Da Bears

The NFL season is kicking off in less than a week and I couldn't be more excited or more nervous. With the Bears great but up and down season ending in a very disapointing Superbowl. I cannot wait to see the Bears kick off, but after last year, anything other than a return trip to the Superbowl is a huge letdown. The window may be closing for this Bears team. While still good, the O Line is getting older, Briggs will be gone after this year, and there has still yet to be a wide out who has really stepped it up. The Bears are young with alot of good D players, Greg Olsen now at TE, and a nice mix of guys on the D Line. But with the NFC being the "younger brother" of the AFC this year, it is for the Bears taking. The question of quarterback for the Bears is a huge topic for everyone, but I've come to the conclusion that whatever happens, happens. I'd love to see "Good Rex" for the whole year, but I dont know if that will happen. He certainly has the skills and the surrounding players around him to be a great QB, but who knows if he will actually do it. Is he just a young QB who just completed his first official season? Or is he a QB on a rollercoaster ride with an 80 point difference in his QB rating from one week to the next? No matter what, this year will be interesting, and I'm unfortunatly looking at some sleepless nights.

Ankiel

One word-Wow.

The Pac-Man cometh

Pac-Man Jones, the troubled Tennessee Titan, is making his way into the ring. With his ring debut set to be Sunday on TNA, the Titans have looked to get a court order to stop the Pac Man from wrestling. I personally believe that with a year ban from playing, and Pac Man not really seeming to be one to keep up with conditioning, the Titans should just part ways with Jones and let the man 'rassle. I'm not a big fan of Jones, he's immature and doesn't ever seem to want to man up and take responsibility. But if he's not going to play, get rid of him, its not like he's a franchise QB. Yes, its a waste of a draft pick in a sense, but this wrestling would likely void his contract, and the Titans would be free from paying him anything. Plus I am interested to see if he walks into the ring being chased by the four ghosts, Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde.

Be Kind Rewind

When this blog was started, we decided that it wouldnt soley be about sports, just what was on our mind. And for maybe the 4 people that might read this, I wanted to show a trailer for a movie that I've been waiting to see for over a year. The movie is Be Kind Rewind by Michael Gondry, who directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It has Mos Def and Jack Black remaking movies that have been ruined. Nothing to do with sports, but the movie looks good.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809761737/video/3631941/

Barry Ain't So Bad

I think Barry deserves a break. He broke an amazing record and deserves some recognition. I recognize Barry as one of the best sluggers over 40 and it is amazing that he can still do it. My stance has softened on Barry this season because it seemed like he made a concerted effort to appear less douchey. Barry Bonds got a bad rap with the press and they would not let him live it down. God Bless You Barry and keep up the good work. I wish you can keep on hitting and driving in runs and now that the chase is over start stealing bases again.

756 and Counting

So I walk up to my room and turn on my tv, PTI was the last thing i had on early in the day, so ESPN started to appear very dimly on my television and i saw what i've been hoping would somehow not happen. I watched Barry Bonds cross homeplate with his family and some giants players waiting for him at home plate. So Bonds has broken Henry Aarrons home run record of the last 33 years. I dont know anyone who is happy about this. With so many people who hate this man, I really wished that he hit this homerun on the road, I'd love to see him in a place where he is hated and be booed loudly as he crossed home plate. Some people say "innocent until proven guilty" but theres been plenty of evidence against him and when the man himself doesn't say anything to help himself and who wont talk about it anymore, we're only left to believe that the man is guilty of something. If anything, I wish that he would have served some time for his tax evasion, and not had this opportunity.

I will say to watch it, just made me feel, i dont know, dirty? Watching Henry Aaron, a very classy man congratulate a piece of scum? Not right. I'm glad Selig wasnt there, he shouldnt have to be. It's an even better story that Selig was at the Mitchell hearings today that talked about steroids in baseball, as lil bonds hit his homerun. The good that will come out of this? It's now over.

