On a day when transfers and players moving from one club to another spending millions of pounds are meant to make the headlines instead it's an unattached player costing nothing signing for a French club that makes all the headlines. Of course I'm talking about David Beckham signing for PSG. What ever this man does normally trumps any other headlines in print and transfer day deadline is no exception.
This signing is not a transfer because Beckham was not attached to any club so there was no rush to get the deal done today, but on a day when half the worlds media (the other half being in New Orleans) is focused on football they could not have picked a better time. To me there appears to be many winners in this deal and Niall Quinn had similar thoughts to me on Sky Sports this evening.
First of all it has cost PSG nothing to sign him all they need to do is pay his wages and going by their recent wage structure that does not appear to be a problem. PSG are getting the most marketable sportsmen in the world second to Jordan ever. The commercial impact will be unmeasurable in attracting worldwide media coverage and more international business interest. All of which is a guarantee with Beckham as he has huge power in European, Asia and American markets.
Then there is the man himself, he continues to keep his professional football career alive something he just loves to do. There is no harder worker in training and he enjoys this. He gets the opportunity to play in another league in another country and a chance to win that league.
Beckham has even offered to generously donate all his earnings from PSG to a local children's charity. Making this charity a huge winner in this deal but also Beckham, he is already considered a true sporting legend in this country and a GOAT (greatest of all time). This just has more of a positive impact following all the great things he did with the Olympics.
Perhaps the only loser is football itself. At 37 how much can Beckham actually offer on the pitch to his new club, I predict not a lot. I'm sure he will play a part mainly in a substitute role coming of the bench but I'm not sure he will be an impact sub more a gesture sub.
Never the less Beckham is true legend, hero, GOAT. What ever term you want to use this man steals headlines and can literally do nothing wrong.
Thursday 31 January 2013
Tuesday 29 January 2013
Diet & Sport
Today's blog is inspired by my GCSE class where today we discussed the components of a healthy diet. Mainly looking at the three macro components fat, protein and carbohydrates and it was fascinating to observe pupils opinions and thoughts about these foods. Opinions and thoughts which they have developed through media, family and peers influence as well as school.
The most shocking opinion to me is what they associate fat with the automatic thought most people have is crisps, chocolates and sweet. It's also the opinion that fat is bad mainly because of increasing obesity levels and media coverage where fat is portrayed as not a good thing such as weight loss programmes and body image programmes. When we broke fats down to saturated and unsaturated it was new information to most of the class that the real cause of obesity and illness a like is these saturated fats and they are more found in products like cooking oil and butters. Which lead me to think are young people, parents and adults educated well enough about food and healthy eating.
The second interesting thing I discovered was how most pupils, and I think this applies to adults as well presume fat is just totally bad and a healthy sportsman has very little in their diet. This lead me to think of Michael Phelps and how he eat pizza or a McDonalds meal after every race in the 2008 Olympics to provide his body with the quick release energy it needed in preparation for the next race. Fat generally gets a bad rapport and rightly so because too much of it and certainly the right types and the consequences are ones we are all to familiar with.
I think though that more people need to understand that not all fat is bad and actually the opposite it is good and needed. It would also be interesting to hear a professional sportsmen discuss the role fat plays in their diet because I think it would shock a lot of people as well as have a positive impact in not over using it.
The most shocking opinion to me is what they associate fat with the automatic thought most people have is crisps, chocolates and sweet. It's also the opinion that fat is bad mainly because of increasing obesity levels and media coverage where fat is portrayed as not a good thing such as weight loss programmes and body image programmes. When we broke fats down to saturated and unsaturated it was new information to most of the class that the real cause of obesity and illness a like is these saturated fats and they are more found in products like cooking oil and butters. Which lead me to think are young people, parents and adults educated well enough about food and healthy eating.
The second interesting thing I discovered was how most pupils, and I think this applies to adults as well presume fat is just totally bad and a healthy sportsman has very little in their diet. This lead me to think of Michael Phelps and how he eat pizza or a McDonalds meal after every race in the 2008 Olympics to provide his body with the quick release energy it needed in preparation for the next race. Fat generally gets a bad rapport and rightly so because too much of it and certainly the right types and the consequences are ones we are all to familiar with.
I think though that more people need to understand that not all fat is bad and actually the opposite it is good and needed. It would also be interesting to hear a professional sportsmen discuss the role fat plays in their diet because I think it would shock a lot of people as well as have a positive impact in not over using it.
Monday 28 January 2013
Fighting for a legacy
Luol Deng Great Britons number 1 Basketball player wrote a letter to the prime minster that he received today stating his disguste at the funding cut GB Basketball received from UkSport in the build up to Rio 2016. Deng stated he refused to sit back and watch that legacy for basketball be demolished. This is a well timely letter as GB Basketball will be presenting to the reversal board of UkSport to have their funding reversed.
I wrote a couple of months ago about my own personal disgust about the funding cut basketball received and I'm over the moon that such a public figure and a world wide star is standing up for this great sport. During the build up and after the Olympics we heard this word legacy mentioned so much and I'm glad someone is defending it rather than just giving it lip service. I understand UKSports no compromise approach and I believe it is probably the best way such a small country can maximise its medal count.
I do believe though that UKSport needs to recognise the opportunity they have in front of them. I would argue that the interest in sports like Basketball and Handball is currently at there highest following the Olympics. UKSport needs to use this opportunity and allow them to grow because in the future these could he serious medal opportunities for us. Building upon the legacy for these sports created by the Olympics. I'm also aware that there is no endless pot of money but my argument would be those sports that have had success do they need their funding increased or just maintained, surely success breads success without the input of extra millions of pounds.
I hope Deng's letter creates a stir and something is done to balance out this great injustice. Wednesday is going to be a crucial day for GB Basketball and the direction it takes for the next four years and beyond.
I wrote a couple of months ago about my own personal disgust about the funding cut basketball received and I'm over the moon that such a public figure and a world wide star is standing up for this great sport. During the build up and after the Olympics we heard this word legacy mentioned so much and I'm glad someone is defending it rather than just giving it lip service. I understand UKSports no compromise approach and I believe it is probably the best way such a small country can maximise its medal count.
I do believe though that UKSport needs to recognise the opportunity they have in front of them. I would argue that the interest in sports like Basketball and Handball is currently at there highest following the Olympics. UKSport needs to use this opportunity and allow them to grow because in the future these could he serious medal opportunities for us. Building upon the legacy for these sports created by the Olympics. I'm also aware that there is no endless pot of money but my argument would be those sports that have had success do they need their funding increased or just maintained, surely success breads success without the input of extra millions of pounds.
I hope Deng's letter creates a stir and something is done to balance out this great injustice. Wednesday is going to be a crucial day for GB Basketball and the direction it takes for the next four years and beyond.
Sunday 27 January 2013
A blog in the life of....
I decided something cool to do will be to select a player entering this years NFL draft and every month give an update on his progress from the build up to the draft, the draft, training camp and then the season. If it goes well I might continue it into his second season and beyond.
It would be easy to choose one of the UK prospects entering the draft this year but as I blog on them regularly I wanted to select someone different. It would also be really easy to pick one of the stars who get a lot of TV coverage like Te'o so I wanted to pick someone who might not get as much attention.
I have used this weeks senior bowl to influence my decision and have spent this evening watching plenty of game film to get myself familiar with this person. For those of you that know me well know I fall in love with two positions the running back position and corner back position. It is the later one I have selected a player from and so without further wait let me introduce you to Desmond Trufant.
Desmond is a corner back who played his college football for the University of Washington in the PAC12. Desmond has NFL blood lines, his two older brothers both played for NFL teams his oldest Marcus was a starting corner back for many years at Seattle. Desmond is a senior and coming of a fantastic last season where he was voted as a first team PAC12 player. He started 48 games for the Huskies making him extremely well experienced entering into the NFL. In 2012 he made 36 tackles 4.5 for a loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 1 interception and 8 passes broken up. In his junior year he made 64 tackles had 2 interceptions and 14 passes broken up. In his senior year he missed a game because of an injury but it was nothing serious.
Trufant is a big corner he is 6 foot tall and weights +190lbs which will make him very attractive in the NFL. In future weeks I will give my scouting report on Trufant as to what I think his strengths, weaknesses and projections into the NFL are, this week I just wanted to introduce him and recap his senior bowl.
Desmond received the invite to Mobil Alabama to participate in the 2013 senior bowl and many scouts have left this show case game with raving reviews of Trufant and was probably the best corner back of the week. In practise he displayed great coverage ability covering different receivers all over the field displaying some quick foot work. He regularly played with his hands as well knocking down many balls and forcing a lot of incomplete passes by breaking them up. He showed he had the ability to coverage to shut down a receiver. Overall Desmond improved his draft stock this week with a really strong outing, he now moves on to the combine in a couple of weeks.
Normally I'm going to track Trufants progress over a monthly period but leading up to the draft as it is such a busy time I'm going to do it fort nightly. I hope you enjoy the journey of following a rookie entering the NFL draft.
It would be easy to choose one of the UK prospects entering the draft this year but as I blog on them regularly I wanted to select someone different. It would also be really easy to pick one of the stars who get a lot of TV coverage like Te'o so I wanted to pick someone who might not get as much attention.
I have used this weeks senior bowl to influence my decision and have spent this evening watching plenty of game film to get myself familiar with this person. For those of you that know me well know I fall in love with two positions the running back position and corner back position. It is the later one I have selected a player from and so without further wait let me introduce you to Desmond Trufant.
Desmond is a corner back who played his college football for the University of Washington in the PAC12. Desmond has NFL blood lines, his two older brothers both played for NFL teams his oldest Marcus was a starting corner back for many years at Seattle. Desmond is a senior and coming of a fantastic last season where he was voted as a first team PAC12 player. He started 48 games for the Huskies making him extremely well experienced entering into the NFL. In 2012 he made 36 tackles 4.5 for a loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 1 interception and 8 passes broken up. In his junior year he made 64 tackles had 2 interceptions and 14 passes broken up. In his senior year he missed a game because of an injury but it was nothing serious.
Trufant is a big corner he is 6 foot tall and weights +190lbs which will make him very attractive in the NFL. In future weeks I will give my scouting report on Trufant as to what I think his strengths, weaknesses and projections into the NFL are, this week I just wanted to introduce him and recap his senior bowl.
Desmond received the invite to Mobil Alabama to participate in the 2013 senior bowl and many scouts have left this show case game with raving reviews of Trufant and was probably the best corner back of the week. In practise he displayed great coverage ability covering different receivers all over the field displaying some quick foot work. He regularly played with his hands as well knocking down many balls and forcing a lot of incomplete passes by breaking them up. He showed he had the ability to coverage to shut down a receiver. Overall Desmond improved his draft stock this week with a really strong outing, he now moves on to the combine in a couple of weeks.
Normally I'm going to track Trufants progress over a monthly period but leading up to the draft as it is such a busy time I'm going to do it fort nightly. I hope you enjoy the journey of following a rookie entering the NFL draft.
