Notes from the National: Was that Cubs-Pirates game suspended last night because of rain or the Cubs refusal to play without a big league shortstop and leftfielder? Tommy Glavine showed up last night and gave the Mets a nice outing. Jose Reyes is now up to 77 at bats without being walked. Will he hit 100?? Chris Guzman had a monster night yesterday, going 1-4 with a solo shot. The Braves actually scored some runs for Mike Hampton last night, but he didn’t really need them as he continued his hot start. He’s gone eight innings in his last three starts and has only allowed one dong in thirty plus innings. Why was Jim Thome sat last night? Perhaps he was out late celebrating his first home run on Thursday night. A.J. Burnett struck out thirteen Reds last night in six innings. That is heady stuff but it did come against a Cinci lineup that leads the league in whiffs. Jeff Weaver got bombed last night in Colorado and it now looks like Elmer Dessens is going on the DL. The Dodgers had probably hoped to drop Scott Ericson from the rotation when Brad Penny returns this week, but it now looks like Ericson will get at least a few more starts. Brad Halsey has had a better start then Randy Johnson - the guy who he was traded for. Barry Bonds is still on crutches and doesn’t look like he is coming back anytime soon. Can the Giants hang in there until June 1? The did get some good news yesterday as Moises Alou returned, but it didn’t help last night as Brewer Victor Santos threw a five hit complete game. Where has that vaunted Giants staff gone? I know they have played some games at Colorado, but does that explain a staff ERA that is fourteenth in the NL?
Airmail from the AL: The Twins bullpen actually blew a game last night when Pudge smacked a walkoff homerun off Terry Mulholland. What is more surprising – the Twins bullpen blowing a game or the Twins lineup actually drawing a couple of walks in a single game? Alan Embree has had some week. On Tuesday, he gave up a game tying home run to Vernon Wells and last night he gave up a walkoff blast to Eduardo Perez. Scott Kazmir has Boston’s number even though he didn’t get the win. Kevina Brown is officially shot. There are no “ands,” “ifs,” or “buts” about it. I don’t want to hear him talk about how well he pitched after the second inning. When you give up four in the top of the first, nothing else matters. Where are the people who were ready to hand Hideki Matsui the AL MVP after the first two games of the season. He is 21st in league slugging and 23rd in league OPS. In my book, he is at best the fourth best Japanese import behind Ichiro, the Sony PSP and the Lexus LS. The Orioles got back in the swing of things last night after being shut out twice by the Red Sox this week. The Birds went yard four times off the Blue Jays last night, although Oriole pitcher Dan Cabrera continued to get smacked around. The White Sox won their fifth straight last night and continue to get great pitching. Teams are only hitting .229 against the Southsiders. Let me see – with A.J Pierzynski catching in San Francisco last year, the Giants had solid starting pitching. Without him, the Giants are 14th in the league in EPA. Meanwhile, the Sox staff has gone from almost-worst to first. Is there a connection here? Here is a sign of the apocalypse – John Lackey actually made it through five innings for the Angles but KROD blew it in the ninth. You won’t see that combo too often. Tribe second baseman Ronnie Belliard has hit four home runs – that is the same amount that Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner, and Casey Blake have combined.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Friday, April 22, 2005
April 22 - Steph Survives on Survivor
While Survivor is not really a traditional sport, I think it is competitive and entertaining, much more so then the NBA, so I will give it some coverage over the final five weeks of the season. And let me tell you, there was a huge development on the show last night as Stephanie dodged a bullet and now finds herself among the final seven contestants. In case you don’t follow the show, Stephanie is the lone remaining member of the nine-person Ulong tribe and her head was on the chopping block last night. The case for her ousting is really quite easy – she is one tough chick who has what it takes to win physical challenges. As such, most view her as a threat and the tribe was ready to boot her last night. But at the last minute, she was saved when the 73 pound Janu resigned her commission and dropped out of the game. This is a huge turn of the events since the alliance that really pushed for Stephanie to leave, now finds itself outnumbered, or so it seems. It will be interesting to see next week what Stephanie can do with her reprieve. If she can somehow persuade, Tom, Ian and Katy to join her, Greg and his crew are toast. This may be tough, but if it happens, Stephanie is basically a lock for the final four and the bet here is if she makes it that far, she will take it to the house.
Notes from the National League: Am I dreaming or did the Dodgers actually lose last night. I guess you can’t win every night, especially when Scott Erickson is on the mound. Padre pitcher Adam Eaton just completely shut down the Dodgers and especially the bottom half of the order. Ryan Klesko showed some life for the Padres last night which is long overdue since the middle of that lineup has really struggled so far. The Giants used eight pitchers in their thirteen inning win last night over the Diamondbacks, and got five scoreless innings from their questionable bullpen. This team is just trying to buy time until Bonds returns but that day no longer seems too imminent. The Brewers actually got to Brad Lidge last night, and of all people, it was Brady Clark who did the damage. Willy Taveras has been a godsend for the Astros, but the bet here is Willy will not keep it up. Pedro was dominant once again last night, getting through seven with only 88 pitches, 64 of which were strikes. You spot that guy a lead, and its lights out as the Fish found out last night. Al Leiter reverted back towards the mean last night, walking five in three innings. You cannot expect that guy to beat a team five days after he last faced them. Chris Carpenter completely dominated the Cubs last night on the first night of the post-Nomar era. The Cubs responded to Nomar’s injury by sliding Corey Patterson down the three slot. That is a better fit for Patterson then leading off, but he should really be further down in the order. When the Cubs say Nomar will be out from two to three – do they mean months or years? GM Jim Hendry better get on the phone because Nefi Perez isn’t going to cut it for too long as the Cubs everyday shortstop. It took 56 at bats, but Jim Thome finally jacked on out of the park last night. Why in the world did the Yankees let Jon Lieber go? He is 4-0 down in Philly after beating Colorado last night. He may not strike a ton of guys out, but he almost always gives his team a chance to win. What does John Smoltz have to do to pick up a win? Last night, he gave up one run in seven innings, but that putrid Braves offense let him down once again. Although Pittsburgh finally won last night, Teke Redman had a night to forget – 0-5 with seven runners left on base. Including Redman, the Pirates have three everyday players hitting below .200. This club isn’t exactly reminiscent of the old lumber and lightening crews in Pittsburgh as evidenced by the fact that they are last in the league in extra base hits.
Observations on the American League: The pitching duel between Mark Buehrle and Jason Bonderman never really materialized yesterday, but Buehrle was able to eek out a win by going seven pretty strong innings. The sox are on fire right now but what do they do when Frank Thomas is ready to return? Does that mean Carl Everett goes back to the outfield? The Red Sox are getting terrific starting pitching as they blanked Baltimore for the second straight time last night. Matt Clement was super, getting ahead of hitters and putting them a way with that nasty slider. It took a few weeks, but perhaps Jason Varitek now has him under control. David Ortiz and Edgar Renteria are shivering right now but this weekend they get to feast on some Tampa pitching. There is no better way to cure a slump. Mike Mussina got his first win last night but it was far from impressive. He needed 99 pitches to get through five and a third and he left the game in the sixth with runners on second and third. Moose looks to me like an American League version of Al Leiter and that doesn’t cut it for a guy who will make $19 million this year. More bad news for the Yankees – Ruben Sierra arm problem looks pretty serious and there is no telling how long he will be out. If that bicep is torn, he is gone for the year, leaving the Yanks with almost no bench whatsoever. The Twins bullpen finally gave up a meaningful run last night, although the team was able to overcome the mistake and beat the Tigers in ten. I don’t think the Twins read Moneyball because if they had, they wouldn’t have just 18 walks in their first 16 games. How long can you continue to win with a team OBP of just .279? Alfonso Soriano is cold right now and it makes me wonder if Texas missed their opportunity to trade their moody leadoff man. What about Soriano to the Cubs – after all, he did come up as a shortstop, albeit one who was not very good in the field. The Cleveland bullpen was at it again last night, blowing a ninth inning lead. If I were Billy Bean, I would lock Rich Harden up right now because his price tag is only going to rise. This guy isn’t going to be good – he’s already there.
North Carolina basketball fans got the news they were dreading this afternoon when it was announced that Sean May, Marvin Williams and Raymond Felton would all be leaving school early to join the NBA. In addition to these loses, UNC will also lose Rashard McCants, Jackie Manuel, Melvin Scott and Jawad Williams off this year’s national championship. This represents the entire core of this years team, as only two reserves with any experience will be coming back in 2006. I, for one, am surprised that Marvin Williams decided to leave early. Williams is clearly not ready to play in the NBA, yet he was told by Coach Roy Williams and others that he will most likely be a top-5 pick and I guess he found that persuasive. If I had to guess, I would say that Williams and Felton made a collective decision since neither wanted to be stuck back in Chapel Hill without the other. So what does North Carolina have coming back? In a nutshell, the answer is nothing. David Noel returns and he has shown some ability to play out on the wing and Quentin Thomas will be coming back to take Felton’s place at point guard. But it should be noted that he started exactly one game last year and UNC lost that contest to Santa Clara. That is not exactly the kind of resume you want from the leader of your team. While things now look pretty bleak at UNC, there is some help along the way in the form of four recruits, all considered to be amongst the top fifty in the country Tyler Hansbrough from Missouri is considered a top-10 talent, while 6’3 Bobby Frasor, 6’5 Danny Green and 6’5 Marcus Ginyard all have impressive scholastic credentials. Nonetheless, next year’s team will be incredibly inexperience, small and shallow. It is a good thing Roy Williams won this year because next year, things could be real ugly down in Chapel Hill. The only saving grace for UNC is the ACC will lose a bunch of top players to graduation and the NBA so the league may not be quite as strong as it was this year. But that alone will not be enough for this crew. And that is why I say that if Williams can somehow mold next year’s team into an NCAA qualifier, it will be his best coaching achievement to date. Even better then this year’s national championship.
Notes from the National League: Am I dreaming or did the Dodgers actually lose last night. I guess you can’t win every night, especially when Scott Erickson is on the mound. Padre pitcher Adam Eaton just completely shut down the Dodgers and especially the bottom half of the order. Ryan Klesko showed some life for the Padres last night which is long overdue since the middle of that lineup has really struggled so far. The Giants used eight pitchers in their thirteen inning win last night over the Diamondbacks, and got five scoreless innings from their questionable bullpen. This team is just trying to buy time until Bonds returns but that day no longer seems too imminent. The Brewers actually got to Brad Lidge last night, and of all people, it was Brady Clark who did the damage. Willy Taveras has been a godsend for the Astros, but the bet here is Willy will not keep it up. Pedro was dominant once again last night, getting through seven with only 88 pitches, 64 of which were strikes. You spot that guy a lead, and its lights out as the Fish found out last night. Al Leiter reverted back towards the mean last night, walking five in three innings. You cannot expect that guy to beat a team five days after he last faced them. Chris Carpenter completely dominated the Cubs last night on the first night of the post-Nomar era. The Cubs responded to Nomar’s injury by sliding Corey Patterson down the three slot. That is a better fit for Patterson then leading off, but he should really be further down in the order. When the Cubs say Nomar will be out from two to three – do they mean months or years? GM Jim Hendry better get on the phone because Nefi Perez isn’t going to cut it for too long as the Cubs everyday shortstop. It took 56 at bats, but Jim Thome finally jacked on out of the park last night. Why in the world did the Yankees let Jon Lieber go? He is 4-0 down in Philly after beating Colorado last night. He may not strike a ton of guys out, but he almost always gives his team a chance to win. What does John Smoltz have to do to pick up a win? Last night, he gave up one run in seven innings, but that putrid Braves offense let him down once again. Although Pittsburgh finally won last night, Teke Redman had a night to forget – 0-5 with seven runners left on base. Including Redman, the Pirates have three everyday players hitting below .200. This club isn’t exactly reminiscent of the old lumber and lightening crews in Pittsburgh as evidenced by the fact that they are last in the league in extra base hits.
