Yes, I have done a lot of these "Around the Bends" lately. But I suspect that will not be the case this time around, as much. After all, last week was unusual for the level of activity, with the aftermath of the storm, and the election, and so much seemingly happening around the world, to boot.
Now, Sandy is increasingly just a memory, the election is long over, and there is absolutely nothing going on in the world, in terms of news.
Okay, well, maybe there are some things happening in the world. Just a little, though, right?
Here's a little of what is happening in the world at the moment...
Around the World
Malaysia - There was an earthquake reaching 5.7 on the Richter Scale here that killed at least 11 people. People still have to deal with the aftershocks presently.
Guatemala - Another earthquake shook this region as well. This one was 6.5 on the Richter Scale, and with aftershocks that were anywhere from 4.5 to 5.0. Guatemala was already hit by a major earthquake last week, and was in the midst of recovery efforts. This will add stress and complications to that.
Syria - Opposition groups managed to get a deal for unity together against President Assad. Their had been much infighting, but now, they will work together against a common enemy.
Israel - Israeli forces engaged in a confrontation with Gaza militants as violence escalated there.
United Kingdom - The BBC is still trying to recover the public trust following a series of erroneous reports about sexual abuse cases from some of the most powerful and famous individual within Britain. The BBC's reputation, once stellar, has taken a big hit from this growing scandal.
Greece - Racist attacks have been on the rise in the streets of the capital, Athens, in the last year. It should also be noted that the extremist neo-Nazi political movement, the Golden Dawn, has been seeing unprecedented growth in the country since the economic and political instability that drew world attention here within the past year.
http://news.yahoo.com/streets-athens-racist-attacks-increase-074957227.html
South Korea - Another nuclear facility has closed in South Korea, raising some questions about security and health concerns. Cracks were discovered in a nuclear plant in tunnels.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/09/world/asia/south-korea-nuclear-reactor/index.html?hpt=wo_c2
Argentina - The South American nation dropped it's voter age to 16. Some cynics have suggested that it is a deliberate attempt by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchener and her party to remain in power.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/31/world/americas/argentina-youth-vote/index.html?hpt=wo_bn5
Sports
The Los Angeles Galaxy absolutely demolished Seattle, 3-0, in the first game of the two-game playoff series. That makes the chances of Beckham's Galaxy making it to the final yet again look very likely. I wouldn't bet against it.
Otherwise, Houston also took care of DC United convincingly enough in the first game of that series, 3-1.
In the NFL, the big battle was the meeting of the two 7-1 teams, the Houston Texans at the Chicago Bears. They entered this week tied with one another for the second best record in the National Football League, following the 8-0 Atlanta Falcons (a little more on them later).
The Chicago Bears have a vicious and intimidating defense, so much so that they were drawing comparisons with the fabled 1985 Chicago Bears defense, the famous "46" during that year of the Super Bowl Shuffle. I was not sure that comparisons were warranted just yet, although it drew my attention that they were supposed to be very good. But the '85 Bears were the best team that I have ever seen, and many consider them the most dominant team in NFL history. They raced out to a 12-0 start, at a time when it was more difficult, apparently, to do so. These days, numerous teams seem to make it to double digit wins without a loss (The 2005 Colts at 13-0, the 2007 Patriots at 18-0, and narrowly missing completing the "Perfect Season" after the loss to the Giants late in the 4th quarter of Super Bowl XLII, the 2008 Titans at 10-0, the 2009 Saints at 13-0, and in the same year, the 14-0 Colts, and last year, the 13-0 Packers). The Bears did lose to the Dolphins on the most watched Monday Night Football game ever at the time (and it probably still remains so).
Those Bears were a crushing team. They shut out two consecutive opponents during the regular season, becoming the first team since the famed "Steel Curtain" defense of the Pittsburgh Steelers during their dynasty days of the seventies. They handed the Dallas Cowboys their worst loss ever, and it was at Dallas. The Bears were 10-0 going into the game, and Dallas looked legitimate, at 7-3. Then, the Bears crushed Atlanta, 36-0. Later on, they became the first team in many decades to shut out consecutive playoff opponents, beating the Giants, 21-0, and then the Rams in the NFC Championship Game, 24-0. They went on to humiliate the New England Patriots, 46-10, in Super Bowl XX.
