Entries from January 2004 ↓

Some baseball fans love a towering home run, stolen bases and high scoring games. But as everyone knows, without good pitching you�ll never win the World Series. In hockey, you could have both Wayne Gretsky and Mario Lemieux on your team, but if you don�t have a hot goaltender in net, they�ll be no Stanley Cup.

Football is about defense. Forget all the great quarterbacks, the running backs, the receivers. Forget the West Coast Offense or the Run and Shoot, you better have a Nickel Package and a Cover Two. It�s not how many points you score, but how well you stop your opponents from scoring. They don�t give style points for wins in football, you only need a safety so long as you keep the other team off the board.

So it was with great pleasure that I watched the AFC and NFC Championship Games. They were textbook examples of how to play great defense.

We saw very nearly identical game plans too. In beating the Indianapolis Colts 24-14, the New England Patriots tried to confuse Peyton Manning by disguising their defensive formations to prevent him from audibilizing at the line. By doing so, they got pressure on him and forced him out of his rhythm, where he threw four interceptions including three to Ty Law. Patriot defensive backs hammered Indy�s receivers right at the snap and any time they touched the ball. Marvin Harrison, Manning�s go-to guy had as many catches as Law. The Patriots had all the answers, the Colts had none.

That was the same result in Philadelphia, where the Eagles were playing their third consecutive NFC title game. Carolina, just 1-15 two seasons ago, was in their first, but played like the more experienced team. Philly receivers were a constant weak spot all season and that was fully exploited in this game. The Panther secondary smothered them, played bump and run, and never let them get open. As a result that forced Donovan McNabb to move around in the pocket, rush his throws and make himself vulnerable to hits, which is what happened, putting him out of the game.

Panther rookie defensive back Ricky Manning, Jr. matched Ty Law�s interception rate. Ironically, they both wear #24 and created opportunities with their physical play. The 14-3 final score was the second fewest points allowed in a championship game.

On the offensive side of the ball, the winners were able to control the line of scrimmage and run against porous defenses. Patriots QB Tom Brady dinked and dunked short passes underneath a Colt zone, often finding his favorite target Troy Brown, while the Panthers benefitted from shoddy coverage and tackling by the Eagles. First Jake Delhomme found Muhsin Muhammad on a jump ball in the end zone with two defenders around him. Later, DeShaun Foster ran around the outside for a score, shirking five Eagle non-tacklers. Indy and Philly offered up their own textbook examples of how not to play defense.

Before this game, focus was on McNabb and Manning–Peyton, not Ricky–and the fact that they haven�t won the big one. They will both be criticized following these losses, but blame doesn�t fall to them alone. The Eagles should fire their entire receiving corps. They are a mediocre crew that has few bright spots. Philadelphia has salary cap room and should go after someone with skills (could Terrell Owens be heading east).

Indianapolis needs to strengthen their defense. They had difficulty against run and pass. While defensive end Dwight Freeny is a bright spot, he was neutralized Sunday and there was little pressure from anywhere else.

So now we football fans wait an agonizing two weeks until Super Bowl XXXVIII, 38 for those who don�t speak Roman numeral. These two teams are quite evenly matched and similar in that they don�t rely on any single player to carry them. They are teams in every sense of the word. The Pats should have an edge because they�ve been here before and shouldn�t be overwhelmed by all the interviews, hoopla and hype surrounding the game, but I can�t count out Carolina just yet. Everyone has overlooked them all season, and coming in as underdogs may give them the motivation and freedom from pressure to win it.

I�m 8-2 in my playoff picks, but I�ll wait a bit before predicting this game.

This weekend’s NFL Championship games will pair the two best teams from each conference and that may be a huge understatement. The Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC, and Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots are all playing exceptionally good football right now, peaking at the right time of the season, gelling as individual units, and raising their level of play to defeat strong opponents to get to this point.

After two rounds of playoffs, I am 6-2 in my predictions and I’ll be making some here as well. However forgive me if I seem less confident in my picks. For any number of reasons, in both games either team is capable of winning it.

