Tuesday Night 8-Pack

I apologize for all the bullet point lists lately, but there has been a lot of things going on in the world of sports lately. Since I don't have enough time to write long posts on each, this is the next best option. So let's celebrate the season with a holiday 8-pack to help with that hangover.

• This Thursday is we are all going to Witness (see what I did there?) something the likes we have never seen before. LeBron and the Heat travel to Cleveland. It is a day all Cavs fans having been waiting for as venom will be spewing from the stands. It's going to be amazing. Sideshows aside, the game itself should be interesting as the Cavs continue to overachieve while the Heat are woefully underachieving. I haven't seen any of their games this season so I look to Simmons for most of my information on them. He reports that LBJ and Wade are having a hard time playing together and that he thinks LeBron regrets his decision to sign with Miami. He says the chemistry is terrible and that the team was put together all wrong. I am not going to write them off as contenders, but they do have a lot of work to do. Right now it seems like their are at least 3 teams in the East and 5 in the West who are better.
• Not sure how many of you have heard about this, but the Nets made an unprecedented move by sending Terrence Williams to the D-League's Springfield Armor for disciplinary reasons. A lot of critics are railing the move, but I like it. Critics are somehow making out the D-League to be this utopia where everyone gets along and no one has alterior motives. Fact is, Antoine Walker is about to sign with the league. I ask those same critics if that is what the D-League is about?? Bottom line: Nets run the Armor and are using it to send a message. T-Will either responds or he doesn't. But what do they have to lose?
• Some are raising an eyebrow at the development of TCU joining the Big East. How can Fort Worth, Texas be considered East Coast? Well, if you think about it, Fort Worth is not exactly in the mountains or in the West either. The trip from Fort Worth to Colorado St is no further than to Syracuse. Football wise the move makes sense - now the Horned Frogs have the ability to qualify for the BCS on a yearly basis (same with Utah moving to the Pac-10), but I questoin the need for them joining the conference in all sports. In terms of basketball alone, the conference will now have 17 teams. Sixteen is ridiculous enough. Seventeen is ricoculous.
• Ok, the Devils stink this year. We all know it. But here's the thing - they are only 8 points out of playoff spot. If they can somehow continue to win 3 out of 4 games a week, they will be back in the hunt by January. I am not naive enough to say a team with a 8-14-2 record (who just lost to the Isles!) will instantly win 4 games in a row, but I'm just saying - if they can get on a little role, they'll be right back in it. I feel worse about the Nets playoffs chances than I do the Devs.
• The most exciting team in the NFL right now are the KC Chiefs. Dwayne Bowe has 14 TD's. Matt Cassell has thrown only 4 INT's and has a 99.7 QB Rating. Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones have combined for 1733 yards. Their offense is amazing right now and I think I have talked myself into them being a serious contender in the AFC.
• On Thursday FIFA will announce the hosts of both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The USA had been candidates for both but bowed out of 2018 when it became clear that FIFA wanted it back in Europe after a 12 year hiatus. The 2022 Cup is looking to be a contest between the US, Australia and Qatar. From what I hear, Qatar has a boatload of money to spend and is willing to build not only state of the art stadiums, but air-conditioned stadiums to boot. To be honest, I am shocked that they are even a contender. I mean, it's Qatar. It's a small country in the Middle East that has no where near the potential that the US does. FIFA needs soccer to continue to grow in the States. They need the exposure. They need the revenue. They need the US to be a powerhouse. Take advantage of the boom that is currently ongoing in the country and award the US the 2022 World Cup. It will be the biggest event in the history of hte beautiful game.
• Besides Bowl Week, Rivalry Week is always my favorite time in the college football season. This year, Rivalry Week in the NW is about more than just beating your rivals. In Oregon, it means a chance at an undefeated season and a National Championship Game birth. In Washington, it means a chance to go to a bowl game for the first time in 8 years. While the Apple Cup cannot compete with the Civil War in terms of importance this year, it is really important to Husky Nation. I will be the first to tell you that a 6-6 record is still an underachievement for this team, but that doesn't mean a Holiday Bowl trip is not important. Success breeds more success. Get to a bowl and set a good tone for the 2011 season.
• Is there a more improved player in the country Justin Holiday? Just two years ago I was lamenting how we got the worse of the brothers. Justin didn't even belong on the court. Now he is averaging 12 points, 7 boards and is a reigning member of the All-Defensive Team. On last night's FSN broadcast, Francis Williams suggested that he might be one of the best players in the country by the end of the year. That is an amazing prospect.
  

One and Only NASCAR post

This is hopefully the one and only time that I will talk Nascar in this blog. I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss their championship format. Basically, Nascar has 36 races a year. After 26 races, the top twelve drivers, with respect to points, are eligible for something called the Chase for the Cup. Points are reset and the eligible driver with the most points after the final 10 races wins the championship.

Ok, so Jimmie Johnson (not the penis enhancer, one time football coach) has now won an unprecedented 5 straight championships. I read somewhere the other day that some people think this years victory was controversial because second place finisher Denny Hamlin won more races (8) than Johnson (6).

Car racing is a little different than other sports. Yes winning is important, but results are not binary. The season is 36 weeks long and the rules are set up to reward consistency; to reward the best drivers over the course of the season. If the championship was simply about who won the most races, then a driver who wins 5 races but finishes in the bottom 5 in every other race would be rewarded compared to a driver who finishes in the top 10 consistently, but only won 2 races. Drivers would go for broke - they would take more chances which would result in more crashes simply to get a win. Not only do the current rules reward consistent driving, but they take away any incentive to race recklessly.

