Mid-Preseason Thoughts

Seeing as we are halfway through the glorious NFL preseason and hours away from Maddenoliday, I thought it was perfect time for some random thoughts...

• The Seattle Seahawks looked very good against the Indianapolis Colts. Matt Hasselbeck was very sharp despite a wealth of pressure. The shaky offensive line worries me, but not as much as the already banged up defense which let Tony Romo (who?) lead the Dallas Cowboys up and down the field in the first preseason game.
• NBC's Sunday Night Football is looking really good. Bob Costas is brilliant as usual while Jerome Bettis is a bringing a lot more insight than we usually hear. Then of course, Michaels and Madden are second to none.
• The only gripe I have about the new featured Sunday Night game is the loss of ESPN's NFL Primetime. My Sundays were never complete until hearing Chris Berman call all the highlights.
• There is already a lot of hype surrounding the Manning Bowl, which is Kickoff Weekend's Sunday Night game. Both Eli and Peyton have said they just want to get it over with already. This will be a fun shootout.
• I happened to be sitting in a Las Vegas sportsbook when Reggie Bush busted his big cutback run. It got so loud, you would have thought everyone in the room was a Saints fan. Well, except for that one fellow wearing a Houston Texan jersey...
• Speaking of my observations sitting in the Vegas sportsbooks: I am declaring it fact that football has long surpassed baseball as America's favorite sport. The huge ruckus and amount of people that were in the sportsbooks during the weekend for preseason football make the same exact rooms look like ghost towns the rest of the week when baseball is in its wild card race.
• The Denver Bronco's Jay Cutler seems like he will take Jake Plummer's job sooner than we thought.
• The San Diego Chargers' Philip Rivers seems like he can lead the Chargers to a winning season.
• The Tennessee Titans' Vince Young has shown a lot of his talent and potential. As expected, it will take time for that to develop into wins.
• The Arizona Cardinals' Matt Leinart is rich. He better be ready when Kurt Warner goes down with an injury.
• The Oakland Raiders are terrible. Again. Ha!
• How in the world do the Bengals and Bears defenses score so often!?
• I have yet to find a dark horse/surprise team...

If I were Commish...

With Roger Goodell set to take over as the NFL Commissioner, I started to think about what I would try to accomplish if I were the most influential man in football...

• A completely different television angle. The reason why football games are so exciting to see in person is that you can see all the players throughout the entire field. On television, we usually only see the quarterback drop back in the pocket on passing plays. The receivers and secondary are not on camera until the ball is thrown. I know it may be difficult and expensive, but I would push all the television networks to adapt a camera hanging from behind the offense, similar to the angle we see in our beloved Madden video game. This way, all 22 players are on camera at all times. When the Steelers pull off one of their signature crazy reverse trick plays, fans at home will be able to see everything and everyone and thereby have a clue as to what the heck is going on, unlike the Seahawks.
• Bring the Chargers to Los Angeles. Keep the Saints in New Orleans.
• The NFL's fear of Las Vegas ends with me as commissioner. Face facts, football is the most enjoyable sport to bet on. I would build a stadium and bring a franchise to America's top tourist city. Vegas is also the perfect place for a Super Bowl.
• Completely revamp the overtime rules. The coin flip/sudden death method is terrible and it is amazing how everyone has put up with it for so long. Let us take a token from the NCAA and let both teams have a drive to score.
• No restrictions on touchdown celebrations. I want to see group dances. I want to see props. The NFL is, before anything else, entertainment.
• Kickoff Weekend is great not only because everyone is excited and hungry for football, but because it features a Thursday night game and a Monday night doubleheader. Why not continue this throughout the season?
• Work out a deal for exhibition games with some college football teams. I truly believed that the USC Trojans could have beaten the San Francisco 49ers last year.
• More international regular season games. The only place in which David Stern's NBA has surpassed the NFL is that is has expanded basketball's popularity to Asia, Europe, and South America.
• Find a way to put computer chips in the football so that we never get another Ben Roethlisberger phantom touchdown.
• If the referees think it is a questionable decision, allow them to review it before making an initial call. The whole "indisputable evidence" places way too much importance on the initial ruling.
• Make pass interference reviewable and the maximum penalty 15 yards.
• Move the NFL Network and NFL Sunday Ticket to cable. The financial loss would be regained by advertising.
• Bob Costas and Al Michaels do every Super Bowl. Is there anyone better?
• Ban ESPN from mentioning Terrell Owens.
• Apologize to the city of Seattle and the Seahawks. You know why.

