I was Wrong

After having lived in the Northeast for 3 years, there are things about the area that I grew to dislike. Boston Red Sox, Red Sox fans, New England Patriots, and more specifically, Bill Belichick. The guy has a aura of smugness attached to him that I absolutely cannot stand. I hate the interviews that he gives to the media. I'm not asking him to be Chris Rock up there, but something a little bit more than robot would be better.

However, I have to give him a lot of credit this year for the job he has done getting the Patriots to the doorstep of the playoffs. Honestly, when I saw Tom Brady get injured in the first game, I was pleased. Not because Brady got hurt, but because Belichick was going to get stomped on this year by everyone else. I was hoping to see that the reason why the Patriots had been so good the past few seasons was because of Brady, not Belichick. Unfortunately for me, that wasn't the case.

Mike Smith and Tony Sparano are two popular choices for NFL Coach of the Year. And they are well deserved candidates. But, I feel that Belichick should also be mentioned in the conversation. After Brady went down, only the most diehard and delusional of Pats fans thought that the Patriots could have made the playoffs. But that's exactly where Belichick has the Patriots. With a win and some help, the Patriots will make the playoffs as a wild card team. What makes this even more impressive is that he's using a quarterback that hasn't started a game since high school leading him there. Sure, it helps that the Patriots got to play the cupcakes in the AFC and NFC West, but they still have to beat those teams. And unlike the NY Jets, that's exactly what the Patriots are doing.

My dislike for Bill Belichick has me hoping that the Patriots don't make the playoffs, but there is a very small piece of me pulling for them to get in. It would be a well deserved reward for the great coaching job that Belichick has produced this season.

Staying the Course

In my previous post, I stated that I would like to see Mats Sundin join the Chicago Blackhawks. Yesterday, Mats Sundin decided to join the Vancouver Canucks and I'm pleased that he didn't join the Blackhawks. I know that's a complete 180 from what I had just posted, but after further evaluation, I feel that Mats Sundin not joining the Blackhawks is a good thing.

It is widely known that the Blackhawks have the youngest team in the NHL, with an average age of 25.65. Sure, the Blackhawks don't have many players on the team with playoff experience, but I'm fine with that. They've got Scotty Bowman in the front office to help them out. The guy has almost as many championships rings (9) as he has fingers. Joel Quenneville won a ring as an assistant coach in Colorado and has been to the playoffs many times. Brian Campbell, Cristobal Huet, and Nikolai Khabuibulin have all been in the playoffs as well. There's enough guidance in the front office, coaching staff, and locker room to help makeup for the inexperience of the other players.

While having Mats Sundin would have been great, it's not as if the Blackhawks needed him. The team is fourth in the conference, averaging 3.7 goals per game, and if they were better in shootouts, they would be contending for first in the Central against the hated Red Wings. The team has great chemistry and adding a player, even one as great as Sundin, may have disrupted the team. Sure the Blackhawks are lacking in some areas, but what team doesn't have it's flaws? I say keep the team as it currently is and ride them for the rest of the season. It's worked well thus far.

10 Random Thoughts

1) What the hell was Dick Jauron thinking at the end of the Bills vs. Jets game? With the lead and having run all over the Jets defense all game long, Jauron calls a pass play with 2 minutes left in the game. Huh? If Jauron gets canned at the end of season, it'll be because of this play.

2) The Cowboys will never win anything as long as Jerry Jones is the GM.

3) Greg Maddux has to be one of the top 5 pitchers in the history of baseball and if he doesn't get 100% of Hall of Fame votes on his first attempt, something's wrong with the writers.

4) Mats Sundin sure would look good in a Chicago Blackhawks sweater. I'm hoping he agrees with me sometime this week.

5) If Tim Tebow becomes a legitimate starting quarterback in the NFL, I'll eat my shoe. He'll be great in the wildcat formation, but that's it.

6) Advice for Jerry Angelo: Find a number 1 receiver and move Devin Hester to the slot position. An offensive core of Kyle Orton, Matt Forte, Greg Olsen, Hester, and #1 receiver is pretty good.

