By Rick Morris
In addition to posting my weekly picks, I will post those from other members of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries' Football Challenge Contest. In the regular season, we each posted our three strongest plays. Here are the standings to this point, including all games from the wildcard round:
RICK MORRIS: 27-28 overall, 3-1 last week (also 9-8 on my 1,000-Star, Gold-Plated Lock of the Millennium for each week of the regular season)
DAVE ADAMS: 26-29 overall, 1-3 last week
STEVE CIRVELLO: 26-29 overall, 2-2 last week
RYAN ISLEY: 23-31-1 overall, 2-2 last week
SEAN TRENCH: 21-32-2 overall, 1-3 last week
We will each pick every playoff game. Each of our picks will be listed, in addition to the FDH "consensus" pick based on who has the most votes in each game (the FDH consensus picks were 1-3 last week):
Arizona +7 at New Orleans
RICK: Arizona
DAVE: Arizona
STEVE: New Orleans
RYAN: New Orleans
SEAN: Arizona
FDH CONSENSUS: Arizona, 4-1
Baltimore +6 ½ at Indianapolis
RICK: Indianapolis
DAVE: Indianapolis
STEVE: Baltimore
RYAN: Indianapolis
SEAN: Indianapolis
FDH CONSENSUS: Indianapolis, 4-1
Dallas +2 ½ at Minnesota
RICK: Dallas
DAVE: Dallas
STEVE: Minnesota
RYAN: Minnesota
SEAN: Dallas
FDH CONSENSUS: Dallas, 3-2
NY Jets +7 at San Diego
RICK: San Diego
DAVE: San Diego
(The FDH New York Bureau) STEVE: NY Jets
RYAN: San Diego
SEAN: San Diego
FDH CONSENSUS: San Diego, 4-1
Additionally, here are my extended thoughts on each game and my predictions for subsequent rounds:
It would have seemed impossible in September when the Cardinals were refusing to commit to Beanie Wells, but they actually have a better-established run game than New Orleans – due to the Saints having their own late-season commitment issues regarding establishing the run. Additionally, the matchup is not favorable for the Saints D, a unit predicated on big turnovers and one that struggles (as most teams do, in all fairness) against a balanced offense capable of establishing their will with either the run or the pass. Both passing games are similar in terms of having unbelievable quarterbacks capable of dishing the ball to multiple weapons. However, Arizona’s postseason experience is superior because their roster was immersed not merely in last week’s game but last year’s Super Bowl run; the Saints have had some turnover since their run to Championship Sunday in the ’06 season. And New Orleans will have to deal with an aggressive 3-4 defense for the first time since the shocker against Dallas when some pundits began to question whether that scheme had exposed their offense. These factors should negate a mighty home-field advantage in a tasty shootout game. Cardinals 41, Saints 38.
There are reasons not to like the Colts tonight that go beyond their willful surrender of full-throated momentum going into the playoffs. Minus all-world safety Bob Sanders, they certainly are vulnerable to Baltimore’s multi-headed hydra ground game. And their secondary is banged-up overall at the moment – but the Ravens are not exactly the team to exploit those maladies and that is where the Colts’ difficulties start to get put into perspective, because Baltimore also has a secondary that is not 100%. Look for Peyton Manning to make them pay the price by spreading it around. Hank Goldberg rightly notes how much teams with a decided rushing advantage prosper in playoff games like this. However, with the overall explosiveness of the Colts at home on the fast turf, it’s hard to see Baltimore being able to do more than stay relatively close unless “centerfielder” Ed Reed can make some game-changing interceptions. Colts 24, Ravens 16.
Sunday’s early game marks a renewal of a classic 1970s playoff rivalry, plus it rips the scab off of the bitterness in the Twin Cities, where they saw their beloved North Stars NHL franchise relocate to Dallas in the early ‘90s. Befitting the status as the only game this weekend where two of our pundits disagreed with the consensus and the one with the closest Vegas line, this contest stands as the one that most people would view as the most up for grabs. There is a really sweet “ultimate strength vs. ultimate strength” battle in the clash of the multi-back Dallas rushing attack against the Minnesota defensive line anchored by the Purple Williams People Eaters. Conversely, the Dallas front seven is also a good match for the incomparable Adrian Peterson, who has tailed off over the second half of the season. Either quarterback is capable of winning this game with spectacular plays or giving it away with bonehead interceptions. Can the raucous home crowd make up for Dallas’ complete advantage in terms of momentum? Perhaps they can, but they cannot make up for the loss of MLB EJ Henderson and the increased potential for Tony Romo to work the underneath areas with Jason Witten. In a game that appears so close on paper that a single hair could decide it either way, that might well be enough. Cowboys 27, Vikings 23.
Like the Ravens, the Jets face a team that is unstoppable at times, but vulnerable to being outgained on the ground. Even if they weren’t though, they would have no choice but to try to establish the Jones/Greene combo like they did last week in Cincinnati, because QB Mark Sanchez is not yet ready to have the training wheels removed in terms of playcalling. San Diego will spend large stretches going eight-in-the-box to try to force Sanchez to pass a great deal, as he did ironically right up the road at USC. The Jets know that they can’t come from behind to win a game like this and that it could easily snowball like some of the wildcard contests last week if that happens. On the other side of the ball, even with a fierce run defense and a secondary anchored by Darrelle Revis – perhaps the best in the game right now – New York will have a tough time contending with the raw size of the Charger passing game (at QB/WR1/WR2/TE). One team is just happy to be here and one team won’t be satisfied with anything less than a Super Bowl title. On Sunday night, it will be quite apparent which was which. Chargers 31, Jets 13.
CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY
Chargers 34, Colts 24
Cowboys 34, Cardinals 27
SUPER BOWL
Cowboys 30, Chargers 23
Saturday, January 16, 2010
FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume II, Issue XLXIV
By Rick Morris
For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week's newsletter.
For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week's newsletter.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
FDH Lounge Show #87: January 13, 2010
By Rick Morris
Three years ago this week, The Great American Radio Show came to Internet TV. We have proved time and time again that the adage of "nothing is off-topic" is no mere exaggeration. Now, our 87th episode of THE FDH LOUNGE (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com) proves it again.
