"NBA Lockout Ends and Players Get Played"

I know I wrote a piece talking about how I didn't care about the NBA lockout, but, well, that doesn't mean I'm happy with the outcome.  This piece by David Zirin in the Nation pretty much sums up my feelings on this whole mess (short: "the rich got richer, the players got played and the fans didn’t get a damn thing"):

There are no promises that the owners will plow this newfound lucre into their teams. In fact, there are now greater restraints on spending than before. There are no assurances that any funds will be earmarked for coaches or scouts. There are no announcements that any of these savings will translate into lower ticket prices or NBA package discounts for fans. All it means is that the owners have received a financial windfall because they own and we don’t. Now Donald Sterling, owner of the LA Clippers, can buy some more slums. Now Phil Anschutz, minority-boss of the Lakers, can keep fighting the teaching of evolution in schools. Now Dick Devos of the Orlando Magic can give even more generously to Focus on the Family. Now every shadowy Koch brothers/Karl Rove political outfit that takes unlimited contributions will get a serious windfall just in time for the 2012 elections. Break out the bubbly.

This should sting every player, because coming off a year with record revenues, they should have been getting more, and instead they took historic cuts. Instead, their contracts are now not fully guaranteed. Instead, they are weakened. They are weakened even though they are the game. For the millions who paid good money to watch the Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan soar, no one ever paid a cent to see the Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan molt. Athletes are different than typical workers, and not just because their paychecks tower over our own. They are different because they fulfill the roles in production as both workers and product. They are the shoemaker and the shoe. Or as former Washington football great Brian Mitchell said to me, “In a restaurant, a chef cooks a steak. In sports, we are the chef and we are the steaks.”

Sibling Rivalry, Thanksgiving Style: Harbaugh vs. Harbaugh!

John Harbaugh and his AFC North-leading Baltimore Ravens defend their house against younger brother Jim Harbaugh and his NFC West-leading San Francisco 49ers.

Watch NFL Biography's story on their dad and how they got this way.

Green Bay v. Detroit and San Francisco vs. Baltimore.  What a schedule for to be thankful for.

Who's got it better than us? Noooo-body!

L.A. Galaxy wins MLS Cup!

credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times / November 20, 2011

More pictures here, via LAT.

And the wrap-up:

But [the MLS Cup win] may have been most important for Beckham, who needed a title to add an exclamation point to his controversial and transformative five years in MLS, ones in which he brought the Galaxy unprecedented levels of credibility and cash yet couldn't bring them a title. 

Now, however, he's a triple-crown winner, with his MLS championship joining ones won with Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Quad-crown, if you count that UEFA Champions League win along the way.

Oh, and here's captain Landon Donovan's beautiful, beautiful goal.  Doesn't matter that there was just one all night; the one they got was just perfect:

Weekend Sports Wrap-Up: NCAAF, NFL, MLS

And Then There Were Five... But It Didn't Matter.

photo credit Rusty Costanza/Times-Picayune

Last week, there were six undefeated teams, but it was inevitable that this week there would be no more than five, due to the long-anticipated Clash of the Titans between then-one-and-two LSU and Alabama.

A superb defensive performance on both sides led to an altogether boring exhibition as the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide 9-6 in OT.  The big surprise was the BCS fallout... or lack thereof.  Despite the loss, the strength of the Tide's schedule means the computers love them, and they drop only one spot to #3, Oklahoma State jumps to #2 after barely holding off an impressive Kansas State, and Stanford stays frosty at #4, despite jumping to USA Today #2 and Harris Poll #3.  Boise State is the big loser this week, as the polls show that despite some computerized love, voters controlling 2/3 of the BCS score will never choose the Mountain West goliath over a one-loss SEC team (though Big 12 and Pac 12 are apparently different stories)  Could be worse, Boise State; you could be in C-USA.

Oklahoma State holds their destinies in their own hands with a win over Oklahoma.  Stanford needs to sweep their tests against #7 Oregon, overrated Notre Dame, and probably Pac 12 Southern Division champ Arizona State to even stay in the running, and then will likely need help via a Cowboys loss.  If both the Cowboys and Cardinal drop a game somewhere?  Get ready for another 9-6 Clash of the Kickers...

The Colts Look to Get Luck-y, Who the Hell is "Matt Moore"?!

photo credit Alan Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post

Because I'm a Niners fan, I have to start by saying that this team is the real deal, and I take back everything bad I ever said about Alex Smith. It is obvious now that he suffered from a lack of good coaching and the churning of offensive coordinators (5 in his tenure at SF) and head coaches and hair-brained schemes.  But now he has Molder of Men Jim Harbaugh at the helm, and he looks like a completely different QB.  He's no dynasty QB, and never will be, but this year he's playing scrappy, smart West Coast Offensive like he grew up doing it, rather than throwing bombs with the Utes' spread offense.  6 years is a long time.

