Monday, September 25, 2006

Well Let Me Bring You Back to the Subject...

So much to talk about!! Ahh it's been too long my friends! So we're on to Week 3 of the NFL and the Ravens are still up in the air in my eyes, especially after yesterday's performance. The Ravens are 3-0, but you need to remember who they have played: Tampa Bay, Oakland and Cleveland. These are beatable teams, yet our offense has put up not-so-great numbers against both. Granted, the Bucs have/had a great defense, so I can see why the offensive numbers weren't that spectacular. The Raiders D, eh - so-so. But the Browns!?!? Ok so, yeah, they do have my man D'Qwell, but are they really that great that the Ravens can only score 15 points against them?

I'm still not convinced Steve McNair is/was the answer for this team. Maybe it's because I'm a Boller sympathizer, but I'm just thinking he hasn't proven he's great. We still see the same 5 yard passes on a third and 7!! Why?? I think it's all play calling - well a little. The QB needs to be aware of the sticks. They don't have that fancy, shmancy yellow line on the field to tell them where to throw. (Believe it or not I know people who actually thought that line was ON the field and that it was moved when a team got a first down! D'oh!) They need to know where the ball needs to be to get a first down. Baltimore has always sucked in the YAC category - Yards After Catch. You can't always expect to throw it 5 yards and get about 8 out of the play. It's just not going to happen. If fans watching the game realize this, then why can't the offensive coordinator *cough*GiantsRejectSuperBowlLoserToTheRavens*cough*?

The test for the Ravens comes this week against San Diego. The Chargers have an explosive offense with Philip "I can't beat Maryland - WAHHH" Rivers and LaDanian Tomlinson. I'm not even gonna talk about their defense. When your linebacker's nickname is "Lights Out", you're gonna have a good defense. By the way, Shawne Merriman is a Terp...not that I'm bragging or anything! :-) The Ravens have and will face three of the most awesome Terps players Maryland has seen in the past few years. First it was Lamont Jordan with the Raiders, then D'Qwell Jackson with the Browns and now the Chargers' Shawne Merriman!! Not to mention after the Chargers, they face the Broncos who have Dominique Foxworth and Curome Cox. Then they face Carolina who has Kris Jenkins!! Ahh loving my Terps, but not against the Ravens.

Speaking of the Terps....yeah I'm not going to go there. All I'm gonna say is this in response to the quality of players we have on the field: "I think Fridge's recruiting trips were based around his favorite places to eat, rather than the talent." There's my piece on that!

The Orioles on the other hand, whew. I'm pretty glad that season is pretty much over. The only good thing to happen in our last homestand against the Twins is that by us losing we eliminated the Red Sox from the playoffs. Ahh karma. It's funny how teams with winning records don't make the playoffs in baseball. It's kinda like, "Yeah, we may have sucked and you beat us a lot, but guess what buddy? You're sitting at home with a six pack watching postseason baseball just like me, LOSER!" haha The only shining light in an otherwise dark season was Nick Markakis. Forget that he is gorgeous. Instead, focus on the fact that the kid has a serious campaign for Rookie of the Year! Anyone remember the last Oriole to garner that award? What, it wasn't Cal Ripken, Jr.? damn Gregg Olson with 2 g's!! Anyway, you get my point. Markakis has great potential with the O's and I hope our shitty owner realizes this. Don't give him away like so many young prospects who have gone on to be awesome elsewhere!!

Speaking of the O's shitty owner, there was a protest here recently to "Free the Birds". While I didn't have a chance to participate, the idea was pretty great. Basically a bunch of disgruntled O's fans got together, bought upper deck seats for a makeup day game with the Tigers, wore all black, chanted and cheered on the O's, and then at 5:08pm (5 for Brooks Robinson, 8 for Cal Ripken) they left. They walked out of the stadium and protested. They chanted for Angelos to sell the team. Of course it didn't do anything but draw some media attention. And Angelos' reaction: you just bought 1,000 seats - that, otherwise, wouldn't have been sold - to a game for $8 a piece, SUCKERS!! I agree with the concept, but I don't like the idea of walking out. I paid $8 dammit, I'm watching my O's win!!! (Which they did, once all the stupid protesters left - They came back from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3!) I hate Angelos as much as the next guy, but they shouldn't have bought tickets. They should have petitioned for "Baltimore" to be on the away jerseys. They should have stood outside his office and begged for a change. Maybe not in ownership, but in attitudes and the way the team is run. It's been 9 years since the O's have seen the postseason. We want it back in Baltimore. We want to know what October really feels like.

Hell, if the Tigers made it to the playoffs after 19 seasons, then it could happen!

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