Patrick's Sports Blog

NFL: The Pro Bowl

pcottera — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:46:21 +0000

The Pro Bowl is the worst all-star in all of the big four sports of North America. The worst all-star game is the Pro Bowl of the NFL followed by hockey’s NHL all-star game, than baseball’s MLB all-star game. The best all-star game is basketball’s NBA allstar game because you at least get to see some entertaining dunks. All of the all-star games are very boring and gimicky but the Pro Bowl is by far the worst. The season is already over so it matters nothing to any of the players. It is also very difficult to follow who is in the game because there are so many substitutions being made. A lot of the players choose not to play in the Pro Bowl because of fake injuries and lame excuses. Not that I blame the players that don’t go because the whole game is made up of a bunch of interviews to multiple players. The game is only watched by a half filled stadium and the fans hardly get any excitement out of the slow paced, emocionless game. I really do not care about this game and other people do not either because it is shown the least interest out of any of the all-star games. The skills competitions are not even televised and there is no hype built around the game when the NFL hypes every game so much. I am surprised that the most powerful league can’t draw enough attention to their all-star game. The biggest reason is that there is a great risk of injury in a contact sport like football so all the players play extraordinarily gingerly.

My Christmas

pcottera — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:15:23 +0000

My Christmas was very good for me. I really needed time to relax and to forget about working and school. If I did not have this break than I would really not be able to continue doing my work in school. I greatly enjoyed sleeping in and not having to get up in the early hours of the morning. I was very happy to be able to do what I wanted to do and not what I was forced to do. I had a good Christmas with my family, it was very enjoyable and fun. I helped my parents cook Christmas dinner and I had a good time eating and relaxing. I received many good presents and I liked having a day with my family that I rarely get during the working weeks. With all the snow we got, it was very difficult to go out and with the other drivers being so inexperienced with the heavy snowfall, it made it even tougher. It forced my family to stay in the house a lot but I think that it was the best thing for us to do. My brothers and parents needed the time off desperately so the Christmas holiday comes at a very good time.

Toronto Raptors Update

pcottera — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 03:56:00 +0000

Last time I updated on the Raptors season, they were in a major slide losing seven of their last ten. The Raps then proceeded to get worse and worse. They won two straight games against Charlotte and Atlanta which was a promising sign but they had to go against some very tough teams on a seven day, three game road trip next. They lost to the Lakers in a toughly fought game 112-99, then they lost to Denver in a huge blow-out; the worst in franchise history 132-93. After this game the Raptors coach for three seasons, Sam Mitchell, was fired. Bryan Colangelo could not let the slow start go unnoticed especially after the horrible effort the team gave in Denver. They seemed to give up in that game and lost all confidence in their abilities. With Mitchell’s departure, the Raptors interm head coach is Canadian Jay Triano, an assitant for seven years with the Raps and former head coach for Canada’s olympic basketball team. Colangelo gave him the thumbs up for Jay to be the Raptors coach for the rest of the season, provided that the team performs up to their potential.

Triano’s first game as a head coach was no easy task facing the tough Utah Jazz; a team led by their Allstar point guard Deron Williams. Toronto was dominated for the whole game and lost 114-87. They were now on a three game losing streak but they did have the chance to go back home to end it. The only problem was that they had to face the Portland Trailblazers, a young team that has a lot of talent. The Raptors played even with them for most of the game and came back from a ten point deficite to take the lead in the fourth quarter. The Raptors were up by two points after a big bucket by Chris Bosh but with eight seconds left the Blazers Steve Blake made a clutch three ball for the winning shot, the final score was 98-97. This was the second heart breaking loss the Raptors had had in the young season. They went back on the road for yet another tough game against the soaring Cavaliers. They were crushed; they turned the ball over twenty-two times and when you do that it is hard to win. Jermaine O’Neal turned the ball over six times on his own and the Raps were never in the game. They lost 114-94. Finally, the nightmare was over for the Raptors. They had an incredibly tough stretch of games and now had the chance to face teams that were not as good. On the road they beat Indiana 101-88 and then beat New Jersey 101-79. In the game against Jersey, Vince Carter was held to 3 points on 0-13 shooting; possibly the worst performance of his career. The Raptors now have a record of 10-12, 3rd in the Atlantic Division. They face New Orleans on Sunday, December 14th back at home again. They can get within one game of five hundred with a win there but it won’t come easy against Chris Paul, David West and the New Orleans Hornets.

