Lionel Messi: The Perfect Game
Ever wonder what the reflection of perfection looked like? With his performance against Bayer Leverkusen, Lionel Messi has proven why he stands alone as the best pound for pound soccer player in the world. “Leo,” as he is known all over Barcelona, is the kind of player you have nightmares about trying to defend. No matter how good you are, he is going to dismantle you, and that’s on a bad day when he has a calf strain…and he’s partially blind in one eye. Messi’s recent masterpiece came during a UEFA Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen in which the Messiah humiliated opposing defenders with 5 goals. The most impressive part of the highlight was that he wasn’t even breaking a sweat.
In this day of age where every sport adopts the mantra, “bigger, stronger, faster,” Messi tortures defenders who at times may be a clear foot taller than him, while he stands a diminutive 5’6”, weighing around 150 lbs. Being this size doesn’t bother Messi, as a child he was always the smallest kid, so he focused on control and agility as he believed he was built for that style of play. He may not look like the typical athlete but watching him is like poetry in motion when it comes to controlling and scoring with a soccer ball. With a focus on technique and speed, his brilliance is seen with his disregard towards a defense’s game plan to stop him. Clearly it’s working. He has help won multiple championships with Barcelona over the years, and he looks to add another UEFA Championship to the mantle this season.
Even with all of his success, some doubt Messi will ever reach ‘Legend’ status. Former Brazil striker Ronaldo agrees that Messi is an excellent player, but will only become a legend once he can claim a FIFA World Cup, a la Zidane and Maradona. What may be the most impressive stat for Messi is at 24 years old he has only just begun his campaign to be the best there ever was. So for the moment he is simply the best there is with milestone after milestone of achievements; ranging from the Ballon d’Or to FIFA World Player of the Year. And in this moment, when you’re the greatest soccer player in the world today your name transcends the sport. You become synonymous with greatness. So now, when an up and coming player has a great game. They don’t call you great, they call you “Lionel Messi.”
Drew Brees: The NFL’s Most Underappreciated Player
The anointing of Breesus came after one of New Orleans darkest moments as his stellar play captivated a culture and brought glory to a city that had been down on their luck BB. (Before Breesus). Yet after all of his accomplishments and the winning tradition he has instilled into the new generations of Saints fans, apparently he’s not good enough for the New Orleans Saints. Well that’s the message they are sending him anyways. After days of negotiating, the Saints and Brees couldn’t agree to terms on a new contract and he was hit with the dreaded franchise tag.
Are you serious? This guy has been the crème de la crème when it comes to Quarterbacks. Defenders are aware of the dangers when they line up across from him; Warning: Playing defense against Drew Brees may be hazardous to your health. The single-season passing record holder, and Superbowl XLIV MVP, can’t seem to get his team to pay him. With all the accomplishments Brees has attained, and the community service hours he puts in, he is clearly a role model for the youth not to mention a top 5, TOP 5, fantasy draft pick every year, but this is not being acknowledged by the Saints organization. However far apart they are on money shouldn’t matter to a player like Drew Brees. With the franchise tag he is scheduled to make $14.4 million, if he signs it. Reports from many sports personalities say he won’t sign his tender. And why should he? The problem with the tag is that it doesn’t provide guaranteed years, money, or a signing bonus. He has done nothing, but lead the Saints from the bottom of the NFL barrel to one of the elite powerhouses.
Year in, year out he puts up gaudy statistics and has his team in playoff contention. His long ball is considered to be the best in the game, he is as accurate as it gets and shows no signs of slowing down at the age of 33. There have been many excuses made for why Drew Brees isn’t highly valued; coming out of college he was seen as too short. The San Diego Chargers refused to bring him back because he wasn’t supposed to recover from shoulder surgery. And now the New Orleans Saints have the honor of coming up with the latest excuse for why he is under valued…whatever that is. If anybody hasn’t figured out yet, Drew Brees thrives on adversity. To the general public he would just look like a regular guy, Oprah had mistaken his signature mole for lipstick, but to the NFL’s diehard fans, he’s the gold standard, the best in the world. For years FOX has been telling people they have the American Idol, and they do, except he’s been on every Sunday since 2006.
