Monday Mornin' Daily "Linkin' Logs" (8/25/08)

With the tape delayed Olympics now in the books, the sports world is most likely hungover and awaiting October Baseball and...Yes! Football is now just about in full swing, as Labor Day Approaches.

What to expect, will be this. As I will have limited internet access over the next week or two, expect the Links to be more sporadic than usual. I will try to have some other BNBers cover, but it may be limited. We'll do out best to be ready for football season. That being said, be prepared for some top level (well, blogger top level...ok, not shitty) NFL coverage...and for that matter, more random things like interviews with gladiators.

On to the links!

• Dude, James Loney doesn't suck that much (and doesn't make that much either)...but Andruw "The U is for Useless" Jones may be displacing Loney at first base so Ned Colletti doesn't feel as dumb about signing him.
• Speaking of Red Sox supposedly breaking the mold only to return to form, J.D. Drew is injured...
• With Osu Umenyiora out for the season with a knee (two actually), Michael Strahan has been mentioned as a possible replacement given, well, you know, that fact that he just retired from the champs. Turns out Strahan just wants twice what he made last season
• The Champs are here
• In an attempt to make up for the Olympic battle that never was, Deadspin provides a US Open Preview (yeah, tennis)
• Via Deadspin (again), Yahoo UK gives us the scoop on the Olympic Boxing Scandal
• Seriously, who runs the Knicks PR department?
  
• While this isn't odd per se, It is entertaining to see premiere NFL Franchises struggling to reach the Salary Floor...yes, "Floor"
• The Steroids Hall of Fame's newest member: Marion Jones
• And Finally, Epic Carnival is calling it: Matt Leinart = Bust
  

Hungover Daily "Linkin' Logs" (8/24/08)

As (semi-) promised earlier this week, here's an attempt at some "Linkin' Logs" for the weekend. Shorter than usual, mostly because my head kind of hurts.

Just a few for fun:

• The USA Basketball team, in probably one of their more entertaining games in years captured Gold earlier in the AM.
• Does Matt Leinart really suck this much?
• Via Deadspin, Sportscount's guide to NBA Tattoos (pt 1!)
• For your fantasy team, our own Josh provides top Fantasy Wideout sleepers at sportscrack.net
  
• Hey look, this guy knows how to use google!
• Via WithLeather, Sex and the Olympics! (Here's Boner Jams O-Three, its a collection of some of the scenes I was really into in the summer of o-three)
• And Finally, via Epic Carnival...And you said Pro Wrestling sucks...well, proof positive, but you'd be stupid not to click this link...

Pack Em In (heh) Daily "Linkin' Logs" (8/22/08)

Yesterday and today, America will either be the empire striking back or watching young skywalker use the force against us.

Actually, that might be the worst Star Wars analogy ever, but that's besides the point. Yesterday, the US Women's soccer team exerted their world dominance in a match that didn't favor them from the start. But the ladies brought home the "goald" in such entertaining fashion (for soccer at least) that little American girls will at least want to be Brandy Chastain one more time, though for our sake, I hope they wait till their 18. Good for soccer, good for the US and good for the world.

On the other hand, the ladies who use their gloves couldn't seal the deal against Japan and captured Silver in an event the US has always dominated, though Elizabeth Merrill of ESPN suggests the loss wasn't such a bad thing, and she might be right. We won't know till 2020, when the games could end up in Boston, but I have to believe that Softball is out for at least a longer period.

But today is really a day for redemption. The Redeem team will face Manu Ginobili (Whom Robert Horry once declared the best European player, thus sealing Horry's bid for the US Special Olympics Basketball squad) and the Argentinian team (arguably the best team outside the US), which stunned the US in the previous games en route to gold and again in the World Championships a year later. Now the Redeem Team is on a mission to reclaim to take back what is there's. Tip off for the game is...well...right about now (10:15AM EST).

