Hawks vs. Lions

When the Nittany Lions take on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks at the Bryce Jordan Center this afternoon they will be trying to extend their four-game winning streak. They will also be trying to bounce back after an ugly win vs. Colgate that saw the Lions shoot just 38% from the field. I usually say that a win is a win, but with Big Ten season looming ahead, I would really like to see the Lions put on a decent offensive showing today.

The Hawks won't be a pushover, although their loss to Central Connecticut State earlier in the season might make it seem that way. Since then, they've won three straight against Stony Brook, Harvard, and Monmouth. Remember Stony Brook is a team that defeated the Lions last year, and Harvard ousted Michigan THIS year. The only common opponent between Lehigh and PSU is St. Francis (PA), whom the Hawks defeated 71-66 on November 17th. The Lions beat St. Francis 74-64 on November 12th.

Lehigh is led by point guard Marquis Hall, who averages 13.5 points and 5.1 assists per game. The good news is he only shoots 33% from the field so far. The bad news is that fellow starters Zahir Carrington and Dave Buchberger both shoot around 57%. Another Mountain Hawk to look out for is Bryan White, who leads the team with 8.7 rebounds per game.

This game could be exciting. I expect the Lions to prevail by a margin of between 7 and 12. If you don't get the Big Ten Network (neither do I), here's a link to CSTV.com; click on the Gametracker link to follow the game.

Big Ten Power

With the Big Ten season tipping off on January 2nd, here's a rough standing of how all 11 teams look right now:

Contenders
1) Michigan State
2) Indiana
3) Wisconsin

Upper Middle
4)Illinois
5) Ohio State

Lower Middle
6) Minnesota
7) Purdue

Bottom
8) Penn State
9) Michigan

Rock Bottom
10) Northwestern
11) Iowa

That's how I see it right now. The top 5 teams should make the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota is number 6 just because they don't have as many embarrassing losses as Purdue, but I see both of them as fringe teams. PSU and Michigan will really need to improve if they want to think about the tourney. Realistically, they should be hoping for an NIT bid. Northwestern and Iowa will be the doormats of the conference.

Stronger than Cavities

When you do a Google image search for "Penn State" you get this:


When you do a Google image search for "Colgate", you get this:

Really not that surprising.

Although I was sitting at home in Jersey, the Nittany Lions improved their home record to 7-0 with a convincing win over the Colgate Raiders on Sunday afternoon. All you Rec Hall fans better hope the Lions start dropping a few at the BJC, because the way things are going there are fewer and fewer reasons to move PSU home games across campus.

The game went mostly as expected. Penn State won handily 66-48, although the Raiders were within as few as 5 points early in the 2nd half. The Lions' defense prevailed in the end, though, as they forced Colgate into 19 turnovers and 35% shooting.

The Nits' offense wasn't too hot with only 38% shooting. However, less turnovers and more free throw attempts (12/18 is pretty darn good for this squad) than Colgate led to the wide margin of victory.

Claxton and Cornley each had ho-hum games, both scoring in double figures. Brandon Hassell surprised with 5 offensive rebounds in only 16 minutes. However, Hassell also committed an astonishing 4 personal fouls while scoring just 4 points in those same 16 minutes.

David Jackson and Jeff Brooks were both brights spots off the bench for PSU. DJ had 7 points and 5 rebounds in only 16 minutes while going 3/4 from the free throw line. It doesn't sound like much, but if DJ had played the same amount of minutes as Cornley and Claxton with the same rate of production, he would have led the team in scoring, rebounding, and free throw percentage. The man needs more playing time.

Meanwhile Jeff Brooks also made a case for more PT, rolling off 10 points on 4/4 shooting in only 12 minutes! The amazing thing is that he hit both of his 3-point attempts, which he never seems to make. Now obviously Brooks would have led everyone in everything had he averaged that performance over more minutes, but the reason I made the case for Jackson was that his stats were less extraordinary for him. In other words, I think it's a lot more realistic to expect DJ to average the numbers he did over the course of an entire game than to expect Brooks to do the same.

On defense, PSU held Colgate's Kyle Roemer to just 2 points on 1/9 shooting with 5 turnovers. Alex Woodhouse was Colgate's best performer with 8 points and 9 rebounds off the bench. Speaking of bench, Colgate showed a surprisingly deep team with 11 players playing at least 10 minutes. Amongst the starters, point guard Daniel Waddy did a decent job, leading everyone in assists with 5.

Happy Valley Hoops has a sweet plus/minus analysis of the Colgate game. Keep an eye on this web site, because the author Uncle Lar loves to go in depth with statistics.

And if that's too deep for you, here's a traditional box score of the game, courtesy of the worldwide leader in sports. Be sure to click on the "Recap" link to get VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS of the game.

Penn State's next game is at home on New Year's Eve vs. Lehigh, another Patriot League team. The Lions will then look for their first road victory of the year when they face Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois on January 2nd.

Toothpaste

The Nittany Lions take on Colgate on Sunday after every good basketball game is being played on Sunday. That's convenient.

The game is being played in the middle of an NFL Sunday, but most football-crazed PSU students are on break anyway. Hopefully the Lions won't be distracted by a nearly empty student section as they play their first Patriot League opponent of the season.

The Colgate Raiders are led by junior Kyle Roemer, a guard/forward who is averaging 18.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Roemer hits threes at a 41.3% clip, so Claxton should be sure to guard him tight, even on the perimeter. By the way, can we just call all the G/F's small forwards? Isn't that what they all are, anyway?

Kendall Chones is another threat for Colgate. Unlike Roemer, there is no confusion about his position. Chones is a forward with a great 55.7% field goal percentage. Perhaps he should be played more often, because he averages just 9.4 points per game in about 22 minutes per game.

Colgate's assist leader is guard Daniel Waddy, although he only averages 2.7 per game. It doesn't look like he's a great shooter (only 39% field goals), but he knows how to draw fouls. In a win vs. Cornell, Waddy went 12/15 from the free throw line. Fortunately, that was far and away his best game in that regard. Waddy doesn't have any other games with 10 or more free throw attempts.

The only common opponent that Colgate and Penn State share so far is the Canisius Griffins. Colgate managed a 61-47 win over Canisius back on November 13th, while the Lions spanked them 93-40 on November 16th. By the way, the Griffins are 1-10 on the year, with the lone win coming against Coastal Carolina.

Is Geary Claxton the best player in the Big Ten? Happy Valley Hoops wondered the same thing, but they actually did something about it.

Here's the link. I hope you love stats as much as I do.

Maybe the Knicks should play Princeton

Believe it or not, the picture on the left was taken at HALFTIME of the Princeton vs. Penn State basketball game on Wednesday night. Princeton's 1st half field goal percentage? It's no fun if you don't at least guess first...

OK.

You ready?

25%! On 5/20 shooting!

The Tigers finished the night an amazing 31% from the floor, including 4/25 from 3-point range. The surprisingly white Lincoln Gunn and his long, golden hair nailed 3 of those 3-pointers en route to 13 points and 7 rebounds. The only other bright spot for Princeton was center Zach Finley's hook shot. He finished 7/12 for 14 points.

By the way, the final score was 61-38, Penn State.

The Lions played tight man-to-man defense all game long, which was a strong contrast to Princeton's zone. PSU's offensive gameplan involved getting the ball to Geary Claxton, who could either drive through or shoot over Princeton's defense. Even when Claxton wasn't passed the ball, his 6 offensive rebounds were able to turn miscues into points on multiple occasions. Geary ended up with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. No one else really made a big impact, although Jeff Brooks' 6 points, 2 blocks, and 3 steals in only 14 minutes is noteworthy.

Although Penn State won big, the game did a good job highlighting a couple problems for the Lions' offense. First of all, Talor Battle couldn't carry over his good 3-point shooting from the Seton Hall victory. He missed all three of his 3-point attempts, and the team followed suit with a 3/17 mark from downtown.

Second, free throws continue to be absolute torture for spectators. 4/12?! That's awful even in the White Building late night league. Something has to be done, because we won't be able to win any Big Ten games (ok, maybe Iowa) with a performance like that.

The Mitchell Report

So what should we do about all those delinquent steroid-abusers?

Let Josh (above) deal with them. The boy is a monster.

Seriously, I think he's a good 40% of Penn State's home court advantage. The other 60% is mostly Andy Hagen, but we'll get to him some other time. 4-0 and counting at the BJC.

Lions vs. Tigers

Since I’ve been too busy studying (read: playing Fire Emblem) to post in a while, here’s a recap of what happened to the PSU basketball team since the Disney World disaster…

A close 66-61 victory over Virginia Tech in the Big Ten v. ACC challenge helped raise morale, although VaTech’s incredible inability to shoot the ball was a big reason for PSU’s victory. The Hokies were just 2/13 from long-range, where opponents normally slay the Lions.

