Midwest I certainly am not. You may have heard a small earthquake hit Northern Illinois this morning at about 4 AM, and that the quake was centered in the small village of Gilberts, Illinois.....hey, guess where I live! Gilberts, Illinois!


The Epicenter

Luckily for my wife and me, the quake was small, and nothing was damaged except the value of our home now that everyone in the Chicago area will associate the sleepy little town Gilberts with earthquakes.

For those of you who have never been in an earthquake, and I always figured I would go my entire life being one of those people, here's what it was like. A loud KABOOM...like something blew up in my house, actually I was relieved when I found out it was an earthquake and not my furnace exploding. The boom was followed by light shaking at first and then heavier shaking, lasting about 10 seconds. Making things even weirder was that we were getting dumped on by nearly a foot of snow while this happened, so it was all very Day After Tomorrow-esque. Save me Al Gore!!

Lucky for me I get out of here for a 4 day weekend in Florida tomorrow, happy to get out of this snowbound earthquake plagued hellhole. For the record, the earthquake in Haiti was 33,000 times more powerful than the one underneath my house last night, which really kind of drives home the point of how bad that Haiti quake really was.

***

- The EPL is pretty much down to a two horse race after Chelsea's convincing 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge over 3rd place Arsenal on Sunday. Didier Drogba had 2 first half goals for the Blues, who moved back in front of Man U for first place with the win. The win comes days after Chelsea's John Terry was stripped of his England captaincy, so now he's being being canonized as some Churchill-esque model of perserverance. Uhhhhhhhhh.

- Man City kept pace in the race for 4th place with a 2-0 win at home against Bolton yesterday. Tevez and Adebayor had the goals. New signing from Middlesbrough Adam Johnson played a great match for City and received a standing O.

- Lots of yummy midweek Premier League action today! Liverpool will be challenged to stay hot as they will face Arsenal at the Emirates. The Gunners are reeling after back to back losses to Man and Chelsea that have, as I mentioned before, pretty much eliminated them from contention for the League title. Tottenham is hoping to climb back into 4th place after ceding that spot to Liverpool over the weekend. They have a winnable match at Wolverhampton, while the 3rd of 4 teams in contention for that spot, Aston Villa, faces what probably is a must win for their Champions League aspirations at home against Man U today. League leaders Chelsea have a tough match at Everton today.

- In La Liga, Sevilla suffered a tough 2-1 defeat at Zaragoza, who really needed the points to get out of the relegation zone. The match was butt ugly, with the winning score coming on an own goal and 3 red cards issued. Sevilla is trying to leapfrog Mallorca for 4th place and earn a Champions League qualifying spot.

- AS Roma continues to be one of the hottest clubs in Europe. Their 1-0 win at Fiorentina on Sunday moved them ahead of AC Milan into 2nd place in Serie A. Roma is on a run of 12 straight without a defeat in Serie A. Italian league leaders Inter are in action today at 13th place Parma.

- Checking in with the PDM (Mexico), who are very early in their Clausura season. Chivas is tops in the league with a perfect 12 points in 4 matches. Apertura Champs Monterrey are off to a 2-1-1 start. Pachuca and Morelia are tied for the Group 2 lead, while Santos Laguna leads Group 3.

- There's a rumor that Barca has reached an agreement with Cesc Fabregas that would bring the Arsenal superstar midfielder to Camp Nou at the end of this season. Barca denies it but in my short time following European soccer, it seems like everytime there's a rumor it always ends up being true, so expect to see Cesc in La Liga next year.

*****
The odds to win next years Super Bowl out !

The Colts are the favorites at 13-2, followed by the Saints at 7-1 and the Cowboys at 15-2. The biggest long shot are the Rams at 150-1.

Want my pick? I say take the Packers at 19-2.

