Crazy times

The past couple weeks in the world of sports has been crazy to say the least. Lets start with the boxing event that took place on Saturday. Mike Tyson fought Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition fight. The card had some other silly fights on it including Youtube star Jake Paul fighting former NBA player Nate Robinson. FYI Robinson cant box. He got KTFO in the second round and i think still hasnt woken up yet. But coming off that win this dude Jake Paul thinks he is the next big thing in prize fighting. He decided to call out Connor Mcgregor. Seriously. This dude is a professional multi weight title holder and you think because you beat a never boxed before fighter now your ready for someone like Mcgregor?? Wow. The highlight of that whole thing is that Paul caught the eye and ear of some of hockey's biggest tough guys. Golden Knights resident enforcer Ryan Reeves took to twitter to call out Paul. Followed quickly by his current goalie Robin Lenher as well as San Jose Sharks tough man Evander Kane. There has been no word yet on weather or not Jake will accept a fight with any of them. But god I hope he does. The main event i think shocked more people then they anticipated. Mike Tyson who hasn't fought in 15 years looked like he never took a day off. He was quick, smooth and he hit with force and accuracy. Roy Jones Jr, Really thought it was just gonna be a fun little cash grab. Little did he know Tyson came to fight. I know tyson is older now but after what i saw, im confident in saying he could hold his own for a real fight one more time. 

Moving on to football. My god the Cowboys suck. How many different ways can one franchise find to lose. The media always gave the jets crap or the bengals or even the browns for being such poorly managed franchises. I think its time they take a long long look at the Dallas Cowboys. Just in the last few years, they have had Dez Bryant, Tony Romo, Ezikel Elliot and to an extent ill give them Dak Prescott even though i dont think hes great. But you have that kind of talent on offense and you cant make the playoffs? And now this season. Oh lord. Im starting to think Americas team needs to find a new nickname. Although it is perfect for 2020 so maybe let them keep it for one more month. 

Tom Brady. Thomas Edward Brady. The amount of talent he has around him in Tampa and yet he cant win a game. They have lost 3 of the last 4 and Brady has looked awful. Thats crazy because his group of recievers is basically just a pro bowl line up. Gronk, Evans, Brown, Godwin. Defenders of brady used to always say he did what he did with no one to throw too. Well what's the excuse now? There is talk of a rift with Bruce Ariens. I dont personally think its true i just think brady is starting to hit that wall. Dont count him or the Bucs out yet, they are still 7-5 and in a real good spot to make a deep run. I just thought with all the talent around him Brady would never have seen 5 losses.    

MY list of all time sports movies (Top 5)

 2020 has been a sucky year with Covid-19. The sports world has been very different with no fans in the stands and the bubble atmosphere. Thursdays are usually a slow sports night anyways with or without a global pandemic. I decided to make a list of my favorite sports movies in no particular order. If you wanna discuss your choices or ones you think I've missed leave a comment. I only listed the top 5 for now. If people like it then I will do another 5. 

1. Youngblood

Any one that knows should know that this is without question my favorite sports movie of all time. Not only do i always quote the movie whenever the opportunity presents its self. But it is just a great overall story. Rob Lowe plays 17 year old Dean Youngblood. A superstar hockey player from a farm in Pennsylvania. He earns a try out with the Hamilton Mustangs. Upon making the team he befriends the captain Derek Sutton played by the late Patrick Swayze. The movie is filled with junior hockey stereo types such as getting hammered before practice and everyone taking a turns banging the host mom. the lovely Ms. McGill. If you haven't seen this movie yet and you like hockey i suggest you watch it and remember "the only thing better then a glass of beer is tea with Ms. McGill.

Oh and this movie always has Keanu Reeves. First to comment and tell me what position he plays will get a shout out on my next post.

2. The Replacements

Speaking of Keanu Reeves. This movie is definitely a must watch. It centers around something that has actually happened in real life. A pro sports strike. Now I know that there hasn't been a time where replacement players have been used but its still fun to think about. Reeves plays the good looking college disappointment Shane Falco. He is chosen to be the replacement QB for the Washington Sentinels. Along with a rag tag group of players including one convict coach Jimmy McGinty tries to find his former glory as a coach and keep the team in the playoff hunt while the real players strike outside the stadium. "pain heels, Chicks dig scars, Glory lasts forever".

