Ok fellow Yankee fans, stop complaining about how bad little Hank Steinbrenner has screwed up the Yankees by getting rid of Joe Torre. Yes, the way he treated Torre was terribly disrespectful, but you have to give him credit for hiring Joe Girardi. Everyone says that if the Yanks were going to let go of Torre that they should have hired "Donnie Baseball" Don Mattingly. I'm not going to say that that would have been a bad decision, but he has never managed a team and he has always been under Torre's watchful eye. Girardi is a man who did his time under Torre, learned what he needed to, picked up the tricks of the trade, and put them to use as a full time manager. When he went to Florida, everyone criticized him for...anyone remember? That's right, he brought too many Yankee characteristics. He is a full fledged Yankee to death and understands not only the Torre system, but the entire Yankee organization. Besides that, he also saved the Marlins when it looked like they were set to challenge the season losing record. No one expected his team to do anything, but he did a heck of a managing job and finished the season with the Marlins only about 9 games under .500. He made somethin out of nothin.
It's a good thing Girardi knows how to make something out of nothing seeing as how it looks as if the Yanks won't have A-Rod next year. With Girardi at the helm I say "So what?". Girardi knows how to motivate players and manipulate them to get out of them what he wants. He is especially good with young players, which is the direction GM Brian Cashman seems to be going. The Yankees are building their team from the bottom up, growing their draft picks in the minor league teams and then plugging them into pinstripes. Now the GM and head coach will truly be on the same page. They will work well together and the Yanks won't be all about their stars for once. With A-Rod out, the attention turns to The Captain Derek Jeter. Jeter has no problems handling the NY media and has never been a distraction to the team because of something he said to the media. He will keep the team up and running and provide wisdom to the young players on how to get it done in October. A-Rod certainly won't be able to tell the players wherever he goes how to get it done in October (oooohhhh...).
I'm excited with the direction the Yanks are heading in the offseason already. Obviously, we need to get some FA to fill a few gaps, but I have lots of faith in our young players to step in and fill shoes nicely. Plus we have a great manager.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Start the Comparisons
Well, we got the first 8 weeks of the NFL season finished, but let's all be honest with ourselves, we've all been looking forward to this week 9 game since the schedules came out. It's a matchup of two unbeaten teams in the NFL. You might've heard of them, one is called something like the Colts and another is from somewhere in Massachusetts. That Colts team has the hilarious commercial TV star on their team that supposedly plays a pretty good QB. The team from Mass. has some QB who walks around impregnating his ex-girlfriends. Ok, ok, ok enough joking around, this is going to be a great battle between clearly the two best teams in the NFL: The World Champion Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots.
Obviously if I'm writing about this almost a week before the game, it's going to be pretty hyped up. If u look at any sports media outlet this week, it will probably have something about the game in it. Yes, the hype will get annoying, but hey, what can ya do, it's probably-no, it is- the biggest game of the century.
We're talking about some of the two best teams the NFL has ever seen. Peyton Manning has always been one to put up spectacular numbers and stats and last season he finally added a ring to his resume. Tom Brady has 3 rings and this season is compiling numbers that are unimaginable in a league like the NFL. The amazing part is that while both teams have had success in the past, they are clearly playing the best they have ever, which is truly amazing considering both have won superbowls. The Colts are absolutely tearing people up on defense like never before and the Pats are putting points on the board in gross (in more ways than one) amounts. What used to be the weakness (or closest thing to a weakness) of both teams is now their strong suit. The Pats used to be known primarily for their defense and the Colts mostly for their offense. Now both sides of the ball are dominant for both teams. They are both playing impeccable football.
With all this hype, it comes all comes down to who is going to win? Well...MY INDIANAPOLIS COLTS OF COURSE!!!! I mean c'mon now, I'm a Colts fan, did you really expect me to go against my team? No. There are a lot of reasons the Colts will win, but if I explain all of them to you now, I won't have anything to write about the rest of the week.