2006-2007 NBA Schedule Released

Amidst all the hype of the opening of NFL training camps, the NBA quietly released their schedule for the upcoming 2006-07 season. The season begins with a TNT doubleheader on Halloween night as the rising Chicago Bulls visit the Miami Heat, who will have their ring ceremony prior to the game, followed by the Phoenix Suns at the Los Angeles Lakers in a rematch of one of the greatest playoff series of all time. The NBA is establishing tradition with Kobe vs Shaq for Christmas and Martin Luther King Jr. Days. While Los Angeles and Miami are large markets and the Kobe-Shaq rivalry, no matter how old it may be, will always attract an enormous holiday audience, I would have gone with a Texas sized showdown in Dallas-San Antonio and Cleveland-Miami doubleheader. If I were the NBA, ABC, or whoever has the final call on the schedule making, I would throw the two biggest stars in all of sports on the same court in Dwyane Wade and Lebron James (Can you say "Team USA?"). And anyone who truly knows basketball knows that the Mavericks and Spurs were the two best teams throughout the entire season last year. That being said, the NBA always does a great job scheduling, which is a large part of why basketball is the most marketable sport.

The following should be of no surprise as the NBA is all about its stars, so fans get to see LeBron, D-Wade, and Kobe more than anyone else:

MOST NATIONAL TV APPEARANCES

ESPN
10 -- Cleveland Cavaliers
10 -- Dallas Mavericks
10 -- Detroit Pistons
10 -- L.A. Lakers
10 -- Miami Heat
10 -- Phoenix Suns

TNT
9 -- Chicago Bulls
9 -- Cleveland Cavaliers
9 -- Dallas Mavericks
9 -- L.A. Lakers
9 -- Miami Heat
9 -- Phoenix Suns

ABC
5 -- Cleveland Cavaliers
5 -- Detroit Pistons
5 -- L.A. Lakers
5 -- Miami Heat
5 -- Phoenix Suns

Sonics Sold

Sleepless in Seattle

World Cup

Italy wins a 5-3 shootout against France after a 1-1 draw

I am not a soccer guy. I never play the sport and rarely watch it. But if I am going to sit down and watch a soccer match, let alone write about it, why not let it be the finale of the World Cup, which is inarguably the greatest sporting event the world has ever seen? So I watched as penalties led to two early goals. I saw an excessive amount of flopping and acting. I saw French captain Zinedine Zidane receive a red card after a nasty head butt. I watched two of the world's best defenses constantly disrupt the attacks of the opposing team's forwards. I watched as midfielders dribbled around killing time. Lots of time. What I fail to understand about soccer, as popular and successful of a sport it has become, is why each team is only allowed three substitutions per game. I understand stamina and conditioning are significant attributes of the game, but I do not understand why the final game of the World Cup has to come down to penalty kicks simply because both teams are too tired to make give a full effort to score in two overtime periods. The reason why basketball is currently experiencing a renaissance is because it features its best players performing at the climax of games. The reason why American football is ridiculously popular in the United States is because it features eleven well rested players seamlessly working together in five-second bursts. Why has soccer not taken a token from other sports and allow more, if not unlimited, substitutions? This would allow the best players to be well rested entering crucial time periods. Unlimited substitutions would add another strategic element to the game, giving the otherwise useless managers an important responsibility. Unlimited substitutions would prevent a billion people from having to watch exhausted players walk around the field in a dull overtime in the biggest match in the past four years. Unlimited substitutions would prevent referees' decisions from having such a large impact on the game. Unlimited substitutions would prevent a great player such as Thierry Henry from being substituted out of the game for good. Unlimited substitutions would prevent fatigue from building up into frustration, which was the cause for a legend being ejected from the match. Unlimited substitutions would prevent the world championship from going to the team whose keeper made a couple more good guesses in penalty kicks. Perhaps most importantly, unlimited substitutions would ensure that the World Cup goes to the best team.

2006 NBA Draft

The reason why anyone cares about the NBA Draft is because it has great timing. The NBA season is long gone, baseball's ridiculously lengthy season is in its lull period, and our beloved NFL is resting before training camp begins in August. So that leaves us with nothing better to focus in on then some promising NBA prospects in a supposedly weak draft, but that remains to be seen for a few years. This is why I believe throwing out draft grades for each team does not really make sense, so instead I will gladly share some of my random thoughts...

