Earlier this week, after signing lefty reliever Trevor Miller, the Cardinals went out and made another major move, trading for Padre SS Khalil Greene. Many of you may not know exactly who Khalil Greene is, outside of the fact that he pretty much is identical to Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. If this is all you know about the guy let me fill ya in on a little secret, he can play baseball too.
Yeah, it's pretty close!!!
Well, to fill everyone in on Khalil Greene, he is a career .248 hitter, who also averages about 16 HR a year along with about 65 RBI's a year. Compared to what Cesar Izturis provided the team last year, it is more than an improvement. Greene did have a very below average last year, due to the fact that he was injured for most of the season. But don't let the low power numbers fool you with Greene, let us not forget he played in probably the biggest pitcher's park in the MLB and has excelled as a hitter away from Petco. Not to mention, the Cards did not give up the franchise to get this guy, so really not that big of a deal if he doesn't pan out, but look for him to put up some pretty solid numbers.
This is a little something special that I used to do during my days as the co-host of a late night college public radio show. Needless to say, I have moved up to a unappreciated and unknown free blog, yay for me. But the idea of this segment is to basically provide you with individuals or groups having good/bad weeks and a brief explanation.
Winner: Oklahoma Football, Oklahoma moved ahead of Texas in the BCS ranking making them the 2008 Big-12 South champions and putting them into the Big-12 title game and more than likely, the National Championship. While there are many out there who feel the system was corrupt.....GET OVER IT!!! Texas is now guranteed a BCS berth and if Mizzou pulls the upset will be cruise their way into a shot at the BCS Title game.
"Winner": Plaxico Burress, just when I didn't think anything else bad could happen to the G-Men this year enter, Plaxico Burress and his own worst enemy...his ego. Let's be honest, how many people in an NYC night club are going to have beef with this guy? You don't need a gun man, and if you are in enough danger to need enforcement, hire a body guard who knows what a safety is or just don't go out. P.S. Good Aim!!!
Winner: The V-Foundation, in case some of you are unaware of what the V-Foundation is a foundation set up in memory of former college basketball coach Jim Valvano, who died of cancer. The foundation is set up to help find a cure for cancer and spread cancer awareness. Every year ESPN devotes one week to the cause by having Jimmy V week, during this week ESPN has a variety of basketball games and tributes in memory of the deceased coach and helps to get donations for the foundation that has raised 80 million dollars for cancer research. Don't give up.....Don't EVER GIVE UP!!!
"Winner": Notre Dame/Auburn, Notre Dame can't get rid of their coach because of the contract they gave him so he could be there forever. And Auburn gets rid of the guy who pretty much saved their program from falling out of the college football lime light. This is only scratching the surface of the chaos provided by the NCAA this week.
"Winner": Sean Avery, you were just slapped with a 6 game suspension because you had an opinion about everything, that no one wanted to or cared about hearing. Good thing women love shoes Sean, so when you fall out of relevance in the NHL you have that "normal" part of your life going for ya.
Winner: Sean Avery, let's be honest, we would all take this guys sloppy 56th's if it was available DUDE........NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And Finally THE BIGGEST "WINNER" OF THE WEEK:
OJ Simpson, dude, you finally going to jail, and thank GOD we had to hear your sob story about how you just wanted to get your belongings back and how you didn't want to hurt anybody. You had a gun, people don't have guns that don't intend to use them as force......well of course except the before mentioned Plaxico Burress.
I've been pretty lax on the posting recently, but this whole Sean Avery deal has become like an inspiration. In case you're unfamiliar with the situation, the Dallas Stars winger has been suspended for six games and ordered to undergo counseling because of comments made regarding ex-girlfriend/actress Elisha Cuthbert (pictured with Avery above) and Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf, referencing the term "sloppy seconds" in the process.
More here, courtesy of the WWL:http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3747105
But this got me to thinking, there's got to be oodles of sloppy second-type instances out there in the sports world. So without further adieu, here goes.
"The Flea Kicker"
A painful memory for the Mizzou faithful, but the Huskers were late to the party. The Tigers had already been fist-fucked by karma over a half-decade earlier. Way to come late to the party and prolong the agony, douchebags.
Mark Mangino
Let's face it, the big fella's just piggybacking off the earlier success of a large, blue clad actress. Remember "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?"
