The Year 2008 in a Blog Post

Can you believe the year 2008 is almost over? Another year passes by and I still feel like it was just yesterday that it was 2003 when the only care in the world I had was if I was going to finish that research paper by deadline. But here we are on the final day of 2008, and there's no better time for The Wheelhouse 2008 Recap! I'm going to do a quick rundown of the top five sports stories in 2008 that held my interest the most. We'll start with ol' numero uno...

1. Super Bowl XLII - Easily the number one story of 2008, at least for me, was the Giants stunning win over the Patriots in SB XLII. This game had it all. Undefeated team, upstart six seed from the NFC, stars like Tom Brady and Eli Manning. We wrote a lot about the game on this blog leading up to the game about how everyone wrote off the Giants and how the media had already handed the "greatest team ever" title to the Patriots. Well as the saying goes, that's why they play the game. Eli Manning's scramble through about five New England defenders to launch it in the general direction of David Tyree and Tyree's unbelievable catch on the Giants game-winning drive will go down in Super Bowl history as one of the greatest catches ever. If you watched this game and hated the Patriots, you were going absolutely ballistic when the Giants pulled this game out. I remember telling my friends that I was more excited at the end of that game than I would have been if the Steelers had won it all. That probably wasn't true, but it proved how thrilling of a finish it really was.

2. Michael Phelps Mania - No one can really explain how it happened, but in mid-August 2008, the country fell into Michael Phelps mania. Phelps dominated the swimming competition at the Beijing Olympics, rolling to an Olympic-record eight gold medals while shattering world records in the process. Suddenly everyone was into swimming, terms like individual medley, butterfly, freestyle, world record were being thrown around by people who I don't think ever watched a swimming meet in their life. Phelps captivated millions during his amazing run at Beijing and easily was the story of the Olympics...if not the entire year. Out of his eight gold medals, none was more exciting than his seventh in the 100m butterfly as he rallied to win the gold by 0.01 second over Serbia's Milorad Cavic. The replays were analyzed over and over, but clearly showed Phelps touch the wall just before Cavic. I don't know if we'll ever see someone dominate like Phelps again at the Olympics, but I'll always remember where I was during Phelps mania in August '08.

3. Penguins Stanley Cup Run - While this subject gets buried in mainstream sports media, if you were a fan of hockey or the Penguins this run to the Cup Finals was a memorable one. Even though the Pens came up short in the finals, losing to the Red Wings in six games...it was an exciting Stanley Cup finals that did its best to save hockey and excite newer fans to the game. This had been building in Pittsburgh since the strike ended and a salary cap was in place in the NHL. The Pens got the number one pick in 2005 and drafted the phenom Sidney Crosby. They also had drafted Evgeni Malkin in 2004 and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury in 2003. Everyone was waiting for the team to finally click and put it all together and they exploded toward the end of the 2007-2008 season and rolled through the Eastern Conference in exciting fashion. Everyone in Pittsburgh had Cup fever for the first time since the early '90s. I had the opportunity to attend Game 2 of the Cup Finals in Detroit and while the Pens forgot to show up to the game, I don't regret it for a minute. While the first two games ended up being one sided, the Pens got their act together and made the next four games all close games, including their thrilling 4-3 victory in three OTs in Detroit for Game 5. The series posted the best ratings since the NHL had returned from strike in 2004 and was pretty much a 100 percent increase from the previous finals.

4. The Brett Favre Saga - Not all these stories can be things that were good for the sport. The will he or won't he question for Brett Favre continued on even after his "official" retirement in March of 2008. After sitting around for four months, the Favre rumors started hitting in July that he contacted the Packers about the possibility of coming back. And what followed for the next month was something I don't think the sport has ever seen. ESPN basically camped out in Green Bay and Louisiana for weeks and in the process, we heard about secret meetings, phone calls, text messages between Favre and coach Mike McCarthy and GM Ted Thompson and then the owner flying down to Louisiana to talk him back into retirement and on and on and on. And then there was the press conference that sealed the deal and the Packers finally stating that they met with Brett and that they were moving on in another direction with Aaron Rodgers. Thompson sat there looking like a deer in highlights while all McCarthy could do was say the word "mindset" more times than Allen Iverson said practice in his famous clip. This whole farce finally ended with Favre being traded to the Jets and that was that. Packers moved on with Rodgers and the Jets got their man in Favre. And as we now know, both teams aren't going anywhere but home for the playoffs. Just for the record, this was not a story I enjoyed hearing about, instead it was incredibly annoying and come July I didn't really care who Favre played for, but the story was a memorable one. Get ready for the Favre question to come up again in 2009...I can't wait.

