Not So Fast......

The end of the NFL lockout has lead to a free agent frenzy that has seen a spending spree of Paris Hilton proportions. The Carolina Panthers have been throwing money around from their ridiculous $72 million deal for DE Charles Johnson to the lucrative contract they gave RB DeAngelo Williams.

Another team that has done a lot of moving and shaking has been the Philadelphia Eagles and their aggressive approach in bringing in guys like DE Cullen Jenkins and CB Nnamdi Asomugha has people in the City of Brotherly Love already locking down the avenue for the ticker tape parade. The 5-year, $60 million given to Asomugha, arguably the best corner in the game, came just days after Philly turned backup QB Kevin Kolb into another CB, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and a second-round pick. The acquisition of DRC and Asomugha combined with the presence of another high-priced cover guy in Asante Samuel gives the Eagles their most formidable secondary in years and with new hires in Jenkins and pass-rushing dynamo Jason Babin, the Eagles might have the best pass defense in the NFL.

However, it seems people have become so blinded by the dollars that they've lost all their sense. Lest we forget, we've seen this movie before. Every year, there's that one team that makes it rain in free agency and prognosticators start losing their minds. We saw it last year with the Jets. It's happened in years past with the Redskins and Cowboys. Everyone loves a "dream team", as new Eagle Vince Young has christened this year's Philly flock.

I guess this means I have to rain on the parade. I hate to break it to you, Philadelphians, but there are chinks in the armor. Football isn't baseball. You can't throw a bunch of money at big names and get a championship ring. Here are some reasons why I'm not ready to concede the 2011 season to the Philadelphia Eagles.

1. Chemistry: As I mentioned earlier, you can't just bring in a bunch of new, big named, faces and have a Super Bowl champion. This isn't fantasy football. The Jets thought they were the team to beat last year because they threw big dollars at guys like Jason Taylor and LaDainian Tomlinson and made some savvy trades for Santonio Holmes and Antonio Cromartie. The result was the same as the year before: An L in the AFC Championship. With the lockout robbing most of the summer away from NFL teams, it's going to be much more difficult for new guys to come in and build rapport with their new teammates. The Steelers have went to three Super Bowls in seven years because they are a close-knit group who all came up together. The same can be said for the two past Super Bowl champions in Green Bay and New Orleans. They aren't All-Star teams built with a bunch of mercenaries looking for a ring like the Jets and Bengals were last year. It seems misguided to think the Eagles will revamp their defense with a bunch of new parts and become the '85 Bears. These things take time and that's something that the city of Philadelphia is never willing to give. Ask Donovan McNabb.

2. The Nnamdi Factor: The Asomugha signing is a huge coup for the Eagles, a team that was in desperate need for another corner. However, the Asante Sameul signing a couple years ago was supposed to be a huge coup. The acquisition of a guy like Ellis Hobbs last year was supposed to get the Eagles over the hump. Let's be clear here: The Eagles have ALWAYS had a great cornerback duo from Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor throughout the 90's and early part of the 2000's to Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown after that all the way to the Sameul Era today. The Asomugha signing, plus the trade for Rodgers-Cromartie, definitely gives Philadelphia the best secondary in the NFL on paper, but if this team couldn't win with a secondary of guys like Vincent, Taylor, Brian Dawkins, Sheppard, Brown, Sameul.....all guys who were perennial Pro Bowlers, mind you.....why should I believe that things are going to be different this time around(there's also reports that Sameul is once again on the block, which means the Asomugha signing is pretty much a trade off for Samuel, making it an upgrade but not a HUGE upgrade)?

On top of that, Super Bowl wins haven't been contingent on having an elite corner. The Packers won it all last year with Charles Woodson sitting out the second half of the Super Bowl, making due with an unheralded rookie like Sam Shields. The Steelers have had success with guys like DeShea Townsend and Ike Taylor. The Ravens had one of the best defenses in the league last year with names like LaDarius Webb and Josh Wilson in the defensive backfield(Yes, having Ed Reed at safety helped, but he also missed the first half of the season). The Jets are still waiting to make the Super Bowl with Darrelle Revis, even going so far as to pair with another solid corner in Antonio Cromartie last year. It helps to have a shutdown corner. It's not a necessity, mainly because the success of the corner shutting down his man is contingent on a good pass rush. Jason Babin was brought in to take pressure off fellow DE Trent Cole and bolster the Eagles' pass rush, but Babin had one season with double-digit sacks(last season, a contract year, when he had 13.5 for the Titans.....his previous high was 5 sacks back in 2006. You see where I'm going with this?). Jenkins is a fine interior lineman, but he's played a full 16 games once in the last three seasons and he's never had more than the seven sacks he notched for the Packers last year and that came in a different scheme than the one he'll be playing in Philly. Now, obviously, the presence of the big three out in the secondary will give guys like Jenkins and Babin and Cole more time to make plays but they can't keep those receivers out on an island forever. If Babin and Jenkins can't replicate their career years last season, then it doesn't matter if the Eagles have Dominique Cromartie or Dominique Swain back there, they'll eventually get beat.

