I've done this the last few years, going position by position breaking down the upcoming Super Bowl. I've gone 2-1, having the Saints and Packers and losing last year with the Pats, so let's go to the numbers.
QB Advantage: San Francisco, this one is tough and frankly this whole breakdown is gonna be tough, these 2 teams mirror each other so much, and frankly the biggest difference is at the QB position. Listen to me I sound like Jaws, anyway Kaepernick has the edge on Flacco simply b/c he has the running element. The both throw a great deep ball, they both throw accurate across the middle, they both use their weapons. However, Kaepernick can run the read option and take off. Atlanta limitied Kaepernick but scorched by Gore and James. If your gonna focus on stopping Kaepernick SF will scorch you other ways, if you stop the other ways Kaepernick will scorch you.
RB Advantage: Baltimore, this is really really close, do you like the combo of Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce or the combo of Frank Gore and LeMicheal James. Almost mirrors of each other Gore and Pierce are both downhill punishers, where Rice and James are small and quick. The biggerst advantage Baltimore has here is Rice is a great receiver and he's a down hill punisher as well as being a little quick guy. I think Ray Rice is the difference maker in this game and if Baltimore can get him on the field same time as Pierce they could really be dangerous. FB Leach is also a clear advantage for Baltimore.
WR Advantage: Baltimore, this is so hard, by far the hardest breakdown I've ever done. Torrey Smith, Anquan Boldin, and Tandon Doss who's come on under Caldwell vs. Micheal Crabtree and Randy Moss, the 9ers have other guys but nobody at WR who makes a huge impact. I think Anquan Boldin is perfect for this game b/c he's not affraid of anyone and he'll go across the middle on anybody anytime and make plays. Smith can behind anyone and Baltimore likes to take at least 2 shots with him a half. The 49ers are gonna miss Mario Manningham but Crabtree and Kaepernick have some sort of connection, so he's been playing better since the change.
TE Advantage: San Francisco, Vernon Davis and Delanie Walker do more in the running game and passing game than Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson do. In fact Pitta and Dickson are a poor man's Davis and Walker. Have I said how similiar these teams are, this is crazy. Look for Davis to get down the seems, and Walker to make at least 3-4 plays in this game.
OL Advantage: Baltimore, I really can't back this up at all, but Baltimore has a few HOFrs on the line in McKinnie and Birk, maybe in Oher. McKinnie is also fresh since he barely played in the regular season. I don't want to take anything from Joe Staley or Mike Iupati, but once again this is close.
Pass Rushing Advantage: San Francisco, I was gonna do DL and LB but these teams move guys around, hand in the dirt, stand up, so much I figured I'll just do MLB and pass rush. Both teams stuff the run, and the pass rushers are more than just pass rushers. I gotta give SF the advantage here b/c Justin Smith and Aldon Smith get after it. T-Sizzle and Paul Krueger are great as well but Sizzle isn't 100%. Ngata is a great run stuffer but doesn't get to the QB the best him and Justin Smith are a lot a like. These 2 front 7's vs the O's front 5 is gonna be great to watch.
MLB Advantage: San Francisco, this is based soley on play, not on the spiritual advantage Ray Lewis gives Baltimore. Bowman and Willis are amazing, and Ray Lewis and Ellerbe are great. How many times can I say these teams are mirrors of each other. Lewis still has that brace on his arm. I love this game, can we play right now.
Cornerback Advantage: Push, even though Baltimore is without Brandon Carr I say push. If any of these corners can take a guy out of the game, say Graham takes out Crabtree, or Carlos Rogers takes away Boldin than that team will have the true advantage.
Safety Advantage: Baltimore, Ed Reed is the best in the game, and best of the last 15 years. Pollard is liable to concuss or break at least 1 guys leg. I like what SF has in the back end but their not Reed and Pollard.
Kicker Advantage: Baltimore, Justin Tucker doesn't have the yips, David Akers has the yips.
Punter Advantage: who cares, Andy Lee and Sam Koch need to make sure we don't know their names by the end of the game.
Kick/Punt Returns Advantage: San Francisco, Jacoby Jones and Ed Reed can break them but Ted Ginn Jr. can break them better.
Coach Advantage: PUSH, you can't give either guy an advantage here, both Harbaugh's are great. Only thing I'll give Baltimore is Jim Caldwell calling plays is way better than when they had Cam Cameron.
Spiritual Leader Advantage: Baltimore, your a fool to not think Ray Lewis is a difference maker more than just his game play. The guy has the Ravens on some sort of high/fear of letting him down complex and they are playing on a different level than what they were doing in the regular season.
Final Score Baltimore 6 San Francisco 5, I honestly don't know who to pick. Every year I've done this I've picked the team who didn't have the advantage. I really don't want to pick this game, but I'll go with San Francisco 28 Baltimore 27. I have nothing to back that up, if I were a betting man I guess that means I pick Baltimore (+3.5). So there I pick both teams, man did I hedge my bet there what a pussy. See you next week for the Super Diary in the mean time follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
The week that was
Oh boy what a week, if I were an actual sports columnist I think I'd have material for weeks. I'm not gonna just stick with the Championship games, gotta hit all the stories of last week.
Lance Armstrong came clean to Oprah, good work shithead. I've talked about Lance before, and if you actually thought he was clean while dominating the most doped sport in the world than your a dope. I didn't watch the interview, but I saw some clips he was smug, nonapologetic, and basically an ass. I think he's just trying to get another money grab also state his case so he can do trialothons again, I honestly don't care what he does, there is no hall of fame for him so I guess if he needs to come clean to feel better than so be it.
I'll talk about the football games before I get into that other story.
First the NFC Championship game, this game went about as expected. Atlanta jumped out front then San Francisco came back and won the game.
I think Atlanta still has a bright future, Julio Jones is on his way to being the 2nd best WR in the league, he has the size of MegaTron and Larry Fitz, and he has great speed. The guy is pretty awesome and him and Matt Ryan are a great tandem.
Matt Ryan had the 2 brutal turnovers that cost the Falcons the game.
I'm ok with San Fracisco winning in fact I picked them last week on here so as I said not shocked they made it. They'll have a good shot in the Super Bowl especially if Vernon Davis can get as open as he was yesterday. But we'll save the breakdown for next weeks blog when I do my annual tale of the tape.
AFC Championship game wasn't nearly the game I thought it would be, but you could tell when Baltimore was getting the momentum their way and New England was done.
New England isn't the same without Gronk, the guy is a match up nightmare and if these freak injuries would stop happening to him New England will be playing in the Super Bowl again next year.
Baltimore is riding some sort of wave of emotion. This Ray Lewis thing is insane and the guy is some sort of motivator. I was watching Countdown on ESPN yesterday and Cris Carter and Tom Jackson both said they've never seen a guy who can motivate and have his team believe in themselves as much as Ray Lewis does. Ray seemed a little over the top to me after the game but hey I'm not in that situation and I almost cried when the Giants won the World Series so who am I to judge.
Joe Flacco is legit, and I think I said it a few weeks ago Jim Caldwell calling the plays is making Baltimore a lot better. They are calling plays for Boldin over the middle, while still hitting Torrey Smith deep.
I have to get this off my chest, if your a Brady hater or a Belichek hater get over it, you would kill to have those guys on your team. You'd kill to have 3 rings from your QB/coach combo, been to 5 Super Bowls together. No other duo has that story, Montana may have 4 rings but he doesn't have 5 Super Bowl appearances. I understand they got caught in the spygate mess but if you think that's the only reason they won those Super Bowls than your a moron. The year they got caught they went 18-1, including 16-0 in the regular season. This team has been on a tear for 13 years and they've done it in a salary cap era, this isn't baseball where they Yankees just keep signing people, the only 2 constants are Bill and Brady. Side note Brady is top 3 all time, no arguements.
Now onto maybe the funniest/oddest story ever Manti Te'o and his fake girlfriend. I don't know about you but until we know the entire story it's gonna be hard to pass judgement but from what we know Te'o is a moron. He met this girl online, never met her, EVER, yet still had a "relationship" that moved him so much that he talked about it in interviews. Not only that he knew the truth before the Heisman but still acted like she was dead b/c he didn't want the cat out of the bag. What did you think was gonna happend dummy? People weren't gonna wonder hey why doesn't this guy have any pictures with this girl who he suppossedly loves so much.
I don't get how on earth you can fall in love without ever seeing the person you love, how can you get so emotionally invested in someone if you've never felt their touch, never held them. How do you have a girlfriend for 2 years yet never get any physical benefits from the relationship, no sex, no spooining, no nothing. If Te'o didn't know what was up, he's a real moron and should be happy this happened to him in college when he had no money as oppossed to in the pro's when he probably would've been paying this girls medical bills.
My question is, was he in on it? If so, why? At first I thought so, and I though he did it to cover up the fact he's gay. Well after hearing more of the story come out I don't think he was in on it. But this brings up the bigger question why don't we have a gay elite male athlete. Pretty sure there are plenty of gay athletes these days but these guys are affraid to come clean, I was kind of hoping Te'o would be that trailblazer but it's starting to look like he won't be.
Will this hurt his draft stock, I'm not sure. He might fall b/c you gotta wonder what the guys mentallity is if he got duped so bad. He'll fall for other reasons as well, he's short and he might not be very fast. If he ends a MLB in the NFL he won't be a physical pressence and will probably end up in a 3-4 where another LB can help clean it up for him. I think he'll end up a mid-first rounder, I've seen him as high as 8th, but I'd guess he'll fall into the 20's possibly to the Ravens who need a MLB.
That's all for this week, next week I'll be doing my Super Bowl Tale of the Tape, in the meantime follow me on twitter @derekbredeson. One last thing for this week, I have to announce I'm all in for Iowa Basketball this year, it's been a while since I've been invested in college basketball. Iowa has a good freshman class and I decided to make it a point to watch more games, I haven't been dissapointed yet, they've played a tough conference schedule already. So what I'm saying is when football is done, expect a lot Iowa basketball and NASCAR stuff on the weekly.
