February 9, 2012

Brotherly Love (The Mannings)

Before comparing Eli Manning to his older brother Peyton, we must take a step back from the Super Bowl this week.

Eli Manning.  What words do you immediately think of when you think of Eli? Perhaps you perceive Eli Manning as Peyton’s younger brother, nothing more, nothing less. Maybe you think of Eli as that guy who miraculously wiggled out of a sack three times in one play, scrambled outside the pocket, and launched a prayer down the field in Super Bowl 42 that was eventually snatched by some no-name, obscure wide receiver with the help of a helmet and some stick ‘em glue. Or maybe you think of Eli Manning as Archie Manning’s son.

Perhaps, just maybe, it’s time for you to think about Eli Manning as a 2 time Super Bowl Champion, 2 time Super Bowl MVP, the most successful quarterback in road playoff games in NFL history, future hall of famer, and the best Manning to ever play the game of football. Yeah, I said it.

"Wait so I'm second best?" Picture from: http://www.americanspectator.biz/sports-news/peyton-mannings-streak-of-227-consecutive-starts/

Eli’s brother, Peyton, is the greatest regular season quarterback in NFL history. There’s no other quarterback that’s ever played the game that I would rather have than Peyton Manning if the goal were to go 13-3 every year and earn the number 1 seed in the postseason. Under Peyton’s reign, the Colts set an NFL record by winning 12 or more regular season games for 7 consecutive seasons.

But the goal isn’t to own the regular season, fill up the stat sheet, and set a myriad of statistical records. The goal, as in every sport, is to be the last team standing at the end of the year with the title of champion. Period. Just look at Dan Marino. If Marino were able to bust through just once and hoist the elusive Lombardi Trophy, he would likely be regarded as the greatest quarterback in NFL history.

During his illustrious NFL career, Peyton Manning has played in 19 playoff games, all as a member of the Indianapolis Colts. His record in those games in 9-10, hardly anything worth significant merit. Manning has a career postseason passer rating of a pedestrian 79.7.

While the Colts did breakthrough to win the Lombardi trophy in the 2006-2007 season under Manning’s direction, Peyton had a mediocre showing in the postseason. During the Colts run to the title in the ’07 playoffs, Manning threw 7 INT’s and only 3 TD’s. He sported a passer rating of an underwhelming 61.7.

Manning and the Colts again reached the Super Bowl in 2009 after a record setting 14-2 season. However, Peyton failed to win his second ring as he threw a crucial interception in the waning minutes to seal Indy’s fate.

Manning did have an exceptional 2009 postseason (9 TD’s, 1 INT), however many believe Peyton choked in what many dubbed as the most important game of his career. If Peyton doesn’t throw the pick to Tracy Porter and the Colts win Super Bowl 44, Peyton Manning is the greatest quarterback of all time.

Eli, on the other hand, seems to shine brightest when the pressure is on. Eli boasts extremely impressive career playoff numbers (21 TD’s, 7 INT’s) and is 8-3 as a starter in the postseason. He’s also tied for most game-winning drives in NFL playoff history with the great Joe Montana. Oh, and he’s won the Super Bowl…twice, both times against the mighty Patriots.

This is Eli at his finest. Notice under 2 minutes left in fourth quarter.

Not only is Eli one of the most clutch players to ever play the game, he’s one of the most consistent players in the NFL today. The Giants have not had a losing season since Eli Manning has been the starting quarterback for New York.

There is no doubt in my mind; Peyton Manning is a first ballot hall of famer. No questions asked. However, he doesn’t have the hardware that his brother Eli does. Before you make your decision, I’ll ask you this: who would you rather under center with two minutes left in the game, trailing by 4? To me, the answer is obvious: it’s Eli.

Tyler Howard


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February 8, 2012

Weekly Awards

As we take a look back there are awards that need to be handed out. Here is how we saw last week play out. For the 9th time this year Newcastle and their jordie fans are indebted to the sharp display of their Dutch goalkeeper Tim Krul. Krul handled Aston Villa’s immense pressure very well, and his only goal conceded was an unstoppable shot from Robbie Keane at close range. He came up with stops in the waning minutes against Gary Gardner’s header and Emile Heskey’s follow-up attempt.

