Or is it whom? Fuck grammar.
Apparently, just about everyone over at the world wide leader picked the Braves to win the NL East. Not the Mets, not the Phillies, the fucking Braves. I feel like we've traveled down that path, and it leads to an early round flame out in the playoffs in front of a stadium half full of apathetic fans. Do we REALLY need to revisit all of that? Why not have dynamic, exciting players who have a chance to succeed in October? Or at least fail spectacularly.
Anyway, the front end of the Atlanta rotation is old and an injury risk. For that matter, most of the back end of the rotation is as well. They have an embarrassment of wealth in the bullpen, but middle relievers especially, with very few exceptions, tend to see their performance fluctuate drastically from season to season. Their offense, led by catcher Brian McCann, first baseman Mark Teixeira, and third baseman Chipper Jones (Fuck you Larry!) will be tremendous, but as always health in the starting rotation will be key for their success.
In more important news, Johan Santana makes his debut this afternoon in Florida, as the Mets kick off their season against the Marlins. Perhaps I'm asking for too much, but is a perfect game with 27 strikeouts an unreasonable request?
Monday, March 31, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The future of baseball?
Rob Neyer, sometimes of ESPN.com, compiled this list. I don't think you need to be an insider to access it. The first thing that jumped out at me? Obviously David Wright's dreamy good looks. Beyond that, and the giddy feeling I get when the Mets land 3 players in the top 10, I noticed that 7 of the top 10 players are all from the National League. In fact, 6 of those 7 are from the NL East, home to YOUR New York Mets!
Who knows what happens over the next several years? It is possible that most of those young stars end up in the AL, much like #3 on the list Miguel Cabrera, formerly of the Florida Marlins now patrolling third base for the Detroit Tigers. As long as the Mets keep dumping money on star players, assuming they can contend for the playoffs every year, other NL teams will have to spend more to follow suit.
I could go through all sorts of interesting (er, to me) facts about the breakdown of players, and of course you have to take this all with a grain of salt because the list is one man's opinion, but it breaks down thusly, which is probably a good indication of which divisions will be the strongest over the next few years:
NL East: 13 players
AL Central: 12 players
AL East: 10 players
NL West: 9 players
NL Central: 5 players
AL West: 1 player (yikes!)
Who knows what happens over the next several years? It is possible that most of those young stars end up in the AL, much like #3 on the list Miguel Cabrera, formerly of the Florida Marlins now patrolling third base for the Detroit Tigers. As long as the Mets keep dumping money on star players, assuming they can contend for the playoffs every year, other NL teams will have to spend more to follow suit.
I could go through all sorts of interesting (er, to me) facts about the breakdown of players, and of course you have to take this all with a grain of salt because the list is one man's opinion, but it breaks down thusly, which is probably a good indication of which divisions will be the strongest over the next few years:
NL East: 13 players
AL Central: 12 players
AL East: 10 players
NL West: 9 players
NL Central: 5 players
AL West: 1 player (yikes!)
Monday, March 24, 2008
I can't believe I missed this
I'd like to see Peyton Manning throw a touchdown pass without his fucking arm. DAMN that was close!
Well that was quick
It was almost like I knew what I was talking about! Say goodbye to college basketball season, say hello to baseball season!
That's right, tomorrow morning marks the official unofficially official start to the regular season. Confused? So are the Red Sox and the A's who will play two regular season games in Japan starting tomorrow before returning to the United States to finish up their spring training. Now it might seem stupid to schedule regular season games in the the midst of the exhibition season but, well, I kind of forgot where I was going with that.
On a related note, fans raised a small level of outrage when the Red Sox players threatened to boycott a spring training game last week unless the support staff for their team received the promised stipends to go to Japan. I got a little confused as to what was promised and who was supposed to receive it, but the general outrage seemed to stem from the fact that the players make so much money they should go to Japan for free and like it!
