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First Down: Driving Mr. Davis

Someone needs to take the keys away from Oakland Raiders' owner Al Davis. According to ESPN.com reports surfacing this weekend, Davis, 78, drafted a letter of resignation for his head coach Lane Kiffen nearly two weeks ago. Kiffen has refused to sign the letter, which would force him to forfeit the estimated $4 million owed to him for the remaining two years of his contract.Oddly enough, Kiffen has dared his boss to fire him. This action would force the Raiders' organization to pay him the remaining sum of his contract. This is likely a statement to the Raiders that he will not leave empty handed.
If Kiffen is fired or chooses to resign, the Raiders will start the 2008 season with a new coach, which has happened in four of the past five seasons. Owner Al Davis has created a revolving door in the head coaching office, making the job one of the most dreaded in the coaching world. One of the keys to a winning program is stability, something the silver and black have dearly lacked.
Davis' actions will most likely come back to bite him in the end. Rumors are swirling already that he is eyeing Dennis Green as Kiffen's replacement. The best way to turn any struggling team is to hire a coach whose defining moment is a post-game meltdown and the subsequent beer commercial made using the footage. That's the kind of resume that commands respect in the locker room.
- Sean

Second Down: Streaking through our minds

It seems as if the sporting world is obsessed with perfection these days. We follow the 18-0 New England Patriots quest or the remarkable run of the 19-0 Memphis Tigers, who are torching some of the best collegiate basketball programs in the nation, with near obsession. However, the quest for "reverse perfection" is equally enticing - to watch the beauty of a team or individual being so inherently flawed that they cannot seem to defeat anyone.
The 2007 Miami Dolphins broke our hearts when they defeated the Baltimore Ravens 22-16 in overtime on Dec. 16 to end their streak of 13 straight losses. The NBA had its own impressive losing run when the Miami Heat dropped their 15th straight game on Thursday, 90-89 to San Antonio and fell to 8-33. Despite being plagued with injuries to star players, burdened with an aging roster and poor team chemistry, the Heat managed to rally to a 98-96 victory over the Indiana Pacers Saturday afternoon. Even with a nagging shoulder injury Dwayne Wade managed to drop 35 points in their first win since Dec. 22.
Had the losing continued there would have no doubt be a serious following as the stretch of losses approached the record of 23 held by the 95-96 Vancouver (now Memphis) Grizzlies and the 97-98 Denver Nuggets. For as sporting history has shown us, just like winning the pursuit of imperfection will keep us drawn to our television screens.

- Steve

Third Down: Finding the Franchise

It was only three and a half years ago that the Houston Rockets shipped Stevie "Franchise" Francis to Orlando in seven-player mega-deal that brought Tracy McGrady to Houston. Less we forget, at the time Francis was one of the premier players in the association. In his first five years in the league, the former number two pick out of Maryland co-won Rookie of the Year, was the runner up to Vince Carter in the Slam Dunk Contest that same season, made three All-Star teams, and led the Rockets to the playoffs in 2003-04.
What happened? In the four years since he was traded to the Magic, "The Franchise" has completely disappeared (meaning he went to the New York Knicks). Francis excelled in his first season with the Magic, but his playing time has fallen from 78 games and 38.2 minutes per game to 46 and 37, 24 and 27, and 44 and 28, respectfully from 2005 to 2007. His scoring has steadily declined from over 21 PPG in 2004 to only 11 PPG last season.
Maybe all Francis needed was some home cooking. In July, he signed a two-year $6 million contract with the Rockets. How good do they look for making that trade? The honeymoon hasn't exactly gone as scheduled. Francis was left off the roster following the preseason, and the Rockets announced Jan. 14 that "The Franchise" was out indefinitely with bi-lateral quadriceps tendonitis - another tough blow for what was once a promising career.

- John

Pass the Mayo!

Before I get to the "controversy", Gene Wojo of ESPN.com posted a pretty interesting read looking back at his 100 predictions of the NFL season he made in August.

Seems USC freshman O.J. Mayo is being investigated by the NCAA for a possible rules violation. Allegedly he accepted free court side tickets to Monday's game between the Nuggets and Lakers. Mayo said he received the $230 tickets from Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony. According tot he AP report, "NCAA bylaw 16.11.2.2.3 states that student-athletes may not receive 'free or reduced-cost admission to professional athletics contests from professional sports organizations, unless such services also are available to the student body in general.'"

