Well with no football, baseball spring training in the early stages, and it not being March so I don't care about college basketball outside of Iowa. I'm stuck with NASCAR to talk about, I know a lot of people don't like it but I gotta talk about it. Just gonna shoot out my points no long narrative. I watched Saturday's Nationwide race and of course the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
Saturday's race was a different style than Sunday's, the Nationwide cars allow for 2-car tandem driving. Basically two cars hooked up bumper to bumper go faster than one car. I know a lot of the drivers didn't like it, but I do. This might be the best racing of the year, lots of passing, lots of moving back and forth. The 500 had about 2 passes for the lead on track yesterday, Saturday had 18 different leaders in 200 less miles, what sounds more exciting to you?
Now, with that style bad things can happen and the wreck at the end was crazy. It was a perfect storm where all the cars were together and a driver blocked when he shouldn't have and all hell broke loose. If you didn't see it, one cars front-end basically broke completely apart while flying up in the fence. The motor ended up busting through the fence and a tire as well as some suspension ended up going over the fence and up about 30 rows hitting fans at a high rate of speed. I saw some people bashing people who said the catch fence did it's job, those people are idiots b/c the fence did do it's job. It kept the car on the track, what's better a motor just getting through the fence or an entire car in your lap? These cars are doing 190 MPH it's gonna be hard to contain all those parts and have it safe for the drivers, they'll figure it out a little more but your not gonna make the fence much safer than it already is.
The 500 was normal, all flair and no drama. I was nervous only after 3 Toyota motors blew up, causing concern for Denny in the 11. The end of the race though all boiled down too where you were on the final restart.
Greg Biffle for the 2nd straight year was in 2nd place on the white flag, didn't make a move and let the leader at the white win the race. Biffle does a great job getting in position to win these races but then decides for whatever reason he doesn't wanna go and win, this is the Daytona 500 and if your points racing you need to grow a sack and go get the win.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a shot at victory but I think made his move too early b/c by time he and Mark Martin got to turn 4 they lost their momentum, but hey at least they tried something unlike Danica and Biffle who just sat behind Jimmie and couldn't wait to watch him win.
Oh Danica, happy with 8th good for you sister. Does this mean she's a good driver, no, it means in a race where passing is hard she kept getting in the right line on restarts (the outside) and her pit crew didn't mess up on pit road. She does have a few things to learn, #1 when you have the last pit stall you can drive straight out, you don't have to run into cars to get in line, just drive straight out and blend in when your up to speed. Good day for her but this isn't a sign of things to come, she'll be in the back next week.
The racing yesterday was boring and I hope they fix this before Talladega, I heard Jr. say something about when it's hotter in Daytona in July the track will be slipprier and the bottom line will come in. I hope so b/c yesterday if you were on the bottom you were screwed.
Kind of a short one today, but honestly there wasn't much to write about. I'll see ya next week, in the meantime twitter me @derekbredeson or read some older posts.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Movie Night
Last week a friend of mine wrote a blog with a starting line up of fictional baseball characters, naturally he did a horrible job and I was gonna write up my own list. I realize that if I did that it would just be stealing his idea. Well then I started thinking what could I do with movies so I decided to rank my top baseball movies, the list was gonna be 10 but I realized their are a lot of good baseball movies, so it expanded to 15. Baseball movies are the best sports movies, football movies tend to look fake, and have guys you can't believe playing positions, Scott Caan is a midget and played WR in Varsity Blues, Adam Sandler is neither a QB nor a psycopath that can play LB. Hockey movies were ruined by the Mighty Ducks b/c nobody can live up to them, and I think Slapshot is the only other fictional hockey movie worth watching. Basketball movies are ok, but with a gem like Hoosiers out there why watch another one? Baseball is different probably b/c anyone can play, if you look athletic you can fool me into thinking you can play baseball, you never watch a baseball movie and go oh that guy can't play. So here we go, starting at number 15 counting down to 1, FYI there might be a few spoiler alerts so if there is a movie you haven't seen I suggest you watch it.
15. The Rookie, the list has fiction and non-fiction movies on it, I'll start with a based on a true story movie. Dennis Quad plays a high school baseball coach who was drafted in his younger years, before he blew out his shoulder. His team finds out he has talent and makes him a deal they make the playoffs he tries out for the pro's again at age 35, of course their a basement dweller but they rise up, make the playoffs and he tries out with the Rays. Gets signed goes threw the minors, wants to quit, gets called up in September, pitches in a Major League Game. I've never watched the whole movie all the way through but it's a good inspirational story and has some lessons in it.
14. Bad News Bears, I'm lumping both the 1976 and 2005 version together here. Simple plot, a coach who's made poor decisions gets the crappy kids baseball team. It's a rag-tag bunch with no talent, the coach recruits a girl pitcher and rebel athletic kid and hilarity ensues. I'm not a huge fan of either movie but I know a lot of people love it. I think Walter Matthau was way better than Billy Bob Thorton, but who am I to judge.
13. Cobb, Cobb is about Ty Cobb the great baseball player of the early 1900's. Robert Wuhl plays a writer who goes and sees an older dyeing Cobb, played by Tommy Lee Jones, to write an autobiography. Well, Cobb was a racist, drunk, and abusvive ass but he wants his the book to tell about what a great guy he is, and basically have it be full of lies. The 2 travel together with Cobb being an ass the whole time, it's a great movie and I think is shows what Ty Cobb really was a hard-nosed prick who played the game hard.
12. The Scout, A scout with the Yankees, played by Albert Brooks, makes a bad signing when his sure fire ends up throwing up all over the mound. His punishment is he gets sent to scout the Mexican Leagues where he finds the gem of Steve Nebraska, played by Brendan Frasier, of course though there are bumps along the rode of getting Nebraska to the pro's. It's a pretty funny movie and Frasier playes the crazy guy pretty well, it also has a ton of cameo's from pro's and media types.
11. Mr. Baseball, Tom Selleck's mustache stars in this amazing movie about and aging star who gets traded to a team in Japan. He at first clashes with the culture thinking he's a big shot, but eventually he meshes with his manager and teammates. The movie culminates when Selleck's mustache is on the verge of breaking his own managers record of home runs in consecutive games, but the oppossing team refuses to pitch to him and he eventually hits the home run but steps on the plate in the process, then at the end of the game with bases loaded and down a run the mustache lays down a bunt. I liked this movie when I was a kid, haven't seen it in a while but it's worth a watch if it's on Netflix or HBO sometime, I mean Tom Selleck's mustache is in it, and it's from the 90's so the mustache was glorious.
10. Hardball, Keanu Reeves stars in this masterpiece. Tell me if you've heard this story before, guy screws up, guy coaches inner-city kids team, he convinces them they can win, they win, a tragedy happens, they go onto win championship. Yeah I know it's corny but this movie was full of great characters, G-Baby the team manager who dies and the kid who listens to Biggie while pitching, which leads to a great scene. Pretty good movie if you get over the cornyness of the plot.
9. The Natural, Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a great baseball player who had a lot of shit happen to him. Well Hobbs makes it to the pro's at the age of 35, he helps turn around his team. He has this bat he made from a tree that was struck by lighting when he was a kid, well he uses that bat to crush the ball, but in the climax of the movie he breaks that bat, but the batboy brings him a new handmade bat they made together and in a storm Hobbs hits a homer that hits a light station and causes sparks to fall down onto the field while he rounds the bases. Been a while since I've seen the Natural but it's a good movie with a ton of people in it.