Why it’s Bye Bye Peyton & Hello Luck
Yeah it’s crazy to think Peyton Manning will be wearing another NFL team’s jersey. To many experts, he’s arguable the greatest QB of all time. Last year he showed why he’s a 4-time MVP winner. Without Peyton on the field the Colts were an embarrassing 2 – 14 and they were painful to watch with their QB by committee approach. Bringing Collins off the couch and out of retirement to play for the team was a desperation hail mary that wobbled out the Colts hands and fell about 30 yards short of the nearest receiver…it never had a chance of being complete.
Even with all that said I still don’t blame Jim Irsay for not resigning him at all. Remember people, the NFL is a business first and foremost! It’s a business that happens to play a sport not a sport that happens to be a business. The NFL is more then a just an ordinary flourishing business it’s an exploding sports oligopoly, yeah look up oligopoly it’s like a legal cash cow monopoly. I pulled that one out of a spelling bee I watched on ESPN! Okay back to my point. Imagine you were the owner of the Colts and you had to commit $XX million dollars and likely a multi-year contract with XX millions guaranteed to a XX year old player that’s had 3 serious neck surgeries (to manage his degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine) in the last 16 months and your team is about to draft the first can’t miss quarterback prospect since John Elway.
From a pure numbers game, this is as smart a business decision as it gets. This is a QB league with superstar rookie QB’s making more of an impact then ever before (Cam Newton, Andy Dalton) and players like Andrew Luck only come around every 10 or 20 years. Heck, even the Colts fans have been quietly wishing for the next Peyton behind the scenes and that might just be how their Luck goes come April!
You get the point! C’mon what would you do?
I know you might be saying “If I was the owner” I would sign Peyton for two years and have him groom Luck like the Favre-Rogers scenario in Green Bay. Yeah in an ideal world where money didn’t matter and Peyton wasn’t dealing with a potentially career ending disease of the spine and Andrew Luck actually needed two years of learning and purple horseshoes and green leprechauns existed that would all make sense.
That’s not the case here. So I’m 100% in support of the Colts decision and I hope Peyton returns, is 100% healthy and has a hell of year for a new team. I’ll leave you with one final picture to think about. Can you see it now…Peyton playing for the Redskins with Shannahan; or with Rex running the D and Peyton running the O with Jets; or how bout with Regis Philbin…er, Joe Philbin with the Dolphins.
Wherever Peyton ends up, one thing is for sure. Stories and drama like this is why we love the NFL; the storylines never take an off-season!
BountyGate: The Saints Become Exposed
Headhunting: Acts of violence; the custom of cutting off and preserving the heads of enemies as trophies. But, headhunting in professional football?What has recently been revealed about the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal may not have come as a surprise to many, but I find it extremely disappointing and just plain wrong, in a league where players are already paid millions to assault each other every Sunday. I love watching the Saints; they are an incredible team with exceptional players. And Drew Brees? An amazing quarterback. So why the bounty scandal? It really gives the Saints organization and the NFL a black eye.
This is a huge misstep for the Saints organization. It’s shocking to me, since I cannot believe the amount of money and bonuses NFL players are being paid to lay the pain on unsuspecting victims. Now all of the sudden, after finding out that the bounty program has been going on for three years, some incidents that once seemed like normal football plays, now look a lot more like a mob boss placing a hit on one of his rivals. Here’s a few that come to mind: the 2010 NFC Championship game where Brett Favre took a beating when he was already hurting. It seemed like the Saints were trying to take him down and end his career that night; Favre hasn’t been the same since. However, the biggest incident was the monster hit on Peyton Manning that more than likely precipitated his neck injury, when he played against a Redskins defense coached by Gregg Williams. Think about this for a second: this bounty program could have effectively ended the career of a man who was on pace to break every single quarterback record in the books!
