The State of Sports Feb. 11th

Football

-Prediction: What will happen to Reggie Bush?
I know the NFL Draft is on April 28-29th, and thats like more than two months and a half away. However, I have been waiting for something big to make a post on my feelings. ESPN reports that the Houson Texans resigned David Carr today. This is an interresting move, because now we know, the Texans want to keep their future with Carr. There is no QB controversy, like there is in San Diego, but they wont draft a quarterback to make one either. The article remided us that Chris Mortenson reported less than a month ago that the Hiesman running back was going to the Texans.

I doubt this highly. I have three reasons why I dont think this is going to happen. These shots in the dark are ideas that I have played around with to several people, and gotten yea's and nay's about my comments. Other people think im just plain nuts. They are:

-1. The Texans already have a running back. Why would the Texans draft Reggie Bush when they already have Dominick Davis? My friend Chip made the argument that Bush was one of the best running backs in the league, and the Texans would never pass up the opportunity to draft him. Out of college, Bush is most likely already better than half the running backs in the league, was another point my friend made. One of those running backs he mentioned was 2003 rookie of the year Dominck Davis.
-The fourth round choice out of LSU has had an impact on this offense. He had a pretty bad season this year, so I can see why people would think the Texans would take Bush. But the offensive line just had a bad season. In his first two years the run blocking was decent when Davis averaged 1109 yards, 4.1 per carry and 11 TD's. Last year on a very bad offensive line he had 976 yards, and two touchdowns, on the ground.

-I still wonder who they would trade Davis away when he's a gurarenteed 1000 yard rusher who can run the ball well with power inside the goal line when in 2003, 8 of his 8 rushing touchdowns were from inside the red zone. In 2004, 12 of his 13 rushing touchdowns were from inside the opponents 20. Because he had a bad season, he is also on the cheap and could be signed to an lowball figure for an extension. In 2004, he made about $550,000. He's also young has lots of potential to the Texans.

-2. Why would the Texans draft a running back with a terrible offensive line? The preseason rank in CBS Sportslines fantasy football magazine of offensive line has the Texans ranked at 30th out of 32. Yeah, thats pretty bad. The statistic of that proves my point is the amount of times that Carr has been sacked this season (68 times). He had two good offensive line years in 03' (15 sacks) and 04' (49 sacks), but its noticeable that both had good seasons when the Texans had a good offensive line. Another amazing stat is that David Carr has been sacked 208 times in four seasons. The NFL career leader is John Elway, who's been sacked 516 times, in 13 seasons.

-The Texans need desperate help in this area and I think that they would probably draft someone like D'Brickashaw Ferguson from Virgina. Why the Texans would draft a lineman first when Reggie Bush, Vince Young, and Matt Lienhart first is on interresting idea. Which is why I think one of three things will happen: somone will trade up for the pick of Reggie Bush, the Texans will trade down to draft Ferguson, or they draft Bush and then trade him away for more picks on other team concerns. The third possiblilty is the most possible at this stage of the game. If I were to predict a possible scenario, I would go with possiblity 1 or 2 though.

-3. Why would the Texans draft Bush and tie up more salary cap space?
-First round picks have a have a history of commanding a lot of money. Eli Manning signed a record $54 million dollar contract. Alex Smith signed an even larger 6-year $49.5 million dollar deal. The NFL salary cap last season was $80.6 million dollars. Askthecomish.com has the figures as to how much teams have in terms of cap leway for those kind of numbers. Although the Texans have $14 million dollars in leway, most of that money is going to be used up for the extension on Carr. The Texans could always cut money off their payroll to make room, but that wouldnt make much sense when their payroll is pretty high.

-USA Today reports that the Texans 2004 payroll was 97 million dollars (3rd in NFL). That number for 2006 will be significanly less, but I bet thier attendance figures werent very high. According to my ESPN almanac, the 7-9 Texans ranked 10th with 70,000 people in attendance for 2004. The Texans also had two of the top 25 highest paid players in that year as well. Defensive End Gary Walker made 11 million and Offensive lineman Todd Wade signed a new contract that paid him 10 million dollars that year.

-I dont think it would be wise for the Texans to even consider taking more chances by signing a running back that might put them in the hole. Their best chance would be to draft an offensive lineman for their stuggling line that desperately needs help. The NFL Draft is only 2.5 months away. Only time and ESPN will report what people are thinking and I bet the Texans will make no surprises about who they will pick. I think Reggie Bush will be the first one selected in the draft. I dont think he will end up on the Texans roster on draft day.


