On Saturday night the San Jose Earthquakes took on the Seattle Sounders FC at Century Link field (the field formerly known as Qwest). This game was the last regular season game ever for famed Sounder's Goal Keeper Kasey Keller. To celebrate his career, the Seattle fans showed up in droves, 64,140 of them to be exact, setting a Sounder's attendance record. The Sounders rewarded the loyal fans with an exciting come from behind victory. Additionally, on an emotional night dedicated to him, Kasey Keller made an amazing series of saves to prevent the Earthquakes from pulling to far ahead. However, the thing about this game that really struck me was how dirty the San Jose Earthquakes played.
Admittedly I have very small sample size, one game, but the Earthquakes appear to be a team full of bully's. They had four yellow cards issued to four different players in the game. They tackles hard and dirty the whole game. Several times they grabbed and held back Sounder preventing them from making a play. All the fans could see it an let the Referee's know what they were missing with their boos.
More striking than the yellow cards were the two fights San Jose players started with Seattle players. The first fight started when an Earthquake slide tackled Alvaro Fernandez. It was a hard tackle but appeared clean, but some of the players started jawing. Than things escalated when an Earthquake shoved Mike Fucito in the back. This really pissed off the Sounders and caused a whole group of players to group up and start pushing and shoving. After a couple of minutes, the Referee finally gained control and broke everything up.
The second fight was much more egregious. After a hard battle over the ball a San Jose player pushed Seattle star Osvaldo Alonso in the back causing him to tumble to the ground. This attack didn't sit well with Alonso, who is a bit of a fireplug himself, and he quickly stood up and charged the San Jose player. The Referee really struggled to break this one up as neither the San Jose player nor Alonso wanted to back down.
Basically, after watching all the fouls and the two fights, it became obvious to me that the San Jose Earthquakes are a bunch of jerks. I have never been a fan of dirty teams, be it the Pittsburgh Steelers, Philidelphia Flyers or anyone else. This dislike of dirty teams now extends into professional soccer. I will now be rooting hard against the San Jose Earthquakes anytime I see them.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Hockey Has Reappeared
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| Watch, for his sake. |
Of course, there's more to this NHL season than just vague entertainment for the masses in Minnesota. Indeed, there are tens nay, elevens of interesting stories! For instance, there's the ongoing Sidney Crosby concussion story. After getting laid out twice last season, Crosby's been out for an awful long time trying to regain the ability to stand up without wanting to vomit. It really is somewhat horrific how badly concussed Crosby was, made all the worse by the fact that he's far from the first to have such problems in the NHL. Hopefully this, coupled with Manny Malhotra's unfortunate eye incident, will help the NHL begin to protect their players' heads better. Because if Sidney Crosby is out, then the NHL will most certainly respond to help their Golden Boy.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Suck for Luck, Not Worth It
Last year’s Heisman Trophy runner-up was Standford QB Andrew Luck. As a red shirt junior at Stanford, he threw for 3332 yds, 32 td and 8 int, while completing an amazing 70.7% of his passes. He was so good on the field and in the minds of scouts that he secured himself the guaranteed number one overall selection in the 2011 NFL draft. Than in early 2011 he shocked the world by deciding to return to Stanford and finish his degree, rather than enter the NFL. Luck turned down millions of dollars in guaranteed money for another chance to win the Heisman, win the National Championship and finish his degree (because college is important kids!). He also extended hope for NFL franchises weak at the QB position, that weren’t the Carolina Panthers, for one more year.
Now with the 2012 NFL season under way and prized college QB Andrew Luck a little closer to being available, many franchises are starting to see their hope of snagging him turn into a reality. Fans all across the NFL, including those in Seattle, have started Suck for Luck campaigns. The fans that are part of these campaigns are rooting for their teams to lose for the chance at drafting Andrew Luck first overall in the 2012 NFL draft. These supposed loyal and supporting fans are turning their backs on the present in hopes of a brighter future. The theory goes suffering through one really bad season would be worth the agony in order to get the best available player in the NFL draft. A player many think is the best and most NFL ready QB sense John Elway.
