Big News in Cleveland

This just in...Mo Williams has returned to Cavaliers practice after being slowed by a groin injury for much of the preseason.

I'm sure Cavs fans are relieved (actually, I'm not sure, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt), but more finding-the-toaster-oven-undamaged-in-the-scorched-remains-of-your-house relieved than Chilean-miner relieved.

Long season ahead, Cavs fans.

Quarters

If you need evidence that this is the most bizarre NFL season in recent memory, consider this statistic.  This is the first time in 40 years (since 1970) that there has been no 4-0 team in the National Football League.


We are just past the quarter point of what is shaping up to be a most interesting season.  Of all the teams we were supposed to be impressed with, only three, (if you count the Steelers) are living up to expectations.  The Ravens, Jets and Steelers are the only pre-season favorites playing championship quality football.  The Packers, Vikings, Cowboys, Saints, 49ers, Chargers and Colts all look like junior varsity at this point in the season.  More on them later.  I'd like to start with a couple of pleasant surprises.


The Kansas City Chiefs are 3-1, the last undefeated team to fall.  Of those three wins, two came against pre-season playoff favorites, and the loss came against Peyton Manning's Colts.  The Chiefs are very young and are bound to make mistakes as the season progresses.  But at this point they are the class of the AFC West.  Name two people that thought that would be the case four weeks ago.


This might sound like an odd this to say, but if you're looking for exciting football, tune into the Detroit Lions.  The Lions are playing their best football in decades, and are just three plays and one ridiculous rule away from being 5-0.  This may not be their year, but they are not the doormats of the division anymore.  Especially if the other three teams continue to play the way they are.


And now for the disappointments.


Unlike the Lions who probably should be undefeated, the Green Bay Packers are three plays away from being 0-5.  The offense, which blew people out last year and in the pre-season, seems utterly unable to put the ball in the end zone.  Part of that is probably due to the fact that over the last three games Green Bay has almost as many penalties as first downs.  It almost seems as though the offense is incapable of advancing the ball without holding or interfereing with or personally fouling somebody.  Add to that the injuries to the team's number one scorer, Jermichael Finley, starting running back Ryan Grant, the league's most feared pass rusher Clay Matthews, and now a concussion to Aaron Rodgers and we might be looking at the cellar dwellers of the Norris.  I can't express how disappointing that would be to at least two of the three contributors to this blog.


Almost as depressing has been the play of the New Orleans Saints.  The defending Super Bowl champs look more than a little hung over from all those Bourbon Street parties.  The offense just can't get anything going, and the defense just can't get off the field.  This is a team that routinely thrashed opposing defenses for 30-plus points last season.  But now, instead of throwing touchdowns, Brees is tossing interceptions and Saints' running backs have started putting the ball on the ground.  A formerly opportunistic defense can't get their hands on the football, and don't even get me started on the kick return team.  New Orleans is now in third place in their division.  Third place in the NFC South does not get you to the playoffs.


I understand that the San Diego Chargers always start the season losing games they're expected to win, but this is ridiculous.  While they destroyed the Jaguars and Cardinals, the Chargers have been handily defeated by the rebuilding Chiefs, perpetually pathetic Raiders and Leon Washington.  Not one of those teams got close to the playoffs last season, and two of them are division opponents.  Don't get me wrong, the only reason my fantasy team is even competitive is because Philip Rivers has to throw for 500 yards in a comeback attempt every week. But I'm sure the Chargers are probably more interested in winning real games rather than my fantasy ones.  Then again, maybe they aren't.  It's difficult to tell right now.


It used to be that the first serious conversation we needed to have about the Indianapolis Colts was whether or not they would rest their starters instead of attempting to finish the season undefeated.  This season the conversation is about just how pedestrian this team seems to be.  The offense has failed to score at will, (held to only 19 points by the Chiefs) and the defense might as well not bother taking the field.  For some reason it seems to be taking a little longer for the Manning mojo to kick into gear this years.  More importantly, nobody is afraid of them anymore.


