Thanksgiving Football Preview

It's Thanksgiving here in the United States. It's time to give thanks, eat turkey, and watch footanball! Here is some insight on today's Thanksgiving Day games.

New England @ New York

This game has been the most advertised of all of today's three games, but it definitely won't be the best game to watch. I  have lost a lot, if not all, hope in the Jets, meanwhile the Patriots are en route to win the AFC East. Expect a blow out.

Washington @ Dallas

This game should be pretty good. Dallas has been shaky all year long. Tony Romo has failed time and time again to hit his tempo and come through for his team.  RGIII has been red hot, while the rest of his team haven't done much better than their previous seasons. Both teams are very evenly matched and I look forward to watching this game.

Houston @ Detroit

This game has already started as I write. It's 0-7 for Detroit with 5:49 to go in the First Quarter. Nonetheless, I still think that the Texans will win because they have had a stellar season thus far. Matt Schaub has really come through for his club.

Getting out of Hand

NICK UNITED

Commentary for Futbol, Soccer, or whatever you call it!

Every professional sports league has its issues. Maybe its drug abuse, labour disputes, a biased distribution of wealth among players, coaches, and owners. The Barclays Premier League has a social issue that most leagues have been through with for decades, and it's getting out of hand.

 
The Premier League has been plagued with racial tension, and I really don't know why. So many of the American sports leagues maintain the "he's Black, and as long as he keeps scoring points I don't really care what his skin colour is," mentality. The English Premier League has failed to do that. There is know an epidemic across the FA of players, fans, and even referees, racially abusing one another. What makes the problem even more perplexing is that there is so much discrepancy whether certain claims of racial abuse are even valid. 

The primary example to help better define and identify this issue would be the John Terry Scandal. Of course, anyone who follows soccer/association football knows what happened. Basically, Anton Ferdinand of Queens Park Rangers claimed the John Terry of Chelsea 'racially abused' him. [Ferdinand] Terry and his club [Chelsea] launched efforts to try and prove Terry innocent. This included that team mate Ashley Cole, who is black, testifying on Terry's behalf. (Of course, the FA's verdict made Cole a little bit mad and caused him to go twitter-crazy, but we'll visit that in a minute.) Anyways, John Terry was eventually acquitted by the Magistrates Court, but the FA fined him and banned Terry for four games. This caused Ashley Cole to through a twitter fit and call the FA names when they declared Cole's evidence (which primarily included pointing out that Terry wasn't racist) invalid. The precise details, I'm not going to disclose, I don't really need Google kicking me out.

The solution to this issue is hard to come by. Of course the FA should expand punishments on those who racially violate others, but that doesn't totally fix the problem. The players have to not want to be racist, because its what they want, not because they'll get punished. The cliché for this situation could be, 'if white was a minority, would we [white people] appreciate being called derogatory names?' It's simple respect. A problem getting out of hand, needs to be fixed...soon.

MLB Season in Review

The 2012 Major League Baseball season was an exciting instalment into the never ending book of big league baseball. Boston busted, rookies shined, and the Giants won big in 2012. This was the first year that there was a all-or-nothing, wildcard game to get into the playoffs.  This complicated things quite a bit, after the Oakland Athletics stole the pennant from the Rangers, who went to the wildcard play-off game and were beaten out by Tampa. So, after two consecutive years going to the World Series and losing, the Texas Rangers didn't even make it into the post-season. There were also a handful of teams who completely they busted. Philidelphia, after losing Halladay to injury, finished at .500 and third in the NL East. Back in the American League, the Boston Red Sox went through the floor under Bobby Valentine; they finished dead last in the East Division.

Now, fast forward to the post season. We had the National League, the Reds being overtaken in the Giants in five games, while the Cardinals also had to take five games to oust the Washington Nationals. Things were just as tight in the AL. The Yankees took the maximum length of series to put end to the Orioles hopes. On the other hand, the Lions took five games to stop the A's in their tracks. I initially thought that the Reds would win the series against the Giants, and I thought the Nationals had the pitching ability to overtake St. Louis.

On to the next round, I don't think anyone saw the Yankees being swept, though, they never  seem to get further then the League Championship Series. It was an extremely close race between the defending Cardinals and the Giants. San-Fran eventually was able to advance over St. Louis in seven games. 

On to the World Series, I was not expecting a sweep, and neither was the majority of  baseball-loving America. But a sweep it was - the San Francisco Giants won their second title in three years. It's no repeat, but it is definitely a feat of note.

