Squib Kicks

This week of NFL action had multiple games come down to last second field goals, touchdowns, and an overtime.

Bears/Falcons - This was a crazy game. To be honest, the Bears were completely outplayed and still almost won the game. They were as good at stopping the Falcons at third downs as Hugh Grant is at stopping himself from cheating on Elizabeth Hurley (and we know how that worked out.) Yet, Kyle Orton led the Bears down field and scored with 11 seconds left in the game. They squib kicked to the Falcons, which was as good of an idea as fourth installment of Indiana Jones. The Falcons subsequently got the ball on their own 45 yard line. With 6 seconds left, Matt Ryan completed a 25 yard pass to Michael Jenkins out of bounds with 1 second left on the clock. Jason Elam kicked a field goal and that was that. Game over, Bears.

As a side note, former Ravens coach, Brian Billick, was announcing the game and he called Kyle Orton "Kyle Boller" at least three times. I wonder if Billick wakes up out of a nightmare, sweaty, yelling "BOLLER!!!" I bet he does.

Houston/Miami - The Texans won their first game of the year by beating the Dolphins on a last second QB sneak by Matt Schaub. I didn't watch the game, but what the heck is up with QB's named "Matt" getting it done today?

Minnesota/Detroit - Vikings beat the Lions on a last second field goals. This leads to two questions: How the hell are the Vikings tied for first in the NFC North? (ANSWER: That division is awful.) AND How on earth did this game get decided on a last second field goal? (ANSWER: Both the Vikings and Lions are also awful, but the Lions are just a little bit more of a pathetic football team than the Vikings.)

Cowboys/Cardinals - Easily the best part of the game was when Cardinals' coach, Ken Wisenhunt, called timeout right before the Cowboys last second field goal. The Cards blocked the field goal and were running it back for a touchdown as the refs blew the whistle and informed everyone that the Cardinals had called timeout. Cowboys try again, and kicker Nick Folk makes the kick. For a split second, I actually wanted the Cowboys to win. That wore off quickly and I'm glad they lost on a blocked punt returned to the end zone. The Cardinals are for real (pause... NOT! Their division also is awful!)

Bay Area Teams - give me a reason to talk about you, and I will. Until then, you're out of the blog. Do something about it Al Davis or Mike Nolan.

Baseball is trucking along with the ALCS at 1-1 and the NLCS at 2-1 (advantage Phillies.) I really don't care who wins, I guess maybe the Phillies or Rays, but let's be honest, I can hardly watch baseball without seeing flashbacks of the Cubs kicking the ball all ove the infield. Ahhh... I just felt a shiver up my spine...

A Case of the Mondays

Hi there. I'm Tony, and I'll be posting about sports every Monday. To give you some background on me, I am a huge Chicago sports fan (Cubs, Bears, Bulls) and I'm a former high school basketball player. I play fantasy football and baseball every year, listen to KNBR 680 every day, and watch way too much ESPNews. It's in fact amazing that I have time to do all of this, while holding a job, and playing live music at least two nights a week (www.tonybataska.com).

So without further delay, here are the sports stories that caught my attention recently:

Cubs Win NL Central! - This is the 100th anniversary of the last time the Cubs won the World Series. Regardless of whether they win or lose in the playoffs, the Cubs have already had an amazing season that have seen a couple first in my lifetime:

This is the first time I've ever seen the Cubs win their division two years in a row. The last time they did this was actually three in a row (1906, 07, 08).

This is the first time I've ever seen the Cubs go to the playoffs two years in a row (once again, 06-08).

Carlos Zambrano threw the only Cubs no hitter I've ever seen. Milt Papas threw the last one in 1972. Apparently every year at the Cubs Convention, Milt would tell Zambrano, "You're going to be the next one to do it." Good call, Milt. You are correct, sir!

Week 3 of the NFL - There were many great games this weekend, and here's the quick recap:

The Bears blew another 4th quarter lead - For the second week in a row, the Bears have the lead going into the 4th quarter, and they leave the game losers. Luckily, this week I didn't go out of my way to watch the game. On the negative side, the Bears were beat by Brian Griese whom they traded to Tampa Bay in the offseason. Griese had over 400 yards passing. Way to welcome back your former teammate. A nice gift basket of fruit would've been sufficient, but letting him march up and down the field in overtime was a little too nice of the defensive unit.

The Giants beat the Bengals in overtime - The second overtime game of the week found defending champion NY Giants beating the hapless Cinncinati Bengals. Each week I'm more and more impressed with Eli Manning. He looks to have found his identity in the NFL.

Oakland loses to the Bills on last second field goal - I watched the large majority of this game and it wasn't half as bad as I thought it was going to be. The Raiders looked a lot better than the sorry, ridiculously terrible team they were in Week 1. The Raiders running attack looked great and their defense was tenacious until the end. On the flip side, the Bills are 3-0 for the first time since the early 90s.

Other games of note:

Jags beat Colts, Niners destroy Lions, Cowboys beat Packers, and Vikings beat Panthers. Sorry if I missed your team, I'll try to work in more teams next week.

US wins Ryder Cup for the first time since 1998:

I'm not a huge golf fan, but since the US hadn't won the Ryder Cup in a decade, I figured it was worth a mention. U-S-A, U-S-A!

So that's the first installment, come on back as I update the Cubs playoff results and the rest of the NFL season.