You Go And Do Something Like This...And Totally Redeem Yourself!!

HARRY, I TOOK CARE OF IT!!

So yesterday I wrote about how depressing the sports world had been lately…and you know what, the facets I spoke about are actually still really annoying BUT the sports world as a whole goes ahead and totally redeems itself tonight and tomorrow!!  Finding intrigue and excitement in some dark corners (at least for me) has revitalized my sports interest…for now.  Here's a look at what can get you pumped over the next two day (nights really) - 

Tonight at 8:07PM on FOX the Kansas City Royals host the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of Major League Baseball's World Series.  Last night in KC the Royals rolled on the Giants 10-0 behind more stellar pitching from Yordano Ventura.  Ventura honored fellow Dominican Oscar Tavares by writing an RIP message on the front of his blue Royals hat.  Tavares was killed earlier this week in an automobile accident in the DR.  Ventura's classy move surely would have set him up for some sort of uniform violation had he been playing in the NFL.  KC pounded SF pitching last night and took care of the other side only giving up 6 hits.  I am not going so far as to call anyone who is a citizen "un-American" but you really should tune in for an inning or two on this one with a perennial winner (SF) taking on the underdogs (KC) in a winner take all match up.

Thursday Night Under The Lights!  The MLS Playoffs come to Harrison, New Jersey at Red Bull Arena!!  I will be there in the flesh to take it all in, should be a great time.  Here is some great insight and predictions for tomorrow's game from Steven Humiston (a hardcore Red Bulls fan, adamant sports follower and also happens to be my brother).  Steve take it away - 

Thursday night’s MLS Eastern Conference Play-in game is a rematch of the season finale as the New York Red Bulls (RBs) take on Sporting Kansas City (SKC) from Red Bull Arena in Harrison. Sunday night’s finale saw MLS Golden Boot winner and Red Bulls striker Bradley Wright-Phillips score in each half leading the Red Bulls to a 2-0 win in Kansas City. With only three days of down time, the teams will play Thursday in a winner take all for the chance to take on Eastern Conference regular season Champ DC United in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Red Bulls are a streaky team led by a strong backbone in the middle of the pitch with central defenders Jamison Olave and Ibrahim Sekagya providing a solid base the RBs rely on to sure up their defense as well as key their attack. Through the midfield, Dax McCarty and Erik Alexander rely on work rate and pin point passes to spring speedsters Lloyd Sam and Wright-Phillips in on goal. The question marks for the Red Bulls are big ones. The first is what Red Bulls team will show up, the one that dismantled SKC to ensure this game would be played in Harrison, or the one that looked sluggish and disinterested in their 3-1 home defeat to the Columbus Crew on October 19th. The second one centers around the RBs big money players. Thierry Henry missed Sunday’s win with an Achilles injury and is a game time decision for Thursday night. The other, Tim Cahill has been the enigma for the Red Bulls all season. He scored perhaps the goal of the 2014 World Cup, but his club form has not been on the same standard. They will need one of them to play up to their potential to see their side through to the semifinals. 

SKC comes into the match with only one win in their last five games. Let in the back by Matt Besler and Aurelien Collin, the defending MLS Cup champions have had the target on their backs all season. SKCs midfield is controlled by US World cup veterans Graham Zusi and Benny Feilhaber, with 22 goal scorer Dom Dwyer leading the way upfront. Questions about this team as they have played more than their fair share of games this season with MLS, US Open Cup, and CONCACAF Champions League games on the schedule. The last few games they look to have been playing on tired legs, and with the short turnaround, this could provide the difference in Thursday’s pivotal match. The main two concerns for SKC are things they have full control over. In Sunday’s match up, they seemed to have trouble keeping track of the runners for New York. Their defensive organization must be better to ensure a different result this time around. Also, Dom Dwyer has scored 22 goals this season. They must find ways to get him the ball in dangerous attacking positions. 

In all, the Red Bulls don’t play their best when the lights are brightest, but have made Red Bull Arena a nightmare for visitors since opening in 2010. Sporting Kansas City does, but are their legs too weary to defend their crown after a long campaign? Will the home field advantage that the Red Bulls have be the difference? Tune in Thursday 8PM on ESPN2 to find out.  Editor's note:  If you are attending the game you gotta grab one of these on the way in at Five Guys!

