InGameNow

NFL Suspends 6 over Steroids

December 3rd, 2008 | By Jack Newhouse Posted in NFL

The NFL suspended six players for violating the leagues steroid policy. While the players were not caught with steroids, they were caught for using a diuretic, which masks steroids. The NFL gave out a uniform suspension of 4 games per player, without pay.

The New Orleans Saints lost 3 players, including Deuce McAllister, Charles Grant, and Will Smith.

The Minnesota Vikings lost the heart of their defensive line, in having both Kevin Williams and Pat Williams suspended.

Shockingly, Bryan Pittman, long snapper on the Houston Texans, was also caught. Why a long snapper would do steroids, I do not know. Next thing you know, the towel boy will also be shooting up.

NFL’s Fantasy Football Awards

December 2nd, 2008 | By Jack Newhouse Posted in NFL

Here are InGameNow’s Fantasy Football Awards

Week 13 marks the end of the regular season for most Fantasy Football leagues. What better time to pass out this season’s Fantasy Football awards. We will hand out ROY, Sleeper of the Year, Bust of the Year, the best player at each position, and finally MVP.

Rookie Of the Year

Matt Forte, RB, Chicago Bears. Fantasy Football fans knew Forte was for real week 1, when he busted onto the NFL scene with 123 rushing yards and 1 td. Forte rushed for 1,012 yards in the first 13 weeks of the NFL season. Just as important, Forte has all ready seen the end zone 10 times. Chicago fans, and Fantasy Football GM’s involved in a keeper league, couldn’t be happier and this rookie’s performance.

Sleeper of the Year

Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers. InGameNow would like to publicly apologize for calling Aaron “Erin” this preseason, our minds were made up that he would fail in trying to replace Hall of Famer Brett Favre. We couldn’t have been more bearish on Rodgers, and he has proven to be the 3rd best QB in the league this season. In fact, Aaron’s 212 fantasy points are only 14 behind Drew Brees, the top scorer in all of Fantasy Football. What helps IGN rest peacefully at night, Rodgers was the 25th QB drafted this season in Yahoo leagues. Rodgers was taken behind players such as Carson Palmer, Brodie Croyle, Tarvaris Jackson, and JaMarcus Russell. While Green Bay fans can’t be satisfied with the Packers poor performance, (and Brett Favre winning with the New York Jets), Fantasy Football GM’s are giddy with there late round pick up.

Bust of the Year

Chad Johnson Ocho Cinco, WR, Cincinnati Bengals. First of all, I am not including injured players in this category. The New England PatriotsTom Brady would obviously be the worst case example, but players who missed significant playing time, such as Joseph Addai, Marques Colston, and Laurence Maroney would be included in the hunt. I want a player who flat out sucked, and Ocho Cinco is the perfect example. Maybe I am bitter that Johnson is on my team (I did drink the “he changed his name, he is going to have a HUGE SEASON” Cool Aid) but this guy was horrible this year. Johnson was the 13th WR drafted this season, putting him as the 33rd player taken over all. He scored 61 fantasy points, ranking him 48th in scoring. Both Roddy White and Calvin Johnson have more than doubled Ocho Cinco’s output. For the year, Johnson has 428 yards and 4 td’s. Last year, Johnson had 442 yards and 3 td’s after THREE WEEKS. This guy needs to spend less time at Best Buy buying his coach Christmas presents, and more time in the gym.

Positional Awards:

Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints. Brees is on pace to break Dan Marino’s record of 5,084 yards in a season. With a game left against the very porous Detroit Lions, Brees just might do it. This year, Brees has four 3 td games and one 4 td game. Considering he has done this with Marques Colston and Reggie Bush missing extended playing time, Brees is a lock to win this award. It should be pointed out that IGN recognizes the QB position is watered down this year, with Tom Brady being on IR, and Peyton Manning having a bad wheel.

