Tuesday, June 30, 2009

It's the minor leagues......get over it

Pretty much, LA Times Writer/Around the Horn commentator Bill Plaschke incoherently rambles about how much of an atrocity it is that Manny Ramirez is allowed to rehab in the minor leagues before the end of his 50-game steroid/fertility pill suspension and how its such an outrage that Dodgers fans still have Manny Ramirez's back even though he got suspended for violating MLB's steroid policy

The biggest "highlight" of this masterpiece was:

I was here to find a Dodgers fan brave enough to boo him.
Surely it would happen, right? 


Alright  so he got busted doing fertility pills, not the smartest career move but if I was Dodgers fan I would not be booing Manny Ramirez. I would be counting the days until the end of his suspension [If God forbid, Braun and/or Fielder were to go through this, I would still cheer their return]. If you don't like that he does steroids, thats one thing but to treat him like a pariah because he messed up is another. Following this "logic" do you want to eradicate all the good he's done for the Dodgers. First of all, the dude has put up ridiculous numbers since being traded to LA and behaved himself  (for now). In other words, while Manny  has  done his share of selfish acts over the years, this behavior has regressed in LA. Furthermore, if not for Manny the Dodgers would still be the mediocre . 500ish team they were before coming to LA.

In plain mathematical terms it translates to the following, 
No Manny=No Playoffs
No Playoffs=Dodger's not winning first post-season series in 20 years
No Manny=Youngsters not gaining confidence by being around Manny and not holding on to that substantial division lead even during Manny's suspension.
No Manny=The Dodgers are likely hanging out with San Diego and Arizona at the bottom of the NL West.

Basically, in Plaschke's mind doing PEDs undos all these positives. Simply, with Manny Ramirez the Dodgers have become one of the elite teams in the national league. So even if you dislike steroid use, the critics have to at least see why Dodger fans are excited about his return.

Also, who cares....steroid use has been one of the most over-blown stories in the last 5-10 years. Seriously, NFL players are WAY more juiced than MLB players but when someone gets busted in the NFL the only people who care are the ones who have said player on their fantasy football team. Point being, he's not playing in the major leagues...he's not getting paid....and really who normally pays attention to those games in exotic locales such as Albuquerque and Lake Elsinore.........which begs the question, will Plaschke still have this self-righteous rhetoric if Manny being Manny brings the Dodgers a World Series crown.......

Also, will anyone even remember this fake outrage about Manny getting back into playing shape in a month? 10 days? a week? Even as it's going on now I could really care less.........but it's steroids.....its 2009.....the anger.....the outrage...............

Monday, June 29, 2009

Apparently Brandon Jennings thinks really highly of himself

I was already not digging the Bucks first round pick of Brandon Jennings when it was initally made on thursday, and this does not make me feel any better about the draft pick

So pretty much, Jennings is on record saying he's gonna be the starting point guard and an instant star. If he had proven said talent, I would not have too many issues.

However, the evidence of NBA-caliber talent is not (currently) stacked in his favor. First, he got picked 10th in what looks to be one of the weakest drafts in recent memory. Second, he didn't exactly impress in his two European stints maxing out at 7 points/game and 38 pct. shooting. It would be too early to write him off completely at this point, but he is nowhere near being good enough to start at this point.

In the transcript of the YouTube clip posted, Jennings acts like the Bucks are going to clear his path to the starting job by not re-signing Ramon Sessions (which would be a HUGE mistake)....and  one which they are working to avoid

While he's still young and there is time for him to mature as a player and person, I am not sold on Jennings as an NBA player.Best case, I see Jennings as either a) trade bait or b) a long-term option where he's a backup for a couple of years before being placed in the starting line-up

Based on how highly Jennings regards himself, scenario b is highly unlikely........which leads to the worst-case (more likely than not scenario).

That being, if Jennings continues to flaunt his ego like this, Scott Skiles is probably not going to like it too much. Skiles has built a reputation around not putting up with this type of behavior. Skiles was less than thrilled with much lesser offenses such as Charlie Villaneuva sending a tweet during halftime saying that he need to stay focused (in a game that they won). I can only imagine how Skiles is going to react to his rookie player being on record saying that Ramon Sessions won't be a buck next year and handing him the starting job sight unseen............not likely.....not likely at all.

Pick of the day: Today (Monday) I correctly picked the First Place-Brewers to beat the Mets

Tomorrow (Tuesday): Angels over Rangers

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Let the trade season begin

So today, the first strike of the trade season began with the Indians trading Mark DeRosa to the Cardinals for Chris Perez and a PTBNL

Unless Perez and/or the PTBNL turns out to be a future hall of famer, the Cardinals are likely to get the upper hand in this trade. DeRosa can hit for power, reduce the pressure on Albert Pujols in the starting lineup and play any position in the infield. Offensively he is an upgrade at 2nd, 3rd and short (Skip Schumaker, Brendan Ryan and Joe Thurston respectively)

As a fan of the team currently tied for first with the Cardinals this trade makes me a bit nervous. Obviously, upgrading their offense gives the Cardinals a better chance at making the playoffs and puts more pressure on the Brewers to acquire a player of their own.

Although getting someone who can play second was a higher priority when Rickie Weeks went down for the season. The necessity for outside help at second diminished with Craig Counsell hitting better than expected and Casey McGehee stepping up big-time to the tune of .340/.398/.520. In other words, my concern is not that the Brewers failed to land a second baseman.

