Never has a man's silence said so much. LeBron James left Orlando last night answering what is sure to be a neverending slate of questions with nothing more than loud footsteps and quiet posturing. Who can blame him? Some things are best left unsaid. LeBron wasn't ready to answer questions about what could be his final year in Cleveland this upcoming season. He wasn't ready to explain why Orlando's magic transformed King James and his Knights of the Round into court jesters. He wasn't ready to point fingers. He wasn't ready to go the Kobe route.
The sad state of affairs in the NBA these days is that in order for a team to excel, it must come by the most discourteous of means. Dwight Howard's Magic finally were able to get over the hump and reach the Finals, but only after Superboy(Sorry, Dwight, there's one Superman in Orlando, and he goes by The Diesel.) ripped his coach in a post game news conference following a loss in the Celtics series. Kobe Bryant has got the Lakers back in the Finals for the 2nd straight year, but only after he demanded a trade, ripped his GM and teammates and cried on the top of his lungs for more help. King James, however, chose to be the nobel knight and opted to fall on his sword. He didn't use last night as the golden oppurtunity to bemoan for an infusion of talent around him. He didn't rip Coach Mike Brown for his inability to defend Orlando's three point marksmen. He didn't call out his teammates who magically disappeared in big spots throughout the entire series. He didn't give a reaction to having squandered all the overwhelming publicity sponsers and the NBA were floating over a LeBron vs. Kobe NBA Finals. Instead, LeBron's silent waltz to the airport left one loud statement: I'm staying in Cleveland.
For all of LeBron's career goals of being a global superstar, LeBron has to know that there is one thing out there that trumps all of the fame and fortune: Bringing a championship to Cleveland. He gave his all against the Spurs a few years but fell short thanks to a lame supporting cast and inexperience and he gave the performance of his life this year but fell short because of....wait for it.....a lame supporting cast and inexperience. It would be hard LeBron to come home to Cleveland years from now having chased the money and the fame and won titles in a big city like New York or Los Angeles. While getting upset by the Magic is a disappointment to The Chosen One, it will only fuel his drive to be better next year and the year after that and the year after that to win that elusive ring. Michael Jordan spent the entire late 80's getting denied that brass ring by superior teams in Detroit and Boston before taking over the 90's. After falling to Boston last year, Kobe spent the entire offseason doing whatever it took to get his team back to the Finals, and time will tell whether that hard work paid off. LeBron isn't ready to let early disappointment and the allure of big money ruin the oppurtunity to become an icon where it matters to him most: Home.
Of course, the fact remains that even LeBron needs help, so here's some things for LeBron and the guy who probably is sweating more than anyone after this series, GM Danny Ferry, to address over the coming months.
1. Inside Game: It goes without saying that the Cavs' big men range from mediocre to significantly declined. Longtime center Zydrunas Ilgauskas proved that the name "Big Z" stood for "Big Zero". With an aging body ravaged over the year by injuries, Big Z looked stiff and inefficient on both ends of the court settling for hard fouls on defense and mid-range shots on offense. Anderson Varajao proved why he's better coming off the bench. The frenetic pace that became his calling card eventually came to screeching halt as his increased minutes wore him out down the stretch. Ben Wallace died a long time ago and his corpse occassionally made cameos but he was largely used as a rotting cadaver hoping to at least impede Dwight Howard enough to either force him to the line or get a bad shot. Same went for Joe Smith and Lorenzen Wright. The good news for King James is that Smith and Wright are free agents and Z and Varajao could join them if they choose to excercise that option. Wallace, on the other hand, in mulling retirement and, with one year left on his deal, would seem like a long shot to return anyway.
The solution to the Cavs' problems inside lie in Phoenix. The Cavs flirted with the idea of bringing in Shaq at the deadline but were rebuffed when Phoenix wouldn't take back Wallace's contract. The bigger fish in the desert would appear to be Amare Stoudemire, who was shopped fervishly during the deadline but eventually had eye surgery that made him almost as immovable as Big Ben's corpse. With Wallace's expiring deal and a bevy of young guards, the Cavs could try to lure Amare to join forces with King James, offering the type of inside-outside combo that could get them over the snide. If James could win 66 games with this band of stiffs, imagine what he could do with an actual living human being in the front court? Exploring Shaq again isn't a bad idea either. He had a solid year last year in Phoenix despite being on the decline since leaving L.A. in 2005. Shaq's large body can at least presumably keep a big man like Dwight Howard or Kevin Garnett from having their way in the paint and, on offense, Shaq has proven he can produce when he feels he's involved enough. The downside with acquiring Amare or Shaq is that they are free agents at the end of next season, when James can opt out of his contract. That would leave Cleveland with the tough task of retaining James AND going back to the drawing board in the case of Shaq(who would theoretically retire) or having hand out another max contract in the case of Stoudemire. Other available big men would be Denver's Chris "Birdman" Anderson, or the Clips' Marcus Camby. An interesting situation if the Cavs would happen to lose the entire frontcourt could be reuniting James with former teammate Carlos Boozer, who's a free agent this summer.
2. Pick a guard, any guard: Kobe needed Shaq. Jordan needed Pippen. Magic needed Kareem or Worthy. Cleveland can't possibly expect to become a champion with a troika of undersized, shoot-first point guards. Eliminating one or two(or maybe even all three) from the trio of Mo Williams, Delonte West, and Boobie Gibson would seem to be the smart route since you essentially have three players(as well as a fourth in seldom-used off-guard Sasha Pavlovic) who all bring the same thing to the table. If Cleveland can use a couple of these guys along with one of their rotting big men to lure in a big fish like Stoudemire or Camby or even a solid # 2 like Michael Redd or Rudy Gay, it could serve them well. LeBron can't be both the facilitator AND the scorer. He needs someone who can take some of the load off. The perfect scenario would be to move some of their surplus at guard to bring in a pass-first point, a solid spot-up shooter at the two and an active force on the boards. It's not an impossible task. If the Cavs can make a move for Stoudemire, they might be able to dial up the cost-cutting Hornets in order to acquire sweet-shooting Rasual Butler(or Butler and Tyson Chandler in a bigger deal). As for the point, there are guys like T.J. Ford(whom the Pacers might shop in exchange for, say, Varajao) or, if they're completely desperate...they can try to resuscitate the lifeless body of free agent point guard Jason Kidd.
3. Get younger: A cheaper option that has been utilized for years by teams like San Antonio and Detroit would be to find some gems in the draft. One guy who could be ripe for the picking when Cleveland goes on the clock is energetic North Carolina big man Tyler Hansborough. While Psycho T is really a softer version of Varajao, he'll at least come cheaper than the long-lost third Lopez brother. If the Cavs can move Varajao in a deal for any one of the previously mentioned targets and then replace him with a proven winner like Hansborough, the team could benefit not only by improving the overall talent but by saving pennies to put toward the eventual huge contract coming to the King in 2010. The Celtics were able to find Rajon Rondo in the 2nd round, and he's now a top 5 point guard. The Spurs stole Manu Ginobli and Tony Parker late. The Pistons discovered Tayshaun Prince. Every draft has a couple of guys who fall to winning teams and produce......much like Carlos Boozer did in Cleveland a few years ago.
4. Brown Out: Mike Brown is a solid coach who has worked wonders with a team that is a walking one-man show, but it might be time for a change. Byron Scott took the Nets to two NBA Finals, but inevitably wore out his welcome. Same for Avery Johnson and Don Nelson in Dallas. Same for Rick Carlisle in Detroit. Players don't accept schemes and speeches as much as they rally around results and rings. Boston assistant Tom Thibodeau is a defensive-minded coach who has helped his team finish in the Top 10 in team defense 15 times. He was a part of the '99 Knicks team that went to the Finals and won a title with Boston last year. After a disappointing series in which the Cavs were routinely gashed by open 3s and lack of aggression inside, the Cavs might be better served to be led by a man with championship pedigree and defensive know-how.
Brown isn't solely to blame for the Cavs' playoff exit, but better coaches have been dismissed for less.
The fact of the matter is this, players like LeBron James come once a generation and the city of Cleveland will continue to starve for a championship if they don't push for an army fit for a King. This season, we all witnessed greatness, but how long before we become witnesses to a weary King silently marching away from his countrymen for the very last time?
--Dave
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
The Super Bowl in London?.....Here's why not.
My previous post in which I defended moving the Super Bowl to London has created a lot of real life discussion. People have been telling me that I'm an idiot a lot lately. Let me say this, I don't actually think the Super Bowl should be played outside of the U.S. I was just taking the unpopular side as an intellectual exercise.
So now, why shouldn't the NFL move the game to London (or anywhere outside the U.S. for that matter)?
The reasons all come down to culture. First, there is the culture of professional sports. The culture of professional sports is such that a person who wants to play professionally as an adult must start preparing for that when they are a child. These days, high level sports are so specialized that by college most athletes are forced to pick one sport and play or train in that sport year round. It's the difference between being an athlete and being a player.
This is true of American football more than any other sport because of the number of players, the complexity of play, the equipment, and the sheer number of rules. Basketball and baseball were able to make inroads decades ago, and are very popular now, because of their relative simplicity. You don't need a lot of equipment. The rules are simple. It is easy to pare those games down to play with only a few people, 3 on 3, 2 on 2 for basketball, maybe 5 on 5 for baseball, etc. Football is much harder to simplify. Even pick-up games are marred with the phrases "5 Mississippi", "One blitz every four downs", "two-hand touch", "two completions", "all-time qb", etc. In order to play you have to know the official rules of football and the modifications. It's something you simply have to grow up doing.
This leads into the second cultural barrier, the culture of a nation. American football is simply not on the menu for kids around the world. We are a young country with young sports. Other countries' national sports, like soccer and hurling as examples, have literally been played for millenia. They are a part of the national and local fabric. The countries and towns have so much pride invested in their teams that anyone who shows any athletic talent is steered towards these sports. Hurling is a great example of this. There is not a professional league for hurling. There are simply teams in each town that play the teams from other towns for pride.
American football may one day be played across the world, but it won't happen overnight. They are doing the right things to make inroads by playing one regular season game and one preseason game abroad. However, the Super Bowl should never be played abroad. The UEFA cup is not played here, for good reason.
- Gabe
So now, why shouldn't the NFL move the game to London (or anywhere outside the U.S. for that matter)?
The reasons all come down to culture. First, there is the culture of professional sports. The culture of professional sports is such that a person who wants to play professionally as an adult must start preparing for that when they are a child. These days, high level sports are so specialized that by college most athletes are forced to pick one sport and play or train in that sport year round. It's the difference between being an athlete and being a player.
This is true of American football more than any other sport because of the number of players, the complexity of play, the equipment, and the sheer number of rules. Basketball and baseball were able to make inroads decades ago, and are very popular now, because of their relative simplicity. You don't need a lot of equipment. The rules are simple. It is easy to pare those games down to play with only a few people, 3 on 3, 2 on 2 for basketball, maybe 5 on 5 for baseball, etc. Football is much harder to simplify. Even pick-up games are marred with the phrases "5 Mississippi", "One blitz every four downs", "two-hand touch", "two completions", "all-time qb", etc. In order to play you have to know the official rules of football and the modifications. It's something you simply have to grow up doing.
This leads into the second cultural barrier, the culture of a nation. American football is simply not on the menu for kids around the world. We are a young country with young sports. Other countries' national sports, like soccer and hurling as examples, have literally been played for millenia. They are a part of the national and local fabric. The countries and towns have so much pride invested in their teams that anyone who shows any athletic talent is steered towards these sports. Hurling is a great example of this. There is not a professional league for hurling. There are simply teams in each town that play the teams from other towns for pride.
American football may one day be played across the world, but it won't happen overnight. They are doing the right things to make inroads by playing one regular season game and one preseason game abroad. However, the Super Bowl should never be played abroad. The UEFA cup is not played here, for good reason.
- Gabe
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Beer of the Week 11 and 12
Beer of the Week Summer Seasonal Special
I apologize for Beer of the "Week" being somewhat sporadic lately. I will start to try and make up for that with some special editions, starting now with a special Summer Seasonal two-fer. I'll be looking at one very popular nationally distributed brew, Sam Adams Summer Ale, and one great local (to me) beer, Starr Hill's "The Love."
Let's get started.
First the well known beer.
Sam Adam's Summer Ale
The Facts: Everyone knows the Sam Adam's brand. If you don't, well.....I find amazing that you would be reading this little blog and not know about Sam Adam's (especially since a few weeks ago I reviewed the Sam Adam's brewery). But just in case, here is the quick and dirty history. Boston Beer Company founder Jim Koch uses his grandfather's recipe and cooks up the first batch of Sam Adam's Boston Lager in his kitchen. The next year it wins an award at the Great American Beer Festival. He sets up shop in the Jamaica neighborhood in Boston. The rest is history.
5.20% ABV.
Available everywhere.
Check out their website here.
What They Say: It has an average rating of 3.46 out of 5.00 at BeerAdvocate.com, giving it a grade of B- from the users. The brothers have also given it a B-. It has an average rating of 2.97 out of 5.00 at RateBeer.com placing it in the 42nd percentile overall and in the 73rd percentile for it's style.
What I Say: In my mind, Sam Adam's Summer Ale is the iconic summer beer. All other are judged against it. I have spent many lazy afternoons on decks and by pools turning bottles of this beer upside-down. Like most summer seasonals, this one is a wheat ale. I poured from a 12oz. bottle into an official Sam Adams Perfect Pint Glass (I know I'm a beer nerd). It has a hazy straw colored appearance. The head is small and dissipates quickly. The aroma is bright and citrusy. The taste is aromatic and fruity with some very nice spice notes. What sets Sam Adam's Summer Ale apart from other summer seasonals is the spice blend used. It has lemon zest, coriander, and an anciant African spice called grains of paradise. It has a light, fruity, aromatic aftertaste.
Final Rating: 3.5 out of 6 pints.