Obviously Mayo violate the rules, so I have no beef with the investigation. But the NCAA needs to wake up, possibly beat themselves over the head with a frying pan a few hundred times, take a cold shower, pop some sleeping pills and take a day off, and try again tomorrow. This is no where near the same as Reggie Bush receiving free housing, or an athlete being given a new Hummer, etc. Everyone knew before this season, when Mayo recruited himself to USC, that the phenom was only going for one year and would then enter the NBA draft.

You're telling me, Mr. NCAA Chairman, that Mayo cannot attend a game, in the city that he already goes to school in nonetheless, in a sport which he will make his career one year from now? That's like telling an accounting major he or she can't go to an accounting firm for a day. And the sad part about this is that the NCAA will probably try to get Mayo to pay back the face value of the tickets. Where is a guy who isn't allowed to have a job, and isn't reimbursed for making the NCAA rich going to get $230?

One last thing for thought, NCAA football players are allowed to receive gifts from the corporate sponsors of bowl games. Go figure.

Record Breakers

On Saturday evening the New England Patriots won a hard fought battle with the Jacksonville Jaguars to move to 17-0. This win puts them a mere 120 minutes from perfection and the first ever 19-0 regular season. Given the banged up nature of the Chargers and the flawed nature of the the NFC contenders I have little doubt Brady, Belichick and the rest of the crew will be pouring glorious champagne on each other come early February.

When thinking of this I have to reflect on the greatest season in my other favorite sport. For those who don't follow the show I am a huge Chicago fan, and of course my first blog had to reflect that love. Which leads me to the 1996 Chicago Bulls and the greatest season by an NBA team in league history (Note I said greatest season, not greatest team as that is a debate for another day). With the Boston Celtics losing their third game in the last four on Monday night the Bulls 72 win mark seems oh so very safe now. The Celts who started white hot fell to 30-6 and would have to win 24 straight games to get back on pace with those Bulls. That Bulls team was unreal, whipping their opponents by an average 12.8 ppg. Michael Jordan played every game like a man possessed, showing the world that he had returned as the greatest player of all time. Jordan averaged 30.38 ppg, 6.62 rpg, 4.3 apg, and 2.2 spg on his way to becoming the league and finals MVP. Led by Zen Master coach Phil Jackson they ran the triple-post offense with remarkable efficiency. With talent like Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Toni Kukoc, and a host of top tier role players each with their own niche those Bulls were winning machines rolling to a 15-3 post season record and their first title of a 3-peat.

While the Patriots have shown anything to be possible, I have serious doubts as to whether a run like the one the 1996 Chicago Bulls put up will ever be matched. The combination of intensity, talent, chemistry, great coaching, and a slightly soft league may never be seen again. Now if only this year's Bulls can pull themselves together... David Stern if you're reading, for the love of God send T-Mac and quickly.

-Steve

Impressions from Wild Card Saturday

Game one from the weekend was almost as advertised: the feel good story of the season colliding with the "weakest" divisional winner who was primed for an upset. For a few brief moments into the fourth quarter it looked like a distinct possibility, taking a one point lead due to two quick touchdowns that turned around a disastrous day for Joe Gibbs and company. However reality set in and the better team prevailed with twenty-one unanswered points to squash that dream.
The good news is the Redskins didn't stand a chance in the second round, but the bad news is neither do the Seahawks. For the entire first half the Redskins offense was stuck in the mud, forcing three and outs (plug!) nearly every drive and giving the Seattle offense all the time in the world...to put up a whopping thirteen points. Their run game is exactly what critics said it was, their passing attack is only half as good as advertised and their defensive is surprisingly better than I expected. All of that means that their next game will be a slow battle that the Seahawks will lose; should be a blast to watch.
The day's second game may turn out to be the first round's best showdown. The Jag's 31-29 victory over the Steelers was absolutely enthralling, and I'll admit that I gave up on the game at the end of the third quarter. The Steelers' nineteen, fourth quarter points made this game not only interesting, but important for the rest of the NFL. It showed us a couple of key things about the Jaguars headed into round two.
First of all, they aren't as good at holding leads as I thought. I figured they would run the hell out of the ball in the second half. Instead they threw two interceptions. Their strength is the ground game, but they tested the friendly skies and nearly crashed their season in the process.
Secondly, their defense isn't as strong as I thought. The Steeler's passing attack ripped through their secondary without too much trouble down the stretch by being physical. Hines Ward and Heath Miller lowered their shoulders' and plowed their way down the field for a pair of touchdowns. It appears that the Jaguars secondary might be a bit soft, which bodes well for receivers like Wes Welker.
The first set of games were better than I expected, but it showed a lot of weakness in both advancing teams. If this is an indication of what to expect for the rest of the playoffs, I can't wait. The Jaguars scare me as a Patriots fan, but I was happy to see some things that New England can attack if they face off.
If tomorrow's games are as good, you can expect another post to recap my take. Hope everyone is having a safe and peaceful break.

