Where have we gone?

Well it's been about a year since anyone has blogged anything! I wonder if anyone missed us at all? Anyways I think I am going to start blogging again.

2011 MLB Season Preview: AL East New York Yankees

Now I can't stand the Yankees, but I will be as fair as possible and write an unbiased preview. While the Yankees may have missed out on the Cliff Lee sweepstakes, and there are tons of questions surrounding their pitching rotation, they're still the Yankees. No matter how many times I pray at night and hope that one of these years they'll just fade off and I won't have to worry about them, I know it'll never happen. The Yankees continue to compete every year, the highest payroll in the League is a big advantage, and helps to keep them ultra competitive every year. The Yankees do manage to develop some home grown talent in Robinson Cano and Brett Gardner, and they have some young pitchers coming up that may have to be an impact later this season.

The most glaring problem is the pitching rotation. The top two in the rotation are solid with CC and Hughes anchoring the staff. If AJ Burnett manages to prove that last year was simply a fluke he will greatly boost the rotation and take at lot of Cashman's mind. The bottom two of the rotation still leave a lot to desire, but with the dynamic Yankees offense, those weaknesses can be covered pretty quickly, especially pitching against other teams 4 and 5 starters. Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, and Ian Nova figure to compete for those last two remaining spots. They also have a few options in the minors that could get looks later in the season, or in a pinch earlier on.

Health will be a key to this teams success. They lack depth in just about all aspects of this team. If CC or Hughes goes down, the rotation could be a major liability and something they'd be unable to cover-up. They have the ability to cover up some short term injuries in the OF and INF in Ramiro Pena and Andruw Jones. There are plenty of "what if" scenarios, but the simple fact is the Yankees will still compete no matter what questions remain out there.

2011 MLB Season Preview: AL East Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays took plenty of hits this past off season, losing 12 players off their roster last year. There bullpen, which was one of their big time strengths last year, was torn about in free agency. Their dominant closer Rafael Soriano went to the Yankees, they saw Dan Wheeler and Grant Balfour go to the Red Sox and Athletics respectively. While they took plenty of big hits, the Rays always seem to be able to piece together solid bullpens among players that are on the scrap heap, or through their internal options.


They also lost a fair amount of offense. Carl Crawford joined a rejuvenated Red Sox line up, Jason Bartlett was shipped to the Padres, and Carlos Pena signed with the Cubs, so they have plenty of holes to fill. The Rays will most likely rely on Reid Brignac and Ben Zobrist to handle the SS position. Brignac showed some promise last year with a few break out games, but hasn't shown his true potential. Zobrist is a solid player where ever the Rays put him, and will be a vital piece this year for the Rays to succeed. While Pena's production took a big hit, especially in the BA department, his defense was still highly regarded. Dan Johnson was solid last year, and the Rays would love to see a continuation on last year, that most likely won't be the case, and they will be looking for another first basemen to platoon with him. Additions Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon were brought in to pick up some of the slack left from the loses stated above. While neither offer much in the form of defense anymore (never did Ramirez's case), if either one of them see some of their success from a few years ago in this season, they will be a bargain.


Their starting pitching should continue to be a strength. If their youngest improve they could be looking at one of the best rotations in baseball. Behind ace David Price they have James Shields, who hopes to rebound from a slightly disappointing 2010 season, Jeff Niemann, Jeremey Hellickson, and Wade Davis. Hellickson could have a breakout year, as he looked pretty good in some late season call up work. Niemann and Davis had their up's and down's as any young pitchers will have, but still figure to be better this year.


The Rays knew this year was coming, where they'd lose some of their core players to free agency, but they still have a good solid young core headlined by Evan Longoria. I'm not sure if Longoria and Zobrist can carry this lineup into the postseason, but if Manny or Damon can put together a decent season, look for the Rays to be in the upper parts of the standings.