Picture from: http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/players/profile.overview.html/tim-krul

Another player that put out a sensational performance against the Villans was defender Mike Williamson. Time after time he dealt with Villa’s long balls and headed them or passed them to safety. Not only did he deal with the barrage of through balls well, but he also kept poacher Darren Bent off of the score sheet.
Though Newcastle didn’t earn a clean sheet, Sunderland defender Michael Turner and his crew did. Turner, along with John O’Shea, dealt with Stoke’s long balls and the snowy elements rather well. Any team that holds Stoke to a clean sheet has to look at their defense with gratitude and, in this case, Turner was the leader of the back four that held Stoke goalless.
Leighton Baines is the next man in the squad after the Everton defender helped earn his side a point at Wigan. Baines’ runs and crosses have long been the envy of coaches in the Premier League, and, this time, his cross to Victor Anichebe resulted in the goal that helped the Blues draw level.  Throughout the game Baines seemed to be the danger man for Everton and in the end, he was the man who created the game tying goal.
When Swansea brought in midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, people weren’t expecting much or didn’t even know who he was. However, since his move, the Icelandic international has fit seamlessly into the Welsh side’s quick passing style. Sigurdsson finished Neil Taylor’s teasing cross with a goal and then provided an assist, himself, with a splitting pass to Danny Graham who put the Swans up 2-1.
One thing Arséne Wenger did accomplish in the summer transfer window was the purchase of 18 year old stud Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton. Chamberlain has provided some great performances lately for the Gunners, and Saturday was no different as he scored his first goals for the club as he netted a brace. He looks to follow the footsteps of fellow Gunner and former Southhampton player, Theo Walcott, as strives to break into the England first team ahead of Euro 2012.
The Martin O’Neill era at Sunderland has started remarkably well, and as a fixture in the side since O’Neill’s arrival, young James McClean has impressed when he has been featured. Scoring the only goal of the snowy outing against Stoke, McClean was dangerous throughout and his fearlessness to take on defenders has been a real asset since his breakout into the first team.
Not many regard Arsenal midfielder Alex Song as a playmaker, but recently Song has been nothing like a defensive midfielder. His passing has been excellent but his defense-splitting passes have been more impressive. After taking possession from the opponent, Song is always looking for the killer pass to set his team off on a counterattack and against Blackburn, he did it phenomenally.
After Leon Best’s unfortunate injury, Alan Pardew’s hand was forced as he brought on new boy Papiss Demba Cissé for the Irishman. Cissé’s excellent left-footed half volley was the highlight of his afternoon, and was no doubt the goal of the weekend. Besides scoring the goal, Cissé was very lively and almost had his first, prior to the volley, when he headed a cross barely over the crossbar.
Why have Batman, when you can have Robin? That’s the question among Londoners these days especially Arsenal fans. Robin Van Persie can boast his Premier League high 22 goals in 24 games, and Blackburn’s tattered back line were the latest to feel the wrath of RVP. He grabbed a hat trick against Rovers, and he now hasn’t gone more than one game without a goal since October.
The desperation of survival in the Premier League is brutal, and many a coach has been fired for failing to keep their team up.  If there’s one thing that Wolves can rely on from their Irish striker Kevin Doyle, it’s his never-say-die attitude and this quality is one thing his teammates should do their utmost to emulate if they want to survive. Doyle’s work rate earned him a goal this week to give his side the win against fellow strugglers QPR, 2-1.
Being responsible for subbing in the diligent Doyle, was Wolves’ boss Mick McCarthy. Although he has come under fire recently for his team’s failure to get a win for what seems like forever, McCarthy stuck to his guns and put a team out that will always fight for him, specifically when they were down 1-0 to relegation rivals QPR at Loftus Road. For this, Mick, I commend you.
Starting 11:
GK: Tim Krul (Newcastle)
Def: Mike Williamson (Newcastle), Michael Turner (Sunderland), and Leighton Baines (Everton)
Mid: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea City), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), James McClean (Sunderland), and Alex Song (Arsenal)
Fwd: Papiss Demba Cissé (Newcastle), Robin Van Persie (Arsenal), and Kevin Doyle (Wolverhampton)
Manager: Mick McCarthy (Wolverhampton)
Jonathan Zinser

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February 7, 2012

Big 12 Player of the Year

 

Marcus Denmon has led the Tigers to an amazing run.

