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| This picture has been included to make me laugh and to make my friends to shake their heads! |
I am sick of everyone always saying "MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK", so for this piece we will go with the silly Tuesday Morning Hangover title, considering it took 18 beers to get through the NY sports events this past Monday night.
The Rangers just wrapped up another home game, with another shoot-out loss this past Monday night. This was going to be a tough test for the Rangers, considering they were missing many starters due to injuries and suspensions, as talked about in my last blog here on DOINow.com.
For a team featuring 7 non-starters (McIlrath, Talbot, Kotska, Malone, Hunwick, Allen, & Mueller), I thought the Rangers played a good game. The Rangers blew several opportunities at the net and there was no puck luck to be found. Poor Rick Nash, a league leader in goal scoring, missed his chance to hit the double digit mark in goals several times in the contest.
The Rangers, taking on the hot St. Louis Blues, were banged up, but I liked what I saw. Both Anthony Duclair and Kevin Hayes, the two young studs of the Rangers, are living up to their billing. Duclair assisted on Chris Kreider's first goal of the game while Hayes continues to create goal scoring opportunities. I am hoping both continue their level of play as I think they have the potential to be the cornerstones of the Blueshirts in seasons to come.
Matt Hunwick, receiving a ton of ice time this season due to the injury of Dan Boyle, continues to impress and plays a solid defensive game. He could be a diamond in the rough for the New York Rangers.
While Conor Allen, who played several games for the Blueshirts last year, had a defensively sound game, he didn't make much noise. His Hartford Wolfpack counterpart, defenseman Dylan McIlrath made his presence felt for the team, for better or worse.
I am a McIlrath fan. I think the Rangers need that goon who can make other teams fear playing dirty or being liberal with their checks. However, McIlrath takes way too many stupid penalties and needs to improve his speed. Whether McIlrath can figure out some discipline and hold his own cleanly remains to be seen. He is obviously nervous playing in the World's Most Famous Arena, but at some point, he needs to be accountable for his actions. Taking penalties, that lead to power-play goals, for the opposition will not be tolerated by Alain Vigneault.
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| A future Vezina Winner?
With fat cat Henrik Lundqvist getting the day off, rookie Cam Talbot held down the net for the second time this season. Cam Talbot, making nearly 1/20th the salary as the King, gave the Rangers the same result as this past Saturday night - a shootout loss in the third frame. Hank, making $8.5 Million this season compared to Talbot's half a million a year deal doesn't seem much of a deal, does it?
The Rangers, who could use some of Hank's exorbitant contract to sign some defensemen (How bad are Ranger fans missing Anton Stralman right now?) made the best of a bad situation, salvaging a point in last night's contest. However, it looked like the Rangers should've won the game, as they had several opportunities to put the game away in the third period during a scramble to the net and seemed to have a Nash OT goal winner.
Talbot, who this writer thinks is a great piece of talent to a fault, where I have an on-going joke with several friends about his abilities (Cam Talbot is so good that he cured cancer!) , put out a valiant effort, despite playing his second NHL game this season. The defense broke down several times, leading to soft goals for the Blues, but Talbot made incredible saves to keep the Rangers in the contest. Talbot was tested, and despite giving up 3 goals, made an incredible 31 saves.
If there is anything to worry about right now as a Ranger fan, sans the injuries, is the fact that the Rangers are still taking time to figure things out. The injuries are a major factor, but Ranger fans would rather this happen with the majority of the games on the road. The Rangers lead the league in home games played this season and with 10 in the month of November, the Rangers need to pick up two points on their home ice. Getting one-point moral victories in OT is nice on the road, but it is here, at home, that the Rangers need to make some noise. All these home games now, will lead to tough road games later on in the season.
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| Eli Manning, the man who possesses the worst body language in all of sports
As much as I love my New York Rangers & New York Yankees, I am also a diehard Giants fan. However, I admit, it's time to throw in the towel. Despite injuries to division rival quarterbacks Tony Romo & Nick Foles, this Giants team will not make the playoffs for one simple reason - they can't defend the pass.
Last night's Monday Night Football contest between the red-hot Colts and Giants, was another example of the Giants having no pass defense whatsoever. Just like in the Philly and Dallas game, the Colts were seemingly 38433375734737 out of 38433375734737 on third down whenever they passed the ball. You can say whatever you want about the Giants missing their top two running backs (Wilson & Jennings) and their best receiver (Victor Cruz), but the fact is that the Giants allow more first downs during the opponent's third down than any other team in the league.
Who would've thought, that during week 9, in this year's NFL season, that the Buffalo Bills would have more wins than their "NY" counterparts combined?
