I, LZ Freak, will give viewers a view of the sports world. Depending on how much I am impressed by what I am reviewing, I will give a grade of A, B, C, D, and F. A+ is the best and F- is the worst. I hope you enjoy reading about sports. For any questions, comments, or concerns, email me at remymillman@comcast.net
Thu
Sep
24
At this point last year, if you asked me who the best offense in the NFL would be in a year, the Patriots, the Chargers, and the Saints would have made the short list. Regardless, no one at that time saw this coming. With the possible exception of the New Orleans Saints, the Atlanta Falcons have the best offense in the NFL. Led by 2nd year quarterback Matt Ryan (reigning rookie of the year), the Falcons are as dynamic as offenses come. Micheal Turner, a top-five running back, Tony Gonzalez, a top-five tight end, and Roddy White, a top-five receiver, are among Ryan’s weapons. They had a good offensive season last year and went to the playoffs. With the addition of Gonzalez, this team becomes almost unstoppable. With a very good defense to back them up, the Falcons are my surprise pick to win not only their division, but the NFC Championship as well. If anyone is gonna challenge the Steelers in their attempted repeat, it’s gonna be Atlanta!
Overall Grade: A+
Wed
Oct
1
The Oakland Raiders are ridiculously hopeless. Since winning the Super Bowl in 2003, the Raiders have not had a winning season and have had six different head coaches. Today was just another day on the job for Al Davis, the Raiders’ owner. For the fifth time in five years, he fired the manager of his team. He and Kiffin had never gotten along. He finally sealed the deal yesterday that Kiffin was fired, something that should have happened in the offseason after the Raiders went 4-12 last year. The good news for Kiffin was that in one year as head coach, he doubled the team’s win total from the previous season. From the interview Davis had today, it was evident that he hated Kiffin’s guts. From Kiffin’s interview, it was obvious that the feelings are mutual. I suppose this all dates back to when Davis wanted to draft JaMarcus Russell and Kiffin did not. It’s too bad for Oakland because they might have a halfway decent team if their owner could keep his mind straight. The turning point for me on this one was when Davis told Kiffin that he was not going to be paid the rest of his contract, essentially cheating him of his money. The man could have some class, but apparently he has more wins than class (meaning less than one). Kiffin should bring this to court and should publicly say that Al Davis is a jerk. No one his age or in his position has the balls to do that, so here’s to a 5-15 run at managing the worst team in the NFL with the possible exception of the St. Louis Rams.
Overall Grade: C
Sat
Sep
27
Do you hear a loud snoring noise coming from down the street? If so, then you know that it’s the start of preseason hockey in the NHL. Watching a hockey game normally can be boring if it’s low scoring, and the playoffs are borderline exciting, but who in their right mind would care about the preseason. Don’t waste your less-than-valuable time watching this stuff, it will make you fall asleep.
Overall Grade: F
Eat it, USC fans! Your Trojans lost to unranked Oregon State. This means a variety of things, including losing the ranking of number one in the nation. I personally thought they should only be ranked two or three before this game even with their uproar against Ohio State. Now they will still probably be ranked, but if it were up to me, they would be right out of the top 25. A 2-1 record (0-1 in the Pac-10 Conference) is not good enough in my book. This Mark Sanchez guy is a bit inconsistant for a Heisman candidate. It’s a bit early in the year to start thinking about the BCS Title Game, and that’s what screwed USC this time. Look for a few more losses before the end of the year. Having said this, they beat Ohio State 35-3 just two weeks ago.
Overall Grade: B+
Wed
Sep
10
Tom Brady was the iconic quarterback last year. He did it all. He went 16-0 in the regular season. He won the MVP award. He went to the Pro Bowl. He was just 3 points short of winning a Super Bowl (which he’s done already). This year was supposed to be another great year. He had all his basic offensive weapons back (Randy Moss, Lawrence Maroney, Wes Welker, etc). However, he didn’t make it past the first quarter. Brady is out for the season and nobody saw it coming. This was going to be another epic year, but it fell short. The good news for Patriots fans is that they won the game, so the undefeated season is still in tact. However, no one is thinking about winning every game, and all eyes are on Matt Cassel, the new quarterback in New England. I don’t like the situation, but it would be hilarious if the Patriots won the Super Bowl without Brady.
