Friday, December 23, 2011

No Undefeated Season for YOU


It all seem too perfect for the Green Bay Packers. All they had to do was win out in the regular season against the Chiefs, Bears and Lions to and then march through the playoffs and win the Super Bowl to claim the first undefeated season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins. Well, there was a small, bad team standing in their way. The Kansas City Chiefs were that one team that was desperate for a win. After the Chiefs lost their starting quarterback, Matt Cassel for season, Chief's management then decided to fired Head Coach Todd Haley due to Haley not getting along with General Manager Scott Pioli; the Chiefs were in need of a great unexpected win that all bad teams have eventually. Enter the undefeated Green Bay Packers, who's pass defense is ranked 30th and a rush defense that is ranked 12th in the NFL. In case you do not know, there are 32 teams in the NFL and being ranked in the lower half is never a good thing. Still the Packers have one of the best offenses in the NFL and should have easily picked apart the defense of the Chiefs.
Any person betting on this game had to think there was no way the Kansas City Chiefs can beat the undefeated Green Bay Packers, but there is always a chance any team can be beaten and some how the Chiefs found a way to win with a final score being 19-14. The experts would say the Packers did not execute well on offense or that their defense finally crumbled under the pressure, but what if the Chiefs found a weakness that the Packers never saw coming? What if they saw the light at the end of the tunnel and instead of playing it safe threw everything at the packers, like one final punch to end a fight. Whatever the Chiefs did it ruined the Packers chance at an undefeated season.
So where do the Packers go from here? Some will say that they will still win the Super Bowl and repeat as champions. Others will think this one lose will haunt them and eventually the Packers will fall in the playoffs to a team a that had no shot of winning it all until something magical happened. I have to agreed with the people believing that this one lose will haunt them in the playoffs and one team will pull a Kansas City Chief and find a way to beat the defending Super Bowl champs. One lose can show cracks in a team that no one saw before and will start to make some players feel uneasy, especially messing with their mental control. The Packers will now have to put this lose behind and focus on finishing the season strong, but somehow I do not see them making it back to the Super Bowl. With a defense as bad as theirs and the fact the running game is pretty much dead to them, the Packers are now a team that could potentially get beat at home and could realize they need to rethink their game plans. Whatever happened against the Chiefs, it cost them an undefeated season and maybe a shot at another Super Bowl ring as well.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Chris Paul Dilemma

It has been an interesting past few weeks in the NBA. The NBA owners and the players union agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement, which saved the NBA season. It should be a happy time for everyone who enjoys Christmas and NBA coming together for this time of the year, everyone expect Chris Paul that is. You can describe Paul's life as a whoopee cushion right now, which means that when air is blown into the cushion and inflates it like a trade coming through and Paul finding out he is out as a New Orleans's Hornet to suddenly the NBA sits on the whoopee cushion or Chris Paul blowing all the air and Paul's hopes out into the world for everyone to know. Remember everyone, the NBA currently owns the New Orleans's Hornets and can veto any trade they deem not worth enough to land Chris Paul, which means only if a team's offer cripples their team, they can land a guy that may only stay one or two years, which gives that team zero time to build a team around him and win.


Logo credited the Los Angele's Lakers & Clippers

Over the past week, the public has thought Chris Paul would be traded twice, once to the Los Angeles's Lakers and once to the Los Angeles's Clippers with both deals being shot down by the league with the league's reason being that Paul is better suited as a New Orleans's Hornet. Any reasonable human would say the deals that the Lakers and Clippers offered for Paul were very reasonable and could have made the Hornets better now and for the future a contending team. Instead both trades were declined and made public causing not only the Lakers and Clipper players involved in the trades hurt, but also the Houston Rocket's players involved in the Laker deal and let us not forget Chris Paul himself. So if you are keeping score like me that brings a total of 4 teams hurt, 10 player's feelings hurt (including Kobe Bryant) and NBA fans everywhere confused and sad. There has been fallout from both trades being declined. The Lakers had to move a very unhappy Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks because his name was brought up in the trade and he then wanted out of LA. Even though Paul Gasol's name was in the trade as well, he claims he has no hard feeling towards being trade, but secretly I have to wonder if he is now really happy or just putting on a show for the media. Regardless now, the Lakers are a very different team now, mostly older and less closer to a championship then they were before the trade was declined sorta like letting all the fun out of a whoopee cushion. The Clippers on the other hand have the situation under control or so they think. The Clipper players are all young, talented and easily fragile right now in their young careers. Being included in this trade could potential damage the team for decades, so they have to find a way to land Paul before this blows up in their faces like a whoopee cushion.

