Monthly Archives: October 2015

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Quick Thoughts For Wednesday 10/21/15

Don Mattingly

Should Don Mattingly be fired?  Or more to the point, as the LA Times’ headline put it this morning, make a decision. It has been almost week since the Dodgers finished their season at the hands of the NY Mets, and Mattingly remains in limbo.

The Dodgers owe it to him by making a decision one way or the other.  Yet he is not the only one who the Dodgers have left hanging.

Zack Greinke’s future remains unclear with the Dodgers.  There have been rumors that he would opt out of his contract with the team, but nothing definate.  The sad thing about the Greinke situation is that the Dodgers’ front office knew about it back in the summer and did not address it then.

I think the clear choice to be axed is the front office for their mishandling of Mattingly, Greinke, and getting nothing in return for all the money they spent.

Yet while I could blame the Dodgers for mismanagement, I would have to blame Rutgers for misplaced priorities in their handling of their football head coach Kyle Flood’s attempt to get players grade fixed.

I would have moved on from it except for the firing of USC’s head coach Steve Sarkisian last week. What got my attention and raised the red flags was how the colleges handled it differently.

Pat Haden fired Sarkisian because he violated a agreement not to have alcohol the locker room. While he violated this trust and was fired.

While, Rutgers suspended Flood three games for harassing a teacher to change a players’ grade.  There were calls for him to fired. Here is where the red flags go up.  The feeling by some that Flood should not be fired because that would set the program back.  In other words, winning is important regardless.

So if winning means everything then what about USC?  Don’t you think that USC is not going to have set back also?  So why should Rutgers get a pass here?  They should have done the right thing and fired Flood, but chose not to because they put their priority in winning and money.  I have link that will follow that goes into more about Rutgers sports program.

USC did the right thing by not covering up Sarkisian’s problem, and hopefully he gets the help he needs.  What they did shows more class than the dysfunctional Rutgers.  It also helps them with recruiting.  What Rutgers did will hurt them in that area too.  I better stop here.

One last question, if Flood is such a great coach then why is not mentioned as a possible replacement for Sarkisian?

Hit here for Rutgers sports program.

I will leave with this.

 On Monday, Gov. Chris Christie criticized the media for reporting arrests of student-athletes and added, “You guys gotta find something else to do.”

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NFL, sports, st louis rams

Tuesday 10/20/15 Quick Outs

Cardinals’ head coach Bruce Arians

My first quick out for today has to do with the Cardinals’ head coach Bruce Arians’ obsession with the Rams. I will post the link for the story at the end, but here is a quick overview of his remarks after the Cardinals’ loss to the Steelers on Sunday.  He compares the loss to their loss to the Rams two weeks ago.  What does the Rams have to do with Sunday’s game?  He just can’t get over how the Rams ruined the Cardinals’ chance for an undefeated season.

Here is the link to the story.

Now that the USC Football head coach position has became vacant with the firing of Steve Sarkisian, rumors ring out possible candidates to fill the position.  They are Rams’ coach Jeff Fisher, the Saints’ Sean Payton and Eagles Chip Kelly.

Remember these are just rumored to be replacements, so I do not want to see any article coming out of St Louis that Jeff Fisher would not leave the Rams like the last time.

Here  is the link to the Jeff Fisher story.

Here is the link to the story about Sean Payton and Chip Kelly story.

Finally, being burnt by Pete Carroll  once was not enough for USC.  They would take him back as their coach.  Are you really that hard up?

Here is the link for that story.

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NFL, sports, st louis rams

Are The Rams More Focused On Divisional Games Over Non Divisional Games?

Jeff Fisher Head Coach of the Rams

Since arriving as Rams’ head coach Jeff Fisher has made one of his goals to dominate in the NFC west.  So how well has the team done in making that goal.  Well the answer will be a short one.  His first year it looked like the team would make that goal, but years afterwards, not so much.

In his first year as head coach in 2012, Fisher’s Rams finished 4-1-1 in the divisional games while going 3-7 in non divisional games. Their only loss was at the hands of the Seahawks in Seattle. not many teams had success there, and they tied the 49ers.  In 2013, they went 1-5 while going 6-4 in non divisional games, but we must remember that they loss Bradford for about half a season after being injured in Carolina .

