February 22, 2012

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Don’t close the window on San Antonio just yet

February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It was not very hard for many basketball fans to write off the Spurs as being, “too old”, for this 2012 season.

After all, the average age of their four highest paid players is around 32 years old. When you mix in Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan’s injury woes, Richard Jefferson’s inefficiencies  and Tony Parker’s penchant for turning the ball over, people tend to believe that the window for future championships has slammed shut on the Spurs.

Tim Duncan in a Nov. 30, 2006 game against Golden State (Photo: neth_ra via Flickr)

I personally did not believe that San Antonio would be able to concoct another title run in this lockout-shortened season. I felt that there are just too many teams whose youth and energy would run circles around an aging Spurs squad.

Have we been proven wrong thus far!

While Manu still battles his injuries, this team has played magnificently during the first half of this NBA season. San Antonio is currently leading the Southwest Division in the Western Conference; Their 23-10 mark ranks as the 2nd best record in the West and the 4th best in the entire league!

Thank Tiago Splitter and Gary Neal for helping the team to regain some of their youth. Both players have stepped up to the task and are putting forth some great efforts. Splitter and Neal average just about 9 points per ball game, helping this SA team become the 5th best scoring team in the league.

Even with the relative youth movement on the team (Splitter and Neal are both 27), it still surprises me that Parker and Duncan are playing as strongly as they have this year. Parker and Duncan lead the team in points and minutes, with Tony having the most assists and Tim leading the team in boards.

As the All-Star Break approaches, many in Texas hope that this team can continue their torrid pace. If anything, it would be amazing to see this club try one more time to attain another NBA championship.

 

stats for the post gathered from espn.com

 

Filed Under: 2011, 2012, Basketball, Community Sports Teams, Professional Tagged With: , , , , ,

Patriots and Giants to meet in the Super Bowl…again

January 22, 2012 By

Championship game rematches seem to be the “theme du jour” for the sport of Football this season.

After the New York Giants and the New England Patriots did enough to get by their opponents today, most fans were probably thinking: “Aw gosh, not another rematch!”

Many will remember the rematch between LSU and Alabama in this year’s BCS Title Game; A match that occurred a little more than two months after the two played on November 5th (LSU won that game 6-3).  The resulting Championship Game between the two was a bore fest, with Alabama shutting down a weak LSU team 21-0.

Now in the NFL, the Patriots and the Giants will play for the second time this season in Super Bowl XLVI. The two teams met on November 6th, with the Giants winning 24-20. Hold on, it gets better: Not only is this a rematch of a game played this year, but Super Bowl XLII as well, with the Giants winning 17-14, ending New England’s bid for a perfect season.

While a part of me wants to believe that Super Bowl XLVI will be exciting and competitive, the sad truth is that rematches rarely live up to the hype surrounding it. This Super Bowl might be no exception.

Filed Under: 2011, Football, Professional Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Rangers win the “Darvish Sweepstakes”

January 21, 2012 By

I commend the Texas Rangers for finally realizing that pitching is key in baseball. After all, this team that seemingly was on their way to slugging for a World Series Title was sidetracked  by a quality pitching staff.

Additionally, the Ranger pitchers, which had been reliable throughout the season, faltered all throughout the Fall Classic. This franchise suffered with a rotation that had an abysmal 4.65 team ERA in the World Series. When you compare that with the Rangers’ Regular Season team ERA of 3.79, along with the fact that starting pitcher C.J Wilson left for the Anaheim Angels, folks then realize that something had to be done to fix this problem.

Thus started the “Darvish Sweepstakes”, in which the Rangers (and other Major League Baseball clubs) began to bid to acquire Japanese Pitcher Yu Darvish. Darvish played with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2011, going 28-6 with an ERA of 1.44. Yeah, 1.44…that’s better than MLB’s Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, who had a 2.28 ERA in 2011.

It’s obvious that Darvish is a commodity that many franchises want on their team…hence why the bidding war just to negotiate for Yu got so high. The Rangers ended up spending $51.7 million to just talk with the guy, then spent an additional $60 million on a contract that will go for 6 years. Yikes! Almost $112 million dollars to sign one player. It’s a sign of the times.

So, here’s the million dollar (rather 112 million dollar)  question everyone will ask going into the 2012 season: Will the acquisition of Yu Darvish help Texas’ pitching situation to win the World Series?

In my mind…no. Although Yu Darvish is a strong pitcher and will no doubt excel on the Major League level, the problem for Texas lies with the rest of their staff. During the World Series, 4 pitchers on the Rangers’ staff had ERA’s above 9.00; In the League Championship Series, the Rangers had 3 pitchers with ERA’s above 6.00. When the Rangers needed quality pitching during the most important time of the year, they just never seemed to get it. The end result being the Cardinals making their miraculous comeback, snatching away the title from the Rangers’ grasp.