Saturday 26 January 2013
Australian Open
This blog maybe a couple of hours early but Andrew Murray plays Djokovic in the first of the grand slams this year in Melbourne. While the book makers do not have the Scot as the favourite and Djokovic is ranked higher than him in the world, I'm very confident Murray could make it back to back slams.
Murray is a totally different player to the player that made it to the same final two years ago. He has broken that duck of grand slams when he won in New York last year and is a much more confident player. Just taking these last two weeks in particular he has played so much more aggressive tennis. When Murray was making his mark in the tennis world and climbing the ladder he was known as a player very tough to beat. He would hang in points, play it safe and wait for his opponent to make a mistake. Just by watching his latest battle with Federer you can see the change in his game he is much more prepared to attack opponents. He goes looking to hit that winner and take the upper hand in a rally.
Of course this all steams from winning his first slam last year, accomplishing his main goal of winning a grand slam. It probably felt like a the whole world had been lifted of his shoulders freeing him up to play more confident, free aggressive tennis. I take you back to the slam before that where he narrowly lost to Federer in the final again and it seamed as if his whole world had collapsed. At this point in his career loosing his third slam final his career faced a cross road he could continue to battle but always be the bridesmaid to players like Djokovic and Federer, or he could put everything together by taking the battle to them rather than being dictated to. He did this first by returning to Wimbledon in the Olympics just a few weeks after all the heart ache and winning the Olympic gold. Then winning his first slam just the very next slam in flushing meadows.
Since all this while not being ranked number 1 in the world I would argue Murray has been playing the best tennis in the world. For the first time in a slam final Djokovic is going to have to react to Murray rather than dictating the flow. This bows well for Murray as he looks to win back to back grand slams. Good luck Andy.
Murray is a totally different player to the player that made it to the same final two years ago. He has broken that duck of grand slams when he won in New York last year and is a much more confident player. Just taking these last two weeks in particular he has played so much more aggressive tennis. When Murray was making his mark in the tennis world and climbing the ladder he was known as a player very tough to beat. He would hang in points, play it safe and wait for his opponent to make a mistake. Just by watching his latest battle with Federer you can see the change in his game he is much more prepared to attack opponents. He goes looking to hit that winner and take the upper hand in a rally.
Of course this all steams from winning his first slam last year, accomplishing his main goal of winning a grand slam. It probably felt like a the whole world had been lifted of his shoulders freeing him up to play more confident, free aggressive tennis. I take you back to the slam before that where he narrowly lost to Federer in the final again and it seamed as if his whole world had collapsed. At this point in his career loosing his third slam final his career faced a cross road he could continue to battle but always be the bridesmaid to players like Djokovic and Federer, or he could put everything together by taking the battle to them rather than being dictated to. He did this first by returning to Wimbledon in the Olympics just a few weeks after all the heart ache and winning the Olympic gold. Then winning his first slam just the very next slam in flushing meadows.
Since all this while not being ranked number 1 in the world I would argue Murray has been playing the best tennis in the world. For the first time in a slam final Djokovic is going to have to react to Murray rather than dictating the flow. This bows well for Murray as he looks to win back to back grand slams. Good luck Andy.
Thursday 24 January 2013
Senior Bowl Day 3
Hope your enjoying my daily review of the senior bowl, I have lots of other sporting discussions I want to get on to but will come back to these next week. The senior bowl is an important part of the draft process and so I want to give it my full attention.
DT John Jenkins Georgia. Had a good day yesterday followed it up with another good day today. At times was not as affective and was relying on his strength and playing with high pad level but he corrected this and looked better later on. He showed us his bull rush today which many offensive linemen found difficult to cope with.
QB Tyler Wilson Arkansas. I was close to putting Wilson on my list yesterday, luckily he had another good day today. I think we know his arm strength coming in but what he has been able to show which has made him stand out for me is his accuracy on the shorter routes which I questioned prior to this week. I also doubted his decision making against better defenders and so far this week he has made good decisions by looking after the ball.
RB Stepfan Taylor Standford & Mike Gillisee Flordia. Both running backs also had good days yesterday and they backed it up today. If the offensive won a play one of these two would have been involved some where. They both show excellent skills in picking up the blitz and blocking and they both had nice runs during team scrimmage.
CB Desmond Truffant Washington. Another guy who does not appear for the first time on this list. I did not learn anything new but just fell further in love with his coverage skills he has an ability to cover receivers on all routes. He then does a nice job at knocking down passes and finished with a few passes broken up.
OT Eric Fisher Central Michigan. Has been the stand out player this week he blocked the best pass rushers yesterday. Handing the bull rush, speed rush and inside moves. Fisher has moved in to my top 10.
DT John Jenkins Georgia. Had a good day yesterday followed it up with another good day today. At times was not as affective and was relying on his strength and playing with high pad level but he corrected this and looked better later on. He showed us his bull rush today which many offensive linemen found difficult to cope with.
QB Tyler Wilson Arkansas. I was close to putting Wilson on my list yesterday, luckily he had another good day today. I think we know his arm strength coming in but what he has been able to show which has made him stand out for me is his accuracy on the shorter routes which I questioned prior to this week. I also doubted his decision making against better defenders and so far this week he has made good decisions by looking after the ball.
RB Stepfan Taylor Standford & Mike Gillisee Flordia. Both running backs also had good days yesterday and they backed it up today. If the offensive won a play one of these two would have been involved some where. They both show excellent skills in picking up the blitz and blocking and they both had nice runs during team scrimmage.
CB Desmond Truffant Washington. Another guy who does not appear for the first time on this list. I did not learn anything new but just fell further in love with his coverage skills he has an ability to cover receivers on all routes. He then does a nice job at knocking down passes and finished with a few passes broken up.
OT Eric Fisher Central Michigan. Has been the stand out player this week he blocked the best pass rushers yesterday. Handing the bull rush, speed rush and inside moves. Fisher has moved in to my top 10.
Wednesday 23 January 2013
Senior Bowl day 2
My impressions from day 2 at Mobil Alabama.
DT John Jenkins Georgia. Jenkins projects to play the nose in a 3-4 defence at the next level mainly because of his size but he has skill as well. Jenkins has the ability to just physically over power people at this level but what impressed me as a future NFL player was his rip move.
OT Lane Johnson Oaklahoma. Johnson was easily the pick of the tackles in the south squad and probably should have got a mention yesterday. Johnson is a pretty polished and solid tackle what he did impress me with was his ability to finish of plays and totally kill any rush.
RB Stepfan Taylor Standford. Taylor can pass block and is happy doing so which is a massive positive for any running back entering the pass happy NFL. Taylor can do all three phases of the offensive pass, block and catch making him a 3 down running back a very attractive option.
RB Mike Gillislee Florida. Similar to Taylor, was impressive in all three phases and is a 3 down running back. Gillislee also had some nice runs today where he has the speed to get to the second level and make a man miss regularly picking up extra yards.
RB Kenjon Barner Oregon. Barner did a nice job in blitz protection and then made a really nice catch and run later on making him a three down running back as well. For a small back he also picks up a nice amount of yardage following contact.
CB Desmond Trufant Washington. In many of the drills he made sure his receiver could not make a catch mainly through blanket coverage. Through out the whole session Trufant showed sound coverage and the one time a receiver did get separation he showed good recover speed.
OT Eric Fisher Central Michigan. Fisher is the first player to appear twice on my daily reports because he has barely put a foot wrong and even entering the top end of the draft on day 1. Fisher handled some of the more speeder rushers well all day showing great strength and an ability to finish all blocks. He strength stood out where he was able to put some of the better pass rushers to the floor.
DT John Jenkins Georgia. Jenkins projects to play the nose in a 3-4 defence at the next level mainly because of his size but he has skill as well. Jenkins has the ability to just physically over power people at this level but what impressed me as a future NFL player was his rip move.
OT Lane Johnson Oaklahoma. Johnson was easily the pick of the tackles in the south squad and probably should have got a mention yesterday. Johnson is a pretty polished and solid tackle what he did impress me with was his ability to finish of plays and totally kill any rush.
RB Stepfan Taylor Standford. Taylor can pass block and is happy doing so which is a massive positive for any running back entering the pass happy NFL. Taylor can do all three phases of the offensive pass, block and catch making him a 3 down running back a very attractive option.
RB Mike Gillislee Florida. Similar to Taylor, was impressive in all three phases and is a 3 down running back. Gillislee also had some nice runs today where he has the speed to get to the second level and make a man miss regularly picking up extra yards.
RB Kenjon Barner Oregon. Barner did a nice job in blitz protection and then made a really nice catch and run later on making him a three down running back as well. For a small back he also picks up a nice amount of yardage following contact.
CB Desmond Trufant Washington. In many of the drills he made sure his receiver could not make a catch mainly through blanket coverage. Through out the whole session Trufant showed sound coverage and the one time a receiver did get separation he showed good recover speed.
OT Eric Fisher Central Michigan. Fisher is the first player to appear twice on my daily reports because he has barely put a foot wrong and even entering the top end of the draft on day 1. Fisher handled some of the more speeder rushers well all day showing great strength and an ability to finish all blocks. He strength stood out where he was able to put some of the better pass rushers to the floor.
Tuesday 22 January 2013
Senior Bowl day 1
Just a quick blog from me today! A review of the stars from practise at the senior bowl on Monday.
BYU DE Ezeklel Ansah really showed off during one on one drills has good athleticism is very quick and agile. In the team portion of practise he battered down several passes as he plays with his hands up if he can not get to the QB.
Louisiana Tech WR Quinton Patton made every single catch today. Not the easy ones but also the ones where the QB was a little of the mark he brought it in. Scouts will be most impressed with the leadership he had on display several scouts noticed him leading the WR crop and helping them with adjustments.
San Diego State CB Leon McFadden also had a good first day. He had multiple interceptions through out different drills showing his ball skills. He also played with a good level of physicality pushing around receivers to help get pass break ups.
Central Michigan OT Eric Fisher was the standout offensive linemen on the north squad. He displayed a lovely quick slide against the norths speedy rushers coming around the edge. Fisher just looked solid all day and deserving of a first day selection.
Texas DE Alex Oakfor had himself a good day. He is very quick coming of the edge and is going to make a living playing in the back field. He show cased all his speed today using his speed rush many times, he also showed some good strength shredding blockers to get to the ball and I was impressed with the use of his hands.
North Carolina LB Kevin Reddick had numerous splash plays on day 1 which always gets people excited. The more impressive thing for me was his motor, a willing chase tackler goes from one sideline to another. In the team practise he also made plenty of plays on the ball.
BYU DE Ezeklel Ansah really showed off during one on one drills has good athleticism is very quick and agile. In the team portion of practise he battered down several passes as he plays with his hands up if he can not get to the QB.
Louisiana Tech WR Quinton Patton made every single catch today. Not the easy ones but also the ones where the QB was a little of the mark he brought it in. Scouts will be most impressed with the leadership he had on display several scouts noticed him leading the WR crop and helping them with adjustments.
San Diego State CB Leon McFadden also had a good first day. He had multiple interceptions through out different drills showing his ball skills. He also played with a good level of physicality pushing around receivers to help get pass break ups.
