Trav's Thoughts

There was a ton of football and baseball to track on Sunday!

Yeah, my Raiders still suck. Even the defense got steam-rolled by the Giants today. I know NY is one of the elite teams, but our defense didn't seem to put up any resistance at all. They couldn't get pressure on Eli Manning, and they couldn't stop the running game.

As for the offense, well...JeMarcus Russell struggled. I could lead every Raider recap with that statement. If you can't be accurate then every pass play can be described this way: take the snap, drop back, find a receiver, throw the ball, cross your fingers. Then after the ball is incomplete, try again.

Based on what I saw today, to continue with Russell at QB would be a disservice to the young man and to Raider Nation. He obviously doesn't possess the most basic skills required to play QB at this level...pocket presence and throwing accuracy. Let's go to Charlie Frye. At least he has a proven track record in the league. He won't be worse, and perhaps he'll bring some kind of balance to the offense and at least give Oakland a chance.

Oh well. At least my Raiders managed to suck enough so that the Giants could rest Eli Manning's sore foot. And the ultimate indignity? CBS switched to another more competitive game after halftime. The game we got? Pittsburgh at Detroit.

The network switched from my Raiders taking a pounding to a game featuring a team that didn't win a game last year.

**sigh**

Well SF didn't do all that much better, did they? The absence of Frank Gore has hurt the running game, which is bad news for QB Shaun Hill. He's adequate, but he's not a game changer on his own. Without a strong running game, he can't carry the offense.

For Atlanta, Matt Ryan is a game changer at QB in his second year. And he has a reliable running back in Michael Turner. That, plus the struggles of the 49er offense, was too much for a very good SF defense to overcome.

I know SF is going to struggle outside of the NFC West. The 49ers are still 3-0 in the division, so I'm not going to worry too much just yet.

Pam got to smile today though. If you went just by stats for both teams, you'd say the game would be pretty even with maybe a slight edge to Jacksonville. But Seattle had a couple of things going for it.

QB Matt Hasselbeck was back from a rib injury. We think he's on the downward side of his career, but he is experienced and he does play well at home. The defense got Lofa Tatupu back at linebacker. Both of those players gave the Seahawks an emotional lift.

Now I know we live in Seattle and the networks never leave the home market to go to a more competitive game. But while we were seeing this boring blow out, with the clear knowledge that Jacksonville wasn't going to score 41 points in 9 minutes to challenge Seattle at all, Houston was storming back to tie Arizona in the 4th quarter. It would have been nice to switch over and watch the end of that game.

So I guess Indy has a nanni-nanni-boo-boo play. I saw Peyton Manning call it! He stuck his thumbs in the ear holes of his helmet and waved his fingers. Doesn't that mean nanni-nanni-boo-boo? Heheheheheee!

Seriously though, Tennessee put up a strong effort in the first half. The Titan defense was stiff and created a couple of turnovers. Unfortunately, Tennessee's offense could only get field goals. The Colts got TDs. That's the difference between an undefeated team and a winless team.

And it sure does help to have Peyton Manning as your QB, who has started the season with 5 straight 300 yard passing games.

The Angels had the good sense to score 3 runs in the top of the 9th against Boston to complete a sweep of the Red Sox. With apologies to my blog pals who are fans of Boston, I'm very pleased at this result. I don't like the Celtics. I don't like the Patriots. And I don't like the Red Sox.

Besides all that, I do have a soft spot for Mike Scioscia. The Angels' manager played catcher for my Dodgers for 12 seasons and was an integral part of the last Dodger championship in 1988.

But I don't care for these Angels trying to call themselves the Los Angeles Angels. For those of you who aren't aware, Anaheim is where these Angels actually play baseball. To try and call themselves the LA Angels is an insult to both cities.

Anaheim CA is in Orange County and is the home of the original Disneyland. It can be considered part of the urban sprawl of LA, since it's about 25 miles to the south and east of the heart of LA. But it isn't LA. Just like the city of Valencia, about 25-30 miles to the north of LA, isn't LA.

So I call them the Anaheim Angels because that's who they are. After all, the Dodgers embraced the borough of Brooklyn when they were back east. They were never the New York Dodgers. That wouldn't have been right. NY had the Yankees and the Giants, and Brooklyn had the Dodgers.

So LA has the Dodgers now, and Anaheim has the Angels.

Speaking of the Yankees, game 3 of the ALDS between NY and Minnesota started out as a first class pitching duel between Andy Pettitte and Carl Pavano. Pettitte recorded 12 straight outs before giving up his first hit, and Pavano struck out 9 through 6 innings.

Pettitte finally gave up a walk that led to a run for Minnesota in the bottom of the 6th. But then the Yankees came right back in the top of the 7th to touch Pavano for back to back solo home runs.

Then it fell to the bull pen crews to hold steady. The Twins made another mistake on the base paths that cost them their best chance to score. And Minnesota's relievers couldn't hold the Yankees. NY got 2 insurance runs in the top of the 9th, and Mariano Rivera closed out the game to complete the sweep.

So the Dodgers, Angels, and Yankees have all advanced to the League Championship Series. Now we just need a winner from the Phillies vs the Rockies and the LCS dance cards will be full.

Remember, we're counting down the days to 5 November 2009 with Peace Quotes.

"I believe that to meet the challenges of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for oneself, one's own family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace." The Dalai Lama

Check the top of my side bar to your right for all the information you need to participate in this year's Blog Blast for Peace. Please consider joining us.

I believe that words have power, so this matters.