MARLBORO, NY – Queue the Diana Ross song “Love Hangover.” A few recent happenings in the world of sport, has me feeling as though I need an Alka-Seltzer or some Zoloft – or something to change my mood. There are four subjects in particular: the Dallas Cowboys, NFL, Boston Bruins, and Cooperstown Voting.
Dallas Cowboys: It seems like eons since the Cowboys lost in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs to the smoking-hot Green Bay Packers – but it has only been a week. The ‘Boys surpassed expectations by a trip to the moon, as they finished the regular season 13-3 with a fourth-round rookie quarterback. They seemed like destiny’s darlings as the #1 seed in the NFC. I also thought that the angels in heaven were influenced by my sister to wave the Blue & Silver pom-poms and help Dallas to victory but that was not to be the case.
What will haunt me is the Cowboys last drive that tied the game at 31-31 before they left too much time on the clock (35 seconds and two timeouts) for Aaron Rodgers to operate. Call it a rookie mistake or bad coaching–I’m not sure which it is that had Dak Prescott spike the ball on a first down heading for a what-could-have-been, game-icing touchdown. Conventional wisdom during a two-minute drill is to often call two plays in a huddle at the same time in order to continue the march for the end zone with a timeout in hand. I’m dealing with the loss much better than expected and there’s plenty of bourbon in the home bar to keep me sedated.
The NFL season is all but over. No sport flies by quicker – to the dismay of men all across the country – as we now must tend to those sh!tty to-do lists set forth by the women of the house. In hopes of keeping you folks somewhat entertained, I now must find a way outside of my weekly Cheesy Bruin’s Free NFL Picks (ATLANTA -5.5 and NEW ENGLAND -6) columns to meet my Sunday obligation here at Meet The Matts. It’ll probably be hockey, which is better than rugby, but will still put most of you to sleep.
With that hockey segue, let’s get to my favorite hockey team, the Boston Bruins, who have me frustrated on a game-to-game basis. I waste two and a half hours every time they play whenever they are on television or the on-line radio feed. What causes the hangover I feel after they play? No passion, lack of leadership, no sense of urgency and overpaid long-term contracts that no team will touch at the trade deadline. Head Coach Claude Julien will be the fall guy but it should be Cam Neely, who has put together the greatest sh!t-show on ice. Please pass the Zoloft.
Cooperstown Voting: The Baseball Writers of America voted Tim Raines, Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. This will mark the opening to “The Hall of Steroid Users.” Bagwell, suspected the same way recently-enshrined Mike Piazza was, and Rodriguez, whose name did appear on The Naughty List, will have shown the way for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and others to gain entry into Cooperstown. Plop, plop, fizz, fizz. Hand me the Alka-Seltzer.
That’s it. Please comment below and come back tomorrow for Dubious DJ Eberle. And please follow us on Twitter – @CheesyBruin & @MeetTheMatts and like our Facebook page, Meet The Matts.