Lance Armstrong came clean to Oprah, good work shithead. I've talked about Lance before, and if you actually thought he was clean while dominating the most doped sport in the world than your a dope. I didn't watch the interview, but I saw some clips he was smug, nonapologetic, and basically an ass. I think he's just trying to get another money grab also state his case so he can do trialothons again, I honestly don't care what he does, there is no hall of fame for him so I guess if he needs to come clean to feel better than so be it.
I'll talk about the football games before I get into that other story.
First the NFC Championship game, this game went about as expected. Atlanta jumped out front then San Francisco came back and won the game.
I think Atlanta still has a bright future, Julio Jones is on his way to being the 2nd best WR in the league, he has the size of MegaTron and Larry Fitz, and he has great speed. The guy is pretty awesome and him and Matt Ryan are a great tandem.
Matt Ryan had the 2 brutal turnovers that cost the Falcons the game.
I'm ok with San Fracisco winning in fact I picked them last week on here so as I said not shocked they made it. They'll have a good shot in the Super Bowl especially if Vernon Davis can get as open as he was yesterday. But we'll save the breakdown for next weeks blog when I do my annual tale of the tape.
AFC Championship game wasn't nearly the game I thought it would be, but you could tell when Baltimore was getting the momentum their way and New England was done.
New England isn't the same without Gronk, the guy is a match up nightmare and if these freak injuries would stop happening to him New England will be playing in the Super Bowl again next year.
Baltimore is riding some sort of wave of emotion. This Ray Lewis thing is insane and the guy is some sort of motivator. I was watching Countdown on ESPN yesterday and Cris Carter and Tom Jackson both said they've never seen a guy who can motivate and have his team believe in themselves as much as Ray Lewis does. Ray seemed a little over the top to me after the game but hey I'm not in that situation and I almost cried when the Giants won the World Series so who am I to judge.
Joe Flacco is legit, and I think I said it a few weeks ago Jim Caldwell calling the plays is making Baltimore a lot better. They are calling plays for Boldin over the middle, while still hitting Torrey Smith deep.
I have to get this off my chest, if your a Brady hater or a Belichek hater get over it, you would kill to have those guys on your team. You'd kill to have 3 rings from your QB/coach combo, been to 5 Super Bowls together. No other duo has that story, Montana may have 4 rings but he doesn't have 5 Super Bowl appearances. I understand they got caught in the spygate mess but if you think that's the only reason they won those Super Bowls than your a moron. The year they got caught they went 18-1, including 16-0 in the regular season. This team has been on a tear for 13 years and they've done it in a salary cap era, this isn't baseball where they Yankees just keep signing people, the only 2 constants are Bill and Brady. Side note Brady is top 3 all time, no arguements.
Now onto maybe the funniest/oddest story ever Manti Te'o and his fake girlfriend. I don't know about you but until we know the entire story it's gonna be hard to pass judgement but from what we know Te'o is a moron. He met this girl online, never met her, EVER, yet still had a "relationship" that moved him so much that he talked about it in interviews. Not only that he knew the truth before the Heisman but still acted like she was dead b/c he didn't want the cat out of the bag. What did you think was gonna happend dummy? People weren't gonna wonder hey why doesn't this guy have any pictures with this girl who he suppossedly loves so much.
I don't get how on earth you can fall in love without ever seeing the person you love, how can you get so emotionally invested in someone if you've never felt their touch, never held them. How do you have a girlfriend for 2 years yet never get any physical benefits from the relationship, no sex, no spooining, no nothing. If Te'o didn't know what was up, he's a real moron and should be happy this happened to him in college when he had no money as oppossed to in the pro's when he probably would've been paying this girls medical bills.
My question is, was he in on it? If so, why? At first I thought so, and I though he did it to cover up the fact he's gay. Well after hearing more of the story come out I don't think he was in on it. But this brings up the bigger question why don't we have a gay elite male athlete. Pretty sure there are plenty of gay athletes these days but these guys are affraid to come clean, I was kind of hoping Te'o would be that trailblazer but it's starting to look like he won't be.
Will this hurt his draft stock, I'm not sure. He might fall b/c you gotta wonder what the guys mentallity is if he got duped so bad. He'll fall for other reasons as well, he's short and he might not be very fast. If he ends a MLB in the NFL he won't be a physical pressence and will probably end up in a 3-4 where another LB can help clean it up for him. I think he'll end up a mid-first rounder, I've seen him as high as 8th, but I'd guess he'll fall into the 20's possibly to the Ravens who need a MLB.
That's all for this week, next week I'll be doing my Super Bowl Tale of the Tape, in the meantime follow me on twitter @derekbredeson. One last thing for this week, I have to announce I'm all in for Iowa Basketball this year, it's been a while since I've been invested in college basketball. Iowa has a good freshman class and I decided to make it a point to watch more games, I haven't been dissapointed yet, they've played a tough conference schedule already. So what I'm saying is when football is done, expect a lot Iowa basketball and NASCAR stuff on the weekly.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Baseball HOF
Meant to get to this earlier this week but never got around to it. I feel like I have to put my thoughts down on the shutout the Baseball Writers of America threw for the Hall of Fame this week. The BBWA is the group that chooses all of baseball's awards and elect the players to the HOF. The writers are guys who follow the sport and know what their talking about for the most part, I think around 535 guys get to vote for the HOF. I don't have all the numbers in front of me, but basically a lot of guys get too vote, and it takes a hell of a lot to get into the HOF, 75% of the vote.
In case you didn't know this year was the first time Barry Bonds was eligible for the Hall. I single him out because of all the guys in the steroid mess these he's the biggest fish for 2 reasons. First, he's the guy who has the biggest numbers of the era, having multiple MVP awards, would be considered the best hitter of the generation, dominated the sport for almost 20 years. Secondly he is the guy who "used" steroids that was probably HOF'ers before they used. It's speculated Bonds didn't use till 1998 when Sosa and McGwire won America over with their record Home Run chase that everyone was covering and loving, including the members of the BBWA and the league offices who like the spark it gave them.
Prior to 1998 Barry Bonds was a multiple time MVP, he was about to become the lone member of the 400 HR-400 SB club, he was just 26 HR's short of 400 and already had 417 steals. He had multiple gold gloves. If Barry Bonds retires after 1997, after 12 seasons in baseball he's in the HOF in 2002. Instead Barry decided to do what everyone was doing and dope up, however something happened to him, when those mere mortals were doping they got to his level, so when he doped, he went to a level never seen before. Bonds was an amazing talent, he could see the ball better than any hitter, he does have the record for most walks, his hand-eye coordination is better than everyone else. So when Bonds decided screw it I'm gonna get bigger and start knocking the ball out of the park, need I remind you AT&T Park in San Francisco is a pitchers park, it's not easy to hit home runs there, in fact the current Giants are at the bottom of HR's hit in all of baseball, yet they have won 2 or the last 3 World Series b/c when teams come into that park the long ball is neutralized. Well that park didn't neutralize Bonds. So now you've got the greatest hitter of his generation mixed with the juice and guess what his numbers got OC, a little to inflated, but what happened, everyone went crazy for him, he was finally loved by the fans. The media still hated him, but San Francisco loved the guy.
Now I understand your gonna say, he cheated he shouldn't be allowed in. Oh yeah he cheated, against what rules? Was there drug testing? Did you not celebrate with McGwire and Sosa in 1998? These writers for the BBWA for the most part were right there, in the locker room, at spring training watching these guys year after year get bigger, interviewing guys with pill bottles and stuff in their lockers in plain view. Where were these guys then? They didn't report it, they just let it go, even the 2 guys who dug into the scandal did it for a book, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams did their investigative reporting for a book not for a newspaper report to out these guys. No they wanted to make money off the deal, which they did, and Fainaru-Wada turned the book into a job with ESPN. This is my biggest problem with the BBWA being the "gatekeepers" of the Hall, where were you in 1998-2004? You worshiping these guys like everyone else. I'm tired of hearing about how the Hall is sacred ground, blah blah blah.
You know why baseball is dying in popularity, b/c the HOF is a joke and the old school runs the game. The NFL puts at least 4 guys in every year, this year baseball isn't gonna put in anyone. What's the point of having the place if your not gonna put anyone in. Baseball is an old man's game, it's slow, doesn't have a clock, doesn't have contact. I love baseball but if this is how people are gonna "protect" the game, guess what the game is gonna disappear. I think baseball can fix itself if they would just get over being old school.
A couple other guys got snubbed as well, Jack Morris got screwed again, his big knock is he'll have the highest E.R.A. in the Hall, guess what someone has to have the highest ERA, why not a guy who has rings, wins, and longevity. Tim Raines is the 2nd best base stealer in the history of the game and if he hadn't played the same time as Rickey Henderson, he would be in. Craig Biggio has 3,000 hits, normally an automatic in, but guys didn't vote him in for some reason whether he was a stat compiler or what, but aren't we all stat compilers? Isn't that the point, if you vote off stats then guess what let a guy who has stats in. Mike Piazza has the most HR's for a catcher ever and he can't get in. So you keep Jack Morris out b/c of his stats but don't let Piazza or Biggio b/c of their stats are inflated? What a double edged sword and a bunch of bullshit. I agree keep McGwire and Sosa out, both are frauds and would've been average players without the juice, but guys like Clemens and Bonds need to get in b/c they were great before they juiced.
In case you didn't know this year was the first time Barry Bonds was eligible for the Hall. I single him out because of all the guys in the steroid mess these he's the biggest fish for 2 reasons. First, he's the guy who has the biggest numbers of the era, having multiple MVP awards, would be considered the best hitter of the generation, dominated the sport for almost 20 years. Secondly he is the guy who "used" steroids that was probably HOF'ers before they used. It's speculated Bonds didn't use till 1998 when Sosa and McGwire won America over with their record Home Run chase that everyone was covering and loving, including the members of the BBWA and the league offices who like the spark it gave them.
