Ineptitude, Inconsistency, Intrigue and the Highest Jump Ever!

Welcome back, everyone, and welcome to another edition of the #2 Search Term on the "Mo's Sport's Blog" search page on Google.com.

I'm glad that the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles play in the same division, because twice a year I get to bash one of these teams for losing to the other. But not this week. Let's start off with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles blew another 4th quarter lead on Sunday leading to many grumblings about Andy Reid's coaching future and Michael Vick's ineptitude at the QB position. The Flying Cheese Steaks was playing a pretty decent game until the 4th when someone told them that they only needed to play for 45 minutes. The wheels came off after that. The Lions clawed their way back (pun absolutely intended) and beat the Eagles in OT which then led to Lions' HC Jim Schwartz's really unusual display of celebration. Let's take a look at the stat sheet though. Michael Vick looked pretty average yesterday (28/46, 311 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT, 9 carries/59 yards). By no means good. Just average. Let's face it, the defense still can't accept the fact that a Wide-9 look in the NFL doesn't work. The re-worked 3-3-5 defense only works for college programs like West Virginia, where the offense can score enough points to offset the chunks of real estate and points the defense gives up. Sorry, Juan Castillo. Stick to the 4-3 like everyone else. Now I have to give credit where credit is due. The Lions did what they needed to do to win. They found the Eagles' defense's weakness (which is evidently playing the 4th quarter) and exposed it. If the Eagles want to win, Michael Vick doesn't need to be throwing the ball more that 30 times per game. Let the run game grind out the W. Yesterday, Ronald Reagan was somewhere "up there" watching the game and screamed, "There they go again." Thankfully for them, the Cheese Steaks are off next week, but they need to regroup, because they play the now 5-0 Falcons on the 28th. They could just mail it in, however...

We now go from Philly to their division rival and my and everyone's hatable losers, The Dallas Cowgir...boys. This game wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. The Raven's D was as porous as a bucket with a hole on both ends, but Tony Romo's interception and Les Miles-like clock management at the end of the game proved to be fatal. Let us fast forward to the last 28 second of the game. Tony Romo completes a pass to Dez Bryant to put them 1 yard out of Dan Bailey's career long FG. Jason Garrett and Tony Romo let the clock wind all the way down to :04!!!!! Seriously? If the convert the first down, game over, but 'hold it right there'. They couldn't figure out what to do. Romo and the rest of the offense didn't move until the time out was called. Then Dan Bailey did what recent Cowboy kickers have done (I'm looking at you, Shaun Suisham)...miss it wide left to win the game! I think this is going to be another sub-par year for the Cowboys. Romo will get his extension, only because Jerry Jones' financial mind has left the building, but Jason Garrett will be fired and they will go with "someone who better exemplifies the Cowboy's winning way." No one will be selected, because who in that organization can define "winning way?"

Now we shift to the only sport that really seems to matter right now: Baseball. It's October and we all know what that means...PLAYOFFS!!!! I'll get you caught up to speed. In the A.L. The Yankees beat the Orioles to advance, because the O's didn't take the Yankees to extra innings in every game. The Tigers beat the Athletics to put a cap on Oakland's stellar season. The Cardinals advanced as the Nationals' decision to sht down Strasberg came back to bite them as they were within inches of advancing, but fell apart in Game 5. Finally, it seems that Dusty Baker's tenure in Cincinnati is over. After having the best record in baseball going into the playoffs, the Reds had a can opened up on them by the Giants.

And here we are. The Yankees are on the verge of the verge of going home. After losing the Yankee captain, Derek Jeter, the Yanks look in disarray. They were holding their own and even came back from a 4-0 deficit to tie Game 1 in the ninth. Then disaster struck. Jeter fractured his ankle making a play on a grounder from Jhonny Peralta. He went down, winced and could barely make the pitch to 2nd base. The Yankees lost Game 1 6-4 in extra innings. Game 2 was a different story. A-rod's slump must be highly contagious because the Yankees were 4-hit in the second game of the series. tiger's pitcher Anibal Sanchez went 7 innings, gave up 3 hits, 3 walked and struck out 7 as former Yankee reliever Phil Coke shut the door to put the Yankees close to the brink. I think this one is over before it really got started. the series heads back to Detroit where it looks like the Tigers will close it out to advance to The Show.

