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 Sports Chick
September 6, 2004 After The Storm Marty The Sports Chick Welcome back Milwaukeeworlders! After a devastating week of terrenous storms on the eastern coast of the U.S., we Midwesterners also suffered from the after math of some totally bogus storms. Not saying that what WE (The Sports fans of Wisconsin) had happen was nearly as insidious or traumatic,
BUT.........IN ALL REALITY...... IT WAS ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC. Allow me to explain....... The football season is upon us. America’s favorite sport has now returned. Baseball may beAmerica’s National Pastime but football is certainly America’s Favorite Pastime. There are more fantasy leagues and more gambling on football than there is on any other sport. That is, after all, the reason for it’s popularity. It allows the fans to get involved in a personal and financial way and take a real interest. It is easy with over/under and point spreads and other equalizers. Plus the NFL’s passion for parity has helped even those teams that suck become financially viable to the crapshooters who want to believe in them. I am pretty sure this will be a record year for the bookies, the online sites and the casinos as far as the handle on football goes. Sometimes you do have to wonder if there is more to it than simply the game itself, but that is a discussion for another day. I watched the anointed national champion college team from Oklahoma the other night and I am pretty sure that they are nowhere near as good as all those national “experts” think they are. Those guys may actually lose a couple before it is over. They beat a team from Ball State that will be lucky to get past Western Illinois and the score was much worse than the actual defeat would indicate. Goes to show what the “experts” know. You gamblers ought to be sure you are paying attention to your own observations and forget what the “experts” are telling you. I mean, look at that national powerhouse from LSU who needed missed field goals by a near division 2 opponent to pull out the victory. And what about that perennial favorite from South Bend coughing it up? I don’t know what you think of the Big Ten and specifically the Badgers, but they may be as good as anyone in the country. The quality of college play we have seen thus far from the anointed national preseason champions has been anything but impressive. Maybe next Friday night (over the opposition of the crybaby Florida High School Association) Miami and FSU will impress us. I freakin hope so because I haven’t seen much yet from anyone else. This brings us to our beloved GB Pack and their preseason and real life opportunities. Sorry about that Tim Couch experiment. I really thought he might work. But, alas, there was more to the story than any of us knew.
NAMELY.... the sore arm. How can that stuff be kept under wraps so well? Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.....PUN INTENDED.
Get It? AND, what about cutting all the receivers but four and keeping two punters? I guess we still don’t know what this team will look like. BJ was abysmal again on Friday night and yet Sherman won’t admit to any mistake in judgment on him so we still have him. That five yarder he hit on Friday really was a thing of beauty, so if Sherman wants to punt again on a fourth and one foot inside the opposition twenty, he will have the guy who can do it. Actually, the real concern for us all needs to be the lackluster preseason performance of the offense. I know, I know, the preseason is meaningless; unless, of course, you are attempting to put together a team that has chemistry, cohesion and the timing to win games. Thus far, all any of us have seen from the offense is pretty good play from the wide outs, above par performances from Najeh and William H. and mediocre play from the O line. MIND YOU MILWAUKEEWORLDERS, I am including the play of the QB and the running backs and tight ends. I know, I know, it is only preseason and we will be ready to go on Monday night in Charlotte and the practice sessions we have seen will have no meaning. Our new aggressive defense will shut down the opposition and our offense will click on all cylinders. Man, I hope so because what I have seen so far is not good. And I must not be the only one since the online survey from JS Online on Sunday showed that almost 70% of respondents are fearful for the coming season. Given the unbridled loyalty of Packer fans, I found those results disturbing. Not that I think that fans know anything, but that there are so many that see the same deficiencies that I see. SERIOUSLY...... WHO COULDN’T????? The Packer defense is so porous that I am suspicious we will have to score 45 freakin points each week to win a game. I have mentioned many times THE HUGE FREAKIN GAPING HOLE at left corner but there seems to be no resolve on the part of the Packer management to fix the problem. Chris Watson was the only corner cut on Sunday so it looks like we will have to deal with the slow footed and soft Michael Hawthorne at left corner and we can always replace him with speedy but doesn’t know the routes Ahmad Carroll once he has given up 12 to 18 points. Despite the emphasis on speed on the D line, we are still undersized and weak. We still don’t have anyone who can manhandle an offensive lineman and we are not fast enough to run around them to save KGB. He is getting fullback attention most of the time. I am scared. I have been scared before and proven wrong. I am hoping I am wrong again. Many polls predict us at 9-7 directly behind those asses from Minnesota, and earning the wild card. I hope and I pray that we whip the Vikings. They make me ( FILL IN THE WORD) sick. And finally, I CANNOT CONFIRM THIS, but a good friend of mine from Green Bay (WHERE I GREW UP) called me on Friday night to say that she had spotted a guy who looked EXACTLY (Guys, it WAS him) like Mike McKenzie in Green Bay on Thursday. I have done a little checking and it seems that McKenzie has been spotted twice in that City so there may some hope that in seven days we will have a bona-fide left corner in place. I hope that Sherman can get over his fit of little boy pique and get our cornerback back into position. I am really pumped about the coming season but I am scared from what I have seen so far. I just hope we are all missing what is really going on. Until we meet again Milwaukeeworlders, please remember that the world of professional sports is as unpredictable as the weather. We can “track” and “monitor” and “study” teams and players unclouded, but when it comes down to it, nothing is warranted until it happens. For example, not one person would have said one year ago today that MY BOY---VIJAY SINGH would be the NUMBER 1 GOLFER IN THE WORLD. Told ya so. As always, keep your ears open and your noses clean. Meet me here next week. Same time, different subject! Marty the Sports Chick
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