Sports – Page 12 – the Addison Recorder

Addison Recorder Football Pick ‘Em: Week Five

September 25, 2014 by Alex Bean Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Addison Recorder‘s football Pick ‘Em column. Each week Alex and a guest writer will predict the outcome of the most intriguing games on the slate. He will try to be as expert as possible, but we make no guarantees for his guests.

Sad Urban Meyer eats the lukewarm pizza of woe. (Image via)

Cincinnati at #22 Ohio State

Bean:

An all-Ohio showdown! It’s reached the point where I prefer talking about this to discussing Michigan’s chances of retaining the Little Brown Jug.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Buckeyes have already suffered an upset at home at the hands of a Virginia Tech team that subsequently lost their next two games. OSU whipped some cupcake the next week, but this is team is not the Death Star its immediate predecessors were. Cincinnati has unleashed new QB Gunner Kiel in their first two games to the tune of 689 yards and 10 TDs. <thinks about Michigan’s passing stats across four games and then dies> Anyway, The Bearcats will blitz like crazy and try to hit a lot of big pass plays. Ohio State will runrunrun and try not to get behind the chains or implode in the secondary. This week, I think they fail to do so. Why? To quote the Bible “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,’ says the Lord.” Bearcats by 10

Meryl:

As a former Columbus resident who used to live a little too close to campus, I am not normally inclined to side with Buckeyes fans, as they are the worst. That said, my family still lives close to campus and I don’t want their cars to be set on fire, which would surely happen if the Buckeyes lost to Cincinnati. Here’s hoping for a win for Ohio State by 7. [Read more…]

Michigan Football As We Know It is Dead

September 24, 2014 by Alex Bean Leave a Comment

The end of the last game was visual metaphor for the entire program. (Image via)

So far this football season I have gone 9-10 in my weekly football prediction column for The Recorder. In the two fantasy football leagues I have a team in I have gone 2-4. Clearly I have some strong opinions about this sport, but am sorely lacking when it comes to successfully converting those opinions into success. Fortunately, there is no blow-back to my mediocrity except some mild bruises to my ego. Such is unfortunately not the case with Dave Brandon and Brady Hoke, the Athletic Director and Head Coach who have overseen the final death and obsolescence of Michigan football as I have known it my entire life. [Read more…]

Thoughts from the Dugout: The Domino Theory

September 18, 2014 by Travis J. Cook Leave a Comment

We’re near the end-game. Two more September updates, and then it’s time for playoffs, aka: that time when everyone else on staff hates me because the Recorder will be swarmed with baseball articles. Tuesday night, the first two division berths were secured by Beltway powerhouses Washington and Baltimore (let that sink in for a moment), both of whom easily clinched their divisions with leads of 12.5 and 13.5 games (as of Wednesday). In addition, the Angels are assured of a berth of some kind – barring a monumental collapse of infinitely small odds, they’ll clinch their division sometime this week. (Before Wednesday’s games, they had a magic number of 2 to clinch the division – one A’s loss and an Angels win would grant them the title, in other words. Again, we’re talking an unprecedented collapse for them not to win the division.)

(Thursday update – Sure enough, last night, the Angels clinched the division by winning 5-0 against Seattle as Oakland dropped a game against Texas 6-1. Rather than edit everything, I’m simply noting that I submitted my copy for deadline before Wednesday’s slate of games. You’re on your own.) [Read more…]

Addison Recorder Football Pick ‘Em: Week Four

September 18, 2014 by Alex Bean 1 Comment

Welcome to the Addison Recorder‘s football Pick ‘Em column. Each week Alex and a guest writer will predict the outcome of the most intriguing games on the slate. He will try to be as expert as possible, but we make no guarantees for his guests.

Utah at Michigan did not go Bean’s way in 2008. (Image via)

Utah at Michigan

Bean:

This game is asking for my tears. Michigan has beaten a couple terrible teams with some authority, but got shut out for the first time since the first Reagan administration in their last game against Notre Dame. Utah, meanwhile, is coming off a very unlucky 5-7 season dictated by injuries and has destroyed the first two cupcakes on their schedule. I live in great fear of this game. I can already see Utah blitzing Devin Gardner into mistakes and getting enough big plays to walk out of Ann Arbor with a win. If this game was being played in Salt Lake City I would easily predict Utah. As is…<vomits>…Michigan by 3. [Read more…]

Thoughts from the Dugout: Movers and Shakers

September 11, 2014 by Travis J. Cook Leave a Comment

Writing a weekly column is fun! Writing a weekly baseball column about the state of the postseason in the middle of a busy week with work, class, and other assorted pastimes is challenging. This results in last minute updates of respective standings, one which I promise to you I will fulfill. I just want everyone to know exactly what’s up.

Let the Good Times Roll/I’ve Seen Better Days

These guys are probably having a way better time than you.