3. Mike Vick: The miraculous comeback of former #1 overall pick Michael Vick from jailhouse inmate to MVP candidate was one of the great stories in this sport's history. That being said, rolling the dice on Vick has always been a risky proposal. Even before he did a two-year bid in the clink for dogfighting charges, Mike Vick always had a trouble staying healthy. He's played ONE full season in his entire career(2006) and, while he's improved as a passer, his game will always be based on making plays with his legs.......which is fine for guys who aren't 6'0, 200 pounds. Head coach Andy Reid is going to want to keep Vick in the pocket and have him focus more on looking down field and beating teams with his cannon arm. That's like asking a Ferrari to drive in a school zone. Vick benefits from being the fastest guy on the field and the ability to throw the ball farther than almost any other QB in the game. He has always been a rare mix of every possible gift you can give a QB. You have to take the bad with the good though. For all of his scrambling prowess, Vick opens him up to some big hits and defenses know they can knock Vick out if they pound him hard enough.

Making matters worse, the Eagles downgraded at their backup QB spot. I was never a huge Kevin Kolb fan but even I know he's a better QB, right now, than newly signed Vince Young. Young's skill set is similar to Vick's, so teams game-planning for Vick don't have to do much differently if Vick gets knocked out and Young comes in. Unlike Kolb though, Young doesn't have familiarity in the offense and it's going to be asking a lot for a man who struggled with the playbook for years in Tennessee to come in and learn the Philly playbook in a little over a month and be prepared when his number gets called. And let's not kid ourselves, Vince Young's number will get called. The odds are not in favor of Vick staying healthy for a whole season. Not with his style of play. Not with that offensive line. Which brings me to.....

4. The offensive line: The Eagles gave up 49 sacks last year(4th worst in the league, which is saying something when the man you're asked to protect is the fastest human being to ever play that position), and the only major improvement they made this offseason was the drafting of Baylor guard Danny Watkins. Winston Justice is coming off knee surgery and he wasn't very good manning the right side to begin with. Jason Peters, whom Philly went all in for on a draft day trade a couple years ago, hasn't lived up to his billing as the game's best tackle since coming over from Buffalo. The team still doesn't know whose a better fit at center between Jamaal Jackson and Mike McGlynn(and neither of those guys are all-world talents themselves).

These are the guys put in charge of protecting the biggest X factor in the Eagles' success. For a huge a coup as signing Nnamdi or Jenkins or Rodgers-Cromartie or whomever the Eagles bring in the rest of this summer, nobody, NOBODY, is more detrimental to this team's success than a healthy Mike Vick and unless Watkins can be Steve Hutchinson from Day 1, Vick's going to be doing more running than he's already accustomed to.

5. DeSean Jackson's holdout: The second most important factor after Vick is DeSean Jackson, who has been demanding a new deal. Really, who can blame him? He's the team's best receiver/return guy. Without him making that walk-off punt return touchdown against New York, the Eagles don't make the playoffs. Now, he's being asked to sit back and wait on a new contract while the team is giving $12 million per to Asomugha and 5 years, $25 million to Jenkins. The Eagles are notorious for not wanting to negotiate with their own midseason. We saw this with Terrell Owens a few years ago. We've seen it with Brian Westbrook. Now, it's D-Jax's turn. The Eagles also have to worry about re-signing Vick after this season as well.

You'd like to think that, after two months working under the threat of no football at all, that Jackson would suck it up and head back to field but that's not a certainty as we head into August. Jackson wants to get paid and seeing other guys who haven't contributed to this team the way he has the last few years get their money is only going to build up his case for a new deal. As good as Jeremy Maclin was last season, this offense needs Jackson's spark on the other side and in the return game and after bringing in all these new faces, it can't afford to haggle with one of its franchise players.

6. Andy Reid: He may be one of the league's longest tenured coaches. He's also one of the game's worst, if not THE worst, clock managers. Many point to Reid's long run in Philadelphia as a reason to put Big Red a top the coaching ranks, but what has come from the Andy Reid era? One Super Bowl appearance, four NFC Championship losses. He's 10-9 in the playoffs(albeit a winning record that complements his 62% winning percentage in the regular season but certainly the case can be made there was a lot of missed opportunities with all the talent he's had). Reid's Eagles have backed into the playoffs the last two years and they've led to first round losses in back-to-back years.

Sure, Mike McCarthy proved that a terrible clock manager can win the big one but lightning doesn't strike the same place twice. This is a make-or-break season for Reid, which is probably why the team has been so aggressive in free agency. The division is weaker than its been in past years so there's no excuse for Reid's boys to not run away with the division. Still, it's Super Bowl or bust now. The team can't afford to hang on to old memories with Reid if he can't get the job done once again this year. Not with guys like Jeff Fisher(a coach whose career mirrors Reid's and still found a way to get kicked out of Tennessee), Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden waiting to get back into the coaching ranks. If Reid is everything the "experts" say he is, this is the year he proves it.

Cruel Summer

All signs today are pointing toward pen meeting paper on a new collective bargaining agreement and the return of football. If you're like me, it's the final nail in the coffin to what has been an excruciating last few months. The Summer of 2011 will be remembered, regardless of how August shakes out, as the season of labor strife. Not only did we have to deal with the potential loss of an upcoming football season, but the NBA had to go on strike as well.

