Thursday, December 31, 2009

5 Points, 10 Rebounds, 2009 Committed Technical and Gone!!!

So I wanted to share with you my top 5 moments of the year in sports. Afterwards we will do the top 10 in the decade. So that’s 15 points!!!! Score!!!!!

5-Everyone and their mother picked the Patriots to walk into Landshark Stadium and destroy the Dolphins. Although this game didn’t have the spark and the introduction of the “wildcat” offense, to me it was still rewarding because of how Vontae Davis picked Brady in the end zone, and how the game ended. The Dolphins were down 14-0 at the end of the half, and Larry King was in the booth. They came and won, and all I heard the second half from the Patsies side, and they were so sad. Nevertheless, it was a huge victory and it’s a shame that the Phins couldn’t ride that into the playoffs.

4-Seeing the re-emergence of the Blackhawks makes me happy, but seeing them go out and get Marian Hossa and sign him to a 12 year deal (never heard of such a thing) made me giddy. Then when he made his debut in the “Shark-tank”, scoring two goals, one shorthanded, spectacular. Absolutely spectacular.

3-When the White Sox played the Cubs at Wrigley for a makeup in September, many called it a worthless game. However, I needed to see the Sox do something fun, and they did. They beat the Cubs 5-0 winning the series for the year. However, watching Soriano drop that routine pop, I could watch that over and over.

2-Two of my favorite Sox players, Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko hit back to back home runs at Comerica Park. Yet, what made this so special? The fact that both home rums marked each said player’s 300th home run. That’s cool!

1-But nothing cooler happened this year than July 24, 2009. I took Jersey to see the doctor and when we got out, I got a call from my Dad. He told me Mark Buerhle had a perfect game going. I raced to the car to hear the last inning of the game, and couldn’t believe it. I listened to it and watched it again and again. It was magical, but as the case in 2007, Marky Mark took a dive for the rest of the season, and so did the Sox. However with the signings of Jake Peavy and Alex Rios, along with a few new faces this year in Juan Pierre, Mark Teahen, Andruw Jones, JJ Putz, and Omar Vizquel, I am confident the Sox will be in the post season this year.


And now for the decade…

10-I’m not a Bears fan, but in Super Bowl 41, Devin Hester running back that first kickoff was ridiculous, as Mr. Jeff Joniak put it during the season. Sure he did it quite a few times during the season, but to kick off the Super Bowl that way kicked ass.

9-All I had to listen to in 2007 was that division rivals, the New England Patriots were going to run the table and all that nonsense. However, come Super bowl 42, the Patriots would learn that karma is a whore. After getting caught videotaping plays from the Jets earlier in the year, everyone called the Patsies cheaters. I had the utmost respect for the ability of Marsha Brady and company, but not only for the sake of my Dolphins being the only undefeated team in the history of the NFL, my dislike for New England made me cheer for the Giants, as with a miracle catch by David Tyree, the Giants handed the Patriots their first defeat of the season, on the biggest stage of them all.

8-I got into an argument with my brother about this, and may not be so significant, but when Nick Saban said over and over again how he was going to stay with the Dolphins, and then stabbed them in the back to go coach the University of Alabama. The argument was Saban did the best thing for his family, but many of us Phin fans were crushed. I thought he was going to stick around. Saban was 15-17 with the Phins before Cam Cameron took over the team and sent them south, more on that later.

7-William Wirtz died, and his son Rocky took over the Blackhawks. Many things happened. One, I started watching them again along with everyone else in Chicago. Two, all the legends of the team kept getting honored in many pre game ceremonies, and three, Pat Foley was brought back to the booth. Foley one of my favorite announcers coming back was huge. Oh did I mention home games were being broadcast again, and channel 9 was picking up games. It was amazing!!!!

6-Back to the Bears, in 2005 during week 11, they were to play the Dolphins in Chicago. Someone told me they would have gotten tickets but failed. The Bears were destined to be “undefeated” again by many Bears fans. Most of who I worked with when I wore my Zack Thomas jersey proclaiming he was the real 54 in football, not Brian Urlacher. A Jason Taylor interception would prove to be the dagger as my Phins ended the undefeated streak of the Bears, and they won 31-13 and everyone in the bar I was in wanted to fight me afterwards.