Observations on the American League: The pitching duel between Mark Buehrle and Jason Bonderman never really materialized yesterday, but Buehrle was able to eek out a win by going seven pretty strong innings. The sox are on fire right now but what do they do when Frank Thomas is ready to return? Does that mean Carl Everett goes back to the outfield? The Red Sox are getting terrific starting pitching as they blanked Baltimore for the second straight time last night. Matt Clement was super, getting ahead of hitters and putting them a way with that nasty slider. It took a few weeks, but perhaps Jason Varitek now has him under control. David Ortiz and Edgar Renteria are shivering right now but this weekend they get to feast on some Tampa pitching. There is no better way to cure a slump. Mike Mussina got his first win last night but it was far from impressive. He needed 99 pitches to get through five and a third and he left the game in the sixth with runners on second and third. Moose looks to me like an American League version of Al Leiter and that doesn’t cut it for a guy who will make $19 million this year. More bad news for the Yankees – Ruben Sierra arm problem looks pretty serious and there is no telling how long he will be out. If that bicep is torn, he is gone for the year, leaving the Yanks with almost no bench whatsoever. The Twins bullpen finally gave up a meaningful run last night, although the team was able to overcome the mistake and beat the Tigers in ten. I don’t think the Twins read Moneyball because if they had, they wouldn’t have just 18 walks in their first 16 games. How long can you continue to win with a team OBP of just .279? Alfonso Soriano is cold right now and it makes me wonder if Texas missed their opportunity to trade their moody leadoff man. What about Soriano to the Cubs – after all, he did come up as a shortstop, albeit one who was not very good in the field. The Cleveland bullpen was at it again last night, blowing a ninth inning lead. If I were Billy Bean, I would lock Rich Harden up right now because his price tag is only going to rise. This guy isn’t going to be good – he’s already there.
North Carolina basketball fans got the news they were dreading this afternoon when it was announced that Sean May, Marvin Williams and Raymond Felton would all be leaving school early to join the NBA. In addition to these loses, UNC will also lose Rashard McCants, Jackie Manuel, Melvin Scott and Jawad Williams off this year’s national championship. This represents the entire core of this years team, as only two reserves with any experience will be coming back in 2006. I, for one, am surprised that Marvin Williams decided to leave early. Williams is clearly not ready to play in the NBA, yet he was told by Coach Roy Williams and others that he will most likely be a top-5 pick and I guess he found that persuasive. If I had to guess, I would say that Williams and Felton made a collective decision since neither wanted to be stuck back in Chapel Hill without the other. So what does North Carolina have coming back? In a nutshell, the answer is nothing. David Noel returns and he has shown some ability to play out on the wing and Quentin Thomas will be coming back to take Felton’s place at point guard. But it should be noted that he started exactly one game last year and UNC lost that contest to Santa Clara. That is not exactly the kind of resume you want from the leader of your team. While things now look pretty bleak at UNC, there is some help along the way in the form of four recruits, all considered to be amongst the top fifty in the country Tyler Hansbrough from Missouri is considered a top-10 talent, while 6’3 Bobby Frasor, 6’5 Danny Green and 6’5 Marcus Ginyard all have impressive scholastic credentials. Nonetheless, next year’s team will be incredibly inexperience, small and shallow. It is a good thing Roy Williams won this year because next year, things could be real ugly down in Chapel Hill. The only saving grace for UNC is the ACC will lose a bunch of top players to graduation and the NBA so the league may not be quite as strong as it was this year. But that alone will not be enough for this crew. And that is why I say that if Williams can somehow mold next year’s team into an NCAA qualifier, it will be his best coaching achievement to date. Even better then this year’s national championship.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
April 21 - The NBA Playoffs are Brought to you by Ambien
The NBA playoffs are finally upon us after a completely forgettable year and the only question I have is whether ANYONE still cares about this made-for-TV event? I am not kidding. I don’t know more then a handful of people who have even a passing interest in this spectacle which will take more then six hellish weeks to complete. There is simply no juice left in this glass. It isn’t half full as optimists claim – it is completely dry. NBA junkies, who are currently protected under the Endangered Species Act, will tell you there are a number of compelling stories in play this post-season, but I don’t see any of them getting my pulse above 68. I may get into a series or two and I will watch a quarter here and a quarter there, but you won’t catch me sitting there on Sunday watching the NBA in lieu of the Shell Houston Open or the Colonial. I will concede there will be times over the next couple weeks I will be watching the Sacramento Kings play, but it is only because it will be 2:00 AM on the East Coast and the West Coast baseball games will have ended an hour earlier. As far as I am concerned, the NBA playoffs are something to be watched out of the corner of your eye or perhaps caught between commercials on other stations. And this is a shame because I used to be a big NBA fan. Growing up, the NBA playoffs were almost on par with the Baseball playoffs and just a notch below the NCAAs in my book. To this scribe, the mid-80s were the high-water mark and I held on through the rise and fall of Michael Jordan, but ever since that night when number 23 put away Utah for the second time, my interest has been fading. Fast forward to this year, and my interest barely registers on even the most precise diagnostic equipment. As such, I will equate my NBA viewing habits over the next six weeks to the play of Vince Carter. As Vince does, I will show up from time to time, but my heart won’t really be in it and I’ll never take it hard to the hoop and demand that a bartender show a particular game. I’ll save that chip for something more important like a rerun of Leave it to Beaver.
Whatever happened to David Stern’s promise to shorten the first round of the NBA playoffs? In case you forgot, Stern caved to pressure last year and said the NBA would no longer spread the first round over an absolutely ridiculous eighteen day period. That schedule was constructed so the NBA could spread its disgusting smorgasbord over three full weekends, as if this would have any positive impact on the league’s abysmal ratings. So Stern relented to pressure and came up with a new plan this year which calls for the first round to be compressed to a mere sixteen days. This is almost too asinine to lampoon. It would be like making fun of the special education kids in middle school. You know they are retarded and they know they are retarded – so does it make much sense to make a big deal of it? Why in the world does the NBA torment us like this. There is absolutely no reason for the first round to last more then fourteen days. NONE! As such, here is my recommended strategy and I believe it is the only viable option available. In a perfect world, you would stagger the start where four series start one day and four the next. Then, each series is played every other night, just like it was in the good old days. Under such a plan, the second group of series would be completed on the fourteenth day. Cmon Dave, get with the program and shave a couple days off this dog’s mangy coat. If you shave two days here and two days there, suddenly we are talking about the finals ending before the anniversary of D-Day. That should be your goal since your ratings stink regardless of whether you play on a weekday or the weekend. With that said, let’s err on the side of haste and get this procedure over as quick and painlessly as possible.
For the second year in a row, Lebron James will be watching the playoffs from the comfort of his very nice home. This is the case because the New Jersey Nets last night were able to beat Boston and secure the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Nets showed a lot of resilience this year, rebounding form a 2-9 start and the loss of Ricardo Jefferson to finish at 42-40 and sneak by Cleveland by virtue of a tiebreaker. As Cleveland picks up the pieces of its late season collapse, the last thing I want to hear is any whining from James. His team had a hammerlock on a playoff spot six weeks ago, yet frittered it away with a series of poor performances down the stretch. If I had to point to two critical games that killed the Cavs, I would single out an April 5 slaughter at home to the Nets and an April 14 loss at home against Isiah’s Idiots. In the first instance, Lebron and his Cavs lost by 31 to the Nets. The last team to lose by 31 at home was the Republican Guard in 1991. That just shouldn’t happen especially against the mediocre Nets. Meanwhile, the loss to the Knicks in Ohio, while in the throes of a playoff hunt, is just unexplainable. The Knicks couldn’t beat anyone down the stretch, but on that night, Jimmy Crawford torched King James and ended up delivering what turned out to be a deathblow. A lot of things went wrong for the Cavs over the past two months, but these two games are the ones that Cleveland fans will look back on with particular contempt. But look on the bright side Cavalier fans. You now have some balls in that lotto and if your number comes up, Chris Paul would look pretty good alongside James.
Baseball Observations – National League: The Dodgers were hot without any contribution from J.D. Drew but that cracker is starting to heat up. The peach state choir boy had four hits last night including a game tying blast in the eighth but it was Jose Valentin’s triple in the tenth that sparked the Dodgers to their eighth win in a row. The Dodgers are slugging almost .500 as a team and as a result, I don’t hear anyone still blasting the team for letting Adrian Beltre split. What was Brian Cashman thinking when he threw Yhency Brazoban into the Jeff Weaver for Kevin Brown deal? You think he doesn’t wish every day he had Brozoban back in that shaky Yankee pen? The Braves offense is putrid, having scored the second fewest runs in the NL. Andrew Jones did his part last night going 0-4 and leaving five guys stranded. It is hard to fault the Braves front office for anything but why is this guy still in Atlanta? The situation in Denver is bleak but Clint Barmes is a bright spot as he is killing the ball right know (.463). Aaron Heilman returned to earth last night as he labored down in Miami. What are the Mets going to do with Victor Diaz when Mike Cameron returns? Here is one suggestion – bat him cleanup and eat some of Cameron’s contract as they push him out the door. Diaz can hit and his bat has to be in that lineup. Meanwhile, someone has to tell Jose Reyes that on ball four, the player gets first base. He has no walks in 67 at bats. That is not acceptable for a leadoff guy. Beckett wasn’t great last night but he sure was good enough. Nomar tore his scrotum last night so I guess Mia will have to take care of herself over the next several months. Garciaparra wasn’t doing anything on the field so it is hard to argue that Dusty will miss him too much. Has anyone fallen as far and as quickly as Nomie? Zambrano and Prior have given the Cubs great pitching over the past two nights and guess what – Jeff Suppan lost another game at home. Why was Oliver Perez lifted last night after four? I guess throwing only 48 strikes in 92 pitches had something to do with it. OP now has 16 walks in 19 innings. The D Backs got Brandon Lyon as a throw-in as part of the Curt Schilling trade. Don’t look now, but the guy already has six saves while the centerpiece of the trade – Casey Fossum – is throwing meaningless middle relief for Tampa.
Baseball Observations – American League: David Wells was awesome last night as he completely handcuffed the potent Orioles. You know you have done something right when Brian Roberts goes hitless. Fatass was helped last night by Jason Varitek who actually hit a home run that meant something. Bruce Chen pitched a lot better then his line indicates, as he had the Sox tied up until Varitek went yard in the sixth. The White Sox are almost as hot as the Ddogers as John Garland picked up his third win last night. Buehrle goes against Bonderman this afternoon in a game that should be fun to watch. Too bad the MLB package passed over this game in order to bring us KC and Minny. Let me get this straight – the Yankees can’t hit Bruce Chen or Hideo Nomo but they can drill a tough lefty like Ted Lilly? That makes no sense whatsoever. God help them if they ever come up against Chan Ho or Arron Sele. Should Ryan Drese get credit for a win last night? After all, he did give up seven in five and change. There should be a separate statistical category for those type games. The Rangers got Lance Nix back last night and he promptly knocked out three hits. With Nix replacing Gary Mathews in center, Bernie Williams unquestionably is the worst centerfielder in the AL. The Royals weren’t good enough to win last night but at least they kept Johan Santana from notching his fourth win. If you want to know why the Twins are so good just take in the following stat. The Twins strike out more then six guys for every walk given up. The next highest team in the league strikes out only 2.6 guys per every walk. Control is everything and the Twins have it in large supply. Bartolo Colon is off to a hot start as he picked up his third win last night. The Angels need a huge season out of this guy because the rest of their starters stink. Meanwhile, where are all those Steve Finely fans who claimed on Opening Day that the centerfielder was the best free agent pickup in the entire off-season? Cleveland’s offense is a joke right now. Ichiro’s run for .400 took a hit over the past three nights as he has only two hits in 13 at bats. Huston Street sure didn’t look last night as if he were ready to become Oakland’s closer anytime soon.
Clemson corner back Justin Miller sure knows how to market himself to the NFL. Just days before the NFL draft, Miller, who was potentially a late first round pick, was busted last weekend in South Carolina for disorderly conduct and causing a ruckus. According to reports, Miller was hanging out with some Clemson players at a party to celebrate the end of Spring Practice when all hell broke loose. While a female cop was trying to bust up the party, Miller supposedly lost it and began screaming for partygoers to disobey police orders. Miller then put up a fight when police moved in to arrest him for his antics. This is a helluva move that is just dripping with stupidity. NFL teams are putting an increasing emphasis of selecting kids with good character and Miller did not help himself in this area by being arrested. This kid has to be a full-blown idiot to put himself in this spot. The arrest is probably not as bad as running a 4.7 40 at the combine, but it is equivalent to perhaps running something in the high 4.5s. It signifies a total lack of judgment and don’t think for a second that a number of NFL front offices didn’t take notice. NFL teams read those blotter sheets in college towns with a fine tooth comb and this one surely cropped up on the radar. And so what happens to Miller? My guess is he falls 15 spots which isn’t a full blown disaster. After all, it is not like he raped anyone or assaulted anyone. Had that happened, Miller probably wouldn’t have been picked until Oakland selected early in the third.
