State of the Bucs
I haven’t written anything on the Buccaneers lately, Greg Schiano is the new head coach and so far the only coach. Without a coaching staff it would be a waste of time for me to “speculate” on what the roster needs and will look like for the 2012 season. Schiano is a defensive coach but I sincerely hope Tampa Bay drafts a playmaker on the offensive side of the ball.
As the coaching vacancies are filled I will come back and finish my State of the Bucs article, until then I wait like the rest of us who bleed pewter and red.
The Future of The NBA
The future of the NBA looks more intriguing everyday. I just finished watching the Los Angeles Clippers and Minnesota Timberwolves duke it out for four quarters. One thing came to mind as I witnessed Kevin Love sink the game-winning three pointer, the NBA has an extremely bright future. This game was a microcosm of what’s next for the Association, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love and of course Spanish sensation (for good reason) Ricky Rubio. The Oklahoma City Thunder also extended point guard Russell Westbrook for five years, seemingly squashing any feud rumors between Westbrook and the other future NBA torch-bearer Kevin Durant.
Five years ago you couldn’t convince someone to watch a Clippers-Timberwolves game, in five years it may be a marquee matchup or even a western conference final. Of course that is assuming that the T-Wolves can keep Kevin Love and other players like Rubio. Some other teams on the rise are the Philadelphia 76ers, Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies. If the Milwaukee Bucks can build around their young talent Brandon Jennings and big-man Andrew Bogut then they can join the group of up and comers.
Now for the opposite side of the spectrum, the Knicks, Nets, Celtics, Hornets and Pistons are all floundering. The Knicks are the hardest to explain of these teams, mainly because of the acquisitions of Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler. They still haven’t figured each other out yet and are missing a true point guard to lead them. Of course Deron Williams would fill that void nicely if he doesn’t want to stay in New Jersey.
Another team that is excelling and looking like an early contender for the title are the Chicago Bulls. Chicago is the first team to 14 wins, and with last year’s MVP Derrick Rose they will be exciting for years to come. A future NBA Finals matchup between Oklahoma City and Chicago would not be surprising, these teams are on a crash course to face each other and perhaps become rivals for the next decade.
The NBA suffered in the post-Jordan era by promoting singular talents like Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson and Lebron James, but now the post-Shaq era is here and the future of the league is the teams, not the star players who never win anything other than personal accolades. The future is bright for the NBA and I can’t wait to be a witness.
Raheem’s Nightmare, the Dream is Over
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired coach Raheem Morris, and every other coach on the team. Cleaning house after a promising 4-2 start turned into a 4-12 debacle of a football team. This coming a year after achieving a ten win season. The 2010-11 Tampa Bay Buccaneers doomed this years’ team, winning ten games gave the team and coaching staff an inflated sense of accomplishment, even though they did not even get into the playoffs.
Looking back to last season the Buccaneers beat only one team outside of the top twenty in the draft, New Orleans. The victories were against Cleveland, Carolina twice, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Arizona, San Francisco, Washington, Seattle and New Orleans. The losses included two blowouts at home against Pittsburgh and New Orleans. Four of the teams the Bucs beat drafted in the top ten.
This season the Buccaneers paid the price of having a soft schedule a year ago. Match ups against Green Bay, Chicago, Houston and Dallas proved to be too much for the youngest team in the league. Not to mention playing New Orleans, Atlanta and a surprisingly powerful offense in Carolina twice a year. After shutting out the 49ers in Candlestick Park a year ago the Bucs returned this season and were annihilated and embarrassed by San Francisco, 48-3.
This past season was doomed the second the lockout took affect over the summer. Many pundits said that the lockout would hurt the youngest teams the most, and the Buccaneers were proof of that theory. Now the youngest coach in the four major sports leagues has been fired and the search begins for the next Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach. The Bucs possess the fifth pick in the draft and this offseason could prove crucial for the future of the entire organization.
UP NEXT: Draft analysis, determining who the Buccaneers should draft fifth overall.
Live Game Blog- National Championship
9:15 LSU blocks a Bama field goal attempt, game will be ultimately decided by special teams.
9:21 LSU can barely move on offense, a false start penalty and dropped catch kill another Bayou Bengal drive. 3-0 Bama, 2nd quarter.
9:32 Another Alabama field goal makes it 6 to nothing. Plenty of hard hits so far but not too much excitement to talk about. Closing in on halftime and the more I watch the more I notice that Alabama’s defense is dictating this game.
