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Wow, it is cold as a MoFo out there. I was happy to sit on the couch in a blanket and watch this one. The Phoenix Suns win their season opener against the Clippers in LA. It wasn’t the run&gun Suns I was hoping to see, they didn’t have a fast break point until near the end of the game. They put in a great effort on the boards, Grant Hill had 13 rebounds himself. As a matter of fact it was our two oldest players who put in the best effort. Grant Hill had 19 points along with those 13 rebs. Steve Nash had 24 points and 8 assists and the game winning shot! From azcentral.com; ”I went to the old White guy YMCA shot,” Nash said of his left-handed finish. “I was lucky to make something happen. Nash had told Suns coach Alvin Gentry in the preceding huddle that he might have to drive because he did not want to get stuck on the perimeter against Baron Davis. Nash scored 13 of the Suns’ final 18 points, saying that “you get competitive in the fourth quarter and you just want to win.” The bench played great in this one, I love watching their energy, they can be just as exciting as the starting lineup. From brightsideofthesun.com;

“If you’re looking for bright spot in the Suns’ game tonight, look no further than the play of the bench.  The second line provided a great spark and outplayed the heck out of the Clippers second team.  Don’t let their relatively anemic point totals (21 points total) fool you.  Louis Amundson did his irritant banging thing and Jared Dudley was everywhere, notching 7 boards in 23 minutes.  Goran Dragic was more than capable in reserve of Nash shooting a perfect 3 for 3, and dealing 3 assists with no turnovers in 11 minutes of reserve duty.  And Earl Clark’s first NBA performance bore a lot of similarities to his pre-season performance: he looks great when driving but struggles with his jumper.  He did demonstrate his versatility on the defensive end, performing effectively on a few different players.” No game tonight , the Suns play Golden State tomorrow night. Nice start to the season boys.

In the words of Nicky Santoro, “You call your self a man? You know you’re a lying lowlife motherfucking degenerate prick. You know that’s what you are?” That describes Tim Donaghy in a nutshell. Deadspin has excerpts of Donaghy’s book “Blowing The Whistle”. Look, Donaghy is a convicted felon who is trying to make some cash selling a book. That being said, these excerpts are pretty revealing, the book shows the Refs had a corrupt mentality and evil sense of humor when it came to officiating games. I don’t think it will come as a surprise to most hard-core NBA fans. We all know the league has favorites, its just to obvious. Check These Out.

“Relationships between NBA players and referees were generally all over the board-love, hate, and everything in-between. Some players, even very good ones, were targeted by referees and the league because they were too talented for their own good. Raja Bell, formerly of the Phoenix Suns and now a member of the Charlotte Bobcats, was one of those players. A defensive specialist throughout his career, Bell had a reputation for being a “star stopper.” His defensive skills were so razor sharp that he could shut down a superstar, or at least make him work for his points. Kobe Bryant was often frustrated by Bell’s tenacity on defense. Let’s face it, no one completely shuts down a player of Kobe’s caliber, but Bell could frustrate Kobe, take him out of his game, and interrupt his rhythm.”

“You would think that the NBA would love a guy who plays such great defense. Think again! Star stoppers hurt the promotion of marquee players. Fans don’t pay high prices to see players like Raja Bell-they pay to see superstars like Kobe Bryant score 40 points. Basketball purists like to see good defense, but the NBA wants the big names to score big points.”

“If a player of Kobe’s stature collides with the likes of Raja Bell, the call will almost always go for Kobe and against Bell. As part of our ongoing training and game preparation, NBA referees regularly receive game-action video tape from the league office. Over the years, I have reviewed many recorded hours of video involving Raja Bell. The footage I analyzed usually illustrated fouls being called against Bell, rarely for him. The message was subtle but clear-call fouls against the star stopper because he’s hurting the game. And how about that 2007 playoff series against the San Antonio? Read on if you dare. “My favorite Tommy Nunez story is from the 2007 playoffs when the San Antonio Spurs were able to get past the Phoenix Suns in the second round. Of course, what many fans didn’t know was that Phoenix had someone working against them behind the scenes. Nunez was the group supervisor for that playoff series, and he definitely had a rooting interest.”

