Sports Views

My AL fantasy team is on a heck of a roll. All season I’ve struggled to find right handed starting pitching, a first baseman and coverage at third base. Then, I picked up Jason Giambi just before he got hot, Kevin Millwood came back, Barry Zito learned to throw again and somehow we picked up steam. The Hackers have won 10 straight and are winners of 28 of the last 40 games.

Saturday’s game, which I did not attend, sucked. The Sox got their asses kicked, and it was another painful reminder of just how far this team has to go before its pitching is ready for post-season play. Bronson Arroyo, Jon Papelbon and Jeremi Gonzalez were the culprits. Offensively, the Sox were once again quite good as they plated 8 runs. Problem was, they gave up 14. David Ortiz and Trot Nixon homered.

I hopped on Ebay in search of some cards to get my new collection off the ground. I picked up a Michael Vick rookie card, a Ben Roethlisberger rookie card, a set of twelve Brett Favre rookie cards, and a Michael Jordan card from 1989. I’m reliving my youth folks. I want to center my collection on players who starred for Bay Area teams. I placed bets on a Joe Montana rookie card from 1981 and a Steve Young rookie card from 1986. I found a new hobby. I want to build it up and hold onto these suckers. When Brett Favre retires and gets into the Hall of Fame and Michael Vicks takes Atlanta to the Super Bowl I’ll be filthy rich.

We all know that San Francisco has a slightly more relaxed view of morality than a lot of other places. But here’s an astonishing fact that is mentioned in a SFGate article on why the Bay Area isn’t concerned about new Oakland Raider wide receiver Randy Moss’s admission that he occasionally smokes marijuana.

Tomorrow’s the big day. Well, not really. Tomorrow is the day our fantasy football league at work is going to hold its draft. I wound up with the first pick which, almost inevitably, is going to be Peyton Manning. I have some doubts about the kind of season the Colts are going to have. I think that they may very well have a better season with less offensive production, but I’m probably in the minority there. The common wisdom is that they have a poor defense, but that is just plain nuts. In the playoffs last year I thin they showed that they have possibly the best secondary outside of New England and Philadelphia. The linebackers are solid and the line was not nearly as bad as people claim. Part of there problem is that they find themselves on the field so much since so many of the Colt’s offensive drives end in sudden touchdowns. I don’t see anyway Peyton equals his production from last year, but I keep asking myself, “how big could the drop off be?” I just can’t see him not being one of the top two or three fantasy players even if his numbers are a little down this year. I am one of those eccentrics who feels that Eli will probably win a Super bowl before Peyton gets there.

The recent death of Thomas Herrion is making many in the NFL look at their health standards once again. Just based on their average BMI (body mass index) these guys make Rosie O'Donnell look like Kate Moss. What's that? Too dated a reference? How about...these guys make Starr Jones look like Paris Hilton? A little better?

I remember her being my best friend in the last years of her life. I took her to dinner twice a week and she would tell me about everything from the 30's when she lived in Chicago on the Loop & how she used to be a teacher on one of the first calculators ever made for doing the books at GreyHound Busline. We would talk about her dad and how he used to haul gravel 14 hours a day to build the first road from Brule to Superior. We talked about how she knocked her sisters two front teeth out with a broom stick when they were little and how she still felt bad about it. We would talk about football & how much she hated my dad's wife & how much more hair I used to have. We would make beef stew on football game days when all my other friends were in the bar watching the Packer game. We would high-five when Brett Favre threw a touchdown against the Vikings and she would say "Shit!" in a quiet little voice when the other team scored points.

Boston Red Sox hurler Bronson Arroyo was one of those guys. Only he never grew out of it. After a start against the Angels Saturday, Arroyo will appear at the Sunset Guitar Center signing copies of his recently released debut album, “Covering the Bases.” The album features twelve cover songs including Plush, Black and the “I’m going hungry” song.

Oh, I guess I should mention that Nick Cafardo did the typical Boston media “bash Manny while praising a scrappy but crappy player” article for the Globe this morning. A bunch of blind quotes, none even moderately damning, but Cafardo saw a story say Manny doesn’t have heart. Of course, the player with Heart, Kevin Millar, is damn near replacement level at 1B and wants to play in every game so that he can try and get a job next year. Manny’s one of the top 3 hitting OF in baseball and has played in 109 games this season. That would be 5 more than Kevin Millar’s heart. 1 less than crazy Johnny Damon. 2 more than The Professional. 7 less than David Ortiz, who doesn’t have to play the field.

E. Michael Johnson in Golf World writes that technology has not rendered Baltusrol obsolete because, well, the scores were higher than '93 and because Davis Love says so.

"Technology has not changed as much as everyone makes it out to," said Love."We can hit 1-irons by the [Nicklaus] plaque and still not get there."