Thanks a ton Steve!!

And last but not lease the NBA kicks of it's regular season tonight with a whole slew of games.  It is a cool night for basketball, a lot of fan fare BUT I am holding off for tomorrow's NYK vs CLE game.  LeBron plays Carmelo in Cleveland and I assume the TV networks will be bumping with chatter…Worth watching tonight are CHI vs NYK and OKC and POR…the rest of the games are fine but nothing special, check your local listings.

And that my friends is how sports got me interested again!  Let's keep it going.

HAPPY WATCHING!!!

Get Wifey Off Your Back, It's Only Monday!!

Happy Monday!  My most recent post Saturday afternoon extolled the awesomeness of all that was across the sports universe, especially in college football, MLB, NFL and NHL.  Well, when the dust settled late Sunday night, it was an up and down weekend.  Royals rolled again with a late rally in the top of the ninth to take a 2-0 lead on the O Birds.  The Jets did what they do, which is nothing exciting and even when it gets mildly exciting (making a late 4th quarter drive to tie the game) they find away to throw the game away.  Smith hit the other team with a sick pass that went for 6 points the other way.  At least it wasn't a blow out but it feels bad all the same.  The Rangers got smacked up 6-3 by the Toronto Maple Leafs who are now hang out enjoying Canadian Thanksgiving (get your own holidays!)  Did not make for very good sports TV around the NYC Metro area but the Dallas-Seattle game was a nice one for the national viewers.

You Think Your Wife is Always On YOUR Back?!

All that being said the HIGHLIGHT of the sporting world this weekend was the 2014 North American Wife Carrying Championships held Saturday at Sunday River, Maine.  You would think they would hold them on a Sunday at Sunday River, but whatever.  The rules of the competition are fairly simple - teams of one man and one woman where the woman is carried in some fashion compete in head to head heats to eventually get to the final head to head race.  The 275 yard course includes raised log obstacles, changes in elevation (try running up or downhill with your wife on your back) and what is termed "The Widow Maker" a stretch of waist deep water that essentially turns to a murky mash after competitors start running through it.  

Why do they call it The Widow Maker, you ask?  It's just a dude carrying his lady through waist deep water…sort of like in a romantic comedy starring whoever where the guy valiantly carries his honey to safety and then they make out on the shore of this body of water.  Well, this one is a little different because the male participant typically carries his female counterpart using the sport standard "Estonian carry".  What the heck is the Estonian carry?  Glad you asked!  It's where the "lady" wraps her legs around her partners head and clasps her arms around his waist.  Sounds pretty sexy right?  A whole lot of body contact for an obstacle course…well not exactly.  Picture the hold being an inverted piggyback ride where the woman's head is where her feet would usually be located.  Now image when she is dragged through waist deep (his waist, not hers) and you can see why if the man is not careful to keep his woman's head above the muck he could be looking at a long solo ride home (unless they win of course).  

There are a few other incredibly awesome perks to winning this coveted championship.  First, the winners receive the woman's weight in beer, 5 times her weight in cash and an entry into the World Championships held each year in Finland (where the sport is purported to have originated).  Adding another lay of beauty to the competition - your team's performance (lighter is better) and reward (heavier is better - more beer and dough) all come down to the weight of your wife.  I don't know about you guys, but this is not a conversation that I want to have with me wife heading into this competition.  Maybe this weekend the wife and I will give this a try, probably skipping The Widow Maker.

Enjoy your Monday!!

HAPPY WATCHING!!

Royals Rocking & Rolling

A Very Big Blue Weekend

The BLUES!!!

1.  College Football Jerseys & Natural Light beer cans

2.  Jets blues & The Blueshirts

3.  Big Blue Wrecking Crew

4.  Best one of the weekend the Powder Blue Royals!

Happy Saturday Y'All!!!  College football is in full swing this weekend with some powerful match ups - (2) Auburn vs. (3) Mississippi State, (9) TCU vs. (5) Baylor, (12) Oregon vs. (18) UCLA and a Notre Dame game that is about as close as it gets with UNC as this is being written. (look for updates later in the weekend)

The NFL is looking to continue it's week six with 13 games tomorrow featuring Peyton Manning's Broncos coming to town (NY Jets fan) looking to tie/break Brett Favre's career TD mark.  Peyton needs 5 TDs to tie and 6 to break and honestly with the Jets playing the way they are...this is insanely possible and really I secretly want them to get rolled on.  With Geno Smith going to the movies instead of team meetings, Michael Vick half-assing it in practice as the primary backup with a $4 million dollar salary and above all else, the coaching staff actually siding with them and concocting ridiculous excuses for previous snafus.  I am tired, simply tired of them.  I told a co-worker this week that I was done with them and will instead focus on my fantasy football team and maybe give hockey a shot this year...the New York Rangers looked pretty good the other night in St. Louis, just saying.  My prediction is DEN 42 - NYJ - 6, no record for Peyton this week.

