Rams to LA

Quinton Culberson of the Rams is tackled after recovering a fumble against the Miami Dolphins on November 30, 2008 in St. Louis (Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images North America)

 

It’s over.

Years and years of being a Pats fan in San Diego and being subjected to this crap in the Tribune every day is over.

Or is it?

On Tuesday, all NFL owners met in Houston to vote on who gets to go to LA:  the St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders, or the Chargers.

The Raiders made it easy on the gang by bowing out of the fiasco.  Shout out to Mark Davis

By 5:30 San Diego time, the deal was done.  The Rams are going to LA.  Inglewood, if you want to be specific.  The Chargers have the option to join them until January 16, 2017 and work out a deal to stay the San Diego Chargers.  After that, the vote goes back to the Raiders.

The Chargers will be given $300 million (an extra $100 million in addition to the usual $200 million allotted for building stadiums) by the NFL to build a new stadium in San Diego, should they want to remain here.

So, San Diego.  Your Chargers are your Chargers for at least another year.  Now we’ll see if that “heart and determination” motivator in sports movies actually motivates players.

Oh yeah, Happy New Year.

 

 

 

Can We Stop Making Fun of Jay Cutler?

Joe Sargent | Getty Images

Foreword:  whenever I say “Jay Cutler,” I think of chicken cutlets and I get hungry.

Moving on…

This isn’t a whiny request.  I’m seriously asking from a football fan standpoint:  can the Jay Cutler memes and jokes stop now?  After all, the Bears have been winning games big throughout the season, including this week on Thanksgiving against Green Bay (by the way, hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving).

Is it time that Jay and the rest of the Bears get some respect?  Alshon Jeffery has been making great catches, Matt Forte is back (though he didn’t have that many big rushes on Thursday night) and how about that secondary?  Tracy Porter getting revenge on that pass interference call in the first half by picking off a clutch pass late in the fourth is the sweetest, coldest form of revenge I can think of.  Not to mention that the Bears are 5-6.

Heck, maybe this is a whiny request (though not TOO whiny).  The Bears are a legitimate team and Jay Cutler is a legitimate quarterback.  Maybe not a legitimate threat just yet, but they are definitely a legitimate team.  It’s time the NFL and football fans treat them (and Cutler) as such.

The Greg Hardy Thing…dun da dun dun

Brandon Wade | AP

I was going to title this “The Greg Hardy Situation,” but it’s not a situation; it’s pretty clear-cut who is to blame here.

Which leads me to my opening joke:  the Chicago Blackhawks and the Dallas Cowboys should be friends.

I’m also ashamed that I ever asked Jerry Jones for an autograph at that Chargers game.

The Panthers did the right thing getting rid of this guy when this fiasco started.

After Deadspin released a bone-crushing article detailing Nicole Holder’s abuse, Jones came out in support of Hardy, and something tells me it wasn’t just a scripted PR answer, a la the Mumbler Extraordinaire Jonathan Toews; he really supports this guy.

The Cowboys are a disgrace letting Hardy play, just as the Blackhawks were a disgrace for letting Patrick Kane play while he was under a rape investigation.

And for once, if you read the private hearing transcripts, it looks like the NFL wanted to be strict on Hardy, but the defense was having none of it.  The defense dragged Holder’s name through the mud, calling her a “sex-starved fan” and claiming that Hardy is the real victim.

Here’s the thing:  I’ve said before on here that I’m not a feminist.  I’ve also said that I’m a proud anti-feminist.  Don’t start a two hour debate with me in the comments about why; I have things to do.  But as a WOMAN, a woman who cares about the safety and well-being of her fellow woman, and is skeptical, but has seen the bruises on Holder’s body, Greg Hardy should be banned from the NFL.

As someone on Twitter said last week, the Cowboys are 0-7 since Hardy’s been allowed back on the game, and may they continue to be winless as long as he’s there.

Have an obligatory “thank God for Dez Bryant.”

Are the Bruins a Second Period Team Now?

The Bruins lost tonight, but not after a great second period. (bostonherald.com)

The Bruins were handed a devastating 5-4 overtime loss by the Philadelphia Flyers tonight in Boston, but something is different about this year’s Bruins.

For one, they’re having great second periods.

If you’ll recall, the Bruins had great first periods last season (and they’re still having them) and lost all their moxie in the second period.  Now, however, the majority of their goals are coming in the second period, like the Blowout of Arizona last week.  Why?

We saw this with the Flames last season.  They were a third period team, but the same thing happened; their young guns like Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan came up big in the third and scored goals–often game winners–and give the Flames the W.

Why is this?  Why do so many young teams have a certain period they excel in?  And what made the Bruins turn around?  More importantly, as we saw tonight, why can’t they keep up the pace going into the third?

Why Aren’t Winning MLB Teams Allowed to Have Fun?

Jose Bautista’s bat flip after his game-winning home run last night against the Rangers in Game 5 of the ALDS has the Internet infuriated. (larrybrownsports.com)

Remember when winning was fun?

Ever since the Internet’s inception, its users have singlehandedly decided that athletes should not be allowed to celebrate winning games, or, in Jose Bautista’s case, flipping bats after a game-winning home run.

The athletes receiving the brunt of this No-Fun-Allowed criticism are baseball players.

The Pirates received scrutiny after partying with champagne after clinching their Wild Card berth.  And now, Bautista is getting mocked for hitting his game winning homer.

It’s just ironic.  Many of the Internet users perpetuating this behavior have kids of their own.  They often talk about their children participating in sports.  Surely, some of the lessons they teach those children must be to celebrate a win and to have fun.