After our look at This Week in The FDH Lounge and The Opening Statements of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries, we welcome in longtime New York (and onetime NBC) broadcaster Len Berman, author of the great book (with a companion CD) THE GREATEST MOMENTS IN SPORTS. From there, we take the occasion of our third anniversary to revisit one of our earlier Lounge shows with a Conspiracy Theory segment about the McGwire-Sosa home run chase of 1998. Dignitary Nate Noy shared his theory that Major League Baseball tampered with the special hologram balls used down the stretch for these hitters. We'll replay the 10-minute tape, then take another look with Nate in light of McGwire's "shocking" confession this week.
At the top of Hour Two, our roundtable panel to discuss the Baseball Hall of Fame voting convenes: ESPN Radio personality Ed Randall and Newsday reporter Ken Davidoff. Then, we debut our FDH Spotlight Website segment with a real doozy: This Is Why You're Fat.
After that, we start THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER a bit earlier than usual as we hold our annual fantasy tennis draft and then start our "fantasy football season in review" by looking at big developments, position by position, with KFFL.com Senior Editor Cory J. Bonini.
We close as always with THE GOON SQUAD and a look at the present NHL standings as well as a last look back at The Winter Classic and more of our ramping-up coverage of the amazing forthcoming Olympic hockey tournament.
As always, we urge you to watch the show live (or listen if you’re on dial-up), but if you can’t catch this as it’s happening, you can always catch the FDH archives 24-7 right here or catch us now on iTunes!
Three years ago this week, The Great American Radio Show came to Internet TV. We have proved time and time again that the adage of "nothing is off-topic" is no mere exaggeration. Now, our 87th episode of THE FDH LOUNGE (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com) proves it again.
After our look at This Week in The FDH Lounge and The Opening Statements of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries, we welcome in longtime New York (and onetime NBC) broadcaster Len Berman, author of the great book (with a companion CD) THE GREATEST MOMENTS IN SPORTS. From there, we take the occasion of our third anniversary to revisit one of our earlier Lounge shows with a Conspiracy Theory segment about the McGwire-Sosa home run chase of 1998. Dignitary Nate Noy shared his theory that Major League Baseball tampered with the special hologram balls used down the stretch for these hitters. We'll replay the 10-minute tape, then take another look with Nate in light of McGwire's "shocking" confession this week.
At the top of Hour Two, our roundtable panel to discuss the Baseball Hall of Fame voting convenes: ESPN Radio personality Ed Randall and Newsday reporter Ken Davidoff. Then, we debut our FDH Spotlight Website segment with a real doozy: This Is Why You're Fat.
After that, we start THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER a bit earlier than usual as we hold our annual fantasy tennis draft and then start our "fantasy football season in review" by looking at big developments, position by position, with KFFL.com Senior Editor Cory J. Bonini.
We close as always with THE GOON SQUAD and a look at the present NHL standings as well as a last look back at The Winter Classic and more of our ramping-up coverage of the amazing forthcoming Olympic hockey tournament.
As always, we urge you to watch the show live (or listen if you’re on dial-up), but if you can’t catch this as it’s happening, you can always catch the FDH archives 24-7 right here or catch us now on iTunes!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Book Review: Loving Madly, Losing Badly
By Rick Morris
I've reviewed books previously and certainly will be doing so again. But I have never before referred to a book as one that will provide interesting information about an American institution, will strengthen your spiritual awareness, will provide reinforcement about your ability to deal with adversity in life and will produce some actual good merely through its purchase -- and I'll be surprised if I encounter such a read again. However, I can vouch for the first three criteria on an ongoing basis and for the fourth one if you hurry up and purchase it in the next week.
I speak of course of LOVING MADLY, LOSING BADLY ... HOW ZIGGY SAVED MY LIFE, the outstanding memoir penned by second-generation Ziggy cartoonist Tom Wilson. We at FDH were first exposed to this book late last summer when we received a copy of it prior to booking Tom as a guest on our all-subjects program THE FDH LOUNGE (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com). Due to the fact that Tom lives (relatively) nearby in Cincinnati and travels occasionally to conduct business in our FDH and STN flagship city of Cleveland, we were actually able to have him in-studio. He made a subsequent return to the show on the night before Thanksgiving to promote the campaign I will refer to shortly. In the interest of full disclosure for this glowing review, I will admit that Tom certainly is in the "good friends of the show" category and if it would not be too presumptuous, I would simply refer to him as a friend, period. He's an amazing individual, as the book illustrates.
The book traces through Tom's life as he grows up in Cleveland as the son of the original Ziggy cartoonist, also named Tom Wilson. In early adulthood, he meets Susan, who would go on to become the best wife and mother he could have imagined. Then, in the 1980s, he assumes the franchise from his father when health issues dictated retirement.
Life with his wife and two young sons was pretty sweet until Susan developed breast cancer in the 1990s. She fought the disease bravely for years, but she passed away on November 18, 2000. This came as the biggest shock that Tom could have fathomed and he spent the next couple of years in a fog, just trying to be able to manage his own life and provide a stable foundation for his boys.
Eventually, after many twists and turns in the road to recovery, it emerged that the Ziggy character was actually key to adding perspective back to his life. The more he studied the innocent, indefatigable creature, the more he realized what he had to learn about the positivity in life. A character that he had drawn for nearly two decades and observed firsthand far longer than that proved to have lessons to teach him when he took the time to look beneath the surface. Along the way, throughout the course of the book, there are many interesting nuggets about the nuances of Ziggy and the creative process involved in drawing him over the years.
I referenced a spiritual angle as well, and while Tom does not beat you over the head with it in the book, it emerged to me as the single most jarring spectacle on those pages. Without giving too much away, during Tom's period of grief, Susan appeared to a friend of his with whom he was at odds, trying (successfully) to impart a useful and healing message. Susan appeared in her preadolescent state (complete with a mode of dress that she had at the time, as was captured in pictures), one in which this friend had never seen her before -- and therefore, could not be 100% certain that that was Susan, at least not until a shocked Tom provided confirmation upon hearing the story.
During the interview with Tom on our program, my line of questioning about this part was easily the most emotional one. It jumped out at me because my mom passed away from breast cancer a few short years after Susan did and because Susan, by all accounts, seemed so similar to my mom -- a great compliment to both of them. Additionally, our family had some spooky instances of appearances that were quite similar and my father asked our old parish priest about such instances and heard a few more examples rattled off to him. In other words, these things happen. Tom and I discussed how the non-believers of this world, who always act like the burden of proof is on the believers, have it exactly backwards. The multitudes of people who have experienced miracles of this sort need not prove anything; the burden is on the non-believers to rationalize away these miracles.
