Sorry for the long hiatus. The full blog still won't be back up until Pratt and I get back on the radio, which will happen hopefully by mid-September. Stay tuned for that. Also, John Manthos will be writing on this blog starting tonight, so we'll have some New York perspective in the mix. Very excited for that.
Week 1 every year in college football means the beginning of the elimination pool. For week one, I have selected Wisconsin over Akron (at Wisconsin, 12pm, Big Ten Network) as my mortal lock. I have the whole season right now, for those interested, I will adjust it if I get knocked out, or things change (injuries, surprise teams, etc) but just to give you guys something to work with. Something to keep in mind, in my elimination pool, there are only 20 teams available to choose from, and USC, Arizona State, South Florida and West Virginia are the only ones playing in week 15, the final week of the elimination pool. And South Florida and West Virginia are playing each other, so you know you're really choosing between USC (at UCLA) and Arizona State (at Arizona).
(The picks are in bold)
Week 1: Akron at Wisconsin
Week 2: Texas at UTEP
Week 3: Lousiana-Lafayette at Illinois
Week 4: Troy at Ohio State
Week 5: TCU at Oklahoma
Week 6: BYU at Utah State
Week 7: Syracuse at West Virginia
Week 8: Syracuse at South Florida
Week 9: Colorado at Missouri
Week 10: Tulane at LSU
Week 11: Wyoming at Tennessee
Week 12: Duke at Clemson
Week 13: Citadel at Florida
Week 14: Notre Dame at USC
Week 15: Arizona State at Arizona
I'll also make four picks a week on the line...
TCU (-6.5) at New Mexico
Boston College (-10) at Kent State
Virginia Tech (-9.5) East Carolina
Virginia (+19.5) hosting USC
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
The Great Fight
If you're a Boston sports fan today, the event is unavoidable.
On WEEI, you'll hear requests for donations and statistics thrown around more often than on an average sports day. On NESN, a simulcast.
Some WEEI personae appear more frequently in the public eye than others, but almost nobody will be drawn in by the faces of the normally faceless radio personalities. It's not the sports radio guys who need to be personified, put out there for all to see. It's the victims of cancer, young and old, who put a face to the world's deadliest disease.
Back in 2002, NESN and WEEI combined for their 1st annual Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, an attempt to raise money for Dana Farber's Jimmy Fund to benefit cancer research. In six years, the event has raised more than $8.3 million for the Jimmy Fund, which has collected over $400 million since it's creation in 1948.
Nearly 1.5 million new cases of cancer were found in the U.S. this year according to the American Cancer Institute, in addition to about 565,000 deaths. As grim as the numbers look sometimes, everyone says there is progression in combating cancer. With more than 90 cents per dollar going directly towards research, according to the Jimmy Fund web site, doctors speak more optimistically about cancer eradication. You'll hear analogies of "hitting it out of the park" and, hopefully, even more success stories than last year.
2007 saw an event-record $3.68 million raised, a number they hope to top this year with a $4 million goal over 36 hours of programming.
One need not look far for the impact cancer can have on a person. Maybe it's a family member, a friend, or even yourself. Boston Red Sox Mike Lowell and Jon Lester are cancer survivors, as is Phil Kessel of the Bruins.
There's no shortage of other examples in the sports world. Lance Armstrong shocked the world, becoming the most prolific cycler of all-time after having testicular cancer spread to his lungs, abdomen, and brain. Saku Koivu was diagnosed with cancer and recovered in time to lead his Canadiens to a first round upset over the Bruins in 2002. Mario Lemieux battled lymphoma. Eric Davis, colon cancer.
You could cast an entire movie of cancer survivors with Ewen McGregor, Edie Falco, Gene Wilder, Fran Drescher, Barry Watson, Tom Green, and Olivia Newton-John, have another cancer survivor, Roger Ebert, give it a rating, and then schedule a concert featuring Kylie Minogue and Eddie Van Halen to celebrate its release. All are just a small sliver of the many, many cancer survivors.
Not everyone is so lucky.
I have no personal connection to cancer, thankfully. I can't talk about what I've seen chemotherapy do to people. I can't talk about coping with the anguish.
My grandfather, a veteran worn by years of alcohol abuse, died of cancer a few years back. Sadly, I never got to know him like a grandson should, beyond knowing him as "the guy who sleeps on our couch sometimes". There was no sentimentality there. My friend's mother and another's grandmother are both fighting with cancer right now.
Gerry Callahan wrote poignantly about his battle with throat cancer. Among the many things he said, "I thanked God for one thing: It was me lying there, and not one of my kids." But many sons and daughters are affected.