Michael Turner, RB, Atlanta Falcons. In week 1, when Michael Turner rushed for 220 yards and 2 td’s, the only people more frustrated than San Diego Chargers fans, were Fantasy Football GM’s who passed on drafting Turner. Taken as the 17th running back, and 47th overall pick, Turner has truly come out of LaDanian Tomlinson’s shadow. With 1208 yards, 13 td’s, and 6 100 yard plus games, Turner has helped the Atlanta Falcons forget about Michael Vick.

Anquan Boldin, WR, Arizona Cardinals. Anquan Boldin edges out Larry Fitzgerald, Greg Jennings, Calvin Johnson, and Roddy White in a very tight race to be the top WR in the NFL. Boldin gets the nod for havnig the most points as a WR, despite the fact that he missed games due to a severe head injury suffered week 4. This season, Boldin has 942 receiving yards and 11 td’s in just 11 games. If Anquan had been healthy all season, he would have a realistic shot at being league MVP.

Tony Gonzalez, TE, Kansas City Chiefs. In what might be this season’s least sexy category, Gonzalez proves he is not over the hill at 32. Playing for a very weak Kansas City Chiefs team, Gonzalez has 73 receptions for 806 yards and 6 td’s.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Defense. Playing in the high scoring NFC South, Tampa Bay has scored the most points this fantasy season. What makes this impressive, is that the Bucs have the Carolina Panthers (9-3 this season) Michael Turner’s Atlanta Falcons (8-4 record) and Drew Brees’s New Orleans Saints (4th most points scored in the NFL this year).

Kicker- InGameNow does not see a difference between the top 8 kickers. They have scored between 116 and 110 points. In fact, the 14th best kicker has scored 100 points. This position is not important enough to earn an award!

Most Valuable Player

Kurt Warner, QB, Arizona Cardinals. Kurt Warner has lead the Arizona Cardinals to be the 2nd highest scoring offense in the NFL. Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald are the two best WR’s in the game. Warner is having an MVP caliber season, with 3741 yards, 24 td’s, and only 11 ints. Being drafted the 20th QB, and 113th player overall, Warner has beaten all expectations. Arizona’s only losses this season have been against powerhouses: the Washington Redskins, the New York Jets, the Carolina Panthers, the New York Giants, and the Philadelphia Eagles. Expect Warner to lead his team into to a playoff win this season, something that does not happen for the Arizona Cardinals.

Plaxico Burres in NYPD Custody

December 1st, 2008 | By Jack Newhouse Posted in NFL

New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress walked into a NYC police station under his own power and turned himself in to police.

Rumors are circulating that Burress will plead not guilty to felony illegal possession of a weapon.

TMZ is reporting that Burress will be arraigned at 100 Centre st. at 1pm today.

I am very interested to hear how you shoot yourself in the leg, then defend that you never possessed a gun. Should be an interesting day in court. Wonder if the NFL’s Roger Goodell will be in attendance?

Obama and McCain Affect Monday Night Football?

November 5th, 2008 | By Steuart Martens Posted in InGameNow, MLB, MMA, NFL

As I watched Chris Berman interview presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain last night during halftime of Monday Night Football, it struck me that sports and politics have seem more intertwined than ever during this election. We’ve had actual sports heroes in presidential elections before (Jack Kemp in ‘96 and Bill Bradley in ‘00 come to mind), but when’s the last time we saw so many references to “Hockey Moms” or so much attention given to sports bloggers
(see fivethirtyeight.com or this one!) for their politcal know-how? Which leads me to the question, which candidate will take the all important sports fan electoral college vote?