A few days later, the Lions and a busload of crazed Nittany fans travelled to Philly to take on St. Joseph’s on Pennsyvlania’s home court. Being at the Palestra (that’s the arena’s name) was such a cool experience for me, because it was a historical site that I was completely unaware of until I walked in. Think Wringley Field or Fenway Park, except for college basketball. The trip was definitely worth the spanking that the Hawks handed to us. The game was actually tied at 28 heading into the half, but PSU’s defense broke down midway through the 2nd half. The Hawks capitalized on a variety of 3-point and fast-break attempts, but our student section’s spirit was never broken. We cheered our way all the way out of the Palestra, pissing off the St. Josephs fans who expected a more somber demeanor.

A week later, Penn State returned home to take on tourney hopeful Seton Hall. After falling behind by playing man-to-man defense in the 1st half, the Lions switched to zone in the 2nd. Amazingly enough, Seton Hall’s 3-point percentage shrunk dramatically when playing against the 2-3 zone. The missed shots allowed Penn State’s fast break to lead the comeback effort, just like last year’s game against Ohio State. This time, however, Penn State would emerge victorious, with much thanks to Talor Battle’s 2nd half explosion. After dunking on a fast break with less than 7 minutes left for his first points of the game, Battle cranked a 3-pointer that helped push the game into overtime. There’s Battle’s heroics continued with another pair of 3s and a driving layup. It was enough to propel the Lions to victory, although their poor free throw shooting kept the game exciting until the clock hit 0:00.

And so here we are on December 12th, with Penn State ready to take on the Princeton Tigers in just a couple of hours. Princeton is led by sophomore center Zach Finley from the inside and sophomore guard Lincoln Gunn from the outside. Both average double figures in points scored and shoot 47% from the field. The big difference is that Gunn is 16/36 (44%) from long-range, while Finely hasn't attempted a 3 all season.

Princeton's captain is senior forward Noah Savage. He seems to be a decent scorer from long- and short-range with shooting percentages of 38% inside and 39% outside the arc. He averages 9.9 points per game. Nobody on Princeton has a rebounding average above 5.5, but it's hard to tell anything from that, because Princeton's possessions are said to use up nearly the entire shot clock. Low scoring and rebound averages could be the result of less possessions per game than the average team.

The Tigers' last game was a horrendous 53-32 loss to something called Evansville. Princeton had more turnovers (15) than field goals (13), while shooting 33% from the floor. I'd expect a slightly better performance out of them tonight, but PSU should win by at least ten.

By the way, here's a great post from the Penn State Hoops boards analyzing State's strengths and weaknesses so far. Enjoy!

Is it worth it?

Just like the last two seasons, the New York Giants are in great position to reach the NFL playoffs. And just like the last two seasons, the Giants will probably get there.

The only problem is that any chance of Big Blue going deep into the playoffs is slowly diminishing week by week.

Just because the Giants won road games against playoff "contenders" like the Lions and Bears doesn't mean this isn't a repeat of last season's 2nd half collapse. Eli Manning's 2007 quarterback rating of 74.2 is slightly below last season's average of 77, and his last two performances haven't been encouraging.

Sure, it was nice to see Eli recover during the 4th quarter in Chicago and lead the Giants to victory, but is there any evidence that this team can compete with Dallas or Green Bay. An 0-3 record vs. those teams doesn't help the argument.

Also, the Giants are sneaking by teams they ought to be stomping on if they are to consider themselves a serious contender. The defense is the only thing keeping this team in games while Eli struggles to move the offense.

The analysts at Footballoutsiders.com agree. The Giants are ranked 15th in the NFL in total DVOA (Defense-adjusted value over average). Ahead of them are Washington, Philly, and Minnesota.

All signs point to another disappointing first round exit for my beloved G-men. And even if they make it past Tampa Bay or Seattle, it would take a small miracle to defeat Dallas or Green Bay. The Giants' record makes it look like they have a chance at the NFC title game, but their actual performance shows otherwise.

Can things turn around? Sure. A win this week in Philadelphia would help convince me, but it would be a surprise.

So is it worth rooting for the Giants the rest of the year? Sure, why not. They can't be more painful to watch than the Nittany Lions. Having a quarterback that gets better in the fourth quarter makes a big difference.

I was excited

I was excited about Penn State's upcoming basketball season. Returning starters, two speedy new guards, and unprecedented depth at forward were all reasons to look forward to this season. However, consecutive losses to South Carolina and Rider have left me considerably less optimistic than before. Right now it doesn't seem like this team will do any better than in years past, but there's still a lot of games ahead of us.

In the game against Carolina, PSU looked versatile, as redshirt freshmen David Jackson (7 points) and Andrew Jones (8) led the Lions in scoring in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, Jamelle Cornley made his surprisingly quick return and quickly scored 8 points with 9 rebounds in just 14 minutes. Claxton and Battle each scored in double figures.

The two themes of the game were:
1) USC point guard Devan Downey scoring from everywhere (30 points)
2) Penn State missing 3-point shots over and over and over (4/25, no typo)

The persistent Talor Battle was a big reason for Penn State's shooting woes. Despite being ice-cold from long-range, Battle was not afraid to just keep chucking it up there. He finished 1/10 from downtown, and a reasonable 4/7 from midtown. Even Morrisssey and Walker were a combined 1/7 from 3-point land.

Penn State actually played man-to-man defense in this one, and perhaps that's why one player game up so big. I doubt a zone could've stopped Downey, though. He scored from both outside and inside, finishing with sparkling numbers from both 3-point range (4/7) and the free throw line (10/11). Shooting guard Zam Fredrick and forward Mike Holmes were the supporting cast for Downey. Holmes was very efficient from the post, adding 13 points on 5/8 shooting and 9 rebounds. Fredrick did a little bit of everything with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

I was still feeling okay after this game. The Lions got scoring from many different players, Talor Battle's aggressive play was encouraging. If only he had made a couple more of those 3s!

Then we played Rider today...

The whole game was a complete nightmare. Penn State game out of the gate hot and took a 13-point lead that lasted about 5 minutes. Cornley came into the game again and Mike Walker finally got hot from downtown to give us a few minutes of bliss before it all went bad again.

In the 2nd half, Penn State went cold from downtown again, but mostly they just couldn't play defense. Jason and Ryan Thompson as well as the Mansell brothers all shot around 50%. When Ed switched to zone it got even uglier. PSU really looked LOST playing zone coverage, and Rider's snipers shot over it with ease.

Penn State looked like the old Penn State again. Geary Claxton tried to do to much and ended up scoring 23 points, but on 9/24 shooting. For some reason Battle didn't play in the 2nd half. Andrew Jones and DJ were almost non-factors. Cornley was the only bright spot for the Lions. He's actually looked like a better shooter than Claxton and doesn't seem to force things as much. He ended with 17 points on 8/12 shooting.

And that was that. And we don't have to watch Penn State play football OR basketball tomorrow!

Here's something to dwell on, though: UCF just took Kansas State to overtime before finally falling. PSU plays UCF on Sunday. Absolute must win. Finishing 8th place in that tournament could be the worst thing to ever happen. We'll see...

Non-stop College Basketball

How good is college basketball right now? Because of tournaments in Hawaii and Alaska, we get to watch all night. It's 11:35 pm. Duke and Marquette are tied at 54 with 12 minutes left, and Michigan v. Butler in the Great Alaskan shootout hasn't even started yet. Wait, maybe it did, but I have to wait for Ohio State to finish off Syracuse to find out. It's a good win for the Big Ten, but I wish I wasn't scared of OSU already.

The announcers just said that Jim Boeheim has won 80 times in Madison Square Garden (where the game is being played). That's gotta be a lot more than Isaiah has, right? I wish I wasn't so sure about this.

I can't wait for tomorrow, though. Penn State kicks off the Old Spice classic in Disney World against their first major conference opponent of the season. It's South Carolina, and they're fresh off a loss to the other USC. The Cocks will be glad that the Lions have no one like OJ Mayo, who dropped 29 in that game. Hopefully Geary Claxton will come close to that, because PSU will be lacking Jamelle Cornley, probably for the entire tournament.

South Carolina's two best players appear to be point guard Devan Downey and forward Dominique Archie. Downey is averaging 7.3 assists through 3 games (4 assists v. USC) and Archie was on the SEC all-freshman team last year. PSU's interior defense will be challenged, as Archie put up 20 points on 9/13 shooting with 7 rebounds v. USC.

The Cocks do seem to lack some depth. Although they did play 9 men against USC, they got just 2 points from their bench. It's too early to tell if that's a fluke or not.

Hey, the Knicks lost again, this time on the road at Detroit. They really, really, really stink. Ironically, Isaiah was cheered during intros because of his past Motown heroics. He'll be lucky to still be around when the Knicks return to Detroit on April 8th.

Here's a link to the recap.

Check out the quote from reserve Pistons guard Flip Murray. Ouch. Well if you believe Nate Robinson, the team hasn't quit yet. Then again, if you believe Nate Robinson, then the team is just really, really bad even though they're trying their best. Pick your poison. And remember, that's just an expression.

Zach Randolph can sum up the Knicks' season in a nustshell: "They hit a lot of shots, and we didn't do much."