So, this week you can look forward to Sunday. And believe me, by the time "the showdown" kicks off, you will know everything about both teams. If not from all the TV hype on ESPN, then from my blog because trust me, there is nothing bigger or more important going on in the world of sports for the next 7 days.
Obviously if I'm writing about this almost a week before the game, it's going to be pretty hyped up. If u look at any sports media outlet this week, it will probably have something about the game in it. Yes, the hype will get annoying, but hey, what can ya do, it's probably-no, it is- the biggest game of the century.
We're talking about some of the two best teams the NFL has ever seen. Peyton Manning has always been one to put up spectacular numbers and stats and last season he finally added a ring to his resume. Tom Brady has 3 rings and this season is compiling numbers that are unimaginable in a league like the NFL. The amazing part is that while both teams have had success in the past, they are clearly playing the best they have ever, which is truly amazing considering both have won superbowls. The Colts are absolutely tearing people up on defense like never before and the Pats are putting points on the board in gross (in more ways than one) amounts. What used to be the weakness (or closest thing to a weakness) of both teams is now their strong suit. The Pats used to be known primarily for their defense and the Colts mostly for their offense. Now both sides of the ball are dominant for both teams. They are both playing impeccable football.
With all this hype, it comes all comes down to who is going to win? Well...MY INDIANAPOLIS COLTS OF COURSE!!!! I mean c'mon now, I'm a Colts fan, did you really expect me to go against my team? No. There are a lot of reasons the Colts will win, but if I explain all of them to you now, I won't have anything to write about the rest of the week.
So, this week you can look forward to Sunday. And believe me, by the time "the showdown" kicks off, you will know everything about both teams. If not from all the TV hype on ESPN, then from my blog because trust me, there is nothing bigger or more important going on in the world of sports for the next 7 days.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
What Happened to College Football?
I think most of us can agree, this year in college football has been anything but ordinary. I mean really now, we all knew Notre Dame wasn't going to go undefeated, but only one win so far? Wow, didn't see that one coming. What about USC losing to Stanford? Southern Cal has by no means proved that they are invincible. And have we all suddenly forgotten that Appalachian St. beat Michigan? We can never let them forget that. Every chance we get, we have to rub in the faces of the Michigan fans that they lost to a I-AA school, we can't just give them a free pass for the rest of the season. And can anyone say Nebraska? Now there's a mess.
But even more surprising than all these top teams falling has been all the unknown teams having such great success. Who would've predicted that Kentucky would knock off the top team in the country? Kentucky is supposed to be nothing more than a basketball school, they are supposed to be like Duke and suck at football. But in this completely upside down year, even they have managed to be good. Along the same lines, there is Boston College. I remember a time when they, too, were good at basketball. But they are dominant every single year in hockey, which is the same principle of having success in one sport and sucking at the others. Now even BC is getting in on the wacky football year now holding the no. 2 national ranking and have who some would say is the leader for the Heisman trophy. How unfair.
Then there's South Florida. I vaguely remember hearing about this school sometime, but I would have never ever in my lifetime told you that they would ever reach the no. 2 national ranking. Sure, they lost to Rutgers last week and they suffered another loss this week, but just the fact that they were able to get to the point they did is amazing.
Oh yeah, by the way, there's this team in Illinois named the Fighting Illini. In case you didn't know, they do play football there. U of I is quite possibly in my book, one of the most underrated and under publicized teams in America. I mean, talk about a team who used to suck at football, they were the one team in the Big 10 that if you were in the Big 10 you wanted them on your schedule because they were the only guranteed victory in the conference. Now look at them. Today they became bowl eligible for the first time since Methuselah was born. Now that's an accomplishment.
But for those of us who had a team that usually does well in football, but has lost due to the upside down year (like me and Notre Dame), or has a favorite team that sucks at football and is good at another sport (like me and Indiana University) all we can do is wait for basketball season.
And we pray that it isn't messed up this year too.
