Spanning the globe, to bring you a constant variety of sports……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Basket Brawl: Concerning the fight that took place during the Pacer/Piston game. I just feel that under any circumstances, the players can not go into the stands. There are probably 100 security people there, and once the cup was thrown, security should have been alerted and the fan escorted out of the stadium. End of story. I heard Al Saunders try to defend Artest and mention after the game if someone walked up to you on the street and threw a cup of beer on you, you’d go after them….. We’ll sure I would, however I’m not surrounded by security people in that situation (unless I’m with my entourage, in which case Turtle, E and Drama are going after the guy!). Conversely, fans cannot come down on the floor either, those individuals got what they deserved…….. I agree with all the suspensions, with one exception being I would have lowered Jermaine O’Neal’s suspension (he got 25 games). He didn’t go up in the stands (that I saw), only fought with a fan on the court… I’m thinking 10-15 games would have been appropriate. On the other hand maybe I’m biased because that just killed one of my Roto teams! Also I feel this is an opportune time to revise my NBA prediction….. I’m going with Miami out of the East to face the Spurs in the finals.
Seringho: I know, I know, you’re going who???? Well he was a Brazilian soccer player who collapsed on the field and died of heart failure last month (can anyone say Hank Gathers???). Interesting in that the police in Rio De Janeiro are filing murder charges against Sao Caetano club officials because the club President and team Doctor knew Serginho had heart trouble, but let him play anyway. This story is being followed throughout the sports world, because of the precedent it could set. In instances like this in the past, the families might file a private suit against the teams, but to have the police file murder charges raises it to a whole new level. Watch for this to get a lot more play here in the States if this goes to trial.
Jay Williams: With all the negative press, l wanted to mention something positive. For those of you not familiar with Jay Williams, he is a former point guard at Duke who 3 years ago was the 2nd pick in the NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. Before the season last year he crashed his motorcycle and nearly became paralyzed. The Doctors told him he would never play basketball again, and would have issues even walking. He’s been rehabbing and last week he was able to dunk a basketball for the first time. He thinks he’ll be ready to attempt a comeback next year. He seems like a good guy, and with all the negative press going on, it was good to read about a nice guy trying to get back on top.
Potpourri: Welcome to the catch all category…………. Reports this week that Butch Davies would be fired by the Cleveland Browns. Look for him to finish out the year, and then negotiate a buyout on the 2 remaining years of his contract. Don’t be surprised to see him take the head coaching job at either Texas or North Carolina.
Not that I’m a big Lou Holtz fan, but I’m sad to see him retire. He won wherever he went, and seemed to run a fairly clean program at South Carolina and elsewhere. Look for Spurrier to contend in the SEC within 2 years. The man is a GREAT recruiter. His failure with the Redskins not withstanding, the man can coach football (and certainly College Football).
Mets and Dodgers are still discussing a Shawn Green, Mike Piazza trade, but instead look for Piazza to go to an American League team where he’ll be able to DH. Don’t be surprised to see him with the Angels, as Arte Moreno would love to put a popular Los Angeles player in an Angel’s uniform.
The Trail Blazers and Raptors are still discussing a Vince Carter/Shareef Abur Rahim trade, but don’t look for anything to happen until the trade deadline. However a trade that might take place soon, is the 76’rs trading Glenn Robinson to the New Orleans Hornets.
Love Em/Hate Em: Surprisingly last week, over 70% of you responded that you loved Barry Bonds……. That surprised me. This week, I’m tweaking it a little bit and asking do you agree (love) with Sterns suspensions over the fight, or disagree (hate) them? As I said earlier, I love them……
Link of the week: This just seemed appropriate: http://www.ronartest.com/
Hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving!
Until next time,
Bill
Monday, November 29, 2004
Monday, November 15, 2004
Grumblings - 11/15
Once again spanning the globe to bring you a constant variety of sports…………… Thank you to everyone who responded last week, it was nice hearing from you!
Lets get it started-
1) Soccer- Yes, I know, you’re thinking “soccer, who cares”…… but this is a story I’ve been following that I thought was pretty interesting. Malcom Glazer, the owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has been buying up shares in Manchester United (www.manutd.com) over the past 18 months in an attempt to take over controlling interest in the team. For those of you not familiar with Manchester United, they are the New York Yankees of soccer, and are considered by many to be the most popular (i.e., wealthiest) team in the world. Fans of the team have been protesting Glazer because they feel he is in it only to make money and will make tickets too expensive for the “common” fan. They’ve been protesting overseas, on the internet (http://www.redissue.co.uk/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=188422) and calling in like mad to sports talk radio shows. Last week, 3 members of the board were let go and Glazer voted against all 3. Apparently he held the swing vote on all of them, and he told them in his best Donald Trump voice, “You’re Fired”! This is going to keep getting uglier.