My concern as a Brewers fan is their starting rotation. Outside of Yovani Gallardo, the rotation is a mess.......every other starter has either a) a below league-average era, b) is battling injury troubles or c) has pitched so horribly even within the context of a and b that they had to go back to Nashville (Manny Parra...cough....cough)

While the trading-deadline scene is different than '08 (nobody of Sabathia's caliber on the trade market) I am hoping that DeRosa's trade to the Cardinals will accelerate the trade of a starting pitcher to the Brewers.....even a 2/3 guy like Jarrod Washburn or Doug Davis would help improve the starting rotation and give the Brewers someone other than Gallardo that can be depended on to step up. Well, I guess that's enough trade-speculation talk for now....either way this will be a fun season and a thrilling pennant race...also, having today's victory over the Giants to bask in doesn't hurt either

Sunday Pick Of The Day: Mets over Yankees

Friday, June 26, 2009

Weekend Sports TV Preview:

For this post, I am going to preview the baseball games being featured on national televison. Depending on how I feel about this, this may either be a one-shot deal or become a recurring feature [if this feature lives long enough, the preview will eventually cover football and basketball). Also, this is not meant to be comprehensive as I will only be highlighting the sports that I follow: (For this weekend, that would be just baseball. This means no coverage of Golf, Boxing, Soccer, etc.) Also, I will be ranking the games on a 1-5 basis as follows:

1=nap-time
2=background noise
3=i'll watch a little if I have nothing better to do
4=likely a good but not great game
5=definitely watching

Saturday:

MLB FOX Regional Coverage:

Red Sox (Wakefield) vs. Braves (Vasquez) =3

I like the pitching match-up for this game. You get two veteran pitchers both playing better than expected. Also, you get two contradictory pitching styles. On one side, you have the knuckleballer Wakefield who already has 9 wins going for the Sox. On the other hand, Vasquez who is second in the NL in K's who has pitched better than his 5-6 record indicates. While the Red Sox are the stronger team, the Braves still have a lot to play for as they are only 4 games back in a weak NL East. I think Vasquez will keep this game close but I see the Sox prevailing in this one.

Cubs (Dempster) vs. White Sox (Buerhle) =2

Not looking good for those Cubs. They are self destructing about 4 months earlier than usual. Lots of distractions in the last couple days between Soto testing positive for weed and Milton being Milton.....being on the short-end of the pitching match up does not help either....White Sox in a blowout

Angels (Lackey) vs. D-Backs ( Davis)= 2

If nothing else, at least the D-Backs can't play any worse tomorrow than they are playing tonight. The Angels have a disappointing John Lackey going for them. The D-Backs have Doug Davis, who has pitched better than his 3-8 record indicates. With Davis pitching well and Arizona likely to fall out of contention......this could be one of his last starts as a D-Back. Even though the Angels have a much better team, I see Arizona winning this one.

MLB Network:

Yankees (Burnett) v. Mets (Redding) =1

Yes, I went there, I gave the Yankees-Mets the lowest ranking possible. As a baseball fan who is not from New York, has never even been to New York and never been a fan of either team, I do feel that the New York teams get shoved down baseball fan's throats on a yearly basis......So pretty much you have a ridicuously over-paid mediocre pitcher (Burnett) vs. a journeyman pitcer (Tim Redding)....i'm not high on either team but since Redding pitched well against St. Louis on monday i'll pick the mets to win

Sunday TBS

Red Sox (Penny) v. Braves (Hanson) =4

Why does Sunday's Sox-Braves game get a higher ranking than Saturday's: Two Words: Tommy Hanson. This kid received lots of hype before even being called up and so for he's lived up to it. I haven't seen him pitch personally myself, but in his last 3 starts this kid has been lights out. (3-0 2 ER in 17 innings). Hanson definitely has the potential to be an ace pitcher in the big leagues. The Braves haven't lost any Hanson started games yet and I see that trend continuing on Sunday.

Yankees (Wang) v. Mets (Hernandez)= 1

As much as this game is a snoozer, I would like to use this space to thank Chien-Ming Wang for doing everything in his power to make sure my pre-season prediction of the Yankees finishing 3rd and missing the playoffs comes true......granted he hasn't pitched as bad since coming off the disabled list but he has an era that's higher than geovany soto (yes I went there)- Mets win this one by default.

In other words, not the best sports TV weekend. Other than sunday's Braves-Sox games, this slate is pretty uninspiring...........well at least I got mlb.tv to keep me occupied

Saturday Pick of the Day: Brew Crew over Giants

P.S. I grabbed/double-checked statistics, starting pitchers, miscallenous info from the following sites while writing this post:

mlb.com, baseball-reference.com, usatoday.com

Thursday, June 25, 2009

NBA Draft--The Good--The Bad--The Future Busts

With the First Round of the NBA Draft in the books, this is my inital reaction:

The Would Have Been Good If it was any other team: Blake Griffin- Clippers

Obviouslly, Blake Griffin was a beast when he played for Oklahoma. It was obvious he would be the #1 pick months ago. Even though he didn't look to be a game-changing talent...he's still good enough to at least be an all-star. Then, the Clippers got the #1 pick. Playing for the Clippers never ends good for either involved party. Unless he gets traded he'll either be battling injurys or end up being less talented than everyone thinks, the point is playing for the Clippers makes it more likely that he'll have a forgetfull career.

The Good Picks: Stephen Curry- Warriors

I'm not sure how high I would be on him with another team but Curry's game is a good fit for the Warriors Nelly-Ball offense. He can shoot 3s with the best of them and single-handedly will his team to victory over superior competiton.......not saying the Warriors are going to be any good, but having Curry on their side might give them a fighting chance

Jeff Teague- Hawks

This one I am trusting gut instinct and going out on a limb. The reasoning for this goes back a couple years....I was watching some random college b-ball game on tv (wake forest-virginia) the memories are a bit fuzzy but I remember wake came back from 7 down in less than two minutes...I remember Teague hitting a couple of clutch shots and coming up big on defense...point being I was impressed with Teague and thought to myself that Wake Forest would be an elite team within a year or so.....this came (somewhat true) as they were temporarily #1 last year.

