Classic Redskins

During pre-game warmups today, two Redskins players decided to horse around instead of actually preparing to play. Safety Brandon Meriweather and wide receiver Aldrick Robinson collided resulting in Meriweather hurting his knee and Robinson receiving a head injury.

Meriweather, who has not played in a game this season due to a prior knee injury, was seen limping to the locker room after the collision and Robinson was down on the turf for a while according to the Washington Post.

In all honesty, this is one of the dumber things I've seen in all of sports. Why is a safety running routes, and why is Robinson stretching in a daze on the goal line? Take that to the sidelines. Imagine trying to explain this situation to head coach Mike Shanahan. Hilarious. Oh and by the way, both guys were declared inactive for the game, and didn't play.

One Last Thing: This is the most obscure pre-game injury since former Yankee outfielder Juan Rivera crashed into a golf cart and broke his kneecap.

Ground Hog Day, Blow Outs and Blown Out Knees

Wow, Mark, just wow.

That was probably the worst thing I've ever witnessed. The most vicious beating in a while taken from the Jets today, and I'm not too surprised. Yet, it still feels like a kick to the balls. Sanchez has completely fallen off the wagon. He's worse than last year and that's saying a whole lot. The Jets were totally outclassed today by a tougher, stronger, better team. Turnovers galore, terrible throws, no blocking, and of course no tackling. The Jets are starved for offensive weapons, so obviously their only deep threat goes down with an eerily similar knee injury. Must be something in the water, don't drink the Gatorade at half time, guys.

I actually don't see the Jets winning more than 6 games this season with the current motley crew they have out there. I think the only way to cure the Jets is to give Tebow the boot, get him out of New York, remove that elephant in the locker room. Then maybe the team learn how to do the basics, ya know, catching, throwing, blocking, tackling, grade school stuff. Next week could be even worse against the Texans, who are actually filthy. Can't stop Kendall Hunter, not gonna stop Arian Foster.

Ps. I may sit Arian Foster in both my leagues next week just because I want him to do horrible. Unlikely, but kids can dream.

Pps. When is Sanchez gonna grow up? Dude is super bad, and almost immature out there. Its like he's being controlled by some infant playing XBOX. Taking sacks, hucking throws into the ground, just super gross.

Ppps. I wish Colin Kaepernick put that in, 41-0 sounds much worse than 34-0 and I wanna feel really bad about this one. I guarantee no one's watching this anymore and that's good thing. I'm gonna go curl up in a ball and cry it out.

Buffalo Runs Hook and Ladder for TD

I probably was one of the only people in America watching this game live because I go to UConn and actually care about games against Buffalo. Either way, when I saw this I was thoroughly impressed. 10 times out of 10 the hook and ladder fails to work. Think about that. Yet, the University at (not of) Buffalo, ran the play to perfection. They caught most of the defense off guard with the pitch and the rest of the defense seemed to forget how to tackle. UConn still got the W though so it's all good.

Homer Bailey Throws 2012's 7th No-No

What is in the water this year? 7 no-hitters?! The MLB is definitely switching from a hitters league to a pitchers league after all of the success pitchers have been having over the past few years. A major turning point was last season after Justin Verlander's masterful season in which he won the American League MVP to go along with his Cy Young Award.

Tonight, Cincinnati Reds pitcher with arguably the most ironic name in all of sports, Homer Bailey, threw a no-hitter, striking out 10 and walking only one in the 7th. Bailey joins Chicago White Sox Philip Humber, LA Angels Jared Weaver, New York Mets Johan Santana, San Francisco Giants Matt Cain, Seattle Mariners Felix Hernandez, and a combined effort by 6 Mariners that resulted in a no-hitter, in history with his "No-No."

Good for Bailey and the Reds. They are a fun bunch to watch and they may be able to make some noise this postseason with no true front-runner in the National League. Now, after already clinching their playoff berth, this is yet another feather in the team's cap for this year's season.

One Last Thing: How terrible would it have been to be Reds 3rd baseman Scott Rolen during this game? Rolen made an error in the third inning when the thought of a perfect game or no-hitter was still 21 outs away. He must have been praying for Bailey to walk someone or give up a hit just to make sure he wasn't the guy that cost Bailey a perfect game. Rolen really dodged a bullet there.

Crazy Comebacker

Blue Jays pitcher Chad Jenkins got a little bit creative on his approach to snagging Curtis Granderson's comebacker. In my opinion, the comebacker is the scariest thing in all of sports outside of like MMA. The ball comes back at the pitcher at ridiculous speeds, and more often then not, the ball will miss the glove and nail the pitcher. I'll go over the middle on a slant route with James Harrison waiting for me before I take a comebacker from any major league hitter.

Sports Bet Steal of the Season

Bengals WR AJ Green

Cincinnati -2 in Jacksonville is an absolute robbery. Jacksonville, who is 1-2 having beaten only the Colts, has to face off against the Bengals, coming in on a two game winning streak. This is an absolute joke of a matchup, yet Cincy is only favored by two points. I would go so far as to guarantee that Cincinnati covers this game. Theres no way that the Jags can stop A.J. Green, and the Bengals offense. Although the Bengals have a -17 point differential on the season, the Jags have only scored 52 points all year, which ties the Jags with Carolina for the second lowest total in the NFL.

Jacksonville doesn't have anyone who can really match up with Green one on one, and as a result they will have to play a lot of zone coverage. As long as Dalton can stand in the pocket and watch the play develop, he should be able to pick them apart.  Jacksonville only has two sacks on the entire season, so I don't think Dalton will be pressured too much either. Jacksonville has also let up an average of 260 passing yards per game this year, just further proving my point that Green and Dalton should be able to cover this game. So, I'd say the smart money is on Cincy this week -2 at Jacksonville.

Travis Snider with the Catch of the Year

Call the police immediately. That was a robbery and a half. I heard Spiderman is suing for copyright infringement after the way Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Travis Snider scaled that wall. If I was the Mets hitter Mike Baxter I probably just retire on the spot. Baxter's on the Mets, he's batting .256, and he can't even get a sure homer to leave the yard...can't get much worse than that.

They're Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!

"As soon as I heard the rumors today, I got down on the floor and started doing pushups.” - Ed Hochuli

As I predicted earlier in the week, the regular NFL referees are back! ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter broke the news last night with a tweet saying that both the NFL and the NFLRA (National Football League Referee Association) agreed to terms on a deal. This resulted in a country wide sigh of relief as the referees will be implemented immediately for the Week 4 games that start tonight when the Ravens take on the Browns.

Commissioner Roger Goodell held a press conference today offering a "sincere" apology stating that sometimes little things have to be affected now in order for things to last in the long term. By "little things" Goodell means 3 weeks of absolutely terrible officiating which reached its peak this past Monday during the Seahawks-Packers (disgrace of a) game on national television. That being said, Goodell clarified that the game will forever be remembered as "The Fail Mary" was not the reason why the deal got done this week.

