What the heck?

Why did i find myself cheering for Eli Manning sunday evening?Certainly I enjoyed the fact that Favre lived up to my expectations of being the type of guy that loses games for you, but cheering for the Giants?

Eli has totally earned my respect this season… not just the last four games. He was inconsistent all year, but as I’ve said before, in the big games this season he always played outstanding…

That said, i don’t think there is any chance that i’ll find myself cheering for him this week. I’d much prefer to see the Patriots win. Hopefully it’s a good one.

p.s. – was anyone else totally bored with the AFC game? I like hard hitting defensive games, but that was more just inadequate offenses.

Good Riddance…

FC Dallas traded “El Pescado” (Carlos Ruiz) to the LA Galaxy for money and a 2nd round draft pick, and despite the fact that he was our most prolific goal scorer, I’m much pleased… Ruiz has the tendency to take games off and he doesn’t have great chemistry with the rest of the guys. Kenny Cooper, if he can stay healthy, should be able to mostly fill the void. He is younger, bigger, and a better overall teammate…and after spending the off-season training with Man U, he may come back even better than before. This also opens the doors for the speedy Orduro or perhaps another big-name international player up front. Orduro has great potential, but a lot of growing in front of him…

From the Galaxy standpoint, this should put them back in the playoffs. Donovan and Beckham now have a target in the middle for their crosses and corners, something LA has lacked. If the chemistry works out between these three super-stars (Beckham is international, Donovan is without question the biggest US soccer star, and The Fish is one of Central America’s biggest stars) than Alexi Lalas just may be on the verge of successfully doing something that no MLS team every thought of doing… competiting internationally.I know, it sounds ridiculous, and I’m not suggesting that they are at that level. This may be a completely failed expirement, but it’s what Lalas is trying to do… From an MLS fan standpoint, I despise the Galaxy almost as much as I despise Chivas USA, but from a US Soccer fan standpoint, I hope he succeeds. Mike from MLS Fan Central expands on Lalas’ vision…

In the meantime, it looks like US-friendly Fulham is signing another young-gun… Eddie Johnson. He disappointed early in his career but had a really solid season in ’07 for Kansas City. Fulham desperately needs a boost…  They play tough, but always come up short… I’d hate to see a team with 5 (assuming Johnson signs) US Nationals end up relegated.With McBride coming back from injury, maybe (hopefully, as I follow Fulham more than any other EPL club), they can avoid relegation and become competitive again.

and now… the rest of the story

Sea v GB- I felt pretty good after 5 minutes… but I knew two things: 1) There was still 55 Minutes left and 2) Ryan Grant had been the problem, not Favre. That was one of the most amazing games I’ve watched by one team in a long time. GB just annihilated the Seahawks and the snow just added to the drama. I still think Favre will lose you some games, but perhaps not this year. He plays with maturity in his decision making (something you could NEVER say about him before this year), and he looks poised for a chance at New England… that could all change next week, but we’ll see.

Jax v NE – Went pretty much as I expected. Tom Brady showed again why he may be the best ever and is certainly the best of my generation (’90s and on… Montana was just on the way out when I started paying attention to NFL)… I guess the Jags forgot that Brady spent his whole career with no-name receivers that could rarely get open deep… they took away Moss and Brady just did what he’s done his whole career… make them pay some other way…

SD v Indy - It wasn’t Peyton’s fault. Phillip Rivers showed me that while he’s still a bit of an arse, he has guts. The SD Defense showed me that they can carry the team if necessary… and Michael Turner showed once again that he could probably start for half the teams in the league. I’m not sure where Indy’s running game went… 17 carries in a four point game? Doesn’t make much sense to me…

NYG v Dal- Since i’ve already explained how Dallas lost, i just want to focus on the Giants for a second… All Eli has done this year is play big in games against the top opponents. He’s been inconsistent, but most of his poor play came against lesser opponents… He didn’t put up gaudy numbers, but he got the job done and didn’t make any mistakes… NONE that I can remember in fact. Is it actually possible that while he can’t put up the numbers Peyton does that he’s actually a better big game QB?!? Too early to say that, but I’m changing my tune on this guy… which makes me want to throw up… c’mon the dude looks dumber than Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne combined.

On a side note: I find it pretty interesting that both Rivers and Eli moved on considering their linked history. Their careers and public perceptions are different, but their careers are starting to look eerily similar.

How did this happen?

That’s the question in Dallas… and it’s pretty simple, really… Penalties… thats it. Generally you can point as penalties as PART of the problem, and there indeed were other problems… but every dang penalty was brutal. They killed Cowboy drives and kept Giant drives going… The 15 yard Jacque Reeves face-mask at the end of the 1st half killed momentum… The unnecessary roughness on Leonard Davis killed a great drive… Romo’s *questionable* intentional grounding took away a vital down and lost us 10 yards at the most important time of the game… and there are six more examples just like these…

ugh… sure there were other things… Crayton played horribly and playcalling was suspect, but in my opinion we lost the game on penalties… and for that, the ‘Boys DESERVED to lose the game… simple as that. They still had opportunity at the end, and the Romo Magic wasn’t there… or perhaps it was but when the whole 4th quarter your OLine plays like the Seattle OLine in that insurance commercial, the magic is snuffed out…

ugh indeed.

Round Two

Aaron beat me to the punch (hey, he’s an hour ahead of me), but i’m going to run these down anyway cause it’s what I had planned to do this morning…

SD vs. Indy - San Diego tends to mess with Peyton a little. The other thing people forget is that Peyton still has not put together a great postseason. He gets a free pass now, rightfully so, after the Superbowl run last year… but he threw 3 TDs and 7 INTs in the 2006 playoffs… That said, I think he and the colts D play well enough to win. And since I don’t believe in Phillip Rivers, Colts win big.