Starr Hill The Love
The Facts: The Starr Hill brewery is located in Crozet, Virginia, about a thirty minute drive from my current hometown of Charlottesville. They started in a building on Main Street in Charlottesville in 1999. High demand required them to move to a bigger facility, which they did in 2005. More about their history and their beer varities can be found here, at their website.
4.6% ABV.
Currently this beer, and all Starr Hill beers, are only available regionally (mid-Atlantic). They recently signed a distribution deal with Anhueser-Busch that has allowed them to spread beyond central VA, and hopefully they will soon be available even further away.
What They Say: The Love has an average rating of 3.81 out of 5.00 from the users of BeerAdvocate.com, giving a grade of B+. The brother have not reviewed this beer. It has an average rating of 3.24 out of 5.00 at RateBeer.com, putting it in the 62nd percentile overall on the site, and in the 75.7th percentile for it's style.
What I Say: Like most summer ales it is a hefeweizen. I poured from a 12oz. bottle into a pint glass. It has a great hazy golden straw color. It had a firm half inch thick head that didn't fade. It has a sweet fruity aroma. It has a nice citrusy and spicy taste and a champagne like mouthfeel. It has a very aromatic aftertaste. I would highly recommend this beer.
Final Rating: 4 out of 5 pints.
- Gabe
I apologize for Beer of the "Week" being somewhat sporadic lately. I will start to try and make up for that with some special editions, starting now with a special Summer Seasonal two-fer. I'll be looking at one very popular nationally distributed brew, Sam Adams Summer Ale, and one great local (to me) beer, Starr Hill's "The Love."
Let's get started.
First the well known beer.
Sam Adam's Summer Ale
The Facts: Everyone knows the Sam Adam's brand. If you don't, well.....I find amazing that you would be reading this little blog and not know about Sam Adam's (especially since a few weeks ago I reviewed the Sam Adam's brewery). But just in case, here is the quick and dirty history. Boston Beer Company founder Jim Koch uses his grandfather's recipe and cooks up the first batch of Sam Adam's Boston Lager in his kitchen. The next year it wins an award at the Great American Beer Festival. He sets up shop in the Jamaica neighborhood in Boston. The rest is history.
5.20% ABV.
Available everywhere.
Check out their website here.
What They Say: It has an average rating of 3.46 out of 5.00 at BeerAdvocate.com, giving it a grade of B- from the users. The brothers have also given it a B-. It has an average rating of 2.97 out of 5.00 at RateBeer.com placing it in the 42nd percentile overall and in the 73rd percentile for it's style.
What I Say: In my mind, Sam Adam's Summer Ale is the iconic summer beer. All other are judged against it. I have spent many lazy afternoons on decks and by pools turning bottles of this beer upside-down. Like most summer seasonals, this one is a wheat ale. I poured from a 12oz. bottle into an official Sam Adams Perfect Pint Glass (I know I'm a beer nerd). It has a hazy straw colored appearance. The head is small and dissipates quickly. The aroma is bright and citrusy. The taste is aromatic and fruity with some very nice spice notes. What sets Sam Adam's Summer Ale apart from other summer seasonals is the spice blend used. It has lemon zest, coriander, and an anciant African spice called grains of paradise. It has a light, fruity, aromatic aftertaste.
Final Rating: 3.5 out of 6 pints.
Starr Hill The Love
The Facts: The Starr Hill brewery is located in Crozet, Virginia, about a thirty minute drive from my current hometown of Charlottesville. They started in a building on Main Street in Charlottesville in 1999. High demand required them to move to a bigger facility, which they did in 2005. More about their history and their beer varities can be found here, at their website.
4.6% ABV.
Currently this beer, and all Starr Hill beers, are only available regionally (mid-Atlantic). They recently signed a distribution deal with Anhueser-Busch that has allowed them to spread beyond central VA, and hopefully they will soon be available even further away.
What They Say: The Love has an average rating of 3.81 out of 5.00 from the users of BeerAdvocate.com, giving a grade of B+. The brother have not reviewed this beer. It has an average rating of 3.24 out of 5.00 at RateBeer.com, putting it in the 62nd percentile overall on the site, and in the 75.7th percentile for it's style.
What I Say: Like most summer ales it is a hefeweizen. I poured from a 12oz. bottle into a pint glass. It has a great hazy golden straw color. It had a firm half inch thick head that didn't fade. It has a sweet fruity aroma. It has a nice citrusy and spicy taste and a champagne like mouthfeel. It has a very aromatic aftertaste. I would highly recommend this beer.
Final Rating: 4 out of 5 pints.
- Gabe
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Vick-tory
The refreshing part of the Mike Vick comeback tour is it gives us another QB to dress down during the summer other than Brett Favre. The not so refreshing part is the fake outrage and hypocrisy eminating from the lips of many over the possibility of Vick returning to football.
Let's get one thing clear: I don't condone Vick's murder of pit bulls nor him bankrolling others to do the same. However, I can't understand how NFL fans can be so dead-set on keeping Vick out when the league currently employs numerous drug offenders, alcoholics and domestic abusing womanizers. Rams defensive end Leonard Little once got drunk behind the wheel of a car and killed a woman. After doing 90 days in jail, he thought it would fun to do it again six years later, though this time he was acquitted of felony charges and was only hit with a misdemeanor. But he's more apt to represent the league than a man who admits to killing a handful of pitbulls. Chiefs running back Larry Johnson went on a string where he couldn't be in the same place at the same time as another woman without getting into some sort of fracas, but it's ok for him to be on an NFL roster. Former Titans/Cowboys cornerback Adam "Pac-Man" Jones started a fight at a strip club that led to the permanant paralysis of another man(one of a litany of off-field issues for Pac-Man), but the Cowboys saw him as the missing link to their team last year and there are teams still interested in his services despite the fact he couldn't even stay out of trouble with team-assigned bodyguards.....but, hey, he never bought a "rape stand", so he's gold. Bengals wide recieverChris Henry once purchased alcohol for girls barely old enough to be peed on by R.Kelly, but that didn't stop Cincinatti from keeping him as their # 3 reciever.
The list is neverending from Jared Allen's numerous DUIs to Ricky Williams' love for weed to Michael Strahan's alleged abuse of his ex-wife. All of which were still gainfully employed by the NFL and still rigourously cheered on by the same NFL fans who would stand to condemn Mike Vick. I'm not saying Mike Vick is a great man, as someone who loves animals, I can't find any legitimate reason why someone would want to train them to kill each other. However, the man did his time. Two years in the clink and the inevitably suspension from Commissioner Goodell seems like a more than fair price considering the NFL is filled with more convicts than Singh Singh.
The problem I have is everyone jumping on the animal rights bandwagon. Mike Vick killed six pit bulls personally, and paid for the killing of many more.....and Colonel Sanders kills thousands of chickens on a day-to-day basis. If you're going to jump on Vick for crimes against animals, you have to jump on all of them. You can't pick and choose because its sexy at the time. If you're going to ask that all criminals be disallowed from the league, then you have to throw them ALL out. You can't pause for the cause half-assed. Vick committed a crime and he was punished, what more can you really ask from him? He's broke and unemployed, which not only makes him just like most people in this country, it pretty much makes him the poster child for America in a Bush Economy.
Now, of course, there's the issue of Vick's impact if and when he returns to the NFL. You can speculate for days where Vick ends up and certianly there isn't a team in the NFL that couldn't use someone of Vick's unique athletic ability in some form, either at quarterback, reciever, corner, kick returner, wherever. The chic theory as of late is that the emergence of the Wildcat formation will generate a solid amount of interest in Vick since his skill-set fits the formation to a tee. The problem with that is that defenses are already getting hip to the intracacies of the Wildcat and that, by time Vick is finally adjusted to both the system and the speed of the game, it could be nearing the point of becoming obselete. Lest we forget, Vick was a mediocre QB at best during his stint in Atlanta and his success was a combination of his amazing speed and quickness as well as the occassional flash of competency as a pocket passer. Could a team win with Mike Vick at QB? Sure, but keep in mind he'll be 29 next month which means he'll be in his 30s by time he's actually fully adjusted to the game again. That's not exactly someone you stash on the bench as your QB of the future. Now, the lack of wear and tear on his body from being away from the game as well as the recent surge of QBs having success in their late 30s should be signs of optimism for Vick, but teams signing the former # 1 overall pick will have to be very patient with him as both a project trying to learn the ropes again and as a target for a suddenly ravenous uprising of animal rights pundits.
Alot has changed since Vick went away. The evolution of bloggers, non-stop talk radio, and round-the-clock sports coverage has turned the NFL and other sports into a year-long season of Big Brother. Vick, who was never the public speaking type, will have to be aware that his every word, step and action will be on display for the YouTube generation. Vick's best move might be to become the face of the newly-minted and soon-to-be extinct UFL, where he can both showcase his talents for NFL suits as well as get reacquainted with the game he was expected to dominate. Mike Vick is a cautionary tale for any up-and-coming talent trying to make something from nothing. Vick was blessed with a unfathomable amount of gifts, except for one: Common sense. Does it seem logical that a man making millions would throw it all away for pennies? No, but how many great athletes have succumbed to the same fate? Before Sean Taylor was a Redskins tragedy, he was a knucklehead who didn't know when to walk away from the streets. Maurice Clarett went from promising running back prospect to being tailed by police with an M-16 and a bottle of Grey Goose in his SUV. Allen Iverson spent the prime of his career doubling as the NBA's top scoring machine and # 1 bad boy. Even before Vick was a dog killer, he was wearing out his welcome in the ATL with everything from hiding weed in water bottles to flipping off the fans. Is he deserving of our sympathy? No, but what kind of people are we if we chastise people for not using their heads and then kick them while their down? The great irony of this Vick fiasco is that the people who are most outraged over Vick's violence towards animals are the ones thirstiest for his blood.
---Dave
Let's get one thing clear: I don't condone Vick's murder of pit bulls nor him bankrolling others to do the same. However, I can't understand how NFL fans can be so dead-set on keeping Vick out when the league currently employs numerous drug offenders, alcoholics and domestic abusing womanizers. Rams defensive end Leonard Little once got drunk behind the wheel of a car and killed a woman. After doing 90 days in jail, he thought it would fun to do it again six years later, though this time he was acquitted of felony charges and was only hit with a misdemeanor. But he's more apt to represent the league than a man who admits to killing a handful of pitbulls. Chiefs running back Larry Johnson went on a string where he couldn't be in the same place at the same time as another woman without getting into some sort of fracas, but it's ok for him to be on an NFL roster. Former Titans/Cowboys cornerback Adam "Pac-Man" Jones started a fight at a strip club that led to the permanant paralysis of another man(one of a litany of off-field issues for Pac-Man), but the Cowboys saw him as the missing link to their team last year and there are teams still interested in his services despite the fact he couldn't even stay out of trouble with team-assigned bodyguards.....but, hey, he never bought a "rape stand", so he's gold. Bengals wide recieverChris Henry once purchased alcohol for girls barely old enough to be peed on by R.Kelly, but that didn't stop Cincinatti from keeping him as their # 3 reciever.
The list is neverending from Jared Allen's numerous DUIs to Ricky Williams' love for weed to Michael Strahan's alleged abuse of his ex-wife. All of which were still gainfully employed by the NFL and still rigourously cheered on by the same NFL fans who would stand to condemn Mike Vick. I'm not saying Mike Vick is a great man, as someone who loves animals, I can't find any legitimate reason why someone would want to train them to kill each other. However, the man did his time. Two years in the clink and the inevitably suspension from Commissioner Goodell seems like a more than fair price considering the NFL is filled with more convicts than Singh Singh.
The problem I have is everyone jumping on the animal rights bandwagon. Mike Vick killed six pit bulls personally, and paid for the killing of many more.....and Colonel Sanders kills thousands of chickens on a day-to-day basis. If you're going to jump on Vick for crimes against animals, you have to jump on all of them. You can't pick and choose because its sexy at the time. If you're going to ask that all criminals be disallowed from the league, then you have to throw them ALL out. You can't pause for the cause half-assed. Vick committed a crime and he was punished, what more can you really ask from him? He's broke and unemployed, which not only makes him just like most people in this country, it pretty much makes him the poster child for America in a Bush Economy.
Now, of course, there's the issue of Vick's impact if and when he returns to the NFL. You can speculate for days where Vick ends up and certianly there isn't a team in the NFL that couldn't use someone of Vick's unique athletic ability in some form, either at quarterback, reciever, corner, kick returner, wherever. The chic theory as of late is that the emergence of the Wildcat formation will generate a solid amount of interest in Vick since his skill-set fits the formation to a tee. The problem with that is that defenses are already getting hip to the intracacies of the Wildcat and that, by time Vick is finally adjusted to both the system and the speed of the game, it could be nearing the point of becoming obselete. Lest we forget, Vick was a mediocre QB at best during his stint in Atlanta and his success was a combination of his amazing speed and quickness as well as the occassional flash of competency as a pocket passer. Could a team win with Mike Vick at QB? Sure, but keep in mind he'll be 29 next month which means he'll be in his 30s by time he's actually fully adjusted to the game again. That's not exactly someone you stash on the bench as your QB of the future. Now, the lack of wear and tear on his body from being away from the game as well as the recent surge of QBs having success in their late 30s should be signs of optimism for Vick, but teams signing the former # 1 overall pick will have to be very patient with him as both a project trying to learn the ropes again and as a target for a suddenly ravenous uprising of animal rights pundits.
