Fourteen years of consistency have come to an abrupt halt. Entering week three, the Indianapolis Colts stand 0-3 for the first time since 1998. The harsh reality is that their franchise quarterback is out for an extended period of time, leaving the team in a state of flux.

Peyton Manning underwent neck surgery on May 23 to repair a cervical spinal issue. The injury was initially kept quiet, overshadowed by the NFL lockout, but his rate of improvement in rehabilitation was slower than expected and the Colts declared him out indefinitely.

There are both present and future issues that the franchise must consider. The team is off to the aforementioned abysmal start led by Manning’s replacement, quarterback Kerry Collins, who was signed out of retirement to replace Peyton when news of the severity of his injury broke. So far, so bad.

There are two legitimate paths the Colts can take this season. The first option is to continue trying to win games and remain somewhat competitive. Even without Manning, the team still has key pieces in wide receiver Reggie Wayne and defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis. The ideal scenario would be if the team gets increased contribution from key players and Collins somehow rediscovers his serviceable backup quarterback prowess, leading the Colts to seven or eight wins. However, the Colts have five games remaining against legitimate Super Bowl contenders: Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Atlanta, New England, and Baltimore. Yikes.

This could save the team from embarrassment, and winning without Manning would provide a confidence boost for the rest of the players. More importantly though, this would probably leave the Colts out of the playoffs and with a mediocre draft pick. As a result, contending this season should not be Indy’s priority.

Instead, the Colts should vie to be in position for a top-five draft pick. This way, they can target Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, who is the consensus top player in the upcoming draft. Some would argue that drafting a quarterback when you’ve just committed $90 million over the next five seasons to Manning would be a bad move. This is not completely untrue, but the frightening part of Manning’s injury is that it’s a spinal issue. Post-surgery, he will require therapy on his neck to regain losses of function, mobility, and strength. It is difficult to predict how Peyton will respond to this treatment and how vulnerable his neck will be to future injuries. This uncertainty means that drafting a quarterback for the future should be a priority. There are advantages to this, as any quarterback would benefit by learning from a future Hall-of-Famer. After all, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, Aaron Rodgers, sat behind a Hall-of-Famer for three seasons.

Speaking as a football fan, Manning’s injury is unfortunate, especially in an era of great quarterbacks. For the Colts organization, players, and their fans it stings even worse. There is no doubt that it’s virtually impossible to replace a four-time MVP winner.

Colts fans should remain hopeful: even if Manning cannot regain his form and the team doesn’t get the chance to draft Luck, the front office can make a trip to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to seek out a certain Wrangler jeans model to save the franchise

Ryan Reisert

Ryan Reisert

Sunday evening featured a McGill soccer double-header, with each team facing highly ranked Université de Montréal squads. Both the Redmen and the Martlets wanted to bounce back from losses against Sherbrooke on Friday, but faced higher caliber opponents in the Carabins.

The fourth-ranked Redmen began the evening with a resounding 3-1 win over the number eight Université de Montréal squad, in a game in which tempers were running high from start to finish. The first half saw offensive domination alternate, as McGill kept it mostly in Montreal’s zone for the first 25 minutes, and then generated few offensive chances until the end of the first half. First year defender Alexis Pradie opened up scoring at the 45th minute with a penalty kick obtained after UdeM’s Maxime Pinton received a red card. The goal was Pradie’s first of the season, and gave the Redmen the boost they needed heading into the second half.

The Redmen got off to an excellent start in the second half with a 49th minute goal by Sebastien Monroe, assisted by Alex King. Although the Carabins were down a man, they never let up the pressure. In the 62nd minute of play, Vincent de Bruille scored on a great kick that lept over Redmen keeper Matt Gilmour. Sensing the game was finally within reach, the Carabins took their foot off the gas, forcing Gilmour to make a tremendous save at the 78 minute mark. “It’s always difficult to play a team that’s one man down, and even two, because they have nothing to lose, so they don’t think, they just work,” Head Coach David Simon said. “We survived that pressure, so that’s good.”

