Monday, December 18, 2006

Monday 12/18 A.M. Quickie:
LT's Awesomeness Eclipses NFC's Suckitude
(Plus: "Agent Zero" Becomes "Mr. Sixty")

LaDainian Tomlinson rules: Tomlinson seems to find ways to top himself with each new game, which is ridiculous, given the season that he's having.

The latest came last night in primetime on national TV, when LT (1) smashed the single-season scoring record (186 and counting) AND (2) broke off the longest TD run of his career (85 yards) AND (3) with 199 rushing yards for the game, he took over the NFL rushing lead from fantasy rival Larry Johnson (on the other sidelines, no less). Oh, and (4) he extended his single-season TD record by two to 31 TDs.

With two games still to play and the Chargers battling for full AFC HFA in the playoffs, Tomlinson can set an unbreakable TD record en route to arguably the greatest season any RB has ever had. The TD record will be the NFL's "56."

Meanwhile, the NFC sucks:

*It sucks that the team with HFA nearly lost in an epic way to a conference bottom-feeder.

*It sucks that the team with the best story in the NFL this season lost to a woeful non-playoff loser.

*It sucks that it looks like (at least) one of the NFC's playoff teams will have a .500 record.

*And it sucks that -- somehow, some way -- the Giants are still in the NFC playoff picture despite being worse over the last half-dozen games than any NFC team with more than 2 wins.

More NFL analysis in the post below or click here.

Will T.O. be punished for spitting in the face of DeAngelo Hall? Hall isn't exactly a sympathetic figure, but spit-in-face is one of the few remaining taboos in NFL (or sports) culture. More likely, it'll simply be more fodder for everyone who hates Owens.

NBA Brawlin': Speaking of punishment, who wants to guess how many combined games the 10 Knicks and Nuggets will get from the MSG Brawl? It's much more interesting than guessing the number that Carmelo Anthony alone will get. I'm setting an over-under at 50 combined games among the 10 players (...and maybe a coach?)

(Because the real intrigue is whether David Stern will punish Isiah Thomas for what sounded an awful lot like an admission that Mardy Collins' hard foul wasn't just intentional, but ordered by Thomas, who probably never expected it to become so brawlicious.)

More NBA: Gilbert Arenas is awesome. He's more than just my favorite NBA player; he's the new single-game scoring leader in the NBA this season, hanging 60 points on the Lakers last night – in Kobe's house, no less. It was a Wizards/Bullets franchise record, but Agent Zero also set an NBA record for points scored in OT (16). He's currently running 4th among East guards in All-Star voting. Will this make a difference? If nothing else, it should ensure his selection as a reserve. 60! Amazing...

MLB Hot Stove: Who had "two weeks" in the office pool question over when the first concerns about JD Drew's health status would pop up for Boston. And it sounds like his deal isn't completely finalized. I smell a reversal of fortune, literally and figuratively.

College Hoops: Late-entry freshman Bill Walker took his first steps toward being a Top 5 NBA pick in the 2007 draft, making his debut for Kansas State and scoring 15 in a 28-point thrashing. If you remember, Walker used up his high school eligibility and gained late admission into K-State; even playing for 2/3 of a season will make him eligible under the NBA's age rule, which I'd assume he will take full advantage of (except that Huggins has the No. 1 high school player coming in next season and K-State could have a rare shot to make the Final Four).

-- D.S.

42 comments:

Mega said...

Bah Humbug on NFC "sucktitude" I say. Lets see what the head to head between the two conferences this year. Personally, I think the NFC has more parity than the AFC does. The AFC has a HUGE disparity between the best and worst teams, while the NFC teams still have that "Any Given Sunday" factor to it.

Plus, I don't see the Texans or Raiders in the NFC, do I?

Christian Thoma said...

Why it's never a good idea to have a bad rep:

At 170,021 votes, here is the response for "Who is most to blame for the Nuggets-Knicks brawl?"

Carmelo Anthony: 26%
Mardy Collins: 20%
George Karl: 8%
Nate Robinson: 19%
Isiah Thomas: 28%

That's right, Isiah Thomas, not even in the brawl, is considered most responsible. What's funny is that Carmelo was leading last night, but more and more people have been voting for Isiah (he had 27% this morning) since.

Christian Thoma said...

There's no way in hell a record that's been broken 3 (or is it 4?) times this decade is going to turn into Baseball's 56. Let's be realistic here.

BTW, good job by LDT to make sure he didn't get an asterisk next to his record by doing it in the 14th game.

CMFost said...

The Head to Head between the 2 conferences this year:

AFC Teams are 38-22 against NFC Teams

Christian Thoma said...

Heh, Dan expanded his "NFC Sucks" analysis. Yep, they suck just as bad as the National League.

CMFost said...

Watching the highlights of the Wizards/Lakers game last night and can someone tell me if there are uglier uniforms in sports then the ones the wizards had on last night. I have not seen something that bad since the old Vancouve Canuck uniforms.

