Running Up The Score

The Official End of the NFL Season

2009-02-09T04:56:00.000-08:00

Well, this year's NFL season has mercifully come to an end with the NFC beating the AFC in yesterday's Pro Bowl. I didn't watch one second of the game but if you want to read about it, you can do so here.

As for me, I'm more the looking forward type. So, in the immortal words of Mark McGuire, I'm not here to talk about the past, I'm here to talk about the future. And the future looks bright with Tom Brady (or Matt Cassel) leading the way.

Best Super Bowl Ever?

2009-02-06T05:07:00.000-08:00

Since Sunday a lot of national writers have come out and said that the Steelers victory over the Cardinals was the best Super Bowl ever, including one Peter King. I'm not buying it and think that this is just an over reaction to an entertaining game. In fact, I think that writers who are calling this the greatest game ever should probably turn their press passes in and try a different career path.

Here's are a few of my reasons:

Too much controversy: Just like the Steelers' Super Bowl win a few years ago, too much controvery surrounds this game. From the two challenges thrown by Cardinals head coach Ken Wisenhunt (both of which were overturned), to the James Harrison interception return for a touchdown, to the "fumble" by Kurt Warner and even the game winning catch, which I clearly think was, in fact, a touchdown. Each of those plays could have gone the other way and some of them probably should have.

The officiating: How can you overturn one fumble by Kurt Warner earlier in the game by going to instant replay and then not even review an almost identical play a few minutes later with the game on the line? The NFL has yet to give a good explanation for this other than to say that someone up in the replay booth said the play was a fumble. Okay, then, why was the Santonio Holmes touchdown catch reviewed on the field by the referees? It makes no sense to me.

The coaching: Wisenhunt's decision not to recieve the ball to start the game was really odd. Would you rather have your questionable defense on the field to start the Super Bowl or your explosive offense? Hmmm, let me think about this one. Also, why was Larry Fitzgerald nearly invisible until the last 12 minutes of the game? Here's an idea for you: try to get your best reciever involved early in the game.

The officiating, part deux: Were there enough penalties and play stopages for you? But I'm not even going to get into specific calls that they did make. Instead, what about the two that they didn't make. First, on the Harrison interception for a touchdown, you have an Arizona player clearly getting blocked in the back right near an official. That non call changed the game, in case you didn't realize. Second, after Holmes' catch to put the Steelers up with 35 seconds left, he does some cockamammy touchdown dance and then uses the ball as a prop, which should be an automatic 15 yard penalty. I think the official was too busy celebrating with the Steelers to throw the flag, though.

So please spare me the talk about the greatest Super Bowl ever. This was an entertaining game with an amazing finish but it doesn't stand up to the Patriots first Super Bowl in 2001. This was right after 9/11 and we had the Patriots being introduced as a team, U2 as the halftime show, Ty Law picking of Warner for a clean TD, the Patriots defense completely shutting down Marshall Faulk and the so called greatest show on turf, Tom Brady securing his place in history as one of the youngest Super Bowl MVP's, the original "we shocked the world" game, and a last minute drive by the Patriots where John Madden repeatedly said that the Patriots should just run out the clock and go into overtime as Adma Vinatieri is making a last second field goal to win the sport's biggest game.

You know what? As much as it pains me, I'd even go as far as to say that last year's Super Bowl was even better for the sheer magnitude of what it meant. You had an 18-0 behemoth coming in against a hot New York Giants team that somehow found a way to shut down the Patriots' record setting offense, while making big play after big play to score the winning touchdown in the last minute of the game.

Anyway, here are some of the highlights from the game. Pay attention at the 3:16 mark for the illegal block in the back. This is also where you can see Fitzgerlad coming down the sidelines and getting blocked by his teammates on his own sideline. Way to cost your team the Super Bowl, guys.

Manny Being Manny (Again)

2009-02-03T06:57:00.000-08:00

Wow, a lot has changed in the last 24 hours. Last we knew, Manny Ramirez was contemplating a two year $45 million offer from the Los Angeles Dodgers, the only team bidding for his services. Not only that but this offer has been on the table since mid November. As the market has dried up and teams are searching for bargain basement prices for proven stars, Manny's stance hasn't changed. He's still looking for a four or five year deal at $25 million at year. Yeah, I knew he was crazy when he played in Boston but apparently he's moved on to completely insane, too.

Overnight, the Dodgers began wising up, offered Manny a one year deal for $25 million and gave him a 48 hour deadline to accept or reject the offer. He took about 8.6 seconds to reject the offer. Gotta love Manny. While the rest of America is in the worst economic slump since the Great Depression and players like Jason Varitek, Jon Garland, Andy Pettite and others are taking huge paycuts, Manny is sticking by his original contract demand of at least four years. Meanwhile, guys like Adam Dunn, Kenn Griffey Jr. and Bobby Abreu can't even get minor league deals and an invitation to spring training.

But the beauty of it all is that this sets Manny up to be totally screwed in the next few weeks. The only team that appears to be remotely interested is only making a one year offer. The other team that has shown marginal interest are the San Francisco Giants. The Giants have no one else to hit on their team and Manny would surely loaf after about three games in the Bay Area.

A few weeks ago I sort of lazily predicted that Manny would end up with the Kansas City Royals for around nine million next year. Right now, that doesn't seem so crazy.

And the Winner Is. . .

2009-02-02T05:22:00.000-08:00

Well, Super Bowl XLIII is finally over and the Steelers have their record breaking sixth Lombardi Trophy. Oh, wait, the Cardinals won? Oh, hey congratulations to them on their first Super Bowl win. Hmm, so the Steelers did win? Are you sure? In addition to the wild shoot out that we witnessed in the fourth quarter, there is also a bit of controvery and it appears that for the second time in four years, Pittsburgh has come out on top of a game that had some questionable calls.

Anyway, here are just a few thoughts on the Super Bowl as I wonder if Kurt Warner might have been able to pull off a last second touchdown with five seconds remaining and the ball on the Steelers 29 yard line:

As it relates to the last play by the Cardinals where the official on the field ruled it a fumble by Warner, I'm not sure what happened. When the play first happened, I called it a fumble. When they showed it on the replay, I was even more convinced that it was a fumble. The rule is that a coach can not challenge any play in the last two minutes of the game because any close or potentially controversial call is automatically reviewed. So on a play that Warner appears to be clearly moving his arm forward, fumbles the ball and it's recovered by the opposing team in the last ten seconds of the NFL's biggest game, there is no review. Can you please explain to me how that makes sense?

And if you're Arizona head coach Ken Wisenhunt, how do you not charge onto the field and demand a stop in the play so that the referees can get the call correct? Instead, you choose to just stand there and get screwed over.

I also don't understand how 11 Arizona Cardinals can't chase down James Harrison on his 100 yard interception return. That was a poor display of effort by those guys. I just don't understand how someone with mediocre speed can break away from the pack. Where are the Cardinals' wide receivers, tight ends and their running back on the return? Seriously, check out the photo to the left. Why isn't 81 involved in the play at all on the run back? He's only five yards away from him. Are you telling me that he couldn't catch him from behind? And as far as Harrison goes, how do the referees allow him to stay in the game in the fourth quarter after throwing several punches at one of the Cardinals during a punt?

If you watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, you've got to be disappointed. Being in marketing and advertising, I don't understand how an agency could come in, pitch some ridiculous concept and have people agree that these commercials are good. Perhaps that's why some of these companies are also making layoffs, going into bankrupty and begging for a government handout.

Before the Steelers go and enshrine Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, let's not forget that he was caught with marijuana earlier this year and has admitted smoking it. I'm not sure how he's avoided a suspension by the NFL but he now has something in common with Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps.

I don't see the Cardinals making a return trip to the Super Bowl any time soon. I have to imagine that their division will be tougher next year, with Seattle, San Francisco and St. Louis all making offseason changes and brining in new draft picks. And while their run to the Super Bowl was fun to watch, I don't see that they can catch lightning in a bottle two years in a row.

Watching Ben Rothlesberger play quarterback has me wondering how long he'll be in this league. I have no clue how he escaped the grasp of the Arizona defense on numerous plays but that same kind of sand lot scrambling will eventually lead to a serious injury and that's a fact. Rothlesberger is now the second youngest quarterback to ever win two Super Bowl's, which is bested only by Tom Bray's three in his first five years.

As I'm typing this post, Curt Schilling is on WEEI radio talking about the Steelers victory. Apparently he's a big Steelers fan from his days in Philadelphia. Listening to him talk has made me decide that I don't want him back if he decides to pitch next year. Seriously, just keep you mouth shut for once, Curt.

Anyway, congratulations to the Steelers. You persevered all year and were able to beat two of the worst playoff teams to ever appear in the post season in San Diego (division winner at 8-8) and Arizona (division winner at 9-7) while miraculously avoiding having to play the likes of New England, Indianapolis, and New York- it pains me to say the Giants but do you really think the Jets are any threat to the Steelers?

My Super Bowl Prediction

2009-01-31T12:44:00.000-08:00

I've finally broken down the offenses and defenses of both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals. I've studied film of the special teams players for each Super Bowl representative, as well as their running games, wide reciever play and how they each use their tight ends to camoflage screen passes. I've analyzed the coaching careers for both Mike Tomlin and Ken Wisenhunt, how they came into the league, whom they were mentored by, where they got their breaks and how they like their coffee. I've even taken it a step further and looked at the ownership and fan base of each team, how they play on the road, in good weather, in bad weather and what time of day each team plays their best. But you know what? None of it means squat.

All you need to know is that while the Arizona Cardinals are gearing up for the biggest game of their lives, the Pittsburgh Steelers are still looking in their rear view mirror at the New England Patriots. How else do you explain the t-shirt to the left? Because everyone knows that you still have to go through the Patriots to be considered the best. This is similar to the feeling of winning the World Series and not beating the Yankees in the process. It's just not the same.

So while the Steelers are laughing at Tom Brady and the Patriots and planning their Super Bowl parade, I believe that Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Kurt Warner and the Edge will be the ones laughing at the end. Screw the stats, screw the defense, screw the fact that Kurt Warner is one of the most over rated players ever, screw the fact that the Cardinals haven't been here before, screw the fact that they'll be considered the worst Super Bowl winner ever, I'm picking them.

Final Score:
Arizona Cardinals 38
Pittsburgh Steerls 21

Jason Varitek Gets Screwed, Stays With Sox

2009-01-30T11:52:00.000-08:00

According to the Boston Globe, Jason Varitek finally agreed to sign with the Red Sox today for one year and an option for the second year. Like there was ever any doubt. Where else would a 37 year old catcher coming off of a year in which he hit .220 go? I wrote last week how dumb Varitek and snake agent Scott Boras were for turning down arbitration where he would have likely made around $11 million next year alone. If Varitek plays out both years for the Sox and makes the full value of the contract, he'll basically be making the same amount in two years that he would have made in just one year had he accepted arbitration.

Do I love this move? Not really. I would have liked to have seen the Sox cut ties with him and go out and sign a younger guy for less money. I have no doubt that Varitek contributed to the Red Sox winning two World Series title this decade but let's face it: aging catchers don't get better and last year was probably the beginning of the end for Varitek. So what are we in for this year? Is he going to be worse than last year, especially now that he's basically playing for less money? I'm not a betting man but even I'd put a little money on him being worse next year.

I also hate the argument that says that the pitching staff would suffer if we didn't have Varitek. Did anyone ever think that maybe they'd be better with someone else calling games? Maybe Daisuke Matsuzaka wouldn't walk so many people with someone else calling the shots or maybe Josh Beckett would be more consistent. But those arguments are never mentioned, only that the pitching staff would fall apart without Varitek. So the Captain is back for at least another year and while I'm glad that he's back, I'll be the first one to boo him if he can't get his average above the Mendoza line next year.

Oh, and do you think that Boras should be making any commission off of this deal, knowing that Varitek should have accepted arbitration and be making $11 million?

It's Time to Trade Tom Brady

2009-01-27T04:24:00.000-08:00

Last week I wrote an article about how it may be time to trade Tom Brady. My, how things have changed. Today, I'm writing about it being time to trade Tom Brady. There's no ifs, ands or buts about it- he's got to go. I've analyzed this situation from a lot of different angles and I was finally pushed over the edge by one Thomas Edward Brady, Jr. Since going down with a season ending injury in the first quarter of the first game, Brady has pretty much disappeared. Well, except for the fact that we learned that he likes rare art and he also got engaged. And neither of those topics has me very excited to see number 12 back in a Patriots uniform come next year.

All of this leads up to the event that has pushed me from being a Tom Brady sycophant to a staunch Matt Cassel supporter: Brady did a radio interview. Seems pretty simple, right? The guy is entitled to do radio interviews. But do you think this interview took place on local sports station WEEI where he does a quarterback hour with Boomer Esiason during the season? Nope. Okay then, it must have been some radio station near his home in California, right? Nope. In fact, the radio interview took place on a radio station in Canada. So we hear virtually nothing from Brady the entire season and then he surfaces in Canada! He's kidding, right? He's pretty much fallen off the face of the earth since his injury and then he spurns the entire Boston media market for a radio interview in Canada?

Anyway, the most egregious part of the whole story is that he was also pushing some special sports medicine cream called Myo-med, which is ironically a banned substance by the NFL. In addition to the odd fact that Brady was on the radio station in Canada, I'm also confused as to why people in Canada would care about Tom Brady?

So there you have it. In the year since losing the Super Bowl in a crushing defeat to the Giants, Brady basically has closed the door on his football career. First it was the art exhibits with Gisele, the public events with Eli Manning, wearing a Yankees cap and his numeruos photo shoots for Calvin Klein and Stetson. In addition, during the NFL's biggest week, where do you think Brady is? If you guessed working on his rehab back at Foxboro in an attempt to come back at 128.7 percent next year while working on his deep ball then you would be completely wrong. If you guessed in Mexico with Gisele, then you're getting warmer. Apparently Brady likes all of the countries just to the North and South of America.

Anyway, doing this interview was too much. It's time for this to end. I'll take Matt Cassel any day of the week over Brady and twice on Sunday because, in the immortal words of Bill Parcells, "Football players play football." And I think it's becoming increasingly apparent that Tom Brady is no longer a football player.

This is the NFC's Super Bowl Representative?

2009-01-26T05:59:00.000-08:00

Over the last month, I've really been ragging on the Arizona Cardinals. For one, they won the weakest division in the NFL at 9-7 so right away you know that they're not very good. More importantly, this was a team that came to Foxboro the second to last week of the year and got completely embarassed 47-7. As I've written before, the score wasn't even that close.

They had a decent win at home the first week of the playoffs against an up-and-coming Atlanta Falcons team and then watched Jake Delhomme of the Carolina Panthers put on a turnover clinic for their benefit. Back at home last week, they gritted out a tough win against the Philadelphia Eagles and Donovan McNabb's mother to earn their first trip to the Super Bowl.

I was embarassed for the Cardinals when they lost to New England, I was embarassed when they made the playoffs and now I'm embarassed that they're in the Super Bowl. Which is why I think I'm going to pick them to win. Then the Patriots can say that they beat the Super Bowl champions. Although, they can say the same thing about the previous year, too. I feel sick.

Patriots Favored to Win the Super Bowl

2009-01-23T05:40:00.000-08:00

In a shocking development, the New England Patriots, who didn't even make the playoffs, are now 6-1 favorites to win the Super Bowl. I'm not even sure how that's possible but apparently the Pittsburgh Steelers forfeited their spot and the NFL automatically replaced them with the Patriots. Oh, now I see, the Patriots are 6-1 favorites to win the Super Bowl next year. Got it. That makes more sense.

Anyway, this just goes to show everyone around the country that the path to the Lombardi Trophy still goes through Foxboro. I think that everyone is starting to see just how much of a dynasty the Patriots have become by being able to insert bench guys into starting roles and still having success. This is a team that didn't even make the playoffs this year, has a quarteback controversy beginning to brew and has tons of holes on the defensive side of the ball. And they're still favored to win the Super Bowl. It's great to live in the City of Champions!

The timing of this report is also interesting because it just goes to show that people have basically already forgotten about this year's Super Bowl and it hasn't even been played.

Anyway, looks like it might be time to fire up the duck boats again.

Baseball Ponderings

2009-01-20T05:59:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot going on in the baseball world the last few weeks that has me jacked and pumped for the start of spring training. Yeah, there have been a ton of free agent signings recently but I'm more interested in what hasn't happened than in what has happened. Here's a snapshot of what's gone down lately:

The Red Sox held a private meeting with free agent catcher Jason Varitek in Atlanta a few days ago, without his agent, Scott Boras. The Red Sox have soured on Boras this offseason because of the Mark Teixeira dealing and now are trying to work on a deal with Varitek that doesn't involve Boras. Here's the thing- Boras told Varitek to decline arbitration, where the captain would have made $10-11 million next year and also stayed with the Sox. By declining arbitration, Varitek screwed himself. There is no other market for an aging catcher who can't do anything but call a decent game. I wouldn't mind seeing Varitek come back but the deal has to be $3-4 million for a year with incentives. Remember, this is a guy who hit .222 last year and can't even catch the knuckball.

And speaking of Boras, in addition to screwing Varitek, he has also screwed Manny Ramirez, not that there's anything wrong with that. Since Ramirez already had a contract with the Red Sox when Ramirez hired Boras, the slimy agent wasn't earning any commission on his contract. So Boras did the only thing he knows how to do- he got Ramirez to shoot his way out of town and then lit up the weak National League West the last half of the year in an attempt to get a five year, $125 deal. Since Boras helped Teixeira land in New York, they dropped out of the running for Ramirez, essentially leaving the so called greatest right handed hitter of our time without a team less than a month from spring training. Had Teixeira signed with the Red Sox, the Yankees almost certainly would have gone hard after Ramirez. Now the only team that has shown any interest in him are the Dodgers, where the two year, $45 million offer may or may not be on the table. And let's not forget that Ramirez was already slated to make $40 million over the next two years had he not shot his way out of Boston. It would give me imense pleasure to see Ramirez sign on with some team that has no shot of making the post season for less than what he would have made in Boston. You think he was a headache before this debacle? Wait until he's playing in Kansas City for $9 million a year.

And speaking of things that couldn't happen to a nicer guy, there are now reports that the once glorified Pedro Martinez is in contract talks with none other than the Pittsburgh Pirates. So Petey has gone from winning the World Series in 2004 with the Red Sox and pretty much having the keys to the city to signing a lucrative $53 million deal with the New York Mets where he posted a record of 32-23 over four years to now having to negotiate with the Pirates who want to pay him $5 million to pitch for their crappy team. This is almost too good to be true. Stay tuned for more Pedro the Pirate talk!

One last baseball note that I wanted to hit on, as well. After two years of pretty much dismal play, one in Atlanta and one in Los Angeles, the Dodgers recently released their so called slugger Andruw Jones, even though they still owe him more than $22 million. While the Dodgers are at fault for singing him to this ridiculous contract, I wish that Major League Baseball were more like the NFL in this regard. There are few guaranteed contracts in football and it works to the league's advantage not to have overpriced players playing at a low level, allowing teams to bring in other players to stay under the salary cap. Their system isn't perfect either but it sure beats having to pay players like Mike Hampton, Carl Pavano and Darren Dreifort untold millions when they can't even get on the field.

Red Sox Lock Up Youk

2009-01-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

After a busy week signing roll players, the Red Sox also reached a deal with first baseman Kevin Youkilis on a 4 year, $41 million contract. Wait, is that right? It's only $41 million? Really? That seems like a bargain for a guy who batted .312, had 29 home runs, 115 RBIs, a slugging percentage of .569 and an OPS of .958.

Let's compare that to the 8 year, $180 deal that Mark Teixeira signed with the Yankees a few weeks agao. Last year, Teixeira batted .308, had 33 home runs, 121 RBIs, a slugging percentage of .552 and an OPS of .962. So essentially, Teixeira and Youkilis are the same player if you base it on numbers. Yet Youkilis just signed a deal for half the years and half the money. And the deal got done in one day, as opposed to the soap opera that Teixeira created.

Let's not forget that Youkilis also set the record for most consecutive errorless games (238) and chances (2,002) for a first basemen last year and had a .996 fielding percentage.

But you know what I like the most about this contract- Youk wants to play here. There was never any other thought. This was one of those bizarre circumstances where it's really not about the money. Youk even says it in the clip below- what good is an extra million a year going to do for him? It's about playing in front of die hard Red Sox fans screaming your name and going nuts when you come up to bat or make a nice play in the field. It's not about what uniform your wife thinks you'd look good in. It's about winning championships and Youk's already got two.

The Road to the Super Bowl

2009-01-17T07:14:00.000-08:00

This week's AFC and NFC Championship games feature one that looks like it will be an old fashioned grudge match between Pittsburgh and Baltimore and one that features two teams that didn't even win ten games in the regular season. The only real appealing Super Bowl match up that there is would be Philadelphia against Pittsburgh and that's one of the reasons that I'm picking against both of those teams this weekend. The love fest between Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb is making me feel uncomfortable and I don't think I could take two teams from the same state playing in the sports biggest game of the year. Plus, I pretty much hate both of these teams (I know, that's real objective, huh?)

Even though it's championship weekend, winning team is still in CAPS.

Philadelphia at ARIZONA
I can't believe that I'm doing this but I'm picking the Cardinals. Less than a month ago the Cardinals came to Foxboro and got embarassed 47-7 and the score wasn't even that close. The fact that they've rebounded from that loss and won a home playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons and then went on the road and embarassed the Carolina Panthers, with some help from Jake Delhomme, says a lot about this team. I know that Philly beat the defending Super Bowl champs last weekend but that was a beat up and worn down Giants team that they were playing.

BALTIMORE at Pittsburgh
If my prediction is correct, we'll have a Super Bowl that virtually no one will care who wins outside of each home town, along with a team that was only in the playoffs because of a better conference record than the Patriots. While Pittsburgh seemingly destroyed the Chargers last weekend, there were just too many fluky plays in that game to say that the score reflected the actual play on the field. I think that Ben Rothlesberger is more banged up than we're being led to believe and I think that Willie Parker is one big hit away from going out for the game. The Ravens defense is relentless and if they can control the field position game it will give rookie quarterback Joe Flacco the confidence he needs to earn his first trip to the Super Bowl.

So it'll be Arizona and Baltimore in this year's Snoozer Bowl.

Failed Post Season Coach Calls it a Career

2009-01-16T09:52:00.000-08:00

By now we've all heard that Tony Dungy has retired from coaching. I should say that he's retired from coaching the Indianapolis Colts because I have no doubt that he'll be back in the NFL in another two or three years. You see, NFL coaches are just like NFL players- they'll coach until no one will hire them anymore.

By all accounts, and mine included, Tony Dungy is a likeable guy. But I'm not buying it when people say that he's one of the greatest modern day coaches of all time. If you told me that he's one of the greatest regular season coaches of all time, then so be it. I'd completely agree with you. In thirteen years as an NFL coach, Dungy has a 139-69 record with the Tampa Bay Bucaneers and the Colts for a .668 winning percentage.

But here's the thing, for all of the talent that he's had over the years, he's 9-10 in the playoffs, including numerous first round exits as the favored team. He won just one Super Bowl with the Colts even though his teams were stacked with Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Edgarin James and many other superstars over the years. This Colts team of the last decade is the Atlanta Braves of the 1990s- best regular season team and classic playoff choker.

So let's all tip our cap to a great regular season coach in Tony Dungy. I'll predict right now that he'll come back in 2011 with a team like the 49ers or maybe even Dallas. Although, Dallas seems to be doing just fine choking away their seasons lately.

Red Sox Update

2009-01-15T19:46:00.000-08:00

Last week, I wrote a little about what it means for the Yankees to have seemingly won the winter. Well, I'm here today to tell you that I'm not so sure that the Yankees have even won the winter. I mean, did the Red Sox sneak up and win this offseason while the Yankees were too busy writing checks? Only time will tell but the combined price tag for all of the players the Red Sox have signed in the last week is about what the Yankees are going to pay Mark Teixeira next year.

The biggest news is that the Red Sox have signed consumate professional and post season star John Smoltz. For all of the failures of the Braves teams of the 1990s, Smoltz was among the lone bright stars compiling one of the best won loss records of all time. I know he'll be 42 next year and is coming off of shoulder surgery but I like this signing.

Another signing that I like is Brad Penny. When healthy he's been among the best in all of baseball. He came to Boston for relatively cheap money and if he can give us 12-15 wins I'd be happy.

Next up for the Red Sox is New England native Rocco Baldelli. I like this signing for no other reason than they gave him number 5, Nomar's old number. Baldelli will fit perfectly as an extra outfielder and his speed will be a huge bonus to the team next year.

Another signing that I'm jacked and pumped about is the addition of Takashi Saito. Here's another guy who has flourished in Los Angeles the last few years relatively unnoticed around MLB. He'll replace Mike Timlin and will be the key link between the starters and Hideki Okajima. One other reason I like this signing is that I think he'll add another level of comfort for fellow countrymen Daisuke Matsuzaka and Okajima.

