Dangerous A

While the Pats got this game, they need to address their run defense. They allowed way more run yards than they usually do and we'll see if this is a trend to follow for them this year.

It sucks for Eddy too because he can't take anything for pain since he is still a recovering drug addict, which entails not being able to take even the most basic painkilling meds to ease pain. The grind of having to put on ppv quality matches night in and out while not being able to take even tylenol would suck for just about anyone.

While zone defenses have only been legally allowed recently, teams have been disguising zones and generally doing a better job of switching since the early 90's. (again, starting with the Pistons back to back teams of 89 and 90) I remember during the second three peat of the Bulls, Phil Jackson all but saying they were playing a disguised junk defense against the Jazz to help cover up deficiencies because Pippen and Harper were playing hurt and they were 2 of their top defenders on the team. Riley's Knicks and Heat teams also did a good job of playing man, but also held zone principals when switching. After watching some games on NBA TV from the 80's (including a Laker/Celtic final from 84) I noticed that a lot of guys were not getting back defensively and more full court pressure, which if broken properly, will get you a shitload of open shots and fastbreak oppurtunities.

Excellent discussion going on here. The statistics that alkeiper bring up do not lie. I believe that while today's players aren't as fundamentally sound as players from the past, I think the main reason for the dip in scoring is because defense is stressed way more than in the past. The past is very romanticized, especially the Bird/Magic era. A lot of people think that those guys never missed a shot or committed a turnover when watching highlight reels from the past. Those reels don't show the missed shots and silly plays that everyone made. It's kind of like the And1 guys. When you watch "Streetball", you are getting the edited package of these guys, but don't let the smooth taste fool you. If you've ever seen And1 live and in person, there are a ton of mistakes and sloppy play that never make it on the show. The media (specifically ESPN) encapsulate this to no end. Teams don't run and gun as much as teams used to in the earlier years of the league. If any of you have NBA TV, watch some games from the 80's. You will see a ton of matador defense being played and guys getting out and trying to run a ton more than today. Today, defense is the emphasis and if any of you have played any organized ball in your lives, you know it takes energy to be a very good defensive team. Run and gun teams give up more points because they simply don't get back defensively. Lock down, halfcourt "D" teams play halfcourt basketball because they wouldn't have the energy to play run and gun and be a consistent lockdown team. Because the tempo of the games is such that teams are concentrating so much on defense and playing halfcourt, the scoring goes down. In the late 80's-early 90's when lack of scoring wasn't an epidemic, you'll see that teams took a more lackadaisacal approach on defense in the regular season with more running and uptempo ball and then switched gears in the playoffs to more of a halfcourt game and traditionally scoring would take a hit in the playoffs right around the Pistons back to back era. (that particular Pistons team is to credit for the defensive play and philosophy you see today from many teams as the Lakers and Celtics ran and ran and would play a stretch of defense to try to pull away in a game) I just think now teams have decided to adopt to locking teams up and worrying about offense second. Sure, I'll admit that yesterday's players were more adept at hitting a jumper than today, but today's players have more hands in their faces because defenses are more intense than in the past.

Here goes... Thursday, September 9th Missouri at Troy State Friday, September 10th Florida State at Miami Oregon State at Boise State Saturday, September 11th UNLV at Wisconsin Arizona State at Northwestern Southern Miss at Nebraska UCLA at Illinois Fresno State at Kansas State Michigan at Notre Dame Marshall at Ohio State Colorado at Washington State North Carolina at Virginia Wyoming at Texas A&M Georgia at South Carolina Houston at Oklahoma Colorado State at USC Georgia Tech at Clemson Penn State at Boston College Mississippi at Alabama Texas at Arkansas Tiebreaker #1: How many total points will be scored in the Florida State/Miami game?47 Tiebreaker #2: How many total yards (passing & rushing) will Missouri's Brad Smith have against Troy State? 395

My exact sentiments, posted a few hours early.

Correction. Team USA wins the bronze. (I know, 3 days late, sue me) I am not sure about who most people are. I don't recall the 2000 Team USA being called a Dream Team, although the '96 team was for sure.

Here is DA to save the day as I will represent Michigan State. Too bad lomasmoney. Thursday, September 2nd Texas A&M at Utah Northwestern at TCU Friday, September 3rd Washington State at New Mexico - Tiebreaker #2 Saturday, September 4th Miami of Ohio at Michigan Bowling Green at Oklahoma California at Air Force Virginia at Temple Michigan State at Rutgers Oklahoma State at UCLA Wake Forest at Clemson Oregon State at LSU Tulane at Mississippi State Colorado State at Colorado Toledo at Minnesota Notre Dame at BYU Sunday, September 5th Syracuse at Purdue Kentucky at Louisville Fresno State at Washington UNLV at Tennessee Monday, September 6th Nevada at Louisiana Tech Pittsburgh at South Florida Florida State at Miami - Tiebreaker #1 Tiebreaker #3: How many total points will be scored in the Florida State/Miami game? I'll go with 45 Obviously my picks are in bold. Good luck, gentlemen.

Actully on the Fox pregame show yesterday they said Deion clocked a 4.38 on the 40, so he's added .30 on his old 40 time. Still, 4.38 is fast enough to cover a 3rd reciever as Tom said. He won't be asked to be a hitter, just a guy to come in during 3rd and long situations.

