sportsblogger

   To say that the year 2008 was a strange year in sports is not the correct wording, but 2008 was the year the immovable object was knocked-out with tremendous force. Here is a review of my top story in most of the top sports leagues in the world.

NFL: The NFL had its choice of huge moments this year, whether it was Tom Brady’s season ending knee injury, the Brett Favre trade, or the Dallas Cowboys collapse. Clearly the top story this year was the New York Giants stunning victory to end the New England Patriots perfect season.

MLB: Some people will think my top story for Major League Baseball might be crazy, with the Philadelphia Phillies winning the World Series or the New York Yankees spending spree. My choice, however, is the Tampa Bay Rays getting out of the bottom of the AL East and going all the way to the World Series.

NBA: This is not a shocker, but my choice for the NBA is easily the re-invigoration of the Lakers and Celtics. This is the best thing to happen to the NBA in quite some time. Even in the Michael Jordan days, Mike didn’t have a rival that matched the intensity of these to storied organizations.

NHL: Although I am not a huge hockey enthusiast, I think I can speak for everyone who watched the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins when I say that was hockey at its best. Sidney Crosby lived up to the hype and thensome in that amazing Stanley Cup Finals.

MMA: With the demise of EliteXC and Kimbo Slice, Randy Coutures return to the UFC, and Fedor Emelianenko’s destruction of Tim Sylvia. My choice for MMA story of 2008 is the Rise of Brock Lesnar from wrestling sideshow to UFC World Heavyweight Champion by defeating Couture by knock-out.

NCAA: College sports has one significant problem right now and that is the need for a College football playoff system. Even President Elect Obama has called for the end of the BCS and its current system of the played out bowl games that were fun 50 years ago.

   With that said, its been great reliving the best sports moments, but tops of the tops, my choice for best athlete and story of 2008 is easliy Michael Phelps and his 8 gold medals. Have a great and safe New Years everyone and I will see you back here in 2009.

J.M.Saucedo

Happy New Years!! Welcome 2009!!

   What happened to the New York Jets over the final quarter of the season can be properly explained in just a few words, The Madden Curse. This years cover boy, Brett Favre who was pictured still in his Green Bay Packers uniform, was traded before the season to the Jets.

   Thats when the hype began to build on the three-time MVP of the NFL and not to mention former Super Bowl Champion in Favre and the Jets. People did not remember what happen to former players who once graced the cover of the popular game, I am sure Mike Vick and Shawn Alexander remember the curse.

   So I sat down yesterday and tried to figure out what happened to the Jets this season and I too forgot about the dreaded curse. Head coach Eric Mangini has been fired and the Jets finished the season a disappointing 9-7, but started off the season to an 8-3 record.

   What happened in between was the Jets going 0-4 in games on the west coast, and not to mention the coaches lack of control over Favre. Brett is known as a “Gunslinger QB”, which means the chances of him throwing a bad pass are a lot higher then say a Peyton Manning.

   But how much of a difference can you figure? Well it is simple, Favre had 22 interceptions this season which was a league high. Not normally the amount of interceptions you want your QB to throw even if he is known for being a “Gunslinger”.

   Favre took a lot of time learning the new playbook with the Jets and that hurt him tremendously in the long run and likely cost his chances for the Playoffs. So as a note for any player hoping to be on the cover of next years Madden, enter with caution.

J.M.Saucedo

   The NFL is a “Prove Yourself” league that does not have time to wait for a coach, unless you work for the Pittsburgh Steelers. In that case, if it is the first Monday after the end of the season, you better be prepared to be fired if your fans are screaming for your head.

   Fans dictate a certain amount of respect when it comes to an organizations decisions, whether good or bad, they are the people shelling out their hard earned money. So here is a minor evaluation of the three head coaches that were fired today.

Romeo Crennel: The Cleveland Browns were supposed to be a top rising team in the NFL after having a 10-6 season in 2007, but only went 4-12 in 2008. Crennel had his choice of troubled moments this year, so really this move is not very shocking.