5-2003 was a memorable year for baseball for me. The White Sox Esteban Loiaza may have gone down with injuries throughout the years, but in 2003, he won 21 games and led the league with strikeouts. I really thought the Sox would catch the Twins that year, but once again, fell short. Loiaza pitched the game sick, and got rocked, as it would be the beginning of a Twins sweep at Comiskey. In the meantime, on the other side of town, the Cubs won their division and were 6 outs away from the World Series, when all of a sudden, a foul ball that was hit to left field, about to be caught by Moises Alou, but NO. Steve Bartman catches the ball. The problem, Bartman was a fan. A few more plays later, the Cubs blow it, and the fans all cried again. After listening to them talk shit about how the Sox choked, it was poetry, and beautiful.

4-The Blackhawks series against Vancouver last year was very exciting, and I thought they would have enough in the tank to beat Detroit, but they didn’t. However in game 5, Cristobal Huet’s save with his knee pad blew my mind. The Wings ended up winning, but it was quite the series.

3-Although painful as it was, the 2007 season of the Dolphins would show you how true a fan I am. Witnessing a 1-15 team is not easy. However getting to see the last few plays of the game at Dolphin Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens, and watching Chet Lemon throw that screen pass that Greg Camarillo ran for a TD in OT was a magical moment. Wayne Huzienga was crying in the press box, and it was an emotional moment. I couldn’t believe it. And then later in the week, we find out that Bill Parcels is coming to Miami to fix the team. He shaped that team into an AFC East division winning team that moved the dash over one space to 11-5, and with Coach Tony Sparano leading the way and reenergized QB Chad Pennington, made some major history in my life.

2-Remember that perfect game by that Mark Buerhle guy I talked about. Well just two years before that in Texas, he threw a no hitter. Mark Buehrle is the man! Enough said.

1-And the number one sports event of the year, well. While the Chicago Cubs were 6 outs away from the World series and blew it, the White Sox got those 6 outs, with Jose Contreras throwing a complete game, and lets not forget the three pitchers before him threw complete games in a row, and the Sox did it, and swept the Houston Astros in the juice box to end an 88 year old drought. The White Sox winning the World Series, yeah that ruled.

And that’s it. Happy New Year. I will see you on Monday, and remember, I start taping Hi I’m Michael next week.

Ciao.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

HDH: LOUSAKA gets snubed by VINNY and BRETT while sweeping for BENGALS playing HOCKEY up NORTH for NEXT YEAR

1-Pro Bowl selections took place last night. Sure all the big names were selected and a few people who weren’t expected. One person that was left out inconspicuously was Dolphins Fullback Lousaka Politte. The man can be trusted more than any other player in the league on 3rd and 4th down conversions. He has done a hell of a job blocking so Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown can both put up monster numbers. And I guess because he isn’t on the Ravens, a more glamorous team, he gets snubbed. So good job NFL. Once again, you found a way to disrespect the Dolphins. Suck it!

2-Christmas Eve has come and gone and Vinny Del Negro still the Chicago Bulls head coach. Congrats Vinny. You made it. And that elf looking Gar Forman GM guy decided to tell everyone that they are evaluating every angle to help them become a winning team this year. Didn’t say Vinny’s job is safe, but did say that he’s the coach. Perhaps, New Year’s Eve will be the new Christmas Eve.

3-As many people saw last week on Sunday Night Football in the thrilling contest between the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers (who have been quite the spoiler lately), Coach Brad Childers and star QB Brett Favre were having a dispute on the sideline. Apparently, Childers wanted to take Favre out of the game, and Favre being the superstar wasn’t having that. No dispute this week, but due to the fact Adrian Peterson fumbled the ball again, against the Bears, Brett Favre has decided he should be the running back now as well as the QB. In fact, Brett Favre has decided he will also take tickets from the fans for the first playoff game at the Metrodome, if that happens, he will feed Michael Vick’s dogs when Minny plays the Eagles in the playoffs, and he will also conduct sideline reports for CBS as well. Brett Favre can do it all. He laughs, cries, and grunts during interviews, fakes not having injuries, and is considered a tough son of a bitch. If none of these things go down, look for Brett Favre to throw his Wranglers at Brad Childers bald ass head in retaliation.

