The Bottom Line
By Bill Nestor
Sports Editor
It’s hard to believe that the regular season for girls basketball has come to an end.
Lincoln, as expected, had another stellar campaign that included an eleven game win streak in the middle part of the season. The Lady Cougars and veteran mentor Rob Hawkins ran through a stiff schedule and lost only one game to an opponent that they might have to face en route to the state tournament.
Bridgeport’s win was huge for their confidence heading into the second season. The Indians were coming off of back to back losses to Buckhannon Upshur and Southern Garrett (Maryland) and they were looking to turn momentum back in their favor.
The Cougars could also benefit from the loss to their cross county rival. Depending on just how a team looks at a loss will determine its value. Hawkins is a master motivator and he will probably use the loss as a way to let his team know that they have to come with their “A” game every night. He will refocus his team and challenge them to play at their highest level. Case in point was their next outing when they travelled to Tucker County and handed the Mountain Lions their second worst loss of the season.
The rubber match would be the most important match-up of the year. The games count the most at the end of the year and next week we will crown a sectional champion.
Speaking of champions, the New England Patriots are on top of the football world following their amazing 34-28 come from behind win over the Atlanta Falcons. I’m not so sure if the Patriots won or the Falcons just lost. Atlanta held a 28-3 lead with 2:07 left in the third quarter and it appeared to be in the bag for the team with the highest total of points scored in a season. At that point, the scoring stopped for “Cold” Lanta and the 70,000 plus crowd at NRG Stadium were witness to the largest come-back effort in Super Bowl History. The actual game broke or tied over 30 records and the hearts of Falcon fans and New England haters all over the world.
Goodell looked less than comfortable handing over the MVP trophy to Patriot signal caller Tom Brady. Goodell imposed a four game suspension on Brady to start this season off with a bang. Ironically enough Brady missed out on the regular season MVP Award that went to Falcon quarterback Matt Ryan. If Brady would have laced them up four more times, what would his numbers have been? There is a solid chance that he would have claimed the award, which is the one thing that he didn’t have the opportunity to avenge with the Super Bowl triumph.
Is Brady the best quarterback to ever play the game? The debate seems to always come back to the man with six rings and Joe Montana. Being a big Montana fan, I’ve always said it was the former San Francisco standout that holds the above mentioned distinction.
Montana has four rings of his own and could have possibly garnered more if not for circumstances beyond his control. The 49ers had acquired Steve Young, who took over the team causing Montana to be traded to Kansas City. Young then proceeded to take Joe’s team to Super Bowl XXIX and defeated San Diego. Montana was deprived of the opportunity to add to what was already a legendary career.
Brady and Patriot head man Bill Belichick have combined five championships in seven attempts, which is unprecedented. They also hold the record for the most scandals during that run. Spygate and Deflategate are enough to make football fans wonder if there were any additional gates that they were not aware of.
Time will tell and for now the Patriots don’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. Maybe the Steelers might have something to say about that.
That will do it for now. Until next week … take care and God Bless!
