The Intern's Hard Wood: Week 1

The beginning to this NBA season has been one rollercoaster ride so far. Who would have predicted that about four games into the season that the Brand-less Clippers would be on top of the Pacific let alone the entire league. Nobody ever thought the Bulls would start out 1-4 and the Heat and Wizards still held winless in the East? But, in Washington’s defense, the NBA must have installed faulty rims over the off season which has contributed to Agent Zero’s dismal 3 for 24 behind the arc. One of the surprise storylines thus far is the New Orleans Hornets starting out the season 4-1. This is largely due to the play from their floor general CP3 who is putting up ungodly stats, 18 points, 12 assists and 5 boards per game.

The Celtics are still undefeated and after witnessing them first hand last Sunday, I can understand why. They have assembled the best big three in the history of the NBA and boy they are a sight to witness. Watching Garnett, Allen and Pierce working in tandem is quite a sight. As a team it really makes you think twice about doubling Garnett with Allen looming behind the arc. As good as the three are, they have little-to-no depth and their point guard situation is still a big question mark. Rajon Rondo is still wet behind ears and not capable of controlling the floor or defending top tier PGs in the NBA.

A Pats-terisk?

Don Shula, who coached the only undefeated in NFL history, brought up a good point this week in regards to a possible undefeated season for the Patriots: There should be an asterisk beside it because they cheated. Why not? It seems fair to me. They were caught cheating and in all fairness, should have been forced to forfeit the game. There was no misunderstanding of a rule. It's very cut and dry. No videotaping the opposing team's sidelines. Barry Bonds was never actually caught cheating yet everyone thinks he deserves an asterisk; why should Belichick and the Patriots be spared that fate?

As for this week's picks:

Jaguars (+4.5) over TITANS

Yes, I realize the Titans are good — surprisingly good — but these Jaguars finally have my vote of confidence, even if we're still unsure if David Garrard or Quinn Gray is starting.

CHIEFS (-3) over Broncos

Larry Johnson may be sitting this one out which gives Priest Holmes the perfect opportunity to prove he can still play. Jay Cutler nearly broke his leg in last week's horrific loss to Detroit which means that Patrick Ramsey looks like he'll start if Cutler's still ailing. Either way, the Broncos QB is going to get beat up by the Chiefs Defense.

DOLPHINS (+3) over Bills

If the Dolphins are going to win a game this season, you'd have to figure it would be against J.P. Losman.

STEELERS (-9.5) over Browns

After the smack-down that the Steelers laid on Monday night, how could you not take them here. They've looked absolutely unstoppable against their division rivals. But, if this game were in Cleveland, I would probably go the other way.

SAINTS (-11.5) over Rams

The Rams might actually surprise a few people and cover this line. The line moving downwards indicates that St. Louis has been favoured by the betting public. But, these Saints are back on track.

PANTHERS (-4) over Falcons

Both of these teams look bad, especially at quarterback. Who would've thought that at some point this season, Byron Leftwich, David Carr, Vinny Testaverde and Joey Harrington would be heavily involved in a game? The Panthers still have Steve Smith and they're at home; that's good enough for me.

REDSKINS (-3) over Eagles

So apparently Andy Reid's called out Donovan McNabb, telling him to step up his play. These guys should have a race out of Philly. The only exciting player left in the City of Brotherly Love is Brian Westbrook and if I were him, I'd want some more money to keep stay on this sinking ship. Maybe Philly should go into all-out rebuilding mode and trade Westbrook to the Packers for some picks and possibly a prospect. Would that not make Green Bay the over-the-top team in the NFC if they could actually run the ball? Oh, the Redskins will kill the Eagles this week.

PACKERS (-6) over Vikings

The last time that Adrian Peterson had a huge game, he faltered the next two weeks in a row gaining only 113 yards total after getting 200. Against this surprisingly strong Packers team, I expect a weak follow up to his record-setting day.

RAVENS (-4.5) over Bengals

The Bengals dynamic receiving duo may be limited against the Ravens due to injuries but Cincy is getting Chris Henry back from suspension. It's not going to help, even if it's just reputation carrying the Ravens defence now.

Bears (-3) over RAIDERS

Raiders coach Lane Kiffin has already said that he's going to be kicking to the supreme Devin Hester. Brian Urlacher basically said something along the lines of "Are you serious, this should be fun," and I say the same thing. That decision alone made me pick the Bears.