Dr. Z, Paul Zimmerman is one of my favorite sports columnists. Occasionally he lapses into shtick, but more often he offers an insider’s perspective on league matters that can’t be beat. In this article he makes some good points about the Terrell Owens contract situation with the Eagles before moving on to more general topics. Here is the first paragraph of that column:

It’s officially opening weekend of preseason NFL football, and Jets fans have a lot to be excited about. Their top draft pick this year was a kicker, they return a wide receiver that left them for another team a couple years ago, their golden boy QB has a bum shoulder, and Jeremy Shockey kicked their ass in a recent scrimmage skirmish.

Last season was certainly a good one for Owens up until his injury. His stats were impressive, and his ability to make tough catches and elude tacklers on his way to the endzone was enough to make you pinch yourself and say, “Are these really my Birds?” The Super Bowl comeback was the stuff of sports lore. It was the kind of story you could see yourself telling your grandkids one day: “Gather round, whippersnappers, and let me tell you about the time Terrell Owens practically won the Super Bowl by himself on one leg.” Its a great story even though they lost.

This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, a Ray Lewis signature knife, a Chevy Low Rider with dark tinted windows and a Meth Lab Kit. This model is only available after dark and can only be paid for in cash; preferably small untraceable bills; unless you are a cop, then we don't know what you are talking about. Hair spray and fake fingernail kit available.

For reasons that are unclear to me, Mohr writes a column for Sports Illustrated, his most recent being an article on the Yankees: Where are the True Yankees? When I saw the title, I was intrigued. No one really knows what makes a true Yankee -- I sure as hell don't know. I covered the topic once in my post "Where's the Erotica?" but all I concluded was that like porn, I know it when I see it. So I held out hope that maybe, just maybe Mohr would provide some insight and fresh analysis and do so without the obligatory Paul O'Neill, Scott Brosius, and Derek Jeter mentions. But alas. This might be the most contradictory, nonsensical piece of garbage that I've read in a while. It is also a classic look at the deluded opinions of your average Yankee fan.

People get so shook up anymore over different opinions, some people think everyone should think only as they, themselves, think. How utterly boring would that be? I wouldn’t have a bit of fun with that. In our household, alone, we have a whole world of opinions - but they all live very nicely under one roof. Many game days find all five of us on different sides. It gets really fun during baseball season - our oldest daughter is a Boston Red Sox fan and our middle daughter likes the Yankees. Fortunately, they both like the Cardinals, too, so my husband and I allow them to live with us.

Was watching SportsCenter last night. Noticed something. Kind of expected it. Here it is, one of the biggest days in NHL history. There are more free agents then actual signed players. Unprecedented movement is happening. Yet ESPN only highlighted a couple of signings. On the other side, they spent about 15 minutes covering the Terrell Owens / Brian Westbrook dilemma at the Eagles camp, and the contract extension signed by Shaquille O’Neal with the Miami Heat.

As an athlete (or at least having been an athlete in the past) and a sports fan, one of the difficult things about finding myself on an extended stay in Shanghai, China (setting up sporting goods manufacturing and other business contacts) is the near isolation from most American sports. Although basketball, over the past ten or so years, has become popular among the Chinese people, baseball has yet to find its way into the sports culture here. While at every school or playground it’s likely you’ll find some kid aspiring to become the next Yao Ming, mention the term “baseball” to most Chinese, even ones who speak pretty good English, and you’ll likely find yourself having to search through a phrasebook to find the Chinese phrase for baseball: “bangqiu” (pronounced bong chi-o).

I don’t know, but something’s extremely fishy here. I certainly hope beyond hope that Palmeiro’s telling the truth, but frankly I don’t believe him anymore. And I doubt almost anyone else does, either. His integrity is shot. At the minimum, Palmeiro’s ehavior has been very troubling and very disappointing for this long-time Orioles’ fan - and baseball fan in general. Unfortunately, the accomplishments of many modern Major League players have now been thrown into doubt by the actions of otherwise Hall-of-Fame caliber players - at least by the raw numbers, sans steroids - like Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and now Rafael Palmeiro. And that’s just sad.

Fantasy football is off to a rollicking start this year. I have already received one outrageous trade request and we haven’t even made it to the first game of the preseason. I mean, would you trade Marvin Harrison for Steve McNair? Me neither. Especially considering he already had Peyton Manning on his roster. I actually might have considered it if there were the slightest possibility that McNair would remain injury free for the entire season. I have the sneaking suspicion that the wheels are on the verge of coming off of the Colts offense. I don’t think they will entirely flop, but I do think they will have a lot less success than they did last year. That could indirectly lead Harrison to have a huge year. I have a hunch he’s only the third best receiver on the Colt’s offense these days, but if the offense struggles they will be hard pressed to ignore the pleas of the fans to get the ball to Harrison more. Which of course will simply cause them more trouble, but that’s the way it goes in the NFL sometimes.