1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Monday. “Aztecs-Lost Game & Alot More”

Posted by on October 16th, 2017  •  1 Comment  • 

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“Aztecs-Lost Game-Lost Opportunity”

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Looks are deceiving.

San Diego State lost to Boise State, beaten at their own game, infront of her 49,000-fans, wearing red, and raging in the stands like it was an NFL game.

Lost game. Lost opportunity to go (12-0). Lost ranking in the AP poll. Lost a chance to get an 18M payday in the Fiesta Bowl.

No one expected this.

Boise, with 18-underclassmen of their starting 22, has struggled all year on offense. The Broncos though are built tough on defense.

SDSU making mistakes you’d hardly ever see from a Rocky Long coached team. Personal foul penalties. A careless quarterback lateral that resulted in a touchdown. Big Boise kick and punt returns of 54 and 43-yards.

But when Boise needed it most, they engineered scoring drives of 75 and 77-yards to blunt the Aztecs late comeback.

If they gave out Purple Hearts, QB-Christian Chapman would get one. He got no help from a young offensive line that could not block Boise’s two defensive tackles, Son Lui and David Moa.

Chapman took a fierce beating, sacked 6-times and hit 24-times by the Broncos pass rushers. He fumbled twice, both taken back for TDs.

Rashaad Penny had a 21-yard run early, but was hog tied all night. When was the last time Penny had 9-carries in a game for 1-yard or less.

The Broncos young pup defense beat the daylights out of State’s young pup offensive line.

Chapman played with great heart considering the pounding he took. But at one point his offense had run 27-plays for an anemic 68-yards.

The Aztecs, who have built a reputation as ‘cement-tough’, got out-toughed in this one.
The Broncos may not be as fierce on offense as they have been in their history, but this might be as good a defense as they have ever had.

Their have been lots of bad losses at SDSU. Losing to an (0-10) UNLV team. Giving up 70-points in a loss at New Mexico. But this was a bad one, because it had so many implications to it.

They can still run the rest of the table and wind up at (11-1) and be in the Mountain West title game. Boise still has games in its division with Colorado State and Wyoming in their division.

But these two teams might still face each other again, in a title game, but it might be on the Blue Carpet in Boise next time in December.

Lost game, lost oppoturnity, lost big time bowl berth, lost a big time payday.

For one of the few times since Rocky Long became head coach, SDSU got punished.

You had seen the best of the Aztecs recently. You thought Boise has slipped from upper echelon in the conference. It didn’t work out that way, and now it has had a big impact going forward.

Looks definitely deceiving on Saturday night.

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1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Friday “Gulls-Hockey Pucks & Palm Trees”

Posted by on October 13th, 2017  •  0 Comments  • 

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“Hockey Pucks & Palm Trees”

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Hockey is back tonight in San Diego. It’s the American Hockey League home opener for the San Diego Gulls this evening.

It’s year three of the Gulls franchise, reborn with the colors and name of past hockey franchises, who did well here in the past.

The original Gulls were so well received in the old Western Hockey League, in the pre-expansion days of the NHL.

Then came the World Hockey Association San Diego Mariners, with a short existence, but with good support before the league folded.

Minor league hockey came back with the new-look Gulls, in the International League, then the West Coast League, and finally the East Coast Hockey League. Championship trophies were part of that era.

I felt along San Diego would be a great market for the American Hockey League as they decided to expand West.

America’s finest city is a melting pot of residents from everywhere, including those from the cold weather north, the midwest, and Canada.

Put a good product on the ice, and they would come. They dressed up the old Sports Arena, made it fan friendly, brought back Beer Nights, and won games.

Walk thru the concourse before a game, and you will see fans with Gulls jerseys from all eras. The same concourses will see fans wearing sweaters of Maple Leaf, Canadiens, Red Wings, Blackhawks, Flyers, Kings and Ducks fans too.

As he stands on the bench tonight, starting his third season, Dallas Eakins has proven to be a gem of a coach at this level. Teacher, leader, motivator, professional in every aspect of the job.

And the job, to coach a team in the AHL, is tough.

You want to win, but the equal mandate is you must develop and polish players for the big club, the Anaheim Ducks.

The roster they have tonight, as they open with the Texas Stars, might not be the same roster by Monday night, and surely will be different 3-weeks from tonight, and 3-months from now.

Th phone rings, and they are gone. The Gulls went thru 51-players in their first year, 54-last year, by virtue of callus, trades, injuries and more.

How good is Eakins? With a turnstile gate at the front door of his room, he has a combined two year record of (82-43-11). Between this stint here in San Diego, and his tour of duty with the Toronto Marlies, he has had just one losing season in 7-years as a coach.

