I have 3 teams, but I know one team is pretty bad, but that was my first draft of the season. I did one snake Yahoo Fantasy Football draft and two auction ESPN Fantasy Football drafts. Also can I get a letter grade or a number on scale from 1-10? 

Tell me a few things.

- What you like about my teams (Please do it individually with 3 different teams this can get out of hand)

- What you don't like about my teams

- What you think I can do to upgrade them

- Pick my RB/WR spot for me

Yahoo snake league : 

QB : Peyton Manning, Sam Bradford

RB : LeSean McCoy, Mark Ingram, Cedric Benson, Danny Woodhead, Thomas Jones 

WR : Andre Johnson, DeSean Jackson, Austin Collie, A.J. Green, Jeremy Kerley 

TE : Greg Olsen

Def : Tampa Bay

K : Nick Folk 

Answer the questions above please! And also what do you think about a trade of Peyton Manning and Woodhead for Big Ben an Steven Jackson? I proposed it. 

Espn auction league #1 : I let auto pick fill out the rest of my team after I got my QB, RB, and WR

QB : Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler, Kyle Orton, Ryan Fitzpatrick 

RB :  Maurice Jones-Drew, Danny Woodhead, Jerome Harrison, Roy Helu, Tim Hightower 

WR : Larry Fitzgerald, Dez Bryant, Dwyane Bowe, Hines Ward

TE : Rob Gronkowski 

Def : New England

K : Nick Folk 

This feels like my worst team. Let me hear what you think. 

Espn auction league #2 : 

QB : Philip Rivers, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez

RB :  Felix Jones, Ahmad Bradshaw, Jonathan Stewart, Shonn Greene

WR :  Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Santonio Holmes, A.J. Green, James Jones, Jerome Simpson 

TE : Jermichael Finley 

Def : Detroit 

K : Adam Vinatieri 

I feel my Yahoo team and Espn league #2 team is pretty good. I usually pick up defenses, kickers, and TE's during their bye weeks that's why I only carry one TE, Def, and K. So what do you think? Grade them one by one please. I love fantasy football. 

And why? I'm currently watching Football Saturdays as a general fan, but who's your team and why? I'm also from NY we really have no favorite college football team. We wagon off Cuse and Rutgers really, but neither have national title hopes and I don't really like their teams or styles. However I do consider myself a fan of the Army Black Knights. I went go to a few games a year, but you can't blame me for wanting to like a team with an actual chance to contend right? 

Also what team or teams should I be thinking about rooting for this up and coming season and why?

I read the ESPN college football preview and a few teams caught my interest. 

Stanford*

USC*

Notre Dame*

Va Tech

TCU*

Ohio State*

Texas*

Alabama 

Nebraska 

Wisconsin 

Georgia 

The *'s mean I'm more interested than the other teams, but you can still sell me on them. Tell me about their style of play, National prime time games (I want to watch them), history, and star players currently. When I was little I didn't like those big National teams like OSU, ND, USC, and Texas, but now I decided to give them a chance now that their not really top 10 teams. 

Shoot please. 

 

 

 

Okay so here's how it works again. Straight from the original thread...

 

I figured since SS&R is the hot spot for NBA Basketball talk we should do this here. Anyone from another blog is welcome to come participate. I just thought the Lakers site would generate a better turn out and smarter fans. (No offense Raptor fans of the world.)

I was thinking we'd have 15-25 members, maybe 20 is a nice number of people to have a snake type draft of this sorts. Basically you'll be able to pick your starting 5 and a bench of 5 players. So they'll be a total of 10 rounds. You want to have at least 1 PG, 1 SG, 1 SF, 1 PF, and 1 C. Your bench can be filled with any position. If you want a 5 center bench do it!

Okay so first lets lay out some organizational rules. 

 

• We need at least 15 people in the draft. 20 is the best and 25 being the maximum.
• Date, Time, and time limit to pick. We might not finish this draft in a day or a week. It's cool, but the person on the clock will have a full day to make a selection. Two days if his pick goes into Sunday. (Sunday is the resting period if you decide to take it.)
• All players are fair game. Any era you want. 
• We'll have a new thread every 3 rounds (With an updated roster of everyone's team and selected players.)
• To sort through the names in the thread simply click ctrl F and type in the name and the computer will navigate your way through to see if he was selected. 

 

Continue reading this post »

 

***Yankees fan who's a big fan of Prince Fielder. Tell me what you think?

On 1/18/11 Prince Fielder decided to avoid arbitration with the Brewers, and signed a 1 year $15.5 million deal. Fielder and the Brew crew find themselves a game back of the NL Central lead. The Pirates are the current leaders, surprisingly. Fielder is having himself a fine season. I still think Joey Votto and Albert Pujols are the better first basemen as of now, but Prince is making his case. He’s already eclipsed his 2010 WAR total of 3.4, with a 3.6 performance a little bit over the half way mark.

Prince is tied with Braun for the second most valuable Brewer, but doesn’t trail the leader Rickie Weeks by much. He’s just a .3 away from the lead. He’s also top 10 in the NL in WAR. Jose Reyes leads the pack with a 5.3 WAR. Fielder has plenty of time to catch up. Realistically he should finish with a WAR just under 7.0. So I’d predict 6.8 to finish his season. This would be a great season and Fielder is on pace to do so.

The MVP race in the NL is very interesting. I made my reflection post during the All-Star break and I had Kemp, McCutchen, and Reyes respectively for the NL MVP. I still think these guys are the top 3, but Fielder can inch his way into the mix. After those three players Fielder is probably behind Victorino, Tulowitzki, and maybe Joey Votto. I’m basing this off WAR numbers right now. But if you look at wOBA Fielder is 4th in the NL, with a .415 wOBA. He’s also 2nd in OBP behind Joey Votto with a .415 OBP. Fielder is also top 4 in NL wRC+. So can you make a case for Fielder being an MVP right now? Probably. I think he’s certainly a top 5 candidate.

Here’s some slash lines.