9:47 A great two minute drive by Alabama leads to another field goal to end the first half, 9-0 Crimson Tide.
Halftime stats—Jefferson 6/7 for 26 yards…McCarron 18/25 for 156 yards.
Rush Yards…LSU-10 carries 17 yards…Alabama-16 carries 69 yards
LSU has one first down, and haven’t even crossed mid-field yet. Those seem like Buccaneer numbers.
10:11 Second half starts and Alabama gets a 19 yard pass and catch followed by another 20 yard pass and catch.
10:16 Alabama connects on their fourth field goal, they aren’t pulling away but a big play on defense or a three-and-out could be game changing.
10:34 Jordan Jefferson flips an easy interception into the arms of CJ Mosley. Alabama defense prevails again, this time halfway through the third quarter. If Bama can score a touchdown (something they haven’t done against LSU in both matchups) this game could be over.
10:39 The LSU bench looks dejected, they must rely on their defense to keep them in this game.
10:41 Jeremy Shelley misses a 41-yard field goal, LSU can make this interesting again with a score.
10:43 Alabama sack Jefferson on third down, the defense is too overwhelming for the LSU offense to generate any kind of sustainable drive. The combination of running backs Lacy and Richardson are giving the LSU defense fits.
10:50 Jeremy Shelley hits a career long 44-yard field goal to push the score to 15-0. The Alabama defense is the real show in this game and they are worth the watch.
10:53 End of the third quarter. I find it funny that with all of the pro prospects and hype surrounding this game that the kicker will be the difference and most likely the MVP. Oh wait, that was the exact same outcome as the first meeting between these two teams.
10:57 Kirk Herbstreit mentions that LSU looks lifeless. The camera shows the other LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee every chance they get.
11:00 I can’t stop thinking about how nice a four-team playoff would be in this situation, who wouldn’t want to see a very good offense like Oklahoma State play this impressive Alabama defense.
11:00 Brent Musberger mentions there has never been a shutout in a BCS bowl game. 15-0 Alabama with 10 minutes left.
11:12 Alabama has zero penalties and LSU has 3 for 35 yards.
11:14 LSU goes for a 4th and 18 and the Alabama defense comes through again forcing a fumble by Jordan Jefferson. The Crimson Tide have sealed this game and the National Championship with 6:15 left.
11:20 Trent Richardson runs for a 34-yard touchdown and puts the proverbial dagger in the heart of LSU Tiger fans everywhere. 21-0 with 4:36 left in the BCS title game.
11:31 Alabama wins the National Championship in convincing fashion, 21-0. Yet it feels incomplete without a playoff game with Oklahoma State, i would really like to see a good offense against the best defense, Alabama vs Oklahoma State.
Dwight Howard and Deja Vu for Orlando
The Orlando Magic have gone through this before, losing arguably the best center in the league. They handled it once, they could handle it again, right? To quote Lee Corso, “Not so fast my friend.” Pat Williams recently remarked that losing Shaquille O’neal sent to the Magic into the dark ages for ten years. The dark ages ended when the Magic selected the next great, charismatic and all-around best center in the draft since Shaq.
Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’neal have had similar careers with the Orlando Magic. Both were drafted with the first overall pick, and both have led the Magic to the NBA Finals. The Magic lost both of those championship series, mainly due to the fact that the team never properly built around their star centers. That was one of the many reasons they lost Shaq to the Lakers, who already had an established scorer in Kobe Bryant and an experienced coach in Phil Jackson. The Magic have tried to build around Dwight Howard with the acquisitions of Vince Carter, Hedo Turkoglu, and Rashard Lewis. However, Carter and Lewis did not pan out and are no longer on the team.
The loss of Dwight Howard would seemingly send the Magic into even darker times than the loss of Shaq. Howard has played in Orlando since 2004 and has won the defensive player of the year award three consecutive seasons, something no player has ever done before. The Magic has also made the playoffs every year since 2006, mainly on the broad shoulders of Dwight Howard.
The NBA lockout over the summer and into the fall seemed to be about the prevention of players being able to pick and choose wherever they want to go, well that and money. Yet if Howard plays out this season and signs with a new “super team” what, if anything, changed ?
The Orlando Magic are a team full of spare parts. Jameer Nelson has been a consistent point guard, but with career averages of 12 points and 5 assists per game the Magic needs more from their floor general. The acquisition of Jason Richardson has turned out to be another missed attempt at building around Howard. His scoring dropped to 14 points per game last season and this year has dipped to only 8 per game. General Manager Otis Smith has tried to acquire complementary pieces but few have worked out. Hedo Turkoglu is an example of one of the few that has been a positive addition.