7) How stupid does Brett Hull feel/look for signing Sean Avery to a 4 year, $15.5 million contract? That has to go down as one of the worst free agent signings in NHL history. Hell, it might go down as one of the worst free agent signings in spors history. All the Stars got was 23 games and a headache.

8) I know I blasted the Yankees for trying to buy their team, but I like the two major moves that they made last week. CC Sabathia is only 28 years old and hasn't had major health issues. While A.J. Burnett has been inconsistent, when he has his game in order, the guy is very good. The Yankees starting rotation got younger and better in a hurry.

9) If you haven't heard or read about this story yet, click on the link.

10) If you haven't heard anything by the Kings of Leon, get on iTunes or some other downloading site.

Market for Manny?

When Manny Ramirez shot his way out of Boston I was saddened by the loss. I loved watching Manny every night. He’s a one of a kind player. I was very torn when he left because part of me was going to miss him (because of my “loyalty gene”) while another part of me was angry at how he treated the Red Sox and forced a trade by laying down, and conjuring up fake injuries to get out of playing. He continued to mope down the first base line and even seemed to strike out on purpose in big spots just too really stick it to the Sox. The stories are pretty well known as to why Manny acted this way- he was unhappy that the Sox wouldn’t guarantee picking up both years of the team option 2 years at about 20 million per year. So with the Sox having no choice but to trade Manny he was dealt to the Dodgers. This is when Manny did something that really annoyed me. He began to hit everything in sight! He hit in a way he hadn’t for a good 2 years. He started raking like a lawn boy getting paid by the leaf. His numbers for his 2 months with the Dodgers would be considered a good season by 90% of the players in the league. He put up a season’s worth of production in 2 months! His production was tempered slightly by the fact that Jason Bay was also very productive for the Red Sox. But still, it just showed how much Manny had quit on this team.

So now with the winter meetings taking place it’s music to my ears that there is no real market for Manny. He’s not going to get anywhere near the contract he hoped to get by shooting his way out of Boston and becoming a free agent again. Manny didn’t foresee the economic downturn this country was going to take and he also didn’t stop to think that since the Red Sox had no interest in him, the Yankees could take or leave him. As long as he’s out of the AL east they aren’t going to pay him big bucks. When the Red Sox AND Yankees could take or leave a player, that player’s market value drops WAY down. He’s also proven to be a lousy team player based on his Boston shenanigans. He has forsook his reputation and will probably end up with very little additional (if any) money than he would have gotten if he just played out his contract in Boston and left on good terms. So Manny, was destroying your reputation worth it? Just an example- let’s say Manny plays the way he is capable of in 2008 and the Sox don’t trade him. They obviously pick up his option for 2009 and he makes 20+ million. Let’s say he again produces to the point where he is worth keeping and they pick him up for 2010…..another 20+ million. Now he’s got $40+ million more in his bank account and he’s a free agent AND his reputation is intact (granted his reputation was never PERFECT to begin with but that was all chalked up to Manny being Manny up until 2008. It was borderline lovable). I say he definitely gets an offer from an AL team who wants him to DH most of the time for 3 years at 25 million per year giving him another 75 million for a grand total of $115 million over 5 years. By 2011 the economy will have rebounded and Manny will have gotten a very generous offer, especially considering the fact that he’ll be passing the 600 HR mark during that contract. So will Manny get $115 million over the next 5 years now? That remains to be seen. I don’t think he will. He could have gone down as the greatest Red Sox hitter ever but he let money blind him and now the contract that he had hoped for has severely dropped along with the many 401k plans throughout the nation. Sorry Manny, as with hitting a baseball, timing is everything.