The last guy I'm going to take a look at is Mark Kotsay. He was a key contributor down the stretch last year, as well as in the playoffs. He can play the corner infield positions as well as all three outfield spots. Between Mike Lowell's unkown status and JD Drew being a complete wuss, I wouldn't mind see Kotsay get 400 at bats next year. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if he were starting by the end of the year.

The thing that I like about all of these signings is that they all wanted to come to Boston and I believe that they all had offers for more money elsewhere but they chose to play here. Contrast that with CC Sabathia's hesitation to sign in New York and Teixeira waiting it out until the last minute before having his wife decide where he should play. The guys that the Yankees have signed this offseason are going to New York for the money. The guys that Red Sox signed this offseason are coming to Boston to win championships.

It May Be Time To Trade Tom Brady

2009-01-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

Ever since Tom Brady went down in the first game of the year people have been saying that Matt Cassel looks more and more like the next Tom Brady. Well, if that's the case than maybe I don't want anything to do with either quarterback. This is according to The Boston Globe:

Pats poster boy Tom Brady is apparently looking to add art collector to his already impressive resume. There are whispers in the art world that Brady and his girlfriend Gisele Bundchen recently sat down with a few dealers and are preparing to drop serious dough on select paintings. In particular, the pair is interested in buying a piece by the 19th-century Spanish artist Eugenio Lucas y Padilla, a gifted follower of Goya who's relatively unknown outside expert circles. The provenance of the painting, thought to be called "A Scene From Carnival," is unclear, but it's believed to be in private hands in South America. Although Brady and Bundchen have a mountain of money between them, word is they're not alone in looking for the painting. Billionaire Eli Broad, casino owner Steve Wynn, French businessman Bernard Arnault, actor Steve Martin, and financier Theodore Forstmann are just some of the ultra-rich A-list collectors who are believed to also be in pursuit of the painting.

Did I miss the news that Brady has completely given up on his football career? I always thought of him as the collector of paintings such as dogs playing poker, not some 19th-century Spanish artist. Actually, I always thought of him as thinking of nothing but football but apparently times have changed. Seriously, does he have any interest in playing football again?

I've thought all along that giving the franchise tag to Cassel was a smart idea. He's progressed a lot as the season has gone on and now he's got the Patriots in the AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh this weekend. Huh, the Patriots didn't even make the playoffs at 11-5? And a 9-7 Arizona Cardinals team that we embarrassed is hosting the NFC Championship this weekend? Crazy world. Anyway, the idea of bringing Cassel back into camp next year is exciting for one reason and one reason only: to show Brady what real football players do- play football.

Oh, and for those who are interested in this kind of stuff, the reports of Tom and Gisele's engagement only serve to further question Brady's commitment to the Patriots. I have a sneaky feeling that this is the beginning of the end of the Tom Brady era in New England.

For Whom The Hall Calls

2009-01-13T18:50:00.001-08:00

Well, the Baseball Hall of Fame finally wised up and elected Jim Ed Rice to the Hall of Fame on his 15th and final try. I think that Rice is one of those players who actually benefit from the steroids era because it appears that none of those players will make it, even those with better lifetime numbers than Rice. Hello, Mark McGuire. For a solid decade, Rice was the most feared hitter in all of baseball and played a nearly flawless left field. He ended his 16 year career with 2,452 hits, 382 home runs and a .298 lifetime average.

While he was never a media darling (and I have my own story), it's important to remember that he should be judged for his performance on the field and not off the field, where he is to this day one of the most unapproached people in all of baseball. At least he's as consistent off the field as he was on it.

NFL Playoff Preview with Eric Mangini Bringing the Coffee

2009-01-09T04:58:00.000-08:00

Last weekend's road team success didn't quite turn out the way I had envisioned, with Arizona advancing over Atlanta and San Diego advancing over the Colts. For some reason, I thought that the Colts were over their fear of advancing in the playoffs but it turns out that they've now lost in the first round of the playoffs in three of the last four years. Yeah, that's one great (regular season) team.

Anyway, here are my predictions for this weekend's game, which match up some of the best defenses in the league against each other. Winning team is in CAPS.

Saturday, January 10
BALTIMORE at Tennessee
I feel like Tennessee has been a fluky team all year long and has really struggled down the stretch. I know that they have the best record in the NFL this year and I know that they have home field advantage. I also know that their quarterback is still Kerry Collins.

Arizona at CAROLINA
I was shocked to see Arizona win last weekend. I'll be even more shocked if Arizona is even in this game at halftime this week.

Sunday, January 11
PHILADELPHIA at NY Giants
I'm going to keep sticking with my philosphy of picking against the Giants for the entire season and take Philadelphia in this game. And I actually like this pick. The Giants have also struggled down the stretch, have some key injuries and still have no answer for a healthy Brian Westbrook.

San Diego at PITTSBURGH
I hate Pittsburgh as much as the next person but I just don't see a banged up San Diego team waltzing into the Ketchup Bottle and knocking off the Steelers, with or without a healthy Ben Roethlesberger. The one thing I would like to see is LaDainian Tomlinson sitting on the sidelie for the entire game in street clothes and not necessarily because he's hurt. I just don't think he's very good in big games.

As a follow up to my article yesterday about Eric Mangini being hired as the next Cleveland Browns head coach, here's some video of the news conference. I'm even more confused now. Is Mangini going to be the head coach or is he going to be getting coffee? I predict the Browns will be 3-13 next year.

Cleveland Gets Rat Infested

2009-01-08T04:46:00.000-08:00

I'd like to congratulate the Cleveland Browns for hiring the new face of their franchise in Eric Mangini. From here on out, they'll now be known as the Cleveland Rats. I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about this hiring. I've been a quasi-Browns fan through blood lines for a while and know the pain and suffering they've been through. Nothing compared to an 86 year drought of not winning the World Series but pretty close. But this moves makes no sense on so many levels that my head literally hurts from thinking about it.

For his three years in New York, Mangini managed a 23-25 record with one playoff appearance, which was a loss. He was overshadowed by SpyGate, which he brought upon himself and could never escape. When Mangini was first hired by the Jets, the thought was that they were getting the next Bill Belichick but that does not appear to be the case three years later. Even though Belichick was the one caught cheating, Mangini has had the most fallout from the events, being dubbed the Rat in the press. I've even heard people suggest that Mangini blowing the whistle on the cheating was worse than the cheating itself. All of his actions in New York led to his players not trusting him, his coaching and his play calling. He was destined to fail because his players couldn't trust him.

Compare that to Belicheat. By all accounts, players throughout the NFL would do nearly anything to come play in New England, a cold weather region with an outdoor stadium. Players know that when they come here, they're being coached and taught by the best there is in the NFL.

This leads me to an intersting point about assistant coaches and coordinators leaving to fill head coaching positions. In the last few years, the Patriots have lost Charlie Weis to Notre Dame, Romeo Crennel to Cleveland and Eric Mangini to New York. Combined, those three coaches have a record of 76-86, with only Charlie Weis having a winning record at 29-21 for an underachieving Notre Dame team. Let me make this analogy: hiring an assitant away from the Patriots is similar to finally getting the recipe to your grandma's favorite cookie recipe, except when you make the cookies, they taste gross. Weis, Crennel and Mangini have all been taught by the best coach in the NFL today and one of the best ever, yet it doesn't translate over to their new teams, just like your cookies don't taste the same as your grandma's even though you're using the same ingredients.

One of the things I'm having trouble comprehending is how quickly the Browns hired Mangini. Considering that no other team in the NFL was even remotely interested in talking to him, the Browns moved quickly to make this move, even though they have no GM. It's not like Bill Cowher suddenly made it clear he was interested in coaching again and they had to move fast. We're talking about a guy that no one else was pursuing. So with the hiring of the so called Mangenius, the Browns are hoping that he turns in to the next Belichick. But I have a bad feeling about this one. The Browns already have a head case in Braylon Edwards, as well as a quarterback controversy between Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn. If you're a Cleveland fan, do you really want an untrustworthy Rat coming in and trying to sort that out?

Winning in the Winter Means Squat

2009-01-07T06:21:00.000-08:00

Among some of the bigger news around here the last few weeks is that the Yankees swept in and stole Mark Teixeira before he could sign with the Red Sox, giving the Yankees a decisive victory in offseason signings. The deal with the Yankees is for $160 million over 8 years, which averages out to a measly $22.5 million a year. At my current salary, I would have to work 255.6 years just to make what Teixeira will make in one year with the Yankees.

So congratulations to the Yankees for signing a career .290 hitter who has never even finished in the top 5 in the MVP voting in his career. In fact, he wasn't even in any of the top 5 offensive categories in all of baseball last year, including batting average (14), on base percentage (7), slugging (11), home runs (15), runs batted in (6) and OPS (9). Is Teixeira a good player? Yeah, he sure is and he may even be better in a Yankee uniform but I don't consider him to be elite.

I don't buy John Ghost-White Henry's claim that the Yankees' offer was too high for the Red Sox to match. One or two million a year over the course of the contract and Teixeira just as easily could have been introduced as a member of the Red Sox yesterday. I just don't think that the Red Sox wanted him that bad. Actually, let me rephrase that: I don't think the Red Sox need him that bad. We already have Kevin Youkilis at first base and an aging Mike Lowell at third base. Adding Teixeira would have meant that one of those players would be gone, most likely Lowell. While we still don't have anyone to replace Manny Ramirez's numbers, the Red Sox seemed to do just fine without him last year. I'm a bit concerned that we don't have a big name bat to help protect David Ortiz in the middle of the lineup but I think that Jason Bay will grow into that role next year.

One other note about Teixeira and my sudden loathing for him. It turns out that his wife, Leigh, is the one who made the decision to sign with the Yankees for him. Here are their direct quotes:

From Mark: "I'd been asking her for weeks and weeks, Where do you want to go? Where do you want me to play? And she said, `I want you to be happy. I just want you to be happy.' And finally, she said, `I want you to be a Yankee.' So that's when it was done. And once we got the contract figured out, it was a no-brainer."

And here's Leigh's take on it: "He was pushing me for an answer. I gave it. I always loved New York, and I thought it would be really special for him to be a Yankee."

Umm, just a thought, but shouldn't they have thought about where the best fit for Teixeira would be as a baseball player, not because his wife always loved New York? And that doesn't necessarily mean it would have been in Boston, either.

This signing does have the same feel as when the Yankees swooped in and traded for Rodriguez before the start of the 2004 season. Since that time the Yankees have won squat and the Red Sox have won two World Series Titles! So at least we can all look forward to Arod teaching Teixeira his disappearing act come next October.

It's Hard to Play 6 on 5

2009-01-06T05:12:00.000-08:00

The video below was taken from the Celtics vs. Trailblazers game last week in Portland. I guess the Trailblazers took a page out of Bill Belicheat's game plan: if you can't beat 'em, then cheat.

For those of you who might be a little slow, Portland comes out of a timeout with six guys on the court. Naturally, they get an easy dunk, since it's pretty hard for the five Celtics defenders to cover six guys. When Kevin Garnett points this out to the ref, they give the Celtics a free throw. Huh? Am I missing something here? The Trailblazers score an illegal basket using six guys and when it's pointed out to the officials they let the basket stand but give the Celtics a free throw. If that's the case then why isn't this six guys on the court at a time used more often?

I Need a Name for this Column

2009-01-05T05:11:00.000-08:00

I've been mulling over the name of this column for quite some time and haven't been able to come up with anything clever yet. Dan Shaughnessy from the Boston Globe does his Picked Up Pieces column and others have knee jerk reaction columns on a variety of different subjects. This is a cross between my regular links column and my Patriots wrap up columns, with a variety of thoughts on a variety of different things happening around the NFL. If you've got a clever name, leave me a comment.

Anyway, here are just a few observations from around the NFL after another wild weekend.

According to Peter King, Brett Favre is leaning towards retirement. Personally, I don't buy it but that's another story for another time. What I can't get over is how poorly Favre played this year. He threw 22 touchdowns, which were matched by his 22 interceptions. He racked up 3,472 passing yards for a quarterback rating of 81. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your 2008 starting Pro Bowl quarterback. By comparison, Matt Cassel threw 21 touchdowns with 11 interceptions for 3,693 yards with a quarterback rating of 89.4. Actually, by comparison, we should measure Chad Pennington's stats this year to Favre. Pennington threw for 19 touchdowns and 7 interceptions for 3,653 yards with a quarterback rating of 97.4. So the Jets look pretty dumb for releasing Pennington.

One other note on Favre: he pretty much screwed the Patriots the last two years. Actually, it turns out he screwed them twice in 2008. This was a guy who couldn't seal the deal in last year's NFC Championship game at home against the New York Giants and again screwed them by not being able to beat the Dolphins last week, which would have sent the Patriots to the playoffs. Instead, Favre once again showed that he's not a big game quarterback and hasn't been since winning the Super Bowl in 1996.

Speaking of players not showing up in big situations, what's the story with LaDainian Tomlinson in San Diego? In his last three playoff games he's rushed 14 times for 58 yards and 1 touchdown. And no, those are not average numbers per game. Those are cumulative totals of all three games. Injuries or no injuries, I'm guessing that he'll be taking the Shaun Alexander route out of the NFL pretty soon.

While I'm on the San Diego tangent, I have no problem with an 8-8 division champion hosting a playoff game while an 11-5 Patriots team goes home. You win your division, you should make the playoffs, which is the way it should work. The bigger discussion needs to take place regarding the order of the draft. As it is now, San Diego, based on their 8-8 regular season record, will draft at 16, while the Patriots, with their 11-5 record, will draft at 24. Seems a bit odd that a playoff team receive a higher pick than a non playoff team.

And speaking of not showing up in big games, part II, what's the story with the Colts? Are they the Atlanta Braves of this decade? They're starting to look like it and I'm enjoying it just as much as when the Braves were choking away all those great regular seasons. This article was written before their latest playoff loss so I can only imagine how demoralized they are now. And can we stop talking about how great Tony Dungy is? Any coach with the teams he's had over the years who is only 9-10 in playoff games shouldn't be considered a great coach. That's part truth and part my disgust for the Colts.

I found it interesting that ESPN had breaking news that the Patriots will franchise Matt Cassel. What did you expect the Patriots to do, let him become a free agent and then turn around and sign with a division rival or another team that they play on a regular basis? This is where the true genius of Belichick comes into play. If Tom Brady needs more time to heal, then they can go into next season with Cassel at the healm. However, it appears that Brady will be ready to go so the Patriots can now take their time and work out a deal to send Cassel to a team of their choosing, such as an NFC opponent that they don't play very often. They'll get more and higher draft picks by trading him and they'll also have the flexibility of sending him to a destination of their choice. Yeah, it kind of sucks for Cassel but he'll also be making $14 million next year whether he plays in New England or not.

Can someone please explain to me why the Buffalo Bills are keeping Dick Jauron as their coach? This team started 5-1 and finished the year at 7-9, for the third straight year. Owner Ralph Wilson said the team needed some continuity rather than an overhaul. By that logic, shouldn't Thurman Thomas still be the starting running back? This team looked lifeless the last two months of the year and Jauron's play calling was among the worst I saw this year. Look for Jauron to be out of a job by week eight next year as a young Bills team struggles to overcome this year's failures.

Lastly, I'd like to vent about tight end Benjamin Watson. Earlier this year, I commented on how some company should sponsor each of his dropped passes. Well, as you can see from the video below, not only is Watson adapt at dropping passes, he's also adapt at fumbling the ball when no one is even trying to strip it from him. Does he put vaseline on his gloves and arms to do this? It seems almost impossible to do, doesn't it? Anyway, enjoy one of the worst fumbles you'll ever see:

Patriots Break Another Record

2009-01-02T05:51:00.000-08:00

I'm back from my two month bye-week and ready to tackle the sports world once again. Yeah, blogging would be a lot easier if work didn't always get in the way.

Anyway, I wanted to start the New Year off on a positive note so I thought I'd direct you to a well written piece that came out shortly after Tom Brady went down with his season ending injury. In this piece, the author boldly predicts the Patriots will still finish the season at 11-5 without Tom Brady. Hey, that was written by me!

What I didn't predict was that they'd go 11-5 with a ton of other key contributors being lost at various times during the season, such as Rodney Harrison, Laurence Maroney (I'm not sure if he counts or not, since he pretty much stinks), Tedy Bruschi, Ellis Hobbs, Richard Seymour, Shawn Crable, Adalius Thomas, Tank Williams, Pierre Woods, Ty Warren, Terrence Wheatley and the list seems to go on forever. It got so bad that during the last game of the year, cornerback Lewis Sander went down with an arm injury and I was actually thinking that he is a vital part to the Patriots defense.

People around here are a tad bit upset that the 11-5 Patriots are heading home while teams like San Diego (8-8) and Arizona (9-7) are hosting first round playoff games by virtue of winning their sucky divisions. Not me. I think what happened to the Patriots was the best case scenario. Look, this team was so depleted that we had to call Junior Seau off the beach to fill a hole at linebacker the last four weeks. And Rosevelt Colvin was out of football until he answered the Belicheatphone. So now the Patriots have the distinction of being the winningest team to not make the playoffs. I almost think Belichick went for this record on purpose.

Back to my point about this being the best case scenario for the Patriots: had the Patriots snuck into the playoffs, I would have given them next to no chance of winning a single game. Winning their last four games in a row (against Seattle, Oakland, Arizona and Buffalo) to get to 11-5 was a nice run but the fact is that the only teams they beat with winning records this year were the Jets, Dolphins and Cardinals. That's not exactly high competition when you consider that they lost to the Chargers, Colts and Steelers. This team just wasn't going to be a factor in January football.

Anyway, there's lots to talk about in the next few weeks as it relates to the Patriots. It looks like their personnel will be raided again this year with the possible defections of Scott Pioli and Josh McDaniels. We also have some interesting stories floating out there about the resurgence of Eric Mangini and Romeo Crennel with new teams (why anyone would want to hire either of these coaches is beyond me). But even with the past defections of Mangini, Crennel and even Charlie Weiss, the story is still the same- in Belichick we trust.

So when it's time to franchise Matt Cassel, make a hard decision on Tom Brady's recovery, decide whether to bring back Rodney Harrison, fix the defense and what sleeper to pick in next year's draft, it comes down to Belichick and Belichick alone.

As a special welcome back bonus, here are my picks for this week's NFL Playoffs. I haven't forgotten that the winning team is in CAPS, have you?

INDIANAPOLIS at San Diego
I just had a really bad thought. What if it comes down to a Colts-Giants Super Bowl. Which Manning do you root against? Think of the hype for that game, plus all of the Manning commercials. I feel sick.

ATLANTA at Arizona
The Patriots absolutely demolished Arizona two weeks ago where the Cardinals looked helpless to do anything but punt the ball away. Look for that trend to continue against a tough Atlanta offense.

BALTIMORE at Miami
Hey, Miami, congratulations on winning the AFC East. Now you get to play one of the toughest defenses in the entire NFL over the last decade.

Philadelphia at MINNESOTA
I guess the Vikings are the only home team I'm picking this weekend. And the only logical reason I can think of is that I really don't trust Donovan McNabb or his mother in big games. And I'm pretty sure that Adrian Peterson is going to rush for 285 yards in the first half.

The One That Got Away

2008-11-03T05:27:00.000-08:00

Last night's game at Indianapolis was frustrating to watch. Knowing that the Bills had already lost earlier in the day, the Patriots had a chance to take over sole possession of first place in the AFC East while further pushing the Colts out of the playoff picture. Following the loss, the Patriots are now in a three way tie for first place and the Colts are right back in the wild card race. Surprisingly, the Patriots outplayed the Colts in nearly every facet of the game but still came up short because of some costly mistakes. At least I think they were mistakes. Maybe they were just Bill Belichick's way of firing up his team for next week.

Anyway, here are just a few thoughts on the game while I wonder if we're seeing the real Bilichick (that wouldn't be a good thing) or if he's just messing with us:

• Who's Who?
Team A: Time of possession was 34:24, 342 net yards, 140 yards rushing, 67 offensive plays, 22 first downs.

Team B: Time of possession was 25:36, 301 net yards, 47 yards rushing, 50 offensive plays, 18 first downs.

Despite a clear advantage is every category, Team A still came out on the losing end last night.

• Jabar Gaffney should not have been allowed to fly back with the team last night. Gaffney's drop will be remembered for a long time. Cassel hit him in stride and there was no defender within ten yards. That was an easy touchdown taken off the board and a huge difference in this game.

• Belichick clearly didn't bring his A game last night and I can only hope he did this on purpose. The challenge of too many men on the field was a perfect example of being stupid. The Patriots had just picked up a first down so they hurry to the line of scrimmage in an attempt to draw a penalty and run a play for no gain. So instead of setting your offense and running a developed play, you try to run some kind of play designed to draw a penalty? Why not just design a play to pick up yardage? And the challenge was weak, anyway.

• More on Belichick: Clock management wasn't his strong suite last night, either. He burned his three timeouts with more than 11 minutes left in the game. I also didn't like him running down the sidelines to use the last timeout of fourth and 1. His timeout call negated the first down that the Patriots picked up and then he chose to kick a field goal afterwards. Just a weird sequence.

• In general, I thought that the play calling was way too conservative. I know that Randy Moss was double and triple teamed all night but at some point you've got to air it out and let Moss go get it. And if Moss was drawing that type of defense, someone else had to be wide open more often. And I don't consider Ben Watson a viable option.

• I could have written 100 different scenarios in which the Patriots could have lost last night's game and I would never have thought for one second that Adam Vinatieri kicking a 52 yard field goal for the winning points would be one of them.

• I like Cassel not getting sacked yesterday. I didn't like Peyton Manning not getting sacked yesterday.

• Not sure what Dave Thomas was thinking on the late hit but even Rodney Harrison would have thought it was late, which tells you something. That was a killer penalty since it made it third and 16 and pushed them out of field goal range. Here's the thing, though. On the next play, Cassel threw a shovel pass to Faulk for no gain. That seemed like poor play calling right there.

• Even if Laurence Maroney can come back healthly next year, I'm convinced that I don't ever want to see him in a Patriots uniform. You could put a blindfold on Kevin Faulk and BenJarvis Green-Ellis and they would still hit the hole better than Maroney.

Despite the loss, I'm encouraged by the play of Matt Cassel and the offense, as well as the way the defense came up big on numerous occasions to stop the Colts' offense. In this game, a few calls either way is the difference between winning and losing and last night, the Patriots had those two or three calls all go against them. Up next for the Patriots are the suddenly struggling Bills in a showdown for first place.

Week Nine NFL Picks

2008-11-02T04:17:00.000-08:00

This week's slate of NFL games features some great matchups. Even the Jets vs. Bills game should be intriguing. Can Brett Favre win back the New York Fans? Will his wife openly cry on national television and blog about it after? Riveting, truly riveting. We'll also continue to witness the demise of the Lions, Bengals and Chiefs. We may soon be tossing the Colts into that list, too. Their season is on the line verse the Patriots this week. If they come out too desperate look for the Patriots to exploit their weaknesses on defense and throw the ball downfield early and often.

I also believe that there won't be any unbeaten teams in the league come Monday morning. Yes, the Titans will fall to the Packers. I'm amazed that Kerry Collins has this team at 7-0 but that's what happens when you have a stifling defensive unit and an offensive line that has only allowed one sack all year. Eventually, Collins' mediocre play will catch up with the Titans and I think it happens this week.

Sunday, November 2
NY Jets at BUFFALO
I don't see a tired and sloppy Brett Favre going into Buffalo and beating the Bills. I just wish that this game were in the Meadowlands so that we could hear the fans booing Favre more often. And for once, I'd like to hear Favre defend himself instead of his wife. I can't recall any player ever damaging his reputation more than Favre has this year.

Detroit at CHICAGO
I am not picking the Lions to win another game this year.

JACKSONVILLE at Cincinnati
I am not picking Cincinnati to win another game this year.

BALTIMORE at Cleveland
The Ravens seem to own the Browns lately and I don't see that changing very much this Sunday.

GREEN BAY at Tennessee
Here's what you need to know about the Titans: as good as everyone says they are, their quarterback is a joke. For the year, Kerry Collins has only thrown three touchdowns, in seven games. That may be good enough to get you through the regular season but I don't see them going deep into the playoffs with that type of passing game.

Arizona at ST. LOUIS
Kurt Warner's return to St. Louis is going to be spoiled by him putting up a Farve-like three interception performance.

HOUSTON at Minnesota
I don't think either of these teams are any good and I'm abandoning my rule of picking the home team when in doubt. Just a hunch that the Vikings are in for a collapse.

TAMPA BAY at Kansas City
I am not picking Kansas City to win another game this year.

Miami at DENVER
Looks like defenses have begun to figure out the Wildcat. This could be a high scoring game, as neither team tends to play very much defense.

ATLANTA at Oakland
One thing I don't like about Atlanta: they've allowed one more point than they've scored this year. If they want to be a serious contender, their defense will have to play better.

DALLAS at NY Giants
I'm continuing my streak of not picking the Giants here. Although, I think I would have picked the Cowgirls anyway.

