Week Six Power Rankings

Week six is officially in the books. The Broncos, Colts, Saints, and Vikings all remain undefeated. The Bucs, Titans, and Rams all remain, well, defeated. The Redskins embarassed themselves again this week, losing to the Chiefs while only scoring six points. Whoever thinks that the Skins will be suddenly transformed into a competitive football team by taking play calling duties away from Jim Zorn and giving them to Sherm Lewis is kidding themselves. No way Zorn makes it through the bye week. I wonder how much those "Horny for Zorny" t-shirts are going for these days? Whose to blame in D.C? Daniel Snyder gets my vote. How lucky the Washington D.C, Baltimore metro area is to be blessed with Peter Angelos and Dan Snyder. I won't mention the Nationals ownership because, honestly, I don't consider the Nats to be a professional sports team. I don't think Zorn can be blamed for the Skins wretched performance so far this year. The only reason this guy is the head coach of this team is because, after he was hired as the teams new offensive coordinator, Snyder couldn't get a legitimate head coach to come and work for him. With no head coach in place, the job practically fell in Zorn's lap; a job that he was never qualified for in the first place. I feel sorry for the guy.

Nobody should be more embarassed than the lowly Titans. How does a team that was 13-3 a year ago, sporting the best record in football, open the season at 0-6? Not only did Tennessee lose on sunday, but Tom Brady treated their defense like a practice squad. Actually, I think that the Patriots practice squad would have put up a better fight than the Titans did. Giselle Bunchen and the Victoria Secret models could have at least stopped Brady once. Tommy Boy threw for over 300 yards while tossing six touchdowns. A huge game for Brady. The embarrasing part, he played for just over 30 minutes and then took a seat on the bench. I think CBS actually stopped showing the game and cut to the premiere of "Heidi", and nobody, not even in New England, noticed or cared.

Brett Favre closed his eyes and threw the ball as far as he could as the fourth quarter was winding down against the Ravens. Ravens defensive back Frank Walker was beaten so badly on the play that he actually tried to pull Sidney Rice's jersey off. Not only did Walker get called for pass interference, Rice still caught the ball. The Ravens secondary is in trouble. This came after the Vikings defense, holding a 17 point lead allowed the Ravens to pull ahead. Ray Rice scampered in for the go ahead touchdown as every player on the Vikings defense watched. I don't think anyone actually tried to tackle him. The Ravens made a last ditch effort though. Joe Flacco, who in my opinion is the best young quarterback in the league, marched the Ravens down the field, setting up Steven Hauschska for the game winner....wide left. Maybe the Ravens should have held on to Matt Stover, who coincidentally signed with the Colts last week. I wonder if anyone has heard from Walker or Hauschka today. Somebody should look into that, because I'm sure that Ray Lewis is none too happy about losing three straight games.

In other news, The Denver Broncos dominated the San Diego Chargers on Monday Night Football for all of the world to see. The Broncos defense has allowed ten points in the second half...all season. Amazing. Kyle Orton is beginning to look like an M.V.P candidate. The guy has thrown one pick all season (and that was a hail mary at the end of the half against New England that was picked by Randy Moss...hardly a turnover.) The guy just gets the job done. The Broncos have a bye week, followed by another tough game on the road in Baltimore. The Ravens are going to be hungry, and possibly looking for a new kicker and cornerback. Somebody take that knife out of Ray-Ray's hand please!

Here are my power rankings for week 6:

1. Indianapolis Colts (The Colts got healthier during the bye week while Peyton Manning still threw for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns.)
2. New Orleans saints (The Saints would be at number 1 after destroying the Giants, but I can't penalize the idle Colts.)
3. Denver Broncos (Still undefeated, and finally starting to get a little respect. A hungry, angry Ravens squad awaits the Broncos after their bye week.)
4. Minnesota Vikings (Brett Favre is carrying the Vikings offense. Spectacular feat for a 76 year old man. Minnesota's secondary is very suspect.)
5. New York Giants (The Giants ran into a buzz saw Sunday in New Orleans. Eli looked frustrated and flustered all day.)
6. New England Patriots (So, they not only put up 59 points, but completely dominated the Titans defensively.)
7. Atlanta Falcons (Matt Ryan continues to blossom into an outstanding quarterback. The addition of Tony Gonzales gives Atlanta a complete offense.)
8. Pittsburgh Steelers (Getting Polamalu back in the secondary, and the emergence of Rashard Mendenhall has the Steelers looking like the champs once again.)
9. Chicago Bears (After a shaky week 1, Jay Cutler is playing Pro-Bowl caliber football.)
10. Cinncinati Bengals (Losing Antwan Odom for the year is a crushing blow to the stout Bengals D.)

