Back to the grind! I hope your Thanksgiving holiday was spectacular!
A new week, and please note that there are only 22 shopping days until Christmas.
The Dolphins beat up on the hapless Jets yesterday, 23-3. It wasn’t a great game for the Fins, but a win is a win, especially over the Jets. Ryan Tannehill had a good game, completing 28-43 passes for 331 yards and two touchdowns, one to Brian Hartline and the other to Mike Wallace. Miami dominated with 453 yards of total offense and controlled the ball for just under 39 minutes. Incredible as it may sound, the Dolphins ran for 125 against what was the NFL’s best defense against the run. The Jets’ offensive woes continued, and the Dolphins defense just put a hurting on their QB Geno Smith and his replacement, Matt Simms.
With the win, the Dolphins are tied with the Baltimore Ravens for the sixth and final playoff spot, although the Ravens hold the tiebreaker over the Dolphins. Four games left for the Dolphins, and they need to take care of their own business, and that means winning their games, one week at a time. This week, the Fins travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers, who have won three out of their last four, losing a close one to the Ravens on Thanksgiving Day.
Here is the remaining schedule for the Fins:
12/08 @ Pittsburgh 1:00 pm CBS
12/15 New England 1:00 pm CBS
12/22 @ Buffalo 1:00 pm CBS
12/29 NY Jets 1:00 pm CBS
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Peyton Manning has thrown 41 touchdown passes so far this season. There are four games left for Manning to break the all-time record for touchdown passes in a season, and the numbers tell us that he is on pace to finish with 54. Who holds the record? The answer comes later, alligator.
Here’s more on the Dolphins:
More on the Dolphins from Armando Salguero:
Here are this week’s NFL results. GREAT week so far in my picks, as I am 6-0, looking for my first perfect week of the year. So far this season, I am 46-40-4 against the spread, and 53-37 straight up.
THANKSGIVING
Detroit 40 Green Bay 10
Dallas 31 Oakland 24
Baltimore 22 Pittsburgh 21 (Steelers +3 ½)
SUNDAY
Miami 23 NY Jets 3
Denver 35 Kansas City 28
NY Giants 24 Washington 17
Jacksonville 32 Cleveland 28
Indianapolis 22 Tennessee 14
New England 34 Houston 31
Minnesota 23 Chicago 20 OT
Philadelphia 24 Arizona 21
Carolina 27 Tampa Bay 6
Atlanta 34 Buffalo 31
San Francisco 23 St. Louis 13
Cincinnati 17 San Diego 10
MONDAY NIGHT
New Orleans @ Seattle -5 8:30 pm ESPN
The Seahawks are 13-0 at home over the last two seasons. The Saints are 1-4 against the spread this season away from the Superdome. Love the Saints, but the Seahawks are scary, scary good. I’ll stick with Seattle at home minus the points.
Here’s ESPN’s NFL Nation Blog, with more news from all around the league:
Of course, we can all continue to sleep at night, knowing full well that Aaron Hernandez remains in jail, where he belongs.
In baseball:
The new nominees for the Hall of Fame include three pitchers who should make it. Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine should make it in on their first try, while Mike Mussina should get in, maybe not in his first year of eligibility. Frank Thomas is also eligible for the first time, as he joins other players from the so-called “steroid era”, such as Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Mark McGwire. It will be interesting to see if Jack Morris makes it in his last year of eligibility, as well as holdovers Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and Mike Piazza, who all got over 58% of the vote last time. Among the choices in the “committee ballot” are Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa, Joe Torre, George Steinbrenner, and former union chief Marvin Miller. Here are the details:
MY TAKE: Could this be the year that we see the first-ever unanimous choice for the HOF? Don’t be shocked if Greg Maddux is the one.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Orestes “Minnie” Miñoso, Luis Tiant, Tony Oliva, and Miguel Cuellar are still NOT in the hall of fame. Also missing in Cooperstown are Jim Kaat, Tommy John, and Pete Rose, whose exclusion as a player continues to be a travesty and a total joke.
In hot-stove news,
The Yankees and Robinson Cano are anywhere between $80 and $100 million apart in their contract negotiations, depending of who you believe. Cano better hurry up and make a decision - are there really any teams out there who are going to be willing to go 10 years and close to $300 million?
MY TAKE: As much as I like Robinson Cano, MLB teams are beginning to figure out that they cannot pay “future money” for “past performance”. The Yankees are no exception, and I just don’t see them getting into a long-term deal for a 31-year-old second baseman. The team has probably learned its lesson from the A-Rod deal and other long-term deals that did not live up to the expectations. By the way, Cano and his advisors are denying that they asked for a $300 million deal. PLEASE! The fact is that they requested a nine-year deal for $260 million, with a tenth-year option for another $30 million. My math tells me that it adds up to $290 million.
