Its officially All Star Break time for our Memphis Grizzlies. I feel pretty obligated to make a "seems like only yesterday the season was just starting, oh wait, it was only yesterday because the season is so condensed!" joke, but I just feel like we can be better than that. Nevertheless, we are indeed halfway through this season, and the Grizzlies find themselves at 19-15, currently good enough for 7th place in the Western Conference. At times, its been scary (I'm looking at you, Zach Randolph's knee), frustrating (I'm looking at you, offense) and down right annoying (I'm looking at you, Sean Tuohy). But that seems like the Grizzlies' way of doing things this year. Regardless of how it looks, just survive, and at the halfway point of the season, Memphis has survived rather well.

Continue reading this post »

With news coming down today that Zach Randolph could be missing at least two months, it looks like some pretty rough sailing ahead for our Memphis Grizzlies. While a lot of fans may be tempted to abandon ship, all is not quite lost. Our Captain may be down, but we still have a really solid first mate in Rudy Gay, and a great anchor in Marc Gasol, not to mention a pretty solid navigator in Mike Conley. (These nautical analogies doing anything for anybody?) It's not going to be easy without the big fella', but the Grizzlies can do more than just tread water in his absence. We'll need certain guys to step up and play above their heads, and we'll need to take advantage of winnable games. If we can do that, we will have a winning record by the time ZBo returns.

Continue reading this post »

I've never been a big animal person. In fact, for most of my life, I flat out hated them. They smell bad, they poop everywhere, they drool on everything, and I found them to be an utter nuisance. I am, however, getting engaged to a lady who adores them, so I am being forced to change my approach. About two months ago I found a kitten being attacked by a bird in a field next to my house, and rescued it and took it in as my own. My fiance loves it. I enjoy it at times, but it is also extremely frustrating. Cats believe, wholeheartedly, that they are better than humans. They carry this smug demeanor to them, this holy-than-thou, self righteous, our crap doesn't stink attitude that pisses me right off. While I'll admit that I've grown attached to the cat, and she has her moments where she's just adorable, I definitely understand why people would choose dogs over cats. Dogs as a whole enjoy humans much more than cats do. They want you to play with them, they can't wait for you to get home, they live for you to love them. But above all these other characteristics, dogs are extremely loyal, and this is a quality that, in sports, is in danger of becoming extinct.

Continue reading this post »

About two weeks ago, we were within spitting distance of the Phillies, had an impenetrable lead in the wild card race, and the playoffs seemed like a better guarantee than the one the guy with the ridiculously deep voice gives you at the end of those Men's Warehouse commercials. Today, we sit eight games back of Philadelphia, and only a game and a half up in the wild card. So my question is this; who penetrated us? We're losing ground at a pretty alarming rate, and we're doing so with two of the hottest hitters in the National League at the moment. I've been wracking my brain to try and figure out how we went from looking like a team that could go on a deep playoff run, to a team that just looks deeply run down. Amidst all the thinking and hypothesizing, I came to a conclusion. I know exactly why we haven't fully hit our stride yet. I understand why we can't pitch well and hit well in the same week, much less the same game.  And the answer is remarkably simple.

We haven't had that fanpost yet. No one has written anything suggesting Heyward be benched or moved down in the line-up yet. Not a single person amongst us has penned a few paragraphs talking about how we need to blow up the team and go into complete rebuilding mode. Yes, we had the "Pujols, Kemp, Reyes" post, even had a Grady Sizemore post for some reason. But there hasn't yet been a post so unequivocally stupid, so mind numbingly painful, that not only did it cause each and every chopper who read it to unite under a banner of ridicule, but in some way shape form and fashion caused the team to play better because of its supreme ignorance and lack of information. No longer shall we endure this, for I am out to rectify what is wrong in the blogosphere and with our beloved Braves. Search for stupidity no longer. This is that fanpost.

Continue reading this post »

Another off day, another off topic thread, another chance for Jonny Venters to sew his arm back on. Let us all take advantage of this off day by staying as far off topic as possible, and placing all our witty quips and banter in this thread. Its social media day, so in addition to the 50 celebratory tweets I'm sure everyone has planned, I figured why not spend some time on everyone's favorite blog with this rag tag crew of misfits we call a family here. So go ahead, spit it out, whatever is on your mind, be it Braves, social media madness, excitement for the fourth of July, thoughts on what television show is the best and why, and of course, feel free to use this as an open opportunity to make jokes at your fellow bloggers expense, as it is all indeed good clean fun. 150, boom. I made it. Enjoy!

There are two sides to every trade scenario; the "we absolutely need to do this because it will tremendously benefit our team" side and the side who will never agree to it. Both sides present valid arguments, in most cases, as to why they are right and the other side needs to change the way they're thinking. Having heard the argument for acquiring the rare praying mantis, Hunter Pence, let's look at it from a different perspective. 

