Monthly Archives: December 2009

Week 17 in the NFL. It Ends — And Then Begins — This Sunday.

Posted on December 31, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

MINNEAPOLIS — Bill Polian is either a very stupid man or a man who has trouble with the truth. The vice-president of the Indianapolis Colts told an NFL Network audience that he was surprised at the fans negative reaction to the Colts, throwing a football game last Sunday.

Surprised? Yeah, right.

Now I know Bill Polian from his days in Winnipeg and I know he’s not a stupid man. But I don’t believe he didn’t expect a backlash from fans after his coach dumped a perfect season and gave the New York Jets a ticket to the playoffs by benching the Colts starters in the third quarter of a game in which the club charged money for tickets. Sorry, don’t believe it.

Giving up is dishonorable. Coaching scared is an invitation to disaster. I’d be surprised if the Colts won another game this season.

The worst thing they did was dump on all the other teams in the AFC by giving up and then giving the Jets a ticket to the playoffs (OK, so the Jets do have beat Cincinnati at home this week). The Colts played hard and beat Jacksonville (twice), Houston (twice), Tennessee, Miami and Baltimore and then rolled over for the Jets. That’s unforgivable.

The NFL should force the Colts to refund every ticket they sold last Sunday. Those tickets were sold under false pretenses. With apologies to Herman Edwards, you play to win the game. The Colts didn’t do that. It’s called a fix. The game was thrown and Polian had better come to terms with the fact that he stole people’s money and cheated the rest of the AFC.

There is one week remaining in the 2009 NFL season ad the playoff picture is clearing up. In the AFC, Indianapolis, San Diego, Cincinnati and New England are all in the playoffs. Denver, the Jets, Pittsburgh, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami and Baltimore still have a chance.

In the NFC, it’s done: New Orleans, Minnesota, Arizona, Dallas, Green Bay and Philadelphia are all in. This week will determine who plays whom and when.

We’ll be in the Twin Towns for the Vikings-Giants game this weekend. We’ll also be on the road throughout the playoffs and in South Florida for the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl from Jan. 28 – Feb. 9.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Indianapolis Colts 14-1 at Buffalo Bills 5-10 (OFF)

The Colts have no interest here. They are just 3-10 against the spread in Weeks 16 and 17 (i.e. when resting starters) since 2002. We just can’t see them game planning for the Bills at all. At post time, no line has been.

Dr. Sports: Bills to win.

The Coach: Bills to win.

New Orleans Saints 13-2 at Carolina Panthers 7-8 (OFF)

This is the Panthers’ Super Bowl. They won’t be going to the playoffs, but winning this game would give them some validation and would provide momentum for what seems like a great 2010 season.

Dr. Sports: Panthers to win.

The Coach: Panthers to win.

Jacksonville Jaguars 7-8 at Cleveland Browns 4-11 (-1.5)

Jacksonville, a team with a playoff shot, has to be pretty pissed that it’s giving points to the lowly Browns. The Browns should not be laying points to anyone. Despite their three-game winning streak, they’re not that good. They’ve only covered once when favoured in the past two seasons. That was last week against the lowly Raiders.

Dr. Sports: Jaguars to win.

The Coach: Browns to win and cover.

Philadelphia Eagles 11-4 at Dallas Cowboys 10-5 (-2.5)

The Eagles own the Cowboys in December. It could be Tony Aurora Snowmo’s time to reveal himself.

Dr. Sports: Eagles to win.

The Coach: Cowboys to win and cover.

Chicago Bears 6-9 at Detroit Lions 2-13 (+2.5)

The big question here is whether or not the Bears will be motivated to play the Lions. Chicago just won its Super Bowl by slaying the Vikings on Monday night as massive underdogs. Can they possibly get up for Detroit? I did some research. In 2007, the 5-9 Bears hosted a playoff-bound Packers team in Week 16. They were 7.5-point dogs. Sound familiar? Chicago won that game 35-7. The following week, they played the Saints, who were just 7-8 at the time. The Bears showed up and triumphed again, 33-25. If history repeats itself, the Bears will play hard in Detroit.

Dr. Sports: Bears to win and cover.

The Coach: Bears to win and cover.

New England Patriots 10-5 at Houston Texans 8-7 (-7.5)

This is the worst spread in NFL history. The assumption is that this game means nothing to the Patriots, which is dead wrong. That’s exactly why Belichick said his healthy starters would play. But what about the Texans? Don’t they need a victory more than New England? Of course they do. And that’s exactly why we love the Pats here. The Texans are the biggest choke artists in the NFL. How are they going to win this game, let alone cover a touchdown? We just  don’t get it.

Dr. Sports: Patriots to win.

The Coach: Patriots to win.

Pittsburgh Steelers 8-7 at Miami Dolphins 7-8  (PK)

The big wild card here is Troy Polamalu. Polamalu hasn’t been ruled out this week, and he ran on Monday and Tuesday to see how his knee would respond. He’ll push to play, but ultimately could be a game-time decision, making this selection a pretty difficult one.

Dr. Sports: Dolphins to win (and cover if the line is in their favour).

The Coach: Steelers to win.

