Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Fantasy Football All-Stars, week 15

There were a lot of blowouts this week, the first week of standard format playoffs, which means half of your team did well and the other half likely not so much. Here's who was good:

Quarterbacks: Michael Vick and Rex Grossman
Running Backs: Ray Rice and Jamaal Charles
Wide Receivers: Vincent Jackson and Mario Manningham
Tight Ends: Jason Witten and Aaron Hernandez
Kickers: Robbie Gould and David Buehler

Those are the guys that would have helped you the most this week, and good luck to everyone in the championships. We'll see you here next week.

Monday Night Football week 15

As stadium woes continue, the Minnesota Vikings hosted the Chicago Bears outside at TCF Bank Stadium, home of the University of Minnesota football team. The field was good enough to play ice hockey on, frozen solid in the cold Minnesota winter. Onward to the scoring, opened by brickhouse Brett Favre, who connected with Percy Harvin for 23 yards and a touchdown. Ryan Longwell added the extra point. Robbie Gould kicked a field goal for the Chicago Bears, before adding the extra point on Jay Cutler's 67 yard touchdown pass to Johnny Knox. Cutler found Devin Hester in the second quarter, and after Gould added the extra point, the Bears led the Vikings by a score of 17-7, which would be the score into halftime. Gould kicked a 23 yard field goal to open the scoring in the third quarter, following up with an extra point on the Devin Hester 64 yard punt return for a touchdown. Minnesota found the end zone again when Joe Webb ran it in for 13 yards and the score. Longwell added the extra point. Cutler found another receiver for a touchdown, this time being Rashied Davis for 9 yards, with Gould adding the extra point to make it 34-14. Gould added a third and fourth quarter field goal, from 34 and 20 yards. The final had the Bears up 40-14, improving to 10-4, and dropping the Vikings to 5-9.

Fantasy Football All-Stars will follow this post directly.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Fantasy Hockey All-Stars week 10

Another week down, another group of players leading the pack for their Fantasy Managers, hoping to give them a midseason push. Here's who got work done this week

Center: Matt Duchene, 4 goals, 3 assists, +1, 0 penalty minutes, 3 power play points, 10 shots on goal
Left Wing: Tomas Fleischmann, 4 goals, 3 assists, +2, 4 penalty minutes, 2 power play points, 9 shots on goal
Right Wing: Loui Eriksson, 2 goals, 4 assists, +1, 2 penalty minutes, 3 power play points, 10 shots on goal
Defenseman: Jack Johnson, 1 goal, 2 assists, +2, 14 penalty minutes, 3 power play points, 10 shots on goal
Goaltender: Anders Lindback: 3 wins, 1.89 goals against average, 74 saves, .925 save percentage, 1 shutout

These were the best players by position for the week. Here's to the midseason push.

Song of the Week IV

This week, we have our first repeat artist on here, with James Blunt earning the honors with 1973. The song is the lead track off of his second album, All the Lost Souls, and it went on to be a single for him. The song has a rhythmic beat and a good piano, notorious of his work and setting the soft, strong tone the rest of the album carries. A perfect example of what a first track should sound like. Check this series again next week for the next song.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Sunday Night Football, week 15

This week's prime time Sunday game is between the Green Bay Packers, who are paying a visit to the New England Patriots. Mason Crosby put the Packers up first with a 31 yard field goal. New England responded with a touchdown run from BenJarvus Green-Ellis, from 33 yards, followed by Shayne Graham's extra point. Matt Flynn got Green Bay going the right way in the second quarter, with touchdown passes of 66 and 1 yards to James Jones and Greg Jennings, both followed by Crosby extra points. Tom Brady cut the lead to 17-14 with his touchdown pass to Aaron Hernandez for 2 yards, followed by Graham's extra point. The Patriots took a lead when Kyle Arrington intercepted Flynn for 36 yards and the touchdown, followed by an extra point from Graham, but Flynn regained himself and threw one to his own teammate, John Kuhn, for 6 yards and the touchdown. Crosby added the extra point, before kicking a 19 yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Graham answered that and made the score 27-24 Packers with his 38 yard field goal, and he also tacked on the extra point for Brady's second touchdown to Hernandez, this time from 10 yards. The final score ended up being 31-27 New England over Green Bay. The Patriots improved to 12-2, while dropping the Packers down to 8-6.

