Alright, I remember as a kid getting excited to watch the All-Star games, whichever sport it was. All of the best players would get together to show off their talents and some amazing plays. Maybe I have gotten old or maybe the All-Star Games have, but to me all of them have lost their flare and excitement. Maybe I should ask a couple 8 to 10 year olds and see what they think. I still don’t believe that the kids get excited for the All-Star games either anymore. This last week a couple of thinks came up that made me think of writing the blog this week about this.
First of all it was the NFL’s announcement to move their Pro Bowl, starting next year to the location of the Super Bowl and play it the week prior to the Super Bowl. I do like the idea of moving the Pro Bowl to the location of the Super Bowl. I think the trip to Hawaii has lost it’s glitter for the players and no doubt for most of the fans. I haven’t been there, but I don’t believe alot of fans make the trip to the islands to watch this game. Then there is the idea of playing the game the week before the Super Bowl. We already have problems of anyone with a hangnail or splitends not playing in the game unless the have never been there before or have a big bonus in their contract. Now we are going to play it the week before the Super Bowl. Isn’t the Pro Bowl for the Best players in the league. Doesn’t the Super Bowl usually have 2 of the best teams in the league. Do the quick math and if they are the best teams, don’t they have some of the best players. Guess what, that equals more All-Stars not playing in your Pro Bowl!!
The second thing that came up last week was the announcement of the starters of the NHL All-Star game. OK, I know most of you could care less about the NHL All-Star already, but here is another reason not to watch it. The starters for the All-Star game consist of 4 teams total! That’s right 4 teams have representatives starting. In case you didn’t see them, let me tell you who they were. The Eastern Conference has 4 Montreal Canadiens and 2 Pittsburgh Penguins. The Western Conference has 3 Chicago Blackhawks and 3 Anaheim Ducks. I know that the fans vote on the starters and the game is in Montreal, so hats off, I guess to the Canadien fans for getting their players there, but don’t you want to see the best players in the league? You already see your own players every home game. What would have been even more, for lack of a better word, STUPID, was that at one point a Canadien led at all 6 positions in the starting line-up before Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin pass two of them. So I wouldn’t have as much of a problem if these were the 4 best teams in the league but they are not. Montreal is 12 points behind Boston in the Northeast Division. the Bruins lead the league in points. Then their are the Pittsburgh Penguins. They are under .500 and are in 4th in their division. The Western Teams aren’t much better. Chicago is 8 points behind the Central Division leading and defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Redwings. Finally the Anaheim Ducks are sitting at .500 and are 18 points behind the Pacific leading San Jose Sharks. The top 5 goal scorers and no goaltender in the top 7 in Wins, GAA or Save percentage were voted into the starting line-up.
This is just two things that came up this week. There are plenty more. Let me go through a few of them. I will start in Baseball. The Mid-Summer Classic is just the nickname. Like the NHL All-Star game, the voting by the fans have ruined the true meaning of the game. More than anything, I blame the online voting. If you want to vote, then play for your ticket and go to the game. Last year we saw Kosuke Fukudome get voted as an NL starter. He batter .257 with 10 HR’s this year. Then the idea of making this a exhibition game with a purpose is rediculous. The winning league gets the home field advantage for the World Series. Why do that when you have a perfect way to decide it. You have a limited interleague schedule. These games count and teams are playing for the win. How about the league with the better record there gets the World Series home field advantage. If you want, say that if that is a tie, then the All-Star game would be the tie-breaker.
Next we have the winter sports. The NBA & NHL All-Star games can be, for the most part, coupled together. Then divide up the season and give most of the players in the league a 4 to 6 day break. Neither sport plays any defense, and both have very entertaining Skills Competitions. Here is an idea, lets just keep the Skills Competitions. Fans can still go and see their favorite players performing. They can still have all the parties and events and we don’t have to waste time with a meaningless game, where no one plays defense. Personally, I watch the Slamdunk & the Hardest Slapshot contest more than the actual games. Since we are already on the subject, lets get rid of the NFL Pro Bowl and MLB All-Star game and just keep have Skill Competitions there also. The NFL could have their QB challenge, a fastest man contest, a strength test and some type of kicking competition. Baseball could add events to go along with the HR Derby. A fastest pitch contest, fastest player around the bases and others could be added.
