Don’t look now, but Temple Football might be messin around and aimin towards the better side of mediocrity. 4-2 overall, and 3-0 in the MAC.
Archive for the “Sports” CategoryFor it to be the semi-embarrassing moment that it was, Allen Iverson’s “Practice? We talkin bout practice?!” press conference is one of my favorite times with him as a Sixer. I remember listening to it live as I drove up Haverford Avenue. And now it has a remix, along with some other classic moments from other press conferences. Shout out: Huffington Post I don’t fool with the Redskins, but Clinton Portis is that dude. EAGLES
My normal tendency is to shoot a blind 10-6. Why break tradition? I can’t see 7 games that they’re mortal locks to lose, provided Donovan stays healthy. At the same time, there’s nothing going on in the personnel that gives me any hope for something better than 10. They could win the NFCE outright, or they could miss the playoffs. At this point, they’re totally unpredictable. We’ll see what they look like after the draft. Stillers
A cursory glance says they get 12 wins. Depending on how things shake out, even more. I see them losing to Baltimore once (but only once), maybe the Chargers…maybe, and maybe the Titans. You always hafta throw in an extra loss for a game that gets away because of turnovers or some other foolishness. But they could just as easily beat the Chargers and the Titans. (I can’t see them beating B’more 3 times again. They may very well do it, but it’s just hard to see.) On to the draft!
The only way not re-signing Dawkins makes sense is if they were cash-strapped. But they aren’t. Not even close. Maaaaybe if there was a top-notch free agent out there, I could see letting him go. Like if there was a 2003 Brian Dawkins out there somewhere, then okay. I suppose that would make good business sense. But this here? Letting him go when there’s not really the prospect of anything better out there? For the sake of what, being cheap? Nah, dawg. That’s not a good look. At all. I’m sayin. I realize it’s a business. And I realize Dawk’s play-making abilities are starting to diminish. But as one commenter on philly.com said — this is the same situation the Stillers had with The Bus. But they re-signed him, not so much because of what he can do on the field, but because of what he brings to the locker room. Cuz I’m tellin you…I seriously doubt that the Eagles are gonna be close enough to the salary cap to warrant not re-signing him. And if, by chance, everybody’s feelings are wrong and the Eagles are quietly eyeing some stud safety who helps them to do the impossible and bring home the belt, they better do like the Colts a couple years ago and give Dawk a ring. That is all. Report: Florida State’s Myron Rolle headed to Oxford – NCAA Football – Bowls – 2008 – SI.com This is kinda like a two-part post. Number one, I’m interested in highlighting the goodness in Division 1-A college football and down at Florida State, in particular. A Rhodes scholar in the NFL. Kinda like the anti-Adam Jones. LZ Granderson at espn.com has a point: why is it that we spend so much time talking about the knuckleheads in the League and ignore the genuinely good guys, except on the holidays? The other thing about this post is that I’m trying out a new browser, Flock, and one of its features is a ‘blog this’ button on the right click. (Of course, Firefox has this as well, but I’m not tryin a new browser when I use FFX.) Blogged with the Flock Browser
This morning, I told onea my mans ‘nem that I was willing to put money on the Ravens. Turns out I was right. Wasn’t a particularly pretty game, but that’s the way Baltimore wants to keep the games. Shootout, they got a problem. Well…picture a shootout with that defense. Still, depending on what the Stillers do tomorrow, it could be an all-AFCN AFC Championship. Stillers gotta take care of bidness tomorrow. The Cardinals!! What the devil?! They’re playing outta their minds right now. It almost seems like they’re shooting their wad this round, though. I just can’t see them playing like this two weeks in a row. Not poo-poohing the Cards, but if they win tonight, I like the winner of tomorrow afternoon’s game to play in February. But the Cards is lookin real good tonight. Can’t front on that.
Well, the Turnpike Bowl is still a possibility. Both teams looked really good today, with the Eagles D actually messing around and impressing me again. They haven’t really done that since week 3 against the Steelers. In a way, they shut the run game down, but mostly when it mattered. Cuz Jacobs did get yardage. But those TWO 4th-down stands? Ridiculous. Stillers offense looked atypically good too. Again, I was actually impressed. Starting when I started watching the game, they just looked good. One week and we’ll know. Wild card weekend, and the operative word is ‘wild.’ Of course we’re gonna start with the last game. The Eagles, who mathematically shouldn’t even be in the playoffs, have advanced to the Divisional round against the Giants. We are now at the ‘anything can happen’ stage of the season. All the Eagles need is to get hot for the next three games. One at a time, though. And yeah, BB’s Chargers, like the Eagles, are fully resurrected and seem to be playing to their capabilities. Now what they’re gonna do against the Steelers is a tough question to answer. Indy got D, but they ain’t got D like PGH. The key here is Ben. If Ben plays well and allows the Stillers D to stay off the field for a while, they should win. Young Sproles is nasty, but he’s in for a pretty decent challenge. Ravens look like a tough out. I’m callin it here: I like the Ravens to win next week in Tennessee. Maybe the Tennessee defense gets to Flacco and makes a believer out of me, but if I hafta go with a D I can trust, it’s gonna be Balto. Carolina’s the scariest team in the NFC to me. They have a stingy defense, two good running backs, and a solid possession receiver to go along with their home run guy. Because of their aerial assault, the Cardinals have a puncher’s chance, but I wouldn’t put too much on their chances. UPDATE And to get it started, here’s Brotherbrown’s comments following last night’s game
They better keep that dude. Oh yeah. I dig Pam Oliver and all, but babygirl gotta do somethin about that weave. Any time your weave look like a weave from every direction…that joint is not what’s hot. The R*s, after a great start, have given it up smooth. I sincerely expected them to look better. It looked like they really had a good formula for winning football, with strong running and good defense. Even with all the losses, the defense is still playing well. They haven’t given up more than 24 points in a game all year. If the Eagles defense could make that boast, they’d have one loss. But suffice it to say that I was expecting to have a much better season, after starting out 6-2. This Steelers-Ravens game is what football is about. Defense and running. I’m really not imagining either team coming in and lighting up the scoreboard, without a lot of turnovers. I’d almost expect it to kinda play out like last week’s game against the Cowboys, only not quite as ugly. I’m thinking both teams will hang on to the ball a little better. UPDATE Okay. Fully healthy now, the Steelers are the best team in the league. With two comeback wins against two of the better defenses in the NFL, I don’t think there’s too much question about it. Are they beatable? Absolutely. But they keep winning. Can they win three straight in January and February? I don’t know what to expect from the Eagles tomorrow night. They could come out as the team with the potent offense and put 30+ on the board, but if they do, will the defense come to play? They could come out as the team with the stout defense, but if they do, will they put up any points? The simple fact that they fairly well control their playoff destiny makes me nervous. They’re gonna need to win out. CAN they do it? Yes. They’re perfectly capable of doing it. Will they? I guess we’ll hafta see. Non-NFL Update I don’t know if NBA coaches should get fired within the first 1/4 of the season. I mean, the only sport where literally every game matters is football, because there are so few games. In basketball, you know there are gonna be stretches of poor play and slumps and all that. I think Maurice Cheeks and Eddie Jordan got shafted. Hopefully, they’ll find work soon enough. Are basketball coaches’ salaries guaranteed?
My dream of an Eagles-Stillers Super Bowl doesn’t look possible, but at least one of the squads is looking good. |
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Remember when I said I’d never be inured to heartbreak by the Eagles, but that I didn’t think I could ever fully convert to another team, and that the Stillers were tryin real hard to get me? Well the Eagles are tryin real hard to help em. 
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