The underlying sentiment is that Johnson is on top and there are tons of haters out there. They are looking for a reason to dismiss his greatness. The thing is that he played within the rules. He did what so many great teams do in other sports - coast through the regular season and turn it on in the playoffs. He played within in the rules and won. Period. End of paragraph. Haters get over it.

Editors Note: Here are the stats for the two. Johnson: 6 wins, 17 top-5, 23 top-10. Hamlin 8 wins, 14 top-5, 18 top-10. Over the course of the year, Johnson was more consistent. Period.

I'm an NFL Atheist

Let me tell you a story. My first sports memory was watching Phil Simms achieve near-perfection in Super Bowl XXI. I loved those late 80's Giants teams - Simms, Little Joe Morris, Phil McConkey, Mark Bavaro, LT, Carl Banks, Leonard Marshall, Jim Burt, Raul Allegre, Sean Landeta. In 1990 Phil Simms got injured and a relatively unknown QB named Jeff Hostetler jumped in and led the Giants to another Super Bowl win. For the next few years, the Giants had a QB carousel with Simms and Hostetler rotating in and out of the starters job. Then in 1993, the Giants decided to let Hostetler walk and after an offseason injury, released Simms in 1994. My favorite team had severely botched the QB situation and my favorite football player, now 40, was out of the league.

Anticipating that the end of the era was approaching them, in 1992 the G-Men drafted a QB named Dave Brown out of Duke University. He replaced Simms as the team's starting QB and over the course of three years won a total of 20 games (with a career passer rating of 67.9). He was clearly one of the worst QB's in league history, something I noticed as early as his first full season. I was dumbfounded with how the team was willing to make a guy from Duke the most important player on the field. I mean, this is the same Duke program that had been to only 1 Bowl Game and won an average of 4 games per year since 1971. I really tried to give him the benefit of the doubt - I really did.

I was so disenfranchised by this whole era that I decided to switch teams. I know, I know - that is the worst thing a so-called hardcore fan can do. Hardcore fans don't give up on their team just because they are experiencing tough of times. If this was someone else I would be all over them. Unfortunately this is the path I decided to take - all I can say is that I was young and stupid.

In picking a new team, I didn't want to be labeled a front-runner on top of a traitor so I decided to support the Carolina Panthers, an expansion team in the 1995 season. I knew it would be years before they were good and I could grow with them. No one could call me a bandwagon fan and it would make for interesting conversation in the future. Since then I have seen some really really bad teams (1-15 in 2001 and probably 2010) as well as some really good teams (4 NFC Championship games). It has been an interesting ride.

When I was back in LI last month, my buddy Gorman tried to convince me to come back to the Giants. He was willing to give me a pass even with my history. I'm a Giants fan, he tried to convince me. The thing is, I can't stand Tom Coughlin and I can't stand Eli Manning. I don't want to be a Giants fan. The problem is that I'm not sure I want to be a Carolina fan anymore, either. Carolina is the worst team in the league and they are no fun. Now I have been in this position before, but what makes this season different is that I hate their new franchise QB - Jimmy Claussen. I like DeAngelo Williams and I like Steve Smith, but really I have no connection to the team anymore.

What I am finding more and more every week is that winning in fantasy football makes me much happier than the Panthers winning their game. I have no conflict like most fans do. You know what I'm talking about: your fantasy football team is down 15 points but you still have player X going on Monday night. The only thing is that player X is playing against your favorite team. You feel torn.

I don't have that anymore. Hell, I even root for Mike Vick right now as long as it helps my fantasy team win. I'm not attached to any specific football team, but I am attached to Vick, Aaron Rodgers, Darren McFadden, Jamaal Charles, Roddy White, Percy Harvin and Antonio Gates. There are some teams in the league that I find really interesting; some teams that would be fun to support. I'm really into the Packers, Chiefs, Rams, Jets, Browns, and the Saints this year. From what I can tell they are fun to watch.

So this brings me to the following sentence: Starting today, I am a NFL atheist. Just like my boy Chuck Klosterman, I no longer support one team. Instead, I am going to root for the teams that tell good stories. I am going to watch games that feature interesting teams. I am denouncing any NFL attachment.

I know that this is ridiculous. I know it is ironic that someone who loves sports so much doesn't have a favorite NFL team. How can my words not be hollow when I talk about loyalty in sports? How can anyone take me seriously when I rail on Seattle fans when they don't show up to support the M's or the Hawks during down times? The answer: you can't. This is a hit to my credibility, but I don't care anymore. I can't help my feelings - I am a fantasy football guy plain and simple.

Wednesday Five-Pack

Here is a 5-pack of thoughts to quench your Thanksgiving Eve appetite.

• My hatred of the Yankees is well known. My hatred of Captain America, Derek Jeter is also well known. What might not be well known however is the respect that I have for him. If he was on any other team, I would have no problem with him. He never gets into trouble off the field. He never kills his teammates in the press. He plays the game the way it should be. He is a great player, but he is a lifelong Yankee and a winner of 5 World Series. That is why I am absolutely shocked that the Yankees management is playing hardball with him this offseason. Sure they are offering a great deal, but Jeter thinks this is below value. For a team that basically prints money, paying him what he wants should be a no-brainer. He is the face of the franchise - to let him walk and play for another team seems ridiculous. This is not a front office that is afraid of spending money, so why start now? Why play hardball with Jeter?
• I just got done watching UW-Kentucky and I must say that we let one get away. Terrence Jones, who originally committed with UW before signing with John Calipari and the Wildcats, torched the Huskies for 16 points and 17 boards in the 'Cats 74-67 win. Losing to Kentucky is not a terrible loss, but it was a painful one given how well Jones played. He looks like the real deal and he totally could have put us over the top this season. Obviously we weren't going to run through every team this season, but it's disappointing to see a UW team once again have their halfcourt offense go cold against a highly rated team. This team will go far but we need to get better in close games.
• Thanksgiving football is one of the best traditions in sports. For 27 years I have watched the Lions and Cowboys and I hope to do so for many more years. It's not that I like either team and it's not that the games are guaranteed to be good. It's just tradition - don't get rid of it to make sure the games are more competitive. I want football to be in the background - I don't need it to be the main event.
  
