The World Series, BCS #1, And The New York “Football” Giants

Much has happened this past weekend in the wonderful world of sports. We have witnessed Major League Baseball crowning league champions, the #1 ranked team in college football's BCS getting hammered, and the emergence (or re-emergence) of a potential NFC power.

One by one, I will briefly recap these events and give opinions on the future of upcoming events as pertains to these subjects.

Here we go!

The 2010 World Series ---

This season's World Series pits the National League champion San Francisco Giants versus the Texas Rangers, champion of the American League. The Giants feature a strong pitching staff, as witnessed in the NLCS by defeating defending champion Philadelphia Phillies, while the Rangers have a potent batting attack as the defending world champion New York Yankees encountered. San Francisco has not won the Series since 1954 while Texas is playing in its first ever fall classic.

It has been stated and proven that good pitching beats good hitting most of the time, but I feel that the Ranger bats and aggressiveness will be too much for 'Frisco's call to arms.

I like Texas in six games and bring home their first world title.

Game 1, to be played Wednesday evening in San Francisco, will feature Giants ace Tim Lincecum against Texas stopper Cliff Lee, one of the all time post season's best hurlers.

It's NOT Good To Be The King ---

Being #1 in major college football has not been to the liking of three teams in the last three weeks. Alabama was knocked off the AP's top rung by being upset by South Carolina three weeks ago. The following Saturday, newly anointed #1 Ohio State gets bounced by Wisconsin and then this past Saturday night, initial BCS #1 Oklahoma got shelled by Missouri. The one thing in common is that all three top dogs lost on the road and this week the new BCS leader Auburn plays Mississippi … yup, at Mississippi.

I believe the string gets broken this week as Auburn overpowers “Ole Miss” and retains its lofty perch.

The New York Giants Becoming An NFC Power ---

If someone had told me that after seven weeks into the NFL season that the New York “Football” Giants would be tied for the best record in the NFC, my response would have been, “You're crazy!”. But yet,the Giants --- my Giants are in that position. After a bumbling start, including an embarrassing 29-10 loss at home to Tennessee, the G-Men have ripped off four consecutive victories, including a 41-35 victory in Dallas against the Cowboys. The offense is well balanced with a very good offensive line that opens holes for both Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs and protects quarterback Eli Manning sufficiently.

Speaking of Eli, he has what is the best young receiving corps in the NFL with possession slot man Steve Smith, deep threat Mario Manningham, and budding superstar Hakeem Nicks.

Defensively, New York has regained it's vaunted pass rush, added run stopping ability, and improved its pass coverage under new defensive coordinator Perry Fewell. Truly, the defense has been sparkling this month and is among one of the better units in the NFL.

The Giants hope to continue playing well after this weeks bye as the meat of their schedule is upcoming as they must face the Cowboys again and have divisional foes Philadelphia and Washington for a pair each.

Now if Eli can stop throwing needless interceptions...

Enjoy!

Dick

Send email to dlafrance2@207me.com

hit counter

Screen Capture Software

Oklahoma Leads The Initial BCS Standings

The initial Bowl Championship Series (BCS) standings were released on Sunday evening with the Oklahoma Sooners ranked #1 followed by the Oregon Ducks, Boise State Broncos, Auburn Tigers, and the TCU Horned Frogs rounding out the top five.

As we know, the BCS formula is derived by the the AP poll, USA Today Coaches poll, the Harris Interactive poll, and a series of computer rankings in which strength of schedule is a key component. More information can be obtained at the official BCS Website.

Of course, the first BCS standings means nothing to how the final standings will be. Every week until the conference championship games are played, the standings will change and there are a number of huge games this weekend.

The top ranked and undefeated Sooners face a stiff road test Saturday at Columbia, Missouri to play the undefeated and #11 Missouri Tigers. In another battle of unbeaten teams, #4 Auburn plays host to #6 LSU Tigers in a huge SEC war while #5 TCU plays an always tough Air Force squad at home.

Other games with BCS importance include the #13 Wisconsin Badgers, fresh off defeating former #1 Ohio State Buckeyes, traveling to Iowa City, to face the #15 Iowa Hawkeyes in a huge Big Ten match up. Another key Big Ten game has the #8 and 7-0 Michigan State Spartans traveling to Evanston, Illinois to face a formidable Northwestern Wildcats team losing only once in six tries. Finally, in a key Big 12 showdown, the undefeated #14 Oklahoma State Cowboys is at home against the #16 Nebraska Cornhuskers, who were upset at home by the Texas Longhorns last weekend.

Say what you will about the BCS. I personally feel a playoff system is best but for now this is what we have. So let's enjoy the games this weekend and may your favorite team win!

Dick

Send email to dlafrance2@207me.com

hit counter

Screen Capture Software

The NFL After Five Weeks

The NFL season has concluded five weeks of play and all teams have played a minimum of four games. We've seen amazing plays, total blunders, and even three trades occurring in the last seven days. On top of that, we have no undefeated teams remaining this early in the season!