Look at their schedule: The 49ers, #2 in the entire NFL, have only played one NFC West game, putting them on track for a 12-win season, and no one's keeping them out of the playoffs this year.  Not bad for a team who finished 6-10 last season and has a Wikipedia subsection called "The difficult years" spanning the better part of a decade.  The real test will be how they fare against playoff-quality teams, of which they have three: next week hosting the NFC leading NY Giants (coming off a huge upset of Tom Brady's struggling Patriots), Week 12 at ascendant Baltimore, and hosting the Steelers in Week 15.  I'm especially interested in seeing how the Niners' middle-of-the-field-heavy offense handles Ray Lewis and the assassin-laden Ravens D.

Okay, since no one but me cares about the Niners, how 'bout them Colts?  With Miami tearing about Kansas City like butter, the Colts are the proverbial Cheese, standing alone.  Which means that they are winning the Suck for Luck sweepstakes.  Given that the team is by this point pretty obviously worthless without Peyton Manning, you've got to figure that Andrew Luck is going to Indy come draft time.  Which is pretty much the best thing that could happen to both the Heisman-frontrunner and the Colts dynasty.  Peyton will be back neck year, it seems, and Luck would have valuable time to train under a master, a la Joe Montana/Steve Young, or Brett Favre/Aaron Rodgers.  And we know how those guys turned out.  Better to red shirt a few years under one of football's greats than to try to get into a messy, high-pressure, rookie-year fight for the starting job against the likes of Sam Bradford or Matt Moore...

Speaking of Matt Moore... who the hell is this guy?  The Dolphins are a frighteningly bad 1-7 this season, but against what we thought was a solid Kansas City squad this year--as shown by their status as AFC West leaders--the 5th year, former Beaver (Oregon State, for you non-Pac 12ers) Matt Moore comes out of nowhere and throws 17/23, 244 yds, 3 TDs, no picks, earning him a 97.7 QB rating and the top QB performance of Week 10... this is a guy who has a QB rating of 79.7 and prior to Sunday, threw 1 TD and 4 INTs.  Is he the real deal, or was KC really just that bad?

I'm voting that KC is just that bad.

MLS Cup, Nov. 20 @ 9p EST, on ESPN!

The MLS Cup Final will be the Houston Dynamo at L.A. Galaxy, as the Home Depot Center is the site of this year's Cup Final. Only one team (DC United) has ever won an MLS Cup at their home stadium.

The Houston Dynamo apparently looked really good against Sporting KC at Livestrong Sporting Arena, the gem of MLS stadiums.  I wouldn't know, I didn't see any of it.

But I have seen the goal embedded here from L.A. Galaxy's 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake, a beautiful service from David Beckham right on the head of Mike Magee, who in now 3-for-3 in this playoff season, scoring every game.  Mike Magee is in the right place at the right time, which is pretty much exactly what you want from a guy who can't necessarily make things happen on his own, but is fast and accurate.  Good tactics by Bruce Arena on that one.  The other two goals came off a Landon Donovan PK and Irish MNT captain Robbie Keane's first MLS playoff goal.  Keane really stepped up, and was a one-man offense keeping RSL honest near the end of the game when the rest of the Galaxy had set its heels in and RSL was pushing everyone up in desperation.  He'll be key to beating the Dynamo.  The big question coming out of last night's match-up is: Where is Landon Donovan?  This playoff run has been all Beckham, all the time, and Keane is making chances, even if he's only scored once.  But Donovan seems relatively quiet, and will need to step up for the final.

The L.A. Galaxy and Houston Dynamo each have 2 MLS Cups, though the Dynamo franchise has another two from their previous incarnation as the original San Jose Earthquakes (not to be confused with the revitalized, current expansion team... it's a Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens thing, you understand).  Dynamos are 2-2 in the Cup Finals, Galaxy are 2-4.  This will be the Galaxy's 7th visit to the MLS Cup Final, an MLS record.  David Beckham has won silverware in the English Premiere League (Man U:6), La Liga (Real Madrid:1), and UEFA Champions League (Man U:1) and looks to add one in MLS to his trophy case in what may be his last season in the States.  The teams split their meetings in the regular season, with L.A. winning at HDC back in may (1-0), and losing Houston's regular season finale at Houston (1-3)... but take that 1-3 loss with a grain of salt, since only one of the Galaxy's current A-team (DeLaGarza) started.  Donovan Rickets was the starting goalie at the time, and the only starter playing as Galaxy had already locked up the Supporter's Shield.  Take a look at the 10/23 L.A. lineup:

Donovan Ricketts, Frankie Hejduk (Ryan Thomas 76), Gregg Berhalter, Dasan Robinson, A.J. DeLaGarza, Hector Jimenez, Chris Birchall, Dan Keat, Michael Stephens, Jovan Kirovski (Chad Barrett 62), Jack McBean.

No Beckham, Donovan, Todd Dunivant, Keane, Magee, Omar Gonzalez, Chad Barrett, Sean Franklin, Josh Saunders, or Juninho.  The Dynamo are a heavy underdog coming into this... for one thing, they'll be facing the newly explosive Robbie Keane up front, and Houston will be without team MVP and crucial midfielder Brad Davis, out with a torn right quad in the 39th minute against Sporting KC.

