Monday, the St. Louis Rams finally fired head coach Scott Linehan. After being blown out for the fourth time in as many games, anyone who didn't see this coming must've had similar weekend plans to Ricky Williams. Defensive coordinator, and former New Orleans Saints head coach Jim Haslett has been named the interim head coach. Now, if this choice was made off of the accomplishments of the Rams' defense so far this season, it was as poor of a choice as the initial hire of an inexperienced Scott Linehan. But if the decision was made off of his head coaching experience with the Saints, it was a fine choice.

Haslett made an immediate impact with the Saints. He was hired to replace Mike Ditka after a 3-13 year. Haslett led the Saints to a 10-6 record in his first year, earning him a playoff berth, the NFC West title, and the NFL's Coach of the Year award. Haslett spent five more years in the Big Easy before being the fall guy for the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. The Saints went 3-13 that year, which really isn't that bad considering that they opened up at home against the Giants. In Giants Stadium. Yeah, and you thought that Astros having to play the Cubs in Milwaukee was rough.

Continue reading "First blog entry"

Links weren't functioning properly today, so they're numerically listed at the end of the post. Sorry for the inconvenience.

In St. Louis, most Cardinals fans revere Cubs fans like the black, tarry substance which gum becomes when spit out on concrete over several years. It's disgusting, unsightly, and nearly impossible to get rid of. But every time we embark on a trip to Busch Stadium for a Cardinals Cubs1 series, they are there. 

During the last month of the season, I believe I was cheering just as hard for the Cubs to fail as the Cardinals to succeed. I hated the Cubs this year. They eliminated the Cardinals mathematically ... by losing ... to the my other least favorite National League team, the Mets2.

However, before I get into this baseball season any further, I would like to look on the Cubs in the past. When I was  growing up, I had neighbors around the corner. Two ladies, very nice ones as I recall. I can't remember their names anymore, but my best friend at the time, Blake, and I spent countless summer afternoons at their house watching baseball. Cubs baseball. WGN was always on when we were over, and the Cubs played even more day games back then(in the late 80's and early 90's) than they do today.

Continue reading "Cubs fans' Blues (2)"

In only the third game of the season, the Blues may have already played a defining game. That's tough to say with 79 games left, but in the small sample size we have to judge this year on, the Blues' fans should be very happy.

Last Friday night, the Blues opened their season at home for the first time since 2004, and won a season opener for the first time in ten years by defeating the Nashville Predators 5-2.

The poor offense, fueled by a lackluster power play, which was the team's biggest weakness last season, came through big for the Blues. They got down early, allowing a goal to Ryan Sutter just 2:03 into the opening period.

But the Blues bounced back, getting a power play goal at 12:45 from their grizzled, grinding veteran, Keith Tkachuk. The goal was assisted by both Paul Kariya and Brad Boyes, who tied for the team lead in points last season. Hopefully, this goal is a sign of things to come, as they need these three experienced scorers to help lead the way on such a young team. 

Continue reading "Blues' Good Start"

St. Louis sports had a fantastic weekend (Columbia is not a suburb of St. Louis, so this excludes the Mizzou-Texas debacle from Saturday night). All three of the city's teams were improving in one way or another, even the Cardinals who are finished for year on the field.

Even though the Cardinals have missed the playoffs the last two years, they were competitive for the majority of the two seasons. The Redbirds are now rumored to be involved in trade talks with the San Diego Padres for ace pitcher and last year's NL Cy Young award winner Jake Peavy, as well as shortstop Khalil Greene. If Chris Carpenter can't go in the spring (or ever, Peavy would help to stabilize the front of the rotation. That could give the Cardinals a rotation of Peavy, Adam Wainwright, Kyle Lohse, and Todd Wellemeyer, with the last spot to be filled in by Joel Piniero or a minor leaguer. 

Continue reading "St. Louis sports are back"