Bad Time To Be Raider Nation NFL Officials: Need Glasses? Part Deux Still A Quarterback Controversy Kat Deluna Can't Sang Rays In The Playoffs! Matt Grothe For Heisman? Don't Bet On It It's Time For Week 3 Pix! My Gratitude Thanks for reading Sports Talk this week, Please check back next week for more!
Lane Kiffin, the head coach of the Raiders is on the hot seat, not even two games into the season. Last year was his first year at the position. Ever since Oakland was ousted in the great Super "Pirate" Bowl by the Bucs (Bucs Fans call it THE ONE)in 2002, the Raiders have been the door mat of the league that everyone wipes their feet on. It's embarrassing. Al Davis brought in players like Randy Moss (whose career was supposed to be over in Oakland), DeAngelo Hall, (who kept getting burnt by Broncos rookie WR Eddie Royal in Week 1) and drafting busts like Jamarcus Russell who will never pan out to be an elite NFL QB, at least not in Oakland. It's a mess in the Black Hole, and it will be for a long time. Maybe the coaches and players aren't the problem. Maybe Al Davis is a crazy mad scientist who's experiments blow up in his face all the time. If I were a Raider fan and apart the the "Nation" (which I'm not) I would be calling for Al Davis' head. The best thing that happened to Oakland was Darren McFadden but his career will be short lived if there is no offensive line to block for him. Davis has this twisted idea that the NFL trying to hold his organization down, because of the whole L.A.- Oakland mess but that's really not the case and Al Davis needs to stop sobbing and being more paraniod than pot smoker who has a cop behind him. Apparently, "Just Win Baby" doesn't go to far in his office.
Ok, so if you caught the Broncos-Chargers game last week and saw Referee Ed Hoculi called Jay Cutler's fumble that was recovered by San Diego with 1 minute left in the game an incomplete pass, then you knew I would write about it. Hoculi is a decorated NFL official but this call will be his last hurrah as a referee and will be busted down so BJ (back judge) or something like that. Sports officials that blow calls, miss calls, or give you some lame excuse as to why a fumble wasnt a fumble or a complete pass wasnt a complete pass is really getting on my nerves. These people get paid good money (not great) to stand there and enforce THE RULES of the game and then they blow them (Hoculi actually blew it, he blew the whistle making the ball dead before the Chargers recovered the fumble). If these guys don't know or understand the rules that any idiot fan knows then they shouldn't be in a position to make or break a game plain and simple. Apparently there is not enough training that goes into NFL officiating, and NBA officials gamble on the games they officiate, and MLB officials need instant replay to tell if a home run is a home run (something that wasn't needed 100 years before this year) this is nuts and I'm sick of it. While we are at it, why don't we make an officiating program like American Idol, where if you see a fumble, you call and vote who the ball goes to since the officials cannot at all get the rules right. That's what this is coming to, officials can't do their jobs and evidently fans know more about the game than officials. Something just has to change here, the old "yeah he messed the call up, but that's last week, we gotta move on" addage is a sorry excuse for not doing anything about it. San Diego should've gone straight to the league and said that they won this game, and should have a win in the win column. Now because of Hoculi the Chargers (who beat down the Colts in their last game in their old stadium in last years playoffs) are 0-2. But don't worry San Diego, you have a good team, I remember a certain team that started 0-2 last year. Who was that you ask? The 2007 World Champion New York Giants.
Are the Bucs in turmoil 2 weeks into the season? Well, Bucs fans don't know who the starting QB will be from week to week, and Brian Greise will start against his former team in '07, the Chicago Bears. Meanwhile, Jeff Garcia is sitting on the bench wondering what happened. The Bucs are not in the worst division in football anymore, and will not win the divisional title with a 9-7 record (what I project their record being at the end of the season). I will be the first to tell you now, the Bucs WILL NOT make it to Super Bowl this year. And Bucs fans know that in their hearts, this league is to strong for mediocrity. We just hope they make a strong playoff run (in which we will bitch and scream because they lost, when we knew all along that they were going to lose anyway). As losing coaches and players say: There's always next season. I'm in no way saying that Greise is a bad quarterback, but if you saw what I saw during the Bucs-Falcons game, then you saw Griese miss 3, maybe more wide open receievers for touchdowns. We were promised offensive genius 6 years ago when Dungy was kicked out in the pouring rain, moving his office stuff out of One Buc Place all alone. Now what do we have? Lackluster Swashbucklers. Gruden IS an offensive genius. In high school football. I think Robinson High is hiring a coach.