Jose Reyes : .355 BA/.398 OBP/.527 SLG/.408 wOBA/5.3 WAR

Andrew McCutchen : .277 BA/.378 OBP/.486 SLG/.382 wOBA/4.5

Matt Kemp : .313 BA/.394 OBP/.585 SLG/.426 wOBA/4.8 WAR

Joey Votto : .320 BA/.431 OBP/.499 SLG/.404 wOBA/4.1

Prince Fielder : .295 BA/.415 OBP/ .563 SLG/.415 wOBA/3.6

From right there you have to say Jose Reyes and Matt Kemp are your top two NL MVP candidates. McCutchen made my list at ranked #2, but at the time he had a 5.1 WAR. This dropped .6 since the All-Star Break. So in reality I’d rank it like this. Reyes, Kemp, Votto, Fielder, and McCutchen.

First base is one of the most heavy positions in baseball. You can name about 10 guys this season that you’d want on your team. Then there are the younger guys that you’d take to start your team in the future. There’s also the possible catchers like Joe Mauer who can make first base an even heavier position. Unless Morneau can comeback healthy and put up big numbers, it looks like the Twins will protect Mauer by switching him to first.

Let’s rattle off names. Pujols, Gonzalez, Votto, Cabrera, Teixeira, Howard, and of course Fielder. Then you have the older guys like Konerko and Helton who are having good seasons. You also have younger guys like Freddie Freeman and the guy who’s just starting to get it like Gaby Sanchez. I also won’t forget Kendrys Morales. For now though I’m going to stick with that first group.

These are looked at as the elite 1B in the league. Pujols being the greatest since he’s a top 30 player of all-time. Also he’s put up 10 years of great baseball. There’s only one season where Pujols finished under a 7.5 WAR. This year is odd though. Pujols healed from his injury, but still hasn’t gotten out of his funk. He has the 8th best WAR as a 1B this year at 2.6. I’m not declaring Pujols done at all. I think it’s a fluke, but he’s getting into his 30′s. He might be slowing down a bit so what I’m wondering who is the guy to take over for Pujols? The passing of the torch began last year when Votto outplayed him and won the MVP. There’s five other 1B who can be that guy. I’ll break it down into two tiers.

2nd tier

Mark Teixeira

Ryan Howard

I think Teixeira and Howard are really good players. I have them in the 2nd tier of first basemen after all. I just think the other guys are really elite. Teix has posted a 2.7 WAR and Howard a 0.8 WAR. They’re both big power guys and they both have average OBP’s this year. Both not having an OBP over .350. Teix is a good defender. I watch him almost every day. UZR isn’t really a good way to determine 1B, but Teix makes the plays. He dives for balls and scoops Jeter’s horrid throws out of the dirt for outs. What really kills Teix is his average. I know batting average isn’t a good indicator, but when you have a .242 BA you’re OBP will need a lot of walks to rise. Plus the fact that he hits for power he’s probably not thinking walk all the time. His 11.9 BB% is fairly good though.

Howard on the other hand been a good player since his break out MVP season. Nothing really special. His highest WAR total since 2006 was 4.6 in 2009. He’s not really a top tier first basemen, and I hate to put Teix in the 2nd class because he’s really tier 1 B in this case.

1st tier 

Adrian Gonzalez

Miguel Cabrera

Joey Votto

Prince Fielder

This is the elite players of the 1B class. First off you have Adrian Gonzalez. There’s no first basemen I’d rather have than him. He has a solid glove in the field and hits for average, power, etc. He leads 1B in WAR with a 4.4. He’s made a case to be in the AL MVP talks too. But Bautista should lead that race by a large margin as of now. Fenway Park will also help Gonzo become baseball’s top first basemen of the next 7 seasons.

Then it’s really a toss up between the other three. Miguel can hit absolutely anything and gets on base at a great rate, but same for Votto and Fielder. Despite being a .295 hitter Fielder has a higher wOBA than Votto. I posted Fielder’s and Votto’s slash lines above. Votto seems to edge Fielder just a bit, and Miguel is having a better year than both of them.

If I had to choose though I’d pick Votto. He plays in a smaller park than Miguel and has shown he can be better than Fielder the past two years. Of course Prince could turn that around this year and make it a huge debate, but as of now I’d say Votto is the better player. I’d take these guys over Pujols in the next 5 years respectively. Gonzo, Votto, Miggy, and Fielder.

Fielder has matured though. I saw it by the way he’s been a leader to the Brewers and the way he acted with his kids at the All-Star break. It’s glad to finally see him grow up because attempting to fight someone in the Dodgers locker room isn’t the way to go. I’m really rooting for Prince to be the next best thing. He’s one of my favorite players so I hope he can continue to hit well where ever he decides to play in the next coming years. Maybe Prince isn’t the next Pujols, but can still take the throne.

(Starting to write fanposts again)

At least I think he does. From a fans perspective Tony Romo has been the greatest Cowboys quarterback I've ever seen. I was not in existence during the Staubach era. And I was just born when the Cowboys won their 3rd Super Bowl of the 90's, their 5th in their storied history. I started as a fan of the Quincy Carter Cowboys with Bill Parcells as the head coach. We made the playoffs my first season as a fan, but lost to the Carolina Panthers in the divisional round. My Dad too is a Cowboys fan. He passed me down the tradition. Before the game my Dad was excited. The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game since the year I was born at the time. I was too excited, but he talked about sports and the disappointment of the game. You can't always win he said. He should of said you might never win because that describes my time as a Cowboys fan. I've stayed strong with them though. Chad Hutchinson,Vinny Testeverde, Drew Bledsoe?  These were never the answer for the Cowboys. One day NFL network reported the Cowboys signed Drew Henson. He was in the Yankees minor league system, and I guess that didn't work out to well.  I later found out he was also the starting quarterback at Michigan. His backup was Tom Brady. So I figured he was a fairly good QB. Rich Eisen read the Cowboys QB depth chart. It went like this, Bledsoe, Henson, and a man un-drafted out of  Eastern Illinois, Tony Romo. At the time I was wondering who Tony Romo was exactly. 

