2013 MLB Awards. Did They Get Them Right?

The votes are in and the Announcements have been made. Major League Baseball has made their selections for the Awards winners for the 2013 season.  Some of the Awards went to the right people and some didn't. Lets not forget that these awards are given out for the regular season only, so playoff performance has no real influence on who wins these awards. We will be looking at the awards for Cy Young, Manager of The Year, Rookie of The Year and League MVP.  So with all that in mind, lets now take a look at who walked away with the hardware. We start it off with Manager of The Year.

Manager Of The Year:
AL: Terry Francona Cleveland Indians
NL: Clint Hurdle Pittsburgh Pirates

This one has sparked a little bit of a debate. The National League was an easy choice. Clint Hurdle deserved the Award for leading the Pirates to their first winning season, and first playoff appearance, in 20 years. That one was almost a given. The Braves and Dodgers both had good years, I'm not taking anything away from the work of Don Mattingly in LA or Freddy Gonzalez in Atlanta. But the difference between the three is this. The Pirates weren't a given to make the playoffs, where as both LA and Atlanta were expected to get there. Granted LA had a rough start to the year and turned it around to take the West, still the Pirates had had the biggest turn around from the year before and Hurdle had a lot to do with that.

The American League I was a tad surprised by. It's a well deserved honor for Terry Francona I'm not taking that away from him. But I just personally feel that John Farrell should have won the award. Having the Red Sox win the title had no influnce for me, as this is an award for the regular season. I just felt the Red Sox had a bigger turn around than the Indians did. Sure both Boston and Cleveland had bad years last year, Cleveland lost 94 games and the Red Sox lost 93. Both teams had a huge turn around, but I just felt the one by the Red Sox was tougher to do, considering that the AL East is a tougher division to play in than the AL Central. That's all I'm saying.

Since the award was instituted in 1983,  this is the 2nd time an Indians Manager has won the award (Eric Wedge won it in 2007), and this is the 3rd time that a Pirates manager has won the award (Jim Leyland won it back in 1990 and 1992). This is the 1st time that each manager has won the award

Rookie Of The Year:
AL: Will Meyers Tampa Bay Rays
NL: Jose Fernandez Miami Marlins

In both cases I think the writers got the winners right. Jose Iglesias was the next closest in the AL and I still think Meyers beat him out. Granted Meyers only played in 88 games for the Rays, he still had a bigger impact on the team than Iglesias did.

Same thing can be said with the National League. Yasiel Puig made the race close in the National League, but Fernandez was just better. Sure Puig was one of the reasons that sparked the Dodgers to their turn around in winning the NL West, but Fernandez put up great numbers on a bad baseball team in the Marlins. In fact, Fernandez was the best player on that bad Marlins team, clearly being the only bright spot for the club.

Since Rookie Of the Year started being given out in 1949, this is the 3rd Tampa Bay ray to win the Award, with Meyers following Evan Longoria (2008) and Jeremy Hellickson (2011). As for the NL, this is the 4th time a Marlin has won the award, with Fernandez following Dontrelle Willis (2003), Hanley Ramírez (2006) and Chris Coghlan (2009).

Cy Young Award:
NL: Clayton Kershaw Los Angeles Dodgers
AL: Max Scherzer Detroit Tigers

The AL Cy Young Award wasn't even close. Scherzer had the best year in the American League, hands down. The only one in the voting for the award who was even close was Yu Darvis of the Texas Rangers. Scherzer was the only pitcher in the bigs to win 20 games this year, going 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA and 240 strikeouts. Scherzer won the award not because he had a high scoring ball club behind him, which he did. Scherzer won the award because he was able to find different ways to get people out. He was, by far, the most dominating pitcher in the AL this season.

With the NL Cy Young, Clayton Kershaw took home the award with a 16-9 record with an 1.83 ERA and 232 strikeouts. This was another landslide win for the award, much like the American League. The only one close to Kershaw this season was Adam Weinwright of the Cardinals, but even he was a bit of a ways back. Kershaw was just outright dominant. The only shocker in Kershaw winning the award was that he didn't win it in a landslide.