2) Baseball- The rumors continue to swirl, and here’s some of the latest gossip:
Jose Guillen of the Angels could go to Florida in a 3-way deal, with Randy Johnson going to Anaheim and some good Angel’s prospects going to the desert. If that falls through, look for Guillen to land in Kansas City. As I mentioned last week, the Yankee’s would like to get Johnson, but they just don’t have enough prospects in the farm system.
Adrian Beltre has said he would like to resign with the Dodgers, but GM Paul DePodesta is out of the Billy Beane “Moneyball” philosophy, so it’ll be interesting what offer the Dodgers make. Beltre, is not a high on base percentage guy, so they might not want to empty the bank to resign him. Truthfully I haven’t seen what sort of dollars / years Beltre is asking for but I would think its in the 5yr, $15M per year range(based on comparable players). He’s young and probably his best years are in front of him, so it’ll be interesting. He’s represented by the same agent (Scott Boras) as Carlos Beltran, so once Beltran signs, I think Boras will start actively shopping Beltre.
The Rangers are looking to move Alfonso Soriano. I’m surprised there isn’t more attention out there to this fact, because he is fairly cheap in relation to the numbers he puts up. On top of it, he is only 28. I would think more teams would be after him. Not sure what the Rangers are asking for (I’m sure its starting pitching though). The Mets would like to bring him back to NY, but they want him to play Right Field, and he’s gone on record saying he would never do that….
As I mentioned last week, the Red Sox are trying to keep both Pedro (offered him a 2yr, 25million contract) and acquire Carl Pavano. From what I’ve been reading, Pavano’s parents and sister are pushing him to resign with the Red Sox. Also apparently, growing up, his favorite player was Curt Schilling. I’d be thrilled with a rotation of Schilling, Pedro, Pavano, Arroyo, Wakefield. Yankees are pursuing Pedro though, with Steinbrenner meeting Pedro for lunch on Tuesday afternoon in Tampa. Yankee’s are rumored to be offering 3-4yrs at $14M per. Should be interesting where this goes……….
Troy Percival has narrowed his list of potential new employers down to 6. The Indians, Tigers, Cubs and Giants are 4 of them..
The Seattle Mariners have Carlos Delgado at the top of their wish list, and apparently he seems to hold Seattle in a similar regard.
Sosa is interested in going to the Mets so he can be reunited with their new General Manager, Omar Minaya (who he has a good relationship with). He is willing to reduce his 18 million dollar contract next year, but the players union has issues with it.
Don’t be surprised to see the Braves move Andruw Jones. They’ve soured on him and are trying to unload him. He still has 3yrs and 39 million left on his contract but he’s another young guy (27) still playing great ball.
The Angels picked up the option on Bengie Molina but declined the $5.5M option on Ramon Ortiz giving him his release (Good Riddance!).
Finally in case you missed it, the first free agent signings occurred. Omar Vizuel signed with the Giants for 3yrs, 12.25 million, and the Washington Expos (or whatever they’re going to be called), signed former Twin Shortstop Christian Guzman and former Rockie 3rd baseman Vinny Castilla………
3) Basketball- I discussed Kobe and the Lakers last week, so let me touch on Shaq and the Heat. I feel with Shaq the Heat are now in a 3 team race with the Pistons and Pacers for superiority in the Eastern Conference. I love Dwayne Wade of the Heat and think that with Shaq there, he’s going to have a monster year barring injury (he sprained an ankle the other day following a 37pt, 12 rebound, 8 assist game). Keep an eye on this kid, as he can do everything on the floor, similar to a young Sidney Moncrief in the early 80’s………. ) My 8 playoff teams in the East will be the Pacers, Pistons, Heat, Magic, Raptors, Celtics, Cavaliers and Bucks and my 8 in the West will be Spurs, Mavericks, Jazz, Timberwolves, Rockets, Suns, Lakers and Grizzlies (edging out the Kings and Clippers). I think the 2 finalists in the East will be the Pacers and Heat and in the West, It’ll be the Spurs and Mavericks (watch Nowitzki have an MVP season……). The finals will be Pacers/Spurs with the Spurs winning it all. Look for Manu Ginobili to have a huge year for the Spurs.
