Salary cap and the NFL draft

John Clayton has written a pretty good article discussing the merits of the NFL salary cap. Apparently, the salary cap could end in 2008. The NFL salary cap seems to work better than the other three sports, in no small part because of contracts that aren't guaranteed. Unlike baseball and basketball, where unproductive players are dragged along and paid huge sums well past their effectiveness, football players can be cut. Owners and GMs, in any sport, put pressure on coaching staffs to play the expensive players, even when there are better options sitting on the bench. More guaranteed money in contracts given to players, especially unproven draft picks, will continue to handcuff front offices and coaching staffs alike - with the play on the field suffering.

Perhaps more interesting in Clayton's article is his talk of quality teams filling needs through the draft. I thought I had written about this, but wasn't able to find it. A championship team doesn't necessarily need to have great steals in the late rounds of drafts, but just use all of their picks effectively. Look at teams like Indianapolis, New England and the Chargers. All have formed their teams through great use of their first round picks. This, as Clayton says, allows you to fill your team with good, young, cheap players. The good teams fill in as needed through free agency or trades, being careful not to spend too much in any given year. Man, this sounds really familiar, I'm disappointed I hadn't written about this before. This was as close as I got.

Championship teams are made through the draft - regardless of the sport. (See
San Antonio Spurs, New England Patriots)

It seems like a pretty basic idea, but requires foresight from the GM/team president and patience from the owner and fan base.

Mali

I arrived in Mali last night after an excruciating journey through airports and the pain of sitting on a jet for 3 hours, then 8 hours, then 6 hours. We got to circle Bamako for about 1/2 hour while they tried to get the landing gear to go down, which it finally did (obviously). Fun stuff. Also, apparently the blogger is in french, and I can't figure out how to change it, so we'll see. Anyway, the reason I'm blogging is I'm still in Bamako waiting for a ride out to the village. I guess the two cars were full, so they had to go and come back. They decided to leave the guy who doesn't speak French, so I just went and sat at a bar for a couple hours. It was air conditioned and glorious. I drank a couple beers while watching some golf on tv. I tried to leave a tip at the end and the guy ran after me to give me my money back. So then I went onward to the internet cafe to kill some more time. I wandered around the city for awhile today also, but it's hard to find your way around a city when there are no street signs. So while I was wandering, I decided to get on a green truck that piles people in the back and drives them around. It cost me 125 cfa, which is less than 20 cents. I had no idea where it was going, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. So I rode for about 5 minutes, then got off and then took one going the opposite direction. I guess it worked out since I ended up back to an area that I recognized. Alright, thats about all I have for now. I'll post an in depth Africa blog when I get back.

Rafael Nadal - the greatest ever?

If Roger Federer were not around, would Nadal be considered the best ever? Or at least on the verge of it? It seems as though Nadal and Federer have been meeting each other often in the finals of tournaments. As Federer displayed today, he still owns the grass, and Nadal owns the clay, but what about other surfaces? How many times, exactly, has Nadal lost to Federer in the finals of grand slam events? How many grand slam titles would Nadal have if he didn't have to play Federer?

Federer and Nadal have combined to win the previous 8 grand slam championships and 11 out of the last 15. I was surprised to find out that Nadal is 3-2 against Federer in head-to-head matches in grand slam events. The three wins have been at the French Open and the two losses have been at Wimbledon. Four of the matches occurred in the finals, one in the semis. Even if we assume Nadal wins the two Wimbledons, that puts him at 5, still a long way from the 11 that Federer has.

Considering Nadal has not won a grand slam event other than the French Open, even if we give him a couple Wimbledons. Winning all four of the grand slam tournaments seems to be a prerequisite for being part of the greatest ever debate. That's the knock on Federer and that would be a knock on Nadal as well. Nadal would be good, but not nearly as dominant as Federer has been over the past five years. He'd easily be number one (Federer and Nadal have been 1 and 2 for more than 100 weeks) but there wouldn't be a debate quite yet.

That said, Nadal is only 21 - Federer is 26. Unless Federer can get lucky, Nadal should continue his dominance on clay and continue to get better on grass. It was evident today that Nadal is playing much better on grass and is gaining on Federer. Nadal has been able to combine his athleticism with a more strategic game. As Federer slows down and Nadal picks up, it isn't unreasonable to think of Federer catching Sampras at 14 grand slam titles and Nadal closing in on Federer.

NBA Finals - Game 3

Hopefully I have something to say for this game, I might have let it all out there on Sunday. But, I'm not going to be watching Game 4 from my couch, so this might be my last chance to write about these Finals.