The Cy Young award has been given out to the best pitchers since 1967. In the NL, this is the 11th time a Dodger has won the award. Kershaw had won the award back in 2011 so this is his 2nd trophy. before the 23011 win, the other dodgers to win the award were Don Drysdale (1962), Sandy Koufax (1963, 1965 and 1966), Mike Marshall (1974), Fernando Valenzuela (1981), Orel Hershiser (1988) and Éric Gagné (2003).  As for the Tigers, this is the 1st win by Scherzer and the 5th win by a Tiger. Besides Scherzer the Other Tigers to win the award were Denny McLain(1968 and 1969), Willie Hernández (1984) and Justin Verlander (2011).

Most Valuable Player
AL: Miguel Cabrera Detroit Tigers
NL: Andrew McCutchen Pittsburgh Pirates

Miguel Cabrera wasn't able to pull off back to back triple crown wins in the American League, but he was able to pull in a 2nd straight league MVP award. Only ones close in the league voting were Chris Davis of Baltimore and Mike Trout of Anaheim.  Cabrera still finished the year hitting .348 which is his career best. Sure the power and RBI numbers weren't quite as prolific but they were still damn good. And think about this he had a groin injury too that wasn't revealed till towards the end of the season.  He as hurt in September, and the Tigers struggled, going just 13-13 in the final month of the year. That right there should tell you just how big of an impact Miggy had on the Tigers lineup. He was that good of a ball player. Now I feel also that if Baltimore or Anaheim had been able to pull into the playoffs, this race would have been a little closer. But it wasn't and Miggy walked away with the award.

With the National League, it has been a long time coming for the Pittsburgh Pirates, with Andrew McCutchen walking away with the MVP award.  He finished the year hitting .317 with 21 homers and 84 RBI's. Not the greatest numbers ever produced by an MVP winner, but still damn good numbers never the less.  Much like the AL MVP Race, this one was just as much a landslide win for McCutchen, as he beat out Paul Goldschmidt of Arizona and Yadier Molina of St. Louis. Molina's platform was built on respect and reputation. Goldschmidt had the standout numbers. But McCutchen was recognized more for driving teammates on than for driving them in. His 84 RBIs are the fewest for an NL MVP (in a full season) since Kirk Gibson -- saluted as a similar driving force on the Dodgers -- earned the 1988 award after a 76-RBI campaign. (courtesy of MLB.com)

Since the League MVP Awards have been handed out in 1931, the Tigers have had  12 MVP winners. Miguel Cabrera has won the last two, so prior to that the other winners have been Ty Cobb (1911), Mickey Cochrane (1934),  Hank Greenberg (1935), Charlie Gehringer (1937), Hank Greenberg (1940),  Hal Newhouser (1944), Hal Newhouser (1945), Denny McLain (1968), Willie Hernández (1984) and Justin Verlander (2011). As for the Pirates, this is the 8th time one of their players have been named MVP. Aside from McCutchen, the others are Barry Bonds (1990, 1992), Roberto Clemente (1966), Dick Groat (1960), Dave Parker (1978), Willie Stargell (1979), Paul Waner (1927).

So there you have it. The Award Winners for Major League Baseball in 2013!

Oswego Women's Hockey Suffers First Loss Of Season

The Oswego State Women's Hockey Team took their talents on the road for the first time this season, heading north for a weekend series against the Potsdam Bears. Oswego went into the weekend with an unbeaten record, but  weren't able to come out with that perfect record still in tact.

First up was the Saturday afternoon matchup, which saw Oswego dominate the hockey game, but still come up short in their quest, falling to the Bears 3-2. Potsdam scored the first two goals of the game in the opening period, both of them coming off the stick of Jordan Ott. Ott's first goal, her 2nd of the seaosn, came on the powerplay at 11:02. Ott scored again, her 3rd of the year, at 13:58 to give the Bears the 2-0 lead heading into intermission.  To the 2nd period we go and Oswego was the only team to find the back of the net in the middle frame. The Lakers cut the lead in half at 4:46 of the period when Kendall Appelbaum scored her first career goal, a powerplay goal, to cut the lead in half. That's how it would stay when the 2nd period came to a close. When the 3rd period got underway, it took the Bears 2:54 into the period to stretch the lead to 3-1, when Izzy Fayerman scored her 2nd of the year, a powerplay goal. Oswego would get the goal back late in the period, when at the 18:50 mark, Bridget Hamlin scored her 2nd of the season, a powerplay goal, to again cut the lead to one. But it was too late as the Bears held on for the 3-2 win.