In the end, Tom learned a great deal about how to battle this most crippling form of adversity and he shares his lessons generously in this book. Most people, including myself, would not be strong enough to bare our souls in such a manner, but he clearly was committed to doing whatever was necessary to communicate what he learned to those who could benefit from it.
As for the final note I referenced about what the book will do -- contribute to tangible good -- this comes from the journey Tom has traveled in imparting the book's message. Along the way, he traveled to the LIVESTRONG headquarters in Austin, TX and was inspired by the work being done to hopefully save others from Susan's fate. Shortly thereafter, he instituted ZIGGY'S MILLION DOLLAR LIVESTRONG CHALLENGE. For two months, a period lasting through Susan's birthday on January 19, he is donating EVERY SINGLE PENNY of his author's cut from the book to the charity. This amounts to roughly $4.50 per copy sold. More information about the book, including how to make sure that your purchase counts towards the challenge, can be found here. Additionally, Tom Wilson's Twitter page, with constant updates on the challenge, can be found here.
Given that we all will face severe setbacks in terms of dealing with deaths of loved ones at various points in life, you will want to have this book for no other reason than the help it can give you. But purchasing a copy in the next week spreads the good around and hopefully can help impact the lives of others as well. If you have a couple of bucks lying around, there is no better use of them through the next week than Tom Wilson's great book.
I've reviewed books previously and certainly will be doing so again. But I have never before referred to a book as one that will provide interesting information about an American institution, will strengthen your spiritual awareness, will provide reinforcement about your ability to deal with adversity in life and will produce some actual good merely through its purchase -- and I'll be surprised if I encounter such a read again. However, I can vouch for the first three criteria on an ongoing basis and for the fourth one if you hurry up and purchase it in the next week.
I speak of course of LOVING MADLY, LOSING BADLY ... HOW ZIGGY SAVED MY LIFE, the outstanding memoir penned by second-generation Ziggy cartoonist Tom Wilson. We at FDH were first exposed to this book late last summer when we received a copy of it prior to booking Tom as a guest on our all-subjects program THE FDH LOUNGE (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com). Due to the fact that Tom lives (relatively) nearby in Cincinnati and travels occasionally to conduct business in our FDH and STN flagship city of Cleveland, we were actually able to have him in-studio. He made a subsequent return to the show on the night before Thanksgiving to promote the campaign I will refer to shortly. In the interest of full disclosure for this glowing review, I will admit that Tom certainly is in the "good friends of the show" category and if it would not be too presumptuous, I would simply refer to him as a friend, period. He's an amazing individual, as the book illustrates.
The book traces through Tom's life as he grows up in Cleveland as the son of the original Ziggy cartoonist, also named Tom Wilson. In early adulthood, he meets Susan, who would go on to become the best wife and mother he could have imagined. Then, in the 1980s, he assumes the franchise from his father when health issues dictated retirement.
Life with his wife and two young sons was pretty sweet until Susan developed breast cancer in the 1990s. She fought the disease bravely for years, but she passed away on November 18, 2000. This came as the biggest shock that Tom could have fathomed and he spent the next couple of years in a fog, just trying to be able to manage his own life and provide a stable foundation for his boys.
Eventually, after many twists and turns in the road to recovery, it emerged that the Ziggy character was actually key to adding perspective back to his life. The more he studied the innocent, indefatigable creature, the more he realized what he had to learn about the positivity in life. A character that he had drawn for nearly two decades and observed firsthand far longer than that proved to have lessons to teach him when he took the time to look beneath the surface. Along the way, throughout the course of the book, there are many interesting nuggets about the nuances of Ziggy and the creative process involved in drawing him over the years.
I referenced a spiritual angle as well, and while Tom does not beat you over the head with it in the book, it emerged to me as the single most jarring spectacle on those pages. Without giving too much away, during Tom's period of grief, Susan appeared to a friend of his with whom he was at odds, trying (successfully) to impart a useful and healing message. Susan appeared in her preadolescent state (complete with a mode of dress that she had at the time, as was captured in pictures), one in which this friend had never seen her before -- and therefore, could not be 100% certain that that was Susan, at least not until a shocked Tom provided confirmation upon hearing the story.
During the interview with Tom on our program, my line of questioning about this part was easily the most emotional one. It jumped out at me because my mom passed away from breast cancer a few short years after Susan did and because Susan, by all accounts, seemed so similar to my mom -- a great compliment to both of them. Additionally, our family had some spooky instances of appearances that were quite similar and my father asked our old parish priest about such instances and heard a few more examples rattled off to him. In other words, these things happen. Tom and I discussed how the non-believers of this world, who always act like the burden of proof is on the believers, have it exactly backwards. The multitudes of people who have experienced miracles of this sort need not prove anything; the burden is on the non-believers to rationalize away these miracles.
In the end, Tom learned a great deal about how to battle this most crippling form of adversity and he shares his lessons generously in this book. Most people, including myself, would not be strong enough to bare our souls in such a manner, but he clearly was committed to doing whatever was necessary to communicate what he learned to those who could benefit from it.
As for the final note I referenced about what the book will do -- contribute to tangible good -- this comes from the journey Tom has traveled in imparting the book's message. Along the way, he traveled to the LIVESTRONG headquarters in Austin, TX and was inspired by the work being done to hopefully save others from Susan's fate. Shortly thereafter, he instituted ZIGGY'S MILLION DOLLAR LIVESTRONG CHALLENGE. For two months, a period lasting through Susan's birthday on January 19, he is donating EVERY SINGLE PENNY of his author's cut from the book to the charity. This amounts to roughly $4.50 per copy sold. More information about the book, including how to make sure that your purchase counts towards the challenge, can be found here. Additionally, Tom Wilson's Twitter page, with constant updates on the challenge, can be found here.
