The Patriots Report: Week 12

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About 5 minutes into this game I started writing a rough draft of this weeks report. The words 'awful secondary' and 'brutal defense' appeared about 60 times. The start of the game was so bad for the Patriots that Cabrock Jones (our excellent Saints analyst) texted me the following: "The Patriots should sign Helen Keller and Stephen Hawking to play defensive back". Admittedly I laughed, it was pretty funny. At the end of the game I was laughing for a completely different reason. No disrespect to Luka (who has done an admirable job covering the Philadelphia Heat..err Eagles) but I think this was the last nail in the coffin of what used to be their season. They still are not out of it, but at this point the amount of things that they need to go right for them is too much to overcome. I will allow Luka to write about this because its not my place, but I will say that I genuinely am sad that the Eagles are basically done. On the other hand, how about them Patriots?

They are still in position to seize home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs. They showed that they have a top-notch offense that only the Saints and Packers can compete with. Most importantly perhaps, they showed that their defense is not completely useless. After the first 5 minutes they shut down Philly completely (don't let that useless touchdown at the end of the game fool you). This is now 3 straight weeks that their defense has looked slightly above average. At this point its a big elephant in the room for me. On one hand I want to praise their defense for finally showing up; on the other hand I am afraid that it is just a result of playing bad teams. It only gets easier from here, their remaining games are: Colts, Skins, Broncos, Dolphins, Bills. It is not inconceivable for this team to roll to a 13-3 record and with Houston calling upon Jake Delhomme that #1 seed is all but theirs. Of course the Patriots will not be thinking about that, coach Belichick will not allow them to. For all of the supposed mistakes he has made this year (at least the ones I've called him out on in earlier reports) and in the past few drafts you have to hand it to him. The coaching job he has done this year should finally be given some praise, but unless it translates into the playoffs it wont matter. Again, I wont bore you with stats but I will mention some players that really stood out for me. Firstly Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez are incredible, they could both make the case of being top-10 tight-ends in the league. Deion Branch has an incredible understanding with Brady that is really fin to watch. The way they improvised a route and turned it into a big gain with Brady flushed out of the pocket was a thing of beauty. Wes Welker continued to show why he is one of the best slot-receivers in recent memory, and BJGE even showed up. The only thing New England's offence is missing is a deep threat (Chad please wake up). Defensively, Rob Ninkovich has actually morphed himself into a decent line-backer, if New England can get 2 more guys to improve on defense before the playoffs we can go back to talking Superbowl.

Quick sidetrack (warning: 49ers content to come). As you know Cabrock discouraged me from covering my favorite team as a result of their long odds to make the playoffs at the start of the year. Right now they will clinch a playoff berth by Thursday if the Sea hawks cooperate and lose to the Eagles. I have been a San Francisco fan ever since I became a fan of football and for them to finally have a good team is amazing. Despite getting their ass kicked by the Ravens (the 3rd down defense in the 4th quarter was a disgrace) I still have high hopes for this team. They are a throwback, early 2000's team that plays defense and runs the ball well. Can they win the Superbowl? My mind says no, my heart wants it to be yes, stranger things have happened after all. From now on I may or may not include some mini-49ers rants with these reports, it will make up for the Eagles demise (I hope). Until next week, cheers.

Editors note: Due to Exam season looming the amount of work on this site will be greatly lessened for a short period of time. However, we are coming all out for the NBA season and will make up for our absence. Should be a lot of fun, I can't wait (for exams to be over that is). Aldo, we officially have a Twitter account, follow us @MilenniumSandE

Incoherent NBA Ramblings

Tweet The other night I went to bed at a particularly late time. When you chill with friends this tends to happen and even though it's worth it; you still feel like you will fall asleep as soon as you hit your pillow. Imagine my dismay when I closed my eyes only to be woken up by the vibration of my phone. Usually I would just leave it, but I'm glad I didn't. As my brain processed the words "lockout over", I forgot everything about being tired and was literally smiling for the next 30 hours. What better way to celebrate the end of the exam period than with the NBA? We even got a 66-game season, which is a much better number than 50 (like the 1999 season had) and a WAY better number than 0 (which I had come to peace with). The shorter schedule and less cross-conference games means that some teams (especially in the East) will make the playoffs even though they would not have under an 82-game slate. It also means that some good teams will probably miss out due to coming together too late to make a playoff push. This should make for an interesting season where getting hot at the right time might be enough to win a title. Right now I don't want to get too much into season previews and predictions (you will get a lot of that later). Instead, I will just gloss over some key story lines that everyone will be talking about (which they would have already done if it wasn't for the lockout).

Mike Brown as the Lakers coach - how will he fare? How will Kobe fare without Phil? The only time in his career that he has missed the playoffs was when Phil was not calling the shots on the sidelines. Will the Lakers be able to mount one more title push with this group or will they settle for getting Dwight Howard? This franchise is probably the luckiest out of any in North America. Let's move on.

Carlos Boozer - do the Bulls regret signing him already? They did make the Eastern Conference finals last year, but found out quickly that Boozer may not be a long term solution (too bad they paid him that kind of money). Rose needs more help than Chicago has given him because they are currently in the worst possible spot: pseudo-contenders. They will always be a high seed, but I don't believe they can beat anyone (I also believe that they could make me look like an idiot).

LeBron - did he add anything to his game? Does the sight of J.J. Barea guarding him in the post still give him nightmares? Does he still have all those "mental notes" he bragged about? Does he regret celebrating like he won the title when he won certain non-finals games? I can't wait to hate on the Heat again.

Memphis Rising? Last year, they were one triple-OT game away from setting up a series with Dallas in which both teams could not guard the others' superstar. This year they bring everyone back and add Rudy Gay (who missed out on the playoff run because of a shoulder injury). This team looks very, very scary.

Has Jose Calderon learned to play defense? Has Bargnani toughened up? Has Kleiza learned to play basketball?! Raptors fans want the answers (don't count on any of these). Also, only Raptors fans will be talking about this, but it had to be included.

Can Dallas repeat? I'm going to say that if they re-sign Chandler, then they absolutely can. If they don't, then they have no chance.

Is this San Antonio's last run? Sadly yes. At least the lockout gave their old legs a rest and they can use a shorter season to mount one last run.

That is all I have time for now. Patriots and Eagles reports will be posted tomorrow, along with some other stuff this week. Cheers.

The Descendants Review

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My apologies, but given my lack of time, this review will be shorter than usual.

The Descendants will probably come across as a regular all too far often seen drama that deals with unfortunate family issues. However, where other movies have struggled to set themselves apart from being ordinary, The Descendants succeeds and ends up offering one of the year’s best films. It is led by an emotional and Oscar-worthy performance by George Clooney, with strong performances from the rest of the cast, including his daughter, played by Shailene Woodley.

The film begins with George Clooney’s wife being hospitalized after a serious injury leaves her in a coma. The rest of the film centers on Clooney and his two daughters, and how they deal with the tragedy. With such a plot, you can expect a lot of emotional and heavy scenes, but they are balanced nicely with humorous lines in the movie and strong performances. The direction is good, but I would still have to give the Oscar to Refn for the amazing job he did with Drive. The only thing that could have been changed in the direction of The Descendants is the number of scenes where his wife is shown. Her position does not change, and as unfortunate as it may be, it is unpleasant to get constant close-ups of her lying in her hospital bed.

The music is smooth and fits appropriately with the film, with a few Hawaiian tunes, and many pleasant instrumentals. In terms of the acting, which I’ve already mentioned, I think it is time for the Academy to award Clooney his second Oscar, and his first for a leading role (he previously won best supporting actor for his performance is Syriana). Clooney is forced to display dramatic emotions many times throughout the film, and delivers fantastically in these scenes. He might not have won for his performance in Up in the Air, but the performance he puts on in The Descendants is much stronger and more worthy of an Oscar.