Too much is being made about San Antonio losing by a bunch to the Jazz in Game 3 of the Conference Finals. The big difference between these two series is that the Jazz were good. We'll be able to tell quickly whether the Spurs are on point or still playing a little loose away from home. I don't think Popovich lets them play like that, knowing they have to play three here.


8:08 Game starts, deliberate possession by the Spurs. I don't like the first play with Finley trying to post up. That should be Duncan.

8:10 Duncan is good. Another nice shot by him. There's no reason a Spurs player should take a tough shot without getting Duncan at least one touch. Same should go for Cleveland and LeBron, but it doesn't.

8:14 Well, I didn't think the fouls were going to play a big part in this one, but it seems they might at this pace. And now a make-up call for the Oberto foul.

8:16 Van Gundy (I think I called him Stan last time) is talking about players cutting themselves with razorblades instead of calling timeouts. Good point, but a little creepy at the same time.

8:30 Bowen should ask if he can shoot his free throws from behind the line in the corner. I'm pretty sure he'd shoot 80%. They'd have to look better than those two ducks he just put up there.

8:31 Duncan eats up carrot top (I can't spell his name). When he thinks he has somebody, he'll make a quick move to the basket, but he's also usually a lot closer than when Z is guarding him.

8:33 If you don't think these people read the stories about them, look at Duncan after the fouls called on him. Hand up after the first one, no bug eyes after the second, questionable, call.


SECOND QUARTER


Well, this is a closer game than the previous two games. I suppose that's a good thing. Mostly for the Cavaliers. The longer they can keep the crowd in this, the better off they'll be. I'm getting warmed up (read: more beers) so look for this to get better.


8:44 Probably the first time in the series that the Cavs have an advantage with their lineup. The Spurs should try to dictate the tempo a little bit with Duncan on the bench with two fouls. The uptempo game is going to play in the hands of the home team.

8:46 Henry Abott (and everybody else associated with ESPN) is sitting courtside blogging this game live. Where do I sign up for that job? This is as close as I can get to that. This one is probably closer to what I'd be qualified for.

8:53 Parker is getting involved, this is good for the Spurs. The Cavs have good ball movements sometimes, but once it gets to LeBron he just holds it.

8:55 Well, another make up call. LeBron gets his third on a questionable call, the Duncan gets called for his third. Neither were that bad of calls. Just seems suspect that Duncan gets his third right after LeBron gets his. Tim had a little bit of the bug eyes, but he didn't look as bad as James did after his foul.

9:02 This game kinda sucks. I either need the Spurs to dominate and put on a clinic or LeBron to do something special. With the star for each team sitting on the bench, not much chance of either of those happening.

9:09 Lead down to 3 after Cleveland's largest lead of 8 points. The Spurs generally make up ground quietly after a timeout. After the Cavs being up all first half, the Spurs could tie this ... Horry hits a three. Cavs take a time out. It won't surprise me if S.A. leads going into halftime. Or if I fall asleep during halftime, don't wake up until the game's over, and not really feel bad about it.

9:12 And the Spurs take the lead going into half! Hopefully everyone believes me when I say I write this as the game goes. That basket was set up by Parker attacking the lane even though there was 7 seconds left. The foul allowed the other Spurs to get down the court, call a play and spread the court for Parker.

HALFTIME

It's not good for the home team. Parker hasn't been anywhere near as effective as he as been in the first two games, Duncan had to sit, LeBron played most of the first half, and the role players for the Cavs are playing pretty well. They're still down by two.

Here's what I'd say if I were on the halftime commentary team. [showing highlights of first half] JMeeks: THIS IS WHY THEY CALL THE SPURS A BORING TEAM!

9:34 Second half starts, yawn. They show a shot of P.J. Carlesmo talking with Popovich. It seems the best teams in the NBA have a former head coach working as an assistant. Dallas has had Del Harris helping out Avery Johnson. And the Spurs have Carlesmo. I can't think of any other teams like this, but it seems to have helped these two.

9:42 I tried finding Drew Gooden's dunk against Iowa State, but it apparently hasn't found its way on to Youtube. I remember watching Kansas play and Gooden having a killer windmill-type jam from the side in the open court. It was not appreciated by the home crowd.

9:49 I'm about ready to split-screen this thing and start playing some Tiger Woods on the XBox. Seriously, this is a finals game? I respect the Spurs and enjoy watching them when they are playing well. Unfortunately for them, all anyone will remember is them being difficult to watch, when in fact, the Cavs on any given night are three times as painful to watch as the Spurs on their worst night.

9:53 Another call for the home team. Carrot top isn't anywhere near set and Ginobili gets called for the foul. Marc Jackson thinks it's a good call, Mike Breen backs him up and Van Gundy calls them out. No way that was a foul on Manu. He looks for contact, but it looked like the lane was his.