Just not to leave out the NASCAR fans and their All-Star race, come on isn’t it just another race that just leaves out the guys that finish in the bottom 20 every week. If you truely want to have an All-Star race, how aobut having a pit crew competition that you show on TV and a race that is similar to an IROC race, where everyone has that exact same car to qualify and race with, with NO modifications. The only thing the pit crews can do is re-fuel, change tires, and body work that was causes by contact during the race.
So that all said, I don’t expect anyone to take this seriously. I don’t expect many new changes on any of the sports policies when it comes to their All-Star Games, but at least I got to get it off my chest. So enough about that, lets get to a free winner for this weekend. Lets go with the Philadlephia/NY Giants UNDER the total of 40. The Eagles defense has really started to hit stride here at the end of the season. Over their last 4 games they have allowed 10 points per game. The Giants defense ranked 5th in the NFL in scoring all year. They have also had 4 of their last 5 games had less than 40 points scored in them. FREE WINNER:PHILADELPHIA/NY GIANTS UNDER the total of 40. Last week we cashed in with the International Bowl OVER the total here. Lets keep it going this week and don’t forgetto get a free winner from the VEGAS STEAM LINE each and everyday at Freeplays.com. We have had an outstanding football season and we keep things going though the basketball season.
By The Vegas Steamline
So we have reached the end of the regular season and even though I believe that season awards should include the playoffs, especially when you talk about the MVP, I have come up with my list of award winners. This year as most, there were some real easy picks and some real hard ones. So lets get right to them.
By the Vegas Steamline
So here we are, the final week of the NFL regular season and even though we have more meaningful games than we usually do in this final week, the question of whether is sit and rest starters for the teams that have locked up playoff spots is still there. Every year this question comes up, “Should this team rest their starters this week?”. Well if you take a look at last year, the 2 teams that played in the Super Bowl, the Patriots and the Giants both played their starters in the final week of the season. As a matter of fact, they played their starters against each other. The Giants had already wrapped up the wildcard but still played their starters, while the Patriots were going for the perfect season. On a opposite note, the Dallas Cowboys, who had the #1 seed locked up in the NFC, played their starters for about a half in the final week and lost 27-6. They then went on to lose their first playoff game to the Giants. So does that mean every team should play their starters. I think each situation is unique. Lets take a look at each of the teams that have to make that decision this week.
By The Vegas Steamline
So here we are, it is the holiday season time for candy canes, egg nog, Christmas Cookies and of course, College Bowl games. This year, much like we have seen over the past decade or so, the bowl season is a long, stretched out group of less than interesting match-ups for the most part. First of all, before I go through and rip the BCS and the no playoff system, let me just say, I will probably watch almost every game of the bowl season. They may not be the pretty or most interesting match-ups all the time, but it is still football and with the proper work, we can still make some good holiday investments. Like I have said before, there is no reason that we can’t have an 8 team playoff and still play the other ump-teen other meaningless bowl games. So with that said, let me go through the Bowl Schedule and tell which games I think are the ones to watch and which ones are the ones that will be good holiday naptime background noise.
By The Vegas Steamline
So the old saying goes, “On any given Sunday, one NFL team could beat another”. For the most case that fact is true. It is funny how 1 or two plays can make all the difference. So it got me thinking, what would the standings look like if the ball bounced a little differently, the wind blew a little harder, or a flag was or wasn’t thrown on a key play. First of all there are the big “What ifs”, like what if Tom Brady doesn’t get hurt in week one or Shawn Merriman doesn’t get injured in the pre-season. Will the Giants be saying what if Plaxico Burress doesn’t shoot himself in the leg. That one we will have to wait and see. So now lets have some fun. So lets go through the games that ended up being decided by less than 7 points and say that the other team won. What would the standings look like then? I left the tie between the Eagles and the Bengals because you would have to figure it in both ways if you were going to do it. Here is a look at the current standings on the left, followed by what they would look like if the other results would have happened.
