“Playoffs!?!?! You want to talk about playoffs? You kiddin’ me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game.” – Jim Mora, coach of the Indianapolis Colts, November 25, 2001, after a loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
You’re right Jim, I am talking about playoffs. Shaun, beware: the zombie apocalypse surely is coming, because the Arizona Cardinals have risen from the dead. Continue reading “Birdgang”
With my sports hate reaching an all-time high after last weekend’s events, I find myself trying to find some solace. As I watched Sportscenter that night and tried to figure out just went wrong, I was hit with a reminder of how good Sportscenter used to be, and how far it’s fallen.
OK, now let’s talk. Back then it was the personalities of Sportscenter that made it good. Guys like Keith Olbermann, Chris Berman, Dan Patrick, Stuart Scott (back in the day), and my personal favorite Kenny Mayne helped grow my sports obsession to the heights that it has reached today. Continue reading “Sportscenter”
To start off, I want to clarify something. Hate is not OK. Hate is bad, hate is strong, and I try to never use that word in my day-to-day vocabulary. However, “sports hate” is completely different. Sports hate is great because, like sports in general, it allows the passion of “hate” without the anger behind it. For the rest of this post, any time I say “hate,” it will be in reference to sports hate.
That being said, I hate the University of Arizona. Continue reading “Sports Hate”
Last night, David Robinson, second baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, hit 3 home runs and brought his batting average over .400 at the All Star break in the 2015 MLB season.
Some of you might say: “But the Cardinals won the World Series last Friday!” “David Robinson was a basketball player” or “Hey moron! It’s 2011, not 2015.” You would all be right in saying this, especially the moron part. However, thanks to the miracle of video games, the virtual David Robinson can enjoy a long career doing whatever he pleases.
It doesn’t stop there for the great virtual David Robinson. In addition to being an All-Star major leaguer, he’s also the starting quarterback for #1 Alabama (coming off two national championships in 2011 and 2012). Basketball? Leading scorer for the 2011-2012 Phoenix Suns (yeah, in virtual world, the NBA exists in 2011-12). He’s even good in hockey, where he made a rare appearance for the Phoenix Coyotes, scoring 4 goals in a game, never to be seen again. Continue reading “Sports Fantasy”
As you no doubt remember from my blog last week, I attended the Arizona State football game versus Missouri. Apart from the excitement of the game and the enjoyable amount of spirits that I consumed, I experienced something special. There, on that wonderful night, I’m quite sure I experienced a perfect crowd.
A perfect crowd is rare, and a lot of times you don’t even know that you’ve experienced it until after it happens. Sure, we’ve all been to different sporting events where we cheer when the Jumbotron tells us, we clap when something good happens, and figure we’ve done our job as a crowd. That doesn’t count whatsoever.
A perfect mix of situation, people, and energy have to come together, to become what I like to call crowd nirvana. Here are a few of the elements: Continue reading “Crowd Nirvana”
As all (OK, few) of you know, I’m a gigantic ASU fan. It’s written on my info page if you want to check it out.
So the 2011 football season comes this year with more expectations and excitement than any season I can remember in the last decade. The Sun Devils returned 15 starters and are a team filled with veteran players who have experience in big games.
Last season, 4 of their 6 losses were by 4 points or less, and they took national runner-up Oregon to the brink before turning the ball over 3 times in the fourth quarter. They hope to use that momentum and experience in close games to get over the hump this year and win the inaugural Pacific 12 conference title.
I write this a week after their first game, as it’s usually a much better gauge of where a team is after they’ve actually seen the field. Following last season’s thrilling double-OT victory over UA, and then this season’s opening win against UC-Davis, things are looking good in Sun Devil country. Throw in a complete re-branding of the logo, new jerseys, and the nation’s most feared player in Vontaze Burfict, and this ASU fan is giddy with the prospects of this season. Let’s break down this schedule and make some predictions, which I fully plan on having thrown back in my face when I’m wrong. Continue reading “ASU season preview”
The first day of the NFL preseason is one of the strangest days in
sports for me.
With everyone’s sentiments of “FOOTBALL’S BACK!!!” I find myself largely apathetic in comparison to the masses. The regular season? Sure! Give me the first day of games that actually matter, the first day of fantasy football, and doing nothing but watching football all day.
But man, this preseason game just doesn’t do it for me. The first team spends about one quarter on the field and calling the offensive strategy “vanilla” would be an insult to vanilla beans and vanilla ice cream everywhere, not to mention that NFL free agents have had a total of 5, count ’em, 5 practices together.
Gray Areas 