While obtaning the services of Darvish is a step in the right direction for the Ranger organization, when it comes down  to it, they need plenty more help in the pitching department.

On the bright side…at least Yu knows how to dine on the company dime. 

 

stats gathered from: texas.rangers.mlb.com, mlb.com, npb.com

Filed Under: 2011, Baseball, Baseball, Community Sports Teams, Professional Tagged With: , , , , ,

Podcast: Football postseason and College Basketball

January 11, 2012 By

Can you believe that the football season is almost over!? We only have 3 and 1/2 more weeks before Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis! It seemed like it was only yesterday that Opening Weekend festivities were taking place.

However, as the days go by in January, so goes the hourglass on the 2011-12 season.  In this podcast, I’ll talk about the Houston Texans and their postseason run, as well as Texas teams in the FBS and FCS during the collegiate postseason.

Finally, it’s time to start talking about College Basketball; Texas teams are beginning conference play, I’ll let you know who to watch down the stretch.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:19 — 21.0MB)

Filed Under: 2011, Basketball, College, Community Sports Teams, Football, Football, Podcast, Professional Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Injuries a concern for Texans in post-season

January 5, 2012 By

Texan Flag Runners during a 2010 football game. (Photo: M Glasgow via Flickr)

 

 

In a normal world, when a professional team works their way into a playoff spot, it’s definite cause for celebration. More so when a team wins their division and enters the post-season for the first time in franchise history. For the Houston Texans, that exhilarating moment finally came to fruition in mid-December; That’s when they clinched their first AFC South title and earned a playoff berth for the first time in the team’s 9 year history.

However, normalcy has been a rather taboo word in the minds of Texan fans and players this year. After all of the injuries that this team has suffered, fans have been left to wonder, “Can this team stay healthy to just compete in a playoff game.”

The Texans injury woes have been well documented all season long: Houston has 12 players on Injured Reserve, with stars such as Linebacker Mario Williams, Quarterbacks Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart, Free Safety Dominique Barber and Cornerback Roc Carmichael populating that list. Among the walking wounded: Wide Receiver Andre Johnson has had both hamstrings fail him; Linebacker Brian Cushing seems to break his nose every other week; Finally, the Texans learned that Tight Ends Joel Dreesen and Owen Daniels practiced sparingly this week due to knee injuries, while starting QB T.J Yates is practicing with a mild shoulder injury.

It just seems as if the Texans cannot get a break! Even when the Texans seem to rest players who are recovering from injury, more players end up getting hurt. While injuries are a part of the game, it’s evident that the Texans injury bug has attacked the offensive side of the ball quite a bit. Fans just hope that this team can stave off further injury, especially as the Texans will be up against a scrappy Cincinnati Bengal team on Saturday.

 

Filed Under: 2011, Community Sports Teams, Football, Football, Professional Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Robert Griffin III to enter NFL Draft

January 1, 2012 By

According to multiple sources, the 2011 Heisman Trophy Winner Robert Griffin III (RG3) will enter his name into the NFL Draft. Griffin had until January 15th to make a decision on entering.

There has not been an official decision made from RG3 himself, but according to his father, Robert Griffin II, via ESPN:

 ”I met with my son (Friday) and his schedule is pretty much he will attend the Sugar Bowl here in New Orleans (where the Griffins live), then next weekend he will meet with five agents and select the right agent to represent him and plan a good pre-draft process…After that he will sit down with three of his coaches at Baylor on Wednesday or Thursday (Jan. 11 or 12) and make it official.”

As I mentioned in my last podcast, I felt that Griffin would be better suited moving on to the next level and competing in the NFL. I’m still convinced that RG3 has nothing  more to prove at the college level; He has already attained the sports highest honor and the only thing more is vying for a Championship.

If the wild Alamo Bowl was the last time we see RG3 in a Baylor uni, then he will finish with a career stat line of a 66%  completion percentage, 10,366 passing yards, 78 TD’s and 17 INT; 2,257 rushing yards and 33 rushing TD’s.

Griffin reset many individual stat records at Baylor, becoming the all-time leader in at least 17 categories. The most impressive being the all-time leader in passing yards in a career (10,366), in a single season (4,293 in 2011, breaking his own mark of 3,501 in 2010), most passing touchdowns in a career (78) and in a season (37 in 2011, breaking his mark of 22 in 2010).

 

Sources for article: espn.com, baylorbears.com

 

Filed Under: 2011, College, Community Sports Teams, Football, Football, Professional Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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