5. Tom Brady's Injury - Unless you are a Patriots fan or a female, you were cheering Tom Brady's injury in week one of the 2008 NFL season. You purchased your Bernard Pollard shirt and secretly or publicly stated that Brady deserved it. Even if he did or not, you loved every moment of it and you were waiting for the collapse of Bill Belichick this season. While the latter didn't happen, the Pats still went 11-5 with a high school quarterback, but missed the playoffs anyway. How far the mighty has fallen. Just 12 months ago, the Patriots were undefeated and cruising to their fourth Super Bowl title...then came fate with the Giants in the Super Bowl and then the devastating injury to Brady. It was about time things fell apart for once for the video-taping cheaters.

As for me, 2008 was just another year to add to the madness. I had the good fortune of making it out to Chicago a couple times for a White Sox-Pirates game and also a Cubs-Pirates game at Wrigley Field. Like I stated above, I went to Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Dtown. I also went to Central Michigan's primetime game as they hosted Ball State (random, yes I know). I was in attendance to watch Ohio State roll Sparty and Michigan State in East Lansing. And I made my second trip to the Sky Dome...er Rogers Centre for a Blue Jays-Red Sox game in September. Also, 2008 will be remembered as the year Todd and I launched this site after years of talking about it. Overall, not a bad year at all.

What does 2009 have in store? We'll find out shortly. I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!

Fool's Gold: Patriots Severely Overrated

It's ok to make the statement. People will not write you off as crazy anymore. The 2007 New England Patriots were severely overrated.

All season and especially in the past two weeks, the football "experts" and national media would have you believe that the Patriots were the greatest team of all-time and Super Bowl XLII would not be close. An 18-0 team with the highest-scoring offense in NFL history heading for a perfect season as a 12-point favorite, failed in the end...in the biggest game of the year. Turns out, the "greatest team of all-time" wasn't even the greatest team of 2007. As Todd pointed out earlier this week, the Patriots had not won anything yet and this is the reason why you play the game.

Hats off to the Giants. How quickly things can change in the landscape of the NFL. Seven weeks ago, Eli Manning was a joke and never going to lead his team anywhere. At the end of last season a lot of people (me included) said Tom Coughlin should be fired. Now, they are both World Champions. Eli was always in the shadow and never going to be as successful as his brother...well there's one way to shut your critics up and have your name remembered and that's winning Super Bowls. On the other hand, all the records the Pats piled up this year mean absolutely nothing at the end of the season when they are not holding up the Lombardi trophy.

With everything surrounding this game from an undefeated season and a 12-point line...you have to say this is one of the greatest upsets in NFL history. Even though when they played in Week 17, it was a three-point game and even though the Giants were the hotter team in the playoffs. Despite all of that, still nobody gave the Giants a chance. Just like when nobody gave the Chargers a chance against the Colts this year or when the Steelers had no chance against the Colts in the 2005 playoffs. I've said it before...the worst thing a team can do is underestimate their opponent. Because that's when the upsets happen and become memorable.

STUNNED

If anything else, this game reminds me of why I love sports. While history was on the line for a season of perfection, a cast of unlikely players emerged to steal the show and make their own dent in history. Despite trailing in the fourth quarter, despite only scoring once in the entire game, you had that sick feeling deep down that the arrogant Patriots would somehow pull this game out. Their late score seemed to prove it as they took the lead. But the Giants moved the football, made an unbelievable catch that will go down as one of the greatest in Super Bowl history and pulled off the stunning upset.

