American Sports Thread

[gawa316]

Boller showing what a complete joke he is at QB. 2 interceptions already and Kansas 14-0 up. Raiders should be rolling over teams like KC.

Game is over if he gets another drive.

Who's back up?


What ever happened to Gradkowski? i thought he was decent back up

Gradkowski is now with the Bengals ironically, Palmer seems to be the backup.

Well the sooner he's ready the better cause Boller is having an absolute mare, 3 int in first half

[tyroneman]

Boller should never play again for the Raiders.  Better letting Carson have the 2nd half to get back in swing than carry on as is. Looks all over anyhow with RunDMC also injured.

[Capt Pat]

Ponder and the vikings were competitive tonight against the almighty packers. A big overall improvement on the capitulation against the Bears.

I think Ponder has a future in the NFL, time will tell how bright that future will be? The stats 40% completion 2 tds 2ints look mediocre but he didn't throw a pick until the Vikings were well behind and still brought the vikings back into the game with a little help from AD

[thejuice]

http://www.denverpost.com/cu/ci_19000692

CU Buffs' punter brings some kick o' the Irish with one of strangest plays of season

By John Henderson
The Denver Post


Colorado punter Darragh O'Neill, a freshman, practices his rugby-style technique Wednesday in Boulder. (Photos by Karl Gehring, The Denver Post )BOULDER — Conor O'Neill's Traditional Irish Pub sits on 13th Street just off the Pearl Street Mall but could very well be on a crowded street in Dublin, or in a country village in County Donegal.

Warm, dark wood accents individual rooms lined with cushiony furniture. Dark pints of Guinness with foamy heads fly through the air like it's last call in Galway. The owner, Colm O'Neill, points to one wall for a wee bit of true Irish flavor. There he is, 21 years ago, grimacing in a team photo before winning Gaelic football's All-Ireland Final for ol' County Cork. On another wall, there's his brother-in-law, Maurice Fitzgerald, winning one for County Kerry.

The bloodlines from those two pictures found their way Saturday

Using a kicking trick that would probably play out only on the pitches of Ireland, Colorado freshman Darragh O'Neill, son of Colm and nephew of Fitzgerald, took the snap. He didn't aim downfield. He took a few sideways steps to his left and aimed a left-footed (he's right-footed) line drive right at the back of Ohio State's Bradley Roby, running with his back to the ball.

And, as O'Neill said with a lilt of an Irish accent, "I tagged him."

The Buffs​ were asleep, though. Ohio State recovered the loose ball on the Buffs' 43 and soon scored its first touchdown in a 37-17 rout. Had CU recovered the ball, it could have been a big early-momentum boost.

"Being able to kick with both feet, the only reason I'm able to do that is because of Gaelic football," O'Neill said.

For O'Neill, CU special-teams coach J.D. Brookhart called it "a little bit of a John Wayne moment." While many punters learn to kick rugby style for direction, Colorado has a guy who only kicked that way well before he ever played American football.

Don't think Colorado (1-3) won't continue trying to take

Darragh O'Neill, who was an all-state point guard at Fairview High School, is 19th in the country in punting. advantage of it. O'Neill is 19th in the country, averaging 43.7 yards per punt.

An odd path to punting

How O'Neill wound up punting in Boulder is a story of culture clash and blind ambition, with a major dosage of life and death. The O'Neills moved to the U.S. from Ireland when Darragh was 3, and he grew up hearing stories about County Kerry vs. County Cork, the Raiders and Broncos of Gaelic football.

Every summer the family returned to Cork, where Darragh played Gaelic football, which is kind of a violent cross between rugby and soccer, except with a soccer-sized ball they kick to pass. He practiced Gaelic football kicks with Fitzgerald, at the time arguably the best player in Ireland.

"Even just seeing him and how unbelievable he was, just kicking around with him made me better," Darragh said.

Knowledge of Gaelic football in Colorado, however, doesn't go much beyond the Denver Gaels, whom he played with while going to Fairview High School. He made his mark as as an all-state point guard who helped lead Fairview to the 2010 Class 5A state title basketball game.

However, college basketball programs thought him too weak and he got only a walk-on offer from the Denver Pioneers. The school's price tag was too steep, so he passed on NCAA Division II offers and came to Boulder to study, figuring his sports career was over.

As a freshman, he sat in the stands at Folsom Field, watching the Buffs struggle to a 5-7 season.

But he loved the spirit in the stands — hey, he's Irish — and told his dad he was thinking of becoming a punter. His dad liked the idea.

"Unless you play goaltender in soccer, no American kid naturally kicks a ball out of his hands," said Colm, wearing a gold CU T-shirt. "That's why Australian Rules or Irish football, you have a huge advantage because how you move the ball is how you punt the ball in American football."

Darragh remembers his first punt going about 15 yards, but last winter he began working out at 6:15 a.m. four days a week — he calls such drive his Irish "fire in the belly" — in the football bubble. He had a decent spring and a better fall, and he has been a fixture as the starting punter since the opener.

"If somebody had told us six months ago that Darragh would even be on the roster at CU, we thought it'd be the biggest joke of all time," Colm said. "There was no chance."

Began vomiting blood

At one time, there was almost no chance Darragh would live to see college.