Continue reading this post »

As I'm sitting here this morning enjoying a healthy dosage of zinc and vitamin D (Fruity Pebbles) I find that it would be really easy to lament. Our beloved team just got booted from the playoffs and barely even put up a fight. The offense was stagnant, missed wide open shots, the vaunted defense collapsed, and at times we just looked flat out silly. Its been said, however, that every lament is a love song, and as Grizzlies fans, thats where we should find ourselves this morning. Singing the praises of the season that was.

Continue reading this post »

Its a slow sports day, and we have a couple days until the Grizz play again, and to be honest I haven't had a customer in the store all day today and no sales have gotten to me. As a result, I started jacking around with the playoff simulator to see what Memphis' chances were of making any noise if we get in. The answer may surprise you.

Continue reading this post »

As a part of revamping this site and getting everyone involved, UU and I decided to implement a rather fond tradition from our crew over at Talking Chop. Its a game called NAHWAL, which stands for Noc-A-Homa Win-A-Lotta, the Braves old Indian mascots. In NAHWAL, there are always three question. First up, fans choose their Picks 2 Click (P2C). The pick to click is the player you think will be, for all intents and purposes, the MVP of the game. The second guess is the final score. Some people prefer you to put who wins, but I like to always reserve the right to be completely wrong, and just post a score. The third one is always a wild card. It could be anything from attendance to When with ZBo lose his headband. Everybody got it? Good. Lets play!

NAHWAL 3-12: Grizzlies @ Heat

1. P2C

2. Final Score

3. Total turnovers (Grizzlies and Heat combined)

So here we are, Grizz fans. The trade deadline has come and passed, and the team made two one pretty big move in an attempt to better the team. After the jump, we'll discuss the move(s), grade the deadline activity, and look at our chances for a playoff run.

Continue reading this post »

Rudy Gay is slated to miss the  next four weeks (at least) with a partially separated left shoulder. This is bad news for Memphis fans. This team has shown a great deal of heart as of late, lets hope they have a lot more left in the tank.

Continue reading this post »

Tonight's game against the 76ers is the last game before the NBA all star break, and with no one on the Grizzlies playing in the game or any other events, it will be the last time we see them for about a week. With that said, there are some pretty important things to keep an eye out for tonight. Lets take a gander at them.

Continue reading this post »

I was reading an article over at Straight Outta Vancouver where a writer from this site and our main guy were discussing the possibility of an OJ Mayo trade. The players discussed in the deal from our end were OJ and Hasheem Thabeet. The players from your end were Jonny Flynn, Wesley Johnson, and a center not named Darko. Now my intitial reaction to this was "YES YES YES" But I am a huge syracuse fan. What are your thoughts on this deal? I would assume you guys wouldn't be too big on it, even after those two guys posted a whopping line of 1/0/0 tonight. If you think this trade is undoable, what is something you guys would potentially do? I'll list the untouchables below.

Continue reading this post »

Before the season began, Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley made a promise to fans that his team would make the playoffs this year. Coming off a 40 win season with three guys averaging 18 a game or better, this didn't seem to be an overly egregious statement. At the current moment, however, the Grizzlies find themselves sitting 2.5 games behind the eighth seeded Portland Trail Blazers, with a record of 19-22. There's still a lot of season left to play, and the Grizzlies hope there are more wins than losses on the table. I've broken down the Grizzlies remaining schedule into three stretches to examine whether or not this team can or will make the playoffs.  To make it a bit more interesting, I've named the stretches after famous women, and I think each is a pretty fitting match.

Continue reading this post »

A few weeks back I did a snap judgements over the first nine games of the season, and now that we are well into the season, I figured Id do another one. Keep in mind, its still mid May, theres a lot of season left to play. But with 35 games under the ole belt, you can kind of make a better assesment of things. These are the facts...I think.

Continue reading this post »

We’re about two weeks into the season now, and this is an interesting time. It’s not a time where you are starting to plan your fire sale (get off the ledge Brad Mills), and you also aren’t handing out any rings just yet. However, it is just far enough to where you can kind of make snap judgments. Things that you are pretty sure are accurate, but you wouldn’t bet your soul on it. I’ve made a couple of snap judgments so far. I have based these things off of spring training, the first 9 games, gut feelings, peer pressure, and prior knowledge of our organization. These are the facts...I think

Continue reading this post »

A few years ago I saw someone reading a book by Nicole Ritchie. After a few jokes and sarcastic comments, I said to myself, “What in the world could this person possible have to right about?” What kind of amazing tales of adventure does she have? I never got an answer because I didn’t read the book, and the girl that did made one too many references to Laguna Beach when she was explaining it, so I didn’t hear her out. But in short, I determined that few things should be written, unless they are really worth telling about. Which leads me to the tale of how I survived Heyward Mania.

