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.

Sam Ficken With the Golden Sombrero....

Penn State Football firing on all cylinders today...

The Nittany Lions have looked pretty solid today, and without jinxing anything I think we can hold on and win this one. We are currently beating the University of Virginia 16-10, with about 10:30 left in the game and Virginia controlling the ball. The offense started the game with a great five minute touchdown drive, but since then has had little success. QB Matt McGloin miraculously added two more touchdown passes, giving him four on the season. Just a reminder he had eight all of last season. The defense has been great today, not giving Virginia have a lot of room to work, and adding pressure on their quarterbacks. Someone better than UVA's Michael Rocco would have torn up our secondary.

Penn State has caused four turnovers this game but only managed 1 total yard and 3 points off of them as of now. Solid. Thankfully we have limited our mistakes, and to this point have not turned the ball over...probably because we don't have a linebacker bringing back punts this week. So far this season I have been pretty happy with Bill O'Brien, and I think he showed a lot of improvement calling the plays this week. Last week it was very lopsided, with a lot of passing or a lot of running, and not a good blend of the two on drives. He even threw a fake punt in there, so you know, good for him.

Sam Ficken; Goon

The story of the day though is the new kicker Sam Ficken. The dude is absolutely murdering it out there on the field. I think his performance today has really solidified him as one of the more consistent players on the entire team. He will be a leader and one great constant for this team for years to come. His three missed field goals today were some of the most uniform bad play I have seen in a long time. Just awful. He is now 2/6 on field goal tries this season, and he also added a blocked extra point. I guess the latter isn't really his fault but screw it, let's put that on him too.

All in all not bad so far, but there's still a lot of time yet to screw it up.

Update: They've done it 17-16 Virginia leads...1:21 left and about 70 yards to go.

Update: This may come down to Ficken...

Update: 17-16 Virginia, final. Sam Ficken may not be welcome back in State College. No, actually, he is definitely not welcome back. I am so pissed right now, this team actually played really well today, and this jerk goes 1/5 for field goals. Like what could possibly have been going through this schools mind giving this guy a scholarship? Just awful. Cancel the season. Hang it up. Mauti for president. That is all I can say right now.

Lee Corso being Lee Corso

Is there a better tradition in sports than College Gameday pick'em with Corso and the crew? Maybe the Masters, or the Open Championship, or the Super Bowl, or the World Series, or the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but it's up there. Guy's like 80 years old and just burns around the stage with the energy of Herbstreit when he was mediocre with the Buckeyes. Corso hasn't coached in like 30 years but we still value his opinion more than any of the other clowns on Gameday and I'm totally ok with that. I think I can honestly say I only tune in for the last 5 minutes of Gameday, just to watch Corso and Herbstreit bicker like chicks over who's going to win. So many classic picks from Lee, let's see some of his greatest.

1. Creeping Into Senility at Houston

This one happened last year, love Herbstreit's reaction and the Houston coach was loving it. He issued the most somber, sincere apology ever afterwards, but it was just an old man doing what old men do, curse, piss, and drink, classic stuff. I bet he was hammered for this one, its 5 o'clock somewhere, Lee.

2. That Dog is Ugly

Might be my favorite Corso moment, just building up Georgia and slapping them right in the face with his slight about that ugly dog. Total power move getting after it on their home turf. Corso don't care, he's been pissing his sheets for a decade now, he's way past the point of caring.



3. Picking Oregon at USC

First off, Corso has his own mascot head on in the beginning. Secondly, Will Ferrell is involved so it's a classic in that sense. Lastly, he picks my Ducks and that's big points. That's when you know you've made it, you have your own mascot head and you get attacked with it by Will Ferrell. Corso for the win.

The Return of Shaq?

The Big Sombrero?

All I can say is yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Please let this happen. On one condition, Shaq has to be Shaq. Not on the floor so much, as I'm sure he could be at about 50% of his NBA ability and still be the best big man in the Mexican League, but off the court. Can you imagine the media surrounding Shaq after games and asking him questions in Spanish. Only the Shaqtus could turn that situation into media and comedic gold. Obviously this is all very preliminary and Shaq has spoke nothing about a return, but a
guy can dream right? And dream I will. Just think about some of the names we could give him. Shaqira, the Big Sombrero, ¿Shaque?. The list is endless. I'm sure Shaq would play right in on all of it too. He'd probably get off the plane wearing a poncho or something, asking people for burritos, you know, racist stuff but it's cool because it's Shaq. Whatever, I hope that this happens, I really do, because who wouldn't want to see Shaq out there balling again?

Knicks' New Uniforms

Yesterday the Knicks unveiled their new jerseys and by the looks of them they may look a little boring but you know what, the magic is what happens when these guys put them on.

