this weekend had everything

This weekend had everything!!! Blowouts!!! Shocking results!!! Shocking moves!!! And the Monday happens and Mark McGwire blows up the universe!!! Why do these guys wait ten years later or longer to come clean about what the public already knows? Pete rose lies for 14 years and then says "okay you got me" and acts like we are supposed to feel sorry for him. Does Mark think this is going to put him in the Hall of Fame or give him a better public profile? Neither things are going to happen. He was an average first baseman who hit home runs. His numbers are not so spectacular that makes him a Hall of Famer. In fact the year that he hit 70 home runs, he did not even win the M.V.P. award. Sammy Sosa did!!! He is going to be the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals this season. He can teach hitting. He will have the ear of his players and respect of all ballplayers because he finally confessed. Big deal!!! Taking steroids does not make you a better baseball player or hitter period. I have already argued this so I will end this rant by saying, Mark McGwire was not a Hall of Fame player. He was never better than Frank Thomas or any of the other first baseman of his generation. Rafael Palmeiro who is unfortunately on the steroid list was a better player than Big Mac. So I wish him well in what ever he is trying accomplish with this admission. It changes nothing for me!!!
On a even crazier note, Can you believe what happened in Arizona Sunday? They say defense wins championships. Well yes a defensive play won the game for the Cards, but I have to say watching a track meet like that is bad for a person with a bad ticker.. I am not going slam the referees for missing a blatant face mask and getting caught up in the frenzy of the game, but I cant believe that I missed it all. My daughter turns 1 only once so I am sorry that I missed the madness. I am sorry that that I missed Aaron Rodgers showing me that he is ready for prime time and that Packers should stop getting grief for losing Brett Favre. Yes Rodgers had a chance to connect with Jennings for a game winning play and he over threw him.He is the future of the league and hopefully he will stay healthy. God save us if he ever went to play in a city with good weather all the time. He would re-write the record books like no one other. He has become my second favorite player in the game. Behind only the player that defeated him. Kurt Warner is the greatest post season player I have ever seen. Brady may have the rings. Manning, Montana, Bradshaw may have the historic records and accomplishments. Kurt Warner has to be the poster child for under achiever to over achiever. How does a guy go from being Brett Favre fourth string back-up to grocery bag man to Arena League stud to the best quarterback I have ever seen. He has 31 touchdown passes in 12 post season games!!!!! Let me say that again. He has 31 touchdown passes in 12 post season games. He is the worse nightmare for a team that blitzes him. He only had 4 incomplete passes yesterday. 29-33 is scary. He plays the Saints this Saturday and the game may have over 100 points this week. How do you stop them when he is on like this? I also read that he wants to retire after this season. Why? If he wins the Super Bowl with this team, he should go down as biggest savior since .... Jesus. He resurrected the Rams. He trained Eli Manning. If he did not have thumb problems he would have had a better stint with the Giants I believe. The Cardinals, like the Rams, were the laughing stock of the league for years. Hell decades.. Warner makes every team scared because we all know that if he is on, the only thing that will stop him is the end of the game. Brees vs. Warner Saturday I can't wait...
The next crazy thing is Pete Carroll. First of all if some offered me 7 million dollars a year to run a team that plays in a weak division and majority control over decisions for the team, I am on the first thing smoking tomorrow. He has been a legend at USC and he deserves the right to pursue other opportunities. Is USC under some scrutiny right now and this looks fishy that he is leaving right now? Yeah! But he did nothing wrong and if his players have done some things without his knowledge why is he to blame? The Joe McKnight thing is going to blow over. The Reggie Bush investigation is going to prove to be nothing. Because if it was something then somebody would have done something about it already. USC needs to hire a coach to keep the ball rolling there and I am sure that any impending sanctions isn't going to scare away any coach. This is a top flight job and whoever gets it will take all the good and blow away the bad. Seattle needs everything. He has some of his former players there and will probably draft a few more. This will be fun. He has an okay football record in the pros. Good luck Pete..

