Real Sports Talk with E-$

To everyone who is new to the Plymouth State community, welcome. My name is Eric Brill (known as E-Money to some of my fellow sophomore meteorology majors), and I am the new sports editor for The Clock. I am the dude that is always wearing a jersey so don't ever hesitate to come and attempt to debate me in any sports, because I will make you look foolish. Anyway, let me get going with different things that I have thought of over the summer, and about the NFL and college football seasons.

I am going to start off first with baseball. The Yankees and the Sox have stopped truly playing a few weeks ago. Both knew that they were going to the playoffs, and neither team seems to care if they get the wild card or if they get the division crown. For the Sox, they need to be more consistent, as it seems they either win 12-2 or lose 10-1 on a daily basis as of late. Regardless, this team has a ton of playoff experience, and they can not only play with any team when they want, but they can also beat any team when they want. On the other hand, the Yankees have an interesting decision to make when it comes to October. C.C. Sabathia is an ace for the staff, but beyond that there are a ton of question marks. A.J. Burnett is about as consistent as a college male's bathroom, Ivan Nova is extremely young, and one has to think that Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia can't hold up for a whole entire year. The way I see it, I see a classic Boston/New York ALCS, and that the Red Sox will go on to win that series in 6 games to face the Atlanta Braves in the World Series.

The resumption of the NFL season surprised me. I didn't expect there to be a season, and I am obviously happy that the owners and players came to an agreement almost two months ago. The money lost, and I am not talking about the individual teams, but the bars/restaurants/etc. That are within the individual cities would have lost over 180 million dollars for each home game lost. Anyway, the Green Bay Packers come back as the defending Super Bowl champions, but are definitely not favored by most "experts" to repeat. The Philadelphia Eagles (with the additions of cornerbacks Nnamdi Asomugha, Dominick Rodgers-Cromartie and numerous other players), New Orleans Saints (Mark Ingram as a 1st round draft pick), and Atlanta Falcons (Julio Jones will help an already explosive offense) have all been said to be favorites in the NFC over the Packers. The Packers showed eight days ago that they are still a team to beat by defeating the Saints 42-34. On the AFC side, the San Diego Chargers, New York Jets, New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers all have the potential to represent their respective conference in the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning being out for who knows how long has taken the Indianapolis Colts out of the Super Bowl picture, which is a shame because he and Tom Brady have had some great battles in the playoffs over the past decade. My Super Bowl prediction? Pats over the Eagles, 30-27.

The NBA is currently in a lockout, and has been so since the day after its draft. It doesn't appear that much movement has been made on either side, and there seems to be a real chance that an NBA season will not happen this winter. The NBA has many great players in the league right now, and has had its highest ratings in the past 15 or so years. Not having a season may make the NBA lose a lot of their fan base as the NHL did in 2005. Speaking of the NHL, the Bruins (much to the delight of New Englanders) won the Stanley Cup a few weeks after the spring semester ended. Besides the fact that the Stanley Cup was dropped, not much news has come about over the past few months. Sidney Crosby has been in the headlines the most, that being for when he will return this season. Crosby suffered a concussion during this past years' Winter Classic, and seems to have had more setbacks then he had originally thought he would. The NHL needs Crosby to return to the ice as soon as possible, but they want him to come back at 100% so he can continue to make the exciting plays that he is known for.

Now there is college football. Week 1 feature some decent games, but the one that stood out to be was the Baylor-TCU game. Baylor had been up big over TCU (47-23 at the beginning of the 4th quarter) but TCU would not give up, and actually had the lead with a little over four and a half minutes left to play. Despite the fact that Baylor ended up adding a field goal with a little over a minute left to play, it was awesome to see both teams giving it their all throughout the entire game. Players were cramping up left and right in the Texas heat, but back-up players kept stepping up and were making crucial plays. Robert Griffin III and Kendall Wright had phenomenal games, and look poised to be potential Heisman candidates (after Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck of course). Week 2 featured Michigan and Notre Dame scoring three touchdowns in the last 75 seconds of play. Michigan had been down 21-7 at one point, and Notre Dame seemed poised for an easy victory. Michigan stormed back on Denard Robinson's back, and ultimately stunned Notre Dame. Michigan has the potential to be a top 25 team within the next few weeks (the loss at Appalachian State a few years ago brought the program down to new lows, but Michigan seems to have recovered from that game), and might have an outside shot to win the Big Ten conference.

In other irrelevant (though I find interesting) sports news:

-If Eli Manning (who is the current consecutive starts leader for quarterbacks) wants to catch Brett Favre at 321 starts, Manning will have to wait until week 4... in 2024.

-This past NBA draft will probably go down as one of the worst ones ever.

-Serena Williams going on a rant is a good thing for women's tennis (in my opinion).

-Seeing Mark Herzlich make the New York Giants was one of the most inspiring things this summer. Herzlich had Ewing's Sarcoma (a rare type of cancer) during his junior year at Boston College.

-Randall Cobb became the first player born in the 90's to play in the NFL (Cobb was also the first player born in the 90's to score).

-Justin Verlander should win the AL MVP, and Ryan Braun should win the NL MVP.

-The Buffalo Bills will be a half way decent team this year

-Cam Newton's performance against the Arizona Cardinals was impressive, but the Cardinal's secondary would get shredded by Pom (a.k.a. 10 minute lady) from the dining hall.

-Kevin Harvick is my pick to win the NASCAR chase, but I think Brad Keselowski will win at Chicago.

- Best NFL game of the upcoming week? Bears vs. Saints.

Non-sports information of the week (summer).

-Watch the Throne was an O.K. c.d.

-Tenney Mountain should be the mountain that is picked for the Plymouth Mountain this year.

-Nice to see the Boston Cannons win the M.L.L. championship this year.

-The Pemigewasset River was quite a site to see when it was flooded back in August.

‘Till next week I'm outta here..........