Yes!

I was hoping you could bet on this. My guess? $100 million...

Elin's 5 year booty

Bill

Baseball Thoughts

Yeah, yeah, I know, more baseball....... But so what, it's my blog and I'll talk about whatever I want.

1) Trade - In regards to the three team trade with Philly, Seattle and Toronto. I like this deal a lot by the Mariners. Picking up Cliff Lee (even if it's for one year) was huge..... They have substantially upgraded their roster this winter. Pairing Lee with King Felix gives them as good a 1,2 as there is in baseball. They gave up a former number 1 pick (French Canadian closer Aumont) and a pair of good minor league position players but nobody that'll cripple their farm system and their team down the road. Philly. Don't really like this deal by them.... Going from Halladay to Lee is, at best, a slight improvement (debatable) and they have to give up Kyle Drabek who is potentially a near future number 1 starter. Halladay is good, I'm not saying he's not, but still, he's a year and a half older than Lee (Doc will be 33 in May) and in order to keep him, the extension contract is probably 5 years, $100 million (initial reports now have it at 3years, $60 million with a 4th year vested at another $20 million). Why not just keep Lee (and I love my lefties!), try to resign him but if you don't you get 2 number 1 draft picks..... Call me crazy, but I don't like this deal from the Phillies side. Toronto? Well they received a lot of young inexpensive talent which their team needs. We'll know in 3 years how good a deal this was for them.

2) Lackey to Boston - I'm on record as saying I'm not a big Lackey fan, but he is what he is and what that is is a winner. He won't be a number 1 in Boston but a number 3. Name a better number 3 starter in baseball....... I'll give you a hint. There isn't. Yes it took a lot of money, but it gives Boston a great rotation. He's a good club house presence and wants the ball. Kind of reminds me of Curt Shilling when he came to Boston, changed the mentality of the pitching staff and I think Lackey will do the same.

3) Angels - Wow, they've taken a blow this winter so far... Lost Figgins to Seattle and Lackey to Boston. Figgins, in my opinion, they didn't want back at the money he was looking for (and got). I think they're confident they can replace him (like they did last year when they lost Texeira and replaced him with Morales). They have a young Brandon Wood that they're going to give a shot to. Obviously they hope it works out like Morales and not McFearson.... However Lackey is another story. Reports I've been reading is they really thought they'd be able to eventually resign Lackey but if not, they thought they had a great shot at getting Halladay, now both are gone. They need another top notch starter. My guess is they start looking at Ben Sheets and Erik Bedard and depending upon health, try to sign one of them to a one year deal with incentives. Again, keep in mind here, I love my lefties....... Personally I'd love for them to sign Bedard. Back in 06 and 07, he was in Baltimore pitching in the AL East and was at times dominate. If healthy and motivated, this guy is a number 1. (Fun facts here about Bedard. From Canada. Never played high school baseball. Was 5'4", 120 when he graduated from high school. Grew 7" and gained 30 pounds in the summer before entering Jr. College in Connecticut. Gained another 30 pounds and put 10 miles an hour on his fastball in college... He'll be 31 in March, but due to the fact he wasn't a pitcher growing up, I think his arm still has quite a few years left in it.

4) A Frustrating Rant - The rumors keep swirling that Boston is still trying to trade for Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres. I have no idea whether that's true or not (although I hope it is!), but I keep reading on the internet from baseball fans saying the Padres would never trade Gonzalez. The reason they give? They keep saying if the Padres traded "AGon" no one would ever go watch their games.... When I hear someone say that I think it's the most ridiculous statement...... Look I like Adrian Gonzalez a lot and think he's a great player but here's the deal. Let's say you're a Padres fan. Are you seriously telling me that your getting up on a Saturday morning and saying to the wife "yes I know our Padres suck but lets pack up our 2.5 kids, drive to Petco Park and spend $75 dollars (Gas, Parking, Tickets, Concessions) because we want to watch Adrian Gonzalez have his 4 at bats"? No your not going to do that no matter how much you "love" Adrian Gonzalez. You go to the game for the experience, atmosphere and hoping your team does well that day. If the Padres put a winning product on the field, they'll draw a hell of a lot more people than if they suck and Adrian Gonzalez gets 4 at bats. If the Red Sox offered a package of Clay Buchholz, Casey Kelly and Lars Anderson (or Casey Kotchman), the Padres would be better this year and potentially substantially better in 3 years, than they would right now with Gonzalez at 1st base. If Buchholz turns into the number 1 stud a lot (not all) think he will, isn't that a better way to go for the Padres and if that happened, do you think people wouldn't show up to Padre games because Adrian Gonzales got traded? Anyway, irritates me when I hear people say no one would go to games if such and such got traded. That's just crazy talk.......

