1st & 4 Most

Uncle Al
Picture courtesy of the Oakland Raiders

There are first for everything, but there is truly only one Al Davis! Raida's baby! First is Big Al, then the other three that make up my four most appreciated sports memories of the past week.

Al "was" a football genius in his hay day. His head is so hard now, that someone shot him in the forehead, and it ricocheted off. Couple of band-aids later, and Al is putting the Jedi Mind Trick on John Fox. But it appeared that Coach Jackson did his own play calling with no interference. Speaking of which...

One of the few pics Coach Jackson has not smiled in.
Picture courtesy of the Oakland Raiders

Coaching firsts:
Coach Fox departed from Carolina to take on the job at Denver. In his debut as the Broncos general, Coach Fox and the Denver Broncos, would match up with conference rivals on Monday night for their first game of the season. They took on rookie head coach Hue Jackson and the Oakland Raiders. Here's the game in a 30 second, tell your co-workers, before the foreman gets back to shop, review:

D MAC Raiders Opening Day Rushing Record
Picture Courtesy of the Oakland Raiders

In The Record Books:
The Broncos struck first with creating a turnover, that led to an early field goal. Then the Raiders struck back with a punt block, and advanced the ball down the field from their 40 something, on 8 plays that was capped off by a Campbell to Reece pass for a touchdown. Then another turnover a fumble gave the Raiders prime field position. The Broncos, however, held on D, and the Raiders had to settle for a field goal. OK you can go to the box score on www.espn.com for all the stats, but here's the good stuff, McFadden looked good, and broke a season opening rushing record for the Raiders with 150 yards. Sebastian Janikowski tied the NFL record for longest field goal, with a sixty three yarder. And Coach Hue Jackson won his first game as a head coach. This guy is always smiling too! Except in the picture that I used of him above the one in this paragraph.

Sebastian Janikowski 63 yd NFL Record
Photo courtesy of the Oakland Raiders

Tom Brady threw for a Monday Night Record, and if I am not mistaken tied the record for an opening day passing yardage record, with 517 in the air.

Brady Record Breaker courtesy of Monday Night Football

Firsts Again:
Back to the college rankings. Coach Everett Withers has won his opener and second game of the season as the University of North Carolina Tar Heels new skipper. He has some work ahead of him, but I think the Heels with Coach Withers will fair just fine.

Coach Withers guiding Bryn Renner
Photo courtesy of the Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Thrill

Then back to my beloved sport of Cycling! Daniele Bennati won his first stage at the Vuelta, and in all honesty, if he had ridden a bit tougher and not given way to another cyclist (Team Lampre rider Alessandro Petacchi) trying to psych, and edge him out, then he should have won the last two stages. Not to take anything away from Peter Sagan, a three stage winner with the last stage win. However, I feel that if Bennati had stayed on his horse, and not been timid, he could have won. I know it's a lot easier said than done, I wasn't the one traveling at 30 mph per hour with a wire and foam cage for a helmet, and lycra for second skin on my tush. Plus those metal barriers can be detrimental to the human body as well. So Bravo on the first stage win, and on the multiple podium finishes for Bennati! Stay strong learn from this, and hopefully I can witness several more sprint victories of this awesome rider on a Trek in the years to come!

Leopard Trek Rider Daniele Bennati first stage victory of his career
Photo courtesy of Steephill

Fantasies, Wishful Thinking, & I Doubt It

Football

My fantasy is that one year I would get an auto draft so fabulous that I could claim our fantasy leagues trophy before the season started.
It is wishful thinking considering that I am too booked to really put any time into anything right now, and I was autodrafted a pretty mediocre team to boot.
Would there be a generous soul willing to shift a QB around and help a brotha out? The answer is no! Charles your cue: "I May Be Wrong, But I DOUBT IT!"


Charles Barkley: "I May Be Wrong (But I Doubt It)" from Hype Communications on Vimeo.


My fantasy is that Wisconsin, UCLA, or UNC would win a CFB National Championship.

It is wishful thinking, and Wisconsin has the best shot at that title. Carolina's schedule is too weak, and they are not in a football conference, or known as a football school. Under Coach Davis' watch they also had some rules violations that have hindered their shot at any greatness, for a long while. At least we still play Duke, but that might not be such a good thing this year either. UCLA has a coach that went through violations problems in his past as well. I believe in second chances, and I believe people can change.

Sadly enough, to all the above, I do not believe that Wisconsin has the defensive prowess to win it all. They have plenty of offensive firepower, but not the D. UNC might have a break out season under new management, but I do not see it! I pray that they do not struggle against Duke this year! The misfortunes at UCLA could change, but again Coach Newheiststeal had his violations woes at Colorado, and the heavy watch would get to anyone. So, I think UCLA will continue to struggle as well. Therefore I have no choice but to cue Charles, because I don't think any of my schools can pull off the miracle season... "I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It!"

Cycling...

Time for the Vuelta... My fantasy would be seeing Fabian Cancellara come back from 144th place to win the Vuelta, and have Leopard Trek take the overall team title as well! Or have Tiago Machado win the General Classification, and have Team Radio Shack take the overall team title. Oh right, I forgot about the podium finishes! Pick any other Trek riders to put in the 2nd and 3rd spot... and have the Team Overall with Shack or Leopard in first, with the other as runner up, and any of the American Teams to finish third. Yeah that would be sweet!

It's wishful thinking to think that Trek could win the GC and the Team Overall, and completely dominate in every category.

Again all of those things would be great, but it is not gonna happen... I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It!

Conclusion

Jakob Fulgsang, Haimar Zubeldia, or Janez Brajkovic could come back from being only a few seconds, or a few minutes down. I believe it can be done, and I believe that the highly talented Leopard Trek rider from Denmark (Jakob Fuglsang) can and will win the Vuelta... I could be wrong, but I doubt it!

OK time to clean up, room, bike, me, and get to gittin'!!! Peace...