Overall Grade: C
Wed
Sep
3
Come on Seattle! You just lost your terrible basketball team to OKLAHOMA CITY! This could just be the biggest insult to Seattle since it was sleepless. The Sonics (not so super anymore) set a franchise record for least wins in a season in 2007-2008. However, I don’t think moving to OKLAHOMA CITY will help much. Keep in mind that the population of Seattle’s metropolitan area is over 4 million. Oklahoma City’s metropolitan area has 1.2 million people (less than one third that of Seattle). We all know that city population does not determine wins (I mean you, New York Knicks…). This must be a distraction for the team. I have sympathy for things like this sometimes, but we’re talking about OKLAHOMA CITY. This is no ordinary scandal; this is a major burglary of a bad team. If I lived in Oklahoma City, my response would be that Seattle could keep this embarassment of a team. I would give it back! And there is hardly ever thunder in Oklahoma City, they would have been better off with the O.C. Umenyioras (or however that is spelled). This is almost as bad as L.A. not having a football team. This is proof that there are worse things in the universe than unretired Jets quarterbacks (if you get the hint). I also note that this is a historic event in the LZ Freak Sports Report History. There have never been bold letters used in a report. That proves how ridiculous this is. Anyway, I give Oklahoma the benefit of the doubt because they’re “OK” (that one always cracks me up).
Overall Grade: D+
Sun
Aug
31
It’s that time of year again, and once again there is bad news for Michigan fans. As the first game of the year, Michigan could finally forget that Appalachian State loss last year at this time (which ended on a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown). Well, after a bad first half and a missed two point conversion in the second half, there wasn’t a lot to be happy about for the Wolverines. Rich Rodriguez is on the hot seat, and when I say “hot seat” I mean he’ll probably be fired after his next loss. How embarassing! Even the Minnesota Gophers won! I just hope that there is hope.
Overall Grade: D-
Sat
Aug
30
Okay, this is ridiculous. The man formerly known as Chad Johnson has legally changed his name to Chad Ocho Cinco. I gave Sabathia crap when he got rid of the periods in CC, but this is even worse. Ocho Cinco is a number, not a last name! I understand that this is Chad’s way of being independent, but this is going to have to stop. My theory is that the Bengals should have traded him back in the off season when they could have gotten someone good for him. Now they’re stuck with Chad Ocho Cinco at wide receiver. This is why you never see Cincinatti in the postseason.
Overall Grade: F
Thu
Aug
28
Today’s the day. This is the first day in MLB history that replay is being used. For those of you out of date on this hot topic, replay has been debated for several years now and heavily this year due to numerous controversial homerun disputes (basically determining fair/foul homeruns, fan interference on homeruns, etc). Some people opposed it because it will slow down games, which already average almost 3 hours long. Note that it is not “instant” replay. The umpires will have to leave the field entirely just to use it. It will definitely have a slowing effect if it is used often. It is only for very specific homerun disputes. I personally think that it is one step in a good direction. In 100 years, I bet computers will be determining balls and strikes without umpires, but that’s a different story. For now, it works.
Overall Grade: B+
Sun
Aug
24
Well, they won the gold. This “Redeem Team” was a success. The story behind the nickname is that they didn’t win gold in Athens in 2004 so they felt like it was redemption to win in 2008. The team consisted of many of the elite American NBA stars (Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, etc). However, if they had lost, it would have been more embarrassing than four years ago because they have been murdering opponents this year. In the end, they redeemed, but I wouldn’t call it anything important.
Overall Grade: B