-BSC Bears:
-The Last Three games

-The BSC Bears go into their final stretch of the season facing Worcester (at home), Salem and Fitchburg (away). It should be interresting as the Men's team is all alone in third place. If we can win vs Worcester and Fitchburg, it should give us a really good chance at taking the 2-3 seed in the MASCAC Tournament. The Bears have to play very consistent and not
give the game away if they want to win.

-The Women's team is unbelievable. I would not be surprised if they won 2 out of the next 3 at Fitchburg and at home vs. Worcester. They need to stop turning the ball over. This is their only weakness to their superior all around game. I shake my head when I see a turnover, and yet I scream, yell, or cheer when I see them force one as well. They are plain downright nasty.

-The Alumni game went well this weekend as 2004 graduate, Billy Hymon took it home with an at the buzzer three point score to win it for the gold team. It was a good time seeing people you havent seen in a while, and going to town with lunch you dont have to pay for after the Men's game.

The State of Sports Feb. 6th

-Football

-Superbowl Recap
I think that the Steelers were the underdogs the whole time. They were the team that nobody believed in. They were the team that forced turnovers, and made sure that their own turnovers werent capitalized on. Ben Rothlesberger was 9-21 for 123 passing yards and 2 Int's. Wow, what a line for a QB. The Steelers are hardly the passing team that they were down the stretch. I think that Seattle just couldnt stop their run. My gut feeling is that Pittsburg knew they had to pound the ball in the second half.

Seattle missed and failed to capitalize on its opportunites. If you look at Shaun Alexanders stats, 20 rushes for 93 yards, thats a pretty good day. Matt Hasselback was 26-49 for 273 yards, a TD and an Int. Its not like Pittsburg completely dominated on defense the entire game. But they failed to win the game because they couldnt get it done when it mattered the most. It might not also help that Seattle kicker was 1-3 in field goal attempts.

The Seattle defense was as good as advertised. If not for giving up a 75 yard run to Willie Parker, and a beutifully excecuted fake reverse pass to Hines Ward, it would have been a closer game. Roethlisberger did not have the touchdown, and the pass interference call on Darell Jackson was questionable. But those referee calls were at the beginning of the game. I dont think they had any impact on the game.

The better team won the game. It is as fair and simple as that. Jerome Bettis should now retire. Ive never been a big fan of "The Bus." Randel El so deserved that MVP award. Yeah Hines Ward may have caught the pass, but who absolutly fooled the entire audience. I think that was the bullshit call of the game, to be honest. You cant say that Roethlisberger is in the same category as Tom Brady, Marino, or Young, yet. His pass numbers were bad. Your only argument Steelers fans is that Ben ran the offense. Good job Bill Cower, you deserved this one.

To close up my recap, I just want to say that I was really disappointed in Seattles offense. Yeah, they got the job done, but when it mattered the most, they just failed to get it done. I am hopeful for the Seahawks, because they are a good team. Regardless, we will see if Shauns back next year.

-Random Thoughts:
-I thought that Bosoxguys Super Bowl diary was pretty good. I give a lot of props to that guy. When he gets a good idea, he can really run with it. I always am amazed by his ingenuity for coming up with these ideas ive never even would have considered. His dedication for the New England Sports is genuine, and I do believe that I will be the kind of die hard he will be when I am his age. Truly I have called you out man, and thanks for a good post.


-I also made a comment on his post, and said the following about the halftime show:
-"On the halftime show, my roomate said that Keith Richards was drunk during the halftime show. And what they do is they just shut off his guitar, and have Ron Wood play the lead. Richards was obviously plastered. He walks around the stage with his guitar just doing a lap. I think about it and its hilarious."
-Fact is, the Stones really werent that good. Maybe I just had to be there, and thats what it is. Dont get me wrong, I like to just jam out to Stones songs like the next guy, but they werent that good a selection. Maybe they should go back to MTV productions. It might make things more interresting.

-I was playing Tiger Woods golf until 6:35, so I missed Belichicks preview of defenses. Maybe that wasnt the best move, but its not like I missed the game. The commericals were interresting this year. I dont think ive seen more movie spot previews during a sporting event. I wonder if they were used as space filler, or if they were actually paid for by hollywood.
-The ESPN on the phone commerical was wicked cool. I think the Bud Light commericals with the "Magic Fridge" and the one "Streaker" were good laughs. I didnt grow up in the McGver era, but that one was pretty classic. The godzilla and robot Hummer commercial also drew a pretty warm spot as well.
-But this year they were pretty violent. Thinking about it, what kind of message are you sending to children who watch the Superbowl with the family. If I was ten, id prob go and smash my dads cell phone right about now. But, thats because I dont know any better, not because a commerical influenced me to do that. Maybe they were just playing it safe, because of what happened two years ago. I hope they get a lot better next year.
-Godaddy.com isnt a porn site, right?