But even more surprising than all these top teams falling has been all the unknown teams having such great success. Who would've predicted that Kentucky would knock off the top team in the country? Kentucky is supposed to be nothing more than a basketball school, they are supposed to be like Duke and suck at football. But in this completely upside down year, even they have managed to be good. Along the same lines, there is Boston College. I remember a time when they, too, were good at basketball. But they are dominant every single year in hockey, which is the same principle of having success in one sport and sucking at the others. Now even BC is getting in on the wacky football year now holding the no. 2 national ranking and have who some would say is the leader for the Heisman trophy. How unfair.
Then there's South Florida. I vaguely remember hearing about this school sometime, but I would have never ever in my lifetime told you that they would ever reach the no. 2 national ranking. Sure, they lost to Rutgers last week and they suffered another loss this week, but just the fact that they were able to get to the point they did is amazing.
Oh yeah, by the way, there's this team in Illinois named the Fighting Illini. In case you didn't know, they do play football there. U of I is quite possibly in my book, one of the most underrated and under publicized teams in America. I mean, talk about a team who used to suck at football, they were the one team in the Big 10 that if you were in the Big 10 you wanted them on your schedule because they were the only guranteed victory in the conference. Now look at them. Today they became bowl eligible for the first time since Methuselah was born. Now that's an accomplishment.
But for those of us who had a team that usually does well in football, but has lost due to the upside down year (like me and Notre Dame), or has a favorite team that sucks at football and is good at another sport (like me and Indiana University) all we can do is wait for basketball season.
And we pray that it isn't messed up this year too.
Friday, October 26, 2007
'Rocktober' May End Sooner rather than Later
Perhaps 8 days of rest can cool down the hottest of teams. Through 2 games, Boston is up 2-0 and has commanded both games. True, last night's game was 2-1, but once the Red Sox gave the ball to Okajima and Pappelbon, everyone knew the game was over. That one-two punch has dominated so far in the playoffs and did through the entire regular season. If the Rockies are going to win the series, they will have to figure out a way to hit the starters and get them out early. Of course, that really isn't an option against Josh Beckett. Wow, that guy is absolutely unhittable.
Trust me, I'm behind the Rox just as much as every person in Colorado because I despise the Red Sox. I don't care what Rudy Guiliani says about rooting for the American league, once a Yankees fan, always a Red Sox hater. I will love the Yankees to the grave and I will hate the Red Sox all the way.
I was really hoping the Rox would still be able to carry the momentum that they had built up over their last 22 games into the Series, but it looks like, and it pains me to say this, that the Red Sox are just too much for even the hottest team in history. The only hope that the Rox have is that their hometown crowd and their Rocky Mountain High will smother the Red Sox and shift all the energy in the Series.
I still have the Rox in 6, winning all three games at home and then riding their high into Boston. Who knows, perhaps one day off for the Sox will cool them off. At least we all hope so.
Trust me, I'm behind the Rox just as much as every person in Colorado because I despise the Red Sox. I don't care what Rudy Guiliani says about rooting for the American league, once a Yankees fan, always a Red Sox hater. I will love the Yankees to the grave and I will hate the Red Sox all the way.
I was really hoping the Rox would still be able to carry the momentum that they had built up over their last 22 games into the Series, but it looks like, and it pains me to say this, that the Red Sox are just too much for even the hottest team in history. The only hope that the Rox have is that their hometown crowd and their Rocky Mountain High will smother the Red Sox and shift all the energy in the Series.
I still have the Rox in 6, winning all three games at home and then riding their high into Boston. Who knows, perhaps one day off for the Sox will cool them off. At least we all hope so.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Welcome Sports Fans!
Hello, and welcome to the newest and soon to be greatest sports blog on the internet! I am an avid sports fan and I am always giving my opinions to my friends, but I was looking for a larger medium on which to shout my daily praises and criticisms of the sports world. I thoroughly enjoy watching all 4 major sports (I wish hockey was on more often) and I quickly jump to take a stance on almost every occurrence in the world of sports. I plan to use "Views from Atop the Sports World" to give every person who is a sports fan my frank view of whatever is going on. I wish to be able to communicate with all and have a fun atmosphere. I welcome you all to what I hope to make a tremendous sporting forum. Now let's all go watch World Series Game 2- Go Rockies!
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