Disclaimer: I used this same line of reasoning to pick Wake Forest to reach the finals in my facebook bracket......then they lost to Cleveland State......still with Teague being picked by an improving Hawks team, I still stand by this sleeper pick.

Eric Maynor- Jazz

Not sure how much playing time he'll get in Utah.....but anyone who played for a small school and made a game winning shot against Duke in the first-round of the ncaa tournament definitely has some good nba karma coming his way.

Yes that was only 3 picks that I feel confident will end up being good picks.... Granted this is a weak draft class....but the following stick out and not in a good way
<:AtomicElement>
Hasheem Thabeet- Grizzlies
<:AtomicElement>
This is more based on how high he got drafted than anything else. The dude can play D but he is basically a defensive liability. Best case scenario would be him being a defensive stopper--6th man type on a contender---however, counting on him to help turn the moribound grizzlies around seems like something that Thabeet is likely not up to.
<:AtomicElement>
Tyler Hansbrough- Pacers
<:AtomicElement>
Yes, Hansbrough was a beast at UNC. However, i'm amongst the many that doesn't see his game translating to the NBA. Likely scenario for him is playing a 12th man Mark Madsen type on a championship team once the Pacers realize he's not gonna produce.....I definitely see a career line within the neighborhood of 4pts 2rbs 3fouls 15 minutes a game when all is said and done

B.J. Mullens- Mavericks

Alright so the 24th pick is a bit low to call a bust. Still, this guy is not gonna be that good. Playing in the Big 11 = not the best way to prepare for the nba (at least in 09)......at least hansbrough was more impressive against much more superior competiton....things that can not be said about Mullens....probably be out of the league within 3 years....


Friday Pick of the Day: Brew Crew over Giants


R.I.P Micheal Jackson and Farrah Fawcett

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Records were made to be broken---Just not these ones

Thanks to my awesomely epic subscription to mlb.tv, i've been able to watch significantly more Brewers baseball than in the past. While their comback victory against the Twins was awesome (going from 2 out no on down 3-2 to up 4-3 by the end of the inning was especially epic).....while I could write a whole post about the game, i'm not.

Point being, during the game they did one of those text polls where they asked viewers to text in whether or not they think Joe Mauer can hit .400 this year (currently he's sitting at .394) which got me thinking to which acheivments and/or records in baseball are least likely to be acheived.....so here goes my list of top five records/acheivments and the likeliness i'll live long enough to see them broken

1) Cy Young's record of 511 wins:

Well when they name the award for best pitcher after you, it follows logically that you must of done something epic. Nothing says epic like winning 511 games......granted he played in a different time when pitching rotations were shorter, starting pitchers were actually expected to go nine innings.....but even in his era, nobody came even close...the way things are today it's about 50-50 whether anyone will break 300 let alone 511

Odds: 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 etc.......................

2) Cal Ripken Jr. playing in 2,632 games

This record was an anomoly even within the context of the 80s/90s.....his focus on playing day in/day out is something you just don't see..even the "everyday" players in this miss games either through injury and/or being rested at some point....this is record also won't be threatened since there would be too much criticism if a player struggled after playing in x consecutive games..

To put it in current context, the longest active current streak is held by Adrian Gonzales at 275...at this rate he would have to play 15 years (taking him to age 42) for this record to be broken....too much can happen between now and then......

Odds: 1 in 1,000,000

3) Sam Crawford: 309 triples

Like Young's record the unbreakability of this record lies a lot in the times he played in.....in Crawford's time (1899-1917) came straight through the heart of the dead-ball era.....home runs had yet to come in style so naturally more players were gonna hit triples.....

In today's context, the active leader in triples is Johnny Damon who has 94.....considering he's 35 and plays half his games in a stadium so small that routine fly balls in other parks are home runs in yankee stadium......there's no way he catches up

Odds: 1 in 940,940

4) Ricky Henderson: 1406 stolen bases

Ricky Henderson dares you to try to break Ricky Henderson's record. Ricky Henderson dares you to try to steal 130 bases in a season. In all seriousness, the changes in baseball thinking are going to eventaully lead the stolen base to a point where this part of the record book is going to gather dust........even in the past 10-20 years teams are more averse to stealing bases and only a select few players even break 50 steals in a year.

Active Leader: Juan Pierre 446......he'd have to steal 96 a year for the next ten years to tie the record (he's already 31)......considering his career high is 65.........I don't see that happening

Odds: 1 in 96,000

5) Joe DiMaggio 56- game hitting streak:

The fact that this happened even once was abnormal in itself. This is a record that hasn't even come close to being threatend since it was established. There's just too much that can go wrong between point A and point B. All it takes is one bad day for a bid to break this record to hit the dust. There is a reason why people make a big deal when players even get halfway to this streak

Odds: 1 in 5,600

For the Record:

Since the .400 season was how I got the idea for this post I will end with my take on it. Granted, this has not been acheived since 1941.......every 10-20 years it seems like someone makes a run for at for at least a few months.......George Brett came really close in 1980, Tony Gwynn was at .394 when the 1994 strike hit.

In the context of Joe Mauer, I would give him a better chance if he wasn't a catcher. While he has done things as a hitter that others have failed to do (such as win 2 batting titles), the reality is playing catcher is the most physically demanding positon in the field and the inherent difficulty of hitting .400 I honestly don't see it happening.... However, unlike the other acheivments on the list, this acheivment is one that has at least shown to be approachable....not sure who will hit .400 but I feel fairly confident it will happen within my lifetime.

