Canada vs. USA tonight, one game earlier than expected. It's going to be a competitive game, but the biggest glaring flaw is Canada's abysmal goaltending. If they can manage even decent goaltending, they have a chance but if tonight's starter decides to spot the USA a couple of goals it could get ugly fast. Speaking of which, rumours abound that Al Davis is going to fire Tom Cable this week. Suddenly, all my positivity for next season is gone. How else do you reward the coach who led your team to its first non-losing season in 7 years? Also I lost my fantasy football league by one point. Last year, I lost by five points. I don't even want to know what I'll manage to top this next year- being clear of every other team by 3 games, having over 100 points more than the closest competitor, and still not winning the championship is quite an achievement. Maybe we should have a WF league next year so I can find hilarious ways to lose to a whole new group of players Edit: Wow... Canada dominated every aspect of the game, winning 4-1. Campbell was the best player for the USA, and he's their goalie. Visentin, for all the criticism, was very strong tonight. But the story of the game, as is almost always the case when Canada wins big in international hockey, was physicality- almost every shift an American player was being hit hard, and it served to frustrate them, wear them down, and forced mistakes from their defense. Canada vs. Russia for gold. Their other meeting was a 6-3 Canadian win. USA can still salvage bronze against a now not quite so cocky Swedish team. We can only hope the US recover enough to silence Sweden's coach. Edit2: NFL playoffs this weekend, and there's some matchups. Saints @ Seahawks: Though his poor performance this weekend cost me my fantasy football championship, I expect we'll see a better showing from Brees on Saturday. I kinda wish the Saints drew the Eagles, even though I want New Orleans to win the Superbowl, because that would probably be a better game, and I secretly hope the Seahawks steal the NFC Championship game. New Orleans should win, this looks to be the biggest mismatch of the week. Needless to say, I'm picking the Seahawks. Jets @ Colts: Rematch of the AFC championship last year. It feels strange having this matchup so early, and I think this is going to be one of the best games of the week. Now, some serious analysis- it is no coincidence or fluke that Rex Ryan has had limited success against the Colts. His defensive scheme- admittedly one of the most successful in the league- relies heavily on blitzing, with a tendency for large blitzes of 6 or even more players. This risky style works against quarterbacks who struggle with either making quick reads, or have especially porous offensive lines. While the Colts line has been problematic this season, Manning is one of the best in league history when it comes to quickly reading the field, and getting the ball quickly to his receiver. It can be said that while poor or average quarterbacks are overwhelmed by the blitz, an elite quarterback like Manning relishes them. With the Jets struggles on offense, it won't take many burnt blitzes for the Colts to put this away. I think Indianapolis will win. Ravens @ Chefs: The Chefs are garbage, and vastly inferior to the Raiders. The Ravens would beat the Raiders. Therefore, the Ravens will win. Packers @ Eagles: Wow. This looks to be an incredible game, I fully expect it to be the best of the week. Were the Packers healthy, I think this would be a much easier game to predict. Vick has been slowing down, in large part to the number of hard hits he's taken over the course of the season. If Clay Matthews can get to Vick, especially early, and if Rodgers is anywhere close to 100%, I think the Packers take it. I think Green Bay is going to win.
The Raiders have chosen not to pick up the option on Tom Cable's contract, and thus he is rewarded for leading the team to their best season in eight years with unemployment. What more needs to be said, really? If they don't promote Hue Jackson to replace him.. well, I won't stop being a fan because that's never going to happen, but my disillusionment with the team will deepen.
It wasn't a pretty win by any means, but it was a win and one that we desperately needed. I'm so glad we're in the playoffs, especially with the season we've had. Very excited for this game. I really hope Matthews can get to Vick -- teams have been double-teaming him for a while. Our defense needs to show up like they did against the Bears, and our offense needs to step up to the level they were at during the Giants game. Overall, should be an excellent game, and I'm excited. I may be a little late on this, but good luck, Heather!
US won bronze over Sweden. Canada had Russia put away, up 3-0 going into the third. Only to present one of the greatest collapses in Canadian international hockey history, and lose 5-3. Embarrassing period, and a lot of it falls on the coach for not having the team ready to compete for the entire game.
England have won the Ashes in Australia for the first time in 24 years. I'm not a man to indulge in strangled yells of pure joy. But on this one occasion: YYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Michael Clarke has quit the Australian cricket team. What a sore bloody loser. I mean his the future caption, and he quits because he can't handle the fact Australia have a LOT of rebuilding to do. Note - Well done England. You did well and unlike 05, 07, truly kicked butt and deserved the win. It's just a shame we were no challenge for such a great team. Edit - Nevermind, he quit the 20/20 squad.
I have mixed feelings about the game on sunday Jets vs Colts, them being my Patriots arch rivals and all. Geez, I want Manning to fall flat and lose, but Rex Ryan's recent remarks on the supposedly best QB has made me think otherwise. Oh. . . I really want the Jets to beat the Colts.
The thing I love about it, is that we won because we played brilliantly. It makes it all the sweeter.
I've just watched the highlights of the FA cup, and seen League 2 side Stevenage FC soundly beat Premier League team Newcastle. Outstanding entertainment. Plus Liverpool have finally chucked Hodgeson. Nothing against the guy, but he just wasn't working. I'm not sure how Dalglish will measure up, but he'll pacify the hardcore fans. Plus, the next game is against Man Utd (tomorrow), and you need someone brave/crazy to take that on as first game.
