Is that not a sweet picture there or what? With one swing of the bat Chase Utley proved my prediction of the Dodgers taking the first 3 games of this series wrong. It goes to show you should never bet against a guy with the name of Chase or a team like the Phillies. They are Chasin the Dream and with that one beautiful swing last night on a tired Derek Lowe meat pitch it completely changed the outlook of the series. Now the Dodgers must win today to go back to LA with a chance of making the World Series.
Notre Dame picked up a huge commitment yesterday when 4 star linebacker Zeke Motta decided on the Fighting Irish despite Florida and Auburn making strong pushes to get the Florida prep product. Zeke is the 16th commitment to the current Irish class and is a punishing, future "SAM" linebacker who should thrive in Jon Tenuta's blitzing defense. Motta took his official visit last week against Stanford and came away with a great feeling of belonging among the Notre Dame community.
In fact ND fan Garrett Banghart created a "Zeke and Destroy" signed that really hit it off for Motta when he saw it. Motta came away impressed with how much the fans knew about him and how much they wanted him to be a part of Notre Dame's future.
BlueandGold.com was the first publication to break the news on Motta's commitment... “My official visit to Notre Dame was just great. The academics are so good, the football program is great and the fan base had so much to do with my trip being so pleasurable for my Dad and me,” Motta said.
Motta will be an early enrollment in January along with defensive tackle Tyler Stockton. This should bring a little bit of satisfaction among ND fans since Urban Meyer has been known to steal ND defensive prospects the past couple of seasons. Motta doesn't plan on taking any other visits and seems 100% committed at this point.
More good news for the Irish on the defensive recruiting side broke today when it was confirmed that Hawaii product and the #1 inside linebacker in the country Manti Te'o is set to visit Notre Dame when they play Pitt on November 1st. Te'o has already visited UCLA back in September and will also visit USC and BYU. If the Irish can land Te'o it would an enormous coup for the Irish staff and be another significant step towards building a faster defense for the future. Personally I like Maryland product and 5 star linebackerJelani Jenkins better because his film to me is more impressive but I have a feeling he will end up at Penn State. Landing either one of Te'o or Jenkins at the inside linebacker spot would be the "signature" recruit for the defensive side of the ball with the offense already landing 5 star runningback Cierre Wood.
Pete Sampson of IrishIllustrated.com is also reporting that 4 star safety and Tallahassee product Jawanza Starling is interested in setting up an official visit to Notre Dame. Right now it appears the Irish are well on their way to bringing in a great defensive class but they still need to get some more d-linemen to compete for elite status when it comes to Saturdays in the Fall. One of either Chris Bonds, Davon Custis, and Gabe Ikard is absolutely necessary with the preference to bring in two of them. Ikard had a great visit but the Oklahoma product will visit Dallas this weekend for the Red River Shootout and both of those teams are very much still in it. Bonds will be a tough get since he is from South Carolina and it is always hard to pull recruits from SEC country. He is also coming off major knee surgery. Custis is from Columbus, Ohio but appears to be the best bet right now. He had an unofficial visit during the Michigan game and apparently the Irish staff made quite an impression with him and his family. He is planning on making another visit, this time official, within the next few weeks.
Despite watching little baseball the past month I somehow managed to pick all 4 of the division series winners correctly. I'm not going to lie, when you are this fucking good at picking baseball games it should be noted that a baseball mind as brilliant as mine should be hired to at least be a bullpen coach or at the very least a mid level assistant GM position. Seriously, I got the time. Call me.
Now let's take a look at the National League Championship series which starts tonight between the Man Ram led Dodgers traveling to Philly to take on the Phightin Phils. The Dodgers come in red hot after sweeping the Chicago Scrubs and have the swagger and veteran leadership to make this series against the Phillies a really short one. In Game 1 we have postseason veteran and proven winner Derek Lowe going against Cole Hamels, no chump himself. The Phillies crowd will be fat, loud, and boisterous. Expect many expletives thrown at Manny even when they aren't coming from Tim McCarver's stupid mouth. As much as I like the way Hamels is pitching right now I got to take the Dodgers in Game 1. Manager Joe Torre has the team clicking and focused and a large part of that is the addition of SS Rafael Furcal to the leadoff spot. The Dodgers will take game 1 tonight and should take game 2 with Chad Billingsley out dueling Brett "Smack my bit--" Myers.
