Personal Thoughts:
Ravens: Let me explain how things
are going. No wait, there is no time, so I will summarize. Troy Smith is up and
down; Boller is playing adequately (i.e. like Boller); Flacco looks like a
Rookie. McGahee is under heat for missing most of the offseason work outs, and
then started out slowly in camp. He appears to rebounding a little now. Cameron
intends to use McGahee as a 3rd down back as well this season, so his touches
could increase, but so can fatigue as the game wears on.
Camp Cream puff is no longer the fashion, as this year has sported a lot more contact drills and scrimmages. With this decision comes risk - risk of injury, and we are starting to see them mounting up.
Other than that, the O-line has holes; the D-line has holes, and all our stars are aging. Although I am hopeful that our team can rebound from last season's dud, we will need some rising stars to step forward now to plug those holes, and once again make Baltimore a team to be feared.
Orioles: I guess the Orioles aren't going to play with the .500 mark for the rest of the season after all. The failure of their pitching has reached new depths of despair. Winning 2 of 3 from the skanks is good, but we need some win streaks to start flirting with .500 again. A 3 game set in Seattle could cut that deficit in half, but it will be short lived with the following 3 games in Anaheim, where we could easily gave those 3 Seattle wins right back (or worse, if we can't sweep the Mariners). Erratic will be our demise, again. If we can be more consistent on the mound, wins will start coming again. That is a big if.
Crystal Palace Baltimore F.C.: Crystal Palace (USL2 9-6-1, 28 points), pulled out a 2-1 road victory against the Harrisburg City Islanders (5-2-10, 25) on Wednesday, before dropping a subsequent road match to the first place Charlotte Eagles (12-1-4, 40), 3-0. With the victory on Wednesday, The Palace were able to cling to their 4th place standing, still 4 points behind Cleveland, but now 3 points ahead of Harrisburg, as the Islander talled their 10th draw on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.
Wednesday's win enabled the Palace to become the 4th team to clinch a postseason berth in the 6 team playoff. The top 2 seeds will get byes.
Next up is the start of a 3 game home stand, which will open up against the 10th place Real Maryland Monarchs (3-12-1, 9, based at the Germantown Soccerplex) who just released their head coach, on Thursday, followed by a pair of home games against the 9th place Bermuda Hogges (3-9-2, 11) on Sunday and Wednesday. The Palace conclude their regular season on Saturday, August 9th, with a road trip to visit the 2nd place Richmond Kickers (10-4-2, 32).
Alouettes: The "Stallions" (2-3) dropped their third in a row to the BC Lions (3-2) by a score of 36-34. For the second game in a row, the Als blew a lead in the waning minutes of the game, this time allowing a 36 yard field goal with 8 second left. This capped the Lions rally, who scratched out this victory after the Als had lead 17-3 early in the game, and 24-6 early in the 3rd quarter. The Lions fought back to cut the lead to 11 points late in the 3rd quarter before erasing the lead with 8 second remaining. The Als currently sit in second place, ½ game behind Toronto, as they host Hamilton Ti-Cats (1-4) on Thursday.Blast: Rumor has it that the new league has been formed, but not yet named. Also, rumor has it that a location for a new arena has been identified just west of downtown. This will allow the current facility to operate until the new building is opened in 2010 or 2011. However, Ed Hale, owner of the Blast, needs to figure out a new business plan, since the only way he has kept the team afloat is to build and sell advertising boards on the side of the current facility. This may not be an option with the new structure. Also to note is that the plans call for an 18,500 seat arena, which would be enticing to new and relocating NBA and NHL candidates. May be we can get back to the big leagues in a few other sports, but do we have the fans with the financial resources to support them?
What do you want to see in the Ravens report? What should be scrapped? Actually, nevermind. No one is reading this anyway, so I will just butcher things up however I please, and you won't know the difference. Send an email to iggy at tealdragon.net. Thanks!
| 2008 Preseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Opponent | Time | Result | |
| Thursday, August 7 | @New England Patriots | 7:30 PM | ||
| Saturday, August 16 | Minnesota Vikings | 7:30 PM | ||
| Saturday, August 23 | @Saint Louis Rams | 8:00 PM | ||
| Thursday, August 28 | Atlanta Falcons | 7:30 PM | ||
| 2008 Regular Season | ||||
| Date | Opponent | Record | Time | Result |
| Sunday, September 7 | Cincinnati Bengals | 13-11 Overall 8-4 Home |
1:00 PM | |
| Sunday, September 14 | @Houston Texans | 2-0 Overall 1-0 Away |
4:15 PM | |
| Sunday, September 21 | Cleveland Browns | 11-7 Overall 6-3 Home |
4:15 PM | |
| Monday, September 29 | @Pittsburgh Steelers | 10-15 Overall 4-8 Away |
8:30 PM | |
| Sunday, October 5 | Tennessee Titans | 9-8 Overall 5-5 Home |
1:00 PM | |
| Sunday, October 12 | @Indianapolis Colts | 2-6 Overall 0-3 Away |
1:00 PM | |
| Sunday, October 19 | @Miami Dolphins | 2-5 Overall 0-4 Away |
1:00 PM | |
| Sunday, October 26 | Oakland Raiders | 4-1 Overall 3-0 Home |
1:00 PM | |
| Sunday, November 2 | @Cleveland Browns | 11-7 Overall 5-4 Away |
1:00 PM | |
| Sunday, November 16 | @New York Giants | 3-0 Overall 1-0 Away |
1:00 PM* | |
| Sunday, November 23 | Philadelphia Eagles | 0-1-1 Overall 0-0-1 Home |
1:00 PM* | |
| Sunday, November 30 | @Cincinnati Bengals | 13-11 Overall 5-7 Away |
1:00 PM* | |
| Sunday, December 7 | Washington Redskins | 2-1 Overall 0-0 Home |
1:00 PM* | |
| Sunday, December 14 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 10-15 Overall 6-7 Home |
1:00 PM* | |
| Saturday, December 20 | @Dallas Cowboys | 2-0 Overall 0-0 Away |
8:15 PM | |
| Sunday, December 28 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 6-9 Overall 4-4 Home |
1:00 PM* | |