Free Agent Summit!!

Why Strasburg SHOULD pitch in the All Star Game...

I was at work last night watching the Nats-Braves game, because the sound is off during the shift I don't get to hear the commentators (which is a good thing most of the time), well later on I caught baseball tonight (didn't intend to) and heard some of the most unsavory remarks about a kid who is in the WORST situation ever if you ask me. So one of the gentleman on the panel was asked if he thinks Strasburg should pitch in the All-Star game and he said something to the effect of no because the Nats need to do what's best for their organization and let him rest. Later as they were recapping the game he said that Strasburg wasn't great, or even good last night. Then he goes on to tell us why he didn't agree with what decisions Strasburg made during the game last night. As I said before "unsavory" is the best word I could come up with to describe my feelings toward some of those statements. Strasburg pitched 6 innings of shut out ball, if you truly cared about him or the organization the manager would have took him out seeing that his team was providing negative 5 run support like usual. Instead you leave him in for a 3rd of an inning and he gives up 3 runs(mostly due to the porous defense behind him namely at second and short), you could have put a reliever in to start the 7th and let the kid walk a way with a no decision rather than a loss!! HE is the Nationals, prior to his debut their were many many MANY empty seats in that stadium!! Now everyone will stop their lives to get up to that park to watch the young man pitch! If one player singlehandeldy holds the attention of a whole fan base, than yes I think they should get to go to the All-Star game(no one else on the Nats is going to be mentioned in the same sentence as All-Star Game. My last reason, last week he pitched against the Royals and only gave up 1 run....HE LOST!!! 1 run in 7 innings and you lose, your team can't scratch across 1 run?? Last night he had 6 innings of shut out ball ( on a bad night) and you gave the man nothing offensively and gave up everything defensively!! He deserves better, let him go play in the All-Star game so for one night of his rookie year he could see what it's like to have a full complement of talented players behind him while he pitches!! Do you think he should pitch in the All-Star Game?? Or should he even be selected??

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Who's The Favorite??

As teams are dropping like flies, we are starting to see who is REALLY in contention and who's not. Argentina,Germany, Portugal, Spain, and Brazil are all still here. After today's games we will know all the teams that moved on to the Quarterfinals, we have had some power house matchups and there are still some to come. Spain plays Portugal today with the winner moving on, England and Italy have already fallen, and we have Germany vs Argentina in the next round as well. There is some serious star power left in this tournament, which star will be smiling at the end?? Will Maradonna lead Argentina to the Cup as he said he would, will Germany show that their return to being one of the top teams in the world isn't a fluke?? Finally will Ghana end the run of African Nations that hardly ever succeed and make deep runs into the tournament?? Or will Dunga prove to his countrymen that there is beautiful soccer in the style that he has his Brazil teams play?? There are so many questions, and so many oportunities for these teams to make history!! Who do you think is the favorite to win it all, and who do YOU think IS going to win it all??

Wimbledon Update!!

Due to MY excitement level for the NBA Draft, I have neglected a very very prestigious event...WIMBLEDON!! I would like to apologize to any tennis fans that are followers of this blog. It is currently the 3rd round of Wimbledon, the usual suspects are at it again with a couple new faces sprinkled in. Heading to the 4th round on the Mens side are Federer, Djokovic, Berdych, Hewitt, Melzer, Roddick, Brands, Lu, Nadal, Murray, Tsonga, Quererry, Belluci, Ferrer, and Mathieu. On the Womens side these are the players advancing to the 4th round: Bartoli, Hennin, Groth, Jankovic, Clijsters, Zvonereva, Pironkova, V.Williams,Radwanksa, Sharapova, Li, Zakopalova, Kanepi, Wozniacki, Kvitova, and S.Williams. As the field wittles down, I will have more updates as the tournament progresses. Who do you think is going to win it all on the Mens side? Will we see another epic battle between Nadal and Federer?? Is someone going to take this away from Venus Williams on the Womens side, or is it her trophy to lose??

Sweet Revenge..

