The Intern's Hard Wood: Raps-Knicks

After being sidelined with an acute case of lethargy, the Intern is back on the horn. First order of business is to dissect last night’s Raptors game against the dysfunctional Knicks. I must say there is something very uplifting about watching a team in the same conference meltdown right before your eyes. The Swarsky put it best when he said: “This is a terrible demonstration of basketball.” That one statement sums up the Knicks performance thus far this season. They play with no intensity and what seems like no leadership. Last night was no different. The ball was constantly getting stuck, there was very little movement and you can’t forget the fighting in the ranks. Zack Randolph got pulled in the second quarter and clearly didn’t appreatiate it too much because he had a few choice for his commander-in-chief which led to him riding pine for the rest of the game. The only real bright spots were the play of Nate Robinson who was actually trying to make an impact and the consistent effort from David Lee. As much as I like ragging on the Knicks, the Raptors didn’t have a fantastic game by any stretch of the imagination. The Knicks actually shot better than the Raps and had more assists but the difference maker was the Raps shot 85% at the charity stripe. I like making fun of Isiah just as much as the next sports fan but really how much farther do the Knicks have to fall before Dolan makes a change. This whole situation reminds me a lot of Tony Montana’s rise and tragic fall in Scarface, well actually scratch the whole rise part, just the tailspin Tony goes in just before he get shot in the back with a double-barrelled shotgun. That is the future for Thomas if he doesn’t quickly contain the mess he has created. Hot damn I love the NBA.

Onward and upward

While wild-card weekend had some great games, we’re moving along to some even bigger ones. Who isn’t looking forward to Jacksonville-New England? A great match up of an underdog that everyone’s riding and a juggernaut. You have to figure that Indy-SD will be a shootout and fun to watch. Eli’s going to try to prove last week wasn’t a fluke and there might even be some snow at Lambeau for Sea-GB. I can hardly wait.

PACKERS (-7.5) over Seahawks

The Seahawks didn’t look that great against the Redskins last week and the Packers are MUCH better than Washington. Factor in Lambeau conditions and the fact that Seattle won’t be able to run the ball and you have all the makings for a big Brett Favre’s heart-sized win.

PATRIOTS (-13) over Jags

The Jags are a nice rough-and-tough football team that’s seemingly built for the playoffs. The Patriots might have one of the most talented teams ever and a ton of playoff experience. The Jags more than likely would have lost had they been called for holding on David Garrard’s 4-and-2 draw towards the end of the Steelers game. The most I’m hoping for out of Jacksonville is that they beat up on New England, maybe if inflict some injuries, but I don’t see them winning this one.

Chargers (+8) over COLTS

Well somebody has to cover, right? With Harrison back in the line up, Peyton’s finally going to show what he can do with a full offence instead of just Reggie Wayne and Joe Addai like he had for a few games. The Chargers have to get more out of LDT than they did last week and it’s not as if he’ll have to do much to top those 43 yards he gained against the Titans. Everything said, I see the Colts winning a barnburner of a game, by seven.

Giants (+7.5) at COWBOYS

Why am I scared of Eli Manning? Is there something wrong with me? This is the guy who broke the record for most interceptions returned for a touchdown in a game. He’s facing a defensive player of the year candidate and several other pro bowlers on defence. So why am I scared? Maybe because I’m a pessimist and, quite frankly, have been one all season while routing for God’s team. There’s just something, and I’m not sure what it is that doesn’t have me all the way sold on Dallas and it absolutely kills me to admit it since they’re my team. But never think, even for a second, that I won’t be cheering my heart out watching the game.

Last week: 1-2-1

Happy Anniversary

Today marks the one-year anniversary of Running The Point — formerly known as Dan's Ramblings. It's been a great experience to write (almost) everyday here and voice my opinions no matter how smart, dumb, funny or irrational they have been. The start up of this site even helped get me a job at an award-winning daily newspaper's sports section. At least I like to think that about this pet-project.

Since the beginning of this humble site there has been literal tons of subjects to write about. From scandals to amazing performances and even scandals within amazing performances (looking your way Patriots), a lot has piqued my interest daily.

If I had to narrow down my favourite stories since this site's inception, they'd probably be broken down something like this:

3. The Beckham-to-LA saga.
I know that it didn't play out like the MLS probably wanted since he didn't make the biggest impact that he probably could've, but reading stories everyday about the English midfielder and icon was always fun. It may not be have been as big or newsy as some of the other happenings this past year (see honourable mentions below) but this is my list.

2. The undefeated, cheating Patriots.
I knew going into the season that New England was going to be good. But this good? Undefeated good? No way. But more interesting to me than their undefeated season was Spygate and what followed it. If the Patriots — especially Belichick and Brady — not acted like complete assholes by running up the score of games in F U fashion, they might not be as hated as they are now. I still, to this moment, have no idea why such a good team would be reduced to cheating like that.

1. The rise (and brief fall) of Tony Romo.
Sure, it's a biased choice since I'm a huge Cowboys fan but how many people laughed in the pre-season of 2006 when Romo was outplaying Drew Bledsoe and the Cowboys' season looked doomed? Romo has came all the way from being an undrafted free agent signee out of East Illinois to a two-time pro bowler leading arguably the best team in the NFC. If not for his botched snap gaffe in Seattle last playoffs, who knows what could've happened.

Honourable mentions: Michael Vick's dogfighting scandal, Barry Bonds vs. everyone, the NHL's slide into obscurity, baseball vs. steroids, LeBron continually stepping it up and ruling the NBA.