Sunday NHL recap

There were four games on for the puckheads among us in a football-dominated Sunday, with the first two being early enough to compete a bit with football broadcasts. We start in Detroit...

Where the Red Wings hosted the Dallas Stars. Andrew Raycroft and Chris Osgood were the netminders. Pavel Datsyuk drew first blood for the Red Wings, potting a power play goal, his 12th marker of the season, from Tomas Holmstrom and Johan Franzen. Patrick Eaves made it 2-0 with his seventh of the year, from Niklas Kronwall and Valtteri Filppula. Brad Richards put Dallas on the board with his 15th of the year, thanks to Loui Erikssoin and Jeff Woywitka. Brenden Morrow potted a goal for the Stars to even it at 2 after the first period, a power play goal from Trevor Daley and Eriksson, good for his eleventh of the year. Franzen put Detroit back up late in the second period with his 14th of the year, helped along by Brian Rafalski and Datsyuk. Morrow tied it for the Stars in the third period with his second of the night and 12th of the year, with help from Jamie Benn. The tie lasted late into overtime, but was broken by Dallas with Eriksson's 14th of the year, assisted by Jamie Benn. Eriksson, Morrow, and Eaves got the stars for the game. Fighting in the second period were Dallas' Steve Ott and Detroit's Justin Abdelkader.

We head to Chicago for the second game, where the Blackhawks hosted the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Quick and Corey Crawford were the goalkeepers for the game. Jonathan Toews got the Blackhawks up first with his 15th of the season in the first period, assisted by Brian Campbell and Patrick Sharp. Kyle Clifford evened the score for the Kings, potting his second of the year, with help from Michal Handzus and Wayne Simmonds. Duncan Keith netted his third of the year to make the lead 2-1 for Chicago, assisted by Sharp and Toews. Fernando Pisani made it 3-1 for the 'Hawks, potting his fifth of the year, with help from Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland. Simmonds tried to get Los Angeles back together with his seventh of the year, with help from Anze Kopitar and goalie Jonathan Quick, but they couldn't muster any more offense in the third period and fell 3-2 to Chicago. Toews, Keith, and Simmonds earned the stars for the game. Sharing a dance in the first period were the Blackhawks' John Scott (the real estate manager) and the Kings' Kevin Westgarth.

Moving along to Ottawa, where the Senators hosted the Washington Capitals. Michal Neuvirth and Brian Elliott got the nod for their respective teams. Ottawa opened the scoring with a goal by Ryan Shannon, his fourth of the season, from Jesse Winchester. The Senators had a 2-0 lead when Chris Kelly potted his eighth of the year, assisted by Chris Neil. Washington answered in the second period with an early goal by Mathieu Perreault, his third of the year, with helpers from Mike Knuble and Brooks Laich. Forty-six seconds later, Eric Fehr tied it with his fifth of the year, assisted by Alex Ovechkin. Later that same period, Perreault had struck again, with his second of the night and fourth of the year, with assistance for this goal coming from Fehr, on the power play. No more scoring would be conducted after this point, and the Capitals went on to defeat the Senators 3-2. Perreault, Kelly, and Fehr earned the stars for their performances.

Lastly, we have the game between the Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens, at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Carey Price and Craig Anderson were in between their pipes for the game. Michael Cammalleri opened the scoring for the Canadiens, with a power play goal from Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn. The Avalanche answered with a power play goal from Ryan Wilson late in the first period, his second marker of the season helped along by Ryan O'Reilly and goalie Craig Anderson. Montreal regained the lead in the second period with a goal by Alexandre Picard on the power play, his second goal of the year, assisted by Max Pacioretty and Scott Gomez. Kevin Porter tied it up for Colorado with his seventh of the campaign, helped along by Philippe Dupuis, and they took the lead on a goal by T.J. Galiardi, his fifth of the season, helped by O'Reilly and Jonas Holos. This 3-2 Avalanche lead would hold up to defeat the Canadiens. O'Reilly, Anderson (27 for 29 saves) and Cammalleri were the three stars.

