Blizzard Bruising

Apparently there was more than a snowstorm in Foxboro.
(espn.com)

Other than the Raiders beating the Eagles (and Richard Seymour's playoff prediction afterward), there wasn't too many shockers. Many had Brees and the Saints performance against New York as a world-stopper. The Giants got crushed by the Saints, but my jaws are still in place. The G-Men had played the Redskins, Raiders, Buccaneers and Chiefs this year, so they haven't exactly played high caliber competition this season. It will be interesting to see what they do against the recently in-rhythm Cardinals, Philly and the super-Chargers and whether they can arrive at their bye week still at the top of many experts' power rankings. The biggie was that Pats-Titans snow dusting. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't the game of the week by any standards. I expect to beat a team that is on pace for a reverse perfect season no matter what my team's record is. I mean, the Titans have been as ugly as these medals for the next Winter Games. Kerry Collins is falling off of last year's cloud and they weren't able to keep their best defensive player, exposing their suspect secondary. But the largest deficit since the bicentennial? Aren't snow games normally low-scoring slop fests? I'm glad the the minutemen who stand behind the end zone didn't run out of ammo. The fact that a repeat of the 1940 NFL Championship Game was a feasible scenario in the 3rd quarter made this game a whole another species. Brady basically had a whole day and then some in the 2nd quarter alone with 5 TDs, the Pats had 619 total yards in the game and were up 45-0,.....AT HALFTIME! What was more eye-pooping was some of the performances recorded on the other sideline. The Collins-Young duo combined for 2/14 with -7 yards passing and 2 picks. Plus, I don't see how you can get lower than Collins's 4.9 QB rating. Not saying that there will be a change in Tennessee anytime soon, but If I were a coach that had a QB with a rating that is closer to resembling a breathalyzer reading, I would even wear the uniform of a divisional rival to think this decision over. I'm hoping for a similar performance when the Pats cross the pond, scarf down some fish and chips and duke it out at Wembley against Tampa Bay next weekend.

As chilling as the Cold War itself.
(espn.com)

In probably the biggest upset of the soccer world this season, Russian squad Rubin Kazan beat the blaugrana 1-2 in Barcelona. I sensed it coming when the commentators were already anointing Barça as gods and superman, all before Ryazantsev went long distance into the Barça net in the 2nd minute of the match. It was almost like when the .200 hitter hits a grand slam in the 1st inning against your team after the commentator puts huge emphasis on the fact this particular individual has hit zero grand slams. Even after the Ibrahimovic equalizer, it still felt like a lost game. I couldn't believe that we were fighting just to get a point against a team we should have handled, even having possession of the ball for three-quarters of the game. Then I had to watch the green shirts find a seam in the virtually impenetrable Barça backfield and pushed the dagger into the blaugrana one final time. Now, Group F is in a virtual deadlock heading into the second set of matchups in the group phase, which has a part of me a bit worried as to whether Barça will even have the opportunity to defend their Champions League title. In their last Spanish League game against Valencia, they gave Los Che many opportunities to break open what was eventually to be a 0-0 deadlock. I'm just hoping it's just a hangover from the international qualifier games, but whatever take soccer version of Chaser Plus is for this period, Barça better take one fast. However, I'm alleviated by the fact that it's not the end just yet, including another matchup with Rubin in the Motherland in a couple weeks to hopefully correct the last result. Also soothing to have a Ronaldo-less Real Madrid lose another match, this time to AC Milan in the Champions League. Guess I'm still feelin' good once again with my soccer!

Umpire + Center of attention = Never good.
(espn.com)

Lat night, we saw the Phillies won their second NL pennant in as many years as they humiliated the Dodgers to a 4-1 deficit. In fact, the Phils were a Chase Utley error and a J.A. Happ walk from sweeping the entire thing. Yes, I completely botched this series when predicting it (best NLCS of my lifetime?), and I thought that the Dodgers had more clout than what they showed this past week. However, I did warn the nation about the Philly swagger, which was again displayed to the world in that Game 4 rally that all but locked up the series. The 2009 postseason has been thrilling, not with the games necessarily, but with the brilliant individual performances. Ryan Howard has 14 RBIs in 9 postseason games and A-Rod is batting .407 with 5 homers while putting this Yankee team on his back to within one game of the franchise's 40th AL pennant. Can't forget to mention Cliff Lee and his 0.74 ERA in 24 1/3 innings in his first postseason series of his career. But the thing that has unfortunately stolen the spotlight has been the incompetency of the umpires, who are supposedly the best of the best in this sport. Whenever an umpire has a post game press conference for anything, it's probably not for a good deed. I mean, did you see Tim McClelland make that out call on Swisher, even though his eyes were clearly not on 3rd base? How 'bout that nixed double play in the same game? The Phil Cuzzi missed call on Mauer's "foul ball" down the left field line? That fact that I know an umpire's name is disconcerting, because it is showing that they are not doing their job. Granted, it hasn't changed the course of a game yet, but it's only a matter of time in which it will decide the fate of an important game. As much as I love this sport, I think it is too stubborn when it comes to rule changes. In the age of HD and Blu-ray, it wouldn't hurt to have manager challenges similar to football on boundary disputes, or for those simply, downright botched calls. At this point, the sport has to implement more replay. It's just not enough to correct only homeruns and not other egregious errors. It's getting into "Twilight Zone" mode with how bad it is getting. MLB's excuse of the lack of replay used as a way to maintain the charm of the game is old and played out. Missed calls aren't exactly the most alluring thing to me, Bud. If baseball is going to appeal to the 21st century sports fan, it has to get out of the 19th century and get with the program of getting it right, especially when it counts.

Mochaman's Fantasy Football Report
- Boston Beersquad - 5-1 (1st, Plax's Got a Gun, 1st in Division 2, 745.69 Pts.)
On top of the league thanks to getting a a slew of consistent performances on my roster, gaining double-digit totals from all but two players to overtake the current #1. Liking that Portis had his 2nd good week in a row, which makes me feel a little more confident about my RB committee. Tough week coming up, as a lot of my players are going up against the top defenses in the NFL.

- Killa' Beavaz - 4-2 (2nd, Yahoo Public 179914, 631.83 Pts.)

Like the 'Squad, the Beavaz took down the top team this week, as I inched myself closer to the peak of the mountain. Also like the Beersquad, the Pats D were the top contributors and the difference between victory and defeat for the week. Must find a way to fill the gap at WR, as Brandon Marshall has a bye week coming up. Thinkin' that Ted Ginn isn't gonna be enough if I want to win this week.