9:56 Gooden gets 3 fouls in 4 possessions - one Cavs possession and two Spurs possessions! To say he isn't very good at defense would be ... absolutely correct.

9:56 1/2 In case anyone forgot ...




I was looking for Brent Barry winning the Dunk contest and I got an added bonus of seeing Finley back when he could jump! In NBA Live 2003, Finley is on the All-90s team and he is a machine. He could dunk like whoa. Guess this is where they got it from.



10:14 Duncan is getting more active on the offensive end. He's passing up some shots to gallop across the lane for some running hooks. It seems to be working for him. What's a little scary is Duncan putting it on the floor in traffic. Not quite as graceful as some, but effective.



10:26 Carrot top needs to chill out. He's made some pretty bad plays in this game. He reminds me of Tommy Boy and the dinner roll. He's just so excited! Then he comes down and hacks the crap out of Duncan - you could hear it! - and no call.



10:36 This was almost a game. Carrot top takes an ill-advised shot. Go figure. LeBron will not have kind words for him during this timeout. If Mike Brown is half of a coach, he'll play Z for the rest of the game.



10:48 Maybe a foul on LeBron. Probably better for him in the long run that they didn't call it. If he makes the first two and misses the second, that's pretty rough. Tony Parker is using any excuse to show his "O-face".








That's my T.V, by the way.


END OF GAME



Well, this was exciting! I retract my previous statement about blogging this in person at the finals. I would have rather bought nude pics of Amanda Beard on my ESPN corporate credit card and called it research. I bet I'm more serious about playing darts than I am about watching the second half of the game on Thursday. Can't wait to blog about something more fun to watch ... like the Astros ... or the Texans.

NBA finals - Game 2

Alright - I thought about writing about things during Game 1, but didn't. Hopefully I'll find stuff tonight to write about. This will probably be disjointed, oh well. I'm including timestamps because that tends to be the standard. Let's see how long it takes before I get bored of this.


8:02 A quick word from our sponsors: This blog is being fueled by the last of Reggie Roby's Miller Lite. He's in Europe and I'm stuck here - he can deal with it.

8:06 Sick pass by Parker - right through Larry Hughes' legs! Easy bucket for Duncan and a foul, too! Hughes didn't even turn around! Why is he playing instead of Daniel Gibson? This might be why - Gibson is making just more than 400 grand this year. Hughes? $13.3M.

8:15 Everyone on the Spurs knows what they want to do with the ball before they get it. When Oberto got the ball under the basket, he went straight up with it. Mike Finley either takes a shot or passes immediately. No one on their team passes up an open shot, even if they aren't one of the 'big three.' You don't see that with Cleveland. It seems like they might be thinking they're taking shots away from LeBron when they take a shot. By taking a shot or getting the ball to someone else, you're not giving the defense a chance to rotate.

8:26 Gibson with another nice shot. I think this would be a good chance to point out that he's from Houston.

8:33 That makes me think that the Houston pro teams should be looking at talent originating in the Houston area. Gibson was picked with the 42nd overall. The Rockets had the 32nd overall. They apparently forgot about Hakeem and Clyde - players who brought championships to the Rockets after playing for the University of Houston. Championship teams are made through the draft - regardless of the sport. (See San Antonio Spurs, New England Patriots)

8:49 Break in the action. Check this out - I think I'm going to try to watch this girl play some time. She's 6'5 and has dunked a couple times in games.




9:05 Wow, San Antonio is up by like 28 points! I must not be paying attention. At least we don't have to hear about how Cleveland is "only" down by so much.

9:22 This has turned into quite the whooping. So much for Cleveland coming out a bunch stronger tonight.

9:45 I'm back. Oh gee, I'm getting tired of Tim Duncan's reactions to every foul. If he doesn't think he fouled somebody, he should scream obscenities at the refs and kick the ball and make a lot bigger deal about it. That whole bug-eyed thing should be really embarrassing for him. (Note: That was sarcasm. What I'm really tired of is everyone complaining about it. Seems like a relatively minor thing for people to jump on him about. None of his fouls are really that extreme and he deals with it in a civilized manor. Seems like a better way of handling it than laying down on the scorer's table.)

10:01 Not much to write about. Spurs are owning.

10:04 Horry with his fourth block! Once upon a time, he played for the Rockets, too. Won two championships with them. He's another player that the Spurs have had good success with. Horry is here to win a championship, he understands his role, and the coaches do a nice job of playing him effectively. It's tough to beat the experience that 6 rings brings you. I've got to believe that Horry is coming back next year. The Spurs aren't going to be changing much next year, would have to be considered favorites out of the West again, and Horry continues to get meaningful minutes and contribute. If I were the Spurs, I'd ask him back.