At the center of all this mess lies Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams. Williams has seemingly instituted his bounty rules at every stop he’s made, including his prior stint with the Redskins, until he got caught; he’s presently the Rams Defensive Coordinator. Williams met with the NFL Monday to discuss his side of the story, and things don’t look good. Former and current players under Williams are coming out in droves, even Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has been associated with the program, to have allegedly offered cash “prizes” to his teammates for executing a bounty. This would take the scandal to a whole new level if both coaches and players are giving out cash for injury-inducing hits. What’s possible now? Anything, it seems, if coaches and players were to continue to get away with incidents such as these.
In a time where the NFL rules have changed and blows to the head are deemed much more dangerous than they used to be, this bounty scandal has taken things too far. We’re now in a time where it’s a distinct and tangible possibility that an NFL player could literally die right there on the field. Players are faster, stronger, and quicker than ever before, and with this new bounty scandal, it may just simply be a matter of time.
So, where does that leave the Saints? They are disheveled right now; they are in the process of signing Drew Brees and have been exposed as not playing football according to the rules of the game. The Saints spent so much time re-building the New Orleans community after Hurricane Katrina, and re-invigorating a once dormant fan-base. It’s a shame to think all of that progress could be lost because of one man’s decision to take headhunting out of the Amazon, and bring it to professional football.
FINALLY! USA Beats Italy for First Time: Will the Excitement Last?
USA! USA! USA! Sound familiar? During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, you couldn’t go anywhere without shouts of patriotism being screamed from city streets all across the country. However, let’s face it; soccer is definitely not on most people’s radars at the moment. Except maybe after a thrilling 1-0 win against Italy, for the first time. The United States is finally building some confidence and momentum after Wednesday night’s win. It was a rare victory over a major soccer power; in fact, it was unprecedented. With Clint Dempsey’s goal in the 55th minute, the Americans’ beat the Azzurri for the first time EVER. That’s 82 years of trying to beat one of the world’s best. Make no mistake about it, this was a huge achievement for the USMNT.
But what does this win really mean? It will probably garner attention for a few days…maybe even a week. That’s the norm for American soccer fans. It was just a friendly match, and even though this win will give the team a much-needed confidence boost going into world cup qualifying this summer, the big question still remains: Why is there not a huge soccer following in the U.S?
Sure, there are scores of die-hard soccer fans scattered throughout the country, but it’s always football or baseball or basketball that seem to come first for Americans. Soccer seems to be more of a foreign, European/South American sport we don’t know much about and frankly don’t care much about. What are the rules? Why is the game so slow? For true soccer fans, every game is exciting, whether the score is a 5-4 shootout, or a 0-0 tie. Every game has a story and every game is a beautiful display of athleticism at its finest. Soccer players are incredibly talented athletes. Stamina, agility, quick footwork, these are just some of the things that soccer players excel at that sets them apart from all other athletes; imagine watching a football player try to play a full 90-minute soccer game.
So, I’m sure as the 2014 World Cup in Brazil approaches, more people will begin following soccer, but until then, the reality is most Americans are nothing more than fair-weather fans when it comes to the sport. Will soccer ever catch on in the U.S.? Does the win against Italy mean anything, or will nothing matter until the World Cup gets here?
To the NBA: Please, for the love of God, get rid of the Slam Dunk Competition
Watching Saturday night’s Slam Dunk competition was like watching a train wreck. But it wasn’t one of those quick ferocious crashes that are over in a matter of seconds. No, it was one of those slow-motion Michael Bay-esque train wrecks, that takes about 50 times longer than it should until everyone watching looks at their watch wondering when it’s going to be over so they can move on with their lives.
It’s bad. I mean really bad. It’s on par with a really bad Adam Sandler movie, or a really good Rob Schneider movie. So how did we get here? When did the NBA’s Slam Dunk competition become as entertaining as a mediocre D-list celebrity? This thing used to be huge. We’re talking Cindy Crawford in her prime huge. Even non-NBA fans would tune in to watch the dunk competition. It wasn’t just a footnote of All-Star weekend; it was the whole damn book. So let’s take a look at what happened to the once great Slam Dunk competition.