New York Giants 8-7 at Minnesota Vikings 11-4 (-8.5)

The Giants were just humiliated last week in what was the final home game in their stadium. They are pissed, and they’ll fight for a victory against a Vikings team that is playing like crap right now. Minnesota is favoured by way too much. The Vikings have been struggling against both the run and the pass ever since E.J. Henderson suffered a season-ending injury four weeks ago. In the four games without Henderson, Minnesota has surrendered at least 100 rushing yards to each opponent, and 258-plus passing yards to all but one foe. It’s been really bad, and even Jay Cutler was able to look like a Pro Bowler on Monday night.

Dr. Sports: Vikings to win, but not cover.

The Coach: Vikings to win and cover.

San Francisco 49ers 7-8 at St. Louis 1-14 (+6.5)

The 49ers are clearly the better team in this matchup. But that doesn’t mean that they’ll cover the spread. Laying a touchdown in a divisional road game is a bit too much for San Francisco. Think about it this way – the 49ers are just 1-6 straight up away from Candlestick, and that sole victory was by just four points. Could the 49ers cover seven on the road?

Dr. Sports: 49ers to win but not cover.

The Coach: 49ers to win and cover.

Atlanta Falcons 8-7 at Tampa Bay Buccaneeers 3-12 (+1.5)

Everyone expects the Falcons to win this game because of two assumptions: 1) They’re the better team. 2) They’re going to play harder than Tampa because a victory would give them the first back-to-back winning seasons in franchise history. Those assumptions are wrong. First of all, Tampa is a pretty solid squad as long as Freeman doesn’t turn the ball over. And it’s not like the Buccaneers won’t be motivated. They won’t idly stand by as the Falcons achieve history. Tampa just had a big victory over the Saints and will want to knock off another divisional rival.

Dr. Sports: Buccaneers to win.

The Coach: Buccaneers to win.

Green Bay Packers 10-5 at Arizona Cardinals 10-5 (-2.5)

If Minnesota loses, the Cardinals would have a legitimate chance at a bye and probably would go with Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. If I’m right in assuming that the Packers will rest their starters, Warner will easily slice through Green Bay’s backups.

Dr. Sports: Cardinals to win and cover

The Coach: Cardinals to win and cover.

Kansas City Chiefs 3-12 at Denver Broncos 8-7 (-12.5)

The Broncos are definitely not that good. Their once-great defence is leaky, while their offense can be completely stagnant at times. We can’t recommend laying 12.5 points with a team that has scored 19, 16, 3, 17, 10 and 7 in six of its previous nine contests.

Dr. Sports: Broncos to win, but not cover.

The Coach: Broncos to win but not cover.

Baltimore Ravens 8-7 at Oakland Raiders 5-10 (+10.5)

The Ravens obviously need to win this game, but that doesn’t mean much.  We both like the Raiders to cover the spread here. They’ve already beaten the Eagles, Bengals, Steelers and Broncos, and almost knocked off the Chargers twice. Why can’t they give the Ravens a tough time?

Dr. Sports: Ravens to win but not cover.

The Coach: Ravens to win, but not cover.

Washington Redskins 4-11 at San Diego Chargers 12-3 (-3.5)

A quote from Norv Turner: “Playing and staying game-sharp, to me, is big. (But) it’s not only how you stay sharp, but how you get better. We’re going to play our players. They’re going to play and they want to play.” Expect a blow out.

Dr. Sports: Chargers to win and cover.

The Coach: Chargers to win and cover.

Tennessee Titans 7-8 at Seattle Seahawks 5-10 (+4.5)

Dr. Sports doesn’t think the Titans came all the way back from 0-6 to just quit in the final week to avoid a shot at 8-8. They’ll at least try hard enough for Chris Johnson to get his 2,000 yards. Meanwhile, the Seahawks have completely fallen apart, losing by a combined score of 106-24 in the past three weeks. Jim Mora Jr. is easily one of the worst head coaches of all time, and has a dubious history of teams that quit on him. That’s exactly what’s happening here. Seattle will continue to struggle and disappoint as long as Mora is patrolling the sidelines.

Dr. Sports: Titans to win and cover.

The Coach: Titans to win and cover.

SUNDAY NIGHT

Cincinnati Bengals 10-5 at New York Jets 8-7 (-9.5)

If that awful Browns-Steelers Thursday night affair taught us anything, it’s that in severe weather conditions, all bets are off. People tend to look at snow and rain as potential weather roadblocks, but wind is the greatest factor. Anything worse than 30 mph can ruin any football game. The deep passing game is completely eliminated, while any field goal longer than 35 yards out is virtually impossible. Winds blowing at a possible 35 mph are bad enough, so imagine how bad it’s going to be at the Meadowlands on Sunday. Also, remember who’s starting at quarterback for the Jets. There was a big deal about Sanchez playing in 45-degree weather back in October. That’s nothing compared to what he’ll see on Sunday night.

Dr. Sports: Jets to win but not cover.

The Coach: Jets to win and cover.

The Doc is 156-84 overall and 123-107 against the spread. The Coach is 146-94 straight up and 116-114 against the spread.

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Team Canada Selected. It’s Hard to Argue, but It Had Better Win.

