Posted in NY Jets on October 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The New York Jets come off their bye week this week and according to Rich Cimini, everyone, including Darrelle Revis, is 100% healthy. Message: watch out, Green Bay.
Meanwhile, Fox rejected Cablevision’s offer of more money for just one year of carriage. Simply put, Fox wants multiple years. Bottom line if you’re a Jets fan who has Cablevision: prepare to watch on alternative mediums on Sunday, or go to the game (if you’re willing to pay good money.)
Posted in Teeing It Up on October 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
My radio show, Teeing It Up, rolls on today, LIVE, at the top of the hour, 6pm ET/3pm PT on Blog Talk Radio.
All shows are also available on archive there.
Posted in Golf on October 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
There is currently a post sitting in drafts about how great the PGA Tour’s Fall Series has been. It’s still coming. But today, the players took it to the next level.
Jonathan Byrd made the first walk-off ace in PGA Tour history, winning a three man playoff on the fourth playoff hole at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open in Las Vegas.
Watch it. Unbelievable stuff that unfortunately very few people saw live.
Posted in Monmouth Football, New Jersey Newsroom on October 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
(This article originally appeared on Press Box.)
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. — Behind strong play by safety Jose Gumbs and a punishing pass rush, the Monmouth Hawks, defeated the St. Francis Red Flash 19-7 on a sunny day at Kessler Field in West Long Branch, N.J.
“This afternoon I was fairly pleased with our effort,” Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan said. “It was good to get another win in conference and move our record to 3-1. It puts us a step closer to where we want to be at the end of the year.”
This game turned in the second quarter. After a first quarter which saw Monmouth (3-4, 3-1) have strong drives end in a blocked Eric Spillane field goal and a goaline stand by the St. Francis (1-6, 1-4) defense, Monmouth got on the board on their first possession of the second quarter.
After a Nick Romeo punt return brought the ball to the Red Flash 31 yard line, the Hawks went on a six play, 31 yard drive that took 2:50 seconds, resulting in a 20 yard touchdown run for RB Balial Sloan El. The extra point was blocked, however, so with 11:25 left in the first half, it was 6-0 Hawks.
After St. Francis punted on their ensuing possession, Monmouth went four plays on their next drive before having to punt on 4th and 9. But there was a running into the kicker penalty, the five yard variety, and Monmouth got to punt it again. On that second punt, Monmouth backup WR Darvin Henderson laid a huge hit on St. Francis returner Dan Domonkos, and the ball fell right into the hands of Gumbs.
“I can’t tell you what happened there,” Gumbs said. “It just happened so fast. I guess he [Henderson] came from the back and stripped it and the ball just happened to fall into my arms.”
The resulting Monmouth offensive possession was a four play drive that led to a Spillane 18 yard field goal, and with 5:06 left in the first half, it was 9-0 Hawks.
St. Francis did not have a very good half. In fact, they finished it with three rushing yards, two first downs, and 43 passing yards. They started a quarterback today, Timmy Myers, who was making only his second lifetime start, and his first this season. He finished the first half 1-7 passing for 43 yards and one interception.
Most of the yardage came on the next Red Flash possession, when Myers hit backup FB Kevin Parker for a 43 yard reception that got the ball to the Hawks 14 yard line. But like most things today for St. Francis, that drive did not end the way they wanted it to. Kicker Josh Thiel’s 28 yard field goal was missed wide left, and with 2:16 left in the first half it was still 9-0 Hawks.
Starting the ensuing Hawks possession in the two minute drill, QB Kyle Frazier led the offense on an eight play, 80 yard drive that took 1:47 and resulted in a 16 yard TD catch to backup TE Mike Roeder make it 16-0 with 26 seconds left on the clock. Frazier finished with 18-27 passing for 178 yards and one touchdown.
Any urge the Red Flash had to try and make a late dash for points to end the half was quickly eliminated when Gumbs intercepted Myers, and the halftime score remained 16-0 Monmouth.
Monmouth got the ball first in the 3rd quarter and used trickery to get their last points of the afternoon. In punt formation, Gumbs got the ball and scampered 14 yards for the first down to keep the drive alive. Six plays later, Spillane kicked a 46 yard field goal to make it 19-0.
“I’ve been waiting for that day since my freshman year,” Gumbs said of being able to run a fake punt. “I guess we saw that little hole there and we called it. LJ Caprio called it, and it was there.”
The rest of the third quarter would be marred by lots of punts, and the fourth quarter started the same way. In fact, the final points of the day would not be scored until the final minutes of the game. John Kelly, St. Francis’ normal quarterback, finished up his half of play by leading the Red Flash on an 18 play drive that resulted in a touchdown pass to WR Omar Winston. With 2:06 remaining St. Francis did have some life, only down 19-7.