Christian Thoma said...

So who's all going to demand their cable system give them NFL Network for Thursday's Titanic Packers-Vikings matchup? Anyone?

Heck, even I won't.

CMFost said...

I know there was an arguement last week on who is the MVP this year but I think after this weeks games it is Clear LT is the MVP.

CMFost said...

chrth - What you do not want to watch to make sure your Packers keep in the playoff hunt?

Mikepcfl said...

I was beaten to the AFC's 38-22 record vs the NFC, but I can confirm it's accurate.

I dont think any NFC team could beat the top 4 or 5 AFC teams in the Super Bowl. But of course, we thought the NL would get killed in the World Series too.

CMFost said...

There are only 2 teams in the NFC with winning records against the AFC - Dallas and Seattle. everyone else even the Bears are .500 or worse.

As for the afc only 4 teams have a below .500 record vs the NFC - Houston, Oakland, Denver and Cleveland.

Big D said...

Re: LdT...

I posted it in a comment before, and I'll post it again. Tomlinson is going to end the year with 35 TDs, a number that will probably stand for at least a decade, or until the next NFL expansion leads to a 20-game season.

Christian Thoma said...

@cmfost:

The Packers have barely been on this season, so I've gotten quite adept at watching the games via NFL.com. And this way, I don't have to listen to announcers. It's win-win.

CMFost said...

I can respect that, listening to Bryant Gumble is pretty brutal. I am just glad the Patriots did not have any NFL network Games.

mattie said...

I think T.O. will be fined, but not suspended.

If you're setting the number at 50 games, all suspensions combined, I'll take the over. I've got Carmelo on my fantasy team (and Andre Miller) and this could be UGLY.

And having my favorite team run and coached by Isiah Thomas (and, of course, owned by Dolan) should be considered a crime against humanity. Maybe Stern can just cancel the rest of the Knicks season and spare the ongoing embrassment/misery? Here's to hoping the Jets make the playoffs, so I can at least put off by a little bit the time when the Knicks are the only one of "my teams" playing. I've become a generalist NBA fan this year, but even peripherally, it still hurts.

In any event, screw Isiah. I hope he does get suspended, and frankly, even without the video of him talking to Carmelo, his post-game press conference was just ridiculous.

CMFost said...

I said this earlier but the best thing about so many teams currently in contention and only one team in both league having clinched home field it makes it much easier to set your FFL line ups if you are lucky enough to be in your championship game next week.

Christian Thoma said...

Speaking of Seattle:

Is anyone else rooting for Seattle to go 0-2 (against San Diego and a Rattay-led Tampa Bay) and San Francisco go 2-0 (against Arizona and Denver) so that San Fran wins the NFC West? That'd be pretty cool. (Seattle, because they do have the aforementioned positive record against the AFC, lose pretty much every tiebreaker for the Wild Card spot. While they'd beat Green Bay head-to-head, a 3-way tie of Green Bay, Atlanta, and Seattle would put Green Bay in the playoffs)

It'd also continue the streak of Super Bowl Runnerups missing the next playoffs.

CMFost said...

Studs and Duds from yesterday:

Studs:
Arenas - 60pts enough said
LT - 199 and 2 tds
Buffalo's D - just dominated the dolphins
Patriots D - was so good the pats average starting position was the Texans 48
Westbrook - 2 tds
Titans D and Special teams - Scored 21 of the teams 24 points

Duds:
LJ - 80+ yards no Tds in a must win
Chicago D - almost blew a big game
NY Giants - falling apart in the 4th
Saints - losing a game they should of won

Big D said...

"We had surrendered..."

I'm still scratching my head as to how and head coach / GM / grand poobah of a professional sports team could ever utter those words.

Listen, I'm not about to say Isiah is a MENSA candidate. But you can't be so stupid as to say something like that and not expect some type of backlash from your fan base.

It was fairly obvious that the Knicks were just waiting for the final horn. That's what NBA teams do when they're down 20+ with a minute to go in a game. Everyone knows it's happening, everyone expects it. And if the other team decides they're going to show you up with a couple alley-oops and reverse dunks, then there's a very simple solution:

Don't fall behind by 20+ at home with a minute to play

The foul was unwarranted, the reaction was just that; a reaction. The rest of the fight was something that could have been avoided completely if Mardy Collins had simply stood still and watched the dunk/lay-up that was coming, or even if he'd tried to take a charge.

Instead, he decided to send a message his way (or maybe Isiah's way?), and caused a lot of headaches.

CMFost said...

Seattle losing the division and possibly not making the playoffs would be one the biggest choke jobs we have seen in a long time. Drop a 3 games lead with 3 to go.

It would be close but not as bad as when the Yankees choked against the Red Sox in 04

Christian Thoma said...

Can LdT top the season-rushing record? What is it currently set at? I know LdT is at 1600+, I'm guessing he'd have to average at least 200 over the next two games. Not impossible (playing Seattle and Arizona) but at the same time San Diego might want to rest their RB for the playoffs.

