The Way It Was -TOMP

I can't Help but agree with Chad Ford on this one. The first NBA experience I had was watching Jordan and the Bulls go at it with Barkley's Suns, and for the love of God it was just amazing to see. Little did I know that this would be the short end of the tenure for the NBA's greatest player.

The next two years greatly shaped my sports viewing life as I lived just outside of Houston from '92-'95. That left me to experience the end of Jordan's first run and the back to back Clutch City titles featuring "The Dream, who was ironically the number 1 pick in Jordan's draft" as the Bulls were no longer in the picture.

The era felt like it was lacking, The toughness was gone, that I've seen so much of through ESPN Classic games. Note, that those games featured the Bad Ass Pistons of the 80s who lost their flair after '91.

Regardless, I was able to witness Jordan's return (as 45) back in '96 and there really hasn't been a more incredible comeback in the history of sports.

Following that. 3 more rings. Boom. You can't help but wonder what would have have happened if he hadn't been suspended for gambling in '94 & '96.

A sad story indeed.

Death of a Legend

The holder of such legendary names as James Dalton, Johnny Castle, and Bodhi has finally lost his battle with cancer. He beat the shit out of pancreatic cancer for a year and a half, when most normal men last only 3 to 6 months. Swayze was way past his prime in terms of producing classics such as Roadhouse, Dirty Dancing, Red Dawn, and Point Break, but those movies will be watchable forever. RIP 1952-2009.

"Pain Don't Hurt"

ESPN Likes To Tell Jokes

Come On....

Go Blue!!!!

A Summary Of The Bears' & Broncos' Offseason

Finally -TOMP

"Found this DeadSpin user comment hilarious based on eerily similar coaches and lieutenants. Just for note, you should check out Google Images to see the most common movie poster, but do yourself a favor and don't watch it. I mean, even a nun gets raped. Yeah, I'm serious. Oh, God. There's a sequel coming out too. With Nic Cage. FML" -TOMP

Football is back, and I've been so busy absorbing in what's happened over the last week that I haven't been able to compile my thoughts together until now. In no particular order, here are my random points of discussion following the conclusion of the first week of the NCAA and going right into the first week of the NFL season.

1.) You may recall some rant nearing the end of March Madness referring to the highlight of the tourney having to do with me seeing Duke get their asses kicked at TD Bank(North) Garden. Well, some things have changed since then. You will find their 2nd tier overrated benched point guard, #3 (clearly labeled in this past post), may have pulled a crazy move and transferred to 'Cuse, only to be named the starting quarterback of the team after the first week of practice.

Needless to say, this in was only one of the many factors that made this the worst sports associated summers of my sort of short life. Well, had to bite the bullet last week and watch 'Cuse play on national TV in their season debut vs. the Golden Gophers. Now, I don't feel like digging through the records to find all of the nationally televised Syracuse football games from the last 5 years or so, but I can pretty much guarantee the record is about 2-9. Assuming those numbers are accurate, you know one came from last year's Notre Dame upset.

Now, you may call to mind that analysts were calling this one of the worst defeat/collapses of all time, but seeing as how Notre Dame is one of my least favorite things of all time (Note, that Dan has moved on to smaller and lamer things), and that win alone made up for a lot of disappointments over the last few years. So, by my count, Greg Paulus plays for Syracuse now because somehow 'Cuse beat up the Irish last fall. Don't question my logic, you know it's too coincidental to be a coincidence.

Bottom Line: Paulus impressed me. He had that stupid over confident look on his face and played well almost all game. I'll forgive him for that INT targeted for the 1 Orange player surrounded by 5 Gophers for the simple reason that I've played Madden and NCAA Football enough times to know that the risk is worth it. It was a tough loss, but the fans were fucking stoked and you could hear it the entire game. The defense had this rejuvenated charge where they carried themselves around like they fucking owned the place. They didn't looked scared, content or like they were about to shit their pants. It was the 'Cuse I picture Keith Bulluck going to. They may not win a ton of games this year, but they're certainly going to be a lot more fun to watch. And when have you heard this much chatter about 'Cuse football on ESPN Radio, .Com and TV? It's good to see.

2.) Speaking of Bulluck the Titans and Steelers has a little song and dance on Thursday to kick off the NFL season. How was it? Fucking awesome. If you missed the first half, it was just a bunch of 275 lbers crackin' skulls and nailin' the bajesus out of each other. Troy Polamalu was playing just out of his freaking mind for ever play he was in there. It just sucks that he had to be a member of the Bob Sanders club and be injured every other game. Those two are so fucking sha-nasty. I'm sick of them being injured. Can we let the guys who already kick ass pop some 'roids and.or HGH to get back quicker? I'd be happy about that. Some Papi HGH eye drops at the very least. Moving on, it was a good game where the Titans still pound on D and the Steelers are showing how lame their O-Line still is. Oh, and that guy, LaMarr Woodley, went to Michigan. NBD.

3.) I'm sick of the Colorado Buffalo. Dan Hawkins sucks, and his son sucks even more (64 pass attempts vs. Toledo!!!). Why is the Big 12 North STILL a huge joke? Honestly, it's annoying. Sure, Nebraska's always going to have that 20-25 ranking, but they'll always get bitch smacked by a higher tier team. Outside of them? The division is about as consistent as herpes. One day you think you're outbreak free (OMG-Mizzou lost in the Big 12 Championship, Kansas is winning a BCS Bowl and Nebraska beat Michigan in a bowl game!) and the next you're breaking out like a teenager seeing his first Molly Ringwald movie (see: the 2009 season).

4.) Look, the Cowboys have some wide receiver and cornerback issues, but they're going to be fine. They had the most sacks in the league last year, Ware and James back, Newman is the fucking man but they will miss the shit out of Chris Canty. Domination should ensue Sunday vs. the Buccaneers. I eagerly await the match up.

5.) Aaron Rodgers, Michael 'The Burner' Turner, Clinton Portis, Steve Smith (Carolina), Wes Welker, Santonio Holmes, Jonathan Stewart, Greg Olsen, Leon Washington, Fred Jackson, Kevin Walter, Josh Morgan, David Garrard, Ryan Longwell, The Eagles D and the Pats D. What do these NFL players/groups have in common? They're about to win a 2nd straight fantasy title for The Ho. C. Seriously, no one stands a chance.

I'm just happy the league is back on.