DaveZdyrko.com

Check out my Quick Hit blog about my thoughts on the Miami Dolphins drafting WVU QB Pat White in the 2nd round of this past weekend’s NFL Draft and why it has me super excited for the coming football season.

Maybe it’s just my negativity with my sports teams, but I’m starting to think that the Miami Dolphins are headed to a last place finish in the AFC East this season. Maybe I should be a little more confident with the “trifecta” of Parcells, Ireland and Sporano, but I’ve always seen last seasons’ 11-5 record and playoff berth as a bit of an aberration that was a result of an easy schedule, Brady’s knee, and Favre’s INT-parade.

(continue reading…)

After the Hurricanes’ debacle in San Fran last night, I had this feeling of impending doom about today’s Jets v Dolphins match-up. The one thing that started to give me hope earlier in the day was the fact that Drew Brees fell 16 yards short of breaking Dan Marino’s single-season passing yards record, despite the fact that Carolina almost GAVE it to him when they booted the kickoff out of bounds with just one second left on the clock. Luckily, Brees choked and threw it short on a wide open pass that would’ve got him one of Dan’s last major NFL records.

While that gave me a lot of hope, the way things were going early on in the Dolphins game had me nervous beyond belief. They were seemingly dominating the Jets, but kept making significant boneheaded mistakes. The Pennington fumble, the Ricky drop on what would’ve been a huge pass play, and the errant pass by Ronnie Brown that could’ve been a potential long TD. Throw in those and all the false starts and offsides and I was beginning to think it just wasn’t meant to be. Luckily, things started to come together. Favre started trying to put his interceptions record out of reach, and we held on to a euphoric 24-17 win.

To be quite frank, I don’t think we have any shot at all at making it to and winning the Super Bowl. We won’t likely make it out of the first round. However, after suffering through a 1-15 season last year, just making the playoffs is a huge victory for me. That said, it’s the playoffs and anything can happen. Maybe we surprise some folks, myself included, and we make a nice little run.

I had to “watch” the game via Gamecast because the Pats were the only game on at 1PM today, but the Dolphins game against the Chiefs drove me crazy nevertheless. Thankfully, I was able to follow it while blowing shit up in Mercenaries 2 or I might’ve gone insane. They managed to pull yet another rabbit out of their hat and are now the first team in history to win 10 games in a season following one which they won 1 or less.

I’m still a bit pessimistic about their chances at beating the Jets, but it’s pretty simple for them — if they win they’re AFC East champs and in the playoffs, if they don’t, they’re most likely left out in the cold. After last year’s 1-15 disaster, I honestly couldn’t have wished for anything better than this. I’m proud of them either way and it’s been a very fun year of watching them play.

This week is the first round in the playoffs of my the Playhard FFL and my team is up 53-50 and my opponent only has T.O. left tonight while I have Eli, Tashard and Westbrook left. It “should” be a win for me, but you never know with Fantasy Football, T.O. could respond with some crazy 30+ point game after all of this week’s Romo/Whitten drama and I could get toasted. But for now, things are looking great.

Things are also looking good for the Dolphins after winning yet another close game today. They’re still in a 3-way tie for first place in the AFC East with the Jets and Pats, and are still in complete control of their destiny. They beat the Chiefs and Jets and they’re in. If not, then they’re probably watching the playoffs from home yet again.

Already stated it after the Hurricanes game on Thursday and I’ll state it again after today’s narrow escape by the Dolphins against the Oakland Raiders — a win is a win. I thought we might have blown a great opportunity to stay strong in the playoff hunt after that long kick return for a touchdown gave the Raiders their first lead of the game, but my boys came through in the clutch and drove for the game winning field goal with less than a minute remaining to seal a victory. Miami is now 6-4 and if they can upset the Pats next week and if the Jets lose to the Titans, then we will be sitting in a position never thought possible — atop the AFC East!

