The Big Bad Bruins Are Back

By Matt Ingram
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

The Bruins played the Carolina Hurricanes last night for the first time since the Canes knocked them out of the playoffs last year. Both were coming off disappointing first game losses and looking to rebound.

Right from the drop of the puck the B's came out flying. Just four minutes into the game Marc Savard scooped up a rebound and put it past Cam Ward to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.

The Bruins kept the pressure up and eight minutes later scored again after Zdeno Chara took a shot from the point that Cam Ward kicked out and was put right back in by Michael Ryder making it 2-0 Bruins. It would take just 38 seconds for the Bruins to put in another one as Black Wheeler deflected one past Ward. The play would be reviewed and it showed that the puck did go off Wheeler's skate, but he had not kicked it so the goal stood.

The second period started out just like the first with the Bruins keeping the pressure on, but Carolina also got some of their own pressure. Then with a little less than ten minutes gone in the period Marco Sturm got his first of the year and his first since returning from an injury that kept him out of almost all of last year.

Just two minutes later the Bruins scored again. This time it was Dennis Wideman making it 5-0 and the third pp goal of the game for the B's. With the Bruins in total control they seemed to get off their game a bit and Carolina got their first goal of the game as Scott Walker deflected a shot pat Thomas which was eerily similar to his game winner in last year's Game 7.

That goal seemed to spark the Bruins who once again got the pressure back on Carolina and scored again as Shawn Thornton put a quick one past Michael Leighton who had replaced Cam Ward.

With the game well in hand you knew things were going to get out of hand very soon. Then it happened. With under a minute left in the period Milan Lucic checked Jay Harrison into the boards and Harrison decided he wanted to go with Lucic. It was a great fight with both landing punches, but Lucic landed the better as he opened Harrison up pretty good.

The very next play Andrew Alberts hit Marco Sturm into the boards up a little high, Sturm had sustained head injury last year and Savard took offense to this as he went right over to Alberts and started to throw a few punches although Savard still had his gloves on. Then everyone jumped in and pretty soon there was four guys in each penalty box.

The Bruins would get the final goal of the game as Matt Hunwick got his first of the season making it 7-2. The game had one more scrum as Shawn Thornton fought Andrew Alberts with Thornton getting the best of the punches in.


News and Notes
It was the first time the Bruins had seven different goal scorers in a game since Jan. 18, 2003.

The Bruins had 21 shots in first period which was more than all three periods of the opener, 20 shots.

The Bruins honored longtime broadcaster Fred Cusick, who passed away on September 15th at the age of 90. Cusick was the Bruins' Radio broadcaster from 1952-1970 and TV broadcaster from 1971-1997. During the first media timeout of the second period, the TV booth was dedicated at the "Fred Cusick Broadcast Booth." His trademark “Scoooore!” still gives me chills.


Who's next?
After 2 games in 3 nights the B's don't play until Thursday. The Anaheim Ducks visit the Garden for their only appearance in Boston this season.

Finally! The Dodgers get the job done

Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Maybe I just predicted the Dodgers would win last night because I am a Dodgers fan. Maybe I predicted they would win last night because Joe Torre is their manager and is a proven winner. You know what, it doesn't matter because the Dodgers finally wrapped up the NL West Division as they beat the Colorado Rockies 5-0 on Saturday night. That wasn't the only thing they clinched last night. They also clinched the best record in the National League to secure home field advantage throughout the NL portion of the playoffs. For Joe Torre this is the 14th straight year he's lead a team to the playoffs.

The man who should get most of the credit from last night is Clayton Kershaw. The 21 year old phenom was fantastic. While he didn't earn a decision, he did pitch 6 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits and 10 strikeouts. It's hard to imagine he's only 21 and posted an 8-8 record with a 2.79 ERA this season. Torre will be relying heavily on the young lefthander as they enter the playoffs. It looks like Randy Wolf will take the mound for game 1 and be backed up by Kershaw in game 2. After that, Joe Torre has yet to decide who the 3rd and 4th starters will be. He will have to pick from All Star Chad Billingsley, (my best bet for the 3rd spot), Jon Garland and Vincente Padilla. If I was making the decisions, I'd go with Billingsley and Garland hands down.