Either way, the deal has been completed and Ed Hochuli will be suiting up this weekend. The deal that was reached will now last through the 2019 season, so something like this won't happen again for a long time, but hopefully it doesn't ever happen again.

The details of the new deal state that the NFL can hire a few full time officials starting next season and the NFL will also start up a developmental program for officials and potentially add these referees to games if they please. Despite the NFLRA not wanting to add any more referees fearing that this would result in pay cuts for the current referees, they had to give some to get some. The NFLRA went into the lockout with one thing in mind money and rightfully so. They got what they wanted as a retirement benefit package will be provided starting in 2017 and their annual compensation package will increase steadily until 2019.

One Last Thing: So a happy medium was met and both sides are happy, but now it is time for the referees to prove their value. Many fans will be tuning in this week to see just how different the officiating will be. Hopefully the referees right the ship this week and we all can forget about these last 3 weeks and enjoy the rest of the season.

Quarterback Fight Club

Ok, so yesterday I was watching football with my friends, and for some reason we got to the topic of which quarterback would win in a fight in a sort of Mortal Kombat style 1 v 1 single elimination tournament. We argued about it for the next few minutes, until finally we decided to make up a quick bracket of the 32 starting NFL quarterbacks. After going through it game by game we crowned a winner for each matchup by popular vote. I thought it might be something you and your friends might want to get in on as well. So here it is, the 16 matchup bracket complete with two play-in games. These are between Skelton and Kolb because of their possible quarterback controversy, as well as Tebow and Sanchez, because we had to find a way to get Tebow in there, otherwise it wouldn't be real 2012 football talk.
So originally I had Newton winning the whole thing, but after seeing his press conference I have lost a lot of confidence in his abilities to fight. He now kind of comes off as a huge baby, and someone who would probably come in with a lot of hype, and just get the crap kicked out of him.

Also, although I had Tebow moving out of the first two rounds, I think he is too much of a pacifist to go in to the later rounds. I think a serious dark horse in this is Jake Locker. The bottom half of the AFC is weak, and Locker will basically waltz into the final four.

However, as much as I hate him, I think I've got to go to Roethlisberger for the overall victory. Just a big, strong, goon who we know has no problem breaking the rules. I think RGIII could give him some trouble, as he would probably end up being my NFC champ, but he's not that tall, which could hurt him. Big Ben definitely has more reach, and is taller, so I'm giving him the edge.


P.S. I think Eli's 1st round departure is a little premature. Eli is the toughest man in the NFL, plus his two Super Bowl rings would probably put a nice dent in the side of Vick's face.

Biggest Hit I Have Ever Seen

Denver Broncos linebacker Joe Mays was suspended 1 game and fine $50,000 today for a hit that he made on Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub on Sunday. That may seem like a lot, but I don't even know if that is enough of a punishment.

I was watching this live with my roommate and both of us went absolutely bananas over this. Schaub has no idea that Mays is coming. Mays' teammate linebacker Von Miller, is basically holding Schaub up on a tee for Mays, and then, boom goes the dynamite.

Schaub was quoted after the game saying that he lost part of his ear because of that hit, and even though he did return after one play, Mays should have to like name his first born son Matt after that. Either that or Schaub should be allowed to cut off a part of Mays' ear, you know some Hammurabi's Code justice. "Eye for an Eye, Ear for an Ear."

One Last Thing: I've been watching football for quite some time now, and the only hit that I can think of that was as bad as that one, was the hit the late Sean Taylor made on Bills punter Brian Moorman (who was cut today) in the Pro Bowl a few years back.

Sorry for the crappy quality, it's all YouTube had

Does Anyone Like Roger Goodell Anymore?

Horrible. Last night's NFL matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks was a disgrace. Christmas came early for the Seahawks who received a gift of a win due to the terrible officiating by the replacement referees.

With 8 second left in regulation, trailing 12-7, the Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson launched a 24 yard hail mary touchdown to Golden Tate as the time expired, giving the Seahawks a 14-12 victory. If you watched the game live or even just watched the video above, you can see that the Packers defensive back M.D. Jennings simultaneously caught the ball with Tate. If you look even closer, you can clearly see that Jennings has the ball against his chest, which means that this should have been an interception and not a touchdown.

The white referee looked at the black referee and the black referee waved his arms over his head signifying a touch back (the correct call.) The white referee for some reason, saw that, and then signaled that the Seahawks scored a touchdown, causing the home crowd to erupt. The whole thing was a mess.

Not one thing was handled well throughout this whole situation. There was no discussion, different officials calling different things, and the worst part is that everyone involved is acting like nothing happened. The NFL today announced that they are "standing by the call." They are the most stubborn group of people on the planet and something needs to be done. They simply are sitting back and watching their league turn to a joke. Instead of acting like there is no problem, why don't they pay the real referees which they obviously deserve, after watching these replacement clowns try and do their job.

If I were on the Packers, I would have been livid after the game. Who cares if you get fined? Everyone already hates the league enough and it makes them look even worse. This game could mean so much down the stretch to a team like the Packers. They usually are close to the top spot at the end of the season, and this game could have cost them home field advantage.

When it gets to the point where the replacements are costing teams games, I think that it is time for the NFL to just give in. It isn't a missed call here or there, it is the outcome of games we are talking about now. Even though the sides aren't close on a deal, I'd be shocked if an agreement isn't reached this week, simply because everyone is talking about it now.

One Last Thing: The Patriots-Ravens ending was also another controversial one because of bas officiating. The last second field goal by Ravens kicker Justin Tucker went over the upright and was signaled good without any explanation. I think the correct call was made, but when Patriots coach Bill Belichick tried to talk to the referee about it, the ref simply ran by him. Also, both of these games were nationally televised games because the Patriots-Ravens was the Sunday Night Football game and the Packers-Seahawks was the Monday Night Football game. This means the whole country is watching.

Revis Island Closed for the Season, Might as well Pack it up

Great beard going too, hate to see that go to waste.

Well folks, Adele has sung that fateful song, Yogi Berra says its over, the Jets season is dead and buried. Darrelle Revis, obviously the best cornerback in the NFL and the most integral part of the Jets D, is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. This is actually the biggest buzzkill in a while from the Jets front. Despite being horrendous for 2 of the first 3 games this year, they sit perched atop the AFC East with two divisional wins, and the Pats have lost two in a row which is just as sweet. But that little optimism is dead and gone, and I doubt we'll get to 8-8, and from here on will be extremely painful to watch. Only consolation at this point would be if they ship Tebow to Russia or some sad country like that to wreck his spirit. Maybe Ukraine, talk about a dreary place, no smiles in Ukraine. I can hope that the defense will come together in DR's absence, but we saw how that went in Pittsburgh Week 2. Gonna be a brutal 14 weeks coming up.

PS. I'm legitimately scared we'll lose by 45 next week. Randy Moss may not play a lot of snaps but he ruins the Jets, maybe 2 TD's and 175 on like 5 catches. And the Niners D, what a scary group of individuals, I'm pretty sure Pat Willis has killed people and NaVorro Bowman is his twin who definitely has killed people. Could get ugly.