I rest my case.
Red Sox fan suffering
Listen up, Massholes. You folks, up until 2004, were bitching and bitching and bitching about how cursed you were and how you were due for a title because you were so loyal and waited so long. So from a die-hard Cubs fan, let me politely tell you all to fuck off. And now that you've won, you're absolutely insufferable. I used to empathize. Now I hope the whole lot of you develop a severe case of crotch rot.
Now that I've started a list, feel free to add to it in the comments section. There's got to be more that I'm missing.
To describe my plan in a word: compromise. I really think this combines a usefulness for the BCS formula, the tradition of the bowl games, and the fairness and the excitement of a playoff system.
Without further adieu, here is an outline as to how my playoff system would break down:
- 8 teams
- 6 BCS conference champions plus two at large selections for the top 2 remaining schools.
- The Notre Dame and small conference exemptions get bumped up from no. 14 in the BCS to no. 8
- New Years Day and either the day before or the day after (depending on the day of the week) will each feature 2 quarterfinals. Each quarterfinal would be the bowl game as currently constituted. Thus, the winner of each current quarterfinal would be the respective bowl’s champion and receive the bowl’s trophy, the stats would go into each respective bowl game’s record books, and each bowl can keep the tradition of playing on or around New Years Day. Each bowl would also be allowed to take a conference champion that it has a historical affiliation with, as long as said champion is a top 4 team and isn’t playing another top 4 team. Thus, the games don’t necessarily have to pair up 1-8, 2-7 etc., but cannot pair two top 4 teams.
- Two semifinals would be played the following week at either the traditional bowl sites, or (to make it more interesting) in other Super Bowl like cities/stadiums.
- The National Championship would be played a week after the semifinals at one of the bowl sites, and would rotate, just as it does now. The only difference here is that it would be played a week later than it is currently.
While not perfect (and nothing ever will be), this system is more fair, strays very little from tradition (I’m looking at you, Rose Bowl), adds two more high caliber college football games to the bowl season schedule (meaning more $$$), and offers a more tested champion. Also, it places a greater emphasis on conference play, and allows for one bad game in early September to be excusable. And finally, and most importantly, we’d never have an Auburn situation again - no undefeated big conference champion would ever miss out on a chance to play for the title again because a bunch of SIDs and computers didn’t allow them to. Aside from one or two (and sometimes zero) at large spots, opinions would be left out, other than for seeding purposes. Its simple - you win your conference - you’re 180 minutes from a national title.
Let’s take a look at how this system would shake out for 2008:
I’m going to predict Florida, Oklahoma, Boston College and USC all win their conferences this weekend, Utah would be ranked in the top 8 making them an automatic berth, and Texas would get selected in front of Alabama for the sole at-large spot. Cincinnati and Penn State have already clinched.
The seedings, using the BCS (so it’s still relevant) with those 8 teams would look like this: 1. Florida 2. Oklahoma 3. Texas 4. USC 5. Penn State 6. Utah 7. Cincinnati 8. Boston College
Then the bowl selections. Remember the bowls have the option to select one team from their historical affiliation, so there is no order with the top 4 picks. The remaining four picks would go in order just like they do currently (this year: Rose - Fiesta - Sugar - Orange):
Sugar Bowl: Would take top seeded Florida, and then select seventh seeded Cincinnati.
Fiesta Bowl: Would take second seeded Oklahoma, then would take sixth seeded Utah.
Rose Bowl: Would take fourth seeded USC, then would take fifth seeded Penn State (and preserve traditional game)
Orange Bowl: Would take third seeded Texas, then select eighth seeded Boston College.
The quarterfinal winners would be bracketed into a semi-final before the teams are even announced (just like basketball). I’ll randomly select the Sugar to meet the Fiesta and the Rose to meet the Orange. Also, I’d love to see these games be played in other cities that feature either warm weather or a dome, unless that is also just too big of a hang-up for the bowl committees. I’ll say Tampa and Detroit get the semi-finals.
Tampa semifinal: Florida over Oklahoma
Detroit semifinal: Texas over USC
Wow. Who wouldn’t want to see two more games like that?!
Then the championship game would be played in Dolphin Stadium in Miami, just like it is set up currently.