Odds:65%

Pick of the day: For today, I replicated my pick from Tuesday (correctly) picking the Brewers over the Twins.

Thursday Pick of the Day: Red Sox over Nationals

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Jefferson Trade and the '10 Bucks

So the major NBA story today is the trade of Richard Jefferson to the Spurs for Bruce Bowen and Kurt Thomas

The article does a good job of reporting the broad elements of the trade (i.e. Jefferson's impact on Spurs, the salary incentive for the Bucks, and how it makes the re-signing of Villaneuva and/or  Sessions more likely)

Although it hurts to lose one of the Bucks better players, I still like this trade. While Jefferson's season wasn't overly memorable, an average season from Jefferson is still substantially better than a good season for the two overpaid scrubs he got traded for (Yi Julian and Bobby Simmons)....so the Bucks still got more production out of the deal...

In other words, while Jefferson was a nice player he does seem like a better fit for the Spurs than Milwaukee (and not quite high-caliber enough to justify the $15 million salary.)

Slowly but surely the Bucks are creeping towards being a playoff team and trading Jefferson(i.e. freeing up $15 mil) increases the chance (as the article mentions of re-signing Villaneuva and Sessions). While i'm not completely sold on Villaneuva, in non-contract years.......if I were the Bucks GM I would place a higher priority on signing Sessions.

Sure he might not be a future hall of-famer.......but he is a solid player who does lots of things well.......he's a decent scorer with the potential to occasionally drop 30+, he rebounds well for a guard and he can dish it out with the best in the league....if the Bucks don't re-sign Sessions they stand the risk of being  worse than even teams like the Kings and Clippers

I'm not sure if Sessions teaming with Micheal Redd and Andrew Bogut would make the Bucks a championship contender but if all three stay healthy a playoff spot and perhaps a trip to the second round (only b/c they play in the east) is at least conceivable (they had a legitimate playoff chance last year until Redd and Bogut's seasons were ended by injury) and in light of how bad the Bucks have been in past years, I would be happy with at least sneaking in to the 8 spot next year........

Monday, June 22, 2009

Why I dislike Bud Selig

With the news that commissoner Selig's long time adversary Donald Fehr announced his retirement today I feel that the timing is right for me to write a post discussing why I dislike current commissioner Bud Selig

1) He used the Brewers to push an agenda:

Back in the 90s when the Yankees excessive spending started to escalate towards the mess it has become today, Selig was pushing for revenue sharing. What was left unsaid was that while he is obscenely rich and had the money to spend to make the Brewers competitors, under the Selig family's ownership the Brewers had one of the lowest payrolls in the league and ended up being stuck in a 15-year rebuilding project where the Brewers were consistently the whipping boy of both the American and National league (I definitely do NOT find it a coincidence that the Brewers have played better since ownership left the Selig family)......he could of forked over the money to put up a contender (or at the very least pull the Mets/Orioles method of spending money on players who were at least has-beens) but no the Brewers languished bottoming out with this trainwreck

2) 1994 Strike: Presiding over the first cancelled World Series in 90-plus years.....nuff said

3) Attempted Contraction: If he would have pulled it off, contracting the Twins and Expos would have left a permanent black eye on baseball....while I am generally averse towards teams from Minnesota I can at least tolerate the Twins doing well as it is a continual reminder of a move that was not good.....even by Selig's standards

4) Double-Facing On PEDs: I discussed this a bit last tuesday so i'll keep it short....He either looks the other way or acts like the chief of  the steroid police, solely dependent on which stance is more convenient at the time.

5) 2002 All-Star Game: Selig calling this game after 11  innings allowed him the dubious distinction of making a further mockery over a glorified exhibition game......classy

6) The dude reminds me too much of Mr. Burns from the Simpsons

To give a real-life application of this dislike I will leave with this anecdote. About a couple months ago one of my buddies sent me an e-mail with a link to Bud Selig's wikipedia page and asked me if he still lived in Milwaukee. My response was I don't know, I don't care all I know is that the Brewers started winning more games when he stopped owning the Brewers

Pick of the day Tuesday:   Brew Crew 8
                                              Twins 3

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Monday Pick of the Day

Mets over Cardinals

The Argument for Aaron Rodgers

With football season approaching, FOX Sports writer Peter Schrager released his list of the top 99 NFL players currently.

Normally when I read these lists I check to see where the players on my favorite team rank. Also, while I generally don't agree with a list like this top to bottom, I at least see a decent amount of logic and reason to give the writer a benefit of the doubt. While I am glad to see that he recognized Charles Woodson got placed at #58, I strongly disagree with Schrager's exclusion of Aaron Rodgers on the list.

The Criteria he used in making his list was as follows:

"1. Which player would I rather have on my team? 
2. Which player would make the most impact on my team? 
3. Which player will be the best in 2009, specifically?"


Schrager placed 13 other QBs on this list while excluding Rodgers, implying that he is an average at best QB. After watching how far along Rodgers was in his first year, how poised he was on-the field, and especially how admirably he handled the Brett Favre circus last summer, I am convinced that in 2009 there is no way 13 QBs will have better seasons than Rodgers and that in terms of being the best player/have most positive impact on his team he'll probably be somewhere between 7-10 (not in stratosphere yet but likely in the tier right below) (On a list like this I could see Rodgers ranking anywhere between 30 and 60).....The breakdown of other QBs on this list goes as follows......



