Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 46-14 London Broncos

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats completely outclassed London Broncos 46-14 in a very one-sided match on Sunday afternoon at a packed Rapid Solicitors Stadium.

A hat trick of tries from Wildcats captain Danny Kirmond, aided by Lee Smith’s almost perfect kicking performance, gave Wakefield a much deserved victory.

Hat trick hero Danny Kirmond

It took just four minutes for the rout to begin, with winger Peter Fox going over in the corner after a superb team move by the West Yorkshire side. Poor defending by London then allowed full back Richie Mathers to waltz in to make it 12-0.

Wakefield, in total control by now, scored two more tries in a devastating five minute spell, with Kirmond scoring his first of the afternoon and then stand-off Paul Sykes ran in another to make it 24-0 after just 23 minutes.

The Broncos, fielding three debutants, could not get in the game and were defending woefully. Unsurprisingly, they soon allowed Kirmond his second of the game, with Lee Smith, having recently taken over kicking duties from Paul Sykes, adding the extras.

The Broncos finally made a breakthrough two minutes before half time, with winger Harry Colbon diving in to the corner in what was London’s first meaningful attack. However Shane Grady could not add the extras and the teams went in to half time with the home side leading 30-4.

The first half intensity that had been present had somewhat disappeared in the first 20 minutes of the second half, with Wakefield seemingly coasting to victory. However lively Broncos winger Keiran Dixon scored twice in a matter of six minutes, the second thanks to a wonderful run from Michael Robertson, to give the travelling faithful something to cheer.

This proved to be the turning point for Wakefield, and soon Kirmond had completed his hat trick in delightful style, piercing the London defence superbly. Wildcats then finished the game brilliantly, scoring two tries in three minutes from Frankie Mariano and Kyle Wood, respectively.

After the game, Wildcats head coach Richard Agar said about the first half: “It's definitely a case of job done. The first-half performance set up the win nicely.”

Broncos head coach Tony Rea said: “Once we found some rhythm as a team I thought the guys really stood up for each other and worked their way through the game okay.”

The Curious Case of the Cleveland Cavaliers

July 8th 2010: LeBron James' infamous "Decision" to take his talents to South Beach leaves the entire organisation, nay the entire City, in a state of shock.

2010-2011 season: Cleveland finish with the second worst record in the league, edging out the 17-65 Timberwolves with a 19-63 record. The season also included the longest losing streak in the NBA's history, and the joint-longest in any of the "Big 4" sports (NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB), with a 26-game losing run beginning on Decmber 20th and ending with an overtime victory against Los Angeles Clippers on February 11th.

The drop in win percentage from 2009-10 season was the largest in NBA history since the merger.

Cleveland also traded Mo Williams to LA Clippers for Baron Davis and an unprotected first round draft pick.

April 2011: Cavs win the NBA Draft lottery through LA Clippers' pick, and also get 4th pick through their own.

June 2011: Cavs select former Duke University Point Guard Kyrie Irving as the Number 1 draft pick, and also surprise a few faces by selecting Power Forward Tristan Thompson with the 4th pick.

2011-2012 season: Cavs improve slightly from the previous season, finishing 21-45 in a lockout-effected season. Kyrie Irving takes the league by storm, averaging 18.5 points per game, including game winners against OKC Thunder and Boston Celtics, and shoots .469% from the field. Safe to say he strolled his way to the Rookie of the Year crown.

But this was expected as Varejao was injured after 20 games, and Cavs had no backup C, eventually playing Thompson there. The serious lack of depth in this Cavs side was brought to light here.

June 2012: Cavs get 4th pick in the draft, and select a much-needed Shooting Guard in Dion Waiters. Cavs also trade 3 picks to Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Center Tyler Zeller.

Now we have a basic timeline of the post-LeBron era, I can go ahead and review this season so far.

In terms of transactions pre-season, Cavs were quite active. Veteran forward Antawn Jamison left as a free agent and joined a new-look Los Angeles Lakers. Manny Harris was waived.
Cavs went ahead an re-signed forwards Luke Harangody and Alonzo Gee, and also signed guards CJ Miles and Jeremy Pargo, and forward Jon Leuer, as free agents.

So by the start of the season, Cavs had put together a good, young starting line up (age in brackets):
PG - Irving (20)
SG - Waiters (20)

SF - Gee (25)

PF - Thompson (21)

C - Varejao (29)

2012-13 season so far: Cavs opened with a convincing win over Wizards, Varejao standing out with 23 rebounds, 9 assists and 9 points. This gave Cavs the best record in the NBA for about an hour. However things soon unravelled. 

Cavs went just 3-16 in November, but Thompson and Varejao dominating the boards was enouraging. They continued to do that throughout December as well, but still Cavs went just 3-13.

January was better. Cavs went 6-8, but disaster struck when it was announced Varejao, averaging 14.4 rebounds per game, had a blood clot in his lung and would be out for the rest of the season. Coach Scott quickly announced Tyler Zeller would be his replacement. Zeller fitted in well, and in his first 3 starts, Cavs went 3-0.

January 22nd, just one day after Varejao was officially out for the season, and Cavs pulled off an outstanding trade, giving Memphis Grizzlies Jon Leuer in exchange for Wayne Ellington, Marreese Speights, Josh Selby and a future draft pick.

Ellington and Speights fit in immediately, and Cavs beat Thunder to kick off another 3 game winning streak. Cavs were 16-37 at the all star break, and 11-12 in 2013. Cavs are 3-1 since then, giving them an 19-38 record.

With 25 games left, Cavs' realistic aim would probably be to win approximately half of them and get to around 28-54.

So despite having an all-star guard in Irving, an almost "walking double-double" in Thompson and an efficient shooter in Gee, Cavs are still struggling. It's no secret that the signings of Ellington and Speights, who despite being in their early-20s, add some experience to a side that very much needs some.

It's a very odd scenario. The team should be performing better, and on paper would beat a lot of teams they've lost to. But a game was never played on paper. Hopefully another experienced addition in summer, along with a high draft pick (despite what is looking like being an awful draft) will give them that firepower they need to get back into the playoffs.

8th seed, maybe even 6th with it being the East, is definitely within the sights of this young team next season, and barring injuries, I think everyone involved in the organisation, professionally or as a fan, would feel disappointed if they weren't playing in the post-season in 2014.

Occupational Hazards: Who is in the wrong?

78th minute of a Capital One Cup Semi-Final. Swansea 0-0 Chelsea. Swansea lead on aggregate after winning 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. Belgian starlet Eden Hazard tries to play a one-two with Chelsea right back César Azpilicueta, but the ball runs out of play. The Swansea ballboy lets the ball hit the hoardings, and walks towards it to pick it up. As he bends down, an impatient Hazard tries to pick it up also, and it ends with the ball boy on the floor, smothering the ball. A moment of madness ensues, with Hazard kicking the ball out from under the ball boy, but also catching him in the ribs.

The ball boy naturally clutches his ribs, and a mass fracas starts, with Swansea captain Ashley Williams leaping to the defence of the boy. After a lengthy talk between referee Chris Foy, Chelsea captain Frank Lampard and offender Eden Hazard, the red card is shown to the Belgian.

The incident basically scuppers any chance Chelsea had of getting back into the game and the match peters out.

(GIF courtesy of www.sbnation.com)

Now we've got the facts, let's examine what actually happened.

Obviously Eden Hazard has no right to get involved. It was a stupid thing to do and it was not his place to do so. He is completely in the wrong and no amount of defending him will make it right. A professional should be a role model for budding footballers, and he certainly did not act like one last night.

Now we move on to the ball boy. A 17 year old lad, Charlie Morgan, son of Swansea shareholder Martin Morgan, has taken his time over retrieving the ball and felt a push from Eden Hazard, so he hits the deck. Obviously, he shouldn't have gone down. He should have just picked the ball up, and slowly rolled it towards Swansea's goalkeeper, Gerhard Tremmel. It would still have wasted time, Morgan's clear aim, but would have worked out better for all parties involved. 

As soon as Hazard confronted him, something was going to happen. He should have realised that there was no scenario where he won't be viewed as the villain, and there was no scenario where he wasn't going to kick the ball boy as well as the ball.

Eden Hazard is 22 years old. Charlie Morgan is 17. 5 years isn't too big a difference, right? Wrong. It's not the age gap that makes this an issue, it's the fact that Hazard is a professional. My reaction would still have been the same, whether it be someone as young as Raheem Sterling, 18, or Eden Hazard, 22, or someone double the ball boy's age, like Frank Lampard, 34.

