Monday, April 18, 2005

Vikings and Eagles

Some people have been saying that the Vikings will use the #1 draft pick from the Moss trade to get a receiver. To me this doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would they give up Moss to bring in someone who won't be as good as Moss? In that case they should have just kept Moss.

I think the Vikings might use the #1 pick from the Raiders to reshape the team. They could take a defensive player with the plan to shift the focus from outscoring opponents to winning based on defense, ball control, clock control and field position. So instead of Dante throwing 35 times a game with 3-5 tds, and needing 30+ points to win, they might try cutting Dante back to 25 throws a game, with more emphasis on the running game and defense. So instead of Dante having to win every game, he can just manage the game, kind of the way McNabb does. If they need Dante to pull it out in the 4th or overtime a handful of times a year then he has shown he has the ability to do it.

For the Eagles, I can't understand why they did the onside kick in the Superbowl after they scored the TD. Once they failed to recover the onside, New England just punted them to coffin corners with no timeouts and no time to move the ball. Game over.

If they had did a regular kickoff, they could have made New England start inside their 25. Hold them to three and out and they would get the ball back around their 40 yard line with the 50 seconds left. Even with no timeouts, there would have been plenty of time to move it into range for a chance at a tying field goal.

Friday, April 08, 2005

A great era for sports

I was talking to a co-worker in the lunch room and we agreed that recent years have been a good era to be a sports fan. For me I'm especially fond of the period around 1980-1999 or so.

There was kind of something for everyone. Football is my game. For football there was Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Terrell Davis, Joe Montana in their primes. On defence was Lawrence Taylor and Reggie White in their primes.

My Jets had a few good teams, especially in the early 80s. Those are my favorite Jets teams with Richard Todd, Mark Gastineau, Joe Klecko, Wesley Walker, Freeman McNeil.

For hockey there was Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux in their primes. Plus the high drama of the Canada Cups in 1984 and 1987.

For baseball fans in Canada both the Jays and Expos had some good teams. The Blue Jays champions of 1992-1993 was a great time. I watched so many games back then.

For basketball it was Michael Jordan in his prime.

Godfather

I am now a Godfather. I am the Godfather to my sister's baby son.

That is interesting because I'm not actually Catholic. My sister's husband is Catholic and their baby is now Catholic. The Godmother is the baby's aunt on his dad's side.

Apparently the rules have changed and I can be a godparent. Yay for me.

I like the Catholics. If I switched away from protestant then I'd have to become Catholic. Then I could join the Knights of Columbus. They seem to have a lot of fun. My wife and children are Catholic.

The Catholics have it good. They can drink and gamble and seemingly have more fun. However it is generally not true that Catholics carry around cards and dice in their pockets all the time.

One of my favorite Catholic stories is around the KofC in a Halifax church. One time at one meeting for some reason the bar wasn't open. One member was so upset about this that he left that KofC chapter and joined the KofC in a different church.

When I hear the term Godfather, it makes me think about that classic movie by the same name. I wonder if many others think this too. My dad says The Godfather is his favorite movie of all time. It is a classic. My favorite movie is Apocalypse Now.