Category: Sports

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Draft – Post Mortem

Ok… most of you won’t give two shits about this post. However, a couple of you (I’m looking at you Adam and George) might find it interesting. Besides, this is my deal. If you don’t like it… well, you get what you pay for.

Base rules for our league. We start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 Def. and have 5 Bench players of any position. Pretty standard. We’re also a keeper league, meaning we had to keep 3 players from our last year’s team. This means that right off get go, the top 30 players are already gone (we have 10 owners). So, this makes it a little more interesting (and difficult). I had 2 guys that were easy keepers, Tom Brady and Marvin Harrison. After that it was a little dicey. I had to decide between Willis McGahee or Brian Westbrook. All of the top ten running backs were ‘kept’ so getting a somewhat top RB was imparative. I don’t think Westbrook will survive the season, so I went with McGahee. I’ll probably regret that.

Adam, when we started drafting, all of the players you told me about were kept, Ronnie Brown, Chambers and Culpepper.

My first pick, which was fourth pick in what was essentially the 4th round, I took Willie Parker. Best running back available. I’m not terribily thrilled with that pick either.

Next round: Darrell Jackson. Decent pickup for the 5th round. Provided he can stay healthy. I owned Hasselbeck 2 years ago when Jackson dropped probably 5 touchdown passes. Killed me. Time for him to pay me back.
6th round: Joseph Addai. Went with Adam’s advice on that one. Go rookie running back!

7th: Jeremy Shockey. I’m really surprised he fell that far. Ranked #2 TE on my sheets.

8th: Carolina D. I like that pick. They’re supposed to be good.

9th: Donte’ Stallworth. Could have a big year with Brees in town. Especially if Horn is double covered.

10th: David Carr as my backup QB. Only need him for one week, but if Kubiak can get him in the right direction, might be interesting in the keeper league.

11th: David Givens now in Tennessee. Pretty decent pick at this point

12th: Lawrence Maroney, rookie running back in New England playing behind 2 well worn backs who probably won’t stay healthy. Might be another good keeper pick.

13th: Brandon Lloyd. Did well in SF on a terrible team last year. Wash. should be able to boost his stats a little.

14th: Kicker time… Jason Elam.

15th: Flyer on Greg Jones. Probably won’t see much of the field, but he’s mainly a place filler.

All in all, I’m not horribily disappointed. I would much rather have had a top 10 running back. Somehow, Commisioner Hedges has 2 top 4 running backs, Tiki Barber and Larry Johnson. He’ll probably win again. Bastard.

One thing you always like to hear when you’re drafting is after you make a pick, is a guy or two giving a dissapointed grunt. Meaning, they were sitting on that guy planning on drafting him. So, its just a little confirmation that you’re NOT crazy for taking him. Plus, its always good to get the “that is a strong pick” comments when they’re being serious. We’re pretty friendly, so there isn’t a whole lot of backstabbing or anything.

So, we’re done drafting. Everyone thinks their team can win if they catch a few breaks. Optimism is at an all time high. Of course, after week one and you get 2 players injured, and 3 others do absolutely nothing you’re damn near hari kari.

If anyone wants to see the other teams makeups you can go to our league homepage.
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/255026

Commish said he’d have the teams entered either tonight or tomorrow.

Feel free to critique my complete lack of knowledge of the NFL if you so desire. I’m just happy football is back around.

On a completely unrelated note, there was a huge windstorm that blew through town this evening. Apparently, 16,000 homes in the North End are have no power and there is no estimate of when they’ll be back up. Is it wrong that I take just a slight bit of glee in this? It’s not that I wish hardship on anyone, but power outages is just an inconveinece. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of people( /sarcasm ) Stupid and petty I know, but still…

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Fantasy Football Draft

Ugh… it happens tonight. I cannot tell you how UNprepared I am. We ususally do it later in the month, but our commissioner had to do it today to fit all 10 guys schedules. He informed us of this 2 days ago. I just really haven’t had enough time to get into the nitty gritty of what’s predicted and so on.

Then again, it could well be argued that I don’t really know what I’m doing even when I have plenty of time to prepare. And to those people I say…. well… you’re right. In 7 years I’ve never won. One year I lead most of the season, only to be bounced in the first round of the playoffs. That was my one flirtation with glory.

