Long Time Coming
Hello imaginary readers, it has been far too long I know. School has been ripping me a new one for the past couple weeks and now I am in the middle of studying for finals. It has been a hell of a ride. But seeing as how I have been studying off and on for most of the day I have decided to spend my undeserved procrastination time posting on our humble blog. About what? I have no idea, I have been out of the loop for sometime now.
Random thoughts on my teams:
The Buzzsaw(to shamelessly steal from Deadspin)-The Cardinals won! I am a die-hard AZ Cardinals fan believe it or not, and the mighty juggernaut grabbed their third win in four games yesterday. This is how it was envisioned at the beginning of the season, Edge running for 100+ and Boldin, Fitzgerald and Johnson being threats on the outside. On top of that Leinart is playing well and the D is solid and forces an inordinate amount of turnovers. Adrian Wilson is a flat-out beast. Back to back wins over division foes just makes their horrendous start that much more aggravating. If you throw out their fluky losses to the Rams, Chiefs, and Bears this team is 7-6 and right in the playoff hunt. Additionally, if they hadn't blown the Bears game they almost certainly would not have lost to the Raiders the following week, it was the definition of a letdown/hangover game if I have ever seen one. I realize you can cite instances like this about most underachieving teams, but that Bears collapse on Monday Night Football was absolutely a season killer. They seem to be getting over it a little bit but it is far too late. Unfortunately I can already see how the rest of this season and the next are going to play out. They will grab a couple more wins to close out the year and optimism will once again be high the offseason. It will be a repeat of this year; expectations will once again exceed common sense and the team will struggle under the pressure again. Hopefully they can pull it together behind Leinart and MAKE IT TO THE FUCKING PLAYOFFS! Goddamn it, they better draft an offensive lineman in every round of the 2007 draft.
Phoenix Suns-After a slow start the Suns have reeled off 11 in a row with a win over the Magic tonight. Fuck all the people that burned down the bandwagon after a 3-6 start. And for all the Amare doubters, not only has been a double-double machine of late, he absolutely destroyed the man who replaced him as the most popular, explosive, and raw big guy in the NBA, Dwight Howard. Amare had 30 points and eight rebounds (5 offensive) and fouled Howard out of the game in only 19 minutes. Howard had four points, three rebounds, and five turnovers before his early exit. Now don't get me wrong, I like Howard, he is an amazing physical specimen and a relentless rebounder, but he is no Amare Stoudemire. Amare was light years ahead of him offensively at the same age and before missing last year he was the anointed as the future of the NBA according to media folks. But nearly everybody wrote him off as the next Chris Webber after his surgeries and he has responded by coming back surprisingly strong so far this season and is one of the keys to the Suns' run. It has to feel good to have a performance like that against the young buck who replaced him in the average fan's psyche. He is nowhere near 100% and to me that is an exciting thing, he can still get better and will hopefully be back to full-strength by playoff time. In the meantime he does not have to carry the load on a team filled loaded with talent and the Suns can balance the line between getting him back to his 2005 self and winning games. In a perfect world at least.
UA men's basketball-Undefeated since dropping the opener to Virginia, the Cats have been carried by freshman Chase Budinger for much of the season. His decision making has been lights-out and he has stepped up in a stretch that has seen sophomore Marcus Williams regress. You can see Williams forcing the issue in an attempt to not be out-played by a freshman. Williams almost all but gone to the NBA draft after the season so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out with him gunning for scouts. Hopefully Lute Olson can bench some sense into him before it is too late, another debacle like last season with Chris Rodgers is the last thing Tucson needs. And you have to believe Lute doesn't have many years left in the tank, so he needs another Final Four or national title to put a bow on his illustrious career. I caught the UA-Illinois game up in Phoenix last week and saw some good things and some worrisome things. This seems like one of those teams that is still sitting on the fence between putting it all together and making a deep tournament run or collapsing and making a patented Arizona first-round exit. We'll see, but Chase is most definitely the truth.
UA football-Finished the year 6-6 with a loss to ASU. QB Willie Tuitama left in the first half with ANOTHER head injury, easily his fifth or sixth of the year. No bowl game for the Cats, damn, I was really hoping for a berth in the prestigious Insight.com Bowl. Next year Stoops in on the hot seat, .500 or worse and he will likely lose his job. I'm kind of indifferent, Tucson is a basketball town, but getting drunk and watching football team get their ass kicked in 90 degree weather is getting old.
posted by Rapist's Wit @ 8:47 PM
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