SportsGirl

So, the regular season in the NFL has come to a close. My Patriots completed the season with a perfect record, 16-0, and now have a first-round bye in the playoffs. Honestly, I am torn on whether or not I think that’s a good thing. I think momentum is huge, especially with a team built like they are. But given the collective age of that defense, a brief respite might not be a bad thing. Knowing Belichick, (because I know him well, don’t you know) he’ll have them convinced by next Sunday that they’re the underdog by 20 points, regardless of who the opponent is, so I hope we’re ok on this. The perfect regular season is great, but to truly accomplish what the Pats are going for, we need to remove the word “regular” from that description.

The Cowboys also have a first-round playoff bye, and with them, that’s definitely a good thing. Romo is still off his game, TO is hurt, Terry Glenn left the game after 1 play yesterday, and they do not look like themselves. This could be the best possible scenario. Now all the analysts are commenting on how the NFC is wide open again, whereas before the the chatter was on whether Dallas fans were booking first class or coach tickets to Arizona in February. Some of that goes to your head unless you have a super-genius coach like Belichick, which Wade Phillips is not.

I know I shouldn’t put this in print, for fear the local Dallas sporting nation will hunt me down, but I’m actually glad the Boys lost yesterday. I know we never want to lose to the Redskins but the game meant nothing to Dallas, unless you count momentum. But it meant everything in the world to a Redskins team still coping with the loss of Sean Taylor. It’s been pointed out that the Skins margin of victory last night was 21 points, Taylor’s old number. I love that the team was galvanized by this tragic shooting and frankly I would actually root for them to go far in the playoffs. Let’s leave it at that…

My condolences go out to the Cleveland Browns fans, though they should be quite proud of the 10-win season they pieced together. They didn’t even need the proverbial two hands and a flashlight! They won most of the games they were supposed to win and looked pretty sharp with Anderson taking the snaps. We’ll see what next season holds for them but they and their fan base should not be disappointed for long about missing the playoffs. Take solace in knowing that the Titans will get man-handled by the Chargers in the first round and that will be that. And honestly, that probably would happen to Cleveland as well, so we’re talking about 1 extra game, really.

Hey, we even had Brett Favre high-fiving the ref in his game yesterday. Surprised he didn’t get fined for a brutal attack on the officiating crew…

You know the greatest thing about the holidays, besides the whole togetherness, love your fellow man feeling? The fact that there’s football on almost every single day. The college bowl season is helping to make me forget that I don’t have any pro football on until Saturday. That truly makes this the most wonderful time of the year.

So that’s a wrap on the Sports Girl Blog for 2007. Look for some discussion of the Rich Rodriguez hiring at Michigan in 2008. Peace, love and Patriots my dear readers!

Tensions are apparently running high in the NFL these days. I’ve always heard the holidays are tough for a lot of people, especially if they’re away from their families, but I never realized it could get this bad!

First, we have Nick Barnett who was restrained by a referee during a melee in the Chicago-Green Bay game last weekend. I’ve seen the replay and agree that umpire Jim Quirk was aggressive in his attempt to remove Barnett from the situation. But now it comes out that Barnett is filing a grievance with the league pertaining to the incident. You’ve got to be kidding me. If anything, Quirk was trying to prevent Barnett from getting in the middle of the fracas which could potentially have prevented him from making a bad situation worse. And Quirk is an older guy, hardly someone who could harm the 6′2″, 232 pound linebacker. So what’s the grievance about? Ok, you don’t want officials feeling like they can get physical with the players because the reverse wouldn’t happen without a stiff penalty being levied against the player. But the NFL already spoke with Quirk and spoke publicly about not condoning his actions. So drop it at that, will ya?