Bill

Is Scott Boras The Anti Christ?

I say no!

I've never understood the criticism he gets for being good at his job. He's an agent. His job is to get his client the best contract he can. Apparently he outworks other agents and goes above and beyond in representing his clients. At any time his client could say "no, I don't want to go there", or "I want a better deal" and Boras goes out and tries to do that.

As he's said, he doesn't write the checks, he only goes in and talks to the owners (or GM's) about his client and what and why they're asking for the deal they are..... It's out of his hands at that point.

What's wrong with that?

While I'm on baseball, here's another item I keep seeing which drives me crazy. I keep reading and hearing about "fans" saying they're sick of seeing the Yankee's and Red Sox buy everyone.... Other than Manny Ramirez (7/8 years ago) and Dice K, who has Boston "bought" that they out bid people for? They traded for Josh Beckett (and gave up Hanley Ramirez and took on a large Mike Lowell contract). They signed JD Drew when the Dodgers decided he wasn't worth the money and they signed Curt Shilling (however they didn't outbid for him, actually they had to fly down to Arizona over Thanksgiving and talk him into taking their contract as he had multiple competing offers). Pedro Martinez? They traded two top minor league pitchers to get him (Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr.). They are not the Yankee's (and believe me, I'm not knocking the Yankee's for running their team the way they do), their payroll this past year was about $80 million lower than the Yankee's along with also being lower than the Mets and Cubs. They are not out "buying" everyone. A good portion of their team is home grown and they made some smart deals to bring in players, but they certainly haven't gone out and "bought" everyone. Yes they've bought a few just like the Met's, Cubs, Angels and others have done, but they're not the ones breaking the bank.

Anyway, just had to rant on that.

Bill

It Might Be Cold Outside, But My Stove Is Hot!

Figured I'd put to "paper" some of my thoughts and predictions concerning the baseball free agents and events at the winter meetings.

With the purse strings opening up compared to last year (well the Yankee's always have their purse open), a few more deals are being done this year and free agents are receiving better offers than they did at this time last year.

Here are some thoughts:

1) Three Way - Figured I'd start out with the big deal so far which is the 3 way trade by the Yankee's, Tigers and Dbacks. I think this was a good deal all around. The Yankee's didn't have to give up any of their high level prospects and got a 27 year old outfielder close to the prime of his career. It gives them leverage against Damon assuring that they don't have to over pay for him if he wants to come back. Look for Granderson to hit 35 to 40 homeruns this year. The Tigers cleared some salary and got back some good young talent from the Yankee's and a possible stud pitcher in Scherzer (from the Dbacks). Arizona was willing to let him go as apparently they have some injury concerns with Scherzer (in case you haven't seen him pitch, he's got a funky motion). They get back Edwin Jackson, another fine young pitcher who seems to be coming into his own. Deal seemed to work all around..

2) Pudge - I don't understand this signing by the Nationals... They pay an aging catcher $6 million over two years. He's basically a backup catcher at this point and they quadrupled his salary over last year.. He's not known as a good developer of young pitchers and with Strasburg hopefully coming up next year, you'd think they'd put a higher priority there. As a comparision, The Brewers signed 38 yr old catcher Greg Zaugn to a 1 year deal for 2.5 million. At this stage in their careers, he's a better hitter then Pudge and he calls a better game. This was not a good signing.

3) Mariners - I'll do a catch all category here for the M's. They signed Figgins, which I think short term is a good deal, but I'm leary of years 3 and 4 here (and rumor has it there is an option for year 5). Figgins is a soon to be 32 year old who makes his living off his legs. I'm sure he takes care of himself, but some where over the next couple years he's going to start losing his speed, and that's his game. That's the reason the Angels didn't want to go beyond a 3 yr contract. It was a nice deal for Figgins getting financial security. Why would he sign with the Mariners? Well along with the contact, multiple coaches in Seattle used to be in the Angels organization and worked with him in the minor leagues. Also, Figgins fiance is from Vancouver and if you don't think that didn't play a part here, then your fooling yourself.. Supposedly the Mariners are also targeting Jason Bay, which makes complete sense for them. Bay fills a need for a big bat that plays left field. Why would Bay sign there? Well, his wife is from Seattle and they own a home 25 minutes from Safeco Field. If the Mariners come within shouting distance of the other offers he's receiving, I expect this to be a done deal.

