It's Official: These Refs Gotta Go

I had the pleasure of attending the Rams home game against the Redskins yesterday. It was an exciting game, and it was so nice to see the Rams finally look good on both sides of the ball and get a win.

What was exciting but incredibly irritating and utterly frustrating was the officiating in this game. The replacement refs have been a big story this season but last week the officiating didn't seem to be as big of a problem as everyone thought.

And then there's this week. I have never seen such and awful, poorly run game in my life than the one I saw yesterday. The refs could not keep control of the game and calls were made that made no sense or you couldn't understand what the call was and there was just a plethora of bad calls against both teams.

For example, the Skins were 3rd and 18 and RGIII ran out of bounds short of the 1st. All of sudden there's a penalty called, they get 15 yards and a 1st down and this lead to their first offensive touchdown of the game. In the stands, we had no clue what the call was. Couldn't hear the ref make the call. Turns out they called a late hit even though the Rams defender hit RGIII before he went out of bounds. Was it close? Yes. But the regular NFL refs wouldn't make that call, in my opinion. It was clearly not intentional, the Rams player was just trying to stop him or push him out of bounds, which is his job. This may have started the ugliness that ensued the rest of the game between Rams players and Skins players because there was a lot of trash talking, almost fights, just overall...not good.

The bad calls are part of it, but another big problem? Timing. The Rams games yesterday took about 4 hours to play start to finish including halftime. That's a LONG game. And a big part of it is because it takes these refs MUCH longer to make a call or review a play. The Rams scored a 2 point conversion and the refs decided to review the play and it took about 15 minutes before they ruled it as good. That's just way too long. In general, whether it's these refs or the regular ones, there should be a limit on how much time you can review a play. Because in theory, you're not supposed to change the ruling on the field unless there's enough evidence to overturn it. If you can't find that in 5 minutes, the ruling on the field should stand. NFL games are slow enough with all of the penalties, time outs, injuries on the field, reviewing plays...there's enough disruption of the flow of the game. We don't need to make it any longer than it already is. 

Listen, I don't blame these refs. It's not their fault that they aren't professionally trained NFL refs. They're trying to do their best and have had to learn rules quickly and in some cases it feels like they're learning on the job. It's really unfair to them.

Who I do blame? The NFL. This has gone on long enough. We don't want to see games decided by bad calls from the replacement refs. The professionals don't always get the calls right but most of the time they do. Does every hold get called? No. But the blatantly obvious ones do. And you know that the players are trying to push the envelope and get away with more because they hope the replacement refs don't see it or call it. That's problematic too.

So it's time to end this. Come on NFL, let's get a deal done today and restore the integrity of the game.

 

McKayla Maroney is NOT impressed with these refs. 

NFL Week 1 Round-Up

Week 1 of the NFL is officially in the history books and as usual, the NFL did not disappoint in its ability to provide drama, surprises, rookies doing well and rookies doing…well, just down right terrible.

There’s a lot that could be covered about every team in the league here but I’ve decided to introduce a new feature of  this blog, and that is (*drumroll please*)…

Calisportsdiva’s Top 10 NFL Afterthoughts of the Week

10. The Rams almost beat the Lions in Detroit. I know no one else is talking about the Rams and if you thought I wouldn’t find a way to work the Rams into my top 10, you don’t know me very well. I had a lot of hopes and expectations for the Rams going into week 1. Sam Bradford looked a lot better in pre-season, Jeff Fisher is a veteran coach with a lot of experience, the Rams defense is much improved (and after this week – I know, it’s week 1 – I’d say their defense is pretty darn good in comparison to some other teams *cough* New Orleans *cough *Bengals* cough*).  But I think most Rams fans didn’t expect the Rams to be able to beat the Lions on the road, and they kept it close and made it a very close game. Does that mean the Rams are playoff caliber? Not saying that. But don’t expect the same old Rams this season. They proved in this game that they have the drive to fight for the win, and for this Rams fan, that’s a MAJOR improvement over last season.

