Mixed Martial Arts— Ultimate Fighter Ratings up …
October 29th, 2006
Archive for October 29th, 2006
NFL Week Eight, Update #4
Continue Reading October 29th, 2006
• Colts 34, Broncos 31. If the Colts weren’t the class of the AFC before this week, they certainly are now. They went into Mile High against a nearly impenetrable defense, hung 34 points on them, and got the win on the foot of Adam Vinatieri. No one else has come close to being able to do that to Denver… and the Colts just went in there and did what they do. Peyton Manning threw for 345 yards and three touchdowns, and Reggie Wayne caught ten balls for 138 yards and three touchdowns.
• Raiders 20, Steelers 13. Despite outgaining them by over 200 yards, the Steelers managed to lose to the Raiders, who–and this is weird–are on a winning streak. Four Ben Roethlisberger interceptions did it, including one at the goal line that went for a Raiders touchdown. The Raiders and Steelers now have identical records, which is sort of mind-blowing. Game winning QB Andrew Walter was 5-of-14 for 51 yards.
• Chargers 38, Rams 24. LaDainian Tomlinson ran for 183 yards and two touchdowns, along with 57 yards receiving and another touchdown. Shawne Merriman tied a career high with three sacks, and I heard the words “steroids” and “roid rage” after every one of them. I have a feeling that’s going to become a trend for me.
NFL Week Eight, Update #3
Continue Reading October 29th, 2006
• San Diego 14, St. Louis 7. Shawne Merriman has two sacks for the Chargers, and has been awfully jubilant about them for a guy with such a large and dark cloud hanging over his head. It would take an even bigger set of balls, though, if he were to mimic jabbing a syringe into his ass after he got a sack. LaDainian Tomlinson has 84 yards and two touchdowns at the half.
• Broncos 14, Colts 6. Peyton Manning is 14-of-17 for 132 yards, and yet, the Colts are touchdown-less. Jake Plummer has one touchdown running, and one touchdown passing, and has not completely screwed up anything. The Colts have generally performed better in second halves this year, but… I don’t think they’ve seen a defense like this one.
• Raiders 10, Steelers 6. I did not see this coming. I just assumed that the Raiders got their win last week, and that would be enough… I figured they’d be ready to pack up shop and call it a season. But they’ve been infused with pride, and… well, competency. It’s not like they’re dominating this game or something; their touchdown came on a deflected interception. But they’re there, they’re competing, they look solid, the Steelers look wobbly, and… the game is there for them. I’m a little taken aback.
NFL Week Eight, Update #2
Continue Reading October 29th, 2006
• Jaguars 13, Eagles 6. Alright, the Eagles officially aren’t that good. You may have figured this out before me, but I’m now convinced. They just managed six points in a home game that they pretty much had to win. The Garrard/Leftwich issue was probably not a factor… the Jags won while getting 87 passing yards from Garrard.
• Falcons 29, Bengals 27. Once again, it’s Michael Vick beating a team with his arm. It’s kinda weird complimenting that part of Michael Vick’s body… it’s like saying, “Wow, look at those shoulders on John Holmes.” Eh, that’s… that’s kinda gay. But yeah, Vick finished with 291 passing yards, 3 TDs, and no interceptions.
• Titans 28, Texans 22. If spitting in some woman’s face is what it takes for Pac Man Jones to have an interception and a punt return for a touchdown… the women of Nashville should step up and volunteer for target practice. This game’s leading passer: Sage Rosenfels.
• Chiefs 35, Seahawks 28. Maybe it’s time to start taking the Chiefs seriously, too… I dunno. I mean, I know they just beat a Seneca Wallace-led team, but Seneca Wallace actually wasn’t that bad. In the first half, anyway. Larry Johnson finished with 155 rushing yards, and four total TDs.
NFL Week Eight, Update #1
Continue Reading October 29th, 2006
• Baltimore 28, New Orleans 7. The Ravens have completely bottled up Dulymus McAllister and Reggie Bush… combined rushing and receiving, Bush and McAllister have combined for a total of 7 yards. The Ravens are doing just about anything they want… save for one long Drew Brees to Joe Horn TD pass, this has been as ass-beating.
• Kansas City 20, Seattle 14. Larry Johnson is back to his fantasy stud self. He’s got a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown, and 120 total yards in the first half. And Seneca Wallace has been better than you’d expect. He’s 9-of-13 for 98 yards and 2 touchdowns. I’m going to go ahead and call him the greatest Seneca in the history of the NFL.
• Packers 21, Cardinals 0. Abuse Dennis Green liberally this week, because he might not be around much longer to take it. Blowing a lead against the Bears is one thing… making the Packers look like the ‘72 Dolphins is quite another. The Packers are averaging 6.5 yards per carry on the ground, and 8.4 yards per pass attempt… that’s pretty good.
• Chicago 41, San Francisco 0. I really like the 49ers new Halloween costumes. They’re going as the Arizona Cardinals in the second half against the Bears on Monday night. Rex Grossman is… hell, I can’t keep up. At 34-0, they were throwing the ball aggressively downfield.
