Merrill Hoge is an Idiot and Other Observations from Sports This Weekend

The big story of the weekend was obviously the St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series in 7 games over the Texas Rangers. The Rangers were 1 strike away (twice) from winning the World Series in Game 6, but they managed to blow 3 saves for a World Series record. For two of those blown saves, St. Louis hometown kid David Freese got incredibly huge hits, both with 1 strike left. In the next game, he again contributed with a big time hit with 2 strikes and 2 outs on him to break a tie that the Cardinals never gave up in Game 7. Freese was later named World Series MVP for his 2 huge games and for his consistent hitting. This morning, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa announced his retirement after 33 years and 3 World Series championships, 1 with the A's and 2 with the Cardinals. La Russa will undoubtedly go down as one of the best managers of the last 40 years.

More after the break...


For the Texas Rangers, this is their 2nd consecutive loss in the World Series, largely contributed by a bullpen that has no idea how to pitch against National League hitters; pitching excellently in the ALDS and ALCS, but like high school players in the World Series, the same problem the Rangers had last year. Ace pitcher C.J. Wilson is all but confirmed to be jumping ship this next season, but the real question remains if Wilson is even worth it after showing a national audience throughout the entire year that he chokes in big-time situations, losing the All-Star Game, an ALDS game, an ALCS game, and a World Series game all in the same season. For the rest of the pitching staff, pitchers Alexi Ogando and Neftali Feliz, who notably prevented the Giants from scoring even more runs last year against the Rangers, were totally ineffective against the Cardinals. The Rangers are in total disarray at this point, but it hasn't prevented teams in their situation from eventually winning. The last time a team lost 2 World Series in a row was the 1991-92 Atlanta Braves, who eventually went on to win the 1995 World Series. Before that, the 1978-79 Los Angeles Dodgers lost 2 World Series in a row, but went on to win the 1981 World Series. By using the last 2 examples, we can expect the Rangers to finally win the World Series 2 or 3 years from now.

Staying in St. Louis, the winless Rams pulverized the New Orleans Saints in one of the many games people thought were going to be sleepers. Just 1 week after the Saints had quite possibly the most boring game in NFL history, beating the Indianapolis Colts 62-7, the Saints lost to (what was thought to be) an equally inept St. Louis Rams, 31-21. To make matters worse, the Rams were without their starting quarterback, last year's #1 pick, Sam Bradford. The Rams made a statement that they're are not interested in the Luck Sweepstakes, believing in Sam Bradford as their quarterback of the future. The Saints suffered a huge collapse, but ESPN analyst Merrill Hoge defended the Saints, even going so far as calling them the 2nd best team in the NFC.

I'm normally not harsh on people who have had traumatic injuries and suffered from life-threatening diseases, but it's pretty clear that Hoge's career-ending concussion has totally clouded his judgment. How in the hell does a team that loses to a winless team, WITHOUT THEIR STARTING QUARTERBACK, still rank as a better team than the Giants, Lions, and 49ers? That's just totally ridiculous.

Unrelated to that observation, but that uniform the Rams wore yesterday is extremely offensive to me. Yes, that's the uniform the Rams wore in their Super Bowl winning season, but it's also the same uniform the Rams wore in their heyday as the Los Angeles Rams, including the season they appeared in the Super Bowl. While I have never claimed to be a Rams fan (or even a Raiders fan), the fact of the matter is I was born in L.A. and as my hometown, I do have to root for my hometown teams to a certain extent. There aren't many Rams fans left in L.A.; many were incredibly bitter towards then-owner Georgia Frontiere and then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Both figures are gone now, but most in L.A. generally proclaim themselves to be either Raiders or Chargers fans.

The reason the Rams' uniform offends me is because that uniform was intentionally based on UCLA's uniform and the Ram horns on the helmets were designed by LA Rams halfback Fred Gehrke in 1948, a major innovation in football gear; the ram horns were the first team logo to ever appear on a team's helmets.

All this talk about L.A., UCLA, and horrible NFL teams reminds me that Stanford played against USC on Saturday at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. For Stanford, this was another opportunity to prove why they deserve to play in the BCS National Championship Game. For USC, this was their biggest game of the year since they are ineligible to play in the Pac-12 Championship or in any Bowl games, all thanks to Reggie Bush being ineligible to play for accepting illegal benefits in his Heisman Trophy and National Championship winning season. USC definitely played like this was their last game, keeping Stanford on the ropes and taking them to triple overtime.