• I love what the Orlando Magic are doing. I love the pick of Dwight Howard. I love bringing back Brian Hill. I love the trade of Steve Francis to New York. I love the trade for Darko Milicic. I love trading away Steve Francis. I love the pick of J.J. Redick. Ten years after Shaq bolts to Los Angeles, the Orlando Magic seem to have finally recovered.
• The Toronto Raptors have a bright future. We have been saying that for the franchise's entire existence.
• 15 trades. And counting. Sheesh.
• The Portland Blazers were extremely active. They may be a very different team, but it will take a long time for them to become much better. Have fun Nate.
• Tyrus Thomas went from LSU to Portland to Chicago. Talk about climbing a ladder. Whew.
• Remember when I said Miami, Cleveland, and Orlando are going to own the East for the next generation? Throw in the Chicago Bulls in that mix.
• Michael Jordan and Adam Morrison. They may not win a lot right away, but suddenly the Charlotte Bobcats are very marketable. Steven A. Smith pointed out that Bobcats owner Robert Johnson wants to make money. He will be doing that.
• Jerry West is brilliant.
• The Los Angeles Lakers actually made a very good pick by drafting a much needed point guard in UCLA's Jordan Farmar. I love it when professional teams go for the the local star.
• The Los Angeles Clippers' most significant move was neither of their draft picks, but rather picking up Shaun Livingston's option for 07-08.
• Forget about the Detroit Lions drafting wide receivers, the Seattle SuperSonics drafting a seven foot center from the opposite hemisphere is a given every year. ESPN did not show much favor in Saer Sene and MSNBC's Ray Glier gave the Sonics a whopping "F" draft grade. Maybe the more centers future head coach Jack Sikma has to develop, the more chances one will turn out to be good. I always am disappointed in or angry at Seattle's moves, but they usually tend to work out for the better. So we shall see.

2006 NBA Finals

DAL 90, MIA 80
DAL 99, MIA 85
MIA 98, DAL 96
MIA 98, DAL 74
MIA 101, DAL 100
MIA 95, DAL 92

Miami wins 4-2

Before we look back on the Miami Heat's Championship run, let us address the Dallas Mavericks

• There were bad calls. There were bad no-calls. I always say that controversial calls should never impact the game so much as to let anyone ever even come close to the point where we can even discuss the officiating, especially in a championship series. That being said, the referees should not be blamed for Dallas blowing a 2-0 lead.
• Avery Johnson: Entering the series, the statistic bounced around that Pat Riley has coached more playoff games than Avery Johnson has coached regular season games. This showed. The NBA playoffs are more about adjustments than anything else. Riley realized that Avery's zone defense and aggressive double-teaming had Shaq contained, and devised methods to let Dwyane Wade go off. Avery Johnson failed to rally his team at all after blowing Game 3 and never came up with anything to slow down D-Wade in the fourth quarter.
• Dirk Nowitzki: Disappearing in the fourth quarter. Refusing to attack the rim. Settling for perimeter shot after perimeter shot. Foul and free throws statistics have been thrown around a lot, but Dirk does not drive to the basket and draw fouls the way Wade does. Hey Dirk, instead of attacking officials, treadmills, or locker room equipment, try the basket.
• Mark Cuban: If most fans were owners, myself included, we would be exactly like Cuban. He is always trying to do what is best for his team. For the most part, he has done that, establishing the Dallas Mavericks as a perennial contender. But Cuban's attitude trickled down onto the team, who seem to believe they were cheated instead of realizing they simply blew it.
• Game 3: Dallas has a 13 point lead with 5 minutes to go. All Dallas needs is a couple of stops for a 3-0 series lead. All Dallas needs is a couple of stops, and Miami is done. Instead, Dwyane Wade drops 42, Dirk Nowitzki misses a huge free-throw, and Gary Payton hits a game-winner.
• Game 4: Imagine that you are Jerry Stackhouse and Shaq is driving to the basket. What do you try to do to stop him? In order to prevent a three-point play, Stackhouse did exactly what every good basketball player would do in committing a very hard foul. The flagrant foul was all that was necessary. However, the NBA's one-game suspension is consistent with everything we have seen throughout the season and playoffs. The NBA is understandably discouraging hard fouls and promoting entertaining offense. Remember that Miami's Posey and Haslem each suffered similar rulings in the early rounds.
• Game 5: The Fathers Day Classic - D-Wade fuels another comeback by scoring 43, including 21 free-throws. Gary Payton hits another potential game winner. Dirk responds with a tough shot over Shaq. Wade jumps from the front court to the backcourt to legally receive a pass before breaking a triple team in a strong drive to the basket, and is fouled by Devin Harris although it was called on Dirk Nowitzki. Josh Howard's timeout in between Wade's clutch free throws cements another close loss.
• Game 6: If you cannot win at home in an elimination game, you will not be champion.

The Miami Heat: 2006 NBA Champions

This team was built for the playoffs. Pat Riley completely revamped his roster after losing to Detroit in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Considering the Heat were just a couple of injured Dwyane Wade ribs away from the NBA Finals, the moves raised quite a few eyebrows.