The same might be said about the Cowboys.  (Yes, between Dallas and Green Bay it's been kind of a low-key season at my house.)  Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Miles Austin and Felix Jones have combined for a grand total of one, count 'em, one victory.  This is the year Jerryworld hosts the Super Bowl and prior to the start of the season Jones publically stated his ambition to make it a home game.  The odds of that are about as high as Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo getting back together.


I'm not even going to mention the Bengals.  I'm just not.  It's too pathetic.


What the heck is up with the San Fransisco 49ers?  They were easily everybody's pick to win the weakest division in football.  Ironically, even sitting at 0-5 that isn't out of the realm of possibility.  But come on, no wins and five losses?  In five games?  Every single game of which you could easily have won?  Wow.  I'm pretty sure no team in league history has gone on to accomplish anything of note after an 0-5 start.  This group probably won't be any different.


Finally, I know they weren't expected to compete for a championship or anything, but are the Chicago Bears not the absolute worst 4-1 team in the history of 4-1 teams?  This team has given up enough sacks and thrown enough interceptions to fill out the stat sheets of three teams for the entire year.  Even in victory this past Sunday Todd Collins completed four passes to opposing defensive backs and linebackers.  And he was supposed to be an improvement over Jay Cutler in terms of ball security.  I guess as long as they continue to get lucky playing worthless opponents who prefer to committing penalties to scoring touchdowns they can continue to win.  But you have to believe that eventually luck like that runs out, doesn't it?  Doesn't it?

The Numbers Game

A fun game to play among die-hard sports fan. Have someone (preferably a disinterested third party) pick 10 numbers between 1 and 100 and note the first player that comes to mind:

27: Derrick May - Cubs outfielder in the 1990's who looked like Tarzan but hit like Jane. The strapping son of Major Leaguer Carlos May, he was always touted on his potential. I'm still waiting.

4: Paul Molitor - Its amazing what Favre as a Viking has done to my mind, no disrespect to Mr. Molitor.

83: John Jefferson - The other underutilized half of the early 1980's most potent receiving tandem. Between JJ and Lofton, the Packers could pretty well score on anybody. As long as the O-Line gave the statuesque Lynn Dickey time to throw. And there was some semblance of a running game. And as long the O-Line gave Dickey time to throw. Did I mention the suspect O-line and immobile quarterback?

66: Ray Nitschke: 14 years in the NFL. 5 Championships. Intimidator.

18: Richie Hebner - Spent his last active season with the Cubs in 1984. Always liked him.

43: Jack Sikma: The Bucks center quest continued in the 1980s with Sikma. After the retirement of Bob Lanier, the Bucks quickly realized the limitations of Alton Lister and Randy Breuer. Sikma arrived with his drop step and blond perm and became the best 3 point shooting center in the NBA. I'm still not sure how I feel about that last part, because while innovative, it didn't get them any farther in the playoffs.

91: Justin Harrell: Oof. This one hurts.

36: Leroy Butler I always felt he was both underrated and overrated as a player, if that is possible. Made the most out of playing in an top-notch defense and being one of Madden's favorites. Was the first to do the Lambeau Leap. Also, he was always available for comment. And still is.

77: Mike Butler: The best defensive lineman on some bad 1970's Packer teams. Also had a mustache.

32: Brian Winters: Had to think about this one for a bit. His retired number hangs from the Bradley Center rafters. Magic Johnson came to mind soon after, except I always get confused between him and Kareem with the whole 32/33 jersey number.

The Irish Experience, pt. 2

My Gameday began in a line of cars heading to the White Field on the north side of campus. After we parked a bit of tailgating was the next item of business -my gracious host Ric mixed a restorative while I cracked open a beer. We were well outfitted for the game having picked up lunch on the way and Ric had thoughtfully brought a supply of pretzels. The weather was brisk, and the extra layer my wife had insisted I take along was much appreciated. Bits of sun teased us through the cloud cover as we finished our luncheon in the rapidly filling parking meadow. Law enforcement officials patrolled for underage drinkers as we finished our second perfectly legal cocktail. It was now time to head for the stadium.

