Chick Fight!

I find myself more excited for the Strikeforce card this Saturday than I do for UFC on FX 2 on Friday, mostly for the main event featuring two of the best female fighters in the world.  Bantamweight champ Meisha Tate squares off against undefeated but largely untested Ronda Rousey for the title.  Now not only are both girls on the attractive side but they both can open a can of whoop ass too.  I saw Tate win the title from Marloes Coenen and she put in a helluva performance and Rousey has been nothing but impressive in her climb to #1 contender status.  Plus both girls hate each other so it should make for an entertaining fight.  Female MMA is just as fun to watch as male MMA when the fighters are of the caliber of Tate, Rousey, Coenen and candidate for the most perfect female on the planet Gina Carano...but the problem is that there are not enough talented female MMA fighters to make up a couple of divisions and make it worthwhile.  This is why Dana White is against bringing in girls MMA into UFC.  Here's hoping more up and coming young female fighters make their way to Strikeforce to prove to White and the UFC that female MMA is growing and worth taking a gamble on.  Keep and eye out for Amanda Lucas, daughter of Star Wars ruiner Geroge Lucas.  She currently has a professional record of 4-1 and just recently won the DEEP Openweight Women's Championship in Tokyo, Japan.  Plus, her walk out music is the Imperial March...how awesome is that!

CFL Free Agency

CFL Free agent frenzy started Feb 15th and you could literally cut the tension with a dull spoon.  Unlike NFL free agency where news leaks pretty fast, nothing worthwhile happened for quite a bit last Wednesday...except I almost drained my iphone battery checking twitter every 2 minutes to see if someone signed.  At the end of day 1 the Riders significantly upgraded their O-Line by signing center Dominic Picard away from Toronto and helping their secondary by signing Regina native Paul Woldu.  The big fish would be reeled in the next morning when the Riders signed Brendon LaBatte formerly of Weyburn to a huge deal.  Even with the retirement of Gene Makowsky, the Riders offensive line has gone from a weakness to a strength with these signings.  We now have a natural center again, something that has been missing since the days of Jeremy O'Day  and LaBatte is one of the best Canadian O-Lineman in the game today.

Of course, it wasn't all good news as beloved Rider slotback Andy Fantuz turned down more money from the green and white and chose to sign with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.  This really doesnt come as much of a surprise as  most people expected this after he turned down a very lucrative contract with the Riders to test the free agent market. But if Andy really believes that Smilin' Hank is gonna lead him and the Cats to a Grey Cup before LaBatte and the Riders then I have some ocean front property near Radville he might be interested in.

Great job Riders in signing Colt Brennan!  He's a quality QB that has the skill set to excel in the CFL...I can't wait to see if he can grasp the Canadian game and challenge DD down the road for the starters spot.

Odds and Ends...

Let's take a break from praising the World Champion New York Giants to go over some more happenings in the world of sports.  I will have a review of Super Bowl 46 up later in the week.

• UFC 143 was held the night before the Super Bowl and featured some entertaining fights.  One of the undercard fights featured Alex Caceres vs Edwin Figuero and was noteworthy because Caceres was deducted 2 points in a fight he was winning for kicks to the groin.  Figuero ended up winning a split decision 28-27, 27-28, 28-27.  I saw this fight and both kicks to the grapes were brutal, Figuero needed the 5 minute injury allotment both times to recover, but I have never seen a fighter deducted 2 points before for fouls.  He was warned for the first kick and the 2 points came off the second kick.  Caceres is appealing the decision but that probably won't change anything.  On the main card, Josh Koscheck narrowly beat Mike Pierce in an uneventful fight, Roy "Big Country" Nelson got crushed in a heroic effort against Fabricio Werdum and Carlos Condit captured the interim Welterweight title against Nick Diaz.  The 5 round fight went to the judges scorecards who gave it to Condit unanimously.  Diaz was so pissed he threatened to retire but after watching the contest a couple of time since, he really did lose the fight.  Now rumor has it that Diaz and Condit will have a rematch for the interim title while champion Georges St. Pierre recovers from knee surgery.

•  NHL trade deadline is approaching and the 3 teams I follow should all be active.  The Detroit Red Wings are again one of the top teams in the West and are looking at bolstering their roster for the playoffs, maybe a top 6 forward.  I have also heard that they are looking at a better backup goalie option other that Ty Conklin...maybe they trade for the goalie they tried signing last year, Nabokov?  The Edmonton Oilers have some assets that they can move on deadline day, the most noteable being Ales Hemsky.  Lots of teams were inquiring about Sam Gagner but after his 11 points in 2 games stretch I think the Oil will hang on to him.  Ryan Smyth's name has been brought up as well but he wants to stay in Edmonton and I think the Oilers will hang on to him.  The Tampa Bay Lightning aren't sure if they are going to be buyers or sellers at this point.  Obviously they need goaltending but the price may be too high, forcing Stevie Y to wait until the offseason to address this.  If they become sellers look for guys like Steve Downey to potentially get moved.