Earlier this morning, my boss and co-worker accompanied her son to the VA Hospital in West Roxbury. After fighting in Iraq, he came home to find his acute hearing loss was the result of a brain tumor. He survived battle overseas, but her boy faces his own war today.
I don't know what that must feel like. I hope I never get to find out.
For a living I hope to write about sports, as I've delved in to here and, by some miracle - or by Matt Porter, in the Boston Globe. Sports can often be a fickle industry where fans clamor over a number on a stat sheet or media grumbles over a player's choice of words and demeanor when looking for quotes.
But today, NESN and WEEI take pause. Not over a trade, game, quote, or other irrelevancy. Nor do they pause to persuade for a campaign or doctrine.
Today, they pause for the fight for life. They don't do it for the sake of ratings or listeners. They don't even do it to grandstand. They do it because they have a tremendous influence over sports-hungry Boston fans. If they can consolidate their efforts into two days of fund-raising, they can triumph over a harrowing illness.
They can save lives. And that will bring a smile to anyone's face.
On WEEI, you'll hear requests for donations and statistics thrown around more often than on an average sports day. On NESN, a simulcast.
Some WEEI personae appear more frequently in the public eye than others, but almost nobody will be drawn in by the faces of the normally faceless radio personalities. It's not the sports radio guys who need to be personified, put out there for all to see. It's the victims of cancer, young and old, who put a face to the world's deadliest disease.
Back in 2002, NESN and WEEI combined for their 1st annual Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, an attempt to raise money for Dana Farber's Jimmy Fund to benefit cancer research. In six years, the event has raised more than $8.3 million for the Jimmy Fund, which has collected over $400 million since it's creation in 1948.
Nearly 1.5 million new cases of cancer were found in the U.S. this year according to the American Cancer Institute, in addition to about 565,000 deaths. As grim as the numbers look sometimes, everyone says there is progression in combating cancer. With more than 90 cents per dollar going directly towards research, according to the Jimmy Fund web site, doctors speak more optimistically about cancer eradication. You'll hear analogies of "hitting it out of the park" and, hopefully, even more success stories than last year.
2007 saw an event-record $3.68 million raised, a number they hope to top this year with a $4 million goal over 36 hours of programming.
One need not look far for the impact cancer can have on a person. Maybe it's a family member, a friend, or even yourself. Boston Red Sox Mike Lowell and Jon Lester are cancer survivors, as is Phil Kessel of the Bruins.
There's no shortage of other examples in the sports world. Lance Armstrong shocked the world, becoming the most prolific cycler of all-time after having testicular cancer spread to his lungs, abdomen, and brain. Saku Koivu was diagnosed with cancer and recovered in time to lead his Canadiens to a first round upset over the Bruins in 2002. Mario Lemieux battled lymphoma. Eric Davis, colon cancer.
You could cast an entire movie of cancer survivors with Ewen McGregor, Edie Falco, Gene Wilder, Fran Drescher, Barry Watson, Tom Green, and Olivia Newton-John, have another cancer survivor, Roger Ebert, give it a rating, and then schedule a concert featuring Kylie Minogue and Eddie Van Halen to celebrate its release. All are just a small sliver of the many, many cancer survivors.
Not everyone is so lucky.
I have no personal connection to cancer, thankfully. I can't talk about what I've seen chemotherapy do to people. I can't talk about coping with the anguish.
My grandfather, a veteran worn by years of alcohol abuse, died of cancer a few years back. Sadly, I never got to know him like a grandson should, beyond knowing him as "the guy who sleeps on our couch sometimes". There was no sentimentality there. My friend's mother and another's grandmother are both fighting with cancer right now.
Gerry Callahan wrote poignantly about his battle with throat cancer. Among the many things he said, "I thanked God for one thing: It was me lying there, and not one of my kids." But many sons and daughters are affected.
Earlier this morning, my boss and co-worker accompanied her son to the VA Hospital in West Roxbury. After fighting in Iraq, he came home to find his acute hearing loss was the result of a brain tumor. He survived battle overseas, but her boy faces his own war today.
I don't know what that must feel like. I hope I never get to find out.
For a living I hope to write about sports, as I've delved in to here and, by some miracle - or by Matt Porter, in the Boston Globe. Sports can often be a fickle industry where fans clamor over a number on a stat sheet or media grumbles over a player's choice of words and demeanor when looking for quotes.
But today, NESN and WEEI take pause. Not over a trade, game, quote, or other irrelevancy. Nor do they pause to persuade for a campaign or doctrine.
