Archive for November, 2008

Football and Thanksgiving go hand in hand, as do feel-good stories. If you don’t love this story, well you’ve got no heart.

Thanks to the guys at deadspin for posting a link to this story on their web site. Justin made a tackle, and that’s awesome. And, he got his name in the paper too.

Need another reason to get excited about the biggest NFL game of the week, the Pats and Steelers this weekend? If it wasn’t enough that Matt Cassel was going against the No. 1 defense in the league, with a playoff spot pretty much on the line, well Mr. Anthony Smith opened up his big mouth again and made it personal for the Pats.

You may or may not remember Smith from last year’s Steelers-Pats tilt. He guaranteed that Pittsburgh would beat the unbeaten Patriots. That didn’t work out so well.

Well Smith opened up his mouth again. He didn’t go as far as say that the Steelers would win, “guaranteed,” but he did boast about the Pitt defense being No. 1 and how if the offense shows up they should win.

Why do these guys do it? Why? Time and again these NFL players love to get loud and make it all about themselves. We had two great examples of this this past weekend. One was Joey Porter taking shots at the Pats on Sunday morning on ESPN and the other was Lendale White crying about not getting the ball enough in the Titans loss to the Jets.

Up here on my soap box I can tell you that sports are supposed to be team activities, well at least team sports. When you call attention to yourself you do that at the cost of what it could do to your teammates. In Porter’s case he was putting his whole team on the line against the Patriots. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing, making everyone else accountable, but at the same time why would you want to fire up a team that needs a win? In White’s case, it was worse. His team is having a phenomenal season, having won their first 10 games. No one expected the Titans to run the table like the Patriots did last year, and in the long run that may be for the best anyways. We all saw what good that 16-0 does for you. White just looked like a baby for what he did. Jeff Fischer made a good point when he said that he’d wished that White had come to him first instead of the media with his complaints.

So Smith, at least a little bit, has done the same thing that Porter did. He’s put extra pressure on his whole team, in a game that both teams have to win. Wasn’t there enough pressure already?

The sky is not falling, and the world did not end, but Axl Rose finally released Chinese Democracy this weekend. China is none too pleased.

The linked story is worth a read, for humor’s sake. China believes that the title of the album is an attack on the state. Apparently they’re worried that Axl and his five guitarists not named Slash will come over the Great Wall and turn their country upside down.

I was able to get a copy of the record over the weekend to listen to and I’ve got to say, it’s mediocre at best. First of all, nothing that takes 17-years to complete is every going to live up to the hype. I wasn’t blown away by the Cicadas and I’m not blown away by Chinese Democracy. It’s okay, nothing more.

First of all, it just sounds way too over-produced. I didn’t even listen to all 14 tracks. I got a little bored by it and figured I’d finish the rest later. But a good friend had a good point. I believe it was Money Matt that said the lead single, “better,” is a mediocre song that would have just been on Use Your Illusion or Appetite For Destruction. It sort of sounds like GNR, but it isn’t an attack on your senses like “Paradise City” or “Welcome To The Jungle.”

I’m happy that Axl Rose finally got around to letting the world listen to the tracks, though anyone that really wanted to could have found most of them on the internet years ago. I had heard several of these songs, in one form or another, about five years ago. The sad thing is that it took 17 years to come up with 14 songs that he really liked enough to put on a CD. Really? It takes him 15 months per song. I remember a story from Pearl Jam’s last tour where Eddie Vedder wrote the song “Gone” in his hotel room the night before the Borgota show in Atlantic City, and then performed it at the show. There’s another song, “Driftin,” that was written in a half-hour on a plane ride. But it took Axl that long to put a single note on the paper, and then he broke out the eraser and decided it wasn’t good enough.

And there lies the problem. He may have seen this as his passion project — and I understand, the man is downright loony tunes — but how good is something that takes that long to complete? And I guess the bigger question is will we have to wait until 2025 to hear more new GNR?

Whether the wait is that long or not, one thing is for certain, they won’t be listening to it in Beijing.

It’s a copycat world, and I’m just hoping that some local football coaches decide to play copycat with the newest football offense that is sweeping the nation, the A-11. The chance of this happening at Falmouth High School any time soon are worse than me hitting cleanup for the Sox next season. Still, maybe a team like a Dennis-Yarmouth, or Sandwich, where they like to do crazy things and sling the ball will find this and decide to implement it. It would be fun to watch.