As for the upcoming year, this site will continue to grow and expand in several ways. A redesign is coming soon to make RTP more appealing to the eyes than this bland blogspot template. Getting some more out of the extremely lazy intern would also be nice and yes, he still does want to write apparently. Also, some more all-around improvements will come over time; perhaps even my writing will get better. There is still a lot to come here and sports never stop so neither will my writing.

And, of course, I'd be remiss to not give a big thank you to all of RTP's readers and fans for their support.

Celtic shocker!

Did anybody outside of the Charlotte Bobcats locker room honestly expect the lowly 'cats to even stand a chance against the Celtics IN Boston? If you saw that coming you must be clairvoyant. Sure Ray Allen wasn't in the lineup and Big Baby also sat with a sore right knee, but that is no excuse to lose to a lottery-bound team when you have the best record in the league and Kevin Garnett still on the floor. So, let's not go pencilling in the Celtics for the NBA finals just yet, tonight they were proven vulnerable.

The Clemens mess

Despite everything that's been written — in and out of the Mitchell report — I believe Roger Clemens. After all, are we not supposed to believe that people are innocent until proven guilty? This stance has nothing to do with a personal bias either. While I do like Clemens and consider him the best pitcher to ever toe the slab, I'd like to see some proof before hanging him.

Now that he's filed a defamation lawsuit against the man who pointed the finger at him, Brian McNamee, we will actually get to see this whole scenario play out in a court of law. If Clemens is indeed innocent, he will be vindicated. If he loses the lawsuit and lies on the stand about his use of banned substances, then he could be facing a perjury indictment a la Barry Bonds.

And why couldn't Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes ask the best question that a lot of people want to know: "Roger, why would your supposed friend try to frame you for this?" That's the one thing that could get me to turn against Clemens. There's no 'why'. Where is the motive? We will hopefully find out soon and get this out of the way before it takes press away from the upcoming season. A long dragging case will only hurt the game of baseball further.

But out of all of this one thing is certain: This situation, as a whole, was very poorly handled.

Wild Card Wrap

The Chargers didn't even need a big day from LaDainian Tomlinson to defeat the overmatched Titans. 42 yards on 21 carries is not your average day from LDT and had Vince Young not sucked it up, the outcome may have been in his team's favour. But how different would this game have been if Pacman Jones was allowed to play? Having a good corner out there like him could have made the difference in stopping Chris Chambers and Vincent Jackson down-field.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Bucs did pretty much everything they could to give Elisha and Co. the win and the right to face Dallas next week. After looking strong — nearly unbeatable — in the first quarter, Tampa Bay proceeded to fall apart and placed the game nicely in Manning's lap. The Bucs shoddy offensive line did little-to-nothing in trying to the stop the Giants' pass rush which looked unspottable.

Now, do I believe in Elisha now that's he's won on the road in the playoffs? Hell no. I'm probably jinxing it by saying this but Dallas should tear him a new one next week. I'm looking forward to — for the first time in my memory — a team beating a rival three times in one season. And let's all remember that the only road game that New York lost this season was in Dallas.

This week: 1-2-1

Wild Card weekend

What a great finish to the Jacksonville - Pittsburgh game. First, Big Ben leading his team back from 18 down to grab a one point lead. Then David Garrard marching the Jags down the field — including a sick fourth down scramble — to set up a gift-wrapped, chip-in field goal. If it weren't for that failed two-point conversion that the Steelers botched, we would've seen a great overtime showdown. This game was the perfect example of why playoff football is better than any other type of game. The intensity, the physicality and the emotion were all topped up. Right down to Big Ben waiting around for Garrard to finish his post-game interview to congratulate him. You would never see Tom Brady even think about doing that.

Did anybody honestly think that Todd Collins would keep his hot hand going in Seattle, arguably one of the toughest places to visit in the NFL? There was a reason why this guy was riding the pine for the past ten years. If you pinned your money on a 36-year old back up quarterback against a team that is somewhat good, you might be an idiot.

I'm just going to bring this up briefly because I'm sure I could go on about this for a long, LONG time; Bill Belichick winning the coach of the year award is every bit as despicable as Shawne Merriman making the Pro Bowl last year after being suspended for steroid use. How does someone who was caught cheating and admitted to it awarded for his work? Anyone who voted for Belichick should mark down Barry Bonds on their hall of fame ballot when it comes in the mail. Thanks for supporting cheating everyone.

The man who deserved to the coach of the year the most was Green Bay's Mike McCarthy. What he's done with the youngest team in the league is nothing short of remarkable. Jacksonville's Jack Del Rio deserves some credit as well for his fine job in Jacksonville and Tony Dungy has had a lot of injuries to deal with this season and still has Indy on the right course.

As for today's games:

BUCS (-3) over Giants

Eli Manning on the road, more than likely playing without his usual starting centre is not good for the Giants of New York. They do have a chance if Elisha can limit his turnovers and their powerful defensive line can knock around Jeff Garcia which is entirely possible considering the Bucs are on their third string left tackle now. But Garcia has a habit of beating the Giants in the playoffs and I see that continuing.

Titans (+10) over San Diego

The way I see it is that Tennessee actually hung with the Chargers in San Diego a few weeks back and legitimately could have won the game. I also think that it would be better for the Titans if Kerry Collins starts in place of Vince Young. But, I really don't believe that the Titans can actually win this game. I just think ten points is too much to be giving in this match up.

This week: 1-0-1
This season: 111-117-10