It is interesting to note that Scouts Inc. has a mock draft out on ESPN.com where Justin Miller is expected to be selected by the Patriots with the final pick in the first round. Have these guys not seen the news of Miler’s arrest or have they lost their minds and think Bill Belichek will simply overlook it on draft day. I hope it is the former because to assume the latter would indicate a total disregard for how the Patriots operate. Listen, Belichek did hit a home run when he brought in problem child Corey Dillon, but this is not a guy who has a lot of patience for guys with questionable character. In fact, he is all about character and you have to wonder whether he would ever take a kid who got entangled with the police just days before his lifelong dream came to fruition. Hey, I could be proven wrong on Saturday, but I have to think Miller’s arrest caused him to fall a long way down New England’s draft board. Interestingly enough, there is also speculation that the Pats may select Georgia linebacker Odell Thurman with their first pick. In case you haven’t heard, Thurman scored 12 out of 50 of the NFL’s wonderlic test which is intended to test intelligence. Twelve isn’t a bad score. Twelve is an abomination. To put a twelve into perspective, Grady Little got a 15, Isiah Thomas got a 14, the retarded kid from Life Goes On got an 11 and Terry Schiavo got a six. Again, the Pats put a premium on intelligence and it is clear from the wonderlic that Thurman comes up short in this category. As such, I wouldn’t think his rights will be owned by New England come Saturday around 7:00 P.M. If I had to guess, I would say he falls to the Raiders at 38.
Whatever happened to David Stern’s promise to shorten the first round of the NBA playoffs? In case you forgot, Stern caved to pressure last year and said the NBA would no longer spread the first round over an absolutely ridiculous eighteen day period. That schedule was constructed so the NBA could spread its disgusting smorgasbord over three full weekends, as if this would have any positive impact on the league’s abysmal ratings. So Stern relented to pressure and came up with a new plan this year which calls for the first round to be compressed to a mere sixteen days. This is almost too asinine to lampoon. It would be like making fun of the special education kids in middle school. You know they are retarded and they know they are retarded – so does it make much sense to make a big deal of it? Why in the world does the NBA torment us like this. There is absolutely no reason for the first round to last more then fourteen days. NONE! As such, here is my recommended strategy and I believe it is the only viable option available. In a perfect world, you would stagger the start where four series start one day and four the next. Then, each series is played every other night, just like it was in the good old days. Under such a plan, the second group of series would be completed on the fourteenth day. Cmon Dave, get with the program and shave a couple days off this dog’s mangy coat. If you shave two days here and two days there, suddenly we are talking about the finals ending before the anniversary of D-Day. That should be your goal since your ratings stink regardless of whether you play on a weekday or the weekend. With that said, let’s err on the side of haste and get this procedure over as quick and painlessly as possible.
For the second year in a row, Lebron James will be watching the playoffs from the comfort of his very nice home. This is the case because the New Jersey Nets last night were able to beat Boston and secure the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Nets showed a lot of resilience this year, rebounding form a 2-9 start and the loss of Ricardo Jefferson to finish at 42-40 and sneak by Cleveland by virtue of a tiebreaker. As Cleveland picks up the pieces of its late season collapse, the last thing I want to hear is any whining from James. His team had a hammerlock on a playoff spot six weeks ago, yet frittered it away with a series of poor performances down the stretch. If I had to point to two critical games that killed the Cavs, I would single out an April 5 slaughter at home to the Nets and an April 14 loss at home against Isiah’s Idiots. In the first instance, Lebron and his Cavs lost by 31 to the Nets. The last team to lose by 31 at home was the Republican Guard in 1991. That just shouldn’t happen especially against the mediocre Nets. Meanwhile, the loss to the Knicks in Ohio, while in the throes of a playoff hunt, is just unexplainable. The Knicks couldn’t beat anyone down the stretch, but on that night, Jimmy Crawford torched King James and ended up delivering what turned out to be a deathblow. A lot of things went wrong for the Cavs over the past two months, but these two games are the ones that Cleveland fans will look back on with particular contempt. But look on the bright side Cavalier fans. You now have some balls in that lotto and if your number comes up, Chris Paul would look pretty good alongside James.
Baseball Observations – National League: The Dodgers were hot without any contribution from J.D. Drew but that cracker is starting to heat up. The peach state choir boy had four hits last night including a game tying blast in the eighth but it was Jose Valentin’s triple in the tenth that sparked the Dodgers to their eighth win in a row. The Dodgers are slugging almost .500 as a team and as a result, I don’t hear anyone still blasting the team for letting Adrian Beltre split. What was Brian Cashman thinking when he threw Yhency Brazoban into the Jeff Weaver for Kevin Brown deal? You think he doesn’t wish every day he had Brozoban back in that shaky Yankee pen? The Braves offense is putrid, having scored the second fewest runs in the NL. Andrew Jones did his part last night going 0-4 and leaving five guys stranded. It is hard to fault the Braves front office for anything but why is this guy still in Atlanta? The situation in Denver is bleak but Clint Barmes is a bright spot as he is killing the ball right know (.463). Aaron Heilman returned to earth last night as he labored down in Miami. What are the Mets going to do with Victor Diaz when Mike Cameron returns? Here is one suggestion – bat him cleanup and eat some of Cameron’s contract as they push him out the door. Diaz can hit and his bat has to be in that lineup. Meanwhile, someone has to tell Jose Reyes that on ball four, the player gets first base. He has no walks in 67 at bats. That is not acceptable for a leadoff guy. Beckett wasn’t great last night but he sure was good enough. Nomar tore his scrotum last night so I guess Mia will have to take care of herself over the next several months. Garciaparra wasn’t doing anything on the field so it is hard to argue that Dusty will miss him too much. Has anyone fallen as far and as quickly as Nomie? Zambrano and Prior have given the Cubs great pitching over the past two nights and guess what – Jeff Suppan lost another game at home. Why was Oliver Perez lifted last night after four? I guess throwing only 48 strikes in 92 pitches had something to do with it. OP now has 16 walks in 19 innings. The D Backs got Brandon Lyon as a throw-in as part of the Curt Schilling trade. Don’t look now, but the guy already has six saves while the centerpiece of the trade – Casey Fossum – is throwing meaningless middle relief for Tampa.
Baseball Observations – American League: David Wells was awesome last night as he completely handcuffed the potent Orioles. You know you have done something right when Brian Roberts goes hitless. Fatass was helped last night by Jason Varitek who actually hit a home run that meant something. Bruce Chen pitched a lot better then his line indicates, as he had the Sox tied up until Varitek went yard in the sixth. The White Sox are almost as hot as the Ddogers as John Garland picked up his third win last night. Buehrle goes against Bonderman this afternoon in a game that should be fun to watch. Too bad the MLB package passed over this game in order to bring us KC and Minny. Let me get this straight – the Yankees can’t hit Bruce Chen or Hideo Nomo but they can drill a tough lefty like Ted Lilly? That makes no sense whatsoever. God help them if they ever come up against Chan Ho or Arron Sele. Should Ryan Drese get credit for a win last night? After all, he did give up seven in five and change. There should be a separate statistical category for those type games. The Rangers got Lance Nix back last night and he promptly knocked out three hits. With Nix replacing Gary Mathews in center, Bernie Williams unquestionably is the worst centerfielder in the AL. The Royals weren’t good enough to win last night but at least they kept Johan Santana from notching his fourth win. If you want to know why the Twins are so good just take in the following stat. The Twins strike out more then six guys for every walk given up. The next highest team in the league strikes out only 2.6 guys per every walk. Control is everything and the Twins have it in large supply. Bartolo Colon is off to a hot start as he picked up his third win last night. The Angels need a huge season out of this guy because the rest of their starters stink. Meanwhile, where are all those Steve Finely fans who claimed on Opening Day that the centerfielder was the best free agent pickup in the entire off-season? Cleveland’s offense is a joke right now. Ichiro’s run for .400 took a hit over the past three nights as he has only two hits in 13 at bats. Huston Street sure didn’t look last night as if he were ready to become Oakland’s closer anytime soon.
Clemson corner back Justin Miller sure knows how to market himself to the NFL. Just days before the NFL draft, Miller, who was potentially a late first round pick, was busted last weekend in South Carolina for disorderly conduct and causing a ruckus. According to reports, Miller was hanging out with some Clemson players at a party to celebrate the end of Spring Practice when all hell broke loose. While a female cop was trying to bust up the party, Miller supposedly lost it and began screaming for partygoers to disobey police orders. Miller then put up a fight when police moved in to arrest him for his antics. This is a helluva move that is just dripping with stupidity. NFL teams are putting an increasing emphasis of selecting kids with good character and Miller did not help himself in this area by being arrested. This kid has to be a full-blown idiot to put himself in this spot. The arrest is probably not as bad as running a 4.7 40 at the combine, but it is equivalent to perhaps running something in the high 4.5s. It signifies a total lack of judgment and don’t think for a second that a number of NFL front offices didn’t take notice. NFL teams read those blotter sheets in college towns with a fine tooth comb and this one surely cropped up on the radar. And so what happens to Miller? My guess is he falls 15 spots which isn’t a full blown disaster. After all, it is not like he raped anyone or assaulted anyone. Had that happened, Miller probably wouldn’t have been picked until Oakland selected early in the third.
It is interesting to note that Scouts Inc. has a mock draft out on ESPN.com where Justin Miller is expected to be selected by the Patriots with the final pick in the first round. Have these guys not seen the news of Miler’s arrest or have they lost their minds and think Bill Belichek will simply overlook it on draft day. I hope it is the former because to assume the latter would indicate a total disregard for how the Patriots operate. Listen, Belichek did hit a home run when he brought in problem child Corey Dillon, but this is not a guy who has a lot of patience for guys with questionable character. In fact, he is all about character and you have to wonder whether he would ever take a kid who got entangled with the police just days before his lifelong dream came to fruition. Hey, I could be proven wrong on Saturday, but I have to think Miller’s arrest caused him to fall a long way down New England’s draft board. Interestingly enough, there is also speculation that the Pats may select Georgia linebacker Odell Thurman with their first pick. In case you haven’t heard, Thurman scored 12 out of 50 of the NFL’s wonderlic test which is intended to test intelligence. Twelve isn’t a bad score. Twelve is an abomination. To put a twelve into perspective, Grady Little got a 15, Isiah Thomas got a 14, the retarded kid from Life Goes On got an 11 and Terry Schiavo got a six. Again, the Pats put a premium on intelligence and it is clear from the wonderlic that Thurman comes up short in this category. As such, I wouldn’t think his rights will be owned by New England come Saturday around 7:00 P.M. If I had to guess, I would say he falls to the Raiders at 38.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
April 20 - What Do You Have To Say Now George?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the "enough is enough" edict George Steinbrenner put out on Sunday was supposed to be good for more then a single night. I guess I should have read the fine print since George’s $200 million dollar team and his $48 million dollar capital improvement project lost last night to perhaps the worst starting pitcher in baseball. Clearly, enough was not enough as The Yankees lost as a (-350) favorite last night. That doesn’t happen in baseball. Maybe Pedro against Seattle nets you those kinds of odds, but you don’t see that too often. Despite being a heavy favorite, Randy Johnson went out last night and got bombed by the punch-less Rays while Hideo Nomo was able to shut down the Yankee’s vaunted offense. This is the same Nomo who gave up eight runs in two innings last Friday at Fenway. Its funny how the tabloids and the Yankee’s state-run television network pronounced the Bombers all better after Monday’s thrashing of Tampa, but there is little out this morning discussing last night’s historic debacle. This is tantamount to the old Soviet Tass network coming out the morning after Chernobyl and saying there was a little accident at the plant but things should be alright down the road. The only difference between Randy and Chernobyl is the plant only had one meltdown while it was in operation. Randy has had two in one week and three of this year’s starts have looked a lot more like John Halama than Sandy Koufax. It is clear to this scribe that Johnson has lost some velocity and as a result, he is having trouble keeping the ball in the yard. The Rays jacked two dongs last night and the Sox hit three last Thursday. This doesn’t happen against vintage Johnson. Joe Torre can smile all he wants, but deep down he knows the sound under the hood could be a big problem and one that a simple overhaul cannot fix. I have said this once and I will say it again. When it goes – IT GOES and if you don’t believe me, you should take a look at the careers of Steve Carlton and Warren Spahn. These two guys hit a wall and it ended overnight. What if we are seeing history repeat itself? The early indications are not promising for the Yanks, especially since Steiny has $48 million dollars committed to this guy through 2007. Like Herpes, that is a gift that just keeps on stinging
Could someone tell me why the Redskins are in such a hurry to end the Patrick Ramsey experiment? It was just three years ago that the Skins moved up in the draft to select Ramsey, a hard thrower out of Tulane. While Ramsey hasn’t exactly turned the world on its ear, he has had some moments and has demonstrated he can play in the NFL. His numbers have not been great but he hasn’t exactly marched out there with a ton of weapons. After all, Rod Gardener has never been confused for Randy Moss and Laverneaus Coles is not exactly Art Monk. Further, the Skins have never been able to protect Ramsey and this has led to a number of forced errors. Well, after investing two years in Ramsey, ESPN is reporting that the Skins are ready to replace Ramsey with Auburn’s Jason Campbell. In order to do this, the Skins had to trade away some of their future for Denver's first round pick on Saturday. This strikes me as a bit of knee jerk reaction from a franchise that always seems to be on its heels. The Skins just spent two years grooming Ramsey but are now ready to fold just before seeing the flop. And for what? Jason Campbell? It just seems to me that Washington is stuck on a treadmill. They spent a whole bunch of time grooming Ramsey and now they are going to start the whole process over with Campbell. I guess this shouldn’t come as much surprise since Washington has never been bullish on Ramsey, but to throw it all away on a flier like Jason Campbell seems odd to me, espeically since securing Campbell's pick was particularly expensive. They must either love this kid from Auburn or think Ramsey just flat out stinks. Regardless of whether it is the former or the latter, I think Washington is on the cusp of making a big mistake and one that could set the franchise back for years to come. Haven't we been saying the same thing for years now.