Today, they pause for the fight for life. They don't do it for the sake of ratings or listeners. They don't even do it to grandstand. They do it because they have a tremendous influence over sports-hungry Boston fans. If they can consolidate their efforts into two days of fund-raising, they can triumph over a harrowing illness.
They can save lives. And that will bring a smile to anyone's face.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
A New Shade of Green
December 30th, 2007. There I was, sitting in the stands at Giants Stadium. One day previous, the NFL's most high-profile regular season game in...well, ever, had taken place in the same stadium, a 38-35 New England Patriots victory over the New York Giants.
16-0, they were.
The New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs came in with a combined 7-23 record. With no beer to warm the stadium or spirits, guess who was to entertain several thousand frigid fans for the day?
The day was memorable for a couple reasons: 1. fantastic seats, thanks to a friend with better connections and a more positive attitude than I'll ever have and 2. the worst display of quarterbacking humanly possible. You know it's bad when the fans - stone cold sober, literally - are chanting for Chad Pennington to enter the game at the half.
Brodie Croyle and Kellen Clemens managed to "manage" the game and not throw a single pick between them - frostbitten fingers may be to thank for that - but it was a cruel end to the season. Even the overtime Jets' win was torturous for New Yorkers, coming nine minutes and 47 seconds into the extra session, and costing the Jets several spots in the draft, a.k.a. Matt Ryan.
Enter Brett Favre; right place, right time.
Jets' general manager Mike Tannenbaum got creative and pulled the trigger, not only on the Favre trade, but on Pennington, who will be out of New York as of today to clear cap space.
Now the story that, agonizingly, would just not go away, is just not going away for a long time. Cue the hysteria.
Every legitimate, illegitimate, and basement news/blog/telegraph outlet is writing about this today - and most have been for weeks - so there's very little new to say about this whole fiasco. But there are three thoughts I haven't heard discussed.
It's too bad that things turned so foul, so fast in Green Bay. That is the most inconceivable part about this to me. How does a player with that history, that effort, and that success get traded out of town after another historic season?
Maybe it's greed. Maybe it's a need to move forward. It doesn't seem like there was any win-win solution in this whole process.
For much of middle-school and early high-school life, I was borderline obsessed with football jerseys, I wore them all the time. Eddie George, Marshall Faulk, Wayne Chrebet, Keyshawn Johnson, Dan Marino, Kerry Collins; I wore their names on my back for years. Of course, there was sufficient Patriots representation in there too, highlighted by Drew Bledsoe, Ben Coates, and Adam Vinatieri - and low-lighted by Terry Allen.
But there was one jersey that I wore longest and proudest. It faded over time, but the hero who wore it to work didn't. I continued to wear that jersey, even at Emerson. It seemed it could never go out of style, nor correctness and, while Favre will no longer lace them up at Lambeau, the jersey still seems appropriate. How could it ever go out of style?
Evidently, Green Bay decided the best ever was no longer the look they were going for. So, like Green Bay was scheduled to do in the season opener, I'll stash #4 away. Not to Goodwill, like so many worn-down and destroyed jerseys ended up, but to the shirt drawer Hall of Fame.
Brett has picked up new laundry and nobody can fill that old jersey.
16-0, they were.
The New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs came in with a combined 7-23 record. With no beer to warm the stadium or spirits, guess who was to entertain several thousand frigid fans for the day?
The day was memorable for a couple reasons: 1. fantastic seats, thanks to a friend with better connections and a more positive attitude than I'll ever have and 2. the worst display of quarterbacking humanly possible. You know it's bad when the fans - stone cold sober, literally - are chanting for Chad Pennington to enter the game at the half.Brodie Croyle and Kellen Clemens managed to "manage" the game and not throw a single pick between them - frostbitten fingers may be to thank for that - but it was a cruel end to the season. Even the overtime Jets' win was torturous for New Yorkers, coming nine minutes and 47 seconds into the extra session, and costing the Jets several spots in the draft, a.k.a. Matt Ryan.
Enter Brett Favre; right place, right time.
Jets' general manager Mike Tannenbaum got creative and pulled the trigger, not only on the Favre trade, but on Pennington, who will be out of New York as of today to clear cap space.
Now the story that, agonizingly, would just not go away, is just not going away for a long time. Cue the hysteria.
- The New York Post calls it "[the Jets'] boldest personnel move in team history". I hardly think it's bold. Giving up a conditional pick for a Pro Bowl quarterback who has a knack for theatrics and never-ever (ever) misses a game. They've also coined "Broadway Brett" as a nickname. Sounds like it will be nauseatingly pounded into our heads in no time.