Tonight as we

Tonight as we say goodbye to another college football season, we are sad to see it go. I love College Football. I wished i played it and i wish I went to a school that had a major football program. UMASS did win the championship a few years ago I think and played for the title three years ago but when I was there they were average. I was there for a decade so I have credibility in commenting on them. This season has left me wanting more because for the second year in a row I feel that the championship game does not represent a true champion. Alabama and Texas has earned the right to play in the big game but Boise St., Cincinnati, and TCU was undefeated until the bowl games. Boise St. is still unbeaten and we will never know what could have happened if they played either Texas or Alabama. Utah last season smacked Alabama around in a game that no one for see happening so I don't discount the possibility that Boise could have done the same thing to either Texas or Alabama. I would like to give a few shout outs before I conclude the season.
A big shout out goes to the Big Ten. They have been laughed at for the past 6 or 7 years because of failures in big games. Penn St., Ohio State and Iowa winning games in the is bowl season have definitely silenced a lot of critics. Wisconsin defeating Miami was big too. Although Michigan St. and Northwestern lost hotly contested games and Minnesota lost by a point to Iowa St. the Big ten showed that they have figured out what they need to compete nationally. Next year Ohio St. will probably ranked in the top three to start the year and their quarterback will be a Heisman front Runner. Michigan will not have another losing season for the return a bunch of players next year. Same for Purdue, Michigan St. Wisconsin. Penn St. may take a step backwards but Joe Paterno will have them ready to play each week. Should be fun....
I would like to shout out to the Wac. They beat convincingly two Pac-10 schools and were impressive in other games. I would like to shout out to Tim Tebow. He showed pro scouts that he can simply play football and if given an opportunity he will prove everyone wrong. I am rooting for him and I hope he will get the chance on the right team and become a star. I want to give a shout to Dez Bryant, this poor guy had his college season cut short because he lied to the NCAA about having lunch with Deion Sanders. Now he will get a chance to amaze scouts in the combine and individual workout day. Hopefully he will be on the board when the Giants draft and become a Giant. He is a star and the world will see.I would like to give Toby Gerhardt a shout as well. He wants to play football so he took 21 credits in the fall so he could finish in time to prepare for the NFL combine. I hope it will pay off for him as well. I would finally like to give two shout outs to Legarrette Blount and Sam Bradford. Mr. Blount hopefully you will get a chance to show the country that that night against Boise St. was not the true you and prove to a NFL team that you are a man and not a boy. Sam hopefully that your shoulder will allow you to live up to your potential and lead an NFL team successfully in the future. Just don't torch the Giants and I will be happy.
We say goodbye to Charlie Weis and Bobby Bowden. Two good men that basically deserved a better fate. If Weis had not been sooooo cocky he probably would have gotten another chance. Coach Bowden should have had the ability to leave when he wanted to. I think that he should have donated a million dollars to his school like Paterno and FSU would have left him alone. Next year there will be BLACK HEAD COACHES AT BCS SCHOOLS!!!! Randy Shannon was the only one this past season and now there are 5. The head coach at TexasTech could 6 if the school wants to step up. That would be cool.
Now tonight's game. I think that Alabama is a better team. Texas is going to win. I will tell you why. Alabama has a knack of not scoring touchdowns. They were 92nd in red zone offense this year I think and when you play against Texas you have to score touchdowns because they will eventually figure what you are doing on defense. Texas over the past 5 years has been the best second half team in College football. I can think of several games where they played horribly in the first half and found ways to come back and win. The Alabama defense does not put pressure on quarterbacks and that is going to kill them late in the game as Texas wins 21-17.
Finally we still need a playoff system. I just think that common sense has got to start to seep into the minds of people involved in the decisions for college football. I think that we live in a world where "out of chaos does not bring order, it brings more chaos." People seem to like chaos. Everyone should have access to free health care too but the powers that be want to fight over semantics and instead of just getting a plan approved and done. Dont get me started on politics in this country and world...

i am going combine these two..