8. The Fan, Robert De Niro plays an obsessed fan of the San Francisco Giants who just signed Bobby Rayburn, (Wesley Snipes) away from the Braves. De Niro calls sports radio all the time, takes his kid to all the games, and basically a nut case. Well, Rayburn doesn't live up to the hype to his contract at first and the fan base gets upset, De Niro is the only guy sticking up for Rayburn, and feels it's his job to get him out of his slump. Well he takes strides to help Rayburn out, including killing the player on the team with "Rayburn's" number. When he feels like he isn't thanked properly De Niro goes crazy and a ton of shit happens. I haven't seen this movie in 15 years but it was one of my favorites, Rayburn was said to based on Barry Bonds a little bit, but it was merely coincidental. This is psycothriller as well a baseball movie.
7. Little Big League, maybe the baseball movie I've watched the 2nd most ever. Billy Haywood is a kid who inherits the the Minnesota Twins from his grandfather after his death. Billy is a baseball genius knows stats, situations, line-ups, basically anything baseball the kid knows, he fires the teams manager and when nobody wants to work for a kid he decides hiring himself seems like a good idea. Well he turns the bunch of losers into winners by reminding them the game is fun, (like you've never heard that story before) but of course Billy starts getting too serious and forgets how fun the game is. The cast is full of characters, and cameo's from players and media types alike. I love this movie and want to watch it right now, it has some of the best lines and is just funny. I'll leave with you with this from the movie, a cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays two days and leaves on Friday, how did he do it?
6. Field of Dreams, probably the movie closest to me, literally I live 3 miles from the field. Kevin Costner plays a broke farmer who builds a baseball field in his corn field, b/c he hears a voice telling him "if you build it, he will come." Well he does and more than just he comes, a lot of players come including Shoeless Joe Jackson of the 1919 Black Sox. Eventually the "he" is revealed as Costners dad and they have "a catch" on the field, something that tugs at all fathers and sons heartstrings. The movie has a ton more to it, but I don't want to get into it too much, it's a lot of fantasy and super-natural stuff going on all at once. Great movie and if you haven't seen it watch it and if you want to visit the field let me know we'll go have a catch sometime.
5. Bull Durham, back-to-back Kevin Costner movies, this time Costner plays Crash Davis a career minor league catcher who's job is too get young hot shot pitcher Nuke LaLoosh, (Tim Robbins), to the pro's. Susan Sarandon plays the town slut, who's main goal is to sleep with guys on their way to the big's, she romance LaLoosh but her and Crash keep butting heads before eventually falling for each other. LaLoosh does make the big's and Crash bcomes the Home Run king of the minors. The movie is full of great lines and scenes. Let me not forget the Durham Bull Home Run Celebration that is very 80's and very minor leagues. Great movie and #1 on Rotten Tomatoes for Sports movies. Also where Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins fell in love in real life so it's got that going for it.
4. A League of Their Own, the movie about girls playing baseball. This wouldn't be on the top of this list unless Tom Hanks was in it, he killed it in this movie and is 1 of my 3 favorite Tom Hanks performances. The scene where he's drunk in the dugout was just awesome. The female cast was awesome and each girl played their parts great. I love this movie if you haven't seen it, shame on you go watch it, come back and tell me you didn't like it then we'll no longer be friends.
3. 61*, Billy Crystal directed this HBO movie about Micky Mantle and Roger Maris' 1961 season when they as teammates chased Babe Ruth's single-season home run record. This is an excellent look into the lives of the 2 men, the "true" Yankee Mantle who everyone loved, and the "outsider" Maris who was from the midwest, didn't embrace New York or the media. Barry Pepper played Roger Maris and did a great job of doing so, they made the uniforms look perfect to the era. Great great baseball movie and a true eye opener to how that season shook down.
2. The Sandlot, of all the "kids" baseball movies this is the best. A group of 8 kids who get together everyday and play baseball need a recruit so they get the new kid, Scott Smalls, who has no talent, is very naive, and frankly doesn't know how to be a kid. Well between challenging the local little league team, chewing tobacco, and other hijinks the kids face their greatest advasary in the Beast, a junkyard dog behind a fence that keeps all their home run balls. They normally let them go, but Smalls hits his stepdad's Babe Ruth autographed ball over the fence. The movie is full of characters, Bennie the Jet, Yeah-Yeah, Timmy and Tommy Timmons, Squints, Ham Porter, Kenny DeNunez, and Bertam Weeks. Awesome lines throughout the movie, just go watch it, again.
1. Major League, I have to include the whold franchise here, even though the 1st Major League is the best, the 2nd one does belong somewhere on this list, and back to the minors does have some funny spots. The movie is based around a bunch of losers who rally together and go onto win their division. With characters like Willie Mayes Hayes, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, Jake Taylor, Roger Dorn, and Pedro Cerrano. Bob Uecker plays the greatest baseball announcer ever in Harry Doyle and has about 15 repeatable lines. Just an awesome set of movies, especially the first 2, with line after line after line you can repeat forever. This is probably my 2nd favorite movie ever, just awesome.
Well that's my list I know I didn't put a few movies on there, Rookie of the Year and Angels in the Outfield both are immediate ones I think of but I didn't really care for either movie so there's that. I suggest seeing every movie on the list, I know just writing about them makes me want to watch The Fan and The Sandlot right now. I might write something up tomorrow, for my regular post, in the meantime, follow me on twiter @derekbredeson.
15. The Rookie, the list has fiction and non-fiction movies on it, I'll start with a based on a true story movie. Dennis Quad plays a high school baseball coach who was drafted in his younger years, before he blew out his shoulder. His team finds out he has talent and makes him a deal they make the playoffs he tries out for the pro's again at age 35, of course their a basement dweller but they rise up, make the playoffs and he tries out with the Rays. Gets signed goes threw the minors, wants to quit, gets called up in September, pitches in a Major League Game. I've never watched the whole movie all the way through but it's a good inspirational story and has some lessons in it.
14. Bad News Bears, I'm lumping both the 1976 and 2005 version together here. Simple plot, a coach who's made poor decisions gets the crappy kids baseball team. It's a rag-tag bunch with no talent, the coach recruits a girl pitcher and rebel athletic kid and hilarity ensues. I'm not a huge fan of either movie but I know a lot of people love it. I think Walter Matthau was way better than Billy Bob Thorton, but who am I to judge.
13. Cobb, Cobb is about Ty Cobb the great baseball player of the early 1900's. Robert Wuhl plays a writer who goes and sees an older dyeing Cobb, played by Tommy Lee Jones, to write an autobiography. Well, Cobb was a racist, drunk, and abusvive ass but he wants his the book to tell about what a great guy he is, and basically have it be full of lies. The 2 travel together with Cobb being an ass the whole time, it's a great movie and I think is shows what Ty Cobb really was a hard-nosed prick who played the game hard.
12. The Scout, A scout with the Yankees, played by Albert Brooks, makes a bad signing when his sure fire ends up throwing up all over the mound. His punishment is he gets sent to scout the Mexican Leagues where he finds the gem of Steve Nebraska, played by Brendan Frasier, of course though there are bumps along the rode of getting Nebraska to the pro's. It's a pretty funny movie and Frasier playes the crazy guy pretty well, it also has a ton of cameo's from pro's and media types.