   Romeo has a shot a becoming a defensive coordinator in another organization in the NFL if he decides to do so. The Browns are another story, they are quite disfunctional and have also fired their general manager as well. Crennel went 24-20 in his four seasons with the Browns.

Eric Mangini: The New York media ate up this former Bill Belichick assistant, naming him the “Mangenious” after leading the Jets to a 10-6 record three years ago. Mangini would follow that up with a 4-12 season in 2007 and a 9-7 record in 2008.

   It wasn’t so much that he has only 9 wins this season, it’s the fact that expectations were so high with the trade for Brett Favre that he could not live up to them. A Super Bowl team the Jets were not and Mangini paid the price. Mangini, like Crennel, will likely be a defensive coordinator in another organization, if not a head coach.

Rod Marinelli: 0-16. That is all you have to say for Marinelli. It’s really sad to see someone fail so badly at what he does. Marinelli did go through this painful season with class and dignity that can only be admired for someone in his situation.

   Marinelli is known for his defensive mind, and will likely turn up as a defensive coordinator somewhere, but it is highly doubtful anyone will want to hire the first head coach to ever go 0-16 for a head coaching job in the near future.

   Overall, these moves were expected, but Mangini has to come as a shocker to most as he is only two years removed from being dubbed a “Genious”. These will not be the only teams to make coaching moves, as organizations will likely continue to shuffle their coaches in the coming weeks.

J.M.Saucedo

   The Dallas Cowboys had a simple task to complete to get in to the NFL Playoffs, that was win and you are in against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys did not show up in the game and were blown out to a final score of 44-6 in a game that was never really close.

   Dallas QB Tony Romo looked really bad in this game as he passed for 183 yards, was sacked 3 times, had one interception and fumbled a ball that was returned for a TD. Cowboys fans all over are likely sick to their stomachs after seeing their teams performance.

   This was a Cowboys team that plenty of “experts” picked to win the NFC East and also the Super Bowl at the start of the 2008 season. Instead, the team just might be rebuilt after this recent failure by team owner Jerry Jones, as his team has failed, again, to live up to his Championship standards.

   UFC 92 was as exciting as it was predicted to be last night in Las Vegas, as two titles switched hands and a star was re-born. Frank Mir won the UFC heavyweight interim championship as he became the first person ever to knock out Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in the second round.

   In the second title match, Forrest Griffin was knocked out in the third round by Rashad Evans who is now the UFC light-heavyweight champion. That match was a complete shocker as most of the fight was being dictated by Griffin through out the first two rounds.

   Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has got his revenge against Wanderlei Silva, after two previous defeats, with his first round knock out of Silva. Jackson will likely be a strong contender to get the next title shot against Evans, but for now is content to be back on the winning page.

J.M.Saucedo

   In 2008 we have seen Randy Couture lose his heavyweight championship and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson lose his light heavyweight title. Then you have BJ Penn, Georges St.Pierre, and Anderson Silva still on top of their games and still title holders.

   Brock Lesnar is now the heavyweight champ after a shocking knock-out victory over Couture, and Forrest Griffin defeating Jackson to become the champ. That sets up UFC 92, which has been dubbed “The Ultimate 2008″, where two titles will be on the line, and possibly a career in the UFC.

   The main event is going to be Griffin as he puts his title on the line for the first time against undefeated Rashad Evans. Evans defeated former champ, Chuck Liddell, by knocking him out in convincing fashion thus setting up this match-up of “Ultimate Fighter” winners.

   Griffin vs Evans itself is hard to pick a winner because both fighters are very evenly matched in skills and all around abilities. The edge will have to go to Griffin, however, seeing he does have the championship experience and has gone five, five-minute rounds before.

   The Second, and co-Main Event, is a heavyweight match-up for the interim title between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir. Nogueira, the interim heavyweight champ, is known for his amazing comebacks in fights and his outstanding ground game.

   Mir, is a former heavyweight champ in the UFC and is also known for a great ground game and has also defeated current champ Brock Lesnar. This is another fight that is could be a toss-up and in fact, I will not even try to pick a winner in this one.