Ever go to play ball, ask who has next, told that you can run, just to get dropped in favor of someone else?? To make matters worse it's always for someone who is just tall, doesn't bring anything to the table but height?? When I mean nothing to the table, I mean to the point that the guy is so bad its almost like playing a man down!! Welcome to Edwin Jackson's world, he was once a Tampa Bay Ray and no one remembers why he isn't anymore. Well Mr. Jackson got his revenge last night, he was off some Kill Bill type revenge(hopefully you can recall those movies)!! Jackson not only beat his former team, he NO-HIT them!! He made history against his former team, and to compound matters this was the 2nd no-no thrown against the Rays THIS season!! Plus...he did it on 149 pitches(history), a very low percentage of strikes were thrown(53%),and tied a record of 36 batters faced!! Jackson made his former team the acheivement of his personal highlight tape!! Noting the Ray's recent struggles, do you think they miss Jackson at all?? Can you believe he was ALLOWED to throw 149 pitches??

World Cup...Round 2 Starts Today!!

I know I'm a little late seeing that Uruguay is already leading the first game of the day 1-0 over South Korea at the half. As I said before Round 2 starts today, that means the knock out stage!! We are finally out of the group round now its "Win or Go Home", and that is my favorite part of the tournament. USA plays Ghana today at 2:30, so if Uruguay holds on and the winner of the US-Ghana game 2 teams are already in the round of 8!! What team left do you think is the favorite to win the whole thing?? What team left do you think is going to make a surprise run deep into the tournament?? This only happens every 4 years, gotta enjoy it!!

NBA Draft Grades

United States World Cup Update

June 23...Today in the NBA

Redskins Upgrading O-Line

So the Redskins just aquired offensive tackle Jamal Brown from the Saints, they did so through an extremely confusing and complicated trade that somehow involves the Eagle trade in which they aquired McNabb. I refuse to go into detail for fear of re-confusing myself and all of you, all I can say is they have surrendered both a 3rd and 4th round pick which depending on certain benchmarks being reached by either McNabb and the Redskins determine who gets the 3rd and who gets the 4th out of the Saints and Eagles. Back to the news point of this, I think the Redskins made a great move by getting another starter on their maligned offensive line. Trent Williams(this year's 1st round pick) and Jamal Brown have the ability to play both tackle positions which is a great problem to have. With 2 solid bookends the Redskins can now focus on finding the players on their roster who can start at guard. Brown is only 29 which makes him still relatively young in the lifespan of an o-lineman, now maybe Heyer who will obviously no longer be asked to play tackle can slide inside to guard. Most tackles who are not quick enough to handle the edge, are able to excel playing guard. Unlike Redskins trades in the past that have cost draft picks, this is one of the few that I think they actually benefit from. By adding Brown do you think that helps the run or pass game more?? Now that they have 2 good tackles (assuming Trent Williams lives up to his potential), how do you think the Skins offense will fare?? Was this a good move, or do you wish it hadn't cost draft picks??

Lakers Repeat as NBA Champs!!!

It was an exciting game from start to finish, Kobe Bryant was named the Finals MVP. I have no issue with him being awarded that by his overall body of work in the finals. Tonight though, it wasn't Kobe who finished the Celtics off. It was his supporting cast, Derek Fisher and Ron Artest came to his rescue!! They both hit timely 3 pointers, Artest's being the dagger. Boston played their hearts out and came up short, congratulations to the Lakers on their win!! What did you think of the game? Should Kobe have been the Finals MVP?? Did the officiating play a role in Game 7??

Game 7!!

So the Lakers answered one of my questions from the last blog post, yes they will and did defend their home court. Thursdays is going to be the conclusion of this epic battle, Game 7 in LA and the winner walks away as champs. I don't even know what to think in terms of who is going to show up(Boston), and what team is going to win. Tonight LA definitely showed they wanted it, Boston turned in a rather embarassing effort. I would like to believe that we are going to see a different Boston team come Thursday night, but after tonight's performance I am taking a wait and see approach. If LA comes out on Thursday how they came out tonight, than they will repeat as NBA Champs. Who do you have winning Game 7??

Finally!!!

