NHL FINALS: Sabres vs. Ducks?

It doesn't exactly roll off of your tongue. The Ducks and the Sabres for the NHL Stanley Cup. Anaheim and Buffalo. But it's possible. Stranger things have happened. Heck, even the Rangers made the playoffs last year, so I guess that it's true: anything IS possible.
Obviously, it's far too early in the NHL season to begin talking about favorites to win the Cup, but you gotta like what's going on in Buffalo and Anaheim (unless you're a fan of their biggest rival).
For those of you who may not yet have acclimated yourself to the fastest game in sports, the Buffalo Sabres and Anaheim Ducks (they dropped the "Mighty," officially ending the affiliation with Disney, their former owner) are undefeated. At least in regulation play they are. Under the new rules, which were adopted last year along with the shootout, a shootout loss falls under the category of overtime loss.
Buffalo has the league's best record at 10-0-1, tops with 21 points. Anaheim is 9-0-3, also with 21 points.
Compare that to some of the league's perennial top teams, and Buffalo and Anaheim are flying high (no Duck pun intended). The New Jersey Devils are atop the Atlantic Division, but their record is just 6-4-1 for 13 points. Ottawa is struggling at 5-6-0 for 10 points, Detroit is 6-4-1 for second place in the Central Division with 13 points, and the Rangers are in a dreadful fourth place in the former Patrick Division at 5-6 for 10 points.
Buffalo ended last season well, as did the Ducks, and it seems that the two clubs may have had 2006-07 already in their sights when they were eliminated from last year's playoffs.
One of the reasons that these two clubs are doing so well is goaltending. Both of each teams' two goalies are in the top 20 in goals against average. That's out of approximately 60-65 goalies in the league. That stat alone may not sound that impressive, but when you see that Detroit's two backups are ranked in the high 20s, it's much more impressive.
For Anaheim, Ilya Bryzgalov has only had two starts, but he's made the most of it, as he's currently ranked second in the league with a GAA of 1.22. Jean-Sebastian Giguere, their No. 1 man, is on top of his game as well, as he's posted a 2.12 GAA in 10 starts.
But just as the Ducks' goalies are the core of the team, the same rings true for Buffalo's goalies. Their No. 1 guy, Ryan Miller, has just a 2.36 GAA in nine starts, while his backup, Martin Biron, has a GAA of just 2.50 in a pair of starts.
The perfect complement to great goaltending is a team that can score. These two clubs are right up there with the league's best.
The Ducks went to the conference semifinals last year, and this year they may be even better. Scott Niedermeyer is off to a tremendous start and is leading the team in goals, and don't forget that they acquired Norris Trophy runner-up Chris Pronger.
Offensively for the Sabres, Chris Drury was tied for the league lead in goals going into Wednesday night's games, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek are both tied for ninth with seven goals apiece, Maxim Afinogenov is tied for second in points and seventh in assists, and Donald Briere is fifth in points and fourth in assists. And don't forget, the Sabres were no slouch in last year's playoffs, either.
Solid goalkeeping has kept both of these clubs at the head of their respective conferences. Match that with consistent scoring, and your team has a great chance of winning when you give up only two goals per game.
Sabres - Ducks may not sound that appealing now, but we just may see them face each other next June.

St. Louis is home sweet home

As we await tonight's festivities in game four of the World Series, it certainly appears that home actually is sweet home for the St. Louis Cardinals.
After gaining the split in the first two games in Detroit, the Cards have won Game 3 at home and are looking for their fourth home playoff win in the last five games.
In the series against the Mets, St. Louis used a similar formula that they have for the Series: earn a split on the road, and take the first game at home. They did that against New York and they did it against the Tigers. They lost the middle home game against the Mets, but that's the only game that they have lost in Busch Stadium in the last two rounds.
For the post season, the Cards have won four home games while losing two. They lost Game 3 against the Padres, but at the time they already had a 2-0 lead in a five-game series. They won Game 4, also at Busch, to move on to the NLCS.
There are two more home games in this World Series for St. Louis, and if things continue to go the way they have thus far in the playoffs, we'll all be watching highlights from the Cardinals' World Series Parade as it motors through downtown St. Louis.

Giants taking control of NFC East

After Monday night's 36-22 thrashing of the Dallas Cowboys, the N.Y. Giants, the team that all the so-called experts picked to relinquish their NFC East crown, seem to be in control of their own destiny in the division.
At 4-2 and on a three-game winning streak, the Giants are 3-0 in the division. No other team in the NFC East can make that claim. The Eagles are closest at 1-1 in the East, but they look very shaky.
One more division win will basically lock up the best division record for New York. There's a lot of football left to be played, but the next three weeks could spell out the division.
Next week won't matter too much, as there are no division games and Washington has a bye. But the two weeks after that could make or break teams in this division.
Philly has Jacksonville at home, then a bye, but then they have the Skins at home. If they lose one of those two games, especially the Redskins game, they could be in trouble.
Dallas is on the road the next three weeks, and that's not easy no matter who the opponents are. They have Washington sandwiched between two non-division games. The 'Boys already have two division losses, and at 3-3 they'll need to win all three games to stay in the hunt.
As for Washington, they have a bye next week. Then it's home for Dallas and at Philly. The Redskins are in deep trouble. For the last couple of seasons, everyone has said "Watch out for the Redskins." Well, I've seen nothing to be afraid of.
The mountain that they have to climb is severely steep. Washington is 0-3 in the East with their next two games being against division foes. They need to win them both. They have even less room for error than the Cowboys do.
The Giants have Tampa and Houston at home the next two weeks before they have to face the Bears. If the Giants are 6-2 by then, which they should be, they could be in firm grasp of another division title.
I do have one question for Tom Coughlin, though. With less than two minutes left in the first half and a 12-7 lead, why were the Giants running out the clock instead of running the two-minute drill to try to add to their lead? If anyone has an answer, because I can't think of one, please let me know.

Cabrera shines in Yanks loss

Melky Cabrera, who has dramatically improved his game since he was called up to the Yankees last season, was about the only bright spot in an otherwise anemic lineup as the Yankees lost the middle game of a three game set against the Braves 5-2. Cabrera was 3-for-4 and was responsible for both Yankees runs. His RBI infield single was the only run that the Yanks could score against Atlanta starter Horacio Ramirez. Cabrera also kept New York's slim hopes alive when he golfed a solo shot to right field in the bottom of the ninth, making it a 5-2 game, but that was all that the Yankees could do in the final inning. Cabrera is now hitting nearly .270, and his defense is greatly improved, as he's made some stellar catches while being converted from a center fielder to a left fielder.