Luck has been described by many NFL scouts and experts as a can’t miss pick. However, over the many years of NFL football, there have been lots of other can’t miss top end QB prospects. Guys like Ryan Leaf, Joey Harrington and JaMarcus Russell (or Aaron Curry if you leave the QB position) were all pegged as future NFL stars. They were all supposed to be franchise savers. Yet, none of them turned out to be quality players.
The point is a draft pick, no matter how good the player was in college, is never a sure thing. The football played in the NFL is much faster and hard hitting than that played in college. There are not division two opponents to pick on and walk on CB to burn. Not everyone can make the transition from the NCAA to the NFL.
Even if Luck can make the transition into an NFL star, there is always the injury bug to worry about. In a sport as violent as professional football, injuries can ruin the career of even the most promising player. Even top draft picks are not protected from susceptibility to injury.
Take for example the case of the 2008 Lions, who went 0-16, which is the worst season record ever. For that miserable season they were reward with the first overall pick, which they used to select Matt Stafford. During the few games he has played Stafford has looked good. The problem is he has only played in 17 games of the potential 36 during his 3 year career. Stafford career has so far been struck by the injury bug. During the span of Stafford's career the Lions have won 12 games is 36 chances. It is still early in his career and it might all turn out good, but the Lion’s fans suffering through an 0-16 season didn't suddenly turn them into contenders.
I am sure the Lions fans, the real fans, would have rather the Lions won a few games. The joy brought from your team winning a game now in the present is worth more than the potential that they might win a game in the future. Think about last year and the Seahawk’s win over the Chargers where Leonnnnnnnnn Washington returned two kicks for TD, or the win over the Saints in the playoffs and how you felt watching those games. Would you have traded those wins for a chance to draft a QB who might turn into something special? Most fans wouldn’t. You watch your team’s games to see them win and experience the emotions that come with those wins.
So, to all the Suck for Luck promoters out there I ask, what is the point of even having a team if you can’t ever enjoy the present and have to look towards the future?
Sources: ESPN.com, Yahoo Sports
Now with the 2012 NFL season under way and prized college QB Andrew Luck a little closer to being available, many franchises are starting to see their hope of snagging him turn into a reality. Fans all across the NFL, including those in Seattle, have started Suck for Luck campaigns. The fans that are part of these campaigns are rooting for their teams to lose for the chance at drafting Andrew Luck first overall in the 2012 NFL draft. These supposed loyal and supporting fans are turning their backs on the present in hopes of a brighter future. The theory goes suffering through one really bad season would be worth the agony in order to get the best available player in the NFL draft. A player many think is the best and most NFL ready QB sense John Elway.
Luck has been described by many NFL scouts and experts as a can’t miss pick. However, over the many years of NFL football, there have been lots of other can’t miss top end QB prospects. Guys like Ryan Leaf, Joey Harrington and JaMarcus Russell (or Aaron Curry if you leave the QB position) were all pegged as future NFL stars. They were all supposed to be franchise savers. Yet, none of them turned out to be quality players.
The point is a draft pick, no matter how good the player was in college, is never a sure thing. The football played in the NFL is much faster and hard hitting than that played in college. There are not division two opponents to pick on and walk on CB to burn. Not everyone can make the transition from the NCAA to the NFL.
Even if Luck can make the transition into an NFL star, there is always the injury bug to worry about. In a sport as violent as professional football, injuries can ruin the career of even the most promising player. Even top draft picks are not protected from susceptibility to injury.
Take for example the case of the 2008 Lions, who went 0-16, which is the worst season record ever. For that miserable season they were reward with the first overall pick, which they used to select Matt Stafford. During the few games he has played Stafford has looked good. The problem is he has only played in 17 games of the potential 36 during his 3 year career. Stafford career has so far been struck by the injury bug. During the span of Stafford's career the Lions have won 12 games is 36 chances. It is still early in his career and it might all turn out good, but the Lion’s fans suffering through an 0-16 season didn't suddenly turn them into contenders.
I am sure the Lions fans, the real fans, would have rather the Lions won a few games. The joy brought from your team winning a game now in the present is worth more than the potential that they might win a game in the future. Think about last year and the Seahawk’s win over the Chargers where Leonnnnnnnnn Washington returned two kicks for TD, or the win over the Saints in the playoffs and how you felt watching those games. Would you have traded those wins for a chance to draft a QB who might turn into something special? Most fans wouldn’t. You watch your team’s games to see them win and experience the emotions that come with those wins.