Alot has changed since Vick went away. The evolution of bloggers, non-stop talk radio, and round-the-clock sports coverage has turned the NFL and other sports into a year-long season of Big Brother. Vick, who was never the public speaking type, will have to be aware that his every word, step and action will be on display for the YouTube generation. Vick's best move might be to become the face of the newly-minted and soon-to-be extinct UFL, where he can both showcase his talents for NFL suits as well as get reacquainted with the game he was expected to dominate. Mike Vick is a cautionary tale for any up-and-coming talent trying to make something from nothing. Vick was blessed with a unfathomable amount of gifts, except for one: Common sense. Does it seem logical that a man making millions would throw it all away for pennies? No, but how many great athletes have succumbed to the same fate? Before Sean Taylor was a Redskins tragedy, he was a knucklehead who didn't know when to walk away from the streets. Maurice Clarett went from promising running back prospect to being tailed by police with an M-16 and a bottle of Grey Goose in his SUV. Allen Iverson spent the prime of his career doubling as the NBA's top scoring machine and # 1 bad boy. Even before Vick was a dog killer, he was wearing out his welcome in the ATL with everything from hiding weed in water bottles to flipping off the fans. Is he deserving of our sympathy? No, but what kind of people are we if we chastise people for not using their heads and then kick them while their down? The great irony of this Vick fiasco is that the people who are most outraged over Vick's violence towards animals are the ones thirstiest for his blood.
---Dave
Milk Carton All Star of the Week.....5/27/2009
This week's MCAS of the Week had quite a few candidates, but watching last night's Cavs-Magic Game 4 brought forth a blast from the past:
One thing LeBron's Cavs have a bevy of is sweet-shooting combo guards. Mo Williams. Boobie Gibson. Delonte West. However, before them, was the man seen here.....Duke flameout Trajan Langdon. "The Alaskan Assassin" was quite the athlete as he was drafted not only by the Cavs(11th overall in 1999) but the San Diego Padres as well. Langdon was Duke's reigning 3 point champion until fellow Duke flameout J.J. Redick broke it a couple years ago. Langdon was one of four Blue Devils taken in the 1st round in '99, alongside Elton Brand, Corey Maggette and William Avery. Langdon struggled to stay healthy during his 3 year career in Cleveland and inevitably opted to play ball cross-seas in Europe, bringing his 6 points per game and 40% shooting to Benneton Treviso of the Italian League.
One bright side for Langdon: The emergence of the Palin family has now made him only the 2nd biggest disaster to come out of Alaska. So give it up for one in a long line of Duke busts.....Trajan Langdon!
--Dave
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Milk Carton All Star.....Draft Lottery Special
Yeah, yeah, I know, I already crowned a Milk Carton All-Star this week(and a very good one, I might add). As you may have heard, last night, the Los Angeles Clippers won the NBA Draft Lottery, earning the right to select Oklahoma big man Blake Griffin with the # 1 pick(theoretically, at least). The Clippers on top of the draft gave me flashbacks of the last time the Clips were in this position.
Back in 1998, the Clippers used the # 1 overall pick on a unknown center out of college powerhouse Pacific University named Michael Olowakandi(or The Kandi Man as he was known to the the two people who followed him in college). Who could the Clippers have taken instead? I thought you'd never ask! How about a pair of All-Americans out of North Carolina named Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter? How about a combo guard/forward out of the University of Kansas named Paul Pierce? Perhaps you'd like a NCAA championship winning point guard like Mike Bibby? Or if you're looking for some international flavor, how about the German stylings of Dirk Nowitzki?
All in all, injuries forced Olowakandi out of the NBA by 2006, leaving his career averages to just under 10 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks per game.....not quite what you'd expect for a man taken over 6 NBA All-Stars.
So, there you go, Clippers fans, a little history to reflect on before your big night comes up again in a little more than a month. But hey, that was 11 years ago, a lot has changed sinc.......ok, nevermind, you're screwed. At least enjoy Blake Griffin for the next three years before he bolts for Oklahoma City.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Who's Playing For Second?
With a rather mundane NBA playoffs and a baseball regular season in its infancy that has registered more bad news than good as of late, it's important to remember one fact: WE'RE ONLY MONTHS AWAY FROM PRE-SEASON FOOTBALL!!! While exhibition games are nothing to get your TiVo ready over, pre-season also means the start of fantasy football drafts. Come on, people!! It's never too early to talk fantasy football, right? Right? (awkward silence). Anyway, while picking at the end of the draft has always been a preferred strategy of mine(as well as, I'm sure, many others), this upcoming season makes that strategy more crucial than ever. With Vikings running back Adrian Peterson now the consensus top overall pick, the question remains.....who's #2? Fear not, BoomRoastedSports readers(all 4 of you), I have done some research.....here are your top candidates(Note: This is in no particular order):
1. Brian Westbrook, RB, Philadelphia Eagles
Upside: He's the NFL's newest version of Marshall Faulk. A versitile swiss-army knife that racks up points by both running and recieving. As the Eagles only proven option, Westbrook stands to have the best shot at garnering # 2 pick value. Now, the Eagles proved last season they aren't very good around the goal-line, but Westbrook stands to get at least some red zone touches. Plus, the Eagles get the AFC West this year, home of three of the worst run defenses in the NFL(KC, Oakland and Denver). Also, he has a better chance than ever before to kick the injury bug as rookie LeSean McCoy will be used to keep Westbrook fresh down the stretch.
Downside: He's the NFL's version of Marshall Faulk....after the Madden Curse. Westbrook's inability to stay healthy has been well-documented, having never played a full 16 games. Also, the Eagles have always been a passing team and would appear to be more so with the addition of 1st round pick Jeremy Maclin and, while that doesn't exactly hurt Westbrook given his ability to catch the ball, it means less value on the ground. There's also the presence of McCoy. While the Eagles have been saying for years that they were going to keep Westbrook fresh by using a bevy of late-round pick backs(Correll Buckhalter, Tony Hunt, Ryan Moats), it never really ends up that way. Even if Shady proves to be a valuable backup to Westbrook, the better he does stands to take yards and points away from Westbrook.
2. Steven Jackson, RB, St. Louis Rams
Upside: Like Westbrook, he's a threat in the run game and the passing game. Unlike Westbrook, nobody's taking carries from The Dreadlock Monster. At 240 pounds with nimble feet and surprising speed, Jackson is a load to handle. Jackson's troubles over the past two seasons have alot to do with a swiss-cheese offensive line and the Rams hope they've erradicated that problem with the first round selection of Baylor left tackle Jason Smith. The Rams, for the first time in a long time, lack a true top-flight reciever which means Jackson will get a lot of work this year, which could mean a lot of points for you. Is another 90 catch season out of the question? I don't think so.
Downside: Jackson's wildly inconsistant. Some weeks he'll tear the walls down like he did last season against Dallas and some weeks he'll be a non-factor. Also, his physical style always seems to a litany of injuries(albeit nothing major yet). Another obvious red flag? The Rams aren't very good, which means this team will be passing most of the time in the second half this season. While Smith is certianly a welcomed addition(over the legendary but clearly declining Orlando Pace), it remains to be seen whether he can run block after coming out of a passing offense at Baylor. Also, while the lack of a proven reciever might give Jackson more touches, it also means he'll have more men in the box trying to stop him. Sure, 90 catches isn't out of the question, but unless someone else emerges, it might be wishful thinking.
3. Clinton Portis, RB, Washington Redskins
Upside: Portis always seems to be overlooked by people still writing him off as either injury-prone or a system running back, but Portis is the goods. With the exception of an injury-shortened 2006, Portis has garnered at least 1200 yards since entering the league. He has a solid offensive line, great speed, and is a factor out of the backfield on passing downs. Plus, improvements on defense(the drafting of Brian Orakpo, the signing of Albert Haynesworth) means Portis could see more time on the field than in years past. He's also still only 27 and while he isn't the biggest of backs, he has some more tread on those legs. Plus, like Westbrook, Portis draws the light defenses of the AFC West this year and with the NFC East tempertures dropping during the second half of the season, the Redskins will be more likely to run during December(i.e. fantasy playoffs) than pass into the swirling winds.
Downside: The injury-prone label isn't what it used to be(Portis has played the full 16 the past 2 seasons) but the lack of a true backup to give Portis a breather only leaves him more vulnerable to injury. He's also sharing with the backfield with a quarterback with a chip on his shoulder after nearly being replaced twice in a span of a month. You think Jason Campbell, in a contract year, isn't trying to air it out this season? Then, of course, there's last season's tiff with head coach Jim Zorn. Who knows what happens to Portis if his mouth lands him in Zorn's doghouse?
4. Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots
Upside: As you may know, the last time Brady played a full-season, he threw 50 touchdown passes and shattered passing records week-by-week. This year, he's back with a vengeance and he still has old buddies Randy Moss and Wes Welker to throw to, not to mention the additions of Joey Galloway and Alex Smith. He also gets to feast on AFC East secondaries again and the hunger to make up for last season(as well as blowing their shot at a perfect season two years ago) will only motivate the league's best QB. Sure, the loss of OC Josh McDaniels hurts, but the Pats have proven to be able to replace coordinators before. Also, the Pats improved the running game with the addition of Fred Taylor, meaning teams will have to respect both the run and the pass.
Downside: To use an old boxing cliche', everyone has a plan 'til they get hit. The fact remains that Brady hasn't been on the field in a meaningful game until his knee crumpled to pieces against the Chiefs last September. While Brady is on schedule to be 100% by Opening Day, there's just no telling how jittery he'll get under pressure if he feels a bit uncertian about his knee. Also, the AFC East has gotten a little better since Brady last gazed upon it. The Bills added T.O. and pass-rushing dynamo Aaron Maybin. The Jets revamped their defense even further with Lito Sheppard and Bart Scott and the Dolphins aren't the same 1-15 laughing stocks they were two years ago. Carson Palmer returned from a torn ACL after rigourous workouts(in a much shorter span, too) and played admirable in his first season back from surgery. Daunte Culpepper did not. So the biggest question remains how Brady responds to his first major pro injury.
5. Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis Colts
Upside: While Brady was on crutches, Manning spent last season adding another MVP to his trophy case. As the NFL's cerebral assassin, Manning's ability to pick apart defenses with his laser rocket arm gets better with each passing season. With the addition of RB Donald Brown, Manning now has two young backs who can be factors in the passing game. Oh, and there's still Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark. Sure, the old staples are gone. Marvin Harrison was cut and Tony Dungy and some of the offensive staff retired, but Manning has always been the head coach of the offense and if he can win an MVP coming off two knee surgeries, who knows what he can do with a clean bill of health. Like Brady, Manning's value will be determined by your league's emphasis on passing stats, but if you're looking for the safest pick in the draft, it's definitely Peyton.
Downside: Manning also has the daunting task of playing in the league's toughest division. The Jags, Titans and Texans all have legitimate shots at making the playoffs. Manning is also 33 and not exactly the most mobile of quarterbacks. While Manning has always been Superman when it comes to avoiding the injury bug, the same could've been said about Brady at the start of last year. Plus, while Harrison lost a few steps, it still remains to be seen whether third-year man Anthony Gonzalez can fit in those shoes. Manning-to-Harrison was one of, if not the, greatest passing combos in league history and you can't just replace that with a few OTAs and training camps. Plus, you're using the 2nd pick on a quarterback, albeit a great one. While Manning is as steady as they come, Brady should be a warning sign to anyone using high picks on quarterbacks, particularly stationary targets who just lost the only offensive line coach they've ever had.
6. Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Arizona Cardinals
Upside: He's the league's most dynamic offensive weapon. He's big, he has huge hands, he can jump to the ceiling and he has stealthy quickness. He also plays with a quarterback with some experience in dynamic passing attacks and a #2 reciever(for now) who can keep the double teams off of him. While last year's playoffs was Fitz's coming-out party, Fitzgerald has lived up to the hype as the NFL's next great reciever since entering the league in 2004. Fitzgerald also has the benefit of a division lacking in top flight pass defenses(particularly Seattle, although they've improved some in the offseason). Sure, taking a wideout with the 2nd pick is a bit ballsy, but with so much uncertianty at the top, it might be smarter to just opt for the safer, albeit uncommon, choice.
Downside: Well, first off, there's the Madden Curse. Fitzgerald will be joining Steelers safety Troy Polamalu on the cover of Madden 10, which always spells danger for somebody's limbs. There's also the status of teammate Anquan Boldin, who wants out of Arizona and is still on the trade market. Also, the label of Best NFL WR always seems to fluctuate from year to year and while Fitzgerald has always been consistant, it's a bit of a crapshoot to predict that he'll have better numbers than fellow recievers like Steve Smith, Andre Johnson and Chad Johnson. There's also the advanced age of QB Kurt Warner. While Warner was healthy all of last season, he's still pushing 40 and it goes without saying that backup Matt Leinart is a significant downgrade if Leinart's forced to come in relief.
So there you go. Of course, scoring systems and pre-season injuries will dictate what you do on Draft Day, but at least you know that you have this blog to look over for the next 3 months until you go on the clock.
---Dave
1. Brian Westbrook, RB, Philadelphia Eagles
Upside: He's the NFL's newest version of Marshall Faulk. A versitile swiss-army knife that racks up points by both running and recieving. As the Eagles only proven option, Westbrook stands to have the best shot at garnering # 2 pick value. Now, the Eagles proved last season they aren't very good around the goal-line, but Westbrook stands to get at least some red zone touches. Plus, the Eagles get the AFC West this year, home of three of the worst run defenses in the NFL(KC, Oakland and Denver). Also, he has a better chance than ever before to kick the injury bug as rookie LeSean McCoy will be used to keep Westbrook fresh down the stretch.
Downside: He's the NFL's version of Marshall Faulk....after the Madden Curse. Westbrook's inability to stay healthy has been well-documented, having never played a full 16 games. Also, the Eagles have always been a passing team and would appear to be more so with the addition of 1st round pick Jeremy Maclin and, while that doesn't exactly hurt Westbrook given his ability to catch the ball, it means less value on the ground. There's also the presence of McCoy. While the Eagles have been saying for years that they were going to keep Westbrook fresh by using a bevy of late-round pick backs(Correll Buckhalter, Tony Hunt, Ryan Moats), it never really ends up that way. Even if Shady proves to be a valuable backup to Westbrook, the better he does stands to take yards and points away from Westbrook.
