Tuesday, November 23, 2010

11/23: Lockout Talk, Chilly, etc.

Greetings everyone... My apologies on falling off the map for the weekend, as travel does that to me... and now that I'm back, every football result (save MNF) has been beaten in the ground, so no football recap coming... I'll do better...
  • Chargers 35, Broncos 14 - Denver marched down the field on the first drive with precision... and then the wheels came off... 35 straight points for the Chargers including 4 Philip Rivers TD passes, and this one was an afterthought... it's kind of amazing to see what Rivers is doing without Vincent Jackson, Gates (who's missed 2 straight), and with a shell of a running game (cough, Ryan Mathews)... he's a player... Denver is frighteningly mediocre... I've never been impressed with Moreno, Orton is a stat guy who will never wow you, and the defense is pretty subpar when you realize Dumervil is gone, and Bailey/Dawkins are both elderly... SD is still the team to beat in that division...
  • Vikings fire Brad Childress, promote Leslie Frazier... This was 3 weeks too late... this season is over for Minny, and Frazier is in a bad spot here with an aging/unproductive QB and a lost season... Chilly is incompetent, but we all knew that... and all you needed to know was the reactions of the Minnesota media upon his firing... it was a mix of relief and fist pumping...
  • NBA Players Association head Billy Hunter dropped the "99% sure they'll be a lockout" last night... sigh... this thing is looming, and no one wants to accept it (me included) because I hate the idea of a basketball sabbatical and everything that comes with it, i.e. the draft occurring in a state of unknown, and a total overhaul of the contract system to which NBA fans are familiar... but this thing is going down...
  • Joey Votto wins the NL MVP... Man, I hate the way the MLB does awards... all talk about baseball is gone by now, so this gets buried, but Votto had an exceptional year and is a fantastic story... big ups to him... and I agree with the call...
  • Vince Young is out for the year... and probably is gone as a Titan... between the spat with Jeff Fisher, and the torn tendon... goodbye VY? I'm not sure, but I don't know how they bring him and Fisher both back now...
  • NBA Box Score Check - Your 8-6 Miami Heat... 70 wins huh?... a bad home loss to Indiana and the talk is at heights it hasn't reached yet... there's issues here and Wade was dreadful last night... on the bright side? They've smartly brought in Dampier (finally) who provides a legit center... The Celtics blow out Atlanta down at Philips even without Rondo... a complete clunker from ATL, signified by Mike Bibby (lol) leading all scorers with 11... abysmal... The Rockets are 3-10... I missed badly here, but the wheels are coming off...it's kind of shocking... the exact opposite? San Antonio who is clicking on all cylinders early in the year with 11 straight wins... pretty much the opposite of normal protocol for SA, and even with Duncan slowing down...
  • 2 impressive College hoops performances... K-State beat up on Gonzaga behind Jacob Pullen's 18 and another absolutely stunning clunker from Elias Harris of the Zags (I'll go ahead and mulligan my all-american love there)... and Washington throwing up 106 on Virginia... Washington's guards are crazy good, and Abdul Gaddy is living up to the hype all the sudden...

What to watch for tonight...

  • Duke/Kansas State - 10:00 ESPN2 - #1 vs. #4 is enough... but Jacob Pullen taking on that crazy good/deep Duke backcourt is must-see TV... I'm wondering aloud why this game is on ESPN... even if it's in favor of....
  • Kentucky/Washington - 9:30 ESPN - This is a nice, nice game... Kentucky brings young talent led by Terrence Jones, and the Huskies are clicking (see above) with Thomas and Gaddy...
  • UConn/Mich State - 7:00 ESPN - Kemba Walker beat a good Wichita State team by himself last night... but he won't beat Sparty alone... MSU is frighteningly deep/talented
  • Hawks/Nets - 7:00 SportSouth - I'm not sure the team I saw last night will appear here.. but if they do, they'll lose to NJ soundly... 5-1 on the road is deceiving too...
  • Bulls/Lakers - 10:30 NBATV - Interesting game... Rose should do whatever he wants here, but I'm not sure that's enough for them to run with LA at Staples..

Enjoy the slate... Working on Football previews for the gigantic holiday weekend...

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