Monday, January 9, 2012

Weekly A to Z - From Alabama-LSU to Zach Randolph


A is for Alabama-LSU. The wait is finally over.
Photo Credit: columbiatribune.com
B is for Bowl Update. And just like that we've got just one major bowl left to go. Seeing as the SEC plays against itself tonight, the below results are final for all of the other conferences.


C is for Crazy! I don't know how else to describe what happened in Denver yesterday. Tim Tebow completed just 10 passes, but those ten passes averaged over 30 yards per completion and the Broncos stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers 29-23 in overtime. Tebow threw for 2 touchdowns including the game clinching 80 yarder to Demaryius Thomas and ran for a third touchdown and the Broncos find themselves moving on to the Divisional Round of the AFC Playoffs. Now I don't think he can beat Tom Brady and the Patriots, but let's face it; I didn't think he could beat a hobbled Ben Roethlisberger and the top ranked pass defense either. It defies logic. That said, if don't have a vested interest in the team he's playing, how can you not pull for this guy?



D is for Donovan. It didn't take long for Landon Donovan to make an impact for Everton. Playing just his second match since being loaned to the Premier League club from the LA Galaxy, Donovan picked up an assist off a corner kick in Everton's 2-0 FA Cup win on Saturday over Tamworth of the Conference National, England's 5th tier of professional soccer. Donovan had a chance to make it 3-0 late in the match, but his attempt from distance struck the woodwork. Fellow American Tim Howard started in goal for Everton an made a pair of saves in the shutout win.
Photo Credit: goal.com
E is for Eli Manning. Eli's doing his best to make good on his statement that he's a Top 5 quarterback in this league. The younger Manning threw for 277 yards and 3 touchdowns in Sunday's 24-2 win over the Atlanta Falcons and has the Giants lined up for a rematch with the Packers in the Divisional Round. On a side note, has anyone ever seen a 24-2 football game before?
Photo Credit: sports.yahoo.com
Fis for Fisher. Former Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher is expected to make a decision this week on where he's going to coach next season. The Dolphins and Rams are the frontrunners, but it isn't clear who has the edge at this point. Fisher spent 17 seasons as the head coach of the Oilers/Titans with a career regular season record of 142-120. He won three division titles and led the Titans franchise to their only Super Bowl appearance. And he has an amazing mustache.
Photo Credit: big-nasty.com
G is for Guzan. American keeper Brad Guzan made 6 saves including the stop of a Scott McGleish penalty in stoppage team as Aston Villa defeated Bristol Rovers 3-1 in FA Cup Action. Rovers, a League Two club (the 4th tier league in English Soccer), scored in the 90th minute and had a chance to cut the deficit to one when a penalty was awarded following a Villa handball two minutes later, but Guzan was all over McGleish's effort ending any threat of a Rovers comeback.



H is for Hat Trick. Fulham and Team USA's Clint Dempsey netted the first hat trick of his professional career on Saturday in Fulham's 4-0 FA Cup win over Charlton. Dempsey now has 12 goals in 28 matches across all competitions this season for the Cottagers, one shy of his career high set last season. Perhaps even more exciting for U.S. soccer fans though is that Fulham has drawn Everton in the tournament's next round which means Dempsey and Landon Donovan will go head to head.