The Knicks are Bad

Since the Knicks let that game slip away in Sacramento, they've been blown out twice in a row. I don't even want to talk about it. How did they ever even win two? The Knicks turn the ball over all the time, and when they do get shots, they rarely go in. And that's the good half of the team. Defensively, it's even worse. It's just so frustrating to watch them right now. O well. The good news is I know how Dr. House feels all the time.

In the 4th quarter, "FIRE ISAIAH!" chants rained down from the Garden crowd. It's so bad right now. I keep telling myself they'll be good again someday, but that day isn't soon.

Between despicable Knicks and PSU performances, the Giants saved the week (barely), by winning at Detroit. The 16-10 victory greatly increased the Giants' chances of making the wild card, as they now have a one-game lead over Detroit as well as the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The defense was great after a frustrating outing against Dallas. They got pressure with and without the blitz. Good ol' Michael Strahan was the team MVP with 3 sacks.

On the other side of the ball, Eli Manning was accurate, but an absence of big plays led to some stalling in Lions' territory. 2 fumbles cost the Giants some points, and it almost cost them the game, had it not been for Kitna's late INTs.

It was another good game for Brandon Jacobs, but this time as a receiver. Eli dumped it to him 4 times for 49 yards and a touchdown. BJ's performance was good enough to lead all Giant receivers.

Unfortunately, Jacobs, as well as DE/LB Mathias Kiwanuka both left with injuries. Kiwanuka is expected to be out for the year. The good news? Derrick Ward is expected to return against Minnesota.

If Jacobs led the team in receiving you know it couldn't be a good day for Plaxico Burress. He actually did make a couple nice catches in the 2nd half, but apparently his ankle is getting worse and worse. At this rate, there's no way he'll be able to play in the playoffs. He needs time to recover so we have him when we really need them. Toomer, Shockey, and Moss will have to step it up the next few weeks. Fortunately, Moss is taking steps to becoming a bigger part of the offense. He caught 4 balls for 46 yards on Sunday, but his fumble cut short a promising drive in the first half.

BREAKING NEWS: The Mets just traded Guillermo Mota for Johnny Estrada. Everyone jump for joy. Unless the Mets start Estrada over Castro. That would be bad.

Failure in East Lansing

The weekend got off to a great start on Friday night, when some buddies and I went to see Penn State's basketball team dismantle the Golden Griffins of Canisius College 93-40. It was a good night for the Lions, who satisfied those fans who felt that they didn't beat St. Francis by enough points on opening night. As usual, Geary Claxton headlined with a double-double. Amazingly, he notched 20 points and 10 rebounds in just 22 minutes on the floor. More surprisingly was Talor Battle's presence in the starting lineup. He took Walker's usual spot and played reasonably well. We still haven't seen very good long-range shooting from Battle, but his aggressive offense style is encouraging. He finished with 5 assists and looked great running the floor during PSU's many fast break opportunities. Also of note was Danny Morrissey, who caught fire from downtown (5/7) and Schyler King, who looked surprisingly competent in limited time, with 7 points and 3 rebounds. He'll do a great job filling in for Claxton in garbage time this year.

With everyone leaving for Thanksgiving break, there wasn't much to do on Friday night, so I decided to tune my Slingbox to the Knicks v. Kings game. This was not a great idea. It was Kevin Martin's turn to light up the Knicks, and he did this from both short- and long-range. When Martin's defender stepped back to respect his dribble-drive, he'd just shoot it right over the top. It wasn't until Stephon Marbury stepped up with some top-notch ball denial skills in the 4th quarter that the Knicks were able to come back and send the game to overtime. There, the Knicks narrowly missed a victory when Jamal Crawford and David Lee rimmed shots on the last possession. In double OT, the Kings took a 7-point lead and held on despite another Knicks comeback attempt.

Here are some more Knicks notes:

• Eddie Curry just can't play defense at all. It's rare that a player can be so effective on the offensive glass, but so invisible on the other end. He finished with 6 offensive rebounds but only 9 total. Eddie also has trouble defending drives to the basket.
  
• Unfortunately, Isaiah must play Eddie because he's so good offensively. Hopefully David Lee continues his impressive play (24 points, 16 rebounds) so that we can play someone who performs at both ends
• Apparently Steph can play D when he wants to. His hustle against Martin in the 4th was admirable. I'm having second thoughts about wishing he would leave the team. His ability to penetrate the key makes New York less dependent on Eddie Curry
• Is Crawford better than Stephon? He's certainly a better jump shooter, but Starbury has the edge in passing and defense. Plus Crawford goes solo too often for my taste.

On Saturday morning I drove back to Jersey just in time to see Penn State's most popular team endure one of it's worst losses in recent memory. The Lions took a 24-7 lead over Michigan State on the 1st possession of the 2nd half, and eventually LOSSED 35-31. This was mostly due to Penn State's refusal to blitz MSU QB Brian Hoyer. Every time Hoyer dropped back, he had plenty of time to survey the field and find an open target. Although Hoyer threw 2 picks in the 1st half, he settled down and averaged a 12.2 yards per attempt average for the entire game. The only time Penn State was able to stop MSU in the 2nd half was when they fumbled a snap late in the 3rd quarter. It only delayed the inevitable.

The loss seems even worse when you consider the turnover ratio was +3 in favor of Penn State.

The silver lining for the Lions was Rodney Kinlaw rushing for a 4.5 average on 28 carries. He was consistent all game long (his longest rush was just 15 yards), and provided much-needed support to Anthony Morelli.

Speaking of AM, he can have a bad game without throwing a pick, as he demonstrated today. A minuscule 5.4 YPA was not what we needed, although the loss can hardly be blamed on the offense.

More notes:

• Leading 17-7 early in the 2nd half, Penn State lined up for a field goal, but snapped the ball to kicker Kevin Kelly, who ran in for the 5-yard score.
• The Spartans responded with a fake punt run that turned a 3-and-out into a TD drive.
• Twice the Lions showed a strange formation in which AM split out wide and left Darryl Clark and Derrick Williams in the backfield. The result was two awful draw plays (one to Williams and one a Clark keeper).
• Junior WR Devin Thomas was Hoyer's favorite target, with 7 catches for 139 yards and 3 TDs. On the year, he has 68 catches for 1,087 yards.
• Morelli's only TD pass was a sweet play-action mini-bomb to Deon Butler on a 3rd and 1 in the 1st quarter.

Some post game rants:
Black Shoe Diaries, The Nittany Notebook

I think they're overreacting a little bit. The bottom line is that Josh Gaines and Mo Evans are not as good as we thought they were. The line can't get pressure by themselves against the better O-lines in college football. This was evident in the OSU and MSU games. Tom Bradley needs to mix it up some more and throw in some blitzes. We didn't recruit King and Wallace so we can put them in zones and depend on our safeties for deep coverage. Those guys are there so we can blitz, but Bradley hasn't blitzed enough.

Penn State vs. Canisius

Penn State basketball takes on Canisius tonight in what hopefully won't be an exciting match-up. The Canisius Golden Griffins are fresh off a blow out loss to Patriot League powerhouse Colgate. One player that could hurt the Lions is point guard Frank Turner. He was the 2007 MAAC rookie of the year and is a preseason 2nd team MAAC player this year. Another player with high expectations this year is forward Elton Frazier, whom the Sporting News picked to be this year's best MAAC n00b. Extremely large forward Rishawn Johnson, and guards Willie Hassell (no relation) and Jovan Robinson round out the Griffins' starting 5.

Against Colgate, Canisius' Pawel Malesa came off the bench to lead the Griffins with 16 points. He was 4/6 from long range, so watch out.

The Griffins start 3 guards, so it will be interesting to see if the Lions change their starting lineup. My vote is no, since Geary can play like a guard or a forward. The only question is whether DJ or Jeff Brooks will start in Cornely's spot.

That's it for now. Time to go to the game. BTW the Knicks are trying to end a 4 game losing streak, as they take on the Kings in California.

State covers Rock

After Ohio State AND Michigan State fell to Division II teams, Penn State's exhibition against Slippery Rock became a little more serious. Not that much though.

The Lions prevailed 94-57, allowing "Nittany Nation" to breathe a sigh of relief and continue hoping for an exciting season. Here's the highlights...

Talor Battle looked pretty decent. 5 assists, 5 steals, and 14 points on 7/17 shooting. His 3-point shot looked a little shabby, but this kid likes to... MOVE IT when he has the ball. Battle showed some serious dribbling skills on his drives to the hoop. Penn State's fast break should be fun to watch with him on the floor.

The other big star on Wednesday was community college transfer Stanley Pringle, who like Battle, brings some much needed dribbling skills to the team. Finishing with 11 points on 5/10 shooting, Pringle showed the ability to get the ball to the hoop quickly. His finishes could use some work though. From what little I've seen, it seems like Battle is the better passer and Pringle is the better shooter. The heavy amount of minutes given to both newcomers was encouraging. The Nits might actually have DEPTH this season.

Walker and Morrissey didn't show us anything we didn't already know. They are the two best shooters on the team, no question. Their other skills, however, are quite limited.