The Descendants isn’t a movie you need to see in theaters, but it is a movie you should check out. There have been a number of terrific films this year that may or may not get nominated for an Oscar next year, and even though the Academy may pass on nominating The Descendants, it still stands as one of the best films of the year, and a film worth seeing when you get the chance. You won’t be disappointed.

Score: 8.8/10

Philadelphia Eagles: Week 11 Recap/Week 12 Preview

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Fuck this team. They somehow have me caring again. Just two weeks ago I wrote a very critical post about the Eagles and their frustrating loss against the Bears. I also said that we couldn't possibly lose to the Cardinals and we somehow did (To fucking John Skelton. I feel as if this should be the tiebreaker for the playoffs. You lose to Skelton, you don't make it). After last week's loss I somewhat gave up on this season. I mean what's the point of cheering for a bunch of under-achievers who don't really seem to care that we're losing (other than Vick) and a coaching staff led by a guy to whom the words time and management have no correlation whatsoever. On Sunday night I had no expectations. How could we win against a Giants team at home who was not likely to lose two in a row? Especially with Vick and Maclin out and Vince Young in at center, it wasn't looking too good. I even tweeted about it (shameless plug @Luka_M91). Despite all of this I turned the game on just in time for the opening kickoff. I don't know if it's because I felt obligated to watch or because I had a psych paper due that I didn't feel like starting. Whatever it might have been, I began to watch.

NFL Grab Bag

Tweet This week the New Orleans Saints were on their bye week getting some much deserved rest, so I have nothing to report on the Saints this week. Hopefully Sean Payton and Gregg Williams took this extra week to tighten up the defence and figure out all of the tiny little things that were plaguing the Saints. I’m extremely excited for this week’s Monday night game against the Giants, but this article will be geared towards a few other interesting developments around the league.

Playoff-bound Blunders: As the season has passed the halfway point, the playoff picture has become a little clearer. Many teams are essentially eliminated already and a few looked to be playoff locks. However, 2 teams that looked destined to make the playoffs have taken hits that might be insurmountable: Chicago Bears and Houston Texans. Both teams were coming together really nicely and both looked like playoff-calibre teams, but fate was not on their side. The worst thing that can happen to a franchise happened to both the Bears and the Texans: they lost their franchise QBs to a serious injury. The Texans are still hopeful that Matt Schaub might return in time for the playoffs, but if Matt Leinart is at the helm, Schaub might not get a chance to return this season. Some people are excited to see what Leinart can do with this opportunity, but those people have clearly forgotten the many years he shit away with Arizona. The Bears on the other hand don’t even have a ray of hope for Jay Cutler. Their star QB is planning to undergo surgery on his throwing hand, so he will be out for the season, without a doubt. I was certain that both the Bears and the Texans were going to make the playoffs this season, but the future is looking extremely grim. However, the NFL is a wacky league and you never know how things will play out, so there is always hope for Chicago and especially Houston, who plays in the awful AFC South.

Superbowl/Toiletbowl Ravens: There are currently 4 teams tied for the top spot in the AFC, which would lead some people to believe that the conference is extremely competitive. I would argue that 4 teams tied for first in a conference simply means that there is no clear favourite because no team has pulled away from the pack and proven themselves to be the best. However, if you watched the Ravens play on a good day, you would think for sure that they were the best team in the AFC and potentially the second best team in the league. The problem is, if you’ve followed Baltimore’s season, you’d know that they’ve lost to Tennessee, Jacksonville, and barely pulled away with a victory against Arizona (all teams that will be watching the playoffs from home this season). Whenever I watch Baltimore beat a team like the Steelers or the Bengals, I’m certain that they’re the most dominant team in the NFL and that this is the year Ray Lewis and the Ravens return to the Superbowl. However, then they play a lowly team like the Jaguars and can’t even put up double digit points. The Ravens have 6 more games to prove to the NFL what kind of team they are, and they better figure it out before the playoffs come around. If they continue with this inconsistent play, their football season is going to be done by mid-January.

Lord Rodgers and the Pack Attack: If you’ve been following my articles from the start, or know anything about me, you know that I’m not a Tom Brady fan. There is no doubting that he’s had a Hall of Fame career and has led his team to greatness, but I personally feel that he receives too much credit for the success that the Patriots have had. He’s always had an excellent coach, a good line, receivers that work well in the New England offense, and an opportunistic defence that has given Tom good field position and the opportunity to go out and win games. If you looked at Aaron Rodgers’ season stats, you would think he was the NFL version of Jesus Christ. His 31 touchdowns - 4 interceptions ratio and 128.8 QB rating on the season is unheard of and he’s on pace to break all of the records that Brady and Manning set in their most stellar seasons. However, Rodgers has a great coach, the best receiving core in the game, a huge offensive line to protect him, extremely effective special teams play, and a defence that gives the ball more times a game than a QB could ever wish for. There is no arguing that Aaron is the best QB in the league at the moment, but due to the elite team that he has around him, his stats should be considered inflated. I would argue that almost any starting quarterback in the NFL could step into Rodgers’ role and maybe not be 10-0, but certainly have a winning record and make a strong push for the playoffs.

Rookies of the Year: The NFL hands out a set of awards every year to celebrate the brightest talents of that season. From MVP, to coach of the year, to comeback player of the year, it’s usually very obvious and pretty much everyone who claims to be an NFL fan can tell you who the winner is going to be. However, one award (actually handed out as 2 separate awards) that most people guess wrong every year is the Rookie of the Year award. The problem is that the media will hype up the most exciting rookies or highlight the achievements of the most popular rookies, but these are almost never the players that truly performed for their teams and deserve the award. This year all of the hype is around Cam Newton for the offensive award, and no one really seems to care about the defensive rookie of the year. Sure Cam has had some HUGE highlights and is one of the most exciting players in the NFL, but his poor TD-INT ratio and losing team record almost guarantee that he wont win the award. The true offensive ROY is Andy Dalton. The Bengal’s QB is nowhere near as exciting to watch as Newton and he hasn’t had as many spectacular performances, but Dalton has played steady all season and led the surprising Cincinnati Bengals, a team that everyone thought was going to be crap this season, to an impressive 6-4 record and the chance to battle for a spot in the AFC playoffs. The defensive ROY is a clear choice, but not a player that many people have gotten a chance to watch, or even know about. It’s tough to get credit when you play on a bad team, and to say that the Arizona Cardinals are a bad team would almost be a compliment, but Patrick Peterson is the real deal. LSU’s Pat Peterson was rated the best overall player on almost every draft expert’s scorecard and he’s shown why in his first season as a pro. Peterson has become a shutdown corner on an otherwise shoddy defence and is absolutely spectacular in the return game. He’s tied with Devin Hester for most returns on the season and even returned a punt 99 yards to win a game in overtime this season. Dalton and Peterson are my picks for this year’s offensive and defensive rookies of the year.

The Best Simpsons Episodes of All Time

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Before you get to reading this, please understand that making a top 10 or even a top 20 list of Simpsons episodes is an impossible task.  What we plan to do over the next little while, is to just write about some episodes that fall in our 'best of' lists and then we may arbitrarily rank them later.  Obviously we will miss some as we will stop when we get to 15 but don't worry, there will be a whole article devoted to the omissions (and even then someone will probably point to an episode that will make all of us say "WOW we missed that one?!").  Anyways, I have the honor of leading us off, and the episode I will open with is: "You only move twice" from season 8.  One of the fun things about doing this is that we get to re-watch the best episodes but also notice some things; for example: when I went on Wikipedia to do some research for this episode I noticed just how many good episodes there were in season 8.  Don't be surprised if this is not the only time an episode from this season is featured.