In 2005 Drew Henson wasn't a member of the Cowboys anymore and Romo moved up to #2 on the depth chart. Then a few weeks into the 2006 season Romo started the second half vs. the Giants. He threw for two touchdowns and also threw three interceptions. I wasn't sure, but I knew Romo was an okay QB at that point. The next week Romo was named the starter over Bledsoe. Romo was on the big stage that week vs. the Carolina Panthers. He led the team to a 35-14 victory. Right there I knew we had a franchise quarterback. The next day in school I remember telling my friends Romo was the real deal. They laughed and told me I was nuts, but I know talent when I see it. He was good. One of my good friends couldn't believe I made a call like that on the un-drafted free agent til this day. He's a great QB to this day, but in the eyes of the media something would make his career go down hill.

The Cowboys would travel to Seattle against the Seahawks. It was a great game to the very end. The Seahawks were up 21-20 with 1:19 left in the game. The Cowboys sent their field goal unit out on the field. Romo was still the place holder despite being the teams starting quarterback. I guess Drew Bledsoe couldn't swallow his pride and hold the ball. The 19 yard field goal was botched by Romo. But there was hope. Romo attempted to score the touchdown, but was tackled a yard short. That night I shed a tear in my room. I was so upset and felt terribly bad for Romo I sent a letter to the Cowboys locker room, specifically Romo. I'm not sure if he ever received the letter, but I hope he did. 

In 2007 Romo was amazing. He led the Cowboys to a 13-3 record. If it wasn't for Brady, Romo would have won MVP that year. 4200+ yards, 36 TD's, and a 6.9 TD%? Those are great numbers. Sadly I can't remember that year the way I want to. The Giants ruined the Cowboys chances at their sixth Super Bowl. Romo was blamed yet again, but I blame a few other things. The defense before the half. The Giants just drove on our defense there. And Patrick Crayton's drop. All Cowboy fans know what I'm talking about. 

Then 2008 came and I was looking forward to be a contender again. Well things don't turn out the way you like. The Cowboys went 8-8 and lost to the Eagles 44-6 on the final game of the season. It was a pathetic site where I just gave up for the next few days. I wondered why this team couldn't get anything done in December. I had a horrible picture of Romo being smashed into the ground. 

Here was a turning point for the Cowboys QB though. Romo stopped going around dating stars like Carrie Underwood and Jessica Simpson and focused on playing football. In 2009 he led the Cowboys to an 11-5 record and got back at Philadelphia. The Cowboys beat the Eagles three times that year. Including back to back times in week 17 and the wild card round of the playoffs. The streak of years without a playoff win was snapped, but the shelf that was made for Dallas' 6th Lombardi was still empty. 

Then 2010 came. What a terrible year for the Cowboys, and Romo. He was hurt in a game vs. the New York Giants after Boley was left unblocked to break Romo's clavicle. That summed up 2010 and Romo's season right there. 

Which leaves us to now. The NFL lockout is about to end and teams are going to become a unit again. Romo was married to Candace Crawford May 28th. It's a nice step in his life to settle down and now focus on his profession. You can tell Romo wants to win though. He set up the Cowboys camp this year for the team. Hopefully this means he's going to be a team leader soon. This is needed because there was rumors some of the players wanted a competition in camp between Romo and Kitna this year. This isn't going to happen. Romo has a stronger arm and is just a better player than Kitna. There's no stat for leadership. 

You can also see maturity in Romo's play. In 2009 his completion %increased about 2 points. Then a shortened year for Romo, he increased his completion % from 63.1 to 69.5. That led the NFL at the time. Romo then shows maturity with the eye ball test. Earlier in his career he would scramble around looking to make plays. He now thinks about what he's going to do with the ball, and if there isn't a play there he'll check it down or just throw it away. In some situations he'll just tuck the ball and run or take the sack. You can also look in the numbers too. His INT% went from 3.1 in 2008 t0 1.6 in 2009. 2010 it rose to 3.1, but I can tell you there were INT's that weren't his fault. Many of his INT's were tipped balls. 

Romo's acting more like a leader out there on the field. This should be a big plus to the Cowboys in 2011. I'd like to see how Garrett uses Romo in his pass happy system as the head coach. I'm sure it will be a little different from when he was the offensive cord. Romo gets it, it's about winning.

When I was about 9 years old I was really a big basketball fan. I was actually a fan of the Miami Heat. Mostly because of Shaq and Dwyane Wade. What do you expect a kid to do when your Dad didn't like the Knicks? The Heat were exited from the playoffs in the Eastern Conference Finals and the Pistons went on to lose to the San Antonio Spurs. The next NBA season Dwyane Wade pushed his team passed the Pistons and beat the Mavericks after being down 2 games to none. Next year LeBron pushed his Cavs passed the Pistons and loss to the Spurs in the NBA Finals. This was just the start of my love for the NBA though. 

The next year I got into seeing the first assembled big 3 in Boston. I was interested in how many championships this team would win now that Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce were all teammates. I followed them throughout the year while the Heat became the worst team in the NBA. An injured Dwyane Wade would do that to a team filled with scrubs and Shaq. I could care less though because there was good basketball on. The Celtics and Lakers made the NBA finals making it the best NBA season I watched yet. My Dad being a Lakers fan made it more fun. There was a rooting interest there. I rooted on LA because I didn't want Boston to win another title in different sport. You hated them, but you still wanted to watch them. Anyways the Lakers blew their chance when they lost a game that they were leading by about 18 at the half. A all around fun game to watch, but not the outcome I wanted. The Celtics would win the series and that capped off a great year. 

After 2008 though, the NBA lost something. LeBron was doing his thing in Cleveland. The Magic became an elite squad. And Boston tried to repeat as champions even with an injured Garnett. The West was basically the Lakers again. It was a tough conference from the 1 seed to the 8 seed. I just wasn't feeling it though. The LeBron buzzer beater vs. the Magic was exciting, but the overall season lacked fun. I don't count LeBron dancing and taking fake pictures of his teammates with his imaginary camera as fun. The Lakers owned the Magic, whippee? 