Central Michigan OT Eric Fisher was the standout offensive linemen on the north squad. He displayed a lovely quick slide against the norths speedy rushers coming around the edge. Fisher just looked solid all day and deserving of a first day selection.
Texas DE Alex Oakfor had himself a good day. He is very quick coming of the edge and is going to make a living playing in the back field. He show cased all his speed today using his speed rush many times, he also showed some good strength shredding blockers to get to the ball and I was impressed with the use of his hands.
North Carolina LB Kevin Reddick had numerous splash plays on day 1 which always gets people excited. The more impressive thing for me was his motor, a willing chase tackler goes from one sideline to another. In the team practise he also made plenty of plays on the ball.
Monday 21 January 2013
Harbaugh Super Bowl
Who would have ever thought that footballs biggest prize would be competed between one house hold. Jim Harbaugh head coach of San Francisco 49ers will take on older brother John head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Can you imagine how many times they played each other when they were kids in the back yard imagining they were playing for the Super Bowl and in 2 weeks time this childhood dream will actually come true.
The way I see this Super Bowl match up is a match up that is for filling many dreams. Many of those dreams and fairy tale headlines are on the Baltimore side which could be the reason they have made it this far. Ed Reed one of the greatest safeties to have ever played has yet to play in a Super Bowl. Many people just assume he was part of that Ravens team that won it in 2001 however he was not and it would be criminal if he was to join the list of great players to have never one a Super Bowl.
Torey Smith the productive Ravens wide receiver who has been brilliant in the playoffs is playing for someone else. Earlier in the season Smith lost his younger brother and a Super Bowl win would almost be for him. Then there is the greatest storey of them all number 52 last game.
In 2 weeks time the Ravens will hear one last moving and pumping pre game speech, one last crowd standing entrance on to a pitch and opponents will feel one last hard hitting tackle from Ray Lewis. For the last three weeks Ray has been playing his final game but has lead his team to victory to grant himself one final game. How fitting would it be for one of the greatest linebackers and defensive players and defiantly the best leader to bow out holding the Lombardi trophy.
It's these fairy tale like stories that have been motivating the Ravens for weeks and continue to do so. Can one more headline be written in two weeks time as they jump the final hurdle.
Through out the course of this week at the end of each blog I will give my review on the previous day at the senior bowl in the Mobil Alabama.
The way I see this Super Bowl match up is a match up that is for filling many dreams. Many of those dreams and fairy tale headlines are on the Baltimore side which could be the reason they have made it this far. Ed Reed one of the greatest safeties to have ever played has yet to play in a Super Bowl. Many people just assume he was part of that Ravens team that won it in 2001 however he was not and it would be criminal if he was to join the list of great players to have never one a Super Bowl.
Torey Smith the productive Ravens wide receiver who has been brilliant in the playoffs is playing for someone else. Earlier in the season Smith lost his younger brother and a Super Bowl win would almost be for him. Then there is the greatest storey of them all number 52 last game.
In 2 weeks time the Ravens will hear one last moving and pumping pre game speech, one last crowd standing entrance on to a pitch and opponents will feel one last hard hitting tackle from Ray Lewis. For the last three weeks Ray has been playing his final game but has lead his team to victory to grant himself one final game. How fitting would it be for one of the greatest linebackers and defensive players and defiantly the best leader to bow out holding the Lombardi trophy.
It's these fairy tale like stories that have been motivating the Ravens for weeks and continue to do so. Can one more headline be written in two weeks time as they jump the final hurdle.
Through out the course of this week at the end of each blog I will give my review on the previous day at the senior bowl in the Mobil Alabama.
Sunday 20 January 2013
Super Sunday
What a day of sport I'm currently sat watching covered by Sky Sports two great games in the English Premier League followed by the conference championship games in the NFL. However one sporting match up that may get missed between these 4 matches is Sky's first live Sunday NBA match between Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors.
On Thursday Sky covered the NBA game played in the O2 arena but tonight will be the first live match from the States. Sky have recently bought the rights to show live games on a Sunday something NBA fans in the UK have been crying out for since Sky lost these rights over 5 years ago.
This will help grow the popularity of Basketball in the UK following the recent disappointing news of being left out of UKSports Olympic funding. The coverage will help showcase the worlds best players and the worlds best league. Giving more coverage can only help the popularity of the sport and the number of young boys and girls playing the sport. Two players who I predict will get a lot of air time will be the two UK players who apply their skills in the NBA, Luol Deng and James Freeland.
Deng is already a superstar and one of the best players in the league he is a key part of a Chicago Bulls team who have aspirations of playing in the championship. While Freeland was drafted by Portland 3 years ago but sent out to Europe to learn his trade this is his first season playing in the NBA. The coverage provided by Sky which I'm sure will be nothing short of 5 star will hopefully help aspire young players so the future Deng is born.
Well done Sky a great days coverage of sport and great to have basketball there in the thick of it.
On Thursday Sky covered the NBA game played in the O2 arena but tonight will be the first live match from the States. Sky have recently bought the rights to show live games on a Sunday something NBA fans in the UK have been crying out for since Sky lost these rights over 5 years ago.
This will help grow the popularity of Basketball in the UK following the recent disappointing news of being left out of UKSports Olympic funding. The coverage will help showcase the worlds best players and the worlds best league. Giving more coverage can only help the popularity of the sport and the number of young boys and girls playing the sport. Two players who I predict will get a lot of air time will be the two UK players who apply their skills in the NBA, Luol Deng and James Freeland.
Deng is already a superstar and one of the best players in the league he is a key part of a Chicago Bulls team who have aspirations of playing in the championship. While Freeland was drafted by Portland 3 years ago but sent out to Europe to learn his trade this is his first season playing in the NBA. The coverage provided by Sky which I'm sure will be nothing short of 5 star will hopefully help aspire young players so the future Deng is born.
Well done Sky a great days coverage of sport and great to have basketball there in the thick of it.
Saturday 19 January 2013
Conference championship predictions
After last weeks games I'm not sure any off you will listen to my predictions but who could have predicted last weeks games! This weekends conference championship games have a lot to live up to if they are to replicate last weeks match ups. As usual I will give a brief overview of the key match ups and make a final prediction for each game.
AFC New England v Baltimore
I wrote Baltimore of last week going into Denver I thought they had no chance but they took Denver all the way and then put them away in over time. Both teams look like they have found there rhythm and play off football comes naturally. I think this match up relies on how much time Brady gets the ball, Rice needs to be worked hard keeping Brady of the pitch. Flacco has looked his best in the playoffs and I think regardless of the result he will have another good day. Although I expect Belicheck to take away the big deep threat of Smith and therefore ensuring Rice has to run well. The ravens D is rolling on an emotional roller coaster at the moment with the thought each game could be the last for Ray Lewis. The defence has played well and will continue to do so this weekend but like usual Brady will have his moments and force a win. I think this could be the last time we see number 52 and so will no doubt be emotional, it will be close but Brady is the factor and knows how to get it done.
NFC Atlanta v San Francisco
I find this match up much harder to call. In the past I have not been very complementary of Kaepernicks skills but he was unbelievable last week and made me eat my words. I think it's going to help Atlanta having seen Wilson last weekend because while they do not run exact copies they have similar offences. Kaepernick made hay last week when he correctly used the read zone option offence and in particular tucked it under his arm and ran. Atlanta for vast pasts of last week took that away from Wilson and I again think they will be able to do the same this week. Kaepernick will for sure make his big plays but it will not be to the same level as last week. Ryan showed us all something different last week that he is clutch, he can make plays when it counts and will need to do so again tomorrow. I have said many times before that I think this 49ers defence is the most all round defence in football but in the same breath I think this Atlanta offence is very good and does a good job at sharing it all around. I think Atlanta will find it difficult to win but will be powered by the home crowd and will find ways to do so in a variety of methods. This is why I think Atlanta win this game and it could come down to the final drive.
Enjoy another great weekend of football.
AFC New England v Baltimore
I wrote Baltimore of last week going into Denver I thought they had no chance but they took Denver all the way and then put them away in over time. Both teams look like they have found there rhythm and play off football comes naturally. I think this match up relies on how much time Brady gets the ball, Rice needs to be worked hard keeping Brady of the pitch. Flacco has looked his best in the playoffs and I think regardless of the result he will have another good day. Although I expect Belicheck to take away the big deep threat of Smith and therefore ensuring Rice has to run well. The ravens D is rolling on an emotional roller coaster at the moment with the thought each game could be the last for Ray Lewis. The defence has played well and will continue to do so this weekend but like usual Brady will have his moments and force a win. I think this could be the last time we see number 52 and so will no doubt be emotional, it will be close but Brady is the factor and knows how to get it done.
NFC Atlanta v San Francisco
I find this match up much harder to call. In the past I have not been very complementary of Kaepernicks skills but he was unbelievable last week and made me eat my words. I think it's going to help Atlanta having seen Wilson last weekend because while they do not run exact copies they have similar offences. Kaepernick made hay last week when he correctly used the read zone option offence and in particular tucked it under his arm and ran. Atlanta for vast pasts of last week took that away from Wilson and I again think they will be able to do the same this week. Kaepernick will for sure make his big plays but it will not be to the same level as last week. Ryan showed us all something different last week that he is clutch, he can make plays when it counts and will need to do so again tomorrow. I have said many times before that I think this 49ers defence is the most all round defence in football but in the same breath I think this Atlanta offence is very good and does a good job at sharing it all around. I think Atlanta will find it difficult to win but will be powered by the home crowd and will find ways to do so in a variety of methods. This is why I think Atlanta win this game and it could come down to the final drive.
Enjoy another great weekend of football.
Friday 18 January 2013
Pistons is their a future
Last night the NBA returned to London as the Detroit Pistons played a home game against New York Knicks. Those you follow my blogs closely or my twitter will know that I'm a massive Piston fan, regularly watching their games online or catch highlights through ESPN so it was amazing to catch them live in the flesh last evening.
While most reports today will focus on what a great show London put on for the NBA and how the American invasion continues or how New York were in a different class to the Pistons. All of which are great topics and I would like to discuss them as well but I'm going to focus on how differently the two teams are built which reflects the current nature of the NBA which favours certain teams.
Even a first time watcher last night will tell you the Knicks are ready to win and go far in the playoffs while the Pistons are a team in development. That would be a true comment the Pistons have 6 players out of its squad of 15 who are in the first or second year in the league while the Knicks have just 1 player. This reflects the experience both teams have making the Knicks far better equipped to win. Now I'm not saying for one minute that the best way to build a team in the NBA is through free agency and trades bringing in veterans rather than through young players in the draft.
In fact I'm more in favour of drafting young talent because of that chance of unearthing a gem and players hold less power the club picks the player rather than the player picking the club. It is what happens next that really annoys me and gives other clubs an advantage over other ones.
Out of the Pistons squad of 15 only 2 were not drafted by the Pistons in comparison to 9 from New York. The reason for this is because unlike the NFL the NBA uses a soft salary cap which means clubs can actually exceed the salary cap.