• PFT is suggesting that the Chad Ocho Cinco name change, might not be entirely bullshit...but Sprint ain't fuckin' around
• Everyday Tiki Barber has just a little more egg on his face
• Pavano!
• This is simply fascinating. Apparently, the A's are going with an all lefty rotation. Its pretty much luck of the draw, but it will certainly make the Mariners regret releasing Richie Sexson
• So is it Somo or Rimpson or what? Anyways, awesome Jessica Simpson/Tony (Bobble Boy) Romo quotes
• Ed Stefanski (76ers GM) holds a conference call...with just bloggers! (Via Deadspin)
• She was too young to kick my ass!
• Via AA, ESPN has created a new section called Fanography. In its essence, it appears to be a way for fans to connect (social networking) and write for themselves...you know, "All sports, all you." Which sounds really fucking familiar...
• If I were Phelps, I'd have at least Herpes by now...
• And finaly, courtesy of Epic Carnival, the top 10 best Yankee moments...for those drinking haterade
  

2x Daily "Linkin' Logs" (8/21/08)

As the crazy stalker person on BNB would say, "Chit Happens." And in this case, you probably (didn't) missed our Daily "Linkin' Logs" from yesterday. Naturally, I did not. I apologize, but perhaps I'll do my best to add a weekend DLL for completeness's sake. Who knows.

Naturally, if you haven't heard, Gene Upshaw lost his life to Pancreatic Cancer. I say lost his life rather than lost his battle because frankly no one really knew about this, not even Upshaw. And with that sad news, we move on to the links.

• Apparently there's some new cointoss rules and PFT is unsure if the Cardinals know how to use them.
• Instant Replay...Its here
• Like I said, once a Buchholz, always a Buchholz
• What's next for Michael Phelps, Epic Carnival lays it down
• Seriously, Jimmy Rollins, shut the hell up. While We Should be GMs "Campaign Cheer" appears to have been a flop, Jimmy Rollins certainly didn't help his case (He went 0-4 while the Phillies won 4-0). And while Rollins (and the rest of MLB Vets) may get paid regardless of play (we're lookin' at you David Bell), expect to respect in Philly unless you play. In Philly, they'll take grit over talent any day, and it isn't hard to figure out why, unless you're the guy who gets benched for not running our a ground ball against your biggest division rival this year. Purely hypothetical though.
• Pat Croce's baby is still alive and kicking...and on CBS
• Our own "Cracka" gives us the low down on Fantasy Wide outs
  
• And thanks to Deadspin, White People Can't Run

UPDATE: Just for fun, I felt this Dream Team vs. Redeem Team "WhatifSports" article needed to be added

A Case For Brodie Croyle

Brodie Croyle was 0-6 in his starts last year, so why should you break him off a piece of that forgiveness bar you ask? Well, let's find out.

To start off, let's take a look at some stats from last year:

The Denver Broncos – 7th ranked pass defense in the NFL

The Indianapolis Colts – 2nd ranked pass defense in the NFL

The Oakland Raiders – 8th ranked pass defense in the NFL

The Tennessee Titans – 10th ranked pass defense in the NFL

The New York Jets – 9th ranked pass defense in the NFL

What do these teams have in common you say? Well, each accounted for one (two in the Broncos case) of Brodie Croyle’s six major losses last year. As I’m sure you noticed, each of them finished with a top ten passing defense for the year.

Now while I’m the first to admit that Croyle looked pretty bad regardless of who he played, isn’t it worth taking into account that every single one of his losses came against a highly skilled passing defense? Plus, he was practically a rookie last year!

Not only did he not have his RB (and Rockafella fan) Larry Johnson on the field to help take the focus off him, he was also playing behind an incredibly suspect offensive line that is ranked near the bottom of nearly every offensive line ranking list out there. Add the two together and what do you get? That's right, the stirring of something in your stomach. That is what's called sympathy and you may be starting to feel it for the Chiefs young QB for the very first time.

I’m not trying to say that the kid is going to go on and have a Hall of Fame career and yes, the offensive line still has issues, but with Larry Johnson back behind him isn’t it fair to cut him a break for last year and wait to see what he does this season? Am I asking too much? Am I missing anything here? Do I ask too many questions?

