Sports n Stuff

7/28/23

The Pauline Epistles, or the Letters of Paul, are 13 different books in the bible that are accredited to Paul the Apostle as he spread the word of God across the world to different groups of people. Some of these groups included the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, and Thessalonians. He wrote letters to these groups of people to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ after his ascension to Heaven. He spread Christianity.

By no means do I consider myself Paul the Apostle, but I’m not too far off from doing something similar in Australia.

Over the past 2 weeks I have been running clinics in different elementary, middle and high schools in Australia for the sport that brought me out here in the first place, lacrosse. Look, as most people know, lacrosse in the U.S. is pretty popular, but by no means is it as popular at basketball, soccer, or football. It is still a sport that most kids have never tried and most adults don’t know the rules. The PLL is a new league that is definitely gaining traction, but is definitely not a major league in the United States. If that is what it’s like in the U.S. you could imagine what the level of popularity is here in Australia.

Most Australians have heard of what lacrosse is but don’t have a clue as to what exactly you do or how you play. Those are at the adult level, so you can imagine what the familiarity level is for the next generation of Australians. They hear the word lacrosse and they look at you like you have a hundred heads. They think it’s a made up word. All they see is a bunch of stick on the ground and they do what most of us did when we were young and picked up a stick for the first time, they acted like they were playing the guitar and they sword fought.

Fortunately for the growth of the sport in Australia, it is very well funded, so I have been able to go to these different schools with warp sticks, popup fiddle stick nets, and plenty of tennis balls to play with. Warp sticks, for those unfamiliar, are just regular lacrosse sticks with an almost factory and generic stringing on the stick. There isn’t really stringing involved in them, but it’s more of just a net put in place. The nets are small, imitating that of a small net you might of played with as a kid playing soccer, and because they aren’t putting on full pads and because these kids are so new we have to use tennis balls as opposed to a regular ball.

The elementary school kids are hilarious to watch play. I have interacted with 3rd and 4th grade classes and the experience has been very different. The 3rd graders have a massive class size, about 60 kids in total, and they lose interest very easy, so the drills have had to be very quick, while still trying to teach kids how to catch, throw, and pick up the ball. 4th Graders love the sport. There class size is smaller so they more interaction with me which I think definitely helps, and although the age different is just a year, they have caught on a lot quicker then the 3rd graders. It also helps that 2 kids in the 4th grade play for the U12 Camberwell team that I am a part of for the men’s team. They also love talking to me about the States. I’ve gotten questions like who my favorite NFL team is, if I play fortnite, and if it’s true that everything is bigger in Texas. They have definitely been my favorite group to work with.

The 6th grade group I’ve been working with in the middle school is just hitting puberty, so some of them are just too cool to play lacrosse. Most of them interact and they enjoy the game a lot, but some sort of just ruin it for the rest, which is unfortunate. similar to the 4th graders, they have also enjoyed asking me questions about the States and they have even asked me about the different things I like about Australia. Overall, they seem to enjoy lacrosse and some of them have even come up to me asking me how they can start playing, which is definitely rewarding.

The high school kids are a whole other story. I’m working with 10th graders, who in a couple of weeks are playing in a 3×3 tournament with other schools across Melbourne. The class has a very middle school dance vibe, roughly 20 kids total split 50/50 boys and girls and the boys try too hard to be cool and the girls are definitely put off by it. Ironically, the girls have picked up on it much faster and much better than the boys. Some of them are pretty good too, and I’m hoping some of them ask how they can be more involved in playing lacrosse. We started playing West Genny, which for the non lacrosse rats out there is the best drill of all time, and they loved it. Hopefully I get them prepared enough for the tournament in a few weeks.

Lacrosse is a sport that in the U.S. is gaining popularity at a very fast rate. Internationally, it’s time to catch up. So when Jesus told his Apostles to spread his word across the world, I want to teach the game that has given me so much in my life and spread its joy and fun across the world as well. Teaching the game has been an awesome experience and is definitely one of the most rewarding things that I have done, period. So, yeah, might need to get some letters of Quinn to the Australians thrown in the Lacrosse Bible.

