Nuggets Fire Karl; Clippers Lick Their Chops

After winning his first NBA Coach of the Year award, George Karl and the Denver Nuggets have “parted ways” as was reported by Yahoo!Sports.  Karl led the Nuggets to a franchise-record 57 wins before losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Warriors.  Furthermore he has taken Denver to the playoffs every season since being named head coach midway through the 2004-2005 season, yet with one more year remaining on Karl’s contract, the Nuggets have decided to take their young team in a different direction.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, coach Vinny Del Negro helped the Clippers win a franchise-record 56 games, but then they were bounced from the first round by the Grizzlies.  Despite all the hype that surrounded “Lob City” after their ferocious 25-6 start to the season, the Clippers did not hesitate to fire Del Negro shortly after their elimination.  They now seek a new leader that can take their talented squad deeper into the playoffs, and despite Karl's lack of playoff success in Denver, he may actually be exactly what the Clippers need.

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Going Wacko Over Joe Flacco

The 2012-2013 NFL season is officially in the record books, and Joe Flacco is standing atop the sporting world.  The 27-year-old quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens and MVP of Super Bowl XLVII has become the subject of countless high praises, contract negotiations, and endorsement deals since leading his team to a championship last Sunday over the 49ers.  He even got to carry on the “I’m going to Disneyworld” tradition.

But as happy as I am for Flacco, Ray Lewis, and the rest of the Ravens, something about the outcome of this year’s Super Bowl left a salty stale taste in my mouth.  And no, that taste wasn’t deer antler spray.  The truth is that I really did want Baltimore to beat San Francisco.  I wanted Lewis to cap off his historic 17-year-career with a historic victory.  I wanted rising star wideout Torrey Smith to avenge his brother’s untimely death.  I wanted the underdogs to come out on top.

Here’s what I didn’t want: I didn’t want this year’s championship to be stained by a controversial no-call in the final minutes.  I didn’t want a 34 minute power outage to completely alter the momentum of both teams.  I didn’t want deer antlers, HGH, steroids, or any other form of PEDs to dominate offseason headlines.  But most of all, I didn’t want Flacco to finish the playoffs without throwing a single pick.  This was my greatest fear.

Flacco is now suddenly heralded as some kind of storybook hero, and one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play football.  Media sensationalism has allowed his incredible playoff performance, a hot streak during which he threw 11 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, to catapult him to “elite” status.  It is not unlikely that his impending new contract may reflect his agent’s assertion that Joe Cool should be the “highest-paid quarterback in the NFL.”  Flacco was undeniably phenomenal during the postseason…  But elite?  Highest paid?  Give me a break.

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The Gasol/D'Antoni Dilemma

The Los Angeles Lakers were supposed to be the team to beat this year.  In the offseason, they put together a starting lineup which featured four perennial All-Stars, and were quickly deemed by Magic Johnson and much of the sports world as the best team in the Western Conference and the only ones standing in the way of consecutive Miami championships.  

“I think we're going to finally see the Final we've always wanted to see, Lebron vs. Kobe."

Right on, Magic.  Once Mike Brown was fired five games into the season, it did not take long for rumors to begin swirling that the legendary Phil Jackson would take over the reins in LA, and everything sounded just a little bit too good to be true.  Apparently GM Mitch Kupchak and Lakers’ management felt the same way, because P-Jax, the 11x NBA Champion head coach, was shunned in favor Mike D’Antoni.  

Jackson was stunned by their decision and has since claimed that he will not consider coaching again.  Meanwhile, Kupchak has been vigorously banging his head against the wall while watching his Lakers mosey off to an uninspiring 17-24 record under a coach who is notorious for completely neglecting defense in favor of high-octane offense.  D’Antoni puts about as much effort into defensive strategy as Kimbo Slice does, and unfortunately for both Slice and D’Antoni, defense wins championships.  As a result, the Lakers have lost 9 out of 11 games since the New Year, including their last three, and D’Antoni is desperately searching for answers.  Defense, you might ask?  No, Mike has a better idea.  He is benching Pau Gasol.

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Ray Lewis: The Legend

Passion.  Leadership.  Dominance.  Beast.  Champion.  These are just some of the words that come to mind when thinking about Ray Lewis, the 37-year-old inside linebacker of the Baltimore Ravens.  Earlier this week, Lewis announced that this would be his last season playing football.  The 17^th year player and MVP of Super Bowl XXXV decided that he will hang up his jersey after a decorated career and a long season of rehabbing his torn left triceps.  However it is not his Super Bowl MVP award, or his 13 Pro Bowl selections, or even his two NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards that define the legacy of Ray Lewis.  Rather, it is what he means to the Ravens’ franchise that makes him so special.  It is what he means to the game of football.