-Sean

Okay. Miracle Tonight.

Great news out of the Buffalo Bills camp. "Kevin Everett is walking on his own at a Houston rehab center, the latest significant progress by the Buffalo Bills tight end in his remarkable recovery from a serious spinal cord injury."

Originally the belief from doctors was that Everett would never walk again. In the Bills season opener versus Denver, Everett was paralyzed from the neck down after making a tackle. A few days later he started moving his arms and legs, and thing shave only improved from there.

Regardless of how many losses the Bills finish with , the news of Everett's miraculous recovery is a win for that team, and that city.

Tigers caught some Marlins

How in God's name did this happen? The Angels were offering more than this for Miguel Cabrera alone, now the Tigers get him and Dontrelle Willis for two really good prospects and some throw in's? First of all, this trade makes Detroit ridiculous. Their lineup is being compared to that of a fantasy baseball lineup;

1. Granderson
2. Palanco
3. Cabrera
4. Ordonez
5. Sheffield
6. Rodriguez
7. Guillen
8. Jones
9. Renteria

That unreal. The only thing that lineup was really missing was a young home-run hitter, and now they got it...with Willis as icing on the cake to be their third starter.

The bigger issue at hand is that the Marlins will likely go into the next season with a payroll of roughly 10 million dollars. That means that they will receive more money than anybody else from major league baseball due to the luxury tax for the second straight year. Their payroll is going to be less than Gil Meche's contract; granted he was over paid, but Barry Zito is making 14.5 million, so the market for pitchers is too high in general. Is it fair to the Marlins fans to pay money to watch them put out a team of 20 year old's who likely will be out of the playoff race by the end of the first month? No. Is it fair to season ticket holders to essentially give up on the team before spring training? No. Is it fair to the rest of the MLB that they refuse to pay anyone besides Olivo over a million dollars (he gets two million) so that every team will be giving them luxury tax money for simply showing up for the season? No.

I've had this gripe before because of their fire sales in the past and nothing has changed. The Marlins are bad for baseball and the longer it takes for the MLB figure out a way to stop this, the worse it could get. Baseball is often criticized for their enormous salaries, but why is no one mad that the Marlins are robbing their fans? At least teams like Boston and New York give their fans a show for their money.

-Sean

No Miracle Tonight

Wow. I couldn’t wait until tomorrow. I’ve been slipping in and out of consciousness for the past hour, so let’s see how incoherent this post can be. I’m sure tomorrow we’ll hear on every sports show, “Did the Pats win it, or did the Ravens lose it?” Normally the Pats ALWAYS win it, but tonight the Ravens gave it away. They had the ball twice in the last 5 minutes and had two three and outs, no pun intended. Then they call time out on 4th and one, when they had Brady stopped. The Ravens committed way too many penalties, especially on the final drive. As Mike Tirico pointed out, on such a windy night, kick returns have been crucial to field position. The returners had been lining up at the 15 on most of the kicks. With those unnecessary personal foul calls Gostkowski was able to kick off from Baltimore’s 35. And it ended up costing the Ravens a shot at history, as we saw they got stuffed at the one yard line to end the game.
The pats didn’t play a terribly great game, but they’ve shown us over the years, they do what they need to, to win games. The only concern I have going into the Steelers game next week (4:15 on CBS) is the run defense. The pats let Willis McGahee run wild, on a night when they new Baltimore’s only chance to win would be on the ground. And as I mentioned at the half, Kyle Boller is who we thought he was. He threw a horribel interception that would have put the Ravens up by two scores. I don’t know what he was thinking, there was not a single Purple uniform near the ball.
You gotta give props…
Brady just said in his press conference that he would have gotten that first down if the Ravens hadn’t called timeout because “he heard the whistle blow”. And he’s funny.
anyways, DAP to the Ravens D; they sacked Brady three times, the most of anyone this year. Not counting the first drive of the game, Baltimore was able to confuse and contain the big three receivers. The Ravens seem to be stuck in a rut. Their offense is finally starting to come around, but the defense continues to get older. They’ve got some major decisions to make in the offseason.

–J.J. Mad