The Great Escape 1, 2 and 3?
- By Keith Hayes
- Published 12/6/2007
- Football
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Rating:
Keith Hayes
Keith Hayes got his love for writing in the 6th grade where he began writing sci-fi stories for classmates and friends, while continuing to write over the years as a personal hobby.
In 1991 after purchasing WebTV, he caught the Internet bug and began writing on various message boards and newsgroups under the pseudonym Mista Sinista. His posts became popular as he covered movie reviews, the New England Patriots, WCW and WWE (formerly WWF) wrestling. Just do a Google search for Mista Sinista or Sinista1 under groups, and you'll discover enough material to read for months.
As his debating talents developed online, he became vocal in his local newspaper, the Enterprise. He began submitting Letters to the Editor, and most of his pieces were printed on a regular basis. He also had similar success with his letters to the early years of Patriots Football Weekly. After generating some buzz and catching the eyes of readers, Keith was contacted to write for wrestling web site Wrestlenutz.com. He was then later contacted to write for a New England Patriots fan website PatriotsFootball.com, which is now known as PatsFans.com.
When covering the Pats, Keith kept his Mista Sinista attitude and reviewed the games with his "tell it like it is" style. The Patriots experience soon took off, and allowed him to meet various players, travel to a Pro Bowl in Hawaii, a Super Bowl in New Orleans, several away games in the Meadowlands, and some great games in Foxboro, where he has been a season ticket holder since 1990.
Today, he covers the New England Patriots for eSports and as a 12th Man correspondent for PatsFans.com. You can read his political and local debates on his hometown site Brockton Forums. But for a real treat, you can also see the twisted side on his moniker web site Sinista1.com, where he has some great spoofs like "Barbie and Ken's True Hollywood Story," and "Celebrity Survivor."
Most recently, Keith has become a co-host on two hit radio shows at WXBR 1460 AM in Brockton (formerly WBET). On Fridays, Keith can be heard during the "On the Mark PI Show," with his host Private Investigator Mark Chauppetta, who has his own reality television show in negotiations, and a role in the upcoming horror film Frightworld where he plays an FBI Agent hunting a serial killer who has killed his wife.
Keith is now following in his host’s footsteps after scoring a part in Walt Disney's upcoming movie "The Game Plan," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. In the movie, Keith plays a football player on QB Joe Kingman’s (Dwayne's character) Boston Rebels rival team the New York Dukes. Also joining Keith on the show is defense attorney Ken Diesenhof, and Brockton Police Officer Frank "Czman".
On Saturdays, Keith can be heard during "Krashing Into the Bigfield/The Lock Up" from noon to 4 p.m. talking sports with Enterprise writer Kevin Tocci, and aspiring actor Tom Mariano, cousin to "Boston Rob" of "Survivor/Amazing Race" fame. The show also features guests Matt Futrell, Peter Czymbor, Dennis Harris, and is produced by former Indie wrestler Mike Pavia. The South Shore Sports Show is growing, as the first two hours cover sports (professional and local), while the second two hours cover the best talk in professional and Indie wrestling.
Weeks 12 and 13 for the New England Patriots seemed to have once again been written by those infamous script writers I've been talking about over the years. I mean how else do the Pats have this decade that they have been having?
If there isn't a TV series or movie based on their run and the things that have happened during their successful time in the near future, I would be real surprised. Right now the Pats are top in sports reality television filled with drama, romance, action, death and a villain that is loved by those within the Patriots nation and most New England circles.
This Sunday the team heads into their match up with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But before we get to that, lets look at the what has happened over the past two weeks before we analyze it.
In Week 12, the Philadelphia Eagles came to town. Their QB Donovan McNabb was injured (Chunky Soup Curse once again), and despite the amount of veterans on their team the odds makers decided to slap a 20-plus point spread on the game. This made the Eagles the underdogs in the highest point spread ever for a regular season game.
What did this do for the Patriots? It made things bad for them and it inspired a team that was already looking to knock off an undefeated team. A team that had been the Mike Tyson of the NFL, and coming off a Mitch Green like destruction of the Buffalo Bills.
In that game, the Eagles played with heart, but not enough to get themselves the win.
QB AJ Feely had the game of his life, tearing up the middle of the field with precision passes, and some were saying the Eagles had now written the blueprint to beat the Pats.
After the game, Pats head coach Bill Belichick said that when watching game film during the week they realized Feely liked to work the middle of the field, but throwing to the outside along the lines were his weakness. The Pats waited patiently, and pulled down two HUGE interceptions along the sidelines, one returned for a TD by CB Asante Samuel, and the other to end the game.
