NBA Cancels the First Two Weeks of The 2011 Season



The NBA season will not be starting on time this season. Commissioner David Stern has decided to cancel the first two weeks of the season due to lack of progress in attempts to resolve the labor dispute between the players and owners.


 In 1998 the season was shortened to 50 games due to a similar situation. I didn’t think that there would be any season at all this year which is very upsetting to many people. The NFL lockout did not have this problem because the sides were not nearly this far apart.

 Charles Barkley, a former NBA player and TNT NBA analyst, said before that the sides are so far apart that a season isn’t realistic at all this year, which is terrible for the league because the ratings last year were the highest ever. Canceling the season will turn many fans away from the game.

 Last year, in free agency, the Miami Heat turned into a super team, signing Lebron James and Chris Bosh. They were unable to win in the NBA Finals which made many people happy including me. I liked watching the Dallas Mavericks defeat the Miami Heat behind Dirk Nowitzki's clutch performance and Jason Terry’s strong offensive support.

                                              

The league will really be suffering if the owners and players don't reach an agreement. I can't see an NBA season in the near future.

Tebow: Ready To Be An NFL QB?



The question has come up yet again. Does Tim Tebow deserve to be the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos? John Fox decided that Kyle Orton was better for the job coming out of training camp and was strongly backed by his teammates.  The players in the Broncos' locker room did not want Tebow to be on the field for Week 1 of the NFL season.


The Broncos are now a mediocre 1-4, and they are 27th in passing yards in the whole league, which isn’t good by any means. Now Tim Tebow is not a great passer, but you can't deny that he gets the ball into the end zone. He is a great leader on the field and is a run threat when he is on the field.



If John Fox would have gone against what his team wanted and said that Tebow was ready to start and built an offense around him, the Broncos could possibly be 4-1 or even 5-0. Instead they sit at 1-4 which is last place in the AFC East.



Kyle Orton suffered an injury last season that sidelined him, so Tebow was given a substantial amount of playing time. He completed half of his passes for 654 yards, five touchdowns, and three interceptions. Orton has been playing well, but the city wants Tebow.


 Everybody looks good when notplaying, but I think that Tebow should have already been starting. This will be the first week that Tebow will get to play which will be next Sunday against the Miami Dolphins since they are entering a bye week. It’s Tebow Time in Denver.

Nike NFL Jerseys for 2012?

If anyone has yet to see this I am all but sure that the rumors of the Nike uniforms for the 2012 NFL season are totally fake but have many fans concerned. I can't think that the NFL would make a change like this without announcing it to the public or without ESPN or any major sports resource finding out and confirming it to be true.  I mean we couldn't agree to have a season this year at first so I'd have to say that new uniforms would be the least of the concerns for the NFL. I think that these uniforms are very ugly in my opinion but some of them aren't too terrible. These are all Nike Pro Combat uniforms so all teams would have a similar uniform to the Oregon Ducks in Eugene, Oregon which is where the Nike headquarters are located. I know that writing about each one would be long and tedious, so comment on which ones you like and which ones you hate. Personally I really like the New England Patriots Nike uniform sketch. The colors and design on the uniform is very well planned out with the American flag on the side. The Kansas City and Minnesota uniforms made me want to gag when i looked at them. The gold and red of Kansas City, and the yellow and purple of Minnesota are just awful sketches.

Penn State vs Iowa 10-8-11



Penn State Running Back Silas Redd



I haven't made a post about Penn State all season because I didn't expect to be much of anything this year, especially after barely beating the Temple Owls in a 14-10 game that I attended in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 I am a huge Nittany Lion sports fan that lives a half hour out of Happy Valley. I have to mention the fact of a lucky number, which happens to be 24. I attended my first Penn State football game ever at Beaver Stadium last season when Penn State cruised past the Kent State Golden Flashes 24-0. Then in Temple Penn State was struggling and was actually trailing 10-7 to Temple and finally scoring a Touchdown on their last drive of the game to squeak by Temple 14-10. 14+10=24. There's two of the lucky number.

 Saturday in State College Penn State played Iowa, which is the team that has filled Penn State fans with heartbreak in many of the last few years, losing eight of the last nine against the team going into Saturday, including the game in 2008 which ruined Penn State's chances for a National Title chance. Iowa was only the better team once in those last nine years but always came out on top behind a strong offensive and defensive line, and a power running game which opened the passing game later on.


