A couple nights ago, the Stanley Cup Final came to an end. After an exhilarating series (which the Athletic Acumen just happened to predict the result of and prophesied about exactly how exciting it would be... No big deal), the unfortunate "downtime" in sports begins for the next six to eight weeks. There's the MLB regular season, and while I played baseball for 14 years and am a passionate baseball fan, it just drags on for far too long. It's kind of like a game of Risk. The game starts out with a lot of excitement and everyone is jockeying to take an early lead (First two to three weeks of the season). Then, the game begins to drag on as all the weaker players get eliminated (May-Early September). Finally, you get down to the final two players who go into an all out war to see who will be declared winner, and who all will have to regroup and get ready for the next game (Mid September-World Series). There have been proposals to shorten the regular season, but as America's Pastime, I don't see this happening anytime soon. I guess there's also WNBA basketball going on right now, but I'm pretty sure not a single reader of my blog is a WNBA fan. Actually, I'm 100% sure because I'd see you as one of the five fans at each of the games. Oh, and Major League Lacrosse is in full swing, too (If you can name five franchises in the MLL without looking them up, contact me and I'll give you a prize. I don't even know if they have five teams).
With that being said, the next few weeks I'm going to try and come out with a new post every week. This should be attainable because for one thing it's summer and I'm bound to have an hour of free time here or there, and secondly, I'm going to write about my favorite sport: College football! While there may not have been as tumultuous as an off season as last year's, there's still plenty to discuss. One coach has been called Satan a few times making me question if he actually could be. One Heisman trophy winning quarterback has achieved Jesus status in his home state, but has left me wondering whether he is more interested in partying or winning football games. One conference is trying to seek its eighth straight national title. Oh, and all these story lines are courtesy of just one conference: The SEC.
Whether you're willing to admit it or not, the kings of the college football world have built themselves quite a fortress in the southeastern United States. The king of kings happens to be Alabama coach Nick Saban, who has led the Crimson Tide to three of the past four national titles. That stretch would be impressive in professional sports, but in a sport where you lose a majority of your leaders from year to year, it is downright magic. In fact, could it be devilish magic? The past few months Saban has been called the devil by Vanderbilt's head coach James Franklin and Florida's offensive line coach Tim Davis. If we get a trinity here in the final weeks of the off season, I"m going to be convinced. Think about this for a few minutes: Tim Tebow, star quarterback of the Florida Gators and the most religious athlete this side of Jerusalem, was recruited by the University of Alabama (Jesus' temptation in the desert). During his first couple seasons, he experienced great success and defeated Saban en route to a National Championshp (Jesus' ministry, miracles, and removing demons from those possessed). However, he would soon fall and be crushed by Saban in the following year's SEC championship (Jesus' crucifixion and descent into hell). But have no fear, Tebow would bounce back and go on to crush Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl and go on to gain a playoff victory in the NFL (Jesus' resurrection and further teachings). Those last few sentences are downright scary when you think about them. Plus, Saban and Satan are only one letter apart! All jokes aside, Saban is one hell of a football coach, and his team is going to have a great chance to gain a third straight title this fall. They are going to have have to get past an urban legend to do that, though.
The one man who has able to beat Satan- I mean Saban- last year was Johnny Manziel, or as the folks in College Station like to call him, Johnny F------ Football (JFF from here on out). JFF rose from the ashes of a delinquent who had no chance of seeing the field into a Heisman winning quarterback. He put up straight video game numbers and created a football folklore that the state of Texas had never seen before (Considering football is life or death at any level in Texas, that's quite the accomplishment). Unfortunately for JFF, I'm not to sure what he's been doing these past few months to prepare for the target he's going to have on his back. The man has been featured in a country music video (Granger Smith- Silverado Bench Seat), thrown out a couple first pitches, partied with rappers weekly, sat courtside at an NBA game, attended Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and takes only online classes at Texas A&M to avoid autograph requests. Now I know the Heisman trophy brings some fame with it, but a few of those things scream "I'm letting my fame get to me, and I don't need to work hard to have success" (Oh, and maybe "impermissible benefits" there NCAA...). JFF is going to have unrealistic expectations for him this fall. The media is going to be bad enough, but his biggest critics are going to be Texas' passionate football fans. He's already taken some heat for saying he wants out of College Station and that could only get worse if the Aggies struggle out the gate. A game against the Crimson Tide on September 14th is going to go a long way in deciding the SEC title, and if tradition holds, maybe the National Title, so JFF needs to be ready to play. He's going to have another solid season, but I don't see anywhere near the accomplishments of last year, including winning another Heisman. Plus, I have a feeling a certain man adorned in Scarlet and Gray is going to garner that honor anyways (And I'll talk about that next week).