Posted on December 30, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Here’s the list of players selected by Hockey Canada as members of the 2010 Canadian Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team:

GOALIES

Martin Brodeur

Roberto Luongo

Marc-Andre Fleury

DEFENCEMEN

Scott Niedermayer (C)

Drew Doughty

Brent Seabrook

Chris Pronger

Shea Weber

Dan Boyle

Duncan Keith

FORWARDS

Sidney Crosby (A)

Jarome Iginla (A)

Jonathan Toews

Mike Richards

Rick Nash

Brenden Morrow

Eric Staal

Patrick Marleau

Joe Thornton

Patrice Bergeron

Corey Perry

Ryan Getzlaff

Dany Heatley

It’s impossible to argue with Hockey Canada’s selections. By all indications, this team should win gold.

Certainly, there will be critics in Calgary who will wonder out loud how Dan Boyle, Drew Doughty and Brent Seabrook are better defencemen than Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr and it’s really hard to believe how the team’s No. 1 power-play punch from the point, the NHL’s top-scoring defenceman Mike Green didn’t make the team.

Scott Niedermayer, who is not having a very good year, is the captain. Whatever.

Up front, Dany Heatley’s presence will always worry me. After the way he treated the NHL, the Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers with his trade demands last summer still reeks of a guy who is thinking me first. As Roberto Luongo said yesterday, “We have to check our egos and work hard as a team representing our country.” He’s right.

Is Patrice Bergeron, Corey Perry, Brenden Morrow or Patrick Marleau better than Marty St. Louis, Steven Stamkos, Dustin Penner or Brad Richards? I certainly don’t know, but the NHL statistics would suggest maybe, at best.

On first blush, this team does not have a legitimate fourth line like it did in Salt Lake City. Let’s hope head coach Mike Babcock makes it clear who will get the eight minutes of ice time per game as opposed to the guys who will get the 19 minutes.

Again, this team should win gold. After all, it was the only team that was announced live on television in its home country. It’s extremely difficult to suggest that any other team will come close.

But the real question is this: What happens if it doesn’t win gold? Then what?

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What Happens If….?

Posted on December 28, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

The decade of the 2000s or “The Aughts,” as they’ve been called, come to an end in about four days.

With that end, comes more questions than answers.

In fact, here are five questions, all starting with What Happens If….?

A brave new world awaits, old media panics, new media has a field day and if there is one thing we know, it’s this: Sports will change dramatically in the decade of the “Tens.”

So what happens if…

1) The Canadian Olympic Team doesn’t “win the podium” in Vancouver this February? With all the national, television-generated pre-Olympic hype, how badly will the traditional media treat our athletes if they don’t win every medal in every event. “I Believe,” it will get ugly.

2) The NHL’s non-traditional markets keep taking a beating? Tickets are now virtually free, the teams aren’t winning, there is limited interest, newspapers have stopped covering many of the teams on the road, Versus isn’t ESPN and there are often more empty seats than seats with butts in them. The NHL will look differently in five years if Bush’s recession doesn’t end.

3) The NHL’s non-traditional markets keep taking a beating? Will the NHL return to Winnipeg?

4) The CFL doesn’t get some new stadiums soon? Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg is a dump, Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton is worse, Ottawa doesn’t have a stadium, Toronto doesn’t have a place to play and the east coast still doesn’t have a suitable stadium for CFL expansion. The biggest problem in the CFL is not fan-support or media-support, it’s government support. And without new stadiums, the league could be on its last legs.

5) The Indianapolis Colts never get it back? After having the gall to actually charge people money for that debacle on Sunday afternoon, Colts chicken-livered head coach Jim Caldwell (coaching scared is the worst thing a coach can ever do) doesn’t deserve to win another game. If you look around the NFL, buildings are seldom full anymore. I’ve been in Jacksonville and Tampa this season when there have been 25,000-30,000 empty seats. The NFL can claim record numbers of sellouts if it likes (I think “tickets distributed” is the term), but only the best teams truly sell out anymore. Indy was a team that sold out, but if I was a fan, I would be a lot more hesitant about buying tickets in the future. When coaches throw games in order to rest the stars — because they are afraid of injury — the premise of professional football goes out the window. What happened Sunday in Indianapolis was unprofessional. In a recession that appears as if it’s going to last for decades not months, that kind of unprofessional approach to the game could come back and bite a franchise in the ass.

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The Shooter Gets it Right. Because He’s Actually Worked up a Sweat.

Posted on December 25, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Merry Christmas. Here’s a special Christmas greeting to someone who actually gets it.

Charley Walters writes a column for the St. Paul Pioneer-Press. Known as “The Shooter,” he pitched for the Minnesota Twins in the late 1960s.

Walters is a terrific columnist, not because he’s going to challenge Thomas Boswell for a writing award, but because he’s a great reporter who writes from the point of view of the people who play the game and the ones who actually buy tickets and watch it.

He’s right a lot more often than he’s wrong. In fact, his insights are often sensational and, you guessed it, he’s seldom wrong.

On Thursday, he wrote a column with Tommy Kramer, the former Vikings quarterback. It’s the first place I’ve read or heard that the Brett Favre-Brad Childress “blow up” was a crock of media-created bullshit.