Some clubs like the New Yorks Knicks a market town who receive lots of national media time and therefore have a great financial income spend over the salary cap and are actually close to the luxury tax bracket. While on the other hand a small market town like Detroit spends the minimum 85% of the salary cap on player wages. Leaving a huge gulf in what the two teams can afford to pay players.
This means two things those small market towns like Detroit when their players who they drafted and worked hard with for the first 4 years of their career come to the end of their rookie contract and need a new contract these small clubs can not afford to keep them. Players have all the power and show no loyalty to the club that drafted them and gave them their chance. The same club can not match a contract put on the table by a larger club and therefore the player moves in free agency to these bigger clubs. Instead the player goes backwards and forwards between two larger market clubs seeing who will pay him the most. Resulting in small market clubs not having the capability to compete in free agency and not being able to hold on to their talented young players when their contracts come to an end.
I blame the current labour deal which is only a year old. It gave far too much power to bigger market clubs and players. I believe it should have just been a hard cap set and more stronger tags placed so clubs do not loose their young talented players at the end of their rookie contracts.
The fear Detroit has it has spent a lot of time loosing while bring on these talented young players like Knight, Monroe and Drummond all of whom they drafted. The fear comes when their rookie contracts run out and Detroit can not match a New York contract offered to the player. Come this time they will not be able to compete financial and these players will leave resulting in Pistons rebuilding again.
Please NBA make it a financial fair league.
While most reports today will focus on what a great show London put on for the NBA and how the American invasion continues or how New York were in a different class to the Pistons. All of which are great topics and I would like to discuss them as well but I'm going to focus on how differently the two teams are built which reflects the current nature of the NBA which favours certain teams.
Even a first time watcher last night will tell you the Knicks are ready to win and go far in the playoffs while the Pistons are a team in development. That would be a true comment the Pistons have 6 players out of its squad of 15 who are in the first or second year in the league while the Knicks have just 1 player. This reflects the experience both teams have making the Knicks far better equipped to win. Now I'm not saying for one minute that the best way to build a team in the NBA is through free agency and trades bringing in veterans rather than through young players in the draft.
In fact I'm more in favour of drafting young talent because of that chance of unearthing a gem and players hold less power the club picks the player rather than the player picking the club. It is what happens next that really annoys me and gives other clubs an advantage over other ones.
Out of the Pistons squad of 15 only 2 were not drafted by the Pistons in comparison to 9 from New York. The reason for this is because unlike the NFL the NBA uses a soft salary cap which means clubs can actually exceed the salary cap.
Some clubs like the New Yorks Knicks a market town who receive lots of national media time and therefore have a great financial income spend over the salary cap and are actually close to the luxury tax bracket. While on the other hand a small market town like Detroit spends the minimum 85% of the salary cap on player wages. Leaving a huge gulf in what the two teams can afford to pay players.
This means two things those small market towns like Detroit when their players who they drafted and worked hard with for the first 4 years of their career come to the end of their rookie contract and need a new contract these small clubs can not afford to keep them. Players have all the power and show no loyalty to the club that drafted them and gave them their chance. The same club can not match a contract put on the table by a larger club and therefore the player moves in free agency to these bigger clubs. Instead the player goes backwards and forwards between two larger market clubs seeing who will pay him the most. Resulting in small market clubs not having the capability to compete in free agency and not being able to hold on to their talented young players when their contracts come to an end.
I blame the current labour deal which is only a year old. It gave far too much power to bigger market clubs and players. I believe it should have just been a hard cap set and more stronger tags placed so clubs do not loose their young talented players at the end of their rookie contracts.
The fear Detroit has it has spent a lot of time loosing while bring on these talented young players like Knight, Monroe and Drummond all of whom they drafted. The fear comes when their rookie contracts run out and Detroit can not match a New York contract offered to the player. Come this time they will not be able to compete financial and these players will leave resulting in Pistons rebuilding again.
Please NBA make it a financial fair league.
Tuesday 15 January 2013
Winfrey gets the confession
On Thursday the the airing of Lance Armstrong's confession to doping will hit TV screens worldwide, made possible by Oprah Winfrey. Armstrong has caved in to all the pressure demanding the truth regarding the doping allegations, the details are not clear yet but all will be made transparent on Thursday.
This will be a sad day for sport as Armstrong was due to go down in sporting history not just as a great cyclist but one of the greatest sportsmen. He holds the record for the number of Tour de France wins with 7 consecutive titles which have recently been stripped as the world anti doping agency (WADA) found him guilt of taking sports enhancing drugs. He has always denied these allegations until now and his confession to Winfrey.
Armstrong was being placed under huge pressure to come clean as he had not only been stripped off all his titles but endorsement deals were falling by the waist side. Just recently several ex-teammates have gone public to admit to Armstrong's guilt further hiking up the pressure. Taking drugs is bad enough but it's the way Armstrong has gone about to clean his name that hurts even more. As a teacher and coach the biggest quality I preach is not any particular skill or ability but honesty, honesty is the greatest gift anyone can give. Armstrong has sued and won millions of pounds from people such as the UK Sunday Times who have accused him of taking sports enhancing drugs. This not only tarnishes any sporting legacy but any legacy as a human being.
Armstrong on the other hand can still be viewed as a super human. We will never quiet know how great a cycler he was but I think we can imagine he was more than half decent. Regardless of the doping he did fight of multiple cases of cancer and go on to compete at a high level, giving hope to many cancer sufferers. This for any human is super human and should be remembered for the lives he has given hope to.
While I'm sure the media will concentrate on Armstrong the villain which I'm not for one minute denying this, I can see the opportunity in everything, including this. Armstrong can become the face of a campaign, a campaign that has got a bad reputation and needs a public face. He could be the face of sporting anti doping cases, speaking to young athletes about the dangers and problems of taking sports enhancing drugs promoting fair competition. From this with Armstrong's commitment he can go a long way to building a positive image, for those doubters look no further than Michael Vick.
Armstrong will always be removed from my greatest sportsmen list and now be a case study when I teach doping to my GCSE PE classes. He can though take this as an opportunity, he can help prevent doping across all sports and continue his great work with the Livestrong foundation supporting cancer patients. On Thursday the darkest of ashes may be made but I have a feeling Armstrong can rise from these ashes.
This will be a sad day for sport as Armstrong was due to go down in sporting history not just as a great cyclist but one of the greatest sportsmen. He holds the record for the number of Tour de France wins with 7 consecutive titles which have recently been stripped as the world anti doping agency (WADA) found him guilt of taking sports enhancing drugs. He has always denied these allegations until now and his confession to Winfrey.
Armstrong was being placed under huge pressure to come clean as he had not only been stripped off all his titles but endorsement deals were falling by the waist side. Just recently several ex-teammates have gone public to admit to Armstrong's guilt further hiking up the pressure. Taking drugs is bad enough but it's the way Armstrong has gone about to clean his name that hurts even more. As a teacher and coach the biggest quality I preach is not any particular skill or ability but honesty, honesty is the greatest gift anyone can give. Armstrong has sued and won millions of pounds from people such as the UK Sunday Times who have accused him of taking sports enhancing drugs. This not only tarnishes any sporting legacy but any legacy as a human being.
Armstrong on the other hand can still be viewed as a super human. We will never quiet know how great a cycler he was but I think we can imagine he was more than half decent. Regardless of the doping he did fight of multiple cases of cancer and go on to compete at a high level, giving hope to many cancer sufferers. This for any human is super human and should be remembered for the lives he has given hope to.
While I'm sure the media will concentrate on Armstrong the villain which I'm not for one minute denying this, I can see the opportunity in everything, including this. Armstrong can become the face of a campaign, a campaign that has got a bad reputation and needs a public face. He could be the face of sporting anti doping cases, speaking to young athletes about the dangers and problems of taking sports enhancing drugs promoting fair competition. From this with Armstrong's commitment he can go a long way to building a positive image, for those doubters look no further than Michael Vick.
Armstrong will always be removed from my greatest sportsmen list and now be a case study when I teach doping to my GCSE PE classes. He can though take this as an opportunity, he can help prevent doping across all sports and continue his great work with the Livestrong foundation supporting cancer patients. On Thursday the darkest of ashes may be made but I have a feeling Armstrong can rise from these ashes.
Monday 14 January 2013
Best weekend in football
Division champions weekend is well known for being the best weekend in the football, this year it lived up to the billing. This comes after the wild card weekend last weekend and the national championship where Alabama played some of the most near perfect football you could witness.
I could write 5 blogs on my thoughts from the weekend and that would just about cover the Ravens Broncos game. I have decided to just put all my thoughts from the weekend in this blog. I'm sure more will be discussed in the week and even elaborate on some of these, lets start in Denver and work our way through chronologically.
The weather was cold in Denver which does not suit Manning as past results show. With this loss more media attention is being aimed towards this fact and it will no doubt in future playoff games be a monkey on his shoulder. Manning needs to win a playoff game in cold conditions.
The O-Line of Baltimore does not get a lot of credit in fact it gets very little. In over 5 quarters of football they gave up just 1 sack to a defensive unit including Vom Miller who has been getting after the QB all year.
Special teams ace Holliday maybe a fact next week in New England as well. Holliday set an NFL record while he returned both a kick off and punt to the house being the first player to do so in a playoff game. I feel Baltimore may need to steal a possession or two next week and a special teams touchdown is one way to do that.
Torrey Smith v Champ Bailey. I have had the opinion all season Smith is one of the best vertical deep threats in the NFL and he proved it in this game. Although I did think he was going to get a working over from future hall of fame inductee Champ Bailey. Smith was able to get separation a couple of times from the 12 pro bowler showing maybe this is the drop off from the ageing cornerback. Smith keeps impressing me as he adds to his game and is more than just a deep threat his possession of the ball is getting much better.
Last key point from this game is are the Ravens heating up. Two big wins in a row and they appear to have a purpose to their game, that purpose being no one wants to see Ray Lewis retire without that Lombardi trophy in his hands.
More records were broken in the evening when Kaepernick went to town on the Packers. I think Harbaugh is a genius in selecting Kaepernick just as the NFL is going crazy in read option offences I suggest he is the best at it. A quarterback in this style offence can not be afraid to keep the ball and run and probably needs to a good portion of time if that's what you read. Kaepernick is not afraid to do this evidence of his record breaking night.
One positive to come out of the game and perhaps the season is the emergence of some new wide receivers for Green Bay. Jennings and Finley could be departing from them this off season but they could have found two handy replacements in Cobb and James Jones. Jones looks a complete receiver who gets good separation and can run the full route tree while Cobb is an explosive receiver, a big play waiting to happen. Rogers and the offence look fully equipped to have another go next season.
Green Bays defence needs more talent all around. They have good players across the defence but they could do with strengthening in all areas to take them back to the Super Bowl. Matthews could do with some help getting the quarter back, they let too many big plays go to vertical receivers and Raji plays hot and cold in the middle.