Gary Payton. James Posey. Jason Williams. Antoine Walker. Alonzo Mourning. All of these veterans were once stars on other teams and had to adjust into new roles. Shaq and Wade were cemented at the 1-2 options and only then does everyone else follow. For most of the season, it seemed that chemistry was an issue and many were ready to criticize Riley, especially after he supposedly ran out Stan Van Gundy. Remember when the Heat were 0-13 verses division leaders? The team only came together late in the season, maybe even late in each series. Tied 2-2 with Chicago, some predicted an upset. Down 0-1 against New Jersey, many thought Miami was burned out. Most thought Detroit would beat the Heat. Down 0-2, everyone thought the Heat were done.

Suddenly, Jason Williams is running Riley's offense, Antoine Walker is getting double-doubles, James Posey is taking charges and hitting threes, Alonzo Mourning is hitting the boards and blocking shots, and Gary Payton is hitting game winners.

Suddenly, Pat Riley looks like a genius again.

random thoughts...

• I would hate to be Stan Van Gundy. At least he gets a ring.
• Udonis Haslem was the most underrated player in the entire series.
• Shaq: Bringing three different teams to the finals. Winning championships with two different teams having to go through two different conferences. Sticking it to Kobe by declaring Dwyane Wade the best player in the world. Sticking it to Phil Jackson by naming Pat Riley his greatest coach ever. Living up to his guarantee of bringing a title to Miami in just two years. Good stuff.
• Shaq: After decades of being bashed for his free throw shooting, you would think that he would improve. Even if he does not make an effort to establish a decent form, you would think that Shaq would improve naturally after decades of shooting. Bad stuff.
• In the three games at Miami, was there at least one time where ABC did not show Shaq's wife, father, or mother in the stands when he was at the free-throw line? And why are they all sitting separately?
• Game 5 was amazing. Entering the finals, I did not think we would see anything as great as the series' in the Phoenix-Lakers, Cleveland-Washington, Dallas-San Antonio, and Detroit-Cleveland series'. I thought wrong.
• Whomever made the decision to publish the Dallas Mavericks' championship parade route after Game 2 should realize they motivated the enormous egos that are the Miami Heat.
• "I brought one suit, one shirt and one tie" - Pat Riley. That is awesome.
• This is the first of Dwyane Wade's multiple Finals MVPs. I cannot wait for him and Lebron James to begin their potentially legendary playoff battles in the East. Throw in Dwight Howard in Orlando and we are going to have this generation's Celtics-Pistons-Bulls.
  

Super Bowl XL

I see no finer way to kick off this blog than to revisit the past NFL season, specifically the controversial championship game.

February 5, 2006

Pittsburgh Steelers 21
Seattle Seahawks 10

I enjoy sports. A large part of that is because I truly believe that the team that plays the best wins the game. But in Super Bowl XL, that was sadly not the case. Now I admit our faults: Four huge penalties, two long missed field goals, a blown play to start the second half, inexcusable lack of awareness on the reverse pass from Randle-El to Hines Ward (everyone knew it was coming), THREE drive killing dropped passes by cocky Jerramy Stevens. Feel free to dismiss me as a sore loser, but Darrell Jackson caught the game’s first touchdown. Throughout the NFL playoffs, we have consistently seen defensive backs and wide receivers push off one another far worse than what we saw between D-Jack and Chris Hope. Jackson was on pace to have an MVP caliber performance, barring that phantom call and his inability to stay in bounds on bombs from the best quarterback on the field, Matthew Hasselbeck (26 completions for 273 yards to Ben’s 9 for 123). Heck, Seattle was so superior early on that they finished with a six minute advantage in time of possession, a thought to be unthinkable against the time-sucking Steelers. But okay, we take the 3-0 even though it should have been 7-0. Fast forward to the second quarter, 3rd and goal, Ben Roethlisberger play-action fakes to Jerome Bettis, who had amazingly been stopped by the Seahawks defense on multiple occasions, and Ben bootlegs to the left but is clearly stopped short despite being ruled a touchdown. Referee Bill Leavy upholds the call with no explanation whatsoever. Even genius Michael Holmgren could not have made it any simpler when he was seen shouting, "It wasn't even close." Big Ben himself later admitted he did not get in. The Steelers’ 7-3 lead going into that sad halftime show should have actually been Seattle’s. Those two blown calls would have completely changed each team’s approach to the second half and therefore affected the outcome of the game more so than anything else. Someone suggested to me that a billion dollars or so may have been enough for Vegas to actually fix the game through the clearly biased referees. While I admit that idea is completely ridiculous, this makes me wonder what could have been: Seattle had 396 yards to Pittsburgh’s 339, despite seven penalties called against Seattle which accounted for 161 yards (!), and throwing in Big Ben’s supposed touchdown dive, two touchdowns! Referees should not have control over a buck and two touchdowns in any game, let alone the largest of them all. That all being said, congratulations to both Pittsburgh and Seattle. It is a pity that we will never know who the better team was.