Created by Matthew J. Goldberg, tipofthegoldberg.com
The NFL is now down to four teams, with one of this past weekend’s results a big surprise. Bagels & Jocks will examine the NFL playoffs, the return of a Jewish all-pro player and also hold court down under as tennis’ first major event gets going in Australia.
THE NFL: SO…WHERE’VE YOU BINN?
The NFL is now down to its version of the Final Four, with both of its conference championship games to be played this coming Sunday. In the NFC, those amazing San Francisco 49ers—owners of a sluggish 6-10 record just last season—will host the almost equally surprising New York Giants.
In the AFC, form held as the top seeded New England Patriots and second-seeded Baltimore Ravens turned back challenges from the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans. The New England Patriots, expectedly, dismissed this year’s Cinderella story—quarterback Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos—by a lopsided score of 45-10. The score was indicative of the disparity in play.
All-world quarterback Tom Brady threw for 363 yards and a remarkable six touchdowns, with a record five TD passes coming in the first half. All-everything player Julian Edelman continued to make his relatively diminutive presence felt with one reception for 11 yards, two punt returns for 28 and two tackles—plus a pass defended.
To put the game in some perspective, Tebow followed his wonderful performance against the Steelers with just nine completions, 136 yards and no touchdowns on 26 attempts. By contrast, Patriots sensational tight end Rob Gronkowski hauled in ten of Brady’s passes for 145 yards and three touchdowns. In other words, Gronko outgained and outscored the Broncos.
The Broncos’ loss spoiled a return to action for veteran long-snapper David Binn, who played a Herculean 256 games from 1994-2010 for the rival San Diego Chargers. Binn had injured his hamstring in his first game last season and was finally cut by the team for whom he had set records for total and consecutive games. With their own long-snapper (who becomes the center for field goal attempts, extra points and punts) out due to a family situation, Denver signed the reliable Binn, who was honored with a Pro Bowl selection in 2007.
Binn did his part without any trouble, but the man who will turn 40 one day after Super Bowl XLVI I is played, is now back in retirement.
The most exciting game of the weekend was played Saturday in San Francisco; the hosts thrilled their fans with a had-to-see-it-to-believe-it 36-32 win over the New Orleans Saints. Three touchdowns and a two-point conversion were scored (by both teams) in the final two minutes and 11 seconds. The Niners scored their winning touchdown with just nine seconds remaining. The Saints loss meant the end of the season for offensive guard Brian De LaPuente, who helped quarterback, Drew Brees pass for 462 yards and four touchdowns. He was only sacked three times in an exhausting 63 pass attempts.
The Patriots will welcome the rapacious Ravens, who bring a defense that still features future Hall of Famers Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. One may remember that Lewis, Reed and company throttled the Patriots 33-14 two years ago in a playoff game held in Foxboro, Massachusetts, Brady looked like a mid-level collegian that day, throwing for only 154 yards and three costly interceptions. Can the Ravens do it again?
The 49ers will host the New York Giants, who are peaking in all phases of the game at exactly the right time.
THE NBA: FRANK-LY, DETROIT IS NOT FIRING ON ALL PISTONS
Head coach Lawrence Frank saw his team’s record plummet to 3-10 after taking a 99-91 home loss to the mediocre (to be kind) Golden State Warriors. They had won at Charlotte by a convincing 98-81 margin, and were looking to win two straight for the second time this young season. Nothing doing.
Frank, a native of Teaneck, New Jersey, is in his first season as head coach of the Pistons, who only have the firepower to contend for a high draft pick. Frank had previously served as head coach of the New Jersey Nets from the middle of 2003-04 through the beginning of 2009-10.
He has an unusual distinction. Frank started his head coaching career with 13 straight wins, which is the record for the start of a career in any of the four major professional sports. His other streak was much more dubious in nature: The Nets fired him in 2009 after the team lost its first 16 games. This Pistons team looks much more like the one at the end of Franks’ New Jersey career than the one at the beginning. In other words: Oy vey!
Speaking of the Nets (also a 3-10 team), they’re not exactly thriving since Lawrence Frank left, but backup point guard Jordan Farmar is starting to find his game. The UCLA product, who played in Tel Aviv during the lockout, exploded for 26 points in 23 minutes in last Wednesday’s game at Denver. Farmar was on fire, drilling six of eight three-point attempts and adding two rebounds, three assists and a couple steals. The bad news? It still wasn’t enough to lift his Nets to victory over the Nuggets.
Israel’s own Omri Casspi, still starting at small forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers (5-6), upped his average just a little this past week as the Cavs won one of its three games on the West Coast. Casspi’s best game of the week was an 11-point, four rebound, three assist effort in a close loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The New York Knicks’ Amar’e Stoudemire is second on his team in both scoring (18.7 per game) and rebounding (8.1), as the team has split its first 12 games of the year. More was expected of the Knicks this year than a .500 season, but the suspicion is that Lawrence Frank would be delighted if his Pistons could play to that standard.
NHL: MC LEAVES THE MC’S
The big news in the Jewish hockey world centers around the trade of Michael Cammalleri from the Montreal Canadiens to the Calgary Flames. Cammalleri had spent the 2008-09 season with Calgary, where he scored a career-high 39 goals and 82 points. The 29-year-old left wing was having a disappointing season in Montreal (nine goals and only 22 points in 38 games), and the whole was struggling to tilt the ice in its favor.
Cammalleri scored the only goal for his new team Saturday in its 4-1 home loss to the LA Kings. Michael was the best known player involved in the six-player swap between Montreal and Calgary.
TENNIS: ISRAELI PLAYERS HOLDING COURT DOWN UNDER
The Australian Open, the first major tennis tournament of the calendar year, has just started in Melbourne. That means that three prominent Israeli stars will be in action for as long as they can keep winning over the next two weeks.
Jerusalem’s Shahar Peer, 24, is now the 34th ranked player in the world, and her ranking puts her just outside the top 32 players who are seeded. She will open play versus Isabella Holland, a 20-year-old native of Australia. Ms. Peer will try to improve upon last year’s showing, when she advanced to the third round.
Most recently, Shashi advanced to the semifinals of last week’s Moorilla-Hobart International, where she was defeated by Germany’s Yanina Wickmeyer.
In men’s doubles, the Israeli team of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram teamed up three years ago to win the Australian Open, their first and only major tournament victory. The draw was not too kind to them this year. In the first round, they will face the best doubles team in the world, Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States.
The Bryan Brothers have won five out of the last six Australian Opens and have won 11 major doubles titles together. If Erlich and Ram pull the major upset, Bagels and Jocks will be all over it and its author may even jump over the net. Time to do some major stretching.
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On that hopeful note, it is time to sign off from today’s edition of Bagels and Jocks. See you next Monday right here. Please feel free to share some dialogue below. If you would like to bring another Jewish athlete or mover-and-shaker to my attention, please contact me via this site or by e-mail.
Matthew J. (call him Matt) Goldberg will be taking a look at “This Week in Jewish Sports”) every Monday on www.jewocity.com. Please send feedback or suggestions to Matt@tipofthegoldberg.com.
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