OFFSEASON CHAMPS!...sigh

God have I not seen this act 4 times before? My beloved Redskins have just spent 160 million dollars on 2 players in league with a salary cap. WHAT THE SHIT! I know they signed 2 good players, including the best defensive lineman in the league but come on, there were so many other holes to fill. That little fucking dwarf owner is killing a once proud franchise and has a mental midget as his GM just because he constantly kisses his ass. I might be auctioning off my fandom in the coming months so if you are interested let me know.

MLB 2009 Preview Part 1…

Over the next few days I am going to be breaking down the 6 divisions and giving my preseason predictions for the upcoming baseball season. Feel free to disagree with everything I say and leave your feedback in the comments section. Now without further ado…

NL East:
Phillies
Mets*
Braves
Nationals
Marlins
(*Wild Card)

Best Player: Hanley Ramirez
Best Pitcher: Cole Hamels
Impact Newcomer: JJ Putz

Overview:

As Ric Flair once said, to be the man you have to beat the man, WOOOOOO!, and for that reason the Phillies remain on top. I know that the Mets revamped their bull pen and the Braves got Derek Lowe but neither of those moves scare me. While I do not like the Raul Ibanez signing for the Phils because Burrell gave them a nice right handed balance they still have too strong of a line up. Add to that the fact that K-Rod now lost 6 mph on his fastball and struggles to find the plate at times and I can’t think of a worse lineup for him to face then the Phillies. This leads me to my selection of JJ Putz as the impact newcomer. Over the course of the year I think his dominance in the 8th inning, his ability to go 2 innings and his reliability will be of more value to the Amazin’s then K-Rod.

When I look at the Mets offensively they have some really nice pieces in Wright, Reyes, Beltran, etc. but they are old at several others. Reyes is too lackidasical and Wright tries way too hard down the stretch every year. Add in the huge offensive holes in RF, LF, C and 2B and you have problems.

The Braves made some nice additions to their staff but don’t have enough fire power in that lineup. Garrett Anderson was a decent pick up but he is an every other day player right now.

The Nationals are the youngest team in the league and I think they might surprise a few people. (Yes I am a Nats fan) By surprise I mean they won’t lose 102 games again. If their young pitchers develop they could inch their way back towards .500.

Marlins, who the hell knows. They get rid of all their players every few years and always seem to reload. With Hanley Ramirez and Uggla they at least have some boppers in the line up.

AL East:
Tampa Bay Rays
Boston Red Sox*
New York Yankees
Baltimore Orioles
Toronto Blue Jays
(*Wild Card)

Best Player: BJ Upton
Best Pitcher: CC Sabathia
Impact Newcomer: David Price

Overview:

So the Yankees spent a billion dollars and the Red Sox signed some nice older pitchers and all of a sudden everyone forgets about the Rays? Sorry I guess to me a bunch of studs in their early 20’s and a ridiculously deep starting staff is better then overpriced old dudes. The Rays have Upton, Longoria, Crawford, Pena, Navarro all with another year of maturation under their belts and playoff experience. You think that beating the Sox in 7 games won’t carry over? I disagree. Now add David Price to the staff that already includes Shields, Kazmir, Garza and Sonnanstine and you could be looking at a dominant staff for the next 8 years. The additions of Matt Joyce and Pat Burrell also make them way more intimidating. Now I know you are wondering, how is BJ Upton the best player in the division? I see him as a 30/30 guy with a good average, crazy range in CF and a huge arm. Just like a carpenter I love tools and the kid is 24 and won’t hit his prime for 3 to 4 more years and already loves the big stage…scary.

Red Sox, great pitching but where do the runs come from? Youk won’t match last year, and who knows how healthy Papi and Lowell are this year. Add in JD Drews bad back and Elsbury playing without Crisps security net this year and you have some problems. Doen’t help that your catcher and captain can’t hit over .200.

Yankees, well they look good on paper right? Something tells me that AROD won’t be able to focus like Bonds did during this traveling circus in pin stripes. Jeter is a legend who shouldn’t be playing short anymore and should move to CF but apparently doing what is right for the team is blasphemous. Burnett isn’t in a contract year, Pettite is old, which Robi Cano shows up? Why is Joba starting? Will Jorge’s arm stay attached? Just way way too many questions here.

Orioles, man they have a chance to be really good in a few years. I love what McPhail has done with their outfield in Pie, Jones and Markaikis. Weiters is an absolute stud and should be the everyday catcher by late May. They have some good young pitchers coming up but could use a young corner guy in the infield.

Jays, the need to rebuild. Look for them to trade Halladay before the deadline for a huge ransom to a playoff contender. I wouldn’t expect him to throw as many complete games this year because if they were smart they would save his arm and make him even more attractive. I can see them getting 3 or 4 big time prospects for Doc.

So that’s my take, next up the Central Divisions.