At the end of regulation, USC coach Lane Kiffin was livid with officials for not giving him 1 second on the clock and the opportunity to win the game with a 50-yard field goal. Upon further review, it's very clear that the USC player had his knee down before going out of bounds, which would not stop the clock. Kiffin then argued that he was told he would be allowed to call a time out if time was still on the clock. Although there was 1 second left on the clock, college sports do not utilize a stopwatch system and notified Kiffin that there are no automatic time outs. I'm frankly disgusted by Lane Kiffin's whining at the refs, especially after being gifted a holding non-call that allowed USC to even be tied. At the end of the third OT, USC fumbled a touchdown, which allowed Stanford to win the game.

At this stage, the "top" contenders for the #1 pick in the NFL Draft, AKA the Luck Sweepstakes, are the Indianapolis Colts (0-8), Miami Dolphins (0-7), St. Louis Rams (1-6), and Arizona Cardinals (1-6). The Rams obviously have no desire for a quarterback, having Sam Bradford and a great 2nd string QB in A.J. Feeley. The Colts will eventually need a replacement for Peyton Manning, but the Colts have much deeper issues, especially on defense. The Dolphins apparently have a great defense and an improving rushing offense thanks to Reggie Bush (holy shit two mentions of Reggie Bush in 1 post!), but desperately need improvement in the area of quarterback. Although Matt Moore had a hell of a game on Sunday against the Giants, he's not quite starting quarterback material. As for the Cardinals... well yesterday they started to look like the team that went to the Super Bowl 3 years ago, but once again, Kevin Kolb was unable to lead his team to victory. Game after game, it's looking like the Cardinals were idiots for signing Kolb to such a lenghty contract and the 49ers look extra smart for keeping Alex Smith.

My last observation of course, had to be the Detroit Lions annihilating the Denver Broncos, while also taunting Tim Tebow before, during, and after the game. Trash talk is a part of sports and likely, always will be. Last week, the Lions faced a bit of scrutiny after allegedly taunting Falcons QB Matt Ryan while he was injured with an ankle injury (which turned out to be minor enough for him to continue playing a few plays later). Most of ESPN's analysts who were former players agreed that the only limits in trash-talking were kids, openly admitting to insulting players' families and wives. As far as kicking a player while they're down, most agreed that it is disrespectful, but it mostly appeared to be a an issue that was not divided by age, but rather by playing skill. People like Merrill Hoge and Tom Jackson, both known for not winning anything in their long careers with 1 team, said that taunting injured players is not off-limits.

Yesterday, the Lions taunted Tebow's skill as a quarterback, which is a totally fair assessment, being that he is quite simply, an awful quarterback who was hyped to unbelievable levels by the SEC and Florida Gators. Even ESPN, the machine of hype, said that drafting Tim Tebow in the 1st Round was foolish and that any team that bought the hype would pay for it. But the Lions crossed a line for many analysts and players yesterday with their taunting; they mocked Tebow's religiousness as seen in the picture. Not once, but twice, Lions players got down on one knee and prayed, once after sacking Tebow and once more after getting a touchdown. I'm not religious, nor am I a fan of Tebow's openly CONVERT EVERYBODY stance, but this is America and he is entitled to his religious views. Jim Schwartz's actions 2 weeks ago against Jim Harbaugh, the Lions openly kicking a man while he's down, and now mocking a player's religious views, it's clear that the Lions want to perpetuate the image that they are the bad boys of the NFL, similar to the once-great Detroit Pistons.

Tonight, Monday Night Football features the San Diego Chargers at the Kansas City Chiefs in a matchup that could determine the fate of the AFC West. If the Chargers win, they will be clearly ahead of the division. If the Chiefs win however, there will be a three-way tie with the Chargers, Raiders, and Chiefs for 1st place and it could be anybody's game. Going back to earlier, I make no claim to being a Raiders fan, but they were an L.A. team when I was growing up and they are a Bay area team, where my dad is from. Because of that, I'm rooting for the Chiefs to win to make it easier on the Raiders to win the division.