The forward and center play on Wednesday was very disappointing. Geary Claxton looked downright awful after a dominant performance in the Blue/White game. Andrew Jones struggled to score all night. Jeff Brooks wasn't outstanding, but at least he didn't try to do too much. He put up 6 points and 7 rebounds. Jamelle Cornley and David Jackson did not play. I really think Andrew Jones will be a great player for this team down the road, but nearly fouling out in an exhibition game is not a good start. Still, he's bound to progress better than Brandon Hassell. Speaking of Hassell, he had a ho-hum game, but was able to convert on his two free throw attempts. It's clear he's been working on his shot. Maybe we can something out of him this year. This is me being VERY optimistic.

INJURY UPDATE: "Penn State was without junior Jamelle Cornley (Columbus, Ohio), who suffered a bruised bone in his left knee in the Blue-White Game on Oct. 27, and freshman David Jackson (Farrell, Pa.), who sat for precautionary reasons after experiencing some discomfort last week in the left leg in which a stress fracture kept him sidelined last season. Jackson was expected to practice later in the week while Cornley will miss 2-3 weeks."
--from gopsusports.com

I know. It doesn't sound good. The good news is that I don't think Claxton will continue to have problems like he did tonight. Still, the Lions' depth at the forward position will be tested early on. Expect Jeff Brooks and Andrew Jones to log serious minutes in November.

Also, here's the entire box score. Enjoy.

By the way, Super Mario Galaxy is coming ON MONDAY. Could be the greatest thing ever. No joke. If there are any Wii non-believers left, they'll all have checked out by Monday.

"Expect to be blown away by the fantastic level challenges and galactic variety. Expect to be blown away by the addictive gravity effects -- you will jump off ledges just to see if you can rotate all the way around a structure. And expect to be blown away by the tight controls and beautiful graphics."
--from IGN.com

That's pretty much all you need to know about the game, but if you want to read more, click here, for Matt Casamassina's full review.

In hockey news, the Rangers lost a heart-breaker to the Islanders, but then rebounded to score (gasp) 4 GOALS against the Pens (final score 4-2). It was the Rangers' greatest offensive outburst since they netted 5 on opening night vs. Florida.

Finally the Knicks defeated Denver in a wild one at the Garden on Tuesday night. Zachary Randolph has been just as good as advertised. The problem for the Knicks is that their starting lineup lacks defensive skill. Fortunately David Lee and Renaldo Baulkman are ready to enter at any time. I'd rather have one of those guys starting, as having Randoplh and Currey on the court at the same time seems redundant.

Penn State takes on Temple in Philly on Saturday. We're driving down tomorrow. Hopefully there will be time to research Temple's squad before the game.

Early Evening Madness

Even if the Nittany Lions don't win a lot of games this year, at least the season got started off right.

After all, you can't go wrong with the entire squad cranking that on the BJC floor.

Even better was reserve Finnish center Joonas Suotamo impersonating Soviet super-boxer Ivan Drago. Besides shadow boxing the Nittany Lion, Joonas entertained the crowd by attempting a speech in a Russian accent. At least that's what I think he was doing. It was difficult to tell if Joonas (pronounced "Yo-nas") was speaking Finnish with a Russian accent, English with a Russian accent, or Russian with a Finnish accent. Still, high comedy.

The main events of the evening were a slam-dunk contest and a 3-point contest.

Newcomer guards Taylor Battle and Stanley Pringle upset freshman foward Jeff Brooks to reach the slam-dunk finals. With the title on the line, Battle sadly failed on his attempt, allowing Pringle to jam his way to the championship.

The 3-point contest was interesting because each Nittany Lion was paired with a random student teammate. Danny Morrissey headlined the winning pair. Unfortunately, none of my buddies were able to humiliate themselves in this competition.

It's too early to tell how this Penn State team will finish. The team has definitely added athleticism (the 3 best dunkers are all new to the team), but will that translate to more offense? It depends on the play of the guards. We know that Cornley and Clatxon can score, but is Walker ready to become a major part of the offense? If not, can Pringle and Battle contribute right away? These answers will come soon enough.

By the way, here's the All Big Ten preseason team:
Drew Neitzel: MSU guard
Jamar Butler: OSU guard
Geary Claxton: PSU foward
D.J. White: Indiana foward
Shaun Pruitt: Illinois center

I'm surprised by Pruitt being there. Last year it seemed he was by far the 2nd most talented player on the Illini, behind Warren Carter. Now he's the man? Maybe he can shoot free throws more consistently this year, but I still don't see it.

Tomorrow I'm road-tripping to Maryland in search of a career. Hopefully the Knicks can put up a good showing in their opener in Cleveland.

Meanwhile, the Rangers just won 2-0 over the Caps at the Garden. They have played in the exact opposite way as everyone thought. Instead of an offensive juggernaut, the Blueshirts feature a feeble offense that is balanced by a nearly impenetrable defense. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has been the MVP so far.

Sad Valley

It's Halloween and I have a business law test tomorrow, but what's really important was the sad state of Penn State's student section last Saturday.

Leaving early? Since when does "the best student section in the country" leave the game with 5 minutes left. Absolutely humiliating. I think it'd be okay to leave one of those Thursday night debacles early. Football was not meant to be played on weeknights, and some people might have something to do the next day. But on SATURDAY NIGHT!? Abandoning the student section just to get a couple of pregame tequila shots in? I used to be proud to be a part of PSU's student section.

Besides a competitive football game, another thing we missed on Saturday night was Ohio State's wonderful marching band. 2 years ago, we were fortunate enough to see the script "Ohio" written on our home field, dotted "i" and all. That same year, someone came up with the brilliant idea to tell everyone in the student section to turn around and salute the OSU band with their middle fingers in the air.

Thanks a lot, guys. It's no surprise that OSU left their band at home this time. Those of us who actually appreciate college football traditions missed out on one of the best bands in the country. I bet listening to the Blue Band play the OSU fight song was a lot more enjoyable.

Of course, Ohio State won the actually football game 37-17. The game wasn't as close as the score made it seem.

The Buckeyes dominated their offensive line of scrimmage all night long. Their o-line got tremendous push that allowed both Chris and Maurice Wells to get momentum running up field. The result was Penn State's linebackers being driven backwards upon contact. This, in turn, led to 3rd down and shorts, which OSU converted regularly.

When Ohio State wanted to throw the ball, the pocket held steady. Penn State's pass rush always seemed to arrive a second after QB Todd Boeckman found the hole in the zone. When PSU blitzed, wide outs Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline were too quick for their defenders. Converted DB Ray Small pitched in with a 60-yard reception early in the game. The only stat worth mentioning is that Ohio State punted 0 times, with a Dan Connor interception late in the 2nd quarter being the Lions' only form of resistance all night.

When Penn State had the ball, things did not go that much better. On the first drive, QB Anthony Morelli connected with TE Andrew Quarless on a play-action pass for 30 yards, which led to a RB Rodney Kinlaw touchdown. After that, things went downhill. AM's throws were mostly ineffective. In fact, he only passed for 62 yard after the first drive (111 yards total). That was good(?) for a 5.3 yards per attempt average. It didn't help that he only got to throw 21 times, but that's what happens when the other team has the ball for 37 minutes and 52 seconds.

Another factor affecting Morelli's PT was him being pulled after unofficially ending the game by throwing a TD pass to OSU DB Malcolm Jenkins in the 4th quarter. I was pretty far away (about 50 rows up), but I can say it was one of the 5 worst throws I've ever seen in my life. And I am a survivor of the Dave Brown era of New York Giants football.

The interception inevitably led to the exodus from Beaver Stadium that I mentioned earlier.

Last Saturday we also got a sneak-peak at the 2007-08 PSU Basketball team in their Blue v. White scrimmage. I'll write about how excited I am after tomorrow's mid-afternoon madness event. W00t w00t.

Baseball craziness

The weekend is almost over, and so far my baseball picks have been less accurate than Anthony Morelli.

So far, only the Red Sox are fulfilling my predictions. They're up 2-0 in the series and 2-0 in game 3 in the 5th inning. In the NL, Colorado vs. Arizona seems like a ridiculous NLCS, but it is a reality, and an exciting one at that (even if it doesn't get the ratings that a Cubs v. Phillies match-up would get). Both teams swept the same way every team sweeps: by playing very good baseball for 27 innings. The Rockies only scored an above-average amount of runs in game 2 (a 10-5 victory), while they out-pitched the Phillies in games 1 and 3. Jeff Francis and Ubaldo Jimenez were surprisingly effective against the potent Philly bats, and the Colorado bullpen was dominant. Only Jeremy Affeldt gave up a run, while Brian Fuentes and Manny Corpas locked down the Phils in the later innings. If they keep playing like this, I don't see how even Arizona can slow them down.

Speaking of Arizona, they continue to be an anomaly. They played like a team that actually outscored its opponents in the regular season. Brandon Webb won game 1 nearly by himself, then the Arizona bats got to Ted Lily in game 2. Game 3 was strange, because Livan Hernandez gave up 5 hits and 5 walks in just 6 innings, but allowed only 1 earned run thanks to Aramis Ramirez and Mark DeRosa grounding into double plays with runners on 1st and 2nd in two different innings. The result was a 5-1 D-backs victory and series sweep.