4) Gambling - Not highly mentioned in the American press but very important to many football fans, the World Court ruled in favor of the Cayman Islands and Barbados last week in a dispute over whether the US has the right to crack down on offshore sports wagering that uses the internet and default lines in the US. The world court supported a ruling by the WTO and said that the US does not have the right. I am thinking that rather than fight this...the US is going to allow casinos to put up online gaming sites based in the US sooner than later and then regulate/tax them.
5) love em/hate em – Update from last week concerning T.O. is that 78% of you hate him. Not surprising……. This week our athlete Du Joir is Barry Bonds. Coming off his 4th consecutive MVP award (and 7th overall), the man continues to put up some mind boggling numbers. Obviously we have all the steroid rumors, but so far nothing has been proven….. I’ll go with Love Him! Let me know what you think, and remember, no in between, you either love him, or hate him.
Link of the Week – Not sure how many of you remember Calvin Murphy, former Houston Rocket guard from the 70’s and early 80’s, and recent television broadcaster for them. He’s being accused by some of his daughters (and he has multiple ones….actually he has 14 children by 9 different women…..) of sexual abuse, and this is an article during the start of trial. It’s amazing how NBA players propagate….. They’re mobile, agile and fertile! No one even bats an eyelid when you mention the fact we are only 18 years away from Lebron Sr. playing on the same team as Lebron Jr……… Anyway, here you go:
http://www.abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/110504_APlocal_murphy.html
Until next time,
Bill
Lets get it started-
1) Soccer- Yes, I know, you’re thinking “soccer, who cares”…… but this is a story I’ve been following that I thought was pretty interesting. Malcom Glazer, the owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has been buying up shares in Manchester United (www.manutd.com) over the past 18 months in an attempt to take over controlling interest in the team. For those of you not familiar with Manchester United, they are the New York Yankees of soccer, and are considered by many to be the most popular (i.e., wealthiest) team in the world. Fans of the team have been protesting Glazer because they feel he is in it only to make money and will make tickets too expensive for the “common” fan. They’ve been protesting overseas, on the internet (http://www.redissue.co.uk/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=188422) and calling in like mad to sports talk radio shows. Last week, 3 members of the board were let go and Glazer voted against all 3. Apparently he held the swing vote on all of them, and he told them in his best Donald Trump voice, “You’re Fired”! This is going to keep getting uglier.
2) Baseball- The rumors continue to swirl, and here’s some of the latest gossip:
Jose Guillen of the Angels could go to Florida in a 3-way deal, with Randy Johnson going to Anaheim and some good Angel’s prospects going to the desert. If that falls through, look for Guillen to land in Kansas City. As I mentioned last week, the Yankee’s would like to get Johnson, but they just don’t have enough prospects in the farm system.
Adrian Beltre has said he would like to resign with the Dodgers, but GM Paul DePodesta is out of the Billy Beane “Moneyball” philosophy, so it’ll be interesting what offer the Dodgers make. Beltre, is not a high on base percentage guy, so they might not want to empty the bank to resign him. Truthfully I haven’t seen what sort of dollars / years Beltre is asking for but I would think its in the 5yr, $15M per year range(based on comparable players). He’s young and probably his best years are in front of him, so it’ll be interesting. He’s represented by the same agent (Scott Boras) as Carlos Beltran, so once Beltran signs, I think Boras will start actively shopping Beltre.
The Rangers are looking to move Alfonso Soriano. I’m surprised there isn’t more attention out there to this fact, because he is fairly cheap in relation to the numbers he puts up. On top of it, he is only 28. I would think more teams would be after him. Not sure what the Rangers are asking for (I’m sure its starting pitching though). The Mets would like to bring him back to NY, but they want him to play Right Field, and he’s gone on record saying he would never do that….
As I mentioned last week, the Red Sox are trying to keep both Pedro (offered him a 2yr, 25million contract) and acquire Carl Pavano. From what I’ve been reading, Pavano’s parents and sister are pushing him to resign with the Red Sox. Also apparently, growing up, his favorite player was Curt Schilling. I’d be thrilled with a rotation of Schilling, Pedro, Pavano, Arroyo, Wakefield. Yankees are pursuing Pedro though, with Steinbrenner meeting Pedro for lunch on Tuesday afternoon in Tampa. Yankee’s are rumored to be offering 3-4yrs at $14M per. Should be interesting where this goes……….
