The State of the NFL...
1. Patriots. First it was the Eagles taking their shot and if it weren’t for AJ playing King Solomon they would have given the Pats their first loss. Then came the Ravens who apparently were opposing both the Ravens & the officials. Look the Pats are great, yadda, yadda, yadda. And they're lucky as all get out, too. But at some point their luck will run out and it may be this week vs. the Steelers.
2. Cowboys. My fingers nearly fell from my hand as I typed that in but they are in fact the 2nd best team in the NFL right now. And from the looks of Romo, they plan on being an elite team for quite some time. And isn't that just great news for Eagles fans?
3. Colts. Like the Patriots, the Colts were beneficiaries of some official generosity in their game vs. the Jags. Not the same dominating team we saw last year but there still may be time to get on a roll.
4. Steelers. Obviously the biggest of tests this coming week when they travel to Foxboro. Clearly the Eagles & Ravens have, at the very least, provided all teams going forward, some semblance of a blueprint on how to beat the Patriots.
5. Packers. Some dents in the Packer Nation came to light last Thursday. Brett Favre inexplicably reverted back to some of his old bad habits and the defense, which was minus Charles Woodson, was beaten badly, particularly in the passing game.
6. Jaguars. David Garrard has certainly justified Jack Del Rio's faith in him as he has proved to be an NFL-caliber QB. A solid defense plus a very solid 1-2 RB punch equals potential trouble for opponents come playoff time.
7. Chargers. Any team with LT is a threat. The problem is they also have Norv Turner, who is the ultimate antidote against all the good things LT can do. Somehow, some way, Norv will screw things up. Count on it.
8. Vikings. Yeah, you read right. Seahawks? Bucs? Giants? No. Don't look now kids but the hottest team in the NFL right now are the Vikings and any team that can both run and defend the run is a legitimate threat come playoff time, assuming they get that far of course.
The King Has No Court...
The first two things that came to mind after hearing of the Billy King firing were 'Why Now?' and 'Ed Snider had nothing to do with it.'
Why Now? Why would you start the season AND then fire him? What did anyone expect from this team other than what they have shown so far? Did someone in Comcast think they would somehow exceed the expectations, as low as they were? Or did Ed Stefanski suddenly become available? Whatever the reason, there is one thing perfectly clear in my eyes...
Ed Snider had nothing to do with it. Billy King was Ed's guy. Everyone knew that. He consistently stood behind him and supported him even in the face of some truly awful moves. And it is because Ed so staunchly defended him after oh by the way, hiring him in the first place, he was not about to fire him and thus admit any wrongdoing.
Bottom line in all of this is Ed Stefanski, by all accounts, is a good guy with a good basketball acumen and pedigree. Plus he's local, which never hurts. But then again so was Jim O'Brien and how'd that turn out? Ok, that's not fair to compare the two. But much like O'Brien, Steady Eddie has his work cut out for him and then some. If patience is in fact a virtue, I suggest all Sixers fans get very virtuous very quickly.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow... Warriors
Ok, I know the University of Hawaii is no longer the Rainbow Warriors but rather just the Warriors but Somewhere Over The Warriors didn't sound right!
Only in America with fine upstanding institutions like the NCAA can we see such egregious acts perpetrated with nary a ramification in sight.
The University of Hawaii football team finished the season 12-0.
0 as in Zero. As in no losses. So why are they not playing for the National Championship when a team with one loss (Ohio St.) is playing a team with two (LSU)?
Is it because they are in a non-BCS conference, whatever that means?
Is it their schedule? They didn't beat one respectable BCS-conference opponent all year.
But there's more.
In the final BCS rankings, the Warriors are ranked #10, behind teams like the aforementioned LSU plus West Virginia, both of whom lost at home to bad teams - Arkansas & Pittsburgh respectively, late in the season no less!
I tell you when I grow up and start my own college football team I want to be in the Big 10. No post season conference tournament. Just win in the regular season and play for the national title. Course on the other hand the post season tournament helped LSU as after losing to the Razorbacks, they rebounded to beat Tennessee in the SEC Title Game, thus impressing the BCS computers enough to put them in the title game.
So Ohio St. will play LSU for the national title and I quite frankly, could care less. Call me when you finally figure out a way to put the best two teams against one another.
'Til next time.
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