In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Thursday.
On a night when Kobe Bryant was hampered with a stomach issue, Ty Lawson scored 32 points and the Nuggets forced a Game 7 with a 113-96 win over the Lakers. "It sucks when you're sick for a big playoff game, doesn't it?" said Michael Jordan, in a really sarcastic phone call to Bryant. "So hard to play well. So hard to win. Hey, good luck man. Good luck with everything. Jordan out."
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
John Elway and the Denver Broncos officially introduced Peyton Manning in a press conference after signing the free agent to a deal that could be worth as much as $96 million over five years. "I'm happy to join the Mile High club under a legend like John Elway," said Manning, in a really unfortunate opening statement followed by an even more unfortunate joke: "Even if it does get a little hard to breathe!"
For those who reside outside New York’s tristate area, I’d imagine Sunday’s NFC championship game was a pretty unsatisfying affair. When the most notable player in a game is a guy who muffed two punts and Alex Smith is busy being Alex Smith-y, nobody is having fun. Well, almost nobody.
For defensive-line junkies like me, Sunday night was quite the fix.
Hey, remember that time Craig Robinson, of Flip Flop Fly Ball fame, made that graphic for the baseball playoffs? That was cool, right? Good news: We asked him to do it again for the NFL playoffs. And this one even has an awesome bit involving the National Mall.
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David Butler II/US Presswire David Butler II/US Presswire
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.
In his greatest act of humility yet, Tim Tebow threw for just nine completions and 136 yards as the New England Patriots crushed the Denver Broncos 45-10. The most awkward part of the game came when Bill Belichick demanded that Tebow acknowledge his own mediocrity as a quarterback, saying he had the power to blow him out or give him a close, honorable defeat, and Tebow was like, "You could have no power at all against me unless it had been give you from above, therefore the one who delivered me to you has the greatest sin," and Broncos head coach John Fox was like, "hey, wackos, leave me out of this."
If you haven't kept up on this NFL season, what we're about to say is going to seem very funny: It's time to start seriously considering the possibility of Alex Smith winning a Super Bowl. Not as some sage backup for Andrew Luck on the Los Angeles Jaguars in 2016, or as the offensive coordinator for the 2032 London Topmen, but as the starting quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. In 2011!
While much of the news out of the San Francisco 49ers 25-19 win over the Detroit Lions centers around the Jim Harbaugh-Jim Schwartz handshake-of-doom, there is another storyline to consider: The 49ers' close win. The victory was another step in the resuscitation of 49ers quarterback Alex Smith's career, which is not a complete surprise given that his coach, Harbaugh, was once an NFL quarterback himself. Yet Harbaugh hasn't brought a quarterback-dependent throw-it-around-the-stadium type of offense to San Francisco. Instead, he's doing what he did to rejuvenate Stanford, which seems to be to channel his old college coach Bo Schembechler's tough, physical approach to the game. And against the Lions, Harbaugh's 49ers didn't get their yards by running outside or getting the ball in space. Instead, the game plan was simple: run the ball right at Detroit's vaunted defensive line, led by Ndamukong Suh.
1. Ki-Jana Carter, running back
In my mind, Ki-Jana Carter is not who you think he is. In my mind, Ki-Jana Carter is the man in this video, a sculpted 21-year-old who takes a handoff on a sunny day in Pasadena, Calif., stumbles forward, regains his balance, ricochets off a linebacker, changes direction and outruns everyone to the end zone. In my mind, everything in Ki-Jana Carter’s football career that took place after this day doesn’t mean as much as it probably does to you.