The Players
The Slam Dunk competition used to be THE contest to see some of the best and most athletic players in the NBA showoff their ridiculous skills. Just look at this list of competitors from past competitions:
Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan, David Thompson, George Gervin, Spud Webb, Clyde Drexler, Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, Jason Richardson, Brent Barry
The list goes on and on. Point being, you wanted to see these guys throw it down as hard as they could. Dunks were memorable not just because they were spectacular, but because of the players who did them. Dr. J’s Free Throw Dunk, Jordan’s BETTER Free Throw Dunk, 5’7” Spud Webb’s ridiculous performance, Kobe’s between the legs, Carter’s elbow dunk. This was pure athleticism at its best, the crowd was raucous, and more importantly it was just plain FUN to watch. You wanted to see what these guys could do, and how far they could push the limits of a human being dunking a basketball.
Now, the allure is gone; but more importantly the players are gone. If you didn’t watch this year’s Slam Dunk competition, I’ll give you $1,000 if you can guess all 4 participants. Lebron James, you say…no. How bout Dwayne Wade…no. Dwight Howard, Blake Griffin, Derek Rose, Carmelo Anthony. Ha, not even close. Try, Derek Williams, Paul George, Chase Budinger, and Jeremy Evans. That’s a rookie, two second year players, and Chase Budinger, who probably dunked more times in this competition that he has in his 3-year NBA career. Yeah, I’ll be hanging on to that $1,000. How do you even sell tickets around that line-up? The marketing guy who can promote that should win some kind of award. Jeremy Evans ended up winning it with some “OK” dunks I guess, but there lies the next problem with the dunk contest.
The Dunks
The dunks just aren’t that impressive anymore. And it’s not because these guys aren’t athletic or creative, it’s that NOTHING surprises us anymore. Everything has already been done. Seriously, think about it. One of the reasons Wilkins and Jordan and Kobe’s dunks were so memorable was because we hadn’t seen anything like it before. They had the element of surprise, and being able to do things with a basketball that we had never seen before. Now, jumping from the free throw line barely draws a response from the crowd. A Windmill 360 is met with drones; Between the legs…Ho hum, what else you got? And that’s the problem, there isn’t anything else left. There are limits to what the human body can do, and unless they bring out the trampolines and let the players do front flips, ala, NBA JAM style, there’s nothing that will draw the kind of awe and amazement from the crowd that the earlier Slam Dunk competitions did. Unless of course they use some kind of props or rely on over-the-top gimmicks in order to equal the same level of dunkness (I’m christening that word right now) of years past. Speaking of which…
The Gimmicks
I know what you’re thinking, but the props are so creative. Aren’t they so entertaining? Remember last year when Blake Griffin jumped over a car? Remember when Dwight Howard dunked on two basketball courts? Remember when…just stop, right now. They’re gimmicks people. They’re props used to try and create the illusion of something more impressive than it actually is. Seriously, watch Blake Griffin jump over the car again…watch it. Now take away the car and what do you have? A pretty mediocre dunk at best. Hell, watch Griffin’s top 10 in-game dunks…every single one of those is way more impressive than his jumping over the car dunk. It’s just a gimmick, and unfortunately that’s what now defines the Slam Dunk competition. Don’t believe me. These are some of the things that have been used in the past few years in dunk competitions. A car, A cupcake, A plastic basketball court, other players to jump over. This sounds more like a circus act than a dunk contest. What’s next? A player gets hit in the face with a pie by a clown before he slams it home. Is that really better than watching Jordan dunk from the free throw line, or watching Vince Carter do a 360 windmill dunk? We’re one step away from the Slam Dunk competition turning into NBA’s version of David Letterman’s crazy pet tricks. Let’s watch as Chase Budinger tries to dunk while throwing his pet Chihuahua throwing a flaming ring of fire. Participants feel obligated to think of some crazy gimmick in order to entertain the fans and have a chance at winning the dunk contest. Come out and just attempt a regular old-fashioned amazing dunk…you get booed off the court. Watching Jeremy Evans crotch plowing into the back of Roy Hibbert’s head is the reality of the Slam Dunk competition today.