Brady defeats Patriots with perfectly thrown incompletions to preserve Broncos'5-0 record.

The Denver Broncos are 5-0. I must admit that, although I am thoroughly enjoying being a Broncos fan, I did not see this coming. I was so dejected during the off-season that I actually predicted that this team would win 4 games. Well, at this moment I am certainly eating a huge plate full of crow. With "McJaygate" and Brandon Marshall's antics, I thought that this was going to be a horrible season. I didn't jump off of the bus and claim that I was going to convert to being a Ravens fan(shudders) like my dad did, but nonetheless I didn't see much hope for the immediate future of the Broncos.

What bugs me though, are the analysts who, no matter how well the Broncos play, never want to give them the credit they deserve. When they beat Cincy they got lucky. Oakland and Cleveland are horrible(okay, that's true.) The Cowboys are overrated, and something is wrong with Tom Brady. So if there is something wrong with Tom Brady, shouldn't the Ravens feel worse for losing to the Patriots who beat them with a rusty Brady? I don't think so. There is only something wrong with Tom Brady when he isn't playing perfect football, and not living up to his role as the NFL's golden boy. There must have been a severe ratings fall off after Brady got hurt last year. I mean hell, they actually created a rule so he could never get hurt again. Oh what would the league do without Tommy??

Maybe what's wrong with Brady is the fact that he played against a really good defense in Denver on Sunday. Anybody think of that? Seriously, he threw two passes that were off the mark. Granted they both probably would have been touchdowns, but those two plays didn't cost the Patriots the game. After throwing that last pass to Welker, I was begging CBS' Chris Simms to even say the words "Brady threw a bad pass", or even better, "horrible throw by Brady", but my requests fell on dumb ears (and not just because he couldn't hear me through the T.V.) I felt like what Simms really wanted to say was "Oh my stars, that was the most beautifully thrown errant pass I have ever seen. Even though the ball hit Welker in the foot, he's gotta make that play." There must be a clause in his contract saying: "disparaging the image of one Thomas Brady, the greatest thing to ever happen to the world, will not be tolerated, and will result in immediate termination of contract."

Suck it Simms.

Go Broncos

The Twins win it, the Twins win it, oh my god, the Twins win it!

I just witnessed one of the greatest baseball games I have ever seen. The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers in 12 innings of exhilarating baseball.

With the score tied at five, in the tenth inning of the two teams 163rd game of the season, Minnesota's Alexi Casilla failed to properly tag up from third base on a line drive that was caught by Detroit left fielder Ryan Rayburn. He was thrown out at the plate by Rayburn, (a former college pitcher who apparently could throw upwards of 95 m.p.h but couldn't get any movement on his fastball), allowing the game to continue. In the twelfth inning, with Carlos Gomez on second base, Casilla, the goat just two innings earlier, delivered a single to right field that allowed Gomez to score easily, and the Twins to claim the Central Division title for the fifth time in eight years. Minnesota is the only team in the history of Major League Baseball to win a division title after trailing by three games with four to play.

Oh, poor fans of Detroit's professional sports teams...been a rough year. Next up for the Twins, the New York Yankees; A true David vs. Goliath. I gotta say one thing...GO TWINS!!!