 

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February 7, 2012

Brian Daboll, the Chiefs O-Coordinator

The Kansas City Chiefs announced today that they have hired former Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Brian Daboll as their offensive coordinator. Daboll was one of the three finalists, along with former Raiders offensive coordinator Al Saunders and (gulp) Chiefs quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn, for the coaching job. Daboll was the Dolphins’ offensive coordinator in 2011. Now before you protest in shock (The Miami Dolphins offense?! Are you kidding me) you must realize that this was the first time in the Dolphins history to have a player rush for 1,000 yards (Reggie Bush) and have another player have 1,000 receiving yards (Brandon Marshall). The first time ever. I don’t care if you’re the baby from E-Trade, if you’re the first to do that for a storied team like the Dolphins, you should be looked at and considered.

Daboll decked out in his Browns (white) gear. Photo from: www.phinnation.com

Daboll has a relationship with Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli and coach Romeo Crennel from their years together on the Patriots. Daboll was an assistant under Bill Belichick in New England from 2000-06. So he’s from the “Belichick Brady Bunch,” and might know a thing or two about cheating, spying, and basically helping Pioli hold down Arrowhead Stadium (new hidden seat cameras anyone?). After his stint with the Patriots, he was the Jets’ quarterbacks coach in 2007-08.  He was an offensive coordinator for the Browns under Eric Mangini in 2009-10, but we all know what happened to the Browns that year. (Ok I don’t, but I’m going to safely assume they had a losing season—again.)

I like Coach Daboll because of how well he can draw up plays and recognize defenses. Although under Daboll the Dolphins ranked a miserable 22nd in total offense and 20th in points (20.6 per game) this season, they performed much better in the second half of the season, and they were missing their quarterback Chad Henne to injury and playing with Matt Moore. And, although a small jump, it is better than the Chiefs offense, which ranked 27th in the league and averaged only 13.2 points per game in 2011. Interestingly enough, Daboll has worked with Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel, who entered the league as a seventh-round pick of the Patriots in 2005. Daboll was the Patriots’ receivers coach from 2002-06. So expect Cassel to be the starting quarterback next year.

This hire seems fitting because all Scott Pioli refers to is “The Patriots Way”. And since Daboll was with the Pats, he will fit in perfectly. I assume that Jim Zorn will have a major role in the offense as well because of his experience and the familiarity of the team. The major void that the Chiefs have is still at the quarterback position. It is clear that Matt Cassel cannot win a Super Bowl. It will be interesting to see how the Chiefs and Pioli address the quarterback situation and the roster with the draft and signing of free agents, most notably Brandon Carr and Dwayne Bowe.

And people were saying that football is done for the year.

Spencer Montgomery

Blase Capelli

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February 5, 2012

The badass column: beginnings

To all my readers, I’m sorry. With the recent start of school, things have been slowing down for me, and instead of writing a story, I’m taking notes for theology. I’ll let that sink in. Notes for theology.

Anyway, I’ve decided to make an executive decision. My column is officially a Snickers (Yes, I’m comparing my writing to a Snickers). Instead of writing two stories, a Tweet and Tell and then a What to Watch for the week, I’ve decided to scale back to one massive, awesome, incredible column.

So where does the Snicker metaphor fit in, you ask.

Ah, you see, Snickers is God’s gift to man kind. Its subtle combination of chocolate, nuts, caramel, and nugget makes it one of the best candies in the world. So too will this column, in a less subtler way, use the combination of tweets, predictions, videos, and my terrible jokes to form “the badass column.”