On Sunday came even more stunning football starting in Atlanta were the 16 year pro Gonzalez finally won his first playoff game. The tight end is another lock for the hall of fame holding so many tight end records but this is his first playoff win. He to like Lewis is looking to bow out holding that famous trophy, the dream is still alive.
The monkey is of the back for Atlanta and in particular Mike Smith and Matt Ryan as at the fourth time of trying they achieve in winning a playoff game. This will release so much pressure and make life so much easier for them I expect them to up it another notch next week and play much more relaxed and not as tight as they did at times in the second half.
Seahawks stuck to the game plan to ridged it was like reading a book. Everyone know they wanted to get Lynch going early so they gave him plenty of opportunities but he could not get it going. I would have liked to have seen Wilson in the first quarter gone through his option read a bit better and tucked the ball instead of handing it off. Let the Falcons know how quick and dangers you are early and then maybe things may have opened up for Lynch.
A new clutch quarterback was born on Sunday evening. I thought it was just Manning or Brady who could lead their team down the field with only a minute in the clock to kick a winning field goal in the playoffs. You can now add Ryan to that list as he made a couple of really clutch throws making good decisions and then having the poise to deliver the most accurate throws when it counted the most.
The final game was up in Foxborough and that New England defence did what it does best. Nothing spectacular or flashy but takes the main part of their opponents offence away. On Sunday it was Foster and the running game, the defence filled holes and and stayed disciplined during the stretch plays.
Talib is a real difference maker on the Patriots defence, their was a lot of discussion about how he has about a needed swagger to the team which I can not argue. However more importantly he has brought an ability to cover the outside receiver something that had been missing in New England for a number of years. The match up between him and Smith is going to be an interesting one this forthcoming weekend.
Injuries killed the Texans, they have had so many people on the defence out injured this season. Early on in the season I was crediting Wade Phillips on producing another stellar defence that could stop anyone but injuries to key players have hindered them down the line. I would like to see how Brady fairs against a health Texans defence but maybe we will save that to next year.
Teams talk about the speed of the New England offence and watching it on Sunday you can really pick up how quick Brady moves through the gears. When he finds a look he likes he makes all the calls at the line of scrimmage preventing the defence from making any substitutions and goes after the match up he likes. This is the advantage of having an offensive coordinator as your quarterback, ravens defenders this Sunday will need all of Lewis experience to help diagnose plays and get them in the right position quickly.
I could write 5 blogs on my thoughts from the weekend and that would just about cover the Ravens Broncos game. I have decided to just put all my thoughts from the weekend in this blog. I'm sure more will be discussed in the week and even elaborate on some of these, lets start in Denver and work our way through chronologically.
The weather was cold in Denver which does not suit Manning as past results show. With this loss more media attention is being aimed towards this fact and it will no doubt in future playoff games be a monkey on his shoulder. Manning needs to win a playoff game in cold conditions.
The O-Line of Baltimore does not get a lot of credit in fact it gets very little. In over 5 quarters of football they gave up just 1 sack to a defensive unit including Vom Miller who has been getting after the QB all year.
Special teams ace Holliday maybe a fact next week in New England as well. Holliday set an NFL record while he returned both a kick off and punt to the house being the first player to do so in a playoff game. I feel Baltimore may need to steal a possession or two next week and a special teams touchdown is one way to do that.
Torrey Smith v Champ Bailey. I have had the opinion all season Smith is one of the best vertical deep threats in the NFL and he proved it in this game. Although I did think he was going to get a working over from future hall of fame inductee Champ Bailey. Smith was able to get separation a couple of times from the 12 pro bowler showing maybe this is the drop off from the ageing cornerback. Smith keeps impressing me as he adds to his game and is more than just a deep threat his possession of the ball is getting much better.
Last key point from this game is are the Ravens heating up. Two big wins in a row and they appear to have a purpose to their game, that purpose being no one wants to see Ray Lewis retire without that Lombardi trophy in his hands.
More records were broken in the evening when Kaepernick went to town on the Packers. I think Harbaugh is a genius in selecting Kaepernick just as the NFL is going crazy in read option offences I suggest he is the best at it. A quarterback in this style offence can not be afraid to keep the ball and run and probably needs to a good portion of time if that's what you read. Kaepernick is not afraid to do this evidence of his record breaking night.
One positive to come out of the game and perhaps the season is the emergence of some new wide receivers for Green Bay. Jennings and Finley could be departing from them this off season but they could have found two handy replacements in Cobb and James Jones. Jones looks a complete receiver who gets good separation and can run the full route tree while Cobb is an explosive receiver, a big play waiting to happen. Rogers and the offence look fully equipped to have another go next season.
Green Bays defence needs more talent all around. They have good players across the defence but they could do with strengthening in all areas to take them back to the Super Bowl. Matthews could do with some help getting the quarter back, they let too many big plays go to vertical receivers and Raji plays hot and cold in the middle.
On Sunday came even more stunning football starting in Atlanta were the 16 year pro Gonzalez finally won his first playoff game. The tight end is another lock for the hall of fame holding so many tight end records but this is his first playoff win. He to like Lewis is looking to bow out holding that famous trophy, the dream is still alive.
The monkey is of the back for Atlanta and in particular Mike Smith and Matt Ryan as at the fourth time of trying they achieve in winning a playoff game. This will release so much pressure and make life so much easier for them I expect them to up it another notch next week and play much more relaxed and not as tight as they did at times in the second half.
Seahawks stuck to the game plan to ridged it was like reading a book. Everyone know they wanted to get Lynch going early so they gave him plenty of opportunities but he could not get it going. I would have liked to have seen Wilson in the first quarter gone through his option read a bit better and tucked the ball instead of handing it off. Let the Falcons know how quick and dangers you are early and then maybe things may have opened up for Lynch.
A new clutch quarterback was born on Sunday evening. I thought it was just Manning or Brady who could lead their team down the field with only a minute in the clock to kick a winning field goal in the playoffs. You can now add Ryan to that list as he made a couple of really clutch throws making good decisions and then having the poise to deliver the most accurate throws when it counted the most.
The final game was up in Foxborough and that New England defence did what it does best. Nothing spectacular or flashy but takes the main part of their opponents offence away. On Sunday it was Foster and the running game, the defence filled holes and and stayed disciplined during the stretch plays.
Talib is a real difference maker on the Patriots defence, their was a lot of discussion about how he has about a needed swagger to the team which I can not argue. However more importantly he has brought an ability to cover the outside receiver something that had been missing in New England for a number of years. The match up between him and Smith is going to be an interesting one this forthcoming weekend.
Injuries killed the Texans, they have had so many people on the defence out injured this season. Early on in the season I was crediting Wade Phillips on producing another stellar defence that could stop anyone but injuries to key players have hindered them down the line. I would like to see how Brady fairs against a health Texans defence but maybe we will save that to next year.
Teams talk about the speed of the New England offence and watching it on Sunday you can really pick up how quick Brady moves through the gears. When he finds a look he likes he makes all the calls at the line of scrimmage preventing the defence from making any substitutions and goes after the match up he likes. This is the advantage of having an offensive coordinator as your quarterback, ravens defenders this Sunday will need all of Lewis experience to help diagnose plays and get them in the right position quickly.
Thursday 10 January 2013
Championship weekend
Championship weekend this weekend as I went 4-0 last weekend with my selections I thought I would preview this weekends game in the same manner.
Baltimore@Denver
Manning back in the playoffs and Denver are really clicking the defence lead by Von Miller is solid and with the running game and Manning leading the passing attack they have a balanced offence. Baltimore are coming of an emotional week at home where they maybe spent. This team also needs to lean on their running game and Rice fumbled twice, I also think Denver are easily going to get pressure on Flacco as their OLine looked a bit suspicious last week. Denver easily win this one the only thing that makes me a little hesitant is the weather! Cold weather not suiting Manning so expect the Denver ground attack to win this one.
Packers@49ers
This game could go either way the 49ers no doubt have the best all round defence in football and the Packers are going to find it much harder to score than they did against the Vikings. I think the big difference between the two teams comes down to the quarterback. Packers have one of the games best who is use to this type of pressure, is peaking at the right time and could handle a close game needing to score on the last drive. Rookie Kaepernick I'm not too sure about this will be his first playoff game, has not been at his best over the last month and I'm not too sure I trust him with a game winning drive. Green Bay win this by a point and the difference is in the quarterback play.
Seattle@Atlanta
I wait with great anticipation for this game as I'm sure Matt Ryan does, Mike Smith does and all Falcons fans do. Could this be the playoff game they remove the monkey off their back and this is seriously putting pressure on this team. Seahawks come into this game in red hot form a rookie QB who has a playoff win, a phenomenal run game and a fast aggressive defence. I like seattle here the pressure is only going to make things hard for Atlanta and I like Seattle defence to put early pressure on Ryan and then Lynch and Wilson to control the game with their legs.
Houston@New England
Houston got a good win against the Bengals last week but they will need to be much better to compete with New England. Patriots are clinical in the playoffs and I expect them to be this weekend as well, Gronk back will help give Brady more options particularly in the red zone. New England's defence is not amazing but it does enough and the Texans offence has not exploded like we are use to for a good couple of weeks now, it will need to on Sunday. New England win this and move on to AFC playoff game.
Baltimore@Denver
Manning back in the playoffs and Denver are really clicking the defence lead by Von Miller is solid and with the running game and Manning leading the passing attack they have a balanced offence. Baltimore are coming of an emotional week at home where they maybe spent. This team also needs to lean on their running game and Rice fumbled twice, I also think Denver are easily going to get pressure on Flacco as their OLine looked a bit suspicious last week. Denver easily win this one the only thing that makes me a little hesitant is the weather! Cold weather not suiting Manning so expect the Denver ground attack to win this one.
Packers@49ers
This game could go either way the 49ers no doubt have the best all round defence in football and the Packers are going to find it much harder to score than they did against the Vikings. I think the big difference between the two teams comes down to the quarterback. Packers have one of the games best who is use to this type of pressure, is peaking at the right time and could handle a close game needing to score on the last drive. Rookie Kaepernick I'm not too sure about this will be his first playoff game, has not been at his best over the last month and I'm not too sure I trust him with a game winning drive. Green Bay win this by a point and the difference is in the quarterback play.
Seattle@Atlanta
I wait with great anticipation for this game as I'm sure Matt Ryan does, Mike Smith does and all Falcons fans do. Could this be the playoff game they remove the monkey off their back and this is seriously putting pressure on this team. Seahawks come into this game in red hot form a rookie QB who has a playoff win, a phenomenal run game and a fast aggressive defence. I like seattle here the pressure is only going to make things hard for Atlanta and I like Seattle defence to put early pressure on Ryan and then Lynch and Wilson to control the game with their legs.
Houston@New England
Houston got a good win against the Bengals last week but they will need to be much better to compete with New England. Patriots are clinical in the playoffs and I expect them to be this weekend as well, Gronk back will help give Brady more options particularly in the red zone. New England's defence is not amazing but it does enough and the Texans offence has not exploded like we are use to for a good couple of weeks now, it will need to on Sunday. New England win this and move on to AFC playoff game.