• CFL free agency starts next week and by all accounts, beloved Riders receiver Andy Fantuz will be with another team next season.  I say kudos to Brendan Taman for making a more that generous offer and not backing down from it.  Fantuz is a premiere receiver but the Riders have too many holes to fill and can't afford to break the bank on one player.  Let Andy flounder in Edmonton with Jyles as his QB and let's focus on more pressing needs...like convincing Brendan LaBatte to come back home! 

"I Believe In Eli, I Believe He Can Touch The Sky..."

What started out as a joke, NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders has been literally singing Eli Manning's praises for years now.  After a great regular season, a near perfect post season and another Super Bowl MVP award, Primetime is not the only one.  For years "experts" claimed Eli would never emerge from the shadow of his much more successful older brother Peyton, nor would he be a top tier NFL quarterback...hell most people said Eli wasn't even the best QB taken in the 2004 draft.  That would surely be Big Ben Rothlisberger or Philip Rivers, the player the Giants traded to San Diego to get Manning.  While Steeler fans are quite happy with their franchise QB, except for the occasional rape accusation, I can't imagine there are many Chargers fans who still believe they won the blockbuster trade that sent Eli to New York and Rivers, Shawne Merriman (now in Buffalo) and Nate Kaeding (a good kicker who spent all of last season on IR for a torn ACL) to San Diego.  The other big component of this deal is what it didn't include...the Chargers were not going to make the trade unless it involved Osi Umenyiora, a player Giants GM Ernie Accorsi was unwilling to move.   If the Chargers wouldn't have budged, the Giants would have taken Rothlisberger 4th overall.  On behalf of Giants fans everywhere, thank you A.J. Smith for caving and making this trade.

Eli certainly had his share of struggles early on in his career.  He was handed the reigns to the Giants overly complicated offense in week 11 of his rookie season.  He has started every game since.  His first couple of  seasons he led the Giants to the playoffs but lost out in the first round both times.  Eli made many rookie mistakes those years, throwing a ton on interceptions as he and his receivers struggled to get on the same page.  2007 was the year it all came together for him.  He finally had full grasp of the offence and he had big time receivers like Plaxico Burress and Giants veteran Amani Toomer who worked many extra hours with their young QB.  The Giants struggle early and rallied late to win the NFC Wild Card and earn a spot in the playoffs.  They dominated the Bucs, outworked the Cowboys and survived the frigid temps at Lambeau Field to beat the heavily favored Packers in overtime.  The Giants rolled into Super Bowl 42 and beat the 12.5 point favorite New England Patriots who came into the game undefeated.  The G-Men beat the perfect team by playing a perfect game...and Eli was named MVP.  Since then, Eli Manning has been a model of consistency...throwing for more than 4,000 yards and reducing his interception total.

At the start of the 2011 season, a reporter asked Eli if he thought he was the same elite caliber quarterback as Tom Brady.  Eli said he believed he was, and many in the sports world were quick to mock him.  All he did after that was go out and prove himself right.  Although the Giants were killed by injuries all season and had one of the toughest schedules, Eli led the team to a wild card berth by beating the Cowboys twice and the Jets in the last few weeks of the season.  They whooped a talented Falcons team at home, soundly beat the 15-1 Green Bay Packers at Lambeau and outlasted the very tough 49ers in a classic defensive struggle.  This time in Super Bowl 46, many were picking the Giants to win in a shootout but Bill Belichick had a great defensive gameplan and this game came down to the wire.  And again, Eli Manning had the ball with under 5 minutes to play and the game on the line....and again he came through.  He led the Giants down the field and scored a major with just under a minute to go, coming from behind in the 4th quarter to win a game for the 7th time this season.  Again, he was named MVP going 30-40 for 296 and a TD.

Thank you Eli, thank you for putting up with the bullshit New York media and all the pressure from us diehard fans.  Thank you for delivering us a second Super Bowl in 4 years.  Thank you for pulling an Elway and standing up for yourself on draft day.  Thank you for becoming the best quarterback in New York's long and storied history.   Thanks you for handling it all with poise and grace.  Here's to a magical 2011-2012 season and the hope that the Eli can continue to prove himself and lead this team to the promise land again in the future.  To quote Mario Manningham after Super Bowl 46, "Eli's cooler than the cool side of the pillow"...so true. 