We've also seen concussions to big name players and major injuries have already hampered some teams. Some teams have pleasantly surprised, some have hugely disappointed, and yet some just leave fans scratching their heads.

This is why we love the National Football League. Each week gives us something to talk about and we never know what will happen from play to play, let alone week to week.

Here is what I've seen after five weeks of play from team perspectives of the 2010 season.

Teams doing as expected, both good and bad:

I figured that the New England Patriots, New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Atlanta Falcons would play well to this point. Each team has lost just once and all have played decent competition while playing different styles of football.

The Patriots do it strictly with Tom Brady and an improved running game while not playing great defense. The offense may suffer a bit with the trade of Randy Moss to Minnesota but I don't believe it will be as much as most pundits are leading us to believe.

The Jets, Ravens, Steelers, and Falcons all have very good running games and defenses with Pittsburgh's defense being the NFL's best. The quarterbacks for New York (Mark Sanchez), Baltimore (Joe Flacco), and Atlanta (Matt Ryan) are all improving while Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger returns from suspension.

Personally. I think Pittsburgh is the best of this fantastic lot.

I had a pretty good idea that the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, and Carolina Panthers would not be very good. Buffalo, Cleveland and Carolina are total messes while Detroit may be building a decent future, but not for a couple of seasons yet. Enough of those teams.

The surprise teams, both pleasant and disappointing:

I'm pleasantly surprised by the Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Bears, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Chiefs and Bears play tremendous defense and can run the ball. The Bears also have great yet enigmatic talent at quarterback in Jay Cutler returning from being concussed by the New York Giants two games ago. How the Buccaneers are winning is something I have yet to comprehend. The offense nor defense makes me go “Wow!” but they have made key plays in key moments as witnessed by the Cincinnati Bengals last Sunday.

I think Chicago has the best chance of sustaining their good play providing Cutler plays to his ability.

What team can be more disappointing than the Dallas Cowboys? The sexy pick to play the Super Bowl at their home stadium has been absolutely horrible in three areas --- head coach, quarterback, and discipline.

Head Coach Wade Phillips looks the part of the village idiot in Cowboy games I watch. I have never bought into the hype of quarterback Tony Romo. His numbers look great but he makes critical mistakes at moments when Dallas needs him most. Yeah, I think he's overrated. The discipline is the inordinate amount of penalties this teams takes and many are downright stupid! That brings us back to Wade Phillips...enough said.

Other disappointing teams are the Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers. With the Vikings, bringing back Brett Favre looks like a bad decision at this time and at 1-4, they could be in deep trouble. I find it hard to believe that the 49ers are winless in five tries and seem undisciplined, which goes against what head coach Mike Singletary stands for.

The teams that leave us scratching our heads:

The Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers, New York Giants, Green Bay Packers, and New Orleans Saints are teams that make me wonder what their identity really is.

The Bengals at 2-3 run the ball pretty well, but quarterback Carson Palmer has not been as sharp as anticipated with two great receivers in Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens. The supposed vaunted defense hasn't played that well either.

The Colts have the most prolific passing game in the NFL with Peyton Manning being...well, Peyton Manning. But the usual problems show up game in and game out --- lack of a running attack and poor pass defense. Indianapolis will only go as far as Manning takes them.

Speaking of a Manning, kid brother Eli's Giants have the making of being a very good team. The offense is well balanced and the defense has seemingly improved under defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, but can they hold up? We'll see as the Giants have a home game with Detroit and a divisional contest with Dallas in two weeks.

The Packers are a team decimated by injuries at the moment on both sides of the ball. Gone are super tight end Jermichael Finley, top notch running back Ryan Grant and linebacker Nick Barnett. To go with all that, Pro Bowl quarterback Aaron Rogers was concussed in a loss at Washington and his status for this coming week is uncertain. This could be a tough row to hoe for the Pack.

What is it with the Texans? Great offensive balance but inconsistent and a defense that has shown no improvement at all. I haven't a clue as to what team will show each week.

The Chargers are off to their usual slow start. Philip Rivers is a great quarterback, Antonio Gates is perhaps the leagues premier tight end and rookie runner Ryan Matthews looks as though he can carry the load. The defense is so-so at best, so Rivers and company will shoulder the load nearly every game. Also, this team cannot win on the road as witnessed by their 0-3 record.

Then there's the defending Super Bowl champion Saints. It's hard to believe the offense is stagnant, but with both Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas out with injuries, this can be somewhat expected. I'll tell you though, the offense will have to pick up the pace to support a suspect defense. I think New Orleans will get back on track quickly.

Well, that's how I see the NFL after five weeks of play. Agree or not, this has been a different start to the season and we can expect more wild and wacky events each week.

Dick

Send email to dlafrance2@207me.com

hit counter

Screen Capture Software