For example, when Carmelo Anthony throws on the new threads, he all of the sudden will share the ball and not be a black hole on offense. Amar'e Stoudemire will have unworldly healing abilities so that no fire extinguisher will ever get the best of him, (maybe he'll also play a full season.) Tyson Chandler will still be able to scream whatever he wants at the referees, but the refs will actually give the opposing team a technical foul. Raymond Felton will be skinny. J.R. Smith will be affluent. Alcohol won't have any effect on Jason Kidd. Steve Novak will take a layup. Iman Shumpert will return for the start of the season and lock down other teams with Ronnie Brewer. Marcus Camby will be a ballplayer again. And Chris Copeland, Chris Smith, Kurt Thomas, James White, and Pablo Prigioni will not be allowed to touch the ball.

I'm not sure what the direct definition for what a "perfect world" is, but that is about as close as I can get. In all seriousness the jerseys do look a lot cleaner and hopefully we'll receive a playoff seed this year that actually puts us in a position to advance.

One Last Thing: Probably the best part about these jerseys is that Landry Fields and Jared Jeffries are not allowed to wear them.

Bets Anyone?

UPDATE: Savannah State is officially getting 69.5 points. Ok now I'm not so sure if they'll cover.

Does anyone of age want to place a bet for me this weekend on Savannah State over Florida State? I know, you think there's no way Florida State is going to lose to Savannah State this weekend, and you are probably right. But I don't need them to win, I just need them to cover the 70.5 point spread. Yes, you read that correctly. Florida State is favored this weekend over Savannah State by a record 70.5 points, and I have never wanted to be able to place a sports bet more.

Shannon Sharpe; Savannah State Legend

Now it's true that Florida State put up 69 points last week, but again the competition wasn't great. Although I'm sure Murray State is on the rise, and are probably better then Savannah State, I can not see them losing by over 70 points. That's just ridiculous. It's also true that Savannah State is coming off of an 84-0 loss to Oklahoma State. But I mean come on? Two weeks in a row? What are the odds? All of the facts say that Florida State will cover, but I just do not see it happening. I would like to back this up with some Savannah State facts, but literally they only have their roster listed on ESPN. Not even a schedule. Savannah State is like the unknown program. I bet even Florida State is having a hard time scouting them because they aren't even sure if they really exist. However, according to their website this team did rush for 102 yards last game. Ok, now a game plan is taking shape. So Savannah State just has to keep running the ball, and control the clock as much as possible. If they get a drive with say, two first downs, they can run off close to five minutes. Perfect. On defense all they have to do is keep the Florida State players in bounds, and hope they can keep them out of the end zone on at least two or three drives. Savannah isn't playing for the win here, they just have to play to cover.

I just want to know where does Florida State get off thinking they can be National Title Contenders with that schedule? Could it be any easier? I mean they play Murray State, Savannah State, and Wake Forest to start off the season, and they also meet up with South Florida, NC State, Boston College, and Duke along the way. What a joke. They only have three currently ranked teams on their schedule and Florida is one loss away from being knocked out of the top 25. Yet despite all this they are considered a National Title sleeper. Honestly they might as well be Utah. This kind of stuff pisses me off because I don't understand why Penn State does the complete opposite to themselves. Why, why, why would you not throw yourself a gimme week one, when you are coming off of the worst offseason in probably the history of sports? All the other big time programs do. Florida State vs. Murray State, West Virginia vs. Marshall, Ohio State vs. Miami OH, is anyone else picking up on the trend here? Either way, nobody is ballsier than Savannah State. They set it up to play Oklahoma State, and Florida State back to back to start the season. That's heart.

Huge Weekend At Camden Yards

A-Rod and Granderson need to perform down the stretch.

Tonight the Yanks will head into Baltimore for a 4-game set with the second place Orioles. The Bronx Bombers are currently 1 game ahead of the streaking O's, and this will be the last series played between these two. Good old September baseball, where there is no room for error. You play the teams in your division, and it usually the month that determines who's playing in October. Who would have thought the Orioles would still be relevant at this point?

The Orioles have nothing to lose. They're the underdogs, and they haven't made the playoffs since 1997! Skipper Buck Showalter has them playing inspired baseball and they're starting to believe in one another. They clearly aren't the most talented group, but they still have closed the gap on the Yankees 10 game division lead to only 1. Now the Yankees need to play perfect baseball during this series in order to create some separation.

The Oriole crowd will be fired up tonight because the beloved Cal Ripken Jr. received a statue outside the stadium in his honor. On top of this, their team actually matters for once. Camden usually is the Yankees home away from home because no one goes to the Orioles games when they aren't good. Tonight, and throughout the weekend, this won't be the case.