- The biggest ticket free agent is sure to be Carolina DE Julius Peppers. The Panthers and Peppers are at an impasse, and Peppers said the team isn't even talking to him about a new contract. Peppers will be 30 this season, and has 25 sacks in the last 2 years.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Super Saints

- Everyone's calling it an upset, but even though yes, I did pick the Colts to win yesterday, I wasn't surprised at all that the Saints were able to take down the Colts yesterday. Whatifsports.com do not lie, and if I run 3 sims that all tell me the Saints win that game, I pay attention.

The game was pretty entertaining, although not on the all-time classic level that Giants/Patriots and Steelers/Cardinals had given us the last two years. Unlike those other 2 games, there really was no doubt at the end of this one who the better team was. The Saints went on a 31-7 run after falling behind 10-0 early, and when you're able to get off the mat in your franchises first Super Bowl ever, knowing that only team had ever before come back from a 10 point deficit to win in the Super Bowl, and go on a 31-7 run, then you deserve to be the Super Bowl Champs.

No matter how exciting or boring the Super Bowl is though, it's always interesting to see for this one game how the stars align and how individuals perform. It's interesting to see how the superstars are able to deal with the intense spotlight of the season's ultimate game, and which no-names will be suddenly thrust into key roles (David Tyree hellooooo).

So here's a rundown of who I felt the key cast of characters turned out to be yesterday, and why.

Sean Payton
I guess I have to question the wisdom of coaching the Super Bowl the same way I would coach a game of Madden after 3 Coronas at 2 in the morning, but hey, Sean Payton has a Super Bowl ring now and in the media's mind it will always be mostly due to him doing an onside kick to start the second half. Never mind that really the move made no sense from a risk/reward standpoint. If it doesn't work, you're giving the Colts the ball on the 40 and your now down at least 7 points instead of 4 and maybe down 11. If it does work, which it did, you're getting the ball on your own 40 and there's no guarantee of anything. But hey, it worked so he's a genius I guess.

Jim Caldwell
The Colts rookie head coach had the reputation all year long of being nothing but a headset wearing cipher who only had the title of head coach because the Colts couldn't just officially recognize the reality that Peyton Manning is their head coach. Can't say he did anything to refute that here. In my mind, the moment this game really went in the crapper for the Colts was the moment Caldwell decided to send 51 year old Matt Stover out to kick a 51 yard field goal with the Colts up by 1 in the second half. There is no way Stover is going to make that kick. So basically you're giving the Saints the ball at midfield and conceding the lead to them. That decision changed the whole face of the game and the Colts never recovered from that. The smart thing to do would have been to have punted, pinned the Saints back deep, and make them earn the lead. Aside from this, how do you go up 10-0 and then just completely fall apart and let the other team outscore you 31-7 the rest of the way? It was like he tried nuthin and was all out of ideas.

Garrett Hartley
I think you really could make a case that the Saints' kicker was the MVP of this game. The Saints scored only 1 TD for the first three quarters. Hartley kept them in the game by just absolutely drilling 3 40+ yard field goals. All of them were right down the middle and all of them would have been good from another 10 to 15 yards out. Having a reliable kicker that could hit from long distance gave the Saints an air of confidence when they were on the Colts side of the field.

Matt Stover
Conversely, the Colts kicking game was absolutely the opposite. Everytime the Colts had the ball, it felt like they thought it was touchdown or bust because they had absolutely no confidence in their kicker. I don't think it's a coincidence that after Stover missed that 51 yard field goal attempt that under no circumstances should he have been made to attempt, the Colts did not score again. They'd drive down the field, then seize up because they felt like they had to get in the end zone to get any points at all.

Drew Brees
Brees won the MVP, but it really wasn't a dazzling performance. He had all day to throw, and the Colts' back 7 was giving the Saints anything they wanted underneath. It was like the Colts had absolutely no hope of keeping the Saints from moving the chains, and in reality they didn't, not when you let the opposing QB complete 32 of 39 pass attempts. The Saints are known as a big play offense, but they didn't have a gain of more than 27 yards in this game. Instead it was just death by 1000 cuts for the Colts.