Then we have Warren Sapp who got fined $75,000 for his verbal “assault” on the referees in his game against Jacksonville. He was also ejected from that game because the ref thought Sapp bumped one of the officials. I can’t make up my mind fully on whether or not I think that’s too high a fine. Jawing at the officials is kind of like holding to me–it happens on almost every down of every game in the NFL. As long as it doesn’t get personal, flag them for unsportsmanlike conduct on the field and be done with it. If it gets nasty, then ok, there’s a line that can’t be crossed without a fine. Nothing happened to the ref that upset Samari Rolle by allegedly calling him “boy”. And nothing should have happened. This is a physical, intense game and you’re crazy if you think the refs don’t put up with their share of name calling. And to a certain extent, I’m ok with a bit of a double-standard in favor of the refs (they’re not wearing pads, mind you) as long as it doesn’t go to the officials’ heads. But a $75,000 fine, even when your paycheck is as hefty as Sapp’s, seems a bit excessive.

Champ Bailey felt the need this week to speak out against the reported taunting of Broncos QB Jay Cutler by fellow QB Philip Rivers. Bailey didn’t mince words in basically telling Rivers that he has not earned enough credibility in the league to be yapping at a QB’s poor play on the field. Rivers claims he was merely congratulating his defense on a great stop, but that seems suspect to me. If I were him, I’d own up to it. May not earn you points with the other teams, but I bet your own team would respect you a bit. I’m not usually a supporter of trash talking unless you can back it up, but if you’re caught doing it, own up to it! Trying to play innocent after the fact just makes you look like a loser.

Hell, even John Clayton and Sean Salisbury were going at each other’s throats the other day on Sports Center! They were doing a “four down” type segment on the show and they were debating various points. I’ve seen them do this before and it’s not always civil. Frankly, I want to punch John Clayton in the face even though I think he provides great coverage of the NFL. He’s so damn smug in those nerdy glasses! So I don’t blame Salisbury for getting annoyed. But in this particular segment, the two were debating who you’d start in a playoff game if you’re the Redskins. If Jason Campbell is healthy, do you take the reins away from Todd Collins, who has been managing the team well enough to get them to the point where they could even make the playoffs. Salisbury was stating that he’d continue to start Collins, which for the record I agree with, because Collins gives you the best chance to win. When you’ve got the momentum, don’t make a change even if your starter is healthy. Clayton disagreed, quite vehemently, and said that by not starting Campbell if he’s healthy, you’re sending the wrong message for 2008 and 2009; that basically you’re telling your starter that you’ve lost confidence in them. To which Salisbury replied that if your QB can’t handle that then they don’t have the mental make-up to be a starter in this league (again a point I agree with). That turned the discussion into an insult-flinging contest with Clayton reminding Salisbury that he was an inconsistent back-up at best, and Salisbury telling John to set the pen down for a minute and watch some damn game film before he stated his opinions. Good golly I thought they were going to find a way to teleport to the other’s location and start beating the crap out of each other. Which really would have been a one-sided fight…Go Salisbury!

So here’s hoping that things calm down a bit this weekend. With not many teams having much to play for, the tensions should fall a bit. And my attention will be locked on the Pats-Giants game hoping Eli plays as well as he has been so my Pats lock the game up in the first 10 minutes!

I am all for a good celebration. In life in general, there’s so much doom and gloom, that I think everyone is entitled to celebrate a little when they can find a reason. In football? It’s gone too far.  

I’m impressed with Junior Seau. As with so many other players that no one wanted, he joined the Patriots and is actually making a contribution at the ripe old age of 38. However, this past Sunday against the Jets, he lost some standing with me. It seems that every tackle he made, he felt the need to thump his chest and flail his arms in the air, as though it was the game-winning stop. I watched him miss quite a few tackles too. Which made the excessive celebrations all the more exaggerated. A lot of refs will throw a flag on you for excessive celebration, but he somehow managed to escape their ire. It’s shocking that Belichick hasn’t put the kibosh on this display of emotion.

Then we have the Miami Dolphins. My congrats to them on winning their first game of the season. Truly, a great accomplishment and a monkey off their collective backs. But come on guys, to have tears in your eyes because you won a game? Act like you’ve been there before. Sure, you haven’t been there this season, but this is a fairly winning franchise. I mean for goodness sake your winless season is constantly being contrasted against your ‘72 undefeated season. That wasn’t that long ago. I know the players were glad to have won the game, in overtime none-the-less. But again, tears? That just underscores why it was so difficult in the first place for this team to get their first check in the W column. When your mentality is that it’s a miracle to win a game, one game, then you’re killing yourself before the games even start. How would you like to be Baltimore this week? Not only did you blow your opportunity to crush an undefeated team’s perfect season, you also served as the backdrop for a winless team’s first win. Wow.

