Monday Morning Mehta 10/17/05

Edition # 136
October 17, 2005

Reminder: Next week is the return of Derreck Sura and his Eastern Conference Preview.

Rip-off Weekend...

NFL

In what looked like a weak NFL week, with no marquee matchups and no Eagles, turned into one of the best weeks of the season. Let's breakdown some of the better games.

Saints/Falcons. I'll call this Rip-off # 3 this weekend. This was like watching 2 anti-Eagles teams. There was over 350 yards rushing between the two teams. But this game will be remembered for a ridiculous penalty on a FG attempt by the Falcons with the score tied at 31 in the closing seconds. Todd Peterson, the Falcons kicker, missed the 41 yard FG attempt, but there was a phantom defensive holding penalty call. If you've ever seen a defensive holding call on a FG attempt please raise your hands...didn't think so. Needless to say Peterson made the next kick, 34-31 Falcons win. What a rip-off.

Cowboys/Giants. In what looked like an absolute bonehead decision by Tom Coughlin to put in the rookie Brandon Jacobs for his ONLY carry of the whole game with 1 minute left, down by a TD, only to see him fumble at the goal line, the Giants get a reprieve after the Cowboys go three and out. Jeremy Shockey, who I admit has been great this year, caught a TD pass with 25 seconds left. But the Cowboys won the toss and kick a FG in the first possession in OT to win 16-13. The Cowboys are going to be the Eagles toughest contest in winning the NFC East, and possibly the NFC overall as I've said since the beginning of the year. The defense is starting to take shape, which has been their weak spot.

Carolina/Detroit. This was an ugly game for the most part which turned into a great game in the last minute or two. Chris Weinke, yes, the old QB from FSU, replaced an injured Jake Delhomme to throw the go-ahead TD pass with 32 seconds left to another old man, Ricky Proehl. But the game wasn't over yet, as the Lions took the kickoff to midfield. Now, I'm going to take credit for predicting Joey Harrington's suckiness, but once again he had one of his WR's have a terrible drop on 2nd down in the closing seconds. It would've put the Lions in FG range. 21-20 Carolina.

Bengals/Titans. Two things about this game. The Titans had this game in their grasp. But Carson Palmer is absolutely amazing. There's no reason he can't be a top 5 QB in the league, if he isn't already. Yes, I just wrote that Palmer might be a top 5 QB. He's absolutely amazing. Secondly, great move by Jeff Fisher to kick the FG early on the final drive of the game down a TD (+2 pt conversion) and a FG. I don't see enough coaches doing that, instead the score the TD and leave themselves no time for their second score. Oh, by the way, Chad Johnson is a top 3 WR in the NFL.

Jags/Steelers. Jaguars were without Fred Taylor, while the Steelers didn't have Big Ben. Tommy Maddox was bad, but the Jags are 4-2 heading into their bye in great shape in the AFC. They have the tiebreak advantages over Pitt and Cincy. Their schedule lightens up considerably. I don't see a non-injury scenario this team not making the playoffs. Underrated good coach is Jack Del Rio.

Bears/Vikings. Just fire Mike Tice already.

KC/Redskins. Skins are in every game this year. Defense is awesome, Mark Brunell is playing well, but is one good hit away from being out.

NE/Denver. I don't know what's gotten into Denver, but they've won 5 in a row after getting creamed in the season opener versus Miami. And they've beaten San Diego, Chiefs, Jaguars and the Patriots to boot. The Patriots made a nice comeback effort, even had the ball with a chance to tie, but the 28-3 lead was too much to overcome.

SD/Oak. LT2 rushes for, catches a, and throws a TD. LT2 is the games best back, I think sometimes everyone knows that except his own coach. Why in the world did he only get 18 carries against the Steelers on Monday Night? Marty is a dope.

In what was probably one of the best college games in recent memory, USC scores a TD with no time left on a QB sneak by Matt Leinart. On the previous play, Leinart fumbled out of bounds and ball was placed on a one/two yard line. It looked to me like Leinart fumbled the ball closer to the three or four yard line. The clock probable should've been at 6 or 7 seconds, that seemed OK. But the ball spot is what I have the issue with. Should've been further back. Rip-off # 2.

And the # 1 Rip-off of the weekend is...the Penn St./Michigan game. I really don't have a specific reason, but with one second left, ONE SECOND, Michigan scores the game winner. One second! What a rip-off.

MLB Playoffs

The White Sox make the World Series for the first time since 1959. They'll face the winner of the Astros/Cards series in which the Astros lead 3-1. I think the Astros will close the Cards out tonight, and we'll have to wait until Saturday for another baseball game, but even if the series returns to St. Louis, I don't think the Cards can sweep Pettitte, Oswalt and Clemens. I'll predict the Astros to win the World Series in 6 games.

As for the Phillies, they've began to read my Post Mortem and have fired Ed Wade. In one of the greatest days in Phillies history, Wade was canned last Monday. My prediction as for his successor, is that this will be like the coaching search last year. They'll put on a charade and interview a bunch of people, but in the end, the candidate is already decided. Gerry Hunsicker will be the next Phillies GM, if I'm to venture a guess.

NHL Week in Review By : Ed Wasser

- Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....my aching head!! Sorry folks but I'm really hung over. I was invited to a party last week a few buddies of mine on the Minnesota Vikings were throwing on a boat. I'll just say that Lake Minnetonka hasn't seen that much action since Prince convinced Apollonia to jump into the lake topless in 'Purple Rain'. Anyway, this party had everything; booze, celebrities, women with....well....questionable moral fiber. At one point I think I was cutting a rug with Pedro Martinez's midget buddy but I don't know if that actually happened or it was a tequila induced hallucination a la the penguin from 'Billy Madison'. At any rate friends of MMM, I'm listed as doubtful but I'm going to play anyway. Away we go......

