Daily Sports Roundup 12/30/07

A light day in sports so far, but it is still early. Then again, it is Sunday and besides football, there isn’t much else.

Week 17 of NFL Season: Today is the final week of the NFL season and there are still a playoff spot in each league up for grabs. The Washington Redskins and Tennessee Titans both control their own destiny and only need a victory to clinch a playoff spot. The Redskins face the Cowboys at 4:15 and the Titans face the Colts at 8:15. The Cowboys and Colts will likely rest their players as they both have to look ahead to the playoffs. If the Titans or Redskins lose though, it opens up the door for the Browns and Vikings respectively. If the Redskins and Vikings both lose, then the New Orleans Saints have an opportunity to steal he last playoff spot.

Patriots Are Perfect:The Patriots wrapped up their perfect season last night, barely. The Giants played a strong game, but fell apart down the stretch. Down by 12 in the 3rd quarter, Maroney ran for a 6 yard touchdown run to make the score 28-23, Giants still leading. 8 minutes later in the 4th quarter, Brady threw a 65 yard touchdown pass to Moss to give the Pats the lead for good. That pass gave Brady his 50th touchdown pass of the year and the reception by Moss was his 23rd touchdown catch of the year. Brady broke Peyton Manning’s record of 49 touchdown passes in a season while Moss broke Jerry Rice’s record of 23 touchdown receptions in a season. They waited until 11 minutes left in the 4th quarter to break the records, but nevertheless came through. The touchdown put the Pats up 31-28 and they never looked back. Continue reading “Daily Sports Roundup 12/30/07”

Milestone Weekend

This weekend turned out to be the biggest milestone weekend in years with Tom Glavine getting his 300th win, Alex Rodriguez hitting his 500th home run, and Barry Bonds tying Hank Aaron’s home record. Hideki Matsui even became the first Japanese player to hit 100 home runs, but that was completely overshadowed by the other achievements. With all of these amazing accomplishments come big questions. How does Glavine rank with the game’s best pitchers? Will A-Rod eventually break Bonds’ home run record? What will be the reaction to Bonds’ breaking Aaron’s record?

Let’s begin with Glavine, where he is only the 23rd pitcher and 5th lefty to win 300 games. When you think of great pitchers, Glavine isn’t the person who comes to mind, but should he be? His 3.41 career ERA is excellent and 300 wins makes him a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but if you are picking the best ten pitchers of all time, is he in it? I’d say no, but it is not Glavine’s fault. In this era, pitchers pitch fewer innings, giving them less chance to pick up victories and complete games. That makes 300 wins even that more astounding. Here is my list of top ten pitchers of all time: Continue reading “Milestone Weekend”

Schilling’s Comments Make Sense

 Red Sox Pitcher Curt Schilling made a number of remarks to HBO’s Bob Costas about Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Jose Canseco. As you can expect from Schilling, these comments were biased and somewhat ignorant. At the same time, they all made sense and echoed many fans’ opinions. Schilling has said some things that he shouldn’t have in the past, but these comments make sense on multiple levels. First, that the lack of civil suits by Bonds proves that he took steroids. Second, that cheaters should be punished for their actions and their careers wiped clean. Continue reading “Schilling’s Comments Make Sense”