9. Buffalo, oh no. We all waited in anticipation to see how the Jets Sanchez-Tebow circus would perform in week 1. The answer? A 48-28 absolute pounding by the NY Jets. Sanchez made the Buffalo defense look like a piece of swiss cheese there were so many holes. Didn’t help Buffalo that Fred Jackson went out early in the game due to injury (didn’t help my fantasy team either *sigh*) and Fitzpatrick threw as many interceptions as TD’s. I said in my NFL predictions that I expected Buffalo to be better (so far, not seeing it) and that the Jets can win a wild card spot. If the Jets keep up performances like this, wild card for sure. But let’s see how they perform against a top ranked defense, like Baltimore.

8. Speaking of Baltimore, I know I picked them to win their division (with really no contest) but wow, what complete annihilation of the Bengals . Not that I expected the Bengals to be stellar but I at least liked their offensive options. It looks like Dalton and co. have a bit to work on still. But you can’t discount that Baltimore defense. What is it about the Harbaugh brothers and their defenses? After week 1, I’m definitely interested in seeing a Niners-Ravens re-match.

7. I think most people expected Green Bay to win at home against San Francisco. We knew the Niners defense was tough. But we also knew, or at least thought, that Aaron Rodgers could out battle Alex Smith. How about this for a stat? I’m in 3 fantasy football leagues. Depending on how the points are laid out in the league, Alex Smith had more fantasy points than ALL of my starting QB’s. Who are, as follows: Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford. Yep. That’s insane. But that’s the NFL for you. Have to give it to the Niners though – they were absolutely stellar. I had a glimmer of hope that the Rams might be able to beat them at home but now…yikes. Not so sure about that. Watch out for the Niners this season. They can still taste that NFC Championship loss against the Giants, and if they play their cards right, they may be right back at that championship come this January.

6. Not so lucky. Andrew Luck, that is. He wasn’t lucky from the start, having his debut NFL performance against the Bears. If I could pick 5 defenses I wouldn’t want to face my first NFL appearance they would be (historically speaking): Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago, San Francisco, and Oakland. I don’t think anyone expected the Colts to win this game – they are rebuilding with a rookie QB and Chicago’s looking pretty solid as long as Cutler can stay healthy. We’ll have to see how Luck does going forward. Fortunately for him, the AFC South is not exactly a super tough division right now. The Colts can realistically beat Tennessee and Jacksonville, and they get to play them twice.

5. Matt Ryan is a baller. I picked Atlanta to win their division and if anyone had any doubts about that, see the Falcons-Chiefs game. Okay, sure, it’s Kansas City, who has been in recent years, a .500 team at best. However, you got to give props to Ryan for his 3 passing TD’s plus rushing for a TD. Matt Ryan and Julio Jones fantasy team owners rejoice, Michael Turner fans cry. Matt Cassel didn’t have a terrible day (he was one of the few QB’s who didn’t throw an interception) but against an explosive offensive team like Atlanta, they needed to be better. The Falcons are a good team. NFC, take note.

4. Battle of the QB’s vs the rookie. Skelton or Kolb? Who is Russell Wilson? Yes, I’m talking about the Arizona Cardinals and the Seattle Seahawks. This year, it seems to be the year of the rookie QB’s. So how did Russell Wilson do…eh, well…you know…not all that bad. He did okay. But not good enough to win the game, even after Skelton left due to injury and Kolb took over to close out the win. As if there wasn’t enough drama in Arizona over their QB situation. Arizona hasn’t had a solid answer at QB since Kurt Warner retired. So we’ll see is it’s Kolb or Skelton next week. Either way, not super impressed by either Seattle or Arizona this week. Feels good as a Rams fan, because it gives me hope that the Rams can actually beat these teams. We’ll see.

3. How ‘bout them Cowboys? Maybe the Cowboys read my NFL predictions blog. Because I was mighty down on them. I couldn’t help it. In the past few years it seemed like they had made all of the right moves for this elite team and just…fell flat. Maybe everyone being down on them it what they needed to get their act together. The Giants certainly weren’t expecting it. Oh, and who the hell is Ogletree? Probably the most requested WR off the waivers on fantasy this week. Whether he’s Romo’s new fav or just a fluke is yet to be seen but the overall point is this: the Cowboys are ready to fight. Eli “you can’t spell elite without eli” Manning better take note. The Giants are going to have to fight hard against the Cowboys for this division win.