“Nunez loved the Hispanic community in San Antonio and had a lot of friends there. He had been a referee for 30 years and loved being on the road; in fact, he said that the whole reason he had become a group supervisor was to keep getting out of the house. So Nunez wanted to come back to San Antonio for the conference finals. Plus, he, like many other referees, disliked Suns owner Robert Sarver for the way he treated officials. Both of these things came into play when he prepared the referees for the games in the staff meetings. I remember laughing with him and saying, “You would love to keep coming back here.” He was pointing out everything that Phoenix was able to get away with and never once told us to look for anything in regard to San Antonio. Nunez should have a championship ring on his finger.”

Like I said , Tim Donaghy is a degenerate gambling prick so take his words with a grain of salt.

Suns Vs Clippers. Here we go again. Suns start the season tonight against the Clippers in LA. This team will have no trouble scoring but rebounds are going to kill us, its something I think we will struggle with the whole season. And as long as Robin Lopez is out interior defense is going to be almost non existent. Enough of the negative right? The Season is just starting, lets think about the positives, at least thats what Grant Hill wants. From azcentral.com; “We know what we’re good at,” forward Grant Hill said. “We know what we’re average at. We know what we’re horrible at. Let’s try to improve upon the weak areas. Why not try to make them your strengths?” I likes it. Nice attitude Hill. Oh yeah , Blake Griffin is out for 6 weeks with a broken knee cap, because thats what happens when you get drafted by the Clippers.

That was horrible performance put on by the Sun Devils Saturday against Stanford. The offense is always shaky but this time the defense decided not to show up. It was going to be tough but the defense didn’t even put up a fight. From azcentral.com; ”It was head-scratching the way Stanford’s offense picked apart ASU, which came into this game ranked first in the conference in total defense and rush defense. The Sun Devils had allowed an average of 57.8 rushing yards per game. The Cardinal had that by the second quarter Saturday.” That sucks, and to think we will be facing Jahvid Best , one of the “best” running backs in the nation on Saturday. And good old Danny Sullivan? He reverted back to his uninspiring ways. And Sullivan is still going to get the start against Cal this Saturday. And how about penalties? Vontaze Burfict added two more personal fouls in the first half. So we had that going for us. Is the season over for the Sun Devils? Should we throw in the towel? If so can we please start Brock Osweiler! I don’t think so. Osweiler is not going to start any time soon. Things could get worse before they get any better if they get better at all. We face Cal then USC. Jeez , I hope we can at least beat Arizona. it looks like that may be the only thing that could salvage this season.

I am so excited for this season to begin! Even though we have no championship hopes (realistically) It is exciting to seeing this new Suns lineup in action. Over at azcentral.com; they have compiled a list of important dates for the 2009/2010 season. Personaly I think anytime we play the Lakers it is important, love getting a win from them. This season I will be looking forward to playing the Trail Blazers and Golden State, you know those games are going to be shoot outs. And of course how could you forget the first game against the evil empire San Antonio. “Feb 28th at San Antonio. This is the only Suns game ABC chose to show this season. If they drop a Dec. 15 home game against the Spurs, they would have a four-game losing streak against San Antonio. If the Suns have proved formidable again and have not traded Amaré Stoudemire by the February deadline, this will be their best stage to assert their standing.” I remember when we got Barkley, the first team I wanted to play was the Trail Blazers. I was like “lets see them try to push us around now!” Kevin Duckworth, Jerome Kersey and Buck Williams were no match for the Chuck Wagon.

The Arizona Cardinals played a great game on Sunday night football and defeated the NY Giants 24-17. Wow, my two favorite plays from the game, the plays that made me jump out of my seat. Interception by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in the 1st quarter that saved a touchdown. I think he is one of the more exciting players to watch on this Cardinals team. And then there was a great run to the outside by Beanie Wells for his first NFL touchdown. Beanie Wells had a great game , and by great I mean he gave the impression that the Cardinals have a decent running game Sunday night. From revengeofthebirds.com; ”This is the game that we’ve been waiting for from Wells. He didn’t break 100 yards and did fumble once out of bounds, but was solid in gaining positive yardage. After a Tim Hightower fumble, Beanie got the nod and provided a burst right away. His touchdown of the night was a thing of beauty as he bounced the ball to the outside, stiff-arming two defenders into the end zone.”  The Cardinals defense is playing awesome right now. The league always likes to talk about our offense but the Cards defense is wining games for us. From azcentral.com; ”The defense came up with three turnovers in the second half, including two on the Giants’ final possessions. Safety Matt Ware caused running back Ahmad Bradshaw to fumble on the first one, and an interception by safety Antrel Rolle with 1:08 left clinched the victory. “We played our best game, I think, today,” said strong safety Adrian Wilson, who missed the last few minutes of the game because of leg cramps.” So we have the lead in the NFC West, at 4-2, and we are 3-0 on the road. Good job Cardinals, I like where your head is at.

