The Raptors Win the NBA Championship

The Raptors won the NBA championship last night, 4 games to 2 over the Warriors.

The score of Game 6 was 114-110; Steph Curry missed a last second three that would have given the Warriors the lead (the extra points for the Raptors came from a technical against Draymond Green, who called a timeout without having one).

I watched parts of several of the games in this series. It was definitely not played at the same high level as some of the Warriors/Cavs series the past few years, but I particularly enjoyed the efforts of two players: Klay Thompson for Golden State and Fred Vanvleet for Toronto.

Thompson is my favorite kind of athlete: driven, intense, artistic in his athleticism, team-focused, and humble. He is not as soft-spoken as Tim Duncan (or Kawhi Leonard, who won the series MVP), but I love the way that he puts the game first, rather than focusing all the energy on himself. He reminds me of Art Monk -- or perhaps Gary Clark, who was a bit more voluble than Monk, but with a similar seriousness of purpose about the game.

Thompson's shots are graceful in a way that Curry's, for some reason, are not. He makes basketball look effortless, but you just know that there must be hours and hours of practice and diligence that go into it.

Towards the end of last night's game, Thompson injured his knee (a possible torn ACL), which followed a string of injuries to other Warriors.

Fred Vanvleet, on the otherhand, does not have the "effortless" factor. I had forgotten about Vanvleet, who played a leading role on the Wichita State Final Four team. I gather from listening to Bill Simmons that he has really risen to the occasion of this year's playoffs (as his wife gave birth to a son!). He had not been known as a star, but he has been shooting the lights out (five three-pointers in last night's game, for example) and he made a significant contribution to the Raptors' victories over the Magic, the 76ers, the Bucks and now the Warriors.

Late June through mid August becomes the "quiet time" for sports, although I am looking forward to watching the Women's World Cup with the kids. Team USA won its first game 13-0 over Thailand, and I was surprised that the coach allowed the team to run-up the score to that extent -- a thirteen goal differential strikes me as unnecessary/preventable.

The NCAA Tournament: Upsets by Oregon and Liberty; Amazing Hustle by Myo Baxter-Bell

As I nurse my troubled knee, I enjoyed watching two first round tournament games yesterday.

It was a reminder that watching an entire basketball game unfold is uniquely satisfying: as you start to know individual players, a narrative draws you in. You become invested in the story even without any prior connection.

In the earlier game, Oregon (a 12 seed) defeated Wisconsin 72-54. I was reminded that Oregon made a Final Four appearance two years ago, and they certainly looked stronger than their seed. A forward named Kenny Wooten blocked four shots and brought considerable energy for the Ducks.

Energy and confidence matter so much during the NCAA tournament (fortunately, UVa found theirs early in the second half, pulling away to beat Gardner Webb (71-56) after a nerve-wracking replay of last year's debacle during the early part of the game; Kihei Clark played aggressively, after underperforming during the ACC tournament loss against Florida State). In this game, Oregon's energy grew, while Wisconsin's waned. I will be curious to see what happens during their second round game against UC Irvine, which also pulled off a considerable upset (as a 13 seed) against Kansas State.

In the second game, Liberty (another 12 seed!) defeated Mississippi State 80-76.

Liberty is coached by Ritchie McKay, who was an assistant for the Cavaliers for six years. The announcers explained that McKay was close with Dick Bennett and joined the UVa staff to help mentor Tony.

Late in the game, the Flames were losing by 10 or so. Caleb Homesley led an awesome comeback, scoring 14 points in less than five minutes (including several gorgeous three pointers).

Then, Lovell Cabbil Jr. (a senior) made four crucial free throws in the last minute.

Another star was Myo Baxter-Bell, a muscular and wide bench player who played with with incredible hustle (diving to the floor on multiple occasions) to help Liberty come back on more than one occasion.

I really enjoyed watching the way that the Liberty players encouraged each other and truly played as a team. I assume that comes from great coaching by McKay. It is inspiring to watch people perform at their highest level, and I am happy for these players and coaches making the most of their moment.

The World Cup: Kylian Mbappe

The World Cup is being held in Russia this summer. We've watched portions of several games.

T, in particular, was quite excited to cheer for Lionel Messi and his Argentine teammates. I'm not sure why, but this year's Cup has not seemed as big a deal as previous ones -- perhaps because the United States was not one of the 32 participants.