10:08 As I wrote the previous, Horry hits another three. Go figure.

10:15 So, Spurs up 27 starting the fourth quarter and Duncan and Parker are sitting on the bench. Is there even a chance this series makes it back to San Antonio. With the 2-3-2 (which I hate!) the next three are in Cleveland. Doesn't give the home team much of a chance for a celebration. Besides, why would you do it one way for the rest of the playoffs and then change it when it matters?

10:39 Don't look now, but this turned into a game for a little bit. This probably isn't a bad thing for either team. The Spurs will have some things to work on for next week. Well Mr. Marc Jackson just said the Cavaliers can feel good going into game three because they made a comeback against San Antonio's good players, but that was not the case and Stan Van Gundy agreed with me. Duncan and Parker sat long enough for Cleveland to get some momentum then came off the bench a little cold. It brought some competitiveness back into a game that was really done shortly after it started. The Spurs end on a nice note. Cleveland ends with a loss. Moral victories don't exist in the finals. The "boring" Spurs won a game that could be considered high scoring for these playoffs and scored 103 points on cruise control for most of the game.

Recap: Look for the Spurs to come out in game 3 in Cleveland focused and without the laughing and looseness they displayed in S.A. The crowd will be rowdy, but not enough. LeBron showed flashes towards the end of this one, but the Spurs' defense takes him out for large parts of the game. Duncan will assume his silent assassin demeanor and Parker continues his ways. Fouls tend to go the way of the home team, but they haven't been a factor in either of the first two, so I don't see them making the difference in Game 3. We'll see together.

Don't know if the blog is making a comeback for Game 3. I enjoyed it, included some stuff that I'd wanted to get onto the site, and it took some of my attention away from an otherwise uneventful whooping. After reading some other "analysis" I'll probably have more to say.

random sports thoughts

I hate the NBA but this post season has been pretty decent. The players seem like they actually care this time. There have been a lot of hard fouls and it seems like people are actually making an effort to win games. I was glad when GS beat the Mavericks, even though I'm a fan of Mark Cuban. He was a fan who got rich so he bought a team, which is pretty awesome. The Cavs-Pistons game, I don't see why people are mad that LeBron passed that. The guy was wide open, Bron-Bron wasn't shooting well that game, it was a good decision. That guy had already made 6 threes in the game. Good decision by LeBron in my opinion. Granted, people like Michael Jordan probably would've taken the shot, I don't think it was a bad choice to pass. The way the Pistons played defense shows how shitty Cleveland actually is. They basically shut down James by swarming him and left everyone else open. It apparently worked pretty well, showing how terrible everyone else is.
I'm looking forward to what the sports guy has to say about the NBA lottery. Hilarious. Thats about all I have for now, I should probably do some work today.

NBA playoffs 5-8-07

Check this out from today's daily dime.

With Dallas out of the picture and the Spurs already seizing home-court
advantage from the Suns, San Antonio has to be considered an overwhelming
favorite right now to win the championship. Consider this: The Spurs played the
No. 2 team on this list, Golden State, twice after Baron Davis came back in
March. Keep in mind the Warriors are 18-4 in their other games with Davis since
then. But against the Spurs they lost twice by a combined total of 50 points.
Not that I needed any convincing after watching the Spurs methodically rip
the heart out of a very good Denver team last week, but the numbers back up what
I've been thinking since training camp tipped off -- this is San Antonio's
tournament to lose. And thus far, the Spurs don't seem inclined to lose it.

Maybe no one watches the East playoffs. I understand the West is the much, much better conference (even though the top seed got knocked off by the eighth seed and two of the top four teams going into the playoffs are out). It seems people forget the past so quickly. Miami won the championship last year, and Detroit two years before that - with largely the same players as this year! Sure the Pistons have gotten older, but their style of play is a little bit quicker than what it was a few years ago.

The Pistons have scored over 90 points every game this post season, over 100 in two. They swept the Magic who are an up and coming young team with man-child Dwight Howard. The Bulls swept the defending champs in the Heat. Now the Pistons are making quick work of Chicago. If the Pistons can keep Chicago from winning one at home and close the series out on the road again, they begin looking like a tougher and tougher opponent for whoever comes out of the West.

One quick note: If you aren't watching the Golden State Warriors play this postseason, you should be. Their reckless style is the most fun I've seen in pro basketball. Rare isolation plays; fast breaks with any of the five players bringing the ball up the court; huge crowd-lifting (or killing) jumpers and threes. A playground style that's probably as much fun to play as it looks.