Then basically 2010 was the same thing. Except we ended with a game 7 Lakers vs. Celtics NBA Finals. Where the Lakers once again repeated as NBA Champions. Now I was tired of these two teams. It was fun two years ago, but it's time for some new flavor.

This off-season would bring the flav I needed to be 100% interested in the NBA again. LeBron made the decision to go to South Beach with Bosh and Wade. Amar'e went to the Knicks, and Boozer was a Bull. Mostly the other most coveted free agents resigned with their old teams. Like Dirk, Joe Johnson, and Rudy Gay. There was another big 3 on the map, a younger big 3. This would spark the ratings for the NBA. Again it was like the Celtics in 2008. You may have hated them, but you tuned in whenever they were on television. I for one was for it. It brought excitement, and it was great for the NBA. Anyone who says it wasn't is either an idiot or a fan of the Utah Jazz. Basically any team that doesn't have a big market. It's not like one of the greatest teams in NBA history got this trio. It was the Miami Heat, not the Lakers, Celtics, or Bulls. South Beach was Hollywood east now. Hollywood as hell Mr. Noah would say. Isn't this what sports needed though? The Yankees of the 70's, the Lakers of the 80's, the Cowboys of the 90's, Miami U football, and those Duke Blue Devil college basketball teams all had one thing in common. They were good and they knew it. They had their fun on the field, toyed with their opponent, had the media around them at all times,  won, and everyone hated them. Yet people still tuned in to watch these teams. They drove ratings.  I wouldn't put this era's Lakers in that category because many people I know was rooting for them. They seemed more like the 90's Bulls that more people were for them than against them. Back then it seemed everyone was a Jordan/Bulls fan. 

Here is what we're missing in the up coming season. 

Miami's elite trio

I'll miss this big 3. They were exciting to watch. Wade and LeBron in transition? That's just great basketball. I would like to see how they respond after losing in the NBA Finals. I would expect them to make it back to the Eastern Conference against the Bulls again. Not sure who would win that after Derrick Rose and co. become a year better and more experienced. I would like to see who they would possibly play in the NBA Finals. The Mavericks? Thunder? 

Demise of NBA's elite

The Lakers and Celtics are the NBA's two greatest franchises. They combine for almost half of the leagues NBA championships just between the two. 2012 could be the year these two teams fall apart. Well not Cleveland Cavalier fall apart, but more like 4th or 5th seed in their conference. With Mike Brown taking over the Lakers and the Celtics aging this might be the year these two fall off as contenders. 

Rising teams 

The Oklahoma City Thunder are becoming one of the more feared NBA teams. They have a solid point guard in Westbrook and a star in Durant. Add in role players like Harden, Ibaka, and Perkins and you have a championship caliber team. An NBA Finals match-up in the making; Miami Heat vs. Oklahoma City Thunder. 

The Knicks are back 

The Knicks are back. I fully expect the Knicks to get a top 5 seed in the East this season. You could have the Heat, Bulls, Celtics, Knicks, Magic, Hawks, Pacers, and Sixers in the playoff again. This time I think the Knicks leap frog at least 3 of those teams. New York is ready to embrace their basketball team again. Just don't let Boston sweep you again. 

Open tryouts

Another monster free agency period is going to happen. Maybe not as anticipated because there will not be a LeBron in it, but you could come out with the leagues best center and a top 3 point guard. The Nets would like to show Deron they can build a team around him or else their first round pick Favors was traded for nothing. Dwight would like to show he wants to play in Orlando, but still would like to test his options in free agency. If that makes any sense at all. Basically STOP DRIVING DWIGHT OUT OF ORLANDO SPORTS WRITERS! Chris Paul is just looking to team up with any super team available. The best situation would be in New York, but he'd need to take a pay cut. Maybe he goes to Orlando, but that would mean Dwight isn't a Laker or Bull. Dwight as a Bull? Scary though...

Old Mavs or experienced Mavs

People will wonder if this veteran team could repeat. We may never find out. Redirkculous. That' all I have to say. 

So this is why I'm asking why, just why? Why once this league got good does this happen? I know this is the year it expires, but it's not fair. Unlike in the NFL, the NBA will probably miss some games. Most likely half or even a full season of play. Basically Stern wants the players to earn less money. They earn 55% of the leagues revenue under the 1999 bargaining agreement. Stern wants a plan that would shrink that to around 37%. That's a big hit in money for the players. Something they just won't do when they might be able to earn more cash by playing over seas. I know Stern wants to make money, but without the players the league is nothing. The NBA relies on their superstars. The whole market plan for the NBA revolves around their key players. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, etc... There is a lot more players I can name. That's because this league is thriving right now and there's plenty of cash to go around. While there may not be $9 billion being split like the NFL the NBA isn't poor. Stern wants the players salary cap to stay around $2 billion. It's a lot of money, but the players won't be able to make money off the NBA revenue. It would all go to the owners. So in reality the players would be losing money. Really that isn't fair because the players are the main reason for the growth of the league. Would you be watching if Kwame Brown was an NBA superstar? I don't think so. That's why I think the old agreement was fine. Revenue would rise when the league rose, and the players would get rightfully rewarded for it. Maybe it's a tiny bit flawed, but there's the ability to revise it and tweak the old deal just a bit. 

In the end the owners are being selfish. As a fan I am not on the owners side. I will blame this lockout on the owners because the players have no reason to budge for them. They're not being treated fairly. I didn't go to Madison Square Garden to see James Dolan. I came to see Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. So being that I'm on the players side I expect a long delay before we see another NBA game. So maybe some of our favorite stars will play in Europe as a preview.

If I'm going to start watching football on Saturdays I want a background on my new favorite team. It makes sense to root on ND because I can watch the games even if I miss them Saturday on the YES Network being in the NY area. I'm not Irish, but what does that matter! lol. 

I love the colors of the jerseys too. The gold and blue is a nice scheme. So maybe I can just get some facts about the team. Best coach, best season, best players, traditions, up and coming stars, when will ND be BCS contenders again? 

Most stuff I know comes from the movie Rudy. So learn me. 