Jax vs NE- Despite what the drama-casters want to tell you, the Jags are not built to beat New England. The only team in the AFC that will challenge the Pats will be Indy and that’s because they have something the Jags don’t…. big game experience against Brady’s Bunch. Experience doesn’t always mean anything, but against the dynasty that is the Pats, the Jags are going to fall short… well short. People say NE can’t run the ball, but they obviously haven’t watched the games… they choose not to run, but when they run, Maroney and Morris do just fine…

Sea vs. GB- This is the toughest game for me… I don’t trust Favre. He’s a hall of famer, but he’s also overrated, especially this year. I think everyone wants a storybook ending so they are ignoring his trends. He cracks in big games, always has. He had two major games this year… against Dallas he played horrible BEFORE he was injured, and again in Chicago when they could’ve taken control of the race for the #1 seed. But he’s still Brett Favre and Grant provides a nice ground game… and it’s going to be below freezing, which bodes well for GB… Seattle is a solid all around team. They don’t do anything great on offense, but they don’t do anything horrible. They have a nice defense that can pressure, but they are not amazing at anything… I could go either way, but I’m going to go out on a limb take Seattle. Holmgren and Hasselbeck have things to prove to GB, and I think they’ll do it this year…

NYG vs. Dal- No, Simpson won’t be there. TO will. If you remember the Superbowl three years ago, he wasn’t supposed to be ready for that game and he played outstanding. I think the same will be said this week. He may not be able to blow by people, but he’ll do just fine. Eli will play well, but Romo will play better. I think it will be close most of the game, but Eli will make a mistake towards the end and it will end up a double digit win for the ‘Boys.

I’m probably wrong on all of that though…

Hey Larry Hughes…

Just heard about this on the radio for all you Cleveland fans…

Hey Larry Hughes, Please Stop Taking So Many Bad Shots…

Very nicely done…

Mexican in Dallas?!?

You don’t say…

After a few days of talk and speculation, FC Dallas has signed Mexican national Duilio Davino to help shore up their backline in the coming year. While its always good to get a solid defender, I have to say I don’t know much about him other than the stuff I’ve read over the past few days. He has 80 CAPs for the Mexican National Team and has been a staple and captain of Club America in Mexico’s professional league… but he’s also 31. For a defender, though, that’s not that old considering speed and excessive running isn’t a necessity in the back. All in all, I’ll take it… but while our defense was inconsistent last season, we didn’t score as much as we should’ve either…

In other soccer news, it seems former Women’s National Team coach Greg Ryan made the right decision when he benched Hope Solo in the semi’s of the recent World Cup… he announced during an interview with Fox Football Fone In that Hope was not adhering to the rules of the team (missing curfews, skipping team dinners, etc) during portions of the World Cup. On a Men’s team, this would’ve been immediate suspension from the club… while it might’ve cost the team a chance at World Cup victory, she can’t be above the rules… In any case, she, along with her replacement and the rest of the squad is prepping for the China Olympics…

Kidd and the Catch-22 Mavs

If you haven’t heard, Jason Kidd has thrown down three straight triple-doubles and will go for a fourth tonight against the Sonics. The record (an amazing 7 straight by Jordan who was at the game last night) is still a ways off considering how difficult that is… But through 34 games Kidd is only 1.2 rebounds away from AVERAGING the feat for a year, something only done by the Big O (’61-62 season)… Oscar’s season and career statistically looks much more impressive especially considering Kidd is shooting a measly 36%… not that he’s ever been a great shooter.

But in Dallas, any talk of Kidd has to lead to trade rumor talks with the Mavs. They surfaced earlier in the year and its expected to pick back up in the coming weeks again, highlighting the idea that nearly all sports fans and pundits have an extremely short memory. It was just a few months ago that every Mav fan was calling for Coach Avery to adopt Pop’s way of regular season coaching… let off the gas and let them gel at the right time rather than riding them hard all year…

So the General lets off a little, players start slow probably a bit hungover from two straight post-season collapses, and everyone is calling for major changes again… Despite playing well lately and pulling within a game of Phoenix for the top spot in the west, there are still talks of trading for Kidd.

I do not think Dirk has it in him to lead this team to a championship… I thought he could, but his game has barely improved over the past couple of years. He takes less threes and is a better passer, but he still doesn’t have any kind of inside game or killer instinct against pesky defenses… He’s a great player and can be a vital part of a championship, but he showed us two years in a row that he can’t take the weight of a team on his own when necessary.

But i’m not willing to give up on the team as it stands. If we fail this year, yes, i’ll call for major changes… Throwing a 34 yr old Kidd in the mix means giving up at least part of your young core, and I don’t think it’s worth it.  Let’s cut the Mavs some slack and see how it goes this year before blowing the whole thing up…

Introducing…

The Who: Jeremy / Jaybrams

The What: AllTheBalls exists to allow “the who” an avenue of spouting mostly thoughtless sports points that may or may not have any merit to them depending on the day and subject. HSO’s (Hot Sports Opinions) will be common, but that doesn’t mean they’re worth anything… after all it’s just sports… and it just happens to consume more of my thoughts than it should

The Why: Aaron inspired me, Justin complained about sports posts on my original site, most of those readers don’t care about soccer… here, i should be able to mix in enough other sports to keep you general american sports fans interested and throw in some soccer action to get you converted…