The reason I feel Sean Taylor is the most valuable Redskin and soon to be best player in the NFL comes down to two games from last season: Week 10 at Tampa Bay, and the first round of the playoffs at Tampa Bay. The first game the score was a 36-35 Redskins loss. Sean Taylor was injured and did not play. The second game was a 17-10 win. Sean Taylor did play. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpZ0Dyy5uDU
In the first game Brunell threw for over 200 yards and two scores, Portis ran for 144 yards and one score, and the Moss/Cooley duo combined for 10 catches and 155 yards. In the second game Brunell threw for 41 yards, Portis ran for 53 yards and the Moss/Cooley duo combined for four catches and 30 yards. Why then, did the Redskins lose the first game and win the second? The answer is simple: Sean Taylor.
In the first game Chris Simms was throwing the ball around like his dad Phil used to. His receivers were getting open at an alarming rate and he torched the Redskins secondary for 279 yards and three touchdowns. Without Taylor in the secondary roaming around and putting fear into every receiver on the field, the passing game was easy for the Buccaneers. In the second game however, Simms struggled to get anything going all day long and despite the poor offensive performance by the Redskins they were able to win the game. A win that put the Redskins in the second round of the playoffs.
Aside from the fact that Taylor is a ball hawk, recovering fumbles in two straight games for touchdowns, touchdowns that won both games, his mere presence on the field changes the way offenses have to game plan. Receivers are scared to cross the middle for fear of becoming the recipient of a mind numbing blow, or even worse, alligator arming a pass because of the thought of Sean Taylor lurking. He has the ability to shut down half, or even the entire field. He is a safety with linebacker size and sub 4.4 speed. He hits really really hard all the time. In an early training camp scrimmage against the Baltimore Ravens Sean Taylor put this hit on Mike Anderson... http://www.youtube.com/watchv=cncs76D8D_M ...After the scrimmage when asked about the hit on Anderson, he called it routine.
As a Florida State Seminole I know all to well Sean Taylor(former Miami Hurricane) and his ability to completely shut down an opposing offense. Against the Seminoles in the rain he did everything from intercept passes, sack the quarterback, and even down a punt on the one yard line. His entire Hurricane career he dominated the Seminoles, a team which year in and year out puts talent on the field. He is on the verge of dominating again.
Last year he shut down two premier athletes at their position, Randy Moss and Antonio Gates. He delivered big hit after big hit and big play after big play. Entering just his 3rd year in the NFL Taylor has yet to enter his prime. The third year is usually the breakout year for rising players. Ed Reed rose to elite status after his third year. Expect Sean Taylor to do the same, maybe even more. If you feel the need to write me off as a homer, go ahead, but just be sure to watch this video...in its entirety first. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA61sF2OrsA&mode=related&search=
In the land of make believe I am writing this post because I have been chosen by Fox Sports as one of the 16 finalists. 14 of the other "pretenders" have been eliminated and now it is down to two. This is my final post and if I don't give it my all well....I'm going home as the first loser.
In reality I was not chosen as a finalist as my blog was not top 16 material. But it's OK to pretend, because it is what every person aspiring to make it to the big-time does. As a kid growing up my life was basketball. Every day outside shooting I would count down from five, firing off the shot with about two seconds left, and making the buzzer sound with my mouth.
Perhaps imagining every blog I write is the most important of my life is a little crazy, but it is the reason I should move on to the next round. It is the ultra competitiveness (not sure if that is a word but it sounded cool) mentality, the mind set that I will do anything to win anything, even if it is a contest where the grand prize is a "Nice Post" comment under my blog.
No matter the contest, no matter the prize, I am here for the long haul and I am here for one reason and one reason only. To win.
Not only is she attractive, a former model in Russia, but she is also laid back and has even said that her husband, Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko, has an allowance of one woman a year.
Kirilenko has said he will not choose that path, but just the fact she would allow him to do something like that vaults her to the top in my book. It shows she understands her husband is a 27 year old NBA star and by giving him the option to concede to a beautiful women once a year, it proves just how confident she really is.
While I don't know her personally (unfortunately,) making this move makes her seem much smarter than the average bear. Of course her husband isn't going to sleep with one groupie a year, only an idiot would do that when married to a woman like Masha.
However, by proclaiming it is ok for him to sleep with a different girl once a year, it makes her seem cool, confident and unphased by all the attraction her husband may be receiving.
