Guns N' Roses

I know this is a sports related blog, but I have to talk about something else today. This past Sunday, Guns N' Roses released their long awaited album Chinese Democracy. When I say long awaited, I'm not kidding. Axl Rose has been working on this album since 1994. After many different band members, false rumors, and delays, the album final made it to the public. Instead of Guns N' Roses, they should be called The Axl Rose Band since Axl is the only original member left. To focus on something like that takes away from the fact that Axl really did it. He really did come out with the album!

While listening to Chinese Democracy, one thing comes through; Axl still has the voice. A few years back, Axl was on some MTV Music Award show and he was terrible. He was in terrible shape and he was all out of breath before the song was over. But, when a buddy and I saw GNR in New York in 2006, Axl was back in shape and had his voice going again. Axl shows his sensitive side in Street of Dreams and his more natural side in Chinese Democracy. Axl also pulls out a piano piece for a song that I can't remember the title of.

I'm as pleased as I can possibly be with the release of this album. However, since Americans are people of want, I want to see Axl and the rest of the original members of GNR do a reunion tour. If nothing else, do it for the money. My God, can you imagine the money those guys could pull in? If Van Halen can get back together, GNR can do it too. GNR will always be Axl, Slash, Duff, Izzy, and Steven Adler (when clean) or Matt Sorum. No offense to Ron Thal, but GNR isn't about shredding.

All in all, the album is good. I wouldn't say it was worth waiting 14 years for, but considering that I didn't think this album was ever going to see the light of day, I'm glad it's here. If you were a GNR fan or a just a fan of rock music in general, I highly recommend buying the album.

John Paxson

In April 2003, John Paxson replaced Jerry Krause as the GM of the Chicago Bulls. Since he was replacing the man that broke up Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, the appointment of John Paxson was cheered by all Bulls fans. Now, I'm ready to get rid of the bum.

For years, the Bulls haven't had a low post presence of any sort. It's hard to think of the last low post player that Bulls had that could create his own shots in the paint. Besides the one good year by Eddy Curry, I'm thinking Horace Grant was the last low post player with any presense. John Paxson has known this for years now and we still have no low post presence. He's done nothing in the draft or the trade market to alleviate this problem. Last year, the Bulls could have had Pau Gasol if they were willing to include Luol Deng in a trade. How does Paxson not make that trade? Especially, since Deng was having a horrible year last year and he's still sucking now.

On top of Paxson not making obvious trades, he's not drafting anybody to help out. In 2006, Paxson traded the rights to LaMarcus Aldridge for the rights to Tyrus Thomas and a nobody. I know I wrote an earlier post about Tyrus Thomas becoming a player this year, but I'm wrong about that. He's terrible. While Tyrus is sucking, Aldridge is thriving in Portland. In 2007, Paxson drafted Joakim Noah instead of Spencer Hawes. Noah is worse than Thomas! The guy is nothing more than an energy player. Paxson picked a second round talent with the 9th overall pick. And just like Aldridge, Hawes is thriving in Sacramento. Paxson also passed on Brandon Roy, who was the big guard we needed.

John Paxson has put together a team that is too heavy on guards and light in big men. The big men we have are quite possible the worst in the league. Paxson's refusal to rectify the situation has led the Bulls to become just another crappy team. The only reason the Bulls aren't worse this year is because Derrick Rose has been everything and more than the Bulls could have ever hoped for at this point. While John Paxson will always have a place in my heart for the shot he made against the Phoenix Suns to help the Bulls win their third championship, I'm ready to see him walk out the door.

Blasting McNabb

Donovan McNabb is a chump. Actually he’s a stupid chump. I nominate him as dumbest athlete in America. Is he actually the dumbest? No, probably far from it, but all the other athletes that are dumber are at least smart enough to either A) keep their mouths shut or B) try and fool us. McNabb’s stupidity came to light when the Eagles game with the Bengals ended in a tie and McNabb admitted at the press conference that “he didn’t know a game could end in a tie”. Wow. And as if that’s not bad enough he compounded his stupidity by saying “I’d hate to see what would happen in the playoffs”. What?! Are you really that dumb Donovan? Um duh they wouldn’t end a playoff game in a tie you moron. Obviously in the post season the game would continue until a team scored, just like they did in hockey all those years when games could end in a tie (prior to the new shootout format). It’s actually scary that he would not know you could end a football game tied, but it’s even scarier that he would admit that to the world. Most of us when confronted with a situation at work that we’re unfamiliar with or don’t have an answer to will normally skirt the issue. Possibly we won’t admit our lack of knowledge or if we do it would be to a select person we felt we could trust. Donovan McNabb stood up in front of the country and admitted he was an idiot. Maybe we’ll see him soon on “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?”. He’d be a perfect candidate. I bet most 5th grade boys would actually know a football game can end in a tie.
Now as far as being a chump, he’s given up on his team this year. McNabb is loaded with talent and the only way you can explain his performance in yesterday’s first half against Baltimore is that he has flat out given up on this team and this season. He’s too good to play that poorly and make that many bad decisions. On 3rd and 1 he’s launching bombs downfield to well covered receivers while he has guys open just 5 yards away. The other thing that really sticks in my craw is that every time they showed McNabb on the sidelines yesterday he was yawning seemingly too disinterested in the game to stay awake. Yes, he clapped on a couple occasions to “show his support”, but gimmee a break. Yawning? You have to play one game a week and you can't get pumped up for it? He shouldn’t have been clapping or yawning. He should have been in the game helping his team try and win. It kinda makes me think back to the soap opera he had with Terrell Owens. Maybe they were more alike than we realized and THAT’S why they didn’t get along. They were too similar-loaded with talent, selfish, and stupid.

