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The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.

-Samuel Smiles

November 21, 2007

Sports Quotables This Week

I love listening to athletes or reading what they have to say. You just never know what will come out of them. You get some great quotes every now and then. Some meaningful, some just flat out funny. There were a few this week I wanted to share:

"We ain't clinched nothing. We ain't won nothing. Yeah, we won seven ballgames, whoop-de-doo. We're not there yet."
--Paul Spicer of the Jacksonville Jaguars letting reporters know that just because the Jags are winning, they still have the toughest division in the NFL.

"Our 12th man on offense."
--Jamal Lewis of the Cleveland Browns on teammate Josh Cribbs. Cribbs had an amazing game against Baltimore on special teams gaining 306 return yards and forcing a fumble on the punt coverage team.

"I probably should send him a thank-you card for [ticking] me off."
--Shawne Merriman responding about the hit that laid him out. Oh yeah, that hit was by 5’7” running back Maurice Jones-Drew that allowed the Jaguars to score a touchdown. I don’t know how he could show his face in the locker room after that. Check it out:

And now, for my favorite:

"Maybe I can go after, or check Naslund and those Pinky and the Brain twins.''
--Derek Boogaard of the Minnesota Wild on getting to play against Canucks captain Markus Naslund and forwards Daniel and Henrik Sedin. He is looking for retaliation for a nasty slash on his teammate Mikko Koivu by Canuck defensemen Mattias Ohlund. If you haven’t seen it, it’s disgraceful. Sure Koivu got an elbow in first (which he still got penalized for, even though he now has a broken bone in his leg), but he certainly did not deserve this. Here it is for you:

Posted by G-Dawg | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 12, 2007

A New Law or Smarter Parents?

KARE 11 news in Minneapolis (NBC affiliate) will be airing a segment tonight on how teenagers are "dying at an alarming rate on Minnesota roadways." The previews that aired last night repeatedly during the football game made you believe that they are wanting a law passed to prevent teenagers from being able to drive a car with passengers. You can see one of the previews here. Another preview mentioned how there is a law in 39 other states that have such restrictions, and whether Minnesota should adopt one as well.

How can we as a society keep pushing our own responsibilities onto the government? If you as a parent are concerned about your child driving with other kids in the car, don't allow it. If you catch them, revoke their driving privileges. It is not that difficult. I know the argument of not being able to watch your kids all the time applies, but the police enforcing the law can't be everywhere at the same time either. The responsibility of our children should not fall onto the government. The fact that we are letting kids, yes kids, drive at 16 years old is bad enough. Add a car full of friends with music playing loud and using cellphones or texting while driving, and you have a recipe for disaster. It's hard enough for someone who has been driving for years to handle it, let alone a teenager who just got their license.

So Mom & Dad I challenge you. Start making your children understand that driving is a privilege. They are operating a heavy machine which can be extremely dangerous unless taken seriously. Set a good example by staying off the phone and not eating anything while driving, and pay attention to the road. If you set the rules for the car and follow them yourself, my bet is your kids will do the same and possibly share those rules with their friends as well.

Posted by G-Dawg | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 4, 2007

Professional Grade Football

In the interest of full disclosure, let me start this sports post by saying that I am not particularly a fan of either the Indianapolis Colts or the New England Patriots. I am a fan of some of the individual players these two teams have, but not of the teams themselves. In fact, having been raised a (division opponent) Buffalo Bills fan, I hate the Pats. I don't think that has any impact on the way I view today's game, but maybe it does.

We've heard so much about this game already… what can I say to add to the hype? How about this - it's the first time teams better than 6-0 have met in NFL history. It's something special.

But let’s be honest… the real hype here is because the Patriots have been absolutely steamrolling every team they encounter, and people want to know how long that will last and how ugly it will be. Tom Brady has already passed for 30 touchdowns this season. That’s a personal record and we’re only halfway through the season. Nobody else in the league has more than 17 right now. Randy Moss leads the league in touchdowns and yards, and teammate Wes Welker isn’t far behind him in either category. Can they go unbeaten, win the Superbowl, and make Bill Belichick look like more of a genius than a cheater? Here is a great article from the beginning of the season, highlighting what many believe later became the Pats motivation for the season:

The shame that Bill Belichick suffers is worse than any penalty. He cheated the game of football, tarnishing the one thing he seems to care for. His genius and his victories alike will forever be suspect.

I’ve been trying to get in touch with my friend and co-blogger G-Dawg so we could talk about the accusation that the Patriots unnecessarily run up the score on opponents, embarrassing them in a most unsportsmanlike manner. The NY Daily News sees a connection:

Last week, Belichick embarrassed Joe Gibbs first by leaving Tom Brady in with a 38-0 lead in the fourth quarter and then calling for a quarterback sneak on fourth down inside the Redskins 10 that led to another TD. Later with backup Matt Cassel in for Brady, the classy Belichick went for it on fourth-and-2 from the Redskins 37. Cassel completed a 21-yard pass, setting up the TD that made it 52-0.

"What do you want us to do, kick a field goal?" Belichick asked.

Belichick is showing a lack of respect for the game and the opponent. But what do you expect? The guy got caught cheating.

(emphasis added)

But before we read too much into Belichick’s motives, let’s consider the question he posed to reporters. "What do you want us to do, kick a field goal?"

Listening to Washington Redskins Hall-of-Fame running back John Riggins’ radio show this week, I heard an interesting point of view. Riggins notes that kicking a field goal would be running up the score – putting more points on the board for the sake of doing so, when the game was out of reach. That’s not what the Patriots did. They instead ran the ball – in fact, a play that Riggins described on the air as “an essentially stoppable play”, basically quarterback off-center, just asking the Redskins to step up to the challenge and stop Tom Brady (not the fullback!) as he ran the ball. The Skins couldn’t do it, and the Pats put the ball in the end zone without any fourth-quarter long sideline bombs. There was no attempt to embarrass, in my opinion, and I’ve heard several current Redskins players say the exact same thing in interviews this week.

I’d like to get some feedback on another point Riggins made on his show. If the Redskins considered the game over and lost in the fourth quarter, why did they keep their starters in? Why would they risk injury to Jason Campbell, Clinton Portis, or Chris Cooley? Why wouldn’t they put in their second string and give their studs a break in a meaningless fourth quarter? Riggins maintains that the Patriots are under absolutely no obligation to pull their starters before the Skins do, and I think he makes an excellent point. So long as the starters are in, the Skins are playing for real, and we all know that any team of professionals can, at any time, put up multiple scores in very little time. The sporting thing to do in that situation is to take your opponent seriously, even when they are down, and even because they are down. Keep your guard up. Score again. Seal the deal. In fact, notes Riggins, that's exactly what Joe Gibbs used to do when he and "Diesel" Riggins were dominating the league a quarter century ago.

It’s almost kickoff for the Pats/Colts game, so let me wrap up this post and officially get my prediction out there. New England will win this game by at least two scores. This will happen because the Colts don't have to win this game, but the Pats do. If the game is closer than that and it goes down to the last minutes, or if the Colts were to win this game (which they are capable of), then it is very damaging to the Patriots and their confidence. It is not damaging to the Colts if they lose, say 38-17, in my opinion. These two teams will meet again later this year, in the AFC championship game, where they are both fixtures and when it really matters. That’s the game I am looking forward to.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)