A professional, earning silly (or what I consider silly) money, has a duty to act like one and by kicking out simply because the game isn't going his way is entirely unprofessional. Most professionals keep their emotions in check, at least their physical ones anyway. I have no problem with players shouting at the ref in this situation, or shouting at Swansea players, or even shouting at the ball boy, but to then go and act on those emotions is wrong. Plain wrong.

This is what separates the professionals from the unprofessionals. The majority of players would have got annoyed, sure, but they would also not have confronted the ball boy. However Hazard is not in that majority, and he needs to learn to keep his physical emotions concealed whilst he's playing. Hopefully this should help him learn and grow as a footballer, as he is supremely talented and has a huge future head of him. This should not cast a shadow over his career, but if he fails to learn from what he has done, it will.

Quite frankly, the whole situation is very bizarre indeed, and I have never, nor will I ever again hopefully, seen anything like it. The only thing I will say, which is not defending Hazard's actions, is that Morgan should not have gone to ground. It was a silly thing to do and he should have, like I said earlier, just slowly rolled it back to Tremmel. 

Referee Chris Foy was excellent in all of this, it should be noted. He stayed professional and didn't get involved until he had to. By the time it had calmed down the ball boy had been lead off the pitch, he called over Lampard and Hazard to explain the situation. Lampard knew what was going to happen, and despite his weak protests, he could have no complaints when Foy correctly brandished the red card. Hazard, on the other hand, looked to be taken aback but accepted what he had done and disappeared down the tunnel.

So Hazard was 100% in the wrong. Charlie Morgan was also in the wrong, but he was also pushed to the ground, so he was about 50% in the wrong. Chris Foy was 0% in the wrong, and did excellently to keep the match under his control.

Can Atlanta Falcons win the Super Bowl?

Well, can they? They certainly seem well on their way; 8-1, dominating the NFC South, the entire NFC and the NFL as whole. But how challenging has it actually been for the Georgians?

Quarterback Matt Ryan has really upped his game this season, throwing a career-best 411 yard game in the Falcons' first loss of the season vs division rivals New Orleans Saints, and also throwing 300 yards+ in 4 games has firmly put him in the running to be one of the season's best quarterbacks.

The Falcon's running game does need some work if they are to become serious Super Bowl contenders, as top rusher Michael Turner has only rushed for over 100 yards once this season, against Carolina Panthers.

So they're playing well, but do they have what it takes to go all the way and win their first championship?

Their schedule has so far been kind to them, playing teams that, in most cases, Falcons will have been firm favourites for. They started with a convincing 40-24 win at Kansas City Chiefs, and followed that up with an impressive 27-21 victory over Peyton Manning's new side, Denver Broncos, at the Georgia Dome.

Falcons then continued their good start by destroying the Chargers 27-3 in San Diego, then sneaked past Carolina Panthers 30-28, thanks to a last-gasp field goal by Matt Bryant, their first real scare.

Atlanta moved to 5-0 for the first time in franchise history with a 24-17 victory over Robert Griffin III's Washington Redskins, then another game-winning field goal by Bryant gave them a 23-20 win over Oakland Raiders at home.

Former Falcon favourite Michael Vick could not stop Atlanta on their visit to Philadelphia as they comfortably beat the Eagles 30-17, and then a 19-13 win at home to Dallas Cowboys gave them a perfect record for the first half of the season.

Their streak had largely gone unnoticed until they reached 6-0, largely because of the seasons of other big teams, such as New Orleans Saints poor start and the Seattle Seahawks controversial win over Green Bay Packers.

Falcons finally lost last Sunday when they travelled to New Orleans for their game against the rejuvenated Saints, still suffering from the effects of Head Coach Sean Payton's season ban for his part in the Saints' bounty scandal in 2009. However Saints were improving, and despite some shocking losses in their 0-4 start, namely to Panthers and Chiefs, had gone 4-1 before Sunday, losing only to Broncos away in that streak.

Falcons raced into a 10-0 lead, their touchdown being tight end Tony Gonzalez's record-breaking 100th of his illustrious career, and looked favourites to grab their first win in the Big Easy since 2010. But Saints hit back to lead 21-17 after an entertaining first half, with Saints quarterback Drew Brees extending his record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass to 52. 

In the second half, Marques Colston tied Deuce McAllister's record for most touchdowns in Saints colours, 55, to extend Saints' lead to 11. Falcons brought it back to 1 point with a touchdown and field goal, but Saints hit a field goal of their own to ensure Atlanta needed a touchdown to win the game. Falcons drove down to Saints' 1 yard line, but the NFL's worst defence held firm to deny Falcons a chance to match the 1972 Miami Dolphins' undefeated season.

It was this loss that showed the NFL the Falcons are not as good as they are made out to be, and that whilst they have put in some top-class performances this season, they are definitely not unbeatable.

Also when the playoffs come around and they are inevitably qualified for them, history suggests they are likely to struggle to get past their first game. In the last 3 seasons they have made the postseason (2008, 2010, 2011), they have lost in their first game. Interestingly, in the last 2 seasons, they have lost to the Super Bowl champions (Green Bay Packers and New York Giants), and in 2008 they lost to defeated finalists Arizona Cardinals.

So in conclusion it seems that Atlanta can defeat the smaller teams, but when it comes to the bigger teams, Saints, Packers, Bears, they will struggle and thus have a hard time if they want to win the Super Bowl for the first time in their history.

NFL Championship Games

The Championship games went pretty much as expected, I reckon. Patriots were run a bit closer by Ravens than I and most had thought they would be, but they still came out on top.

Patriots vs Ravens
It was a poor offensive start to the game, with the first 6 non-punting plays of the game combining for 11 yards. It took another 3-and-out, with no yards gained, before anyone established any real momentum. Brady managed to settle down and get down the field into the Red Zone, but Ravens defence held strong to restrict Patriots to a field goal.

Baltimore punted again after losing 15 yards on their 3-play drive. Brady then threw his first interception of the game, and then Flacco managed to get some yardage as he marched his team down the field in just over 4 minutes and got to the Patriots 3. However, much like Baltimore, New England held firm to restrict Flacco and co. to a field goal. Patriots then took a 10-3 lead through a 7-yard rush from Green-Ellis, who was holding the offense together. Brady only passed 4 times on the 10-play drive, including a 20 yarder to Tight End extraordinaire Rob Gronkowski.

Just a few plays later however, Ravens were back on level terms when a 37-yarder from Flacco to Boldin put them in the Red Zone on Patriots 18. 4 consecutive rushes for 12 total yards from Ray Rice edged them even closer to even things up, and then Pitta was found in the end zone to level the game at 10.

Brady was beginning to find some rhythm and made 5 consecutive passes to get New England into Field Goal range, but 3 incompletions in a row meant they had to settle for 3. This ensured they had a 13-10 lead going into half time.

Patriots went downfield on the opening drive of the 2nd half, but once again had to settle for 3 more after they could not find a way past Ravens superb defence. Ravens then took the lead for the first time 6 minutes later thanks to some steady play,  which was topped off by Torrey Smith getting into the end zone for a TD.

Ravens steady offense and fantastic defence had given them belief that they could cause an upset. The pressure got to Patriots kick off returner Danny Woodhead, who fumbled the ball on his own 28 to set up Ravens in an excellent position. A touchdown here would have made it an 8 point game, but defence once again came out on top and Ravens kicked a field goal to go ahead by 4.

Just one drive later, Ravens were made to pay for that missed chance when Brady decided he'd had enough of field goals and dived in himself on 4th & 1 at the Ravens 1 yard line.

Defence once again prevailed for the rest of the quarter when first Flacco was intercepted by Spikes, and then on the next play Smith returned the favour to intercept Brady. Flacco was on the Patriots 33 on the resulting drive, and he went for it on 4th & 6. The pass was broken up by some more good defence, but Patriots could not take advantage of this and went 3-and-out to give Ravens the ball back on their own 17.

Step up Joe Flacco. Starting on his own 21, he had the chance to do an Alex Smith and win the game. Patriots defence forced a couple of 3rd downs, but Flac held his nerve to convert them, and with 22 seconds left, Ravens were on Patriots 14. Flacco did not convert the 3rd & 1, so the Field Goal unit came on for a routine 32 yarder and 3 points that would have taken the game into OT. Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff stepped up and everyone was expecting OT. But the set wasn't great and Cundiff shanked it horribly wide left to give Patriots the game and a trip to the Lucas Oil stadium.

49ers vs Giants
A cautious start by both teams resulted in neither team getting a big play for the opening couple of drives, with the longest passing play being 12 yards. But then on the second play of 49ers 2nd drive, Alex Smith hit Vernon Davis, the hero of the Divisional win vs Saints, for a 73 yard touchdown play that gave 49ers the first points of the game.