The rest of the time, I’ve been ending careers. Hence, my team name has been CareerEndingInjuries. It all began back in the first season we were playing. I had drafted Vinny Testeverde as my #1 quarterback. (This was back when he was supposed to have a huge season for the Jets). Week one. First quarter. He drops back to pass… nobody touches him… and ruptures his achillies tendon. Done for the year. Since that time, I have decimated guys. It has gotten to the point that the other guys in the league beg me not to draft players from their favorite teams. I wish I had kept a list of all the players that went down for the season when I had them. There are usually at least 2 or 3 on my team every year. I got Marshall Faulk a couple years ago… I think he ended up playing like 5 games. I’ve had ‘fragile’ Freddie Taylor (twice) and he got hurt both years. I had the Carolina backfield the season that both Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster had their seasons ended.

I’ve had ACL’s, I’ve had Turf Toe. I’ve had broken collar bones. I’ve had drug suspensions. You name a way to lose a guy for the season, I’ve managed to own those very guys. I’ve had guys get injured, then the guy I replace him with get injured. I’m the NFL’s grim reaper.

So, if there are any teams or players you specifically want to see gone for the year, just let me know. Maybe I’ll draft them and put my curse on them.

I’ll write up a post-mortem of my draft when its finished. Not that anyone really cares about your fantasy team, but dammit, this is my space and I’ll use it how I see fit.

“I’m going to go get directions to our next huge embarassing failure” – Richard Hayden, Tommy Boy

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Flying Solo

One thing that I’ve been doing a little bit of the past several weeks is something new for me. In the past, when dining out alone, I always got food to go and brought it back home. Always. Never even considered doing otherwise. However, you always see people in movies dining out alone. Of course, they always meet the chick while doing so, but that’s not what interested me.

I recently subscribed to ESPN the magazine (which is terrific, by the way). It comes biweekly. So, every time I get a new issue, I’ll take it with me and hit a sports pub somewhere. I’ll order dinner, have a beer or two, and pretty much read it cover to cover. Watch a little sports on TV. Just get out of the house.

Granted, I’m not meeting anyone, or even talking to anyone for that matter, but I’m enjoying it a little bit. So far I’ve gone to Busters in Eagle a couple times, The Ram in Eagle, The Ha’ Penny, and Cheerleaders.

Last night I was at the Ram having dinner. Watching a baseball game, and reading the magazine. I noticed that most defintely I wasn’t the only guy doing the same. There were 3 or 4 other guys who were either reading the paper or whatever, and having dinner and beers. Nice to have a little psuedo-company. Plus, the Ram is always kinda fun since they have the NTN trivia which I enjoy. I really wish I could find someplace that did old fashioned pub trivia one night a week somewhere… a place where I could perhaps get on a regular team. I think that would be fun.

It’s all part of the process of being comfortable doing alone that which I like doing while coupled. I just gotta find new ways to do things.

On a side note, I had the club sandwich. I really like those things, however there is the one downside. Good lord to they shred the inside of your mouth. That damn toast combined with the thickness of the sandwich, its kinda like rubbing sandpaper inside of your teeth. Unfortunately, I can’t really come up with a solution… its gotta be toasted. Plain bread is a dud. I guess you could go not as thick, but there’s a lot of stuff on a good club. Oh well, sometimes personal sacrafice is necessary for things you love, right?

I’m excited for NFL this season, because George has said that we need to find a regular place somewhere to go every Sunday to watch some games. Preferably somewhere with HD, where you can hear the game, and decent food. It will be fun to hang out with my boy, watch some football, and just catch up every week.

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Boise State Football LotD

In order to get myself geared up as well as share the wealth to anyone who might be interested, I’ve created a new page on this site. On the right you will see a link titled “Boise State Football Link of the Day”. Every day I will post 1 (or maybe more than one if I have them) links to articles I’ve found that mention or are about Boise State football.

It is my one true passion that I have. I figure I spend so much time finding information, I might as well try to get it to someone else who might be interested. I began it Saturday, July 15th. As of this post going live, we’ve got 46 days, 4 hours, 39 minutes and 27 seconds til the season kicks off. Not that I’m counting or anything…
So, visit daily if you want. If you couldn’t care less, ignore it. Simple athat.Go

Go Broncos.

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Chestnut, you suck

Awhile back I wrote about the US’s best hope to regain the coveted Yellow Mustard Belt in the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Mr. Joey Chestnut had set the American record for hot dog eating in a qualifying event. Hopes were high… almost as high as the dogs were piled. Well, in case you didn’t hear, he choked. Well, not literally, but he didn’t win.