Baseball Observations – National League: Vincent Padilla should have stayed on the disabled list. Giving up five bombs in three innings to the Mets is not exactly announcing one’s presence with authority. The Dodgers just keep finding ways to win as they showed yesterday by coming back from a six run deficit in Milwaukee. Olmedo Saenz had the big hit yesterday and you have to wonder why this guy isn’t getting a few starts ahead of Hee Sop at first. With the exception of J.D. Drew, everyone on this team is hitting right now and D Lowe will go tonight as LA looks for its eighth straight. You think Arron Heilman is going to make it two in a row over Josh Beckett tonight down in Florida? The fish are riding a three game streak and the bet here is Florida makes it four tonight. Chris Guzman had three hits last night and in the process, raised his batting average fifty points. Another couple games like that and he will be hitting.250. Pittsburgh has lost four in a row and there are some in baseball who think this club has a shot to lose more games then Colorado. Last night they were shut down at home by Matt Morris of all people and you got to now wonder whether Jack Wilson’s 2004 campaign was a fluke. Mark Prior looked good last night and Corey Patterson is starting to show some signs of life. It is a good thing because Nomar is flat-lining. Dusty to Nomar: “Can I see you in my office for a minute?” Ken Girffey is still looking for his first home run. Russ Springer had a great hold for Houston last night after former Mets Dan Wheeler and John Franco almost tossed the salad. Andrew Jones had one of his typical 0-4, three strikeout games last night, while Chipper continued to tear it up. The Padres are 2-0 with Dave Roberts back in the lineup. I swear this guy is good luck.
Baseball Observations – American League: Manny’s last five hits have all been jacks. Last night’s blast went through the lights and one-hopped onto the Mass turnpike. Sox reliever Alan Embree blew last night’s game just a day after he popped off to the Boston Globe about how great he felt on the mound. Meanwhile, Roy Halladay looked great with the exception of a couple long balls and Corey Koskie woke up and had a huge night at the plate and in the field. I am curious to see how the Jays do against the Yanks with Lilly and Chacin going over the next two games. Did the Rangers actually record a shutout yesterday? That was none other then Pedro Astacio who threw eight shutout innings for Texas yesterday. This reclamation project has paid big dividends with three strong starts to open the season. With David DeJesus playing well in Center for KC, I have no option but to say Bernie is the worst centerfielder in the American League. It is close right now, but Bernie is just a shade worse than Gary Mathews down in Texas. Jeremy Reed is slowly picking things up in Seattle while Jamie Moyer is off to a quick start. Who would have thought that Moyer would be out pointing Randy Johnson in the race to be the best forty-something lefty in the AL? Brian Roberts hit another home run last night. This dwarf had fifty doubles last year and I am beginning to wonder if he has a shot at 50 jacks this season. He gets Dave Wells tonight and Matt Clement tomorrow. The bet here is Roberts will have at least seven home runs before the start of play Friday night. Is any team off to a more surprising start than the Chicago White Sox? El Duque gave them six strong innings last night and who would have thought this staff would lead the AL in era 14 games into the season. They are now 4-1 against Minnesota and 4-2 against Cleveland – the two teams who were favored to battle it out for the AL Central crown.
On ESPN Radio this morning, Tim Legler was asked about Vince Carter and what he thought about Carter’s admission that he dogged it up in Toronto in hopes it would spark the team to trade him south of the border. Specifically, Legler was asked whether Carter’s reputation would suffer as a result of this disclosure. ESPN’s three point specialist responded by saying Carter’s reputation “would take a hit in the short-term,” but could be repaired. I thought I had heard it all but Legler proved me wrong once again. What the hell does he mean that Carter's reputation would take a hit in the “short-term?” Is he kidding? Carter’s offense is just a technicality short of shaving points. He may not have been paid to dog it, but that is just semantics as far as I am concerned. At the end of the day, he layed down solely because he thought it would get him out of town. This is a guy who is paid eight figures a year to play hard 82 times a year. Everyone knows players take nights off, but Carter actually admitted to such malaise and he did it for completely selfish reasons. This is a serious ethical breach as far as I am concerned and it is one that Carter will have to carry for the rest of his career. From here on out – he is a bum in my mind. He may be a very talented bum, but at the end of the day, he is a selfish bum who let down his team and its fans. This is not a short-term problem as Legler suggests. Instead, it is a permanent blot on Carter’s record. As long as he plays, Carter will be known as a dog by every fan other then those NBA apologists like Legler who are willing to forgive just about any transgression so long as it doesn’t involve fisticuffs with the fans.
Could someone tell me why the Redskins are in such a hurry to end the Patrick Ramsey experiment? It was just three years ago that the Skins moved up in the draft to select Ramsey, a hard thrower out of Tulane. While Ramsey hasn’t exactly turned the world on its ear, he has had some moments and has demonstrated he can play in the NFL. His numbers have not been great but he hasn’t exactly marched out there with a ton of weapons. After all, Rod Gardener has never been confused for Randy Moss and Laverneaus Coles is not exactly Art Monk. Further, the Skins have never been able to protect Ramsey and this has led to a number of forced errors. Well, after investing two years in Ramsey, ESPN is reporting that the Skins are ready to replace Ramsey with Auburn’s Jason Campbell. In order to do this, the Skins had to trade away some of their future for Denver's first round pick on Saturday. This strikes me as a bit of knee jerk reaction from a franchise that always seems to be on its heels. The Skins just spent two years grooming Ramsey but are now ready to fold just before seeing the flop. And for what? Jason Campbell? It just seems to me that Washington is stuck on a treadmill. They spent a whole bunch of time grooming Ramsey and now they are going to start the whole process over with Campbell. I guess this shouldn’t come as much surprise since Washington has never been bullish on Ramsey, but to throw it all away on a flier like Jason Campbell seems odd to me, espeically since securing Campbell's pick was particularly expensive. They must either love this kid from Auburn or think Ramsey just flat out stinks. Regardless of whether it is the former or the latter, I think Washington is on the cusp of making a big mistake and one that could set the franchise back for years to come. Haven't we been saying the same thing for years now.
Baseball Observations – National League: Vincent Padilla should have stayed on the disabled list. Giving up five bombs in three innings to the Mets is not exactly announcing one’s presence with authority. The Dodgers just keep finding ways to win as they showed yesterday by coming back from a six run deficit in Milwaukee. Olmedo Saenz had the big hit yesterday and you have to wonder why this guy isn’t getting a few starts ahead of Hee Sop at first. With the exception of J.D. Drew, everyone on this team is hitting right now and D Lowe will go tonight as LA looks for its eighth straight. You think Arron Heilman is going to make it two in a row over Josh Beckett tonight down in Florida? The fish are riding a three game streak and the bet here is Florida makes it four tonight. Chris Guzman had three hits last night and in the process, raised his batting average fifty points. Another couple games like that and he will be hitting.250. Pittsburgh has lost four in a row and there are some in baseball who think this club has a shot to lose more games then Colorado. Last night they were shut down at home by Matt Morris of all people and you got to now wonder whether Jack Wilson’s 2004 campaign was a fluke. Mark Prior looked good last night and Corey Patterson is starting to show some signs of life. It is a good thing because Nomar is flat-lining. Dusty to Nomar: “Can I see you in my office for a minute?” Ken Girffey is still looking for his first home run. Russ Springer had a great hold for Houston last night after former Mets Dan Wheeler and John Franco almost tossed the salad. Andrew Jones had one of his typical 0-4, three strikeout games last night, while Chipper continued to tear it up. The Padres are 2-0 with Dave Roberts back in the lineup. I swear this guy is good luck.
Baseball Observations – American League: Manny’s last five hits have all been jacks. Last night’s blast went through the lights and one-hopped onto the Mass turnpike. Sox reliever Alan Embree blew last night’s game just a day after he popped off to the Boston Globe about how great he felt on the mound. Meanwhile, Roy Halladay looked great with the exception of a couple long balls and Corey Koskie woke up and had a huge night at the plate and in the field. I am curious to see how the Jays do against the Yanks with Lilly and Chacin going over the next two games. Did the Rangers actually record a shutout yesterday? That was none other then Pedro Astacio who threw eight shutout innings for Texas yesterday. This reclamation project has paid big dividends with three strong starts to open the season. With David DeJesus playing well in Center for KC, I have no option but to say Bernie is the worst centerfielder in the American League. It is close right now, but Bernie is just a shade worse than Gary Mathews down in Texas. Jeremy Reed is slowly picking things up in Seattle while Jamie Moyer is off to a quick start. Who would have thought that Moyer would be out pointing Randy Johnson in the race to be the best forty-something lefty in the AL? Brian Roberts hit another home run last night. This dwarf had fifty doubles last year and I am beginning to wonder if he has a shot at 50 jacks this season. He gets Dave Wells tonight and Matt Clement tomorrow. The bet here is Roberts will have at least seven home runs before the start of play Friday night. Is any team off to a more surprising start than the Chicago White Sox? El Duque gave them six strong innings last night and who would have thought this staff would lead the AL in era 14 games into the season. They are now 4-1 against Minnesota and 4-2 against Cleveland – the two teams who were favored to battle it out for the AL Central crown.
On ESPN Radio this morning, Tim Legler was asked about Vince Carter and what he thought about Carter’s admission that he dogged it up in Toronto in hopes it would spark the team to trade him south of the border. Specifically, Legler was asked whether Carter’s reputation would suffer as a result of this disclosure. ESPN’s three point specialist responded by saying Carter’s reputation “would take a hit in the short-term,” but could be repaired. I thought I had heard it all but Legler proved me wrong once again. What the hell does he mean that Carter's reputation would take a hit in the “short-term?” Is he kidding? Carter’s offense is just a technicality short of shaving points. He may not have been paid to dog it, but that is just semantics as far as I am concerned. At the end of the day, he layed down solely because he thought it would get him out of town. This is a guy who is paid eight figures a year to play hard 82 times a year. Everyone knows players take nights off, but Carter actually admitted to such malaise and he did it for completely selfish reasons. This is a serious ethical breach as far as I am concerned and it is one that Carter will have to carry for the rest of his career. From here on out – he is a bum in my mind. He may be a very talented bum, but at the end of the day, he is a selfish bum who let down his team and its fans. This is not a short-term problem as Legler suggests. Instead, it is a permanent blot on Carter’s record. As long as he plays, Carter will be known as a dog by every fan other then those NBA apologists like Legler who are willing to forgive just about any transgression so long as it doesn’t involve fisticuffs with the fans.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
April 19 - Smith or Rogers? Who Cares?