7/12/23

“The Autumn wind is a Raider, pillaging just for fun. He’ll knock you ’round, and upside down, and laugh when he’s conquered and won.” It’s a classic song that most die hard raiders fans know. The song and lyrics were created in 1974 with the musical score made by Sam Spence and the lyrics by the legendary Steve Sabol. Most NFL fans may not know the lyrics, but they sure as hell have heard the song, and damn does it get me fired up for football to start.

Yes, football draws ever closer to us all, and dammit am I so fired up, but I don’t think the Australians are so much. Their football is in the 4th quarter of their season, with only a few more regular season games left and then playoffs. There are 16 teams in the league, and something like 11 of them are based out of Melbourne, which is fucking nuts. My team, the Richmond Tigers, used to be a wagon from 2017-2020, winning the championship 3 out of 4 years, kinda sucks this season and they need to win out with some help to try and make a late push to the playoffs. There are no divisions or conferences in the league, so the best 8 teams go to the playoffs. The best 2 teams right now are Port Adelaide and Collingswood. They barely lose and Collingswood bent over the Gold Coast a few weeks ago and literally beat them by 78 points. With 6 games left in the regular season, anything is possible for the playoffs.

Circling back to the Raiders and American Football, I have uncovered something very interesting about this historic franchise. Turns out, they have a rather large fanbase in Melbourne, or at least, people like wearing Raiders gear. I mean, they REALLY like wearing Raiders gear. I hadn’t really noticed it until last week, but now every time I go out I swear I see someone wearing some sort of Raiders something. Shirt. Hat. I even saw some teenager at the gym wearing a Josh Jacobs jersey while he was working out. I’m not sure if it’s the combination of the silver and black that people like but it’s really weird it’s the only NFL gear I’ve seen around here no more than one person. I’ve seen other teams here and there but not more then once. I say the color combination is the reason for support for two different reasons. One, people here also really like the Brooklyn Nets. Now, fanbases out here aren’t like back at home. You won’t find the cliche Cowboys, Lakers, Yankees fan out here like you would back at home. Everyone here is a homer, ride or die, for the city, so nobody is just simply rooting for the Raiders and the Nets at the same time. What both teams do have in common though is their colors: silver and black. People might’ve liked KD or Kyrie when they were on the team but I’m not so sure how much people watch the NBA out here since Dellavedova has been irrelevant in the league for a while. Therefore, I gotta assume people just like the colors put together.

The second reason why people might like this color scheme is because of New Zealand. For all the people out there who suck at geography, Australia is really damn close to New Zealand. It’s basically Australia’s Canada. New Zealand sports teams’ colors are, you guessed it, fucking silver and black. This may be some of the reason to support teams in the United States whose colors are similar to that of the Kiwi’s. Now, I’m not fully sure as to what the infatuation of the silver and black is with American sports teams, this is just theory. I had a theory that people liked the Raiders because of rap artists like Ice Cube always rocking Raiders’ jerseys back in the day, but that doesn’t explain the obsession over the nets either. After doing this observing, I will start asking people I see supporting these sports teams why they like them. Hopefully, I’m somewhat right, but odds are I’m just completely 100% wrong.

7/5/23

First of all, to all Americans, Happy 4th of July! If you’re not American, if you smell the air it probably feels like something is off. That’s because you’re air is missing a little something called freedom.

Now, onto the actual shit going on in Australia. Settling in has been nothing short of easy as pie. Last week, I got hooked up with a guy who paints house renovations. He shot me a call last friday, now I work for the guy.

I started painting on Monday. Instead of the casual 9-9:30am wake up I was used to my alarm went off at 6:30am. I got dressed, ate something, and was out the door to meet my ride at 7:15. The who picked me up is the guy who hired me, Jordy. He’s honestly a super chill dude. I asked him what the hours were gonna be like in the car because I honestly had no clue what I signed up for and he said we’ll go no later then 2-3 every day and off on the weekends, which is huge. He’s paying me well, and I am learning a good amount on the job in case I need to do painting in the future, at my house or to help a buddy out.

