The Greatness of Sports

Are you serious?!!! (insert Dick Vitale's voice)

The 49er vs. Saints game was one of the best playoff games I've ever seen.

Four lead changes in the final 4 minutes-

all touchdowns.

(and don't forget that I predicted the 49ers to win. see below)

But what really caught my attention is the similarity in how the game finished

to another instant classic 49er playoff game back in 1998.

Similarities:

Playoff comeback wins

In San Francisco

Same end of the Stadium

Touchdown was made with less than 10 seconds to go.

Route was a post route from the seam of the field to the middle

Defensive secondary colliding as the catch is made

Player makes catch and falls into the end zone

and the best one.....

Both players (Vernon Davis and Terrell Owens) are overcome with joy

and can be seen crying their eyes out on the sideline.

2012 Game- Final Drive

(sorry for the poor quality- best video I could find at the time)

1998 Game Highlights

This is truly was sports is all about.

Teams and players working together, trusting each other

all towards one common goal.

This one game will be unforgettable for both

those who watched it and played in it.

If we ever again see a play like these two,

let us be reminded of the greatness of sports!

NFL playoffs - STC Predictions! James B.

NFC

1st Round
Saints over the Lions- Saints out-slugg in a slugg-fest. Saints pull away in the 4th.
Giants over the Falcons- The Giants pass rush brings down the Falcons' passing game

2nd Round
Packers over the Giants- Not even close. Rodgers throws for 4 touchdowns.
49ers over the Saints- They earned the bye week for a reason. 49ers defense figures out Brees just long enough.

NFC Championship
Packers over the 49ers- Alex Smith proves to be the Achilles heel.

AFC

1st Round
Bengals over the Texans- Upset special? Neither the Bengals' D nor I think so.
Steelers over the Broncos- Steelers show the Broncos what a Dynasty looks like.

2nd Round
Pats over the Steelers- Steelers offense has been too inconsistent to keep up with Brady his tight ends.
Ravens over the Bengals- Ravens eek out a close one. Combined less than 30 points.

AFC Championship
Pats over the Ravens- If I think about it longer, I may change my mind.

Superbowl
Patriots over Packers- (I at least should be different from Mike) Tom and Bill prove again why they have won more games than any other coach and quaterback together. 38-31

NFL playoffs - STC Predictions! Mike B.

And here are my picks for the NFL Playoffs… (Mike Bouchard)

NFC

1^st Round

Saints over the Lions- Suh gets a big personal foul

Giants over the Falcons- Riding Eli’s hot hand and the canned heat in Cruz’s shoes

2^nd Round

Packers over the Giants- Rodgers

Saints over the 49ers- Brees>Smith

NFC Championship

Packers over the Saints- Woodson makes a key play to save the Packers D

AFC

1^st Round

Bengals over the Texans- Texans have QB issues

Steelers over the Broncos- Tebow gets embarrassed

2^nd Round

Pats over the Steelers- Pats offense scores 35+

Ravens over the Bengals- Dalton can’t handle having to throw 30+ times

AFC Championship

Pats over the Ravens- Pats score too many again

Superbowl

Packers over the Pats- Belichick picks the wrong hoodie

Introduction of Mike Bouchard

I neglected to introduce a great friend
and regular contributor of Sports Talk City-

Mike Bouchard.

He has previously written pieces on the NHL (here and here) and has much more to come! He studied communications in college and adds a great combination of insight and sarcasm.

Mike grew up in Massachusetts and Virginia. He has a lot of opinions about a lot of things, but try to back those opinions up with facts.

His favorite teams are the Red Sox, Celtics, Capitals, and Redskins.

He follows most sports pretty closely,
but has to admit that the secondary sports like soccer and tennis don’t peak his interest too often.
He focuses most of his attention to baseball, football, and hockey.
As far as basketball goes, Mike tends to be more entertained by college hoops.
Something about the egos in the NBA turns him off.

Lebron Gets Engaged!! Who knew?!

Good for him!
Lebron James proposed to his long time girlfriend!
(I just hope it doesn't turn out like another world famous athlete, best in his sport)

(I won't name him....)
(....golfer.....)
(.......Animal and group of trees.......)
You get the point.

Giants win, into playoffs!

Normally I'm not excited about a New York Giants win,
but when it's against the Cowboys--
you bet I am!

Now that the NFL season is complete (already?!!!),
us sports speculators don't waste any time talking about what's to come.
Namely- An amazing playoff season and the NFL draft (see poll question).

I'll be back with my bold playoff predictions
and ready as ever to see what happens!

NHL - State of the Eastern Conference - Part 2

In Part 1 we examined the teams that went from top to bottom. Now it's time to look at the ones who have fallen from grace.


Obviously the most noticeable team is the Washington Capitals. A coach that couldn’t get his message across to his team anymore is not a good start. So they fire him. Now they bring in one of the franchises most famous players to pick up the pieces. Tough spot for a rookie to the NHL coaching ranks. Dale Hunter brings a hard nosed approach that could pay dividends if the team wasn’t full of massive egos. Ovechkin and Semin being the most notable of the bunch. Both have it set in their head that the way they play will lead to a Stanley Cup, and anyone who disagrees should leave town. No matter how many veterans the Caps add, nothing will change until the two most talented players put aside their private agendas and trust their coach and teammates. When your leading scorer is a 3rd line grinder that nobody knows, you need to realize you what you’re doing isn’t working.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres have also struggled a bit this year. Both teams have talent, youth, and experience as winners. So far, they have little to show for it. At this point of the season, both teams sit in the middle of the NHL in goals per game, and towards the top with goals against. It is easy to blame certain players for these numbers, but the Sabres have arguably the best goalie in the game with Ryan Miller and the Lightning have a top end scorers with Steven Stamkos, Vinny Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. Whatever the case, both teams have issues that need to be solved, and quickly.

While all of this movement in the standings deserves more attention than it has gotten so far, it is still early and the All-Star break is still weeks away. Teams may work out all their kinks in the near future. The traditional powers may again ascend to their greatness and the overachievers could lose steam as the season progresses. Who knows? But the trade deadline and playoff run will be more interesting than usual for the Eastern Conference this season and hopefully help hockey again peak the interest of a national audience.

Mike Bouchard