So what we have in the NL is a very good team against a team that is probably better than what they showed in the regular season but still not that great. Colorado SHOULD win and advance to the World Series.

In the AL the Yankees got pounded on Thursday thanks to Chien-Ming Wang's wonderful high sinker. On Friday night, things got out of control. The Yanks got a homer from Melky Cabrera to take a 1-0 lead. It appeared as though Andy Pettite would hold said lead until gnats invaded the field in the top of the 8th. That's when Doug Mientciewicz grounded out to hand the bats to Cleveland. By that time Yanks' uber-reliever Joba Chamberlain had already struck out a batter to end the Cleveland 7th and seemed poised to get 3 more outs in the 8th. But Joba, who seemed bothered by the gnats that were stuck to the back of his neck (and on his face as well), walked Grady Sizemore to start the inning. Grady then advanced to second on a wild pitch and was bunted over to third. Chamberlain's 2nd wild pitch of the inning later scored Sizemore. After that the game settled down and the gnats eventually fled. The Indians went on to win the game on a Travis Hafner bases-loaded line drive in the 11th.

Although the Yanks are down 2-0, they have the best chance to come back just because the pitching mismatch tonight (Clemens v. Jake Westbrook) at Yankee Stadium could give the Yanks the momentum they need. Even though the Yankees would have to face C.C. Sabathia again, I believe their hitters will be up for the challenge. Even if they struggle, I doubt Wang will struggle with his sinker again. The bottom line is: don't be surprised if this series gets exciting (at least one has to, right?).

Thursday Morning Quickie

Yesterday was interesting because the games played enforced one playoff stereotype while stomping on another.

First, the idea that pitching wins in the playoffs was enforced as each game was dominated by a starting pitcher. I expected Beckett and Webb to pitch well, but Francis' excellent pitching against the Phillies was a shock, just because he's not been the most consistent pitcher all year and the Phillies' lefties have hit lefty pitchers well. However, you couldn't tell from watching the game on Wednesday. Utley and Howard combined for 7 strikeouts and Francis cruised until Rowand and Burrel went back-to-back in the 5th inning. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, the Rockies' bullpen was just as good as Francis' first four innings, and Holliday hit a homer for insurance.

Speaking of homers, I thought teams in the playoffs were supposed to manufacture runs? Not last night. A lot of the runs were on homers, including 3 of the 4 Red Sox runs and 2 of the 3 D-backs runs.

Time to go to an interview. Oh well. I'll be back later.

BTW, the NHL season started last night and the Yankees will beat the Indians IMHO. I hope I'm wrong.

MVP Nonsense

One can only hope that the rest of the National League playoffs are just as exciting as Monday night's tiebreaker between San Diego and Colorado. It was refreshing to watch two competent ball clubs battle each other to the very end and beyond. Both teams were able to limit early damage and make comebacks early on. Later in the game, the bullpens were steady, holding the game at a tie until extra innings. Amazingly, the Rockies were able to answer Scott Hairston's two run homer in the top of the 13th with 3 runs off of closer Trevor Hoffman. The last view days have been a nightmare for San Diego fans. Not only did their Padres blow saves in 2 of the last 3 games to lose the wild card, but the Chargers are in a 1-3 hole to start the football season.

A lot of people want Jimmy Rollins to be the NL MVP, but his stats are amazingly similar to Carlos Beltran's. Rollins has a lot more steals, but besides that, both guys have done the same at the plate, and no one's mentioning Beltran for MVP.

Rollins might not even be the NL's best shortstop. Just look at what Hanley Ramirez has done out of the lead-off spot this year. Although Rollins is much better defensively, it's hard to argue that he's a better hitter than Hanley. So who should be the NL MVP? There are a bunch of guys who could get it. No one really stands out for me. This one's up to the voters.

As promised, here's the run differential numbers for the 4 AL playoff teams:

Red Sox: 867-657 = 210
Yankees: 968-777 = 191
Indians: 811-704 = 107
Angels: 822-731 = 91

The Sox and Yanks are clearly the dominant teams here, but just like Dane Cook says, you can't script October. Anything can happen, but don't be surprised if everyone's two least favorite teams play in the ALCS again.

If you're still wondering about the NL MVP, I decided to look into more obscure stats. Here's the NL candidates ranked according to how many runs would be scored per 27 outs (ie: one game) by a lineup made up of 9 clones of the mentioned players. For example, a lineup made up of 9 Chippers Jones clones would score nearly 9 runs per game (unless the game was played in Shea Stadium, in which case the 1st inning would never cease). Does this make Chipper Jones the MVP? Hey, why the heck not? He's the only one of the candidates who walked more than he struck out anyway.

Oh, by the way, according to the same measure, David Ortiz is worth more runs than A-rod! However, I still think you have to give A-rod the nod just because of the ridiculous quantity of powerful hits that he had. It's crazy to think that he actually hit 19 more home runs than Big Papi.

Quick playoff predictions: I'll take Philly over Colorado because both teams can hit, but Cole Hamels is the only real stopper in the series. However, if Philly's bullpen resorts to it's old ways, it could get ugly. This might be the 1st round's most exciting match up.

Chicago over Arizona, because I still don't know how Arizona won so many games. Soriano, Ramirez, and Lee are downright frightening, and Chicago's staff isn't so bad either.

Boston should defeat Anaheim. I have nothing against the Angels, but Boston just seems a little bit deeper in the lineup and on the mound.

That's it for today. Yankees v. Tribe prediction coming tomorrow as well as some other stuff.

Going Emo

Sunday seems so long ago now.

Maybe that's because I've seen enough "Mets choke" television and internet fodder to last 7 years. Or maybe it's because my mood shifted so much from Sunday afternoon to Sunday evening.

Things started off bad when Hanley Ramirez leaned his elbow into what would have been Tom Glavine's first strikeout of the game. He eventually walked. Dan Uggla grounded out, but Tom wouldn't get another out in the inning. The Mets trailed 7-1 after one inning, and they never really came close to winning. Ironically, the bullpen pitched remarkably well over 8+ innings, but it didn't really matter. Philly defeated Washington handily, and it was all over before 5 pm.

So I was more than a little upset on Sunday afternoon, with no hope left for the baseball season. What was worse was that I only could watch the first few minutes of the Giants v. Eagles game before heading into a fraternity meeting that ended up lasting until nearly 11 pm. You can imagine my surprise when I learned that the Giants had dominated the game defensively. I mean, it didn't make any sense. They had struggled to put pressure on the quarterback the first two games before a decent outing at Washington. Now the Giants had managed to sack McNabb 12 times. It was like a dream come true. Big Blue NEVER gets to McNabb like that. The Giants' UGLY 16-3 win tasted so good, not just because it was against the Eagles, but because of it's nostalgic value that reminded me of the '97 and '00 teams that roughed up their opponents.
The Giants really came through for me on Sunday. That's the only way to put it. I was down because of the Mets, and they lifted me right back up. I imagine it was kind of like being in a decent relationship.

So that's what happened to me on Sunday. Really emotional stuff. I'm way too into sports. So instead of concentrating on my tax homework (it'll get done eventually), I'll probably watch the Rockies play the Padres in the NL Wild Card one game playoff. There's nothing better than single elimination.

Correction: there's nothing better than single elimination when your staff's HOF pitcher doesn't give up 7 runs in the first inning. Let's hope Fogg and Peavy have better luck. I'm going to root for the Rockies because I think their run differential makes them deserve the playoff spot more, but it could be tough against Peavy.

In other important news, I've decided to finish Super Metriod before moving on to Metriod Prime 3. Unfortunately, I don't know where to go now that I have the gravity suit. I sort of hit a brick wall in this annoying new sector I've discovered. There's quicksand all over the place. I can't handle it. So I've been debating whether to look it up online or not. I'd rather find an answer myself, but I don't feel like I have the time to be running around Brinstar when I've got all this stuff to do. It's a tough life decision.

Tomorrow, look forward to thoughts regarding the NL play-in game as well as AL run differential fun.

The End of September

The NL playoff race only got wilder on Saturday. During the Penn State v. Illinois game, the Mets finally got their act together and destroyed Florida 13-0. More interesting was John Maine's no-hit bid, which looked like destiny until a pathetic chopper to 3rd broke it up with 2 outs in the 8th inning. In the Marlins' defense, they did have a couple of hard-hit balls turn into outs earlier in the game, so I guess it was karma that a soft chopper put a stop to Maine's magic.

Later in the day, after Penn State's loss (more on that in a bit), Philadelphia got shut down by Matt Chico, and a couple of errors gave Washington the 2 runs they needed to close out the game. Had Philly held Washington to just a 2-0 lead, the game could've been lot more interesting, but alas, they fell victim to the same kinds of mistakes that the Mets have been making for the past 2 weeks. That's life I guess.

While the Philly game was ending, Milwaukee pinch hit with Tony Gwynn Jr. against his dad's old club with the tying run on 2nd base in the bottom of the 9th. Amazingly, the young Gwynn doubled against Trevor Hoffman to tie the game for the Brew Crew, who really had nothing to play for. They later won the game in the 11th, which puts pressure on the Padres to win today.

