Tuesday Morning Sports Session – 12/15/2009

Posted by By Sports Session at 15 December, at 10 : 57 AM Print

Mark Ingram won the Heisman trophy in the closest voting ever, Toby Gerhart from Stanford was second followed by Colt Mccoy from Texas.  I think the most shocking thing was Ingrams reaction when his name was called, I don’t think I have ever seen anyone burst into tears and get choked up to the point where they could barely get their words out.  You can tell the award meant a lot to him, and he really valued being the Heisman trophy winner.  I felt sorry for Colt Mccoy though his team was cheated out of the National championship game last season, and he lost the Heisman to a QB that he beat, but everyone felt this year he would win so it didn’t matter.  Well that didn’t happen either because he was judged against his numbers from last season, but at least this year he has a chance to win a National Championship.  I knew it was a long shot, but I felt Ndamakong Suh from Nebraska should have won he is the most dominant player in college football, but the Heisman has always leaned heavily towards offensive players.

Notre Dame hires Brian Kelly as head coach, and Kelly seems to be ecstatic about the opportunity.  During his press conference he talked about how he grew up as a young kid watching Notre Dame Football and it has always been his dream to be the head coach of the Irish.  I think it was a good hire for Notre Dame probably their only hire, the much spread rumors of Bob Stoops or Urban Meyer taking boat loads of cash to take the job never came to fruition.  Why would they want to leave their current situations for high expectations?  Although expectations are high at Oklahoma Stoops just had them in the National Championship game last season so he has some leverage with the administration.  Meyer has no reason to leave Florida, he has access to some of the countries best talent in his back yard.  Kelly will be fine, but I don’t know if he can get them back to being a perennial national title contender.

The Saints and Colts move to 13 – 0, they both were in close games once again, and it looked like the Falcons were going to pull of the upset win over the Saints but they fell short.  All the talk lately has been whether the Colts or Saints are going to rest their players so they can be fresh for the playoffs.  The Colts have clinched the #1 seed in the AFC, and the Saints are heavy favorites to do the same in the NFC.  I don’t think any team is particularly worried about going undefeated in the regular season, I think they both are focused on getting to the Super Bowl and at this point if they don’t go undefeated it won’t be a big deal.  Think about it what does Peyton Manning have left to prove?  Even Drew Brees for that matter.  I think the starterss from both these teams (barring any injuries) will have light duty for the next few weeks until the playoffs start.  In the past the Colts haven’t faired well doing that, but I don’t think its because of that.  The Chargers have proven that they have what it takes to beat the Colts in the post season, and  a few weeks off wont’ hurt the Colts they just need to figure out how to beat the Chargers.  The Saints continue to have close games and even though their schedule isn’t tough to end the season with the Cowboys being the only team with a winning record left, what does that say about their prospects in the playoffs?  One of those teams is bound to run the table and match what the 1972 Dolphins did if both of them enter the playoffs undefeated, but it will be difficult and I think the Colts would have the tougher road to get there.  I am still skeptical that it will happen at all, but you have to think these teams will keep finding a way to win.

The Arizona Cardinals stunk it up on Monday night and fell to the San Fransisco 49ers 24 – 9, they committed an NFL record seven turnovers.  The Cardinals fooled all of us, they dismantled the Minnesota Vikings last week, and made it look easy.  There was talk of Arizona back in the Super Bowl, but that was all squashed after their performance on Monday night.  They have always been an inconsistent team and there is no easy way to determine what team we are going to get each week, they will win the NFC West going away.  I am not sure about the Cardinals prospects in the playoffs unless they are forced to play Minnesota whom they match up really well against, we will see where this goes but the Cardinals were mediocre last year and made it to the Super Bowl so may this is the norm for them.

The Baseball Season may be over, but that hasn’t stopped them from trying make news, the Red Sox are close to acquiring John Lackey from the Angels, the Phillies are getting Roy Halladay and sending Cliff Lee to Seattle in a three team deal.  This are big moves especially after the Yankees acquired Curtis Granderson from the Detroit Tigers earlier this off season.  This is good for the MLB since they struggle to stay in the headlines while football is in season.  But the troubling and constant thing is it’s still only big market teams, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, and Anaheim Angels are all the teams making moves as the Mets have offered a contract to Jason Bay that topped the Red Sox offer.  So baseball will again be predictable, of course there will be a few surprise teams that are good next season, but its still primarily the same teams who are getting the best players.  I don’t think baseball will ever re-claim its status as the “Great American Past Time” if they continue to operate without a salary cap or some sort of way to even the playing field.

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