This is certainly a tired old sports storyline: the tired old veteran and the up and coming stud battle it out for the starting job. Not too far off from the plot of Any Given Sunday actually. Pretty close to the QB controversy in John McCain’s home state of Arizona, which should give him some hope as wiley vertern Kurt Warner continues to light up the scoreboard while the youngster, Matt Leinhert sits on the sidelines, waiting for old man Warner to keel over. Meanwhile, on Barack Obama’s turf, in Soldiers Field, the Bears had also learned to embrace change, going with Kyle Orton over the incumbent Rex Grossman, although to Obama’s dismay, after Grossman’s heroics last week they may be changing back to the old guard again. Obama’s path to the whitehouse also seems to be reminicent of the “come from nowhere” storyline. Much like the Tampa Bay Rays’, Obama was unheard of just a short time ago and his rise to prominence has been a historic one (until the big day, woops another bad omen for Barack). McCain, on the other hand, has been the comeback kid. Not too long ago, he was down and out, not unlike Phillies’ closer Brad Lidge. McCain, too, was ripped of his role as Presidential nominee in 2000, and had to wait his turn until this year and fought off adversity and made his way back to the top of his profession (that one bodes well for the Arizona Senator).

But not everything is rosy for the Republicans. The Washington Redskins, who have predicted the fate of the incumbent party at a 16-1 (the only misstep being last year) rate for presidential elections fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh, significant not only for its placement in the all-important swing state, but also the site where VP candidate Sarah Palin unfortunately confused as the “home of the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies” to a chorus of boos. Not to be outdone, Philadelphia, Boo-town,USA, also rained boos down on Palin before Pittsburgh when she dropped the ceremonial puck at a Philadelphia Flyers Game In addition to that John McCain is largely seen as an enemy to the US’s best chance of becoming an Olympic host in 2016, where Barack Obama’s home city of Chicago stands the best chance.

The players themselves, are not immune from election fever either. In fact, the locker room debates have gotten so intense that Cleveland Browns coach Romeo Crennel has ordered his players to leave politics for the offseason and out of the locker room. Professional athletes are a tricky bunch to predict, however, as they constitute two stereotypically constant blocks for both parties: black and rich. Redskins cornerback Fred Smoot spoke to this point saying, “We’re coming from Democratic backgrounds, but we got Republican money right now.” But according to his teammate, Philip Daniels, “I think this year more guys are not even thinking about the income part of it. They’re just really thinking about the economy and the country. A lot of people want change.” I know at least one former Red Sox pitcher that would disagree.

Whatever your politics, or sports affliation for that matter, all sports fans can agree that speculation and predictions are only good to pass the time until the main event. Well on November 4th, we have a chance to be more than just the 12th man cheering section, we get to be apart of the big game. And no matter what the pundits or athletes says, in the end it’s up to us. As they say, that’s why the play the game.

Does One Game Really Make A Difference?

November 2nd, 2008 | By Steuart Martens Posted in MLB, MMA, NBA, NCAA BB, NCAA FB, NFL, NHL, Uncategorized

What do the numbers 12, 16, 82, and 162 mean? Well, simply put, they are the number of games played in college football, professional football, basketball, and baseball.  While the numbers are all different, the end result that each team wants from those numbers is the same. Of the number of games they play, they want more of those games to end up as wins instead of losses, so they can continue on into the playoffs and hopefully walk away as a champion.

The other night while on the InGameNow site, someone mentioned how big it was the Knicks beat the Heat, in the first game of the season, and that it will completely define the Knicks season.  I find that hard to believe with 81 more games still on the schedule. But it got me thinking, how important is every game for our major sports, and so we’re going to break this one down.

College Football

College Football is the most unique of the major sports, in that your ranking, based on polls, determines your success in the postseason.  Now, in order to actually qualify for a bowl, only six wins are needed, so as long as a team can get themselves there, they are in good shape.  For the more prestigious programs with bigger trophies on the mind, six is a gimme number to them. Their success is defined by ten or more wins, and for some of the top tier programs, it has to be a perfect season. One loss can easily lower them from the polls and remove all semblance of hope of a national championship.

While it may be a flawed system most (myself included), no other sport highlights the fact that no matchup is guaranteed, and taking a day off to rest is just not part of the picture. Each game matters, and the teams perform up to those standards day in and day out.