PHILADELPHIA at Seattle
That win in San Fran last week was a fluke. I'd be surprised if the Seahawks won another game this year.

NEW ENGLAND at Indianapolis
No Jeopardy this week but I will give you a few stats to ponder.

Quarterback A: Has thrown for 1,362 yards with a 66 percent completion rate, seven touchdowns and six interceptions for a quarterback rating of 85.

Quarterback B: Has thrown from 1,754 yards with a 61 percent completion rate, ten touchdowns and nine interceptions for a quarterback rating of 79.

Those, my friends, are the 2008 statistics of Matt Cassel and Peyton Manning respectively. I'm not really sure what the deal is with Manning this year. I know that there's been speculation about his knee but in the limited amount I've watched him play this year, he looks completely out of sync and even more immobile than ever.

There are two other reasons I'm picking the Patriots here. The first is that the defensive line of the Patriots looks as strong as I've ever seen it. Last week they had Rams quarterback Marc Bulger on the run for nearly the whole game. And if it's one thing we do really good here in Massachusetts, it's chase people named Bulger. But, unlike the Feds, the Patriots were able to get to the Rams quarterback on many occasions. If the Patriots are to win on Sunday, they have to play that same style of defense and get to Manning. They can't let him sit back in the pocket and choose his receiver because I have no faith that our backfield can cover the Colts wide receivers. In fact, I think Randy Moss might actually play both sides of the ball this week.

The second key ingredient for a Patriots win is the play of Cassel, who is starting to look more and more like Tom Brady every week. His confidence is way up and you're starting to see a bit more swagger on the part of the offense. Two weeks ago, Cassel won the AFC Player of the Week for his game against Denver. Last week against the Rams, Cassel was even better than the previous week. His numbers weren't the same but he showed that he can bring the Patriots back from a deficit on three separate occasions and win the game. Were it not for three or four dropped passes by Moss, Wes Welker and the sure-handed Kevin Faulk, last week's game wouldn't have even been close.

Third, it looks like LaMont Jordan will be ready to go at running back and we can only hope that he can carry the load and play his usual physical style. Establishing the run will allow Cassel to find his open receiver. With the Colts' defensive unit already banged up so this would be a good time to put them to the test and air it out deep.

Patriots 41 Colts 31 and Vince Wilfork will write a check to the NFL after every cheap shot he gets on Manning (I have the number at three and I think that might be low).

Monday, November 3
Pittsburgh at WASHINGTON
That was a tough loss for the Steelers last week against the Giants. I think they start to break down in this game with Big Ben starting to show some of the abuse he's taken so far this year.

Red Sox Are Still The World Champions

2008-10-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems as though Mother Nature is a big fan of the Boston Red Sox. She just doesn't want to see the Philadelphia Phillies or the Tampa Bay Rays win the World Series, knocking the Red Sox out of their rightful spot as the best team in baseball.

And kudos to the Red Sox for knowing that this World Series was going to be an absolute mess. Between the horrible officiating (which MLB has apologized for, twice), delayed start times, record low television numbers and the abysmal playing conditions, the Sox must have seen this one coming and let the Rays beat them in game 7. It's the only rational explanation of why the Sox lost that game. And is Barack Obama really that powerful that he can push back the start of a baseball game just so his half hour commercial can air tonight? Apparently he is.

Anyway, to all the Rays and Phillies fans out there, have fun watching the three inning game tonight or whenever Mother Nature decides to let play resume.

Ken Rosenthal Is Not A Journalist

2008-10-28T05:24:00.000-07:00

I really didn't want to write about the following topic. For those of you who know me, you know that I like to have fun, joke around and I definitely don't take myself too seriously. But this is one of those times when I've got to Cowboy Up and write about something that's really been bothering me: Ken Rosenthal.

A few weeks ago, Rosenthal reported the following on FoxSports:

The Red Sox look very white. The trade of left fielder Manny Ramirez and loss of shortstop Julio Lugo to injury left the Sox with a predominantly Caucasian roster. Why bring this up now, with the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series? Well, the free-agent market will open in about a month. The makeup of the Red Sox's roster could be a concern for players they pursue, whether it's this offseason or in the future.

Of the Red Sox's current players in the ALCS, the only African-American is outfielder Coco Crisp. The only Latin Americans are designated hitter David Ortiz, who is from the Dominican Republic, and utility infielder Alex Cora and reliever Javier Lopez, both of whom are from Puerto Rico. Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury is Native American. Pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima are from Japan. Reliever Manny Delcarmen is of Dominican descent, and injured third baseman Mike Lowell was born to Cuban parents in Puerto Rico... a perception has long existed among some African-American athletes that Boston is hostile to players who are not white... The question is whether the Red Sox will lose players they want because of the makeup of their club, the perception of the city or both.

So let me get this straight, Ken: The Red Sox are a mostly white team, except for all the non-white players in the clubhouse, which some people might mistake for a meeting of the United Nations? That's one of the most idiotic things I've ever read.

And what is with Rosenthal's notion that "Boston is hostile to players who are not white?" Is he writing this story based on data from 1960? Did Rosenthal even bother to do any research for this column at all? And why would any editor let this drivel pass off as a column?

Does he know that David Ortiz is among the most beloved sports figures in all of Boston sports history? Yeah, he's right up there with Larry Bird, Bobby Orr and Bill Russell. Last year, the Red Sox ownership honored Ortiz with a made up clutch player award so they could give him a brand new car.

Let's take it a step further than Ortiz. This team features Daisuke Matsuzaka, whom the club paid a record breaking $53 million to his Japanese team just for the right to negotiate with him, knowing that there was no guarantee that he would sign. And after they signed Matsuzaka, the Sox went out of their way to sign Hideki Okajima, in part to help ease the transition for Matsuzaka. But the Red Sox only like white players, according to Rosenthal.

Digging a little further, we'll all remember that fans demanded the Sox bring back Mike Lowell after last season. Even though he's on the downside of his career, the Sox did end up signing him to a lucrative deal, even though he isn't white. You can also look at the popularity of guys like Jacoby Ellsbury and Coco Crisp. Their popularity seems to grow every day, despite what they've accomplished on the field, which isn't a whole lot. But, according to Rosenthal, Boston only embraces white players. Except for all those other non white players.

I also want to address Rosenthal's comments regarding Manny Ramirez and Julio Lugo. I'll address Lugo first because he's easy to do. The Sox signed him to a four year, $36 million deal two years ago. He has stunk for both years and was in jeopardy of losing his job before he got hurt earlier this year. It has nothing to do with the color of his skin and everything to do with the fact that he probably couldn't even be the backup infielder on this team. . . if he were even healthy.

Now on to Ramirez, a tougher act to tackle but I'll give it a shot. Despite the millions of reasons that Manny gave the fans of Boston to hate him (and I mean hate in the worst sense of the word), the fans embraced him for nearly eight years. We put up with his quirkiness, we put up with his running mistakes, we put up with him throwing traveling secretaries to the ground, we put up with him not talking to anyone in the media, we put up with him not going to visit injured war veterans, we put up with him fighting players in the dugout, we put up with his showboating and the list goes on and on. Here's the thing, though: race has nothing to do with why Manny was traded. Manny shot his way out of town. He quit on his teammates, management and the fans. This was a guy who said he had a sore knee and couldn't play for two weeks, had an MRI done that showed nothing was wrong and was promptly traded to the Dodgers where there were never any issues with his knee. It was strictly about one thing and one thing only for Manny: money.

To further show how much of an idiot Rosenthal is, I went back to one of his earlier columns, where he pretty much writes the exact opposite when discussing New York Mets General Manager Omar Minaya earlier this year:

The Red Sox are a better example of a melting pot, but they are not just a cultural melting pot. The Sox are a blend of players young and old, gifted and ordinary, wealthy and hungry. The pieces — from Manny Ramirez to Dustin Pedroia, Daisuke Matsuzaka to Jonathan Papelbon — could not be more disparate. But somehow, under the leadership of manager Terry Francona, they all pull toward a common goal.

But, just like Manny, we're not going to get any answers from Rosenthal. We won't have an explanation of what he meant or a carefully crafted PR statement proclaiming that he was intoxicated when he wrote those columns. All we have to go on are the articles. And the articles clearly show that Ken Rosenthal is a horrible journalist.

Week Eight NFL Picks

2008-10-26T05:50:00.000-07:00

Here we are at week eight of the 2008 NFL season and things remain as whacky as ever. Early pre season picks of the Colts and Chargers continue to look mortal, while we wait and see what will happen with the tailspin in Dallas. Another loss could send them tumbling over the edge but a win might restart their season. Losses for those three teams this weekend might be the beginning of some rebuilding ahead. On the flip side, the Bills, Redskins, Steelers and Giants (as much as I hate to say it), continue to look like strong contenders.

As always, winning team is in CAPS.

Sunday, October 26
TAMPA BAY at Dallas
The free fall in Dallas continues with another loss to Tampa Bay. I have a feeling that there will be a sacrificial lamb in Dallas following this game, whether it be someone on the coaching staff or the water boy no one knows.

WASHINGTON at Detroit
The Redskins look good so far this year, which is the exact opposite of how the Lions have look.

BUFFALO at Miami
Big win by the Bills last week against the Chargers. Look for that to continue as they head to Miami.

St. Louis at NEW ENGLAND
The Rams have surprisingly won two games in a row but they give up way too many points to keep that streak alive. After a short week of practice for the Patriots, the loss of Rodney Harrison and three of their running backs, the Patriots will realize that Matt Cassel can throw the deep ball better than Tom Brady. Patriots 38 - Rams 13. This green Kool Aid is delicous!

San Diego at NEW ORLEANS (in London)
Not really sure how this is considered a home game for the Saints. This is an early must win game for both teams and I see New Orleans coming out on top. San Diego might be done.

KANSAS CITY at NY Jets
I'm not sure how anyone can believe a word out of Brett Favre's mouth ever again. I wonder if they can take his SI Sportsman of the Year Award away from him that he won last year? The only thing he's managed to do since unretiring (if he was ever retired in the first place) is tarnish his own image and he has no one to blame but himself.

ATLANTA at Philadelphia
Matt Ryan is quickly erasing the memory of Michael Vick and that's a very, very good thing.

Oakland at BALTIMORE
It pains me to pick the Ravens but I don't see Oakland going to Baltimore and beating this team, even though I think that Baltimore isn't nearly as ferocious as it used to be.

Arizona at CAROLINA
I still think that the Cardinals give up way too many points to be considered an elite NFL team, regardless of what the standings say.

Cleveland at JACKSONVILLE
I think we'll see the real Browns this weekend and that's not a good thing for Cleveland.

Cincinnati at HOUSTON
This is probably one of the last good opportunities that the Bengals have of winning a game this year.

NY Giants at PITTSBURGH
In what many are considering a potential Super Bowl matchup (I don't see either of these teams going that far, by the way), the Steelers come out on top and not just because I'm not picking the Giants in any game this year. I think the Steelers are a better team.

Seattle at SAN FRANCISCO
If things keep getting worse in San Francisco, Mike Singeltary may line up on defense.

Monday, October 27
Indianapolis at TENNESSEE
This should be fun watching the end of the Colts as we know them. They've looked old, slow and complacent the entire year. Playing the Titans isn't going to change that.

Some Links That You May or May Not Enjoy (Tom Brady Edition)

2008-10-25T05:07:00.001-07:00

Painful details on Tom Brady's knee

A nightmare scenario

Profile: Tom Brady's surgeon

Brady's recovery hits snag

Brady has more procedures for infection, Pats unsure of return

Report: Pats' Brady has two more procedures done on knee

Pats deny report they're upset with Brady choice

Patriots fire back at ESPN over unsourced Brady story

No matter how you slice it, Brady's knee is bad news

Dr. James Andrews says Tom Brady is getting better

Is Matt Cassel the 2001 Tom Brady?

2008-10-24T04:43:00.001-07:00

I've been pretty critical of Matt Cassel in his incredibly uninspiring six games as a staring NFL quarterback this year. Cassel has shown that he has weaknesses in his game, such as holding onto the ball waaaaaaaayyyyyy too long but he's also shown us that he can be an incredibly serviceable quarterback in the NFL, which he demonstrated on Monday night by winning the Offensive Player of the Week Award. All of this got me thinking to when Tom Brady took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe and never looked back. Here are some basic numbers to analyze and we'll do it Jeopardy style again:

Answer 1: 4 wins, 2 losses

Question 1: What are the won-loss records of Tom Brady and Matt Cassel through their first six games as starting NFL quarterbacks?

Answer 2: Matt Cassel

Question 2: Which quarterback had a higher completion percentage in the first six games as a starting NFL quarterback, Tom Brady or Matt Cassel. It's 120 out of 190 for Brady for a .632 completion rate while Cassel comes in at 110 out of 166 for a .663 completion rate.

Answer 3: Ten

Question 3: How many more yards passing did Brady have than Cassel after their first six games as starting quarterbacks? Had you asked me that question without already knowing the answer, I would have bet that Brady had at least 1,458 more yards passing than Cassel.

Answer 4: Thomas Brady

Question 4: Who had more touchdowns through their first six games as a staring quarterback, Brady or Cassel? This is the only real difference I can find in these two right now. Brady threw 10 TDs in his first six games, while Cassel has only thrown six, three of which came on Monday night.

Answer 5: Tie, four each.

Question 5: Which quarterback threw more interceptions in their first six games as a starting quarterback, Brady or Cassel?

Kind of strange (in a good way, I think) how close these numbers are. But my real question is how are we judging Cassel? And the only way to find that out is to compare him to other backup quarterbacks. Here are actual numbers from actual NFL games last week:
Matt Cassel, NE: 18 of 24, 185 yds, 3 TDs, 0 INT
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Cin: 21 of 35, 164 yds, 1 TD
Seneca Wallace, Sea: 12 of 23, 73 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Damon Huard, KC: 9 of 16, 96 yds
Brad Johnson, Dal: 17 of 34, 234 yds, 3 INTs
Gus Ferrotte, Min: 25 of 40, 298, 2 TDs, 4 INTs

So now let's move on to Final Jeopardy. The answer: Matt Cassel. The question: Which of the six starting quarterbacks listed above was the only one to win a game last week?

I think the point I'm getting to (if I have a point) is that Cassel is among the best backups in the league. In fact, no one has a great backup quarterback and if they did, they'd probably be make nine million a year somewhere else to start.

Now let's do a simple comparison of Cassel to some of the other starting quarterbacks in the league using the most basic of litmus tests: quarterback rating. Want to know what Jake Delhomme, David Garrard, Matt Ryan and Peyton Manning have in common? They all have lower quarterback ratings than Cassel.

Not bad for a backup quarterback that's going to lead New England to our fourth Super Bowl in seven year. And yes, I'm back on the Kool Aid diet.

Patriots Steamroll Broncos

2008-10-21T05:04:00.000-07:00

Well, my reverse jinx from yesterday worked, just like I knew it would. And you all thought that I was actually picking against the Patriots? On a serious note, though, was that the Denver Broncos or the Denver Broncettes because that team looked like a bunch of pansies out there. Have they ever heard of holding on to the ball? Listen, when you turn the ball over five times, you pretty much deserve to lose 41-7 and that's exactly what happened.

And just like I suggested in my column from yesterday, isn't it more fun when the Patriots are running up the score as opposed to getting demolished by mediocre teams like the Dolphins and Chargers? Anyway, here are a few thoughts on last nights game as I try to come up with some good Jeopardy questions for the Patriots-Rams game next Sunday.

• This game featured the rare Rodney Harrison Hat Trick: he committed an unneccessary roughness penalty, drew a retaliatory unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and suffered a season-ending quad injury. With his contract up at the end of this year and a long road to recoery ahead of him, this may very well be the end of the Rodney HGHarrison era in New England and the NFL.

• For everyone worried about Randy Moss turning into Terrel Owens, Moss was seen standing on the sidelines cheering on the defense, getting the crowd going and was throwing his body around on the field like Wes Welker does.

• With the return of the Patriots offense last night, we also saw the return of Bob Kraft's blue shirt with the white collar. It's good to know that the world is spinning correctly again.

• I think the fat guy dressed as a Viking got more air time than Jay Cutler's finger.

• What's the story with all of the sacks allowed by the Patriots? Last night they gave up six sacks and have given up 26 already this year. Last year they only gave up 21. While Cassel takes entirely too long to get rid of the ball, there were also times that it seemed like the defense just blew right by our offensive line.

• I've come to the conclusion that Benjamin Watson isn't very good. Yeah, he makes some decent plays and is a good blocker but what's with all of the dropped passes? You know how some companies donate money to a worthy cause when a pitcher strikes someone out or a quarterback throws a touchdown? There has to be somone out there that would sponsor Watson's dropped passes. It would go something like this: Cassel drops back, he's looking for Moss deep, Cassel still in the pocket, dumps the pass over to Watson in the flat, ooohhhhh, he dropped it. And that dropped pass is brought to you by Crazy Glue, the official glue of the New England Patriots. That would work, right?

• The obvious key to this game was the turnover difference but the Patriots' ability to rush the ball last night was also key. For the game, they had 257 yards rushing, most by a New England team in 15 years. Sammy Morris ran for 138 yards in the first half alone before leaving with an injury. Which leads me to Laurence Maroney who was placed on Injured Reserve before the game and is done for the season. In fact, I hope he's done with the Patriots for good. Here's a guy with all the talent in the world, is faster than 98.7 percent of the people out there but is just awful at reading the run. Last night was a perfect example of what can happen when a running back finds an open hole and just slams into it. On some of his runs, Morris wasn't even getting touched until he was already five yards upfield. That sort of thing can't be taught- it's just an instinct and Maroney will never have it. I don't care if we have to bring back Antowain Smith, I don't want to see Maroney in the backfield again.

• I'm glad that Tony Kornheiser was there to announce this game last night. I had no idea that Matt Cassel isn't Tom Brady. For that matter, who knew that Jay Cutler wasn't John Elway? I thought they were the same person? If anyone can tell me what Kornheiser's role is on Monday Night Football I would really appreciate it.

So it's on to the suddenly rejuvinated St. Louis Rams next week in Foxboro. It will be interesting to see if the Patriots can use this game as a launching pad for the rest of the year or if we'll see more of the same up and down play we've witnessed through the first six weeks of the season.

I'm Off The Kool Aid

2008-10-20T07:18:00.000-07:00

Well, in 11 months of Running Up The Score, there has never been a day quite like today. I don't think I've ever done two posts in one day and I've never picked against the Patriots. That all comes crashing down today. Times, they are a changin'.

Yes, folks, I'm picking the Broncos to come in to Foxboro stadium and rip the heart out of this New England Patriots football team tonight on national televsion. I'm not even making you read all the way to the bottom of this post to get my pick. In fact, anyone who thinks that this Patriots team has a chance at winning this game is insane in the membrane.

Here are the only stats that you need to know heading into this game. And just for fun, I'm doing it Jeopardy style.

Answer 1: The Denver Broncos

Question 1: What is the only team in the National Football League to have a winning record against the New England Patriots since 2001? And for the record, the Broncos have won five of six games during that span. So even when the Patriots have been dominating their opponent, the Broncos have still owned the Patriots.

Answer 2: 69, 86, 48 and 67

Question 2: What are the percentage of passes that the Patriots have allowed the opposing team to complete the last four games? You're not winning games when you give up that many pass plays, especially long ones like they did last week against the Chargers.

Answer 3: 1,694 yards and 12 TDs vs. 1,163 yards and 5 TDs.

Question 3: How do tonight's starting quarterbacks, Jay Cutler and Matt Cassel, stack up against each other?

Answer 4: 166 vs. 89

Question 4: How many points have the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots scored this year respectively? Remember last year when the Patriots put up 89 points by halftime? That was fun. We should try that again.

Okay, it's time for Final Jeopardy. The answer is 14 of 56. You've got thirty seconds starting now. . . .

The correct question: How many times have the Patriots gone three and out during the Matt Cassel era this year? With some quick math, I determined that's 25 percent of the time. By comparison, last year the Patriots went three and out on 26 of their 170 possessions for a 15 percent frequency.

When you add all of these stats up, I think we're going to get a high flying offense coming in to prey on a low flying defense. In fact, I'm not even sure it can be called defense. It may be worth it to just put orange cones or barrels in the backfield and see if that works better than Deltha O'Neil and Rodney HGHarrison.

Look, I consider myself to be a realistic person. I try to look at things objectively and come to a conclusion. And that's exactly what I've done here: Broncos 38 Patriots 16 and I have no confidence that New England could score 16 points if their lives depended on it.

Time to Winterize the Duck Boats

2008-10-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

Well, that didn't quite turn out the way I thought it would. Going into this game, I thought that there was no way that the Red Sox could possibly lose that game. But I'll tip my cap to the Rays- they haven't faded all year, they play in the toughest division and they played this series like they've been in the playoffs before.

In the end, the Rays outplayed us in nearly every facet of the game during this series. Not sure if I've just gotten used to losing big games this year, but this one doesn't seem to hurt much. I mean, the Red Sox basically came back from the dead in game five to win the right to travel back to Tampa Bay so we were living on borrowed time anyway. But to their credit, the Rays' pitching was great the entire series and the Sox just couldn't get that one big hit to break open an inning during the last two games. It seemed like they always had men on base except that Jason Varitek or Mark Kotsay was always coming up to the plate. And I've never seen one team hit so many home runs as the Rays did in this series.

But today I'm moving on so it's time to start looking for a replacment for Varitek and to look for some good middle relief pitchers not named Manny Delcarmen. I may or may not be back later this week with a World Series preview. I will, however, be back with a Monday Night Football preview later today.

Congratulations once again to the Rays and all of their fan(s).

Week Seven NFL Picks

2008-10-19T05:05:00.000-07:00

This is shaping up to be another good week in the NFL. A lot of these games I could see going either way with the excpetion of Tennessee playing at KC. The Chiefs have no shot at winning that game. As always, winning team is in CAPS.

Sunday, October 19

SAN DIEGO at Buffalo
Not sure how good Trent Edwards is going to feel in this game so I'm going with the Chargers, even though it nearly breaks my heart to do so.

MINNESOTA at Chicago
Chicago is in a bit of a funk while the Vikings come in on a two game winning streak.

PITTSBURGH at Cincinnati
I think someone is losing their job after this loss by the Bengals and I'm not just talking about coaches.

TENNESSEE at Kansas City
I think I'll be picking the only unbeaten team left in the NFL until they lose, which isn't happening agains KC.

Dallas at ST. LOUIS
Yup, I'm taking the Rams. Yup, I'm crazy. Dallas is in a bit of a free for all right now and I don't think an injured Tony Romo is going to help.

Baltimore at MIAMI
This might be a first for me- picking Miami to win. Against Baltimore, no less.

SAN FRANCISCO at NY Giants
Look for the losing ways to continue after an embarassing loss to the Browns last week.

New Orleans at CAROLINA
The Saints give up way too many points for my liking and I think that Reggie Bush is still a work in progress.

Detroit at HOUSTON
Until further notice, I will not be picking the Lions to win a football game. Unless they play the Giants, that is.

NY Jets at OAKLAND
I'm only picking Oakland to win this game because I hate Brett Favre and the Jets. Realistically, the Raiders have no shot at this game.

Indianapolis at GREEN BAY
I have no confidence that Green Bay can win this game, especially with the Colts looking more and more like the Colts we all know and hate the last two weeks.

Cleveland at WASHINGTON
Don't be fooled by last week's win against the Giants. The Browns still stink.

Seattle at TAMPA BAY
This is going to be an awfully long flight for Seattle just to get embarassed.

RED SOX at Tampa Bay
The Red Sox are turning into the Patriots of old with the way they win. They don't just win anymore, they demoralize teams. Down 7-0 with seven outs left in their season? No problem, with score eight unanswered runs. Gotta win two in a row on the road against the best home team in baseball? Doesn't look like it will be a problem.

Monday, October 20
Denver at New England
I'm taking the liberty of reserving my pick in this game until Monday. It's either going to be the start of another winning streak for the Patriots or ground breaking territory for Running Up The Score. I'm still working on the coin flip. Stay Tuned.

Time (For The Rays) To Panic

2008-10-17T04:44:00.000-07:00

As I crept into bed last night with the Sox down 7-0 to the unstoppable Tampa Bay Rays, I had a bit of a sad feeling. Not that the Sox were on the brink of losing but that they looked like a bunch of losers going down in only five games to the surging Rays. David Ortiz looked pathetic, going so far as to walk to first base with the bat on his shoulder as he was easily thrown out. Jason Varitek looked like Jason Varitek (that's not a good thing). The starting pitching was horrendous for the fourth game in a row. The leadoff spot was an automatic out. No one was hitting with runners on base.

In short, the Red Sox looked dead playing a team that looked more like the 1927 Yankees than 2008 Rays. Balls were flying off the bats of the Rays and out of the park left and right, even though there was a stiff breeze blowing in from centerfield. Scott Kazmir was getting in and out of jams in the first few innings and being let off the hook by a team that looked like they had no killer instinct or even a desire to be playing baseball in October.