Super Bowl 46 Breaksown

I thought I would give my breakdown of the Super Bowl 46 matchup featuring the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.  Now, I have a bit of a bias here as the Giants are my favorite team and like most of the free world, I really hate the Patriots.  But I am going to try and keep this as unbiased as possible, but it won't surprise anyone to see who I am favoring in this one...here's why:

QUARTERBACK:

A year ago this one would have been easy, but after the season Eli Manning has had and the 4th quarter records he has broken this year...the gap has shrunk.  Tom Brady is still Tom Brady, one of the greatest qb's to ever play the game...but is there anyone more clutch than Eli Manning?  Going back to Super Bowl 42 when Eli led the game winning drive with 2:42 left in the 4th quarter against the Patriots, Eli has been one of if not the best 4th quarter qb in the NFL.  5 times this season, Eli led his team down the field and scored late touchdowns to win games and came close 3 other times.  One of those wins was against these very same Patriots in week 9.  To decide this one, I'm looking at how both qb's have played this post season.  Eli has been near perfect in beating the Falcons, upsetting the Packers and outlasting the 49ers.  Brady looked perfect against the Broncos then dialed up one of his worst post season performances against the Ravens.

Advantage: Draw

RUNNING BACK:

Neither team has run the ball that well this year, although the Giants run game has improved now that it has Ahmad Bradshaw back splitting carries with Brandon Jacobs.  Benjarvis Green-Ellis isn't an every down back and teams dont have to account form him in the backfield like they do against the shifty Bradshaw and the punishing Jacobs.

Advantage: Giants

WIDE RECEIVER:

Biggest no brainer of the game...the Giants boast one of the best young receiving corps in the NFL.  Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham are far and away better than their New England counterparts.  Wes Welker is still a force and led the NFL in catches but after that you got an aging Deion Branch and Chad Ochocinco who has done absolutely nothing for the Patriots this year.


Advantage: Giants


TIGHT END:


Just as the Giants had a huge advantage at wideout, the Patriots enjoy an big advantage at tight end.  Rob Gronkowski is one of the best tight ends in football (when healthy) and Aaron Hernandez is a #1 tight end in his own right.  For the Giants, Jake Ballard has done a good job of helping Giants fans forget about Kevin Boss but he's been battling a knee injury for most of the second half of the season.  Bear Pasco is capable of catching a pass or two but neither Giants TE measures up to the 2 guys in New England.  The only good news here for the Giants is Gronkowski is nursing a high ankle sprain and will surely be limited in what he can do in the game, but the Giants still have to account for him on every play.


Advantage: Patriots


OFFENSIVE LINE:


Neither line has been overly impressive this season.  The Giants protect the quarterback better but the Patriots open more running lanes.


Advantage: Draw


DEFENSIVE LINE:


The Giants possess the best defensive line in football, the Patriots do not.  The G-Men can generate pressure just from their front four which boasts such sack machines as Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Pro Bowler Jason Pierre-Paul.  They will employ the same defensive scheme that knock Brady on his ass over 20 times in Super Bowl 42.  For the Patriots, only Vince Wilfork has stood out but this whole line will have to really step it up to match the pressure the Giants are going to unleash.

Advantage: Giants

LINEBACKERS:

Both linebacker corps boast young, fast, sure tacklers.  Jacquian Williams and Michael Boley will have to have big games for the G-Men as they will be covering the New England TE's for most of the game.  Give the slight edge to the Pats as their backers have played better as a group than the Giants.

Advantage:Patriots

SECONDARY:

 The Patriots have given up more yards through the air than any other team this season.  Bottom line, they don't have anyone who can cover Nicks, Cruz or Manningham.  This is the matchup that very well could decide the game.  The Giants secondary hasn't been much better but they do matchup better with New Englands receivers.  Corey Webster is the best corner in this game and he'll be matched up with Welker for most of it.

Advantage: Giants

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Gostkowski > Tynes
Mesko < Weatherford
Edelman > Blackmon/Jerrinigan
Pats cover team < Giants cover team


Advantage: Draw


COACHING:


Tom Coughlin has gone from the hotseat to the hall of fame in just 6 weeks, but Little Bill's record speaks for itself.

Advantage: Patriots



Giants: 4, Patriots: 3, Draw: 3


Make The Final: Giants 28, Patriots 21

We Are The Kickers, We Kick Ball

Thinking about the Super Bowl Shuffle and my beloved Riders own feeble video (11 Years, That's Enough!) got me thinking about this classic Saturday Night Live Parody.  The late, great Walter Payton hosts "NFL Video Countdown" featuring this classic song by the league's most misunderstood players, the kickers.  Jon Lovitz in hs turban singing "please, please no Green Bay! Brrr" still cracks me up everytime.