But all hope for the Red Flash was dashed as the ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Hawks’ Mike Avent, and the Hawks had notched their third win of the season and more importantly their third conference victory of the year.
For most of the game, and especially in the first half the Monmouth defense was able to keep the Red Flash stuck in neutral. The defensive line especially had a big game, highlighted by DL Dave Ogden’s one sack, one forced fumble, three tackles and two hits on the quarterback.
“It was pretty easy to see the plays unfold out there,” Ogden said. “As [a] d-line [defensive line] as a whole we were getting pressure – I cant solely say that its all on me because it takes four guys to rush the passer, contain him, etc. We scouted them well, and when they lined up in their formations we pretty much knew everything coming.”
St. Francis travels out west next Saturday to face #23 Cal Poly, with that game kicking off at 9:05pm.
The win moves the Hawks to third in the Northeast Conference standings, behind Robert Morris and Central Connecticut State, who are 5-0 and 4-0 respectively. The Hawks stay home one more week to face Sacred Heart next Saturday at 1pm on Homecoming day.
Posted in Monmouth Football, New Jersey Newsroom on October 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
St. Francis (1-5, 1-3) at Monmouth (2-4, 2-1)
Saturday, October 23, 2010
1pm – Kessler Field, West Long Branch, NJ
Radio: 1160AM, 1310AM, shoresportsnetwork.com
THE LAST WHISTLE: Monmouth comes off a 21-12 victory last Saturday over Bryant. The Hawks used a strong run defense and timely plays on special teams to get an early lead over the Bulldogs. This week, it’s St. Francis.
“Their defense is very aggressive,” head coach Kevin Callahan said. “They show you a lot of different looks. They can cause a lot of problems for you. We’re going to have to be very sharp in the offensive line just to be able to handle all the different things that they show you.”
The Red Flash come in having lost to Wagner last weekend 22-16. Their only win came one month ago against Sacred Heart.
THE HISTORY: This will be the 18th meeting between Monmouth and St. Francis. Monmouth owns a 15-2 edge over the Red Flash in their first 17 meetings.
THE MATCHUP: Keys for Monmouth:
1) If they have a lead, finish. Coach Callahan wasn’t pleased with the way the Hawks finished last week – stuff like getting first downs in order to run out the clock, not falling asleep in the prevent defense, no stupid decisions, etc. If the Hawks are lucky enough to have a lead against this Red Flash team, they need to play smartly to put them away for good.
2) Offensively, try to force St. Francis into missed tackles and fight through initial contact. The Red Flash have the top two tacklers in the Northeast Conference, Scott Lewis and Matt Parker. St. Francis also leads the conference in tackles for a loss. Fighting through initial contact will help the Hawks avoid letting St. Francis play into their strengths defensively.
Keys for St. Francis:
1) Offensively, QB John Kelly can’t turn the ball over. So far this year, he has 6 interceptions. Monmouth’s defense is playing much better of late, and any errant balls will probably be intercepted by safeties Jose Gumbs or Kendall Haley.
2) Defensively, get off the field. St Francis ranks last in the conference in the following categories: scoring defense, pass defense, and total defense. Breaking up plays, playing aggressively, causing turnovers and focusing on getting of the field will prevent offenses from doing much damage against them.
THE QUOTE #1: “I would say the 3-4 is the hardest. Those outside guys that are playing linebackers can also be contain guys. I definitely say the 3-4 is the hardest defense to go against.”– Monmouth QB Kyle Frazier on if it is harder to go up against a 4-3 or a 3-4 defense.
THE STAT: Monmouth is 8-0 lifetime against St. Francis at home.
Posted in NFL on October 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Here we go, with bold meaning W:
Sunday, Oct. 24
Cincinnati at Atlanta 1:00 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
Buffalo at Baltimore 1:00 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
San Francisco at Carolina 1:00 pm FOX Regional
Washington at Chicago 1:00 pm FOX Regional
Pittsburgh at Miami 1:00 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
Philadelphia at Tennessee 1:00 pm FOX Regional
St. Louis at Tampa Bay 1:00 pm FOX Regional
Cleveland at New Orleans 1:00 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
Jacksonville at Kansas City 1:00 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
Arizona at Seattle 4:05 pm FOX Regional
New England at San Diego 4:15 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
Oakland at Denver 4:15 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
Minnesota at Green Bay 8:20 pm NBC
Monday, Oct. 25N.Y. Giants at Dallas 8:30 pm ESPN
Open date: Detroit,Indianapolis,N.Y. Jets,Houston
Posted in Golf on October 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
As you may know Anthony Kim had to withdraw from the PGA Tour’s Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open this week due to a thumb injury. You may have also heard that he was apparently partying heavily in Vegas and was told to quiet down by casino security. This led many to wonder if the two were somehow related. Today, Kim told Golf.com that is absolutely not the case:
I’m not going to deny my friends and I went out and had a great time in Vegas. But that had absolutely nothing to do with me having to W/D. People may not want to believe that, but it’s true. Of course we went out on the town. I wasn’t going to be able to practice on Tuesday [due to the thumb being sore.]