I am going to combine these two because they are about the same city. or District. First the good. Mike Shanahan was hired by the Washington Redskins. As a Giant fan I am scared because Shanahan has rings and can coach. This division now has four top notch coaches and competition in the division will be heated. If you asked me who I would root for other than the Giants in this division I would say Washington. The Redskins have always had a proud tradition of putting out quality football teams and memorable players. I really dislike Dallas and I really abhor Philly. The Redskins are a real mess though. They spend soooo much money every year and don win a thing. The defense is good but the offense needs help at quarterback position. He has weapons to throw to and if Clinton Portis can stay healthy they have players to do damage. Portis played for Shanahan so he is familiar with his system. The owner Daniel Snyder has tried every thing to get the Redskins back on track. The Redskins played in a super bowl in the 70's, 80's and 90's and were one of the elite organizations of that 30 year period. They have had some bad luck with draft picks and coaches who could not get it done. The Redskins are going to need time and I wish them well.
The other news is something that I cannot truly believe. I watched in horror as Gilbert Arenas last night did his pre game introduction mocking shooting a gun. I am stunned that a man that might forfeit his 111 million dollar salary would be poking fun at something that isn't funny. The team changed its name from the bullets to the wizards because the owner was embarrassed because his district was known for being the murder capitol of the world. I cannot believe that in lieu of what happened with Plaxico Burress that any professional athlete would even touch a gun. I heard that some one said that 75% of NBA player have or carry a gun does not disturb me because basketball players still hang out with their boys from back in the day and love to go to clubs. The difference between Baseball players and Basketball players is usually the baseball player has a game in the early afternoon and cannot stay out all night and party. Don't get me wrong, I know several that do but a NBA player does not usually have to report to the arena until later in the day. (I digress)..The point is NBA players tend to hangout in environments that may require them to need protection. So I understand why they have guns. I even understand Gilbert bringing his gun to the arena to store it away from his kids. Nothing more sad than hearing about kids who find their parents gun and accidentally kill someone or themselves. But for Gilbert taunting people in his blogs or making fun of the situation, I don't think we would be caring so much about the topic. He really thought that by telling the police and D.A. that it was over and a load off of his mind? To do what he did last night and his teammates doing it to was sickening. He will never play in the league again. He will probably go to jail and forfeit his contract because so many people are speaking out against him. Even Reverend Sharpton spoke out against Arenas and in turn Gilbert went off on him!!!! The absolute sad part about this is that there is not a person who does not like Gilbert Arenas. He is so funny, agreeable, approachable, articulate. I can not believe that this is happening to him. When he hurt his knee i felt horribly for him and his family. This guy was what the NBA is all about. He earned the right to have that kind of salary. He played his way into a big contract with his performances on the court. He is ruined.....and today is his birthday...

A littany of things to blog about today..