So enough with the celebrations. I know, I’m sure I sound hypocritical because I’ve been on record as having stated that I like the end-zone celebrations. But scoring a touchdown is a bit different than making a tackle. Especially when you make a tackle but it’s only after a guy has rushed for 30 yards and a first down on 4th and 1…Those are the celebrations that kill me the most. Seriously, act like you’ve been there before.

Originally, I was going to post my thoughts under this header about Terrell Owens’ running commentary on how Bill Parcels under-utilized him in the offense. Specifically, I wanted to address his reaction to Keyshawn Johnson’s semi-attack on him. But then the Mitchell Report was released. And while it doesn’t shock me to read some of the names that are tied to that investigation, I am interested that only one person has reacted to the report.

I’ve never been a huge Roger Clemens fan. He’s a helluva ball player but a jerk in regular life. Normally, I’d say the jerk part is overshadowed by the numbers he’s put up over the course of his career, but those numbers are now going to be scrutinized closer than a 32-year-old man looking over his beard to see if those hairs are gray or clear. Now everyone will come out of the woodwork to say they knew it all along. But Roger has struck first in the press, issuing his statement that he never tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Forgive the cynic in me for not believe this vehement defense. Isn’t that what Marion Jones said? I don’t believe the “I never tested positive” defense is a strong one. That basically means, I’ve never gotten caught. Now in Clemens defense, he is staunchly stating that he never used the drugs but then the fall-back evidence of that is that he never tested positive. But part of his statement is spot-on. His attorney argues that, since the burden of proof in a slander/liable case is difficult to overcome when you’re a public figure, Clemens basically doesn’t have any recourse. He’ll have to bank on the court of public opinion voting his way and not believing the “facts” of the report. In as objective of an opinion as I can muster, I just don’t know why McNamee would lie about this. You can say he’d be trying to make a name for himself, and maybe it’s the naive person in me that’s thinking here, but what name would that make? Baseball is still a fraternity and if you’re helping to “out” the brothers, you’re persona non grata. So at best you’re looking at a book deal, which is great for a few million maybe. Is that worth it? It makes me tend to believe that McNamee is telling the truth. And there is a paper trail on some of these guys, though it looks like the bigger names were smart enough to pay cash in their dealings. (Aside: how hard is it to know you probably don’t want to buy illegal performance enhancing drugs with a check? Honestly…)

This topic will be the topic of on-going discussion, no doubt, and if any new points are made, I’ll certainly weigh back in. I found it amusing that President Bush felt the need to issue a statement and encourage baseball to take the report seriously but not to punish players without sufficient evidence. You’re the President now, W, you’ve got to leave the baseball owner in you behind. It will be interesting to learn about MLB’s plan for all of this because I think they’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t. And honestly, I think most fans at this point are probably jaded enough that they’re surprised that more people weren’t named.

At some point soon, I will post my thoughts on the TO/Keyshawn “feud” because so may people are defending TO and I can’t let that happen. We knew it was coming with him…

Well, well, it appears that the Patriots are continuing down the yellow brick road towards achieving a perfect record. The Steelers were supposed to be the last test for the Pats before the playoffs, and last night, the Steelers looked worse than the Ravens playing against New England. Now, I don’t know if that’s a testament to how well the Patriots played, how badly the Steelers played, or how gritty the Ravens are. Though the Colts kind of made the Pats look stupid in the way they man-handled the Ravens in the Sunday night game. I’m choosing to believe that last night was a display of how balanced the Patriots are and how well they’ll match up with their remaining opponents. I had a few hodge-podge thoughts to throw in this post in regards to my Pats.

Thought 1. It continues to be stated that Bill Belichick lacks respect for his opponents  by running up the score in games that they’ve already won. Clearly, they hadn’t had the opportunity to run up the score in their previous two games before last night. To me, that gives credence to the fact that they’re not, in fact, running up the score in their games, but rather they’re playing to win for all 60 minutes. Whether that means they’re clobbering their foe or barely scraping by, they play the entire game at the same speed, for consistency’s sake. 