Hall of Fame bound?

Today, Mike Mussina announced that he was retiring from baseball after 18 years in the league. Honestly, I was surprised that he retired after the year that he had this past season. Mussina won 20 games in a season for the first time in his career. He was by far the best Yankees pitcher last season. And he's only 30 wins away from the coveted 300 win mark. Since Mussina has been a very good player for a good portion of his career, his stats will be examined for Hall of Fame worthiness. Here's my quick analysis of Mussina's numbers.

18 seasons. 270 wins. 3.68 ERA. 2813 strikeouts. 23 shutouts. 1 20 win season, 2 19 win season, and 3 18 win seasons. Won 64% of starts were he received a decision.

Even though Mussina was just barely below a .500 postseason pitcher, I think he has the credentials to get himself in the Hall of Fame. I also believe that Mussina should also get a few extra points for being a very good pitcher during the Steroid Era. If we say that the Steroid Era went from 1995 to 2005, Mussina won 172 games. While no one would say that Mussina was as dominate as Pedro Martinez or Greg Maddux, Mussina has to be in the Top 10 of pitchers for many of those years.

I can easily see Mike Mussina falling into the the same category as Jack Morris and Bert Blyleven. Good pitchers, but not good enough for the Hall of Fame. And if that happens, I wouldn't have any qualms with it. While Mussina may not make into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, I see him eventually getting in.

Buying Ring 27??

Keeping in step with my blogging counterpart I too would like to address the Yankees current strategy, which is to seemingly revert back to what they've been trying to do since the good ol days of the mid to late 90's......buying championships. This season they "claimed" they were going to stick with their young up and comers and allow Hughes and Kennedy the chance to show that the Yankees have quality young arms in their farm system just like the Red Sox do. Wrong. That didn't work out to well. Also, I question whether or not that was really the strategy at all. Last year's free agent market wasn't anything great and I think that's more of the reason the Yanks claimed to want to "stick with the kids". Since that plan failed miserably the Yankees are back to throwing their money around and just trying to buy a team. What kills me though is that many Yankee fans alike think that the Red Sox do the same thing. It couldn't be further from the truth. The Red Sox have a starting line-up that consists of the following players- Ellsbury, Pedroia and Youkilis (all home grown), Ortiz (picked up on waivers), Bay (acquired in the Manny deal), Lowell (a throw-in in the Beckett deal), Drew (the lone ranger that one could say was "bought"), Varitek (brought over in a trade by Duquette), Lowrie (homegrown). Look at that line-up!! All of those guys except for Drew were NOT "bought". Instead they were either homegrown or ACQUIRED in trades. Now think of their pitching, Beckett (traded for Hanley Ramirez), Lester (homegrown), Wakefield (should be considered homegrown), Bucholtz and Masterson (homegrown) Dice K (more on him in a second), Papelbon, Delcarmen, (homegrown)Okajima (reasonable salary). The team is FULL of guys that represent everything the Yankees do not. Now Yankee idiots will point to Dice K as a guy who was "bought". I disagree. Dice K's salary is very reasonable for a front line pitcher. He makes basically 9 million a season for the next 4 years. The posting fee they paid to earn the right to deal with Dice K is more of a product of the Japanese rules than the Red Sox "buying" a pitcher. The Sox have ONE chance to post a fee and they are going up against other teams who are also posting SECRET bids. How can you compare that to anything else? You have 1 chance and you have no clue what the other guy is doing. That's a lot different then the Yankees KNOWING what the other offers are to CC Sabathia and STILL outbidding everyone by astronomical amounts. Plus, the Sox had no Japanese market. Getting Dice K was an investment. They made back that 50 million and then some. A couple weeks later the Yankees posted a bid for Kei Igawa for 20 million, then signed him to a lucrative salary and he's done nothing! And they didn't even gain the Japanese market because they already had it with Matsui! The Red Sox and Yankees are VERY different teams with very different strategy's. NY fans are fools if they can't see that. I'm not saying the Sox won't land a big free agent any time soon, but they are far from the Yankees who buy, buy and buy some more chasing that elusive title since the turn of the century.