Monday I really got a grasp for what the work would be like. We were starting painting on a renovated kitchen. The first half of the work day consisted of covering up the floors, cabinets, and counters with paper, plastics, and fabric canvas to make sure we didn’t splatter any paint where need be. Then, I was in charge of sanding down the ceiling with this absolutely gnarly machine so we could start painting. Then, we broke out this crazy spray paint gun so we could easily and efficiently paint the ceiling. We quickly ran out of paint, and had to run to the store for more as well as running across the street to grab breakfast/lunch. When we got back to the house, we took like an hour and a half long break and then started back up. we finished the ceiling and began painting the walls. We ended with the ceiling done and the first coating of paint on all the walls. When I got home, I took a picture with my “Aussie Dad” for a first day of work photo

Yesterday we finished the kitchen. We did 2 more coats of paint on the walls and touched up the edges where the walls met the floor. All in all, it was pretty easy work and definitely gonna be a good gig for the remainder of my time out here. The plan is to save up as much money as possible and go on a trip to go cage diving with Great Whites. Fingers crossed, we can get that to happen.

6/28/23

Week 2 down under is in the books, and no I have not developed an accent yet. Being a “Yankee” does have its fun though. People here constantly ask questions about the States and its differences between the U.S. and Australia. One of the big comparisons was questions about Vegas or Miami against the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia

The Gold Coast is a stretch of beaches in Queensland that is considered to be, well, a massive party during the summer. Everyone in Australia migrates there during the summer for the warm weather, nice sharkless beaches, and an extremely fun nightlife. It is also home to the tallest building in Australia, the Q1, which stands at over 1000 feet and is taller than the Empire State Building. During the summer, the beaches are extremely crowded and is home to some of the best surfers in both Australia and the world.

I went up to the Gold Coast on Friday with 3 other guys: Mitch, Emmett and Ricky. All 3 of the guys are here from the States as well playing lacrosse on different teams just like me. Mitch and Ricky both play for the Cavaliers of the University of Virginia and Emmett is still riding high after just winning the National Championship with Notre Dame. We stayed for 3 nights and it was a complete blast. After we checked in to the hotel on Friday, we grabbed a bite to eat at a surf club that was home to what seemed like thousands of the best surfers in Australian history with their names all around the building. After we hit the beach and had a few pops on the sand. There was next to nobody on the beach because it is technically winter down here, but regardless it was really nice. It was a nice 75 degrees, sunny, and the water was cold but nice enough to go swimming. The area we were staying in was called Surfers Paradise, and we could definitely tell from the waves we were body surfing. We were getting tossed around like ragdolls.

Friday night rolled around, and after a long day of travel and early fun, I decided it would be best to call the night on the early side.

Saturday came, and Mitch and I decided to grab a late breakfast at a pancake house and the food was insanely good. Later, we grabbed Ricky and Emmett and walked around the outside mall close to where the bars and clubs are and explored the area. We got some stuff for the beach, including a speaker and football, and I picked up an awesome Victoria Bitter hat. VB is the equivalent to Coors Light back at home. From there, we went to the hotel to grab more suds, suit up, and hit the beach for the rest of the day.

When the sun was setting, we went back to the hotel to get changed for dinner. We went out for some Chinese food, which was again unreal, and we prepared for the night out.

We went to 3 different clubs that night. The first was the most underwhelming, a place called “Bedroom”. Their schtick is that along with tables to get, you could also get a bed. It was public but roped across so nobody could get into any funny business but it wasn’t anything super cool. The room was very crowded, it smelled like shit, and the DJ was that of a casual frat house. We didn’t stay long, and we migrated to the second bar, “Lost Kingdom”. This bar had an awesome entrance. After getting in, you walked through a long, dark hallway that was lined with smoke and green lights. It felt like the entrance for the Philadelphia Eagles heading into the club, and it was an awesome way to walk in. It was a jungle themed club and it was a lot of fun. Not too packed, not overly priced drinks, and the DJ was cooking. We stayed there for almost 3 hours but it seemed like an eternity.

