News Makers, Rumors, Champs & More Chumps

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-Digger's Daily-

It's been a week of big sports news items. NCAA basketball champions crowned. Baseball season began. Golfers swinging away at the Masters. And one horrific tragedy taking the life of a 22 year old rookie future star.

Good
University of North Carolina were crowned NCAA Men's Basketball National Champions after knocking off an overwhelmed Michigan State team 89-72. UNC dominated from opening tipoff setting an NCAA Finals record 21 point halftime lead.

University of Connecticut women's team dominated college basketball like no other. Undefeated 39-0. Rarely challenged (won every game by more than 10 points). Blowout Championship victory 76-54 was 6th in school history. One of college basketball's greatest teams ever.

Baseball's regular season has begun. Florida Marlins are the only early season undefeated team (3-0). Yankees pundits were calling for heads after NY lost their opener in Baltimore. Kansas City, my personal surprise team for '09, has come out of the gate strong.

The Masters Championship began. As always, much of the fanfare and press followed Tiger Woods every move. Tiger is nowhere to be found on the leaderboard as Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry lead the field. Who will win the Green Jacket this year?

Rumors
No Pedro Martinez sightings yet. His tremendous baseball career might be done for good. During the WBC, Pedro was lobbying for a return to MLB by showing off his lively arm. No callers yet.

An early return for injured Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez? Hip surgery sidelined ARod. He was supposed to be out until mid to late May. He's gunning for late April and has begun light baseball related activities.

NFL defensive end Jason Taylor wants to play in Miami again. Rumors suggested interest by New York Jets. "But the Jets are the Jets," Taylor said with a beaming smile. "I've had a lot of history saying bad things about Jets fans. The fireman hat guy [Fireman Ed] and all of the people in New York that are Jets fans are not the ones that are working on Wall Street. I've said all of those things. So I've got to leave it at that."

Champs
NCAA Champs UNC (men's), UCONN (women's).
NBA Conference Champs: East - Cleveland, West - Lakers.
NHL Conference Champs: East - Boston Bruins, West - San Jose Sharks.

Chumps

Andrew Thomas Gallo for killing 22 year old Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart in a hit and run traffic accident. Adenhart, ranked as one of baseball's top 50 prospects, had earlier started and pitched 6 shutout innings for LA in front of family and friends. Gallo had a suspended license because of a previous drunken driving conviction. The cowardly killer ran a red light broadsiding the car killing Adenhart and two friends.

Terrell Owens - after refusing to participate in voluntary workouts with his new Buffalo Bills teammates, TO has finally decided to shape up and show up. It's always something with this guy. His smack talk against Dallas led former QB turned commentator Troy Aikman to suggest TO's release was a solid move by the Cowboys. Funny how none of TO's former teams seem to miss him one bit.

France vs Lance Armstrong - Here we go again. 7 time Tour de France Champion Armstrong is in hot water again with the French. This time for (according to ESPN): "...violating its rules Thursday for not fully cooperating with a drug tester and says it could punish the seven-time Tour de France champion." At question is a 20-minute delay when Armstrong says the tester agreed to let him shower while the American rider's assistants checked the tester's credentials. It's always something with French officials and Lance. From conspiracy theories to French authorities mishandling urine specimens to flat out allegations of lying and cheating. To this date, no admissable evidence has ever been presented prompting Armstrong to snipe: "Was winning the Tour seven times that offensive?!?" This saga is long from over. His latest recent run might get him officially suspended from Tour de France competitions.

New York sportswriters and sports radio hosts make the list for panicking after the Yankees opening day defeat. They made it sound as though the season was lost on its' first day less. Less than 24 hours later NY press berated new stars CC Sabathia & Mark Teixeira as wasted free agent signings. It's amazing how quickly the Yankees were trashed after completing a terrific spring training season (24-10). Someone remind writers it's a 162 game season.

Tragedy
Los Angeles Angels starting rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart, 22, was living his dream. He's ranked as one of baseball's top 50 prospects. He pitched very effectively during spring training winning a job in the Angels injury riddled starting rotation. Wednesday night was his first start of the season and he pitched very well (6 innings 0 runs allowed). Family and friends were in attendance rooting him on. Tragedy struck only a few hours after the game. Adenhart was killed by a hit and run driver in Fullerton, California.

(www.allworldallsports.com)

NFC Championship: Deck Stacked Against Cards?

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by Digger

Is anyone giving the Arizona Cardinals a shot at beating Philadelphia in the NFC Championship game this weekend?

Nobody predicted their victory over Carolina last weekend. Nobody outside of Arizona is predicting the Cardinals to win the battle of the birds this weekend. Look out! Arizona has a great chance at knocking off Philly. Here's why:

Arizona's passing attack is one of the best in all of football. QB Kurt Warner enjoyed a statistically great season completing 67.1%, 30 TD's and 4583 passing yards. His receivers could start for any NFL team. Fitzgerald, Boldin & Breaston all netted over 1000 yards receiving. All are used to double teams and still find ways to drive defensive coordinators nuts.

One would expect Philly D to pressure Warner as often as possible. This will be the Eagles demise unless they're able to successfully jam Cards WR's at the scrimmage line. Once the Eagles start blitzing and cheating on pass plays, Edgerrin James will have a wide open field to roam. If Philly creeps up to the line trying to stop James, Warner's receivers will break free all game long. Believe it or not, the Eagles best chance on D is to play zone and cut off passing lanes. Man to man is no match... advantage Arizona.

As I handicap this game, Arizona has one weakness... stopping the run. Cards must do one of two things. Contain either Westbrook or McNabb. Everyone knows Philadelphia will try to get their running game going. All teams know the Eagles front line is suspect on short yardage. Numerous times they were stuffed on 3rd or 4th and short this year. Arizona's defense must be up for the challenge of containing Westbrook. McNabb has been lazar sharp in recent weeks. Problem is Eagles receivers often suffer from too many pigskin drops. In a game of such magnitude, drops will prove to be costly. Cards secondary will have no coverage problems ... bringing the focus back to Westbrook.

I'm not sure why the general consensus now seems to be shifting towards Philadelphia winning it all when there's one big obstacle standing in their way. Arizona. As of this moment, Arizona is every bit as hot as Philadelphia. I'd venture to say hotter since nobody game them any chance of playing in this game. Surprise! First, they disposed of a Falcons team which was supposed to win big. Next, they dispatched NFC #2 Panthers in Carolina last weekend when many considered them the leagues best chance at beating any AFC team. Now, they're being given no respect as we're only a few days away from the NFC Championship Game.

Guess what? Arizona will win this one. Fickle Philly boo-birds will once again start calling for Reid & McNabb to be run out of town after Warner torches Eagle defenders for 300+ yards.

Cardinals 33, Eagles 17