11. Mr. Baseball, Tom Selleck's mustache stars in this amazing movie about and aging star who gets traded to a team in Japan. He at first clashes with the culture thinking he's a big shot, but eventually he meshes with his manager and teammates. The movie culminates when Selleck's mustache is on the verge of breaking his own managers record of home runs in consecutive games, but the oppossing team refuses to pitch to him and he eventually hits the home run but steps on the plate in the process, then at the end of the game with bases loaded and down a run the mustache lays down a bunt. I liked this movie when I was a kid, haven't seen it in a while but it's worth a watch if it's on Netflix or HBO sometime, I mean Tom Selleck's mustache is in it, and it's from the 90's so the mustache was glorious.
10. Hardball, Keanu Reeves stars in this masterpiece. Tell me if you've heard this story before, guy screws up, guy coaches inner-city kids team, he convinces them they can win, they win, a tragedy happens, they go onto win championship. Yeah I know it's corny but this movie was full of great characters, G-Baby the team manager who dies and the kid who listens to Biggie while pitching, which leads to a great scene. Pretty good movie if you get over the cornyness of the plot.
9. The Natural, Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a great baseball player who had a lot of shit happen to him. Well Hobbs makes it to the pro's at the age of 35, he helps turn around his team. He has this bat he made from a tree that was struck by lighting when he was a kid, well he uses that bat to crush the ball, but in the climax of the movie he breaks that bat, but the batboy brings him a new handmade bat they made together and in a storm Hobbs hits a homer that hits a light station and causes sparks to fall down onto the field while he rounds the bases. Been a while since I've seen the Natural but it's a good movie with a ton of people in it.
8. The Fan, Robert De Niro plays an obsessed fan of the San Francisco Giants who just signed Bobby Rayburn, (Wesley Snipes) away from the Braves. De Niro calls sports radio all the time, takes his kid to all the games, and basically a nut case. Well, Rayburn doesn't live up to the hype to his contract at first and the fan base gets upset, De Niro is the only guy sticking up for Rayburn, and feels it's his job to get him out of his slump. Well he takes strides to help Rayburn out, including killing the player on the team with "Rayburn's" number. When he feels like he isn't thanked properly De Niro goes crazy and a ton of shit happens. I haven't seen this movie in 15 years but it was one of my favorites, Rayburn was said to based on Barry Bonds a little bit, but it was merely coincidental. This is psycothriller as well a baseball movie.
7. Little Big League, maybe the baseball movie I've watched the 2nd most ever. Billy Haywood is a kid who inherits the the Minnesota Twins from his grandfather after his death. Billy is a baseball genius knows stats, situations, line-ups, basically anything baseball the kid knows, he fires the teams manager and when nobody wants to work for a kid he decides hiring himself seems like a good idea. Well he turns the bunch of losers into winners by reminding them the game is fun, (like you've never heard that story before) but of course Billy starts getting too serious and forgets how fun the game is. The cast is full of characters, and cameo's from players and media types alike. I love this movie and want to watch it right now, it has some of the best lines and is just funny. I'll leave with you with this from the movie, a cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays two days and leaves on Friday, how did he do it?
6. Field of Dreams, probably the movie closest to me, literally I live 3 miles from the field. Kevin Costner plays a broke farmer who builds a baseball field in his corn field, b/c he hears a voice telling him "if you build it, he will come." Well he does and more than just he comes, a lot of players come including Shoeless Joe Jackson of the 1919 Black Sox. Eventually the "he" is revealed as Costners dad and they have "a catch" on the field, something that tugs at all fathers and sons heartstrings. The movie has a ton more to it, but I don't want to get into it too much, it's a lot of fantasy and super-natural stuff going on all at once. Great movie and if you haven't seen it watch it and if you want to visit the field let me know we'll go have a catch sometime.
5. Bull Durham, back-to-back Kevin Costner movies, this time Costner plays Crash Davis a career minor league catcher who's job is too get young hot shot pitcher Nuke LaLoosh, (Tim Robbins), to the pro's. Susan Sarandon plays the town slut, who's main goal is to sleep with guys on their way to the big's, she romance LaLoosh but her and Crash keep butting heads before eventually falling for each other. LaLoosh does make the big's and Crash bcomes the Home Run king of the minors. The movie is full of great lines and scenes. Let me not forget the Durham Bull Home Run Celebration that is very 80's and very minor leagues. Great movie and #1 on Rotten Tomatoes for Sports movies. Also where Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins fell in love in real life so it's got that going for it.
4. A League of Their Own, the movie about girls playing baseball. This wouldn't be on the top of this list unless Tom Hanks was in it, he killed it in this movie and is 1 of my 3 favorite Tom Hanks performances. The scene where he's drunk in the dugout was just awesome. The female cast was awesome and each girl played their parts great. I love this movie if you haven't seen it, shame on you go watch it, come back and tell me you didn't like it then we'll no longer be friends.
3. 61*, Billy Crystal directed this HBO movie about Micky Mantle and Roger Maris' 1961 season when they as teammates chased Babe Ruth's single-season home run record. This is an excellent look into the lives of the 2 men, the "true" Yankee Mantle who everyone loved, and the "outsider" Maris who was from the midwest, didn't embrace New York or the media. Barry Pepper played Roger Maris and did a great job of doing so, they made the uniforms look perfect to the era. Great great baseball movie and a true eye opener to how that season shook down.
2. The Sandlot, of all the "kids" baseball movies this is the best. A group of 8 kids who get together everyday and play baseball need a recruit so they get the new kid, Scott Smalls, who has no talent, is very naive, and frankly doesn't know how to be a kid. Well between challenging the local little league team, chewing tobacco, and other hijinks the kids face their greatest advasary in the Beast, a junkyard dog behind a fence that keeps all their home run balls. They normally let them go, but Smalls hits his stepdad's Babe Ruth autographed ball over the fence. The movie is full of characters, Bennie the Jet, Yeah-Yeah, Timmy and Tommy Timmons, Squints, Ham Porter, Kenny DeNunez, and Bertam Weeks. Awesome lines throughout the movie, just go watch it, again.
1. Major League, I have to include the whold franchise here, even though the 1st Major League is the best, the 2nd one does belong somewhere on this list, and back to the minors does have some funny spots. The movie is based around a bunch of losers who rally together and go onto win their division. With characters like Willie Mayes Hayes, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, Jake Taylor, Roger Dorn, and Pedro Cerrano. Bob Uecker plays the greatest baseball announcer ever in Harry Doyle and has about 15 repeatable lines. Just an awesome set of movies, especially the first 2, with line after line after line you can repeat forever. This is probably my 2nd favorite movie ever, just awesome.
Well that's my list I know I didn't put a few movies on there, Rookie of the Year and Angels in the Outfield both are immediate ones I think of but I didn't really care for either movie so there's that. I suggest seeing every movie on the list, I know just writing about them makes me want to watch The Fan and The Sandlot right now. I might write something up tomorrow, for my regular post, in the meantime, follow me on twiter @derekbredeson.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Danica
Oh freaking boy, Danica Patrick won the pole for the Daytona 500. The world is going nuts, ESPN is talking about Nascar, what everyone wanted. The nation's 2nd most popular sport is finally being recognized by the morning talk shows and being talked about outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. This is gonna create a lot of buzz, and now the debate begins is she talented or just pretty. Couple other questions get brought up, was this fixed by Nascar, as a media ploy, or is this something to show what her future can be.