We went to one more club for 2 more drinks, but I wish we had went to this one first. The club was called “Asylum” and it was probably my favorite. The lighting and the atmosphere was definitely the best with different tiers for people to look down on the dancefloor and the DJ was the best by a mile. The DJ was also one of those dudes that had a helmet on so you couldn’t see his face. It was late in the night, so there wasn’t a lot of people in there, but it was still a lot of fun.

We decided to call it a night and started walking back to the hotel. As we walked back we noticed on the other side of the street a sports bar that was clearly closed but had TVs still playing sports. One of the TVs had an NFL game on so we all pointed and laughed at the fact that they had a game on so late at night. In front of the bar were two girls, one of which was on another planet, and her friend trying to help her survive. ET saw us pointing and laughing their way and started screaming at us from across the street. She made a push to try and cross the street to fight us but her friend pulled her back. We walked faster because we needed to cross the street at some point to get to the hotel, all the while this girl is still screaming at us. We walked passed a bar that we wanted to grab one last drink in, but it was on the other side of the street. So, we crossed the street, waited in line for the bouncers to check our IDs, and as we were waiting, guess who caught up to us?

We ignored the girl, thinking she forgot, but as they walked passed, the girl who was pissed off kicked me in the back of the leg. It wasn’t anything violent, but it was just funny because the bouncers saw it and we were all confused and laughing. Anyways, we got one more drink, ate some food across the street, and went home.

Sunday was a very lazy Sunday. Sleeping in late, chilling on the beach, and doing absolutely nothing. It was awesome. We had dinner at the top of the Q1 building. You could get a ticket to go up there or go up there and get a $20 voucher for food and drink as well. We got up there around sundown and the views were unreal.

We had some amazing food and good times up on the 77th floor of the building. It was an awesome memory.

The trip ended Monday with arriving at the airport at 5am, only to find out our flight had gotten canceled! Luckily for us, the attendants noticed we were americans and got us on a new flight right away. a few hours of travel, later, I finally got home and was wiped out. I ended the night with a good meal of noodle soup with a bunch of different things in it including ground beef, eggs, peas, corn, and whole chicken legs. They weren’t bad, but just not a lot of meat on them.

All in all, week 2 was a success. The Gold Coast was an awesome, relaxing time, and definitely a must for anyone who wants to travel around Australia.

6/21/23

Last Monday I started on a 3 1/2 month journey to Australia to play lacrosse and to live as an Aussie. What better way to come down here then to come alone and to just be thrown into a new experience.

I left on a Monday from DC, had a layover in San Francisco, and touchdown in Melbourne, Australia on a Wednesday because of the time difference. The total travel was about 24 1/2 hours and it goes without saying that the jet lag and time difference definitely kicked my ass for the first couple of days.

I’m staying with the coach of the semi-pro lacrosse team I’m playing for in Carnegie, a suburb of Melbourne about 20 minutes away from the CBD (Central Business District) which is essentially downtown. It’s him, his wife, and their 8 month old puppy named Bruno. He’s a little shit but he’s adorable. I learned a little bit about Melbourne on the drive to the house. 5 million people call this place home, and it also has the second highest population of Greek people in the world only behind Greece (who would’ve thought Greece has so many Greek people). It is also considered the food capital of Australia, having a lot of different asian influences as well as Greek, Italian, and American.

The first place I ate at was a fish and chips place down the street. Fish and chips are a staple in Australia apparently, so I had to try it for myself. I got flake and chips, assuming a flake was just a flake of fish. Turns out, flake is actually from a type of shark called the Gummy Shark. Gummy Sharks don’t have any teeth, just gums, hence the name. Long story short, my first meal here was shark, and it was pretty good.

I slept the rest of the day basically on Wednesday, and Thursday I walked more downtown to get the lay of the land. There are plenty of restaurants and places to try new foods. A lot of them are Asian cuisine, so I’ll be disappointed in myself if I suck as using chopsticks by the end of this journey. I also got a gym membership to help burn off all the different food I eat.

Thursday also brought the first day of coaching and practice with the guys. I am helping coach the high school team, and boy are they raw. A lot of them haven’t even been playing lacrosse for more than 2 years, but they’re good athletes, and that’s something you can’t teach. I was definitely tired that evening coaching because of the jet lag, but it was still fun coaching the game in a different country.