1-Peyton Manning
2-Tom Brady
3- Ben Roethlisberger

These three are the league's cream of the crop and there's no argument here.

7-Drew Brees
16- Phillip Rivers
17- Eli Manning

Brees had a similar but  more prolific season than Rodgers. Both put up impressive numbers but were on teams that missed the playoffs due to porous defenses. I would still put Brees above Rodgers since Brees nearly rewrote the record books and Brees handily won the head-to-head match-up last year.

Rivers was one of the better QBs even when San Diego started slow last year...no argument against this.

With Eli Manning....there begins to at least be an argument. While he has won a Super Bowl and a solid quarterback...i'm still not quite sold on him being a top 20 player (i'd place him in the 20-40 tier)...yes he's won lots of games but has been helped out alot by a strong running game and an overall solid team.

However, a better case can be made for placing him at some point below the top 20 as he compares somewhat favorably with the QBs on this part of the list.

23-Donovan McNabb: Solid quarterback who's brought the Eagles back to relevancy, a bit below his peak but still with many solid seasons ahead of him. I would still place him higher than Rodgers

25- Carson Palmer: If this was a few years ago there would be no argument here. Unfortuantely, Palmer hasn't been the same since he tore his ACL in that playoff game and seems to have gone downhill ever since.....I honestly don't see Palmer making an impact in 2009 and seeing this ranking going down as a bad call

28-Tony Romo: Being Mr. October is is not a bad thing, if your a baseball player. Romo is a slightly-above average QB with questionable on-field decision making skills and known more for who he's dating than anything he's accomplished on the field.

31- Jay Cutler- In terms of talent-level compares about the same as Rodgers....has a higher tendency to throw too many INTs but Cutler-Rodgers has the potential to develop into a good rivalry.....personally i'm pulling for it to be one-sided in favor of Aaron Rodgers but realistically I see these two being pretty even for the next several years.

43- Matt Ryan- Compares pretty evenly to Rodgers. Lots of similarities in that they both had better 2008s than many expected. Obviously, Ryan has the advantage of getting to the playoffs and winning the head to head match up. However, I would expect these two to be pretty even in '09 and beyone

64- Kurt Warner- Had a nice year and could be ranked higher based solely on coming within seconds of winning the Cardinals the Super Bowl. However, he is another year older and it's unclear how much longer he'll be on top of his game but with Arizona's explosive receiving core he still has at least another strong season with him.

67- Matt Cassel- This pick I flat-out disagree with. While he deserves credit for playing well for New England after Tom Brady went down for the year, he was still playing within a highly successful system and surrounded by a highly talented team... With Cassel playing for the Cheifs I do not see him replicating his success for a team that only won two more games than the Lions this year.

Overall, in terms of Schrager's criteria and the quarterbacks that were included ahead of Aaron Rodgers, I would rank him somewhere in the middle.

6 of the quarterbacks are above and beyond Rodgers at this point (P. Manning, Brady, Roethlisberger, Rivers, McNabb and Brees.) 

4 of the quarterbacks I expect to make more or less similar impacts/contributions to their teams (Cutler, E. Manning, Ryan and Warner)

3 of the quarterbacks I do not see them having much of an impact on their teams. Not only would I rank Rodgers above these three, the fact that they made the top 99 list is questionable at best, egregious at worst (Palmer, Romo and Cassel)


While I focused much of my opinions and discussion based on quarterback rankings, the following players stuck out like a sore thumb for various reasons

22- Ladanian Tomlinson= As much as it hurts me to say it, he's had better days. If this was a couple years ago he would easily be a top 5 player. At his peak, he was one of the most exciting players to watch and one of my favorite non-Packers player of all time. However, he has been marred by injuries and lost a step or two.....Also, it doesn't help his case in last years playoff game against the Colts Tomlinson was a non-factor while Darren Sproles put on a clinic.....I hope i'm proven wrong on this one but I see Tomlinson being a non-factor in '09

86- Chad Ochocinco- Where to start on this one, well he's the best NFL player out of those who have legally changed their names to the spanish translation of his jersey number. In all seriousness, he's an over-rated receiver playing with an over-rated quarterback on a team that usually has more arrests than victories

99- Reggie Bush- I've never been sold an Reggie Bush as an NFL player. So he got like a million yards against Fresno State in that game when he was at USC. He's been able to milk a lot of commercials out of that. Despite never averaging more than 3.8 yards/carry in his career, he's still managed to appear in more commercials than any other NFL player (except for Peyton Manning of course....but Manning has acheived significantly more than Bush in the NFL so his commercial overexposure at least has a trace of logic in it........)

Streak for the cash pick of the day: Dodgers 5
                                                               Angels 4

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Some Baseball, Some Basketball with a side of onion

Some observations of note:

Well, Scott Boras is up to his greedy ways.............again. MLB Notebook is reporting that Scott
Boras' client Magglio Ordonez got benched and he is not too happy about it. Mostly this article talks about  Boras being upset that this move may cost Boras/Ordonez some precious  millions and in general crying foul......my take on this situation is very similar to the views expressed in this article

Well here we go again.....Scott Boras is definitely one of the most greedy-sleazy-self absorbed agents in baseball...it does not shock me at all that he is pulling a stunt like this.....i'm curious to see how much money he extracts out of future draft-bust Stephen Strasburg....if/when I do a post about people/things that are bad for baseball he's definitely going to be number 1.