Manning looked more settled, making some big plays, but neither team could establish some rhythm. A turnover on downs from New York gave the ball back to San Francisco, but they had to punt after some good defencive work. Eli then built a good drive, combining long and short passes to get to the 49ers 6 yard line. There Manning found Pascoe for the tying touchdown. The final 11 minutes of the quarter passed by, with most of the drives resulting in a punt. However Eli managed to string some more passes together and got down the field in 90 seconds to set up a field goal, which was duly converted by Tynes.

Defence dominated the start of the 2nd half, with 3 punts being forced in the opening 9 minutes. The final punt, from Giants punter Steve Weatherford, was returned for 24 yards by Williams to give 49ers good position on their own 46. Here, Alex Smith took just 3 plays to get the ball into the end zone, with Davis once again on the receiving end of his pass to make it 14-10.

Defence soon took over again, with 4 more punts being forced in the 11 minutes or so that sandwiched the 3rd and 4th quarters. The final punt however, was so crucial. It was a routine catch, but Williams fumbled the ball and it was recovered by new York to give them an excellent chance to take the lead on the 49ers 29. They did just that when a few plays and a 10-yard penalty later, Manningham caught the ball in the end zone to give the advantage back to the visitors.

A superb 40-yard kickoff return from Williams meant that Smith and co. started the drive on their own 45, and a couple of big rushes later, first from Smith himself, and then from Hunter, 49ers found themselves on the Giants 10. A touchdown here would have made it a 4-point game, but San Francisco could not find a way past the excellent  New York defence and they had to settle for 3.

The game looked destined for overtime as neither defence looked like crumbling under the pressure. More punts were forced, and before we knew it, overtime was upon us.

More punts followed, and another fumbled return by Williams (again), gave the Giants a fantastic chance to get to  the Superbowl when they lined up on the 49ers 24. In the next 5 plays, Giants made 11 yards to make it slightly easier for Tynes. He did not replicate what Billy Cundiff had done just a few hours earlier, and Giants were going to Indianapolis.

NFL Divisional Games

Could anyone have predicted what would happen in the NFC? It was all pretty smooth to start with, seeds 3 (Saints) and 4 (Giants) winning in the Wildcard rounds. Then came the Divisional championships, and one of the greatest playoff games of all time.

After destroying Detroit Lions at home, Saints had to to travel to Candlestick Park to face San Francisco 49ers for a place in the Conference championship game. It was a pretty average game initially; 49ers scored a pair of touchdowns and a field goal before Saints were on the board, but New Orleans hit back with 2 touchdowns of their own to cut the gap to 3 halftime at 17-14. The 3rd quarter consisted of interceptions, punts and fumbles, with a 41 yard field goal from David Akers being the only score in the quarter.

Then the game came alive.

The teams traded field goals to make the score 23-17, and then Saints took the lead for the first time in the game after a good run-and-catch from Darren Sproles. 49ers soon hit back after a gutsy play call on 3rd and 8 resulted in Alex Smith running the ball into the end zone for a 29-24 lead after the 2-point conversion failed.

Saints had 2:11 to score a touchdown, and score they did. A 4-play drive resulted in a 66-yard Jimmy Graham touchdown, and then Sproles held on to Brees' pass for a successful 2-point conversion to make it 32-29 Saints with 92 seconds left on the clock. All Saints had to do was stop Smith marching downfield from their own 15 after a poor return from Williams, but Smith and Davis had other ideas. After a 47 yard catch from Davis set up some good field position on the Saints 20, Gore made 6 yards and Smith spiked the ball with 14 seconds left. Smith then proved his doubters wrong by hitting Vernon Davis with an inch-perfect pass, as he was getting smashed by Saints Safety Roman Harper, and into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Saints tried to comeback with a touchdown with a lateral play on the final play on their own 16, but Meachem was tackled 1 yard ahead of the line of scrimmage after Sproles lateraled the ball to him via Brees. Just like that, Saints' record-breaking season had come to an abrupt end.

There was another great game the day after, this time the New York Giants travelled to 15-1 Green Bay Packers, who beat Giants 38-35 earlier on in the season. Giants were the brighter of the 2 teams, taking a 10-3 advantage in to the 2nd quarter. Giants added a field goal and Packers got their first touchdown of the game, but then with time expiring in the first half, Eli Hail Mary-ed it into the end zone. Hakeem Nicks then proceeded to make a fantastic catch with defenders draped around him to make it 20-10. 


Based on that play and that play alone, Giants deserved to win this game. How many teams would have either taken a knee to run out the clock? Obviously a 56 yard FG is a bit far, but barely any teams would have done what Eli did. Only Packers themselves or Saints probably would have attempted it. It's that type of balls you need to win in the playoffs. Anyway, back to the game.


A slow 3rd quarter meant the only points were a Packers field goal with 3:55 left, and then the game picked up once more in the 4th quarter with the score at 20-13 Giants. Rodgers went for it on 4th down on the Giants 45, but was sacked, meaning New York got the ball back on the Packers 49, setting themselves up for a potential play that could all but eliminate the reigning champs. Giants strolled down the field in 5 minutes and hit a field goal to give them a 10 point lead. 


Surely this would be where Packers showed why they're the best? It was perfectly set up: 10 points down, 7:40 on the clock. The stage was set. 


But! Green Bay had not banked on Giants ruthless defence. Grant fumbled the ball on his own 44, and the fumble was subsequently returned just short of a TD for 40 yards. But it didn't matter as one play later, Manning hit Manningham to extend their lead to 30-13 and surely put the game out of reach. Never rule out a team that's gone 15-1 though. Just 2 minutes later, Rodgers found Driver to bring the deficit back to 10. Packers obviously had to go for the onside kick with just 4:46 left, but Victor Cruz recovered it. Another touchdown a couple of minutes later ensured Giants were heading to the Championship game. Rodgers had a chance to add another TD to his collection, but his pass was intercepted, thus ending the game.


Packers didn't lose this game. Giants didn't win this game. Giants defence won this game. They worked like Trojans to ensure passes didn't get to their intended receivers, and their linemen were brilliant at getting to Rodgers and putting the pressure on him.


To the AFC!


After the heroics of Tim Tebow last week (how many times did we hear that this season?), could he do it again against #1 seed New England Patriots? The answer to that question, was no. Not by a long shot. (This review will be a lot shorter than the previous 2. Sorry). 


The opening quarter was dominated by Patriots, with the score being at 14-0 at the end of it. McGahee scored the Broncos only TD on a 5-yard run to half the deficit, but Brady took over once again. He dominated the rest of the quarter, throwing 3 touchdowns to pretty much end the game as a contest at 35-7. 


The scoreline looked even worse for Denver when Hernandez was found by Brady early on in the 3rd, but a field goal from Splitter gave Broncos a morsel of hope. I know I said that I would never rule Tebow out, but surely even he could not come back from a 32 point deficit? Of course he couldn't. The 4th quarter passed by with barely a whimper, the only score coming from a New England field goal.


And so ended Tebowmania.


The final conference game came in Baltimore, between Ravens and Texans. This was the dullest of the games, with the game being dominated by defence and the score ending up 20-13 in the hosts' favour.


It was a promising start to the game, with Ravens taking a 17-3 lead to demoralise Texans. But Houston clawed their way back into the game with a touchdown and a field goal to get back within 4.


A dull 3rd quarter ended in 0-0, and the 4th quarter was a lot of Arian Foster running the ball and the Ravens defence playing superbly to keep him out. Yates was intercepted by Reed on the Baltimore 29 to set up Ravens for a score to put the game out of reach. But they had to settle for a field goal when Cundiff scored to make the lead a touchdown. 


This gave Texans some hope, but Yates was intercepted Reed again with 2 minutes left to all but end the game. Ravens had to punt with 53 seconds left, but Yates got little-to-nowhere and Ravens advanced to the AFC Championship game.


Look out for my NFL Championship post coming very soon. Definitely before the Superbowl. There may also be a Superbowl preview and review in the next few days

Sorry Tim

So apparently I decided to write the following lines in my previous post: "Broncos don't stand a chance in their game, even though they are at home. Sorry Tim and co. Steelers will dominate from start to finish. Tebow won't be ready for the playoffs mentally, and even if he does mount a 4th quarter comeback for a change, Steelers will be too far ahead by then."

I apologise for this. Tebow and the Broncos proved me wrong. They were brilliant throughout, and that final play was just the icing on the proverbial cake (Did anyone else start Tebowing after it happened?)

On a stats note, Tebow completed 10 of 21 passes for 316 yards. 31.6 yards per completion. And Demaryius Thomas had 4 receptions for 204 yards, 51 yards per reception. Incredible.
I promise I won't rule out Tebow for a win ever again. Ever.

