Football:Soccer Randy Moss::?? Champ Bailey::??

I woke up early this morning and watched Chelsea live on FSC. Mornings like this are rare treats, and Chelsea did not disappoint, despite drawing with Aston Villa, 1-1 at Stamford Bridge. I was of course unhappy with the result, but our work rate was incredible, and if we keep that up, our talent will bring us the title. For a team as talented as Chelsea to play as hard as it does means trouble for the Premiership.

That one overwhelming positive note aside, we only drew at home versus Aston Villa, so there were clearly some negatives.

For one thing, this squad has not played together enough. Geremi at right back could never connect with Essien. Geremi's pace was inconsistent, it seemed: sometimes, he'd be way ahead of the pass, sometimes way behind. Ugly stuff.

We had Ballack out due to suspension, so Robben filled in and played a wide left midfield. He was quite dangerous, but the same ol' Robben that is now officially driving me crazy. Here's an SAT inspired analogy: Randy Moss:Football, Arjen Robben::Football. They both have nearly unparalleled talent, but they both take large portions of the game off. If Arjen has a call "go against him", we can basically count him out for the next 5 minutes. He'll still run at guys, but he'll play like an idiot, and he won't defend. Drives me nuts. I'd rather see Joe Cole. (Out due to injury today, I believe).

SWP is still too nervous to play at Chelsea. He's unquestionably talented, and he beats players at every level of competition. But, against quality, defenders can still give just enough pressure to make him jumpy. Great players are never ruffled. SWP is never calm. I'm all for him in the early rounds of the FA Cup etc. But, against level competition, putting SWP on the field is like charity work. He doesn't deserve to be there. At this point, I basically think of him as on loan TO Chelsea. It's clear we'll need to sell him at some point. I'd rather have Duff, or Scotty Parker.

Lampard looked great, Terry had his worst game I've ever seen him play (but was still very good), Carvalho was reasonable, and Ashley Cole -- like Geremi -- had trouble with the overlap runs. Villa game planned against Cole for sure. Shevy was pressing, dropping way deep to get the ball, and only looking dangerous once or twice. He isn't as quick as I might have hoped, but everybody says he has quality. I'm thrilled to have him.

Essien did not look ready to fill Makalele's shoes. Claude is ridiculously unflappable. Does he sweat? Actually, does he ever have to run? Aston Villa didn't even try to pass by him. Here's another analogy: Champ Baily:Football, Claude Makelele::Football. At this point, Makelele is an absolute shut-down defender. You could just hear Aston's midfield: "Oh, Claude's on the left now? Let's go right, lads."

Anyway, today snapped our six game winning streak, and was the first time since February (??) that we didn't take full points at home. Well, that happens. If we continue to work as hard as we did today, though, we'll be fine. We'll be better than fine.

We'll be champions.

Dream Team, er, Chelsea's Lineup

Didier is massively strong, and I love him for it. He's a little Crouch-like with his footwork, and that can be difficult to stomach, but you get over it. I'm a Didier guy. In fact, the only Chelsea poster I've ever considered buying featured him looking all sorts of awesome. He was only running.

More than anything, however, I'm a Joe Cole Guy. No other Englishman has his talents on the ball. (This clip is incredible). The problem with being a Joe Cole Guy is that Joe Cole might not have a spot with Chelsea right now. I just don't know where he fits.

The thing is, when building Chelsea's lineup, you have to start in the midfield. Ballack and Lampard simply must play. They must. I'm a believer in getting your best players on the field, and those guys are our best -- outside of Terry, who is our rock, and the best player in England. Period.

That said, I haven't seen this current roster play much. Some of them not at all. Mikel? He might be the most intriguing player on the roster, but I've never seen him play. Shevchenko? Never seen him score. Hilario, Kalou, Khalid? Couldn't pick them out of a lineup.

OK, enough pussy-footing about. Let's go with a drawing, because 4-4-2 is too rigid to mean anything:

.............Didier..... Shevy..................
----------------------------------------------------
..........................Lampard................
..........Ballack..................................
........................................Essien......
..................Makelele........................
-- Cole --------------------------------------------
..............Terry....Carvalho...Khalid.......
----------------------------------------------------
.....................Cech........................

Bridge should see a lot of action this way, as Cole should be running himself dead-ragged by about minute 70. Ashley's a fifth midfielder, and for every two minutes in our 18-yard-box, I hope he's spending one in theirs. Bottom line: We need him on their touchline.