Cam Newton: Entertainer, Icon, Future Bust

Cam Newton came out and said he saw himself as an "entertainer" and "icon" already. The guy hasn't thrown one NFL pass, and struggled mightily in his combine workout, yet he's already got big plans as an star NFL QB. If my team was looking at drafting him in the NFL Draft, I would hope and pray everyday that they don't. We see this type of QB come around plenty: big QB, big arm, and loves to run (see Daunte Culpepper etc.) I just don't see why teams keep buying into these QBs. Yes, Micahel Vick is able to thrive with this, although he isn't very big, but he has elite speed. Michael Vick is ridiculously fast, that's what sets him apart. Cam Newton isn't doing anything for me as a football player, and I'm not liking his mental side either so far. While yes he handled the controversy at Auburn pretty well, throw 35 million in guaranteed money and celebrity status he has/ will achieve, and we'll see how he does.

New MJ?

Derrick Rose dropped 42 points and 8 assists Thursday night against a league leading San Antonio Spurs. This was a new career high for him and he had the fans chanting M-V-P all night long. To top this all off it comes on Micheal Jordans 47th birthday. This raises the question....is Rose the next MJ? Some people will say he is...personally for me he is not. About the only thing I can tell they have in common is that they both played for the Chicago Bulls and they both led/lead their team in scoring. Rose has neither a MVP award or a Championship ring and until he has a couple of both of these this should not even be a question.

Interview Meltdowns

Found this little gem the other day! This is one of the reasons I like Jim Rome...I know most people hate his show but when stuff like this happens it kind of takes away all the negatives. I mean this guy has got to have some gigantic kahunas to take on a beast like Jim Everett.



This vid got me wondering what other kind of sweet meltdowns I could find out there so I dug around a bit and found some things. Enjoy!

What should Blake do?

Dear Mr. Griffin,

If you would like to win the Slam Dunk Contest this year do not listen to these kids. The smartest thing this kid said all video was to jump over a truck....but he since that is like commiting suicide this advice should only be taken by Paul Pierce since he is garbage anyways and would not be missed by anyone except for maybe the Heat (0-10 against them today).

-Streetfighter

P.S. You need to dunk on Ron Artest so he remembers who the real Blake is!

Pep Talk

Nothing gets me fired up more than a Herm Edwards pep talk!


http://search.espn.go.com/herm-edwards-pep-talk/

I like how they set the mood and everything by dimming the lights and cueing the music while the other reporter slowly backs out of the picture and the camera slowly zooms in for a close up on Herm.

Randy Moss Is Coming Home

When Randy Moss was traded away from the Vikings in 2005, I was a little upset. My Purple Pride was hurt and I wished it could have been undone. The next few years there was nothing to be excited about. Troy Williamson? Nate Burleson? No thanks. I wanted Randy back. Then in 2007, Adrian Peterson came along and made me forget about Randy Moss a little bit. But it was always in my head that maybe there was a chance that The Freak would come back to Minnesota and pick up right where he left off. My obsession with this idea became very evident. Every time I played a franchise in Madden, I traded Randy Moss back to the Vikings (including this year). A Randy Moss poster from his rookie year is taking up a big chunk of space on my bedroom wall just like it did 12 years ago. And on top of that, I talked about the scenario of Moss being traded back quite a bit. Last night I heard the rumors. This morning, those rumors became reality. The best part? The genie said that I still have 2 wishes left.

Super Bowl, homeboy.

Patriots Trade Randy Moss

In what is an extremely suprising and saddening move to me, the Patriots have traded Randy Moss. I've been reading websites all day so far trying to figure out the exact reasoning for this trade, what the logic was, and how it's going to "benefit" us. Looking at this trade I just don't see the positive. A third rounder for one of the best WR's in the game? I understand he was disgruntled and not happy about not getting his contract, but it seemed as though he was still playing hard. I know he didn't have a catch last game, but no one outside of Wes Welker was getting a ton of looks. The positives that he brought to the offense are going to be irreplaceable, the deep threat will be all but gone now, unless Brandon Tate has some receiving skills he hasn't shown yet. I would've much rather kept Randy for the rest of the season, and gotten nothing for him when he leaves during free agency, as opposed to trading and getting a 3rd rounder. In my opinion Randy is a much better receiver than Vincent Jackson; what were the Chargers asking for him? The Patriots should have started there and built on top of that offer.