NFL: Week 14

pcottera — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 01:56:04 +0000

Week 14 in the NFL had many very good games, one of the games was the big matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh had a horrible first three quarters and were down 13-3 going into the fourth. Dallas made two big defensive plays to stop the Steelers from scoring two touchdowns in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter and held them to one field goal making the score 13-6. On Pittsburgh’s third try, Roesthlisberger drove the ball down the field and threw for a touchdown pass to his tight end Heath Miller. This tied the game up 13-13. Dallas then had the ball back with less than two minutes left. Tony Romo was going for the winning drive and was passing pretty well. He then made a pass to his reliable tight end Jason Witten but they had some miscommunication and Romo threw it right over his head. It was picked off by Deshea Townsend and he returned it for a 25 yard touchdown. This made it 20-13 and Dallas could not recover from that. This was a huge come back for the Steelers who improve to 10-3.

Other notable games: The Giants were upset by their division rivals the Philadelphia Eagles 20-14. Detroit wasbeaten by the Vikings 20-16 making the Lions 0-13 for the season. New England over Seattle: 24-21. Tennessee over Cleveland: 28-9. Arizona over St. Louis: 34-10. Baltimore over Washington : 24-10. Houston over Green Bay: 24-21.

NFL Week 13

pcottera — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:42:42 +0000

Week 13 in the NFl provided quite a few good games. The games that we believed would have closer were really not that close. Pittsburgh deafeated New England 33-10. This was surprising because I would have believed that this game would have been much closer. Pittsburgh scored 30 unanswered points and beat up on the Patriots who turned the ball over five times. Randy Moss dropped an easy touchdown catch in the endzone and the receivers for New England let down Matt Cassel. They dropped ball after ball and the guy wh had passed for 400 yards in two consecutive games was held to 169 yards passing and 2 picks. Troy Polamalu had his league leading sixth interception and the Pittsburgh defense did what they have been doing all year.

Other notable games in Week 13. NY Giants over Redskins: 23-7, Broncos over NY Jets: 34-17, Vikings over Bears: 34-14, Titans over Lions: 47-10, Eagles over Cardinal: 48-20, Cowboys over Seahawks: 34-9, Panthers over Packers: 35-31, Bucs over Saints: 23-20. The game between the Giants and the Redskins was a tough, well fough game but the Giants were clearly the better team.

Toronto Raptors Update

pcottera — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:14:55 +0000

The Raptors are in a major slid at the moment. They have lost seven out of ten games now and they have been bitten by the injury bug. Since my last update the Raps lost to Orlando(103-90), won against Miami (101-95), lost to New Jersey (129-127), and lost to Boston (118-103). Jermaine O’Neal suffered a strainb in his surgically repaired knee in a losing cause against New Jersey and then played against Boston but only for thirteen minutes. Jose Calderon is still feeling the effects of his hamstring pull and, consequently, he is not as quick off the dribble and has been uncaracteristically turning the ball over.

The Raptors are in trouble right now at 6-7. They are looking like last year’s team; inconsistent. I am very concerned for them now as a Raptors fan.

NFL: Week 12

pcottera — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:02:44 +0000

Week 12 in the NFL offered a bit of a surprise. The Tennessee who were previously undefeated (10-0) were defeated by Brett Favre and the Jets. The final score was 34-13 and the Titans were never really in the game and the running game was shut down by the Jets defense. Brett Favre led his team down the field and they continued to score in the red zone.

Other notable games: NY Giants over Arizona: 37-29, Washington over Seattle: 20-17, Indianapolis over San Diego 23-20, Atlanta over Carolina: 45-28, New England over Miami: 48-28, Buffalo over Kansas City: 54-31. This week did not offer many good matchups. Usually we see more competitive games in the NFL but this week offered a few minor upsets and quite a few blow outs. Virtually any game that had a closer score was not really close because the score was not indicative of the actual game.

