Just get over it..

My least favorite quote in the world is "just get over it".  Everyone around the world has problems, issues, or situations that they have to overcome and the best way friends or enemies choose to tell their friends or enemies how to handle something is to simply say "just get over it".  How does this apply to sports? i can give you two major examples.  The first one: USC GOT SCREWED by the NCAA. The University of Miami got a slap on the wrist by the NCAA for its lavish scandal.  For almost a decade players, coaches in multiple sports received impermissible benefits from a booster which is at the core of almost every NCAA investigation.  The school imposed its own sanctions and because they cooperated with NCAA officials only lost 9 scholarships to its football program. The coach of the basketball team who coaching at another university now got a 5 game suspension. The matter is now history.  The NCAA threatened that they may impose the death penalty for the violations by the school.  All they got was a slap on the wrist. USC lost 30 scholarships, lost prestige, prominence, a coach who couldn't overcome the sanctions and have floundered over the last 3 years.  The people involved with the scandal lost a Heisman trophy and banishment from the school. They have been trying to pick up the pieces ever since. To make matters worse, Penn State was rewarded for its compliance with the NCAA and are going to start to get scholarships back as early as next year.  USC was not given a chance to "suck up" or kiss ass to get scholarships back. I guess they pissed off the wrong compliance officer. I guess because they tried to defend themselves and that was a bad thing. I guess they knew that Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo was getting benefits and so they had no right to defend their "lack" of knowledge. What a joke. But I guess USC NEEDS to GET OVER IT.  They can't sue the NCAA for unfair litigation. The NCAA governs itself.  They have fired or had several officers resign over the last five years. The NCAA has punished players for selling their jerseys for tattoos, They have ended a players career for having dinner with Deion Sanders. Just get over it.. Right?
The second one is Steve Bartman.  Bartman is a lifelong Cub fan who needs to come out of hiding  and be human again.  The Cubs just stink. They think the hiring Theo Epstein is going o change their luck and win a world series.  The blame Bartman for interfering with Moises Alou chance for catching a foul ball.  Every fan would have done the same thing. Every fan has done the same thing since the beginning of time. The Cubs haven't won a world series in over 100 years.  Bartman, the billy goat, the black cat, make the story sexy and silly. Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson were once in a lifetime players and couldn't deliver the goods.  Sammy Sosa couldn't either.  They burned out Kerry Wood and Mark Prior.  CUB FANS need to GET OVER IT and leave Bartman alone. They need to realize that everyday they wake up they can change the course of their lives with their own actions. Bartman is still in hiding 10 years after this fiasco. GET OVER IT!!! Let him come home. Red Sox fans and the media forgave Buckner for his blunder in the 86 series. Buckner was a Cub too..

The NFL.. How wrong have I been

I have a few friends around the country who enjoy keeping me on my toes or bluntly like to try and prove that I am uneducated or inaccurate when it comes to football prognosticating. With MY football team sitting at 0-6 and looking more and more bleak each week i guess i can take the ribbing this year because because i have never been so wrong.  i said that the AFC is weak. I said 6 teams in the AFC would have winning records.  I said the that the Jets were a mess. i said that the NFC would dominate every AFC team.  I said Seattle, the Giants, San Francisco, Chicago and New Orleans, Atlanta, Green Bay were way better than any AFC team. Hell i even predicted the Super Bowl would be Manning Bowl 4. How wrong have I been.
Denver and Kansas City have three wins against the NFC east. Both have beaten Dallas, The Giants and Eagles. The Patriots have defeated the Bucs, Saints, and Falcons. Indianapolis has beat Seattle and San Fransisco. Bengals have beaten the Packers. Hell the Jets have beaten the Falcons. In fact the Falcons have lost to the Dolphins, Jets and Patriots. This was supposed to be the coming out party for some NFC teams this year. Instead two former NFC coaches are leading the only two unbeaten teams to an undefeated record. John Fox and Andy Reid are NFC alumni and are enjoying a ton of prosperity. Peyton Manning is playing football like a video game.  Alex Smith is not making mistakes and his team keeps on winning.  Jamaal Charles is putting up Jim Brown like stats. Their defense just recorded 10 sacks in a game.
Remember all of that talk about running quarterbacks? No one is talking about them now.  RG3 has not been impressive this year. In fact if we were to gauge the progress of the young qb's from last year, Andrew Luck would be number 1, Ryan Tannehill would be number 2 over Wilson and RG3 and even Colin K. The AFC has had so many impressive wins that it is hard to defend the NFC's honor. I am speechless as to how bad the Giants are.  They give the football away easier than a child gives away candy.  They have no balance, pass rush or fight. I have never been been afraid to watch a game.  I watch with one eye open wondering when the collapse is going to happen.  The Saints could have been the flag bearer for the conference but the crumble in New England was shameful. They had two opportunities to win that game. Green Bay losing at Cincinnati was another disgrace.
Can we turn it around?  I wish I felt confident to say yes. The Seahawks will get better as they get healthy. So will the Niners. Green Bay just got dealt some bad news with their injuries.  Dallas can score on anyone, but cant stop anyone. Like the eagles, Giants, Bears, Redskins... I have one wish for the next 6 games. You know what it is...