Prior to 1998 Barry Bonds was a multiple time MVP, he was about to become the lone member of the 400 HR-400 SB club, he was just 26 HR's short of 400 and already had 417 steals. He had multiple gold gloves. If Barry Bonds retires after 1997, after 12 seasons in baseball he's in the HOF in 2002. Instead Barry decided to do what everyone was doing and dope up, however something happened to him, when those mere mortals were doping they got to his level, so when he doped, he went to a level never seen before. Bonds was an amazing talent, he could see the ball better than any hitter, he does have the record for most walks, his hand-eye coordination is better than everyone else. So when Bonds decided screw it I'm gonna get bigger and start knocking the ball out of the park, need I remind you AT&T Park in San Francisco is a pitchers park, it's not easy to hit home runs there, in fact the current Giants are at the bottom of HR's hit in all of baseball, yet they have won 2 or the last 3 World Series b/c when teams come into that park the long ball is neutralized. Well that park didn't neutralize Bonds. So now you've got the greatest hitter of his generation mixed with the juice and guess what his numbers got OC, a little to inflated, but what happened, everyone went crazy for him, he was finally loved by the fans. The media still hated him, but San Francisco loved the guy.
Now I understand your gonna say, he cheated he shouldn't be allowed in. Oh yeah he cheated, against what rules? Was there drug testing? Did you not celebrate with McGwire and Sosa in 1998? These writers for the BBWA for the most part were right there, in the locker room, at spring training watching these guys year after year get bigger, interviewing guys with pill bottles and stuff in their lockers in plain view. Where were these guys then? They didn't report it, they just let it go, even the 2 guys who dug into the scandal did it for a book, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams did their investigative reporting for a book not for a newspaper report to out these guys. No they wanted to make money off the deal, which they did, and Fainaru-Wada turned the book into a job with ESPN. This is my biggest problem with the BBWA being the "gatekeepers" of the Hall, where were you in 1998-2004? You worshiping these guys like everyone else. I'm tired of hearing about how the Hall is sacred ground, blah blah blah.
You know why baseball is dying in popularity, b/c the HOF is a joke and the old school runs the game. The NFL puts at least 4 guys in every year, this year baseball isn't gonna put in anyone. What's the point of having the place if your not gonna put anyone in. Baseball is an old man's game, it's slow, doesn't have a clock, doesn't have contact. I love baseball but if this is how people are gonna "protect" the game, guess what the game is gonna disappear. I think baseball can fix itself if they would just get over being old school.
A couple other guys got snubbed as well, Jack Morris got screwed again, his big knock is he'll have the highest E.R.A. in the Hall, guess what someone has to have the highest ERA, why not a guy who has rings, wins, and longevity. Tim Raines is the 2nd best base stealer in the history of the game and if he hadn't played the same time as Rickey Henderson, he would be in. Craig Biggio has 3,000 hits, normally an automatic in, but guys didn't vote him in for some reason whether he was a stat compiler or what, but aren't we all stat compilers? Isn't that the point, if you vote off stats then guess what let a guy who has stats in. Mike Piazza has the most HR's for a catcher ever and he can't get in. So you keep Jack Morris out b/c of his stats but don't let Piazza or Biggio b/c of their stats are inflated? What a double edged sword and a bunch of bullshit. I agree keep McGwire and Sosa out, both are frauds and would've been average players without the juice, but guys like Clemens and Bonds need to get in b/c they were great before they juiced.
Division Breakdown
Wow what a weekend, last weekend we had 1 good game and 3 snoozers, this weekend 2 amazing games, 1 snoozer, and 1 what the hell just happened. I missed a lot more of the games this weekend but I still have seen enough to give my thoughts.
I'll start with the snoozer, New England vs. Houston. What a terrible game, Houston was overmatched the whole time. Tom Brady is pretty good and anyone who doesn't think he's the best in the game needs to watch the game closer.
I said it last week about Houston's D, besides Watt who else makes plays? Nobody, Shane Vereen a RB was victimizing one on one coverage against a LB all game. Welker who's just as big as a small DB was open nearly every play. Houston needs Brian Cushing healthy and pass rushing OLB then next year they'll break through.
This game was so boring I stopped watching it to watch the Iowa Men play Northwestern, they did win a conference game finally.
In the other AFC game Baltimore shocked Denver in the final minute of regulation, then got a fg in the 2nd OT to win the game. I didn't see the end of the game live, but I rewatched the 70 yard pass that Flacco threw to Jones.
Everyone is gonna focus on the final 2 minutes of regulation and then the OT's, but this game had a crazy 1st half and it's gonna get forgotten.
Torrey Smith clowned Champ Bailey in the 1st half, he beat him deep twice, once for a TD the 2nd time Flacco overthrew him. Then right before half Smith stopped his route jumped and seemed to pause in mid-air as Champ's momentum took him into the end zone, Smith caught the ball and walked in for the score. That was a great play and like I said it's gonna get lost b/c of the 70 yard score.
Where was Von Miller? I've heard he should get consideration for defensive MVP, yet he didn't make a single play against Baltimore. I got a feeling this guy is like John Abraham, he beats up shit teams but comes up small against great teams.
I'm not the biggest Peyton Manning fan in the world, I don't want to slam him. He isn't right though, he doesn't have a strong arm, his ball wobbles, and playing outside was probably a detriment. This guy played his whole career inside in Indy, and he thought he was gonna go to Denver and throw the ball in January outside in the cold and wind? It's not like Manning is the guy keeping Denver in the game, Holliday ran back a punt and a kick, that's 14 of the 35 points they scored. Manning gave Baltimore 7 on a pick 6, not to mention the Favresque pick he threw right near the end of the first OT.
Baltimore vs New England is gonna be an interesting game. I'm a Brady guy so I'll be rooting for New England, but I won't be shocked or heartbroken if Baltimore wins though. It'll all come down to how uncomfortable Baltimore makes Brady.
In the what hell just happened game San Francisco just clowned Green Bay, mainly Kappernick clowned the GB D. This game was hard to watch for me b/c it seemed San Fran was always on the attack and Kappernick was leading that attack. The guy runs like Usain Bolt and throws like Dan Marino. He has an awkward motion, but gets the ball into tight spots. When he doesn't have a guy open he just tucks it and breaks off a 40 yard run. He doesn't exactly go through all his reads before he takes off, but he looks downfield for 3 seconds sees nothing then boom he's gone.
I like Aaron Rodgers, but this talk of him being all time great needs to stop. I heard Joe Buck call him all time great in the 1st half. Stop it, please can we just stop doing this all the time. I'm getting tired of every guy having to be an all time great when we're watching him. They did this a few years ago with Peyton, heading into the Super Bowl against New Orleans, they kept saying if he wins the game he'll be the best all time. Rodgers is a great QB, is he top 3 in the league right now? Yeah probably, but he's not all time great, hell he's not even top 2 all time on his own team. Pretty sure Favre and Starr have that. Rodgers has a Super Bowl and a MVP, yeah that's nice but he's 5-3 in the playoffs, let's give the guy a little more time, more than just 5 years before we call him all time great.
Green Bay has real problems on defense, their old in the secondary, they have the same problem as Houston, if Clay Mathews isn't having a great game the QB has all day. Not sure what they'll do to fix this but between that and the offensive line they got a lot of work to do up front.
In the other "great" game of the weekend, Seattle game back to win then lost to Atlanta. I've watched Atlanta probably the 2nd (to the Skins) most of any team in the league. I've seen that drive that Matt Ryan ran to get the FG at least 3 times this year. They give up the score, get the ball run a few plays run Matt Bryant out and win the game.
If your watching any of the shows all they talk about is Atl blowing the 20 point lead, how about talking Seattle blowing 2 red zone chances in the 1st half, first time they go for it on 4th and 1 at like the 12, the score was 13-0 then, kick the FG Carrol and guess what you win the game. Then right before half, they get a 1st down, then call a time out and of course they don't get points b/c they complete a pass on 3rd down and the clock runs out before they get another play off. That's 6 points left on the field, they lost by 2, but of course nobody is gonna talk about that.
Can anybody just make a play anymore? I understand these guys are great athletes, they've been told their whole lives how great they are, but seriously just b/c you made a tackle, a pass break-up, and first down why do you have to act like you just made the play of the game? I like TD celebrations, that's a big deal getting a TD. I don't mind sack celebrations, that's a big play you got a sack, you wanna celebrate a turnover sounds good. Most sack celebrations are the guys move so I'm ok with it, Jared Allen with calf roping, JJ Watt's salute, Clay Mathews flex, all cool, but Richard Sherman from Seattle kept getting in the face of Roddy White and Julio Jones if he made a play on a deep ball. Then when he got burned by White, Roddy didn't celebrate instead he got up and ran back to Sherman to talk shit, come on dude you beat him you don't need to run your mouth. Sherman just clapped his hands as if to say you got me this time. This is an epidemic in the NFL, guys can't just make a play and go back to the huddle, as I said a big play pull a sharpie out and sign a ball, but this first down pointing, and flexing by Kappernick shit can end anytime, side note to that Kappernick you not huge stop flexing.
Seattle has a good future, they got a rowdy fan base, a good QB, and a great RB.
I think San Fran is gonna rollup Atlanta next week. Kappernick is playing a different game, and he's just gonna run all over the Falcons d. ATL played a lot of zone yesterday and if you leave those open gaps in the zone Kappernick will peel you apart. Aldon Smith is gonna get after Matt Ryan, I think it'll be a decent game.
That's it for this week, I'm working on another post that might be up today as well, be sure to check back in next week after the Championship games for full coverage, in the mean time follow my as seen on TV twitter account @derekbredeson.
I'll start with the snoozer, New England vs. Houston. What a terrible game, Houston was overmatched the whole time. Tom Brady is pretty good and anyone who doesn't think he's the best in the game needs to watch the game closer.
I said it last week about Houston's D, besides Watt who else makes plays? Nobody, Shane Vereen a RB was victimizing one on one coverage against a LB all game. Welker who's just as big as a small DB was open nearly every play. Houston needs Brian Cushing healthy and pass rushing OLB then next year they'll break through.
