Yates, long drive keeps Texans streaking

When Gary Kubiak issued his weekly quarterback quiz on Saturday night, T.J. Yates gave a gold-star performance. The prepared rookie third-string quarterback helped propel Houston to a 17-10 win against Atlanta, a team that came to Reliant Stadium with wins in five of its past six games. The quarterbacks have changed, from Matt Schaub to Matt Leinart to Yates, but the Texans' results have stayed the same. The win was their sixth in a row and kept them entrenched as the favorite to win the AFC South and in line to capture one of the conference’s top seeds. Yates threw for 188 yards and a touchdown, posting an 86.8 passer rating and displaying calm, moxie and mobility. After Andre Johnson dropped a great pass, Yates went back to the well-covered star, who muscled a 50-yard reception away from the defender. When John Abraham flew past Winston and buried Yates with a quick, hard sack, the quarterback bounced up quickly to make it clear he wasn’t hurt and wasn't going to flinch. For all the home team’s good work, the Falcons pulled even at 10-10 late in the third quarter and it looked like the game might turn their direction. But the Texans responded with a massive drive: 19 plays that covered 85 yards, ate up 10 minutes and 41 seconds, and provided the winning margin. Kubiak called for an Arian Foster run on a fourth-and-1 from the Atlanta 9-yard line, reasoning he had just the right play and it was going to take more than a field goal to win. Foster gained 7, and was in the end zone two plays later. That drive’s big plays were a 13-yard run by Ben Tate, a 12-yard run by Foster and a 12-yard catch by Kevin Walter.

Sid The Kid Is Back!

There were 18,571 people that walked through the turnstiles at Consol Energy Center on Monday night. They probably ought to put their ticket stubs in safe places. Sidney Crosby's return to the NHL after a 10-and-a-half-month layoff turned into the kind of night that hockey fans everywhere will tell their grandkids about I must say. Crosby came back and put up 4 points in a 5-0 win over the New York Islanders on Monday night. He scored a goal in his third shift and picked up a primary assist on his fifth shift. He added a secondary assist on his 10th shift and added another goal shortly after coming onto the ice for his 16th shift, his first of only five in the third period. He finished with 21 shifts in total against the Islanders. Crosby showed his speed burst and wicked backhander in scoring his first goal last night. When he was about to score, he knew the Islanders were caught flat-footed and he went right around their defense, motoring past Andrew MacDonald before he used the backhand to beat rookie goalie Anders Nilsson. Throughout the amazing night in Pittsburgh at the Consol Energy Center, Crosby used a backhanded pass from the left-wing wall to set up Brooks Orpik with a one-timer from the point that sailed past Nilsson 16:29 into the first period. Crosby helped set up Evgeni Malkin's power-play goal 3:17 into the second period by finding Kris Letang at the point. Letang's slap-pass went to Malkin, who shoveled the puck past Nilsson. With Crosby back in the lineup now, I can see this being a really really good season for the Penguins.

Joe Pa Gone!

These past few days have been hectic at Penn State. With Joe Paterno gone, the atmosphere at PSU is totally different and is going down hill now. The Nittany Lions have a huge football game this weekend against Nebraska and with Paterno not attending, its going to crush the players hopes of winning. When Penn State fired Coach Paterno, he won 409 games; more than any other coach in Division I college football history. Paterno was fired because he failed miserably while making the biggest decision of his life. With Penn State firing Coach Joe Pa, its the worse decision ever right now! They should of just waited till he retired at the end of the season. All I have to say is that Penn State lost a winning coach now and their football program is going to go downhill now and they will never find a winning coach just like him. With PSU's decision, thats totally disrespectful and not professional!

SRU Football Goes to PSAC Championship Game!

SRU Football going to the PSAC Championship Game?!?!? What?!?!?! Thats right everyone!! SRU football is going to the PSAC Championship game this Saturday in Kutztown. With SRU being ranked 24th place in the American Football Coaches Association Division II national poll, thats still really good for the football program even though they got upsetted by Gannon this previous weekend with a score of 33-27. Ever since I have been a student here at Slippery Rock University, I have never seen our football program play this well. I must say that I did attend the game when we destroyed the number 14th rankled Cal U Vulcans at SRU with a score of 17-3. With SRU going to the PSAC Conference Championship game in Kutztown against Kutztown University, it would be great to attend and cheer on the Pride to victory but I am not able to because I have to work at The Grove City Outlets. But I will say while I am working, I will show my green and white pride clothing. GO ROCK!!!