There were a bunch of us at the craps table and everyone was winning. There was a lot of hooting and hollering, but it wasn’t any different than what was going on at other tables. The big difference was that we had about 100 people watching us and they were getting into it, too, so it got pretty loud. It was never disrespectful or out of control. When we were asked to quiet down, everyone did. It wasn’t a big deal.
And responding to reports that he ordered of 100 bottles of alcohol in one club:
That stuff is way, way exaggerated. There have been some crazy reports, like I was drinking 100-year-old cognac. I don’t even know what cognac tastes like.
That’s all well and good but this will become a big deal if and when he does something which puts other people in danger. THEN we have an issue on our hands.
Posted in Golf on October 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
There’s a very disturbing golf story being reported on tonight by the Golf Channel.
John Daly revealed Friday that his computer has been hacked and that the culprit was behind bogus postings on his Twitter and Facebook accounts and threats to his children.
This information came out of an interview with Golf Central’s Rich Lerner. That interview can be viewed here.
We hope that the FBI, which is now on the case, can figure this out quickly and bring it this hacker to justice.
Posted in Golf on October 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I’ll let you draw your own conclusions but two quotes from Tiger Woods’ media day conference call for the Chevron World Challenge stood out to me in regards to possible grievances with decisions made by United States Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin:
Q. Keeping with the Ryder Cup theme, would you have liked to have been in that anchor position that Hunter was in? Tell us about the team and how you felt about how Corey set up that final day?
TIGER WOODS: Oh, absolutely I would have loved to have been in that spot. I was in that spot one time when Curtis was captain at the Belfry. Unfortunately, it didn’t come down to that match. The Europeans had already won the cup. So our job was to go out and the guys who were going out earlier is to make sure it came down to that match or the last couple matches. At least to give those guys a chance to try to get the cut back.
It was close. I feel sorry for Hunter. He was put into a tough spot, but he handled it well, and he’s going to learn and grow from it.
and especially here:
Q. One of the things, just going back to the Ryder Cup for a minute I never really got to ask you about that over there is, you know, I know Steve’s been caddying since he was 12 years old. He’s pretty good at keeping clubs dry, but he was unable to keep your clubs dry for most of that week. The other issue was the rain suits which leaked and guys were walking around with very heavy suits. I know these are all little things, but when you look at it, it was only half a point that separated victory from defeat. Do you look back on that and say, you know, maybe we should have figured these things out a little bit better beforehand with the equipment?
TIGER WOODS: Well, there’s no doubt. I think that those are issues that should be resolved before we get there so they’re not an issue while playing. Come tournament time there are always going to be things that pop up, and you just have to deal with them. It happens in every team event I’ve ever been a part of.
But little things like that, I think could have been taken care of so they weren’t an issue. Or at least have been tested prior to game time so that any kind of corrections that could have been made, would have been made.
Neither of these quotes may be earth shattering news to anyone, but clearly he would have liked to have seen both go a different direction.
Posted in Golf on October 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Two notes from Tiger Woods’ conference call pertaining to the Chevron World Challenge (two other notes are coming in a forthcoming post):
1) The two sponsor exemptions given for the event are Camilo Villegas and Stewart Cink.
2) According to Emily Taylor, who is VP of Communications for Chevron:
I’m pleased to announce a new policy for the tournament on behalf of the PGA TOUR. We’ve been selected to test the mobile device policy. This means that fans will be able to bring their mobile device on course during the tournament and use it during tournament week.
They cited our strength of field and the venue as reasons for selecting the Chevron World Challenge, and we’re really excited to test this enhancement with our fans.
Some of you may remember how against this policy I was for the Wyndham Championship earlier in the summer but it apparently worked without a hitch and with such a stacked field — 13 Ryder Cuppers amongst many others — it’s the perfect place to try this policy, which the Tour would like to enact in other places.
P.S. Here’s an article about how Graeme McDowell has this event to partially thank for his U.S. Open win.
And to listen to past episodes of Teeing It Up from my college days, visit my 