I've been on vacation the past two weeks. First week I was with my Dad and we traveled from New York all to the way to Canton, Ohio. The next week I was with my Mom on a cruise to the Caribbean. They were both awesome trips, but the first one caught my interest a lot. Plus I figured it's more appropriate to share some of my pictures from the Hall of Fame. Mostly Cowboys pics. 

Well we traveled for about 7-9 hours. We took a lot of stops, but it only took that amount of time. On the way we passed through Steelers country. Pennsylvania is a lot more rural than New York. I felt like I was in upstate New York , but me be a suburbs guy I was bored by all the grass and farms on the way to Ohio. When we got into Ohio I was really excited. They advertised the Hall of Fame right away and I was pumped to go. The first night though I stayed in my hotel. Which was very nice, and talked with the family. The next morning it was off to the Hall of Fame.

When we arrived we saw the reconstruction happening around the building, and parking was easy. We walked and saw this giant poster of Walter Payton. It was amazing and the older generation of my family began talking about how great he was and how it was a shame he died. My little brother who is not a football nut asked if that was Sammy Sosa. -_- This conversation quickly turned into an Emmitt Smith one about how he broke the rushing record vs. Seattle. Move over sweetness!

Then we finally came in and bought the tickets they asked us what teams we all liked. The family told them Cowboys, and then they asked us where we were from. Well actually my future cousin in law is a Vikings fan. We responded New York. The Giants fans behind us were a bit puzzled. Then walked in some Detroit Lions fans. Who I felt bad for. They weren't going to see a lot of their favorite team. 

My family is mostly Cowboys fans because of my uncles father. My uncle is not a blood relative so his father isn't really my uncle, but he was a great guy and passed the tradition of the Cowboys down throughout the family. I'm proud to be a fan and carry on the tradition because even my Dad is a fan. 

We got past the ticket station and was throwing into the middle of the Hall. It was overwhelming. This tour guide started talking to us and told us to go along the side of the wall to read about the origins of the Hall and why it's in Canton, Ohio. We noticed she was a volunteer. Actually mostly everyone who "worked" there were volunteers. They dedicate their free time to help people around the Hall of Fame and keep the place in top shape. We found out the reason it was in Canton was because of the Canton Bulldogs and Jim Thrope. Next we moved into a few different rooms where there were stories of the some of the greatest players. I took this picture of a game worn jersey from Staubach and Lilly.

Then finally we saw the heads! 

Continue reading this post »

For a while now I've been thinking that Brett Gardner has been an outstanding baseball player. I watch him a lot being a Yankees fan so I get to see him play every day. I remember the discussions with my companions about who was better suited for center field, Gardner, or Cabrera. This was before the Yankees traded for Granderson by the way. Anyways every always took Melky in that conversation except me. Well Melky did have a lot of late game heroics in 2009, and made a couple nice diving defensive plays. But a few highlights don't make you a great player. Those balls that Melky had to dive for were easily caught by Gardner. His speed and excellent routes to the ball made him a better outfielder. 

What was brought  to my attention yesterday was Gardner is an elite player. It was this link that made me think Gardner was even better than I thought. Fangraphs Jack Moore posted that Gardy is 12th among all players in WAR since last season. His 9.2 WAR is tied with Adrian Gonzalez and is .4 points away from the 5th player (Josh Hamilton) on the list. This is remarkable. He leads the 14th best WAR player on the list Robinson Cano by .5. 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/brett-gardner-elite-player/

Wait is Brett Gardner really the most valuable Yankee since the start of 2010? You mean with guys like Jeter, Rodriguez, Teixeira, Cano, and Granderson? Brett Gardner is the player who has been worth the most? This is interesting. Alex Rodriguez is expected to make $31 million this season and Derek Jeter is supposed to make $15 million. Alex is having himself a good year, he's almost matched his 2010 WAR total already. But he is still overpaid for his production. In fact Alex and Jeter combined WAR since 2010 is 10.6. Only a 1.4 WAR difference between Gardner and the two Yankee "super stars". 

And how much money Gardner is being paid?Just $0.5495 million. He doesn't even make a million dollars this year. Good thing for him his contract expires this year and he should be able to sign a better deal. Maybe not A-Rod money, or even Jeter money, but a respectable major league contract. 

Continue reading this post »

My fascination with soccer or futbol' began during the 2006 World Cup. My heritage Italy won it all and I was into it. But that summer came and went and I went back to the usual sports Americans watch. Like football, baseball, and basketball. I rooted on the Yankees, Cowboys, and Knicks, but I also forgot about soccer. If you asked me how the Red Bulls were doing I wouldn't know. Though last summer I felt a feeling, "it's back!" The world cup. This time I was more into my home country, America. Though I was last time, but Italy was doing so well. 

The Landon Donavan goal really made me go wild and I actually ran around my house screaming goal. My friends were approaching my door as I was screaming to ask if I wanted to hang out. They thought I was nuts rooting for the USA Nat'l soccer team so loudly. I was into it, and I wasn't going to hold back because the WC on happens every 4 years after all. 

Then when it was all over I did the same as I did in 2006. But this summer I was reminded of my fond memories for some reason. Today is my first day out of school until September. I'm looking forward to an exciting summer. But I'm also looking into a new interest. Last year I bought FIFA 10. This year I bought FIFA 11. I've been playing and I in my opinion the EPL is the greatest soccer league. So I figured if I was to pick a favorite it would be from there. Next I would like to pick a team fairly known. Since I saw of what seemed like a big name player Drogba I picked Chelsea. They were the team I used first on FIFA 11 and I whooped Man United and Wayne Rooney pretty good. La Liga is also a good league, but Barca probably dominates with Messi. 

I'm looking to become a bigger fan over the summer so anything you can tell me about Chelsea please post here. When are games? Any other big players other than Drogba? How about their history? (Unless the title of the blog holds true ;) )

It's that time again, the All-Star voting process! Yes go to mlb.com and fill out your ballots, but wait who are you voting for? Are you voting for a life time achievement award player like Derek Jeter? Or a guy who really deserves it like Asdrubal Cabrera. The MLB All-Star game is very unique. It's the only game that actually matters. It gives the winning league home field in the World Series. An exhibition game shouldn't be deciding important future events. But is this what makes the MLB All-Star game the best?