4-Back to the Pro Bowl discussion, take a wild guess how many Cincinnati Bengals players, the AFC North Champion Bengals have in the Pro Bowl? The same number of Bengals that have gone to jail this year. I guess baby steps work, huh guys? Improvement’s a good thing my black and orange friends. By the way. Please kick the shit out of the Jets this week, thank you. Love, Mike.

5-Sportstalk radio in Chicago asks the following question about hockey, a topic not covered by many sports radio stations for years? What element of the Blackhawks defense is stronger? The defenders keeping offense away from the goal, or the goalies themselves stopping the puck? This is considered intelligent hockey talk? I think the shots on goal from the opposing team speak for itself. No brainstorming here obviously.

6-And Mike North is getting ready to wrap up the Monsters in the Morning show on CSN and getting ready to begin the Monsters and Money whatever on channel 2. In case you haven’t heard Dave Rodriguez will not be handling the money segment, and there will be no apology to Webio employees either. I guess its one man on his own as usual.

7-And tomorrow I will write a column highlighting my top 10 sports memories of the year and the decade. Should be a blast. Have the old crew together for the HIM show. We’ll talk to you guys tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Triple Threat: Cutler's Going to Be OK, The Del Negro Diatribe, and the Blue Defeat

So I felt it necessary to comment on three issues today.

First, I want to address the Bears. Nice game last night fellas. You played some solid football. Jay Cutler made all you Bear fans see why this man was signed. He shined against one of the best pass rushes in football and threw for four touchdowns and 273 yards. Not bad, Mr. Cutler. He only got picked once. This Chicago is your franchise quarterback. This is the reason you all were so giddy. Enjoy the victory Chicago. As meaningless as it is, it should give you a reason to have some hope in the future. Just pray they can continue this level of play into next year.

Secondly, to the Chicago Bulls: shit or get off the pot. Will Vinny Del Negro be your guy, or not? ESPN.com reported that the Bulls were going to fire Del Negro as soon as another candidate became available, but there’s a possibility he will last for the rest of the season, but done after that. GM Gar Forman had a 2pm press conference set up to address these items and he backs out of it. It’s not fair to Del Negro. You leave him to a sea of reporters to answer questions about a random report from a website. You don’t have his back. You send him out to the street like a child with no friends left to fend for himself; much like you did when you hired him on as coach of your team. If he’s your guy, support him. If not, let him go. This childish crap needs to stop. If you’re looking for a replacement, then look faster. Del Negro has done the best he can, and I will give him points for his effort. Perhaps his delivery has not been successful. Yet, the man needs to move on if he is to be fired.

And finally, the big thing I want to talk about. After listening to the Miami Dolphins funeral on Sunday, something else bad happened. I tuned into NFL radio to find out that the Indianapolis Colts pulled their starters in the 3rd quarter against the New York Jets. They did so to prevent injuries from happening, so they say. In their defense, you’re playing a hungry Jets team with a top rated defense who could quite obviously give your quarterback a headache. However, when you’re quarterback’s named Peyton Manning, and Jeff Saturday’s the first wall a defender needs to go through, I would take my chances.

Bottom line, the Colts and their fans got screwed. As a fan of the only undefeated franchise in football history, I would like to say that the way this went down stinks. If the undefeated record remains in tact, it should be done in a way where one team beat the other team with all their starters, at full strength, and not some pussy ass team president pulling the strings. Least of all, the fucking Jets! I feel bad for all the Colts fans that have shown this team support from the beginning of when the Colts were in our division before they became the super team they are today. The way Colts management treated those fans purely outrageous. Tickets to football games aren’t cheap. Especially in this age of people losing jobs and their homes.

While you’re sitting up there in your luxury suite Bill Polian eating your caviar and drinking your champagne, many hard working people in Indy are sitting there in your Lucas Oil Stadium enjoying a competitive football game you put the brakes on. I can’t completely hold Caldwell responsible due to the fact he’s a rookie coach, and he likes his job. But I can hold the suit responsible. Not only did you fuck your fans over, you screwed the team over. They were breaking records, rewriting history, and you stopped all of that, for what? So the New York Jets could sneak their way into the playoffs? The Jets don’t even deserve a playoff spot. They have played some pretty brutal football. I know the decision wasn’t made for the Jets; it’s for the good of the Colts winning the Super Bowl.

