Weekend Review

NOTE: The Gophers have signed PG Justin Cobbs, meaning my dreams of Eric Bledsoe are not to be. I will write more on this at some point probably.


WHO WAS AWESOME

1. USA! USA! Nice win for the US team to take back the Ryder Cup for the first time in a hundred years or something. The entire tourny was a good watch, with the US jumping out to a big lead on the morning of Day 1 and never looking back. Special note goes to Hunter Mahan, who led the US team in total points, and Anthony Kim, who beat Ryder Cup superstar Sergio Garcia in the first match of singles play and set the tone for the US on Sunday.

2. Ian Poulter. It wasn't just about the Americans this weekend, as Poulter let everyone know he is for real, going 4-1-0 to lead all players in points. When Poulter was taken by Faldo as one of his captain's picks there was a lot of second guessing, wondering if he should have gone with an established Ryder player like Darren Clarke or Colin Montgomerie, but Poulter certainly shut up all those second guessing commies. He may be ready to take a big step forward in his game next season.

3. BYU. Don't look now, but the fighting mormons are 4-0 and kicking the piss out of the less pious teams in their way. The won 44-0 over Wyoming this weekend, following up a 59-0 whooping of UCLA. They have a tremendous offense, lead by QB Max Hall, who is completing 75% of his passes so far, with 15 TDs to just 2 INTs. The defense isn't too shabby either, only allowing five TDs in their four games thus far. They could very easily end up going undefeated and ending up in a BCS game, with their toughest game being the season finale against the fellow unbeaten crazy mormons of Utah U.

4. Gopher Football. I suppose if I'm mentioning 4-0 football teams, I should bring up the mighty mighty Gophers. I didn't watch the game, mostly because they suck and are boring, but it sounds like a thorough ass-whooping of a revenge game. Things area about to get very real in a hurry for our beloved Gophers, as next Saturday the head on over to Columbus to take on THE Ohio State University. It ain't gonna be pretty.

5. Gus Frerotte. He certainly wasn't a superstar, but threw for over 200 yards and led the team to victory. How crazy was it to see someone actually know how to play quarterback wearing purple? I actually saw him look both right and left, it was crazy. I swear T-Jax was playing some version of call your field when he dropped back. Nice to see an actual professional back there.

WHO SUCKED

1. Minnesota Twins. I have no doubt there are those of you out there still holding out hope and believing in the crap face team, but they pretty much blew their final chance only getting a split against Tampa. They managed to squeak out the first game by getting crazy lucky, and finished out the series with a gem from Liriano, but in between they looked like total ass. The Sox have done everything they can to give the division to the team, winning just 2 out of their last five, but they continue to refuse to take it. Down 2.5 games with just six remaining, it's not mathematically over, but this team sucks so brutally bad I don't see any possible way this is happening.

2. East Carolina. Wasn't that long ago I was writing here about how the Pirates were awesome, and now the suck after dropping an easy win against NC State over the weekend. Look, a team like ECU from a conference like C-USA pretty much needs to go undefeated to have a chance at a BCS game. The Pirates were in great shape to do so, and with wins over VA Tech and WVU already were a shoo-in for a BCS Bowl. Now? They'll probably end up playing the Gophers in the Poulan Weedeater Independence Bowl.

3. New England Patriots. Yikes. I guess if you're going to end your 21 game regular season winning streak at home against the crappy Dolphins, getting rolled by 25 is the way to do it. I thought Cassell might be able to handle his business, but now it looks like the Pats are in trouble in a big way. Suddenly those of us who traded for Randy Moss from panicked owners in our fantasy leagues have become panicked owners ourselves. Think they've called Culpepper yet?

4. Cleveland Browns. Oh oh, everyone's happy little sleeper team has turned out to be a giant pile of crap. Derek Anderson was a pro bowler last year, but suddenly has turned into Tavaris Jackson without the running part. And my guy, Braylon Edwards, is looking to shatter the NFL record for drops. Um, he's not so much my guy anymore. And speaking of horrible predictions....