How will the recent offensive struggles affect the Dodgers in the playoffs? One has to be a little worried that Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, James Loney, Russel Martin and Orlando Hudson have all hit under .200 the last week of the regular season. One could also say they all went into a slump at the same time, and the time off before the playoffs will refresh and refocus the lineup. My guess is the latter will hold true. This lineup is too good, and too deep to not break out of the team wide slump.

You can wait for my prediction later this week!

Week 4 NFL Picks: Bank on Patriots winning

By Dan Shouse

Fan Fanatic Sport Staff

This should be easy. Anybody can pick the winners of NFL games each week, right?

Plus, it's not like I am picking against the point spread, so lets get to it.

Take it to the bank, here are your Week 4 winners in the NFL.

Patriots 21 Ravens 17

You can say I am picking this game with my heart, not my head, but I am not totally sold on the Ravens just yet. Yes they are 3-0, but two of the wins were against the Browns and Chiefs. Hardly what I would call playoff teams. The Ravens' other win came on the road in San Diego, a game the Chargers could have won if not for a couple of Phillip Rivers picks and a questionable call - running the ball with Darren Sproles on 4th-and-1 on the final drive deep in Ravens territory.

This is the week the Patriots look like the Patriots again.

Bears 24 Lions 7

Lions start up a new losing streak. Too bad the Lions can't play the Redskins every week

Bengals 34 Browns 10

If Derek Anderson was not the answer last season, why does Mangini think he will be this yea?Bengals build off last week's last-second win over the Steelers with an easy win this week.

Colts 30 Seahawks 17

Seahawks don't have the weapons to keep up with the Colts in Indy. Manning and the offense continue to produce.

Giants 27 Chiefs 6

Brandon Jacobs left, Brandon Jacobs right, Jacobs up the middle. Expect a big day on the ground for the G-Men again this week against the Chiefs. You won't see any offense from a punchless Chiefs team led by Matt Cassel.

Redskins 6 Bucs 3

Watching the Lifetime Movie Channel will be more entertaining than watching this game. Give the Redskins the win because they are at home.

Titans 20 Jags 14

Titans keep Maurice Jones-Drew in check and pick up their first win.

Texans 44 Raiders 6

How miserable must Richard Seymour be in Oakland? Check out JeMarcus Russell's numbers. They almost make Ryan Leaf look like an Hall of Famer.

Saints 40 Jets 20

The Jets will blitz, but Drew Brees will still have a big day. Jets drop their first game of the year in the Big Easy.

Bills 21 Dolphins 13

The Dolphins 2008 season must feel like a long time ago. T.O. has a big day, and helps keep the Dolphins winless, and the media off his back. For now anyway.

49ers 24 Rams 0

Mike Singletary's defense should have no problem with the Rams. St. Louis was bad enough with Marc Bulger, they will not be any better with Kyle Boller under center.

Cowboys 17 Broncos 14

With Felix Jones out, and Marion Barber banged up, the Cowboys may struggle a bit, but they will still have enough to get past the Broncos.

Chargers 27 Steelers 21

Phillip Rivers and Vincent Jackson have been a pretty good tandem this season. Chargers win on Sunday night, as the defending champs fall to 1-3.

Packers 24 Vikings 23

The Pack ruins things for Favre on Monday Night Football. Last week Favre was the hero. This week he will be the goat, as a late interception leads to the game-winning field goal by Mason Crosby.

There was a Bruins Game on Thursday?

By Matt Ingram
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Apparently Thursday night's opener at the TD Garden was unbearable to watch. Luckily for myself and all other Directv subscribers the game was televised on (Comcast owned) Versus Network. For now, Directv does not air the Versus Network.

Comcast and Versus are currently engaged in a noisy publicity campaign to distract attention from the fact that they are trying to take advantage of Directv and customers like myself. Directv has posted this message on their website.

Unfortunately, Versus is no longer available on DIRECTV. Comcast, the largest cable company in the U.S. and our largest competitor, owns the channel and has forced us to pull it down. Here is the situation.

DIRECTV was already paying Comcast more than any other non-Comcast distributor to air Versus — and now Comcast is demanding an overall rate hike of 20% on top of that. Comcast also forces DIRECTV to make Versus available to a much larger portion of our customer base at our own expense than they require from other TV providers — most notably, DISH Network. We simply cannot accept these unfair and outrageous terms. All we're asking from Comcast is equal treatment.