2. RGIII. Of all of the rookie QB’s, RGIII certainly enjoyed the best week 1 performance. RGIII threw for 320 passing yards and 2 TD’s.  Impressive? Yes. Against a New Orleans defense that is subpar due to the sanctions played against them due to bounty gate, no Sean Payton and not a whole lot of changes to the defense in the off season? It’s a good performance. Before you Redskins fans get crazy excited, just remember that Cam Newton threw for 400+ in his rookie debut, and he hasn’t taken Carolina to the playoffs yet. Don’t get cute. We’ll see how RGIII does against the Rams D next week. I may be at the game – cheering loudly for my Rams.

1. Peyton’s Back. Come on, how can Peyton’s comeback on SNF not be #1? It wasn’t the best performance ever by Peyton but the overall dynamic was clear: Peyton is back and ready to roll. As soon as John Fox gave Peyton the go ahead to run a no huddle offense? You saw classic Peyton. How many different receivers/tight ends did he throw to? Peyton wasn’t at 300+ yards and 3 TD’s, but he did what Denver needed to do to get this win. And the Steelers? I said this in my NFL predictions: their defense isn’t as scary as it used to be. Peyton is familiar with the Steeler D and there were times where it just looked like Peyton was having fun with Polamalu – teasing him. For a fan of Peyton, it was nice to see him back in his element. I wish it was in a Colts uniform but I wish him success. I’m not going to jump on the Broncos bandwagon but I will support Peyton.

So that wraps up the big stories of week 1 of the NFL. Hope to bring some live game perspective of the Rams next week. Until then, go baseball Cardinals! 

NFL Predictions

The NFL season kicks off on Wednesday and I couldn't be more excited. It's no secret that football is my favorite sport, though baseball is a close second. The thing about baseball is it's such a long season. Whereas football is short and every week, every game is vitally important (except for maybe those week 17 games for teams that have already made the playoffs). I'm not saying that each baseball game doesn't mean something - of course they always want to win and wins are important. But, other than falling incredibly behind in the beginning of the season, losses in April don't mean the same as losses in August or September. In the NFL, each loss hurts.

Speaking of baseball though, we're in September so it's down to the final month of games until playoff time. At this moment, other than a couple of teams the playoff picture is still hard to predict. It looks like the Nationals and the Reds will win their divisions but you never know - just ask the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals. Am just hoping the Cardinals can hang on to a wild card spot. Right now it looks very possible, but we'll see how it goes.

So, the NFL season starts this week and I wanted to get my predictions for this 2012 season so here we go!

AFC East

DIVISION WINNER: New England Patriots

WHY: Have you seen the Patriots schedule? Buffalo is a better team this year I think, but the Patriots have pretty much the same weapons as last season and have one of the easiest schedules in the league. The Jets Sanchez-Tebow soap opera is going to be interesting to watch but so difficult to see how this team will perform. I give them a shot at a wild card spot but don't think they can overcome the Pats. Oh and Miami is...well, Miami.

AFC North

DIVISION WINNER: Baltimore Ravens

WHY: I'm not big on Cleveland, other than seeing how Trent Richardson performs. The Bengals have a decent QB in Andy Dalton and he has A.J. Green but I'm just not sure Cincinnati is where it needs to be to be a playoff caliber team. The Steelers defense is not nearly as scary as it used to be and they haven't done much to make their offense better. Baltimore was a great team last season and they have pretty much the same key players as last season. I think the Bengals and Steelers could contend for a wild card, but I think Baltimore takes the division.

AFC SOUTH

DIVISION WINNER: Houston Texans

WHY: Jaguars are terrible, Tennessee isn't much better and the Colts are rebuilding. The Texans have a top 5 ranked defense and as long as their offense stays healthy, I think this is really no contest. 

AFC WEST

DIVISION WINNER: Denver Broncos

WHY: Honestly, the AFC West could really go any way. I think this division is full of 8-8, 9-7 caliber teams at the moment. However, if there is a team that looks like they have the best shot at winning the division, it's Denver. They have a decent defense and they have Peyton Manning. I don't think that Denver is going to take the division by a landslide, they'll win with a record of 9-7 or 10-6. But I like their chances.

