Water Cooler Talk: The Least You Need to Know

Well Gals and Pals with the addition of basketball, plus NFL and College Football makes a remote hand tired. Here is the least you need to know:

Chargers rally and keeps Turner in coach position- for a little while

Talk about two horrible teams meeting up for a primetime matchup- and both with serious issues that need to be addressed.

The often the bridesmaid never the bride of the AFC the San Diego Chargers faced a Kansas City Chiefs team last evening and pulled out an impressive win. But both teams remind me that there will be quite a few coaching and General Manager changes for this division. Romeo Crennel of the Chiefs who are 1-7 for the year and Norv Turner who in my opinion should never be the head coach of anything. He took an impressive Chargers team and turned them into a joke.

So if you run into any Chargers fans remind them that my four year-old could cover Matt Cassel in the pocket. This is not an impressive win Chargers fans- and it is still going to be a long season with Peyton Manning and the Broncos looking to win the division.

Hokies get hit by Hurricanes

Okay probably not the best head line after what Sandy has done to the East Coast- but for Hokie fans its true.

Now again I’m a blogger so I don’t have to be impartial- and I will not pretend to be. After last night’s win the Hurricanes are in control of the ACC Coastal Division- not impressive really but still doing better than a ton of teams. Could we finally get a Miami vs FSU championship game! That would be amazing- and the ACC folks are probably pleading please dear God let it happen. Because who wants to watch Duke play FSU for the ACC championship? Yeah from the crickets chirping I think y’all agree.

Here is the amazing thing about last night’s game- VT should have won. Yes, you read that correctly- they out gained the Hurricanes 421-347 and held the Hurricanes to only one third down conversion- and only 3 yards of offense on 12 plays in the third quarter. So the VT defense was doing it job- especially with Exum not getting called for pass interference penalties.

So how did Miami win the game? Thank you Logan Thomas and a terrible offensive effort from the Hokies. They fumbled in the end zone and Miami recovered. Interception. And a missed field goal.

This game is just a reminder that your team can have the best stats but unless they put up points it doesn’t matter. The Hokies now lose their 10 game win streak and their fans are starting to voice concerns that perhaps the offensive leadership is not doing its job- of course its been easy to hide behind a schedule and the ACC strength in football which is none. Hokies y’all got some boot strapping to do to figure out how to correct this course because you may not even being going to a bowl game to year.

Buzzer Beaters Put Spurs on Top

Finally the best game of the night was actually the NBA matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs.

The Thunder have been in the news the past few days with the amazing trade of James Harden to Houston- hello 80 mil!

There were actually two cool buzzer beaters- at the end of the third quarter Thunder player Eric Maynor hit a game-tying buzzer beater from half court. And Tony Parker won the game with his last second 21-footer.

Spurs won 86-84

Water Cooler Talk: Gambling over Youth Football

Betting on Youth Football- have people no shame? (Photo credit: jvh33)

Sometimes the stupidity and greed of grownups really muck up sports. A great example is the escapade in Texas for Southern Methodist University in the 1980s that was featured in the very well done 30 for 30 ESPN film The Pony Excess. That is one of the more glaring examples of amateur athletes being used and exploited. But even that doesn’t compare to this because at least the athletes involved were older. Now the stupidity has spread to youth football.

This week the Sheriff’s Office in Broward County, Fl arrested nine men and charged them with felony bookmaking for betting on games within one youth league. The bets got as high as $100,000 on a single game.

Thankfully it appears that the players were unaware- but kids are smart and perceptive and some knew- they had to know. This league has 22 teams with over 6,000 players and according to CBS News many of the players come from “impoverished neighborhoods.” The age range for these players is 5-15 years old.

The Sheriff’s Office found out about the ring through ESPN- after producers sent them footage in 2011 showing money being exchanged between spectators at youth games during critical plays. ESPN was doing some reporting about the growing trend of gambling in youth sports.

The ringleader for this group, Brandon Bivins is known as Coach B and was the president of the Ft Lauderdale Hurricanes team while also running the two local business fronts for the gambling ring.

