Iggy's Raven's Report - 26 August 2010

Commentary

News and Personal Thoughts:
Ravens: Second preseason game is out of the way, and the win doesn't matter as much as the porous defense and rush applied to Flacco and company. We knew these would be our areas for improvement to start the season, but they need to start improving before the regular season rolls around. That means fast!

Orioles: At 44-81, the O's no longer have a chance at a winning season. .500 is pretty much out, unless they can win an unprecedented 37 in a row. Still in the goals is to avoid 100 losses, which will require a 19-18 record from here on out. Now, that is possible. We are still 1 game ahead of the pace set by the worst even 1988 Orioles, and 5 games behind Seattle and Arizona for 28th best record in Baseball. Season win totals estimates have remained steady at 57 this week.

Crystal Palace Baltimore F.C. (Home games at UMBC): Crystal Palace (6-12-6), got spanked twice this week at home. First the Rochester Rhinos (14-5-6, 1st USL) smacked us around 2-0, and then the Montreal Impact (7-10-7, 3rd NASL) clubbed us like a baby seal, 5-0. Now a 2 game road trip starts on Sunday at Portland (9-7-7, 3rd USL). The Palace is in 4th place, 4 points behind Montreal, and 2 points ahead of AC St. Louis (5-11-7)

Alouettes: The Als (5-2) dropped into a first place tie with a 37-22 road loss to the Toronto Argonauts (5-2), who haven't looked any better than they did Saturday. Despite Calvillo's 450 yards passing and 3 TDs, Ex-NFL Cleo Lemon lead Argos more balanced attack with 269 air yards, while 4 players combined for 126 rushing yards. Toronto leveraged field position granted to them by special teams to cash in more often then Montreal could find the endzone. On Friday, the Als will host Winnipeg (2-5), on Thursday night, as they look to rebound from that tough loss.

Blast: Omaha will join the league this coming season. They have yet to be named, but will play at the Omaha Civic Auditorium Arena in downtown Omaha.

Mariners (See website for more details): Nothing to Report.

Chesapeake Bayhawks: The 4th seed Hawks (8-6) pulled the double underdog card out of thin air this weekend, defeating the top seeded 1st place Boston Cannons (8-5), 13-9, for their second win against them in as many games, on Saturday, before eliminating the 3rd seeded Long Island Lizards (8-6), by a similar 13-9 score on Sunday in Annapolis. Another championship for the area!

Charm: The Charm open the season on Friday, September 17th in Philadelphia against the Passion. Their first home game will be on Friday, October 1st against the Tampa Breeze.

Capitals (See website for more details): Single-Game tickets to go on sale Friday, September 10.

Wizards (See website for more details): 2010-2011 schedule has been released here... Yi Jianlian plays for China at World Basketball Festival (and I thought he was from Mexico -- Really, is anyone reading this?)