Win or go home

After 17 weeks of the regular season, the post-season has finally dawned on us. Of the 12 teams who qualified, probably only 3 from NFC could do it and maybe 3 from AFC could go all the way and win Superbowl XLVI (46). From NFC, I would say Packers, Saints or Giants could do it, and from NFC Patriots, maybe Ravens or Steelers could win. So I reckon, anyway.


 Patriots, Ravens, Packers and 49ers all have bye weeks to prepare for the Divisional playoffs, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

In the AFC, we've got Texans (3) vs Bengals (6) and Broncos (4) vs Steelers (5).
Texans should win based on their superior record, but also they have probably the best Running Back in the league in Arian Foster. Despite their QB issues, they should still do it.
Broncos don't stand a chance in their game, even though they are at home. Sorry Tim and co. Steelers will dominate from start to finish. Tebow won't be ready for the playoffs mentally, and even if he does mount a 4th quarter comeback for a change, Steelers will be too far ahead by then.
These winners would present Patriots (1) vs Steelers (5) and Ravens (2) vs Texans (3) in the divisional playoffs

As for the NFC, there's Saints (3) vs Lions (6) and Giants (4) vs Falcons (5).
Saints should win as they are 8-0 at home this season, and Brees is playing insanely well, as illustrated by the new passing record he set (5,476 yards this season).
The other game could go either way. I would suggest Giants have the upper hand based on home advantage, but Falcons did finish with a better W-L record. I'm going to say Giants, but it'll be close.
If this happened, we'd have Packers (1) vs Giants (4) and 49ers (2) vs Saints (3)


Next NFL post will come before the Superbowl, hopefully. Then one after.

What time is it?

It's 1:53pm in the UK. 8:53am in New York. 5:53am in Los Angeles. 2:53pm in Madrid. The time in Denver? Tebow Time. 


Tim Tebow has swept the nation with his outstanding clutch performances as Denver Broncos quarterback, leading his performances to be dubbed "Tebow Time". Denver started the season 1-4 without him, and since he was selected as starting QB over Kyle Orton, they haven't lost a game. He has lead Denver to 6 wins in 7 games, with the majority of the wins coming in the final quarter or in OT. 


His success has also led people to start "Tebowing", where people kneel down and hold a fist to their heads. Epic stuff.


Imagine if Denver went all the way. That would be epic. However he will start getting real tests against the top teams like New England this weekend, and if they get to the playoffs, which is likely. There they could play teams like Pittsburgh and Baltimore, who will provide a better test than Oakland and Miami

Swansea City

They may seem like a bizarre team to do a post about, but it's worth a shot.

Swansea came up through the playoffs last season, and were expected to go straight back down (which could easily still happen, despite their league position). They have some good players in Danny Graham, Leroy Lita, Scott Sinclair, Ashley Williams and Michel Vorm, and they have shown that they are worthy of a place in England's top league.

Their season didn't start very well; a 4-0 hammering away to Man City, and then a 0-0 draw at home to lowly Wigan. They then lost to Shrewsbury Town, of League 2, 3-1 in the League Cup, and another 0-0 draw at home, this time against Sunderland, meant they still hadn't won.

Their next game was a 1-0 loss away to a reformed Arsenal squad, who were about to start their charge back to the top half, and in Swansea's next game they finally scored in a comfortable 3-0 home win against West Brom. Despite Torres being sent-off in the first half when they played Chelsea away, they couldn't take advantage of the extra man and lost 4-1. However another victory soon followed, a 2-0 home victory against Stoke. It was during this match that new signing Danny Graham scored his first competitive Swansea goal.

Graham also scored in the next game at fellow promotees Norwich City, but The Swans fell 3-1. Graham bagged his 3rd in a row against Wolves the week after, and Swansea were cruising to a 2-0 victory but Wolves scored twice in 2 minutes late on to rescue a point.

Another home victory followed, this time a 3-1 triumph against Bolton. Graham scored for the 4th match on the bounce, but also scored an own goal, which ultimately did not matter. They then faced Liverpool at Anfield, where they impressively came away with a 0-0 draw in a match that The Reds should have walked. But walk they did not, meaning Swansea secured their 13th point of the season.

Swansea are currently 4 points above the relegation zone in 10th places, and are one of only 4 teams yet to lose at home (Man City, Newcastle and Liverpool are the others). They have also conceded the least goals at home in the league, having kept 4 clean sheets and conceding just the 1. Their away form needs somewhat improving, having scored just 4 goals in 6 games and claimed just 2 away points, but the draw against Liverpool could pave the way for a good run away from Wales.

They could quite easily still go down, being just 4 points away from the relegation zone, but they will probably finish lower-mid table, around 13th position. I don't think they'll keep up this outstanding home form when the big boys come to visit, but they'll gain enough points to finish in a respectable position. They won't finish higher than 9th, and even then they will need to vastly improve their away form.

Newcastle United

Newcastle United are one of the Premier League's 2 unbeaten clubs. Somehow.

They don't have the 3rd best squad in the league on paper; The 4 clubs directly below them in the league (Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs) maybe 5 including Aston Villa, have superior squads. But paper never won a football match.

After they sold Andy Carroll in January and Jose Enrique in the Summer, both to Liverpool, fans and neutrals alike thought they would struggle massively. After all, Carroll had been their main source of goals for the past 3 seasons (or however long) and Enrique was probably their best defender and has since matured into one of the top left backs in the league, with only Ashley Cole and Patrice Evra considered better than Enrique. They also sold Kevin Nolan, who also scored plenty of goals.

But Newcastle have clearly spent their money wisely. They brought in Demba Ba from West Ham, Yoann Cabaye from Lille and Davide Santon from Inter, but these players were never really expected to take the Toon Army back to the big time.

The season opened with a 0-0 draw at home to Arsenal, which they followed up with a 1-0 win away to rivals Sunderland. They then beat Scunthorpe 2-1 in the League Cup in Extra Time, and a Leon Best brace secured a 2-1 victory for them at home to Fulham. A couple of draws away to new-look QPR and Aston Villa kept the team unbeaten, and then they went on to beat Nott'm Forest 4-3 in the League Cup in their 3rd away game in 8 days.

Enter Demba Ba. The Senegalese international had not scored so far this season, which could be put down to a lack of form coupled with him celebrating the Muslim festival of Ramadan, which meant he was fasting during daylight hours in August.

Ba scored his first Newcastle goal 27 minutes into the game vs Blackburn, and 27 minutes later he had 3. Ba scored again the week after in the Toon's 2-1 win away to Wolves, and then scored against Spurs in a 2-2 home draw the week after that. Yoann Cabaye scored the only goal in their 1-0 victory over Wigan in their next game, and he also scored again the week after as Newcastle slumped to their first loss of the season, losing 4-3 away in the League Cup vs Premier League strugglers Blackburn Rovers.

Ba was soon back in the goals when he hit his second hat trick of the season away to Stoke as NUFC won 3-1, and then they won the week after, beating Everton 2-1 at home.

So despite not having the greatest squad in the Permier League, they've still beaten the odds and currently lie in the 3rd after 11 games. The only thing that could take a gloss off of their fantastic start is that they have only played 2 'big' teams. They faced Arsenal on opening day, when they were playing poor football and on the verge of selling Fabregas and Nasri, and they have also played Spurs, against whom they did very well to claim a draw.

Their next 3 games are away to Man City and then Man United, and then they host Chelsea in the first game at their newly-named Sports Direct Arena. It'll be very impressive if they stay unbeaten and/or claim more than 3 points during these 3 games, and only then will I consider them to be real contenders for the Champions League and maybe the title.

More NBA Lockout stuff

My main beef with the NBA lockout is the promotion of the sport, or lack of it.

Last year, the NBA agreed to play 2 regular season games outside of North America, the first time this had ever happened. I was lucky enough to get tickets to the 2nd game, in which New Jersey Nets beat Toronto Raptors 137-136 in a triple-overtime thriller. The game happened at the O2 Arena in front of a full house.

These 2 games were a fantastic advert for the sport, and it attracted people from far and wide. It got many people interested in the game and the whole thing was a real success.

Sure the NBA gains publicity from the lockout, but nowhere near as much as it did from these 2 games. If the lockout isn't resolved quickly enough to save some of the season, many people who started following the sport would stop following it. They would quickly lose interest and give up on 'American Sports' as a whole. The only way to maintain this interest is to resolve the lockout, and hopefully schedule another couple of games in England.

There are 2 Team USA warm-up games being played in England next July, one involving the male team and one involving the female team, but people won't know about these games and won't watch them if there has been no season. Also there is a pre-season game being held in Manchester in 2013, but that is 2 years away nearly.

The sport is obviously huge in countries like Spain, Turkey and Lithuania, but it can become big in the UK IF the lockout ends. More and more people are getting interested in the sport, and it can gain the same interest levels in the UK as such sports as Rugby and Tennis.