I have just about had it with all this speculation over who is going to select Alex Smith and Arron Rogers in this weekend’s NFL draft. It is just sickening how much attention this issue has received over the past two weeks and I, for one, am ready to see it end. Does anyone really care whether San Francisco takes Alex Smith? The better question is whether anyone outside of the Mountain Time Zone has ever seen this kid play? The answer to this question is a resounding no even though pundits around the country speak as if they have been watching Smith since he was in 8th grade. Let me tell you – nobody has seen this kid play. Judging from the ratings, nobody saw him light up Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl and I will challenge anyone to claim they spent anytime watching Smith torch Colorado State, North Carolina or BYU. Despite Smith’s anonymity, radio show hosts and talking heads have had no problems offering their views on whether the Niners should select the Ute with the first pick on Saturday. And while Smith is a virtual unknown outside Utah, Rogers is not exactly a household name either, especially east of the Mississippi where pundits think the Pacific Ten is an Asian trade bloc. People may have caught Rogers carve up USC, but I don’t want to hear anyone claim they were there for the entire Holiday Bowl. He may be better known than Smith, but that doesn’t mean a whole lot along the eastern seaboard.
The truth is nobody knows a whole lot about these players but that hasn’t stopped many jerkoffs from offering their opinion on which teams should grab them during the draft. This critique is not really limited to Smith and Rogers since the same thing goes for countless other players being discussed right now. Case in point – I just heard Mike Francesca on WFAN offer his views on Virginia Tight End Heath Miller. I will bet my weekly allowance that Mike has never spent one minute watching Miller on film or in a private workout. Moreover, I will double down and bet that he never spent any time checking out Miller play in the ACC. In fact, I would bet that if I had asked Mike last November what school Miller played for, he would have had no clue unless he had somehow stumbled over a recent press clipping. Although there is some good analysis of the draft, much of it done by Scout Inc., I think the event is way over-analyzed, especially by a large group of guys who are unequipped to do anything other then regurgitate what they read in draft literature. Unfortunately, that is about all we get this time of year – a whole lot of plagiarism from pundits who are way out of their element. If pundits want to discuss what kinds of “needs” a team has – that is fine with me. But please, let’s tone down all this discussion of specific players and leave some of that analysis to those who are equipped to make informed assessments.
So the NFL is moving over from ABC to ESPN on Monday nights in 2006 and I for one, don’t think this was a very smart move for the league or ESPN. Some would argue that it really makes no difference where the games are shown since the overwhelming majority of homes now have access to ESPN. I disagree with this position although I must admit I do it with little passion. My basic instinct tells me MNF will lose a little cache over at ESPN and here is why. There is still a bit of a stigma attached with cable television. Granted, cable has matured from its humble inception but there is still something about cable that remains bush league. Don’t get me wrong, HBO puts out the best original programming on television and Emergency Vets on Animal Planet is pretty cool, but in other areas, cable is still a bit creepy. By and large, cable is where ordinary stuff is broadcast while big EVENTS like the Oscars and the Super Bowl remain planted with the networks. I am not going to compare MNF to the Oscars, but it was an EVENT in its heyday and still is in some circles. If you don’t believe me, then please answer the following; why do friends still gather every week to catch up, eat chicken wings and watch MNF? You may disagree, but MNF is still a special occasion for many in this country and there is absolutely nothing special about ESPN. My fear is that with the switch to ESPN, MNF will become just another game, particularly if NBC is able to grab some of the marquee games that were previously on Monday. Friends will still gather on Monday, but will they do it with as much frequency now that ESPN is involved and the game package is weaker? Perhaps, but I am not so confident. We shall see, but the bet here is that the switch to ESPN will cost MNF ten percent of its viewers right off the bat. As such, this is not a great deal for ESPN, especially given the fees it just paid.
Staying with MNF, the big question I have is whether ESPN will use its decrepit Sunday night team to broadcast its Monday night games in 2006. That would be a disaster since there is not team in the game as bad as Mike Patrick, Joey Heisman and The Drunk. I cannot imagine ESPN would sour its investment with this crew, but the folks in Bristol have been known to do strange things. Now the counter to this argument is that by switching Mike, Joey and Mac the Drunk over from Sundays to Mondays, the trio would be getting the same amount of airtime only on a different evening. And if that is the case, what is the big deal? I’ll tell you why it is a big deal for me. It is because this group of jerkoffs is currently only allowed to broadcast the leftovers that ESPN is tossed every Sunday night. I rarely watch that garbage anyways so it is easy for me to avoid this pitiful crew. But what happens if they now get tossed some of the better stuff that is reserved for Monday nights. That raises an interesting question. Will ESPN use this as an opportunity to finally can this crew and bring in Al and Madden, or do they bump them over to Monday? If it is the former, I will rejoice since that will mean the three headed retarded hydra is dead. But if it is the latter, we got problems.
Here is the answer to yesterday’s trivia question which asked readers to name the 19 sports figures who have hosted SNL: Tom Brady, Derek Jeter, Andy Roddick, Jeff Gordon, Johney Moseley, George Foreman, Deion Sanders. Charles Barkley. Nancy Kerrigan, Oranthal James Simpson, Bill Russell, Bob Uecker, Alex Karras, Howard Cosell, Marvin Hagler, Billy Martin, Wayne Gretzky, George Steinbrenner, and Michael Jordan.
Baseball Observations – National League: How hot are the Dodgers right now? Odalis Perez picked up his third win in as many games last night after getting just 13 decisions in 31 starts last year. I still cannot believe nobody wanted this guy over the off-season. Washington finally lost at home but at least they were successful knocking out a Marlins pitcher before he tossed a complete game. If a player strikes out four times in a single game, he gets a golden sombrero so what does Luis Castillo get for walking four times in a game – a sombrero worn by Barry Bonds? The Christian Guzman death watch continues in Washington as he went hitless against last night. Who gets benched first – Guzman or Majority Leader Tom DeLay? That’s more like it Kaz – A week after he threw a gem against Roger Clemens, Kaz Isshi was his old self last night, walking six and giving up five in five innings. Jim Thome is off to an Arod start but the big difference is Jim doesn’t have Tampa coming to town anytime soon. The Mets really need Cliff Floyd in that lineup. Hey, Mark Mulder won a game. Kerry Wood was staked to a four run first inning lead last night but couldn’t hold on as he was lifted after giving up five runs in six innings. Wood is a mess right now as evidenced by those nine walks and twenty-one hits in just twenty innings. In fact, Wood has been a mess since he blew game seven of the 2003 NLCS. That was a sick pitching matchup in Houston last night between Hudson and Clemens. Both these guys are off to white hot starts, although collectively they only have two wins to show for it. Rocket now has 26 strikeouts and only two walks in 21 innings. Houston is just dying to score runs right now and facing Hudson was certainly no tonic for them last night. Jake Peavy threw another gem for the Pads and it is about time Phil Nevin got a big knock. Dave Roberts came off the DL last night and got a couple of hits. Perhaps his return will spark San Diego’s offense. Omar Vizquel was given a gift in San Diego last night when he wasn’t charged with a clear error, showing clearly that major league scorers do everything in their power to protect good reputations.
Baseball Observations – American League. Manny hit a couple bombs on Patriot Day in Boston yesterday but he sure looked like a child in left field, butchering two fly balls. While Manny got off to a horrendous start, he does start today with the second most RBI’s in the American League. Mark Belhorn reached the twenty strikeout plateau yesterday and that has to be some kind of record. Boy, Steinbrenner’s message was heard loud and clear. If you believe that, you are a clown. Steinbrenner was playing with a loaded deck last night as the starting lineup of the Yanks was hitting over .400 lifetime against Devil Ray starter Rob Bell. If you don’t think George knew that when he put out that ridiculous press release, you are on crack. And here is a little message for GAYROD – going five for six against the Rays in April does not clear the air. Jaret Wright sure pitched great with that thirteen run lead. Lou Pinella is going to have a stroke this year. The Orioles proved last night that the only team they own is the Yankees. Let me get this straight – Jason Johnson can shut down Brian Roberts and the Orioles but Carl Pavano and Kevin Brown cannot? Chan Ho returned to Earth last night while Mark Kotsay remained on fire with a couple of hits and three RBIs. The A’s are better than people think. Tribe hurler Cliff Lee threw a great game last night but do games against KC count? Ichiro went 0-5 last night – how many times will that happen again this season?
If I were a New York Knicks fan, which I’m not, I would be paying close attention to what is going on with Cablevision’s bid to acquire Adelphia and its five million cable customers. I say this because if Cablevision is successful, it just may spark the company to sell the Knicks and Madison Square Garden, thus freeing thousands of Knicks fans who have long felt Cablevision's James Dolan is an idiot who cannot competently run the franchise. Well, it is being reported in today’s WSJ that Cablevision has upped its offer for Adelphia from $16.5 Billion to $17.1 Billion. A healthy slug of this offer would be conveyed in cash, meaning Cablevision would have to issue a lot of debt to finance the deal.
So that brings me to the Knicks. If Cablevision were to acquire Adelphia, the company would lose some of its New York-centric focus since Adelphia’s systems are spread out throughout the country. As such, there would not be as much need to own New York properties such as MSG. Further, the Knicks and MSG could probably fetch a big number on the open market and such a windfall could help Cablevision finance its Adelphia acquisition. I say probably because it is not the best time to be selling MSG with the Rangers stuck in a lockout and the Knicks being jailed in salary cap hell. It is clear to me that post acquisition, MSG has much less strategic value for Cablevision and it begs the question of why the company would want to keep the team. The only answer I can provide is Jimmy Dolan is an egomaniac who has an unquenchable thirst for the spotlight. Without the Knicks and MSG, he is just a typical corporate executive and I am sure that does not excite him much. And I don’t blame him since porn stars and models always take team owners over cable execs. So Jimmy’s ego remains the greatest impediment standing in the way of a sale, but the times are a changing and the financial implications of a deal for Adelphia could upend the landscape. So for all you Knicks fans that have been in exile under the Dolan regime, this may be your shot at a pardon. The odds may not be great, but at least there is now a reason to pick up the WSJ once in a while.
The truth is nobody knows a whole lot about these players but that hasn’t stopped many jerkoffs from offering their opinion on which teams should grab them during the draft. This critique is not really limited to Smith and Rogers since the same thing goes for countless other players being discussed right now. Case in point – I just heard Mike Francesca on WFAN offer his views on Virginia Tight End Heath Miller. I will bet my weekly allowance that Mike has never spent one minute watching Miller on film or in a private workout. Moreover, I will double down and bet that he never spent any time checking out Miller play in the ACC. In fact, I would bet that if I had asked Mike last November what school Miller played for, he would have had no clue unless he had somehow stumbled over a recent press clipping. Although there is some good analysis of the draft, much of it done by Scout Inc., I think the event is way over-analyzed, especially by a large group of guys who are unequipped to do anything other then regurgitate what they read in draft literature. Unfortunately, that is about all we get this time of year – a whole lot of plagiarism from pundits who are way out of their element. If pundits want to discuss what kinds of “needs” a team has – that is fine with me. But please, let’s tone down all this discussion of specific players and leave some of that analysis to those who are equipped to make informed assessments.
So the NFL is moving over from ABC to ESPN on Monday nights in 2006 and I for one, don’t think this was a very smart move for the league or ESPN. Some would argue that it really makes no difference where the games are shown since the overwhelming majority of homes now have access to ESPN. I disagree with this position although I must admit I do it with little passion. My basic instinct tells me MNF will lose a little cache over at ESPN and here is why. There is still a bit of a stigma attached with cable television. Granted, cable has matured from its humble inception but there is still something about cable that remains bush league. Don’t get me wrong, HBO puts out the best original programming on television and Emergency Vets on Animal Planet is pretty cool, but in other areas, cable is still a bit creepy. By and large, cable is where ordinary stuff is broadcast while big EVENTS like the Oscars and the Super Bowl remain planted with the networks. I am not going to compare MNF to the Oscars, but it was an EVENT in its heyday and still is in some circles. If you don’t believe me, then please answer the following; why do friends still gather every week to catch up, eat chicken wings and watch MNF? You may disagree, but MNF is still a special occasion for many in this country and there is absolutely nothing special about ESPN. My fear is that with the switch to ESPN, MNF will become just another game, particularly if NBC is able to grab some of the marquee games that were previously on Monday. Friends will still gather on Monday, but will they do it with as much frequency now that ESPN is involved and the game package is weaker? Perhaps, but I am not so confident. We shall see, but the bet here is that the switch to ESPN will cost MNF ten percent of its viewers right off the bat. As such, this is not a great deal for ESPN, especially given the fees it just paid.