who is more disappointing Peyton Manning or the Atlanta Braves

For the record, I think that both Peyton Manning and the Atlanta Braves have nothing to be ashamed of.  Both have put themselves in position to win titles.  Both have one world series ring since 1995. Both have dominated their divisions and leagues for many years. Manning is going to re-write the record books before he is done. The Braves have won the National League east an astounding number of times I think they have won 15 division titles since 1991, including this year. Chipper Jones is as tragic a hero as Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning's teams have won 12 division titles, and lost in the first round or game 8 times. He has one super bowl ring. Who is more disappointing?  In my opinion the answer is the Atlanta Braves.
Peyton Manning has had terrible games in the post season. He would lose to Tennessee in his first playoff game, he would lose to Miami in his next one and then his worse loss was against the Jets and they lost 41-0. The New England Patriots always seemed to have his number.  Hew would put up video game number during the regular season and looked lost and confused in playoff games. He had great players on his offense. Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne are hall of Famers.  Edgerin James was efficient and reliable as anyone.  Dallas Clark and Marcus Pollard made a lot of plays for him.  They did not have a great defense.  Dwight Freeney was unblockable during the regular season, but in the playoffs was often a non factor. They had could never get a consistent pass rush or stop the opponents running game. Peyton is often blamed for his teams failures because he would throw a late interception or multiple interceptions in games. Fair or not the quarterback either gets too much credit for good thing or too much blame for bad things. i think he should be appreciated just for getting their. Several great players never got to the super bowl or won a playoff game. Barry Sanders never was as spectacular in the playoffs as he was in the regular season.  Didnt the packers hold him to negative yardage in a playoff game? In fact I dont think he won more than one playoff in a game in his career if at all.  O.J. Simpson ran wild in the NFL no post season legacy to speak of. Dan Fouts lit up every team in the NFL in his brilliant hall of fame career, no rings to show for it.
The Atlanta Braves are tragic and here is why.  They dominated everyone. They out pitched everyone.  They would win games that were insurmountable more than anyone. They matched up well with everyone. Glavine, Maddux, Smoltz Avery, Alejandro Pena, Mark Wohlers, John Rocker, embarrassed everyone. They lost to the Yankeees after dominating them in earlier games. They lost to the Twins who had only Jack Morris as an imposing pitcher. They lost to Toronto who had Winfield and Molitor. The Braves were favored in all of these series. They had a superstar laden lineup. They could beat you with a speed game with Otis Nixon or power game with Gant and Justice. Glavine Smoltz, Maddux, and Chipper Jones are first ballot hall of Famers. What puzzles me about their lack of success is the baseball adage of momentum is the next day starting pitcher.  The Braves threw four top of the line starters at teams each night. They put teams in slumps with their dominance. They never had a team that they dreaded playing. The Colts season was always based on whether they beat the Patriots. When they would win people thought that they could win the title.  when they lost people would say same sorry ass Colts.  The Braves were always the hunted. They had no peer. They just simply could not win. Teams would bleed their starting pitching for 8 innings and get to their bullpen and beat them late quite often.  The Yankees, Blue jays, and Twins had memorable world series wins in the late innings to sting the Braves.  Jim Leyritz name is a sore subject down south.  Kirby Puckett and Dane Iorg dramatics in Minnesota. Dave Winfield, Kelly Gruber. Ernie Witt.  Tom Heinke stifled the bats of the Braves in world series. The Braves had more heart breaking losses than anyone.
I am sure anyone would love to be Peyton Manning or Chipper Jones or Greg Maddux because of their brilliance on the field. However the lack of rings will always haunt these guys. All great players and great teams.  Unfortunately we are all judged by wins and chips. Both only have one in the last 20 years. The Braves are more tragic because they had no peer. They had reservations to be in the playoffs every year and just got beat when you least expected it.  W e all knew that Peyton would throw that pick or we all knew that Peyton wouldn't come through.  He only did it once. We all were shocked when the Braves would fail in the post season. They had everything...