Just let them play #StandUnited

Thierry Henry and MLS Playoffs

Why Thierry? Why? At such an important time in the season, for New York and for the MLS, he goes and does that. If you have no idea what I'm on about, go to Thierry Henry's red card vs Sporting Kansas City. It's not like the card was even debatable. He kicked a player whilst he was down, straight under the ref's nose; he had to go.

Massive game vs Sporting Kansas City. If Sporting win, they qualify for the playoffs. If Red Bulls win, they as good as qualify. They may even qualify. A draw puts both teams in a relatively good position.

27 minutes gone. Henry gets tackled, but Red Bulls win the ball back and the guy who tackled Henry gets floored (legally). Henry is p*ssed at the guy who tackled him, so he kicks him. With the ref standing 1/2 a yard away. Straight off, no arguments. Losing their best striker pretty much condemned New York to a loss, because he provided the pace and skill upfront. 


It also means that Henry misses the season finale next week vs Philadelphia.

Kansas took full advantage and ran out 2-0 winners. This means they are qualified, and Red Bulls are occupying the final play-off spot, but are fighting with 3 other teams for the 4th and final playoff spot.

The playoff table currently stands at (just the 4 teams who can qualify)
Team                  Played          Points          GD
New York                33                 43              +5
Portland                  32                 40              -8
Chicago                  33                 40               0
DC United               32                 38              -2


Teams are separated by Head-to-Head record, not Goal Difference, for some bizarre reason.


Fixtures remaining:
DC United vs Portland Timbers, Wednesday October 19th
New York Red Bulls vs Philadelphia Union, Thursday October 20th
DC United vs Sporting Kansas City, Saturday October 22nd
Chicago Fire vs Colombus Crew, Saturday October 22nd
Real Salt Lake vs Portland Timbers, Saturday October 22nd


The first fixture is massive. If DC win, it puts all the teams in the hunt and anyone could still qualify. If DC fail to win, it puts them out. A draw will help Portland, who have to avoid defeat to stay in. A Timbers victory would put out DC and Chicago.


If Red Bulls avoid defeat AND DC avoid defeat vs Portland, New York go through. They also go through if they win. Red Bulls have the clear advantage of a +5 Goal Difference, but also have superior H2H records vs DC United and Portland, and they drew both games to Chicago.


This gives Chicago an extremely hard route. They have to beat Columbus Crew AND DC United have to avoid defeat vs Portland AND Red Bulls have to lose AND there has to be a 5 goal turnaround. Tough stuff.


DC have to win both their remaining games AND Red Bulls lose vs Philly AND Chicago don't win vs Columbus AND Portland don't win vs Real Salt Lake. That sounds harder than it is. They have a real chance of beating Portland, and being at home to Kansas could result in a victory. Philly are 2nd in East so they're obviously going to be tough to beat, and Columbus and Salt Lake are also qualified so they're all pretty good.


Portland have to get a minimum of 4 points in their games AND Red Bulls have to lose vs Philly.


Likelihood of qualifying:
NY Red Bulls - Should probably do it (60% chance)
DC United - Depends on Wednesday (20% chance)
Portland Timbers - Depends on Wednesday (15% chance)
Chicago Fire - Extremely unlikely (5% chance)

Day 104 - and counting

Just a quick (in the loosest sense of the word) post on the NBA and it's lockout.
    I think that both the players and the owners are to blame. The players are to blame for thinking it would sort itself out. They knew it was coming on July 1st, yet it took about 6 weeks after that date for the players to think "Hang on. We should probably do something about this lockout. I suppose we'll set up some meetings. But we'll just give it a week, in case it all blows over". How did that one work out for ya? Exactly. They should have taken a leaf out of the NFL's book; sure they took 130 days to sort it out, but they have a longer off-season, so they could afford to take longer.

NBA players only have 4 months (123 days) off from the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expiring to the new season starting (not counting pre-season). NFL players were off from March to August. 5 months. The time between the CBA expiring and the new season starting was 181 days. 71% of their off-season was used to agree a new CBA. So far, NBA players have used 85% of their off-season to attempt to agree a new CBA. The other thing about the NFL was that they only lost 1 game, which was the Pro Football Hall of Fame game, which isn't important in terms of the actual season. The NBA so far has lost all of the pre-season games and the opening 2 weeks of the season. Sort it out, guys.

The players also recently made a stand on Twitter. It was arranged by NBPA (National Basketball Players Association) president Derek Fisher, who tweeted "LET US PLAY". A lot of other NBA players on Twitter, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol, amongst others, soon followed with the same or a similar version of the tweet. They all used the hashtag #StandUnited.

Obviously the owners are also to blame. They refused to meet the players halfway during the initial meeting, and want ridiculous amounts of money to be cut from things like the Salary Cap. The owners were fully aware that they will gain money whether or not the NBA happens, so they can be excused for thinking it wasn't up to them to sort it out. But they really should attempt to do something about it and compromise slightly more than they have been.

Some of the players, who aren't involved with the NBPA and thus the meetings, have opted to play abroad. Many foreigners are playing in their native country, including Nicolas Batum (France), Leandro Barbosa (Brazil), Patrick Mills (Australia), Mehmet Okur (Turkey), Danilo Gallinari (Italy), Rudy Fernandez (Spain), Andrei Kirilenko (Russia), Tony Parker (France) and Yi Jianlian (China). Some other big names, mostly Americans, have also gone to play in other countries. These include Sonny Weems (Lithuania), Sasha Vujacic (Turkey), Deron Williams (Turkey), Ty Lawson (Lithuania), Alonzo Gee (Poland), Wilson Chandler (China), DeJuan Blair (Russia) and Thabo Sefolosha (Turkey). Kobe Bryant was also trying to negotiate a contract with Turkish club Besiktas Milangaz, but has now switched to negotiations with Italian club Virtus Bologna. He has not agreed to anything, but the contract in Italy must be awfully tempting. He will gain somewhere between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 (depending on which report you believe) to play a single exhibition game.Or maybe there is a 10-game contract worth $3 million.

I hate to say it, but LeBron James is showing all the other players up during this lockout (except maybe Dwayne Wade). He has organised

The majority of the players have an opt-out clause, stating that they players can return to the NBA when/if the lockout ends.

The point is, they have to get a new CBA sorted. And soon. If they don't get one sorted by the end of the month, you can pretty much wave goodbye to the 2011-12 season.

Who would have thought it?

That is a genuine question. On September 2nd, even the die-hardest of Rays fans and Cardinals fans could have been excused for thinking their season would finish on September 28th. And by stark contrast, Red Sox fans and Braves fans could have been excused for thinking their respective teams were going to the playoffs. They probably already had their bags packed.

On that day, St. Louis were 8.5 games back from Atlanta, and Tampa Bay were 9 games back from Boston. Surely not, even in their wildest dreams, did the Tampa and St. Louis fans think their respective team would make the playoffs. But what a September we had.

Atlanta Braves were cruising their way to the postseason before 2nd September. They had a record of 81-56 and a month of games which were all mostly winnable, bar the 2 series' against rivals Philadelphia Phillies. They had a rocky start, going 2-5 in the first week of September (including a 3-0 series loss against Phillies), but won both games in a double-header against New York Mets on the 8th to ease the pressure before their next series. The next series was probably their downfall. A hat-trick of losses against the one team they really didn't want to face. St. Louis Cardinals. Cards had won 7 of their last 10, and kept their streak with a pair of 4-3 victories and a 6-3 win. Atlanta were still in the driving seat; 4.5 games ahead with just 16 games left. That series will have given hope to Cards fans and made Braves fans quite anxious.

It wasn't that Braves played badly for the rest of September; they went 5-7 before the final series of their regular season (and ultimately their whole season) against Phillies. It's just that Cards played better in that time. They went 9-4, including a 2-1 series victory against the slowly collapsing Phillies.

Braves could probably not have had a worse team to end their season against when they desperately needed to win. A finally-winning-again Phillies team were the opposition for their final 3 games. Phillies, who had gone on an 8-game losing streak since confirming their place in the postseason on September 14th, were fired up and looking to beat their franchise record for most victories in a season. That record stood at 101. Phillies had 99. But this isn't about how Philadelphia achieved a new franchise record. It's about how Atlanta lost their playoff place.

