Winless

The New Jersey Nets have gotten off to an unexpected and unfortunate start to this 2009-2010 NBA season. They are 0-16. Can you believe that 0 and 16 meaning 0 wins and 16 losses. A well coached team and a team with a bunch of young prospects with promising futures. This equation does not equal an 0 and 16 start. However, this is the result from a ton of injuries so a lot of it is not their fault. Players like Devin Harris and Brooke Lopez are some of the best young talents in the NBA and with Chris Douglas Roberts coming off the bench, everyone thought they would be a good team. So tell me what do you think? Will this bad stretch continue or will they snap out of it and put together a winning streak?

Bill Belichick: A Moron?

In week 10, the New England Patriots at 6-2 faced the Indianapolis Colts who were undefeated at 8-0 on Sunday night. Everyone was expecting this battle between longtime rivals to be a great one. And they sure didn't disappoint us. Between two future hall of fame quarterbacks in Peyton Maning and Tom Brady, nobody was sure who was going to come out on top. Early on it looked like Tom Brady and the New England Patriots would absolutley run away with it because of the Colt's inability to put any sort of pressure on Brady in the pocket. They also struggled to cover Randy Moss and Wes Welker, the Patriots two best receivers. However, the New England defense also somewhat struggled against Manning and the highpowered Colts offense. Nevertheless, New England still had a commanding lead at the half. Both offenses dominated in the second half and then things got very interesting. With just 5 minutes to go in the game New england led by two touchdowns and everyone knew that if they "played their cards right" that they would come away with a win. The Colts got the ball back after forcing a three and out on defense with about 4 minutes to go. In order for the Colts to have any sort of chance on winning the game, they had to score a touchdown quickly. They did just that by Peyton Manning hooking up with Pierre Garcon for a 35 yard touchdown. The Patriots got the ball back with about 2:30to go in the game. They knew that converting a first down right then and there would ice the game and put it out of reach for Manning and the Colts. Bill Belichick decided to go for it on 4th and 2 with the ball on his own 30 yard line. I understand that you have Tom Brady at quarterback but their is no way you can go for it in that situation. In my mind, you play the percentages and punt the ball and see if Manning can go 70 yards with just a minute and a half remaining. The odds are in your favor if you punt the ball. With that said, they went for it and didn't get it. The Colts drove it 30 yards in a minute and thirty seconds and capped it off with a two yard strike to Reggie Wayne. Bill Belichick showed zero confidence in his defense and it cost him. Ball game. Colts remain undefeated at 9-0 because of a coaching meltdown.

Two Close Wins: Back to Back

This weekend was a good weekend in sports for South Florida. Both the Miami Heat and Miami Dolphins won in dramatic fashion. On Saturday night, the Heat took on Eastern Conference rival, the New Jersey Nets. The Nets who were winless so far this season with an 0-9 record were expected to be blown out by the Heat who were 6-2. However, head coach Lawrence Frank and his Nets had other plans. The Nets were able to "bottle up" Heat superstar Dwyane Wade, only allowing him to score 22 points. The Heat were unable to stretch out any sort of lead they may have had as the Nets just kept it close all game long. In the closing minute of the 4th quarter, the Nets had a 3 point advantage over the Heat with just forty two seconds remaining. Out of shear luck, as the shot clock was winding down, shooting guard Quentin Richardson heaved up a prayer from three point land and "banked" it in to tie the game. What luck. I guess the Leprechauns were rooting for the Heat that night. So here we go its a tie game with 24 seconds left to go. Rafer Alston drives to the hoop and floats one up. It rattles off the rim and Brook Lopez tips it in. However, the referees missed a call because the tip came when the ball was still in the "cylinder" so it should have been called no basket and an offensive goaltending. Four seconds remain and the Heat need two to tie and three to win. Dwyane Wade dribble drives and steps back behind the arch and lets it go. Wade runs towards the Heat benching thinking that the shot was good and he was right. Dwyane Wade to the rescue and I quote "this is my house." Nets fall to 0 and 10.

Dolphins experienced a similar turn of events on Sunday vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.Dolphins had a commanding lead at the half with a 19 to 6 advantage. I will point out however that the Dolphins missed an extra point which would go on to haunt them later on. Tampa Bay clawed there way back into the game thanks to kicker Connor Barth connecting from 51 and 54 yards. Dolphins force a turnover on downs and get the ball back with a little over 2 minutes to go and thats when seems to fall apart. Chad Henne made a crucial mistake by throwing the ball into covergae and gets intercepted. The Bucs answer with a short 15 yard touchdown drive of their own and now lead by 1 with one minute to go.Chad Henne quickly bounces back from his previous mistake and leads the team on an 80 yard drive that was capped off by a 25 yard game winning field goal by Dan Carpenter. Two games I'd like to call "too close for comfort."

