This play is a microcosm of how the Georgia-Georgia Tech series has typically gone (this year notwithstanding).
That is all.
Showing posts with label NFL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NFL. Show all posts
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Not too bad Matt Ryan
Pretty good first NFL pass.
I expect nothing less than multiple Super Bowl titles now.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Gregg Here's a Nurse, Part XVIII
Shorter Gregg Easterbrook:
I have sympathy for those who have to lie in beds they've made.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Half Volleys
Time is not on my side, so here are thoughts in short form...
1) Matt Schaub trade: not as good a deal as the Falcons could probably have gotten a year ago, but also far better than paying that much for a backup who can walk for nothing in 10 months. The two spot move this year means the Falcons will get one of the following players, each of whom would make a serious impact: Gaines Adams, Jamaal Anderson, Levi Brown, Joe Thomas, LaRon Landry. Here's hoping one of the tackles drops to 8. The #39 pick will not be a bad pick either. There will be first round talent at that spot (Winston Justice last year went 39; Lofa Tatupu went around there in '05; Bob Sanders went around there in '04). Another option would be to flip that extra second rounder and another pick to move into the late first round - and maybe steal a guy like Reggie Nelson. Another second rounder next year makes the deal even better. This trade was a decent play. A better play probably would've been to sell Schaub a little higher a year ago, but as of right now, I don't know if the Falcons could've gotten a better deal (nobody was signing Schaub and giving the 1 and 3).
2) Like, a third of the world's population only cares about one thing right now: the Cricket World Cup. As a nonconformist and internationalist, I've tried to follow it a little. A bit of background: a decade ago I spent the summer in England, and tried for 6 weeks to teach myself how the rules of cricket operate via county cricket in pubs and box scores in the Guardian. Needless to say, I don't think I did a good job at it. The World Cup is a bit simpler to understand, since it's one-day internationals and the rules seem a little simpler, to me at least. Anyway, there's a host of odd storylines coming out of the Cup. Namely, major upsets. Pakistan and India are two of the better teams, and both have lost to teams with weaker reputations. Despite an upset loss to youthful Bangladesh, India still have a chance to advance to the knockout next round with a win over Sri Lanka (thanks, mainly, to a rout of Bermuda). A loss to Sri Lanka probably means India are heading back to the subcontinent. But at least they still have hope. India's neighbors to the west, Pakistan, are already heading home. The big story has been the death of manager Bob Woolmer under suspicious circumstances. But that was all after Pakistan had already been eliminated by the Irish on St. Patrick's day. We Americans might not know better, but Ireland isn't exactly a huge hotspot for cricket. The Republic kind of doesn't like to act like a good colony. So the win over Pakistan was a massive, massive upset. And with Pakistan's win over Zimbabwe today, the Irish have clinched advancement to the knockout next round before their match against the Windies. The bad news is that Ireland will face either England or New Zealand in the next round be likely the worst team left in the tournament and will face all the other good teams - meaning probable elimination before the final four. Still it's been a great cup for Ireland, and a total disaster for Pakistan. And that'll probably be the last I mention cricket on here. But it does give something to follow along during the day for the next few weeks.
[I edited this because I realized it was messed up.]
3) Part One of LD's theories without statistical support or serious research backing it up...
An idea I noticed last year and maybe the previous year in the NCAA basketball tournament hasn't come up again this year, until this weekend. Domes and their effect on games. I've been to watch games in the Georgia Dome, and I honestly believe it has an effect on the game. There is a difference between the background players shoot against in domes from that background in a smaller NBA-type building. Teams that rely on three point shooting for their offense might have problems when they start playing in domes. Teams that rely on frontcourt power, rebounding and high-percentage shots are less susceptible to that kind of effect. I noticed it last year in the regionals. Last year two regionals and the Final Four were held in domes. In the two regionals held in domes (Atlanta and Minneapolis), the highest rated seeds had major strengths in the perimeter (Duke and Villanova). Both those teams eventually lost to teams with far stronger emphasis on frontcourt play (LSU and Florida). Duke in particular seemed to struggle with shooting in the dome - J.J. Redick went 3 for 18!
