2008 was an amazing year for sports. The undefeated Patriots got upset by the surprising New York Giants and Eli Manning became a legitimate NFL quarterback. One of the greatest NCAA basketball championship games ever was played when Mario Chalmers hit the game-tying shot at the end of regulation for Kansas against Memphis. The Phillies won the World Series over the Cinderella story Tampa Bay Rays, ending a 28 year championship drought for Philadelphia. The return of the Celtics/Lakers rivalry as the Celtics won their 17th championship the year after having the worst record in the league. The Red Wings returned to championship form after winning the Stanley Cup and LSU destroyed Ohio State in the BCS championship game.
There were many other great moments in 2008. Tiger Woods won the US Open on one leg, winning an epic playoff with Rocco Mediate. Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer in the greatest Wimbledon final ever. The Williams sisters returned to dominance in women's tennis. The Tampa Bay Rays of all teams actually won the AL East and went to the World Series. What a great year for sports 2008 was.
Out of all these memories though, my favorite one by far was Texas Tech's football team. On January 1, they won the Gator Bowl over Virginia, giving us a glimpse of what was to come in the 2008 season.
In a sport dominated by polls and teams with a long history of success, Texas Tech became the Cinderella story and almost completed the most amazing season in NCAA football history. Instead it only ended up being the greatest season by far in school history. For the first time ever Texas Tech began a season 10-0. For the first time ever they were ranked number 2 in the country, even collecting some number 1 votes. They beat 3 consecutive top 25 opponents, 2 of which were in the top 10. They even ended Texas' bid for the national championship by winning 39-33 on Michael Crabtree's catch with one second left to win the game in what is my favorite sports memory of all time. It was Texas Tech's first ever win over a team ranked number 1, and it was the 500th in school history. That was a game I will never forget and will always be thankful for having witnessed in person. I hope we destroy Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl and prove that we were not a fluke after losing to Oklahoma. Thanks to Texas Tech for making the 2008 season such a wonderful ride.
On another note....
I said I wanted the Cowboys to sign Bill Cowher or Brian Billick as a new head coach. Yesterday, Mike Shanahan was fired by the Broncos. JERRY JONES: PLEASE SIGN HIM UP RIGHT NOW! Mike Shanahan is everything Wade Phillips is not. He's a tough minded guy, a great coaching mind, and he would make sure stupid mistakes are considered unacceptable. Who knows, maybe Flozell would even stop commiting those retarded false start penalties that he does EVERY single game!
I wish everyone out there a Happy New Year and a safe 2009. Enjoy the bowl games and the NFL playoffs. Stay tuned for analysis of those first round playoff games.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Not very happy...
After last year's NFL season ended, Cowboys fans across the nation, including myself, were very disappointed by the disappointing loss to the Giants in the playoffs. As the offseason moved along, we all got more and more excited for the beginning of the next season, thinking we had a legitimate shot to make it to, if not win, the Super Bowl. Five months later and here we are, not in the playoff picture at all after losing embarresslingly to the hated Eagles. 44-6. Really? How could the Cowboys not come out ready to play? For all intents and purposes, this game was a playoff game. The winner moves on to the playoffs and the loser waits until August to open up training camp. Full blame goes to the coaching staff for being useless, and to the players for not living up to the money they are being paid.
Wade Phillips is a joke. Coaches should never look confused and hopeless on the sideline. I have never seen Wade Phillips show confidence or toughness on the sideline. Mike Singletary, Mike Tomlin, Bill Belichick, and Bill Cowher are all coaches who exuberate conference and leadership. The Cowboys need a coach with charisma. Besides the short Bill Parcells era, we have not had a coach with this type of charisma since Jimmie Johnson. No matter what Jerry Jones has said, it's time for a new head coach. Make Wade the defensive coordinator, I like what he does with defenses, but for the love of god please get a new head coach! I would like to see Bill Cowher but that will never happen. My next top choice I guess is Brian Billick. I actually think he could be a good fit. After hearing his analysis during games on TV, I feel as if I never gave him enough credit for actually being a good NFL head coach.
Now that I have finished wasting five months of my life hopelessly following a football team that didn't care as much about winning as I, or other Cowboys fans did, it's time to make playoff predictions for the teams that apparantly do care about being successful:
Best Playoff Rookie - Adrian Peterson, His first playoffs and hes going to play like a man amongst boys.
Worst Playoff Rookie - Cardinals' O-line, They are going to collapse. Kurt Warner will not have time and Tim Hightower is not going to run for any yards at all.