Hopefully Joe Girardi can get these boys going after a big win in Tampa Bay last night. They need to hit the ball and provide the pitchers with some run support, because runs have been at a minimum recently. This is especially true tonight with the youngster David Phelps on the bump. Swisher, A-Rod and Granderson need to get their heads on straight for this series because Jeter and Cano can only do so much. It's time to perform.

One Last Thing: This is one of my favorite times of the year. Every game of baseball is so critical as the playoffs are around the corner, and football season has just begun. Yanks and G-Men baby! Let's do this.

PS I started this in the top of the 1st inning of tonight's game, it's now the bottom of the 1st with 1 out and the Orioles are already leading 4-0...

Predictions For The Jets Opener Vs. Da Bills

Committed, or at least will be.

After a piss poor preseason, there's not much in the way of optimism for us Jet fans. Sanchez sucked, Tebow sucked, only Greg McElroy was able to chuck a score, and he's got the arm strength of Chad Pennington and the mouth of Namath...kinda surprised he's not starting. They have little depth at wide out with Pat Turner and Santonio Holmes as the main targets and rook Stephen Hill competing with Jeremy Kerley for the slot. Those two are basically trying to see who's the best of the worst at the moment.  The defense is still solid under Rexy, but defense can only get you so far, unless they're expecting to pitch a shut out every week. Shonn Greene needs to start running over folks because the O-line looks like a Pop Warner team. Hopefully Joe McKnight can recover from his pay cut after college and make some big plays on special teams and on 3rd down.

The Bills are usually at the bottom of the AFC East, but still get the better of the Jets. This season, the Bills are the ones with the expectations, so maybe it'll go the other way in this one. The Jets come in as the 'dogs and the Bills are expected to dispatch them with little problem. If the Jets can neutralize Mario Williams, they have a pretty good shot at maybe scoring a TD or two. The secondary has got to be aggressive with Stevie Johnson and Co. otherwise it's going to be a long day. Revis is lockdown and Cro can kinda cover when he's up for it. I think a turnover could make the difference in this one.

As long as Sanchez doesn't start hurling waffles to the safety and is smart with the football, I like our chances. A divisional win in Week 1 would be a huge boost for the dejected Jets. So let's pray to Tebow that we play the way we did in '09 for at least a couple of weeks this year. Just long enough to crush our hearts later when the inevitable collapse happens in the second half of the season.

Score: 21-13 Jets

Sanchez throws a TD, no picks and about 200 Yards. Shonn Greene rushes for a buck thirty on 25 carries (ideally). Defense is stout, and causes a couple turnovers and the game's end has little drama (please God).

Giants Week 1 Recap - "Rough Start"

Kevin Ogletree had the game of his life. 

The defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants stepped onto MetLife Stadium field Wednesday night with the hopes of picking up right where they left off last season. The crowd was electric and the team was fired up, everything was set up to "Bridge the Gap" between last season and this one. The Dallas Cowboys had other ideas.

The first half started off very slowly with not much scoring as the Cowboys took a 7-3 lead into halftime. Even though not much happened, a huge turning point in the game occurred. Giants linebacker Michael Boley picked off a Tony Romo pass and brought the ball all the way down to the Cowboys 2 yard line. Things were rolling for the Giants, but the turning point actually put the game in favor of the Cowboys. The Cowboys showed tremendous resiliency with a goal line stand, limiting the Giants to just a field goal. Totally taking the wind out of the Giants sails. The Cowboys gained a bunch of confidence after that stand and ended up scoring on 4 consecutive drives and it turned out to be too much for the Giants to overcome.

The main difference in this game was the emergence of undrafted wideout Kevin Ogletree. Ogletree recorded 8 catches for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns. He constantly found the soft spots of the Giants coverage and Romo threw many quick hitters to Ogletree in a bunch of backbreaking situations. Two instances in particular were the touchdown before the half when the Giants pass rush forced Romo out of the pocket and he floated a touchdown over a linebacker for a 10 yard touchdown. The other was with just over 2 minutes remaining, Ogletree ran a quick slant on the Giants' 5th option of their battered conerback core, Justin Tryon, for a game-sealing 1st down.

There wasn't too much for the Giants to build off of in this game. Eli Manning made many good throws but he also missed on a few throws that he always makes. Also, last year's star wideout Victor Cruz looked terrible in his first game after his monster year. He had 3 very blatant drops. Hopefully this was all just first game kinks, but the most concerning stat of the game was that the Giants only had 2 sacks and none came from their highly touted defensive ends. Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck, and Osi Uemenyiora were virtually ineffective and they need to perform up to expectations if the Giants plan on winning. Without their pressure, the beat up Giants secondary will have to guard for a longer amount of time.

If there was one thing that the Giants can take from this game was the play of tight end Martellus Bennett who had a solid game in his first game in Giants uniform. Bennett had 4 catches for 40 yards and a pretty touchdown late in the game. He will need to continue to be big in the red zone and on 3rd down for Eli, just like Jake Ballard was last year and Kevin Boss before him.