Let Me Have My Fantasy

Every once in a while you come across something in life that you really enjoy and wished you’d tried sooner. It could be a new food you never tried. A new sport you never played or perhaps a new hobby. I can remember talking to a friend of mine who took up the game of golf at around the age of 45 and all he kept saying was “I can’t believe I didn’t try this sooner”. Well I happen to feel the same way about one of my newest hobbies- Fantasy Sports. It took me a while to try fantasy sports but ever since I got on board in the fall of 2007 when the guys I work with convinced me to join their Fantasy Football league I’ve been hooked! More than just “liking sports” is involved to really enjoying Fantasy Sports. You have to be a thinker. You have to be an analyzer. And more importantly you have to have a real passion for sports. To date I’ve now managed just 4 Fantasy Sports teams. As mentioned I started with Football in 2007. I then joined a fantasy baseball league for the 2008 baseball season and I now currently manage my 2008 Fantasy Football team and my first Basketball team. The purpose of today’s post is not to discuss my love for fantasy sports however; it’s to discuss my annoyance for people who bad mouth it.
I can’t stand the people who have never tried fantasy sports and yet feel the need to portray it as some useless waste of time. Or they think that it’s stupid. It’s a hobby! We who enjoy it aren’t claiming that it has an impact on making the world a better place and we’re not implying that we could or should coach a real sports team. It also doesn’t mean that we have “all kinds of free time” because we do it. It’s merely a hobby. Just like working out, playing sports, reading books, knitting, watching movies or playing video games.

I’ve had people say things to me like, “how do you have the time to do that?” These are the same people that go to the gym at least 5 days a week for 2 hours!! yet they ask me where I find the time to take 5 minutes a day to set my fantasy team? Give me a break. It doesn’t take up a whole lot of time. You can maintain a team and keep up well with the goings on of the league by simply spending maybe 5 minutes every other day on the computer. If it’s Fantasy Football you’re doing it’s much less than that because the only day you really have to make decisions is on game day- Sunday morning. Time isn’t an issue at all. I’d say it could be the least time consuming hobby I know of. One good work out at the gym for 2 hours is the equivalent to about 3 weeks’ worth of fantasy sports participation if you’re REALLY in to your league. I’ve also heard the intellectual phrase “that’s stupid”. These are the people that have never tried it yet feel compelled to judge it. What’s that all about? EVERYONE has their hobbies in life. That’s all fantasy sports is, just a hobby. If you aren’t in to fantasy sports and have no interest in it that’s fine, but there’s no need to criticize any part of it because of your lack of interest. How about we all let eachother do what we want with what little free time we all have? You want to take the time to read a 400 page novel? Go ahead. You want to knit another scarf nobody is gonna wear? Be my guest! Now if you'll excuse me I need to set my basketball line-up for tonight.

Send in the Clowns!

NHL Commissoner Gary Bettman has handed Sean Avery a six game suspension for the "sloppy seconds" remark he made earlier in the week. 6 games for sloppy seconds? Surely, I'm not the only person flabbergasted by the length of this suspension. I've heard sports related people throughout the week talk about how the suspension wasn't about just this one incident, but a combination of previous indiscretions. That is ridiculous. If the NHL really worked like that, Chris Pronger will be suspended half a season the next time he commits a suspendable offense. Just compare the last suspension that Pronger served to the suspension that Avery will serve.

In March 2008, Pronger was suspended 8 games for intentionally stepping on the calf of Ryan Kesler with his skate. Pronger committed an act that could have seriously injured or possible worse to Ryan Kesler and all he served was 8 games. Sean Avery says that someone is dating his "sloppy seconds" and he gets 6 games. Am I missing something here? How can a juvenile comment be considered as appalling as a stomp to the back of the leg?

And let's face it, the NHL needs all the attention it can possibly get at this moment. The sport has been passed over by NASCAR as the fourth major sport in the US. We're talking about guys making left hand turns being more popular than hockey. That's how far hockey as fallen in this country. I'm not saying that the NHL should be embracing idiots like Sean Avery, but at least he has people talking about the sport again.

In all honesty, maybe I shouldn't be all that surprised by the suspension. We're talking about a league that allows Todd Bertuzzi to earn a paycheck even after he ended Steve Moore's career in a premeditated attack. I guess stupidity will always remain in the NHL as long as Gary Bettman is around.