Given that we all will face severe setbacks in terms of dealing with deaths of loved ones at various points in life, you will want to have this book for no other reason than the help it can give you. But purchasing a copy in the next week spreads the good around and hopefully can help impact the lives of others as well. If you have a couple of bucks lying around, there is no better use of them through the next week than Tom Wilson's great book.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
NFL picks wildcard round
By Rick Morris
In addition to posting my weekly picks, I will post those from other members of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries' Football Challenge Contest. In the regular season, we each posted our three strongest plays. Here are the standings to this point:
DAVE ADAMS: 25-26 overall, 2-1 last week
RICK MORRIS: 24-27 overall, 3-0 last week (also 9-8 on my 1,000-Star, Gold-Plated Lock of the Millennium for each week, 1-0 last week)
STEVE CIRVELLO: 24-27 overall, 1-2 last week
RYAN ISLEY: 21-29-1 overall, 0-3 last week
SEAN TRENCH: 20-29-2 overall, 2-1 last week
We will each pick every playoff game. Each of our picks will be listed, in addition to the FDH "consensus" pick based on who has the most votes in each game (interestingly, all five of us differed on at least one game):
NY Jets (+2 1/2) at Cincinnati
DAVE: Cincinnati
RICK: NY Jets
STEVE: NY Jets
RYAN: NY Jets
SEAN: Cincinnati
FDH CONSENSUS: NY Jets, 3-2
Philadelphia +3 1/2 at Dallas
DAVE: Dallas
RICK: Dallas
STEVE: Philadelphia
RYAN: Philadelphia
SEAN: Philadelphia
FDH CONSENSUS: Philadelphia, 3-2
Baltimore +3 1/2 at New England
DAVE: New England
RICK: New England
STEVE: Baltimore
RYAN: Baltimore
SEAN: New England
FDH CONSENSUS: New England, 3-2
Green Bay (-1) at Arizona
DAVE: Green Bay
RICK: Arizona
STEVE: Green Bay
RYAN: Green Bay
SEAN: Arizona
FDH CONSENSUS: Green Bay, 3-2
Additionally, here are my extended thoughts on each game and my predictions for subsequent rounds:
So much for the rematches inherently favoring the teams who didn’t have to go all-out last weekend. The Jets dominated the Bengals on both the offensive and defensive lines and considering that Cincinnati has recast itself as a power-running team, that has to be a strong concern – regardless of the number of players who sat out last week. Jets rookie QB Mark Sanchez has a tall order in front of him with a road playoff game against a stout D, but the coaching staff seems to have shed at least some of their foolish hubris about turning him loose as they did more often around midseason. This is a great matchup for New York, because they can afford to stay in game management mode against the Bengals, a team highly unlikely to pull away minus the big turnovers that the aforementioned game management mode should prevent. Jets 22, Bengals 16.
“Now or never” is such a cliché, but if Tony Romo and Wade Phillips can’t take advantage of this moment to earn the team’s first postseason playoff win in 13 years, both will deservedly – irreversably – go down in history as big chokers. The fact is that they are playing as well as anyone right now after having reversed their awful December play of recent years. The Eagles just seem to have a ghastly pale look to them right now: a matchup against a team that has played them very well this year, youth in many key places (as Donovan McNabb, always looking for the excuse in advance, has pointed out so eloquently), a key injury at center and tough times in the linebacker core. This game answers the question once and for all about whether or not Dallas can ever be taken seriously as greater than the sum of their talented parts. Cowboys 27, Eagles 17.
Wes Welker is a huge loss for New England. Having Tom Brady come into this game at well less than 100% is a fairly significant loss also. But in a game featuring two teams who have posted some of the best defenses of the decade but who have seen better times on that side of the ball, it is Baltimore who will miss their dominating D more and that note will be the key difference. The secondary, fairly vulnerable during the season, is banged-up and the front seven seems unlikely to be in Brady’s face often enough during the course of the game. Ray Rice, as always, is a large X-factor and Joe Flacco proved last year that he is extremely unflappable in January for such a young QB. But while the Hoodie’s squad is not what it was a few years ago, it still has enough in the tank to scratch out a win at home. Patriots 23, Ravens 13.
Who is the Arizona of this postseason? It may well be none other than Arizona! If the Cards don’t successfully defend their NFC title, the irony will be that they are certainly better than they were a year ago, thanks to Beanie Wells replacing the corpse of Edgerrin James in the running game and a wonderful job by new defensive coordinator Bill Davis of installing a great blitz package – and tightening up the run defense considerably. They will be facing a well-balanced offense and a defense that is much-improved over a year ago. The Packers are a very hot team, and in that respect potentially poised for an underdog NFC playoff run ala Arizona last year, but their banged-up secondary is a target that is way too inviting for Kurt Warner. Notwithstanding the defenses being much better than they were 12 months ago, this is the game most ripe for a shootout because of not only the explosive offenses, but the balance (with an above-average run game for both teams) that should keep the defenses honest. Cardinals 34, Packers 27.
ROUND 2
Colts 26, Jets 13
Chargers 34, Patriots 27
Cowboys 24, Vikings 16
Saints 38, Cardinals 34
CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY
Chargers 34, Colts 24
Cowboys 27, Saints 24
SUPER BOWL
Cowboys 30, Chargers 23
In addition to posting my weekly picks, I will post those from other members of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries' Football Challenge Contest. In the regular season, we each posted our three strongest plays. Here are the standings to this point:
DAVE ADAMS: 25-26 overall, 2-1 last week
RICK MORRIS: 24-27 overall, 3-0 last week (also 9-8 on my 1,000-Star, Gold-Plated Lock of the Millennium for each week, 1-0 last week)
STEVE CIRVELLO: 24-27 overall, 1-2 last week
RYAN ISLEY: 21-29-1 overall, 0-3 last week
SEAN TRENCH: 20-29-2 overall, 2-1 last week
We will each pick every playoff game. Each of our picks will be listed, in addition to the FDH "consensus" pick based on who has the most votes in each game (interestingly, all five of us differed on at least one game):
NY Jets (+2 1/2) at Cincinnati
DAVE: Cincinnati
RICK: NY Jets
STEVE: NY Jets
RYAN: NY Jets
SEAN: Cincinnati
FDH CONSENSUS: NY Jets, 3-2
Philadelphia +3 1/2 at Dallas
DAVE: Dallas
RICK: Dallas
STEVE: Philadelphia
RYAN: Philadelphia
SEAN: Philadelphia
FDH CONSENSUS: Philadelphia, 3-2
Baltimore +3 1/2 at New England
DAVE: New England
RICK: New England
STEVE: Baltimore
RYAN: Baltimore
SEAN: New England
FDH CONSENSUS: New England, 3-2
Green Bay (-1) at Arizona
DAVE: Green Bay
RICK: Arizona
STEVE: Green Bay
RYAN: Green Bay
SEAN: Arizona
FDH CONSENSUS: Green Bay, 3-2
Additionally, here are my extended thoughts on each game and my predictions for subsequent rounds:
So much for the rematches inherently favoring the teams who didn’t have to go all-out last weekend. The Jets dominated the Bengals on both the offensive and defensive lines and considering that Cincinnati has recast itself as a power-running team, that has to be a strong concern – regardless of the number of players who sat out last week. Jets rookie QB Mark Sanchez has a tall order in front of him with a road playoff game against a stout D, but the coaching staff seems to have shed at least some of their foolish hubris about turning him loose as they did more often around midseason. This is a great matchup for New York, because they can afford to stay in game management mode against the Bengals, a team highly unlikely to pull away minus the big turnovers that the aforementioned game management mode should prevent. Jets 22, Bengals 16.