Oswego outshot Potsdam 43-16 in the game, and 14-2 in the 3rd period alone. But it just wasn't enough as the Lakers suffer the first loss of the season. Alexane Rodrigue got the win for the Bears, improving her record to 2-1-0 on the season, as she made 41 saves in the win. Catherine Cote took the loss for Oswego, dropping her record to 1-1-0 on the year, as she made 13 saves in the loss. Special teams played a big impact on this game, as both teams went 2 for 7 on the powerplay.

So Oswego had to make a quick turnaround, as the two teams met again in Potsdam on Sunday Afternoon. Oswego shook off the preformance from the day before, earning a 1-1- tie against the Bears. Bridget Hamlin  scored the only goal of the game for Oswego, her 3rd of the year and 2nd in as many days, at the 3:06 mark of the 1st period. Potsdam answered with a powerplay goal from Amanda Lucky, her 2nd of the year, at 18:20 of the 2nd period. That was all the scoring that both teams could muster over 65 minutes of hockey.

Shots were closer in this hockey game then they were the day before, as Oswego outshot Potsdam 30-25 on the night. Alexane Rodrigue made 30 saves for Potsdam in the tie, pulling her record to 2-1-1. Bridget Smith earned the tie for Oswego, moving her record to 1-0-1, made 24 saves on the day.

Now that the north country trip is done for the season, Oswego gets set to return home to the friendly confins of the Campus Center Ice Arena, as the host an old foe. The Neuman Knights make the trip to the Campus Center this weekend, with games set to be played Saturday November 16th and Sunday November 17th, both with 3PM puck drops!

(Photo provided by Oswego State Athletics)

Three Goal Middle Frame Powers Oswego to Victory

Last weekend was one of the few weekends during the course of the season where the Oswego State Men's Hockey Team had only one game to play all weekend. The only opponent for the Lakers over the weekend was a road trip to Cortland to take on the Red Dragons. Oswego exploded with three goals in the 2nd period to come away with a 4-1 victory.

Oswego connected for the only goal in the opening period, as Brandon Adams scored his 2nd of the season at the 11:59 mark. The Lakers outshot the Red Dragons in the opening period 14-4, as they controlled the majority of the play in the opening twenty minutes. To the 2nd period we go, Oswego only held the lead for a short time, as 11 seconds into the middle frame, Ryan Wagner pulled Cortland even with his first of the season. That's about as close as Cortland would get in the hockey game. Oswego took the lead back at the 9:30 mark of the period, when Mac Scott scored his first career goal. Oswego would put the game away with a pair of powerplay goals in that 2nd period. The first one came at 15:05 when Matt Galati scored his 2nd goal of the year to make it 3-1. Then Oswego put it out of reach at 18:37 when Alex Botten potted his 2nd goal of the year, the other powerplay goal, to ice the game at 4-1. No other scoring took place in the 3rd period.

Oswego outshot Cortland 44-23 in the hockey game, in what turned out to be a very chippy affair. Cortland went 0 for 5 on the powerplay, while Oswego went 2 for 10 on the man advantage. Mark Balkwill took the loss for Cortland, making 31 saves in relief of Lyle Rocker, who was pulled after making 9 saves in the 1st period. Justin Gilbert got the win for Oswego, improving his record to 1-1-0, making 22 saves in the victory.

The effort Oswego gave on Saturday was good, but it wasn't enough to help them in the coaches polls, as the team fell from 8th to 10th in the country in the latest coaches polls. They are the only team in the top ten in the nation to have a loss on the season.

Next up for the Lakers is another one game weekend. This time they return home for a one game stop Saturday November 16th to play hoast to the Elmira Soaring Eagles at 7PM!