"You only move twice" (or more commonly known as the 'Hank Scorpio' episode) was one of the first ones that came to my mind for this list.  Forget about the great story and the great premise, this is one of the funnier episodes the show has ever done (more on this in a bit).  But first I managed to found an abridged version of the episode on YouTube, watch it, its less than 3 minutes and captures most of what made the episode great.

Aside from Homer finding both a job and a boss he loves, the fact that Hank Scorpio doubles as a super-villain was awesome.  As a result we got to see some nice parodies, the best one being Homer tackling a James Bond figure and receiving praise from his favorite boss.  Even the scenes of the rest of the family struggling to adjust to their new home were mildly entertaining, and considering the fact that they were the worst scenes should tell you how good this episode is.

What really stands out in this episode (other than the 'wow that's so cool' factor) is the humor.  From the very beginning we are treated to Ned pointing out that Homer still has all of his things that he 'borrowed' and is putting them in the moving van (how much would it suck if Homer was your neighbor?).  Realistically, Homer and Ned scenes are great no matter what the context.  We then got a lot of Hank Scorpio; it would take way too long to talk about all of his funny bits but the 'trust game' he does with Homer is excellent.  At the end of the episode we learn that Hank managed to take over the East coast and he gives Homer the Denver Broncos to help fulfill Homer's dream of eventually owning the Dallas Cowboys.  It's times like this that I openly wonder why Simpsons writers don't write some episodes that continue the plots of old ones.  I think they only did that once (who shot Mr. Burns-and if you think it wont be on this list then you really don't watch the Simpsons) and it was brilliant, they could easily trot out 3 seasons worth of material like this.  But I guess that is part of what makes the show great, allowing us to imagine where things went once the credits rolled.  Hopefully you enjoyed reading this as much I did writing it, but then again any excuse to watch classic Simpsons episodes is a good one.  Look for Jovan or Luka to follow up to this article soon, I am looking forward to them.







Leave a comment of your favorite Simpsons episodes and follow me on Twitter @ Daki_4 if you like the work.

The Patriots Report: Week 11

Tweet Was this game a sign of things to come?  Have the Patriots finally figured out their defense and are starting to peak at the right time?  Is Gronkowski the best Tight End in the NFL?  I can safely answer 'yes' to only one of those three questions and if you are struggling to figure out which one, go watch a tape of the game against Kansas City.  The main thought for me following the game is one that will probably be echoed by many experts: was this result the work of the Patriots defense or Kansas's inept offence?  The answer is probably a little bit of both, as the Patriots defense got some key red-zone stops and rookie QB Palko threw some awful picks.  Regardless, this is what the Patriots have to continue doing, now they are in a 4-way tie for the first seed in the AFC and also hold a commanding 2 game lead in their division.  They have to keep improving on the defensive side of the ball while racking up the W's if they want to succeed in the post-season. I realize that I have beaten that point more than Chris Brown has beaten Rihanna (too soon?) but damn it its true!

It also is really refreshing to see Bill Belichick using a guy on special teams, offense and defense again (shades of Troy Brown in 04').  His guy? Julian Edelman, who had a spectacular punt return for a touchdown that broke the game open.  At this point anything that reminds you of the Patriots Super Bowl winning teams is a good thing, and Edelman's contributions can not be overlooked.  This is the first time in a long time that the Patriots 'mystique' reappeared.  There really is not much more to say so I will keep it short and sweet this week.  Next week the Patriots travel to Lincoln Financial Field to play the Eagles who basically are playing must-win games until the last day of the season (assuming they can keep the winning streak going).  Although a loss would not be the worst thing to happen to New England (they have the tie-breaker over the Jets and a much easier schedule then the Bills) it will be interesting to see if they can put a desperate team away.  Look for Luka and I to do a joint recap of that game next week, until then cheers.

Desire Part IV

Tweet James sprinted over to the man Tommy was guarding and took a deep breath and wiped his palms on his shorts, his heart was racing and he was overwhelmed with emotion but knew he had to settle down quickly.  He stole a glance at the scoreboard (Visitor: 45 Panthers: 32) right before Summer-side in-bounded the ball and knew that a win was unlikely.  James quickly forgot everything he was thinking when his man caught the ball and instinct took over. He let the defender get a step but James quickly shuffled his feet forcing the defender to pick up the ball in the corner, after a few seconds of pressure he reached in and almost swore at himself when he heard the whistle.  The sound of coach O'Brien yelling good job surprised him, he turned to look at the ref who had signaled a traveling violation.  A wave of relief washed over James followed by a smile 'this is easy' he thought to himself.   

"Run flex!" the voice belonged to Jamie who was in the game at the point, this was the only play James knew and ran to the top of the key as Jamie drifted to the left side of the court.  'Flex' was essentially a baseline cut by the shooting guard using a screen set by the power forward on the baseline three point line.  As the cut was made the point guard that drifted to the left would fire a pass to the top of the key and then if the cut was open, the forward at the top would feed the cutter.  This is exactly what happened as James fed a player he only knew as 'Jimmy'.  Catching the ball in stride and converting the lay-up Jimmy turned and pointed at James, a quick way of saying 'nice pass', the score was now 45-34 with about 4 minutes to play in the third quarter. The two teams exchanged baskets for the next two minutes, a streak that was broken by a steal and a fast break lay-up by James to make it 49-40.  After another defensive stop James was fed on a cut to the hoop, took the contact and threw a prayer that somehow went in at the buzzer.  He walked over to the line and sunk the free-throw to cut Summer-side's lead to only 6 with a full quarter to play.  When he jogged over to the bench he was greeted positively by all of his team-mates including Tommy who high-fived him without making eye contact.  "Just keep running the offense and keep it simple guys!" coach O'Brien reminded the team as they went back on the court.  James went over to inbound the ball to the starting point-guard who's name he did not know.  On his way he noticed Summer-side pushing up in an attempt to press, as he walked by Tommy he told him "Run" and took the ball from the ref.  Standing on the sidelines, coach O'Brien cursed at himself for not talking to James about their press-break.  Just as he turned to call in a player who knew what to run the roar of the suddenly loud home crowd turned him back to where the action was.  Tommy, catching a beautiful pass in stride and with one step going up and finishing a lay up while being dragged down by a defender. Coach looked at the ref who nodded his head and enthusiastically signaled for an and-one. Satisfied, coach turned to the baseline where the pass came from and forgot about substituting James "Do that everytime!" coach yelled to him, the first time he smiled in three weeks.  

The Panthers played with incredible energy in the fourth and went up by two points when James faked a pass that threw the entire defense off enabling him to drain an easy 15-footer with a minute and a half left. After a defensive stop James corralled the rebound and dribbled into the front-court, he looked to his right and threw a pass to Tommy who was isolated on the right side against a Summer side defender. Tommy took a hard dribble into the paint and stopped on a dime.  He rose for a jumper that looked good until it hit the back rim and popped out.  Anticipating a miss, James leaped for the rebound before anyone else did, he caught it, and fired a pass back to Tommy who had followed his shot.  The crowd exploded as Tommy laid it in extending the lead to 62-57 with :48 seconds remaining in the game.  The Panthers would take care of business at the free-throw line and were now 2-7. For once, the post-game locker room talk was positive and the team looked rejuvenated.  The older players congratulated Tommy on being the leading scorer, but coach O'Brien knew why they won the game.  As the players exited he made sure to find James before he left and told him "I expect much more from you, I am making you the sixth man, do not disappoint me".  He knew that this should be enough to keep James motivated, he did not seem bothered by Tommy getting most of the credit and this pleased coach O'Brien, he needed players like James.