I'm a little ambivalent on that point. I would really love to be in a position to refuse a free trip to Japan unless someone paid me $20,000 or $40,000 or however much it is to go, but at the same time, THIS is the breaking point for people? The selfishness and greed of professional athletes knows no limits as they have proved time and time again over the years. During the '99 lockout of the NBA players, Patrick Ewing famously said "Well, we make a lot of money, but we spend a lot too." These athletes are paid absurd amounts of money to play games. We as consumers feed the kitty by soaking up as much of the product as we can. Unless we stop buying the tickets and the jerseys, stop watching on tv, stop reading about our teams on ESPN and all the blogs, we will never see a change.
These men do something better than 99.99% of the world. There is a HUGE market for their skills, and unless that changes the fans are just going to have to get over themselves. In an ideal world, teachers and firemen and people who make genuine impacts on others' lives would make the most money, but Budweiser thus far seems unwilling to push Mrs. Jones, the 6th grade science teacher from Harlem as the face of their ad campaign. Even if they did, would you cram 50,000 strong into the bleachers to watch her teach?
That's right, tomorrow morning marks the official unofficially official start to the regular season. Confused? So are the Red Sox and the A's who will play two regular season games in Japan starting tomorrow before returning to the United States to finish up their spring training. Now it might seem stupid to schedule regular season games in the the midst of the exhibition season but, well, I kind of forgot where I was going with that.
On a related note, fans raised a small level of outrage when the Red Sox players threatened to boycott a spring training game last week unless the support staff for their team received the promised stipends to go to Japan. I got a little confused as to what was promised and who was supposed to receive it, but the general outrage seemed to stem from the fact that the players make so much money they should go to Japan for free and like it!
I'm a little ambivalent on that point. I would really love to be in a position to refuse a free trip to Japan unless someone paid me $20,000 or $40,000 or however much it is to go, but at the same time, THIS is the breaking point for people? The selfishness and greed of professional athletes knows no limits as they have proved time and time again over the years. During the '99 lockout of the NBA players, Patrick Ewing famously said "Well, we make a lot of money, but we spend a lot too." These athletes are paid absurd amounts of money to play games. We as consumers feed the kitty by soaking up as much of the product as we can. Unless we stop buying the tickets and the jerseys, stop watching on tv, stop reading about our teams on ESPN and all the blogs, we will never see a change.
These men do something better than 99.99% of the world. There is a HUGE market for their skills, and unless that changes the fans are just going to have to get over themselves. In an ideal world, teachers and firemen and people who make genuine impacts on others' lives would make the most money, but Budweiser thus far seems unwilling to push Mrs. Jones, the 6th grade science teacher from Harlem as the face of their ad campaign. Even if they did, would you cram 50,000 strong into the bleachers to watch her teach?
Thursday, March 20, 2008
NCAA Kickoff
When you go through the annals of NCAA history, people tend to gloss over the 1995 tournament even though it was won by a legendary program, UCLA. They had a cheating coach in Jim Harrick, and no NBA stars on their roster. They did, however, have a memorable victory in round 2 of that year's tournament when point guard Tyus Edney raced coast to coast as time expired to beat Missouri.
As an unabashed UConn homer, that moment is particularly memorable to me because the eventual champions took out my beloved Huskies in the Elite 8. For some reason, that game is never brought up when discussing great NCAA tournament games. I assume that this is because there was no last minute miracle shot at the end of the game, but go here and check out the score from that game. It's on the second line of the chart for the west regional. You'll notice that UCLA beat Connecticut 102-96. Think about that for a minute. That was nearly 200 points in a 40 minute college basketball game. Say what you will about the lack of defense but that was one fucking exciting basketball game. Taking a closer look at the tournament from that year, you see that the Huskies' LOWEST scoring game from the tournament was a 96 point effort they achieved twice. As a basis for comparison, the Miami Heat, ostensibly a professional basketball team, managed a mere 54 points in an actual NBA game last night. Had Tyus Edney not made that miracle shot to beat Missouri, assuming the rest of the bracket falls out the same way, theres' a solid chance we're talking about the 1995 National Champion UConn Huskies.