So without further ado…

I’m sure by now everyone has seen the “We are Mizzou” video. The video shows three college students with way too much time on their hands and way too little talent to exploit. And as sad as it was that these college students made such a terrible video, it’s even sadder that I actually like it. First it was just a watch through and some humming: nothing too big. Then I kept watching and watching. Before I knew it, I was belting “So who are you?!” in the shower.

In hopes to finding a cure to this pathetic addiction, I decided to watch six children in adult bodies  go out every night, pee themselves, and do absolutely nothing all day; I watched some Jersey Shore. Then I realized I was filling one pathetic addiction with another (God bless Snooki’s soul).

So that didn’t work. At this point it was getting pretty bad: I had just downloaded the song onto my Ipod and had put it on repeat when working out at the gym (I got some pretty weird stares, I think it was when I yelled the line, “say your grace!” that did it). I had hit rock bottom. Then I went back to the source, youtube, and incredibly, I stumbled upon other videos made by other college students

As you can see, this video was actually pretty good. The response, of course, was a Purdue video.

I now have a playlist titled “Awesome college songs” on my Ipod, right below my “Justin Bieber” playlist. Yes, life’s good.

However, for Kansas fans life isn’t very good. In last night’s game, I watched Tyshawn Taylor suddenly morph into the ghost of Christian Moody and flat out brick those two big free throws. With those misses, Mizzou went on to win the game and defend its home floor. And while the game on the court was a fun battle between two top tier teams, heading into the game, there was a battle raging off the court, on Twitter. It was the #thingsbetterthantheotherteam battle, and might I say something, as a totally independent, non-biased 3rd party, this was some of the most entertaining things I’ve ever read. Thank God for sports

KU fans, let’s see what you got.

Turner Gill #ThingsBetterThanMizzou

-Brett Shaw@Bshaw722

#ThingsBetterThanMizzou Evangelical Republicans

Jordan Jacobson@jdever12

Public bathrooms #thingsbetterthanmizzou

- Cassie Mann @coolcass01

#ThingsBetterThanMizzou Anthony Davis’ unibrow

-Alex Todd@TheAlexTodd

Missouri fans, your turn.

Holly Rowe’s makeup artist. #ThingsbetterthanKansas

- FakeNedYost@fakenedyost

Where was Erin Andrews last night? Honestly...

Running out of toilet paper #thingsbetterthankansas

- Lucas Vincent@The9extBi6Thing

The WNBA #thingsbetterthanKansas

- The Antlers@The_Antlers

Tyler Palko #thingsbetterthankansas

- Romeo Crennel@Grandpa_Romeo

The winner: fans like me, who get to witness this hilarious Twitter war.

The Super Bowl

            Someone up in Congress needs to make the Super Bowl a national holiday. They’re making laws to get rid of Facebook and Twitter (see SOPA), the least they can do is make the Super Bowl a national holiday. I was thinking the law would be called Protecting Against Abusive Super Bowl Practices. The law would effectively make it illegal to have school on the Monday after the Super Bowl, teachers could not assign homework the weekend of the Super Bowl, Super Bowl parties must include conversations related to sports unless the conversationees move rooms, therefore to not allow for distractions, commercials must be watched by viewers, and terrible halftime shows would be made illegal. If you’re interested in starting a petition with me for this piece of legislation, feel free to contact me. This can happen America! Believe in Hope and Change (I think I’m getting a little carried away).

As for the actual game, I think it will be an interesting matchup. The pain of losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl four years ago must be devastating for the Patriots, and as much as they say they haven’t thought of it, they have. That’s like saying athletes don’t think of individual awards or they don’t care about the money (please, spare us all, you’re not fooling anyone. You’re an athlete not an actor).

This game will go down to the wire. That I’m for sure. As for everything else, I have no idea. The Giants have that “it” factor this year that the Packers had last year and they had four years ago. Ultimately, the “it” factor (whatever “it” is) will win this game for them.