Same old Yankees

If were are to believe everything that we hear and read, the New York Yankees are preparing to extend offers to CC Sabathia, Derek Lowe, A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixeira. And don't forget that they're interested in trading for Jake Peavy. I could easily be wrong about this, but I thought the Yankees were planning on building from within and use the young players in their farm system to push them into the the playoffs. It seems as if that plan has been put out to pasture.

Let's face it, the Yankees will never use players from their farm system as the foundation of their team. They will never allow themselves to put their fate in the hands of their young players. Besides Robinson Cano, it's hard to think of a player the Yankees have developed in the past 5 seasons. Instead, the Yankees will outbid every other team in free agency and get their players that way. Now, I don't want to imply that building from within is better than going through free agency. It works for some teams more than others.

As much as I dislike the Boston Red Sox, I give them a lot of credit for the number of players that they have on their current roster that came up through the system. Lester, Papelbon, Youkilis, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Lowrie, Masterson, Buchholz, and Delcarmen were all Red Sox farmhands and they all contributed to this seasons team. And these are the players that will keep the Red Sox near the top for the next 5 seasons. The Yankees will continue to buy their team and in the process will be passed by not only the Red Sox, but as this season just showed, Tampa Bay. If the Yankees want to go back to the good old days, they have to realize that they can't buy championships anymore.

Cutting The Mullet

What in the hell is going on in the NHL this year? First, the Chicago Blackhawks fire Denis Savard after 4 games. 4 games! And he even won his last game 4-1. Today, the Tampa Bay Lightning fired Barry Melrose after 16 games. This is taking What have you done for me lately? way too far. I understand that we live in a world where we want instant gratification, but the Lightning are flat out idiots for firing Melrose after 16 games.

Last year under John Torterella, the Lightning finished dead last in the Eastern Conference. It's not as if they were a goal away from winning the Stanley Cup. They were dead last! How can you fire a new coach after 16 games when he took over the worst team in the league? And take a look at the players that he had to work with. Besides Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, and Andrej Meszaros, it's hard to find another player to really get excited about. Steve Stamkos will become a good player, but it appears that he might not be ready for the NHL.

Take a look at some of the free agents the Lightning signed this offseason:
Olaf Kolzig - Way past his prime.
Ryan Malone - Has been flat out awful.
Radim Vrbata - He was let go by a TERRIBLE Blackhawks team in 2006. That's all you need to know about Radim.
Gary Roberts - Hasn't been good since the start of this decade.

Of course, Melrose was going to have trouble winning with his current squad. And if management was under some illusion that this team was going to contend, they need to get their heads checked. I understand that every team, no matter what sport it is, aims to win the championship, but that doesn't mean that reality should be forgotten about either. It's unfair that Melrose got fired and I hope ESPN decides to bring him back, because he's a great hockey guy. The hell with the Lightning.

Beware of the MACB!!