We’re leading with dueling song titles, because the state of the league has entered into something approaching wonderful flux. The big money teams are down (with two rather notable exceptions in SoCal), the little, scrappy teams are up, and some old stand-bys are plugging along, doing what they do year in and year out with remarkable consistency. On the one hand, if the season ended today, the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, and Phillies would all be out of the postseason. This shift away from the East Coast powerhouses of the last decade has been transplanted by the rise of the West Coast, with both LA teams, the Giants, and Oakland representing sunny Cal in the playoffs. [Read more…]

Addison Recorder Football Pick ‘Em: Week Three

September 11, 2014 by Alex Bean Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Addison Recorder‘s football Pick ‘Em column. Each week Alex and a guest writer will predict the outcome of the most intriguing games on the slate. He will try to be as expert as possible, but we make no guarantees for his guests.

This is almost certainly Chris’s idea of home. (Image via)

Rice Owls at #7 Texas A&M Aggies

Going solo this week because the match-ups sort of suck. Also, let me just say that last week sucked and let’s never talk about it again. (Editor’s note – when I win in a head-to-head football pick ’em with Bean, you know how incredibly and improbably such a week sucked in the grand scheme of things, because I have no business getting so much football right. – Andrew) Moving on, we’ve got this pick leading off in honor of next week’s guest-picker: our very own Texas A&M alum and lifelong Aggie fanatic, Chris Walsh. He can hardly stand a day in which we don’t talk about the glory that is A&M football and/or Johnny Manziel, so it’s only fair. In real life, this game will not be a contest. A&M started the season by blowing the doors off of South Carolina in a game I predicted very incorrectly. They will do worse things to a Rice team that has nowhere near their talent level. It will get ugly. Chris will watch every glorious second while whispering “Gig ‘Em.” Aggies by the square root of all the cattle in Texas. [Read more…]

Thoughts from the Dugout: Race to the Postseason

September 4, 2014 by Travis J. Cook Leave a Comment

The calendar has turned. The evenings are starting to become a bit cooler, leaves are clinging to the last vestiges of green, and school is back in session. It’s also the last breath of the regular baseball season before jumping into the October playoff frenzy. There are multiple reasons as to why we’re entering my favorite time of the year, and the fact that the World Series is right around the corner plays no small part in this feeling.

[Read more…]

Addison Recorder Football Pick ‘Em: Week Two

September 4, 2014 by Alex Bean Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Addison Recorder‘s football Pick ‘Em column. Each week Alex and a guest writer will predict the outcome of the most intriguing games on the slate. He will try to be as expert as possible, but we make no guarantees for his guests.

Michigan at #16 Notre Dame

Jehu Chesson goes bowling in last year’s game. (Image via.)

Alex:

This is the last game scheduled in this rivalry for the foreseeable future. Notre Dame decided that it needed to drop to only two Big Ten games per year since it entered a scheduling agreement with the ACC. To which I say: to hell with Notre Dame! Michigan literally taught them how to play football and they’re gonna drop us in favor of more games against Purdue and North Carolina State? Go straight to hell, Domers. If there’s any vindication for Michigan fans it is that we should send the hated Irish off with another loss. Both teams looked good on their opening weekend, but Notre Dame is missing several starters and key contributors due to an academic fraud scandal. That should be enough to propel Michigan to victory behind a newly-coherent offense and aggressive defense. Wolverines by 10. [Read more…]

Talkin’ Softball 22 Years Later: Thoughts from the Dugout

August 28, 2014 by Travis J. Cook Leave a Comment

A lot has happened in baseball of late: Mo’ne Davis proving there’s no crying in baseball … except for the kids she strikes out; Jackie Robinson West advancing to the tops of the Little League World Series; and continuing struggles in the race for October. Starting September, I’ll update every week regarding the playoff race. For now, the new TV station FXX is marathoning every episode of The Simpsons, and the baseball/softball tribute/parody “Homer at the Bat” grabbed my attention, if only for the sterling line-up of major league guest stars. The episode aired twenty-two years ago, either two too many or three too few for a proper anniversary tribute, but I wanted to check in on what the Springfield Power Plant softball team stars have been up to.

[Read more…]

Addison Recorder Football Pick ‘Em: Week One

August 28, 2014 by Alex Bean Leave a Comment

Welcome to The Addison Recorder’s football Pick ‘Em column. Each week Alex and a guest writer will predict the outcome of the most intriguing games on the slate. He will try to be as expert as possible, but we make no guarantees for his guests.

Appalachian State at Michigan

Appalachian State Michigan Upset 2007 WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY

WHY THE FUCK ARE WE BRINGING THIS UP AGAIN?! (Image via.)

Bean: Fuck this game. I hate Michigan’s AD, Dave Brandon, for scheduling it. I’m sure he did it because it will draw interest in a cheap way (his reason to exist, apparently) and could exorcise the ghost of The Horror. But it won’t. All it does is bring up memories of that fiasco and even if Michigan wins in 2014 they cannot erase the loss from 2007. Not ever. Playing this game is so stupid I want to explode. Michigan will win, because ASU isn’t as good as they were in ’07. But neither is Michigan. <sighs angrily all day> Wolverines by at least 20 points.

Travis: This game is the best thing since sliced bread. This game invented the wheel. This game painted the Mona Lisa, with enough time left over to make creme brulees for the entire coaching staff and roster of App State. This game is a thing of beauty, a tribute to all that is good and right with the world. Also, Michigan is going to dominate. Wolverines by 21. [Read more…]