And then something kind of weird happened. Dustin Pedroia drove in a run to make it 7-1 and then Big Papi came to the plate. This was the same Big Papi who was booed by the Fenway (un)Faithful the entire game. I'll let the following photos tell the rest of the story:

With one swing of the bat, Big Papi, the greatest clutch hitter in Red Sox history, makes it a 7-4 game:

After watching Manny Delcarmen implode (again) on the mound, Jonathan Papelbon comes in and pitches two scoreless innings:

JD Drew brings the Red Sox within one run of the Rays with his two run blast. Yes, that was JD Drew. I know, I can't believe it, either:

Coco Crisp ties the game at seven with this single, which also represented the first hit from the leadoff spot by the Red Sox the entire series:

Kevin Youkilis comes around to score on JD Drew's ground rule single in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Red Sox the biggest postseason comeback in the last 79 years:

This kid pretty much sums things up:

This had the feeling of the Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals game where the Celtics made the greatest playoff comeback in NBA history. This is just the Red Sox' way of trying to trump the Celtics. Gotta love a little competition between two hometown teams.

So now it's back to Tampa Bay with our rotation set up perfectly for the last two games of this series. And I'd be a total liar if I didn't admit that I'm petrified of Josh Beckett in game six. I have no doubt that he could go out and throw a no hitter. . . or give up nine runs in the bottom of the first inning, which would only allow the Red Sox to make an even greater comeback. I said it earlier (even though it was my third prediction), Sox in seven.

Looks like this preview will have to wait.

I Was Wrong About My ALCS Prediction

2008-10-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

Well, this isn't going quite as well as I would have hoped for at this point in the series. I'll admit, I was wrong about my prediction of Sox in six. In fact, I even revised my prediction to Sox in five after seeing T shirts announcing that the Rays took down Red Sox nation before the series even began. Boy was I wrong about that one.

But I wasn't wrong about who's going to win this series, just the number of games it will take. I guess we'll have to settle for Sox in seven. And really, the only disappointing thing is that Jon Lester won't be able to pitch game one of the World Series after pitching game seven of the ALCS.

The scary thing about what's taking place is that I don't see the Rays going anywhere in the foreseeable future. This doesn't appear to be a fluky year for them like some teams have had in recent years. They have a lot of young, talented players who are under contract for very little money, as well as a decent pitching staff to go along with it- at least their pitching looks good when you have players like JD Drew swinging at pitches two feet off the plate.

Anyway, if the Rays weren't completely demolishing my favorite baseball team, I might actually like this team, especially their manager, Joe Madden. He looks amazingly like the character in the movie Falling Down right down to the glasses. It's sort of uncanny the way that Michael Douglas' character in the movie goes berserck and the Rays are going berserck on the Sox. I might actually have to add that one to my Netflix list:

Here are just a few quick thoughts on the Boston Massacre that's taken place over the last three games while wondering if the Red Sox have the Rays right where they want them:

The only reason you need to know about the Sox losing three straight to the Rays is that their starting pitching has given up 17 earned runs in 12 2/3 innings for an ERA of 12.08. And they did it all while giving up eight homers and 28 baserunners. That's a pretty amazing feat for less than 13 innings of work. In fact, when I first saw it, I thought that was Matt Clement's pitching line for the last year he was with Boston.

Another major factor has been hitting: Jacoby Ellsbury is 0 for the series, and the Red Sox are 0 for the leadoff spot. David Ortiz broke out of an 0-14 slump by hitting a triple last night. . . when the score was 11-1. Is Little Papi even capable of hitting it the opposite way to avoid the ridiculous shift they put on him? After the game, Ortiz was quoted as saying that "we need to stop their defense." He was clearly getting loaded up on the Jack Daniels a little early when he made that comment because I have no clue what that means. Here's an idea, though: how about not throwing the ball right down the middle of the plate so that mediocre players can hit it over the Mass Pike 500 feet away.

And if this does turn out to be the end of their run to the World Series, Jason Varitek is finishing his Red Sox career in an 0 for 195 streak. That last stat might actually be accurate considering that I don't even remember the last time he got a hit. I don't care how well he handles the pitching staff, it's time time for him to move on in the offseason.

And speaking of moving on, even if the Red Sox reach the World Series, last night had to be Tim Wakefield's last start in a Red Sox uniform. At 42, I just don't see bringing him back for another start, let alone another year. This is a guy who has been a terrific starting pitcher for a long time for the Red Sox but his career postseason record of 5-6 with a 6.75 ERA just isn't good enough anymore.

And speaking of moving on (part deux), there was a reason that Mike Timlin was left off of the first round playoff roster. It's because the guy is old and hasn't been able to get anyone out the entire year. He's another player that has serviced this team well over the year's but it's time for him to move on, as well. And when I say move on, I mean retire.

And just in case this situation looks very familiar, it should. Let's revisit some recent history:

2004 ALCS

2007 ALCS

You know one of the only things I remember about all of those history classes I took growing up? It's that history is bound to repeat itself. So I'm revising my pick once again. Sox in seven even though I have no confidence that Big Papi could be a starting DH on a softball team at this point in the year, let alone the starting DH in the ALCS.

Anyway, here's today's history lesson:

Week 6 NFL Picks

2008-10-12T04:50:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe that another week has come and gone for the NFL. And what a bizarre few weeks it's been. Supposed powerhouses such as Indianapolis, San Diego and Cincinnati are all struggling. After just five weeks, Cincinnati's season is already over and thanks to some late game heroics, Peyton Manning and the Colts sit at an unimpressive 2-2. They're lucky they're not 0-4. Meanwhile, the Giants and Titans keep rolling right along. And in the weeks ahead we'll see if Buffalo, Carolina and Pittsburgh are for real, along with the Matt Cassel led New England Patriots.

Anyway, here are this weeks picks. And just for fun, I'm mixing things up a bit so the winning team this week is in CAPS. If you've been paying attention, you'll know that's not much of a mix up.

Sunday, October 12
Chicago at ATLANTA
Atlanta had a big win at Green Bay last week so we'll see if they can keep up the momentum against a tough Chicago defense.

BALTIMORE at Indianapolis
Something just doesn't look right about the Colts this year. Playing the Ravens isn't going to help them.

Detroit at MINNESOTA
Maybe we should give Detroit to the CFL.

Oakland at NEW ORLEANS
I don't like either team here. New Orleans is playing terrible right now but Oakland has pretty much stunk the last five years.

CINCINNATI at NY Jets
Not sure why I'm picking the Bengals here, other than the fact that I think Brett Favre is going to continue having a roller coaster ride in New York.

CAROLINA at Tampa Bay
The Panthers seem to have a bit of a swagger this year and I like that. Tampa Bay's constant rotation of QB's is going to catch up with them at some point soon.

St. Louis at WASHINGTON
On second thought, maybe we should give St. Louise and Detroit to the CFL.

Miami at HOUSTON
I can't believe I'm picking Houston after watching them (and by them, I mean Sage Rosenfelds) throw away the game against Indy last weekend.

JACKSONVILLE at Denver
The season is sort of on the line for Jacksonville here and I don't think one good game against Tampa Bay has solved Denver's defensive woes. They just give up too many points.

DALLAS at Arizona
Not sure why Pacman Jones is allowed to play in this game but even without him, Dallas still doesn't give up many points.

Philadelphia at SAN FRANCISCO
I'm picking the 49ers here for the simple fact that I feel like the Eagles could single handedly beat themselves at this point, which they basically did against the Redskins last weekend.

Green Bay at SEATTLE
No clue why I would pick a team that has no wide recievers but I guess I don't have much faith in Aaron Rodgers' shoulder, either.

NEW ENGLAND at San Diego
There won't be much of an in depth preview of this game because there's really not much to talk about. Just like the Red Sox own the Angels in the playoffs, the Patriots own the Chargers in the pre season, regular season, post season and everthing in between. In fact, I'm not even sure there's one player on the Chargers roster that I'd take over any player on the Patriots roster, position for position right now, and that includes the quarterbacks. If Bill Belichick has faith in Matt Cassel than so do I.

I have no doubt that the Patriots will have to put up at least 30 to win this game but the Chargers defense isn't very good right now and they give up just about 26 points a game. As we saw last week against the 49ers, the Patriots are still capable of going deep and Randy Moss is still the most dangerous wide receiver in the NFL.

One last fact about this game: both of these teams have lost to the Miami Dolphins this year. Did you ever think you'd read those words?

Patriots 35 - 21 with Rodney HGHarrison getting more penaltly yards than LaDanian Tomlinson gets rushing yards.

Monday, October 13
NY Giants at CLEVELAND
I chose a really bad year to pick the teams playing the Giants. And speaking of the Giants, when are they going to stop playing minor league teams? Seriously, I didn't even know that there was a AAA league in the NFL. I love how everyone already says they're going to repeat this year based on their impressive 4-0 record. . . against absolutely horrible teams. Bottom line is that if the Patriots and Giants were playing today, I'd still pick the Patriots (and probably lose again).

Did I Miss the ALCS?

2008-10-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

Did I fall asleep at my desk for a week and miss the Tampa Bay Rays beating the Red Sox in the ALCS? No, then why is MLB selling these shirts? And if they're selling these shirts (which are wicked ugly, by the way), can I get a Red Sox back-to-back World Series Championship T-shirt because I'm sure they've got those printed up somewhere, too.

After seeing these shirts, I've decided that I'm changing my series pick. Instead of Sox in six, I'm going with Sox in five and only because I don't think the Red Sox can win the series in three games. Those Rays have to be crazy to think they're taking down Red Sox Nation.

Here's an idea for my own T-shirt line: The decade of dominance continues. I'm not crafty enough to come up with a design but it would have three Vince Lombardi Trophies, one NBA Championship Trophy and Three World Series Trophies. And yes, I said three World Series Trophies!

Some Links That You May Or May Not Like (All Baseball Edition)

2008-10-08T04:29:00.000-07:00

Red Sox vs. Rays: So we meet again. There has definitely been some bad blood between these two teams over the years and I fully expect it to flare up at some point during this series.

American League East rivals fight it out in ALCS. More on the bad blood between the Red Sox and Rays.

Angels seething after first round exit. Gotta love the Angels. They claim to be the best team in baseball but they played in the weakest division and now their players are upset with another first round exit at the hands of the Red Sox. John Lackey says he wants to throw someone through a wall but he'd probably miss the wall with the way he pitches.

Tim McCarver won't mince words on Manny Ramirez. It pains me to put a plug in for Time McCarver because I find him difficult to listen to but if he doesn't hold back in the NLDS, I might become president of his fan club.

New faces produce familiar result.I've questioned a lot of moves by Theo Epstein over the years (mostly free agent acquisitions) but I give him a lot of credit for building a farm system that consistently produces top talent. In the last few years alone, we've brought up Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, Tacoby Bellsbury, Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson, just to name a few.

Yankees season keeps getting worse. Gee, this couldn't have happened to a nice group of guys.

Mannywood sounds more like bizarro world. Do people seriously think that Manny Ramirez has changed at all since joining the Dodgers? He's only after the money and once he gets his new deal, it will be more of Manny being Manny. I think it's funny that when the Dodgers are celebrating after beating the Cubs, Manny goes up to the GM and asks for a five year deal. It's always been about Manny and it always will be about Manny.

New place, familiar situation. I'm not a big Joe Torre fan but I always wondered why the Yankees would let him go. I also think it's kind of cool that he's still managing meaningful games while the Yankees are waiting for tee times.

Zimmer the ultimate common denominator. It's still weird seeing Don Zimmer in a Rays uniform.

Baseball ratings don't trump football. I'll try to be brief with my rant about the baseball schedule- Bud Selig is single handedly causing the demise of America's past time by allowing TBS to broadcast games (many households don't get TBS) and for allowing East Coast games to begin at 9:30 (an entire generation of fans are missing the opportunity to see playoff baseball). I'm not just saying this as a Red Sox fan who can't stay up until 1:30 in the morning but as a sports fan- all football games are on at times when every American has an opportunity to watch them. You can't say that about baseball.

I guess with the Roger Clemens situation cooling off, Manny is my new least favorite athlete around. I realize that he helped the Red Sox win two World Series but I've never seen a more selfish, loathsome player in my life. My favorite part of this video is at the 3:06 mark:

Sox vs. Rays Preview

2008-10-07T05:24:00.000-07:00

I didn't even bother doing a first round playoff preview because it seemed like such a waste of time. Not only are the Angels approaching the Cubs in terms of playoff meltdowns but the Red Sox eliminating the Angels from the playoffs is just like the leaves changing colors- it happens every year. After falling behind 0-2, did you really think that the Angels were going to win three straight against the defending World Series Champions, two of which were in Boston? Yeah, didn't think so.

I will say this about the clinching game last night: if featured two of the dumbest managerial moves I've seen since the days of Grady Little. First, Terry Francona pulls Jon Lester after seven phenomenal innings only to see his bullpen cough up two runs to tie it at two heading into the ninth. I know that Lester had thrown over 100 pitches but he was lights out. Unless his arm was falling off, I'd have liked to see him at least go out for the eight. If he gives up a hit or two then pull him but to bring in Hideki Heart Attack Okajima in that game is insane.

Not to be outdone, Mike Scoscia has the go ahead run on third base in the ninth inning with one out, the batter has a 2-0 count and Manny DelCarmen can't find the strike zone. What does the Angels manager do- calls the suicide squeeze. In a tie game. Of the divisional playoffs. In a game you have to win. With a batter who hit .111 for the series. We all know that Erik Aybar missed the bunt and Jason Varitek made a great play to tag out the runner heading back to third. When you make calls like that, you deserve to lose.

The fact that the Red Sox pulled off another ninth inning playoff series clinching win would have been an amazing feat had it not become almost assumed against a team like the Angels.

But enough of the Angels. Bring on the Devil Rays. Oh, yeah, it's just the Rays. So bring on the Rays. Or should we be calling them the Tampa Bay Cinderella Rays because they've come out of no where to win the AL East title this year. Before I start ripping on the Rays, I will say this- they play in the hardest division in all of baseball and they never faded this year, like so many people said they would, myself included. So I have to give them a lot of credit for moving out of the cellar in the AL East and making things interesting. And honestly, beating the Yankees in the playoffs was getting a bit old. So welcome to the show, Tampa Bay.

Having said all that, I'd be kidding myself if I wasn't a bit concerned about this series because I actually think it might go six games. That's how good I think the Rays are but the fact remains that no team with a purple mascot is beating the Red Sox.

Let's break down some numbers from the regular season, which tend to mean absolutely nothing come October. For the year, the Rays and Red Sox met 18 times with the Rays coming out on top with ten wins. Looking at the numbers a little more closely and I think you'll see that those wins look more like an abberation than a trend.

In the 18 games that these two teams played, Tampa Bay hit .233. The Red Sox hit .253. Tampa Bay scored 67 runs, which is an average of 3.72 a game. The Red Sox scored 87 runs for an average of 4.83. And yes, I think the .83 might be a factor in this series. For the year, Tampa's offensive numbers are in the middle of the pack, coming in 13th in hitting with a .260 average and ninth in OBP with .774. Meanwhile, the Red Sox continue to be one of the best hitting teams in all of baseball with a .280 average (second best) and an .845 OBP (also second best).

Now that we know that the Red Sox have the better offensive numbers, let's break down the pitching. If you're a Rays fan, you may want to skip this section. For the 18 games, Tampa's ERA was 4.44 to the Sox' 3.35. You all know that I'm no math genius but the Sox' ERA is more than a run better than Tampa's. And over the same games, the Red Sox pitching staff struck out 156 Rays, while Tampa's staff only struck out 121 Sox batters. Pitching is going to be key in this series and the Red Sox have the clear edge.

I'd also like to take a look at Lester just a bit closer, if you'll allow me a moment. In his last 22 2/3 postseason innings, Lester hasn't given up an earned run. In 20 innings agains the Rays this year, Lester only gave up two runs. As it looks right now, Lester will be working game two and game six. That's not good news for the Rays.

I know that Tampa Bay has the home field advantage but how much is that really going to factor in this series when 75 percent of the fans who live in Tampa root for the Red Sox? The Rays did go 57-24 at home this year, which is an amazing number and tops in all of baseball, but they're under .500 on the road.

Let's also keep in mind that the Red Sox now have the best closer in all of postseason play of the teams remaining. For his career, Jonathan Papelbon has never allowed a run in 19 2/3 innings in his postseason career, which is only one-third of an inning short of the major league record held by Joe Niekro.

At some point during this series, we're going to hear the clock striking midnight and the glass slipper is coming off of Cinderella and the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays will transform back into the AAA club they've been for the last decade.

Sox in six. Bring on Mannywood.

Week 5 NFL Picks

2008-10-04T03:17:00.000-07:00

Once again, work has totally gotten in the way of my blogging so I haven't gotten out my Red Sox-Angels preview but I already had picked the Sox in four anyway. Yeah, I know, the Angels smoked the Red Sox the entire year and finished with the best record in all of baseball. . . and they also played in the weakest division. So they'll be making another first round playoff exit at the hands of the Red Sox. The duck boat owners probably want to start thinking about gasing up the old duck boats for another parade soon.

Anyway, I thought I'd also post my picks for this weekend with a short-depth analysis of the Patriots-49ers game on Sunday. Does it seem like a year ago that the Patriots played? Here are my picks for this week. As always, winning team is in CAPS.

Sunday, October 5
Kansas City at CAROLINA
Don't be fooled by KC's win last week. They have no shot at winning in Carolina.

Chicago at DETROIT
The Lions will rally after the firing of Matt Millen and win one for the Ford's. Or they'll more than likely get crushed but, what the heck, I'm picking them anyway.

ATLANTA at Green Bay
Aaron Rodgers' shoulder has me concerned, as do two straight loses by the Packers.

SAN DIEGO at Miami
Don't be fooled by Miami's win in New England two weeks ago, either. The Dolphins still suck, at home or on the road.

SEATTLE at NY Giants
I may have picked a bad year to pick any team that the Giants are playing to win but I'm sticking with it for at least one more week (or year).

WASHINGTON at Philadelphia
You know it's October football when Philadelphia looks old and injured.

TENNESSEE at Baltimore
I guess I'm going with Tennessee until they're beaten.

Indianapolis at HOUSTON
I think that Houston is better than they're playing and I actually think that Indianapolis is worse than they're playing.

TAMPA BAY at Denver
That was a demoralizing loss at KC last week by the Broncos.

Buffalo at ARIZONA
I just don't know if Buffalo has the defense to stop Kurt Warner and the Cardinals consistently thoughout this game. And I don't know if their offense can put up 40 to beat the Cardinals.

NEW ENGLAND at San Francisco
There's only two things you need to know about this game. The first is that the Patriots are 8-0 since 2003 after they lose by more than 10 points. Second, they've won their last five games following a regular season bye week. Third, they haven't lost back-to-back games since November 2006, covering nearly two years. Fourth, they've won ten straight games in October dating back to 2005.

I guess that's four things you need to know, plus this little nugget: If the Patriots were going to switch quarterbacks this year, this would have been the time to do it. That tells me that the Patriots are comfortable with Matt Cassel as their quarterback for the forseeable future. And if it's good enough for Belicheat, than it's good enough for me.

While I'm at it, this might (not) be a good time to mention that the Patriots have scored the third fewest points in the NFL so far this year, with 49. Only Seattle and Cleveland have scored fewer. That's not good company to be in.

I'm still picking the Patriots 31-17 and I have no clue how the Patriots can possibly score less than 31 in this game with the return of Tom Brady.

Cincinnati at DALLAS
I'm picking Tony Romo and the Cowgirls here and I'd even pick them if Jessica Simpson were playing quarterback. That's how bad the Bengals are.

Pittsburgh at JACKSONVILLE
The Steelers were lucky to beat the Ravens on Monday Night Football but that luck runs out this Sunday when they face another physical opponent. How long will Big Ben's shoulder last?

Monday, October 6
MINNESOTA at New Orleans
Sure, New Orleans scores a lot of points. But they also give up a lot and that's generally not a good thing when you're playing against Adrian Peterson.

Week 4 NFL Picks

2008-09-28T04:04:00.000-07:00

In all my time picking NFL games, I don't think I've ever seen a more boring schedule than this week. There's really not many interesting or intriguing games out there this week, unless you think that Cleveland and Cincinnati will be a fun game to watch. I think we're set to see a lot of blowout games, such as Denver and Buffalo.

As you know by now, winning team is in CAPS.

Sunday, September 28
Cleveland at CINCINNATI
This is the battle of winless teams and I don't even think this one will be close because Cleveland is in such disarray with their quarterback situation. Losing coach gets fired.

Minnesota at TENNESSEE
All of a sudden, Tennessee looks like a tough team. Their defense is playing great and without Vince Young, their offense is gettig the job done.

DENVER at Kansas City
I think that Denver might hit 50 in this one. How much longer can Herm Edwards survive?

SAN FRANCISCO at New Orleans
San Francisco is going to build some momentum going into next week's Patriots game and everyone is going to say how good they are. Then they'll play the Patriots and everyone will realize that the niners still stink.

ARIZONA at NY Jets
The Jets don't look like they could beat a Pop Warner team right now. When does Eric Mangini's job start to be on the line here?

Green Bay at TAMPA BAY
Tampa Bay's defense has been solid all year and I don't think that's going to change against the Green Bay offense.

Atlanta at CAROLINA
The offensive line for Atlanta better play well or Matt Ryan's NFL career might be short.

HOUSTON at Jacksonville
I'm not sure why I'm picking Houston here but I think that Jacksonville is in for a let down after last week's win at Indy.

San Diego at OAKLAND
This should tell you what I think about the Chargers- I'm picking Oakland to beat them! Am I insane?

BUFFALO at St. Louis
Jim Kelly comes out of retirement to run out the clock after the Bills put up 35 first half points against a helpless Rams team. Did the Rams really bench their $60 million quarterback?

WASHINGTON at Dallas
I think I heard that Jessica Simpson is going to be at this game so that's an automatic L for Tony Romo and his Cowgirls.

Philadelphia at CHICAGO
Looks like the Eagles are rounding into midseason form with a littany of injuries to key players.

Monday, September 29
BALTIMORE at Pittsburgh
Big Ben might be in Big Trouble in this game if his offensive line doesn't step up and protect him.

Red Sox To Defend Their Title

2008-09-26T04:26:00.000-07:00

While I've been busy disecting the Patriots and the NFL the last few weeks, the Boston Red Sox have sneakily crept back into the playoffs and will most likely be the wild card team. And last I remembered, that worked out pretty good for them in 2004. It also means another first round series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Orange County, California. And as we all know, the Red Sox own the Angels in the playoffs. I think they've won something like 73 straight playoff games against the Angels.

But here's the funny thing about this year's team: I don't even think they're that good. Maybe I'm just spoiled by undefeated seasons, victory parades and the home town team running up the score, but this year's version of the Red Sox is vastly different than in year's past. Here's a breakdown of their season to date:

• Curt Shilling goes down for the year in spring training.

• The Red Sox start the year in Japan (doesn't that seem like six years ago?) where they have seven different opening ceremonies in five nights. They then fly to Oakland for their opening ceremony and complete the trifecta by being the opposing team in Toronto's home opener. All of this in a span of ten days. I'm tired just thinking about it.

• David Ortiz is out for a month with a writst injury and still hasn't looked the same since coming back. His wrist still clicks when he swings. I'm no medical genius but I'm guessing that's not a good thing.

• JD Drew looks like JD Drew (he may have been the All Star MVP but I still think he sucks) and just returned after missing two months with a mysterous back injury that required an epidural. I guess I shouldn't make fun of him if he just had a baby. He returned to action two nights ago to play a whopping three innings before his back tightened up again and had to be removed.

• Mike Lowell misses a month of action and is playing with a torn labrum in his hip. That sounds like fun, huh?

• Jason Varitek grows old before our eyes and can't hit a fastball or a curveball or a changeup or a meat ball. There are also rumors flying around that he's romantically involved with NESN's Heidi Whatney.

• Julio Lugo went down with an injury (thank goodness) and is currently on the 60 day DL. Jed Lowrie fills in for him and steals his job.

• Josh Beckett has numbness and tingling in his pitching arm, scares half of New England to death by going to see Dr. James Andrews to have a dye test in his elbow, and misses a month.

• Daisuke Matsuzaka throws 100 pitches and can only get out of the fifth inning in nearly every start on his way to his current record of 18-2 even though he's walked 852 batters this year. I don't even bother turning on the games when he's pitching because I know I won't see the end of it.

• Manny Being Manny goes to another level this year and he's finally traded to the Dodgers, where there's talk of him being the NL MVP for only two months of play. He even nicknames himself Mannywood. I still prefer to call him fruitcake. I would take Jason Bay any day of the week and twice on Sunday over Manny by the way.

• Tim Wakefield has missed more than a month of action with various ailments throughout the year and is looking more and more like a 42 year old pitcher.

• Clay Bucholz can't get major leaguers out and the Sox get fed up with his antics by demoting him to Double A, where he still pitches like crap.