In terms of All-Star games the Pro Bowl is a joke and the hockey one is a real life fantasy draft where one guy gets a car for getting picked last. Humiliated plus a free car? Sign me up. The NBA All-Star game is the only other All-Star game that somewhat excites. You also have the dunk contest and 3 point shoot out, but those are getting old with the one super star and then 3 second rate talent players. Via Blake Griffin vs. Mcgee. Clearly baseball has the better All-Star game and festivities. Home Run Derby > Dunk Contest. 

I still think we should change the voting process though. The fans are voting in older less deserving players into the All-Star game. It's a good thing we have newer metrics to decide who gets into the Hall because if people went off Gold Gloves and All-Star appearances people like Derek Jeter would be a top 50 player of all-time. When he just cracks the top 100 in my mind. And I'm a Yankees fan. 

Here's an outlook on who's leading American League voting so far. I'll be going into who deserves to be an All-Star starter so far and who doesn't. The new roster sizes for All-Star games has become inflated so I do state again starters. 

Catcher
Russell Martin NYY, 1,712,156
Alex Avila DET, 1,093,070
Joe Mauer MIN, 1,041,798

First base
Adrian Gonazalez BOS, 2,027,537
Mark Teixeira NYY, 1,774,024
Miguel Cabrera DET, 1,295,547

Second base
Robinson Cano NYY, 2,649,737
Dustin Pedroia BOS, 1,518,231
Ian Kinsler TEX, 1,129,023

Third base
Alex Rodriguez NYY, 2,063,520
Adrian Beltre TEX, 1,752,729
Kevin Youkilis BOS, 1,381,381

Shortstop
Derek Jeter NYY, 1,931,670
Asdrubal Cabrera CLE, 1,647,802
Elvis Andrus TEX, 1,180,962

Outfield
Jose Bautista TOR, 3,042,091
Curtis Granderson NYY, 2,406,946
Josh Hamilton TEX, 1,799,339
Jacoby Ellsbury BOS, 1,447,715
Ichiro Suzuki SEA, 1,231,035
Carl Crawford BOS, 1,222,687
Nelson Cruz TEX, 1,123,608
Nick Swisher NYY, 937,365
Brett Gardner NYY, 796,905
J.D. Drew BOS,  778,871

Designated hitter
David Ortiz BOS, 1,974,918
Michael Young TEX, 1,428,833
Jorge Posada NYY, 810,672

If you're counting at home that's seven Yankees and Red Sox in the starting line up. Five of them are Yankees. Some of them deserve to be there, but others not so much. I guess the American league consists of three fan bases at the moment Yankees, Red Sox, and Rangers. This years voting should further more prove that it's a joke of a system. It's not like major sports writers would get it write either though. Here we go position by position. 

The catcher spot is off by a little bit. Russell Martin has had a good year so far, but the chunk of it has been a great April. I wouldn't base an All-Star appearance off one month of the season. His 1.7 WAR is good, but not better than Avila's 2.5 WAR. Avila is also ahead of Martin by a good .40 points in wOBA, and .100 points in SLG. 

 At first base the voters got it right. They also even got the top 3 in voting right, but switch Miggy and Tex around. The first base position in baseball is very deep right now. You have Pujols, Votto, Gonzo, Tex, Miggy, Fielder, Morales, etc. All great first basemen, but it's not hard to see Adrian is the starting man at first base. A 3.9 WAR, a full point above the 2nd American League 1st basemen Miguel Cabrera. I don't usually go nuts about batting averages, but a .352 at this point in the year is really amazing. Fenway is going to make him into a even better player. Scary thought for Yankees fans. 

First base the voters 

Second base is really off. While Pedroia, Cano, and Kinsler are all having good years there has been two better guys who can either take the starting job. Ben Zobrist and Howie Kendrick lead the AL 2nd Basemen WAR department respectively. A 3.2 for Zoby and a 3.1 for Kendrick. After leading the league in WAR in 2009 Zobrist still doesn't get the credit he deserves as a good player. He and Zimmerman should go down as the most underrated players in this era of baseball. 

Third place is perfect. You have your top 3 AL 3B vote getters and your top 3 AL 3B WAR leaders in order. Alex is having a great year without going yard every so often. He's turned into a line drive type hitter with the occasional homer. Beltre hasn't slid off the deep end like I thought would happen and he's added to the Rangers dangerous offense. And Youk has made a nice transition from first to third. A truly great defensive and offensive player. 

*Face palm* Derek Jeter is the AL SS leading vote getter. And it looks like it might stay that way. His career accomplishments will get him into the All-Star game year after year until he retires. Not really fair, but it's most likely true. The media is killing him and yet he's still in the game as of now. Either Cabrera or Alexei Ramirez deserve the starting job. Jeter ranks 8th in WAR behind the other AL shortstops. This is more about how is Jeter in than who is in. 

Overall the outfield and DH are solid. I really would vote the exact same people into the game. Granderson and Bautista are killing the ball. And Josh Hamilton is the reigning MVP. Who else would you want in the All-Star game? In fact I'd chose any of these 3 guys to win the AL MVP this season. 

My AL starting line up would look like this. 

C - Avila

1B - Gonzalez

2B - Zobrist

3B - Rodriguez

SS - Cabrera

OF - Bautista

OF - Granderson

OF - Hamilton

DH - Ortiz

With all the fathers day favorite player posts I've been wondering myself about my own favorite player. What qualifies a guy as your favorite player? Longevity to the team? How long must you watch this players career? Does he have to be somewhat good? Just some thoughts on how I'm trying to figure out my favorite player. I really thought I had it all figured out, but then these post made me think a little bit more. 

I always like Derek Jeter. He's the captain and everyone's favorite player. He made spectacular plays in the field (jump throw), and came up big in the clutch. (Mr. November.) When people thought he was done after 2008 he had an MVP caliber 2009 and helped lead the Yankees to their 27th World Series Championship. Though what I realize is I won't be watching Jeter play anymore very soon. This will be my 8th year watching him in the pinstripes. What bugs me is that my current favorite player was do doing great things before I was fan. He was winning titles and having great years without me even knowing. Jeter will always be up there in the talks of my favorite player.