Peyton Manning
Manning didn't play bad, I mean he threw for 333 yards. It was really disappointing though that he's expected to be a cold blooded assassin in situations like the one he was presented with at the end of the game, down 7 in the Super Bowl with plenty of time to tie it. I fully expected him to take the Colts right down the field, get them in the end zone, and either send it into OT or give Brees a chance to bring the Saints quickly down the field and win it in the waning seconds. Either way, it would have given us our third straight classic Super Bowl. Instead, he threw a pick 6, and that was the end of the game with a little under 5 minutes left.

Reggie Wayne
I hold Reggie Wayne more than a little responsible for Manning looking less than fantastic. You can argue that Wayne ran a shitty route on that game ending INT, and that he could have done more to break up that pass. He didn't really go balls out on the last pass of the game that could have been a TD either. You don't have to argue at all though when you look at his stat line and see he caught just 5 passes for 46 yards and was pretty much a non-factor.

Reggie Bush
It's funny how along with Brees he's the face of the franchise, but usually he doesn't do all that much. He had 9 touches for 63 yards in this game, so at 7 yard per you have to say at the very least he was effective. You also can't argue that he had a much better day than the other guy on the field with a reality star girlfriend/wife.

Hank Baskett
The one chance this guy actually has to do something notable on the football field that justifies him marrying one of the ex-Girls Next Door, and what does he do? He has an onside kick bounce off his face. He couldn't have looked more unprepared for that if he was out there texting Kendra and sipping a beer margarita.

Joseph Addai
One of the few Colts to show up. He ran hard, breaking tackles finding holes. He had 130 yards from scrimmage and a TD. Of course, this being the Colts they abandoned the running game even though it was obvious the Saints had no intention of stopping it. Wouldn't it have maybe been a good idea to play some ball control and keep the ball away from the Saints and keep your shitty defense off the field? I think if Addai got 20-25 carries yesterday, the Colts win. And yes, I know everyone runs more when they win, I'm talking about the Colts making a point of getting Addai those carries regardless of the score.

Pierre Thomas
Undrafted guy beats media star Reggie Bush to be the Saints feature back, and scores a TD in a Super Bowl win. That's a nice story.

Dwight Freeney
After 2 weeks of breathless updates on the status of his ankle, he was able to numb it enough to make it thru the first half and get a sack. After halftime the pain came back and he may as well have been running on his hands.

Jeremy Shockey
Ugh. The one feel-bad moment was this throbbing palacio can now say he scored the winning TD in the Super Bowl.

Tracy Porter
Taking a cue from his head coach, he took a gamble and it paid off big when he jumped Reggie Wayne's half assed route, picked it off and took it all the way to seal the Super Bowl win. It's moments like this and like Larry Fitzgerald's breakaway TD in last year's Bowl that really make me wish I could be a football player too.

Pete Townshend
I'm not a huge Who fan, but I loved that he refused to smash the guitar at the end of their set. Just paused and then set it down. I thought that was pretty cool.

So that was the Super Bowl in all it's bloated glory. Tomorrow I'll run down Sunday's futbol action, but figured the Bowl deserves a stand-alone entry today.







Sunday, February 7, 2010

It's Super Bowl Sunday

- Is the NFL season still going on? With the 2 week break between the conference championships and Super Bowl, and the fact that it's just about mid-February, something in my mind feels like the Super Bowl has already been played and the NFL season is over. It's not though. Today is, in fact, the Super Bowl, and it should be a really good one. On Friday I ran some Whatifsports.com sims and surprisingly, the Saints won all 3. Two of them went down to the final second of the game, and as a fan, that wouldn't suck.