3) "Doc" Halladay - I've no idea where he's going and from all the reports I've read, no one else does either... What and whenever the deal happens, it'll eventually go through the Yankee's. Whether they want to part with Joba and Hughes (or one of them and minor league catcher Jesus Montero) will be the question. My prediction? I think the Jays hold on to him through the winter and in February/March, deal him to either the Yankee's or Angels. Halladay has said he wants to be with a team that trains in Florida however the Angels can give him the other thing he craves, which is a chance to win and challenge for the World Series. After previously saying they wouldn't give up Aybar in a trade, the Angels have now changed that stance and a package of Aybar, Saunders, Napoli and a mid level minor leaguer would get the deal done.

4) John Lackey - I think he signs with the Red Sox or as a long shot, the Rangers. I think he really wants to sign with the Rangers, but they can't pay him what he wants. I wouldn't be surprised to see him take a shorter length deal in hopes the ownership situation gets straightened out there and a year or so down the road can pay him a much bigger deal.

5) Rich Harden, Eric Bedard and Ben Sheets - All three pitchers are free agents and available. They've all had injuries (with Sheets out all last year) but if healthy, all have number 1 stuff. I see one of these going to the Red Sox (Harden), one going to Baltimore (Bedard where 3 years ago was a stud) and one goes to the Cardinals (Sheets where Dave Duncan will rehabilitate him just like he did Chris Carpenter). Harden has also been in talks with the Mariners and Rangers, so we'll see where that goes.

6) Matt Holliday - Signs with Boston. If Bay doesn't resign, they'll go get Holliday. Also, watch the Giants here quietly make a play for Holliday. Put Holliday in that lineup with their pitching and they could be the favorite in the NL West next year.

7) Pettite - Great resign by the Yankee's. I love my left handed pitchers!

8)Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon - One resigns with the Yankee's (Matsui) and one signs with the Rays (Damon). Another option for Matsui is the White Sox. I think the Rays trade Pat Burrell for some pitching and bring in Damon on a one year contract. Damon lives in Florida so it's a "close to home" thing..... Another team showing some interest is are the SF Giants.

9) Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome, Vlad Guerrero - Wow, no idea on these DH guys..... All three are probably going to be sitting around come January and screaming at their agents to get them a contract anywhere. You'd think they'd have an interest in Texas as that stadium is tailor made for them hitting. Beyond that? Someone like Baltimore would have an interest.

10) Padres - They're under considerable pressure to cut payroll (even after having the second lowest in the major leagues last year), so they're looking to make some deals. I, however, don't think they'll unload Adrian Gonzalez like people are speculating. They'll hang unto him for another year. Instead they'll trade Heath Bell and Kevin Kouzmanoff which are both salary arbitration eligible. Look for Kouzmanoff to go to the Twins as they have shown quite a bit of interest in him.

11) Kevin Millwood - Texas is looking to unload (which would free up some cash to get Lackey) Millwood and Baltimore is the rumored destination. On another note, it's good to see Baltimore trying to improve their team with possible free agent acquistions and trades. That should be a marquee franchise with their history and stadium, but Peter Angelos has run it into the ground......

12) Wolf to the Brewers - 3 years, $30 million. I don't know what to make of this...... I think the Brewers are over paying as if I'm them, I'd rather take a chance one of the Harden, Bedard, Sheets and save some money. Hell, they could have pried Lowe away from Atlanta by giving up very little (mid level prospect) and be paying the same Lowe as Wolf. I'd much rather have Derek Lowe than Randy Wolf.... but that's just me.

13) Rafael Soriano - The Braves are anxious to move him since he excepted salary arbitration. I'm hearing the Rays are interested but money is the issue.....

14) Adrian Beltre - Although the Mariners have offered him arbitration, they're really hoping he declines and goes elsewhere. Some teams reporting interest are the Red Sox (If they can trade Lowell), Baltimore and the Giants.

Anyway, those are a few of the deals and free agents out there I've been thinking about. I know there are a bunch of other guys I failed to mention and obviously the majority of the teams, but these are the ones that are currently in the mix.

Bill

Monday Morning (Wet) Ramblings

Well we're finally getting some rain here in Southern California. Nice to turn my sprinklers off.

