Sports Agenda for Monday (2/6/12)
Big Story:
If you didn't know, the Heat won again last night, plus the Panthers are all alone in first place, and oh yeah, the Super Bowl ended the football season, which means it's officially the off-season and the real fun begins!!!
When I'm falling into the end zone, I'm thinking of….more sports.
Super Bowl:
It's Deja Blue!!! As the Giants wiped out the Patriots again.
A couple of quick notes about the Super Bowl.
First, can people finally admit what I've been saying since he came into the league…Eli is an elite quarterback.
Seriously, he's as cool as the other side of the pillow at the end of a game.
I always said he had a better arm than Peyton, but now he's got the better overall game than Peyton as well.
Course he also has a much better defense than Peyton ever did as well, so there's that too.
Anyways, can we also admit that no coach can get more out of less than Bill Belichick.
That Patriots offense was horrible outside of Tom Brady. I'm talking middle of the road NFL squad.
Yet they made it to the Super Bowl, just shows how much a franchise quarterback means. ARE YOU LISTENING JEFF IRELAND?!?!
And one final note to the Patriots secondary, if it's the last five minutes of the game and you're playing Eli…just hold the receivers and don't let them get by you or you'll pay. (see Mario Manningham or David Tyree)
I was a little off on the score, but hey, no one's perfect!
And don't feel bad for Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen was waiting outside the locker room for him. I'd take that as a consolation prize, or a winner's prize.
NFL Offseason:
Now's when the real fun begins.
The NFL offseason officially began when the gun sounded at the end of the Super Bowl.
The first thing to watch for will be free agency.
We'll have teams quickly look towards who they want to keep and who they want to release.
The Patriots will have a big new look starting next season.
We'll all be watching to see if Peyton Manning is released and who he will go to if he's healthy.
It's at this point I advise the Dolphins to avoid him, unless you can sign him as an unrestricted free agent.
If you have to give up any picks for him, don't do it.
Yes, I know he's the best, or was the best.
But with his injury history, you don't know if he's one hit away from never playing again. Remember Chad Pennington's shoulder?
Same thing here.
Now, if you can sign him to an incentive laden contract, give up no picks, and he's cleared by doctors, then by all means do it.
Outside of that, avoid it like the plague.
We'll dive more into the offseason in the coming weeks, leading up to free agency which will start on the first day of the new league year, which I'm not sure of just yet.
Plus, the NFL Draft is right around the corner…or as I like to call it, the annual Miami Dolphins offensive lineman selection show.
Heat: (off Monday)
If you didn't notice, and given that we were all focused on the Super Bowl, you probably didn't….the Heat won again yesterday.
It was an ugly victory over a bad Toronto Raptors team, but a win is a win in this oddball season.
LeBron had 30, Wade, had 25, and Bosh had 12.
I'm a little worried that Bosh has gone into a shell with Wade being back in the lineup, but I think he'll be fine once he gets going.
What I am concerned with is Shane Battier's offensive game.
He's locking people down defensively, but he shooting the ball like I do from the field.
He went 0-5 last night and scored a total of 0 points.
Yikes.
I think it may be him trying to get acclimated to his new teammates and getting the ball at different places on the floor, at least that's what I'm hoping.
Now the Heat are about to really get tested.
They've got 6 games in 8 nights coming up including a back-to-back-to-back series.
I think it's going to be important to get James Jones and others involved in the rotation and not overplay Wade or James during the stretch.
I'd like to see LeBron get a night off, but that's not happening.
Still, a couple of night's rest for him and Wade wouldn't be a bad thing.
Panthers: (off Monday)
Well, the Panthers continue clinging to a one point lead in the Southeast division as they travel to second-place Washington on Tuesday.
The Cats got thumped in Tampa bay, losing 6-3 to the Lightning.
Ouch.
I can't tell if it's age catching up with the Panthers, or if they just vastly overperformed in the first half of the season.
Either way, the Panthers have a tough stretch upcoming with games against the Capts, Kings, and Devils this week.
The Panthers need a winning streak in the worst way, but I just don't see the games to do it in with the upcoming schedule.
They get the Caps twice in the next two weeks, a sweep of them would go a long way.
We'll see.
Kudos to the UM basketball team for going into Duke and knocking off the Dukies. Not an easy task, so congrats on that one.
I do have to wonder though…if UM ever made a firm commitment to basketball, could they really be good?
Frank Haith, memba him? Former UM coach?
Yeah, he's at Mizzou, where they make a commitment to basketball and football.
His Tigers are now 20-2 on the season and poised to get a number one see in the NCAA Tournament.
But he couldn't win here and couldn't get much support.
Course I'm still reserving judgment until next year on him at Mizzou.
But I'll take 20-2 every day and twice on Sunday until then.