Best Player of the Playoffs - Peyton Manning, he seems poised to win another Super Bowl
Super Bowl Winner - Colts, I think Peyton will win another one, and he deserves the MVP for this season.
Super Bowl Matchup I want to see most - Falcons/Dolphins, I think that would be awesome.
And now for my Round 1 matchups (analysis will come later):
Falcons vs Cardinals: Falcons
Colts vs Chargers : Colts
Ravens vs Dolphins: Dolphins
Eagles vs Vikings: Vikings
Check back later for analysis of the games, as well as updates from the NBA, MLB, and college football bowl season.
Wade Phillips is a joke. Coaches should never look confused and hopeless on the sideline. I have never seen Wade Phillips show confidence or toughness on the sideline. Mike Singletary, Mike Tomlin, Bill Belichick, and Bill Cowher are all coaches who exuberate conference and leadership. The Cowboys need a coach with charisma. Besides the short Bill Parcells era, we have not had a coach with this type of charisma since Jimmie Johnson. No matter what Jerry Jones has said, it's time for a new head coach. Make Wade the defensive coordinator, I like what he does with defenses, but for the love of god please get a new head coach! I would like to see Bill Cowher but that will never happen. My next top choice I guess is Brian Billick. I actually think he could be a good fit. After hearing his analysis during games on TV, I feel as if I never gave him enough credit for actually being a good NFL head coach.
Now that I have finished wasting five months of my life hopelessly following a football team that didn't care as much about winning as I, or other Cowboys fans did, it's time to make playoff predictions for the teams that apparantly do care about being successful:
Best Playoff Rookie - Adrian Peterson, His first playoffs and hes going to play like a man amongst boys.
Worst Playoff Rookie - Cardinals' O-line, They are going to collapse. Kurt Warner will not have time and Tim Hightower is not going to run for any yards at all.
Best Player of the Playoffs - Peyton Manning, he seems poised to win another Super Bowl
Super Bowl Winner - Colts, I think Peyton will win another one, and he deserves the MVP for this season.
Super Bowl Matchup I want to see most - Falcons/Dolphins, I think that would be awesome.
And now for my Round 1 matchups (analysis will come later):
Falcons vs Cardinals: Falcons
Colts vs Chargers : Colts
Ravens vs Dolphins: Dolphins
Eagles vs Vikings: Vikings
Check back later for analysis of the games, as well as updates from the NBA, MLB, and college football bowl season.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Intro to a truly obsessed person
Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog! My name is Holden. This is my first post, but please do post your comments! This first post will mainly serve as intro to myself and my background.
I am starting this post mainly as an avenue for me to vent all of my feelings about sports that no one else will be willing to listen to. This idea was suggested to me today by a girl who I was talking to tonight after my Lakers lost Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Feel free to ridicule me, make fun of me, and give your opinion. I want to hear what my readers have to think!
I am originally from Dallas, Texas but currently live in Maryland in the the Washington, D.C. area. I go to school at Texas Tech University. Among my friends, and many other people, I am known as a sports nerd/freak. I am sometimes even compared to the Schwab from ESPN because I have a vast knowledge of the history of most sports and know statistics that no one else even bothers to care about. I enjoy having heated sports arguments and debates with several of my friends, mainly Max and Masar who you will all surely hear about. I also read Bill Simmons' columns on ESPN.com and follow many other sports writers, including profootballtalk.com.
Now onto what really matters, my sports background! My favorite teams are the San Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Before you tell me I am a bandwagon rider, let me at least explain why each of these teams is my favorite.
First the easy one, the Cowboys. Being from Dallas, of course I am a Cowboys fan! Next the Lakers. I did not really watch much basketball until I was in 5th or 6th grade. Before then, I would sometimes watch a Bulls game here or there to see Michael Jordan but I had no honest idea of what was really going on. The first game I really ever watched was Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals between the Trailblazers and the Lakers. The Lakers were down by a lot and began making a furious comeback as everyone now remembers. I fell in love with Kobe Bryant as I watched the game, as well as Derek Fisher who is actually my favorite player. The main reason I am a Lakers fan though is because of the famous Kobe-to-Shaq alley-oop that sealed the victory. I had never seen anything like that, and seeing the happiness on Shaq's face has made me a Lakers fan ever since.
