Posted on February 11th, 2012 by fred999
Allsports
Allsports knows that this post might be a little late but as the saying goes, “Better late than never”. I just felt that one more thing should be said before football was put to bed for the year in the sports news and sports on the web. There might be the odd tidbit of football news over the off season but for the most part allsports will now be concentrating his efforts on his first passion in sports news and sports on the web and that would be, hockey and in particular the NHL and the Toronto Maple Leafs. It has been hard to put together articles recently because of responsibilities with work, family and the home front. To top that off I had a pipe burst the week before Christmas, the result of which was a flooded basement, kitchen and front hall. Most home owners out there can understand the issues of dealing with insurance etc. and the turmoil involved with trying to sort things out and get a home back to a condition worth living in. It has been a struggle but the light at the tunnel is approaching and as my dear mother used to say, ” Life is not fare and whatever does not kill you, makes you stronger”. There have been other issues involved as well but I will not get into them right now. Suffice to say that a couple of teenagers, no not my daughters, should be the recipients of allsports wrath. Anyway enough about that, lets talk a bit about the Super Bowl last Sunday.
Super Bowl 46
The game was as good as any Super Bowl to date with drama and a tight score. It played out pretty much as allsports thought and my previous two posts could have been more or less the script that the game followed. If your not sure about what I am talking about, look back and you will see what I am talking about. The Giants ran the ball well, chewing up the clock and for the most part kept the ball out of Tom Brady’s hands. Manning lived up to his 4th quarter heroics for the deciding score although a mistake by Ahmad Bradshaw did put the ball back into Tom Brady s hands but even Brady could not work his magic to move the Patriots down for the major they needed for the victory.
Eli Manning
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NFL, NFL Playoffs, National Football League, Sports, Super Bowl
Posted on February 5th, 2012 by fred999
Allsports
So the big sports news and sports on the web this week has been all of the hype leading up to the big game tomorrow in Indianapolis between New England and New York fighting for the NFL’s most coveted prize, the Super Bowl. For those of you counting at home it is Super Bowl number 46 or as the NFL likes to do it XLVI. The hoopla is finally starting to die down a little and the talking heads have exhausted the different views during this past media week. Allsports is always amazed has to how much talk can go on over just one game and the week does not include the six hours of drivel leading up to the game itself on Super Bowl Sunday. Yes the media sure get their money’s worth on the hype leading up to the game and in my opinion it is so much overkill.
Super Bowl 46
So as for the game itself allsports still thinks that the Giants will win it even though the Patriots are favored by three to three and a half points. I just think that the Giants have a better running game and more threats on the receiving core. If the Giants can stop the Patriots running game Brady will be doing some heavy scrambling to get the ball off. All in all it should be a very good game and could come right down to the final minutes and who has the ball last. Also never count out Manning for making the play to get that final score. Look no further than his history of last possession scoring drives.
Eli Manning
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NFL, NFL Playoffs, National Football League, Sports, Super Bowl
Posted on January 28th, 2012 by fred999
Allsports
So this weekend kind of sucks if you are a sports fan. The sports news and sports on the web is pretty slim. Sure you have the Australian open for tennis going on down under but here in North America the only thing happening is what allsports calls the FLUFF events. They would be the NHL All Star Game and the NFL’s Pro Bowl. They are both marketing ploys and good for promotional purposes but as far a real game goes, they just don’t have any substance, never a shot or a hit in anger. The goalies in the NHL All Star game for example are targets because the last thing played is defense.
American Football Conference
So allsports is wondering how everyone made out with their conference final picks? Allsports did ok, as finally the crystal ball was a little clearer and he managed to pick both games right. The games were so close that it all boiled down to pretty much one play that decided the outcome. New England did win but just by the skin of their teeth. They didn’t cover the seven point spread and allsports was sure the game was headed into overtime. All Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff had to do was kick a 32 yard field goal to send the game into overtime. Well as most of you are aware NFL kickers rarely miss from that range but Cundiff (allsports wonders if he is looking for work?) shanked the kick wide and the Patriots dodged the bullet to move on the the Super Bowl. The Ravens deserved a better fate and played a strong game but in the end it just was not to be.
