NFL Preview - Starts Tomorrow

Yup, you read that correctly - the much anticipated, 1st Annual Sports As Life NFL Preview starts tomorrow.

We're going to start with the NFC this week and next week will be the AFC.

So stay tuned.

Monday Headlines

TSN CONTINUES TO SHAME ITSELF

If TSN's CFL coverage was a horse, it would have been shot 3 weeks ago. This week only proved this point beyond a shadow of a doubt. The decision was made by TSN to NOT show the beginning of the Saskatchewan - Toronto game at 7pm eastern. Instead they stayed with the end of the second round coverage from the PGA Championship. THE SECOND ROUND OF THE PGA! - the slow-witted half-brother of golf's 3 other majors. Sure glad I got to see Tiger Woods tap in for par.

To say the camera work for TSN has been third-rate is an insult to third-rate cameramen. I can't count the number of times a punt returner has zoomed through the frame because the cameraman lost the ball in the air or couldn't find the returner. Also, play action is designed to fool defences, not the people filming the game.

And oh the commentators - who I think I've said enough about already in previous posts. But one thing I want to add - I would love to watch a game where I'm not being talked to like a 6 year old. Is it to much to ask to for announcers to call the game like they assume that their audience is even a little familiar with football? If TSN explains to me one more time why a running game is important or what the benefits of a screen-pass are, I think I'm going to lose it.

755 FALLS AND THERE WAS MUCH REJOICING...

...about the fact that we no longer have to here about Barry Bonds.

Want to actually read an interesting story about Major League Baseball? If you haven't heard about Rick Ankiel yet, read this. He hit a 3-run home run in his first game as a major league outfielder, after washing out of the league years ago as a pitcher with monstrous control problems. Oh, Ankiel hit 2 more home runs the next night too.

@^$% THE REGINA FOLK FEST

If one more person tells me how great the City and Colour show at the after party was on Friday night - I'm going to go jump in traffic. I'm serious - don't talk to me about this anymore.

Never again.

NFL FANTASY FOOTBALL - OPEN AUDITIONS

The Sports As Life crew are looking for 2-3 people interested in participating in some fantasy football this fall/winter. Anybody reading this is eligible to join as long as you meet the following criteria:

- you must have more than a casual interest/knowledge of the NFL.

- you must commit to playing until the season ends in December. No giving up on the season because you happen to be 2-8 in Week 10.

- you must not actively pursue shady trades or any other shenanigans.

- you must have a sense of humour.

- you must not be easily offended - if my current team name, "Now With 15% Less Dogfighting" puts you off - you need not apply. Note: my team name is a bastardized version of what I really wanted: "Michael Vick's Stupid Pet Tricks - Now With 15% Less Dogfighting". However, space limitations forced me to edit it.

And I think that's about all the necessary requirements, so if you're interested leave a comment on the blog or send an email to: sportsaslife@hotmail.com. Or if you know my personal email address, send me one there.

With only 3 weeks until NFL season starts, the sooner you reply the better.

Back to Civilization

Hello sports fans, I am back from the thriving metropolis of Nipawin, Saskatchewan.

No big posts today - I'm much too tired for that. But the Roughrider Roundtable blog is now up on Mysask.com. So if you haven't checked that out, make sure to do so.

Possibly more tomorrow.

Some Light Holiday Blogging

No, I'm not talking about Saskatchewan Day - which I'm pretty sure was just created so that government employees would have a better excuse for a 4 day weekend.

I'm talking about the fact that I'm on holidays right now and tomorrow I'm headed to the vacation hotspot of Nipawin, Saskatchewan - I'm all kinds of fired up about possibly participating in the Great Northern Pike Festival.

I'm also all kinds of fired up about the 4 day break from my neighbours, Mr. and Mrs. Domestic Disturbance - don't you guys go killing each other while I'm gone. Also don't steal any of my stuff.

Because I'm hoping to spend as much time away from my computer as possible over the next 4 days, don't expect too many posts in the coming week. Keep an eye out on Mysask.com's sports page on Tuesday though. I've been asked to contribute to a Roughrider roundtable blog - so we'll see if that materializes or what it turns out like.