Practice for myself was fun. There was a traveling team from the United States in town to play us so we played them for practice and it was a lot of fun. I was able to play with new teammates, all of whom are Australian besides two brothers from Boston who are in college also. We crushed the Americans, and after we had pizza and drinks in the clubhouse. It was a nice opportunity to get to know the guys more. They were buying me beers left and right, and tried to explain the rules of their Football in the Australian Football League. It is almost nothing like American Football and a lot more similar to Rugby. There are 18 players to a team and the field is 200 meters long and 150 meters wide. The field is also a massive oval and not a rectangle which is nuts. Essentially, each team tries to kick the ball into 3 different uprights. the ones on the outside are worth one point and the one in the middle is worth 6. Each player can run with the ball about 10 paces and then they have to move it, either by smacking it on the ground and picking it back up or by kicking it forward or volleying it like a serve in volleyball. It was a lot of information being thrown at me by a lot of different guys whose names I all forgot at the moment except for one because it was too unique. His name was Possum.

Friday was a pretty mellow day. I took advantage of my gym membership and worked out and started exploring the different food options. Sushi for lunch and Chinese food for dinner, where I ate OX Tongue for the first time. Before you lose your shit that it was OX Tongue, if you saw the dish, you wouldn’t think it was anything other than meat. All in all, pretty tasty.

Saturday brought gameday, coaching and playing. I lost both games. While coaching, we played a team that a few weeks ago had crushed the team I’m coaching by 20. Saturday we lost by 1. Pretty solid, but a winnable game so I was pissed. Playing we lost by 5. The other team had two American transports as well, both from UVA. One of them was Ricky Meizan, who for those of you that don’t know, was the number one recruit for his class in high school. He decided to play 4 years of football at Stanford instead, but just finished playing at UVA this year. After the game, we got to talking, and I’m actually going with him and some of the other Americans to the Gold Coast in Eastern Australia this weekend. Beers flowed after the game, and later that night some of the guys on the team and I went to a “Footy Match”.

I went by train with Al, a guy on my team, to Richmond, Melbourne, to watch the Richmond Tigers play St. Kilda. In NFL terms, this was like watching the Ravens play the Browns (in terms of their history, not rivalry). We met up with another guy on our team, Saul, who is a Kiwi with no filter on his mouth. He was already hammered and refused for us to pay for our own drinks. I did not complain at all.

Al taught me the tricks and trade of being a Footy fan. Basically, if a guy gets tackled out in the open everyone has to scream, “BOOOOOOLLLLLLLL”. Also, because the stadium is so close to the water, there were a shit ton of seagulls flying around and walking on the pitch. Apparently, there are trained hawks that fly around to chase the seagulls around, but because it was raining, they couldn’t unleash the hawks. The Richmond Tigers won 90-70 (that’s a normal score yes) and because of that I am now officially a Tigers fan. It also doesn’t hurt that they have the same mascot and colors that CC has. There was a crazy fight song that all the fans sung after the game, which was hilarious, and we went home.

The past few days have been pretty mellow with nothing major to report. I’ve started getting recognized at the gym, even though I’ve only been 3 times, and I keep pushing myself to try different foods. There’s a crazy chicken place around here as well as an unreal sandwich shop. The job search has officially begun as well and I’ll probably land one of those by next week. Overall, Australia is pretty dope so far.

6/19/23

So I’m in Melbourne, Australia (post coming Wednesday for it) so the time change is fucked up. Regardless, I woke up this morning to the news that Bradley Beal got traded to the Suns for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, and a bunch of picks.

I don’t pay super close attention to the NBA, but the team I root for is the Wizards. They suck so bad it isn’t even funny, but regardless I gotta root for the home team. I have no clue who their coach is, but I know their best player was Bradley Beal. I don’t hate the trade because ever since they lost John Wall the team has been in limbo. They have just been sitting at the bottom of the league not knowing weather or not they would rebuild or whatever. Trading away Beal makes me feel a lot more hopeful for the future now because it means that now they’ll start to rebuild. They get a ton of picks which means they can get younger players that have talent and will be good for the future. The early reports also show that Chris Paul is probably going to get traded again and the early choice is the Clippers, which is a cool reunion for Paul. That trade probably means more players and more picks.