National Championship (Miami, Florida) Texas vs. Florida
Granted, I picked the favored team every time - which makes this look a little less exciting that it actually probably would be. An upset would really throw a monkey wrench into things. What if Cincinnati won it all? Or Utah? Sure some people would probably bitch and moan about how a team like Cincy or BC would make the regular season look unimportant, but these were probably the same people that were out buying George Mason hats a few years back when that team had its magical run to the Final Four. The regular season would still mean a ton, yet one loss because of an injury or bad weather or what not would not necessarily preclude a team from winning it all.
Again, maybe someone has laid this out before and I just never saw it. I didn’t steal it. But if you want to, steal the idea from me. Especially if you’re an athletic director at a major university. I’m a college football fan, I want more games, I want more big match-ups, most of all I want more than one bowl game to actually mean something. I want the upsets, I want to see the dominant teams to prove themselves. I don’t want to see Ohio State coast through the Big Ten and then get tested for the first time in the National Championship Game. I don’t want to see a proven Auburn team not have a chance. I want a playoff. I want this playoff. How about you?
A look at what sinks and what swims during conference championship week (or just week 15 for you pussy conferences).
Going: Oklahoma - to the Big 12 Championship. The co-hottest team in college football (along with Florida) won the lottery that was the Big 12’s South division and will play for the glass bedpan that is the Big 12 trophy. Seriously, are you supposed to piss in that thing or put it in a trophy case? Judging by Oklahoma’s recent performance in BCS bowls (against such powers as West Virginia and Boise State) they seem to wait to take a piss until early January. My guess: Oklahoma comes out flat against Missouri, but out-muscles and out-plays the Tigers en route to a two touchdown win over a banged up (mentally and physically) Tiger squad and earn a berth in the National Championship, where their lack of any defense will catch up to them against Team Tebow, and we’ll all have to hear how great the SEC is for another year because one of its teams won a bowl game.
Staying/Going: Texas. On one hand, they were not the pretty girl at the dance and will have to watch two teams they beat play on TV for the Big 12 title. On the other, they’ve essentially secured a berth in a BCS bowl, and will have to try and use that as well as the fact that every kid who grows up in that huge state of theirs dreams of one day playing for them as points to make on recruiting trips. Gee, I feel so sorry for them. Here’s an idea: what if Missouri wins? As far-fetched as it may look, Missouri really is only sixty minutes away from beating an Oklahoma team that doesn’t exactly have the best track record in big games over the last decade, and if that were to happen Texas would be playing the winner of the semi-final in Atlanta for that glass football (as well as that wooden uhhh thing that NCAA gives out - really wooden plaques are still cool in 2008). If Missouri gets steam-rolled as scripted then Texas gets to lay an Ike Turner like beating on either Utah or Cincinnati in the Fiesta Bowl.
Going: Texas fans. Quit your bitching. Yes it is a raw deal, and yes it sucks. But at the same time - trust me, there is definitely no conspiracy against Texas. That’s like Brett Favre saying the NFL hates him because he doesn’t play enough prime-time games. It’s oxymoronic. Stop acting like a Thetan conquered by Xenu and realize that in your situation a head to head match-up means dick. It was a three way tie. Tres. Drei. Tre. San. Not that I would expect a Texas fan to be able to count to three (and judging by your world-famous hand signal you can't), but I would expect someone who is a fan of such a tradition-rich program to be cognizant of how a three way tie works. You all had one loss, you all beat each other. Someone’s name had to be picked out of a hat and it wasn’t yours and it wasn’t Tech’s. Longhorn fan, vamoose!
Going: to suck… yet again - the toilet bowl that is the ACC football championship game. I love championship games in almost every case, just not this one. Props to the ACC for actually having 12 decent teams, shit on the ACC for not having one good one. The result: a repeat of last year’s epic showdown between reigning champion Virgina Tech and reigning former home of Flutie Flakes - Boston College. This game had such a draw last year that attendance dropped by nearly 10,000 for the third year in a row. The slightly smaller venue of Raymond-complete-with-pirate-ship-James-Stadium will host this game, thus placing a few hundred more miles between these two campuses and the culmination of their team’s championship caliber seasons that dozens will bother to show up to. Within two years this game will be played at a middle school - and still not be able to sell out the 600 person bleacher there. Good conference!!!