The article discusses how the rumor has grown since some Chinese investors became minority owners of the Cavs.......This is a move Cleveland needs to make on many fronts. The article discusses the marketing benefits which I won't discuss to avoid redundancy. On a basketball front it would also be epic. Getting Yao makes more sense than getting Shaq while there are injury concerns with Yao,  Yao is actually known more from his on-court production than his twitter account these days. Also having Yao at center would immensly improve Cleveland's chances of winning series against teams with dominant big men (i.e Yao vs. Howard would have been epic) and Yao would have been enough to at least make the finals and possibly give the city of Cleveland a championship.

Also getting someone of Yao's caliber would be a major sign to LeBron that the Cavs are serious about putting together a championship-caliber team and thus give them a better chance to keep LeBron past the summer of 10'

On a Lighter Note: Reason 36 why the Cubs will not win the world series this year


Streak for the cash pick of the day:

Blue Jays 7
Expos 2

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Kings need more than good draft to become relevant again

Today, the Sacramento Bee had an article by Ailene Voisin discussing the NBA draft and why the Kings need to select Ricky Rubio with the fourth pick of the draft

In the article Rubio is treated like someone who is going to single-handedly reverse the moribund fortunes of the Kings and make them as relevant as they were when they were contenders earlier in the decade.........while I admire Voisin's optimism I am skeptical about the Kings chances to be relevant with or without Rubio.

One part of the article asserts that:
"His presence in Sacramento would be transformative whether he becomes the next Jason Williams or the modern-day Pete Maravich. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is he plays the lead position – point guard – with all the majesty of a mop-haired maestro."  

Alright even if Rubio is the next Jason Williams
thats still a long way from franchise-changing talent.....11 points/game does not scream future franchise messiah/all-star hall off fame material. But the point being is this team is only 3 players away from even contending for the 8 spot in the western conference. Unfortunately for the Kings, those three players are Wilt Chamberlin, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.

While Rubio has lots of potential...he is still not even close to (in all fairness no one else in this year's draft is) what will be needed to turn around the Kings. Since I lived in Davis during the prior NBA season, I ended up watching a lot of Kings games on TV (and made time to attend a couple games at a half-empty Arco Arena and see the last game of the Reggie Theus era)

Point being, last years Kings team was hands down THE worst NBA team I have ever seen. Most games, I would stick to watching them for reasons similar to why people watch a train wreck. They played offense when they felt like it (sometimes) they played defense when they felt like it (never)....they had an innate ability to turn a close game into a 15 point defense in a blink of an eye. On top of that, their non-winning ways spread to off the court where they lost the Blake Griffin sweepstakes to the Clippers.   

For the Kings and their fans the harsh reality is that barring an improbable move, this team is not going to be very good for awhile. Unfortunately for them, Chris Webber is not walking through that door.....Vlade Divac is not walking through that door......not even Brad Miller is walking through that door..........point being is as talented as this Rubio kid may be, the Kings are going to be irrelevent in the long term regardless of who they draft.......


Pick of the day (Friday): Giants 4
                                            Rangers 3





Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Why I Don't Mind the Summer Sports Lull

Alright so one of my major sources for sports news online is the website realclearsports.com. Today, they had an article by Jeff Briggs where he discusses how the summer is one of the slower times of the year in regards to following sports..While I have no problem with the article in itselt, there is less going on. However, it gives me an opportunity to discuss further in depth my love for the game of baseball. The link to the article is below


http://www.realclearsports.com/blog/2009/06/summer-sports-lull.html


The clearest point he makes regarding the sports lull comes when he says:         

"truly, we are in sports no-man’s land, at least until preseason football"

While I agree with the assertions in the article that it has been an exciting sports year and as much as I like football and basketball.....in regards to my sports tastes, baseball trumps allWhich leads to my next point...for me the "summer sports lull" (with the exception of the all star break) is something I have never dreaded (in fact I usually look forward to it)....this week marked the beginning of the 6 to 8 week window where sports coverge comes closest to being baseball-dominated than at any other time of the year (well under the faulty assumption that someone like T.O. or Brett Favre don't do anything news-worthy like doing pushups in their driveway or texting their media buddies from Missisipi)


To some baseball season is way too long at 162 games......to me it is a poetic epic that portrays life......it is like life as each team goes through peaks and valleys which create a ying/yang effect between everyone's fortunes and misfortunes......For every team that wins, one loses........inches can determine the difference between a game ending double play and a game ending hit.....it teaches you to not give up if things go wrong as even the greatest players are still unsucessful very often....any given day a cy-young award winning pitcher might get rocked and/or a borderline player might flirt with a no-hitter

Because of my fascination with the game of baseball, what others call the summer sports lull is one of my favorite times to follow sports......less of everything else going on equals more time and exposure for america's original past-time....




Streak for the cash pick of the day (Thursday):

D-Backs 3
Royals 0

Pick of the Day

In a rematch of the 1993 world series

Phillies 7
Blue Jays 4

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Obligatory Steroid Post: Sammy Sosa

As has been reported across much of the media, it was revealed that Sammy Sosa tested positive for steroids back in 2003, bringing up the obligatory talking heads talking about how past accomplishments are tarnished, these guys would be scrubs if they never touched steroids so on and so forth

In light of today's revelations, the time is right for me to discuss my take on steroid coverage and discuss my two biggest gripes with how it is covered by the media.

1)If preventing steroid abuse was a higher priority, this "scandal" would have broken in 1998 and not after Sosa and McGwire were past their respective peaks


To begin my argument about why I feel the "shock and horror" about players in the juicing in the 90s is not geniune can be traced back to the 1994 strike. Obviously, baseball struggled in the ensuing years after and needed something to draw the fans in....

Well to many this equates to players having the ability to hit a baseball long distances on a regular basis and wham! four years later Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa go on an epic chase for Roger Maris' single season home run record and baseball's popularity spikes big time.......

