The massacre of star running backs continues into Week 4. The league's leading rusher Earnest Byner was injured in the Redskins' loss to the previously winless Bengles and Tecmo legend Bo Jackson was also hurt in the Raiders' win over the winless Falcons. Barry Sanders did return to action this week after missing two games and rushed for 179 yards but the Lions still lost to the Colts. In other action the Steelers knocked the Eagles from the ranks of the unbeaten and the lowly Patriots picked up
The Bills didn't miss Thurman Thomas for long as he was already back in the line up as they dispatched Jets in easy fashion 31-14. They are one of only three unbeatens left after only three weeks along with the Raiders and Eagles. The Vikings starting quarteback Wade Wilson was knocked out in the second half of their game against the 49ers but back up Rich Gannon led them to a 4th quarter comeback and overtime win, sending the Niners to a dissapointing 1-2 start.
Week 3 Scores
Washing
Two weeks in, two injured star running backs. In 35-3 blowout win over the Steelers, the Bills last their superstar Thurman Thomas to injury. The Lions so far have survived without Barry Sanders getting off to a 2-0 start after nipping the Packers 14-13. The big game of the week was the Rams upsetting the defending Super Bowl champion Giants 23-20 in overtime, and the Rams are now 2-0.
Week 2 Results
Seattle 20, N.Y. Jets 14
SEA: 2-0, NJY: 1-1
-Tommy Kane: 4 rec, 131 yards
De
About four years out of Boredom I went on a binge of downloading roms to play old NES games. It was fun for a little while but playing on the keyboard got old fast. One of the games I downloaded of course was the favorite childhood video game of many men my age, Tecmo Super Bowl. A couple of weeks ago I finally had the itch again to play TSB but again playing on the keyboard just isn't nearly as fun as playing the original on the NES. So I decided for my next series of blog entires was to simula
Hey its entry #200! Ya I had nothing special thought out. I've tried putting together a list of the Top 50 Oakland A's of All-Time but am never satisfied with the list when I put it together. I also tried putting together a list of the Top 100 baseball players of my baseball lifetime but that became too difficult and eventually too subjective as I made adjustments to it. So as a total cop out I decided to list the Top 50 most replied to threads in the Sports forum here at TSM which is pretty muc
It's the All-Star Break so might as well give out some mideason awards. I honestly haven't paid much attention to the Cy Young or Rookie of the Year races this year and when I did I realized I made a mistake on my last MVP Watch.
National League Midseason Awards
Starting of course with the MVP, since my last MVP Watch was just 10 days there isn't going to be much change. But there was a major change on the N.L. side as after dropping out of the Top 10 last time in this short span Hanle
I attended the Mariners/A's game last night. On paper it seemed like a very favorable match-up with Dan Haren pitching for the A's against Jeff Weaver of the Mariners. Haren didn't have it last night, and he really hasn't had it for the last few weeks, but through six innings he had only given up one run mainly due to the Mariners over agressive hitting. He'd thrown 99 pitches to that point and I thought it'd be a good idea to get the hook instead of pressing their luck especially with scored ti
It's safe to say that the N.L. MVP race this year may end up being as wide open as the A.L. MVP race was most of last season. After never having a different #1 last season, I now place a 3rd different player at the top spot for this entry. I really didn't see it coming but the new #1 was the slam dunk choice this time around although I'm not sure if the media has noticed yet. For the rest of the list, Brad Penny rockets into the Top 5 and we'll see if he'll avoid a second straight, second half b
The NBA Draft is this week so time for a NBA Draftback. Now I've done this twice before for past NBA Drafts (1989 and 1993) but I do them differently from the NFL and MLB ones as I rank the players from the draft by their career totals in the basketball version of Win Shares. As always I have no idea how reliable the basketball version is but it is interesting way to compare the careers of players from an individual draft class.
Like when I chose the 1987 MLB Draft this year I picked the 19
Regulars of the Sports forum know that for the past three years I've been running a College Football Pick 'Em Contest. At the conclusion of last season I was uncertain if I wanted to continue running this contest. During last season the contest started to become a chore for me to run rather than a fun time killer. But after giving it it some thought and given the desire of others to keep it going I've decided to do it for at least one more year. I'll be holding off on posting the sign up thread
Well Jose Reyes will not repeat Albert Pujols' feat last season of leading the race wire to wire, then losing the real MVP, but he's not far from the now much fatter top spot. To no surprise at all J.J Hardy's fast start has come crashing down to earth and he is no where to be seen this time around after competing for the top spot last time. Barry Bonds has also cooled off but his rate stats are still way too good to leave out of the Top 10. Russell Martin might be this year's Joe Mauer and I ca
With Baseball-Reference.com now adding an extensive amateur draft database I thought for a quicky entry it might be mildly interesting to take a look back at who were the best picks for each round by the A's since the draft started in 1965. I originally thought of going through every round but settled on the first 20 rounds as you get later into the draft you have some rounds where they have zero players ever making it to the Majors.
1. Reggie Jackson, OF, Arizona State, 1966
Hard to g
The MLB Draft is this week and for the first time it will be televised which will likely replace the NFL Draft for the boringest sports program ever. At least with the NFL Draft you've seen the top players play because college football is everywhere on Saturday's in the Fall but you are rarely able to catch any college baseball on t.v. outside the College World Series plus on top of that many of the top prospects are drafted out of high school.