Now to the other side. The Cardinals to a 1-0 series lead against the the San Francisco Giants last night after Giants' starter Madison Bumgarner virtually sold the farm during his short outing last night. In 3 2/3 innings, Bumgarner gave up 6 runs (2 HR) on 8 hits, walked 1 and struck out 2. However, the Cardinals didn't fare too well early on, either. Lance Lynn worked 3 2/3 innings and gave up 4 ER on 5 hits. The real story was the bullpen work from both teams. Both 'pens went a combined 10 2/3 innings of 2-hit ball with 9 K's. The offenses were served up beach balls in the first few innings, but were held in check after the starters were lifted. The Giants (R. Vogelsong) and Cardinals (C. Carpenter) go tonight in what is sure to be an interesting match up. Giants win tonight to tie it up.

The performance of the week has to go to Austrian dare-devil Felix Baumgartner. After years of preparation, Baumgartner jumped out of a specially designed capsule from 128,000 feet/24 miles up in the air. He reached speeds on Mach 1.24, broke the sound barrier and parachuted safely into the Arizona desert. Well done, Felix.

Until next week.

WHO DAT!

-Kenny "Mo"

Welcome back, everyone!

Welcome back, everyone! I would like to thank all of you who have encouraged me to come back to writing this blog. It's been a long time since I have written, so pardon the rust that might fall off as I try to shake it off. Here we go!

This past Sunday, on NBC's SNF coverage, Drew Brees broke a record that was once thought of as not only unreachable, but one of the most prolific records in all of football; Johnny Unitas' consecutive touchdown record. Brees' broke Johnny U's mark with deep pass to a wide open Devery Henderson. Saints fans, both in and out of the Dome rejoiced in what has been called the play that will turn the Saints' abysmal season around. In a season marred by controversy, suspensions, injuries, defensive ineptitude and uncertainty going forward, Drew Brees put the Saints on his back once again and did something that Saints fans of old would have thought to be a joke. Some have blamed Drew Brees for demanding so much money in the offseason, holding out for as long as he did and calling plays in his favor, but the truth is, HE DESERVES TO. Brees has been one of, if not the best quarterbacks in the NFL since he joined the Saints in 2006. He has set the single season completion record (71.6%), most yards passed for in a season (5,476 yards), most completions to start a game (22) and now 48 straight games with a passing TD. Tell me how he doesn't deserve $100,000,000. Tell me why he should have signed earlier. Tell me why he wouldn't call pass plays over the run. The fact of the matter is, his resume merits $100 million, the "Payton factor" (see below) and the Saints win when Drew Brees passes the ball. Drew Brees has won a Super Bowl, revived a city, make a once miserable team into a dominante contender and set records that won't be broken for quite some time. Who cares that he held out! Who cares that he got what he did! The fact is, all New Orlineans owe a lot to Drew. Good on you, Breezy. Keep it up.

Now onto the aforementioned "Payton Factor." We are all familiar with "Bountygate." I won't get into it here, as Roger Goodell has just resuspended all players involved, but lets give the Saints Head Coach Sean Payton suspension and Drew Brees' contract talks a glance. We all know why Payton was suspended, and we all know that it took what seemed like a millenium for Drew Brees to sign. Here's why. Drew Brees, the true offensive coordinator of the Saints, was not under contract with the team and therefore was the only player on the offense who could talk to Sean Payton. Brees and Payton were able to meet, talk about the team and work up an offensive game plan. Sean Payton gave the keys to the Saints' offensive machine to Brees so it would function with out him. Simple as that. Now it makes sense that Brees waited so long to sign. It made GM Mickey Loomis and Tom Benson the scapegoats, but do you think they care? Didn't think so.