"Hey who was that #12 player?" the question snapped Tommy out of it "Some new kid, he just got onto the team" Tommy said to his father who was in the drivers seat. "I liked what he did, he is really smart for a player his age" Tommy did his best to hide his irritation, his dad did not even say a word to him about his performance yet, he just kept talking about James as if he did anything special. "Yeah, he was OK I guess" Tommy said trying to get past this subject.  "You are aware that you would not have led all scorers if it wasn't for him right?" "What do you mean?!" Tommy snapped back, he couldn't help it. Mr. Johnson just smiled at his son forgiving him the outburst. "Tommy, you know I've told you a million times that you have not mastered the qualities of a winner yet, and this is another example of it" Tommy sighed, he hated when his dad told him this, he always gave some obscure and ambiguous examples of what a winner was supposed to be but Tommy could care less.  In his mind he was easily the best player on the Jr. team now that Michael was out for the year and felt that his teammates were not stepping up how they should be. "Forget it, the team gave me support today and we were able to win, you think we would have done anything without my 21 points?" Tommy looked over at Mr. Johnson who just smiled and replied: "There was only one thing different about this team from the one that lost the last 6 games" he paused for dramatic effect, and also to allow his son to see what he was getting at.  Although Tommy knew exactly what his dad wanted him to say he refused to give him the satisfaction.

Coach O'Brien popped in the game tape that one of the students he hired had given him at the end of the game.  Being thorough was his motto and he often had two students film all of the Panthers home games in return for a credit in Gym or some cash.  No one ever took the credit.  He went over the game paying careful attention to the games last 14 minutes jotting down notes.  Mike O'Brien hated looking at stats because he knew that they could be misleading, but glancing at James Miller's 9-point (on perfect shooting from the field), 5-assist, 4-rebound, and 2-steal performance (not to mention the other turnovers he caused, 2 forced travels and pressure that enabled a teammate to get the steal) he knew that nothing about these numbers was a lie. He rewound to the key play, James' rebound and pass to Tommy for the lay up and something caught his attention.  Coach O'Brien decided to look at all of James's assists and found that 4 out of the 5 were to Tommy. Coach flipped back to his playbook and took a look at some plays, then he grabbed some of his coaching books, it was time to alter the playbook.

New Orleans Report: Controversy in Atlanta

Tweet Week 10 was by no means the most exciting week of football this season. Last Sunday saw blowout after blowout, but not all of the games last week sucked. Cincy vs Blitzburgh was close the whole way and San Fran vs NYG was a lot of fun, but hands down, the best game of the week was the Saints vs the Falcons. I briefly talked about the big matchup in last week’s article, highlighting that the winner would take the lead in the NFC South. Just as we all suspected, the game was extremely close throughout and for the 4th time in a row, the winner of this division matchup was decided by a field goal.

Drew Brees and Matt Ryan are 2 of the best QBs in the league, and both showcased their skill sets last weekend. They combined for almost 700 yards, 4 TDs and only 1 INT. The Saints offence was efficient as always, but the Atlanta D refused to allow the game to turn into a blowout. New Orleans put up 23 points in 60 minutes, which for their high caliber offence is actually pretty pedestrian. Brees spread the ball to 9 different players including 3 running backs and 1 random fullback named Jed Collins. Drew Brees continued both of his streaks of consecutive games with 20+ completions and 1 TD: SWAG. As good as Brees played, Atlanta’s “Matty Ice” had a great game of his own. Ryan threw the only INT of the game, but refused to lose. Matt Ryan never gave up on his team and led a very impressive comeback to tie the game in the final minutes and force a very controversial overtime.

People have been talking about the NO-ATL game all week, but for the wrong reason. In OT, Atlanta’s coach decided to go for broke on 4th and inches from his own 30 yard line. This is one thing I don’t like about NFL “Experts” and the media: if the Falcons convert on 4th down and go on to win the game, Mike Smith gets nominated for coach of the year and everyone talks about how gigantic his balls are, but if they don’t make it, he looks like an idiot and gets crucified for not having any faith in his team. On 4th and inches, Atlanta lined up in their “Big” formation and everyone knew it was going to be a power run up the middle. Many people have a problem with the obvious play call and I would usually agree that you can’t pick such an obvious play, but in this situation, I agreed with Mike Smith and his call. The Falcons running back, Michael Turner, went to the Pro Bowl last year and has been having a good year so far. He weighs 245 lbs and has thighs larger than my torso. WHY WOULD YOU NOT RUN UP THE MIDDLE WITH HIM!?!?!? If the Saints tried to jam it up the gut with 180 lb Darren Sproles, that would be a terrible play call, but to try and get 3 or 4 inches by pounding it up the middle with a small truck is the right decision. The Saints D really stepped it up and managed to stuff the play in the backfield, effectively winning the game. Mike Smith has been blamed all week for making a “bonehead” decision, but 80% of coaches would have made the exact same call.

The 2 main things that people are upset about are the play call and the decision to go for it. First off, any coach who doesn’t believe his 5-3 team can get 3 or 4 inches doesn’t deserve to coach in the NFL and should consider a career in synchronized swimming or some other soft shit. Why would you punt the ball to one of the elite QBs in the league and let him embarrass your team in OT? Smith made the right decision to go for it on 4th down, no doubt. The better argument people have been making is that the play call set the offense up for failure before they even snapped the ball. I’m not even going to waste time explaining why throwing the ball or trying a misdirection play wouldn’t have worked in this situation, so lets talk about the only option that was better than Michael Turner up the middle: Matty Ice calling his own number and QB sneaking. Had Ryan ran the sneak, there’s probably an 80% chance he gets the first down, so why wouldn’t coach Mike Smith call that play? Think about the procedure of a QB sneak: the QB has to dive over the linemen head first against guys who HEAVILY outweigh him looking to knock his head off. Like I said, the chances that Ryan converts on 4th and inches is probably 80%, but the chance that he suffers a concussion (or worse) on a play where the entire D is crashing the middle trying to clog those gaps is far too high for the play to pay off. For anyone who’s thinking, “No, that’s stupid. This is the NFL, no one’s that much of a bitch,” think about this: the QB has the right to audible any call he wants. If Ryan thought that sneaking was going to get them the first down and wasn’t aware of the dangers of the play, why didn’t he audible to call his own number and dive for the first?

The point of my rant is that Mike Smith made the right decision. If you can’t get 3 or 4 inches on 4th down, you really don’t even deserve to win the game. Also, the decision to pound it up the middle with Turner was the right call, because it carried the least amount of risk of a horrible play or injury to your franchise player.

Next week the Saints have a bye, so I won’t be writing about New Orleans. However, I’ve been thinking about next week’s article and I must say, it’s gonna be a good one. Some things to look forward to: Texans’ bad luck, WTF Ravens, Aaron Rodgers and his inflated stats, and the Rookies of the Year.

Gearing up for the NBAs nuclear winter

Tweet Here at Millennium (sande) we decided collectively not to write anything about the NBA lockout.  This was due to it being reported heavily and with great detail elsewhere and us adding our opinions would not have been a very interesting read.  Now that it looks like the season will truly be lost the time for silence is over and although other writers of this blog may not have much to say I do.  However, what I am about to write has nothing to do with talking about the lockout, if you want to hear an excellent, well thought out conversation about it, just listen to Bill Simmons's podcast.  What I am going to talk about is the big picture winners and losers of the lockout.  Lets get right to it

The Biggest Losers

There is only one group in this category and that is us the fans.  I'm not just talking about casual fans who will wait it out, I'm talking about guys like me who are watching classic games on YouTube and typing in 'NBA lockout' into Google news hoping something comes up that will save the season, no such luck yet.

The Losers

Apart from the players, David Strern, several owners whose franchises actually make money, and all of the other employees who are job-less as a result of billionaires and millionaires fighting over a few million dollars, here are some teams and players who will also be affected negatively by the lock-out in my opinion.

The Heat-If the season is lost that is one more year without these guys winning but more importantly they wont win anything while also not having an opportunity to build on last years success.  The longer this thing drags on the longer the chemistry the Heat managed to build up disappears and will have to be re-built again.

