HOME ABOUT US CONTACT US SUBSCRIBE ADVERTISE SITE MAP
|
|
HOME ABOUT US CONTACT US SUBSCRIBE ADVERTISE SITE MAP |
|
|
 |
|
Friday TIME: US | UK WEATHER: US | UK HOME THE NEIGHBORHOOD "Life in the UK" American Groups Essential Contacts Money Education Driving WHAT'S ON US Group Events Diary Dates Music Live FEATURES Politics blog SPORTS Features Sideline blog NFL Draft THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE ONLINE |
SIDELINE ARCHIVE Unnecessary Hits To The Pocket / Upset: BYU October 17, 2008 Romo's Pause / Seattle Seahawks October 15, 2008 Weekend Prep: Red River and More October 10, 2008 College Football's 'Crossroads' Weekend October 9, 2008 Gramatical Error October 7, 2008 Turning The Page September 30, 2008 So Cal 'Quizzed — But Who Will Answer? September 26, 2008 3rd Tuesday Panic Button / Forté Yard Dash September 23, 2008 Two and Oh; Oh and Two September 22, 2008 No More NCAAffeine September 11, 2008 Week 1 College Football September 6, 2008 How To Spell Heisman / Chad Ocho Cinco September 1, 2008 Why the Favre story STILL won't go away August 18, 2008 Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant August 14, 2008 Committee Meetings August 9, 2008 Let the QB Battles Begin August 8, 2008 Slinging The Slinger — More Favre August 6, 2008 Welcome to the 2008 season July 28, 2008 Plus One May 27, 2008 Draft: The Morning After April 28, 2008 Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable April 25, 2008 Draft: Ready For The Long Haul April 23, 2008 Sofa–bound Sport April 16, 2008 Post–Winter Wonderland April 11, 2008 Six Impossible Things February 4, 2008 Brady's Misdirection Play February 3, 2008 Colorful Language January 23, 2008 Let the Romo–bashing begin: Dallas lost January 14, 2008 Bowl Bites: The Wrap January 10, 2008 All About The Coaches January 1, 2008 Bowl Bites 3 and A Communication Breakdown December 29, 2007 Bowl Bites 2 December 27, 2007 Bowl Bites 1 December 23, 2007 The Empty Chair - Coach Situations Vacant December 22, 2007 For Some, The Playoffs Are Now December 15, 2007 A Certain Lack Of Welcome December 13, 2007 Unrelated Notes November 29, 2007 Two Thanksgiving thoughts November 22, 2007 Halftime: NFC November 9, 2007 Halftime: AFC November 8, 2007 London, Part 2 / A Tale of Two Chads / A Game of Intimidation November 4, 2007 Damp Squib / Other London Notes October 29, 2007 Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em / Dolphins – The Aftermath October 23, 2007 The Dolphins Did What? October 18, 2007 Notes on the Defenses October 13, 2007 Habits to be Broken October 12, 2007 Overtime October 13, 2007 This Week's Starters October 6, 2007: USF: Covering The Spread / Fantastic Football September 27, 2007: Grossman: The Final Act? / McNabb, the Epilogue September 24, 2007: Eagles QB in Slight Controversy September 21, 2007: Leftwich's Parting Gift to Jacksonville? / Boos cruise September 18, 2007: Notre Dame M.I.A. September 16, 2007: Looking Beyond NFL Wk. 1 September 12, 2007: Best Hope For Heisman September 10, 2007: Coaching Hot Seats / AP Poll Feeling ’Appy September 7, 2007: The NFL’s Prime Cuts September 5, 2007: Michigan Falls to Killer Apps September 3, 2007: Look Out Couch / The Taint's On You, Bud September 1, 2007: |
|
SPORTS SIDELINE 
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale Habits to be Broken I realise that I’m not the first or even within the first hundred writers to make the comparison between Tony Romo and Brett Favre, but Romo's demeanor, slinger mentality, and now even his capacity to rack 300 yards, lead winning drives, and get a win even on a day when for the most part he played HORRIBLY has no comparison except to Favre. During the third quarter of the Cowboys’ 25–24 last–second victory over the Bills, Monday Night Football analyst Tony Kornheiser referred to Romo as having a ’Grossman’ kind of day. Yuh, but Grossman didn’t win these sort of games – if he had, he’d still be under center for the Bears. What Romo had here was a statistic–defying game, donating five interceptions and a fumble to a Bills effort that smelt like an upset from early on. And the Bills still, somehow, didn’t win. Kornheiser was right to invoke Joe Paterno’s words about good teams playing badly on the road and still finding a way to win. But with the Bills blowing this lead, and the winless Saints, Dolphins and Rams all losing games in the late stages of their games, I’m reminded more of Vince Lombardi’s adage about winning and losing being habit–forming. It seems like the Colts, Patriots and Cowboys can’t stop winning (at least one of those will have to stop next week, when the Pats play the Boys), and the Saints, Rams and Dolphins all finding ways to keep their own hopeless streaks alive. The same trends in winning and losing have been evident this past week in the MLS playoffs. The Diamondbacks ousted the Cubs 3–0 in a series of ever–increasing margins (of course we’re talking about curses rather than habits with that one); the streaking Rockies 3–0 over the Phillies (Colorado now 13–1 in their last 14); the Red Sox 3–0 over an Angels team that managed just one good innings in their brief playoff run. The Yankees’ 8–4 win over the Indians makes their series look like an epic by comparison. I’m still hoping that Joe Torre somehow gets another year after everybody left the Yankees for dead months ago and they still made the playoffs. Taking a week to fire him would be just the right level of disrespect to have me booing the Yankees for another five years. Winning streaks do eventually have to come to an end, however. As I write this (in the small hours of the morning – again), Arizona’s momentum–gathering D’backs and Colorado’s streaky Rockies are beginning Game One of the NLCS. Familiarity is the best antidote to sweeps, and after meeting each other 22 times in the past year – 18 in the regular season – there’s little these teams can surprise each other with. The same is true in the NFL. Regardless of who wins the battle of the unbeaten between Dallas and New England, the Cowboys still have to negotiate a post–bye November when they play division rivals three weeks in a row, as well as their cross–town rivalry with the Jets, and a visit from the Packers. With a visit to a hungry Washington team to finish the season, all this talk of unbeaten streaks will be ancient history by then. The only thing that will matter will be the active streak once Week 17 has gone by. Assuming they deal with the Cowboys, the Patriots have another tough road trip in November, to Indianapolis. And when I hear people (well, Tony Kornheiser mostly) chattering about unbeaten seasons I still can’t help thinking that if, somehow, the Pats could beat the Cowboys, Colts and Steelers en route to 13–0, the Dolphins would still find a way to pop the champagne and send them to 15–1 while the Pats’ big–name offense takes a breath before a long–since secured playoff run. And Indy? Just look at their division: not a losing record to be found. They’re probably enjoying the ’16–0’ talk buzzing around the Patriots rather than themselves. Who needs it? At the other end of things, I’m looking for where the first wins come for the ’o–fer’ teams. I’m fairly sure September 11 will be Miami’s time to beat Buffalo. And if the Saints don’t get started in two weeks’ time against Atlanta, a New Orleans–St Louis, also on September 11, could put somebody ’on the clock’ for the 2008 draft. Mile High Mistake: ...of course, if you’re investing any trust in my predictions, you’re obviously not a regular reader. San Diego to melt down in Mile High, huh? How about handing the Broncos their biggest defeat at home since 1966? This is why I don’t play "Pick ’Em". If anybody has a formula for predicting this year’s Chargers or Panthers week–to–week, let me know, because ’streaky’ they ain’t. |
  |