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.