0-18.....Thursday Night Football Games.

Sorry about there being no Part 2 of this Weekends Wrap-Up. I got swamped and had no time to do it.

I did get to watch history last night though.

The New Jeresy Nets broke the NBA record for losses to start a season. They did it in style as well, as the Dallas Mavericks almost put up an 80 spot and shot 84% from the field at halftime!

The Mavs pumped the brakes a bit, but the Nets took another beating. Former Nets franchise face Jason Kidd relished this win, considering he almost put a triple double on their heads.

It is brutal for Nets fans this season. How far does this streak go? 20, 25, 30 games?

Sad part is, that it is not an effort problem. The Nets DO play hard everynight. There are CYO teams that shoot the basketball better than the Nets though. Right now, they have zero depth or talent on the wings (shooting guard-small fowards).

I will play the optimist in all of this for Nets fans.

The rebuilding plan is being done right, and it will not take them long to be good again.

The Nets right now do have some players to build around. Brook Lopez and Devin Harris are good. Terrence Williams may never be a star, but he can be an excellent and very good glue guy. I am not big on Chris Douglas Roberts, but on a good team, he could come off the bench and be some instant offense.

Here is the real silver lining...

The Nets have the most cap room in the biggest free agent offseason ever, and will have a top 5 pick in a deep, loaded draft.

Let's play a hypothetical game right now.

What if the Nets sign say Lebron James (I think they actually have a better shot at Bron than the Knicks) and a mid level guy, say Marcus Camby or Udonis Haslem. Then, in the draft, say they hit the Lottery and get John Wall from Kentucky?

Do you think that you can argue with me that a lineup of Harris, Wall, King James, Camby/Haslem, and Lopez, with Douglas-Roberts and T. Williams coming off the bench is not a playoff team in the East?

I think that is an argument that you would lose.

Keep your heads up Nets fans, this is only a one year thing.



We have a treat tonight.

Not only do we have the NFL game on Thursday night, we have a monster rivalry college game that is a playoff for the Rose Bowl.

The Buffalo Bills take one of their home games, and completely waste it tonight in Toronto, against the Jets. There is NO reason for these games being in Toronto, in a domed stadium (The Bills home games in December are major home field advatages with the weather, etc.), other than the fact to line the pockets of a greedy owner that acts like he cares about the city that has made him millions of dollars a year.

I guess there really was a reason for someone to flip him the double barrel birds.

The Jets come into this game coming off their best game in a month. My whipping boy Kerry Rhodes came out of hibernation and actually played to his talent, and the Jets harassed another SportsTown whipping boy, Jake "Pick 6" Delhomme.

I see the Jets running the ball about 40 times in tonight's game, making sure that The Sanchize does not throw picks like they were stadium gift give-a-ways.

Although Terrell Owens has played alot better since the coaching switch, he will be lined up all night against the NFL's best CB in Darrelle Revis, or how the CBS guys call him "Revis Island".

New York Jets 20, Buffalo Bills 13.

The Civil War!

One of College Football's biggest and oldest rivalries gets centerstage tonight on ESPN, as Oregon St. and Oregon get it on for a shot at Ohio St. in the Rose Bowl.

The Ducks are at home, and QB Jeremiah Masoli has been playing like a Heisman candidate since the Boise St. mudstomping. RB LaMichael James has had a fantasic Frosh. season replacing SportsTown's Golden Gloves Champ LeGarette Blount.

The Beavers are the Pac 10 team that does the most with the least. Head Coach Mike Riley really does not get enough respect from the country. He seldom gets a to recruit, but somehow grooms his players into talents. (Beavers had the 2nd most players drafted last year.)

This will be a shootout, with both offenses being high octane. Turnovers will be monster in this game. The fact that the Ducks are close to double digit faves in this game is a joke. So.....

UPSET SPECIAL!

Oregon St. 42, Oregon 38

Monday Night Game, Tigers-Twins Thoughts, and Other....

The past two evenings have given us some interesting and intense sporting events. Monday Night, we got Packers going into the Baggy Dome to play the Days of Our Favre Vikings. The next night, the Baggy Dome was at it again, this time, the Tigers and Twins in a thrilling extra inning play-in game to face the Godfather Yankees. Think Cable TV ratings have been decent the past couple of days? Here are some thought about both games, starting with the Monday Nighter.

- The Minnesota crowd was deafening. The Baggy Dome, along with the Superdome in New Orleans, are two of the biggest home field advantages once that crowd gets into play like that.

- Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski gushed about Brett Favre so much, I started thinking that they were the kid from Almost Famous that followed around Led Zeppelin. I was waiting for Gruden to scream out, "He touched this pen!!! Yes, he touched this pen!" Gruden and Jaws should be boarderline ashamed of themselves. That was not unbiased broadcasting, that was two groupies drooling over a guitarist.