That's all the hockey there is for Sunday. The Sunday Night Football post will follow this one at the conclusion of the game. Tomorrow, there will be Song of the Week and Fantasy Hockey All-Stars, plus the Monday Night Football post at its regularly scheduled time.

NFL Week 15 late games recap

There are three games late for today. The first one was between...

The Atlanta Falcons, and the hosting Seattle Seahawks. Marshawn Lynch got the Seahawks on the board first with his 1 yard touchdown run, followed by an extra point from Olindo Mare. Matt Ryan's pass to Jason Snelling for 3 yards and the touchdown, followed by an extra point by Matt Bryant was enough to tie the game for the Falcons. Bryant and Mare exchanged field goals, with Bryant true from 27 yards and Mare good from 38 yards. Atlanta took the lead when Ryan passed to Michael Jenkins for a touchdown of 24 yards before the half, followed by a Bryant extra point to make it 17-10. The Falcons jumped on a Matt Hasselbeck fumble, with Jonathan Babineaux recovering it and taking it in, followed by an extra point by Bryant, who added a 25 yard field goal to make it 27-10. Ryan then found Roddy White later in the third quarter, good for 5 yards, with Bryant providing the extra point. Trying to create a rally, backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst ran a touchdown in for a yard, followed by a successful two point conversion pass from Whitehurst to Ben Obomanu. This produced the final score of 34-18, improving Atlanta to 12-2, and dropping Seattle to 6-8.

The next game featured the New York Jets paying a visit to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Brad Smith of the Jets opened the scoring early, returning the kickoff from Shaun Suisham 97 yards for the touchdown, with Nick Folk adding the extra point. Pittsburgh tied it with a touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Matt Spaeth, good for 9 yards, and Suisham's extra point. Folk and Suisham exchanged field goals in the second quarter, with a 25 yard shot from Folk answered by Suisham's 42 yard kick in the last minute of the half, leaving the game tied at 10. Rashard Mendenhall made it 17-10 for the Steelers with his with a two yard rush, followed by a Suisham extra point, but the game was soon tied with Mark Sanchez running it in himself from 7 yards out, followed by Folk's extra point. Folk added a field goal from 34 yards in the fourth quarter, and the Jets defense sealed the deal with a safety by tackling Mewelde Moore in his own end zone, producing a 22-17 final with the Jets on top. Both teams ended up at 10-4 at the conclusion of the game.

Lastly, we have the Oakland Raiders hosting the Denver Broncos. Jacoby Ford opened the scoring for the Raiders with a 71 yard touchdown rush, followed by a Sebastian Janikowski extra point. Tim Tebow found a couple ways to score touchdowns in his first NFL start, with a 40 yard run and a 33 yard pass to Brandon Lloyd, with Steve Hauschka adding the extra point. Michael Bush got Oakland back together with his 1 yard touchdown run, with Janikowski's extra point tying the game. Hauschka and Janikowski went on a kicking spree when the teams switched sides, with Hauschka getting two field goals from 46 and 35 yards, and Janikowski kicking three from 49, 35, and 47 yards. At the end of the third quarter, it was 23-20 in favor of Oakland over Denver. Jason Campbell extended the Raider lead when connecting for a touchdown with Marcel Reece for 73 yards, with Janikowski adding the extra point. Cutting it back down to a one-score game was Hauschka, kicking a field goal of 45 yards, but Correll Buckhalter got pinned in his own end zone on the next Bronco drive, and the Raiders nabbed a safety, making it 32-23. Bush added another 1 yard touchdown for insurance, with Janikowski's extra point making it 39-23, which proved to be the final. Oakland advanced to 7-7, and Denver fell to 3-11.

Two more posts coming out today (maximum) so keep an eye out for a hockey recap and a Sunday Night Football post.