Surprises, surprises

As we near the midpoint of the 2006 Major League Baseball season, let's take a look at some of the players that have raised a few eyebrows so far this year.

Kenny Rogers, Detroit: So, you thought his career was over. Well, you're not alone, many of us did. After building a respectacble resume in his first stint with the Texas Rangers, Rogers had a few less-than-admirable stops, including the Yankees, Oakland, the Mets, two more stops in Arlington, and a year in the Metrodome. His career has been spattered with ups-and-downs, bad years following good ones (compare his first and second years with the A's), and a lack of success in towns that he genuinely enjoyed playing in (see Yankees career).
Who would have thought, that in his 18th season as a journeyman pitcher, that Kenny Rogers would be reborn in, of all places, Detroit.
But that is exactly what has happened. In his first year with the Tigers, Rogers has become the first pitcher in the American League to reach the 10-win plateau, he's given up less hits than innings pitched for just the sixth time in his career and the first since 1999 with the Mets, his strikeout-to-walk ratio is better than 2-1 for just the fifth time in his career, and his earned run average, which is at 3.44 at the moment, is his best since '98 when it was 3.17 with the A's.
At 41 years old, Kenny Rogers may be saving his best for last.
Jose Contreras, Chicago White Sox: Speaking of careers that we thought were over, how about Contreras? Here's a guy that could not buy an out at the end of his stay in New York, and now he's pitching lights-out in the windy city.
Contreras is undefeated in his 13 starts with an 8-0 record, and his 3.15 ERA ranks him third in the American League.
Jose Contreras has certainly turned things around.
Tom Gordon, Philadelphia: Gordon began his career as a fireballing starter. Eventually converted to a closer, the Yankees brought him in as a setup man for Mariano. It was an experiment that had just about as many failures as it did successes, but Gordon was never comfortable in the role.
Fast forward to 2006, and we see Gordon back in his old role, as closer for the Philadelphia Phillies. Was his career on its way out? Some people in New York thought so, but back in a familiar role with a team that's contending for the National League Wild Card, Gordon is third in the NL with 20 saves, and he probably would have several more had the club not had some late-inning implosions.
Nomar Garciaparra, Los Angeles Dodgers: This man has gone from no-play to no-can-get-me-out. Nomar has spent so much time on the disabled list the last few seasons that it became a pre-season ritual for fans to start their own pool to see who can come the closest to guessing when Nomar would go down with a season-ending injury. This season, Garciaparra has let the water out of everyone's pool, as he has not only stayed healthy, not only has become an integral part of his club, but he's doing it in style, as his league-leading .362 batting average is 10 points higher than his nearest competitor, Matt Holliday of Colorado.
David Wright, N.Y. Mets: Not so much of a surprise, but this is a player that has got to be mentioned when talking about this season's early producers. Wright is now beginning to flourish and show the talent that he was touted to have, and he's impressing everyone in the process.
His 18 home runs puts him in a four-way tie for 10th with Atlanta's Andruw Jones, Houston's Morgan Ensberg, and Philadelphia's Pat Burrell. He's tied for fourth with Andruw Jones with 64 RBIs, he's in a three-way tie for 15th in the National League with 19 doubles, and is tied with teammate Jose Reyes for second place with 98 hits. If that's not enough, Wright ranks sixth in slugging percentage, ninth in on-base percentage, sixth in batting average, and is tied for 25th in the league in walks. This kid looks like he's going to be a stud in the league for years to come.
Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati: Phillips was traded from Montreal to Cleveland in 2003, and he was considered a bust, as he hit just over .200 for the season. The Indians were not pleased with his production or his cockiness. A Cincinnati scout pestered the GM to take a chance on him in the spring, and it paid off. So far, Phillips is batting .310, he has seven home runs, and 43 RBIs.
Alex Rios, Toronto: In his third year with the Blue Jays, Rios is showing that Toronto's patience has paid off. In his first two seasons, Rios' slugging percentage was below .400 both years and he had a total of 11 homers.
This season, Rios is proving the nay-sayers wrong. In 71 games, Rios has taken his slugging percentage to an amazing .602, he's got a .323 batting average, 15 home runs, and 51 runs batted in.
Freddy Sanchez, Pittsburgh: I'm putting Sanchez in as an honorable mention. His numbers are not mind-blowing, but they have improved. In his third season with the Bucs, Sanchez is developing as a hitter, as he's second in the National League with a .355 batting average and above-average play at third base.
Andy Phillips, N.Y. Yankees: Another honorable mention because he's not an every-day player, Phillips has been buried in Triple-A Columbus for several seasons, knocking the cover off of the ball and waiting to be called up. He had a couple of cups of coffee with the big club in '04 and '05, but this season, with all of New York's injuries, Phillips has done a fantastic job in his sporadic role. In 55 games, Phillips has five homers, five doubles, a pair of triples, and is hitting .294 with a slugging percentage of .496.

The Giambi Show Rolls on in the Bronx

Jason Giambi continues to impress as he handled Atlanta Braves' starting pitcher Tim Hudson all by himself on Monday night at the Stadium.
Giambi's two-run home run in the bottom of the first gave New York a 2-0 lead. He followed that up the next inning, when his three-run blast put the Yankees ahead 5-0. The two homers move him up from fifth to a tie for second in the American League with Boston's David Ortiz with 22 dingers each.
The pitching was outstanding as well, as Randy Johnson gave perhaps his best performance of the season. Johnson kept the bats of the slumping Braves at bay with seven shutout innings, finishing it off in grand style as he struck out five of his last six outs, including striking out the side in the sixth. His total of nine K's for the night was his most in a game this season.
Giambi continues to impress. He won over the hearts of the fans of New York by being the first and only man still playing to openly admit that he took steroids, apologize to the fans for doing it, and trying to reconstruct his career after giving them up. He struggled on the diamond when he first got off the juice, but had a strong second half of last season, and this year he's picked up where he left off. He currently ranks in the top five in home runs, RBIs, walks, and on-base percentage. There is little question as to why Jason Giambi won the comeback-player-of-the-year award last season.

