NFL Opening Night

First things first...I thought this was hilarious - it's what Google autocomplete thinks of all the current NFL quarterbacks. 

http://images.ftw.usatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Google2.gif

 Today is the first game of the 2013/14 season! And it's between the reigning Super Bowl Champs - the Baltimore Ravens (bleh!) - and the Denver Broncos. 

Here are a few interesting things to note:

• This match-up is a great start to the season, as the Broncos will want to exact revenge on their harrowing Double Overtime loss to the Ravens in the Divisional Playoffs last season
• This is the first time in about 10 years that the SB Champs have to play away from home -- the Baltimore Orioles have a home game tonight and the two teams share a parking lot. The teams couldn't figure out how to accommodate all the cars, so the Ravens had to come to Denver instead. Now I'm an anti-Ravens fan, but I think it's silly that this happened. MLB<<NFL! The Orioles should have done some type of shuttle system for their spectators...
• Because of the home field disadvantage, the NFL decided to put Ravens QB Joe Flacco banners up all over the city of Denver. This enraged Broncos fans and led a Denver sports anchor to deface one of the banners as seen below

  

  http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/files/2013/08/lombardi_banner.jpg

Personally, I think the Broncos are winning this one. Although the Ravens are the reigning champs, they're without many key players from last year (Ray Lewis retired, Anquon Boldin is w/the 49ers, Ed Reed is w/the Texans). Also, this mile-high elevation blows...I'm currently in Denver and ran with a couple run clubs in the city and was definitely huffing and puffing on short 5K runs. I'm obvs not a professional athlete, but I'm not out of shape either and it sucks. Oh, and lastly -- Google autocomplete says Peyton Manning is a god -- so there's that.

Football Season/My Blog is Back!!

Wow, it has def been a while since I've posted anything. 
When I logged in I had a half-written post about the GS Warriors after they lost Game 6 to the Spurs -- I know I haven't shown much love for basketball in my posts, but let me just say that 

I am SO proud to be a Warriors fan!! 

I went to Games 4 & 6 of their last series in the playoffs; after we lost Game 6, almost all the fans stayed after the players cleared the court and kept cheering. We cheered so much that the team came back out and Steph Curry gave an impromptu speech to the fans saying how grateful they are for the love and support...sheesh, it still makes my eyes water when I think of that moment (needless to say I was brought to tears when it actually happened)! The NBA plays waaaaay too many games for me to keep up, so that's why I'm sticking to football posts for the most part.

Oh, but before I go on to football, I do want to mention the SF Giants - although they've played a craptastic season this year, I still <3 them. I spent my 30th birthday at AT&T Park and more recently went to a Giants-Rockies game at Coors Field in Denver. Thankfully the Giants won the game I went to and I got free amazing lower-level seats form a scalper, double score! :) One thing I did notice was that their stadium was nowhere near full and I got a parking spot one block away from the stadium, no problem (which is absolutely unheard of in SF).

SEPTEMBER = FOOTBALL

NFL Preseason is over, and NCAA Football has just started (GO BEARS!). I am excited to start writing again, so stay tuned!

I also LOOOOVE this! Marshawn Lynch and Aaron Rodgers both went to Cal while I was there and they are representing our alma mater well in the NFL on the Seahawks and Packers, respectively.

NBA Playoffs - Round 2

Being a sportsfan with a team in the playoffs shortens life expectancy...especially when any of the teams you are rooting for are from the Bay Area. Don't get me wrong, this past year in sports has been pretty amazeballs for the Bay -- SF Giants are the reigning World Series Champs, the 49ers made it to the Super Bowl, the SJ Sharks are currently in the playoffs, and the Warriors have made it to the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs -- but these teams make it SO taxing to watch them!

Case in point --> Game 1 Warriors 127 - Spurs 129 2OT

The only time the Spurs led during regulation was during the first 30 seconds of the game when the score was 3-2. The Warriors were winning throughout the first 3.75 quarters of the game and gave up a 16pt lead to force OT. It looked like the Warriors were going to snap a 29-game losing streak to the Spurs at home, but that turned out to be wishful thinking. There are lots of little things I can complain about, but I'll spare you and just hope for the best in Game 2. After all, the Dubs lost Game 1 in the Denver series and came out on top there.