Troy Percival has narrowed his list of potential new employers down to 6. The Indians, Tigers, Cubs and Giants are 4 of them..
The Seattle Mariners have Carlos Delgado at the top of their wish list, and apparently he seems to hold Seattle in a similar regard.
Sosa is interested in going to the Mets so he can be reunited with their new General Manager, Omar Minaya (who he has a good relationship with). He is willing to reduce his 18 million dollar contract next year, but the players union has issues with it.
Don’t be surprised to see the Braves move Andruw Jones. They’ve soured on him and are trying to unload him. He still has 3yrs and 39 million left on his contract but he’s another young guy (27) still playing great ball.
The Angels picked up the option on Bengie Molina but declined the $5.5M option on Ramon Ortiz giving him his release (Good Riddance!).
Finally in case you missed it, the first free agent signings occurred. Omar Vizuel signed with the Giants for 3yrs, 12.25 million, and the Washington Expos (or whatever they’re going to be called), signed former Twin Shortstop Christian Guzman and former Rockie 3rd baseman Vinny Castilla………
3) Basketball- I discussed Kobe and the Lakers last week, so let me touch on Shaq and the Heat. I feel with Shaq the Heat are now in a 3 team race with the Pistons and Pacers for superiority in the Eastern Conference. I love Dwayne Wade of the Heat and think that with Shaq there, he’s going to have a monster year barring injury (he sprained an ankle the other day following a 37pt, 12 rebound, 8 assist game). Keep an eye on this kid, as he can do everything on the floor, similar to a young Sidney Moncrief in the early 80’s………. ) My 8 playoff teams in the East will be the Pacers, Pistons, Heat, Magic, Raptors, Celtics, Cavaliers and Bucks and my 8 in the West will be Spurs, Mavericks, Jazz, Timberwolves, Rockets, Suns, Lakers and Grizzlies (edging out the Kings and Clippers). I think the 2 finalists in the East will be the Pacers and Heat and in the West, It’ll be the Spurs and Mavericks (watch Nowitzki have an MVP season……). The finals will be Pacers/Spurs with the Spurs winning it all. Look for Manu Ginobili to have a huge year for the Spurs.
4) Gambling - Not highly mentioned in the American press but very important to many football fans, the World Court ruled in favor of the Cayman Islands and Barbados last week in a dispute over whether the US has the right to crack down on offshore sports wagering that uses the internet and default lines in the US. The world court supported a ruling by the WTO and said that the US does not have the right. I am thinking that rather than fight this...the US is going to allow casinos to put up online gaming sites based in the US sooner than later and then regulate/tax them.
5) love em/hate em – Update from last week concerning T.O. is that 78% of you hate him. Not surprising……. This week our athlete Du Joir is Barry Bonds. Coming off his 4th consecutive MVP award (and 7th overall), the man continues to put up some mind boggling numbers. Obviously we have all the steroid rumors, but so far nothing has been proven….. I’ll go with Love Him! Let me know what you think, and remember, no in between, you either love him, or hate him.
Link of the Week – Not sure how many of you remember Calvin Murphy, former Houston Rocket guard from the 70’s and early 80’s, and recent television broadcaster for them. He’s being accused by some of his daughters (and he has multiple ones….actually he has 14 children by 9 different women…..) of sexual abuse, and this is an article during the start of trial. It’s amazing how NBA players propagate….. They’re mobile, agile and fertile! No one even bats an eyelid when you mention the fact we are only 18 years away from Lebron Sr. playing on the same team as Lebron Jr……… Anyway, here you go:
http://www.abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/110504_APlocal_murphy.html
Until next time,
Bill
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Thoughts 11/7/04
“Spanning the Globe to bring you a constant variety of sports………., blah, blah, blah……..”
