BRONCOS & RAIDERS // NFL RACE TO THE TOP // NBA LOCKOUT // COLLEGE FOOTBALL “PICK OF THE WEEK” // BOXING & A FORMER CHAMP

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            STARTING NOVEMBER 14, 2011, “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” WILL POST NEW EVERY MONDAY INSTEAD OF ON TUESDAY, continuing with a new post every Friday.  Editor, Marvin Leibstone. Comments to: mlresources1@aol.com

BRONCOS, RAIDERS  ---  UNTIL meeting up with the Oakland Raiders on Sunday, November 6, the Denver Broncos were doing poorly, stuck in mediocrity. Yet they hadn’t been a gang of can’t-get-it-together misfits heading downhill uncaringly. Instead, the Broncos have been a gathering of talented athletes pushing hard to offset their vulnerabilities with their strengths, which they succeeded at doing with a 38-24 victory against the Raiders that was largely from an offense that surpassed expectations after an embarrassing Denver loss to the Detroit Lions, 45-10.  

Denver quarterback Tim Tebow steered the versus Raiders win with 64 offense plays and four touchdowns, 135 passing yards, 299 rushing yards, 118 of the rushing yards his alone. Add, three interceptions, two by Denver cornerback Champ Bailey, the other by Denver CB, Chris Harris. Of the TD’s, two were completed by Denver running back Willis McGahee after well-timed and accurate Tebow connects. McGahee finished the game with 163 yards gained. Another TD was scored by Denver wide receiver Eric Decker making a brilliant 27 yard catch on the run. A third TD belonged to WR Eddie Royal after an 85 yard run.

Noteworthy against Oakland were the results of Denver’s 20 first downs. Relative to the number of Denver points from TD’s and field goals, that’s more than 50 percent of the game winning total of 38, in effect, nearly two points per first down.

Still, the dark side of suspense thrived as the Broncos defense gave points back to Oakland .  .  .   While definite improvements occurred in the Denver defense’s ability to run fast, tackle, block, interfere and intercept, some lapses occurred, allowing Oakland to score and remain in contention during each quarter. The fourth quarter began with a tie, 24-24. Denver’s execution of pressure tactics against an opposing QB in the pocket also showed improvement, but inconsistency there also allowed damage, for example, the majority of Oakland’s points could be traced directly to Oakland’s QB exploiting space and time that the Denver defense could have prevented him from having, the Oakland QB throwing well enough to receivers who had become free for the catch, though much credit is due for a speedy Denver sacking of the Raiders QB with less than two minutes to go in the fourth Q, good spoilage of a Raiders drive that could have diminished the final point spread.

Denver is now 3-5 and will face the 4-4 Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, November 13. The Broncos will face the Chiefs again on January 1, 2012, and between this Sunday’s game and January 1 the Broncos will be challenged by only teams that are at or above .500, except for the Minnesota Vikings, now at 2-6.

It’s the last half of the season now, ahead an eight game spread that will put the Tebow question to rest. If most of the next eight Broncos game-results are like Sunday’s win vs. Oakland, Tebow will have proof that his poor showing against the Detroit Lions last week was a fluke, that he can match his potential over the long term and manage an NFL offense above the margin, which means that he’ll have to increase his gained yardage per game to 200 or above and complete more than 50 percent of his passes. Against Oakland, Tebow completed 10 of 21 pass attempts. 

NFL season, mid-point  ---  FOR most of the NFL teams, there are eight games to go before the post-season, the aggregate run of past games smacking of both surprise and predictability. No-one thought as the season began that the Indianapolis Colts would be winless to date, 0-9, or that the Denver Broncos would be tied at fourth from the bottom in the NFL’s American Conference with the 3-5 Cleveland Browns. Miami is now second worst after Indianapolis at 1-7, Jacksonville third worst at 2-6.

Strange as it may seem, in the AC-Western Division there's an X factor. Though Denver is now 3-5, the four teams ahead of Denver are at 4-4. This means that from Denver beating the Chiefs this Sunday and winning its next two games afterward, and San Diego and Oakland losing their upcoming games over the next three weeks, the Broncos could own first place in the AC-WD, thus have a chance to be in the post-season. The likelihood of this happening is probably slim but it is still possible given that each of the four WD teams have played unpredictably since the start of the season. Of course, to help this scenario unfold, Denver must, after beating the Chiefs this Sunday, also beat the New York Jets November 17 and the San Diego Padres, November 27.