"No gold, for the "Dream Team" Apparantly no Bronze either. BTW, this is not a "dream team". The only dream team was the '92 team. All the other teams are insert year Team USA teams.

I don't hate USC, but I'm not a fan for sure. I'll take them over UCLA any day of the week. I think not having Mike Williams will hurt them more than they think and I believe they will lose their preseason number 1 ranking soon enough. VT will not win tonight. Anyhoo, GO MIAMI HURRICANES!!!

Cards are done now that Boldin and Fitzgerald will be missing significant time and Shipp is done for the season. I'd go with the Lions in the NFC and the Bengals in the AFC.

This is from Fox Sports Net http://msn.foxsports.com/story/2656912 Terrell Owens often bickered with Jeff Garcia when the two were San Francisco 49ers teammates. The fact that both players joined new teams during the off-season hasn't quieted Owens, who recently implied Garcia was gay, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The newspaper reported Owens, in the September issue of Playboy, answered Garcia's denials that he is gay by saying, "Like my boy tells me: If it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, then by golly, it is a rat." Owens was asked about his comments Tuesday following Eagles practice. And the standout wide receiver offered some clarification by repeating his statement. But he also added the Playboy interview was a "loose" interview and "everybody was going to make a big deal out of it. But it wasn't like I came right out and said Jeff was gay." Owens also added in his talk following practice that he thought Garcia — who signed with the Browns in March — has a girlfriend. "He had a girlfriend when we were in San Fran and there's been reports he has a girlfriend now so that was the extent of (the magazine interview)," Owens said. Coincidentally, the Inquirer reported Garcia's girlfriend, Carmella Decesare, was a high-profile bystander at Browns practice Tuesday. Decesare is the 2004 Playboy Playmate of the Year. TO-a class act we can all know and love. Not sure what to make of his comments except that TO is a jerk, but what's new? I don't think the Eagles play the Browns this year, so no reciepts to be had there. However, TO probrably has that Eagles/Browns circled for concern that one Ray Lewis is looking for him for opening his mouth earlier the other week ragging on Lewis.

I heard Franken say about a month ago that he is getting paid along with the other on air talent. I also heard that they supposedly got some funds from rich Hollywood types, with Larry David being named as one of the people. I don't have any links or proof if any of this is true, it's just what I heard.

Word from the Dan Patrick show said that it was a team administered drug test, so Parcells and Jones have to skirt around the issue a bit because of legal issues with the player's association.

It was a bit of an overreaction on my part, but what does "go back to the puro folder" ignorant shit have to do with anything? I post there, sure, but if you look most of my posts are in this folder. I came with a link from a credible news source, posted my comment and was done. Just wondering where the personal attack came from is all.

Why don't you politely go fuck yourself then, BitchX.

I just gave you a link to what is going on, BX.

Fox Sports has a huge twist to this story.. http://msn.foxsports.com/story/2638378 Quarterback Quincy Carter is expected to be released by the Dallas Cowboys Wednesday after testing positive for cocaine, league sources told FOX NFL Sunday insider John Czarnecki. Club owner Jerry Jones confirmed that Carter has been released. Cowboys coach Bill Parcells is expected to hold a regularly scheduled news conference at 11:30 a.m. PT Wednesday at the team's training camp headquarters in Oxnard, Ca. Carter entered the league in the NFL substance abuse program and this is his second positive test, which by NFL rules would warrant a four-game fine — not a suspension. According to an earlier broadcast report, Carter was AWOL from practice Wednesday morning, and the absence is not injury related and the Cowboys will be making an "official" statement regarding Carter after the conclusion of practice. But other broadcast reports have intimated that the Cowboys quarterback will be released, leaving Vinny Testaverde and Drew Henson to battle for the starting position. Micky Spagnola, the station's Cowboys beat reporter, compared the situation to that of Tony Banks three years ago where Banks was absent from practice and it was announced after practice that he had been cut. This move comes on the heels of unanimous opinions that Henson has been the best quarterback in camp thus far, which had to be at least mildly upseting to Carter, who started all 16 games for the Cowboys in 2003, leading them to a 10-6 record. In his first season as the full-time starter - after splitting time the first two seasons - Carter threw for 3,302 yards, but had 21 interceptions and 17 touchdowns. He was intercepted at least twice in six games. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Let the Cowboy/Cocaine jokes begin

I am a little surprised at this as well. I thought maybe he'd drop to #2 on the depth chart or something since Tuna now has his man Vinny on board and we all know how much Tuna loves his former players (except Drew Bledsoe) but to be released is a surprise.

The quality control aspect regarding the Kane character has been nothing short of atrocious. Thank you, WWE Creative!

I do not like the domination of comedy skits for the main angles on SD. I don't think Angle/Eddy or Taker/JBL should be doing comedy. I'm sorry but.. Serious main angles on Raw (HHH/Regal, Evolution/the upper-midcard faces) > the comedy of SD

http://entertainment.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=165804 I wonder how many other countries may or may not follow suit.

Trekkies is one of the funniest documentaries I've ever seen. Highly entertaining stuff there.

The other person who was late for the team meeting was Amare Stoudamire.