Now if MLB really didn't want players using steroids, we would have been hearing about all-star players juicing up before the home run records were being re-written.....not several years after the players involved retired.

2) The implication that the guilty parties would be scrubs NOT hall of famers if they did steroids......

Alright so juicing up may add a few years to your career, help you bounce back from injury hit a ball harder blah, blah, blah........what it does NOT do is give players better judgment on pitches to swing at, increase baseball IQ, know the difference between pitches, etc.......

How many of you people have heard about the exploits about juiced up players such as Manny Alexander, Chris Donnels or Jim Parque? Trick Question....you haven't heard about them b/c despite their steroid/PED use they were unable to attain substantial playing careers

I could list others who were juiced up but still did not reach the promised land...point being if some of these talking heads are to believed that steroids are some magical pill....these players would put up first-ballot hall of fame numbers.....However, since steroids are not some magic pill the only way these guys are getting in to the hall of fame is if they pay the cover charge......


Furthermore, while it was unfortunate steroid use was a product of the 90s....hitters were juiced....pitchers were juiced......so the steroid use likely balanced out on both sides......so yeah that's how I feel about steroid coverage and the end of my first (and hopefully last) post about steroids

Note: I found the player names (non-Hall of fame juicers) from the mitchell report page from http://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/mitchell-report-players.shtml


P.S. Artie Lange 1 Joe Buck 0

Also: I'll post my streak of the cash pick of the day tomorrow as the A's/Dodgers game is still in progress

Monday, June 15, 2009

Not A Bad Way to Start The Week

Not gonna lie, i'm in a pretty good mood right now.....just finished watching the monday night ESPN game between my brewers and the cleveland indians.....i ended up picking up with the game in the fourth inning with the brewers down 4-3....i got home from work just in time to see brewers starter dave bush fail to get out of the 4th inning which say the brewers fall behind 8-3

after pulling within a run the brewers bullpen endured further struggles as the brewers were down 12-8 after 7.......the brewers finally got over the hump in the 8th inning thanks to a prince fielder grand slam.....after that todd coffey, mitch stetter and trever hoffman held down the fort to give the brew crew a much needed win and extend their lead in the nl central to 1 game.....

alright so it's only a mid june game against a mediocre cleveland team.... and also while there are 90-plus games still to play this game was still clutch.... for the brewers to struggle mightily for most of the game and still find a way to win makes me feel better about this team and makes it more likely that the brewers will be talking about the playoffs come october.


Streak for the cash pick of the day: (Tuesday) In a rematch of the 1988 world series i'm picking the Dodgers to beat the A's 8-2

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Bad TBS Movies and the actors in them: Lindsay Lohan

Alright so I was gonna write about the end of the NBA season and the Lakers winning the title but something about the Lakers winning their fourth title of the decade left me feeling uninspired.......So i'm watching the movie mean girls on TBS right now and can't help but find parallels in the character played by Lindsay Lohan and parallel changes in her public perceptionSo, in the beginning of the movie her character (Cady Heron) is this wide-eyed sheltered kid oblivious to the corruptive elements of the outside world....the public perception equivalent of this would be the kid/family friendly Disney movies that she was known for in her pre-teen/teen years.....However, as the movie progresses Lohan's character goes deeper and deeper into the manipulative/darker aspects of human behavior as her character's popularity rises and her behavior gets darker........This also draws a parallel to real life where the more famous she has gotten, the less emphasis has been placed on her career (being in the 8 Golden Raspberry Award winning.....I know who killed me probably doesn't help) this and more emphasis has been placed on her partying, legal troubles, rehab so on and so forth........

However,If there is a silver lining to this analogy, it would be that Lohan's character realises the fault of her actions towards the end of the movie, redeems herself and abstains from the behavior(s) that got her character in trouble in the first place.........will history prove that Lohan too will gain redemption and rise above the behavior that has led to her troubles and become more successful than ever (she is only 22 so there definitely enough time).........could this parallel between two mediums prove to fulfill itself in the vein of the Wizard of OZ/Dark Side of the moon parallels.....only time will tell
Streak for the cash pick of the day (Monday): NL-Central Leading Brewers 5Indians 3

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Just another lazy saturday afternoon

Thus far a fairly uneventful weekend......my brewers are losing by a touchdown to the white sox.....in terms of my streak for the cash update..i actually managed to pick correctly as the angels beat the padres....however i am back to zero as i picked cs-fullerton to beat arkansas....they instead went on to lose 10-6


For my pick of the day tomorrow....I am going against past experience and picking the orlando magic to beat the lakers in game 5 tomorrow....i'm going against the overall trend in this pick but this series (except for game 1) has been a lot better and exciting than La's 3-1 lead would indicate.... if Dwight Howard hits even one of those free throws this series is tied up and heading towards one of the better nba finals in recent memory...game 4 definitely sped up the demise of the magic...........but I see them at least making it to game 6 before this happens

Pick: Magic 94 Lakers 89

Friday, June 12, 2009

My two cents on Favre

Well, its that time of the year again, three months before the start of football season. This makes it prime season for ESPN to turn into the Brett Favre (un)retirement watch network. Since I've been writing exclusively about sports and being a die-hard Packers fan, I guess that means i'm adding myself to the multitude of voices and opinions regarding this circus.

This retirement speculation has been going on for about five years (give or take). Prior to his first retirement, it felt like nothing more than network-generated speculation.....no harm no foul,they need something to talk about and this was their choice......during these years my take was he'll think it over for the beginning of the postseason, come back and things would be business as usual. My other take on it (which has been proven wrong) is that once he announces his retirement, that would be the end of it.