NFC EAST

DIVISION WINNER: New York Giants

WHY: Redskins will be better, but they are rebuilding with RGIII and I just don't think they'll be playoff ready this season. The Cowboys have been overrated for years and based on what I saw last year, I have a hard time seeing them as a playoff team. The offense struggled to stay healthy last season - if they can stay healthy then they may give the Giants a run for their money. As for Philly...I want to like the Eagles, but they make it difficult to do so. They have the pieces to be a playoff team, but injuries seem to plague them too. The Giants have the same weapons as last season and I think they have the best shot at winning the division. The Eagles and Cowboys could have a shot at the wild card.

NFC NORTH

DIVISION WINNER: Green Bay Packers

WHY: The team is intact from last season and they were pretty damn good last season. I expect them to have a similar season this year as long as everyone stays healthy. The Vikings have a long way to go to get back to playoff caliber. I think the Bears and the Lions will both be good teams this season, but just don't think they are good enough to top Green Bay. Both have decent shots at a wild card spot. 

NFC SOUTH

DIVISION WINNER: Atlanta Falcons

WHY: New Orleans is going to struggle with the sanctions that have been placed on them due to bounty gate, and no Sean Payton to lead them is going to hurt. I still think they are a good team, but I think it's definitely going to be a rough season for them. Tampa Bay's got a lots of holes and Carolina I'm just not sure about them. The Falcons have a solid team and Matt Ryan's got a great weapon with Julio Jones. The Saints and the Panthers might have a shot at a wild card spot, but I don't think they can overcome the Falcons for the division.

NFC WEST

DIVISION WINNER: San Francisco 49'ers

WHY: It absolutely pains me to pick the Niners but you can't argue with the facts, and that is, they are a good team. Top ranked defense and their offense does enough to get it done. The Cardinals can't even figure out their QB right now so I'm not high on them. Seattle has a top ranked defense and I think will be a scary team once all of the offense holes are filled but can Russell Wilson really lead them to offensive greatness this season? And if Russell struggles, can Flynn do it? Lots of questions still. The Rams are going to be a much better team this season than last year. I like how Sam Bradford has been throwing the ball and I like the changes Jeff Fisher has made. But not sure if they can be better than 9-7. I can hope, but if I'm realistic I know that the Rams will be better, but may not be a playoff contender.

WILD CARDS: If I had to pick right now, I'd say the wild card spots will be the Steelers and Jets in the AFC, and the Saints and the Eagles in the NFC. But I think there are going to be a lot of close races for the wild card spots so it's really wide open.

So there you are, my 2012 NFL predictions. We'll see in January how right I was!

Only 2 more days to kickoff!

Calisportsdiva's Fantasy Football Manifesto

2 posts in one week? It's like Christmas has come early, right?

It's that time of year where I have to start planning for my fantasy football drafts. Yes, drafts. This year, for the first time in many years, I am not the commissioner of a league. However, I am participating in 3 fantasy football leagues this year - all using different platforms (ESPN, Yahoo and NFL.com). I guess it'll be a good way for me to judge which fantasy football application is the best.

I've been participating in fantasy football for about 6 years now. I'm no Matthew Berry, but as I sat down and actually starting thinking about my fantasy football drafts, I thought about some basic rules, per say, that are important to executing a good draft. I won't go into too much detail here as I don't want my competition to know who I'm drafting, but these are good general rules nonetheless.

First off, take a look at the fantasy football rankings that are provided by all of the top sports pundit sites: ESPN, NFL.com, Yahoo Sports, etc. Matthew Berry is a good source to start with. He updates his rankings weekly, and not saying he knows everything but he has been a fantasy football expert for ESPN for quite some time now, so it's not a bad place to start.

Other General Rules:

1. Study the settings of your league. It's important to know the details of what generates points for your league. In most generic leagues, QB's get 4 points for a TD pass while RB/WR get 6 points for each rushing TD or passing TD. This is important to know because overall, the most points gets you the win. If your league has the same amount of TD points for your QB and RB/WR? Drafting a good QB is crucial. If not, then you might want to look at top RB's if the top 2-3 QB's are already drafted.