 Saturday the crowd of people made it over 24,000 who attended a game that Joe Paterno has coached at Penn State. They say thirds the charm right?


Penn State beat up the Iowa Offensive and Defensive Lines, and finally got the offense to do something with Silas Redd carrying the ball for 142 yards on 28 carries and Matt McGloin throwing for 133 yards and a touchdown. The Penn State fans can finally say that they have beaten Iowa, and that’s a pretty great thing.

Week 6 College Football Rankings

There were a lot of big games that shifted poll positions in college football this week. My rankings last week for the most part wereaccurate, but heres what I have to say for this week.

1. LSU is the number one team in the nation. Period. They are solid all around. The only thing that may hurt the Tigers is quarterback Jordan Jefferson's recent suspension for his alleged role in a bar fight.

2. Alabama is the second team in college football right now, after a convincing victory over SEC opponent Florida, also has a solid team this year. Trent Richardson is having a good season, and they have the best defense in all of college football.

3. Wisconsin is a great team this year and finally got the hype they deserved after destroying Nebraska 48-17. Nebraska was a highly overrated team ,but Wisconsin is the real deal being led by Quarterback Russell Wilson and star running back Montee Ball.

4. Oklahoma kept on rolling as they destroyed Ball State 62-6. This is not a quality win by any means, but it keeps the undefeated season alive which is all but necessary to get into the BCS Title game. Quarterback Landry Jones has looked sharped all year, and the Sooners are a team you don't want to mess with.

5. Oklahoma State had a bye week this week, so they fall from last week. Wisconsin's win would have moved them ahead of the Cowboys anyway. The Cowboys look to improve their record to 5-0 against Kansas this weekend.

6. Clemson is my number 6 this week after beating 11th-ranked Virginia Tech team Saturday. The Hokies were vastly overrated, but the Clemson Tigers came away with a surprising 23-3 win. Tajh Boyd has had a good season for the Tigers, and I look for that to continue.

7. Boise State, as much as I don't like them, I have to give them the respect they do deserve. Kellen Moore has the team firing on all cylinders. But, their strength of schedule is terrible this season, so they will have to go undefeated and then get some sympathy for the rejection they got last year to make it into a solid bowl game.

8. Arkansas was able to recover from a loss against Alabama last week, but with Alabama being so highly ranked, that loss can be accepted. Texas A&M was very tough to handle, but they kept fighting and erased a 35-17 deficit, allowing just 3 points in the second half to win 42-38 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. They Razorbacks are for real; they just happen to play in the SEC with the two best teams in the country.

9. Stanford has been taking care of everyone they have played this season, but will face a very tough Oregon team later in the college football season.

10. Oregon's only loss was to the best team in the country, LSU ,in week one at Cowboys Stadium. Since then they have bounced back to improve to 3-1 on the season after easily beating Arizona 56-31. The Ducks travel to California to play the Golden Bears tonight.

The Week That Was in Sports

This last week in sports was full of many blowouts. The two big College Football games were not even a competition Saturday night.

 The Wisconsin Badgers crushed the new Big Ten Member Nebraska 48-17. The Alabama Crimson Tide also throttled
the Florida Gators in the Swamp 38-10. Roll Tide! The Gator fans were not doing The Chomp after watching Quarterback John Brantley suffer a high ankle sprain, and it's very unlikely that he will play next week.

Also on Saturday ,the MLB playoffs kicked off, but were overshadowed by what happened on the Gridiron Saturday and Sunday. The Tampa Bay Rays crushed the Texas Rangers 9-0 after a strong pitching performance by the rookie Matt Moore, who struck out 6 in 7 innings and allowed only 2 hits. Saturday the Rangers came back after trailing early in the game to avoid going down 2-0 in the series. The series is tied at 1 with the next game taking place in Tampa Bay. The Texas Rangers held on to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays last night to take a 2-1 lead in the series.



The Tigers and Yankees started playing a game on Friday, but it was rained out after just two and a half innings. The game finally resumed on Saturday, and the Yankees came out on top 9-3 behind Robinson Cano's hot bat as he went 3-5, with a grand slam, and 6 runs batted in. The Tigers and Yankees faced inclement weather again on Sunday in New York, but the Tigers were able to win the game behind a Miguel Cabrera two-run homer, and Max Scherzer's six scoreless innings. This series is also tied at one going to Detroit. The Tigers defeated the Tigers 5-4 behind a strong pitching performance by Justin Verlander. They lead 2-1.