One Last Thing: Keep Calm. It is, in fact, only Week 1, and since no other games were being played today felt like it had an added significance, but it didn't. The Giants will see the Cowboys again later in the season, but for now, we have 11 days to prepare for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That game is a must win already even though it's early, because the Giants schedule is a VERY difficult one.

Nets close to deal with Andray Blatche

"I'm telling you Nick, theres nothing pepto bismol can do that a, avocado can't."

Reports have surfaced that the Brooklyn Nets are closing in on a non guaranteed deal that would land Andray Blatche within the next week. Blatche's points and rebounds averages rose each of his first six years in the league, topping out at 16.8 pts and 8.3 rebs a game in 2010-2011, before dropping to 8.5 pts and 5.8 rebs last season in just 26 games. To make matters worse, Blatche shot 38% from the field, the worst shooting percentage of his career.

I like this move by the Nets. This is what they're all about. They go after the superstars of the game. When they can't get a LeBron, they get Deron Williams. When they can't get Dwight, they get Andray Blatche, of course the next best thing. Sure he doesn't get as many biddies as the man he will play behind, Kris Humphries, but this dude can ball. He's got the talent he just needs to piece it all together.

Then people say well he isn't a good locker room guy. I disagree. I mean take his near triple double game for example (video below). This is a guy who works his tush off. It isn't enough that they're about to beat the Nets. He wants more. He's hungry. He doesn't settle for anything less than the best. There's 30 seconds left and he's hustling the most he has since that night with that poor avocado. Not only that, but he even gets on his teammate when he makes a mistake. Then to top it all off, he politely asks Yi Jianlian to let him get the offensive rebound. I mean half the league can't even pronounce Yi's name. This dude Andray is going out there making friends. Nobody wants to be friends with Asians, nobody, but this dude is doing what he must. Class act. Sign him up!

NFL Opener; Giants vs. Cowboys

It's finally here. The opening day of the NFL season. This year, my favorite team, the New York Giants will be a part of the opening ceremonies, as they hoist another Super Bowl banner. As we all know the Giants added their fourth Superbowl last season, and as a result they will get the honor of playing in the inaugural game. Their opponent? The Dallas Cowboys. For as long as I can remember I have been brought up to hate the Cowboys. They are a huge division rival, and their lack of postseason success over the last decade has really been a joy to watch for me. I guess I owe a debt of gratitude to the Cowboys, as it was their sloppy play that gave the Giants a Week 17 victory. This jump started started them on a playoff run that ended with the Lombardi Trophy. Now none of that matters. A new season is upon us, and once again it's anyone's year. So below are a few things the Giants have to do tonight to start this season off right.


Run the Ball:

Kevin Boothe; Got to be one of the most awkwardly
shaped dudes on the entire planet. 

I love to see Eli throw the ball, and I love to see our receivers catch it, but last year the Giants lost a lot of games they shouldn't have. This includes Washington twice and Seattle, and one big reason for that was a lack of balanced offense. This means that this year, we need to run the ball.

The Giants remain very inconsistent at left tackle, with the whole Will Beatty situation, and I believe because of that it will be very hard to run the ball to the left side. Kevin Boothe has proven himself, and is now the full time starting left guard, but even if he continues to play well, it will be extremely difficult if Beatty or tonight's starter, Sean Locklear, can not block the likes of Demarcus Ware.

A couple of new and important additions to the Giants run game are first round pick David Wilson from Virginia Tech, and former Cowboy Martellus Bennett. Now the first new addition adds a change of pace from the powerful running of Bradshaw. Wilson is being dubbed by his teammates as, "the fastest running back they have ever seen." He will use his speed and jukes to fight for extra yardage, and everything about this guy just screams big game potential.

Martellus Bennett may improve the run game for a less obvious reason. Bennett is a blocking first tight end, and if the Giants want to run the ball effectively, Bennett should see a lot of snaps lined up on a on the end as a blocker. I would imagine that tonight during running situations that the Giants will use Bennett to double team Ware with the left or right tackle, depending on where Ware lines up.

On a side note I would just like everyone to know I think Demarcus Ware is one of the most overrated players in the NFL. He plays outside linebacker, and doesn't do anything but rush the passer. He has no cover skills and is only decent agains the run. Half of the sacks he gets come when he is lined up against a tight end, so all in all I am not really that impressed with his game.

Kill Romo:

I'm serious. Just kill him. Get everyone in there and hit him enough times so that he won't want to get back up. For years the Giants have relied heavily on their pass rush to win tough, and close games, and this year should be no different. Tonight we have got to get to Romo, and we have to rattle him. Take him out of the game mentally, put him on the ground and make him afraid. We did it last year in both Dallas and in New York, and it limited his entire game.

People say the Giants have a weak pass defense, well I say the pass rush is part of our pass defense. If we get to Romo before he has a chance to throw it, or before his receiver completes his route, that's a win for us. That's what I'll be looking and hoping for tonight. Now the Giants will be without veteran defensive tackle Chris Canty until week 6, which will hurt our run defense. This makes me think that that the Cowboys will try and establish the run early, to keep our defense on it's toes. Hopefully our linebackers, and guys like Linval Joseph, and Rocky Bernard will be able to stop DeMarco Murray early and force long third downs. Over/Under 3 sacks.

Limit Stupid Mistakes:

This is a really big game for the Giants tonight. We are probably the worst team in the league when it comes to bringing back punts or kicks. I have seen us return one punt/kickoff for a touchdown over the last five years. One. But you know what? I don't even care about that. Just hold onto the ball. The reason I am talking about this is because I saw about five muffed punts during the preseason. I mean nobody could hold onto the ball. That can not happen tonight if we expect to win the game. We can't give them the ball inside our twenty because we didn't field a punt the right way. It will destroy our defense.

Another area where we can improve on is the penalties. Last season, the Giants did a pretty good job keeping the penalties to a minimum, and we need it to stay like that. Having these replacement refs can either hurt us or help us. I feel as though they miss more penalties than the real pros do, but they also throw flags a lot where they are not needed. All in all, if we keep the turnovers and penalties at the minimum we should be fine.

A lot of emotions will be flowing in MetLife Stadium tonight, and I expect the Giants to be high off of that. Once that banner goes up and the game starts, our guys should be so fired up that even if Dallas is perfect we can still stop them. I'm counting on this team to hush all of offseason haters and utilize all of the crowd's energy to power us to victory tonight. That is all.

Possible Yankees Collapse Makes Me Feel Warm Inside

Hairline like LeBron, Swing like Rey Ordonez

God I love to see the Yankees flounder. I love it. Reminds me of every year when the Mets do the same thing. Except Yankee fans don't know how to deal with it. "Trade A-rod," "Girardi is the worst," "We need Felix Hernandez, Cashman, help," "Cashman sucks." Just gives me that old fashioned feeling, where I'd do anything to see them not make the playoffs. Teixeira is a total hack now and way over-priced, Phil Hughes never developed, CC cant stay healthy. The Bombers are basically banking on old Andy Pettitte to come back with his crutches and hurl a decent 7 and I gotta say, that's about as likely as the Mets making the playoffs. Now no one likes to see 10 game leads evaporate like water on a grill in July, but when it happens to the Yankees or the Red Sox, its kinda tasty. It's something that leaves you saying, "Wow, I like how that feels, watching other people lose the wagon and totally implode like toddlers playing Jenga."

This may just be the bitter ramblings of a dejected Mets fan. By the way they lost a game yesterday, almost directly because the umpire was convinced the Mets were so bad that they don't touch first base when they go for a double. Hey can't blame him really, but he was wrong and should get his knee caps busted with a bat, I digress. Yankee fans are a pretty loyal bunch, I'll say that, but it's pretty easy to be loyal when you win 27 championships and are in the postseason every year. Let's see what happens if this team completes the fully and doesn't get to play in October. I wonder how the people will react and whose head is called for first. My money's on Girardi, obviously, he's already vilified despite winning a championship. No playoffs would be the certain nail in his coffin.

PS. Rays are handing it to the Yanks right now, they're just a real solid ball club. They do all of the little things and then boom, start teeing off long balls off junk balls thrown by Freddie Garcia. Baseball's a funny game.

PPS. Does Tim Kurkjian ever leave Elias Sports Bureau's website looking for obscure facts that could be half-way relevant to the game he's covering? Guy straight up says facts that no one thinks about.

Staff's NFL Predictions

Today ESPN's analysts made their predictions on how the postseason will look along with their Super Bowl winners. Each and every year it is the same over at ESPN. The "analysts" take always take the preseason favorite and rarely stray from the popular picks. For example, 13 out of the 16 people have the Green Bay Packers making their Super Bowl. The Packers are a great team don't get me wrong, but come on you are supposed to know more than everyone else when it comes to this stuff. Yet every, single, year, they choose who everyone else already knows will be good, and never give any of the other teams a shot. Anyways, here are our awesome picks.