The only question that remains now is who gives the SEC their best chance of capturing title number eight? Alabama's going to be the favorite, and a lot of pressure will be on AJ McCarron to keep the title in Tuscaloosa. Luckily for him many Alabama starters return, including T.J. Yeldon, who is looking to be the latest in the great pedigree of backs the Crimson Tide has established. As long as the Tide can replace losses on the offensive line and a couple key losses on defense (Dee Milliner in particular), they should win the West. Texas A&M and LSU will be the two main challengers, but key losses on the offensive line could cripple Manziel's scrambling magic, and LSU has to go to Tuscaloosa this year, where they have not had much success. A possible dark horse in the West is the Ole Miss Rebels. Hugh Freeze is becoming one of the sexiest names in coaching, and with another stellar recruiting class coming in, the best tailgating school in the nation could soon become a perennial top 25 football team, too. Teams won't be able to sleep on the Rebels this year, and if I had to peg a team to pull a shocking upset, it'd be them in a heartbeat. In the East, a three team race seems inevitable between Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. I see Florida falling off last year as out of all the top 10 teams, the Gators were far by the least inconsistent. Soccer teams provide more excitement on offense, it shouldn't take a punt return touchdown in the final minutes to beat Louisiana-Lafayette, and Jeff Driskel throws the football worse than any other starter in the nation. The title may come down to an early September game between Georgia and South Carolina. While Jadeveon Clowney may be a legitimate Heisman candidate, Georgia just has too many weapons on offense. Aaron Murray could have a huge year, Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall provide one of the most dynamic backfields in the country, and as long as some of the high profile recruits live up to the hype defensively, Georgia should be able to return to the SEC Championsip game. The question is, will they finally be able to break through and win one?
Yet again, the SEC could have as many as SIX teams finish in the top 15-20 at the end of the season. With steady improvements being seen at Vanderbilt, the aforementioned Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and a inevitable bounce back at Auburn, the conference will only get better. What team ultimately ends up surviving the week to week onslaught and (almost) guarantees themselves a shot to represents the SEC in the National Championship could be more chaotic than ever. How appropriate for the final year of the BCS.
J. Nave
Look for a Big Ten preview next week, including topics like
-Can Braxton Miller win the Heisman, and can the Buckeyes go undefeated again?
-Did Brady Hoke gain or lose weight over the off season?
-The state of Wisconsin football after Bret Bielema's departure.
-Will Bill O'Brien's miracle work continue?
-Can Northwestern win a championship in something other than chess?
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Making a Case for the NHL
A few weeks ago, I saw the new Star Trek movie. To be completely honest, I'm the farthest thing from a "trekkie" and ended up seeing the movie because the tickets to Fast and Furious 6 were solid out, but I was thoroughly impressed with the film (Not going to waste a lot of time reviewing the movie because you can find much better summaries than the one I would write elsewhere on the Internet, but I need to mention the fact it stars the talented and very underrated Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan, who's acting is worth the price of admission). Anyways, towards the end of the film, the famous "Boldly go where no man has gone before" was spoken by Spock, and all of a sudden, my intelligent Vulcan friend encouraged me to do something that would be very, very bold: Write about the NHL playoffs.
