Tuesday, October 30, 2007

10 thoughts on a great sports weekend:

1. The Chargers laid the smack down on the Texans, cruising to an easy 35-10 win. The Chargers are slowly regaining their 2006 form. Phil Rivers only needed 11 passes to throw for three touchdowns (two to Gates, one to Chris Chambers), LT didn’t need to score -- he only had 90 yards rushing and the defense forced five turnovers.

The only complaints I have is that the defense only had one sack, and the offense didn’t score any points in the second half.

The Chargers have a relatively easy game at Minnesota this week before hosting a HUGE game against the Colts on November 11th.

2. The thing I enjoyed the most about the Chargers win yesterday was how Antonio Cromartie just decided to be good. He’s always shown flashes of being good, but yesterday was the first day he put it all together. Cromartie had two interceptions, scored on one of his INTs and recovered a punt that was snapped into the endzone. (By the way, that Matt Turk “chase and tumble” was comedy to the nth degree) Finally the Chargers look like they have a cornerback that can make some plays.

3. The second thing I enjoyed the most was Arnold Schwaarzenegger’s appearance. He wore a pimp Charger leather jacket, yelled “Go Chargers, go!” after the coin flip, and said “Hasta la vista baby!” after Stephen Cooper knocked Matt Schaub out of the game.

(OK, I made up that last one)


4. Props to the Red Sox for winning the World Series and winning me $50. I’ve been in a betting slump lately so it was nice to get a win. A couple more weeks of losing and I would have had to pull a Tony Soprano and go to Vegas and take peote to break out of it.

5. In typical A-Rod fashion, Alex Rodriguez through his agent Scott Boras (who is to baseball what Satan was to heaven) announced that he would be opting out of his Yankee contract to become a free agent this winter. Reactions from blogs and columns I’ve read today call him everything from disrespectful to shameless to classless and they are all right. I heard the news last night while trying to catch NFL highlights in between innings on ESPN News and I didn’t even flinch. A-Rod is a certifiable jerk and jerks do jerk things like drawing attention to themselves during the middle of the World Series after their team has already been eliminated.

6. Speaking of jerks, Bill Bellichick and the Patriots ran up the score on another team, beating the Redskins this time by the score of 52-7. Hey I’m not one of those unabashed Patriot fans who drool over everything the Patriots do nor am I one of those people who are criticizing them for running up the score. All I’m saying is that they’re bordering on pissing off the football gods by shamelessly running up the score the way they’re doing.

Plus, I’d like to point out those high-scoring type teams --the 1998 Vikings, the 2001 Rams, those Colts teams from a few years ago and even the Chargers from the early 80s if you want to go way back-- never, win the Super Bowl. Defense and the running game wins championships and right now the Patriots defense and running game haven't been tested yet.

7. What the hell was up with the NFL TV schedule yesterday? We only got two games yesterday one of which was the dull-as-hell Giants-Dolphins game. I know the NFL is trying to go international and all but did they have to cram that snorer down our throats? San Diego got the shaft in the morning games especially when you think that there were more entertaining games out there.

8. I came in today wanting to ask what the hell was up with Shawne Merriman but after looking at his stats the guy always starts off slow. Last year he had 8.5 sacks in his first game before missing the next four with a steroid suspension then coming back and getting another 8.5 over the last five games. This year, he’s a little off his pace getting 5.5 sacks through his first seven games but if he can get another 10-12 over his next ten games he’s right back into the mix so I wouldn’t count him out of any Defensive Player of the Year discussion yet.

9. My first fantasy hoops draft was this weekend. I’m playing in a 9-team league. Key players on the “Black Mamba Lams” include: Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Baron Davis, and Shaq.

10. I’m going to try to work on a Laker Preview blog for Wednesday but in the meantime, can you believe this high school girl act going on between Kobe Bryant and the Lakers?

I think the Lakers should hold on to Bryant to see how they do this year, but I think they have to trade him if Bryant keeps taking shots at Laker management and the Lakers keep taking pot shots at Bryant. The deal I keep hearing about (Bryant to the Bulls for Ben Gordon, Kirk Heinrich, Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas, and a first round pick) makes sense for both teams. I think the Lakers would be pretty exciting with Gordon and Heinrich in the backcourt and a front court of Odom, Ty Thomas, and Chris Mihm with Luke Walton, Derek Fisher, Andrew Bynum, Jordan Farmar and Noah coming off the bench.

Here are all the things they can do if that deal were to go down:

They would have three guys would could score double digits each night (Heinrich, Gordon, Odom)

They would have three big men who can rebound and play defense (Noah, Thomas, Mihm)

They would be able to run with smaller teams (Heinrich, Gordon, Walton, Odom, Thomas)

They would have a total of five guys who could play center: (Mihm, Bynum and Kwame Brown in addition to Noah and Thomas)

They would have guys who can match-up with Steve Nash and Barbosa (Heinrich and Gordon)

And if Bynum emerges as a scorer they would have a pretty good inside presence.

I mean what’s not to like about that deal. As the team is right now they’d be lucky to get past the first round of the playoffs. Take away Bryant and throw in Gordon, Heinrich, et al and you have yourself a team that can actually match up with the Suns, Spurs and Mavs.

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