CB32's Picks

NFC EAST: New York Giants
NFC NORTH: Green Bay Packers
NFC SOUTH: Atlanta Falcons
NFC WEST: San Francisco 49ers

NFC WILD CARDS: Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys

AFC EAST: New England Patriots
AFC NORTH: Baltimore Ravens
AFC SOUTH: Houston Texans
AFC WEST: Kansas City Chiefs
AFC WILD CARDS: Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Bears over Packers
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Ravens over Patriots (Billy Cundiff is long gone)

SUPER BOWL: Ravens over Bears
SUPER BOWL MVP: Ravens RB Ray Rice

REGULAR SEASON MVP: Giants QB Eli Manning
OFFENSIVE ROY: Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck
DEFENSIVE ROY: Carolina Panthers LB Luke Kuechly
COACH OF THE YEAR: Bills Chan Gailey

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nasm30's Picks

NFC EAST: Giants
NFC NORTH: Packers
NFC SOUTH: Saints
NFC WEST: 49ers
NFC WILD CARDS: Bears, Eagles

AFC EAST: Patriots
AFC NORTH: Ravens
AFC SOUTH: Texans
AFC WEST: Broncos
AFC WILD CARDS: Bengals, Chargers

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Giants over Packers
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Broncos over Patriots

SUPER BOWL: Giants over Broncos
SUPER BOWL MVP: Eli Manning

REGULAR SEASON MVP: Tom Brady
OFFENSIVE ROY: Andrew Luck
DEFENSIVE ROY: Luke Kuechly
COACH OF THE YEAR: St. Louis Rams Jeff Fisher

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AF's Picks

NFC EAST: Cowboys (Editor's Translation: He actually means Cowboys)

NFC NORTH: Cheeseheads (Editor's Translation: Green Bay Packers)

NFC SOUTH: Dog the Bounty Hunters (Editor's Translation: New Orleans Saints)

NFC WEST: 49ers and Vernon Davis' forehead (Editor's Translation: San Francisco 49ers)

NFC WILD CARDS: Pete Carroll's team + Gigantes (Editor's Translation: Seahawks and Giants)

AFC EAST: Pats unfortunately (Editor's Translation: New England Patriots)

AFC NORTH: Bengals 

AFC SOUTH: Mojo aka Texans (Editor's Translation: Houston Texans)

AFC WEST: Peyton Manning (Editor's Translation: Denver Broncos)

AFC WILD CARDS: Jets (yea right) + The Blindsiders (Editor's Translation: Jets and Ravens)

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Pack vs 9iners (Editor's Translation: Packers and 49ers)

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Jets vs Texans 

SUPER BOWL: Jets over Pat Willis (Editor's Translation: Jets over 49ers)

SUPER BOWL MVP: Darelle Revis

REGULAR SEASON MVP: Aaron Rodgahs (Editor's Translation: Aaron Rodgers)

OFFENSIVE ROY: Not that Mouth breather Andy Luck, Russ Wilson (Russell Wilson)

DEFENSIVE ROY: Morris Claiborne, Yea 

COACH OF THE YEAR: Regis Ryan (Editor's Translation: Jets Rex Ryan)

Writer's Note: I don't condone these translations, pretty sure they all make sense actually kind of offended. I have faith in you guys, I think you're smart enough to get all the references. 

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MillMeek22's Picks

NFC EAST: Giants

NFC NORTH: Packers

NFC SOUTH: Saints

NFC WEST:49ers 

NFC WILD CARDS: Eagles and Bears

AFC EAST: Patriots

AFC NORTH: Ravens

AFC SOUTH: Texans

AFC WEST: Chargers
AFC WILD CARDS: Broncos and Bills

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Packers vs Giants

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Texans vs Ravens

SUPER BOWL: Texans over Packers

SUPER BOWL MVP: Texans WR Andre Johnson

REGULAR SEASON MVP: Patriots QB Tom Brady 

OFFENSIVE ROY: Giants RB David Wilson 

DEFENSIVE ROY: Cowboys CB Morris Claiborne

COACH OF THE YEAR: Bills Chan Gailey

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Beardface's Picks

NFC EAST: Eagles

NFC NORTH: Packers

NFC SOUTH: Atlanta Falcons

NFC WEST: 49ers

NFC WILD CARDS: Cowboys and Daaa Beards

AFC EAST: Patriots 

AFC NORTH: Ravens

AFC SOUTH: Texans

AFC WEST: Broncos
AFC WILD CARDS: Bills and Bengals

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Eagles vs 49ers

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Broncos vs Patriots

SUPER BOWL: Eagles over Patriots

SUPER BOWL MVP: Trent Cole

REGULAR SEASON MVP: Tom Brady

OFFENSIVE ROY: RGIII 

DEFENSIVE ROY: Morris Claiborne

COACH OF THE YEAR: Eagles Andy Reid

Wolverine Recap: Week 1

Courtesy: mlive.com

Will Michigan be able to
overcome the injury to
Blake Countess?