I is for Isaac Redman. The Steelers may be eliminated, but running back Isaac Redman couldn't be held responsible. Starting in place of the injured Rashard Mendenhall, Redman ran for a career high 121 yards on 17 carries and had a season best 21 receiving yards to go along with it in a losing effort.
Photo Credit: shreveporttimes.com
J is for Jarome Iginla. Iginla became the 42nd player in NHL history to score 500 goals on Saturday night when he scored what served as the game winner in Calgary's 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild. Iginla, 34, has spent his entire 15 year NHL career with the Flames and became just the 15th player in NHL history to score 500 goals all with the same team.
Photo Credit: nhlsnipers.com
K is for Kevin Love. With 20 points and 16 rebounds in Sunday's 93-72 win over the Washington Wizards, Love now has 8 straight games with at least 20 points and 12 rebounds to start the 2011-12 season. Love is currently leading the NBA in rebounding with 15 a game and he's the league's 5th leading scorer averaging 25.4 per contest.
Photo Credit: greenwichtime.com
L is for the Los Angeles Clippers. Sure, they've only played 6 games, but the Clippers are in first place in the Pacific Division entering play tonight. The Clippers have not finished the season with a winning record since the '05-'06 campaign and have not won a division title in the history of their franchise dating back to 1970 when they were the Buffalo Braves.
Photo Credit: clippers.topbuzz.com
M is for Megatron. Calvin Johnson hauled in 12 passes for 211 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Detroit's 45-28 loss to the Saints on Saturday. In the Lions final two games this year, both losses, Johnson totaled 23 receptions for 455 yards. He had at least 200 receiving yards in 3 of his final four games.
Photo Credit: sports.yahoo.com
N is for New Coach. The Kansas City Chiefs announced Monday that Romeo Crennel is the official replacement for the fired Todd Haley, removing the interim tag he bore for the last three weeks of the regular season. Crennel was just 24-40 as head coach of the Browns from 2005-2008, however he went 2-1 as the interim coach in KC and was the only coach to beat Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers during the regular season.
Photo Credit: zimbio.com
O is for Omar Gonzalez. The 2011 MLS Defender of the Year's trip to Germany lasted all of one day when he tore a knee ligament during his first practice with Nuremberg. The 23 year old ironically was injured in a collision with Nuremberg's other American defender Timmy Chandler. Gonzalez is expected to have surgery this week and will miss most of if not all of the 2012 MLS season.
Photo Credit: soccerbyives.net
P is for Paul Scholes. With numerous injury problems this season, Manchester United was forced to bring 37 year old midfielder Paul Scholes out of retirement for Sunday's FA Cup match against rival Manchester City. United jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to a pair of goals from Wayne Rooney, but City fought back only to come up short by a final score of 3-2. City, who won the Cup last year lost for the first time at home in over a year as they were forced to play a man down for most of the match following Vincent Kompany's 12th minute red card. Scholes came on as a substitute in the 59th minute.
Photo Credit: thenational.ae
Q is for Quarterbacks. Matt Stafford has thrown for 900 yards and 8 touchdowns the past two weeks for the Lions... and he's been outplayed TWICE and has zero wins to show for it. Last week is was Matt Flynn who lit up the Lions secondary for 480 yards and 6 touchdowns and Saturday it was Drew Brees's turn to carve up the Detroit defense. Brees threw for 466 yards and 3 touchdowns as the Saints put up 35 points in the second half en route to a 45-28 win.
Photo Credit: grandhaventribune.com
R is for Rangers. The boys from Glasgow were captained by American Carlos Bocanegra and cruised to a 4-0 win over Arbroath in the Scottish Cup. Bocanegra has now acted as winning captain at least once for all four of his European clubs. Fellow American Maurice Edu assisted on the game winning goal.
Photo Credit: mlssoccer.com
S is for Steve Stricker. The American Golfer took home his 12th PGA Tour victory today when he shot a final round 69 and finished 23 under par to win Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. Added bonus for me because I had Stricker on my fantasy golf team this week. Yeah, you heard me. Fantasy. Golf.
Photo Credit: espn.go.com
T is for Thierry Henry. Ten minutes into his return to Arsenal, Henry scored the only goal of the match giving Arsenal a hard fought win over Leeds United. The goal was Henry's 227th for Arsenal and first since 2007.
Photo Credit: guardian.co.uk
U is for U-23 Roster. Caleb Porter, the US Under-23 men's national team coach on Friday named a 22-man squad to participate in training camp at the Home Depot Center ahead of CONCACAF's Olympic qualifying tournament. Some familiar names on the roster if you follow American soccer including Freddy Adu, Dilly Duka, Mix Diskerud, and Gale Agbossoumonde. The U-23's camp coincides with the Senior National Team's camp and the two sides will scrimmage on both the 13th and 17th before heading to Costa Rica for exhibition matches against Saprissa and Alajueluense on the 21st and 24th. Olympic Qualifying begins March 22nd.
Photo Credit: mlssoccer.com
V is for Victory. The Houston Texans, playing in their first postseason got their first postseason win after a 31-10 thumping of the Cincinnati Bengals. The Texans now head to Baltimore where they'll get another shot at the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens won their matchup during the regular season 29-14, but this will be a different looking Texans team than what Baltimore saw in Week 6. While Matt Schaub will be out, T.J. Yates will have Andre Johnson available to him. Joe Flacco threw for 305 yards in their last meeting while Ray Rice had 161 total yards on 28 touches.
Photo Credit: m.usatoday.com
W is for Washington Wizards. With Washington's 93-72 loss to Minnesota on Sunday afternoon, the Wizards have dropped to 0-8 on the season and remain the NBA's only winless team. A big reason for that has been the play of last year's Rookie of the Year John Wall. After a solid rookie campaign, Wall's numbers are down this year in virtually every category. The Wizards continue their search for win number one on Tuesday when they host the 3-5 Toronto Raptors.


X is for Xavi. The Barcelona midfielder finished third in the voting for the FIFA Player of the Year behind Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and his Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi. Messi, 24, won the award after receiving 47.9% of the vote. Ronaldo received 21.6% while Xavi took home 9.23%. Messi becomes just the third three-time winner of the award joining the Brazilian Ronaldo (1996-97 and 2002) and Frenchman Zinedine Zidane (1998, 2000 and 2003).
Photo Credit: playeroption.blogspot.com
Y is for Yankees. Former Yankees catcher Jorge Posada plans to retire after 17 seasons, all of them in pinstripes. Posada, 40, was a part of 4 World Championship teams with the Yankees and he ranks third all time among Yankees for most games caught with 1574. Posada hit 275 home runs, made 5 all star teams, caught David Wells' perfect game and will be remembered as one of the great Yankees. I'm glad he's opting to retire rather than try to catch on with say the Royals or something. Fair winds, Jorge.
Photo Credit: inquisitr.com

Z is for Zach Randolph. The Memphis Grizzlies big man got bad news on the injury front this week. Randolph, who hasn't played since hurting his knee on New Year's Day against the Bulls could miss an additional 8 weeks with a slight tear of the MCL in his right knee. Tough break for the Grizz who are 3-5 on the year and host red hot Oklahoma City on Tuesday.
Photo Credit: nba.com

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