2. Steven Jackson, RB, St. Louis Rams
Upside: Like Westbrook, he's a threat in the run game and the passing game. Unlike Westbrook, nobody's taking carries from The Dreadlock Monster. At 240 pounds with nimble feet and surprising speed, Jackson is a load to handle. Jackson's troubles over the past two seasons have alot to do with a swiss-cheese offensive line and the Rams hope they've erradicated that problem with the first round selection of Baylor left tackle Jason Smith. The Rams, for the first time in a long time, lack a true top-flight reciever which means Jackson will get a lot of work this year, which could mean a lot of points for you. Is another 90 catch season out of the question? I don't think so.
Downside: Jackson's wildly inconsistant. Some weeks he'll tear the walls down like he did last season against Dallas and some weeks he'll be a non-factor. Also, his physical style always seems to a litany of injuries(albeit nothing major yet). Another obvious red flag? The Rams aren't very good, which means this team will be passing most of the time in the second half this season. While Smith is certianly a welcomed addition(over the legendary but clearly declining Orlando Pace), it remains to be seen whether he can run block after coming out of a passing offense at Baylor. Also, while the lack of a proven reciever might give Jackson more touches, it also means he'll have more men in the box trying to stop him. Sure, 90 catches isn't out of the question, but unless someone else emerges, it might be wishful thinking.
3. Clinton Portis, RB, Washington Redskins
Upside: Portis always seems to be overlooked by people still writing him off as either injury-prone or a system running back, but Portis is the goods. With the exception of an injury-shortened 2006, Portis has garnered at least 1200 yards since entering the league. He has a solid offensive line, great speed, and is a factor out of the backfield on passing downs. Plus, improvements on defense(the drafting of Brian Orakpo, the signing of Albert Haynesworth) means Portis could see more time on the field than in years past. He's also still only 27 and while he isn't the biggest of backs, he has some more tread on those legs. Plus, like Westbrook, Portis draws the light defenses of the AFC West this year and with the NFC East tempertures dropping during the second half of the season, the Redskins will be more likely to run during December(i.e. fantasy playoffs) than pass into the swirling winds.
Downside: The injury-prone label isn't what it used to be(Portis has played the full 16 the past 2 seasons) but the lack of a true backup to give Portis a breather only leaves him more vulnerable to injury. He's also sharing with the backfield with a quarterback with a chip on his shoulder after nearly being replaced twice in a span of a month. You think Jason Campbell, in a contract year, isn't trying to air it out this season? Then, of course, there's last season's tiff with head coach Jim Zorn. Who knows what happens to Portis if his mouth lands him in Zorn's doghouse?
4. Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots
Upside: As you may know, the last time Brady played a full-season, he threw 50 touchdown passes and shattered passing records week-by-week. This year, he's back with a vengeance and he still has old buddies Randy Moss and Wes Welker to throw to, not to mention the additions of Joey Galloway and Alex Smith. He also gets to feast on AFC East secondaries again and the hunger to make up for last season(as well as blowing their shot at a perfect season two years ago) will only motivate the league's best QB. Sure, the loss of OC Josh McDaniels hurts, but the Pats have proven to be able to replace coordinators before. Also, the Pats improved the running game with the addition of Fred Taylor, meaning teams will have to respect both the run and the pass.
Downside: To use an old boxing cliche', everyone has a plan 'til they get hit. The fact remains that Brady hasn't been on the field in a meaningful game until his knee crumpled to pieces against the Chiefs last September. While Brady is on schedule to be 100% by Opening Day, there's just no telling how jittery he'll get under pressure if he feels a bit uncertian about his knee. Also, the AFC East has gotten a little better since Brady last gazed upon it. The Bills added T.O. and pass-rushing dynamo Aaron Maybin. The Jets revamped their defense even further with Lito Sheppard and Bart Scott and the Dolphins aren't the same 1-15 laughing stocks they were two years ago. Carson Palmer returned from a torn ACL after rigourous workouts(in a much shorter span, too) and played admirable in his first season back from surgery. Daunte Culpepper did not. So the biggest question remains how Brady responds to his first major pro injury.
5. Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis Colts
Upside: While Brady was on crutches, Manning spent last season adding another MVP to his trophy case. As the NFL's cerebral assassin, Manning's ability to pick apart defenses with his laser rocket arm gets better with each passing season. With the addition of RB Donald Brown, Manning now has two young backs who can be factors in the passing game. Oh, and there's still Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark. Sure, the old staples are gone. Marvin Harrison was cut and Tony Dungy and some of the offensive staff retired, but Manning has always been the head coach of the offense and if he can win an MVP coming off two knee surgeries, who knows what he can do with a clean bill of health. Like Brady, Manning's value will be determined by your league's emphasis on passing stats, but if you're looking for the safest pick in the draft, it's definitely Peyton.
Downside: Manning also has the daunting task of playing in the league's toughest division. The Jags, Titans and Texans all have legitimate shots at making the playoffs. Manning is also 33 and not exactly the most mobile of quarterbacks. While Manning has always been Superman when it comes to avoiding the injury bug, the same could've been said about Brady at the start of last year. Plus, while Harrison lost a few steps, it still remains to be seen whether third-year man Anthony Gonzalez can fit in those shoes. Manning-to-Harrison was one of, if not the, greatest passing combos in league history and you can't just replace that with a few OTAs and training camps. Plus, you're using the 2nd pick on a quarterback, albeit a great one. While Manning is as steady as they come, Brady should be a warning sign to anyone using high picks on quarterbacks, particularly stationary targets who just lost the only offensive line coach they've ever had.
6. Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Arizona Cardinals
Upside: He's the league's most dynamic offensive weapon. He's big, he has huge hands, he can jump to the ceiling and he has stealthy quickness. He also plays with a quarterback with some experience in dynamic passing attacks and a #2 reciever(for now) who can keep the double teams off of him. While last year's playoffs was Fitz's coming-out party, Fitzgerald has lived up to the hype as the NFL's next great reciever since entering the league in 2004. Fitzgerald also has the benefit of a division lacking in top flight pass defenses(particularly Seattle, although they've improved some in the offseason). Sure, taking a wideout with the 2nd pick is a bit ballsy, but with so much uncertianty at the top, it might be smarter to just opt for the safer, albeit uncommon, choice.
Downside: Well, first off, there's the Madden Curse. Fitzgerald will be joining Steelers safety Troy Polamalu on the cover of Madden 10, which always spells danger for somebody's limbs. There's also the status of teammate Anquan Boldin, who wants out of Arizona and is still on the trade market. Also, the label of Best NFL WR always seems to fluctuate from year to year and while Fitzgerald has always been consistant, it's a bit of a crapshoot to predict that he'll have better numbers than fellow recievers like Steve Smith, Andre Johnson and Chad Johnson. There's also the advanced age of QB Kurt Warner. While Warner was healthy all of last season, he's still pushing 40 and it goes without saying that backup Matt Leinart is a significant downgrade if Leinart's forced to come in relief.
So there you go. Of course, scoring systems and pre-season injuries will dictate what you do on Draft Day, but at least you know that you have this blog to look over for the next 3 months until you go on the clock.
---Dave
Monday, May 18, 2009
Milk Carton All-Star of the Week: 5/18/2009
They say the best way to conquer your demons is to face them head-on. This week's MCAS of the Week is the proverbial thorn stuck in my craw. Every sports fan has that draft pick or signing that was much-heralded at the time, but turned out to be a huge pile of human waste. This guy is no exception:
The man you see here is 2001 10th overall pick, Defensive End Jamal Reynolds. Reynolds' failure to be an even adequate pro isn't what chaps my ass the most as a devoted Packers fan for nearly 2 decades. No, it's the fact that we traded UP in 2001 to snag Reynolds, despite the looming red flags that surround Florida State defensive linemen. Then-GM Ron Wolf, needing a replacement for a "retired" Reggie White at defensive end, struck a deal with old buddy Mike Holmgren and the Seahawks, dealing the 17th pick and a backup quarterback out of Boston College you might have heard of: Matt Hassellbeck.
The Seahawks would then use the 17th pick on Michigan offensive lineman Steve Hutchinson, whose only the best guard in football and is partly responsible for Vikings RB Adrian Peterson's twice-a-year thrashing of Green Bay for the past two seasons. Now, while trading a Pro Bowl QB and Pro Bowl offensive lineman for a no-talent waste a space might burn like the heat of 1,000 suns, keep in mind that had Hassellback stayed in Green Bay, he would have only made his starting debut last season....at 33.
Another factor that softens the sting of the Reynolds pick is that the 2001 draft is filled with busts. Here are some names to noodle over: Freddie Mitchell, Justin Smith, David Terrell, Koren Robinson, Rod Gardner, and Kenyatta Walker. That being said, Reynolds was still a huge failure. Thanks to a lack of work ethic and an even greater inability to stay healthy, Reynolds was less '97 Reggie White and more 2007 Reggie White(as in, a dead lifeless corpse). Reynolds final career numbers during his three year career with both the Packers and Browns: 18 tackles, 3 sacks, and one giant waste of a top 10 pick.
So give it up for him, ladies and gents, the guy who makes Andre Wadsworth look like Deacon Jones......Jamal "Too Small" Reynolds!
The man you see here is 2001 10th overall pick, Defensive End Jamal Reynolds. Reynolds' failure to be an even adequate pro isn't what chaps my ass the most as a devoted Packers fan for nearly 2 decades. No, it's the fact that we traded UP in 2001 to snag Reynolds, despite the looming red flags that surround Florida State defensive linemen. Then-GM Ron Wolf, needing a replacement for a "retired" Reggie White at defensive end, struck a deal with old buddy Mike Holmgren and the Seahawks, dealing the 17th pick and a backup quarterback out of Boston College you might have heard of: Matt Hassellbeck.
The Seahawks would then use the 17th pick on Michigan offensive lineman Steve Hutchinson, whose only the best guard in football and is partly responsible for Vikings RB Adrian Peterson's twice-a-year thrashing of Green Bay for the past two seasons. Now, while trading a Pro Bowl QB and Pro Bowl offensive lineman for a no-talent waste a space might burn like the heat of 1,000 suns, keep in mind that had Hassellback stayed in Green Bay, he would have only made his starting debut last season....at 33.
Another factor that softens the sting of the Reynolds pick is that the 2001 draft is filled with busts. Here are some names to noodle over: Freddie Mitchell, Justin Smith, David Terrell, Koren Robinson, Rod Gardner, and Kenyatta Walker. That being said, Reynolds was still a huge failure. Thanks to a lack of work ethic and an even greater inability to stay healthy, Reynolds was less '97 Reggie White and more 2007 Reggie White(as in, a dead lifeless corpse). Reynolds final career numbers during his three year career with both the Packers and Browns: 18 tackles, 3 sacks, and one giant waste of a top 10 pick.
So give it up for him, ladies and gents, the guy who makes Andre Wadsworth look like Deacon Jones......Jamal "Too Small" Reynolds!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Super Bowl in London? Why not?
Recently the idea of holding a Super Bowl in London has been discussed by those who make such decisions. Roger Goodell has stated in the past that he would entertain this idea. (There are numerous stories online about this dated October 2007.) The idea came up again when NFL official Frank Supovitz told the BBC that the NFL was in "substantive talks" with London officials about bringing the game there.
To that I say, and I know this puts me in an overwhelming minority, why the hell not?
I have yet to talk to one person who agrees with me and their objections are always the same. They say it feels wrong to play the championship of American football somewhere other than the USA. They say having the game in London would make it hard for the average NFL fan to get to the game. They say the game would not do well in London because the NFL is not popular there.
To that last point, the NFL has staged a regular season game at Wembley Stadium in London each of the last two years and will hold another this year. The first two sold out and tickets to this year's game sold out faster than the previous years. The NFL is very popular in London and England as a whole. The BBC and the Guardian both have divisions devoted to covering American football.
Now, most Super Bowl seats are already spoken for. Many tickets are given to corporate sponsors. Every player and coach in the NFL has the option to purchase a certain number of tickets. I believe it is fifteen for participants and up to five for non-participants. It is no secret that many of these tickets end up in the hands of ticket brokers, thus driving up the price. Any fan that is not connected, if you will, who buys a ticket is going to pay a pretty penny. The truth is, for most fans, it doesn't matter if the game is held in L.A., New Orleans, Detroit, London, Tokyo, or the surface of the moon. The total cost of attending the game, including travel and accommodations is prohibitive for the average fan. Most people who can afford to attend a Super Bowl in Dallas can afford to attend one in London.
Finally, the world is getting smaller. I understand patriotism and pride for one's home, but in certain cases. Sport is universal. Competition is universal. We live in a world with information at our disposal instantly. I am able to watch live rugby matches from England and cheer on a team just as easily as a Brit can watch live NFL and cheer. (I keep threatening to start commenting on rubgy in this space, much to Dave's ambivalence.) The NFL wants to go global and spread American football to the world. We should embrace being able to share the most American of games with the world.
Besides, we hosted the World Cup once. Isn't that reciprocal?
- Gabe
To that I say, and I know this puts me in an overwhelming minority, why the hell not?
I have yet to talk to one person who agrees with me and their objections are always the same. They say it feels wrong to play the championship of American football somewhere other than the USA. They say having the game in London would make it hard for the average NFL fan to get to the game. They say the game would not do well in London because the NFL is not popular there.
To that last point, the NFL has staged a regular season game at Wembley Stadium in London each of the last two years and will hold another this year. The first two sold out and tickets to this year's game sold out faster than the previous years. The NFL is very popular in London and England as a whole. The BBC and the Guardian both have divisions devoted to covering American football.
