It’s Good!

September 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

After the Oakland-San Diego game tonight, week one of the NFL season will be in the books. There were some amazing rookie debuts including last year’s Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin III, who went 19-26 with 320 yards and 2 touchdowns and scrambled for 42 yards in the Redskins 40-32 victory over the Saints. RG3’s performance Sunday made him the only player to record 300+ passing yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in their NFL debut. Andrew Luck, the other rookie on everyone’s radar, didn’t seem to live up to expectations as he went 23 of 45 for 309 yards and just one touchdown with 3 interceptions in the Colts loss to the Bears.

Week one was full of record-setting performances and one heck of a way to start out the 2012 season. Denver’s new dynasty quarterback, Peyton Manning, joined the 400 club in his debut as a Bronco. Manning is still 107 touchdowns behind leader Brett Favre and 19 behind Dan Marino, but he became the fastest QB to reach 400, doing so in only 209 games (nearly 20 games faster than the two ahead of him).

If you’re involved in a fantasy football league this season and happened to pick up David Akers as your kicker you had a great Sunday. Akers put up 12 points for the Niners in their win over the Packers. More importantly Akers kicked a 63-yard field goal that filled Lambeau field with a gong-like ringing as the ball went through the up rights. With only 2 seconds left in the first half Akers and the field goal team make their way to the field for the attempt. After a clean snap and a monstrous kick the crowd silenced just enough to hear the deep vibrating sound as the ball slammed into the crossbar. In slow motion the ball bounced strait up and rotated just enough to fall through turning the gasp from the crowd into pure bliss from 49er and Packers fans alike. The expression on Akers face is enough to tell you that he was shocked, as if he just kicked the Super Bowl winner the entire San Francisco team rushes the field and hoists the golden footed kicker into the air.

Akers kicked his way into the record books tying the current NFL record originally set by Tom Dempsey of the New Orleans Saints back in 1970. Since then only two other kickers have achieved the 63 yarder making Akers a part of an elite group of four, and this week’s TicketCity Play of the Week.

Filed Under: NFL

Catch of the Year Already?

September 4, 2012 By 2 Comments

The time of school spirit, marching bands and college football is upon us. In my opinion college football is the most exciting sport season of all. Unlike the NFL these young men are driven to the field by their love and passion for the sport not money…we hope. Of course they are all playing to showcase their skills to potentially be playing for money one day, but during their college years it’s all about football.

The 2012 started out with some great games. I am a huge advocate of week one upsets and usually see quite a few of them. Though there were quite a few close calls, the only upset that comes to mind is my alma mater Texas State handing the Houston Cougars their first loss of the season with a 30 – 13 romp at Cougar Stadium. It’s a good start for a team who is taking on D1 caliber teams for the first time this season. This weekend the Bobcats will host my “pre-alma mater” the Texas Tech Red Raiders. This should prove to be a good game but in the end I don’t think the Bobcats will be able to contain the high scoring Tech offense.

One of my favorite games to watch every year is Auburn and Clemson, the tiger meeting. As always this game did not disappoint. The Tigers went back and forth for most of the game and on Auburn’s final drive the familiar words “Down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier” ended the game as Clemson D-end Vic Beasley gets the final sack of the game. Like many of week ones games there was no upset here but it was close.

There were a few plays worthy of the almighty TicketCity Play of the Week. The Michigan State leap and interception nearly secured their spots until Ohio State and Miami of Ohio took the field. At the top of the second quarter OSU’s #15 Devin Smith set the bar extremely high for the 2012 catch of the year. After a hand off fake QB Braxton Miller settles in to the pocket and lets one rip to the corner of the end zone. With only one hand on the ball for the entirety of the catch Smith comes down with one of the best catches I have ever seen. The only catch that even comes close to the play of the week is USC’s Mike Williams one handed snag against Oregon State.

Enjoy the TC Play of the Week, and possibly the 2012 catch of the year!

Filed Under: College Football

A Little League Powerhouse

August 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

As MLB gets into gear for the World Series there has been hundreds of little league sluggers  in the middle of their own World Series. Most of us usually tune into the Little League World Series (LLWS) around this time when it’s coming down to the final games. What we casual viewers don’t realize is that these 11 and 12 year old athletes have been going at it since mid-June. If you ever played little league baseball growing up you surely remember when the season ended and the All-Stars were selected, this is the beginning of a number of qualifying tournaments on the road to the LLWS.

It starts with District Tournaments. These are the tournament’s most of us past all-star players are familiar with, a weekend of local BBQ and some fun in the field. Little did we know we may be playing the next LLWS contender or better yet it could be us?  After the double-elimination District tournaments the teams head into Sectionals and State tournaments at the end of July. Out of all the teams in the US only 52 will make it past the State tournaments. Once the state champions have been decided the road to the LLWS begins to heat up as only eight teams will make it past the Regional Tournaments.

The LLWS is made up of 8 US regional teams (Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, New England, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, and the West) and 8 international region teams (Canada, Japan, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, Caribbean, European, Latin American, and the Middle East-Africa). Each year at Little League Baseball’s international headquarters in South Williamsport, PA., the 8 US teams compete for a championship slot against one of the international teams. This year’s LLWS brought the Southeast region Tennessee team to face off with the international squad from Japan that proved to be a truly remarkable group of players.