Here are a couple items I've been thinking about:

1) Playing The Front 9 - Seems that daily, Tiger Woods extra marital affairs count keeps going up.... This morning it was up to 6 girls that have come forward saying they've had affairs with him and rumors out of nightclubs in Vegas have that count going up to at least 12 by the end of the week. If true, it'll be interesting how this plays out. Obviously he's got a prenup, but will be curious if Elin hangs around after all this. 1 or 2 girls I can see them going into damage control and writing it off but where it stands now, this has been repeated affairs and no way for her to publically support him....

2) Mariners - I've been following the off season moves and rumors out of Seattle. They've signed Chone Figgins and rumors keep intensifying they're making a big push to sign Jason Bay. Seems unlikely these guy's would go there, but here's the deal. Figgin's fiance is from Vancouver and Bay's wife is from there (and they own a home 20 minutes from Safeco Field). If we're learning anything from Tigers indiscretions, it's never underestimate the power of a woman! Seattle could be dangerous next year, it'll be interesting to follow them.

3) Padres - I'm adopting them as my favorite National League team. Their new GM, Jed Hoyer, is from New Hampshire and how can I not follow and support someone from NH? We all know about their small payroll and amazing park, but with new ownership, I see some good things in their future. My regret this past college football season is that I "adopted" the UCLA football team instead of Oregon's. Oregon's new head coach is the former Offensive Coordinator of the University of New Hampshire (and was born and raised in Manchester, NH). I debated whether to jump on Oregon's bandwagon when he got promoted to head coach last year, but decided to stay local with UCLA. I am happy with how UCLA's program is coming on however if I'd gone with the Ducks, my "team" would be going to the Rose Bowl..... I'm not making that mistake again, hence I'm jumping on the Padres bandwagon.

4) The Undefeated' - Colts and Saints keep racking up wins with both moving to 12-0 on the season. Both have had tight wins in the last few weeks but have managed to pull the games out which says a lot about the heart and desire of the teams. I still don't think either will make the Super Bowl, but they're having great regular seasons.

5) World Cup - I'm not a huge soccer fan (can't stand the MLS), however I do get into the World Cup. The whole national pride thing always draws me in. It's an amazing event and really fun to watch. I've been a big Brazil fan since 1975 (due to Pele) so you know who I'm rooting for. Yes, it's like being a fair weather fan in baseball and rooting for the Yankees but screw it, they're my soccer team! The World Cup will take place next year in South Africa in mid June to mid July. The draw for pairings took place last Friday and the U.S. received a good draw and "should" make it into the second round. I'll have more info as this gets closer, but you might want to start thinking about Christiano, KaKa, Messi, Torres, Rooney, Donovan, Eto and Xavi. Just some of the big names you'll be hearing about next summer.

6) TUF 10 Finals - The Ultimate Fighter season 10 wrapped up Saturday night with Roy "Big Country"Nelson beating Brendan Schaub in the finals. "Big Country" was probably the least exciting fighter in the house this season however he came in with the most experience and showed that, although he's not real fun to watch, the man can fight... In the finals, he knocked out Schaub in the first round showing he's got some standup to go along with his ground game. In a couple other fights on the card, Kimbo won a three round decision showing he's developing a ground game, and he may have a future yet in the sport. In another card (although not from this season's show), I was really impressed with Jon "Bones" Jones. He ended up getting disqualified in his fight with Matt Hamil (illegal use of the elbows), but the dude was impressive.... Completely dominated a very good fighter. Look for Jones to start climbing the rankings ladder as he's very talented.

SEC Football. Overrated?

Living here in Pac 10 country, we always hear on tv and radio about the strength of SEC football and the conference being better than all the others. Well my buddy Brendan took it to heart and started looking at some interesting information and put this together. Pretty compelling stuff.

Is SEC football a fraud? Just a media-hyped monster? You decide ...

· The SEC's non-conference record (as of 11/23) is a superb 39-6 ... wow! That's pretty impressive. OK, let's dig a little deeper.

· The combined record of their non-conference opponents is 223-268, a winning percentage of 45%.

· The combined winning percentage of their opponents in their 39 wins ... 41%.

· The combined winning percentage of their opponents in their 6 losses ... 74%

· Of those 45 games, only 11 have been against schools from BCS conferences (24%).

· The record of those eleven teams is 71-48 (60%).

· The SEC's record in those games is 7-4 (64%). Their seven wins come over teams (Virginia Tech, Washington, Texas A&M, W. Virginia, ASU, Louisville and NC State) with a combined record of 36-39, their four losses to teams (Georgia Tech twice, UCLA and Oklahoma State) with a combined record of 35-9.