The Arizona Cardinals are headed to Gotham for some Sunday night football. The New York Giants are coming off a loss and that doesn’t bold well for us. The Cards have got to put together a game as good as the one played at Seattle last week. Andrew602 from revengeofthebirds.com makes the point that scoring early helps our chances; “The Cardinals have took early leads quickly in their last two games. The advantage to a quick score to start the game, is it throws the opponents running game out the window, and causes them to air it out with the Cardinals. It also takes the wind out of the opposing offense before they even have a chance to take the field. If the Cardinals can also come out and score right away, it would take the opposing crowd out of the game, something they’ll need in order to get the win on Sunday.” Taking the opposing crowd out is a big deal, if we get a large lead those New York fans will turn on their own team. This could be a big win, nobody in the national media is taking this team seriously with the shaky start we had and if things workout we could take the lead in the NFC West.

The Sun Devils had a lot of penalty yards in the win against Washington. One of the main culprits was a freshman linebacker named Vontaze Burfict. Burfict isn’t just any player he was the highest-ranked football prospect ever to sign a letter of intent to attend Arizona State University. He is ferocious, playing at the highest intensity at all times. He is going to have a great career at ASU. Right now he is young and playing on raw emotion. And Dennis Erickson doesn’t seem to mind to much. From azcentral.com; “The last thing Erickson wants is to water down Burfict’s passion. “He got carried away,” Erickson said. “That’s how he is, but he’s got to control it. I love his intensity. I don’t want to slow his intensity down because it’s contagious for the rest of the players, for the fans and for everybody involved in the program. But he’s got to be smart, and I know he will.” Burfict is exciting to watch and just one of the many reasons the ASU defense is one of the best in the nation. The game against Stanford is important, there are a lot of important PAC-10 games this weekend like USC vs Oregon. A win against Stanford would do a lot for our bowl prospects. From fanster.com; ”Both the Sun Devils and Cardinal, sitting at four wins a piece, need a win on Saturday to buoy each of their fragile bowl dreams. ASU and Stanford both come up on a brutal stretch of games after they face-off in Palo Alto this weekend and would desperately like to take this one to to a place where they’ll only need to steal one win down the stretch to earn a bowl berth.” Lets go Sun Devils! I hope Danny Sullivan can pull another game winner out of his ass!

Channing Frye had another solid game with 29 points and Amare Stoudemire added 26 points in his best performance of the preseason. Nash left the game with a sprained ankle (he will be just fine) and Hill was ejected after receiving two technical fouls. And once again the re-placement refs did a horrible job. From brightsideofthesun.com; “It is hard to look at a 143 point performance and not be pleased but when comes on the back of 82 combined free throw attempts and a Grant Hill ejection it can only be described as ugly. That’s right, Grant Hill got bounced about half way through the 3rd after arguing no-call on Amare on the previous play. Kings guard Kevin Martin summed it up best, “It was just an ugly game. It was like the ball was deflated and we were stopping every second and that’s all I’m going to say about that.” I guess the real refs will be back in action by the time the season starts, so we can scream profanities and wonder if the game is fixed just like before. So Stoudemire and Frye looked great. You know who else played awesome? Goran Dragic. Thats right, Dragic scored 21 points had eight rebounds and four assists. From valleyofthesuns.com; “Today was totally different,” said Dragic, who recorded a plus 32. “I made a couple shots and my confidence went up and everything is different, so my hopes are that I’m going to continue that. He was aggressive both on the dribble and in taking shots, and his eight rebounds prove he isn’t afraid to mix things up a bit. “Confidence,” Gentry said. “It’s all about confidence with him. I didn’t see him do anything differently, He did a really good job of his decision making tonight as far as knowing when to shoot, when not to shoot and when to pass, things like that, so hopefully that’s something that he can just build on from here.” Looks like things are starting to come together nicely. Can’t wait for the real season to start!