Hopkins Ends a Great Career

41-year-old Bernard Hopkins, perhaps one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in recent history, is calling it a career.
When you talk about pound-for-pound champions, there are several that jump into mind. The original was "Sugar" Ray Robinson. Never a large enough man to be able to work up to the heavier ranks, Robinson was one of the most revered fighters of his time. He was such a textbook fighter, with speed and uncanny power that could damage any opponent at any given point in any fight. His fights with Jake "Raging Bull" Lamotta were legendary.
The next pound-for-pound champ was another "Sugar Ray", some 30 years later in Sugar Ray Leaonard. Leonard won America's heart in the 1976 Summer Olympics with his flashy style en route to a gold medal. He had classic fights with Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns and Roberto "The Hands of Stone" Duran, forcing the mighty Panamanian to coin the famous "No Mas!" phrase when he could take the punishment from Leonard no longer.
Leonard finished off a Hall-of -Fame career when he rose from the ranks of the welterweights to fight the undisputed middleweight champ, "Marvelous Marvin" Hagler. In what was a close, if not questionable decision, Leonard had done what everyone said that he couldn't: jump up in weight class and beat the most dominant champion of the era.
Roy Jones, Jr. would be next on the list of boxers who dominated one or more weight classes. Jones was a fantastic fighter, with a ripped, muscular body, speed, power, and a tremendous ego. But like Muhammad Ali had done decades earlier, Jones won the fans over by proving that he could back up what he said.
Jones captured his first belt, the IBF Middleweight title, in May of 1993. The following year he beat James Toney to take the IBF Super-Middleweight belt.
In November of 1996 he jumped up to win the interim WBC Light heavyweight title by defeating Mike McCallum. He lost that belt in March of 1997, but regained it later that year by beating the man that beat him, Montell Griffin. Public opinion said that Jones would win the fight easily because the only reason that he lost the first fight was for hitting Griffin when he was down, disqualifying Jones and handing him his first defeat as a boxer.
In November of 1998, Jones not only defended the WBC title but added to it the WBA Light-Heavyweight crown. In June of the following year he again added to his collection, as he picked up the IBF title, giving him three different light-heavyweight championships.
Then on March 1, 2003, with the unified belts still intact, Jones jumped up again, this time to heavyweight, and he beat champion John Ruiz to claim the WBA Heavyweight Title.
Which leads us to Hopkins. He regained the IBF Middleweight in January of 1996 and held it until April of 2001, when he added the WBC Middleweight crown to his list. Five months later he would unify the middleweight title by knocking out Felix Trinidad in the 12th round. Hopkins successfully defended all three belts until July 2005, the first time that he lost to Jermain Taylor.
Bernard Hopkins went out on the high note that he promised that he would when he beat Antonio Tarver on June 10 to capture the IBO and NBA Light Heavyweight Championships. At 41, Bernard Hopkins was still schooling them till the end. Pound-for-pound one of the greatest fighters ever? I think so.

NHL Playoffs - Still the Best

The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs have come and gone, and once again the players displayed why these NHL Playoffs are perhaps the most riveting and exciting in all of sports.
As if this game wasn't difficult enough to play in the regular season, the speed, intensity, and level of play increases in the NHL playoffs like it does in no other sport in America.
And on top of that, there were some terrific early-round upsets and come-from-behind victories as well.
The Edmonton Oilers not only made it to the finals, and pushed it to a seventh game when they were on the verge of being eliminated four games to one, but the forgottten fact (since both the NBA and NHL Playoffs are so long) is that the Oil took out the mighty Detroit Red Wings in the first round. The Red Wings, who had nearly 30 more points (124-95), 17 more wins, which equates to nearly 25% of a full season's schedule, outscored them on the season by nearly 50 goals (305 for Detroit and 256 for Edmonton), and allowed more than 40 goals less (209-251) than Edmonton, yet was unceremoniously tossed aside as the Oilers left eighth place in the Western Conference playoffs on a mission towards Lord Stanley's Cup.
Also in the West, #2 Dallas got upended by the seventh seed, The Colorado Avalanche. The Stars were one of the stronger teams in the league throughout the season, but found the wrong time to slump...in May. The Avs, however, barely made the playoffs, as their season was far more inconsistent than Dallas', and they stumbled into the playoffs with 95 points, tied for eighth in the conference with Edmonton, 17 points behind the Stars, and just three points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks, the ninth-place club that did not make the post season.
In the East, the fourth-ranked Buffalo Sabres had a tremendous run as well, as they first took out #5 Philadelphia, then beat second-seeded (and heavily favored) Ottawa before taking eventual Cup winner Carolina to the brink.
That brought us to a final series of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers. There were mixed emotions about who to root for and why. Some people held the age-long attitude that they would not root for a Canadian team over an American club. Some said that they always pulled for the underdog, so they were going with the Oilers because of all that they had accomplished to that point in the playoffs.
Others took sides based upon players. Some fans were rooting for one the league's best two-way players ever, Michael Peca, while others went with the list of Carolina Hurricanes who had been in the NHL for a decade or more and have never hoisted the Cup.
I found that based on all of the facts mentioned as well as others that were not, I myself had mixed emotions and also found justification in whichever side I chose, if I was to take a side at all.
So whomever you were rooting for, and whichever cause you got behind in the 2006 NHL Playoffs, you still had to feel good in the end about what an awesome second season it was, and what phenominal entertainment that the teams gave us along the way.

p.s. Although I would have been happy for Michael Peca had he won a cup because he is so deserving of one, do you really think an Islanders fan was going to root for the Oilers? Long live the Whale.

NHL Playoff Spotlight: Devils Face Elimination

The New Jersey Devils are in a familiar position...sort of. In the first round of the NHL Playoffs, the Devils had a three games to none lead over the New York Rangers. In game four, the Devils stomped on the ailing Rangers' collective throats and eliminated them quickly and painlessly.

In round two, once again New Jersey finds themselves in a 3-0 series-only this time they are the ones who's backs are against the wall.

The Carolina Hurricanes have looked sharp throughout the season, first by basically going wire-to-wire as the first-place team in the Southeast Division, and then here in the postseason.

The Hurricanes are playing like every game is game 7: they look hungry and they want...I mean really want it.

Penalties and goaltending are the keys to winning in the NHL Playoffs. In the first round, the Rangers opened the series by giving New Jersey power play after powler play. The Devils took advantage of it, and combined with All-World forward Jaromir Jagr's broken wing, the short of it is that New York never recovered.

