The Shaq era got off to a solid start Saturday as the Cavaliers hosted their annual Wine and Gold Scrimmage. The game pitted a team led by Shaquille O'Neal against one led by LeBron James with Shaq's winning 54-38. Oneal looked in mid season form as he scored 12 points on 6 of 8 shots, moving well while he was doing it and even capping off a fast break drive with a lay-up.
"They weren't doubling me and I'm only shooting 60 percent lifetime," O'Neal joked. "So I'm just taking my time."
LeBron, on the other hand, was showing some rust as he put up ten points on 4 of 12 shooting and 2-7 free-throws.
Other scrimmage standouts were second year forward J.J. Hickson, who put up 11 points and 5 boards and rookie Danny Green, who scored 10 points.
Officials....um, I mean Patriots, beat Baltimore!
You have to question the direction that the NFL is taking when every year there are more and more new rules preventing players from actually being physical during games. Another problem is the blatant favoritism some officials give to certain players. Such was the case in New Englands 27-21 victory over the Baltimore Ravens where 2 'ticky-tack' calls led to 14 points for the Patriots. The calls mentioned were roughing the passer calls against the Ravens for basically touching Patriots QB Tom Brady.
"Without totally going off the wall here, it is embarrassing to the game," linebacker Ray Lewis said. “Brady is good enough to make his own plays, let him make the play. When you have two great teams that are going at it, let them go at it. Both of their touchdown drives had personal fouls that kept drives alive. Did that win or lose the game? No, but it got them 14 points."
4-0 and Going Strong.
The Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, and the Denver Broncos all improved to 4-0 Sunday behind impressive wins. The surprise team out of this bunch has to be the Denver Broncos who won over the Dallas Cowboys Sunday in a game nobody thought they would win. The Broncos, showing a revamped and highly improved defense, seem to be thriving behind steady new QB Kyle Orton who has taken protecting the ball to new heights as he has yet to throw an interception in 4 games with Denver.
And the Season is ove.......wait, one more game!
It's playoff time in the MLB but before they can get to the playoffs, they have to play a playoff game Tuesday to determine the final playoff spot. The thanks for this lies at the feat of the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers who both won Sunday, forcing a Tuesday playoff game to determine who wins the American League Central and gets the right to face the Yankees in the opening round of the postseason.
"It's going to be fun," Detroit's Curtis Granderson said. "I'm sure Minnesota is going to be rocking."
Gotta love the Oakland Raiders!
That's right, you have to love the Oakland Raiders, for sheer entertainment purposes if for nothing else. If the on the field antics haven't been funny enough to watch, now their head Coach, Tom Cable, is in the midst of some possible legal trouble as well.
The trouble for Cable stems from an Aug 5th confrontation with then assistant coach Rich Hanson where Cable broke the jaw of Hanson in front of numerous witnesses. Hanson reported the assault to the police and Cable could soon be facing charges for felony assault.
If arrested, Cable could also face a suspension from the NFL for violation of the personal conduct policy. Under the policy, coaches and executives are held to the same standard, if not a higher one, than the players.