For some reason, the NHL receives absolutely no attention. Fewer fans go to hockey games than any other major professional sport. ESPN would never in a million years lead with a hockey story. Worst of all for the NHL, Tim Tebow and LeBron James don't play in the league. While it is an uphill battle for the NHL, things do seem to be pointing up. Initial television ratings have been near record highs thanks to great series, especially the seven game marathon between Chicago and Detroit. Playoff atmospheres are rocking in places other than Hockeytown. Perhaps best of all, Sidney Crosby jokes are becoming more popular on social media (Look up Boston pilot joke if you're not sure what I'm talking about). The NHL, unlike the NBA, has absolutely no parity from top to bottom. The Finals match-up was basically set in stone after the injury to Russell Westbrook, and every year, it's pretty easy to narrow serious contenders down to a handful. Last year, the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup as an #8 seed! Meanwhile in the NBA this year, the Milwaukee Bucks, the #8 seed in the East, got swept by the Heat and raised questions over whether a team of actually bucks could play better basketball.
As a member of the self-proclaimed "ADD/Steroid Multi-tasker/A-thousand-miles-a-minute/#YOLO" generation, the game of hockey would seem to be much more appealing. Unlike sports like baseball, basketball, and even football, hockey can go on rapidly for minutes at a time, and the interruptions and television timeouts are kept at a minimal. The tactical approach of soccer, the technical skills of lacrosse, the physicality of football, the speed of track, and the gracefulness of dancing make hockey one of the more challenging sports to master. It's one of the only sports where you can witness feats that range from this (Rick Nash Goal), to this (Tuukka Rask), and even something completely insane like this (Goalie Loses Tooth).
Unfortunately, there are only four to seven hockey games left in the lockout shortened NHL season (The lockout, and second one in the last 10 years, is probably one of the reasons the NHL has been desperate for attention), so if you want to watch something far more entertaining than the NBA, I caught you just in time. And man, the Stanley Cup Finals should be one hell of a series. Two 'Original 6' teams in the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins could provide just the spark the sport needs. The only question is, will the NBA fans or sports fans in general be willing to tune in? I know I will be. On one side, you have the Bruins, the 2011 Stanley Cup Champions. Gone from that team is star goaltender Tim Thomas, but in his place is Tuukka Rask, whose highlight tape was featured earlier and is something I really hope you watched. Back though are players like David Krejci, Zdeno Chara, and Nathan Horton who played prominent roles against the Canucks two years back. The #4 seed in the East, the Bruins needed a miracle comeback against the Toronto Maple Leafs (Toronto is kind of like the NHL's version of Cleveland with a little bit of the Chicago Cubs' World Series curse thrown in there for the non-hockey readers) just to get by the first round. Then, they SWEPT the Pittsburgh Penguins, which would've been like the Pacers sweeping the Heat with an average margin of victory of 20 points. If the old addage, defense wins championships is true, the Bruins will be hoisting another Stanley Cup, because the combination of Rask's play and the penalty kill numbers will stifle the Blackhawks' forwards.
However, I'm taking the best team in the NHL this year to win the Stanley Cup. The Chicago Blackhawks won 36 games and finished with 77 points in a 48 game season. They ranked in the top two of both goals and goals against per game. They had the third best penalty kill in the NHL. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, and Bryan Bickell have wowed fans all season with incredible goal scoring displays, and Corey Crawford is becoming one of the league's top goaltenders. The ultimate intangible though will be the fact that Chicago has home ice. Other than maybe the NFL, the crowds at hockey games are the closest thing to a college atmosphere you can find. The fans, while not as mighty in quanity, are some of the most die hard fans this side of European soccer, and they ramp it up come playoff time. This season, the crowds in every building have been LOUD for the entire 60 minutes, and then they take LOUD to a whole new level come overtime.
By and far, especially since Game of Thrones will not be returning for another 9 months, the best television out there the next week and a half is going to be found courtesy of the NHL. It make take a bold step to turn on the Stanley Cup Finals, but if any of you all find yourself watching NBC tonight at 8:00 PM, I think most of you will be entertained, impressed, and pissed off because you missed the first three rounds of one of the more compelling sports on the planet.
