Congratulations to Fernando Alonso on winning the drivers' championship this year. He started off so well that the bumps along the way and the resurgence of Michael Schumacher midway through the season almost made it seem like the beginning part of the season was useless for Alonso.
Anyway, the season is over and a brand new chapter starts next year. Michael Schumacher is gone and with it, he takes a lot of character out of the Formula 1 circuit. Alonso goes to McLaren and it will be interesting to see how that factory improves its cars from this year’s debacles.
And most importantly, Massa gets paired with Kimi at Ferrari. It will be an interesting team to watch, first of all the dynamics within the team and more importantly, the performance of the team itself.
Meanwhile, my last post on ‘bye bye Michael’ - ends with Bye Bye Michael Schumacher, you will be thoroughly missed!
In this week’s press luncheon, Pete Carroll said this about Matt Leinart and the unusual place he is in, with 3 losses!
On talking to Matt Leinart and losing more NFL games so far than at USC:
“He’s been hit more too. Steve Sarkisian talked to him last night. I talked to him after the Monday night game. He’s in a difficult situation for him. He’s unfamiliar with it. Even through his high school years, he won all those games too. He does know what it feels like when things are going good and you have the confidence to finish games and you take on your opponents with a real air, that you know you’re going to win. It’s hard for them right now, for the whole team and what more so for Matt. He does understand it and he’ll know when it starts to change and shift and I think he’ll be able to lead them very well if he continues to get his opportunities. The classic deal for them last game, coming off a huge Monday night event… come up short, all of that and then go against a team that hasn’t won a game. All of a sudden, they look like the world champs. That’s kind of classic and it’s unfortunate but it’s the ups and downs of how it goes. You have to struggle through it. He was very frustrated by it. That’s why they call it the “no fun league”. It humbles you."
I am glad to put a small personal detail on this blog. The wife and I are proud parents as of yesterday!
We had a baby girl who is absolutely the best thing that ever happened to us. I can’t get my eyes off her and could stare at her forever.
But on a side note, what a great daughter she is already. She chose the USC bye week to come to this world so papa can devote some time to her on college football saturday :-)
What a pity this Monday Night Football game was. Matt Leinart and the Arizona Cardinals were on fire and they made the Chicago Bears look like, well, the 49ers of last year :-)
After having a 20-point lead, to give up the game on Edge’s fumble and Neil Rackers' missed field goal is shameful.
I feel quite sorry for them. The good thing is that the next game for the Cardinals is at Oakland and given how bad Oakland has been, Matt Leinart may well get his first win in Oakland. If not for my ‘busy schedule’ in the upcoming week, I would have actually thought of going to Oakland to see the game!
3rd game in a row where USC won by touchdown or less. And this one did not look close at the beginning. The first quarter or so, USC seemed to be on track like the last season and much better overall compared to earlier games from this season.
Then what happened? I don’t know, because I stopped watching because we went to someone’s house after the end of the first half. All I saw was the bloody interception which was returned for a touchdown to even the score at 21.
After seeing 21 points in just over a quarter I thought it was going to be a nice win like one of the big ones last year. But looks like the offense just went to sleep and the defense also started slipping against the ASU offense. Rudy Carpenter stepped it up and some of the dropped catches and stuff from the first quarter disappeared.
Whatever the case, this USC team is not going to get any style points. Maybe there is a case to make for USC that they do end up on the winning side rather than on the losing side, but at the same time, the closeness of these last few games gives the opposition some confidence and makes them believe they have a chance. It was not the case last year and it made a few opponents wilt before they should have, and handed the victory to USC.
But for the wins, I would be tempted to say that USC is loving to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Thankfully, I don’t have to say that. Not yet, at least :-)
When someone tells you something will happen within a certain time frame and you want it to happen quickly, and it does not happen within that time frame, what do you do?
When will Reggie Bush reach the end zone? He did not score in the preseason and has not done so in 4 games so far. Is he going to do it today against a bad Tampa Bay team?
I sure hope so. Unfortunately they are not showing the game here so will have to read about it online later.
Another escape from the jaws of a loss this weekend. This time it was Washington. After today’s performance, and the upset loss at Auburn by Arkansas, the polls are going to undergo some shakeup. Unfortunately, with the missing style points (where are the 40+ points days??) and some SEC wins by Florida means that USC may still be #3. Who cares? As long as USC is on track to win the Pac-10, it is good.
Now that Oregon lost to Cal, and that too badly, it clearly shows that Cal and not USC is the team to beat in the Pac-10. It is better to reset expectations at this point in the season - USC is not only rebuilding from the loss of Leinart, Bush, White but also banged up at a lot of places. The fact that they are surviving some close games just goes to show that they are lucky as well as resilient (in that order, if you ask me).
