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THANKSGIVING DAY MASSACRE

Wow, The Gairzo laid a Turkey goose egg on his Thanksgiving football picks, including 0-2 on his specialty picks.

Somebody forgot to tell the G-Men that once you put pads, helmets and uniforms on, you should think about playing football.

Da Raidas stink only a bit less with Bruce Gradkowski at QB and couldn’t manage four more points to cover the spread. I didn’t think it was possible to hate Oakland more than I did on Wednesday. I was wrong.

The Lions were game and the Packers bagged them, but I don’t regret picking Detroit because Matthew Stafford will win a Super Bowl someday.

Continue Reading NFL Week 12 Picks and Analysis

THE HEAD COACH

A few weeks back we discussed ownership and the head coaches that owners need to hire if consistent success on the NFL playing field is their goal.

Here’s our hypothetical “Head Coach Formula” in a pistachio shell:

• Create the business model you want to run. GM and Coach or one head-man of all football operations. Compare Cleveland’s or Oakland’s messy situations to Indy or New England for the approach that has clearly worked since the salary cap became a reality.
• Get a very young and successful coordinator, preferably from the defensive side of the ball, ala Mike Smith in Atlanta, Jim Schwartz in Detroit, Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh. The reason we stress defense is that in December and January, the teams with better defenses usually win more games than those relying on offense. That’s a big reason why Big Ben has two Super Bowl wins and Peyton Manning one.

However, Josh McDaniels and Sean Payton make the case that young offensive minds can turn around the fortunes of a struggling franchise as well.

The formula’s key words are very successful. For example, the Denver Broncos are never going to have a problem on offense. Josh McDaniels learned from Scott Pioli (now in KC), and Bill Belichick (three-time Super Bowl winner), arguably the best at knowing how talent fits into their systesm and finding players who possess that talent–and the young McDaniels is a hell of a play caller in his own right.

Continue Reading Game Planning A Winner, Part 2

Considering that we recently had a discussion on Deep Into Sports about how ridiculous it is to refer to athletes and/or coaches as geniuses or heroes, this story about a Mississippi high school football player, Kaleb Eulls, who really is a hero caught my eye:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/03/mississippi.bus.hero/index.html

In case you’re not familiar, Eulls saved twenty-two children (age 5 to 18) by ushering them out the back of a school bus when a female student drew a hand gun and started waving it wildly. He then proceeded to tackle the girl and disarm her when her attention waned for a split second.

It’s been awhile since I had a Sports Bright article to post–always good to have something positive to write about in the world of athletics.

Yes, it is the time of year we give thanks for our health, our wonderful, peaceful, functional, families, our united, principled, incorruptible representatives, reality shows, and the BCS.

I thought it might be appropriate to give thanks for the:

Top Eight Sports Items I Would Be Thankful For–If There Was A God:

(In case you are wondering, doing a Top Ten would be cliché’ and make me have to work much harder than I need to.)

If there was a God, I would be thankful for…

8.) Immortality being conferred upon Al Davis, BUT, he could never change his tracksuit. That would mean Uncle Al and the Raidas would forever stink.

7.) Any coach who answers the question “What were you thinking when…” with, “Well Susie, I was thinking I better remember what I’m thinking because some insightful reporter is gonna ask ‘What were you thinking.’ But, wouldn’t you know I forgot what I was really thinking and I don’t feel like exerting myself to make something up.”

6.) MLB banning instant replay to insure more bad calls–and making it mandatory for umpires to stop working out. Remember the good old days when obese umps’ neck veins would pop during a heated argument? (Hey, if you’re a Pirate fan, you need extra incentive to attend games–even in beautiful PNC Park.)

5.) Just once seeing Tiger Woods shank an approach so badly it slices, landing five yards behind him, then watching him turn to his caddy and blurt out the most often asked five word question in golf–at least on the courses I play–”What the F%#K was that?!”

