The Keystone State Bowl....

BostonHerald.com - Patriots: Bull's eye on Bettis -- Steelers' ground game No. 1 target

Well, this weekend the NFL will have both the NFC and AFC Championship games at opposite ends of Pennsylvania as the Steelers host the Pats and the Iggles host the Falcons. Let me start with a quick brief on the NFC game in beautiful South Philly (I feel obligated as I spent a brief time last year working for the South Philly Review).
There's going to be a lot of pressure on the Eagles to win this one - ask Jim Kelly, he'll tell ya that no matter what the Eagles are saying, it is what they're feeling and he should know. The Falcons come into the game with one of the top rushing attacks in the league, and the Eagles run defense has been suspect at times this year.
Unfortunately for the Falcons, Vick struggles in the passing game in the best of conditions and the Falcons won't be playing in a nice, climate controlled dome. Unless the Falcons find someway to rush for 300+ yards in Sunday afternoon's contest, don't even look for this to be close, because the Eagles are going to force Vick to beat them in the air in the cold and snow.

The Main Event is happening in Pittsburgh. We're talking knock-down, drag-out, kick-'em-in-the-gut-while-they're-down, all-out rumble. This is going to be close, this is going to be violent, and man-oh-man is it gonna be pretty. I think that the Pats will edge the Steelers in this one, and not just because I'm a New England fan.

I realize that the Steelers gave the sixty-minute-men a spanking in October. I realize that the Steelers are taking the underdog roll to heart, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them win, but here's why it won't happen -

1) Football coaches like to publicly say that past performance doesn't matter, that the team is focused on the upcoming game, but the reality is that coaches are obsessed with the past. They crunch numbers, they study film, they work in the past to identify the weakness of tomorrow. NFL history is full of trends and aberrations - many people like to say, if it hasn't happened at least three times, it's not a trend. Well here are some numbers to ponder -

a) No team that has carried a 15 game winning streak into the Championship Game has lost the Super Bowl, however, only 2 teams have brought a streak like that into the final divisional contest - 72 Dolphins and last year's Pats. Overall - irrelevant.

b) Bill Cowher - 1 - 4 record in AFC Championship games played in Pittsburgh.

c) Bill Belichick - 13 - 0 record since joining the Pats as head honcho when facing a QB for the second time in a season.

d) The Boys of February - Only two previous Super Bowls have been played in February. The winner of both - the Patriots (only 2x's - irrelevant).

e) Since the Halloween horror show in Heinz, the Patriots have only allowed to RB's to rush for more than 85 yards in a game.

f) The Bus - Getting the start this weekend, Bettis only has a career yards-per-rush average of 3.1, this includes the day he had against the Pats back in October when he had 4.3 yards-per-attempt. Against a Belichick coached team, that career day won't happen again.

I guess the bottom line is, I think for the most part the talent is a wash - both teams have good receivers (they play a different game, but both corps are deep and talented); both teams have good, blue-collar types in the trenches; both have goodrunning backs, linebackers and safeties. The corners are a wash, and while Roethlisberger outplayed Brady in the first meeting, that won't happen twice against a Belichick-Crennel defense and considering the Pats O-line and starting running back are healthy this time around.

My guess is that we're going to see scoring in the high teens or low twenties in this one with the Pats on top in the snow and cold on Sunday night.

More quick hits

IS it just me, or is George Steinbrenner the sports equivalent to C. Montgomery Burns?