New Blogger (It looks the same to me) = New Post

It's been a while (again). I've decided that more often I need to write things down when I think them. There's been quite a few times lately that the sports guy has stolen my ideas but I haven't had the hard facts to prove it. That changes now. And, it's hilarious to read past posts and see how prophetic they have become.

On the main page right now, two of my previous posts mentioned Brady Quinn as a possibility for the Texans. How close it came to being true! Only Houston would have been dumb enough to trade for Matt Schaub before the draft. I didn't think about this before, but wouldn't it make sense to see if you could land a QB with the 10th pick? If both Russell (who I would have loved to have had) or Quinn were gone, then start working for a trade for Schaub. Worst case, you end up with hometown boy Kevin Kolb in the 4th round or Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith in the sixth! I might have bought season tickets to watch Sage play for the first half of the season and then Troy Smith for the second half. Schaub doesn't do it for me and it makes Quinn - for half the money - look like a pretty good investment.

Biggest winner? Not Cleveland. ESPN made too much about Quinn playing for his hometown team. He never said anything about it before the draft or after the pick - only when somebody asked him about it. After falling that far, he didn't seem all that grateful that somebody moved up to get him in the first round. Everyone could have let him fall right into the second. The biggest winner, in my opinion, was Troy Smith. He'll play for a pretty decent team and behind a quarterback that was a mentor to (2006 Rookie of the Year) Vince Young. Boller is in the last year of his deal and McNair is getting older. Smith should get a shot, but he'll have a couple years to learn the system with a QB that isn't bitter about training his replacement.

We'll see about all this. At least in a couple years, when I read a Simmons article about how Troy Smith was the steal of the draft, I can say I said it first.

Education system

Although I'm not a teacher, and I will not be a teacher, our education system needs reform. I think more students should learn science and math, because that's how countries survive in a global economy. Not only that, but science and engineering jobs allow people to make a good enough living to provide for themselves and their families. I took a globalization class at Iowa State which had a ton of guest speakers from every end of the political spectrum. It included people like Newt Gingrich, Robert Reich and Thomas Friedman. No matter what there beliefs on welfare, war in Iraq, etc, they all agreed our education system is very important to our economy and needs to be improved. I read the below article this afternoon: http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/02/22/math.reading.scores.ap/index.html

Below is the most disturbing thing I've read in a long time.
"

On the math test, about 60 percent of high school seniors performed at or above the basic level. At that level, a student should be able to convert a decimal to a fraction, for example.

Just one-fourth of 12th-graders were proficient or better in math, meaning they demonstrated solid academic performance. To qualify as "proficient," students might have to determine what type of graph should be used to display particular types of data."

Wow, I thought we learned how to do that stuff before high school. This needs fixed. I don't know how because I'm not an education expert, but I'm guessing it begins with paying teachers a livable income.

Complete disappointment

Those games yesterday were devastating. First, the Bears won, which was awful. Second, the Colts won. I guess either way I would've been pissed about the Patroits or the Colts winning. Now, the Bears winning is a different story. I really didn't want them to win, even though I'm not a Saints fan. Now, there is little to no reason to watch the Superbowl, other than its the last real football game until fall. We'll see how much of it I watch, since I can't even root against one of the teams, since they should both lose. This is going to be a Superbowl where Trex throws 3 interceptions, if they let him throw 3 passes, and down syndrome Manning will throw at least 3, I'm calling it now. It's going to be an ugly game.

Hamburgers and sports

I know it's been awhile since I've last posted, I've been kind of busy. Anyway, I was glancing at cnn.com and found this article
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/16/burger.ap/index.html

Essentially it's about two state governments fighting over who invented the hamburger. Only in Texas would this be an issue. The best quote in the article is this:
"So yes, the hamburger is as much a New Haven original as President Bush. Get over it, Texas." says the mayor of New Haven Connecticut. I wish I had that much time to bitch about who invented the hamburger. The should stop fighting and realize that Grimus from McDonald's invented it. Find out where he's from and you will find your solution. Just so you know, Grimus is the giant purple guy who hangs out with the Hamburgler and Ronald McDonald.

Now, onto something meaningful. Peyton Manning sucks. My favorite thing about the NFL playoffs is every year you get the Manning Face at least 3 times a game, since that seems to be his going interceptions per game. Do you think Peyton Manning should be held to a higher standard than other quarterbacks? This was the Mike and Mike question today, and I believe he should be. Every season he is viewed as a god, then never pulls through in the playoffs, and even worse, its never his fault that they lost. I threw three horrible interceptions, but the offensive line didn't block. I hardly got sacked all season, but the offensive line sucks. I would love to him lose this weekend, despite my strong dislike for any team from the east coast, especially the Boston area. For me, this game is lose lose. I don't want either team to win.