I have a big opinion about Danica, I'm not her biggest fan, I used to like her in her Indy days but then she decided printing money was more important than being a good race car driver. She's had 9 years on major racing circuits and has 1 win, 1 win in 9 years, pretty sure you lose your job if you win once every 9 years. My stance on this has been posted in the past, I've written about Dale Jr. in the same light, and I've admitted this, Nascar or even racing in general isn't about performance it's about dollars. You can be the most talented driver in the world but if you don't bring money to the table you don't get the ride. I was watching Mike and Mike this morning with 2 guest hosts and one guy aseked the other, do you think she's one of the top 42 drivers in Nascar, I thought to myself no, there is no way, my favorite team Joe Gibbs Racing has 5 drivers on it's roster that all better than her, and 2 of them are racing full-time in the Nationwide series. I'd put Danica on par with a decent Nationwide or elite Truck driver, last year in elite equipments she didn't win a race in the Nationwide, let alone average finish of 28th in the 10 Sprint Cup races she ran. This is where Nascar differs from every other sport, money pushes the talent, not talent pushing the money. A-Rod makes ass loads of money, he has 1 ring and people kill the guy, we killed LeBron for years b/c he didn't win a championship, yet in Nascar our "favorites" are always the guys who don't win. Most hated drivers Kyle Busch over 200 wins in all three series combined, Kurt Busch Cup Champion, Tony Stewart 3-time cup champion. Jimmie Johnson 5-time champion probably the 3rd most popular driver on his own team behind Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon. If anyone won 5 in a row in another sport that guy would be huge. Yet, the sports favorites Dale Jr. 1 win in 5 years, Carl Edwards 0 wins last year, and now Danica Q-rating of 76, 0 wins in Nascar in 2 years of full-time driving, went from not driving a stock car to having a premiere cup ride in 3 years.
Danica did this herself, she had a choice, make money and gurantee myself a ride forever or become a better driver and earn myself a ride. She's not the only person to do this, Paul Menard for one has sponsorship from his dad pretty well guarantees him a ride as long as he wants one, he's won a race, but he wouldn't of been in that car had his name not been Menard. Don't get me wrong these people are obviously great drivers, you don't got faster than everyone if your a mediocre driver, I'm not saying Danica can't drive stock cars, but I'm saying she didn't earn her ride, didn't take her lumps, didn't have to impress scouts to get where she is, instead she smiled, grew her hair long, and basically let the fact she's a women in a man dominated sport sell stuff for her. I don't even find her all that attractive, I've always said she's "athlete hot", in a room full of dudes, she's cute but in normal circumstances she's not overly good looking. I understand she has to get hers but doesn't mean I have to agree with how she got there. I think the Nascar world needs to take a step back and not hate her bc she's a woman but hate her b/c she isn't all that great of a driver, and if your a Danica fan realize I'm not hating b/c she's a woman it's b/c she's not an elite driver yet has an elite ride.
Onto the question of did Nascar rig qualifying yesterday. They might have, but are you trying to tell me that competators are gonna just let the sport put her up front. These compete all the time, they don't care what it is they want to win, and I know a few of them (Kevin Harvick) are tired of hearing about her, so why would they let the sport do this. Her teammates Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman each ran top 5 times yesterday, and the motors they run had 5 of the top 6 times. Ryan Newman is probably the best qualifier in the whole sport in the last 15 years, he might of helped her out a little. Did Stewart-Haas maybe give her the best car they got, I don't have all the answers but I highly doubt they fixed this.
Is this a sign of things to come, HA, no freaking way. Read above her cars were fast yesterday as a team, you don't get points for winning the pole. You get points for winning, it's not how you start it's how you finish. She can have this week but it's gonna be a long year for her, there is a ton of talent in Sprint Cup racing and I can name 15 guys I would think that will win races this year instead of her, will she get lucky and get a fuel mileage win, maybe but heres the thing about that, you gotta be on the lead lap to win a fuel mileage race and she has a hard time with that. I think Danica needs to go back to Nationwide full time, win a race, then make this jump, it's too early for her, she's been racing stock cars for 3 years, most of these guys have been doing it their whole lives. She has talent, she can win, but this isn't her time. If your going crazy b/c she got the pole settle down and relax she hasn't won anything yet.
That's all for this week, see ya next week, in the meantime follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
I have a big opinion about Danica, I'm not her biggest fan, I used to like her in her Indy days but then she decided printing money was more important than being a good race car driver. She's had 9 years on major racing circuits and has 1 win, 1 win in 9 years, pretty sure you lose your job if you win once every 9 years. My stance on this has been posted in the past, I've written about Dale Jr. in the same light, and I've admitted this, Nascar or even racing in general isn't about performance it's about dollars. You can be the most talented driver in the world but if you don't bring money to the table you don't get the ride. I was watching Mike and Mike this morning with 2 guest hosts and one guy aseked the other, do you think she's one of the top 42 drivers in Nascar, I thought to myself no, there is no way, my favorite team Joe Gibbs Racing has 5 drivers on it's roster that all better than her, and 2 of them are racing full-time in the Nationwide series. I'd put Danica on par with a decent Nationwide or elite Truck driver, last year in elite equipments she didn't win a race in the Nationwide, let alone average finish of 28th in the 10 Sprint Cup races she ran. This is where Nascar differs from every other sport, money pushes the talent, not talent pushing the money. A-Rod makes ass loads of money, he has 1 ring and people kill the guy, we killed LeBron for years b/c he didn't win a championship, yet in Nascar our "favorites" are always the guys who don't win. Most hated drivers Kyle Busch over 200 wins in all three series combined, Kurt Busch Cup Champion, Tony Stewart 3-time cup champion. Jimmie Johnson 5-time champion probably the 3rd most popular driver on his own team behind Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon. If anyone won 5 in a row in another sport that guy would be huge. Yet, the sports favorites Dale Jr. 1 win in 5 years, Carl Edwards 0 wins last year, and now Danica Q-rating of 76, 0 wins in Nascar in 2 years of full-time driving, went from not driving a stock car to having a premiere cup ride in 3 years.
Danica did this herself, she had a choice, make money and gurantee myself a ride forever or become a better driver and earn myself a ride. She's not the only person to do this, Paul Menard for one has sponsorship from his dad pretty well guarantees him a ride as long as he wants one, he's won a race, but he wouldn't of been in that car had his name not been Menard. Don't get me wrong these people are obviously great drivers, you don't got faster than everyone if your a mediocre driver, I'm not saying Danica can't drive stock cars, but I'm saying she didn't earn her ride, didn't take her lumps, didn't have to impress scouts to get where she is, instead she smiled, grew her hair long, and basically let the fact she's a women in a man dominated sport sell stuff for her. I don't even find her all that attractive, I've always said she's "athlete hot", in a room full of dudes, she's cute but in normal circumstances she's not overly good looking. I understand she has to get hers but doesn't mean I have to agree with how she got there. I think the Nascar world needs to take a step back and not hate her bc she's a woman but hate her b/c she isn't all that great of a driver, and if your a Danica fan realize I'm not hating b/c she's a woman it's b/c she's not an elite driver yet has an elite ride.
Onto the question of did Nascar rig qualifying yesterday. They might have, but are you trying to tell me that competators are gonna just let the sport put her up front. These compete all the time, they don't care what it is they want to win, and I know a few of them (Kevin Harvick) are tired of hearing about her, so why would they let the sport do this. Her teammates Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman each ran top 5 times yesterday, and the motors they run had 5 of the top 6 times. Ryan Newman is probably the best qualifier in the whole sport in the last 15 years, he might of helped her out a little. Did Stewart-Haas maybe give her the best car they got, I don't have all the answers but I highly doubt they fixed this.