• With a 107-100 OT win against Atlanta, the Nets are now 5-9 on the season. It's not good enough for the playoffs, but it is a huge improvement from last year. Considering that 5 of the 9 losses have come against the Magic (2), Heat, Nuggets and Jazz, I think this team is ready to take the next step.
• The holiday season always makes people realize how lucky they are. With temperatures in Seattle in the low teens the past few days, I couldn't think how lucky I am to have a roof over my head and food on my table. I am blessed to be able to have a silly thing like a blog because it means I have the resources to do so. If you are able to read this blog, I hope you can realize how blessed you are too.

Not sure if I will have time to blog tonight or tomorrow, but the Sounders just lost Sanna Nyassi and Nathan Sturgis to Vancouver. My initial thoughts: it does suck losing two of our guys, but I am glad we did not lose Patrick Ianni and while Sturgis will be missed, we do have Brad Evans, El Flacco and Mike Seamon to help offset his lost. Best of luck to them both - hope they don't come back to burn us like Seba.

Sounders Use Protection

After weeks of speculation, we finally found out who the Sounders were protecting from from the Expansion Draft. I made my own selections on Saturday and much to my surprise, was correct only correct on 7 of them: Alonso, Montero, Zakuani, Keller, Parke, Hurtado. The eighth player on the list was Brad Evans, a player that I really like but who I thought might not be protected because of his high salary and history of injuries. Ultimately I am happy he is coming back.

The final three names came as a big shock to me. Michael Fucito, James Riley and Nate Jaqua. I didn't see the Jaqua selection coming - he has a high salary, is from Oregon and was not starting at the end of the season. I figured he was a perfect candidate for Portland. As for Fucito, I guess they rate him super highly. I like him a lot I just didn't think he was one of the top 11. And what can I say about James Riley? I thought he was expendable, but apparently not.

The craziest thing about the players they protected was the resulting players that they did not protect. The biggest omission has to be Patrick Ianni. I know they protected two central defenders already, but how can you let him go? He was the heart and soul of their revamped defense and was quickly becoming a leader. There is NO way Portland doesn't pick him.

The other names to be left unprotected are Leo Gonzalez, Nathan Sturgis, Sanna Nyassi and Blaise Nkufo. I saw the Nkufo thing coming - his age, his salary, his production and his connection to Vancouver made it easy to see. I was on the fence with Sturgis and Nyassi so I am not surprised, but I am surprised about Leo. Maybe I am blind on this one, afterall I'm the same guy who said that James Riley was expendable, but he is only making $72k. And he is quality.

So now we sit here, less than 24 hours from the expansion draft, wondering who we will lose. We know it's going to be 2 players, but we don't know who. I expect Ianni and Nyassi but who knows, Vancouver might take a chance with Nkufo. Portland might take a chance with the steady Nathan Sturgis. Or they might throw a curveball and take Miguel Montano. I have no idea.

What I do know is that there is some talent available on other teams. There are the big name, big contract guys that won't be selected - Freddie Ljungberg, Nery Castillo, Julian de Guzman, Juan Pablo Angel. There are also the old guys like Freddie Hejduk, Pat Onstad, Guillermo Barros Schelotto. And then there are a lot of young, low salary, high talent guys like Anthony Wallace, Corey Ashe, Pat Phelan, Brad Knighton, Kyle Reinish, Shea Salinas, Tim Ward. And then there are some young, mid-salary, high talent guys like Dax McCarty, Daniel Hernandez, Ryan Cochrane, Chris Seitz, Eric Avila, Alex Nimo and Ned Grabavoy . Expansion teams never seem to pick who the pundits think they should, but there is some talent out there. I'll be happy to get more than 50% correct.

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Also, I want to take this time to thank Pete Vagenas for his service to the Sounders. On Monday he was traded to Colorado for two international defenders - 21 year old Danny Earls from Ireland and 30 year old Julian Baudet from France. The trade was one of necessity - I think the Sounders no longer had room for him and his large salary while the Rapids had too many international players. I don't know what the team is going to do with either player, but Earls might be a cheap starting option if Leo is selected. Baudet, on the other hand, actually has a higher salary than Vagenas so this wasn't a true salary dump - I have a feeling the team might just release him.

This is just the start of what should be an interesting offseason. And if this is the sign of things to come, it will definitely be crazy.

A Boring Hire

It is snowing this morning in Seattle. What a better way to warm up than to talk a little baseball, namely the Mets naming a new manager.

Up to now I have stayed out of it, not wanting to speculate on what might happen, or better yet, what should happen. We all knew that Wally Backman was going to be the fan favorite, but the question seemed whether he fit into what new GM Sandy Alderson was looking for. I am going to re-read Moneyball in the near future so I can get more insight into Alderson's philosophy, but my understanding is that he believes that an organization should be run by the GM and that the manager should be no more than a face in the dugout. Because of this I never really felt that Wally had a chance. Also going against Backman was the fact that he was the fan favorite - as I said when Alderson was hired, he is a man with a plan. We may not like it. It may not get better in the short term, but he believes he can turn the team around. Fans wanted Backman because he would provide us with some excitement even when our team stunk, but I ask what happens when that wears off? If we are hiring him to cuss and kick dirt around and the team continues not to win, then how are we better off as an organization?