Even sadder than that was the fact that, without non-labor related NBA and NFL headlines, we were forced to compensate for the loss of two hot stove offseasons by paying more attention to other sports. The problem with that is, nobody stepped up in football and basketball's absence. Golf has been ho-hum with Tiger Woods on the mend. Tennis didn't have any epic Federer-Nadal clashes or dominant performances from the Williams sisters or even another match along the lines of last year's Isner-Mahut showdown. Baseball has generated the typical buzz befitting a season midway into 162 games, which is to say minimal. Nobody cares about 16-inning sagas like the Rays and Red Sox had last week when it's being played in mid-July. The attention starts to get paid when we get closer to the postseason and there's something on the line. As great of a story as the Pittsburgh Pirates showing a resurgence after nearly two decades of mediocrity has been, it doesn't have significance until we get to September. It's like watching the first hour of "Rocky". You're not riveted until you watch Balboa trade punches with Apollo Creed.

Women's soccer, however, gave Americans the chance to do what they like to do every so often: Feign patriotism. With their unlikely run to the World Cup final, the U.S. women's soccer team compelled their countrymen to reach back into their closets and dust off those American flags they've had locked up since the Olympics(or maybe even 9/11, depending on where you live) and unleash chants of "USA!" while pretending to have an interest in soccer. It was a good moment of solidarity for a country that seems to be at odds with each other as of late, even if the mutual agreement was an admission that Americans are front-runners. Look, I'm not trying to take anything away from "our girls", as some have called them, or take jabs at the few who have an actual interest in futbol. However, the spirited efforts seem to only come out when the home team is winning.

For as great as U.S. beating Brazil was in the history of U.S. team sports, many in this country didn't give "our girls" a shot. Once they beat the Brazilians, however, the hyperbole machine made sure to use its pent-up overdramatization to compare U.S. over Brazil to the famed "Miracle on Ice" and Americans with nothing better to do used the upset as a springboard onto the bandwagon(Further driving home my point is the ratings numbers: U.S.-Brazil did a 2.5 in the Nielsen ratings, the equivalent of a episode of "Monday Night Raw" or a Royals-Tigers tilt. The World Cup final did a 7.4, which is solid but pales in comparison to the 11.4 from 1999, when Mia Hamm and company won it all. Naturally, there's going to be a rise when there's more at stake but it says something that the '99 team, which were dominant favorites, drew more viewers than a classic underdog story like the 2011 ladies.) That's where people like me get a bit ticked. I'm not a hockey fan. I'm not a soccer fan. I don't pretend to be either just because my team is making a championship run. Was Hope Solo and company's run a nice story? Sure, but people who have been around sports long enough can tell real fans from those who are cheering to be a part of a fad and, if you're reading this and getting offended then, chances are, I'm talking about you.

I said this in the Michael Jackson tribute two years ago and I've made mentions of it in the past: Americans are fad-jumpers. We spend on our day-to-day affairs complaining about how we hate our jobs, or our President or our government or our society.....and then our national team gets on the cusp of winning the big one and we start exclaiming how America is the greatest country in the world(which, it is, but still...). Now that the women's team has lost a heartbreaker to Japan, phony soccer fans will tuck those Stars and Stripes back into their closet, hop back into their Prius and head over to Starbucks for their overpriced Caramel Macchiato, crack open their Wall Street Journal, bitch about Obama and go back to not giving a shit about soccer. I know that might be blasphemy for me to say, but it's true, and there are people out there like my wife and my friend Linger who bleed red, white and blue....but those people are few and far between in this country. For the most part, the attention paid to the World Cup was due in large part to the lack of newsworthy headlines from other sports and Americans' self-absorbed need to feel relevant by doing what all the cool kids are doing and that, moreso than the OT loss to Japan, is the most sickening.

REAL football is back now. In a matter of days, we'll have preseason, free agency and hot stove buzz. We'll have Cam Newton zipping passes to Steve Smith. We'll have Adrian Peterson bulldozing Brian Urlacher. We'll have American's true favorite pastime back. We'll be able to go back to talking about the game instead of civil suits and unions. The impact of this new CBA won't be realized for a couple years as we still wait for the dust the settle. The immediate thought process amongst fans, both casual and committed, was that this labor strife was based on greed. After all, the three biggest terms that were forced down your throat these last few months have been "salary cap", "rookie wage scale" and "revenue sharing". For football fans, most of which hard-working, blue-collar Americans, the lockout came off as a fight between millionaires and billionaires. Maybe that's an ignorant way of looking at things but amidst all the negotiating and back-biting, NFL owners and the NFLPA lost sight of the one big thing with fans: We just want football. Sure, the rookie wage scale is nice and keeps teams from giving large contracts to first-year, college snots who haven't taken a pro snap and it's cool to have the salary cap back to level the playing field between the "haves" and the "have nots", but we would be ok with the old system if it meant we could have avoided these last two months of torture.