A Surprising Day in College Football

I'll be the first to admit that it takes a lot for me to doubt ESPN--some would joke that the house could be burning down but I'd be too distracted by the TV to notice. With this said, the surprises of this weekend in College Football led me to believe that not even those experts on the little screen are right all the time. This Saturday was assumed to be "unexciting" because all of the top ranked teams in the nation were playing unranked teams. Everyone, including me, thought that Oregon, the #8 team in the country, would romp unranked Stanford and that Iowa, the #4 team, would blowout Northwestern. Meanwhile, neither assumption was proved correct. Furthermore, the Navy (I'm serious.) defied the odds and beat the #22 seeded Notre Dame and finally, Penn State was upset by Ohio State on their home field. All the ESPN analysts picked the ranked teams to win but even the experts were wrong. Those who bet on the favored teams to win this week were probably forking over dough to those who went with some wildcard choices. Oregon, a team who shocked the nation the week before by blowing out USC 42 to 20, lost this week to Stanford, a huge shock to everyone. Meanwhile, Iowa got off to a quick 10-0 lead against Northwestern but that didn't keep the Wildcats down for long as Northwestern turned it around after forcing a fumble on the Iowa Quarterback Stanzi which led to an easy touchdown (the hit actually caused Stanzi to leave the game). Before anyone knew it, Northwestern had stretched their lead to 14-10 as Iowa struggled with their backup quarterback Vandenburg to move the ball on offense. By the skin of their teeth, Northwestern eeked out the win and knocked off the undefeated Iowa Hawkeyes. So the next time you think you've got the win in the bag? Think again.

The Heat is on in South Florida

The Miami Heat are off to a hot 3-0 start to this 2009-2010 season. Dwyane Wade is not the only guy scoring the points for the team this year. As many Heat fans expected. Everyone was bummed with the fact that the Heat did nearly nothing with their draft picks and did not sign or trade for a star player during the offseason. But man have the players from last year improved to help out their own super star in Dwyane Wade. Michael Beasley who was the Heat's #2 overall pick in the 2009 draft, has greatley improved his defense, his rebounding, his ability to draw a foul while attacking the rim, and finishing strong at hoop. Jermaine O'Neal is finally healthy after suffering many knee injuries the year before. He is now able to jump quicker and higher which has inabled him to block more shots and grab more rebounds in traffic. Udonis Haslem has greatly improved his outside jump shot. He has also shown an incredible amount of leadership by accpeting his role of coming off the bench as the 6th man. Offseason aquisition, Quentin Richardson has added a defensive presence late in games as well as an incredible 3 point shot. Joel Anthony has now become the replacement for Jermaine O'Neal and a very solid one at that. In my mind, this ain't a bad team by any stretch of the imagination.

Go to Hell Rex

Dolphins battled the Jets this Sunday and as everyone expected it was a close game. Jets head coach Rex Ryan has a reputation of being a "smack talker" ever since he was the defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. Ryan seemed to have built up his confidence after his Ravens defense shut down the Dolphins the year before in both the regular season and the playoffs. But his head got even bigger after excepting the head coaching job for the Jets. Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano made a comment the day before this Sunday's game that not having Will Allen (Cornerback for the Dophins) would hurt his defense because Will Allen is a large presence in the secondary. Rex Ryan showed pity towards this comment in a saracastic way by saying "Boo hoo for Will Allen and the Dolphins, I'm the one who's missing Chris Jenkins and the Dolphins are crying about not having Will Allen." I guess Ted Ginn Jr. and the Dolphins defense took offense to this comment from Rex Ryan by making three huge plays of their own during the game. Ted Ginn returned two kickoffs for a touchdown. One that was a 100 yard return and the other was a 101 yard return. Jason Taylor returned a fumble forced by Paul Soliai for a touchdown. I can't believe I am saying this but, Ted Ginn single-handedly won us the game. He may not be the best wide out, but man can he run. I guess Rex Ryan got a taste of his own medicine. Next time Rex, don't talk so much trash and just get it done on the field and put ponits on the scoreboard. Where it matters most.