Tommy the Terrible

I’m a big Celtics fan. Always have been, always will be. I love watching them. As of now they have the best team in the league and quite possibly one of the best Celtics teams to ever take the floor. So why do I find them unbearable to watch on some nights? Tommy Heinsohn. Fortunately for me Tommy has started to travel less and it has opened up the way for Donnie Marshall to take over as the color commentator for many of the games alongside Mike Gorman who I think is an excellent announcer. However, Heinsohn still does do many of the games and what I used to find funny I now find nauseating. Heinsohn’s constant berating of the officials has got to stop. It’s foolish, and literally agonizing to listen to. While it can give many casual fans a good laugh, and even has given me a good laugh at times, he’s gotten even worse than ever and now it’s simply not funny……it’s childish. I can’t take it anymore. He needs to stop this nonsense. The essence of what Tommy Heinsohn says during the broadcast night in and night out is tantamount to saying that the NBA is a joke and that the games are fixed. He’s basically saying every official that does Boston games are against the Celtics and don’t have a clue as to what the rules are. He seems to be watching the games with one purpose only- to critique every move the officials make. The thing is, Tommy is wrong 99% of the time (even a blind squirrel gets a nut once in a while). The man is an idiot.

“That was a goal tend!!!”-replay show’s it clearly wasn’t.
“Their gonna call that a hard foul!!??”- ya Tommy, when it’s the 4th quarter and the teams are starting to turn the game in to a street fight the ref’s need to call the game a little tighter than they ordinarily would.
Tommy needs to shut his mouth and do his job and let the officials do theirs. Tommy is a well know “homer” and so his zeal for feeling that his team is always getting screwed is just a tad skewed. I say keep Tommy in the studio and don’t let him announce anymore, but if he must call a game than CALL THE GAME and stop hounding the officials. Let me watch my team in peace.

Sloppy Seconds

Let me first state that I cannot stand Sean Avery. He's what we call a douche. He's the ultimate pest and instigator, though he doesn't have the backbone to stand up when he's called out. Essentially, he's Matthew Barnaby times 10. And I'll give credit to Barnaby for at least standing up for himself now and then. But today, I'm actually going to defend Sean Avery.

Avery was suspended by the NHL indefinitely for a comment that he made to the media. He said, "I am really happy to be back in Calgary, I love Canada. I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about. Enjoy the game tonight." Calgary defenseman Dion Phaneuf is currently dating Avery ex-girlfriend, Elisha Cuthbert. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that he suspended Avery for "inappropriate public comments, not pertaining to the game." Here in lies why I have a problem with the suspension. Avery in no way made a comment that disparaged the NHL, the officials, or the game in general. Suspensions should be handed out for things done during a game or comments made about the game. All Avery did was step up his trash talk. He went personal. And in this case, I don't have a problem with what he said. Frankly, even though it was immature as hell, I think it's kind of funny.

Sean Avery has done a lot of stupid things over the past couple of years. Here's a small sampling:

1) In last years postseason, he stood in front of Devils goalie Martin Brodeur and waved his stick and hands in front of his face to distract him.

2) Supposedly said some rather unkind words to Jason Blake after he came back from leukemia.

3) Flipped the bird to a NY photographer.

4) Had a verbal exchange with a Bruins fan where he swore at the fan and made comments about the that persons girlfriend.

I can see Avery getting suspended for any of the incidents above. The incidents above are inappropriate and detrimental. If you're going to suspend Avery, do it for verbally lashing out at the fan. At least in that case, he's attacking someone not related to the game itself. Don't suspend Avery for telling Phaneuf that's he dating his sloppy seconds. The NHL has bigger things to worry about like hits to the head or hitting from behind.

The NHL is unique in the fact that the players police themselves. It's the one sport where fighting is a natural part of the game. If Avery would have played, I'm sure Phaneuf and his teammates would have taken a run at him. And I think that's the way this should have been handled. Let's face it, Avery is going to have to apologize, but is anyone going to see it as anything more than lip service? The NHL should have let this one play itself out on the ice.