All of the up-and-coming talented players that essentially waste a year of their development because of this.

Dallas-apart from being a franchise that makes money, they do not get to defend their title or give their fans a ring ceremony, it wont feel the same in a year.

Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, KG, Pierce, Allen, Nash, etc.-all of these older starts who waste a valuable year of productivity.  The counter-argument here is that the rest might do them some good who knows?  But some of these guys I listed are approaching some important milestones which, in a historical context, would have benefited them greatly.

The Rookies-Imagine finally achieving your dream and having to sit through this shit and they are not even allowed to go back for another year of NCAA hoops, this is just sad.

The players who actually wanted to play and didn't even get a chance to have their say in the NBA's latest proposal, so much for democracy.

The In-between group

Lakers-On one hand their window for contending closes, on the other Dwight Howard could join this team as a free agent!  They also shed a year off of some truly awful contracts that they have and also hold off on the Mike Brown experiment for a while.

Spurs-A year off might be exactly what they need to re-fuel and make one final run with this group before blowing it all up.

The 'Winners'

Raptors-shed some brutal contracts and allow their first round pick to develop and start as an actual rookie instead of playing overseas for a year.

The owners who wanted to miss a season so they could save some money...lets move one

The Lawyers-some law firms stand to make a ridiculous amount of money from the amount of suing and counter-suing that is about to happen, expect at least a million articles trying to simplify and explain the process to the 73 fans that will still be around in January.

All players with long-term serious injuries that get to heal and rehabilitate.

The biggest Winner

Billy Hunter, who somehow gets to keep his 2-million dollar-plus salary even if desertification happens and makes all the headlines.  So he will be making money while the majority of the union he represents is losing it and this is fair how?  Shane Battier was right to ask Hunter if he was willing to forfeit his salary if it came to this so why are more players not demanding this of Hunter now that he has failed to negotiate a season for them?  That is all the complaining about this I will do.

Biggest potential story no one is talking about yet

Do you realize that desertification means that ALL contracts are void?  Do you realize that if the players follow through with their threats to dissolve the union that we are going to have an all-out free agent war whenever this is resolved?  You think the heat are a dream team?  How about the Lakers (and the money they have) getting the Heat's big 3 and matching it with Kobe, and Dwight Howard?  I need a drink.

Take Care Review

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I’m not really sure how I feel about Drake and his music. I’m not one of the haters who refuse to admit anything he puts out as being good simply because he sings a lot or because he raps about his emotions but I’m also not one of those Drake fans who swear that Thank Me Later was amazing (it wasn’t), who quote every single song in their Facebook statuses or Twitter feeds (please stop) or say that Drake is the best rapper out there right now (he’s not). I feel as if this shouldn’t be the case because I’m from Toronto. Being from T.O. and not loving Drake is like being Canadian and not loving hockey or Tim Hortons. It just doesn’t fit. With this being said I was still excited to hear what Drizzy had to offer on his second album Take Care which got released yesterday. I decided to write this review a week after downloading the album which like most every other high-profile rap/hip-hop album in the last few years (except for Watch The Throne), it ended up leaking early (Why does this only happen in this genre of music? Why don’t we ever hear of a Justin Beiber, Taylor Swift or Rihanna leak? Makes no sense) giving people everywhere an early listen to one of the most anticipated albums of 2011. This was to prevent myself from making any rash decisions on the album (I would have given Watch The Throne a 30/10 if I had posted a review right after listening to it for the first time)

If you don’t like Drake’s style of mixing rap and R&B then you won’t like this record. Simple as that. This CD won’t attract any new Drake fans but it certainly won’t make him lose the fans he’s already got.  The album has a definite feel to it with most of the CD featuring fairly downbeat tempos coupled with emotionally charged lyrics. There are some features on the album with the highlights being two song-stealing verses from Kendrick Lamar (the best rapper out that not a lot of people know about) and Andre 3000 (no need for an explanation here) and the lowlights being any Wayne verse. He is not the same as before and seems to have fallen off since coming back from jail. The Carter IV was/is bad but this is understandable. Why did we think he was going to come out with an All Eyez on Me type of album? No other rapper has done what Tupac did so successfully (coming out of jail with a classic album) since then and you know why? Because he’s fucking Tupac and no one else is.

Here’s a track-by-track review of Take Care.

The Desire Part III

Tweet James forgot what it was like to wake up at a normal time, in this case 8:15am on a warm Monday morning.  It was September first and it was the first day of school, he decided to skip his last training day and get some rest so he could kick off his year with a good start.  Last year his family moved in the middle of October and he had to go through being the new kid in school and that was something he chose to stop thinking about at that moment.

"What is this coach?"  It was Tommy, the last person coach O'Brien expected to say anything at this moment, then he remembered what Mr. Lopez told him about James and him having issue with some players on the team.  "Try-outs ended a long time ago" Tommy tried to sound innocent but the look he and James were exchanging told coach all he needed to know.  "Now, Tommy, James moved here after the try-out so I decided to give the boy a chance.  After all," coach continued "Michael's injury has left a spot open anyways".  Most of the team didn't care, the Panthers were 1-7 and had 13 games remaining, if it were up to them they would have given up on the season then and there.  Tommy Johnson however, kept his eyes locked at James, he couldn't believe that HE was going to be his teammate, what hurt him the most was probably the fact that he knew James would nail this try-out.


Tommy picked up his time-table from a box labelled 'J' (for Johnson).  The school thought that assigning time-tables for students who could not chose their electives yet was a good idea, everyone really knew it was the principal's way of separating the troublemakers.  As Tommy walked into his home room class (English) he paused.  James Miller stared back a him from one of the desks. "No way!" Tommy thought, admittedly he hated the guy way less than he did last year but he still despised him.  Now he was going to spend an entire semester with him in homeroom.  Tommy sighed and sat in the furthest possible seat he could, he was soon joined by Jamie Smith, the back-up point guard from last year and quickly forgot about James.  Mr. White, Forest Hill's English teacher glanced at the memo on his desk, read it, and decided not to question the vice-principals motives.  "Mr. Johnson" "Yes sir?" came Tommy's reply. "Please switch seats with miss Adams"  Tommy looked around for Rachel and saw who she sat next to "Sir. why--" "Please Mr. Johnson no questions right now" Mr. White said sternly in a way that Tommy realized it would be useless to argue.  He sat down next to James and didn't say a word for the rest of the period.

The Patriots Report: Week 10

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Do not let the score fool you, this Jets-Patriots game was a lot closer then the final result indicates.  The Jets dropped 3 potential picks, choked on a 20-yard field goal in their opening drive, and somehow muffed a punt that allowed New England to put points on the board.  Mark Sanchez also left Tom Brady too much time at the end of the first half allowing Brady and the Patriots to score a much needed touchdown.  Coach Ryan was so mad at this decision that he called what Sanchez did "the stupidest play of all time" I think he needs to settle down a bit on that one.  Up to this point, I did not write a single thing the Patriots did well, the Jets basically handed them the game with all of the mistakes I just mentioned.  I am not trying to take anything away from New England, they seized control of the AFC East (they have basically a 2-game lead because they swept the Jets) and showed flashes of what made them so great in the past.  What I am trying to do is caution people that this win means nothing in the grand scheme of things, the Patriots are average at best right now and are no where near contender status.  One thing that may or may not benefit them is their schedule.  They have by far the easiest schedule of anyone in their last seven games and could easily polish off the season at 13-3.