The emergence of three point threat Ryan Anderson has been a nice surprise for the team and helps fill the gap left by Brandon Bass, of course Big Baby Davis helps that too. JJ Redick has been a very solid player coming off of the bench and so far this season has increased his scoring to 13 points per game. The Magic rely on Redick to consistently knock down threes and to free up Dwight in the post.
Ultimately the answer for the Magic may be to get rid of Coach Stan Van Gundy, he and Howard have feuded publicly before and from the fan standpoint losing Van Gundy is a positive change. Patrick Ewing has been an assistant for Orlando and could be the answer to replace Van Gundy.
In the end whether or not the Magic can keep Dwight Howard in the Sunshine State will drastically alter the future of the NBA. If he stays the little guy wins, if he leaves in a LeBron-like manner then the NBA will not last much longer in Orlando. The same goes for any other small market team that consistently loses it’s star players. (Kevin Love is a quick example, if Minnesota loses Love then it would be the second time they lost a star named Kevin.) Dwight Howard holds the future of the Magic and the league in his hands, it’s like the old saying “tis better to have loved and lost then to never have loved before.” Just don’t tell that to a Magic fan.
New Ideas
Dwight Howard and Deja Vu for the Magic
Raheem’s Nightmare, the Dream is Over
Attendance in the NFL up, down or same?
Blog assignment 10
Blog #10
Video for Project #4
http://www.newsy.com/videos/does-alabama-deserve-to-play-in-the-national-championship
I am having trouble embedding the video to my blog so I copied the website above.
The video above explains the reaction and justification for why the National Championship is a rematch between Alabama and LSU, and how the matchup of 1 versus 2 might not be the best way to determine a champion.
The Alabama Crimson Tide and Louisiana State Tigers will face off for the second time this season, and this one is for all the marbles. Whether or not it is the correct matchup is the hottest topic of discussion around water coolers across America.
Blog assignment 9
Blog #9
Exploration of Newsy.com
When I visited Newsy.com I went straight for the sports videos, and watched a video on Jose Reyes signing with the Florida, err Miami Marlins. The video mentioned that Reyes is now the highest paid player in Marlins franchise history and the second highest paid shortstop in baseball history.
I also watched a video on Donovan McNabb being waived by the Vikings. The video mentioned some possible suiters for the aging quarterback but none have occurred yet, possibly due to McNabb’s lack of production over the last few seasons. I really enjoy Newsy.com because it takes videos from all over television and the internet and creates their own stories using other sources information by combining many views on one topic.
Another video I watched was about how UCLA football asked the NCAA to be granted a bowl game despite having a losing record. The videos argues that UCLA does deserve to be in a bowl game because they were forced into playing the PAC12 championship. Others argued that it was unfair that they are allowed to play in a bowl, basically awarding mediocrity.
Newsy.com is an amazing website, I think I may have found my new source for sports news.
Blog assignment 8
Exploration of Patch.com
I checked out Patch.com and was very interested in the site. I looked at the Patch for Temple Terrace, Brandon, and Michigan. I chose Michigan because my sister goes to Michigan State. Patch is a very intriguing web site, I read an article on the Temple Terrace Patch about watering less during the winter called, “Skip a Week of Irrigation This Winter.” I have lived in Temple Terrace my entire life and I personally think the water restriction laws should be more strict, but this article is a good example of people caring for their community.
I checked out the events page on the three sites and noticed they are updated daily, which is something essential for hyper-local news. At first I thought there were no sports pages on Patch but I quickly found them. I read an article about how the Phillies Clearwater complex is receiving a $3 million revenue. Overall Patch.com is a great website and I know that I will now visit Patch.com quite frequently.
Photo Journalism Project
Photo Journalism Curtis Roberts
This photo journalism project is based on the history of America’s pastime, baseball. More specificially it is about the World Series, I have chosen what I believe to be the most iconic photos from the World Series’ 107 year history. The photos will range from the first World Series in 1903, to the most recent series in 2011.
AP Photo
A massive crowd floods the field at the first World Series in 1903 between the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates. The Red Sox went on to win the nine game series five games to three.
Kirk M. Kandle
The legend lives on. This photo of Babe Ruth seems to indicate that Ruth did in fact call his homerun in the 1932 World Series between the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs. The Bronx Bombers swept the Cubs to win the series.