The National Football Conference Logo
In the NFC the game did get to overtime, both defenses were strong throughout the game but the 49′ers special teams ended up blinking first. Poor Kyle Williams was the goat on perhaps the two biggest plays of the game. He had been pushed into the role of kick returner due to injuries and got caught with some sloppy ball handling. One thing you have to do against the Giants is take care of the ball. You can’t give them second chances and that is exactly what Williams did. First he got too close on a Giants punt, the ruling on the field was San Francisco ball. Giants coach Tom Coughlin challenged the play and ultimately the review showed that the ball had grazed Williams knee and thus was a live ball of which New York recovered on the 49′er 29 yard line. The turnover led to a 17 yard Manning touchdown to Mario Manningham for the go ahead score. The 49′ers came back to tie things up at 17, forcing the overtime. The defenses held through the first three overtime series for each team which ended in punts. But on the Giants third punt, Devin Thomas put the Giants in position by recovering his second fumble of the game after Jacquian Williams stripped the ball from fill-in return man Kyle Williams. The turnover was costly indeed as the recovery was deep in the 49′er zone. After a few plays to center the ball in the middle of the field. Lawrence Tynes kicked the 31 yard game winner.
The Vince Lombardi Trophy
So now the New England Patriots and the New York Giants will meet in Indianapolis to decide this years Super Bowl. At the time of this post New England seems to be favored by anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 points. Allsports would take those odds and bet on the New York Giants.
Eli Manning
Eli Manning is set to come out of the shadow of his older brother Peyton. The younger Mannings playoff numbers seem more impressive too. Eli can win his second Super Bowl next weekend and get one up on big brother. The whole Giants team is playing their best football right now, being efficient and business like in taking care of things. It is the second year in a row that the NFC Champion has come all the way on the road from the wildcard position. A good running game will make the passing game even more effective and the Giants pass rush should give Tom Brady fits.
Tom Brady
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NFL, NFL Playoffs, National Football League, Sports, Super Bowl
Posted on January 21st, 2012 by fred999
Allsports
Allsports here for the NFL sports news and sports on the web. The Division Championships are over and we move on to the Conference Championships. Allsports hopes the crystal ball for predicting has been cleaned up a bit and will give him a clearer picture on whats going to happen.
American Football Conference
I did get it right in the AFC by picking Baltimore to beat Houston and for the New England Patriots to put away Tim Tebow and the Bronco’s. The Ravens did take out the Texans by a converted touchdown, not quite covering the spread but Brady and company laid a good old beat down on the Bronco’s 45-10. It was 14-0 Patriots after one quarter and it only got worse from there.The Ravens travel to New England for the AFC Championship game and allsports would welcome a Ravens victory so Ray Lewis could finally get to a Super Bowl but my head is telling me different. Maybe if the game was in Baltimore I would like their chances a little better.
Tom Brady
Tom Brady is the Ravens problem though. Always cool as a cucumber under pressure and he just does not turn the ball over. The Patriots coaching staff puts a good game plan together too, just ask the Bronco’s who they destroyed last week. If the Ravens can run the ball effectively they have a chance because the ball will stay out of Brady’s hands and the stingy Ravens defense needs a great game with a lot of 3 and outs so they can remain fresh. Pressure on Brady is also a must, the Patriots O-line is a little banged up. If Brady puts together long drives and Baltimore can’t run the ball it will be a long afternoon for Baltimore. The Patriots are favored by 7 points. It could be a little tight for beating the odds but allsports thinks they will win the game. Pick New England.
- The National Football Conference Logo
The NFC prediction department was where allsports really crashed and burned. Both of my picks to win shot themselves in the foot. The Saints had three turnovers in the first quarter and 5 on the game, while the Green Bay receivers could not catch a cold and frustrated the life out of Aaron Rogers. It does not matter how good you are at getting the ball delivered if it gets dropped anyway. All you can say is the two best offenses and Quarterbacks during the regular season choked and will be wondering on what could have been while they watch from home.
Eli Manninghe most erro
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NFL, NFL Playoffs, National Football League, Sports, Super Bowl
Posted on January 20th, 2012 by fred999
Sarah Burke
The sports news and sports on the web news is not too good today. Allsports was going to write on the upcoming NFL playoff games this weekend but thought I would postpone it for a day when it was revealed that Women s Freestyle Skiing pioneer Sarah Burke had lost her battle with the injuries she sustained in a training accident on January 10th.
Halfpipe Freestyle Skiing
Sarah Burke was a Canadian and leaves us at the tender age of 29, far too young to be leaving this planet. But she died doing what she loved and will be remembered as a true pioneer for her sport. In fact she was almost a legend in freestyle skiing even before her accident She had won numerous gold medals (four to be exact) in the halfpipe event during the Winter X Games and was a major player in pushing for the sport to join the Winter Olympics. She finally got her wish and the sport will be included at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Sadly Sarah won’t be there to see her wish come to fruition. She will be remembered as a true beacon for freestyle skiing and a driving force for the sport to move forward.
Here is a brief description of the Sport Sarah loved so much. You can see why it was Extreme.
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, Soccer/football, World Series
Posted on January 12th, 2012 by fred999
Allsports
So wildcard weekend of the NFL for the sports news and sports on the web went pretty much as allsports had thought other than the one glaring surprise.
