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Texas, USC Cap A Tremendous College Football Season
Either Texas or USC in my opinion played in the three best games
of the College Football Season for 2005-06: Texas @ Ohio State;
USC @ Notre Dame; Texas defeating USC 41-38 for it all.

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Landstown High Football:
Many of you logged on and casted your vote throughout the
season as to whether or not the Landstown Eagles of Virginia
Beach, VA would repeat as Division 6 State High School Football
Champions in 2005. Led by Top 100 prospects Percy Harvin and
Damon McDaniel, the Eagles surprisingly bowed out to Oakton,
28-7, in the state title game. Here are the results and the minority
turned out to be right on this one.

Yes, they will repeat:          67%
No, they will not:                 33%

He... Could... Go... All... The... Way
We thank all of you that logged on and casted your vote as to who
is your favorite ESPN personality. Here are the results:

Chris Berman                    50%
Stuart Scott                       17%
Dan Patrick                       17%
Mel Kiper Jr.                      11%
Linda Cohn                         6%

Boston Continues To Own Philly
The New England Patriots, dynasty or not (you decide), have been
the dominating team in the new millennium without any question.
Though the question has been raised are they better than some of
the pasty dynasties like the Packers of the 1960's, Steel Curtain
defense during the 70's, San Francisco 49ers teams during the
1980's and the Dallas Cowboys team that won three out of four in
the 90's. In my opinion they are a very good team, but true to my
word I do not put them ahead of those outstanding franchises.
Yes, it's harder to sustain excellence in this day and age of free
agency. However, the level of play on the gridiron appears to be
somewhat on the declining side and the Patriots inability to win one
of their three championships (not a knock) by more than a field
goal proves they could easily have gone 1-2.

What I have figured out is this: when it comes to sports there is no
comparison between Boston and Philadelphia. A lot of people that
live or are from Philly probably won't to strangle me, but look at the
facts folks. In the past year Boston has won back-to-back Super
owls, the Red Sox finally won one and heck the Celtics got in the
playoffs in the pathetic Eastern Conference. The Celtics back in
the days of Red Auerbach and Bill Russell were THE team
everyone wanted to beat. Boston won an unprecedented 11 titles
in 13 years behind the masterful work of Red and Russ. Right now
I'm in the middle of reading John Feinstein's wonderful book about
Auerbach --- Let Me Tell You A Story: A Liftetime in the Game.
Anyhow, it seems many fans like to cling to the underdogs or star
personas like a Michael Jordan or Joe Montana.

Both Boston and Philly have had those type of athletes.
Nonetheless, only Boston has brought home a Super Bowl and
they can say they've got 30 titles compared to the city of Brotherly
Love's nine count.

Malone To Spurs?
I definitely think it would be an excellent decision, and so do you.
Here's how you, the fans, voted on our latest poll concerning Karl
Malone - NBA superstar....

Sign with the San Antonio Spurs                                60%
Sign with the Miami Heat                                            25%
Retire                                                                         10%
Sign with the Los Angeles Lakers                                5%


Three Way Tie: Redskins, Vikings & Falcons
Many logged on and cast their vote for who they thought would
have the best chance of making the playoffs this year that didn't
make it last year. Here are the results.....

Of the following teams that did not make the playoffs last season,
which do you believe has the best chance of doing so this coming
season?

Atlanta Falcons                        21%
Minnesota Vikings                    21%
Washington Redskins              21%
Cincinnati Bengals                   14%
Detroit Lions                              9%
Jacksonville Jaguars                  9%
Houston Texans                         5%

Thanks again for all of you who voted on matthewhatfield.com

Pats To Repeat?
According to all the fans out there that there, the New England
Patriots will repeat as Super Bowl Champions this coming season.
If they do so, they will become only the second team since the
Dallas in the mid-90's to win three Super Bowls in four years!

Who do you think will win Super Bowl 39 in Jacksonville, Florida?

New England Patriots                25%
Other                                         21%
Philadelphia Eagles                   13%
Seattle Seahawks                      13%
Baltimore Ravens                      11%
Carolina Panthers                       9%
St. Louis Rams                            4%
Indianapolis Colts                        4%

Brady Shows Why He Just Might Be The Best QB Around
Tom Brady might not just be the most underrated quarterback in
professional football, but also the best one period. Brady
outplayed Colts QB and last year's co-MVP Peyton Manning in the
2004 NFL Season Opener. He completed almost 69% of his
passes for 338 yards and three touchdowns as the Pats squeaked
out a three point win over Indy. Now I'm beginning to wonder
should that award have gone to Brady?

Well, the guy is under 30 and already has two Super Bowl MVP's to
his credit. His counterpart in Super Bowl 38, Jake Delhomme, also
probably doesn't get nearly the amount of credit he deserves.
Yes, Brady is surrounded by talented players around him and has
a genius coach in Bill Belichick, plus, two of the best coordinators
in the business in Romeo Crennel and Charlie Weiss.