The problem with the lineup is obviously a lack of width. Width is an offensive concept, however, and this lineup has plenty. Not only can it legitimately score from 35 yards out, but it has to be one of the most frightening set-piece squads ever created. Terry, Carvalho, Drogba as targets, with Shevy, Essien, and Lampard/Ballack/Cole (whoever isn't kicking) picking up scraps? Are you kidding me?

To get even more offensive, though, I'd take off Makelele for Joe Cole or Arjen, and slide them where Essien had been -- although I'd ask them to play wider. In another year, I think Essien could fill Makelele's role full-time, and Joe Cole could regain a starting position. It seems important to note that Essien, with Ballack/Lampard/Terry, must be on the field. He's the fourth absolute.

I'm conflicted with our forwards. Shevy and Didier win because I trust Jose.

Besides Bridge, Robben and Joe Cole, I also have a strong desire to get Ferriera on the field. That guy has been a warrior for us, and I never lack for confidence when he is on the field. Also, I like the fact that he's Portugese.

Go Blue.

Chelsea's Didier Drogba

Wow. How about Drogba? Even before he scored three goals in this week's Champions League game, there was an article in one of the papers saying how he was all ramped up and playing great this season because of the threat the Shevchenko purchased posed to his playing time.

Fyall, I'd love to see who you'd pick for your top Chelsea lineup.

Ryan Howard is no Albert Pujols

Somewhere over the past month, I remember seeing a column or a poll or something on ESPN.com that asked, "Who would you rather have to start a franchise: Ryan Howard or Albert Pujols?" Pujols is the better player and always will be. The reason is strikeouts. 175 strikeouts for Howard this year? Come on! Albert Pujols didn't reach 175 strikeouts in his career until year 3!

I was interested in how this played out for their clutch hitting, one of the great marks of a valuable player (See David Ortiz). Thankfully, Yahoo breaks down situational stats in their profiles for each hitter. Here's how Howard and Pujols match up in some key situations.

First, we'll look at their first full year. For Howard, that's this year. For Pujols, that was his rookie year, 2001. It was the only year Albert had more than 70 strikeouts (he had 93).

Sophomore year...
Runners in Scoring Position

Pujols: 174 AB, 10HR, 93RBI, 28K, .310
Howard: 159 AB, 12HR, 80RBI, 55K, .252


Runners in Scoring Position, w/ 2 outs

Pujols: 72AB, 5HR, 39RBI, 11K, .333
Howard: 76 AB, 5HR, 32RBI, 23K, .237


Those strikeouts loom large against Howard. And they play a fair part in that huge average discrepancy. Think a little bit beyond those numbers. With runners in scoring position, Howard strikes out a third of the time: he doesn't even move the runners over. In the same position, Pujols at least got a hit almost a third of the time.

With 2 outs and runners in scoring position, Howard ends the end more than 3/4 of the time. Pujols ends the inning only 2/3 of the time.

Just to blow your mind, here's Pujols numbers in the same spots from this year. I'll remind you that he's only 26-years-old, the same age as Howard right now. I'll leave Howard's numbers up for comparison

This year...
Runners in Scoring Position

Pujols: 122AB, 12HR, 82RBI, 10K, .393
Howard: 159 AB, 12HR, 80RBI, 55K, .252


Runners in Scoring Position, w/ 2 outs

Pujols: 43AB, 4HR, 31RBI, 4K, .442
Howard: 76 AB, 5HR, 32RBI, 23K, .237


Unbelievable. Here's how I see it. At best, Ryan Howard is going to have McGwire numbers. At best, Albert Pujols is going to have Albert Pujols numbers.

David Carr

Has the league's highest QB rating after three weeks. Whaaa'? For the 0-3 Texans?

That stat is crap.

It's rough losing Alexander before the Bears game. On the road in Chicago? Eek. Even if Seattle won't miss his production, it will miss the respect he has been given. Finally, an informal poll of Seahawks fans has reached this conclusion: 3 out of 4 Seattle fans would still sign Nate Burleson to his current contract knowing everything — Hutch leaving, Branch coming — they know now. ...Sucks to be outvoted 1-3.

Ryder Crap

Not too much of a roar about the Ryder Cup over here. But then again, I haven't been in very golf savvy crowds. It was a big deal in the papers, especially the Darren Clarke story (his wife passed away this year).