Oh well. Here's some awesome video to get you even more amped up for the upcoming tournament.
As an unabashed UConn homer, that moment is particularly memorable to me because the eventual champions took out my beloved Huskies in the Elite 8. For some reason, that game is never brought up when discussing great NCAA tournament games. I assume that this is because there was no last minute miracle shot at the end of the game, but go here and check out the score from that game. It's on the second line of the chart for the west regional. You'll notice that UCLA beat Connecticut 102-96. Think about that for a minute. That was nearly 200 points in a 40 minute college basketball game. Say what you will about the lack of defense but that was one fucking exciting basketball game. Taking a closer look at the tournament from that year, you see that the Huskies' LOWEST scoring game from the tournament was a 96 point effort they achieved twice. As a basis for comparison, the Miami Heat, ostensibly a professional basketball team, managed a mere 54 points in an actual NBA game last night. Had Tyus Edney not made that miracle shot to beat Missouri, assuming the rest of the bracket falls out the same way, theres' a solid chance we're talking about the 1995 National Champion UConn Huskies.
Oh well. Here's some awesome video to get you even more amped up for the upcoming tournament.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Bracketology time!
So the brackets have come out. The fields of 64 (or 65 on the men's side) have been set in stone and now comes the in depth analysis you've come to expect from me on a semi-regular basis:
I don't have a fucking clue. Honestly, nothing would surprise me this year, especially on the men's side. This could be the year that all four #1 seeds make it to the final four. This could be the year that a #16 seed finally beats a #1 seed. UConn ended up as a 4 seed, which seemed a little high given their end of season disappointment, but this is also a team that won 13 of its last 16 games, so whatever. On a selfish note, I want North Carolina to do well, as it gives me more opportunities to see Tyler Hansbrough do his "I'm a goofy white boy but I still kind of kick ass at basketball dance" seen here:
On the women's side, a lot of time was spent analyzing whether Stanford was hosed by being the #2 seed out west behind #1 Maryland. Head coach Tara VanDerveer gave the diplomatic answer saying she was just happy to be there and hoped to have the opportunity to play Maryland for the right to reach the Final Four. I imagine UConn coach Geno Auriemma would have had a different reaction. What it all comes down to is...does it really make a difference if you switch Stanford and Maryland? Either way, Stanford and Maryland would probably have to play one another to make the Final Four, and the difference between #4 Vandy versus #3 Baylor in a potential Sweet 16 matchup is pretty negligible. Sometimes the perceived slights the analysts try to wrench out of the brackets are just a bunch of noise. If Stanford is able to use this as motivation to whoop some ass, good for them.
On a more analytical note, the Tennessee Volunteers are still the defending national champions, and they still have Candace Parker. Look for them to repeat if you're filling out a women's bracket.
Finally, a quick shout out to Cornell athletics who became the first Ivy League school ever to represent their league in both the Men's and Women's NCAA tournament. Here's to you you fucking cheaters!
I don't have a fucking clue. Honestly, nothing would surprise me this year, especially on the men's side. This could be the year that all four #1 seeds make it to the final four. This could be the year that a #16 seed finally beats a #1 seed. UConn ended up as a 4 seed, which seemed a little high given their end of season disappointment, but this is also a team that won 13 of its last 16 games, so whatever. On a selfish note, I want North Carolina to do well, as it gives me more opportunities to see Tyler Hansbrough do his "I'm a goofy white boy but I still kind of kick ass at basketball dance" seen here:
On the women's side, a lot of time was spent analyzing whether Stanford was hosed by being the #2 seed out west behind #1 Maryland. Head coach Tara VanDerveer gave the diplomatic answer saying she was just happy to be there and hoped to have the opportunity to play Maryland for the right to reach the Final Four. I imagine UConn coach Geno Auriemma would have had a different reaction. What it all comes down to is...does it really make a difference if you switch Stanford and Maryland? Either way, Stanford and Maryland would probably have to play one another to make the Final Four, and the difference between #4 Vandy versus #3 Baylor in a potential Sweet 16 matchup is pretty negligible. Sometimes the perceived slights the analysts try to wrench out of the brackets are just a bunch of noise. If Stanford is able to use this as motivation to whoop some ass, good for them.