If the negotiations don't get hashed out soon there will be many NHL fans that will not be happy. The Bruins alone have 7 regular season games, including last Thursday's opener, that are not available to Directv subscribers. This doesn't even include the playoffs, which Versus has the rights to a portion of games.

Comcast is coming of as very hypercritical. The NFL Network and Comcast had been in a battle for nearly 3 years until an agreement came this past May. Before a deal was struck Comcast wanted the NFL Network on a higher tiered level so it could charge the customer a higher price. Of course, the NFL was not willing to compromise on this stipulation as this would bring down the amount of possible viewers.

Now that Comcast has a Network, and I use the term loosely, that it can distribute it is choosing to bend Directv and its customers over. Comcast has always been angry that Directv has exclusive rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket and this is just one way they can get back at Directv. I'm sure the NHL wishes it had a real TV deal with a real sports network, ESPN for example. Although this goes along everything the NHL has done this decade.

Will the Dodgers blow the NL West?

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Despite clinching a playoff spot last Sunday, the Dodgers still can't wrap up the NL West title. They have lost 5 in a row, and now have a one game lead over the Rockies with two games to play directly against them. Obviously, they only need to win one of the final two games to clinch the NL West title for the 2nd consecutive year, but will they do it?

Not only have they lost 5 in a row, but they are 3-7 over their last 10. In that time they have been outscored 49-44. It certainly doesn't help that Manny Ramirez has been ice cold the past week. He's hitting only .167 (2 for 12) with 1 RBI and a paltry 3 total bases. His struggles came to a head last night as he struck out 4 times. The Dodgers have an uphill battle tonight as they face off against the 16-9 Jorge De La Rosa. Clayton Kershaw will be pitching for the Dodgers as he tries to get back on track for the post season. If they can't take care of business tonight, tomorrow's match up isn't much better. The struggling Vincente Padilla will take on Jason Marquis.

It's unbelievable to think the Dodgers still have the best record in the National League at this point. My prediction is the Dodgers win tonight and wrap up the NL West. Jorge De La Rosa is a career 0-5 against the Dodgers with a 7.12 ERA. Most of those losses did come at home as he is only 0-1 at Dodgers Stadium with a 2.20 ERA. Still, I think the Dodgers will finally get a sense of urgency tonight. There is no way they want to go into the last regular season game with the division crown on the line, especially since they held a 15 1/2 game lead on the Rockies earlier this season.

Now all they need to do is play the game

Fantasy Football Friday: Week 4 Edition

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Yes, yes. I know this article is a day late, but I do have a reason. Not one that I'll divulge, but I do have a valid reason. In case you didn't notice, Week 4 marks the first week in the NFL season with teams on the bye. So, if you have fantasy players on the Arizona Cardinals, Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers make sure they are riding the pine this week. Of course bye weeks do cause a frenzy of waiver wire moves. What I'd like to do for this week is look at a few game match ups and see who's a good play, or who else should be riding the pine this weekend.

Match ups of the Week:

1. Bengals @ Browns - The Cleveland Browns are a god awful team. The Browns are 30th overall in team defense and have allowed 31.7 points per game so far this season. What does this mean for the Bengals. Watch out for Cedric Benson this week. The Browns have allowed 184.3 rushing yards per game. The Browns maybe middle of the pack (#16 overall) against the pass, but that is mostly due to the fact they've given up so many rushing yards. Another good play this weekend is Andre Caldwell. It seems Caldwell has turned into Palmer's 2nd favorite target after Chad Ochocinco. He's averaged nearly 5 catches per game in the first 3 games, so he's not a bad 3rd receiver with the start of the bye weeks. Don't sleep on Cincy's defense either. They're going up against the worst offensive team on the league.

2. Rams @ 49'ers - The St. Louis Rams now hold the longest current losing streak in the NFL of 13 games. Look for that to continue as they travel to San Francisco. With Frank Gore hurt, Glen Coffee gets the start. The Rams allow 148 yards per game on the ground. He'll also get the start for me in one of my fantasy leagues. Shaun Hill will also get the start for me in another league. Here's why. The Rams allow 253.3 passing yards per game and an opposing passer rating of 99.0. Nice!