Now the Devils are in a similar position, although their scoring stars Brian Gionta and Patrick Elias aren't injured. Another advantage for New Jersey is that they are not relying on scoring from just one player, so they don't have to worry what will happen if one of their stars goes down.

New Jersey is in a different type of series with the Hurricanes. The 'Canes are agressive under Peter Laviolette (remember him, Mike Milbury?), constantly pursuing the puck. They also are getting excellent goaltending, something that has slipped off for the Devils in this round. Carolina also isn't taking stupid penalties.

Carolina also has balanced scoring. Very balanced scoring. They get points from several different players on the ice, which makes them even more dangerous because they can score regardless of which line is playing.

The Devils have their work cut out for them, and we'll see how they respond in game 4 in Carolina tonight.

MLB: Moose Continues to Mow 'em Down

The Yankees have slowly inched their way back to the top of the American League East, and one of the reasons is their sarting pitching, namely Mike Mussina.

Mussina (4-1) is off to one of the finest starts of his career. He has kept his club in every game that he has started so far this season, and he has surrendered no more than three earned runs in any one of his starts. He ranks in the top ten in several different categories, including wins, save percentage, and innigs pitched, and he is in the top three in earned run average and strikeouts.

He has been the true glue of the starting pitchers of this club for several years now, and when he was thrown into the fire of facing the Red Sox' Pedro Martinez in several starts in the span of a few weeks a couple of seasons ago, he was brilliant, winning nearly every one of those starts.

Mussina has always been known for being one of the better fielding pitchers in the league, as his five Gold Gloves from 1996-2003 would indicate, but perhaps now the Moose will be recognized as one of the better all-around pitchers of his era.

Currently, he owns a 4-1 record and has an ERA of just 2.31 after his outstanding performance againtst the Toronto Blue Jays: six innings pitched, one run, seven hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts.

In his only loss of the season he gave up three runs but the Yankees didn't hit for him. And his strikeout-to-walk ratio is always excellent, usually at least three or four to one.

And the way that he's been pitching so far this season, this just may be his best year yet.

NHL Playoff Spotlight: Rangers' Back Against the Wall

The Rangers, who were one of the more dominating teams in the NHL this season, turns out to be one of two teams that has lost the first three games of their series and finds themselves on the brink of elimination.
New York, who slumped its way into the playoffs after losing a season-long grip on first place in the Atlantic Division, continued to play the way they ended the season, uninspired and lifeless.
The Rangers had two major problems going into this year's post season. Let me preface this by saying that you have to throw out game one. Since the Rangers aren't scoring, they thought that they would just come out and bully and beat up the Devils. The problem was they did it illegally, they got caught doing it, and they looked ugly doing it. You're never going to win a game, especially a playoff game, when you give the other team 13 power plays and five PP goals. So forget that one.
Back to the two problems.
First of all, as great a season that he may have had, Henrik Lundqvist is a rooke who had not yet experienced the overdrive and ferocity that is the NHL Playoffs. That can be a very bad thing.
Second, this team is far too top heavy in the scoring department. They don't have the depth that you need to go deep into the playoffs. This team relies heavily on its all-world player, Jaromir Jagr. They aren't getting any scoring out of their other lines. I have been wondering for some time now how New York would fare without its prized posession. We saw what happened, and it wasn't pretty. It still isn't. From the moment I saw him get hurt, it appeared to me to be the type of injury that results in a separated shoulder or a torn rotator cuff. As often happens during the playoffs, all that the Rangers would release on Jagr's injury was that he had an "upper body injury". Yea, big surprise that was to hear.
Jagr has been leading this club all season long, and without him they are in deep trouble and may not live beyond tonight.

NHL Playoff Spotlight: Devils Burn Rangers in Game One

The NHL Playoffs have begun, and the teams are wasting no time battling it out. It's almost like opening day, when the bad teams still don't know how bad they are. Every team starts evenly, and the lower seeded clubs are playing like they are ranked higher than they are.

Just a game or two into most of these series, the underdogs are fighting for their playoff lives right from the first game.

In the Eastern Conference, the series between the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning is locked at 1-1. After winning game one, the Sens couldn't make it two in a row. The significance of that fact is that Ottawa is now 0-for-13 in games where they can take a 2-0 series lead. The defending Cup Champs didn't have a great season, but they're not going down without a fight.

Heads turned when the Carolina Hurricanes, one of the hottest clubs in the league all season, dropped the first game of their series against the Montreal Canadiens. Game two will be Monday night, and I expect that the series will be tied at one apiece when it's over.

The Buffalo Sabres needed to go into a second overtime to continue their season-long dominance over the Broad St. Bullies, the Philadelphia Flyers. It wasn't easy, but Buffalo took a 1-0 lead. Look for Philly to make a series of it.

The final Eastern Conference series is the one that's closer to home to the Metropolitan New York area, and that, of course, is the Rangers-Devils. The Rangers are looking to throw the first game into the garbage pile and start over, as they could not have played a worse game against New Jersey if they tried. It was a game with non-stop penalties, and the Devils would make the Blueshirts pay, scoring four power-play goals on their way to a 6-1 smacking of New York.

In some circles they say that it's easier for a team to get over a blowout than a close loss. The Rangers better hope so, because this one is a bitter pill to swallow.

The worst news for the Rangers after game one wasn't just the lopsided scoreboard, but their injury to their stud scorer, Jaromir Jagr.

The Rangers owe their success this season to basically two players: Jagr and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers go as these two players go. When Jagr was lighting up the scoreboard and Lundy was hot, New York was practically unbeatable. Towards the end of the season when Jagr started to slip, the Rangers went into a funk that appears is not yet over.

Rangers fans should come in off of the ledge, because we have not yet heard the last from this team. Look for New York to rebound and make a run at New Jersey...possibly as soon as game two. But if the Jagr meister is as hurt as he appeared when he left the ice on Saturday, the Rangers could be in big, big trouble and could make yet another early exit from the Chase for Lord Stanley's Cup.

In the West, Edmonton is trying to keep the Red Wings up against the wall as that series is 1-1. The Oilers believe in themselves, something that can be not just overlooked but unappreciated. Give a team a little confidence in the playoffs and it can go a long way. Just look at what Anaheim accomplished a few years back.

The Colorado Avalanche surprised the Dallas Stars as they took the first game of their series in Dallas. The Stars will come back as long as they put more pressure on Colorado than they did the last two periods of game one. This is one of the more evenly matched series, so it's possible that it may go the distance.