4.) The PBA–that’s the Professional Bowlers Tour–selling a reality show to ESPN. Here’s the pitch: “Take five physically-fit twenty-somethings, force them to smoke no filter Camels, eat bowling-lane pizza and drink Colt .45 during “spring training” and watch them blossom into hacking, belching rednecks who look like they are fifty. Whoever ends up with the highest cholesterol and lowest life expectancy gets a shot at joining the PBA tour. If he makes it, the new pro bowler must immediately lose all the weight, quit smoking and attend AA–cold turkey. It’s like FANTASY CAMP meets THE BIGGEST LOSER. We call it OUT OF THE GUTTER, INTO THE FAST LANE…”

3.) A law to stop calling activities that require no athletic ability a “sport”:

Football = Sport requiring speed quickness, agility, and power.

Poker = card game requiring focus, whiskey and no discernible movement. A deaf, mute, quadriplegic, bi-polar, blind, hermaphrodite could become a poker champion.

Basketball = Sport requiring quickness, strength, and coordination.

Bass Fishing? Mmmm… Leave at 6:00am and hope the local lake, river, or stream is stocked. Open a beer, until a fish slightly bends your rod downward. Reel fish in. Repeat process until lunchtime. If no fish bite, open beer, repeat until dinner. (Any activity requiring a T-shirt with a pocket can never be called a sport.)

2.) A ban of all grunting, screeching, yelling, groaning, etc. in tennis. It used to be hot when Chrissie Evert started her girlish moaning. Guys watched through their “everything is about sex” glasses. Then every one started to do it–EVEN THE MEN! The once hot sexual fantasy has been supplanted by the morbid curiosity of waiting for something gross to happen.

1.) Making every hockey fan who pounds the glass like a bad ass fight the opposing teams goon. Watching some fat, drunken, saps get their asses kicked by a toothless Canuck would be more compelling than most hockey fights.

TURKEY-FECTA

The NFL’s late season love affair with Thursday Nights forces me to actually put forth considerable effort posting some picks before the usual Sunday and Monday tilts.

Geez, what I do for you guys…

Jim Schwarz impresses me as a coach. His team plays tough. With 11 points, at home and the Packers a division foe, all things point to an upset–except Stafford has a separated left shoulder and Aaron Rodgers is climbing to elite QB heights. I should pick Green Bay, but after watching this–http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-films-sound-efx/09000d5d8147c551/Sound-FX-Matthew-Stafford-mic-d-up–I am breaking my own rules and picking the Lions because Matthew Stafford is going to be a great one.

UPSET SPECIAL

Dallas hosts Oakland in a contest between two of my most hated franchises in sports. I can’t pick the ‘Boys giving 13.5 to any other team. The Raidas showed last week they only need a mediocre offense to be competitive. Take the points and bet the house.

AFTER DINNER

The Giants should be able to run on the smallish Broncos who have been exposed by the Steelers, Redskins, and Bolts. Denver seldom loses being a home dog in consecutive weeks. They might cover but we think the Giants go back to the Apple with a “W”.

As always, the weekly lines I use are found here: www.footballlocks.com/nfl_lines.shtml

My picks are in bold italics below:

NFL Lines For Week 12 – NFL Line 11/26/2009

I’ll post the rest of my picks before Sunday’s kickoff, until then be thankful for what you have–even if you don’t deserve it.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

With the top teams rolling–Florida, Alabama, Texas, TCU and Boise State all crushed their opponents, while Cincinnati had a bye–only one game on this past weekend’s schedule delivered much intrigue.

The Connecticut Huskies defeated Notre Dame 33-20 in double overtime at South Bend.

Before we go into any of the greater meanings or implications of this game, it should be stated that it was an exciting tilt. Notre Dame leapt out to a quick lead; Connecticut came roaring back but then failed to score the go-ahead points after two touchdowns were called back by penalties, another drive sputtered with an interception in the end zone, and finally a game-winning field goal pulled left as regulation expired. The Huskies finally took their first lead of the game–and the only that mattered, when Andre Dixon found the end zone in the second OT.

For Charlie Weis, this game almost assuredly was the death knell to his tenure as head coach of the Fighting Irish. Enough said.

For the Huskies? Coach Randy Edsall summed it up best when he called it the program’s “best win” ever.

Continue Reading A Meaningful Game