“Now or never” is such a cliché, but if Tony Romo and Wade Phillips can’t take advantage of this moment to earn the team’s first postseason playoff win in 13 years, both will deservedly – irreversably – go down in history as big chokers. The fact is that they are playing as well as anyone right now after having reversed their awful December play of recent years. The Eagles just seem to have a ghastly pale look to them right now: a matchup against a team that has played them very well this year, youth in many key places (as Donovan McNabb, always looking for the excuse in advance, has pointed out so eloquently), a key injury at center and tough times in the linebacker core. This game answers the question once and for all about whether or not Dallas can ever be taken seriously as greater than the sum of their talented parts. Cowboys 27, Eagles 17.
Wes Welker is a huge loss for New England. Having Tom Brady come into this game at well less than 100% is a fairly significant loss also. But in a game featuring two teams who have posted some of the best defenses of the decade but who have seen better times on that side of the ball, it is Baltimore who will miss their dominating D more and that note will be the key difference. The secondary, fairly vulnerable during the season, is banged-up and the front seven seems unlikely to be in Brady’s face often enough during the course of the game. Ray Rice, as always, is a large X-factor and Joe Flacco proved last year that he is extremely unflappable in January for such a young QB. But while the Hoodie’s squad is not what it was a few years ago, it still has enough in the tank to scratch out a win at home. Patriots 23, Ravens 13.
Who is the Arizona of this postseason? It may well be none other than Arizona! If the Cards don’t successfully defend their NFC title, the irony will be that they are certainly better than they were a year ago, thanks to Beanie Wells replacing the corpse of Edgerrin James in the running game and a wonderful job by new defensive coordinator Bill Davis of installing a great blitz package – and tightening up the run defense considerably. They will be facing a well-balanced offense and a defense that is much-improved over a year ago. The Packers are a very hot team, and in that respect potentially poised for an underdog NFC playoff run ala Arizona last year, but their banged-up secondary is a target that is way too inviting for Kurt Warner. Notwithstanding the defenses being much better than they were 12 months ago, this is the game most ripe for a shootout because of not only the explosive offenses, but the balance (with an above-average run game for both teams) that should keep the defenses honest. Cardinals 34, Packers 27.
ROUND 2
Colts 26, Jets 13
Chargers 34, Patriots 27
Cowboys 24, Vikings 16
Saints 38, Cardinals 34
CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY
Chargers 34, Colts 24
Cowboys 27, Saints 24
SUPER BOWL
Cowboys 30, Chargers 23
FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume II, Issue XLXIII
By Rick Morris
For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week's newsletter.
For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week's newsletter.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
BCS Title Game preview
By Rick Morris
Tonight's BCS Title Game, the first to be held as a stand-alone event at the Rose Bowl (the epic Texas/USC battle of '06 was actually the Rose Bowl game itself), pits two of the game's signature programs against one another. Shockingly, as much as Texas and Alabama have been front and center throughout much of the history of college football, their paths have rarely crossed -- until now. And owing largely to the Rose Bowl's heritage of Big 10/Pac 10 matchups, neither institution has much history in this building -- although Texas does have the aforementioned '06 win and another very entertaining victory over Michigan in the '05 Rose Bowl.
Along with Florida, Oklahoma (a huge disappointment largely due to the Sam Bradford injury) and USC (a huge disappointment, period), these squads have been on a short list of the most likely teams to be here from the very outset of the season. And since it seems like much longer than three years since Nick Saban has been at Alabama and restoring premium quality, this continues a trend throughout pretty much the decade of having teams in the game that are top contenders year in and year out.
Unsurprisingly, both 'Bama and the 'Horns are super-strong in the trenches, although Texas got pushed around way more than expected in the Big 12 Championship. Since the Tide relies on imposing their will physically to allow for the dominance of Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram on the ground (it's still hard to believe he's the first Heisman winner from Alabama!), as they did against Florida, this is not a good sign. Conversely, Alabama may be hard-pressed to keep up with the oft-frantic pace of the Texas offense as Colt McCoy, one of the best college QBs never to win the Heisman, directs a fast-break offense with brutal efficiency. While Texas is also good at grinding it out and Alabama is also good at executing the passing game, this contest will be yet another example of the winner being the one that successfully imposes their preferred style of play.
Befitting two teams in the elite of the college game, there are few weaknesses on either side. The biggest enemy for both during the course of the season actually seemed to be focus, as both endured stretches of underachievement while impatiently awaiting the games that would matter during the season. Alabama was certainly more battle-tested this year, as the Big 12 South, on a par with the SEC in '08, slipped drastically this year.
How does this one shake out in the end? Glancing at how Texas struggled against Nebraska in their most recent outing and how Alabama surmounted far tougher opposition repeatedly en route to Pasadena, the guess is that they control the ball and the clock enough to throw Texas off their game. Mark Ingram will make more history by ending the "Heisman jinx" in championship games and Nick Saban will become the first coach to win titles at two different schools since the dawning of the BCS. Alabama 23, Texas 17.
Oh, and a side note to Lisa Salters: just because you're not eye candy, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily substantive -- and you're not. Kindly try to keep your pompous questions to a minimum tonight and just try to do your job without trying to prove how smart you are. Thank you in advance.