The reason I am a Giants fan is because like basketball, I did not watch much baseball at all as a child. I was a late-bloomer when it came to sports. The first season where I really started to watch closely was 2001. This was also when my parents finally bought satellite so I had ESPN on my tv. Everyday they would talk about a "Barry Bonds". At first I saw he was always hitting doubles which I thought was cool. Then I found out he was also hitting a record number of homeruns...... I began to watch Giants games and he would hit homeruns which excited me a lot. I fell in love with Barry and became a Giants fan as a result. One of my beliefs is that you know you truly are a fan of a team when you cry over them. My most heartbreaking moment as a sports fan to date is Game 6 of the 2002 World Series. I cried after the loss because I knew that game was no different then the Buckner game for the RedSox. To this day the Angels are still my least favorite team in all of sports. And if you're wondering, I did in fact cry after the Lakers loss tonight in Game 4! I still am not sure whether or not I'll be watching Game 5....I probably will now that I have a blog to keep up to date with.
I am a Penguins fan because when I began to play sports video games the first one I played was a demo of NHL 2001. The only two teams you could be were the Avalanche and the Penguins. I was the Penguins, and I won because some guy named Mario Lemieux scored 20 goals for me. I thought he was pretty cool and decided he would be my favorite player, and I would be a Penguins fan. Random I know but that's how some things work.
This post was mainly an intro, so keep a look out for my next post! Again, please comment on my posts and feel free to send me emails at swishgoal6@verizonmail.com. I might answer emails and do mailbags like Bill Simmons does in his columns.
I am starting this post mainly as an avenue for me to vent all of my feelings about sports that no one else will be willing to listen to. This idea was suggested to me today by a girl who I was talking to tonight after my Lakers lost Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Feel free to ridicule me, make fun of me, and give your opinion. I want to hear what my readers have to think!
I am originally from Dallas, Texas but currently live in Maryland in the the Washington, D.C. area. I go to school at Texas Tech University. Among my friends, and many other people, I am known as a sports nerd/freak. I am sometimes even compared to the Schwab from ESPN because I have a vast knowledge of the history of most sports and know statistics that no one else even bothers to care about. I enjoy having heated sports arguments and debates with several of my friends, mainly Max and Masar who you will all surely hear about. I also read Bill Simmons' columns on ESPN.com and follow many other sports writers, including profootballtalk.com.
Now onto what really matters, my sports background! My favorite teams are the San Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Before you tell me I am a bandwagon rider, let me at least explain why each of these teams is my favorite.
First the easy one, the Cowboys. Being from Dallas, of course I am a Cowboys fan! Next the Lakers. I did not really watch much basketball until I was in 5th or 6th grade. Before then, I would sometimes watch a Bulls game here or there to see Michael Jordan but I had no honest idea of what was really going on. The first game I really ever watched was Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals between the Trailblazers and the Lakers. The Lakers were down by a lot and began making a furious comeback as everyone now remembers. I fell in love with Kobe Bryant as I watched the game, as well as Derek Fisher who is actually my favorite player. The main reason I am a Lakers fan though is because of the famous Kobe-to-Shaq alley-oop that sealed the victory. I had never seen anything like that, and seeing the happiness on Shaq's face has made me a Lakers fan ever since.
The reason I am a Giants fan is because like basketball, I did not watch much baseball at all as a child. I was a late-bloomer when it came to sports. The first season where I really started to watch closely was 2001. This was also when my parents finally bought satellite so I had ESPN on my tv. Everyday they would talk about a "Barry Bonds". At first I saw he was always hitting doubles which I thought was cool. Then I found out he was also hitting a record number of homeruns...... I began to watch Giants games and he would hit homeruns which excited me a lot. I fell in love with Barry and became a Giants fan as a result. One of my beliefs is that you know you truly are a fan of a team when you cry over them. My most heartbreaking moment as a sports fan to date is Game 6 of the 2002 World Series. I cried after the loss because I knew that game was no different then the Buckner game for the RedSox. To this day the Angels are still my least favorite team in all of sports. And if you're wondering, I did in fact cry after the Lakers loss tonight in Game 4! I still am not sure whether or not I'll be watching Game 5....I probably will now that I have a blog to keep up to date with.
I am a Penguins fan because when I began to play sports video games the first one I played was a demo of NHL 2001. The only two teams you could be were the Avalanche and the Penguins. I was the Penguins, and I won because some guy named Mario Lemieux scored 20 goals for me. I thought he was pretty cool and decided he would be my favorite player, and I would be a Penguins fan. Random I know but that's how some things work.
This post was mainly an intro, so keep a look out for my next post! Again, please comment on my posts and feel free to send me emails at swishgoal6@verizonmail.com. I might answer emails and do mailbags like Bill Simmons does in his columns.
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