The Calgary Flames had to go into OT to beat the Mighty Ducks, but the Ducks came back to tie the series on Sunday night. This is another series that could go seven games.

The Nashville Predators won more home games than any other team in the NHL this season, but San Jose has high-scoring Jonathan Cheechoo and possible MVP Joe Thornton. They were a very impressive team this season, and they should come back and knock Nashville out.

Drop a line, give me your take on how the NHL Playoffs will shape up, and who you think is going to win the Cup.

The State of the City Teams Address, part 2

The Giants and Jets had two different seasons, with the G-Men giving their fans a ray of hope and the Jets fans reaching for the Pepto Bismol before September was over. The question that the fans have to ask themselves is "Is it better to not make the playoffs at all so that nobody's talking about you or is it better to get waxed by a score of 23-0 in a first round home playoff game after winning the division?"
The Giants had a season that would be considered successful by most standards (11-6 incl. playoffs, first place in the NFC East), but they had some disappointing losses as well that had they been wins they would have been set up even better for their first round matchup.
The 16-13 loss to Dallas was embarrassing, was were the two 24-21 losses; first to a Minnesota club that was in disarray all season (even if they did improve in the second half), and then in Seattle, where they should have won the game on several different occasions.
Yet they managed to hold on to beat the Redskins by one game to win the East, even though Washington beat the Giants on Dec. 24 by a score of 35-20 where the boys in blue barely showed up and Eli was awful.
Had they won two of those three games they would have finished with 13 wins, which would have given them the #1 seed in the NFC, and they would have had homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. More than likely they would have opened the playoffs with a home game against the Redskins, and I'm sure that they would have been out to avenge their Christmas Eve loss in their own stadium.
Even if they had accomplished that much and gone out in the next round, the taste that was left in the fans' mouth would not have been quite as bitter.
Chalk it up to a second-year quarterback making his first postseason start.
As for the Jets, it was a season that their fans will want to forget as soon as possible.
With a 4-12 record and winless on the road (and let's not forget that their division incudes trips to the powerhouse Dolphins and Bills), the Jets were about as bad as they could get.
Once again they lost their #1 QB, Chad Pennington, to injury. By the time that it was all said and done, they actually were on the phone with Vinny T. before season's end.
They began the season by getting scalped in Arrowhead, and the team never seemed to fully recover from the loss. The following week they beat the struggling Dolphins at home, only to follow that with a home loss to Jacksonville and an anemic offensive showing as they lost 13-3 in Baltimore.
Herman Edwards regrouped the troops to shock everyone when they beat Tampa Bay at home 14-12, but that would be about the highlight of the season as they would go on to lose seven in a row and nine of their final eleven games, with their other two wins on the year coming when they hosted a physically decimated Raiders' squad on week fourteen and three weeks later when they sent the Buffalo Bills home searching for answers.
Since this horrible season ended, they lost Edwards to the Chiefs, they have questions to answer about the durability of their quarterback, and they seemingly have more holes to fill than a block of Swiss cheese.
About the only positive that the New York Jets can take from the 2005 season is their draft pick. They will pick fourth, and if they're lucky, they'll take advantage of this pick and make the best move for this club.
Report cards for the Giants and Jets: Giants B-, Jets F

Yanks just starting to heat up

The Yankees are still hovering around .500, but they're just heating up. Giambi had two blasts today, one of them being a mammoth shot to the upper deck in center field of the Metrodome. The starters have looked good so far, and overall they have deserved a better fate than they have had. When the bats are going, which is most of the time, you never know who's going to be the star of the day at the plate. One day it's A-Rod, the next it's Posada, another it's Matsui, and today it was Giambi. It's going to be a long season, that's for sure, but before it's all said and done it will be a longer season for opposing pitchers.

The State of the City Teams Address

Welcome to the first annual State of the City Teams Address. And by city teams I mean no other than the teams that play in and around the biggest, best city in the world, New York City.
First I’ll take a look at the teams whose season is coming to an end, then I'll talk about the Giants and the Jets, and then I’ll analyze the teams whose seasons have just begun.
I’m going to make this a four-part series, since one blog entry would be too long to try to analyze the seasons of nine professional sports franchises.
I’ll begin with the two area teams that play on the hardwood, the Nets and the Knicks. These are two clubs that couldn’t be closer together geographically, and further apart in the standings.
For argument’s sake we’ll call the Nets a New York City team. In the NBA, there are only two cities that have two teams: New York and Los Angeles.
In L.A., there are the Lakers and the Clippers. The Clippers have been perennial doormats for the league, but even they are closer to their cross-city rivals than the Knicks are to the Nets.
New Jersey has been an Eastern Conference powerhouse ever since the acquisition of point guard Jason Kidd. Then they got Vince Carter and they became even stronger. They went to the NBA finals a couple of years ago, and are once again a strong playoff team with a chance of representing the East in the finals.
Then there are the Knicks. I ask, is there a team in the league that has less direction than the Knicks? It appears as if the Knicks don’t know which direction they’re headed or what they want to accomplish. Are they going for a youth movement or are they trying to win now?
By the looks of this team, they sure don’t look like they’re trying to win now. At least they don’t show it on the court. This club has been below .500 and has not made the playoffs for what will be the fifth consecutive year. Ironically enough, they’re neighbors across the Hudson River have been above .500 for five seasons now and have made the playoffs in those years.
If you’re trying to rebuild, you need veterans that are willing to teach the young players and aid in their development, not players that are more concerned with their own numbers rather than the wins and losses column.
The team looks lost on the court, Larry Brown looks as though he’s trying to direct traffic during a Chinese fire drill in downtown Hong Kong on New Year’s Day, and Isiah just smiles at the cameras and continues to bring in round pieces to this square puzzle.
The Knicks have a lot of time on their hands for Larry and Isiah to try to get on the same page while they’re on the golf course. Because it sure doesn’t look like they’ve even been in the same library this season.

March Sadness

We're down to the fianl game of another stellar NCAA tournament. This year's action was absolutely fantastic, perhaps the most entertaining in years; and that includes last year's tourney, when we had games like Vermont knocking out defending champion Syracuse in the first round.

There were some unbelievable runs in this tournament, we never would have guessed that we would still have been talking about some of them as late in the dance as we were.