All he was able to force down his gullet was a paltry 52 hot dogs before time expired. *Phfffft*… rookie… The famed champion Kobayashi? He got 53 3/4. Just enough to win it again.  Sixth in a row. This guy is like Jordan winning scoring titles or Gretzky winning MVP’s. He simply can’t be stopped. A machine.

Chestnut was quoted on ESPN saying, “I hit a wall. I just felt tired,”. Yeah, a wall made of processed cow hooves and pig snouts. Or, lips and assholes as dad used to say.

Well, there’s always next year.

Oh, and do us a favor… don’t mention this to any of the starving countries out there. They might be pissed.

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Enough

This is starting to get ridiculous. Wait… strike that… this IS ridiculous. As far as I know, Lance Armstrong retired a year ago. Yet, this doesn’t seem to stem the never-ending stream of news stories about him. I simply cannot believe the amount of time and energy people (aka the French, or anyone who has some axe to grind) are devoting into somehow convincing the rest of us that he might have taken some performance enhancer.

Yes France, we get it, you hate him. You are pissed off that he dominated your little race 7 times in a row. Yes, he’s a dirty American… a Texan no less… and needs to be destroyed at all costs. But for the love of God, can you just go back to eating cheese, drinking wine and being snooty to tourists in peace?

I like Armstrong. He battled back from about 3 different cancers and became the ultimate bike racer. He won the ‘Tour’ 7 times. But, since I’m an American, that’s about as far as my caring can go. I don’t give 2 shits about bike racing. I barely cared when he was actually riding… and guess what… I care FAR less now.

I guess this is an open letter to the media as well. Not only do the French, and everyone else just need to let it rest, the media has got to stop playing each and every story like its actually important. WE DON’T CARE. The world didn’t come to a halt when Barry Bonds, who is hated by many and we can pretty much all agree he has taken just about everything, passed Hank Aaron on the all time home run list and people actually care about baseball. So, you’re never going to make us give a damn about a likable Texan who won some race that we really don’t care about. Here, let me do your job for you for the next 10 or 20 news stories regarding Lance Armstrong.

Headline: Armstrong accused of ______________ (doping, cheating, calling us ‘frogs’, generally being a pain in our ass).

Today, Lance Armstrong was accused by _________ (the French, some cycling body, former teammates, former friends, general rabble-rousers) of ___________ (enter what ever they’re whining about now). Citing sworn testimony, ___________ (enter current accusers, max 3) said they have concrete proof that Armstrong ___________ (enter what he supposedly did wrong, try to make it sound really horrible). They claim that in (some year before he won, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005) Armstrong was known to be taking __________ (steroids, human growth hormone, horse tranquilizers, the blood of infants) in order to improve his conditioning.

Armstrong, when reached for comment angrily denies these “baseless accusations.” Armstrong reiterated that he was, “the most tested athlete in the world,” and that he has “never tested positive of anything.”

Repeat ad nasueum. There… you’re finished. You can copy & paste and save yourself the time and effort and leave us all the hell alone now. Unless someone has a picture showing Lance with a syringe in his ass, a mouth full of pills, a copy of that day’s newspaper and a copy of his birth certificate in it, nobody is going to believe anything bad. More to the point, it simply doesn’t matter to anyone anymore. Not that it mattered much in the first place.

Move on.

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Goodest of a Good Cause

My friends Adam and Beth (picture) have a charitable foundation in honor of their son who passed away from cancer at 19 months old. There is a terrific article about them and their charity work in today’s Idaho Statesman. They are great people with an even better cause.

If any of you are sports fans and want to try and get your hands on some good memorabilia, please head down to the Ha’ Penny tomorrow night. In past years, I’ve gotten an Boise State helmet autographed by then head coach Dan Hawkins, and a Buffalo Sabres hockey jersey autographed by the entire team. Even better, is that all proceeds go to a very good cause. If you can help AJ’s Angels, please do. If you just want to donate, they will take PayPal donations through their website: AJsAngels.org
I’m going to post the auction item list that Adam has given me.

Item List Here

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Ultimate Bronco Fan

Ok… one more sports related post. I wanted to post this… well, I guess it’s an essay… I wrote to win a contest the local sports talk radio show was running. Essentially, tell us why you’re the biggest Boise State fan, sorta thing. Well, that was right in my wheelhouse, so I stepped up and knocked it out of the park. For the record… yes, we are the team with the blue field. No, geese do not crash into it thinking its water. Yes, I love it. I ended up winning a Boise State swag package, Season review DVD, autographed Poster by the head coach, t-shirt, tickets to the spring game, etc etc etc.

