PICK 'EM TROPHY STAYS IN WISCONSIN
Posted by AJ at 11:31 AM
All season, he quietly lurked beneath the surface of others universally considered real contenders. Underrated and underappreciated, the true master of his own domain continued to shrug off comparisons to the legend whose shadow cast not only over our protagonist, but the entire state of Wisconsin. It appeared for yet another year, it was going to be all hype machine in September, all pipe dream in January.
And then, he got on a roll.
And then, that roll just didn't stop.
And then, on February 6, he could finally call himself the greatest word in all of competition ... CHAMPION.
He should really call and thank Aaron Rodgers for all his contributions.
Lady and gentlemen, I present to you the elated face of your new Pick 'em Champion:
ADAM MERTZ (Mount Horeb, Wisc.)
(Oh, by the way, in that lengthy representation, Ben Worgull played the part of Brett Favre. So there.)
Mr. Mertz is the proud owner of 85 buckaroos and, absolutely more importantly, that sexy trophy that is probably no longer sexy after all the time it has spent in the Worgull residence. Oh, and Mertz's favorite NFL team is now Super Bowl champion. I guess that counts for something.
Congratulations as well to our runner-up, Joseph Rower. It'll be a nice monetary contribution to the Starving Future "Dr. Millionaire" Fund, but it comes at the price of a long offseason wishing, wanting, hoping for another chance at golden glory.
That concludes our 2010 Pick 'em Season. Another great year, everybody. Can't wait to do it again!
Oh, before we go, I see that Mr. Worgull is already hard at work doing his research in his attempt to become Three-Time-Out-Of-Four Champion:
Better luck next year, buddy. Hopefully, there will be a next year in the National Football League.
Blake Griffin Dunk of the Week (January 17th)
I post this the evening after Blake Superior posted the high score for a single game this season with 47 points. Unfortunately, Blake did not have a dunk in this game.
So we will go with an emotional dunk against the dark side of the NBA... the Miami Heat. Enjoy!
And as always stay classy,
Labels: Blake Griffin, Dunk of the Week
This is my first rendition of Tweets of the Week. It will mostly be sports tweets and sometimes these will be compiled over a few days and sometimes two weeks. Sometimes only a handful of tweets and sometimes around 20.
For my first rendition, the tweets center around just a few sports events, but they are quite funny. So read away, and tweet me (@beamersooner) any candidates you may have for the next edition!
Amazing run by Marshawn Lynch. Shaun Alexander would have run out of bounds 11 times on that run.
@Sportspickle
If Marshawn Lynch's run happened against you in Madden, you'd throw your controller through the damn tv
@Loctastic
I saw a run like Lynch's earlier this year when my son's midget league team played a kid who obviously used a fake birth certificate
@Ryanclark25
Matt Hasselbeck is officially the Bishop in Caddyshack.
@Sportsguy33
Matthew Hasselbeck, QB of 8-9 Seahawks: "What do you call the person that graduated medical school with the lowest GPA? A doctor."
@AdamSchefter
Calling for Mark Sanchez to throw a deep ball at this stage, tonight, is dumber than putting foot fetish videos on the Internet.
@Bruce_Arthur
Due to a long night of studying for his graduate degree at Ole Miss, Jeremiah Masoli won't be tuning in tonight. #bcs
@LonelyTailgater
Everyone who wants a playoff looks so stupid right now because this wouldn't be remotely exciting as the final game of a tournament. #BCS
Looks like Auburn is one half away from having to eventually vacate the BCS Championship
@ttagaris
You think Urban Meyer is just laughing out of control in Nick Saban's face as they show that Alabama fumble vs. Auburn? #BCS
Michigan's 1st question to Les Miles: "If there are 35 seconds to go in the game, how many seconds are left in the game?
@darrenrovell
And finally, because the Marshawn Lynch run sparked many of these tweets... your video of the day:
News and Views (January 8th)
First off, on a day like this our thoughts and prayers should first be with the families and friends affected by the shooting earlier today in Tucson. Just a horrible tragedy that really puts things into perspective.
And on that happy note... lets get to the first News and Views of 2011!