Thought 2. I listened Keyshawn Johnson on Monday Night Countdown tonight discussing what he thinks will happen next week when the Pats play the Jets for the second time this season. Now, I think it’s pretty well a given that the Jets will lose, though no game is a gimme to me. So no one is really talking about whether or not the Jets stand a chance (caution: see the Ravens game and the Eagles game). Keyshawn was basically pardoning the Pats in advance for actually running up the score in this impending contest and said that since Mangini blew the whistle on the whole CameraGate incident, that he would deserve whatever the Patriots want to dish out. Sorry, Keyshawn, but that sounds like the most faulty logic I’ve ever heard. I’m definitely not defending the whole video taping incident, and I feel like it’s been blown a little out of proportion (even I had a knee-jerk reaction before really processing the whole situation). But actually, intentionally running up the score on your opponent because you’re pissed that they called you out on your spying techniques? Not classy. I know, some would argue that Belichick is anti-classy in everything he does. I disagree and if it appears he really is running up the score just for spite’s sake I will be disappointed. I actually think the best revenge the Pats could exact would be to wrap the game up in the first quarter, then put their subs in and cruise to an easy victory. That would be the ultimate “I didn’t need to cheat to beat your crappy franchise” statement.

Thought 3.  ESPN’s bottom line now contains a section all about the Patriots. So in between the NCAA Men’s Basketball scores and the latest on the MLB trades, you have a whole bottom line item devoted to the pursuit of perfection. How cool is that? I don’t remember the Colts ever getting that kind of recognition!

So once again, I will state that I don’t believe that Belichick and the team are actually chasing the perfect season just to earn a place in the record books. Would it be nice? Of course. But his main goal is to win every game. Not to have your name etched with the ‘72 Dolphins, but because that is perfection. And that is what Belichick is all about. It’s just how he rolls. 

It’s all about the collegiate efforts today. With the Heisman Trophy being awarded last night for the first time in history to sophomore Tim Tebow, and with college basketball being in full swing, I find it appropriate to record some thoughts on the amateur sports ranks.

First, we’ll start with Heisman presentation. I knew Tebow would win, and really, he deserves to if you’re awarding the trophy to the best college player, which is how it’s supposed to be decided. Chase Daniels played himself out of contention by losing twice to Oklahoma. Patrick White did the same, losing to Pittsburgh in the final game before the votes were tallied. Now, granted, White was hurt in that game and the loss doesn’t sit squarely on his shoulders; if anything his absence in that game underscores his importance to the team, but the Heisman is not the MVP award. Injury is the same thing that prevented Dennis Dixon from getting more attention. Colt Brennan didn’t really ever seem to stand a chance. It was almost as if the Heisman voters felt badly that they knew Hawaii would get left out of the BCS Championship game so they decided to throw Brennan’s name into contention as a consolation prize. This year’s Heisman was always a contest between Tebow and Darren “Run DMC” McFadden. McFadden would hands-down win the award for best nickname in football, but sadly, that’s not a category in consideration for the Heisman. McFadden will be an excellent running back in the pro’s, despite the knock on him that he runs too vertically, but you can’t ignore Tebow’s touch down numbers, especially when you think about how many of them were rushing touch downs. So he is the victor and has earned a little breathing room. Which, after that speech last night, it sounds like he needs!

Now, onto the college basketball season. In an attempt to fill the void left on Saturday afternoons for me now that college football is on hiatus, I watched a little b-ball. Michigan was playing Duke yesterday and I had hopes that maybe someone had re-wound the time to 1989 when U of M actually had a decent hoops team. Alas, I was sorely disappointed. I remember the announcers yesterday commenting that it was somewhat impressive that Michigan was only 5 points behind Duke, at Cameron Arena, and that was maybe 5 minutes into the game. Then I watched Mich miss about 5 shots in a row, completely fail to rebound on offense or defense, and the lead widened to about 20 points without blinking. At that point, I changed the channel. Looks like the basketball season will be even less kind to U of M than the football season, if that’s even possible. Although, the hoops team does have a coach, which at the moment the football team can’t even say, so they do have the leg up there.