MBENGA!!!
So Friday night Brian ‘Angryman’ Lied and I caught the Hornets – Knicks game up at the Hive. This was my second Hornets experience of the season having caught the Hornets upset win over the Miami Heat a couple of weeks ago. One key difference in this one though: No David West for the Hornets. With their leading scorer sidelined by a stomach virus we were instead treated to a heavy dose of Jason Smith and DJ Mbenga. While the two combined for 16 points and 8 rebounds, West’s presence was clearly missed. The Hornets managed to shoot just 43%, turned the ball over 19 times, and hit just 3 of 14 3’s. The Knicks meanwhile were paced by 34 points and 10 rebounds from Amare Stoudemire and had the inside-outside game working as 5 different players combined to knock down 13 3 pointers while winning the game 100-92.
Last time Angry and I took in a game was in 2004 up in Boston back when Ron Artest was still a Pacer. I want to say it was the game before the big melee in Detroit. This one went a lot better for us, as leading up to the last game we made one of the more epic beeramids you’ll ever see. As a result, our recollection of said basketball game was pretty hazy. This time we paced ourselves a little bit better and as a result it was a much more enjoyable experience. Also, yelling out MBENGA! any time anything cool happens was pretty awesome.
JETER SIGNS
All is well in the universe again. Derek Jeter will still be a Yankee and with 2926 hits on the books, he’s likely to reach the 3000 hit milestone as a Yankee in 2011. As it should be. They probably overpaid him (rumored $51M for 3 years guaranteed), but let’s be honest here. The Yankees overpay a lot of people. That’s what they’ve done for years; essentially throw money at any problems they might have. But if you were going to throw too much money at someone, this was the guy you should do it to. The last Yankees opening day shortstop before Derek Jeter? In 2001, Jeter started the season on the DL and Luis Sojo got the call on Opening Day, but going back to the pre-Jeter era it was Tony Fernandez in 1995. That lineup also included Don Mattingly, Danny Tartabull, Wade Boggs and Jimmy Key.
Photo Courtesy: benfry.com
BIG PUMA A CARDINAL? GREAT...
When the Astros traded Lance Berkman to the Yankees last year, while I wasn’t thrilled with it, I understood it was a necessary move. The Astros needed to rebuild, Lance was going to get a chance to play for a contender, and the fact that he was going to the American League made it a little bit more palatable. But now, Lance Berkman is coming back to the NL Central and teaming up with Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday after signing a 1 yr $8M deal with St. Louis. FANTASTIC. Just what I really want to see, Lance Berkman in the opposing lineup for 15 games next year. I would be willing to wager that at least once, he's going to single-handedly win a game against the Astros next season.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Big Puma does in St. Louis because they already have a first baseman and I don’t think Albert Pujols is going anywhere. It sounds like Matt Holliday is willing to move from left to right though so Berkman could find himself out in the outfield again. There’s some question to whether he’ll be able to handle the position nowadays with his health problems in recent years, but let’s be honest. If Carlos Lee can be an every day leftfielder in the NL Central, I think the Puma can handle himself out there.
Photo Courtesy: connect.in.com
THE BCS MATCHUPS ARE SET
The 5 BCS bowl matchups were set tonight and no surprise it's going to be Auburn and Oregon in the National Championship Game. TCU, Stanford, Arkansas and Ohio State picked up the 4 at large bids. The only team that doesn't appear to fit in is unranked Big East Champion Connecticut, but otherwise the top 8 teams in the BCS standings all qualified. Tough to really argue that they got it wrong this year. As much as I dislike the BCS, Oregon - Auburn is the right answer.
Here's how the BCS matchups breakdown:
National Championship - Auburn (13-0) vs Oregon (12-0)
Rose Bowl - TCU (12-0) vs Wisconsin (11-1)
Orange Bowl - Stanford (11-1) vs Virginia Tech (11-2)
Sugar Bowl - Ohio State (11-1) vs Arkansas (10-2)
Fiesta Bowl - Oklahoma (11-2) vs Connecticut (8-4)
And the rest of the bowls:
New Mexico Bowl - BYU vs UTEP
uDrove Humanitarian Bowl - Northern Illinois vs Fresno St.
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl - Ohio vs Troy
Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl - Southern Miss vs Louisville
MAACO Las Vegas Bowl - Utah vs Boise St.
S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl - Navy vs San Diego St.
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl - Hawaii vs Tulsa
Little Caesars Bowl - Florida International vs Toledo
AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl - Air Force vs Georgia Tech
Champs Sports Bowl - West Virginia vs NC State
Insight Bowl - Missouri vs Iowa
Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman - East Carolina vs Maryland
Texas Bowl - Illinois vs Baylor
Valero Alamo Bowl - Oklahoma St. vs Arizona
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl - Army vs SMU
New Era Pinstripe Bowl - Kansas St. vs Syracuse
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl - North Carolina vs Tennessee
Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl - Nebraska vs Washington
Meineke Car Care Bowl - South Florida vs Clemson
Hyundai Sun Bowl - Notre Dame vs Miami
AutoZone Liberty Bowl - Georgia vs UCF
Chick-fil-A Bowl - South Carolina vs Florida St.
TicketCity Bowl - Northwestern vs Texas Tech
Outback Bowl - Florida vs Penn St.
Capital One Bowl - Alabama vs Michigan St.
Gator Bowl - Mississippi St. vs Michigan
GoDaddy.com Bowl - Middle Tennessee St. vs Miami (Ohio)
AT&T Cotton Bowl - LSU vs Texas A&M
BBVA Compass Bowl - Pitt vs Kentucky
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl - Nevada vs Boston College
Anyone else think the names of some of these bowls are getting a little ridiculous?
5084 BECOMING OUT OF REACH
Kyle Orton came into the day leading the NFL in passing yards. He was absolutely manhandled in Kansas City completing just 9 passes for 117 yards. Number two Phillip Rivers struggled against the Raiders and had his 4th straight sub-300 yard game finishing at 280 in a losing effort. Manning and Brees both eclipsed 300 yards, but Manning threw 4 more picks and 2 more pick sixes giving him 11 interceptions over the past 3 games. Still, his 365 yards put him in the lead with 3709. All 4 are off the pace now, with really just Manning, Rivers and Brees still in the hunt.
Peyton Manning - 3709 yards - Pace: 4945
Phillip Rivers - 3642 yards - Pace: 4856
Drew Brees - 3634 yards - Pace: 4845
THE NFC WEST
Don’t look now but the NFC West has a pair of .500 teams! Seattle throttled the Carolina Panthers 31-14 and the Rams knocked off division rival Arizona 19-6 on the road. Next up for the Rams is a showdown with the Saints. The Rams played their former NFC West Rival tough last season losing just 28-23 despite being in the midst of a season where they only won one game and that was against the hapless Lions. Seattle heads to San Francisco to play the 49ers. In their meeting earlier in the season, Seattle dominated them in every aspect of the game and won 31-6. Could one of these NFC West teams end up over .500 next week?
Photo Courtesy: flockaball.com
Turns out uconn won the big east :-D
ReplyDeleteThink Boston College is regretting leaving the Big East for the ACC?
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