Cowboys (-1) at GIANTS

Arguably, two the top three teams in the NFC will do battle at the Meadowlands this Sunday. The Cowboys beat the Giants back in week one and scored 45 points against them. This time around the Giants defense should be better prepared, but will it even matter? Tony Romo looked wonderful against Philly after signing his huge contract extension but then again, it doesn't take much to look good against Philly this season.

Lions (+1) over CARDINALS

How the hell are the Lions an underdog after beating down Denver 44-7? I would've taken them against any NFC West team even if I was giving some points.

Colts (-3.5) over CHARGERS

The Colts are playing in their second huge game in consecutive weeks. I'm looking for them to be fired up after that close loss to New England. San Diego gave up that record-setting game to Peterson last week; will they be able to stop Joseph Addai this week?

SEAHAWKS (-10) over Niners

Well, at least the NFC West's losing streak will come to an end. It's a lot of points but I'm not sure the Niners can keep this remotely close. This could be the worst Monday Night Football game ever.

Last week: 7-6
This season: 53-59-8

Yesterday's news tomorrow! and more!

A few things of note were talked about at the GM meetings in Orlando this week. The big one was the 25-5 vote in favour of allowing video replays to determine if some questionable hits are home runs. An umpire can will now be able to check a video screen to see if a potential home run ball was fair or foul, if it cleared the fence or bounced off the top (which would make it still in play) or if a fan interfered with it.

I like this step forward and embracing of technology but I bet the purists rant about this incessantly for a while.

Also at the meetings, the big name being floated around in trade discussions is the Marlins 3B Miguel Cabrera. Hey aren't the Yankees looking for a third baseman? This could be a dream come true for a Yankees team that's already suffered a hard offseason... and free agency hasn't even started yet. The Bronx Bombers apparently aren't willing to part with some of their talented young arms, Joba, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy mainly, which might put them out of the bidding for Miggy.

The White Sox are also peddling Joe Crede, but he's coming off back surgery and generally bad season in which he lost his job to rookie Josh Fields. One of the two will have to be dealt since Either Paul Konerko or Jim Thome will be at DH and first base. Chicago GM Kenny Williams says there's interest in both of them, but why would he say there isn't?

Roger Clemens might actually retire for real this time. He's signed on as a consultant for the Houston Astros. It looks like he's found a way to make money for the time he waits before actually signing on to pitch. What could he possibly need all this cash for? Does he want to rule the world or something?

News from the nobody cares league

The Ottawa Senators kicked the crap out of their ridiculously bad rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs last night. Did anyone outside of Canada know this or watch this? Probably not. Anyways, with the 5-1 win, the Senators have now beaten Detroit's previous record of 12-1-1 to start a season. So how much play did the Sens having the best start to an NHL season ever on a sports news site like ESPN.com? It was the sixth story in the sidebar right after it happened and didn't even grab the headline of the NHL page itself.

SI.com had no mention of it at all and they routinely play up NHL stories more than its counterpart in Bristol, Connecticut. The Sporting News' site had the story linked to from their front page, but said it was just a franchise-mark.

As for a Canadian sports news website, SLAM! Sports had the story on its front page as soon as the game ended, but didn't even mention the mark that was set.

So if Canadian sports writers don't know these sorts of things and American news sources won't play up semi-significant stories, is it safe to say that nobody cares about the NHL? I think so.

No Body Cares.

Free agency awaits...

Most recently, the Gold Gloves were handed out yesterday but I don't know how much you can really put into this award; they're handed out on reputation mainly. The prime example is the fact that Greg Maddux won his 17th Gold Glove award. How much can you really judge a pitcher on besides his errors? A guy might make one spectacular, bare-handed grab a year unlike what middle-infielders have to do. Sure Maddux is probably one of the best fielding pitchers out there, but how about a little diversity? And by the way, the Rockies — a bunch of no-name players (before the World Series, when voting had ended) — didn't have a single Gold Glover despite breaking the record for team fielding percentage.

Almost 140 players have already filed to become free agents on Nov. 13, many aren't big names like A-Rod and such but many will fill holes around the league and provide much needed services. Nobody can actually talk money yet so that doesn't leave much to ramble about. So what has happened since the Red Sox swept the Rockies?

