So much to watch, so little time!

Thursday Night Football Preview

                In another epic Thursday night match up the 49ers head to St. Louis to take on the Rams in the dome. The Rams defense has been looking mediocre in the last two games getting walloped by the Falcons and Cowboys, letting up 31 points in each game. On the other side of the ball Sam Bradford has improved since last season behind a re-vamped offensive line. Throwing short routes to Tavon Austin has supplemented an atrocious running game. Until Rams running backs Daryl Richardson and Isaiah Pead, have a profound game you can expect Bradford to keep targeting Austin heavily. The 49ers offense behind 2nd year starter Colin Kaepernick has been struggling as of late, only scoring 10 points in the last 2 games. The San Fran defense is without linebacker Aldon Smith for the near future as he checked into a rehabilitation clinic for alcohol abuse. Last Friday Smith was involved in a single car wreck, and was arrested for suspicion of DUI. Jim Harbaugh made the controversial decision to play Smith this past Sunday against the Colts and came under criticism from legendary coach Mike Ditka. Both of these teams have not played up to their full potentials yet, I think the 49ers turn it around and get the win in enemy territory, 28-7.

Repeating History

                This past Sunday ESPN broke the news that Denver Broncos defensive end Von Miller and the sample taker that, took Miller’s urine sample for processing, tried to cover up his drug use from the NFL. Earlier in the season the NFL stated it was suspending Miller for four games, then upped the suspension to 6 games. Most of the public assumed it was making an example out of Miller for his recreational drug use, looking at the facts now I feel this penalty was not stiff enough. Now we have two examples in professional sports where athletes have not only broken the league rules but also tried to cover up their discretions. Ryan Braun used a long shot defense to have his test results void also ruining the reputation of his sample taker. It seems the only recourse the professional sports leagues have is to really drop the hammer down on this type of behavior.  So far the punishments have been lenient, and the behaviors continue. This comes as a big disappointment and I feel the leagues blew their chance to take a stand.

Tis the Season

                Preseason hockey is upon us and if you happened to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres, you might have thought the movie Slapshot was on the television. Let’s run through the events that lead to a rarity, a goalie fight. Sabres forward Corey Tropp scored a goal, then got into it with Leafs enforcer Jamie Devane. Devane ended the fight quickly knocking Tropp unconscious, which Buffalo Coach Ron Rolston took exception to. Coach Rolston decided to put his enforcer, John Scott on the ice against the Maple Leaf’s best skill player Phil Kessel. This is what leads to the major escalation. According to Kessel, John Scott was going to jump him on the faceoff, but the video shows Scott drop the gloves and stick to take on Kessel . For the novices in hockey etiquette, dropping the gloves is the right way to start a fight, as opposed to how Kessel reacted, by repeated slashing Scott with his stick. At this point everyone on the ice gets involved in the melee.

                Seeing Phil Kessel get into it with John Scott, infuriated Maple Leafs goon David Clarkson and he jumps from the bench to go after John Scott, which is an automatic 10 game suspension. Eventually it boils down to everybody on the ice still being locked up with one another and then it happened, the mystical goalie-on-goalie fight. Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier and Ryan Miller of Buffalo take center ice and start to duke it out. It’s actually hard to believe that 9 million dollars worth of goaltenders are taking swings at each other in a preseason game, it’s not crazy, it’s just hockey.

Fantasy Football Tip of the Week

                So far the start of the fantasy football season has been a crazy one. Most of the top ten drafted running backs have been disappointed thus far. My tip of the week is to watch your bye week replacements and to start a flier wide receiver at the flex position. With all of the Green Bay Packers wide outs on the bye week, it is a good time to take a chance on Tavon Austin, Ryan Broyles and Rueben Randle.

Trivia

For those of you who didn’t correctly guess the answer from the post last week, the answer is former Colorado Avalanche Captain Chris Drury.

This week’s trivia question is a good one, what was the first televised sport in the US?