Speaking as a former football coach (2 years with receivers, one with special teams in a semi-pro women's full contact league, and 2 years as the head coach at a middle school running a defense that gave up less than 7 PPG through the two years) and former player (HS, semi-pro), the worst thing that has happened to football commentary has been the advent of the fantasy league.
The fantasy league has spawned the football ingenue. We are besot with people that think they know about football because they can put together a winning rotisserie team. Those same people don't get why this Sunday's late game is a football purist's wet dream.
To them, this Sunday's AFC title game is going to be a "boring defensive struggle."
I grew up watching the Steel Curtain and the Big Blue Wrecking Crew. Whenever possible I watched film of Lombardi's Packers and I watched Paterno's Nittany Lions. I'm all about the punishing defense. Anyone that truly knows football is looking forward to that.
It's going to be a football smackdown - two of the most punishing D's in the league are going to make the opposing O's earn every inch. Forget Baltimore, they're overrated - Ray Lewis got to the Pro Bowl on rep alone (Tedy Bruschi had the better season, don't believe me, look it up), and Reed - got smoked by Corey Dillon in the match-up in the mud - possibly the best stiff arm I've ever seen, sent Reed, literally head over heels.
Sunday is the Rumble at three Rivahs, the Thrilla on the Manongahilla (I don't think I spelled that right, but you get the point), it is simply going to be the best game of the season.

I spent 8 seasons playing some form of hockey or other while growing up. I was a fan at the Beanpot tournament more than once and have sat center-ice row 6 for Bruins games. Somehow I just won't be too crushed if hockey up and goes away.
Management of the league over the last 20 years has been disastrous, and while the players' union is busy trying to point this out and garner sympathy, I have none for a group of people who are trying to perpetuate a system that will ultimately cause their paychecks to go away completely. Hockey in its most recent model is not economically viable and it doesn't matter whether or not the players like it, or want it to be otherwise, the only people left to make a sacrifice to save the league are the players.
Personally, I think its too late for that anyway.

In light of the Colts recent struggles at Gillette, maybe people should begin thinking about nicknaming the stadium the Glue Factory.

Isn't it appropriate that in a season during which Massachusetts senator John Kerry runs for President, that the Patriots end up in Heinz Field during the playoffs?

Overall, in light of last season, I trust Theo Epstein, but David Wells?

Read the novella "Bleachers" by John Grisham over the holidays. It was a quick read, but not overwhelmingly compelling. The characters mostly lacked depth and the story itself was like Grisham had watched Varsity Blues and decided to write about what had happened to those characters fifteen years later (you can pick out story line elements that parallel VB maybe a little bit too closely). Can't say as I would recommend it unless you were looking for something to read on a flight that wouldn't tax your brain too much.

Thursday I will break-down this weekend's AFC game.

Boston.com / Sports / Patriots 20, Colts 3 and other stuff...

Boston.com / Sports / Patriots 20, Colts 3

Issues from the last seven days....

I do believe that I did mention something about the Patriots linebackers....did the pundits believe me? No, just like last year, they got caught up in the excitement of a team that seemingly could score alot, but were unwilling to acknowledge that the Patriots did this for more than half the year without Ty Law or Tyrone Poole. THIS WAS NO FLUKE.
Back in October I said that the Pats were gonna see the Steelers again, I was just hoping it would be in the razor. Guess you can't have everything. Look back here later for a breakdown on the two teams.

In defense of Anna Kournikova - Kournikova, while not a great tennis player, won enough to attain the rank of 8th in the world, but was repeatedly ridiculed and scorned for her choice to parlay her tennis success into a modeling career. At least she won something on the pro-level, and was smart enough to shift gears when she saw players like the Williams sisters come along - much more physically dominating presences on the court.
That being said, can someone explain the hype and hoopla over Michelle Wei, the precocious 15-year old golfer who seems to get PGA sponsorship exemptions about as regularly as she gets beat by girls younger than her on the amateur circuit who are not as highly regarded? Someone? Please?

I don't have an ethical issue with the Randy Moss "mooning" celebration, and I don't particularly care if the cheese-heads moon players on their way out of the parking lot. My issue with the play is that it practically defines unsportsman-like conduct and a flag should have been thrown.
If the league really wants to crack down on the show-offs and get rid of these stupid and inane "it's all about me" end-zone celebrations (like the cell phone and the signs) then this is the way the personal foul for excessive celebration will work - flag is thrown, penalty is announced, touchdown is revoked and the refs march off 15 yards from the original line of scrimmage. The first time one of the hot dogs gets a TD called back will be the last time you see that penalty called.

