Thursday, January 8, 2009

Thursday Take Twos

We’re officially one week into the New Year. I’ve decided to begin a weekly sports round-up column. Each Thursday, I will recap the week’s top stories and infiltrate my intake and opinions on the sporting news.
The Giants-eagles hype is where I will start this week. Sunday’s playoff game leads off because the game has incredible intrigue. What more can be said about the impending rivalry showdown? The 1pm kickoff is sure to create enough juice to stir up both teams’ cities, and then some. Fans with tickets to this beastly battle between the Birds and the Blue are guaranteed a gem. I pray nobody gets hurt if Philadelphia fans snagged or scalped tickets on their way to New York.
The Eagles arrive literally flying sky high after mauling Minnesota. Brian Westbrook roughed up the Vikings defense with his breakaway scurries and scuttles stinging the secondary. Minnesota’s post-season hopes were killed and spoiled thanks to the speedster last week. Donovan McNab arrives as an aspiring, rejuvenated quarterback to the Meadowlands. Six weeks from being a benched bum, number five has the Eagles soaring. They earned the sixth seed by roughing up Dallas in their final regular season contest. Philadelphia has looked better and better each week since the benching of their quarterback. Defensive coordinator, Jimmie Johnson, knows how to handle the ground game, as proven last week against league leader rusher, Adrian Petersen.
The Giants were stuffed and stifled December 7th when they last lashed it out with the birds. Big Blue, however, played that day without Brandon Jacobs. Jacobs returns Sunday, albeit less than 100 percent, in what could be the difference in the rubber game. The Eagles are being given a ton of credit for a team that looked all but finished two months ago. I think the game will live up to the hype it’s receiving, but the Giants are the more powerful and smarter football team.
This week, the college football season wrapped up the bowl games with some mediocre melees and some sound skirmishes. The Rose Bowl was a predictable USC rout of Penn State, while the Fiesta surprisingly satisfied. Utah finished with a perfect record. The malcontent Utes made their avowal as the country’s top dog, although nobody seems to care. People were more concerned about expressing displeasure with the fact Florida and Oklahoma were not facing USC for the title game. Tonight is the aforementioned BCS championship. I predict a Gator win and am taking a gamble Tim Tebow will outplay Heisman winner, Sam Bradford. I can see the Sooner Sam sporting a Detroit Lions jersey next year by being the number one selection in April’s draft. Speaking of the draft, Chris Wells of Ohio State finally made up his mind to forego his senior year for the NFL. Good for “Beanie”. Two other standout collegians are headed to the pros as well. Quarterback, Matthew Stafford and running back, Knoeshawn Moreno from Georgia are leaving the game early and will be ripe for NFL scout picking. Both are top ten picks and Stafford may be the best quarterback available.
Eric Mangini must be an impressive interview. I was shocked to read he was hired a week after the Jet firing. Back to the Browns he goes, where he will inherit a promising Notre Dame alum in Brady Quinn. Mangini and former Browns coach, Romeo Crennel, are both Bill Belichik protégés. I don’t really see how Eric is going to make Cleveland a playoff contender, but I guess anything is possible. With the right staff, the Browns can put together a nice season I am sure.
It was nice to see Bill Cowher turn down the Jets offer to become head coach. Cowher showed his dignity by politely declining the opportunity and I think that was the right decision. Mike Shanahan seems to me to be the best fit for New York, but won’t happen either.
The Boston Celtics suddenly can’t find the chemistry that had them rolling in the beginning of the NBA season. They were virtually unstoppable. Now they are reeling, losing to the Knicks of all teams. Those same Knicks were demoralized by an overwrought Thunder team with a grand total of three wins. The inordinate amount of wins Boston was compiling was soon to dwindle down, but I cannot figure out where they went wrong so suddenly.


Parting points: Looking for some “adventure”? Try reading “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, watching the underrated 80’s flick, “Adventures in Babysitting” or listening to R.E.M.’s “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” CD.

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