Of course, that's a moot point now as we wait for the players to recertify and dot the I's and cross the T's on a deal that took a maddening few months to culminate. The NFL is back in our lives and other sports can return to the backburner and basketball fans now have football to soften the blow of what will probably be a lost season for them. The worst is over now, people. You can tuck those flags back into your closet and get your jerseys out again.

As you were, America.

Cut His Mic Off: James Harrison

"If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn't do it. I hate him and will never respect him."

-- Steelers Pro Bowl LB James Harrison, on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell\

I debated for two days as to whether to make James Harrison the latest recipient of the "Cut His Mic Off" Award. After all, as someone who constantly has bad things to say about his bosses, who am I to chastise another man for expressing his discontent with his superiors, albeit publicly. On top of that, can we really be that surprised that a knucklehead like Harrison would say something this controversial with an open mic and a lot of free time on his hands?

However, the more I read Harrison's comments, the more foolish they sounded as they echoed in my brain. For one, no matter how much animosity you have toward your boss, there should be a certain level of class you must exude, even in publicly denouncing them, when you choose to speak ill about them. Even if many of Harrison's peers share the same sentiment as the All-Pro linebacker about the NFL commissioner, they are at least smart enough to not call their boss a faggot, crook, and a devil in a magazine interview. Especially when the league is in the middle of labor negotiations. I respect Harrison for being blunt and speaking his mind instead of hiding behind cliches and masking his discontent. That being said, you can voice your dissatisfaction with upper management without coming off as a goon. If Harrison thought he was a scapegoat prior to his interview with Men's Journal, I'm going to go out on a limb and say these comments probably made matters worse. Goodell might be off to a rocky start with fans and players with all the midseason rule changes and this current lockout, but he's proven to be someone who takes disrespect personally. He proved that with Michael Vick. He's proven it with Pacman Jones. You don't cross the boss.

More idiotic, to me at least, than Harrison's comments about Goodell were his jabs at teammates Ben Roethlisberger and Rashard Mendenhall. Mendenhall may have announced on Twitter that he has no problem with Harrison calling him a "fumble machine", but it's ridiculous for a man who fumbled all of twice(granted, one of which happening in the biggest game of the season in the absolute worst possible time) all season to suddenly be labeled like he's the second coming of Tiki Barber and Thurman Thomas. Then, there's the vitrial shown to Big Ben. Harrison ripped Roethlisberger for his costly picks in the Super Bowl, suggesting that Ben "at least throw a pick on their side of the field instead of asking the D to bail you out again. Or hand off the ball and stop trying to act like Peyton Manning. You ain't that and you know it, man. You just get paid like he does."

Harrison's right. Big Ben isn't Peyton Manning. In Big Ben's first seven years in the NFL, he's been to three Super Bowls, winning two of them. Manning, meanwhile, has been to two Super Bowls in 14 years, winning one. I'm no math major but I'm gonna say the first guy has more championships than the second guy. Now, Roethlisberger, numbers-wise, may not be the stat machine that Manning is and we can debate for days how many Super Bowl rings Peyton would have if he had a defense like Pittsburgh's and a running game like Big Ben had with guys like Jerome Bettis and Mendenhall. Still, Roethlisberger may not be Peyton Manning but he's also not Brad Johnson. This isn't some journeyman QB who rode the coattails of an elite defense to notch a few trophies for the mantle. Roethlisberger, when healthy, is one of the five or six best QBs in this league. On top of that, why would you suggest Ben hand the ball off more when the guy who he would be handing off to is an alleged "fumble machine"? Makes no sense to me, Jimbo.

Also, did you take a look at YOUR stats in the Super Bowl, my dude? One tackle, one sack. Great numbers.....if you're Frank Zombo(although Zombo managed to get four more tackles than Harrison. Just sayin'.). Certianly not numbers befitting a former Defensive Player of the Year and definitely not a reason for you to puff out your chest and talk shit about other teammates. Speaking of Defensive MVPs, why not take a few shots at this year's reigning DPOY, Troy Polamalu, instead of puckering up on his ass cheeks? Perhaps if you and Troy could have done more than a combined four tackles, maybe Aaron Rodgers wouldn't have burnt you like an August afternoon in Phoenix. To quote LL Cool J in "Any Given Sunday": "You have to earn the right to talk shit on this team."

When he wasn't ripping the commish or firing shots at the fellows that share his uniform, Harrison chose to play the overrated race card, stating that Goodell somehow fines players more for illegal hits on white players than he does for hitting black players illegally, citing the discrepancies in the fines for his hits on Drew Brees and Vince Young, respectively. At what point do we stop turning every slight into a black-and-white issue? I'm supposed to believe that a man in charge of a league that's somewhere between 65-70 percent black is a racist now? Why, because he varies in his penalties on a guy who thinks he's Dee-Bo on the football field? If we're talking about dubious race claims, why don't we cause a stir over Mr. Harrison saying that Brian Cushing is "juiced out of his mind" but failing to criticize another accused steroid user, Shawne Merriman? Was omitting "Lights Out"'s name in your rant on steroids just a coincidence, James?

Hmmmm.....