But to tide you over for the week, I've got some quick thoughts for you.

First about the Roughrider game from Thursday night:

...Ok, even if you are a hardcore Rider fan or CFL fan, there is no way you can say with a straight face that was an exciting game to watch. By halfway through the second quarter I was busy working on my NFL fantasy team.

...Luca Congi is slowly (or quickly) kicking himself out of a job. I don't know how many 20 yard field goals you can miss and still be a professional kicker. Apparently his field goal range is 40 yards and over.

...Danny McManus needs to have his intelligence tested - I'm serious. I'm hoping Rob Vanstone was being sarcastic in Friday's Leader Post when he complimented McManus' colour commentary. There is nothing enlightening or intelligent about McManus' work in the TSN booth. He generally comes up with insights like, "He came here to play football tonight and boy, is he ever!" Fantastic.

...Not to be outdone by McManus, Rod Black came up with this gem of a nickname for Kerry Joseph - "K Jo". Nice work as always gentlemen.

...Was B.C running back Joe Smith too injured to touch the ball during the game? What other explanation is there for the best running back in the league not even getting 10 carries in a game with a quarterback making his first career start. This was one of the most baffling coaching decisions I've ever seen.

...Enough Rider talk.

...Well Barry Bonds tied the most hallowed record in baseball last night. Couldn't have happened to a worse person. Don't worry, A-Rod will break the all-time home run record within 6 years. He is just slightly more likeable than Bonds.

...Is David Beckham actually going to play soccer for the L.A Galaxy at some point? This is turning into the sports story dud of the year. $250 million for him to sit on the bench - money well spent.

...Having played the Nintendo Wii for the first time this weekend, I think I can safely say that it is single-handedly going to solve the obesity problem in today's kids. That might be overshadowed though by the tremendous number of injuries it is going to cause in today's over-competitive adults. After only playing it for a short while, I think I already need massive reconstructive rotator cuff surgery - and probably Tommy John surgery too.

...Finally congratulations to loyal reader Walks on his wedding yesterday. Sorry that the Sports As Life staff couldn't be there but we wish you guys all the best.

That is all.

The Links

...I think this is the video of Cooper doing his header in Banff 4 years ago (that joke is so inside, only about 3 people reading this will get it).

...If you want to read a real story about Bill Walsh (as opposed to mine) check out Michael Wilbon's story from the Washington Post today. I'm not sure if you'll have to sign up to read it or not but it's well worth the 30 seconds it will take you. While you're at the Washington Post site you should check out Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser's Talking Points - it's pretty good sports talk and it's basically just them yelling at each other for 10 minutes. Think of it as the poor man's Pardon the Interruption. Oh, Wilbon's story also ran in the Leader-Post today, so you can check it out in there as well.

...Normally I try to keep everything on Sports As Life to a PG-13 standard - so I'm throwing up a parental advisory for this one, it's nothing too serious just a few choice words. But it's just too funny not to put up. It's Vince Vaughn busting Rory Cochrane hard on Dinner for Five - which might be the greatest TV show idea of all time.

...I know I've linked to Bill Simmons' podcasts before but not this one - his podcast with Adam Carolla from May 15th is a must listen. It's on the right hand side of the page - you'll see it.

...There is nothing funny about this at all but it is some pretty startling footage. It seems ridiculous that a bridge could just give way like that.

Artist of the Week

This week's Artist is a repeat, sort of... I know put up one of his clips in the Links previously. However, this week he's making the jump to the big show.

His name is Cas Haley, a reggae/roots musician from Texas who also happens to currently be on America's Got Talent. To combat the problem of having to watch him on reality TV, I've got an excellent system worked out. My Significant Other watches the show and then lets me know when he's on so that I can see him and only him. Good deal.

This is a clip of him doing Walking on the Moon by the Police. I know I've put this one up before but it's so good it deserves another look.

And this is him doing Higher and Higher by Jackie Wilson. Brings back fond memories of Ghostbusters 2 - as the song was the best part of that movie.

Here is the Myspace page for his actual band called Woodbelly.