Now, most Super Bowl seats are already spoken for. Many tickets are given to corporate sponsors. Every player and coach in the NFL has the option to purchase a certain number of tickets. I believe it is fifteen for participants and up to five for non-participants. It is no secret that many of these tickets end up in the hands of ticket brokers, thus driving up the price. Any fan that is not connected, if you will, who buys a ticket is going to pay a pretty penny. The truth is, for most fans, it doesn't matter if the game is held in L.A., New Orleans, Detroit, London, Tokyo, or the surface of the moon. The total cost of attending the game, including travel and accommodations is prohibitive for the average fan. Most people who can afford to attend a Super Bowl in Dallas can afford to attend one in London.
Finally, the world is getting smaller. I understand patriotism and pride for one's home, but in certain cases. Sport is universal. Competition is universal. We live in a world with information at our disposal instantly. I am able to watch live rugby matches from England and cheer on a team just as easily as a Brit can watch live NFL and cheer. (I keep threatening to start commenting on rubgy in this space, much to Dave's ambivalence.) The NFL wants to go global and spread American football to the world. We should embrace being able to share the most American of games with the world.
Besides, we hosted the World Cup once. Isn't that reciprocal?
- Gabe
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Not So Fast, My Friend
At the beginning of the season, I tabbed Lakers-Cavs(with the Cleveland LeBrons winning in 7) as my preseason championship pick. When the playoffs started, I stuck by my prognostication, with the only change being Cleveland winning in 6. However, a funny thing happened on the way to the Finals.
The NBA's favorite batch of hoodlums, the Denver Thuggets, er, Nuggets has emerged as the team nobody wants to play....and not just because they don't want to get jumped in the parking lot.(Side note: It's hard to feel sympathy for a guy whose retort to being called a "thug" is saying that he plans on "taking care" of the situation in the type of discreet manner that leads people to assume someone's getting punched in the mouth. That being said, the Cubes-KMart tiff essentially boils down to one man's perception of what a thug is and another man not trying that hard to veer from that perception. Though the fact that Mark Cuban would call Kenyon Martin a "thug" when he has an alleged domestic abuser as his starting point guard and a pot smoker who opposes the national anthem as his small forward doesn't really given Mouthy Mark much of a leg to stand on. P.S. If you're man enough to yell at another man's family after a playoff game in which your team had been getting smoked the entire series, then you should also be man enough to apologize to the man face-to-face and not through your blog.) The Nuggets, led by possibly the most underrated coach in NBA history in George Karl, have shown the right blend of front-court toughness(thanks to Kenyon "Baby, I'm A Thug" Martin and the Brazilian Ben Wallace, Nene'), offensive aggressiveness(courtesy of Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith, who haven't met a shot they didn't like) and veteran leadership(Detroit castoff and hometown hero, Chauncey Billups). With their series with Cuban's Mavs all but over(Game 6's potential clincher comes Wednesday in Denver), the Nuggets will have time to gather their thoughts as they await either a hobbled Rockets team or an underperforming Lakers squad.
Assuming the Lakers wake up and eliminate a Rockets team now led by the always combustible Ron Artest and point guard Aaron Brooks(which, much to my chigrin, is NOT Saints' legendary quarterback Aaron Brooks.....bummer), the Nuggets would appear to be a tougher test for The Lake Show than the H-Town bootknockers have been(that's a 90's R&B reference....KING ME!). For one, K-Mart and Nene(provided they both are healthy...which is always a crapshoot) are the type of physical, gritty intimidators that would scare the piss out of Lakers bigs' Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Look what K-Mart has done to Dallas' Mr. Softee, Dirk Nowitzki. He's brutalized Dirk to the point that he's gotten Mark Cuban aggitated and rushing the court....THAT NEVER HAPPENS!(Ok, that's a bit of sarcasm, but nonetheless, K-Mart is a tough guy to deal with....NOT a thug, though.) Another key mismatch would be Billups against the two-headed inept monster of Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar. Now, Fisher's old and Farmar just plain sucks. While Aaron Brooks was a well-known scoring tour de force at Oregon, Fish-Mar has made Brooks look like Oscar Robertson as of late. Billups is a big, physical guard who likes to use his big body to fend off defenders and drive the lane. Outweighing Farmar by about 20 pounds and being younger than Fisher by about 80 years, it seems likely that Billups will be have his way with the duo which will allow him to either score at will or dish off to his bruising bigs inside.
The other key matchup will, of course, be 'Melo vs. Kobe. While 'Melo is a rising star, he's not on the same atmosphere as The Black Mamba. The key difference here though would be that 'Melo has a solid supporting cast of wing players like the sharpshooting Smith, the rangy Dahntay Jones and the bulky Linus Kleiza, whereas Kobe's supporting cast(Trevor Ariza, Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton) are talented but have the tendency to disappear in key spots(see last year's Finals or more recently, Game 4 of the Houston series). With the size and skill to defend admirably inside, Denver will force Kobe to take over more than ever(which, for those scoring at home, the Lakers don't do so well when Kobe's shot count goes above 24). Already banged-up with a lithany of injuries as well feeling the effects of a rigourous Olympic schedule and an NBA odometer that's continuing past the 1,000 game mark, Kobe might not be up for another long series against a team as gritty as the Denver Crips, er, Nuggets....sorry.
That would lead to an upset special that absolutely nobody saw coming and bring us to a conselation NBA Finals that might be more entertaining than the one everyone had drawn up early in the season: Nuggets vs. Cavs. The main drawing point is going to obviously be 'Melo vs. LeBron squaring off for the first time since high school. Heralded as the second coming of Bird vs. Magic, Anthony and James came into the NBA in 2003 amidst much hyperbole. The rivalry started off quick with LeBron taking the Rookie of the Year but 'Melo taking his Nuggets to the postseason. LeBron would inevitably sky past 'Melo, taking his team to the Finals a couple years later and winning his first MVP this season. However, despite the discrepency in notoriety, the matchup is closer than some would think. First, unlike Kobe, 'Melo has the thick frame and younger legs to at least stay with LeBron on defense(whereas Kobe's thin frame makes him look like Eminem to LeBron's 50 Cent). Never the best defender in the world, 'Melo can be motivated by the fact that he knows LeBron well and by the fame that toppling LeBron on the world's biggest stage would give him. There's also the story of Karl, who was successful with Seattle(bringing them to the Finals once) and Milwaukee(coming close numerous times), returning to the Finals after sitting on the sidelines as NBA's most combustible coach. Cavs coach Mike Brown will also be making a 2nd attempt at getting a ring and he knows that a taking the title here would give him and the Cavs an upper hand at retaining King James come the end of next season. There's also the story of Chauncey Billups, Denver's forgotten son, who spent the first few years of his career as a journeyman combo guard with no place to stick before emerging with the Pistons. After being traded in a salary dump for Allen Iverson, Billups can show up his former employer by taking home another ring.
Now, of course, we're getting ahead of ourselves. By no means am I suggesting that I'm picking the Nuggets to win it all or even get past L.A. in the conference finals. However, having watched my Hornets get dismantled by 58 points at home by the Rocky Mountian Crime Family, I'm aware of what these gangsters, er, Nuggets, can do. Everyone loves an underdog....even if it comes from the most unlikliest of places.
The NBA's favorite batch of hoodlums, the Denver Thuggets, er, Nuggets has emerged as the team nobody wants to play....and not just because they don't want to get jumped in the parking lot.(Side note: It's hard to feel sympathy for a guy whose retort to being called a "thug" is saying that he plans on "taking care" of the situation in the type of discreet manner that leads people to assume someone's getting punched in the mouth. That being said, the Cubes-KMart tiff essentially boils down to one man's perception of what a thug is and another man not trying that hard to veer from that perception. Though the fact that Mark Cuban would call Kenyon Martin a "thug" when he has an alleged domestic abuser as his starting point guard and a pot smoker who opposes the national anthem as his small forward doesn't really given Mouthy Mark much of a leg to stand on. P.S. If you're man enough to yell at another man's family after a playoff game in which your team had been getting smoked the entire series, then you should also be man enough to apologize to the man face-to-face and not through your blog.) The Nuggets, led by possibly the most underrated coach in NBA history in George Karl, have shown the right blend of front-court toughness(thanks to Kenyon "Baby, I'm A Thug" Martin and the Brazilian Ben Wallace, Nene'), offensive aggressiveness(courtesy of Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith, who haven't met a shot they didn't like) and veteran leadership(Detroit castoff and hometown hero, Chauncey Billups). With their series with Cuban's Mavs all but over(Game 6's potential clincher comes Wednesday in Denver), the Nuggets will have time to gather their thoughts as they await either a hobbled Rockets team or an underperforming Lakers squad.
Assuming the Lakers wake up and eliminate a Rockets team now led by the always combustible Ron Artest and point guard Aaron Brooks(which, much to my chigrin, is NOT Saints' legendary quarterback Aaron Brooks.....bummer), the Nuggets would appear to be a tougher test for The Lake Show than the H-Town bootknockers have been(that's a 90's R&B reference....KING ME!). For one, K-Mart and Nene(provided they both are healthy...which is always a crapshoot) are the type of physical, gritty intimidators that would scare the piss out of Lakers bigs' Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Look what K-Mart has done to Dallas' Mr. Softee, Dirk Nowitzki. He's brutalized Dirk to the point that he's gotten Mark Cuban aggitated and rushing the court....THAT NEVER HAPPENS!(Ok, that's a bit of sarcasm, but nonetheless, K-Mart is a tough guy to deal with....NOT a thug, though.) Another key mismatch would be Billups against the two-headed inept monster of Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar. Now, Fisher's old and Farmar just plain sucks. While Aaron Brooks was a well-known scoring tour de force at Oregon, Fish-Mar has made Brooks look like Oscar Robertson as of late. Billups is a big, physical guard who likes to use his big body to fend off defenders and drive the lane. Outweighing Farmar by about 20 pounds and being younger than Fisher by about 80 years, it seems likely that Billups will be have his way with the duo which will allow him to either score at will or dish off to his bruising bigs inside.
The other key matchup will, of course, be 'Melo vs. Kobe. While 'Melo is a rising star, he's not on the same atmosphere as The Black Mamba. The key difference here though would be that 'Melo has a solid supporting cast of wing players like the sharpshooting Smith, the rangy Dahntay Jones and the bulky Linus Kleiza, whereas Kobe's supporting cast(Trevor Ariza, Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton) are talented but have the tendency to disappear in key spots(see last year's Finals or more recently, Game 4 of the Houston series). With the size and skill to defend admirably inside, Denver will force Kobe to take over more than ever(which, for those scoring at home, the Lakers don't do so well when Kobe's shot count goes above 24). Already banged-up with a lithany of injuries as well feeling the effects of a rigourous Olympic schedule and an NBA odometer that's continuing past the 1,000 game mark, Kobe might not be up for another long series against a team as gritty as the Denver Crips, er, Nuggets....sorry.
That would lead to an upset special that absolutely nobody saw coming and bring us to a conselation NBA Finals that might be more entertaining than the one everyone had drawn up early in the season: Nuggets vs. Cavs. The main drawing point is going to obviously be 'Melo vs. LeBron squaring off for the first time since high school. Heralded as the second coming of Bird vs. Magic, Anthony and James came into the NBA in 2003 amidst much hyperbole. The rivalry started off quick with LeBron taking the Rookie of the Year but 'Melo taking his Nuggets to the postseason. LeBron would inevitably sky past 'Melo, taking his team to the Finals a couple years later and winning his first MVP this season. However, despite the discrepency in notoriety, the matchup is closer than some would think. First, unlike Kobe, 'Melo has the thick frame and younger legs to at least stay with LeBron on defense(whereas Kobe's thin frame makes him look like Eminem to LeBron's 50 Cent). Never the best defender in the world, 'Melo can be motivated by the fact that he knows LeBron well and by the fame that toppling LeBron on the world's biggest stage would give him. There's also the story of Karl, who was successful with Seattle(bringing them to the Finals once) and Milwaukee(coming close numerous times), returning to the Finals after sitting on the sidelines as NBA's most combustible coach. Cavs coach Mike Brown will also be making a 2nd attempt at getting a ring and he knows that a taking the title here would give him and the Cavs an upper hand at retaining King James come the end of next season. There's also the story of Chauncey Billups, Denver's forgotten son, who spent the first few years of his career as a journeyman combo guard with no place to stick before emerging with the Pistons. After being traded in a salary dump for Allen Iverson, Billups can show up his former employer by taking home another ring.
Now, of course, we're getting ahead of ourselves. By no means am I suggesting that I'm picking the Nuggets to win it all or even get past L.A. in the conference finals. However, having watched my Hornets get dismantled by 58 points at home by the Rocky Mountian Crime Family, I'm aware of what these gangsters, er, Nuggets, can do. Everyone loves an underdog....even if it comes from the most unlikliest of places.
Milk Carton All-Star of the Week....5/12/09
With so much attention paid to baseball over the past few weeks(my A-Rod blog, Gabe's Manny piece and the past two MCAS of the Week), we've completely neglected the fact that it's NBA playoff time(well, except for Gabe's playoff thoughts), so to make up for it, we decided to show the hardwood some love(that's what she said!) and christen our first NBA Milk Carton All-Star of the Week:
This, ladies and gentleman, is the aptly named God Shammgod(sarcasm alert). God(or Shammgod, however you'd like to reference him) was highly touted coming out of NBA pro factory, Providence. So much so, that the Wizards snatched him up in the 2nd round of the '97 Draft, ahead of other promising stalwarts like Mark Blount, Ben Pepper and Eric Washington. More notably, he was taken three picks behind Warriors good samaritan Stephen Jackson.
In his one year in Washington, Shammgod averaged a stunning 3.0 points and nearly 2 assists a game, with a career-high of 12 points....which is almost as many as Dirk Nowitzki scored in the 4th quarter of last night's Game 4 against the Denver Thuggets, er, Nuggets. Those of you in or around the Portland area can catch Shammgod's basketball stylings as a member of the Portland Chinooks of the International Basketball League.
So let's give it up for the poor man's Tyus Edney, God Shammgod!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Manny being A-Rod......
and being Jose, and Roger, and Rafael........