The other major dialogue in the NFL this week seems to be the game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles.  There has been pregame smack talking from both sides, each team has a winning record and more importantly their match ups usually turn out to be close, hard fought games.  Both fans bases are pretty into their teams, the Philly fans are pretty miserable to be around in general and this only makes matters worse.  The game kicks off at 8:30PM Sunday night which means the entire east coast will be watching...the first half at least and then probably flip over to something else or go to bed, thanks for that NFL.  My prediction is NYG 31 - PHI 27 (tiny Eli taunt video can be found on ESPN or just Google it)

The Kansas City Royals have been on fire, but not in the blow out sense.  They haven't been crushing their opponents bones into dust, no they have not!  But man have they been incredibly exciting to watch.  Jumping out to leads, giving them up, getting back in the game and then winning it in extra innings.  This has happened 4 times so far this postseason.  The Powders are 5-0 heading into tonight's game which for a team that hasn't made the playoffs since Ronnie Reagan started his second term as POTUS and that is darned impressive.  They have a nice core of young players who don't have out of this world stats...no 45 homer hitters, no 20 game winners but through timely hitting and smart coaching they are just making it work...so far.  Only time will tell if they can move on to the World Series, it's only one game so far, but those road wins are golden!!

HAPPY WATCHING!!!

Ray Rice Debacle Gets Deep & Fun Stuff

Oh Ray & A Lot More!!

Yeah Ray, we get it!  Ok, that was a cheap shot...wait so was that?  I'm done.  Here we go!  

To take a David Chappelle line and bend it to my own needs - "What can be said about Ray Rice that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan?"  Ray Rice has been bombed out, depleted and left for dead in the middle of a field of blood thirsty ninjas whose only job it is to claim the souls of their enemies to increase their power.  I am not going to go too far into the Ray Rice thing because it has been covered by everyone from Oprah to Opie and Anthony, Rush Limbaugh to David Letterman, Howard Stern to Stewart Scott.  It's one of those stories that people love to read and then I think kinda get tired of.  

Today it was announced that the folks over at EA Sports will be wiping Rice from the recently released Madden 2015 game.  That really means nothing to anyone in my opinion.  Isn't he suspended anyway?  Could you really use him?  Isn't he a free agent right now?  What position would he play?  In other corporate news, the Baltimore Raves are offering a Rice Swap.  You can trade in your Baltimore Ray Rice jersey and get a brand new legends of the field and court room Ray Lewis jersey.  See how I just did that there?  The double standard (read some here)

BUT!  What I am really looking forward to is what Rutgers University - Ray's alma mater is going to do with their stadium and surrounding campus.  Rice was the big man on campus during and after his fantastic career there.  He led the program to relevancy after decades of less than mediocre play.  This situation is kinda like the Penn State University/Joe Paterno thing from a few years back after it came out that he turned a blind eye on that whole Jerry Sandusky molester situation.  Oddly enough...Saturday's home game is in New Brunswick against Penn State to open up Rutgers' first game in the Big 10 (which now has 14 teams, dumb).  It will be interesting indeed.  So there you have it, the Ray Rice sitch has a lot of semi-off the radar things going on around it.

Fins Beat Pats

(above is an old photo of the two teams but it sums up Sunday's game quite well)

Pats were leading 20-10 at half time, couldn't score in the second half and gave up 23 unanswered points.  That's pretty much it.  I am moving on.

Grilled Cheese Round Up

++  Eli was Eli Manning Monday night...the Eli from 2013, not the one from 2011.  This could get ugly fast as Giants Nation gets antsy and eventually calls for Coach Tom Coughlin's job and probably a host of other unreasonable demands.  Sports radio the first week of October could golden...don't touch that dial!!