I’m just waiting for it to happen and it hasn’t yet. I’m actually shocked it hasn’t. I feel the odds are mounting though and with each passing occurrence the chances increase that it will happen. It’s only a matter of time. You watch! With all the crazy injuries we’ve seen in the world of sports what I am talking about IS GOING TO HAPPEN. Mark my words- on this day November 13, 2008 I proclaim a catastrophic injury occurs in the world of sport because of the “newest thing” that athletes love to do…… the celebratory mid-air chest bump. Yup that’s right, the mid-air chest bump (MACB) is going to alter a career. It may even alter the entire season for a team. A major franchise could lose out on a title because of the MACB. It seems the MACB is most popular in football and in the NBA. Players love it and I can’t believe coaches and owners alike don’t throw down a team mandate that it’s not allowed on their team. Think about what’s occurring. Two highly trained and valuable athletes making millions of dollars are running up to each other when their adrenaline is at its highest and they are jumping in unison and smashing their chests together, thus catapulting one another in an unpredictable direction as their legs entangle! It’s flat out dangerous! If I were a professional athlete I simply wouldn’t take part in it. I’m just waiting for to hear the following from Marv Alberts at the start of a Lakers vs Hornets game- “and folks while we were away one of the strangest occurrences took place during the announcing of the starting line-ups. It seems Kobe Bryant has sprained an ankle because he landed on the foot of Derrick Fisher when landing from his pre-game chest bump”. Are you telling me that this isn’t likely to happen? The law of averages is tilting more and more in the favor of an injury happening. On Tuesday night after Trevor Ariza dunked one home to give the Lakers a crucial 2 points and help almost solidify the win a violent spree of MACB’s started to occur. It was like a car wreck! One of the teammates he chest bumped bounced off Ariza so awkwardly that it almost put him on the ground (I believe it was Shasa Vujacic but I’m not sure). The player landed on one foot and barely saved himself from falling flat on his stomach. I thought “this might be the instance I’ve been waiting for, a torn ACL, a strained knee??” No he was fine. But one of these days a player won’t be fine. The MACB is lurking. He’ll claim a victim soon enough. It’s so easy for me to see this as a danger and I’m shocked that others who have the power to stop it do not. Basketball players are constantly spraining ankles from landing on the foot of another player. Why add to the possibility of that happening by allowing MACB’s to occur for celebratory reason? If I’m a head coach I put it a stop to it BEFORE it claims one of my guys. It’s almost like it’s one of those situations where we’ll look back on it in a few years after a major athlete snaps his ACL doing it and say “I can’t believe we didn’t realize that was dangerous”. Kinda like how we say now “I can’t believe we didn’t realize that McGwire and Sosa were on steroids in 1998, it was so damn obvious”. It won’t be until the crap hits the fan that a team puts a stop to the MACB. Until then I’ll just sit back and wait for my day to say “I told you so”.

Postseason Awards

It seems that in baseball, only the regular season counts when it comes to handing out the awards. Surely, that's the only reason that Lou Piniella won the NL Manager of the Year. (Full disclosure: I'm a White Sox fan and in turn, can't stand the Cubs.)

I will admit that the Cubs were a very good team in the regular season. They won 97 games and they should be applauded for that. But, yet again, once the Cubs got into the playoffs they were easily handled by the Los Angeles Dodgers. The entire team melted down in the postseason. The fielding was awful, the hitters couldn't hit, and the pitching left a lot to be desired. Now, not all of that can be blamed on Piniella. He's not the one playing the game out there. But there were decisions that he made that left one scratching their head. For instance, why in the world did he leave Ryan Dempster in for so long? The guy had no control whatsoever in Game 1.

Frankly, any manager that allows Kosuke Fukudome to get 10 at bats in the postseason has no business winning Manager of the Year. What made Pinella think that Fukudome could turn it around in the postseason when Fukudome hit .217 after the All Star break? That is unforgiveable. And for that reason alone, Piniella should not be the NL Manager of the Year.

NL Cy Young

The NL Cy Young winner was announced yesterday in the form of Tim Lincecum. As usual there were the nay sayers who think the voters got it wrong, one of whom was Mike Wilbon, the popular personality on ESPN’s show PTI. Wilbon was literally disgusted with the fact that Lincecum beat out Johan Santana and Brandon Webb. He even claimed he would have given CC Sabbathia the award before giving it to Tim, and for that I must rant. Wilbon- you’re crazy. This was one of those rare occasions when the award winner was a big toss up and the voters got this thing right! For once the voters looked at more than just wins! (I’m still bitter about Zito beating Pedro for the Cy in 2002 despite Pedro being better in every statistical category accept for IP’s and W’s!! Take a look. http://www.1918redsox.com/pedro/2002/cyyoung.htm ) I just don’t get how anyone could argue that Lincecum didn’t deserve the award. First off let’s clear out the dead weight in this argument. Lidge had a great year, but it wasn’t magical enough to earn the award over a starter. It just wasn’t. Sorry Lidge. Now, if CC should have won the award than Manny should win MVP. Everyone claimed that Manny wasn’t even really a thought for NL MVP because he only played half a year in the NL. The same should apply for CC. Both players had the exact same impact on their teams in different ways. If Manny can’t win the MVP then CC can’t win the Cy. As for Brandon Webb, yes he won the most games (22) but he was worse in every other stat than Lincecum. He even had more losses. In fact he had 4 games where he really put up a stinker and gave up 6+ER’s. Lincecum only had a game like that once. Really the debate lies with Santana vs Lincecum. Santana was great. Had he won the award I would have felt he too deserved it. A close look at the numbers shows the following: Santana had a better ERA, Lincecum had more wins, Lincecum had more K’s, Santana had a better whip, Santana had one more complete game and Santana didn’t make it to the 5th inning only once compared to Lincecums 3 times. Lincecum had 2 less losses however. For the most part the numbers show either guy deserved it. But here is why you give the award to Tim- he played on a team that absolutely sucks. That truly is the tie breaker to me. Santana is pitching with a fantastic defense behind him with Wright at 3B, Reyes at SS, Delgado at 1st and Beltran in CF. He also got much more run support. Santana got better defense and better offense. Can you name a strong defensive player on the Giants? Omar Vizquel? He was great…..5 years ago. Dave Roberts? Please! Let’s face it Johan did what he did on a superior team. (Both teams had awful bullpens so let’s not even go there). Really, you have to credit Lincecum for doing what he did despite playing on one of the worst teams in the NL. The kid was great, and I just don’t get how anyone could argue he didn’t deserve it. Great job by the voters for seeing that Tim Lincecum deserved to be the NL Cy Young winner. Clap, clap, clap.