The Patriots love to stockpile draft picks, and it looks like that's what this trade does, but for such prolific receiver! One of these days they're actually have to use the picks and get some players to fill in for the top flight players they're trading. They'll most likely get a top-10 pick from Oakland for Seymour, but I'd put money on BB trading down, possibly out of the 1st round as usual. One of these years I believe the Patriots will control every pick in the draft, at least I hope Belichick has something like that up his sleeve, because Tom Brady isn't going to be one of the top-5 QB's in the league forever!

2010 Boston Red Sox: A Season to Forget

Coming into the 2010 season this season held quite a bit of promise. We had some questions offensively, but bringing in a big free agent pitcher and some very strong defenders, it figured to even out. The season started off slowly, but it started to turn around in May, when Big Papi decided to start hitting again. Then the injury bug hit the team hard. 5 of their 9 opening day starters have spent some time on the DL this year, and now 4 of them are out for the remainder of the season. I applaud Theo Epstein for not going out around the trade deadline and dealing young talent for a rental player. This season was doomed fairly early on, and at some point you need to stand pat and give the kids a try. Suffering the losses of their two best hitters in Youkilis and Pedroia is a huge blow, but hopefully they can fully recover from these injuries and it won't bother them in the coming years.

Next season poses quite a few questions already. Is Big Papi going to be offered another contract? How about Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre? Are Ellsbury and Cameron going to be healthy enough to play a full season? Will their TEAM be healthy next year? Can John Lackey and Josh Beckett live up to their contracts? And many more intriguing aspects. I haven't completely shipped this season in, but sitting 8 games back heading into September, things are very dire. Hats off to the Rays this year, having a good year before their talent is likely broken up. Unfortunate that this type of stuff has to happen in baseball. A team has been putting a lot of resources and gone through many losing seasons building up young talent, only to finally put it together for a few seasons and then watch them all leave via free agency. Hopefully the next commissioner will figure out some sort of salary cap, or maybe a more harsh luxery tax to help even out the playing field.

So Close, Yet So Far

My heart is still broken over the Vikings loss to the Saints on Sunday. I remember feeling the same way 11 years ago. It's so crazy how much this season felt just like the 98 season. Both teams were so amazing that I thought that there wasn't any way they wouldn't make it to the Super Bowl. Both seasons the Super Bowl is held in Miami. Both years we lose the NFC Championship in overtime. It's almost haunting.

I remember how much fun the 1998 team was to watch. Randy Moss was incredible and their offense was just ridiculous. Nobody could keep up with them. They seemed unstoppable until they lost to the Falcons in the NFC Championship. After that season I never really felt as confident about a Vikings team until this year. They put themselves back in contention when they got Brett Favre. People were skeptical and questioned whether or not he could stay healthy. They called him an old man and nothing more than an interception machine. Favre had more than enough gas in the tank and had a career year. He threw 33 touchdown passes and just 7 interceptions in the regular season. He also led the Vikes to a 12-4 record and a division championship. Brett Favre was the perfect fit for the Vikings.

The game on Sunday broke my heart. Not just because the Vikings lost but because I know that Brett Favre may not be back next season. And if that's the case, I'd like to say thank you, Brett. You didn't get us our Super Bowl, but you sure gave us one hell of a season.

Revis Robbed of DPOY

Today, Charles Woodson was announced as the defensive player of the year. This is similar to Malone winning the MVP over Jordan in 1997, although on a lesser stage. I have watched a handful of packers and jets games this year, and although Woodson is probably the second best corner in football he can't hold a candle to Revis's talents. The voters couldn't have been more wrong. It's not even close.

The toughest play for a cornerback to stop is a quick slant and/or pump-n-go. I can't count on two hands how many times I saw Revis break BEFORE the receiver on a quick slant and pick it off or knock it down. So what does the QB to counter that? Pump-n-go of course. But that doesn 't work against him either, and the only explanation I have for that is Revis can either read the quarterback's mind, he has the receiver telling him the play, or he is just that good. A talent at the cornerback position the league has never before seen.

When the Jets played the Falcons this exact point was illustrated. On the first play of the game Roddy White (pro bowl receiver) ran a fade on Revis. Revis had better position than White and would have intercepted it if not for White dragging Revis to the ground for an offensive interference penalty. Next possession: White runs a quick slant on Revis, Revis breaks on it and drops an interception. So the pump-n-go is coming right? In the second half they run the pump-N-go. Revis, waiting for it, drops another interception. When receivers Revis is guarding are open it's only because he wants the quarterback to THINK they are open.