Think about it. Croyle went 127 for 224 (56.7% completion percentage) and threw for 1,227 yards. He averaged 5.5 yards per attempt and matched his 6 touchdowns with 6 interceptions.

Call me crazy but for a first year starter that isn’t a bad line. Normally an equal touchdown to interception ratio wouldn't be a good thing but it was his first year as a starter. Not too shabby. Especially when you consider the murderers row of passing defenses he faced during his starts last year.

Anyway, doesn’t all of this warrant giving him a free pass for last season? It was his first year and he had an incredibly difficult schedule. For all we know, he’s been studying up and learning the playbook and will come out guns-a-blazing this season.

Or he will continue his losing streak and prove the tough schedule he had was just a coincidence. Let's hear it!

Daily Erin Andrews:Girls of The Olympics Pt 3

The Olympics are in full swing, the girls are out of the pool and out on the track. And here at TBNB we love track. There are only a couple days left so make sure you get your fill and enjoy.

NFL Preseason Week 2 Wrap-up

The Derek Anderson-led Cleveland Browns, and the defending champion New York Giants capped off the second week of NFL preseason football action last night. The Giants led the game, 30-17, at the half, and pretty much dominated the Browns offense. Anderson left the game early after going 4 for 10 for 20 passing yards, a 56-yard field goal kicked by veteran Phil Dawson being the only score in the first quarter. Anderson left shortly after fumbling an attempt at an exchange with running back Jamal Lewis. New York’s James Butler returned the fumble 95 yards for a 30-3 lead just 33 seconds into the second quarter of play. Eli Manning’s 2 TD passes led New York to the halftime lead. But, Brady Quinn and the Browns came out in the third quarter on fire. Quinn threw a TD pass to Syndric Steptoe early in the third quarter, and Cleveland scored 10 fourth quarter points. But, New York held on to the 37-34 win, picking up win #1 of the preseason.

Game Scores/Recaps:

Thursday August 14 th, 2008

Pittsburgh 21, Buffalo 24

Both starting quarterbacks (Ben Roethlisberger, and Trent Edwards) made little mistakes, both going 9 for 11 with 100+ passing yards, while Byron Leftwich made his first appearance in Pittsburgh black and gold. Buffalo’s Edwards has made a strong campaign for the starting job so far, and Dick Jauron would be a fool to start Losman over Edwards come week 1.

Carolina 13, Philadelphia 24

Jake Delhomme made his anticipated return from Tommy John surgery, completing 9 of 14 passes in the process. But, Kevin Kolb, and Tony Hunt stole the show. Kolb jump-started a Philadelphia scoring-spurt late in the fourth quarter with 33-yard toss to Greg Lewis for their first score of the evening with 6:41 to play. Just 30 seconds later Philly added a 40-yard field goal to that, cutting their deficit to just three points. Four short minutes later, Hunt ran for a 51-yard TD to take the lead for good. Philly added injury to insult with a Justin Roland 74-yard interception returned for a TD after Carolina’s Matt Moore attempted a last-minute scoring drive.

Friday August 15 th, 2008

Oakland 16, Tennessee 17

Oakland ran for 224 yards, 77 of those yards belonged to 27-year old Adimchinobi Echemandu, and rookie running back Darren McFadden ran for 44 yards on six carries in his second NFL game. But, Tennessee’s third-string QB, 26-year old Ingle Martin, lead a late scoring drive. The scoring drive was capped by a game-winning 33-yard field goal hit by John Vaughn as time expired. Tennessee came out on top, despite Vince Young’s early struggles, finishing 4 for 13, with 37 yards passing.

Saturday August 16 th, 2008

Washington 13, New York Jets 10

The much-anticipated Brett Favre debut finally happened on Saturday night in New York. Favre’s first TD pass as a Jet came with five minutes to play in quarter number one. Favre threw a short 4-yarder to rookie TE Dustin Keller, who finished with 2 catches for 26 yards, and 1 TD. But, Washington’s rookie QB Colt Brennan led a last-minute scoring drive which ended with a 33-yard TD toss to Jason Goode. Washington held off the eager Jets 13-10.

