Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

I meant to post this a few days ago, but then I got sick. But anyway...

So long, Mad Dog. Greg Maddux formally announced his retirement on Monday, ending his spectacular career. He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1986 where he went to 2 of his 8 All-Star Games, won 3 of his 18 Gold Gloves, and the first of his 4 Cy Youngs. Maddux is a well traveled ace, he has played for four different teams during his illustrious career. As I mentioned before, he was drafted by the Cubs and played for them from '86 to '92 then was traded to the Braves where he one a World Series in 1995. He then returned to the Cubs in 2004 and was traded to the Dogers in 2006. He played for the Padres from 2007 to 2008 and then returned to the Dodgers for his last season. Wherever he went, teammates would always talk about his creepy ability to predict what the opposing pitcher would throw next, and most of the time, he was right. Mad Dog is one of the greatest pitchers to play in the Majors, this is shown in the fact that he won a Gold Glove every year of his career from 1990 except for 2003. Well, for now, thanks for playing Mad Dog. See you in the Hall.

Bradford is POTW, American Dolphins in Toronto, and The BCS Is Looking Pretty Good

The NFL played it's first regular season game in Canada yesterday, with the Buffalo Bills first game in the contracted Toronto Series. They took on the Miami Dolphins, who are tied at the top of the division along with the Jets and Patriots (however, the Jets are leading by net points). The Phins came in and dominated the Bills 16-3, however, neither one of the teams were spectacular. Dan Carpenter of Miami nailed a 50 yard field goal, but that's pretty much it. I guess the most important thing to develop from this game was that the Dolphins swept the season series against the Bills for the first time since 2003.
Meanwhile, the Giants fell pretty hard without Plaxico. Eli Manning completed less than 50% of his passes for the first time all season, but this was mostly because receivers were dropping passes left and right. The Giants didn't score and offensive touchdown until there were 20 seconds left in the game, and their other touchdown came on a blocked field goal to end the first half to prevent them from being shutout in the first half for the first time this season. Even though the Eagles cruised to a 20-14 victory, the Giants still clinched the NFC East by the Cowboys loss to the Steelers. The Steelers, by the way, are looking pretty good right now, look out for them in the playoffs.

-Let's Go Bowling!
The bowl schedule has been set, including the BCS Bowl bids, and I'm pretty happy with the matchups. We have: USC/Penn State in the Rose Bowl, Texas/Ohio State in the Fiesta, Alabama/Utah in the Sugar, Cincinnati/Virginia Tech in the Orange, and of course Oklahoma/Florida playing in the BCS National Championship Game. Now the Orange Bowl got the short end of the stick, but I'll watch anyway. Now, I've made my picks for the Bowl Pick 'Em games I'm playing, and over the next few days, I'll post them for you to debate.

OJ Is Put On Ice, The Cards Fold, Army/Navy, and I Weigh In On The SEC Championship Game

Well OJ, we all saw this coming. You were acquitted from murder 14 years ago, and then you went and did something stupid like this. True, it might have been your stuff, but you can't rob somebody for your own stuff. I mean, if you got robbed, call the cops. The cops can't arrest you for something you did a long time ago (we all know you did it) when you call them to complain about someone else. Now, I don't want to talk about OJ anymore. He's going away for a long time, end of story.

-Stampede!
After watching Ball State roll through their schedule, I thought they were a sure shot to win the MAC Championship, but the Buffalo Bulls had something to say about that, specifically the words, "We win". Buffalo forced 5 turnovers and took advantage of each of them, including an 80 yard fumble return. BSU's star QB Nate Davis turned the ball over four times himself, all on fumbles. However, he gets a pass on one of the fumbles because his longsnapper snapped the ball at Davis' shins. But, it's impossible to win when you turn the ball over 5 times, and the Cards deservedly lost to Buffalo, who played their hearts out.

-The Army/Navy Game
I always make sure to watch the Army/Navy game every year, because it is always one of the greatest games on TV to watch. Right now, Navy leads 27-0 in the fourth, and it looks like they will continue to roll. I would like to point out the special jerseys Army wore for todays game; they wore black tops with beige camoflauge numbers, same camoflauge pants, and camoflauge helmet. On the back of their jerseys, instead of them wearing their names, they wore "Duty. Honor. Country." They look pretty good, even thought the score doesn't.

-Gatorbait
I really don't care what Lee Corso thinks, Florida wins. Tim Tebow will control the game and Florida will continue to execute their offense to the best of their ability, giving the Bama defense fits. Alabama is good, but not good enough to beat Florida.

Bruce Pearl Is Good As Gold, But As For The Louisville Cardinals...

Look out, Pat Summitt, Bruce is only 588 wins behind you. Bruce Pearl scored win number 400 of his career yesterday (Dec. 3) in a 87-69 win at home over UNC-Asheville. This win is merely a semicolon in his career, on his way to Rocky Top to meet Pat Summitt. The other leading story of this game was Tyler Smith, also of Tennessee. He became the first Vol to drop a triple double in school history with 12 points, 10 boards, and 10 assists.

-Waxed
Yeah, Louisville, you should have just stayed home. But they ventured to Piscataway, NJ to face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights anyway, and promptly gave up a touchdown on Rutgers first drive of the game by a twelve yard pass from Mike Teel, and that set the tone for the game. Rutgers only scored twice in the first quarter going up 14-0 through one, but scored five times in the second all on passes from Mike Teel. He would go on to throw one more ending the game with 447 yards, and 7 touchdowns, earning himself a nomination for player of the week next week. Louisville eventually got onto the board a minute and a half into the second half but it (obviously) wasn't enough and got crushed 63-14.