By the way, GO SAINTS. Trex can't have 2 good games in a row, that would cause world chaos.
I'm not a bandwagon Saints fan, I just don't like the Bears.

The Lions have the second pick in the draft, and they need a lot of players. We'll see how Millen can waste another pick, cause I'm sure he will. I'm going to watch the draft, and if they take a wide receiver (Dwayne Jarret) I'm going to throw the remote through the television.

Good news for the Texans!

ESPN.com reports that the Air Force Acadamy is relieving the Texans of their offensive coordinator. Finally some good news! Troy Calhoun will be replacing long time head coach Fisher Deberry at AFA. Hopefully, he'll take David Carr with him as offensive coordinator. Together, they could replace the triple option attack with a triple tight-end offensive scheme. This would allow a QB similar to Carr the ability to have 3 or 4 people to throw a pass to, as opposed to normal formations that eliminate up to three players by having them line up near the sideline and running more than 8 yards away from the line of scrimmage.

Speaking of the triple option: who hires a guy as offensive coordinator a guy who played college ball and coached in a triple option scheme? I guess that's why the Texans had the slot guy run a fake reverse behind Carr on every play. I just assumed he was there in case Carr fumbled when he got sacked once every 5 downs.

Well, I guess Calhoun as OC shouldn't be all that surprising. The guy who's the head coach is most notable for backing up John Elway and being the offensive coordinator for the Broncos. Doesn't Shanahan call most of the plays for the Broncos? Kubiak has only shown an arrogance that he can turn around a loser for a quarterback and use anyone for running back. And what's the deal with the Texans being Denver's 'B' team? Ron Dayne, the Texans' current backup quarterback, and there are probably others.

Whoever ends up as the Texans' offensive coordinator needs to do something to liven this offense. And that person needs to fight for someone different under center. Somebody who's been a winner as an individual and as part of a team. And I'd appreciate somebody who's name isn't Brady Quinn.

Why not Houston?

Alright, I said I wasn't going to do it anymore, but I did. I read Bill Simmons' latest article on ESPN. This one covered the topic of Allen Iverson. If I would have quit reading three paragraphs from the end, I would have completely agreed with his article. (Of course the Clippers or the Celtics are the logical choice for The Answer to end up. Anywhere else would be absolutely absurd.)

Mr. Simmons holds basically Joe's stance on A.I., only much more articulate. I've heard a couple (*cough*) times from Joe that Iverson is amazing to watch live. I'd believe it, it seems like he's the hardest working player on the court. Always moving without the ball, always getting steals. (By the way, how does somebody who has led the league in steals in multiple seasons get labeled as a defensive liability?) He does cause problems off the court, but on the court he solves them. Why do they call him what they do? However, some teams in the midwest or Utah have logical concerns with bringing that kind of attitude into their regions. I don't believe he'll quit causing problems.

There is one place where he'd fit in with the new attitude. I'm talking about the new epicenter of hip-hop, the domain of Beyonce, Mike Jones, Chamillionare and Johnny the Jeweler and the other Johnny the Jeweler. That's right: Houston! Why not? Get rid of the 28 year old with the 58 year old back and bring in The Answer. A.I. can get his grills and his blings without the annoyance of airplanes and their stingy anti-drug rules. And guns are encouraged in Texas! He'll fit right in!

Seriously, I'd be excited to watch him play basketball in Houston. I'd try to be at the first game, sitting as close as I could. He can score, he can dish the rock. He can be the one who leads this team of role players. McGrady won't lead, he won't make others better. He isn't even that good himself. Alas, there are two reasons that Houston's answer won't be Allen Iverson. One: Jeff Van Gundy is a finicky, control obsessed downer of a head coach. He's got a decent player in Bonzi Wells sitting on the bench, while in Van Gundy's "doghouse." T-Mac hasn't had a problem with Van Gundy because he doesn't really care about winning. And Yao hasn't had a problem because Van Gundy can't speak Chinese. Iverson would probably just take the last spot on the bench from Wells and sit there for the rest of the year if he played for Van Gundy. Two, and most importantly, Houston athletic teams absolutely refuse to provide a product worth getting excited about. Mario Williams over Bush and Young? Let me go out and buy season tickets! (That's the topic of the next post.) Rudy Gay. Not too bad. Wait ... Shane Battier!?! That hasn't exactly lit up the box office. Don't see a lot of Steve Novak jerseys flying off the shelf.

If Allen Iverson is The Answer, the question is: Why not Houston?