3. The Mighty Ducks trilogy

This one is or should be on everyone's list of sports movies. The Disney franchise that actually spawned a real NHL team is one of the greatest sports movies ever. However the premise and some of the facts of the movie have puzzled me now that I'm older and can actually pay attention. Lets start with the premise of the whole franchise. Gordon Bombay played by Emilio Estevez is a prominent Minnesota defense attorney. He loses a case and decides to get drunk and take a drive. Well if you know the law that is deemed to be an illegal activity. He is pulled over, arrested and sentenced to community service. His community service is that he has to coach a struggling youth hockey team. He is presented with his past hockey career and now has to overcome his failure and lead this rag tag group of kids to victory. Next, I wanna mention Bombay's supposed stats from his youth hockey career. According to Hans, Gordon scored 198 goals in one pee-wee season. YEA OOOKKKKK. Wayne Gretzky didn't score that many goals in a pee-wee season. Yes I know its a Disney movie, but come on. Make it somewhat believable. "its not worth winning if you cant win big"

4. Draft Day

This one is a great movie because it uses real teams. Its based on the Cleveland Browns. Kevin Costner plays the GM of the browns. He has the number 1 pick in the draft. He is faced with a difficult decision of going after the "franchise" QB or going with the troubled linebacker. Things occur during the movie which lead you to believe he will go one way and then things happen and the movie take a great turn. "Say it with me you pancake eating mother fuc**r".

5. For love of the game

Sticking with Costner. This is my favorite baseball movie. Yes even more then Field of Dreams and narrowly beating out angels in the outfield. This one has Costner playing Billy Chapel. A pitcher at the end of his career. A career spent entirely with the Detroit Tigers. The owner is selling the team since his kids don't want it and the new owner has expressed a desire to trade Chapel to the Giants. During the movie which takes place on the last game of season against the Yankees, Costner has flashbacks of his life and career. Its a great feel good story with a great ending. "you know chapy and lot of little bottles makes a big bottle".

 

Reverse Retro

 The NHL released their much anticipated reverse retro jerseys. I would say they hit an absolute home run. Some of the concepts are just amazing. The purple Nordiques jersey, The flames horsehead jersey. The list goes on. Obviously my personal favorite is the Bruins. They went back to the 80s-90s with theirs. The yellow color with the tiger bear on the shoulder is a great throw back to the good old days of the Boston Garden. 

It just screams good idea. The other winner in my book is the Anaheim Ducks. They have finally brought back the Wild Wing jersey from the 90s. This thing is so comically bad that it makes it one of the best professional sports jerseys I've ever seen. It looks like a very minor league hockey jersey. But it is one I've always been fond of. Now we just need a season so that we can see this new threads on a nice clear 55 inch TV. 

Moving onto the Masters. Everyone always give me crap for liking Tiger Woods. But oh well, People walk around and openly root for the Atlanta Falcons so leave me alone. By now I'm sure you've seen that Tiger did not win this years Masters. In fact after a bogey free round on Thursday he was not very good at all. This would eclipse on sunday when on the 12th hole a par 3 tiger logged his first ever 10 as a professional golfer. How could Tiger Woods ever put a 10 on his score card you ask? Well, his first 3 shots on the hole went into the water, on his 4th shot which after penalties was his 7th he hit out of a bunker with too much force and ended up wet again. He then calmed down and was able to make the 10. This put him 4 over par for the day. Tiger would not disappoint though. he would go on to birdie 5 of the last 6 holes to end his 2020 Masters at minus 1. Not a lot of golfers can log a 10 on the card during the back 9 and still finish the day under par. The next major in golf ironically will be next years Masters. Should it be played in April on time. Dustin Johnson who is regarded by some golf fans as the best on the tour right now, Took home his first green jacket. He was stellar from start to finish starting Sunday at a very comfortable 14 under par. The golf world once dominated by older guys like Tiger and Phil is now being taken over by the younger more hungry crowd of Johnson, Mcllroy, Thomas ect.

Rounding out the weekend of sports, The Patriots shocked everyone by beating the Ravens Sunday night. Mother nature decided she was gonna make this one a battle of the mobile QBs and boy did they not disappoint. The Pats kept any hope of a playoff birth alive with the win. 

Tom Brady also had a very good win over the Panthers this week. The ageless wonder threw for 341 yards on 28-39 passes and he also ran in a touchdown. I said in my last post that people should stop with the Brady is too old argument. Everyone in the NFL has a stinker of a game once in a while. It just took him 20 years to have one that bad. Look how he responded! Great game. He was passing the ball into spots that just weren't there. Or at least didn't look like they were. I think its fair to say that Tom Brady is just fine and that the Bucs are very lucky to have gone from Jameis Winston to a first ballot Hall of Famer. One thing from that game that struck me as odd. Bucs running back Ronald Jones ran the longest TD in Bucs history. 98 yards. What struck me as odd is that the Bucs had Warrick Dunn for a time and he was a very prolific runner. I found it shocking that 98 was the longest every in team history. Doug Martin held the previous title for longest run at 97 yards but he didn't score on the play. I think things are going pretty well for Brady and company. 