In Dallas, where most hip hop is not welcome, hip hop star and one hit wonder Kat Deluna sang the national anthem before the Eagles-Cowboys Monday Night Football game and it was horrible. She apparently thought that Dallas Stadium was Club XS, putting a hip hop spin on the song, along with provocative dance moves. Afterwards, Deluna got booed out of the stadium worser than when Terrel Owens played against the Cowboys and scored a touchdown then ran to the Dallas Star at the 50 yard line and did a little jig (which he got hit hard for). If these game entertainment planners cannot get good singers, and just book the flavor of the week then they shouldn't be planning. This reminds me of how great Whitney Houston's rendition of the anthem was when she sang it during the pregame of the Super Bowl between the Giants and the Bills at the Old Sumbrero, they played that song everyday at my elementary school before the pledge of allegiance.
After ten long grueling years, the Rays are going to make it into the playoffs. At this point we don't know if they will be a Wild Card host or a division winner, but either way they've made it with the smallest payroll in the majors. Now we suddenly see all the baseball fans that live in Tampa that apparently crawled out of a rock somewhere and are now die-hard Rays' fans. Rewind 3 years ago and ask any Tampa baseball fan who their favorite team was and they would tell you the Yankees or the BoSox, completely forgetting that Tampa even had a baseball team. Heck, the Tampa Yankees (spring league) sold more tickets than the Rays did at one point. But now Tampa has some kind of a winning sports team, and I am very thankful. No matter if the Rays get in the playoffs or lose their first round, these guys deserve a hand. They are very good, and If I were another team in the MLB, I would definentely would not want to play against these guys. Go Rays!
USF Quarterback Matt Grothe was notified a few days ago that his name was in contention for the Heisman Trophy (the best player in college football award). He quickly shot back to the press that there are politics involved in the selection of the winner and he will not be it. Well I can tell you that there are politics involved, but that's not stopping Grothe from being the Heisman winner. Grothe is stopping Grothe from being the winner. He's an average college QB, who's career will end up in the Arena League. Guaranteed.
Last week I was 6-1 in my picks. I wanted to be 7-0, but Dallas beat Philly. I picked Philly to win. Let's see how I am this week:
HOU 10 TEN 20
The Houston Texans have had a misserable time since their inception into the league, meanwhile the Titans are battling a suicidal quarterback in Vince Young, and Kerry Collins will start for the Titans. This game has some signifagance as the Titans used to play in Houston as the Oilers, then moved to Tennessee. Don't expect Houston fans to happy about this one because Titans QB Kerry Collins has a hot hand right now. I pick the Titans.
OAK 20 BUF 30
Oakland is in dissaray, as Buffalo looks to be the next power in their division since the fall of Tom Brady. Buffalo is hot and playing great football now, count on the Bills to take this one. Too bad Tim Russert isn't here to see this. If the Bills win this one they will be 3-0 for the first time in a long time.
CAR 13 MIN 10
Both of these teams have great defenses but average offenses. Last week the Vikes could not capitalize on Adrian Peterson's 130 yrd performance by losing the game, thinking that they have an elite passing tandem. They don't, and Carolina knows how to shut down a running game. Count on the Panthers in this one.
TB 17 CHI 14
Tampa Bay doesnt know who will be their QB from week to week, but Brian Greise will start against his former team. Kyle Orton should start for the Bears, and we know how young QB's play against the Bucs Defense, just ask Matt Ryan who was sacked 5 times against the Bucs last week, like I said would happen. My pick: Pirates over Bears
JAX 34 IND 28
Jacksonville is 0-2 and if they were to have any kind of a winning season this year they will win this game. The Colts are 1-1 and look weak right now. This is a good time for the Jags to catch Indy off guard and get a win. Jacksonville.
NO 21 DEN 30
Denver is playing at home and they very tough there. Jay Cutler is an awesome qb, but they wouldnt be 2-0 right now if Ed Hoculi didnt give them the game against the Chargers. My pick: Denver
DAL 35 GB 17
Aaron Rodgers has been playing good for the Pack, but he is untested. He's only played against vanilla defenses so far this season, and look for him to be embarrased at home. Look for Dallas to take this one.
I would like to take this segment to thank Nolan Canova and everyone else in Crazedfanboy world for allowing my voice to be heard on this site. Right now Sports Talk is syndicated on two powerful websites, and I hope to syndicate more. Thank You Nolan, and everybody who has read my column on a continual basis. I really, really thank you all.
"Sports Talk" is ©2008 by Christopher Munger. All graphics this page, except where otherwise noted, are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2008 by Nolan B. Canova.