Professional Football

Next up is the NFL, with 16 games in 17 weeks, and with only four playoff spots between the 16 teams in the conference, competition is tight. However, there are those teams that end up head and shoulders above the rest, and as the playoffs creep closer, upon clinching themselves a spot in the playoffs (usually, if its early enough, they’re also adding in home field advantage and maybe a bye week as well), choose to rest their weary starters and save their legs and strength for the post-season run.  For those good teams, they usually begin to do this around week 15, become extremely more prevalent during week 17.  However, I think this trend is going to start being bucked pretty soon.  Teams like the Indianapolis Colts, who since 2002 have been a playoff fixture, have had the habit of resting their starters around week 16 and 17, as well as the bye week, and what did they get for it? From 2002-2005, the Colts could not make the Super Bowl, and on three occasions from 2000-2007, they have been knocked out in their first appearance.

Now, during this past season the New York Giants had the opportunity to rest in the last week, but, due to the nature of the game (vs. Patriots in regular season finale, who were undefeated at this point), they chose to play their starters not just for a half, but for the entire football game. Sure, some got hurt, but what came of it? They kept their motivation and camrederie up through three straight road wins on their way to defeating the Patriots in the Super Bowl. It is that hope that we begin to see 17 straight weeks of challenging football, and not the current 15 and a month’s worth of rest for our better teams.

Basketball

Now, for some teams, winning every game matters (see Chicago Bulls 72-10 record), but for others, it’s not bad to sit a starter or two after a long road trip swing. Then you have the playoff factor.  Teams like the Spurs are extremely conservative during the regular season, banking on the fact that they will do enough in their division to earn a top four seed, while teams that have already been eliminated decide to use that opportunity to showcase players no one has ever heard of, and rest weary starters to save them in the hopes of making a playoff run next year.  For example, the Miami Heat, clearly eliminated last year, decided to place Dwyane Wade on the injured list, to let him heal up for a shot this year, and give the team a greater chance at a good draft pick.

Remember, in basketball, the team with the worst record gets the greatest number of chances at the top draft pick.  So, the top teams can take a day or two off during the season, and the bottom of the rankings give up as soon as they can. Doesn’t leave too many games the fans will see actual action, unless you’re a middle of the road team. Those are your daily grinders in the NBA.

Baseball

We save the longest for last (much like this blog), and let’s be perfectly honest, there is no way each team is going to put 100% effort for all 162 games. It is extremely common to see a team take some days off throughout the year because some personnel have to rest. The number of games combined with some west coast road swings can make a huge difference, and unless you’re closer to the playoff run at the end of the season, when you have your September call ups around anyways, how much are you going to care about losing a random game in June and in August. Sure, it has the potential to bite you in the butt at the end, but the teams are going to concern themselves with the present, especially if they know they will need the freshest bodies for a playoff run.  Finally, add into the fact that once again, your guaranteed teams are going to use September to rest the weary and give new faces a shot at making their case for next year, and its painfully obvious baseball is not a sport where every game matters every day.

So there you have it, four sports, and the importance of each game every day in their respective league.  Makes it a little more obvious why some sports are bigger during the regular season than the playoffs, and others fans don’t really pay attention to until it’s postseason time.

Athletes are underpaid and I DO feel sorry for Paul Peirce

November 1st, 2008 | By Steuart Martens Posted in InGameNow, MLB, MMA, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA BB, NCAA FB, NFL, NHL

If there’s one thing I cannot stand, it’s the winy sports fan. And the biggest wine of them all is the ridiculous beef that 90% of sports radio callers have and that’s the professional athletes are overpaid.

Well get ready to wine I think they should be paid more!

This nerve got struck again most recently after I read Bob Ryan’s Wednesday morning column where he called Paul Peirce’s Championship acceptance speech rambling, embarrassing, [and] self-indulgent. Not incredibly out of line, especially for this town, but when a few Boston radio hosts came to the defense of Peirce, saying that it was in no way embarrassing, especially after all that Pierce has had to go through with this team, both personally and professionally, all hell broke loose.