Some will say it was just a game. But us sports fanatics know better. This game proved that anything can happen and that's why we continue to watch sports. You never say never.

Nothing's Gonna Change My World

There were plenty of funny, idiotic and crazy news happenings this week and I figured to discuss a couple of them at The Wheelhouse.

Did you hear about this news? NASA is planning on beaming a Beatles song into outer space Monday. The Beatles' song Across the Universe (fitting) will head into outer space at 7 PM Eastern Time on Monday and will be aimed at the North Star, Polaris, which is a short 431 light years away from Earth and won't reach Polaris for a long time. I can't stress enough how stupid this is. They don't mention the numbers in any of these articles, but my guess is beaming sounds into outer space and perfectly aiming it to a point in the sky isn't exactly the same price as a happy meal at McDonalds. Why is NASA wasting time and money on this? Instead, why don't they focus their time to answer questions like life of Mars or if an asteroid is barreling toward us.

Happy Groundhog's Day! Today in the small (and I stress small) town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania everybody's lovable groundhog, Phil, was pulled out of his hole to forecast the weather. And as usual Phil saw his shadow again, leading to six more weeks of winter. A record crowd of more than 30,000 people gathered at Gobler's Knob to see Phil this year with Feb. 2nd falling on a weekend. We at The Wheelhouse used to make the small trek from our hometown to Punxy every year to celebrate the festivities during the simpler times of our college days, but like everything else, jobs and our lives got in the way this year.

Terrelle Pryor is milking his college decision for everything it's worth. Pryor, the number one prospect coming out of high school this year, is down to about four schools on his list of who to sign with and play football for. I don't like to rave about what athletes did in high school because mostly it's against joke competition, but coming out of Jeanette High School outside of Pittsburgh, Pryor had a ridiculous career (only player in PA history to run for 4,000 yards and throw for 4,000 yards) while leading his team to the state championship his senior year by mercy-ruling teams the entire way. The NCAA national letter of intent day is February 6th and according to an article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pryor was going to announce his decision live on ESPN, but now might hold off on his decision for a while due to a possible visit to Oregon next week. Michigan and Ohio State are still the two main frontrunners for Pryor, but Oregon and Penn State are still in running though he had this to say about Happy Valley last week, "I just don't know about the area up there. I don't know if I'd like being in that kind of area." Uh, hey Terrelle...you don't like State College? Have you been to Columbus?

The Super Bowl is tomorrow. I will admit that I have watched zero minutes of analysis, highlights and pre-game hoopla from ESPN the past two weeks because it's all a circus and I just want the game to start. So on the eve of Super Bowl XLII a report is released that claims a Patriots employee taped the Rams walkthrough the day before Super Bowl XXXVI. That was the Super Bowl where the Pats were heavy underdogs and then came out and shocked the Rams for their first championship. Now the report is missing certain details at this time and the NFL is looking into it, but there's no doubt in my mind that this is true. The Pats were caught doing this in Week 1 of this season and punished by the NFL, but it's naive to think they haven't done it in other years. The media needs to stop downplaying spygate and finally admit that some of their Super Bowl titles (if not all) might not be legit as we all think. In a three-point game against the Rams in SB XXXVI, you think having the other teams' plays and signals wouldn't make a difference? Please. Hopefully the NFL investigates and gets to the bottom of this. If anything it's another cloud that hovers over Belichick and Patriots as they go for 19-0 tomorrow in Arizona.

Entrapment: Plaxico Burress and Media Day

How is anyone giving Plaxico Burress any guff for predicting his Giants would beat the Patriots 23-17 in the Super Bowl? Seriously, what do you expect him to say?

This week, during one of the approximately 123,084 media sessions where players are forced to meet with reporters, Burress gave the score in response to a question asking what the game's outcome would be.

For some reason, this didn't go over very well. Tom Brady acted as if you had called his woman a whore, and Giants coach Tom Coughlin promised a quiet man to man talking to. Why?