Too Easy...nasm30 is a Champion

"Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever." -Shane Falco

Tonight was the final day of the 2012 fantasy baseball playoffs for our legends league, and no surprise here, but nasm30 pulled out the win over CB32's team, Jaimie Lee Curtis. I want to give CB32 a lot of credit. That was a crazy matchup, and there were a bunch of times during the week when I thought I was dead. So yes, it was a tough battle, and I had to fight back quite a few times, but my guys kept their heads in there, and we knew all along that if played the game we've been playing all year, we would hoist the imaginary trophy. In the end it came down to just a couple of points, and there is some thanks in order.

First off, I want to thank AF for trading me Kyle Lohse. The guy was clutch down the stretch, and his excellent 16.9 point performance today was just that. He came to win today. For those of you who are wondering, it was an absolute robbery of a trade. I got Lohse and Washington Nationals reliever Drew Storen as a throw in for Dan Haren. Dan Haren. I feel like I owe AF some of the prize money, because I honestly feel bad sometimes about taking Lohse away from him like that. It was kind of just mean.

Secondly, the players. Couldn't have done it without this group of guys. Just stacked at every position. They hit when they needed to, for both power and for average. My pitchers were great as well, picking up clutch saves, and wins all over the place to end up with the one seed, and eventually win both playoff games.

Finally, myself. Since no one else is going to do it, I'll give myself the most credit. I came in and put this team together how I wanted. I didn't follow any of he rules or conventions of a typical fantasy baseballer. I went for value over need, and I managed with emotion and heart instead of reason. Sure, at times I had my doubts, everyone does, but in the end I knew that these guys could be great, and that I could put a winning team on the field.

That's all I have to say for now so again thank you everyone, and better luck next year to AF, CB32, MillMeek22, and Beardface.

P.S. I am a terrible fantasy footballer, so really I am just looking forward to next April.

Dan Carpenter Saved So Many Lives Today It's Crazy

Best player on the Jets today.

Yo dude, I love that Blurry song.

Gotta hand it to the lead singer of Puddle of Mudd on this one. Dan Carpenter prevented about 100 murders in the Massachusetts area alone. Kicker with flow, never a good thing, too much going on up there. But seriously, if he doesn't miss that last field goal, I probably would have jumped out the window simply out of principle. The Jets looked about as bad as you can look, I legitimately have never seen so many receivers drop balls like the Jets do. I mean just about anything that Sanchez twirls and lollipops out there seems to get picked or dropped. Not a great recipe for success by a long shot, especially when you can't run it either. Thank God the Fins are god awful, because any half way decent squad beats us by about 40 today. Winning ugly feels so dirty, I almost wish we lost, like really. But now we're 2-1, with two divisional wins and you can't really be too upset except for the whole being really bad thing. Next week could be an absolute slaughtering, but the 9iners just lost to the Vikings which makes me feel a little better about that situation. The outcome that is most likely is, the Jets lose a defensive struggle. Sanchez goes 12-30 with a couple of picks and they stay in the game the whole time until the last 5 minutes. Seems like something I've seen before.

The main point of this little spiel is that Tebow sucks. It wasn't spelled out for ya but its definitely in there. He is just God-awful, they thought throwing him a pass would be a good idea? Hell no. Guy was probably praying in the huddle that they wouldn't sling it his way. Don't know what the Jets see in him.

Giants Game 3 Recap - "The Execution"

Giants RB Andre Brown

Yeah so I've made an executive decision that I will now come up with a nickname for each week. Last week was, "The Heart Attack" and this week's 36-7 slaughtering over the Carolina Panthers will be named, "The Execution."(we're going to go ahead and forget that Cowboys game)

Anyways, the G-Men came out guns blazing, firing on all cylinders. With all of the talk over the past week about injuries and the short week of preparation for the Panthers "college style" option offense, the odds were stacked against them. Of course, those pesky Giants that always seem to play their best when no one expects them to, did it again with their performance tonight.


Cam Newton was uncomfortable all night, and someone woke up the beast that is the Giants defense. The D and special teams caused 5 turnovers including 3 interceptions by LB Michael Boley (underratedly has 3 picks in 3 games,) impressive rookie Jayron Hosley, and backup safety Stevie Brown. Newton was also sacked twice and had a bunch of passes deflected at the line. The Giants defense also did a wonderful job containing Newton, 6 rushes for 6 yards, and the option.

Offensively the Giants just clicked. Plain and simple. Knifing through the soft Panthers defense over and over, 5-8 yards at a time, scoring on 8 of their 10 drives. It was a thing of beauty to watch. Eli was on point going 27 for 35 for 288 yards and a touchdown to Martellus Bennett (6 catches, 73 yards, TD) who really played solid when we needed him to. Also, the offensive line did a wonderful job tonight. Eli had all day to go through his reads, and they really stepped up without David Diehl (knee).

With all of the positives the Giants can take away from this victory, what stood out the most was the play of running back Andre Brown and wide receiver Ramses Barden. With workhorse starting running back Ahmad Bradshaw (neck) and star wide receiver Hakeem Nicks (foot) out with injuries, these guys needed to do enough to get a W tonight. They did that and then some. This was the first real night to prove that they can play in this league, and both made the best of their opportunities. Brown got the start at running back, and exploded for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns on 20 carries. He has been very impressive so far, and the Giants might have found a diamond in the rough with this guy. He reminds me of another back that played very well for us a few years ago. A guy by the name of Derrick Ward.

King Ramses had a big night in his first start

Barden on the other hand, was Eli's go to guy all night. With stud wideout Victor Cruz (6 catches for 42 yards) drawing most of the secondary's attention, Barden abused the Panthers countless times. He had 9 catches for 138 yards, and he also reminded me of someone who was very good for us a few years back...Plaxico Burress. He is a big target who creates space for himself downfield, and with the emergence of Barden, coach Tom Coughlin can now put him on the outside oppostie Nicks, and bump Cruz back to the slot where he is more comfortable.



I may be jumping to conclusions on these guys, and we do play a much better secondary and defense overall next week in the Philadelphia Eagles, but I really think these guys open up our offense. With Nicks and Barden on the outside, Cruz in the slot, Bennett working the middle of the field and Bradshaw and Brown in the backfield, Eli Manning has an extensive arsenal of weapons. Add in rookie David Wilson, whom I think the Giants should use like the Saints use Darren Sproles (more split out at wideout), who by the way will come around mark my words. That is a scary unit.

One Last Thing: Hats off to kicker Larry Tynes tonight. The guy was just burying field goals all night. He looked like LeBron out there. He was 5 for 5 on field goals and not to mention 3 extra points. The offense puts up 18 points, Tynes matches it with 18 of his own. I can't say I hate it.

Tiger in the Lead at the Tour Championship.. back where he needs to be

Eldrick Woods, looking ahead. Not in his rearview though.

