College Football Game of the Weekend

Aaron Murray got the better of Zach Mettenberger yet again. Rivalries in college football have never failed to provide entertainment and this high profile game between Georgia and LSU was no different.

Once Georgia roommates competing for the starting quarterback job, Murray and Mettenberger fought it out on opposing sides of the football this past Saturday in an intense showdown between number nine ranked Georgia and number 6 ranked LSU. But after Mettenberger led LSU on a long, go-ahead touchdown drive with four minutes to play, Murray one-upped him with a 75-yard, game-winning drive. At the end the drive, Murray connected with Justin Scott-Wesley on a 25-yard touchdown pass with 1:47 left in the game. The score and extra point gave the Bulldogs a 44-41 victory and put them squarely in the middle of the BCS championship equation.

It wasn't so much Murray's play as it was his composure. He took control of his team in a vital part of the game and came up clutch. Long criticized for a perceived inability to win a big game, Murray had a monster performance. The fifth-year senior was 20-of-34 passing for 298 yards and four touchdowns and one running touchdown. After taking a knee at midfield to close the door on the game, Murray turned and chucked the ball nearly 50 yards to Sanford Stadium’s west end zone. The field was engulfed in red jerseys at midfield as the Bulldogs jumped and bumped amid a wild celebration as would be expected after such a huge win for the Georgia Bulldogs program. 

There was a lot to be excited about. The victory keeps the Bulldogs in the BCS Title hunt, even after facing 3 top ten opponents in the first month of the season. It was the Bulldogs’ 15th consecutive win on their home field and they did it without their best running back for more than half the game. their sophomore running back Todd Gurley left the game for good with 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter with a sprained ankle.

Against all odds Georgia was able to get a huge win under there belt. This is a enormous win for the teams confidence as they head into the hustle and bustle of October football and it'll be exciting what other magical moments Aaron Murray and his Georgia Bulldogs can produce this season.

Derek Rose: The Return

For this blog post I decided to go away from my common theme of soccer so far and try to switch it up for any readers who aren't necessarily interested in the soccer side of things. After all this is a "sports" blog and therefore I need to start covering a wider range of sports and topics. This one is for all you basketball fans out there. Especially the ones pulling for the bulls. 

Can we all stop talking about the most scrutinized left knee in the NBA? That’s all Chicago point guard Derrick Rose heard about last season. The constant whine and moan of how weak he is for not returning sooner. The jokes and jests that were told everywhere. Fans and media talked and criticized him for not suiting up after he was declared healthy by doctors, but D. Rose did not feel 100 percent confident mentally or physically on that knee. As word has trickled down that he was in his usual form at the Bulls’ first practice, it seems as though he is ready to put the league on notice. 

Rose was in full form in the beginning of practice. He was cutting and moving with confidence and ease. He was very aggressive and said there is no more testing out the knee. His teammates appreciate the confidence he has built and are very glad to have their leader back. There is a lot of excitement about this first practice, but realistically, Rose hasn’t played a real game in 17 months. He knows that practice is not the real game. The real test will be that first preseason game against the Indiana Pacers. How will he adjust with double teams and defensive schemes against him? He will have to get the rust off and timing with his teammates in those preseason games.

Coach Tom Thibodeau has reiterated that he will not hold Rose back and let him get the kinks out during preseason. It was a very good sign to see Rose giving his all in practice. Most of his teammates said it was just good to see him out there with them. The more he practices with his team, the better their chemistry will be in the long run.  Rose passed the first hurdle to get back to elite status. 

Buckle up everybody, D. Rose is coming full force, and that is a scary thing for every other team in the league.

FIFA 14: Game in Review

For most soccer fans one of the best times of the year is the beginning of fall. Not only does this signify the start of European soccer, but it also brings about a new installment of video gaming, such as FIFA 14. The FIFA games have been around for many years, dating all the way back to the winter of 1993, when the very first FIFA game was released. Since then the series has taken off and millions of soccer fans around the world play the game today. As I was saying earlier, this September month is a happy time because the new FIFA game just came out 2 days ago here in the United States, and it comes out tomorrow in Europe. Being an avid supporter of the FIFA series I made sure to pre order and get an early release on the game. Because I've been playing it for a little while now I want to share with you guys my initial impressions of the game.