2. Do not draft all of your players from your favorite team. Look, there's a place where you can proclaim your team loyalty in fantasy football. It's called your team name. Beyond that, if you really want to be competitive and win? Don't draft players from all one team. Because you see, there is this thing called a bye week. So if most of your players are from one team? During that bye week it's a guaranteed loss. And no one wants a guaranteed loss.

3. Bye Weeks. They happen, so when you are drafting make sure when you're drafting your back-ups that you pay attention to bye weeks. Nothing worse than drafting 2 decent QB's then realizing that they have their bye on the SAME WEEK. Most drafting platforms give you all of the information about the player: schedule, predicted stats, etc. So check that info out before you draft your back-ups.

4. Check for player cuts/injuries. Sorry to break it to you, but if you haven't heard, Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson is out of a job. The Dolphins released him, so he may still show up in your drafts as available (because the player rankings and availability was set prior to pre-season) but actually, he's not. Also important is injuries, Michael Vick was injured in the pre-season game last week. If you want him as your QB, check his status to see where he is before you draft him. Last thing you want to do is draft someone in the 1st or 2nd rounds who is hit or miss on the health side and may end up not playing for 3+ games.

5. Kickers are a dime a dozen. In fantasy football, you have to draft a kicker. You need to play a kicker. But very rarely (I say rarely because I've seen it happen once) does your kicker win the game for you. Kickers should be drafted in low rounds, towards the end of your draft. Ideally, you want to pick a kicker who's on a team that either a) scores a lot of field goals or b) score's a lot of TD's. But that's often unpredictable so...just draft a kicker. Just make sure he's the starting kicker.

6. Waivers. Watch the waivers and pay attention to players who break out, especially early on in the season. You never know what will happen in the NFL. But do this with caution. You don't want to drop a key player on a fluke one time performance. However, if your star running back is injured and his back up is called up? Might be good to try and claim that back up. And occasionally there are those players that you didn't expect to be Peyton Manning's go-to guy or Tom Brady's go-to guy but it happens. Pay attention to what's going on in the league week-to-week to manage your waiver options.

7. Don't congratulate yourself on your team name. Your team name can be funny, whatever. But unless your league has a prize for best team name? Don't go crazy.

8. Defense. You have to draft a defense, and there are only so many that are considered elite (ex. Steelers, Baltimore, 49'ers) so how do you draft here? Well, if you can afford to (meaning, you feel you have drafted well in all of the key categories so far in QB, RB, WR and TE) try and draft the high ranked defenses if you have the opportunity. Otherwise, draft a decent defense and look at your match-ups each week. If you don't have an acquisition/drop limit, you can choose a defense based on match-up. What does that mean? It means that there may be some defenses that are undrafted that will play games against bad teams. Not a guarantee and not something that should be done every week but worth a look. Just sayin.'

If you follow these basic rules, you just might find yourself in the position to win your league championship and ultimately:

Who doesn't want to win cash, right? It's why my team name in my leagues has become "Cashin Out." Because I will cash out at the end of the season.

But, overall Fantasy Football is fun. I love being able to talk smack to my friends or co-workers (I'm looking at you Jets West) when my team wins. And I also love the fact that it forces me to follow so many different teams and games so I appreciate talent more.

So there's my fantasy football manifesto for 2012. Stay tuned for more amazing sport musings from calisportsdiva.

Olympic Fever Over, Football Fever Beginning

I had a post Olympic Ceremony post ready to go but I got so pissed off about NBC cutting off the closing ceremony to show some silly sitcom that will probably be cancelled after one season and I had to miss The Who's big closing event. Epic Fail, NBC.

To sum up, the USA ended up winning the most medals and most gold medals, followed by China. The USA men's basketball team beat Spain to win team gold - but the bigger story that week seemed to be Dwight Howard being traded to the Lakers.



Welcome to the Lake Show, Dwight. Don't worry, the bar isn't set THAT high.

Anyway, the Olympics were great overall but NBC totally missed on not showing the closing ceremony in full, and forcing some lame ass sitcom down our throats in order to watch the complete ending of the ceremonies. I realize that may be harsh, but come on! If you're going to cover the Olympics and forgo all your local programming for it - DO IT.