It remains to be seen whether Harrison gets punished by Goodell or The Rooneys for his ignorance. The Steelers best move would be to find a way to deal Harrison once the lockout ends. After all, he's 33, the team needs to find money to lock up fellow pass rusher LaMarr Woodley, and the target on his back just grew exponentially by both the boss he wouldn't piss on and the guys on the other side of the ball charged with taking pressure of him and his defensive comrades. After spending the last two offseasons dealing with Roethlisberger's philandering, Santonio Holmes' hijinx, Hines Ward's DUI and now Harrison's big mouth, it's time for Steel Town to say enough's enough.

Until then, it's time to finally cut Harrison's mic off.

Little Big League

Last week's retirement by Houston Rockets center Yao Ming will bring two major, yet somewhat obvious by now, changes when the NBA returns from its current lockout.

The first being the popularity hit the league will take in China and even throughout Asia now that the continent's most recognizable star and sole reason for interest has decided to hang them up. Even with Yao sitting the sidelines for the better part of the last two years, the NBA still benefited from the millions of eyes watching from the Far East hoping that their 7'6 icon would make a triumphant return.

He didn't.

The second change is something that has manifested throughout the league slowly over the last few years and is now something that is going to be punctuated even further with guys like Yao and Shaquille O'Neal gone for good: Traditional centers are becoming extinct. Today's game has seemed to evolve without the traditional big man in the middle. Gone are the days of Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson. The reason for that is three-fold. For one, guards have become faster than in the heyday of "The Admiral" and "The Dream", so thus there's a need for quicker, albeit shorter, big men to get down court quick to stock guys like Derrick Rose and Chris Paul in transition. Two, teams have become fascinated with the slick-shooting of big men like Dirk Nowitzki and Mehmet Okur. Seven-footers who would be back-to-the-basket pivot men in the mid-90's have traded in their hook shots for 15-foot jumpers. It's why guys like Tim Duncan and Chris Bosh fancy themselves more as power forwards than centers.

The third and final reason is the lack of durability of young guys who fit the old style of big man. Greg Oden was supposed to be the next Bill Russell. Instead, he's the next Sam Bowie. Andrew Bynum was supposed to be the heir apparent to Shaq. Instead, he's a risky upgrade over Chris Mihm. As bodies have become bigger, stronger, and more athletic, they've also become a threat to break down even after something as simple as grabbing a defensive rebound.

Look around the league. How many old-school big men are getting starter minutes in the league right now? 10, maybe? Out of 30 teams? And, of those 10, how many are stars? Dwight Howard.....Bynum, when healthy.....Nene....and....waiting...waiting.....Kendrick Perkins, perhaps? The NBA has morphed into pickup games at the Rucker, where teams play small ball with glorified small forwards like Chuck Hayes get to pose as centers because their rebounding acumen. Traditional centers are falling by the waist side because they are either too slow, too brittle or aren't athletic enough to step outside the paint and guard their seven-foot counterparts who prefer to make their living beyond the arc.

It makes you wonder how the '96 Bulls would compete with those early-2000, Shaq-Kobe Laker teams if Dennis Rodman had to step out and guard Robert Horry instead of patrolling the paint. When Dirk first emerged, many skeptics wrote off long-range, European-style big men as a fad that will inevitably pass like John Stockton short-shorts or hand-checking and, after the flops of guys like Darko Milicic and Nikoloz Tskitishvilli, the doubters looked like they might be right as teams were tired of getting burned by falling in love with young kids dominating on grainy, surveillance footage. However, now that Nowitzki is finally a champion and guys like Yao and Shaq are retiring while the Odens and Bynums of the world seem destined to join them, the focal point of utilizing your center will once again be shifting back to a combination of three-point shooting seven-footers and quick, undersized-forwards manning the five spot.

It's why some team will overpay Carl Landry to be their starting center. Or David West. Or Troy Murphy. The retirement of Yao Ming and even Shaq, eventhough Shaq has been a shell of himself over the last few years, was not only the nail in the coffin to their own careers but a farewell to the outdated model that they once were the poster children for. Ballers don't have to worry about being a little bit taller anymore.

You win, Skee-Lo.

That's What I'm Talkin' About!

If you're like me, you don't need to worry about the world's potential demise in 2012 because the thought of a 2011 fall without pro basketball AND pro football is a rapture in and of itself. While the NFL lockout is rumored to be nearing it's end, the joy from the return of football will be counteracted by the sadness of the second NBA strike in a decade and a half.

Baseball, meanwhile, has failed to capitalize on the hiatus of the other two members of the sports world's "Big Three". Your biggest stories as we near the close of a mundane first half on the diamond involve a historic franchise going bankrupt, a Giants fan getting beaten nearly to death and the ailing wrist of baseball's next $200 million man. Your first half American League MVP is a guy playing in Canada that nobody heard of fifteen months ago. While in the National League, the battle for the regular season's top individual prize is a dogfight between an oft-injured, speedy shortstop best known for being denounced by his owner and a star center fielder on a cash-strapped franchise who looked like trade bait on Opening Day. Guys like Jose Bautista, Jose Reyes and Matt Kemp have offered sizzle to first few months of the baseball season, but there isn't much steak overall.

