Giants Win at Dallas on Monday Night

NY Giants beat Dallas Cowboys 41 - 35.

It's a good thing that the Rangers are in the World Series or the people of Dallas may have collectively hung themselves tonight. After the Cowboys lead 20 - 7, Eli Manning decided to play like a Manning and pick apart their defense while Tony Romo sat in the locker room with a broken clavicle. Jon Kitna and Dallas made the score close in the fourth quarter but by then it was too late to save their season. While the Cowboys are finished, the Giants established themselves as the class of the NFC. Manning had a tough start but looked like an elite quarterback the rest of the way out. With Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs getting the ground game going again and the defense injuring every quarterback they come up against, Manning and the Giants are poised to make a run. Their only issue may be getting hot at the wrong time like the 2008-2009 version of the team but only time will tell.

Rangers-Giants World Series

Well... Couldn't have been more wrong about a Yankees Phillies rematch. The Giants seemed done after blowing it at home with Lincecum on the mound in Game 5, but Bochy worked his magic and got his boys through to the World Series. Gutsy effort, but I'm still picking the Rangers to win. San Francisco may have a better pitching staff (Brian Wilson is the man) but their bats can't match up with Texas's lineup. Either way, it should be a great series featuring poor tv ratings and two fan bases who have no idea how to handle this type of situation. Tim Lincecum and Cliff Lee go head to head in Game 1 on Wednesday.

Other news of note:

• Oklahoma and LSU were eliminated from the National Championship race this weekend (at least I was right about Oklahoma losing) and Auburn looks like the team to beat. An Oregon - Auburn title game would be a spectacle but unfortunately it won't happen. Both teams have too many challenges ahead of them to make it through unscathed and instead we'll probably get Boise State and TCU or some other asinine combination of schools.

• Rangers have won three straight without Drury or Gaborik. If their young D matures over the course of the season and their secondary scoring keeps coming through then maybe they'll turn into a contender after all.

• This weekend, Charger fans learned that Kris Brown sucks after he booted a potentially game tying 50 yard field goal off of the upright in the last minute against the Patriots. Welcome to the club.

• All of the head to head fine talk in the NFL is complete crap. If the league didn't want its players to get hurt they wouldn't be pushing for an 18 game schedule that will exploit its players and its fans. Players will potentially work more often without an immediate increase in pay because they are already tied to their contracts and ticket prices surely won't go down even though each individual game is devalued. Sounds like a league that really cares about the individuals that make it work. Stop being hypocritical, fine only for actual malicious hits, and let the boys play.

Return to Amateur Hour Rant

Back again. It's been a while. A lot has happened. Let's get into it...

NCAA Football:

• Is it 2007 all over again? Once again, we're going to end up with a mediocre national champion and more questions than answers at the end of the year. Going through the undefeated: Oklahoma is Oklahoma (they will lose), Oregon has a tough schedule the rest of the way out, LSU must have Jesus on their sideline to be were they are (blind fake field goal toss), Auburn has Alabama on the road (after LSU this week), Michigan State has to play at Iowa, Boise State has a weak schedule and ditto for TCU (plus you have to throw in the fact that if TCU goes to the national championship I will hang myself. They can't do that to me.). Lot of question marks and certainly no clear number one. I blame Boise for half of this mess. Anybody can be the best for a single game. South Carolina proved that after stunning Alabama before proceeding to crap themselves at Kentucky. I don't mean to hate on the Broncos, but if they want serious national respect then they need to either leave the WAC, find tougher opponents or schedule themselves a difficult stretch playing the slate they already have. If they played Virginia Tech and Oregon State back to back instead of taking a bye week and Wyoming then they could have proven that they deserve to have the easy road to the title game. But now? It's up to the voters.

• Speaking of voters: get rid of them. I know I'm paranoid about Terminator being real, but I trust the BCS computers to be unbiased more than I trust voters. Set up an unbiased formula and go with it.