Combine his ridiculous shutdown skills with good open field tackling and you have the best cornerback and best defensive player in the league. Let's compare what STATS, INC calls the burn percentage from Revis to Woodson. How many times a receiver has caught the ball a defender was guarding compared to how many times it was thrown at that defender. Isn't a cornerback stopping throws to a receiver that corner is guarding the most important stat for that position?Although INT's are important they can also be skewed (tipped balls, horrible throws, receiver ran wrong route, etc) and are not as telling of a statistic. The top 6 for the burned percentage look like this:

PERCENT

Darrell Revis, Jets 37.0

Jabari Greer, Saints 37.9

Dwight Lowery, Jets 40.7

Drayton Florence, Bills 45.3

Leon Hall, Bengals 45.5

Lito Sheppard, Jets 45.6

Where does Woodson rank? A respectable 47.6 percent but not even in the top half dozen.

So comparing the two the numbers look like this:

REVIS: Thrown at 108 times, 40 receptions (37 Percent) for 439 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Woodson: Thrown at 84 times, 40 receptions (47.6 percent) for 560 yards and 6 touchdowns.

I know voting is done before the playoffs, but look what Larry Fitzgerald did to Woodson last week: 6 catches, 82 yards, 2 td's. Then look what Revis did to Ochocinco: 2 catches, 28 yards 0 td's. Point proved. In the regular season Revis consistently played against better receivers and quarterbacks than Woodson (if you don't believe me look at their schedules) and none of those receivers had good or even decent games against him. If Woodson is so valuable, how does Brett Favre (twice) and Roethlisberger throw all over the packers? And if it's because they threw away from him (not always), then is he really that valuable in the first place? Roethlisberger threw for 503 yards! Somehow I don't see that happening if Revis is playing instead of Woodson that game.

The only thing he hasn't done better than Woodson is interceptions. Woodson had 9 and Revis had 6. But Revis also dropped a ridiculous amount of INT's (I counted 6 in 3 games I saw). While catching an interception can be part of the position it isn't the most important part. You will hear arguments that Woodson is a better overall player because he had more forced fumbles, sacks, INT's, blah, blah, blah. All of it is just an excuse to vote for the guy with the most INT's while the most important part of the position and defense is not to let the other team score. The Jets did that better than any other team and Revis did that BY FAR better than Woodson making him the defensive player of the year. He took away the team's best receiver week in and week out, and while Woodson was also good he wasn't also deserving. Voters, please don't tell me you voted for Woodson because of a few more INT's and sacks.

Revis got robbed.

All Day > Who Dey

Purple Jesus is back - 97 yards rushing, 40 yards receiving, and 2 touchdowns in a win over the Bengals today.

Skol, Vikings!

Seriously, Tiger? She's Not Even Good Looking.

Tiger Woods has been in enough trouble this past week and I don't think doing Oprah would be a wise decision. I don't think Elin would be too happy about that. Hopefully she doesn't see this headline from Fox Sports. It's only going to make her upset. We don't want to make her upset, do we Tiger?

Dan LeFevour: The Rich Man's Tim Tebow

The MAC Championship game is tonight in Detroit. Central Michigan versus Ohio University. Doesn't get much better than this. You should tune in to this game for one big reason: to watch the legend and the myth known as Dan LeFevour!

So who is this Dan LeFevour? Well, let me you. He is a four-year starter at quarterback for Central Michigan. He has led the Chippewas to a 10-win season and what will eventually be another bowl birth. Motor City Bowl baby! In case you didn't already know, LeFervour is also the rich man's version of Heisman favorite Tim Tebow (Wink). Don't believe me? Check out these stats below. LeFevour has better passing numbers and is just as good of running threat than Tebow. Clearly, Tim Tebow wears Dan LeFevour's pajamas and I wouldn't be surprised if LeFevour castrates more boys per year than Tebow.

