Another Favre Media Frenzy

With the end of another NFL season, the question of Favre’s status in the football world has again taken the front page.

Favre’s Minnesota Vikings lost the NFC Championship to the New Orleans Saints Sunday night. The game went into overtime after Favre threw an interception into the middle of the field. He was trying to hit his key target, Percy Harvin, with 19 seconds left to win the game without extra time.

Instead the Saints won the coin toss and Brees marched his resilient Saints down the field just for second-year kicker Garrett Hartley to kick a 40 yard field goal to bring an NFC Championship to the still reeling city of New Orleans.

But while the Saints are preparing for their first Super Bowl appearance, Favre is preparing to face another offseason of contemplation. And another offseason with the vultures commonly called “the media.”

Yes, Favre does have trouble deciding what to do with the rest of his life. Should he stay? Should he retire? Staying means more fun. For Favre and for us. Fess up, you love seeing a 40-year-old football player out on that field ever Sunday….and playing well. But part of deciding when to retire is deciding if you’re going out on top. Does Favre really want to leave when he is forced out? Everyone strives to be John Elway.

But the real problem is the media frenzy surrounding it. Media outlets cover the issue everyday. Whether there is an issue that day or not. Sportscenter anchors make Favre retirement jokes at least once an hour. And the media is always speculating as to what he is going to do. One day he is staying; the next day he is retiring for good.

Even when he is retired, as he was last summer, Favre is still on ESPN every single day. Talking about throwing the football with high school guys in his hometown. Speculating as to what team he has been talking to. Can’t an extremely talented veteran of the game just talk to some teams without there being such a to do?

The media needs to back off of the story. Announce when he plans to make a press conference about it, and have a few columns about what the writer believes he should or will do. But leave it at that. The media frenzy is killing Favre’s current legacy of greatness into a legacy of indecisiveness. 

Who dat think gonna stop that Saint?

Reggie Bush

The name brings to mind various definitions:

1) The star running back at USC who won a Heisman 

2) The guy who went second in the draft when everyone believed he should have easily been the head honcho out

3) Kim Kardashian's boyfriend

And finally...

4) The New Orleans Saints running back

Reggie took over college football with his finesse running style. He easily ran through the line with jukes and flew by the college level's weak secondaries. Iin college, that running style works. But in the pros, it is more of a bruising running style that wins games. It is for this that Bush hasn't made the biggest impact in the NFL. 

Bush changed that and went from good running back to utter game changer in the Saints' NFC Divisional Playoff game against the Arizona Cardinals. He ran "north and south" with physicality instead of his normal side to side that relied on smooth moves. 

His punt return, the third longest in post season history, took the Saints to a 31 point lead with six minutes left in the third quarter. Although the scoreboard didn't have an F, players and fans on both sides sure felt like it did. Meanwhile, Bush sealed his place as a top tier running back in the NFL. 

Standing Strong

Down four with less than a minute left in regulation it looked like Pittsburgh would lose its first Big East Game. 

A key three would lead to a tie game and overtime. After being dominated by the tough Louisville defense and press, the Panthers took over in overtime and celebrated in front of the home crowd a 5-0 start to conference play. 

The Panthers are now 15-2 overall. They have shown their toughness, and now their ability to bounce back from the losing end of a very tight and extremely physical game. 

Plans Gone Awry

The Pittsburgh Panthers were supposed to rebuild this year. Jamie Dixon was supposed to take the 2009-2010 season to give his men some experience before they began Big East domination again.

No one really likes plans anyways.

After losing Sam Young, Levance Fields, and DeJuan Blair to the NBA it looked like this year would be nothing but a bust for the Panthers. Dixon would have good talent on the floor, but it would be developing talent.

That talent is sitting at the top of the Big East ladder right now, thanks to another big conference win. In Connecticut on Wednesday night, the Panthers got up early on the Huskies and were only behind once, by a measly one point.

The team grabbed the victory, and then later held on to it, in large part to foul shots. Pitt shot 85% at the line; they made six straight foul shots to close out the game and keep UCONN from making any sort of comeback.

Rebounding has also been their friend. Pitt outrebounded the Huskies 40-31 last night, and 26-13 in the second half. The sheer physicality of the group is shown at the boards as well as on the floor—quite literally. What impresses me most about Pittsburgh this year is the way in which they play the game. When a ball becomes loose, players leap on the floor to grab it. After a loose ball found its way from the sidelines to the paint, one Pitt player bounded to the center of the floor, fell on the ball, and immediately signaled for a timeout. That was probably the best play I saw all night.

Pittsburgh is 14-2 and undefeated in conference play. They have accumulated wins over Connecticut, Cincinnati, DePaul , and of course dealt Syracuse their first loss of the season. What’s even more impressive is that the Panthers have done it on the road. It is the 12th time in school history that the team has had three conference games in a row on the road. It is just the first time in school history that the team has won all three games.

So for all you who threw out the Panthers and only gave them the status of a rebuilding season, I would watch out. After being snubbed in Sports Illustrated’s college basketball preview, the Panthers have clawed their way into legitimate talk of playing deep into March.

Pittsburgh is a tough team. Get ready to fight as you’re looking up at them on the AP polls.

Not just an L in the loss column

 

Former Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon made his first NFL start on Sunday. For the first time, he played for more than just a snap. 

Normally, a quarterback’s first NFL start would be for a less than average team. Like the Raiders, or the Chiefs, or the Lions. And the team probably wouldn’t be poised to take a wildcard spot and make a legitimate run for the Super Bowl.

