I’m going to say sorry now for the shortness of this week’s article. It’s a Holiday week and I’m rushing to finish this so I can head of to St. Louis. And do not fret, I’ll be representing the Cubs gear.
AGAINST THE MAT
This weekend saw the UFC dig deep into its injury-plagued roster and put on one of the best whole cards of recent memory. The main event saw a “improved” (air quotes) Tito Ortiz take on Forrest Griffin, a fight the two previously have done with Ortiz taking a split decision. Griffin took this one, by split decision, but not without working hard for it. After having been knocked out in back-to-back appearances (Evans and Silva) it was good to see Forrest have his hand raised once again. I also believe that if both of these men are still around in a year, we will see part three.
Something important we learned Saturday night is that Josh Koscheck is the #2 Welterweight in the UFC. We learned this by watching him dismantle and beat Anthony Johnson with a rear naked choke in round 2. Now even though he is the number two, it doesn’t mean he is next in line for a title shot. That spot goes to Dan Hardy. The problem comes from the fact that Koscheck has already lost to Georges St-Pierre (the champ). I get that the UFC likes to give us fresh new matches, but if they’re not careful, they could run into some BCS-like situations.
While you were learning the Koscheck lesson, you also got to see a Muay-Thai clinic put on by Amir Sadollah. His victim? None other than Phil Baroni. A man that spent much of the start of this decade beating up on the best in the business, he is finally starting to fade. Don’t be mistaken, he showed tremendous heart just making it to the end of the third round, but Amir’s leg kicks and vicious striking were just too much.
“Minotoro” Nogueira made his presence known. The twin brother of the other Nogueira (look, I’m not being lazy, but these boys go by their full names and there are two letters difference in them) made a statement with a first round knockout of rising star Luis Cane. The fight itself lasted around two minutes. I actually spent more time trying to tell him and his brother apart then I did watching the fight. Google them or something, crazy similar.
The Karo Paryisian fight was a scratch. Karo pulled out the day before weigh-ins citing one thing or another. This is the second time he’s pulled out the day before weigh-ins with questionable reasons. Dana White actually took to Twitter saying that he would never fight in the UFC.
TOP FIVES
NFL
1. Saints: This is more like it. A blowout against a team you should’ve blown out. Next week they travel to New England it what is an important but not a must-have game. They’re 10-0; there are no must wins until the playoffs.
2. Colts: It’s nice to see them actually earn a hard-fought win this week. Despite the Ravens going in with a 5-4 record they are much better than that. This is a quality win for Indy.
3. Vikings: Favre, 22-25, 213 yards, and 4 TD’s.
4. New England: They should have won last week and this week and Leigh Boddens’ three INTs get them this spot.
5. Lions: You read that correctly, more on this later.
BALLS OF STEEL AWARD
I am only going to give out one award this week and it goes to……drum roll…. Matt Stafford of the Lions.
Matt Stafford’s best play of the game was not the short pass he completed to win the game in the plus one play after the end of regulation (courtesy of the pass interference), but it was his scramble through four medical personnel to get back on the field for that one last play. With a dislocated shoulder, he had to leave the field due to a medical timeout but because of the Browns’ timeout to reassess their playcalling for the last play, Matt was allowed to go back on. Running on pure adrenaline, he not only won the game, he showed the team and the city that he is willing to do anything for this team. This is what that team and city needs. Someone who’s willing to do whatever it takes.
NCAA FOOTBALL
1…..
Alright, looking at last week’s rankings I realized nothing has changed. We’re still on a course that I mentioned last week so I’m just going to save you the trouble and go on to other news.
NCAA BASKETBALL
1. Kansas: They were almost knocked off by Memphis this week but held on for the win. I usually don’t count early season on court performance as much as I do after the first two or three weeks but this is a quality win.
2. Michigan State: They too were almost slayed; Gonzaga in my opinion is also an early season quality win.
3. Texas: They made a tough case for top ranking this week, but I just couldn’t give them the nod.
4. Villanova (tie): They held the Mississippi Rebels to 29.6% from the field, not too shabby.
4. Duke (tie): Against Radford (who?) they scored 18 three-pointers. That’s a school record. Good job boys.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
- Sportscenter has some of the funniest commercials.
- Brett Favre is making a huge case for an MVP award. On Sunday he had a career game best 88 percent completion rating. He’s also on course for a .697 completion rating, (.09 higher than his 3 MVP years), 34 TD’s, 5 int’s, 4,000 yards (60 less than his MVP years), and a 112.1 rating (96.1 during his MVP years).
- Aaron Rodgers: only six sacks in the last two games. Is he maturing or is this just a blip?
- What God did the Broncos piss off?
- Classy move by Bud Adams (middle finger holding Titans owner) for taking out a full page ad in the Buffalo News wishing the Bills good luck in the rest of their season. I still feel like this is just a nicer way of giving them the bird. I love it.
- Saw a survey in ESPN The Magazine that says the Oregon Ducks have the “nicest” cheerleaders. After much google-ing (and Oogaling), I must agree.
- Charlie Weis is done at Notre Dame. Maybe the Patriots will take him back.
- Congratulations to New Mexico for getting their first win of the season on Saturday against Colorado State.
- Seriously, YouTube those Ducks girls.
SPORTSBOOK
Last week was a good week, I’m gonna keep that going.
11-7-2 NCAA FB; Not great, but improving
15-12 PRO; The Titans/Texans game is about to start as I write this, so this is not including that.
7-2 MMA; I am a beast
Nevada (+15) over BOISE STATE: Upset maybe? Nahhh, still could be a close game.
That’s the only NCAA game I’m picking this week. A lot of the games are rivalry or instate games and the spreads are crazy so I’m staying away from that.
Miami (-3) over BILLS: Fantasy star Ricky Williams will run all over the Bills.
SAINTS (-3) over Patriots: Could be a preview of the postseason.
Giants over BRONCOS: Straight wager.
Packers over LIONS: Another straight wager.
Tune in next week when we take a look at the BCS picture and highlights of the NFL. Happy Thanksgiving.