The A-11, as best I understand it, is basically an offensive set that looks like it comes out of a punt formation every down. Apparently five players are eligible to catch passes on each down, and there are two quarterbacks on the field at once. Talk about giving defense a headache, huh.

The possibilities of what can be run out of this set are endless. The runs seem to be very wide, for the most part, and the offense lends itself to long, long throws. It’s fun to watch, that’s for sure.

I’ve embedded a highlight reel of the offense here at the bottom. It’s a fun watch.

Everyone’s second favorite Steinbrenner is now officially The Boss in NY. Every once in a while Hank actually has an understatement.

“I realize it’s a great responsibility. My dad is, needless to say, a tough act to follow.”

The baseball writers got it right. Dustin Pedroia is your 2008 Most Valuable Player, and a deserving one at that. Pedroia dominated the voting, earning more than half of the first place votes as he beat out Justin Morneau and teammate Kevin Youkilis for the award.

I tauted Pedroia for MVP back in August when he was up against Carlos Quentin for the lead (an injury late in the year cost Quentin, and the White Sox, dearly) and I’m very glad he took it home. In a year that saw Manny Ramirez live out a SNL sketch-level greedy ballplayer fantasy, Pedroia put the team on his back and helped the Sox reach the playoffs and return to the ALCS.

Not bad for a guy that had to deal with questions about whether or not he was “good enough” to cut it in the big leagues. I remember when Theo Epstein drafted this guy and talked about how tough he was and what kind of heart he had. Theo nailed it. Pedroia is hardly the scariest looking hitter in the big leagues. He doesn’t really intimidate when he steps into the box, but he swings the bat like a lumberjack and plays the game with exuberance. What more could you ask?

So in two years our little second baseman has put a Rookie Of the Year Award, Gold Glove and now the MVP in his trophy case. Not bad for the first two years of a career. The only other guy that I can think of that has had this kind of success this early in a career is Freddy Lynn, who won both the ROY and MVP as a rookie in 75. Doc Gooden and Sterocket Clemens also great runs early, but pitchers are a different animal.

Good for the little horse we all ride upon. Can’t wait to see what he does in year 3.

An old friend posted some photos from our freshman year of college on facebook and the results were shocking. Who are these baby-faced cherubs with Solo cups and permanent smiles? I look at myself, with eyeglasses rounder than a basketball and big enough to light fires, and Eagle One with his over-gelled, spiky hair and want to go back to hang out with those guys one more time. We may look ridiculous, but life was good.

I needed a smile after yet another horrible fantasy football game this weekend. The lying to myself is over. The Stumblin’ Irish stink. Sure I’d come back from an 0-3 start to get to 5-5, but it was done with mirrors. Under our new scoring system my team is abysmal. Sure I still could make the playoffs, but what’s the point? I can’t win it all, and if you’re not first, your last (thank you Ricky Bobby).

It’s really quite simple. My team would have rocked four years ago. But, today, not so much. I drafted Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce, both later, but they would need to play from time to time. They both have played like their age.

But forget receiver, my No. 1, unforgiveable, mistake was buying into the hype. I drafted “the next big thing” QB and am I paying dearly. I feel like Steinbrenner when Costanza’s dad was giving him hell about trading Jay Buhner. “My people were telling me Derek Anderson, Derek Anderson.”

I went with Anderson as my starting QB and two things happened. One, the Browns were not even close to as good as advertised. And Anderson played so poorly that he played himself out of the job.

That left me with Jason Campbell. Sure Campbell would have been fine as a backup, playing sparingly, but he’s not the type of guy you want to pin your hopes on. He’s very efficient (just 2 INTs), but you can’t win fantasy football games five yards at a time.

And then there’s my running backs. Ready for this? LaDanian Tomlinson, hurt all season, just finally starting to look a little like himself. Willie Parker, hurt most of the season, great when he’s healthy, which has been about three times. And, lastly, Larry Johnson, suspended for the bulk of the season and huge under-performer. He’s had like one good game.

Honestly the whole season has been about as bad as could be. I have a hard time even rooting for my guys because most of them are so unlikeable, except maybe Parker. I either hate them for who they are, or for how they perform. Usually its both.

I’ve gotten one thing right, picking up Steve Breaston, but even that’s been a mixed bag. I started him against Seattle, figuring the Cards would score plenty of points. Sure they did, but SB caught just two passes.