Now let's talk awards. Tomorrow is the announcement for Cy Young Awards, and Thursday is when the MVP award winners will be known. I think that R.A. Dickey will get the National League Cy Young, since he had multiple one-hitters and a minuscule earned run average. Justin Verlander, David Price, or Jared Weaver are deserving of the American League Cy Young Award, though I think it will go to David Price, as he personally had a remarkable year, while Verlander and Weaver both have a "another day at the office" sense to their seasons. Now let's talk MVP. Hands down, the American League MVP would be Miguel Cabrera for winning the triple crown. Thought, Mike Trout is definitely a candidate. The national league is another story though. Yadier Molina or Ryan Braun could definitely have a chance at getting the MVP, but if it were up to me, I think that R.A. Dickey is the most deserving.

The previous baseball season was a hit, and baseball fans can only hope for 2013 to be just like 2012.

Pink Pigskin and Girly Gridiron

With October comes cooler weather, changing leaves, spooky holiday decor, and the colour Pink. Yes, Pink. The National Football League's action starts to pick up in October, getting people to pay more and more attention each week. In light of this, the NFL has started a monster campaign for the greater good.

We live in a world where the egocentric celebrities, particularly the actors and the athletes, get all the fame, glory, attention, and of course money. This is while the philanthropists, the doctors, the scientists, who live among us, doing the most good for humanity, while the guys with a decade less of education are getting the air time on the news. The NFL has stepped forward to put aside the pointless hype of superstar quarterbacks, fantasy football, and power rankings, and united with the Players' Association to advocate for humanity. Behold, the "A CRUCIAL CATCH" campaign!

"A Crucial Catch" is in its fourth edition advocating the fight against Breast Cancer. However, not only are they pouring lots of money towards the cause they are also committing themselves to the most valuable asset in any campaign for any charitable cause: information.  The NFL has focused a lot on the education of the mass of the people. The focus of the campaign is actually not on research for a cure, though research is a beneficiary of the campaign. The true focus for "Crucial Catch" is stressing the importance to women of getting annual mammograms. Also, the pink apparel worn my referees, coaches, and players, are being auctioned off, profits benefiting the Community Health Advocates National Grants for Empowerment (CHANGE) program, organized by the American Cancer Society. The CHANGE program's focus is outreach and mammograms to women in poverty otherwise unable to receive preventive care.

However, the best way the advocacy campaign is working out, is that there has been a domino effect between the players and their fans. My "Rec" basketball league last winter had some kids who had no tattoos, and came from otherwise okay families, but they wore arm sleeves while playing. Of course, they taught it was cool to act like a NBA player who has tattoos so vulgar on his arm, he has to cover his arm while playing on national television. Anyways, the same effect has taken place in the Crucial Catch campaign but in a positive ways. Fans, particularly kids, see professional football players wearing pink arm bands, chin straps, socks, cleats, etc. during their football games, so these kids, rush into their local sports supplier, buy pink merchandise, wear them in their [the kids'] games, and bam, they are as cool as the Pros. So now, not only do you have more merchandise being purchased, which a percentage of the purchase goes to a respective advocacy group, but the awareness is being spread further and further. It's a pollination effect!

So, to sum this up, the NFL has got it right, and the focus of heroism, which is normally on sports and entertainment, not science and medicine, is on a cause that matters. There's no politics, no "what-is-in-it-for-me?". Just successful advocacy of stuff that matters. I am beginning to love October.

Source(s):

• NFL Pink - A Crucial Catch <http://nfl.com/pink>

NFL Week 2 Fantasy Picks

Not every week, but most weeks, I plan on doing a Fantasy Overview previewing the top performers of the month. Anyway, here it goes.

QB - Tom Brady - New England Patriots

Brady and the 'Pats' are up against the Arizona Cardinals. Obviously, there is no doubt that Tom Brady will have few issues against the Cardinals' defence, especially because the Patriots won the last meeting between the teams, 47 to 7.

RB - Brandon Jacobs - New York Giants

Brandon Jacobs has become better and better over the years, and he isn't too far from the stardom of Chris Johnson and Adrian Peterson. Jacobs and the Giants will host the Tampa Bay Bucs', who have an average rush defence at best. Jacobs should be able to blow up the stats, and dispel any possible losing streak.

WR - Dez Bryant - Dallas Cowboys

Bryant, despite having some recent issues, could possibly blossom in the Week Two match up against the Seattle Seahawks. The Cowboys have had a very good rhythm in their passing game, through tight end Jason Witten, and wide receivers Miles Austin and Dez Bryant. Bryant could get in a touchdown or two this weekend.

TE - Jimmy Graham - New Orleans Saints

The Saints are looking to rebound after a bad loss to the Washington Redskins. Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham will head off to Charlotte to play the Carolina Panthers in Week Two. While the panthers have a moderate offence, their defence isn't the best. I expect Jimmy Graham to get some quality passes to make him a chart-topper in week two.

Defence -  Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens are going up against a Philadelphia Eagles team, who can be good, but not spectacular. The Ravens are definitely a force to be reckoned with, and they will give Michael Vick and the Eagles lots of pain.