Finally during last season, 2014, they went 2-4 in their division versus 4-6 against  non divisional opponents.  Again they lost Bradford and the defense showed no life until later in the season.  Their two divisional wins came against Seattle and San Francisco both games at home.

So far this year in their first five games, they have two divisional wins with three non divisional losses.

Why am I so concerned about the Rams’ divisional performance? Well, I have many reasons.  The most important being its importance in tie breaking for playoff consideration.  The more wins you have then tie breaking becomes a mute point.

But, I also have this concern that there might be too much emphasis being place on divisional games over non divisional games. I could be wrong, and I hope that I am wrong.

The only time time where I could be wrong would be the 2013 and 14 seasons when they posted better non divisional records then divisional records.

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La Dodgers, MLB, NFL, sports, st louis rams

Monday’s Morning Call For 10/05/15

NFC’s Western Division Scores

St Louis: 24                                  San Francisco: 3                                        Seattle:

Arizona:  22                                  Green Bay:    17                                        Detroit:

NFC’s Western Standings        W    L   T     Prec.     Streak

Arizona Cardinals                        3      1    0      .750      1L

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St Louis Rams                             2      2    0      .500      1W

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Seattle Seahawks                         1       2    0      .333      1W

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San Francisco 49ers                     1       3    0      .250      3L

The Rams’ Defence Stimies The Cardinals 

Rams Corner E.J. Gaines
breaks up pass intended
for Cardinals John Brown.

The Rams ended the Cardinals’ undefeated streak in Arizona, yesterday with 24-22 victory.  While the the Rams offense showed flashes of brilliance behind rookie running back Todd Gurley and receiver Tevon Austin, it was the defense that commanded the day by shutting down the Cardinals red zone offense.

The Rams defense forced the Cardinals to settle for five field goals while in the red zone.  The Cardinals only touchdown came late in the fourth quarter. It was 23 yard pass from Palmer to Johnson.  This pass would be the one and only the ball would cross the goal line for the Cardinals other than by way kicking.

The Rams’s defense held the Cardinals to 113 yards rushing, but allowed 334 yards passing. They sacked Palmer 4 times for a loss of  18 yards.  The defense also forced 2 fumbles and recovered one.

Jenkins also intercepted one of Palmer’s’ passes.

On the other side of the ball, Foles completed 16 of his 24 passes for 171 yards and threw 3 touchdown passes.  He had no interceptions, but was sacked once for a seven yard loss.

Gurley rushed for 146 yards the longest run was 52 yards, and Austin rushed for 20 yards and his longest was 12.

Austin had 6 receptions for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns.  His longest was 47 yards.

While the Rams showed some life yesterday, the big question, will they show that same life or more life next Sunday against the Packers?  We must keep in mind that the Rams’ two wins have been against division opponents while their two losses have been to teams outside their division.  So next week’s game against the Packers will be very important one in order to see if they have really turned the corner because this one will be against a team outside of the division.

NL Western Division Scores 

LA Dodgers: 6                          Arizona Diamondbacks: 5                  Colorado Rockies: 7

SD Padres:    3                          Houston Astros;              3                  SF Giants:              3

NL Western Division Standings     W     L     PCT    GB

Los Angeles Dodgers                         92    70   .568       0

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San Francisco Giants                          84    78    .519       8

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Arizona Diamondbacks                      79    83    .488      13

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San Diego Padres                                68    48    .420      24

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The Dodgers Finished Their Season With A 6-3 Win Over The Padres 

Attribute To Dodgers’ pitcher Clayton Kershaw. He threw 300
strikeouts this season.

The Dodgers ended their season on high note with a victory over the Padres. So they go into the postseason, feeling good about themselves.   They swept their final series from the Padres with three wins. They open up their post season with home field advantage in their series against the Mets. Yes life looks good for the Dodgers.

You know a couple of weeks ago it looked like they would have a melt down, and I was really worried going into their series with the Giants.  But you know now that is all in past. We must now look to the playoffs and hopefully a deep run in the playoffs.

I know that this postseason could bring a lot painful changes, but for now lets not be concerned about those changes and enjoy the Dodgers’ run in the playoffs.

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