And guess what guys? You’d better win it now. The way that the city of Indianapolis forgets about this bad decision is bringing the Lombardi trophy back. Everything else about the Colts is completely meaningless now. It’s all about the Super Bowl, or as the radio ads say, “The big game.”

However, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that what’s football meaning is? You play the best you can, get to the Super Bowl and win it. It’s not about having the perfect season, no matter how close you are to it. The Patriots were 18-0 going into the Super Bowl and what happened? They lost. Better to lose a game in week 16 of the regular season than being bounced out of the post season. As far as I’m concerned, you let a team like the Jets, a hated rival of mine, sneak into January football, that’s unless the Bengals take care of business Sunday night.

All I know for sure, Colts fans, is I would kill for a 14-1 season. Although the way it went down sucked, just remember you are cheering on an elite team. Don’t take that for granted. Although I’m happy to see our team rebuild and get stronger season after season, and go from 1-15 to division champs the next year, I would kill to see us kick everyone’s ass. If we were that elite team, you wouldn’t have squeaked by with that week 2 win over us. Yeah, Manning was great in that game. However, we were one dropped catch away from overtime. It’s all good though.

Bottom line Bill Polian and Jim Caldwell. Your team owes the city of Indy a Super Bowl victory. Anything less would be unacceptable. You pull starters for the sake of winning, fine. Now go out there and win. And don’t come back until you do, ya hear?!?!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Epic Phail?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?

Yep, way to go Miami Dolphins.

Once again you forgot the golden rule of football. Four quarters, 60 minutes, that’s what’s required to play this game and win.

Your half ass way of football has now bitten you on the ass.

If you beat Pittsburgh, you need wins from New England (who has taken back the AFC east crown), Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Oakland to win to punch your ticket into the post season. The problem; this won’t happen not only because 2 of those 4 teams suck, but because God won’t allow it. Your team embarrassed every Dolphin fan known to man for 30 minutes on Sunday. I felt sick to my stomach listening to Jimmy, Joe, and the mad dog describe lackluster play from your wonderful team.

It’s just heartbreaking to know that all you had to do two weeks ago to get into the post season was to find a way to beat the Tennessee Titans. You guys were on idle for the first half of that game as well, but what the hell would you call this game against a less talented Texan team? Park? Sure, you found a way to get us all giddy with a comeback effort against Tenn., only to throw an interception and blow it. And yes, a nice try in the second half of this game also. To any Dolphin fan that blames the loss on officiating, get real. If this team played the first half, they would have won the game. It wasn’t the officials that blew the game for us, it was the team itself. There is no conspiracy about Don Shula pushing around officials back in the early days, or the committee on fair officiating. This being the biggest problem when your team loses; you get a bunch of whack jobs who can’t spell talking nonsense. You just have to deal with the fact the Dolphins are a work in progress, they had a tough schedule, and when it mattered most for them to win a few games, they folded. They choked. They blew it. They couldn’t close the deal. While Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and a few other select quarterbacks are driving the $93,000 Mercedes, we’re stuck with the Hyundai to get to work.

In a game where we crushed the Colts for possession, Peyton Manning still threw for 370 yards and found a way to win. Sure, Ted Ginn could have caught the football in the end zone and we would have tied or possibly won if the two point conversion worked out. Yet, you have to admit, it was the worst 2 minute drill in Dolphins history.

The New Orleans Saints were 30 minutes away from getting their first defeat handed to them by the Dolphins, but no. We let Drew Brees do what he does. Get his team back into the game, and run away with the victory.

We let a bad Buffalo Bills team hang around, and they came back and hit us very hard.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars came very close to beating us, but we stepped it up hard, right guys????

If the last two weeks haven’t slapped us in the face, I don’t know what will.

This team started 0-3 and ended up either 8-8 or 7-9. I guess its fitting right? Since the last two games went with the Phins coming up big towards the end, but coming up short, it’s the story of their season. Like the Dolphins tempting us to believe they had a shot of getting into the playoffs, only to be let down by the fact this team isn’t the Cinderella story we would like it to be.

I’m sorry, I haven’t been happy with the quality of play that we have seen from the Dolphins. They’re tough, they have heart (even though you wouldn’t know it watching the first half on Sunday), and they won’t say die, even if they put themselves in predicaments that they have. Yet, until this group of guys learns how to play 60 minutes of football, don’t expect anything but more of the same. No play making receiver, redone linebacker core, new free safety, or anybody else for that matter will change that. 60 minutes means 60 minutes. Not one half, not 3 quarters, nothing! SIXTY MINUTES MUST BE PLAYED TO WIN A GAME!!!!

Am I hopeful for next year? Maybe. We do have a solid quarterback now. We have an offensive line that does a good job of getting Henne protection. If we can resign Ronnie Brown and pray for him to be healthy for a whole season, that’s a good thing. Our fullback kicks ass. We have some younger pieces in our defensive puzzle that pull their weight. The future does look bright, but through the smoke of war and the scent of defeat, it’s hard to see the forest through the trees.

I would, as a huge Dolphin fan, call for a big game against Pittsburgh for a whole football game. I would like to see Rothlisberger get dumped on his ass, even if he likes it. I would like to see the O Line handle that Pittsburgh defense. I would like to see some electricity out there. Yes the playoff scenario can work for us, as hard as it may be, and we may get in. However, this game isn’t about the playoffs. It’s about showing your fans that you give a shit. It’s about making up for some piss poor efforts the last two weeks in the first half. I will always be a Dolphin fan no matter what. But I will be a “prouder” fan if they show me they mean business against this Steeler team who has a mission. In the end, Miami has the Dolphins. The Dolphins need to make Miami believe in them, so next year, things can go better.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

HDH: LOVIE and VINNY have BILLBOARDS at JOE'S on a COLD DAY with JORDAN at CHRISTMASTIME

Its that time again, and we’re going to do it holiday style.

1-In a press conference this past weekend, Bears General Manager Jerry Angelo when asked about Lovie Smith’s chances of staying as the head coach, really didn’t say he would or wouldn’t. He just answered that they would have to revaluate it. Lovie’s reaction…

"I'm not really interested in a whole lot of that. We're 5-9 right now -- as I have said about three or four times, your life isn't going to be good. It's kind of as simple as that. We can keep going down that road but same answer, we're 5-9, nobody is happy about it.''

Word in the locker room has it that the Bears aren’t happy. Olin Kreutz, center led the call that change must happen, but he didn’t include Lovie. In fact, no one has thrown him under the bus. Lovie your reaction…

"You've got to talk to Olin about that. My reaction to it is right now we're 5-9. Olin is one of our captains. We all talk about what we can do to make things better as much as anything. Right now, there are some things wrong because we're 5-9. But we're working to fix it.''

When asked about what he would be doing with the family for Christmas…

"We're 5-9 right now, it's not a happy feeling when you're 5-9,''

So I guess that means the Bears are 5-9? I think that’s what he’s trying to say.

2-After finding a way to lose a 35 point lead, the Bulls decided to try to usher in an encore by being down 22 points at halftime. When they realized that’s not the right way to play basketball, they tried to mount a similar comeback like the Kings did to them on Monday night, but fell short. When asked about his job security after the game, the always engaging Vinny Del Negro said,

''You can't control that. I go about my business every day, go to work and try to help this team win and develop the younger players. We've had some bumps in the road, but the guys are playing hard.''

Speed bumps? You call a 35 point collapse, 10 games where you lose by 20 points or more, and losing to a team that has won one game speed bumps? If any Bulls fan “loves it live” this year, they’re smoking lots of dope. This team won’t play for Vinny, and Christmas Eve is tomorrow. Let’s see how you deal with that speed bump my friend.

3-Back to the Bears, some special interest group that calls themselves “Bear Fans United” has a call to the public to help them put a billboard up and some newspaper ads that will tell the Bears to fire Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith. They are asking for $7,500 for their cause, and said a boycott wouldn’t be suitable, because “we wouldn’t want to give up our season tickets.” First off, if you’re going to raise $7500, why don’t you do something useful and help a real organization that needs it. You know, hunger, disease, rape victims, etc. Oh wait a minute; I guess you’re already doing that. Bears fans are left hungry every Sunday for quality football, the team is a disease, and season ticket holders like you are rape victims, because obviously no one in management gives a shit about the product on the field. OK then, fight on. However, that $7500 can be used for something more meaningful say giving people Christmas that can’t celebrate it because life dealt them a shitty hand. Instead of stupid ass sports, why don’t you focus on things that are more important in life?