The underdog stories of the tournament have been Russia (they made it to the quarterfinals) and Croatia (who ultimately defeated Russia).

France defeated Belgium yesterday, 1-0, to advance to the championship. Their star performer has been Kylian Mbappe, who is quite fun to watch: fast, agile, confident. Watching Mbappe, one gets the sense that he sees the field in a way that other's don't -- similar to the way that LeBron is one step ahead of the competition on any given play.

Today, Croatia plays England in the second semifinal. I'm rooting for the underdog Croats, though I'll be happy for all the Brits if they make a long-awaited return to the championship.

Mbappe is only 19 years old, and he's the second highest paid player in football. His father is from Cameroon and his mother is from Algeria.

Playing against Argentina in the Round of 16, Mbappe became only the second teenager in history (after Pele!) to score two goals in the same match.

Loretta Lynch and the FIFA Prosecution

Loretta Lynch was confirmed as the new Attorney General this spring.

She is being praised this week for orchestrating the arrests of top officials at FIFA for conspiracy and bribery. Most of the arrested officials are Latin American, and President Sepp Blatter (who the guys on Hang Up and Listen have been criticizing and mocking for years) is noticeably not charged.

Prior to becoming the Attorney General, Lynch was the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. My understanding is that she began the investigation into FIFA corruption while serving in that role.

Today in Slate, Mark Joseph Stern explains (here) that the media has been incorrectly portraying these arrests as a "takedown" of FIFA (the organization). In reality, says Stern, the Justice Department is trying to protect FIFA from the leaders who are guiding it improperly (and looting its funds):

Counterintuitive as it may seem, though, the Justice Department hasn’t alleged that FIFA is a criminal enterprise [under the RICO statutes].  

Rather, it has alleged that FIFA is the victim of a criminal enterprise—the group of corrupt officials who secured bribes and kickbacks through years of fraud and racketeering. Altogether these officials allegedly illegally solicited well over $150 million in exchange for exclusive media and marketing rights of international soccer tournaments ... 

America is not attempting to topple a bloated, unprincipled organization. Rather, it is attempting to protect that horrible organization from its even more unscrupulous officials. These men owed a duty to FIFA to carry out their jobs honorably and conduct their business legally. Instead, they allegedly conspired to bribe their way to millions in personal wealth. The money they’re accused of pocketing should have gone to FIFA. Instead, prosecutors say, it went into their bank accounts.

Stern's article is great: easy-to-comprehend and framing the entire story in its big picture legal context. This is the kind of writing that I want to aim for personally.

596. What is the likelihood that the 2022 World Cup will be moved from Qatar? I feel like there's at least a fifty percent chance, and I think that the dramatic stories of corruption have increased the chance significantly.

597. Will any of the FIFA officials plead guilty? Have they already been extradited to the United States, or are they still in Switzerland? I anticipate that the jurisdictional questions about charging foreigners in the United States will be quite complex. How solid is Lynch's claim of US jurisdiction?

Sepp Blatter

A Trip to Austin for the NCAA Tournament

This past weekend, Dad, Tucker, Daniel and I went to Austin to celebrate my 40th birthday and watch the NCAA Tournament. We had a fantastic weekend.

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I was thoroughly impressed by Austin. I drove through northern Texas on my way home from California in August 1995 but otherwise have never visited The Lone Star.

We stayed at a hotel downtown within walking distance of the UT Arena (which hosted the games and reminded me -- in a good way -- of U-Hall), the state capital building, and Sixth Street.

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None of the games was close (aside from a brief period during Illinois vs. Colorado when the Buffaloes staged an impressive comeback before ultimately falling short), but there is something so freaking fun about watching tournament games.

Dan had us all naming our all-time favorite Cavalier players (I went with John Crotty as my guard, while Tuck chose Richard Morgan), and we did a separate pool for each game (Tuck and Dan were the winners). Between the two sessions we found a great bar with a large outdoor courtyard (it reminded me of the place that Chap and I hung out before the Tottenham soccer game).

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On Saturday morning we walked through the Texas state capital.  Dad and Mom have a project to visit all the state capitals, so he was psyched to report back to Mom that he was 1-up. This is an impressive building (soft red granite and a beautiful dome), and I especially liked the park and trees that surround it. We saw the State Senate Chamber, and the group photos of the Senators brought home to me the significant Latino presence in Texas (it was a concrete reminder that George W. Bush was right to try to shift the Republicans' approach to immigration during his Presidency).

