SB Nation User Blog: bdemartin

My new favorite Ram: Mike Karney

bdemartin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:58:44 -0000

Like so many of you here, I'm a life long, die hard Ram's fan, so that makes this story that much better. It's a great story even if you are not a Rams fan.

I don't know if many members of TST know a lot about Mike Karney other than he is an extremely talented fullback. I'll give a bit more background on the bruising fullback. Mike grew up in a subarb of Seattle, WA. For the past 2 years he has put on a youth football camp in his hometown. It is for kids aging 8-16.

My wife has an aunt who is best friends with Mike Karney's mother in law. One day while speaking with Mike's mother in law, my wife's aunt mentioned that she has some great nephews residing in Corvallis, OR that are huge football fans, and participate in youth football. So without hesitation Mike was contacted by his mother in law and we found out shortly thereafter that our Nephew's could attend his football camp free of charge! While our Nephews are not under privilidged, they do not get a lot of great opportunities, especially one like this. Our Nephew's parents were too busy to drive the kids from Corvallis to Kent, WA. So my wife and her mom took the kids to Seattle(I was stuck at home working, damn it!!). It was an amazing camp, my wife and mother in law were very impressed with how the camp was ran, and the dedication Mike has to kids. Mike was all about the kids according to the report I got. There were plenty of other current and former NFL players that attended the camp to help Mike out, including former Ram Ernie Conwell. All the players gave out autographs individually to all the attending kids. I was very impressed, but that was just the beginning.

My wife and I were married a year a go on June 29th. Without my knowledge until the day of our anniversary, my wife was also able to meet Mike and she had nothing but the best things to say about him. Mike let her(and only her, only kids, players and coaches were allowed on the field) on the field so he could meet her. He took a picture with my wife and autographed another one so she could give it to me for our anniversary gift! My wife said he is extremely nice, and down to earth. My wife is somebody who likes sports, but is totally repulsed by a professional athlete just because of the kind of money they make and how they can be perceived as whiners. She couldn't have said nicer things about Mike and I can't say how impressed I am with him for being so nice to my wife and doing what he did for our anniversary. My wife was also able to hang with Mike's wife and mother in law after camp, and she said they couldn't have been nicer as well.

Mike also has started a foundation for helping underprivlidged youth in his hometown. I didn't write this fan post to solicate donations, but if the fine folks of TST don't mind I would like to post a link to his website where you can donate. I won't post the link until I get the ok to do so. I wrote this fanpost to tell a great story about a great guy. My wife and I plan on donating and we are by no means a wealthy couple. We were both so impressed by Mike and his dedication to kids, we want to be able to help in someway. So I hope you enjoyed this story, I'll see if I can upload some pictures later on as well. Thanks for reading.

Braylon Edwards anyone??

bdemartin — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:14:42 -0000

Does anyone else think that the Rams Brass should at least entertain the thought of making a play to acquire Mr. Edwards?? Maybe the asking price is too high, but I don't really know. I would really hope that we at least made a phone call to Cleveland to ask.

Everything I hear is that the Browns would still like to move him, and I think if the Rams would acquire Braylon Edwards that would immediately make us playoff contenders. Any thoughts?

Pacific Northwest A's Fans...are there any??

bdemartin — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:20:39 -0000

Pacific Northwest A's Fans...are there any??

Die hard A's fan residing in Vancouver, WA here. I really enjoy attending Portland Beaver (Padres Affiliate)games. If there any Oakland fans that might be interested in attending River Cats games in Portland this summer please let me know. I would love to attend with some fellow Oakland fans.

Possible Trade Scenario??

bdemartin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:18:31 -0000

I'd like to preface this post by saying that I'm not a great writer, I have a lot of thoughts that sound great in my head, and when I go to put my thoughts in print it comes out sounding stupid. I don't follow what other teams do, or have in there minor league system, so this trade may not even come close to working....it's a speculation thread.

I've been hearing rumors that the Brewers could potentially be in a complete rebuild phase after losing Sabathia, and more than likely losing Sheets. This trade scenario is dependant on the Brewers being in rebuild mode. If they are not, than this trade will not work.

I've thought the A's could make a trade with the Brewers to acquire J.J. Hardy, I think if we offer a package of Barton, Crosby, Simmons, and 1 to 2 mid level prospects it's enough to (or at least get in serious talks) pull Hardy out of Milwaukie. But than I thought the Brewers aren't going to make that trade with Prince still on there roster, so....there needs to be a 3rd team involved to make this work. I've contemplated, what potential team and players could get involved in this trade to make it work, I've given this a lot of thought. Than in the shower this morning it hit me.....

Now I don't know much about the Red Sox farm system, so this may not work, but if Boston has the right # of prospects available this just might work. Milwaukie and Boston work a deal that sends Prince to Boston for a boat load of prospects, and than Boston sends Youk to Oakland. I think we would need to send a few prospects Boston's way to make this complete, but I'd be willing to deal anyone in our farm system not named Cahill or Anderson to acquire Hardy and Youk.

This deal works for all teams;

Boston; The Red Sox acquire a big time 1B to get back at the Yanks for signing Tex. Mike Lowell is happy to have his starting 3B job back in Boston. Not to mention a few of Oaklands prospects to finalize the deal.

Milwaukie: They get a 1 year SS to fill the gap until there young prospects are ready to go. They acquire a very young and talented 1B to replace the departed Prince. They acquire Simmons and whatever other pitching prospects to re load there pitching staff for the future. If they are rebuilding, I think it's a no brainer for Milwaukie.

Oakland; We get the SS we so desperately need. We get BB's holy grail in Youk, who can play 1B and 3B. We take the money we didn't spend on Furcal, RJ, and Dunn/Burrel/Giambi/etc/etc and put it in a piggy bank and than throw it all at Matt Hoilday at the end of the season to try to get him locked up long term.

Maybe there is no way for this to happen, but I would soooo love to see it come true.

What Was BB Thinking When He Traded For Matt??

bdemartin — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:29:02 -0000

Well I think I know. It's a thought completely out of left field (pun intended). From the time the trade was made official I felt that 5 years down the road BB would be greatly criticized for this trade. Not from me, maybe not from a lot of you, but by most media types. Why?? Because I feel CarGon will flurish playing in the hitting friendly confines of Coors Field. Meanwhile Matt will struggle playing in the bay and the very pitching friendly confines in Oakland.

So, why do I think this was another brillant move by BB? We all know that Boras won't allow his playes to sign contracts until there current contract has expired right?? Well if Mr. Matt's production greatly decreases in the upcoming season like I think it might. Matt's value on the open market will also decrease thus making him affordable to the A's. I don't honestly don't believe BB traded 3 young players for 1 year use from Matt. BB is loading for a run, and 1 year from Matt does not fit in those plans.

BB will sign Furcal to a 4 year deal and then re sign Matt at the end of the 2009 season to a long term deal. While our young players continue to develop, especially being able to learn from a couple vets like Matt and Rafeal, the A's will be contenders every year for several years at least.