Monday, January 12, 2009

A Good Day For Monday Morning Quarterbacks


Sports Shorts

Wow, what a Monday for good sports talk for the water cooler and lunch room.

NFL
First, how ‘bout those Ravens, hon? It’s been said, “it’s good to be lucky, but it’s lucky to be good.” Both came into play as the Ravens beat Tennessee by a last minute field goal Saturday night. Clearly, the officials gave the Ravens a favor when time had clearly expired before Joe Flacco received the snap leading to a game-breaking pass to Todd Heap. It was a rough brutal game with names like Leonard, Suggs, and Roille injured. Tennessee fans and media seem to take the game’s loss in stride blaming their mistakes more than any lucky breaks the Ravens got. Lord knows, if they had the Baltimore fans attitude, they’d be concocting some sort of conspiracy that the League has it out for a little hick town, Nashville, which is just a bunch of rednecks and country music people. That big bad league favors those big northeastern cities: Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Don’t you get tired of the Baltimore fans who keep feeling sorry for themselves?

Pittsburgh looked murderous after giving up an early touchdown. It will be war on the other side of the Alleghany mountains next Sunday. It’s the Ravens turn to show the Steelers whose boss as they could have easily won either of their first two games, but it will take every ounce of maximum effort the team has in every facet of the game.

College Hoops
What’s up with the North Carolina Tar Heels? 0-2 in the ACC. They looked tentative and forcing shots against Wake Forest who clearly had the upper hand in last night’s game.

Baseball
Congratulations to Rickey Henderson. Wow, was he a player to watch play in his day. Giving him a walk was as good as giving up a triple but serve him a fat strike and he could connect for a homerun. He also played quite a fine left field too. There has never been a leadoff guy like Rickey Henderson. He was perhaps the most exciting player in the 1980’s and early 90’s. How many pitchers and catchers are nervous wrecks thanks to his chaos on the base paths.

It’s about time Jim Rice got elected to the Hall of Fame. His career was short but he was at the very top of his trade from his rookie year in 1975 until his retirement. He played in one of the greatest outfields ever in the great World Series of 1976 with the magic Carlton Fisk home run. With Jim Rice in left, Fred Lynn in center, and Dwight Evans in right with Carl Yazstremski as a backup, DH, and occasional first basemen, not only were they perfect sluggers for Fenway Park, they fielded their positions magnificently. Jim Rice was one heck of a clutch RBI man. His quiet nature perhaps betrayed him in an era of lots of flamboyant superstars like Reggie Jackson.

More NFL
We note with sadness Tony Dungy’s decision to retire. He has much good work to pursue off the field and we wish him well. Will this diminish the Colts’ dominance as one of the most consistent powerful programs in the AFC?
What happened to the Carolina Panthers? It's hard not to show up for a game at home-sweet-home, but they were a mess. Who would have thought Arizona would have so thoroughly roughed them up?
Told you so!
Philadelphia did exactly what we expected against New York. Yes, maybe the Giants needed ol' "Plexiglass" afterall.

Baseball’s Shame
A grand jury has convened to investigate Roger Clemens among others. Who could be surprised if “The Rocket” winds up with a perjury rap?
Media
All-in-all, hat's off to Fox and NBC for providing good, accurate coverage of the playoffs this weekend. For all the brain power Fox has in its pregame team, it would be nice if they'd stick more to the x's and o's and less to the idiot formulaic comedy routines. CBS's team seems to be the most professional.
Chris Berman was in rare form. There is no sports figure more obnoxious than "Boomer" who should pay Boomer Essiason royalties for use of his nickname. His boorish, overbearing style, predictable idiotic schtick and ability to talk without saying much of substance makes enduring the fine coverage the resources of ESPN can provide so horribly compromised. Berman is like that loud mouth who shows up at your favorite watering hole or somebody's obnoxious brother-in-law who someone was forced to invite to the game who thinks everybody is his best friend, the crowd hangs on his every word, and even laughs at his own stupid jokes. Meanwhile, everyone else tries to ignore the jerk with polite smiles, but enough is enough. His routines were tiresome and tedious ten years ago -- the nicknames, the screams, the "wapa-wapa's," the cliches and catch-phrases, and his gift for overstatement make "NFL Prime Time" a real ordeal to get through to hear what the others have to say. Granted, you'd think Mortenson seems like some old bag with big framed glasses and a huge red dyed hairdo gossip reporter for some lady's magazine, and Keeshawn Johnson comes from another planet, still it's a good exchange of information and opinion. That's why we tolerate it inspire of the Swami Blowhard.

No comments: