Thursday, October 19, 2006

Sports thoughts

Evgeni Malkin (#71) made his NHL debut last night as a center for the Pittsburgh Penguins...and what a debut it was! Malkin was without question the dominant player on the ice, scoring his first NHL goal against perhaps the top goalie in the game, Martin Brodeur of the NJ Devils (though the Pens lost the game 2-1). Malkin was so fast, it looked for a moment as if Mario Lemieux had returned...he was so big and strong it seemed as if an NFL linebacker had skated up for the game...in short, he was everywhere...Polamalu on ice. Now, the Pens have both Malkin and arguably the best young player in the game, Sidney Crosby (#87). Once this team meshes and finds its identity, they will be probably the best young team in the NHL. Let's hope they can find a way to stay in Pittsburgh; they play the NY Islanders tonight at 7:30 PM...

...the story that terrorists may target NFL games on Sunday is frightening, and, hopefully, untrue...

...the Thomas Jefferson Jaguars (#1 in WPIAL and in PA) play Chartiers Valley this Friday before their regular season finale next week against rival West Mifflin (which is having a less than satisfactory season), but folks in the area are already looking to the playoffs; I hope the team and Coach Cherpak aren't looking any further than Friday night...

...NY Giants running back Tiki Barber, having the best season of a fine career, is contemplating retirement...I would suggest he play for a few more years until he starts losing steam; all of those media opportunities will still be there in a few years for the charismatic, well-spoken player...

...with rumors swirling around that Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis may bolt the school for an NFL opportunity, Coach Weis made it clear he had no intention of leaving the Fighting Irish, which is good news for Roman Catholics everywhere...

...regarding the melee at the University of Miami football game last weekend, here is what a colleague of mine has to say (Pastor Chris Whitehead of Charter Oak UMC), and I agree with him 100%...

...I will painfully miss Sunday's Steelers game against the Atlanta Falcons, but will be praying hard; we'll be in downtown Pittsburgh serving lunch & dinner to folks who normally don't know from where their next meal is coming, helping a wonderful ministry of New Hope United Methodist Church (led by pastor Ron Wanless)...

...despite his team's collapse Monday night against the Chicago Bears (a collapse which may ultimately cost coach Denny Green his job), Arizona Cardinals QB Matt Leinart will soon be a superstar, a slap in the face to all the teams who passed him over in the draft...

...it's hard to care whether St. Louis or the Mets make it to the World Series to play Jim Leyland's Detroit Tigers; with the Pirates uncompetitive for what seems like a thousand years, sports fans in western PA stopped caring long ago.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Green looked awful. But the team
looked just as bad in the 4th
quarter. I'm sure all the teams
the Bears play will take a long
look at the film of that game.
They can expect more of the same
type of attacks: quick passes.
They worked in the 1st half, at
least. They are so hard to run
against, what was James, 56 yards?
Awful.

Keith H. McIlwain said...

Yeah, but the QB looks like he'll really be good.

This may be the Bears' year...bad news for Peyton Manning, who is becoming the Dan Marino of his generation (Hall of Fame QB, great passer, NO SUPER BOWL).