To make things even more dicey, Colorado stayed alive with a win over the Snakes, who clinched the NL West with the San Diego loss. Throw in all the NFL games, and this Sunday is going to be one of the most exciting days in sports this year.

Of course, it will take a lot to top Saturday's excitement, what with all the College Football upsets going on. Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas all fell, and USC barely held on against Washington. Unfortunately, fans in Happy Valley had a hard time enjoying any of this, thanks to the Lions falling short on the road again. Although the Illini had a couple of TD drives in the first half (as well as a kick return for a score), Penn State's defense tightened up in the 2nd, giving the offense great field position on a number of occasions. Here's what happened:

1st and 10 @ ILL 40 => 20 yard FG
1st and 10 @ ILL 44 => PUNT
1st and 10 @ ILL 27 => INTERCEPTION
1st and 10 @ PSU 36 => INTERCEPTION

After that came the drive in which Morelli fumbled trying to rush for the 4th and 13. Admittedly, the pass he made to Derrick Williams on that drive was amazing, but as you can see from the numbers above, we could have used some of that earlier. The end result was PSU getting outscored 6-3 in the 2nd half. Ugh.

I know a lot of people are going to give up on the Nittany Lions' season, but I still have hope. The only two other road games are @ Indiana and @ Michigan State. The home games are all against overrated teams like Wisconsin and Ohio State. If PSU takes those, they could climb back into the polls, and eventually towards the top of the Big 10 standings. So it's not time to panic (yet), even if Morelli is giving us Zach Mills flashbacks 5 games into the season.

NL Run Differential Fun

We all know that MLB will use an exciting playoff system to decide what happens if there is a tie in the NL wild card or division races, but would that really decide who the best team is? Does the regular season really tell who the best teams are? Will the NL's best team make the playoffs? Right now they're a game out of the wild card.

In order to determine true baseball superiority, I've calculated the run differential of all 6 NL playoff contenders PLUS Atlanta (you'll see why). This is because good teams win games by large margins (a display of skill) and lose some close games (which sometimes come down to luck). Meanwhile bad teams win close games and lose blow outs. In other words, run differential is a good way to measure teams with less luck involved. For more info, read The Baseball Economist, by J.C. Bradbury.

Anyway, here are the numbers:

Philly: 878 - 816 = 62
Mets: 786 - 735 = 51
Atlanta: 801 - 725 = 76

Cubs: 738 - 682 = 56
Brew Crew: 783 - 761 = 22

Snakes: 704 - 715 = -11!
Padres: 718 - 639 = 79
Rockies = 834 - 732 = 92

This confirms what we've been thinking all season long: There really is no reason the Diamondbacks should be winning so many games! They've won a lot of close games, and they certainly deserve to make the playoffs, but if we played 162 more games, they would probably find themselves behind the Padres in the standings. I'm not taking anything away from Arizona here. They've done a great job winning games with less talent than a lot of other teams.

The other two surprises are the third place teams that have better differentials than the teams leading their respective divisions. I always thought Colorado was better than their record (mostly because of how badly they pounded the Mets when they played earlier in the year), but their league-high differential is really surprising for me. The Braves' case is a lot less of a shock. Many people suspected that they had the best team in the division when they added Teixeira in late July. It looks as though they have underachieved quite a bit this year. Look out for them in 2008.

I know some people are going to say that this is a silly way of measuring teams, and if you are one of the doubters, I invite you to look at this conversation that I had on the IGN boards back in mid-August (look for "garomaster86" and the PSU logo: that's me).

Besides all the exciting National League action going down tonight, there's also a Big East battle on ESPN2. West Virginia is visiting surprisingly undefeated USF. Should be a good game. I love USF as a home underdog here. Have a good weekend, everybody.

Wake me up when September ends

Seriously. I can't take it anymore. The Mets lost again tonight and are tied for the division lead with just 3 games remaining at home against Florida. At least tonight was different from the build-a-huge-lead-and-then-blow-it affair that has been the norm for the past few days. Instead, the Metropolitans surprised everyone by using the old get-schooled-by-a-mediocre-pitcher routine that plagued them earlier in the year. This time Joel Pineiro played the role of Cy Young, 3-hitting the normally powerful Mets' lineup. Mets' announcers (and World Series champions) Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez could not stop praising Pineiro's ability to throw four pitches well all night, and yet someone else got ESPN's headline.

Anyway, if Colorado holds onto its 3-run lead over LA, then it looks like San Diego will have a 1-game wild card lead over the Rockies, Phillies, and Mets. Over the weekend, the Mets play Florida, the Phillies play Florida, while the Padres and Rockies draw Milwaukee and Arizona, respectively. Now only two of the four teams can make the playoffs, and one of them must come from the NL East. If I wasn't so into the Mets, I would be rooting hard for a 4-way tie.

In football, Anthony Morelli finally proved all those writers right on by phoning in the offense on Saturday afternoon. Unless something crazy happens over the next couple of months, he will be considered a major bust of a quarterback. I'm not saying it's his fault; if scouts were always right, Tom Brady wouldn't be playing for New England (or maybe he would be, but as a 1st round pick?). However, the general opinion remains that if Morelli had lived up to the hype, the Lions would be contending for a national title this year. Instead, we're hoping not to lose to Illinois in Champagne this Saturday. While Illinois held Indiana's Kellen Lewis to 5.2 yards per passing attempt last week, their own passing attack was terrible, as Juice Williams managed just 3.5 YPA. The game will likely be decided on the ground, where Illinois dominated last week, and PSU should go to keep Morelli out of 3rd and long situations. Penn State's linebackers got a workout last week courtesy of Mike Hart ("WHAT A PERFECT LAST NAME!!!"--ESPN), but they will have their hands full again with this kid. I like State to win by about a touchdown (they're minus 3.5 this week).

So, yeah. Big weekend coming up. Can't wait to see who's playing in the NL playoffs. Even if the Mets don't make it, there's always the Giants on Sunday night! Right? right? Well maybe the Mets will make the playoffs.

Return to the Abyss!

As if getting swept by the Phillies wasn't enough, the Mets continued to torture their fanbase by dropping two straight to the Nats. New York took early 4-run leads in each game in Washington, but suffered Philadelphia-like pitching collapses in the later innings. Just like in the previous losing streak, there is now no confidence to be had in the Mets' pitching. We can only hope that they can turn it around. During a postgame interview, Willie was his stoic self, but he did mention that the Mets would be "sipping champagne" at the end of the pennant race. Is that a guarantee? At least SOMEONE'S confident.

In the NFL, Washington MIGHT ACTUALLY field a serious team for the first time in years (I don't count the team that almost lost to Chris Simms in the playoffs). It hasn't been proven whether this has more to do with their surprisingly stingy defense (did anyone else know they got London Fletcher?) or with a GOOD YOUNG QUARTERBACK. Seriously, Jason Campbell looks like he's for real. But that's what everyone said about Eli before he was bad before he was good before he was bad before he was good again. Yeah so the jury's still out on Eli.

In other news, people need to leave Anthony Morelli alone until he actually blows the game that everyone is acting like already happened. He's 3-0. He's made more good throws than bad ones. He's had some good luck (the TD catch by Norwood on an awful pass) and some bad (the INT vs. ND with Williams in single coverage). He hasn't been perfect, but we haven't been winning in spite of him. Just wait until after the Michigan game to jump all over him. The game could make or break his career at Penn State.

I can only hope PSU pulls through this weekend, because my pro team, the New York Football Giants, are putting forth their worst defensive effort in my lifetime. Seriously, I spent my whole childhood praying that we could find someone to throw the ball. Kerry Collins had one good season and we make the Super Bowl. Now Eli looks like he's ready to break out, and our linebackers can't cover or tackle or do anything that contributes to stopping the other team's offense. Just think of what the '97 team could have done with Eli at the helm. That team went 10-5-1 with DANNY KANELL.

By the way, St. Louis and Philly are now in the bottom of the 13th inning of a game in which Miguel Cairo is batting 3rd for the Cards. Pujols is just entering now as a pinch hitter with 1 out and nobody on. If he doesn't end the game now, I don't think it ever will end.

Some Wild Tales

Well it's been a while...

Since I last posted here a lot of weird stuff has happened...

• The 49ers beat the Cardinals in the most exciting game of the week (sorry Denver)
• The Eagles lost another tough one (Green Bay scores most of it's points as a direct result of fumbled punts). Philly fans haven't been this miserable since Matt Bryant kicked a field goal from somewhere around mid field to help Tampa beat the Eagles almost a year ago.
• The Giants showed some serious defensive deficiencies
• Chris Mortenson lied about the severity of Eli's shoulder injury ("one month" has suddenly changed to "he might play vs. Green Bay")
  
• The Browns traded Charlie Frye, lost to the Steelers by 20, and are still only getting 4.5 points against Cincy this week. Unbelievable.