4-In the Sun Times, there’s a story about Michael “The Large Guy” Sarno, a ledged mob boss going to eat dinner at Joe’s downtown at Grand and Wabash with his family, while he’s on house arrest on Christmas Eve. The author tries to make it out like this “dinner” is something dirty. It’s a man, going to eat with his family on Christmas Eve. This kind of stuff happens all the time. Do you really need to waste recycled news paper on this bullshit?

5-All week long I have been listening to people complain about the weather here in the Windy City. People listen, every winter the weather in Chicago will always be cold. It will be snowy and it will be rainy. It’s not going to change anytime soon. Stop your bitching and if you don’t like it, move somewhere else.

6- I touched on this one briefly yesterday, but Michael Jordan is suing Jewel and Dominicks for unlawfully using his identity in ads that honored MJ’s induction into the basketball hall of fame. Jewel used his shoes, and Dominicks used a look alike jersey. You know Michael; although I can understand why you would be upset that they used you without your consent, how about sue them for something we can relate to, like having really high prices on groceries.

7-And finally, as I leave you for this week (unless I do get stuck working tomorrow which I will write a special Christmas column), I would like all of you to root for the Dolphins to beat the Texans for the first time in franchise history bringing them one step closer to the playoffs. That is my Christmas present I ask from all of you.

Have a Merry Christmas

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

I Can Think of 35 Ways to Say Christmas Eve is Coming

Only in Chicago, does shit like this happen.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn spearheads an initiative to get “low level” prisoners out of jail early to save tax payer dollars.

The top basketball player in the history of the city sues the two most prominent grocery chains for trademark infringement.

And the Chicago Bulls, the franchise that basketball player’s team (which may explain why he owns a different one), blew a 35 point lead to a team that’s 13-14. Are you kidding me?

Sure the Bulls have sunk to many lows over the last month. They won one game during their annual circus road trip, beating the Sacramento Kings at home. The same Kings they let put back into the game last night. Let alone, the 10 out of 12 they lost when half of those games were lost by more than 20 points. And let’s not forget about the loss to a team that only won one game so far this season, the New Jersey Nets.

However, this one takes the icing off the cake. At half time, the Bulls led 79-44. You felt like the game was just about over, but nope. The Bulls once again found away to put themselves on the front page in front of the Bears who obviously have bigger problems. The Bulls shot 2 for 10 in the fourth with nine turnovers. The last team field goal scored by Kirk Hinrich with 10:15 left on the clock for the game.

And in the end, there’s Vinny Del Negro with a very depressed look on his face. And another gem comes out of his mouth.

“You're always trying to find ways to do a better job, and this one stings. But players win games. You have to execute. We got a little complacent, and they jumped on us. It's me; it's the coaches; it's the players; it's everybody.''

Come on Vinny. As the captain of the ship, you need to keep your team focused. You need to keep them in the game, and you and many of the players said that your team lacks defense. Oh no, my fine feathered friend, your team lacks spirit, heart, and testicular fortitude as Mick Foley used to say all the time. Your team makes me laugh in a bad way. I really wanted to watch the Bulls this year, but now, I just can’t. I just will watch Monday Night Football games that have no rhyme or reason to them. Like the Giants playing the Redskins, actually I think the Redskins weren’t playing. Jason Campbell really sucked last night.

Bottom line, the Bulls need to do something. Tonight they go to New York to play the Knicks. And then on Thursday, it’s Christmas Eve. It’s that wonderful time of year.

Wonder if someone gets sent on a permanent vacation again?

Monday, December 21, 2009

Phinishing on a Bad Note? (And a New Game for you to play at home)

They tried. They almost succeeded, but then there’s pick number three, a bogus call by a ref, and then a kicker who knows how to knock it down puts it through the uprights and boom the Dolphins season over, just like that.

I am sure many Dolphin fans would argue with you that its not. Two more games remain at home against Houston and Pittsburgh. The Dolphins would have to win both of them, but need teams to help them out. Before we get to that, let’s take a look at yesterday.