Game 1: Atlanta scored in both the first 2 innnings to take a 2-0 lead, but Phillies showed why they have an awesome record as they scored 1 run in the 4th, 5th and 6th innings to take the lead. Another homer in the 8th secured an Atlanta loss, but it didn't really matter as St. Louis narrowly lost 5-4 in the 10th innings at Houston. A walk-off bunt by Bogusevic gave Astros victory to keep the Cards 1 game behind.
Game 2: The Braves-Phillies was over just as half the innings had been completed. At mid 5th, Phillies had a commanding 6-0 lead and were not going to throw it away. Phillies scored again in the 7th to make it 7-0, and an Atlanta score in the 9th offered a small glimmer of hope to the Braves. But Kendrick extinguished the spark of hope when he struck out Freeman to give Phillies victory, and their franchise-tying 101st victory of the season (they last got this many victories in the 1976 and 1977 seasons).
St. Louis, meanwhile, destroyed Houston 13-6 to tie it up at the top of the NL Wild card race. Cards went down 5-0 inside 3 innings, but in the 4th they tied it up at 5, mainly thanks to a 3-run double from Schumaker. Houston scored in the 5th to regain the lead, but Cardinals finished the final 3 innings with a flurry of runs to take the game.
Game 3: This is what the season came down to. 161 games, and we still didn't know who was going to make the playoffs. Braves were up first. Phillies showed their intent to achieve a club-record 102nd victory as they opened the scoring in the first. Braves also scored in the 1st to square it up, and then an Uggla 2-run homer in the 3rd gave them a 3-1 lead. Phillies brought it back to a 1-run deficit in the 7th, and then in the 9th Utley hit a sacrifice fly to take the game into extra innings. Phillies then went on to ensure that Braves would not be qualifying without playing a playoff game, or not qualifying at all, as they scored 1 run in the 13th innings.
St. Louis fared a lot better. A 5-run 1st innings pretty much put the game in the bag straight away, to be honest. Astros only had 2 hits in the whole game and did not look like winning. Runs in the 3rd, 5th and 9th innings gave Cardinals a comfortable 8-0 victory, and also a place in the playoffs. They will have known in about the 6th inning that Phillies had won and all they had to do was hold on to their 6-0 lead, which they did remarkably well I might add.


The downfall of the Boston Red Sox is probably more shocking than Atlanta's. Boston, a franchise steeped in history, have never done anything like this in their 110-year tenure.

The key team in this Wild Card race was not Boston. Or Tampa. Or Toronto or New York Yankees (although both did do a lot to influence it). It was in fact the team with the worst record in the American League: Baltimore Orioles. In September, they had 7 games against Boston and 6 against Rays.

Red Sox didn't start September badly. They started it horrifically. In their 1st 11 games, they won 2. 3 of the losses came against Rays. It's like the start of the season all over again (if you can't remember that far back, they started 2-10). It's not that they weren't scoring plenty of runs (In those 11 games, they scored 52 runs. This included 3 games where they scored 10 or more); it's just that their opponents were scoring more (they conceded 73, including 3 games where they conceded 10 or more). Clearly the problem wasn't the offence. It was the defence. The problem continued through the rest of September, as they went 3-9 until the final series against Baltimore. During these games, there was a 3-1 series loss to Orioles and a 3-1 series loss against Tampa. They also lost 3 of 5 games against Blue Jays and 2 of 3 against NYY. Going in to the final 3 games of the season, Red Sox had a record of 89-70.

Tampa started September much better, winning 8 of their first 11 games. This included a 2-1 series victory against Baltimore and the aforementioned 3-0 series drubbing of Boston, which was pretty key. The next games before the final series were not quite as good as the opening 11, but still better than Boston. They went 6-7. During this time, they beat Sox 3-1 at Fenway (as I mentioned earlier) in a potentially huge series. They also lost a series 3-1 to Yankees. Then came the final series. At New York. Against the Yankees. The AL leaders had a 97-60 record, and will have been clear favourites. Rays on the other hand, were 88-71 and 1 game back.


Despite their awful streak, Red Sox will have been expected to beat Baltimore and Rays will have been expected to lose to Yankees.

Game 1: I already analyzed game 1 in my previous post, so I'm not going to do it again.
Game 2: Rays started well in game 2, taking an early 2-0 lead, but Yankees hit back with single homers in the 3rd, 5th and 6th to take a 3-2 advantage. Then in the 7th, Rays took the lead back in style. Upton had already walked to 1st when Longoria came to the plate. Upton subsequently stole second and then Longoria also walked. Up step Matt Joyce. On his second pitch, he smashed the ball straight back over Yankees pitcher Soriano's head to give Tampa a 5-3 lead, and ultimately the game.
Sox still managed to stay in touch with Rays at the top as they squeaked past Baltimore 8-7. The real hero in the match was Ryan Lavarnway, who cracked 2 homers and also scored 4 RBIs. Orioles opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, but Boston stormed into a 5-1 lead thanks to a 2-run homer in the 3rd from Ellsbury and a 3-run homer from Lavarnway in the 4th. Baltimore hit back with a 2-run homer of their own in the 4th, but by the time they scored again, in the 6th, Boston had a 7-3 lead. But it wasn't all over yet as the 8th innings saw Sox score 1 (Lavarnway with a homer) and Orioles score 2 (a Chris Davies single sent Wieters home and then a Reimold triple sent Davies round) to make the score 8-6. Papelbon came in for Boston in the 9th to close the game out, but Hardy scored for Orioles to make it an anxious finish for Boston. Fortunately for Red Sox, Papelbon held his nerve and Jones grounded out to hand Sox the victory. With just one game left each, both teams had identical records of 90-71.
Game 3: It took 12 innings to separate Yankees and Rays in Game 3. Yankees should have had the game wrapped up way before then, and it looked for all the world like they had. A 4-run 2nd innings contributed to a 7-0 advantage which should have been held on to. But Rays kept fighting and their reward came in the 8th innings. With Damon on 3rd, Zobrist on 2nd and Kotchman on 1st, Sam Fuld walked to give Rays their first score. Then the next batter, Sean Rodriguez, was hit by a wild pitch so that resulted in another run and still bases were loaded with 0 outs. Jennings struck out next, but Upton took one for the team as he hit a sacrifice fly to send Kotchman home from 3rd and make the score 7-3. Evan Longoria was up next. He smashed a 3-run homer on his first ball to well and truly bring Tampa back in to the match at 7-6. Yankees failed to score in the 9th, and Dan Johnson tied it up at 7 with a solo homer. This game paralelled Rays' season. Down by a lot early on, they rallied and rallied and went on to nick it at the death. Longoria secured his second homer of the night with a line drive that just missed the foul zone and give Tampa an incredible victory. Chaos ensued as earlier on in the game the Red Sox loss had popped up on the screen, which meant that Rays victory ensured a post season place without an extra playoff game against Boston.
Boston started OK in their game, and found themselves 3-2 up at the 5th, and that was the way it stayed. Until innnings 9. Sox failed to score, meaning they had to hold on to a narrow lead to either qualify outright or force a playoff game. They thought they had done enough. But they hadn't. Orioles hadn't read the script and scored twice in the bottom of the 9th to win 4-3. The first score came when Reimold doubled to allow Hudson (who was pinch running for Chris Davies) to score, and then the next batter Andino hit a single to the left which brought home Reimold. The thing with Andino's RBI was that it should have been caught. Crawford almost had it in his glove then it dropped down as he opened the mitt. His panicky throw was well short which allowed Reimold to slide home.

So that's how the Wild Card races shaped up. I'll probably do another post about the ALDS, NLDS, ALCS and NLCS before the World Series.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Red Sox fans will have been singing this for quite a while now. 8.5 games ahead of Tampa on September 1st. 6-19 since then, including a 3-0 series loss at Tampa and a 2-1 series loss at Fenway Park to Tampa, is really not good enough. Now with just 2 regular season games left, against Baltimore away, they have to make them count. Surely against the team with the 4th worst record in the whole league (68-92), and the 2nd worst home record in the AL (38-41), Boston can do the business. Last night seemed to suggest they cannot. 

A 6-3 loss summed up BoSox's September really. It was a nervy start, but they did settle down. Even so, it was slowly going downhill for Boston, but they were holding on. Just. Until the 6th innings. Baltimore had 1 out left, when Andino went for it. It looked for all the world like Ellsbury had made the catch, but as he caught the ball he flew straight into the wall and it jumped out. This gave Andino and inside-the-park 3-run homer and gave Orioles the game.

Tampa meanwhile, have gone 15-10 in September and done extraordinarily well to claw back the 8.5 game deficit to be level with 2 games left. Now they face their 2nd biggest challenge of the season; to beat New York Yankees and win the AL Wild Card slot. Even at home where they have a solid record (45-34), Tampa may struggle. Yankees have the best away record (45-34) in the American League, and the 2nd best overall. But once again, last night was key.