Continue reading this post »

I’m sitting here at home, surrounded by an icy world of death outside, unable to start my car or even leave my home. I had big plans to visit a lady friend of mine today, ruined. I needed to file my taxes, not happening. I also planned on cleaning my car out, not today, although in all honesty, I wasn’t doing that anyway. Point in case, I’m grasping at straws for a bright side to everything today. Here’s what I found.

Continue reading this post »

So, we’ve still got a while before the season begins, but like most of you, I’m already feeling the itch. We’ve got the team set. We traded the high priced pitcher. Like it or not, the offseason is finished as far as what we are going to do. To keep us busy, I thought we’d play a nice game of over/under/push. It’s pretty simple. I’m going to make a series of provocative statements, and then say whether or not I believe the player it was made about will do better, worse, or right on. Feel more than free to give your own answers as well. Let’s get to it then.

1.       Brian McCann will have 100 RBIs this season.------Over. He finished the season with 94, and that was with missing most of the first month with eye problems. However, Cox rests him pretty regularly, and he’s never played more than 145 games in a season (to which Chipper replied, I don’t know how he does it) but I think it’s safe to assume he’ll play 140 games this year and have probably 20-25 more at bats this season than he did last season. Of course, this all depends on whether or not Huddy goes Maddux on us and decides to use Ross as his catcher everytime out. But assuming he doesn’t, he should get past the century mark.

2.       25 steals for at least one player on the braves roster. ------Under. No surprise here, we still aren’t very speedy. Diaz should have 10, and Heyward and McLouth could both push 20, but I’m not that confident in either of those. I’d say the team leader will have around 13, 18 at the most.

3.       Two or more pitchers will finish with 18 wins.------Push. Deep within my soul beats the heart of a lifetime, incredibly biased Braves fan. I believe Jair Jurrjens could be hit by a bus and come out and throw a 2 hitter against the Cubs the next day. However, I have a brain, and now that its highly unlikely that all of our pitchers are as good as the little kid in me wants them to be. But looking at the fact that 4 of our 5 starters had over 10 wins last year, and two had 15, with that dismal offense last year, it would be foolish not to think that with a (slightly) retooled offense we shouldn’t have at least two pitchers get close to 20 wins. Right? Look for JJ and Lowe to hit that 18 mark.

4.       Three players will finish with a batting average over .300------------Over. Not too far over, the number will be four. Prado, Jones, Escobar, and Diaz. Prado and Escobar are the easy choices. Prado just has a pretty swing and I love to watch him get pure hits. Escobar has unlimited potential, but I think that we overlook how much having Vasquez benefitted him last year (or how much not having him will hurt this year). Diaz is a career .310 hitter. Yes, he is a bit of a Jekyll and Hide Your Eyes because sometimes his swing makes you wanna cry, but I believe he is as good as he played last year. As for Chip. I grew up idolizing this guy. In my heart, he’ll always be the best switch hitter in baseball, and I’m going to believe he gets that average back up this year.

5.       90 wins for the Braves this year.----------Over.  Go back to when Diaz’s brain stalled on third base (before you keep reading, take the time to be angry about it, I totally am) and we are 86-70 before phoning it in the last six games because the playoffs were out of reach. Combine that with game three on the year when we blew that 10 run lead on Philly, the time Cox put in Soriano when Hanson clearly had his first complete game shut out, and the seven blown saves by Gonzo, we should easily be able to come up with 5 more wins there.

6.       50 homeruns by our outfielders this year.-----Under. We had 43 legitimate homers from our outfielders last year. I don’t see that changing. I can see 20 from McLouth, and 10-15 from Diaz and Heyward. I know Heyward is supposed to be a power guy, but I don’t expect much this year. Add in about 8 from Melky, and we could get dangerously close to getting more than 50, but I’m just not ready to bet the house on it. Here’s to hoping I’m wrong though.

7.       One or more player, other than Brian McCann, will represent the Braves on the all star team this year.-----Under. As a whole, the team is better. No superstars though. It could be a while before Mac has any company at that game. Even if we do have someone who borders on deserving, I just don’t see it happening, considering Mac is hands down the best catcher in the National League, and if it weren’t for Joe Mauer, he’d be the best in the bigs, and he didn’t get the start.

8.       I’ll reference how happy I am that Greg Norton is no longer on our team 50 times this year.----Over. Let me emphasis this. OVER! That number will be 162. Every game, win or loss, good, bad, and ugly, I will go to bed at night sleeping peacefully because that guy is nowhere near our roster. The one positive is that between him and Schafer I made about $50 last season by saying “I bet you a dollar this guy strikes out on three pitches.” Oh, how bittersweet that money was…

9.       Troy Glaus will miss 30 games this season due to injury (not including rest)-----Under. We don’t usually sign players who end up injured immediately, with the obvious exception being Mike Hampton. I just truly believe that the guy is healthy, if not, I don’t think we would have signed him. I’ll refrain from jinxing anything and saying exactly how many games I think he’ll play, but I just believe that he’ll stay relatively injury free all year long.