Extra Stuff: Sam Bradford got a nomination for player of the week, because any performance that could encourage the computers to put them ahead of Texas in the BCS, had to have been good.
Second, congratulations to Matt Ryan for being voted ESPN The Magazine's NEXT.

Sean Avery Steps Into A Pile of Slop, and Irish Eyes Are...

Frowning. I mean, seriously. Charlie Weis is getting a contract extension despite FAILING. He did well in his first two years with Ty Willingham's recruits, and then as soon as Jimmy Clausen and the rest of Charlie's recruits came in, he went 3-9 including Notre Dame's first loss to the Naval Academy in 42 years. Now, I mad with Weis because he got a contract extension in his first year with a 5-2 record, and the university denied Ty a contract extension in his first year with an 8-0 record. Ultimately, Ty got screwed out of his job. He was only at Notre Dame for three years, then went to Washington to a team that was already bad, and he barely got a chance before getting fired. I hope you continue to fail Charlie Weis. Your failure makes me happy.

-Sloppy Words
Sean Avery, you just got put on the list. I don't care if the woman is your ex or not, you will never refer to a woman as your, "sloppy seconds". Think before you open your mouth, and if it's intelligent, speak. If not, SHUT UP.

Open Letter of the Week, and Other Stuff

I've got way too much stuff to cover today, so it's getting bulleted. So, here we go:
-Houston Comets Fold: So sad. The team that has won four WNBA Championships, just couldn't find somebody to buy them. All players will be dispersed through a draft.

-Stephon Marbury Is Told To Go Home: Stephon, you're on my list. You don't want to be there. The Knicks organization has asked Marbury to just stay away. Honestly, if I was Mike D'Antoni, I'd do the same thing. I don't want or need him around my team with the way he's acting. I mean, the Knicks only have eight active players, and he's going to refuse to play anyway. He needs to go stand in a corner somewhere.

-Plaxico Burress put on Non-Football Injured Reserve List: Plax, you're an idiot, and you're on my list with Marbury. He released this quote yesterday, saying, "I would like my fans, and fans of the Giants to reserve judgement until all facts have been disclosed in this case." Plax, I hate to tell you this (actually, I don't) but, you don't have any fans. You were losing them at the beginning of the season with your domestic violence cases, and when you shot yourself, all the rest walked away. And just a few minutes ago, the Giants put him on the Non-Football Injured Reserve officially ending his season. So, in other words, Boom. Outta here.

-Pete Carroll In Trouble With NCAA Without An Alleged Recruiting Violation: I know, right? Pete Carroll is stickin it to the NCAA by announcing that USC will wear their home Cardinal and Gold jerseys at the Rose Bowl saturday at UCLA. Now, the NCAA requires one team to wear white uniforms, typically the away team, which is USC (however, LSU wears white jerseys traditionally as the home team). Now, the penalty for this is one timeout per half, reducing them to four total timeouts (2 per half) from 6 (3 per half). Now, as Scott VanPelt noted on his radio show 'Tirico and VanPelt', USC could spot UCLA points, and it still wouldn't matter.

Now, here's my open letter, this week, to Allen Iverson.
Dear A.I.,
What's up man? Now, don't even front about sunday, or try to act like it didn't happen, cause we all saw it. You were missing layups left and right man. And that pull up that rolled around and out late in the second half on the other side of the floor, that was just unfortunate. But, that's why we talking bout practice. You shot 2 for 9 and scored only 9 points. GO TO PRACTICE!

Seeing Red, Romo wins Option POTW, And The First Player of the Week candidate is in

****Sooner fans stop here, and jump down to the next article****

You know what? The BCS sucks. Of course it only sucks, because an inatimate CPU carried out its programming and turned the whole NCAA upside down by letting Oklahoma jump Texas into second place in the BCS and giving them a trip to the Big XII title game, and ultimately the BCS National Title game because, lets face it, Mizzou isn't as great as they're ranked. They gave up 40 to Illinois, and lost to Kansas over the weekend, so how are they going to stop OU? Anyway, I digress. Texas is third in the Harris Poll (.9115), third in USA TODAY (.9154), and second in the computers (.940). But Oklahoma is fourth in the Harris (.9094), second in USA TODAY (.9161), and first in the computers (.980). Now Texas claimed third in the Harris by a margin of six total points, and Oklahoma took second in the USA TODAY poll by one total point. I don't understand, why the outright better team can't be put in front? Oh well, the best retribution would be for Mizzou to come in and wipe the floor with Oklahoma. I mean, put the boomdown on Boomer Sooner. After that, I think the voters would move Texas into the two spot because they'll feel that winning the BCS Title will make up for not getting a shot at the Big XII title.

****Sooner fans can resume here****

-Ravens Leave Bengals Feeling Weak and Weary
Yeah, it's a pun, bonus points if you know the original author. Anyway, Joe Flacco took apart the defenseless (literally) Bengals with ease throwing for 280 yards, and 2 TDs. But that's not the reason I'm including this game. This game is included because Mark Clayton did something that no other Raven player has done before. He was the first player to throw and catch a touchdown in the same game in team history. He threw a 32 yard strike to a wide open Derrick Mason on a WR reverse pass, and then later on raked in a magnificent one hand grab for 70 yards. He finished with 32 pass yards, 1 TD; 5 rec., 164 yds., 1 TD.

Alright, I'm out, and if you like this blog, add yourself to the followers list, so I can keep you guys in the loop.