But that shouldn't diminish what this young man has accomplished.
I'm not anointing him in the same class as guys like Favre,
Montana, Unitas, Elway and so on either. What I am saying that is
he is a winner and the best QB out there. You think Brady cares
about fantasy football and the type of numbers he puts up? If he
does, he doesn't care about it half as much as he does winning.
And that's what it is all about - winning!

Right now it's probably the second best football success story next
to Kurt Warner's unbelievable rise to fame a few years ago!

Randy Johnson = Big Time Pitcher
If you had one game to win, which active starting pitcher would you
put out on the mound?

Randy Johnson                        33%
Curt Schilling                            17%
Roger Clemens                        13%
Pedro Martinez                         13%
Jason Schmidt                          13%
Mark Mulder                             10%
Other                                          2%

Will The Babe Ruth Curse Finally Come To An End?
Which team do you think would have the best chance of getting to
and winning the World Series as a Wild Card?

Boston Red Sox                        25%
San Francisco Giants               18%
Oakland Athletics                      18%
Chicago Cubs                           14%
San Diego Padres                     14%
Texas Rangers                            7%
Cleveland Indians                        4%

Schilling Gives Us A Performance For The Ages
As an Arizona Diamondbacks fan, I haven't had much to cheer for
since 2001 when the team came back in the bottom of the ninth to
dethrone the then reigning 26-time World Champion New York
Yankees. A big part of their success along Game 7 hero Luis
Gonzalez and World Series co-MVP Randy Johnson was Curt
Schilling. Schilling, now a member of the Boston Red Sox, is in
search of his second ring in four seasons. Not only is this guy a
class act, but also a courageous, passionate, fearless and
determined pitcher. His goal entering the 2004 ALCS vs. the Bronx
Bombers was to shut up thousands of New Yorkers.

In Game 1 things did not go well at all and he had to leave early in
the ball game. Down 3-0 to the Yanks, it appeared Boston had
absolutely no hope of winning the series and no Schilling if they
were to even force a Game 6 or Game 7. With a dislocated right
ankle tendon, the sensational off-season acquisition for Boston
was questionable for the remainder of the series. But "Big Papi"
David Ortiz delivered two game-winning hits for the Fenway Faithful
in the same day! How is that possible? Game 4 didn't end till after
1AM in the morning on the East Coast as the battle raged on for
about five hours. Later that evening Game 5 got under way at
5PM and concluded with Ortiz driving in Johnny Damon on a base
hit to shallow center field. Right around 11PM on Monday night we
knew the boys from Beamtown were going back to Yankee
Stadium. Following two epic conclusions in a 12 inning game and
14 inning contest, the Red Sox became only the third club in
baseball history to force a Game 6 when once trailing 3-0.

Even with a dislocated right ankle tendon and feeling a lot of pain,
Schill went out there and gave it his all. He went seven innings,
allowed only four hits, no walks, struck out four and kept the
high-dollar Yankee offense to just one run. An incredible,
courageous and heartwarming performance for the ages,
especially when you consider all the offensive production seen
throughout the entire 2004 baseball playoffs. This guy walked
onto the mound and let only Bernie Williams touch home. This just
three nights after the Yankees torched the BoSox for 19 runs!

What hasn't really been brought up yet by many people is
Schilling's status for Game 7. How can he pitch one night after
going seven innings? Well, didn't his teammate Randy Johnson
start and then pitch two innings out of the pen in the '01 Fall
Classic? Curt only threw 99 pitches which leads me to believe he
can get an out or two if needed late in a close game. Or, maybe
even pitch an inning if the ball game goes to extra innings.

As vital as Mariano Rivera has been to the Yankees, Dave
Roberts, Keith Foulke and Tim Wakefield have been just as big for
Boston of late. Manager Terry Francona may need those three
and a lot others to pull off what I consider would be the greatest
comeback of all time - beat a New York Yankees baseball team
loaded with talent, loaded with one of the highest payrolls ever and
do so down 3-0 and winning four straight. What makes this even
more mind boggling is that it's the Red Sox doing this and doing it
against the Yankees. A Red Sox team that is only five wins away
from winning it's first World Series since 1918. A Red Sox team
that also is one loss away from major disappointment after showing
pride, hunger and the ability to overcome unbelievable odds.

We'll find out tonight. Can the Yankees respond and rise from the
dead once again or will it be Boston making baseball history?

Ray Lewis Edges Out Vick; Favre
What NFL player means the most to his respective team?

Ray Lewis: Ravens                    32%
Michael Vick: Falcons                29%
Brett Favre: Packers                  26%
Tom Brady: Patriots                   13%