Things started getting out of hand for the Carabins when they were handed three red cards in the final eight minutes of play, including one to Montreal Head Coach Pat Raimondo, an ex-Redmen head coach. McGill’s man advantage led to a breakaway goal by Axel Dovi in the 89th minute of play, tripling the Redmen’s lead and ruining any chances of a UdeM comeback. “We worked our butts off. We’re usually a second half team, and sometimes it takes us a little bit to get out of the starting gate,” Gilmour revealed. “But I think we started strong today and got that penalty that obviously helped, and we came out strong the second half, and obviously scored that quick goal.” With the win on Sunday, the Redmen are now tied with the Carabins for first in Quebec.

* * * * *

The Martlets also had heavy competition when they hosted the second-ranked Carabins and they rose to the task, coming out with a 1-1 tie. McGill, ranked sixth in the most recent CIS rankings, put the pressure on early and were rewarded quickly when Alexandra Morin-Boucher scored on a quick feed from Alexandria Hoyte in the fifth minute of play. This was the first goal that Montreal keeper Martine Julien had allowed this season.

Montreal struck back with a tying goal by Isabelle Dumais at the 38th minute, after a well-executed give-and-go between Marylise Monchalin and Éva Thouvenot-Hébert. Both teams had golden chances to score again. A shot by the Carabins was miraculously saved on a diving effort by Martlet Kelsey Wilson. McGill had a great chance to take the lead when Wilson was tripped by UdeM’s Emmanuelle Beliveau-Labrecque and rewarded a penalty shot. Keeper Martine Julien worked her magic again and came up with a huge save to preserve the 1-1 tie.

Although the Martlets played a sound defensive and offensive game, Head Coach Marc Mounicot couldn’t hide his disappointment. “Our entire team played well defensively, so did the forwards, who did their job. I’m very happy. You have to understand our three best defenders are not playing tonight, they are all injured (including starting goaltender Victoria Muccilli),” Mounicot said. “It was a very good performance tonight; I’m just a little bit disappointed because I thought we deserved to win.”

All in all, the weekend was a very successful one for the two McGill soccer squads, who were pitted against formidable opponents. Both teams play their next game on Friday, Sept. 30 against UQTR in Trois-Rivières.

Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane had just witnessed one of his favourite prospects, catcher Jeremy Brown, pick himself up off the dirt and circle the bases after tripping over first base on a home run he didn’t realize he had just hit. “It’s hard not to be romantic about baseball,” Beane says to Paul Brand, his assistant. It’s hard not to be romantic about a great baseball movie either.

Moneyball certainly captures the romance of baseball and has all the hallmarks of a classic baseball film: a washed-up pro trying to make a name for himself, a team no one believes in surpassing expectations, and a montage of the epic winning streak that turns the season around. Moneyball should join the ranks of esteemed baseball flicks like The Natural and Bull Durham, but it also has something they don’t: a lasting impact on the way we think about the game.

Well, the book did anyway. Moneyball is based on Michael Lewis’ 2003 work of the same name, which turned the baseball world upside-down. Moneyball is the story of the Oakland Athletics and the efforts of their front office to be competitive in a league where their payroll is one third that of other top teams.

Inspired by Bill James, a security-guard-turned-statistical-guru (seen just once in the film), Beane (Brad Pitt) embarks on a quest to prove to the baseball establishment that everything they believe and everything they do is flawed. Adopting a philosophy that values statistics previously believed to be irrelevant, such as on-base percentage and slugging over batting average and runs batted in, the A’s attempted to find the players no one else wanted, to turn them into superstars. A rag-tag group of guys without “the good face” or all of the “five tools” is assembled for bargain salaries, allowing the A’s to hang around with the Yankees and make the playoffs.