(Photo provided by Oswego State Athletics)

Best and Worst of NFL Week Ten

We just passed week ten in the NFL season, with things really starting to take shape on the field of battle. Finally, we no longer have winless teams in the league, as both Jacksonville and Tampa Bay picked up their first wins of the season. We still have one more unbeaten team in the league in Kansas City. The playoff picture in the league has been muddled just a bit. Some division races are wide open, while others look to be runaways. So many things can happen over the final seven weeks of football season, that it's going to really make you want to tune in just to see what the hell is going to happen next. With all that being said, lets now take a look back at some of the best and worst from week ten in the NFL.

Best:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars
We have to give both teams their props here. Both teams coming into this week, were sitting at 0-8 and looked really bad. But they showed up for their respective games this week, got a little bit lucky, and picked up their first wins of the season. Jacksonville did it  by forcing turnovers by the Titans, in their 29-27 victory. Don't get me wrong the Jaguars made mistakes of their own, but the defense had done enough to force Tennessee to make more of them. Tampa Bay did the same thing against Miami, pulling out the 22-19 win on Monday Night Football. Tampa Bay just caught Miami off guard, took full advantage of it and came away wit the win.

Worst:
Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins
These two clubs didn't fair so hot this week, giving the NFL's two winless teams their first wins of the year. The Titans just played a bad game, its a simple as that. They are really starting to show just how big a loss Jack Lockart is, not having him there to lead the offense. As for Miami, I think they are a decent football team, but I think they let what's been going on off the field with Martin and Incognito get to them on the field. They didn't play as sharp as they normally would, and it cost them a victory.

Best:
Tavon Austin, Wide Receiver St. Louis Rams
Austin had a breakthrough game for St. Louis, something the Rams have been waiting on for a while now. He returning a punt 98 yards for a touchdown and breaking free for two long touchdown grabs (57 and 81 yards, respectively). The three scores helped contribute to St. Louis’ surprising 38-8 rout over Indianapolis but may have also given the West Virginia product some confidence to build on heading into the season’s final seven games. Those two long touchdown grabs were the only catches he made all day long on offense. It was well worth it though, as it helped in a big way lead the Rams to victory.

Worst:
Arian Foster, Running Back Houston Texans
You wanna talk about a bad break. Houston’s Pro Bowl running back will not complete his fourth consecutive season with more than 1200 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. Foster will undergo season-ending back surgery to fix a ruptured disk he initially suffered in training camp. The team will attempt to replace Foster’s production – he’d been fighting injuries all season – with Ben Tate, but it’s just another setback in a season of many for the reigning AFC South champs, who dropped to 2-7 with a loss to Arizona. Things just really seemed to be going from bad to worse to Houston, a team who many had picked to be a playoff team again this season.

Best:
Nick Foles, Quarterback Philadelphia Eagles
Nick Foles had another good week this week, proving to me that last week's performance was really no fluke. Foles also made a strong case that he should be the starting quarterback for the Eagles. Why? In Sunday’s 27-13 win over the Packers, Foles went 12 of 18 for 228 yards and three touchdowns. He’s now thrown for 16 touchdowns and zero interceptions on the season. More importantly, four of the Eagles’ five wins have occurred in games where the second-year player has attempted more than 15 passes. He may not be the prototypical quarterback to run Chip Kelly’s offense, but he’s definitely been effective in doing it lately. He's showing to me that he can lead this offense and this team as well as Michael Vick.

Worst:
Terrelle Prior, Quarterback Oakland Raiders
Oakland’s signal-caller seems to be having an opposite string of fortune than Foles, throwing eight interceptions since his last touchdown pass, which occurred in the first quarter of the Raiders’ Week 6 loss to Kansas City. Pryor was even worse than Eli Manning in Oakland’s 24-20 loss to the Giants Sunday, completing just 42.3 percent of his passes for 122 yards and an interception. Pryor also committed a key fumble on a sack on the Raiders’ final drive late in the fourth quarter. Save an early QB sneak for a touchdown, Pryor’s vaunted running skills remained dormant as well. Both teams didn't look all that great on Sunday, that much was obvious. Oakland looked worse off than Big Blue, which is saying something.

