Love him or hate him, Richard Sherman is going to the Super Bowl and he is taking his NFC champion Seattle Seahawks with him after a nail-biting win over the San Francisco 49ers which obviously makes this blogger very, very happy.
Sherman is taking a lot of heat for his in the moment post-game interview with FOX's Erin Andrews where he exploded and went on a rant that will go down forever, but the bottom line is like him or not, he gets the job done. He is the NFL's Dwight Anderson ladies and gentlemen.
Speaking of which, did the scene at CenturyLink field not resemble a certain November night at Mosaic. It sure did to me with the fans cheering their heads off to make it nearly impossible for Colin Kaeperpick to hear and for them to stick around to see the trophy presentation (albeit not THE trophy presentation) and then celebrate with the players who ran around the field to share it. Was throwing Skittles at Niners linebacker Navorro Bowman the right thing to do...absolutely not. At least, it wasn't full beer cans.
Thoughts on the game and on the AFC Championship
--I will be the first to admit the fumble Bowman recovered when he suffered that gruesome leg injury was a horrible mistake for the officials to make and it was good to see the game didn't change on that possession as Seattle was stuffed on 4th down. This of course made my heartrate elevate just a little until Sherman's tip into the hands of teammate Malcolm Smith, but the wrong call was made and it would have cheapened the victory somewhat
--Say what you will about Sherman, but Crabtree is just as big a yapper if not more
--It seemed for a while the ball was not going to bounce Seattle's way, but you earn your bounces and Seattle's D did that in the 2nd half.
--I thought New England would be able to run the ball on Denver and kill valuable time. It was Denver who successfully ran the ball and killed valuable time.
--If you put Brady on Denver with receivers and Manning on New England without, what would the verdict be. How Brady got this far with the talent he had is beyond me.
--Seattle's o-line needs to improve tenfold before the Super Bowl. Aldon Smith just ate Russell Okung alive. Then again, does Denver have an Aldon Smith like player since Von Miller is done for the year.
--FOX's decibel meter had to be broken. There is NO way the decibel level at C-Link got to 110 in a winner goes to the Super Bowl game when it got to nearly 137 for a Monday nighter. That place had to explode on the Lynch TD, the Kearse TD and the Smith INT to end it.
Vanstone's Broncos against my Seahawks in two weeks.......CAN'T WAIT!!
Alright, the other big story of the weekend.
The hockey world is buzzing and they should be after the antics of Saturday night’s game between the Flames and the Canucks. Both teams brought their “Charleston Chiefs” mentality to Rogers Arena as a line brawl erupted as soon as the puck was dropped. What a wonderful thing to happen on “Hockey Day in Canada”! I am not one who thinks fighting should be abolished in the NHL, but the staged fight is something we don’t need and while John Tortorella takes all the heat (which he should), the blame must fall on Flames coach Bob Hartley as far as I’m concerned. He was the instigator.
Hartley knew exactly what he was doing when he put his “enforcer” line out to start the game. "Those guys are playing well for us," he said. "They got a goal last game. We're not scoring many goals. We had zero intentions there.” What a crock of crap! Watch the video and you will see HNIC announcers Rick Ball and Kelly Hrudey knew what was about to happen.
Hartley lit the match for the explosives to go off and while Tortorella is way off base for what he did and should be suspended for a while, Hartley should also get out his chequebook and give way to his assistants for a while because he should also be reprimanded heavily by the NHL.
As bad (or entertaining) as the incident was, the performance by PJ Stock was just embarassing. I’ve never been a fan of the HNIC analyst, but he went right off the rails talking about what happened. As someone tweeted Saturday night after his meltdown, “PJ Stock is the dumbest analyst in the history of analysts and TSN used to use a monkey.” That may be stretching it just a little. I just hope the suits at Rogers realize Stock should not be a part of HNIC once they get control of it. Then again, that could mean Nick Kypreos and is that much better. YEESH!!!
Who does ESPN baseball writer Peter Gammons think he is when he calls the NHL a "minor sport" on his Twitter account. I'm a baseball fan Mr. Gammons, but do you want to start comparing the two sports and the problems they have. I think its safe to say Gammons got a lot of opinions from Canadians on his Twitter feed.
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A great will leave the sports world later this week when Anthony Calvillo calls it quits. The debate is already on so lets pick it up and that debate is where does Calvillo rank when it comes to CFL quarterbacks. He is definitely top 10, but where do you put him. I would put him 5th behind Moon, Flutie, Damon Allen and Ronnie. I might even have Calvillo ahead of Ronnie when you look at the post-season success he had. It’s a shame to see A-C call it a career because of an injury because he didn’t get to go out on his terms, but certainly he will get his day in Montreal and we will see him in the CFL Hall of Fame sooner than later. He has been a true professional in every sense of the word and I do salute him for the long and glorious career he had.