Quick rant...
I've thus far been very frustrated by SkySports domination of sports programming here. SkySports1 isn't even among the 75 or so channels in Liz's basic cable package. (SkySports news is). When I was here in 2003, there was always a live football* match on during the weekend, and I watched the Masters on BBC. So far there hasn't been a live football match on any of the 5 basic channels. Luckily, BBC's "Match of the Day" gives highlights from the day's games every Saturday and Sunday. I'm hopeful that some of the Champions League or Euro Cup qualifiers will be on those stations.
End rant.

SkySports1 carried the Ryder cup, so I missed all the live action. I did catch some highlights on BBC in the evening. That's a trippy experience. Basically, they edit the whole day down into important putts, plus interesting shots here and there. It's got a weird flow and I'm not sure I like it as much as I like the Premiership version.

I do have a few observations. The first is that Tiger Woods is getting a little too much blame. He did, after all, lead the team in points. He SHOULD win a higher percentage of his matches in the event. But he alone is not to blame.

I also don't think we can just say, "well, the Americans don't care as much as the Europeans." If anything, the Americans were a little too tight. They looked like they'd all be executed if they lost. The Europeans, meanwhile, had constant grins on their faces. Of course, the reason for both sides' demeanors could have been the scoreboard. But I still think the general personality of the European team is more easy going than the Americans.

Nor am I going to put too much blame on Captain Tom Lehman (or give too much credit to Captain Ian Woosman). By all accounts, Lehman handled the intangibles quite well. And his captain's picks, Verplank and Cink, both played very well.

The Americans were not as good as the Europeans on paper. Everyone pretty much agreed with that assessment. But of the rookies, the only one who was a complete bust was Brett Wetterich, one of the surprises that made the roster solely because of the new points system that favors recent success instead of general accomplishments over the past 2 years. I doubt that Wetterich will crack the roster again. Meanwhile, JJ Henry and Zach Johnson are names we should be familiar with, not just for the Ryder Cup but for future majors.

The real busts were the vets of the squad. Guys who have played on previous losing teams. Chad Campbell, Chris DiMarco, David Toms, and Phil Mickelson. These guys are as good as the Europeans, but they did not play like it.

I don't really have any good ideas for 2008. I'll leave that to the players. They've got to figure out a way to get their games in tune for the event.



*I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to call soccer football while I live here. It's just ingrained in my head. I'll probably call the NFL football too, but you'll know when I'm talking about that. Otherwise, assume I'm talking soccer.

Oklahoma, Oregon, and Bobby Knight

You cannot really discuss the Oklahoma-Oregon disaster without admitting, full-stop, that Oklahoma got screwed. Badly. More than once in the final few minutes, the Pac-10 officials made dreadful calls, allowing Oregon to pull back from down two scores. Search YouTube for proof if you've been, for instance, in Europe.

The Monday after the game, when Oklahoma's university president suggested that the game should be wiped from the record books, ESPN.com polled America, and asked whether or not the president was on track. I said, with some hesitation, Yes.

The thing is, I feel very badly done by. The most important football game I ever watched — important to me, I should be clear — was decided against my team in a rather blatant and discouraging way, and I'm not even talking about the Super Bowl, which is a wound that still hasn't healed. My game was the 1998 Rose Bowl, when Ryan Leaf and the hard-charging WSU Cougars spiked the ball at Michigan's 20-yard-line, only to watch the clock tick :02, :01, :00 while everybody in Crimson shouted bloody murder.

I didn't call for that result to be overturned, or the Super Bowl, but I am absolutely conscious of my own belief that my teams did not get a fair shake, and that nobody else cares. It's awfully popular now to blast Seattle for not giving up on the Super Bowl, or whatever, but I'm not sure I'd be happy until the media stopped calling Pittsburgh "SB Champions" and started calling Pittsburgh "SB Recipients". Washington State has barely sniffed a bowl since 1998, let alone the Rose Bowl. Wins like that can change a program, which would have finished us in the top 3. But, because of a bad call, we didn't.

So, like, I hear Oklahoma. I understand. I voted yes.

Then, two days later, Bobby Knight complained about how Texas Tech lost a basketball game to Oklahoma on a bad call. Hypocrites, he seemed to suggest. And, of course, he was right.

Ugh.

Get over it, Oklahoma. Get over it, Seattle. Get over it, Fyall.

EPL: Sick! You just stepped in bung!