Troy Smith Heisman acceptance

This is an addition to Austin's post. And also to point out something else I saw online.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0612/cfb.smith.heisman/content.9.html

I was impressed by how dapper Troy Smith looked as he accepted the Heisman. The three piece suit is a nice touch with the red and white tie and the red pinstriped grey suit. A subtle but thoughtful ode to Ohio State. Maybe coaches need to look at this picture and inspire their own wardrobes. Bright orange suit coats? At least Weber tried. Look at these. Sampson with Oklahoma. Sampson with Indiana. I guess they'd have to pay him more to wear a different tie.

I would agree with what's being said about the Heisman and the Maxwell. I think the Maxwell usually goes to the assumed second place in the Heisman voting. How did two awards come about, anyway? And why is there an offensive player of the year category, wouldn't this be the same as the Heisman, too? And then, why is there a quarterback of the year award if they're just going to give it to the quarterback of the best team in football? Why not give it to the Hawaii quarterback? He did get close to setting the single season TD record (I'm not sure whether he got there or not.) So what if he plays in a gimicky offense, somebody still had to throw the ball. If you aren't going to look at numbers, look at a team that overacheived in the face of adversity. I'm thinking somebody like Paul Thompson for Oklahoma. Re-establishing himself as a quarterback and being able to lead the Sooners to only two losses and a BCS bowl game, in a year in which Adrian Peterson was knocked out halfway seems pretty impressive to me. This is along the lines of Vince Young winning the QB of the year award last year.

Speaking of Vince Young, did anyone catch the highlights of him single handedly beating his hometown team? Made me sick. Brady Quinn, you think you might like Houston?

AI and the Pizza Ranch

Allen Iverson is the hardest working basketball player around. I don't like the NBA very well, but AI is a good ball player. He's crazy off the court, but who cares when you have a guy who will sacrifice his body everyday? When I was a Memphis I went to a Grizzlies 76ers game. He played harder than anyone and he was injured. I think any team that can get him should take him. I personally would like to see him go to Minnesota so I could go to a game. We'll see what happens, but the 76ers really messed this up. Also, people who talk about him being selfish are wrong because who's he going to pass the ball to Kyle Korver? No offense to Korver, but I'd rather give the ball to AI.

I went to Pizza Ranch today and it was delicious. I've never eaten anything quite so greasy, but it was excellent. I never thought any pizza could be greasier than Pokey Sticks, but this place is. There pizza is like Pokey sticks soaked in butter or something. I feel like I should take a shower since I ate there. Anyway, according Ty their dessert pizza is "Heaven in your mouth." If you ever have a chance, everyone needs to eat there once.

Today's Urban Dictionary word of the post (www.urbandictionary.com) :

Hasselhoffing

The act of changing a colleague's desktop wallpaper to display the manly physique of David Hasselhoff.

Dear God man! I leave my workstation for a few moments to visit the big boys room and you've Hasselhoffed me!

Thursday Night Football

I'm sure everyone was talking about that amazing game last night around the water cooler this morning! They were most likely talking about Wille Parker setting a Steelers record for the most rushing yards in a game with 233. Or maybe they were possibly discussing the Steelers running the table and having an outside chance of making the playoffs and defending their title? Nope, not unless they have NFL Network they weren't talking about this. In fact, most people, me included, had to be reminded there was a game last night. Wasn't it a Thursday night? Aren't Thursday nights in the television world devoted to Grey's Anatomy and the OC? When I think of Thursday, I don't think NFL (unless thoughts of Turkey, Stuffing and Pumpkin Pie are also on my mind). My point is this is rediculous for the NFL Network to broadcast games on Thursday nights, especially when most of the nation won't see it either because 1) they don't have a dish 2) they are watching Grey's Anatomy or 3) they simply forgot about football because its Thursday! Not to mention they are taking some great games away from viewers. NFL Network started this "new tradition" on Thanksgiving by giving us a third game to watch! Except it was actually a decent game because the Lions weren't playing in this one (Sorry Joe) and I didn't have to hear about Tony Romo and Terrell Owens. The Broncos and Chiefs! I can't wait! Oh wait, I can wait, and I will wait until the next morning in the paper when I can finally see the score. Granted NFL Network will one day, most likely, end up on Cable networks but even then its a Thursday night. Football, NFL speaking, is meant to be played on Sunday when everyone can just sit and waste away another day after being wasted the previous two. And then, just like any good meal, theres leftovers on Monday Night Football, and I prefer to think of MNF as leftovers and not sloppy seconds because MNF is one of the greatest things in sports. So, NFL Network you messed this one up because I shouldn't have to choose between getting a dish or cable, I shouldnt have to worry about updating my fantasy lineup on a Thursday night, and I know espcially that Jeremy (Jmeeks) shouldn't have to choose between football and Grey's Anatomy. Afterall, being an NFL fan is the epitamy of laziness and should only require the amount of energy needed to walk to the fridge/bathroom (usually in that order) and changing the channel and ferouciously clicking the mouse to see how your fantasy team is performing.