We Are The Kickers

Why I Cheer For The Giants

We all have this story.  The day we chose our favorite team over all others, the day we became a fan of a certain franchise through thick and thin.  When I became a fan of my favorite teams or athletes I always strayed from what everyone else was cheering for.  When everyone I knew started cheering for the Edmonton Oilers and Wayne Gretzky, I started cheering for the Detroit Red Wings and Steve Yzerman.  When my whole school became obsessed with Hulk Hogan I started cheering for his arch nemisis, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.  And when the NFL exploded into Canada in 1985 and everybody and their dog started cheering for the Chicago Bears and "The Fridge"...I became a life long fan of the New York Giants.  It all started when my Dad and I were watching a Monday Night Football game where the Giants were taking on the Redskins...that's the game where the greatest defensive player to ever play the game Lawrence Taylor broke both of Joe Theismann's legs with one hit.  I thought, that is the strongest, fastest, baddest man on the damn planet and he's way cooler than Jim McMahon and his shades or the Fridge and his Super Bowl Shuffle...the Giants were my kind of team.  The Giants would lost the NFC Championship that year to the Bears 21-0 but they would come back the following year and whup the Denver Broncos 39-20 in Super Bowl 21. 4 years later, the Giants would upset the heavily favored Buffalo Bills 20-19 in Super Bowl 25.  They did it with their trademark defense, Bill Belichick's  gameplan for stopping the high flying Bills offense currently resides in the football hall of fame.  The next 10 years were horribly forgettable, through the Ray Handley (or He Who Shall Not Be Named to Giants fans) era to the Dan Reeves fiasco, the G-Men couldn't turn things around until the 2000 season.  With a rejuvinated Kerry Collins and a defense led by Michael Strahan, the Giants beat the heavily favored Minnesota Vikings (with Cris Carter and a young Randy Moss) 41-0 to earn a berth in Super Bowl 35.  Unfortunately for the G-Men, their opposition was the Baltimore Ravens and their juggernaught defense led by ferocious Ray Lewis.  Employing a defense that hadn't been seen since, well the 86 Giants...the Ravens stomped us to the tune of 34-7.

The Giants rebuild started in 2004 with the draft day trade for Eli Manning.  Little brother of Peyton, Eli was highly touted out of college and was the consensus #1 pick...unfortunately that picked belonged to the San Diego Chargers.  One of the biggest trades in NFL history would feature Manning going to the Giants in exchange for Philip Rivers (the Giants 4th overall pick), and picks that would end up being used for Shawn Merriman and kicker Nate Kaeding.  For years Chargers fans bragged about getting the better of the deal...but the 2007 season would shut them up for good.  That's the year Eli Manning came into his own and led his wildcard Giants to 11 straight road wins, all the way to Super Bowl 42 and a game against the 18-0 New England Patriots.  The Giants stifled the Patriots all day with their trademark sack happy defense and Eli led a game winning drive in the final 2 minutes that would include the single greatest play in Super Bowl history.  Known by fans as the "Hail Manning", Eli escaped heavy pressure on a third and long play and hucked a hail mary pass to little known Giants wideout David Tyree who brought the ball down trapped against his helmet while a Patriots defender was draped all over him.  A few plays later, Manning found Plaxico Burress all alone in the end zone for the touchdown and the upset win, a win that Giants co-owner John Mara would call the greatest in franchise history.

After late season collapses in 08, 09 and 2010, I thought it would be a long time before I could celebrate my beloved Giants being in the big game again...but the 2011 Giants would have something to say about that.  Whipped by injuries and the league's toughest 2nd half schedule, the Giants were nobody's pick to win the NFC and go to the Super Bowl but after beating the Dallas Cowboys twice to get into the playoffs, dominating the Atlanta Falcons, upsetting the heavily favored 15-1 Green Bay Packers and outlasting the very tough San Fransisco 49er's, the Giants find themselves back on the grandest stage in a rematch with the Patriots.

For the past 26 years I have cheered on my G-Men through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.  This is the team that originated the forward pass and the gatorade shower, they have played in some of the most memorable games in history like the Sneakers Game and The Greatest Game Ever Played.  They have employed some of the best coaches in NFL history, from Vince Lombardi and Tom Ladry to Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin. They are the only team to win Super Bowls in 3 consecutive decades and this year could win one in a 4th.  They have made the playoffs more than any other franchise and on Sunday, February 5 they have a shot at their 4th Super Bowl title.  I will have my preview of Super Bowl 46 up later, I just wanted to give a little insight into why I cheer for the Big Blue Wrecking Crew and always will...go Giants!