But hats off to the George Masons, the Wichita States, and the LSU's of this year's tournament. These teams all turned heads this season and they made it all so much fun, not just for us, but for themselves as well. And isn't that what it's all about, anyway?

So, although most of us didn't win our pools, our favorite teams were knocked out, and our brackets looked like hell by the time that it was all said and done, it was a heck of a ride.

It may be a bit anticlimactic that the teams that won over America's hearts, George Mason and LSU, didn't make it to the final game, but let's enjoy this championship game anyway. It's been years since UCLA was in the final battle, and Florida has never been a basketball powerhouse. So let's shift gears and embrace this game, so be it for different reasons then we may have wanted to, but for the fun of what it means to the two teams that are there. And congratulations to UCLA and Florida, whoever wins. It will be a tremendous accomplishment for either club. And for the rest of us, there's nothing more that we can say, except for thanks and we'll get 'em next year.

Wasted Moves Out on the Island

It appears that the moves that Mike Milbury made after the new collective bargaining agreement was reached were not just unpopular with Islanders fans, but they also proved to do absolutely nothing to get this team moving in the right direction.
The Islanders have made the playoffs the last few seasons while their high-priced rivals from Broadway have had to watch them from the comfort of a temmates living room as the Rangers haven't made the playoffs since the last decade.
So, although it has been shown that it takes more than a top 5 payroll to win in this league, New York still hasn't gone deep into the playoffs since they knocked out the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins in '93.
Many people will never forgive him for letting captain Michael Peca leave. One of the best two-way players in the league, Peca didn't just kill penalties, he turned them into offensive possibilities for the Islanders, making penalty killing an exciting part of the game for fans.
The defensive unit was gutted, with blue line standouts Kenny Jonsson and Adrian Aucoin gone.
Watching this team make moves has been like watching a carousel... the names keep changing but they're not going anywhere.
The fans will have to just watch and wait to see if the team can go on a tear in the remaining games of the season to try to jump into that number eight spot. But it won't be easy - not just because the Islanders have been playing up-and-down hockey, but because the other teams that they're fighting with are suddenly on fire. Atlanta was losing 4-1 against the Devils the other night, only to see the Thrashers come back to win the game at 5-4. Toronto has been tough lately as well, and Montreal has been on fire.
Time will tell if Milbury has made the right moves. So far this season it just seems to be business as usual on the Island.

Raiders Drop Ball... Again

As it has happened all too many times in the recent past, the Oakland Raiders have dropped the ball, and again, it's the quarterback position.

At first, the rumor was that the Raiders were going to reunite their all-world wide receiver Randy Moss with his hookup from Minnesota, Daunte Culpepper. I didn't think that this was a bad idea, considering the success that the tandem had when they were together playing in front of the big Hefty Bag.

All of the signs were there. Culpepper was unhappy in Minnesota (and vice-versa), and Kerry Collins had apparently worn out his welcome in Silver and Black. It seemed like a no-brainer.

That idea didn't work out, as Culpepper decided to go east of Minnesota instead of west, and he signed with the Miami Dolphins.

After that, Drew Brees became expendable in San Diego, as the Chargers decided to put the future of the club in the hands of Phillip Rivers. Brees was dragged through the press his first season or two, but then turned things around for himself in '04. Last year was a bit of a down year for the Chargers, but Brees wasn't the one at fault.

The Raiders should have jumped at Brees. He's got a great arm, he's elevated his game dramatically over the past two seasons, he's young, and I'm sure that he would have loved to play against his old team twice a season, as athletes that change teams always try to prove to their former club that they made a mistake by letting them go.

Instead, the Raiders let him pass them by, and they settled for Aaron Brooks from the Saints.

It seems that ever since Jim Plunkett retired, the Raiders have more than struggled at the quartereback position, with the exception of Rich Gannon. Let's just think of a few. There was Jay Schroeder, a big, strong kid with an awesome arm, and he had a minimum amount of success with Washington. He turned out to be a bad quarterback with a great arm. And, speaking of such, that takes us to Jeff George.

This was basically the same story. George could throw the ball a country mile, but he couldn't run an offense. His best years were with Atlanta, but he failed miserably in his other stops, one of which was Oakland.

There was also the head case from USC, Todd Marinovich. He was supposed to be the next southpaw savior of the team. I think that Al Davis was having Kenny Stabler flashbacks when he saw Marinovich. He turned out to be a flaky flash in the pan and didn't stay too long.

And let's not forget Vince Evans. Another grand scheme to salvage the franchise. We saw how well that worked. I rest my case.

Which brings us to Brooks. several years ago Brooks appeared to be an up-and-coming young quarterback who needed a team around him. I've watched him several times over the last four or five years, and from what I saw of him this season, this seems to be a quarterback who's game is going backwards, not forwards. The Saints got some players to fill the supporting roles, including wideout Joe Horn, who would probably be considered as one of the best receivers in the league if he played just about anywhere but New Orleans.

I was able to watch the Saints a few times this season, in addition to seeing clips of their play from week to week. Aaron Brooks made some very questionable decisions this season, and made some plays that left me scratching my head.

You may want to give him a pass because of all of the turmoil that New Orleans had to endure throughout the season due to hurricane Katrina. If that's your argument, I'll give it to you, because no National Football League team should have to tolerate some of the things that the Saints had to during their season.

Brooks was obviously frustrated last year, and that frustration came to a head as he was quoted in the press at one point claiming that he was going to quit if there was one more change made to the Saints' practice and game schedules.

I haven't been impressed with Brooks for a couple of years now. I will keep an open mind. I have been following sports long enough to know that sometimes all that a struggling player needs is a change of scenery (see Eddie Lee Whitman's departure from the Yankees), and I won't hammer Brooks until at least the third week of the season. I just hope that this isn't going to be another Jay Schroeder or Jeff George era.

Hansbrough turning pro?

So now the latest rumor is that University of North Carolina freshman forward Tyler Hansbrough is going to enter this year's upcoming NBA draft. I think that it would be a tremendous mistake for Hansbrough to go through wih this decision and I'll explain why, for several reasons.

First of all, he's just a freshman. Does he really believe that he has learned everything that he possibly could from Roy Williaams? I don't think so. And also, although it may not be any of his concern, but how is any school supposed to build successful programs if their kids don't stay longer than a year or two? Not good for college basketball, not good for the players, not good for the NCAA coaches.

