Defending champs still tough on the road

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 12/10/2008

In a span of three days in two different cities and two different professional sports, I witnessed the continuing progress of two defending champions.

 Friday, November 21, in Minneapolis, the defending champion Boston Celtics made their only appearance in the Twin Cities with the much anticipated return of Kevin Garnett, the former Timberwolves NBA MVP, aka “The Kid,” “The Big Ticket.” The 2007 NBA Defensive Player of the year has done well.

 Target Center was packed to the top, a rare sellout these days, with 19,107 of the beautiful people on hand to welcome K.G. back. It was not pretty: The Celtics dominated the Timberwolves 95-78. Garnett led all Celtic scorers with 17.

 The Timberwolves actually led at the half 39-36. However, the Celtics turned it up a notch in the second half. Outscoring the Timberwolves 35-10 in the third quarter, they stepped on the Timberwolves like they were ants and cruised to the lopsided win.

 Last year, the Celtics started the season 14-2 and went on to win the NBA Championship. By golly, they have done it again, off to a fast start in defense of the NBA crown, winning 14 of 16 to start the year.

 “Being world champions is nice, but for us it’s last year,” said Coach Doc Rivers. “It’s something that can never be taken away, and we worked and we earned it. But for this year, we have to make that a memory. You climb a mountain once, and then you have to climb a different one. It’s not the same trip going back, and we’re starting to learn that.”

 On returning to Minnesota as a world champion, Garnett said, “I got a monkey off my back so to speak; [it was] definitely a life-changing experience winning it. Winning the championship was definitely an experience for me, something I will take to my grave.” On playing against the Timberwolves and Al Jefferson, he said, “We were obviously the ones in the trade, but I don’t even think about that when I come in here.

 “Al’s another opponent that I have to play against,” said Garnett. “I don’t put no more and no less than that into it. He’s a competitor; I’m a competitor. He’s trying to make this franchise better; I’m trying to win another championship. [We are] two different players at different stages in their career.”

Then I was in Arizona Sunday, November 23, when the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants returned to University of Phoenix Stadium. You might recall that it was the same place where they pulled off the greatest upset in NFL history by beating the previously undefeated New England Patriots 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII. New England had not only won 18 straight games, but had won 13 straight against NFC teams.

 The Giants are tough, maybe the toughest mentally that I’ve seen in a long time. When you impose your will on someone physically, you are mentally tough. They beat the Cardinals 37-29. The Giants have the best record in the NFL at 11-1 along with Tennessee.

 Larry Fitzgerald Jr. makes NFL history

 Watching my son, the way he carries himself and grows and plays, has been a treat from the time he was in pee-wee football, Pilgrim Lutheran, Minnehaha Academy, Holy Angels, Valley Forge Military Academy, and the University of Pittsburgh. Now, he’s one of the best in the NFL on and off the field.

In this his fifth season in the NFL, he has for the third time gone over 1,000 yards in a season. Twice he’s been All-Pro, and against the world champion New York Giants he became the youngest player in NFL history to reach 400 career receptions at age 25.

 

Madden: The NFC is tough

 After Hall-of-Famer John Madden called Sunday’s 34-14 victory on NBC-TV with Al Michaels, he as always took time to talk football with Larry Fitzgerald Jr.’s dad. “The NFC is tough,” said Madden. “They are playing tough football. They do the running; they do the tackling; they are fundamentally sound.  

“We can talk about all these speed guys and all that stuff, but as you know, eventually it gets down to fundamentals. If you look at the good teams, the good teams are fundamentally sound. The New York Giants are that way. The Pittsburgh Steelers are that way — they are kinda like an NFC team. Minnesota tonight was a very fundamentally sound team.”

 Is it too early to give the NFC to the New York Giants? “They still have to play,” Madden said. “If you were to as me who’s the best team in the NFC right now, I would say the Giants, but that does not mean a doggone thing. We proved that last year.

  “If you were to ask me a year ago at this time who’s the best team, I would not have said the Giants, and then they win the Super Bowl. So that’s kinda the great thing about the NFL — we really don’t know, do we?

 “The Vikings took care of this one in all areas,” Madden continued. “You know that Adrian Peterson is going to run. I don’t care, you can put seven men up, eight men up, nine men up, 15 men up, and he’s going to get his yardage, and he’s going to get his runs.

 “But I was impressed with the way they were able to throw the ball a little and pass protect. I thought that Gus Frerotte did his job and looked very serviceable, and their defense I thought was outstanding.

“Anytime your front seven can control the line of scrimmage, then you can do everything in the defensive secondary, and that’s what they did. They gave them [the Bears] nickel zone, and they really made it tough on Kyle Orton.”

 Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and on WDGY-AM 740 Monday & Saturday mornings at 7:50 am and Fridays at 3:50 pm; he also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). Larry welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.