Later we visited Lance Armstrong's bike shop (Mellow Johnny's) and found an awesome bar at the end of a pier on Lake Austin, before watching the games on Sixth Street in the evening.  A highlight was a roofside table overlooking the street where we talked about the Ricky Williams 30-for-30 and I told Tuck that I love his oft-surprising encyclopedic knowledge of sports history.

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We were surprised to learn that the Sunday games were considerably later in the day than expected, so we actually didn't get to see them, but I didn't care at all.  It was an awesome weekend and I am really happy that we got to do it.

 

Scores of the games we saw:

 

Miami 78 - Pacific 49 (Miami looked really strong. Shane Larkin is their star, but Durand Scott's five 3-pointers were a highlight. Watching a graceful jump shot swish through the hoop is one of my favorite moments in sports.)

 

Illinois 57 - Colorado 49

 

Florida 79 - Northwestern State 47

 

Minnesota 83 - UCLA 63

Joe Flacco to Torrey Smith -- An Unbelievable Touchdown

It's division playoff weekend and the Ravens just tied-up the Broncos, 35-35, with an epic bomb from Flacco to Smith!  WOW!

I just called Tuck and he said the Bronco secondary's breakdown reminded him of the Redskins' prevent at its very worst.

It is going to be extremely interesting to see what happens in overtime.

Seahawks 24, Redskins 14

Only one person says, “Enough” to a star quarterback who wants to continue: the coach.

… And if ever a veteran coach needed to accept responsibility for the reins of a player, it was Shanahan over Griffin in this game. Yet he simply passed the buck to his player. Griffin said he could play, was in pain but wasn’t injured and had earned the right to be the quarterback — all the sideline buzzwords to keep yourself in the game. And Shanahan listened and bought it. Soon, we’ll find out the price.

Griffin entered the game recovering from one month-old knee injury, playing in a big brace. Before the end of the first quarter, he had reinjured it and, in the process, lost almost all of his mobility and become completely ineffective. The Redskins led 14-0 when he hurt himself. Griffin passed for just 25 yards the rest of the day.

Thomas Boswell in this morning's Post. 

The most-powerful orthopedist on Earth will never win an on-field debate with a star player or coach. There is no such thing as a reasoned medical checkup during an NFL game. It's all battlefield surgery—bracing and retaping and injecting to get wounded players back on the field. In these moments, the right choice of inspiromatic sports cliché will override most any diagnosis. You're a competitor? You don't want to let your team down? Get on out there, franchise quarterback. These are the playoffs. Be a man.

Josh Levin on Slate.

 567. This is a question on which the NFL season starts and ends for me: in light of the violence of football, will I at some point abandon my fandom and re-direct to another sport (soccer? the NBA?)?

Redskins Lead the Seahawks By One at Halftime

The Redskins are playing the Seahawks in the first Skins' playoff game since 2007.  It's 14-13 at halftime.

The Redskins absolutely dominated the first quarter, with RG III and Alfred Morris leading two stellar drives. 

RG III threw a touchdown on the first drive to Evan Royster and a five-yarder to Logan Paulsen on the next drive.

You can tell that Griffin's knee is extremely tender (he actually went to the locker room after the second drive), and he's less mobile than pre-injury.  He also threw an ill-advised long ball on the last drive that was intercepted by the Seahawks.

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The Seahawks turned it around in the second quarter -- the yardarge totals were basically reversed with the Skins only gaining 11 yards during the second quarter.

 

I've been very impressed with Russell Wilson (he's living up to the hype).  He makes poised passes and had a couple of nice runs.

 

Sydney Rice made the key play of the game so far, a gorgeous catch, tiptoe on the sideline, that was the key play of the Seahawks' first scoring drive.  I think if we could have prevented this drive, we would have held the momentum into the second quarter.

 

Fortunately our defense held them to field goals on two of their drives. London Fletcher had a nice sack, and Perry Riley had another. Hopefully both offense and defense can come out strong in the second half!!
 

 

Washington Versus Dallas For All The Marbles

The Skins are playing Dallas tonight with the NFC East Championship at stake.