Indianapolis 16, Atlanta 9

The Colts, still Manning-less, held off the Falcons without any offensive TD’s. But, three field goals, and a Kelvin Hayden interception returned for a touchdown was enough to hold off the young Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta’s rookie QB, Matt Ryan, completed 8 of his 16 passes, and one interception (three total INT’s thrown by ATL). Jason Elam’s three field goals was the only way Atlanta was able to score. Although Atlanta’s biggest offseason acquisition, Michael Turner, ran for 113 yards on just 4 carries. That is an average of 28.5 YPC. Pretty impressive second game, huh?

Miami 19, Jacksonville 14

Chad Pennington’s debut was a solid one, going 5 for 6 for 55 yards. Rookie QB Chad Henne attempted 26 passes for 133 yards in the three quarters of play. Ricky Williams provided Miami’s only TD, running the ball in from 4 yards out in the first quarter. Dan Carpenter’s fourth field goal in the third quarter gave Miami a 19-0 lead. But, Jacksonville never gave up, and Todd Bouman led the Jags to two TD’s in the final 6 minutes. Though Bouman’s comeback failed, and Miami held on to the 19-14 win.

Minnesota 23, Baltimore 15

Tarvaris Jackson left the game early with a sprained MCL, but Gus Frerotte, and Brooks Bollinger picked up where he left off, throwing for 132 yards, and a TD. Baltimore’s rookie RB Ray Rice, and second-year QB Troy Smith tore up the turf, running for a combined 112 yards, and a TD (6-yard run by Rice in 1 st QTR). As a team, Baltimore ran for 7.9 yards per carry, but turned the ball over twice, with 6 penalties. Minnesota took the 8-point victory in the end, but suffered a huge blow when T-Jack went down.

Arizona 27, Kansas City 17

Arizona QB Matt Leinart led the team with 62 passing yards, and one TD pass, leading Arizona to the 10-point victory. But, Kansas City saw some positive out of 24-year old QB Tyler Thigpen. Thigpen attempted a majority of the Chiefs’ passes for 174 yards, including a last-second TD pass to Sergiori Joachim from 14 yards out. Arizona came out on top with no turnovers and just 3 penalties all game.

San Diego 6, St. Louis 7

St. Louis’ RB Travis Minor scored the game’s only TD, when he ran for a three-yard score late in the third quarter. Nate Kaeding’s two first quarter field goals proved not enough. Marc Bulger threw for 2 interceptions, and completed just 7 of his 14 pass attempts, but the Rams’ offense dominated anyway. They outgained San Diego 309-203, and accumulated nearly twice as many first downs (21-11).

Houston 31, New Orleans 27

Both teams went interceptions-less, and thrived through the air. Steve Slaton ran for his first career NFL TD early in the fourth quarter. The TD put Houston on top for good. Both starting quarterbacks had great games stat-wise. Matt Schaub completed 14 of 16, and Drew Brees 12 of 17. Both teams defenses struggled to stop the opposing offense from scoring.

Dallas 13, Denver 23

Jay Cutler had a fantastic game for the second consecutive week. This time, Cutler completed 16 of his 20 passes for 178 yards, and a TD pass to his favorite receiver, Brandon Marshall, in the second quarter. Denver controlled the ball for 33 of the 60 minutes of play, and had no turnovers with just 6 penalties. On the other side of the ball, Denver’s defense allowed just 70 yards on the ground to the Cowboys as rookie RB Felix Jones saw just 3 carries for 17 yards. Third-string Dallas QB Richard Bartel threw the game’s only interception to Denver’s rookie CB Jack Williams from Kent State. Kicker Matt Prater, taking over for Jason Elam, was the difference, kicking three field goals through the uprights in the third and fourth quarter of play.