So yeah, I'm ok with Wally not being hired. The fact is that he has had some less than stellar moments in his past and has never managed above AA. Normally you take a chance with a young manager when you're team is rebuilding and save the big name, big money guys for when you are winning. I don't think the Mets are in that position right now because they will never be in full rebuilding mode. The cyclical Marlins' fire sale just wouldn't work in Queens. We needed someone with major league experience who can help restore pride to the franchise.

Bob Melvin may not have been a sexy choice, but I would have felt a lot better about him than I did their actual choice: Terry Collins. Collins is not an unknown, but even the most hardcore of baseball fans could not have seen this coming as it has been 11 years since he managed in the Majors. Again, I am not in the predicting business, so it is entirely possible that it might work, but we are entrusting our franchise in a GM and a manager both who have not been in their current roles for more than a decade. I know I said I was going to believe in Alderson until he proves me wrong, but this is stretching it a little.

So why Collins? Reports are that he had 'more fire' in him than Melvin, that he is familiar with the organization (minor league coordinator in 2009) and that he shares Alderson's vision. That is all well and fine, but there is a reason why he hasn't managed since 1999. I don't know what that is, but the fact that no one gave him another chance despite his >.500 win percentage sends up some red flags. Of all the candidates he was secretly the one I was rooting against. I don't know why, but to me he feels like a boring hire. Luckily be boring has nothing to do with being successful. As Matt Cerrone has been reminding us at metsblog.com, Terry Francona and Joe Torre were also considered terrible hires at the time. It's way to early to say whether Collins will have even 1/4 the success of those two, but at least their is some precedence.

So let's take an in-depth look at his managing career. From 1994-1996 he managed the Houston Astros and came in second in the NL Central every year. In looking purely at the rosters, he may have overachieved slightly in his first two years -Bagwell and Biggio were studs, but their pitching staff - Reynolds, Drabek, Hampton, Kile -was certainly underwhelming. In 1996 though, the Astros were in first at late as Sept 1 and ended up finishing 8-15 in their final 23 games. The next year, the team hired their announcer and finished 1st in the division. Collins then went west to Anaheim and led the Angels to 2nd place finishes in both 1997 and 1998 before resigning after a 51-82 record in 1999.

So in 6 years as a major league manager, Collins led his team to 2nd place finishes 5 times. So why hasn't this guy got another major league job? He is clearly seems to be competent. Well, I think I may have found a possible reason. In 1999, the Angels' players petitioned the GM to fire him. His own players disliked him so much that they went to the GM to get rid of him. This may happen in other lines of work, but in the world of baseball and sports in general, this is just not done. Teams like to deal with problems internally. If you have a problem with a decision, you take it up with your teammate/coach in the dugout or behind closed doors. You don't go to the media. And you certainly don't go above someone's head. This is purely speculation, but I wonder if this stuck to Collins like the word 'steroids' sticks to certain players.

Whatever the reason, I want this to be my last time saying anything negative about Collins or Alderson until the season starts. I said I would put my trust in Sandy and that is what I need to do. So with that, welcome to New York, Terry Collins. I hope you are here for awhile.

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In an unrelated note, the wife and I taught my daughter to booo the Yankees. I have never been prouder.

Pat Burns: 1952-2010

Pat Burns was awesome and probably my favorite of numerous Devils' coaches. He won the Jack Adams award for best coach three times, although not during his Stanley Cup-winning campaign with NJ.

For several years after he was diagnosed with cancer (in 2005) I had held out hope that he would recover to the point that he would return to the bench, which might have been selfish. I'm glad that he lived 5 years after his initial diagnosis and I'm glad we were treated to one last Coach Burns moment in September:

"They're trying to kill me before I'm dead. I come to Quebec to spend some time with my family and they say I'm dead. I'm not dead, far [expletive] from it. They've had me dead since June. Tell them I'm alive. Set them straight."

Rest in Peace, Coach.

Who Do Sounders Protect?

On Wednesday, Portland and Vancouver will take part in the 2010 MLS Expansion Draft. Both teams will be choose a total of 10 players from current MLS teams, who are allowed to protect 11 players. Current teams are not allowed to lose more than 2 players and it is widely assumed that the Sounders will have the best talent available because of their depth. All Sounders' blogs will have a post dedicated solely to who should be protected and JerseySounder is no different. Over the past two years we have grown to love our players and losing two of them to our biggest rivals is going to hurt. Speculating on who it might be is helping some cope with the inevitable.

Before I get into my picks, I wanted to give a little history on MLS Expansion Drafts. Since 1997, there have been five Expansion drafts (2004-RSL, Chivas; 2006-Toronto; 2007-San Jose; 2008-Seattle; 2009-Philly) and 60 players chosen of which, Midfield (25) and Defense (21) have been the most popular positions. Of the 60 players, only 57% of the picks started at least one game for their new team and only 35% started more than 15 games. Of all the positions, 47% of Defenders started at least 15 games compared to 28% of Midfielders.

The various expansion teams had very different strategies heading into the draft. Of the ten Toronto selections, only 1 wore the Red that season as the team used the picks to make trades with other teams. On the other hand, all 10 Philly selections saw the field for the Union this year. As for Seattle, the Sounders got Jaqua, Sturgis, Parke, Vagenas, Riley, and Evans.

The tough thing about picking who to protect is that we don't know who is out of contract and who is looking to go overseas. In the past, expansion teams have taken chances on players who were looking to move to Europe (Sea- Parke, SJ-Goodison, Tor-Jaqua) hoping a change of scenery might convince them to stay. I don't think we have any of those guys, but we might have some players whose contracts are up - maybe Marshall, Vagenas?

