Lohensports

 OK, I am going to be keeping this one short for a lot of reasons but mostly because the game was on almost a week ago now and it was not the type of game a Steelers fan would go back and watch the highlights for so my memory is fuzzy. That wasn't very fun and Christmasy of the Steelers! The one saving grace was that the dismantling happened on Christmas day while I was surrounded by loved ones and socially allowed to drink starting at 9am. Otherwise, as Quin can attest, I would have been committed to misery during the Holidays. Lets get into it I guess:  Red Zone Turnovers To be perfectly fair to Russell Wilson, the Steelers were kind of shafted by the schedule late in the season. Christmas Day concluded the end of a 3 games in 10 day stretch featuring the Steelers facing 3 of the best teams in the NFL in the Eagles, Ravens then Chiefs. In all 3 of them Russell Wilson came away with a turnover in the red zone. I spoke a lot in the past weeks about the 14 point swing that a re...

 I thought about not writing one at all today, it is Christmas Eve after all! But when I thought about it, there's a few things that happened this NFL week that I really just felt I needed to get out and so rather than locking myself into 5 things, I am just going to ramble until I run out of the things I wanted to say. Merry Christmas! Fake Stumble This has to be the most diabolical trick play that I've ever seen. If you'll remember last week (or was it 2 weeks ago? I can't remember) Lions QB Jarred Goff stumbled on a big snap in the 4th quarter, but managed to still get the handoff to Gibbs for the game clinching play. I can only imagine that this sparked an idea in Dan Campbell's mind. In the 3rd quarter this week with the Lions up 27-14 against the Bears, Goff takes the snap and appears to stumble on the handoff. Gibbs even falls to the ground. Goff regains his balance and launches a perfect deep ball to the TE Sam LaPorta. It turns out, the play design was to m...

 The Steelers are doing their best to try and ruin Christmas for all of us. As you can imagine, this is not one that I am excited about writing, but I am here and dedicated to recapping every Steelers game this year and that means the ugly losses to division rivals too. Believe it or not, I actually have a few delusional ways to try and spin this into a positive! Lets get into it:  14 Point Swing? 28 Point Swing?? All season long the Steelers have been beating quality opponents by simply making fewer mistakes. It makes sense too, the Steelers defense has great playmakers who are practically guaranteed to force a turnover at some point, as long as the offense holds onto the ball they will have a good chance of inching out a win. This one was the exact opposite of that formula where a couple key mistakes took this from a close game to a blowout. Tied at 7 in the second quarter, the Steelers offense was rolling. Similar to last game, as soon as the Steelers went to Jalen Warren t...

 How have I not thought of doing a year end article yet? We're approaching a week where my writing will be spotty safe for a couple Steelers reactions and maybe some Raptors thoughts if I feel so inclined. With that in mind, I thought it'd be a great time to reflect on my 5 favorite NBA players in 2024. This is not a list of who I thought the 5 best players of 2024 were, this is more a list of who I enjoyed watching the most, players who I am grateful to call Raptors or players that I wish with all my heart were Raptors. Presenting now, Logan's favorite 5 NBA players of 2024:  5. Victor Wembanyama  I very much understand that it doesn't get more basic than this when talking about favorite players, but how can you not be giddy watching Victor Wembanyama. An absolute athletic marvel, Wemby stands at 7'5 but moves as fluidly as a guard. Watching him play is truly a sight to behold. In early 2024 I got the honor of seeing Wemby play live at Scotiabank Arena. The Raptors...

 Year 2 of the NBA cup experiment is now complete! I feel like last year with the novelty of it all it felt more exciting and like it actually meant something. This year, maybe it's just me, but I felt like it wasn't all that important. I can't even say that it's because I didn't care about the teams in it because the Thunder are my second favorite team this year, the Bucks are my favorite team to hate and I've had a good time watching Hawks and Rockets games all season. Better incentives next year is my solution. In any case, we got a bonus basketball game last night and while it wasn't the most fun one down the stretch, it gave me something to write about!  Giannis is a Beast A lot of talk this season, and rightfully so, about how Jokic is the best player in the world putting up God like numbers on a nightly basis. Lost in the best player in the world conversation though is Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis showed last night why he deserves to still be in tha...

 Week 15 wow the season always just flies by. I need to get myself back into football mode here, I was at the Raptors game last night just on a whim. Tickets are going for <$40 for some of these games and the team is fun despite the losses. Crowd was super into it last night too, the real fans have returned! Anyway, football! Another really fun one in the books and things are really starting to heat up in the playoff race. Lets get into it:  Goal Line Fumbles It is spooky how the world works sometimes. I frequently take very long walks around the city while listening to podcasts. On Sunday I was listening to a Bill Burr podcast from back in 2016, he was watching football when someone in the game dropped the ball in celebration just before he passed the goal line. Bill talked about how he can't believe that still happens and how it should be impossible. Of course then I turn on the TV to see that this week that most ridiculous transgression happened once again! In the 3rd qu...

 I have been dragging my feet this morning before writing this one. Steelers lose in a matchup that if you look at the stats would appear as though they got dominated. I still think this one was closer than the numbers suggest, but at the same time it was a brilliantly executed game from what could be the best team in football. A lot to be frustrated with if you're a Steelers fan, lets get into it:  Shaky Start -> Signs of Life ->Najee Fumble I feel like a lot of Steelers games start in a similar fashion, and a lot of the time that is ok. In the first quarter, the Steelers showed no signs of life at all. After getting the ball first the Steelers tried to establish the run game, it didn't work and they went 3 and out. Then the defense did well of bending not breaking and holding the Eagles to a FG. The Steelers got the ball back and tried to establish the run game again, didn't work, 3 and out. Luckily on the next Eagles drive the Steelers defense was ready to pick up ...