· Of their 45 non-conference foes, four are ranked in the Top 25 in the current BCS standings (Georgia Tech @ 7; Oklahoma St. @ 12; V. Tech @ 14 and Houston @ 23). The SEC went 1-3 in those games.

For comparisons sake, we'll look at the Pac-10:

· The Pac-10's non-conference record is a 20-9 ... just okay.

· However, the combined record of their non-conference opponents is 170-151, a winning percentage of 53%.

· The combined winning percentage of their opponents in their 20 wins ... 48%.

· The combined winning percentage of their opponents in their 9 losses ...62%.

· Of those 29 games, 14 were against schools from BCS conferences (48%).

· The record of those fourteen teams is 91-67 (58%).

· The Pac-10's record in those games is 7-7. Their seven wins come against teams with a combined record of 41-40, their seven losses to teams with a combined record of 50-27.

· Of their 29 non-conference, six are ranked in the Top 25 in the current BCS standings (Cincinnati @ 5; Boise St. @ 6; Ohio St. @ 10; Iowa @ 11; LSU @ 15 and Utah @ 21). The Pac-10 went 2-4 in those games.

Head-to-head, the SEC is 2-1 vs. the Pac-10 (LSU over Washington, 31-23; Georgia over ASU, 20-17; UCLA over Tennessee, 19-15). SEC conference records of those three teams is 11-11 and the Pac-10 conference records are 7-16.

My conclusion ... fraud! They might have the most rabid fans, but their conference is no better than the Pac-10 and maybe not better than many of the other conferences. They pad their win columns by beating up on nobody's. This doesn't hurt their overall BCS status because the voters give them so much credit for the in-conference games, which is a joke. Anytime they step out of conference against a ranked team (or even a decent team), they have a good chance of losing.

I think that the FBS should require BCS conference schools, which get all these bs automatic bids, to play at least 50% of their non-conference games vs. other BCS conference schools. The way the system is set up things can be manipulated by playing crummy out of conference games. This way, I see win/loss records shaking out more equitably and conference strength being more transparent. If that were the case, you could pretty much add a loss to most teams within a BCS conference and maybe two on many teams. That would be much fairer to the conferences that don't get an automatic BCS bid. Otherwise, do away with the automatic bids.

· The top three, not surprisingly undefeated teams in the country, Florida, Alabama and Texas, are a combined 11-0 against non-conference opponents. Only one of those games has been against a BCS "AQ" conference team (Alabama vs. Virginia Tech). Florida's final game is against Florida St., so two of twelve (17%) will ultimately be against BCS "AQ" teams.

· Of the other three undefeated teams, TCU, Cincinnati and Boise St., only 5 of their 14 games are against BCS "AQ" teams (36%).

It's pretty obvious what you need to do to have a chance at an undefeated or one-loss season ... schedule soft non-conference opponents, no secret there. That said, I'm sure we'll see the trend continue and become even more pervasive.

I think Brendan does a great job showing how the SEC benefits by playing weaker out of conference teams, hence building up the reputation of the strength of the conference. When one of the conferences "major" powers loses an in conference game, they're not dropped as far in the polls as other major teams in other conferences because they're given the excuse of "well it's a tough conference, loaded with great teams"...

If anyone out there is an SEC football fan, please feel free to post or send in a response, I'm curious what others think.

Great job Brendan!

Bill

Pat's / Colts Game

As a Patriots fan I've been asked this over and over the last couple days:

"What'd you think of the call"?

Honestly, I liked it and was all for it when they went back out on the field. Didn't work out, but I liked the cojones going for it... As Belichick said, he's out there to win, not worry about what other people think.

I thought this, and other similar write ups, conveyed my feelings:

Belichick Goes For It!

It was a great, entertaining game to watch, and it lived up to the "hype" (which most supposed big games don't). Even if New England won this, I still didn't think they'd overtake the Colts for home field in the playoffs (Pat's still have to go to New Orleans for a Monday night game and basically the Colts play no one the rest of the year), so I really didn't feel the game had much playoff location implications.... (CORRECTION - The Colt's go on the road this week at Baltimore and that will be tough. But beyond this game, I don't feel they'll be challenged).

Ask any Colts fan how they felt after they stopped New England after the 3rd down play. They'll tell you they were thrilled to get the ball back with 2 minutes and all 3 time outs left. Distance wouldn't have made much difference, they felt at that point they were going to score and win. Bottom line, so did Belichick, so he went for it.

Anyway, check out the article by David Whitley for a good write up of the statistics of going or not going for it in that situation.

