PRESS BOX: J Schil’s Thought of the Week: December 29, 2010

(This post originally appeared on Press Box.)

One of the headlines of the 2010 television season is the dominating nature of the National Football League. Bill Carter of the New York Times wrote about the subject last week, in which he gave these astounding stats:

“Of the 20 highest-rated telecasts of any kind so far this television season, 18 have been N.F.L. games on CBS, NBC or Fox. In terms of the best of 2010, nothing else comes close. Of the 50 highest-rated programs during the calendar year, 27 have been N.F.L. games, including 8 of the top 10.”

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PGA TOUR: My Top 5 Shots of the 2010 Season

(This post originally appeared on Prosportsblogging.com)

So as 2010 comes to a close and we look towards the 2011 PGA Tour season, it’s time for one last look at 2010, and my top 5 shots of 2010 in this week’s What It Means:

5. Jim Furyk’s Bunker Shot to Clinch the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup at East Lake: 18th hole, par 3, pouring rain, tee shot in the bunker, $11.35 million riding on the line. Easy circumstances, right? Not so fast. But off hard-packed sand he hit a sterling bunker shot to a couple feet, converted the par putt, and won it all — clinching PGA Tour Player of the Year in the process.

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NEW YORK JETS: Week 16 Review

Really quick here — the defense played utterly atrocious on Sunday. If they don’t fix that, the Jets are going nowhere in the playoffs. That’s all you need to know about the loss to the Bears.

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NEW YORK JETS: Jets Get Three Pro Bowlers, None of Them Brad Smith

Darrelle Revis, Nick Mangold (both starters), and D’Brickashaw Ferguson were named to the AFC Pro Bowl team today from the New York Jets.

One person that wasn’t: Brad Smith. The AFC Kickoff specialist: Marc Mariani. Who?

Thought so.

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NEW YORK JETS: Week 16 Preview

Protect Sanchez, establish the run, play tough defense, win the game, get in the playoffs. That’ll make me a very happy man. I say the Jets win.

Jets 21
Bears 19

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MONMOUTH FOOTBALL: 2010 Season Review Article

(This post originally appeared on NewJerseyNewsroom’s Press Box.)

Monmouth Head Coach Kevin Callahan will be the first to admit his team’s 3-8 season was frustrating. Callahan’s 18th season in charge was a turbulent one for the Hawks.

“I think from a won-loss record standpoint it was disappointing. We went into the season with much higher aspirations than 3-8,” Callahan said. “We thought we were going to be in a position to compete for the league championship and to compete for the automatic bid that goes along with it, and unfortunately that wasn’t the case. I will say that I am still very happy with the way our players continued to prepare and how hard they played despite the last couple of games we knew we weren’t going to be playing for a championship or anything like that.”

Monmouth was plagued by close losses all season long. Four of the team’s defeats came by one-point in 2010. Callahan looks to use the past season as a learning experience going forward for everyone involved.

“I think what we can do is to continue to coach to put yourself in a better position to win those tight games. And I think a lot of that comes from confidence, a lot of it comes from being in tight games and winning them. What I think you can try to develop is the mentality of mental toughness, and [when] we can get into those tight situations, you’re very confident that you’re going to win. We think that those things you can start to develop throughout the winter and the spring.”

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NEW YORK: Sanchez Probable, Will Start

Mark Sanchez’ ailing shoulder has made enough progress where he was throwing it well in practice and will start on Sunday for the Jets against the Bears, barring a setback, according to the NY Daily News. Rex Ryan announced that earlier today at Jets camp.

Needless to say, this is good news. Now just win the game and get into the playoffs so they can rest everyone next week.

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NFL: Week 16 Picks

So I goofed, and forgot to pick last night’s dud of a game between the Panthers and Steelers. I would have picked the Steelers, and I would have been right. Here’s the rest of my week 16 picks:

Saturday, Dec. 25

Dallas at Arizona 7:30 pm NFL Network
Sunday, Dec. 26

Baltimore at Cleveland 1:00 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
N.Y. Jets at Chicago 1:00 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
New England at Buffalo 1:00 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
San Francisco at St. Louis 1:00 pm FOX Regional
Detroit at Miami 1:00 pm FOX Regional
Tennessee at Kansas City 1:00 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
Washington at Jacksonville 1:00 pm FOX Regional
Indianapolis at Oakland 4:05 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
Houston at Denver 4:05 pm CBS – HD (Regional)
San Diego at Cincinnati 4:05 pm CBS
Seattle at Tampa Bay 4:15 pm FOX Regional
N.Y. Giants at Green Bay 4:15 pm FOX Regional
Minnesota at Philadelphia 8:20 pm NBC
Monday, Dec. 27

New Orleans at Atlanta 8:30 pm ESPN

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GOLF: Fay Retires, Man Plays 600

Two golf notes on this Christmas Eve — Happy Holidays everyone.

1) David B. Fay, the longtime Executive Director of the United States Golf Association, is retiring after 21 years at the position and 32 with the USGA. If the name David B. Fay sounds familiar to you, that is because he’s more commonly known as the guy on NBC broadcasts brought in for rules questions during USGA-sanctioned events. He’ll be missed and I hope he has a fantastic retirement. He’s been great for golf.

2) A Texas resident, Richard Lewis, is set to play his 600th round this year on Sunday. 600! It’s a story you gotta read to believe so I won’t give any more away and just link it to you here.

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PGA TOUR: What It Means: 12/24/2010: Tiger’s Ankle, Sirius-XM to Continue PGA Tour Network

(This post originally appeared on Prosportsblogging.com)

Happy Holidays Everyone. Here’s this week’s What It Means:

Tiger Woods Gets Cortisone Shot in Right Ankle: This is much ado about nothing — he’s practicing, shooting commercials, testing his video game, and getting ready for 2011. The ankle area is still sore from when he tore his Achilles in 2008 while rehabbing from the knee surgery, and this was just to help combat continuing soreness. This is a non-story in my mind and I expect big things out of Tiger in 2011.

Sirius-XM and the PGA Tour Coming to An Agreement to Continue the PGA Tour Network:

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