07 Feb 2013
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The Bouncing Ball, Thoughts on Sports By Paul West: Nemo Edition

The Bouncing Ball, Thoughts on Sports by Paul West

Hi, sports fans! It’s time for another edition of The Bouncing Ball. With “Snowicane” Nemo coming, I hope you’re all safe, warm and well. On to the show.

  • First of all, I’m not even a big Dwight Howard fan. I think his handling of the situation in Orlando was akin to LeBron’s handling of “The Decsion”…only he, unlike LeBron, was a league veteran at that point! Nevertheless, I’m with him when he says: “I mean, why wouldn’t I want to play? But, at the same time, this is my career, this is my future, this is my life. I can’t leave that up to anybody else because nobody else is going to take care of me…If I go down, then what? Everybody’s life is going to go on.” He’s exactly right. I have no problem with playing through pain, but hassling a big man whose game is predicated on power and banging, to play through a back that reportedly had him barely able to walk last off season–and a torn shoulder labrum, when his job is to slam-bang around and rebound with the league’s biggest–is silly. Just because Kobe’s competitiveness borders on insanity doesn’t mean everyone’s has to. And I do share the general opinion that Howard needs to get mentally tougher…but this is not the time. If anything, I think he’s exhibiting mental toughness in his response to the current unfair criticism. READ MORE
07 Feb 2013
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NY Giants Cut Vets Bradshaw, Canty, Boley

The salary cap is a bitch. In order to get under the cap, the NY Football Giants had to cut three veterans in Ahmad Bradshaw, Chris Canty and Michael Boley. These were key players on the team for the past few seasons. Bradshaw had in fact become somewhat of a leader on the team, laid his body on the line over and over again throughout his career, and just had too many injuries. Now he joins his pal Brandon Jacobs on the unemployment line. It’s a cruel business but this is how it is in the NFL.
 

Bradshaw did not want to take a pay cut and the team had to let him go because they still have to resign a batch of their own free agents – Will Beatty, Victor Cruz, Martellus Bennett, Lawrence Tynes, Stevie Brown and Andre Brown. READ MORE

03 Feb 2013
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#Superbowl Power Outage/Halftime Analysis

The Bouncing Ball, Thoughts on Sports by Paul West

So before the 109-yard runback, I was gonna say this game isn’t over; Flacco got away with a couple of throws near the end of the first half that should have gotten picked, and Kaepernick is really explosive. The good news: that happened so quickly, that there’s the whole first half left. And this power outage is giving the Niners time to regroup after a big-time “oh sh-t” moment.

And the announcers are talking about going to Alex Smith…talk about ironic.

I can’t take credit for this idea, but someone on my gf’s Facebook news feed just joked that Sean Payton killed the power as a big ‘f–k you’ to Goodell. And ya know, I wouldn’t be surprised if Saints fans were REEEALLY happy to see Goodell’s big day spoiled…

One last thing: announcers are already talking that ‘milk the clock’ ish. Now, I understand the value of killing the clock, but I watched the Giants resort so prematurely conservative play calling this season and give away games they should have had in the bag. I’m not saying the Ravens should be loopy with the football–especially given my opinion that Flacco’s gotten away with a few squirrelly throws so far–but taking your foot off the gas with a full half to go is not, in my opinion, the move.

Ah, here we go. Game on.

01 Feb 2013
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NFL Super Bowl Picks

Well it’s time for the big game. Paul and I have gone over this carefully and here are our predictions:

Doc says…

Photo: (Rob Carr/Getty Images North America)

“Score-wise this will be a strange replay of the
Giants-Bills Super Bowl where Scott Norwood missed a last second field goal to give the Giants the win. This time the goat will be 49ers kicker David Akers, who has been in a bit of a slump. A late miss will give the Ravens a hard-earned win and a storybook ending for Ray Lewis. Akers then, will be forever known as the guy who missed the kick, regardless of a solid career before that, Scott Norwood will be relieved, and there will be a parade in Baltimore. The Ravens have that feeling about them. Call it destiny, meant to be, or whatever. My pick= Ravens 27-24″

Paul says…

“This game is oddly well matched, for two teams whose offenses seem built on different premises and whose coaches–despite being siblings–seem so strikingly different. The Niners feel like they’ve finally gotten where they belong, after a handful of near-misses; the Ravens have been close a few times, as well, but this season feels like one they made up as they went along and pulled out of the fire to get this far. It’s going to be a battle, and I think the score will be counter-intuitively high for a Super Bowl with two staunch defenses; I think the game will swing on a big defensive play, and both kickers will do their jobs. Expect another big-time game from Anquan Boldin, who’s consistently under-trumpeted but just keeps on doing it right when it counts. 30-27, Ravens.”

30 Jan 2013
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The Bouncing Ball, Thoughts on Sports by Paul West, the Deer Antler Version

The Bouncing Ball, Thoughts on Sports by Paul West

Hey sports fans, I’m going to skip with the niceties and get right to business, because this week there’s a bumper crop of sports madness to address. So I’m going to rant a little.

  • Ed Reed: just because you aren’t troubled by the fact that you “wake up and say, ‘where’d my memory go?’” doesn’t mean that everyone feels that way. Moreover, there is evidence that the NFL suppressed evidence of concussion effects for years and years, while they supported an environment where players felt compelled to go back on the field when they medically SHOULD NOT HAVE, or risk losing their jobs. With non-guaranteed contracts and extremely short career spans, and the possibility of getting the treatment that Matt Forte got from the Chicago Bears for doing the right thing. And lots of them are in the NFL as a ‘way out’ or a primary means of feeding themselves and/or their loved ones. And to suggest that Junior Seau–who SHOT HIMSELF IN THE CHEST—does not have regrets–is just so preposterous, I don’t even know where to begin. Lots of NFL players, including the ones who are not on board with suing the NFL for the things for which I strongly believe it ought to be sued, have said they don’t want their kids playing tackle football. Hmm. READ MORE
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