“Tommy Kramer watched the Vikings suffer an embarrassing loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday night, and Kramer, who for 13 seasons was a free-spirited quarterback for Vikings coaches Bud Grant and Jerry Burns, has followed the subsequent headlines depicting the sideline disagreement between Vikings coach Brad Childress and his star QB, Brett Favre,” Walters wrote.

“‘Bunch of nothing is all that is,’” Kramer said Wednesday. “‘Those things happen all the time. Childress was just trying to protect Favre because (offensive left tackle Bryant) McKinnie was getting pushed back by (defensive end Julius) Peppers like he was on roller skates.’”

Thank you, Charley Walters. And thank you, Tommy Kramer.

The Minnesota Vikings have lost two of their last three games because their offensive line can’t block anybody. Against Carolina, Phil Loadholt and Bryant McKinnie were terrible. That 26-7 shellacking had little to do with Favre or even Adrian Peterson (another whipping boy). It had everything to do with an offensive line that has not been very good and if they aren’t better on Monday night, the Vikings could get thumped in Chicago.

Here’s a little Sports Journalism 101: The Favre-Childress story is what’s known around the NFL as a “Tuesday story.” In a sport like football, where teams practice six days to play one, there is so little to write about in the middle of a week late in the season, that journalists fabricate stories in order to earn a living.

The Favre-Childress feud was a fabrication from the moment the two had a discussion on the sidelines and, once again, when these gutless newspaper reporters snivel, “Don’t shoot the messenger,” they’re wrong.

The world would indeed be a much better place if we did shoot the messenger from time to time.

There is so much undeniable bullshit in the mainstream media that it’s becoming embarrassing. What makes it worse, is that far too many people read it, hear it and believe it.

It was Thomas Jefferson who wrote: “As for what is not true, you will always find abundance in the newspapers.”

The alleged Favre-Childress feud is a classic example of Jefferson’s insight.

And it was also a great source for Walters to write the contrary opinion. As the business model of the daily newspaper drives them all closer to extinction, we get a mob mentality and we seldom get the contrary opinion. Heck, we seldom get the one-phone-call opinion anymore. Nice work, Shooter.

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Week 16, Just Two Weeks to go…

Posted on December 24, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

There are two weeks remaining in the 2009 NFL season and while most of the playoff participants have been locked down, this is still going to be a very interesting post-season.

In fact, whenever people ask, for weeks I’ve been saying I like Indianapolis and New Orleans in the Super Bowl. And I still do. However, if it happened to be Green Bay and New England I wouldn’t be at all surprised. That’s the beauty of the NFL.

The post-season is going to be tremendous. But first, there is a lot of unfinished business, especially in the AFC.

Just two weeks to go. Let’s take a closer look at Week 16….

FRIDAY NIGHT

San Diego Chargers 11-3  at Tennessee Titans 7-7 (-2.5)

The Chargers have pretty much sealed up the second seed in the AFC. They have nothing to gain with a win here. Meanwhile, the Titans’ season is on the line. On a holiday weeknight, they’ll be playing in front of a raucous crowd and they’ll be able to feed off that energy.

Dr. Sports: Titans to win and cover.

The Coach: Titans to win and cover.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Buffalo Bills 5-9 at Atlanta Falcons 7-7 (-8.5)

The Bills lost what Chris Berman called their “Super Bowl.” Also, Brian Brohm is now in for Ryan Fitzpatrick. There’s a reason he was so willingly discarded by the Packers. Why would the Bills put in a lot of effort off a very emotional defeat for some guy they don’t even know?

Dr. Sports: Falcons to win and cover.

The Coach: Falcons to win and cover.

Kansas City Chiefs 3-11 at Cincinnati Bengals 9-5 (-13.5)

The Bengals will dedicate the rest of their season to Chris Henry, but they still had Henry’s funeral to attend to this week. Plus, it’s not like you have to get up for the lowly Chiefs.

Dr. Sports: Bengals will win but they won’t cover.

The Coach: Bengals will win and cover.

Oakland Raiders 5-9 at Cleveland Browns 3-11 (-3.5)

Derek Anderson will get the nod at Browns QB because Brady Quinn is done for the year. Anderson has the bigger arm and superior downfield accuracy, but he also forces in way too many unwarranted balls into double coverage. Since the beginning of the 2008 season, the Browns are 0-4 against the spread when favoured. However, thy have won two straight.

Dr. Sports: Raiders to win.

The Coach: Browns to win and cover.

Seattle Seahawks 5-9 at Green Bay Packers 9-5 (-13.5)

This has “blowout” written all over it. The Seahawks absolutely stink, especially on the road, while the Packers are one of the top teams in the league. The only thing that bothers me here is the fact that Green Bay is coming off an emotional loss at Pittsburgh. Still, even if the Packers are playing at 75-80 percent, there’s a good chance they’ll still cover this high number.

Dr. Sports: Packers to win and cover.

The Coach: Packers to win and cover.

Houston Texans 7-7 at Miami Dolphins 7-7 (-2.5)

It’s worth noting that Houston owns Miami; in the four meetings between these two teams, the Texans have won each one, oddly enough by three points or less each time.

Dr. Sports: Texans to win.

The Coach: Dolphins to win and cover.