I know a lot of people out there think of golf like they do soccer, both sports I particularly enjoy because of their own special nuances, but most people find them boring. "How can you watch golf? That ish is super boring." Wrong. Golf is one of the oldest sports in existence and it's probably one of the most difficult. It is the definition of a specialty sport, and to be a pro, you have to be completely unreal. Most people can name a few golfers, but every single person in the United States knows Tiger Woods. If you find someone who says they've never heard of him, run, they're probably a serial killer or a cannibal. The guy is literally has been the symbol for his sport for the past 15 years and he could still very well be the best of all time when all is said and done.

Over the last few years, Tiger has been hit a rough patch, with no major victories to add to his impressive tally of 14.  4 behind the "Golden Bear," Jack Nicklaus. Tiger being back at the top of the leaderboard is just about the best thing for golf at the moment next to the new phenom Rory Mcilroy, who by the way has every chance to be as good or better than Tiger. Hate him or Love him, if Tiger's in the lead, people are gonna watch on Sundays. The people want to see Tiger dominate or they want to see if he'll collapse, which has happened I think exactly once when he was downed by South Korean great Y.E Yang at the 2009 PGA Championship. Now that Tee Dub and Rahry have this new budding rivalry, there's a new reason to watch. Back when Jack and Arnie Palmer (great beverage, great golfer, only fitting) were battling for supremacy every week, golf was huge, and this twosome could definitely catapult golf's ratings. If Tiger hangs on and wins the Tour Championship, and wins the Fed Ex Cup, he'll be officially back and the only thing left is to get back on the major train.

PS. Arnold Palmer literally kills life, dude tees off at the Masters once a year, sells 99 cent drinks and makes 10 mill a year. That is the definition of winning.

PPS. There is actually no better deal than an Arizona Iced Tea, maybe some crazy bodega juice that's like a dime, but that probably has rat piss in it or something weird. Only way to go is Arizona, any other drink is really just irresponsible.

Giants Banged up for Battle with Panthers

The Giants received a lot of bad news today about the status of some of their most important players for Thursday's game against the Panthers. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw, right tackle David Diehl, and wide receivers Domenik Hixon and Hakeem Nicks, have all been ruled out for tomorrow night's game. The most shocking addition to the list has to be Nicks, who was quoted by the media just yesterday saying he's fine and he expects to play. I can't help but feel like this is a precautionary move by Big Blue. They must be trying to protect their star wideout, and keep him healthy for the rest of the season. As for what they will do come Thursday night, I have a few players to keep an eye on if you are pulling for the G-Men.

Running Back

It's pretty obvious after last week's performance, that everyone will be watching Andre Brown. Brown, who will start in place of the injured Ahmad Bradshaw. Brown has bounced around the league his entire career, and has found himself a nice opportunity with the injury to Bradshaw.

However, I think that the eyes of Big Blue Nation should still be fixed on 1st round pick David Wilson. Wilson has made mistakes a habit up until this point, but he is a good player. He's an athlete, and I think he is smart enough to realize this is a very rare and valuable opportunity. He is shifty and quick, with big play ability, something that the Giants haven't had much of in their run game for some time.

That being said, all of these good things are being held back right now by his maturity issues. If he can somehow get around that, and focus on playing the game, he can end up being the guy we give the ball to 25 times a game.

Right Tackle

Where's Kareem McKenzie when you need him? The Giants continue to be banged up all over the trenches, this time with our most consistent lineman, David Deihl. What the Giants will probably end up doing is move Will Beatty over to right tackle and put Sean Locklear over at left tackle.

If it were up to me, I would reluctantly keep Beatty at Left Tackle, and move current Left Guard Kevin Boothe over to RT. I would then put guard Mitch Petrus in at left guard because he played there for us a bit last year down the stretch.

Wide Receiver

The fact that Hakeem Nicks will not be playing tomorrow is a huge, huge blow for the Giants. With Nicks out, expect Victor Cruz to get double covered often which means a lot of the Giants younger guys are going to have to step up.

Domenik Hixon will also be out, so look for Ramses Barden to start opposite Cruz, and in the slot, I think you have no choice but to start 2nd Round pick Reuben Randle out of LSU. Randle hasn't see a whole lot of time this year besides special teams, but he is a legitimate deep threat with great hands. He was also compared to Hakeem Nicks coming out of college, and may now be forced to fill his shoes.

Jerrel Jernigan is another guy that more of a slot type receiver that head coach Tom Coughlin could use to spell someof these guys.

Also Watch For

The season debut of Prince Amukamara. This guy has been injured so much in his short career that I feel like tomorrow is the first game of his career. It's becoming increasingly more difficult to like Amukamara simply because he is never on the field. With all that being said, I think a solid game tomorrow can seriously help his stock with not only the fans, but also with the rest of his teammates.

Falcons RB Michael Turner Gets DUI After Win

Looks like Big Mike got a little too crunk in the A last night following the Falcons big win over the Broncos. "The Burner," got burned by the law on this one, as he was pulled over for doing his best Akon impression by driving 97 MPH in a 65 MPH speed zone. Turner was arrested for DUI and speeding at 5 AM and spent two hours in jail before posting bail at $2,179.

This is something you hate to see and can't happen if you consider yourself a professional. Whatever a player does reflects his team and organization. Now everyone knows what goes on after victories in Atlanta. The big time guys go out and party until 5 o'clock in the morning. Turner probably ruined it for everyone now. The curfews will be a lot more strict and Turner will probably face repercussions from both the team and the league.

One Last Thing: If this was Roddy White, I would understand it, but Mike Turner?! What are you celebrating? He literally ran for 16 yards on 11 carries. He better have been there buying everyone else drinks because they won the game, not him. I watched him take 3 carries in order to gain 1 yard for a touchdown. 1! I have Turner on my fantasy team, in both leagues, don't ask me why. But this is why I draft QB's like Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady, real clubhouse guys. Hopefully they can pull Turner aside and keep this an internal issue as we go on.

Go to 3:45-4:10 and that was my reaction 

when Turner finally scored his 1 yard TD

Yunel Escobar Eye Black Controversy

Idiot.

Just when you think you've seen it all, someone goes and does something like this. On Saturday in a game against the Red Sox, Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar decided it would be a good idea to experiment with his eye black. Many stars over the years have used the eye black "patches" instead of the regular eye black "paint," because the patches allow you to write on them. Usually these messages have Biblical references, for example like Tim Tebow did in college for the University of Florida. Others, like Reggie Bush, chose to write something that displays where they are from, like their area code. (Both Tebow and Bush are pictured at the bottom)

Yunel Escobar took the eye black messages to a whole new level. Under one eye, the message read, "Tu ere," and under the other was "maricon." The full phrase of, "Tu ere maricon" translates into "You are a faggot," in English. Sick bro. There is literally no reason for that to be said, or especially advertised by professional athletes who have thousands of eyes on them every time they do anything. Children who look up to these players will think gay slurs are ok and funny, while they simply aren't. Bud Selig needs to hold Escobar accountable for this and make sure anything like this never happens again.