The series will then go to Hollywood with the Phillies in a deep 0-2 hole. Their hitting will start to pick up a little bit against Hiroki Kuroda but it won't be enough as the Dodgers will thrive off of Jamie Moyer's slow pitches and will take a 3-0 series lead. The Phillies, ever resilient, will come back and avoid the sweep in game 4 by unloading their bats against future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. It will be too little, too late though as the Dodgers behind some stellar starting pitching and great top of the order hitting will beat the Phillies in 5 games.
Philly fans can then redirect their anger and angst at Donovan McNabb for the next two months. Pictures courtesy of COED Magazine
There are only 10 games on the board for this weekend since I failed to pick the games before Sunday. One of the games is tonight's game between Wake and Clemson so be sure to get your picks in or it will pick the home team of Wake by default.
Who ever has the best week wins a free Sportscrack shirt.
And to think while you worry about who is going to win this week Hugh Hefner is worried about which 19 year old twin(pictured above) he is going to bang with his old wrinkled up man member.
1. Missouri Tigers-Mizzou is my new #1, vaulting over Alabama because I think right now they are playing better than BAMA. Chase Daniel and this offense are locked in and really can't be stopped. Similar to when the St. Louis Rams were scoring a ton of points with Kurt Warner at QB, Mizzou has a ton of weapons on offense and have yet to show they can be stopped. They face an undefeated Oklahoma State Cowboys team at home and it could present some challenges but I think the Tigers will handle them.
2. Alabama Crimson Tide-I knew they were in for a letdown game against Kentucky but I still thought they would win comfortably. They didn't. Winning by a field goal is still a win but I wonder if the Tide have hit their peak and will slowly come back down to earth. They get an off week to prepare for Ole Miss and I'm sure Nick Saban will be shouting obscenities to remind them they haven't accomplished anything yet.
3. Oklahoma Sooners-The Sooners cruised past Baylor and managed to cover the 27 point spread with a late touchdown. They get the Red River Shootout this Saturday and it could be a great game with Texas playing unreal right now. Who ever wins is in the driver's seat for the Big 12 South division.
4. LSU Tigers-The Tigers had an off week to prepare for the Gators in the Swamp. If they beat Tim Tebow and company then they have a good shot at competing for another National Title. RB Charles Scott should have a big game against a weak Florida defense and put himself into the upper echelon of Heisman candidates.
5. Texas Longhorns-Colt McCoy has this team rolling right now and this should be their best chance to beat Oklahoma since Vince Young was wearing the burnt orange. If you are a die hard college football fan you owe it to yourself to sit down and watch this game on Saturday.
6. Penn State Nittany Lions-The JoePa's face a desperate Wisconsin team in Madison on a Saturday night in what should be a battle of defenses. If Penn State wins then they are top 5. If they lose then they drop out of the top 10. I think they will win in Madison and prove they are a team worthy of putting them into the BCS Title discussion.
7. Vanderbilt Commodores-They lead the toughest division in college football in the SEC East and at 5-0 overall they have a chance to go 4-0 in conference with a win at Mississippi State. Vanderbilt has hit their peak and I wouldn't be surprised if they lost to the Bulldogs this week and next week in Athens.
8. Texas Tech Red Raiders-They won in Manhattan so I will give them some props. I'm still not convinced their defense is good enough to hang with Mizzou, Oklahoma, and Texas but they have a chance to prove me wrong as the season progresses. I wouldn't be surprised if they put up 60 this week against Nebraska. Cornhusker football is terrible right now.
9. USC Trojans-I really, really hate to put USC this high especially after losing to a team like Oregon State just two weeks ago but fuck...where else am I going to put them? QB Mark Sanchez is battling a bad knee and could miss this week's game against Arizona State but I don't think it will matter. AS-Pooh has looked like garbage all year.