The craziest thing was perhaps Bill Belichick and his dynamic Patriots team being accused of videotaping the Jets' signs. I don't know if I'm more confused that this is a surprise (Belichick just looks really sketchy in that sweatshirt) or as to why it's worth cheating against the Jets.

Here's a great column about a couple of Pats fanatics trying to deal with the fact that their team in now more evil than the Yankees.

Meanwhile the Mets just keep on winning. The lead is back up to 7 games just in time for another meeting with the Fightin' Phils. Remember, the Mets were 6 games up prior to the last series. I remember sitting in a computer lab right after the 11-10 debacle and listening after rejuvenated Philly fan after rejuvenated Philly fan walked into the lab, went to ESPN.com and exclaimed in awe "Wow, the Phils just swept the Mets!" This happened at least once every 2 minutes. Absolute torture.

By the way, here's the recap and box score of the Mets' 4-3 win over Atlanta from Mets Geek.com. Surprisingly, New York has beaten Smoltz twice in a row. Not surprisingly, that doesn't mean the Mets have hit Smoltz. Great outings from Maine and Glavine were the key.

One more thing: Greg Oden is going to miss the season with knee surgery. Really sad news for Blazers fans, Buckeye fans, and all basketball fans in general. If you like basketball, you were looking forward to watching this guy play. Just a real shame. Let's hope he makes a full recovery.

First double-dose football weekend!

Yesterday was a great day. Not only did the Nittany Lions defeat the Irish in the first all-stadium white out (ie: "White House") in Beaver Stadium history, but Tom Glavine nearly pitched a perfect game en route to a 3-1 Mets victory.

Although the Penn State v. Notre Dame matchup started unexpectedly (Notre Dame scored first on a long INT return, and then Derrick Williams of PSU returned a punt for a TD), the game continued in a manner expected by most fans. That is, Jimmy Clausen got sacked multiple times while the Lions put up a decent offensive display. While the Penn State defense was outstanding (Notre Dame's only TD was the INT return), Morelli had a very ho-hum performance. 12/22 is nothing to write home about, but he did show a touch of greatness on a throw midway through the 3rd quarter. With the Lions up by just a touchdown, and facing 3rd and 4 from their own 41, Morelli dropped back and thread a pass between two defenders to reach Chris Bell well beyond the first down marker. Bell then took off to eventually gain 51 yards on the play, and PSU eventually punched it in the end zone. Although it's somewhat discouraging that Morelli's other 11 completions only led to 80 yards, the strike to Bell showed that both the senior QB and sophomore WR are capable of making big plays this year.

The best part of the victory, however (at least for me), was PSU's ability to run down the clock with the run in the 4th quarter. Running the ball effectively was made to be somewhat of an issue after Austin Scott's struggles against FIU, but it was made clear in this game that PSU could run over a defense if it needed to.

By the way, Jimmy Clausen went 17/32 for 144 yards. When he was able to release the ball, he was pretty effective, and I think he'll be great for the Irish down the road (based on one game).

In preparation for the NFL season, ESPN's Tuesday Morning Quarterback has written a great article about how more effective NFL offenses could be if they just took a chance on 4th down once it a while. Very interesting stuff.

Also, if you love Moneyball (and if you know me, you know I do), then you should take a look at this page. Some very enlightening material there.

Anyway, besides the first NFL Sunday of the year, I get to look forward to Pedro's return to Shea Stadium. Hopefully we'll get to see some of the new call-ups. I know Humber looked pretty decent in his first major league appearance a couple of days ago.

Last thing: A couple of GREAT college football game that I think might have been missed by partying PSU fans (fortunately Dan G and I caught a lot of the action):

1) USF's overtime upset of Auburn.
2) Wisconsin's close call in Vegas

Only 30 minutes until NFL football! Good luck everyone!

Required Reading

So what if the Mets got owned up by a pitcher who no one has ever heard of (and probably never will)? Not only did the rival Phils give up an 8-2 lead in just 2 innings to somehow lose and keep the deficit at 5 games, but football season finally started today.

The dominant performance by Indianapolis was probably enough to place them at the top of most experts' "power rankings." It's rare to see a team playing at as high a level as the Colts were tonight. Just think of what it would have been like had they not spotted the Saints 7 points on the Wayne fumble.

So even though I just took a subtle shot at power rankings, I really wanted everyone to read Part 1 of Bill Simmons' preseason rankings. Unlike most "rankings" columns, Simmons' is more than a glorified look at the standings. A must read for any NFL fan. Also, if you're like me and love to follow all the uniform changes from year to year (lots of throwbacks this year, people!), than you should read this column.

It's too bad Appalachian State didn't schedule any more Top 25 schools this year, because they could soon be in the Top 25 themselves! It's not ducktales (the new, cooler way of saying "BS"), check it out.

By the way, there are now conference power rankings. Now there'll be a way to settle all those arguments .... pause... NOT! Anyway, the Big Ten dropped BEHIND THE BIG EAST because of Minnesota and Michigan blowing home games to a couple of schools that no one can locate on a map (Bowling Green is in Ohio, A-State is in North Carolina). However, those loses should not in any way convince you to not boycott SI for even suggesting that the Big Ten is the 5th best conference.

In local news, Jimmy Clausen is indeed going to be literally thrown into the lions' den on Saturday. This morning, the line was at 16.5, so bet on the Nits while you can. Meanwhile, a trio of Collegian reporters took a recent trip to South Bend to dig up even more on the Irish.

So that's it for today. As usual I can't wait for this weekend. It should be a heck of a time. Only 2 more classes before a full 2 days of football. BOOM!

7 RBIs from WHO?

So did anyone see Paul LoDuca's 2HR, 7-RBI night coming? How about Shawn Green's 3/5 including a double and a stolen base? Meanwhile, Perez gives up 5 runs in 5 innings (5BB, 2K), Wright and Reyes go a combined 0/10, and the Mets still win. How good?

Although I was doing Tax and Spanish homework for about an hour during the game, I could tell it was one of those where the Mets' lineup decided they weren't going to be stopped. Here were my two favorite parts of the game:

1) Beltran hit a fly ball into center field, which was followed by Keith Hernandez exclaiming, "he just missed it [a home run]!" which was followed by the ball actually going over the fence for a home run.
2) Reyes going 0/5, contradicting the stat they always show to make us believe that the Mets' offense is completely dependent on Reyes. Not tonight.

In another MLB game, the Phillies got a surprisingly solid performance from Kyle Lohse (gee, the Reds could've used him tonight) to push the Braves back further in the NL East. Atlanta is now closer to last place than to first place. Hopefully for them, Brian McCann turns out to be better than Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

So what about Entourage? Roomie Jake and I somehow forgot to watch on Sunday night, but we miraculously ran into it tonight at 11pm just 4 minutes into the episode. Easily one of the best Johnny Drama episodes ever. Really great way to end the season. I'm very satisfied. I won't ruin it for you.

By the way, look who's back at Giants camp! No one will ever know why Strahan was REALLY missing time (although all evidence points to his just not wanting to practice), but I'm glad to have him back for the regular season. Also, Jeremiah Trotter signed with the Tampa Bay Bucs, while former Buc Simeon Rice is rumored to be talking to the Broncos.

Finally, if you like fantasy football (and if you're a male, you probably do), here's a nice article about Larry Johnson. And one on Brandon Jacobs. Too bad you already picked your running backs already. Incidentally, we should do something to measure how often these "fantasy gurus" are actually right about stuff. Being an NFL junkie, I don't feel like writing columns about which football players are going to take off this year would be that hard. O well.

ONE MORE THING: The Mets have now won 5 straight games for the FIRST time this season. Isn't that funny? AND I finally found the 2nd dungeon in Zelda 1 last night. Hallelujah.

The (other) Empire Strikes Back

What's that? The Mets still aren't tanking? Time for a post!

The Mets rolling off four straight victories the face of what the writers would call "adversity" has to do with two very simple things.

1) the starters are pitching better
2) the bullpen is pitching better

That's it. When they pitch, they win. They will always hit. Even when Shawn Green is in the lineup. There are a few games where the Mets MIGHT struggle to score some runs, but more or less, this has been the trend.

After the four game debacle in Philadelphia I remember hearing one writer/analyst talking about how the series could be a serious psychological blow to the Amazins. I (optimism) thought they had a chance to right the ship, but have been surprised at how quickly they have done so. It makes sense, however, considering the Phillies' recent slide has been just as surprising as the Mets' winning streak.

O well. Here's the important part: Just as Willie deserved criticism for some of the team's mistakes in Philly, so must he be complimented for the recent turnaround. Now I haven't listened to WFAN since Thursday, so I'm not sure how the majority of the fan base has reacted. I can only hope that some of the Willie-bashers have apologized at least a little bit.

Anyway, here's some notes from the recent victory over Cincinnati, which I failed to witness thanks to having a life (kind of).

• Pedro made his first start of the year! He gave up 2ER in 5IP with 4K and 3BB. Not great numbers, but everyone seemed optimistic about it.
  