According to investigators, coaches- yes I said coaches- met before games and set point spreads. At this time it is not known if players were asked to throw games or underperform- but in my opinion when bets run $20,000 for an average game, you can’t tell me that a coach didn’t set things in favor for a certain better.

Things get even more interesting when it was discovered that six of the nine men arrested have previous records of being convicts- yep role models indeed. Now, I will say that I know there are men and women who have done time and turn their lives around- these cowards making money off the backs of children are not such men.

This entire story is disgusting and one of the reasons sports in America has serious problems. As a mom I believe it is important for my children to participate in organized sports. Their involvement with youth baseball and soccer will help teach team work, good sportsmanship, and develop hand/eye coordination. Learning about how to bet on the point spread is not one of those things. And had one of my babies been involved boy would these cowards have an angry mama bear on their hands.

I am curious how the Gal Pal nation feels about this story? Are you as disgusted as I am about it- or do you just shrug your head?

Related articles

• Youth football coaches charged (espn.go.com)
• Nine Men Arrested for Gambling on Pee Wee Football Games (blogs.browardpalmbeach.com)
• Nine men charged in Florida youth football gambling ring (foxnews.com)

Water Cooler: College Football Edition

The Geno Smith show is good on the Road

After yesterday’s win there is no contest- WVU‘s quarterback Geno Smith is your Heisman candidate. This year he has 1,996 passing yards, 204 attempts and the best stat ever no interceptions.

The game was a close one, all really coming down on a 41-yard field goal that Texas kicker Anthony Fera missed late in the fourth quarter. This is the same kicker who transferred from Penn St– and whose absence was most notable in the Penn St loss to UVa.

Also I must mention the WVU receiving duo Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin- wow. Bailey had three touchdowns and Austin another one plus 111 yards on kick returns.

What this game signifies is that WVU is the top dog in the Big12- nice for your first year.

Oklahoma bounces back

Keeping with the Big 12- OU came up with an impressive win against Texas Tech- 41-20. Landry Jones had 25 of 40 catches for 259 yards and two touch downs. Tech did have 271 passing yards but only 89 rushing yards.

Penn State comes from behind in the 4th to beat N’western

Trailing 11 going into the fourth quarter the Nittany Lions had to pull up their boot straps. They scores three times in the final 10 minutes of the game.

This happened after N’western has a 75 yard punt return for a touchdown late in the third quarter.

Stanford gets overtime victory

Andrew Luck who?

Stanford qb Josh Nunes had a career high 360 yards, threw two touchdowns and ran in for three more.

He was a scoring machine.

But Arizona looked good- they did get over 400 passing yards against Stanford something that hasn’t happened since 2007. But the defense couldn’t hang on.

Florida defends its Swamp for the Win

Oh my- now this was a football game. None of these basketball, let the quarterbacks throw until their arms give out. This was fought on the ground- and the Gators win.

Mike Gillislee ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns giving the Tigers their first regular season loss in 19 games.

South Carolina makes it an ugly day for UGA

Wow- 35-7 victory for the Gamecocks (try saying that name without a giggle- I bet you can’t). They not only got the win but stopped a Georgia team that had a league-leading 48.2 points and 536 yards a game offense.

Notre Dame easily withstands the Hurricanes

Back in the 1980s this was a great rivalry- and if you’re interested a wonderful book called “Perfect Rivals” by Jeff Carroll is an excellent read. This time the Irish has 587 yards total and 376 yards rushing.

This wasn’t even close- Miami only scored once a field goal in the first quarter and then the Irish led for three quarters without a single Miami score.

Did I mention the Irish are undefeated?

The Triangle is Evil and Should be Destroyed

Perhaps next week I won’t write about UVa and Va Tech and then maybe those team will win.

Of course actually playing defense would help as well.

UVa is a mess- but looking I should have expected this with the loss of Kris Bird and Chase Minnifield– it’s just hard to go from your first good season in so many years to a now four game losing streak. And to lose where you score no points in the second half. Grrrr

On the other hand we could be the Hokies who right now need to have a hotline set up to calm fans down. Seriously I was looking at the fan message boards and a scream of S.O.S messages make me wonder- what are y’all thinking? Calm down folks.