10. Georgia Bulldogs-Georgia and Mark Richt need to prove themselves this week by destroying a struggling Vols squad in Athens. There are no excuses. If they think they deserve consideration as one of the top teams in the country as I think they are then they need to prove it on the field starting at 3:30 in Sanford Stadium. I have faith in Matt Stafford stepping up his game once again and proving they are legit.
Since Les Miles has arrived in Baton Rouge he has been able to maintain the level of excellence first developed under Nick Saban. No school has more BCS National Championships than the "FEAR LES FOOTBALL" so it is only appropriate to make a shirt to honor them as they have been "PUTTING THE NASTY BACK IN DYNASTY."
I can't get enough of these McCain's Brain skits. They are just too fucking funny not to post. How dare Tom Brokaw mess with McCain's doodling...
McCain has a new fan and an endorsement from Notre Dame legend Brady Quinn. It's always interesting to see an athlete display their political allegiance without being fearful of pissing off some of their fans. Of course it's hard to piss off fans when you never play in Cleveland. Maybe Romeo Crennel will wake up one of these days and actually let Brady play instead of that shitstick Derek Anderson. Sorry, shitstick is a little strong. Let's go with cumguzzler. There, I feel much better. Hope I didn't offend anybody.
-Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin was fired today after lasting just half a season. Auburn offense is Nicole Ritchie ugly right now but I think it is still a little crazy to fire a guy only half way through a season. Auburn has been disappointing this season and I guess losing to Vandy was the last straw for Tommy Tuberville. HT: EDSBS
-Tony Barnhart of the AJC points out that the SEC conference is better from top to bottom than the Big 12 because they play defense. I agree. Look, the Big 12 Conference is strong this year at the top but good defenses usually always beat good offenses. The SEC has way more athletes on defense who would probably play on the offensive side of the ball if they were in the Big 12. It does make for an interesting argument.
-Mark Schlabach and Bruce Feldman from ESPN.com have their bowl predictions out. Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl would be very interesting and quite an accomplishment after such a dismal 2007 season. The Dawgs in the Cotton Bowl would not be welcomed with open arms in Athens after such high expectations. It's kind of funny to see how the two program's fan bases have switched expectations. The Bowls are like politics in that they are made up of 100% bullshit.
-I was suppose to make a trip to Chapel Hill this weekend for the Notre Dame-UNC game but unfortunately those plans had to be changed due to the economic "situation" our country resides in at this moment. You know the whole country is going to hell when the economy starts to effect your tailgating experiences. Or in the case an all out canceled tailgate. I imagine the economic climate is going to have a direct correlation on the college game itself. I can only imagine how much it is hurting a school like USC when they have to cut their student-athlete's pay to 5 digits instead of the 6 they were giving to Reggie Bush for all those years.
Food for thought people, speaking of food... Image HT: MacG
TNT's Craig Sager is known for his tacky wardrobe, his inability to hold his alcohol, and for running around the bases and patting Hank Aaron on the back during his 715th HR trot before getting beat down. Listen, I've met Mr. Craig Sager a couple of times and I'm not his biggest fan. The guy is a lush who doesn't know shit about sports let alone the actual ones he covers. And this is coming from a guy who is a lush. At least I know my sports even when I'm ten beers deep or in Sager's case 4 Vodka and Diet Cranberry's. So it comes with great joy to see Sager in his pumpkin suit get doused with the bubbly by ADD spokesperson and all around nutcase Jonathan Papelbon after the Red Sox eliminated the Angels yet again.
With both college and pro football rocking along with the MLB playoffs I haven't had much of a chance to pay attention to the start of the NHL season. Apparently it kicked off last week in Prague because the NHL would rather concentrate on the European market than the North American. They call it going global. Whatever.