All in all, it sucks that the Wizards era of Beal and Wall is officially over, but this is good for the future of the team. It means that the GM (and no I don’t know their name) has some sort of plan for how to build this team to maybe start consistently making the playoffs year after year. The east has a lot of good teams so I don’t think they’d make it far in the ‘yoffs but I think that this is a good sign for Wizards basketball.

6/5/23

After a long hiatus I’m once again back, and for good reason. The PLL season began this past weekend, and it was honestly electric. This is coming from a guy that in the passed has bashed professional lacrosse because I’ve always wanted it to be better and on the level of the other major sports. The new shot clock rule made the speed of play even faster. That’s right, the fastest sport on 2 feet just got even faster with a 32 second shot clock after the face-off and a 52 second shot clock with change of possession. The over hit in 3 of the 4 games and it made for some high scoring, high paced games. The kicker is the last play of the last game yesterday in the Chrome vs Whipsnakes game though, where Paul Carcaterra blatantly bashed Division 3 Men’s Lacrosse.

The game was tied 11-11 with 10.6 seconds left when Cross Ferrara got the ball on the left wing below goal line extended. As Cross got the ball off the endline, Paul Carcaterra complained that the Chrome should call a timeout because he shouldn’t be getting the ball. Seconds later, Cross went to the rack and scored the game-winning goal with 4.7 seconds to give the Chrome the win 12-11.

FINAL: @PLLChrome 12, @PLLWhipsnakes 11

Cross Ferrara wins it with four seconds left! Ferrara had 4 points (2G, 2A), Anderson had 4G, and Morrill facilitated with 1G, 4A to give Chrome the W.

pic.twitter.com/ZT38fX6ydq

— Inside Lacrosse (@Inside_Lacrosse) June 4, 2023

Online, a lot of people bashed Carc for complaining that Cross had the game on his stick. Cross is a 4th round pick in this year’s PLL draft from the University of Salisbury, a Division 3 school and reigning national Champs. Cross was the star of their offense for 6 years there, finishing his career as the best offensive player to ever come out of the program.

One can look at what the situation and what Carc said in 2 different ways. This is the PLL. With the game on the line, it probably would be smart to call a timeout, like co-commentator Quint Kessenich suggested, and scheme a play to win the game. At the very least, it could be a smart thing to let proven veterans on the team like Colin Heacock, Jesse King, or Logan Wisnauskas get the ball and just let them cook.

I, along with many others in the lacrosse world, would like to take the more aggressive route. Carc didn’t want Cross Ferrara to decide the game because he comes from a D3 level. Cross is by far the best product ever to come from the D3 level, and Carc didn’t want him to decide the game because he thinks he is inferior to the rest of the players on the field. He wants the game to grow but he still judges players from the D3 level. Division 3 is the largest division in college lacrosse. It is the widest geographically diverse division in the country, and quite frankly, the grittiest one from the perspective of how much teams travel and for how much programs travel. Me, coming from this level, can attest that the travel isn’t easy. At times, we would have to travel thousands of miles just to play regular season games and even for the NCAA tournament with travel days lasting as long as 14-15 hours. For Carc to come at not only Cross but the backing of all D3 players like this isn’t just an insult to the players in the division but also an insult to the game and how much it has grown over the past 20 or so years.

Carc needs to come out with some sort of apology before the next week’s games or else he is going to have more haters coming for him. Lacrosse on TV is consistently bashed because people cannot stand what both Paul Carcaterra and Quint Kessenich say on the air. I, for one, liked Carc over Quint, but now, I can’t stand Carc because he doesn’t appreciate what I, or anyone else from the D3 level do to play the game we all love.

1/20/23

I literally had it drafted that the Giants were going to beat the Vikings last Sunday, but I didn’t post it, wasn’t ready. Was it a dumbass move? Yup. Will it happen again? Nope. Starting today.

