Even though Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant are friendlier to each other than in the past, it is always interesting to see them playing on the same court, but this time facing each other as the Lakers will be visiting the US Airways Center tomorrow on a game that is destined to be one of the most interesting ones of the earlier season. Why interesting? Well because Shaq and Bryant are no longer enemies, but the competition between the two is still on, and they will give the best of themselves in order to finish the game with better numbers than the other. The Lakers are 8-1 while the Suns are 8-4, and Phoenix is second below Los Angeles at the West Conference Pacific division, and the last time both teams faced each other was a long time ago, exactly on February 20, 2008 when the Lakers beat the Suns. Such game was O’neal’s debut with Phoenix, and at that time, Shaq finished with 15 points while Bryant was better than him and Amare Stoudemire’s 37 points with 41 of his own.When asked about the game and the competition between him and O’Neal, Kobe Bryant said he would prefer not to comment on it, “I’m not saying anything. I learned from my man Tiger Woods, my mouth is locked.” He said. But wait! There is one more man on this story: Phil Jackson, who was said to keep Bryant and O’Neal in bad terms in order to raise the motivation of the team as both players were giving the best of themselves to overpass the other.When asked about this, Jackson said “I’m glad we motivated him when he was here and we won three championships.”
Ok so the Titans are undefeated with a 10-0 record, but, are they really the best team currently at the NFL? I don’t think so, in my humble opinion I think the Giants are a better team, and they proved that they can beat any team at the league after defeating the Ravens, the team with the best defense.
Wouldn’t you enjoy seeing these two monsters playing against each other at the Super Bowl in order to see who the king really is? I bet you do, and as with the way things are, I am sure that both teams will win the first seed on their respective conferences.
That a team is undefeated doesn’t mean it is the best, and I strongly believe that New York is more compacted than Tennessee.
Another good thing for both teams is that they have been out of the injuries landscape this season, and if their players can remain healthy, they will probably give their fans more reasons to celebrate. Remember, a very good team can turn into a very mediocre one really, really quick if a key player gets injured.
Last year, Eli Manning still was behind the shadow of his big brother Payton, but now he’s proven everybody that he has what it takes to lead a team, and is this maybe the time for Eli to surpass Payton Manning and become the number one quarterback in the Manning clan? If he can manage to take the Giants to the Super Bowl and win it again, then there would be no doubts.
The question is: Can we cancel the remaining of the current NFL season and just get the Titans to play the Giants in an advanced Super Bowl scenario?
Brett Favre is a player that currently holds probably every single quarterback record that is significant, but games like the one between the Jets and the Patriots is probably what is making him going out of retirement in order to wear an NFL uniform for one more season.
Favre led the Jets to the field goal range where Jay Freely kicked a 34-yard field goal to give NY an important 34-31 victory over New England. At that moment, Favre was celebrating with his arms up.
This victory is leaving the Jets at first place at the AFC East holding a 7-3 record over the Patriots whom are 6-4 now.
The Jets have been the shadow of the Patriots for many seasons. They have been beaten by New England in numerous occasions, as the Pats won 13 of the last 16 matches between both franchises. And it seems like this is the best time for the Jets to prove critics wrong and become the best team of the division… at least until Tom Brady is back.
And besides been without Brady, the Patriots also lost Rodney Harrison and Laurence Maroney earlier in the season, and in the game against NY they were without Adalius Thomas and Ty Warren. On the other side, the Jets added future hall of famer Brett Favre, Kris Jenkins and around $100 million dollars worth of free agents this season alone, which is a sign of why they are doing so well and why the Patriots are doing so bad.
The Jets knew the importance of this game. They knew that if they had lost it, they would basically be out of the race for the division lead, but luckily for them, they made it, and made it outstandingly fine.
So what’s up with the Jets this season? They have surely struggled against the current worst NFL teams: Cincinnati and Kansas City, and lost in overtime to the Raiders but have done great against Miami, Buffalo and St. Louis, But since their loss to Oakland, New York has had 3 straight victories. So we can say this team has gone unpredictable lately, and they know they need to pick up some more consistency going into the final stretch of the regular season.
Today the Jets will measure their strengths against the Patriots on their second game of the season as New England beat New York on week 2 by 19-10 and I’m sure the Jets would like to come up with their fourth in a row against their divisional rival and whom is topping the AFC East at 6-3, while NY is behind them holding the same record.
The Jets are coming to this game being the current third-highest scoring offense in the league and will try their best with players like Jerricho Cotchery and Laveranues Coles, oh and let’s not forget Thomas Jones.