My favorite team is the Atlanta Thrashers and unfortunately they are as consistent as jock itch. They have a GM in Don Waddell who sits when he pees. They have a superstar in Ilya Kovalchuk who is a top 5 offensive player in the league yet they still can't find him a suitable point man. Kovy will be gone within two seasons because he deserves better in my opinion. The guy gives it his all and yet management can't surround him with decent pieces. They had the third worst record in the NHL last year after a season in which they won their division and made their first franchise playoff appearance only to get crushed by the New York Rangers in a sweep. I got to view it personally while spending a ton of hard earned money on shitty Molson beer when I could have watched it at home while drinking shitty Bud Light.
The games are still not in HD locally so yeah, a lot to look forward to this season. At least we picked up an aging defenseman in Mathieu Schneider who is at least 3 seasons past his prime. Things are looking up I tell ya.
In the looking good department at least they managed to put together a new "Blue Crew" team of ladies in tights skating around on a thin piece of ice while picking up hats after Kovy scores a hat trick...
At least tickets will be cheap and easily accessible again.
As some of you may know I am a huge "Kids in the Hall" fan. I use to watch their shows all the time on Comedy Central before the network decided the phrase "Git R Done" was just too hilarious for simple minded rednecks. If you have never seen the movie "Brain Candy" you should stop everything right now. I'm serious. Get your finger out of your nose and stop thinking about ways to kill your boss without it ever being tied back to you. "Brain Candy" is the greatest piece of Canadian work brought to the States since Celine Dion tore it up at Caesars and/or Bryan Adams singing that catchy Robin Hood song. All sarcasm aside it's good to see the original five members of "Kids in the Hall" back together and on tour in order to make people like you and me laugh while we slowly die as our country implodes...
Yeah, rape Kevin sounds a lot funnier than rape Bruce. Eventually the Kids are going to do another movie together called Death Comes To Town which is due for Canadian release in 2010 which means it will be released in the US next week. Those Canadians are always at least a year behind us when it comes to pop culture. If you are asking yourself "What does this have to do with sports?" well then pretend the raping of Kevin is being performed by the Duke Lacrosse team.
For those of you who may be interested in the Tarholes, FUSC, and Crank Me Up! shirts I have a good deal going for those t-shirts till Wednesday at midnight. They are now on sale for only $10 so feel free to load up on the shirts before the sale ends.
Salma Hayek was on German television this week promoting her affinity for the German holiday of Oktoberfest by showing off the puppies. God blessed her in so many ways...
If seeing Salma in a low cut traditional dirndl doesn't make you thirsty then you should just go ahead and cut your losses and exit this world. God would want you too.
By the way I am still looking for tickets to the UGA-Tennessee game so if anybody has any extras they need to get rid of please email me. I will give you free publicity on the blog if you have a company or work for a company needing some promotion. In fact, I will give you a banner ad on the right toolbar for a month for 4 tickets. Right now I would even settle for tickets to the Vandy game in Athens. Just putting it out there.
We are almost to the midpoint of the regular season in college football so I figured why not take a look at the top players in the nation. Before the season started the front runners, in other words the guys getting the most publicity, were Beanie Wells, Knowshon Moreno, Tim Tebow, and Chase Daniel. The first three guys have apparently fallen back in the discussion because their teams have a bad loss or injuries played a part. This is a shame because I still think Wells is the best running back in the nation with Moreno being a close second. Tebow is just getting hit way too many times this season and it is eventually going to catch up with him if it hasn't already. In fact the guy will be damaged goods by the time Urban Meyer is done with him and enters the NFL Draft.
1. Chase Daniel, Missouri-Chase has been near flawless all season while leading the Tigers to a chance for not only a Big 12 Title but a BCS Title. He is on pace for a 36 TD-to-2 INT season while completing over 75% of his passes. His pinpoint accuracy shredded apart Nebraska on Saturday night and should get plenty of voters to notice.
2. Colt McCoy, Texas-The Real McCoy has rebounded nicely from a dismal 2007 sophomore season. He is on pace for over 40 TD's combined throwing and running and has Texas back in the National Championship talk. If he has a big game against Oklahoma this week he could be the new front runner.