   This card also features a match-up of Quinton Jackson vs Wanderlei Silva part three, Silva has won the previous two fights. Both fighters can gain a title shot if they win this match, while the fighter who loses can have a strong up-hill battle in getting back into contention.

   So this is how the UFC will finish its 2008, with a very powerful card, and plenty more on the horizon for 2009. For all and any MMA fans or UFC fans, this is the best possible card the UFC has ever put together and it will likely be one of the greatest nights in UFC history.

J.M.Saucedo

   Christmas Day Basketball is always exciting, whether it is Kobe vs Shaq, Kobe vs the Phoenix Suns, or the latest installment of the Lakers vs Celtics rivalry game. After getting beat last year in the NBA Finals last year, the Lakers had to prove themselves worthy of competing with Boston.

   This is the set-up for yesterdays game as the rivalry has hit an even more higher expectations from the two teams on Christmas day. The Celtics were coming in on a 19 game winning streak, and the best record at 27-2, which is the best start in Celtics history.

   As before mentioned, the Celtics won last years NBA Championship against the Lakers and did so in convincing fashion. In truth, the Lakers needed this win a lot more than the Celtics, but Boston also needed this win too as they hoped to stay in the heads of the Lakers.

   The Staples Center in Los Angeles was rocking of its foundation, the fans were uncharacteristically early for the start of the game. So the game was played really close throughout all four quarters when the better team pulled away in the end.

   That team was the Lakers who played terrific defense holding the Celtics to 83 points and opened up the Celtics defense by scoring 92. It deserved all of the hype that it was given since the schedules were announced and the viewers could not be disappointed.

   Now everyone turns their heads to the next meeting in Boston on February 5th in which the Lakers can go for the season sweep. If you are a Laker fan then you should be proud of your teams defensive effort and if you are a Celtics fan then you should remember your team is still the defending champs.

   This rivalry is RED-HOT as both teams left the floor last night without shaking hands or exchanging any sort of sporstmanship gestures. In Fact the only exchange with Kobe Bryant and the Celtics was a thumbs up he gave the teams bench at the end of the game.

J.M.Saucedo

   Shocking/Not So Shocking has extended itself to another week with the Christmas Edition that has been in the works for a day now! So without further interuptions, Sportsblogger is proud to present the very special edition of our only consistant main-stay.

                    Christmas Edition

Shocking: The San Francisco 49ers have reportedly removed the “Interim” tag from head coach Mike Singletary who took over the team when Mike Nolan was fired earlier this season.

Not So Shocking: Singletary has the team playing as a unit, a job that has hit some bumps in the road so far but over-all has the team playing .500 football, Good job Mike!

Shocking: For the opening day at New Yankees Stadium on April 3rd and 4th, some seats will sell for 25 cents and others for $1.10.

Not So Shocking: The Yankees will do this as a sort of tribute to the opening day of the original Yankee Stadium in 1923. A very touching moment from the $200 million team.

Shocking: The Los Angeles Lakers have become to Christmas Day Basketball what the Detroit Lions are to Thanksgiving Day Football in their traditional marquee game.

A Second Shocking: The Lakers are facing the much hated rival Boston Celtics in what should be the biggest regular season game since the first head-to-head Kobe vs Shaq game.

Shocking: The Notre Dame football team has snapped their nine-game losing streak in bowl games as they defeated Hawaii 49-21 in the Hawaii Bowl.

A Second Shocking: Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen went 22-26, with 401 yards passing and 5 touchdowns. Some think this is a sign of things to come for the Fighting Irish, but its a sure sign of a football team that does not play any defense, meaning Hawaii.

Have a great Christmas and Holidays!!

J.M.Saucedo

   Christmas is a special time of year where most families get together and enjoy spending time together while handing out gifts. So today I will honor those who gave a glorious gift to others this year, ofcourse those involved in the sports world.

Gift One: The first gift on our list is gift of Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies to Los Angeles Lakers for Kwame Brown, a Rookie point guard, and Pau’s younger brother Marc. This trade brought the Lakers back to the top of the NBA’s elite.

