Month: January 2008 (Page 11 of 25)

Hardwick goes Clark W. on Seymour

SPORTSbyBROOKS.com downloaded this little rant by Chargers’ center Nick Hardwick on the Pats’ Richard Seymour following San Diego’s 21-12 loss to New England Sunday.

“He’s cheap and dirty and the head man just let him get away with it the whole time. They’ve got 10 great players on that team and when Jarvis Green comes on the field, they’ve got 11 great players who compete how you’re supposed to play. But Richard Seymour is the biggest (expletive) I’ve ever played.”

“Head slapping, foot stomping in the pile, running by and throwing punches in your back. He’s a (expletive). … There were a lot of things he did. There’s a field goal where he was stomping feet. Who stomps feet? And the officials weren’t doing anything about it. He plays like a punk.”

Hardwick’s rant reminds me of a time when one Clark W. Griswold went off about how his no-good boss didn’t hand out Christmas bonuses one year.

Water Cooler Recap: Championship Edition

Patriots 21, Chargers 12
Laurence Maroney (25 carries, 122 yards, 1 TD) saved this game for the Patriots in the second half, because before he found running room in the third quarter, Tom Brady and the rest of the offense looked rather ordinary. In fact, Brady looked uncharacteristically bad, throwing three interceptions including one in the red zone. Was it just me or did Major Tom look out of it for most of this game? San Diego’s defense did a great job of getting just enough pressure on Brady to get him out of sync and dare I say it, rattled. Unfortunately for them, however, they just couldn’t stop Maroney and Kevin Faulk (he made two spectacular catches in the fourth quarter) in the second half…San Diego’s offense did nothing in the red zone despite having success against NE’s defense. And when they managed to get three points, their ensuing kickoffs were ridiculously short and often gave the Pats solid field position. It didn’t help that Philip Rivers could barely walk, either, but he deserves major credit for gutting it out. In the end, with a gimpy Rivers and no LT, the Chargers just didn’t have enough firepower offensively to keep up. If they did, they might have won because the Pats certainly weren’t at their best.

Giants 23, Packers 20 OT
As much as Lawrence Tynes tried to give the game away, Eli freaking Manning is going to the Super Bowl. Holy crap. Give the Giants credit; not many people gave them a chance to go into Green Bay and beat everybody’s darling, Brett Favre, but that’s exactly what they did. They were physical, didn’t make a ton of mistakes and made plays in crucial situations. This was a well deserved win and football fans everywhere need to give Eli his due, because he’s played very good football over the past month. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is going to have a chance to possibly earn a head coaching (Atlanta?) job if he can contain the Patriots’ high-powered attack in two weeks. His game plan was outstanding and his play calling in the second half is what won this game for the G-Men…As for the Pack, they shot themselves in the foot multiple times in the second half. You just can’t give a team multiple opportunities to sustain drives after you already had them stopped on third down. How many stupid penalties did Green Bay’s defense commit to give the Giants new life? Offensively, what essentially doomed the Packers is what many people worried about in the beginning of the year: The lack of a running game. NY shut Ryan Grant down, took away the deep pass and flustered Brett Favre. Also, why the Pack kept calling screen passes was beyond me; clearly the Giants had those plays sniffed out. It seemed after Favre threw the fourth quarter interception, GB got ultra conservative with the play calling. I know this doesn’t mean much after a loss like this, but Packer fans, you had a great run this season.

Some Surprises on a Surprising Day

I know I wrote a couple of days ago that when you get into conference games the media will call too many wins upsets, but there were a couple of upsets on Saturday. Starting with Maryland over North Carolina. How can a team that lost to Ohio and American at home go to the DeanDome and pull of the upset. Call it great coaching. Gary Williams has his players believing again. What makes this an upset is not that North Carolina is #1 in the country, but that it was at home.

The other upset was on the other end of the country. USC drove crosstown to knock off UCLA in Pauley Pavilion. Again, I ask how could a team that lost to Mercer (an Atlantic Sun team under .500) look up at all those championship banners and not be intimidated. Tim Floyd’s team has struggled with eratic play from OJ Mayo, but this win shows just how good these young freshmen and sophomores could be for the men of Troy. If they can learn to share the ball (hear theat OJ) and guard with the intesity that is needed in college than they could be a force come tourney time….

Staying in the Pac-10, Stanford knocked off Arizona State. I would consider this an upset even though Arizona State was the higher ranked team. However, the final margin (15) says alot about how good the Cardinal will be now that Lopez (the good half) is back.