Week 8 NFL Preview:
Continue Reading October 29th, 2006
Falcons @ Bengals. Chad Johnson–er, excuse me–Ocho Cinco has promised two touchdowns and two endzone dances, and if he doesn’t deliver, I’m never going to forgive him. I said last week that the Panthers/Bengals game was probably our last chance this year for a good endzone celebration, but Chad Johnson revived hopes this week with a barrage of brand new trash talk. Make it happen, Ocho.
Cowboys @ Panthers. Let’s let Keyshawn Johnson preview this one. His thoughts on Terrell Owens: “I have heard all the talk about the Cowboys upgrading the position by replacing me with the player (Terrell Owens). The player is not better than me. He is going to stay behind me, I don’t care what the statistics say. He is behind me from the draft to the world in general, in life as a person, as a man and as a player on the football field. I am complete. I am a finished product in every aspect.” My goodness.
Jaguars @ Eagles. It’s the best matchup possible in the NFL featuring teams with a combined record of 7-6. Byron Leftwich is probably not going to play for the Jags, either because he’s injured or because Jack Del Rio thinks David Garrard gives the Jags a better chance to win.
Colts @ Broncos. Somebody’s weakness is getting exposed today; either the Denver offense or the Indianapolis defense. It’s difficult to imagine Jake Plummer putting enough points on the board to complete with the Colts, but it’s also difficult to imagine the Colts stopping the Denver running game.
San Francisco @ Chicago. The biggest star of this game? Pat Summerall, making his return to an NFL broadcast booth.
Jalen Rose is getting bought out
Continue Reading October 29th, 2006
With the rumors flying fast and hard this morning that NYK G/F Jalen Rose is on the verge of getting his $16M salary bought out by the team, the natural inclination is to wonder where he’s going to end up.
Let’s skip any blockquotes, eliminate all the non-contending teams, and analyze the possibilities:
Miami Heat: The new golden haven for aging and former stars to go get their championship rings as supporting players.
Dallas Mavericks: Never count them out of discussions where spending a little extra cash is concerned, despite Cuban tightening things a bit in recent years. We have a feeling Mark and Jalen are kindred spirits on several levels, as well.
San Antonio Spurs: Realistically, if Rose is looking for a title, this is probably the best place to go, but it’s questionable if he’d mesh with all the boring people.
Cleveland Cavaliers: We don’t think this is really a good fit, but we liked Terry Pluto’s Cavs column this morning, and needed a reason to link it.
Detroit Pistons: We’re throwing our vote here. He’s a Michigan guy, they could definitely give him the most significant role of any of these teams, and let’s just pretend there’s some sort of “thing” about moving from Zeke to Joe Dumars, because we need something to round out the entry.
Rolling it back to the non-contending teams, there are two we can’t leave out of this discussion:
LA Lakers: Los Angeles is always attractive, if we remember right Rose has made rumblings of wanting to be there before, and the sheer force of the fanbase’s desire for this might make it happen in some karmic way. We’re talking about the 10-page thread that (without looking) we know already exists at Lakersground.net.
New York Knicks: Remember, we’re dealing with Isiah Thomas, so don’t discount the idea of the Knicks resigning Rose to a higher salary for five more years somehow.
Kobe Bryant is playing
Continue Reading October 29th, 2006
The see-saw drops the other way for now, as none other than Laker coach Phil Jackson (or JACKson, as our round friend might say) has stated for the record that Kobe is going to play in Tuesday’s home opener against the Suns.
Let’s not forget, Phil himself is dealing with a recent hip replacement, and might not make the trip to Golden State the following day.
So for Laker fans there’s that to worry about, plus the words that actually came out of Phil’s mouth regarding his prized #24.
“He says he’s going to play on Tuesday,” Jackson said. “I’m sure he’ll make the correct decision. He came off the floor [Saturday] and he was sore, but he was on the court for a good hour and a half before he came off.”
“He said he felt like he could get it done,” Jackson said. “I just feel like I have to let him have his head on this. We know that there’s going to be some limitations to what he can do. That’s a choice he has to make. He’s been training, he’s been working hard on it.
“It’s almost four months. This is a normal injury where guys would say this is a month-out injury. It’s been twice that, three times that long for him to recover from this. We really have to let him have his head on this.”
There’s pretty much nothing in there that’s smile-inducing:
* Limited in what he can do? Check.
* Taken three times the norm to recover? Check.
* Gonna play on it when not fully recovered? Check.
* Still sore? Check.
Basically, it sounds to us like Kobe’s gonna be limited all year, which is something no NBA fan can really be happy about.
Between this and USC losing to one of those Oregon teams, Los Angeles isn’t a happy-time place right now.
We’re not so much worried about that, but more that the world is one step closer to Ohio State and Michigan going into their game ranked 1-2, which we’ve already said would cause our death on roughly Wednesday of the week leading up to the game.
So, uh, so long and such. It’s all happening, just as the elders said it would.
(Sorry to break out the Ranger Corps stuff - we know that’s so “last season”, but this pic was just begging for it.)