First of all, I am sorry I missed a post yesterday. I have been battling a cold and just wasn't feeling it. I am making it up today though by talking about some stuff I noticed in games that I watched last night! Kind of a jumble post today but hey, why not.  Raptors Fall to Heat Oh boy does the viewership ever fall off when Scottie Barnes is out of the lineup for the Raptors, and probably rightfully so. The Raptors lost to the heat last night 114-104 in a game where the Heat didn't really have to break a sweat. Despite the loss and some lackluster performances from the Raptors top guys, there were some bright spots from the young players that should be highlighted. Afterall, what else do we have in a development season? I can't say enough good things about Jamison Battle. For those who saw my last post, Jamison Battle is the best rookie shooter in the league and it isn't particularly close. In a draft that featured 4 year college shooter Daulton Knecht, Battle has outs...

 Slow sports day! I thought today would be fun to just poke around on some stat sites and filter until I find some Raptors who are leading the league in certain stats. Obviously these are going to be akin to that Thaddeus Young graphic that had him up next to LeBron, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, but that's the fun of it! If I'm being 100% honest, I've got nothing to do at work today so an excuse to play around on these stat sites is all I needed.  RJ Barrett - FGA Inside 5 Feet for a Player <25 Years Old This one will probably be the least cherry picked on my list. If you've read this blog or watched Raptors games at all, you know RJ gets to the rim with regularity. There were two ways I could have gone with this stat: RJ Barrett does lead all <25 year olds in attempts inside 5 feet, but RJ also leads all players under 6'11 in attempts at the rim. To be doing what he's doing as a guard who rarely goes to his right hand, is straight up remarkable. Not only...

 The NFL season is so fast man I can't believe week 14 is over. We now enter the fantasy football playoff stage, everyone's favorite part of the year. As someone who had the first overall pick in my fantasy league and took the consensus choice in Christian McCaffrey, I am happy to have just barely limped into the playoffs as the 8 seed. Will I limp out of the playoffs or will I have a Cinderella run that inspires the masses? Stay tuned to find out. In real football, another great week in the books and I have some thoughts! Doink Is everyone just unanimously over this insanely lucky Kansas City Chiefs season yet? I feel like if any other team was winning games in the way the Chiefs are winning, they'd be called frauds and projected to be bounced in the first round unanimously. Win 2 Superbowls in a row though and you can win the next season however you want. On Sunday Night Football, the game was the Chiefs season in a nutshell. In the first half KC couldn't muster much ...

 Well that was a pretty boring one! I have to say, there's been Steeler blowout wins this season too but none felt as easy as this one. Contributing to the unwatchability was no George Pickens who was out with a hamstring injury making the offense run pretty bland. Either way, sometimes you need a nice boring Steelers win, they can't all be cardiac events. Lets get into it! Famous Jameis  Ok due to circumstances such as playing the Steelers and then playing on prime time and then playing the Steelers again, I have now watched 3 straight weeks of Jameis Winston, and I am over it. This one wasn't the full Jameis experience we got last week, but it was pretty close to it. The Steelers strategy without Pickens in this one seemed to be just don't make mistakes and let the Browns lose it for you. It worked like a charm. After the Steelers offense struggled in the first quarter, Jameis Winston made a brilliant pass on the move and across his body, 30 yards down field for a TD ...

 Short one today, I might come back with a recap of the game tonight considering I am going to it. Which brings me to the reason of the article today: for the first time I will be seeing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander live and I couldn't be more excited! Shai has quickly ascended to one of the best players in the NBA and has an argument for best Canadian basketball player of all time. The Thunder could be the best team in the league when fully healthy and having an MVP candidate in Shai is a big part of that. Today we honour Shai and what he's done for Canadian basketball.  My entire life, the Canadian men's basketball program has been a joke.  There's always been some Canadians in the league, but nobody at a star level who moved the needle much in international ball. Most programs in Europe had guys who played together for the national team for multiple years, coaches with systems that work in international basketball consistently or high end talent to anchor their teams abse...

The last time I wrote about the Raptors they had just finished slapping the very sad and injured New Orleans Pelicans. Since then, they've taken 1/2 against the Heat and a big one against the Pacers and are really starting to click. I am feeling pretty hyped and have recently started to enjoy my 5 thoughts structure. Since this blog is pretty much all about me and my thoughts, why not keep it going with my beloved Raptors! StarJ Barrett Loves Home Cooking If you're a Toronto Raptors fan and you don't like RJ Barrett then I can say with full confidence you haven't seen a game this season. RJ has been arguably the teams best player on offense most nights this year. What's remarkable is RJ doesn't have the fastest first step, he isn't a great shooter especially off the dribble and he's not jumping out of the gym, yet RJ still finds a way to get to the rim over and over again every single game. In fact, among players with 10 or more games played, RJ Barrett ...

Thanksgiving week in the NFL feels almost exhausting. This year there were 4 games on Thursday, a game on Friday, the usual slate of games on Sunday and a game on Monday. The NFL is supposed to be a wonderful sport that's isolated to mostly 1 day, stretching out over an entire weekend is too much! Why am I complaining? I loved it all, and I have some thoughts:  Wtf Bears I hadn't seen a loss that so perfectly encapsulates the Bears season until Thursday. US Thanksgiving is a fun one for me. I typically get invited to broker events with open bars and football on in the middle of the afternoon on a workday. I would've watched Panthers Jets if it was on, so a good Lions Bears game was just the cherry on top! I said before this one that it would be a close game despite the two team's records and early on that did not look like the case. the Lions got off to a hot start taking a 16-0 lead into halftime and dominating on both sides of the ball. The Bears came out of the half ...