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OMAHA!!! OMAHA!!!!
A lot of people are wondering what the Riders do if Weston Dressler and/or Kory Sheets finds NFL employment. I say its too early to even know the answer to that. What you see now is not what you will see when training camp starts. Some have suggested Geroy Simon’s time in Riderville will continue if Dressler doesn’t come back. Again, it is wayyyyyyy too early to start thinking about that. Lets let the cards be played before we start wondering how the hand will turn out. We have free agency, a draft, and a lot of organizational decisions to be made before we start putting things together.
The Ottawa REDBLACKS must have been salivating upon hearing it looks like Craig Butler will go to free agency and see how everything plays out. The REDBLACKS, and every other CFL team, would love to have someone of Butler’s ilk wearing their uniform. Ottawa may have the most money to throw at Butler. I hope he stays in green, but his statements make me wonder if the Riders will cough up enough money for that to happen. I know they won’t overspend for him. I also know Sam Hurl is likely ready to step into the starting lineup should it come to that.
This baseball fan is not pleased with the fact instant replay is coming to the sport. How long will these replays take and how much longer will that make a game that can sometime go three and a half or four hours if not longer. I am all for getting the call right, but at what price. Baseball needs to do something to speed up the play whether it be telling pitchers to stop fidgeting on the mound or batters to stay in the batters box. This could end up being more harm than good.
I’m wayyyy late on this, but I saw the 60 minutes documentary on Alex Rodriguez. I’ve lost any respect I had for A-Rod. If he doesn’t come back, I have no problem with it. What disturbed me the most was the guy who was administering this stuff to A-Rod. What a sleazebag! Is A-Rod not smart enough to see you couldn’t trust this guy. WOW!!!!
I hope for the sake of the Regina Pats that when they make the playoffs, SHAW TV does not decide to do their first round playoff series. If they do, it might be four and out for the home side. Why doesn’t this team play well when the cameras are on? With the exception of an Access game where they played perhaps their best game of the year against Kelowna, they have not looked good when the bright lights of TV have shined on them. I can’t even begin to offer an explanation.
All this talk about Aaron Hernandez on Sunday and the fact the former New England tight end who sits in a jail cell because he murdered someone hasn’t seen a play of his team on TV nor will he this year even if they win the Super Bowl. WHO CARES!!!! Does Aaron Hernandez deserve to watch football or any TV after what he did. NO! End of story!
Curling in Vegas. Jennifer Jones says rinks were bag-piped through casinos to wherever they were playing. That must have the old cronies playing the slot machines wondering what was going on.
Have a great week!
10 comments:
The Richard Sherman interview and Richard himself are both highly over-rated. He's not that good and emotion ran that interview.
Scruffy,
Being the wrestling guy you are, you must have loved the Sherman rant. The only thing it was missing was the traditional Ric Flair "WHOOOOOOO" at the end. LOVED IT!
Mitch "the Sask-watch" Blair (just helping you try out some of the wrestling handles you can give yourself)
-is there any chance Bill Levy officiates the big game? If he was could 'Hawk fans raise up enough money for him to decline the invite if he did get the call?
--You can blame both Hartley and Torts but someone said Saturday that Brian Burke was there, the guy who wants a tougher team in Calgary who wanted greater "truculence" from the Flames. Maybe management dictated how this game was beginning; will make other teams think twice about games with Calgary.
That's why post-game interviews aren't necessarily a good thing. Players are so pumped up, their answers are rarely coherent.
Completely agree with you on Hartley and Fortuna, but I disagree with you on Sherman. I hope Peyton eats him alive in two weeks.
Riley
What did Sherman do? He has just made the biggest play of his career and his adrenaline and excitement is off the charts. He is asked a question and he answered it. I love the fact he didn't thank God and answered the question.
Love it now and love it in two weeks Scruffy. Peyton won't be throwing for 400 and 4 TD's against that defense.
Rob
If Vancouver had been playing Colorado, Roy and Torts would have met at centre ice and gone at it. Hartley is a gutless puke!
Sherman definitely falls into the category of......if he was on your team. I highly doubt Scruffy's comments would be the one's of respect if the tables were reversed and say he played for the 49ers. That is irrelevant however, but it definitely falls into that category that you're happy if he's on your team.
What I wouldn't like if I were his Seattle's teammates is the microscope that is now on Sherman and more importantly them as a team. Sure the Seahawks have backed it up so far, but if I were John Fox I'd have a muzzle on all my players leading up to the Superbowl. Having them not stir the pot and do the talking on the field. Because of Sherman's actions all the pressure is now on the Seahawks and not the Broncos. It's also too bad that Sherman's actions overshadowed a tremendous football game that had everything. Here's hoping that the Super Bowl is just as good.
Curt
In your opinion, however a lot of people would disagree with your last point. If you're trying to stir something up go elsewhere!
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