Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Hooray not Nittany Lions!

While the Nittany Lions have done nothing but frustrate the hell out of me in a plethora of ways, my favorite 4 professional sport teams have done nothing but help alleviate that stress.

New Orleans Hornets: I already gave you a full post on these guys but they're still looking good at 9-3. Yeah, Paul twisted his ankle the night I wrote that post and now Tyson Chandler is a little gimpy but things don't look too bad...yet.

New Jersey Devils: Ok, on the whole, they've been incredibly unimpressive. The offense has been anemic and the defense is spotty but hey, we're tied with the Penguins. However, Martin Brodeur just got his 500th career win the other night, which is cause for celebration. He joins only Patrick Roy in that elite category. If Martin can go full throttle for another few years, he should easily overtake Roy's career win record. If everything goes right, 700 wins is a possibility.

New York Yankees: It was only a few weeks ago that it seemed like the sky was falling in the Bronx. Torre departed town in a not-so-good fashion and Alex Rodriguez, pardon me, Scott Boras opted out of the richest contract in baseball. Today, Girardi seems like a solid pick for coach and Rodriguez wants to remain a Yankee after all. The best part about Rodriguez coming back was that he did it without Boras. Boras was handing the situation with the Yankees like a complete moron (surprise, surprise) and A-Rod realized that, going to none other than Warren Buffet for advice. Buffet told him to forget about Boras and contact the Yankees without him. He did and now A-Rod remains in the Bronx. All is well. Posada and Rivera even resigned too which is huge.

New York Jets: Heading into last weekend, I wanted two more things out of this NFL season. For the Jets to beat the Patriots and the Steelers. Kind of odd considering I root for the Steelers if they're not playing the Colts or Jets but whatever. Either way, it has been a while since the Jets did anything worth cheering about but that changed Sunday with a victory over the Steelers. I could have told you before the game that the Jets would win (I predicted 17-16...19-16 was pretty damn close). It had all the makings for a trap. The Steelers see 1-8 and think easy win, especially considering how they've easily dismantled many teams so far this year. In the words of Lee Corso, "not so fast, my friend." The Jets have been in every game that they've played with the exception of the opener against the Pats (but that's only because New England cheated). They've basically just shot themselves in the foot in every game this year. Whether it be a huge defensive lapse or a poor decision by Pennington (does that not sound like the PSU D and Morelli?), the Jets couldn't pull one off. However, coming off a bye and catching the Steelers off-guard proved to work well for the Jets. Their blitzing packages were incredibly impressive as they sacked Roethlisberger 7 times. Thomas Jones had his best game a a Jet, dancing around the Steeler D-Line for over 100 yards, something that hasn't happened in nearly 3 full seasons. While I will admit, Santonio Holmes going down for Pittsburgh greatly impacted the Steeler offense, the same thing happened to the Jets with Coles. Did you not see the 9038093475 passes dropped by Brad Smith? Either way, the Jets sat back and let the Steelers do the screwing up (via penalties) and it paid off. Nugent came through in the clutch (unlike his predecessor Doug Brien) and the rest is history. The amount of coke consumed by Steely McDonati would have had no effect.

Now if only the Jets can beat the Patriots in December, this NFL season will have been worth it. Never doubt the Man-Genius....he may be 2-8, but he's still one heck of a smart 2-8 coach, especially against his old boss that he despises. That win might even be enough to help me forget about this utterly unimpressive Nittany Lion season.

1 comment:

Steely McDonati said...

I'll totally get behind the NO Hornets if they wear the yellow jerseys and throw away the teal ones.

Being tied with the Penguins is NOT a good thing right now.

But man, fuck the Jets haha. Perhaps I should have given them more credit in the Coke post. I reread it and it seemed too Bill Simmons like. They played a good game, showed heart, and while they would not have won if the Steelers played anywhere close to well, they still did what they needed to. So congrats E. You guys have a win against a team that, you know, actually has beaten other teams this year.

And for J Mays, Monday ain't lookin so good. I had a feeling going into this Jets/Dolphins stretch that the Steelers would lay a serious egg in one of those games. Since that egg was obvi against the Jets, they're gonna be ready to play on Monday.