Tonight's BCS Title Game, the first to be held as a stand-alone event at the Rose Bowl (the epic Texas/USC battle of '06 was actually the Rose Bowl game itself), pits two of the game's signature programs against one another. Shockingly, as much as Texas and Alabama have been front and center throughout much of the history of college football, their paths have rarely crossed -- until now. And owing largely to the Rose Bowl's heritage of Big 10/Pac 10 matchups, neither institution has much history in this building -- although Texas does have the aforementioned '06 win and another very entertaining victory over Michigan in the '05 Rose Bowl.
Along with Florida, Oklahoma (a huge disappointment largely due to the Sam Bradford injury) and USC (a huge disappointment, period), these squads have been on a short list of the most likely teams to be here from the very outset of the season. And since it seems like much longer than three years since Nick Saban has been at Alabama and restoring premium quality, this continues a trend throughout pretty much the decade of having teams in the game that are top contenders year in and year out.
Unsurprisingly, both 'Bama and the 'Horns are super-strong in the trenches, although Texas got pushed around way more than expected in the Big 12 Championship. Since the Tide relies on imposing their will physically to allow for the dominance of Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram on the ground (it's still hard to believe he's the first Heisman winner from Alabama!), as they did against Florida, this is not a good sign. Conversely, Alabama may be hard-pressed to keep up with the oft-frantic pace of the Texas offense as Colt McCoy, one of the best college QBs never to win the Heisman, directs a fast-break offense with brutal efficiency. While Texas is also good at grinding it out and Alabama is also good at executing the passing game, this contest will be yet another example of the winner being the one that successfully imposes their preferred style of play.
Befitting two teams in the elite of the college game, there are few weaknesses on either side. The biggest enemy for both during the course of the season actually seemed to be focus, as both endured stretches of underachievement while impatiently awaiting the games that would matter during the season. Alabama was certainly more battle-tested this year, as the Big 12 South, on a par with the SEC in '08, slipped drastically this year.
How does this one shake out in the end? Glancing at how Texas struggled against Nebraska in their most recent outing and how Alabama surmounted far tougher opposition repeatedly en route to Pasadena, the guess is that they control the ball and the clock enough to throw Texas off their game. Mark Ingram will make more history by ending the "Heisman jinx" in championship games and Nick Saban will become the first coach to win titles at two different schools since the dawning of the BCS. Alabama 23, Texas 17.
Oh, and a side note to Lisa Salters: just because you're not eye candy, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily substantive -- and you're not. Kindly try to keep your pompous questions to a minimum tonight and just try to do your job without trying to prove how smart you are. Thank you in advance.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
FDH Lounge Show #86: January 6, 2010
By Rick Morris
The first edition of THE FDH LOUNGE (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com) in this new decade picks up right where we left off: covering more topics than any other show – ever.
After our look at This Week in The FDH Lounge and The Opening Statements of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries, we welcome in one of our most interesting guests yet: Anvil lead singer Steve “Lips” Kudlow, whose thrash metal band was chronicled in last year’s amazing documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil. The band’s comeback story takes its next big step forward the night after our program when Anvil kicks off its North American tour coincidentally in our headquarters city of Cleveland. We’ll break down the movie, the tour and what the 2010s have in store for this indefatigable band.
Next, in keeping with our focus on our recent eBook (It is: DISSECTING THE DECADES: THE FDH LOUNGE LOOKS BACK AND AHEAD AT THE FIRST 20 YEARS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM. You can read the book's explanatory statement and Table of Contents here.), we will have an awesome roundtable on the state of the music business with a great panel. Indeed, we’ve got some great ones here:
^ Beau Hill, producer of million-selling 80's rock albums/recording artist
^ Kevin Elson, producer for Journey, Mr.Big, Lynard Skynard, Europe
^ Hab Haddad, Vice-President of New Media for HOR Entertainment Group
What are some of the noteworthy trends and progressions in the business? What great stories have these figures witnessed in their days in music? We’ll cover a wide array of subjects with them.
From there, we start THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER a bit earlier than usual as we prepare for our postseason fantasy football mock draft. You can check out our suggested league guidelines and our draft board here.
We end as usual with THE GOON SQUAD as our good pal Russ Cohen of Sportsology joins us for a look at the present NHL standings as well as The Winter Classic, which he attended as he always does. You can read his recap of the event here and we’ll talk to him about the past, present and future of hockey’s newest gem.
As always, we urge you to watch the show live (or listen if you’re on dial-up), but if you can’t catch this as it’s happening, you can always catch the FDH archives 24-7 right here or catch us now on iTunes!
The first edition of THE FDH LOUNGE (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com) in this new decade picks up right where we left off: covering more topics than any other show – ever.
After our look at This Week in The FDH Lounge and The Opening Statements of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries, we welcome in one of our most interesting guests yet: Anvil lead singer Steve “Lips” Kudlow, whose thrash metal band was chronicled in last year’s amazing documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil. The band’s comeback story takes its next big step forward the night after our program when Anvil kicks off its North American tour coincidentally in our headquarters city of Cleveland. We’ll break down the movie, the tour and what the 2010s have in store for this indefatigable band.
Next, in keeping with our focus on our recent eBook (It is: DISSECTING THE DECADES: THE FDH LOUNGE LOOKS BACK AND AHEAD AT THE FIRST 20 YEARS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM. You can read the book's explanatory statement and Table of Contents here.), we will have an awesome roundtable on the state of the music business with a great panel. Indeed, we’ve got some great ones here:
^ Beau Hill, producer of million-selling 80's rock albums/recording artist
^ Kevin Elson, producer for Journey, Mr.Big, Lynard Skynard, Europe
^ Hab Haddad, Vice-President of New Media for HOR Entertainment Group
What are some of the noteworthy trends and progressions in the business? What great stories have these figures witnessed in their days in music? We’ll cover a wide array of subjects with them.
From there, we start THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER a bit earlier than usual as we prepare for our postseason fantasy football mock draft. You can check out our suggested league guidelines and our draft board here.
We end as usual with THE GOON SQUAD as our good pal Russ Cohen of Sportsology joins us for a look at the present NHL standings as well as The Winter Classic, which he attended as he always does. You can read his recap of the event here and we’ll talk to him about the past, present and future of hockey’s newest gem.
As always, we urge you to watch the show live (or listen if you’re on dial-up), but if you can’t catch this as it’s happening, you can always catch the FDH archives 24-7 right here or catch us now on iTunes!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
NFL picks Week Seventeen
By Rick Morris
In addition to posting my weekly picks, I will post those from other members of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries' Football Challenge Contest. Each week, we will single out our three strongest plays.