Yesterday I played the game on Madden twice, once as the Colts and once as the Saints, and both times the game went down to the final seconds. When I played as the Colts, the Saints won 31-28, when I played as the Saints, the Colts won 20-17. Yes, I suck at Madden. The important thing is, every possible simulation I've run of the Super Bowl has yielded a very close and very entertaining contest. Given that, I'm ready to make my Super Bowl pick, and it is....

COLTS 31, SAINTS 29

Strange as it sounds, I'm pretty convinced that this game is going to come down to clock management. I think the Colts are going to score late in the game and the Saints are also going to score late in the game, because neither of these defenses are good enough to stop these very good offenses from scoring when they really, really need to. It's going to be about making sure you are the last team to score. I think the Colts have a knack for that. They seem to always have the ball last, especially in close games. I base that on absolutely nothing except anecdotal evidence, but the way I see this game playing out is that the Saints score late to take the lead, but leave about 1:30 on the clock, which is enough time for Peyton Manning to get the Colts the game winning score.

One thing is for sure, in a way we'll all be winners today as long as we watch the cheerleaders. Colts cheerleaders and their white leather chaps vs. Saints cheerleaders and their sparkly gold miniskirts and black hooker boots. Now that's super!

- Warren Sapp has been arrested on domestic violence charges and will be pulled from NFL Network's Super Bowl coverage. The incident happened in a Miami Beach hotel. The victim said she had been "partying" with Sapp and his friends. I am surprised that beating up a hooker counts as "domestic" violence?

- The NFL named its 2010 Hall of Fame Class. Leading the class are Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith. So this was a big weekend for Dancing With the Stars Alumni, 2 of them got elected to the HOF, and another got arrested for beating up a hooker and breaking up their happy home in a cocaine filled Miami Beach hotel room. Former Saints linebacker Rickey Jackson, Vikings DT John Randle, Redskins O lineman Russ Grimm, and old timers Floyd Little and Dick LeBeau are also going in.

- It looks like the Jags are going to release Torry Holt. Holt had 51 catches last year, and he's really not THAT old. I'm thinking the Bears reunite him and Mike Martz next year. At least I'm hoping they do.

*****

- A pretty entertaining Merseyside Derby yesterday. Two red cards were handed out, one to each team, and Liverpool continued to right their ship with a 1-0 win over Everton. Dirk Kuyt had the goal on header. Liverpool has now gone 7 straight in the EPL without a defeat, with 6 of those being shutouts. Couple that with Spurs only being able to manage a scoreless draw at home against Aston Villa, and Liverpool has vaulted themselves into 4th place, which is the final Champions League qualifying spot.

- Man U is the current holders of the very transient 1st place spot following their 5-0 beatdown of broke ass Portsmouth in a complete mismatch at Old Trafford. Pompey scored 3 own goals, probably figuring that since their club can't afford to pay them, they may as well start scoring on themselves.

- Chelsea will try and make United's stay at the top a very short one when they take on 3rd place Arsenal in a big clash at Stamford Bridge today. Chelsea is currently engulfed in a media circus in which John Terry is the bearded lady, which I talked about on Friday. They trail United by 1 point. Arsenal needs this win badly after getting thumped by United last week. They are 7 points off the lead and Liverpool is closing in on them for 3rd place, which is significant because 3rd place gets an automatic spot in Champions League group play, while 4th has to play a qualifying match.

- US team member Jozy Altidore got his first EPL goal yesterday for Hull City in their 2-1 upset win over Man City. The loss was a really bad one for City, as Hull are bottom feeders and City is trying to play themselves into the Champions League.

- The top 3 in La Liga were all in action yesterday, and all 3 won. League leaders Barca got goals from Messi and Xavi in a 2-1 win over Getafe. They stay unbeaten despite two of their guys getting sent off with red cards. Real Madrid stayed 5 points back with a 3-0 walk in the park over Espanyol, getting goals from Sergio Ramos, Kaka, and Gonazlo Higuain. Valencia got goals Ever Banega and David Villa in a 2-0 win over Valladolid.