Near the end of his sophomore year at Fairview, he mysteriously developed Lemierre's syndrome, a deadly bacteria that attacks faster than cancer. He wound up in intensive care for two weeks. For four days, he was on life support. He finally sat up during a brief recovery, but a blood clot moved from his jugular to his lungs. The clots began hemorrhaging. He started vomiting blood.

"As I was puking, my aunt was giving me an oxygen tube," he recalled. "My eyes were as wide as they've ever been. I see my mom sprint out of the room about to faint. Then 15 to 20 nurses all come in. And I was out."

He woke up about four days later and went on to have a full recovery. One day, he happened to spot an e-mail on his dad's computer. It was dated right after his hemorrhaging.

It said he was given last rites.

"I've been taught never to take a day for granted," he said. "Every day's a bonus."

Kind of like the Buffs finding a rugby-style punter in an Irish kid sitting in the stands. If he keeps developing, maybe his dad will change his pub's name.

How does the Buff & Boot sound?

[J70]

Interceptions were a killer.  Jets showed well second half.
Vickings new Quarterback has had some start, Ponder on his first play threw a 73 yard completion to the packers 1 yard line.  Finished the drive with a TD completion to Shianco, Mc Nabb looked gutted!
Tebow pulls out the win aswell today.

What is with the hype over Tebow, beyond the fact that he is appears to be a hero for christians and the homeschool movement?

[magpie seanie]

I think the same way to be honest. Not a great qb but who cares - he is a fantasy beast!

[stew]

Interceptions were a killer.  Jets showed well second half.
Vickings new Quarterback has had some start, Ponder on his first play threw a 73 yard completion to the packers 1 yard line.  Finished the drive with a TD completion to Shianco, Mc Nabb looked gutted!
Tebow pulls out the win aswell today.

What is with the hype over Tebow, beyond the fact that he is appears to be a hero for christians and the homeschool movement?

Apart from the fact he is, in many circles, considered the single greatest player of all time collegiality, he is a tremendous athlete who is a proven winner, just look at what he did at the end of the game yesterday.

He will take time to develop because his college coaches did feck all to ready him for the next level but he is smart and he is a winner, that is why people are hyped up over him.

[new devil]

Thats exactly it stew....He was horrible all through the game until the last 3 mins which he threw 2 TD's

Cam Newton is something special, Got his 1st win yesterday, think hes going to be one of the best

[Minder]

Thats exactly it stew....He was horrible all through the game until the last 3 mins which he threw 2 TD's

Cam Newton is something special, Got his 1st win yesterday, think hes going to be one of the best

They wont be playing teams as shit as the Dolphins every week though and games would be out of hand very quickly with the way he was playing.

[new devil]

Thats exactly it stew....He was horrible all through the game until the last 3 mins which he threw 2 TD's

Cam Newton is something special, Got his 1st win yesterday, think hes going to be one of the best

They wont be playing teams as shit as the Dolphins every week though and games would be out of hand very quickly with the way he was playing.

Yea that's true....Dolphins are probably the worst team in the league...I think he'll improve with every game...The believe he has and his team mates have in him is unbelievable

[J70]

Interceptions were a killer.  Jets showed well second half.
Vickings new Quarterback has had some start, Ponder on his first play threw a 73 yard completion to the packers 1 yard line.  Finished the drive with a TD completion to Shianco, Mc Nabb looked gutted!
Tebow pulls out the win aswell today.

What is with the hype over Tebow, beyond the fact that he is appears to be a hero for christians and the homeschool movement?

Apart from the fact he is, in many circles, considered the single greatest player of all time collegiality, he is a tremendous athlete who is a proven winner, just look at what he did at the end of the game yesterday.

He will take time to develop because his college coaches did feck all to ready him for the next level but he is smart and he is a winner, that is why people are hyped up over him.

Greatest ever college player? I did not know that.

I hear a lot about him on ESPN radio, some complimentary, some not, but definitely a big talking point.

[stew]

Thats exactly it stew....He was horrible all through the game until the last 3 mins which he threw 2 TD's

Cam Newton is something special, Got his 1st win yesterday, think hes going to be one of the best

he will be if he studies Rodgers and Brady, he has been unreal so far and it is great to see a black quarterback have his success so early.

Ever notice how Brady is perceived as intelligent, as is Rodgers and Manning, yet when was the last time a black quarterback was described as intelligent??? that sticks in my craw.

[Puckoon]

It's not an issue of race. The greatest quarterbacks (i.e. the intelligent ones), just happen to be white right now.

If you tried to call Jamarcus Russell, or Vince Young intelligent you would get your ass handed to you.

Vick would be the most intelligent now - and he's dumb enough to go to jail.

Donovan McNabb - could be a borderline case.

[AZOffaly]

That's a true point stew, but I think I know the answer. A lot of the black QBs that have come into the league are seen as more athletic than the white guys, (Tebow apart). The tall, statuesque White QB is not seen as particularly athletic. The like of Manning, Brady, etc etc.

The well known black QBs are the likes of Vick, McNabb, etc and they are seen as more athletes than cerebral types.

I would think Randal Cunningham, Doug Williams and Warren Moon would have been seen as 'intelligent' QBs.

[RealSpiritof98]

not too much baseball talk on here, but that was some world series, cards down 2-3 and down to last strike of last out(twice) and come back and win, unreal stuff, homers, errors, had it all, thank god for sky+.