Dixon’s first start wasn’t normal. He started for the 6-4 Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers stood towards the top of the long list for an AFC wildcard spot. And so were the 5-5 Baltimore Ravens, the young quarterback’s foes for the night.

Ben Roethlisberger left the Steelers game against the Kansas City Chiefs two Sundays ago in overtime with “concussion like” symptoms. Back up quarterback Charlie Batch took his place, and the Steelers ended up losing the game by a field goal.

No worries. All week, it was reported that the constantly battered Big Ben would play on Sunday. And, of course, if he couldn’t there wasn’t reason to fret too much. Batch was a good back up quarterback who could lead the Steelers into a heated divisional game in Baltimore. He has been Roethlisberger’s back up for a few years now; he knows the system and the players.

Let the worrying begin. Batch was put on IR with an injured wrist early in the week. Roethlisberger had been having headaches all week and his start was scratched Saturday. So now, the Steelers were left with a third string guy in only his second year in the NFL who had never taken a professional snap.

Boy, it sure didn’t look that way.

Dixon played smart for the majority of the game. Until the fourth quarter and overtime, he made smart passes and even had two large runs in very open territory. Against one of the best defenses in the league, Dixon looked like a quality quarterback. He threw a great touchdown, made some amazing passes, and even ran the ball along the right sidelines for 24 yards to score another touchdown.

It wasn’t all Dixon though. Wide Receiver Hines Ward made sure to point out everything going on with the defense so that he didn’t miss anything. Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arinas kept the offense to about 15 plays that Dixon had said he felt comfortable with. And of course, Big Ben was on the sidelines helping him throughout the entire battle.

Despite all of the help, Dixon showed that he could be a quality quarterback for a team in need of one. He won’t attract big money—he shouldn’t—but he should grab the attention of some teams in need of a quarterback, or a back up one, this off season.

As for Pittsburgh, they may have lost a pivotal game against a dangerous foe, but they showed just how good they could become. They stayed in with the Ravens despite the loss of their pro bowl safety—Troy Polamalu is out with a knee sprain—and their pro bowl quarterback. If both, or even either, had played Sunday night, the Ravens would not have been flying as high as they were. Pittsburgh could easily have taken that game. And that is something to be truly fearful of.

Pittsburgh may have loss in Baltimore Sunday night. And Dennis Dixon may have loss his first start. But both made a statement that goes beyond the standings.

My injury plagued life…

After a long day of classes and homework, I went onto my computer tonight and started checking out the news. At least my version of the news. I visited ESPN.com first, and much to my anger I saw the first headline on the right side of the page:

“Dolphins put Brown on IR, ending season”

Not to be a part of the new cliché, but F My LIfe.

I just suffered through over five months of injury riddled games. The Mets were plagued with injuries this season. Starters were out left and right. We went the AAA to get talent to bring to New York.

Sports Illustrated put us at the top of the division before the season began. We had superior pitching and a great infield. But, due to injuries, we suffered a summer of discontent. I was excited when we won a game. Forget about the race to the pennant, I was racing to the end of the season. Refresh the roster, and I’ll see you next year.

Almost two months after the Mets closed their season, more injuries come to haunt my sleep.

The Dolphins aren’t doing great this season. Trust me, I understand. Ted Ginn Jr. can’t catch a ball when he needs to to save his life. The wildcat is being caught on to by opposing teams. And the defense allows 25.2 points per game.

Despite this, though, the Dolphins actually are in the hunt for a playoff spot. Tied with the Jets at 5-4—Miami holds the tiebreaker with a sweep of the Jets—both teams are only two games behind division leading New England. Miami is also in the thick of the wildcard hunt.

The reason for this? The running game. Ricky Williams and Brown lift the Dolphins every game. Miami averages 156.2 rushing yards per game, fourth in the league. Without Brown, half of the running attack is gone.

The guys to take his place, Lex Hilliard, hasn’t even played in an NFL game. His preseason numbers looked good, but what does that really show? He probably was running against second string defenses for most of August.

So another sporting season becomes marred by injuries. I am just waiting for half of the Pittsburgh Panthers starting lineup to fall on each other during a rebound and break something. Then, it seems, the injuries plaguing my life would succeed to their fullest extent.

Please Win!!

The Yankees won their 27th World Series pennant Wednesday. Their 27th. Out of 105 World Series. The New York Yankees have won over a quarter of the nation’s World Series. That is a ton.

As much as I dislike the Yankees and how they have won all of their Championships, I am jealous of all of the winning Yankees fans are able to be a part of. I mean, come on!!! My teams practically never win!!

I’ll start at the bottom. I’m a Miami Dolphins fan. Although it isn’t as hard as everyone makes it out to be, it is still a tough team to root for. The quarterback situation hasn’t even been average since Dan Marino retired. I understand that no one will live up to Marino, but please get someone in there that can hit a receiver.

And on the topic of receivers, what is wrong with Ted Ginn Jr? He was the ninth overall pick in the 2007 draft but his productivity doesn’t represent it. So far this season, it seems like he has dropped more balls than he has caught. And it isn’t like the balls are poorly thrown. Many of them are catches he has to make if he wants to be in the NFL.

Moving on. Here’s a heartbreaker…the New York Mets. Their talent this year was good, but injuries created a season to burst out in tears about. By the end of the season, they didn’t even have good talent from the minors to bring up. Mets continuously lost this season. But that was just an icing on the cake from the last two seasons. First place by a significant amount and then losing it in September? Ugh…

Let the winning begin…please!!! Apparently, the baseball gods are also in love with the Yankees.