A collection of personal blog posts and written assignments by yours truly!
Game Story: Youngblood, Dioubate Shine In the Clutch as Alabama Overcomes Josh Hubbard’s Career Night – Posted 1/30/25
On a night where it felt like one player was unguardable, it was Alabama’s depth that proved to be pivotal in a gritty 88-84 win on the road at Mississippi State (16-5, 4-4 SEC).
Despite sophomore shooting guard Josh Hubbard pouring in a career best 38 points for Mississippi State, which included 25 in the second half, Alabama (18-3, 7-1 SEC) had four players score in double digits, including a season best 23 points from USF transfer Chris Youngblood.
Youngblood, a senior transfer student who grew up rooting for the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, came into the game averaging 8.3 PPG. Last night, he lit the net on fire from beyond the arc, shooting 7/10 from three, including timely makes down the stretch that consistently kept the Bulldogs at bay.
“I mean he’s a sharpshooter what can I say,” point guard Mark Sears, who stuffed the stat sheet himself with a 17 point, six rebound, nine assist performance remarked. “If he misses I usually just think that his contacts might have been dry.”
Mississippi State came into the night desperately needing a win, having lost three of their last five matchups. A raucous, blacked-out Humphrey Coliseum did not seem to dissuade the Crimson Tide however, who continued a dominant season in the SEC. They have won nine of their last 10 including last night.
Along with Hubbard’s 38 point outburst, Mississippi State’s KeShawn Murphy added 18 points, but missed a crucial wide-open layup with under 20 seconds left that would have given the Bulldogs a one point lead.
From there, Youngblood put the finishing touches on his performance, knocking down two clutch free throws to give Alabama an 87-84 lead. On what would be Mississippi State’s last possession, Alabama’s Mouhamed Diabate disrupted a hand-off exchange meant for Hubbard, giving the Crimson Tide the ball back, and securing a huge win on the road.
Up next, Alabama will host a slumping Georgia (15-6, 3-6 SEC) squad who has lost 5 of their last 6 on Saturday. On the other hand, Mississippi State will have their hands full as they look for a bounce-back win when they host the well-rested Missouri Tigers (16-4, 5-2 SEC) also this Saturday.
How To: Watch a Philadelphia 76ers Game Without Feeling Perpetual Sadness – Posted 11/7/24
So, the Philadelphia 76ers are currently paying over $586,000,000 for the services of Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid.
What are the results of the first seven games of the NBA season? Well, Embiid hasn’t played and has been suspended three games for a violent interaction with a local sports reporter. George, meanwhile, has only played two games, and Maxey, who has been performing great, will be out for the next two weeks with a hamstring injury.
With the 76ers currently at 1-6, how can a fan turn on a game and not feel an overwhelming sense of sadness about the team’s state? Here’s how!
1: Think about the 2013-14 76ers and realize it could always be worse: Pretty self-explanatory, but that team’s best player was checks notes Evan Turner? Michael-Carter Williams? Thad Young? The thought makes me shudder.
2: Realize the season is still very young: The season is currently just under 9% of the way done; still plenty of basketball left for the team to get healthy and figure it out!
3: Remember Ben Simmons is not on the payroll: Smile and laugh at the Brooklyn Nets (whatever you do, DON’T look at the Nets record currently.)
4: Note that the Milwaukee Bucks are also 1-6: They have Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, and they’re going to be okay right? RIGHT??
5: Remember that the “Big 3” is signed under contract until 2027-28: Cry and get ready for a couple more years of trusting the process.
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How To: Watch an Eagles Game Without Cursing out Nick Sirianni – Posted 11/7/24
NoContextPhilly – Instagram So, you sit down at 1 p.m. on Sunday, ready to watch the Eagles take on the Jacksonville Jaguars. What you weren’t ready for was the emotional roller coaster this game (more specifically Nick Sirianni) put you through.
The Eagles narrowly escaped Sunday’s game with a win, and as per usual Eagles fans everywhere are irate at the coaching display put on by head coach Nick Sirianni. With these questionable coaching displays becoming a weekly constant for Eagles fans, here is a quick “how-to” on watching the Eagles without going on a profanity-laden rant about the head coach!
1: Breathe, just, breathe: The most basic of responses, but also the most useful! Take time to process the stupid decision made before emotionally responding to it.
2: Accept that Jason Kelce was the main reason the tush push was good: I know it’s hard to accept, I’m still struggling with it too.
3: Realize the talent of the Eagles will prevail in the end: We all saw what Devonta Smith and Saquon Barkley did. It’s becoming common that the talent is too much for teams to overcome.
4: Accept that Sirianni will be head coach for at least this season: Another tough pill to swallow, but the Eagles will be led by Nick Sirianni for at the very least the rest of this season.
5: Get ready to live it all over again the next game day: Go Birds!!
Opinion: Is Nick Sirianni A Good NFL Coach? Posted 11/5/24
It has become a hotbed of discussion in the NFL community that the Philadelphia Eagles are an incredibly talented team consistently held back by one flaw. That flaw? Head coach Nick Sirianni and his actions on and off the field.
There is no doubt that Sirianni’s job was on thin ice this offseason after the Eagles’ historic collapse last season. After keeping him and supplementing him with two of the game’s best coordinators, the Eagles have gotten off to a 6-2 start and sit one game behind the surprising Washington Commanders for control of the NFC East.
That’s good, right? Not necessarily, as most fans who watch the games will tell you, this team is not playing up to the potential they possess. Overaggressive and outright bad playcalling, poor clock management, and collapses have already been recurring themes for the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles.
This past week against Jacksonville only highlighted the coaching struggles. It started in the second quarter when the Eagles got the ball in Jacksonville territory and neglected to kick the field goal, instead turning it over on downs. It continued when Sirianni called for an unnecessary two-point conversion after the Eagles scored going into the half.
At that point in the game, it was 16-0. The score makes the two-point conversion attempt extra confusing. If you fail, the game stays at a two-possession game. If you take the extra point attempt (which Jake Elliot is 100% on this season) it becomes a three-possession game. If you take and make the two-point conversion (historically happens 48% of the time) it will still be a three-possession game! The math is not adding up!
These mistakes compounded, as the Eagles would then have to attempt another two-point conversion that they would ultimately fail, making it 22-0 and finally a three-possession game. While the blame for Jacksonville’s comeback in the second half doesn’t solely rest on Sirianni, as a questionable call by the refs allowed a Jacksonville touchdown, the majority of it should. Sirianni’s aggressive playcalling and lack of time management skills were the majority of why Sunday’s game was not an outright blowout.
On top of these struggles on the field, Sirianni’s off-field image has taken a hit this year. After jawing with Eagles fans following a close win to the lowly Cleveland Browns, Sirianni was put on blast for trotting his kids out for the postgame conference in an attempt to deflect media attention.
It is not the first time Sirianni has been in the media spotlight for his antics, so all of these problems force us to ask the simple question: is Nick Sirianni really a good head coach? Or has he benefited from having some of the most talented rosters in recent history?
In my opinion, as an avid Eagles fan, the problems stem from Sirianni, and they have since last year. The amount of talent on the Eagles roster is clearly noticeable to every franchise in the NFL, but the way they have struggled since last year has been perplexing. Even before the infamous meltdown, a lot of the wins that came early in the year followed the same storylines of the Jacksonville game last week.
All of these struggles trace back to Sirianni now, and there are no more coordinators to throw under the bus. If the Eagles have anything close to resembling their meltdown from last year, the very first notification coming out of Philadelphia will be regarding the dismissal of their head coach.
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