Salute Your Schwartz: Weekly Blobs and Blurbs

Salute Your Schwartz, Harbaugh.

It's a shame that the Niners/Lions physical battle (with the Niners coming on top 25-19) is lost in the shadows thanks to a 15-20 second episode between the coaches where Harbaugh and Schwartz (mainly the latter) had to be separated from fighting each other. This game featured two of the most surprising teams in the NFL, and all that's being talked about after the great matchup is a bunch of fluff. Just another episode of the media and public caring too much about something that has absolutely no significance to the outcome of the game nor the outcome of future games.

Speaking of the Niners, they are looking 100 times better than I ever thought they would this year. People asked me back in January on my thoughts of the hire of Jim Harbaugh. I saw his success at Stanford and his destination before and knew he transformed teams who aren't known for their football successes into winners, but I figured it would take at least a year or two to transform the Niners. It goes to show you what a coach brings to the table. I think NFL, more than any other pro sport, is dependent on having a good coach to win. I don't think MLB managers affect all that much compared to them. I can't speak for NHL, but I think MJ could have won 50-55 games a year without a coach. Phil added about 10-15 wins a year. I could be totally wrong on this, but I think the NFL coach is the most important coach in pro sports.

MLB prediction was half right - I had the Rangers/Brewers in my 4th installment of the World Series predictions. Naturally, it didn't come in. One trend that I found interesting, and one I look forward to seeing if it will continue, is the strength of offenses over pitching in the LCSes. In gambling terms, overs (meaning the total score of both teams) went 8-3-1 combined - meaning runs were a plenty. Granted, 2 of the Texas games didn't hit the over until 11th inning home runs by Nelson Cruz, but nevertheless. I'm not gonna make a prediction on the series, but I think the scoring will continue with these lineups.


This is the time of the year for some quarterback shuffling - Some are by performance (John Beck for Grossman, Tebow for Orton, Ponder for McNabb), while others are a product of injury (Carson Palmer, Matt Moore, Charlie Whitehurst, potentially AJ Feeley getting starts). Either way, I don't expect the trend to stop. As more teams fall out of the race, teams will see what some of these back-up QBs have to offer. Then again, I just named 7 quarterbacks, with at least 5 of these guys not playing for anything other than pride and the future. So maybe it is done. Either way, I just covered my ass on both ends.


NBA on the verge of cancelling more games and I'm still not caring. Like I said last week, I think I won't start caring until February when there's no more sports to get into until baseball, and even that interest lies in Opening Day and then dies slowly into the summer months. As a bettor, I'll miss having a chance to bet some fat money lines, but it will probably be for the better.

rock out with your lock-out: NoBody cAres

What's there to talk about in the sports world on this, the 12th day of October?

Hmmm....

In the NFL, you got some surprise teams on the good side (Lions, Bills, Niners), some on the bad side (Eagles, Falcons, Jets), dominant QBs and the defending champs looking every bit the part so far this year.

In college football, the SEC is once again making waves, with a November matchup between LSU and Alabama acting almost as a play-in game for the BCS championship in January. Also in this neck of the woods, you have the already bowl-eligible Illinois, 6-0 and facing Theeeeeeeeeee Reeling Ohio State Buckeyes.

In baseball, the playoffs have some exciting teams still left. Personally, I'd love to see a Verlander vs. Carpenter matchup in a week with a World Series game on the line.

Hockey season just opened, so for those into hockey, there's that.

So what about basketball? Yeah, not getting your blood bubbling that they're locked out?

I'm sure there are those diehard fans that are missing the sport and will miss watching the season from November through April, but when is the NBA our primary focus at this time of the year anyways? Most NBA fans I know are fans of one of the above sports more. I haven't heard much complaining about the NBA getting locked out, potentially for an entire season.

I also got a couple gambling friends who will be missing NBA if it's not in session, especially for the day-to-day fix that NBA feeds for gamblers. Look at it as a way to save some money, gents.

I don't mind a shortened season (50 games like 1998-99), since it will make the regular season games mean more. I would be disappointed if the season was cancelled, but my expectation of the season being done for is making it easier to deal with that possibility.

When the dark days of sports are accompanied by the dark days of winter in February and the Packers finish repeating as NFL champions, that's when most of us will notice the lull in the sports world and the sports depression will set in. If you're an NBA fan, I predict this is when the lack of NBA will affect you the most.

In the meantime, enjoy the best sports month of the year in the best weather month of the year.

Go Niners and Illini.

America's Past Time: Football > Baseball (at least to this guy)

When there is only baseball to follow among the major American sports and we look forward to football season to start, you know it's July. When I was younger, summer was THE season for sports - mainly when I was in little league imitating all of the hitter's stances that I saw on highlights and Sox and Cubs games. As I've gotten older, my love of baseball has dissipated and now is my second favorite sport (maybe even my third favorite) behind football (and basketball, depending on the season and how I'm doing gambling-wise in that particular season).

Many times, people stop following a team because their organization just completely stinks as a whole. I can't even blame having a horrible team to root for. The White Sox are usually pseudo AL Central contenders almost every year, until they fade in the last two months of the year and are overtaken by the Twins. Sure, we've had a few division championships and a World Series - which was mainly our pitching staff getting hot at the right time. Even then, we didn't follow up the championship season with a playoff appearance. (Random fact alert: Between the Sox and Cubs, Chicago saw its teams win 4 playoff series from 2003-2005. From 1918 thru 2002 and 2006-present, they saw none).

Not sure what the deal is with the random fact, but I digress. I still think baseball is my favorite sport to attend in person. The smell of the food, the fresh summer air, a cold beverage, the sound of a bat striking a 98 mph fastball. These nuances are much more apparent (and obviously enjoyable) when going to a game versus watching it at home, where the action seems to drag depending on the teams involved.

Perhaps it's because of gambling and fantasy football that have put me in the camp of liking football over baseball more these days. The two of those forces have livened the game up to a degree that I could have never anticipated. Anytime money is on the line with something, it makes it that much more enjoyable (and nerve racking). If you eliminate the gambling and fantasy aspects, I like football more still, but probably not by as much of a margin as I do now.

If the NFL locks its players out for a season, I doubt this will change my mind on things. Remember when we said we would protest baseball when their players went on strike and nearly did again in 2002? Attendance/viewership is still thriving, thanks to its younger group of talented players who make the game enjoyable to its die-hard fans.

I don't hear people saying the same thing about an NFL lockout. That's either because (a) no one believes that there will be a missing season or (b) the game is so popular with its masses that fans can't even BS themselves into saying "We will protest all things NFL if they strike/miss a season."

Strike or not, the NFL has won over my heart in the sports world. Baseball had its time from the late 1980s into the early 2000s, but America's Pastime has passed its time as the gleam in Brian's eye.

Please, NFL. Come back to the fields. Fantasy football, gambling and plain ol' NFL junkies need you.