Bear in mind, this was written when I was still happily married, so there will be references to that in there. I’m not going to edit it at all, cause it was true when I wrote it, April ’05. I have added a little explanation of some items for those of you out there who don’t have an intimate knowledge of the Broncos.

Enjoy.

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What demonstrates that I am a dedicated Boise State Bronco fan?Well, the possible answers to that question might well be endless.

It could be that my dad, my sister, my wife and I are all alumni, but many people could boast that.

Perhaps its because I have basketball season tickets, and did not miss a home game this season… which is saying something. My basketball experience began as young impressionable kid with Bolden, Childs, Usitello, Jones, and King and can be traced in a continuous line through Beard, Coker, Huleen, Jackson, Bergersen, Washington all the way to adulthood with Lane, Karl, Ellis, and Blackburn. When I hear KJ Mac in his radio day job, I keep expecting to hear him call, “Wwwwwwwwalking… ball to the BRONCOS!”

It could be that I have not missed a home Bronco football game in 13 years, and I’m only 31 years old. Maybe it’s because I proposed to my wife prior to the 2002 Fresno State football game, and both families gathered at the tailgate party to celebrate. The whole family and many friends tailgate at every home game, both pre and post game. All are welcome, and they always know where to find us, no invitation required. Something has to be said for the first people to roll into the stadium lot in the morning also being among the last people to call it a day and go home following another Boise State win. To us, a football game just isn’t a game. It is a state holiday that we celebrate with vigor 6 or 7 times a year. Go all out, or don’t go at all. You just know going in that you need to plan to be there for 12 hours or more.

Yes, I do consider Bobby Dye and Pokey Allen personal heroes.

Perhaps its because 3 of my top 10 all-time life moments involve Boise State Football:

  • Boise State ending “The Streak” (12 straight losses) against arch rival Idaho in 1994, 27-24 to win the Big Sky conference (watching Offensive Coordinator Al Borges among the fans hanging from the goalposts) and the ensuing playoff run culminating in playing in the 1-AA national championship game (Pokey would die of cancer just over a year later… I still remember the cancer he had: rhabdomyosarcoma)
  • 2001, Boise State 35, undefeated #8 and media darling Fresno State 30 (in their house on national television)
  • 2002, the aforementioned ‘engagement game’ Boise State 67, Fresno State 21 and being part of a Bronco Stadium record crowd (and the first one truly decked out head to toe in orange). Quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie coming back from a broken ankle, not playing the whole 1st quarter, but still ending the game 19-22, 406 yards and 5 touchdowns. Greatest performance I have ever seen live.

It could be that I cannot imagine hearing anybody but Paul J. as the voice of Boise State Athletics, and think it will be a sad sad day when he retires.

Maybe it’s the fact that half of my wardrobe is indeed orange.

But lets be honest, there are thousands of people in this valley who could say the same to any or all of these things. There is one aspect of my Boise State fandom that belongs to me and me alone. It is a part of family lore and is a favorite story that has been told many many times. Saturday, November 24th, 1973, Boise State was finishing its regular season schedule with an away game at UC Davis that afternoon. My dad, being an alumnus and fan, was listening to a young Paul J call the game in his first season on the job. My mom was very pregnant with me. In the middle of the 2nd quarter, Mom gives him those dreaded words, “Its time to GO”. Of course, he’s both upset and excited at the same time. I feel for the guy… the game is TIED for pete’s sake! Fortunately for all involved , he made the correct choice and grudgingly drove mom and me to the hospital, game on the whole way. Upon arrival, mom is admitted and dad is off to find a radio. As my mom is wheeled into the delivery room, the doctors are actually listening to the game while my mom is giving birth to me. I’ve always said, I’m not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that BSU won the game (32-31) since I was risking a spike or a fumble either way. Luckily, both the doctors and the Broncos held on. It is very likely, that the first words I heard in my life belong to that of Paul J. Schneider calling a Boise State football game.

It doesn’t get any more true Blue & Orange than that.

Go Broncos!

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Champions

In the past 2 nights we have had 2 sport champions crowned. The Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup on Monday and Tuesday, the Miami Heat won the NBA championship. Really, I had very little invested in either series. Having not seen NHL hockey since 2004 and being at best a lukewarm fan of the NBA, I wasn’t real intrigued. I did, however, tune into the games from time to time, simply because they were broadcast in high def. I’m telling you, sports is what high def does best. There is no question. If you have yet to view such an event in HD, do not wait any longer. The picture is so good that even regular season baseball games are interesting.