Colorado stuns No. 8 Mizzou; Burks' 36 key
Still not going to get excited about College Basketball until AFTER football season. Sorry ESPN, your top story doesn't interest me. Side note:ESPN stop pushing Women's college basketball on me... I will never watch it.
Sources: Nets' potential Melo deal needs Pistons
Because when you can create a new Big 3 with Melo and two over the hill stars in NEW JERSEY... you have to do it! Come on Melo... isn't this your dream!
Pitt exploits Kentucky miscues to claim bowl
Heard there were Kentucky fans painted up to spell "S-E-C!" Your team is so bad you resort to painting up for your conference? Should have spelled out "P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C"
Report: Torre in talks with Selig for MLB post
Thank You. Maybe we won't have to hear about where he may manage next year during every off-season.
Bucs pick up 2-year Morris option, source says
Because when you have the opportunity to prematurely extend a coach after a season when the team beat one opponent with a winning record... you have to do it!
Talking Sparano, Dolphins express regret
Because when you go after a new coach because you are unhappy with your old one and that fails... you have to extend the old coach for 2 more years! You have to do it! (Do you see the pattern of sarcasm?)
Source: Stanford looks in-house for new coach
Cue the Conan "in the year 2000........": The new coach leads Stanford to another 10-win season behind Andrew Luck, then loses 7 games in 2012 and is canned.
Brother of Ravens' Reed missing after river leap
Another sad story. Also, a lesson to kids, don't run from the police. Secondly, there is no doubt in my mind that Ed Reed will channel his sorrow/anger and have a monster game on Sunday.
Arizona delays game after congresswoman shot
Rightfully so. (see top of the post)
A few posts I am working on for the week: "Twitter Posts of the Week" and "Blake Griffin Dunk of the Week," possibly more.
As always, stay classy,
Labels: ESPN, News and Views
First Riverside Rants of 2011
New Year's Day. 2011.
I've been thinking about some reasonable resolutions for a few weeks now. More playing tennis. Less watching Family Guy DVDs for the 38th time. More cooking. Less mochas. More time reading books, less time reading ESPN.com updates on the Charlotte Bobcats (it's good to get away from sports a little bit, even though it's my job.)
Then I come up with another one: more blogging. I was super-committed to The Other B.S. Report during senior year (even during the all-important job search) and then into my first year at the Times (even when I was working my butt off trying to get comfortable). For whatever reason - and no, I don't have a good one - I got away from it.
So it's settled. 2011 resolution: more blogging.
But it would really help if I got my co-blogger involved. Let's get Mr. Walnick on the horn, yes?
Turns out B-dubs beat me to the punch. Facebook post on Jan. 1: "New Year's goal. 200 posts between the two of us on the blog... and no less than 1 post a week.:"
200 posts? THIS YEAR?!?!
Don't know if we'll reach it. But we will die trying. Okay, we won't die. But we'll try hard.
And to expand our horizons a little bit, we're in the process of bidding adieu to good ol' Blogspot. We both have enough friends who have started up websites or blogs of their own that it's time we feel savvy enough to do the same. Shavingpoints.com it is.
Kicking off the first Riverside Rants of the new year:
- At 6:03 p.m. on Dec. 18, the Davenport Assumption girls tipped off at Pleasant Valley.
- At 8:31 p.m. on Dec. 19, the North Scott boys tipped off with Rock Island at Augustana College.
- I only covered seven basketball games in between.
- That's right. Nine basketball games, start to finish, in a 28-hour span.
- I like my job a little bit.
- The roughest part, actually, was then going to Playa del Carmen, Mexico for a week, having one of the greatest trips of our family's history ... and then returning to reality. You literally feel unmotivated and a little depressed coming down from that high. The worst parts of vacations, definitely.
- But to relate our trip to a little bit sports, let me ask you people something.
- One of the days on the beach, my bros and I had hooked up with another family of three siblings (two girls and a guy, from Texas) along with two other guys from Michigan State. Eight of us had formed a volleyball team, and we were having fun playing some other teams, winning a couple and mostly losing while grabbing pitchers during our off-games.