There is obviously going to be a lot of hate thrown at any athlete who cries on national television. It’s just sports for Pete’s sake! Grown men should only cry in bars watching sports or at home by themselves watching Rudy or Field of Dreams. Peirce was obviously going to get it for that, but after the Ryan comment along with the subsequent defense, out came the crazies. The common thread of the the argument came: Why am I supposed to feel bad for a guy making MILLIONS of dollars to play a SPORT??

Well you had no problem throwing every other emotion their way throughout their playing careers. You love them, you DESPISE them. You call them a superstar, a bum, a god, a cancer on the locker room, but you never call them human. To you, the salary makes them immune to pain, suffering, or any sympathy for hardships big (being stabbed within an inch of your life) or small (countless mediocre seasons). You don’t owe them anything because they have EVERYTHING.

This is often the battle cry of the very people that spend all day listening to sports radio at work, then come home to watch ESPN, go to the computer to check their fantasy lineup, before heading off to the arena to spend 5 times what they spend at the grocery store to watch sports. Apparently there are no mirrors in crazy sports fan town because you are your own worst enemy. I continually appalled by the lack of self-awareness it takes to call up a SPORTS radio station and complain that it’s just a game. If it were just a game to you, then you wouldn’t be listening to people talk about games. It’s okay to admit that you think sports are important. You’re not the only one.

Which brings me to my next point: the money. I guess I can understand why a guy who’s making pennies on the dollar to do hard labor can get pissed off seeing a guy complain about not feeding his family on multi-million dollar deals, but it’s not like they are asking for anything out of the means of the owners. Sports are a multi-billion dollar industry and the players are not the only people who feed their families off of its profits. Although they are the most crucial aspect of the cash cow that is professional sports. For example, Major League Baseball took in $6.075 billion in 2007 while only paying out just over $2 billion to the players. That leaves 2/3 of the profits to go to non players, who make up a considerably smaller portion of the overall MLB payroll. Is there any great injustice over how much money Jerry Jones or Al Davis or George Steinbrenner make? I mean is what they do any less of a game than the players?

For those of you who didn’t catch Peirce’s speech (as most of the sports radio callers admitted they hadn’t before they called to complain), you can listen to it here. And yes, it is self indulgent and he does ramble a little bit longer than he probably should, but that’s why I loved it and why I thought it was the furthest thing from embarrassing. Because I have been a Celtics fan from Peirce’s drafting up until now and I did feel bad for this guy. He was and is a superstar, one of the best in the league and he could have gone elsewhere and probably made more money, but he didn’t. He stuck through it even after a local rap group tried to kill him. He stuck through it as the organization continued to make horrible moves and trade away top commodities for mediocre talent. He stuck through terrible stretches of bad play with young, unproven teammates. The bad play did not, however, hurt the Celtics organization as fans, like myself, stuck by the team even through a 22 year championship drought for the League’s most storied franchise.

I felt bad for Paul, not out of sympathy, but because I went through it with him and it is sweeter because of the hard times. I know that if I had been up there, I would have rambled just as much and talked about how my father taught me to be a Celtics fan and how I idolized Larry Bird even though I don’t remember him ever winning a championship or how Red Auerbach is an honorary member of my family although he’s never met any of us. I got a little choked up watching him because I think he does understand that we went through it all with him. That’s why the fans continued to cheer throughout the rambling because we got it.

I hate to say it, but I felt a tinge of this same feeling last week as I watched my beloved Red Sox fall to the Tampa Bay [Devil] Rays. I have little to no respect for the Tampa fan base with their ridiculous cowbells and F-List celebrities and horrendous stadium, but as I watched in horror as they piled ontop of David Price, the TBS broadcast cut to Carl Crawford running in from left field. He did not make a straight B-Line to the mound, but rather sort of galloped in sideways, jumping up and down like a freakshow towards the fans. If he had not been Carl Crawford, a player I greatly admire and have often wondered why he remained with such a terrible organization, I would have rolled my eyes and turned off the television, but I know that that stupid, self-indulgent slapping of his chest was genuine and it wasn’t embarrassing as Mr. Ryan would probably suggest. It was what sports is all about. The player and the fans living in the moment. And they both got it.