Boston became the first team in this year's NBA Finals to win 2 GAMES IN A ROW!!! Every game the struggle of power goes back and forth, finally it stayed with one team. If that means anything, than the Lakers might be in trouble. The Celtics looked like they finally got back on track, at least in terms of the starter's production. Their starting 5 actually came in as a group and produced this game. The Lakers look like they really need Bynum, there was a stretch in tonight's game where Boston owned the boards and they're the smaller team. Kobe carried the Lakers as far as any man could, but in the end he needed his teammates and they were nowhere to be found. I consider Kobe to be a volume shooter, as good as he is offensively he is far from efficient. Tonight however he was extremely efficient and it got him nowhere. Game 6 is back in LA and they better come to war as a TEAM, because 1 man is not going to beat the Celtics. Will the Lakers defend their home court?? Or will the Celtics close it out in LA in game 6?

NO..I'm not impressed, but I KNOW you are

So here we go again, my man Stephen Stasburg just pitched in his first road game...the veridct: he is now 2-0. The Nationals beat the Braves today by the score of 9-4. Strasburg gave up just 1 run albeit another home run, and struck out 8 in 6 innings of work. I had a great conversation with my mom last week(yes my mom, she got me into being a sports addict) after Strasburg's debut, she had asked what all the hoopla was about and I told her how talented the kid is and the fact that he has "it." I know people like to throw the "it" factor around an awful lot and the majority of the time it's for the wrong guy. THIS guy, THIS pitcher, HE has IT!!! When players this special come along, you would think everyone would see it for what it was immediately. That's what makes sports so great, some players come with "it" written all over them, some with the potential to get "it", some players work their butts off to succeed which gives them a level of "it", and others are the whole package from day 1. The last of the group are the guys that walk, talk, play with "it", they are ready to play right out of the box, almost like a toy that needs no assembly, the LeBron James,Peyton Mannings, and Tiger Woods of the world. Other guys might take time to realize they have "it," but no one but them knows and it takes time before "it" oozes out of them and they show "it" off to us all!! Those being the Tom Bradys, Dwayne Wades, and Alex Ovechkin type players where you expect them to be decent but they suprise you and shatter their former labels. Strasburg is, has been, and will always be a big time player and I hope everyone can let the hoopla die down and truly appreciate the kid's mechanics, work ethic, and overall demeanor. Steven Strasburg didn't just arrive last week, he's been here for the 21 years he's been on this earth. Sometimes it's okay to step out on a limb and call something what it looks like...and the kid is SPECIAL!! How many of you are truly shocked by what Strasburg has done? Where do you think his ceiling is? Can you think of the last pitcher that started 2-0 with 22K's??

Game 5..NBA Finals

So tonight is Game 5, after Shrek & Donkey's big performance (Big Baby & Nate), the Celtics tied this series up. This is the last of the middle 3 games that will be played in Boston and they need to take advantage of it tonight!!! The Celtics have been preaching "TEAM" this whole season, and it has proved it's point in this series when anyone and everyone is capable of showing up and winning games. Their bench is carrying them, the starters need to wake up. The Lakers on the other hand have shown they are very capable of getting leads and large ones at that and giving them up minutes afterwards. This is a heavyweight fight and we are approaching the 8th round, there have been no knockdowns, both punchers have won 4 rounds a pice, its even and someone needs a knock out, the question is WHO? Will it be Boston with their "Complete Team" philosophy, or will it be LA with Commander Kobe leading the charge? This series has lived up to the hype and has made this year's playoffs even more memorable!! So who's it going to be, the Lakers......or the Celtics??? It's now a 3 game series...PICK ONE!!

The Big....Bench????

The NBA Finals is now tied at 2 games a piece and it's not because of the usual suspects. Boston bounced back and won tonight thanks to an extremely and suprising performance by their suddenly deep bench!! Big Baby, Sheed, the OTHER Allen(Tony), and Nate Robinson carried the Celtics to a Game 4 victory. The Celtics bench outscored the Lakers bench 36-18!! The Celtics best line up was Big Baby, Sheed, Nate, and the 2 Allens. If only the Celtics starters could catch on to the bench's groove the team would be running on all cylinders. I think the Lakers lost this game because Bynum hardly played, when he has started and played heavy minutes the Lakers are very very very hard to beat because of their size and they occasionally put Odom in with Gasol and Bynum which is just unfair!! Bynum's knee may become a huge factor in this series, after days of reports saying treatment has been going well and the injury can't get any worse, Bynum only played 11 minutes last night!! So keep an eye on that as they move on to Game 5 on Sunday night. Now that the series is essentially 0-0 and it is a best of 3 series, which team is going to come out on top?? If Bynum's injury does get worse, how do the Lakers chances change if any??

