A New Champion Will Be Born

            In this year’s World Series, the San Francisco Giants will be playing the Texas Rangers.  Neither of these teams has won a World Series before and both were the heavy underdogs to make it here.  Many people are saying that this is a down World Series and that it will not be as good as previous years.  That the Rangers and the Giants should not be in the World Series because they are not good enough.  Many baseball specialist pick the Philadelphia Phillies not only to go to the World Series but, that they wouldn’t even lose a game until they got to the World Series.

            The mere fact that two of the biggest underdogs in the MLB playoffs made it to the World Series is a good enough reason to watch every second of this series.  Another interesting fact is that neither the Giants nor the Rangers have ever won a World Series.  This means that both teams will lay everything they have down.  They will display the up-most effort and will leave it all on the field. 

            The Rangers had to beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, which had the best record in baseball in their first playoff series.  Then they had to face the New York Yankees who have the highest payroll in baseball and were picked to win the World Series before the season even started.  The Giants had to play a tough Atlanta team who they went three and three against in the regular season, so the series cold have gone wither way.  Then they had to beat the Phillies who were predicted to sweep the Giants, beating Roy Halladay who is arguably the best pitcher in baseball.

            If Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball then number two and number three are pitching tonight in game one, Cliff Lee versus Tim Lincecum. Both pitchers have won all the games they have pitched in the playoffs and have done so in a dominating manner.  Both have been virtually un-hittable.  The Rangers and the Giants have also have gotten very hot with their bats and have been hitting well.  Great pitching and great hitting for both teams, what more could you ask for?

            One more aspect is the fans supporting theses teams.  This is a shot for a first championship for either team and the fans know it and are ready to cheer their team on to the fullest.  All the home games for both teams this post season have been sold out and loud.  Also, fans of both teams seem to like to swing towels in the air around their heads to support their team while intimidating the other.  The road teams in each game face a very tough task.  Another interesting fact is that the football teams in both San Francisco and Dallas, the 49ers and the Cowboys, are off to terrible starts on the season, the Cowboys are one and five and the 49ers are one and six.  This makes the Rangers and the Giants the clear focal point for all of the fans in each city.  Michael Wilbon on PTI stated the more Dallas fans would be looking forward to seeing the Cowboys than the Rangers.  Being from Texas I must say that I could not agree more.  This is shaping up to be a great World Series and one that everybody will remember. 

When will it end?

 

Everybody knows that Tim Tebow was the man when he was in college and that he was the biggest name in the state of Florida.  People know about Tebow’s numerous awards such as the most coveted college trophy the Heisman.   People know that he is the all time SEC rushing touchdown leader.  He even had a statue of him built outside of the Florida football stadium while he was still in school.  But many people also know that he was not thought of as being a good NFL quaterback.

            Not only was Tebow such a great athlete but he was also considered to a model citizen with his strong religious beliefs.  He is very vocal about his faith and has maid many retreats to poor countries to help those in need. 

            All this being said, how much attention is Tebow going to get?  How often and how much must he be praised.  Don’t get me wrong, Tebow is both a great person and athlete and I wish him the best, but he has spent the past few years on a pedestal.  He is always the center of the media for every little thing that he does.  This past Sunday Tebow scored his first NFL touchdown on a three-yard rush.  H accumulated 23 rush yards on six attempts for his stat-line on Sunday.  Tebow’s touchdown was on of the top stories on Monday’s sports shows such as “Sportscenter” and “NFL Live.”

            Tebow was not the only NFL rookie quarterback to make a big effort on Sunday.  Colt Mccoy made his first NFL start for the Cleveland Browns.  Mccoy was matched up against the NFL’s best defense in the Pittsburg Steelers.  It was a daunting task for Mccoy as every NFL expert had picked him to fail miserably in Sunday’s game.  Mccoy came out and did the opposite.  Mccoy did not get the win but neither did Tebow.  Mccoy played the entire game for the Browns throwing for 281 yards and a touchdown.  This was the best passing performance against the Steelers all season.  Mccoy did throw two interceptions but this is not uncommon amongst rookie quarterbacks in the NFL. 

            No one wanted to talk about Mccoy’s good performance against the NFL’s best defense.  Instead, the main topic of discussion was Tebow’s first touchdown in the NFL.  I watched multiple highlights on Monday and when the Cleveland Pittsburg highlights were on no one mentioned the performance by Colt Mccoy.  When the Denver Broncos highlight was on Tebow’s touchdown was the focus on the highlight.  Then after the highlight was over Tebow was still a big topic of discussion.  I know that Tebow was an idol when he was in college and I can understand how he would have some hype in the NFL, but how long will he still be the center of attention?  Will every step that Tebow takes on the field always be the center of the media?  There many other players that are going unnoticed while Tebow steals the spotlight for minor accomplishments.

The Very Hot Seat

The Dallas Cowboys are off to a 1-3 start, which is there worst start since 2001.  The Cowboys seem to have multiple problems on the field but the biggest would have to be the team’s discipline.  In the Cowboys’ last lost Tony Romo threw for over 400 yards and three touchdowns, while Felix Jones rushed for over 100 yards.

            Still with these great stats, the Cowboys still came up short against the Titans this past week.  This is why the Cowboys biggest issue is their lack of discipline on the field.  Tony Romo threw three interceptions and Marc Colombo was called with a late penalty for excessive celebration on the touchdown the tied up the game late.  This penalty turned out to be very costly as it set the Titans up with good field position and a late touchdown to give the Titans the edge over the Cowboys.

            With the main problems on the field not being the production of the players but the discipline on the field the main source of the problems, points back to the Cowboys head coach Wade Philips. 

            Wade Philips has a history of being a very passive coach and being mild-mannered on the sidelines during the games.  The problem is that the Cowboys need the very opposite of Wade Philips.  They need a coach that will get in their faces and punish them when they commit penalties on the field or when quarterback Tony Romo throws an interception on a terrible read.  After the Cowboys loss Philips stated the he wants his players to celebrate touchdowns even though a celebration penalty cost them the game.  Philips has also only has one win in the postseason during his four-year tenure with the Cowboys.

            With all this stated it seems to believe the obvious solution to fire Philips and for owner Jerry Jones to look for a new head coach.  But Jones and the Cowboys have previous stated that Philips has nothing to worry about and will retain his job as the Cowboys’ head coach.

            Many people may ask why does Philips have such a secure job?  With all these problems and Philips lack of success in the post season isn’t releasing him the clear-cut answer?  I would think that the sure answer would be to fire Philips.

            But anyone that knows Jerry Jones know that he loves having control over the football team.  He has a history of being over controlling and interfering with the head coaches while they are trying to do their jobs.  Jones has run a numerous amount of successful coaches out of Dallas, some of those being Tom Landry, Barry Switzer, Jimmie Johnson and Bill Parcells.  All of these coaches had very successful tenures with the Cowboys with some of them winning multiple Super Bowls.  But all these great coaches have one thing in common, one thing that may have led all their teams to the success that they had, and that is these coaches had or demanded total control over their football team.  Jerry Jones wanted to have more control over the on-field decisions and this lead the coaches to leave the Dallas Cowboys.

            Wade Philips mild-manner and laid back attitude allows Jerry Jones to do what he wants with the team and have more control.  This in result might be why Philips may not be on a hot seat like most people believe he should.