Jacksonville Jaguars 7-7 at New England Patriots 9-5 (-7.5)

This is a case where the game means a ton to one team and very little to the other. The Patriots don’t really have anything to play for here, as they pretty much have the AFC East locked up. Meanwhile, the Jaguars must win to stay alive in the playoff hunt. That being said, whenever the Jaguars are favoured or expected to win, they really struggle. Conversely, when no one believes in them, they thrive. This will be a close one,

Dr. Sports: Patriots to win, but they won’t cover.

The Coach: Patriots to win and cover.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2-12 at New Orleans Saints 13-1 (-14.5)

I like the Buccaneers in this spot. The last two 13-0 teams that lost their 14th game of the year went on to lose the following contest as well. I don’t think the Saints will suffer a defeat to Tampa Bay, but I don’t like their chances of covering the spread in this meaningless game.

Dr. Sports: Saints to win, but not cover.

The Coach: Saints to win but not cover.

Carolina Panthers 6-8 at New York Giants 8-6 (-6.5)

New York is the one NFC team no one wants to face right now. They know how to win in the postseason and they completely dominated a Redskins squad that had been playing well in recent weeks. I think the Giants parlay that Monday night victory into several more and get on a roll. I’m confident they’ll get into the playoffs and upset at least one team in January.

Dr. Sports: Giants to win and cover.

The Coach: Giants to win and cover.

Denver Broncos 8-6 at Philadelphia Eagles 10-4 (-6.5)

Meaningless game for the Eagles. Even if they win here, they’ll still need to beat Dallas next week to win the NFC East. Also, the players will be too preoccupied with Brian Dawkins’ return.

Dr. Sports: Broncos to win.

The Coach: Eagles to win and cover.

Baltimore Ravens 8-6 at Pittsburgh Steelers 7-7 (-2.5)

I know the Ravens beat the Steelers last time, but Joe Flacco still hasn’t defeated Ben Roethlisberger. Though he’s a very cool quarterback under pressure, that has to weigh on his mind.

Dr. Sports: Steelers to win and cover.

The Coach: Ravens to win.

St. Louis Rams 1-13 at Arizona Cardinals 9-5 (-13.5)

A meaningless game for the Cardinals, but they’ve shown us in the past that they love to beat up on the Rams and Seahawks – even in late December.

Dr. Sports: Cardinals to win and cover.

The Coach: Cardinals to win and cover.

Detroit Lions 2-12 at San Francisco 49ers 6-8 (-11.5)

The 49ers are obviously the much better team, but I’m concerned with their mindset here. They had to beat the Eagles to stay alive for the divisional crown. Instead, they lost, which officially knocked them out of the playoff hunt. I’m not sure how San Francisco bounces back from that, especially against the lowly Lions. What’s their incentive here?

Dr. Sports: Lions to win.

The Coach: 49ers to win and cover.

New York Jets 7-7 at Indianapolis Colts 14-0 (-5.5)

The Jets are playing their Super Bowl here. Their season’s on the line. They’ll give the Colts their best shot…but it won’t be enough.

Dr. Sports: Colts to win and cover.

The Coach: Colts to win and cover.

SUNDAY NIGHT

Dallas Cowboys 9-5 at Washington Redskins 4-10 (+6.5)

Despite knocking off the Saints last week, Dr. Sports just doesn’t understand how this team is any different. They have the same idiot coach. They have the same quarterback who takes trips to Vegas before games. They have a malcontent receiver (Roy Williams). And they have the same prodding owner who makes “suggestions” each week. They are lucky to be playing the ‘Skins who officially quit on Jim Zorn Monday night.

Dr. Sports: Cowboys to win, but not cover.

The Coach: Cowboys to win and cover.

MONDAY NIGHT

Minnesota Vikings 11-3 at Chicago Bears 5-9 (+6.5)

This is just what the (Sports) Doctor ordered for the Vikings; the Bears. The Bears haven’t covered a single point spread since Nov. 1. Their offense stinks, their defence stinks, they’re dominated at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and their quarterback just doesn’t seem to care anymore. We just watched the Redskins mail it in on Monday night. Now, it could be Chicago’s turn in what might just be Lovie Smith’s final game in the Windy City.

Dr. Sports: Vikings to win and cover.

The Coach: Vikings to win and cover.

The Doc shit the bed last week and is now 148-77 overall and 115-110 against the spread. The Coach is 139-86 straight up and 113-112 against the spread.

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The Sports Media Never Disappoints. Another Week of Stunning B.S.

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

I promised myself I would not criticize the mainstream media this week. Like far too many of THEM, I was becoming a one-trick pony.

Then the bull cupcakes hit the industrial-sized fan and we were blasted by a another week of utter insanity.

So with apologies to those who think I’m getting a little obsessed with this crap, here’s another look at another week of the mainstream media’s crazy talk.

1) The Winnipeg Football Club sent out a news release on Monday announcing that ticket renewals were running at a 97 per cent pace for 2010. And very few of those renewals had come in since the firing of Mike Kelly late last week.

Nice job. Good for the football club. Is it true? Who knows? But if it is, it means that almost every word written by our local papers during the last football season was a fabrication.

We all read this stuff every day. Both papers made it sound as if Kelly’s presence would mean that every single Bomber fan would cancel his season tickets. According to the papers, the fans all hated Mike Kelly so much, they were never going to go back to another game. They were never going to buy another ticket, period.