Hometown High School Football Team Makes First Playoff Appearance for The 2011 Season

The Chartiers Valley High School (Chartiers Valley Colts) took on Montour High School (Montour Spartans) in the first round of the 2011 WPIAL Class Triple A playoffs at Montour High School. These two teams will meet once again this year for the second time after meeting each other in the first regular season game of the 2011 season at Chartiers Valley. With these two teams playing, it will be a physical and violent game; Because the Colts are looking to bounce back with a victory and not get creamed to the Spartans for a second time after losing to them the first time with  a score of 49-14. With these two teams coming back for a second round with each other, you will see some Division I prospects playing against each other. For example, you will see the Senior quarterback, Wayne Capers start for the Colts against the Spartans. Capers has planned on committing to the University of Pittsburgh and become a red shirt freshman for the Panthers begining next season. I cant wait to see this game take place on friday night and hopefully I'll be able to attend the game and cheer on my fellow team mates that I have played with when I was a senior in high school during the 2008 season. GO COLTS!!!

Steelers Destroy the Patriots!

How's it going my fellow students of SRU? Sorry I haven't been blogging lately; these last few weeks have been so hectic and stressful. Did anyone by any chance catch the Steeler game on sunday?!?! I sure did!! I watched it on my laptop at work haha. That game was incredible and we played so well against the Patriots Defense and our defensive backs played amazing against the Patriots offense as well.

The Steelers dominated the Patriots on Sunday afternoon. Ben Roethlisberger passed for 365 yards and two touchdowns as the Pittsburgh Steelers finally found a way to beat Tom Brady and the New England Partriots 25-17. Roethlisberger completed 36 of 50 passes and led the Steelers on a series of clock-chewing drives, effectively keeping Brady and the NFL's top-ranked offense off the field. Pittsburgh held the ball for more than 39 minutes and survived a late rally to win its fourth straight following a 2-2 start. Tom Brady passed for two touchdowns but threw for a season-low 198 yards and couldn't get into any sort of rhythm while losing to the Steelers for just the second time in his career. The Pittsburgh Steelers defense absolutely destroyed Tom Brady and the defensive backs had great coverage down the field playing against the Patriots recievers.

Next Sunday the Steelers take on the Baltimore Ravens at 8:30pm.

NHL Season Right Around the Corner

What's up everyone? The hockey season for the NHL is just right around the corner. The first regular season game for the NHL is on Thursday, October 6th, 2011 with the Philadelphia Flyers hosting the Boston Bruins. For a first regular season game, this game is going to be a game that everyone should watch. These two teams have a great offensive strikers that can score goals and both have good goalies as well; In my opinion, I think this game will be close. The one game that I'm very interested into watching is the Pittsburgh Penguins taking on the Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver at 10pm on the channel Versus. I would really like to see how the team can do without Sidney Crosby since he is one of our biggest playmakers. Without Crosby in the lineup, our defense is going have to step up there game just a little bit. I can not wait for the Pens season to get underway; They will make playoffs for sure!

Down seven, Rays walk off with AL Wild Card

What a ridiculous Wednesday night it has been for the MLB. I tuned into the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees game last night. Through the first eight innings, the Yankees were up 7-0 on the Rays. Once it became the bottom of the eight inning, thats when it got really interesting. In the bottom of the eight inning, the Rays rallyed back scoring 6 runs becoming down one run with a score of 7-6. In the ninth inning, the Rays held the Yankees to no runs so they could get a chance to come back to win the game; they came back scoring with one run to tie it up 7-7 and take the Yankees to exta innings to get a chance to get the win. Once it became to the bottom of the 12th inning, thats when the game ended the Rays regular season in a great way. With one out Evan Longoria stepped up to the plate and hoping to give his team a chance to win the game. For the first few pitches, he made Yankees pitcher Scott Proctor work with a 2-2 count. With the next pitch, Proctor thought he had the game won, but nope he was wrong. He threw Longoria his next pitch, Evan got a hold of the ball and pulled off a walk off homerun to left field to give the Rays the victory and giving them the chance to go to the playoffs. Thats such a great way to end a regular season and to make it to the playoffs as well. Game 1 of the ALDS for the Rays is on September 30th, 2011 against the Texas Rangers.

Can You Say UPSET?!?!?

Wow what a weekend it has been... Kind of upset that Pitt lost to Notre Dame by 3 points when they should of had that game won, but no Tino Sunseri blew it once again! I honestly think the head coach for Pitt should bench Sunseri. Honestly in my opinion, I think he is terrible and just blows games for us that we could actually win.

Other than that... in the NFL it has been an upset weekend. When I seen Buffalo beat the Patriots on sunday, I was very very shocked. Honestly, I think Buffalo means business this year as it looks so far. Another upset that I seen was the Detroit Lions smacking the Minnesota Vikings 26-23 with a game winning field goal in overtime. After I have seen that second upset, I seen a third upset haha; the Oakland Raiders stomping on the New York Jets with a score of 34-24. With the way these three teams are playing, I am predicting that two out of the three make a wildcard spot; My two teams that chose are the Oakland Raiders and the Detriot Lions.