Staying with MNF, the big question I have is whether ESPN will use its decrepit Sunday night team to broadcast its Monday night games in 2006. That would be a disaster since there is not team in the game as bad as Mike Patrick, Joey Heisman and The Drunk. I cannot imagine ESPN would sour its investment with this crew, but the folks in Bristol have been known to do strange things. Now the counter to this argument is that by switching Mike, Joey and Mac the Drunk over from Sundays to Mondays, the trio would be getting the same amount of airtime only on a different evening. And if that is the case, what is the big deal? I’ll tell you why it is a big deal for me. It is because this group of jerkoffs is currently only allowed to broadcast the leftovers that ESPN is tossed every Sunday night. I rarely watch that garbage anyways so it is easy for me to avoid this pitiful crew. But what happens if they now get tossed some of the better stuff that is reserved for Monday nights. That raises an interesting question. Will ESPN use this as an opportunity to finally can this crew and bring in Al and Madden, or do they bump them over to Monday? If it is the former, I will rejoice since that will mean the three headed retarded hydra is dead. But if it is the latter, we got problems.
Here is the answer to yesterday’s trivia question which asked readers to name the 19 sports figures who have hosted SNL: Tom Brady, Derek Jeter, Andy Roddick, Jeff Gordon, Johney Moseley, George Foreman, Deion Sanders. Charles Barkley. Nancy Kerrigan, Oranthal James Simpson, Bill Russell, Bob Uecker, Alex Karras, Howard Cosell, Marvin Hagler, Billy Martin, Wayne Gretzky, George Steinbrenner, and Michael Jordan.
Baseball Observations – National League: How hot are the Dodgers right now? Odalis Perez picked up his third win in as many games last night after getting just 13 decisions in 31 starts last year. I still cannot believe nobody wanted this guy over the off-season. Washington finally lost at home but at least they were successful knocking out a Marlins pitcher before he tossed a complete game. If a player strikes out four times in a single game, he gets a golden sombrero so what does Luis Castillo get for walking four times in a game – a sombrero worn by Barry Bonds? The Christian Guzman death watch continues in Washington as he went hitless against last night. Who gets benched first – Guzman or Majority Leader Tom DeLay? That’s more like it Kaz – A week after he threw a gem against Roger Clemens, Kaz Isshi was his old self last night, walking six and giving up five in five innings. Jim Thome is off to an Arod start but the big difference is Jim doesn’t have Tampa coming to town anytime soon. The Mets really need Cliff Floyd in that lineup. Hey, Mark Mulder won a game. Kerry Wood was staked to a four run first inning lead last night but couldn’t hold on as he was lifted after giving up five runs in six innings. Wood is a mess right now as evidenced by those nine walks and twenty-one hits in just twenty innings. In fact, Wood has been a mess since he blew game seven of the 2003 NLCS. That was a sick pitching matchup in Houston last night between Hudson and Clemens. Both these guys are off to white hot starts, although collectively they only have two wins to show for it. Rocket now has 26 strikeouts and only two walks in 21 innings. Houston is just dying to score runs right now and facing Hudson was certainly no tonic for them last night. Jake Peavy threw another gem for the Pads and it is about time Phil Nevin got a big knock. Dave Roberts came off the DL last night and got a couple of hits. Perhaps his return will spark San Diego’s offense. Omar Vizquel was given a gift in San Diego last night when he wasn’t charged with a clear error, showing clearly that major league scorers do everything in their power to protect good reputations.
Baseball Observations – American League. Manny hit a couple bombs on Patriot Day in Boston yesterday but he sure looked like a child in left field, butchering two fly balls. While Manny got off to a horrendous start, he does start today with the second most RBI’s in the American League. Mark Belhorn reached the twenty strikeout plateau yesterday and that has to be some kind of record. Boy, Steinbrenner’s message was heard loud and clear. If you believe that, you are a clown. Steinbrenner was playing with a loaded deck last night as the starting lineup of the Yanks was hitting over .400 lifetime against Devil Ray starter Rob Bell. If you don’t think George knew that when he put out that ridiculous press release, you are on crack. And here is a little message for GAYROD – going five for six against the Rays in April does not clear the air. Jaret Wright sure pitched great with that thirteen run lead. Lou Pinella is going to have a stroke this year. The Orioles proved last night that the only team they own is the Yankees. Let me get this straight – Jason Johnson can shut down Brian Roberts and the Orioles but Carl Pavano and Kevin Brown cannot? Chan Ho returned to Earth last night while Mark Kotsay remained on fire with a couple of hits and three RBIs. The A’s are better than people think. Tribe hurler Cliff Lee threw a great game last night but do games against KC count? Ichiro went 0-5 last night – how many times will that happen again this season?
If I were a New York Knicks fan, which I’m not, I would be paying close attention to what is going on with Cablevision’s bid to acquire Adelphia and its five million cable customers. I say this because if Cablevision is successful, it just may spark the company to sell the Knicks and Madison Square Garden, thus freeing thousands of Knicks fans who have long felt Cablevision's James Dolan is an idiot who cannot competently run the franchise. Well, it is being reported in today’s WSJ that Cablevision has upped its offer for Adelphia from $16.5 Billion to $17.1 Billion. A healthy slug of this offer would be conveyed in cash, meaning Cablevision would have to issue a lot of debt to finance the deal.
So that brings me to the Knicks. If Cablevision were to acquire Adelphia, the company would lose some of its New York-centric focus since Adelphia’s systems are spread out throughout the country. As such, there would not be as much need to own New York properties such as MSG. Further, the Knicks and MSG could probably fetch a big number on the open market and such a windfall could help Cablevision finance its Adelphia acquisition. I say probably because it is not the best time to be selling MSG with the Rangers stuck in a lockout and the Knicks being jailed in salary cap hell. It is clear to me that post acquisition, MSG has much less strategic value for Cablevision and it begs the question of why the company would want to keep the team. The only answer I can provide is Jimmy Dolan is an egomaniac who has an unquenchable thirst for the spotlight. Without the Knicks and MSG, he is just a typical corporate executive and I am sure that does not excite him much. And I don’t blame him since porn stars and models always take team owners over cable execs. So Jimmy’s ego remains the greatest impediment standing in the way of a sale, but the times are a changing and the financial implications of a deal for Adelphia could upend the landscape. So for all you Knicks fans that have been in exile under the Dolan regime, this may be your shot at a pardon. The odds may not be great, but at least there is now a reason to pick up the WSJ once in a while.
Monday, April 18, 2005
April 18 - Clarke Disconnected At MCI
*Note from the Editor – This column lost one of its eight readers today when a friend began work at his new job. For those of you remaining, and there aren’t many, pass this along to friends and take a second to file a comment once in a while. And for those of you who read this at work – show some balls. Big Brother isn’t watching. Submitting a comment to a blog is not a fireable offense, unless of course you were a tard to begin with. Boy do we have a lot today – there is tons of golf from Hilton Head, we got a bunch on Brady’s appearance on SNL, and the Yankess catch hell today. Plus, we have plenty of baseball observations from the weekend, a trivia question, Matt Doherty resurfacing in Boca and the story of a jaw breaker out at USC. Enjoy!
Rumblings from Hilton Head – Is there a pub between the fifth green and sixth tee at Hilton Head? There must be and Darren Clarke must have sneaked in there and had a few drinks during his round yesterday because there is no other way to explain his collapse over the final thirteen holes at the MCI. Clarke was cruising at the time, as he was four under through yesterday’s first five holes. What followed was a certifiable four-alarm meltdown - two bogeys and a double into the turn and a forty on the backside. In other words, Clarke was nine over on the final thirteen on his way to a two shot loss to Australian Peter Lonard. That isn’t just a run of the mill collapse. For Gods sake – that is Greg Norman. Speaking of Aussies, Lonard wasn’t exactly clean coming in as he shot four over on those same thirteen holes. I guess he was pounding Foster’s while Clarke was downing pints of Guinness. Despite Clarke’s poor play, these two playing partners were still tied in the fairway at 18 when Clarke gagged and pulled a relatively easy eight iron into some prime South Carolina marshland. Lonard should enjoy his gift because they don’t come too often – at least not as finely wrapped as this one.
Did you see who came in tied for second this weekend? Yep, it was none other then five-time MCI winner Davis Love. This guy absolutely dominates this track, which happens to be just up the road from Love’s Sea Island home. In fact, five of Love’s 18 tour wins have come at Hilton Head. I suspect that among players who have a dozen wins, only Mark O’Meara has won a greater percentage of his tour victories at the same venue (O’Meara has won five of his 16 victories at Pebble). Now if only the PGA would hold a Ryder Cup down at Hilton Head, Love might be able to improve on his 9-12-5 record.
Speaking of sponsors, what will happen to this tourney next year when MCI is a part of Verizon or Qwest? For those of you who don’t read the WSJ, MCI is currently being courted by these two Baby Bells and there is little doubt that it will be bought out in short order. So what will happen to this sponsorship, which has been under the MCI-Worldcom umbrella since 1987, making it one of the longest running sponsor relations on tour? It is entirely possible that the PGA will open up the bidding and this tourney will no longer be sponsored by a telco. I say that because Verizon doesn’t seem too interested in golf. When they bought GTE in the late 90’s, Verizon inherited GTE’s sponsorship of the Byron Nelson, but that has been dropped and picked up by EDS. And I believe that Qwest used to sponsor the International in its home city of Denver, but due to liquidity concerns, that sponsorship was dropped as well. Qwest’s financial profile has certainly not improved much since that time so there is little reason to think we will be talking about the Qwest Heritage next year. If neither of MCI’s acquirers retain this sponsorship, there will be only three telco stops left of tour – the Bell South in Atlanta, the Bell Canadian Open and the SBC/AT&T on the Monterey Peninsula. This pales in comparison to the eleven tourneys that are singularly sponsored by auto companies and the eight tourneys sponsored by banks and other financial service companies.
Last point on Hilton Head - this will be perhaps the final year that former Worldcom Chairman Bernie Ebbers will be able to watch his former tourney from the comfort of his own home. His appeal of a highly prejudicial criminal conviction may keep him free for another year, but sooner or later, Ebbers is going to watch this tourney from the inside of federal prison. And just think, it was only a few short years ago that Ebbers was handing out winners checks down at Hilton Head while scheming with his inner circle of ways to defraud investors.
Tom Brady hosted Saturday Night Live this week and the results were a bit on the shaky side as the writers forced him to play with a dreadful game plan. The writing was truly awful and making Tom play with Rachel Dratch and Amy Poehler is a bit like making him play in the Super Bowl with backup Cedric Cobbs at running back and some receivers off the extended practice squad. Heck, there were certainly no Will Ferrell’s or Chris Farley’s out there to protect Brady’s backside or get deep down the field for some big laughs. The game started off alright as Brady’s opening monologue was decent and showed off some decent skills. It wasn’t a touchdown drive, but I’ll give him three points for his dance moves. He followed that up with a skit that featured him as a guy who couldn’t throw a football through a hole at an amusement park. Again, it was not horrible, but it was certainly nothing to get too excited about. I’ll be generous and say Vinaterri nailed a long one for Tom to get another three on the board. What followed was real ugly. There was a horrific skit with Rachal Dratch where Tom and her pretended to be a couple receiving some counseling from Dr. Phil. This was a BOMB and therefore I am giving this TD to the opposition. What followed was a ridiculous cameo where Tom played a lost hiker in a moronic skit about a guy who was half man and half falcon. Since it was just a cameo, I am only going to award three points to Tom’s opponent. So at halftime, Brady is only down 10-6.
The second half opened with Tom having to scramble for his life in an atrocious skit promoting a fictitious Middle Eastern restaurant in South Jersey. This was clearly a touchdown for the defense. But just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, the game was broken open when Tom had to play a character who was struggling with the decision of whether to get married. The skit ended in an Amy Poehler fumble which led to a touchdown and a two point conversion. Adding insult to injury was another “Behind the Music” sketch where Brady played Jim MacMahon of the 1985 Bears. It wasn’t a disaster but Brady was sacked in the end zone for a safety. The game ended with Brady getting a meaningless three off a skit that featured an impression of Peyton and Donovan, but it wasn’t nearly enough to win or cover the spread. The final score: 27-9. That certainly isn’t a victory and I have to admit I was expecting a bit better performance. But again, he was weighed down by poor surrounding talent and a terrible game plan. Other athletes – such as Nancy Kerrigan, Marvin Hagler and Wayne Gretzky – had no such liabilities when they appeared and that is why I am not ready to put Brady’s performance at the bottom of the SNL scrap heap. He did not shine, but we are not talking about Tony Eason in the 1985 Super Bowl here. No, I am going to cut Tom some slack here and say his performance was more like Scott Zolak’s 21 of 44 in the Patriots 25-10 wildcard loss to Jacksonville in 1998.