 

It's 7-7, with 3 minutes left in the first half.  The Skins just went on a terrific drive that was highlighted by several amazingly strong runs by Alfred Morris.

 

Morris has had a stellar year.  The combination of him and RG III has made this the most enjoyable Redskins season in a very long time.  I really hope they can pull out the victory tonight.

 

The key play of the drive was a fantastic catch by Logan Paulsen on third down.  He held on, held on, held on to the ball: sheer determination, like the Gibbs-vintage Redskins, playing hard (and on an earlier drive, Leonard Hankerson caught a nice ball but did not showboat; he was business-like and went straight back to the huddle, in the best tradition of Art Monk).

Robert Griffin III is Looking Great in the Season Opener

I'm watching the Redskins' season opener against the Saints, and Robert Griffin III looks quite good.

There are eight minutes left in the third quarter, and the Skins lead 30-14. 

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Griffin completed his first 9 passes. A bunch of the completions were the old Joe Gibbs sideline swing pass, but one of them was an absolutely beautiful lead across the middle of Pierre Garcon -- it turned into a 91 yard touchdown when Garcon outran the CB.

Alfred Morris looks solid at RB (he's a rookie, 6th round draft pick from Florida International), and WR Aldrick Robinson has had a couple of nice catches (including a touchdown on another beautiful pass from Griffin). 

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Griffin looks confident (a significant change from Rex Grossman last year in this respect). He has a range of touches on his throws: he's zipped a few (including the touchdown to Robinson, which was not a lead), but he has also made a couple of softer touch passes. 

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Also, our defense has forced the Saints into 4 three-and-outs!  Drew Brees threw one beautiful touchdown to Jimmy Graham (he went high in double coverage), but the Saints' other score was a blocked punt and they have not gained much yardage.  The secondary must be covering the Saints' receivers pretty well, although DeAngelo Hall is the only name I recognized when they showed the starters.

Stephen Bowen has played particularly well on the defensive line.  He batted down a Brees pass on their very first third down, and he just got through the line on a run play to enable DeAngelo Hall to tackle Pierre Thomas for a loss. Bowen went to Hofstra and is in his seventh season.

Let's hope that we can grind out some drives to burn the clock and get the season started with a "W"!

Robert Griffin III and Possible New Hope for the Skins

There's been a bit of a renaissance in Washington sports this spring.

The Nats are off to a torrid start, with particularly good pitching. The Caps beat the Bruins (last year's Stanley Cup champs) in Game 7 of their first round playoff matchup.  And on Thursday night the Skins drafted Robert Griffin III with the second overall pick.

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The drafting of Griffin is the most hyped Redskins story since Joe Gibbs came out of retirement in the winter of 2003.  There was an event at FedEx Field this weekend at which almost 20,000 people came out to watch a brief interview with him.

The coverage has focused on his outstanding work ethic and his likeable personality. Griffin is from a military family, and it sounds like his discipline comes both from his parents and from himself.

There was a last-minute critique by one writer who said that Griffin is a standard scrambling quarterback (reading between the lines = not smart), without a great arm, but most of the analysts are split as to whether Griffin or Andrew Luck (drafted first by the Colts) is more likely to be a long-term superstar.

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I don't know whether to be excited. The Skins have trained me well these past 20 years to be pessimistic. I really hope that Griffin can become the core of a team that stays together, plays together, and puts the game above the showboating. It would be fun for them to become consistently good again.

Our second pick was SMU's Josh Ribeus, a 6'2" guard, in Round 3. We picked Michigan State's QB Kirk Cousins in the fourth round, becoming the first team in almost thirty years to draft two quarterbacks so early (the Cowboys took Steve Walsh in the fourth round the same year that they drafted Aikman).  Leave it to the Skins' front office to take a bizarre approach to draft day!

Later in the draft we took Texas's Keenan Robinson, an outside linebacker.

Sunshine in Savannah, and Virginia on the Bubble

We've just returned from Savannah. What a great city! I loved all the parks (sixteen squares, laid-out gridlike), the Spanish moss, the river walk, and the delicious food (including an unbeatable ham and cheese croissant at the Back in the Day bakery). The azaleas and rhododendron had started to blossom and the temperatures were warm: just right for exploring. The above-picture is the fountain in Forsyth Park.