At least baseball is drawing news on the field though. Any spark generated from an already weak NBA Draft was put out once the league chained up its doors. A stark contrast from last offseason, when LeBron-mania ran wild across the country. The anticipation on the gridiron seems to be growing on a daily basis as we near closer toward the end of what has now been a four-month long lockout, but anticipation will soon turn into aggravation the longer this thing stalls out. Still, the time has come for the focus to switch off from dollars and sense and to actual moving and shaking. Here are the things we SHOULD be talking about as we wait for rich men to settle their differences. Since football is closer to making a triumphant return, I'll start with what's on my mind regarding the hardwood...(pause).

* I continue to be baffled as to why teams didn't make a more aggressive run at taking the #2 pick from Minnesota. After all, the Timberwolves are going to struggle to find playing time for new addition Derrick Williams while he sits behind guys like Michael Beasley and Anthony Randolph at his position. Of the three, Williams carried the most value and a team that needed so much like the T'Wolves do, should have done better to maximize the value of that pick. Still, we expect this kind of incompetence from GM David Kahn and company. After all, this is the same group that drafted two point guards with back-t0-back picks and had to pretty much bribe one(Ricky Rubio) to come to America while waving bye-bye to the other(Jonny Flynn) in a trade just two years after drafting him.

My issue is with teams like Washington, which turned down a deal to send center JaVale McGee and the 6th pick to Minny for #2. I had this debate with my friend Carlos, who is slowly becoming a Wizards fan, and his point was that you don't trade your second best player for someone who will also inevitably be your 2nd best player. My point was that McGee isn't a star but will be asking for star money when his deal expires and that the upside of a guy like Williams playing alongside John Wall far surpasses the hole at center that will be left by giving up McGee. McGee is a poor man's Dwight Howard. He's a big, athletic, defensive-minded big man with a knack for dominating the boards, but unless you tell me he's a 20-10-5 guy in the next couple of years, he's not worth keeping over Derrick Williams. Williams, to me, was the best player in this draft. You're telling me the chance to grab the best player in the Draft(especially a weak one like this year's crop) in back-to-back years isn't worth giving up a slightly above average big man? Washington also has a trade chip that could have even netted them McGee's replacement, had they dealt him: Rashard Lewis' expiring contract.

Let's say you're the Lakers. You like Andrew Bynum but the fans really want you to go hard for Dwight Howard next year and you can't take the chance that Bynum's knees don't hold up, long term. Still, you're locked in to your young center for another three years. Why not ship Bynum to Washington for Lewis' expiring deal and, say, a 2012 first rounder? If you're L.A., you've freed up money to go after Howard(or Chris Paul) in 2012 while also getting rid of overpaid injury risk. In the meantime, the Lakers could move Pau Gasol to center(where he isn't the best fit, but hardly a waste of space), play 'Shard or Lamar Odom at the four and go from there(Or, you could have just traded Bynum to Minnesota, got a potential building block in Williams, and then went after Howard or CP3 in 2012 anyway. I'll take "Missed Opportunities" for $200, Alex!). We all know Howard's leaving Orlando for L.A. if the Lakers can afford him. Why would Doomsday turn down chasing championships out in Hollywood with Kobe for first-round exits with Gilbert Arenas? In Washington's case, you get Bynum, a top-five center when healthy(which is an issue, since jumping without breaking a leg is something he still struggles with) and all it cost was a benchwarmer you weren't going to re-sign anyway. On top of that, how else were you going to get a marquee free agent unless you put some more pieces around John Wall? By making those two deals, you now have a young nuclues of Wall, Nick Young, Derrick Williams, and Bynum instead of the depressing group of Wall-Young-Andray Blatche-McGee. Jan Vesely, the Euro the Wiz got with the 6th pick, is billed as an athletic forward in the Blake Griffin mold that should be the perfect running mate for John Wall. The thing is, Euros like Vesely get overhyped every year and, more often than not, they flame out. Remember Nikoloz Tskishvilli? How about Darko Milicic? Or better yet, Wiz fans, how's Yi Jianlian working out for you? Vesely could be a hit, could be a bust, but neither he nor McGee was worth passing up a chance at Derrick Williams.

*Speaking of missed opportunities, apparently, the drum isn't being banged loud enough on the "Free Steve Nash" movement. For all the talk about how big names were going to move on Draft Day, the only "blockbuster" we got was a Stephen Jackson-Corey Maggette three-team yawner in the hours leading up to the Draft. Monta Ellis is still in Golden State. Tony Parker is still a Spur and, most importantly, Steve Nash is still residing in Phoenix. A shame, isn't it, that Casey Anthony can get her freedom but Steve Nash can't? Nash-to-Minnesota-for-#2 was a tough sell for the T'Wolves because they don't want to risk pissing off Ricky Rubio by bringing in a two-time MVP when he's finally ready to play for Minnesota(not to mention, depressing Nash by sending him from the first floor to the cellar). Still, Nash needs out of Phoenix. Obviously, the lockout quells any Nash trade talk. I liked the idea of Nash in Portland, but they struck a deal to swap Andre Miller for Raymond Felton. That doesn't leave Nash with many options in terms of contenders. The Knicks don't have much to offer. The same goes for the Heat. If the Lakers are desperate need of moving Bynum, they could try trading him for Nash. The Spurs deciding to trade George Hill instead of Tony Parker proves they are adamant on keeping their young French floor general. So that means the tragedy of Steve Nash grows unless Miller is a bust in Denver or Oklahoma City decides the Russell Westbrook-Kevin Durant duo won't work.