Mixed Martial Arts Amateur Events

This weekend I attended a amateur promotion in Las Vegas called Tuff 'n Uff and before I get into a rant about amateur MMA let me first talk about the event. It was amazing for a small promotion, they had good music, the ring was set up well, the fights were for the most part interesting and exciting, and they cycled through the fights as fast as possible. In all they went through 16-17 fights in the space of about 3 and a half hours. 6 of those fights were women's fights and they were all exciting good fights. I was impressed with the way things were run, the atmosphere and the way things ran as smoothly as possible. I was also impressed at how knowledgeable the standing room only crowd was in terms of the standup and cheering for takedowns. As is fairly typical of a US MMA crowd they weren't very patient or knowledgeable about the ground game but that's a staple of US crowds. All in all I was very pleased to be there and I can't wait to sponsor one of these events later!

The problem I have, and maybe it's just me, is that I don't really consider MMA a amateur sport. Wrestling, boxing, ju-jitsu, and all the other martial arts that feed into MMA have great amateur events and I like them all for what they are. But MMA is a fairly brutal amalgamation of all these amateur sports and from what I saw it doesn't incorporate headgear or anything to lessen the impact of strikes. I think with some changes it could be an amateur sport but it is going to need to set some stricter guidelines about what will qualify these fights as amateur.

The first step toward amateurization is that the refs have to be better, one of the refs was just awful, and he made mistake after mistake including raising the losers hand on more then one occasion. Second, they need to call knockouts much much faster. It's amateur, you want to protect the athletes as much as possible and prevent any possible injury or concussion. There was one fight where a girl took about 10 straight punches to the face and there was no call. She later got TKO'd but it was a round later and I just don't think an amateur should be taking too many consecutive strikes to the face. Lastly I'd really like to know what separates amateur status from professional. It seemed like the majority of the folks fighting had sponsors and logos all over their body and gear.

All in all I can't wait for the next event. I want to sponsor one. And I need to get over my hangups when it comes to calling something amateur or not.

The Feast of St. Dawkins Continues

With their win at the Meadowlands the Eagles, led by Saint Brian Dawkins, have made it to the NFC championship. Thus we enter the 4th week of the feast of St. Dawkins in celebration. Hopefully the feast will continue for another two weeks after next sunday against the Cardinals.

St. Dawkins day

The Eagles miraculously made the playoffs this year, despite having exceptionally dim prospects heading into the last day. From now on december 28th shall be known as St. Dawkins day!

Best comment I've seen in a month

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how come everyone loves players who are just having fun out there but McNabb is smiling that goofy smile all the time and everyone hates him
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"I think Giants, Redskins, and Cowboys fans actually like McNabb more than Eagles fans do. "



I didn't write either of these, but it is 100% accurate.

College Football Weekend December 6th

My last regular season column of the year, and it's been a fun year. Once again this year has shaped up to be a great example of why college football needs a playoff. I won't harp on that too long, but I will say that I get sick of not seeing games I and plenty of other people want to see. If you take the top 8 teams in the BCS this year, not one of them has played an unimportant game this year, thus those 8 if they made up a playoff would not have the regular season cheapened at all. More importantly I want to talk about the single most impactful (that's a word right?) game this week. Cincinnati Vs. Hawaii. Cincinnati's fate is sealed, they are playing the winner of the ACC championship in the Orange bowl in a game that will get the worst ratings in BCS history. Two loser teams. But the Hawaii game has a far more interesting twist to it, a Chubby Checkers style twist to it. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/12/03/mailbag/1.html makes an interesting point, if Cincinnati loses, it could drop Oklahoma below Texas in the BCS rankings even if Oklahoma beats Missouri in the Big 12 title game. This could happen because Oklahoma beat Cincinnati earlier in the year but that win would hold less weight if Hawaii wins at home, which it often does. There are a elephant load more things that will figure into this but that would be really funny to see. That and a comedy about a super villain played by like Ricky Gervais or something. If Oklahoma loses by the way you would see a Texas Vs. the winner of the Florida/Alabama game this weekend probably.

Comments:
"Dude I watched that entire game (Georgia Tech Vs. Georgia), GT looked amazing. Not just Jones but the Fullback as well, he is a monster. They really played well and Georgia simply had no answer. I guess they just wore them down. The FB is a battering ram and just kept pounding them and eventually he broke one up the middle for 60 yards. They you mix in Jones and his speed and they have no answer on the outside. I know that the option isn't going to win you a ton of recruits but it was fun to watch with good players. That win alone, never mind his 7 others, got Paul Johnson a nice long leave from any hot seat because Tech never beats Georgia, especially in Sanford. They partied all night in Atlanta after that one. It was amazing to see the respect they players had for Johnson on the sideline and how they followed his every order. No wonder he won so much at Georgia Southern and the Naval Academy. - Forrest"
I can't believe they came back and won that, I turned it off at halftime. He's a truly unique coach and I think that he bought himself a decade with that win. It's been 8 years since the last GT win over Georgia? I love watching a good triple option, it's so sublime in a way. I think he gets folks to buy into his program, but let's be honest, him beating Notre Dame last year at Navy was the highest that team is ever going to get, so there was nowhere else for him to go. But he's a heck of a coach.