• Mike Timlin can't get anyone out and can only be trusted in games where we're either winning by ten or losing by ten.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, these are your 2008 Boston Red Sox. And you know what? I think they're going to win the World Series again this year. They've outscored their opponents by 165 runs this year while playing in the toughest division in all of baseball. But you know what I love about this team- our starting pitching. Who is going to beat Beckett, Matsuzaka and Lester? Beckett is one of the best post season pitchers in baseball history, Matsuzaka will throw so many pitches that he'll literally cause the other team to fall asleep and Lester has been the real ace of this team all year. Their bullpen is a bit shaky but when you have Okajima and Papelbon that's pretty much all you need.

One last note about this year. While I'm happy for the Tampa Rays being in the playoffs, it just doesn't feel like October baseball without the Yankees. If for no other reason, it was always fun watching Alex Rodriguez fail miserably in clutch situations.

Once the schedule is complete, I'll be back with a first round series breakdown. Although, it doesn't even matter because I'm already picking the Sox in four, regardless of their first round opponent. Is it too early to fire up the duck boats?

Is Tom Brady Really Injured?

2008-09-25T04:39:00.001-07:00

I was all prepared to finish my Red Sox column today and then I saw pictures of Tom Brady walking around in New York with Gisele, which led me to question whether Tom Brady is really injured. Seriously, watch the video below. Yeah, he's walking with a bit of a limp but isn't a little limp better than starting a healthy Matt Cassel? Heck, Brady with a little limp is still better than 98.62 percent of the starting quarterbacks out there. I say that if Brady can walk then he should still be playing. And if he can go shopping and carry Gisele's bag then he should definitely be playing. I still think that Bill Belichick may have just given Brady the entire year off and there really is no injury.

And I love how everyone around here was saying that Brady would be such an asset to Cassel throughout the year even though he was injured because he'd be in all the team meetings, at practices and helping to break down film. Yeah, last I knew, the Patriots didn't practice in New York.

Just a few comments about the video, too. Why is Gisele not laying down palm branches as she walks ahead of Brady? Did she really need to bolt from the car just so she could take the full forty seconds to open the door? And that's a pretty cool wallet chain Brady's got. Although, I didn't think he ever had to pay for anything. And what's up with the questions from the "reporter?" That guy cracks me up with asking if Tom's actually going to have surgery in Europe. He obviously still thinks that Brady is injured.

I can't wait for Brady and the Patriots to annihilate the San Francisco 49ers in two Sundays. Maybe they will finish 18-1 again this year.

That Was Embarassing

2008-09-22T07:18:00.000-07:00

After yesterday's blow out loss at home to the lowly Miami Dolphins, I can't decide if I should revise my predicted record for the Patriots this year from 11-5 to 12-4 or 3-13. In situations like these, it's important not to over react and come to a realization that it's just one loss. Granted, it could be one of many loses but still, it's just one loss so far. The Patriots looked and played as poorly as I've ever seen them play. My guess is this is just one more of Bill Belicheat's motivational tools to get this team fired up and win the last 13 games of the year. Maybe I should have picked them to go 15-1. They could still finish the year 18-1, just like last year, but they'll be bringing home the hardware come February this time. Belichick is such a genius that I wouldn't put it past him.

Here are just a few of my thoughts on yesterday's game while wondering if Vinny Testaverde, at age 44, would be a better alternative than Matt Cassel.

• Yesterday's loss was the first time the Patriots have lost at home since November 2006 and snaps their league reocrd 21 consecutive regular season wins. In the end, this is probably a good thing because there will be no more pressure as the consecutive win streak builds.

• At first, I thought that the Dolphins simply beat the Patriots by running a bunch of trick plays but now I don't think so. Direct snapping the ball to the running back, especially when the quarterback is lined up as a wide reciever, isn't any different than a handoff. Sure, maybe they were surprised the first time it happened but has the defense ever heard of making adjustments during the game. For the day, Brown had four touchdowns on 113 yards rushing and the Dolpins as a team rushed for more than 200 yards.

• About the only bright spot for the Patriots was return man Ellis Hobbs, who returned 6 kicks for 237 yards. Unfortunately, he was getting burned on defense every time the Dolphins threw the ball his way.

• Say what you want about the injury to Tom Brady, but giving up more than 450 yards of offense to the Dolphins is nothing more than sucky defense. I seriously doubt that the Patriots would have won this game with Brady playing based on how bad the defense looked.

• I guess I've got to give Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter some credit- he may be the first opposing player to come into New England and back up his trash talk. He had six tackles, five of them solo, three sacks and forced a fumble.

• Not sure if Matt Cassel sucks for good or just had a bad game. He completed 19 of 31 passes for 131 yards, which is an average of 7 yards a pass. That's kind of pathetic that the recievers aren't picking up more yardage but it would also be nice to see the Patriots let Cassel throw further downfield. It also didn't help that Cassel was sacked three times, fumbled once and threw an interception.

• It also probably didn't help that Cassel was replaced by third string quarterback Kevin O'Connell with six minutes left in the game.

• Is Rodney HGHarrsion afraid of contact because he looks like he shys away from getting hit a lot. I don't even think they need to wash his uniform- just hang it back up and let him wear it in the next game. And have you ever seen a player make it look like he's trying harder than him when he has no chance of making a play? Seriously, Ronnie Brown is scampering down the field untouched and there's HGHarrison, making it look like he's giving it his all by trying to outrun him. Here's an idea- don't let the opposing team get past you to start with.

• With the bye week for the Patriots coming up, get ready for two weeks of nonstop talk about how bad Cassel is, how Randy Moss isn't running routes or playing hard, how bad this team is, how shakey the defense is, and how Belicheat can't win without Brady. But this is probably exactly how the Hooded Genius planned it. He's probably already preparing his game speech about how no one thinks this team is any good, how they can't even win at home, how everyone is doubting the defense and how much their quarterback sucks. If you think about it, it's actually the perfect motivational tool. If I'm San Francisco (the next opponent for the Patriots), I'd be afraid, very, very afraid.

Hopefully I'll be back later this week with my much anticipated Red Sox column and more NFL Picks. I like the Patriots verse the bye week.

Week 3 NFL Picks With Pats-Dolphins Preview

2008-09-19T06:26:00.000-07:00

Well, work has completely gotten in the way of my blogging this week so I'm combining my picks and my Patriots-Dolphins squish the fish preview into one column. Actually, it works out better this way since there really isn't much to say about the Patriots-Dolphins game. All you need to know is that Joey Porter opened his big mouth and trash talked Matt Cassel and the Patriots. And in case you forgot, that didn't work out too good for the last person who ripped the Pats.

Anyway, here are this week's picks. Winning team is in CAPS. I'm too lazy to go back and figure out my record for last week or year-to-date but maybe I'll have more time to showcase my stellar math skills next week.

Sunday, September 21
Kansas City at ATLANTA
Kansas City absolutely stinks right now, as evidenced by them losing their home opener last week to the Oakland Raiders. How long before Herm Edwards is fired?

Oakland at BUFFALO
I like Buffalo a lot this year, especially after a tough road win last week in Jacksonville.

Tampa Bay at CHICAGO
Chicago has looked pretty good in the early part of the season, even though they dropped a tough game last week in Carolina.

HOUSTON at Tennessee
Can we give the Tennessee Titans to the CFL?

Carolina at MINNESOTA
I don't understand why everyone is so concerned that Gus Frerotte was named the starting quarterback for the Vikings. Tavaris Jackson was terrible in that role and deserved to get benched, even if Frerotte is the backup. Did I really pick Minnesota?

Miami at NEW ENGLAND
There are two things that you need to know about this game:
Point 1. Miami Dolphins outside linebacker Joey Porter said the following about Matt Cassel: "He's not a Tom Brady. So if it's not Tom Brady, it shouldn't be that hard. It'll be good to go out there and get our first victory. You treat him like you treat a backup. You throw the kitchen sink at him. That's what we're going to do."

If people have learned anything about the Patriots in the last decade, it's that they use the slightest negative thing said about them to absolutely destroy you. Again, see Anthony Smith from last year. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Bill Belichick is devising plays designed to embarass Porter, which is exactly what the Patriots did with Smith in the Pittsburgh game last year.

Did anyone even remember that Joey Porter was still playing? I thought he retired when he left Pittsburgh a few years ago.

Point 2: The Patriots have won 21 straight regular-season games while the Dolphins have lost 20 of their past 21 games. Does anyone even remember when the last time the Dolphins were in the playoffs? And just in case you're wondering, the Patriots smacked around the Dolphins by a combined score of 77-35 last year. So I'm not sure how anyone could possibly think that the Dolphins are in any type of position to win this game, with or without Tom Brady.

Point 3: I know, I said there were only two points to the Patriots winning this game but I lied. Chad Pennington is the quarterback of the Miami Dolphins. Maybe this should have been point number one but having Pennington as the opposing quarterback is like a secret weapon for the Patriots because you know he'll do something stupid at some point in the game, like throw three interceptions.

The Patriots and Matt Cassel roll to a 31-10 victory and I have no clue how the Dolphins can possibly score 10 points in this game.

CINCINNATI at NY Giants
I have no clue how a worthless team like Cincinnati is going to come in and knock off the Giants. It may be worth noting that Cincinnati has only scored 17 points in two games. And yes, I'm still picking them or rather, picking agains the Giants.

ARIZONA at Washington
I guess I'll ride the Kurt Warner band wagon until it comes crashing to a halt.

Detroit at SAN FRANCISCO
Do I really have to pick a winner here? When in doubt, pick against the Lions.

St. Louis at SEATTLE
Seattle is so bad right now that I actually think this might be a close game.

New Orleans at DENVER
I actually like Denver really big in this game.

Pittsburgh at PHILADELPHIA
The Eagles played a heck of a game on Monday night and Donovan McNabb looks like he's finally healthy.

JACKSONVILLE at Indianapolis
It's hard to believe that both of these teams could be 1-2 if Jacksonville wins.

Cleveland at BALTIMORE
Baltimore has had a smothering defense the first two games of the year, allowing only ten points total.

Dallas at GREEN BAY
Two of the higher scoring offenses in the league meet in this matchup. This should be the first of many good games between Tony Romo and Aaron Rodgers. And yes, I realize that I may have been mistaken about my prediction of Rodgers not being very good.

Monday, September 22
NY Jets at SAN DIEGO
Two of my least favorite teams in all of sports meet up for Monday Night Football. After losing to the Patriots last week, I would be shocked if anyone actually thinks the Jets have a chance in this game.

The J-E-T-S Suck

2008-09-15T04:32:00.001-07:00

If you're a Jets fan waking up this morning, do you still feel good about your team? Seriously, this is the team that everyone picked to be the new leader of the AFC East after Tom Brady was knocked out for the year and you play like that? That was some ugly football on display in nearly every facet of the game, especially considering all the talk leading up to the game. When all is said and done this year, I think the Jets will be exactly what we thought they'd be: a team that was 4-12 last year who added an aging hall of famer as their quarterback. In other words, look for another losing season out of the Jets.

Anyway, here are just a few of my thoughts while I ponder if the Jets would have been better off keeping Chad Pennington over Brett Favre.

• There was never a moment in this game where I felt like the Patriots were in danger of losing. The Jets looked like a team that thought they should win the game just because they were favored. The blame on that one has to fall on Eric Mangini, the Jets head coach, for not getting his team fired up.

• On the flip side, Bill Belichick has his team ready to go on offense, defense and special teams from the start of the game.

• The defense for the Patriots played extremly well. Richard Seymour was in on a lot of pass rushes, as was Tedy Bruschi, and Favre was under constant pressure. Once again, the weak link was Rodney HGHarrison who got burned on the only Jets touchdown. On the replay, you can see HGHarriosn faking a pass interference call as the Jets reciever breaks free. Any ball thrown HGHarrison's way scares me.

• I don't recall ever seeing a sack go for a 20 yard loss like the play where Adalius Thomas sacked Favre. That was a pretty spectacular play to take down both Favre and the other Jets defender together.

• Randy Moss wasn't nearly as involved as I thought he'd be and that has me a little concerned, as does the dropped ball in the fourth quarter. Yes, I realize Matt Cassel underthrew the ball but it still hit Moss right between the numbers. If the Patriots want to continue winning, Moss needs to be more involved, and I think he will have some monster games in the next few weeks. This was Moss after the game: "The New England Patriots are 2 and 0. So, all you haters, keep hating. We're coming."

• What happened to Laurence Maroney? He only ran eight times for 16 yards. With some quick math, I figured out that's an average of only two yards a run. Lamont Jordan seems to have taken the starting running back job from Maroney by rushing 11 times for 62 yards. More importanly, I never saw Jordan run into any of his own guys.

• Cassel did a good job protecting the ball and pretty much did what people thought he would do. He finished 16 for 23 for 165 yards. Even though he had no touchdowns, he also didn't have any interceptions.

• Can you imagine if Brady were healthy and played in this game? What would the score have been? 52-10? 60-10? If you're Mangini this morning do you wake up wondering if you'll ever be able to beat the Patriots? I sort of think that Brady could have still played this game with a torn ACL and MCL and won based on how pathetic the Jets looked.

• Here's an interesting note about the salary of Favre: through the first two weeks of the season, Favre has earned $1.41 million in base salary. For the entire 2008-2009 season, Matt Cassel, Matt Gutierrez and Kevin O'Connell will earn $1.16 million in combined base salary. And now that I've thought about it, I think I would rather have Chad Pennington than Favre if I were a Jets fan (thank goodness I'm not because that team is pathetic). The Jets, for the most part, are a young team. Having Favre play quarterback for a year or two is only going to impede the development of another young quarterback. Favre will be long gone when this team is ready to seriously compete for the AFC title and at that point, they may be left with no real options at QB.

• Was the final score of the game a reflection of the Jets being over rated or the Patriots being under rated? I think the Patriots will use the under rated card for the rest of the year to try to get themselves fired up but I also feel like the Jets are way over rated.

• Did you catch the footage of Bob Kraft towards the end of the game? Was he wearing an all white shirt? Apparently his only blue shirt with the white collar must have been at the dry cleaners.

• Up next for the undefeated Patriots are the hapless Miami Dolphins. If you thought the Jets played poorly yesterday, just wait until you see the Dolphins next week. We may actually see Matt Gutierrez come in the game to run out the clock.

Stay tuned for NFL Week 3 Picks Wednesday and my Pats-Dolphins preview Friday or Saturday. I may even throw in a Red Sox update at some point as they march towards repeating as World Champions.

Patriots-Jets Preview

2008-09-13T11:29:00.001-07:00

Now that I've had a few days to recover from last week's loss of Tom Brady, my thoughts are a little clearer and I've analyzed this team from every angle possible. I've also drank lots and lots of the Bill Belichick Cool Aid (I prefer the green Cool Aid to the red Cool Aid). Are the Patriots as good as they were last week with Brady leading the way? Absolutely not. Are they still an elite team with a serious shot at getting back to the Super Bowl? I say yes. I know, call me crazy, but I still say yes.

Let's keep in mind that this team is still loaded on offense with Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Jabar Gaffney, Benjamin Watson and a group of running backs that includes Laurence Maroney, Lamont Jordan, Kevin Faulk and about ten other guys. Are they still shaky on the defensive side of the ball? Yes, they have some work to do but they're younger than they were last year and have more speed than they had last year, as well. I'd look for them to be in the top eight teams defensively. And just for the record, I don't recall Brady playing defense so his injury has nothing to do with how the defense plays.

Now, let's talk offense. What would you say if Matt Cassel comes in and has a season where he completes 56 percent of his passes, which is about 300 completions on 530 attemps or approximately 20 of 35 per game? I'd take it. What if Cassel throws 23 touchdowns and has 20 interceptions for a quarterback rating around 74? I'd still take it. Now let's throw in a few fumbles on his part, say seven for the remaining 15 games. What would you think? Well, those are the EXACT numbers that Eli Freaking Manning put up last year. And yes, I just threw up. If Matt Cassel puts up numbers anywhere near those numbers, than the NFL may as well start engraving the players' names into the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Granted, I don't think that Cassel will be throwing it 35 times a week but look for him to have workmanlike days similar to the Chiefs game where he was 13-18 for 152 yards and a TD.

Here's the thing about Brady's injury- Matt Cassel doesn't need to come in and be Brady. He just needs to be an effective clock manager, throw to Moss and Welker, read the defensive schemes to make adjustments at the line, and keep the mistakes to a minimum. Look, I know that Brady threw 50 touchdowns last year but half of those came when the Patriots were already blowing teams out.

The biggest pressure is going to be on the running backs and, specifically, Maroney. This would be the perfect time for him to stop running into his own guys and just use his explosive speed to get into the open field. And I think he will. We saw it towards the end of last year so look for him to be more involved offensively in the weeks ahead. And on the days when Maroney can't help carry the team, look for Jordan to come in and grind it out with his smash mouth running style.

As for this week's game against the Jets, I don't think a whole lot has changed. Remember last year after the Patriots got caught cheating and the San Diego Chargers were coming to town licking their chops just waiting to jump on a team that looked devastated? Yeah, the Chargers somehow bungled that into a 38-14 loss. That game was won for Bill Belicheat and I have no doubt that the Patriots are going to come out on Sunday and absolutely dominate the Jets.

And let's not forget that the Patriots have the ultimate no-respect guy on the planet in Rodney HGHarrison. Even when the Patriots went 16-0 last year, HGHarrison was still crying about not being respected. What do you think HGHarrison is going to do when he sees that the Patriot have gone from being the Super Bowl favorite to be ranked 12th in Super Bowl odds? And what do you think he's going to do when he sees the Bernard Pollard fan club shirts? This team and Belichick use the smallest slight against them in their favor every week.

We should also remember that it was just about a month ago that Brett Favre came out of retirement, joined a new team, admitted he hadn't worked out in six months and then stepped into the limelight as the Jets new quarterback. And just for the record, I never doubted that he was retired. Big deal that the Jets beat the Dolphins last week. They were 1-15 last year. I still think that the Patriots' improved defense is going to find a way to get to Favre and make him wish he stayed retired.

Between the emotion of winning for Brady and the emotion of not letting the Jets beat them, I'm going back to the score of the second game of last year. Patriots 38-14, even though I'm still not convinced the Jets can score 14 points.

Week 2 NFL Picks

2008-09-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

Now you all know why I don't bet on these games. Last week I was 7-9 so take these picks for what they're worth, which apparently isn't very much. As always, winning team is in CAPS.

Sunday, September 14
Tennessee at CINCINNATI
Tennessee is just awful, with or without Vince Young. Although, I don't think Cincinnati is much better.

GREEN BAY at Detroit
How bad does Detroit have to get for Matt Millen to be fired?

Oakland at KANSAS CITY
Can I pick a tie here? Seriously, both these teams suck. I guess I'll continue with my rule of picking the home team when in doubt.

NY Giants at ST. LOUIS
I'm keeping my word from last week and not picking the Giants to win a game this year. Although, I have no confidence that St. Louis could beat a Pop Warner team right now.

Indianapolis at MINNESOTA
Indianapolis falls to 0-2 and we see the return of the Peyton Manning Horse Face. I'm excited!

NEW ORLEANS at Washington
I think that Washington is over rated this year. Although, I think that New Orleans is over rated, too.

Chicago at CAROLINA
Nice win by Chicago in Indy last weekend. Unfortunately, the real Kyle Orton is playing for the Bears this weekend.

Buffalo at JACKSONVILLE
I like Buffalo this year but I don't think they can topple the Jaguars on their own field.

SAN FRANCISCO at Seattle
Seattle is holding a contest with the winner getting to play wide receiver in this weekend's game.

ATLANTA at Tampa Bay
Matt Ryan leads the Falcons to two straight wins. Michael Vick continues weeping in a dark penitentiary.

Baltimore at HOUSTON
No particular reason here. I'm not even applying my when in doubt pick the home team rule. It was a completely arbitrary pick.

NEW ENGLAND at NY Jets
I'm going with New England in this game and it has nothing to do with me being a complete homer. I'm also picking them big. More to come in a special Saturday edition of Running Up The Score.

Miami at ARIZONA
Kurt Warner looked like the Kurt Warner of old last weekend.

San Diego at DENVER
I'm sticking with my prediction that San Diego misses the playoffs. Denver might be good this year with an experienced Jay Cutler leading the way.

PITTSBURGH at Cleveland
Pittsburgh in a rout. Seriously, Cleveland is in big trouble this year.

Monday, September 15
PHILADELPHIA at Dallas
Tony Romo and the Cowgirls tend to shrink in the spotlight. Look for that to continue on MNF.

I Think I May Have Been Brain Washed

2008-09-09T05:25:00.000-07:00

In the last forty eight hours since Tom Brady collapsed on the field, I've somehow gone from the Patriots being 1-15 this year to them going 11-5. At first, I didn't think a torn ACL was that big of a deal and that Tom Brady would be back after the week four bye. At the latest, I thought he'd be back for the Colts game in week nine. How long does a torn ACL take to heal anyway? But apparently even Brady is human and will miss the rest of the year (I just threw up in my mouth).

So, yes, I officially drank the Cool-Aid that Bill Belichick passes out during practice and am brainwashed into thinking that Matt Cassel is going to go from being the ultimate clip board holder to leading this team back to the Super Bowl even though Cassel hasn't started a game at quarterback since before his high school prom.

Somehow I believe that this is all just part of Belicheat's plan to level the playing field around the NFL. He looks around the league and figures that they have a pancake schedule this year so let's give Tom Brady a year off to hang with Gisele. Remember last year how the Patriots were simply crushing their opponents early on by scores of 52-7 at halftime? Well, now Belicheck wants to show that he can win the close games, too, and do it without Brady. Gotta love a guy up for a big challenge.

So in comes Matt Cassel to save the day, just like Tom Brady did when Drew Bledsoe went down in 2001. I have no doubt that Cassel will be breaking Brady's TD record this year. In fact, I'd be shocked if he isn't already dating some super model. Remember- he's been learning from Brady the last four years.

And for all of the people out there who want to quote Belicheat's record without Brady, which is 42-58, I say it has no relevance whatsoever. Seriously, have you seen the team he was handed in Cleveland? That team stunk and he took them from being a perennial loser to a playoff team. And once that team bolted for Baltimore, it took years for them to be any good again. Same thing when Belichick took over the Patriots- the team was a mess because of what Bobby Grier and Pete 'jacked and pumped' Carroll did with the draft and free agents.

So how are the Patriots going to go 11-5 without Tom Brady. Well, as Mayor Menino would say, "They'll do it with teamwork." Here's what I think:

Kansas City Chiefs W 17-10
@ New York Jets W (Belicheat would rather get caught cheating again than lose this game) 2-0
Miami Dolphins W 3-0
Week 4 Bye Week
@ San Francisco 49ers W 4-0
@ San Diego Chargers W (we own the Chargers) 5-0
vs. Denver Broncos L (Monday night in Foxboro) 5-1
vs. St. Louis Rams W 6-1
@ Indianapolis Colts L 6-2
Buffalo Bills W 7-2
vs. New York Jets W 8-2
@ Miami Dolphins L 8 - 3
vs. Pittsburgh L 8 - 4
@ Seattle Seahawks W 9 - 4
@ Oakland Raiders W 10 - 4
vs. Arizona Cardinals W 11 - 4
@ Buffalo Bills L (starters rest after Patriots clinch a first round bye) 11 - 5

I have no doubt that Belichick probably threw up when he saw Brady go down but I love the fact that he never even went over to check on Brady. It may as well have been the 53rd man on the team being helped off the field for all Belichick cared. And that's the message he sends to the entire team- no one player is any more important than another. If that means using Cassel in an efficient manner that utilizes a lot of short drop passes and screen plays while grounding it out with their running game, so be it. All I know is that this team is still Super Bowl bound.

See, I told you I drank the Cool Aid. In Belichick we trust.

Pats-Chiefs Preview

2008-09-05T05:22:00.000-07:00

Now that the preseason is out of the way, the Patriots can get down to business. And just like the Patriots, I'll get right down to business with this preview: I don't care that the Patriots went 0-4 this preseason, which is exactly how I would feel if they were to go 4-0 in the preseason. It means nothing, especially when you have people like Matt Cassel taking snaps as the starting quarterback. Cassel is on this team for one reason and one reason only: he's really good at holding a clip board.

The Patriots' opponent will be none other than the Kansas City Chiefs, who were just awful last year. They ended up 4-12 and finished the year on a nine game losing streak. But the real story is that Herm Edwards is, unbelievably, still their coach and that's never a good thing. When the Chiefs come to town with Edwards as their head coach, they should automatically be disqualified. He reminds me of the dead guy in Weekend at Bernie's with the way he handles game adjustments and play calling. No team with him as the head coach is coming here to beat the (almost) defending Super Bowl Champions. Have I told you I hate the New York Giants? In fact, I hate the San Francisco Giants, too, just because they're also Giants. If my daughter's soccer team is called the Giants this year, I'm holding a protest until it's changed and the shirts are incinerated.