Second, although he had a spectacular freshman season, what Hansbrough and his fellow Tar Heels achieved this season can only serve as building blocks for the next few seasons. Hansbrough can only get better, as can his team, and perhaps with another big man added, he could dominate his game even further than he is now.

Next, he is only 6' 9". He may be able to get away with playing in the paint as a makeshift center in college, but if he thinks that that's gooing to fly in the NBA, he's got another thing coming. 6' 9" guys are a dime a dozen in the Association, and he should use the next three years of eligibility not only for his team and their future success, but also for himself. Tyler Hansbrough can not take his body into the NBA right now with any success. He's built like Rik Smits, who did have a successful pro career, but the difference in the two is that Smits was a legitimate 7 footer, he wasn't six nine. Those three inches can make all the difference in the world when your batttling for rebounds in the pros.

In closing, if I were to talk to Mr. Hansbrough right now, I would say take the time, if not the whole three years, then maybe two, but take the time to let your body mature, get bigger and stronger, and bettter prepare yourself to make an impact for a career as a power forward in the NBA.

Madness Update

Thanks to the play of this year's higher seeds in the NCAA Tournament, we now have tournament pools where people have gone from the NCAA ashes and are now rising from those ashes as the proverbial Phoenix.
Many of us were knocked out of contention on the first round of the regionals, some still had Final Four teams still alive in the Sweet 16, but that was the point where many that were still remaining with high hopes were pushed off of the college basketball ledge.
For me, the first upset that dented my armour was when Ohio State was booted in the second round by Georgetown. That didn't hurt all that bad, because I still had many teams still alive; especially those that I had picked to go deep into the tournament. When it came to the Sweet 16 round, I had a chance to win seven of the eight games. But that was the round that stuck a dagger in my heart. LSU beat Duke, which under normal circumstances I would have been jubilant, being a Tar Heel fan, but I had chosen the Blue Devils to go to the championship game versus UConn, so that one hurt.
Gonzaga was beaten by UCLA, another killer. I couldn't believe my eyes as I watched that game. Gonazaga completely gave the game away to the Bruins. They didn't score a single point from the seven minute mark until there was about two minutes left in the game. They just kept turning the ball over. I was stunned.
On the other side of the bracket, there was the UNC-Tennessee game...oh wait, no there wasn't...they both got tossed out in the round before, so the matchup ended up being George Mason-Wichita State.
Connecticut and Villanova held up their end of the bargain for me, but the Florida game was useless to me since I had them losing that game to Ohio State.
So, moving to the Elite Eight, I could have been in worse shape. I had my eventual winner, UConn, still alive, and so was 'Nova, so I had that upcoming matchup where I wanted it.
On the other side, I had Texas in the Elite Eight, but I had them losing to Duke, so that game was also useless. Memphis was in, but they were supposed to lose that round to Gonzaga, and since the Bulldogs were out, this was another game which had no meaning to me.
So we come down to the Final Four. I have Duke playing Gonzaga and UConn versus Villanova. Then UConn beats Duke 72-69 for the whole bunch of bananas. Pretty good, huh? Well, it sounded good when I made the selections, but like so many of you out there, my sheet ended up looking like most of my high school report cards....LOTS of red ink!
Don't let me be miserable on my own this tournament...misery loves company, so let me know how you did. Were you knocked out early? Do you ACTUALLY still have a team alive (I'll bet SOMEONE out there has either LSU or UCLA)? Have you already been declared the winner? Let me know.
Till next time, good luck to those of you who still have a chance at the ol' office pool, and for those of us who don't...theres' always next year.

March Madness

Once again, it's March, which to college basketball fans, is the most exciting time of the year as the conference tournaments lead to the field of 64 known as "The Big Dance", or the NCAA College Basketball Torunament.
As usual there were some first round surprises that had pool players jumping out of windows. Many of the matchups were closer than they appeared in the rankings. There was not a huge dropoff of talent from the 5th spot down to the 12th. So, to the casual observer, when #10 Alabama took out #7 Marquette, it was a shocker. Marquette may have showed a better record than 'Bama, as they were 20-10 compared to the Crimson Tide's 17-12, but when you compare conferences and schedules, it isn't hard to understand how Alabama overtook Marquette.
However, there were some surprises that turned even the most seasoned analyst's head. Northwestern State, a team that many don't even know where they came from (most of us have heard of Northwestern University in Chicago, but not Northwestern State.) It was a complete surprise when they took out #3 Iowa, a game that eneded up crossed off of many a tournament pool sheet.
There were a couple of more upsets that had players drawing long red lines through their brackets. When #6 Oklahoma was bounced by #11 Wisconsin-Milwaukee, that game had some heads turning. Georgetown raised more than a few eyebrows when they (a 7 seed) ousted #2 Ohio State. I know that Georgetown did a number on my Minneapolis breacket as I had the Buckeyes going to the final four when I had them beaten by Villanova to represent the bracket.
Another shocker was when fourth seeded Kansas was ousted in the very first round by 13th seeded Bradley.
#7 Wichita State threw a wrench into the Washington, D.C. bracket when they upset second seeded Tennesee.
But without a doubt the biggest surprise in this 2006 NCAA Tournament is the #11 George Mason University. A law school in Fairfax, Virginia, Mason has been more competitive in the last few seasons, but no one expected them to pull off the feats that they have so far in the tournament.
First, they (an 11 seed) upset #6 Michigan State in the first round. Their next matchup was against North Carolina, the defending national champs. Nobody (including myself, a HUGE Tar Heel fan) expected Carolina to successfully defend its title, as we all know that 4/5 of that team bolted for the NBA after they won it all last season. But Roy Williams did a tremendous job with a team that everyone wrote off in the preseason as a having a rebuilding year for UNC due to losing too many players. But they finished at 22-7 and earned a third seed in the bracket. George Mason sent the Tar Heels home prematurely as they beat Carolina by five points in round two.
Now Mason goes up against Wichita State, who let's not forget knocked out Seton Hall and then second seeded Tennesee. So now Mason will try to once again knock off a higher seeded team and keep its Cinderella season alive. They beat North Carolina. Wichita State beat Tennesee. Both teams have beaten national powerhouses on their way to this meeting. It should be a great game, and hopefully this matchup, as well as some of the others, will give us the excitement that they first two rounds have.
My picks for the Final Four: Duke beats Gonzaga and UConn wins the other half of the sheet. I had them beating Ohio State, but now that is no longer possible. For the whole ball of wax I have Connecticut outlasting the Dukies, 72-69.
I'm not in an office pool, but I am in the ESPN pool for $10,000. Since my Elite Eight and Final Four teams are still alive (for the most part), I still have a great shot to win it all. Check in with me and let me know how you did in your pool. Who was your big underdog? Which high seed killed your picks? Where did you end up? Let me know.
Enjoy the rest of the tournament and good luck in your pools!