By The Vegas Steamline
So here we are a couple weeks after I had originally written about the ugly mess that is the BCS. As expected nothing has really changed. We are going to have plenty of unhappy bowlers that will be playing for nothing but more money for their schools. And for that matter, it doesn’t matter win or lose each school gets the same amount once they get their bowl invite. So the BCS has decided that Oklahoma is the best team in the Big-12 and so they get to play in the Big-12 Championship game this week versus Missouri. Then more than likely they will play for the National Championship versus the SEC Championship game winner between Alabama and Florida. Things could get even more confusing if somehow Chase Daniel, Jeremy Macklin and the rest of the Missouri Tigers could pull the upset and beat the Sooners this weekend. Then who would get in?
Would it be Texas, the #4 ranked team, even though they didn’t even play for their own Conference Championship. They did beat Oklahoma on a nuetral site. How about Texas Tech, they beat Texas. Then their is USC. The Trojans have just one loss and have been dominant down the stretch. Penn St has just one loss in the Big-10 and that came on the road on a last second field goal. We can’t forget our 3 other undefeated teams. Utah, Boise St and Ball St all remain perfect.
By The Vegas Steamline
So we have come to that time of the year when everyone takes a look at the year in review, messures things up and comes up with reasons that they are thankful. OK, this has been an up and down year personally for myself. Without a doubt the biggest reason for me to be thankful would be the little bundle of joy that came into my wife and my life on May. But this is a sports site and so I have come up with a Top-10 list (Credit Late Night w/ David Letterman for the idea). So here you go. This is the Vegas Steam Line’s Top-10 Sports reasons to be thankful.
By The Vegas Steamline
So are you a fan of instant replay or not? I guess after this weekend I could figure out, by asking you if you had the Chargers or the Steelers. In case you missed it, let me explain. The Steelers had just taken the lead 11-10 on a field goal with 11 seconds to play. After the ensuing kickoff, the Chargers tried doing the old Cal throw the ball all over the place play. They fumbled one of the laterals and Troy Palamalu picked it up and ran it for a TD. That made the score 17-10, a supposed unlikely cover for the Steelers. The referees then replayed the play and said the first pass by the Chargers was an illegal forward pass and the ball should be dead on the spot. This took the points off the board and gave the Chargers the cover. Because the play was inside of 2:00 minutes it was automatically reviewed by the booth and didn’t need a team review as the Chargers would have probably just let it go. To them a loss is a loss, for Vegas it turned out to be a big win for the Sports books. It turned out that Vegas had taken much more action on Pittsburgh than San Diego on the game.
By The Vegas Steamline
Right now the BCS is spending their Saturday’s watching college football and their Sunday’s in their house of worship, whichever they choose. With just 3 weeks remaining in the regular season, Alabama and Texas Tech are the only 2 remaining undefeated teams in the BCS conferences. They are praying that both will remain perfect and set up the perfect scenario for their BCS Championship game. That will be easier said than done. Alabama still has to face Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and the #4 Florida Gators. Texas Tech still has to face #5 Oklahoma on the road and then take on the Big-12 North Champs (more than likely #12 Missouri) in the Big-12 Championship Game. All it is going to take is one loss by either team to throw things into a real quagmire.
By The Vegas Steamline
At the beginning of the season there was no doubt which division was the best in the NFL. As a matter of fact the way the NFC East started the season, they truly looked like the best division in the history of the NFL. So here we are at the mid-point of the season and the NFC East hasn’t quite looked as dominant. The NFC South looks to have plenty of power themselves and the AFC East and AFC South seem like they may have some bragging rights. So lets take a look at who is the best divisions in the NFL “SO FAR”.
By The Vegas Steamline
Over the past few years, I think that there has been really no argument that the SEC was the top conference in college football. They have won 2 straight National Championships with LSU last year and Florida the year before. Now here we are 9 weeks into the season and there is definately an argument if the SEC is still the best conference in college football or has the Big-12 made the pass. Before we rank all of the conferences in Division 1, lets take a look at the argument of which one is number 1.
