By Evan Ream
During the course of his career, Michael Bradley has faced almost no competition for playing time. At every club that he has been at, he has clearly been the best player at his position and thus the default starter. Until now.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Wednesday Lunch: Bowling is a Sport. Really, It Is!
By Nick Gallaudet
I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine about what the difference between sports and games and what qualifies as what (for example, I felt that poker was a game, but table tennis and golf were sports). We went back and forth on a couple things, but mostly agreed, until we got to bowling. My friend refused to call bowling a sport. I spent a while trying to convince him otherwise, but he wouldn’t have it. Bowling certainly isn’t the first thing to comes to mind when thinking of popular sports, but it most definitely is not just a game, and by the end of this article, you will know why.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Tuesday Lunch: The Problem with Jay Cutler
By Will Robinson
I think it’s safe to say that I have some animosity towards one Jay Cutler. Sure, he put up good numbers while playing for Denver. He did not handle the trade talks involving him when Josh McDaniels was hired well, but he did hold the physical skills to be a great NFL quarterback. The rest of his stay in Denver is now history, as he was traded to the Chicago Bears for a slew of draft picks and Kyle Orton. Clearly, he had success during the 2010 regular season, but Sunday was perhaps the lowest moment of his career. Even if I may be biased, this next statement is how I feel after watching him play Sunday: I do not believe Jay Cutler is mentally strong enough to become a great NFL quarterback.
I think it’s safe to say that I have some animosity towards one Jay Cutler. Sure, he put up good numbers while playing for Denver. He did not handle the trade talks involving him when Josh McDaniels was hired well, but he did hold the physical skills to be a great NFL quarterback. The rest of his stay in Denver is now history, as he was traded to the Chicago Bears for a slew of draft picks and Kyle Orton. Clearly, he had success during the 2010 regular season, but Sunday was perhaps the lowest moment of his career. Even if I may be biased, this next statement is how I feel after watching him play Sunday: I do not believe Jay Cutler is mentally strong enough to become a great NFL quarterback.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Monday Lunch: I Like That BoonBoorey....Don't We All?
By Evan Ream
I just back from taking in Saturday's international friendly against Chile. Normally, I would rate all the players, but I don't really think we can actually take much from this game other than a few tidbits. Brek Shea is still too young and too raw to contribute; Dax McCarty is a solid player, but will likely never be good enough to challenge for a starting spot because of the depth that USA has at center mid; Zach Loyd had a promising debut; and Marvell Wynne should never play for USA ever again. Anyone who watched the game can tell any of this. I'm not going to even talk about Juan Agudelo because, if you have been keeping up with the scene for the last couple of months, you know what he is capable of.
I want to talk about Teal Bunbury.
I just back from taking in Saturday's international friendly against Chile. Normally, I would rate all the players, but I don't really think we can actually take much from this game other than a few tidbits. Brek Shea is still too young and too raw to contribute; Dax McCarty is a solid player, but will likely never be good enough to challenge for a starting spot because of the depth that USA has at center mid; Zach Loyd had a promising debut; and Marvell Wynne should never play for USA ever again. Anyone who watched the game can tell any of this. I'm not going to even talk about Juan Agudelo because, if you have been keeping up with the scene for the last couple of months, you know what he is capable of.
I want to talk about Teal Bunbury.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Tuesday Lunch: 2010 NFL Conference Championships
By Will Robinson
That was another great and crazy weekend in the NFL. This past weekend we saw two blowouts, an intense, close game that went down to the wire, and a flat-out beating. A quarterback had a Bill Walton ’77 esque performance; another one had a coming out party; Pittsburgh’s main man had another typical comeback performance; and the Jets’ signal caller notched his fourth road playoff win in his second year of starting. Unfortunately, with New England being eliminated, my Super Bowl match-up has been squelched; however, my Super Bowl champion is still in the race. Let’s cut the crap now and get to the two conference championship games.