In less than a week, I've learned a new British slang word! A "bung" is an illegal payment; a bribe. Used in a sentence: "Bolton manager Sam Allardyce has been accused of taking bungs from agents in exchange for helping transfers go through."

I totally missed the BBC special last night that busted this story open, but here's the write up on bbc.co.uk. I'm going to break it down into three main components:

First, there is the accusations against Big Sam, who happens to be my second favorite coach in the EPL and who was my pick for the England vacancy this past summer. Seems like his son, Craig Allardyce, has a lot of shady dealings and he's been dragged down into it. My guess at this point is if things go bad, Craig will take the fall for his dad and we'll never be quite sure how free from taint Sam really is.

Second, Portsmouth Coach Harry Redknapp has been caught on tape discussing an illegal approach to buying a player, and his assistant was filmed talking about receiving payments from an agency. This is no surprise. Harry Redknapp is pure sleaze. For some reason though no one in England is willing to admit this, and he'll probably find some way to come out of this completely clean.

Third, Chelsea's directory of youth was filmed "tapping up" a 15-year-old Middlesbrough player. You're not allowed to talk to a player who is under contract with another team without that team's permission. (Here is a great explanation.) Chelsea is already under investigation by claims from Leeds that three of its young players were tapped up last season. AND they were busted in the most famous tapping up case over Ashley Cole last year. Basically, this last revelation is the least surprising. Chelsea is all about tapping up. If I had a 15-year-old, I wouldn't let anyone from Chelsea near, especially if she was a girl.

Just a month, please?

I'd like to go an entire month without reading one article that makes me wonder whether or not Jose Mourinho, Chelsea's manager, is insane. I'm asking for one month here. Let's do this.

That means no "the scheduling is biased against Chelsea", no "the yellow cards are a conspiracy", and no "Arsene Wegner is a voyeur". None of that.

Go Blue.

The Greatest Football Player Alive

Am I crazy or does LaDanian Tomlinson not get enough respect as one of the greatest players in the game? I feel like he's under-appreciated for several reasons.

First, he's never the best RB in fantasy football. Like this year, everyone was drafting Larry Johnson and Shaun Alexander ahead of him. Those guys have more talent around them to accrue more stats.

Second, the Chargers have never made a deep run while LaDanian is around. They've had pretty mediocre talent in the 6 years he's been there, but he has lifted them towards the upper echelon.

Third, he's so sweet that a lot of people, when they realize how sweet he is, their brains blow up. True story.

So let's hear it for the guy most likely to run, catch, and throw a TD at least once this season. He's the most exciting RB to watch and in his time in the NFL he's been the most consistently awesome. Go Tomlinson.

And on a final LT note, my favorite part of the new Nike Briscoe High commercials is that Tomlinson throws the game winning TD in their first game. That's what I'm talking about.

Opening Weekend, Deion Branch, and the Hawks

OK, before we tackle this issue, let's tackle the elephant in the room: I'm not really an NFL guy, I'm definitely no fan of Shaun Alexander's, and although I love Tony Kornheisher, I'm not sure I can support MNF double-headers. Please. That's going too far.

I guess they have a reason: did everybody see that ESPN is paying $1.1 billion for MNF? That's 83 percent more than they paid last year for Sunday Night. The NFL's director of broadcasting rights said "ESPN is addicted to and cannot live without the NFL." Yikes. Sucks to bargain with a guy who says things like that about you. Sucks worse when he's right.

Watching Peyton Manning when he is on your fantasy team is infinitely more enjoyable than watching him when he's not. It seems like his many audibles are efforts on your behalf. Yes, Chris, he seemed to say all last night, I'm working for you. Let's do this.

I'm not sure if I'm a fool (yes), or if I'm gullible (yes), but I'm buying into Seattle's Seahawks hype. We'll be back to the playoffs not because of #37, but because our defense didn't just get better, it got freaking nasty. Julian Peterson was god's gift to outside linebackers two years ago. (Please forget for a quick moment that LaVar Arrington was also, at that time, a gift from heaven -- whatever happened to him?) Peterson is still sculpted, and quick, and generally devastating. Kenny Hamlin is solid, Michael Boulware is a beast, and our defensive line is so deep, I think we're carrying nine guys who play every Sunday. It is clear to me and to everybody else that Shaun Alexander will be subpar, but that's missing the point. Matt Hasselbeck is the point. He's bald, and therefore intelligent looking. Even yesterday, when our O-line was woeful, he completed 25 of 30 for 210 yards. Not too shabby. Nevermind that our top reciever was our fullback, Hasselbeck moved the ball on the road better than the home team did. Chaulk one up.