Giants- 24 Patriots-21

Blase Capelli

 

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February 5, 2012

Super Bowl Poll

Jonathan Zinser: Giants 24 Pats 14

Sam Young: Patriots 24 Giants 20

Chris Caffrey: Giants 24 Patriots 20

Zac Hardwick: Patriots 24 Giants 21

Spencer Montgomery: Patriots 31 Giants 24

Tyler Howard: Patriots 27 Giants 24

Blase Capelli: Giants 24 Patriots 21

Briek Pauwels: Patriots 31 Giants 21

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February 4, 2012

Kansas State’s Signing Class

This past Wednesday, Kansas State signed their 2012 Football Recruiting Class. As usual, Bill Snyder’s recruiting class isn’t filled with 4 or 5 stars or any highly ranked recruits. However, the 2012 recruiting class has some of Bill Snyder’s system players that will make a huge impact either immediately or down the road. Let’s look at some of the future stars from K-State’s recruiting class.

Biggest impact next year: Marquez Clark
Marquez Clark is a wide receiver from Navarro JC. This past season he set the NJCAA records for receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in a season. With sub-4.4 speed, expect him to work his way into the top 4 of K-State’s receiving core along with Chris Harper, Tyler Lockett and Tramaine Thompson.

Biggest Impact Down the Road: Tavarious Bender
Tavarious Bender is a 6-3 dual threat quarterback from Lincoln, Nebraska. Rated by Rivals as the 20th dual threat quarterback in the country and the Top recruit in the state of Nebraska. Watching his highlight film is like a man amongst boys. He runs a 4.47 election 40 and throws the ball with nice accuracy and touch. He fits Bill Snyder’s prototypical quarterback mold.

The Old Man always seems to find the diamonds in the rough. Picture from: http://www.greatbendpost.com/2011/12/07/snyder-big-12-coach-of-the-year/

Sleeper: Judah Jones
Judah Jones is a wide receiver from Shreveport, Louisiana’s historic football program Evangel Christian. He had offers from Arkansas and a few others but chose to go to KSU on NSD. The reason I’m picking him as a sleeper is because he plays for an awesome high school program and he was a vastly underrated recruit

Overall Grade: B
As stated before, this class isn’t filled with superstars. It has a few JUCO players that can come in and contribute right away and some players that can be very productive down the road. This is Coach Snyder’s best class in awhile, and while people may be very critical of it, I see a ton of potential with this class.

Sam Young

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February 3, 2012

Sports and College

Usually I’m not one to pick up and read the newspaper. My schedule just doesn’t allow for time to wearily pick up the latest edition of the newspaper and read the repetitive, mind-numbing dribble that it is composed of. However, this past weekend, one article did catch my eye.
The article was titled “How Big-time Sports Ate College Life” and was written by Laura Pappano of the New York Times. Being an 18 year old high school senior that is in the midst of making the most important decision of my young life, where I will be attending college, naturally I picked up the article and began reading.
I was astounded by the contents the article contained. According to the New York Times, a random polling of college students at 25 different division one universities suggested that almost 60 percent of college freshman picked their university based on the success of their major athletic programs (football and basketball.) To me, that’s insanity.
I like sports just as much as the next guy, but making your college choice solely based on a school’s athletic success is asinine. It’s setting yourself up for failure almost instantly.
America, as a whole, has their priorities severely backwards. We pay professional athletes through ticket sales, merchandise sales, and advertisement fees through lucrative salaries, but yet somehow we don’t have enough money to properly fund our public school system or the NASA space program. Seems a little odd, doesn’t it?
Student-athletes are in college not to entertain us, but to earn an education. In my opinion, university budgets should list all necessities of education on a priority list. All donations, aid, and tuition should go towards fulfilling those obligations to the students first, and afterwards, any additional funds may go towards sports.

This would put a bigger emphasis on education and meeting the most important needs of the students paying to attend universities. Focusing on sports at a University during a recession is like a starving family deciding to go without food to buy the newest gaming console. There is nothing wrong with having fun, but there is a certain way you must prioritize things in life.