A tradition unlike any other

 Oh 2020 you annoying son of a bitch. Now you've gone and messed up the Masters once again. You already caused it to move from April til November but now with your weather forecast the first round has been delayed. As if you needed anymore reason to hate 2020. Well at least I can share with you my thoughts going into the tournament. The front runners for the green jacket are the normal cast of characters. Justin Rose, Bryson DeChambeau, Tiger Woods. There isnt much in terms of shocking new comers this year. However if you follow the masters you know that someone who is a long shot always finds a way to make it interesting on Sunday. With the tournament moving to November, it did open up the interesting visual of seeing the most beautiful course in golf shrouded in fall colors. The normally lush green trees that line the fairway and encircle Amen corner will not be an amazing array of fall colors. Thats one plus of having it this time of year. The other interesting part is something we are all slowly becoming accustomed to seeing and that is no fans will be allowed on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National this year. While that will seem weird i think it will actually improve some players games. Not having a group of people around you while you make a birdie putt on 10 might calm some people and it may lead to some lower cards being turned in. A quick side note about the no fans thing, The people at the masters have decided that anyone who did have tickets to this years event will be able to still purchase all the cheap food and things they offer which i thought was pretty cool. With not much else to watch this weekend i was really looking forward to having 4 straight days of masters golf. Which brings me to my next point. CBS has had the masters for i think about 60 years now. Why cant they show all 4 rounds? It was until 1995 that the first 2 rounds even got shown and even then the coverage starts at 3pm. This year they have conceded and will start at 1pm but still it tees of around 730am every day. So there is about 5 hours of coverage im missing. Unless you get the official masters app. (not an ad just the only place to watch every shot). Ive heard that the decision for that range of coverage is not the fault of CBS but rather the people at the masters wanting to stick to their traditions and keep some allure of the tournament. Which if that is the case im ok with to an extent. I do think its time for them to bend a little and start getting with the times. I think it was only a few years ago that they finally let women into the club and onto the course so i guess they are making progress in the same sense the artic ice is melting. Getting into the masters has always been something of a challenge but yet a fun one at least in my opinion. You either have to win a raffle to buy tickets, or you can try to get them on the secondary market. Those prices rival super-bowl ticket pricing. Last year i saw a grounds pass on a second hand website asking for 5600 for access to just Sunday. Needless to say if never win the raffle and can buy tickets at a normal rate ill just enjoy watching it at home. Adding along to the growing list of people testing positive for Covid-19, 2018 masters champ Sergio Garcia has tested positive and will miss this years event. Tiger woods is looking to win his record tying 6th Masters tournament this year. After totally blowing out the competition last year in his triumphant return to the masters after missing 3 of the last 4 due to back surgeries and complications from a foot fusion. Tiger is more then likely going to be the big favorite heading into Sunday. Assuming the weather and 2020 doesn't continue to suck!

RIP Alex Trebek 

Stop the non sense

 Its time to stop the non sense. This empty and broken comparison or Tom Brady and Cam Newton. After last night I don't care if the Bucs lost by 50, Brady is still far superior to Newton. Let me explain as best i can. The patriots played the 0-8 jets last night. The WINLESS New York Jets and they almost lost. They needed a last minute 51 yard field goal from Nick Folk to seal the deal. Now Brady having played Sunday night, His Tampa Bay Buccaneers got blown out of their own stadium by the Saints. 38-3. It is the largest margin of loss in Brady's entire career. Newsflash he's still better then anyone the Patriots have at QB. Brady played Sunday night against a team who is most likely going to be the NFC representative in the super bowl if Tampa doesn't make it. He played against Drew Brees. Who has always be compared to brady in terms of whos the greatest QB. The Bucs have the issue of a new QB who can be stubborn at times, Added to that Antonio Brown joining the mix which no doubt weighs on the rest of the receivers who no doubt will have their targets go down because of the new mouth to feed. And Brady is STILL better. Its not even a debate in my book. Brady vs. Belichick. Its Brady all day. He went to Tampa under a new coach new system new player with which is develop trust, and he is still succeeding. The NFC title game will most likely have the Bucs vs either the saints or the packers. That's just the way of it. Meanwhile Bill Belichick is here in New England floundering with a dismal 3-5 record and with last nights win snapping a 4 game losing streak. But wait, I thought Bill was a system coach? That when one person leaves its just next man up? Yes they have Cam Newton and he is new to the system but your telling me that the guys around him cant make them better? the defense cant be better? I think we are seeing why the Pats were so successful for so many years and I think most Patriots fans are gonna be sad to realize it wasn't the coach. I think that the argument between whos better of has been settled. Can we please stop talking about it now.   

