Friday Night Five-Pack

Here is a five-pack of thoughts to help with your Friday night pre-game:

• The Mets might be done. I may not have written about them since the All-Star break, but that doesn't mean I'm not worried. In fact, it's the opposite. I think they're done. Something happened to them, be it the return of Carlos Beltran and Oliver Perez, or the mental breakdown of Mike Pelfrey, but this is not the same team that had a 81% Confidence Rating a month ago on metsblog.com. They have a tough stretch coming up - 3 vs LA, 3 vs Stl, 3 vs Arz, 3 vs Atl, 3 vs Phi, 3 vs Col and 3 vs Phi. If they can make it through this above .500 I think Mets fans would have to be happy. But it's not looking good and I'm in the mood where I think they go 8-13.
• I won't pretend to know everything that is going on with the NCAA and its investigations of UNC, USC, Florida and Georgia, but I do know that there is a lot of shit wrong with collegiate athletics. My thoughts are long enough on this subject to fill up an entire blog post, but I'll say this - the NCAA is a bunch of crooks
• This is a big weekend for the Sounders. They need 3 points. They also need the distraction of Freddie Ljungberg to go away. Whatever happens, happens...just stop the distraction.
  
• Jon Brockman was traded to the Bucks and then signed a 3 year, $3 million deal. You all know how I feel about Brockman...I really hope he gets a chance in Milwaukee because I really feel that he is the type of player every team needs. He works hard. He grabs rebounds. He doesn't pout.
  
• Last night Thierry Henry made his Red Bulls debut (and scored) in a friendly against Tottenham. Obviously this means nothing in the grand scheme of things. That being said, combined with the underrated but highly skilled Joel Lindpere, Henry and Juan Pablo Angel are going to tear up MLS. It is not going to be fair (luckily we're done with them for the season already). Add in either Rafa Marquez or Mark van Bommel and we could very well be looking at a team that challenges LA for MLS Cup '10. (Oh, and who thinks LA getting Ronaldinho is a bad idea for chemistry besides me?)

Ok, off to go camping with my family. First time overnight with the daughter - wish us luck