• "'Can't ask for anything better than that,' manager Willie Randolph said. 'He's amazing. I shouldn't even be surprised, really. Pedro was superb.'"
• David Wright homered again. How can you not love number 5?
• Moises Alou: 3/3 plus a homer. His OPS is .897, but only 231 ABs
  
• Bullpen: 1ER in 4 innings. They've been phenomenal the last few games. They definitely deserve a pat on the back.

So, yeah, in other news, Penn State v. Notre Dame ticket prices are dropping dramatically thanks to ND's less than stellar showing against Georgia Tech. With PSU now a heavy favorite, fans can now acquire tickets with ease. Unfortunately, that, combined with Michigan's loss does little to help PSU's strength of schedule in the early going. Likewise, 4-0 looks a lot more possible than it did last week. That said, Michigan is still going to big VERY TOUGH (and likely a pretty big favorite) against PSU on September 22nd.

Still no Metroid Prime 3 impressions. I really can't wait to play this game; it's just that I need to find the right time to really get into it. Meanwhile, I can't get enough of the old-school games I've downloaded, Zelda I and Super Metroid. The online store works great, and now there's even a cool news channel that updates relatively frequently. It's just more proof that the Wii is superior (as though we needed it).

The start of September

It's Saturday night, so of course I'm just sitting in my room typing. It's not that I didn't get invited to a party; it's just that I'm too tired to go out tonight. Really. Seriously. I swear.

Anyway, here's a few interesting things that happened this weekend (so far)...

The Mets have started to turn things around with a couple of big victories in Atlanta. Not only has Carlos Delgado found his groove with a home run in each of the first two games in the series, but pitching has improved dramatically (not that surprising considering the change of venue, but still...). In fact, John Maine and Mike Pelfrey were both spectacular. It was nice to see Maine pitching well again, but what was really great was watching Mike Pelfrey pitch like a first round draft choice (6IP, 1H, 3BB, 7K). Even relief pitching has improved. On Friday night, Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoenweis EACH pitched a scoreless inning. Then, this afternoon, Pedro Feliciano pitched two innings and struck out 5 of the 6 men he faced. YIKES. And speaking of strikeouts, the other Pedro (ie: Martinez) is supposedly starting on Monday vs. Cincinnati. Get excited.

Now, since this IS America, I might as well talk about college football. This blog's feature team Penn State played a tune-up game against Florida International University and triumphed 59-0. The offense had some hiccups, but played well overall. Morelli had a fun time, completing 23/38 for 295 yards. Evan "Rolls" (thanks Dan L) Royster and Rodney Kinlaw lead the rushing attack (Austin Scott disappointed), while Jordan Norwood topped all receivers with 92 yards. It's always good to win by 50 points or more, but it's still too early to tell how the season will go. Remember when everyone was pissed off because PSU didn't win by enough in the 2005 opener?

Meanwhile, the University of Michigan played a tune-up game against Division I-AA champ Appalachian State. This one didn't got too well for U of M, who lost 34-32, in what could end up being the biggest upset of the season. IMHO Michigan will bounce back and contend for the Big 10 title. After all, with A-state being better than all I-AA teams, it's hard to measure how good they are without much D-I competition. So, they could really be THAT could (you never know). The problem for A-state is that they've already peaked. What do they do now? Everyone they're going to play will be 100 times worse than Michigan. I'll be shocked if they don't win a title. Here's one more thing: if both Michigan and A-state go undefeated the rest of the year, should A-state get a shot of the D-I title? They won't, but they should.

Probably the most amazing part of the day was staying until the very end of PSU's victory, then joining a crowd under the bleachers watching the end of the Michigan v. Appalachian State game on an 18-inch TV. Before long, we were packed in, with barely any room to move (or breathe), and everyone was screaming and cheering as though they were still in the bleachers. Although it was fun to be part of the Michigan-hater crowd, I couldn't help feeling like the mass-inferiority complex of the fans was a little pathetic. It's not as though Penn State now has a better chance of winning the Big Ten now. Still, a wild scene.

By they way, I STILL haven't played Metroid Prime 3. I'm disappointed in myself.

Not Again!

So... the Mets blew it again this afternoon, losing another close game to the Phillies. This time the final score was 11-10, and Billy Wagner the main scapegoat. Both starters fell apart early, and after an Aaron Sele implosion, the Mets trailed 8-5 after 7 innings. Fortunately, Antonio Alfonseca took the hill for Philly, so it was only a matter of time before the Mets scored 5 runs to take a 10-8 lead heading into Philly's half of the 8th. That's when everything got a little crazy.

I have to agree with Willie's decision to bring in Wagner to pitch the 8th. After all, it was the heart of the Philly order. Billy allowed a Burrell home run between strikeouts of Utley and Howard. Not great, but okay. The real argument is whether Willie should have let Wagner continue into the 9th or not. Despite the home run, the strikeouts seemed to show that he had his stuff, but they were lefty hitters who Billy has a natural advantage over. This is critical, because in the 9th, Billy's weakness was his failure to finish hitters. He got ahead of Werth only to allow a single. After Ruiz flied out, Wagner let Werth steal 2nd base. That hurt. I knew it was over when Werth stole 3rd. Talk about a team losing focus in a big moment. Lo Duca (who came on in the 8th after DiFelice was pinch hit for during the rally), and Wagner have to keep that runner as far from home as possible. Anyway, Iguchi fell behind, but singled anyway, stole 2nd (that's 3 STOLEN BASES IN ONE INNING VS A LEFTY) and scored after a Rollins intentional BB and an Utley single.

Mets good: ND Chavez (2/5 2 R, 2 RBI), D Wright (3/4, 2 R)
Mets bad: Wagner, Sele, El Duque were just awful

Phillies good: Burrell (2 HR), Howard (3/5, HR, 2 RBI), Werth (2/4, 2 SB)
Phillies bad: Lohse, Alfonseca were atrocious

Cause of loss: the Mets' bullpen continues to let them down again and again. It's worth noting that Schoenweis and Feliciano combined for a scoreless 2 and 1/3 innings, but such decency is worthless if the closer chokes, and that's exactly what happened here. Should Heilman have pitched the 9th? Tough to say, but it's hard to imagine this one finishing differently no matter who was pitching. The bullpen is just extremely soft right now. Obviously, El Duque and Sele contributed to this loss as well, but the terrible performances by Lohse and Alfonseca balanced it out, leaving Wagner seemingly responsible.

Meanwhile, the Yanks continue to pound out wins despite the annoying "rules" surrounding their stud soon-to-be starter Joba Chamberlain. You have to think that when things start to get really tight, Joba will be unleashed, but what about right now? After all, these games do count just as much as later ones, and I don't know how much more Kyle Farnsworth my Yankee fan friends can take. If they keep winning, it's not an issue, but as soon as an inferior middle reliever blows a game, it's going to get ugly.

In other news, Nintendo is going to have a great quarter thanks to the recent release of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and the upcoming releases of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Although MP3 has already been unofficially crowned best game on Wii, the title may only last a couple of months. That's based on the impressions I've read on Super Mario Galaxy. It's really an exciting time to be a Nintendo fan. And that's without the year's most anticipated (IMHO) Wii title: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (the 3rd Smash game). Nintendo updates the site every weekday, and the game looks better and better every day.

That's it for tonight. Next time: the Mets visit Atlanta, and college football begins

The 2nd Blog Begins

I have a new rule for my life. Every time my favorite baseball team humiliates themselves 3 nights in a row in Philadelphia, I have to start the blog again.

Just don't worry about me. I've already got the regular instant messages. Dad already sent me the "I'm crying myself to sleep" message and annoying Philly fan number 553,224 sent me the "phillies won!!!1" message (yes there really was the "1" there. how good?).

Really, I'm over it. The bad guys are still 3 games up and The Duke is pitching again Philly's secret weapon Kyle Lohse. I'm perfectly okay with the fact that we lost because Marlon Anderson slid into Tad Iguchi too hard. It's fine. Really.

The part that PISSES ME OFF is Jose Reyes getting picked off TWICE in the same game. He cost us at least one run, and probably two. Finally Sosa gets some strikes across and we can't score any runs. FANTASTIC.

Recap
Mets good: Wright (2/3 and a homer), Sosa (2.0IP, 1H, 1K)
Mets bad: Castillo (0/4), Reyes (AARRRRGH!!!)

Phillies good: Rollins (2/4 and a homer), Moyer (6.0IP, 4K)
Phillies bad: Rowand (golden sombrero!), Myers (could've, should've, would've blown the save)

ONE MORE THING: Oliver struck out 10, but his 5 walks (one to Moyer!) and 2 HR killed the Mets. 10 Ks are great, but not when the K/BB rate is a pedestrian 2.

On a brighter note, I picked up Metroid Prime 3 on Tuesday. Pretty much every legit gaming publication (read: IGN and Nintendo Power) say it's the best game on Wii. If that doesn't get you excited... well you're probably not as nerdy as I am.

Anyway, I haven't got around to playing it yet, but I'm sure it will be a blast and a half.

So it's almost 2 am now. Next time (no idea when), it will be more Mets, more Phillies, something about those wonderful Joba Rules, and Nintendo's killer (to my GPA) fall lineup.