With that being said, let's get to it. I asked my boy J-Will to give me his picks as well to see how much we agree. As it turns out, it appears that 7 players are obvious choices - Alonso, Montero, Zakuani, Fernandez, Parke, Hurtado, Ianni. The 8th player we both agreed on was Nathan Sturgis. He may not be flashy or even start for us next year, but he is a solid player who rarely seems rattled. And for $69k he is would be very, very attractive to Portland and Vancouver. The 9th player we agreed on was someone who I originally was torn on - Leo Gonzalez. It's not that I don't like Leo, it's just that outside backs are expendable and I assumed his salary to be high. Turns out he is only on the books $72k which would make him also very attractive. So there you go - 9 players who we agree on.

The final two players were the first two differences we had. My tenth pick was Kasey Keller. A few weeks ago I wondered aloud if we might take the chance to leave him unprotected. After all, we know for a fact that he would retire rather than going to our rivals. Still, I wouldn't put it past Portland to pick him just to piss us off. And while Vancouver is going to lean towards younger players, a one-year flier on Keller, even at $300k might make him attractive. In my mind, we just can't risk it - he is our heart and soul and we have no backup plan for next year if we didn't have his rights anymore. John, on the other hand, felt that he has lost a lot of steps and while he is certainly one of the top ten goalies in the league, he thinks his on field performance can be replaced. He thinks Keller would make a great assistant coach/back-up goalie if we can get a younger version.

For me, the final slot then came down to 5 players - Evans, Riley, Nyassi, Seamon, Fucito. I really like what the future might hold for Seamon and Fucito, but the fact remains that Seamon is still raw and other teams might not know his potential because of the limited action he saw. And really, I think either team could get comparable talent in the college draft. Fucito also has great upside, but unfortunately for Sounders he is not unknown, having scored several goals for the club. However, something just tells me that neither team will bite on a 5'8" player from Harvard.

As for Riley, both John and I think he is expendable. He is a great guy and he has a manageable salary ($76), but I think we can go elsewhere in the league to get a replacement. Losing James wouldn't hurt us terribly. That leaves Nyassi and Evans. I love Brad and hope that he is with us next year. But the reality is he is coming off another injury plagued year and his salary ($123k) is just high enough that neither team will want to select him. That leaves Nyassi as my 11th selection. He was a player who as late as July I thought needed to go. Obviously getting some goals changed my opinion of him, but really the deciding factor was his youth (21) and his salary ($40k). There is just too much potential for such a small price. I think Vancouver would LOVE to draft him. John on the other hand says that while he is "faster than a taco bell shit", he only recently learned to look up before he shanks his cross. Clearly this will not be an easy task.

If you look closely, you will notice the big name not on my list is Mr Blaise Nkufo. I was one of the biggest Nkufo supporters last year, but I just cannot justify protecting a 35-year old striker who is getting paid a crap-ton ($480) for 4 goals. He brings a lot to the team, but if we lose him, it will be an opportunity for us to sign a creative midfielder to run the show (Schelotto anyone?). His wife is from Vancouver, so that would be attractive to him I'm sure, but I just don't see the Whitecaps going in that direction. Remember, this is a team that values their academy. They basically gave up on the 2010 USL season when they released their leading scorer to make room for some younger players with better potential. We might just be able to dangle him with no bites.

Ok, that was a lot of fun. I have been looking forward to writing that for a long time now. For all you Sounders fans out there, let me know what you think. Here is a link of salary information for your information.

First Huskies Game

Last night I have the privilege of attending my first Huskies football game (not sure how I have gone 6 years without going to one...), a nationally televised Thursday night tilt against UCLA and former UW Coach Rick Neuheisel. While the team has been thoroughly disappointing this season, I was truly excited to soak in the experience. I can say that I wasn't let down.

The game started off on the wrong foot as UCLA took their second drive 92 yards on 13 drives and used 6:42 of clock time. They simply dominated the Huskies defense and it looked like it was going to be a long night. Husky Stadium was quiet. We all sensed what was coming. But then something strange happened - our defense starting making stops and when Jake scored on a 3 yards touchdown, the momentum switched and we never looked back. After their scoring drive drive, UCLA gained 50 yards on their final 12 drives, including -28 yards on their final 4 drives. The Husky defense was very solid and helped us win an ugly game.

It was special being their on Senior Night. I won't pretend like the atmosphere was amazing (I'd say the stadium was 3/4 full), but I definitely felt what it could be, or better yet was it was like once upon a time. The stadium was loud for a 3-6 team that hasn't been bowling since 2002. I can only imagine how insane it was during the good years.

Going to the game sort of changed my mind about the whole renovation thing. Not surprisingly, the UW Board of Regents approved a $250million renovation for Husky Stadium yesterday, a project that is supposed to be done in time for the 2013 season. At first I was against the renovation for a few reasons. First, and most importantly, that is a whopping amount of money to be spent on college athletics. In the current economic setting, spending this much money, regardless of the source, on athletics seems a little misguided. Second, Seattle already has a beautiful football stadium in Qwest Field. I know it is downtown and not on Mountlake, but it is downtown. How many universities say they play downtown in a major city...I think it could be great.

After going to the game last night, I can see why this is such a hot debate. A lot of the arguments made by fans is that if the games were played at Qwest, then there could be no tailgating. I found this humorous but after seeing what the tailgating experience was like, I can honestly see why so many people are not willing to give it up. This wasn't like tailgating at the Meadowlands and certainly not close to tailgating at Christy Matthewson Memorial Stadium -this was a community event. It seemed that everyone knew everyone (and they probably did). I'm not convinced this is the single reason why the Huskies need to play on campus, but I can certainly understand this argument more.