Don't trade him

It appears that Kenny Williams did not read the advice that I left him regarding the White Sox and the off season. If he had, he would have noticed that nowhere in there did I mention trading Bobby Jenks. According to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated, Kenny Williams is listening to offers from the Mets regarding Jenks. I really don't see how trading Bobby Jenks makes this team any better in the near term or in the future.

Looking back at Baseball America's top 10 prospect list from last season, Fernando Martinez (OF) is listed as the Mets top prospect followed by Deolis Guerra (P), who was traded to Minnesota in the Johan Santana trade. Martinez hit for .292 this season with 8HR's and 43 rbi's. To put it frankly, those numbers do nothing to excite me. If Kenny wants to trade Jenks, why not try the St. Louis Cardinals. Maybe we can get Colby Rasmus from them.

The main reason why we shouldn't trade Bobby Jenks is that we don't have anyone else to close for us at the moment. Take a look at how Bobby Jenks and the other potential closers fared last year in saves opportunities:
Jenks - 30 saves/35 opportunities
Matt Thornton - 1 save/6 opportunities
Octavio Dotel - 1 save/4 opportunities
Since Jenks was handed the closer role, he has converted 88% of his save opportunities. You can't trade that kind of piece of mind.

It's clear that the White Sox need to keep Jenks as the closer. I like Matt Thornton, but I like him a lot better as a setup man. And Dotel is a headcase. Unless Kenny Williams can get a king's ransom for Jenks, we need to keep him.

One of the NBA's best

Last night was another classic example of what I’ve been talking about for the last 3 or 4 years. Paul Pierce is ridiculously under rated. I used to battle with buddies and Celtic haters alike that Pierce was a top 10 player in the NBA. I admit though I was wrong about that. He’s top 5. That’s right I said it! Paul Pierce is a top 5 NBA player and I dare you to prove me wrong. You can’t! You just can’t! The guy can do it all. He can take it to the hoop, shoot the 3, shoot the mid range jumper, play lock down defense, and step up his game on the biggest stages to slay the likes of King James and Kobe Bryant. The kicker is Pierce has been a top 5 player for a while now. He didn’t get recognized for it because his team was awful most of the time but now that he has other pieces he’s still the same Pierce, but can now get more wins, but this strangely has yet to add up to the recognition I feel he deserves. If Pierce were selfish he probably could have won the MVP last year. But Pierce is a team player. He spreads the ball around and knows he doesn’t have to be the man anymore even though nobody in the league can truly guard him. But I love what he did last night. He saw a need to take over a game and he did it. The Raptors simply couldn’t stop him. Pierce did the same thing in game 7 of the Eastern Conf Finals last year. Only a top 5 player can do what Pierce did in that game 7, and do what he did last night. Can anyone argue with the fact that the top 5 in the NBA right now should look like this?: 1-Lebron, 2-Kobe, 3-CP, 4-Pierce, 5-Wade. Pierce is simply deserving of that spot. Who should replace him? Duncan?- he’s a great talent but does not have the skill set of Pierce, Dirk?- he can’t win the big game, he doesn’t elevate his game to the level of Pierce when it matters most. Stoudamire?- he can’t lead a team, take away Nash and he’s in trouble. Yes folks it’s time to accept it. Pierce is an elite NBA player who belongs on the current top 5 list.

Pass Defense

The Chicago Bears have no pass defense whatsoever. None. Zilch. Nada. In yesterday's lose to the Tennessee Titans, the Bears were rolled over by Kerry Collins and his band of no name receivers. Justin Gage, Bo Scaife, Brandon Jones, Lavelle Hawkins. Bo Scaife looked like the second coming of Kellen Winslow (former San Diego TE, not the current Browns headcase). It was obvious that the Bears were committed to stopping the run and daring Collins to make something happen with his arm. And did Collins ever make the Bears pay for it. The Bears gave up 289 passing yards and 2 touchdowns to a guy that hadn't thrown for more than 199 yards in a game this season. Collins hadn't thrown for a touchdown in 3 games. Unbelievable.

