Posts tagged: Upset

I Demand a David Volek Statue!

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By , December 20, 2010 4:00 am

I didn’t even think this was a real story until I googled it.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Sunday that a California artist has been chosen for the project and revealed a few interesting details, courtesy of sources close to the team.

The statue will depict Lemieux, circa 1988-89, splitting two Islanders defenders, who will remain unidentified per Lemieux’s request. The plan for a statue of Mario Lemieux splitting two Islanders defenders, circa the 1988-89 season, is in the process of being finalized.

Do I care that Pittsburgh is putting up a statue to Mario Lemieux? No, not at all.

Do I find it insulting that they are going to use two Islanders Defenders (even if unidentified) as part of the statue? YES!

There is absolutely no reason that the Islanders organization should go along with this. There is no need for the statue to have any identifying marks other then Mario. I mean how many statues actually show the defending players anyway? Micheal Jordan isn’t dunking over anyone. Somehow Wayne Gretzky can make due with a statue of him holding the Stanley Cup over his head. But Mario, no. He needs to be splitting two Islanders defenders.

Personally, I think Mario hates the Islanders. Because the Islanders stopped his Penguins dreams of being a Dynasty, of being more then a back to back Cup winner. The Islanders team should have never gotten to game 5 in 1993, let alone beat that Penguins team in 7 games. That was always the last Hurrah of the Islanders. Lemieux was never the same player again over the next few seasons as a multitude of injuries and degenerative conditions made playing a complete season tough. Given the failures of the Islanders since that great run in 1993, I’ve always felt they were cursed by Mario.

So in response to this news of a Mario Statue featuring two Islander players, I Demand that the Islanders put up a Statue of David Volek scoring an Overtime Game Winning Goal on an Unnamed Penguins Goalie in an Unnamed Game Seven of an Unidentified playoff series between the two teams in 1993.

Until the Penguins announce that the Islanders will not be a part of this statue, I say let’s make the Volek statue.

Plus I hate Pittsburgh anyway. It seems like everything bad that happens to one of my teams is always tied into Pittsburgh:

  • The Mario Curse on the Islanders (No Playoff Wins since 93)
  • The Islanders suck for almost 20 years, but the Penguins get Sidney Crosby after 4 bad seasons
  • The Jets sign Neil O’Donnel from the Steelers, team collapses.
  • The Jets kicker misses 3 field goals against the Steelers in the divisional round. Steelers win the game in OT via FG and go on to lose to the Pats, a team the Jets had beaten during the season.
  • The Mets sign Bobby Bonilla from the Pirates and he is a bust beyond belief.
  • The Steelers always get almost every call in their favor, and have cheated their way to a Super Bowl appearance (Kordell Stewart went out the back of the endzone and came back in on the winning TD catch that got them to the Super Bowl against the Cowboys) and Super Bowl Win (the Win against the Seahawks was a joke)
  • Plus my ex girlfriend and her family are from Philly but like the Steelers. And she was a slut. So Fuck her and Pittsburgh

So let’s get to work on the David Volek 1993 Memorial Statue starring an Unidentified Penguins goalie whose last name begins with a B! Spread the word and let’s try using a twitter hash, #VolekStatue. It’s bad enough that the Islanders are struggling like they are, but let’s not let another team make a Statue mocking our team.

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categories New York Islanders, Sports | tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Boise St save themselves from Embarrassment

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By , November 27, 2010 3:53 am

I’m not the biggest college football fan, but I do tend to follow the standings from week to week. I thought Boise St was overrated when they started the season as highly ranked as they did. It gave them one of the easiest roads to the BCS championship game that a team could have gotten. It’s so hard for two teams from major conferences to go undefeated that an undefeated Boise St team was pretty much a lock for the BCS championship game.

I liked Boise St, especially back when they used all those gimmick plays to beat the eternally overrated Ohio State. But since then it feels like all you ever hear from their fans is bitching and whining that they go undefeated (with one of the weakest conference schedules) and deserve to be in the championship game. Just this week one of the big school presidents got into a bunch of hot water for saying they shouldn’t be in the game.

No surprises though, he turned out to be right. Boise St was just upset by #19 Nevada. Now I only caught the 4th Quarter and that was completely by accident. I was having a midnight snack, and saw a football game on. I was shocked to discover it was the 4th and the game was still competitive. If anything Boise St should thank Nevada and Kyle Brotzman for saving them from an even bigger embarrassment.

Boise St Kicker Brotzman

Boise St Kicker Brotzman

Watching the end of this game, there is no way that Boise St could have been competitive with the best teams in the nation. At least now they can say that they lost to a team whose whole season was centered around beating Boise St. Not just that, but Nevada was also celebrating Senior night and at home. Now unless something crazy happens Boise drops to the bottom of the top 10 and maybe next year we don’t have to be bothered by them moaning and complaining.

But why did Boise St lose to Nevada? Nevada in the 4th Quarter was absolutely able to run the ball straight down Boise’s throat. Run after run was gaining 3-6 yards and they were almost all right up the middle. As the announcers pointed out, the starters for the Boise defense hadn’t played that many full games. Or even that many downs in the 4th during the season. Tonight they continually looked gassed as Nevada just steamrolled them.

Don’t even get started on playing under pressure. The two missed field goals by Boise St kicker Brotzman (who is sure to be loved on campus come monday) were the absolute sign that this wasn’t a championship team. With the game on the line and two important kicks, Brotzman managed to miss them both. It should be noted that both kicks were straight on. The football was inbetween the hashmarks in the middle of the field. You could not ask for any easier field goal attempts to win the game.