531. When James Oglethorpe founded Georgia (1733), was he motivated entirely by philanthropy and a desire to provide debtors with a "second chance", or was there a business rationale for structuring the settlement as a debtors' colony?

532. We learned that the population of Savannah and the surrounding area is approximately 300,000. Is this bigger or smaller than Richmond?

533. I loved Forsyth Park, and it made me think about how Charlottesville could re-design McIntire Park to make it user-friendly.  Will the golf course always remain there, or will the City move towards a park that is more inviting to more people?

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The Super Tuesday primaries occurred while we were traveling.

Rick Santorum won Tennessee (a surprise from my perspective), but Romney squeaked by in Ohio. The narrative of the campaign continues to be Romney's inability to capture the imagination of more than 30-40% of Republicans.

I think the media is under-reporting the effect of Romney's Mormonism on his campaign. His views/positions are just not that different from Santorum's or Gingrich's. I think his religion is a significant reason that people aren't coming around to him, but the media seems reluctant to examine the story -- perhaps a form of political correctness in not wanting to raise the possibility of religious intolerance among voters?

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While we drove home yesterday, we listened to UVa lose to North Carolina State (67-64) in the ACC Tournament.

Mike Scott had a nice run of baskets during the middle part of the second half (we closed the gap from 9 points to 2), but we couldn't consistently stop State's inside game and missed a couple of chances to tie the game down the stretch.

Poor, poor Virginia - we have now missed the ACC Tourney semis for 17 straight years! This is an amazing accomplishment in futility. Even teams like Wake, State (and even Miami!) have periodically made strong runs in the Tourney. We just cannot seem to do it.

We are (allegedly) a lock to make the NCAA Tournament, but I think after yesterday we are still on the bubble. I hope that we'll make it and win a game or two, in order to make the season a true success.

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And the big sports new this morning is that the Redskins are trading three first round and one second round pick to the Rams in order to get this year's #2 pick, presumably to draft Robert Griffin III.  Wow. This is a big gamble. Everything I hear about Griffin sounds great, but that is a lot of draft picks to spend on a single player.

Robert Griffin III

Super Sunday, Mark Moseley and Redskins Glory Past

Tonight is the Super Bowl XLVI, Patriots vs. Giants in Indianapolis. 

The two biggest story lines this week have been (1) whether Rob Gronkowski will be able to play in light of his injured ankle and (2) the public feuding between Peyton Manning and Jim Irsay about Manning's health and whether he'll be released by the Colts.

The Patriots are favored by three tonight, but many of the analysts are picking the Giants. I am leaning towards the Giants; I think the balanced offense with Eli, Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw wins out.

Over the past few years, I've decided that the playoff games are more exciting than the Super Bowl itself (even though there have been some great Super Bowls recently (Patriots vs. Giants in 2008 is a prime example)).

During the playoffs, there's always something further to play for -- in the Super Bowl, there's less at stake. Also, the "event-ness" of the Super Bowl has gradually swallowed the football.

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Tom Coughlin was coaching the Jaguars the year that I lived in Jacksonville, and I have always kind of admired his super-serious, disciplined approach. It's a shame that he didn't end up with the Skins. To that end, it's a shame we didn't pick up Gronkowski, or Cruz, or Wes Welker ... have the Skins discovered even one great find in the past 15 years?

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Two sports developments from yesterday:

1. The Cavaliers lost to Florida State 58-55, and we are now 5-3 in the ACC. We turned the ball over a bunch (uncharacteristically, I gather -- we average only 11 turnovers per game), but we did manage to go on an impressive 14 point run in the middle of the second half. Joe Harris barely missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game at the end.
2. Curtis Martin was elected to the Hall of Fame with five others. To my considerable surprise, neither Cris Carter or Bill Parcells was chosen.  I thought Parcells, in particular, was a shoe-in. Does this have anything to do with people not liking him on a personal level?

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The Washington Post Magazine's cover story this morning (here) is about Mark Moseley's two-year stint with the Fredericksburg Generals in the mid-1990's. It is an uplifting story that gives a glimpse into the world of semi-pro football. I'm not sure that I could get excited about watching semi-pro football, but I liked reading about it.

Moseley was always one of my favorite Redskins. He seemed like such a normal guy, and I loved the way he wore his emotion on his sleeve.

The best Super Bowl play of them all...

