Scumbag Tim Tebow if you need him.

Unreal.

I’m still not really sure that I saw what I just saw. The Denver Broncos are down 13-10 to the New York Jets with the ball on their own 5 yard line and about five minutes to play. Surely, the worst case scenario for the Jets is overtime, right? Well, the sports world wouldn’t be in hysterics if that had happened.

Instead of overtime, the legend of Tim Tebow claimed yet another victim. On the last drive of the game, which started on Denver’s own 4 yard line, Tebow passed for 35 yards and ran for another 57 and the game winning touchdown on a 20 yard scramble. The Broncos are now 5-5 on the season, including 4-1 since Tebow became the starter (3 of those are come from behind wins), and are in the thick of things in the AFC West playoff picture.

This is the first time I’ve gotten a chance to see Tim Tebow in action since he was drafted, and it wasn’t a disappointment. This is the type of performance that people remember, and I know I certainly will. Had everyone else in the house not been in bed, I would have started yelling TTTTTIIIIIIIMMMMMMM TTTTTTEEEEBBBBBBOOOOOOWWWWWWW at the TV.

I was also really impressed with NFL Network’s handling of Tim Tebow. They were reasonable, informative, and certainly were not vitriolic like ESPN’s analysts are. In fact, I’d venture so far as to say that Merril Hoge choked on a chicken bone when Tebow scampered in for that touchdown. Heimlich!

If you keep up with sports at all, you’re going to be deluged with Tim Tebow and all kinds of adjectives to describe him as you watch/read/listen to sports news tomorrow, so I’ll just summarize my thoughts succinctly: that last drive was really cool to watch.

Photo credit:Yahoo! Sports
Box score (Yahoo! Sports)

Just what is lolcongress getting into lately? They should know better. Really, they should. We didn’t elect them to declare what type of food pizza is. And did they stop to consider that pizza sauce is made from the tomato, which is a fruit? And we don’t need them to censor the Internet. Yes, I am against piracy, but the level of censorship they’re suggesting is dangerous and (dare I say it?) Orwellian. Hopefully it won’t pass.

See also:
SOPA, Internet Censorship Bill, Lauded By Both Parties In Key House Hearing
Help Mozilla stop Internet Censorship Legislation
Scumbag Steve
Bill of Rights

It will be interesting to see how Jackson fairs in his first season as a head coach. He sits 3rd all-time on the NBA’s career assist list, so it seems reasonable that he would have a good understanding of the game. Whether he can actually coach and teach his players is yet to be seen. Hopefully he won’t talk to his players like he does people tuning into NBA games on ABC or ESPN, where he spews out cliches and catch phrases such as: Grown man move! Momma, there goes that man! Hand down, man down!

Now if someone would just hire Jeff Van Gundy I could watch games in peace, but is there any team that desperate?

Warriors hire Jackson as new coach.

2004- they lost in the NBA Finals 4-1 to the Detroit Pistons.

2006- they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Phoenix Suns after having a 3-1 series lead.

2007- Phoenix knocked them out again with a 4-1 first round win.

2008- the Lakers make it to the Finals to face the Boston Celtics, but lose in Game 4 after having a 24 point lead and then got blown out in Game 6 131-92.

You can add yesterday’s display to this list, after the Dallas Mavericks completed their second round sweep of the two-time defending champs  with a 122-86 shelling. And really, it’s not just yesterday’s display that will be remembered. The entire series, the Lakers did not look like they were into it as they failed to close out games and allowed the Mavs to do whatever they wanted. Pau Gasol was so out of it that he might as well have been on the disabled list due to a removed spine.

The bottom line is, the Lakers quit. The Mavericks were definitely on fire the entire game, but the Lakers had lost that game by halftime when they were down 63-39. I would have expected them to come out after the half and play like they did when they won the last two NBA championships. You can come back from 24 points in a half and win a game. It’s entirely possible, but not if you quit, which is why the lead was 36 when the game ended. I would have expected Kobe Bryant to come out of the locker room like a bat out of hell, but he finished the game with a pedestrian 17 points and I can hardly remember seeing play in the 2nd half.

The Mavs’ scoring.

It was amazing to see the Mavericks tossing in three-pointers from all over the place; for my part, I’ve never seen anything like that happen. They tied the NBA playoff record for threes in a game with 20, hit 63% of their three point attempts, and shot 60% overall from the field. And to add to the fun, most of that came from the bench. Peja Stojakovich scored 21 points on 6-6 shooting from behind the line (7-7 overall). It seems like it’s been years since he’s played as well as he did during the series. J.J. Barea, all six feet of him, scored 22 points on 9-14 shooting. And finally, Jason Terry played like an “on fire” Reggie Miller in NBA Hangtime, draining threes from all over the place. He finished the game with 32 points on 9-10 shooting from behind the arc (11-14 overall). Dirk Nowitzki was the only starter to score in double digits with 17 points, but when the bench by itself scores as many points as the other team, it doesn’t matter too much what the starters do. In fact, things were going so well for the Mavs that the record tying three was hit by Brian Cardinal.