Trivia Question of the Day - In SNL history, nineteen sports figures – and that includes athletes, coaches, broadcasters, coaches and owners - have appeared on the show since it debuted in 1975. The 19th is a bit of a stretch since I don’t consider race drivers to be athletes, and I also excluded Hulk Hogan and The Rock, even though the latter did play defensive line at the University of Miami. I have already given you a couple hints above, but see how many you can name. I would say ten are either obvious or easily remembered, but there are some unusual ones that even the Sportsaholic had trouble remembering. See how many you can name. Answers will be posted in tomorrow’s column.
“Enough is Enough!” Those are the words of George Steinbrenner who finally broke yesterday after watching his $200 Million dollar team manhandled by the Orioles. Darth Vader followed that up by saying “It is unbelievable to me that the highest paid-team in baseball would start the season in such a funk.” You think Brian Cashman slept a wink last night? Well, it seems Steinbrenner is a bit peeved that his billion dollar babies can’t get a clutch hit, his geriatric staff can’t keep the ball inside the park and his pigpen can’t hold a lead. I guess he thought $200 million was supposed to buy you a few wins. Think again. Right now, he has spent $15 million for his four wins this season. That is a bunch of cash when you consider Tampa has spent about $2.5 million on its four wins. Talk about overpaying. That is like spending seventy grand on a Ford Focus. Now it is quite obvious George timed this little outburst with a break in the schedule as Tampa is coming in tonight for a little two game set. The Yankees swept Tampa in the Bronx last year so it is safe to assume they will get a couple of wins over the next two days. As such, George will be able to take credit for the turnaround even if it unravels when the Yanks face some tough Toronto pitching later in the week. So is there cause for concern in Yankee land? I would say concern is well justified while panic is a bit premature. There is no doubt that this team could fix itself in a hurry. They just got done playing a tough stretch and it is possible that they will fatten up against some easier competition. But there are some warning signs that are troubling. First off, there is a ton of age on this team and who is to say that three or four question marks don’t all fall off a cliff this year. Clearly Bernie and Tino are done, and who is to say Giambi will ever snap back. But more importantly, what happens if one of more of the following are cooked: Johnson, Mussina, Posada and Marianio. Each has shown cracks this year and the Yanks have BIG issues if a couple of these guys break down at the same time. And that really wouldn’t come as much of a surprise to me. RJ is 41, Mussina is closing in on 3000 MLB innings, Posada has been overused for years and Rivera is not a kid. Guys get old – it is a fact of life. The Yanks big concern is what happens if all their aging guys get old at once. Then they have problems and big ones at that. After all, this is a team built to win right now. Furthermore, even if the older guys do pick it up, the one thing I can say with confidence is this team’s bullpen STINKS. Tom Gordon simply cannot protect a lead against anyone other then the dregs of baseball. He is like that state-of-the-art car alarm that scares off the kids but not the professional crooks. And don’t get me started on guys like Stanton, Karsay, Rodriguez and Quantril. That collection of garbage needs to be deposited in a hazardous waste disposal site. The Yankees have about $12 million invested in this quartet, which is shocking since its street value is roughly $3 million dollars. I am not ready to start dancing on George’s grave at this moment, but I am watching the situation with great interest, because if this thing blows up, the Yankees, and their largely phony fan base, are in for quite a ride. MAY THE CURSE OF GAYROD LIVE ON!
Baseball Observations – American League: The Indians are really struggling at the plate despite yesterday’s win over the Twins. It is hard to imagine this offense is going to stay this quiet for too much longer. The Sox righted themselves this weekend against the Devil Rays, but they always manhandle the Rays. I am more interested to see how they do in the upcoming four with Toronto and Baltimore. Nonetheless, after holding Tampa to just three runs over the weekend, the Sox lowered their team ERA by more than a full run. I feel sorry for Dewon Brazelton every time he pitches. This solid kid has overcome tons of obstacles in life, but he just seems overmatched every time Lou sends him out to the mound, especially on the road and particularly against the Red Sox. I am rooting for this kid to make it in this league. Toronto pitcher Josh Towers got lit up Sunday after a couple of nice starts but teammate Gustavo Chacin is 3-0 after beating the Rangers on Saturday night. Chacin, a young lefthander, is a bit unorthodox, but it looks like he can get people out. I will wait to see how he does against the Yanks on Thursday before I get too excited by this kid. I watched a bunch of the Angles game yesterday and John Lackey is batting practice. Meanwhile, I love Mark Kotsay. He may not have a ton of speed for a leadoff guy, but he works counts and gets things done. He has an opt-out clause in his contract after the season and I would love to see this guy in Boston in Damon bolts through free agency. Brian Roberts has absolutely destroyed the Yankees this year and I am sure George Steinbrenner is already plotting to sign this kid when he becomes a free agent after the 2006 season.
Observations – National League: Saturday morning, I spoke of three players mired in slumps – Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew and Scott Rolen. Each jacked home runs this weekend. Do the Nationals have something going on at RFK or do the Diamond Backs just stink? It is probably the latter although that D.C. lineup has some bite. Vinny Castilla sure wore out Arizona, going seven for ten with two bombs. About the only thing not working for Washington is Christian Guzman who is 5 for 44 with one double. After watching Josh Beckett go down Friday and the Florida bullpen blow a game for Al Leiter on Saturday, A.J. Burnett went out and dominated the Mets with a four hitter on Sunday. That is what you call a stopper. Meanwhile, Tom Glavine is looking real spotty early on. He is having a lot of trouble with his control as evidenced by his ten walks in fifteen innings. Is it just me or is something wrong with the universe when Ken Griffey is hitting second and Joe Randa is batting cleanup? The Astros scored five runs on Sunday, but they need Lance Berkman back yesterday. They are 14th in the NL in scoring even though they have played eight of eleven at cozy parks in Houston and Cincinnati. It is nearly impossible to tell what kind of team the Giants have based on the first two weeks of the season. They get points for being 6-5 without Bonds, but five of their wins have come against Colorado. The Giants got their win on Sunday when Michael Tucker blasted a Byung-Hyun Kim offering over the right-center wall with bases stacked. Somebody should tell the Rockies that they are under no obligation to use Kim in difficult spots. He is simply not cut out for that work, although I will say he has had a few scoreless outings early this year. Nomar and Corey are still stuck on a single extra base hit while Corey leads Nomar in strikeouts 13-7. The Brewers got completely shut out at home this weekend by the Cardinals even though they got pretty decent starting pitching. Check it out – the Brewers are second in NL team ERA through the first two weeks of the season. Imagine that – another great Brave pitching performance was spoiled by Danny Kolb. First it was John Smoltz and last night it was Mike Hampton. He sure is making friends quickly. And what about Bret Myers start? He didn’t get the win last night, but Myers was terrific and he has now only given up only fourteen hits and two walks in twenty innings. He finally may be ready to explode. That Kahlil Green injury is a real stinger for the Padres who were having trouble enough scoring runs with their shortstop in the lineup. And finally, who needs Eric Gagne when you have guys like Jeff Weaver and Derrick Lowe go the distance. This weekend’s sweep of San Diego was nice work by the men in blue.
I have long thought that Michael Westbrook’s first round TKO over Stephen Davis was the greatest upset in intra-team fighting history. In case you have forgotten the incident, these two skins went at it in 1997 when they were both Washington Redskins. As I recall, the 240 pound Davis threw a homosexual slur at Westbrook, and the 190 pound receiver responded by pounding Davis into the turf. From all accounts, Westbrook absolutely destroyed Davis and had to be restrained before he destroyed Washington’s running game. So now there is word out of Southern California that Trojan receiver Steve Smith took a swing at 260 pound Tight End Dominique Byrd and ended up breaking the big guy’s jaw. When asked about the fight, Smith had this to say: “"I was like, 'You know Byrd … I really don't want to fight you. He was like, 'Nah, we've got to.' So I swung." Smith is being too modest as evidenced by the fact that ever since he connected with that punch, Byrd has been sipping his meals. The moral to this story is you should always put your money on the wide receiver when he is going up against a larger man. That is of course unless the bigger man is a known killer like Ray Lewis. By the way, Westbrook’s fight may not have been the fluke that I once thought. It has come to my attention that he is now involved in “no holds barred” cage fighting. In fact, he was supposed to enter the cage with former Michigan and New York giant running back Jerrod Bunch in late February, although I cannot confirm whether that shitshow actually took place.
Everyone knew Matt Doherty would have to take a big back step if he wanted to coach in college basketball again, but going from North Carolina to Florida Atlantic is more then just a step. A step would have been UMASS or a Tulsa. Florida Atlantic is more like a standing broad jump backwards. In case you don’t know, Florida Atlantic plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference with a bunch of schools like Mercer, Stetson, Campbell, Belmont and Gardner Webb. If I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed that these are the last names of five brothers hanging out playing cards. Doherty had to take a hit after he nurtured a mutiny at UNC, but this fall is more then this scribe contemplated. Heck, if this were medical school, Doherty would be studying medicine in Grenada. There have been other great falls in college coaching history, but this one has to rank near the top. In fact, I would put it right up there with Larry Farmer getting booted from UCLA and showing up at Weber State. There is at least one scribe who does not agree with me on this issue and that is Prick Vitale who has written that Doherty’s signing “is a great moment for the people of Florida Atlantic.” Great? Is he kidding? The kids at Florida Atlantic must have had pretty horrendous lives if this moment qualities as great. Somebody needs to tell Prick that the English language contains adjectives other then great, super and terrific.
Rumblings from Hilton Head – Is there a pub between the fifth green and sixth tee at Hilton Head? There must be and Darren Clarke must have sneaked in there and had a few drinks during his round yesterday because there is no other way to explain his collapse over the final thirteen holes at the MCI. Clarke was cruising at the time, as he was four under through yesterday’s first five holes. What followed was a certifiable four-alarm meltdown - two bogeys and a double into the turn and a forty on the backside. In other words, Clarke was nine over on the final thirteen on his way to a two shot loss to Australian Peter Lonard. That isn’t just a run of the mill collapse. For Gods sake – that is Greg Norman. Speaking of Aussies, Lonard wasn’t exactly clean coming in as he shot four over on those same thirteen holes. I guess he was pounding Foster’s while Clarke was downing pints of Guinness. Despite Clarke’s poor play, these two playing partners were still tied in the fairway at 18 when Clarke gagged and pulled a relatively easy eight iron into some prime South Carolina marshland. Lonard should enjoy his gift because they don’t come too often – at least not as finely wrapped as this one.
Did you see who came in tied for second this weekend? Yep, it was none other then five-time MCI winner Davis Love. This guy absolutely dominates this track, which happens to be just up the road from Love’s Sea Island home. In fact, five of Love’s 18 tour wins have come at Hilton Head. I suspect that among players who have a dozen wins, only Mark O’Meara has won a greater percentage of his tour victories at the same venue (O’Meara has won five of his 16 victories at Pebble). Now if only the PGA would hold a Ryder Cup down at Hilton Head, Love might be able to improve on his 9-12-5 record.
Speaking of sponsors, what will happen to this tourney next year when MCI is a part of Verizon or Qwest? For those of you who don’t read the WSJ, MCI is currently being courted by these two Baby Bells and there is little doubt that it will be bought out in short order. So what will happen to this sponsorship, which has been under the MCI-Worldcom umbrella since 1987, making it one of the longest running sponsor relations on tour? It is entirely possible that the PGA will open up the bidding and this tourney will no longer be sponsored by a telco. I say that because Verizon doesn’t seem too interested in golf. When they bought GTE in the late 90’s, Verizon inherited GTE’s sponsorship of the Byron Nelson, but that has been dropped and picked up by EDS. And I believe that Qwest used to sponsor the International in its home city of Denver, but due to liquidity concerns, that sponsorship was dropped as well. Qwest’s financial profile has certainly not improved much since that time so there is little reason to think we will be talking about the Qwest Heritage next year. If neither of MCI’s acquirers retain this sponsorship, there will be only three telco stops left of tour – the Bell South in Atlanta, the Bell Canadian Open and the SBC/AT&T on the Monterey Peninsula. This pales in comparison to the eleven tourneys that are singularly sponsored by auto companies and the eight tourneys sponsored by banks and other financial service companies.