Tebow-Mania and Cavalier Basketball on the Rise!!

Most people in America are all-Tebow-all-the-time this week (were those 316 passing yards truly miraculous?!) as they gear up for the Saturday night clash of Tim vs. Tom, but in Charlottesville we are relishing the Cavaliers' awesome 15-1 start to the season.

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I loved the last play of the Broncos/Steelers game - DeMaryius Thomas cutting across the middle and Tebow hitting him in perfect stride reminded me of all the times Dad taught Tuck and me about leading and crossing-the-middle when we'd throw with him as kids.

It's hard to not get caught up in and enjoy the Tebow hype -- it's one of those moments when sports really does serve to bring people together.

Tonight UVa plays at Duke and there's a definite buzz about the possibility that we could pull off a big W and really propel the program forward.  Having followed the Duke defeats over the years, I'd be extremely surprised if we win tonight, but there's no doubt that Tony Bennett, Mike Scott and Sammy Zeglinski have the team moving in the right direction!!

Here's Dan's e-mail to me from this morning:  "How crazy are you going to blog if we upset the Dookies tonite, Baby!!"

You just have to love that form!!!

Drew Brees is the Sportsman of the Year

Drew Brees is the 2010 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. I read the SI article this morning (after reading some more of the Vanderbilt biography, which has been an enjoyable tale; I've liked the recent part about his contribution to the Union effort during the Civil War).

I think Brees is the right choice for 2010. He sounds like an extremely admirable individual, invested in community work in each of the places he's lived as an adult (Purdue, San Diego and New Orleans). He's also a big-time family guy, which I love. The image of him holding his son after the Super Bowl victory is definitely one of the indelible sports images of 2010.

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I am watching Auburn defeat South Carolina in the SEC Championship right now; Auburn is ahead 49-14.  The big story for the past month, in college football, has been the allegations that Cam Newton was offered (and considered taking?) money to attend Mississippi State. Newton is the consensus favorite to win the Heisman, and there was some talk that people might not vote for him in light of the revocation of Reggie Bush's Heisman earlier this year because of (similar) issues with Bush receiving benefits while at USC.  I am not a big Cam Newton fan because he showboats excessively.

The other big game today was Oregon defeating Oregon State, to claim the other spot in the BCS title game.  This means that TCU (the third undefeated team) will not play for the title. I had been rooting for either Auburn or Oregon to lose so that TCU would get a shot at the championship.

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The Skins are 5-6 after losing last week to the Vikings (who have been awful this year), and are headed to yet another 7-9/8-8 season.  Notwithstanding that it will be another December with the Skins out-of-it, I have still enjoyed watching them more this year with McNabb at the helm.

Redskins 19, Titans 16: Graham Gano is the Hero in Another Overtime Victory

The Redskins pulled out a season-saving (for now!) victory against the Titans on Sunday, 19-16.

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The game was close throughout, and the key for the Skins was Donovan McNabb repeatedly converting third downs during the second half (several on throws to Chris Cooley). Prior to this game, the Skins' third down conversion rate of 22% was lowest in the NFL, but McNabb and company turned it around on Sunday.

Clinton Portis started the game for the first time in several weeks, and he had some nice runs in the first quarter but was then injured (again) and replaced by Keiland Williams (23 rushes for 68 yards), a rookie from L.S.U.  Williams played very well, helped by a more-effective-than-usual performance by the offensive line. I've just checked and Williams was actually un-drafted!

Graham Gano missed a 47 yard field goal in the waning moments of regulation, and when he came back out to try a 48 yarder in overtime I was not overly confident (and frustrated that the offense couldn't get any closer in its last three plays).  But he kicked the ball beautifully and it sailed high over the posts. 

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Because McNabb is playing quarterback and leading the team, I continue to enjoy watching the Skins more than in previous years.  I realize he has his share of bad plays but it is so much more fun to watch a guy who seems invested in playing hard and being a good teammate. On Sunday, McNabb was 30 of 50 for 376 yards, with 1 touchdown (a nice pass to the side of the endzone to Santana Moss) and 1 interception.

The NFC East standings now:

Eagles: 7-3

Giants: 6-4

Redskins: 5-5

Cowboys: 3-7

The World Series: The Giants Win Game 5 to Beat the Rangers

Tuck has been telling me how the city of San Francisco has been totally fired up about the Giants, so it was fun last night to watch (through the seventh inning, at any rate) their Series-clinching win in Arlington.