Finally, no matter who won the game, there's still a good likely hood they're going to face each other in the playoffs at Lucas Oil Field. We'll see how the second game comes out!

Bill

The McCourts Divorce!

As mentioned in Monday's Rambling column, Frank McCourt, the owner of the Dodgers, is in the midst of a separation from his wife Jamie, who was also the CEO of the Dodgers. He fired her and now she's filed divorce papers. In his response he's accusing her of having an affair with her bodyguard. This keeps getting better and better. Go here for the complete story from MSNBC Sports: Frank and Jamie's Divorce. The Bodyguard, The Firing and Our Enjoyment!

As Marv Albert would say, "Yes"!

Bill

Update on "Slump Buster"

Well it's official. ESPN has fired Steve Phillips due to "misconduct" with Brooke Hundley and he's entered rehab. Here's the story from CBS Sportsline:

Steve Phillips Enters Rehab

Bill

Monday Morning Ramblings

I'm still having a hard time getting into the NFL season. Is it just me getting older and having less time to care about this stuff? I had multiple opportunities yesterday to watch some of the games, but opted to do other stuff. Much easier just to go to the NFL Network at night and see all the highlights. I'll leave the Peter Kings and John Claytons to dissect actual game stuff... Also the NBA starts tomorrow and while I had some great intentions about doing my pre season predictions, I've discovered my interest there is down also.

Instead I want to talk about a few different things going on in the sports world and then my world series prediction.

Here you go:

1) Dodgers Ownership - This is really getting interesting.... Frank McCourt (the owner) and his wife have split up. He claims the split (and any future possible divorce) won't affect his ownership status however some interesting parts to this story you may not have heard about. First off, his wife Jamie is, or at least was, the CEO of the team and surprise, surprise, Frank fired her last week once they were eliminated from the playoffs. What's the old saying about a woman scorned?? Apparently according to her attorney she's "disappointed and saddened by her termination" and will address these issues "in the courtroom". How much you want to bet she's also pissed off??? This will get ugly and being in LA, will be played out in the media. Should be fun!

2) UFC 104 - I didn't get a chance Saturday to watch the Machida / Rua fight but have read quite a few write ups and seen clips from the championship fight. All three judges scored it 48 - 47 for Machida allowing him to keep his title, however most people that watched the fight had Rua (pronounced Hu A) winning. Most thought Rua won at least one of the first 3 rounds and clearly won both the 4th and 5th. Dana White (President of the UFC) in the post fight conference said he thought Rua won and will immediately schedule a rematch. Two talented fighters at the top of their game. I'll be tuning in for the next one.

3) NFL in Los Angeles - Famed developer Ed Roski has completed his environmental studies and plans and for all intensive purposes has approval for a football stadium in LA. It will be in the City of Industry which is located about 30 minutes east of LA (depending upon traffic) where the 60 and 57 freeway meet. Still a few local hurdles to approve but by the looks of it, it's a done deal. He says he won't start digging until he has ownership in a team so that's the next step to bringing the NFL back to Los Angeles. The short list of teams frequently mentioned about relocating to LA are the Chargers, Jaguars, Rams and Vikings. As always with anything LA, you have to throw the Raiders in the mix. For more info here's a good write up on Roski's plans: NFL Stadium

4) Out of The Box - There's been considerable discussion about the "Wildcat" formation by people for and against it. Here's the thing I've been noticing. By far and large, "experts" that are against it are either 1) defensive players or 2) former NFL QB's (Dan Marino and Dan Fouts have roundly knocked the formation). Of course those QB's are against it, as in essence, it doesn't require some uber talented QB at the helm..... Don't be surprised to see this formation becoming more and more popular as teams that don't have that marquee superstar QB, can use "average" QB's in this formation and don't have to pay franchise money for him. Here's another "out of the box" question as it relates to baseball. Why do the small market clubs keep trying to compete with the large market teams for the same players? If you're the Kansas City Royals (or someone like that), instead of going out and spending a large portion of your payroll on one free agent like a Gil Meche, why not try something different like cornering the market on soft lefty pitchers or knuckle ball pitchers that you could pick up at a fraction of the cost. Why not try something different, because as it stands now, no way they can compete with the big spenders on guys that throw 97.......... Just a thought. How much worse could they do?