Matt Leinart has sort of faded away from the public spot light. He is a backup quarterback in the NFL. Not a bad job, especially on a Super-Bowl team. After being drafted in 2006 he hasn’t exactly set the NFL on fire. He did set a rookie record with 405 passing yards in a loss to the Vikings. Now he holds a clip board backing up Kurt Warner. However in college he was the “big man on campus” at USC. Leinart led USC to two national championships and won a Heisman Trophy in 2004. And those accomplishments along with some other stats seem good enough for sportingnews.com to name Leinart college football athlete of the decade. Decade man!!  From Sporting News; “He was never a living legend like Tebow—never quite had the same visceral presence—but Leinart had a 37-2 record as a starter, won or shared two national titles and owns a Heisman Trophy. Moreover, he was Pete Carroll’s point man as the Trojans went from rising power to the kings of college football. If not for a historic Vince Young-led drive in one of sports’ greatest championship games ever, the case for Leinart would be crystal clear.”

Leinart: 37-2 record, 10,679 total yards, 109 total TDs, one Heisman, two national titles
Tebow: 25-5 record, 9,115 total yards, 118 total TDs, one Heisman, two national titles*
* Not a starter on first title team.

I guess that settles it. Readers of Sporting News had Tim Tebow winning 79% to Matt Leinart’s 21%. But how many girls can Tim Tebow fit into a hot tub? How good is he at letting girls drink from a beer bong? People, some things can’t be taught, they just come naturally.

I just read a great interview of Alvin Gentry. People seem to be fascinated by the style of basketball we play in the valley. Coach Gentry goes into a little more detail about what it takes to run the “uptempo style”. Fromsportingnews.com; “Oh, there is a lot more to it. There’s a method to the madness, and I think that’s where the biggest misunderstanding about the way we play is. We have led the league in field goal percentages the last (four) years, and we’ve done that because we’ve taken good shots. We just don’t come down there and fire away. I think what we have to do is consistently keep the defense on their heels, and the only way to do that is to be dedicated to running on every possession. That’s what we’re trying to get back to, where we have the mentality of that we’re running on every possession and that we’re in better physical shape than you are, so in the fourth quarter, when your shot is falling a little bit short, we’ll still have our legs to make ours. I guess that’s the simplest form of what we’re trying to do.” Suns basketball really is the most exciting basketball to watch. It’s how the game should be played, it’s how you naturally play the game. Later on in the interview Alvin Gentry addresses whether a championship can be won under this system. Gentry brings up the point that a lot of good teams did not win a championship. “So in other words, every year, there should be 29 teams that say you can’t win a championship (their) way. Because the system that they play has not been successful, either, for that season. That’s where I disagree with all of that. It is extremely difficult to win a championship. There’s been no been no better team in this league than the Utah Jazz, and unfortunately for them, I guy named Michael Jordan was in the league.” He’s right, a lot of good teams and great players never got a championship because of Michael Jordan. But one thing at a time. Lets hope the Suns can just get to the playoffs.

I thought this was going to be a close game, it was a blow out. Kurt Warner had a great day at the office, he went 32 for 41 with 276 yards. Warner surpassed 30,000 career passing yards. The offense looked fluid, we rushed for only 62 yards but it was enough to keep the Seattle defense honest, Tim Hightower scored on a two yard run. The Arizona Cardinals Defense can be proud almost pitching a shut-out. From revengeofthebirds.com; “What a way to make a statement like not allowing a touchdown and holding your opponent to 14 rushing yards. The Cardinals answered critics when they contained a capable passing attack and kept the Seahawks out of the end zone. After failing to register any sacks the last two games, the Cardinals also walked away with five today. Pressure on Matt Hasselbeck was the key to the game, as it kept their offense out of sync and also forced several three and outs. To add to their already impressive day, they also forced a fumble and picked off Hasselbeck late in the game. The secondary fixed many of their flaws and didn’t allow a big play down field. The most important stat of the night, is that the defense didn’t blow a big lead in the second half.” I bet Darnell Dockett is going to have a lot to tweet about tonight!