Is this a sign of things to come, HA, no freaking way. Read above her cars were fast yesterday as a team, you don't get points for winning the pole. You get points for winning, it's not how you start it's how you finish. She can have this week but it's gonna be a long year for her, there is a ton of talent in Sprint Cup racing and I can name 15 guys I would think that will win races this year instead of her, will she get lucky and get a fuel mileage win, maybe but heres the thing about that, you gotta be on the lead lap to win a fuel mileage race and she has a hard time with that. I think Danica needs to go back to Nationwide full time, win a race, then make this jump, it's too early for her, she's been racing stock cars for 3 years, most of these guys have been doing it their whole lives. She has talent, she can win, but this isn't her time. If your going crazy b/c she got the pole settle down and relax she hasn't won anything yet.
That's all for this week, see ya next week, in the meantime follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Monday, February 11, 2013
The Greatest?
Wasn't sure what to talk about today, with football being done and we're over 2 months away from the draft, there isn't much NFL news. NASCAR is a week away from starting, baseball is starting spring training, I don't watch the NBA, and College Basketball is really hard to give opinions on b/c every week a top team losses and you can't make bold statements untile March. I gave it a little thought and decided I'd start a debate. I've had a few on facebook with other people about who is the greatest this or that, and 9 times out of 10 that discussion is the greatest QB in NFL history. QB is probably the most debated position in all of sports, name your top 5 RB's Smith, Brown, and Sanders end up on everyones list. Top WR Jerry Rice all day. Baseball uses stats to differentiate greatness. Basketball you use your eyes b/c a guy can take over a game, and talent will show.
Quaterback is different, how do you measure the greatness of a QB? When making a top 10 list you'll get a few names over and over, Montana, Brady, Marino, and Elway. Some guys will show up a lot, but most people don't have a concrete list that they stick by. I for one have my list fluctuate quite a bit. I have 2 things a QB must have, #1 is rings, QB is the most important position on the field, and only 1 team has won multiple championships in a small amount of time without a dominant QB. The QB controls the game more than any player, they also get all the glory and blame. The #2 thing I need is numbers, plenty of guys can have a ring(s), but if they put up mediocre numbers and just so happened to rise up 2 playoff runs (ex: Eli Manning), than your not top 10 eligible for me. So looking at my requirements Championship rings and great passing numbers let's look at my current top ten all-time QB's in NFL history.
10) Sammy Baugh, Washington Redskins 1937-1952, 2 championships, 2-time MVP. NFL HOF 1963. Sammy is credited with being first player to use the forward pass. My stance of being first doesn't make you best, but he did play a long time, and when he retired he held 13 NFL records. He obviously played in the pre-Super Bowl days, so his 2 rings were NFL Championships, which was just a 1 game playoff between the 2 division champions of the NFL.
9) Bart Starr, Green Bay Packers 1956-1971, 5 championships (2 Super Bowls) 1-time MVP, NFL HOF 1977, 2-time Super Bowl MVP. Starr is the epitome of a winner. He wasn't the best QB, but he is historically one of the most effecient, at his retirement he was 2nd all-time in passer rating. He played on runcentric teams, but he called those run plays. He was also one of the few guys who Vince Lombardi would actually listen too. Starr also has one of the most famous plays in NFL history with his QB sneak in the Ice Bowl in 1967.
8) Steve Young, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1985-1986 San Francisco 49ers 1987-1999, 3 Super Bowl championships-1 as starter, NFL HOF 2005, 2-time MVP, 1 Super Bowl MVP. He has probably the best run of all time against Minnesota in 1988. He backed up Joe Montana for his last 2 rings before becoming the starter and finally winning one in 1994. Young was the first of the new-age running QB's that could throw and run. Steve lost most of his prime years backing up Montana, but he played longer b/c of that as well. He made multiple championship game runs. Was also one of the most effecient passers in history as well.
7) Brett Favre, Atlanta Falcons 1991 Green Bay Packers 1992-2007 New York Jets 2008, Minnesota Vikings 2009-2010, 1 Super Bowl Championship, 3-Time NFL MVP. Brett holds records for passing yards, passing TD's, completions, attempts, QB wins, QB Starts, Interceptions, and 297 games started streak-most for any position. Favre is by far the most controversal guy on the list, he has a ton of numbers but he also has a ton of interceptions. The 1 ring does hurt him, but he had his 2nd ring taken by a guy higher on this list. He also had a ring taken by the Vikings coaching staff, he didn't do himself any favors throwing the killer pick against the Giants in the NFC Championship game. The guy was the true "gunslinger" it hurt to type that, he made a lot of plays but also missed a lot of plays. I'll say this about Favre he never had that go-to-guy who was a sure fire hall of famer on his team. He made the talent arount him better.
6) Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins 1983-1999 0 Super Bowl rings, 1-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 2005. Marino is the one guy on my list without a championship. I think Marino is the exception of the rule that you must win. His teams were never that good on defense, and never had a decent RB. He retired with pretty much every passing record, and really took the forward pass to a new level in his early years. He was one of the best of his era and it really was a golden age of QB's, Marino played against half of this list. His lightening quick release was legendary, he made mortal WR's great.
5) Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh Steelers 1970-1983 4-Time Super Bowl Champion, 1-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 1989, 2-time Super Bowl MVP. Probably the most understated QB when it comes to these lists. The guy never gets any credit, he played with an all time defense, 2 great WR's, and plenty of talent in the backfield. But, if you give Bart Starr credit in Green Bay you gotta give credit to Bradshaw in Pittsburgh. He was the QB of a great team and kept everyone happy, he is one of the few QB's in history to have 2 Hall of Fame WR's on his team. I put a premium on winning and the guy has 4 rings, you have 4 rings you get in my top-5 b/c there is only 1 other guy with that many.
4) John Elway, Denver Broncoes 1983-1998 2-time Super Bowl Champion, 1-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 2004, 1-time Super Bowl MVP. If John doesn't have Terrell Davis and Mike Shanahan he's around 8 on this list, didn't win rings until his last 2 years in the league. What Elway has is the flair for the dramatic, it's only fitting his rings came at end of his career b/c that's when he flourished, at the end of games the guy is probably the best ever. He has some of the most iconic 4th quarter finishes in history. Elway played a little like Steve Young with his running, but had Dan Marino's arm. Some lists will have John higher b/c his skill was so great, and he did more than anyone else. I like Elway a lot, and frankly this top 4 is really just splitting hairs.
3) Tom Brady, New England Patriots 2000-present, 3-time Super Bowl Champion, 2-time NFL MVP, 2-time Super Bowl MVP. It's no secret I love Tom Brady, he has been the premier QB of the last decade plus. Not only does he have 3 rings, but he's gotten all 3 with no names at WR, the one year he had an elite WR all he did was go 18-1, with 4,800 and 50 TD's. Tom has been to 5 Super Bowls, had the last 2 taken away in the final moments, when his defense couldn't get stops. He's also led Super Bowl game winning drives. Brady is the best QB in the NFL right now, and frankly it's not close, Manning isn't a playoff performer, Rodgers needs more time, and Brees is in a pass happy offense. Brady is a proven winner and a great QB.
2) Johnny Unitas, Baltimore Colts 1956-1972 San Diego Chargers 1973, 3-time NFL Champion (1 Super Bowl) 3-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 1979. A lot of lists have Johnny #1 but I can't do that. He played in an era when the forward pass wasn't something teams practiced to stop, he did play when there wasn't many rules, so guys couldn't get the seperation they get today. I think Johnny played in an age that most writers want to remember him as the greatest but he didn't play in a great passing era. He was a pure passer, and honestly his reputation gets him on my list, not the fact I really like him.
1) Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers 1979-1992 Kansas City Chiefs 1993-1994 4-time Super Bowl Champion, 2-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 2000, 3-time Super Bowl MVP. By far my favorite QB of all time, maybe in my top-5 for all time players. He won 4 rings, had some of the most dominant performances in Super Bowl history. Threw one of the most famous passes ever, hitting Dwight Clark for the catch to propel San Fran to their first Super Bowl appearance. Holds all the postseason records for passing, and has most of the Super Bowl passing records. Montana did have the greatest WR ever, but Jerry Rice wasn't hurt too much having a great passer throw him the ball. Sterling Sharpe was ok, then he got Brett Favre and was amazing, I know that's not the greatest comparison but I'm just trying to say a great WR isn't great unless his QB can get him the ball and if that QB is all time great he'll only help you out more. Joe Montana is the best there ever was according to me and he proved it time and time again including taking the Chiefs to the AFC championship game.
As I said this can be debated and I encourage you to do so, this is just what I thought today, I can be swayed. The only guy I'll refuse to put on this list is Peyton Manning, he's overated and has a longer list of playoff losses and choke jobs than he does playoff breakthroughs. I'll see you next week in the meantime follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Quaterback is different, how do you measure the greatness of a QB? When making a top 10 list you'll get a few names over and over, Montana, Brady, Marino, and Elway. Some guys will show up a lot, but most people don't have a concrete list that they stick by. I for one have my list fluctuate quite a bit. I have 2 things a QB must have, #1 is rings, QB is the most important position on the field, and only 1 team has won multiple championships in a small amount of time without a dominant QB. The QB controls the game more than any player, they also get all the glory and blame. The #2 thing I need is numbers, plenty of guys can have a ring(s), but if they put up mediocre numbers and just so happened to rise up 2 playoff runs (ex: Eli Manning), than your not top 10 eligible for me. So looking at my requirements Championship rings and great passing numbers let's look at my current top ten all-time QB's in NFL history.
10) Sammy Baugh, Washington Redskins 1937-1952, 2 championships, 2-time MVP. NFL HOF 1963. Sammy is credited with being first player to use the forward pass. My stance of being first doesn't make you best, but he did play a long time, and when he retired he held 13 NFL records. He obviously played in the pre-Super Bowl days, so his 2 rings were NFL Championships, which was just a 1 game playoff between the 2 division champions of the NFL.
9) Bart Starr, Green Bay Packers 1956-1971, 5 championships (2 Super Bowls) 1-time MVP, NFL HOF 1977, 2-time Super Bowl MVP. Starr is the epitome of a winner. He wasn't the best QB, but he is historically one of the most effecient, at his retirement he was 2nd all-time in passer rating. He played on runcentric teams, but he called those run plays. He was also one of the few guys who Vince Lombardi would actually listen too. Starr also has one of the most famous plays in NFL history with his QB sneak in the Ice Bowl in 1967.
8) Steve Young, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1985-1986 San Francisco 49ers 1987-1999, 3 Super Bowl championships-1 as starter, NFL HOF 2005, 2-time MVP, 1 Super Bowl MVP. He has probably the best run of all time against Minnesota in 1988. He backed up Joe Montana for his last 2 rings before becoming the starter and finally winning one in 1994. Young was the first of the new-age running QB's that could throw and run. Steve lost most of his prime years backing up Montana, but he played longer b/c of that as well. He made multiple championship game runs. Was also one of the most effecient passers in history as well.
7) Brett Favre, Atlanta Falcons 1991 Green Bay Packers 1992-2007 New York Jets 2008, Minnesota Vikings 2009-2010, 1 Super Bowl Championship, 3-Time NFL MVP. Brett holds records for passing yards, passing TD's, completions, attempts, QB wins, QB Starts, Interceptions, and 297 games started streak-most for any position. Favre is by far the most controversal guy on the list, he has a ton of numbers but he also has a ton of interceptions. The 1 ring does hurt him, but he had his 2nd ring taken by a guy higher on this list. He also had a ring taken by the Vikings coaching staff, he didn't do himself any favors throwing the killer pick against the Giants in the NFC Championship game. The guy was the true "gunslinger" it hurt to type that, he made a lot of plays but also missed a lot of plays. I'll say this about Favre he never had that go-to-guy who was a sure fire hall of famer on his team. He made the talent arount him better.
6) Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins 1983-1999 0 Super Bowl rings, 1-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 2005. Marino is the one guy on my list without a championship. I think Marino is the exception of the rule that you must win. His teams were never that good on defense, and never had a decent RB. He retired with pretty much every passing record, and really took the forward pass to a new level in his early years. He was one of the best of his era and it really was a golden age of QB's, Marino played against half of this list. His lightening quick release was legendary, he made mortal WR's great.
5) Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh Steelers 1970-1983 4-Time Super Bowl Champion, 1-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 1989, 2-time Super Bowl MVP. Probably the most understated QB when it comes to these lists. The guy never gets any credit, he played with an all time defense, 2 great WR's, and plenty of talent in the backfield. But, if you give Bart Starr credit in Green Bay you gotta give credit to Bradshaw in Pittsburgh. He was the QB of a great team and kept everyone happy, he is one of the few QB's in history to have 2 Hall of Fame WR's on his team. I put a premium on winning and the guy has 4 rings, you have 4 rings you get in my top-5 b/c there is only 1 other guy with that many.
4) John Elway, Denver Broncoes 1983-1998 2-time Super Bowl Champion, 1-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 2004, 1-time Super Bowl MVP. If John doesn't have Terrell Davis and Mike Shanahan he's around 8 on this list, didn't win rings until his last 2 years in the league. What Elway has is the flair for the dramatic, it's only fitting his rings came at end of his career b/c that's when he flourished, at the end of games the guy is probably the best ever. He has some of the most iconic 4th quarter finishes in history. Elway played a little like Steve Young with his running, but had Dan Marino's arm. Some lists will have John higher b/c his skill was so great, and he did more than anyone else. I like Elway a lot, and frankly this top 4 is really just splitting hairs.
3) Tom Brady, New England Patriots 2000-present, 3-time Super Bowl Champion, 2-time NFL MVP, 2-time Super Bowl MVP. It's no secret I love Tom Brady, he has been the premier QB of the last decade plus. Not only does he have 3 rings, but he's gotten all 3 with no names at WR, the one year he had an elite WR all he did was go 18-1, with 4,800 and 50 TD's. Tom has been to 5 Super Bowls, had the last 2 taken away in the final moments, when his defense couldn't get stops. He's also led Super Bowl game winning drives. Brady is the best QB in the NFL right now, and frankly it's not close, Manning isn't a playoff performer, Rodgers needs more time, and Brees is in a pass happy offense. Brady is a proven winner and a great QB.
2) Johnny Unitas, Baltimore Colts 1956-1972 San Diego Chargers 1973, 3-time NFL Champion (1 Super Bowl) 3-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 1979. A lot of lists have Johnny #1 but I can't do that. He played in an era when the forward pass wasn't something teams practiced to stop, he did play when there wasn't many rules, so guys couldn't get the seperation they get today. I think Johnny played in an age that most writers want to remember him as the greatest but he didn't play in a great passing era. He was a pure passer, and honestly his reputation gets him on my list, not the fact I really like him.
1) Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers 1979-1992 Kansas City Chiefs 1993-1994 4-time Super Bowl Champion, 2-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 2000, 3-time Super Bowl MVP. By far my favorite QB of all time, maybe in my top-5 for all time players. He won 4 rings, had some of the most dominant performances in Super Bowl history. Threw one of the most famous passes ever, hitting Dwight Clark for the catch to propel San Fran to their first Super Bowl appearance. Holds all the postseason records for passing, and has most of the Super Bowl passing records. Montana did have the greatest WR ever, but Jerry Rice wasn't hurt too much having a great passer throw him the ball. Sterling Sharpe was ok, then he got Brett Favre and was amazing, I know that's not the greatest comparison but I'm just trying to say a great WR isn't great unless his QB can get him the ball and if that QB is all time great he'll only help you out more. Joe Montana is the best there ever was according to me and he proved it time and time again including taking the Chiefs to the AFC championship game.
As I said this can be debated and I encourage you to do so, this is just what I thought today, I can be swayed. The only guy I'll refuse to put on this list is Peyton Manning, he's overated and has a longer list of playoff losses and choke jobs than he does playoff breakthroughs. I'll see you next week in the meantime follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Super Breakdown
I was on track to do my diary, but we had company over and I felt it better to socialize and watch the game rather than burry my head in the lap top, also needed to help my wife with the little one and the diary doesn't lend itself to baby watching. Well for the most part I remember the highs and lows of the game. Maybe didn't pay as much attention to the commercials but I saw a few of the high points, we'll try to hit everything about the game.
First of all the "America the Beautiful" with Jennifer Hudson and the Sandy Hook Chorus was pretty good. I thought some of the players were a little overemotional for it but I wasn't there so I guess I didn't feel the emotion.
Alicia Keyes did the anthem her way, I was ok with it, took her over 2 1/2 minutes which was good for me.
Before the game I had 3 bets I thought you wanted to take, over on the score 47.5, over on the anthem length 2:07, and Baltimore +3.5, all three were right. I'm not normally a guy who gets gambling right so I'm gonna boast a little on this.
My guests asked me who I was rooting for at the beginning of the game, I said I picked SF on the blog, but I think I'm cheering for Baltimore. I wanted Baltimore to win, but I thought smart money was on SF taking the game. If you read last week you know I didn't really have a "true" pick at least one I felt comfortable with.
Anquan Boldin is a beast, his TD grab was awesome, his catch late in the game on 3rd and inches was awesome, I've always liked him, he's a stud who plays hard, goes across the middle, and makes plays. The difference between Baltimore Super Bowl Champs and Baltimore regular season is the fact they started using Quan once Cam Cameron got fired.
Enough with QB's getting the MVP, I understand Flacco went for 270 and 3 TD's, but Jacoby Jones made the 2 biggest plays in the game, the 56 yard TD grab where he fell down and then avoided the tackle to get in, then the 108 yard return to start the 2nd half, which I got wrong thinking Ted Ginn would be the returner who would break one. I know QB is the most important position on the field but Flacco didn't put as good of numbers as Kaepernick. I'm tired of the MVP always going to the QB, the last 4 have been QB's, and 7 of the last 10, let's start spreading the love a little.
The God made a Farmer commercial was very nice, Ram did a good job of making you wonder what it was about, the fact it was a minute long was just awesome. I know it probably didn't go over well in the big markets but here in Iowa and my friends in Wisconsin all loved it. Side note if you think that was a Dodge commercial, catch up Dodge doesn't make trucks anymore, the brand is now RAM.
I thought the play calling by San Fran inside the ten in the last 2 minutes was atrocious. In that situation you didn't run the read option once, you didn't run that jet sweep with Gore or James where Delanie Walker comes across the formation and blows up the outside backer. They ran it earlier in the game and Gore scored a TD, they also ran it against Atlanta with LeMicheal James.
Does the NFL have a coaching box? What's the point of having a sideline if the coach can stand at the 10 yard line? Jim Harbaugh was down there the whole time SF had the ball inside of 2 minutes. I thought it looked a little bitch ass on his part, get on your sideline where you belong.
I think that is why I didn't want SF to win, Jim Harbaugh annoys the crap out of me. He's a cry baby, always showing up the refs. He throws tantrums on the sideline all the time.
If you think that was holding on the last play SF had inside the 10, SHUT UP. There is no chance that was holding. The receiver ran a bad route and didn't get position, you can't just run into a DB and expect to get the call. This happened all postseason, the officials let the DB's play, in the regular season they call everything, in the postseason they call it fair.
Phil Simms is the worst announcer ever. Now, I'm not comparing him to the schmucks that do shithole college football games for ESPN, but of network NFL announcers he's one of the worst. In fact CBS has the worst color guys around. I would take any of Fox's top 3 (Aikman, Moose and Goose, and Brian Billick) NBC's Chris Collinsworth and of course ESPN John Gruden. My point got proven in the 4th Qtr, 1st and goal SF 2:39 left they ran a play, clock is running, Phil Simms says Baltimore needs to call timeout. Instead they let the clock run 2 minute warning, SF takes 3 more shots and doesn't score. If your Baltimore 3 things can happen after 2 minute warning, 1) SF scores at TD gets 2 point conversion, you have 3 timeouts to get in FG range to tie the game. 2) SF scores doesn't get 2 point conversion, you have 3 timeouts to get in FG range to win the game. 3) You trust your defense, they get the stop, you force San Fran to use it's Timeout inside the 2 minute warning and don't give them the free timeout at the 2 minute warning. So Phil Simms shut your mouth and stop announcing games that you have no clue as to what's going on.
I may not be the worlds biggest Beyonce fan, and this next statement may reflect that. When did she sing? All I saw was stripper dancing, and blowing kisses and winking at the camera. I'm not a big that wasn't music guy, but it wasn't the best show in my eyes. A lot of people liked it I personally didn't like it, can we just scrap this halftime show stuff?
Between the halftime show, the Jacoby Jones return, and the lights going out, Joe Flacco was off the field for at least an hour. You wonder why Baltimore was a little slow after the blackout probably b/c they weren't on the field for over an hour. That layoff almost cost Baltimore the game.
I got more beef with CBS, why don't you show the TD dances? Jacoby Jones had 2 interesting celebrations and we didn't get to see either. Also, on the punt safety they used the low camera from behind the goal post instead of showing the regular view, makes me think the producer had no clue the intentional safety was coming. Baltimore ran 8 seconds off the clock and the whole time I'm going where are the SF players? I didn't realize they were getting held like crazy b/c your shitty camera work didn't show me the play. I almost forgot about the fight, CBS didn't show a great view as to why it happened, how it went down or anything. I like CBS's shows but their NFL coverage is by far the worst of the 4 networks that know what their doing, I won't count NFL Network.
Whatever caused the blackout, whether it was hacked, just a blown circuit, whatever it was. It had a definant effect on the game and I think these facilities need to look a little closer at what's going on with their power grids.
The cockiness epidemic was in full force last night, I have a few examples. One play Anquan Boldin made a great catch came down, went out of bounds and immediatly got in the face of whatever 49er was attempting to cover him. The DB just stood there and let it happen. I was proud of that guy, he just said you made a great play nice work but why do you gotta come yell at me? My favorite thing of all time happened again, (2nd game in a row for SF) LeMicheal James made a run, broke some tackles, got up started flexing and being way too cocky, 2 plays later FUMBLE, nice work dumbass keep flexing b/c you got a first down.
Randy Moss is a shell of the old Randy Moss, I still love you brah but hang it up. I think he's a first ballot HOF'er, just hanging on too long trying to get that ring, wish we could have those Oakland years back.