By The Vegas Steamline
For anyone who has ever played poker, you know how it feels when you get a bad beat. This weekend we experienced the ultimate in bad beats in college football. I guess as hot as we have been all football season long ( 90-46-2 since Sept. 1st), we were due to take a bad one. We were on the Michigan Wolverines +24½ against Penn St. In case you didn’t actually see the game and just saw the end result, let me tell you a bit about what happened. Michigan actually lead 17-7 in the 2nd quarter and it was 17-14 at halftime. After that the wheels fell off. Still when you are getting more than 3 TDs, you have to still feel pretty good. Penn St took the lead, and started to stretch it out, but still the clock was on our side. Finally we were down to the final 5 minutes of the game and Michigan has the ball trailing by 22. The Wolverines had to punt, but it put Penn St back to their own 20. Penn St then trotted out many of their second stringers. They run the ball up the middle for gains of 2 & 3, plus they have a 5 yard penalty, so they are sitting at 3rd and 10 and running the clock. They run a middle screen play that goes for 80 yards and the dagger in my heart! For you poker players it is kind of like this. You are sitting with pocket Aces, the flop comes Ace of clubs, 10 of heart and 7 of clubs. You bet with your 4 aces and get one caller. The turn comes and shows a 4 of clubs. You bet more and get the call. The final card is the 2 of clubs. You go all in and the caller flips over the 3 and 5 of clubs for his straight flush, beating your quad Aces. It is just sick. The only worse beat I can recall in college football was a game about 6 to 8 years ago in the Pac-10. Actually I was on the lucky side of this one. I had a favorite of 10 points or so. All I know was it was more than a TD. The game went to OT. My team scored and got the extra point. The other team then threw a pass that was intercepted by my team and taken back for the TD to win by 13 and get the cover. That would be a tough loss to swallow, but that was kind of a fluky play. The Michigan/Penn St game was truly a lack of heart by Michigan. That team totally gave up once they fell behind.
By The Vegas Steamline
Well here we are, we have passed over the mid-point of the college football season and the NFL is now 6 weeks in. Every year all the media, so called experts and arm chair quarterbacks make brash statements anoiting teams Super Bowl Champions or BCS bound before the season has even started. Then after a couple weeks of play, it is a group of totally different teams that are untouchable. Well let’s take a look at some of those teams and what has happened so far this year.
By Vegas Steamline
Each and every year I see these huge favorites in college football and when I start making my decisions on which games to use, I have a tendency to just skip over these games. When I see a 20 point favorite or more I just move on as most people seem to do, but maybe I should really take a second look. I now think there may be some situations and some teams that might just be real moneymakers.
By Vegas Steamline
Every season we see it happen once or twice! The top teams take a beating on one certain weekend. That weekend was last weekend! Wow, #1, #3 & #4 all go down, 4 of the top 10 teams lose, 9 of the Top-25 teams lose! Talk about a complete overhaul of the Top-10 in college football. There is not 1 team in the Top-10 that had that same position last week. We have 2 new teams in the Top-10 with Penn St at #6 and South Florida at #10. The two teams that are gone are Florida and Wisconsin. USC dropped from #1 to #9, while Alabama went from #8 to #2. In case you missed it here are the upsets that brought about the mix-up. It started out with the Thursday night undoing of #1, where USC lost to Oregon St as a 25 point favorite. Then we had Alabama jump all over Georgia early and hang on for the win. The Tide was ahead 31-0 at halftime. Florida had a late 4th quarter extra point blocked and lost by 1 to Mississippi as a 24 point favorite and Wisconsin took a 19-0 halftime lead, just to watch Michigan come all the way back to beat the Badgers 27-25.
Just because Saturday ended didn’t mean the upsets were through. On Sunday, it was a rivalry match-ups that played out as the biggest upsets of the day. The 0-3 Kansas City Chiefs hosted the 3-0 Denver Broncos. As a 9 point underdog, the Chiefs took it to their bitter rivals winning 33-19. That wasn’t the only upset of the day. We also saw the undefeated Cowboys as a 10 point home favorite get beat by divisional counterparts, the Washington Redskins 26-24. Sunday night we also saw a small upset as the Chicago Bears beat the Philadelphia Eagles.