- Juventus may have a new coach, but they still are a disaster. Their latest bumbling performance was a 1-1 draw at 16th place Livorno yesterday. Juve is in danger of falling out of European play entirely, as they are currently in the last qualifying spot for the second tier Europa League, but could fall out of that today. Serie A leaders Inter have already played today, easily disposing of Cagliari 3-0 with goals from Goran Pandev, Walter Samuel, and Milito. 2nd place AC Milan is more concerned with holding off AS Roma than they are with catching Inter, and they had a bad result today, a scoreless draw at 14th place Bologna. Red hot Roma can leapfrog Milan for 2nd place later today if they can get a win at Fiorentina.

- A couple lesser European leagues are starting to really tighten up. Ligue 1 leaders Bordeaux were blitzed 4-2 by Stade Rennes yesterday, and now lead second place Montepellier by just 3 points. Montpellier beat Boulougne 2-0 yesterday. They were promoted following the 2009 season and are now threatening to win the league. Meanwhile, in Germany Bayern Munich has caught Bayer Leverkusen on top of the Bundesliga. Bayern won at defending champs Wolfsburg 3-1, while Leverkusen could manage only a 1-1 draw at 14th place VFL Bochum. Schalke lurks in 3rd place just 3 points back.

Friday, February 5, 2010

John Terry- He's a Complicated Man

So the Big Story in soccer over the last week has been the revelation that Chelsea star, and probably more importantly, England captain John Terry has been outed as having had an affair with the the former girlfriend of England teammate and Man City defender Wayne Bridge.



I know this is a huge story because it was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal yesterday, and I think they were talking about it a lot on Fox Football Fone In on Monday, I say I think because it's really hard to concentrate with Temryss Lane (below) being on that show and all. I mean, my God...if John Terry was having an affair with her I might understand what the big deal was..





Oh wait, yes they were talking about it. I know this because the same thing happened to co-host Eric Wynalda back in 1998, when the captain of the US team had a thing going with his wife, not just his girlfriend, and Wynalda says it helped contribute to the US' big faceplant in the 98 World Cup. Wynalda's wife was probably cheating on him because he's such a smug bastard, but I can only speculate on that.

Anyway, I guess I don't get why this is such a big deal. You expect me to believe this type of thing doesn't happen all the time? And now it's such a big kerfluffle that everyone in England has their petticoats all in a ruffle over this? Why?

This doesn't even seem like it should be at all surprising. In reading the WSJ article, it seems like Terry is a reprehensible dude. Among his past transgressions listed in that article:

- Drunken heckling of American tourists in 2001 regarding the WTC attack
- 2008 parking his Bentley in a handicapped spot
- Giving unauthorized Training Ground tours to journalists at 10,000 pounds a pop
- Getting caught up in this infidelity scandal after being named "Dad of the Year" in England in 2009 by the good people at Daddy's Sauce.

So it looks to me like Terry is at best a rogue and at worst an asshole. So why is this such a big deal? As for Bridge, get over it, if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it, no? Uhhhhh, the English are sooo weird. In America, our sports stars do it right. If they cheat on their wives, they do it with 16 different women. Then get beat up with a golf club.

- Back on the pitch alot of action in domestic tournaments this week. The Cinderella boys of the FA Cup, Leeds United, have turned back into a pumpkin. Jermain Defoe's hat trick vaulted Spurs to 3-1 win at Leeds, advancing Tottenham to the 5th round of the tournament. Leeds had knocked out Man U in the third round.

- In the Copa del Rey, Sevilla got out to a commanding lead in their semifinal matchup with Getafe. They won the first leg 2-0 with a goal from Brazil starter Luis Fabiano. It looks like it will be Sevilla v. Atletico Madrid in the final, as Atletico pounded Racing Santander 4-0 in the other semifinal.