Players are forced to meet with the media, and the media (needing a story) set up players with leading questions so they can make their deadline. It goes sorta like this:

Reporter: Plax, do you think you guys are going win Sunday?
Plax: Yeah, we'll win.
Reporter: You think you're going to win? Would you guarantee it?
Plax: Yeah, whatever, I guarantee it, we'll win.... 23-17
Reporter: Thanks, Plax.
Later......
Reporter: Hey, Tom Brady, did you hear what Plax said about beating you Sunday?
Brady: No, what he say?
Reporter: He says they're going to win 23-17 and that you're gay.
Brady: That fucker.

BAM. Instant story.

This is what the media does, they manipulate and create stories from thin air. What else was Plax going to say? Of course he thinks his team is going to win, and of course he has to guarantee it- what else is he going to say- that he thinks they have a good shot but it all comes down to how much pressure they get on Brady and if they can knock Randy Moss off his routes?!

As for Coughlin getting pissed and reading Plax the riot act for giving Brady and the Pats bulletin board fodder, that's nonsense. Do you seriously think the Patriots were lacking motivation in the Super Bowl? Like Plaxico's score prediction is going to get them up more for the game.

Instead of being all over Burress for being so bold as to predict the team he plays for is going to win the biggest game of his professional life, why don't we just call bullshit on the media for once again creating a story where there isn't one. This, along with all the other comical nonsense that was part of this year's Super Bowl Media Day, is proof enough that there should be no week in between the conference championships and the Super Bowl. It simply leaves the media with too much time on their hands to hype a game which should stand on its own as simply the World Championship of Professional Football.

Super Bowl Called Off- Patriots To Receive Rings Wednesday Afternoon At Ceremony Attended By President

With the 17th pick overall in this year's NFL Draft the the Minnesota Vikings are projected to select Calais Campbell, a junior defensive end from Miami. Sure, the Vikings could use someone to actually catch the football, but it's thought that they'll go defensive end to help shore up their pass rush.

How do I know all this? Well, thanks to an article on Fox Sports, which was posted on the MSN homepage Saturday January, 26th, I know all about the coming draft and how the Cowboys will be looking hard at Mario Manningham at 22.

I don't know what is more ridiculous, the fact that someone took the time to write this prognostic drivel, or that the lead NFL story on MSN is talking about a draft that won't take place for another three months. Hey, do you know what NFL event takes place even sooner than the draft? That's right, the Super Bowl. Maybe we could talk about that for a little bit.

Of course, despite everything on the line in the “Big Game,” there's not a buzz around this championship. The paparazzi has written more about this game than has the sports community, as they follow Tom Brady around Manhattan with his chick.

Another thing before I stray too far from Tom Brady. Have you ever heard of the starting quarterback of one Super Bowl team spending the bye week before the championship in the city of the team he's playing? I don't recall Ben Roethlisberger spending a week catching fish at that market in Seattle, or John Elway scoping out the Atlanta nightlife. What the hell is that about?

So, next week at this time we will have crowned a new NFL champion. That is, there will be an official crowning, the informal one took place in October when Chris Collinsworth called the Patriots the greatest team ever.

I guess it's just a forgone conclusion, the Patriots are going to win, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. It's such a lock, we can start talking about the draft. Don't worry about the Pro Bowl, the Patriots are going to win that too.

The Countdown crew over at ESPN agrees. Today, rather than actually talking about the Super Bowl and how the teams matchup, the guys batted around the idea of calling the Patriots the greatest dynasty of all time, and Bill Belichick the greatest coach of all time. Four championships in seven years certainly is impressive, considering the nature of the game- injuries, free agency, age. Yeah, that is a remarkable feat.

There's only one problem: the 2007 New England Patriots haven't won anything yet.

Maybe Super Bowl XLII isn't the match up the NFL wanted. Brett Favre will be at home, and the Giants are far from what could be called, “America's Team.” Still, this is the game that will be played, and the Patriots are going to have to convince the only 53 men in the NFL who haven't bought the hype, and don't think their win in a forgone conclusion.

This week, as the discussion revolves around comparing Brady to Montana and Belichick to Noll, could we maybe mention that on Sunday night there's a game to be played, and that maybe there are a few guys who call themselves the New York Football Giants who might have something to say about all this Patriots talk.

That's why they play the game.