I love the Branch pickup. I know that salaries are a big part of the NFL, but there was no way we were getting a player better than Branch in next year's draft. I'm consistently surprised by the value draft picks are given.

If you are an NFL team, and you probably won't have a Top 10 pick, how do you not deal a first rounder for a 26-year-old, Super Bowl MVP wide reciever? Seems like an obvious move to me.

Like an NFL Prediction Column, but Shorter

To quote George Costanza in the episode where he realizes that if he acts stressed out he'll appear busy and avoid getting real work... "Well...I've got a lot to do!!"

I'm very busy, what with my impending move to England in a few days. So here's some very quick thoughts on the NFL season to be...

-Count me as one of the people who believe the Eagles will win the NFC East.

-Mike Martz has never NOT won the Super Bowl as an offensive coordinator. Keep an eye on Detroit.

-Shaun Alexander will never have another year like last year. He did it for the contract.

-Drew Brees will be a better free agent QB signing than Daunte Culpepper.

-Owens-Bledsoe will be the story at the end of the year, not Owens-Parcells.

-The Bears and the Panthers will play in the NFC championshp game. The over/under will be 17.

-The Colts will beat the winner in the Super Bowl.

Welcome and Thank You

I fear that my biggest problem as a blogger will prove to be my consistent inability to generate original thought. For instance this story:

Paul and I spoke last night about the possiblity of me joining the Sports Sauna, and I was both flattered and excited. This morning, he sent me the invitation. It sat there in my inbox, unread and vaguely menacing, until I navigated mid-day, as I often do, to this site. I read then Paul's introduction, and realized immediately that I needed to respond.

I react to Paul. He is my instigator. Only time will tell if I can learn to stand alone, however shakily, as a contributor. Here's hoping.

More immediately, here's reacting:
1. I love the West Coast, and Seattle most specifically. This is true.
2. I love Chelsea. It feels like rooting for the Yankees, only with less class, and less sophistication. You know that aura that surrounds everything in pin-stripes, that haze of history and grandeur? There's none of that here. We're brash, we're Chelski, we're basically America's answer to football. Holla.
3. It was awful.
4. Yes. True. And a desire to keep it.
5. I love the Sonics. Without Kevin Calabro, our great announcer, and the Reign Man (The Reign Man is dead, Shawn Kemp lives on) I would not be a sports fan. 63-19. I'm just saying. Go Supes. Er, well, stay Supes. But, viva la Sonics.

Finally, thanks and welcome. Go Orange.

New Sweat in the Sauna

I'd like to announce the addition of Fyall to The Sports Sauna. I thought a few more posts here and there would reward our regular readers, and Fyall has been the most consistent commenter, even beatng out the elusive "Anonymous."

Fyall brings several things to the table that I lack:
-A west coast perspective
-A love of Chelsea
-Strong feelings about the officiating in the last Super Bowl
-A permanent residence in the United States
-An allegiance to an NBA franchise (Seattle)

Other than that, we're exactly the same in every way.

ESPN Full Circle

I caught a good chunk of the ESPN Full Circle coverage of the Miami-FSU game last night. They had a traditional broadcast on ESPN. ESPN2 was 8 different camera angles at once, plus a steady crowd shot as the background panels on the HD feed. But the most intriguing coverage was on ESPNU, where Colin Cowherd was holding court from the radio studio.

The idea, which Cowherd was pumping all week on his morning radio show, The Herd, was that he would basically be doing his show with the game going on in the background. It sounds zany, but Cowherd and ESPN pulled it off very nicely.

Most of the ESPNU screen was taken up by the game. And most of the game was being shown by the SkyCam, not the traditional 50-yard line camera that ESPN was showing. (The SkyCam is that camera that floats above the playing field and is constantly moving. The Sports Sauna is a fan.) In the bottom left corner was a little picture of Cowherd gabbing into a radio microphone, wearing a collared shirt with no tie or jacket and generally pretending he didn't realize they had a camera on him, like Mike and the Mad Dog or Mike and Mike do for their respective video feeds. If and when someone else was talking, their picture would appear on the right side of the lower portion of the screen, opposite Cowherd's face. In between those two pictures ESPN could throw up stats. Below all this was a traditional scrolling scoreboard that showed results and stats from this past weekend.