So, to all the Suck for Luck promoters out there I ask, what is the point of even having a team if you can’t ever enjoy the present and have to look towards the future?
Sources: ESPN.com, Yahoo Sports
Friday, September 30, 2011
A Salute to Seattle Mariners I Never Want to See Again
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| Positive reinforcement! |
Yes, I know it's nothing new. In fact, the terribility of the Mariners has a storied history, ranging from the Van Winklean longevity of Diego Segui's suck to the overwhelmingly varied suck of Yuniesky Betancourt, a man who could exhibit every single baseball skill in the exact wrong way. Of course, as a Mariners fan, one can always hope to get rid of players like that, even if there is little chance that our wishes will come to fruition. As such, it is time to look back at the 2011 season and pick out the players who really shouldn't ever play on the Mariners ever again.
A Few Tidbits from Around the Web
Writing original and thought provoking posts can be so taxing on the mind. So I will work on them later. Time for me to post more content without doing any creative brain work. Here are some links to interesting sports related web content, enjoy!
- It is no secret that the Seahawks offense has been terrible. The Onion got this exclusive as to why.
- The Mariner's ownership group is one of the most mysterious in professional sports. The Seattle Times wrote this interesting piece about them.
- After stumbling aroudn the internet, I ran into this semi-serious post about closer walkup songs.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
People Who Are My Favorite
It has come to my attention that a lot of what I write is fairly negative. Of course, this is the one thing holding us back as a nationally respected news outlet. No player wants to hear negativity about themselves, and as such our blog gets held down to avoid hurting anybody's feelings. This stops today! As such, I am here to introduce to you a list of players that I love, regardless of sport. Who knows? If you're really lucky and ask nicely, maybe I'll even say why I like them. That way other players can try to emulate them (here's looking at you, the entire National Football League) and also be my favorites. Even with this exciting undertaking, let's agree that nobody likes Boston.
Manute Bol: I never said they had to be alive! (editor's note: they really should be alive.) Not only was Bol a somewhat hilariously single-minded player, the man was great off the court, contributing huge amounts to improving his homeland. Furthermore, the man used to fight off lions when he was nothing but a mere 7'7" sheep herder and coined the term "my bad."
Curtis Granderson: Sure, his stats are ridiculously inflated by playing in a park specifically designed to give him homeruns. Sure, his defense is pretty average and he can't make much contact. Even with all that, Granderson (question: why does Blogger say it is spelled wrong here but not above?) is a productive player who is quite hilarious in his blogging (check Yahoo! Sports) and wears his socks so high as to be completely adorable.
Evander Kane: He knocked out Matt Cooke with one punch as a 19 year old. That is all that matters.
Mauro Rosales: My brother and I attended the first Sounders home game this year. Rosales came in as a sub and I immediately decided he would be my favorite. I can only assume that, upon hearing of his newfound burden, Rosales decided he must live up to that title and immediately became an MVP threat despite getting payed the veteran's minimum. I know how to pick 'em!
Ryan Kesler: Because interview bombing is an art.
Matt Bonner: He created the Coach B Fundamentals of Basketball video, which is hilarious. He is also the Sandwich Hunter. Hilarity forever, as well as (strangely) excellent basketball ability.
Cameron Maybin: Being a Padres fan, there is very little happiness nowadays. Pretty much the entire roster is spare parts, with very little hope for the future beyond Anthony Rizzo and his .125 batting average (hooray!) Luckily, Maybin makes me believe that somebody in San Diego knows anything about baseball. The guy got traded for Miguel Cabrera, then everybody stopped caring and the Padres got him for practically nothing. Now THAT'S awesome. Admittedly, I rarely get to see him play and haven't heard a peep from him, but he plays great defense (7.5 UZR) and leads the Padres in homers. In other news, he has nine homers. Damn Padres.
Manute Bol: I never said they had to be alive! (editor's note: they really should be alive.) Not only was Bol a somewhat hilariously single-minded player, the man was great off the court, contributing huge amounts to improving his homeland. Furthermore, the man used to fight off lions when he was nothing but a mere 7'7" sheep herder and coined the term "my bad."