Lesson learned NBC. Think about that before the Winter Olympics begin in 2014.

Random sidenote: Eric Idle in the closing ceremony was awesome. Why wasn't Monty Python integrated into the London Olympics sooner? And the Spice Girls Reunion? LOL. It was...okay.

So...football! Yes, preseason football is here as well as all of the speculation about players, coaches, teams and the like.

Preseason to me doesn't really mean that much. Peyton Manning threw 2 interceptions last week and that was ALL the national media could talk about. It's game 2 of the preseason. And he's with a brand new team. Speculate how you will but the regular season changes everything.

Andrew Luck had a great opening preseason performance against the Rams, but wasn't quite as stellar against the Steelers (but still decent, nonetheless).

The Rams looked pretty dreadful in the game against Indy, however, I was able to attend the highly coveted Governor's Cup Game (you can roll your eyes here) against Kansas City this past weekend and I have to say, was quite impressed with my St. Louis Rams. Bradford looked sharp, SJax was a beast, and the defense looked pretty good. Plus, we won the Governor's Cup. Hell yeah!

But, it's preseason. Blaine Gabbert has looked amazing lately but can that translate into the regular season? Highly debatable.

I had someone ask me recently what do I do when the Colts and Rams play, being I have been a fan of both teams.

I'm going to be brutally honest here.

My home team, is, and has been since they arrived in St. Louis, the St. Louis Rams. I cheered them on when Chris Miller "the concussion king" was QB. When Tony Banks was leading the helm and they were just...awful.

In the fall of 1999, I shared this joke with a friend of mine in the newsroom at DePauw University:

A man from St. Louis dies and goes to hell.
The devil turns the heat up to 85 and the St. Louis man says, "no big deal. This is StL June heat."
Annoyed, the devil turns the heat up to 95 and the St. Louis man takes his shirt off and says, "no biggie, this is a typical July St. Louis heat."
Still annoyed, the devil turns the heat up to 105 and the St. Louis man says "wow, this is hot but it's no different than August in StL."
The devil, completely enraged, changes the temperature to tundra setting and everything freezes.
The St. Louis man starts jumping up and down and screaming.
"The Rams have won the Superbowl! The Rams have won the Superbowl!"

Oddly enough, the Rams DID win the Superbowl that year. And that's the love of sports.

But point being, those who are true fans stick by their teams no matter what. I admire Cubs fans for their loyalty, for instance. They haven't won a pennant since 1945. World Series since 1908. Yet the Chicago Cubs franchise is one of the most well known and consistently has fans despite the previous statement. That's a love of  baseball but also a strong love of a team.

So back to football.

I've also become a Colts fan in recent years. This was mostly due to Peyton Manning. I admired him as a college QB, and admired him as a Pro QB. I went to college in Indiana and lived in Indianapolis for about 3 years after graduation. It was hard to not follow him and acknowledge his greatness.

And it's no secret that the Rams went on a decline from about 2003 onward. Still followed both teams, but it was easy to focus on the team that was winning more, and that was Peyton Manning and the Colts.

And I did. And I still have a lot to love about the Colts franchise. But, I have admitted to myself that I am more of a Peyton Manning fan than I am a Colts fan. The Rams are my team - they are the team I have spent the most time cheering for, and when I look deep down? It's the Rams that hold my highest team loyalty.

I wish Peyton well in Denver. But I'm not going to become a Broncos fan because of him. I will still cheer for him, but not in the same way. I also still appreciate the Colts franchise and what they have brought to football. There are players from the Colts that I love will never forget: Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeney, Pierre Garcon, Bob Sanders, Dallas Clark, etc.

But, I am making a statement here for all of you: my team is the St. Louis Rams. And while I will still follow the Colts and hope the best for them, my #1 team will be the Rams.

And the Rams will do well this season, I think. Does that mean Superbowl contender? No, probably not this year. But with Jeff Fisher at the helm and the talent they have...they can turn things around quickly. I'm looking forward to a great 2012 season.