Dorito's did pretty good as alway. Go Daddy is old and tired. Coke sucks. Bud Light Voo Doo has ran it's course. Taco Bell very nice with the old people acting young, but that's not a new idea. The Tide Joe Montana land was funny. I've seen the Clydesdale commercial before, I think the early 2000's were a real high point for commercials and since then things have been more blah than great.
That's all I got for today, congrats to my man Cris Carter on making the Hall of Fame, it was a long time coming and don't get me started on Hall of Fame voters and why they make WR's wait, Art Monk feels Cris Carter's pain. Things may slow down on here for a few weeks since I don't have football too talk about, be ready for NASCAR folks. In the meantime follow me on twitter @derekbredeson or read some of my older posts.
First of all the "America the Beautiful" with Jennifer Hudson and the Sandy Hook Chorus was pretty good. I thought some of the players were a little overemotional for it but I wasn't there so I guess I didn't feel the emotion.
Alicia Keyes did the anthem her way, I was ok with it, took her over 2 1/2 minutes which was good for me.
Before the game I had 3 bets I thought you wanted to take, over on the score 47.5, over on the anthem length 2:07, and Baltimore +3.5, all three were right. I'm not normally a guy who gets gambling right so I'm gonna boast a little on this.
My guests asked me who I was rooting for at the beginning of the game, I said I picked SF on the blog, but I think I'm cheering for Baltimore. I wanted Baltimore to win, but I thought smart money was on SF taking the game. If you read last week you know I didn't really have a "true" pick at least one I felt comfortable with.
Anquan Boldin is a beast, his TD grab was awesome, his catch late in the game on 3rd and inches was awesome, I've always liked him, he's a stud who plays hard, goes across the middle, and makes plays. The difference between Baltimore Super Bowl Champs and Baltimore regular season is the fact they started using Quan once Cam Cameron got fired.
Enough with QB's getting the MVP, I understand Flacco went for 270 and 3 TD's, but Jacoby Jones made the 2 biggest plays in the game, the 56 yard TD grab where he fell down and then avoided the tackle to get in, then the 108 yard return to start the 2nd half, which I got wrong thinking Ted Ginn would be the returner who would break one. I know QB is the most important position on the field but Flacco didn't put as good of numbers as Kaepernick. I'm tired of the MVP always going to the QB, the last 4 have been QB's, and 7 of the last 10, let's start spreading the love a little.
The God made a Farmer commercial was very nice, Ram did a good job of making you wonder what it was about, the fact it was a minute long was just awesome. I know it probably didn't go over well in the big markets but here in Iowa and my friends in Wisconsin all loved it. Side note if you think that was a Dodge commercial, catch up Dodge doesn't make trucks anymore, the brand is now RAM.
I thought the play calling by San Fran inside the ten in the last 2 minutes was atrocious. In that situation you didn't run the read option once, you didn't run that jet sweep with Gore or James where Delanie Walker comes across the formation and blows up the outside backer. They ran it earlier in the game and Gore scored a TD, they also ran it against Atlanta with LeMicheal James.
Does the NFL have a coaching box? What's the point of having a sideline if the coach can stand at the 10 yard line? Jim Harbaugh was down there the whole time SF had the ball inside of 2 minutes. I thought it looked a little bitch ass on his part, get on your sideline where you belong.
I think that is why I didn't want SF to win, Jim Harbaugh annoys the crap out of me. He's a cry baby, always showing up the refs. He throws tantrums on the sideline all the time.
If you think that was holding on the last play SF had inside the 10, SHUT UP. There is no chance that was holding. The receiver ran a bad route and didn't get position, you can't just run into a DB and expect to get the call. This happened all postseason, the officials let the DB's play, in the regular season they call everything, in the postseason they call it fair.
Phil Simms is the worst announcer ever. Now, I'm not comparing him to the schmucks that do shithole college football games for ESPN, but of network NFL announcers he's one of the worst. In fact CBS has the worst color guys around. I would take any of Fox's top 3 (Aikman, Moose and Goose, and Brian Billick) NBC's Chris Collinsworth and of course ESPN John Gruden. My point got proven in the 4th Qtr, 1st and goal SF 2:39 left they ran a play, clock is running, Phil Simms says Baltimore needs to call timeout. Instead they let the clock run 2 minute warning, SF takes 3 more shots and doesn't score. If your Baltimore 3 things can happen after 2 minute warning, 1) SF scores at TD gets 2 point conversion, you have 3 timeouts to get in FG range to tie the game. 2) SF scores doesn't get 2 point conversion, you have 3 timeouts to get in FG range to win the game. 3) You trust your defense, they get the stop, you force San Fran to use it's Timeout inside the 2 minute warning and don't give them the free timeout at the 2 minute warning. So Phil Simms shut your mouth and stop announcing games that you have no clue as to what's going on.
I may not be the worlds biggest Beyonce fan, and this next statement may reflect that. When did she sing? All I saw was stripper dancing, and blowing kisses and winking at the camera. I'm not a big that wasn't music guy, but it wasn't the best show in my eyes. A lot of people liked it I personally didn't like it, can we just scrap this halftime show stuff?
Between the halftime show, the Jacoby Jones return, and the lights going out, Joe Flacco was off the field for at least an hour. You wonder why Baltimore was a little slow after the blackout probably b/c they weren't on the field for over an hour. That layoff almost cost Baltimore the game.
I got more beef with CBS, why don't you show the TD dances? Jacoby Jones had 2 interesting celebrations and we didn't get to see either. Also, on the punt safety they used the low camera from behind the goal post instead of showing the regular view, makes me think the producer had no clue the intentional safety was coming. Baltimore ran 8 seconds off the clock and the whole time I'm going where are the SF players? I didn't realize they were getting held like crazy b/c your shitty camera work didn't show me the play. I almost forgot about the fight, CBS didn't show a great view as to why it happened, how it went down or anything. I like CBS's shows but their NFL coverage is by far the worst of the 4 networks that know what their doing, I won't count NFL Network.
Whatever caused the blackout, whether it was hacked, just a blown circuit, whatever it was. It had a definant effect on the game and I think these facilities need to look a little closer at what's going on with their power grids.
The cockiness epidemic was in full force last night, I have a few examples. One play Anquan Boldin made a great catch came down, went out of bounds and immediatly got in the face of whatever 49er was attempting to cover him. The DB just stood there and let it happen. I was proud of that guy, he just said you made a great play nice work but why do you gotta come yell at me? My favorite thing of all time happened again, (2nd game in a row for SF) LeMicheal James made a run, broke some tackles, got up started flexing and being way too cocky, 2 plays later FUMBLE, nice work dumbass keep flexing b/c you got a first down.
Randy Moss is a shell of the old Randy Moss, I still love you brah but hang it up. I think he's a first ballot HOF'er, just hanging on too long trying to get that ring, wish we could have those Oakland years back.
Dorito's did pretty good as alway. Go Daddy is old and tired. Coke sucks. Bud Light Voo Doo has ran it's course. Taco Bell very nice with the old people acting young, but that's not a new idea. The Tide Joe Montana land was funny. I've seen the Clydesdale commercial before, I think the early 2000's were a real high point for commercials and since then things have been more blah than great.
That's all I got for today, congrats to my man Cris Carter on making the Hall of Fame, it was a long time coming and don't get me started on Hall of Fame voters and why they make WR's wait, Art Monk feels Cris Carter's pain. Things may slow down on here for a few weeks since I don't have football too talk about, be ready for NASCAR folks. In the meantime follow me on twitter @derekbredeson or read some of my older posts.
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