- Late in the afternoon, this 6-foot-4, 25-ish guy wearing an AEP Sports shirt (we couldn't figure out if that represented the same fraternity Dan belongs to) is out there and starts dominating everybody. And not just on the scoreboard. He was visibly pissed when other teams - okay, our team - was trying to (gasp!) have a little fun on the court. If one of our players missed a shot and we started laughing, he scowled. Heaven help us if we tossed the ball back to the other team's server and it sailed wide.
- To kick off one game, he literally spiked a screamer into one of the MSU guys' gut. The dude never smiled. He just wanted to kick everyone's ass and show how good he was.
- The interesting part I noticed, as the sun began to set, was after 12 games of them on the court (because, of course, you keep playing until you lose in pickup, a stupid rule to begin with), I noticed that ALL FIVE OF HIS TEAMMATES had left. He simply grabbed different teammates and continued playing.
- Once he finally had enough, he grabbed his keys and sunglasses, and took off. By himself. He had no one else there with him, no friends or family or anything.
- Now I ask you: cool or not cool? It became kind of a talking point that night at dinner. One of the MSU guys is a tennis player like me, and we were each working up the courage to challenge AEP to step out on the hardcourt with us. See how he likes it when one of us sticks an overhead in his oblique.
- Of course, we didn't do that. But is that really what you would want to do with YOUR vacation? Go out and dominate a bunch of amateurs in your preferred sport and suck the fun out of it for everybody?
- There. That's my Riverside Rant of the Week, vacation-style. That was honestly the only potential down point of the whole time in Mexico (other than me getting sick at the end). What an unbelievable seven days we had.
- I'm not sure if John Clay was simply too gimpy to earn more than 11 carries in the game - and, impossibly, just four in the first three quarters - but that will be all part of the second-guessing. Montee Ball was excellent, and UW had a true three-headed monster at running back. But when the chips are on the table, in your biggest game of the year, your best player has to be your best player. That's not just cliche, it's truth.
- Scott Tolzien didn't have his best game. Nick Toon made a few big plays, but that's really been Toon's issue, is being more of a big-play threat than a consistent possession guy who can take over entire drives or games.
- The more I watch No. 99 of the Badgers, the more I continue to think that hearing the words, "With the second pick of the 2011 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos select ... J.J. Watt, defensive end, Wisconsin" would the best pick they've made in a number of years.
- Go ahead and snicker. Heck, Broncos fans might not even know who Watt is. I'm just telling you, I've watched a lot of college football these past five years, and I've been watching pro football my entire life, and every single team in the National Football League could use a J.J. Watt on their team.
- Put it this way: Trevon Hughes once said of Michael Flowers, "he just runs on oil, he don't eat no food." Watt plays every game like he just sucked Alaskan pipelines dry before the coin flip. Can't speak for defensive linemen in the SEC or Pac-10, but if I'm an NFL team, I'd take Watt over Iowa's Adrian Clayborn and probably even Purdue's Ryan Kerrigan.
- It was a year to remember for Wisconsin fans. Judging from immediate reaction on the part of the Badgers, it might not have been enough. That team wanted 12-1, not 11-2.
- What a mess Pittsburgh has on its hands. Mike Haywood gets hired to coach the football team because he fits "in line with the values of this great university."
- A few weeks later, he's fired for being arrested on domestic charges. Guess that doesn't fit in line with Pittsburgh's values.
- Of course, we're speaking of the University of Pittsburgh. There's a certain quarterback for the professional team in town that's wondering why Haywood was fired.
- (Thank you! Thank you! I'll be here all week!)
- Next week, check out the blog for my take on the Dreadful Denver Nuggets and why their successful run is over.
- Also, pretty soon, I'll finalize my 5th Annual Sportsman of the Month column. I want to see if I can do one of those every year until 2060 or I'm in the ground. Whichever comes first.
- Thanks for all your support, guys and gals. We hope you enjoy the new blog, and stay in touch whenever possible. I miss most of yous.
- In general, I am supremely motivated for 2011. It was my high school hockey jersey number. Odd years have always been my years. Let's have a great 12 months.