1) The Lakers – With basketball season upon us, I think the main topic is the break up of Shaq and Kobe. Being here in Socal I believe Laker Nation is living in denial (and I’m not talking about the river in Africa….) about how well they’re going to do. As I see it, the Lakers have 2 main problems. One, they can’t score consistently in the paint. They have no low post presence. Mihm is nice up tempo, running the floor, but beyond that, useless. Brian Grant? It’s hard to get an offensive rebound with a fork sticking out of your back…… Because of this, the Lakers are a jump shooting team, which in the NBA, means a 3pt shooting team. And we all know the saying, “Live by the 3, Die by the 3”. The second problem they have, and this is the bigger one, is they can’t defend the paint…… Any team that has a strong low post presence is going to kill them. Any time a team needs a basket, they kick it down low and score an easy 2. We’ve already seen it happen in the first week, with both Tim Duncan (26pts, 16rbs) and Carlos Boozer, YES, CARLOS BOOZER (27pts, 11rbs) killing them. Because of this I see them winning 48 games with Kobe jacking up 27-35 shots a night, and battling for the 8th playoff spot in the Western Conference. I’ll discuss the Heat and Shaq next week along with my NBA predictions.
2) Hot Stove Heater – With the World Series over, we can get to the fun part of baseball, and predict how big the Skankee’s payroll will get to be (I’m going out on a limb and say $200 million), as they try to sign Carlos Beltran, the big 3 Boston free agents (Pedro, Varitek, Lowe), and trade for Randy Johnson. My prediction is they’ll sign Beltran, package Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams for minor league talent someplace, turn around and trade that talent to the Diamondbacks for Johnson, and sign Varitek. They’ll get in discussion with Pedro to try to jack up Boston’s price to resign him, but in the end, he’ll resign with Boston for a 3yr, 36 million dollar deal (I can live with that, but anymore I think is over paying). Lowe will sign with Detroit (He’s from Michigan and grew up watching the Tigers). I also think the Red Sox and Yankees will both go after Carl Pavano hard. He’s a kid from Connecticut, and still has all his family there and would like to come back home. He came up through the Red Sox organization (they traded him to the Expos for Pedro back in 99), and because of the trade, harbors some bad feelings toward them. If the Yankees are able to sign Johnson, they’ll back off on Pavano, where in turn, he’ll sign with the Phillies, Mets or Orioles. I’d love to see him come to the west coast and sign with the Angels, but the early word is he wants to be closer to his family. What about Nomah? My prediction is he’ll resign (for one year), with the Cubs, as teams want to see how his wrist continues to heal, keeping them away from offering him a big multi year contract. Another Boston free agent is Orlando Cabrera. Apparently he’s good friends with Vladimir Guerrero (they played together in Montreal), and has said he’d love to play for Anaheim. To me this is a no brainer. The Angels decide to not resign Adam Kennedy, move Eckstein to second base and sign Cabrera to be their shortstop. Then you have The OC in OC…….. This has to happen! Concerning the Angels, they’ve decided to not resign Glaus and Percival (going with Dallas McPherson and KRod). As I said I think they’ll go after Cabrera and try to get a pitcher. They’ll inquire about Pedro and Pavano, but will eventually sign someone like Eric Milton. They’ll also trade Jose Gullien to anyone who offers them a six pack of Dos XX’s. The Dodgers? Rumors flying around about a Green/Sosa swap which makes sense for both teams, so in other words, won’t happen. We’ll touch on this more after the meetings this week.
3) Tiger Woods – Well Tiger, welcome to the real world, and dealing with real problems, like keeping a significant other happy! There are a bunch of different theories out there as to why he’s struggling (parted ways with his coach David Leadbetter, his driving accuracy has plummeted, too many endorsements, not playing enough golf). My personal feeling is it’s a combination of all these things……… He’s not a 21 year old kid anymore, without any concerns except to hit the practice range and play golf. He’s 27, has a wife (who I’m sure is pestering him with comments like “when are we going to start a family Eldrick?”, is the CEO of Tiger Inc., and has more money than he’s every going to need. For 12 years now, the public has been following him and hearing him say “I want to own Nicholas records of most Majors, Wins, etc….”. If he doesn’t turn things around soon, that’s all out the window. By the way, what’s the over /under on Tigers marriage, 2 years, 3 years??????? I wish Vegas took bets on this stuff.
