The Pride of the Northeast

The interest in college football in the Northeast has waned like the ecstasy a chocolate lover has after consuming 20 pounds of it. At one time, Syracuse University was a powerhouse (in the 50’s and 90’s), Pittsburgh was formidable, Rutgers had Ray Rice traverse to the N-F-L and Boston College was a school that earned a reputation of winning the most important games.

But existentialists know that Penn State is the only power among what is considered Northeastern Schools. Most of the other universities are as complimentary to the success as a mechanic is with knowing how to teach calculus.

Football has certaintly underachieved in a region which has enough of a past to reflect upon. But if there’s any compensation this area is predominantly about it’s professional sports and how those teams are competing.

For that reason, it’s why the N-F-L is put on such a high pedestal throughout the season.

But now, it’s center stage for the cities of New York and Boston. It’s a re-match of two teams that absolutely hate each other and know one-another equally as well. Ty Law signed with the Jets for the rest of the season, beginning this week, against New England. Four Patriots players are out for the season because of previous injuries, the most recent being outstanding linebacker Adalius Thomas. Although, the most important, obviously including quarterback Tom Brady.

The expectation is that the Jets will come through in spite of enormous pressure to take down New England with talent. One issue remains though: will Pats coach Bill Belichick maneuver his way to another victory over his pupil Eric Mangini.

Final score: Jets 38, Patriots 35

Jets Talk

Jets fans should not be worried any longer. Brett Favre is coming to town to make the offense exciting, Alan Faneca will open up holes for running backs, Leon Washington and Thomas Jones, to secure. Kris Jenkins is going to be the two-way defender the Jets have longed for in stuffing the run and attacking the quarterback. Vernon Gholston could be the next Mo Lewis for New York.

There's only one probem, projections and reality are far different phenomena and the Jets are a farce to this point. The team could easily be 0-3 if it were not for Chad Pennington's weak arm. This running game has been much improved because of Faneca but Jenkins cannot afford to sit out any more contests because the defense looks lost without him. Favre is being helped by an offensive coordinator who comes from the same school of coaching as a person who has no playoff victories and does not take chances. Then, when Brian Schottenheimer experiments, he goes to an extreme (the way he did with San Diego).

The schedule is definitely in favor of the Jets but they have to take advantage of the holes that are available. The next opponent is not an easy one in the Arizona Cardinals, who before losing to the Redskins in week three, blasted the Dolphins 31-10.

Get your offense in order and allow Jenkins to re-join the lineup. It won't be pretty if the two don't.

By the way if the Jets do not perform well without the services of Jenkins, how fit are they to get to the postseason? The Giants suspended Plaxico Burress and the squad still possesses Amani Toomer, Steve Smith, Domenik Hixon, Ahmad Bradshaw, and David Tyree.

Get a grip Jets! Or your handl on a playoff spot wil be long gone by week eight.

Tom Terrific Goes Tumbling

While the Giants were methodically taking advantage of a flat Redskins defense in the first half (which led to victory) on Thursday and the Jets hung by a thread to pull out the contest against the Miami Dolphins (Sunday) the Patriots were dealt a knockout punch that might kill their 2008-09 season.

It seemed like an odd opponent to go down against. The Kansas City Chiefs just drafted Glen Dorsey, out of LSU, to help one of the worst pass-rush defenses in all of the League. Yet, it was not him who forced quarterback, Tom Brady, to the sidelines for the rest of the year with a torn ACL.

Regardless of the kind of talent New England exhibits on a week-to-week basis, Brady is irreplaceable because he is the best quarterback in the League. The weapons he was provided were extraordinary because Brady tossed the ball to those receivers and opened up the running game for Sammy Morris and Laurence Maroney.

While New England still has Randy Moss and Wes Welker at the wide receivers' position having a USC third string starter should not soothe the worries of fans in the Boston area.

Who is Matt Cassel?

He was the backup quarterback for two Heisman Trophy winners at the University of Southern California: Carson Palmer (the signal caller for the Bengals) and Matt Leinart (the backup quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals). The last time Cassel started a game was in high school. He's only thrown 57 NFL passes in a little more than three years.

