Lohensports

 Ugh. I thought that when the Steelers started 3-0 that I would have so much fun doing this. I really thought that every Monday morning I would be extremely excited to write about one of my favorite teams, that's what this is for right? For fun? I guess a vent post is just as useful, saves my girlfriend an earful that's for sure. The Steelers had every chance to win that game last night but just couldn't get it done. The game started by being delayed an hour and a half due to a thunderstorm, meaning I stayed up until 1am to get my heart ripped out. The defense forced multiple turnovers, the special teams made plays and Fields ended up showing up at the end when it mattered, but it wasn't enough. Lets get into some of my thoughts:  George Pickens Would Be Benched If They Could Replace Him It's funny, when I was in Pittsburgh not one but two different Uber drivers complained about George Pickens' attitude problems. When the Steelers are winning and he's gettin...

 This is where I prove I'm a real sicko for the Toronto Raptors. I've written a few basic articles this season talking about players that most casual Raptors fans would know about, and those were fun! But today I want to get into the nitty gritty and talk about 3 players who I think can step up and surprise people by jumping into the rotation ahead of schedule. I might fall on my face when all 3 of these guys don't pan out, or I might look like a genius! Either way, this is pretty much just based off of summer league which everyone knows is a direct indicator of how well you'll perform in real games (sarcasm). Lets get into it:  Jonathan Mogbo  This pick in the second round is a throwback traditional Raptors pick. Masai loves the long wingspan non-shooters who can do a little bit of everything out there. That's what Mogbo looks to be entering his first year at age 22, Mogbo stands at just 6'6 but has a 7'2 wingspan and is built like a truck at 220lbs. In col...

 I have been in many debates over the last few years about tanking as a strategy in the NBA. Especially as a Raptors fan, I seem to be alone in thinking that it would be better to just be "mid", to win 30-40 games and have a competitive fun season. Every time I bring this up I am met with a chorus of boos, people telling me that losing is the only way to secure a star in the draft to be good long term. I believe this is just false, and a crutch for fans to not have to emotionally invest in their team. There have been success stories in tanking, but below you'll see that the grand majority of NBA success hasn't come from tanking rather luck and being in the right position to capitalize.  The Ultimate Success - Winning a Championship We can go back through the last 15 NBA champions and see that tanking was not the blueprint for the grand majority of them:  2024 Boston Celtics: Got Tatum and Brown as a result of the Nets tanking. Couldn't get over the hump for 5 year...

 What a week! The NFL season goes by so quick. I love when week 4 is done because you now get a good sense of who's good and who's bad, records aside. As always, this is my reaction to the week of football. I was thinking yesterday, it's pretty biased towards the games that I watched and players that I care about, but that's why it's my blog right? Who's even complaining about this? Enough rambling, lets get into it:  Mason Rudolph I'll always have a soft spot for Mason after he came in at the end of last season and wasn't actively terrible like the rest of the QBs the Steelers trotted out there. Mason isn't going to light the world on fire, he won't throw for 400 yards and 4 TDs to win you a shoot out and he's not going to tear it up with his legs. What he is though is a nice reliable backup QB. When Levis went out with an injury early in the Monday nighter against the Dolphins, I was remarking that it was a blessing in disguise for the Tita...

 When I was in Pittsburgh last weekend the trend amongst the citizens was pretty funny to witness. Every Uber driver we had was absolutely not buying the 3-0 start. George Pickens was mentioned by each of them as a guy with an attitude problem who will start to sulk when the going gets tough. They claimed going 3-0 would only get the fans hopes up for when they start losing again. Sports fans are funny aren't they? They love to hate their team. Anyway, hopefully now they can rest easy knowing we don't have the pressure of being undefeated anymore. Lets get into it:  Critical Errors I actually think the Steelers played pretty well in this one. It was probably the best offensive showing from the team since Ben Roethlisberger was still playing. They had 404 total yards including a QB actually passing for 312 yards, something a QB didn't do a single time last season. The game really came down to some critical mistakes in key moments that were just too hard to overcome. It sucks...

 Anyone who knows me knows that I am beyond hyped for the Raptors season to start again. We're getting closer and closer to training camp and so I thought today would be a good day to dream big, then dream small on the 5 guys projected to start for the Raptors this season. With Bruce Brown's knee injury looking like it will keep him out until at least November, it would appear the starting 5 is set as: Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Gradey Dick, Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl. We'll carry this assumption throughout the post. All stats are in points/assist/rebounds format with shooting splits in FG%/3pt%/FT% Immanuel Quickley  Bull Case: 22/7/4 on 45/40/85 Quickley comes out of the gates with his jumper on fire! His chemistry with Scottie Barnes builds as the season goes on and the Raptors incorporate IQ moving off ball with Scottie orchestrating the offense, improving his shot quality and percentages from deep. IQ has to go through practices with Davion Mitchell and Jamal She...

What a week in football again! 3 weeks in you can start to see the formation of who's real and who's fake. Obviously a long way to go in the season but on this blog we overreact to small sample sizes and nobody can stop me.  The Ravens are not Contenders Ok this is the hater in me talking and I know it. Even in a win though, the Ravens did not look impressive. Watching this one at a bar in Pittsburgh after the Steelers game was a good time. As I was hoping for the Cowboys to come all the way back, a Cowboys fan came up to us and apologized prematurely for not getting it done claiming he's seen enough Cowboys games to know that they won't be finishing the comeback. Still though, exciting game and almost another embarrassment for the Ravens. The game featured this season's first recovered onside kick, something analysts say has a 5% chance of success under the new rules.  End of the day, the Ravens had trouble holding on to another big lead going down the stretch. Der...