The Sports Truth

No pulsating intro music or pyrotechnics are necessary when the Sports Truth’s Starting Five takes the floor. Primarily because our budget won’t allot for such things. That would be so cool, though!

Every Friday, our panel of experts takes a current sports topic and sounds off on it — five times over. These guys have been researching constantly, poring over endless data and bouncing ideas off each other in preparation for this feature. Prepare to be amused, perplexed, enraged and maybe a little awed by their collective brilliance.

This Week’s Topic: THANKSGIVING & SPORTS

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1. Miami at Detroit; Tampa Bay at Dallas; Kansas City at Denver. Let’s hear your predictions.

STEVEN VINCI: You’re always supposed to go with D & D on Thanksgiving. Might as well add Denver and go with all three home teams. Denver and Dallas should roll, the Lions will struggle if Kevin Jones can’t play.

LUCAS DWYER: Miami won last week, Detroit lost. Detroit 27, Miami 10. This just in: Tony Romo can play. Dallas 21, Tamapa Bay 10. Arrowhead Stadium is brutal to play in and Jake Plummer sucks. Kansas City 24, Denver 17.

EVAN CHRISTOPHER: I like Miami, Dallas and Denver, though I don’t understand why the NFL network has to ruin Thanksgiving traditions of bad football and everyone being forced to watch it.

THE PUNDIT: Miami, Dallas, Denver.

MICHAEL STEPHENS: What’s with the third game? Does the NFL really think it can take a bite out of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy ratings? At least that’s the only game worth watching of the three. Look for Larry Johnson (pictured) to hang five TDs on the Broncos in a Chiefs rout. At least that’s what this particular fantasy football owner is hoping for. Tampa won’t beat Dallas, sadly. In the undercard, I guess I’ll go with the acquatic mammals.

2. And now, some college games this week(end): BC at Miami; LSU at Arkansas; Notre Dame at USC.

MICHAEL STEPHENS: Boston College, because the Eags (as a friend calls them) are led by one of my favorite coaches in Tom O’Brien. The University of Arkansas, because it’s my uncle’s former employer. USC, because the viewing public deserves as many shots of the Trojan cheerleaders as possible.

THE PUNDIT: BC, LSU, Notre Dame.

EVAN CHRISTOPHER: Let’s go with BC, Arkansas and Notre Dame. But really, who cares anymore, with the National Championship having already been played?

LUCAS DWYER: Larry Coker’s job is on the line and… he loses it. BC 35, Miami 24. Arkansas will be the surprise national championship foe of Ohio State. Arkansas 20, LSU 17. Charlie Weis finally get Notre Dame over the USC hump. ND 42, USC 38.

STEVEN VINCI: BC at Miami: Who cares? LSU at Arkansas: Bad for SEC if LSU wins. Notre Dame at USC: Huge BCS implications. USC wins and they could end up in the BCS Championship; If Notre Dame wins, however, we might have to watch an Ohio State-Michigan rematch.

3. What’s your favorite Thanksgiving sports memory?

THE PUNDIT: Watching football after gorging on turkey and falling asleep.

STEVEN VINCI: Are we being forced to relive high school gridiron memories? Big wins against huge rivals as a junior and a senior. Junior year, we were up 35-0 at halftime. Senior year, we pitched a 19-0 shutout.

EVAN CHRISTOPHER: I don’t have many sports memories from Thanksgiving, to tell you the truth. After the seventh serving of turkey, potatoes, squash, stuffing, gravy and pie, everything just starts to blur.

LUCAS DWYER: At the annual day-after-Thanksgiving football game, leveling my buddy and having him declare it the hardest hit he’s ever taken. This was a few minutes after the hit, once he recovered his breath.

MICHAEL STEPHENS: Giving my grandmother’s cousin a really hard time after he dropped the potential game-winning pass from me in an extended-family football game. His bad arthritis and my underthrowing the ball were not valid excuses in my mind.

4. Who would win a football game between the Pilgrims and Indians?

LUCAS DWYER: Indians 42, Pilgrims 17. The Pligrims would be akin to the 2006 Giants, losing over half of their roster to injury (or death, in this case) and playing with heavy hearts. The Indians, meanwhile, would be playing at a true Arrowhead Stadium with serious homefield advantage. I envision the Indians employing a late-90’s, Nebraska-style option offense and running all over the Pilgrims.

STEVEN VINCI: I’d like to know where this game would be played. We know the Indians don’t defend their home turf very well, while the Pilgrims tend to prosper on the road. The Indians would be better at the skill positions, but the Pilgrims would be bigger on the offensive and defensive lines. Here’s the wild card: Would Jim Thorpe play for the Indians? He would really shift the balance of power. I’m still going to stick with the Pilgrims on this one, but Thorpe would give the game some star appeal.

MICHAEL STEPHENS: This matchup is hard to call, with the Pilgrims’ offensive firepower and Indians possessing agility, speed and home field, as well as being better rested. I’d go with the visitors, though, 20-16. Their 12th man, small pox, could prove a real difference-maker.

THE PUNDIT: You’re kidding, right? F#@%ing chimps for editors.

EVAN CHRISTOPHER: I think the Pilgrims would win because the Indians would pull an Albert Haynesworth on everyone and get ejected, thus forefitting.

5. Who’s your nominee for the Sports Truth’s 1st annual Ryan Leaf Award, given to the biggest turkey in sports?

EVAN CHRISTOPHER: Terrell Owens. I really just hate him.

THE PUNDIT: Barry Bonds. He is pathetic in his continual denial of steroid use, in the opinion of the Pundit.

STEVEN VINCI: Too many choices. I could go with A-Rod, the only person who actually thinks he’s wanted in New York; the Pacers’ Stephen Jackson, one of the few people in this world whose mother doesn’t even like him; Bobby Knight, a man who has never been happy in is life; or Manny Ramirez, who only plays when the Sox are winning. But this year I’m going with Randy Moss as the biggest Turkey in sports. He quit on the Raiders, claims his poor play is a product of the Raiders‘ poor play, and he just does not care. Here’s a man who used to come up big on Thanksgiving… or the entire season for that matter. And now he couldn’t care less.

MICHAEL STEPHENS: Ryan Leaf. There are plenty of turkeys out there, but we’re naming the award after him, and there may never again be a bird-brained, “fowl” quarterback of his ilk.

LUCAS DWYER: The biggest turkey in sports right now has to go to Sports Truth founder Levi Matthews. Listen to his fantasy track record for 2006. In April, he dropped Francisco Liriano from his fantasy baseball team when he went on the DL, because he didn’t realize we had a DL. Early in the football season, he waived Maurice Jones-Drew. Most recently, after Donovan McNabb went down and he was looking at that team’s roster, he noticed that “his” QB, Philip Rivers (below) was now on the opposing roster. He denies dropping Rivers for Morten Andersen on November 2, despite the fact that he started Andersen that week and didn’t notice Rivers wasn’t on his roster until 20 days later. Way to go, Levi!

Posted in Starting Five