When does fantasy baseball start and can I interest anyone in Jacoby Ellsbury or Matt Holliday?

I would have written earlier about the Pats, but unfortunately I didn’t get to watch much of the game on Thursday night. Craziness ensued as the game was supposed to be played.

Our studio was taking part in Ladies Night Out at Mahoney’s Garden Center in East Falmouth. So, I had decided to TiVo the game and watch it when I got home. It was a good plan.

Unfortunately it never really happened. I got home around 9:30 PM and decided to watch The Office with Lyra, but during the middle of the show she started to feel ill. She’s been under the weather all week and it got worse. Long story short, I had to take her to the ER to see a doctor (Mrs. Maclone is fine. Do not worry. She’s feeling much better).

I got into the ER just as the Pats were finishing off their fantastic game-tying drive with seconds left. So much for the suspense of watching the game. I literally sat down in the waiting room as Matt Cassell was spiking the ball with eight seconds left before his great TD throw to Randy Moss.

Good times, but bad times.

We were there forever. No sleep was had. We got home around 4 AM and the kids woke me up slightly before 9, so it was a rough day altogether. Which begs the question, why am I writing a blog at 2 AM the next day. I have no answer. I can’t explain my idiocy.

All I know is that I hate the NFL’s overtime rules. I don’t believe that the it is fair that both teams don’t get at least one shot with the ball. In high school they each get the ball from the 10 and a shot at the end zone. In college they get it at the 25, but they both get it.

So in pro ball, why not give them the ball at the 35 or 40? Or just play out the entire period and see where we stand after15 minutes. Would that really bother any one? Of course I probably wouldn’t have thought of that if the Pats hadn’t lost, but it really does need to be updated. To think that a coin toss would be that big of a decisive factor in a game’s outcome is a bit ridiculous.

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Other stuff, saw the FHS-Plymouth South game tonight. Sophomore quarterback Dillon Mansfield got the job done, not a bad first game at all. Linebacker/fullback Jordan Ervin was a beast. He had a great, great game. Clippers won 6-0, and now they’re 5-4. Not too shabby.

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I’ve been re-watching The Office season 4 on DVD, and love it. With a chest cold, it hurts sometimes though because I laugh out loud and cough up a lung.

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Saw a very interesting list on ESPN.com about the top 50 free agents in baseball this offseason. Further stuff to come on that. I saw two names I definitely think that the Sox need to pursue, and now that Trevor Hoffman is available I’d love to see them get him too if he’s willing to be a set-up man.

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I need to go see Quantum Of Solace ASAP. It looks fantastic. Casino Royale is my favorite Bond film and I think this one looks even better, although it is kind of weird that they’ve taken a bit of the fun out of James Bond. Daniel Craig makes a very good Bond, but I think that Sean Connery is still the best one. My buddy Frank and I used to watch those movies all the time before going out at night back in our late teens. Good stuff. Unreal that this is the 22nd Bond movie.

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I’m going to bed.

Alright, none of us are ever going to say we’d rather have No. 16 behind center than No. 12. Tom Brady’s an icon and perhaps the best quarterback of the last 20 years. We love him. We miss him. We’d like him back ASAP.

But, while we wait, Cassel sure has been up to the task. If I had asked you prior to week 1 where the Pats would be after nine games if Brady got hurt in the opener what would you have said? Most would have answered somewhere in the 2-7 to 4-5 range I’m sure.

How about 6-3? And they should be 7-2.

This has been best-case-scenario type of stuff, and believe it or not the Pats are in the Super Bowl conversation. Sure they’re probably not good enough to beat Tennessee right now, but tell me another team in the AFC that truly frightens you?

Can’t come up with one can you.

Me neither.

Even the NFC is pretty beatable. Sure the Giants look good, but other than that there’s a lot of mediocrity out there.

The Pats are slightly above mediocre, bordering on pretty good. In today’s NFL, that puts them in the elite.

I’m feeling quite under the weather at the office today, but found this at a friend’s blog and figured you’d all enjoy it. The following is the recent craziness between the Dallas Star and the Bruins (yes, hockey season is going on right now).

perhaps the best part comes near the very end, around the 8:08 mark, when they got to a crowd shot and there’s a dude dressed as one of the Hansen brothers. So appropriate.

Enjoy