We were told that most of the Bomber board was so worried that if Kelly stuck around, the club might never sell another ticket again.

Well, apparently all the people screaming about never buying another ticket, never bought one in the first place. 97 per cent renewals?! That’s damn good.

If that’s true, only one thought comes to mind here: Liar liar pants on fire.

And we’re not referring to the Bombers. We’re referring to the newspapers. If the 97 per cent renewal thing is true, why would you believe a word written in a Winnipeg newspaper? The entire Kelly mess was the creation of a group of people so embarrassed by the fact the local football coach called “B.S.” on ‘em, that they waged war. The papers won, but apparanetly they did it with what we now see as outright lies.

2) There has not been a major trade in the NHL this year and there are fewer major trades every year, thanks in no small way to the NHL’s salary cap. However, if you read the Winnipeg Sun on Sunday, you’d think teams were making deals daily.

Sun Media’s Bruce Garrioch, who writes in Ottawa, now has every player in the NHL with the exception of Joe Thornton, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin on the trading block. This weekend, the Sun had Sheldon Souray, Vincent Lecavalier, Teemu Selanne and Eric Staal on the road to different teams, while almost every starting goalie in the NHL was apparently heading to the Philadelphia Flyers. Just for fun, the Ottawa Sun added Philly’s Jeff Carter and Edmonton’s Shawn Horcoff and Lubomir Visnovsky to the list of players about to be moved, “Any second. Maybe now. Tomorrow. Next week. We’re sure of it. Unnamed sources told us. Who nows?

Oh, poppycock.

Sun Media’s NHL trade rumours have gone way past just the rumour stage. It’s now reached the level of completely silly.

3) The Associated Press is convinced that Brett Favre and Brad Childress dislike each other and Favre is righteously angry at Childress because the coach even suggested that he might take Favre out of a game.

The game was Sunday night’s debacle against Carolina, a 26-7 loss  in which there wasn’t a member of the offensive line who could block the Panthers’ Julius Peppers — or anybody else for that matter. Favre was getting killed in there and Childress said on Monday that he suggested to his quarterback that it might be safer if he came out of the game.

Favre didn’t like the idea, the two talked about it and Favre stayed in. And then he nearly got his head ripped off by a Carolina defensive line that had a field day with a lethargic Vikings O-line.

Monday, I listened to the Childress news conference and the coach made an interesting point. He said: “We don’t do anything in a vacuum. On the sidelines we talk a bout a lot of things. In terms of my question to Bret, it was something that was talked through. I wish I could remember how it finished.”

It was no big deal, but the AP, along with a few other outlets, wanted to turn it into a big deal. Just like they turned “Unhappy Randy Moss hates Tom Brady,” into a story that wasn’t a story two weeks ago.

In guess you missed it, Moss was absolutely tremendous last week in a 17-10 Patriots win in Buffalo and the mainstream media was wrong. Again.

I guess when you’re not selling any papers and your business model has virtually collapsed, manufacturing stories works a lot better than the truth.

4) Because I’m always criticizing, I must admit that I go on daily searches looking for good stuff. Found a nice rant yesterday afternoon on ESPN radio, when host Kevin Cowherd went after a caller who suggested the National League was more exciting than the American League because the NL does not have the designated hitter.

Cowherd went nuts. And in a good way. He asked the caller why the NL is better without a DH and the guy responded, “the strategy,” and Cowherd echoed everything I’ve been thinking for years.

“When baseball was in trouble in the 1990s, what saved it?” Cowherd asked, “strategy or home runs? You don’t even have to answer that.

“Home runs saved baseball. McGwire and Sosa saved baseball. Strategy? Nobody goes to baseball games to watch strategy and don’t start handing me this ‘baseball traditionalists’ stuff either. Nobody cares about strategy. Strategy doesn’t make you hot. Home runs make you hot. The old double-switch. I love the old double-switch. Oh, that’s exciting. Your girlfriend gets so hot after the double-switch that she says, ‘Honey I’m so hot, I have to go back to the hotel right now.’ What a crock!

“Home runs saved baseball. Two-out bunts by pitchers didn’t save baseball.”

Then he got personal with the caller, who just happened to be from St. Louis.

“Even in St. Louis, the only person who cares about strategy is Tony LaRussa and yet his best friend is Mark McGwire. His best friend on the field right now is Albert Pujols, a guy who hits home runs.  David Eckstein is strategy. Yeah, everybody loves David Eckstein. The biggest heroes in St. Louis are Albert Pujols, Mark McGwire and Stan Musial — all power guys! Strategy nearly killed baseball. Home runs saved it. I’d rather watch a DH hit than a pitcher hit every single day. And there is nothing more boring than the old double-switch. Baseball is entertainment, not homework.”

Kevin Cowherd is a our media monster of the week.

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It’s Week 15 in the NFL and it’s Already Crazy.

Posted on December 20, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It was quite a Saturday night in the NFL.

After three quarters, the Dallas Cowboys held a 24-3 lead over the unbeaten New Orleans Saints, but when you’re trying to get to 14-0, there is usually no give-up in you.