- Favre all kidding aside, did play great. He did have some extra zip on those passes. The Vikings OLine was like The Great Wall of China. Favre had more time to throw than Obama has to get his Health Care plan through. After that first TD pass by Favre, and he jumped and pointed to the sky, scale of 1-10 on how big of a slap in the face to Packers fans was that?

- Speaking of OLines, as well as the Vikings OLine played, the exact opposite for the Pack. Aaron Rodgers played well, but got sacked eight times, and pressure even more. Jared Allen had 4.5 sacks. Allen basically put a tattoo on Rodger's body that said, "Property of J. Allen."

- If you are a pure football fan, that game you did get to see three of the best Cornerbacks in the game. The Vikings Antoine Winfield, and the Packers Chalres Woodsen and Al Harris. All three play press bump and run coverage just about every down, which is really a lost art in this league now.

- Woodsen and Harris have gotten alot of respect over the years, but I want to talk about Winfield. This guy up until last year, was one of the most overlooked players in football, right up there with MLB London Fletcher. Winfield is a physical CB that can cover any WR in the league, and tackles like a linebacker. There is not 5 better corners in the league today. If you think there is, leave a comment, and we can debate.

- Gruden is still blushing about the thought of calling that game and saying the name Brett Favre 47,612 times.

Now, the Tigers/Twins thoughts:

- The Baggy Dome was even louder for this game. I really do believe that the crowd almost willed the Twins in this game. When the Tigers were up 3-0, the crowd never stopped. Great fans.

- Jim Leyland put 20 year old, and SportsTown favorite Rick Porcello on ther mound with eveything on the line. Think about that for a second. I wrote a small article about how Porcello pitched in a big game a couple of weeks ago. He is now in a play-in game. The sick thing is, Porcello delivered... again. Most kids his age are delivering pizza, hes delivering a quality start in game 163. Porcello has the guts of a burgular, and Leyland has the stones of one for even starting him in this game.

- Magglio Ordonez is still a clutch hitter. Tigers did not lose the divison because of him. He was red hot the final two weeks of the season.

- I still think if the Tigers scored in the 12th, when Delmon Young threw the ball to 3rd to let Dan Kelly get to 2nd base, Ron Gardenhire would of turned into Simon Phoenix from Demolition Man, and performed a Murder-Death-Kill on Young for that stupidity.

- Leyland should get roasted for keeping an average closer, Fernando Rodney in for a 3rd inning. Closers are not made to throw 48 pitches Jimbo. That one is on you. Think about that over your 67th cigarette of the day.

- How funny is sports when a guy can go from the goat to the hero in less than an hour? Well, Twins infielder Alexis Casilla did just that. In the 10th inning, he got thrown out at home when he did not tag up properly, then got the game winning hit in the 12th. This is one of the million reasons I love baseball.

Other random thoughts before we go:

 My baseball playoff predictions for the first round:

Yankees over Twins in 3, Angels over Red Sox in 5, Phillies over Rockies in 4, Cardinals over Dodgers in 4.

I will say one thing though about the Yankees. They better win tonight at home, with CC on the mound. The Twins just played a grueling extra inning game for their playing lives, and now have to travel and play again in less than 20 hours?  No excuses for the Yankees today. I mean, we do not want Jorge Posada to have to choke a bitch right?

Sadly overlooked with the baseball game last night, was the best sports game of the night. Since half the country does not even get Versus, including Direct TV subscribers, I would say most people did not catch the Capitals-Flyers game. Well, you people missed out. That game is the perfect definition of why hockey can be awesome to watch. Flyers won 6-5 in OT.

Let me get this straight, Braylon Edwards decks a club owner that just happened to be Lebron James's friend, and two days later, Edwards is traded? I have about 15,000 one liners for this, but we will shrink them to five..
1. Edwards was traded to get into Witness Protection.

2. I hope Brandon Marshall was watching, all he has to do to get traded from Denver is to deck Carmelo Anthony.

3. Lebron James is the Godfather of Cleveland.

4. Edwards can come to NY, and deck Eddy Curry. He would be praised.

5. Im shocked Edwards caught the guy's face. First thing he has caught in two years.

Inheriting a New NBA team.

I grew up a New York Knicks fan. I remember the glory days of Patrick Ewing's drop step drive into the paint, Charles Oakley grabbing every rebound in sight, and Pat Riley's hardcore, do not  f*ck with us defense.

But over the past few years, I have come to realize something. I was a Patrick Ewing fan first and foremost before the Knicks.

And when the Knicks sent Ewing packing like he was cheap suit to Seattle years ago, the paint started to chip off my love for the Knicks. The past decade has not helped either.

