Category: Sports

Giving it up for Michigan

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If you’re a Florida fan, you can’t say that Michigan didn’t deserve to win the game today. Other than turnovers, UM outplayed the Gators in every way. In fact, if it weren’t for the turnovers the game wouldn’t have been close.

The Gators young defensive line was handled by UM for most of the game, the Gators older offensive line was handled by UM for the whole game, and the UM quarterback was playing catch in the backyard with his receivers all day.

It’s a dispiriting loss for UF, but in a small way I do feel a little good for the UM coach. He won a lot of games there, had a tough time recently, and went out a winner. That was a heck of a game you called coach.

Three dash zero

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It’s very early, but you have to like the fact that the Lightning have started 3-0 without the services of their best defenseman.

Well, I suppose if you’re not a hockey fan, or if you are a hockey fan but not a Lightning fan, then you don’t HAVE to like it; but you’re free to like it if you want to. With the Rays season over, the Bucs crashing back to Earth last week, and the Gators beaten for the second week in a row, it seems likely that I’m going to be a bigger hockey fan this fall than usual.

Well, I suppose I could root for the old home teams… the Sox and Pats aren’t doing too poorly so far.

Yankees Decline Wild Card – The Onion

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Yankees Decline Wild Card

The Onion

Yankees Decline Wild Card

NEW YORK—Saying the American League wild-card bid is "beneath the dignity of the Yankees organization" and "an affront to everything [we] stand for," New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and manager Joe Torre told reporters during a…

You can’t win them all

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Auburn played a heck of a ball game. It’s just a shame they had to play it late at night, on a day when I was having a pretty good day. I’d like to say that Florida had some kind of moral victory… outplaying the Tigers, or being the better team… but it wouldn’t be true.

You get greedy when your team wins a lot of ball games. You want them to win them all. There’s always a night like this sometime, when you find out you can’t. I’ll tell you who I feel good for: Tommy Tuberville. He’s had a tough season so far, going 2-2, and loosing a tough game to South Florida at home. He coached up his guys pretty good this week. His quarterback looked like a different person; throwing with confidence and intelligence. Until the fourth quarter, his offensive and defensive lines owned the trenches. If it wasn’t for a heroic effort by Florida’s Tebow, it may not have been close.

I really wish I hadn’t been so invested in the outcome, otherwise it would have been a great game. Sadly, I’m not one of those people who can enjoy a good game when my team loses.

Now, somehow I’ve got to find a way to get some sleep. The kids will be up in seven hours, and I’m not terribly sleepy. It’s like I’m losing twice tonight.

Go Gators

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There may come a day this season when Tennessee looks like a poor test, but going into this weekend I was a little worried. Partially, this is because I am a worrier by nature; but you’ve got to admit, the young Gator defense gave you a little bit of discomfort in the second half against Troy State, right?

There may come a day when I regret saying this, but the Gators looked like they picked up right where they left off in January on Saturday. The only cause for concern was the pass rush, but the run defense was pretty good, so they must have been doing something right in the trenches. Further, all I heard about going into the game was how big and athletic UT’s offensive line is/was. Well, if that’s how we stack up against a good offensive line, I’ll take my chances with the group we’ve got on the D line.

The extremely young secondary looked like they at least held their own. There were some mix-ups in coverage, but it looked like there were some pretty good tacklers in this mix.

And the offense? Even if UT is having a down year, it’s still an SEC defense – and if I recall, the product of some pretty good recruiting classes brought in by Coach Fulmer. Even in a down year, UT isn’t Troy State… and that was a world of hurt the UF offense put on UT.

Yep, Saturday’s game has me excited.

Good to bad

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As much as I felt good for Edwin Jackson the other night, I felt bad for Jason Hammel and Jon Switzer last night. Although I didn’t see the game (it wasn’t on TV here), Hammel and Switzer apparently didn’t pitch very well… continuing a trend on the big league team. Both (particularly Switzer this season) have been lights out in the minors. It’s really too bad it hasn’t carried over.

A feel good game for Edwin Jackson and the Rays

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Edwin Jackson’s ERA is under 3 in his last six games. Coming after a really bad start, he’s got reason to feel good about himself. After a 3-0 shutout in Texas… here’s to hoping he can keep it up. If so, the Rays could have three pretty good starting pitchers… with several promising prospects still working their way through the minors.

With an offense that’s already pretty good, I think the Rays (as a whole) could be really good next year.

ESPN – Group led by MacLean agrees to buy Lightning – NHL

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ESPN – Group led by MacLean agrees to buy Lightning – NHL

WOW!

and

WOW!

Excuse me, did I just say WOW!

Maybe I’m just WAY, WAY out of the loop, but I had no idea this was in the offing. I’m of two minds about prior ownership. On one hand, they delivered the home team from it’s losing ways to an unimaginable championship. On the other, they claim poverty, won’t spend the salary cap, and attend fewer home games than I do. You’d like to think ownership cares as much about the team as you do. Although everyone says it’s just a business, you’d like to think the owners are at least fans. It was hard to picture the Davidsons as mildly interested… forget about being rabid fans.

There’s no confusing MacLean… he’s a hockey guy. The question remains: will he be a good owner. We know what bad owners look like, having had LOTS of them… in three different sports (four, if you count Orlando in the mix). We should be able to tell pretty quick.

Newsvine – NAACP Leaders Urge Fairness for Vick

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Newsvine – NAACP Leaders Urge Fairness for Vick:

“R.L. White, president of the Atlanta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the Atlanta Falcons quarterback has been vilified by animal rights groups, talk radio and the news media and prematurely punished by his team and corporate sponsors.”

I didn’t have anything to say about the Michael Vick story until I saw this headline. Most of the things said by the NAACP are correct, and I agree 99.9%. Vick hasn’t been convicted of anything, and we should withhold judgement until he is convicted of a crime by a jury of his peers… as far as the crimial charges go anyway.

But I don’t agree with everything, and I’m going to stray into unfamiliar territory here… and defend the corporate sponsors.

(more…)

Overextended?

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I read an article from the Orlando Sentinel recently (around the time the Rays were playing a series against the Texas Rangers in Orlando), which pointed to the lack of attendence at Rays games as evidence that Tampa Bay was “overextended” as a region with professional sports franchises.

Then I noticed that the Marlins drew a whopping 11,525 for today’s game against the Rays.

So then I decided to see how well the Rays attendance figures were when the Marlins were in town. I couldn’t find the numbers, but I did find something else that was interesting…

In 2003 the Marlins won the World Series… and they averaged 16,290 in attendance per game. In 2006 the Rays finished with the worst overall record in baseball, qualifying them for the first overall pick in the recent amateur draft… and they averaged 16,901 in attendance per game.

I could really tear into the Sentinel column, but I’m too tired right now.