That was another great and crazy weekend in the NFL. This past weekend we saw two blowouts, an intense, close game that went down to the wire, and a flat-out beating. A quarterback had a Bill Walton ’77 esque performance; another one had a coming out party; Pittsburgh’s main man had another typical comeback performance; and the Jets’ signal caller notched his fourth road playoff win in his second year of starting. Unfortunately, with New England being eliminated, my Super Bowl match-up has been squelched; however, my Super Bowl champion is still in the race. Let’s cut the crap now and get to the two conference championship games. Friday, January 14, 2011
Friday Lunch: A Basketball Grab-Bag
By Brent MacDonald
Carmelo to be Traded?
This would probably be one of the worst things Carmelo could do this season, besides holding an hour-long TV special to spotlight his decision to go to New Jersey. The trade is supposedly going down sometime next week, and would involve transactions from Denver, New Jersey and Detroit.
Off the court, ‘Melo isn’t a Jersey Shore type of guy; he just wouldn’t like it there. Besides the money, I don’t see the other benefits he would be getting from signing with the Nets. $65 million over three years is a hell of a figure, and with pockets like Mikhail Prokhrov, it’s just another drop of a dime. But is that dime even worth being dropped?
Carmelo has always been just another high-scoring star with no real pieces around him to help the nuggets journey past the first round of the playoffs. Plus, at the rate New Jersey is going, they’ll be getting another high first round draft pick come this summer. There’s really no point in starting to win now, they’ll only end up with a worse draft pick and zero chance at playoffs.
Denver needs to keep Carmelo for the remainder of the season and try to ride him a little further into playoffs, then allow other teams to begin bidding in the summer. If not, it looks like Pauly D might have a new GTL pahtna.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Thursday Lunch: BCS Retro Diary
By Dylan Davis
Even though the 41 combined points were what many thought the winning team would score in the championship game, it was still a highly entertaining chess match between the two most explosive offenses of the year. Let’s take a look back at what transpired and how Auburn was able to escape with a last-second field goal.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Wednesday Lunch: Michigan in the Wrong for RichRod’s Firing
By Nick Gallaudet
With the firing of Coach Rich Rodriguez last week, the University of Michigan football team announced that it was not satisfied being left out of the BCS picture. It was the assumption that Michigan jettisoned Rodriguez to make room for a big name coach like former Wolverine Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh, however, had different plans, and it seemed as though Michigan was third on Harbaugh’s list of possible coaching stops, behind Stanford and the 49ers. Spurned by Harbaugh, Michigan set its sights on LSU head football coach, Les Miles; however, that was not meant to be either. Miles announced he would not be leaving LSU, leaving Michigan without a head coach. Michigan is still one of the nation’s premier football programs, despite mediocre records the past four seasons, and it makes sense for them to want to be relevant on the national stage again, but they’re going about it the wrong way. The correct move would have been to retain Rodriguez as their coach, and by firing him, they have set their program back another three years.
With the firing of Coach Rich Rodriguez last week, the University of Michigan football team announced that it was not satisfied being left out of the BCS picture. It was the assumption that Michigan jettisoned Rodriguez to make room for a big name coach like former Wolverine Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh, however, had different plans, and it seemed as though Michigan was third on Harbaugh’s list of possible coaching stops, behind Stanford and the 49ers. Spurned by Harbaugh, Michigan set its sights on LSU head football coach, Les Miles; however, that was not meant to be either. Miles announced he would not be leaving LSU, leaving Michigan without a head coach. Michigan is still one of the nation’s premier football programs, despite mediocre records the past four seasons, and it makes sense for them to want to be relevant on the national stage again, but they’re going about it the wrong way. The correct move would have been to retain Rodriguez as their coach, and by firing him, they have set their program back another three years.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Tuesday Lunch: Round Two!
By Will Robinson
Well uh, THAT happened. This past weekend was one of the better Wild Car weekends I can remember (last year had one good game, Arizona vs. Green Bay, where this weekend had one bad game, Baltimore vs. Kansas City). I got two of my picks correct, while I totally whiffed on my Seattle one. Here are the upcoming Divisional Playoff Round match ups:
Monday, January 10, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Friday Lunch: The House Never Wins: Gambling & The NBA
By Brent MacDonald
Note: Check out this post on our NEW site!