*Let me get this straight: Cleveland wouldn't move J.J. Hickson for Amare Stoudemire to help keep LeBron a Cavalier, but they'll send him to Sacramento for Omar Casspi? ummm...OK. I'm not sure how I feel about this Sacramento team. On paper, DeMarcus Cousins, Hickson, Tyreke Evans and rookie addition Jimmer Fredette look like an offensive juggernaut, but how do you divy up those touches? Cousins, Evans and The Jimmer are only effective when they have the ball in their hands and neither Evans or Fredette are anything but average defensively. If this was pick-up basketball, the Kings would rule the court, but in the NBA? Somebody's gonna be the odd man out.

*If you thought the Draft was lacking, this year's free agent class(whenever free agency begins) doesn't offer much either. Two of your top three are probably staying put. Marc Gasol is probably staying in Memphis and Nene looks like he'll stay a Nugget. The other, Hornets forward David West, has a chance to stay in New Orleans but with the team's financial status in limbo(as well as the pending free agency of star guard Chris Paul next summer), that seems unlikely. West is an All-Star forward, when healthy, but he's coming off a torn ACL and he wasn't that athletic to begin with. Beyond that, there's the high-risk, high-reward stylings of Yao Ming or Greg Oden. Or maybe you want to roll the dice on T-Mac or Grant Hill? How about Earl Watson or Mike Dunleavy? What, you're not salivating over the idea of adding Aaron Gray to your roster? Guys like Tyson Chandler and Thaddeus Young are nice pieces but they are hardly stars. Maybe the lockout came at the perfect time then, since between the Draft and this free agent class, we aren't really missing out on much.

Now, for some football......

*Former Raiders cornerback Nnmandi Asomugha is clearly the prize of this year's free agent crop, and it will fun to watch him join an elite defense like Baltimore's or the Jets or Philly's, but he's not free agency's best story. That title goes to two of Gabe's former man-crushes in the Big Apple: Former NBC media whore Tiki Barber and "Cheddar Bob" enthusiast Plaxico Burress. The last couple of years has seen both men do complete 180's in terms of PR. Barber left the Giants midway into his prime to share stale coffee with Al Roker on the "Today" show and become the media darling he always thought he was. Burress, meanwhile, went from catching the go-ahead touchdown pass in the Giants upset win in the Super Bowl, to being the only man stupid enough to both wear sweatpants to a club and accidentally shoot himself in the leg. Burress did two years in the clink and, thanks to the career resuscitation of Mike Vick last year, has emerged into this year's offseason as the new comeback kid. Tiki, meanwhile, was a total disaster in his quest to be Bryant Gumbel and found himself in a bit of a scandal when it was revealed he was cheating on his pregnant wife with an intern or secretary or whatever freak panty dropper gave it up to this half-sucked Milk Dud. Barber's managed to become persona non grata in Giants Land(Yes, the same place that loves child rapist Lawrence Taylor) and is now trying to make a comeback at an age and position where he, ironically, he'd be better suited in the job he just gave up. Plaxico is also gaining interest, although there is some skepticism over a big receiver(6'6, 250), coming off two years in jail who wasn't really that fast to begin with, making a return to a game that's now more reliant on smaller, speedier wideouts. All signs point to Burress uniting with Vick in Philly and sticking it to his former mates in the Meadowlands. As for Barber, he's been rumored to headed to Pittsburgh, but after dealing with Ben Roethlisberger's constant distractions, it will be hard to believe that the Rooney family will be interested in the Tiki circus. Either way, bigger names will end up in better places but they won't carry the same intrigue as two former members of the Empire State.

*I'm not ready for Brett Favre comeback talk. I'm just not. Please. Enough already.

*If you're looking for 2011's sleeper, look no further than the Motor City. Yes, that's right, I'm co-signing the Detroit Lions this season. No, not to win the Super Bowl or even the division(I am a Packers fan, after all. I have to retain some form of homerism). Now, I know, it's July, there hasn't been a real training camp and looking at a roster on paper doesn't dictate how that team fairs when the games are played(right, San Francisco?) but look at this Lions squad. Offensively, you have the strongest arm in football(Matt Stafford, when healthy) throwing to possibly the game's best receiver(Calvin "Megatron" Johnson) and a now two-pronged rushing attack with versatile scat back Jahvid Best and bruising rookie Mikel LeShoure. You also have speedy rookie Titus Young, who could be DeSean Jackson Lite and emerging tight end Brandon Pettigrew. Defensively, there's reigning Defensive ROTY Ndomukong Suh now being paired with arguably this year's best rookie defender in DT Nick Fairley. That's a nightmare of a defensive line and, as the Giants proved a couple years ago, if your D-Line can rush the passer, it doesn't matter what you have behind them. Obviously, Stafford staying healthy and Fairley living up to his billing are the two big keys for Detroit, but when's the last time there's been this much sleeper buzz in Detroit?

