Speedburner on Sports

Growing up in Los Angeles during the 70’s, I became a huge USC football fan, and my love of sports and statistics just snowballed from there. I still live in L.A., and still love the Trojans, but hate the Dodgers and Lakers. I’m also a huge fan of tennis – both watching and playing - and hope to someday see a revival in its popularity.

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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Idle Thoughts

Check out my weekly NFL player awards for this past week. Dovovan McNabb brings home 'The Johnny Unitas Award' this week.

Many of the stud RB’s have gotten off to horrific starts this season – LT has 130 yards and 1 rushing TD while averaging a pitiful 2.3 yds/carry. LJ has just 140 yards in 3 games, 0 TD’s, and is gaining a mere 2.8 yds/carry. Stephen Jackson has no TD’s, just 8 receptions, and is averaging just 3.4 per attempt. Maurice Jones Drew, Reggie Bush, Rudi Johnson, and Frank Gore have all stumbled quite slowly out of the blocks as well this season. You can try to come up with various excuses for each of them, but the bottom line is, great backs generally produce no matter what the circumstances. I expect to see some bust out games from many of these guys soon. Two I’d bet against though are LJ and Rudi – the KC offense is inept, and Rudi’s slowing down.

Am I the only one who is tired of all the Peyton Manning commercials? Hey Peyton, just say ‘no’ for once, will ya?

I was watching the USC football game Saturday night, and they ran the audio of a Roger Goodell interview for about 4 minutes of game time…terribly annoying and rude to the schools and college football fans – and totally out of place. The broadcasts of all sports events these days are getting more and more irritating with the ridiculous pre-game shows and teases, way too many announcers and sideline reporters, and then stunts like the USC game. Less is more, TV executives!!

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

NFL Week 2 Awards

The Jonny Unitas Award - Carson Palmer...35-50, 401 yds, 2 picks, 6 TD passes. And to think the Bengals lost the game!! To the Browns!! Who scored 51 points, after not scoring 51 in their prior 5 games COMBINED!! Marvin Lewis is now in his 5th season as Cincy's head coach, and they still dont have much of a defense, even though all their big offensive weapons (Carson, Chad, Housh, Rudi) arrived either at the same time as Lewis or before. What gives???

The Ryan Leaf Award - Josh McCown...8-16, 73 yds, 3 picks, 1 TD pass. Very reminiscent of last year's Art Shell Raiders; were it not for a 46 yd TD pass to Jerry Porter, these stats would have been much worse. Both Trent Green (4 picks, 2 TD's) and Tavaris Jackson (4 picks, 0 TD passes, 1 TD run) were also bad, but at least they crossed the 100 yd barrier. Not surprisingly, all 3 teams lost. Quite surprisingly, Minnesota and Oakland almost won.

The Walter Payton Award - Jamal Lewis...27 carries for 216 yds, 1 TD, 0 rec. Check the calendar, is it 2003 again? Where did this game come from? He even had a 66 yard TD run...is Cincy's D that bad? Hats off to Jamal, I certainly never expected a game like this from him at this stage of his career - I expected more games like week 1 (11 carries for 35 yds, longest run was 7 yards). We'll see if he can follow this up with further strong performances.

The Blair Thomas Award - Ladanian Tomlinson...18 carries for 43 yds, no TD's, 4 rec for 15 yds. Wow, two very poor rushing performances in a row to start his 2007 campaign. Granted, the defenses were Chicago and New England, but can't we expect more from the future Hall of Famer? Should we put some blame on Norv Turner's play calling? This week it's another tough matchup vs. the GB defense, but I still expect a 100yd performance. Also under consideration: UCLA alums Maurice Jones-Drew (11 carries, 31 yds) and DeShaun Foster (9 for just 22 yds) looked greatly inspired by their teams 44-6 drubbing at Utah the day before.

