Title fight all but over with Johnson’s 4th win in a row November 12, 2007
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Hendrick driver Jimmie Johnson won his fourth race in a row, and tenth on the season, extending his point lead to 86 points over teammate Jeff Gordon with one race to go. All Johnson has to do to clinch his 2nd title in a row is finish 18th or better in Homestead. The race at Phoenix saw him take the lead for the final time from Martin Truex Jr, after Truex had stayed out on the last yellow flag while most every other driver, including Johnson, pitted. Truex could not hold off Johnson, and several others, falling to the lower half of the top-10 by race’s end.
One of those Wow games – Steelers beat Browns 31-28 November 11, 2007
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With apologies to Kope, this was one of those games. First place in the AFC North was on the line, and for a time, it looked like the Browns were going to forge a 1st place tie, but then the 2nd half had to be played…
Mid-Season – can the Pats complete the perfect season? November 8, 2007
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The New England Patriots have seared through the competition, finding themselves with a 9-0 record at their bye week, with 7 games left: at Buffalo (4-4), vs. Philadelphia (3-5), at Baltimore (4-4), vs Pittsburgh (6-2), vs. Jets (1-8), vs Miami (0-8), and at Giants (6-2).
How likely is it they can run the table?
Lindros retires – does he belong in the HHOF? November 7, 2007
Posted by relantel in Hockey, Sports.add a comment
Today’s news that Eric Lindros plans to retire begs a review of his career – oft filled with injuries, mainly concussions. Originally drafted by the Quebec Nordiques #1 overall in 1991, he refused to sign with Quebec, so he was traded in 1992 to the Philadelphia Flyers for Peter Forsberg, Chris Simon, Mike Ricci, Kerry Huffman, Ron Hextall, Steve Duchesne, future considerations and the Flyers’ Round 1 pick in 1993 and 1994. The trade built the team that won the 1996 Stanley Cup for Colorado, their first season after relocating from Quebec.
He had the most hype and expectations of any draft pick of the 1990s, and in the 16 years since his draft, he played 13 seasons but only 760 games, netting 372 goals and 493 assists for 865 points. Those total points barely cracks the top 100 all time in the league – good for 99th – but the question is, does Lindros belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame? (more…)
Did he or didn’t he? Biffle slows at Kansas October 1, 2007
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In the end, NASCAR stepped in it big-time in Kansas yesterday. From the two rain delays, the 2 hour 2nd one coming after the official mark, to restarting it knowing they could not get the full distance in, and cutting back the length twice (first from 267 to 225, and then to only 210), and then finally ending under four laps of caution after debris on lap 207, failing to heed the green-white-checker rule. Many of these choices led to Biffle winning – where he ran out of feul, and could not maintain pace-car speed, coming to the end of lap 210. A green-flag finish to 210 would have seen him run out of gas, and a green white checker would have done the same thing.
The debris at 207 was not phantom – Montoya left clear debris on the track – but the way NASCAR called the rest of the race, it would have seemed fitting for the race to have gone green even with the debris. That would have made more sense than the excuses that NASCAR’s Jim Hunter gave after the race, that Biffle “maintained a reasonable pace” and that the “field was frozen at the moment of caution” – by that standard, the October 2006 Talladega race would have been an 8-48-25 finish.
PSU can’t crack the coaches… 1 vote short this week September 18, 2006
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PSU crushed 1-AA Youngstown State on Saturday, 37-3, in a fill-in game after 1-A Louisiana Tech backed out at the last minute (last Spring) due to a scheduling conflict. YSU gave them some fits in the passing game, but PSU found a running game, rushing for near 400 yards. The game was scoreless after the 1st Quarter, but saw PSU score 20 in the 2nd quarter and 10 more in the third, before their backup quarterback tacked on the last 7 late in the 4th quarter on a run.
PSU was 25 in the AP last week, and moved up to 24 this week, ahead of Boise State as the new 25. The Coaches, as the USAToday poll (ESPN pulled its association and now uses the AP in its broadcasts), saw PSU as the first in the list of others receiving votes after the loss at Notre Dame. This week finds them in the same spot, 1 stinking vote behind new 25th place team Boise State.
Exasperating to lose in "extra 0:52" September 26, 2005
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THIS JUST IN: NFL admits 60:52 was played, and instead of scoring with 0:01 left, NE actually scored 0:51 after regulation should have ended. The NFL won’t change the outcome, of course, but NE could not (and did not) drive down into field goal range in only the 0:29 they should have had left.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2173143
An NFL press release is admits as such this evening, and cane be viewed at this link: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/8895637
original draft below
Off the heels of Penn State’s exasperating win yesterday, New England’s place-kicker Adam Vinatieri did it again, kicking a field goal with 0:01 left to go up 23-20 over the host Steelers. While the Patriots’ #4 won it, the game was a back and forth defensive battle. Either team had the opportunity to take a 10 or 14 point lead early on, but both defenses arose to the challenge.