Man that was one hell of a game!! It was close to a sellout at Sun Devil Stadium and those in attendance got to watch one of the best college football games of the year. Danny Sullivan threw a game winning touch down pass to Chris McGaha in the final seconds for 24-17 victory. Thats right sport fans I said Danny Sullivan. Earlier this year I was at the Idaho State game sitting with a bunch of ASU fans and as the Devils took the field when someone in the crowd yelled “Hey Sullivan, kill yourself” everyone in the crowd laughed. I think on Saturday night he may have just redeemed himself. On my Facebook page I said “wow Danny I didn’t know you had it in you” A friend commented back “he Didn’t, UW defense fell asleep”. He has a point but I think a more important point was Sullivan saw an opportunity and took it, under pressure. That success is going to a a lot for his confidence. From fanster.com; “I think the game-winning strike to McGaha capped off what was a real night of growing up for Danny Sullivan. For the first time all season, he looked confident. Cool in the pocket. Dare I say…in control? I dare. He was in control of the football game.” Dimitri Nance had another solid performance, Thomas Weber was off all night, he is no where near %100. Penalties. We had 99 yards in penalties, The majority of those came in the first half. Vontaze Burfict was responsible for three personal fouls. That guy is an animal. I thought he was going to tear some ones head off and shit down their neck at any moment. From houseofsparky.com;”Vontaze Burfict is extremely talented, but he needs to check himself before he wrecks himself: He runs around like he is about to kill whoever gets in his way, and I love having him on our side. But at times last night, he was literally out of control. We cannot have him committing so many penalties. It makes us look bad and ruined several good defense stops. In time, he will be considered one of the best. For now, he needs to realize what is important- making plays before the whistle blows.” And how about Chris McGaha, only caught one pass but it was the one that counted. How could you leave one of the best receivers in the country open?

So the Arizona Cardinals are heading up North to play The Seattle Seahawks. I wouldnt mind visiting that part of the country, maybe for a Pearl Jam concert, I was listening to the reissued Ten (10) album yesterday, good stuff and Backspacer isnt that bad either. Where was I, oh yeah the Cards. It would be nice if the Cards could put some pressure on the quarterback. Our pass defense is ranked 32nd overall, in games where we have pressured the quarterback and gotten a sack we have been successful. In games where the pass rush has been neutralized we have been beaten, like the Colts game. Sundays target is Matt Hasselbeck. And Hasselbeck loves us. When it came to the Pro-Bowl he voted for DRC and Adrian Wilson. Hasselbeck evens tweets to the Cards Darnell Dockett. From ktar.com; ”Bitter rivals? The games between them are intense, but the run-up to Sunday’s latest meeting of the Cardinals and the team from which they seized the NFC West title last season feels like a love-in. Hasselbeck’s Twitter stream this week has included requests from Dockett not to use hard snaps counts or other tricks to disrupt Arizona’s pass rush. “no hard counts?” Hasselbeck tweeted back. Dockett has also tweeted joke gift offerings. “I’m thinking if I bring @MatthewHass8 sum cheesecake he will let me get 2sacks” Dockett posted Tuesday.”  What Id LOVE is for Dockett to put this guy on his back a couple of times. This is an important game, it would mean we would be above .500 and tied with San Francisco at 3-2 in the NFC West. Jeez tied with San Fran, what a crazy season this has been.

Some good news for the Sun Devils heading into Saturdays game against Washington, Thomas Weber was kicking in practice this week and will be a game time decision according to coach Dennis Erickson. From fanster.com; ”DE told the gathered media yesterday that Weber is “60% healthy”…whatever that means. Jeff Metcalfe says that Weber was nailing field goals from 42 yards out, nine yards short of his career long of 53. The alleged “healthy percentage” makes me think that Thomas will not be available for any kickoffs but, if he plays, would be good for extra points and shorter-range field goals.” The kicking game has been a major embarrassment, Bobby Wenzig has been laughable, prompting coaching staff to bring in two walk on kickers as motivation for Wenzig to get his shit together. We need all the help we can get. This is the part of the season that turns into a dog fight. A win against Washington would give ASU a record of 4-2, with games coming up against Stanford, Cal, USC and Oregon. We are in the “shit” and we need to have everybody healthy.