More insights and info later, including my Fantasy Football tips/guide soon!

Olympic Medal Mania

I have been so engrossed with following as much of the Olympics as possible that I've forgotten to post any updates. So much has happened since my last post. Gymnastics events are over, track and field are in full swing, and Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings won their 3rd goal medal in beach volleyball. Their total Olympic record? 41-1. They only lost 1 set in their 3 Olympic appearances. Wow. That is incredibly impressive. Congrats to them and yay USA!



To back track a bit to Gymnastics, Danell Leyva of the US won the men's all around bronze, the only medal the US men's team won during the London Olympics.

Gabby Douglas, "the flying squirrel" (does that mean I can call her Rocky? And if so, then who is Bullwinkle?) took home the women's all around gold medal  in a very impressive performance. Aly Raisman had a chance at taking the bronze but she tied with Aliya Mustinfina from Russia, and in the event of a tie, the lowest score is removed from both gymnasts and the average of the remaining decides the winner. Mustafina just barely edged out Raisman.

But Raisman would not go home with just the team gold. In the appartus competition, Raisman took the gold medal in the floor exercise and the bronze on the balance beam. Making her the most decorated female gymnast at this Olympics with 3 medals: team gold, floor exercise gold, and balance beam bronze.

Gabby Douglas won the all around gold but seemed to struggle in the aftermath, failing to medal on beam and the uneven bars. Perhaps she was spending too much time partying in the Olympic Village with Ryan Lotche (more on his partying "habits" later).

McKayla Maroney still has perhaps the best US gymnastics moment of this whole Olympics, but unfortunately that moment was during the team competition and did not repeat during The Vault competition. Maroney almost nailed her first vault, but ended up falling on her second vault, opening the doorway for Romanian gymnast, Izbasa, to aim for the gold. And she did exactly what she needed to do to steal the gold from Maroney, leaving her with the silver.  And boy, Maroney was NOT happy about it. Check out this photo:



This looks familiar...where have I seen this before. Oh! Right...

Yes, that's me. Sporting the infamous Sorensen smirk. Not quite as pronounced as McKayla's but the confusion is there.

Look McKayla, we get it. You're the world champion vaulter. You were expected to win. You are considered one of the best, if not the best, women's gymnastics vaulters of all time.

But...you weren't on this day. You still received the silver medal even after falling on your ass after your second vault. Do you know how many gymnasts dream of making it to the Olympics and never do? You get to walk home with a team gold and a silver medal on the vault. That's way more than most can say. Besides, nobody likes a sore loser. And Izbasa didn't fall on her ass.

There's a lot of other Olympic stories, of course. Did you hear the story that quoted Ryan Lotche's mom saying that her son only has time for "one night stands?" Um, wow. After stories about sex in the Olympic Village broke, this story certainly caused a stir. However, his mom apparently spoke out of turn. She didn't mean her son had a lot of sex, just a lot of dates.

Sure. That's what he wants you to believe mom.

We don't have much more left in this 2012 London Olympics. Track and field is well under way, and basketball's new "dream team" has not battled in a final game yet. The Olympic Games are winding down and will soon be in the history books. But there's still a lot to write in these last few days.

Okay, I'll admit something. I'm not as engaged with the Olympics as I was at first because...NFL is back yo! Yes, that is right. First pre-season game was last Sunday and to say I cannot wait until opening weekend in September would be an understatement. I'm so excited about NFL football.

Since I am not going to be the commish of any fantasy leagues this year, just participate (and dominate of course) I hope to spend more time each week on this blog with my weekly NFL thoughts. I can't claim that they will be more entertaining than Jimmy, Howie, Strahan and co. but I will attempt.

As for MLB...ugh, what can I say? For this Cardinals fan, it's going to be a rough final 2 months and the season winds down. Still can't believe the Reds are in 1st. A lot of work to do but in the end, I do think the Cards will at least snag a wild card spot and have a shot. And for this fan, that's all I'm asking for. A shot. Because if last year proved anything, it's that you just never know what will happen. We could still have a "12 in 12" season.

Final Olympic thoughts, plus NFL and MLB reactions/predictions to follow.