The Giants played a mistake free, tactical, and flat out fucking sick game against the Vikings. The defense played well, doing just enough to shut down Justin Jefferson and Kirk Cousins, who have plenty of time in the offseason to practice the gritty. The real storyline, however, wasn’t the defense, or even Saquon, who had 2 touchdowns and over 100 yards from scrimmage. The real storyline, was Vanilla Vick. Danny Dimes. DANIEL FUCKING JONES!!!!

Daniel Jones was sensational last week, unbiasedly saying he had the best game out of any QB last week. He went 24/35 for 301 yards in the air with 2 TDs while adding 78 yards with his legs. He was picking the Vikings defense apart, who was 31 in pass defense all year. He also has what I thought was the best play from the Giants all day, which was a DIME to Isaiah Hodgins as he toe touched to stay in bounds. https://youtu.be/CVGrdoXW59E

That was last week, against what some considered to be a very flawed Minnesota Vikings team (even though the beat the Bills). The next task is much bigger, and that’s the Filthadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles are 2-0 in the season against the Giants, but morally, they’re 1-1. The week 18 game against the Eagles was a moral victory for the Giants, who was one possession away from winning while not playing any of their starters. Not to mention, it’s hard to beat the same team 3 times in a row in one year.

Look, I’m obviously a Giants fan, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, but I’m also realistic. I think the Giants have a chance, and anyone that says otherwise is lying to you. The Giants are a fiesty, well coached team, that has been playing with house money since getting to the playoffs. Everyone had this team written off at the beginning of the year, but here Brian Daboll is in the divisional round. As Filthadelphia’s greatest athlete ever, Rocky Balboa (who has to be real because they wouldn’t have a statue of a fake athlete) once said, “When a fighter ain’t got nothing to lose, he’s dangerous.”

The Giants have nothing to lose by playing relentless. Wink Martindale is a relentless play-caller defensively. He’ll send the house time and time again while hoping the secondary can hold off receivers downfield. The two X-factors on the defensive side of the ball for me are Kayvon Thibodeaux and Xavier McKinney. Kayvon needs to get pressure on Jalen Hurts, plain and simple. I think Hurts is hurt, so the more pressure to make him uncomfortable the better. Xavier McKinney was out the first time they played the Eagles, and I think he’ll b a crucial player in trying to stop AJ Brown and Devante Smith.

Offensively, the game plan is simple. Touchdowns not Field Goals. If this game does in fact turn into a shootout, the Giants can’t settle for Field Goals early in the game. If the Giants somehow get a lead against the Eagles, they can protect it by getting a few field goals.

Lastly, the Giants have a weapon to use that some might think is insane, the fans. They’re the biggest wild card of them all, and it goes back to the fighter ain’t got nothing to lose mentality. If the Giants keep it close, and are winning, the fans will turn on the Eagles. It’s happened before, and it can happen again. If the fans turn, the Eagles will play clenched up. If they play clenched up, they’ll play nervous, and they Giants have a shot.

I’m not saying the Giants are going to win this game, but if they do, they’ll play a game very similar to this. They’ll play a mistake free, down and dirty game, and win by a touchdown or field goal. Giants fans, let’s get ready. Fuck the Eagles.

12/14/22

Everyone in the world of sports loves to score goals. As a kid, you definitely weren’t dreaming of locking down players or dishing out assists, you dreamed of hitting a game winning goal.

There are many different sports where you can score goals, including lacrosse, soccer, and water polo.

Lacrosse is the fastest game on two feet, with games being pretty high scoring, especially recently with the emergence of a shot clock. The record in professional lacrosse history for the most goals in a career belongs to the legend, John Grant Jr., with 360 goals.

Soccer is the beautiful game; the world’s sport. Everyone everywhere loves soccer, especially now with the world cup going on. The record for most career goals, for club and country, belongs to Cristiano Ronaldo with 819 goals and counting.

Water Polo is a very unique sport. I love watching water polo during the Olympics and my uncle even played in college (shoutout Uncle Jeff). The record for the most water polo goals ever belongs to Manuel Estiarte, a Spanish player with a total of 127 goals.