AP Photo
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Robin Roberts throws in game two of the 1950 World Series between the New York Yankees and Phillies. Although Roberts and the Phils would be swept in the series it was the start of a brilliant career for Roberts who would eventually be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976.
Frank Hurley/ Getty Images
One of the most iconic sports photos of all time, New York Giants centerfielder Willie Mays makes an unbelievable catch in the 1954 World Series. The Giants would go on to sweep the Cleveland Indians to capture the league title.
Mark Kaufman/ SI
Jackie Robinson successfully steals home in game one of the 1955 series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees. The Dodgers would win the series in seven games, it was also the first year that an MVP was chosen for the World Series.
UPI Photo
Don Larsen pitches in the ninth inning of the only perfect game in World Series history, the scoreboard in the background indicates how the Brooklyn Dodgers had failed to record a hit. Larsen and the Yankees would defeat the Dodgers in seven games and Larsen won MVP honors.
Marvin E. Newman
The first and only walk-off homerun in game seven of the World Series was hit by Bill Mazeroski of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates defeated the New York Yankees in 1960 and Mazeroski hit himself into baseball history.
AP/ Harry Cabluck
Carlton Fisk persuades his homerun to stay fair in game six of the 1975 World Series. The series would go down as one of baseballs’ best with the Cincinnati Reds defeating the Boston Red Sox four games to three. Fisk’s homerun is forever etched in baseball lore.
Louis Requena
New York Yankees outfielder Reggie Jackson smacks his third homerun of the game during the 1977 World Series between the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. It was only the second time a player had recorded such a feat in a World Series game. The Yankees won the series four games to two.
Walter Ioss Jr.
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Tug McGraw celebrates the Phillies first World Series title in 1980. The Phillies fan base was one of the most tortured in baseball, but winning cures all woes. The Phillies defeated the Kansas City Royals four games to two.
Richard Mackson
Perhaps one of the most infamous moments in baseball history, umpire Don Denkinger calls Kansas City Royals’ Jorge Orta safe at first although he was clearly out. The Royals went on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in 1985.
Stan Grossfield Boston Globe/ AP
Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner enjoyed a long and outstanding career but he will always be remembered for one of the most costly errors in World Series history. Boston lost this game and eventually the series to the New York Mets in seven games.
Rusty Kennedy/AP
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Kirk Gibson hits one of the most dramatic homeruns in World Series history. Hobbled by injuries Gibson’s pinch-hit homerun in game one of the series will forever be remembered as one of baseball’s greatest moments. The Dodgers defeated the Oakland A’s in a four game sweep in 1988 and Gibson’s homerun was instrumental in the victory.
John Iacono/SI
Toronto Blue Jays’ Joe Carter celebrates his walk-off homerun and championship in game six of the 1993 World Series. The homerun won the second straight title for the Blue Jays who defeated the Philadelphia Phillies.
AP Photo
Craig Counsell scores the winning run for the Florida Marlins in game seven of the 1997 World Series against the Cleveland Indians. Game seven proved to be one of the most dramatic games in history and didn’t end until the eleventh inning.
CBSNews.com
The curse is over. The Boston Red Sox ended their 86 year championship drought by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in a four game sweep in 2004. Keith Foulke celebrates as Kevin Millar records the final out.
AP/David J. Phillips
San Francisco Giants pitcher Brian Wilson celebrates with Buster Posey and Aubrey Huff as the Giants win their first World Series title in San Francisco, and first franchise title since 1954 when they were the New York Giants. The Giants defeated the Texas Rangers in five games.
ZUMApress.com
St. Louis native David Freese forces a game seven with this walk-off homerun in one the more dramatic World Series games in recent memory. The St. Louis Cardinals would go on to defeat the Texas Rangers in seven games to win their eleventh World Series title in the franchise’s storied history, and Freese won the MVP award.
These photos are part of the fabric that is the intricate quilt of the American pastime. Baseball has been played for over 150 years and really hasn’t changed much, the bases are still 90 feet apart and there are still nine players on the field. However, the way the game is covered has changed dramatically. Photography has evolved the way that fans perceive this wonderful game. From the first World Series to the most recent involving the Rangers and Cardinals, the game has been covered and photographed.
I chose these pictures because I felt that if I were to explain baseball to someone who has no idea about the sport these pictures would be able to make a fan out of anyone. The World Series is baseball’s ultimate stage for players to excel in front of the entire watching world, and these photographs are prime examples of excellence under pressure.