Andrew Bynum is still a loser.

Just when I was starting to believe that Andrew Bynum was a becoming a respectable player, he goes and does something like this:

Bush league is right, Mike Tirico. Not only was that elbow a dirty play, but Bynum did it against someone a foot shorter and 110 pounds lighter. And Barea still hit the shot. Lamar Odom was also ejected for a hard and unnecessary foul against Dirk Nowitzki. Odom’s take on the series was especially pathetic.

Exhibit 1

You will never see a worse flop as long as you live, unless you watch wrestling or soccer (as the next example will demonstrate). Earlier this season Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant called Bosh a “fake tough guy,” which made Bosh, the rest of the Miami team, and their supporters all indignant. “Durant’s just upset he lost,” they all said. And now he does this. Is there a worse way to make people think that you’re not a fake tough guy? If I wanted to make people think I was tough, I wouldn’t do this. I also wouldn’t keep getting punked by the Boston Celtics, but that’s another story. Predictably, he’s been shredded on the Internet; “Bosh Spice” was a trending topic on Twitter.

Exhibit 2 (+1 for sound effects!)

While Bosh’s flop was pathetic and sissy, this one is just stupid. Actually, it’s laughable. In fact, I think I’ve seen this shtick before in episodes of The Three Stooges. And what’s even more outrageous is that it worked! No one saw this? The camera saw it, of course, but they don’t use instant replay in soccer, so what good does that do anybody? Bosh’s flop makes me seethe with anger because it’s people like him that make the NBA unbearable to watch, but this one just makes me laugh. Pro-soccer honks keep harping about how “beautiful” a sport soccer is (and it is if you’re watching the World Cup), but for every amazing goal there’s an equally egregious flop. Could it be that soccer is the Chris Bosh of professional sports?

Now we can talk about something else. (Yahoo! Sports)

On the other hand, just look at who all they gave up. And not only that, consider how young these guys are. Point guard Raymond Felton, forwards Danilo Galinari and Wilson Chandler, and center Timofey Mozgov. Any team would be glad to add them to the roster and they are all 26 years old and younger, so there’s room for them to get better. Galinari and Chandler have improved every year while Felton is putting up career highs in points (17) and assists (9). Mozgov is still just a rookie, but he’s shown promise.

So what do you do? We know what the Knicks and Nuggets did, but I’m not sure I would have the guts to pull that trade if I’m the Knicks. Sure, if I’m the Nuggets I do it in a heartbeat because there’s no way Carmelo was coming back next year. When faced with a scenario like that, you make sure absolutely you don’t become the next Cleveland Cavaliers or Toronto Raptors. I think everybody would take the deal they got for him. You’d have to be pretty dumb to pass up the package they got from the Knicks. But if I’m the Knicks? It’s hard to trade that much youth and potential, regardless of who you’re getting.

I think both teams came out looking pretty good in this trade. The Knicks got their second superstar in Carmelo and also got one of the better point guards in the league in Chauncey Billups, the afterthought of this trade. For the Nuggets, they’ve got a good core of young players to rebuild around if they want it. The problem, though, is that none of them are superstars. They played off of Stoudemire very well in New York, but now in Denver they won’t enjoy the same open jump shots that he provided them.

It’s going to be interesting to see how both of these teams do for the remainder of this season, as well as in the future.

“I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE.” – Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert

Hnnnnnnnng! (Yahoo! Sports)

Fast forward to tonight, and the Cavaliers are a miserable 8-44 and just set the NBA record for consecutive losses at 25 with a 99-96 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. It’s hard to fathom a team being so bad. All they lost was one player and they’ve been set back 10 years after being contenders. For his own sake, I wish Dan Gilbert had waited to issue that kind of a statement. Had he thought about it for the night, he might have come up with something better than the above quote. In fact, he probably could have gone the entire letter without using the caps lock. He could have inspired his team and the city of Cleveland. He could have handled the situation with grace and come out of it looking pretty good compared to LeBron. Instead, he sunk to LeBron’s level, wrote an angry letter, and now finds himself in charge of one of the worst teams in NBA history.

So kids, don’t write while mad.