Am I the only one that looks at what Steinbrenner is doing and wonder why he's going almost entirely with a pitching staff that qualifies for an AARP discount. Not that I'm complaining, I'm a BoSox fan. I think I might be the only person who doesn't see the acquisition of a 41-year old lefty with a history of back problems and a balky knee as the ingredient the Bombers need to get over the hump. If you look at the playoffs, the starting pitching did the job through five games, but twice their aging bullpen failed to hold the lead, and then the pitching was exposed.
If the bullpen pulls out game four, the Yanks go into the Series with a fresh rotation against a weak and depleted St. Louis staff that would have gone through a longer and more difficult series.
Guess that's the Boss for you.

Quick hits...

I used to teach English and Comp Sci to Philadelphia area HS students and I have to say that the No Child Left Behind program isn't just a car wreck...its sinking this country's education system faster than that iceberg sunk the Titanic - consider the following:

* When I was in a senior HS in the 80's, long before No Child, I went through my classes, learned what I was being taught, and then found, the next year in college, that I had already learned in my senior year much of what the college wanted me to in my freshman year there. If my teachers were forced to teach to a standardized test, which is what is happening in school districts all across the USA right now, I wouldn't have been anywhere near as prepared to face college life as I was.

*Currently teachers in many HS's across the nation are teaching almost solely from handouts in order to prepare their students for the standardized tests that the students will be facing.

* The model that the government used when designing No Child is that of communism - the same model used by the Soviet Union from the 1940's to the 1980's...the FAILED MODEL the Soviets used.

* Many teachers are afraid to use "teachable moments" from outside the classroom, because they feel that the students might fall behind in their test preparation.

* and my favorite - If a school has too large a percentage of its student population fail the state testing, the school will either lose federal funding, or won't qualify for it. The schools most likely to miss out, due to academic issues, are the inner city schools that most need the funding (possibly the worst logic I've ever seen - picture Bush in his Texas drawl, "Well, if ya show us ya don't need the extra help, then we'll be happy ta help ya out.")

I'm amazed by these studies that are released that "identify the problems" in education in the inner cities - too often, I feel like I'm reading a detailing of one of the symptoms, and some stopgap solution for it. I worked with these students for half a decade, and let me tell ya, it starts in the home...
Too many times for parent-teacher nights, I would see the parents of the kids that had no problems (ie: the parents that were giving support and making sure the kids did their homework, etc.), but I almost never saw the parents of the kids that weren't doing their work. Additionally, more often than not, it was obvious that those students had no desire to be there,and they viewed school as little more than either a social function, or a place where they could make their drug connections.
Bottom line, after five years of washing student blood out of my clothes from breaking up fights, and a few years of the government saying, in essence, that I couldn't challenge my students to do better, I walked away.

AFC Champion Colts...?

Okay, so I'm watching and listening to all these pundits talk about how the Colts are going to march away with the game this weekend at the Razor. They keep talking about the loss of Ty Law as though its the end of the world for the defending champs. Certainly this is a significant loss - I will acknowledge that, and it has me worried, but I refuse to give in completely to chicken-little-ism.
The pundits point at the hot offense and what they call a much improved defense, then they look at the Patriots and this is what they say they see -
A) a team that cannot defend the pass because their secondary is too banged up
B) a team that will not be able to pressure Manning because Pats DE/T Richard Seymour might not be 100 percent
C) a team that will not be able to handle the pressure from the Colts "improved" D (I believe the question I keep hearing is, "how are they going to handle the pressure from Dwight Freeney).