- So so week for the Flyers. They lost last Tuesday to the Maple Leafs in game in which goalie Robert Esche continued his erratic play. The Flyers beat the Penguins last Friday 6-5 in a game they tried desperately to lose. Not only did the Flyers blow a 5-1 lead but Antero Niitymaki let up the most abysmal goals I've seen in years. He was cleaning the snow from the front of the goal while the referee dropped the puck on a face off and Maxime Talbot shot the puck from the far blue line into the goal. And it was the tying goal. Niitymaki was just standing there with his head up his....well, I'll just say his head wasn't in the game. Because of a strange twist of schedule the Flyers now have 6 days off. They will use this time to go to the US Army military academy at West Point, New York for "team building exercises". I'm just glad that even a pro sports team isn't immune to touchy/feely new age crap that most people who work in an office are subjected to all the time. I wonder what day is "Hawaiian shirt day" for the Flyers.

- One of my favorites players of all time, Brett Hull, retired from hockey this past week. It was a tough situation because Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky is Hull's best friend and Gretzky was forced to significantly reduce Hull's ice time because of ineffectiveness. I always liked Hull for a few reasons. 1.) He was incredibly honest about the direction of the game when the clutching and grabbing was at it's zenith in the NHL. He once said about the new defensive style of the league that the NHL is boring and that he would never buy a ticket to watch it. 2.) Hull tried out for the Canadian Olympic team in 1984. Not only did he not make the team he was one of the first cuts. So, by virtue of the fact that Hull was born in Chicago while his father played for the Blackhawks, he had duel US/Canadian citizenship, so Hull played for the US. Well a funny thing happened after that, Hull became a great player. Coincidentally that's when the Canadians wanted him to play for Canada in the World Championships. Hull refused and played every international event throughout his entire career for the US because that was the team that gave him a chance when he really needed it. 3.) My favorite Brett Hull story. About 15 years ago the Blues were trying to add aerobics to their off ice workouts. Grown men doing aerobics is a little silly, at least that's what Hull thought. So Hull is doing the aerobics and they get to this move in which you have throw your hands in the air. Hull stops doing the exercise and starts to walk out of the room. They instructor asks him where he's going and Hull says "I don't need to do that because I did it 70 times last year". (He's referring to the 70 goals he scored the year before followed by throwing his arms in the air)

- Rapid Fire......Eric Lindros just passed Bob Clarke on the all time NHL points list and while he was at it Lindros knocked Clarke out of the top 100 goal scorers of all time. Hey Eric, if you get what looks like a present from Bobby Clarke honoring your feat, I'd have the bomb squad open it...the Penguins are still winless...Bill Romanowski announced he did steroids as an NFL player. And in another stunning announcement McDonald's has come out and said that teenage employees can sometimes be unreliable...The Sens and Preds are both 5 and 0, the same Preds I said would be an also ran in my preview. Oooops!...How does a guy from the Dominican Republic get the name Vladimir? (Guerrero)

- Three things people constantly ask me are 1.) Do you have any drugs or weapons in the car Mr. Wasser? 2.) What do you think of the OLN broadcasts of the NHL so far? and 3.) What do you think of Hilarie Burton (the hottest girl on TV) of One Tree Hill's new haircut? OK, one at a time, the answer to question one is no. Well.......usually. The answer to question two is the OLN broadcasts suck. First of all the picture is terrible. The picture is so terrible that it's hard to read the players' numbers. The intermission banter between the studio hosts is like listening to a 3rd grader channeling Henny Youngman at a talent show. ("I just flew in from Kalamazoo and boy are my arms tired!!") The rumor is an NHL network in high definition is in the works, and maybe it is, but for right now it's brutal. And finally my dear Hilarie. There is a law of nature as undeniable and irrefutable as anything Einstein worked on. It's this....there has never, ever, ever been an occasion in the history of mankind going back to when the cavemen walked the Earth that a girl with long hair cut it really short and it made her look better. Never, ever, ever.

- Well it was bound to happen. Bada Boom racing has had our first last place finish, and it couldn't have happened at a worse time. Clemente was running in the 7th race at Laurel Park Race Track in Laurel, Maryland last Saturday, 5 furlongs on the turf out of the number 3 post position. Clemente's usual pilot, Rodrigo Madrigal, was unable to come to the race because he had 6 mounts at Philadelphia Park that day and he decided that it was in his financial best interest to stay there instead of make the trek to Maryland. I can't blame the guy. So we were forced to hire a local guy named Horatio Karamanos. To be fair the guy did have a reputation as being a good jockey so it wasn't a random hire. The guy came into the paddock and he listened intently to the trainer, at least he looked like he was listening intently. The one thing about Clemente that I've heard from jockeys is that he's kind of a baby. So the trainer told Karamanos to "stay busy on him" which means ride him as hard as possible. He said "you can't jog him because he'll quit" which means if you don't get him in the front of the pack quick he'll lose interest, he has ZERO come from behind heart. Well the gates opened and it was like Karamanos was trying to do the direct opposite of what the trainer told him. He was high in the stirrups and he allowed the other horses to blow past him. It was a brutal ride but to be honest with you I doubt he had it in him to win, just way too much talent in the race, but I think he could have had a second or third with Rod on him.