3. Beanie Wells, Ohio State-He has missed half of the season because of a toe injury but in the 3 games he played he has been dynamic and unstoppable. The Buckeyes are garbage without him but with him they are a top 15 team. He is a force to be reckoned with and I have the feeling if he can stay healthy he can't get back into the Heisman discussion real quickly. He is that good.
4. Javon Ringer, Michigan State-He has carried the Spartans all season and while I know his YPC is not that impressive it is hard to argue with a QB as bad as Hoyer that defenses are overly stacking guys in the box trying to stop Ringer. He is on pace for 450 carries this season which equates to about two seasons of solid running. This will kill his NFL stock but the kid is a flat out player who deserves to be mentioned as a Heisman contender.
5. Charles Scott, LSU-Scott has emerged as a top flight RB this season and has eclipsed the 100 yard rushing mark in every game for the Tigers. If he has a big game this week against Florida, say 140 plus yards and a couple of TDs, then his name will start getting a lot more pub. You have to remember SEC defenses are lot harder to go against than say Big 12 defenses so that is why I pick a guy like Scott over say a Sam Bradford or Graham Harrell at this point.
Just missed the cut: Knowshon Moreno(Georgia), Tim Tebow(Florida), Sam Bradford(Oklahoma), Graham Harrell(Texas Tech), Glen Coffee (Alabama)
Paraguay's Leryn Franco captured the hearts of millions of males this summer when she competed in the javelin throw in Beijing. Her looks and not her actual skill made her an overnight internet sensation and now On205th has the NSFW pictures of Franco on the catwalk.
It's now only a matter of time before Franco is in Playboy. Then after that she will make some boring cameos on soap operas. Then soft porn. Then hard core porn. It's the circle of life.
NOON Penn State at Purdue(ESPN)-The Boilermakers have one of the worst defenses in the country and the Nittany Lions have one of the best offenses. I think Penn State will be top 5 after this week with a convincing win over Turdue and Wilford Brimley.
Duke at Georgia Tech(ESPNU)-Paul Johnson has done a masterful job so far at Tech and I expect him to have the Yellow Jackets ready to pound the ball down the Dukies throats all game.
12:30 Florida at Arkansas(Raycom)-The Gators were shocked last week at home against Ole Miss and will take their frustrations out on a horrible Arkansas team in Fayetteville. Tebow will have a Heisman-worthy game.
2:30 Stanford at Notre Dame(NBC)-Stanford brings in a solid run game but they face a Notre Dame defense which has improved from last year. The Irish will pull away in the second half as their offense has too much firepower for the Stanford D.
3:30 Kentucky at Alabama-A battle of undefeated SEC Teams, this could be a serious letdown game for Bama after the lopsided victory over the Dawgs last week. We all know Kentucky has some serious poon talent (picture above courtesy of HotSECPoon)but the football talent is still second rate to what Bama has. I think Bama wins but it will be closer than a lot of people think.
8:00 Ohio State at Wisconsin-The Badgers blew a 19-0 lead against Michigan last week and lost. These Buckeyes are a lot stronger than those Wolverines. Beanie Wells breaks out and the Buckeyes cruise in Madison.
Stanford Cardinal offensive lineman Chris Marinelli (pictured right) was asked what he thought of Notre Dame and their defensive schemes going into Saturday. Apparently he doesn't think too highly of their defense or anything or anybody for that matter who even associates with Notre Dame according to the Rock Report....
"They are going to bring a great deal of blitzes – on first down, second down, third down, every down. All kinds of guys and they bring it a bunch of different wayy... but on the same token it's going to go bad for them at one point and we are going to gash the (expletive) out of them, I promise you that. So keep bringing it, keep bringing it. They have one sack all year on 200 blitzes."
"They can keep bringing all the stuff they want", Marinelli added. "We can pick up blitzes. Our defense, blitzes more than anyone in the country, too. So we are ready for that. That's no big deal.
"We've seen everything they've shown on tape. We've seen it before, it's nothing new. They are very disciplined with what they do, which kinda makes it nice. Sometimes when they screw up, it works out better for the defense. We aren't too worried about, we are a uniform group and we'll slide right in there."