Then there was Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod was a player I liked to defend. I remember everyone around my area being happy we just trade Soriano and others for Alex. Then we signed Sheffield. I bought a Sheffield t-shirt jersey for some reason. It was my first Yankee shirt I can remember that resembled an actual jersey. Until my Dad got me an Alex Rodriguez one for my birthday. Since then I thought Alex was my favorite player. Then the Yankees weren't living up to expectations. Then 2004 came and went (bleh) and sooner or later it was 2006. Alex was batting 8th in Torre's line up and people were calling him a bum. Especially my Pi Pa (grandfather). I felt that Alex was the greatest player on the planet at the time, and he didn't deserve the ridicule. He had diarrhea of the mouth and "couldn't come up big in pressure situations." Sort of how the NBA is with LeBron now. The playoffs were a small sample size. Eventually Alex would destroy the competition. When the 2009 post-season came Alex went on a rampage and in my opinion was the MVP of the playoffs. Plus who can forgot his monster 2007 season?

Rivera is up there. How can a guy who's saved 9th inning after 9th inning for your team not be a favorite? He's the greatest closer of all-time no matter how many Trevor Hoffman saves there are! He's the last to wear #42, and while this may sound dumb or new school I will remember 42 as Mariano Rivera, not Jackie Robinson. Most Yankee fans will feel the same. I don't need to explain myself here. 

Robinson Cano is one player I'll never forget. I remember watching Yankees games with my Pi Pa up in his room. We'd talk about the team and the season. Looking over the teams pitching and hitting. Whether they had enough to take the World Series. One time we talked about Tony Womack and when Cano was going to become the full time starter. We heard he was supposed to be good, but needed time. Time happened and Cano is now arguably the best 2nd basemen in baseball. He's a special player because he's one of the first great players I've seen break in with the team. When it's all said and done I hope Cano is the Yankees greatest 2nd basemen ever. If you made a Yankees all-time team 2nd base is weak compared to the other positions. Maybe Robbie can move Lazzeri and Randolph out of the way.

Do you ever wonder 20 years from now what you're going to be talking about with your kids? Like who was your favorite player, the sports era you grew up in? This is basically what I would say. Yea you had the Gardner's, Swishers, and other great players like CC, Teix, and Posada. But some players stick out differently than others.

*** This will begin after I come back from vacation July 9th. I know I'm sad it will be this late too. :(

 

I figured since SS&R is the hot spot for NBA Basketball talk we should do this here. Anyone from another blog is welcome to come participate. I just thought the Lakers site would generate a better turn out and smarter fans. (No offense Raptor fans of the world.)

I was thinking we'd have 15-25 members, maybe 20 is a nice number of people to have a snake type draft of this sorts. Basically you'll be able to pick your starting 5 and a bench of 5 players. So they'll be a total of 10 rounds. You want to have at least 1 PG, 1 SG, 1 SF, 1 PF, and 1 C. Your bench can be filled with any position. If you want a 5 center bench do it!

Okay so first lets lay out some organizational rules. 

 

• We need at least 15 people in the draft. 20 is the best and 25 being the maximum.
• Date, Time, and time limit to pick. We might not finish this draft in a day or a week. It's cool, but the person on the clock will have a full day to make a selection. Two days if his pick goes into Sunday. (Sunday is the resting period if you decide to take it.)
• All players are fair game. Any era you want. 
• We'll have a new thread every 3 rounds (With an updated roster of everyone's team and selected players.)
• To sort through the names in the thread simply click ctrl F and type in the name and the computer will navigate your way through to see if he was selected. 

Use this thread to discuss possible ideas and say whether you want to join the draft or not.

In 5 simple tasks

1. LeBron work on your post up game. 

For some reason during a playoff series he'll either need to rely on his jumper or his post game. For the first 3 series he was able to consistently knock down the jump shot. Something he failed at during the finals vs. a very good defensive team. You're right you do have a lot of work to do this summer, well if you want to get any where next season.

2. Erik Spoelstra's ability to open up the offense

The Heat have one of the most defensive minded head coaches in the NBA, but without a coach who has a clue on the other side of the ball you're not going to win championships. I think the old saying defense wins championships is only half correct. It's offense that also wins. How many NBA Champions do you see who win games 88-83? Not many. Look at the Mavs. Avery Johnson preached defense for year with the Mavericks. And like the Heat they fell short of a title in 2006, and years later with a very good team. Rick Carlisle comes and shows the Mavs how to play offense and break up a defense and boom, championship. They took what they learned from both coaches to win a title. The defense from Johnson and Carlisle's offense. Carlisle's zone defense in the Finals did work wonders too. It's either Coach Spo learns offense or time for a new coach. Look what basically a street ball offense got the Heat in 2011? Two games from hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy.

3. Improve chemistry 

The big 3 are still in the "process" of learning how to play with each other. While the media and Coach Spo keeps feeding us that we come to realize this teams been with each other for over 100 games already. I expect by next season for the Heat to fully mesh, but even then they'll be some next pieces around the team. Which will be points 4 and 5.

4. Get Center

With the limited cap space Miami has they'll have to pick up a center. Rumors point toward Samuel Dalembert. Which I wouldn't mind because he help with the rebounding game. But I'd also like to see Joel Pryzbilla, Spencer Hawes, or Deandre Jordan in a Heat uniform. Tyson Chandler and Greg Oden would be dreaming and Marc Gasol or Nene is never going to happen.

5. Get a Point Guard

You need to have a true point guard. I'm tired of Bibby/Chalmers/LeBron/Wade all bringing up the ball. It's too much, the offense needs to be used to one guy distributing the ball from the top of the key. Well not one guy, but we need a true point guard. Bibby is losing his gam and Chalmers is not careful with the rock. LeBron and Wade could be careless sometimes, but overall they're solid passers. Especially LeBron. Maybe an Aaron Brooks, Goran Dragic, or Stuckey. Steve Nash isn't a free agent, but maybe the Suns will eat that contract so Nash can win his first title. This is a perfect situation for him.