The Milwaukee Brewers lead the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-0 which leaves the Diamondbacks a game away from elimination. They have not been scoring on offense much in this series, and with a loss they will not be playing any more this season.

There was a shake up on the gridiron Sunday as the 3-0 Bills finally lost to the Bengals on a last second field goal, but the Lions were able to come back after trailing 20-3 at half time to stun the Cowboys 34-30 in the final seconds of the game in Arlington, Texas. Another crushing defeat for the Eagles, as they blew a 20-3 lead at halftime as well and they fell to 1-3 on the season. The Indianapolis Colts suffered a loss on Monday Night Football with more huge losses injury wise. Eric Foster, a Indianapolis Colts nose tackle went down for the season with a heartbreaking leg injury. It was very hard to watch and very hard to not feel for him no matter which team you were cheering for. I am a Colts fan and without Peyton Manning I believe that we are a terrible team but our defense has really showed up this season and even wth all the injuries they are playing so hard every game.

I would also like to mention that our high school football team, the Mifflin County Huskies, had a huge 56-11 victory on the road.  They will face nationally ranked Cardinal Mooney here at Mitchell Field this weekend. The team had 325 yards rushing while attempting only two passes and one was a 59 yard TD pass.

This pretty much sums up the weekend in the world of sports.

MLB Wild Card Collapse and Postseason Predictions

The time has come; it’s time for the MLB playoffs to start. The last day of the season was basically a playoff game for 4 teams yesterday. It was an exciting day in sports as the Red Sox and Braves had historic collapses.

 The Red Sox had a nine game Wild Card lead going into September, and nobody in MLB history has ever blown a lead of nine games until now that is. The Tampa Bay Rays were trailing the Yankees 5-0 going into the 3^rd inning with their ace, David Price, on the mound.  The Red Sox were back and forth in Baltimore all game before leading in the 7^th until the rain delay. Now people who know me personally, know that I am a huge Red Sox fan. I attended a game in person at Camden Yards where the Red Sox had a huge 10-0 lead. Then something magical happened. An hour rain delay came and the Red Sox turned to the bullpen. The Orioles came back firing with some explosive offense and scored 11 runs in two innings to win 11-10 in dramatic fashion. The Red Sox had similar fate last night, just not nearly as crushing score wise. 

So now the four teams in the American League that will be competing are the New York Yankees vs the Detroit Tigers, and the Texas Rangers vs the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays are a surprising team in the American League, based on strong pitching I look for them to defeat the Texas Rangers in 4 games. I also believe that the Yankees will beat the Tigers in 3 games due to the strong pitching staff that they have and that Justin Verlander can’t pitch every night for the Tigers which would advance the Yankees to the ALCS. Then we have a tough series the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays are a definite Cinderella story in the making but I think their luck runs out as they lose to the Yankees in 6 games since the second round on of the playoffs in MLB is best of 7. The Rays are the American League’s only chance of beating the New York Yankees in the playoffs, since there offense can score when they need to and their pitching can match that of the New York Yankees, but I still believe that the Yankees with home field advantage will come out on top.

 Now to the National League, the Braves led the Wild Card in the National League by 8 ½ games and will join the Red Sox in watching the playoffs through Direct TV. The Braves lost to the Phillies in the 13th inning of a dramatic game at Turner Field. So the Cardinals capitalized by crushing Houston 8-0 to win the National League Wild Card. So the first round matchups will be the Cardinals and the Phillies and the Arizona Diamond Backs or D-Backs, against the Milwaukee Brewers. I believe that the Brewers will defeat the D-Backs in 5 games and the Phillies will beat the Cardinals in 3 games. The Brewers have a high powered offense relying on Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun, which will get them past the D-Backs. The Brewers will defeat the highly favored Phillies in 7 games and advance to the World Series to face the New York Yankees. The Phillies have a very good rotation and a very good offense,  but they are bound to choke yet again in the playoffs.

 The Yankees definitely have a better pitching staff and a high powered offense and will end up winning the World Series for the 28th in franchise history, way above any other team in MLB history.