Note this: the Patriots have a rookie backup and just signed a third stringer, Matt Gutierrez , who was their third fiddle last year.

There is no doubt Tom Brady's torn ACL gives Jets and Bill fans huge hope in winning a division title. The last season the Patriots did not win the division was in 2002 when the Jets blew out the Packers in the last game of the season and the Patriots succumbed to the Dolphins in Miami.

Brett Favre and Trent Edwards have to be infinitely better than Matt Cassel for the two squads to overtake the Patriots because in spite of losing Asante Samuel during the offseason, the Pats always refuel.

In the end, The Jets will probably win the division because of the acquisition of Brett Favre and the seasons injury to Mr. Brady.

Giant Step?

Caterpillars crawl around the ground struggling to find their adaptive environment (whether it be as a butterfly or a moth).

In a similar fashion, the Giants identity was in disarray during the first half of last year. But matters changed on the presence of two pro-bowl caliber players in Michael Strahan and Osi Uymenyora and three others (Kavicka Mitchell, Reggie Torbor, and Gebril Wilson). Offenses were slowed to a crawl during the last half of the season, including the playoffs.

This year there's new life to the Giants defensive environment...featuring Justin Tuck, Matthias Kiwanuka, and Jerome McDougle. Combine the efforts of those three with Fred Robbins and company and the Giants defense looked in prime gear against the Washington Redskins in Week one

Washington's Clinton Portis was unable to exploit and explode on the newly crafted Giants defense. The 'Skins ran for 83 yards but was unable to score in the last 30 minutes of the game. This is only the start of what could possibly be another magical run to the postseason for New York.

As for the offense, Eli Manning was effective enough to not give up the contest as he tossed for 200 yards with an interception on 19/35 passing. Brandon Jacobs earned another hundred yard gain while Derrick Ward replaced the graduate of Southern Illinois with solid bulldozing.

It is no doubt a solid victory by a club which not getting he respect it deserves after winning the Super Bowl.

But let me explain the format:

If players execute actions to perfection, teams can separate themselves even further. The Giants' first drive was fantastic; but looking at the rear view mirror after the game the G-Men scored three field goals the remainder of the game.

All in all: if the Giants want to repeat as champions, take charge and throw teams down when they allow it. Mental mistakes are inexcusable especially when the tougher teams arrive on Nw York's schedule.

Take a check of my football blog after the Jets play Sunday afternoon.

Cliff Lee All Alone

How many of you would have guessed that the starter with the most wins in all of Major League Baseball would be Cleveland’s, Cliff Lee?

Or for that matter, how sparse is the population who thought Lee would have a better campaign than C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona with the Indians?

Lee was sent to the minors to work on his mental toughness and improving the location of his pitches. After all, the left-hander was anything but adequate on the mound last season which prompted the team to demote him.

How could a demotion motivate someone to the extent that the person becomes the frontrunner for a pitchers’ highest prize?

Sabathia was the Cy Young award winner in the American League (the honor going to the best pitcher in each League) while Carmona had an exceptional power fastball with great deception on his off-speed pitches. The two earned 19 wins a year ago in leading the Tribe to Game seven of the American League Championship Series.

Just imagine if Sabathia had not started as slowly as a turtle with the Indians and he pitched with such conviction with Cleveland in as many starts as he has with Milwaukee. Could we have proclaimed Cleveland to win the division?

Probably not! Without Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner in the lineup there is no lightning rod in the order

But the probability that Cleveland is within a couple of games is not unreasonable!

Instead, like most other franchises who have a history of selling off all assets of the team (in the hope of rebuilding into a contender), Cleveland’s level of pay was inferior compared with the Royals for a while.

Keep the players and play out the string! Wait for your stars to get healthy and stop making rash decisions that could destroy the team for years.

Yankees flounder Red Sox plunder

The Red Sox got the better of last night's contest by a score of seven-three in spite of Johnny Damon's two solo home runs.

Which begs to question why the leadoff hitters' efforts are in vain.

One can point to a number of elements and a clear indicator is the inability hit with runners in scoring position.

But how about a nerve factor? Can we put that into the equation?