Wednesday 9 January 2013
Celebrating success
I have been watching lots of reaction from the National Championship game where Alabama stuck one on Norte Dame. This game will be discussed in tomorrow's blog. Alabama head coach Nick Saban said something very interesting following the game. He mentioned that work for this latest National Championship game started 2 days following their National Championship title last year 2012 and they would begin preparing and improving for next years campaign today. Two days following their recent national title.
This made me think, when do professional athletes really celebrate their success. How often do you hear coaches or players following a great win or winning a trophy talk about the next challenge. Take the England cricket team for example who recently just won their first test series in India in over 20 years. In all the press conferences following this series Cook and Flower rarely discussed how much of a great accomplishment this was and more about how the team are preparing well and developing for the back to back Ashes test series later this year.
Alabama crushed Norte Dame in the biggest game of all college sports on Monday to win the National title. Saban hardly talked about how great this was or what an amazing achievement it is to be the first college ever to win back to back championships. He instead wanted to discuss how it had been a long journey as it started just 2 days following their last title and in 2 days time they would be back at work preparing for next years title.
Again this is more proof that the true great and very best teams do not rest on their achievements but are always looking forward for that next great thing. However does this create a problem if you do not celebrate your success have you achieved anything? Tim Tebow mentions that Florida did not play particularly well in his senior year because they were so focused on winning back to back championships that they did not spend time to appreciate the championship they won the previous year. Tebow talks about the team being too uptight, not relaxed and having an unclear vision.
He himself says he regrets not spending the time to celebrate and realise the great achievement himself and the team had achieved in his junior year and taking time to celebrate with fans who are a massive part of any achievement. In my opinion the absolute great teams are right to always be looking for that next challenge after all that's how you are going to be classed as great. I do think tho teams, players, coaches and fans need to spend time to celebrate accomplishments as it will not only help in producing more quality in the future but you have not achieved something unless this is acknowledged.
This made me think, when do professional athletes really celebrate their success. How often do you hear coaches or players following a great win or winning a trophy talk about the next challenge. Take the England cricket team for example who recently just won their first test series in India in over 20 years. In all the press conferences following this series Cook and Flower rarely discussed how much of a great accomplishment this was and more about how the team are preparing well and developing for the back to back Ashes test series later this year.
Alabama crushed Norte Dame in the biggest game of all college sports on Monday to win the National title. Saban hardly talked about how great this was or what an amazing achievement it is to be the first college ever to win back to back championships. He instead wanted to discuss how it had been a long journey as it started just 2 days following their last title and in 2 days time they would be back at work preparing for next years title.
Again this is more proof that the true great and very best teams do not rest on their achievements but are always looking forward for that next great thing. However does this create a problem if you do not celebrate your success have you achieved anything? Tim Tebow mentions that Florida did not play particularly well in his senior year because they were so focused on winning back to back championships that they did not spend time to appreciate the championship they won the previous year. Tebow talks about the team being too uptight, not relaxed and having an unclear vision.
He himself says he regrets not spending the time to celebrate and realise the great achievement himself and the team had achieved in his junior year and taking time to celebrate with fans who are a massive part of any achievement. In my opinion the absolute great teams are right to always be looking for that next challenge after all that's how you are going to be classed as great. I do think tho teams, players, coaches and fans need to spend time to celebrate accomplishments as it will not only help in producing more quality in the future but you have not achieved something unless this is acknowledged.
Tuesday 8 January 2013
Messi era
In a previous blog when I discussed great sportsmen I made a point at not comparing sportsmen from different era's for example comparing Tendulkar to Bradman. The reason for this is because the game in which you make the comparison changes so much making the comparison difficult and for many players I was not part of that era therefore I use secondary sources. However today you can not escape the comparison being made between Messi and other all time greats like Pele or Maradona.
Rightly so yesterday Messi was awarded his fourth consecutive FIFA world player of the year trophy. He beat Ronaldo and team mate Iniesta to the Ballon d'Or. There is no doubt in my eyes he is the right winner and the two runners up would have more than likely won it if they were in any other era. Messi had a record breaking year crowning it with 91 goals in the calendar year a feat that no one has ever achieved.
By winning this award for the fourth time it quiet clearly demonstrates the dominance Messi has shown in recent years. Through his performances winning multiple La Liga titles and Champions league titles and his records like the goal scoring record, there is no doubt he has dominated football in recent years.
With this dominance comes comparisons to people like Pele and Maradona. As I mentioned earlier I find it hard to compare players from different eras but the successes I have already talked about are things no one else has ever achieved. The big difference and comparison I will make is Messi has never won footballs biggest prize he is not a World Cup winner. Both the other Two players mentioned have achieved this, something he may need to do to be called the best ever.
While I wait to call Messi the best player ever I will always refer to this period of time in football as the Messi era. No one is as dominate and no one is as successful as Messi and I think in future years people may compare the next great footballers to Messi.
Rightly so yesterday Messi was awarded his fourth consecutive FIFA world player of the year trophy. He beat Ronaldo and team mate Iniesta to the Ballon d'Or. There is no doubt in my eyes he is the right winner and the two runners up would have more than likely won it if they were in any other era. Messi had a record breaking year crowning it with 91 goals in the calendar year a feat that no one has ever achieved.
By winning this award for the fourth time it quiet clearly demonstrates the dominance Messi has shown in recent years. Through his performances winning multiple La Liga titles and Champions league titles and his records like the goal scoring record, there is no doubt he has dominated football in recent years.
With this dominance comes comparisons to people like Pele and Maradona. As I mentioned earlier I find it hard to compare players from different eras but the successes I have already talked about are things no one else has ever achieved. The big difference and comparison I will make is Messi has never won footballs biggest prize he is not a World Cup winner. Both the other Two players mentioned have achieved this, something he may need to do to be called the best ever.
While I wait to call Messi the best player ever I will always refer to this period of time in football as the Messi era. No one is as dominate and no one is as successful as Messi and I think in future years people may compare the next great footballers to Messi.
Monday 7 January 2013
Wildcard weekend
When thinking about what I was going to write about this evening I had so much to choose from out of all this weekends action. The FA cup and the handball incident, transfer gossip, Murray on form and ready to win in Aus, Warne fighting in the Big bash and Sky Sports declaring they will show live NBA for the remainder of the season.
I'm going with what was the highlight of my weekend. I have watched every minute of wild card weekend and while there might not be any shocks like Luton in the FA cup it was so captive. First of all a big well done to sky sports, Kevin Cadle, Neil Reynolds and Jeff Reinebold there coverage and insight into the games was magnificent.
Those of you that follow my blog and twitter will know I went 4 for 4 in picking the winners so the results did not surprise me. That's not to say there was no drama and the quality of football was nothing short of great. I texted a friend during the half time of the Washington Seattle game and I said it was probably the best game of football I have ever watched.
If I take this great game first, I thought it had everything. Two solid fundamental teams who have employed a new offence successfully. While the Skins jumped out to a two TD lead I stand by something I said last week that the Seahawks defence is for real. Following the two touchdowns they stiffened up and started making plays using their speed and pressure they get from their front four. The big question coming out of this game surrounds RGIII health, would the Skins have been able to win this with a fully fit RGIII. Well I think we may get a repeat of this match up in future playoffs for now I hope he gets better quickly. Final point on this game Morris and Lynch are fantastic runners, they are both multi dimensional, run hard and can go the distance. I really enjoyed watching them do their stuff and its good to see teams can still lean on their run game. Atlanta next for Seattle and I think we may get our first upset here.
The game before just 28 miles away in Baltimore number 52 played his last game in Ravens stadium. Just watching on TV you could tell the stadium was packed with emotion and Lewis delivered just as all greats do. There where doubts before hand as to how affective he would be as he only tore his triceps 3 months ago. However the football Gods are still smiling on Lewis he lead the team in tackles, had an opportunity at an interception and was even part of the offence for the final snap in Baltimore this season. This is one fairy tale I personally hope ends with him on top of a podium in New Orleans.
Tonight is the BCS national championship I'm taking Alabama to win back to back national championships. Probably will do some sort of review tomorrow on the game. Alabama win.
I'm going with what was the highlight of my weekend. I have watched every minute of wild card weekend and while there might not be any shocks like Luton in the FA cup it was so captive. First of all a big well done to sky sports, Kevin Cadle, Neil Reynolds and Jeff Reinebold there coverage and insight into the games was magnificent.
Those of you that follow my blog and twitter will know I went 4 for 4 in picking the winners so the results did not surprise me. That's not to say there was no drama and the quality of football was nothing short of great. I texted a friend during the half time of the Washington Seattle game and I said it was probably the best game of football I have ever watched.
If I take this great game first, I thought it had everything. Two solid fundamental teams who have employed a new offence successfully. While the Skins jumped out to a two TD lead I stand by something I said last week that the Seahawks defence is for real. Following the two touchdowns they stiffened up and started making plays using their speed and pressure they get from their front four. The big question coming out of this game surrounds RGIII health, would the Skins have been able to win this with a fully fit RGIII. Well I think we may get a repeat of this match up in future playoffs for now I hope he gets better quickly. Final point on this game Morris and Lynch are fantastic runners, they are both multi dimensional, run hard and can go the distance. I really enjoyed watching them do their stuff and its good to see teams can still lean on their run game. Atlanta next for Seattle and I think we may get our first upset here.
The game before just 28 miles away in Baltimore number 52 played his last game in Ravens stadium. Just watching on TV you could tell the stadium was packed with emotion and Lewis delivered just as all greats do. There where doubts before hand as to how affective he would be as he only tore his triceps 3 months ago. However the football Gods are still smiling on Lewis he lead the team in tackles, had an opportunity at an interception and was even part of the offence for the final snap in Baltimore this season. This is one fairy tale I personally hope ends with him on top of a podium in New Orleans.
Tonight is the BCS national championship I'm taking Alabama to win back to back national championships. Probably will do some sort of review tomorrow on the game. Alabama win.
Saturday 5 January 2013
Magic of the Cup
The FA cup third round has always been marked on my calendar every year. It's a totally different weekend than any other in the year. You have a feeling of hope when any team can beat any other team. The chance that a team 100 places below another can beat the other, no other sporting competition puts such a gulf in class up against one and other.
I will be making my way to the Kassam Stadium as for first time in a few years my team Oxford United of League 2 take on Sheffield United of league 1 in the third round of the FA cup. While this is not the glamour tie many Oxford or Sheffield fans wanted it does provide a great opportunity for smaller clubs. The winner of today's tie will win just over £67,000 which is a tidy sum for any club. Oxford are expecting one of their best gate sells of the season and the chance to be in the fourth round increasing your chance of getting one of those big teams.
It's a strange thing the cup tie because both Sheffield and Oxford realistically have no chance of winning the cup and both sets of fans know that. Yet the atmosphere at the Kassam will be electric as both clubs will be desperate to win and hopefully get that bigger tie in the fourth round.
The magic of cup is great for clubs as it can help financial, it brings hope to fans you may have been watching their club struggle or year and more important it brings hope that once again David can beat Goliath.