On a more analytical note, the Tennessee Volunteers are still the defending national champions, and they still have Candace Parker. Look for them to repeat if you're filling out a women's bracket.
Finally, a quick shout out to Cornell athletics who became the first Ivy League school ever to represent their league in both the Men's and Women's NCAA tournament. Here's to you you fucking cheaters!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Update
So the experts have weighed in. Due to UConn's regular season success they don't believe they will drop further than 1 or 2 seeds at the most. That will put them in the 4-5 seed range, mostly matched up against a mid major in the first round. This can be troublesome. Everyone knows that at least one 5 seed loses EVERY year. I would have to believe the Huskies would be a prime candidate in that spot.
They have now lost four consecutive Big East tournament games, which by my math means this team is not great at tournament time. I really feel like the return of Jerome Dyson has shattered the fragile confidence guard Craig Austrie displayed in his absence. Coach Calhoun is famous for yanking his players in and out of the lineup after the slightest mistake. Some guys handle it, some guys don't. When the rotation was basically 8 or 9 guys with guards Austrie and A.J. Price sharing the playing time with Donnell Beverly and eventually Doug Wiggins, Austrie was the steady hand to slowed things down when they got out of control and made some big shots. Now his play has suffered and I just do not see this team advancing to the second weekend of the NCAAs without solid play from both him and Price.
They have now lost four consecutive Big East tournament games, which by my math means this team is not great at tournament time. I really feel like the return of Jerome Dyson has shattered the fragile confidence guard Craig Austrie displayed in his absence. Coach Calhoun is famous for yanking his players in and out of the lineup after the slightest mistake. Some guys handle it, some guys don't. When the rotation was basically 8 or 9 guys with guards Austrie and A.J. Price sharing the playing time with Donnell Beverly and eventually Doug Wiggins, Austrie was the steady hand to slowed things down when they got out of control and made some big shots. Now his play has suffered and I just do not see this team advancing to the second weekend of the NCAAs without solid play from both him and Price.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Words cannot describe what I just listened to
Of course that's not going to stop me from trying. UConn just got smoked in their quarterfinal match up with the Mountaineers from West Virginia. Now the final score was 78-72 but that in no way reflects how poorly UConn played. West Virginia played so badly they would have struggled to beat a below average high school team.
There was a stretch in the second half where UConn had A.J. Price on the line with a chance to cut the lead to 4, down from its height of 13. Leading up to that point, West Virginia had a possession where it gathered 3 (!) offensive rebounds without getting a point, then a possession where it nabbed 2 offensive rebounds without scoring. After Price missed the free throw, WVU came down, missed another shot, got another offensive rebound, and then their player was fouled, stopping the Huskies' mini run. If you add that up, that was 6 consecutive missed shots by the Mountaineers without the Huskies getting a single rebound. You have to try to be that bad.
Now I don't mean to bang on college kids. I understand this is a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds trying their hardest, but when you are as physically gifted as they boys are, it all comes down to pure laziness to be that ineffective at rebounding. The officials played a large role in the game, completely annihilating the flow of the game by calling over 50 fouls combined on the two teams, but somehow the giants on West Virginia still managed to lift their arms overhead and grab the orange thing that was bobbing around, a level of coordination that far exceeded anything the Huskies were capable of today.