Cowherd did a spectacular juggling job. He had to fill almost three and a half hours, with very few commercial breaks (for some reason). He seemed to have a handful of ESPN personalities standing by constantly that he could throw to. He had Todd McShay, a college football analyst, with him in the studio the whole time, but Todd did not contribute with the consistency of a co-host. He only talked when Cowherd tossed to him. He had a couple guys, including Mike Hall from DreamJob, back in a TV studio actually dressed up that he could toss to, either to have them appear in the tiny right hand corner picture or to take up the whole screen for their own brief 2-man gabfest.

I caught Rece Davis' appearance at the very end of the game in the radio studio. He is very different speaking off the cuff than he is speaking from a teleprompter. Not as smooth, but still not bad.

Doug Gottlieb also called in at the end of the show and proved to be incredibly cynical and annoying. Vintage Gottlieb.

In the middle of the game, they had the NC State coach, who had been the offensive line coach at FSU, do a phone interview. Cowherd did well to get him to talk about FSU and NC State all while the game was going on.

When I first turned it on, Cowherd was talking to Mike Golic on the sideline at the game, and Golic was very good. The two radio personalities both handled the interview radio show style - more conversation than report - and I found that so effective I wish every sideline reporter would do that.

Throughout the telecast, Cowherd read e-mails from viewers, which ranged from insightful to opinionated to silly.

If he was feeling fiesty, Cowherd could start to ask the producers to do different things, like change camera angles or pipe in the commentary feed from ESPN.

I like Cowherd, and it was fun to watch him work. He has thick eyebrows and looks vaguely like Smith from the Matrix. Overall, I really liked the experience mostly because it's a fun change of pace. Cowherd was entertaining and it felt like he was another guy in the room talking about the game on TV. It was also a nice way to have the game on in the background while I was doing other things.

I suspect that Miami and Florida State fans probably did not like this version because Cowherd and Co. were incredibly opinionated, especially at the tail-end when they started ripping the quality of play and calling both teams overrated. I probably wouldn't like it as much for a hugely important game that one of my teams was playing in. In that case, I'd opt for the more serious traditional broadcast. But otherwise, good stuff ESPN!

Final Thought on World Basketball Championship

Is it me or is International Basketball starting to feel like International soccer? Perhaps the period between the first couple Dream Teams and now, when the stars stopped playing for USA, will be an historical anomaly because it seems like the intensity of the competition for world bragging rights might be a big enough draw for the Americans. It just feels like, in the wake of the slightly disappointing bronze, that everyone around the team is - and always had been - thinking in terms of 2008. There was even some bitterness from some guys who didn't make the team.

I'm going to be so bold as to say the USA is the Brazil of Olympic basketball. But if that's the case (and I'm just playing devil's advocate here) shouldn't the USA formulate a strategy around the American style of play instead of trying to adjust to the International game? Brazil goes into every World Cup as the favorite. If they gel as a team, they win. If they don't, like this past World Cup, they lose. But either way, they look cool doing it and always intimadate their opposition.

I'm happy with the way the US is setting up for 2008, but if it all goes bad, perhaps the Americans will look to Brazil for some ideas.

Steve Irwin killed by Stingray

I was sad to hear today that the Crocodile Hunter was killed by a Stingray. He was an amazing fellow, entertaining me on countless occasions when channel surfing brought me to Animal Planet. I'll always remember his Vitale-like enthusiasm and his absurd bravery that clearly stemmed from a simple love of the animals around him.

Count me among the people who thought he'd live forever, that his risks would never catch up with him. The news article I linked to above quotes his friend John Stainton as saying Steve swam too close to the stingray. But it also says that what happened to Steve was a freak accident and stingrays very rarely kill. Once I got used to his antics, I never doubted that Steve knew what he was doing, and I'm sure Steve was aware of the danger when he approached the stingray. I guess what I'm trying to say is I hope the world doesn't remember him as terribly reckless.

The one question I have is: was the stingray all right? Everyone who watched the show knows Steve would have wanted it to be ok. Unlike most hunters, Steve always put the well-being of the animals over his own. I'm sure many would consider that mindset alone "reckless." But I'll always remember the Crocodile Hunter as a hero.

Favorite Episode: The one where he goes in to have athroscopic surgery on his knee and gets the doctor to leave him conscious so he can watch and narrate through the entire thing. Not as thrilling as most shows, but revealed Steve's character as much as any did.

Anyone else have a favorite to share?