It's possible and probable.

There are four hitters who seem to bat with runners in scoring position: Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi.

Let's start with the captain.

He has hit well with runners on base in the past but I believe he is more injured than letting everyone know. His physical limitation is getting to his head when runners are on base (he's been a hot hitter for the last three weeks but that is not indicative of his capabilities).

Mr. headcase (Abreu) is the best hitter with runners in scoring position on the team. Last night, he earned two hits off starter Tim Wakefield. On his third appearance, however, with runners on base, he chopped to Dustin Pedroia. He was not the worst performer from last night or in fact this season; but notgetting the runs home is a contagious matter.

But Alex Rodriguez is probably the worst case from last night and perhaps the season. The highest paid player in all of baseball is 0-5 hitting for the cycle in terms of leaving runners on Great news Yankees fans; your highest paid player is a pad stacker and a large part of it may have to do with his emotional state revolving around his divorce and his late-night visits with Madonna.

Finally, Jason Giambi has to come to the reality that if he starts hitting the ball towards left field, defenders will have no choice but to switch defensive strategy. This will open up the right side of the infield where he loves to hit it. Higher average, increase run production, and improved offense would be the benefactors leading to a more successful team.

But that's why the Yanks will not make it and why either the Twins, White Sox, or Red Sox will
finish as the Wild Card team; Boston leads the Minnesota by 2.5 games and New York by six.

LPGA goes America on US!

The end of World War II was just the beginning of another era where the United States and another superpower would dominate the world’s power struggle, while most other nations had to recover from the devastation during the fighting.

But that period ended in 1989 when the Berlin Wall collapsed and the United States was the only remaining superpower. Countries worried that the United States would impose it’s will in every aspect; culture, customs, languages, foreign policy, and ethics. One could argue that Middle Easterners despise the intrusion of Western Civilization on Middle Eastern tradition causing the terrorist actions.

A less significant, yet obtrusive barrier has been crossed again; the re-instatement of English as a language; this time in America. Golf week is reporting that the LPGA tour is forcing it’s competitors to pass an exam which tests a person’s ability to speak English. If the players do not pass an oral exam within two years of the individuals’ first lessons’, she will have her Tour card taken away.

Another prospect comes into question as well; if the players fail the oral exam, then the Tour will work with the players on what needs to be improved.

There is some understanding as to why the LPGA is promoting the advancement of the English language (after all, many countries communicate with it as a second language). The most common language in the world is English and interviews need to be conveyed to fans and listeners alike. However, is imperialistic golf what the LPGA should be aiming for? That might be the fourth most important issue that the women’s PGA has to deal with.

First, the LPGA is not going to draw more than the mens’ tour but at least try to develop a product that is worthy of having them on national television more often. Regardless of how well Lorena Ochoa has performed, relatively speaking, no one is watching women’s golf

Second, the competitions are usually during the weekend. In the summertime without Tiger Woods, women’s golf should have been able to step out of the shadows and shine. Thus far, there has been only one or two tournaments aired on a high definition network. The two major celebrities of the sport are no longer performing the way they were capable of (Annika Sorenstam retired and Michelle Wie can’t seem to show consistency). Even if the pay for the most recent tournament (The Safeway Classic) was 1.7 million, who is watching?

Third, with baseballs excitement reducing to the average fan (because of performance enhancers leading to lower home run numbers and offensive production) there were some people who wanted to shift to a cleaner game. Without Tiger Woods, the focus shifted from the PGA to the LPGA.

One last endeavor: why do people have to adjust to our way of life? Was this country not built on mixing people in for the betterment of everybody? Why does the LPGA have to revert to imperialism for the sport? Since the LPGA did this, why doesn’t another women’s tour force their competitors to only speak French?

It’s a preposterous idea to force people to speak English when the LPGA spans the globe and is not strictly an American institution. LPGA headquarters might be located in the United States but does it give them the right to discriminate based on language of origin?

I thought we had the Constitution revised for that specific purpose. Reading strictly by that interpretation, this imposition would clearly violate an amendment for a public place. But for private citizens, if you pay to enter and play, the liberties are not the same when they should be.