The Jerry Rice Award - Tie between Chad Johnson...11 rec, 209 yds, 2 TD's, and Steve Smith...8 rec, 153 yds, 3 TD's. Chad was the primary beneficiary of the Cleveland/Cincy air-show, while Smith was the entire Panther offense in their uninspired performance vs. the Texans. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you catch a highlight of Smith's 3rd TD - he miraculously escapes from about 5 or 6 tacklers, and then immediately gets to top speed on the way to the endzone. He shows the strength of a 230lb RB in the body of a 185lb WR - truly an amazing play.

The Charles Rodgers Award - Lee Evans...2 rec, 17 yds, 0 TD's. I admit to not having seen any Buffalo games this year, so maybe someone out there in Cyber-land can answer this question for me - how is it that Evans has only 4 catches for just 22 yards after two games this year? Is Losman missing him? Is he not getting open? Typically, he has at least two 22 yard catches in a game. I'm totally shocked and baffled, I expect him to explode at some point soon, though maybe not against the strong N.E. D this week.

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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

NFL Week 1 Awards

The Jonny Unitas Award - Tony Romo...15-24, 345 yds, 1 pick, 4 TD passes, 1 TD run...he averaged 23 yds per completion!! He even added a TD run. In today's day and age of West Coast offenses and 6 yard completions (witness the disgusting Monday night dink-and-dunk fest in San Francisco), how refreshing to see a great throwback performance like this.

The Ryan Leaf Award - Damon Huard...22-33, 168 yds, 2 picks, 0 TDs, and the offense scored a mere 3 pts. We go from 23 yds/completion to 7.6 yds. The KC offense and organization continue their steep decline, plenty of 8 man fronts for Larry Johnson to look at this year. Easily one of the worst 5 offenses in football this year. Huard is a backup at best.

The Walter Payton Award - Chris Brown...19 carries for 175 yds, no TD's, 1 rec for 3 yds. After busting out in 2004 with his first 1,000 yard season, Brown seemingly went into hibernation the next 2 seasons. On a day when the passing game struggled mightily (78 yards), Browns big day was just enough to get the Titans past the Jags 13-10. Hopefully he can stay healthy and keep it up.

The Blair Thomas Award - For those that don't remember, Blair was the #2 overall pick in the 1990 draft out of Penn St., but his career (2,236 yds in 7 seasons) never came close to matching his draft position. Cedric Benson...19 carries for 42 yds, no TDs, 1 rec for 11 yds. He got what he wanted in the off-season when the Bears let Thomas Jones go, and now the pressure is on for the former 4th overall pick of the 2005 draft to produce. I've never been a fan of his (soft mentally, lacks speed and burst), and we'll see if he proves me wrong.

The Jerry Rice Award - Randy Moss...9 rec, 183 yds, 1 TD. Wow, after not playing at all during the pre-season, supposedly nursing a bad hammy, and leaving many wondering (myself definitely included) if he was ever going to be close to the old Moss again, Moss came up with a vintage 2000 performance. Will he stay healthy the whole year, stay focused and out of trouble - those are the remaining questions.

The Charles Rodgers Award - Tie between Deion Branch...0 rec, and Michael Jenkins...2 rec, 13 yds, 0 TD's. Deion came up with a goose egg in a game where the Seahawks lost their # 2 WR - terribly disappointing. Hes been a bust as a # 1 WR, Seattle really overpaid for this guy. Jenkins' pathetic effort was highlighted by a play in which a very short (1 yard beyond the line of scrimmage) pass bounced off his hands and chest right into a Minn defender who took it to the endzone. What more do I need to say? The 2004 1st rounder out of Ohio St. has 1,076 yds and 10 TDs in his career, with a world of big drops - he's horrible.

Special Award goes out to rookie coach Bobby Petrino, who on Monday decided that he needed to get Jerious Norwood more involved in the offense. It took you until 24 hours after the game to figure that out, Bobby?!?!? You couldn't figure that out from looking at last years stats and game tape (633 yds at 6.4 yds/carry, TD runs of 78 and 69 yards that looked like he had jets in his shoes)? How about figuring it out during the game when Norwood gained 30 yards on his first 3 carries while Warrick Dunn was struggling towards a 22 carry, 55 yard game? Norwood is the only explosive game-breaker you've got on your roster, GET HIM MORE THAN 5 CARRIES, NIMROD!!!!