What makes it even more frustrating is that the defensive coordinator, Bob Babich, never appeared to make any adjustments during the second half to deal with the aerial bombardment that was occurring. After seeing completion after completion, at what point does the coordinator think to himself that maybe his plan isn't working and something else should be tried? Here’s some free advice for you Bob; next time try scrapping the Cover-2 defense. It hasn't worked all year.

The defense wasn't the only reason the Bears lost, but they definitely did their fair share of stinking up the joint yesterday.

Kenny Williams, if you're reading this...

Since I'm delusional enough to think I know more about the Chicago White Sox than their own general manager, I'm here to give Kenny Williams some pointers on how he can improve the White Sox this off season.

1) Trade Javier Vazquez. If you read a previous post of mine, you'll know how I feel about Vazquez. I hear that the Mets are still interested in him. Honestly, I'm ok with any trade, except Luis Castillo. He's terrible.
2) Trade Paul Konerko and move Nick Swicher to first base. Which ever team doesn't win the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes might have an interest in Konerko. He does have a full no trade clause, but he might be willing to waive it if he can get closer to home. Obvious choice would be the Los Angeles Angels. Getting someone speedy like Reggie Willits or Chone Figgins would be a start. Or even someone like Mike Napoli. Let's face it, A.J. isn't getting any younger and we have no one in the minor league system ready to play catcher. And Nick Swisher is not as bad as he played this year. I really think that this year was an aberration and Swisher will bounce back next season.
3) Find a younger catcher somewhere. Talk to the Texas Rangers about one of their many catchers, though after we ripped them off in the John Danks/Brandon McCarthy trade, they may not be in a hurry to trade with us again. If they are, why not see what it would take to get Jared Saltalamacchia. Again, as stated above, the White Sox have no one in the system to play catcher.
4) Make Clayton Richard the 5th starter. Frankly, this guy should have replaced Vazquez towards the end of the season. A rotation of Buehrle, Danks, Floyd, ?, and Richard should be all right to start off the season. I don't think you can count on Jose Contreras to come back to play the entire season, nor do I think he'll be any good, but stranger things have happened. If Richard should falter, we still have Lance Broadway and Aaron Poreda to slot in as the fifth starter, though Poreda may not be ready yet.
5) Believe in the young players. Give Josh Fields more than a look at third base. Give Chris Getz some time at second. After maturing some, Brian Anderson might be ready to be the every day centerfielder this season. Don't trade the youth for some overaged veterans.

Now, I'm not going to say that these moves will allow the White Sox to defend the AL Central title. The Indians and Tigers will definitely be better this upcoming season then they were last season. But, I think these moves help the White Sox out in the long run.

The Hot Stove

Lets do what all baseball fans love doing- talking about "next year". Boston fans love talking about next year. Even after the 2007 world series win fans were talking about next year before even enjoying the world series win. So what should the sox do to field the best team possible for 2009? Let's cover a few of the main issues. Issue #1- what to do with Varitek? Answer: sign him for a 2 year contract or let him walk. And if he does agree to a 2 year deal it needs to be under the condition that he only bats lefty. Enough with the switch hitting crap in which you bat .120 from the right side. In addition to this the Sox still need to acquire a decent catcher that can play 50% of the games to platoon Tek. if you don't sign Tek at all you make a trade with Texas for Saltalamachia because Texas has 4 catchers in their system. A ridiculous overload. Issue #2- pitching moves? Answer: The Sox don't have to do a whole lot with this I feel. They have a fantastic crop of young arms that can help them a great deal. Clay Bucholz is still slated to be a big league stud at some point. They also have guys named Bowden, Masterson, and Anderson. Combined with the top 3 guys (Beckett, Dice K, Lester) the pitching is solid. I wouldn't do anything big like go after CC Sabbathia. What I may want them to do is sign a low end deal with Brad Penny who is a free agent and is coming off an injury plagued year. Also, the Sox have picked up the option on Wakefield who can always give you at least 20 starts and go 10-10 Issue #3- do they go after Teixera? Answer- yes they should. Why the heck not? The Sox are one of the few teams that can even offer Mark a contract. The Sox need to get involved to at least jack up the price for NY, but even more so because with the absence of Manny they need a true clean-up hitter. You sign Tiexera, move Youk to 3rd base and trade Lowell in the spring. The market for 3rd basemen is extremely thin so moving Lowell shouldn't be too difficult if he's healthy. I feel these are the 3 main issues the Sox need to clear up. If I had to throw in a 4th issue it would be the bullpen, but when you have a guy like Papelbon out there it greatly reduces any issues a pen could have. They might need a legit set-up man if Masterson goes back to being a starter but I think it's time for Manny Delcarmin to step in and step it up. My one request for the love of all that is good and holy is for the Sox to let Mike Timlin walk away while he still has some dignity.