Curtis Granderson: Sure, his stats are ridiculously inflated by playing in a park specifically designed to give him homeruns. Sure, his defense is pretty average and he can't make much contact. Even with all that, Granderson (question: why does Blogger say it is spelled wrong here but not above?) is a productive player who is quite hilarious in his blogging (check Yahoo! Sports) and wears his socks so high as to be completely adorable.
Evander Kane: He knocked out Matt Cooke with one punch as a 19 year old. That is all that matters.
Mauro Rosales: My brother and I attended the first Sounders home game this year. Rosales came in as a sub and I immediately decided he would be my favorite. I can only assume that, upon hearing of his newfound burden, Rosales decided he must live up to that title and immediately became an MVP threat despite getting payed the veteran's minimum. I know how to pick 'em!
Ryan Kesler: Because interview bombing is an art.
Matt Bonner: He created the Coach B Fundamentals of Basketball video, which is hilarious. He is also the Sandwich Hunter. Hilarity forever, as well as (strangely) excellent basketball ability.
Cameron Maybin: Being a Padres fan, there is very little happiness nowadays. Pretty much the entire roster is spare parts, with very little hope for the future beyond Anthony Rizzo and his .125 batting average (hooray!) Luckily, Maybin makes me believe that somebody in San Diego knows anything about baseball. The guy got traded for Miguel Cabrera, then everybody stopped caring and the Padres got him for practically nothing. Now THAT'S awesome. Admittedly, I rarely get to see him play and haven't heard a peep from him, but he plays great defense (7.5 UZR) and leads the Padres in homers. In other news, he has nine homers. Damn Padres.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Seahawks Week 1 Reaction: 33-17 defeat
Below are my thoughts and reactions to our disappointing loss to the 49ers in week 1. If you're interested, here's some reaction and analysis of the game from Field Gulls, 17power, and HawkBlogger. I might have hit up on a few things they didn't, but I probably sound like a broken record if you've read those since there appears to be a lot of consensus in the Seahawks blogosphere.
• The first-half offense..yikes. It’s going to be a long season if the Seahawks offense decides to show up an hour and a half late to every game. Even worse than expected, the offensive line allowed way too much pass-pressure and the run blocking was no better. There’s no way T-Jack is off the hook either with the terrible pocket presence he showed and holding onto the ball way too long at times. Those 5 sacks were a shared responsibility between him and our line. On one play Golden Tate had his coverage burned but TJ overthrew the ball on what would have been a sure TD. The 49ers offense wasn’t much better, but their o-line at least played well enough to give Alex Smith some time and set up those FGs.
o Okung appeared to uncharacteristically struggle at times with a few penalties and allowing a big sack on 3rd-2. I wonder if this is at all related to the ankle sprain he endured earlier in preseason. I’ll have my eye on him in particular next week.
o James Carpenter and Breno Giacomini looked like they were the most abused. Carpenter in particular had trouble with speed-rushers. Don’t start up with the hysteria about him being a bust yet. We’re still experiencing the lockout fallout effects and he’s a huge work in progress. That being said, he’s probably on Tom Cable’s shit list and if Robert Gallery is back next week then I wouldn’t be surprised to see Carpenter sitting this one out.
o I didn’t notice much from John Moffitt and Max Unger..I think that’s a good thing (?).
• The Seahawks defense -run defense in particular- was great. They limited the 49ers to 209 yards of total offense, 1/5 in the redzone, and 1/15 on third down conversions. Yes...the 49ers offense is nothing to write home about, but holding a past Seahawks killer, Frank Gore, to 2.7 ypc is no small feat either. I believe few teams did that last season against him. We knew our defense was going to be the most consistent part of the team this season, but they showed some real potential this first week.
o Of all the big name FA acquisitions we’ve had this off-season, re-signing Mebane to a reasonable contract might have been the biggest. Mebane is one of the guys who probably won’t rack up lots of sacks and garner much fan attention, but he is passively contributing by drawing double-teams and collapsing the interior.
o The secondary wasn’t bad either and looks much better than last year. Although the Niners game plan obviously called for screen passes and such, it looked like we forced Smith into some checkdowns when they wanted to throw further downfield.
o Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor are the real deal. These two are the youngest safety tandem in the league. They both had a couple tackles for lost yardage at critical times. ET was everywhere and Kam is going to be one of those guys that severely disincentivizes receivers from running routes into his coverage zone. On one play, he was gearing up to put a huge hit on Vernon Davis but pulled back as he realized the ball was overthrown and avoided any chance on getting called for a late hit. Smart.
o Brandon Browner also played well and looked like he had Braylon Edwards frustrated for most of the game. There’s going to be a lot of temptation from Seahawk fans to curse him for all the pass interferences he’ll likely attract, but that’s the nature of the beast when you have a 6’4’’ 210lb cornerback. Keep in mind those PIs are still much more preferable to giving up big plays Kelly Jennings style. The PI call on him in the end zone was unfortunate since it looked like Braylon Edwards was the first to push off him. A much worse shit call on him was the roughing the kicker penalty. David Akers should have been a soccer player with that flopping.
• Tedd Ginn Jr thinks he’s the new Leon Washington..but not quite since his 2 TD returns weren’t against the Chargers. Nonetheless, Ginn is damn fast and a legitimate special teams threat. I wonder how much it hurt not having Michael Robinson and Byron Maxwell (both injured with sprains) on special teams during those returns. In fact, I just read a bit ago the Seahawks signed FB Eddie Williams. Watching the game, it looked like they simply played way too aggressively on the kickoff return and left the outside lanes wide open. Just about anyone I know is faster than whoever our kicker is because it looked like he was in a position to push Ginn out of bounds. *Sigh* Josh Brown would have nailed him…
• Conservative QB play. I’ve read a lot of Seahawks fan reactions looking to lynch T-Jack for playing so timid and not giving looks to wide open receivers. I think once we’re deeper into the season and Rice is back, we’ll (hopefully)start seeing him make some decent long throws downfield, but for now the emphasis on QB play will be more about ‘not losing the game’ as opposed to ‘winning the game.’ And that’s absolutely intentional by PC. I think everyone is still stuck in last season’s mentality of seeing Hasselbeck throw aggressively downfield in futile attempts to put us back in the game. That time is over, and it’s for the better.
In summary, this is one of those losses that is not nearly as bad it seems and there’s definitely some silver lining. Our solid run defense will be a good foundation to build on and the offense in the 2nd half recaptured momentum in a meaningful way that the Niners never had. More importantly, they hung in there despite the awful first half display and put us within a 2 point differential in the 4th quarter before special teams blew it. A win is a win, but if I’m a Niner fan (and I used to be) I feel like I’m heading into the next week with more question marks than us. They can’t rely on Ted Ginn Jr. to bail them out and we know something about that with Leon Washington from last season. Lastly, this isn’t a season where we evaluate success in terms of just wins and losses. At this point in the re-building phase, we’re probably more interested in evaluating key individual performances (Russell Okung, Kam Chancellor, etc) and developing the pillars of our team (run defense, gelling of offensive line, etc). Keep that in mind.
Comments? Any other significant points to add?
On another note, ill plan on following Kevin’s lead and get out a post on the top 5 NFL teams for 2011 soon before next week. Since I’ve seen about 6% of the season, I’ve got an edge.
• The first-half offense..yikes. It’s going to be a long season if the Seahawks offense decides to show up an hour and a half late to every game. Even worse than expected, the offensive line allowed way too much pass-pressure and the run blocking was no better. There’s no way T-Jack is off the hook either with the terrible pocket presence he showed and holding onto the ball way too long at times. Those 5 sacks were a shared responsibility between him and our line. On one play Golden Tate had his coverage burned but TJ overthrew the ball on what would have been a sure TD. The 49ers offense wasn’t much better, but their o-line at least played well enough to give Alex Smith some time and set up those FGs.
o Okung appeared to uncharacteristically struggle at times with a few penalties and allowing a big sack on 3rd-2. I wonder if this is at all related to the ankle sprain he endured earlier in preseason. I’ll have my eye on him in particular next week.
o James Carpenter and Breno Giacomini looked like they were the most abused. Carpenter in particular had trouble with speed-rushers. Don’t start up with the hysteria about him being a bust yet. We’re still experiencing the lockout fallout effects and he’s a huge work in progress. That being said, he’s probably on Tom Cable’s shit list and if Robert Gallery is back next week then I wouldn’t be surprised to see Carpenter sitting this one out.
o I didn’t notice much from John Moffitt and Max Unger..I think that’s a good thing (?).
