Well, there shall indeed be a Game 7 in this year’s World Series; the Nats won again on the road to force the deciding game. I will not be able to see it live since it will not begin until midnight or so here in Ireland; however, #2 son has the MLB game package – or whatever it is called – so that I will be able to see the game in its entirety.
The problem with this World Series is that neither team deserves to lose it; both teams have played very well over the first 6 games. Tomorrow will be a festive Halloween for one of these clubs and a nightmarish time for the other…
The US Women’s National Soccer Team has a new coach. Vlatko Andonovsky takes over for Jill Ellis who merely won two consecutive Women’s World Cups for the team. A native of Macedonia, Andonovsky formerly coached in the National Women’s Soccer League for 8 seasons being Coach of the Year twice. He has large shoes to fill…
Glancing at the upcoming NFL schedule for this week, it is hard to ignore the Jets/Dolphins game on the card. The two teams bring a combined record of 1-13 to the kickoff and the two teams have been outscored by 268 points in those games. It might have been interesting for commentators to try to spin a storyline here about Adam Gase returning to Miami with his new team and blah, blah, blah. Given how bad these teams have shown to be on the field, there is nothing cute that can possibly stand up to the brutal reality here…
At the other end of the NFL spectrum, the Niners and the Pats are the only remaining undefeated teams. The Niners’ offense is for real. Missing both starting tackles and fullback Kyle Juszczyk, [The man really does need to buy a vowel or two from Vanna White.] the Niners managed to score a middling 51 points on the Panthers last week. Meanwhile, the defense has also blossomed into a much better than average unit putting the Niners in this exalted state in late October…
The Pats have been here before – – but this year it is their defense that is carrying the team. The “decline” of the Pats’ on offense is directly related to two things:
- No Gronk – – and no replacement for Gronk who comes even close – – and
- A paucity of talent at WR. Josh Gordon is on IR and will not play any more this year; Philip Dorsett was the top-shelf threat on the outside for the Pats until Mohammad Sunu showed up last week and N’Keal Harry is now eligible to return from IR.
It does not matter who the QB is if he does not have quality people to run the pass routes and then catch the balls thrown directly at them. Some naysayers believe the Pats’ schedule has not been all that stringent so far this year, but it does get a bit tougher down the line with these entries:
- Ravens (Week 9)
- Eagles (Week 11)
- Cowboys (Week 12)
- Texans (Week 13)
- Chiefs (Week 14).
Finally, Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle was dealing with power outages in Northern California when he rediscovered this important social resource:
“No power at home, but I found this really cool place to set up shop. It has coffee, internet and tables. It’s like a huge Starbucks, but with all kinds of books! Sign says ‘Library,’ but don’t ask me how to pronounce it. I think it’s a chain.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
“It does not matter who the QB is if he does not have quality people to…catch the balls thrown directly at them.”
I think the larger issue is catching balls in traffic. 100 wide receivers can catch the football when they are open over the middle in a play adroitly drawn up by offensive coaches. However, when the game is on the line and a receiver must make the catch against tight cornerback coverage–that is why Fred Biletnikoff used to throw up before games.
TenaciousP:
Agreed…