- Inter Milan has a slim 1-0 lead over Fiorentina in the semis of the Coppa Italia. Diego Milito had the only goal of the match at the San Siro on Wednesday, but Fiorentina, which is also still alive in the Champions League, still has a pretty decent shot at getting into the finals of the Coppa Italia. The winner of that semi will almost certainly face red hot AS Roma, who won their first leg 2-0 at home against Udinese. Roma is unbeaten in 18 matches, and has pulled even with AC Milan for second place in Serie A.


- Marseille is in the finals of the Coupe de la Ligue after a come from behind 2-1 win at Toulouse. Evaeyerson Brandau won it with his second goal of the match, in the 104th minute.


- Looking ahead to Saturday, in the EPL we've got the Merseyside derby featuring two teams in pretty good form. Liverpool and Everton are both unbeaten in their last 5 matches, and Liverpool has been moving steadily up the table and now is only 1 point out of the 4th spot that they've set their sights on. The team they trail, Tottenham, is home against an Aston Villa club that has scuffled of late, getting only 1 win in their last 5 EPL matches.

- In La Liga, league leaders Barca and 2nd place Real Madrid are both in action at home on Saturday. Barca faces 7th place Getafe, while Real hosts 14th place Espanyol.

****
- LaDanian Tomlinson has told the San Diego Union Tribune that he thinks the Chargers are going to give him his walking papers this offseason and that he's played his last game as a Charger. He averaged 3.3 yards a carry this year and rushed for only 730 yards, so it kinda looks like he does not have a whole lot left in the tank. Kinda sad that he played in all those playoff games but never once got to a Super Bowl. Oh well, I guess that's what you get for having Marty Schottenheimer and Norv Turner as your coaches.


- The Bills have a new defensive coordinator, and it's former University of Florida DC George Edwards. Edwards was Florida's defensive coordinator for 27 whole days. You have to love college football. It's such a bastion of integrity. Edwards says that he will switch the Bills from a 4-3 to a 3-4. The rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic analogy comes to mind.


- Hope you've got something else planned for your Sundays in fall of 2011, because watching NFL football probably won't be an option. DeMaurice Smith, who is executive director of the NFLPA, says on a scale of 1-10, the probability that there won't be NFL football in 2011 is a "14". He says that because the NFL is guaranteed $5 billion in its TV contract in 2011 even if no games are played. NFL owners see that as a perfect opportunity to totally break the union and set everything back to the stone age where there is no free agency.


- OK let's see what Whatifsports.com says is going to happen in the Super Bowl. Let's run best 2 out of 3 sims...


Sim #1
Whooooa...baby...the Saints get out to a 21-0 lead and never look back. Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush combine for 221 rushing yards, Brees throws for 306 and 2 TDs and the Saints cruise to an old fashioned Super Bowl blowout win 48-24.


Sim #2
A thriller won by the Saints on a field goal as time expires 25-24. In this version of reality, Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush only combine for 49 yards. The Colts outgain the Saints by almost 200 yards, but the Saints opportunistic defense gets an 85 yard INT return for a TD from Darren Sharper to keep them in the game.


Sim #3
Once again the Saints win, again on a field goal with no time remaining, this time 24-21. Manning brings the Colts back from a 21-6 4th quarter deficit to tie it on a TD pass to Reggie Wayne and a Joseph Addai 2 point conversion with under 2 minutes left, but Brees drives the Saints downfield for the winning field goal.


Pretty surprising. 3 sims, 3 Saints wins. I guess what you do now is go bet the house on the Saints.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Three people you can shoot instead of Club America players

First Cabanas gets shot in the head in a Mexico City bar. Then JC Silva (very good player as well) gets shot from a car jacking. Looks like all the drug lords are Chivas fans. Stop shooting these poor guys that make your country better. Here are some better people to shoot if you feel the need to car jack or get rid of someone from your bar:

Drug Lords

I asked a class of Mexican students what they’re scared of the most in Mexico, and they told me drug lords. Apparently, you have to watch your babies and children because drug lords kidnap them, gut them, sew their eyes and mouths, and stuff them with drugs. What happened to the good ole days of just shoving them up your own ass? Drug lords have made getting cheap lobster scary. Now I gotta go to Red Lobster instead of exploiting the poorness of Mexico.