The loss snapped the Steelers’ 16 game regular season winning streak, and QB Ben Roethlisberger’s personal 15-0 start as a starter. Ben threw no picks, and drove down to tie the game with less than 2 minutes remaining, but the Steelers scored too soon, leaving New England with 1;31 to go.
NE got a good kickoff return, to start on their own 37. NE had burned all of their timeouts previously, so they turned to Tom Brady, who completed 3 big passes on the drive, and on two of them, his receivers were able to get open fast (the rush was coming, knocking Brady down on two of the plays), catch the ball, avoid a tackle or two, gain the first down, and get out of bounds. (SEE ABOVE ABOUT THE EXTRA 0:52)
When both teams deserve to lose… September 22, 2005
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Monday night’s late card on the Monday Night Football lineup was the Washington Redskins at the Dallas Cowboys. Throughout most of the game, the Skins could not get a thing going offensively, while Dallas was stifling on defense. With 56 minutes down of 60, things changed on a dime. Dallas was up 13-0, and had the Skins down to a 4th and 13 do or die situation, with 3:46 to go in the game.
All of a sudden, the Washington Quarterback, Mark Brunell (formerly of the Jacksonville Jaguars) bought enough time to heave a long pass that was caught by Santana Moss. Moss broke a tackle and was quickly in the end-zone, score 13-7. Skins kick off to Dallas, trusting their defense to get it done. All Dallas needed was a first down or two, again, to seal the game. They could not.
The way Washington played for the first 56 minutes, they deserved to have lost. The way Dallas played in the last four minutes, when they could have clinched the game on several occaisions, they also deserved to have lost.
So given that both teams then deserved to have lost, and a tie was not possible due to Dallas’s previous scoring combination, the equities then weigh against Dallas in my mind, mostly due to being a Steeler fan (Dallas, Pittsburgh & Washington were in the same division in the 60s prior to the NFL-AFL merger), and that Washington was due. I still think Joe Gibbs should have stayed in NASCAR, but nice to see a nice guy win.
fan favorites Jr & Gordon see crew changes… September 16, 2005
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This week, after star drivers Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. missed the 10-race chase to the Nextel Cup, their teams have undergone major crew changes. Each now has a new crew chief, with Gordon jettisoning the pit box chief that led his 2001 title effort, and Earnhardt reuniting with his cousin Tony Eury, Jr., who had been car chief on his team for 6 wins in 2004.
Of the ten drivers who made the chase this year, five are from Roush Racing. Those are Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth. Of the ten, there are only two Chevys (the defending manufacturer’s champion), leader Tony Stewart and 2004’s most-wins driver Jimmie Johnson. The remaining three are Dodges of Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman and Jeremy Mayfield.
Those on the best momentum streaks right now include Stewart, Busch and Kenseth. Under the old system, Stewart would win running away, as his point total after Richmond would have been 250+. Now he is only up 5 points on 2nd place. Kenseth was down 610 points, now he’s down 35. Kenseth was 24th in points 10 races ago — he finished tied for 8th. That is one hell of a climb, all the while Tony Stewart was finishing with top 10s. Stewart had won 5 of 7 races at one point early in the summer.
Wallace and Martin are in their final full-time seasons in the series, Wallace with 56 career wins and Martin with 34. They might be sentimental favorites, but I’d be highly surprised if they crack the top-3.
Truex’s gesture costs 25 driver/owner points & 10k September 14, 2005
Posted by relantel in Busch Series, DEI, NASCAR, Sports, Truex.add a comment
After a spectacular wreck at Richmond last Friday night, Busch series points leader Martin Truex, Jr. apparently flipped the bird to the driver who had wrecked him.
The wreck occured when truex had position on the outside of Mike Wallace in the 38 car coming off of turn two. Wallace did not see Truex, and had no communication from his spotter that he was there. Wallace’s car slammed full on into Truex’s driver side, forcing hs car up the wall, where it rode perpendicular to the track the lenghth of the straightaway before righting itself.
Truex lost 16 laps making repairs, before returning to the track, and in the process, gained 4-5 positions (or 12-15 points) for finishing the race. Once back on the track, the aforementioned incident apparently occured under caution, but was not caught on TV. The car itself had been a top-5 car, having been black-flagged by NASCAR under green for one hood pin that had been sheered off by the 17 car of Matt Kenseth. He lost a lap under green heeding the black flag, and was racing Wallace for position.
Truex had led 2nd place driver Clint Bowyer by 94 after Richmond; now it is only 69 with 7 races to go in the 2005 season. Truex is the defending Busch Series points champion, and has dominated Busch series competition in 2005, with most wins (6), most top 5s (14) and top 10s (18).
The penalty was 25 driver points from Truex, 25 owner points from owner Teresa Earnhardt (DEI/Chance2), a $10,000 fine, and probation for the rest of 2005. It is a very similar penatly that was given to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the cup series after his win at Talledega last fall, where he used a four letter word in regard to how little his accomplishment (5th win at that track) compared to his father (10 wins at that track) on the live TV interview in Victory Lane. In that case, Jr. was the points leader after the race, but the subsequent penalty bumped him to 2nd in the points, a position he would not recover.