"It's a no-brainer for Myron Rolle, he will be able to say "I'm the toughest doctor EVER", and then he can prove it if people doubt him by tackling them into some beakers like Terry Tate, office linebacker. Regardless, I saw an interview on him (Rolle, not Tate) earlier this year, he's definitely going to Oxford. - Cali"
I think tackling people as a doctor is amazing, and I think that at best this guy would be a bad starter or a career special teams guy. So we'll see how he dies it. I think the Rhodes Scholarship it is, especially because I don't believe there's any point in competing for one if you aren't going to take it. It's a tremendous amount of work.

"Here's a fun fact: knowshon moreno (georgia), shonn greene (iowa), donald brown (uconn) are all from new jersey. What are they puttingin the water over there? - Cali"
Horse steroids and toxic waste, you knew that before you asked.

"Any thoughts on this: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081201-drumline-meets-rock-band-360-in-black-college-football-game.html? - Andy"
I think it's an interesting concept, and that the historical black colleges present a unique look at football mixed with drumlines. But I wonder if it's too small a niche to hit, the college football games lag behind the NFL games as is, and the reason most people buy them is because they went to those schools which are huge state schools. These schools aren't that big and I don't think this game is unique enough to capture a huge market. Also I think it would be hard to capture that kind of atmosphere.

Games:
#17 Boston College vs. #25 Virginia Tech - The VT Hokies lost at Boston College 28-23 back in the middle of October. The question is, how much did playing at the BC Eagles stadium affect the game. 5 points? It's a long road trip from Blacksburg to Boston so you might be able to give the Hokies 5 points there. This game looks on paper like a tremendous time to take a nap, a game that could likely be dominated by defense on both sides. I'm serious, you can get some real sleep in while trying to watch this game. I won't be, I'll be giving my mother a tour of San Diego and having some excellent Mexican food at Miguel's Catina across from the Hotel Del Coronado, then we'll go walk on the beach and through the Hotel to see their annual giant Christmas tree. But if you live somewhere cold, then you can feel free to text me if you can't fall asleep during this game, which may not be a complete snooze fest, because it will probably be decided by less than 7 points. I've been told I don't give VT enough props, so I hope they win, and that they do so convincingly, because I had lots of friends who went there and they deserve to win a ACC championship.

Navy vs. Army - The annual meeting of these two service academies dates back to 1890 and will be played for the 109th time this weekend. The Navy Midshipmen have won the Commander In Chief's Trophy each of the past five years and are guaranteed to at least tie for the trophy. The Army Knights already lost to Air Force, so the best they can hope for is a three way tie. The overall series is 52-49-7 in favor of Navy, but Army is looking to bring themselves closer to even. This is a great game and you will rarely see a game played with more heart and determination, good luck to everyone involved. Also Navy will win.

#1 Alabama vs. #4 Florida - The winner of this game plays for all the chihuahuas, the whole enchilada, the big pinata, the some random thing, the National title. Pretty straight forward, not quite as straight forward as Thunderdome's "Two men enter, one man leave" policy but it is pretty certain. The Gators will need a big performance by QB and Heisman winner Tim Tebow and his variety of offensive weapons (I feel like I just wrote that sentence about a combination of Daniel Day Lewis in "There Will be Blood" and the Punisher...oh man I would totally go see Daniel Day Lewis in a Punisher movie). Alabama Crimson Tide has outpaced all expectations this year, and I personally have picked them to lose no less than 4 times, I have been wrong every time. But, I have this problem where I refuse to learn after putting my hand on a hot stove (something which I have done at least twice in my life). Alabama is the hot stove, and I refuse to believe they will win a big game. Despite all my musings about this game it should be fun to watch. Both teams have great defenses, Alabama has lost 9 fumbles and 5 interceptions in 12 games, which is pretty low, like smurf height low, or Rosie O'Donnell's new shows ratings low (I have to admit, I don't take enough shots at Rosie, maybe next year). Florida has a fun flashy offense, and speed on defense, so this game should be fun to watch.

#2 Oklahoma vs. Missouri - At one time I championed Missouri as the best team in the country, The Tigers had an amazing offense with QB Chase Daniel and WR Jeremy Maclin, I didn't think there was anyone who could stop them and they looked fantastic. But as it turned out they were more like a girl you see in the shadowy darkness, you think she looks really hot from afar, but as you get closer and the season goes on you realize she's just a hobo standing in some funny light, and she smells. It is by no means outside Missouri's reach to win this game, in fact it may be more likely then you think. The big 12 has a history of seeing upsets in the conference championship, and it has caused problems before and it is possible it could again. If Oklahoma loses then perhaps that vaults Texas into the title game, then you have a team that didn't play in it's conference championship playing for the national title. But we'll just have to see how QB Sam Bradford and the rest of the Sooners handle everything. Will we see the Missouri from the beginning of the year, or will we see a hobo, I'm betting on the hobo like always.