Enjoy the cup people.
I will be making my way to the Kassam Stadium as for first time in a few years my team Oxford United of League 2 take on Sheffield United of league 1 in the third round of the FA cup. While this is not the glamour tie many Oxford or Sheffield fans wanted it does provide a great opportunity for smaller clubs. The winner of today's tie will win just over £67,000 which is a tidy sum for any club. Oxford are expecting one of their best gate sells of the season and the chance to be in the fourth round increasing your chance of getting one of those big teams.
It's a strange thing the cup tie because both Sheffield and Oxford realistically have no chance of winning the cup and both sets of fans know that. Yet the atmosphere at the Kassam will be electric as both clubs will be desperate to win and hopefully get that bigger tie in the fourth round.
The magic of cup is great for clubs as it can help financial, it brings hope to fans you may have been watching their club struggle or year and more important it brings hope that once again David can beat Goliath.
Enjoy the cup people.
Friday 4 January 2013
Tom Wort flying the flag for the UK
Tonight in Dallas the annual Cotton bowl will take place and to the general public in the UK it may not be a big deal. Even the hardest American football fan may not know all that is to know about tonight's match up between Texas A&M and Oklahoma. However this match up is another small step in expanding the American brand of football over here in the UK.
This is because starting in tonight's game at inside linebacker is a young player called Tom Wort from the UK. Tom originates from Crawley and moved to the United States when 14 years old, he took up playing football at high school and soon became a star and now he is a star at the University of Oklahoma, one of the biggest football playing colleges in the country.
The best part of this is Tom is proud of being from the UK and happy to fly the flag. Last year he returned to the UK for a short period when he openly talked about his experiences and passion for football and the UK. This is great news for football fans in the UK, as the game ever expands this side of the Atlantic with two NFL games taking place this year at Wembley stadium, this is the next step. Having someone in the NFL that the UK fans can follow and someone who looks forward to playing at his home stadium Wembley.
In the past NFLUK have done a good job at trying to link players to the UK in order to help the game grow and sell tickets for the Wembley games like Osi Umenyiora from the New York Giants. The difference is Tom really enjoys flying the flag for UK and really in braces it when others have not.
Now Tom has a really long way to go before he is playing at Wembley Stadium in front of a home sell out crowd all screaming his name and the team he plays for. Currently Tom is a junior, he had a terrific sophomore year where he made plays all over the field and was the teams leading tackler. This year has had it's troubles which he has come through and in the long run I believe will make him a better player. He has a new defensive coordinator with a new system which perhaps does not suit his skills but it is allowing him to work on his weaknesses (pass coverage). He has had to fight through several injuries which slowed him down at the start of the year but is looking much better recently and close to full speed.
Tonight Tom plays in the biggest game of his career the Cotton Bowl against a pass happy Texas A&M. Tom will have all the scouts watching him as he has the option to declare for the NFL draft this year or next following his senior year. I hope Tom has a great game tonight, knowing that the UK football fan bases is all supporting you and we hope one day you can take the next step.
Good luck Tom.
Bowl prediction I was again correct last night selecting Oregon making me 8-3 in this bowl season. I have predicted Oklahoma to win tonight in yesterday's blog (how could I go for anything else) and a Tom Wort interception.
Tomorrows pick: Compass bowl Ole Miss beat Pitt in a tight ugly game with lots of turnovers.
This is because starting in tonight's game at inside linebacker is a young player called Tom Wort from the UK. Tom originates from Crawley and moved to the United States when 14 years old, he took up playing football at high school and soon became a star and now he is a star at the University of Oklahoma, one of the biggest football playing colleges in the country.
The best part of this is Tom is proud of being from the UK and happy to fly the flag. Last year he returned to the UK for a short period when he openly talked about his experiences and passion for football and the UK. This is great news for football fans in the UK, as the game ever expands this side of the Atlantic with two NFL games taking place this year at Wembley stadium, this is the next step. Having someone in the NFL that the UK fans can follow and someone who looks forward to playing at his home stadium Wembley.
In the past NFLUK have done a good job at trying to link players to the UK in order to help the game grow and sell tickets for the Wembley games like Osi Umenyiora from the New York Giants. The difference is Tom really enjoys flying the flag for UK and really in braces it when others have not.
Now Tom has a really long way to go before he is playing at Wembley Stadium in front of a home sell out crowd all screaming his name and the team he plays for. Currently Tom is a junior, he had a terrific sophomore year where he made plays all over the field and was the teams leading tackler. This year has had it's troubles which he has come through and in the long run I believe will make him a better player. He has a new defensive coordinator with a new system which perhaps does not suit his skills but it is allowing him to work on his weaknesses (pass coverage). He has had to fight through several injuries which slowed him down at the start of the year but is looking much better recently and close to full speed.
Tonight Tom plays in the biggest game of his career the Cotton Bowl against a pass happy Texas A&M. Tom will have all the scouts watching him as he has the option to declare for the NFL draft this year or next following his senior year. I hope Tom has a great game tonight, knowing that the UK football fan bases is all supporting you and we hope one day you can take the next step.
Good luck Tom.
Bowl prediction I was again correct last night selecting Oregon making me 8-3 in this bowl season. I have predicted Oklahoma to win tonight in yesterday's blog (how could I go for anything else) and a Tom Wort interception.
Tomorrows pick: Compass bowl Ole Miss beat Pitt in a tight ugly game with lots of turnovers.
Thursday 3 January 2013
What chance do England have in India?
England returned to India today to complete the tour of the sub continent by playing 5 one day internationals. The last 5 one international series between the two countries played in India have been one sided affairs with England winning just 2 games out of the 15.
England have shown improvements in their one day game through the course of 2012. However they enter the most difficult environments against the world champions resting three of their best players. James Anderson, Graeme Swan and Jonathan Trott will not be making the trip as this is their scheduled rest period as allocated by the ECB.
I have no complaints with the ECBs new policy to rest and rotate players, England have their busiest calendar year this year with back to back series against New Zealand test and one day games. Then they have back to back home and away ashes series. It would be completely ridiculous to think that England's star players could play for the entire calendar year playing at their optimum levels without picking up an injury.
The stress and strains of international cricket make their affects on any cricketer. England want their best players fresh, injury free and playing their best as we take on Australia away from home to retain the Ashes at the end of the year.
This leaves the team in not to good a shape for this one day series in India. Missing our two best bowlers is going to make restricting India's batsmen on some flat pitches really difficult. We may not add to the number of games we have won in recent years in India. However I do not believe winning should be the number one goal of this series for England. Of course if would be nice and there is nothing I want more than to see England win.
This series gives England a great opportunity to develop some young players so that in a time when the international calendar continues to expand, England have the biggest and deepest squad for them to dominant international cricket in forth coming years.
This series provides a great opportunity for the likes of Danny Briggs to show he is an economical bowler at international level not just county. For Meaker and Woakes to join the line of next great English fast bowler and Bairstow to really push a claim to get back in the test team.
This one day series may not be measured by results but by performances either now or ones in the future through the experiences players gain.
Bowl prediction for tomorrow nights cotton bowl. Big game between Texas A&M and Oklahoma. I think the sooners take this in a tight one but a really good game of football.
England have shown improvements in their one day game through the course of 2012. However they enter the most difficult environments against the world champions resting three of their best players. James Anderson, Graeme Swan and Jonathan Trott will not be making the trip as this is their scheduled rest period as allocated by the ECB.
I have no complaints with the ECBs new policy to rest and rotate players, England have their busiest calendar year this year with back to back series against New Zealand test and one day games. Then they have back to back home and away ashes series. It would be completely ridiculous to think that England's star players could play for the entire calendar year playing at their optimum levels without picking up an injury.
The stress and strains of international cricket make their affects on any cricketer. England want their best players fresh, injury free and playing their best as we take on Australia away from home to retain the Ashes at the end of the year.
This leaves the team in not to good a shape for this one day series in India. Missing our two best bowlers is going to make restricting India's batsmen on some flat pitches really difficult. We may not add to the number of games we have won in recent years in India. However I do not believe winning should be the number one goal of this series for England. Of course if would be nice and there is nothing I want more than to see England win.
This series gives England a great opportunity to develop some young players so that in a time when the international calendar continues to expand, England have the biggest and deepest squad for them to dominant international cricket in forth coming years.
This series provides a great opportunity for the likes of Danny Briggs to show he is an economical bowler at international level not just county. For Meaker and Woakes to join the line of next great English fast bowler and Bairstow to really push a claim to get back in the test team.
This one day series may not be measured by results but by performances either now or ones in the future through the experiences players gain.
Bowl prediction for tomorrow nights cotton bowl. Big game between Texas A&M and Oklahoma. I think the sooners take this in a tight one but a really good game of football.
Wednesday 2 January 2013
Contenders and pretenders
NFL playoffs are here so here is a quick look into who I think are contenders for the Super Bowl and who are just pretending.
NFC
1. Atlanta Falcons: Not many 1 seeds have ever been called pretenders but that's what I'm calling them. Mike Smith and Matt Ryan have never won a playoff game, they have lost their unbeaten record at home to fall back on and most of all they have been found out in recent weeks. The defence is slow and has holes at linebacker and in the secondary and I still do not believe Ryan can produce when it matters.
2. San Francisco 49ers: Contenders, they have been deep in the playoffs recently have the best all round defence in the game and have a game plan that works. With their rookie QB they can even be dynamic and a little explosive an element they were missing last year.
3. Green Bay Packers: Packers are similar to the 49ers in the fact they have been to the playoffs recently and winning it a couple of years ago. They still have Rogers which makes this offence one of the most complete offences around. They do have holes on the defensive side of the ball but they get it done when it counts. That's why I'm counting them as a contender.
4. Washington Redskins: What a change around from a year ago this defence was real last year and is again this year they know how to make plays when it counts. RGIII has bought the option read offence to life and looks just as advertised a year ago. In the future they are going to be contenders when they add a few more pieces defensively and RGIII is a bit more experienced but this year they are pretenders.
5.Seattle Seahawks: Absolute 100% contenders. Know one wants to meet them in the playoffs even though the likely hood of them playing at home is slim to none. The defence is young and quick and can shutdown anyone ask the 49ers. The offence is balanced with Wilson they will run off the play action Lynch can bring and Wilson throws a good deep ball. Be aware of the Seahawks.
6. Minnesota Vikings: offensively they do not have enough play makers and will not be able to open up any of these top ranked defences. Their defence is under estimated but they could be playing catch up a lot. Vikings are pretenders.
AFC
1. Denver Broncos: Manning is clicking with the offence which looks totally different and so dangerous with him at the commands. The defence has always been a top 10 D consistently for years plus they have home field advantage through out. They are really contenders for the big prize.
2. New England Patriots. Belicheck and Brady have never been called pretenders and I'm not going to start here. When it comes to playoff football there is no franchise better, Brady even looks hungry recently plus going to Fox borough in January is not an easy thing.