Now let's switch gears to a more calm, non-contact kind of topic. The 2012 Ryder Cup, or as I like to call it, "The Muck-up at Medinah." The 2012 Ryder Cup was supposed to be the most evenly matched event in the Cup's history. The Europeans had dominated the early part of the season led by young superstar Rory McIlroy, but it was the American squad that was deep and very talented. The U.S. team boasted an impressive 22 majors and 11 season wins, plus the FedEx Cup (Brandt Snedeker). The Euros won only 4 times in 2012 on the PGA Tour. Now granted, Sergio Garcia was the only European player to play full time on the PGA Tour this year, but still... Having a 10-6 lead going into Sunday's singles matches, coupled with Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods' inability to win seemingly any match until then was nothing short of impressive. However, look back to 1999 at Brookline. The Euros had the same lead going into Sunday only to let it slip away. Blame whomever you want and there will be some truth to it. Davis Love III's failure to pick Hunter Mahan after he lost the Cup in Ireland in 2010 will certainly be a hit topic, but the real blame lies with the best player on the team, Tiger Woods. After losing his opening matches with Steve Stricker, Love benched Woods for the morning matches on Saturday, Woods lost his Saturday afternoon match with Stricker again! He salvaged a half point in the Sunday singles match, but watched from the 18th fairway as the Euros sealed it before his 1/2 point could matter. The U.S. team is to blame for their individual failures on Sunday, but the Euros did what they needed to do to win. Kudos to them. Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole. Until 2014...

Again, welcome back, you guys. Drop by again next week.

WHO DAT

-Mo

Back to the Grind

Well, folks. It's been quite a while since I have written one of these, and too much time has passed to recap all of the sport's even of the past year, so I guess I'll start with something current.

First off, I want to thank all of you who read my previous blogging endeavors. I didn't know how popular it was until someone recently asked me why I didn't write anymore. Thanks again, everybody.

And here we go....

I want to talk about Bobby Petrino for a minute. I mean come on! Really, Bobby? Bad decisions seem to follow this guy around. He left a highly coveted job at Louisville (a team that had Brian Brohm!) to coach the always toxic Atlanta Falcons only to leave after a lackluster first 3/4 of the season. Doing so after committing to Falcon's owner Arthur Blenk that he was the guy for Atlanta. He then bolted town seemingly before Atlanta and the rest of the sports word knew what happened.

Next stop for the Bobby Petrino Travelling Circus: Fayetteville, Arkansas. Home of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks.

What seemed like a puzzling hire by Arkansas turned into quick success by SEC standards. Despite going 5-7 (2-6) in his first year at UA, Petrino knew that his team would be primed for success. With former Michigan transfer Ryan Mallett at the helm, The Razorbacks began to show signs of greatness. In Petrino's second season, The 'Backs went 8-5 (3-5) and newcomer Mallet threw an astonishing 30 TD on only 7 INTs and won the Liberty Bowl.

Over the next two seasons, Arkansas went 21-5 and was invited to the Sugar Bowl in 2010 (which they lost) and the Cotton Bowl in 2011. Despite 2011's success, Petrino made a few enemies. Most notably LSU head coach Les Miles. During a 41-17 thrashing by LSU, Petrino repeatedly motioned to the LSU sidelines and shouted expletives in Miles' direction. The name calling didn't stop there. At the ceremonial coaches' handshake at the end of the game, Petrino gave Les Miles and half-hearted flesh press mumbled something that only Miles could hear and walked off after Les tried to pull Petrino back toward him. LSU's coach had a look of shock, astonishment and sheer amazement after Petrino disengaged and walked off.

In 2012, Arkansas was the one of the favorites to win the SEC West behind LSU and was primed for a potential SEC Championship run, but "not so fast" (in my best Lee Corso impression). In March, it was revealed that Ole' Bobby had been involved in a minor motocycle accident with passenger, former UA volleyball player and newly appointed athlete student-development coordinator, Jessica Dorrell. The end was seemingly near for Bobby Petrino. His seen-this-before, almost-Tiger-Woods-like press conference did little to sway the Arkansas brass as well as the fan base. Petrino was ousted on April 10th, 2012 leaving yet another wave of destruction and despair.

Heres' to you, Bobby. You don't always crash motorcycles, but when you do, you make damn sure that someone you're not supposed to be with is on that bike with you.

In the word's of a close friend, "You can't hire your cake and eat it too."

Until next week,

-MO

WHO DAT