++  Steelers wide out Antonio Brown tries to take a punt return to the house but there was a pesky punter in his way.  Solution??  Front Ninja Kick to the face mask...didn't work.  Did get slapped with a 15 yard penalty for unnecessary roughness.

++  The US Open finals over the weekend were a complete snooze fest.  Serena Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-3 bleh.  On the mens side Marin Cilic beat Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-3 6-3, again bleh.  Apparently no one watched and ticket prices being scalped on StubHub were the lowest for a US Open Finals in a loooong time.  Even they don't look stoked - 

++  OK one last thing - baseball is still going.  If you have the chance to tune in over the next few weeks, try to watch Clayton Kershaw pitch.  He pitches for the LA Dodgers.  His stat line is phenomenal and it's a really enjoyable watch.  Just catch like 2 innings...I am sure he will be on the ESPN Sunday night game at some point.  The Dodgers are rolling so you can probably catch him in the playoffs...I recommend it...highly.  

-->  18 wins, 3 losses, 210 strikeouts in 177 innings, 6 complete games, 1.67 ERA and 0.82 WHIP...and he missed a month with a back injury.  SICK!

HAPPY WATCHING!!

Bartolo Colon and Other Funny Sports Names

Hi Everyone!  

We have made it to Hump Day, let's get down to business yo.

Daytime baseball which is increasingly happening on Wednesday as opposed to the traditional getaway day on Thursday is a glorious thing.  With the widespread proliferation of the Internet (thanks Al Gore, you're the best) and smartphones (thanks Steve Jobs, you actually were one of the best) we are able to follow our favorite teams, fantasy and otherwise during the work day and really enjoy a bit of sunshine in what otherwise is a generally grey and mundane day.  Spreadsheets, annoying requests and conference calls can easily be overlooked when you can follow the box score of your fave team at 3:15PM EST.

I will illustrate how the daytime baseball situation can be phenomenal - 

1.  The aforementioned Bartolo Colon (Mets starting pitcher) who whenever I see all I can think of is that his last name in English is essentially a portion of the large intestine responsible for a lot of filtering and pushing.  Yes, I know I am disregarding the accent mark over the second "O" but still.  Either way, I love it.  Bartolo was picked up for 2 years at around $20MM, he is 41, 265lbs of ferociousness and basically throws only gas.  It's beautiful!  Sorry, it just is.  He won 18 some-odd games last year, is kinda sorta at the tail end of his career and today....and today...he took a perfect game into the 7th inning against the Seattle Mariners.  The Mets have one no-hitter (thanks Johan, much love) and zero perfect games.  It would have been glorious but it wasn't meant to be...at least not today.  Robinson "the jerk" Cano picked up a single off of Colon in the 7th.  It's fine but dumb.  He did throw a no-hitter in the minors while in the Cleveland Inidians org.  So he has that going.

2.  Moving over to a more semi-sports, semi-pop news story...does anyone in Giants nation think the signing of David Tyree is a bad idea.  The Giants franchise is known for consistency, storied playoff runs and above all...class (aside from you LT, yes I know you're a Giants god, but still...classless) - http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24633397/giants-hiring-of-former-wr-david-tyree-already-causing-controversy David Tyree hates gays.  I am not sure why, but he seemingly does.  Hates the fact that they might get married and live in his neighborhood.  He has been quoted as saying that, "same sex marriages will lead to anarchy".  Yes, hoards of gay couples will unite and instead of just enjoying their marriages will pillage and loot the local countryside like a bunch of vikings.  Makes all the sense in the world... I think the Giants need to revisit this one.

3.  Other funny sports names that I promised in the post title - NFL player Marvin McNutt, Phillies pitcher A. Bastardo, R.A. Dickey or Rob A Dickey and this guy Cheeky Cox - http://quicklol.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/funny-sporting-names-1.png

4.  Dinner is on it's way and I am starving.  Been trying to get in beach shape for a trip to Florida later this summer, but I am starving!  Bring on the meats and cheeses!!!

I hope you are all having a beautiful week and that if you have any questions or comments you post them in the fields provided.  

There are 3 soccer games on tonight.  Check out ESPN2 and NBC Sports.  Man City, Tottenham, Toronto, KC...my team MANU...get involved.

And as always, Happy Watching!!

-Shaun