National Football League team Logos
Tim Tebow and the Denver Bronco’s were the surprise and spoiled allsports predictions by taking out the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime. It was actually the first play from scrimmage in overtime and the touchdown pass became the second highest subject for tweeting ever. There were 9,420 tweets per second on the Bronco’s upset of the Steelers with most of the themes talked about being Tebow’s unorthodox style, his belief in Christianity and the Steeler’s fans disbelief that they lost to the Bronco’s. Allsports was surprised as well that the Bronco’s won and it was the only blemish on my predictions for the wildcard weekend. I had said that Tebow would need help from the big guy upstairs to win this game and well maybe he did help but the fact is the Steelers fell apart in the second quarter when the Bronco’s scored 20 unanswered points. A very immobile Big Ben Roethlisberger did not help but he did manage to rally the troops to tie the game up and send it to overtime where the much heralded one play from scrimmage ended the proceedings. Coincidence? Tebow passed for 316 yards in the game and his favorite passage in the bible is John 3:16 . But allsports tends to think more along the lines that Pittsburgh got caught up in their own hype and did not use their experience in the big game well. They also looked very OLD out there on defense with slow reaction timing. Now the Bronco’s will go to New England for a date with Tom Brady and the Patriots.
Tim Tebow
Detroit actually had their chances to win the game in New Orleans against the Saints but Brees and the Saints offense had the ball for long periods of time and wore out the Lions defense. If the Detroit defensive secondary had made some plays when they had the chance it could have been a different story but alas they had hands of stone. Much like the regular season game between these teams they had interceptions in their hands but failed to make the play. The missed turnovers lead directly to Saints points. You just have to have those against Brees because if he gets the second chance he will burn you, and he did. Saints won the game 45-28 and now the Saints will travel across the country to face the San Francisco 49′ers.
Drew Brees
The Houston Texans put the running game into effect with Arian Foster running the ball down the Bengals throat and scoring two touchdowns in the process. No real surprises in this game as Houston won it 31-10. The Texans will head north to take on the Baltimore Ravens.
Matt Ryan
As predicted the Giants defense made Matt Ryan’s life miserable and the Falcons could only score 2 points in the whole game. Those came when Manning was charged for intentional grounding in his end zone and Atlanta was awarded a safety. Manning as usual, made plays when he had to and the Giants took the game 24-2. But the game clearly belonged to the Giants defense. New York now travels to Green Bay to play the Packers. They battled them close during the regular season and this should be another good one.
American Football Conference
So now we are down to eight teams left in the NFL playoff run. In the AFC Texas will play Baltimore while Denver goes to New England. Texas played well but now they are up against the Baltimore Ravens who are a much better all round team than the Bengals. Look for the Ravens to stop the Houston running game and bring one of their own. Joe Flacco will mix it up just enough with the run and the pass to keep the Houston defense off balance. Baltimore is favored by 9 points so far, allsports thinks they will win it but I am not sure if they will cover and win by 10. Take the Ravens.
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NFL, NFL Playoffs, National Football League, Sports, Super Bowl
Posted on January 7th, 2012 by fred999
Allsports
So the World Junior Hockey Championship got put to bed last night and allsports was happy that Sweden finally broke through for the gold medal after 31 years of drought. They truly were the better team and were all over the Russians for the whole game. The only thing that kept the Russians in it was their goaltending which was great throughout the tournament. The scary thing is both of Russia’s goalies are still eligible for next year. The Canadian team beat Finland 4-0, for the Bronze medal which gave Canada 14 straight years of winning some sort of hardware.
National Football League team Logos
So to that end the big sports news and sports on the web now in the first weekend in January is Wildcard Weekend in the NFL. As I said in an earlier post, my Chicago Bears did not make the dance and their GM paid for it with his job. You just can’t be that thin on the depth charts that two or three injuries will torpedo your season. So da Bears management has some work to do.
NFL Cheerleaders
So now on to the games this weekend in the the wildcard playoffs of the NFL. Two games Saturday and two again on Sunday. On Saturday Cincinnati travels to Houston and Detroit goes to New Orleans. What do you think on the spread, can the underdogs beat it? Houston celebrates their first playoff appearance and the Bengals come in trying to spoil the party. Cincinnati at 9-7 only beat one team with a winning record all season and the Texans have a pretty good running game. Allsports thinks the party in Houston will carry on for at least one more week. Take Houston.
American Football Conference
In the other Saturday match up the Detroit Lions head down to the big easy and tangle with the Saints and Drew Brees. Brees has had a season for the ages breaking the single season record for passing yards with 5,476. Detroit is making their first playoff appearance in like forever and although allsports would like to see the Lions get another playoff game he does not think it will happen. The Saints can score lots of points and their defense is pretty dam good too. In fact allsports thinks other than the Green Bay Packers, the Saints are right up there as the best team in the NFL. An all round good team, the Lions will be going home after the game. Pick the Saints and I am hoping it can stay close.