Not Another Big Three

Ok can we just all stop for one second here and relax! In the words of Seinfeld "lets not all lose our heads here!". I'm a believer that certain things in sports are sacred. Uniforms, a baseball players glove, certain venues and arena's etc. I even feel nicknames are sacred as well. And thats what has me puzzeled. All of a sudden it seems we're throwing around the nickname "the big three" like it's as common as the word "buddy" and can be used on anybody in any situation-e.g "thanks a lot buddy" or "oh I'm sorry buddy". Please can we stop this! Now the trifecta of Ming, McGrady and Artest is being referred to as a Big Three?!?! Are you serious? Who's next? Iverson, Wallace and Rip? or how about Lebron, Varajou and Mo Williams?? This is ludicrous. Isn't anything sacred anymore? When the Celtics aquired Ray Allen and KG and paired them with Paul Pierce and the Big Three nickname started to resurface I was little bothered by it. The Big Three was meant for 3 men and 3 men only- Parish, McHale, and Bird. To have it brought back to life and given to the new Celtics in 2007 didn't sit quite right but I was ok with it. I allowed myself to accept it and they actually even earned the name by winning it all. But now to bestow this sacred nickname on to Tracy "never won a playoff series" McGrady, Yao "has never played a whole season" Ming, and Ron "jump into the stands and beat down fans" Artest makes me want to flat out vomit. It's an absolute travesty. So right now I'm making 3 rules associated with the Big Three nickname- 1)it can only be used for a Boston trio of players. 2)it can only be used when referring to Bird, Parish and McHale and 3)it can only be used when referring to KG, Pierce and Allen. It's just that simple.

The NHL needs ESPN.

To be perfectly clear, I'm not the biggest fan of ESPN. I think they love the East Coast too much, they have commentators that are fools, and I hate some of their programming. Who the hell wants to watch some kids play Madden on a Playstation? However, because ESPN is the foremost authority of televised sports, the NHL has got to find a way to get back on ESPN.

Let's just look at some numbers:

Total households that have ESPN: around 94 million
Total households that have Versus: 74 million

ESPN also has ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN News, ESPN Classic, and ESPN Deportes. I've even heard that they're trying to get ESPN broadcasted in BOTH Heaven and Hell.
Versus has Versus and.....absolutely nothing else.

According to Comcast, Versus covers "...the NHL, America's Cup, Field Sports, Professional Bull Riding, the Tour de France, Mountain West Conference College Football and more.

First off, the America's Cup? I bet if you ask 10 people that are into sports, 7 of them wouldn't be able to tell you what the America's Cup even is. The only reason I know is because of some Al Michaels narrated VHS tape about great sports moments in the 80's. And can anyone name a team in the Mountain West conference? Boise State, maybe? The point is Versus shows crap. And as long as the NHL is on Versus, it will forever be buried on a network that does nothing to promote the sport. For godsakes, the NHL games being played in Europe this year weren't even broadcasted on Versus.

For the sake of promoting the NHL to a broader base, the NHL absolutely needs ESPN. As we all know, ESPN can and will market and promote anything. They even have funny bowling commercials to promote a bowling tournament. Bowling! The NHL has now become a league for the skilled players and has gotten away from the holding and clutching that once made this great game boring to watch. If Gary Bettman is serious about making hockey more popular, he has to leave Versus and bring ESPN into the fold again.

The Celtics

So the big question.....can the Celtics repeat? Answer- YES. Why? It's simple......because they won it last year. While that sounds like TOO simple of an answer how can you argue with it? Last year the Celtics were a completely different group of players that had NEVER played with each other! Not even for a single season! Yet they stormed through the regular season and proceeded to win it all. Now they have even more chemistry, more experience from their young players and more confidence from the young guns as well. Perkins, Big Baby, Powe, and Rondo all grew as the season went on last year and performed well in the biggest stage of the post season. Yes the Celtics lost Posey, but the extra year under the belts of these 4 young players should more then make up for it. Add to them Steady Eddy House and some young legs in Giddens, Pruitt and Walker and the team has nice depth. And don't forget the wild card- Tony Allen. This guy showed all the signs of a fantastic player before destroying his knee in 2007. Now he's stronger and looks like he's close to being back to 100%. This team is stacked! And again, I go back to my primary reason for confidence in this team- they KNOW each other now. I don't care what level of basketball you play or any sport for that matter.....the more you play with certain people the better you become as a team. That glimmer in your teammates eye that tells you he's cutting to the hole as soon as the defender turns his head can only happen if you have experience playing together. The Celtics have the talent and NOW they have the chemistry. Banner 18 is on it's way.