When you first get into the game the first thing that has been changed is the menus. Personally I like the menus this year more than in previous years because they feature little graphics of real life players and teams. For game modes this year, all of them have stayed the same. You still have your manager mode, online game modes, kick off, and ultimate team, although there are a few changes to the game modes such as career mode and ultimate team. Starting off with career mode the biggest difference is with the player scouting system. In previous FIFA games in order to purchase new players for your club all you had to do was search for the player and put a price on him, but in FIFA 14 it gets a little more complicated. You now have to scout the player you want to buy and gather information on him first before you can rush to buy. This makes career mode a little more challenging, and I think, entertaining. Moving on to ultimate team there have been quite a few new changes. For starters the player cards have a different look to them as well as the different player ratings which happen each year. There are now new formations that you can play your team in, as well as the return of single player online games. All in all I believe there have been many great improvements to Ultimate Team that make for a good year of FIFA.

The most important topic of the whole game though is definitely the game play, and let me tell you, the gameplay has changed drastically. Last year is most people know, the near post shot in FIFA was way over powered as well as the finesse shot. This year, although EA have fixed those problems, they've created a set of new ones. Crossing and heading is the new "near post finish" in FIFA. I played 3 games the other day and scored 6 header goals out of 8. Not only is crossing way to good, but pace and speed are no longer as much of a factor. This years FIFA now requires players to play a more slow paced, passing style of game instead of just sprinting everywhere with the ball. These major changes to the game play of FIFA are going to take awhile for everyone to get used to, but I think should ultimately be a positive thing for the franchise.

All in all I see a lot of good things that have been done to FIFA 14. I think its another game that everyone will enjoy, and I think there has been additions to the game that will grow on people as they continue to play. At the end of the day I have to take my hat off to EA on producing another FIFA game that will keep us glued to the television for hours on end.

Barclays Premier League Top 3 Players - Week 5

This blog post is going to be my pick of the top 3 players in the Premier League this weekend.

Brad Guzan (Aston Villa):

Brad Guzan may seem like a weird selection, but at the end of the day sometimes it boils down to the result and not how you got there. Against Norwich Brad Guzan didn’t make eight or nine world-class saves but he did produce enough to mean he was the difference between the two sides. Not only did he stop a penalty but he also kept out Gary Hooper right at the end, with a couple more stops in between. What that meant was that Villa kept their first clean sheet of the season, a first in 27 games, and recorded a first win in three Premier League games. Their run since their opening day victory at the Emirates had started to get concerning, especially when they suffered a home reverse against Newcastle. This win gets Paul Lambert’s men back on track and it is in no small part down to Guzan. The American was arguably Villa’s most consistent performer last season (barring Christian Benteke) and his performances justified the exile of the experienced Shay Given.


Mesut Özil (Arsenal):

I resisted putting in the German after his encouraging debut last week but on Sunday he stole the show against Stoke. With three assists he played a huge hand in Arsenal’s victory and his set-pieces were a constant threat to a Stoke side that are normally good in those situations. Aside from his dead balls he looked the usual composed figure on the ball and he put in another excellent outing for his team. The thing about Özil, apart from his assists, is that he possesses terrific movement, almost unparalleled to any other player. He was at it again against Stoke and the defense had no way of coping with him – and you suspect they won’t be the last. Özil is a world class player and we should expect many more showings like this throughout the rest of the season.

Vincent Kompany (Manchester City):

I could have just about put the entire Manchester City XI in this week, they were that good against Manchester United in the derby. United were poor no question, but City were terrific and didn’t give United an inch. My pick though was Kompany. Watching the match you got the impression that Kompany was in the zone, and there was little Wayne Rooney could do to faze him. It might have been different had Robin van Persie been fit to play but Kompany shut down every United attack and looked unbreakable at the back. When Kompany is fit and on form he is one of the best in the world and provides a huge boost to everyone else in the team.

Chelsea Match in Review

This blog post is going to be for all the Chelsea fans out there. For any of you that are offended by what I'm saying, you have to remember that this is just my honest opinion of the game on saturday and how I thought things turned out. 

When I heard about Jose's line up for the game there were a couple things that I picked up on. I was pleased that Jose selected Cahill to play next to JT as I believe they work well together and understand each others games better than any other combination, but I was disappointed and frustrated that Juan Mata was left out of the squad. It's confusing as to why one of the worlds top players would be left out of any club squad for a league match. Finally, I couldn't understand why Eto'o started again ahead of Fernando Torres! We have heard Jose talk of Eto'o being rusty after playing a lower level of football in Russia so why select him again?