What I don't seem to hear -
A) of Freeney's 16 sacks this season, 13 came on turf, in previous meetings with the Pats Freeney has done little more than cause Brady to step up in the pocket occasionally and has been little more than a non-factor, plus, if DE Mathis is out, the Colts will have to rely more on sending extra people from the linebackers or secondary to pressure Brady.
B) the Colts improved defensive statistics have come against, at best, second tier teams that were often down by two or more touchdowns at halftime. Easy to compile good D stats when you can pin your ears back and not worry too much about being too aggressive or over-pursuing.
C) Peyton Manning has a career QB rating of about 78 against the Pats - 20 points lower than against the rest of the league.
D) In the Belichick/Crennell defensive era, the Patriots are 12 - 0 when given the opportunity to game plan against the same quarterback for a second time in a season.
E) The banged up secondary will have its starting safety tandem (1/2 the starting defensive backfield), its nickel-back, Asante Samuel (who is being groomed as Law's replacement, has acquitted himself nicely in his starts, and, most likely, would have been likely to start next year for Ty Law as the Patriots were unlikely to carry his large cap number into next season), and a street free-agent, Randall Gay, with whom as a starter the Patriots went 8 - 1, and helped hold opponents to an average of 15.1 ppg (six times they held opponents to less than 20 points, including KC's vaunted offense). Somehow I think the quality of these guys has been highly undervalued this week.
F) Tom Brady's highest QB rating ever came in a game against the Colts and Brady has never lost to them.
G) Also, lost in this somewhere is the fact that Seymour's back-up, Jarvis Green, has tended to have career days against the Colts, and...
H) The last time I checked, the following playmakers on defense were all healthy; Tedy Bruschi, Ted Johnson, Willie McGinnest, Mike Vrabel, Roman Phipher and Roosevelt Colvin. I seem to remember that, for whatever reason, the Pats linebacking corps tends to give the Colts offense fits.

I could go on, I could talk about Troy Brown, the other receivers, the O-line, the tight-ends, Don Davis, and Adam Vinatieri, but I would be here for days.

Do the Colts worry me? Yeah, they've got a great offense, but people seem to forget that the Pats O has gone toe-to-toe with them before (remember September?) and come out on top in the high-scoring affairs. Bottom line, I'm not convinced the Colts D can close the deal.

Let the games begin...

Born in a humble log stadium...

The intro from my old Angry Fan Site. I now work as a business writer for a subsidiary for the Washington Post in MD, but will continue to write primarily sports and entertainment commentary here (and whatever other subject occassionally catches my fancy):

Born in a humble log stadium, I embarked on my professional odyssey on the road to becoming a sports journalist while in college. It was there that I had my first taste of the ambrosia that is sports writing while working as the Friday morning sports anchor at WECB AM radio and becoming a regular guest analyst on their Tuesday night weekly sports wrap-up.


Then in '96 came the job that was both a blessing and something of a cousin to the "Curse of the Bambino" - Red Sox beat writer. Okay, less the cousin and more the bastard, redneck love child. Don't get me wrong, I'm a major Sox fan but following the team closely is one thing, following them as closely as you have to as a fan who's also a journalist during the Dan Duquette era can make one feel like Ned Beatty in Deliverance. Skuh-weeal! I digress...

I moved on to the Philadelphia area in 1999 where I have been working full time as a teacher and picking up freelance work as an editor and writer. As a writer I decided to put my money where my mouth was and fell in with a shady crowd known as the Philadelphia Liberty Belles... a women's football team. I hooked on as their wide receivers coach and their primary source of press coverage. In furthering this concept of getting more firsthand knowledge, I moved on to a position as a head coach and defensive coordinator of a junior varsity squad.

Over the last couple of years I somehow became the champion of women's sports while working as a beat writer covering the Philadelphia Charge. I profiled gymnast Shannon Miller, world cup soccer player Kate Sobrero and All-Star catcher Judy O'Brien of Team USA, winners of the 2001 Women's Baseball World Series. While I feel there's a lot to recommend women's professional sports, for some reason those events don't draw large crowds. Kind of means they also don't draw large reader audiences. For those of you that are fans of women's sports, don't despair, I will continue to try to enlighten the masses, but this site is about much more than that. Oddly enough, in spite of the above, I'm not exactly a champion of title IX, but more on that later. In the words of John Milton, "Here, at least, we shall be free..."

I have built here a site to talk about all that is wrong with professional sports today from the fans to the players to the management to the ownership and even to the press. For the time being, sit back, relax and read the ravings of an angry fan. Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-hah!!!