So in case you haven't heard, Manny Ramirez got popped for using a banned substance and has been suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball.
Manny is just another in a long line of once respected players that either been caught using banned substances or have had a lot of suspicion surrounding. Most people, like me, are desensitized to these reports by now. There is an entire era now tainted by steroids and we are no longer surprised to hear that anyone has used.
Although I am no longer surprised, I still feel like there is a small loss of innocence each time another name surfaces. I didn't grow up watching baseball. Football and basketball have always been my favorite sports. But there was always something about baseball that seemed a little more ethereal, more refined, more pure, than the other sports. Baseball and it's fans are more communal, more accepting. In many ways a sport's fans reflect the nature of that sport. Football is by nature a confrontational game and it's fans are very in your face and passionate. They are not very inclusive, unless you are a fan of the same team. Basketball is very fast moving and high energy and their fans are also high energy. Every basketball game I have ever been to had a buzz in the crowd. There was feeling of something brewing that every so often exploded. Baseball fans are very accepting, even if you are rooting for the other team. Everyone relaxes, enjoys the atmosphere, and enjoys the game.
Steriods taints baseball in a dark way that goes against the nature of the game. When you hear that a football player has used drugs, you aren't very surprised. Football is a rough, nasty, dog-eat-dog game and players, on average, have very short careers. It makes sense that a player would do whatever it takes to stay in the game. Baseball is supposed to be more fun, more intellectual, and steriod use is a very dark and seedy practice. Everytime someone is caught you realize that they spent considerable time and effort involved in illicit activities.
Now, I won't deny baseball's history of being accepting of cheating. The game has always had things like scuffed balls, corked bats, stealing signs, tipping pitches, etc. But these are amatuer and childish compared to steriods. Baseball accepted steriods because all of a sudden players were mashing the ball and teams were scoring lots of runs. Offense is what brings the casual fans to the stadium. Sure, fanatics of a sport appreciate tense defensive struggles, but high scoring, in any sport, is what puts butts in the seats.
Essentially, baseball sold out. They allowed the practices of the steriod era to occur because the teams were making money. Fans were coming to the stadium, watching on tv, buying jerseys, etc. Baseball has already paid a big price. Many fans have stopped watching and stopped coming to the stadiums. When baseball loses a fan today they lose more than just one person because baseball games, more than any other sport, are family friendly outings and the love for the game is passed down from generation to generation. Some fans have started coming back, but everytime another high profile player gets caught, baseball risks losing more fans, forever.
- Gabe
So in case you haven't heard, Manny Ramirez got popped for using a banned substance and has been suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball.
Manny is just another in a long line of once respected players that either been caught using banned substances or have had a lot of suspicion surrounding. Most people, like me, are desensitized to these reports by now. There is an entire era now tainted by steroids and we are no longer surprised to hear that anyone has used.
Although I am no longer surprised, I still feel like there is a small loss of innocence each time another name surfaces. I didn't grow up watching baseball. Football and basketball have always been my favorite sports. But there was always something about baseball that seemed a little more ethereal, more refined, more pure, than the other sports. Baseball and it's fans are more communal, more accepting. In many ways a sport's fans reflect the nature of that sport. Football is by nature a confrontational game and it's fans are very in your face and passionate. They are not very inclusive, unless you are a fan of the same team. Basketball is very fast moving and high energy and their fans are also high energy. Every basketball game I have ever been to had a buzz in the crowd. There was feeling of something brewing that every so often exploded. Baseball fans are very accepting, even if you are rooting for the other team. Everyone relaxes, enjoys the atmosphere, and enjoys the game.
Steriods taints baseball in a dark way that goes against the nature of the game. When you hear that a football player has used drugs, you aren't very surprised. Football is a rough, nasty, dog-eat-dog game and players, on average, have very short careers. It makes sense that a player would do whatever it takes to stay in the game. Baseball is supposed to be more fun, more intellectual, and steriod use is a very dark and seedy practice. Everytime someone is caught you realize that they spent considerable time and effort involved in illicit activities.
Now, I won't deny baseball's history of being accepting of cheating. The game has always had things like scuffed balls, corked bats, stealing signs, tipping pitches, etc. But these are amatuer and childish compared to steriods. Baseball accepted steriods because all of a sudden players were mashing the ball and teams were scoring lots of runs. Offense is what brings the casual fans to the stadium. Sure, fanatics of a sport appreciate tense defensive struggles, but high scoring, in any sport, is what puts butts in the seats.
Essentially, baseball sold out. They allowed the practices of the steriod era to occur because the teams were making money. Fans were coming to the stadium, watching on tv, buying jerseys, etc. Baseball has already paid a big price. Many fans have stopped watching and stopped coming to the stadiums. When baseball loses a fan today they lose more than just one person because baseball games, more than any other sport, are family friendly outings and the love for the game is passed down from generation to generation. Some fans have started coming back, but everytime another high profile player gets caught, baseball risks losing more fans, forever.
- Gabe
New Rules
Anyone familiar with the HBO show, Real Time With Bill Maher, would know that every week Maher likes to close his show with a segment called "New Rules", in which Maher offers quick takes on events that occurred during the week. Always one to sample a good idea, I decided to offer up my own brand of New Rules.....here goes:
NEW RULE: Baseball has to juice up every player on the Major League roster. Quite frankly, I'm not nearly as bothered by players on steroids as much as I am annoyed by "purists" faking outrage over baseball's loss of innocence because of the rampid use of performance enhancing drugs. Let's be clear about one thing: Baseball stopped being innocent the minute it started paying players $25 million dollars a year and began charging fans $2000 for a seat behind home plate. Over the last 15 years, baseball hasn't just lost its innocence, it's been pinned down and gang-banged over the pinball machine like Jodie Foster in The Accused. We've been given no reason to believe that every player of the last 30 years, down to the bat boys, weren't hopped up on PEDs. Even if there are clean players, the cloud of suspicion looms so far and wide that it's nearly impossible to declare anyone innocent with any real conviction. So why try anymore? I'd rather watch a game filled with asteriks and guys so juiced up they pull a hammy when they zip up their pants than continue to listen to old-schoolers pretend that the game isn't tainted. Baseball's juiced up. So's pro wrestling. So's the Tour De France. They're still standing. You want a competition where everyone's clean and the playing field is fair and balanced? Go watch Iron Chef.
NEW RULE: Congress needs to stay off Sportscenter. In an attempt to force NCAA Football to adopt a playoff system, the boys on Capital Hill are getting involved in irradicating the BCS. You would think with an economy in shambles, unemployment sky high, and people losing homes left and right, the government would have bigger priorities. You'd be wrong. Look, guys, it's a nice gesture, but I care a bit more about GM and Chrysler than I do about USC and Ohio State. Let's leave sports to the pros, OK? We'll work on getting a legit system that will determine an actual NCAA champion that nobody will remember in a few years and you stick to pretending that the War on Terror wasn't a waste of our money and resources. Besides, given the Iraq fiasco and your "War on Drugs", your track record doesn't leave us very optimistic. Besides, the BCS gets it right once every eight years, which is more than I could say about you guys.
NEW RULE: NCAA Football has to adopt a playoff system. Sure, the absurdity of the BCS ranking system has given us all enough controversy and blog fodder to keep us occupied, but enough's enough. With the way bowl games are added every year, you're already involving half the NCAA anyway. You can't possibly tell me Middle Tennesee St-Louisiana Monroe would draw more people and revenue than having the top 8 teams square off in single-elimination playoff? There's a reason March Madness is so successful. People demand a true champion at the end of the day. Besides, with the rate the economy is going, you're not going to have many sponsors for bowl games anyway.
NEW RULE: Hot girls in sports jerseys have to know something about the team they're rooting for. Hey, I like college girls bouncing their jugs up and down in my face, screaming hysterically, as much as the next guy, but there's only so many times I can listen to bimbos in Lakers jerseys ask me "Which one is Kobe?". I'm not saying they have to be able to break down the Cover 2 or tell me the career batting average of Robinson Cano, but at least know the first name of the guy whose jersey your wearing. It's ok to admit that you're a Patriots fan because Tom Brady makes your nipples hard but enough with the half-brain comments and cheers after every first down. Pink jerseys for girls were made for women to look cute not for them to turn into Fireman Ed. So please, pick up a Sports Illustrated or shut your pipe, if I wanted to listen to clueless airheads yap to no end, I would have went to JMU.
NEW RULE: ESPN has to merge Around The Horn and PTI into one show. Look, both are really good shows and they are entertaining in their own way, but at the end of the day, its still a bunch of talking heads arguing about the same topics. In an era of non-stop news access, the evolution of sports talk radio and podcasts, and round-the-clock sports channels, watching two shows with bickering sportswriters gets to be a bit overwhelming. You can ditch Around The Horn's silly point system. You can knock out some of PTI's gimmicks. Just scale it down a bit. We already have a network filled with extremists screaming about the same thing over and over again. It's called Fox News.
- Dave
NEW RULE: Baseball has to juice up every player on the Major League roster. Quite frankly, I'm not nearly as bothered by players on steroids as much as I am annoyed by "purists" faking outrage over baseball's loss of innocence because of the rampid use of performance enhancing drugs. Let's be clear about one thing: Baseball stopped being innocent the minute it started paying players $25 million dollars a year and began charging fans $2000 for a seat behind home plate. Over the last 15 years, baseball hasn't just lost its innocence, it's been pinned down and gang-banged over the pinball machine like Jodie Foster in The Accused. We've been given no reason to believe that every player of the last 30 years, down to the bat boys, weren't hopped up on PEDs. Even if there are clean players, the cloud of suspicion looms so far and wide that it's nearly impossible to declare anyone innocent with any real conviction. So why try anymore? I'd rather watch a game filled with asteriks and guys so juiced up they pull a hammy when they zip up their pants than continue to listen to old-schoolers pretend that the game isn't tainted. Baseball's juiced up. So's pro wrestling. So's the Tour De France. They're still standing. You want a competition where everyone's clean and the playing field is fair and balanced? Go watch Iron Chef.
NEW RULE: Congress needs to stay off Sportscenter. In an attempt to force NCAA Football to adopt a playoff system, the boys on Capital Hill are getting involved in irradicating the BCS. You would think with an economy in shambles, unemployment sky high, and people losing homes left and right, the government would have bigger priorities. You'd be wrong. Look, guys, it's a nice gesture, but I care a bit more about GM and Chrysler than I do about USC and Ohio State. Let's leave sports to the pros, OK? We'll work on getting a legit system that will determine an actual NCAA champion that nobody will remember in a few years and you stick to pretending that the War on Terror wasn't a waste of our money and resources. Besides, given the Iraq fiasco and your "War on Drugs", your track record doesn't leave us very optimistic. Besides, the BCS gets it right once every eight years, which is more than I could say about you guys.
NEW RULE: NCAA Football has to adopt a playoff system. Sure, the absurdity of the BCS ranking system has given us all enough controversy and blog fodder to keep us occupied, but enough's enough. With the way bowl games are added every year, you're already involving half the NCAA anyway. You can't possibly tell me Middle Tennesee St-Louisiana Monroe would draw more people and revenue than having the top 8 teams square off in single-elimination playoff? There's a reason March Madness is so successful. People demand a true champion at the end of the day. Besides, with the rate the economy is going, you're not going to have many sponsors for bowl games anyway.
NEW RULE: Hot girls in sports jerseys have to know something about the team they're rooting for. Hey, I like college girls bouncing their jugs up and down in my face, screaming hysterically, as much as the next guy, but there's only so many times I can listen to bimbos in Lakers jerseys ask me "Which one is Kobe?". I'm not saying they have to be able to break down the Cover 2 or tell me the career batting average of Robinson Cano, but at least know the first name of the guy whose jersey your wearing. It's ok to admit that you're a Patriots fan because Tom Brady makes your nipples hard but enough with the half-brain comments and cheers after every first down. Pink jerseys for girls were made for women to look cute not for them to turn into Fireman Ed. So please, pick up a Sports Illustrated or shut your pipe, if I wanted to listen to clueless airheads yap to no end, I would have went to JMU.
NEW RULE: ESPN has to merge Around The Horn and PTI into one show. Look, both are really good shows and they are entertaining in their own way, but at the end of the day, its still a bunch of talking heads arguing about the same topics. In an era of non-stop news access, the evolution of sports talk radio and podcasts, and round-the-clock sports channels, watching two shows with bickering sportswriters gets to be a bit overwhelming. You can ditch Around The Horn's silly point system. You can knock out some of PTI's gimmicks. Just scale it down a bit. We already have a network filled with extremists screaming about the same thing over and over again. It's called Fox News.
- Dave
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Obligatory Brett Favre Commentary
aka Brad Childress Opens His Yap Redux
I'm going to make this quick because Dave covered most of this in the post that can be found below.
But here is my take. Brad Childress is an idiot. About a month ago he was asked whether the Vikings would pursue Jay Cutler. Childress said in the newspaper that he was fine with what the Vikings have a quarterback (career journeyman Sage Rosensels and unproven commodity Tarvaris Jackson). I wrote about that situation, and called Childress an idiot then too.
I can't understand why Childress would do all he is doing to get Favre to come out of retirement if he is happy with Sage and T-Jack. And you can't tell me an aging QB, with a busted arm, that the rest of your division knows inside and out is worth pursuing when Cutler was not.
So, this is an open call to all Vikings fans. You have permission to renounce your fandom and choose another team, at least until Childress is gone. Why not follow my Giants? The G-men play in Minnesota every year, and they always win there. Maybe the Bears? They aren't too far away and have the QB that could have taken your team to a championship. Maybe even the Redskins? If you're going to root for a team with a mediocore coach and goofy ownership at least you'll have fun winning the offseason Super Bowls.
Boom. Roasted.
- Gabe
I'm going to make this quick because Dave covered most of this in the post that can be found below.