January 6th, 2010 is a day that may finally get the juices flowing with my blogging in 2010. So let's get it started:
How is Roberto Alomar not in the Hall of fame on the first ballot? If the reason is he spit on that umpire and some of the media feels that he should be punished for that then they should have their ability to vote revoked. If he is not in the Hall of fame because he is not such a big name player like say, Randy Johnson or Tony Gwynn, then the people who voted should have their privilege to vote revoke. If he is not in because his last years as a Met were forgettable then the people voting should have their privileges taken away. Why do sportswriters want attention? They criticize every athlete for every crime or act that they commit and when it comes time for a writer to show his or her intelligence they make up some stupid reason for their actions. What second baseman is better? Joe Morgan, Rogers Hornsby played in different era and I would not argue against them. Ryne Sandberg? Jeff Kent? Don't make me laugh!!! Both Kent and Sandberg did win league M.V.P's and are more known for hitting home runs. Sandberg is a Cub "legend". Kent is a journey man player who had a ton of great moments but got swallowed up in the Barry Bonds menagerie. Nothing that either Sandberg or Kent could top Robbie Alomar. He was the gold ' hell platinum standard for his position. He had range, arm strength and ask the A's and the Phillies what kind of player he was. Ask the Red Sox and Yankees about his prowess. A player with 2700 plus hits, 12 all star appearances, 10 gold gloves, two time world champion and the main reason they won both titles is not a first ballot hall of famer is a blatant misuse of privilege that millions of people would love to have. For five voters not to vote for anyone shows me that these writers just want attention and to be on every sports show explaining their foolish position. This notion that keeping players out of the hall on the first ballot is soooooo juvenile and someone should ask the hall to rid itself of these morons. Can you believe that there have never been a player voted in on 100 percent of the ballots? Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Tom Seaver, Reggie Jackson, Cy Young. Cy freaking young has 511 victories!!!! Hank Aaron and Willie Mays were 20 plus time all stars. Whitey Ford was the star pitcher for all of the Yankee teams.
Randy Johnson retired yesterday. He is the most imposing pitcher in the history of the game. He is probably the best left handed pitcher ever to play. Sandy Koufax usually gets that title but he did not play very long. Johnson had every award that a pitcher wants. He won 5 Cy young awards won a championship with Arizona in 2001. He threw a perfect game in his forties and a no hitter early in his career. He battled back injuries his entire career or he really could have put up better numbers. He is second all time in strike outs. He will be a first ballot Hall of fame guy and should have 100% approval. He dominated in the Steroid era. Although, Manny, Barry, and Big Mac hit some serious prodigious home runs off of him. I remember McGwire hit one in Seattle that I swear is still traveling. Johnson was known for his passion and his wicked slider that absolutely ate up right handed hitters. The All star game in 1992 when John Kruk freaked out when Johnson threw one over his head is still a classic baseball moment. The only place where he did not live up to his potential was when he played in New York. He was always facing the opposing teams best pitcher in post season games so his post season record is not too impressive. Although against the Yankees he pitched very well in world series in 2001 and with Seattle in 1996. He was the "big Unit" and should be showered today with praise for all that he went through in his career. He is clearly the prime example of why baseball is the hardest sport to win a title in. Think about how many 2-1, 1-0, 3-2 games that he pitched in and lost. He once pitched against a pitcher from the Cardinals who threw a no-hitter against him 1-0. Johnson only allowed a few hits. The pitcher Jimenez had a career losing record and became a closer later on that season. Remember when he hit that bird with a pitch and the bird exploded?
Congrats to the Hawk. Is he a Hall of Fame player? Maybe. He got injured a lot and we will never know what kind of player he could have been. He is one of three players with 400 home runs and 300 stolen bases (Bonds and Mays). He was a league M.V.P. once and definitely had he stayed healthy would have been a automatic hall of fame guy. 9 years waiting though makes me think that other people may have better than he. He is in and that is all that matters.
Bert Blyeleven was 5 votes short of getting in today. He should be in based on his stats alone. was he a dominant pitcher . NO. He was just consistent. 288 wins and over 3000 strike outs is automatic in for me.