Drew Brees
On Sunday the Atlanta Falcons travel to the Meadowlands to take on the Giants and the Steelers go into Mile High Stadium to play the Bronco’s. The Falcons had a decent record this year but they were in a weak division with no competition other than the Saints. The Giants came out of the NFC East on the last game of the season in what was arguably the toughest division in the NFL. Allsports does not think the Falcons will be able to deal with the pass rush of the Giants and sees a long afternoon for Matt Ryan. His ass will be on the grass quite a few times throughout the day and Eli Manning is well, Eli Manning who will do just enough for the Giants to move on. Take the Giants.
Matt Ryan
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NFL, NFL Playoffs, National Football League, Sports, Super Bowl
Posted on January 5th, 2012 by fred999
Allsports
So the sports news and sports on the web in Canada today is that our World Junior Team won’t be playing for the gold medal this year. It will be the first time in ten years that this has happened and to Canadian fans it was a bit shocking. The attitude has been that it was almost a right of passage that our Junior team would be playing for the gold and if we did not win it, then the tournament was a failure. I guess we have been spoiled by our success.
Scott Wedgewood
Canada had plenty of chances in the game and out shot the opportunistic Russian squad by a 56-24 count but lack of finish and ultimately 2 or3 goal posts were their undoing. Russia, on the other hand seemed to get the puck into the back of the net with almost every chance they were given. They got some good bounces their way too, just ask Ryan Murray, who had three of Russia’s goals deflect off him or his stick into the net. Allsports felt sorry for him because he tried to make the right play and was involved but just had no luck. Nine times out of ten the puck gets deflected away from the net but Murray’s and Canada’s luck was all bad for the first half of the game. Russian captain and Washington Capitals draft pick, Evgeni Kuznetsov was the Canadian slayer and recorded a hat trick and an assist.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevski and teammate Nikita Kucherov
Goalie Andrei Vasilevski was also brilliant at times last night and held the fort when the Russian defense faltered. He was replaced after the fifth Canadian goal which allsports could not quite understand but it did seem to work as the Russians held on. Without the goaltending heroics of Vasilevski though, Russia never would have gotten past a strong Czech Republic team.
Scott Wedgewood upended
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, Hockey, International Hockey, Junior Hockey, Sports, World Hockey, World Juniors
Posted on December 31st, 2011 by fred999
Allsports
Just a few thoughts for hockey in the sports news and sports on the web to close out 2011. It was not the best of years for the sport to be sure. Derek Boogaard was found dead in his apartment last May and before the summer was over, two more of hockey’s enforcers, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak were found dead, apparently by their own hand.
Derek Boogaard
Rick Rypien
Wade Belak
Boogaard died of an apparent overdose of alcohol and pain killers while Belak hung himself in his Toronto hotel room at One King Street West while filming “Battle of the Blades” for CBC. The details of Rypien’s death are still a bit sketchy.
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, Hockey, NHL Hockey, National Hockey League, Sports, World Hockey, World Juniors
Posted on December 24th, 2011 by fred999
Allsports
So I am sure that most people have heard by now in the sports news or sports on the web that Mike Milbury has gotten himself into some hot water due to a bad temper and the loss of rational thought.
Mike Milbury
Milbury is being accused of assault and battery on a child, threatening to commit a crime, and disorderly conduct, Brookline, Massachusetts police said in a statement. The accusations stem from an incident on Dec. 9 at the Jack Kirrane Ice Skating Rink, where Milbury was in the role of assistant coach for his son’s hockey team, the Boch Blazers. Milbury is facing charges after allegedly assaulting a 12-year-old during a peewee hockey game. An eye witness at the game said that Milbury walked onto the ice and picked a boy up off the ice, shook him, yelling obscenities, then dropped him. The boy was involved in an altercation with Milbury’s son earlier in the game. Milbury has been removed indefinitely by both CBC Sports and NBC Sports while the allegations are being investigated.
Milbury has always had a temper, look no further than the video below from about 30 years ago when he went into the crowd at Madison Square Gardens in New York, then beat a fan with his own shoe. Old Mike is at the top of the screen.
Milbury denied the allegations against him and said through his lawyer that there was no assault, he just intervened in the altercation between his son and another player. Well Mike for someone who spouted off about the “pansification” of hockey during a Hockey Night in Canada telecast back in 2009, you should know better than anyone that you have to fight your own battles on the ice. This includes your son who might just become a “Pansy” himself if daddy steps in for all of his altercations.
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, Hockey, NHL Hockey, National Hockey League, Sports