The other big argument is that you just can't replace the history and setting of the stadium. I honestly felt like I could have been watching a game from the 1950's (well, besides the insistent advertising and long-ass tv breaks..oh, and the cheerleaders and the increase physicality of the game) which was a pretty cool feeling. Somehow I felt a connection to the past, as small as it was. As for the setting? Well, what else can you say. The Big House might be the biggest. Death Valley might be the loudest. But Husky Stadium is the most picturesque; the most amazingly beautiful in the country, even at night time.

So yeah, I was totally sold on the experience. I still have reservations about how much money is being spent on renovating the stadium, but as always I will just turn my head and forget about it. I do it all the time with the Mets, so why not with the Huskies as well.

A major thanks to my boy T-Gasp for the tickets last night. We sat right on the 50 yard line in the 300 section. It was a cold evening, but we were protected from the wind and got to see the entire field in a Husky win. Can't ask for anything more.

Sounders and Other Random Things

On my way into work this morning I came to the realization that I am officially over the Soudners quick exit. Somehow I have totally forgotten about their playoff meltdown and am busy getting ready for next season. While I have tried to stay out of the NBA and NHL rumor mill, the MLS rumor mill is one that I love. Not only do we have an expansion draft and a college draft this offseason, but we also have the first ever Re-Entry draft in which veterans players out of contract are able to move to another team willing to pay their salary. Their is going to be a lot of movement, as well as a lot of rumors. For instance, Sounder at Heart has asked whether Guillermo Barros Schelotto might be a perfect fit for our midfield? Who knows if it will happen, but I'll say right now, if we had the chance to get Schelotto for 1-2 years I would much prefer it than Nkufo for another year. OK, ok, this post is not meant to dive into the rumors, but simply to say that I am officially back. Expect more Sounders posts over the next three weeks.

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I did want to take this opportunity to write about the OKC Thunder. In a recent post I said that I expect them to win multiple titles over the next decade -I think they are a great team. What will make them especially hard to beat is their foul shooting. Through 11 games this year they are shooting 88% as a team from the charity stripe. To put this in perspective, the second ranked team is at 81%. Beating OKC in close games is going to be near impossible because they will only miss 1 out of every 10 foul shots. Oh and it doesn't hurt that Durant and Westbrook, their two best players are shooting 93% and 92% from the line respectively. It's just amazing.

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Finally, congrats to Felix Hernandez for winning the Cy Young. He was simply dominant this year, leading the league in both ERA (2.27) and innings pitched (249 2/3) while finishing second in strikeouts (232) and WHIP (1.06). A big congrats to the voters as well who were not swayed negatively by his 13-12 record. Anyone in Seattle can tell you how terrible the M's offense was this year - win/loss should not be the sole indication of how great you were. If you switch Sabathia with King Felix he would have done no better because the M's didn't score any runs. AND if you think about, King Felix's ERA was artificially high because he didn't get the pleasure of facing the M's several times this year. to prove my point, take some time to look at Sabathia's game log. Go find what his record and ERA was against the M's this year......ok, fine, I'll help ya. Sabathia went 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA.

Thank You Venoy

Thank you Venoy Overton. Thank you UW basketball. It is because of you that I have put the failings of UW football, the Mets and the Panthers as well as the future failings of the Devils and Nets behind me. I am just giddy that you guys are back. You see, you play an exciting brand of basketball that makes me fall in love with you every time I see you. Now I know that there will be some rough spots (like when the Cougs slow the game down and make you run a half-court offense or when some stupid team in the NCAA Tourney throws a zone at you), but those are just speed bumps meant to slow you down. Just seeing you play all-out defense is enough to make me come back for more. Your games are track meets and I'm not sure anyone can keep up.

I love watching Venoy bug the hell out of his opposition. He is the Claude Lemieux of college bball - you know, the guy who opposing teams hate to play against, opposing fans love to taunt, and the guy who teammates LOVE to play with. He is not the most physically gifted offensive player, but he gets under your skin on the defensive end. You might be able to keep him out of your head for awhile, but at sometime you are going to snap. Maybe it will be a turnover. Maybe a stupid foul. Hell, maybe you'll give him a cheep shot. And then he's got you.

Combine that with the defensive tenacity of Isaiah Thomas and Justin Holliday and the dominating inside presence of Matthew Bryan-Amaning on the block and it is going to be a long game. It will be impossible for this team will hold opponents to less than 50 points a game because of their up-tempo style, but they are going to score more than their opponents. They are going to force turnovers and they are going to push the ball down the court. I'm not sure there is a better team in the open court than the Dawgs.

So yeah, it is going to be fun. I am quietly optimistic that this will be the year the Dawgs make it past the Sweet 16, but as was the case with recent years I am a little worried about their lack of height. They create mismatches against most teams when they play small ball, but if they are forced to play some Big East team with three 7-foot giants come tourney time, we might be in trouble. Still, that is in the distant future. For now, I am going to sit back and enjoy every moment.

Bow Down

What Erik Sanko is Skeleton Key...

...John Buccigross is to ESPN's hockey coverage.

He wrote a pretty good article about the Devils and Jeff VanDerBork at espn.com (link here). It is nice to see one of the lead columnists over there take an unbiased approach to the devs, unlike burnside and lebrun [mostly]. this, of course, does not apply to barry melrose who had a huge man-crush on Randy McKay. I will always be pro-melrose because of that alone.

(see what I did there? I did the thing that Bucci does when he compares some obscure band to something else only I did it with Bucci himself. it's like looking at a painting of an artist painting a picture of an artist painting a picture of an artist painting a picture...)

that is all.

Tuesday Morning Seven-Pack

A five pack simply won't cut it this morning, so here are seven things on my mind to get your day going.