Now, this year there haven't been any games played in domes so far, but they start doing so tomorrow, in the Alamodome and the Edward James Dome in St. Louis.
In St. Louis, my guess is that the dome helps Florida, who has probably the strongest frontcourt out of Butler, UNLV and Oregon. Butler in particular appears susceptible to dome-related poor shooting - their best two players are guards, and Graves, their best player is particularly reliant on 3-pt shooting. Oregon is one of the most frequent shooting teams from behind the arc. Many pundits have said that Florida has an easy path in terms of the other teams in the region, but with the effect of the dome on outside shooting (which I have little concrete evidence to back up my assertion), Florida might have an even better chance at defending their title.
In San Antonio, the dome is a little smaller, and it's an NBA arena already it was an NBA arena for a decade or so, so the depth and angles might not be a perfect fit for my theory. Regardless, Ohio State probably has some advantage, even though they have strong guard play. Oden upfront provides a better option than just about anyone in the nation in the middle. Their first opponent, Tennessee, features an offense that takes a ton of threes and whose best players rely on outside jumpers. Memphis plays uptempo, and is pretty balanced. Texas A&M runs a lot of high screens for 3-pt shots. The Aggies have good shooters - but if they went cold the offense could suffer.
Basically, I'd guess Florida and Ohio State have some advantage because their regions are played in domes. Then the next week in the Georgia Dome, who knows how it'll be, depending on the other teams that advance. Perhaps I'll actually have to update my blog again this month.
4) Part Two of LD's theories without statistical support or serious research backing it up...
The University of South Carolina wants to ruin international soccer, or at least cause headaches for lots of players involved in it.
First, a few weeks ago some college football dudes noticed the trials and tribulations of the hair-apparent (booo...) to Steve Taneyhill's legacy for the Cocks, Stephen Garcia. Dude was arrested (the first time, not the keying) for public drunkeness and not responding to a cop. How was it that Garcia got so drunk? He was pounding away at a birthday party at Columbia's Knock Knock Club for West Ham United defender Anton Ferdinand. Anton, the not as talented but equally as obnoxious brother of England and Man U international Rio Ferdinand, for some reason wanted to celebrate his 22nd birthday with some of his friends who play for the Cocks' soccer team in Columbia, rather than, on his own continent, during the season, etc. In fact, the story is that Anton lied to the club about his whereabouts. He said he was visiting a sick grandmother or something, not going to Columbia to get drunk. I gotta tell ya... I find this whole story weird. Stephen Garcia and Anton Ferdinand in the same news item? Odd.
Then this week there was a bigger name involved in a fracas concerning someone related to the USC athletic department. This week Inter Milan and Brazil stud Adriano got into a bar fight with Rolando Howell, a basketball player for Varese who played his college ball at, yep, South Carolina. Howell's a 6'9" Center in the Italian league. Evidently the fight was over a woman, some Italian celebrity.
So in a span of a few weeks, not one, but two international soccer players have incidents with legal implications, and both are somehow connected with the University of South Carolina. Coincidence? How could this be a coincidence. Clearly USC has it in for the entire international sporting community.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
If this weren't my son's wedding, I'd punch you in the face, you anti-dentite sonofabitch!
On the right hand of this blog, you'll notice several political blogs, and you'll notice that, like my rod, they lean to the left. But if you look through my archives, you'll note that I rarely write on politics. Mainly because I don't think you all are interested in my thoughts on politics.
But if you are a frequent reader at all, I do, in fact, write frequently about morons who talk about sports in the media.
Which brings me to this.
Hilarious.
I'll be quick with it.
1) The presumption that criticism of Rex Grossman is unwarranted is idiotic.
Grossman sucked in the Super Bowl, and wasn't very good all year long. Grossman was 24th in QB rating this season when you only look at "qualified" (14 attempts per game) players. When you add in other QBs who hadn't had enough attempts, Grossman isn't in the top 50. Only two player threw more interceptions than Grossman this year (Kitna and Roethlisberger). He was 28th in completion percentage. Grossman was seriously poor this year.