There were two positives and a negative that I found throughout the game: 

The first positive is the three points! It's safe to say that every single one of us would have taken three points no matter how they came ahead of the game if we were offered them. It's what is written down on record in the Premier League that counts this morning and Chelsea took an all important three points, scoring two goals against their local rivals Fulham.

Now the negatives and where do I begin? I'll start by talking about our first half performance. We have all watched our performances against United, Everton and Basel and despite the first half at Goodison and the chances we created, the second half there and in the 90 minutes of the other two games produced very little goal scoring opportunities. This was based on the tempo of our play and we played the first half exactly the same yesterday. When teams set themselves up against us, it's obvious that they are going to pack the midfield, be disciplined without the ball and look to take away any space for Chelsea to work in their own half. As a result, Chelsea dominate possession of the ball and do nothing with it! We have plenty of the ball but have no penetration. As we look up to pick a pass, there is very little option to try and create space and we end up playing the ball side to side or backwards! As soon as this happens, the tempo of our play slows right down and we play right into the other teams hands!

Now for the second positive! Our second half performance won us the game and was better. What I had been looking for from the start, finally happened in the second half. We played and moved the ball quicker and started to find gaps in the Fulham defense. As a result, they sat deeper, their mid fielders struggled to get involved in the game in attacking areas and found themselves on the back foot and Chelsea started to create better chances! It frustrates the life out of me as to why it took us 45 minutes to get going yesterday! We all saw the difference when they did, it was the exciting style of play we know Chelsea have in them. When we play at pace, teams struggle to cope with our movement and our tempo.

So, after all this, Chelsea sit top of the league ahead of the Premier League games today and we have put ourselves in an important position with the Manchester derby taking place later. Without question, Chelsea are a work in progress and the Juan Mata debate still rumbles on. We have a trip to Swindon coming up on Tuesday ahead of a difficult trip to White Hart Lane on Saturday and we need to work hard if we are to take another three points next week!

The Real Futbol

To anyone who plays sports you are probably familiar with one of the oldest sports arguments in the book. Which is better American Football or the rest of the worlds Futbol/Soccer? This is an argument that has long been debated by soccer players and football players everywhere and I'm here to add to the discussion. Being a soccer player myself there will be plenty of bias in the next few paragraphs. I'm giving a fair warning to all you football fans out there; Now's your time to leave. You can all have your own opinion and I respect that, but I'm just going to share mine.

 The first thing that all football players seem to argue when debating football is better than soccer is that it is a sport for wimps. To say something like that is an understatement and an insult to soccer. Although us soccer players don't go throwing ourselves into others at a thousand miles a hour, there is plenty of physical contact in a game of soccer to make a grown man cry. Not only is there plenty of contact but soccer players don't go into the contact wearing pads to protect them. The only form of protection comes from the shin guards you wear on your legs.

The next point that seems to come up in this historic argument is the fact that soccer is boring. A lot of Americans complain that they watch for 5 minutes, nothing happens, and so they give up on the entire game. THIS IS THE CRUCIAL MISTAKE!!! You can't just watch five minutes of a ninety minute game and completely write off the game, and the sport as boring. That's like listening to thirty seconds of a song and then writing off the song and artist as boring and bad. I will admit that soccer games have there moments. Its not always exciting, but thats what makes the game so amazing. It has a flow to it that you don't see in any other sport. It's so fluid and always changing that if you get past that first five minute period the game will grow on you. If you think about it football is even worse. Not only do you have interrupted game play by stoppages in between each play and an hour and a half worth of commercials throughout the game, but half the plays in the game are either incomplete passes or runs for less than a yard. Wow how exciting! The difference between soccer and football is that soccer is a dynamic game and is always changing, the momentum ebbing and flowing with each kick of the ball, therefore never providing a boring moment for more than five minutes. With football if the game isn't high scoring or fast paced then you're in for a long game.

So now that I've touched on the two biggest things in the debate over soccer and football, I think I'll let you decide. Before I go I'd like to say that nothing frustrates me more than those ignorant Americans who won't give soccer a try because they don't have the patience to watch for longer than five minutes. Maybe after reading this you hardcore football fans may have a change of heart, but if not you're missing out on something truly amazing. There is a reason soccer is called the world's game.