Aaron Rodgers gets his title belt. (Yahoo! Sports)

Ever since the Packers controversially traded Brett Favre to the Jets three years ago, Aaron Rodgers has done nothing but go about his business. While Brett Favre has been retiring and unretiring while sending people pictures of his “dongle,” Aaron Rodgers has worked hard and won a Super Bowl in his third season as Green Bay’s full time starter. Where once Brett Favre was one of the NFL’s premier passers, Aaron Rodgers has usurped him and looks like he may be even better, though time will tell what his stats are when he’s finished with his own career. He probably doesn’t go a day without someone asking him a question about Brett Favre, but he never answers them. In fact, he couldn’t even receive the Lombardi Trophy or his Super Bowl MVP award without Favre’s name being mentioned. But none of that bothers him. He just goes about his own business helping his team get better, and I like that.

So no, it doesn’t really bother me that the Steelers lost. I can’t think of another team or player that was more deserving of a Super Bowl win than the Packers and Aaron Rodgers.

Both the NFC and AFC championship games shared similarities. Both game featured strong defenses and good young quarterbacks. Both also saw one team own the first half only to have the other wake up and make a game of it.

Aaron Rodgers dives for the first score of the game. (Yahoo! Sports)

Green Bay game started the game in fine form. On the first play from scrimmage, QB Aaron Rodgers hit wide receiver Greg Jennings for a 22 yard gain. Right after that, the two connected again for a 26 yard gain. It was evident that they meant business. The drive was capped with a bootleg touchdown run by Rodgers that caught Chicago completely by surprise. When they kicked off to the Bears following the extra point, just over four minutes had expired. Chicago was unable to answer the opening score, and was forced to punt.

Actually, Chicago was unable to answer any of Green Bay’s scoring until the 4th quarter. In the first half, QB Jay Cutler and the Bears offense struggled to find a rhythm and was forced to punt on five of their six possessions, with the sixth one ending with an interception. All told, when Green Bay went into the locker room with a 14-0 lead, Chicago’s best drive was 6 plays and 35 yards.

And now this is where it gets interesting. All of today’s talk about Championship Weekend has not been about Aaron Rodgers making it to the Super Bowl and proving that the Packers were right about trading Brett Favre. Nor has it been about how the Steelers are on the verge of winning their third Super Bowl in six years. Certainly, those have been discussed, but they have not received anywhere near the airtime that Jay Cutler has. After Chicago’s first drive of the 3rd quarter, Cutler was taken out of the game and replaced by longtime backup Todd Collins. The move was mystifying because it appeared to everyone that Cutler was just fine because there he was on the sideline, using an exercise bike and then standing for much of the 2nd half. But more on that later.

After two ineffective possessions, Collins was removed and replaced by Caleb Hanie, a second year player who had appeared in only five games prior and had career totals of 66 yards passing on 8-14 attempts. At this time, Green Bay is still sitting on 14 points, but with the way their defense was playing it didn’t seem that there was any worry. They had knocked Jay Cutler out of the game and hadn’t allowed Collins to get anything started. Now they were going up against a young guy who had less passing yards for his career than Cutler had in the first half (80 yards, for those keeping score). For all intents and purposes, it didn’t look as if the second half would be much different. It looked as if the second half would be even more of a cakewalk than the first.

But it wasn’t.

Caleb Hanie, playing in his sixth game as a professional, brought the Bears pretty close to a comeback. On his first drive, he hit Johnny Knox for a 32 yard completion to set up a 1 yard touchdown from Chester Taylor. He also got help from the defense, which came alive and did not allow Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense to score again; they forced five punts and picked

B.J. Raji scores a touchdown...barely (Yahoo! Sports)

Rodgers off once. But then Hanie threw an interception directly to B.J. Raji,  Green Bay’s 337 lb. nose tackle, which he promptly took and rumbled into the endzone with. Raji narrowly made it, though. As soon as he caught the ball and started to run, Raji held the ball out in celebration, only to have Hanie chase him down and knock it loose a fraction of a second after the ball crossed the goal line. That put the score at 21-7, which was pretty much the game. Hanie would connect with Earl Bennett for another touchdown, but threw another interception, this time to Sam Shields, on Chicago’s final, desperation drive to tie the game. Though I was pulling for the Packers, I found myself hoping Hanie would do well. He came into the game in an impossible situation and I couldn’t help but wonder, what if he pulled it off? We’ve seen some pretty exciting comebacks in the playoffs, but how often are they led by an inexperienced 3rd string quarterback.

Aaron Rodgers stops Brian Urlacher...barely. (Yahoo! Sports)

I think there is one play that has been somewhat overlooked and would have altered the game in a big way is Brian Urlacher’s interception of Aaron Rodgers in the third quarter, or rather the shoestring tackle Rodgers made on the return. If Rodgers doesn’t make that tackle, the Bears score and are down 14-7 before Hanie throws his two touchdowns. If Rodgers doesn’t run Urlacher down, that game goes into overtime.