Gift Two: A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia, and Mark Teixeira all going to the New York Yankees. This one should say on the tag, “To: Me, From: Me” as the Yankees bought themselves the best toys on the market for the top price and get to play them in their new house!

Gift Three: Manny Ramirez’ trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers was the best gift Dodgers fans have received in quite some time. The Boston Red Sox paid for Ramirez to play for the Dodgers for the last 2 months of the season and he took them all the way to the NLCS.

Gift Four: The Detroit Lions do not have many happy moments this year, but their awful season just might pay off with Tim Tebow taking his “Superman” show to D-Town. This gift is marked with a “Do not open ’til Christmas ‘09″ as we have yet to hear Tebow say he is going to the NFL.

Gift Five: The UFC has given us plenty of gifts this year but none will be better than UFC 92 where two titles will be on the line. With Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Wanderlei Silva, and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson all on the card, this one is going to be great.

Gift Six: Today.com for giving me this chance to share my thoughts on the sports world and provide it to all of you on a near daily basis. Sportsblogger is a great thing for me and I hope you all enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing. I wish you all a very Happy and Safe Holidays!

J.M.Saucedo

   So the American economy is down, investors are scrambling, car manufacturers are nearing a collapse, and the New York Yankees are on a spending spree! It was hard enough to believe that they signed A.J. Burnett to a five year/$82.5 million contract.

   Before Burnett, it was CC Sabathia for a whopping seven year/$161 million contract that raised a lot of eyebrows as to the Yankees spending. Now it appears the spending is not over as ”The Evil Empire” has signed 1B Mark Teixeira to an eight year/$180 million deal.

   This is certainly a shock to most people, even Yankees fans, because the team is paying the highest paid player in Alex Rodriguez’ ten year/$275 million contract. Not to mention the current “Mr.Yankee”, Derek Jeter’s ten year/$189 million deal.

   The question that is bound to come up is if the Yankees are over spending and spending money foolishly in these tough times? New York is known for its lavish lifestyle, but that does not mean the rich have not been hit by the bad economy or does it?

   What about the new Yankees Stadium being built across the street from the old one? That stadium is reportedly going to have the final price tag of over a billion dollars that has some of bill being passed to tax-payers after it was promised to be a privately funded building.

   So now the Yankees have re-stocked their line-up to open their new billion dollar home which shall be dubbed “The House That Tax-Payers Built.” This should be called into question now that this organization has willingly spent on their players and passed the bill for their new stadium to the citizens of New York.

J.M.Saucedo

   A press conference is always an uncomfortable place for anyone, mostly the person at the podium, but it is tough to see coaches try to come up with answers after they lose. These coaches put a lot of effort into their game-plans that take days to cook up.

   Then to see it all fail must be tough after that hard work goes for nothing and then they have to answer the questions that they did not answer with their game-plan. Sometimes there is just a few bad reporters that ask the wrong question at the wrong time.

   This leads me to Detroit News columnist Rob Parker who wanted to know why Detroit Lions head coach Rod Marinelli had not fired defensive coordinator Joe Barry. The Lions defense is terrible but Parker was trying to make the point of Barry being Marinelli’s son-in-law as to the reason he has yet to be fired.

   Marinelli would not put the blame on anyone else and accepted it as his fault for the Lions 0-15 record this season. Parker continued to pressure the classy Marinelli and when Marinelli would not point the finger at his son-in-law, Parker went for a punch below the belt.

   Parker said “On a light note, seriously, do you wish your daughter had married a better defensive coordinator?” If the there is one thing for Parker to be ashamed of, it is clearly the fact that he brought Marinelli’s family, more specifically his daughter, into this.

   What person would want to say something like this about anothers private life? This Rob Parker is clearly not a fantastic human being, but to say something of this nature is not journalism, it is just being a jerk. Parker you need to go back to school and study the ethics part of journalism, or just brush up on your manners.

J.M.Saucedo