From what I can tell, the Patriots will start the year off by unveling the Perfect Season 19-0 banner at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. Oops, I think it's actually a 16-0 banner but what's the difference, right? Can we watch the tape again and see if they really lost the Super Bowl. Actually, no, I don't think I want to watch the tape again. By the way, unless you're hanging Super Bowl banners, I don't want to hear about 16-0 banners. That's just lame.

Anyway, when the offense for the Patriots steps onto the field on Sunday, number 12 will be there. I don't care what people are saying about Tom Brady's foot/ankle injury. In fact, I have a hard time believing that he's even injured. Somehow, I think Brady's "injury" was Bill Belicheat's sneaky way of getting the Chiefs to feel like they had a chance in this game, which they don't. Let's remember that this is the same Brady who has been listed on the injury report with a shoulder injury for the last four years and yet, has never missed a game or received any treatment for that "injury" either.

The Patriots opened as 14 point favorites in Vegas when it was still questionable if Brady would start. That line has gone up to 16 1/2. Even Vegas doesn't believe Brady is injured.

As for Brady, this reminds me of last season when everone was so concerned about Randy Moss because he missed all of the preseason. Yeah, how'd that work out for him? How about having 98 catches for 1,493 yards and a record setting 23 touchdowns. Not bad for a guy who didn't play in the preseason.

So I don't expect the "injury" to Brady to be a concern going forward. Besides, everyone knows that the only thing that can harm Superman is kryponite and I'm pretty sure there's not much of that stuff around anymore. But the thought does bring up an interesting point. What if Brady does go down with a real injury at some point during the season? I think we could say hello to the 2008 Miami Dolphins, holders of the 1-15 record. For a coach who prepares as much as Belichick does and who is always looking for an edge in every possible category (even if it means cheating), it seems kind of scary that our backup quarterback is Matt Cassel. As for Brady, I have a feeling that he's been practicing his deep routes with Gisele all offseason so I can see him easily going 23-30, 275 yards, 3 touchdowns and that's before he even sets foot on the field.

I do have my concerns on the defensive side for the Patriots, though. Rodney HGHarrison is back again, as is Tedy Bruschi. I thought maybe the Patriots would cut ties with both of them at the end of last year so let's hope they each have another year in the tank. If not, it will still be fun watching HGHarrison trying to get away with late hits. But my real concern on the defensive side is Richard Seymour, who seems to have fallen off the face of the earth in the last year. Either he's hurt or he completely sucks because he's been a nonfactor for too long.

As for the offense, it appears that Belichick is going for the seven man backfield by brining in every available running back. I think the stacked backfield will be good because at some point Laurence Maroney's going to get hurt running into one of his own guys and we need a Lamont Jordan to step in and show him how to be a power back. I think we can expect lots of screen passes out of this offense to help take the pressure off of Moss and Brady and let's not forget about their three tight ends that will start the season on the roster.

While this weekend represents the kickoff of another NFL season, let's not forget that it also represents Bob Kraft returning to show us his unlimited collection of blue shirts with white collars. And if that doesn't get you fired up for football season than nothinig will.

Final score: Patriots 38-10.

And in honor of Herm Edwards, here's one of the oddest conversations I've ever seen. Can you ever imagine Belicheat saying anything like this?

Week 1 NFL Picks

2008-09-03T06:11:00.001-07:00

My two month vacation has ended just in time for the start of another NFL season, which kicks off this Thursday night with the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants (I just threw up a little in my mouth) taking on the Washington Redskins. The first weekend of NFL games concludes with two Monday Night Football games on Monday night (obviously).

If I had tons of money to wager, these would be my picks. And just like last year, the winning team is in CAPS.

Thursday, September 4
WASHINGTON at NY Giants
You can pencil it in right now: I won't pick the Giants to win a game all year*.

Sunday, September 7
Detroit at ATLANTA
Rookie quarterback Matt Ryan leads Atlanta to the win. Somewhere in a dark penitentiary, Michael Vick weeps.

Seattle at BUFFALO
I'm taking Buffalo here for the simple fact that I don't think Seattle is even bringing a wide receiver to the game due to injuries.

JACKSONVILLE at Tennessee
I have a feeling that Vince Young may not be the starting QB for Tennessee for very much longer. I also have a feeling that's not necessarily a bad thing.

NY Jets at MIAMI
Chad Pennington outduels Brett Favre for the win. Those are definitely words I never thought I'd write.

Kansas City at NEW ENGLAND
More to come on Friday.

TAMPA BAY at New Orleans
Tampa Bay uses its rotation of six starting QBs to knock off New Orleans.

St. Louis at PHILADELPHIA
St. Louise pretty much stunk last year. I don't see much changing this year.

Houston at PITTSBURGH
When in doubt, pick the home team.

CINCINNATI at Baltimore
Each of these teams has a 53 man roster, for a combined 106 players. Of those 106 players, 67 have criminal records. I just made that stat up but I bet you totally believed it because it's probably not too far from the truth.

CAROLINA at San Diego
Lots of people are picking San Diego as an early favorite for this year's AFC Super Bowl representative. I'd be shocked if they made the playoffs this year*.

Arizona at SAN FRANCISCO
It's never a good sign when Kurt Warner is your starting QB.

DALLAS at Cleveland
Look for Cleveland to resume its tradition of having lousy football teams this year.

Chicago at INDIANAPOLIS
I was prepared to pick whoever was playing against the Colts just because I hate them but then I figured that Jim Sorgi could probably lead the Colts to a W over Chicago even if Peyton Manning doesn't play.

Monday, September 8
MINNESOTA at Green Bay
Green Bay fans are going to find out quickly how bad Aaron Rodgers is. And yes, I said how bad because I don't think Rodgers will be able to succeed in Green Bay*.

Denver at OAKLAND
You know how when two teams meet early in the season and people say stupid things like, "Both of these teams are so good that this could be a playoff preview, folks." Yeah, this isn't one of those games.

* I reserve the right to change my mind.

Blame It On The Rain

2008-07-08T06:40:00.001-07:00

Gotta love Jonathan Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen (even though he's kind of shaky on his best night). During a recent rain delay at Fenway Park, they posted a video of Papelbon and Delcarmen lip syncing to a lip synced version of Blame It On The Rain by Milli Vanilli. I'm starting to think that Papelbon isn't acting when he does crazy stuff like this- he might just be insane. At least Papelbon shows that he can cover a wide variety of music between the Drop Kick Murphy's and Milli Vanilli.

Fire Up The Duck Boats Again

2008-07-03T05:54:00.000-07:00

Can anyone beat us at anything? Seriously, the Red Sox have the best record in the American League despite having a ton of injuries and playing like a AAA team all year. They're also the defending World Series Champions. The Celtics just capped off one of the most historic turn arounds in sports history to capture their first NBA Title in 22 years and the Patriots were the first NFL team to ever start a season 18-0. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it didn't turn out so good in the end but at least I'm now admitting that they lost the Super Bowl. Are we really sure that happened?

Anyway, now comes word that a Chicopee, MA man has won the 2008 National Rock Paper Scissors League Championship. Sean Sears, 23, threw a rock to demolish his opponent's scissors to win the $50,000 first prize and a chance to compete in the inaugural International Rock Paper Scissors Federation Championship to be held in Beijing, China, during the Summer Olympics. There, he will compete against champions from Canada, Guam, Hong Kong and Ireland for the title of the world's best Rock Paper Scissors player. Is there any doubt he'll dominate on the world stage? Didn't think so.

And to top things off, I just learned that a 10 year old kid from Longmeadow, MA was crowned the World Champion Cup Stacker. Steven Purugganan's quick hand movements amazed onlookers at the 2008 World Sport Stacking Championships, setting two world records at the tournament.

And don't even tell me you've never heard of National Rock Paper Scissors League Championship or the World Sport Stacking Championships. Does ESPN cover quality programming like this?

And I totally expect Boston runner to dominate the Boston Marathon next year, or at least have a local finish in the top 1000.

Regardless, it’s just one World Championship after another in the City of Champions. What don’t we rule at? If anyone deserves a parade, it's these guys.

Some Links That You May or May Not Enjoy

2008-06-23T04:33:00.000-07:00

Celtics celebrate Banner 17 with Hub victory march. Who's got dibs on the next parade- Red Sox, Patriots or Celtics? I'll take the Patriots.

Pierce took the long road to greatness. Paul Pierce almost being stabbed to death seems like a long time ago.

Schilling's season over, perhaps career, too. Kind of sad to see Curt go out like this but he's had a good run and I'm pretty confident that we wouldn't have won two World Series titles without him.

All eyes on Mrs. Manning. Seriously guys, clean yourselves up. Say what you want about Tom and Gisele but at least they've never been photographed looking like they've just come home from a night of drunken party going.

Specter says he's too busy for Spygate probe. Listen, I completely agree that Specter should drop his fight against Spygate but I don't believe he's too busy. I think it's summer and he's got vacation plans.

Kobe Bryant says he won't play GM this summer. The more I see Bryant, the more I dislike him but if he thinks he feels like the current Lakers team can compete again next year, he's dead wrong. That team is soft and gutless and has no chance of an NBA Championship as currently constructed. This sort of reminds me of the time that Pedro Martinez said he wasn't going to talk to the media anymore and it lasted about two hours.

Oldest living major leaguer has stories to tell. This is a pretty cool story about a 100 year old former major league baseball player.

Why I'm sick of Boston. Or they could have titled this article 'Why I'm so jealous of Boston because no team in my state has any chance of winning a title for years to come and I'm just a big cry baby about it.' I take great pride in the fact that people hate Boston right now because we're the center of the sports universe. Although, I agree with him about Bill Simmons. He's almost unreadable at this point.

Player poll: Jeter overrated. This just confirms what we've all known for years.

Roger Clemens: used car salesman. This might be rock bottom for The Rocket. He's selling his cars to pay for his legal bills. My only question is what happened to the $200 million he made playing baseball?

I'm not sure the fun is ever going to stop in Boston:

Is It Really A Rolling Rally If There's No Rally?

2008-06-20T04:46:00.000-07:00

In Boston, we've started calling our victory celebrations Rolling Rally's. Kind of lame but we're too busy celebrating championships left and right to put much thought into it. Anyway, since yesterday's Rolling Rally didn't have a rally, is it just a Rolling? And for all of you out there who have never seen a Rolling Rally or a Rolling before, here you go:

Boston Celtics

Boston Red Sox

New England Patriots

And just in case you're interested in coughing up your breakfast, here's Glenn "Big Baby" Davis dancing around with no shirt at yesterday's Rolling.

Belichick Gets Schooled By Doc

2008-06-19T04:33:00.000-07:00

As we all know, the Celtics won banner number 17 two nights ago and it's pretty much been a nonstop party since that time. There's really nothing better than seeing a hometown team dominate the news in Boston, New England and across the country. I even love hearing the fake applause that Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen got on David Letterman's show last night. If he hosted that show in Boston and the Knicks had just won the NBA Championship and New York players were coming on the show, I guarantee you that we would boo them. That's just how we roll in Massachusetts.

Now to the point of this post: During game six, I thought I kept seeing Bill Belichick sitting under the Celtics hoop and, sure enough, I was right. He was with girlfriend Linda Holliday again and I can only hope that she was the one taking notes on how to close out games. I never in a million years thought I'd ever say anything like this but I think that Belichick could learn a lot from Doc Rivers. Doc seemed to make all of the right moves, made some big in game adjustments to either help his team hold onto a lead or to help them overcome large deficits and listened to his star players when they wanted to switch defensive assignments (Paul Pierce asking to guard Kobe "Therapist" Bryant in game four).

By contrast, we have Belichick playing the role of Phil Jackson at last year's Super Bowl. Belichick was the one coming in with all of the Super Bowl trophies (Jackson was trying to break Red Auerbach's record for coaching championships) but couldn't adjust to his team getting demolished on the biggest stage. There were no in game adjustments by Belichick that gave his team a chance on the offensive or defensive side of the ball. In game six of the NBA Finals, the Celtics kept pouring it on in the closing minutes but in the Super Bowl, the Patriots played prevent defense on the Giants' last possession. The only thing that the prevent defense does is prevent you from winning. Doc's star players came through down the stretch, as opposed to Belichick's star players shrinking (Rodney HGHarrison, Asante Samuel, and the entire offensive line).

Yeah, I know that this is like comparing apples and oranges but in each sports biggest game, Doc Rivers totally dominated Bill Belichick. And let's not forget that Belichick was the one leaving the stadium with time left on the clock while Doc stayed around for a nice refreshing Gatorade shower.

As Mayor Mennino says, "Weah gonna have a pawade in dis town!"

NBA Goes Green

2008-06-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

That was an awful long flight to make across the country just to get yourself embarassed. I guess I'm not as surpised by the outcome of the game and the series as I am that this Lakers team was actually the Western Conference's representative. This Lakers team looks soft and gutless and I'm shocked they were able to beat Golden State, Utah and San Antonio. Is that the best the West has?

I said after the game five loss that I was even more confident about the Celtics winning game six than I would have been had they won game five (and yes, I still realize that makes no sense). My point is that this Lakers team was totally exposed in every facet of the game throughout the series. Don't all of those predictions by national experts look pretty silly now?

Here are some thoughts on World Championship number 17 for the Boston Celtics and the sixth championship that Boston has celebrated this decade.

· The Lakers were simply destroyed in this game. Their first offensive rebound didn't come until the fouth quarter, which is nearly impossible to do when you only shoot 42 percent for the game. They missed 19 shots in the first quarter alone and never got one second chance. You're not winning when you play like that.

· I was sort of disappointed that Kevin Garnett didn't spontaneously combust at some point during this game. I actually can't blame the Lakers players for not wanting to drive to the hoop with Garnett around. I just wish he could take over games like this more often. For some reason, I have a feeling that he's still out partying somewhere.

· Can someone check Phil Jackson's pulse to make sure he's alive? I know he's the Zen master and everything but it might help your team to act like you care. And has he ever heard of in-game adjustments? Did he watch any film in between games to try to mix things up and come up with a new way to stop the Celtics? I realize that I have no coaching experience so take this for what it's worth: it might be a good idea to have someone cover Ray Allen on all of those three pointers that he's knocking down. Seriously, was Jackson's strategy to give Allen as much room as possible in the hopes that it would freak him out or something and cause him to miss? I actually love the fact that the Celtics prevented Jackson from breaking Red Auerbach's record of NBA Championships by a coach.

· I owe a huge apology to Kobe Bryant. He is an unbelievable talent and quite possibly could be under rated because of his fierce tenacity on the defensive end and his ability to score from anywhere on the court at any time. . . in the first quarter. He pretty much sucks after that.

· The in game interviews with Michelle Tafoya are stupid. The players and coaches don't look like they want anything to do with her and no one reveals anything of relevance. And her postgame interview with Kevin Garnett was ridiculous and they should have cut away from it. Overall, ABC/ESPN did a horrible job with this series. There were few too replays shown of good plays and controversial calls. I did think it was funny that they showed Danny Ainge in the stands for about thirty seconds while we missed the play on the court last night, though. At one point, I thought Ainge was actually going to suggest they film the game instead of him.

· The technical foul on Doc Rivers was a good move by him. Prior to that point, the refs were calling some pretty cheap stuff on the Celtics and letting the Lakers get away with a lot of grabbing. After the T, the game was called pretty evenly.

· Doc probably should have been called for another technical foul for running up the score. With the celebration well underway, the Celtics were still launching threes and driving to the hoop. And I loved every minute of it.

· I sort of wish that Eddie House had just handed the ball to one of the Lakers as the 24 second clock expired just before the game ended.

· I loved Doc putting in Glenn "Big Baby" Davis. The guy hadn't played a minute in the Finals and here he is coming in to guard Paul Gaso and Gaso still can't score. One of my favorite plays was of Gaso backing down and bumping into Davis so Davis simply steps aside as Gaso is about to bump him and Gaso falls to the floor and turns the ball over.

· Did Sasha Vujacic make the flight across the counrty or did he decide to fly straight home after being embarassed for the first five games?

· On the way to their 17th Championship Banner, the Celtics' 18 steals were a Finals record, Ray Allen tied a Finals record by making seven 3-pointers (and 22 in the series, also a Finals record), and the 17th Banner was won in Boston's 26th postseason game, another NBA record. They also had the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. And before all of this happened, the Celtics also made the biggest single-season turnaround ever, going from 24 victories a year ago to 66 this season.

· I'm going to bed at eight o'clock tonight.

And somewhere, Red's smiling down on Boston today.

And just in case you forgot, I predicted Celtics in six.

In Honor of Willie Randolph

2008-06-17T05:24:00.000-07:00

In case you're just hearing the news, New York Mets manager Willie Randolph was fired at 3 am this morning. Here's the story from ESPN. Has a manager ever lost control of a team faster than Randolph (besides Joe Kerrigan and Grady Little, that is)? His stock has fallen so far in the past year that I couldn't even find any good video clips to pay tribute to him.

So instead, here's the footage from this past weekend's game where the Mets and Texas Rangers were rained out and several Rangers stormed the field to play slip n' slide on the tarp. This type of thing should happen at every rain out. In fact, it should be in the player contracts. Although, I don't understand why it was the visiting Rangers players doing this as opposed to the hometown Mets. Kudos to the Mets fans for sticking around long enough to cheer on the Rangers. Way to support the local team. That type of stuff would never happen in Boston. Or are we officially called the City of Champions now?

Let's Just Have the Parade and End This

2008-06-16T04:40:00.001-07:00

After watching game 5 of the NBA Finals last night, I feel even more confident that the Celtics will close this thing out tomorrow night than I would have if the Celtics had actually won last night. Yeah, I know, that makes no sense. My point is that I don't think the Lakers are any good. Say what you will about the Celtics (and I'll get to them in a minute) but how big of a lead do the Lakers need in order to win? If we gave the Lakers a 50 point lead to start the game, I think the Celtics would come back and tie it at 60.

Here are just a few thoughts on last night's game:

· I'm not sure what to think of the officiating in last night's game. I guess it was pretty bad all around. Or maybe they've just changed the rules and I don't know about them yet. Are you allowed to take two steps or six steps with the ball? Paul Pierce looks to be one of the worst offenders of the new six steps without having to dribble rule. And I guess you can now move directly in front of someone after they've already jumped and get the offensive interference call. That happened a few times to both teams and I think it's pretty lame.

· I can totally see why Kevin Garnett has gotten a bad rap for his poor playoff performances when he was with Minnesota. Everyone always talked about how he was never surrounded with the talent to go deep in the playoffs but I think it's apparent that he's just not that good under pressure. He looks scared out on the floor in big moments. He's passing the ball off nearly every time he touches it. He's throwing up bricks at the free throw line with a chance to tie the game. On the defensive end he was called for some cheap fouls but he also needs to play smarter defense at times. If Garnett had to sink Tiger Woods' 12 foot putt yesterday at the U.S. Open to force a plyoff, I think he would have missed it by 14 feet and then four putted to finish in fourth place.

· I love how James Posey refused to let anyone score after the play was whistled dead. Usually guys continue to play an additional second or two after the whistle blows and every time one of the Lakers took a shot after the whistle was blown, he went up and grabbed the ball before it had a chance to go in the hoop. I also like him fouling Lamar Odom about five seconds after the play was whisteld dead. Hey, if Odom wants to continue playing after the whistle, I see nothing wrong with Posey going in for another foul.

· Say what you will about the inability of the Lakers to hold a lead but why do the Celtics feel the need to stink in the first quarter? Not sure if that's the home court advantage, nerves or just being outplayed but it would be nice to play with a lead every once in a while.

· Nice of Kobe Bryant to show up. . . for the first quarter.

· On that note, it's time to hide the women and children. Kobe Bryant's coming back to town.

· Is Rajon Rondo hurt or does he just suck? At this point, I think I'd rather see Alien Cassell playing point guard.

· Who are all those people in suits on the Lakers bench? Seriously, does Phil Jackson need eight assistant coaches? Apparently he does.

· Best play of the night: Sam Cassell and Sash Vujacic both have their hands on the ball and Vujacic tries to rip it out of Cassell's hands at the same time that Cassell lets go, causing Vujacic to basically throw himself to the floor in a violent, contorted movement.

· I'm not sure I understand all of the three point shooting on both sides. The Celtics were 8-22, the Lakers 8-27 last night. It's one thing to have that many when you're nailing them but neither team has been good from three point range.

· The Celtics will break the record for most playoff games in a postseason when they tip off on Tuesday night, which will be their 26th game. With the loss last night, the Celtics fell to 3-9 on the road this postseason, which tied a record for the most road losses in a single postseason. The 2008 Celtics, breaking records any chance they get.

· The Celtics are 47-7 at home this season, playoffs included.

· The only chance I see of the Lakers coming remotely close to pulling this thing off is if Kendrick Perkins separates his shoulder, Rajon Rondo sprains his ankle and decides to take away Sam Cassell's part as The Mole, Paul Pierce comes down with multiple muscle sprains and Eddie House gets hit so hard on a non call that he starts bleeding uncontrollably from the head. Huh? That's all happened? Uh-oh.

· I said it before and I'll say it again: Celtics in six.

It's Almost Time to Fire Up The Duck Boats

2008-06-13T03:43:00.000-07:00

In game two of the NBA Finals, the Celtics nearly blew a 22 point lead, which would have been the largest deficit ever overcome in an NBA Finals game. Luckily, the Celtics never relinquished the lead and held on for the win. Following that game, everyone was saying how the Lakers' ability to make game two close at the end would provide them momentum heading home to LA.

Well, in a battle of showmanship, the Celtics decided to try for the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history last night. And you know that if you're going for the biggest Finals comeback in history, you've got to give the other team a huge lead. And the Celtics did just that- they gave the Lakers a 24 point lead and then stormed back for a shocking 97-91 win. Is this the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history or the greatest collapse? Perhaps a little of both? Here are just a few thoughts on the game:

· I wrote in my NBA Finals preview column that the NBA and David Stern were fools for starting these games so late on the East Coast. I wonder how many people missed seeing the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history because these games are simply on too late. I can suck it up and go without much sleep but how many kids missed seeing this? That's a whole generation of potential NBA fans that missed one of the most exciting games in NBA history.

· You would think that in light of the officiating scandal that the NBA would tell the refs to call the game a little more even. I don't care if you call fouls on hand checks but call it evenly on both ends of the court. I think a Celtics player had to be bleeding in order to get a foul called. My favorite non call was during the fourth quarter when Ray Allen is bringing up the ball and Rodmanovich has both his hands on Allen's chest. That play isn't even legal in the NFL, let alone the NBA. I love how Doc and the Celtics have handled the officiating in LA- they've said nothing and have persevered in spite of an obvious Laker biase.

· Congratulations to Sasha Vujacic for being the first person to never commit a foul. What a cry baby. I loved the play where he and Ray Allen got tied up, fell to the floor and then Vujacic kicks his feet and tries to trap Allen's legs. Apparently that's a legal play in Vujacic's home country. Nice defense in the final minute, too. Was it his strategy to just let Allen blow by him?

· I'm not sure what to think of Kevin Garnett. He's obviously not putting up huge offensive numbers but he's been a beast on the defensive side. It would just be nice to see him have another way to score than his fall away shot. I just feel like he should be able to dominate on the offensive end and either go in for some easy layups/dunks or kick it back out to an open shooter. Having said that, he's averaged a double double for the first four games.

· It's nice to see that Doc Rivers has finally figured out the Sam Cassell is The Mole and has since cut his playing time. That guy is terrible.

· Absolutely terrible job by ESPN/ABC on the coverage of this game. They never showed any replays of possible fouls, except when it involved Bryant. Any close call was never shown, which has to be a direct order from the league. In addition, they had the cameras on the announcers during several plays, including one with less than a minute left. And is my eyesight going bad or are their graphics impossible to read?

·Can we stop comparing Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan? This type of collapse would never have happened to Jordan and the Bulls. Never. And to top it off, Bryant talked about going out and having beer and 20 shots of vodka after the game. Look, Jordan was no angel, either, but Bryant is a pure loser. And in the interest of my readers check out this site, www.kb24overrated.com to see the career stats of Jordan and Bryant. Those two should never be compared in the same sentence again. On a side note, I love how the Lakers fans are chanting MVP when Bryant goes to the line. Do they know he already won the MVP award?

· I wish the TV timeouts were just a little longer so that I could cut my lawn during a timeout. Maybe take a quick trip to the grocery store, too.

· Has anyone seen Paul Gaso?

· I have no faith in Rajon Rondo, the Celtics point guard. I know he's injured but he also looks like he's afraid to take a shot. There were at least five occasions last night where he had a clear path to the basket and never shot the ball. On one play, he drove right under the hoop and kept running.

· I know this is typical sports talk, but I think Paul Pierce wants this more than anyone else. He played phenomenal defense on Bryant in the second half and had the energy to be a force on the offensive side, too. I still have no idea how he blocked Bryant's fall away jumper and was still aware enough to grab the loose ball and hit Ray Allen streaking down court.

· I know that Phil Jackson's whole persona is built around that Zen thing but it might be nice if he acted like he cared about his team blowing the largest lead in NBA Finals history. Going into this series I thought the Lakers had a huge coaching edge. Jackson has been here before and this was a first for Doc. This sort of reminds me of Tom Coughlin outcoaching Bill Belichick in the Super Bowl.