Big D said...

@ cmfost:

Allow me to add the following to the duds list...

Myself: For putting all my picks on the ol' blog Sunday morning, then not getting any cash on the games before kickoff...

11-4 against the number right now, with 2 of the four losses in games I was terrified of (Pats & Saints).

But honestly - who wants to pay off the car and credit card in one week anyway? Where's the fun in that?

CMFost said...

For LdT to break the rushing record he would have to be super human the next 2 weeks. He has 1626 yrads and the record is 2105 meaning he would need another 479 years which would mean he would need to average 239.5 ypg. I think that would be hard to do especially if they can wrap up HFA next week. I think it is more realistic to think he could get to the 2K mark.

CMFost said...

Marty Schottenheimer is the reason San Diego probably will not win the Super Bowl.

Christian Thoma said...

Well, the increasingly unimportant Time Magazine has rectified previous disastrous "Man of the Year" choices by finally doing the correct thing and naming me Person of the Year.

Doesn't quite make up for Ted Turner, but it's getting there. I would like to thank Me for being the Me I needed to be to win.

Mega said...

Thank you everyone for the correction of the AFC-NFC interconference records this year. I thought it will closer to even, so I'm wrong.

cmfost said:
"It would be close but not as bad as when the Yankees choked against the Red Sox in 04"

Wait, how was that a bad thing? =)

Mega said...

chrth- very funny stuff. Time should have called it the "T.O. Award".

Unknown said...

Nate Robinson should be suspended for the rest of the season for calling the Mardy Collins play a good clean hard foul. Seriously, and that was after the great moment where he went after Carmelo and had an open shot and then turned and ran away while still trying to look tough. I think he should've been suspended for all of last season for attempting 33 dunks in 1 round of the dunk contest. And don't forget the incident where he tryed to throw the bounce pass dunk to himself in traffic in a semi-tight game and acually missed it. That guy is a complete moron.

CMFost said...

Stat line of the day

17 Attempts
5 Completions
20 Yeards
0 Td
2 Int
0.0 Qb Rating

What a game by Joey Harrington? could that have been the worst QB'd game in the history of the NFL?

Sheldiz said...

"The Nuggets and Knicks brawled Saturday. Punishment landed Monday. Highlights: Carmelo Anthony is suspended 15 games, Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith got 10 each and both clubs were fined $500,000."

From the front page of ESPN.

Big D said...

Seems about right. 15 games and team fines - strong message, but not Artest-strong. Of course, Melo didn't exactly jump 15 rows deep to deck some poor schulb in the stands, either...

BLUE said...

I may be a homer, but 15 games is too much, which equates to almost 1/5th of the season. David Stern may have lost his mind here, i'm guessing guys will appeal and an realistic mediator will knock it down to a more appropriate 7-10 games.

Jon said...

No suspension for Isiah? Maybe Stern thinks that Isiah not missing any time on the sidelines will help lead to his firing a lot sooner. Wonder if Isiah will ever make it back into the NBA after destroying the Knicks franchise?

Nate Robinson should have got the same suspension as Melo. Without those 2 guys, there wouldn't have been the one punch brawl. I do think some of these suspensions will be knocked down a little after the appeal process.

Christian Thoma said...


Wonder if Isiah will ever make it back into the NBA after destroying the Knicks franchise?


I'm sure he will. Which is why I haven't started working on my Case Study of him yet.

chipp said...

Doesn't Stern have the exclusive authority over the players' union regarding discipline issues? I thought that was the case with Artest and why his suspension was upheld. The players are disciplined by Stern and they take their appeals to ... um, Stern.

Brian in Oxford said...

So, a total of 47 man-games.... (15+10+10+6+4+1+1)

Who had the under?

How do the by-laws affect Dolan's ability to recoup the half mil from any players or coach as a fine?

Anonymous said...

Who is the #1 high school recruit that K State has coming in next year?

RevScottDeMangeMD said...

@ al borland

michael (is that right?) beasley. he isn't overall #1. it's between him, oj, and that guy going to ucla...love?

Big D said...

That's a good piece FLVY. As a Patriots fan, I've been conditioned over the past five or six years to hate all things Manning, but that was a good read.

Of course, leave it to ESPN to sully it with the advertising at the bottom of the page, screaming "COLTS TICKETS - CLICK HERE NOW!" Nice work by tWWL.

Jon said...

I never saw Beasley as the #1 ranked senior. Only have seen Mayo, Love and Gordon....not that that matters.

Joe Carr said...

Alright, I want to know who picked the Panthers to go to the Super Bowl and they won't even make the Playoffs.

Joe Carr said...

About the Nuggets v. Knicks one rounder... Carmelo should get 25+ games (snitch that!), 20 games for punching someone, and 5 for running like a bitch. Even Nate stepped up and took it like a man. That should be a manlaw: "No Hitting and Running" or don't pull a "Carmelo"