And now, what to make of Jay Cutler? Should he have come back in the game? I knew what was going to happen when I saw him on the sideline during the second half. I had a feeling that when I delved into the day’s sports news and saw the reactions, they were going to be filled with the macho “when you’re a quarterback in the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE you HAVE to be out there unless you’re seriously hurt!!” sentiments.

A sullen Jay Cutler stalks the sideline. (Photo credit: Yahoo! Sports)

While that wasn’t quite the reaction from the media, who seemed to be waiting for the injury report, Cutler’s fellow players lit into him on Twitter. A lot of guys were going after him for a perceived lack of toughness and they all talked about how they would be on the field despite injury. (One of these was Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew who, as Cutler’s teammate Tim Jennings pointed out on “The Jim Rome Show”, missed the last two games of the season even as the Jaguars were chasing a playoff spot). Basically, they all labeled Cutler a quitter before even finding out the extent of the injury, which turned out to be an MCL sprain. And a lot of people, mainly those who don’t play football, are scoffing at that too. I don’t know anything about this type of injury (and unless you’re an orthopedic surgeon, you probably don’t either), but I’m willing to believe that if Cutler was held out of the game by his coaches-that’s right, he didn’t pull himself out-because it wasn’t simply “just a sprain.” As silly as it may sound, the reaction would probably be negligible if he had been on the sidelines with a pair of crutches.

For my part, I don’t think Jay Cutler was being a wimp or faking an injury.

Rashard Mendenhall reaches for the touchdown. (Photo credit: Yahoo! Sports)

The way the first half played out, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking the Jets didn’t have a chance. On the opening drive, Ben Roethlisberger led his team down the field on a 15 play, 66 yard drive that was capped off by a Rashard Mendenhall touchdown. By the time the Jets got the ball for their first possession, nearly 10 minutes had elapsed. They went 29 yards in 7 plays and had to punt. They would intercept Roethlisberger on Pittsburgh’s next possession, but wound up punting two more times as Pittsburgh scored twice more, first on a Shawn Suisham field goal and again on a 2 yard run by Roethlisberger. With

Mark Sanchez, after meeting Ike Taylor. (Photo credit: Yahoo! Sports)

about two minutes left in the half, it was looking pretty bleak for New York, and then it got worse when Pittsburgh cornerback Ike Taylor broadsided New York’s Mark Sanchez. Not only did the hit cause a fumble that was returned for a touchdown by William Gay, but it also left Sanchez holding his throwing arm in pain. It looked like a KO, but Sanchez came back and got the Jets into position for a field goal, which made it 24-3 at the half.

Pardon the cliche, but this game truly was a “tale of two halves” (actually, I just heard them say on ESPN’s “NFL Live”).The first half clearly belonged to the Steelers, who outgained the Jets 247 yards to 59. The defense forced three punts and returned a fumble for a touchdown. The Jets were pretty worthless in that first half.

They corrected things in the second half, though. The Jets outgained the Steelers 231 yards to 75 and reeled off 16 unanswered points. Mark Sanchez threw for two touchdowns with no interceptions and finished the game with 233 yards passing. The Jets defense would intercept Ben Roethlisberger once more and sack him twice while also forcing a punt and a safety while also slowing down Rashard Mendenhall’s rushing. The safety was the key play for the Jets (an obvious understatement) because it swung the momentum back their way after Pittsburgh stopped them on a fourth and short on the 2 yard line. They happily took the two free points and took the ball back down the field for a Jerricho Cotchery touchdown reception.

Pittsburgh got the ball back with 2:56 left on the clock and the Jets still had all three of their timeouts to stop the clock in addition to the two minute warning. Judging from the way the Jets had been playing the run in the second half, it looked like they would get the ball back and Mark Sanchez would have the opportunity to lead the loud-mouth team to a last minute victory. They indeed were able to stop Mendenhall, only allowing him 5 yards on three rushes, but they got burned on a 14 yard gains from both tight end Heath Miller and rookie wide receiver Antonio Brown. Brown’s catch was easily the most significant of his career as came on a 3rd and 6 with 2:00 left.

(Photo credit: Yahoo! Sports)

In all, this was an excellent game and was pretty much what we all expected from these two defensively proficient teams. I enjoyed it even more knowing that my favorite team had beaten the blow hard Rex Ryan and his trash talking crew of ruffians, especially after the likes of the Colts and Patriots were unable to get it done. That’s not to say it wasn’t a worrying experience. There were the two interceptions from Roethlisberger, the safety, the inability to run in the second half, and finally, the Jerricho Cotchery touchdown that made, two Pittsburgh defenders run into each other. The stakes were also high because I’m pretty sure I’m the only Steelers fan among my friends.