5) Employee #8 - I'd heard Antoine Walker was having some money issues and had bounced some checks at Harrah's in Tahoe (which led to him being arrested and booked last month), however I've been reading some articles and apparently it's more than a little trouble....... He made roughly $110 million in his basketball career (figure $55 million take home after taxes) yet he's blown most of it. Here's an article from the Boston Globe detailing his financial situation - Antoine Walker's Troubles

6) UCLA - Only fair I was talking about them when they started 3-0, now the losing streak is at 4 and I'm still on the bandwagon. They lost this past Saturday to Arizona 27-13. They still haven't had a QB step forward and their defense continues to under perform. It's gut check time for the Bruins. Will they battle through this and finish the year on an uptick or will they pack it in and chaos will rule.... It'll be interesting to follow.

7) World Series - I hate the Yankee's. No getting around that. And the thing is, I like the Phillies. However Philly won it last year and I don't like them enough to be hearing that they're some dominate team (because I don't think they are), so for multiple reasons I'm picking and (this kills me to say) rooting for the Yankee's.......... Let's face it, all year long, the Yankee's have been good. They should be good. They have a $200+ million dollar payroll.... My prediction is Yankee's in 5.

Bill

Slump Buster

Happy hump day everyone. Apparently Steve Phillips is taking that expression a little too far..... Steve, the former Mets GM and ESPN analyst has apparently gotten caught cheating on the wife and it's turned into a fatal attraction. After he broke it up with her, she contacted the wife and his son.

Some more details - She's a 22 year old production assistant for ESPN and seems to be a very handsome broad....... This write up (and photo's) from the WEEI website was very comical and got my day off to a good start, I highly encourage you to check it out!

http://theproducers.weei.com/sports/boston/dennis-and-callahan/will-people-ever-learn/

Go Navy, Beat Army!

Bill

Monday Morning Ramblings

Great weekend of baseball and football.

1) Yankee's / Angels - What a great game to watch on Saturday. However, could the Angels play any worse? I heard a stat yesterday that in 2 games, the Angels had committed 6 errors. The Yankee's, Phillies and Dodgers combined have committed 7. Winning games comes down to pitching and defense and so far, defense is missing for the Angels. Must win game this afternoon for the Angels. We'll see what happens.

2) Cliff Lee - I said at the trade deadline, he was a better pickup for the Phillies than "Doc" Halladay would have been. Lee's been nothing but a stud since they picked him up and they basically gave up nothing for him.... On top of it, he's under contract for next year at minimum price (compared to his value on the open market). He was lights out again last night against the Dodgers.

3) Tom Brady - Heard a comment from Rodney Harrison last week that it took him 6 games back to feel comfortable after his knee surgery. Well that was Brady's 6th game back yesterday. Not a bad outing...... Hopefully this will cure a lot of problems with the offense and give them confidence here on out. Where are all the Jets fans now?? They were bragging non stop after week 2 and here we are a month later and the Patriots have sole possession of 1st place in the AFC East. It's a long season, filled with injuries, come see me at week 17 and see where every ones at.

4) N.O. Saints - Along with the Vikings and Colts, they look to be the real deal. The Saints are playing great defense right now to go along with their potent offense. What a great hire Gregg Williams was in the off season. He's helped bring a new mentality to the team and barring some major injuries, I can see them there in the NFC Championship game.

5) UCLA - Well the wheels have officially come off after their 3rd straight loss, this one an embarrassing beat down at the hands of the Cal Bears. My disappointment with them hasn't been so much on the offensive side as the defense. This "could" be one of the better defenses in the country but they certainly haven't played like it. We knew the offense was young and going to go through growing pains, but the defense has a lot of top level players on it and a couple high future draft picks. No way they should be surrendering 45 points to anyone.

6) Jim Zorn - Dead man walking. What's the over / under on the week he gets fired? If they lose big this week against Philadelphia, I'm saying week 8 during the bye week. Gives the new head guy a couple weeks to prepare. I wish Vegas took bets on stuff like this.

7) Jaspar Howard - RIP. The UConn cornerback was stabbed to death Saturday night during a school dance. The incident took place about 12:30am after a fire alarm was set off and everyone evacuated. A fight broke out and Howard was stabbed. What's the old saying, "nothing good ever happens after midnight"? To make things worse, he is/was an impending father.

8) Heisman Trophy - After Colt McCoy's lackluster performance Saturday in the win over Oklahoma, you can remove him from the list (along with injured Sam Bradford). Have we had a Heisman race in recent years where no one really stood out? Tebow hasn't been lighting it up, Clausen was decent against Southern Cal, but, in my opinion they needed to win the game. Tony Pike from Cincinnati is still being mentioned as the Bearcats are undefeated. A long shot may be running back Mark Ingram from Alabama, but the Tide needs to run the table and he has to have a couple monster games. As of now, you can start engraving "TEBOW" on the hardware.