DAVE ADAMS (1-2 last week, 23-25 overall)
Tennessee -6 over Seattle
Chicago -3 over Detroit
San Francisco -8 over St. Louis
STEVE CIRVELLO (1-2 last week, 23-25 overall)
Baltimore -10 1/2 over Oakland
Pittsburgh -3 over Miami
Denver -10 over Kansas City
RYAN ISLEY (0-2-1 last week, 21-26-1 overall)
Jacksonville +1 over Cleveland
Philadelphia +3 over Dallas
Baltimore -10 1/2 over Oakland
RICK MORRIS
(1-2 last week, 1-0 with my best pick, 21-27 overall, 8-8 on best picks)
Atlanta -1 1/2 over Tampa Bay (my 1,000-Star, Gold-Plated Lock of the Millennium for this week)
San Francisco -8 over St. Louis
Chicago -3 over Detroit
SEAN TRENCH (1-2 last week, 18-28-2 overall)
Philadelphia +3 over Dallas
Chicago -3 over Detroit
Kansas City +10 over Denver
My remaining picks (7-7-2 last week, 119-117-3 overall) -- SIDE NOTE: It is the mark of a very strange season when my record of picking every game - while certainly not stellar this year - is better than my record in terms of isolating my three best picks and even my best pick overall. Weird with a beard.
Indianapolis +8 over Buffalo
Carolina -7 over New Orleans
Jacksonville +1 over Cleveland
Philadelphia +3 over Dallas
Houston -7 over New England
Pittsburgh -3 over Miami
Minnesota -7 1/2 over NY Giants
NY Jets -9 1/2 over Cincinnati
Arizona -3 over Green Bay
Kansas City +10 over Denver
Baltimore -10 1/2 over Oakland
San Diego -3 over Washington
Tennessee -6 over Seattle
In addition to posting my weekly picks, I will post those from other members of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries' Football Challenge Contest. Each week, we will single out our three strongest plays.
DAVE ADAMS (1-2 last week, 23-25 overall)
Tennessee -6 over Seattle
Chicago -3 over Detroit
San Francisco -8 over St. Louis
STEVE CIRVELLO (1-2 last week, 23-25 overall)
Baltimore -10 1/2 over Oakland
Pittsburgh -3 over Miami
Denver -10 over Kansas City
RYAN ISLEY (0-2-1 last week, 21-26-1 overall)
Jacksonville +1 over Cleveland
Philadelphia +3 over Dallas
Baltimore -10 1/2 over Oakland
RICK MORRIS
(1-2 last week, 1-0 with my best pick, 21-27 overall, 8-8 on best picks)
Atlanta -1 1/2 over Tampa Bay (my 1,000-Star, Gold-Plated Lock of the Millennium for this week)
San Francisco -8 over St. Louis
Chicago -3 over Detroit
SEAN TRENCH (1-2 last week, 18-28-2 overall)
Philadelphia +3 over Dallas
Chicago -3 over Detroit
Kansas City +10 over Denver
My remaining picks (7-7-2 last week, 119-117-3 overall) -- SIDE NOTE: It is the mark of a very strange season when my record of picking every game - while certainly not stellar this year - is better than my record in terms of isolating my three best picks and even my best pick overall. Weird with a beard.
Indianapolis +8 over Buffalo
Carolina -7 over New Orleans
Jacksonville +1 over Cleveland
Philadelphia +3 over Dallas
Houston -7 over New England
Pittsburgh -3 over Miami
Minnesota -7 1/2 over NY Giants
NY Jets -9 1/2 over Cincinnati
Arizona -3 over Green Bay
Kansas City +10 over Denver
Baltimore -10 1/2 over Oakland
San Diego -3 over Washington
Tennessee -6 over Seattle
FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume II, Issue XLXII
By Rick Morris
For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week's newsletter.
For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week's newsletter.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Sportsology: Winter Classic recap
Posted by Rick Morris
Our good pal from The 21st Century Media Alliance, Sportsology's Russ Cohen, covered yesterday's NHL outdoor game -- as he has for every such game this decade. We put up some of his Tweets and his text messages to me as our New Year's Day Couch Potato Channel-Surfing Liveblog.
His column is reprinted below, but we urge you also to go check out his original column at Sportsology with pictures from the game and this feature at Card Corner Club with more pictures.
The Bruins Rally to Get a 2-1 OT Win at The Winter Classic
By Russ Cohen
Boston -- The Boston Bruins pulled off an exciting 2-1 overtime win today at Fenway Park in what was a picture-perfect day for the third installment of the Winter Classic!
The ice surface was fast to start the game. It seemed like it was the fastest of any of the outdoor games. At 39.6 degrees, it certainly felt like the warmest Winter Classic game as well. Bruins head coach Claude Julien was wearing a very stylish, throwback dress hat.
Fans in the stands never sat down for the first half of the first period. The best view in the house was high down the left field line. Flyers goalie Michael Leighton made a wonderful glove save in traffic which was the best in a scoreless first period. He stopped 24 in the game.
Flyers tough guy Scott Hartnell was hit in the back early in the second period by Bruins goalie Tim Thomas (stopped 24 shots). With that hit, the backstop took himself out of position and Flyers defenseman Danny Syvret was there to knock in the easy rebound. He was untouched and that goal was the first in Syvret’s NHL career. The sellout crowd of 38,112 had a mixed reaction for sure.
“Every player never forgets their first NHL goal.”
Flyers forward Claude Giroux had a nice breakaway that Thomas came out and stopped, literally blowing up the attempt without touching the puck in the second period, and when that came to an end, the Flyers had a 1-0 lead.
The Flyers had a power play in the third and Boston’s Steve Begin, who played in the Heritage Classic, almost got a shortie. It went past the Flyers goalie but it just rolled offline, missing the back of the net.
It seemed like the Flyers ran out of gas towards the end of the second period and near the end of the third. They put the Bruins on the power play, and when former Flyers forward Mark Recchi scored a late goal as part of a double slot to screen the Flyers goaltender, the score was tied and the game went into overtime.
A late penalty by Philadelphia gave the Bruins a power play to start off the overtime period and Boston’s Marco Sturm stuffed in the game-winning goal when the teams were at even strength. It was a 2-1 outcome, but the fans and the players were the real winners here. They had a chance to be a part of something special.
