American Sports Thread

[Oraisteach]

College Recruiting Ranks as of 4:30 EST according to ESPN:

1.  Alabama
2.  Florida State
3.  Clemson
4.  USC
5.  Tennessee
6.  Ohio State
7.  Texas
8.  Auburn
9.  Georgia
10. LSU

[AZOffaly]

Great job by Texas. They might be on the way back.

[David McKeown]

Great job by Texas. They might be on the way back.

Great to see, obviously I am biased but college football just isn't the same without a strong UT

[Syferus]

Great job by Texas. They might be on the way back.

Great to see, obviously I am biased but college football just isn't the same without a strong UT

Yeah, it's much better. Far more heartening to see the likes of Baylor and TCU challenging.

[David McKeown]

For obvious reasons I'll just agree to disagree

[heganboy]

Did Texas actually get a QB, was reading something today about how their QB recruitment has been a mare...

[Oraisteach]

Well, heganboy, though they lost 4 star QB Zach Gentry, who flipped to Michigan, I believe they got 4 star QB Kai Locksley whom they lured away from FSU. 

[Clov]

But he can hedge his bets by taking a time out at 2nd & 1.

But that defeating the purpose. Now you allow Seattle to have three run plays with the ability to run out the clock if they get to 4th down. It stops them rushing to the line to play the 2nd down and I believe it stops them having to throw the ball which it your best opportunity of a Turnover.

So he is betting on his defense but only if he can guarantee that Seattle will throw it at least once. And the way to do that is to sacrafice any chance you have of your offense tying the game should Seattle score.
This strikes me as neither very plausible or very smart.

Betting on his Defense - Paid out
Betting Seattle would throw - Paid out
Win the game - Paid out

My point about deciding to let the clock run forced them into a throw in order to stop the clock. If they tried on each down to run the ball then Pete ran the possibility of only getting 2 plays.

He couldn't "Hedge his bets", it was all in with your Defense or try turn it over to his Offense, and what happened - HE WON.

By the way, if Lockette had gone all in he would have caught it instead of being out muscled by a smaller man.

Well i do agree that the Pats probably wanted the seahawks to throw on them. Belichek said as much post game. I also think that with less time on the clock the seahawks might be more inclined to pass than run.

However, the question is whether the Pats can really dictate this with their clock management? I've argued on here that the seahwaks decision to throw on 2nd down was at least defensible, but to say that it was mandated by the game situation is a bit of a stretch. They could have very easily run the ball as most commentators have suggested they should have. In any case the odds of the seahawks scoring with either a run or a pass from the 1yd line are so high that you really have to call timeout. The potential gains (giving your offense enough time to get the game tieing field goal) far out weigh the costs (allowing the seahwaks a 3 run strategy), in my opinion.

[RealSpiritof98]

Looks like the Croke Park Classic is back next year - Boston College vs Georgia Tech

Have we any chance of a Reg season NFL game or have Wembley got that tied up in a deal. If the NFL were looking into a London based franchise, it wouldn't hurt to court the Irish in. I heard a while back that the Rooney family was lobbying the idea but have seen nothing lately.

[AZOffaly]

Looks like the Croke Park Classic is back next year - Boston College vs Georgia Tech

Have we any chance of a Reg season NFL game or have Wembley got that tied up in a deal. If the NFL were looking into a London based franchise, it wouldn't hurt to court the Irish in. I heard a while back that the Rooney family was lobbying the idea but have seen nothing lately.

Wembley has that stitched up. It's a pity really, because I'd like to go to one in Germany or Spain too. As for dublin, if we keep getting ncaa I'll be happy. Georgia Tech would be a respected program, and there's obviously an irish connection with BC. I was at the first game in Ireland which was BC versus Army in the old lansdowne road .

[Syferus]

Boston College aren't a bad team either, though they have fell off in the post-Matt Flynn years. Could be a good game but GT would be warm favourites. Good to have a conference game coming over, it'll matter even more.

Still waiting for an SEC team to make the visit..

[AZOffaly]

If it's an SEC team, it'll be an away game. Can you imagine telling the lads in Tuscaloosa, Auburn or Baton Rouge that they were going to give up a home game to play in Dublin? Maybe we could get Alabama to schedule a reasonable non conference game and play it in Ireland.

[AZOffaly]

Good news out of Arizona today. Larry Fitzgerald has signed a new deal that will probably mean he retires as a Cardinal. He's obviously not the player he was, but i'm glad he's been able to restructure his contract to save the Cards a lot of cap space, and stay in Arizona. If Palmer is on track, as he appears to be, Larry might have a good season with Floyd and Brown next year.

Also, Pitchers and Catchers report today. Must be nearly spring!

[gallsman]

NBA trade deadline too. Love hasn't really worked out in Cleveland but last few weeks might convince he and the team to stick it out before he inevitably buggers off in the summer.

[Muck Savage]

Seen a very good story about Tyrann Mathieu, AZ Safety AKA Honey Badger. Really glad he turned his life around after being kicked off the team at LSU. A good story about an NFL player for once.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2366898-combine-chronicles-tyrann-mathieu-on-running-away-from-honey-badger-in-2013