Take away the impossible task he had in his year and a half as coach of the NHL-Edmonton Oilers, and you realize Eakins knows the job, its responsibilities, and the goals.

Forced to play lots of 1st and 2nd round picks by an Oilers franchise desperate to win, he had no chance in hockey mad Alberta. He had no defense and even fewer goaltenders in a city that thought the next Gretzky era was just around the corner.

Now the Oilers are dominant, not just with Connor McDavid, but a roster full of talent. It takes years and quality picks to make that happen. Eakins didn’t have enough time.

GM Bob Ferguson is cut from the same cloth. A career minor league player, he got into coaching and then management at a young age. His entire career has been about scouting and developing players.

Eakins played 17-years of minor league hockey, sprinkled with cups of coffee in the NHL. Ferguson rode the same buses for years, but became a master at tactics and dealing with the ups and downs of young players.

How good are the Ducks, the parent club? Good enough to have gone to a bunch of Game 7’s in playoff series. Good enough to win the Stanley Cup. Good enough to be ahead of the curve in drafting, signing and developing young picks, from the CHL, NCAA and Europe.

By season’s end last spring, there were 8-Gulls players who had contributed to the Ducks drive deep into the playoffs.

New faces show up beginning tonight. The European collection includes high draft picks Jacob Larsson, Marcus Peterson and more. The college crop includes young veteran Kalle Kosilla and goalie Kevin Boyle. Still to be delivered is junior hotshot Gio Fiore.

Look for continued success as the club develops more young talent. Look for crowds of 12,000 on weekends, as San Diego evolves into a ‘big league-minor league’ franchise.

And look for me sitting in the corner seats, some nights wearing a Gulls jersey, other nights a Leafs-Kings or Ducks jersey.

Hockey pucks and Palm trees. What s combination. Just like good hockey and a fast developing fanatical fan base. Something special building in San Diego.

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1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Thursday “Baseball Mood Swings-Make You Mad-Drive You Crazy

Posted by on October 12th, 2017  •  0 Comments  • 

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Mood Swings-Drive You Mad-Make You Crazy”

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Have you enjoyed this, these crazy post season baseball games?

Everyone had an idea what they have on the roster and on the field, and then all this happens. Games, wild finishes, breakdowns, mistakes.

Dodgers…They are sitting and waiting…ready for the NLCS series. The four days off have allowed them to rest their pitching staff, line up the starters, get your bullpen plans established, and get ready for either the Cubs or Nationals. LA is acting now like the team that went (57-11) thru much of the summer, not the gang that went (1-16) late in the season.

Nationals…Stephen Strasburg was spectacular in the Wednesday game at Wrigley….7-shutout innings…11-strikeouts…3-hits allowed. Since the All Star game the ace has an amazing (0.86)-ERA. But he cannot pitch every day, and Max Scherzer is trying to gut thru that hamstring injury. Do they have enough hitting? Can they find enough pitching?

Cubs…Yes they are playing in mid-October, but it has not been a season equal to last year. The big bats of Rizzo-Bryant, have not been the same as last year. Yes 250-to-270 batting averages, but just not the same terrorizing lineup. And the front line pitching has not dominated as much as last year. But they are still playing and still have a chance.

Astros….They can beat you with that front line starting rotation, and they can beat you with their bats…and they can win on the road and at Minute Maid Park. Like the Dodgers, they are sitting at home waiting to beat on someone in the ALCS.

Indians….Not having Edwin Encarnarcion in the lineup has made them a different batting order, but anyone else in the lineup, from Jay Bruce to Jason Kipinis, Jose Ramirez to Francisco Lindor. Then the post season starting staff and the roster got a case of the shakes, and then suddenly it was over. The 103-win season gone. The 22-game win streak and that (27-1) ride a distant memory. 1948, the series win against the Boston Braves, was a long tie ago. Now it’s wait till next year.

Yankees…They bludgeoned people and struck out a lot in the regular season, and have done so against in the playoff series with Cleveland. Too much talent, not enough slots, hard to believe Joe Girard has struggled to find slots for Matt Holliday, Chase Headley, Aaron Hicks and others. The starting pitching was iffy, but hitting home runs bailed them out. And now they head off to Houston in what might be some type of Home Run Derby show. Some off season drama ahead though, with the unknown status of GM-Brian Cashman-and-Girardi.

We move after tonights game to what will be a pretty interesting weekend of games starting Saturday.

You might be strong on paper, you might have accomplished a lot during the season and into the postseason, but it might not be the same starting on the weekend.

Mood swings, big games, bad outings. It’s playoff baseball.

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1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Wednesday “Aztecs-Rocky Talk-Boise State”

Posted by on October 11th, 2017  •  0 Comments  • 

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“Rocky Talk-Boise State Week”

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I didn’t mean to spill the grease and start an oil fire, but I asked the question, and he answered.