Week 4 NFL Power Rankings

We've reached the quarter pole of the 2009 NFL season. This year has seen a few surprises so far. The Denver Broncos are 4-0 after a thrilling defeat of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. Brandon Marshall's 50+ yard catch and scamper being the deciding offensive play. But it was the newly dominant Broncos defense that held the powerful Dallas offense scoreless through 3 quarters. With San Diego falling to the Steelers on Sunday night, the surprising Broncos hold a two game lead in the AFC West. Cincinnati's overtime win in Cleveland has them tied for first place with the Ravens (who lost a tough road game to New England) in the AFC North. The AFC East is all tied up after New England's win over Baltimore, and the New Orleans defense finally bringing Mark Sanchez and the Jets down to earth; both teams are 3-1. The Indianapolis colts, led by fantastic quarterback play from Peyton Manning, have a firm grip on the AFC South. The big shocker in that division, and probably the entire league, are the Tennessee Titans. At 0-4 their season is likely over.

In the NFC East, The New York Giants just keep rolling, still undefeated, although a foot injury to quarterback Eli Manning could hamper their progress. Word is still out on the severity of Manning's injury. The New Orleans Saints lead the NFC south by 1.5 games over the idle Atlanta Falcons. The Saints dominance over the Jets, and still unblemished record makes them an early favorite in the NFC. In the NFC North, the Chicago Bears exploded offensively on Sunday with a blowout win over Detroit, but the Bears still trail the 4-0 Minnesota Vikings by a game in that division. Brett Favre and the Vikings defeated the Packers on Monday night to conserve their slim lead in the North. If it weren't for a crazy, closed eye, sandlot play we'd be talking about another undefeated team, The San Francisco 49ers. Led by a stout defense, which features maybe the most underrated defensive player in the league, Patrick Willis, the Niners already have a firm two game grip on the NFC West. They will need Frank Gore to return 100% healthy from an ankle strain to maintain that lead in the division that's also home to the underachieving, defending NFC champion, Arizona Cardinals.

Here are my power rankings for week 4.

1. New York Giants (Eli's injury could change their ranking drastically in the coming weeks.)

2. Indianapolis Colts (Peyton looks better than ever.)

3. New Orleans Saints (The Saints don't need Drew Brees to chuck it 50 times to win anymore.)
4. Minnesota Vikings (Even with an off night from A.P., the Vikes still pulled out the win.)

5. New England Patriots (Big win over the Ravens on Sunday)

6. Baltimore Ravens (Look for the Ravens to take out some aggression on the Bengals next week.)

7. Denver Broncos (Mike Nolan's new D has the Broncos faithful thinking playoffs)

8. Pittsburgh Steelers (The O looked okay, but Rivers and company made that game too close.)

9. San Francisco 49ers (This club should run away with the NFC West)

10. Chicago Bears (Jay Cutler now has a legitimate threat in Johnny Knox to go along with second year stud, Matt Forte.)

Hockey's back...What else is on?

The 2009-2010 NHL season has officially started...awesome. I can't wait for all of the "hockey fans" to start showing up at my bar just in time to catch the playoffs. Seriously, who REALLY likes hockey anyway. I know a bunch of people who claim to be Capitals fans (certain people excluded...Comissioner Gordon), but if you ask them who Al Iafrate is you'll likely get blank stares rather than legitimate answers. By the way, the answer to that question...Al Iafrate is the man who owns the esteemed honor of not only having a monster slap shot, but also for sporting the greatest mullet in the history of pro sports. If there were a hall of fame for haircuts, this guy would be a shoo-in...but I digress. You know where you have to go to watch hockey? VS. That's right, the same channel that shows hunting and fishing all day long with the occasional spattering of M.M.A (which in my opinion is nothing more than human dogfighting). I get it though, hockey players are amazing athletes, who, through coordination alone, deserve the highest accolades. It's just that the sport sucks. You know why they allow the players to fight? Because that's the only thing that keeps people interested. Have you ever been to a hockey game where less than ten goals were scored? It's like watching tennis (only less exciting). There's a reason ESPN would rather show the National Spelling Bee than hockey. I actually think that the Spelling Bee highlights get more air time than those from the NHL, a so-called "major" sport, even though one of it's franchises had to be taken over by the league due to poor management. Not even Peter Angelos could screw up that badly.