Right now, the best records in the AC are held by the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens, both 6-2 in the AC’s Northern Division. In the NFL-National Conference, way ahead are the Green Bay Packers, 8-0, followed by the San Francisco Giants, 7-1, the New Orleans Saints, 6-3, and the N.Y. Giants, 6-2. Worst in the NC are the St.Louis Rams, 1-7.

NBA LOCKOUT ---  WITH the U.S. economy nearly stagnant and unemployment hovering still at nine percent, it’s hard to wrap one’s mind around millionaire players arguing with billionaire NBA team owners, each side as if a step away from homelessness. The latest no-go in the negotiations that have stalled the 2011/2012 NBA season is an offering to players from the owners of a 51 percent share of basketball-related earnings, which the players union declined even knowing that the offer will soon drop to 47 percent. So, no-one should expect a return to NBA games soon, though a season will eventually unfold if only from necessity among owners unable to handle the impact of a serious downward slide into red ink.

Too, large and small businesses that survive along the periphery of basketball have entered the equation---if they organize better with appropriate funding and threaten to be forceful during court procedures, the lockout could end before January with players getting what they want, which would amount to NBA players getting richer but also NBA players being able to control their destinies a lot better than now via force of owner-dollars invested. Similarly, banks treat with kid gloves the clients that they’ve given millions to for a desired return, out of fear of that these big borrowers will renege on their agreements. Pay an athlete many millions of dollars, you’ll need that investment to pay off, like a show producer having fallen into “the Diva trap.”

COLLEGE FOOTBALL --- AIR FORCE beat Army, 24-14 on Saturday, winning in a second half that began with Army at 14, Air Force, zero, zip, nada! Having beat Navy 35-34 in overtime last month, and having beaten Army, the Air Force Falcons have qualified for the U.S. Commander-In-Chief trophy, which means that the team will be at the White House soon to receive the trophy from President Barack Obama .  .  .   Some observers characterized the last half vs. Army as the best second half comeback of any of the service academy games of recent years.

Surely attention should be given to the way that Army had played during the first half---the Black Knights accrued 20 first downs and 340 rushing yards, while keeping Air Force from scoring. The second half was sort of tit for tat, in that there were two Air Force fumbles that had allowed Army to score points in the first half, and there were three Army fumbles that enabled Air Force to drive for TD’s and a field goal in the second half. Air Force is now at 5-4, next up: Wyoming, November 12.

   

BOXING  --- FOR many boxing fans, there are several modern eras, starting with heavyweights Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, next the Joe Louis/Sugar Ray Robinson-led period that lasted from just before WW-2 until the 1950’s, closely attended by, and then followed by an era dominated by heavyweights Joe Walcott and Rocky Marciano. Then came the Muhammad Ali period in the 1960’s, maintained until Ali’s retirement in 1979, followed by a popular middleweight/welterweight generation led by Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran, this in the late 1970’s and 1980’s, when heavyweight Mike Tyson also maintained prominence. These boxers were known and admired or hated by the general public, while today very few boxers are known except by the sport’s serious followers, of which there are fewer than in any generation since the 1930’s.

Ask any person in the street a generation ago who the heavyweight champion of the world was, the correct answer surfaced almost immediately. That doesn’t happen now, and probably very few persons today have heard of former heavyweight champion, Joe Frazier, who, at age 67, was diagnosed a month ago with liver cancer and died this week. Frazier fought Ali three times, losing twice, the first win when Frazier was already World Heavyweight Champion, a title that he obtained in 1970 and held until 1973, when he lost to George Foreman.

Of Frazier’s 37 fights, he won 32, 27 being knockouts---he fought often as a wildly aggressive bruiser rather than as the scientific fighter that he knew to be and was when he had to be. When he beat Ali, he wasn’t just breathing fire, he wasn’t just of a mean left hook and then flailing arms, he wasn’t just tenacity and brute strength---boxing history should treat him as the true professional fighter, owner of courage, power and sound technique.

END/ml