I wrote on Friday for everyone to bet the Colts but root for the Saints. I also wrote to take the over. Anyone who knows anything about betting should know to not listen to me. Despite a stellar Divisional Round and Championship round, I dropped the ball, big time, in the big game.
And I’m happy about it.
With Peyton driving his team after a successful two point conversion put the Saints up seven, you had to think that the Colts were about to tie the game. All season Peyton had heroics like this. Drive his team down the field for the tying score, then the defense holds the other team, finally Peyton and the offense drive to the winning score.
Not last night.
Nope. Peyton had a Brett Favre moment and was picked off for six points. That put the Saints up 14 with about four minutes left in the game and from there you had to think maybe Peyton could still drive the team. Well the Saints defense that had been dogged all week as the piece that was the weakest, stepped it up and held Peyton out of the end zone.
What was the turning point of the game? How about an onsides kick by the Saints coming out of the half. Who does that? It definitely caught the Colts off guard and from there it was the Saints game to win.
Great game. I really enjoyed it. A Peyton touchdown on that last drive would have made it a little closer and interesting, but I’m not complaining. So happy for New Orleans, the team and the city.
Posted in NFL | Tagged Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, Peyton Manning, Super Bowl XLIV | Leave a Comment »
Yawn…
You figure a Super Bowl preview is probably better than a recap of the Bruins 9th straight loss and 12th in their last 14. And for kicks they lost out on Kovalchuk who ended up in New Jersey. Guess who’s my new pick to win the Cup? You betcha.
On to the Super Bowl.
Things I know heading into this game. Well, I know both teams beat the Patriots this season. I know New Orleans laid a pretty serious hurting on them while the Colts game, well you know.
Is anyone really expecting a whole lot of defense in this game? I’m thinking a big negatory on that. The Colts leading defender, Dwight Freeney, is walking in the sand at his team’s hotel to try and strengthen his torn ligament in his right ankle and sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber. I’m sure they’ll tape it up and do everything they can to get him to play, but really how much pass rushing can you do on one leg?
The Colts have been here before and the last time they were there, they laid a hurting on the Bears in a rainy Miami Super Bowl. The game wasn’t even close as Peyton and the offense were too much for the vaunted Bears defense. It didn’t help that the Bears had NO offense. The Saints have both an offense and a defense, Just ask Tom Brady how good their pass rush is. And the Jets proved two weeks ago that you can get to Peyton and if you do, he’s not as good. Well, they proved that in the first half anyways, before imploding in the second half.
I think that this game will be similar to that Kansas City vs. Indy playoff game from a few years back. Remember that neither team punted the entire game and the only reason the Colts won was because they had the ball last? I’m predicting (against my better judgment) a similar shoot out game this Sunday. Lots of offense and a not a lot of defense. Maybe a couple punts.
I’m going to take the Colts. As much as I really would like the win for New Orleans, I just don’t see it happening. We all watched them get the crap beat out of them by the Cowboys to end their undefeated season. I’m thinking that the Colts will try to employ a few of those game plans from the Saints losses. New Orleans can just hope to get to Peyton and injure him because that’s probably the only way they win the game.
Take the over, take the Colts and if you can find the bet on the references to Katrina (the last I got was an over under of two) take the over on that one too. There’s no way the announcers don’t talk about it for all the New Orleans stuff.
Back Monday with a recap. Go Saints!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dwight Freeney, Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, Peyton Manning, Super Bowl XLIV | 1 Comment »
News came out yesterday that the Thrashers have told Ilya Kovalchuk that we will be traded prior to the NHL Olympic break. Now the question every Bruins fan is asking is “are the Bruins in the mix?”.
After seeing the team lose it’s eighth straight the other night to Washington something needs to be done. But to look at the team as it stands and you wonder if Kovalchuck would really bolster the Bruins to become a Cup contender. The Bruins are a mere eight points ahead of Toronto as it stands and if the season ended today they’d have two of the top six picks in the draft.
I’m really teetering on the fence on this whole thing. Part of me wants to see Kovalchuk come to the Bruins and just ignite the offense. The other part of me wonders if the Bruins don’t make the deal, keep tanking the season and end up with two very high draft picks they’ll be improved for years to come. The guys they’d be drafting wouldn’t be guys sitting in Providence, they’d be instant impact on the NHL roster guys.
