Eagles' performance a huge letdown
The Philadelphia Eagles' performance against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks was especially disappointing on offense. The play calling was not very creative. Chip Kelly looked more interested in yelling at the referees than in directing the team. The Eagles' first touchdown was the result of a bad play by the Seahawks' punter, who dropped the ball and then fumbled it. The offense did not help their counterparts on the defensive side of the ball at all because they could not sustain any drives to give the defense a break. By the beginning of the fourth quarter, it was obvious that the Philadelphia defense was exhausted. The turning point of the game was at the very beginning of the second half with the score 10 - 7 when Lesean McCoy fumbled the ball back to the Seahawks, which led to a devastating touchdown within a few plays. The final score was 24 - 14, but the game wasn't that close. This week's game against the Dallas Cowboys is virtually for the NFC East title. The Eagles better play well or it's going to be a tough end to what was looking like a pretty good season.
In college football there was only one controversial team included in the new final four playoff. This was Ohio State, which pulled off a surprising rout of Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game by a score of 55 - 0 with its third-string quarterback. It was really impressive! I don't feel particularly bad for the first two teams out of the playoffs, TCU and Baylor, because they will playing in significant bowl games too.
In Phillies' baseball news, the rebuilding process has started by trading Jimmy Rollins to the LA Dodgers for two minor league pitchers. All we can hope for is that at least one of the prospects pans out. To me it is both a positive and negative that the Phillies had to trade Rollins. On the positive side, for Jimmy, this will give him a much better chance to win a second World Series at the end of his career with LA. This could ultimately help him in the quest to become a hall of famer. On the negative side, for the Phillies' fans especially, it would have been cool for him and Chase Utley to finish their careers where they started, like Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles. I will also be very surprised if this is the only big move the Phillies make during the off season.
So who doesn't know that Tiger Woods is back? You have to be living under a rock to not have heard the constant chatter about the what, when and where of Tiger's comeback. He must be thrilled with all the attention, having finished last in his first tournament. The poor guy (not really!) gets sick and throws up on the first hole on Saturday and the world gets to watch! It's really not a big deal how he played as much as it was to how he viewed his own performance. He said that he had no pain in his back from playing for four days and his new swing is a blast from the past. If he can stay healthy this season, it should be very interesting to watch and see how good he can be. In the actual tournament this past weekend, 21-year-old Jordan Spieth finished at 25 under par and won by 10 shots and was incredibly impressive in doing it! Now he will be under a microscope to see how long he can maintain this level of play. It would be good to see golf focus on more than just Tiger's return. All of this remains to be seen.