This game was so boring I stopped watching it to watch the Iowa Men play Northwestern, they did win a conference game finally.
In the other AFC game Baltimore shocked Denver in the final minute of regulation, then got a fg in the 2nd OT to win the game. I didn't see the end of the game live, but I rewatched the 70 yard pass that Flacco threw to Jones.
Everyone is gonna focus on the final 2 minutes of regulation and then the OT's, but this game had a crazy 1st half and it's gonna get forgotten.
Torrey Smith clowned Champ Bailey in the 1st half, he beat him deep twice, once for a TD the 2nd time Flacco overthrew him. Then right before half Smith stopped his route jumped and seemed to pause in mid-air as Champ's momentum took him into the end zone, Smith caught the ball and walked in for the score. That was a great play and like I said it's gonna get lost b/c of the 70 yard score.
Where was Von Miller? I've heard he should get consideration for defensive MVP, yet he didn't make a single play against Baltimore. I got a feeling this guy is like John Abraham, he beats up shit teams but comes up small against great teams.
I'm not the biggest Peyton Manning fan in the world, I don't want to slam him. He isn't right though, he doesn't have a strong arm, his ball wobbles, and playing outside was probably a detriment. This guy played his whole career inside in Indy, and he thought he was gonna go to Denver and throw the ball in January outside in the cold and wind? It's not like Manning is the guy keeping Denver in the game, Holliday ran back a punt and a kick, that's 14 of the 35 points they scored. Manning gave Baltimore 7 on a pick 6, not to mention the Favresque pick he threw right near the end of the first OT.
Baltimore vs New England is gonna be an interesting game. I'm a Brady guy so I'll be rooting for New England, but I won't be shocked or heartbroken if Baltimore wins though. It'll all come down to how uncomfortable Baltimore makes Brady.
In the what hell just happened game San Francisco just clowned Green Bay, mainly Kappernick clowned the GB D. This game was hard to watch for me b/c it seemed San Fran was always on the attack and Kappernick was leading that attack. The guy runs like Usain Bolt and throws like Dan Marino. He has an awkward motion, but gets the ball into tight spots. When he doesn't have a guy open he just tucks it and breaks off a 40 yard run. He doesn't exactly go through all his reads before he takes off, but he looks downfield for 3 seconds sees nothing then boom he's gone.
I like Aaron Rodgers, but this talk of him being all time great needs to stop. I heard Joe Buck call him all time great in the 1st half. Stop it, please can we just stop doing this all the time. I'm getting tired of every guy having to be an all time great when we're watching him. They did this a few years ago with Peyton, heading into the Super Bowl against New Orleans, they kept saying if he wins the game he'll be the best all time. Rodgers is a great QB, is he top 3 in the league right now? Yeah probably, but he's not all time great, hell he's not even top 2 all time on his own team. Pretty sure Favre and Starr have that. Rodgers has a Super Bowl and a MVP, yeah that's nice but he's 5-3 in the playoffs, let's give the guy a little more time, more than just 5 years before we call him all time great.
Green Bay has real problems on defense, their old in the secondary, they have the same problem as Houston, if Clay Mathews isn't having a great game the QB has all day. Not sure what they'll do to fix this but between that and the offensive line they got a lot of work to do up front.
In the other "great" game of the weekend, Seattle game back to win then lost to Atlanta. I've watched Atlanta probably the 2nd (to the Skins) most of any team in the league. I've seen that drive that Matt Ryan ran to get the FG at least 3 times this year. They give up the score, get the ball run a few plays run Matt Bryant out and win the game.
If your watching any of the shows all they talk about is Atl blowing the 20 point lead, how about talking Seattle blowing 2 red zone chances in the 1st half, first time they go for it on 4th and 1 at like the 12, the score was 13-0 then, kick the FG Carrol and guess what you win the game. Then right before half, they get a 1st down, then call a time out and of course they don't get points b/c they complete a pass on 3rd down and the clock runs out before they get another play off. That's 6 points left on the field, they lost by 2, but of course nobody is gonna talk about that.
Can anybody just make a play anymore? I understand these guys are great athletes, they've been told their whole lives how great they are, but seriously just b/c you made a tackle, a pass break-up, and first down why do you have to act like you just made the play of the game? I like TD celebrations, that's a big deal getting a TD. I don't mind sack celebrations, that's a big play you got a sack, you wanna celebrate a turnover sounds good. Most sack celebrations are the guys move so I'm ok with it, Jared Allen with calf roping, JJ Watt's salute, Clay Mathews flex, all cool, but Richard Sherman from Seattle kept getting in the face of Roddy White and Julio Jones if he made a play on a deep ball. Then when he got burned by White, Roddy didn't celebrate instead he got up and ran back to Sherman to talk shit, come on dude you beat him you don't need to run your mouth. Sherman just clapped his hands as if to say you got me this time. This is an epidemic in the NFL, guys can't just make a play and go back to the huddle, as I said a big play pull a sharpie out and sign a ball, but this first down pointing, and flexing by Kappernick shit can end anytime, side note to that Kappernick you not huge stop flexing.
Seattle has a good future, they got a rowdy fan base, a good QB, and a great RB.
I think San Fran is gonna rollup Atlanta next week. Kappernick is playing a different game, and he's just gonna run all over the Falcons d. ATL played a lot of zone yesterday and if you leave those open gaps in the zone Kappernick will peel you apart. Aldon Smith is gonna get after Matt Ryan, I think it'll be a decent game.
That's it for this week, I'm working on another post that might be up today as well, be sure to check back in next week after the Championship games for full coverage, in the mean time follow my as seen on TV twitter account @derekbredeson.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Wild Card breakdown
I watched all four games this weekend, didn't miss more than 15 snaps. I've got thoughts on all the games. Let's start with Saturday.
Houston vs. Cinncy was a terrible game. I was bored out of my mind the whole game. I'll say this about both AFC games, be happy you won this week b/c your not winning next week. The AFC is very top heavy, where the NFC tends to be more even.
Houston misses Brian Cushing a lot, in the front 7 JJ Watt is the only guy who can make plays. Last year Brooks Reid made a bunch of plays for them, Saturday I don't think they mentioned him. The Texans have let go of 2 big guys in the front 7, Mario Williams and Demeco Ryans, they could use their talent against New England.
Cinncy needs to keep this coaching staff together, Marvin Lewis and Jay Gruden make a good team. Gruden and Dalton work well together, and I think the Bengals are one explossive receiver away from being really good.
Jermaine Gresham is a turd, I like Gresham out of college but since then wow does he suck. Him and Brandon Pettigrew from Detroit are both huge dissapointmens in my eyes, they drop a lot of balls.
If Houston is gonna win this week, they have to get to Brady and Andre Johnson and Owen Daniels need to have huge games.
The Green Bay vs Minnesota game turned out exactly like I thought it would. In fact I think Green Bay didn't blow it out on purpose just trying not to show too much.
We all learned again why the back-up is the back-up, every year at least 1 team wants the back-up to play, guess what folks the back-up sucks 9 times out of 10. Joe Webb is terrible, I think he's even worse than Tebow, every throw was either in the dirt or 2 floors above the WR's head.
Adrian Peterson is a beast, that has nothing to do with the game, just wanted to say it.
Green Bay is gonna be healthy against San Fran, Nelson, Jennings, Cobb, Jones, Finley, Crabtree, and Harris all have to have great games. When these 2 played in week 1 SF had Smith at QB, not sure how GB can contain Kappernick, but who knows maybe he'll go out and lay a big turd on the field.
Baltimore vs Indy was a terrible game as well. Pretty sure Chris took a nap during it. I thought I was watching Ray Lewis's retirement video not a football game. Note to everyone he gets to play again next week.
I love Baltimore's offense with Caldwell calling the plays, seems they try to throw the ball over the middle more instead of dump off's to Rice and bombs to Smith. Caldwell gets Boldin, Pitta and Dickson all involved.
Andrew Luck is for real, first time I really watched him, only knock I have is he holds the ball too long
Baltimore vs Denver will be a good game can't wait.
Seattle vs Washington oh boy do I even want to get into it. If you watch any of the networks (ESPN or NFL Network) all the former players are saying Washington played it right, sorry to say boys but they didn't.
Let's look at the situation, RG healthy as he has been in a month, goes down the field twice, scores both times. The 2nd drive he tweaks his knee on a roll out, and he held the ball too long tried twisting back and forcing a pass to Garcon in the end zone. After the tweaking he could barely walk let alone run, he couldn't plant his right knee to throw the ball. The deep ball he threw the pick on was b/c he had no strength in his leg and couldn't get it down the field.
Now, you can say hindsight is 20/20, but I said this during the game. They should've let RG go back out once, and when you realized he couldn't move in the pocket/plant you should take him out. Me and my wife were both asking why he was still in. She said you know Cousins can play why not put him in. I'm at home watching the game goind if I can see if he isn't healthy how come the trainers, doctors, and coaches can't see it. I also put on facebook before the play he finally came out on happened that I thought they should put Cousins in. I can't fault the guy for wanting to stay in, but you shouldn't leave that decision to the kid, you gotta do what's best for the team, and when he wasn't healthy I think we got 4 first downs, he wasn't being effective.
I don't want to hear we were winning the game that's why he should've still been in, we were winning b/c our defense played awesome in the 1st qtr but as soon as RG was hurt and ineffective you were asking them to hold back an offense that scored a ton of points on everyone.
I don't think RG has a long term knee injury, from former players it sounded like MCL not ACL. What the kid needs to do is throw the fucking ball when he has it though, he kept trying to make plays, and couldn't do it.
That field yesterday was a joke and I can't believe they played on that thing in the playoffs.
Russell Wilson is good, I didn't have to watch that game to know that, I saw it last year at Wisconsin. You want to beat him, hit him, yesterday when he ran the option he kept it 90% of the time, I think they can be beat.
The game was rather chippy yesterday, I think that's what you get with a Pete Carrol team though, he let's the guys do what they want.