As much as I want that win it all now, I really don’t think the rest of the team is that good in order to make the team a cup contender with Kovalchuk’s addition. I guess if you can get him for next year’s Toronto pick or this year’s Bruins’ pick, a guy on the current roster (not Tuukka) and a guy at Providence go for it. But I wouldn’t sacrifice this year’s Toronto pick. Not when you can snag an impact guy for the team next year.
So sure Kovalchuk will end up in LA or New Jersey heck even Detroit (don’t they always make this kind of deal happen?) and the Bruins will build towards next year and the phone lines will be lit at sports radio saying that the Jacobs are cheap and don’t want to invest in the team. That argument would work in 1986, but not so much now. I guess we’ll wait and see.
Posted in Bruins, NHL | Tagged Boston Bruins, Ilya Kovalchuk | Leave a Comment »
So after Sunday’s loss to the Lakers you had to wonder what the heck Doc was thinking pulling Tony Allen from the game when he was the most effective defender on the afternoon. Well, he didn’t make the same mistake last night. With Paul Pierce ailing on the bench, Tony Allen was the man that stayed in the game and kept it close. The C’s pulled off the win 99-88 ending their losing streak at three.
So yesterday Yahoo was reporting that the Celtics were burning up the phone lines to trade Ray Allen. I’m guessing that the buzzer shot he missed Sunday night was the nail in the coffin? I just don’t see the Celtics getting value back at this point in the season in trading Ray Allen.
But there are so many question marks on the Celtics this season that you have to wonder even if the team had a blockbuster trade would it help them? Garnett’s on his last legs, literally. He can’t defend like he was prior to the injury and all that Perkins has become a better defender, they need both of them down low. And Rasheed isn’t the answer either. We saw Sunday that he’s not the guy to bang underneath, he’s more content firing up airball 3’s.
So Tony Allen solves the spark off the bench problem, hopefully like James Posey was on the championship team but the question marks with Ray Allen and Garnett it could be a short run. If this team squares off against Atlanta in the first round, all the rest in the world won’t help them. Dead to rights in round one.
At this point we can hope that Danny gets creative and makes a possible three player deal to move some guys in and not tear up the nucleus too much. If not, it’s going to be a long summer for Celtics fans.
Posted in Celtics, NBA | Tagged Boston Celtics, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Tony Allen | Leave a Comment »
I knew it would happen. I just knew it. I’d somehow get sucked back into watching hockey only to see my beloved home franchise implode. I thought this winter will be the one that I start to follow hockey and the Bruins all over again. I’d start to know the roster, the lines, defensive pairings, everything. Then they play a stretch of games like they did the last month or so and I don’t want to watch hockey again.
Friday night I started by watching the Sabres game. I figured Savard was back and that should help get this pitiful offense clicking. Sure he had an assist but the Buffalo goalie proved to be too much. After giving up a goal late in the first period the Bruins went into the intermission down two. They managed to get that goal that Savard assisted on but that was it. Bruins lose 2-1.
So Saturday night I’m over a different friend’s house and we remember that the Bruins are on. For whatever reason we thought it was against Toronto, but it was the Kings. We watched as the Bruins were called on a questionable penalty and immediately gave up the power play goal. They went back and forth and actually managed to take the lead at the start of the third. Of course they coughed it right back to Los Angles not even three minutes later.
They managed to get a point but lost it in the shootout when Thomas was beat top shelf. Like right off the cross bar in the middle. From there the camera quickly panned away and you didn’t see whether or not Thomas smashed his stick on the goal. I’m guessing he didn’t. He doesn’t emote at all. After the game they were interviewing him and he said, “We’ve worked our way back to the level of frustration, at least. I think we were beyond frustration before and we’ve had two games where we’ve played really hard and worked really hard. We got one point tonight.”
Great one frickin point. What about the fans that pay one of the highest ticket prices in all of the NHL? Six straight home losses, seven overall. That’s unacceptable. In this economy for people to go to the arena and spend their hard earned dollars to see the team take a dump on the ice night after night is unacceptable.
At this point I don’t think a trade would even spark the team. Boston is the 11 seed in the East right now and they’re just 10 points ahead of last place Toronto. At this point the Bruins pick may be more valuable that the Toronto pick as they continue to slide. Meanwhile Toronto is making deals to improve themselves.
So like the headline says, reverting back to the ruins. For years they were the joke franchise of the city and they’re slowly heading back to it. From Bruins to ‘ruins.
Posted in Bruins, NHL | Tagged Boston Bruins, Marc Savard, Tim Thomas | Leave a Comment »