But here is my take. Brad Childress is an idiot. About a month ago he was asked whether the Vikings would pursue Jay Cutler. Childress said in the newspaper that he was fine with what the Vikings have a quarterback (career journeyman Sage Rosensels and unproven commodity Tarvaris Jackson). I wrote about that situation, and called Childress an idiot then too.
I can't understand why Childress would do all he is doing to get Favre to come out of retirement if he is happy with Sage and T-Jack. And you can't tell me an aging QB, with a busted arm, that the rest of your division knows inside and out is worth pursuing when Cutler was not.
So, this is an open call to all Vikings fans. You have permission to renounce your fandom and choose another team, at least until Childress is gone. Why not follow my Giants? The G-men play in Minnesota every year, and they always win there. Maybe the Bears? They aren't too far away and have the QB that could have taken your team to a championship. Maybe even the Redskins? If you're going to root for a team with a mediocore coach and goofy ownership at least you'll have fun winning the offseason Super Bowls.
Boom. Roasted.
- Gabe
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
And Here....We....Go...
After last season's melodrama, I swore to myself I would never write another thing about Brett Favre. However, as a Packers fan for nearly two decades, the thought of The Riverboat Gambler and the Vikings uniting has me downright giddy. Here's the irony of the potential Favre-to-Minnesota scenario: Favre is an upgrade at quarterback over Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson(though at 40 with half an arm, only a slight upgrade), yet he makes the Vikings as a team worse. Why, you ask? I'll get to that in a minute. Before I delve into Favre's venture into Prince Country, a quick commentary on Ol' Number 4.
It takes a real idiot to look upon his status as an iconic figure in a particular city and then go out of his way to piss all over it. Let's be clear about one thing: A couple of years ago, nobody meant more to a city and a fan base than Brett Favre meant to Green Bay, Wisconsin and Packer Nation. NOBODY. Not Derek Jeter in the Bronx. Not LeBron James in Cleveland. Nobody. Favre was to Cheeseheads what Jesus Christ is to Holy Rollers. Apparently, though, that wasn't enough. Favre's biggest character flaw was that he always lived in the moment, thought in the moment, acted in the moment. The reason Favre never has an affirmative answer about his career was that he never looked that far ahead. The same went with his decision making on the field. Last year, Favre still had some resonance of sympathy from the Packer faithful because they weren't quite ready to give him up. Now that Favre's sole reason for "unretiring" and sign with Minnesota is to stick it to the team that once loved him like a son, he's about as adored in Wisconsin as Slim Fast.
Also, let's stop calling Favre's hunger for attention a "comeback". When Michael Jordan unretired to play for the Wizards, THAT was a comeback. When Tiger Woods teed up in Augusta at The Masters after sitting on the sidelines with a knee injury, THAT was a comeback. Favre deciding he may or may not want to ratchet up his dead arm one more time after retiring all of two months ago, is not a comeback. Mike Vick has spent more time away from football than Brett Favre. Hell, Cris Collinsworth has spent more time away from football than Brett Favre. So, please, enough with calling Favre's soap opera a "comeback". Now, on to why Favre will destroy Minnesota worse than Jesse "The Body" Ventura.
The main concern involving Favre has to be the well-being of his torn biceps in his throwing arm that he decided not to have repaired because, as of that five minutes, he was done with football. The game plan for Favre's arm would be to continue to stave off surgery and let it heal with good old fashioned rest. Here's the problem: The Vikings would want Favre in camp. Throwing the ball. Developing chemistry and timing. In other words, HE WOULDN'T BE RESTING!! You have to believe Favre sitting out camp would be a deal breaker seeing how his former Jets teammates weren't too pleased with Favre's standoffish nature in New York. Also, torn muscles on guys pushing 40 don't just magically heal and even if Favre chooses to just shoot himself up with cortisone shots, you have to think it will eventually get past the point where numbing it up will fix it. If the torn muscle initially required surgery, then doctors obviously felt that rest wasn't a logical option. Even with a solid running game led by Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor, you're bringing in Favre to add some flair to the passing game. If Favre's arm collapses like it did during the second half of last season and he's reduced to just protecting the ball and handing it off, then there is really no reason to not just entrench Rosenfels or Jackson in their as caretaker anyway.
Speaking of Rosenfels and Jackson, how much of a kick in the balls is all this Favre talk for them? For one, Rosenfels had a nice cushy job as backup to the fragile Matt Schaub in Houston and now he's brought in to a quarterback clusterfuck where he went from initially having to fend off Jackson to now taking a backseat to an aging legend whose arm is practically falling off his body. It also doesn't send the best message to a young quarterback like Jackson that the team felt the need to bring in not one, but two, quarterbacks to "compete"(though you have to believe Favre is the starter if and when he signs with Minnesota). Nothing says dysfunctional like trading a fourth round pick for a quarterback, giving him a new contract, and then a few weeks later, deciding to replace him with an aging legend who was last seen single-handedly crushing his team's playoff hopes. You're pretty much telling your fans you don't know what you're doing(which should have been obvious anyway and never more so than by taking pot-smoking speedster Percy Harvin with their first round pick two weeks ago).
Then there's the outlook from the Packers' scenario. Who's better equipped to know how to defend Favre than the team that watched him in practice for so long? As sad as this is to say, the Packers might have been worse off having to face Rosenfels or Jackson twice a year. For one, they've never dealt with Rosenfels and Jackson's mobility gave them fits in the opener last year. The Favre signing has to be a blessing in disguise for a Packers defense adjusting to a new scheme. Think about it. The veterans on this defense know that Favre isn't being brought in to hand off to AP(which is the smart thing to do, no matter whose quarterback). They also know that Favre is going to be dead-set on proving to the Packers front office that they were wrong for leaving him for dead in the Meadowlands, so Favre is going to overdo it. You know what happens when a quarterback with a fading arm and a history of bad decision making decides to play with a chip on his shoulder? The answer would be a field day for the opposing defense. Favre was so in denial that his arm was failing him last year that he stubbornly tried to make throws he no longer could make, and it cost the Jets dearly. The best news the NFC North could ever recieve would be Favre coming back into the fold and then forcing the Vikings to abandon unleashing the best running back in the league. Man, I'm getting excited just thinking about it.
So, in conclusion, the Favre scenario is going to play out like this. Favre and coach Brad Childress are set to meet sometime this week to discuss Favre being a Viking. Childress will demand Favre be in camp and Favre will test out his arm to see if he can oblige. If Favre's arm can't go, Favre will pass or just wait til midseason to see if the arm is better and then sign with the Vikings. The Vikings will then go from being a run-oriented team behind an enormous offensive line to essentially becoming the second coming of the run and gun as Favre attempts once again to write his final chapter the way he sees fit. Rosenfels will ask for his release and after Favre tears the team apart, the Vikings will find themselves back to square one, only this time they will do what they should have done a while ago: Kick Childress to the curb. It's an ending that anyone can see coming, except for Favre....but then again, ask him again in 5 minutes.
----Dave
It takes a real idiot to look upon his status as an iconic figure in a particular city and then go out of his way to piss all over it. Let's be clear about one thing: A couple of years ago, nobody meant more to a city and a fan base than Brett Favre meant to Green Bay, Wisconsin and Packer Nation. NOBODY. Not Derek Jeter in the Bronx. Not LeBron James in Cleveland. Nobody. Favre was to Cheeseheads what Jesus Christ is to Holy Rollers. Apparently, though, that wasn't enough. Favre's biggest character flaw was that he always lived in the moment, thought in the moment, acted in the moment. The reason Favre never has an affirmative answer about his career was that he never looked that far ahead. The same went with his decision making on the field. Last year, Favre still had some resonance of sympathy from the Packer faithful because they weren't quite ready to give him up. Now that Favre's sole reason for "unretiring" and sign with Minnesota is to stick it to the team that once loved him like a son, he's about as adored in Wisconsin as Slim Fast.
Also, let's stop calling Favre's hunger for attention a "comeback". When Michael Jordan unretired to play for the Wizards, THAT was a comeback. When Tiger Woods teed up in Augusta at The Masters after sitting on the sidelines with a knee injury, THAT was a comeback. Favre deciding he may or may not want to ratchet up his dead arm one more time after retiring all of two months ago, is not a comeback. Mike Vick has spent more time away from football than Brett Favre. Hell, Cris Collinsworth has spent more time away from football than Brett Favre. So, please, enough with calling Favre's soap opera a "comeback". Now, on to why Favre will destroy Minnesota worse than Jesse "The Body" Ventura.
The main concern involving Favre has to be the well-being of his torn biceps in his throwing arm that he decided not to have repaired because, as of that five minutes, he was done with football. The game plan for Favre's arm would be to continue to stave off surgery and let it heal with good old fashioned rest. Here's the problem: The Vikings would want Favre in camp. Throwing the ball. Developing chemistry and timing. In other words, HE WOULDN'T BE RESTING!! You have to believe Favre sitting out camp would be a deal breaker seeing how his former Jets teammates weren't too pleased with Favre's standoffish nature in New York. Also, torn muscles on guys pushing 40 don't just magically heal and even if Favre chooses to just shoot himself up with cortisone shots, you have to think it will eventually get past the point where numbing it up will fix it. If the torn muscle initially required surgery, then doctors obviously felt that rest wasn't a logical option. Even with a solid running game led by Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor, you're bringing in Favre to add some flair to the passing game. If Favre's arm collapses like it did during the second half of last season and he's reduced to just protecting the ball and handing it off, then there is really no reason to not just entrench Rosenfels or Jackson in their as caretaker anyway.
Speaking of Rosenfels and Jackson, how much of a kick in the balls is all this Favre talk for them? For one, Rosenfels had a nice cushy job as backup to the fragile Matt Schaub in Houston and now he's brought in to a quarterback clusterfuck where he went from initially having to fend off Jackson to now taking a backseat to an aging legend whose arm is practically falling off his body. It also doesn't send the best message to a young quarterback like Jackson that the team felt the need to bring in not one, but two, quarterbacks to "compete"(though you have to believe Favre is the starter if and when he signs with Minnesota). Nothing says dysfunctional like trading a fourth round pick for a quarterback, giving him a new contract, and then a few weeks later, deciding to replace him with an aging legend who was last seen single-handedly crushing his team's playoff hopes. You're pretty much telling your fans you don't know what you're doing(which should have been obvious anyway and never more so than by taking pot-smoking speedster Percy Harvin with their first round pick two weeks ago).
Then there's the outlook from the Packers' scenario. Who's better equipped to know how to defend Favre than the team that watched him in practice for so long? As sad as this is to say, the Packers might have been worse off having to face Rosenfels or Jackson twice a year. For one, they've never dealt with Rosenfels and Jackson's mobility gave them fits in the opener last year. The Favre signing has to be a blessing in disguise for a Packers defense adjusting to a new scheme. Think about it. The veterans on this defense know that Favre isn't being brought in to hand off to AP(which is the smart thing to do, no matter whose quarterback). They also know that Favre is going to be dead-set on proving to the Packers front office that they were wrong for leaving him for dead in the Meadowlands, so Favre is going to overdo it. You know what happens when a quarterback with a fading arm and a history of bad decision making decides to play with a chip on his shoulder? The answer would be a field day for the opposing defense. Favre was so in denial that his arm was failing him last year that he stubbornly tried to make throws he no longer could make, and it cost the Jets dearly. The best news the NFC North could ever recieve would be Favre coming back into the fold and then forcing the Vikings to abandon unleashing the best running back in the league. Man, I'm getting excited just thinking about it.
So, in conclusion, the Favre scenario is going to play out like this. Favre and coach Brad Childress are set to meet sometime this week to discuss Favre being a Viking. Childress will demand Favre be in camp and Favre will test out his arm to see if he can oblige. If Favre's arm can't go, Favre will pass or just wait til midseason to see if the arm is better and then sign with the Vikings. The Vikings will then go from being a run-oriented team behind an enormous offensive line to essentially becoming the second coming of the run and gun as Favre attempts once again to write his final chapter the way he sees fit. Rosenfels will ask for his release and after Favre tears the team apart, the Vikings will find themselves back to square one, only this time they will do what they should have done a while ago: Kick Childress to the curb. It's an ending that anyone can see coming, except for Favre....but then again, ask him again in 5 minutes.
----Dave
Beer of the Week 9 and 10
Beer of the Week has been a little lazy lately. Because it’s been almost three weeks since an update you will be getting a two-fer this week. Unlike the last two-fer this one will be one good beer and one great beer.
Let’s get started.
First the good:
Founder’s Porter
Some Facts: Well, there isn't much out there about the Founders Brewery. The website is copyrighted 2004 and looks like it has not been updated since 2005. Here is what little can gleaned from the site. They were founded in 1997 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That's about it. Most of the info on the history page is obsolete. The "Beer Styles" page is out of date as well. I do see ads for their beers in some of the industry magazines, but they remain largely a mystery. It has a 6.5 ABV%.
What They Say: The beer has a 4.16 out of 5.00 rating from the users at BeerAdvocate.com., for a grade of A-. The brothers have not reviewed it. It has a 3.99 out of 5.0 rating at RateBeer.com ranking it in the 99th percentile overall on the site and a 99.6th percentile within it's style.
What I Say: I poured from a 12oz. bottle into a pint glass. It has almost no head. It has a very deep, dark, brownish-black color, almost an inky black. The aroma is very faint. The mouthfeel is initially very smooth and creamy. It then gets a little bubbly, like champagne. The beer has a very bitter taste, like many porters. The aftertaste has strong coffee notes and a hint of cocoa. It is not sweet like chocolate or mocha, but bitter like cocoa. Overall it is a pretty good porter. I found this beer at the Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville, VA. I have only seen Founders at one other store, but I imagine is should be available at most speciality stores.
Final Rating: 4 out of 6 pints.
Now the great.