As for the game itself, it was great offense in the first quarter and some. It seemed like USC was finally getting to where it was last year - throwing at will, running long plays at will, and generally dictating the pace. The defense was suspect because Washington was also able to march down the field quite easily.
Of course, the trickulation for the field goal attempt was good and welcome at the point.
The second half was quite the opposite. The offense started sputtering and the defense stepped up. The defense should have had at least 4 INT’s, which went abegging. As a result, USC has been dropping in the turnover margin numbers. JDB had an INT and there were no turnovers forced by USC.
More injury news from USC - Steve Smith the superstar from the Wazzu game hurt himself and did not play much of the second half (if at all). What’s the deal with the USC athletes??? Man, I really hope USC is at full strength soon because the bigger games are coming up soon!
I have been spoiled. I have not had a commute of more than 10 minutes for a very long time. Even when I was going to San Diego, truly my commute was 2 minutes since the hotel was real close to the office there.
And now, with this new project I have a commute of at least 30 minutes, and more if I leave earlier (peak time) or if the traffic gets crazy because of rains or whatever.
We are thinking about Caltrain as an option. Wonder when the onboard WiFi will be made available…
I have disconnected Speed channel from my cable lineup so I did not see the Chinese GP this weekend. But I just read about it and realized that Renault made two mistakes in the pit stops to give Schumacher the win and therefore the lead in the championship!
Two mistakes in one race? That’s unbelievable, coming from such a reliable shop.
In any case, it is getting more and more exciting now and I may be tempted to get Speed connected back for a few weeks :-)
USC survived another Saturday away from home. It was quite a night for Steve Smith, who seemed like finally the #1 receiver on the team! He is one of the most underrated receivers USC has had, if not the country, and it was the perfect time for him to prove that he is legit.
Forget the final stats, his catches up the middle knowing a crunching hit is coming up, some of them for 3rd downs and 4th downs to keep drives alive, were fantastic.
I think the reason it was so close was because of the lack of penetration on 1st down runs. Last year, the first down runs (either by Reggie or by Lendale) gave USC 5 yards or so, if not more. That made 2nd downs short and 3rd downs rare. Last night, and pretty much all season so far, the breaks on 1st downs have been missing. The running backs have been rotated quite frequently, and they have not yet gotten the rhythm.
Chauncey Washington seems to have enough to replace the power running of Lendale White. He does have the capability to muscle through the middle. But unlike Lendale, Chauncey has fumbled the ball a few times, and that could get costly.
Even if there is no Reggie-like breakthroughs, USC does need a running game which can consistently break runs of 4-6 yards on 1st or 2nd downs. What that does, is open up the passing game and the play action game. Then, the long passes can burn the opposition. Once the long passes make up significant ground, and points are put on the board fast, the opposition is forced to be one dimensional. Then, they start making mistakes and then USC’s defense contributes some points.
The way they are playing today, with the run game essentially useless (except the one or two long runs, which tend to skew post-game stats), USC is in fact becoming one dimensional as opposed to forcing the opposition to be that way.
With Oregon and Cal destroying their Pac-10 opposition in the last couple of weeks, USC has its work cut out for going to the Rose Bowl. I don’t think USC the way it is playing today, has a chance of competing in the National Championship, even if the make it there. But Pete Carroll’s goal has always been winning the Pac-10 and that is not going to be possible if Oregon and Cal play like they are today, and USC does not improve.
I loved the premiere episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. NBC finally has realized, it seems, that ridiculing itself (through shows like this and 30 Rock, and Conan O’Brian’s Emmy performance) may get the general public to sympathize with them and start liking them again.
Well, with NBC Sunday Night Football and the preceding Football Night in America with Bob Costas and the gang, they have a great vehicle to market their new shows. And it does seem like they may have a good show or two (Friday Night Lights is the other one I am looking forward to seeing) to bounce back in the ratings.
I wish them luck, because I always liked NBC but hated it when they decided to cancel American Dreams and to a certain extent, Heist.
Once again, I think the USC offense sputtered through a grinding win. Thanks to the defense, the win overshadowed some critical mistakes and lack of rhythm on the offensive side of the ball.
Dwayne Jarrett dropped at least 3 balls which he would routinely have caught and run for at least 5 yards after the catch. One was a sure TD, and the other two were first down gains. I hope it was because of his shoulder or something, because it was just not his typical day. I don’t know the latest on his injury but we sure need him to be healthy quickly.
The running backs rotation EVERY PLAY is probably causing more loss of rhythm than anything else. Yes, they are getting good, fresh legs every play, and yes, the coaches are able to evaluate the guys more and more, but in that effort there ends up being one or two simple but costly mistakes which against a better team could be game-ending mistakes.
Hopefully the freshmen running backs are enthusiastic enough to learn from all the small (and big) mistakes made and rectify them and become stronger for the next game.