- Mike Vaccaro says Favre is the talk of the Olympic games. He goes on to say the Jets could steal the Giants thunder. Does "defending champion" mean nothing these days? Though, he tempers his enthusiasm a bit towards the end, as does Jay Greenberg.
- William C. Rhoden says it's go time for Eric Mangini, as memory proves short for the coach who exceeded expectations a year earlier.
- Yahoo's Matthew Darnell brings up some interesting points and gives you a peak at his new jersey.
- CBS Sportsline's experts are very skeptical. [1][2]
Every legitimate, illegitimate, and basement news/blog/telegraph outlet is writing about this today - and most have been for weeks - so there's very little new to say about this whole fiasco. But there are three thoughts I haven't heard discussed.
- First, all the hubbub seems to revolve around the fact that Favre is losing his Packers virginity or some slice of innocence by going to another team. People are bringing up names like John Elway and Joe Montana to discuss points and counter-points.
Did everyone forget his Falcons days? Short and forgettable days they were (two INTs in four attempts, ouchamagoucha), but he HAS played for another franchise. I think this is one of the more aggravating things brought up in sports today. People wonder about the legacy and performance of a millionaire changing locations. Players have to adjust to these circumstances ALL THE TIME, even so-called franchise players.Favre has lost teammates to free agency, trades, and retirement and he's had to leave a team before too. He left his father's high school program at Hancock North Central when he graduated, Southern Miss - where he gained legendary status - when he went into the NFL, and again with Atlanta. It's an inevitability for athletes that they will call different places home. New York will surely be a very different transitional experience for Favre, but let's not pretend like it's an insurmountable issue, because it's not. Not for any quarterback, never mind THE quarterback. Not for any man, never mind the Ironman.
The only variable is fan perception, but somebody, somewhere will pay to see the guy play. That's why LeBron may chase $50 million in Europe and that's why it doesn't matter where Favre plays. - With all the controversy stewing in Green Bay, I believe a potential solution was overlooked by all parties involved.
Trade Aaron Rodgers.
If the Packers sold high on Rodgers, it would allow them to get a return on a player with no track record and clear up all issues regarding Favre's legacy and the Packers' direction. Would you tell me Minnesota, Tampa Bay, or even the Jets wouldn't take a flier on Rodgers? It beats the alternatives in those locations. Would it create a rift in the locker room? I can't believe it would. Favre would instill more confidence - and wonder - and the club would shake it off, because that's what professionals are supposed to do. Instead, you moved a franchise figure-head, marketing superstar, and Pro Bowl quarterback who got you within a game of the Super Bowl the previous season, all in lieu of a passer with nothing proven. As far as the post-Favre/real retirement days, you drafted Brian Brohm at great value in the second round of last year's draft. Have him learn from the best, just in case the best ever does leave the game. - Last, what does this mean for Madden '09? Will the sparkling photo of him in Packers' garb still grace the cover? Will they re-shoot with that darker green and white? Madden 09's website doesn't say anything yet, but they were kind enough to throw a pic up on their front page.
I'm most concerned about the Madden Curse. Does it carry over? Does it stay in Green Bay? Was Brett Favre born before curses and, thus, invincible to their charms? These are the things I think.
It's too bad that things turned so foul, so fast in Green Bay. That is the most inconceivable part about this to me. How does a player with that history, that effort, and that success get traded out of town after another historic season?
Maybe it's greed. Maybe it's a need to move forward. It doesn't seem like there was any win-win solution in this whole process.
For much of middle-school and early high-school life, I was borderline obsessed with football jerseys, I wore them all the time. Eddie George, Marshall Faulk, Wayne Chrebet, Keyshawn Johnson, Dan Marino, Kerry Collins; I wore their names on my back for years. Of course, there was sufficient Patriots representation in there too, highlighted by Drew Bledsoe, Ben Coates, and Adam Vinatieri - and low-lighted by Terry Allen.
But there was one jersey that I wore longest and proudest. It faded over time, but the hero who wore it to work didn't. I continued to wear that jersey, even at Emerson. It seemed it could never go out of style, nor correctness and, while Favre will no longer lace them up at Lambeau, the jersey still seems appropriate. How could it ever go out of style?
Evidently, Green Bay decided the best ever was no longer the look they were going for. So, like Green Bay was scheduled to do in the season opener, I'll stash #4 away. Not to Goodwill, like so many worn-down and destroyed jerseys ended up, but to the shirt drawer Hall of Fame.
Brett has picked up new laundry and nobody can fill that old jersey.
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