Vick Going to the Dogs

As a football fan and a dog lover, my personal belief is that Michael Vick should never play in the NFL again. I believe in second chances for guys, but not when they screw up that chance. The same goes with Pac Man Jones, why should we let these guys back into the league when they have ruined every chance they get? Give them millions of dollars just to go and give it to strippers and use it to pay their thousand dollar speeding tickets. For Vick, whose alleged dog fighting ring included electrocuting and killing of dogs, the man should serve time, at least a year, let him know what it feels like to be caged and degraded. With no more endorsements, the only piece of Vick merchandise seems to be this Vick toy that I'm sure the PETA people will be buying off the shelves like crazy.

The original story can be found here http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/08/06/michael-vick-chew-toy-the-only-thing-you-can-still-buy-with-vic/?ncid=NWS00010000000001

Best Pitcher of the Night: Aaron Miles

I went to the Nationals-Cardinals game on Saturday August 4^th and it was by far one of the most entertaining games I have been to. The game had a surprising amount of offense since it was at RFK. The outfield was massive but that didn’t seem to bother Ryan Zimmerman. His shots had to be in excess of 450 feet. Also, the Cardinals played pitiful baseball, a team barely resembling the team that won the World Series last year. Giving up 12 runs to the Nationals shows the disarray that the Cardinal rotation is in. The game was not the only part of the night that was so entertaining. The stadium was surprisingly full, which may have had to do with the fact that it was Thomas Jefferson Bobble head night. Though they may have been there for the bobble head, the fans were into the offensive outburst that came from nowhere despite the large amount of Cardinals fans in attendance. The Presidents Race while recognizing that it is a knock off of the Sausage Race is still entertaining and history was almost made. Theodore Roosevelt has yet to win one of these races and had there not been a pick by an assistant he would have won but Jefferson had to win since it was his night. The night also included an appearance by my favorite Marquette Alum. That would be the man that could get you some free money from the government to start a business, work on an invention, or get your GED. That man is Matthew Lesko. He appeared on the Jumbotron twice and he was of course wearing his trademark question mark suit. He was wearing a white suit with a huge red question mark on the back and one small red one on his lapel. My only regret was that I didn’t have a camera in order to get my picture taken with him. But seeing Marquette’s best alum wasn’t the highlight of the night. The highlight lasted about 3 innings and involved one blond young lady. This woman had gone out to get refreshed when she returned and tried to find her seat. She wandered around for several minutes until she was approached by an usher. They continued to search fruitlessly. Soon after a guy near me offered his friends seat to her which she politely declined. She borrows someones phone and calls her friend, Alex but she still cant find her seat. Our section in an attempt to help begins a “Where Is Alex?” chant which again ends fruitlessly. Then borrowing another phone she finds out where the seat is. Her seat was on the 3^rd base side while she was searching the 1^st base side.

Kevin Gahh-net

Not since No-mahh has the city of Boston been able to use their Bostonian accent to mess up a players name. So why dont we hand over the NBA championship trophy to the Celtics now? Or at least the Eastern Confence Championship. In the quest for Ring 17 for the Boston Celtics, they've decided to re-vamp their team, by dealing. After a draft day trade for Ray Allen, the Celtics acquired T-Wolves forward Kevin Garnett, the most rumored player to be traded the last 3 years. In exchange for Garnett, the Twovles recieved "Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, a 2009 first round draft pick (top three protected) and a return of Minnesota's conditional first round draft pick previously obtained in the Ricky Davis-Wally Szczerbiak trade." So really the Twolves get a bunch of young guys, with Al Jefferson being the only one that is of true value. Gerald Green gives them someone who can dunk, and thats about it, Gomes is decent, and Telfair they wanted to get rid of anyway. But the Celtics now have three players who have all been #1s before, but there is only one ball. Theres always been issues with the three of these guys never being leaders, im probably wrong about this, but none of them have ever led there team to anything great. Garnett was in a bad situation in Minn., all thanks to Kevin Mchale, former Celtic legend. Instead of trying to help his team the last 5 years, since Sam Cassell and the wierd but still talentedLatrell Sprewell. Mchale has not helped the Twolves at all, relying soley on Garnett to dominate a very talented western confrence. So now he is king of Boston once again for possibly saving the franchise and bringing them out of the cellar. While the Eastern Confrence isnt all that good, you still can't forget about the Pistons, Cavs, Bulls, or Heat, who have good players and good chemistry. Or a young team like the Toronto Raptors who could be a breakthrough team this year. The point of the blog is mainly that I think that Mchale has been planning for probably the last 10 years. I think he has been secretly been in cohoots with the Celtics trying to get KG there and remake the Boston franchise. If Boston does win a ring soon, Mr. Mchale will no doubt be recieving a ring in the mail. I'm also very bitter that KG did not wind up with the Bulls. Dam you Jerry Krause for not signing him years ago.