And what’s up with the full back position this year? Seems like it is jinxed … Brandon Hancock and Ryan Powdrell are both out for the season. Last night, Stanley Havili walked off - and I don’t have the latest update on his situation, but I sure hope he is healthy enough to come back next week.
I forgot to write about my reaction to the new Munnabhai movie. Man, it was hilarious! I think I liked this more than the original.
And Arshad Warsi’s Circuit made me laugh the most in the movie. His nicknames for people were just too funny. Leakage, Notebook, etc. And his impromptu name Sarkeshwar … hahaha! Fabulous.
Of course, the side benefit of this movie is that some newer generation folks will get a quick idea of what Gandhiji’s principles were. And the cool thing is, it won’t seem like some oldie is shoving those principles down their throats.
This Saturday, there are two games slated for 5pm Pacific on abc - Notre Dame at Michigan State and USC at Arizona. On my comcast cable program guide, it shows they are going to be showing the Notre Dame game.
But what if I want to see the USC game? Which channel, if at all, will it come on?
After a batting collapse (except for Sachin Tendulkar and surprisingly Harbajan), India was able to bowl well and win a low-scoring match against the West Indies.
I almost bought the online broadcast, but by the time I realized the match is going on, India was already 38 for 4! I thankfully did not buy it because I would have been furious! It was quite frustrating to see the famed Indian batting fail once again.
Sachin Tendulkar of course seems to be quite comfortable after coming back from a surgery. I did not see much of his play, but in general, if he could carry his bat in the first match and score 65 out of 162 in this one, it does look like he is ready for prime time.
Bowling-wise, I did not track the match much, but from the analysis it looks like it was simply a disciplined bowling attack. But I also read that a lot of the wickets that West Indies lost, were unnecessary and more of batting mistakes than great bowling or bad pitch.
In any case, beating West Indies gives India a chance to make it to the finals, and the only thing that they need to do now is beat Australia. Of course, it is much much easier said than done. Let’s see what happens.
No matter what, I am not going to watch the game tonight. No. No. No. :-)
USC managed to somehow win the game against Nebraska. Yes, the score was 28-10 but at least early on, it was much closer than the score suggests. Chauncey’s miracle pickup of the big fumble by JDB was one good example of how fortunate USC was that day.
Of course, the defense was solid, but my concern was with the offense. We lost Powdrell right off the bat, and without a good FB, it could get a bit difficult for power running. JDB’s passes were not as accurate as I thought they could/should be, but I would give him this game as it was his first home game as a starter and the nerves could get to him.
DJ bounced back big time after a lackluster game against Arkansas and after being pulled up by his offensive coordinators.
In general a ‘W’ is good, but this was the game to make a statement, but I guess it is even more important to hold the serve and wait for the big ones that will be coming up soon.
Meanwhile, what a surprise Michigan threw against ND! Wow!
If you went to Yahoo Sports yesterday, you could not have avoided seeing the story about the Yahoo Sports Exclusive investigation on Reggie Bush and his family receiving payments while he was at USC.
It is important to note that pretty much every other sports news outlet had a ‘brief mention’ of it only. Does that tell you something? I don’t know - you decide yourself.
What interest does Yahoo Sports have in doing this investigation when Pac-10 and USC are also doing it? Is there an investigation team bake-off? And how can Yahoo come up with their findings before the rest, and be bold enough to create a stir?
I don’t know what is true and what is not. But stripping the Heisman and the National Title is certainly childish. So what, is ESPN going to start saying ‘USC, the winner of the national title which was taken away 2 years later, won its game against so-and-so’? Will you refer to Reggie Bush as the Heisman winner who gave up his trophy the following year after he was chosen #2 in the draft? Its pointless.
What a way to come back to international cricket after a surgery-related break! I saw a bit of his innings (before the first rains started) and it looked like he came out with a very positive frame of mind and was willing to take the aerial route from quite early on.
Unfortunately the rains made the match get under the Duckworth-Lewis umbrella and India ended up losing the match.
Another man of the match, another good effort in a loss. But it will be a great confidence-booster before the match against Australia. And of course, in general, mentally it is good to know that you can stay at the wicket till the end.
Just take a look at what all Reggie Bush has donated so far! Combine that with the fan following that he has already generated, it must be such pressure to be Reggie Bush in New Orleans!
Good luck, Reggie. On to more special games. Only now, on Sundays and Mondays!
Roger Federer completely dominated the entire tournament and won it all convincingly at the end. The finals against Roddick was close, but (I think) only in terms of the score.
Earlier, it was a surprise to see two Russian men in the semis. It was only expected to happen in the women’s draw since there are so many more Russian women than men.
Of course, in the end, it only needed one Russian to last all the way. Sharapova beat Justine Henin is one of the most boring matches I have seen in a long time. Both the women’s semis were also quite pathetic and I am going to count myself out of watching women’s tennis for a while now.
