Archive for the 'Football' Category
The first NFL training camps started in April, as teams welcomed back veterans and some new players as well. Many of the spring training camps are voluntary, but unless a player is protesting their contract, most show up. The spring training camps are an excellent way for the team’s new players, including rookies, to become acclimated with the playbook. The reason most rookies don’t see a lot of success in their first year in the NFL is because they’re not used to the playbook, and to contributing to an offense or defense at the NFL level. It’s surprising that many players who achieve huge success at a college level fail in the NFL. While some talent translates well from college football to the NFL level, it takes a lot of time and dedication for most players to achieve success. Even players that are first round draft picks have about the same chance of succeeding in the NFL as others.
It’s fun to watch the teams break out their football training equipment and test their skills, with the new season less than six months away, teams who are able to click in practice will have the most success in the new year.
There’s nothing like a rousing football season of highly competitive teams, and on face, 2009 appears to be just that. Last year there was fierce competition in the east, and the Patriots, who won 11 games, didn’t even make it into the playoffs. In addition, the number one ranked Titans were knocked off in the early rounds of the playoffs. With the return of Tom Brady to the Patriots, it will be even more competitive in the east. In addition, the west, which has been weak in recent years, now has several promising teams including the Arizona Cardinals, who made a trip to the Super Bowl last year, and the rejuvenated Seattle Seahawks lead by an uninjured Matt Hasselbeck and several new offensive weapons.
Expect sales of football team jerseys to spike in September as the United States prepares for another great year of football. With the draft fast approaching, even now is an exciting time to see who picks who and who looks best going into the 2009 season. But just like the Arizona Cardinals last year, we’re probably in for more than a few surprises.
There have been a lot of NFL football championships over the years that haven’t lived up to the hype of “Super Bowl”. But, whether you are a Cardinal fan or a Steeler fan, I think you will have to agree that this years game, at least the fourth quarter, was one of the most exciting in recent years.
It looked like the Cardinals wern’t going to be able to make a game out of it, partly because the Steeler defense had totally shut down Larry Fitzgerald. The one thing about a player like Fitzgerald, though, it’s difficult to contain him for an entire game, and the Steelers couldn’t. Fitzgerald had very little impact on the game until the fourth quarter, but what a fourth quarter he had.
Whether you’re a Fitzgerald fan, or not, you have to appreciate how great his first touchdown catch was. To make that catch was impressive, but to hold onto it was just as impressive, because the Steeler defender hand his hand right in there trying to knock the ball out. His second touchdown was impressive, not for the catch, but for the fact he was able to break into the open and then pull away from the defenders.
The Cardinals made a great comeback, but the catch by Holmes, which was also a great catch, kept them from having the perfect end to a great season. Condolences to the Cardinals and congratulation to the Steelers.
Although I have liked the Steelers for years, I grew up a Cardinal fan, which was when they were still in St. Louis, so I was rooting for the Cardinals.
Between two teams, only one of which sports enthusiasts predicted ‘could’ make it to the Super Bowl, the 2009 Super Bowl game between Arizona and Pittsburgh will no doubt be one to remember. The Arizona Cardinals are a team who have never been to the Super Bowl, but lead by Super Bowl veteran and MVP Kurt Warner, it’s no doubt possible they could make it happen. The Pittsburgh Steelers, under the leadership of Ben Roethlisberger, have already won a Super Bowl in recent years, and head into the 2009 Bowl a heavy favorite. However, in every playoff game thus far the Arizona Cardinals have gone in as underdogs and come out as clear victors. The team is on fire, and those who bet on them to lose initially would be wise to not count them out.
This week the teams are resting up, working out, preparing their football equipment and reviewing tapes about the opposing team. The 2009 Super Bowl will be one talked about for years to come
Is it time the NCAA abolished the instant replay system, or at least change it to make it work better? In the past 2 or 3 years I have seen the instant replay officials make so many horrible calls that it makes you wonder what instant replay they are watching. I thought instant replay was supposed to correct bad calls made by the officials on the field, but there has been many times when the bad calls have just moved from the field to the replay booth.
I think the instant replay officials are trying to get every call perfect, but I don’t think that was it’s intended purpose. I always thought the purpose of the instant replay was to eliminate those calls that were obviously wrong. In fact, I’ve heard it said many times that there has to be indisputable video evidence to overturn the call that was made on the field. That doesn’t seem to be what has been happening. In my opinion, the replay official should be able to tell if a call was obviously wrong after seeing each view of the instant replay one time. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be able to look at the replays more than once, but if they keep looking at the replays over and over to determine whether a player’s foot is touching the out of bounds line or not is ridiculous.
I’m not an Oklahoma fan, but the blown call on the onside kick in the 2006 Oregon game was about the worst I have ever seen. In the first place, the ball was touched by an Oregon player before it went ten yards, which is a penalty. Second, an Oklahoma player picked the ball up of the ground and was holding it when the officials declared it was Oregon’s ball. How can the officials determine that a team has recovered a fumble when no one on that team has the ball. That call cost Oklahoma the game. I’m sure it was no consolation to Oklahoma fans, but those officials received a one game suspension because of that call.
I am not opposed to using instant replay, but we need to rethink how it is being used. The instant replay officials need to quickly determine whether a call on the field was right or wrong. If the replay is not conclusive, they should say that and let the play stand as called.
I hope in the future we can see an instant replay system that truly reduces the number of missed calls on the field and in doing so will reduce the amount of controversy. In the end all I want is to see the team that deserves to win the game, actually win the game.
We’ll just have to wait and see but I am hopeful the NCAA will make the system better in the future.