4) Football – Couple of big stories going on right now. The Steelers, with B-Roe (I’m not going to try to spell Rothleisberger for the next 10 years….), playing great ball and knocking off both the Patriots and Eagles in back to back weeks. They look unbeatable right now, HOW EVVVVVAAAAAAA (That was my Stephen A. Smith imitation), it’s still early, both those games were at Heinz field and New England was missing both their starting cornerbacks (plus a nickel back), and their starting running back (NE only attempted a run 5 times for the whole game……). Let’s see how Pittsburgh does when they go on the road. When NE gets back healthy, if they have home field against the Steelers, I see the Pats handling Pittsburgh easily. Another big story is the Chargers. For a team that did everything they could to get rid of Drew Brees in the off season, they now have the highest scoring team in the league and an MVP candidate. They’re tied for the lead in the AFC West, and they’re a young talented team that is hard to match up against. They can score like Kansas City and Indianapolis, but they actually have a defense, imagine that……….. In the NFC, I think the 2 biggest surprises are who’s doing badly. Carolina and Dallas. Carolina has been decimated by injuries on both the offensive and defensive side, and that’s tough to overcome. In Dallas, the only thing I’ve got to say is “when does the Drew Henson era start?” I don’t care how good a coach Parcells is, you’re not going to win with a 65 year old quarterback in there (not to mention a bust of a pick in Julius Jones at running back). Maybe I’ll hear from Mike “Not So” Priddy in Texas to give me an update on what’s going on with “The Boys”. By the way, my Super Bowl prediction is still Pats vs. Iggles.
5) Love Em/ Hate Em – Here’s a fun game. I mention an athlete and you let me know whether you love them or hate. There is no in between, you have to decide whether you love them or hate them. I’ll keep track during the week, and update you on the results next week. Example from the entertainment world is Angelina Jolie. My assessment of her is this – cute face, amazing figure, kind of psychotic……… Love Her! Another example… Heather Locklear. Good actress, cute, personable, but just doesn’t hold my interest………… Hate her! (Remember no in between).
First Athlete up – Terrell Owens. – Let me know, do you love him or hate him. I’ll go with ………….. Love him. I like people who talk a lot and can back it up…….. I don’t always agree with his comments/actions, but I always stay tuned in when an interview is coming up with him.
Finally, I’ll give you my link of the week. This week I’m going with a co-worker of mine:
www.tinyurl.com/6kdpq
Next week, I’ll hit college football, NBA predictions and maybe some soccer (always entertaining following Becks and Posh….).
Till next time,
Bill
1) The Lakers – With basketball season upon us, I think the main topic is the break up of Shaq and Kobe. Being here in Socal I believe Laker Nation is living in denial (and I’m not talking about the river in Africa….) about how well they’re going to do. As I see it, the Lakers have 2 main problems. One, they can’t score consistently in the paint. They have no low post presence. Mihm is nice up tempo, running the floor, but beyond that, useless. Brian Grant? It’s hard to get an offensive rebound with a fork sticking out of your back…… Because of this, the Lakers are a jump shooting team, which in the NBA, means a 3pt shooting team. And we all know the saying, “Live by the 3, Die by the 3”. The second problem they have, and this is the bigger one, is they can’t defend the paint…… Any team that has a strong low post presence is going to kill them. Any time a team needs a basket, they kick it down low and score an easy 2. We’ve already seen it happen in the first week, with both Tim Duncan (26pts, 16rbs) and Carlos Boozer, YES, CARLOS BOOZER (27pts, 11rbs) killing them. Because of this I see them winning 48 games with Kobe jacking up 27-35 shots a night, and battling for the 8th playoff spot in the Western Conference. I’ll discuss the Heat and Shaq next week along with my NBA predictions.
2) Hot Stove Heater – With the World Series over, we can get to the fun part of baseball, and predict how big the Skankee’s payroll will get to be (I’m going out on a limb and say $200 million), as they try to sign Carlos Beltran, the big 3 Boston free agents (Pedro, Varitek, Lowe), and trade for Randy Johnson. My prediction is they’ll sign Beltran, package Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams for minor league talent someplace, turn around and trade that talent to the Diamondbacks for Johnson, and sign Varitek. They’ll get in discussion with Pedro to try to jack up Boston’s price to resign him, but in the end, he’ll resign with Boston for a 3yr, 36 million dollar deal (I can live with that, but anymore I think is over paying). Lowe will sign with Detroit (He’s from Michigan and grew up watching the Tigers). I also think the Red Sox and Yankees will both go after Carl Pavano hard. He’s a kid from Connecticut, and still has all his family there and would like to come back home. He came up through the Red Sox organization (they traded him to the Expos for Pedro back in 99), and because of the trade, harbors some bad feelings toward them. If the Yankees are able to sign Johnson, they’ll back off on Pavano, where in turn, he’ll sign with the Phillies, Mets or Orioles. I’d love to see him come to the west coast and sign with the Angels, but the early word is he wants to be closer to his family. What about Nomah? My prediction is he’ll resign (for one year), with the Cubs, as teams want to see how his wrist continues to heal, keeping them away from offering him a big multi year contract. Another Boston free agent is Orlando Cabrera. Apparently he’s good friends with Vladimir Guerrero (they played together in Montreal), and has said he’d love to play for Anaheim. To me this is a no brainer. The Angels decide to not resign Adam Kennedy, move Eckstein to second base and sign Cabrera to be their shortstop. Then you have The OC in OC…….. This has to happen! Concerning the Angels, they’ve decided to not resign Glaus and Percival (going with Dallas McPherson and KRod). As I said I think they’ll go after Cabrera and try to get a pitcher. They’ll inquire about Pedro and Pavano, but will eventually sign someone like Eric Milton. They’ll also trade Jose Gullien to anyone who offers them a six pack of Dos XX’s. The Dodgers? Rumors flying around about a Green/Sosa swap which makes sense for both teams, so in other words, won’t happen. We’ll touch on this more after the meetings this week.