One Last Thing: I don't know what Escobar will say to get out of this one, but if I were him, I would say I didn't think anyone was watching because it was a Red Sox-Blue Jays game. Both teams are pure garbage, and Escobar must have thought this was his opportunity to finally show his displeasure with homosexuals. Who knows? The Blue Jays play north of the border, maybe this is allowed there. Canadians are weird.

RIGHT WAYS TO WRITE ON EYE BLACK

"Mark 8:36" means "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?"

"619" for Bush's area code

Fantasy Baseball Ends and the Jets Look Like the Jets

Well my quest for a third fantasy baseball title and $200 is over prematurely after the players decided not to hit and my pitchers decided to throw meatballs and take losses. Ah c'est la vie I guess, I'll be back on the horse next year.

Ouch ka-bibbles. We all know Nasir Jones is God's son. 

Now to the major point of this little ramble that I'm trying to fit together. My optimism for the Jets lasted exactly 1 week, and I can't say I'm surprised. I knew there was a chance they'd lay a fat egg and just look completely horrible and stupid. People are clamoring for God's son, TT, but I was thinking maybe they could keep that going for a couple more weeks. Of course, stupid me, the Jets looked like the Jets of old. Dropped passes, unbelievably bad tackling, oh my God they literally made Isaac Redmond look like Barry Sanders out there. The dude was like their 4th stringer two years ago, just pop warner nonsense from a supposedly stout D. I mean yeah the Steelers are good and all, but the display they put on at the Ketchup Bottle was kind of embarrassing. Next week we got the Dolphins and Tannehill's hot wife. Reggie Bush went absolutely nuts this week, so if the Jets want to win they have to stop him, because big Ry guy over there isn't anything special. I guess we'll have to sit through a week of media garbage about a supposed QB battle between, Eva Longoria's boy toy and Jesus Christ Superstar. Sanchez has got the job by a mile and he'll bounce back against the Fins. I hope.

PS. I literally love that the Pats lost to the Cards. Made my weekend. Shank city Gostkowski and Brady looked human. Gotta hope that happens in week 7, probably not though. I would say I like when the Jets win more, but I'd be lying. Something about Brady, probably his face, it sucks.

Yanks Head Down The Home Stretch

Even though we keep talking about how important each series is for the Yankees, the time has officially come to either put up or shut up. No more complaining about blown calls or injuries or anything else. The Yanks are currently involved in heated pennant and wild card races, and the season is starting to wind down. 

Even though this team has been involved in countless of these races, this one has a different feel to it. This is because if your team doesn't win the pennant, the consolation prize is now a "play-in" game because of the addition of another wild card. The pennant is now has an added weight and there can be no more slipping. The other reason why this race feels different is because the Red Sox are not in the running for a playoff spot for the first time in a while.

The Yankees currently have 16 games remaining and today is their last day off. Even though there are a small selection of games, the Yankees actually have a pretty easy schedule (knock on wood.) They play 7 against the Blue Jays, 3 against the wild card leading Athletics, 3 against the Twins, and then they close the season out with 3 games against a familiar foe, the Red Sox. In past years the Twins and especially the Red Sox have been locks for the playoffs, but not this season. Both teams are both comfortably way below the .500 mark and in last place of their respected divisions. So these games are all very winnable, and the key series is the 3 game set in the Bronx with the A's. Oakland currently hold a playoff position and that series could determine who makes the playoffs and who doesn't, because the Rays and Orioles are nipping at our heels.

Besides having an easy schedule, the Bronx Bombers are healthy for the first time in a while. Even though Derek Jeter is fighting through a bone bruise on his ankle, he is in the lineup. First Baseman Mark Teixeira is the only every day guy that is out with his lingering calf problem. In terms of pitching health, manager Joe Girardi and the Yankees could breath a sigh of relief as Ivan Nova returned from an inflamed rotator cuff and pitched very well and got a win against the Rays. On top of Nova's return, Andy Pettitte will be making his return from a fractured ankle tomorrow against the Blue Jays. If Pettitte can give the Yankees 5 solid innings without a set-back, he could very well be on his way to a full return by the playoffs.

The final positive for the Yankees heading down the stretch is now their bullpen is packed with people who can get you outs. A once shaky unit when Mariano Rivera went down, is now a strength, especially with the return of Nova and Pettitte. The reason why is because now young stud David Phelps and Freddy Garcia will now slide out of the rotation and into the bullpen providing more depth. I think that the back end of the bullpen should be set now as well. Joba Chamberlain has settled in a has pitched well enough to have the 7th inning be his inning. No more mixing and matching for Girardi. Once it gets to the 7th and the starter is done, it should go Chamberlain, David Robertson in the 8th and Rafael Soriano in the 9th, every time. The one batter at a time cat and mouse game needs to stop. Boone Logan, Cody Eppley, and Clay Rapada, should see limited action and some consistency will help these guys get comfortable and prevent them from constantly looking over their shoulder after every batter.

One Last Thing: These are all positives and I'm not trying to just speak highly of my favorite team because there are some big problems going on right now with the team as well. Our ace CC Sabathia has not been pitching up to his standards at all. He has blown leads in 5 straight games, and that needs to be corrected soon with these important games coming up. Another negative has been the play of Nick Swisher. Swish is batting .127 (7 for 55) in the month of September with 0 home runs and 2 RBI's. So hopefully these two guys start to play well, and the Yanks can win the pennant!

Kid Just Killing it at the 49ers/Lions Game

Classic Peeping Tom Situation

Look at that kid in the background just being as creepy and strange as he possibly can. Michael Crabtree is just trying to get out of there alive. Answering in short sentences. Trying not to look over his shoulder and make eye contact with this complete goon. Look at Crabtree in the picture, he's so pissed that Alex Smith got interviewed first and left him all alone with Johnny Cockeyes over here. And who knows? This kid may have been following Crabtree for weeks, he look like he hasn't slept in months. I couldn't even watch the postgame stuff because I felt like this kid was looking into my soul.

Another Trick Play

This must be the week of trick plays or something. On Thursday, the Packers pulled off the perfect fake field goal that resulted in a touchdown, now yesterday, Western Kentucky opted to go for 2 in overtime rather than try and force another OT with an extra point. Instead of just running a regular pass or run play, Hilltopper (lol) head coach Willie Taggart opted to do the ol' throwback play. The play starts with QB Kawaun Jakes, who tosses a backward pass to RB Antonio Andrews, who then throws it back to Jakes for the conversion.

One Last Thing: What is a Hilltopper? Is it literally someone who lives on top of a hill?

PS This play kind of reminds me of the last play from the classic film "The Waterboy"

Wolverine Recap: Part 2

Sorry I didn't do one after the Air Force game, but life goes on. The Wolverines responded well to the slaughtering in their first game against Bama. The Wolverines won their last two games, first against Air Force, and then against the greatest team ever assembled, UMass. What I will say about those two games is that both displayed two common trends.