Before we crown Russell Wilson as the savior and the best rookie QB in the league, the Seahawks were in the playoffs and they beat New Orleans with mostly the same talent on the field. I think Wilson is good but he's got talent everywhere, Lynch is on the Mount Rushmore of current RB's in the NFL right there with Foster behind Peterson.
Last thing I blame Mike Shannahn for the loss yesterday, can't believe he didn't realize the team was less effective with RG III behind center. You gotta be smart and realize when your not moving the ball.
That's it for this week, next weeks games will probably be the same 3 boring ones and a good one. I'll be watching them though and will have my thoughts next week, in the mean time follow me on twitter @derekbredeson. ROLL TIDE 28 ND 12
Houston vs. Cinncy was a terrible game. I was bored out of my mind the whole game. I'll say this about both AFC games, be happy you won this week b/c your not winning next week. The AFC is very top heavy, where the NFC tends to be more even.
Houston misses Brian Cushing a lot, in the front 7 JJ Watt is the only guy who can make plays. Last year Brooks Reid made a bunch of plays for them, Saturday I don't think they mentioned him. The Texans have let go of 2 big guys in the front 7, Mario Williams and Demeco Ryans, they could use their talent against New England.
Cinncy needs to keep this coaching staff together, Marvin Lewis and Jay Gruden make a good team. Gruden and Dalton work well together, and I think the Bengals are one explossive receiver away from being really good.
Jermaine Gresham is a turd, I like Gresham out of college but since then wow does he suck. Him and Brandon Pettigrew from Detroit are both huge dissapointmens in my eyes, they drop a lot of balls.
If Houston is gonna win this week, they have to get to Brady and Andre Johnson and Owen Daniels need to have huge games.
The Green Bay vs Minnesota game turned out exactly like I thought it would. In fact I think Green Bay didn't blow it out on purpose just trying not to show too much.
We all learned again why the back-up is the back-up, every year at least 1 team wants the back-up to play, guess what folks the back-up sucks 9 times out of 10. Joe Webb is terrible, I think he's even worse than Tebow, every throw was either in the dirt or 2 floors above the WR's head.
Adrian Peterson is a beast, that has nothing to do with the game, just wanted to say it.
Green Bay is gonna be healthy against San Fran, Nelson, Jennings, Cobb, Jones, Finley, Crabtree, and Harris all have to have great games. When these 2 played in week 1 SF had Smith at QB, not sure how GB can contain Kappernick, but who knows maybe he'll go out and lay a big turd on the field.
Baltimore vs Indy was a terrible game as well. Pretty sure Chris took a nap during it. I thought I was watching Ray Lewis's retirement video not a football game. Note to everyone he gets to play again next week.
I love Baltimore's offense with Caldwell calling the plays, seems they try to throw the ball over the middle more instead of dump off's to Rice and bombs to Smith. Caldwell gets Boldin, Pitta and Dickson all involved.
Andrew Luck is for real, first time I really watched him, only knock I have is he holds the ball too long
Baltimore vs Denver will be a good game can't wait.
Seattle vs Washington oh boy do I even want to get into it. If you watch any of the networks (ESPN or NFL Network) all the former players are saying Washington played it right, sorry to say boys but they didn't.
Let's look at the situation, RG healthy as he has been in a month, goes down the field twice, scores both times. The 2nd drive he tweaks his knee on a roll out, and he held the ball too long tried twisting back and forcing a pass to Garcon in the end zone. After the tweaking he could barely walk let alone run, he couldn't plant his right knee to throw the ball. The deep ball he threw the pick on was b/c he had no strength in his leg and couldn't get it down the field.
Now, you can say hindsight is 20/20, but I said this during the game. They should've let RG go back out once, and when you realized he couldn't move in the pocket/plant you should take him out. Me and my wife were both asking why he was still in. She said you know Cousins can play why not put him in. I'm at home watching the game goind if I can see if he isn't healthy how come the trainers, doctors, and coaches can't see it. I also put on facebook before the play he finally came out on happened that I thought they should put Cousins in. I can't fault the guy for wanting to stay in, but you shouldn't leave that decision to the kid, you gotta do what's best for the team, and when he wasn't healthy I think we got 4 first downs, he wasn't being effective.
I don't want to hear we were winning the game that's why he should've still been in, we were winning b/c our defense played awesome in the 1st qtr but as soon as RG was hurt and ineffective you were asking them to hold back an offense that scored a ton of points on everyone.
I don't think RG has a long term knee injury, from former players it sounded like MCL not ACL. What the kid needs to do is throw the fucking ball when he has it though, he kept trying to make plays, and couldn't do it.
That field yesterday was a joke and I can't believe they played on that thing in the playoffs.
Russell Wilson is good, I didn't have to watch that game to know that, I saw it last year at Wisconsin. You want to beat him, hit him, yesterday when he ran the option he kept it 90% of the time, I think they can be beat.
The game was rather chippy yesterday, I think that's what you get with a Pete Carrol team though, he let's the guys do what they want.
Before we crown Russell Wilson as the savior and the best rookie QB in the league, the Seahawks were in the playoffs and they beat New Orleans with mostly the same talent on the field. I think Wilson is good but he's got talent everywhere, Lynch is on the Mount Rushmore of current RB's in the NFL right there with Foster behind Peterson.
Last thing I blame Mike Shannahn for the loss yesterday, can't believe he didn't realize the team was less effective with RG III behind center. You gotta be smart and realize when your not moving the ball.
That's it for this week, next weeks games will probably be the same 3 boring ones and a good one. I'll be watching them though and will have my thoughts next week, in the mean time follow me on twitter @derekbredeson. ROLL TIDE 28 ND 12
Friday, December 28, 2012
Year in review
For today's post I'm just gonna put up a bunch of videos of stuff I remember from the last year, most are sports but some aren't here we go.
Probably the song of the summer.
Probably the song of the summer.
Best Speech of the year
Shot of the year, I know it's from April so you might of forgotten about it.
Hit of the year perfectly legal, he lowered the shoulder and the BOOM
Hall of fame broadcast John Miller
I know it's long but Jeff Gordon is such a tough guy
My favorite Bryce Harper moments of the year
Hey sexy lady
My favorite 2 moments of the year
See you next year where I'll have plenty to say about the playoffs and we're less than 2 months away from NASCAR season starting.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
My View
This is a sports blog, I usually talk about sports don't try to get into anything to heavy. Politics and things like that get to heated, in sports there is a winner and loser, you are what your records says you are. No grey areas in sports. After the shootings in Connecticut I feel like I have to put my thoughts down, and since I don't wanna have a long winded facebook status or a thousand tweets I figured I'd put them on this platform. I said a few things yesterday on the social media sites, some in jest and some in seriousness, so I need to clear my mind and give my views on certain issues.
First topic I'll get into is guns. I'm not a gun owner, in fact I've only fired a gun about a dozen times in my life. I understand the need for rifles and shotguns when it comes to hunting. I think everyone should be able to own a firearm if they pass the current laws in place. I guess my point is I'm not trying to take your gun away. What pro gun people need to realize is this though, guns kill people. I don't want to hear this lame ass "guns don't kill people, people kill people." That is terrible, guns kill people, you never hear of someone having a mass stabbing or mass strangling, you hear about mass shootings. In the last 3 weeks there have been 3 high profile shooting, the one yesterday, the mall shooting in Oregon, and Javon Belcher of the Kansas City Chiefs killing his girlfriend and then himself. All 3 have that key word in there "shootings," how far would any of them gotten had they gone around and stabbed people with a knife or wielded a machette. So in fact guns do kill people, and if your a gun owner I know your probably not gonna go out and shoot up a public place, so obviously your guns don't kill people, BUT they can.
When it comes to guns I'm not very bright, I don't know names, caliburs, or uses for most. I know you use a rifle or a shotgun to shoot bambi, and I like that you do that b/c I'd rather you shoot her than me hit her with my car. What I question is the need for a regular citizen to own an assault rifle. Why do you need a semi-automatic assault rifle to shoot anything, unless your idea is to kill a lot of things at one time you don't need that. What are you gonna kill a lot of at one time, certainaly not a deer, or any animal for the most part. If you need to fire off that many rounds to kill something maybe you should go practice more b/c your aim sucks. Most of these public shootings occur with the assailant carrying an assault rifle or two. If they didn't have these high powered high volume guns maybe we're only talking 10 children from yesterday not 20, still a tradgedy but I think 10 of those kids would like to be alive right now.
Another thing I hear a lot of is, "if someone had been allowed to carry a weapon in the school they could've stopped this." Really, you want guns in our schools, and what type of gun? Say the teacher has a hand gun in her desk, is she gonna stop the guy with the assault rifle before he shoots her? I don't think so. People who conceal and carry say they do it for protection, protection from what? I've never carried a gun and I'm fine, never been robbed or anything. Once again I'm not trying to take your gun away just look at it from my side. If you feel the need for "protection" than you are one paranoid person. My job doesn't allow firearms on the property not even in your car, pretty sure they've never been robbed or anything. I don't think I've ever heard of a mass shooting being stopped by a private citizen who pulled out their liscensed hand gun and shot the shooter. That shit just doesn't happen. We need to have stricter gun laws, not taking them away from private citizens, just STRICTER, and we need to stop the sale of semi-automatic and assault rifles.
Few other points about the shooting I hear people say. This shooting is the medias fault b/c they make the shooters famous. What a bunch of shit, and what a way to get off the real problem, which is A) most of these people are mentally ill, and B) they have a fucking gun and are shooting people. The media is doing it's job, they are reporting the news, when anything bad happens people want to know why, what was the motive. You have to report on this b/c people need facts not hearsay. Pretty sure the media covered 9/11 and since then has anyone flown a plane into a building to become famous? NO, stop it with this garbage about how these people want to be famous, most of them take their own lives anyway so what fame do they have? These people do this b/c they have a mental illness of some sort and aren't getting the help they need. Blaming the media is like blaming video games and music, everyone plays those games, everyone listens to that music, and everyone watches or reads the news, everyone doesn't go into a mall or grade school and take lives. Often people try to find other areas to blame when the thing they stand for is the thing getting blamed for the problems. Guns don't kill people, the media who publizes the shooters kills people.