Hockey Night in Pittsburgh!

How's it going everyone at SRU?!?!?! I hope your week is going very very well and offically getting over the hump day. Today was the first preseason game for the Pens tonight at home against the Detroit Redwings. Tonight the Pens looked pretty good for there first preseason game as a team. Our top scorers such as Evgeni Malkin played pretty well I must say; and dang!... I must say our defense played pretty well through the second and third period. In the world of sports, I havent really heard too much because I've been so busy with school work. But I also did find out that Mike Modano for the North Stars retired today. Well everyone, I thought I'd stop in and post a blog on todays events in Pittsburgh while I'm taking a break from studying for one of my classes. I hope you all had a great Wednesday! :)

GameDay Sunday

Well everyone... Week number 2 is in the books for the NFL and it has been one heck of a weekend in the NFL.  This weekend on NFL Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers topped the Seattle Seahawks 24-0. Even though our running game was pretty decent on the field sunday; our passing game was even better. The two top recievers for the Steelers were Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown with the most recieving yards that helped the Steelers get the victory. Mike Wallace had an excellent day on the field with eight catches for 126 recieving yards with one touchdown; and Antonio Brown a decent day on the field as well with four catches for 67 recieving yards. If the Steelers keep playing this way for the rest of the season and with the defense playing as well as they did on sunday; they will have a chance to contend for the top spot in the AFC North.

 

For week number 2 in the NFL, my second favorite team had a strong weekend and going with a 2-0 record going into week number three; the Houston Texans. For week two, the Texans took on the Miami Dolphins in Miami. Houstons offense had a great day on the ground and in the air to crush the Dolphins defense. Miami's sieve-like pass defense was no match for Andre Johnson and Matt Schaub at all what so ever; who threw for 230 yards and had a passer rating of 118.5. Johnson made seven catches for 93 yards. This is the second year in a row that the Texans are starting out with a 2-0 record. For the Texans being my second favorite football team, I have faith in them and I really hope they have a shot at the playoffs this year.

 

Kick Off!

Hows it going everyone?!?! Sorry its been awhile since I've been on here; its been a hectic weekend here at The Rock. Up at The Rock this weekend, it was parent weekend and along with that was the first home season game for the Slippery Rock Pride football team. The Rock football team dominated with a 54-0 win over Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. On NFL sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore, MD. The Steelers did not play well at all against the Ravens and took a beating with a score of 35-7. In the NFL, there were alot of upsets! Which I was so shocked to see. Im so glad my second favorite team won; the Houston Texans. They took on the Indianapolis Colts. The Texans ended up dominating the Colts 34-7. That was the biggest upset I've seen so far. Well everyone, I'm about to go to bed now. I hope everyone has had a good week so far and I'll be posting another blog very shortly.

KHL Tragedy

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011, is a very tragic day in sports. A private team plane carrying the Russian Hockey team Lokomotiv of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) crashed in Central Russia near the city of Yaroslavl, 150 miles northeast of Moscow. According to ESPN's website and along with the NHL website, these two sources say that at least 43 people were killed; which most were members of the team and two other people on board were critically injured. Currently the information on how the plane went down is still unknown at this point but some Russian news agencies say it was due to technical problems. The plane that team traveled on was built in 1993 and belonged to a small Moscow-based Yak Service company.  It had 45 people on board, including 37 passengers and eight crew. Out of all the years that I have followed sports, I have never seen a horrible accident like this. With this horrible tragedy today in sports; lets take the time to sit down and pray for these players and their families. AMEN...

Welcome

Welcome everyone!

My name is James Grafe; you all may call me Jim.  I am a sophomore at Slippery Rock University and currently majoring in Sport Management. I currently live in Slippery Rock, PA and originally from Carnegie, PA. Carnegie is an hour south from campus. I graduated from Chartiers Valley High School in 2009. After graduating from SRU, I would like to become a sports apparel retail store manager or even possibly work in the main corporate office as well; for such as Nike and Under Armour. During my free time from work and school, I enjoy going to the gym to exercise and lift weights, hanging with friends and family, and I also like to shop every once in awhile as well. Last spring semester, I participated in Mr./Mrs. SRU Bodybuilding and Figure Show. I competed in the Bantam Weight Division and took 4th place. For my first blog ever, I hope you all enjoyed learning some information about me and I hope you all continue to read my blogs and help me through this process!

Thank You,
Jim Grafe