· Counting the regular season, the Celtics and Lakers have played six times. The Celtics have won five of those games. Do you really think it's conceivable that the Lakers are taking the next three? Fire up the duck boats!

Youk Deserved to Get Slapped!?

2008-06-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

So last week Manny Ramirez slapped Kevin Youkilis in the dugout and it has gone largely unnoticed in Boston. In fact, for all of the Manny Being Manny moments we've had over the years, this one is getting the least amount of air time, both in the papers and on the radio. It's almost like it never happened. Maybe it's the fact that the Celtics are on the verge of crushing Kobe and the Kobette's for banner number 17 or the fact that we've all been so wrapped up in the Stanley Cup Finals (yawn).

It appears that the real story is now coming out on the fight and it's apparently Youk's fault. Check out this Boston Herald article that explains Youk's intensity and his frustration at making an out. Still don't see how it's Youk's fault?

I guess I get it now. Youk plays hard, has always been a team guy (remember how they kept optioning him to AAA a few years ago because he was the only one with options left even though he was better than most of the players on the team?), rarely makes any mental mistakes, plays flawless defense at first base, always talks to the media following a good or bad night but apparently has a penchant for taking things out on the water cooler in the dugout. I'm cool with that.

On the other hand, we have Manny Being Manny who likes to take days off when the team is shorthanded, lollygags to first on almost every play, stands in the batters box admiring long balls that sometimes don't even go out of the park, makes a ton of baserunning errors and never talks to the media. This is a guy that even President Bush made fun of for not showing up at the White House earlier this year for a team gathering and Bush bashed him for always using the excuse that his grandmother died.

And somehow people think Youk deserved to get slapped? I don't get it. This isn't another Manny Being Manny moment. This is Manny Being an Idiot and apparently he's going to get a free pass on this one.

The incident takes place around the :30 second mark of the video below. I wish John Madden could do the play by play on this video because it would go something like this . . . "Okay, watch right here. We see Manny coming back to the dugout. Keep watching. Wait for it. Right here. BOOM! There's the hard slap to the face by Manny. I don't know what Manny was thinking but he gets the Thanksgiving Turkey leg for that hit."

From now on, when someone gets sucker punched, I think it should be called "getting Youk'd."

Is This The Best The Lakers Can Do?

2008-06-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

Just wondering if it's okay to feel even more confident about the Celtics winning this series AFTER a loss. That was a complete gimmie by the Celtics- Paul Pierce took the night off, Kevin Garnett only decided to show up after half time, they turned the ball over one out of every three possessions, they left Sam Cassell in for about ten minutes too long, they were playing on the road, and they were in foul trouble all night long (or as we like to say here on the East Coast, the refs had it in for the Celtics from the start).

If you told me before the game that KG and PP would only score 19 points between them I would have guessed the Celtics would have lost by at least 20, maybe even 30. But they only lost by six points because the Lakers are a terrible offensive team unless Kobe Bryant carries them on his back. Yeah, he scored 36 last night but I never once felt like he was dominant. Perhaps that's because he was at the free throw line so much. If this is all the Lakers have, they're in serious trouble. As cool as it would be for Boston to win the championship at home, this series might only be going five.

And for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, here's the footage from game 2 at the Staples Center where the classy Lakers fans team up on the lone Celtics fan. I sort of side with the Lakers fans on this one- you're just asking for trouble if you show up in Celtics garb but the only shot the Lakers have of beating the Celtics is if they team up on them like this. Nice job by security to do absolutely nothing.

Catching Up With Tom and Bill

2008-06-10T05:07:00.001-07:00

You've probably all been wondering what I've been up to the last few months that I haven't been blogging. Well, I'm proud to say that I was jetting around with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and have some (not-so) exlusive photos from our time together. Now, you may think that the devastating loss to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl would drive these two into the bowels of Gillette Stadium where they would plot and scheme how to become the first team to ever go 22-0 next year on their way to re-breaking every offensive statistic know to man. Well, think again, my good friends, because things aren't always what they seem:

Exhibit A:
Apparently losing the Super Bowl didn't affect Brady too much because here he's seen at some fancy schmancy art opening. I have no clue how Brady could possibly care about anything artsy when the Manning's own the last two Super Bowls. Nice hair, Pat Riley.

Exhibit 2:
The only reason anyone would ever have for wearing such big ugly sunglasses is because you had been lamenting the loss of the Super Bowl for weeks on end. Somehow I don't think that's the case in this photo. I don't care how much you like Gisele, no woman is worth being seen in public wearing those sunglasses. Nice scarf, pretty boy.

Exhibit C:
It was nice to see Brady at one of the Celtics' recent playoff games. Although, I have no clue why he'd be wearing that ridiculous hat. Is it too much to ask for him to wear some home town colors every once in a while?

Exhibit 2:
I was so blindsided by the Yankees hat that I almost didn't realize Brady was wearing white shorts before Memorial Day. I'm no fashion wizard but I think that's outlawed in five or six states.

Exhibit F:
Oh great, here we go again with the white shorts. Umm, note to Tom- no one wears flip flops to play golf.

Exhibit E:
This photo was snapped at a recent opening of the Ermenegildo Zegna store. And no, I have no clue what that store sells nor do I care. My only concern is that Brady is standing next to Eli Manning and somehow Manning survived. The fashion faux paus are one thing but standing next to Eli Manning is another. What's next, the Manning boys and Brady going camping together? Come on Tom, how about some photos of you studying film, throwing a football or working out (or with your kid).

I know what you're thinking- that since Brady is off having a good time, that Belichick must be the one putting in 168 hour work weeks in an attempt to hide video equipment in the opponents locker room or coming up with a better game plan for the last Super Bowl. If that's what you were thinking, you're mistaken.

Exhibit A:
Breaking news Bill: losing the Super Bowl isn't funny and neither is your girlfriend or your two kids. At least you're not wearing a Knicks hat.

Exhibit B:
I'm not sure if Belichick is actually kissing this lady or competing in a competition to see how far away from someone he can stand and still have their lips touch. I'm thinking it's the latter. That's what I love about Belichick. Always competing. There's literally no other contact going on- sort of how Rodney HGHarrison plays defense.

Exhibit 3:
This is more like it, Bill. Now could we get some photos of you doing some legal football stuff, too?

Some Links That You May or May Not Enjoy

2008-06-07T04:26:00.000-07:00

Specter again calls for Spygate investigation. Doesn't this guy have anything else to do?

'Gino' fever grips Boston. Is it bad that I live in Boston and this is the first time I've ever heard of Gino? I've already admitted that I'm not a huge Celtics fan. I'm just a huge fan of parades.

Knife unlikely for Ortiz. This is some much-needed good news but I still have a hard time believing that he'll be back any time soon.

Patriots lineman gets busted for drugs then helps DEA. I don't know what to make of this story. Nick Kaczur gets busted with some painkillers and then all of a sudden is helping the DEA? Something doesn't add up because all he had to say was he couldn't play through the pain and needed the drugs. Heck, does anyone around here remember that Rodney Harrison admitted HGH use? We're sort of forgiving when it comes to our own but I don't see this ending well for Kaczur.

Annoying Boston fans in full force at finals. Is this guy suggesting that Boston fans are annoying? If he is, I'm very proud to be a Boston fan (even if I'm not a huge Celtics fan). Annoying is part of my DNA.

Tuna wants Taylor back. I don't see this ending well in Miami. And I don't care how much you like dancing, if I played with Jason Taylor, I would have no respect for him.

Kid can do it all on one leg. This is some pretty amazing stuff.

Twins to take a gallon of gas off ticket prices. Instead of this promotion, why didn't the Twins just keep Johan Santana?

Detroit wins Stanley Cup. Just in case you're thinking that I suddenly love hockey, think again. I was only surprised to see that they were still playing in June. Doesn't their training camp open in two weeks?

Coco Crisp sparks fight night at Fenway.Coco Crap is the last guy who should be getting in a fight. Not only is he not very good but he's only playing because of injuries to other players. And he did all of this with a sprained thumb. When all is said and done, trading for Coco will go down as a terrible move for Theo Epstein.

And speaking of the game Thursday night, here's some footage of Coco Crap charging the mound. And can you tell me why, in the middle of a brawl, Mike Timlin is seen hugging one of the Rays players? Check it out around the 1:22 mark. Timlin's locker should be cleaned out when he gets to Fenway today, no questions asked. He pretty much sucks right now anyway so it's not like we'd be missing much.

I searched and searched for the Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis footage but apparently those tapes have already been burned by the commissioner. Instead, enjoy these top ten Manny Being Manny moments:

Just Another Day At The Office

2008-06-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was just another typical day at the old sports office here in Boston. In the last twelve hours, here's what's gone down:

1. Coco Crisp gets beaned in the leg and charges the mound.

2. Jacoby Ellsbury gets hurt making a diving catch (this could have huge repurcussions for the Pilgrims, my fantasy baseball team).

4. Manny Ramirez hits Kevin Youkilis in the face between innings. The announcers say that Youkilis looks bewildered by the event but I can't tell because Youk always looks that way.

R. Red Sox finish off a sweep of the Devil Rays and go a game and a half up on the Devil Rays in the standings. Hopefully this will be the demise of the Devil Rays. Are they just the Rays now? Did they drop the Devil?

4. Coco Crisp tells reporters after the game that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays fight "like a bunch of girls." Coco looks like a girl.

T. Celtics kick off their first NBA Finals appearance in 21 years by introducing someone who is not currently on the team because of an injury and then skipping Brian Scalabrine. It's hard to tell if anyone is actually at the Garden because the player introductions are so quite. They didn't even boo Kobe Bryant when he was announced.

6. NBA unveils Larry Bird/Magic Johnson commerical in which both players look like they belong to the local beer bowling league:

7. One of the main announcers for the game has a bandage on his forehead. His lips are moving but I don't hear one thing he said because I'm too busy staring at the bandaid. ABC should have sold advertising on that thing.

7. Paul Pierce gets carried off the court by teamates in what looks like it could be a career ending injury, perhaps even life threatening. All local Boston hospitals are standing by to assist in a life saving operation.

8. Two minutes later, Paul Pierce returns from getting taken off the court and goes berserk on the Lakers and propels the Celtics to victory.

B. Kobe Bryant looks like me shooting baskets during the fourth quarter (not a good sign).

10. Celtics win Game 1.

Yup, just another day at the old sports office. Just a quick question, would sports cease to exist if it weren't for Boston? I think so.

Beat LA! Beat the Rays! Beat LA! Beat the Rays!

Manny Being Manny

2008-06-04T04:49:00.000-07:00

You may or may not know that Manny Ramirez hit his 500th home run over the weekend. What I can't figure out is if he hit it at Fenway Park or in Baltimore.

Seriously, are there any Orioles fans out there? That's kind of pathetic to have the home crowd going nuts for another team's player, even someone who just hit his 500th home run. I sort of expected a decent round of applause but while I was watching the video, I thought they were going to bring him out for a curtain call or two or have him do the Cal Ripken lap around the stadium, similar to when Ripken broke the consecutive games played streak. Perhaps that's why the O's are in last place. Well, that and the fact that Kevin Millar is their starting first baseman.

Looking back on the celebration, I guess I'm sort of dissapointed that Baltimore didn't have some type of huge banner unroll with the number 500 on it, a huge picture of Manny, a video highlight film of every one of his 500 home runs and the unveiling of Manny Being Manny Highway.

When you're watching the video below, check out Julio Lugo's reaction to the home run when Manny comes back to the dugout. First, he gives him a hug that lasts waaaaay too long before Manny even gets to the dugout steps. Then, after Manny has high fived everyone, we see Lugo return for a second helping of another waaaaay too long hug.

And in case you missed Manny's catch and high five earlier in the year, here it is. This is classic Manny being Manny. He probably doesn't even know what ball park he's playing or the score of the game but he's conscious enough to make a nice running catch, run another five steps, leap up the outfield wall and high five someone in the crowd. Classic Manny. This also took place in Baltimore and, as you can hear, the crowd is going nuts. Way to support the local team. They should rename Camden Yard to Fenway South.

Beat LA

2008-06-02T05:50:00.000-07:00

Similar to the Celtics' 21 year hiatus from the NBA finals, I'm also back to blogging. I've got lots of stuff to catch up on but I thought I'd come back with a Celtics - Lakers NBA Championship preview. Please keep in mind that I've watched a total of about 30 minutes of NBA basketball over the last five years so you know you're getting an educated and informed opinion.

First things first. I pretty much hate the Lakers and it has nothing to do with living in Boston. In fact, I'm not really sure why I hate them. Maybe it's just part of the New England DNA. I just find it hard to like Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson and some guy who refuses to put an 'l' on the end of his first name (Pau Gasol). I mean, couldn't he take the 'l' from the end of his last name and stick it on the end of his first name? Is that asking too much? Apparently so.

Anyway, since the Celtics closed out the Deeetroit Pistons on Friday night, I've been trying to talk myself into picking the Celtics to win the NBA Championship. And it ain't working. I do have to admit that it would be wicked awesome for Boston sports teams to be holding the MLB World Series trophy, the NFL Super Bowl trophy and the NBA Trophy all in the same year. And to think that we were one win away from the New England Revolution winning the MLS trophy.

Yeah, I know that the Celtics had the best record in the NBA during the regular season, going 66-16 for an .805 winning percentage. But they've looked totally and completly lost during the playoffs. They needed seven games to beat the Atlanta Hawks (an under .500 team), seven games to beat LeBron James and 11 other people I've never heard of and six games to beat an aging and banged up Deeetroit Pistons team. At least it looks like the Celtics remembered how to win on the road in the Deeetroit series.

On the other side, the Lakers finished the year with the third best record in the NBA at 57-25 for a .695 winning percentage and then steamrolled the Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz and the defending champion San Antonio Spurs- those are just slightly better teams than the ones the Celtics squeaked by.

In my attempt to talk myself into picking the Celtics, I did a quick run down of the starting five for each team and I don't like what I see. I think that Derek Fisher is going to dominate Rajon Rondo at the point guard position. And I certainly don't like Paul Gaso on Kendrick Perkins, even though Perkins has seemed to be playing more physical lately (or at least the three minutes I saw of the game last week). I also have to admit that I don't really like the idea of Lamar Odom on Paul Pierce either. Ever since David Stern fined Pierce for making gang symbols, Pierce hasn't been the same, with the exception of game seven verse LeBron where Pierce single handedly carried the C's to victory. The one matchup that I do like is Kevin Garnett against Vladimr Radmanovic and that's just because I never root for people with the last name of Radmanovic. But even Garnett at times looks like he's shying away from taking big shots and controlling the game.

All this brings me to Kobe Bryant against Ray Allen. Bryant was the league MVP in a bit of a controversial call because Garnett had helped to lead the Celtics to the NBA's biggest turnaround ever, played unselfish offense, made everyone else on this team much better and was the defensive player of the year. But I have to believe that if there was a revote for MVP held today, I don't think Garnett would get a single vote. That's how much he has disappeared in the playoffs. But Bryant has continued to elevate his game and I don't see anyone on the Celtics stopping him, especially an old Ray Allen who can't seem to find the hoop on a consistent basis (not a good sign if you're only on the team for your outside shooting ability). As ugly as Sam Cassell is, that's how bad Allen has played in this year's playoffs. And speaking of Cassell, why is he on this team? He can't hit a shot unless he's the only one in the key, is so slow that Shaq can outrun him and makes a ton of turnovers (not a good sign for a back up point guard). Did I mention that I think he's really ugly? Seriously, he's so ugly that I didn't even want to post a photo of him. (You know how you know you're ugly? When people don't want to post photos of you because you're so ugly).

I was originally prepared to unleash a total bashing on Doc Rivers in this column but in my extensive research (like five minutes), I think I've convinced myself that he's done a better job than I thought. Danny Ainge did a great job in the offseason of assembling this team but then Doc had to be the one to manage all of the egos, who got the shots, how much time to play his starters when they wrapped up home court advantage on New Year's Day and still keep everyone happy. And you know what? He did it. He took a squad that no one knew how they would play together and helped them to the best record in the regular season and now he's four wins away from a huge contract extension.

On a semi-side note to the NBA Championship, who the heck is going to watch this? The games aren't going to start until 9:20 pm. Yeah, I know for all of those crazy LA folks, that's like starting at 6:20 pm. But out here on the better side of the country, these games aren't going to end until after midnight. Good way to get a younger audience involved in your sport. I can understand starting the week day games at night, but why not an hour earlier? And is it necessary to have two Sunday night games start at 9:20? What's the rationale for that? Actually, I know that the rationale is all about advertising dollars and the 24-54 male viewing audience between 9-11 pm but some day there's going to be a whole segment of 24-54 old males who don't care about this game.

So now my pick. On the surface, it looks like the C's are in a ton of trouble. I don't like the starting five matchups and even though Doc Rivers has done an admirable coaching job this year, I would never pick Doc over Phil Jackson, who has won so many NBA titles that I didn't even bother to look it up. In the end, I feel like picking the C's over the Lakers would be like picking the New York Giants to beat an 18-0 Patriots team in last year's Super Bowl. Did you really think that Tom Coughlin would outcoach Bill Belichick in a Super Bowl? I mean, who in their right mind would think that an undermanned NFL team going to their first Super Bowl would beat the MVP, coach of the year and the perennial contender? Something like that happening could only be pulled off if an unknown receiver came out of no where to make an amazing catch that would ultimately lead to the winning touchdown with less than a minute left. Huh? That happened? The Patriots lost the Super Bowl? Seriously? If the Celtics win we're only going to have two champions in this city, not three?

Screw it. If Tom Coughlin can do it, so can Doc. Celtics in six!

Beat LA! Beat LA! Beat LA! Beat LA!

Josh Beckett is Wicked Smaht

2008-03-12T09:15:00.000-07:00

So the talk of the town around here (even bigger than the Elliot #9 Spitzer prostitution story and Mumbles Menino being the 109th highest paid City of Boston employee) is that Josh Beckett has a crippling back injury that may force him into a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In fact, Beckett may only live another month or two because of this rare, newfound terminal condition.

Actually, that's not quite true but based on the coverage of Beckett's 'injury,' you'd think the guy was some kind of number one ace for the defending World Series Champions. Oh, yeah, he is the number one ace for the defending World Series Champions!

I have to admit that I'm not quite sure what's going on here. Is Beckett really injured? He may very well be but I'm not buying it. I just think he's way smahtah than everyone else and has found a way out of going to the season opening series in Japan. And who can blame him? Beckett is the backbone of this team right now and is by far the best pitcher that they have. Do you honestly think that Beckett wants to get on a plane and sit for close to 20 hours straight, pitch against the Oakland A's in Japan and then make the return 20 hour flight home? I'm guessing no.

And he's gotta be looking at Daisuke Matsuzaka and thinking that he got his wife pregnant just so he wouldn't have to go home to Japan so there really must not be much to see there. I've go to believe that Beckett's just looking for a way out of this series and I'm fine with it. Heck, he could have just come out and said that he thinks this is a stupid idea and doesn't want to do it and I would have been totally cool with that, too. Heck, they could have given him an incentive clause in his contract for not going and I would still think he's the best pitcher in the American League.

I wouldn't even be surprised if at some point down the road we find out that Theo Epstein and Terry Francona are behind this 'injury' business. Somehow, they're already setting up their pitching staff so that Beckett can dominate the Billy Crystal and the Yankees the first time we play them this year.

Look, Coco Crap has tried this stunt all spring training by coming up with one ailment after another and no one's been fooled by his injuries. And besides, Coco's gotta go so he can be the stewardess on the plane- there's no other explanation why Coco's still on this team. I wonder if they've told Coco that they only got him a one way ticket.

I think the only thing that's surprising about this 'injury' is that Manny Being Manny didn't think of it first, although I have to believe that Manny probably thinks Japan is the 51st State of the Union.

Some Links That You May or May Not Enjoy

2008-03-08T05:41:00.000-08:00

New Three Versus Big Three. I think this should put to rest the debate about who was better- the current Big Three for the Celtics or the former Big Three. I'd say that the former Big Three wins in a landslide (or by the width of Kevin McHale's armspan, which still freaks me out to this day).

Moss shuns late grab. For all of the bad things that were written about Randy Moss over the course of his career, he's been nothing but a model citizen since joining (and resigning) with the Patriots. Yes, I do believe that Bill Belicheat puts something in the water. And did you know that Moss has his own website?

New York lawmaker urges FBI to drop Clemens probe. I've got to admit that I agree with this guy. I would hope that Congress and the FBI would have more pressing things on their hands than to continue to ruin Clemens' career. Besides, Clemens is doing a fine job of ruining his career all by himself.

London man wants to become world's oldest marathoner. This guy is 101 years old and he's preparing to run the London Marathon. I feel sort of useless when I think about the fact that I couldn't run more than a mile without passing out. And just to clarify, when he says he'll have a pint and a fag after completing the race, he's talking about a cigarette. This guy also has 17 kids!

Aaron Rodgers says he's ready. What he says and what he's capable of are two different things. If I were a Packer fan, I'd be pretty nervous with this kid coming in and it has nothing to do with an adjustment to a new quarterback- I just don't think Rodgers is that good.

Is Big Papi Hall bound? It will be interesting to see how this plays out, since no pure DH has ever been elected to the Hall of Fame. I think Big Papi will need at least another three or four years of being one of the best hitters in the game to pull it off. Another World Series title (or two) wouldn't hurt, either.

Gaffney back in the mix. I said late last year that Jabar Gaffney was poised to be the third receiver for the Patriots next year, as he moved ahead of Donte Stallworth on the depth chart.

Papelbon gets a raise out of Sox. This was turning into the hot story of spring training earlier this week when the Sox and Papelbon seemed far apart on a contract. I've said before that the only thing that worries me about Jonathan Papelbon is his mouth. If you don't like making $775,000 a year to pitch, perhaps you'd prefer making $8 a hour pumping gas. Your choice.

Secondary getting a boost. Has anyone noticed that the Patriots are stockpiling defensive players this offseason? This is how the Patriots have been so successful in the past- they don't make a ton of flashy signings but they find the right pieces at the right price.

Pitching like it's 1999. And to think that this article could have been on Johan Santana and Josh Beckett. Or Josh Beckett and Pedro Martinez. Or Josh Beckett, Pedro Martinez and Johan Santana. Just out of curiosity, has anyone else noticed that Tacoby Bellsbury, John Lester and Clay Bucholz have all stunk this preseason so far? Why do I have the feeling that Lester and Bucholz could both stink while Santana is winning five consecutive Cy Young awards pitching for the Mets.

Apparently Dustin 'Daddy' Pedroia's idea of offseason conditioning includes lifting donuts to your mouth and repeating one hundred times a day:

Favre Rides Off Into The Sunset

2008-03-05T04:33:00.000-08:00

After coming in second in the NFL's MVP balloting last year with one vote, taking his team to the NFC Championship Game and breaking just about every QB record that exists, Brett Favre has called it quits.

I'm not buying it.

Just last week he was actively campaigning to sign Randy Moss, going so far as to call Moss personally. I know that the Packers and Favre both say that Moss signing on with the Patriots had no bearing on his decision to retire but I don't buy it. What if Moss had signed on with the Packers? Would Favre have retired. The answer is no and we all know it.

I think that Favre is quite possibly the best quarterback to ever play the game. Yes, even better than Joe Montana, Peyton Manning and Cleo Lemon. Favre was what Tom Brady is today. Recievers excel with the Patriots because of Brady and his ability to get them the ball at the right time in the right spot. Look what's happened to all of the so-called integral recievers the Patriots have lost over the years- David Givens, Deion Branch, Reche Caldwell and the list goes on. Those guys all have one thing in common once they leave New England. They suck. Same with the recievers from Green Bay. Favre has made a career out of turning mediocre recievers into stars because of his ability to get them the ball at the right time in the right spot.

Favre never played with a Jerry Rice or Randy Moss type of reciever and, yet, he holds nearly every concievable passing record that exists. Here's a sampling of the records he holds:

Most TD passes: 442 (Peyton Manning already has 306, ranking fourth)
Most passing yards: 61,655
Most wins by a starting QB: 160
Most interceptions: 288 (sorry, that's a bit of a cheap shot)

Favre is also leaving with his record breaking streak of 253 consecutive regular season starts by a quarterback in tact, which is actually 275 including playoff games.

Part of me wants to believe that Favre is walking away from the game like so many players should- on their own terms, at the top of their game and with their health in tact. But I don't think Favre is the kind of guy who can sit home and drive the kids to school or get into television. Remember, this is a guy who has an addictive personality and playing quarterback in the NFL in sold out stadiums with the crowd chanting your name is an addiction.

Favre told reporters and team management that he was "mentally tired" but that he "could still play." Here's the thing, though- every NFL player this time of year is mentally tired, especially with the prospect of training camp in July and five months away from home looming over you.

So for now, the Packers will turn their team over to unproven 2005 first round draft pick Aaron Rodgers, who has one career TD in his three years of playing clip board holder for the Packers. I hope he has lots of clean underwear because he's going to need it.