With all the dog fights, alleged rapes and 'sexts' going on in sports today, it’s no surprise that another problem has risen to round out the list.
Note: Check out this post on our NEW site!
With all the dog fights, alleged rapes and 'sexts' going on in sports today, it’s no surprise that another problem has risen to round out the list.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Wednesday Lunch: TSL’s NFL Regular Season Awards
By Nick Gallaudet
Well, the 2010 NFL season is in the books. If you want postseason predictions, you’ve come to the wrong place. All of that good stuff was covered by my esteemed colleague, Will, yesterday. This is a season recap with the special TSL Regular Season Awards. Since us as TSL have no vote for the NFL awards, I’m not going to waste our time or yours going over boring awards like MVP and Rookie of the Year. These awards are much more prestigious. Without further ado, let’s light this candle.
Well, the 2010 NFL season is in the books. If you want postseason predictions, you’ve come to the wrong place. All of that good stuff was covered by my esteemed colleague, Will, yesterday. This is a season recap with the special TSL Regular Season Awards. Since us as TSL have no vote for the NFL awards, I’m not going to waste our time or yours going over boring awards like MVP and Rookie of the Year. These awards are much more prestigious. Without further ado, let’s light this candle.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Tuesday Lunch: Mega Wild Card Round Preview
By Will Robinson
The NFL regular season is over with, and there were plenty of storylines that came with it. Despite Denver failing to meet my low expectations this year, they were not the only disappointing team from the 2010 NFL season, and there were a wealth of surprising teams. I’ll spare the details; there will be a season recap coming up later this week.
The playoff schedule is now set in stone, and there will be four games this week during the Wild Card round. The matchups, in chronological order, are as follows:
The NFL regular season is over with, and there were plenty of storylines that came with it. Despite Denver failing to meet my low expectations this year, they were not the only disappointing team from the 2010 NFL season, and there were a wealth of surprising teams. I’ll spare the details; there will be a season recap coming up later this week.
The playoff schedule is now set in stone, and there will be four games this week during the Wild Card round. The matchups, in chronological order, are as follows:
Monday, January 3, 2011
Monday Lunch: Breaking into the Mainstream – MLS in the Pacific Northwest
By Evan Ream
For 15 years, Major League Soccer has been fighting the jokes, taunts, and criticism that it simply does not matter when compared to other sports leagues in the United States. As a teenager, I was barraged with similar comments when I wore my DC United jerseys to school. Fans of other sports as well as “Euro Snobs” perceived MLS as a joke and nothing more than an afterthought in today’s professional sports. For a long time, I wondered if these things could actually be true. Was I the only one that cared about MLS? Of course, there were areas like Washington DC and Los Angeles that clearly cared about their teams, and yet when I would visit those places, you wouldn’t see MLS jerseys or hear people talking about MLS. I started to think that MLS could never be relevant in any market like the big four sports were, but then Commissioner Don Garber and MLS made one of their best decisions yet: to add soccer to the Pacific Northwest.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Saturday Lunch: NFL Week 17 Picks
Current Year’s Record
Dylan: 138-86
Evan: 133-91
Nick: 137-87
Will: 132-92
| CAR at ATL | PIT at CLE | MIN at DET | OAK at KC | MIA at NE | TB at NO | BUF at NYJ | CIN at BAL | |
| Dylan | ATL | PIT | DET | KC | MIA | NO | NYJ | BAL |
| Evan | ATL | PIT | DET | KC | NE | NO | NYJ | BAL |
| Nick | ATL | PIT | MIN | KC | NE | TB | NYJ | BAL |
| Will | ATL | PIT | DET | KC | NE | NO | BUF | BAL |
| JAC at HOU | NYG at WAS | DAL at PHI | ARI at SF | CHI at GB | TEN at IND | SD at DEN | STL at SEA | |
| Dylan | HOU | WAS | DAL | SF | GB | IND | SD | STL |
| Evan | JAC | WAS | PHI | SF | GB | IND | SD | STL |
| Nick | HOU | NYG | PHI | SF | GB | IND | DEN | SEA |
| Will | JAC | NYG | DAL | ARI | GB | IND | DEN | STL |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)