The following weekend the blueprint theory was reversed as the Seattle Seahawks defense studied AJ's performance against the Pats, and stalked the middle of the field coming up with four interceptions, and forcing the return of QB Donovan McNabb for this weekend.
This past Monday, the Pats went into Baltimore to take on the Ravens who had lost four in a row, and had more in house fighting going on than a day at Bobby and Whitney's. However, on this night the Ravens had some serious motivation. They had the chance to knock off the undefeated team on their home field with three of their major players having an emotional and personal connection with Sean Taylor of the Redskins, who died after being shot during a home robbery gone terribly wrong. ILB Ray Lewis, FS Ed Reed, and RB Willis McGahee huddled before the game with tears in their eyes and vowed to leave nothing on the field, as they dedicated their performance to their fallen classmate of the Miami Hurricanes.
McGahee played like a man possessed, and almost single handedly destroyed the Pats on his own, while on defense Ray Lewis and Ed Reed's intensity carried over to the other players as they harassed the offensive line, and QB Tom Brady all night. The Ravens had three sacks, and shut down Brady's WR corps by getting physical at the line, but despite the inspirations, the internal issues reared its ugly head, as the Ravens mounted penalty after penalty, allowing the Pats to stay in the game.
If you, "the reader," are "well know ledged" in the game of football, you know that any team that hits the five-penalty threshold in a game will usually have their faults catch up with them. In the end, the Ravens had 13 of them for 100 yards, and had it explode at the worst time possible – a fourth quarter drive with time ticking down and the Ravens brain-farted, and called a useless time out as their defense was ready to shutdown the Pats hopes after a 4th and 1 false-start situation. This forced the Pats to go for it on 4th and 6.
QB Tom Brady says he heard the whistle, and that was why he stopped his progression, but I think differently. After giving the Pats a second wind, they committed three crucial penalties putting them in range to put themselves on top. Then, after giving up the TD, Ravens player Bart Scott took a the refs challenge flag and hurled it into the stands. The final two of the three infractions added 30 yards onto the ensuing kick return.
One would have to think what would have become of the Hail Mary pass if they didn't have that 30 yards tacked on, as the pass was completed two yards shy of the end zone when time elapsed, and the Pats were victorious once again.
So now the Pats have the Pittsburgh Steelers on tap, in a game that mostly everyone had said would be the toughest of this final stretch. And now, after McGahee and Indianapolis Colts Joseph Addai's rushing performances this year against the Pats, one would think that Steelers RB Willie Parker is going to be unleashed like the chained Persian warrior from the movie "300."
With LB Rosie Colvin done for the season, the Pats are going to have to expect a lot from their interior defense to stop the run, and if Chad Brown suits up he is going to have to know his job. The Steelers are dangerous despite their coming into the Razor, but then someone from the Steelers has to go and do something stupid just days before the big match up by guaranteeing an upset.
Didn't the Steelers not learn from the AFC championship in 2001 when they had booked hotel rooms, and rented cars for Super Bowl week in New Orleans? I guess not. So why would HC Mike Tomlin allow DB Anthony Smith to talk to the press, and make a comment like that? Especially about a team that has had back-to-back sub par games in the past two weeks, and can explode at any time to put points on the board. Why?
Why, inspire the 68,000 who will be at the game this Sunday? Did he think the game was going to be played at the Anticipation hole? Why make those comments on a Tuesday so the players can mull over it for days until it's ripe in their brains, because we all know Belichick is drilling it into their heads about how comments like that are showing how much disrespect the Steelers have for them once again.
Will it be another great escape sequel, or will the Pats of old return to the fold? No one knows, but it will be another weekend for those at home hanging on the edge of their seats, because no matter what happens the remainder of this season isn't going to be any easer.
The New York Jets will be flying in with a chip on their shoulder knowing the Pats will be gunning for them after week 1 Spygate fiasco. Then there's the Miami Dolphins, a team that may still be winless come the time of their match up, but one thing is for certain, if the Dolphins can muster up one win this season, a win over the Pats would be the most satisfying if it was the only win.
Finally, there's the New York Giants, with the final game on their turf. A game that could be for the perfect season for the Pats, and possible playoff implications for the Giants. This will not be a rest game for anyone, and if the Pats want to get out of here they are going to have to open up the can of "whoop 'em" early, and send the Giants fans home early.