talking trash

Many of you can attest i talk trash no matter what i am doing. Playing hearts, pool, basketball, etc. I will say something that usually gets someone mad. In pro sports today trash talking has been silenced in every way. Players get fined for taunting or excessively celebrating accomplishments in all sports. Now some players go over the top with their mannerism and I can understand why the rule was put in place. Deion Sanders high steppin' down the side lines and dancing was fun to watch. The alleged story of him screaming at the Clemson sideline telling them that he was going to take a punt back for a touchdown and then doing it is hilarious. Muhammad Ali coming up with colorful jabs at his opponents was cool too. Even the Mutumbo finger wave was funny because when he got dunked on they did back to him. Vince Carter and Micheal Jordan waved their finger after posterizing Mutumbo. Chad Ocho Cinco became famous because he would talk trash about his opponent before games, during games and after. He made a list one year of all of the defensive backs he was to face and called them the week of the games an told them what he going to do to them. This ear he sent mustard to an opponent basically telling the Ravens that "they couldn't cut the mustard. " Very funny and to his teams credit, they defeated the Ravens twice this year. He apparently is the only player in the NFL that talks trash. Bart Scott of the Jets talks a little smack,so does Joey Porter of the Dolphins. I think that players who do do the talking are all so respected and feared that no one says anything back to them anymore. Ray Lewis talks during games a lot and I have never heard any one say anything back to him. Teams all say that they want to knock Hines Ward out but every week he is the one laying out players. I remember when T.O. mocked Ray Lewis' dance after scoring a touchdown against the Ravens. I am still waiting for retribution on that one. In Baseball the way players taunt others is the home run pose. Ken Griffey Jr. has been doing the same pose for 20 seasons. Barry Bonds did the pose too. Albert Pujols even poses and chucks his bat away. A-rod does the pose and chuck too. Manny does the strut. The pitchers retaliate by throwing at the next hitter or even sometimes at the home run hot dog. Relief pitcher get real pumped up and do their little dance after a save or big out. K-rod does his thing and then points at the sky. I think that if he did not point to the sky after wards he would have some problems. Randy Johnson used to get very excited after a big strikeout. Players would not complain because they had that fear that he would put one behind their head if they did. Tiger Woods does the fist pump when he gets on a roll. At first that angered some of the purest but when the guy kept winning all the time they just accepted it. Lleyton Hewitt used to drive opponents crazy when he would yell come on after winning points in tennis. No one said anything to him because he was always winning when he did this. Roger Federer does a little bit of that now. No one says anything back because he always wins. Floyd Mayweather talks a lot of trash but he wins all of his fights. He even answers questions during fights that the announcers are raising. I wish I had court side seats to a Bulls game back in the day or Celtic game. They used to say that Larry Bird talk so much trash that opposing players would hide their faces so not to laugh at their team mate who was being taunted. He would literally tell you how we was going to hit shots and when to jump and all kinds of crazy stuff. Remember when he won the 3 point shooting contest and did not take his warm up jacket off? He was telling other players that his name already had the check on it. Gary Payton talked a lot of trash. He would lock up his opponent and then post them up on the other end to add insult to what he would be saying at the other end. Could you imagine someone talking smack to Jordan? I am sure that Rodman and Payton did talk smack to Micheal. He once said after a Bulls win in the finals that he may need to take Payton to a playground somewhere and remind him that he was Micheal Jordan. Earlier that season Payton stripped Jordan preserving a victory for the Sonics. The next game Jordan scored 31 points in the first half and Payton was silenced.
I guess the point of this rant is that I miss the trash talkers of sport. Charles Barkeley and his contemporaries made trash talking fun. I think the reason that we don't hear about trash talking anymore is that guys today will fight you in the parking lot, night club or go to your dressing room and confront you about what you had to say. Also I think that today seems to have too many star players in different sports that are so much better than everyone else that it makes most sense not to say a word. I wonder if some one taunted Tiger or Roger or Usain Bolt, what would happen. Can you imagine taunting Micheal Phelps? Lance Armstrong? Mike Tyson? Kobe Bryant? Lebron James? I guess if you can't back it up, it is best to shut it up!!! Chad Ocho cinco trashed talked Darrell Revis from the Jets last week and got silenced in a big way. Ocho cinco had zero catches, this week he gets a second chance. We shall see....

Tis the season..

First I want to thank all of you for the birthday wish. I cannot believe that I am 42 and I hope to live another 420 years. I hope that my writing style will improve and that I will attract more readers to my blog. With that being said, let us move on to a better and happy 2010.
Tis the season when every arm chair quarterback sits at home and evaluates their teams and comes up with solutions that either makes sense or shocks the world. To no one's surprise Jim Zorn was fired today by the Redskins. The Buffalo Bills cleaned out its coaching staff, the Gutless Giants fired their defensive coordinator and more moves coming. Other teams contemplating moves are Jacksonville, Chicago, Cleveland Tampa Bay, and Houston. Jeff Fisher is the longest tenured coach in the NFL. Andy Reid of the Eagles is the second longest tenured coach in the league. Fisher's team for a while was the biggest loser of the season but found a way to get a .500 record. Many people think that he has been in Tennessee too long and that a change may be necessary because he has only one super bowl appearance in his tenure and he was reluctant to start Vince Young whilst the team was on a 6 game losing streak. The owner actually demanded that Young play and the team went 8-2 with him at the helm. The two losses were to San Diego and Indianapolis, the two teams with the best records in the conference. Jeff Fisher has been great as a coach. I think that he will get one more year and if they do not win anything, he will be fired. This day is like the end of the baseball season's last day. It is a day where you don't care about anything other than finding out who got fired and who is being allowed one more year.
Yesterday, most people clammed up about resting players after 5 very important players suffered injuries. Wes Welker of the Patriots may be done for two years. The three Arizona Cardinals players are still waiting for results and Chad Ochocinco and Charles Woodson declare that they will play no matter what. The Colts are still a mystery to me. It was snowing like crazy in Buffalo yesterday and played their players in the snow. You are more likely to get injured playing in those conditions than any others not to mention what if someone gets the flu? The said that they did not care about individual accomplishments but kept Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark in the game to catch their 100th receptions of the season. I am really rooting for the Chargers and the Saints to make it to the big game. Drew Brees was drafted by the Chargers and went to the Saints so the Phillip Rivers could have his chance. Reggie Bush is from San Diego so playing against his home town team would be cool. The Jets surprised me yesterday. The Cowboys did too. I remember the last time the Jets played the Bengals in the playoffs. Didn't Freeman Mcneil run for 200 plus yards in a Jets victory? Mark Sanchez is probably wondering "what is wrong with this picture". He is the only quarterback playing in this years playoff with no experience. Romo's only appearance didn't he drop the field goal attempt and Seattle won? The ball was too slick I think they said. The Eagles really did not show up yesterday. I just cant believe that the Giants went from 5-0 to 8-8 in a blink of an eye. If they did not win the Super Bowl a few years ago they would have fired Coughlin. Everyone has injuries. Very disappointed. Anyways, just warming up today. Tomorrow will be back with more vim and vigor..