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It’s Night Time in New York

The Giants missed the playoffs.  The Jets missed the season.  The Mets traded away their fan-favorite Cy Young knuckleballer, R.A. Dickey.  The rebirth of the Nets in Brooklyn seems ill-fated for now, as they have fired head coach Avery Johnson in desperation as they seek answers as to why their new uniforms, the Barclays Center, and Jay-Z have failed to make the Nets into immediate contenders.  With many months to go until spring training for the Yankees, the people of New York fall back to one final sports franchise in which they must entrust their faith: the New York Knicks.

It is a new year, and many of the NBA’s focal points and intriguing story lines have been unpredictable ones.  Other than maybe Phil Jackson, few people would have expected the LA Clippers to surpass the Lakers as the best team in Los Angeles, especially after all the commotion about Dwight Howard and Steve Nash.  Seriously, who could’ve expected Lob City to rattle off a franchise record 17 consecutive victories to jump out to #1 in the power rankings?

Probably the only other story in the NBA that has garnered quite as much attention is the “resurgence” of the Knicks.  Yes, I put quotation marks around resurgence.  Let me explain – after New York’s hot start, many were quick to proclaim the Knicks as the best team in the Eastern Conference outside of Miami, and therefore the only Eastern team that could ever compete with the Heat in the playoffs.  And this was easy to believe too, when they kicked off their season by routing the Heat with a three-point barrage and a shiny 6-0 record a few games later.  Even more impressive was the fact that they did not lose a home game until Jeremy brought Linsanity back to MSG with his Houston Rockets the week before Christmas.  

However all good things must come to an end, and unfortunately for the Knicks and their fans, the end of good things often comes prematurely for them, say around midseason.  The only true resurgence for the Knicks this year will be yet another resurgence of mediocrity.  Prior to that game when the Rockets came to town, the Knicks sported a conference best 18-5 record.  They have now fallen to 21-10, including three losses in their past four games.  Oh yeah… and Amar’e Stoudemire is back.

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NFL Week 5: Myths and Truths

Myth #1:The Texans are AFC Champs

 

After jumping out to an early 5-0 record matched only by the Atlanta Falcons, the Houston Texans have become a popular pick to emerge as the AFC Champions.  Their multifaceted offense revolves around a powerful running game, which is anchored by Arian Foster, the most consistent and arguably most dominant rusher in the NFL.  Meanwhile their defense has given up fewer points than any other team in the AFC.  But despite the fact that the Texans have never looked quite this good since joining the NFL in 2002, they are still not ready to advance past the early rounds of the playoffs.

While the Texans are now practically guaranteed to win the AFC South, barring any season ending injuries to Foster or Matt Schaub, they are still far from being the best team in the conference.  A 5-0 record is always impressive, but it is important to note that their five wins have come against Miami, Jacksonville, Denver, Tennessee, and the New York Jets.  All five of those teams currently have losing records.

Houston is a very well-balanced team that is exciting to watch, but their undefeated start to the season will not last much longer, as their next two games are against Green Bay and Baltimore.  Furthermore, Houston’s defense was just dealt a huge blow by losing star linebacker and defensive captain Brian Kushing for the rest of the season due to an ACL tear.  Currently Baltimore and New England are still the two best teams in the AFC, and I expect both of them to narrowly defeat Houston when they play the Texans in Weeks 7 and 14 respectively.

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NFL Week 1: Myths and Truths

It was undoubtedly an exciting weekend for football, as Week 1 of the regular season is officially in the books, and there was an extreme mix of both predictable outcomes and unexpected surprises.  Still it is important to remember that the first week of the season does not truly decide anything in the NFL, so I'm going to break down some of the biggest myths and truths that have surfaced.

Myth #1: The Cowboys Will Win the NFC East

 

RG III was very impressive against the Saints, but the Redskins have a long ways to go before they are ready to be division champs.  The Eagles are just plain mediocre, as they barely squeaked out a victory against the pitiable Cleveland Browns when quarterbacks Michael Vick and Brandon Weeden each threw four interceptions in a game that was painful to watch.  That leaves the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants, and the Cowboys just beat the Giants.

However before too many people hop on the Cowboys’ bandwagon, it is important to note that it is not a lack of talent that has plagued Dallas over the past several seasons; they have plenty of talent.  Rather it is a lack of consistency and an inability to perform in crunch-time situations, as well as an affinity for boneheaded mistakes that often leads to their losses.  Meanwhile the Giants tend to gradually improve throughout the season, as last year they went on to win the Super Bowl despite falling to the Redskins in their first game of the season.

While Tony Romo, DeMarco Murray, and the rest of the Dallas offense played pretty well against the Giants on Sunday, the Giants did not play well against them.  New York’s defense looked completely asleep for much of the game and allowed average guys such as wide receiver Kevin Ogletree to explode for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns.  

On the other side of the ball, it was once again a lack of solid play from New York’s offense rather than stellar play from the Cowboys’ defense that caused the Giants to muster up just 17 points.  In the end the truth is that the Cowboys have a rookie as their best cornerback, a notoriously un-clutch quarterback, and I expect the Giants to gradually improve and eventually win the NFC East.

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