Would be hilarious if that's the only one I get right. Saints were carrying a lot of injuries into the game, and had no running game. No, Julius Jones and Reggie Bush do not count as a running game. Combined with making the brutal travel to Seattle on a short week, I'm seriously not surprised by this result. Seahawks need Green Bay to win tomorrow. I give them a decent chance against Chicago, but they aren't going to beat the Falcons in Atlanta. Leafs won 9-3 last night. No really, it happened Incredibly, the worse than useless Brett Lebda still managed a -3 on the night. At least Grabovski-Kulemin-MacArthur were awesome.
Wahey, into the 4th round of the Cup! Beat Dover 2-0, goals coming from Scotty Arfield and Gary Roberts. We were on to a hiding to nothing from the start, considering the lowly status of our visitors: win and we get no credit, lose and we get humiliated. Hoping for one of the big boys in the next round. Failing that, another winnable home tie.
I really thought the Seahawks has no chance (never realised the injuries) I was like wow, Who is going to win in the IND/NYJ game?
Colts should win, unless Rex Ryan has made fundamental changes to his defensive scheme within a single week. Edit: To their credit, the Jets defense is playing perfectly right now. Edit2: Well that was unexpected. Indianapolis needs a new coach, Caldwell is way too conservative. I didn't expect they'd make it this far, but the Jets better not repeat their last debacle against the Patriots. For the good of humanity they need to win next week.
Same, although I'm only going to see an hour of it because I'm going to a hockey game tonight. It goes without saying I thoroughly enjoyed Ravens/Chiefs After the beatdown last week the Chiefs playoff spot should have gone to Oakland by virtue of the Raiders are a much better team. Edit: Packers won, hopefully this will end the 'Rodgers can't win in the playoffs!' talk. For next week: Go Seahawks, Jets, Ravens, and Packers (sorry Speedy, and Pats fans) Edit2: The Generals game was fun, but was ruined by the refs deciding they wanted the show to be about them. Can't be too mad about Oshawa's play- Peterborough had 3 lengthy two man advantages, Generals didn't have one, and the Cheats only won by 1. At least the Generals won all 3 fights
AH-GREED. Without a doubt one of the most annoying, unfounded, ridiculous things I'd ever heard. He said after the game he never felt the pressure of that talk, which is a good thing. Thank God we won. I was holding my breath nearly the entire time, I was so panicked. Scenarios just kept flashing through my head of some horrific Pack meltdown in the 2nd half/4th quarter. God bless Tramon Williams. That last-second interception sealed the deal, and without it I don't know if we'd have won. I was finally able to exhale after that. I was literally shaking. My dad, who is seemingly never, ever shaken, was literally shaking and trembling after that game. (Yeah, we get really involved at my house. )
I suppose I should comment on the Asomugha debacle. The Raiders included an unbelievably myopic clause in his contract, whereby if he didn't meet certain key stats (such as ints and number of plays,) the contract would be automatically voided. Note that it doesn't become a club option to void it, it is simply voided. This is a brilliant clause because Nnamdi's play style and dominance ensures he will have very few ints- because the ball is never thrown towards him. Because his target is always covered. It's somewhat comparable to putting a clause in Sydney Crosby's contract whereby he's cut if he doesn't tally a certain number of hits, penalty minutes, and fights- stats important to lesser players, but, with the exception of the first, things you want your elite players to avoid racking up. Before this news dropped, rumours spread that Asomugha was unhappy with the team following the release of Cable. According to current speculation, he's not coming back, and one of the Jets or Packers are his likely destination. Neither is acceptable obviously, because he belongs in Oakland, though they are much better than any of the other AFC West teams or various other loathsome options. I suppose if not the Raiders, Asomugha to the Jets would be interesting for the spectacle- which side of the field will QBs throw to? That the team managed to get rid of their best coach since Gruden, and void the contract of one of the best players in their history within a week of each other is a staggering, monumental achievement. In the same way that trading their best head coach in over a decade to the team that would beat them in the Superbowl the very next year came to symbolise everything the team's done wrong for the last decade, these latest failures will no doubt usher in new years of futility. I had actually thought the team turned the corner this year. On that happy note, it's time for Divisional Round predictions! Baltimore @ Pittsburgh: A risky pick, but the Ravens do hold a win over the Steelers in Pittsburgh this season. If I thought Polamalu was 100% I might lean towards the Steelers, but I don't think that will be the case. It is worth noting I overrate the Ravens every playoffs, only to see them lose Green Bay @ Atlanta: Atlanta is a good team, but I don't think they're a great one. If healthy, I think Green Bay could be, and even in their current state I think they have enough to beat the Falcons, who did not look good against the Saints in week 16. Seattle @ Chicago: Obviously. In many ways, Chicago is an even more fragile team than the beaten up Saints were. If the Seahawks can contain Forte, and if Lynch has anything like he showed against New Orleans left, we'll see Seattle earn themselves an even record. If you count their two playoff wins New York @ New England: Unfortunately. I'm hoping the Jets come up with the game of their lives, or at least an effort more reminiscent of week 2 than the week 13 Monday Night stinker. If Asomugha's going to the Jets, I vote he should get to join them for this game.