Chicago's Champs!!

The White Sox went 86 years between titles, the Blackhawks were not trying to wait as long. They decided 49 years was more than enough by disposing of the Philadelphia Flyers tonight in Philly to win the Stanley Cup!!! They won a hard fought game on one of the most beautiful shots taken at one of the ugliest angles EVER!! Patrick Kane appeared to be the only one in the building that knew he scored as everyone was stark silent for as much as 5 seconds, than the Blackhawks bench spilled onto the ice and the air left the city of Philadelphia all at once. The dejected Flyers and their fans could only watch as Kane went nuts by himself before his mates understood what happend. It was a beautiful goal....I implore you all to watch the highlight of just the winning goal if nothing else!! My hearts go out to the Flyers, they have lost their last 6 Stanley Cup appearances! Congratulations to the Blackhawks on a great season and ending an ugly drought!!! If you saw Kane's winning goal, do you think it was as great a shot as I do??

Why the Wait????

So the world waited for Steven Strasburg's debut today, he was the #1 overall pick in last year's draft. His performance was definitely worth the price of admission, the rookie phenom pitched 7 innings, giving up 2 runs, and striking out 14!!!! 14 K's...that is absurd, other than the one bad pitch that went over the fence for a 2 run homer the guy was lights out!! I had gotten into an interesting debate (argument rather) over what the Nats should do with Strasburg a couple of weeks before the season. The gentleman I was talking with believed that starting Strasburg in the majors would be a mistake because he would struggle and it would ruin his confidence. I politely disagreed believing that if you have someone who is a true "phenom", you should throw them to the wolves and let them either sink or swim. He has been the best at every level he has been at, so obviously he should be use to the pressure and probably expects much more out of himself than anyone else could. That's like letting Peyton Manning,LeBron James, or Wayne Rooney wait instead of letting them go and compete. WHY should you keep someone who is on another level or plane away from where they are destined to be. Strasburg DOMINATED the minor leagues, it was almost an insult to his talent level and intelligence to make him play at all. I wish people would just appreciate when some one's talent is superior than others and not force them to go the way of someone with inferior talent. There are different levels of talent, and the Nats waisted 50 or so games with out the best pitcher in their organization before calling him up. What was the point??? Do you think tonight was a fluke, or did the Nats make the right decision by waiting to call him up?? If you were running the Nationals, would you have waited 50 games before calling up Strasburg or would you have had him on the Major League roster on Opening Day???

World Cup Preview..

Stanley Cup Update!!

All the Blackhawks needed was some home cooking, they jumped all over the Flyers to gain a 3-2 lead in the series. The Hawks jumped all over Philly winning 7-4, after not getting the neccessary production from it's stars so far in this series the Hawks changed up some of the lines. I guess that was all they needed, by breaking up the starting line it ignited a fire underneath it's stars and they all responded. Dustin Byfluglien, Patrick Kane, and Jonathan Towes were extremely effective earlier in the playoffs. After being seperated tonight, they all responded...BIG!! The Blackhawks are now only 1 win away from winning the Stanley Cup, do you think they will be able to clinch the series in Game 6??? Or will the Flyers respond and make this a 7 game series??

Jesus Walks!!