The thing about that team that made them look so dominant is that there really was no point where they let up. With, say, the 2007 New England Patriots, you could tell that they were not as dominant later in the season, as they had been in the first part, when they were averaging well over forty points per game, and blowing everyone away, seemingly. By the time of the playoffs, the Patriots looked relatively pedestrian, beating Jacksonville 31-20 (hardly record territory there), and then edging San Diego, 21-12, in a game much closer than the score indicated, to win the AFC Championship. Then, of course, they lost the Super Bowl, 17-14, to the G-Men. But it can be argued that they were already slowing down noticeably, and I think that the pressure really began to mount, and that was too much for them to shoulder.
With those 1985 Bears, they seemed to have a chip on their shoulder, daring opponents to take a shot at them. They were dominant in a record fashion on defense, but they also had an explosive and lethal offense, to boot. They were the complete package, and left no options for their opponents. It might sound cliche, surely, but they were the type of team that you would dread to have to play. You just knew they were the best team, and you knew they were not only going to win, but to absolutely destroy and humiliate your team, to boot. My favorite team is the Giants, but they got blown out in the playoff game, and I knew they would, too. The Rams did not contend seriously, and just look at how Chicago physically manhandled the Patriots in that Super Bowl. That team just left no doubt.
Anyway, sorry, I got carried away there. This Bears team may be good, but my point was that they are not that good, yet.
The Bears hosted the Texans on a soggy Soldier Field, on a rainy night in the Windy City. Temperatures were unusually high for this time of year, but conditions were obviously hardly ideal.
In a defensive slug fest, the Texans actually bested Chicago, and it was on the road! The Texans won a smashmouth style football game, to retain the best record in the AFC (all alone), and to tie the Falcons, who finally lost.
The Falcons apparently were talking smack and acting bigger than they actually were, going into New Orleans. Numerous members of the Saints claimed that the Falcons players had acted "classless" prior to the game on Sunday. A few went up to former Falcon linebacker Curtis Lofton, and began to taunt him.
Apparently, it added to the already strong motivation to defeat the last remaining undefeated team. The Saints did just that, knocking off the previously unbeaten Falcons in New Orleans, 31-27.
The New England Patriots held off a determined Bills team in Foxboro, but with the win, they seem to have taken a firm grip on the AFC East. The Bills are 3-6, as are the Jets, who got taken out easily in Seattle yesterday. The biggest surprise was the Miami Dolphins, who laid an egg at home yesterday, in getting inexplicably trounced by the Tennessee Titans, 37-3. It was their second worst home loss in franchise history, and the worst since the sixties. Prior to the loss, it was thought that the Dolphins were the only real team contending with New England for the division title.
What wrong with the NFC East? The Giants have been staggering the last few weeks, and have now lost two in a row. Two weeks ago, the Giants were enjoying a four-game winning streak and seemed firmly in control of the NFC East, and about to apply extreme pressure. Instead, they have strung together three lackluster offensive games in a row, losing the last two. The offense, led by Eli Manning, was once explosive, but is now quite stagnant. The Giants got blown out in Cincinnati yesterday, and they head in to their apparently much needed bye week with a two-game losing streak. The Cowboys, in the meantime, defeated the Eagles in an important divisional game in Philadelphia yesterday, scoring three touchdowns in quick succession late in the game, going from a 17-10 deficit to a 31-17 lead, They hung on to win, 31-23, raising their record to 4-5 and putting them right back in the divisional race. The Eagles, in the meantime, dropped to 3-6. Quarterback Michael Vick suffered a concussion during the game, and had to leave the field.
The Baltimore Ravens held onto the second best record in the AFC and the NFL, by demolishing the Raiders, 55-20. Oakland has not won in Baltimore since the 1970's.
In the meantime, Denver extended their lead in the AFC West, with a convincing win over Carolina, while the San Diego Chargers lost, once again - this time to the Bucs, who have now won three in a row. In Minnesota, the Vikings held off the Lions, ending their two game slide. On the Thursday Night game, the red hot Colts won again, soundly beating the Jaguars. They remain only a game and a half behind the Texans.
In the NBA, no word yet on whether or not legendary coach Phil Jackson will actually take on another season as head coach. The Lakers recently fired Coach Brown after a disappointing 1-4 start for a team that had really gone to considerable lengths to draw star power in the offseason. Some were claiming that this edition of the Lakers could be one of the greatest single season teams in history, so the poor start was apparently too great a disappointment for the lofty expectations of greatness in LA.
No comments:
Post a Comment