First play out of the gate; a miraculous interception by Vontae Davis ran back for 26 yards. This should have been converted into a touchdown, but the struggling offense settled for a field goal. This happened two more times, while Vince Young nailed receivers Justin Gage and Nate Washington for TDs. One thing the Dolphins need to learn how to do is close. Field goals don’t win games, they let you tread water. Also, someone needs to remind the team that there’s four quarters in a game. Not three, not one, FOUR! We saw them play for 3 against Indy, 2 against New Orleans, 1 against Tennessee. In order to win a football game, you must play four quarters. This happens way too much this year.

Furthermore, last year, the Phins had the least amount of penalties in the AFC and quite possibly the league. This year they have committed 71. The discipline may have been lost somewhere. The penalties and the turnovers lost them this game. If you want to flame Chad Henne, go ahead, but remember this guy’s young and has 11 games experience in the NFL. Sure, that OT pass sucked big time. Yet, this same QB helped close the gap in the 4th. This same QB has come up with some spectacular drives this year. This QB may be greatness in the making, at least we hope so. Ricky Williams needs to learn how to hold a football again. Congrats on making over 1,000 yards this year, but learn how to hold a ball. 4 fumbles in 2 games, absolutely unacceptable. You’re still my guy, Ricky. Love what you have done this season!

Then there’s the defense. Note to Gibril Wilson, go back to college. Learn how to tackle, learn how to cover, in fact just learn how to play football again, because apparently something went wrong. Jason Taylor played well, and looked like the JT of the old days. Vontae Davis, keep up the hard work. Vince Young had lots of time to throw in the first half, and he took advantage. Maybe the Phins were too worried about Chris Johnson, and focused on him more than Young. I heard about Channing Crowder crying about how it’s harder to beat 17 Titans over 11 because of officiating. When you make plays, and figure out a way to dominate a game, bad calls by refs don’t always matter. The Dolphins didn’t find a way to do that this time. You can bitch about officials all you want, but at the end of the day 6 penalties and 4 turnovers don’t win you the game.

So here we stand at 7-7 tied with 5 other teams. There are two games left, and we play two of these in Miami. We need God to be on our sideline to get into the playoffs. Denver losing helped a little bit, but we need more teams to lose. My guy Matty from The Phinsider has all the playoff scenarios here. Its unfortunate that the Phins could have avoided all of this with a win against Buffalo and finding a way to close out Tennessee. Sure the penalty against Cam swung the hammer the Titans way, but the poor play before the 4th is what really gave it to the music city mofos.

Do I hope the Phins can do it? I’m kind of split. If we don’t, we get a higher draft pick. If we do, we shut up lots of naysayers like Deion Sanders. As some of you know, I have turned a lot of hatred towards him the way he popped the Dolphins balloon on NFL Total Access. If you don’t know the story, the scenario had balloons with the logos of the different playoff contenders, and the ones who the four morons hosting the show had surviving and making it in, the balloons would be moved to the side, the ones who didn’t would be popped. Neon Deion ran right up to the Phins balloon, popped it, and didn’t even say why. It’s just the dismissive and arrogant way he did it that pissed me off. Many people haven’t given the Phins a chance this year due to their schedule. Yet, if you told me that this team would be contending for a Wildcard or even division title after beginning the season at 0-3 with the tough road ahead of them, I would tell you to put down the crack pipe.

Back to Deion. In order to forget the events of this past weekend, I have invented a game called “Pee on Deion.” In order to play, just print out the picture below, put it on the ground somewhere, preferably the grass or, maybe in the snow if you’re from Chicago like me, unzip your pants, and just well, start going. You get 5 points for the eyes, nose, or mouth. Anything else is worth a point. Do not pick up the picture afterwards. It can get gross, even if it’s your own urine. I used this picture because only idiots have this big ass smile when they get arrested for stupid shit like “trespassing.” He did get arrested in Florida, which might explain the hatred towards our favorite team. Why don’t you go hate on the Bucs, Deion? Perhaps they can ram a cannonball up your ass.

That’s all I have. Let’s keep things in perspective. Our team keeps getting better, and they should be much better next year. If they make it in, good for them. If not, they will next year. Perhaps, more pieces will be on the way to make our Miami Dolphins an elite team.

M