The last thing I'll talk about is mental illness. Everyone is fucked up a little, I think we all have a little mental illness. We all have quirks and things we do that are weird. I for one talk to myself out loud when I'm alone, sometimes I do it when people are around. I think in some way that could be considered mental illness of a sort. When I watch sports I'm slightly bi-polar, my team is down 2 runs I'm pissed, my team just hit a 3 run homer, I'm jumping up and down euphoric as ever. That's a little mental illnessey to me. I guess my point is we all can't get help, and the people who really need it barely get the help they need. This country as a whole needs to look at mentally ill people and try to figure out a way to get them help, let's face it if your gonna walk into a school and shot children your a little off. I don't have the answer for this problem I just think we need to start the discussion.
Those are my thoughts on this, you may not agree with them but please respect them. I'd love to have the discussion with anyone as long as we both agree to keep it civil. I respect your rights to have a gun, I know the need for guns, I'm not a gun hater, I just think these things could be stopped with a little more regulation and record keeping by the government.
First topic I'll get into is guns. I'm not a gun owner, in fact I've only fired a gun about a dozen times in my life. I understand the need for rifles and shotguns when it comes to hunting. I think everyone should be able to own a firearm if they pass the current laws in place. I guess my point is I'm not trying to take your gun away. What pro gun people need to realize is this though, guns kill people. I don't want to hear this lame ass "guns don't kill people, people kill people." That is terrible, guns kill people, you never hear of someone having a mass stabbing or mass strangling, you hear about mass shootings. In the last 3 weeks there have been 3 high profile shooting, the one yesterday, the mall shooting in Oregon, and Javon Belcher of the Kansas City Chiefs killing his girlfriend and then himself. All 3 have that key word in there "shootings," how far would any of them gotten had they gone around and stabbed people with a knife or wielded a machette. So in fact guns do kill people, and if your a gun owner I know your probably not gonna go out and shoot up a public place, so obviously your guns don't kill people, BUT they can.
When it comes to guns I'm not very bright, I don't know names, caliburs, or uses for most. I know you use a rifle or a shotgun to shoot bambi, and I like that you do that b/c I'd rather you shoot her than me hit her with my car. What I question is the need for a regular citizen to own an assault rifle. Why do you need a semi-automatic assault rifle to shoot anything, unless your idea is to kill a lot of things at one time you don't need that. What are you gonna kill a lot of at one time, certainaly not a deer, or any animal for the most part. If you need to fire off that many rounds to kill something maybe you should go practice more b/c your aim sucks. Most of these public shootings occur with the assailant carrying an assault rifle or two. If they didn't have these high powered high volume guns maybe we're only talking 10 children from yesterday not 20, still a tradgedy but I think 10 of those kids would like to be alive right now.
Another thing I hear a lot of is, "if someone had been allowed to carry a weapon in the school they could've stopped this." Really, you want guns in our schools, and what type of gun? Say the teacher has a hand gun in her desk, is she gonna stop the guy with the assault rifle before he shoots her? I don't think so. People who conceal and carry say they do it for protection, protection from what? I've never carried a gun and I'm fine, never been robbed or anything. Once again I'm not trying to take your gun away just look at it from my side. If you feel the need for "protection" than you are one paranoid person. My job doesn't allow firearms on the property not even in your car, pretty sure they've never been robbed or anything. I don't think I've ever heard of a mass shooting being stopped by a private citizen who pulled out their liscensed hand gun and shot the shooter. That shit just doesn't happen. We need to have stricter gun laws, not taking them away from private citizens, just STRICTER, and we need to stop the sale of semi-automatic and assault rifles.
Few other points about the shooting I hear people say. This shooting is the medias fault b/c they make the shooters famous. What a bunch of shit, and what a way to get off the real problem, which is A) most of these people are mentally ill, and B) they have a fucking gun and are shooting people. The media is doing it's job, they are reporting the news, when anything bad happens people want to know why, what was the motive. You have to report on this b/c people need facts not hearsay. Pretty sure the media covered 9/11 and since then has anyone flown a plane into a building to become famous? NO, stop it with this garbage about how these people want to be famous, most of them take their own lives anyway so what fame do they have? These people do this b/c they have a mental illness of some sort and aren't getting the help they need. Blaming the media is like blaming video games and music, everyone plays those games, everyone listens to that music, and everyone watches or reads the news, everyone doesn't go into a mall or grade school and take lives. Often people try to find other areas to blame when the thing they stand for is the thing getting blamed for the problems. Guns don't kill people, the media who publizes the shooters kills people.
The last thing I'll talk about is mental illness. Everyone is fucked up a little, I think we all have a little mental illness. We all have quirks and things we do that are weird. I for one talk to myself out loud when I'm alone, sometimes I do it when people are around. I think in some way that could be considered mental illness of a sort. When I watch sports I'm slightly bi-polar, my team is down 2 runs I'm pissed, my team just hit a 3 run homer, I'm jumping up and down euphoric as ever. That's a little mental illnessey to me. I guess my point is we all can't get help, and the people who really need it barely get the help they need. This country as a whole needs to look at mentally ill people and try to figure out a way to get them help, let's face it if your gonna walk into a school and shot children your a little off. I don't have the answer for this problem I just think we need to start the discussion.
Those are my thoughts on this, you may not agree with them but please respect them. I'd love to have the discussion with anyone as long as we both agree to keep it civil. I respect your rights to have a gun, I know the need for guns, I'm not a gun hater, I just think these things could be stopped with a little more regulation and record keeping by the government.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Thoughts of the week 12-10-12
You ever have those times you feel like writing about a topic, but you just can't put it into words what you wanna say. Well, I'm there on a topic right now but I don't have the time nor the patience to actully work on it, maybe if I get some time I'll work on it. In the mean time might as well stick to the format and keep giving my thoughts on the week that was.
What a game by the Redskins yesterday, sometime in the 2nd half my wife comes out and goes, how are you guys losing? I'm like well we keep kicking fg's instead scoring TD's. She goes well it seems like you have the ball the whole time. Yeah we dominated the 2nd half, and RG III and Kirk Cousins combined to drive the Skins down and get the tying TD and 2 point conversion.
Love that we got a kicker you can trust, Kai Forbath has been money since replacing Billy Cundiff.
Just saw the Ravens fired Cam Cameron, now that's funny, for how bad the Skins d has been this year. They get a coach fired, amazing.
5 weeks ago Mike Shanahan said we're gonna start evaluating to see who wants to be here next year, since then 4 wins in a row, a lot of people burried him for that quote. I think he lit a fire under this team and they've been playing lights out since then.
How annoying is it to watch the NY Giants, I can't stand any of them and every guy is the most amazing guy in the world. How is this team under the cap with all those pass rushers, WR's and Eli? Yesterday's game I watched the Dolphins-49ers and the Seahawks blowout of Arizona more than the Giants-Saints game.
Last nights game was almost as brutal to watch, the weather was cool and all but man those two teams need to be inside to play each other.
I'm all for player safety but for the 2nd week in a row a perfectly legal hit in a high profile game happened and it was flagged. Not sure if you saw it but check out Reggie Nelson's hit on Dez Bryant, he led with the shoulder to Bryant's chest yet somehow a flag came flying in from 20 yards away.
The Redskins got a gift on one of those calls yesterday as well, RG got hit clean by Haloti Ngata I believe and ref behind RG called leading with the helmet. Ngata lead with his forearms and when RG hit the ground his helmet came off. Is there such thing as too much protection?
Hey Dodgers feel free to keep spending money on losers, none of the guys you've gone after have ever done anything. In fact once Greinke left Milwaukee this year the Brewers got better. Have any of the guys your giving the farm too made a difference in a playoff series? Have they ever helped win a playoff series? That's right they haven't.
If you want to look at baseball teams who spend money they hardly ever win the World Series, the best Yankee teams from the 90's were full of home grown stars with guys peppered in. Since then they've had 1 championship where teams have spent Tens of millions less and have won rings.
Atlanta I'm not defending you anymore you gotta win a big game then win a playoff game. I like the Falcons but until they win I'm out.
Houston you need to win tonight, your in the same boat as Atlanta to me.
The Seattle screw job is starting to mess with my life now. The Seahawks are 1 game up on the Redskins for a playoff spot and that annoys me.
Andrew Luck, RG III, and Russell Wilson are all in playoff hunt with first and third of those guys currently in. This class of QB's could be one of the best ever, too bad Tannehill is in it to ruin the prospects.
Mad I missed the Iowa-Iowa St. basketball game Friday, but the Hawks won and this win could push them a long way.
Chicago is a mess and once again guys are hurt. Cutler left yesterday's game, and Brian Urlacher is done for the regular season, sad to see but when your old things like this happen. I usually pull for the Bears but not now since they are 1 game ahead of the Skins for the final playoff spot as well.
Don't drink and drive, I'm not gonna delve too deep on practice squad guys, but 2 weeks in a row 2 "NFL" players are dead. This is a problem for the league and they need to address it.
The last 3 weeks of the NFL are going to be exciting. A lot is yet to be decided especially in the NFC. I'll be back next week until then follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
What a game by the Redskins yesterday, sometime in the 2nd half my wife comes out and goes, how are you guys losing? I'm like well we keep kicking fg's instead scoring TD's. She goes well it seems like you have the ball the whole time. Yeah we dominated the 2nd half, and RG III and Kirk Cousins combined to drive the Skins down and get the tying TD and 2 point conversion.
Love that we got a kicker you can trust, Kai Forbath has been money since replacing Billy Cundiff.
Just saw the Ravens fired Cam Cameron, now that's funny, for how bad the Skins d has been this year. They get a coach fired, amazing.
5 weeks ago Mike Shanahan said we're gonna start evaluating to see who wants to be here next year, since then 4 wins in a row, a lot of people burried him for that quote. I think he lit a fire under this team and they've been playing lights out since then.