However, the events of the last two summers has turned the phantom retirement to the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Since the saga of last summer is mostly old news and was shoved down everyone's throat I will skip this part and go on to discuss his current flirtations with joining the Minnesota Vikings.

While I feel non-threatened by his presence on a rival team since he is over the hill and Aaron Rodgers has proven himself to be more effective than Favre currently, speaking solely as a fun there is still is a sense of betrayal.

This was a guy who QBed my favorite team from 4th grade until I graduated from college (and this even though I didn't graduate until I was almost 25)....he won a super bowl and provided many clutch you tube worthy moments along the way.....which is why I can't help but stand in confusion as he seems determined to play for the Vikings.... when he was playing for the Jets, that was one thing...I don't really care if he pursues playing opportunites elsewhere, but when your blatant about playing for and only for one of green bay's arch-rivals thats just not cool.....but hey it's his legacy he's wasting and his alone I just do not see why its worth it...

So thats my two cents on Favre for better or worse.....

RECURRING FEATURE ALERT:

As I noted in one of my post yesterdays i like to pick games on ESPN's streak for the cash....As this is my blog I have made the executive decision to keep you, my readers updated on my pick(s) of the day......yesterday I incorrectly pick the Magic to win game 4 which was looking good until the last 30 seconds of the fourth quarter happen...but i digress


Today i look to snap my 2 game losing streak

Pick of the day: Angels over Padres

Thursday, June 11, 2009

I swear i'm trying to be a hockey fan but I never get around to it

Alright so in my introductory post I mentioned I was a sports fan and referenced the teams I followed..if you know me well enough and/or you paid careful attention you likely noticed that hockey was left unrepresented....while I try to get myself to start following hockey (espeically when the playoffs begin I've gotta come to the conclusion that its probably not in the cards)...however since i'm relatively young and still have a fairly full head of hair (for now) I am willing to accept nominations for which NHL team I should become a fan of.....However, before this I will address what I believe are the three major reasons why attaching to an NHL team has alluded me thus far.

1) No Pro Hockey Teams From Wisconsin: While Milwaukee does have the Admirals (Nashville's minor league affiliate) it just isn't the same as having a pro-team to have been attached to since early childhood. Also, while other midwestern cities have pro teams (i.e. Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis) I would feel dirty rooting for a time sharing a city/fanbase with teams like the Bears, Vikings, Cubs, etc. that I have a strong distaste for

2) Regular Season Standings: To paraphrase from the Will Ferell classic Talladega Nights....if your not first, your last (exact phrase skips my mind at the time)...point being trying to decipher the regular season standings is akin to translating a foreign language....from what I gather, the regular season seems to be playing not to lose instead of playing to win.....so you get 1/2 credit for losing in OT or losing in a shootout.....seriously whats the point?

3) The Right Situation has yet to come up: I would say the closest i've come to attaching to a team was when I lived in Davis and would sometimes watch San Jose Sharks games on tv..although I never considered myself a fan, there was a better chance of me casually watching when they were on than anyone else.....However, this fan/pro-team pairing just doesn't feel right for me....during the time I lived in Sharks tv territory (fall 2006-april 2009) the Sharks had already established themselves as a perennial playoff contender and it felt too bandwogonish for me to become a full on Sharks fan

With that being said....if given particular parameters and the incentive to do so I will accept and consider nominations for which NHL team I should become a die hard fan of. For a nomination for this to be considered the team needs to meet particular conditions

1)NOT play in a city thats a direct rival of any other teams I root for (Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, etc....)

2) NOT be a team with lots of recent success and have an overflowing bandwagon (Pittsburgh, Detroit, San Jose , etc.)

3) (Preferable but not Mandatory) either a) loyal fan base and/or a team with little or no track record of success (a combination of the two would be ideal)

ESPN Streak for the cash--and how it allows me to care about a game that i Don't

As a transplanted fan of Wisconsin sports, most of the games I see either on local tv (dodgers/angels/lakers, etc.) and those on national televison..are games in which I'll watch for the sake of watching games but have little to no vested interest



In light of this and boredom, I began playing the ESPN Streak for the cash game not long ago. The first thing I learned is while I follow the sporting world closely, apparently i'm not that good predicting the outcome of games. While It would be cool to go on a massive winning streak and make a million bucks, the chances of this happening is obviously slim (although I did get a 8 game losing streak once.... i'll give everyone a second to be mildly unimpressed)....... but one side effect of this game is if the put a game that's being broadcast (for the record.....tonight I am picking Orlando to beat the Lakers in game 4) I can at least temporarily take a rooting interest in whoever I picked and get more into the game that I otherwise would have. (which i'm pretty sure isn't an accident)

But anyways, its something that makes things more interesting, a sign of the times and leads me to actually caring if the angels, dodgers, whoever win or lose tonight's game..........

My First Post

So, I've decided to enter the blogging world. This post is an introduction of sorts to myself and whatever else I decide to mention. A little bit about myself first my real name is Ryan (though some people call me Cheddar), I am 26 and live in Arroyo Grande, California. I have an undergraduate degree from UC Davis. I was born in Wisconsin but I have lived in California since 1996.

Although I have not determined the exact direction I am taking with this blog, it is likely to be sports oriented. I am diehard fan of the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee Bucks, Univeristy of Wisconsin and University of California-Davis athletics. I don't watch too much tv but I am a fan of Lost, Family Guy, Simpsons, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, South Park, etc.

As the title indicates this blog will be centered around my opinion of the world around me. Mainly its a forum for me to give my opinion on whatever I feel like talking about......if your reading this, I hope you find what I have to say entertaining and if not......i'll try to do better next time.