However, this will never happen. Why, you ask? Because collegiate athletics is the main source of income for several major universities across the nation. Without their football program, Ohio State University would not have the revenue and endowment it currently has today.
I’m definitely not saying collegiate athletics is the downfall of college academic standards, because they aren’t. Like most things in life, everything is good in moderation. Universities should not be about athletics, division I sports and competition bring a special experience to college students.
Division I athletics offer a sense of unity and special bonding experiences among students that can last a lifetime. But like I said earlier, do NOT make your college decision SOLEY based upon athletics. Take it into account, but ultimately your decision should be made on academics.
Tyler Howard

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February 1, 2012

M-I-Z-D-G-B

Reblogged from Daily Grind Sports:

Mizzou fans are on cloud nine right now with Dorial Green-Beckham committing to Mizzou. If you can handle it … watch these videos. How drunk is Columbia getting tonight? …

Crazy Freak of Nature

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February 1, 2012

Local Quick Hits

Terrible Week for the local Colleges

Yes, A win is a win. But I couldn’t help but notice that Missouri is still missing something. While most would think it is the lack of big men, I disagree. When I watched the Tigers beat Texas Tech 63-50 I noted the fact that they don’t have a defensive specialist. When I look for defensive specialists I want a small forward that can guard the power forwards and shooting guards. While Kim English is a good defender he can NOT stop Thomas Robinson. I predict Robinson to stamp himself as the player of the year in the two games against the Missouri Tigers.
Oklahoma Basketball. Really Oklahoma. Come on that’s embarrassing. Not once, but twice the Wildcats lost to Oklahoma. Along with that loss, they dropped out of the top 25. And then the Wild Cats lose to Iowa State. While this is not as bad of a lose, it puts the Cats at 4-5 in league conference. This terrible record slots them at tied for 5th with Oklahoma State.I am dumbfounded as to how the Cats are still expected to be in the tournament. Now add the blown lead to Iowa State last night, and really, this team is as puzzling as an unsolved rubik’s cube.
When the Jayhawks walked into to Hilton Coliseum, I expected them to be ready for the Cyclones. I expected a double-digit victory. Royce White and company showed that KU will have to be on their A game to win the Big 12. As I watched this game with Sam Young I couldn’t help myself from rooting for Iowa State. I tried not to but I just wanted all KU fans to be brought back down to earth.

National Signing Day


When I think about the efforts that Garry Pinkel has put into getting Dorial Green-Beckham it makes me laugh. Although most details have been in reports and may be stretching the truth, getting picked up in a helicopter is hilarious. The Missouri Tigers have gone beyond “all in”. They do not want DBG to be “the one that got away.”

DGB, The Freak, The Animal. Picture From: http://www.maxpreps.com/news/b_l_tIqZEd-lugAcxJTdpg/becoming-dorial-green-beckham.htm

While Kansas State may not make huge splashes with their signing, Coach Snyder always seems to get the perfect fits for his system. With a loaded team coming back I expect the Wild Cats to be a powerhouse in the Big 12 next year. While this incoming freshman class will see limited playing time at best, they will have the expectations to continue the winning. As I said earlier Coach Snyder always finds the diamond in the rough. The Cats have numerous JUCO signings that will look to step in immediately.

This offseason has been extremely different for the Kansas Jayhawks. First they sign a big name coach in Charlie Weis. Next the transfers begin to come pouring in. Then Coach Weis gets his staff set with years of professional experience. The excitement is high, so I caution the arrogant KU fans. You’re still going to be watching Kansas Football! Don’t fool yourself. Although the future is bright, it will take time. With JUCO recruits flowing in, the team will be much improved from last year. It will be interesting to see how many of Charlie Weis’ recruits play next year. I am excited to watch the SLIGHT buzz that is Kansas Football.
KU MU Future
Although I have always been an outsider when it comes to this rigorous rivalry, I have experienced the excitement. When I hear my friends debate which team is better, I often have to be the mediator. I have no bias toward either team. I am a Gator at heart. Yet, I will desperately miss the excitement that comes with the Border War. After this season, there will be no more Border War. What the fans have to hope for is a game at the Sprint Center. There is no other way these teams will play. And with the recent “We are Mizzou” and “We are KU” who wouldn’t want another showdown between these two teams?

 

Spencer Montgomery

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