The first being that quarterback Denard Robinson went to back to being the playmaker that he is. In the last two games, "Shoelace" has combined for 820 yards through the air and on the ground. Honestly, he is a much better player when he doesn’t focus on being a true quarterback. He’s been so successful because he does everything a quarterback is not supposed to do superbly. He scrambles, throws off his back foot, and takes risks better than any quarterback out there. The quicker he realizes that he is not a quarterback, the further this team will go.

The second trend is that the Michigan defense is quite frankly non-existent. Granted they are very young, but they need to improve a ton. The defensive line is not creating havoc and the secondary looks atrocious. If it wasn’t for safety Jordan Kovacs, and defensive ends Frank Clark and Jake Ryan, Michigan could very well be 1-2.

I think the defense will improve over time, but the problem is that their next opponent is Notre Dame. I'm shocked that I am actually saying that. ND is easily the most overrated program over the last 20 years, but the fact of the matter is the Irish just steam rolled Michigan State in East Lansing. A huge key for the Wolverines in this game will be their defensive line. They need to get pressure and keep redshirt freshman sensation Everett Golson in the pocket. The Irish D looked great against Michigan State, but Denard has always given them issues. Arguably two of his best career games have been against Notre Dame, and I expect more of the same. Brady Hoke knows that Denard is the Irish’s kryptonite and that’s why Michigan will go into South Bend and pull off the upset.

Michigan 38- Notre Dame 31

Courtesy: windycitizensports.wordpress.com

Will Denard go off against Notre Dame?
 Previous performances suggest he will.
Sophomore year: 244 pass yards, 258 rushing yards, 3 total TD
Junior year: 338 pass yards, 108 rushing yards, 5 total TD

Giants Week 2 Recap - "The Heart Attack."

Manning threw for 510 yards and is still so handsome.

I don't even know what to say about that roller coaster ride of a football game, but I do know that I dodged a near heart attack. After being down nearly the entire game, the feisty G-Men, that we all have grown accustomed to, showed some of their resiliency that helped them win a Super Bowl last year. The 41-34 victory in this shootout was full of big plays both on offense and defense and might have been just what the doctor ordered for this team.

If you want to know what happened in this game, you have to look no further than the play of Eli Manning. His first half was highlighted by 3 interceptions and a bunch of failed opportunities in the red zone resulting in a bunch of field goals and the Buccaneers up 24-13. In the fourth quarter, Manning led the Giants to another one of his patented fourth quarter comebacks by throwing for 243 yards and two touchdowns and 25 points. His final stats were 31-51 and 510 yards with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Take away the picks and that is a ridiculous game.

Obviously if Manning is throwing for all of these yards, someone has to be on the receiving end. Like nasm30 mentioned earlier, the dynamic duo of Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz combined for 21 catches, 378 yards, and 2 touchdowns. They totally rose to the occasion after the new Cowboys secondary had their way with the two of them last week. Martellus Bennett made up for his horrible first three quarters with a huge 33 yard touchdown catch late in the game. Bennett needs to be more of a factor on third downs because with teams now starting to respect Cruz, the middle of the field will be wide open.

The final positive of the day individually for the Giants, was the emergence of backup running back Andre Brown. Many people, including myself, didn't expect much out of anyone not named Ahmad Bradshaw and David Wilson in the run game this season. Today, Bradshaw went down with a neck injury, and Wilson has been virtually ineffective so far, so Brown had an opportunity to get some carries. He made the most of them. The explosive back ran for 71 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown, while also providing a much needed spark to a nonexistent run game.

The defense looked horrible once again as Josh Freeman exposed the weak secondary over and over and over again. The pass rush that has been the backbone of the defense still is not there and for some reason Michael Coe is still allowed on the field. How many more times can this guy get burned before Coughlin realizes he should not be in the NFL? Prince Amukamara, the highly touted former first rounder needs to play next week, and show that he wants to be on the field. He has been hurt, but it's football and everyone is hurt in one way or another.

With everything being said about the defense, the most concerning part of today's game was definitely the injuries. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw (neck), guard David Diehl (knee/ankle), wide receiver Domenik Hixon (head) all starters, left the game due to their injuries. Hopefully none of these are serious and can be back Thursday despite the short week.

One Last Thing: This really could be a spark for this team. The first three halves of this season can be forgotten, and it's now a 14 game season. Eli needs to be the Eli of today's second half for the whole game for now on. With a short week coming up, the Giants will be headed down to Carolina on Thursday to face the Panthers and dual threat quarterback Cam Newton who looked really good today. The defense is going to have to play better than they have so far this year because if you give Newton enough time, he will find the open receiver, or he'll abuse you on the ground. Either way, we won this week, hopefully this is just the beginning.

Wow...

Today's game for Nicks reminds me of some of my Madden moments

Did we possibly just witness the greatest game by a wide receiver duo of all time? Definitely the best of my lifetime. I'll leave the write up on the full game to CB32 since he did it last week, but I cannot resist writing about the game Hakeem Nicks, and Victor Cruz just had.

199 yards on 10 receptions and a touchdown for the former, and 179 yards on 11 receptions and a TD for the latter. Ridiculous. Just absolutely crazy. I mean I have said it for a long time about Nicks, and I am obviously a fan of Cruz because of last year, but these guys are really something special. Every single time Eli needs a play to be made he looks for one of those guys and they always seem to be there to bail this team out.

These two guys, combined with Eli, and the pass rush (however non-existent it has been up to this point,) is the reason why I have confidence in this team going forward. I think that as long as these guys are healthy, we can match up with any team in the league. I know that sounds bold, but we have seen it happen to them before not so long ago...

UPDATE: I was right,  "According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Giants are the first team to have two players with at least 10 catches and at least 175 yards receiving each in the same game."

Penn State Game 3

So finally the Penn State Nittany Lions have won a football game. Our first since 1998. Seriously that was starting to become a crazy drought there. I wasn't sure if we were ever going to even come out of it. But finally we won, and our team is firmly on its way to not qualify for a bowl game. Whatever, none of that really matters at this point because nothing can be done to fix it. So in the meantime, we will just have to keep winning games so we at least have some excuse to celebrate on Saturday nights.

What a convincing way to get your first win of the season. Really, really good win for this team. The defense looked sharp, not letting up a point until the fourth quarter. The story on the defense for me, and the MVP of the game was senior linebacker, Gerald Hodges. The dude played out of his mind yesterday. He had an early interception near our own goal line, was in on a forced fumble, and added a bunch of tackles. Hodges, along with senior Michael Mauti, were the anchors of the defense yesterday. Mauti was again all over the field, being in on every play that came his way.

In terms of the offense, I hate to admit it, but quarterback Matt McGloin looked great yet again. The better he does, the more I start to despise him. Why couldn't he have done even half of this last year? Last year we had a legit defense, better offensive players around him, and most importantly something to play for. If he had stepped up last year we could have played in the Big Ten championship game. Instead, he destroyed any chance we had at going somewhere. I can't be too mad at him though because he is carrying the offense this year and I still would like to see us win. Sam Ficken again struggled with some consistency issues by making 4 out of 5 extra points. Yes. He missed an extra point. He's awful. The fact he is on scholarship is just ridiculous.