The Desire Chapter II

Tweet Coach O'Brien sat in his office and rummaged through some paper work, in addition to his Jr. team coaching duties, he served as the schools administrator for athletics and he knew that a lack of organization now would cause nightmares when school started tomorrow.  In his mid 50s he put on a bit of weight over the years but much to his relief he still did not feel old.  The stress of coaching had caused his face to have some wrinkles, but nothing he couldn't live with.  As long as he felt good he would coach, this was his motto.  Coach O'Brien always left the basketball schedule last because he always spent the most time on it; and on this particular day he was very excited to get to it.  He had a rough idea of how he wanted to set up his team this year and could not wait to get started, even a trivial thing like printing out the season schedule gave him an excuse to plan for the season.  He knew that he would be without a few players, some told him that they were done with basketball while others would join coach Malcolm Floyd on the varsity team.  He knew for sure that he already had eight players who were committed to the junior varsity squad and knew that the team had a chance to be really good this year.  Having done this for a long time he knew when he had something special, and the run that the Panthers made from mid-December through the end of February of last year convinced him he did indeed have something special.  He chuckles a bit to himself when he recalls the day it started coming together.

"Are you allowed to be in here?"  Coach O'Brien yelled out from the other side of the gym as he briskly closed the distance between him and the startled young man he was confronting.  The time was close to 7am and he was not used to being at school this early, but he had received quite a few complaints from the school custodian about the big gym doors not being locked in the morning and had to investigate.  He suspected that whoever was opening the gym doors was a student from the school.  The gym stayed locked on Saturday's and Sundays and at night.  Mike O'Brien knew that the student had to do it very early, before any of the schools staff came in.  As he approached the youth he recognized the school's gym uniform.  "You know you could be suspended for breaking in here" He said calmly looking at the boy.  If the boy was afraid he did not show it.  He brushed sweat from his messy brown hair and placed the basketball that he was holding on the floor. "Sir..." he seemed to struggle for words, unsure if he should say anything but realized he did not have much choice so he continued.  "Actually, I sort of have permission sir, Mr. Lopez gave me a key".  Coach O'Brien almost laughed at the absurdity of what the boy said until he produced a key.  "Follow me" He said, "Mr. Lopez should be here" coach said glancing at his watch.  'why would he give him a key?' was the thought racing through his mind as he led the boy through the school.  The walk to the athletic administrations offices was a long and silent one; when they got to a door that said 'R. Lopez' coach O'Brien knocked and was let in.  "Already in trouble James?" said Mr. Lopez as he sat back down at his desk seemingly oblivious to the tension. "Robert?, you know who this is?" asked Coach, "Of course Mike" came the reply.  "I gave him the key, the kid has too much talent to be punished for moving here a month after tryouts, so I let him use the gym during the winter so he could stay sharp".  Coach O'Brien was having a hard time processing all of this.  He looked from Robert, a former player of his who now taught physical education here to the boy whose calm demeanor showed a maturity beyond his young complexion. "Mike, lets sit down shall we?" said Robert, he had been waiting for this opportunity and did not want to blow it. "You too James" he said beckoning the boy to an empty chair. "You have some serious explaining to do Robert" Coach O'Brien said, the slightest hint of a smile forming on his face.


A knock on his door broke coach O'Brien's train of thought "Its open" he called out lazily his expression went from boredom to surprise when he saw who walked in. "Mr. Johnson" Mike said standing up and shaking the mans hand "what a nice surprise".  Mr. Johnson, a very tall man with dark hair and a serious but friendly complexion smiled back "I just came by to tell you that I will be providing funding for this tournament I hear you may or may not be hosting" "How did you know?" Mike asked bewildered.  He was sure that only he and vice-principal Jeremy Roberts knew about his plan. "Its no secret that you have been asking for sponsorship help coach" Mr. Johnson replied smiling, "and given how you guys played last year I was too happy to provide. "Gary, you should'n.." "I did, its over".  Mike let out a deep sigh.  Gary Johnson was one of the best players in school history as well as one of the best students of his time.  His basketball career did not pan out the way he wanted it to but he was now a very prominent figure in 'Nextex' a pharmaceutical and physiotherapy company.  Mike O'Brien knew that he could not turn down this offer and decided to offer his former player some coffee.  Gary obliged and they began reminiscing some war stories from back in the day.

"Let me get this straight," coach paused before continuing: "James here" said Mike nodding at James who was sitting patiently in his chair "moved to the school in October and was told that he was not allowed to ask to play for us?  You know very well that I have an open practice policy until the 15th allowing late comers to come to practice and try out" Robert nodded politely  "But you felt that he should wait a year? why?" at this James displayed some emotion for the first time, Mike was convinced that the boy was nervous. "He has had ahhh some run-ins with players on the squad coach-- wait!" Robert held up a hand to stop the coach from protesting "He just moved here, he needed to accommodate to his surroundings and I felt that next year would be a better option, that's all".  Coach O'Brien glanced at the kid, then back at Robert. "Is he good, he must be if you have taken such an interest" Upon hearing this James almost fell out of his chair with excitement, he knew that this was the moment he wanted, a chance, and he was about to get it. "Have him practice coach, you will see for yourself, and at this point you guys do have a roster spot open I believe?"  It was true, Michael Gray had back surgery after the third game of the season and was out for another four months.  He was easily the best player on the team and coach O'Brien based the entire offense around him.  Sadly, since his injury, the losses had started piling up as the young and inexperienced team struggled on all fronts, sitting at a 1-7 record, they were the laughing stock of the league. "3:45 I want you in the gym ready to go, I'm giving you one practice to impress me James" "Thank you sir!" James did not even bother hiding the excitement in his voice "You are lucky that I trust Robert's opinion when it comes to these things, now get out of here".  James scampered out of the office, giving a very grateful look to Mr. Lopez as he went back to the gym to grab his things. "How often?" Asked Mike when he closed the door. "Every day since it got cold outside Michael" Robert replied. "The kids passion for the game is incredible" Sitting back down and unbuttoning his suit to get comfortable Mike looked at Robert and said "we need more than incredible to save this season".


Gary Johnson pulled into his driveway.  He stuck around longer than he would have liked but he had not seen coach O'Brien in a while and catching up never bothered him.  Besides, the joy he had for the second half of last seasons run was one that brought him back to his playing days.  Locking his car and stepping into his house he heard noise from the kitchen.  He greeted his wife Brianna and sat down. "You ready for tomorrows try-out?" He asked his son casually.  Tommy glanced up and went back to his food "I'd be on the team even if I didn't show up" he said.

Saints and the Mid-Season All-Stars

Tweet Just another day at the office for the New Orleans Saints. Coming into their game against Tampa Bay, I read multiple articles saying that the Saints offense was sure to slow down and that their defense was simply not making enough plays. The same columnists predicted that the Bucs would upset the Saints and the Atlanta Falcons would be the team to beat in the NFC South.

There’s really no need to talk about Brees and the offense because they did what they do week in and week out: dominate. Watching Brees, Graham, Sproles, and the wide receiving core shred the opposing defense has become a regularity (I’ve decided to drop the Rams game from my memory). However, watching the Saints defense is a rollercoaster ride which usually leaves me feeling nauseous. I’m glad to report that New Orleans’ mediocre defense finally stepped up and showed what a great defensive system Gregg Williams has put into place. Every Tampa drive looked the same: promising start, methodical drive down the field, shut down inside the Saints 30 yard line. As I mentioned in an earlier article, the Saints D is based on the traditional motto “Bend but don’t break.” In theory, they allow the small gains and wait for the opportunity to make a big play and create turnovers. That hasn’t been the story all season, but last game, they filled into their roles perfectly and stopped Tampa whenever it mattered. Next week we face Atlanta in a HUGE game for the division lead, which I expect the Saints to win and put all the haters to rest.

I was reading NFL.com and came across an interesting article by Michael Lombardi. He made an NFL Mid-Season All-Star team for both offense and defense. I decided it was a cool idea, so here’s my Mid-Season All-Star’s.