Toronto Raptors Update

pcottera — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:12:45 +0000

The Raptors have only played two games since my last update. They played the Philadelphia 76ers and The Miami Heat. The Raps lost terribly to the sixers 106-96 where they really did not have a good start and lost Jose Calderon to a hamstring injury that kept him to limited minutes. The loss of their number one point guard really hurt the Raptors and I don’t believe they recovered from his injury. They went down by 11 in the second quarter but come within a point in the third quarter but the 76ers kept fighting and put out the struggling Raptors. Chris Bosh continued his strong play on Wednesday when he scored 30 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. This loss was followed by a long three day break where the Raptors reflected on their defeat and worked on getting back on track. They played the Heat at home on Sunday and they ended their two game losing streak there with a 107-96 victory. Jermaine O’Neal had 2 big blocks late in the game and had 18 boards. Chris Bosh was once again fantastic where he scored 27 points and had 7 rebounds. Will Solomon, filling in for the injured Jose Calderon had 15 points and 12 assists and did a solid job managing the game. Calderon will probably be back in the line-up Tuesday when they take on the Orlando Magic on the Magic’s home court.

NFL: Week 11

pcottera — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:20:45 +0000

Week 11 in the NFL offered a solid number of exciting games that went down to the wire. On Thursday night football, the Jets were beating up on the Patriots in the first half but in the second half the Pats drove right back and brought the game back close again. Late in the game, Matt cassel, who had a spectacular game, threw a touchdown pass to Randy Moss for the game tying points. The Jets gave up the lead but in OT they made no mistake and drove the ball down the field and made the game winning field goal. The final score was Jets 34, Patriots 31. Another notable game that happened in week eleven was the game between Philadelphia and Cincinnati where they tied 13-13. This is a very rare occurance that hasn’t happened in a long time.

These were some other notable games week 11: Cleveland over Buffalo: 29-27. Tennessee over Jacksonville: 24-14. Tennessee remains undefeated (10-0). Pittsburgh over San Diego: 11-10. NY Giants over Baltimore: 30-10. Dallas over Washington: 14-10. Tampa Bay over Minnesota 19-13.

Toronto Raptors Update

pcottera — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:47:25 +0000

The Toronto Raptors started the season very well but have now dropped back down to earth after losing 3 of their last four games. The Raps lost to Detroit 100-93 in a game that Toronto made quite close in the fourth quarter. They then lost to a young Atlanta Hawks team, that has looked solid so far in the year, 110-92. The Raptors never lead in this game and looked quite terrible with Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson tearing them up from the wing. The Raptors followed this loss with a victory over the Charlotte Bobcats 89-79. They then had to travel to Boston to play the defending champs the next day. They were up by as much as 16 points in the 3rd quarter and were dominating the game. Then the Celtics came back like championship winning teams do. Paul Pierce caught fire and scored twenty points in the last 15 minutes of the game. Jermaine O’Neal who scored 19 in the first half, finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds. The Raptors gave up the lead and the Celtics finished the game amazingly and won the game 94-87. The Raptors put up a solid fight and did not back down from the Celtics but they were outmatched in the final quarter. Chris Bosh was held to just 9 points and 7 rebounds with the tough Kevin Garnett defending him. Bosh was shut down and after scoring 30 points against Charlotte was relatively unnoticeable in this contest.

I don’t know what to think about the Raptors right now. They have shown very good signs in this early season by stepping up their defense with the shot-blocking presence of Jermaine O’Neal and also coming back in games when they were down. But what is quite clear to me is that they are still not on the higher level of teams like Detroit and Boston. The Raptors play on Wednesday, November 12th against the Philadelphia 76ers. This a chance for the Raptors to get back on track and defeat a team that is quite solid with the added force of Elton Brand. They faced Philadelphia in their season-opener on October the 29th where they won 95-84.