5. Houston Texans. WORST. SLEEPER. PICK. EVER.

Weekend Review

I'm going to try to do this every Monday now. Odds are, it won't be very consistent. Oh well.

WHO WAS AWESOME:

1. Michael Turner. Jumped head first into his new starting gig, leading all rushers with 220 yards and 2 TDs and jump starting all three of my fantasy teams to victory. Scored a 66 yd TD on one of his first few carries and it was all easy from there. On a related note, the Lions tackle like the Gophers

2. Gopher Football. Speaking of the Gophers, awesome might be a tad strong for it but they are certainly better than I expected. Let's not pretend Bowling Green is the world's greatest opponent, but I figured they were set up to blow the Gophers out of the water, especially at home. The defense turned the Eagles over five times, and the offense was good as expected. Maybe there's a little life in these guys. They should go into the Big Ten season at 4-0 now, and could easily squeak out two wins and head to a bowl. A great accomplishment this season.

3. Willie Parker. I thought he was done. A lot of people did, possibly including his own team after drafting Rashard Mendenhall. Parker served notice that he's still the man, going for +100 yds and three TDs, while Mendenhall got ten carries, mostly in garbage time, and did pretty much nothing. Pittsburgh looks very, very good, and suddenly my sleeper pick of the Texans has me worried, Andre Johnson awesomeness (10 catches, 112 yards).

4. Camilo Villegas. Pretty much lead the BMW the whole way, and didn't fold in the end despite having Jim Furyk take the lead in the final round. Came back and held off Anthony Kim in a duel that was fun to watch to take his first ever PGA tour victory.

5. Britney Spears. Watched the VMAs. She's hot again.

WHO SUCKED:

1. Tom Brady. Well, sucked is maybe not the right word, but getting hurt for the season certainly sucks for Brady, the Patriots, all of New England, all the girls (and boys) who would like to make sweet, sweet love to Mr. Brady, and several million fantasy owners (suck it, Dharma Bum). Personally, I'm bummed. I want the Patriots to fail with no excuses, not have a built in reason for failure. At least they won for me in my survivor pool.

2. Indianapolis Colts. Sorry Sidler, and if you'd like to expound on this, please do, but they looked god awful. I know the Bears are a solid-to-great defensive squad, but that was embarrassing. I have no idea if it was because Peyton was out all preseason and their timing is screwy or what, maybe it's the new stadium. I don't know, but it was awful. With them looking awful, the Chargers playing poorly, and Brady's injury, the Steelers are looking like a good pick right now.

3. Ted Ginn. I know he's not exactly a great player yet, but I was expecting a bit of a splash. 19 total yards and a fumble is not a way to take a step forward in your career. I don't know, maybe I'm just an idiot.

4. West Virginia. This is more of a pro-East Carolina thing, but I already have five positives above. The Pirates have now beaten two ranked teams in West Virginia and Virginia Tech, and with a pretty easy CUSA schedule in front of them could be in line for a BCS bowl bid. As for the Mountaineers, they have a schedule left that leaves them plenty of opportunity to get back in the BCS picture, but it's pretty clear that Pat White is no Major Harris.

5. The Twins. Way to keep sucking bullpen, great job.

MINI RANT:

Why, why, why do people lie about insignificant things nobody cares about? Here at work we have six people, most of whom get in between 7:30 - 9:00 every morning. I'm one of these. We have one guy who always tells people how he gets in before 7, usually by 6:30. Now, with a baby, no matter how genius-level her intelligence, she does some weird things in her sleep schedule and sometimes I'm up really early so I just head into work. In the approximate 100 days I've worked this job, I've ended up going in before 7 probably ten times. You know how many of those times this guy has been there when I arrived? Zero. Dude, you aren't here every day by seven. Sure, maybe sometimes. Maybe most of the time, but I find it pretty suspicious that you haven't been in even once when I get here early. Why lie? It makes no sense. Just say you try to get in before seven, ass. Nobody is impressed, and you're a damn dirty liar.