Bill

FIU Update

Being as how we're 3 weeks away from our favorite college basketball team starting up, I thought I'd give a quick update and "hand out" the schedule.

Excitement is high on the Golden Panther campus as "Zeke" has brought a level of anticipation which they haven't had in years. Although year one will be a struggle to improve on last years record, the pieces are starting to fall in place with a lot of talented recruits now considering FIU which they've haven't had in their recent past. To ease the difficult transition this year, the team will rely heavily on their fans and cheerleaders like Vanessa Marrero (pictured above)......

As has been mentioned in this blog before, the Golden Panthers start off on November 9th against national defending champion, North Carolina in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic being held in the Dean Dome at Chapel Hill. Please don't base your opinion on the team from the outcome of that game, as NC should blow out FIU.

Here is the schedule:

Date Opponent Location Time (EST) Results Media Tickets Mon, Nov 09 North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 7:00 p.m. ESPNU Fri, Nov 13 Monmouth at West Long Branch, NJ 7:00 p.m. Sun, Nov 15 Tulsa at Tulsa, OK 3:00 p.m. Tue, Nov 17 Florida Memorial US Century Bank Arena 8:00 p.m. 2k Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer Fri, Nov 20 James Madison vs. Murray State US Century Bank Arena 4:00 p.m. Fri, Nov 20 Noth Carolina Central US Century Bank Arena 7:00 p.m. Sun, Nov 22 James Madison US Century Bank Arena 6:00 p.m. Sun, Nov 22 Murray State vs North Carolina Central US Century Bank Arena 8:00 p.m. Mon, Nov 23 Noth Carolina Central vs James Madison US Century Bank Arena 4:00 p.m. Mon, Nov 23 Murray State US Century Bank Arena 7:00 p.m. Sat, Nov 28 Eastern Kentucky at Richmond, KY 7:00 p.m. Mon, Nov 30 Bowling Green at Bowling Green, OH 7:00 p.m. Thu, Dec 03 Florida A&M at Tallahassee, FL 7:30 p.m. Sun, Dec 06 Florida State at Tallahassee, FL 1:00 p.m. Sat, Dec 12 Florida Gulf Coast at Fort Myers, FL 7:30 p.m. Thu, Dec 17 Denver * at Denver, CO 9:00 p.m. Sun, Dec 20 North Texas * at Denton, TX 4:00 p.m. Tue, Dec 22 Sam Houston State at Huntsville, TX 8:00 p.m. Thu, Dec 31 South Alabama * US Century Bank Arena 12:00 p.m. Sat, Jan 02 New Orleans * at New Orleans, LA 5:30 p.m. Thu, Jan 07 ULM * US Century Bank Arena 8:00 p.m. Sat, Jan 09 Troy * US Century Bank Arena 8:00 p.m. Thu, Jan 14 Middle Tennessee * at Murfreesboro, TN 8:00 p.m. Sat, Jan 16 WKU * at Bowling Green, KY TBA Thu, Jan 21 Arkansas State * US Century Bank Arena 8:00 p.m. Sat, Jan 23 Arkansas-Little Rock * US Century Bank Arena 8:00 p.m. Sat, Jan 30 Florida Atlantic * at Boca Raton, FL 7:00 p.m. Thu, Feb 04 Louisiana-Lafayette * at Lafayette, LA 8:05 p.m. Sat, Feb 06 North Texas * US Century Bank Arena 2:00 p.m. Thu, Feb 11 South Alabama * at Mobile, AL 8:05 p.m. Sat, Feb 13 Troy * at Troy, AL 8:30 p.m. Thu, Feb 18 Florida Atlantic * US Century Bank Arena 8:00 p.m. Thu, Feb 25 Middle Tennessee * US Century Bank Arena 8:00 p.m. Sat, Feb 27 WKU * US Century Bank Arena 8:00 p.m. Sun Belt Conference Tournament Sat, Mar 06 - Tue, Mar 09 First Round at Hot Springs, AR TBA

* Conference Games

My record prediction for the year is 14 and 14 (assuming I counted their number of games correctly). We'll see what happens.... Should be fun either way to follow this young, building program.

fyi............ For those that have read this whole write up, I have a confession. I did all this just so I could post that photo of Vanessa.... Wow.......... For more of her go to the link below and click on her photo gallery (courtesy of Sports Illustrated):

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/extramustard/10/15/cheerleader-of-the-week/index.html

Enjoy,

Bill