I believe the old axiom that defense wins football games, so logically Carolina should beat Philadelphia. The Panthers are tough on the defensive line with Julius Peppers and Mike Rucker, although their secondary can be burned, while the Eagles seem to be playing just a little over their heads right now. Donovan McNabb is always capable of willing the Eagles to victory–witness that 4th and 26 play against the Packers–and this is their second consecutive trip to the NFC title game, but I think luck will eventually run out. Carolina has more offensive weapons, from QB Jake Delhomme, dual running threats Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster, and receivers Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad. The Panthers should stop McNabb while moving the ball handily.

In the AFC, I’ve been picking against Indianapolis for two weeks now largely because I had little faith in Peyton Manning’s ability to win in the post season. I’ve been proven wrong, and in a big way, but that won’t stop me from picking against him this week. It’s that defensive edge again.

The Patriots are performing like the team they were when the won the Super Bowl two years ago, in that it is a total team effort. They are hitting on all cylinders on offense, defense and special teams, and it’s hard to single out any individual players for recognition. They all just get it done. They have experience in big games like this and it will be up in Foxboro in cold weather outdoor conditions, unlike any the Colts have played under the past two weeks. Manning and his favorite receiver Marvin Harrison, along with running back Edgerrin James, are usually capable of running up the points, but Bill Belichick’s teams are notoriously stingy on defense. Don’t expect Indianapolis to score easily, if at all.

Conference Championships
Sunday, Jan. 18

Indianapolis at New England
3:05 pm on CBS

Carolina at Philadelphia
6:48 pm on FOX

Super Bowl XXXVIII
Sunday Feb. 1, 6:25 pm on CBS
Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas

BASKETBALL

I’d be remiss if I didn’t comment on the new New York Knicks. In about two weeks, Isiah Thomas has transformed a moribund and mediocre team into a possible playoff contender, by trading away dead weight, bringing in exciting new players, and the NBA’s winningest coach to lead them. After two years of watching the New Jersey Nets steal the headlines, once again the most exciting basketball played in this area is on the east side of the Hudson River.

Even so, former coach Don Chaney deserved to be treated better than he was when they released him last week. Chaney was nothing but the good soldier, who stepped in and took over a losing team two years ago when Jeff Van Gundy saw the handwriting on the wall and jumped ship. He never had a wealth of good players to work with nor a general manager capable getting them. He was thrust into a caretaker role while senior management got their shit together. Once they did, with these recent moves, he shouldn’t have been just kicked to the curb. Making him run a practice and show up to the Garden only to find out he’s been fired, was disrespectful.

No, not the commander of the French Foreign Legion. The general feeling I�m in right now. A lot of it has to do with the weather. It has been biting cold this week and last, with snow and ice and cloudy skies, and that just makes me want to stay inside and sleep. Except I can�t. I have to get up each day and schlep to work like a million other drones in this big beehive. I get to work exhausted mentally and physically (but mostly mentally), and if I don�t have much scheduled, can easily surf the web the whole day out of sheer boredom.

The situation on the job doesn�t help. We�ve found some grants to apply for that would keep our program operating�in fact would allow us to expand considerably�but that is all contingent upon winning them. We won�t know until late February or March, which means that until then, we try to carry on as usual doing our assignments, but waiting for the other shoe to either drop or get a good polishing. It�s very disorienting.

On the anniversary of my birth, as the wind howled through the bare trees, I realized I have spent every winter of my existence in the cold and often frigid northeastern United States. A life long resident of New York, upstate and down, I have known no other place to endure a winter. I�ve often thought about moving somewhere else, but then think about my connections, family, friends, professional and political interests, and overall way of life. Can old dogs learn new masters? While we New Yorkers grouse about what�s wrong with our state, and there�s a lot wrong, we are still much better off than many other places, particularly with regard to certain civil liberties. States, like Virginia for instance, that still keep anti-sodomy laws on the books (which they aggressively pursue, thank you very much) may be warmer climatically, but quite frosty politically. In New York, even the Republicans are pro-choice, because they know they won�t get elected if they aren�t.

And speaking of Republicans, the Asshole in Chief and his minions just cause me to grind my teeth to a nub. I�m beyond angry. If I said what I was really feeling, I�d get arrested for sure. But this fake campaign ad did make me smile. WARNING: You probably shouldn’t click on this link at work. If you do, turn the volume down.