With the 5th best run defense in the league, the Jets will surely do all they can to contain Matt Cassel, whom surprisingly has substituted Tom Brady outstandingly.
The Jets are coming from a 47-3 victory to the Cardinals, while the Pats re-established their 1st. divisional place as they took down the Bills by 20-10, so energy is surely boosted and spirits are high for this coming game, which tells us that we can expect a truly disputed match between two teams that started the season with brand new quarterbacks on Cassel and veteran and future hall of famer Brett Favre.
For this game, the Jets will be visiting Gillette Stadium and odds are split even on this game, let’s check on the game and see if the Jets can take down the current NFL championship runner-ups at their house.
The Thunder surely did a great job at the first quarter of their game against the Celtics on Wednesday night. They came up with 29 points, but then Boston held Oklahoma City to only a twenty five percent shooting for the next two quarters, and so the Celtics came up with their fourth victory of the current NBA regular season and are now 4-1, and leading the EC Atlantic division.
Final score was 96-83 with Paul Pierce scoring 20 points and nine rebounds, while Ray Allen finished with 18 points and Kevin Garnett ended the game with 17 and eight rebounds. Funny for Allen was to face his former team which is now at a different city, as he was the Sonics superstar for four seasons straight before getting traded to the Celtics. And Allen was not just a part of the team but a fan of it, and he said before this game that is willing to do as much as he can to get the NBA back to Seattle.
On the other side of the fence, Kevin Durant scored 17 points but went six for fifteen on another poor shooting night at the new Stadium for an old revamped franchise with whom he started his career recently. Jeff Green finished with 14 and Russell Westbrook with 13 (including two late 3-pointers) for Oklahoma City.
The Thunder is now 1-3 at the WC Northwestern division, and it’s just too early to say if they will be the shadow of the Sonics (Whom finished with the worst record at the NBA last year) or if they are a wholly improved new team that is going to switch the image of the franchise completely.
Great times for the Celtics, whom are the reigning champions and a testing process for the Thunder, overall a whole different situation for both teams.
Just a couple of days ago on January fourth, the forty fourth president of the United States was named. And this wasn’t like any of the previous elections for the USA, since we had a woman and black man fighting the official candidature of their party, the African American won, and went into a fight against John McCain, finally, Barak Obama was elected as the first black president of the most powerful nation in the world.
And his election also had impact on sports, most likely on players like Lebron James, whom witnessed history along with his two young sons and other family members.
“It was uplifting; it was something that you can tell your kids, you really can become anything now. You don’t have to become a basketball player. You can become President of the United States. It was definitely an unbelievable feeling. It was definitely one of those feelings that you say, ‘Wow.” James finally said.
Lebron James had previously contributed $20,000 to a committee supporting Barak Obama, and hosted a free concert at Quicken Loans Arena with his long time friend and rap superstar Jay-Z.
Lebron saw how 50 and 60 year-old members of his family broke on tears when it was announced that Obama as the official president elected.
Previously James had met Barak Obama at the David Letterman show when both were invited together.
Obama played some basketball before the election, and that is supposedly a ritual for Obama. That of course was of the likes of James.
Seeing how former NBA All-Star Kevin Johnson was named the first black major for Sacramento past Tuesday, Lebron James was asked if he had some political aspirations, but he said that he has other things on his mind before thinking of a political career, “I might see myself up there in a navy suit, red tie, nice.” He said.
With 13 Pro-Bowlers on their roster, The Cowboys are a team which was expected to be one of the best at the NFL this current 08/09 season, but truth is that Dallas is just a shade of those previous visions.
The team is 1-2 since Tony Romo fractured a finger on his throwing hand, and as a consequence, veteran Brad Johnson has taken over the starting quarterback position but hasn’t delivered. The question here is: Why did club owner Jerry Jones didn’t acquire a competitive quarterback to back up Romo? Well I guess he was more focused on signing Pacman Jones, he was also focused on getting a 1-billion dollar new Stadium for the Cowboys but he never thought that Tony Romo could get injured as any other player out there.
Now the Cowboys are at the bottom of the NFC East with a 5-4 record after their week 9 35-14 loss to the Giants. Surely the NY team knew that a Romo-less Cowboys could not beat them.
This is the biggest score margin between the two teams since 2002. At this point, Dallas doesn’t even have a clear image about whether they will make it to the playoffs or not.
It seems like America’s team is going through a bad moment when they thought one of their best season was heading up in the horizon, but the reality tells a different story.