OFFENSE
QB - Aaron Rodgers - Packers
RB - Matt Forte - Bears
WR - Calvin Johnson - Lions
WR - Steve Smith – Panthers
TE - Jimmy Graham - Saints
TE - Rob Gronkowski - Patriots
T - Jake Long - Dolphins
T - Joe Thomas - Browns
G - Jahri Evans - Saints
G - Carl Nicks - Saints
Center - Nick Mangold - Jets
Kicker - Jason Hanson - Lions

DEFENSE
DE - Jared Allen - Vikings
DE - Jason Pierre-Paul - Giants
DT - Haloti Ngata - Ravens
DT - Ndamukong Suh - Lions
OLB - Terrell Suggs - Ravens
OLB - Lance Briggs - Bears
MLB - Ray Lewis - Ravens
CB - Darrelle Revis - Jets
CB - Brandon Flowers - Chiefs
Safety - Ed Reed - Ravens
Safety - George Wilson - Bills
Punter - Shane Lechler - Raiders

A reflection from us to you

Tweet Back when we started this I had no idea where it was going. Quit after a week, excel, write every day; it was all in play when this blog was created. So far I would call doing this a great success. We are successful in the sense that we have a lot of fun reading posts we did not write and have a lot of fun writing ourselves. We are successful in the sense that our writing and language skills have improved greatly as a result of this (I consider this a success, others might not). Most of all we are successful in the sense that we are getting readers, it does not matter how many people read this on a regular basis, the fact that some people do is enough for me. So after 100 posts writing new ones still feels like writing the first ones and in my eyes I see no reason to stop doing this. Thanks to all who read and thanks to all who write, this is one of the more fun things I have done long term maybe ever. Cheers! -Daki

I remember when Daki sent me the e-mail back in June asking me to join a blog he was starting. I'll be honest, my first thought was "A blog? That's fucking stupid." but I'm glad I accepted because writing posts has been pretty fun so far. Even the ones where I had no idea where to start (like R. Kelly at an all-girls primary school... too much?) I ended up enjoying the process and truly believe it has made me a better writer (just slightly better but still). I enjoy reading all of the things everyone else posts (except for Jovan) and even going back and reading the old stuff from time to time (I'm just joking, I read his stuff too). Thanks to all (8) of the people who read the blog and in the future try and comment on the posts if you can. We know we're not amazing at this but by commenting you help us get better so we'd appreciate it. Finally if you enjoy what you're reading, tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend about it (we wouldn't mind if the third friend told someone about it too). We'll keep posting even if no one's reading so until the next post. Peace. - Luka

Since the only sport I can write about is basketball (and I still have yet to write something on basketball), I'm thankful Daki included the entertainment section. The three of us have talked a lot about basketball and we have movie conversations all the time. Our first idea was to do a podcast (it's still a possibility), but it's awesome being able to freely express your thoughts and opinions and have others read your stuff. I took a hiatus this summer after writing my first few articles, and it's good that we got more writers recently to cover for those of us who didn't always have the time to write a new post. I'm surprised we've managed to keep it going. I was just as skeptical as Luka. I thought it would get boring or that we'd stop writing for the fact that we have such a small number of readers. However, we've reached post #100 and we're not slowing down. I hope those people that have read our posts so far continue to read. We'll be here to continue providing. - Jovan

The Desire

Tweet The ball was batted out towards the corner right towards the team bench, in seven seconds they would advance to the playoffs all the ball had to do was go out of bounds...


James woke up suddenly, he quickly hit the sleep button on his alarm something he got quite good at turning it off rapidly over the summer.  He sat up in bed and glanced at the clock display, in bright red letters it read 6:30.  He quickly jumped out knowing that if he lingered any longer he would lose valuable time.  Getting dressed with the clothes he prepared the night before he quietly opened his door and went to the kitchen.  When he opened the fridge he recalled the dream he had, or rather, the nightmare.

Number 17 of the other team runs down the ball, The coach is sure he stepped on the sideline but the refs are having none of it.  Even if they had blown the whistle no one would have heard it over the crowd noise.  17 whipped a pass to the top of the key to his point guard, James is looking at it all from the bench, no one is in position except Tommy who runs out to contest the open 3.  The point guard fakes out the whole gym by making one more pass to the other sideline, a spot occupied by number 3, there is no one within 10 feet of him, the clock reads 2 seconds.


James quickly shrugged it off, he hated thinking about something that had happened over 5 months ago but for some reason even when he avoided thinking about it he would dream about it.  He quickly tried to focus on what had to be done today, the dream only serving as motivation and nothing else.  He slammed the fridge door a bit harder than he would have liked, he wolfed down the meal he made for himself last night, over the summer he learned that these little things like picking out clothes and making a meal in advance would save him a lot of time.  Getting to his door he stepped out "Good" he thought, it had rained, running in cloudy cooler conditions gave him a sense of peace for reasons he did not quite understand, but to him it did not matter.  School was starting up again in twelve days and he was determined to make all of them count.

Number 3 catches the ball in stride and plants his feet.  The look on his face at realizing how much room he had told it all.  For a brief second James hoped he would step inside the 3 point line and tie the game, they deserved overtime at the very least.  They earned the right to make the playoffs with how they played their last 10 games.  Number 3 apparently did not feel the same way,  Launching a 3 in front of the loudest section of their home crowd.  

The Eagles: Week 9

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I've decided to mirror my write-ups about this team to the team's actual on field performance. So expect weeks where I research the match-up, do several rough drafts and post only the best finalized copy that I can possibly come up with. Other weeks I'll start off strong and then simply trail o.... And finally some weeks I simply won't show up. I'm tired of making excuses for this team. It's week 9. We have the Chicago Bears at home in what is essentially a must-win game for the Eagles and what happens? The same stupid shit that's been happening all year. Careless penalties, ridiculous turnovers (Hey DeSean if you can't get any yards by going forwards, how the fuck will you accomplish anything by going backwards? And if you're stupid enough to try something 10 year olds try in Madden on one of the best special teams units in the league, hold on to the fucking ball.) and to put it simply, an inability to get the job done.

The thing that's so frustrating about watching (and especially being a fan of) this team is all of the pieces are there and yet nothing has been happening with them. I felt that the defense for the most part did their job tonight. Other than the opening drive where the Bears DA BEARS marched down the field and scored, Philly's D was decent. We stripped Matt Forte twice (something which hasn't happened since week 1 of last season) returning one of them for a touchdown and even crucially held Chicago to a field goal on their last meaningful drive in the game which gave the offense a chance to win the game with 4 minutes remaining. To the offense, protect Michael Vick. We've seen how this team looks without him (as ugly as a female Jersey Shore contestant without makeup) and yet time and time again opposing players get free shots at Vick (Btw, referees, how do you call an insanely soft roughing the passer call on Cutler and let Vick get repeatedly hit after the whistle? What he did outside of the game should play no part in the way the game is officiated but no other QB in the league gets less respect. I mean I'm not even black and I kind of want to play the race card. Just terrible.).

To the receivers, you guys are way too talented to be dropping passes and falling down without any contact (if Maclin doesn't fall on that fourth down and gets to the marker maybe I'm writing a much more cheerful recap without as much cursing.. Fuck). They call you playmakers for a reason, make plays and help the team win. To LaSean McCoy, nothing but the best. Why you only got 23 carries this week is mind-boggling especially since the last two weeks (both wins) you had at least 30 carries. This is solely on Andy Reid and the rest of the coaching staff. Also, why did we only have one timeout for that last drive? I can't believe how bad this guy is at managing time and things in general (He probably causes 3 mile buildups in the McDonald's drive-thrus he frequently visits).

We are now 3-5 on the season looking like the best 3-5 team ever (This is me trying to be positive). We have the Arizona Cardinals next week. I don't even know who plays QB for them but if he's backing up Kevin Kolb he can't be any good. Needless to say this is a must win game for a team that's looking less and less like the Miami Heat as the season wears on because at least the Heat made the playoffs.