It should be noted that after struggling early this season, UConn ran off a string of 10 consecutive wins, albeit not overly impressive wins against for the most part sub-par opponents. However they were gutsy wins, and showed the kind of scrap you like to see on any sporting team. They have now dropped two out of their last three games against underwhelming competition and looked just awful in doing so. What happened? Well shortly before the 10 game winning streak, questionable character Jerome Dyson was suspended for possessing alcohol as a minor. He reportedly also failed a drug test and was suspended for over a month. Since he's come back, the team has lost whatever mojo they possessed throughout the month of February, and should now consider themselves lucky to advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
There was a stretch in the second half where UConn had A.J. Price on the line with a chance to cut the lead to 4, down from its height of 13. Leading up to that point, West Virginia had a possession where it gathered 3 (!) offensive rebounds without getting a point, then a possession where it nabbed 2 offensive rebounds without scoring. After Price missed the free throw, WVU came down, missed another shot, got another offensive rebound, and then their player was fouled, stopping the Huskies' mini run. If you add that up, that was 6 consecutive missed shots by the Mountaineers without the Huskies getting a single rebound. You have to try to be that bad.
Now I don't mean to bang on college kids. I understand this is a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds trying their hardest, but when you are as physically gifted as they boys are, it all comes down to pure laziness to be that ineffective at rebounding. The officials played a large role in the game, completely annihilating the flow of the game by calling over 50 fouls combined on the two teams, but somehow the giants on West Virginia still managed to lift their arms overhead and grab the orange thing that was bobbing around, a level of coordination that far exceeded anything the Huskies were capable of today.
It should be noted that after struggling early this season, UConn ran off a string of 10 consecutive wins, albeit not overly impressive wins against for the most part sub-par opponents. However they were gutsy wins, and showed the kind of scrap you like to see on any sporting team. They have now dropped two out of their last three games against underwhelming competition and looked just awful in doing so. What happened? Well shortly before the 10 game winning streak, questionable character Jerome Dyson was suspended for possessing alcohol as a minor. He reportedly also failed a drug test and was suspended for over a month. Since he's come back, the team has lost whatever mojo they possessed throughout the month of February, and should now consider themselves lucky to advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Fixing the Knicks in 5 easy steps
Let's do this Mastercard commercial style:
Firing Zach Randolph: $48,000,000
Firing Eddy Curry: $31,501,269
Firing Stephon Marbury: $21,937,500
Firing Jerome James: $12,800,000
Firing Isiah Thomas: Terms not disclosed
Being able to make eye contact with an NBA fan when you say your favorite team is the Knicks: FUCKING PRICELESS!!!!
Firing Zach Randolph: $48,000,000
Firing Eddy Curry: $31,501,269
Firing Stephon Marbury: $21,937,500
Firing Jerome James: $12,800,000
Firing Isiah Thomas: Terms not disclosed
Being able to make eye contact with an NBA fan when you say your favorite team is the Knicks: FUCKING PRICELESS!!!!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Someone's too old for this shit
What follows is what I imagine would be the Mets starting lineup on opening day:
SS Jose Reyes
2B Luis Castillo
CF Carlos Beltran
3B David Wright
1B Carlos Delgado
LF Moises Alou
RF Ryan Church
C Brian Schneider
What follows next is a list of injured Mets:
2B Luis Castillo, knee, yet to play in spring training
CF Carlos Beltran, both knees, yet to play in spring training
1B Carlos Delgado, hip, yet to play in spring training
LF Moises Alou, hernia, out at least 6 weeks, will miss the start of the season
RF Ryan Church, concussion, no timetable for his return
C Brian Schneider, hamstring
Given that, here's what the Mets lineup would look like if they had a game today:
SS Jose Reyes
2B Jose Valentin
LF Damion Easley
3B David Wright
1B Marlon Anderson
C Ramon Castro
CF Endy Chavez
RF Angel Pagan (?)