OTHER SPORTS NOTABLES (that have occurred since I last posted)

• Bulls take Game 1 from the Heat in Miami (sorry, Bron-Bron!)
• Giants swept the Dodgers in SF over the weekend
• Lakers were swept by the Spurs in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs
• NBA Player Jason Collins becomes the first male professional sports player to come out before retirement
• NFL Player Kerry Rhodes denies pictures rumors of being gay

NCAA March Madness Shockers

I know I've been on hiatus for a while, but had I written a post after Selection Sunday my advice on your bracket would be - flip a coin! Sure there have been years where the Final Four teams are only 1 and 2 seeds, but this year of college hoops has been ridic, to say the least. During the regular season the #1 ranked team fell to off-the-radar teams a handful of times, which is typically unheard of. With that being said and the outcomes of the first 1.5 rounds on the books, here are the upsets that prob F'ed your brackets hard.

ROUND OF 64
12 Cal (GO BEARS!!) over 5 UNLV - tied at halftime, the Bears kept the Rebels scoreless for 11min in the second half to eke out the upset. PAC-12 Player of the Year, Allen Crabbe, put up 19pts and 8 rebounds in the win but was unfortunately thwarted by Syrause in the next round. Syracuse's D was crazy on point and they stuffed Crabbe who was only 3/9 for the night. Womp.

12 Oregon over 5 Oklahoma State
12 Ole Miss over 5 Wisconsin
13 La Salle over 4 Kansas State
14 Harvard over 3 New Mexico
15 Florida Gulf Coast over 2 Georgetown

ROUND OF 32
12 Oregon over 4 St. Louis - Oregon is excelling at just the right moment. I think they were seeded too low to begin with, but they are now proving their worth and are headed to the Sweet 16. Yay PAC-12!!

9 Wichita State over 1 Gonzaga - It sucks to be the Zags right now as the first #1 seed out of the tourney, but Wichita shocked everyone by hitting 14 3-pointers in the game.

BTW, I am writing this post from Tamarindo, Costa Rica - this is the gringo bar I've been watching the games at ☺ Although I have been thoroughly enjoying all the beaches, my biggest irk is that I didn't find a place to do 13.3, a Crossfit Games Open workout, so now my online score will be incomplete. I know this gets me absolutely zero sympathy from anyone, but just needed to vent. Oh well. Pura Vida!

Hiatus Over
Ok, ok. Sorry for the hiatus. I thought I was just going to take a short 5-day break after my heart broke when the 49ers lost the Super Bowl (uggh, it still hurts me that they aren't undefeated in the SB anymore), but not much has been über exciting to me in the sports world as of late. My Golden State Warriors are on a six-game losing streak, womp. They haven't won since the Niners lost in the SB!

NBA All-Star Weekend, meh
I know this commentary is a few days late, but here it goes...I used to love NBA All-Star Weekend, but my fave event, the Slam Dunk Competition, keeps getting worse and worse! Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the athleticism it takes to dunk a basketball, but why can't Lebron or any other mega awesome bball phenoms compete?!? if Lebron can do this during the All-Star game 

along with a couple other great dunks (all in the first quarter too), why can't he do this for the Slam Dunk Competition? I feel like the NBA should have at least one spot for the fan vote for the Skills, 3-Point, and Slam Dunk comps. Lebron and everyone else in the NBA for that matter, are paid $$$$$$$ to play the game and entertain us. Do your job and entertain us dunking the ball!

The most interesting thing to me was the ridiculous outfits the players wore as spectators:

EXHIBIT A: Russell Westbrook

Yes. Those are camo suit pants.

EXHIBIT B: Kevin Durant & James Harden

James Harden has a hooded sweatshirt vest over a plaid button-up?

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Here's Durant before he took his jean vest off. Notice the detail of the black stars and other jewels studded onto his t-shirt. I wish I had a pic of both Harden and Durant in their vests... :P

EXHIBIT C: Dwayne Wade & Lebron James - Leather Pants!

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I'll be posting about March Madness soon, so keep an eye out for it!

SB47: Ravens 34 - 49ers 31 :(

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8912996

</3 HAR(t) B(r)AUGH(ken)...OK, I know that was stretching it, but it's hard to write this post. Baltimore played an amazing first half and the Niners weren't firing on all cylinders. Most notably Chris Culliver missed a TON of tackles that ended up in BIG plays for the Ravens. I can't help but think that this was karma from his jaw-dropping anti-gay remarks from earlier in the week...Dude! You play in SAN FRANCISCO. You can't say ignorant shiz like that!! I wanted to punch him in the face for every missed tackle/blown coverage.