None of the Little Leaguers got berated for celebrating wins this summer.  So in that respect, what makes a child celebrating different from an adult celebrating?

Why does the Internet resent happiness?  These players are winning the biggest games of their lives, and you want them to celebrate by sitting there like lumps on logs going “oh.  We won.  Cool.  Sigh. *goes home*”

Joe McCarthy would be proud of you, Internet (I know, I know…Communist comparison/accusation.  DRINK!)

NFL Week 6: Colts at Patriots

rantsports.com

We were all anticipating Brady vs. Romo last week, but SOMEONE had to get injured.

But fast-forward to this week:  we WILL get what we’ve all been waiting for.

It’s week 6 in the NFL this Sunday, and everyone, including me, is waiting for Sunday Night Football:  Colts at Patriots.

Yes, it’s a rematch.  The Colts will travel to New England to take on the team they caused a PR nightmare to nine months ago.

That means it’s Brady vs. Luck again.  Though this time, it will probably be more of a one-sided matchup.

The Colts are 3-2 and despite the hate they’ve gotten, are first in the AFC South.  The Pats, on the other hand, are undefeated.

Well then.

But as much as bias wants me to, I wouldn’t rule the Colts out just yet.  Both teams are looking for revenge:  the Colts for the beating they received in the AFC Championship game, and the Pats for #Deflategate and the ensuing media/courtroom circus (during which the Colts probably sat back and rubbed their fingers together a la Mr. Burns and muttered “eexcellentttt).

Final score prediction:  31-28 Patriots.  Because homerism.

Steelers RB DeAngelo Williams Wanted to Wear Pink All Season to Support Mom; NFL Said No

Williams’ mother suffers from breast caner. (Grant Halverson | Getty Images}

I don’t think we’re ever going to stop talking about how awful the NFL front office is.  They’re like that milk in your fridge that’s been expired for two weeks and when you finally throw it away, your life turns into a sci-fi movie when it turns into a deadly milk monster and destroys everything.

Pittsburgh Steelers tailback DeAngelo Williams’ mother suffers from breast cancer.  Watch his video on what pink means to him here:

http://sports.yahoo.com/video/deangelo-williams-pink-means-him-210745554.html

He wanted to wear pink every game for his mother.  The NFL told him he could not.  Even though there’s already an entire week dedicated to wearing pink for breast cancer.

I’m honestly without words.  The NFL did the same thing to Brandon Marshall when he wanted to wear green to support mental health awareness.  Why are they doing this?  Is it to maintain the image that football players are heartless brutes?  Good luck; football players are some of the nicest people with the biggest hearts around.  Hell, look at who I’m writing about.

And the NFL could use this feel-good story with the PR disaster of an off-season they had.  But that’s just me.

Raffi Torres May Get Suspended. Sky is Still Blue.

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Torres (#13) just before the illegal hit on Jakob Silfverberg. (Youtube)

Does Raffi Torres just not like playing hockey?

I’m just asking because that would explain why he likes getting suspended so much.  He can’t even stand preseason hockey.

Halfway through the first period of the Sharks’ final preseason game against the Ducks on Saturday, Torres laid an illegal check to the head of Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg.  Watch it here:

Torres was ejected.  Rinse, lather, repeat.

Do you ever look at some hockey players and think “anger management shrinks can depend on all of these guys for their salary?”

“BUT RELEASING ANGER IS WHAT HOCKEY IS FOR!!!!” Yeah, buddy, it’s not for hurting other players and knowingly giving them concussions.

Ryan Kesler dished on Torres to the Orange County Register:

“Same player every year.  I played with the guy. He needs to learn how to hit. That has no part in our game any more. He came from across the ice and only made contact with his head. Obviously hope Silfvy’s alright.”

Paging Jonathan Papelbon:  THAT is how you discipline a player without choking him.

Whatever punishment Torres gets, he probably won’t learn from it, but at least we won’t have to deal with him for some time.

Who’s In Net for Boston?

Jeremy Smith via @NESN on Twitter

After making significant cuts at goal, sending Malcolm Subban and Zane MacIntyre down to AHL affilliate Providence, the question everyone is asking is what will Boston do in net?

The two remaining big league goaltenders are Tuukka Rask and Jeremy Smith.  Rask is an obviously reliable starter, but is Smith a reliable backup?

Based on last season, no.  MacIntyre would be more of an ideal backup, judging by his numbers he put up at UND.

Subban is out of the question; he clearly still has a lot of work to do to become the goaltending equivalent of his brother.

Smith racked up two losses last season with Providence and only one win in three starts.  Six goals have been scored on him.  He’s had more than a few chances to prove himself at the big league level.

If the Bruins want to take a chance on Smith, I do feel that he’s gotten better.  It’s just that if he fails, who will take his place?

Dodgers Clinch NL West

Clayton Kershaw is an, to quote a user on r/hockey after the Blackhawks won their third Stanley Cup in three years, unstoppable freight train from hell.

Tonight, the Dodgers shut out the Giants 8-0 to win their third consecutive NL West title.

But all conspiracy theorists care about is whether Kershaw is as good as Jake Arrieta.

Answer:  they’re both great.  Let the Dodgers celebrate without comparison, and if the Cubs get a Wild Card spot, that’s fine too.

Kershaw only gave up one hit in his shut-out (imagine if it HAD been a no-hitter).  He struck out 13.  Ironic, since 13 is widely considered an unlucky number.

Tonight certainly wasn’t an unlucky night for Kershaw.

Are the Dodgers a dynasty?  Not in the sense that we we traditionally think of dynasties, as with the Patriots or the Blackhawks, but they’re very close to becoming one.