If the Heat were not to win the NBA Finals. The national media would be all over the Miami Heat, and more specifically LeBron James. Did he make the right decision by taking his talents to South Beach? Or was it a failure and the Heat will never win it while this big 3 is together. Many people wonder this. Now first I think LeBron made the right decision. It's his first year with his new team and he was 2 wins away from the NBA Finals, while having some pretty below average games. You can say that game 2 and 4 were the Heat's game to win. If you think about it the Heat could've swept this series. They won game 1 flat out. Game two they choked. Game three they won and hung on. And game 4 they gave up another lead late. Nothing you can do about that stuff now though. 

Now LeBron will have many chances. This team will have many chances. So in short don't get down over one bad playoff series. Even if it is the NBA Finals. The haters will be back next season. Have a great off-season PiM. I hope to see you around. Starting in a week or two I'll be posting some possible free agent posts and maybe possible draftees. I'll be on vacation for about 3 weeks straight after Finals though. So don't worry about me. GO HEAT!

(Odd the nickname here is Jet when we're playing the Mavs and they have a Jet of their own.)Never have I ever believed in the term clutch. No specific definition, no actual stat for it, and nothing that I thought backed up the word. Well this all changed yesterday night. No I'm not going to rag on this team, and to be completely honest, I'm not mad one bit. Yes, you heard me I'm completely fine with the loss. I realize we're  a game away from elimination, but that's not what this threads about. Just a reminder 73% of teams that win game 5 go on to be champions. But a portion of the 27% that do come back and win games 6 and 7 was last years NBA Finals. 

So here's the definition of clutch from Wikipedia "In sports terminology, "clutch" means performing well under extreme pressure. It often refers to high levels of production in a critical game, such as Game 7 of a best-of-seven series..."

So now clutch only applies to game 7's or the playoffs? Why can't clutch be referred to in game 16 of the regular season? 3.4 seconds on the clock and a play in drawn to get your star the ball. 3...2...1...ERRR BANG! He nails it the team wins. Now I think that's pretty clutch. I'm going to create my own definition of clutch. 

It's a pressure moment in any circumstance during a critical part of the game. Oh and it doesn't have to lead to a score. It could be a clutch pass, tip, defensive stand, etc... and that's only for basketball. So two nights ago I realized there are players who perform better during the late minutes of the games than others. There's no type of player that doesn't have a chance to be clutch. It can be a superstar(Kobe Bryant) or a role player(Robert Horry), but not one clutch play means you're a clutch player. You have to do this over time. And clutch is not something numbers can really show. It's an eye test. That is my definition of clutch.

Continue reading this post »

Remember how everyone thought the NBA rigged? Remember the Tim Donaghy scandal? People always go back to Lakers vs. Kings. I did not agree with the rigging accusation, but I do agree that NBA officiating is terrible. If you want proof just take a look into Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Now before I hear the possible comments that it’s bad both ways, I know. I know both sides have been hit with bad calls, but so far none as big as this one.

Dirk Nowitzki 4th quarter 3 pointer -- MIami Heat vs. Dallas Mavericks 2011 NBA Finals Game 2 (via nbavideosnow)

If you watch this video close enough you’ll see a terrible missed call. Check seconds 4-6 and you’ll see Tyson Chandler setting a moving screen on Udonis Haslem. Yes moving. If you want an even better look check out seconds 42-47. Tyson Chandler is literally pulling a football block on Haslem. If this was Cowboys vs. Dolphins that would be fine, but not Mavs vs. Heat. That was a terrible missed call and it helped lose the Heat the game. You know if Miami has the ball tied at 90 they’re not going to shoot an early 3 in a possession. I know Chalmers knocked it down, but the Heat just wouldn’t take that shot. They’d hold the ball until the shot clock hits one and hope it goes in or the rebounds takes to long to get to a Dallas player. Either way the outcome of the game would have leaned more towards the Heat winning or overtime. Which is a lot better than losing.

This post will probably be unorganized so bare with me. It's a bit of a rant. As we all know our Miami Heat lost a 15 point lead with a little over 6 minutes to go. The emotions I felt could not really be described. From the second I went to bed to the second I woke this morning I was ticked off. I was confused, angered, and emotionally stunned. There are a few things last night that ticked me off last night. But I felt it would have been sugar coated because the Heat were winning by so much at the time. In the end it's what helped the Heat lose the game.

I've rarely seen a Miami Heat game like last nights. Not one game which made me so disappointed to wake up an turn on sportscenter the next morning. Why? Well this type of collapse could have been avoided completely by doing a few simple things. 

Continue reading this post »

The haters have been hating since day 1, the decision. The Miami Heat were an average NBA team. They’re still one of the youngest teams in the league. But last off-season this all changed and the Heat were promoted to the status of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. A team with Pat Riley as your executive surely would gain credibility. He’s one of the leagues biggest bad asses around. He’s been crunching the numbers for a few years and July 2010 finally came around.  The Heat had roughly $46 million in cap space. But other teams had also cleared much space to get one of these players. Like the Knicks, Nets, Clippers, Bulls, and Cavaliers. Riley had to get Wade to buy into what he was trying to do. They both knew in order to win the Heat would need great players to surround Wade. They couldn’t defeat the Boston Celtics with Wade and a core of streaky shooters and a couple okay big men.

Riley was competing with other executives though. Wade was not fully committed to Miami at the start. He was looking at playing for his hometown team the Chicago Bulls. When Wade was finally convinced to stay in South Beach it was only a matter of time of having meetings with Bosh and LeBron laying out the numbers. These three guys talked about it in Beijing during the Olympics, but never thought it was indeed possible. Three of these guys took a pay cut to play with each other so they could win. But July 8th with became a famous day in basketball history, when the Heat went from middle of the pack to villain status.

The media, radio stations, and sports bloggers have been posting reasons why the Heat will never succeed. With one day away from the NBA Finals I think it would be a good idea to reflect a bit. All of this is what the haters say, it’s not my opinion.

Continue reading this post »