After an extended hiatus that coincidentally coincided with the NFL regular season and the break between American Idol seasons, we are happy to present to you the new and improved Shockey Brigade.

A lot has happened in the last few months. I heard that the Rays were in the World Series, the Knicks decided to sign Lebron James and Dwayne Wade, the Giants won the NFC East, and the Yankees got a few good players without upsetting anyone. Well done all! Good times.

Now that I’ve covered all of that, I’m moving on. I’m done with Fall 2008. The fall/winter season has come and gone and left me in a weird, sports-less void. I’m actually following the Australian Open while I count down the seconds to pitchers and catchers in Florida and Arizona. It’s pretty bad. How I got to this point, in chronological order:

1) The Yankees’ pitching sucked. Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy were monstrous dissapointments for me. I guess I, like most Yankees fans, expected too much. They’re young so I forgive them, but their struggles were hard to watch. What I have a harder time dealing with is this nagging feeling that recent Yankees squads don’t have “it”. I’ll readily say that the idea of chemistry or mojo or whatever you call it is meaningless, especially in baseball, but I can’t help but watch the Rays and the Red Sox and think that they seem like real team units. Or maybe it’s just a few years of frustrating losses. Yeah, it’s probably that. Hey, nothing $420 million can’t solve, right?!

2) The end of the MLS season sucked. I love soccer and I follow MLS closely. I think all signs point to it being a very successful league, but the playoff system is a joke. First of all, I don’t love the idea of playoffs in soccer, anyway. But this year the Western Conference champions were Red Bull New York. New York. Western Conference. Red Bull. Basically, they were a wild card team that played in the Western bracket and won. Something doesn’t really work there. My advice? Suck it up and figure out a deal between USL and MLS to create a promotion/relegation system. MLS owners are terrified of relegation, but it won’t be a serious league until that’s introduced. It will also give American fans a taste of the excitement that promotion and relegation bring to a league - when a late-season game between the 10th and 12th placed teams is as meaningful as a late-season game between the 1st and 3rd placed teams. And the level of play in the USL is better than most think. Look at Montreal and Charleston, and Seattle and Toronto. Make it happen. Please.

3) The NFL season ended too soon. Maybe I’m just naive but I refuse to buy into the belief that that Plaxico shooting himself ended the Giants season. Maybe it put some doubt in the team, but they were good enough to be able to adjust. I blame Gilbride, and only Gilbride. The offense tried to compensate too much after they lost Burress. I understand defenses played them differently, but I always felt that an offense with that good a running game should’ve been able to adjust. Instead, we saw them try all sorts of weird, uncomfortable plays (reverses, direct snaps, empty backfields) to try to fool the defense. I’m no expert, but I don’t think the Giants won last year’s Super Bowl and this year’s NFC East by fooling opposing defenses. They ran over them and played a simple, efficient passing game. Where was that the last two months?

4) The Knicks and Rangers - I just can’t get into it. Maybe I have a harder time following both teams then I did when I lived closer to New York, but I can’t. Probably because they’re never on TV here. The Rangers are having a decent season and the Knicks are only two games out of the playoffs, but I’m just not feeling it this season. Yeah, I know, I suck. At least I’m honest.

5) Barcelona - Amazing. But again, until I get my GolTV subscription back in two weeks, it’s hard to follow when I can’t watch it. I’m also kind of scared that when I actually start watching games they’re going to play worse.

6) GW Basketball. Miserable. Painfully miserable. Like, really hard to watch… miserable. I’m on day 30 of my Karl Hobbs firing watch. It’s gonna happen, and when it does we’ll be [among] the first to bring it to you. That’s exciting, the idea of breaking news coming from the Shockey Brigade. But really, how bad a game coach do you have to be to get fired? How many times can you blow a game by deciding, “we’re up by ten with seven minutes left, let’s put in the guy who never plays. They’ll never expect it,” without getting canned? And four players have left the team in the last twelve months. That’s a lot for any basketball team.

You know what, I’m going to say that it’s breaking news every day Karl Hobbs doesn’t get fired. So…

BREAKING NEWS:
WASHINGTON, DC (Source: Shockey Brigade) — As of noon today, George Washington basketball coach Karl Hobbs has not been fired despite his 6-10 overall record. Oh, and get this… last night, at Dayton, with the score tied at 61 and 21 seconds left, GW was assessed a technical foul for having too many players on the court. Dayton hit both free throws and won. GW has now lost seven straight, and their coach is really, really bad.

There you go. We just made history, bitches.

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