It really does not matter anymore on which team lands Chris Paul, only what that team will have to trade away to acquire him. The price will always be high unless the NBA and David Stern realize their huge mistake in the matter and let the process take it course. Plus if the league continues to deny trade after trade, Paul will eventually try a lawsuit against the league and really cause the whoopee cushion to burst all together on both the league and him. So the right thing to do is let nature takes its course. Big time players will always want to go to big market teams because they can offer a chance to actually win, where small market teams can only offer a very long and good career. The Clippers now have the best shot to land Chris Paul and hopefully they pull this deal off without giving up all the pieces they need to compete. Maybe, just maybe the NBA will realize they were playing the role of Mr. Scrooge and that Chris Paul is Bob Cratchit. Instead of killing all hope of a Merry Christmas for Paul, the NBA will learn the true meaning of Christmas and business and let everyone have a Happy New NBA Year or the giant Christmas whoopee cushion will blow up on all of them and with the good kind of air.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Albert, The New Angel


Logo credited to the Los Angeles Angels

If you woke Thursday morning to see the Miami Marlins pulling out of the Albert Pujols race, then you probably thought Pujols was returning to the St. Louis Cardinals because they were the only team left right? Wrong! ESPN's Buster Olney reported at around 10 a.m. Eastern time that Albert Pujols had signed a 10-year, $250 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels, http://espn.go.com/losangeles/mlb/story/_/id/7330066/st-louis-cardinals-albert-pujols-join-los-angeles-angels. This move by Pujols shook the baseball world, especially the fans in St. Louis. A city that not only loved him, but treated him as a big time celebrity. You have to wonder why Pujols would leave a city that he had such great success in; for a city where he would not stand out as the main star? Could his decision rest only on money? Was he truly unhappy with Cardinal's management or was it time to try something new? Whatever the reason maybe, Pujols gave St. Louis everything he had and more. He brought St. Louis two World Series titles and was a 3-time MVP.
When news broke to cardinal fans about Pujols departure, emotions ranged from sadness and tears to anger and curse words. The interesting part was a lot of fans were okay with Pujols leaving and realized that the team had saved a lot of money that can now be used to bring in more players to help them in the years to come. Still this is ALBERT PUJOLS! He is one of the greatest players to ever play the game of baseball and will be greatly missed to a team that needs offense to back up a good pitching staff. The Cardinal's front office staff blew their one chance to grab Pujols and make him a Cardinal for life. They owe their fans an apology and now must find a new way to bring in runs. The Angels get a player in Pujols that will definitely lead them to another World Series title.
As for cardinal fans, I commend you for not burning Pujols jerseys and for not getting upset that your hero left for greener pastures. If ten years from now we look back and the angels have won a World Series and the cardinals have not; then the decision the cardinal front office made those ten years ago will come back to haunt them. Well Albert, good luck in Los Angeles, but just remember you leave behind fans that adored you and cheered you through your whole career and hopefully it will be the same for years to come as an Angel.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

It's about time Boise State

Logo credited to Boise State University
It is time for every college football team's favorite time of year, BOWL SELECTION, well that is if your not Boise State. The last four seasons the Boise State Broncos have finished in the top ten of the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) rankings only to fall short yet again of making a BCS bowl game. It finally seems that Boise State University got the message the BCS was sending and will join the Big East in football starting in 2013, http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:7323280.
This is a great move for both Boise State and the Big East, especially for Boise State. The Broncos have always been shoved toward the back of the pack when it comes to the title game and now they will have a better chance to prove they are a legit team. Some fans would argue beating an SEC (South Eastern Conference) team like Georgia as proof of being a really good team, but that is just one good win. The Mountain West Conference, where Boise used to play has teams that nobody has every heard of unless your a fan from the Mountain West. This move to the Big East does two great things for college football: For one, the move angers the PAC-12. Why, because Boise is closer to the West Coast and naturally the PAC-12 would have loved to add a good team like Boise State to their conference so they could keep trying to top the SEC in football, which is not going to happen anytime soon. The second thing is that the BCS system could potentially take another hit of scrutiny if Boise has a great season and they are once again left out of another BCS title game or a BCS Bowl. This could FINALLY be the last straw that would permanently change the BCS bowl system into a playoff system for college football making many fans happy and killing the sponsors of the bowl system.
To me it is a win win for both the Big East and Boise State. Boise gets to compete against semi-tougher teams in the Big East like Connecticut, Louisville, and South Florida  and gets a real chance to compete for a BCS bowl game. For the Big East, they get Boise State along with four other teams (San Diego State, Houston, SMU, and UCF) to keep a once dying conference alive and floating. ESPN's Joe  Schad reporter that the Big East will also add Air Force and Navy in 2014 or 2015. So it seems the Big East is on the rise again, but there is still one question left to answer after all the conference re aliment is done. How can the Big East call themselves the Big East when half of their new colleges are on the other side of the continent?
Logo credited to the Big East Conference