• I know a lot of people had a nice laugh at Ilya Kovalchuk for his missed PK last Wednesday. Even though I linked to the footage, I encouraged Devils fans to be patient because we had no other choice - he is going to be here for a long time. Well, in the Devs next game against Edmonton on Friday, he atoned for his miss with an OT winner. I want to make sure I link to that as well. (and yes, I know this is a little hollow considering they lost again last night, but give me a break -I wasn't around over the weekend)
• Bucknell traveled to Marquette on Sunday, two days after falling to Villanova. They led the Golden Eagles by 12 with 10 minutes left, but then scored only 4 more points the entire game and as you can imagine, lost. In looking at the box score, the biggest thing to jump out was foul shooting. Bucknell went 6-11 from the line, compared to Marquette's 23-34 performance. When your opponent gets triple the number of foul shots as you, you are not going to win. It's that simple. (Oh, and when you give up a 24-0 run you won't win either). Still, the Bison faught hard and stayed in the game against another Big East foe. They sit 0-2 on the year and while a loss is a loss, two losses by 16 and 11 (on the road) against top-half Big East teams is very promising.
• Sometimes I feel that CBS wants to hide Gus Johnson from the country during NFL season. I mean, it always seems like he gets the games that no one cares about. This week was no different - Houston at Jacksonville. Yuck. Well, the football Gods were looking down upon me as I was awoken from my post soccer slumber with this call.
• I can't believe the San Jose Sharks are now in their 20th year. I remember collecting ProSet Hockey cards - Brian Hayward, Doug Wilson, Brian Mullan, Jeff Hackett (I actually remembered the first two, but not the last) - during their expansion year. Man I am getting old.
• Last night, WWE Raw was titled 'Old School' and had all of our favorite classic wrestlers. It was fun to see a lot of the guys, but I couldn't help think that it wasn'tclose to as good as it could have been. Don't get me wrong - Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, Dusty Rhodes, Sgt Slaughter and Hacksaw Jim Duggan will always hold a special place in my heart, but they just don't do it for me anymore. If you truly want to go Old School you need The Ultimate Warrior, The Macho Man, Jake the Snake, Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Hart, The Honky Tonk Man and of course, Hulk Hogan. Now that would be old school. Instead the biggest surprises last night were Slick, Tatanka and the Brooklyn Brawler.
• I can't possibly be the only person in America who thinks Washington is ABSOLUTELY OUT OF THEIR MIND for extending Donovan McNabb's contract for an additional 5 years? The contract is worth $40 million of guaranteed money. McNabb is 34 and was just benched two weeks ago in the final two minutes for Rex Grossman. That is NUTS.
• MLS Cup is this weekend -excuse me if I am not excited. I know, I know, it sounds like sour grapes considering my Sounders aren't there, but is there anyone who thinks this is a worthy final? I can handle Dallas being there because they lost only 4 games all year, but I just don't respect Colorado enough. I know the Sounders are a better team than them (just like they are a better team than SJ, the team they beat to get there). Now I won't hope for snow in Toronto because that is not deserving of MLS' showpiece game, but I do hope the Hoops get it done and bring back the first MLS title to Dallas

A Modest Proposal

I was hoping my Bulldogs could go into Jordan-Hare and pull the upset over #2 ranked Auburn on Saturday. Unfortunately for me, Cam Newton (the BEST player in the country) ran all over the Bulldogs and led the Tigers to a 49-31 win. Had they pulled the upset, it would have put a huge monkeywrench into the National title picture. As it sits now, if Auburn and Oregon can win out, there is no argument for TCU or Boise St to be in the title game. They simply have no legs to stand on. However, if one or both trip up in the final few weeks, then we will have a situation that no one wants (well, except for those who think it will force a playoff): having to choose between undefeated TCU and Boise St and 1-loss teams like Auburn, Oregon, LSU, Wisconsin and Nebraska.

This posting is not meant to debate the situation but rather to offer my solution and to give some historical perspective. First, I want to take a few minutes to praise the BCS. That's right - I want to praise the BCS. It's not that I think the BCS is great, but it is light years ahead of where we were prior to the BCS. From the early 20th century until 1997, all bowl games were determined by automatic births. I think there is definitely merit to this system if the goal is simply to reward teams by having them gain an additional game in a warm locale during the holiday season. Teams know where they will be heading based on their conference finish and conferences rivalries develop. I think it works. Unfortunately, as parity grew in the late 1990's, we found ourselves not being to determine the best team in the country because the top teams were no longer found in only 3-4 conferences. The BCS was developed to ensure that the top two teams in the country played each other. You can argue all you want on whether it does that, but the idea behind it was simple.

Now I want to take a look at how the Bowl System would look if we had no BCS. It won't be perfect, since conferences have changed since 1997, but I think it will tell us a lot. The following match-ups are based on current standings.

Rose Bowl: #1 Oregon vs #7 Wisconsin
Sugar Bowl: #2 Auburn vs at-large
Orange Bowl: #23 Virginia Tech vs at-large
Fiesta Bowl: #9 Nebraska vs at-large
Holiday Bowl: #4 Boise St vs #18 Missouri

I don't understand every facet of the old system, but I'm pretty sure that the at-large births would then be taken from the group of LSU, TCU, and Big East Champion Pittsburgh. I assume TCU goes to the Fiesta, LSU goes to the Orange and Pittsburgh goes to the Sugar.

Under this system, determining a national champion would be impossible - certainly the title would be split between Oregon and Auburn if both won their bowl games. So yeah, the BCS isn't perfect but at least it allows for the #1 and #2 ranked teams (determined in a way that many are unhappy with) to play each other.

Moving to the issue of how to fix the system, this has been my plan for several years. Use the BCS to determine the top 8 teams in the country. Keep the Bowl System and allow an 8-team, 7-game playoff to be played at the various bowl games. Quarterfinal games can be played in Miami (Outback), San Diego (Holiday), Dallas (Cotton) and Phoenix (Fiesta). Semi-Finals can then be played in Miami (Orange) and Atlanta (Sugar) and the Final in Pasadena (Rose). Then, keep the rest of the 30+ bowl games to reward teams not in the top 8. It's a hybrid system - one that keeps bowls and adds a playoff. I still cannot be convinced that it wouldn't work.