Really, the only real good thing about these two sports ending the seasons means that we are that much closer to the real sports season… Football. Now, without the seemingly never ending NBA coverage to waste time with (and the cursory glance they gave to the NHL), SportsCenter can get back to their day jobs of covering the hell out of the NFL. Training camps open in roughly a month. Soon, they will begin breaking down every team, one per day, and analyze every aspect of the off season moves and the upcoming season. College players start practice a little after that and we start to talk about who is favored in the big rivalries… Michigan/Ohio State… Alabama/Auburn… The worlds largest outdoor cocktail party… the red river shootout… the civil war… Just typing it makes me excited.

This is also when Madden 2007 and NCAA Football 2007 video games are released. Anymore, the day Madden is released should be a holiday, simply because there are many many guys out there who will think of nothing but their upcoming virtual seasons for the entire day. I predict more than a few ‘sick’ days will be used that day.

Thus begins the time of year when I start to get a little giddy. I start researching for our fantasy football draft (not that it ever helps for I will end up injuring half my team anyway). I look at the weekend schedules of which college games will be on ABC or ESPN or FoxSports (always knowing that Notre Dame will be on NBC) and plan accordingly.

Mainly, it begins the season of the only team on the planet that I live and die by. Boise State Bronco Football. I will expound on this more in a future post, but growing up in geographically isolated Boise Idaho (seriously…look at a map) you don’t have any major pro teams close to devote yourself to. You’ve got one game in town, and growing up like I did, you learn to love it. At the time of this post, the season opener is 71 days, 9 hours, 2 minutes and 38 seconds away. Of course, this season will be a little different for me as the massive tailgate party of past years I will no longer be a part of. Just another thing I lost in the divorce. Those six or seven days were always in my top 10 favorite days all year. I’ll truly miss them. At least I’ll still be at the games, which is the main focus.

But, it’s still the greatest time of year. And its only 2 short months away. Bring it on.

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Soccer’s Problem

I think I have put a finger on why soccer is not popular in the US. It doesn’t have anything to do with the sport, or not using your arms, or anything like that. I believe the real reason is that soccer players, and since we’re talking World Cup we’re talking the best players in the world, have absolutely no self-respect. I think it must be that soccer fosters that sort of attitude, or at least never punishes it, that is our main problem.

Let me explain. In the first 45 minutes of playing time in this game (USA v. Italy), I have seen three separate guys carried off the field on a stretcher. THREE. For the record, all 3 of those guys carried off remained in the game. Here at home, if you see someone carted off the field, he is damn near maimed. Seriously. If you are watching an NFL game, and they bring out the cart, that guy is REALLY hurt. They are strapping that guy to a backboard and are cutting his helmet off with a saw, for fear of paralyzing him. It is ingrained in our athletes from the time you start little league that if you are still functioning, you walk off the field. Even if you need two guys acting as living crutches, you are walking off the field. I’ve seen guys with broken legs, torn ACL/MCLs, torn Achilles, all get off the field under their own power. I have seen guys who take a 110 mph slap shot to the face, skate off the ice. I would be willing to bet that if Joe Theismann wasn’t in shock from Lawrence Taylor giving him a second knee (aka tibia-fibula compound fracture), he would have preferred to walk off too.

I saw one Italy defender catch a knee in his ass, from his own goalie, and he rolled around like he was shot. The “trainer” came out, sprayed his ass with some ice spray and that was it. He never comes out. Another guy, who was carried off, I couldn’t even tell where his injury was. They showed a replay in which his legs pretty much just got tied up a little bit with the defender, but he was holding his shin like Theismann part 2. I have to think that “soccer trainer” is one of the easier jobs in the sports world. They don’t ever have to do anything, because no one really ever gets hurt. If they do, it’s the whole cry-wolf syndrome anyway.

I’ve been trying to see if any of the Americans flop as badly as the Italians do, and I haven’t really seen it. McBride went down and stayed down, but of course, he was intentionally elbowed in the face, to the point where his cheek was split open and bleeding. He did walk off.

So, if these guys were to have some self-respect, not scream like they’re dying one second, and staying in the game the next, far more Americans might watch and enjoy soccer. Until that happens, these guys, no matter how tough and in shape they might actually be, wind up looking like euro-trash nancy boys, who cry like they’re dying 3 or 4 times a game. Not exactly the sort of thing that really appeals to our sporting sensibilities.

That, and that our best player is apparently Pauly Shore.