James Dolan, Scott Layden, and Isiah Thomas have made it unbearable for any Knick fan.

Dolan is the definition of Trust Fund Baby, that is handed a business and buries it into the ground. Ironically, Dolan hand picked Isiah Thomas, after he put a basketball league into bankruptcy!

Layden, made the Ewing deal, that brought over Glenn Rice, but he forgot to acquire his knees in the deal as well. We would also like to mention the following , Shandon Anderson, Howard Eisley, Othella Harrington, the Allan Houston 100 million dollar contract (top 20 worst sports contracts ever), and the Antonio Mcdyess trade, that Layden took Nene 7th overall, and passed on Amare Stoudamire. Lastly, the following seasons top 10 pick... Michael Sweetney anyone?

Should we even mention Isiah's resume? At least he could decently draft, but thats when he did not deal the picks for Eddy Curry. Isiah was also only one of 3 stupid, crazy GM's (the others would be Elgin Baylors corpse, and Laker booster Chris Wallace) to take on Zach Randolph, his contract, and eating habits, not to mention the soap operas he had with Larry Brown, and Anucha Browne. By the way, did I even mention Stephon Marbury?

I have tried to stick with this franchise, but more and more, I have come to the realization that it was not the Blue, White, and Orange I was a fan of. I grew up in an era that the Knicks had a superstar that gave it his all, even if it never materialized into a title.

So, I am offically jumping off the wagon. I do not care if present GM Donnie Walsh is potentially getting Lebron James or not. I want to be a fan of a basketball team again. I have three candidates to choose from, none of them are playoff teams, so I am not trying to ride the wave of another franchise's success.

1) Minnesota T-Wolves

Why?- It is not a perfect franchise by any means, but it has a solid young nucleus that you can root for. Al Jefferson, Kevin Love, and most of all, rookie Point Guard Johnny Flynn.

Now, does the Ricky Rubio Saga scare me off? Not exactly. They will get good value for a guy that cannot even shave yet, but is in a Gillette commerical.

The new GM, David Khan does terrify me. He could easily become Layden/Isiah Redux 2.0.

Flynn is the kicker. I love and watch Big East Basketball, and you have to root for a smallish Point Guard that can run like a deer, jump out of the gym ( see Youtube video of Flynn dunking on Rutgers Mike Rosario), and is as tough as nails. I think he is going to be Aaron Brooks with flash and some attitude.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder

Why?- You would think the main reason is Kevin Durant right? Wrong

I love how this franchise is ran. GM Sam Presti is the textbook definition of a guy that told managment that if you are patient with me, I will make a potential dynasty. All he did for a few years was dump contracts, and collect draft picks.

Now, Presti has a fantastic young core (Durant, Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green, James Harden), along with several good role players on the roster. Oh, did I mention that the Thunder will have at the most, 40 million on the books for the 2010-2011 Free Agent Sweepstakes?

That is around 18 million under the cap. Lebron? Bosh? These guys would not be interested in playing with this group?

He is not the main reason, but Durant is a huge reason. Guy is a machine. He is going to win several scoring titles, but the thing that got me about him was 2 things. One, hes a gym rat, and has that MJ/Kobe mentality that he can score 55 in a game, and think he could do more. The second thing was when I heard that he went to Las Vegas for the Rookie League, sat on the bench with his future and potential teammates, and cheered them on. This is the type of heart and soul leader I grew up loving in Ewing.

and finally, and hear me out on this one...

3) Los Angeles Clippers

Why? - I know, Donald Sterling and that Front Office make James Dolan look like Red Auerbach, but there is plenty to like here.

1.- Two young future All-Stars in Eric Gordon and #1 overall pick Blake Griffin.

2.- How can you dislike Baron Davis? Serously.

3.- I am a sucker for the real, true underdog.

4.- Including picking up Mardy Collins option (Who is a stiff.) The Clippers only have 36 million in salaries for 10-11. That is without even taking into consideration the Clips trying to pawn off Chris Kaman's goofy mind and contract, and possibly resigning Marcus Camby.

5- Lebron should be a real possiblilty here. I know Bill Simmons brought this up first, but it really does make sense. Lebron has two potential All Stars, plus another Lottery Pick from this upcoming season to grow old with. Something the Cavs could never offer him. The Cavs also could not offer him the spotlight of actually making a LA market team viable again, and creating a Clippers-Lakers rivalry that The Hebrew Godfather (David Stern) is salavating over.

I know how I have thought this out, now I would like to know your input on it. Clippers? Thunder? T-Wolves? Stay with the Knicks? I have put up a voting poll to see what team I will inherit into SportsTown, and I will gladly take any emails @ TheSportsTown@gmail.com , or dicsuss it on Twitter(TheSportsTown) .