the 13th round

the 13th round

NEW OLYMPIC SPORT
In light of the accident that Dick Cheney had (I have my suspicions about the "accident" part), and the fact that we are in the middle of another Winter Olympics Season, I think that we should have a new Winter Olympic sport that will combine politics and the biathlon: the Politician Shoot! The difference in my sport and the biathlon is that things are a little reversed: instead of skiing to several posts and then stopping to shoot, the shooter stays in one place and the target (insert politician of your choice, hopefully from the present administration) gets to ski around and avoid being shot. Personally, I'd love to see the beady-eyed lil bastard, his VP, and the rest of his Motley Crue of a cabinet dodging bullets as they dance around in snowshoes, dodging bullets left and right. Do I hear Olympic Gold??? There's only one rule.....I'M FIRST!!

Like an onion...the more you peel the more it stinks

Rick Tocchet is now being investigated for financing a gambling ring which, in the beginning, was said to possibly include one or two players. Then, we were told that the Great Wayne Gretzky's wife, Janet Jones, could possibly be implicated as well.
When the news hit, the media ran to Gretzky for a comment. He didn't have much to say, other than he knew nothing about what his wife was doing when it came to gambling. Seems to me a bit of a far cry from the when the cinema heros of yesteryear would protect the leading lady by demanding "Do what you want to me but leave the girl alone." Instead, Wayne was saying "Do what you want to the girl but leave me alone."
Now today we are told that not only did Gretzky know what was going on, but that the authorities have him on tape talking to Tocchet about how he was going to keep his wife out of it. As the old saying goes, "It's like an onion...the more layers you peel, the more it stinks."
And that is exactly what is going on here. Since day one this was a story about an assistant coach and possibly a couple of current NHL'ers. Now it has evolved into the coach, the team's owner, the owner's wife, and the threat of several more current players being thrown into the mix.
The NFL, which has many of the best league policies in professional American sports today, again has this issue nailed directly on the head: If you are found to be gambling on any sporting event, regardless of whether it's your sport or not, you will be banned from the league. No nonsense. No grey area.
That's exactly how this should be handled. The NHL sat out an entire season due to a labor dispute. Perhaps this subject was and has been overlooked for some time because they have had no problems with gambling in the game, well at least not until now.
If there is no policy in the league, one needs to be instituted toot suite. And the other leagues, if they don't have a policy directed towards this issue itself, should sit down with the unions and get an agreement worked out. It's the only way that the leagues as well as the players can show that they will not tolerate this type of behavior.
Ask Paul Hornung about being suspended from the league. If he had not been the adopted son of the greatest coach in any sport, Hornung would tell you that he would have never played pro football again.
I know that if I were a player, and I knew that the guy next to me liked to bet with bookies, I wouldn't feel very comfortable knowing that if he has a bad week of picking games, he may not play as hard as he should because he "owes" certain people a favor who have a vested interest in the outcome of the game we were playing.
If you won't tolerate a blemish on your sport, and you seriously want to do something about it, sit down and draw up a policy. That's the only way that the fans are going to believe that you want to rid the game of the disease.

Not-So-Super Bowl?

So there we had it. After the NFL's Championship Sunday, we had two weeks of buildup to what was supposed to be the best Super Bowl of recent years. First there were the Seattle Seahawks, now of the NFC, making their first Super Bowl appearance in team history. It was not a huge surprise that the Seahawks were there; they were the #1 seed in the NFC with the best record. They had the NFL's Most Valuable Player, scored the most points in the conference, and had a solid defense. Representing the AFC were the Pittsburgh Steeelers. A lot of fuss made about a #6 seed making it to the big dance, but this was not your ordinary #6. This team was on a winning streak since November and they are known for being able to do the two thiings that it takes to win in the NFL: they can run the ball and they can stop the run. There were several storylines that endeared the Steelers to people that did not ordinarily don the black and gold. First, there was Jerome Bettis, a more likeable guy not to be found, retiring as the fifth best rusher in league history AND the Super Bowl being hosted in his hometown. Then there was Bill Cower, the coach that holds the longest current tenure as head coach for his team, who is revered as well as respected by many. Seattle, however, didn't bring that much to the table. There was Shaun Alexander, the league's top runner, and there was Mike Holmgren, taking his second team to the Super Bowl and his third appearance overall as a head coach. Finally the big game came. All the anticipation was over, and the game was on. I thought that the first half was a little tough to stomach, and at the close of the half a lot of fans were praying that the game was going to get better. For the most part, it lacked excitement, there were a lot of stalled drives, mistakes made, and very little scoring. Then the second half began. There was finally some excitement to the game, the idea of scoring was more of a possibility than a dream, and the fans seemed to wake up (maybe that was the Stones' doing). The mistakes, mostly by Seattle, were still there, however. The refs must have decided that Seattle wan't the only bunch in town that could botch the biggest game of the year, so not to be outdone, they jumped in so that they could get America talking about their (lack of) performance around the water coolers on Monday morning. None of the game's big stars were worth talking about. In fact, there was such a lack of a standout performer that when the game was over, I looked at my friend and asked, "So who's the MVP?" He didn't have an answer for me and he's a die-hard Steelers fan. If you look at some of the players that were expected to play a big part, it didn't happen. The Bus had 43 yards on the day. Roethlisberger had the worst QB rating of any winning QB in a Super Bowl: 22. You didn't hear Polamalu's or Joey Porter's names the entire game. Alexander didn't light up the board and Hasselbeck made too many mistakes, not to mention that they were on the losing team. So, as far as I'm concerned, this is not a game that's going to go into the annals and join the likes of Super Bowl III (Jets-Colts), either of the 49ers-Bengals Super Bowls, XXV (Giants-Buffalo), XXXIV (Rams-Titans), or XXXVI (Patriots-Rams). No, this Super Bowl will go down as one of the forgetables, like the first two that the Packers won, the two that Dallas wrecked Buffalo in, or when the 49ers beat Denver 55-10. Super Bowl? No, I would say that SB XL was more of a Snoozer Bowl.