So the Saints put up 14 unanswered in the fourth quarter and were driving for the tying touchdown when the Cowboys brilliant outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware stripped Drew Brees of the football, ending the Saints dream of 16-0.

It was a pretty good football game other than the NFL Network’s coverage of it. Technically, the telecast was weak (the Superdome P.A. announcer was louder than NFL Network play-by-play man Bob Papa) and the commentating was just annoying. In fact, it was another night of football with the mute button on.

It’s great that every NFL game is on television. It’s unfortunate that there aren’t enough quality broadcasters to go around. Matt Millen? Simply grating. Like fingernails on a chalkboard. Why doesn’t the NFL just showcase the home radio crews. I’ll guarantee most of them are easier to listen to than the alleged “national” broadcasters.

More thoughts from a wild and woolly week:

1) On the afternoon that Lyle Bauer announced his resignation as CEO of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, CJOB radio’s Geoff Currier made the most insightful comment of the day.

“If you look at the record, the most successful Blue Bombers coach during the Lyle Bauer Era was Dave Ritchie,” Currier said. “And Dave Ritchie was the only coach Lyle didn’t hire.”

It’s true. Bauer inherited Ritchie and never much liked him. Bauer did hire Jim Daley, Doug Berry and Mike Kelly, all, in the end failures. Although Kelly has left the Bombers with the best team they’ve had since 2000.

2) CBS Sports is promoting its 2010 PGA Tour golf coverage without using any images of Tiger Woods. Wow! Can’t wait for that showdown in the final round of the FedEx-Accenture-Buick-Ford-Disney Invitational Open World Golf Classic between Jerry Kelly and Zach Johnson.

Thrilling? No, sleep inducing. Pass the remote.

3) Although Mike Babcock has done a terrific job as head coach of the beaten-to-a-pulp Detroit Red Wings this season, there is very little doubt that the coach of the year in the NHL right now, is Nashville Predators boss, Barry Trotz.

Trotz, who came out of Dauphin, Man., to start his coaching career as an assistant at the University of Manitoba, has made the no-name Predators one of the top teams in the NHL this season, In fact, after Saturday night’s 5-3 win over Calgary, the Preds are now 22-11-3, tied with power-house Chicago for first in the Central Division.

While Babcock, who will do a tremendous job as head coach of Canada’s 2010 Olympic team, has kept Detroit in the playoff hunt despite the fact the Wings are currently without top line players’ Dan Cleary, Johan Franzen, Valterri Flippula, Niklas Kronwall, Jason Williams, Jonathan Ericsson, Darren Helm, and now Henrik Zetterberg, what Trotz has done is nothing short of remarkable.

He’s taken a low-budget team of has-beens, never-weres and not-likelys and turned them into one of only six NHL teams with at least 22 wins. He is a brilliant coach and the man Winnipeg would need if the NHL ever returned.

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Bauer Resigns, Kelly Fired. David Asper Can’t Arrive Soon Enough.

Posted on December 19, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 6 Comments

Full disclosure: Former Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly is my friend. He’s been my friend for 20 years. He will still be my friend.

With that said, Kelly’s unceremonious departure from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday was not surprising. After a difficult season in which he was forced to rebuild a football team that had been crumbling from within under Doug Berry, and then had to fight a vindictive media that was out to destroy him, Kelly was attacked in his own home by an ex-girlfriend and, as a result, was arrested and charged with assault under Pennsylvania’s strict zero tolerance law.

A man can’t get into a physical altercation with a woman — anyplace, anytime — and regardless of the details, the man will always lose in the court of public opinion. After the arrest, it was only a matter of hours before the Blue Bombers Board of Directors fired Kelly. They really had no other choice.

I spoke to Mike on Friday and, not surprisingly, he wasn’t talking. When legal is involved, there isn’t much one can say.

Still, the events of Thursday were quite interesting. In case you’ve forgotten, CEO Lyle Bauer resigned and head coach Kelly was fired. The circus of news conferences, complete with festering piles of bullshit you could actually measure with a thermometer, brought two things into focus:

(1) If you are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, you don’t ever argue — even discuss — the delivery of your message with the mainstream media. In Winnipeg, the media will control the Bombers’ message, not the Bombers.

(2) Despite the existence of the Bombers board and despite Lyle Bauer’s presence as CEO for the past decade, the Bombers are run by the local mainstream media. If the mainstream Winnipeg media wants something, the Bombers will roll over and give it to them. That might account for the fact the team hasn’t won a championship in 19 years.

When you turn the operation of a sports franchise over to people who have never worked a day in the front office of a sports franchise, you’ll have problems. When you turn a football franchise over to people who have never played a game of touch, let alone tackle football, you will be a disaster.

In Winnipeg, the Bombers fear of the media has proved to be their undoing. This year, that was made quite clear.

When Kelly suggested that it was time to become professional with the dissemination of information, he was actually reprimanded by his boss.

Kelly’s plan was to handle the media the way the National Football League handles the media. Say the team plays on a Friday night. Kelly would speak to the media on Thursday and Friday morning, then after the game on Friday and then again on Saturday. On Sunday, the offensive co-ordinator (or the No. 1 offensive coach) would speak to the media and then, on Monday, it would be the defensive co-ordinator. On Tuesday and Wednesday, assistant coaches would get the floor and then it would come around to Kelly again.