How annoying is it to watch the NY Giants, I can't stand any of them and every guy is the most amazing guy in the world. How is this team under the cap with all those pass rushers, WR's and Eli? Yesterday's game I watched the Dolphins-49ers and the Seahawks blowout of Arizona more than the Giants-Saints game.
Last nights game was almost as brutal to watch, the weather was cool and all but man those two teams need to be inside to play each other.
I'm all for player safety but for the 2nd week in a row a perfectly legal hit in a high profile game happened and it was flagged. Not sure if you saw it but check out Reggie Nelson's hit on Dez Bryant, he led with the shoulder to Bryant's chest yet somehow a flag came flying in from 20 yards away.
The Redskins got a gift on one of those calls yesterday as well, RG got hit clean by Haloti Ngata I believe and ref behind RG called leading with the helmet. Ngata lead with his forearms and when RG hit the ground his helmet came off. Is there such thing as too much protection?
Hey Dodgers feel free to keep spending money on losers, none of the guys you've gone after have ever done anything. In fact once Greinke left Milwaukee this year the Brewers got better. Have any of the guys your giving the farm too made a difference in a playoff series? Have they ever helped win a playoff series? That's right they haven't.
If you want to look at baseball teams who spend money they hardly ever win the World Series, the best Yankee teams from the 90's were full of home grown stars with guys peppered in. Since then they've had 1 championship where teams have spent Tens of millions less and have won rings.
Atlanta I'm not defending you anymore you gotta win a big game then win a playoff game. I like the Falcons but until they win I'm out.
Houston you need to win tonight, your in the same boat as Atlanta to me.
The Seattle screw job is starting to mess with my life now. The Seahawks are 1 game up on the Redskins for a playoff spot and that annoys me.
Andrew Luck, RG III, and Russell Wilson are all in playoff hunt with first and third of those guys currently in. This class of QB's could be one of the best ever, too bad Tannehill is in it to ruin the prospects.
Mad I missed the Iowa-Iowa St. basketball game Friday, but the Hawks won and this win could push them a long way.
Chicago is a mess and once again guys are hurt. Cutler left yesterday's game, and Brian Urlacher is done for the regular season, sad to see but when your old things like this happen. I usually pull for the Bears but not now since they are 1 game ahead of the Skins for the final playoff spot as well.
Don't drink and drive, I'm not gonna delve too deep on practice squad guys, but 2 weeks in a row 2 "NFL" players are dead. This is a problem for the league and they need to address it.
The last 3 weeks of the NFL are going to be exciting. A lot is yet to be decided especially in the NFC. I'll be back next week until then follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Thoughts of the week 12-3-12
Figured I'd try to put some thoughts down from the past week. Didn't watch a lot of games yesterday, had family over but I saw a few things.
Green Bay needs a new kicker, can you trust Mason Crosby in a big playoff situation? I don't think so.
I hate Seattle
If your the 49ers yoiou gotta be sick, you lose 16-13, and your offense gave up 10 of those points, ouch. I'm not gonna say bench Kapernick but I don't think Alex Smith losses that game.
Another note on the 49ers why are you running stupid options and reverses inside the 10? Turn around hand the ball off and get out of the shadow of your endzone.
So tired of hearing about the Jets, most talked about sub 500 team this side of Philly.
Think NBC was a little pissed about last nights game? 2 sub 500 teams duking it out. I know everyone watches the Cowboys but enough is enough, wish some good teams could get in prime time.
Only reason I watched last night's game was hoping Brent Celek would catch enough balls you win me a fantasy match up other than that I didn't care.
The BCS Title game is gonna be awesome, I can't wait for it to happen. Alabama on Saturday looked pretty good, but I'd be a little worried about AJ McCarron who didn't throw a lot of passes in the 2nd half of the game.
Notre Dame better be ready for Yeldon and Lacy, 2 tough kids who run well behind a huge line.
Norhern Illinois is the BCS party crasher, but let's face it Wisconsin and Louisville are far more egregious than NIU. Side note NIU is 12-1, that loss came at the hands of the Hawkeyes.
Speaking of the BCS, it's hard to talk about who deserves to be in these games and who doesn't. Some people are upset Georgia didn't get in even though they played in the SEC champ game. Well sorry the system isn't perfect and when you have 21st Louisville and unranked Wisconsin both getting in based on conference titles. Then you throw in NIU having to get in b/c they're 15th, so that only leaves 2 at large spots left. Well Florida and Oregon are both top 5 so they should get in. When you deal with rankings and such it's hard to be "fair." Don't give me this sob story about Oklahoma not getting in, they're not even a top 10 team, if anyone should be pissed it's all those SEC teams who can't get in including Texas A&M who are maybe playing the best ball right now.
Speaking of Wisconsin what an ass kicking they handed out Saturday. I think the Badgers played like people expected them too all year. They were also helped by Taylor Martinez sucking ass.
How this is illegal is beyond me, this is possibly one of the best blocks of all time.
I'm starting to know why the Direct TV football package was cheaper this year, there aren't any games on. Week after week I'm trying to find games I want to watch and I never see them. For 1 the Skins have played 1 of the last 4 Sunday's, the entire reason I got the package was to watch them and 1 in the last month I've gotten to watch them on a Sunday.
The dumbest thing to happen is these Thursday night games, so dumb wish the NFL would stop shoving their network down our throats. Let's face it the Thursday games are a joke and I think 1 road team has won a game this year. The teams don't have enough time to prepare. Thanksgiving is 1 thing but to have these game every week for 16 weeks is dumb.
Hey Baltimore I know I said this a few weeks ago but give the rock to Ray Rice, please and thank you, no touches in the 4th quarter yesterday.
Hey Arizona if you need a QB pretty sure I can throw the rock and try to find Larry Fitzgerald, I can't be worse than the 3 guys you got.
I'm not a big predicion guy but I'll say tonight the Skins are gonna lose, the Giants have a ton of WR talent and the Skins can't cover anyone.
The playoffs are starting take shape with 3 teams clinching yesterday in Houston, Denver, and New England. That leaves 2 spots in the AFC up for grabs and Indy is in control of one of them. Amazing turn around in Indy.
That's it for this week probably not the most informative post I've done, but if you all take away from this is the Kenny Bell block well than that's alright by me. I'll be back next week in the mean time follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Green Bay needs a new kicker, can you trust Mason Crosby in a big playoff situation? I don't think so.
I hate Seattle
If your the 49ers yoiou gotta be sick, you lose 16-13, and your offense gave up 10 of those points, ouch. I'm not gonna say bench Kapernick but I don't think Alex Smith losses that game.
Another note on the 49ers why are you running stupid options and reverses inside the 10? Turn around hand the ball off and get out of the shadow of your endzone.
So tired of hearing about the Jets, most talked about sub 500 team this side of Philly.
Think NBC was a little pissed about last nights game? 2 sub 500 teams duking it out. I know everyone watches the Cowboys but enough is enough, wish some good teams could get in prime time.
Only reason I watched last night's game was hoping Brent Celek would catch enough balls you win me a fantasy match up other than that I didn't care.
The BCS Title game is gonna be awesome, I can't wait for it to happen. Alabama on Saturday looked pretty good, but I'd be a little worried about AJ McCarron who didn't throw a lot of passes in the 2nd half of the game.
Notre Dame better be ready for Yeldon and Lacy, 2 tough kids who run well behind a huge line.
Norhern Illinois is the BCS party crasher, but let's face it Wisconsin and Louisville are far more egregious than NIU. Side note NIU is 12-1, that loss came at the hands of the Hawkeyes.
Speaking of the BCS, it's hard to talk about who deserves to be in these games and who doesn't. Some people are upset Georgia didn't get in even though they played in the SEC champ game. Well sorry the system isn't perfect and when you have 21st Louisville and unranked Wisconsin both getting in based on conference titles. Then you throw in NIU having to get in b/c they're 15th, so that only leaves 2 at large spots left. Well Florida and Oregon are both top 5 so they should get in. When you deal with rankings and such it's hard to be "fair." Don't give me this sob story about Oklahoma not getting in, they're not even a top 10 team, if anyone should be pissed it's all those SEC teams who can't get in including Texas A&M who are maybe playing the best ball right now.
Speaking of Wisconsin what an ass kicking they handed out Saturday. I think the Badgers played like people expected them too all year. They were also helped by Taylor Martinez sucking ass.
How this is illegal is beyond me, this is possibly one of the best blocks of all time.
Johnny Manziel for Heisman
I have to talk a little about the Baseball Hall of Fame ballots being sent out, if you read my older posts my stance on this is known. I have no problem with guys who used PED's. In the case of 2 guys Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens they were both HOF guys before they're alleged used began. If you wanna keep out McGwire and Sosa that's fine with me b/c both guys were just power hitters, but Clemens and Bonds were both great players who used the stuff to hang around the game longer.I'm starting to know why the Direct TV football package was cheaper this year, there aren't any games on. Week after week I'm trying to find games I want to watch and I never see them. For 1 the Skins have played 1 of the last 4 Sunday's, the entire reason I got the package was to watch them and 1 in the last month I've gotten to watch them on a Sunday.
The dumbest thing to happen is these Thursday night games, so dumb wish the NFL would stop shoving their network down our throats. Let's face it the Thursday games are a joke and I think 1 road team has won a game this year. The teams don't have enough time to prepare. Thanksgiving is 1 thing but to have these game every week for 16 weeks is dumb.
Hey Baltimore I know I said this a few weeks ago but give the rock to Ray Rice, please and thank you, no touches in the 4th quarter yesterday.
Hey Arizona if you need a QB pretty sure I can throw the rock and try to find Larry Fitzgerald, I can't be worse than the 3 guys you got.
I'm not a big predicion guy but I'll say tonight the Skins are gonna lose, the Giants have a ton of WR talent and the Skins can't cover anyone.