The cold is keeping me from getting to the gym too, and I don�t like that. I can see and feel the pounds returning. Inside me lives a fat man screaming to get out, and I must work hard to keep him locked up. It�s supposed to warm up to 32 degrees Saturday, so maybe I can get back to my regular routine.

I won�t even talk about my social life. As barren as the North Pole.

Life just seems like a treadmill right now and me a little ole hamster, neither getting ahead nor falling behind, just tired out from the run around.

Questions about the real reason for the US invasion of Iraq, the war on terrorism and just how long American troops will remain an occupying force in the region are on the increase, oddly enough with some of them coming from inside the Bush administration.

While the White House works overtime trying to spin last weekend’s bombshell from former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill that Bush was hatching an overthrow of Saddam Hussein months before 9/11, comes new corroborating evidence from another administration source. ABC News reported that another White House official attended the same National Security Council meeting O’Neill cited in his allegation, and that source claimed the Bush plans for Iraq far exceeded similar plans drawn up during the Clinton Administration.

The Philadelphia Daily News a year ago reported that Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz were formulating plans for an Iraqi invasion back in 1997. Bush took office in 2000.

Equally damning criticism came from the US Army War College this week, when a veteran defense expert and research professor issued a 56 page analysis of the invasion and deemed it “an unnecessary preventive war of choice” that was deverting resources from the search for Osama bin Laden and defeat of al Qaeda. The report faulted the administration for blurring the lines between rogue states, terrorist groups and weapons of mass destruction into a single threat and questioned the feasibility of overcoming such a target.

The bubble upon which this entire mess has been precariously perched is about to burst and it’s going to leave a mess around the world effecting millions of lives. Bogus reasons for invasion notwithstanding, the idea that democracy would miraculously form out of what was left is another mistake that will be felt for generations.

An article in the Village Voice suggests that for purely political campaign reasons, the Bush Administration will abandon their hardline approach and simply pull out of Iraq by July 1, in time to fool the stupid masses into thinking they’ve accomplished their mission and then march on to victory in November. They may be already laying the groundwork for more misinformation. Witness the release of new Saddam capture photos this week. Clearly they are designed to remind people of their only significant achievement and deflect criticism.

Finally, news guaranteed not to make the front page concerns US troop morale. Suicides are on the increase by soldiers stressed out over the prospects of an open-ended mission. Twenty-one soldiers have taken their own lives, including 18 in the Army and 3 in the Navy and Marine Corps. This represents 14 percent of non-combat deaths since the fighting began last year. Nearly 400 troops have been pulled out of Iraq for stress-related problems.

On the anniversary of my birth, I had a pleasant conversation with my mother where I asked her about what was happening the day I was born.

I arrived the morning of Wednesday, January 13, 1960. My parents had four sons already, the last born three years and almost four months previously. The family was living in a public housing project in a small city in upstate New York at the time, where Dad managed a community center connected to the complex.

During Christmas of 1959, Mom had the responsibility of shopping for presents while expecting a gift of her own. She remembered how that tired her out. A short woman, pregnancy made her look plump, and my third oldest brother who was four, thought it quite amusing to see her running all over town in her condition.

She told me she has no recollection of any problems during the pregnancy. The morning of my birth, my two oldest brothers had already gone to school when Mom said she felt me kicking. There was no rushing to the hospital like in the movies. Mom and Dad just made a leisurely drive to the Catholic hospital.

Mom said I was a natural birth and although she didn’t recall how much I weighed, guessed it was around 5-6 pounds. A cute little round baby, with lots of nice, black curly hair. She said my brother’s teachers broke the news to them in school that they had a new younger sibling.

There were now two parents, four small kids and an infant living in a three bedroom apartment. It would stay that way until we moved into a house two years later, just before my younger brother was born. Mom said I was a good sleeper and eater, with a healthy appetite, two attributes I maintain to this day. She didn’t recall when I started trying to walk, but said I started talking early and often. After a few years, I got good at saying, “No” she said, another skill I cultivated over the years.

Were you wondering about the significance of a football player on the main page for this link? Well, the number should be a giveaway, but it’s more than that. The player is the late Ernie Davis, who in 1961 became the first African American to win college football’s prestigious Heisman Trophy. He did it while attending Syracuse University, my alma mater.

Ok, I needed a graphic and I was reaching. Sue me.