I just picked 1987 to do a Draftback since by
A's lost two out of three to the Orioles this weekend in Baltimore and as May closes out it is once again looking like this is the year the A's string of winning seasons comes to an end. But it seems that way every year the first couple of months of the season before they go on some insane run for a couple of months that saves their season. Their former shortstop Miguel Tejada had never homered in 25 games against the A's before homering in back-to-back days this weekend and it was five years ag
Finally I have an excuse to update this dying blog as HardballTimes.com has release the first Win Shares of the year and I know you are all excited. Okay maybe not, but it least allows me to take my first look of the year at the MVP races in both leagues. Being that we're less than two months into the season you have to take most things so far with a grain of salt. Taking a look back at my first MVP Watch from last year only two players from each league were in my final fictional MVP ballot (Alb
This past week has to be the most bizarre week I can remember in my sports lifetime. The Golden State Warriors upset of the Dallas Mavericks has made the Warriors the most talked about story by the national sports media, well until fat fuck Clemens signed with the Yankees today. Since I've been watching sports for the last 20+ years the only time the Warriors were ever the national conscious was when Latrell Sprewell choked P.J. Carlesimo almost 10 years ago. I have said in the past though that
I've been lazy with this blog for a few months now so no surprise I'm only getting around to second Draftback before the draft. Decided might as well do one from 10 years ago with the 1997 Draft and it is interesting to look at because one first rounder is in jail and another is dead. Can't beat that combo.
1. St. Louis - Orlando Pace, T, Ohio State
Not always glamerous to pick a lineman with the first pick overall but hard to argue with the Rams choice here. Selected to seven Pro B
This past week the Golden State Warriors ended 13 years of misery by finally clinching a playoff bid. My interest in the Warriors has never come close to my passion for the A's or even the 49ers but I'm excited never the less. As a kid I was a bandwagon Laker fan, which was hard not to do in the 80's, but around age 12 or 13 I dumped my bandwagon ways and started rooting strictly for the local teams then finally adopting the Warriors as my NBA team. I was a freshman in high school the last time
Been a long time since I did one of these as I got discouraged after flushing my 1991 Mariners entry by accident. But after doing the 80's tournament figured I might as well do one on the team that won it, the 1980 Expos. I normally try to focus on teams from the last 20 years since many of the players I at least have memories of seeing play but there are a quite a few interesting players from this club and I hadn't done one on the Expos yet.
Expos were in a heated three team race with the
Oh it's the time of year again where idiots like me waste an entire weekend watching the most boring possible thing to watch in sports, the NFL Draft, but for someone reason we just can't turn away. So in honor of this I'll do what I did last year and take a look back at the 1st Rounds of a few drafts of the past providing zero analysis and bad jokes. Here were the ones I did last year:
1990
1993
1983
1995
This year I picked 1986 to start as the #1 pick didn't even sign and it wa
Just a note, of course for the finals the DH is used in New York and the pitcher's hit in Montreal.
80's Tournament Finals: 1980 Montreal Expos vs. 1980 New York Yankees
Game 1: Expos 13, Yankees 3
Ellis Valentine homered twice off of Tommy John and went 4 for 5 on the day as the Expos bombed the Yankees in Game 1. Steve Rogers pitched a complete game in the win.
Game 2: Expos 8, Yankees 7
Goose Gossage blew the save as the Expos scored five in the 9th stealing both game
After the 2003 season Miguel Tejada was a free agent and A's general manager Billy Beane had a major decision. He could either re-sign Tejada and allow Eric Chavez to leave as a free agency the following year or allow Tejada to leave and sign Chavez to a long term extension. He chose to allow Tejada to leave and ink Chavez to a 6-year, $66 million deal. Protests from some A's fans aside this made the most sense. Chavez was to that point the better hitter, the better fielder, and was two years yo
Final Four: National League Finals: 1980 Montreal Expos vs. 1980 Houston Astros
Game 1: Astros 4, Expos 3
Astros come from behind with a three-run 9th, capped by an Enos Cabell two-run double for the win.
Game 2: Expos 4, Astros 1
Astros tried another 9th inning miracle by loading the bases with one out but Joe Morgan grounded into a game ending double play.
Game 3: Expos 8, Astros 6
Astros chased Bill Gullickson out of the game in the 4th, building a 6-1 lead, but
A.L. West Finals: (12) 1988 Minnesota Twins vs. (6) 1983 Chicago White Sox
Game 1: Twins 6, White Sox 5
Tim Laudner hit a grand slam in the 6th off LaMarr Hoyt. White Sox had the tying and winning runs on in the 9th but Jeff Reardon held them off.
Game 2: Twins 15, White Sox 4
Every Twins starter scored at least one run as they crushed Floyd Bannister and the White Sox bullpen. Dan Gladden led the way going 3 for 5 with a homerun.
Game 3: White Sox 3, Twins 2
Richar
Eigh teams left, three from 1980 with the possibility of an all 1980 match-up in the N.L. side of the Final Four. Here's a recap of the National League region/division finals.
N.L. East Finals: (14) 1980 Montreal Expos vs. (4) 1985 St. Louis Cardinals
Game 1: Cardinals 8, Expos 4
Cardinals jumped out to a 6-0 lead after three innings and Darrell Porter went 3 for 4 with a homerun (6th out the tournament) and 4 rbi.
Game 2: Cardinals 6, Expos 1
Andy Van Slyke hit a three-
