NBA Season

     The NBA season has been going on for about a month now and it has not been disappointing to say the least. There have been many great stars to the season such as the Golden State Warriors starting the season with a perfect record of 18-0. The Philadelphia 76ers have had the exact opposite of a good season as they have started 0-17 thus far. This comes as somewhat of a surprise to me because of the rookie star power of Jahlil Okafor who has been playing great this season. The 76ers have also set a new record of consecutive losses in Major American Sports history with 27 straight losses dating back to last season. The Eastern Conference champion, Cleveland Cavaliers have also started out strong and are currently at the top of the east this season with a 13-4 record. LeBron James however are not happy with this start as him and fellow veteran teammate, James Jones held a players only meeting to discuss how they are playing well as a team and they need to focus more. Personally, I think this is a great idea by LeBron because in order to knock off the Warriors, they are going to need to play their best and not slack off.

Peyton Manning Week 9/10

The Colts have been struggling mightily lately and needed a big win against the Broncos in week nine. The Colts did something that they haven't done all season, play the entire game. Normally, the Colts slack off most of the game and try to come back in the fourth quarter. The Colts played great defense against the Broncos all game long. However, in the fourth quarter, the Broncos drove all the way down the field but Manning was intercepted by Colts cornerback, Darius Butler. The Colts got the ball back and on a crucial third down, Broncos cornerback, Aqib Talib, tried to eye gauge Colts tight end, Dwayne Allen. There was obviously a penalty called, which gave the Colts a first down and just ran the clock out for the win. Peyton Manning also needed a little over 250 yards to become the NFL's all time leader in passing yards. The Colts' defense stepped up big time and stopped him three yards shy of his record. I don't know if that was a good thing or not for him not getting the record in Indianapolis because it would've been cool to see him break it in the stadium he played in for so many years but also it was crucial to stop him during the game so he didn't win. Peyton did go on and break the record in week ten against the Kansas City Chiefs. However, Peyton probably had the worst game he's ever had. He completed just 5/20 passes for 36 yards and had four interceptions. He got benched in the fourth quarter for backup quarterback, Brock Osweiler. It was later revealed that Manning had been playing with Plantar Fascia the past couple of weeks and that could've been a big factor in his poor play. I hope that this isn't his last game and that he is given another chance because he is a great player and I'd love to see him play at a high level a Peyton Manning took on his former team and the team that made him great, the Indianapolis Colts.

NBA Tipoff

        The NBA is back and in full swing ever since the Pistons vs. Grizzlies game tipped off Tuesday night. There have been so many great performances so far in just the two days of action. Reigning MVP and NBA champion, Steph Curry continued his great play from last season and finished with 40 points, six rebounds and seven assists in his season opener agianst the Pelicans. Pelican's star power forward Anthony Davis had a very rough night. He is a potential MVP candidate this year, but got off to a terrible first game. He shot 4-20 from the field and at one point was 1-16. He did play well on the defensive side as he blocked a shot off the backboard when Curry went in for a layup.

         There was also a great game that went down in Chicago as the Bulls took on their rivals, the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers came out and played a great first quarter, until they allowed a 17-2 run by the Bulls to end the quarter. The Bulls basically controlled the game until the fourth quarter when LeBron James started to take over. He was scoring at will and distributing and got the game down to just a 2 point deficit at one point. The Bulls got back on track and had an eight point lead with about a minute left. Then Kevin Love, who  had been quiet most of the game hit two big three pointers to make the game 97-95. The Cavaliers got the ball back with eight seconds left, but Pau Gasol blocked LeBron James at the rim with three seconds left, and Jimmy Butler knocked away the inbound pass to seal the victory for Chicago.

       On day two of the NBA, some of the best rookies played for the first time. Jahlil Okafor had a very good game, for his first time stepping on an NBA court. He finished with 26 points and seven rebounds. The Celtics got the last laugh in that game, as Isaiah Thomas had 27 points and seven assists to lead the Celtics to a 112-95 victory. The Nuggets first round pick, Emmanuel Mudiay played extremely well as he finished with 17 points, nine assists and six rebounds. The best game of last night was definitely the Thunder vs. Spurs game. The Spurs are an early championship contending team but they had to face the Thunder who just got Kevin Durant back from injury. Durant had a great game for not playing since early last season. He had 22 points and six rebounds, but the big story was Russell Westbrook having a monster game with, 33 points and ten assists.