They won the game 3-1, and so their run through the playoffs included victories over the Braves (ending Bobby Cox's storied managerial career), the Phillies, and now the Rangers.

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Tim Lincecum has been the pitching star for the Giants, outshining the more-heralded Cliff Lee of the Rangers. It's funny to watch Lincecum because he looks less like a star professional athlete than anyone I can remember.  Last night he was striking out Rangers left and right; according to Tim McCarver, the story of the Series has been the Giants' pitchers shutting down the Rangers' normally powerful line-up.

The climax of the game came in the top of the 7th when the Giants got two men on (second and third bases) against Cliff Lee.  Pat Burrell came to bat and was expected to sacrifice-in at least one run, but Lee struck him out (Burrell looked incredibly dejected).  Up came Edgar Renteria, however, and promptly blasted a three-run homer.

Renteria is 34 years old and has played for seven teams during a career that began with another critical World Series hit, for the Marlins against the Cleveland Indians in 1997.  His home run moment reminded me of other baseball playoff "big plays" -- I like the way the energy builds and you can see the intensity in the players' faces and feel the excitement of the crowd.

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On a non-sports note, today are the much-anticipated mid-term elections, and a major storyline is whether the Republicans will re-take the House by a small margin (with a net pick-up of 30-40 seats) or a larger, more dramatic one (with a pick-up of 60+).

The Redskins Beat the Packers 16-13 in an Overtime Classic

Dad and I went to the Skins/Packers game on Sunday at Fed Ex Field. We won, 16-13, and are tied atop the division with the Eagles and Giants at 3-2.

We had a great day: the weather was perfect (if anything, a little too sunny!), we found great lower level seats on the 40 yard line, and the Skins staged a comeback for the ages. 



It was especially fun to watch Donovan McNabb and Aaron Rodgers in person.  Having McNabb on the Skins makes all the difference in the world for me as a fan: the guy is just a total class act and the kind of player I've been wishing the Skins had for the past 15 years.  And Rodgers is my favorite non-Skins quarterback - tremendous poise in the pocket, the ability to scramble, and awesome zip and accuracy on his throws (is it too late for me to become an NFL quarterback and make throws like that?).

An emerging star from Sunday's game is receiver Anthony Armstrong, who made a leaping fingertip catch of a 52-yard touchdown bomb from McNabb that brought us to within 13-10. Armstrong had a couple of other catches as well, and it seems as though he may replace Joey Galloway as the #2 receiver fairly quickly (the big pre-game news was that receiver Devin Thomas was cut on Saturday; Shanahan said that Thomas needs to develop a more professional approach to the game).

The running game never got going:  Ryan Torain is indeed a power-runner, but our offensive line is clearly our weak point (on both runs and passes), and they were not able to open up any holes for large gains.  Hopefully Trent Williams will continue to develop and start to anchor the line. When you go to a game in-person and watch the plays develop, you really do understand that the offensive and defensive lines are the key to giving the stars the opportunity to shine.

As with last year's game against the Chiefs, I really enjoyed sitting closer to the action.  It makes the players more real, bringing everything down to a human scale.  For instance, I was focusing on Donald Driver when the Pack had the ball (I've got him in both fantasy leagues), and enjoyed watching his persistence in running his routes on each play: not flashy or showy (like all those Skins receivers through the past decade), but instead just working at playing the game.

It's a really nice treat for me to go to a game each year with Pops -- just talking football (for the most part, with a little bit of work mixed in), listening to the pre-game and post-game analysis and hype, and enjoying a beautiful fall day.

Here's an excerpt from the Post's recap of the game:

The Redskins again pulled out a close win, a 16-13 victory in overtime on a 33-yard field goal by place kicker Graham Gano to complete their late rally.

The Redskins twice trailed by 10 points. Gano's third field goal of the game and second after halftime capped the comeback and provided the latest of the Redskins' heart-stopping moments in the first five games before an announced crowd of 87,760 at FedEx Field.

Although Gano missed a 51-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter that would have tied the score at 13-13, he made his next two high-pressure kicks (I was super nervous when he lined up for the game-tying kick with one minute left (and even more nervous when Mason Crosby's 50+ yarder hit the goalpost as time expired!) and Washington won another contest in which the outcome was undecided until the final play...  