\Best:
Luke Kuechly, Linebacker Carolina Panthers
Talk about stepping up big on defense. The 49ers have one of the better offenses in football this season, and Kuechly just plain shut them down on Sunday. Carolina came away with a 10-9 win over the 49ers, and Kuechly was a big part of the Panthers defensive effort in the win. He had a big day on Sunday, leading the team with 11 tackles, a sack and a pass deflection. With five wins in a row, the Panthers defense has established itself as one of the best in the NFL, with the second-year player from Boston College emerging as its star.

Worst:
CJ Spiller, Running Back Buffalo Bills
Because we’re sick of harping on Ray Rice’s inability to gain more than two yards per carry, we look to the Buffalo tailback, who gained only 23 yards on eight carries in the Bills’ 23-10 loss to the Steelers. Pittsburgh had the second-worst run defense in the league coming into the game, but the Bills’ combined 95-yard day (50 yards below their season average) ought to change that ranking. Yeah Ray Rice doesn't seem all that bad by comparison any more does he?

So there we have it. Some of the best and worst from the NFL in Week Ten!

A Closer Look At The NFL Bullying Case

The NFL has brought us fans some great memories this season on the field. Of course, with on field success comes off the field drama. So far, the biggest story to come out from off the field issues has been the hazing incidents between Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin, former teammates with the Miami Dolphins. Incognito has played in the NFL for nine years, while Martin was in just his second pro season. Both guys have left the team, Martin did so on his own account over what happened, while Incognito was suspended indefinitely by the team for his actions towards Martin. Now for those of you reading this who are unfamiliar with what has gone down, here's a recap of what exactly has happened.

-Alleged texts sent to Martin from Incognito consisting of vulgar and very crude language detrimental to a person
-A Vegas trip with a bill for $15,000 that Martin didn’t even go on.
-Martin allegedly being told by Coach Philbin to “strike” Incognito to take care of the situation
-Incognito claiming that Martin sent him threatening messages afterwords

So there are a few different reports as to what has actually happened here, but that, for the most part is what we do know for a fact happened. All we know from Jonathan Martin is that after this went down, he left the team, choosing to take I feel the high road here. Martin hasn't gone on record and talked about what happened exactly, and I don't really blame him. Something like that went down I wouldn't really be ready to talk about it yet either. I do have a lot of respect for Jonathan Martin for handling the situation with class and dignity, which, so far as I can see it, everybody else involved with this incident lacks.

Did the Dolphins coaching staff really go and tell Incognito to do those things to Martin? I have no idea I wasn't there. If in fact that is the case, then somebody got their signals crossed up somewhere along the lines. Its a common practice in the sports world for coaches to tell veteran players to toughen up some of the younger guys on a team. It happens in all sports. But I really don't think the Dolphins staff wanted Incognito to really go as far as he did. The coaching staff has yet to comment on the story, so we have no way of knowing as of yet, what exactly it is they did.

Finally there's Mr Incognito. He said in an interview with Jay Glazer that some of what he said is stuff that is said all the time in an NFL Locker Room. He also said that some of the stuff that was said, he and Martin said to each other all the time (I'm parpaphrasing here). It seemed heartfelt coming from Incognito, but I still have this gut feeling that he wasn't fully telling the truth.

Now I still have this gut feeling that there is a lot more going on here than meets the eye. not everything has been made public knowledge yet. And the Dolphins are trying to get this story covered up and thrown under the rug quickly, and I really don't think that's going to happen. I think this story is going to be hanging around for a long time until everything is out in the open and we can get a straight, honest answer from all parties involved.

Best and Worst From The NFL Week 9

It's that time of year again. We have hit almost the halfway point of this NFL season, with things really starting to take major shape around the league. Teams continue to surprise people, like the jekyll and hyde type teams such as the New York Jets. They will be good one week, then play horrible the following week. Then we have teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, who you just know going into the week are going to have a bad time. Some teams continue to surprise people and deliver, like the Kansas City Chiefs. Also you have teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who continue to leave their fans scratching their heads. We have also had more big name stars go down with injury. Aaron Rogers will miss playing time with a broken collar bone, while Broncos coach John Fox had to have heart surgery, and Texans coach Gary Kubiak collapsing at halftime, on the field, during the Sunday night game against the Colts. With all that going on, there were still some good and bad performances from this past week in the NFL.