Then there is another sport with goals, Hockey. It is the fastest sport ever played. The record for most goals in the NHL belongs to Wayne Gretzky with 894, for now.

Last night, the GR8 Alexander Ovechkin, scored his 800th career goal. He is the third player ever in NHL history to do so, joining Gordie Howe and Gretzky. Gordie Howe has 801 career goals, a record Ovi is going to demolish, then 93 more to tie the Great One.

https://youtu.be/z3-lDfB-D0k

Look, I’m a huge Ovi guy in case you couldn’t tell, so I was very excited to see him score a fucking hatty last night against the Blackhawks and get 800 career goals. He isn’t showing a single sign of slowing down, and he’s 37. This is also his second year of his 5 year contract, and is currently on pace for a second straight 50 goal season. Do I think he’s going to break Gretzky’s record? Of course. But what PK Subban said on ESPN started getting me thinking, can he get 1000 goals?

Ovi will probably end his career as the greatest goal scorer in any sport of all time, but by how much? starting now, he needs 200 goals in roughly 3 1/2 years to reach 1000. That’s an average of 57 goals a season. That’s a shit ton, and I don’t necessarily think that it’s possible. Ovi is most likely going to end his NHL career after his contract is up. I’m not sure if he’ll get 1000, but what I do know is that he is without doubt, the greatest goal scorer of all time.

11/30/22

Ya ya I know, it’s been a minute since I’ve posted. No I’m not dead, just been busy as hell living the best life possible. But like I said, I’m back again.

You know what else is back? Soccer, but more importantly, Team USA. The U.S. soccer team officially made it to the knockout round of 16 in the FIFA World Cup. They finished 1-2-0 (win, draw, loss) in group stage, and will play the Netherlands on Saturday at 10am ET.

Look, this morning I turned on the TV and saw Stephen A. Smith on First Take talking about the US team. Stephen A. Smith knows a lot about the sports world, but never have I ever seen him talk about any soccer, let alone the world cup. Maybe he has a background in soccer, I don’t know, but I’m not gonna sit here and lie to you by trying to give an accurate depiction of how good the team is like him. The last time I played soccer the Iphone wasn’t out (I think).

With that being said, I think this team is at a moment in time where they can either be a disappointment, or a team of destiny. First thing’s first, the U.S. team easily is first team all best hair in the World Cup. More or less everyone on the team has some insane hair going on in the games. But seriously, from what my friends have told me who actually know soccer, this team is tactically awful, and it shows on the field. They can’t convert free kicks or corners at all, which down the road is going to be a problem. They are, however, fast as fuck, athletic, and young. The average age of the team is 25 years old which is insane.

It’s a blast to see them run up and down the field because they’re so fast. It’s also so promising as a fan that the team is so young because it means that the future is bright. The team is so easy to root for too. Tyler Adams is awesome and I think a lot more people fell in love with him after his response to an incredibly rude Iranian reporter’s question.

https://youtu.be/J1fCbczD3UU

Matt Turner is easy to like also. He’s a goalie. Who doesn’t love a goalie?!? He finished the group stage in an unbelievable way only letting one goal in 3 games while pitching a shutout in the last 2 games.

Last but not least, Captain America. Christian Pulisic has taken the country by storm. He’s provided the team with a ton of scoring opportunities including literally putting his nuts on the line to score the only goal of the game to beat Iran. He got rushed to the damn hospital for the Red White and Blue.

Now, moving onto Saturday, this is potentially a legacy game for the United States. Keep in mind with what I’m saying the United States didn’t qualify for the last World Cup, so making it to the final 16 is a major accomplishment, but this is the United States. We expect to be the best all the time. With a young team, making it to the elite 8 would be so awesome. I’m not asking for the U.S. to win the whole thing, I think that’s too tall a task with powerhouses like France and Brazil in the mix, but beating the Netherlands I don’t think is impossible. Besides, looking back on this World Cup making the elite 8 would be a lot better then making out of the group stage in second place and just being a placeholder. At the end of the day, it all comes down to a team, playing a game, representing their country, in front of the world.