Sidebar observation #1: When you go to a game at the Notre Dame Stadium, you are very much On Campus. This is especially apparent when approaching from the north, where the White Field-to-Stadium trek can charitably be described as lengthy. You are in Notre Dame Indiana in every sense of the word, with little to no intrusion from the surrounding city of South Bend. The journey to UW's Camp Randall (College Football Town Hall of Fame Charter Member) and Indiana University's Memorial Stadium (Good access from parking lot) is a very different experience.

The trek to the Stadium was bracing but pleasant - the ND campus is beautiful by anyone's definition. Notre Dame parlays tradition by the boatload (and not undeservedly) and fans of both persuasions carried a noticeable sense of pilgrimage. Ours took us to the Edmund P. Joyce Athletic and Convocation Center, officially known as the Joyce Center but commonly referred to as the ACC. Beer was to be found within, and we partook of a pint in the officially designated area. It was here we parked ourselves at a table and chatted with some other attendees. One couple were longtime South Bend residents who followed ND football for years. Another gentleman was in town on a business trip and brought his son along so he could see Notre Dame.

After we finished our beer, there was still plenty of time before kickoff so we made a circuit around the stadium. The gates are named for legendary Irish coaches - Leahy, Holtz, etc... I asked Ric where the Gerry Foust gate was. He was pretty sure they hadn't gotten around to him yet. We entered through the Rockne gate and made our way up to row 54.

Notre Dame Stadium was built in 1930 and renovated in the mid-1990s. During the renovation the original stadium was encircled in new construction, adding twenty thousand seats, a new press box and a host of other updates. The game program ($10) touted the renovated Stadium "now qualifies as one of the most up-to-date" in the nation. The game program is full of crap. Seating pitch and width in the original section is still state-of-the-art Hoover administration. You're quite intimate with your neighbors at an Irish game, and just as familiar with kneecaps from the row behind. Gentlemen's washroom (at least the one I visited) is by trough.

It was alumni marching band day and the sidelines were bursting with over 1,000 musical personnel. As a band veteran myself, I paid particular attention to the band's activities. The halftime performance and in-game music were well done.

Sidebar Observation #2: While watching the occasional Irish game on TV, I kept hearing the marching band performing a bit of music to pump up the crowd. I asked an ND band alum what it was, and she responded that it was a Celtic-ish fanfare and asked if I was familiar with the accompanying student-section choreography. When I replied in the negative, she prefaced her demonstration with, "It's pretty lame" and did this. Now, I am the absolute last person who should arbitrate a cool/lame debate, but I must say I find this more appealing.

The actual football game saw a crisp Stanford team take apart an overwhelmed Irish squad. The late John Robinson's quote summed up the game perfectly: "Well, we didn't block real good, but we made up for it by not tackling." Other miscues involved passes thrown to the other team or open tracts of grass, and receivers not looking the football. It was not a good performance by the Irish this day.

During the break between the 3rd and 4th quarters the obligatory drive-safe announcement came over the PA as a hush fell over the crowd. The fans' silence had me scanning the field for an Ara Parseghian-level VIP, but I soon realized the reverence was for the actual announcement. Ric informed me that the announcement has been done by the same state trooper for many years and that he performs an original message live for each game. It was met with a rousing ovation.

We bailed with about three minutes left in the game and were joined by many subdued fans for the walk back to the car. We located the automobile after a brief search (try and find a specific silver-gray sedan in a field of roughly a thousand cars with only an access road, a row of porta-johns and two trees as landmarks. It ain't easy.) We listened to the post-game report with Mirko Jurkovic on the way home.

I had a great time. Thanks, Ric!