From Coggins Noggin - Wild Card Review, UFC to NC ??, and Mark McGwire

Wild Card Review, UFC to NC ??, and Mark McGwire

Jan 12

Written by: bencoggins
1/12/2010 1:12 AM

There are some rumors going around that UFC Fight Night 22 is coming to North Carolina March 31^st. While these events are not usually headlined by the Anderson Silva’s and Rampage Jackson’s of the UFC, they are extremely competitive and entertaining with the future stars of the sport. Monday evening’s contest originating from Fairfax Virginia was great although it did not produce the devastating knockouts casual fans look for. Hopefully the people of North Carolina will support this event and possibly persuade the UFC to bring a PPV event to the state. Anyone who is not following the sport should at the very least, give it a shot. People that say the sport is a fad, should read up a little bit on UFC and MMA or go to a local sports bar showing the fights on a given Saturday evening.
The Jets beat the Bengals Saturday afternoon. Trying to decide whether the announcers or the Bengals game plan was less likely to succeed is difficult. Joe Gibbs is a Hall-of-Fame Coach and an even better man, but just did not seem real comfortable in the booth Saturday. Part of this issue may have been Joe Theismann. At times, it would have been safe to assume Theismann was being paid per word spoken and not for the entire game. As for the game itself, Carson Palmer never looked comfortable in the pocket, completing on 50 % (18-36) of his passes Saturday. Rex Ryan and the Jets defense kept the Bengals on their heels the entire game. Shayne Graham’s 2 critical field goal misses did not help the Bengals cause either. For the Jets, Mark Sanchez and Shonn Greene played like seasoned veterans and not rookies in their first playoff game. Next up for the Jets is a Sunday evening contest at San Diego. While the Chargers had the weekend of to rest, the Jets and their strong running game may be the worst possible matchup for the Chargers and their 20^th ranked run defense.
The Cowboys won their first playoff game since 1996 against the Eagles and play at the Minnesota Vikings in the early game Sunday. Enough said.
The Ravens win in New England has signaled the end of the Patriots era to many. The Ravens ran the ball 52 times and threw it only 10 (completed 4 for 34 yards), and still won the game walking away. While the Ravens cannot beat the Colts at Indianapolis Saturday evening throwing it only 10 times, running the ball and keeping Peyton Manning off the field should be the basis of a Raven’s game plan. Will it be successful, tune in Saturday evening. The question now is what happens to the Patriots? Where do they go from here?
The game of the weekend began as if was going to be another snoozer. The Cardinals jumped on the Packers and were up 17-0 after the first quarter before the Packers began to play in the 2^nd. There was so much offense in this game, Kurt Warner ended up with more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4). Much has been made of the missed calls by the officials and how they benefited the Cardinals. Had Aaron Rodgers completed the first pass of overtime to Greg Jennings, who was WIDE OPEN, this would be a non-issue. While officials can not make every call, players have to make plays and the Cardinals made one more Sunday than the Packers. As a result, the Cardinals, who score 51 points without Anquan Boldin, travel to New Orleans to play the Saints Saturday afternoon. The Saints defense is 26^th against the pass and everyone knows about Drew Brees and the Saints prolific offense, so look for a 21-17 game this weekend.
Anyone know who won the PGA Tour opener this weekend?? Neither do I.
Mark McGwire FINALLY admitted to taking steroids. Does this surprise anyone? This is as surprising as Duke fans taking joy in UNC’s loss at the College of Charleston last Monday (as 28 friends reminded me in text messages) or UNC fans enjoying Georgia Tech’s victory over the Devils Saturday afternoon. There are a lot more issues in baseball more pressing than steroids, but that is for another day. Now that McGwire has admitted what everyone had assumed all along, this story may begin to die. Look at the others who have come out and admitted this, most are now past that matter. People want to like stars and are willing to forgive most transgressions committed, as long as they seem sincere.
Maybe Tiger Woods should read that last bullet point.

Trackback Print

Location: Blogs

The First of Many....(Hopefully)

Tags:

0 comment(s) so far...