But whatever, good game and win when we really needed one. The important thing now is to follow it up next week against a really tough Temple team.

Clash of the Titans.. and the Jets are playing too

Quite possibly the Greatest Actor of our Generation. I'm him for all intents and purposes here. 

This weekend marks a special event in the Couch Bros world as two slugs will be meeting at a certain Rhode Island school. That would be yours truly, AF, and our little known 5th blogger, beardface. I'm making the trek across state lines to see what all the fuss is about. Not gonna lie, kind of excited to see the man and the myth because we sure as hell don't see him write anything of substance on this site.

With all that being said the Jets are also taking part in an epic weekend showdown with the Steelers in gross Pittsburgh. The state of Pennsylvania as a whole is just disgusting. I've never heard of any good things coming from the Keystone state, Sandusky, Roethlisberger, lotta sex crimes if you ask me. Anyways, the Steelers are always a really good football team and this year is no different. They took a tough L during week one to Peyton and the Bronc's and they'll be looking to rebound against the Jets, who pretty much had a bunt Week 1 against the limp Bills. With all that said, the Jets will be missing probably the best defensive player in football currently, Darrelle Revis, with a mild concussion. On the other side, the Steelers will most likely be without James Harrison and Troy Polamalu, so it kind of evens the playing field a little. We'll have to see how this one plays out because if Sanchez plays like he did last week, and the D can make some plays and maybe pick off Big Ben, we'll definitely have a shot. So let's pray for another week of No Tebow and good play like any smart, non-idiotic Jet fan would do.

Ps. Ketchup is the only thing good from Pennsylvania, I love ketchup, goes with so many things, almost the perfect condiment. I used to put it on my pasta way back when, that's how much I stand by ketchup.

Pps. Does Heinz have the ketchup biz on lock or what? If I went to someone's house and saw non-Heinz ketchup, I'd literally be appalled and probably wouldn't eat there. Like Stop and Shop brand or Hunt's ketchup, oh man, end game.

Packers Pull Off Crazy Fake Field Goal For Touchdown

I honestly think Tom Crabtree might have drawn this up in the huddle. When you're behind Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Jordy Nelson, James Jones, and Jermichael Finley, life can be tough. So Crabtree, being way down on the depth chart, whispers to the punter, "gimme the rock," and off they go. We all know coach Mike McCarthy is going to take the credit for this, but you have to give credit where credit is due. So hats off to Crabtree, and respect to punter Tim Masthay, he now can say he threw a touchdown in the NFL. Not many people can say that, and he's now like 1 or 2 behind Jay Cutler in career TD's.

The End of an Era

Jim Calhoun cutting down the net during 1 of his 3 National Championships.

As you may have heard, University of Connecticut men's basketball's head coach of 26 years, Jim Calhoun, retired today. Calhoun's legacy may not have been the cleanest or prettiest, but he definitely impacted the lives of many people over his time at the university. He also was a hell of a coach, finishing with a total of 873 career wins between his time at UConn and Northeastern, where he spent the first 14 years of his coaching career.

Throughout his tenure at UConn, Calhoun was almost underrated. He was never mentioned in the same breath as Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim as the top coaches in the game today. Obviously Bobby Knight, John Wooden, Dean Smith, and Adolph Rupp are also some of the greatest of all-time, but Calhoun belongs in both conversations as one of the best coaches during his generation and of all-time.

Calhoun ranks 5th all-time in wins behind Kryzyzewski, Knight, Boeheim, and Smith. He also won arguably the best basketball conference title, the Big East, seven times (tied for most all time with Georgetown.) This may not seem like that many, but most people don't know just how bad UConn was prior to Calhoun's arrival. The season before Calhoun took over, the team had gone 9-19. Two years later, Calhoun had the team in the NIT, a solid accomplishment for a team because it's a postseason tournament. UConn then went on to win the tournament, their first postseason championship in school history! Their first one ever. If you think about that now, after all of the success UConn has had of late, it's unbelievable.

Calhoun only went up from there leading the school to their first NCAA Tournament berth in 11 years in 1990, and 9 years later the Huskies were hoisting up their first Final Four and NCAA Champion banners. This only led to more success in recent years with two additional National Championships in 2004 and 2011. UConn also made the Final Four in 2009, but they failed to win that season.

On top of this, Calhoun has already been inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005, so Calhoun's legacy basketball-wise is a pretty amazing one. He put the UConn basketball program on its feet, then built it up into a contender, and now has cemented it firmly as one of the top basketball programs in the country. He turned a program that once had no business being in a conference like the Big East, into a force to be reckoned with.

That being said, what he did for the University of Connecticut and the impact it has had on all the people in the area and students is far more impressive. A man who preaches the importance of family, always showed his appreciation and love for the people who has stuck with this program over the years. He even called himself, "the luckiest man alive," during his retirement speech today. That is how much he valued his job and the people around him. He knew that the state of Connecticut had no professional teams to go and see, and that the people of Connecticut and the students lived and died by their team.

As Calhoun steps down from his position as head coach, the "family" atmosphere will continue as Kevin Ollie takes over the reins. Ollie played for Calhoun at UConn and has been an assistant for the program the last two years, while also playing in the NBA for 13 seasons. Calhoun made sure that when it was his time to leave, Ollie would be fully groomed for this job. And despite the team having a postseason ban this season, Calhoun has put Ollie in a position to succeed.

One Last Thing: Calhoun has had his share of NCAA sanctions recently, but so what? Every other successful coach has received some sort of slap on the wrist at one time or another. Calhoun needs to be praised for his accomplishments and should always be regarded as one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. He also should stick to walking from now on. How many times can you fall off a bike and hurt yourself? Hopefully just twice in Calhoun's case. Fool him once, shame on us, but fool him twice, that's shame on him.

Conference Realignment

Add Navy and you are looking at the new Big East Conference.

Another conference change was announced today by the University of Notre Dame who will leave the Big East Conference join the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 2014 the earliest. This is just another shift based on exposure and quality of competition. The difference in Notre Dame's case is that their move isn't for football like every other school. In fact, the Fighting Irish will be joining the ACC for all sports except football, where they are known for being an Independent with no conference ties, and also hockey, which isn't offered by the ACC.

The Big East, a once prominent athletic conference, will be gutted once again and lose another solid basketball program. The Big East is arguably the top basketball conference in the entire country as of now, but over the next two years, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse will all be headed to the ACC. On top of this, West Virginia left this season for the Big 12, and Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College also left in 2004 for the ACC.

The depletion of competitive teams in the Big East has been the result of tension between schools that are full members of the conference and schools that are only members for certain sports, specifically the "football only" schools and the "basketball only" schools. The ACC on the other hand doesn't allow "partial members," giving the schools some stability which is very appealing to an athletic program. So if a school is considering making the move, the ACC usually has the upper hand.