Fourth-year strong safety LaRon Landry, playing the best football of his career, made it happen by picking off Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers at the Packers 39-yard line in overtime. Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb, who had a big second half to lead the comeback, quickly completed two passes, including one to tight end Chris Cooley that resulted in a 30-yard gain (this was a tremendous run -- vintage Cooley!) after Cooley broke two tackles and eluded another defender.

 

Trent Williams and the Redskins Beat the Cowboys

It's Week 2 of the NFL Season and the Skins defeated Cowboys, 13-7, in the opener! 

There was not a ton of offensive production (only 250 yards and 26 minutes of possession), but Donovan McNabb looked poised and had one extremely nice scramble.

His stats were not gaudy (15 of 32, 171 yards, no touchdowns but no interceptions!), and McNabb brings us positive energy and leadership that we haven't had in years.

We scored on the last play of the first half when Tashard Choice inexplicably tried to break a run on the Dallas 30 and was stripped, with DeAngelo Hall running it back for a Redskins TD.

Romo drove the Cowboys downfield at the end of the game (including converting a 4th down to Miles Austin that we never should have allowed), but his last-play-of-the-game touchdown (a pass to a wide open Roy Williams) was called back because Alex Barron held Brian Orakpo.  I definitely felt we were lucky, but I'll take the luck to get a win over Dallas and get the season off to a positive start.

Today's Post has an article (here) about a major bright spot from Week 1 -- first round draft pick (4th pick overall), tackle Trent Williams.  Williams had one play blocking for Chris Cooley where he literally pushed his defender about 10 yards downfield. According to the Post piece, Chris Samuels has become a Skins coaching intern and is playing a significant role mentoring Williams:

Samuels is with the linemen on the practice field and in the meeting room. He watches hours of tape and helps Williams game-plan for pass rushers such as DeMarcus Ware and Mario Williams ... Samuels also has given Williams some off-field guidance, helping the rookie adjust to the NFL lifestyle. The advice might not be different than what coaches offer, but it's hard not to pay attention when the speaker represents everything Williams is striving for.

I like the mentorship focus -- Samuels is one of the few no-nonsense // no-showboating Redskins of the past decades, and I anticipate he will be a very good influence on Williams. 

AND, if we are ever going to build a strong team, it's got to begin on the offensive line.

I'm going to predict 8-8 for the Redskins this year, and 9-7 (or even 10-6) if the luck is really with us.

Patton Oswalt in Big Fan (2009)

I've just watched Big Fan.  This is a fantastic movie - one of the best that I've seen in the past few years.

The movie explores fandom.  The central character, Paul Aufiero (played by Patton Oswalt), is a 35-year old who grudgingly lives with his mom and whose sole reward in life is following the New York Giants.  He is a good-hearted person who tries to get along with his family, works hard (as a parking lot attendant), nurtures his one friendship, and -- in one of the more interesting subplots -- is really polite.

Aufiero repeatedly calls a local sports show (under the tag "Staten Island Paul") and comes out of his shell (a little bit) in his pre-written odes to the Giants. He and his bud Sal go to all the home games, even though they're relegated to watching from a television in the parking lot.

The movie was written and directed by Robert Siegel, and I am an immediate fan of both Siegel and Oswalt (I didn't previously know of either, though I remember this movie getting talked up last summer on the Culture Gabfest and elsewhere).

On a personal level, the movie made me think about my own fandom.  On a social level, it made me think about the phenomenon of human tribalism and how sports teams might actually be a really good outlet for people's tribal energies, which can otherwise be funnelled towards more violent channels.

467.  Did Oswalt get any nominations for acting awards for Big Fan? Not only was his character extremely well-written, but his acting job was tops.

468.  The film uses real NFL player references.  Did they have to get special permission to do so?  It kind of surprised me that real players were referenced, given the dark tone of the movie.

469. I went to UVa's season opener last night with Chap and his friend Chris. We beat Richmond, 34-13, to inaugurate the Mike London era. The game was close until the fourth quarter, and it was a gorgeous Charlottesville evening. How many wins for the new Hoos? I predict 6-6, which I think would bode well for building the team into the future.

 This picture is from just before the Cavs' second touchdown.  Keith Payne had four touchdowns for us!