Carlos Mencia

This guy is the worst thing to come from Mexico ever. He copied Dave Chapelle’s show, took everyone else’s jokes, and comes up with catchphrases that makes the world more retarded. DUH DUH DUH. Nice man. If someone shot this guy, not many people would miss this fat ass. Then he had the balls to charge Joe Rogan with copyright infringement just because Rogan rightfully called him a plagiarizer. Joe Rogan has plenty of other, better comedians to rip off than you. You suck so much that Mexico won’t allow you back.

USA Soccer

It seems like Mexican soccer does AWESOME except against USA. Sure, they’re undefeated at home vs USA, but that’s because you give them swine flu. Mexicans should shoot all the USA Soccer players so they get replaced with retards from the MLS. Oh wait, that’s Donovan HAHAAHHAHAHHA. As a side note, I’m going into an English bar dressed as a colonist with eight other motherfuckers when we play and talk shit. AMERICA VICTOR. FUCK THE RED COATS. Except Oli. He’s okay.

In short, Mexico is a pretty bad ass country with hot chicks, because I married one, but you gotta stop shooting my favorite teams' players. Or shoot them after we sell them. Cabanas was worth 3-5 million. Thx.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Bears Hire Martz, Spurs Loan Out Keane

- Nobody does clownish coaching and executive searches like the Bears. The team that brought us such debacles as Dave McGinnis being head coach for 3 hours back in 1999, and bringing in a headhunting firm to find GM Jerry Angelo didn't disappoint in their Clouseau-esque search for an offensive coordinator this offseason. That search finally ended with the hiring of former Rams Head Coach, and Rams, Lions, and 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Martz. Martz is known for espousing an offensive philosophy similar to that of an 11 year old playing Madden. Send everyone deep on every play, drop the QB back 20 yards, and wing it downfield.

That philosophy has been moderately successful over the last 10 years or so, and it will be interesting to see how the great Jay Cutler fares in it. He's definitely got the arm for it. Does he have the wherewithal to learn Martz's infamous Against the Day sized playbook? We'll see. Give the Bears credit for this, they may be bad on the field and ridiculous in the front office, but they aren't boring.

- Meanwhile, there is still a Super Bowl being played this Sunday. It's looking though, like Colts pass rusher Dwight Freeney won't be playing in it. He has a torn ligament in his ankle and hopes to play, but the Colts are planning as if he won't. Freeney was a huge factor with 13 1/2 sacks this year, and if he can't go, that's significant. The Saints rely on a downfield passing game, and not having to worry about Freeney coming off the edge should help them generate the time needed for Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, Robert Meacham, and Jeremy Shockey to get open.

***

- Yesterday was the closing of the January transfer window, and the biggest name to change sides was Spurs' Robbie Keane. Keane has been loaned out to Celtic. He has a long and successful history with Tottenham, topping 10 goals in a season six times. He came back to Spurs last winter after a short sojourn at Liverpool, and helped turn around what was to that point a dreadful season for Tottenham. He's been scuffling to find playing time with an improved Spurs team this season. Manager Harry Redknapp maintains that Keane still has a future with Spurs after this loan, but we'll see. Celtic is wayy behind Rangers in the Scottish Premier League, and trying to hold on to second place and a Champions League qualifying spot.


- Chelsea dropped the ball big time with a 1-1 draw at relegation zone dwellers Hull City. Didier Drogba had the equalising goal for the Blues, but the piss poor result leaves them only 2 points ahead of Man U when they thought they'd have a full 4 points on them after this match. There game in hand is gone now too.