Worst Play Call of the Weekend - This one is easy, Ken Wisenhunt on 3rd and 10 in the ugly Arizona/San Francisco game. A 1st down would essentially end the game and seal a victory for the Cards, but Wisenhunt, taking a page from the Marty Schottenheimer book 'Dont Play to Win, Play not to Lose', calls a run up the middle that fails to gain a first down, and of course, the 49ers ended up winning the game. A truly pathetic call, especially when you have Leinart, Boldin, and Fitzgerald as your prime passing game weapons...but of course, the 3 stooges in the ESPN booth liked the call. Listening to them was almost as painful as watching the game.

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Friday, September 07, 2007

Thursday Night Nirvana

With the NFL season opening last night, I made sure I was home by 5:30pm for kickoff. Luckily there was just enough traffic that I didn't catch any of the ridiculous, over-produced pre-game show. I turn on the TV, see the kickoff, and then see that on the first play of the 2007 NFL season, my 1st round fantasy pick Joseph Addai is slow getting up. Luckily it's nothing, but then later in the 2nd quarter Peyton throws a TD to Marvin Harrison - not my # 1 WR, Reggie Wayne. When Reggie finally catches a ball, he fumbles, leading to a N.O. TD and a negative 3 fantasy football points for me - what the heck is going on here!?!?

I figure now is a good time to check on the US Open quarterfinal match involving Novak Djokovic, a rising star on the tour who at only 20 years old has risen to # 3 in the rankings, having made the semis of the French Open and Wimbledon this year. He's playing Carlos Moya, a 31 year old Spanish veteran who sports a rather impressive resume - won the French in 1998, runner up to Sampras at the Aussie Open in 1997, and a semifinalist here at the Open also in '98. They are close to a 2nd set tiebreaker, Djokovic having won the first set 6-4. As good as Djokovic is, and as much as I love tennis, I've still not seen much of his game, so I try to see what he's all about. Here-s what I see - some bad unforced errors, some great serving, great shotmaking, complaining, and WAAAYY too many ball bounces before he serves - I counted 24 on one 1st serve. I'm rooting hard for the upset, and in the tiebreak Moya has a set point, but misses an approaching forehand wide. His opportunity blown, Moya loses the tiebreak and then basically melts down in the 3rd set, losing 6-1. All in all a decent year for Moya at this point of his career, as he made the quarters of the French and the US Open. The annoying Djokovic though has made the semis of the last 3 Slams and looks poised to make his first final if he can get by the very tough, quick, focused scrambler David Ferrer of Spain Saturday. Go Spain!!!!

The wife and child come home just before halftime, temporarily pausing this bachelor paradise I'm experiencing . Immediately it's outside I go with the 2 year old to shoot hoops. The kid is definitely a junior Speedburner in the making, as he likes to run at the basket, jump and shoot wildly, then fall down, rather than take nice little set shots - very Speedburneresque. After we get him to bed, it's back to the game, and the tide has turned for the Speedburner. Marvin catches another deep ball from Manning, but this time he's down at the 2 yard line - time to get my RB a TD - and thats just what happens. Only 3 minutes later, Manning hits my guy Wayne for a 29 yard TD and the rout is on. When Wayne catches his 2nd TD pass of the game, I smile broadly, happy to have made the decision to take him over other WR's I like more such as Larry Fitzgerald, Marques Colston, and Roy Williams, just because the offense he-s in is the best in the league. A heavenly Thursday night has passed, and the football season is starting off beautifully.

Special note regarding football and the wife. She knows very little about any sports, having no interest at all. So imagine my shock when she came home 3 weeks ago from a short business trip and asked me about Romo, and do I think he's an up-and-comer. Then she asked about Welker, and would he do well with his new team. By now my eyes are bulging in shock and Im asking where she's learned this information. How about Ladainian, he's really good, right? is what I get. Always full of surprises, she decided to read the brief 3 page article about fantasy football in the Southwest Airlines magazine on the plane. If only the interest was real...

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