Trade Him!

There's a rumor going around that the New York Mets are interested in Javier Vazquez. Does he need someone to drive him to O'Hare? In my mind, Javier Vazquez has to be one of the most frustrating players to have in your lineup. Not because he has a bad attitude, but because he has a world of talent, but doesn't have the mental fortitude to keep it all together. How many times have White Sox and Yankees fans seen Javier go 5 strong innings and then completely lose it in the sixth inning? It's so frustrating to see it happen again and again. I really had high hopes for him this season, especially the way he finished last season on such a high note. He does well when the season doesn't matter, but when you need him, Javier wilts like a soybean plant without water.

I guess the best thing I can say about Javier is that he will pitch plenty of innings and will strike people out. The worst thing I can say about Javier is that he's terrible once he gets through the batting order twice. Once the hitters have seen his best stuff, they're on him like a pitbull on a poodle.

I don't know what the Mets farm system looks like, but if Kenny Williams can talk the Mets into paying the rest of the $23 million still owed to Javier, I propose the White Sox trade him for Future Considerations, a bag of fungos, and frequent flier miles. Kenny, get this trade done.

I'm Logan Huff and I approve this trade.

The Patriots and other football jibber jabber

So living where I do i have the privilege of being able to listen to WEEI every morning after a Patriots game. The theme of the day today is that the Patriots have no issues at QB anymore. To many Matt Cassell has proved that he is a good QB and is unquestionably "our guy" for the season. I agree that Cassell is our guy for the season but saying the Patriots have no issues at quarterback means you’re using the same logic that many “analysts” used after the vice presidential debate when they thought that Sarah Palin did well. Their expectations for her were so low that despite her inadequacies most people thought she did a good job. That’s what WEEI and many fans sound like this morning. The Patriots DO have issues at QB. Yes, Matt Cassell isn’t losing games for them but he also isn’t winning them either. Our expectations for him were so low that despite HIS inadequacies they think he’s doing a good job. He isn’t screwing up royally I’ll grant you, but don't they want someone that can make a play? And isn't part of the reason he isn't screwing up is because he doesn't even get the opportunity to? All he did last night was hand the ball off and throw some quick outs and slants. The Patriots played so conservative that Cassell could do no wrong for the most part. The Colts team the Pats lost to last night has been awful all year accept for one game against Baltimore. If the Pats can't beat them they'll be fortunate to win a playoff game.
Is Brandon Jacobs one of the more underrated RB's in the NFL? I feel he is. The guy is a beast and a punishing runner. He's one of the most enjoyable running backs to watch in the game because of his speed, power and size! His arms are massive and his legs are literal tree trunks! the guy is an absolute specimen and every time he gets the ball something fun to see could happen....yet we hear very little about him.
The Texas vs Texas Tech game was unbelievable yet I find myself disgusted at the lack of clutch plays made by certain players in key situations. How does that player on Texas drop that game ending interception?? The ball was tipped and floated up into the air as if it were a punt and the Texas player botched it. It's mind blowing. If I make a mistake like that in a local pick-up game with my buddies I lose sleep over it and this poor kid did it in front of millions in a VERY meaningful game. And without fail EVERY time a play like that slips away the other teams make them pay.

In Rex I want to Trust

With Kyle Orton possibly out for the next 4 weeks, the Bears put their hands in Rex Grossman, the unfairly maligned backup quarterback. He came in yesterday and led the Bears to a win over the hapless Detroit Lions, throwing for one touchdown and running in the game winning touchdown. And honestly, I'm happy for Rex. I don't think anyone on the Bears team has taken as much abuse as Rex has taken over the past 3 seasons and he's handled everything as a model professional. He didn't air out his feelings to the press, didn't skip practices, or sulk on the bench. Frankly, I think the fans have been much too harsh on him, but that's beside the point.

While I believe that Rex has the arm to make the passes, I question what's between his ears sometimes. I remember kicking a friends basement door when Rex threw that horrible interception in the Super Bowl that the Colts ran back for a touchdown. Or the way he holds the ball haphazardly when he gets sacked. If he ever learned that throwing the ball away is OK or to tuck the ball when getting sacked, Rex might become a more than serviceable quarterback. All the Bears need from Rex the next 4 weeks a minimal amount of mistakes. Hand the ball off to Matt Forte, make the easy passes, and don't do anything stupid.

The next four games for the Bears are against the Titans, Packers, Rams, and Vikings. If Rex can lead us to a 2-2 record, I'll be happy. Let's hope that Rex remembers that he's a quarterback and not a gunslinger.