But wait, there's more! The following is a list of backup Mets who are currently injured:
2B Jose Valentin, knee, yet to play in spring training
LF Damion Easley, ankle, yet to play in spring training
1B Marlon Anderson, bruised sternum
CF Endy Chavez, ankle and hamstring, yet to play in spring training
Well, maybe you can put Ruben Gotay at second base. Nope, he's on the shelf too. So here's my last attempt at piecing together a lineup for the Mets:
SS Jose Reyes
2B Anderson Hernandez
C Ramon Castro
3B David Wright
CF Angel Pagan
RF Fernando Martinez
1B David Wright
LF Jose Reyes
Good thing Wright and Reyes have those young legs, they are going to have some ground to cover. Maybe Johan Santana can play left field on days he's not pitching. They're paying him enough...
SS Jose Reyes
2B Luis Castillo
CF Carlos Beltran
3B David Wright
1B Carlos Delgado
LF Moises Alou
RF Ryan Church
C Brian Schneider
What follows next is a list of injured Mets:
2B Luis Castillo, knee, yet to play in spring training
CF Carlos Beltran, both knees, yet to play in spring training
1B Carlos Delgado, hip, yet to play in spring training
LF Moises Alou, hernia, out at least 6 weeks, will miss the start of the season
RF Ryan Church, concussion, no timetable for his return
C Brian Schneider, hamstring
Given that, here's what the Mets lineup would look like if they had a game today:
SS Jose Reyes
2B Jose Valentin
LF Damion Easley
3B David Wright
1B Marlon Anderson
C Ramon Castro
CF Endy Chavez
RF Angel Pagan (?)
But wait, there's more! The following is a list of backup Mets who are currently injured:
2B Jose Valentin, knee, yet to play in spring training
LF Damion Easley, ankle, yet to play in spring training
1B Marlon Anderson, bruised sternum
CF Endy Chavez, ankle and hamstring, yet to play in spring training
Well, maybe you can put Ruben Gotay at second base. Nope, he's on the shelf too. So here's my last attempt at piecing together a lineup for the Mets:
SS Jose Reyes
2B Anderson Hernandez
C Ramon Castro
3B David Wright
CF Angel Pagan
RF Fernando Martinez
1B David Wright
LF Jose Reyes
Good thing Wright and Reyes have those young legs, they are going to have some ground to cover. Maybe Johan Santana can play left field on days he's not pitching. They're paying him enough...
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Swoon
Sometime last year, Roger Clemens made his annual mid-season return to baseball. It turns out that sucking at pitching for a pro-rated $28 million contract is a hell of a lot more fun than sucking at golf for free. A Yankees game was stopped to announce the signing, as dramatically heard here. SportsCenter ran a 90 minute special discussing the impact of a fat, washed up, steroid abuser on the pennant race. It turns out that when Clemens was 30 pounds lighter and injecting steroids into his eyeballs between pitches, he still couldn't beat Josh Beckett. The end result for the Yankees was...negligible.
Last night, after one practice and one morning skate, Peter Forsberg returned to the Colorado Avalanche. There was much rejoicing in Colorado, but no orgasmic deification of his appearance. Originally intended to skate limited ice time as he worked back into shape, Forsberg looked so good and so comfortable with his old running mate Joe Sakic he earned nearly 20 minutes on the ice. Perhaps following his unsuccessful run in Philadelphia and a first round playoff flame out in Nashville last season Forsberg no longer has the cache he once possessed as the NHL's MVP back in the 2002-03 season. Still, it would have been nice had SportsCenter dedicated more than the quick 5 second slot before revealing the nightly poll results to the return of Peter the Great.
Last night, after one practice and one morning skate, Peter Forsberg returned to the Colorado Avalanche. There was much rejoicing in Colorado, but no orgasmic deification of his appearance. Originally intended to skate limited ice time as he worked back into shape, Forsberg looked so good and so comfortable with his old running mate Joe Sakic he earned nearly 20 minutes on the ice. Perhaps following his unsuccessful run in Philadelphia and a first round playoff flame out in Nashville last season Forsberg no longer has the cache he once possessed as the NHL's MVP back in the 2002-03 season. Still, it would have been nice had SportsCenter dedicated more than the quick 5 second slot before revealing the nightly poll results to the return of Peter the Great.
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