Training Camp

Training Camp started today for some NFL teams, including the Bears who were to report to Bear-bounais. Its definatly a different feeling. Usually around this time theres hope because you just think about the Superbowl and how you know when they get there, they'll just have to win. Not the case this year, they were just the 1st place losers. Its a different atmosphere this year i think. Theres some bad blood between Lance Briggs ( who wont report until sunday) and the organization. Still the question of do we have a QB who can have a passer rating above 12? And the D line losing Tank Johnson, and relying on hopefully healthy and young D line to step up for the players they've lost. Still not sure we've got great wide outs, good not great. And will Greg Olsen be able to step up his rookie year and maybe help that cause? The only thing I'm not worried about is the defensive backs with Peanut Tillman, Vasher, Daniel and Ricky Manning, and new guy Achuleta. But i'm not even going to get into relying soley on Cedric Benson at running back. Maybe they can just give it to Devin Hester every snap. I think it will be a good season, but its very tough to make it to back to back superbowls.

Baby Daddies

Turns out that Matt Leinart is a bad baby daddy. The former USC quarterback and current Cardinals QB and one of the most hated college athletes is even more hateable. The mother of Leinart's 9 month old son, USC Womans Bball center Brynn Cameron, says that she is with the baby "99.9%" of the time and that she doesnt know why Leinart says he's involved. I can't wait for Tom Brady's illegitamate child.

Thanks to the Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-25rowboldnamesjul25,0,6464060.story

Who I Blame

This is something that I hope to become a running segment on the Sportacublog. Where I decide who is at fault for whatever I feel is not going my way. The first post will have to do with the current state of wrestling. I could always blame the person that I hate the most in wrestling and that is the money grubbing, crippled old man Hulk Hogan. However, he was never entertaining to me so it is not him. The person I feel has caused wrestling to be boring is The Rock. The Rock is the most electrifying man in sports entertainment. He was able to spit one liners and catchphrases with ease. He was awesome as a heel (bad guy) and a babyface (good guy). He had good wrestling skills that were able to produce some great matches. The problem is that he was too good. He got us used to a wrestler that is great on the mike and in the ring. Nowadays wrestlers are decent in the ring or decent on the mike. John Cena is a good character as the white, invincible rapper but his in ring skills are basically 5 moves. CM Punk is a great in ring performer but he isnt given a lot of time on the mike and is stuck in ECW. The Rock stayed healthy his entire career and rarely missed time due to injury unlike some wrestlers who have injury problems and some suspicion of steroids. The Rock was arguably one of the best superstars ever and it is a shame that he only was a wrestler for 7 years.

Commish

I thought i'd start off with something really recent. I just realized that it must really suck to be a commish right now in sports. You have David Stern who is dealing with a gambling ref who seems to be involved in point shaving, Roger Goodell who has Mike Vick and Pac Man Jones to worry about, and than crusty old Bud Selig who has that whole steroids thing everyone keeps talking about. Last but not least, the NHL commish who no one can name.

New Blog

For those of those who are first hearing of the Sport-tacular, your not the only ones. Romo and I have been working at Marquette Univeristy Radio for the last year, and we've decided to start a blog to accompany our show. Our shows usually include witty and sometimes angry banter about sports, call ins, music, and Doodles. This blog is going to be filled with sports topics, and anything else that is on our minds.

Brendan