NFL Week 7

    The NFL had a great week this past week as there were many great games to watch. The best game of the week, in my opinion, was the Jaguars vs. Bills game.  It was an overseas game and was played in Wimbley Stadium in England. The game was very surprising as the Jaguars(who aren't very good) got off to a huge lead against the Bills(supposed to be a playoff team). The Bills came back in the second half but didn't have enough to win it as the Jaguars held on to win, 34-31. Another big story line is the Baltimore Ravens, who won the Superbowl just a few years ago, lost to the Arizona Cardinals to fall to 1-7 on the year. The Ravens weren't supposed to be a phenomenal team this year, but were going to be a strong playoff team in the AFC. With Joe Flacco not playing very well and having the 29th ranked passing defense in the league, the Ravens struggles will continue to happen. The Colts also didn't play well this week as they lost to the Saints, 27-21. Yet again, The Colts did virtually nothing in the first half and attempted to rally in the second half when it was too late to win. There were some bright signs though, like the fact that wide receiver, T.Y. Hilton finally showed up in a big way and brought down two very long touchdown receptions.

Colts Week 7 Peformance

     The Indianapolis Colts lost their second straight game today to the New Orleans Saints. It was yet another terrible first half performance, followed by a great second half. The Colts got shout out the first half and followed it up with an outstanding third and fourth quarter, putting up 21 points. The Colts need to find a way to play more consistently, and actually do something in the first half, instead of just giving up points. Our losing is due to many things, but mostly our offensive line and our play calling. The offensive coordinator, Pep Hamilton, is terrible at his job. He calls run plays when we should pass the ball and pass plays in running situations. Sometimes his play calling does work though, but it is mostly just Andrew Luck making the play calls look good. Our other big thing thing that is holding us back is the offensive line. On almost any running play we get that is more than ten yards, it is basically guaranteed that there will be a holding penalty. Not only do we get holding penalties, but we also give Andrew Luck basically no protection, forcing him to have to get the ball off quickly. With the line collapsing, and Luck having to throw it so soon, it makes Luck look like the bad one for throwing interceptions. Many people are blaming Andrew Luck and head coach, Chuck Pagano for losing these games but that is not the case. Andrew is a very talented player, but with an subpar defense and a horrible offensive line, it's a surprise they even have three wins. People also blame Chuck Pagano for the play calling and bad coaching, but Pep Hamilton is doing the play calling and Pagano has been coaching the same way for four years so I don't think much of the blame goes on him.

NFL Week 6

    Week six of the NFL wasn't that great of football, and was probably the worst week yet so far. Not only did my favorite team lose, but almost all of the games were blowouts and weren't very interesting  to watch. However, there was one good game this week and it was the Browns vs. Broncos.  This was a very close and hard fought game that ended up going into overtime. The whole game, Peyton Manning had been struggling to get any rhythm down and threw three interceptions. With the game tied 23-23, the Browns had the ball with 44 seconds left, when Browns quarterback, Josh McCown threw an interception to give the ball back to the Broncos at their own 30 yard line. Peyton Manning then threw a deep pass down the sideline, to Emmanuel Sanders who caught the ball and was tackled in bounds. Sanders thought he was out of bounds and the clock had stopped, so he ran to the endzone and layed down to rest because he was tired. Since he was actually in bounds, the clock kept running adn the game went to overtime. The Broncos ended up winning in overtime by kicking a last second field goal. Other than this game, and the Colts' fake punt play, the NFL was kind of dull this past week and hopefully next week will be better.
     
       On another note, not related to play on the field, but off the field, Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady said this week that he wants to play another ten years. I personally think that this man is on a new kind of drug if he thinks that he can stay in shape for ten more years and be a legit quarterback in the NFL. First of all. he is 38 years old right now, which is already old to be a quarterback, and he is on a decline already and I can't imagine him trying to play another ten years. He is a serious crazy man if he thinks that at 48 years old, he'll be able to take a hit when he can barely take one now. Don't get me wrong though, it would bring me the most joy in the world to see Brady get rocked when he is 48 years old, but it would be best for him to just retire in a few years, and not get killed in ten years.

Worst Play in NFL History

    On Sunday Night Football one of the worst plays to ever happen happened. It was the Colts who hosted the Patriots in Indianapolis and the Colts were losing 27-21 in the third quarter. It was fourth and three and everyone expected the Colts to just punt the ball back to the Patriots. The Colts had other ideas. They lined up in an illegal formation, with wide reciever, Griff Whalen playing center and backup safety, Colt Andersen playing a quarterback position. Every other player was lined up staggered on the right side hash mark. I think the Colts were trying to draw the Patriots offsides for some reason and try to get the first down from penalty yards. Anyway, the Colts snapped the ball with about five Patriots players with only one player to block all of them. Obviously, Colt Andersen got tackled immediately and lost about two or three yards on a fourth and three play. To make matters worse, the Colts had the ball in their own territory and thus gave the Patriots the ball with only about forty yards to go. The Patriots ended up scoring six plays later and took a 13 point lead. I think that the Colts would've won the game or at least have had a better chance at winning if they didn't call that play ans would've just punted it. The Colts would have also won for sure if the refs didn't make and awful call  earlier by not giving the ball to the Colts after an attempted onside kick.