At the end of the first half, the score was 21-6, Ravens. So you think (or hope with all your might) that the 9ers would make adjustments and play the same dominant game they have been playing the entire season, but then the first play happens (a Super Bowl record-making 108yd punt return, nbd), and the Ravens are up 28-6. Uggggh. But wait! Then there's a BLACKOUT and the Niners score 17 unanswered points to finish the 3rd quarter! It obvi turns out to be too little too late...(TMI alert - Don't read the rest of this paragraph  and skip to Beyoncé below if you're not a 49ers fan/don't really care about the details)...It's easy to play the shoulda-woulda-coulda game, but one thing that bugged me during the Niners comeback rally in the second half was the fact that they didn't go for the two-point conversions on their TDs in the third quarter. If you're down 22 points, the quickest conventional way to cut the deficit is 4 scoring possessions (3 - 7pt TDs and 1 - 3pt FG = 24pts), but if you take a more aggressive approach, the quickest way to get back in the game only requires 3 scoring possessions (3 TDs w/at least 2 successful 2pt conversions = 8+8+6=22). THIS IS THE SUPER BOWL. There is NO next game to regroup for...The 9ers should have played more aggressively in the second half and shouldn't have left the attempt for a 2pt conversion until their last TD in the 4th quarter. Also, in the 4th quarter when the Niners failed to score with 4 minutes left in the game, Kaepernick should have ran in for the TD from the 5yd line instead of trying to force a pass in the end zone. Womp.


Beyoncé Bowl

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On a lighter note, Beyoncé absolutely KILLED the halftime show!! It was so exciting to see Destiny's Child reunited on stage and do Bootylicious :) There were 5.1 millions tweets about B's halftime performance, including one from FLOTUS herself - "Watching the #SuperBowl with family & friends.@Beyonce was phenomenal! I am so proud of her! -mo". Here's a link from Huff Post for other celebrity tweets on Mrs. Carter.

Super Bowl XLVII Basics+

If you're the type of person who watches the Super Bowl just for the commercials (I must admit I am def guilty of not watching the SB at all during a few of the Niners sucktastic years), here are some tidbits of information to keep you somewhat up-to-date on what happens in-between the commercials:

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The TWO Absolute Things You MUST KNOW:

• The San Francisco 49ers (5 SB Championships) are playing the Baltimore Ravens (1 SB win) in Super Bowl XLVII (SB47) at the Mercedes-Benz Super Dome in New Orleans
• John (Ravens) and Jim (49ers) Harbaugh are the first brothers to face each other in the Super Bowl as Head Coaches for each team. People will be calling this game HarBowl, Harbaugh Bowl, Sup-Har Bowl, Super Bro, etc...please don't get confused, we're all talking about the same game

Extra Stuff:

• Ray Lewis (Ravens LB) is retiring after Sunday. He's played in the league for 17yrs and is a future Hall of Famer. Lewis also leads the NFL in the post season with 44 tackles.
• Colin Kaepernick (49ers QB) will be making just his 10th career start, the 3rd fewest starts for a QB in the Super Bowl ever
• Both coaches have pulled some ballsy moves late in the season - The Ravens got rid of their offensive coordinator in December even though their record was 9-5, while the Niners replaced their starting QB during Week 11 even though their record was 7-2-1

Fun Stuff:

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• Alicia Keys is putting a spin on the National Anthem
• Beyoncé (& friends possibly? - Jay-Z, Destiny's Child, maybe even Alicia Keys???) is headlining the half time performance
• Here's a link to the list of SB47 commercial spots
• Did you vote for your favorite Doritos Crash the Super Bowl ad?
• How did this VW commercial cost $10 MILLION?!?

Super Bro Info:

Jim (L), John (Center), & Jack (R) images www.baltimoreravens.com

• John in 15 months older than Jim, but Jim is 3" taller
• Jim is the better athlete, having played 15yrs in the NFL, John is more studious and won the Football Scholar Athlete Award for his 4.0 GPA his last two years of college
• Their dad Jack has coached football for over 40 years
• Both John and Jim helped save their dad's career and Western Kentucky University by actively recruiting prospects in their spare time -- John (assistant at University of Cincinnati at the time) picked out players who didn't quite make the D-1 cut for Cinci and had Jim (star QB w/the Colts) visit with them one-on-one; they resuscitated the program together
• In 2007, Jim wanted John to be his defensive coordinator at Stanfurd (John declined and got a contract extension with the Eagles, then signed on as head coach to the Ravens a year later)
• Jim's son Jay is an intern for the Baltimore Ravens
• John fired his offensive coordinator Cam Cameron this season (see ballsy move mentioned above); Cameron (as an assistant) coached Jim when Jim was playing college football at Michigan