Well that game was interesting. 41-14. I didn't think it was going to be that bad, honestly. Herbstreit and Musburger fell in love with Nick Saban, Denard looked like he didn’t improve one bit, the o-line got handled and the defense couldn’t get a break as nearly every drive started at the 50 yard line. To make things worse, the best corner on the team, Blake Countess, tore his ACL and is out for the year. I’m not going to lie, it’s not looking good for the Wolverines. Good thing is, they have two cupcakes coming up in Air Force and Massachusetts. However, the remainder of the schedule is still very concerning. They have to play on the road against Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Ohio State and have a home matchup with the Michigan State Le’Veon Bells. The only positive thing that came out of that manhandling was the emergence of WR Jeremy Gallon. He had 4 catches for 107 yards and was the only receiver that could separate from the Bama secondary. He’s going to be the guy this year for Denard. Hopefully next week, RB Fitzgerald Touissant will allow the running game to flourish. If he doesn't, the Air Force defense will. Now, every week I will end with a prediction for the next game, so here’s my prediction for the Air Force game.

Michigan 38- Air Force 14

Some Dude on Ohio State made a Pretty Sick Catch on Saturday

Alright, so obviously we can all see this was a pretty awesome catch and everything, blah blah blah, I hate Ohio State. I mean Jesus Christ, do I hate Ohio State. I really don't know what it is, I just can not stand them at all. Anything they do, I want them to fail. So seeing stuff like this happen and all of their fans get to have a good time for even one minute gets me pissed. If there is one thing I ask for out of this Penn State football team this year, it's for them to beat Ohio State. I know that's a pretty lofty goal and all considering I am asking this after coming off of probably the most embarrassing loss of the last decade. Anyways, it would be a great feeling to beat them and destroy their Big Ten championship hopes. Also, I recently started hating Urban Meyer since he was supposed to be the Penn State coach, but he was too scared to come in here and start from scratch with us. I mean I really don't blame him, that's a lot to ask. Still his choice to go to Ohio State has made me resent him, at least for now.

Not going to lie, A+ catch. Really sick grab. But I mean listen to this announcer. "The catch of the year." Big deal bro, we are about an hour into the season when this happened. Why even say something like that? Oh he's an Ohio State guy. Figures.

PS. Does anyone else think it's interesting I was asked to write about the PSU collapse, yet we have heard nothing from MillMeek about UMich? Get on your game 22.

MJD Ends Holdout

I never understood why people hold out. Sure you are making a statement saying that you are not playing until you get paid, but who really gets affected here. In the NFL, if you miss a day of training camp you get fined $30,000 and Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew has missed every day until today. Add on a mandatory mini-camp that he missed, costing him an extra $60,000, and he's down $1.2 million already this season. It's kind of ironic how MJD was holding out for a new contract and more money, but he ended up getting fined over $1 mil.

On top of hurting his wallet, MJD is also hurting his team. The Jaguars have played all of their preseason games, so Jones-Drew won't get any game action before week 1 this Sunday. This means he may not be in game shape, and he hasn't had time to mesh with the offensive unit. This is especially bad because Jags quarterback Blaine Gabbert is only a second year player and needs to be comfortable in order to perform.

Just nothing good came out of this whole situation. MJD didn't even get his new contract. So the front office won the battle clearly and MJD looks like the bad guy. You also don't know what his teammates are thinking because they have been busting their tails in the summer heat to get ready for the season and Jones-Drew hasn't, yet will still start against the Vikings next week. For me, just be professional out there. You're the face of the franchise and your previous contract was worth $31 million. Your actions are what all of the younger guys are going to mirror and you're coming off as a diva. Obviously if you deserve a raise you can work with the front office to get a deal done, but in the meantime, go practice with your boys.

One Last Thing: Jones-Drew said in an interview earlier this preseason that he wants to be a "Jaguar for life." Has there ever been a sadder statement? No one even goes to see these guys play. They basically have to pay their fans to go to the stadium. On top of this, the team is cheeks, and haven't made the playoffs since legend Fred Taylor was there in '07. They also haven't been taken seriously since they fired the best NFL head coach, Thomas Richard Coughlin.

Smoke of the day?

I'm not really sure what it is, maybe the long luscious hair, maybe the way the straps fall on his shoulders, or maybe the fact that he actually looks really happy to be wearing his new dress, but for some reason I'm giving this one a hard three. You can't really ask for more. The presentation was great. The colors work beautifully. Even the tutu being just barely in the picture gives you the feeling of wanting to see more. Spectacular. Bruce would be proud.

AF at last year's Christmas party, three deep

Editor's Note: Ballsack up here knows so little about sports, he has to use handsome picture of adorable children, must go to Penn State. 

Penn State Game 1

Idiot Headed in to the Stadium

Wow. Just wow. I'm not going to lie I'm pretty shocked and a little pissed off about the game I went to see today at Beaver Stadium. I've had some time here to think it all over and I guess I'm ready to give out some sort of response. So here it goes.