3. Lions @ Bears - As much as it pains me to say this, Jay Cutler has been fantastic since the season opener. Look for him to continue that against a Lions defense that allows 399 total yards per game and 278 yards per game through the air. So, you should also make sure to have both Greg Olson and Johnny Knox in the lineup as well. This should be the week Matt Forte breaks out.Despite the Lions first win, you should also make sure you have the Bears Defense ready for a big day as well.

Make Em' Ride the Bench:

QB - Matt Cassel, David Garrard, Kyle Orton, Brett Favre (I don't care it's a revenge game)

RB - Larry Johnson, Jamal Lewis, Marshawn Lynch, Kevin Smith

WR - Dwayne Bowe, Roy Williams, Donnie Avery

TE - Ben Watson, Anthony Fasano, Todd Heap

K - Nate Kaeding, Jason Hanson

DEF - Seattle, New Orleans

Bye Week Pickups/Plays:

QB - Shaun Hill, Mark Sanchez

RB - Glen Coffee, Aaron Brown, Tashard Choice

WR - Bobby Wade, Pierre Garcon, Andre Caldwell

TE - Jermichael Finley, Mercedes Lewis

K - Shayne Graham, Robbie Gould

DEF - Bengals, Texans

Good luck to everyone in Week 4!

So who's tougher, Baltimore or New England?

By Chad Garner

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

So who's tougher?

We'll find out tomorrow when the undefeated Baltimore Ravens (3-0) travel to Foxboro to take on the New England Patriots (2-1).

I'm willing to bet this game isn't going to be pretty, it's going to be a knock-down-drag-em-out fight with some blood thrown in there, too. Basically, expect a fist fight from the opening play to the final whistle.

Both the Ravens and Patriots predicate themselves on playing physical, and we all know that's what they do, too.

This Ravens team appears to be complete with a very good defense (Ray Lewis, Ed Reed) and many weapons on offense. Yes, I said weapons. I know in year's past Baltimore has relied heavily on its defense to protect the offense, but now the offense is pulling its own weight. It's strange to say, but these Ravens are scary on both sides of the ball.

For the Patriots defense, which has been surprisingly solid in the first three games, they must shut down the Ravens' bread-and-butter which is still the power running game. They can hit you with speed (Ray Rice) and power (red zone and TD vulture Willis McGahee with five rushing TDs, and fullback Le'Ron McClain). But what has made Baltimore so good this year is the quarterback play of Joe Flacco. In his second year, the Ravens have taken off the training wheels and are letting his develop his passing skills. Flacco has thrown for 839 yards -- slightly under Tom Brady's 871 yards -- with six touchdowns and two INTs. He's got a passer rating of 101.4. Yes, he's been better than Brady, hands down.

And while the receiving corps of Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton, Kelly Washington (remember him in New England?) and tight end Todd Heap don't exactly scare you, they run good routes and find ways to get open. They're solid, bottom line.

I know it's easier said than done, but if the Pats can't limit the ground game -- plus nose tackle Vince Wilfork must play on his bad ankle and be in the middle because he's a game-changer -- and get some pressure on Flacco when he's forced to throw, New England has got a great chance to win. If the run can't be stopped then the passing game will be equally explosive, and that just means the Pats will get blown out.

For New England, I talked about balance -- running and passing -- last week to beat Atlanta, but throw that right out the window this week. The Ravens don't let anyone run on them -- they're allowing on average only 51 yards per game rushing -- and they haven't allowed a back to run for 100 yards in three years. So why should the Pats think they can run? They can't. If you see 3-yard pickups -- Pats will spread the Ravens out and run draws to slow down the defensive ends -- then that's a win for the Pats.

But Brady is going to have to win this game through the air. The Ravens allowing 231.7 yards passing per game, so they can be thrown on. But they also can ball-hawk (6 INTs), so Brady must be smart with the football and take what the defense gives him. Plus, he's got to hit the open receiver with accuracy and timing, something that's been lacking in the first three weeks. Wide receivers Randy Moss, Wes Welker (his knee better be ready to go this week) and Joey Galloway, plus tight ends Benjamin Watson and Chris Baker, should be licking their chops, knowing this is going to be an air show.

I know Brady hasn't been close to the old Brady, but all eyes are on him this week. Do you think he feels the pressure? I doubt it, he's been in much bigger games -- Super Bowls -- than a Week 4 regular season contest. He'll be fine and this is when we see the real Brady emerge.

Prediction: Patriots, 23-20