The Bears won this year despite Grossman, by no means because of Grossman. The Bears led the NFC in takeaway margin despite finishing in the bottom half of the conference in giveaways. Considering how close the Bears were to a championship (made the Super Bowl, kept the game close for three quarters - until a Grossman INT was returned for a touchdown), it's normal - and completely fair to criticize Grossman and wonder what if a merely mediocre QB had been at the helm.
2) Assuming that criticism of Grossman isn't warranted, the idea that such criticism is driven by race-based animus is utterly ludicrous.
To determine what the motivation for criticism of Grossman is, let's use Occam's Razor. Could it be that he's not very good, and as a result of his poor play the Bears weren't able to win? That seems like a reasonable motivation, so it's clearly not correct.
No, it must be because Grossman's white. The media simply want to promote black quarterbacks. That's why there's been such a coordinated effort to discredit Grossman - to get him replaced with his African-American backups Kyle Orton and Brian Griese. Wait, what's that you say? Both those guys are white too? Weird.
No, it must be because Grossman's white. After all, the media's efforts at promoting Grossman's opposing QB were non-stop, before and after the Super Bowl. The constant media fluffing of Peyton Manning was just a result of the media's pro-black-QB agenda.
It must be because Grossman's white. The media won't let up on him. Compare him to how much positive press David Garrard had this year (we've all seen his Sprint/Mastercard/DirecTV commercials, right). Doesn't it surprise you that Garrard is way below Grossman in rating, completion %, yards per attempt, etc. Oh, wait. Garrard isn't behind Grossman in any of those categories. In fact, there were only 5 black QBs who qualified for stats. Only one was behind Grossman in passing statistics - Vince Young, who was a totally inexperienced rookie. If you asked 1000 Bears fans if they'd trade Grossman for Young straight up, if 5 said no I'd be stunned.
See, the thing is that Grossman was poor this year. And that's why people criticized him. In football, unlike politics, there are objective statistics and outcomes that just about anyone with a brain can understand and make informed judgments about. When you see a player suck, you can call him on it. You can say, this guy sucks because X, Y, Z. In politics, opinion and subjectivity come into play. If you don't like a particular politician, you can say that it's because you disagree with policies, but someone can infer that it's because you don't like his race/religion/haircut/etc.
Grossman is criticized because he sucks in the NFL (so far). The criticism isn't because he's white, any more than because he's the son of a dentist.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Arthur ______! Gag your team.
It's been one thing after another for the Dirty Birds recently. SuperVick flicking-off fans. Jim "Playoffs!" Mora saying Vick is a "coach-killer." Jim "deer in the headlights" Mora saying he'd jump ship for the UW job even if the Falcons were in the middle of a playoff run. But, IMHO the worst gaffe is in the most recent comments by DHall. I admire his restraint in refraining from retaliating for T.O.'s disgusting act, but he should restrain himself a little more. He should NOT be encouraging the League to suspend 81. Take one look at the schedule. One of the more realistic paths to the playoffs for the Falcons is for them to take care of business against the Panthers, and for Dallas to beat Philly on Christmas Day. That way, the winner of the Eagles-Falcons season finale will get a playoff spot. Please, Falcons, on behalf of your fans, STFU.
On another note, BigUps for The General who got hitched this past weekend. He and his beautiful bride tore up the dance floor at the wedding and are now resting their toes in warm white sand.
Update: After further review of the tie-breaking procedures, it looks as if the Falcons would get a Wild Card spot if they win the next two, regardless of how the Eagles do against the Cowboys. If the Falcons win 2, the Giants win 2, and the Eagles win 1, they'll all be tied at 9-7. The first tie-breaker eliminates all but the highest ranked club in each division. The Giants would be ranked higher than Philly due to the division tie eventually being broken by them having a higher winning percentage against common opponents. Then the Giants would hold the tie-breaker over Atlanta by winning head-to-head. So, Giants are in. Next, with the tie between Philly and Atlanta, the Falcons (under this scenario) would get the nod due to winning head-to-head. But, if the Falcons slip against Carolina and need a lot of help staying alive, one of those helpful hands may well be Dallas with T.O. on the field.
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