Oh! And I've heard from some of my friends, family, colleagues, etc that you enjoy my blog. I am glad to hear it - if you enjoy, please post a response! Would love to hear your thoughts and it helps motivate me to write more. ;-)

Rob the Jewelry Store and Told 'Em Make Me a Grill...

The 2012 Summer Olympics are well under way, and as always, has been full of drama, disappointments, and amazing feats of athleticism.

Did everyone notice the grill US swimmer Ryan Lotche was sporting after he won the gold medal (beating out Michael Phelps)?

If you didn't, you gotta check this out:



I had to do a double take at first. From my television screen, at a distance, I thought at first he had braces. Of course, upon further inspection I realized that he must have "robbed the jewelry store and told them make me a grill." I bet even Nelly would approve of this bling bling.


Hmmm...Nelly? Or Lotche?

After all, this grill was designed by none other than rapper Paul Wall and Johnny Dang, a "Houston jeweler to the hip hop stars who goes by the handle of TV Johnny." The cost? About $25 G's (or $25,000 to you non hip hop lingo folks).

Mixed reviews on whether people liked the grill or not. Lotche was not allowed to sport the patriotic piece on the stand, or else he wouldn't have received his gold medal. I guess an Olympic gold medal takes precedence over a $25G pimped out grill.

In other swimming news, Michael Phelps is now officially the most decorated Olympian of all time with 19 medals (as of yesterday, that is. I haven't caught up with all of today's events. Remember, I'm trying to not be spoiled). Congratulations to him, that is quite impressive. However, I would like to point out that I don't think that makes him the best Olympic competitor ever. In swimming, athletes have multiple opportunities to win medals, should they qualify. There is not just the individual races, which have multiple opportunities within each stroke category, but the IM's as well. Most Olympic sports don't give you that opportunity. Even in gymnastics, the most you can win is 6 for the women, 8 for the men and that's if you win a team medal, an all around medal and a medal on each apparatus. Not a very easy thing to do. But is it possible for a swimmer to win in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 400 free, 200 IM, 400 IM, etc.? Not easy per say, but easier in the fact there is more opportunity and if your specialty is freestyle, you have a lot more opportunities than if your specialty is say, the vault in gymnastics.

That said, I'm not diminishing what Michael Phelps has accomplished. It is still a big deal. I just don't want to hear he's the best ever just on the amount of medals. There are other factors to consider. Most decorated? Absolutely. Best Olympic athlete ever? Totally debatable.

In gymnastics, both the men's and the women's teams had high expectations, though the women more so than the men. However, after the qualifying round the US men impressed and finished first as a team, so there were high expectations for a team medal.

Unfortunately, it was not in the cards for the US men. The team finals brought mistake after mistake, and the men's team was unable to overcome those mistakes, finishing 5th overall.

The women's team, on the other hand, did not disappoint. The "Fierce Five," as they are calling them, delivered stellar after stellar performance, including an utterly amazing vault by McKayla Maroney and a solid floor exercise by Jordyn Wieber. The Russians and the Romanians had multiple mistakes, where the US women did not. In the end, Team USA beat out Russia for the gold by 5 points - it wasn't even close.



The 2012 Women's Gymnastics Team becomes the second in US history to win the team gold. The first, of course, would be "The Magnificent Seven," who won in Atlanta and included that epic vault from Kerri Strug. Congrats to the women's team, it is well deserved. Looking forward to how the women perform in the all around and the individual apparatus competitions.

The final Olympic sport I seem to have caught a lot of, is synchronized diving. Not to be confused with my favorite sport, synchronized swimming, of course.

This sport is fun to watch, but I always wonder how exactly the judges are able to tell just how synchronized the two are. The scores seem to pop up quick and I'm thinking, "how in the world did they know that he was off by 1/8th of a somersault?"

And of course you watch some amazing diving routines and the announcers will say "ohhhh, and that just wasn't good enough." I'm sitting here baffled going, "um...did you see what they just did?" Same goes for gymnastics though I find the errors in synchro diving much less noticeable than those in gymnastics. We know if you fall or don't stick the landing points are docked. In diving, if you splash too much they take off points. Intense.

Much more drama to ensue as the Summer Olympics continues...