I guess when you’re used to winning consistently one bad season is a shock.

On the other hand let’s look at Duke and UNC- obviously Virginia and VT forgot it was football season and went straight to basketball season. I’m not going to look at the numbers- I don’t want to its too painful. Both teams were impressive- especially Duke’s defense. And UNC found many holes in VT coverage- I was shocked.

And no 4 FSU lost in the Triangle as well to NC State makes the Triangle and evil place for ACC football- evil.

So maybe there should never be all three teams having home football games because it caused a great disturbance in the force.

Related articles

• Week Six College Football Preview (sportsgalpal.wordpress.com)

Water Cooler Talk: David Beckham out in public in just his briefs!

The least you need to know

Yes so there in an NFL game, and a college game and there was lots of baseball yesterday- but who care when David Beckham is out in public in just his underwear.

Share this during office gossip sessions- yum

 

David Beckham gives van full of tourists an eyeful | OMG Now – Yahoo! omg!.

Water Cooler Talk- NFL Edition

Atlanta Falcons kicker Matt Bryant (3) makes the winning field goal as Matt Bosher (5) holds during the second half of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012, in Atlanta. Atlanta won 30-28. (AP Photo/Rich Addicks)

What a good day of football- well at least if your team isn’t the Jets or the Saints. Here is the least you need to know

Atlanta keeps its composure with an impressive end.

Quarterback Matt Ryan suffered from a career-high seven sacks but threw for three touchdown passes. It was Matt Bryant kicker, who won the game with a 40-yard field goal with 5 seconds left to seal the deal. More impressive is that with just over a minute left in play it looked like Carolina was going to pull the upset. Then Panther qb Cam Newton fumbles the ball while trying to get a first down that would end the game. Instead Carolina is forced to punt the ball and got the ball at the Atlanta 1. That seemed like an amazing spot until Ryan threw a 59-yard pass to Roddy White which put Atlanta in field goal range.

Atlanta wins 30-28.

New England’s Second Half Makes the Patriots 2-2

This was a game that was considered a must win after two disappointing losses early in the season. New England QB Tom Brady led the Patriots on six consecutive second half touchdowns. He finished 22 of 36 passing for 340 yards and three scores. Running back Stevan Ridley (who is on one of my fantasy teams, yay me) ran for two touch downs and had 580 total yards!

What is sad is that the first half had Buffalo winning 21-7.

San Fran Brings a Hurting to the Struggling Jets

Coach Jim Harbaugh‘s decision to have his team stay in eastern Ohio for the week could have been the reason. Or simply it is because the Jets are that bad but man thank you San Fran defense (I have them on the same team with Ridley, yay me again!). Carlos Rogers returned a fumble 51 yards for a touchdown. 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick pulled a move that was supposed to be the Jets expertise – the wild cat for a touchdown.

Worse is that the best offense player for the Jets Santonio Holmes went down with a foot injury. With two leaders gone how is this Jets team going to recover- I don’t think it’s possible.

Eagles Get a Win because Tynes missed field-goal

With 15 seconds left the Philadelphia Eagles hold on to a 19-17 victory against divisional foe New York Giants thanks to a 54-yard missed field goal.

Both teams didn’t have much to celebrate on offense. Eli Manning was 24 of 42 for 309 yards and two touchdowns. Michael Vick was 19 for 30 for 241 yards and one touchdown.

Eagles running back LaSean McCoy was the lead rusher with 123 yards- most of them in the second half.

If either team wants to have deep playoff runs they need to figure out how to get a better running game because with Atlanta and San Fran getting their acts together the NFC is really loaded with good teams.

Related articles

• Week Four NFL Sunday Football Day Previews (sportsgalpal.wordpress.com)
• Philadelphia Eagles Catch a Huge Break with Hakeem Nicks Doubtful to Play Sunday (bleacherreport.com)
• Bryant field goal leads Falcons past Panther 30-28 (wmbfnews.com)