If there was ever a person that would make me call in and vote on a reality program, he would be that person.

Toronto vs. Boston - But Not the Maple Leafs and Bruins

Nope, today we're talking about two teams that actually matter.

If the reports on ESPN.com and everywhere else are true - and I always operate under the assumption that everything I read on the Internet is factually-based - then the Boston Celtics have somehow managed to trade for Kevin Garnett, formerly of the Minnesota Timberwolves. I have no desire to write about Boston's reaction to the trade or how they pulled it off, if you're interested in such things, here is Bill Simmons' column from yesterday about the trade.

What my concern is with is how this trade is going to affect the Toronto Raptors, reigning Atlantic Division champs - who just happen to share a division with the Celtics. My initial reaction was that the addition of Garnett meant the Celtics were now favorites to win the Division and probably the whole Eastern Conference. However, upon further review I'm not so sure anymore.

Make no mistake, the Celtics probably have more star power than any other team in the East, including Miami, Detroit, and Cleveland - with Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. But can you name another player on their roster? Because the Celtics had to trade away 5 players to get Garnett, their depth chart is now slimmer than Michael Vick's chances of being an honorary judge at the Westminster Dog Show. That's going to mean an awful lot of minutes for 3 guys who are all in their 30's.

Which brings me to the Raptors. The idea behind this post was to show how the Raptors matched up against the Celtics - as they should be the 2 teams vying for the Atlantic Division - and honestly I didn't think the Raptors were going to match up very well. So I started by writing out the probable starting 5 for the Celtics - Kendrick Perkins, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo. Then I wrote out the Raptors that I thought would start at those corresponding positions - Rasho Nesterovic, Chris Bosh, Anthony Parker, Jason Kapono, T.J Ford.

However, as I was going down the Raptors roster I realized or remembered that the Raptors are a ridiculously deep team. These are the players that didn't make that starting 5 for the Raptors - Andrea Bargnani (my man Il Mago, who could easily be a starter, just needs some more experience), Jose Calderon (again could easily start in place of T.J Ford), Jorge Garbajosa ( a starter last season when Mo Pete was on the pine), Joey Graham (who was a bum in the playoffs, but played well in the regular season), and Carlos Delfino (by all accounts an above average defender who came over from Detroit - and averaged 16 minutes a game last year on a very good Detroit team). And my list of Raptors leaves out Kris Humphries, who I really like and was a great energy guy off the bench last year.

So if you're scoring at home, the Raptors have up to 11 guys (Nesterovic, Bosh, Parker, Kapono, Ford, Bargnani, Calderon, Garbajosa, Graham, Delfino and Humphries - pretty impressive when they're all listed in a row, eh?) that can contribute in big ways, as compared to Boston's 5 - well 6 I guess if rookie Glen "Big Baby" Davis can contribute.

Now don't get me wrong - Boston's Big Three are far and away better than anybody Toronto puts at those positions. I'm terrified the Garnett is going to eat Chris Bosh up every time they play. I don't know if Bosh has ever consistently faced a big man of Garnett's skill level and intensity. It's going to be a great challenge for Bosh at any rate - I'm hoping for some Optimus Prime vs. Megatron type battles from those 2 guys. And then Pierce and Allen are going to be better than anyone Toronto puts out there, unless Bargnani comes out and plays like a monster. At Center it's a wash between the two teams. The only position that Toronto has a clear advantage is at Point Guard - where both T.J Ford and Jose Calderon are going to be better than anybody Boston throws out there.

However, I don't know if you can win a championship or even a division with only 3 impact players playing big minutes over an 82 game season. I know that Toronto can't match the talent and star power of Boston's Big Three but I love Toronto's depth and I think that might be the key to them matching or surpassing what they did last year. I'm not going to say that Toronto is going to win the Atlantic Division and Boston isn't - but I think it might be closer than people think it's going to be.

All I know for sure is that I'm already all kinds of fired up for the NBA season to start. Toronto and Boston should have some epic battles this year - well, a guy can hope anyway.

This may be the year I break down and buy a Bargnani jersey.