• Moving to personal issues: Could Michigan's D be any worse? If they need somebody to get torched every drive I'm confident I could step in, do the job, and save them a scholarship. Watching shoot outs sure is fun but not when you're losing. With teams figuring out that Denard is fragile and can't throw, winning one of the last 5 games isn't as certain as it once was.

• Texas going from a spread offense to a pro-style has to be one of the saddest transitions for a spectator. Sure it was necessary and Gilbert can only get better, but I already miss the dual-threat glory days.

NFL:

• Well... It's been interesting. The Cowboys and Vikings have been terrible while even a blatant Jets hater can admit that they've been good. Sanchez is coming along faster than expected so maybe they do have what it takes to reverse the trend of building up hope before inevitably destroying everyone who has ever supported Gang Green. Or it's all part of their master plot... Either way, is there any question that a team from the AFC is winning the Super Bowl this year? The Jets, Steelers, Ravens, retooled Pats, Colts, Titans and... Texans... all seem to be better than any NFC team right now, save for the Giants taking Houston to the woodshed (which I blame on Duane Brown's absence no matter how badly every other position was outplayed.). Unless the Giants (by my take the best team in the NFC) go on another playoff run the title is returning to the AFC.

• Does anyone like Roger Goodell outside of neo-conservatives? I think he's pulling a Chewbacca defense with the crack down on tackling while simultaneously lengthening the season. It makes no sense.

• Even though the conferences are unevenly weighted, the parody is a nice change for a league that has been dominated by the undefeated and the winless.

• How did Houston find so many options at back after not having any last year? Arian Foster is filthy, Derrick Ward looks solid, Slaton can give a few carries, and they get Ben Tate next year. If only they could play defense...

• I hope the Chiefs win the AFC West. Between Jamaal Charles, Dexter McCluster and Dwayne Bowe I don't know who's the most exciting to watch, Thomas Jones looks great, and "Don't Hassle the Cassel" is still an amazing slogan. Plus their fans are white trash and it's always fun to see white trash celebrate.

NHL:

• Too early to see how anything will really shape up (the Islanders, Leafs, and Lightning make up the top three in the East) but the Bruins look good. Maybe I've spent too much time in Boston, but from what I've seen they look like a team that's built for the playoffs and has a chip on its shoulder.

• Other than the Bruins, the only other Eastern conference teams that have enough grit to be considered "playoff built" are the Flyers, Penguins, and possibly the Leafs. Brian Burke is a wizard when it comes to building competitive teams. He built the Ducks, he put together Team USA, and he's making Toronto respectable. Glen Sather for Burke straight up? I'm sure we can toss in James Dolan as some sort of cash incentive.

• Seeing Gaborik out for 2-4 weeks and Drury out for 6 should concern me as a Ranger fan but I'm trying to be optimistic this year and there are three positives that can come out of this. 1) They get their injuries out of the way early. How many games could Gaborik really miss? (Don't answer that question.) 2) They have their traditional hot and cold year and start off cold. If that's the case I'll trade a miserable first half for a hot second half every season without hesitation. Coming into the playoffs with heat is the only way this team will make anything happen. 3) Their secondary scoring learns how to finish. Out of the three, this is the only legitimate reason that could impact the entire year. Without Gaborik, people like Callahan, Dubinsky, and Frolov are going to have to carry the scoring load. If they could learn how to do it now they'll reap the benefits in March.

• Derek Stepan is a beast. He can create things out of nothing and can add dangerous depth if he keeps it up. Between Stepan, Fedotenko, Biron, and Boogaard, the Rangers are a completely different team than last year in a good way. Is this what hope feels like?

MLB

• Yankees Phillies is bound to happen isn't it? It seems unavoidable even with Lee on the mound for game 7. It'll be the most interesting but seeing Brian Wilson exit the playoffs will be a sad day for all. Except Philly fans. They really love to hammer people.

• I don't think the World Series can possibly be as good as the NLCS.

NBA

• Basketball guy will be on this.

General comments:

• Damn the Fall has great TV.