Last point on Hilton Head - this will be perhaps the final year that former Worldcom Chairman Bernie Ebbers will be able to watch his former tourney from the comfort of his own home. His appeal of a highly prejudicial criminal conviction may keep him free for another year, but sooner or later, Ebbers is going to watch this tourney from the inside of federal prison. And just think, it was only a few short years ago that Ebbers was handing out winners checks down at Hilton Head while scheming with his inner circle of ways to defraud investors.
Tom Brady hosted Saturday Night Live this week and the results were a bit on the shaky side as the writers forced him to play with a dreadful game plan. The writing was truly awful and making Tom play with Rachel Dratch and Amy Poehler is a bit like making him play in the Super Bowl with backup Cedric Cobbs at running back and some receivers off the extended practice squad. Heck, there were certainly no Will Ferrell’s or Chris Farley’s out there to protect Brady’s backside or get deep down the field for some big laughs. The game started off alright as Brady’s opening monologue was decent and showed off some decent skills. It wasn’t a touchdown drive, but I’ll give him three points for his dance moves. He followed that up with a skit that featured him as a guy who couldn’t throw a football through a hole at an amusement park. Again, it was not horrible, but it was certainly nothing to get too excited about. I’ll be generous and say Vinaterri nailed a long one for Tom to get another three on the board. What followed was real ugly. There was a horrific skit with Rachal Dratch where Tom and her pretended to be a couple receiving some counseling from Dr. Phil. This was a BOMB and therefore I am giving this TD to the opposition. What followed was a ridiculous cameo where Tom played a lost hiker in a moronic skit about a guy who was half man and half falcon. Since it was just a cameo, I am only going to award three points to Tom’s opponent. So at halftime, Brady is only down 10-6.
The second half opened with Tom having to scramble for his life in an atrocious skit promoting a fictitious Middle Eastern restaurant in South Jersey. This was clearly a touchdown for the defense. But just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, the game was broken open when Tom had to play a character who was struggling with the decision of whether to get married. The skit ended in an Amy Poehler fumble which led to a touchdown and a two point conversion. Adding insult to injury was another “Behind the Music” sketch where Brady played Jim MacMahon of the 1985 Bears. It wasn’t a disaster but Brady was sacked in the end zone for a safety. The game ended with Brady getting a meaningless three off a skit that featured an impression of Peyton and Donovan, but it wasn’t nearly enough to win or cover the spread. The final score: 27-9. That certainly isn’t a victory and I have to admit I was expecting a bit better performance. But again, he was weighed down by poor surrounding talent and a terrible game plan. Other athletes – such as Nancy Kerrigan, Marvin Hagler and Wayne Gretzky – had no such liabilities when they appeared and that is why I am not ready to put Brady’s performance at the bottom of the SNL scrap heap. He did not shine, but we are not talking about Tony Eason in the 1985 Super Bowl here. No, I am going to cut Tom some slack here and say his performance was more like Scott Zolak’s 21 of 44 in the Patriots 25-10 wildcard loss to Jacksonville in 1998.
Trivia Question of the Day - In SNL history, nineteen sports figures – and that includes athletes, coaches, broadcasters, coaches and owners - have appeared on the show since it debuted in 1975. The 19th is a bit of a stretch since I don’t consider race drivers to be athletes, and I also excluded Hulk Hogan and The Rock, even though the latter did play defensive line at the University of Miami. I have already given you a couple hints above, but see how many you can name. I would say ten are either obvious or easily remembered, but there are some unusual ones that even the Sportsaholic had trouble remembering. See how many you can name. Answers will be posted in tomorrow’s column.
“Enough is Enough!” Those are the words of George Steinbrenner who finally broke yesterday after watching his $200 Million dollar team manhandled by the Orioles. Darth Vader followed that up by saying “It is unbelievable to me that the highest paid-team in baseball would start the season in such a funk.” You think Brian Cashman slept a wink last night? Well, it seems Steinbrenner is a bit peeved that his billion dollar babies can’t get a clutch hit, his geriatric staff can’t keep the ball inside the park and his pigpen can’t hold a lead. I guess he thought $200 million was supposed to buy you a few wins. Think again. Right now, he has spent $15 million for his four wins this season. That is a bunch of cash when you consider Tampa has spent about $2.5 million on its four wins. Talk about overpaying. That is like spending seventy grand on a Ford Focus. Now it is quite obvious George timed this little outburst with a break in the schedule as Tampa is coming in tonight for a little two game set. The Yankees swept Tampa in the Bronx last year so it is safe to assume they will get a couple of wins over the next two days. As such, George will be able to take credit for the turnaround even if it unravels when the Yanks face some tough Toronto pitching later in the week. So is there cause for concern in Yankee land? I would say concern is well justified while panic is a bit premature. There is no doubt that this team could fix itself in a hurry. They just got done playing a tough stretch and it is possible that they will fatten up against some easier competition. But there are some warning signs that are troubling. First off, there is a ton of age on this team and who is to say that three or four question marks don’t all fall off a cliff this year. Clearly Bernie and Tino are done, and who is to say Giambi will ever snap back. But more importantly, what happens if one of more of the following are cooked: Johnson, Mussina, Posada and Marianio. Each has shown cracks this year and the Yanks have BIG issues if a couple of these guys break down at the same time. And that really wouldn’t come as much of a surprise to me. RJ is 41, Mussina is closing in on 3000 MLB innings, Posada has been overused for years and Rivera is not a kid. Guys get old – it is a fact of life. The Yanks big concern is what happens if all their aging guys get old at once. Then they have problems and big ones at that. After all, this is a team built to win right now. Furthermore, even if the older guys do pick it up, the one thing I can say with confidence is this team’s bullpen STINKS. Tom Gordon simply cannot protect a lead against anyone other then the dregs of baseball. He is like that state-of-the-art car alarm that scares off the kids but not the professional crooks. And don’t get me started on guys like Stanton, Karsay, Rodriguez and Quantril. That collection of garbage needs to be deposited in a hazardous waste disposal site. The Yankees have about $12 million invested in this quartet, which is shocking since its street value is roughly $3 million dollars. I am not ready to start dancing on George’s grave at this moment, but I am watching the situation with great interest, because if this thing blows up, the Yankees, and their largely phony fan base, are in for quite a ride. MAY THE CURSE OF GAYROD LIVE ON!
Baseball Observations – American League: The Indians are really struggling at the plate despite yesterday’s win over the Twins. It is hard to imagine this offense is going to stay this quiet for too much longer. The Sox righted themselves this weekend against the Devil Rays, but they always manhandle the Rays. I am more interested to see how they do in the upcoming four with Toronto and Baltimore. Nonetheless, after holding Tampa to just three runs over the weekend, the Sox lowered their team ERA by more than a full run. I feel sorry for Dewon Brazelton every time he pitches. This solid kid has overcome tons of obstacles in life, but he just seems overmatched every time Lou sends him out to the mound, especially on the road and particularly against the Red Sox. I am rooting for this kid to make it in this league. Toronto pitcher Josh Towers got lit up Sunday after a couple of nice starts but teammate Gustavo Chacin is 3-0 after beating the Rangers on Saturday night. Chacin, a young lefthander, is a bit unorthodox, but it looks like he can get people out. I will wait to see how he does against the Yanks on Thursday before I get too excited by this kid. I watched a bunch of the Angles game yesterday and John Lackey is batting practice. Meanwhile, I love Mark Kotsay. He may not have a ton of speed for a leadoff guy, but he works counts and gets things done. He has an opt-out clause in his contract after the season and I would love to see this guy in Boston in Damon bolts through free agency. Brian Roberts has absolutely destroyed the Yankees this year and I am sure George Steinbrenner is already plotting to sign this kid when he becomes a free agent after the 2006 season.
Observations – National League: Saturday morning, I spoke of three players mired in slumps – Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew and Scott Rolen. Each jacked home runs this weekend. Do the Nationals have something going on at RFK or do the Diamond Backs just stink? It is probably the latter although that D.C. lineup has some bite. Vinny Castilla sure wore out Arizona, going seven for ten with two bombs. About the only thing not working for Washington is Christian Guzman who is 5 for 44 with one double. After watching Josh Beckett go down Friday and the Florida bullpen blow a game for Al Leiter on Saturday, A.J. Burnett went out and dominated the Mets with a four hitter on Sunday. That is what you call a stopper. Meanwhile, Tom Glavine is looking real spotty early on. He is having a lot of trouble with his control as evidenced by his ten walks in fifteen innings. Is it just me or is something wrong with the universe when Ken Griffey is hitting second and Joe Randa is batting cleanup? The Astros scored five runs on Sunday, but they need Lance Berkman back yesterday. They are 14th in the NL in scoring even though they have played eight of eleven at cozy parks in Houston and Cincinnati. It is nearly impossible to tell what kind of team the Giants have based on the first two weeks of the season. They get points for being 6-5 without Bonds, but five of their wins have come against Colorado. The Giants got their win on Sunday when Michael Tucker blasted a Byung-Hyun Kim offering over the right-center wall with bases stacked. Somebody should tell the Rockies that they are under no obligation to use Kim in difficult spots. He is simply not cut out for that work, although I will say he has had a few scoreless outings early this year. Nomar and Corey are still stuck on a single extra base hit while Corey leads Nomar in strikeouts 13-7. The Brewers got completely shut out at home this weekend by the Cardinals even though they got pretty decent starting pitching. Check it out – the Brewers are second in NL team ERA through the first two weeks of the season. Imagine that – another great Brave pitching performance was spoiled by Danny Kolb. First it was John Smoltz and last night it was Mike Hampton. He sure is making friends quickly. And what about Bret Myers start? He didn’t get the win last night, but Myers was terrific and he has now only given up only fourteen hits and two walks in twenty innings. He finally may be ready to explode. That Kahlil Green injury is a real stinger for the Padres who were having trouble enough scoring runs with their shortstop in the lineup. And finally, who needs Eric Gagne when you have guys like Jeff Weaver and Derrick Lowe go the distance. This weekend’s sweep of San Diego was nice work by the men in blue.
I have long thought that Michael Westbrook’s first round TKO over Stephen Davis was the greatest upset in intra-team fighting history. In case you have forgotten the incident, these two skins went at it in 1997 when they were both Washington Redskins. As I recall, the 240 pound Davis threw a homosexual slur at Westbrook, and the 190 pound receiver responded by pounding Davis into the turf. From all accounts, Westbrook absolutely destroyed Davis and had to be restrained before he destroyed Washington’s running game. So now there is word out of Southern California that Trojan receiver Steve Smith took a swing at 260 pound Tight End Dominique Byrd and ended up breaking the big guy’s jaw. When asked about the fight, Smith had this to say: “"I was like, 'You know Byrd … I really don't want to fight you. He was like, 'Nah, we've got to.' So I swung." Smith is being too modest as evidenced by the fact that ever since he connected with that punch, Byrd has been sipping his meals. The moral to this story is you should always put your money on the wide receiver when he is going up against a larger man. That is of course unless the bigger man is a known killer like Ray Lewis. By the way, Westbrook’s fight may not have been the fluke that I once thought. It has come to my attention that he is now involved in “no holds barred” cage fighting. In fact, he was supposed to enter the cage with former Michigan and New York giant running back Jerrod Bunch in late February, although I cannot confirm whether that shitshow actually took place.
Everyone knew Matt Doherty would have to take a big back step if he wanted to coach in college basketball again, but going from North Carolina to Florida Atlantic is more then just a step. A step would have been UMASS or a Tulsa. Florida Atlantic is more like a standing broad jump backwards. In case you don’t know, Florida Atlantic plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference with a bunch of schools like Mercer, Stetson, Campbell, Belmont and Gardner Webb. If I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed that these are the last names of five brothers hanging out playing cards. Doherty had to take a hit after he nurtured a mutiny at UNC, but this fall is more then this scribe contemplated. Heck, if this were medical school, Doherty would be studying medicine in Grenada. There have been other great falls in college coaching history, but this one has to rank near the top. In fact, I would put it right up there with Larry Farmer getting booted from UCLA and showing up at Weber State. There is at least one scribe who does not agree with me on this issue and that is Prick Vitale who has written that Doherty’s signing “is a great moment for the people of Florida Atlantic.” Great? Is he kidding? The kids at Florida Atlantic must have had pretty horrendous lives if this moment qualities as great. Somebody needs to tell Prick that the English language contains adjectives other then great, super and terrific.
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