We had a Jesus Shuttlesworth sighting, Ray Allen was on FIRE as the Celtics beat the Lakers in LA tonight to even the series. Rondo didn't want to be out done as he added another triple-double to his career total with 19 pts, 12 boards, and 10 dimes!! The Celtic's backcourt carried the team tonight on their way to a win, Allen broke an NBA Record with 8 three pointers in tonight's game. 8!!! Which led me to thinking, WHO WAS GUARDING RAY ALLEN TONIGHT??? Better yet, who was guarding RONDO tonight?? If the Lakers stick with Fisher on Allen and Bryant on Rondo, they are in for an extremely long series. Either way the Laker's back court doesn't match up well with the Celtics on defense. Whether it's Allen or Rondo, you have to do a lot of running and that's hard on you. It's extremely difficult to stay in front of Rajon Rondo, even harder to stay with Ray Allen when he's running through 800 screens!! The thing that I can't get over is how do you not try to force Allen to drive, why play the drive and allow arguably the best 3 point shooter in the league's history to set his feet and fire from deep??? It's most likely going to go in, if the Lakers don't adjust defensively they are in trouble!! Who do they have to slow down Allen?? Whoever it is has to be willing to sacrifice their offensive output to chase him all night, they can't afford to have Kobe chasing him. Yet putting Kobe on Rondo is ridiculous, Rondo isn't a shooter and it has to be taxing as well to chase him around all night. That kind of effort takes away your legs when it's time for offense!! Is LA going to figure it out?? Or is the Boston back court going to continue to riddle the Laker's defense?? The series now shifts to Boston for the next 3 games, did LA blow it by loosing a game at home this early in the series??

Bulletin Board Material

Game 2 of the NBA Finals is tomorrow night at 8 pm. After a certain Lakers player's post game remarks, I am extremely anxious to see which Kevin Garnett we see tomorrow night. I believe that you should always leave a sleeping giant asleep, maybe in Spain that saying doesn't exist. After dominating the Celtics on Thursday night, Pau Gasol made this comment: "On Kevin's part, he's also lost some explosiveness. He's more of a jump shooter now you could say, comes off the lane. Before he had a really, really quick first step and was getting to the lane and he was more aggressive then. Time passes and we all suffer it one way or another, but he's still a terrific player, a terrific competitor, and he's going to bring everything he's got. You can count on that." I do not think it was Gasol's intention to give a future NBA Hall of Famer in Garnett bulletin board material, but that is exactly what he did. Maybe nothing should be taken from these comments and Garnett should already be motivated to respond after his team's lackadasical effort in Game 1. Or maybe that is exactly what one of the NBA's most high strung players needed, not only might he of offended Garnett but the Celtics as a team are sure to respond!! Do you think Gasol's comments were taken out of context and he truly said nothing wrong?? Or do you think some one should explain to him what he might of done by awaking Kevin Garnett and Garnett's pride?? Does this even make a difference in the series??

Bulls New Coach(Allegedly)

So the Bulls have their man(allegedly) in Tom Thibadeau. If this turns out to be true, because he is unable to officially accept this job while still coaching in the NBA Finals the Bulls have made a very good hire. I have been waiting to hear this man's name mentioned as a Head Coach in this League for the past couple off seasons. Everywhere he goes his teams become very good, borderline great defensive teams. Every Celtic player or member of their organization just goes on and on about Thibadeau's work ethic and his knack for being extra prepared if not over prepared. I am part of the minority that thought Vinny Del Negro didn't deserve to be fired, but Thibadeau is a better candidate for this job. Unlike Del Negro he inherits a team with the 17th pick in the draft and money to be spent in this Free Agency class. So already he is ahead of the curve in comparison with Del Negro, the Bulls learned that they need a shooting guard and a power forward to go with their building blocks for the future in Rose and Noah. If nothing else, Thibadeau will make the bulls a defensive minded team like they were in their heyday and that is more than enough for me. If and when he is announced the Head Coach of the Chicago Bulls do you think that he is the best man for the job?? Or do you think the Bulls settled by offering Thibadeau the job?

World Cup Injuries...

So the World Cup starts this Friday, June 11th!! I've been trying to hold off on discussing anything soccer related too far in advance from that date. After reading some of today's news I can't keep quiet any longer. There are some big time players that are injured, some more serious than others. Let's start with England's Rio Ferdinad, Ferdinad has been officially ruled out!! He injured his knee during a training session in South Africa, that is a costly blow to England's back line. Ferdinad has been the anchor of that line for the past couple World Cups!! Loosing an integral part of your defense as well as an experienced international player from your team period will definitely cost England. Up next one of my favorite players in the world...Didier Drogba!! Unfortunately one of the world's best goal scorers and maybe the Ivory Coast's best player is doubtful after fracturing his elbow in a friendly match. Just to give you an indication of the weight Drogba carries for his country, he has tallied 44 goals in 67 games for the Ivory Coast!! They cannot afford to miss a player of that caliber and will not be able to replace him at all!! Last man up, Andrea Pirlo from Italy. Pirlo injured his calf in a friendly against Mexico earlier this week, he has already been ruled out for Italy's opener. There is however hope that he can play in Italy's second game, June 20th. If that is not the case the defending champs will surely be missing his leadership in this tournament!! Of these injuries, who's team do you think has the best chance of advancing in spite of their star's injuries???