Players annoy me sometimes

 Ok, So i complain a lot for someone with such little audience to complain to. But its cheaper then therapy so i digress. My gripe today is with pro athletes and their endless bitching about contracts and dollars. Hold outs should never be a thing. If i didn't show up to work because i wanted more money they would very quickly show me the door. I don't understand players saying "well i signed a 3 year deal but oh well i want more now because i had a good season". Most of this complaint comes from having re watched the last dance the other night. Scottie Pippen was arguably the greatest number 2 in all of pro sports. Without him i swear there is no bulls dynasty. But stupidly when he was a rookie or maybe in his second season i forget he decided to sign a long term deal. Then when the bulls got good because of him he decides nope i don't wanna play until you pay me more. Sorry that's not how it works. Its your fault you signed the deal. If they want to extended you or give you more money that should be on them. Yes i know Jerry Reinsdorf is an absolute horrible owner and i never like to speak ill of the dead but Jerry Krause while Masterful in putting together a winning franchise was probably the worst human in Chicago for a time. I could get into how he was actually a very smart GM and how he treated it like a business but that's not the point I'm trying to make. Lets switch to football. Every year it seems guys hold out of camp wanting more money. If you notice in football as soon as the ink dries on a contract BOOM ACL tear and they are out for the year. Football is the worst sports for guys to base wanting more money because of past performances. The injury rate is Ludacris. Occasionally you will hear about it happening in hockey but its very few and far between and mostly has to do with a player not wanting to leave a certain city. All I'm trying to say is, If you sign a ridiculous contract and then you turn out to be a superstar, oh well that's on you. Play out the deal and see what happens. Maybe I'm wrong, Id play for the bruins for just a jersey and some soda. 

Weird things in sports

 This week in sports was definitely an odd one. First of all Baseball had their World Series finale, and something odd occurred. During the 6th or 7th inning, Dodgers 3rd baseman Justin Turner was pulled from the game after testing positive for Covid-19. What I'm wondering is why was there a test conducted that close to game time? Also why did the results come in during the game? So he spent 6 innings around his team plus however much time pre game before he was taken out of the game. Why is everybody all up in arms about him being on the field to celebrate the win? He already possibly exposed everyone. And for that matter why would Major League Baseball allow the results to be released during the game if they knew it would cause a huge PR problem. It makes no sense. I don't think Justin Turner should be blamed for anything. 

Moving on to the NFL. This weeks slate of games definitely should have gone differently in terms of who won and who lost. Except for the Cowboys. They just suck all around. Americas team my sweet bottom! But focusing on the Pats game. Your down 3 with under 2 minutes left and you decide to let your QB run the ball. He fumbles and now you lose the game. They were on the good side of the 50 and well within field goal range to tie the game. For a team that had to win that game it seemed to me like a very bad decision. Another weird outcome was the Vikings sticking it out for a huge W against the Packers. Now I don't think there's much to be said about it it could have just been an off day but Aaron Rogers looked bad I mean badddd. They need to figure something out quick because with Brady in the NFC now and most likely the Packers having to need to get through the Bucs to make it to the super bowl, it doesn't bode well when they play that bad.  

Lastly even though the NHL is currently in its off season, certain teams are still making the news. Say hello to the dumbest PR/Scouting staff in the league. The Arizona Coyotes. They drafted a kid in the 4th round from North Dakota named Mitchell Miller. Now professional sports teams have endless amounts of scouting reports on players and they have an extensive interview process. In all this they never found out that this kid is basically a huge scumbag? He and some friends bullied and special needs kid in high school which is deplorable by its self. But here is where i get frustrated. No one had this on his record? He got arrested for it. Which means there will be a record of the incident. Yet no one from the coyotes organization picked up on this? Ok so they found out and because of the media backlash they decided to rescind the draft pick. Ok good on them i guess for at least correcting the mistake. But I'm not done with laying blame. I mentioned he was from North Dakota. So this kid gets in the University of North Dakota, Passes whatever criteria they have, Is on the hockey team and because of the actions of the Coyotes they have decided to remove him from the program. Now like i said this kid is pretty much the scum of all things because of what he and his friends did. But come on! No one picked up on this? nobody? not one single scout? Not one recruiter? Or was it because of the bad PR the story brought that both programs decided ok fine we got caught trying to sneak him by because he is skilled and we didn't think anyone would notice. So yes i fully blame Mitchell Miller, but i think more the blame should go on both the Coyotes and North Dakota. Because there is no way they didn't know about it. Bad look all around.