“You have to enjoy it,” said Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara. “There is two points on the line tomorrow, but I guess, you know, for most of us, it is probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
“We grew up skating outside all the time,” said Flyers defenseman Matt Carle. “It’s fun to get back out there….Snow makes the ice a little difficult….Our teams used to skate outside. It’s cheaper for the parents just to go to the outdoor rink...If it was colder than zero degrees, then practice would be canceled.”
Notes - - Bruins enforcer Shawn Thornton and Daniel Carcillo had the first fight in Winter Classic history. Carcillo put his hands up with the devil horns, possibly sending his friends at home a message when he was inside the penalty box … Singer/Songwriter Daniel Powter had never performed the Canadian National Anthem at an event.
Our good pal from The 21st Century Media Alliance, Sportsology's Russ Cohen, covered yesterday's NHL outdoor game -- as he has for every such game this decade. We put up some of his Tweets and his text messages to me as our New Year's Day Couch Potato Channel-Surfing Liveblog.
His column is reprinted below, but we urge you also to go check out his original column at Sportsology with pictures from the game and this feature at Card Corner Club with more pictures.
The Bruins Rally to Get a 2-1 OT Win at The Winter Classic
By Russ Cohen
Boston -- The Boston Bruins pulled off an exciting 2-1 overtime win today at Fenway Park in what was a picture-perfect day for the third installment of the Winter Classic!
The ice surface was fast to start the game. It seemed like it was the fastest of any of the outdoor games. At 39.6 degrees, it certainly felt like the warmest Winter Classic game as well. Bruins head coach Claude Julien was wearing a very stylish, throwback dress hat.
Fans in the stands never sat down for the first half of the first period. The best view in the house was high down the left field line. Flyers goalie Michael Leighton made a wonderful glove save in traffic which was the best in a scoreless first period. He stopped 24 in the game.
Flyers tough guy Scott Hartnell was hit in the back early in the second period by Bruins goalie Tim Thomas (stopped 24 shots). With that hit, the backstop took himself out of position and Flyers defenseman Danny Syvret was there to knock in the easy rebound. He was untouched and that goal was the first in Syvret’s NHL career. The sellout crowd of 38,112 had a mixed reaction for sure.
“Every player never forgets their first NHL goal.”
Flyers forward Claude Giroux had a nice breakaway that Thomas came out and stopped, literally blowing up the attempt without touching the puck in the second period, and when that came to an end, the Flyers had a 1-0 lead.
The Flyers had a power play in the third and Boston’s Steve Begin, who played in the Heritage Classic, almost got a shortie. It went past the Flyers goalie but it just rolled offline, missing the back of the net.
It seemed like the Flyers ran out of gas towards the end of the second period and near the end of the third. They put the Bruins on the power play, and when former Flyers forward Mark Recchi scored a late goal as part of a double slot to screen the Flyers goaltender, the score was tied and the game went into overtime.
A late penalty by Philadelphia gave the Bruins a power play to start off the overtime period and Boston’s Marco Sturm stuffed in the game-winning goal when the teams were at even strength. It was a 2-1 outcome, but the fans and the players were the real winners here. They had a chance to be a part of something special.
“You have to enjoy it,” said Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara. “There is two points on the line tomorrow, but I guess, you know, for most of us, it is probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
“We grew up skating outside all the time,” said Flyers defenseman Matt Carle. “It’s fun to get back out there….Snow makes the ice a little difficult….Our teams used to skate outside. It’s cheaper for the parents just to go to the outdoor rink...If it was colder than zero degrees, then practice would be canceled.”
Notes - - Bruins enforcer Shawn Thornton and Daniel Carcillo had the first fight in Winter Classic history. Carcillo put his hands up with the devil horns, possibly sending his friends at home a message when he was inside the penalty box … Singer/Songwriter Daniel Powter had never performed the Canadian National Anthem at an event.
NHL power rankings for start of January
By Rick Morris
Mid-December rankings in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 San Jose (4)
2 New Jersey (2)
3 Chicago (5)
4 Washington (1)
5 Pittsburgh (3)
6 Buffalo (7)
7 Phoenix (10)
8 Colorado (8)
9 Calgary (9)
10 Nashville (11)
11 Vancouver (17)
12 Los Angeles (6)
13 Boston (13)
14 Dallas (18)
15 Detroit (12)
16 Ottawa (16)
17 Montreal (15)
18 NY Rangers (22)
19 Minnesota (26)
20 Tampa Bay (25)
21 Philadelphia (20)
22 Atlanta (14)
23 St. Louis (29)
24 NY Islanders (24)
25 Anaheim (27)
26 Florida (23)
27 Columbus (19)
28 Toronto (28)
29 Edmonton (21)
SECOND TIER
30 Carolina (30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Minnesota (7 spots), St. Louis and Vancouver (6 spots), Tampa Bay (5 spots), NY Rangers (4 spots), Phoenix and San Jose (3 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: Atlanta, Edmonton and Columbus (8 spots), Los Angeles (6 spots), Dallas (4 spots), Detroit, Florida and Washington (3 spots)
Mid-December rankings in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 San Jose (4)
2 New Jersey (2)
3 Chicago (5)
4 Washington (1)
5 Pittsburgh (3)
6 Buffalo (7)
7 Phoenix (10)
8 Colorado (8)
9 Calgary (9)
10 Nashville (11)
11 Vancouver (17)
12 Los Angeles (6)
13 Boston (13)
14 Dallas (18)
15 Detroit (12)
16 Ottawa (16)
17 Montreal (15)
18 NY Rangers (22)
19 Minnesota (26)
20 Tampa Bay (25)
21 Philadelphia (20)
22 Atlanta (14)
23 St. Louis (29)
24 NY Islanders (24)
25 Anaheim (27)
26 Florida (23)
27 Columbus (19)
28 Toronto (28)
29 Edmonton (21)
SECOND TIER
30 Carolina (30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Minnesota (7 spots), St. Louis and Vancouver (6 spots), Tampa Bay (5 spots), NY Rangers (4 spots), Phoenix and San Jose (3 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: Atlanta, Edmonton and Columbus (8 spots), Los Angeles (6 spots), Dallas (4 spots), Detroit, Florida and Washington (3 spots)
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