First things first. There is no denying it. We absolutely blew today. Just awful. One of the worst all around football performances I have ever seen from a team as a whole. When something was going right, we did everything else wrong. For example on the first half, Penn State Quarterback Matt McGloin came out just killing it, shocking everyone. I mean I went in to the game praying that McGloin got beat up by one of his receivers again, and I could finally get to see Paul Jones play. Instead we got McGloin, who threw for two touchdowns in the first half, when he only threw eight all of last season. So going into halftime with a 14-3 lead, and the defense murdering everyone, I was feeling pretty good. I even predicted to one of my friends at halftime the final would be 24-6. Epic mistake on my part.

I really didn't have to much of a problem with the first half so we'll skip right to the second. The team completely abandoned everything they did in the first half. They stopped throwing the ball, which was actually working for once, and ran it into the brick wall that Ohio's defense seemed to be. We would get maybe two or three yards a run, but still we ended up punting. A lot. Then on defense, things were still looking strong. We held them for a while, but eventually they gave in, and it's as true in Happy Valley as it is anywhere, when it rains it pours. All of the sudden we couldn't stop anything. Nothing. They ran all over us. Hit about a half dozen slant routes over the middle. Worst of all, anytime Ohio got into a tough third down, there was always a guy running right by our D, picking up either the first down or scoring. I was ready to just kill everyone out there. Straight death, by exile. I mean we got murdered in the trenches, and made Ohio's offensive line look like the freaking New England Patriots. But the thing that really killed me, just made me want to run on the field, was the should have been interception that got basically passed back to the Ohio wideout who run right in for the TD.

The worst part about this game was that like 18 guys got hurt for Penn State. Just everyone. Every five minutes there was another guy on the ground. Lineman, Running Backs, Linebackers, doesn't matter they're pretty much are all dead. I say get the damn volleyball team out there, maybe they can use their crazy verticals to jump up and get some turnovers. I'm willing to try anything after watching today.

That's all I really can say for now I guess. I'm still kind of pissed off about it, but then again I never really had that high of expectations for us this season anyway. I just didn't think we would lose the first game. It's going to be a long year, so I guess bring on Virginia.

NL Cy Young.. Could It Be RA The Rugged Man?

                                                Robert Allan Dickey

Just after shutouts, Not for shaving

Alright, I may be a little personally biased because I'm a decrepit and soul crushed Mets fan, but I think R.A. Dickey has a great shot at winning the Cy Young. At 37, this is a pretty remarkable feat. Dude has 17 wins with a 2.63 ERA, and prior to this year, he's only passed the 10 win mark once. I'm not going relay his whole journey because ESPN has beat another horse to death with that, but it's crazy how this guy got to where he is today. To be fair to the rest of the league, let's look at the other candidates for NL Cy Young.







Johnny Cueto

If R.A doesn't win, I want it to go to JC here. I've always liked Johnny Cueto and now that he's got this little Luis Tiant turn around. He's better than he's ever been and is tied with Dickey and Gio Gonzalez for the lead league in wins. Cueto also leads the league in ERA with a 2.48 which is unreal. Plus, he's got sick dreads and he kicked a bunch of Cardinal players with his spikes, so he's ok in my book. Also, Dusty Baker looks like he still could play with all those arm bands. I like that for no particular reason and it has no bearing on the Cy Young award, just saying.





Gio Gonzalez

Just one of the many studs on the Nat's pitching staff that's just having an out of this world year. Gonzalez is like 6 foot, 170 pounds and he slings 94 consistently. Also with 17 wins, his ERA is astronomical compared to the two above but it's still great at 3.10. Strasburg may be the ace, but Gonzalez is the A2. Once the playoffs roll around he'll be the man this year, not Strasburg. Mets knocked him around once, but ever since, he's merked them.





Matt Cain

If you start the All-Star Game, then you're doing something right. Cain may not have as many wins as the other 3 up there with 13, but he's an innings eater. 182 innings, more than Cueto and only behind Dickey and Kershaw. Cain's always had trouble with run support throughout his career, but this year it seems to be happening a little more. With a 2.82 ERA, you don't need very much help but you do need some. He's been the Giants' number 1 all year while Lincecum has been pretty brutal, and Bumgarner is shaping into a great number 2. Plus he tossed a perfect game this year, so that's not too shabby.





Conclusion: I think it has to go to R.A. He's been through such a trek and now, in my humble opinion, he's the best pitcher in the NL. I think if it doesn't go there it will go to Cueto, because they're a playoff team. Once again Mets screwing over their own players, its almost cliche at this point.

Note: Yeah I know Strasburg is amazing but he's not pitching a whole season, can't be Cy Young for me.