I-Hacksaw…he-Aztecs coach Rocky Long.

The question as his press conference was the intense rivalry game coming up between San Diego State and Boise State.

They are the top two teams in the Mountain West Conference, and have dominated this league as late.

The Aztecs may have passed Boise State by because they’ve beaten them a couple of times, and won on the blue turf in Idaho.

“Boise isn’t our emotional rival. We haven’t played them though” he said in quick response. “I consider Fresno State our real rival”.

Yes they’ve met just 4-times in their history, and SDSU has beaten them twice. But these two teams have combined to win or tie for the league title, four times in the last five years, so they are dominant.

I know the old “Oil Can rivalry trophy’ involves SDSU-Fresno, and dates back to 1933, but not since the days of Trent Dilfer, his big wide receiver group and NFL type running backs, has Fresno State mattered much on the San Diego State radar.

But Boise is different. They became the flag carrier in the newly formed Mountain West Conference, when Brigham Young bailed out of the old WAC, to go independent.

Yes, the Aztecs have won 27-of their last 30-games, but Boise has rolled to. The Broncos are (26-8) in the conference since 2013, second only to you know who, SDSU.

So Saturday’s game is very important. An Aztecs win keeps them in the unbeaten ranks, and in the running to be the top Group of 5-school for the Fiesta Bowl.

Boise got good real quick..got a bit arrogant too.

Followers around the nation probably think Mountain West and think only Boise State. All those Fiesta Bowl wins probably have lots to do with it. A (13-0) season in the Chris Peterson era has a lot to do with it. Also being in the top 15 in the polls for a chunk of time helps too.

Now they have have dropped down the ladder, as Rocky Long has dragged his program to the top. But that is why Saturday carries significance.

You beat them, you knock them out of the Mountain West race. You beat then, you stay on track to go do what they used to do, go unbeaten. You get a W and you can be where they made a name for themselves, the Fiesta Bowl.

The Boise game is big for the Aztecs. Maybe bigger than the old line-Lavell Edwards rivalry in BYU days, and surely bigger than Fresno State.

Good old ball-coach Rocky Long, stirring the embers of a rivalry that could blossom into a full blown fire on Saturday night.

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1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Tuesday “Baseball Playoffs-Pitching Woes”

Posted by on October 10th, 2017  •  0 Comments  • 

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“Postseason Baseball-Pressure-Pitching Woes- Everywhere”

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The off season has started for the Boston Red Sox.

Vacation is about to start either tonight or tomorrow for a couple of other teams.

All the excitement of getting to the postseason, has been rubbed off now, by big hits, big blowups, and a lot of players failing to get the job done.

Drama, lots of it, and even more disappointment, that’s what we’ve seen since the wildcard play-in games started a week ago tonight.

For every shining moment like a massive Aaron Judge home run, or his over the fence catch, there has been failure. For all the big strikeout pitching outings, there have been errors and walks and mistakes.

100-plus wins were fun to watch in season, but there has been amazing postseason show of failure.

The standard joke around baseball this week, was ‘who’s the most important player on your roster…maybe it’s your long releiver.

Check this out. In the history of post-season, have you ever seen so many starters get pulled,or get knocked out early, as what we have seen in the last week?

In Boston, their four starters Porcello-Fister-Pomerranz and Sale, threw a combined 11.1-innings and allowed 20-runs.

In Cleveland, aces Trevor Bauer and Corey Kluber went 4.1-innings and gave up 10-runs.

The Yankees are still alive, but the trio of Severino-Sabathia and Gray lasted 8.1 innings and were tagged for 10-runs.

Arizona had to fight their way in thru the wildcard road. Grienke-Ray-Walker threw 8.2 frames and gave up 12-runs.

Houston is moving into the ALCS, but even one of their starters, Brad Peacock, lasted just 2.2 innings giving up 3-runs.

Colorado neve survived the second inning of Jon Gray’s start, that was worth 1.1 inning and 4-runs.

And the run by Minnesota to postseason ended when Ervin Santana was laced for 4-runs in 2-innings.

Add it all up, more bad starts than good ones. Big names took big beatings because of big innings.

A total of 15-starts made by these pitchers. A combined 38-innings, allowing 63-runs.

In baseball math, these starters have a combined (14.92-ERA) at the most important time of the year.

You don’t need sabremetrics or formulas to understand how much pressure there is on the mound in postseason.

Excited to be in postseason? Be careful what you wish for. You fight to get in, you can knocked out pretty quick.

Just asked the 15-shellshocked starters, who did not make it thru the early innings of their starts..

October baseball is supposed to be about the best teams. How’s that (14.92) stat grab you?

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