tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Tuesday’s Thoughts

While wondering if Herman Cain becomes President, if we will receive a piece of pizza with our tax returns, here's what is on my mind this morning:

* The Maple Leafs were lucky to earn a point last night against the Colorado Avalanche as they lost 3-2 in overtime. While he made some nice saves, James Reimer let in two softies and the young netminder wished that he could have those two shots back. In addition, the Leafs power play continues to struggle as they have only score 2 goals with the man advantage. It sure would be nice if this can catch fire before they hit the road on Thursday.

* Phil Kessel continued his hot hand scoring the Leafs first goal last night. It was nice to see the Grabovski line finally get on the score sheet as Nikolai Kulemin scored to tie the game late in the third period. It was a great effort by Kulemin as he held the puck in the zone and then headed to the net to slam a rebound home past J.S. Giguere. The Leafs will need the Grabovski line to start scoring if they are to be successful this season. Toronto is back at it Wednesday against Winnipeg. A Leaf win will end the homestand at 4-0-1.

* The Jim Schwartz-Jim Harbaugh confrontation Sunday was all on Schwartz. After watching the replay numerous times, Schwartz went back at Harbaugh and was looking for trouble. Schwartz has a chip on his shoulder and apparently was yelling at Harbaugh during the game when the rookie coach challenged a scoring play. This year in the NFL, you can't challenge scoring plays as all scoring plays are automatically reviewed. Schwartz was yelling, "Know the Rules." The guy is classless and I would love to see his Lions spiral out of relevancy. He is a punk.

* The state of the Cleveland Browns continues to perplex long-time fans. Most Browns fans had no illusions of playoffs or even a winning season this year. But it would be nice to see some growth and progression particularly with the offense and that has not been the case. Maybe it has to do with having a rookie coach and basically a rookie quarterback. The defense seems to be adjusting well to the 4-3 defense. It is headed up by veteran coach Dick Jauron. Hmmmm....sounds like it could be the offensive coordinator which also happens to be Head Coach Pat Shurmur.

*The World Series begins tomorrow with the St.Louis Cardinals hosting the Texas Rangers. FOX must be sick as this Series will generate hardly a blip in the major media markets like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. In fact, not sure how much buzz it will generate over the weekend in Dallas with the Cowboys and Longhorns in action. I'm rooting for the Cardinals, hopefully in 7 games.

* Jon Lester admitted that he was a part of the beer and fried chicken triplets. I found it amazing that Lester was outraged that the source wasn't man enough to identify himself. How about being outraged that you are a professional athlete who acted as if you were some beer league softball player??

* Not sure if the Cubs are making the right move with hiring Theo Epstein. Hopefully, he can turn things around. The Red Sox had to be joking if they thought the Cubs were going to give them Matt Garza as compensation for hiring Epstein. It will be interesting to see what the Cubs do with Prince Fielder and possibly Albert Pujols on the free agent market.

* I was watching the Kansas State-Texas Tech game Saturday and I was thinking to myself how entertaining Big 12 football is as most teams can really light up the scoreboard. The president of the Big 12 should be hammered for allowing the Texas Longhorns to have their own television network which has in effect destroyed one of the most entertaining conferences in college football and the NCAA should be ashamed for allowing it.

* And finally, the bandwagon got a little lighter Sunday night as the Buffalo Bills lost to the New York Giants. Bills fans need to get a grip. If someone told them before the season that the Bills would be 4-2 at the bye week they would have been ecstatic. The fact remains that they have been opportunistic and that has resulted in their wins. Cincinnati and the Giants limited turnovers and the Bills lost. The Chester Cheektowagas of the world need to enjoy the ride. As one Bills fan told me yeaterday, at least this year the games are entertaining.