its a new decade

Its a new decade and we already have scandals brewing around the sports world. Allegedly Gilbert Arenas and Jarvis Chrittenden got into an argument over an unpaid bet and guns were drawn in the locker room. Don't these guys read the newspaper or watch Sportscenter? If this is true they are bot going to jail. Plaxico Burress went and I suspect that these two guys are going to be in serious trouble too. Especially doing this in Washington D.C where they have so much crime in that area. Gilbert Arenas has to be the most confusing person in the world. He signed this enormous contract a few years ago and has not done a thing to legitimize the deal at all. He tells the team when he wants to play and rehab and if he is ready to play. I know the Wizards don't matter in world of sports, I mean they fired Micheal Jordan and they have not done a thing in years. In fact this story is even crazier when you find out that Arenas brought his guns to his locker to keep them away from his kids. I don't have a gun and I am not rich either. But a player having an unloaded hand gun in his locker is scary enough. I am sure he would like to shoot the media and the embarrassment this kind of attention brings to a team that is sorry anyway is crazy. I hope that these men are vindicated in the end and that I never have to hear about teammates pulling guns on each other. What a way to start the year.
Then there is Mike Leach down at Texas Tech. Allegedly he told a player to go stand in a closet against his will because he had a concussion instead keeping him in the trainers room or on a hospital table. The school fired him because they did not believe he would do such a thing number 1 and the school did not want to pay him the 800,000 dollars that they owed him if he made it to new years eve. Leach says that the player Adam James is retaliating against him because of lack of playing time and that his father who is ESPN analyst Craig James is wielding his national influence to expose a situation that is blown way out of proportion. If it is true that he locked a player with a concussion in a closet he should be arrested, much less left in charge of our children. Leach has not denied the story but says that doctors agree with what he did so he does not understand why he is being fired. All Leach has done is put Texas Tech on the football map over the decade he was the coach. The school did not want to retain him last year but reluctantly signed him early last year. He is too good a coach not be hired but if he committed this offense i have reservations about him. He has the trainer defending him so I guess this is a wait and see story.
The Next one is the supposed super fight between Mayweather and Manny P. Pacquaio is now suing the Golden Boy Production and Mayweather for slander and defamation. All of this due to the fact that Pacquaio won't talk a blood test that is recognized by the world. Allegedly Golden boy and Pretty boy have said that Pacquiao is on the juice because he has jumped so many weight classes and is knocking out too many bigger fighters. He knocked out Dela Hoya in their fight. What the hell is going on here. Just take the blood test and beat Mayweather and retire as the greatest fighter we have ever seen. What is the problem with that. Unless you have something to hide take the test. This is crazy. No one wants to watch you fight Paul Maliaggi or Shane Mosely. Take the test and if are a blood doper you are a fraud. If you are clean then move on. Simple.
The last one cracks me up. The NFL allegedly may be under investigation because of the Colts not playing their starters in a football game. Apparently in 2005 the league itself looked into creating a policy that would force teams to play their players in all games. The league decided then that they couldn't because you can't make a team play players. In fact this latest investigation isn't going do anything either. The only way that all players will play all the time is if money is tied to performance. The only other way to make players play is if the fans stop showing up to games then there is no money to be made. So if fans know ahead of time that Peyton Manning is not going to play maybe they would not show up. I would show up no matter. Getting NFL tickets are hard enough and Die hard fans may boo but they will still show up. So in other words the NFL is screwed and should leave this subject alone.