Carolina Hurricanes Downgraded to Tropical Depression

The Carolina Hurricanes are fighting for a playoff spot and as of late have been playing some very good hockey. That is, until Saturday night. They went into Atlanta having won four of their last five including a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Buffalo in overtime the game before, putting themselves in prime position to solidify their place in the playoffs. And who better to help Carolina pad their placement more than the Southeast Division cellar dwelling Atlanta Thrashers? Everything was going smoothly as Carolina took a 3-1 lead at the 1:41 mark of the third period and were seemingly cruising to an easy victory. That is, until 10:25 of the third period when the Hurricanes gave up the first of what would be three unanswered goals in an eight minute period ultimately leading to a 5-3 Thrashers win; it was one of the worst collapses of the year. Instead of sitting safely in playoff position, the Hurricanes sit tied for 10^th with Buffalo at 69 points but Buffalo holds a game in hand over Carolina and as a result the Hurricanes will need some help from those ahead of them in the standings if they want to make reservations for post-season play. One bad game does not a season make, but when you blow a two goal third period lead to the second worst team in the Conference you probably do not deserve to compete for Lord Stanley’s Cup. With the playoff race getting tighter every day, if the Hurricanes miss the playoffs they can point to the game against Atlanta and then squarely in the mirror because they’ll have no one to blame but themselves.

Redskins Acquire Bro Bowl Cornerback DeAngelo Hall

The Washington Redskins agreed to a one year deal worth just over $800,000 with cornerback DeAngelo Hall on Friday November 7^th, who had just been waived by the Oakland Raiders. It didn’t take too long for the Pro Bowler to find himself a new home. Although there has been a consensus that Hall has been underachieving this past half-season in Oakland, and the previous year in Atlanta, when looked at closely, it is easy to see why Hall can be a good fit for the Redskins.

First of all, Washington has been suffering from injuries in the secondary, and namely at cornerback; starter Shawn Springs, nickel back Fred Smoot, and backup Leigh Torrence. And although none of the three has been injured for extended periods of time, they have all been injured frequently and sporadically enough that the Redskins could not pass up this opportunity.

Aside from the injury bug in Washington, there is also the stable of wide receivers the Redskins have to face twice each year within their division. The New York Giants sport big game and big height, six foot five inch, Plaxico Burress. We all know about Dallas and Terrell Owens, but now with the pickup of big game, and six foot three, Roy Williams, the necessity for a player of Hall’s talents is ever more of the essence. Finally, the Eagles have a budding star in rookie DeSean Jackson, whose 34 receptions for 525 yards have him on pace to reach 1,050 total, and a quarterback in Donovan McNabb who has shown a propensity to do more with less over his career.

As long as DeAngelo Hall can resume the level play during his Pro Bowl garnering seasons, then the Redskins will have made a good choice. If not, they don’t lose much as they only signed him for the remainder of this season.

NBA – Are the Atlanta Hawks a playoff contender?

Lets rewind the clocks back two years ago.  The Atlanta Hawks were dubbed as one of the worst franchises ever in professional sports.  They had the longest playoff drought in the NBA, spanning back to the 1998-1999 lockout season.  For those of you that don’t remember this team featured a young Dikembe Mutombo and Semi-All Star in Steve Smith.  The Hawks showed signs of promise as they started off the year 4-1 and were atop the Eastern Conference standings during the infancy of the 2006-2007 season.  Joe Johnson had completed one full year in Atlanta under the tutilage of Mike Woodson.  The end result? A 30-52 record, finished last in their division, and amongst the worst of the NBA.

Last Year the started the season at 3-10.  People had written off this team from the start with good reason I ight add.  They finished the season at 37-45 and had snatched the 8th seed for their first playoff birth in 9 years.   Of course this is not impressive by any means because this is the Eastern Conference we are talking about, where if you won 3 games in a row you could catapult from the 12 spot to the 7 spot.  No as far as I’m concerned they were just as pathetic as they were before.  But! When the playoffs came around, this was a different team.  They pushed the Celtics to a crazy 7 games and almost created a huge upset.  We as fanatics all talked about how this team was going to be good next year, and now next year has come around.

The Hawks have started off 3-0 and have beaten Orlando, Philly, and New Orleans, respectively.  All three of those teams were playoff teams last year, with Orlando and New Orleans being division winners.  There are whispers in the wind of the Hawks being legit this year.  I am here to tell you otherwise.  The Hawks are still a bad team.  After years of poor management of the Coaches and Personnel, poor draft decisions (Not picking Chris Paul or Deron Williams when they had the chance), barely squeaking into the playoffs last year, this team is far from being much better than what they were last year.  Teams like Atlanta are young and inexperienced, and live off of the hype of the beginning of the season.  This is when coaches can reach them because they are eager to win and to learn.  But as the season progresses and the players face the strain of traveling and going through the physical depreciation of their bodies, the true colors of the Hawks will show. 

Think about this, Joe Johnson left the Suns to be the “man” on a bad team.  In which he isn’t even the franchise player, Josh Smith is.  Speaking of Josh Smith, you think he wants to play in Atlanta?  After how he was treated this offseason because the Hawks didn’t want to shell out money to keep a young and athletic shot blocker and scorer.  We all know as regular people, who have regular jobs or go to school.  We follow the lead of our bosses or teachers.  This Atlanta management team is a great example of how to not treat your players or managers.  This group of players in Atlanta need more time to develop and need better coaches to help them develop.  Despite Joe Johnson having a career year so far (28/5.7/3.7) the other parts of the Atlanta core (Mike Bibby and Josh Smith) are playing rather poorly.  The loss of Josh Childress has placed more pressure on Marvin Williams, who has not risen to the occassion (6.5/6/0.5).  I guarentee that this team will place out of the playoffs this year or at most the 8th seed again. 

But, who knows, miracles can happen.  After all Obama did become president.

DeAngelo Hall on the Market after being Waived by Raiders

 

I also feel that New England has been missing Asante Samuel, so I wouldn’t count them out of the picture. The other teams I would put in the mix would be the Carolina Panthers as they would like to become the top D in the NFC south with the Falcons and Buccaneers defenses playing well for the most part.

Finally, I would go with Arizona as a very strong possibility. The Cardinals by now have to know that they are pretty much a lock to win their division, barring an upset this Monday Night at home in the desert by the 49ers. If they wish to matchup better with the true contenders and upstarts of the league then a strong corner like DeAngelo Hall would help them tremendously.