The Kitasuna Little League team from Tokyo was one of 750 teams in Japan that started down the LLWS road but the only team to make it to the end. Japan topped off a string of impressive performances with a huge win against the Tennessee team as they won by mercy rule in the 5th inning 12-2. Your TicketCity play comes in the form of a little league slugger that put on a performance most big league players can’t produce. Number 10 for the Japan squad, Noriatsu Osaka, went 4-4 with three home runs and a triple.

Just to put the LLWS in perspective, in the course of a 162-game major league season there will be a total of 2,430 games played. The entire LLWS tournament process will host over 37,000 games worldwide with a majority of the games taking place within a span of eight weeks. So kudos to Japan and all the little league teams for sticking it out and putting on some great baseball for the entire world to enjoy.

The TicketCity Play of the Week:

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Old Legend In A New Role

August 20, 2012 By 1 Comment

On February 10, 1992 the Atlanta Falcons may have made one of the worst quarterback decisions to date as they let go, who is now known as one of the greatest players of all-time, Brett Favre. For the next 19 years the young gun would build one of the greatest quarterback resumes in the league. With a NFL record list that goes on for days, one of the most impressive is his record for most consecutive starts.

The streak started back when Favre was traded to the Packers in ’92 and would take over the number one spot in ’99 to total 117 consecutive starts. But the rough and tough quarterback would not stop there. Favre would continue to start for another 11 years until becoming inactive on December 13, 2010 due to a joint injury to his right shoulder. Through these years Favre would rack up 297 regular season starts and 24 playoffs starts bringing his total to 321, almost 100 more than any other quarterback.

With retirement finally set in stone, the legendary QB has decided to shed some light on the future of our NFL athletes. Once the man calling the plays from under center, Favre is now calling the plays from the sideline as the offensive coordinator for Oak Grove HS of Hattiesburg, MS. One might think that going from the NFL to High School football might be less exhilarating, and that one might be wrong, as you will see in the TicketCity Play of the Week.

For a man who spent every day of his life playing, studying, and loving football with more passion than any player I have ever seen, it’s understandable why his decision to retire was more indecisive than a political campaign. I grew up watching Favre compete and soak up the sport during his glory days and can’t think of anything else I would rather see him do, until I saw him on the sideline coaching with the same enthusiasm he brought to the field as a quarterback.

Brett Favre’s coaching debut with the Warriors was Friday night against the Sumrall Bobcats. From the looks of the video Oak Groves new offensive coordinator might know what he is doing as the offense exploded for a season opener win 64 – 6. This Warrior win is also another streak builder in Favre’s repertoire of debut victories as he also won all of his first starts in the NFL with the Packers, Jets, and Vikings.

Enjoy this unique TicketCity Play of the Week and some insight into the world of Brett Favre, the coach.

Filed Under: NFL

A Team With A New Dream

August 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A few weeks before the London Olympics began, one of today’s greatest NBA players came forth and made a gutsy statement. It was Kobe Bryant and his statement went something like, “The 2012 Dream Team would beat the legendary 1992 Dream Team.” As confident as Kobe may have been in making that call, the only thing I can say about it is that I would love to see that game. Whether the 2012 USA team could beat the official Dream Team or not, one thing is for certain: there was no team in the London Olympics that could beat the highly-talented 2012 squad.

The USA Basketball team entered the London Olympics with a roster so impressive even the non-basketball enthusiast had to tune in for a game or two. With guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook, this “New Dream Team” featured some of the most explosive players the NBA has ever seen. Through their eight-game schedule one could see why Kobe’s statement may not have been as outlandish as everyone thought in the beginning. The group of NBA all-stars found their groove early taking out France and Tunisia by more than 25 points before a truly remarkable display against Nigeria, winning 156 – 73. Lithuania gave the US team its first close call as they squeaked out a 99 – 94 win.

The U.S. managed to get back on track against Argentina, then in the quarterfinals as we matched our b-ball favorites up against Australia, who the U.S. managed to dismantle by 33 points to move into the semifinals. Knocking out Argentina again 109 – 83, the U.S. was pitted again Spain, who also has some high-quality NBA talent. The gold medal game would be the second close call for USA in the London Olympics, but the star-studded managed to come out on top 107 – 100 to bring home some bragging rights and the 2012 gold medal.

Back to Kobe’s pre-Olympic statement, the 2012 team was no doubt the best team at the London Olympics, but were they better than that 1992 team that combined some of the greatest players of all time? Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and oh yeah, that one guy… Michael Jordan was his name? In a brief statistic comparison the answer is a no. I will be the first to say that just comparing statistics in any sport doesn’t mean much but in this comparison we will never know for sure, so stats is all we have and they don’t lie. Yes, both teams went undefeated and won the Gold but the 1992 team did it beating their opponents by an average of 44 points with the highest margin of defeat at 79. Not to take anything away from Lithuania, but the 2012 U.S. team barely managed a victory in that game. I think it’s safe to say we may never see another team like the great 1992 Dream Team, but we will let this 2012 group of young greats slide in and have the slot as the second greatest Dream Team…for now at least.

The TicketCity play of the week goes out to the 2012 USA Olympic basketball team and their feat to add another gold medal to the list. Congrats to them and enjoy this compilation of highlights from the London Olympics.

Filed Under: NBA, Uncategorized
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