So David Stern, for the love of all that is holy and great about the NBA, get rid of the Slam Dunk competition before Adam Sandler comes out in drag while Gordon Hayward tries to dunk Rob Schneider into a giant basket of chocolate pudding…actually, check that, cancel the competition after this.
NFL Scouting Combine: Why It Matters and Who to Watch
You may or may not know that the NFL combine is currently taking place in Indy right now. So as an avid football fan, why should you even care about the combine? With basketball season in full force, and baseball spring training right around the corner, why should a bunch of college football players participating in drills even register on your sports entertainment radar? Here’s why:
What happens at the combine DRASTICALLY changes the draft strategies of every single NFL team and player. A mere tenth of a second can mean the difference between a bona-fide top 5 pick to a late 3rd rounder. We’re talking millions of dollars lost and won based on a weekend of workouts; this is the drama, and importance of the NFL Combine. With that said, let’s check out some key players to look for:
Quinton Coples
Height: 6-6, Weight: 285 lbs. North Carolina defensive end Coples may be one of the best defensive end prospects for the 2012 draft. He has the most at stake, but also a lot to gain. After coming off of an outstanding junior season, he dropped off a bit in his senior season. He is one of the top pass rushers in the draft, but if his performance does not stay consistent, people will continue asking why he didn’t have the great senior season he was expected to have. This will be a huge week for Coples and he needs to perform exceptionally well on the combine stage.
Robert Griffin III (RG3)
Height: 6-2, Weight: 220 lbs. The QB spotlight this year will be on Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III. 2011 Heisman Trophy winner, Griffin will likely wait to throw and save his pro day for March 21. In the meantime he’ll be focusing on team interviews, the 40-yard dash, and other drills this week in Indy. He has the speed and agility, like Michael Vick, to move around in the pocket but will need to maintain his strength in order to keep it up. He should be easy to spot working out, wearing those festive socks he loves so dearly.
Janoris Jenkins
Height: 5-10, Weight: 191 lbs. After shining in Florida, then getting dismissed from the Gators for drug-related incidents, Jenkins played his senior season at North Alabama. He was great, and really showed people he has first-round talent. He played well in the Senior Bowl, but must interview well and explain himself at the combine. As long as he shows people his baggage is behind him and he is really trying to mature and focus solely on football, the Detroit Lions may come knocking. They have drafted well over the years and are in need of a cornerback this draft.
Michael Brockers
Height: 6-6, Weight: 306 lbs. We couldn’t forget any LSU players now, could we? Keep an eye out for defensive tackle, Brockers. He is at the top of a talented group of defensive linemen who will be entering the draft. Brockers is a 300-pound monster with cat-like agility, in addition to his strength and mass. He holds a skill-set that virtually no other defensive tackle can match, and if he dominates at the combine, he could find himself in the top 10 draft pick.
“Linsanity” vs. “TebowMania”: Taking the World by Storm?
Is Jeremy Lin the Tim Tebow of the NBA? Right now, he is. How does a virtual nobody (an undrafted free agent from Harvard with no athletic scholarship and no athletic awards) suddenly take the league by storm? Lin was sleeping on his teammate Landry Fields’ couch just a week ago; he is now living in David Lee’s (former Knick) apartment, which is the same plush apartment once occupied by Amar’e Stoudemire before he moved to Manhattan. When Lin finally got the chance to perform due to teammate injuries, superstar egos, and a poor team record, he showed he was a true superstar. More importantly, he has rallied the Knicks to a seven game winning streak!
The excitement surrounding Lin’s clutch game-winning shots and record-breaking points has captured the world’s attention. In Asia, he is the most searched item on various Chinese search engines. Lin’s Twitter followers erupted from just 25,000 to 300,000 in less than two weeks. Quite the popular guy, considering just two weeks ago Lin was about to get cut by his third NBA team.
