Eagle's Eye Online

Ravens
posted 10/6/09 * brooks s.

The Baltimore Ravens have finally found that franchise quarterback that they have been searching for over the last thirteen years, Joe Flacco. If Flacco plays well the Ravens will win, and if he plays badly they will have trouble winning games. Yes, the Ravens have one of the best defenses in the NFL, but it is aging and with Rex Ryan leaving to head the New York Jets, who knows how the Ravens’ defense will perform this year? If the preseason is any indication of how the Ravens will do this year, then they are sure to have a great 2009 campaign.

The Ravens have some new players on the team for the 2008-2009 season. These include all-pro center Matt Birk who came from the Minnesota Vikings, and Chris Carr who was one of the league’s best return specialists only one year ago. Birk and Carr are sure to help Baltimore fulfill their goal of winning their second Super Bowl in franchise history. Another addition to the roster was Baltimore’s own Dominique Foxworth, who was a standout at Western Tech High School and later at University of Maryland.

The only key departures on the team included Jim Leonard, who stepped in last year for injured safety Dawan Landry when he got injured during a week three matchup against the Cleveland Browns . Also, Bart Scott left the Ravens after a six year stint with the team. The absence of Scott could prove to be one of the holes on the Ravens defense, but John Harbaugh and the rest of the staff have been impressed by second year player Tavares Gooden from University of Miami. Gooden was on the team last year but spent most of that time on the injured reserve list. If he can fill the void of Scott, the Ravens defense will most likely be as good as usual.

In their first preseason game the Ravens faced their rivals from across the beltway, the Washington Redskins. The Ravens showed that this year would be different. The Ravens had 500 yards of total offense, which is not typical of past Ravens teams in. They won the game 27-0 and proved that their defense hasn’t gone anywhere either.

In their second game the Ravens played the Jets. This game was more than just a preseason warm-up because Rex Ryan, who was the Ravens defensive coordinator for years, was on the other side of the field as head coach for the Jets. The Ravens won this game as well, and were off to a 2-0 start.

In their first game away from M&T Bank Stadium, the Ravens played the Carolina Panthers. Again, the Ravens played good defense and won the game 17-13. The finale of the preseason was in Atlanta, where the Ravens would look to go 4-0 in the preseason. One more time the Ravens won. The last time the Ravens were undefeated in the preseason they won the Super Bowl.

During the preseason some players and stats really stood out. Joe Flacco threw for 470 yards on 40 completions, even though he only played in three games. Ray Rice, who is going to be the featured back this year, had 23 rushes for 83 yards, and 12 completions for 108 yards. The one position that is not filled at the moment is kicker. The Ravens brought in Graham Gano from Florida Sate, but he made only one field goal out of his three attempts. The other kicker, Steven Hauschka, connected on six of his seven field goal attempts, and seems to have won the job. Another possibility is that the Ravens will bring back Matt Stover, who has not been signed but has not retired either. The Ravens need a reliable kicker, especially because they don’t put the ball in the end zone all that often.

After John Harbaugh and Joe Flacco answered the critics last year in their first season, who’s to say that they will have any difficulty having success in their second seasons. Hopefully there will be no sophomore slump for these two. With Flacco and Harbaugh at the helm, the Ravens seem to be in good hands for the foreseeable future.

weird Sports
posted 10/6/09 * Brandon h.

Out of the plethora of weird sports that I have seen over my years of being an overall sports enthusiast; one that is up there in weirdness is the “Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake”. This sporting event requires participants to chase a round of Double Gloucester Cheese, which is a type of cheese which is popular in England. Now, you may think that this would be a fairly easy task; however the hill is almost as steep as a fairly large mountain. With the cheese rolling at speeds of 70 miles per hour, and with its one second head start, it is highly unlikely you will catch it. Because of this, the rules were changed to allow the first person to make it to the bottom of the hill to win the grand prize; the cheese they were chasing.

Cheese-Rolling has been a competition for over 200 years. Suggestions have also been made that the event may either date back to Roman times or have been a pagan healing ritual; however there is no evidence to support these claims.

Cheese rolling doesn’t seem like a very intimidating sport; however there have been countless amounts of injuries from cheese-rolling ranging from sprained ankles to broken bones and concussions; all because of the steepness of the hill. A first aid service is provided at the bottom of the hill, with a volunteer rescue group on hand to carry down anyone who is too injured or disoriented to walk. Many ambulance vehicles will attend the event, since there is almost guaranteed at least one or two requiring serious hospital treatment. Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling has been summarized as "twenty young men chase a cheese off a cliff and tumble 200 yards to the bottom, where they are scraped up by paramedics and packed off to hospital". In fact, the race in 2005 was delayed while the ambulances returned from the hospital from carrying all the injuries from the race before. Nevertheless, it was and continues to be one of the most popular events in recent years, with more and more participants participating in recent years, and years to come.

Fantasy Football Addicts
Posted 10/6/09

Dear Fantasy Football Addict,

Have you ever wondered where your winter hobby started? Well it actually goes back all the way to the year 1962. A man by the name of Bill Winkenbach, a partial owner of the Oakland Raiders, decided to gather up a group of friends and go on a three-week road trip with the Raiders to the East coast. They thought of the idea as another way to gamble with football. Well, they sure were wrong about that.

The idea took off in 2002 from websites support such as NFL.com, yahoo.com, and espn.com. The main reason that it took about 40 years for the trend to grow was because of the lack of technological advancement. Since computers were not nearly what they are today, the fantasy football players would have to keep their scores themselves, and who would go through all that trouble?

In today’s world, people all over the country take part in this several month long game, but over the years it has become much more than just a bet. The media takes a huge roll in the advertising. TV shows, websites, and clothing are made from it. It brings people into the sport that never used to be fans.

Now that you have your historical facts down, its time you catch up on the present. Within the past three years there have been fantasy kings in every position who have been kicked to the curb for the upcoming stars. The old league runners such as Peyton Manning, Chad Ochocinco and Ladanian Tomlinson have been replaced by Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, and Adrian Peterson. The new season kicked off Thursday, September 10^th, so stay up to date on all your games. Good luck this year to all players!

Information provided by: NFL.com and Yahoo.com/fantasyfootball