- A couple of Premier League clubs got bounced from the 4th round of the FA Cup today. Not good ones though. Wolverhampton dropped a 3-1 decision at Crystal Palace, and Notts County won 2-0 at Wigan.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Man U Thumps Arsenal...Ignorant American Football Coverage!!




-If you haven't already, please go read the comments posted on Youtube re: Patrick's Robinho Craplaticos video. It is the funniest stuff I've read anywhere in this decade. In case you need some background, Robinho is a Brazilian star who signed a big money contract with Man City a couple years ago, and now that he can't get any playing time is going back to Brazil. Patrick rightly called bullshit on this guy two years ago, and included him in his Craplaticos series (available in the archives here btw), and caught hell for it on Youtube. Who's an ignorant American now you funny colored money having tourist kidnapping Brazilian she-males?





- Meanwhile, on the pitch, there was an EPL clash of the titans yesterday as two of the three clubs jousting for the top spot in the league met at the Emirates Stadium. When it was done, it was very clear that Man U is a contender, and Arsenal is just a pretender. The Devils absolutely took it to Arsenal, scoring the first 3 goals of the game and coasting to a 3-1 blowout win. Wayne Rooney continued his awesome season, getting the second goal of the game, his 20th of the Premier League season and 100th Premier League goal of his career.



- Man U has every reason to feel great after that win, but they still trail Chelsea by 1 point. The league leaders had a surprisingly difficult time at Burnley on Saturday, but still managed to stratch out a 2-1 victory thanks to a John Terry header off a corner late in the match. Terry had been in the headlines this week for apparent romantic misunderstandings with a teammates ex-girlfriend.

- The race for 4th place in the EPL tightened up considerably over the weekend. Man City got a 2-0 win over woeful Portsmouth. Emanuel Adebayor scored in an emotional return to the EPL after being on that tragic bus ride of the Togolese national team. Liverpool continues to bail water out of their boat with a 2-0 win over Bolton. Aston Villa got 2 goals from Gabriel Agbonlahor in a 2-0 win at Fulham. Tottenham gave up a really painful goal in injury time and had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Birmingham. The goal was huge because now instead of having a three point lead over Liverpool and Man City, it's only a 1 point lead, with Villa lurking three points back.

- Egypt has won their 3rd straight African Nations Cup after a 1-0 finals win over Ghana. Mohamed Gedo scored the goal in the 85th minute. Nigeria places third with a 1-0 win over Algeria.

- In La Liga, Sevilla got a big win in their pursuit of a Champions League spot. They topped the current holders of Spain's third and final bid, Valencia, 2-1, behind two goals from Alvaro Negredo. Sevilla now trails Valencia by 3 points.

- Real Madrid got a big time monkey off their backs this weekend, getting their first win at Deportivo La Coruna in 18 years. They got 2 goals from Karim Benzema in a 3-1 win. They remain 5 points behind La Liga pacesetters Barcelona, who got a workmanlike 1-0 win at Sporting Gijon.

****
- In Futbol Americano, it was a big week for All-Star games. On Saturday in Birmingham we had the Senior Bowl, where players actually go all out because in reality, this is probably the most important game of these players lives up to this point.

-Michigan DE Brandon Graham was named the MVP with 2 sacks. He projects as a first round pick.

-Cincinnati WR/KR Mardy Gilyard was impressive with 102 receiving yards and a 32 yard TD reception.

- Tim Tebow fumbled twice and completed 8 of 12 passes for 50 yards.

- Tulane WR Jeremy Williams had 82 receiving yards and 1 rush for 27 yards.

- Central Michigan QB Dan LeFevour had the day's only TD pass and also a 1 yard scoring run.

- And finally, the Pro Bowl was yesterday. The AFC won 41-34 before 70,000+ in Miami, the largest crowd ever to see a Pro Bowl since 1959. So I'm guessing somebody wants to see this game for some reason. Matt Schaub won MVP honors thanks to 2 TD passes.