Tim Tebow also took the nation by storm during the NFL season. Tebow was EVERYWHERE, and his hard work and determination in the face of critics only seemed to make him more successful. It is easy to point out the similarities between Tebow and Lin. For one, they both started on the bench at the beginning of their seasons. Each have been the force leading their losing teams on unexpected winning streaks. Both Tebow and Lin have used their sport as a platform for their belief in God; they are both Christians, and appear to live wholesome lifestyles.
Tebow had high expectations placed on him (recruited out of high school, Heisman trophy winner as a junior, and first round draft pick), while Lin had no expectations placed on him. Both are underdogs, but I see Lin as more of an underdog and Tebow as unorthodox in the way he plays football. Together, they have both given people a reason to believe. They both speak about their teams first, and appear to be very humble. Aside from also saving two coaches whose jobs were in jeopardy, these two athletes have captivated the world and will continue to do so.
Alex Smith: The Born-Again Rookie
In many ways Urban Meyer’s fingerprints have been everywhere in the news. He became head coach of the Ohio State University football team last November after leaving his job as head coach of the University of Florida following the 2010 season. His most notable NFL product of late is former Gators’ quarterback Tim Tebow has been blowing up in the media and creating buzz in social network conversation while taking the Denver Broncos as far as the AFC Divisional Playoff Round. However, it’s another former signal caller of Urban Meyer’s that has pretty much been flying under the radar until just recently. Alex Smith of the San Francisco 49ers, former QB for Urban Meyer at the University of Utah, has quietly had himself a very nice season as he and the 49ers under coach Jim Harbaugh went 13-3 in the regular season. The 49ers survived a last minute showdown and beat the New Orleans Saints to advance to the NFC Championship game. Last Sunday they lost in dramatic fashion at home to the New York Giants for a spot in the Super Bowl at Indianapolis and now look forward to next season.
This was a surprising turnaround season for a team that went just 6-10 last season and fell one win away from a shot at its first Super Bowl appearance in 18 years. Most of the credit for such a huge turnaround is given to rookie head coach Jim Harbaugh, former Stanford head coach, and his decision to keep 7th year quarterback, and Number 1 overall pick in the 2005 Draft, Alex Smith after having six disappointing seasons for the 49ers. No doubt that much of the 49ers success is credited to their top-flight defense led by defensive end Justin Smith and linebacker Patrick Willis as well as their running game spearheaded by Frank Gore, but not much credit is given to Alex Smith for the fact that he is not putting up anything close to Drew Brees-like numbers. Before the Jim Harbaugh takeover, Smith didn’t have much consistency in his coaching as he had six different offensive coordinators in all six seasons as well as having both former head coaches with defensive backgrounds.
It can be argued that he was a “born-again” rookie this season for many reasons. The first reason is that he has a new coach in Jim Harbaugh who is a more offensive minded coach being that he, too, was once a quarterback in the NFL for 14 seasons. The second reason is that with a new coach, as well as offensive coordinator Greg Roman, Smith is learning a new system that is similar to the West Coast Offense that legendary 49ers’ coach Bill Walsh ran during the Golden Era in San Francisco that won them five Super Bowl Championships. The third reason is the new mentality that Smith has taken on in that he isn’t the same timid guy that he used to be; Smith has admitted that he really doesn’t care what others think of him, his stats, and his play on the field. All he, and the rest of the 49ers, believe in is “the team, the team, the team” and it is shown by the fact that every player seems to be focused on winning rather then personal accolades. This all has given Alex Smith a new swagger that he never really had in the NFL and he seems to be having fun winning as he has been cool and relaxed much like former 49ers Super Bowl legend QB “Joe Cool” Montana was under Bill Walsh. Smith tied for first this season for the most fourth quarter comebacks with five, including the 49ers comeback against the New Orleans Saints in the playoffs.
