The NFC Championship Game

Today is the NFC Championship Game. In the NFC Championship game, the New York Giants play on the road against the San Fransisco 49ers. Both teams have top-ten defenses and average offenses, although New York holds the edge in the offensive category. New York’s quarterback is Eli Manning, who for several years has been considered average at best. However, this year he has taken his game to the next level and led the Giants to six fourth quarter comebacks, and he throws to several quality receivers, such as Mario Manningham, Victor Cruz, and Hakeem Nicks. He has a quality running game with a bruising back in Brandon Jacobs and the speedier and more agile Ahmad Bradshaw. For the 49ers, their quarterback is Alex Smith. In this offense, he is simply asked to not turn the ball over, as he has thrown for only twenty touchdowns in seventeen games. He has an elite tight end in Vernon Davis, and a quality running back in Frank Gore. His only notable receiver is Michael Crabtree, a first round who is beginning to perform up to expectations but still hasn’t reached his potential yet. Both teams have very good special teams. Lawrence Tynes is a very clutch kicker, and David Akers for the 49ers made 44 field goals this season. Both punters are incredibly talented. This game will ultimately come down to turnovers, and who creates them and gives an opportunity for their offense. I like the New York Giants in this situation because they have a much better front four and can create pressure with just those rushers, and can get to the quarterback and Alex Smith hasn’t faced an incredible amount of pressure all year long. I believe the Giants will win by a touchdown and field goal, or a score of about 30 to 23.

First Blog

 Hi I'm Chris Leonard and I'm an athlete.  I love competition and playing most sports.  In other words, I'm the crazy fan who also plays the sports he watches.  As a little background, I played football and soccer and lacrosse, and also ran cross country and track.  I've also been lifting almost daily since sophomore year, and learned many different types of exercises.  Most exercises are designed to target one specific area of the body or muscle group.  Other exercises are designed to burn calories and elevate blood pressure; these are known as cardiovascular exercise or simply as ‘cardio’.   As a part of these blogs, I’m going to be talking about different types of workouts, and some professional athletes and their workouts.  And since it’s the NFL playoff season, I will discuss some of the teams and their chances to win the Superbowl.  I’m from Pittsburgh, so I was disappointed when Tim Tebow won this weekend.  In their defense, the Steelers played very valiantly despite numerous injuries to their starters.  By the end of the game, the Steelers had three healthy defensive linemen, were missing their starting All-Pro center and had 6 total offensive linemen.  In football, most games are won in the trenches, and they need their linemen.  Ben Roethlisberger played most of the game on one leg, our starting free safety couldn’t play because of anemia, and two of our linebackers had hamstring issues.  To go into Denver and force overtime with that many injuries, I’m happy that they were able to do that, but disappointed that they lost.  The Steelers got “Tebowed” and his legend only seems to grow.  He has led several six 4^th quarter and overtime comebacks, more than everyone not named Eli Manning.  He also brought the Broncos into the playoffs after a 1-4 start.  But the purpose of this blog is to talk about fitness and healthy lifestyles, and also about current sport events, such as the Superbowl.  I look forward to discussing more sports-related topics in the future.