The biggest question in the AFC South every season is who is going to challenge the Indianapolis Colts for supremacy in the division? The Colts, although they’ve become the “Atlanta Braves of the NFL” by dominating their division but only winning one Super Bowl, are still the favorite in this division. The Houston Texans are a chic pick every year to overtake the Colts because they have a roster loaded with great, young talent, but they almost always seem to find creative ways to get at or near the .500 mark by season’s end. They had their first winning season last year by finishing 9-7 and that seemed to set off a celebration that they have arrived. I see them disappointing their fans by staying the course and being mediocre as usual, possibly costing Gary Kubiak his coaching job. The Tennessee Titans are the real threat to the Colts’ dominance. They rebounded after a horrific start last season to make a run at the playoffs but came up short. The resurgence of Vince Young at quarterback coincided with the team’s rebound, and I feel they will be ready from day one to make a run at the division title this year. Veteran coach Jeff Fisher will have his team ready to go. The Jacksonville Jaguars are always a competitive team and will probably pull a couple upsets that affect the final standings in the division, but no matter how you slice it they appear to be the weakest team in the division and should finish last.
Classic Team Logo of The Day
This is an old logo of the Minnesota Twins from the 1960s, shortly after they began existence in 1961. They were the old Washington Senators until after the 1960 season but were then moved to the Twin Cities. Politicians in Washington were upset over the move, so baseball put an expansion team in Washington the same season as the Twins were born, and they became the “new” Washington Senators. Ah, the pleasantry of the musical chairs games of professional sports franchises. The Twins had a bit of success during the era of this logo, with stars like Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Bob Allison, Tony Oliva, and pitchers Camilo Pascual, Mudcat Grant and Jim Kaat. They won the AL pennant in 1965 but lost to the Dodgers in the World Series.
Classic Sports Card of The Day
The 1961 Fleer card of The Big “O”….Oscar Robertson, one of the NBA’s all-time greats. He starred for the old Cincinnati Royals for 10 years before moving on to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he teamed with a rookie center named Lew Alcindor (we know him now as Kareem Abdul Jabbar) to bring an NBA title to that city.
NHL – Playoff update
The NHL playoffs have been a crazy ride so far this season, especially in the Eastern Conference where the 2 bottom seeds wound up playing for the conference title. The Philadelphia Flyers are amazingly back from the dead and in control of their series with Montreal so far. Since trailing 3-0 in game seven in their previous series, the Flyers have scored 13 unanswered goals in coming back to win that game, and posting back-to-back shutouts over the Canadiens. That’s back-to-back shutouts with a journeyman backup goaltender playing. Michael Leighton has played well since taking over in the nets for Philly, but I feel the team’s success is more a product of the players’ smothering defensive style around him. They’ve protected him well, keeping the Montreal shooters outside and around the edges and clearing the sightlines for Leighton to make saves by bulldozing any Canadiens’ players that dare try to block his vision. That’s usually a recipe for success in the NHL playoffs, along with timely scoring. In the West, The Chicago Black Hawks have continued to be road warriors, winning twice in San Jose to open the series and extend their road playoff win streak to seven. San Jose has a horrid history of playoff failure, and even though they’ve advanced to the final four, all it took was losing those 2 home playoff games to the Hawks to bring out the critics once again. The Sharks are still a powerful team and I expect them to win in Chicago and make this series competitive, but it is starting to look like the Stanley Cup final will again be a battle between an “Original Six” team (Chicago) and an “Additional Six” team (Philadelphia).
Classic Team Logo of The Day
The logo of the old Chicago Cardinals NFL football team, from 1958. The Cards only played one more season in Chicago – after the ’59 season they were moved to St. Louis, partly because they were a dismal team completely overshadowed in the city by the powerhouse Bears, and partly to block out the fledgling American Football League from grabbing the St. Louis market. They had only moderate success in the gateway city, eventually moving on to their current home in Arizona.
Classic Sports Card of The Day
This is a card of legendary goaltender Gump Worsley, from late in his career when he was with the expansion Minnesota North Stars. Yeah, he probably looks like your 70 year old grandfather in this card but this is what you end up looking like when you play your entire career, spanning 20+ seasons, without a mask. Actually he did wear a mask but was one of the last holdouts, wearing one for only the final 6 games of his career. His coach once accused him of being out of shape and having a beer belly, and Gump replied, “Just goes to show you what he knows. I only drink Johnnie Walker Red”.
MLB – Dodgers on a roll
This was supposed to be a disastrous season for the Los Angeles Dodgers, with their owners going through a nasty divorce which is impeding the team’s ability to fortify its’ roster. Luckily, they made a wise decision a couple years ago and brought in Joe Torre to manage the team after his tenure with the Yankees ended. Despite the ownership distraction, Torre has the team on a major roll, having now won 9 games in a row. Young stars Andre Ethier, James Loney, and Matt Kemp have fueled the winning streak, along with some timely contributions from Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake, among others. Catcher Russell Martin has made some of those offensive contributions, and has also done a terrific job handling a mostly anonymous pitching staff. The Dodgers will need Manny to pick up his game to stay ahead of their NL West competition, since the San Francisco Giants, with their top 3 starters being among baseball’s best, and the San Diego Padres, with their surprising young roster, look like they will be in the race for the long haul.
Classic Team Logo of The Day
The logo of the old New Orleans Jazz, who operated in the NBA from 1974 to 1979 before relocating to Utah. If ever there was a need for a team to change its’ name after a move, this was it. Utah? Jazz? Huh? Sort of the same situation as the Los Angeles Lakers.
Classic Sports Card of The Day
From CheckOutMyCards.com, the 1962 Topps card of Chicago Bears’ legend Mike Ditka. Ditka was the first tight end elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and coached the “Super Bowl Shuffle” Bears to an NFL title in 1986. He was born to be a Bear and even resembles the bear in the team’s logo (especially in his coaching years when he grew some hair).
NBA – Lakers, Celtics open with convincing wins
The conference finals in the NBA opened over the last couple of nights, and the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, the league’s two most storied franchises, were impressive in registering victories in their respective series openers. The Lakers dominated the surprising Phoenix Suns behind Kobe Bryant’s 40 points and a workmanlike performance from the rest of the squad, with the other main offensive contributor being Lamar Odom. The Celtics, in dispatching the overrated Cleveland Cavaliers and stealing the home court advantage from Orlando in their opener, have been the most impressive defensive team in the playoffs. They are healthy and having won the NBA title just 2 years ago have the experience to roll to another championship. However, in an earlier post I had said that Orlando would defeat either team that survived the Boston/Celeveland series, so I’ll stand by that pick. Although Boston’s work on Dwight Howard was stifling, I feel the loss was more a result of the Magic being rusty from the long layoff after they swept their previous series over Atlanta. I still look for them to find their bearings and rebound to win a long, tough series.