3. Houston Texans. The Texans are ravaged by injuries especially on defence when fully fit they are up there as a contender. However with all the injuries on defence it puts them at a disadvantage one I do not think they can over come. Unfortunately they are pretenders but they will be back next year.
4. Baltimore Ravens. My heart says yes they are a contender and Ray Lewis will bow out on the biggest stage as a two time world champion. Yet my head says they are pretenders that defence could be the leakiest against the run in the playoffs and the offence can be pushed off balanced at times. Please Flacco and co stand up and do it for number 52.
5. Indianapolis Colts. The great franchise returns to the playoffs after a one year absence and they will stay in it for a while. Luck is legitimately elite and will have his chance at the big prize. This year they are too young and in experienced resulting in a pretender card from me.
6. Cincinnati Bengals. If they were in the NFC they would not be in the playoffs. This offence is horrible they will not compete with any one in the playoffs. Their defence front four is what has got them here they are brilliant and should not be under estimated. Bengals though are the biggest pretenders.
Those of you that have been following my bowl predictions. I predicted 6 games last night and went 5-1 to make me 7-3 through the bowl season. Tomorrows prediction is as follows.
Fiesta Bowl: Oregon win and send Chip Kelly to the NFL with a bowl win.
NFC
1. Atlanta Falcons: Not many 1 seeds have ever been called pretenders but that's what I'm calling them. Mike Smith and Matt Ryan have never won a playoff game, they have lost their unbeaten record at home to fall back on and most of all they have been found out in recent weeks. The defence is slow and has holes at linebacker and in the secondary and I still do not believe Ryan can produce when it matters.
2. San Francisco 49ers: Contenders, they have been deep in the playoffs recently have the best all round defence in the game and have a game plan that works. With their rookie QB they can even be dynamic and a little explosive an element they were missing last year.
3. Green Bay Packers: Packers are similar to the 49ers in the fact they have been to the playoffs recently and winning it a couple of years ago. They still have Rogers which makes this offence one of the most complete offences around. They do have holes on the defensive side of the ball but they get it done when it counts. That's why I'm counting them as a contender.
4. Washington Redskins: What a change around from a year ago this defence was real last year and is again this year they know how to make plays when it counts. RGIII has bought the option read offence to life and looks just as advertised a year ago. In the future they are going to be contenders when they add a few more pieces defensively and RGIII is a bit more experienced but this year they are pretenders.
5.Seattle Seahawks: Absolute 100% contenders. Know one wants to meet them in the playoffs even though the likely hood of them playing at home is slim to none. The defence is young and quick and can shutdown anyone ask the 49ers. The offence is balanced with Wilson they will run off the play action Lynch can bring and Wilson throws a good deep ball. Be aware of the Seahawks.
6. Minnesota Vikings: offensively they do not have enough play makers and will not be able to open up any of these top ranked defences. Their defence is under estimated but they could be playing catch up a lot. Vikings are pretenders.
AFC
1. Denver Broncos: Manning is clicking with the offence which looks totally different and so dangerous with him at the commands. The defence has always been a top 10 D consistently for years plus they have home field advantage through out. They are really contenders for the big prize.
2. New England Patriots. Belicheck and Brady have never been called pretenders and I'm not going to start here. When it comes to playoff football there is no franchise better, Brady even looks hungry recently plus going to Fox borough in January is not an easy thing.
3. Houston Texans. The Texans are ravaged by injuries especially on defence when fully fit they are up there as a contender. However with all the injuries on defence it puts them at a disadvantage one I do not think they can over come. Unfortunately they are pretenders but they will be back next year.
4. Baltimore Ravens. My heart says yes they are a contender and Ray Lewis will bow out on the biggest stage as a two time world champion. Yet my head says they are pretenders that defence could be the leakiest against the run in the playoffs and the offence can be pushed off balanced at times. Please Flacco and co stand up and do it for number 52.
5. Indianapolis Colts. The great franchise returns to the playoffs after a one year absence and they will stay in it for a while. Luck is legitimately elite and will have his chance at the big prize. This year they are too young and in experienced resulting in a pretender card from me.
6. Cincinnati Bengals. If they were in the NFC they would not be in the playoffs. This offence is horrible they will not compete with any one in the playoffs. Their defence front four is what has got them here they are brilliant and should not be under estimated. Bengals though are the biggest pretenders.
Those of you that have been following my bowl predictions. I predicted 6 games last night and went 5-1 to make me 7-3 through the bowl season. Tomorrows prediction is as follows.
Fiesta Bowl: Oregon win and send Chip Kelly to the NFL with a bowl win.
Tuesday 1 January 2013
Happy new year but can 13 beat 12?
As we take a leap into 2013 its hard not to look back at 2012. What a sporting year the London Olympic Games put simply as the best Olympics ever. Therefore I'm going to start 2013 by looking back at 2012 and giving out a few awards of my own finishing with sportsman/ women of the year.
Newcomer of 2012: Tough one this one no-one in the Olympics really came out of no where to win medals most winners were well known prior to the Olympics. Therefore my newcomer of 2012 goes to a rookie that looked like a veteran in the NFL. He looked as if this was his 10th season and not his first leading the Colts to the playoffs. Newcomer of 2012 goes to Andrew Luck.
Coach of the year: I debated this one between two people Dave Brailsford who masterminded team sky and the GB cycling success this year. He did a magnificent job in leading Bradley Wiggins to the Tour de France win and then a record medal haul in the Olympics. However my coach of the year goes to Toni Minichiello. Who for those of you that do not know coaches Jess Ennis and has done since the age of 11. Toni is her local coach from Sheffield where he still trains her to this date, most other athletes would have been forced to leave their Junior coach and move to America to take advantage of better coaching and facilities. Yet Jess stayed loyal to Toni and in return he did to her helping her win her Olympic medal by developing his coaching and a determination for success.
Team of the year: Chelsea football club win this. They entered the knock out stages of the Champions league with a new manager and to win it would have to go through Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Yet they did they did not play the most enjoyable football to watch but they played with a clear objective, purpose and English resilience to win the biggest prize in club football.
Life time achievement award: Sir Chris Hoy won his 6 Olympic gold medal surpassing Sir Steve Redgrave to become Great Britons most successful Olympian of all time. Hoy is one of the major factors why GB dominated in the cycling during the Olympics and what a way to end your Olympic career.
Olympian of the year: I'm giving this to two people because I just can not separate their achievements. The first is the most successful Olympian of all time, at the London Games Michael Phelps won his 18 gold medal and 22nd medal. Phelps will not be at Rio but this is an Olympic record which will stand for some time. Then their is the most charismatic sportsmen in the world Usain Bolt who defended both is 100 and 200 meters Olympic title the first man to do so in history. He did it in a way that captured the worlds heart and showed sport can be and should be fun.
International sportsmen of the year: An easy won for me he won an Olympic gold medal, NBA championship and an NBA finals MVP, Lebron James had the best year of his career. He may have won this by winning his first championship but to top it off with an Olympic gold medal that is one incredible year.
Come back of the year: Adrian Peterson running back of the Vikings was on the operation table in January for major surgery on his ACL. This type of injury means who should have a year of football and probably never be the running back you once were. AP has had a career season he even started the season in September and leading the Vikings to the playoffs. He even finished just 9 yards short of the rushing record in a season.
Future 2013 new comer of the year: English cricket faces a very busy year with the highlight being 8 Ashes tests. To help England retain the Ashes they are going to lean on a young batsmen called Joe Root he already has the experience from the Lions tours and is talented enough to perform at the top level.
Sports women of the year: Poster girl of the Olympics, no one had more pressure on her than Jess Ennis. She not only lived up to all the hype she did it with a smile on her face and was a great ambassador for this country.
Sportsmen of the year: To win an Olympic gold medal and the Tour de France is one phenomenal achievement. Bradley Wiggins you are the sportsmen of 2012.
Tomorrows bowl picks, I again went 1-1 last night when Clemson grabbed a late minute field goal to beat LSU.
Florida to beat Louisville in the Allstate sugar bowl.
Newcomer of 2012: Tough one this one no-one in the Olympics really came out of no where to win medals most winners were well known prior to the Olympics. Therefore my newcomer of 2012 goes to a rookie that looked like a veteran in the NFL. He looked as if this was his 10th season and not his first leading the Colts to the playoffs. Newcomer of 2012 goes to Andrew Luck.
Coach of the year: I debated this one between two people Dave Brailsford who masterminded team sky and the GB cycling success this year. He did a magnificent job in leading Bradley Wiggins to the Tour de France win and then a record medal haul in the Olympics. However my coach of the year goes to Toni Minichiello. Who for those of you that do not know coaches Jess Ennis and has done since the age of 11. Toni is her local coach from Sheffield where he still trains her to this date, most other athletes would have been forced to leave their Junior coach and move to America to take advantage of better coaching and facilities. Yet Jess stayed loyal to Toni and in return he did to her helping her win her Olympic medal by developing his coaching and a determination for success.
Team of the year: Chelsea football club win this. They entered the knock out stages of the Champions league with a new manager and to win it would have to go through Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Yet they did they did not play the most enjoyable football to watch but they played with a clear objective, purpose and English resilience to win the biggest prize in club football.
Life time achievement award: Sir Chris Hoy won his 6 Olympic gold medal surpassing Sir Steve Redgrave to become Great Britons most successful Olympian of all time. Hoy is one of the major factors why GB dominated in the cycling during the Olympics and what a way to end your Olympic career.
Olympian of the year: I'm giving this to two people because I just can not separate their achievements. The first is the most successful Olympian of all time, at the London Games Michael Phelps won his 18 gold medal and 22nd medal. Phelps will not be at Rio but this is an Olympic record which will stand for some time. Then their is the most charismatic sportsmen in the world Usain Bolt who defended both is 100 and 200 meters Olympic title the first man to do so in history. He did it in a way that captured the worlds heart and showed sport can be and should be fun.
International sportsmen of the year: An easy won for me he won an Olympic gold medal, NBA championship and an NBA finals MVP, Lebron James had the best year of his career. He may have won this by winning his first championship but to top it off with an Olympic gold medal that is one incredible year.
Come back of the year: Adrian Peterson running back of the Vikings was on the operation table in January for major surgery on his ACL. This type of injury means who should have a year of football and probably never be the running back you once were. AP has had a career season he even started the season in September and leading the Vikings to the playoffs. He even finished just 9 yards short of the rushing record in a season.
Future 2013 new comer of the year: English cricket faces a very busy year with the highlight being 8 Ashes tests. To help England retain the Ashes they are going to lean on a young batsmen called Joe Root he already has the experience from the Lions tours and is talented enough to perform at the top level.
Sports women of the year: Poster girl of the Olympics, no one had more pressure on her than Jess Ennis. She not only lived up to all the hype she did it with a smile on her face and was a great ambassador for this country.
Sportsmen of the year: To win an Olympic gold medal and the Tour de France is one phenomenal achievement. Bradley Wiggins you are the sportsmen of 2012.
Tomorrows bowl picks, I again went 1-1 last night when Clemson grabbed a late minute field goal to beat LSU.
Florida to beat Louisville in the Allstate sugar bowl.
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