3) Tiger Woods – Well Tiger, welcome to the real world, and dealing with real problems, like keeping a significant other happy! There are a bunch of different theories out there as to why he’s struggling (parted ways with his coach David Leadbetter, his driving accuracy has plummeted, too many endorsements, not playing enough golf). My personal feeling is it’s a combination of all these things……… He’s not a 21 year old kid anymore, without any concerns except to hit the practice range and play golf. He’s 27, has a wife (who I’m sure is pestering him with comments like “when are we going to start a family Eldrick?”, is the CEO of Tiger Inc., and has more money than he’s every going to need. For 12 years now, the public has been following him and hearing him say “I want to own Nicholas records of most Majors, Wins, etc….”. If he doesn’t turn things around soon, that’s all out the window. By the way, what’s the over /under on Tigers marriage, 2 years, 3 years??????? I wish Vegas took bets on this stuff.
4) Football – Couple of big stories going on right now. The Steelers, with B-Roe (I’m not going to try to spell Rothleisberger for the next 10 years….), playing great ball and knocking off both the Patriots and Eagles in back to back weeks. They look unbeatable right now, HOW EVVVVVAAAAAAA (That was my Stephen A. Smith imitation), it’s still early, both those games were at Heinz field and New England was missing both their starting cornerbacks (plus a nickel back), and their starting running back (NE only attempted a run 5 times for the whole game……). Let’s see how Pittsburgh does when they go on the road. When NE gets back healthy, if they have home field against the Steelers, I see the Pats handling Pittsburgh easily. Another big story is the Chargers. For a team that did everything they could to get rid of Drew Brees in the off season, they now have the highest scoring team in the league and an MVP candidate. They’re tied for the lead in the AFC West, and they’re a young talented team that is hard to match up against. They can score like Kansas City and Indianapolis, but they actually have a defense, imagine that……….. In the NFC, I think the 2 biggest surprises are who’s doing badly. Carolina and Dallas. Carolina has been decimated by injuries on both the offensive and defensive side, and that’s tough to overcome. In Dallas, the only thing I’ve got to say is “when does the Drew Henson era start?” I don’t care how good a coach Parcells is, you’re not going to win with a 65 year old quarterback in there (not to mention a bust of a pick in Julius Jones at running back). Maybe I’ll hear from Mike “Not So” Priddy in Texas to give me an update on what’s going on with “The Boys”. By the way, my Super Bowl prediction is still Pats vs. Iggles.
5) Love Em/ Hate Em – Here’s a fun game. I mention an athlete and you let me know whether you love them or hate. There is no in between, you have to decide whether you love them or hate them. I’ll keep track during the week, and update you on the results next week. Example from the entertainment world is Angelina Jolie. My assessment of her is this – cute face, amazing figure, kind of psychotic……… Love Her! Another example… Heather Locklear. Good actress, cute, personable, but just doesn’t hold my interest………… Hate her! (Remember no in between).
First Athlete up – Terrell Owens. – Let me know, do you love him or hate him. I’ll go with ………….. Love him. I like people who talk a lot and can back it up…….. I don’t always agree with his comments/actions, but I always stay tuned in when an interview is coming up with him.
Finally, I’ll give you my link of the week. This week I’m going with a co-worker of mine:
www.tinyurl.com/6kdpq
Next week, I’ll hit college football, NBA predictions and maybe some soccer (always entertaining following Becks and Posh….).
Till next time,
Bill
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