When certain members of the local media got wind of that, they were all over Bauer. It was Kelly every day or nothing. Bauer, of course, relented, and Kelly was thrust into that tiny, smelly stairwell outside the media bunker every day. For the Bombers, it was another dumb decision in a season of dumb decisions.

So when people wonder, “Why didn’t Kelly just shut up?” the answer was, he tried but he wasn’t permitted.

Kelly also wanted to move the daily news conference out of that claustrophobic stairwell and into the Sun Centre (frankly, all Bomber media information should be disseminated in the Sun Centre), but he wasn’t permitted to do that either. Seems the Bombers couldn’t afford to keep the Sun Centre clean.

Unlike an NFL franchise which has a vice-president of communications who not only has equal authority with the head coach, but is regarded so highly by his employers that he/she is at an equal pay grade with the head coach, the Bombers’ communications people have always been little more than back-room peons who make small paycheques and send out press releases. Kelly received no direction, got no help and had no filter because there was no one in the organization with the responsiblity or the authority to make sure the message was not only controlled, but delivered in such a manner that the local mainstream media felt sufficiently appeased.

Meanwhile, Kelly wanted to control television’s access to his practice time. He decided early on to give the TV stations specific times to record. It’s been done in the NFL for two decades and Kelly just wanted to feel more comfortable about TV’s ability to record what he was doing at practice (Not that a TV anchor would have any what’s on tape, but what an opposing football coach might do if he saw something odd. Kelly had no fear of the media. He knew they had no clue). Simple request.

Trouble was, the team’s communications peon didn’t bother to send out the schedule until, oh, AFTER, the first practice of training camp. Global’s Joe Pascucci went nuts when he was told he couldn’t record most of the first practice and Kelly was left to accept responsibility for a communications department that either didn’t do its job or was told, at a higher level, not to do it.

There were dozens of other incidents. Kelly was not going to be allowed to control his own message and not only was the local mainstream media not going to allow him to do it, but apparently neither were certain members of the Bombers front office.

2009 was a Gong Show in Bomberland. In the end, the Bombers board got a rebuilt team (yes, yes, the Bombers still need a quarterback) without a leader off the field, without a leader on the field and without a decent place to play.

However, that’s no problem for this Bomber board and their pals in the mainstream media, the folks who have created this little problem. After all, we’ve already been handed a list of acceptable CEO and coaching candidates by the local press and one of the names of the coaching list is Paul LaPolice. Yep, that’s the same Paul LaPolice that the local media called “incompetent” when he ran the Bombers offence in 2002 and 2003 (even though he put up huge passing numbers in 2002). That’s the same guy they ran out of town on a rail.

In Winnipeg, there are two professional sports franchises that are privately owned. The baseball Goldeyes, 2009 Organization of the Year in the Northern League and the hockey Moose, 2009 American Hockey League President’s Trophy winners. Both franchises are beautifully operated and both play in gorgeous venues. It became painfully obvious this week that private ownership is the only way for the Bombers to go.

In fact, what happened on Thursday — as a result of what happened throughout in 2009 — was proof that David Asper’s arrival as a private, accountable franchise owner can’t occur soon enough. Fear has reigned on Maroons Road for far too long. It’s time to bring the Bombers into the 21st Century.

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Bauer Steps Down as President and CEO of the Blue Bombers.

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Thursday, the Winnipeg Football Club announced that President and CEO Lyle Bauer had resigned.

Jim Bell, V.P. of Finance and Administration for the WFC, will take over immediately as the club’s the interim President.

“This is my decision,” said Bauer, via telephone from his wife’s family’s home in Utah. “This decision has no financial impact on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

“I appreciate that the board supports me as CEO and always has supported me, but it’s time to move on.”

When Bauer said that his decision has no financial impact on the club,  he was being sincere. Sources close to the football club told www.rivercitysportsblog.com yesterday that Bauer, who resigned on Tuesday, wanted to be fired in order to be paid out for the final two years (almost $800,000) on his contract. Then he could move on and attempt to take over as CEO in Calgary. However, when the board gave him full support and refused to fire him, Bauer had to take a different route toward the exit.

Bauer leaves with the team in good shape. On-field, the Bombers have been rebuilt by head coach Mike Kelly and player personnel director John Murphy and are probably only a quarterback away from taking a legitimate run at the Grey Cup.

Financially, the club did not have a great year in 2009, but because of the work of Bauer, former mayor Glen Murray and former premier Gary Doer, the team was removed from financial life support back in 2000. Both Murray and Doer forgave more than $5 million in loans and debts, most accumulated by former GM Cal Murphy, and the Bombers have done well ever since.

The Bombers have  a new stadium and a new owner on the way, but when that will occur, is anyone’s guess.

Bombers board chairman Ken Hildahl still would not commit to bringing back Mike Kelly as head coach. Hildahl said that decision would be made soon.

At this stage, the Bombers would be foolish to remove Kelly at this stage, but stranger things have happened.

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Lyle Bauer Resigning As Bombers President and CEO

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will hold a news conference at 12:45 CST today to make a major announcement.

That announcement will be the resignation of Lyle Bauer as president and CEO.

More later…

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