• The Seahawks defense -run defense in particular- was great. They limited the 49ers to 209 yards of total offense, 1/5 in the redzone, and 1/15 on third down conversions. Yes...the 49ers offense is nothing to write home about, but holding a past Seahawks killer, Frank Gore, to 2.7 ypc is no small feat either. I believe few teams did that last season against him. We knew our defense was going to be the most consistent part of the team this season, but they showed some real potential this first week.
o Of all the big name FA acquisitions we’ve had this off-season, re-signing Mebane to a reasonable contract might have been the biggest. Mebane is one of the guys who probably won’t rack up lots of sacks and garner much fan attention, but he is passively contributing by drawing double-teams and collapsing the interior.
o The secondary wasn’t bad either and looks much better than last year. Although the Niners game plan obviously called for screen passes and such, it looked like we forced Smith into some checkdowns when they wanted to throw further downfield.
o Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor are the real deal. These two are the youngest safety tandem in the league. They both had a couple tackles for lost yardage at critical times. ET was everywhere and Kam is going to be one of those guys that severely disincentivizes receivers from running routes into his coverage zone. On one play, he was gearing up to put a huge hit on Vernon Davis but pulled back as he realized the ball was overthrown and avoided any chance on getting called for a late hit. Smart.
o Brandon Browner also played well and looked like he had Braylon Edwards frustrated for most of the game. There’s going to be a lot of temptation from Seahawk fans to curse him for all the pass interferences he’ll likely attract, but that’s the nature of the beast when you have a 6’4’’ 210lb cornerback. Keep in mind those PIs are still much more preferable to giving up big plays Kelly Jennings style. The PI call on him in the end zone was unfortunate since it looked like Braylon Edwards was the first to push off him. A much worse shit call on him was the roughing the kicker penalty. David Akers should have been a soccer player with that flopping.
• Tedd Ginn Jr thinks he’s the new Leon Washington..but not quite since his 2 TD returns weren’t against the Chargers. Nonetheless, Ginn is damn fast and a legitimate special teams threat. I wonder how much it hurt not having Michael Robinson and Byron Maxwell (both injured with sprains) on special teams during those returns. In fact, I just read a bit ago the Seahawks signed FB Eddie Williams. Watching the game, it looked like they simply played way too aggressively on the kickoff return and left the outside lanes wide open. Just about anyone I know is faster than whoever our kicker is because it looked like he was in a position to push Ginn out of bounds. *Sigh* Josh Brown would have nailed him…
• Conservative QB play. I’ve read a lot of Seahawks fan reactions looking to lynch T-Jack for playing so timid and not giving looks to wide open receivers. I think once we’re deeper into the season and Rice is back, we’ll (hopefully)start seeing him make some decent long throws downfield, but for now the emphasis on QB play will be more about ‘not losing the game’ as opposed to ‘winning the game.’ And that’s absolutely intentional by PC. I think everyone is still stuck in last season’s mentality of seeing Hasselbeck throw aggressively downfield in futile attempts to put us back in the game. That time is over, and it’s for the better.
In summary, this is one of those losses that is not nearly as bad it seems and there’s definitely some silver lining. Our solid run defense will be a good foundation to build on and the offense in the 2nd half recaptured momentum in a meaningful way that the Niners never had. More importantly, they hung in there despite the awful first half display and put us within a 2 point differential in the 4th quarter before special teams blew it. A win is a win, but if I’m a Niner fan (and I used to be) I feel like I’m heading into the next week with more question marks than us. They can’t rely on Ted Ginn Jr. to bail them out and we know something about that with Leon Washington from last season. Lastly, this isn’t a season where we evaluate success in terms of just wins and losses. At this point in the re-building phase, we’re probably more interested in evaluating key individual performances (Russell Okung, Kam Chancellor, etc) and developing the pillars of our team (run defense, gelling of offensive line, etc). Keep that in mind.
Comments? Any other significant points to add?
On another note, ill plan on following Kevin’s lead and get out a post on the top 5 NFL teams for 2011 soon before next week. Since I’ve seen about 6% of the season, I’ve got an edge.
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