Stanley Cup Update!!

So the Flyers just tied the series up at 2 games a piece, winning tonight's game to the tune 5-3. The Blackhawks haven't looked too sharp the past 2 games going down early to the Flyers in both!! The Series heads back to Chicago for Game 5 Sunday night, seeing that the series is tied Game 5 is a pivotal game!! Whoever comes out the victor will surely have the upperhand in this epic battle!! Do you see the Blackhawks defending home ice and taking control?? Or do the suddenly hot Flyers go to Chicago and hand them a devestating blow to take command of this series??

NBA 1st Round Mock Draft!!!

Game 1....Lakers-Celtics

So the Lakers came out ready for a fight and Boston did not, the Lakers impressed me last night. Well let me rephrase that Andrew Bynum and Ron Artest impressed me last night!! If the Lakers can control the paint like they did last night, this series might not be the epic battle everyone had in mind. Kobe played a really intelligent game and walked the fine line of great teammate and assassin. He never really forced anything yet he remained aggressive and assertive all while pacing himself so he had the energy to put the Celtics away when the Lakers needed him to. I think the Lakers played a near perfect game last night, yet I don't think the Celtics could have played any worse and up to a certain point they were still in this game. If the Lakers can come out in Game 2 and repeat this performance than they are on their way to defending their title, Boston needs to wake up and do what they did to get them here!! PLAY DEFENSE like it's the last possession of their last game they will ever play!!! Boston was atrocious on the boards and even more anemic on offense when they needed it, they really need to step up their play. I don't think this series is anywhere close to over or that Game 1 is a sign of what is to come for the remainder of this series. Throughout this playoff run the Celtics have put up some real clunkers and last night was no exception. I expect them to settle down and be themselves in Game 2, or else they are going home a lot earlier than they had expected!! After last night's game do you think the Lakers are going to run away with the series??? Or do you think each team is going to defend it's home court?? Is it possible for the Celtics to steal a game in LA??

Stanley Cup Update!!

So....the Blackhawks are up 2-0 on the Flyers..I'm going to allow that to sink in for a moment. In Game 1 it was an exciting offensive display for both teams and a pitiful excuse for defense for both sides as well in a 6-5 shoot out the Blackhawks won. Game 2 was played at a much slower pace, at least in the scoring department as the Hawks beat the Flyers 2-1. Game 3 is tonight and once again the Blackhawks have a team in a must win situation, if the Flyers can't get this game at home in Philly this series is over!! One think the Hawks don't have a problem doing is closing out series if you don't believe me ask San Jose after they got swept!! The Flyers are in trouble and I hope they are aware of tonight's importance, if not the Blackhawks will soon be etched in Stanley Cup History!! Do the Flyers get back into the series tonight? Or do they take the way of the Sharks and lay down on Chicago's way to a Stanley Cup???

Back to Back #1 Picks!!!

So next monday is the MLB draft, guess who has the first pick??? The Nationals look like they are turning their franchise around, they are currently in last place in their division but at least they are only 1 game under .500!! Plus they are only 4.5 games back from the division leader and last year's #1 pick is set to be called up for his first start June 8th!! Strasburg was the best player hands down in the draft last year and he toyed with the competition in the minors, potential phenom after phenom is GREAT for the Nats orginization!! I mean they get an extremely talented pitcher one year and follow it up by potentially drafting an extremely talented catcher, the Nats future is looking bright!! What do you think of the Nationals and their turn around this year?? Strasburg is set to pitch his first MLB game on June 8th, how will he fare?? Do you think the Nats can afford to pass on Bryce Harper??