An inability to win under pressure, the complete collapse of a defense in the 4th Quarter who had to know that nearly every play was going to be a run, are signs that Boise was never a competitive team. Their fans and the players should be happy now. Instead of going into the BCS Championship game and getting totally slapped around by a real team, they get to play in a non-BCS Bowl that no one will care about and probably beat Ohio State again. Feel free to beat Ohio State, I hate them too. Just stay out of the Championship picture because it should be obvious to everyone that you don’t belong.

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Three Years in a Row?

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By , February 1, 2010 4:06 pm

(Just a note, I wrote this for another blog before the Jets loss to the Colts. I still think without the injuries we would have won.)

For the last two years, an underdog team not expected to get out of the wildcard round has gotten to the Super Bowl. Two years ago it was the Giants. Last year it was the Cardinals. Can the Jets be the third straight wildcard team to beat all the odds and make it to the Super Bowl?

Most of us remember two years ago. Who can forget the Patriots 16-0 season? They steamrolled just about everyone in their way to one of the greatest regular seasons of all time. The Giants were an up and down team, Eli Manning was getting booed. Their retired star running back, Tiki Barber, claimed that the team lacked leadership. Tom Coughlin was under fire to get anything done, and just to make sure he knew he was on the chopping block the team replaced his OC and DC with their picks. Going into the playoffs after a close loss (two late Eli interceptions sealed the game) to the Patriots, the Giants were underdogs against the NFC South Winning Buccaneers. Yet they came out and after a week first half stomped them into the ground. Then against the heavily favored Cowboys, the defense stepped up and intercepted Romo on the last drive of the game in the endzone to seal a victory. Finally playing in Lambeau  in what was the third coldest game in NFL history, another interception in OT lead to the longest visitors field goal in Lambeau History at 47 yards. Finally, a rematch with the Patriots. Extreme underdogs, Patriots QB Brady laughed when Burress predicted they would only score 17 points. In the end its considered one of the biggest Super Bowl upsets of all time as the Giants won.

Last year, the Cardinals found themselves ridiculed. Losing three straight after clinching their division, they were considerable underdogs to the Atlanta Falcons in the opening round. Yet the Arizona offense came alive, and the defense played on a level they hadn’t reached all season. In upset after upset long suffering Arizona took out the heavily favored  Falcons, Panthers and Eagles to make their way to the Super Bowl. The victory over the Eagles in Philadelphia was even more stunning since the Eagles had stomped the Cardinals and put 52 points on the board earlier in the season. The defense though managed to force twelve turnovers in three playoff games and were a bit of the unsung heroes in the run. Although underdogs once again to the Steelers, some questionable officiating in the Super Bowl ended up doing the Cardinals in, but the game was far closer then anyone had predicted.

This year the Jets went into the playoffs questionably. Their rookie coach Rex Ryan had already proclaimed them out of the playoffs. If not for the Colts surrendering a perfect season, and the Bengals possibly not giving everything they had in the final mostly meaningless game for them, the Jets would have been on the outside looking in when it came to the playoffs. Yet some crazy math and some extreme luck found the Jets at 9-7 and inside the nice warm comfy playoff bubble. All the overpaid talking heads gathered around and proclaimed that the Jets didn’t deserve it. That they didn’t earn the playoff spot, and that the Bengals playing their full game would take care of the upstarts. Yet it was the Jets who came out firing on all cylinders and made the Bengals look like pretenders. Again underdogs against the “Too Many Weapons” Chargers, everyone predicted a beat down for the Jets and their Rookie QB and Coach. It seemed almost destined to happen as every home team won their game leading up to the Jets at Chargers.  Yet the Jets came out and played a masterpiece of a game defensively, and the ground and pound of the Jets finally put it away. So now, once again for a third year in a row you have an underdog facing a huge favorite at home. Someone that shouldn’t be there against someone that’s always there.

So what does the future hold? To see the future, one must only look into the past. A Colts team with an in his prime Marvin Harrison, Edgerrin James, a younger Reggie Wayne and Peyton Manning facing off against the Chad Pennington (His first Playoff appearance) led Jets. It was supposed to be a walk in the park for Manning and the Colts. Manning finished the season with 4,200 yards passing, 27 passing TDs. Harrison was coming off a career best year in Catches and Yards. Although not one of his better years, James was still one of the best and brightest young RBs and a threat all over the field. In his second season, Wayne was making his way up the Depth chart and had doubled his rookie output. With all this on the field the Jets couldn’t stand a chance against the Colts. At the end of the day the score was 41-0, as Chad Pennington in his first playoff appearance led the Jets to one of their finest victories since the 99 Playoffs.

And now, with the best running game in the league, the best defense in the league, one of the hottest up and coming rookie RBs in Shohn Greene, we face the Colts. Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne are older and wiser. But Revis has already shut down everyone that’s come his way. Addai is no Edge in his prime. History seems primed to repeat itself one more time. There’s just one more hurdle that needs to be jumped, one more upset that everyone in Jet Nation is just licking their lips over. Forty One years is a long time. That’s thirteen more years then I’ve been alive. Since I’ve been born this is only the third AFC Championship game the Jets have gotten to. One a decade it seems. Unlike the Eagles, Cowboys, Colts or Steelers this isn’t something that’s automatic next season or even the year after. Now’s the time, just one more upset to go.

categories New York Jets, Sports | tags , , , , , , ,