In order to deal with all of the departures, the Big East has constantly added more and more colleges to their conference. From 2004-2015, Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida, Houston, Southern Methodist, Central Florida, Temple, and Memphis have been added as full members. On top of this DePaul and Marquette were added in that time as basketball only schools and Boise State, Sand Diego State and Navy will be added as football only schools.

As a huge sports fan, and student of a school that is still stuck in this train-wreck of a conference, I am very upset. It makes absolutely no sense that the Big East is bringing in schools from all across the country, when the conference name is the Big EAST. Currently, the schools that are members of the Big East span all 4 time zones! The majority of the schools are in the Eastern Time Zone, but DePaul, Marquette, and Houston are in the Central Time Zone, Boise State is in the Mountain Time Zone and San Diego State is all the way in California, the Pacific Time Zone. This means a lot of long traveling and time differences which puts the away team at a huge disadvantage, especially in college sports.

Another problem with this situation is the rivalries that are being broken up. For example, with Syracuse moving to the ACC, the Syracuse and Connecticut rivalry will most likely come to an end. This is because they won't play 2-3 times a year, competing for the Big East title. All of the alumni and current students at UConn, my school, have been taught to hate Syracuse more than any other team and everyone looks forward to those games. Now it loses its significance and everything changes. Imagine if all of the sudden the Red Sox were suddenly put in the American League Central. They would no longer play in the American League East, where they play the Yankees 18 times a year. The rivalry would die and all of the history with it.

One Last Thing: Maybe I'm just bitter because this directly affects my school, but it isn't just happening in the Big East. Schools are jumping conferences all over America to try and get into the "BCS Conferences." This is because these teams receive more recognition in the flawed college football BCS System. These teams get to play in the bigger bowl games and have a better shot at getting invited to the National Championship. In turn, I blame this whole thing on the BCS. If they would just have a regular playoff system like every other sport, schools would be content staying local and remain faithful to their conferences. Their half-ass attempt of a playoff system that they agreed upon for next season with only 4 teams, will also not solve this problem. Until then, we all better get used to the changes because in a few years the Big East may not even exist.

PS At least we don't have it as bad as nasm30 and Penn State...

Yankees vs. Red Sox

With only 22 games remaining, and the Yankees barely hanging on to a one game division lead, a three game series with the rival Boston Red Sox awaits. How ironic is it that the Yankees get to this part of the season when every single game could mean the difference, and the Red Sox come into town, looking to ruin the day. I'm sure that there is nothing more that the Red Sox could want then to go out and stop the Yankees' playoff hopes in their tracks.

The Sox have won only one game in their last twelve and have also dropped four straight. The Yankees haven't been all that much better having won only five of their last twelve, but there is just something about these two teams when they play head to head. The competition is always better, and the games are almost always exciting. Unfortunately, we haven't seen these two teams meet in the playoffs since 2004, and that will not change, at least this year. The Red Sox have been awful this year, and although the Yankees were for a time the best team in baseball, we have seen them slowly start to slide in the later months. Either way, now is the time to fix the mistakes of the past few weeks if you are the Yankees, and crush the morale of the Red Sox in the process. Win these three games, help yourself make the playoffs, and regain some of your confidence before October.

Now that the Red Sox have traded just about everyone to the Dodgers, the key to this series for the Yankees is to stop Pedro Ciriaco. Yes you heard me right. Ciriaco. He is the newest Yankee killer for sure. He has already burned the Yankees this year with 15 hits and 7 RBI's in the 10 games against the Yanks he appeared in.

Jets Look Good..Absolute Shocker

Sanchez looked as good as he can be, Rex looked slim and handsome, and Tebow is still bad. 

What was that? Scoring touchdowns, getting turnovers, and not turning it back over at inopportune moments? Sounds like a good football team, can't be the Jets. Granted it was the Bills, but still putting 48 on anyone is a big deal. Nice balance of passes and runs, Sanchez threw it pretty damn well and Shonn Greene ran the rock about as well as he could, given the makeshift line we put out there. The young receivers were on full display, Stephen Hill burst onto the NFL scene with 2 TD's in his debut, and Jeremy Kerley turned out a great all around performance with some sick grabs and a punt return for 6. You have to like how the team came together for this game and pulled it out.

The defense let up 28 points, but still played well overall. I don't know how long this will last, but for now, I like where we're headed. Hopefully they don't lay an absolute egg next week, but knowing the Jets, that is a distinct possibility. They are playing the Steelers at Heinz so I'm not too confident but I always hope for the best. Tebow was on the field far too much for my liking, because for once, Sanchez played a really good game. I thought it was going to be a repeat of last year after he pulled that limp wristed under hand pick in the 1st quarter, but Revis bailed him out and he played a solid ball game the rest of the way.

By the way, Rex looks like he could go out there and lay some wood with the weight loss. Sign him up, we need some pass rushers, and Rexy played a little D-line at the midwest powerhouse Southwestern Oklahoma State.

PS. So we can just cut Tebow right? Dude is out of his element and Sanchez looks like he's solidified his starting role. Knowing him, he's gonna throw 5 picks next week and then people will be clamoring for Tebow. Until then, I think we should give Tebow the heave-ho because I just hate his face.

Bounty Suspensions Lifted...For Now

(From left to right) Vilma, Hargrove, Smith, Fujita

The first NFL Sunday is finally upon us. Their have been many offseason moves, rookies have been named starters, and even Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson, and Randy Moss all got another chance to make it back into this league. All that being said, perhaps the biggest story of this season to date was the decision made by a three-person arbitration panel lifted the suspension of four NFL players.

Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, defensive end Will Smith, Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, and free agent Anthony Hargrove were all suspended for were offered, apparently received money to hurt opposing players. The suspensions were all very serious starting with Vilma who received a full season suspension, Hargrove received 8 games, Smith received 4 games and Fujita received 3, all without pay. 

Vilma was very active in getting his suspension lifted and appealed on more than one occasion and this Friday Vilma and the rest of the players received justice...for now. The arbitration panel agreed that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell cannot suspend the players for receiving money for big plays, but can still suspend them for a "bounty" on the other team, if he can prove it.

For now the players are active, and Sants' Will Smith actually started the game. However, members of the Saints coaching staff and front office who were suspended are not affected by the panel's decision. Head Coach Sean Payton is suspended for the full 2012 season, General Manager Mickey Loomis is suspended for the first 8 games, interim Head Coach Joe Vitt was suspended for the first 6 games and Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams, who was accused of offering the "bounties" is suspended indefinitely. All of these suspensions still stand.

One Last Thing: The most important thing here is that Commissioner Goodell actually needs to provide some evidence in order to suspend these players. This shows that the NFL is not a dictatorship and that Goodell doesn't have all of the power for once. However, if Goodell can find enough evidence to prove that the players are guilty, then the suspensions should come back because paying for your guys to hurt another is ridiculous.