"I hate it, playing up there," Marinelli said. "The field, excuse my language, the field sucks. The stadium sucks. I think the area sucks."
"I grew up with a bunch of Irish and Italian Catholic people back home. And all the Irish Catholic people, all they talk about is Notre Dame this, Notre Dame that. And they've never even been there, ya know. So I hate those guys, I hate that school.
"We are going out there to mash them up and that's all there is to it."
If Notre Dame ever needed motivation or bulletin board material going into a home game against the Stanford Trees then Marinelli more than provided it. Usually I don't get too upset with player comments to the media because sometimes they can be taken out of context or misconstrued. This is certainly not the case.
"FUCK MARINELLI!" is what I'm thinking right now. It's more than obvious the kid has no respect for Notre Dame so it's now up to guys like Mo Crum, Brian Smith, and David Bruton to shut his mouth and destroy Stanford in front of a national audience. Notre Dame football needs to make a statement in which they will not take any shit talking especially from some kid who plays for fucking Stanford.
Put Marinelli in his place tomorrow Fighting Irish. I look forward to seeing the Irish celebrate a victory in grand style tomorrow while also shutting up Marinelli and Stanford thus earning back some respect by blowing them out as soon as they come out of the tunnel.
1. Alabama Crimson Tide-Bama is the new #1 after completely destroying Georgia in Athens. In every game they have dominated including two wins against top 10 opponents. As much as I hate Nick Saban you have to respect him because the guy knows how to develop a tough, hard nosed team that can win games. They have Kentucky this week at home and should handle them despite it being a letdown game.
2. Missouri Tigers-Chase Daniel and Co. were off last week but face a tough road test at Nebraska. Mizzou last won in Lincoln 30 years ago and despite some early struggles on defense I think they can handle the Huskers.
3. Oklahoma Sooners-The Sooners were very impressive in a dominating win over TCU at home. Sam Bradford has the Sooners offense rolling and the defense finally looks like it can stop people. They get a tuneup this week against Baylor before their annual gut check game at the Red River Shootout.
4. LSU Tigers-Les Miles has a dynasty at his hands if he can regroup his team this off week and get ready for a battle in the Swamp next Saturday.
5. Texas Longhorns-The Longhorns will get their first real test of the season with a road game at Boulder this Saturday. So far they have been killing everybody behind a near flawless season performance from QB Colt McCoy but playing against the Buffs will be a lot more difficult especially with Oklahoma looming next weekend in Dallas.
6. Penn State Nittany Lions-They are now in the driver's seat to win the Big Ten conference as they have steamrolled over opponents in the first 5 weeks. They travel to Purdue this week and will need to prove how good they are on the road as they are only 9-16 since the 2003 season. Purdue can't play defense so expect a high scoring affair with Nittany Lions putting up at least 40.
7. Auburn Tigers-This is probably the ugliest top 10 team in the nation as they have struggled to victories over Miss. State and Tennessee and lost to LSU in the last minute. Tuberville's team usually have a knack for winning ugly games and with their defense they should be able to compete in every game. I think it's time for them to let Kodi Burns be the QB this week against Vandy. It should be a great game in Nashville.
8. South Florida Bulls-They are undefeated and play in the Big East. Big fucking deal right? If this team goes undefeated in the regular season and plays in the BCS Championship game over a one loss SEC or Big 12 team I think I will have to give up on the BCS...just kidding, I gave up on a long time ago.
9. Texas Tech Red Raiders-They have played creampuffs so far and devoured them but they could get a tough game this week in Manhattan. Kansas State can put points on the board in bunches so it should be an entertaining game that nobody outside of those two fan bases will see.
10. Vanderbilt Commodores-Holy fucking shit. I actually have Vandy in the top 10 and not USC, Georgia and Florida. Someday I will look back at this post and realize it was the turning point for my growing insanity. College GameDay comes to Nashville this Saturday for their battle against Auburn. If Vandy wins their 3-0 in the conference and have a legit shot at winning the SEC East.