My pick: Chicago in 6
J. Nave
For some reason, the NHL receives absolutely no attention. Fewer fans go to hockey games than any other major professional sport. ESPN would never in a million years lead with a hockey story. Worst of all for the NHL, Tim Tebow and LeBron James don't play in the league. While it is an uphill battle for the NHL, things do seem to be pointing up. Initial television ratings have been near record highs thanks to great series, especially the seven game marathon between Chicago and Detroit. Playoff atmospheres are rocking in places other than Hockeytown. Perhaps best of all, Sidney Crosby jokes are becoming more popular on social media (Look up Boston pilot joke if you're not sure what I'm talking about). The NHL, unlike the NBA, has absolutely no parity from top to bottom. The Finals match-up was basically set in stone after the injury to Russell Westbrook, and every year, it's pretty easy to narrow serious contenders down to a handful. Last year, the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup as an #8 seed! Meanwhile in the NBA this year, the Milwaukee Bucks, the #8 seed in the East, got swept by the Heat and raised questions over whether a team of actually bucks could play better basketball.
As a member of the self-proclaimed "ADD/Steroid Multi-tasker/A-thousand-miles-a-minute/#YOLO" generation, the game of hockey would seem to be much more appealing. Unlike sports like baseball, basketball, and even football, hockey can go on rapidly for minutes at a time, and the interruptions and television timeouts are kept at a minimal. The tactical approach of soccer, the technical skills of lacrosse, the physicality of football, the speed of track, and the gracefulness of dancing make hockey one of the more challenging sports to master. It's one of the only sports where you can witness feats that range from this (Rick Nash Goal), to this (Tuukka Rask), and even something completely insane like this (Goalie Loses Tooth).
Unfortunately, there are only four to seven hockey games left in the lockout shortened NHL season (The lockout, and second one in the last 10 years, is probably one of the reasons the NHL has been desperate for attention), so if you want to watch something far more entertaining than the NBA, I caught you just in time. And man, the Stanley Cup Finals should be one hell of a series. Two 'Original 6' teams in the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins could provide just the spark the sport needs. The only question is, will the NBA fans or sports fans in general be willing to tune in? I know I will be. On one side, you have the Bruins, the 2011 Stanley Cup Champions. Gone from that team is star goaltender Tim Thomas, but in his place is Tuukka Rask, whose highlight tape was featured earlier and is something I really hope you watched. Back though are players like David Krejci, Zdeno Chara, and Nathan Horton who played prominent roles against the Canucks two years back. The #4 seed in the East, the Bruins needed a miracle comeback against the Toronto Maple Leafs (Toronto is kind of like the NHL's version of Cleveland with a little bit of the Chicago Cubs' World Series curse thrown in there for the non-hockey readers) just to get by the first round. Then, they SWEPT the Pittsburgh Penguins, which would've been like the Pacers sweeping the Heat with an average margin of victory of 20 points. If the old addage, defense wins championships is true, the Bruins will be hoisting another Stanley Cup, because the combination of Rask's play and the penalty kill numbers will stifle the Blackhawks' forwards.
However, I'm taking the best team in the NHL this year to win the Stanley Cup. The Chicago Blackhawks won 36 games and finished with 77 points in a 48 game season. They ranked in the top two of both goals and goals against per game. They had the third best penalty kill in the NHL. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, and Bryan Bickell have wowed fans all season with incredible goal scoring displays, and Corey Crawford is becoming one of the league's top goaltenders. The ultimate intangible though will be the fact that Chicago has home ice. Other than maybe the NFL, the crowds at hockey games are the closest thing to a college atmosphere you can find. The fans, while not as mighty in quanity, are some of the most die hard fans this side of European soccer, and they ramp it up come playoff time. This season, the crowds in every building have been LOUD for the entire 60 minutes, and then they take LOUD to a whole new level come overtime.
By and far, especially since Game of Thrones will not be returning for another 9 months, the best television out there the next week and a half is going to be found courtesy of the NHL. It make take a bold step to turn on the Stanley Cup Finals, but if any of you all find yourself watching NBC tonight at 8:00 PM, I think most of you will be entertained, impressed, and pissed off because you missed the first three rounds of one of the more compelling sports on the planet.
My pick: Chicago in 6
J. Nave
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