The playoffs are starting take shape with 3 teams clinching yesterday in Houston, Denver, and New England. That leaves 2 spots in the AFC up for grabs and Indy is in control of one of them. Amazing turn around in Indy.
That's it for this week probably not the most informative post I've done, but if you all take away from this is the Kenny Bell block well than that's alright by me. I'll be back next week in the mean time follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Too Fire or not to Fire
Wasn't sure what to write about today and when I finally sat down I thought why not talk about coaches getting fired. I posted a story last night on facebook about Gene Chizik getting fired at Auburn and a friend of mine who's opinion I normally care for said maybe the dumbest thing I've ever heard. He claimed Wisconsin should fire their coach b/c he underachieved this year. Well after having a back and forth I realized people are irrational when it comes to coaches and their team. I'm not a fire everybody guy, I've been through enough coaches in Washington, I know firing the coach isn't always the answer. I'm gonna say have a few arguements about why firing coaches isn't the best idea.
Why not give your coach a chance, this is a real problem in college, how many guys get 3-4 years to turn things around? Almost none do, look at Notre Dame Brian Kelly is winning with kids who were recruited while he was at Cinncinnati, well not all of them but for the most part. In college you need to be able to fill your cupboard with your kids. How many guys get the axe when their first recruiting class are still Juniors? In the pro's it seems 3 years is the longest you get, well you barely have time to get your system in. The Redskins in the early 2000's had 4 coaches in 4 years. Jason Campbell a 1st round draft pick of the Skins had 4 different O-Coordinators his first 4 years and you wonder why he didn't succeed. There was a time when coaches got a long time to prove themselves, these days it's out the window. I'll tell you this if the Giants (both baseball and football) didn't stick with their coaches when they were struggling they wouldn't have those 2 rings. How many times have you heard Tom Coughlin needs to be fired in New York?
Who is better? The last 2 years I've had to listen to Iowa fans bitch about Kirk Ferentz and say he needs to be fired. Oh yeah, who ya gonna get to come to Iowa and coach local kids? I understand Ferentz is one of the highest paid coaches in the country, but he's also one of the longest tenured so threfore he should be paid a mint. When your gonna get rid of a guy who has had success you gotta look around and see who else is there. Look at the Titans, they fire Jeff Fischer, now their a garbage team while Fischer is turning the Rams into a playoff contender. I understand guys wear out their welcome but unless he's 80 like Bobby Bowden was, you need to keep him around. I again look at Iowa, last year when the Kansas City Chiefs head job opened up, Ferentz got brought up as a potential suitor, well if the NFL wants your guy I think a college in the Midwest should keep him. I also look at Wisconsin in this situation as well. You wanna fire a guy who takes you to Rose Bowl after Rose Bowl, wins you conference championships, and now after one down year you wanna get rid of him? Who is gonna come to Wisconsin and have more success? I'm not sure but I'd guess Bielema is the winniest coach in school history at least by win percentage.
Know who you are. If your in the Big Ten the ultimate goal is to get to the Rose Bowl. If you the Kansas City Royals your job is to get out of the basement, then the playoffs. If your in the SEC for football or ACC for basketball you better be competing or your out. You want to look at championships look at who wins them, teams who have their coach around a while. Because those teams have a plan and stick to it even when they go .500 or heaven forbid under .500.
What is so wrong with having a bad year? You've never had a bad year, never made a few mistakes you live to regret? This is especially prevelant in the Pro's. People always want to fire a guy after his team has a bad year. Why? Doesn't a guy build up credit? Do you know how many coaches in the NFL have Super Bowl rings? Of guys who coached last weekend it's 5 (Tomlin, Belichek, McCarthy, Coughlin, and Shannahan though he's not with Denver). Other coaches who've won a Super Bowl in the last 15 years, Brian Billick fired, John Gruden fired, Dick Vermeil retired, Sean Payton suspened, Bill Cowher retired. You've made the playoffs every year but this year you didn't, even though you had a ton of injuries and a few of the signings didn't work out, it's all the coaches fault. I get you can't fire all the players but every once in a while you gotta give guys an off year, it happens. I know fan bases ask for changes a lot but since when does and owner have to listen to a fan base? The Redskins were dreadful for 15 years under Dan Snyder and he's went through almost 10 coaches yet they keep selling out and people are still fans. Fan is short for Fanatic, people are crazy and firing coaches shouldn't be left up to fans.
Now I'll give a few examples of when it's ok to fire someone. When their in over their head, the Skins had that few years ago with Jim Zorn. He set the franchise back 5 years. Gene Chizik should never of been head coach at Auburn his resume at Iowa St. was horrible, and then his first year he has Cam Newton and wins a national title making him look like a genius, well 2 years later no Cam, and his kids are starting to take the program over and he goes 0-8 in the SEC, well in the SEC you don't go 0-8 in conference and get to keep your job. Another example is Andy Reid in Philly a guy who's built up a good record, but he's floundered the last 2 years, the reason I think Reid gets fired is the fact he chose Micheal Vick and got rid of McNabb and Kolb, he chose Namdi and got rid of Asante Samuel. The guy keeps making mistakes and needs to held accountable.
I understand coaches need to get fired and coaches are gonna get fired. I just want to say have some patience with your coach and maybe it'll pay off, the Giants had some off years with Bruce Bochey but now the guy has 2 rings and people are saying make some room for him Cooperstown, you don't wanna fire your then realize 2 years later you made a huge mistake. I think coach firings are too often and too quick, if you've had 3 coaches in the last 10 years you've had too many coaches, and someone didn't get a fair shot.
Why not give your coach a chance, this is a real problem in college, how many guys get 3-4 years to turn things around? Almost none do, look at Notre Dame Brian Kelly is winning with kids who were recruited while he was at Cinncinnati, well not all of them but for the most part. In college you need to be able to fill your cupboard with your kids. How many guys get the axe when their first recruiting class are still Juniors? In the pro's it seems 3 years is the longest you get, well you barely have time to get your system in. The Redskins in the early 2000's had 4 coaches in 4 years. Jason Campbell a 1st round draft pick of the Skins had 4 different O-Coordinators his first 4 years and you wonder why he didn't succeed. There was a time when coaches got a long time to prove themselves, these days it's out the window. I'll tell you this if the Giants (both baseball and football) didn't stick with their coaches when they were struggling they wouldn't have those 2 rings. How many times have you heard Tom Coughlin needs to be fired in New York?
Who is better? The last 2 years I've had to listen to Iowa fans bitch about Kirk Ferentz and say he needs to be fired. Oh yeah, who ya gonna get to come to Iowa and coach local kids? I understand Ferentz is one of the highest paid coaches in the country, but he's also one of the longest tenured so threfore he should be paid a mint. When your gonna get rid of a guy who has had success you gotta look around and see who else is there. Look at the Titans, they fire Jeff Fischer, now their a garbage team while Fischer is turning the Rams into a playoff contender. I understand guys wear out their welcome but unless he's 80 like Bobby Bowden was, you need to keep him around. I again look at Iowa, last year when the Kansas City Chiefs head job opened up, Ferentz got brought up as a potential suitor, well if the NFL wants your guy I think a college in the Midwest should keep him. I also look at Wisconsin in this situation as well. You wanna fire a guy who takes you to Rose Bowl after Rose Bowl, wins you conference championships, and now after one down year you wanna get rid of him? Who is gonna come to Wisconsin and have more success? I'm not sure but I'd guess Bielema is the winniest coach in school history at least by win percentage.
Know who you are. If your in the Big Ten the ultimate goal is to get to the Rose Bowl. If you the Kansas City Royals your job is to get out of the basement, then the playoffs. If your in the SEC for football or ACC for basketball you better be competing or your out. You want to look at championships look at who wins them, teams who have their coach around a while. Because those teams have a plan and stick to it even when they go .500 or heaven forbid under .500.
What is so wrong with having a bad year? You've never had a bad year, never made a few mistakes you live to regret? This is especially prevelant in the Pro's. People always want to fire a guy after his team has a bad year. Why? Doesn't a guy build up credit? Do you know how many coaches in the NFL have Super Bowl rings? Of guys who coached last weekend it's 5 (Tomlin, Belichek, McCarthy, Coughlin, and Shannahan though he's not with Denver). Other coaches who've won a Super Bowl in the last 15 years, Brian Billick fired, John Gruden fired, Dick Vermeil retired, Sean Payton suspened, Bill Cowher retired. You've made the playoffs every year but this year you didn't, even though you had a ton of injuries and a few of the signings didn't work out, it's all the coaches fault. I get you can't fire all the players but every once in a while you gotta give guys an off year, it happens. I know fan bases ask for changes a lot but since when does and owner have to listen to a fan base? The Redskins were dreadful for 15 years under Dan Snyder and he's went through almost 10 coaches yet they keep selling out and people are still fans. Fan is short for Fanatic, people are crazy and firing coaches shouldn't be left up to fans.
Now I'll give a few examples of when it's ok to fire someone. When their in over their head, the Skins had that few years ago with Jim Zorn. He set the franchise back 5 years. Gene Chizik should never of been head coach at Auburn his resume at Iowa St. was horrible, and then his first year he has Cam Newton and wins a national title making him look like a genius, well 2 years later no Cam, and his kids are starting to take the program over and he goes 0-8 in the SEC, well in the SEC you don't go 0-8 in conference and get to keep your job. Another example is Andy Reid in Philly a guy who's built up a good record, but he's floundered the last 2 years, the reason I think Reid gets fired is the fact he chose Micheal Vick and got rid of McNabb and Kolb, he chose Namdi and got rid of Asante Samuel. The guy keeps making mistakes and needs to held accountable.
I understand coaches need to get fired and coaches are gonna get fired. I just want to say have some patience with your coach and maybe it'll pay off, the Giants had some off years with Bruce Bochey but now the guy has 2 rings and people are saying make some room for him Cooperstown, you don't wanna fire your then realize 2 years later you made a huge mistake. I think coach firings are too often and too quick, if you've had 3 coaches in the last 10 years you've had too many coaches, and someone didn't get a fair shot.
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