Career Passing Stats:

LeFevour - 12,255 yards 100 TD's 34 Ints 67% Completion

Tebow - 8,556 yards 84TD's 15 Ints 66% Completion

Career Rushing Stats:

LeFevour - 2,885 yards on 645 Carries 46 TD's

Tebow - 2,833 yards on 668 Carries 46 TD's

LeFevour - Only player in NCAA history to throw for over 12,000 yards are run for 2,500 yards. Third in NCAA History in Total Offense. Tied for the most TD's in NCAA history with 146.

It's almost spooky how similar some of these numbers are. Tim Tebow is great player, but I just think Dan LeFevour deserves some attention. It's very rare that we see a college player have the same kind of success that he's had for 4 straight years (Look at this bio). Just because he plays at a smaller school doesn't mean that his 146 (and counting) career touchdowns shouldn't count. Where would Central Michigan be without him? Probably not playing tonight.

Dan LeFevour for Heisman.

Joe Mauer is AL MVP!

Major League Baseball has just released that Joe Mauer is the 2009 AL MVP. Mauer received 27 out of 28 first place votes beating out New York's Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter.

I was definitely a little scared knowing that Mauer's main competition was two Yankees players, but the voters got it right. Don't get me wrong I think Jeter and Tex are good players, but There is no question Joe Mauer is the best player in the AL.

The stats are simply ridiculous. He led the league in batting average (.365) and on-base percentage (.444). He hit a career high 28 HRs, drove in 98 runs, and struck out only 63 times. Mauer catches nearly everyday, manages the pitching staff, grooms his sideburns, and he did just win his second Gold Glove. He is what every superstar should be like as person and he means the world to Twins fans. Take Joe Mauer out of the Twins lineup and there is no chance they make the playoffs. That is why he is the Most Valuable Player.

In a time where baseball is dominated by big market teams, steroids, and horrible postseason umpiring, Joe Mauer is everything that is right with baseball. Congratulations Joe, I will never forget this season and I am so happy the Twins took you over Mark Prior.

Also, could we get this man a contract extension soon!

You Play to Win the Game

All anyone is taking out of Sunday night's Colts / Patriots game is the alleged "worst call in the history of any calls that were ever made ever." I disagree.

How many times have we watched Peyton Manning carve up defenses in a two-minute drill to win the game? Plenty of times. Enough times to know that the best defense against it is to never even put the ball in his hands! Faulk gets across that line, Brady kneels, game over, and Belichick is hailed as an evil genius yet again. But since Faulk (allegedly) didn't get across the line, now everyone's wondering if the Patriots are fading away and Belichick has lost it. Whatever.

They could've punted it and watch Manning slice through their D (like he had been doing all half) for 70 yards, or they could've taken a chance to let him do it for 20 yards. Well unfortunately they gambled and lost, but I definitely think it was the right call. Hard for a quarterback to do much without the ball in his hands.

All coaching crap aside, how good was that game?? Colts/Pats never disappoints, hopefully a postseason rematch is in the near future.

Bron Bron To Change His Number

So by now you've probably heard that King James is changing his number from 23 to 6. James says that he's doing this in honor of the great Michael Jordan. This is a flatout lie.

A source close to me confirmed that Lebron is changing his number to pay tribute to Bonzi Wells.

You probably think I'm kidding and that I'm just making this up. Why would you make that up? Who is your source? How do they know this? How many times have you been dropped on your head? Irrelevant, irrelevant, irrelevant, and irrelevant.

When Soccer Gets Ugly...Real Ugly

Hopefully this video stays up long enough for you to enjoy this mauling. How could girls do things so hurtful to one another...in a game of freaking SOCCER. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say she's single...but if you're out there reading this, you know..feel free to shoot me an e-mail.

It's bad enough this girl wasn't thrown out or suspended (yet), she should be charged with assault. Some of the things she was doing were just completely ridiculous and clearly meant to inflict maximum pain to those other girls. She should also probably be referred to some kind of psychologist, because the whole kicking-a-ball-at-a-girl's-face-point-blank-when-she's-on-the-ground thing just might be a cry for help... or it could be a cry proclaiming "HEY WORLD, I'M A CRAZY ASS BITCH"

Oh yeah, and they lost