The movie does a good job at turning what is essentially a jazzed-up economics textbook into an inspirational movie. Writers Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian were able to take some of the more personal moments of the book and weave them into a movie script. Fans of the book will undoubtedly be disappointed that “the fat catcher” Jeremy Brown’s only mention in the film is in the afformentioned scene, and that math-whiz, Assistant GM Paul DePodesta is reduced to the generic Brand, played by Jonah Hill.

Brad Pitt plays a convincing Billy Beane, whose eccentricity comes through in the scenes where he is seen driving his car and avoiding watching his team play. However, the movie takes a strange angle on his family life by playing up the storyline of Beane and his daughter, while his wife is only mentioned in a quick phone conversation. The father-daughter relationship feels unnecessary, as the story of Beane’s pro career and subsequent failure would have been enough personal drama to make the film resonate with non-sports fans.

While there have been many criticisms of Moneyball over the years, namely the failure of the A’s to win a World Series and the rampant steroid use in their clubhouse, the book changed the way many people look at baseball, and the movie captures that. This is a must-see for anyone who considers themselves a baseball fan, but they should see it soon… the playoffs start Friday.

Abir Shah

Last Sunday, the McGill Redmen rugby team won their home opener against the Concordia Stingers. The game wasn’t pretty, but it ended well with 13 unanswered points for McGill in the last 15 minutes, putting the Redmen ahead at the final whistle 21-13.

Thirteen minutes in, Gideon Balloch converted a penalty kick to put McGill up 3-0. A minute later, the Redmen gained possession of the ball, but fumbled it away. The Stingers took advantage of McGill’s defensive lapse to score an uncontested try and made the conversion for a 7-3 lead. For the next three minutes McGill dominated in rucks, executing their offence well. Second-year Cameron Perrin broke through with McGill’s first try of the game but the Redmen failed to capitalize on the conversion, making the score 8-7 McGill.

McGill was called for an endless array of penalties in the first half, which gave Concordia opportunities to score. When Concordia executed a successful maul, McGill was called for a penalty. The Stingers decided to take a penalty kick and scored to go up 10-8.

 The Redmen’s biggest problems were knock-ons caused by fumbling and missed catches. They had excellent chances to score, but there were instances where nerves got the best of them and they dropped the ball. The Redmen’s line-outs were the best aspect of their game. Not only did they execute their own line-outs well, but they were able to make key steals on Concordia’s.

Tensions mounted at the end of the first half, as the play crossed the line between hard-nosed and chippy. Late in the second half, a Concordia player kicked Redmen hooker Keelan Chapman in the head. After a little tussle both players were sent to the sin bin.

“There’s always been a lot of hot blood between McGill and Concordia and the games are always so close that we expect it to be a rough game,” Perrin said.

After another penalty by McGill, the Stingers again opted to take a penalty kick. They scored and increased the lead by three to 13-8. These little mistakes by McGill gave the Stingers easy opportunities to score. However, the Concordia kicker missed two penalty kicks, allowing McGill to stay in the game.

In the final 15 minutes, McGill turned up the intensity. A nice offensive play created the opportunity for second-year wing Nick Santo to score a try, which tied the game 13-13. McGill dominated the offence for the rest of the contest and Perrin took it to the house again with about four minutes left. The conversions proved difficult because of their placement, and both were unsuccessful but McGill kept their 18-13 lead.

The Redmen widened the gap with a successful penalty kick by rookie centre Quentin Pradere, making the final score 21-13.

Although this wasn’t McGill’s best effort, the win places them firmly in first place in the RSEQ standings.

“I think we got a little nervous at the end of the game and decided to pick up the intensity but we put ourselves into that position with all the dropped passes,” Head Coach Craig Beemer said. “There were a lot of handling errors and it was a sub-par performance by us.”

McGill’s winning streak now stands at five games, including two victories from last year.

Their next home game is against the Sherbrooke Vert-et-Or at 1 p.m. on Oct. 2.