Delirium Nocturnum:
Some Facts: Delirium is brewed by Brouwerij Huyghe in Belgium. In an earlier edition of the Beer of the Week I reviewed Delirium Tremens, (in fact, it was the last two-fer). More information about the brewery and it's history can be found at their website (this link is for the English version of the site).
It has 8.5% ABV.
What They Say: This beer has a rating of 3.94 out of 5 by the users at BeerAdvocate.com, for a grade of B+. The brothers gave it an A-. It has a rating of 3.51 out of 5 at RateBeer.com, ranking it in the 86th percentile on the site, and the 67.7th percentile within it's style. There is a wide disparity in the ratings, so make sure you get a fresh bottle that has not been on the shelf for a long time.
What I Say: I poured from a 25.4 ounce bottle into a snifter. This beer has a nice head and dark, deep, brown color that still has a lot of clarity. It reminds me of a good root beer. The impressive aspect of this beer is the taste. It has an impeccable balance of hops, malt, and bitterness. I dare say the taste is perfectly balance. No characteristic overpowers. If I have one criticism it is this, because of the balance the beer lacks an identity. It doesn't pop. It is an extremely well crafted beer.
I found the beer at a Whole Foods grocery store.
Final Rating: 5 out of 6 pints.
- Gabe
Let’s get started.
First the good:
Founder’s Porter
Some Facts: Well, there isn't much out there about the Founders Brewery. The website is copyrighted 2004 and looks like it has not been updated since 2005. Here is what little can gleaned from the site. They were founded in 1997 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That's about it. Most of the info on the history page is obsolete. The "Beer Styles" page is out of date as well. I do see ads for their beers in some of the industry magazines, but they remain largely a mystery. It has a 6.5 ABV%.
What They Say: The beer has a 4.16 out of 5.00 rating from the users at BeerAdvocate.com., for a grade of A-. The brothers have not reviewed it. It has a 3.99 out of 5.0 rating at RateBeer.com ranking it in the 99th percentile overall on the site and a 99.6th percentile within it's style.
What I Say: I poured from a 12oz. bottle into a pint glass. It has almost no head. It has a very deep, dark, brownish-black color, almost an inky black. The aroma is very faint. The mouthfeel is initially very smooth and creamy. It then gets a little bubbly, like champagne. The beer has a very bitter taste, like many porters. The aftertaste has strong coffee notes and a hint of cocoa. It is not sweet like chocolate or mocha, but bitter like cocoa. Overall it is a pretty good porter. I found this beer at the Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville, VA. I have only seen Founders at one other store, but I imagine is should be available at most speciality stores.
Final Rating: 4 out of 6 pints.
Now the great.
Delirium Nocturnum:
Some Facts: Delirium is brewed by Brouwerij Huyghe in Belgium. In an earlier edition of the Beer of the Week I reviewed Delirium Tremens, (in fact, it was the last two-fer). More information about the brewery and it's history can be found at their website (this link is for the English version of the site).
It has 8.5% ABV.
What They Say: This beer has a rating of 3.94 out of 5 by the users at BeerAdvocate.com, for a grade of B+. The brothers gave it an A-. It has a rating of 3.51 out of 5 at RateBeer.com, ranking it in the 86th percentile on the site, and the 67.7th percentile within it's style. There is a wide disparity in the ratings, so make sure you get a fresh bottle that has not been on the shelf for a long time.
What I Say: I poured from a 25.4 ounce bottle into a snifter. This beer has a nice head and dark, deep, brown color that still has a lot of clarity. It reminds me of a good root beer. The impressive aspect of this beer is the taste. It has an impeccable balance of hops, malt, and bitterness. I dare say the taste is perfectly balance. No characteristic overpowers. If I have one criticism it is this, because of the balance the beer lacks an identity. It doesn't pop. It is an extremely well crafted beer.
I found the beer at a Whole Foods grocery store.
Final Rating: 5 out of 6 pints.
- Gabe
Monday, May 4, 2009
Milk Carton All-Star of the Week...(May 4, 2009)
As I mentioned last week, we here at BoomRoastedSports(or America's Favorite Sports Website as it's referred to in the Leonardis household) are bringing out a new weekly feature called Milk Carton All-Star of the Week. The premise, incase you're too lazy to scroll down, is that every week we are going to showcase an obscure athlete that may or may not at one point been noteworthy. While I promised Gabe that this week's winner was going to be former Arizona Diamondbacks one-hit wonder Junior Spivey, I figured all the shock value was taken out by mentioning 5 days in advance, so I bring to you a new Milk Carton All-Star of the Week...(Note: I'm trying to get larger images for these guys, but as you can imagine, it's hard to find large layouts of guys nobody's cared about for years......bear with me.)
This guy, incase you can't read the small print, is former journeyman catcher/first baseman Jamie Quirk. Quirk played for 17 seasons in the majors mostly with the Kansas City Royals and Oakland A's. While in Oakland, he backed up All-Stars Terry Steinbach and Mark McGwire. Quirk's career numbers are immensely impressive(sarcasm alert). He's a lifetime .240 hitter and his powerful swing helped him finish with 43 home runs in nearly two decades in the majors.....or for better reference, 6 homers fewer than McGwire's rookie season total.
Ladies and gentleman, your Milk Carton All-Star of the Week: Sweet swingin' Jamie Quirk.
Underdog Millionaire
Cheater. Adulterer. Diva. Narcisist. Selfish. While these five words have been thrown around profusely as of late to describe Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, here's a label I'm ready to place on A-Rod: Underdog. Due to a neverending saga that has surrounded arguably the greatest ballplayer to ever live, I'll admit that I've come full circle on A-Rod. When he first started out with Seattle in the late 90's, I was a huge follower because, like many children, I wanted to be able to witness greatness. A-Rod was the goods. The man had more tools than Home Depot. His 40-40 season in 1998 solidified his status as Baseball's Next Big Thing.....then he signed a $250 million deal with the Rangers, and everyone outside of Texas turned on him. You see, the American baseball public loves to do two things: fake outrage and become purists when the mood strikes. Suddenly, the man who we were willing to give the keys to the world, a man who was being heralded as baseball's savior, was overrated. Overpaid. Selfish. Greedy. So while everyone would have loved to entrench A-Rod in the middle of their lineup at the turn of the century, suddenly he was too rich for us.
Naturally, $250 million for 6 months of work draws quite the large bulls-eye on your back. After the Rangers struggled to make the playoffs, let alone win a title, with A-Rod, we looked for new adjectives for the Bill Gates of Baseball. Choke artist. Not clutch. Self-absorbed. A look at A-Rod's numbers shows that he kept his end of the bargain. He led the AL in homers all three seasons in Texas, led in RBIs in 2002 and stole double digit bases all but once. His career average as a Ranger was .305 and won the MVP once and finished 2nd the year before that(though he should have beaten out Miguel Tejada in 2002 and he definitely should have gotten the MVP over Juan Gonzalez in '96, which was his first full season). The numbers meant nothing, especially while rival Derek Jeter was winning pennants in New York, which added more pressure on A-Rod to come up big in Texas. As luck would have it, A-Rod would be traded to New York to unite with Jeter in what was supposed to be the second coming of Murderer's Row.
In the Big Apple, A-Rod would meet the person that ultimately caused his downfall. It wasn't Jeter, whom the NY media kept trying to coax into a rivalry with Rodriguez. It wasn't the Yankee fans, who despise A-Rod for his large contracts and small production in October. No, A-Rod's downward spiral would be caused by a beatwriter named Selena Roberts. Roberts dropped the bombshell this past spring that A-Rod used steroids during his playing days in Texas, which was yet another dagger the baseball world would jab into A-Rod's chest. While A-Rod's name as a steroid user was a brow raiser, it was hardly the death to baseball that the media and fans made it to be. For one, during the 80's and 90's, EVERYONE did steroids. Your favorite slugger. Your rotation ace. Hell, your manager was probably juicing. The fact that A-Rod was a juicer was as surprising as saying people in the 70's wore bellbottoms. Like A-Rod said when he eventually came clean, it was the culture then. Once the A-Rod steroid fiasco started to die down, Roberts(in an amazing ploy at marketing her A-Rod book, which is where all these bombshells can be found) dropped another tidbit that A-Rod may or may not have juiced in high school and while he was a Yankee. Oh, and he helped opposing hitters during blowouts by tipping pitches. Oh, and he may or may not have organized 9/11. Oh, and he kidnapped Lindbergh's baby. And did I mention he was a member of the Third Reich?
Whether Roberts' claims are substantiated or not(her info comes from the same unnamed sources that made Ed Werder famous), the timing of Robert's second course of controversy made things seem a bit fishy. The fact that Roberts chose to move up the release of her book to coincide with A-Rod's return from hip surgery rubs me the wrong way. There's reporting the truth and then there's trying to sell books. The newest drama surrounding A-Rod is why I've come full circle. You see, nobody's above criticism, but there is something to be said about piling on a beaten man. Roberts' bush league gimmick to leak stories at certian times to generate the best possible interest in a tell-all book that has no authorization from the subject of the book and whose info comes from dubious "inside sources" trying to turn a buck has changed all the momentum from making A-Rod a selfish cheater to a victim in a clear example of an accomplished writer trying to make a name for herself by cutting down the very athletes she's paid to report upon.
Look, I'm not going to try to drum up sympathy for Alex Rodriguez. It's hard to feel sorry for a man sitting on half a billion dollars in baseball money, who was so insecure about the physical gifts that he was oversaturated with that he felt the need to cheat baseball and its fans. However, even if a man deserves to get beat down, you don't kick him while he lies on the floor. You can't paint the man as a greedy corner-cutter when you, yourself, are burning the codes of ethics so you can have some face time and look all nice and shiny for your five good minutes on PTI. A-Rod's a cheater. So's everyone on Wall Street. A-Rod's a liar. So is every politician. A-Rod's a man who felt like he needed an edge to compete with other cheaters. Did he need to? No, but there isn't a man alive who could tell me that they wouldn't do whatever it took to achieve stardom and fame, even at the cost of their own reputation.
Especially not Selena Roberts.
Signing off,
Your Favorite Blogger's Favorite Blogger....Dave Leonardis.
Naturally, $250 million for 6 months of work draws quite the large bulls-eye on your back. After the Rangers struggled to make the playoffs, let alone win a title, with A-Rod, we looked for new adjectives for the Bill Gates of Baseball. Choke artist. Not clutch. Self-absorbed. A look at A-Rod's numbers shows that he kept his end of the bargain. He led the AL in homers all three seasons in Texas, led in RBIs in 2002 and stole double digit bases all but once. His career average as a Ranger was .305 and won the MVP once and finished 2nd the year before that(though he should have beaten out Miguel Tejada in 2002 and he definitely should have gotten the MVP over Juan Gonzalez in '96, which was his first full season). The numbers meant nothing, especially while rival Derek Jeter was winning pennants in New York, which added more pressure on A-Rod to come up big in Texas. As luck would have it, A-Rod would be traded to New York to unite with Jeter in what was supposed to be the second coming of Murderer's Row.
In the Big Apple, A-Rod would meet the person that ultimately caused his downfall. It wasn't Jeter, whom the NY media kept trying to coax into a rivalry with Rodriguez. It wasn't the Yankee fans, who despise A-Rod for his large contracts and small production in October. No, A-Rod's downward spiral would be caused by a beatwriter named Selena Roberts. Roberts dropped the bombshell this past spring that A-Rod used steroids during his playing days in Texas, which was yet another dagger the baseball world would jab into A-Rod's chest. While A-Rod's name as a steroid user was a brow raiser, it was hardly the death to baseball that the media and fans made it to be. For one, during the 80's and 90's, EVERYONE did steroids. Your favorite slugger. Your rotation ace. Hell, your manager was probably juicing. The fact that A-Rod was a juicer was as surprising as saying people in the 70's wore bellbottoms. Like A-Rod said when he eventually came clean, it was the culture then. Once the A-Rod steroid fiasco started to die down, Roberts(in an amazing ploy at marketing her A-Rod book, which is where all these bombshells can be found) dropped another tidbit that A-Rod may or may not have juiced in high school and while he was a Yankee. Oh, and he helped opposing hitters during blowouts by tipping pitches. Oh, and he may or may not have organized 9/11. Oh, and he kidnapped Lindbergh's baby. And did I mention he was a member of the Third Reich?
Whether Roberts' claims are substantiated or not(her info comes from the same unnamed sources that made Ed Werder famous), the timing of Robert's second course of controversy made things seem a bit fishy. The fact that Roberts chose to move up the release of her book to coincide with A-Rod's return from hip surgery rubs me the wrong way. There's reporting the truth and then there's trying to sell books. The newest drama surrounding A-Rod is why I've come full circle. You see, nobody's above criticism, but there is something to be said about piling on a beaten man. Roberts' bush league gimmick to leak stories at certian times to generate the best possible interest in a tell-all book that has no authorization from the subject of the book and whose info comes from dubious "inside sources" trying to turn a buck has changed all the momentum from making A-Rod a selfish cheater to a victim in a clear example of an accomplished writer trying to make a name for herself by cutting down the very athletes she's paid to report upon.
Look, I'm not going to try to drum up sympathy for Alex Rodriguez. It's hard to feel sorry for a man sitting on half a billion dollars in baseball money, who was so insecure about the physical gifts that he was oversaturated with that he felt the need to cheat baseball and its fans. However, even if a man deserves to get beat down, you don't kick him while he lies on the floor. You can't paint the man as a greedy corner-cutter when you, yourself, are burning the codes of ethics so you can have some face time and look all nice and shiny for your five good minutes on PTI. A-Rod's a cheater. So's everyone on Wall Street. A-Rod's a liar. So is every politician. A-Rod's a man who felt like he needed an edge to compete with other cheaters. Did he need to? No, but there isn't a man alive who could tell me that they wouldn't do whatever it took to achieve stardom and fame, even at the cost of their own reputation.
Especially not Selena Roberts.
Signing off,
Your Favorite Blogger's Favorite Blogger....Dave Leonardis.
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