And for now, Favre is a retired quarterback. Until an injury in training camp forces a team to reevaluate their QB situation, or a team gets off to a horrendous start and realizes that Kyle Boller isn't their answer at QB, or until the Packers realize that Rodgers quite possibly could stink, or until the addiction of playing QB in the NFL starts to gnaw at Favre and he hears the crowd chanting his name in his sleep and he wakes up and realizes he made a mistake, that he still has something left in the tank, that he can still play at a high level, that, above all else, football players play football.

Sunday's Not The Same

2008-03-04T05:31:00.000-08:00

This video helped me realize just how much I miss watching football. Yeah, baseball season is right around the corner but I just haven't been able to get into it yet this year. Everything in the Red Sox' spring training camp just seems a little too quiet and that has me getting a little worried, similar to a volcano that that has been dormant a little too long but you know something is simmering just below the surface. There's not much Sox talk to write about, unless you think that it would be fun to write about the Red Sox beating Northeastern University 24-0 in an exhibition game. I didn't even hear one person mention that Terry Francona was running up the score on those poor Northeastern players.

Anyway, the title of this video pretty much sums it up. I still feel sick looking at the photo of Eli Manning holding the Lombardi Trophy. . .

Some Links That You May or May Not Enjoy

2008-03-01T07:14:00.000-08:00

Law shows interest. In an offseason that has been riddled with marijuana charges against two Patriot players and the continuing SpyGate scandal, bringing Ty Law home would be some much needed welcome news, especially considering that Asante Samuel is already gone. Yeah, he may be 35 but he can't be any worse than what the Patriots trotted onto the field last year.

I already feel sick thinking about this. Would Randy Moss really sign with the Cowgirls? I can't even fathom how ticked off Tom Brady will be if this happens. Please don't tell me that Reche Caldwell is coming back to New England. Yup, I'm gonna be sick.

Baseball team looking for a few fat men. Well, if Bartolo Colon can't crack the starting rotation for the Red Sox, he can always audition to be a "manatee."

Congress asks for probe of Clemens. It wouldn't be a links section without having an article on Roger Clemens. Things just keep going from bad to worse. And the worse it gets for him, the better I feel. Speaking of getting worse, there's also this story about the Astros reconsidering Clemens' personal services contract.

Bears sign QB Grossman. I'm not sure who's the idiot in this story. The Bears are just looking for trouble by resigning Rex Grossman, even if it is to a low risk one-year deal. But I can't figure out why Grossman would want to come back to a place that seemingly hates him. I just don't see this ending well for 'da Bears.

Tiger's setting himself up for a historic run. It turns out that the Patriots couldn't go 19-0 this season. Could Tiger go 19-0?

Obama has Oden's vote. So Greg Oden is voting for Barack Obama because 'He is a real sports fan.' I guess that's as good as any reason during this primary season.

Remaining MLB free agents. Here's a good read on some of the remaining MLB free agents that are available for the right price. It's amazing what some of these knuckleheads have turned down in previous years to go after more money and, in the case of people like Jeff Weaver, it didn't turn out too good.

Coughlin to get 4 year, $21 million extension. For a guy that has had a love-hate relationship with New York, I think this is a huge risk to sign Coughlin for this much. He was nearly fired after starting 0-2 last year. The thing that baffles me the most is that Mike Holmgren is the highest paid coach in the NFL at $8 million a year. That's insane.

Tyree seeks super name for super catch. I feel sick thinking about this catch. I feel even more sick thinking that the Boston Herald actually published this story. I just threw up in my mouth.

With the start of baseball just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at some highlights from 1959. Yes, 1959. I have no idea why half of this video is in slow motion but it's pretty funny, especially around the 1:00 minute mark where the pitcher throws his glove at a bird. PETA would roast that guy if it happened today:

Red Sox to Get New Stadium- in Tampa Bay

2008-02-29T05:38:00.001-08:00

Let me start by saying that I have no clue how a team that is only ten years old can possibly need a new stadium, especially a team whose best year was winning 70 games. But for all of the Red Sox fans who find it cheaper to fly to Tampa Bay, pay for a hotel and tickets to see the Red Sox play the Devil Rays in Tampa than Boston, there is good news: the Devil Rays are building a state-of-the-art stadium with a retractable roof made of weatherproof fabric that will be pulled along cables suspended on a central mast structure that sticks straight out of the ground. The bad news is that the architect who desinged the ballpark was smoking crack, drinking vodka and shooting up when he drew up the plans.

Somehow the architect has also convinced team ownership, MLB officials, local governing bodies and even the Florida Governor himself that this is a good idea. Umm, did they see the design for this thing yet? I guess they were going for the yatch look with the way that the roof is going to be retractable. Having that nice white metal pole sticking out of the ground as the mast also looks like it will make a nice addition to the downtown skyline. I mean, really, who doesn't like a nice big white pole sticking a few hundred feet out of the ground. And when the roof is open, it looks kind of like the Leaning Tower of Tampa Bay. That could end up being a huge attraction for the large Italian population in Tampa Bay.

The new stadium will hold approximately 34,000 people, which is just about the number of Red Sox fans who travel from Boston to the stadium when the Sox are in town. And at a price tag of only $450 million it seems like a bargain compared to the new stadiums that the Yankees and Mets are building, which are both expected to top one billion apiece. Somehow the Devil Rays think they can have this thing open for the 2012 season, which is only four years away. Ownership also thinks that the facility will require no new taxes or the reallocation of existing taxes. Good luck with that one.

Here's some more bad news about the stadium: to protect the majestic views of downtown Tampa Bay and the waterfront, it won't be a true retractable roof. Instead, the roof will act more like an umbrella, allowing for an open-air stadium fell with climate control techniques that will lower temperatures in the stadium by 8-10 degrees. So when it's close to 100 degrees outside, it will be a cool, comfortable 92 inside. Do the Devil Rays really think it's a good idea to have all of those old people sitting around in 90 degree heat for three hours? I guess if you're smoking crack, drinking vodka and shooting up, this plan sounds like a great idea.

W Pays Tribute to Red Sox

2008-02-28T05:10:00.000-08:00

Well, the Red Sox made their way to Washington, D.C. yesterday to pay a visit to W as the 2007 World Series Champions (I love writing that) for the second time in two years (I love writing that, too). For those of you who have been stuck on a deserted island after your Oceanic Airlines plane crash and haven't heard the news, the Red Sox did a serious beat down on the Curse of the Bambino and won the World Series in 2004.

Here's some of what transpired during W's comments to the Red Sox at the White House:

∙ "So Tim Wakefield’s batterymate is Doug Mirabelli. Mine is the vice president."

I had no clue that Dick Cheney was still alive. And he was there at the ceremony, no less. How often are the president and vice president in the same place at the same time? And there's even photograph evidence to prove it, just like Roger Clemens being at Jose Canseco's party! All I can think is that it must have been a really slow day for two of the (supposedly) most powerful men in the world to have time for a little fun with the World Series Champions.

∙ "Red Sox Nation extends beyond the South Lawn, extends beyond New England - it obviously goes to the Caribbean and even the Far East. So we welcome Japan’s Daisuke here to the South Lawn. His press corps is bigger than mine. And we both have trouble answering questions in English."

I love when the president rags on himself. I think it's even funnier because it's so true. And because Daisuke had no clue what W was talking about. All he heard was 'blah blah blah Daisuke blah blah blah blah."

∙ "I’m sorry Manny Ramirez isn’t here. I guess his grandmother died again. Just kidding. Tell Manny I didn’t mean it. But I do want to quote him. He said, 'When you don’t feel good, and you still get hits, that’s when you know you’re a bad man.' I don’t know what that means. But if bad man means good hitter, he’s a really bad man, because he was clutch in the World Series and clutch in the playoffs."

I think it's hilarious that W is bashing Ramirez for his grandmother dying again and the fact that he has no clue what Ramirez is talking about in his famous 'bad man' quote. Don't worry, George, no one else has a clue what Manny's thinking, either. As it turns out, Ramirez didn't attend yesterday's ceremony. Just out of curiosity, what was he doing instead? The photo above of Manny was taken yesterday while his team mates were at the White House. Mark my words, this will be the first of many Manny Being Manny moments of the year.

∙ "And how about Jonathan Papelbon? The guy pitches almost as well as he dances. And I appreciate the dress code. Thanks for wearing pants. Good job, and congratulations."

W obviously didn't write this speech because it was actually funny. I do have to admit that I was a bit disappointed in Papelbon's sober behavior yesterday. I expected Papelbon to do some type of drunken Irish jig on the front steps of the White House as President Bush looked on in horror before deciding to join in the festivities, similar to how Ty Law got Bob Kraft to dance at one of the Super Bowl parades a few years ago (I hate the Giants).

∙ "And so the ownership gets a lot of credit, the front office gets credit, and so does a really fine manager in Terry Francona. Laura and I had the honor of having Mike Lowell and Mrs. Francona and Terry for dinner earlier this month, earlier this year. And what I was impressed about was the values of this guy, and the fact that he honors his family as the first and foremost thing in his life. And I think the ownership made a good deal in signing him to a new contract."

Nice to see the president recognize the little people but I do have to wonder, doesn't the President of the United States of America have more pressing things to do than honor a sports team for winning a championship or even hosting players and managers for dinner? This story is all over the news and yet, I wonder how injured soldiers feel lying in a hospital bed or how families who have lost a son, daughter, father, mother, husband or wife in one of the many wars we're fighting around the globe feel. I hope that they're recognized in some way by the president for their sacrifices because those are the true heroes, the true champions and the one's that we should honor every day.

If you missed the ceremony, here's some of what transpired:

Red Sox Extend Terry Francona

2008-02-27T05:31:00.000-08:00

The Red Sox have finally taken care of manager Terry Francona by signing him to a three year contract extension in the neighborhood of $12 million. The contract also has club options for 2012 and 2013, which would make Francona the second longest serving manager in Sox history if he gets those extra years. The only Red Sox manager with a longer tenure was Joe Cronin, who held the job from 1935-47, just a few short years before my time.

With the new deal, Francona is now closer to new Dodger manager Joe Torre as baseball's highest-paid manager. Torre signed a $13 million, three-year deal this offseason after spending the previous 12 seasons as manager of the New York Yonkees. Just as a side note, I don't see Torre excelling in La-La Land. Actually, I'm sort of looking forward to the Dodgers having an awful year.

In addition to a multi-year, mulit-million dollar extension, Francona also received something else during the negotiations- a touching love e-mail from general manager Theo Epstein.

"It was just personal about what we've been through since the very beginning. It meant a lot to me. He means a lot to me." Umm, I thought there was no crying in baseball. Seriously, pull yourself together there, Terry. And please try to remember that this is the same Theo that walked away from you and the organization two years ago to go hang out with Pearl Jam in Brazil.

I do give Francona a ton of credit for the job he's done. He's led the Red Sox to two (yes, two!) World Series Championships and has done an incredible job of handling the Boston media and the players. Not to mention that he has to deal with the annual Manny Being Manny episode. In fact, I think it's written in the new contract.

For his Red Sox career, Francona has a .579 regular-season winning percentage (375-273), which is the second-best in club history among managers with at least 350 games. His .710 winning percentage (22-9) in postseason games is the best in major league history among managers with at least 20 games and he has the most World Series wins (eight) without a loss. Did I mention that the Red Sox have won two World Series Championships with him as manager? Yes, two!

In my opinion, Francona shouldn't have to buy another drink or another meal in Boston for the rest of his life. So if you see him around town, take care of his tab for him because he's only make four million a year.

Dwight Howard Wins "Dunk" Contest

2008-02-26T05:17:00.000-08:00

I realize I'm about ten days late with this post but I was just able to track down some half decent video of Dwight Howard's Super Man dunk at the All-Star game that won him the Slam Dunk Contest. After watching Howard's dunk, though, they should rename this contest the 'See how far away from the hoop you can get and chuck it as fast as you can and see if it goes in' contest.

Seriously, Howard never even comes close to dunking this ball. Yeah, the shot went in but his hands were never within five feet of the rim. Shouldn't you at least have to touch the rim for it to be considered a dunk? Or does Howard think the rim is kryptonite and he shouldn't get too close to it?

Just out of curiousity, if I jump at the three point line, throw the ball as hard as I can and I'm lucky enough to have it go in, is that considered a dunk, too?

Dwight Howard Superman Dunk - Jubii TV

Red Sox Sign Huge Tub of Goo

2008-02-25T05:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I woke up this morning to hear that the Red Sox have signed Bartolo Colon to a minor league deal. My first thought was to go out and stock up my food pantry before he arrives in Boston and cleans out entire grocery stores in a single visit. At first, I was a little surprised because the last I heard, Colon was going to sign with the White Sox but apparently he likes red better. And who can blame him for not wanting to be coached by Ozzie Guillen. That guy is just plain nuts. If nothing else, this signing gives 300 pound men all over America a glimmer of hope that their dreams of pitching in the big leagues can come true.

I wasn't sure if this was a good move but then I found out that it's not going to cost the Red Sox much. In fact, if he doesn't make the roster, the Sox owe him nothing. If Colon does make the roster, it will be for a minimum salary with performance bonuses built in. And I'm just going out on a limb here and guessing that the Red Sox didn't include any type of weight clauses in this contract like they did for Curt Schilling. This may be the only time in history when I would believe a baseball player if he held out for more money because he had a family to feed. For a guy that has had a rough couple of years with injuries, he sure hasn't done much to stay in shape, unless eating cookies and donuts is his idea of a good workout.

From what I can tell, the White Sox, Cardinals and Astros were also interested in Colon. It was also rumored that Colon was close to an agreement with the Mets earlier this winter but they backed off out of concern for the condition of his pitching arm. Apparently the Mets only like young left handed studs who are in shape and throw 200 plus innings a year while totally dominating their division.

For the record, El Guapo Part Deux pretty much stunk last year with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California because of injuries, going 6-8 with a 6.34 ERA, which was the worst of his career. During his 11-year career, Colon is 146-95 with a 4.10 ERA. He's won 20-games twice in his career, as well as the Cy Young Award in 2005 with the Angels. So let's hope we're getting the Colon of 2005 and not the Colon of 2007. Somehow, I doubt it, though.

If I owned a grocery store near Fenway Park, I'd start stocking up on food now. From a financial standpoint, my only concern if I were the Red Sox would be if Colon does make the roster, it will probably cost them more to feed him than it will cost to pay him to pitch. Anyway, welcome to Boston, Bartolo.

Some Links That You May or May Not Enjoy

2008-02-23T07:39:00.000-08:00

Barry Bonds still a slugger without a team. I get great pleasure knowing that no one wants Barry Bonds anymore. Although, I wish this had happened before he broke the real home run record, which is still 755 for anyone keeping track at home.

This seems a little extreme. I know that this whole SpyGate this has gone on longer than anyone could have possibly imagined but did we really need to blow up one of Bill Belicheat's satellite's to put an end to his spying?

Coco Crisp would prefer to be traded. And the down side would be. . .? Seriously, this guy has stunk since he got here and now he wants to be traded. After watching Johnny Damon play centerfield for the Red Sox, I never thought I would see a weaker arm than his. And then, amazingly, along came Coco Crap and I think I could throw it farther than him with both hands tied behind my back. If I were Theo Epstein, I would trade Coco to the first team to give me a pack of gum.

The best at putting the pieces together. Speaking of Theo, he was rated the top GM in all of Major League Baseball by this columnist.

DebbieClemens.com back up and running. Phew, I sure am glad that her website's back up and running. I don't know where else I could have gotten my personal trainer advice from had the site been out of commission much longer.

NBA follows the lead of the NHL. The NBA is set to play an outdoor exhibition game on October 11, 2008. I said it when the NHL played outdoors and I'll say it for the NBA: there's a reason that you play in a stadium with a roof over it for a reason.

I think this is why I'm not a big basketball fan. Seriously, $4.3 million to do absolutely nothing? I would have done it for $1 million. Actually, I'd probably have done it for $100,000. Okay, you're right, I'd probably do it for ten bucks.

Inside the depositions. Tom Verducci does a nice job outlining ten key points from the steroids hearing that we may not have heard. My favorite is number four.

Several NFL teams face QB quandry. This makes me all the more happy that we have Tom Brady at QB, even if he has turned into a bit of a girly man.

Is there photographic evidence that Roger Clemens is lying? Really, you think Clemens would lie? I can't believe it. He's been such an honest, stand up guy his whole career. Caught in a web of his own lies? Say it's so, please!

Speaking of Roger Clemens (a.k.a. The Syringe), I would be doing myself and everyone else a huge disservice if I failed to share my new favorite song with everyone:

Who's The Joke On?

2008-02-20T05:36:00.000-08:00

A lot of people are talking about the video of Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Kyle Kendrick getting punked by teammate Brett Myers. Myers went out of his way to pull off the prank, going so far as to bring in the manager to break the trade news to Kendrick and several members of the media who asked questions about the trade, which was to a Japanese team for a pitcher named Takeru Kobayashi. Yes, that's the same Kobayashi that has won the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest six times. I feel sick just thinking about that guy chowing down whole hot dogs.

Anyway, Kendrick certainly doesn't seem like the brightest bulb in the socket because he doesn't recognize the name Kobayashi or even realize that American teams aren't allowed to trade players to Japan. For that matter, he was never once concerned that his agent never called to tell him about the trade. So he sort of had it coming.

Here's the video in case you've had your head buried in the sand and haven't seen it yet:

Anyway, after watching the video a few times (works been kind of slow), I realized that the joke is actually on the Phillies because Kendrick looks jacked and pumped to be getting traded. Yeah, he'll be getting a big raise but I think he also realizes that he's getting out of that dump called Philadelphia and Japan can't be any worse. He's even wondering if they have good food in Japan. So, congratulations, Philly, you've got yourself a pitcher who would rather play for Japan than your team.

As a side note to Myers, he's a total loser and that's being way too nice. The Phillies came to Boston two years ago and Myers was walking down Boylston Street with his wife when he decided to start punching her and dragging her by the hair. So I have no clue why Myers would want to draw any type of attention to himself with a stunt like this. I just wish that when people mentioned the fact that Myers is a real club house clown that they'd also mention the fact that he beats his wife. Here's one of the hundreds of articles that was written at the time: Visiting Player Hit Wife

New Study Confirms That Jeter Sucks

2008-02-19T05:36:00.000-08:00

It turns out that researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have scientifically determined what every Boston Red Sox fan has known for years: Derek Jeter sucks.

The announcement was made during a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which is in Boston (gee, there's a surprise).

To determine the rankings, researchers looked at every ball put in play from 2002 through 2005 with the ability to field fly balls accounting for 33 percent of the score, while line drives made up 25 percent of the score, and ground balls making up the remaining 42 percent of the score.

I've got to be totally honest here, I have no clue what those percentages mean in determining the fact that Derek Jeter sucks and place no validity in this study, especially considering that it was announced in Boston. However, anything that makes Derek Jeter look bad is newsworthy to me.

Based on the numbers, Clint Barmes of the Colorado Rockies was the best fielding shortstop in the game over that time period, with Stray-Rod coming in second and Jeter finishing dead last.

But you know what really sucks about this study? I would totally take Jeter over Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo any day of the week and twice on days we're playing a double header. I hate the Yankees.

Here's the full article, if you're interested. And just as a side note on the New York Post article- nice job getting totally meaningless quotes from Yankee homers.

Webster's Dictionary to Add "Misremembers" to Next Edition

2008-02-16T11:16:00.000-08:00

It's taken me a few days to digest the testimony of Roger Clemens on Capitol Hill earlier this week and I'm still not quite sure what really took place. Do we know any more than we did when the Mitchell Report was released? Yes, we know more details but we're not really much closer to the truth or a resolution. This appears to be a classic case of he said, she said. And yes, I'm referring to Roger Clemens as a she. In my opinion, he can't take enough public humiliation and I believe that he has no one to blame but himself. As I stated in my article on Rodney HGHarrison earlier in the week, Clemens could have just admitted his use, paid the penalty, apologized and tried to move on. Now he just looks like he's completely ruining his entire reputation, the reputation of his wife, former friends and even his mother and former nanny. Although, I'm really, really confused about the party at Jose Canseco's house, the testimony of the nanny, and how that plays into this whole thing. I will say that parties at Canseco's house sound like lots of fun, though.

During the hearing, Clemens was constantly caught up in his own words (or lies, as I like to say), twisted logic and a timeline that rewrites our numerical system. And this was all before Andy Pettitte's testimony was brought up. And before I even knew that Andy's wife's name was Laura- that was some pretty damaging testimony from her. In his defense, all Clemens said was that Pettitte "misheard" and "misremembered" the story. And Clemens didn't even stray near Laura Petitite's testimony that Andy told her of the conversations at that time and the stories haven't changed.

I'm a New Englander, born and raised, which means that I was born with the 'I hate the Yankees' gene, which I hope to pass on to my children and grandchildren. Having said that, I could see myself going out and buying an Andy Pettitte jersey so that I can celebrate the man who helped bring down Clemens. It just seems appropriate.

Here are more of my thoughts on Clemens and the hearing. And believe me, I want nothing more than to never hear the name Roger Clemens again.

∙ The basic argument that Clemens wants us to believe is that when Brian McNamee said he injected Andy Pettitte with HGH, he was telling the truth. When McNamee says he injected Chuck Knoblauch with HGH, that was also true. Clemens now admits that McNamee also injected Debbie Clemens, as well as a dozen or so other people in his inner circle. But somehow we're not supposed to believe McNamme when he says that Clemens used steroids and HGH, as well. To me, this is some of the most damaging evidence against Clemens becuase he never addressed why he thought McNamee was telling the truth about Pettitte, Knoblauch, and others but lying about him. Better yet, Clemens never addressed why Pettitte would lie at all.

∙ A lot of people are saying that McNamee also took a beating in the hearing but I'm not buying it. Time after time, Clemens was caught in a web of his own lies. By comparison, McNamee was only called out on his prior lies, not the issues pertinent to this case. Yeah, McNamee seems like a relative of scum of the earth but you know what? His story hasn't changed. How many times has Clemens' story changed since the Mitchell Report came out?

∙ The strongest opponent of McNamee turned out to be Representative Dan Burton of Indiana who said to McNamee, "This is really disgusting. I don't know what to believe. I know what I don't believe and that's you." Those seem like awfully strong words coming from a guy who got his girlfriend pregnant and doesn't see his son for years at a time. I guess that's not too bad, except that Burton was married when he got his girlfriend pregnant. Nothing good can ever come of having a wife and a girlfriend.

∙ Can we come up with a new nickname for Clemens? The Rocket just doesn't cut it any more. How about The Syringe? Or Balloon Head? Donkey's behind works good, too.

∙ Boy, it seems like a long time ago that I was a young, impressionable kid who saw Roger Clemens pitch and wanted to be just like him. So much so that I even went out and bought Zest soap that he was the spokesperson for. Do you remember the tag line? "You're not fully clean unless you're Zestfully clean." Perhaps Roger could use some Zest! I would, however, like my money back:

∙ People watching around the world have to be laughing at American government. We have a military presence in more countries than I can count, all in the name of Democracy. And this is what we're spending taxpayer's money doing? Yeah, they probably wouldn't want to look into how Exxon just released figures showing the largest quarterly profit EVER, for any company. And coming up with a plan to help fix the health care crisis in this country just seems like a waste of time. Crumbling school systems? Nah, but boy, we sure gotta get to the bottom of this Roger Clemens thing.

∙ What's the deal with Congressman Stephen Lynch completely misrepresenting the grand state of Masschusetts? He was given ten minutes to confront both Clemens and McNamee and then spent nine minutes asking his question. However, Lynch did bring up some important information that was never explained by Clemens or expanded upon by anyone else, namely that you have a leading physician saying that, based on Clemens' MRIs from his days in Toronto, he would conclude that the mass on his buttocks was caused by repeated injections of steroids.

∙ Did you see North Carolina Representative Virginia Fox at the end of the hearing? Yup, that was her holding Roger Clemens' arm and hugging Debbie Clemens after the hearing. Do my taxes go towards her salary?

So there are some of the highlights (or lowlights) of the testimony. And you know what? It hasn't brought us any closer to the truth, other than everyone saw the real Roger Clemens. Yeah, you know the one I'm talking about. The selfless one who asked out of countless games, the grandstanding teammate who always played by different rules, the head hunter, the fuzzy mathematician who thinks Toronto is closer to Texas than Boston is, the guy who unretired several times to fleece teams out of millions of dollars, the total and complete liar who seems to be the one "misremembering" the facts of his own sordid tale. During his career, it was all about Roger, his stats, the Cy Young, the records, the World Series rings. And in the end, it's still all about Roger, even if he has to drag his mother's name and his wife's name through the mud to futher aid his sketchy trail of lies.

Luckily, it looks like Clemens might get what he deserves and that's a shot to be left out of the Hall of Fame. And nothing would tick him off more than knowing that all those years that he played by his own rules are now catching up to him. Along with a Federal Grand Jury Indictment.

And while Roger may not have been very up front during the hearing, he was able to speak the truth later in the week:

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