Green Bay 6, San Francisco 34

Aaron Rodgers’ second game as the new Green Bay QB didn’t go as well as expected. Rodgers completed 9 of 16 for 58 yards, and failed to conduct a drive resulting in a TD in his quarter of play. San Fran’s QB J.T. O’Sullivan gained some ground in the Niners’ QB race by going 8 for 17 for 154 yards, a TD, and an INT in San Francisco’s big 34-6 victory on Saturday. The 49er defense sacked Green Bay’s quarterbacks six times, and recovered three of their fumbles…Things aren’t looking too good in Green Bay right now. Rodgers better step up his game when September rolls around.

Chicago 26, Seattle 29 (OT)

The final game on Saturday was decided in overtime as Seattle’s young kicker, Brandon Coutu booted a 36-yarder through the uprights for an instant win. The field goal was his fifth of the game, an impressive night for Coutu, as he outkicked Chicago’s Pro Bowl kicker, Robbie Gould. Former Cleveland Brown QB, Charlie Frye, was the only Seattle QB to take snaps in the entire game, and he ended up throwing 3 interceptions. Luckily, rookie RB Justin Forsett had a big game (15 carries for 136 yards, 1 TD, 9.1 YPC), and Coutu’s leg helped save Frye in the end.
Sunday August 17 th, 2008

Detroit 27, Cincinnati 10

Not only did the Detroit Lions humiliate Cincinnati on their home turf in just the second preseason game of the year ’08, but they also lost All-Pro wideout Chad Johnson for the remainder of the preseason. Johnson landed awkwardly on his shoulder after going for a Carson Palmer throw in the first quarter. Johnson may not be 100 percent come opening weekend, which is a big blow to this high-powered offense. They were already playing without Pro-Bowl WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Cincinnati’s Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Jeff Rowe attempted to make up for the early Palmer mistakes, but failed as Jon Kitna, and Drew Stanton each threw for a TD pass in Detroit’s win.

New England 10, Tampa Bay 27

New England was without Tom Brady, who was back in Massachusetts nursing his latest injury, and it showed. New England turned the ball over 3 times throughout the 60 minute game, and the Bucs were even able to score a TD on defense. New England QB’s—Kevin O’Connell and Matt Cassel—combined to go 12 for 25 for 118 yards passing, and 1 INT. Tampa outgained the Pats 295-174, and won the game by 17 points.

Monday August 18 th, 2008

Cleveland 34, New York Giants 37

Brady Quinn, and Ken Dorsey both had solid games for Cleveland after Derek Anderson went down with what was later identified as a mild concussion. But, Eli Manning threw for 2 early TD’s, and helped New York build an early 30-3 lead. Quinn, and Dorsey led the Browns with an impossible comeback, scoring two consecutive TD’s just before halftime, and outscoring New York 17-7 in the second half. But, the Browns dug themselves too big a hole early on, and weren’t able to complete the comeback. But, Cleveland should be happy with their QB production from Quinn, and Dorsey, who combined to go 16 for 23, 267 passing yards, 2 TD, 0 INT.

In the News:

Chad Johnson suffered a sprained shoulder in Cincy’s 27-10 loss to Detroit on Sunday. Johnson will sit out the remainder of the preseason.

Troy Polamalu is expected to practice with Pittsburgh this week.

Indy’s Dwight Freeney, and Bob Sanders are expected to be cleared to practice later this week.

Tom Brady says foot injury is on same leg as his earlier ankle injury, but the two are not related. Brady is unsure whether he’ll play Friday v.s. the Eagles or not.

Tarvaris Jackson left Minnesota’s game early with a strained MCL. He is not expected to miss the season opener, though.

Shortly after Chicago’s game against the Seahawks, Kyle Orton was named the starter for Chicago’s opener against Indianapolis.

With Johnson hurt, the Bengals brought back troubled wide receiver Chris Henry. The Bengals cut Henry earlier this offseason due to his off-the-field troubles.

Peyton Manning attended his first practice with Indianapolis today, Tuesday the 19 th of August.

Daily Erin Andrews:Girls of The Olympics Pt 2

The Olympics are toiling on in China and seemingly the whole world is watch. Well we are watching as well, and there are a couple athletes who have caught our eye and we thought it was time to share them with you.

enjoy.