Question of the Post
What team has played in the most MNF games all time? and here's to hoping that one day I won't be asking who played in the most Thursday night games.

-AMeeks

Brady Quinn Player of the Year!?

Brady Quinn recently received the Maxwell Award given to the nation's top collegiate football player. He beat out Heisman Trophy favorite Troy Smith for the award. First, here's the article.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2690330

How in the world did Brady Quinn beat out Troy Smith for this award? Troy Smith is by far the best collegiate player this year. I guess one good thing that came of this is that there is now some Heisman talk and speculation in what has seemed like a one man race all year, but there is no way Brady Quinn is the player of the year. Brady Quinn is quite possibly one of the, if not the THE most overrated player in college football.

Troy Smith did manage to take home some hardware winning the Davey O'Brien trophy for the nation's top quarterback which he more than deserved. However, if I had to give Brady Quinn a trophy over Troy Smith it certainly wouldn't be the best player award! Troy Smith is an excellent quarterback and all-around player who has matured greatly over his tenure as the leader of the Buckeyes. He can run it when he has to, scramble to find an open receiver and also drop straight back and hit his target. Brady and Smith have similar stats this season with Quinn throwing for more yards and two more touchdowns, however Quinn got sacked 16 more times.

I am not a huge Big Ten fan, but I am even a bigger hater of Notre Dame and Brady Quinn. With that being said I respect Troy Smith and his willingness to change his style of play from a scrambling quarterback (611 yards rushing and 11 TD's) last year to a very, very good collegiate quarterback by cutting down his rushing this year to 233 yards and 1 TD this year. It would be a shame not to see Troy Smith win the Heisman this year. Did I mention that Notre Dame has two losses on the year and Ohio State is undefeated?

These people are just misinformed

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16095716/

I don't even really know what to say about this article. It's unbelievable that people would hold these views. It's probably a waste of time to even dissect this, so I won't. I just thought it was a good sampling of Texas' values.

I did like this last paragraph.

Though he now concedes the Muslims are probably not after his land, Baker
said he is obligated to go through with the pig races, probably within the next
few weeks, because “I would be like a total idiot if I didn’t. I’d be the
laughingstock now because I’ve gone too far.”

A total idiot? Too late.

More fantasy football

Since we're on the topic, I guess I'll post about it. I don't think any NFL player can complain about fantasy football. People will always be loyal to the teams they like. If anything, it actually gains individual players more fans. Case in point--Peyton "I look like I'm missing a chromosome" Manning. He's got the charisma of a rock (and not even an igneous rock). He would not have as many endorsements had it not been for fantasy football. (Once again, no proof but I think its a good guess).

Onto Jmeeks' comments about ticket prices and people still going. Lions and Raiders fans still go to the games. This alone shows loyalty to the team. Neither team has any fantasy stud (Exception: Roy Williams) so it's obviously not fantasy football making people go to games. I think at the end of the season, they should make these two teams play each other, the loser takes money from players, coaches, owners and general managers (especially Matt Millen) to give back to season ticket holders.

Now, you can blame it on the people who bought the season holders but they're the faithful, rich fans. I say rich because season tickets crazy expensive. Now, I say faithful because every year you pretend your team had a good draft and a good offseason even if you know it's not true. This creates a hope for 8-10 wins in the NFL, which is a huge improvement from 2-3 wins. The same thing happens every year with the Lions. My friend Mike and I always have this discussion:
"How many games are they going to win this year?"
"They're going to win 8 games this year."
We both say it sincerely, and it doesn't happen. Oh well, life goes on and we'll repeat it again in the fall of '07.

Fantasy Sports and Whinny Football players

Fantasy sports have killed some of the team loyalty that has been a hallmark of professional sports. But at the same time, I never watched NFL before, because I didn't have a team that I really liked (and I won't until the Texans get rid of Carr) and didn't really have time. But now I can catch the games on Sunday and it gives me something to watch for. Cowboys?!? Yuck! Cowboys can suck it! Wait, I can get Tony Romo off free agency? Go Cowboys Go!

What does Plummer want from the fans? At least those people went to the game, and were loyal enough to have you starting for their team. They pay 80 dollars for crappy seats in the snow to watch you play the game that you get paid millions of dollars to play, and you're bitching because they don't live and die with every game? Players are always the first ones to shake off a loss after the game - if you don't care that much, why should I?

Anything that gets more eyeballs on more games is good for the NFL and, ultimately, players.