The Colts threw the ball 85% of the time and had no issues doing so. The Giants swiss cheese pass defense allowed Andrew Luck to rape them like a drunk sorority girl at Ben Roethlisberger's house. They had 15 days to prepare for this game and instead were embarrassed like sharting yourself at a quiet, but packed funeral.
I can't blame Eli. Despite having the worst body language I've ever seen from an athlete in my fucking life (Check my archives for more on this subject), it's not his fault. You can't win games when the defense is on the field watching the chains move every 120 seconds. It's time to switch defensive coordinators, but at 3-5, in a tough division and with a tough schedule, it's not going to happen until next year.
However for the majority of the Jets fans reading this, I've seen my team win 4 Superbowls in my life time, while you haven't seen anything except your best player get hammered & hit on Suzy Kolber like she was a cheap cocktail waitress!
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| What's worse, the WWE Stock Price or the Giants Pass Defense?
For my long-time readers, here is your wrestling stuff. For my new readers, feel free to share this column now and go on with your day.
QUICK THOUGHTS ON THE WWE, after watching RAW with beers in me:
- What was Stephanie McMahon wearing? She looked like she slaughtered a lesbian cow with that dress!
- What is the point of Brock Lesnar? The network numbers and stock price are down, no one is buying ppvs, he's booked as a heel so he doesn't move merchandise and he works 5 days a year? Plus he beat the best Wrestlemania draw in the Undertaker? And he doesn't have to do house shows to help attendance? And he doesn't move rating numbers nor add new advertisers? What's the fucking point? He's not going back to MMA, so tell him to fuck off unless he wants to do the job millions wish they had.
- If WWE was going to go this Brock route, they should've merged the US/IC titles a long time ago and put that belt on a legit draw like Cena or Orton. At least make that mid-card belt mean something, rather than in silly national angles (Nobody cares about Rusev) or on a perennial mid-card jobber. You have mid-card belts that mean absolutely nothing. At least if your world title is going to be off TV, build something up to give fans a reason to give a shit.
- Vince McMahon must be desperate by putting himself on TV again. The problem with the WWE network is that the people who could afford $10 a month are the people who missed the '90's or '80's wrestling. The kids who grew up in the 80's are now 40-50 years old, while fans of the attitude era are now 30+ years old with kids. The WWE today is PG. For the network to be successful, the current product needs to be successful. It's great WWE is worried about it's silly Mattel deal, but is the Mattel deal worth the network?
- John Cena is the greatest wrestler of all time, in my opinion. No headliner never had the run he had. No headliner never did as many shows as he did. No headliner created as many stars as he did. Just imagine what Cena would've been without the restrictions of the PG era.
- WWE needs to re-evaluate the PG era. Kids can't afford the network. They don't even have a fucking credit card. The WWE network is geared to someone like me, 32 years old, a homeowner, and has no problem watching old shit once in a while for $10 a month. Again, WWE needs to realize the network isn't marketable to their current audience. Making the product edgier, at perhaps the expense of their PG advertising and toy deals could lead to bigger gains with the network. Does the WWE really think their current target audience, 8-12 year old males, care about the nWo, Flair/Steamboat or WCCW? I can't believe the WWE thought this network would be successful. It is like advertising Guns & Beer on the Lifetime network.
- Bray Wyatt sucks. He's just a fat guy in a Hawaiian shirt. Oooooh, scary! Go watch Justified or Deliverance for the real thing.
- With a weak heel roster, why is WWE turning Orton babyface? With Lesnar having WWE by the balls for whatever reason, do you realize the number 2 heel in the company is Kane?
- I'm assuming HHH is wrestling at Survivor Series, in hope to pop interest in the Network. Again, HHH was on top 10 years ago. I wonder how many current fans remember his matches and look at him more today as a figurehead on TV?
- Steve Austin and The Rock would've never existed in today's WWE. Again, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING WWE?
- I feel bad for Daniel Bryan.
- Natalya is booked to be the biggest cunt heel in all of television history. I wonder how much $$$ that's making her.
- By putting on a sub-par main event and card during #FREEFREEFREE/Survivor Series, how does the WWE think that will entice people to buy this crap?
- Sometimes you gotta listen to your fans rather than what you force-feed. It's a shame WWE is going to let Dean Ambrose slip through their fingers.
- I will be watching The Walking Dead & Homeland instead of the Survivor Series unless WWE somehow brings back Chris Benoit.
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Thanks for reading!
Comments, hate mail and any other feedback can go to:
Sean McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com
NYCTHEMIC on the tweet tweet
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