The change in Alex Smith’s performance can be seen in his stats from the 2011 season as well as his performance in the 49ers playoff win over the Saints when he led a comeback in the 4th quarter. Smith had a career year this season by throwing an average of 195 yards per game, 17 touchdowns, rushing for 2 touchdowns, 60% completion rate, 90.7 passer rating, and a low 5 interceptions all in 16 starts. His stats are obviously nowhere near that of the NFL elite quarterbacks but playing on a balanced offensive attack that enforces the run first mentality does not require Smith to attempt very many passes. However, Smith has been efficient and a 17 to 5 ratio of TDs to Interceptions show that he has been very smart about his passing attempts which explains the solid 90.7 passer rating. He seemed to have taken a step back recently as his performance in the NFC Championship game didn’t go as well as 49ers fans would have liked, but he really only had one target to throw to in Vernon Davis as the 49ers’ receivers were held in check.
Over a year ago, fans would boo at the sight of Smith on the field and this season it was as if a new guy was in there leading the team through the playoffs. He gave fans a glimpse of hopes for future offensive production in the NFC Divisional Playoff game as he stepped up and led the 49ers to a fourth quarter comeback twice going 80+ yards on his final two drives. The first drive was fueled by a big run by Frank Gore that put the 49ers in field goal range. On 3rd and 7 with the ball 28 yards from the end zone, Smith ran “QB 9”, a play designed for Smith to run behind a block from Joe Staley for the go ahead score. With over two minutes to go Drew Brees led a drive capped off by a huge touchdown to tight end Jimmy Graham to put the Saints ahead 32-29. Smith stayed cool as he led the 49ers to another go-ahead drive as he completed five passes. He threw a perfect strike to tight end Vernon Davis with 14 seconds left in the game that put San Francisco into a euphoric state as they witnessed what is referred to as “The Catch III”. Smith finished the game with 3 TD throws, a rushing TD, no interceptions, and a ton of fan support as this 7th year rookie had a whole fan base excited about the future of the 49ers. His contract is up after this season and it is safe to say that he will most likely be back in San Francisco next year looking to build off of his 2011 successes.
Things Just Got Real In La-La-Land
The NBA lockout officially ended on December 8th of 2011. It has barely been a week since the end of the lockout and teams seem to be falling all over each other fighting for the top available talent like twin babies over a bottle. The Los Angeles Lakers, at one point this offseason, to be the big dealmakers as it was rumored that they were going after both All-Star players Chris Paul, point guard of the New Orleans Hornets, and Dwight Howard, center of the Orlando Magic.
The Lakers made a trade offer to the NBA-owned Hornets for Chris Paul that had fans and journalists buzzing over what this trade could do for the Lakers. All that had to happen to bring Paul to Los Angeles was approval by the other owners of the NBA for the NBA currently owns the Hornets. However, Commissioner David Stern vetoed the trade because it would give the Lakers too much power as an NBA elite. Next, the Lakers were rumored to be going after Dwight Howard and a surprising move of forward Lamar Odom perhaps hinted that the Lakers were freeing up cap space to bring Howard to Los Angeles. The move shocked Odom and the Lakers as players were upset that he was moved to Dallas for almost nothing in return. Also, yesterday the Orlando Magic made it public that they were no longer looking to move Howard out of town. While it seems all hopes for Los Angeles bringing in another superstar to town, there is still hope.
The Clippers also play in Los Angeles and look to be improving their roster and taking the next step toward making a playoff appearance. The Clippers signed former Washington Wizard, Caron Butler to a three-year deal. Young center DeAndre Jordan looked as if he was headed upstate to the Golden State Warriors when they attempted to lure him away with a four year/$43 million contract, but his status as a Restricted Free Agent gave the Clippers three days to match that amount in order to keep him. The Clippers brought Jordan back and meant they had two talented players at center in Jordan and Chris Kaman. Resigning Jordan hinted that Kaman was expendable as a player to use as trade bait. After claiming veteran guard Chauncey Billups off waivers, the Clippers sent Kaman, point guard Eric Gordon, forward Al-Farouq Aminu, and a first-round draft pick to the Hornets to get… Chris Paul!
With forward Blake Griffin, veteran guard Mo Williams, Chauncey Billups, DeAndre Jordan, Caron Butler, and Chris Paul the Clippers look to give the Lakers and the rest of the West a run for their money. Look out Los Angeles, for the Clippers might just catch fire. Happy Holidays to Los Angeles.