*Again, it's early, but if I had to make playoff picks right now(and, I know, there hasn't been a trade made or a free agent signed and a lot can still happen between now and opening kickoff), I would go Green Bay(obviously), Philly(with or without Plax or Nnamdi), St. Louis and New Orleans as division winners, Giants and Tampa Bay as the wild card. I think Detroit is this year's Tampa Bay. Also, you'll notice I don't have Atlanta in there. I'll get to that in a minute. In the AFC, Baltimore, New England, Indianapolis and....wait for it...wait for it.....Oakland as division winners. Why Oakland? Because the AFC West is horrible and a lot rides on who's staying and who's going in that division. Can San Diego keep their two big wideouts? Who's starting for Denver at QB? Can Kansas City protect Matt Cassel? Right now, I'm going with Oakland. Yes, Nnamdi's gone. Yes, they don't have a QB or a true #1 receiver.....neither did Seattle last year. As for the wild cards, Pittsburgh and the Jets.

Now, as for why I'm out on Atlanta. This team killed themselves with that Julio Jones trade. Just an absolutely foolish deal. For one, this team didn't lose to Green Bay in the playoffs because it couldn't score. It lost because it couldn't stop anybody. They don't have a pass rush beyond John Abraham, who's always hurt, and they can't stop the run. So, you trade a bunch of picks, including next year's first, for a wideout with spotty hands? Makes no sense to me. Conversely, New Orleans went out and got the RB it needed(Mark Ingram) and a solid defensive end in Cameron Jordan. Tampa Bay was thisclose to the playoffs last year and now they come back a year wiser and with bookends on defensive line in Adrian Clayborn and Da'Quan Bowers. If Bowers is healthy(a BIG IF coming off microfracture knee surgery), he's the steal of the Draft. Now, I repeat, it's early, there's a couple guys on the block that can shake things up. Kevin Kolb being one, Nnamdi being another and Carson Palmer as well but I don't envision much changing my mind. As for a Super Bowl pick, Ravens vs. Saints. That's right, I don't have Green Bay repeating. I think the loss of Cullen Jenkins will sting but not kill them but it's asking a lot for Chad Clifton to stay healthy and, if he goes down, this offensive line is in trouble. I like what New Orleans did with the Draft. I would have loved to have seen them pair Reggie Bush with Mark Ingram but that looks unlikely. As for Baltimore, I'm giving Joe Flacco one last chance. That team should have beat Pittsburgh in the divisional round last year. Jimmy Smith helps that secondary if he gets his head on straight and, if the Ravens get Asomugha...my God!

So, there you have it. As usual, things are subject to change once the NFL preview hits in late August but now you have something to fight about....and before you laugh at me about Oakland winning the West, remember who gave you Kansas City last year.

Milk Carton All-Star of the Week: Orlando Hernandez

Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez emerged onto the baseball scene in 1998, just a couple years after fleeing Cuba with half-brother Livan(also a MCAS-worthy pitcher) on Christmas Day in '96. You might remember "El Duque" for his funny nickname, his pitching motion that looked like he was going to knock himself senseless by lifting his knee up under his nose and, also, as being the catalyst for those great Yankee teams in the late '90's.

Hernandez's best season came in 1999, when he went 17-9 with 157 strikeouts and won the ALCS MVP. It would pretty much go downhill from there, however. El Duque would finish the next two seasons with losing records, going 12-13 in 2000 and 4-7 in 2001. He would go 8-5 with a 3.65 ERA in 2002 but that didn't stop the Bronx Bombers from dealing the Cuban hurler to the Chicago White Sox in a deal for hefty pitcher Bartolo Colon. Upon arriving to the Windy City, Hernandez blew out his rotator cuff, which killed his 2003 season. The White Sox let him go in December of that year and he returned to the Yankees in 2004. He would go 8-2 in 15 starts for the Yanks. In 2005, Orlando went back to Chicago and won a World Series with another former Yankee hurler, Jose Contreras. For all his heroics during their magical championship run, El Duque was rewarded by Chicago by being traded to Arizona along with top outfield prospect Chris Young in exchange for Javier Vazquez. He would make 9 starts with the D'Backs, going 2-4, before being dealt to the Mets for reliever Jorge Julio. He had a couple successful seasons with the Mets, going 9-7 and 9-5 in '06 and '07 respectively. However, injuries and old age finally caught up to El Duque. Hernandez failed to get out of the minors in comeback attempts with Texas and Washington and finally called it a career last season after being told he wasn't going to be called up by the Nationals.

For his career, Hernandez is a respectable 90-65 with a pedestrian 4.13 and 1,086 strikeouts. He's also a four-time World Series champion(three with the Yankees, one with the White Sox).

So, let's give it up for this generation's Juan Guzman, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, everybody!