Best:
New York Jets Running Game
Coming into the game Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, the Jets knew the Saints had a bad run defense. The Saints are ranked 25th in the NFL against the run this year. When the game started, the Jets didn't really use the run game very well and had no answer on defense for Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham. But the defense found its groove and shut the Saints down, while Chris Ivory had a solid day, with 18 carries for 139 yards and 1 touchdown. It is indeed safe to say that the Jets running game was in a groove on Sunday. And this performance goes to show that when the Jets running game is a success, the team, as a whole, plays better and comes away with wins that most figured they wouldn't.

Worst:
New Orleans Saints Offensive Line
Now when the game started, New Orleans had their offense in a groove and going. But at some point during the 2nd and 3rd quarters, the offensive line just sort of fell apart. Don't get me wrong, Drew Brees still had a very good day, but he was rushed during the middle of the ball game, couldn't get too many great throws off, and had a tough go of it during the day. The line didn't do much to help Brees during the middle of the game, and he had sort of a rough go of it, by his standards.

Best:
Nick Foles, Quarterback Philadelphia Eagles
Foles had a day for the ages Sunday against the Oakland Raiders. He went 22 of 28 for 406 yards. That's good enough. What made this day so special is he threw for SEVEN touchdown passes, the 2nd quarterback this year to do it (Payton Manning did it week one), and the 7th all time to do it. The performance helped power the Eagles to a 49-20 victory. Foles had a chance to go for eight in the game, but Eagles coach Chip Kelly not pulled him with more than nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. Still it was one of the top performances this year, and maybe the greatest game Foles will ever play in the NFL.

Worst:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Late Game Defense
It's been a really tough year for Bucs fans down in Tampa Bay. The team is 0-8 on the year, sitting in dead last of the NFC South. Last year Tampa showed up for most of the ball game against the NFC's best team in the Seattle Seahawks. They only showed up for MOST of the game.  The defense chocked late in the game, giving up a 21 point lead, en route to a 27-24 overtime loss. The Bucs deserve the bulk of their 0-8 record, but certainly played better than that mark for three quarters on Sunday. It’s the closest they got to a win since Week 1, when Lavonte David’s questionable penalty on a late hit against the Jets set New York up for a game-winning field goal.

Best:
Chris Johnson, Running Back Tennessee Titans
This is the Chris Johnson Titans fans have been waiting to see all season. At one point during his career, he was a 2,000 yard rusher, who had a ton of talent and can be a top teir back. This year he had been a little on the quite side, coming into Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams without a touchdown or 100-yard performance. He broke free, against former coach Jeff Fisher and the Rams for 150 yards and two scores (including a 19-yard game winner with 2:54 left) as Tennessee left the Edward Jones Dome with a 28-21 win. So is this a sort of coming out party for Chris Johnson? Only time will tell.

Worst:
Baltimore Ravens Offensive Line
At some point the Ravens’ inability to run the football goes beyond Ray Rice. Joe Flacco led the team’s ground game with 25 yards rushing in Baltimore’s 24-18 loss to Cleveland, a game in which he was also sacked five times by Browns defenders. For a team to be good, even remotely good, they have to have an offensive line that can pass block with regularity. I'm not saying they have to be perfect all the time, but this kind of stuff can't keep happening if the Ravens want to get back to the promise land. If the reigning Super Bowl champs want to get any sort of offensive consistency, it’s going to have to start with the guys up front.

Best:
Tony Romo, Quarterback Dallas Cowboys
The fourth quarter is never boring with the Cowboys quarterback. After the Vikings scored with 5:40 left to go up 23-20, Romo’s pass to Terrence Williams was picked off by Minnesota’s A.J. Jefferson on 3rd & 9 several plays later. The signal-caller shook it off and led a nine play, 90-yard drive on the next series, which culminated with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Harris with 35 seconds to play. This goes to show that Tony Romo is still one of the top Quarterbacks in the entire league during the regular season. Now if he could only play like this come playoff time, the Cowboys would be all set.

Worst:
Christian Ponder, Quarterback Minnesota Vikings
Despite Adrian Peterson’s best efforts, the Vikings couldn’t escape the performance of their beleaguered quarterback, who fumbled the ball in his own end zone for a Cowboys touchdown in the third quarter, threw an early fourth quarter pick and failed to convert any first downs following Romo’s key turnover late in the game. Given one last opportunity to throw a Hail Mary pass from the Dallas 47, Ponder’s last-second heave didn’t even reach the end zone. It's been a really tough year to play quarterback in Minnesota this season.