The Rays went down 2-0 early on in the game, but they showed why they're joint-leaders on the Wild Card race as they rallied back to take the game 5-2. In the bottom of the 3rd, Upton doubled to bring Brignac and Jennings through to tie the game, and then Damon secured his 2,721st career hit (which lifted him above Lou Gehrig to 57th in the list of All-Time Career Hits) hit to bring Upton in for the lead. Another run in the 4th and another in the 7th gave Tampa victory, and the joint-lead in the Wild Card standings.

As for what I think will happen. Sox will win tonight and lose tomorrow, whereas Tampa will lose tonight and win tomorrow. If this happens, or another scenario of the like, a playoff game will take place at the home of Tampa, Tropicana Field, on Thursday. In that game, anything could happen. I reckon Sox will win if it gets to that stage, but it'll be close.


As for the National League, 2 teams also remain. Atlanta Braves are 1 game up on Pujols and St. Louis Cardinals. Braves face Phillies at home, who have the best league-wide record (100-60), whilst Cards face Houston away, who have the worst league-wide record (56-104). Cards had the chance to go level at the top last night when Atlanta lost 4-2, but they also lost, their score being 5-4, with the killer blow coming in the 10th innnings.

I'm going to opt for Cardinals winning their remaining games, and Braves winning 1. Ordinarily I would say that Cards would win it outright, but Phillies have been struggling recently, so I think they will only win 1. If there was to be a playoff game, as my prediction suggests, it will be held at the home of the Cardinals, Busch Stadium.

NFL Week 1

It's that time of year again. The time when 32 teams all have hope that they can become World Champions. It's NFL time! After the anxiousness of the lockout, which seems like an eternity ago, we're back! And, as is tradition for the NFL opening fixture, we start on a Thursday with the reigning Super Bowl champions, Green Bay Packers. They were matched up against 2010 champions New Orleans Saints, who were not given the opportunity to defend their title when they lost at the hands of the first ever team to qualify for the postseason with a losing record, Seattle Seahawks, in an NFC Wild Card playoff game. A high-scoring affair started with Packers asserting their dominance in the opening quarter when they scored 3 touchdowns, compared to Saints single TD. The 2nd and 3rd quarters were both won by Saints 10-7, but that still meant they trailed 35-27 going into the 4th quarter. They traded TDs in the 4th quarter, but this left Saints 8 behind in their final drive. The final play looked to have failed when Sproles couldn't hold on to Brees' pass in the end zone, but Hawk was called for pass interference and Saints lined up the final play of the game on the Green Bay 1-yard line. Brees handed the ball off to rookie Mark Ingram, but it wasn't to be as he was held up just short of the line, meaning Packers won 42-34.
      There were some shock results on Sunday's games, with Colts, Steelers and Falcons all losing to opposition they probably should have beaten. Manning-less Colts were destroyed away to Houston Texans, losing 34-7, with Houston scoring all their points in the first half. This result shows just how much Colts rely on Manning, because Kerry Collins was pretty useless. He threw 197 yards from just over 50% completion rate, and was sacked 3 times. To be fair to Collins, Colts probably wouldn't have won even with Manning because Texans were proverbially on fire, but they would have made it a more respectable scoreline.
Steelers were also massacred away from home at the hands of Baltimore Ravens, as they went down 34-7. The quarterbacks were the key men, with Big Ben Roethlisberger throwing for 280 yards from 22/41 completions, but was intercepted 3 times and was sacked 3 times. Flacco on the other hand, threw for 224 yards from 17/29 completions, and threw 3 TDs. He was only sacked once and didn't get intercepted. Ray Rice was also a key man, as he totaled 107 rushing yards, which included 1 TD, and he also totaled 42 receiving yards and 1 receiving TD.. Ravens scored 2 touchdowns in the first period and were 21-7 up at half time. The 3rd quarter was the killer blow for Pittsburgh. An Ed Dickson TD was followed up with a 2-point conversion, and then a 29-yard Field Goal later on the period all but condemned Pittsburgh to their first loss of the season. Ravens added to their lead with another FG in the 4th quarter, but the game was long over when that happened.
Falcons also suffered a surprise 30-12 loss away to Jay Cutler's Chicago. Falcons were were never really in it, losing the 1st quarter 10-3 and being 16-3 down at half time. They then went on to lose the 3rd quarter 14-3, which meant it was 30-6 going into the 4th. An unconverted pick-six gave Atlanta a bit of hope as there was still 10:35 left on the clock, but it wasn't to be and Bears romped to victory. 
Bengals beat a poor-looking Browns side in the Ohio derby, with a pair of late TDs leading them to a 27-17 victory. Bengals took a 10-0 lead, but Browns came back to lead 14-13 at HT. Only 3 points were scored in the 3rd quarter, with said points coming from a 20 yard FG from Browns kicker Dawson. Then with 4:31 left in 4th quarter, Bengals retook the lead thanks to rookie AJ Green and his 1st career TD. Then another touchdown 2 and 1/2 minutes later secured victory for Cincinnati. 
Tennessee Titans almost claimed victory against Jacksonville, coming back from 13-0 down to lose narrowly 16-14. Jaguars went 10-0 up at HT, then late on in the 3rd quarter scored another FG to go up 13-0. Then just 4 seconds later, Tennessee scored their 1st points with a touchdown. An early field goal in the 4th quarter put Jaguars 16-7 up, and then a TD with 3:40 made the score 16-14. This created a nervous ending to the match, but Jaguars held on to win.
Buffalo Bills stormed to a 41-7 victory over Kansas City Chiefs with an outstanding performance. Fitzpatrick threw 4 TDs for Buffalo, who took a 14-0 lead in the 1st quarter. Another touchdown halfway through the 2nd quarter pretty much secured the game, but a touchdown for Chiefs just before half time brought them back into it a little bit. Two more touchdowns in the 3rd quarter emphasized Bills' victory, and then another at the start of the 4th quarter put the icing on the cake.
Mike Vick powered Eagles to an impressive 31-13 victory over St. Louis with 2 touchdowns and 98 rushing yards. He also threw for 187 yards from 14/32 completions. Rams opened up the scoring 4 minutes in, but 2 touchdowns gave Philadelphia a 14-7 lead going into the 2nd quarter. They then exchanged field goals in the 2nd quarter, and Eagles took a 24-13 lead into the final quarter. Another touchdown in quarter 4 topped it off for Eagles, who could be real contenders for the Super Bowl.
Matt Stafford threw for 305 yards to lead Detroit to victory over Tampa Bay, and also threw 3 touchdowns. Buccaneers were winning after the first quarter, but then collapsed and Lions took over. A pair of 2nd quarter touchdowns gave Detroit a healthy lead, but the quarter ended with a Tampa Bay field goal 4 seconds from the end. Another touchdown gave Lions a 27-13 lead, and they held on for the rest of the game, until Bucs scored a TD with 1:40 left. This didn't really affect the game, as they still needed another to tie the game. Lions held out to give a final result of 27-20
What a debut Cam Newton had. He set the record for the most yards on a QB's debut game, throwing 422 yards and also threw 2 touchdowns. But it still wasn't enough as Carolina fell to Arizona 28-21. They traded TDs for most of the game, but Panthers couldn't get one in the final quarter and Cards got an extra one to make up for their bagel in the 2nd. But it was all about Cam Newton. He was outstanding. Maybe not MVP this year, but very soon, based on this performance.
San Diego Chargers were on the back foot for a lot of their game against Minnesota Vikings, but that didn't matter as they still ran out eventual winners, 24-17. Down 17-7 at half time, Philip Rivers took over and Chargers scored 17 2nd half points to claim victory. He threw an impressive 335 yards, which completely outclassed Donovan McNabb, who gave the ball to Adrian Peterson to rush 16 times. McNabb threw for just 39 yards, but also rushed for 32 form just 3 carries.
Seattle Seahawks fell to a spirited 49ers side, who claimed a 33-17 victory over last season NFC West champions. After a scoreless 1st quarter, San Francisco ran riot in the second quarter to take 16-0 half time lead. The 3rd quarter was won by Seattle 7-0, which set up an exciting 4th quarter. Seattle opened the scoring right away, with a 39 yard FG sailing through the upright. David Akers then matched that with an 18 yard attempt of his own, with 5:54 left. Seattle then scored their 2nd TD of the game to cut the deficit to just 2 points at 19-17. But a 102 yard kickoff return by Ginn gave the 49ers a 2 possession advantage, and then the same player carried a punt return to end zone 1 minute later to all but give San Francisco victory.
Washington Redskins claimed a surprise 28-14 victory over New York Giants, in which Rex Grossman showed why he's a suitable replacement for McNabb. He threw 305 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 2nd half destruction of New York. The teams traded touchdowns twice in the first half to go into the break level at 14, but then Washington took over. Kerrigan scored a 9-yard pick-six which was duly converted, and then late on in the 4th, a 4-yard pass secured victory for the Redskins
In the late game, New York Jets secured victory over Dallas with a late comeback to stun the Cowboys. Cowboys looked like going into half time 10-7 up courtesy of a Bryant TD and a Bailey field goal, but a late TD in the 2nd by the Jets meant they were still in it. Another Cowboys TD put them 17-7 ahead, but a field goal pegged them back to 17-10. An early 4th quarter TD stretched Cowboys advantage to 14, but then Jets took over. A touchdown cut Dallas' lead to 1 possession, then a blocked Cowboys punt was picked up by Trufant who then ran in another TD to level things up. They then took the lead for the first time in the game with a late field goal and held on for a 27-24 win.
Tom Brady was unstoppable against Miami. He threw for 517 yards, and threw 4 touchdowns. he did throw his first interception since October last season, but I'm sure Pats fans will forgive him for that. It was a topsy-turvy game, but Pats made their plays count more to win 38-24. Dolphins just couldn't work the ball properly, despite scoring 3 TDs. The pivotal play came when Dolphins were stopped just 1 yard from the end zone, and Tom Brady took over. With the score 31-17, a Miami TD would have made for a nervy end. Instead, the opposite happened. Brady threw the ball to Welker on their own 30-yard line, who then sprinted almost unopposed to the Miami line for a 99-yard play.
In the final game of Week 1, Oakland Raiders beat Denver Broncos 23-20. Raiders were trailing 3-0 after quarter 1, but scored 16 points in the next to take a 16-3 lead into HT. Broncos then scored 10 points to Raiders' 0 in the 3rd, but an early 4th quarter TD for Oakland made it a 2-possession game. A Broncos TD set up a nervy ending, but Oakland held on.
Predicitons
My List of Week 2 winners:
Saints
Falcons
Packers
Texans
Patriots
Giants
Bills
Lions
Browns
Buccaneers
Jets
Steelers
Ravens
Cardinals
49ers
Bengals
Thanks for reading. I promise Week 2 will be out sooner

