Where is the Fitzmagic of Yesteryear?

Only two weeks removed from a terribly boring weekend and a scheduling nightmare in which no NFL game featured a matchup between two winning teams, we were treated to one of the best days of football that anyone could ask for. I was fortunate enough to watch three straight games between contending teams. The day started with a thud, as the 4 and 3 Jets put together a dominant defensive effort to shut down Fred Jackson and the Fitzmagically delicious Buffalo Bills. The day got even better when Tom Brady threw hissy fit after hissy fit as the Giants defense - fueled by strong play across the defensive line - stymied the Dreamboat and his crew of not-so-merry men. It was only fitting that the Sunday Night matchup between two fierce AFC North rivals turned into an epic. The Ravens victory, covered in the previous article, was a fantastic cap to a great day of football.

Much like Hogwarts, Revis Island does not allow any magic on premises.

The Jets-Bills game did not live up to its top-flight billing (I made a pun!) as the two-score difference separating the teams at the end of the day does not adequately convey the Jets' dominance throughout, but it was a close one for a half. The Jets offense continues to be incredibly frustrating and difficult to watch. After leading the team on a 15 play, 87 yard drive which took more than ten minutes off the clock, the Sanchize managed to overthrow Dustin Keller in the back of the end zone, landing a pass firmly in the welcoming arms of Bills' free safety Jairus Byrd. The Jets could not find the end zone until an LT touchdown midway through the 3rd quarter. Although Tomlinson only gave the team a 13-0 lead, it felt like more than enough in a game in which the defense is this dominant. Although FJax was able to rip off 4.6 per carry, the Jets containment came from the same place it always has this season: the secondary. Fitzpatrick completed fewer than half his passes, and finished with a QB rating of 51.9, boosted a large degree by a touchdown drive that took place in garbage time, with the Bills trailing by 24 points with only 3 minutes remaining. While the score and some of the stats did not betray the magnitude of this blowout, the Jets managed to control the ball for 38 of the game's 60 minutes. This was an important win for the Jets, who won their first road game of the season and their second in division.

As good as the Pats-Giants game must have felt for Giants fans, it must have been maddening. How does one team manage to both lose to the Seahawks at home and beat the Patriots at Gillette? This Giants team has proven that it will play to the level of its competition, winning 4 games by 4 points or fewer thus far. The contrast between this game and the Seahawks game was astounding. Despite playing without their best running back (Bradshaw) and their best wide receiver (Nicks), Eli managed to work with what he did have and he did just enough to squeak out a win. When that Giants defensive line is at full health, they are a daunting matchup for anyone. The Patriots offense had not been shutout for the first half of a game in 783 years, but the Giants D managed to do just that. The team's build can be incredibly successful when they are clicking. They have four players who can consistently get to the quarterback and win one-on-one matchups in Kiwanuka, Tuck, Umenyiora, and Pierre-Paul. It is impossible to know which Eli Manning will show up on any given Sunday, but if the right one does, this is a team that can make a push deep into the playoffs.

This spectacular day of football really highlighted how much parity there is in the AFC. As it stands, there are no undefeated and no one-loss teams in the conference. In fact, the Ravens and the Bungles (SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?) are the only two loss teams in the AFC. There is a pack of good teams assembling just behind these frontrunners, as there are now 5 three-loss teams and 4 four-loss teams. Two of these three-loss teams will meet next Sunday, when the Patriots visit the Jets in a game which will determine the AFC East's division leader. Belichick and Brady are famously good at bouncing back from losses, and so it will be fascinating to see if they can bounce back from consecutive losses while playing on the road against a division rival.

With the presence of an undefeated team in the Packers and a one-loss team in the 49ers, the NFC has not seen as much parity. However, outside of the NFC West, every other division is still somewhat close.

While plenty of intriguing storylines remain, it is tough to imagine a regular season slate of games that are more entertaining than those which took place on November 6th, 2011.

The Man, The Legend, The Machine

With game 5 of the World Series recently underway and the baseball season nearing completion, there are just a few quick baseball related issues that I have to get off my chest.

This is not a best of 3 series. Yes, I understand that when two teams are tied 2-2 in a 7-game series, one may look at the remaining games and conclude that you only need to win two of the next three to win the title. THIS DOES NOT MAKE IT A 3 GAME SERIES. Anybody can look at the series scores and see for himself that both teams remain two games from elimination. Even those of us who have majored in social sciences can still recognize that 7 minus 4 is 3. I can understand that an announcer would want to make a reference to this fabled “3 game series” as a cute way of varying up his commentary, but stop saying it every other goddamn sentence. This is making ESPN and Fox even more un-watchable.

That was enough of a rant, now on to the heart of this article. Albert “Motherfuckin’” Pujols. The man, the legend, the machine. It is impossible to praise him enough. As if ten straight seasons of unparalleled excellence and remarkable consistency were not enough, he had to go ahead and affix his name to a whole assortment of postseason records. With his 3-homerun performance in game three, Pujols engraved his name even deeper in the record books. The feat was enough to tie him with both Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the only men who have hit three homeruns in a World Series game.

Furthermore, he is now in the mix for a number of other records for a single postseason. While a few games still remain in this postseason, Pujols has already racked up 23 hits (only 2 behind the leader), 45 total bases (only 2 behind the leader), 7 doubles (good for first place all time), and 16 RBIs (only 3 behind the leader). (All numbers courtesy of BR) With several games left, one has to believe that several of these records are within his grasp.

The question now becomes, how do you reward someone for these accomplishments? While Pujols had a bit of a “down” season this year by his standards, hitting below .300 and with fewer than 100 RBIs for the first time in his eleven year career. While this was an off year for him, he still managed to walk more times than he struck out, and he still belted 37 homeruns, good for third in the MLB. Over the course of his career, he has reached base 42% of the time, while hitting just over 40 homeruns per year. He also holds an on-base plus slugging percentage roughly 70% higher than the league average during the same time. Meanwhile, he managed to pull out a sneaky World Series win back in 2006, putting his team on his back and silently carrying a team that did not have any other real star power. All of this means that his payday this offseason will indeed be monstrous.

He is probably the best professional hitter since Ted Williams, with leadership skills and consistency to boot. How does a team put a price tag on that? In a bigger market, his proven ability to bring in wins could demand another record, this time not in hits and walks, but in dollars. When St Louis makes a bid for his services, he will have to ask what his legacy and integrity mean to him. He should think hard about this one, and come up with an exact dollar amount. Because odds are that there is a team willing to pay for his integrity and give him a generous signing bonus on top of it. I sympathize with the protesters down on Wall Street, but there is a whole new tier of earners. If people are this upset with the 1%, I can't imagine how pissed they'll be when they familiarize themselves with "Pujols money." The man is his own tier.