The Other Sunday Football: MLS Conference Championships

The Eastern and Western Conference Championships are now set, both for Sunday, but unfortunately with only one accessible to much of soccer-loving Americans.

For whatever reason, ESPN has only secured the rights to one of two of these semi-final match ups, so those without Fox Soccer Channel (damn you, RCN) will miss the 5:30p EST Eastern Conference Championship match up between Sporting Kansas City (#5) and Houston Dynamo (#6). Dynamo are unbeaten in their last eight consecutive games (6-0-2), their last loss coming in September to--you guessed it--Sporting KC.  Sporting is in equally good form over the same period (6-1-3), having only dropped a one-goal loss to Real Salt Lake in the week following their drubbing of Houston.

The Dynamo are 2-1 in Conference Championships, though this is their first in the East (having been a Western team until this season, with the addition of expansion teams Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers).  Sporting KC is 2-5 in Conference Championships, and 0-1 in Eastern Conference Championships since their 2005 shift from the West.

You have to love playoffs.

The rest of us will be sad for missing the opening act, but still quite pleased with a class of the titans as L.A. Galaxy (#1) hosts rivals Real Salt Lake (#3) at 9p EST, on ESPN (ONE!)/ESPND/ESPN3.com/TSN2 (for you Canadians), at the Home Depot Center.  Everything went right for the Galaxy last night: despite losing an early, 4th minute goal on poor defending by the entire back four (special shout out to Omar Gonzales who was sloppy all night), the NY Red Bulls suffered a huge blow when Finnish international and key midfielder Teemu Tainio went out in the 14th minute on a hamstring injury.  The momentum swung sharply, and though the Red Bulls showed flashes again a few more times, they never did regain their stride, with only 3 shots on goal the whole match (compared to Galaxy's 6).  Playoff hero Mike Magee has a perfect header off of a perfect, Beckham-like service from Beckham-like midfielder David Beckham for the equalizer and lead on aggregate in the 42nd minute.  A wonderful breakaway by David Beckham in the 75th resulted in a foul within the box, and Landon "I-never-miss-a-PK-unless-the-World-Cup-is-on-the-line" Donovan predictably scored on the penalty to seal the deal.

Clearly, the man of the match was David Beckham.  Both scores last night ran through his efforts, and he's been having a hell of a season (his last on contract with the Galaxy), playing his heart out even after taking a nasty beating early on.  The Galaxy will look to him again, though they'll need Donovan and Irish MNT captain and forward Robbie Keane to step up and carry their share of the load on the offensive side.

Since the 2011 MLS Cup Championship will be played at HDC, the Galaxy have been spared post-season travel (a huge blessing for the beleaguered USMNT star Landon Donovan) have nothing to do now but focus on winning.  Galaxy are 1-1-0 against Real SL this year, destroyed in the early season away test at Rio Tinto Stadium (1-4), and besting Salt Lake at home last month (2-1).  The last time Real Salt Lake and the Galaxy met in the playoffs was when Salt Lake denied the Galaxy the 2009 MLS Cup in a shoot out. The Galaxy are 6-4 all-time in Western Conference Championships.  They are seeking their 3rd MLS Cup, Landon Donovan's fourth, and David Beckham's first.  Real Salt Lake is 1-1 in Western Conference Championships.

MLS Playoffs: Double-Header Tonight on ESPN2

Tonight on ESPN2 (and ESPND), it's a double-header (of sorts) in the MLS Playoffs.

At 8:30p EDT, Philly (#8) tries to come back against Houston Dynamo (#6) after dropping the Union's home leg, with a 1-2 deficit to make up (note: unlike many leagues abroad, MLS home-home playoffs are pure aggregate; there is no "away goal bonus," so the Union can tie with a 1-0 result and take it overtime and shoot-out).

The winner takes on rebranded Sporting KC (#5) (the club formerly known as the Wizards, and the State of Kansas's only professional major league sports team).

At 11p EDT, Supporter Shield's winner and star-studded L.A. Galaxy (#1) defends their 1-0 lead at home over also-star-studded N.Y. Red Bulls (# 10).  The Home Depot Center in Carson City, CA is as impenetrable this year as Real Salt Lake's Rio Tinto Stadium was last season; like RSL in 2010, the Galaxy have not lost a game at HDC in 2011. To continue their MLS Cup quest this year, the Red Bulls will have to break that streak.  Good news for them is that no other team is better suited for the task; the Red Bulls have the league-best record against the Galaxy (1-0-1), with a tie at their last visit to HDC.  A tie won't cut it this time, though. Only a one-goal win will take it into overtime and possible shootout.

The winner takes on perennial power-house Real Salt Lake, the overall #3 seed in the playoffs, who managed to just hold on to a big lead and eke out a win over other-perennial-power-house Seattle Sounders (#2).