Staying: home for the bowl season - football powerhouses Michigan, Tennessee, and Auburn. Michigan should never, and I mean ever go 3-9 with the talent it pulls in. However, not being bowl eligible is certainly excusable to a program that is completely changing the way it does business on offense - as long as it comes to fruition as something big in the preferably near future. Tennessee and Auburn, though??? These schools? These teams had talent and the Vols had the stability that Michigan didn’t have. Tony Franklin’s attempt at bringing the spread to the southland was as effective as me trying to use a credit card there (hey Ole Miss - its 2008 an ATM would be appreciated). Auburn absolutely tanked - no other word to use there an utter utter disappointment. Tennessee certainly was not as good as most thought they could be, but no one predicted them to win the SEC (like I did, sadly, with Auburn). Auburn and Tennessee along with the inability of LSU to reload, and the not-ready-for-primetime team UGA, will really put a check on the credibility of the SEC’s strength should its champion lose in the National Title Game. Even if Florida or Alabama shells Oklahoma or Texas in Miami, the SEC was down - way down - and for the first time in a while was clearly not the best conference in the nation, and it has only these teams to blame. Especially Auburn.
Going: The Swagger at “The U.” This was supposed to be a come back to relativity season for Miami, but it looked more like a Notre Dame-like Return to Glory. The days of that team stepping off the plane in Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl dressed in jungle camo are looooooong gone. The fact that this team gets amazing athletes combined with the fact that the ACC is dog shit will eventually mean that Miami will be very good again. This year, the fact is though, that Miami was no better than a fourth place team in its own division, and lost two conference games to NC State and a bunch of insects from Atlanta to keep them away from Tampa. The only way this team gets its swagger back right now is if they use a lot of LL Cool J and Brian Urlacher inspired Old Spice.
"In the words of the clash: 'Should I stay or should I rock the casbah?'" - Thanks Hank
I apologize for my recent lack of production on the site, due to my recent apathetic mind set because of a week off of school. But since the release of the MLB post-season awards I have been in all over the place with who won, who was left out, etc. So what else could an avid sports fan like myself do besides bitch about "expert opinion." Not only in the voting but those who came out afterwards complaining about certain areas.
First on my agenda is Albert Pujols winning the NL MVP, which I could not agree with any more than I do. Albert is the best all around hitter in the game today........PERIOD!!! But it is the up roar of Albert haters, more specifically, Ryan Howard supporters, that is driving me crazier than the Philly Phanatic. Let me just make this really REALLY simple, if you strike out 200 times in a single season you are not that valuable. Now, Im not saying the power numbers Howard put up are anything to look down upon, in fact, I would take them on my team any day, but the obsession around Howard being the MVP is something that I feel is wrong with baseball in general. That we as a baseball nation can call a guy who strikes out more times than me at the Playboy mansion as THE MOST valuable player in baseball. I'm sorry....is there a gayer mascott???
The second "bone" I have to pick is the complete disregard for the performance K-Rod put forth this season, to not only break the single season save record, but shatter it. Trust me, I would be the first person to put forth the argument that a pitcher should not be the MVP because they don't play every day and a closer should not win the Cy Young cause they don't put in the innings. But the guy didn't even get a sniff at either one, which I saw as a snub to a position that has exceeded in popularity and importance in the last 20 years. A lights out closer is something that every team values almost as high as the ace of their rotation, and for a guy who exemplified that position to not even be in consideration for those awards is more disappointing than Plaxico Burress' street cred right now.
Even Cheddar Bob was disappointed and cmon he's from DETROIT!!!!!!!!!
Finally, an award that kind of gets lost in the shuffle, but should have more prestige and that is Manager of the Year. More specifically, NL Manager of the Year, which was awarded to Lou Piniella, now again the Cubs were the best team in the NL and were light years better than the competition right up until Manny Ramirez took a tee shot off of home plate and put it through a bar window in Wrigleyville ruining the Shirley Temple cocktail happy hour that was going on. But while the Cubs were so dominant, they were supposed to. They had the talent, the payroll and of course future Hall of Famers Kerry "Meier" Wood and Kosuke Fukudome. Which is why I disagree with the award, it would be like giving Pete Carroll coach of the year in the NCAA, while the team was good they were supposed to be, when Freddy Gonzalez has a Marlins team, in the playoff hunt, who collectively made less money than Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer last year, don't you have to give the guy the recognition.
