Miracle at the Meadowlands!

So I was getting ready to do a post on the Miracle at the Meadowlands, definitely a unique play in NFL history. But..looks like ESPN totally beat me to it and was able to do research/interview people and stuff. All I had was a youtube clip. Meh.

In honor of the eagles-giants game (and because people are hating on our sportssceneit team’s lack of sports history knowledge), here’s the story behind the miracle at the meadowlands. The Giants are leading the Eagles 17-12 and it looks like they have just wrapped up a win at home following a late Ron Jaworski pick. All the Giants had to do was take a couple of QB knees. Instead, the Giants decided to run a play with a few seconds left (which is standard Madden XBOX protocol, but not so hot for real games). The play is so controversial that some of the players/coaches involved from the giants side still refuse to talk about, more than 20 years after the game. The Eagles (naturally) sent an all-out blitz on the play.

The ball was snapped and the Giants QB, Pisarcik had some trouble handling the ball. He turned to hand the ball off to his running back, but fumbled the exchange. An Eagles DB, none other than the Chiefs’ Herm Edwards, timed his jump perfectly and broke free through the line. The ball hit the turf and Edwards pulled off one of the most clutch scoop and scores in the history of the NFL. Ballin.

French Open Update

We’re into the second week of the French Open, and my pick for the women’s final was completely destroyed. Sharapova lost a close 3 set match to Safina. Although Safina was a 13 seed, this wasn’t as big of an upset as it seems. Sharapova lost to Safina in 2006. This match was crazy though because Sharapova had a match point…and promptly lost the next 2 sets. The third set wasn’t even close, as Safina took it 6-2. Not a clutch performance there by Sharapova, and she misses out again on a chance to complete her career grand slam. Things could be worse though – she’s still probably the biggest women’s tennis player in the world, and has commercials with ESPN, Gatorade, Nike, and Cannon. {BTW…i’m sorry to discuss clutchness because I know that’s a very popular topic with our blog but…why is Peyton Manning in those clutch gatorade commercials? I think I’ll take Tom Brady over Peyton Manning in clutch situations every single time. That’s fine though..Peyton’s lead some game winning drives and is a super bowl champion and all now. But this is just ridiculous. ELI FREAKIN MANNING? IN THE LEAGUE OF CLUTCH? That was not a clutch play. The catch was a MIRACLE. That’s what you do in madden/ncaa08 when there’s a mad blitz…you run backwards about 10 yards, and then lob a high pass to your receiver. I don’t think Eli Manning’s clutch skills caused that pass. Fact. For evidence, watch any end game situation Eli Manning plays next season (except against the Redskins – their D’s awful) . Guaranteed to throw for >1 interception.}

But back to the Open. Both of the Williams sisters lost on the same day, in the second round of the French Open. That was pretty surprising considering they seem to be taking tennis seriously right now. I really believe that when on their games, the Williams sisters are the best tennis players in the world. Henin was the only one who could consistently compete and beat them; Sharapova still has to prove that. One thing that is cool about this suddenly wide-open French Open is that there are 4 possible overall #1′s at the end of the tournament: Sharapova, Ivanovic, Jankovic and Kuznetsova. Updated Prediction: Ivanovic will beat Jankovic in the semifinals and go on to win the French.

Men’s Draw

Most of the top players are still intact on the men’s side of the draw. Ginepri was the last American player standing and he was also recently eliminated. Hopefully the Americans work on their clay court games because their next Davis Cup matches (kinda like the world cup of tennis) will be on clay, at Spain. Nadal appears to be peaking at the right time – he absolutely dominated his quarterfinals match, winning 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. His next match should be a great one, as he faces Djokovic in the semifinals. The last Frenchman standing is Gael Monfils. He’s making his breakthrough. This kid’s a baller, and a lotta people like his chances in the years to come. Prediction: Everything’s still pointing to a Nadal-Federer final, and Nadal’s my predicted winner.

Not to copy the other Shammgod…

…but I heard too much about clutch at the end of the Celts-Cavs game. Yes, I think some element of clutch exists but no, not every shot was clutch. For example, if Ray Allen shot 10 free throws in that situation he would probably make about 9 of them. Also, I don’t see how Pierce’s free throw was clutch because he missed pretty badly, but it was still sweet. At any rate, congrats to the Celtics and thanks for making the series interesting.