Joe Torre has taken some of his boys with him to Los Angeles. It only seemed logical for Don Mattingly to leave the Yankees after being somewhat slighted by the hiring of Joe Girardi as the new manager. As for Larry Bowa, who cares? Now the Dodgers just have to put together a better line up than the 4th-in-the-NL-West one they had last year.

In somewhat related news, apparently A-Rod wanted a deal that would bring his total to about $350-million. The Yanks were not prepared to give him anything like that. I mean the guy is good, he could be considered one of the best ever, but that is a LOT of money. One rumour is that he may want to follow Torre to the city of Angels (and Dodgers).

Also from Yankee-land, Andy Pettitte declined his huge option for next season that would've been worth $16-million. He's also said that he's either going to retire or come back to the Yanks, he just hasn't decided yet. Looks like he's taking a page out of his buddy Roger Clemens' play-book.

Paul Byrd's going to be back in Cleveland next year the team has decided. This is amidst his confession of using HGH. It should clear up before next season or he could be suspended, either way he's still a good guy for a third or fourth guy in the rotation.

Free agent Mike Cameron has been suspended for the first 25 games of next season after he signs on somewhere. He does have some talent but he is a bit troubled with the whole substance abuse problem thing.

And finally, where will Barry Bonds sign? The career home run leader will land somewhere, right? He's got to despite the fact he's 43. Filling him into the line up at DH could be a good move for some AL clubs and being a part time outfielder could even seem feasible at the right price. As long as he doesn't get too greedy, he'll find a place to play.

Big Ben strikes

The rain and the Raven's defence both couldn't slow down the Steelers on Monday Night Football yesterday. Amidst a heavy downpour, Big Ben looked as calm as ever in the pocket and scrambling out of it. On his first touchdown pass of the night, he broke through a heavy pass rush, powered his way out a potential sack and then tossed the ball into the endzone for Heath Miller, who was wide open. Then he even took a big hit that resulted in a roughing the passer penalty. This is the Big Ben I remember from the year when Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl. Apparently his injuries after that motorcycle accident.

And then, in an effort to presumably run up the score, Ben, still in the game with a 35-7 lead late in the third quarter — and throwing — was shoved as he got rid of the ball and had to be helped off the field with an apparent leg injury. You see, this is why you don't leave you starters in and risk injuries, especially against a tough defence. Ben did come back in the game but played much more conservatively until being taken out in favour of Charlie Batch.

And how about James Harrison, the somewhat unheard of Pittsburgh linebacker that became the first player since 1982 to record 3.5 sacks, an interception and recover a fumble. He also racked up 9 tackles.

And I knew the Steelers would blow them out...

This week: 7-6
This season: 53-59-8

Some records fall.

By now we all already know that the Patriots beat the Colts yesterday, but what else happened amidst the tons of media coverage that surrounded the uber-match up?

Well, for the first time in my memory, two completely unrelated records were broken in the same game. The first, a record that can never be broken, literally, Antonio Cromartie of San Diego returned a missed field goal all the way from the back of his end-zone 109 yards for a TD. Since there’s no way to possibly have a longer play than 109 yards (110 would mean you were out of bounds) it looks like Cromartie will always have something to tell his kids and grand kids about.

Then, the shoe-in for Rookie of the Year Adrian Peterson did the incredible and ran for an outstanding, simply insane, 296 yards for the game. It broke Jamal Lewis’s previous record of 295. I’ve said before that Peterson’s success is a product of his line’s blocking but now, it’s safe to say I was wrong. His line is top notch, but AP has a load of talent.

What comes first in Philly: Kevin Kolb getting some significant time under centre or Andy Reid leaving town? They might be coming sooner rather than later. And how did Philly’s defense leave Terrell Owens of all people wide open on his quick slant touchdown? He should've been blanketed all game.

Hey wait, the Titans and Lions are both 6-2? You’re kidding me right? No wonder I’m under .500 in picks.

And finally, about the Pats and Colts game, how about the Pats actually showing respect to the Colts and not trying to run up the score? If the Pats want to do the whole “F*** you” to the league, they should’ve still tried to take it to the Colts. Kneeling down to end the game? Come on Bill. After what New England has been doing this season, taking the knee three times was an act of cowardice. Yes, I’m calling the Patriots chickens. And congrats to Joseph Addai for his 226 total yards, you’re keeping my fantasy team alive.

Last week: 6-6, with Pittsburgh tonight.
This season: 52-59-8