The one apparent downer to my fruitful football weekend, which began on Thursday, is that my fantasy football team has a very precarious 15 point lead over one of the worst teams in the league, with that team still having Winslow, Randle El, and Lindel to play. He also has the Cards D going right now while all I have is 2nd string Mewelde Moore. If I lose this game, it was be heartbreaking given the competition and the fact that I got home 1 minute too late and was stuck with BenJavus Green-Ellis who I was going to bench in favor of either Ted Ginn Jr or Lance Moore (15 and 16 points respectively) if Sammy Morris was cleared to play, which he was. I ended up with 0 points in that slot instead of at least 15. The late work day on Thursday just might cost me a victory that I was favored to win by 51 points. Sad Christmas if that happens.

For starters, I had amazing nights out on both Friday and Saturday. Both evenings were loads of fun and there were plenty of hot chicks to entertain everywhere we went. Then things went really good with all of my football teams on both Saturday and Sunday.

The Miami Hurricanes took care of business against Wake Forest and still have an outside shot at the ACC title or at least being bowl eligible. The Dolphins played great today and beat down the Buffalo Bills, with Ginn Jr finally showcasing his playmaking ability. And that’s not all, my fantasy football team scored 109 points and barring a 40+ point outburst by Scaife on MNF should up its record to 6-2 and into a three-way tie atop the division.

And in what might quite possibly be the best news of the weekend, I weighed-in this morning at 299.6 lbs. Hopefully I won’t ever allow myself to go up past the 300 mark ever again for the rest of my life. If I do, I give you permission to put a bullet in my head. It feels good to be back under 300 lbs and I can’t wait till my wrist and ankle/foot heal up so I can start getting back into the gym on a regular basis.

Today’s blowout win by the Dolphins over the New England Patriots was extra special because I’m living in Boston and working in Foxboro these days and am surrounded by Pats fans wherever I go. And we just didn’t beat them, we gave them an old fashioned ass whooping and pretty much embarassed them. I kind of wish I would’ve gotten some tickets to see the game in person cause that would’ve been quite entertaining to see. So, my real teams are 2-0 this weekend but my fantasy team is going to lose and I’ll fall to 2-1.

Both of my teams, the Hurricanes and Dolphins, lost this weekend but apparently I’m supposed to be happy with the direction of both teams. I’m sorry but I’m tired of moral victories. The positive is that the baby Canes looked really good for three quarters and they matched up with the Gators athletically, which was quite shocking to be honest. Spence had some spectacular bone crushing hits and quite a few of the team’s super freshmen showed a lot of promise. Moreover, the new defensive coordinator from Kansas, Bill Young, looks like he might be an even bigger pickup than any of the team’s highly-touted recruits. The UF game was the first I’ve ever seen where a Miami Hurricanes defense confused an opponent. They’ve always won just on talent alone and not scheming.

That said, the offensive play calling was absolutely atrocious. The team might have a chance to compete in the ACC this year but only because the conference is horrific right now. They will never compete on a national level with Patrix Nix calling the plays and running the offense. He sucked at GT and he’s been atrocious at UM. I’m a Randy Shannon fan but he screwed up mightily by keeping this guy around.

Then there’s the Dolphins. The post-game announcers kept on talking about how the team showed a lot of promise and that Pennington showed leadership in driving them down the field and putting them in position for a come from behind victory. Umm, why should I be happy with that? The team lost six games last year by three points or less. What good did that do? They lost this one by six. Why should I be happy with the fact that Pennington had four shots from inside the 20 to WIN the game and couldn’t complete a pass? Sure, I believe he was a good pickup and I believe the team is on the right path for success but I’m not going to be happy until they actually start winning these types of games. And that goes for both the Dolphins and the Hurricanes.

I’ve watched maybe 15 minutes of Dancing With the Stars over the course of its entire existence, but the fact that my boy Jason Taylor was competing in it definitely piqued my interest even if it didn’t get me to watch. I’m proud of the fact that he was very successful at it and made it to the final two despite the fact that he lost to Kristi Yamaguchi in the end.

It’s no surprise to me that she’d kick ass at dancing given the fact that she’s one of the greatest women’s figure skaters of all-time. It really makes me wonder why she was even allowed in this competition. I always thought this was about getting random stars and celebrities that you wouldn’t expect to do well at a dance competition to learn and excel at dancing. I’d gather that she was the odds on favorite to win that thing before it even started based on her pedigree.