Until Next Week (maybe).

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The Patriots Report: Week 9

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I was debating when to write this, I figured doing it in about two days when the NFL picture has settled from this week would be a good time.  Then I saw the highlights and some sport casters screaming out 'shades of David Tyree!' on Ballard's catch that brought the Giants to the Patriots 30, and I couldn't take it any more.  Firstly, full credit to the Giants, they came into Foxborough and abused the Patriots offensive line and had complete control of the game for the most part.  Eli made the throws he had to as well, and overall Belichick got completely outclassed by Coughlin...again.  Now that that is out of the way it is time for people to throw some water on themselves.  The Tyree catch is one of the luckiest plays not just in NFL history, but in sports history. Bringing it up on a moderately difficult catch does not do it justice.  Second of all, to say that the Giants actually beat the Patriots is not enough without mentioning that the Patriots beat themselves just as much.  I will break down exactly how they managed this in a little bit.  Before I get to that however, I feel that as the designated 'Patriots writer' this season I should post the following police report that came out a short while after the game.

MISSING


Name: Chad 'Ochocinco'
Responds to: Chad, Mr. Ochocinco, Number 85, or any variation of saying eighty-five
Last seen: Reporting to Patriots training camp
He usually can be found dropping open passes and looking sad on the sidelines of National Football League games.  The New England Patriots have asked the Boston Police department to look into allegations that Ochocinco is an impostor, because they can't believe that a former all-pro could be this terrible. Any information would be appreciated, if found please contact the Patriots immediately.


Reports that the Patriots secondary also ran away with Ochocinco have not yet been confirmed.

Throwback Thursdays #5

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Has there ever been such a great movie that really has no business being this good? Realistically speaking, the accents used by Al Pacino and especially Steven Bauer (he played Manny, Tony Montana's best friend) are laughable and if they were used in a movie today would definitely be ridiculed. Also, the iconic last scene is quite ridiculous but everyone shrugs it off by saying "he was on a lot of coke". Despite all of this, I love Scarface and everything about it. It is solely responsible for 60% of all ill-advised purchases by rappers and pro athletes (watch any Cribs episode and you'll see this), the inspiration for one of the best video games of all time - GTA: Vice City (Fuck you Lance) and even an awful song by Future (the remix by Drake is bearable only because of Drizzy's verse). The one thing Scarface has done that I hate is it has let every single guy think they can do a Tony Montana impression. You can't. No one can do it but Al Pacino. Anyone else who does it sounds like a mentally challenged Latino speaking broken English. That's my mini-rant of the week. Hit the jump for the songs.

Top 10 Favourite Video Games of All Time with Jovan and Igor

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Igor and I have decided to make a list of our top 10 favourite video games of all time. Notice that these are our favourites, not ones we rank as the greatest. In our lists, we do not include more than one game in a franchise (ie. we only chose one of the GTAs to make it into our top 10) so that we would have a greater variety of games. Our lists also depend on the consoles we have owned. So here’s our top 10, we hope you will enjoy it. Hit the jump for our lists.

Heartbreak in New Orleans

Tweet I really don’t know what to say about the game of “football” that the Saints played last Sunday. The Saints were coming into the game having defeating the Colts 62-7 in a nationally televised pummelling. They became the third team in NFL history to put up 60 points in a game and their offense looked unstoppable. The Rams came into the game having been absolutely wrecked 34-7 by the average-at-best Cowboys. It looked like the Saints were going to embarrass St. Louis, Brees was going to become the MVP favourite, and Head Coach Sean Payton was going to run for president in the next American election. Needless to say, things did not play out this way.

The Saints started off bad and things just kept getting worse. The Rams didn’t even play with Sam Bradford, their franchise QB and had to settle for their 2nd stringer. Feeley, the perennial NFL back-up, was given the start due to Bradford’s injury and looked like a veteran out there. The Ram’s best player, Steven Jackson, returned from injury and ran all over the Saints defence. Watching the Saints defenders try to tackle Jackson was actually upsetting, as SJ39 finished the game with 159 rushing yards.

I’ve been saying all year that the Saints defence is mediocre, so the Rams putting up 31 against New Orleans seemed fathomable, though unlikely. What was truly surprising was the way that the Saints offense performed (re: underperformed). Brees threw for 2 picks and had less than 200 yards for almost the entirety of the game. Defensive End Chris Long had 3 sacks alone, the Saints got a punt blocked, and the entire coaching staff seemed like they didn’t really care much. The Saints were down 24-0 at one point in the third quarter and it was clear that New Orleans had no chance. That was easily the worst showing I’ve seen from the Saints in recent memory.

However, as the Saints are my team, and Drew Brees is my quarterback, I am happy to point out one positive moment in last week’s game. With only minutes left in the game, it looked like Brees’ rare streak was going to finally be snapped. Brees has the 3rd longest streak of consecutive games with a TD pass, but it seemed as though that impressive feat would finally come to an end (and to the lowly Rams). However, in the final minutes of the game, Brees orchestrated a methodical 15 play, 80 yard drive that ended in a touchdown pass from Drew to Lance Moore. Ladies and Gentlemen, the streak is still alive and Brees will continue to throw his way into the history books.

It's my small silver lining in an otherwise embarrassing performance by New Orleans.



Thoughts on the NFL:

It’s always a great feeling when you predict something and it comes true. I may have been very wrong about the outcome of the Saints-Rams affair, but I was spot on with my Tim Tebow prediction. Tebow probably had the worst outing by a QB this year (and that includes Grossman’s dismal game against the Eagles earlier this season), and made Broncos fans beg for Kyle Orton to start next game. The Lions shit on the Broncos 45-10, which had the Detroit players openly insulting Tebow. The Lions used his own celebration against him, twice, and when asked about #15, they called him a joke of a quarterback. One columnist for a Denver newspaper said that Tebow is the worst starting QB in the league and that the Broncos are lucky Orton is still in Denver. Looks like Tim Tebow is Superman no more.

The Chargers actually make me mad. How do you have so much talent on one team and choke so often? San Diego’s 2 starting receivers, Malcolm Floyd and Vincent Jackson, are both 6’5”, Antonio Gates is arguably one of the top 3 tight ends in NFL history, and the running back Matthews is a versatile weapon that can be a factor in the passing game. It would seem that my little sister could come into the starting line-up and put up 300 passing yards a game, but apparently Phillip Rivers is finding a way to make things not work. The Chargers started off the season 4-1 but have managed to drop to 4-3 and with this week’s loss, have fallen to second place in their division (trailing KC, who started the season 0-3). Last year the Chargers finished the season 1st in overall offense, 1st in overall defence, and managed to miss the playoffs....how does that even happen!?!?! Head Coach Norv Turner better figure this out before Oakland passes them as well.

The AFC North is looking absolutely beastly this season. Last week I pointed out a stat to Daki that I didn’t think would ever be possible. The top 4 NFL teams in terms of total defence (total yards allowed) were the Ravens, Bengals, Steelers, and Browns. The amazing thing is that those 4 teams make up the AFC North division. That stat has since changed, but it goes to show why the AFC North is the best division in football: Defence baby! The Ravens and Steelers are 2 of the top 5 teams in the league at the moment and the surprising 5-2 Bengals aren’t far behind them. Some people might say that the Browns are bad, but they have lost a few very close contests and gave the 6-1 SF 49er’s a run for their money last weekend. I have always argued that the 2 best divisions in the NFL are the AFC North and the NFC South. The NFC South has started off a little bit slow, but is picking up momentum coming into the halfway point of the season, but the AFC North is without a doubt the toughest division in football at the moment. If the season ended today, the Ravens, Steelers, and Bengals would all be in the playoff. That’s a true testament to smashmouth football right there.

That’s all I got for this week folks. I’ll be back to talk FOOTBALLLLL soon!