Premier League in August

Ahh. It's nice to get back to blogging after my 3 month or so hiatus, which was completely my fault, if I'm being honest. I was going to do posts about NHL and NBA finals after they were finished, but I forgot and then by the time I remembered it was far too late to upload them. As you may have gathered, this post will be about the opening month of the Premier League season.
        The opening weekend was a bit poor, to be honest. Liverpool only drew at home, there were 3 0-0 draws, and Gervinho was sent off on his debut. So not great. It was nice to see Bolton thrash newly promoted QPR 4-0, but except that, it was a pretty dull weekend. Obviously Man City winning by the same margin as Bolton was fun to watch, but let's face it; Tonga have more chance of winning the upcoming Rugby World Cup (which I may or may not post about) than Swansea did of winning that match. It was pretty routine for City, with debutante Sergio 'Kun' Aguero putting the icing on the cake with a 30-yard screamer, after he had already opened his Man City account 15 minutes earlier when he tapped in a the back post. Only Bolton, Wolves, Man Utd and Man City won, so they went in the top 4, whilst QPR, Swansea City, West Brom and Blackburn occupied the bottom 4 spots. The remaining 12 teams loitered around mid-table after gaining 1 point in their opening game.
              Week 2 was considerably better than week 1, as the matches being far more entertaining. The Tyne-Wear derby between Newcastle and Sunderland was a relatively good game, despite the scoreline suggesting opposite. A Ryan Taylor speciality free kick was enough to give Newcastle bragging rights, at least until the next derby. Liverpool's game at the Emirates Stadium was pretty feisty game. Liverpool were on top for a lot of the game, though Arsenal were still in the game. That all changed when Arsenal received their second sending off of the season after Frimpong was sent off for a horrible challenge on Lucas. Some, including myself, would debate that he should have been sent off much earlier on in the game, when he first got booked. Suarez and Meireles were promptly brought on and then Liverpool took the lead when Ramsey forgot which way he was supposed to be heading after good work by Suarez. To be fair, it was unlucky, but they all count. A great passing move involving Lucas, Meireles and Suarez confirmed Liverpool's victory in the 90th minute when Suarez tapped in. In the other games, Swansea and Wigan drew 0-0, with Ben Watson missing a penalty for Wigan. QPR bounced back after their hammering last week to impressively beat Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park. Cech-less Chelsea secured their first win of the season, beating West Brom 2-1 at home. Despite WBA dominating, especially in the 1st half, they could only score once, with Shane Long scoring after 4 minutes. That was never going to be enough, because even on a bad day, Chelsea are still fantastic at home and it takes a special performance to beat them there. Villa eased past Blackburn in their first home game of the season, winning 3-1. Even Emile Heskey scored. Wolves kept up their 100% record, beating Fulham 2-0 at home. Stoke denied Norwich a first victory of the campaign when Kenwyne Jones equalised for them in the 94th minute. Bolton and Man City played out an entertaining game at the Reebok Stadium, with City triumphing 3-2. City scored in the 26th and 37th minutes, but Klasnic scored for the home team just 2 minutes after City went 2-0 up. Edin Dzeko scored early on in the 2nd half to restore Man City's 2-goal lead. Bolton legend Kevin Davies scored with 25 minutes left, but City held on to claim their 2nd victory of the season. Manchester United also kept their 100% start by beating Spurs 3-0, with Welbeck, Anderson and Rooney all scoring in the space of 26 second-half minutes.
                 Week 3 saw 31 goals go in, making it the highest-scoring weekend to date this season. There was only two 0-0 draws, which came in Wales and Birmingham. Swansea drew with Sunderland whilst Aston Villa drew with Wolves. QPR couldn't build upon last weeks impressive victory at Everton as they lost 2-0 at the hands of (or rather feet) Franco Di Santo and Wigan Athletic. A fantastic volley then a deflected drive by the former Chelsea striker secured 3 points for the Lactics. Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam both scored their first goals, with their respective weaker foot, for Liverpool as they overcame Bolton at home 3-1. Martin Skrtel scored the Red's other goal, and Ivan Klasnic scored a consolation for Bolton in the 92nd minute. Chelsea also won 3-1 at home, as they edged past a stern Norwich challenge. Bosingwa's scorcher from 25 yards gave Chelsea an early lead, but an awful error by Hilario meant Grant Holt could hook the ball into the open Chelsea net to draw the teams level. 'Keeper Ruddy was then unluckily sent off for Norwich when he brought down Ramires, who went down rather easily. Lampard hammered the ball home for Chelsea, and then in the 101st minute, Chelsea new-boy Juan Mata curled home from 12 yards out to secure victory for the home team. There was so much extra time because Didier Drogba suffered a nasty head injury soon after Norwich equalised, so he had to be treated on the pitch. It was later confirmed he had been out cold on the pitch and was also suffering from concussion. Blackburn quite literally paid the penalty in their 1-0 home defeat to Everton - both Junior Hoilett and Mauro Formica had missed penalties for Blackburn, before Mikel Arteta showed them how it's done by tucking away his controversially awarded spot-kick in the 92nd minute. The 4 matches on Sunday produced 20 goals between them, with half of them coming at Old Trafford. But we'll leave that 'til last. In the other games, West Brom were unluckily beaten by Stoke 1-0 at home, with Shotton scoring the winner in the 89th minute. Newcastle kept their unbeaten run going with a 2-1 home victory against Fulham. Leon Best, signed from Coventry last year, scored both of Newcastle's goals, whilst Clint Dempsey grabbed a late consolation for Fulham 2 minutes before the end. Now to the higher scoring games. Edin Dzeko silenced his doubters when he scored 4 goals in Man City's 5-1 destruction of Spurs at White Hart Lane. Sergio Aguero bagged City's other goal and Younes Kaboul scored for Spurs. Arsenal were well and truly massacred by an impressive Man Utd side, who ran in 8 goals compared to Arsenal's 2. Wayne Rooney scored a hat trick for the champions, including 2 beautifully curled free kicks, and new signing Ashley Young bagged a brace. Danny Welbeck opened the scoring and looked in fine form until he was forced out of the game due to injury in the 35th minute, and Nani and Park also got on the scoresheet for United. Walcott scored on the stroke of half time after another error by new United 'keeper De Gea to give Arsenal hope at 3-1, but United ran riot and it was 6-1 before Van Persie scored in the 74th minute, having had his penalty saved in the 1st half. Jenkinson was sent off for Arsenal in the 77th minute, to make sure that they still haven't finished a Premier League game this season with 11 men on the pitch.
              So that concludes the Premier League in August. to see the complete table, click here. I hope you enjoyed it, and there will (hopefully) be monthly installments right through until the end of the season. NFL and MLB posts coming soon, and NBA if the lockout ends.