But with the things that are happening this time around at the NFL, the Cowboys situation is not such a big surprise, as teams like the Patriots are also going through a tough stage and just hanging there, but even New England who lost Tom Brady is doing better than the Cowboys, so they should try to get Tony Romo healthy asap.
I guess the Titans didn’t saw a 7-0 record entering, but fans are surely enjoying the best start of the team in the franchise’s history.
But some questions have risen about these victories, as only one of them was against a team that currently holds a winning record, the Ravens, whom currently are 4-3. So are they enough talented or just had luck with their game schedule.
Even though the Titans currently have the best scoring defense and the best turnover differential, when they came to their game against the Colts on Week 8, they felt disrespected as nobody’s giving them the proper credit they deserve.
Sure, people are still wondering if the Titans are the real deal and quarterback Kerry Collins is aware of that, “I think it just gave us more of a national stage for people to see us. But I think there are still a lot of doubters out there; I definitely think people are still wondering whether or not we’re for real.” He said before the game against the Colts.
On the other hand we have the Packers, whom are currently 4-3 and sharing the first place with the Bears at the NFC East.
Green Bay currently leads the NFL with 13 interceptions, 5 of those returned for touchdowns, while the Titans have 12, and both teams has 2 of the top defensive backs at the NFL with 4 interceptions each, which tells us what kind of game we can expect: defensive.
Safety Atari Bigby is an essential piece at the Packers defense and he’s ready to stop Tennessee’s Chris Johnson, who is currently the leading rusher at the AFC, and NFL’s top score LenDale White.
Great game overall, I expect another victory for the Titans since they are a very workmanlike team, and they are proving their critics that even though they are not a flashy team, they certainly are a winning one.
Even though they won their respective games, Giants and Cowboys did not have a good time at week 8 in front of tough rivals like the Steelers and the Buccaneers. Now it’s time for these two powerhouses to face each other at week 9.
The NFC East is ready for one of the most awaited classic divisional matches between: Cowboys at Giants playing at Giants Stadium this time.
Marion Barber will be leading the Cowboys defense as they did on the match to the Bucs when they hold Jeff Garcia impressively. On the side, the Giants are expecting to bring a lot of pressure over Brad Johnson, as they did over Big Ben and the Steelers last week.
Now the Cowboys will have to stop Eli Manning but I think he will have more luck than the veteran Johnson (replacing Tony Romo for injuries). Steve Spagnuolo is an excellent defensive coordinator and he can smell weakness all over the Cowboys with Johnson leading them. Spagnuolo has faced quarterbacks of the size of Romo, Tom Bradyand Brett Favre, and he will surely have a couple of surprises for the Cowboys.
The Giants are entering this game leading the NFC East 6-1, while the Cowboys are third at 5-3 behind the Redskins (6-2), and Dallas truly needs a couple more victories to venture into the first two positions. That is if NY and Washington loose their coming matches.
I think both of these teams are going pretty well at half season, but from here, everything is up the hill so the true tests are coming and football is better when the tension is flowing.And Dallas surely needs Tony Romo back on the football field as he’s been ruled out for the third consecutive game, and I don’t think 40-old Johnson has what it takes to lead the Cowboys.
The Rays are just one game away of saying goodbye to their season at the border line of a World Series Championship, and bad weather is helping them to have some rest before game 5 of the series which was suspended until tomorrow.
The Rays are just one game away of saying goodbye to their season at the border line of a World Series Championship, and bad weather is helping them to have some rest before game 5 of the series which was suspended until tomorrow.
The game was called out at the sixth inning with a tied 2-2 score, and nothing could bring more joy to the Rays bench than to know that even the hand of god is involved in their surprisingly good season.
TampaBay won just a lone game at Tropicana Field before the series moved to Philly, but major leaguesbaseball is back to Floridaafter game 5 (that is… if TampaBay can win game five) and the Rays have the chance of making things better in order to survive and continue to dream with a World Series Championship.
On the other hand, there has been 28 years since the Phillies tasted a league championship, and with a 3-1 series on their favor, they certainly are favorites to win one more game against the Rays and give their fans the joy of celebrating at their own baseball party.
The obligated day of rest for Philadelphia should be truly getting into their nerves as they want to close the deal soon enough. But even tough the Rays come up with a bit of luck and put things 3-2, Philly is one of the best current teams with good results on road games, so at this point, there is nothing said.
I don’t think either of these teams will have the same chance next season, and they are probably too aware of that. That is why there is not a true goliath here, this is just a David vs. David series.