In the Big 12, Kansas State handed Texas A & M it’s second straight loss. Looks like Mark Turgeon is getting some ill hospitality in his first run through the Big 12. Again, the final score is what makes this game so surprising. The final score was 75-54 and the score was a lot closer than the game. After intermission the Wildcats controlled both ends of the floor. Michael Beasley led the way with 21. He is getting my vote for best freshman and maybe player of the year…

Some other surpises of note,UConn beat Marquette, Auburn beat Ole Miss, NC State beat Miami, and Cincy beat Pitt. All victories by the lower rated teams. However, they wer all on the victors home court. As a former coach I know how tough it is to win on the road, so I wouldn’t consider them too much of an upset.

A couple of teams getting it done on the road. Kansastraveled over to Missouri for the first installment of the Border War and came away with a 76-70 win. Also, Michigan Statewent to Minnesota and came away with a win. Winning on the road is how you win conference championships. Kansas is well on it’s way to another title under Bill Self.

Amare Stoudemire available?

CBS Sports’ Tony Mejia is reporting that there are two factions in the Suns’ camp. One is willing to trade away Amare Stoudemire and the other is dead set against it.

While Stoudemire has improved as a defender, whispers that his increasing frustration with not being the focal point of the team’s fast-paced offense have become a distraction — and could be a reason some within the organization would be willing to move him if the right offer comes along.

Shawn Marion asked for a trade in the offseason, but the Suns have been more than satisfied with his professional approach.

Something is obviously amiss, and chemistry seems to be the major issue. So where does this leave Stoudemire? Even those in favor of shipping him out know he’s among the most feared big men in the game, so getting back equal value is a must, regardless of how badly the Suns need a facelift. If GM Steve Kerr is swayed to make a move, it will definitely take someone along the lines of Memphis’ Pau Gasol or Toronto’s Chris Bosh to get a deal accomplished.

The trade deadline (Feb. 21) is approaching and these are the kinds of stories that keep NBA writers busy this time of year. Trading Stoudemire right now seems like a bad, bad idea to me. The time to move him (if at all) was last summer, when Kevin Garnett was available. The Timberwolves would almost certainly have settled for a straight up swap, but it never got done. KG is the kind of player that could have put the Suns over the top, but the Suns must have been reluctant to pull the trigger, and I don’t blame them. Stoudemire is younger and has a bright future ahead of him.

If I’m the Suns GM (and, by the way, I’d take the job if they offered it), I’m standing pat right now. The team has the best record in the West, so whatever “chemistry issues” Mejia is talking about certainly haven’t hurt the Suns too much. The biggest offseason worry – Shawn Marion – has been a pleasant surprise, so I don’t think it’s time to panic and make a bad move. You might add a piece here or there, maybe a backup point guard or an interior defender, but shipping away a young star wouldn’t be wise. Sure, if Stoudemire is truly disgruntled and is becoming a headache, and Toronto is willing to swap Chris Bosh for him, it would give me pause. But I don’t think I’d do a deal for Gasol – I don’t think he fits the Suns’ up-tempo attack.

The Suns were a couple of bench-clearing suspensions away from upending the Spurs in last year’s playoffs. I’d give this group another shot before tweaking its core.

Openings at South Carolina and Pepperdine

Pepperdine Head Coach Vance Walberg has stepped down due to family reasons. Why is it always family reasons? You never hear of a steelworker leaving his job due to family reasons. I will believe it if he doesn’t coach again somewhere else. For all of the hoopla and track record of success at the junior college and high school level, it never translated into much success at Pepperdine.

Sout Carolina Head Coach Dave Odom anounced his retirement at the end of the season. Glad to see the Gamecock administration do the right thing and let him go out on his own terms. I guess that would mean he doesn’t want to coach again. Let’s wait and see on this one.

That’s five potential openingsif you throw in San Francisco, Detroit, and Arizona. Oh, that’s right Lute Olsen is coming back next year. I would like to know the Vegas odds on that one.

Here’s my choices for the five openings:
Detroit–Perry Watson comes back
Pepperdine–Gib Arnold
Arizona–Kevin O Neill
San Francisco–Eddie Sutton (still looking for 2 more wins to get to 800)
South Carolina–Greg Marshall (it’s a better fit than Wichita State)

With money escalating in Division I, look for there to be plenty of coaching changes.

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