Best:
Tom Brady, Quarterback New England Patriots
After an underwhelming first eight games, Brady compiled a 151.8 passer rating in New England’s 55-31 win over Pittsburgh, hitting three receivers for over 100 yards each. With the Pats now 7-2 and a healthy Rob Gronkowski, Danny Amendola and Stevan Ridley at his disposal coming out of next week’s bye, the quarterback looks poised to put up some more Brady-like numbers in his final seven games.

Worst:
Pittsburgh Steelers Secondary
A week after they let Terrelle Pryor fly by them with a 93-yard touchdown run, the Steelers defense gave up a franchise record 55 points in a 55-31 loss to the Patriots. The team’s usually solid safeties were victimized by a series of big plays, including several by Rob Gronkowski on the Patriots’ second drive.

So there you have it. The best and worst from Week Nine in the NFL!

Oswego Women's Hockey Sweep With A Shutout And A Thriller

The Oswego State Women's Hockey team kicked off the 2013-14 season with a big bang. They hosted the Oswego State Classic, their first ever home tournament, and did so in pretty convincing fashion. The first game of the tournament, and the season for that matter, Oswego dominated New England College, coming away with a 5-0 victory. Laker Captain Olivia Boersen got the scoring started, which turned out to be the game winner, at the 5:03 mark of the opening period, her first goal of the season. That would account for the only offense in the opening period.

To the 2nd period we go, and Oswego extended the lead to 2-0 at the 8:36 mark, when Bridget Hamlin scored her first career goal. Oswego increased the lead to 3-0 at the 17:49 mark when Erika Truschke knocked home her first career goal. Oswego would carry the 3-0 lead into the 2nd intermission. In the 3rd period, Oswego would deposit their final two goals of the game. First, at the 2:01 mark of the 3rd, Ashley Lyman scored her first career goal, and 3rd point of the game, to give Oswego the 4-0 lead. Finally at the 7:00 mark, Olivia Boersen scored her 2nd of the game, a powerplay goal, to seal the 5-0 victory.

Boersen (2 goals) and Ashley Lyman (goal, 2 assists) lead the offensive charge for the Lakers in the win, as they managed to fire 48 shots on goal, compared to just 11 by New England College. Lauren Hopps took the loss for New England, stopping 43 of 48 Oswego shots, while Cathrine Cote picked up the shutout win for Oswego, stopping all 11 shots she faced. The shutout was the 2nd career shutout for Cote, who also picked up her 8th career win.

So after the dominating win Saturday, Oswego had a bit more of a challenge in the contest on Sunday, beating Caselton State in an overtime thriller 3-2.  Oswego string of shutout hockey to start the season was broken at the 14:14 mark of the 1st period when Lisa Kilroy scored her 1st of the year. Oswego wouldn't go away quietly, as at the 16:15 mark of the period, Leslie Jarvis scored her first of the year, a powerplay goal, to get the game even. That's the way the score would stay going into the 1st intermission.

To the 2nd period we go, and the intensity picked up a little bit. Oswego scored the only goal of the period at the 3:54 mark when Mady Paul scored her 1st if the year. The Lakers were able to hold that one goal lead until the 12:14 mark of the 3rd period when BriAnna Narodowy tied the game up for Castelton. Neither team could break the tie during regulation, thus sending the game to overtime.  I took 2:31 of overtime for us to get a winner, and that goal came off the stick of Megan Hagg, lifting Oswego to the 3-2 victory.

Jess Cameron took the loss for Castelton, stopping 47 of 50 Oswego shots. Bridget Smith picked up the win for Oswego, stopping 19 of 21 Castelton shots. Laker captain Olivia Boersen as named MVP of the tournament.

With the two wins over the weekend, it is the first time since the 2009-10 season that Oswego has opened the season 2-0. Ironically, the Lakers' first win that season was against the Spartans of Castleton State.

Oswego takes their show on the road next weekend for a pair of games in Potsdam against the Bears.