Free Agent deals:
Speaking of $$$, the new MLB television deal kicks in this year, and estimates are that each team will receive around $54 million this season from that national TV deal. Shouldn’t that immediately open up more payroll dollars for the Marlins? Just saying . . . . .
More rumors:
In case you missed it, the Marlins announced that pitchers and catchers report February 16th, position players arrive February 20th, and the spring training games begin February 26th, when the Fish play the University of Miami Hurricanes. They will then play the FIU Panthers on the 27th. Both of those games will be in Jupiter. Here is the complete preseason schedule:
In college football, the University of Miami Hurricanes finished their season 9-3, defeating the University of Pittsburgh 41-31. They will wait for the bowl selection committees to make their decisions, which will be announced after the conference championship games this weekend. Kickoff is at 3:30 pm, and the game will be televised nationally by ABC, Channel 10 in South Florida.
MY TAKE: Where will the Canes end up playing? Some potential destinations are the Russell Athletic Bowl on December 28th (Orlando), the Belk Bowl, also on Devember 28th (Charlotte) or the Chik-Fil-A Bowl on December 31st in (Atlanta).
Manny Navarro and Susan Miller Degnan have more from Coral Gables:
The FIU Panthers’ miserable season came to an end last Friday, as they fell to crosstown-rival FAU 21-6. The Panthers finished a woeful 1-11, with their lone win coming against another bottom-of-the-barrel contestant, Southern Mississippi, a team that also finished 1-11. BTW, Southern Mississippi’s win came in their last game of the year, a 62-24 blowout of UAB. UAB beat FIU this season, 27-24.
FIU can go nowhere but up, according to David J. Neal:
MY TAKE: Commentary on the state of affairs at FIU:
There are a lot of problems at the university of Westchester. We all know that. The biggest challenge facing FIU is that this team isn’t just horribly bad . . . the football program itself has become totally irrelevant, immaterial, unimportant, disjointed, unessential, trivial, insipid, worthless, and inconsequential. The students couldn’t care less, the alumni don’t pay any attention to them, and the university’s athletic and marketing departments have done absolutely nothing to try and improve their standing in the community. For example, I have been asked many times why the football games and the basketball games are not broadcast on the radio. The only answer I have is that the athletic department has chosen to put their money in other things. Right or wrong, that is their prerogative, and it is not for me to comment on.
The FIU Athletic Department has seemingly been on a mission to alienate the alumni, the students, former players, and the South Florida community as a whole. Perception is the mother of reality, and that is how the situation at FIU looks to the community in general.
My heart is too close to this. I was there when the program was born, and it is very sad for me to see it on life support. I will say this: It is time for the FIU President, Dr. Mark Rosenberg, to grab this bull by the horns and get this out-of-control train back on track and in a positive direction.
Here’s the latest from Tallahassee and #1-ranked FSU, who made it back to the top after pummeling Florida and the incredible Auburn victory over Alabama:
From Gainesville and the University of Florida:
Here are the new NCAA Football rankings for this week:
Here is the complete schedule in College Football for week 15, including Conference Championship match ups and TV listings:
Moving to the hardwood:
Since we last got together, the Miami Heat won three games, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday, the Toronto Raptors on Friday, before they returned home to face the Charlotte Bobcats.
The game yesterday against the Bobcats was more difficult than anyone expected. Miami was down by 14 points, 79-65 with 9:34 left in the game, but that is when Chris Bosh took over. Bosh scored 12 points in the final stanza, including three 3-pointers in the final 2 ½ minutes of the game, and Miami escaped with a 99-98 victory over Charlotte. LeBron James led the way with 26 points, Bosh finished with 22, and Dwyane Wade added 17.
The Heat’s schedule this week:
Detroit @ Heat Tue 12/3 7:30 pm Sun Sports
Heat @ Chicago Thu 12/4 9:30 pm TNT
Heat @ Minnesota Sat 12/7 8:00 pm Sun Sports
Heat @ Detroit Sun 12/8 6:00 pm Sun Sports
More Heat coverage:
Here is the Heat’s complete regular season schedule:
On the NHL ice, the Panthers return to the ice tonight as they host the NY Rangers, here at the BB&T Center. The Pittsburgh Penguins will be here on Saturday night. Both games will be televised by Fox Sports Florida.
In boxing news,
Here is Santos Perez’ weekly boxing spotlight column from the Miami Herald:
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I’m selling three lots totaling a little over five acres in the beautiful North Carolina mountains, overlooking the New River, a quick 35-minute drive from Boone and Blowing Rock. Click here to see some photos and feel free to contact me if you have any questions:
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THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Peyton Manning has thrown 41 touchdown passes so far this season. There are four games left for Manning to break the all-time record for touchdown passes in a season, and the numbers tell us that he is on pace to finish with 54. Who holds the record?
Tom Brady of the NE Patriots threw 50 TD passes in 2007. Brady broke Manning’s record of 49 in 2004. Manning broke Dan Marino’s old mark of 48 TD passes he set in 1984.
Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.
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