She now has her husband, the media and anyone else interested in her relationship with Andrei, under control.
Ok Ok, maybe she didn't really think that much into it before making the decision, but either way....Masha Lopatova is the hottest spouse in sports.
(This is a repost, but on the eve of the finalist's announcement, I though it would be good to post one more time.)
While trying to think of a sport that I could compare this with this contest, I realized it would be more difficult than I first imagined. In basketball if you hit a shot at the buzzer the crowd will erupt, or go completely silent, and you know what you have done is great. In football if you catch a game winning touchdown pass, your teammates will pile on top of you and you realize you have done something spectacular. In baseball if you hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of ninth, and trot slowly around the bases, you know the glory that will be waiting for you when you touch home plate. In a sports-writing contest, with little rules, you have know idea what will happen after clicking the "post to blog" icon. You only have yourself, your mind and the confidence in yourself to continue to write blog after blog. All for a hope that the NGS fairies will sprinkle the dust on your blog, and you will be selected as one of the sweet 16.
That is when I realized NGS isn't a sport, it is practice. It is shooting 500 jump shots in a row in the gym until the lights go off, and the shots go in, even when it is pitch black. It is coming to practice early and staying late to watch game film or to fix a weakness. It is running one extra lap around the track just because you feel like you have to. It is giving everything you possibly can, because of a fear that your opponent could be going just a little bit harder.
There is no coach, there is no one chearing you on, it is just you and hard work. When you are alone in the gym, or in the film room, or in the locker room; you only have yourself, your mind and the confidence in yourself to continue to go hard even if you have doubts.
This contest requires a self-confidence that is rivaled by no sport. You don't have teammates, you don't have coaches, you don't even have very much feedback. All you have is hope. Hope that all the practice pays off, and that when it comes time for the coach to annouce the team, that your name is called.
NGS II is writing one more blog before you go to sleep, just because you feel like you have to.
Sports, like life, are gutwrenching and can go from the highest of high's to the lowest of low's in a matter of second's. It's six in the morning, I haven't gone to sleep and I have been drinking all night. However, now is the time I have chosen to get online and discuss sports. To most people, sports are just entertainment, but the truth is that nothing in this world resembles the difficulties of life quite like sports.
About 12 hours ago I was tuned in to the Preakness, pulling for Barbaro to get the win and set up a Triple Crown possibility. It is a feat which hasn't been accomplished since 1979, but this year it seemed to be a distinct possibility because of the dominance Barbaro had demonstrated at the Kentucky Derby. Everything was going as planned until the horses entered the gates and Barbaro blasted through the high powered magnets prematurely. Although it had no effect on the actual outcome, it was a bad omen, something no one liked to see happen to the Kentucky Derby champ. After the race started Barbaro began as normal but soon had to be held up because of a hind leg injury.
Injury...the only possible thing in the world that could have stopped that horse from winning the race. The race continued on, but it just didn't seem the same, the horse everyone wanted to see was eliminated too soon. Instead of winning the Preakness and creating images of a Triple Crown winner, Barbaro is now just fighting to stay alive. From such a dramatic high comes a dramatic low. Things never go the way they are supposed to in sports, just like in life.
Love and the opposite sex are possibly the most difficult thing for a human to grasp. Even when you believe you have found true love, things go wrong and shatter your hopes. True love is giving up your everything and putting faith in something bigger than yourself. For the most part, people get burned for giving up their heart to someone else. A relationship you thought was meant to last forever ends in a terrible way, and your heart that you gave away is returned...shattered. Things never go the way they are supposed to in love and life, just like in sports.
But the same thing which makes life, love and sports so difficult, is what keeps us coming back for more. The chance that maybe we will see a team finally win after years and years of losing. Or finally seeing a horse win consecutive races that just seemed to difficult to do. Or maybe we will even find that one person in our life who we were meant to be with, the person who makes life worth living.
In the end all we can do is hope. All we can do is pour our heart, guts, soul and just about everything we have into what we love. The chance of our favorite team winning the Super Bowl or World Series or NBA championship may be slim, but we hope and have faith because that is all we can do. The chance of finding that one person in the world who was meant to be with you may be slim, but it is why we are here, and we have to fight each day as hard as we can.
There is nothing better than love and there is nothing better than sports. The ability to put faith in something we have no control over is what makes life truly worth living. Giving everything you have, hoping that in the end it will pay off, is the only reason to do anything in this world.
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