BU-Nova Review

Thanks to the good folks are ESPN3.com, I was able to watch the first half of Bucknell-Villanova last night. When I turned the game on, the Bison were leading 8-5. Then the proceeded to go 0-4 with 2 turnovers on the next six possessions. It was a sign of things to come.

Overall in the first half, the Bison shot 6-25 (2-11 from 3 point range) and were outrebounded 20-12. At first I was not worried because they simply were missing wide open shots. I felt like they were creating good oppportunities and that shots had to start falling at some point. BUt then around the 5 minute mark, things got ugly. They couldn't get a shot off inside the arc. They turned the ball over. They were rattled. Luckily Nova only shot 9-25 from the field and led 28-16 at half. Not a death knell for most teams, but for BU at Nova, you knew the game was over. I didn't get to watch the second half, but the Bison hung in there and ended up losing by 16. Considering some of the other scores from around the country last night, that was not bad at all.

It was hard to tell the good out of all the bad, but Daryl Shazier is definitely the real deal. He was not intimidated by the venue. Bryson Johnson also seemed to have potential. What I missed was the inside play of Joe Willman and Miek Muscala - it simply wasn't there. Maybe it came around in the second half, but the first half they were silent. Hell, they never even touched the ball.

I'm not sure how many more games I will get to see, but I was happy I saw opening night. 'Ray Bucknell.

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On a side note, I did get to watch the 4th quarter of OKC-Portland last night and I loved it. Really two fun teams to watch. In the end the Thunder pulled out the victory at home. I haven't seem many of their games, but I think I can now proclaim that I saw the future of the league. Westbrook and Durant have only started - they are going to win multiple titles. I have no question about it.

Hope Springs Eternal

The best thing about today is that I have unwavering hope that this is the year BU hoops makes it back to the tournament. It has now been 4 years and I am hungry for another run at the Kansas' of the world. Hell, the Patriot League wants us to have another run. After all, no one since BU in 2006 has won an NCAA tournament game. We are the Patriot League and should be on top.

Moving past that bravado for a second, I actually think we might have an opportunity to win the conference. Last year we went 9-5 in conference but suffered a terrible first round lost to Holy Cross in the PL tournament. This year we return all but one starter (Patrick Behan, 9.0 ppg) and as usual will go 8-9 deep. Leading the team will be Senior co-captains Daryl Shazier and Stephen Tyree and Junior Bryan Cohen. All three are seasoned and ready for a deep run, however the team's success will ultimately be determined by the Sophomore trio of Mike Muscala, Bryson Johnson and Joe Willman. Last year all three made the PL All-Rookie Team and Muscala was the only Bison to make the all-league team.

I won't pretend that I know anything about this team. I have read previews, but I have not seen any games. That being said, I this is starting to feel very familiar. We had some pretty decent squads when I was in school, but in 2002-03 we lost a huge chunk of our squad when Dan Blankenship, Boakai Lalugba and Brian Werner all graduated. Left were freshman Charles Lee and Kevin Bettencourt to lead the team. As expected, they had some growing pains during their sophomore year, but the addition of a new class -Chris McNaughton, Abe Badmus, Donal Brown - really brought a lot of hope to Lewisburg. Some thought it would be two years before this young team could contend, but instead they won the league and then famously beat Kansas the following year. The recipe appears to be similar this year - a great Sophomore class and a hungry upperclass that has seen its share of losses. Now comparing the current trio of Sophomore's to that of McNaughton, Badmus and Brown is obviously a little premature as the Class of '07 will go down as one of the top 3 in BU history, but I think they definitely have the potential to be special.

We will all get to see just how special they are as the Bison open their season on the road tonight against #6 Villanova before flying to Wisconsin to face another Big East foe, Marquette on Sunday. I'm not expecting a win in either game, but I will have undying hope.

Ray Bucknell,
Ray Bucknell,
Ray for the Orange and the Blue!
Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray
Ray for the Orange and the Blue!

Good Job NHL

While we're on the topic of pucks, I wanted to congratulate the NHL for their newest idea for the NHL All-Star game. Players will still be voted into the all-Star game by the fans, but the Captains will be able to pick the teams. So let's say that Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Pronger are named captains. They then get to choose from Sid Crosby and Alex Ovechkin to be on their team. After those two are chosen, they will then continue to stack their teams until each player has been selected.

I think this is an amazing idea. Sure, it won't make the game any more realistic (no defense, no checking), but it has a sort of nostalgic feel to it. Picking teams is something kids do every day of their life. Where you are picked is a sign of status - studs worst, wimps last. I won't pretend to think that the same stigma will be attached to being picked last in the NHL All-Star game, but I do think that person will be forechecking just a little bit harder during that game. He will probably carry a bit of a chip on his shoulder. And you know what, that's great. Passion is something sorely missing in the world of professional sports. Leave it up to the kids to help us find it.

Let's Lay off Kovy

I had two emails waiting for me yesterday morning after the Devils 5-4 shootout loss to BUffalo - one from a Devils fan and one from a Penguins fan. Some of you might be able to guess what it was about, but if not, here is a link...

Not exactly what you want from the guy you spent $100 million dollars on. He may only have 2 regular season goals, but clearly a penalty shot should be no problem, right??

Here's what I want to say about the situation. Yes, times are tough right now. The Devils suck. It would be easy for me to blame it all on Kovy. Hell, 95% of fans probably are. I actually choose to go the other way and not blame Kovy. I think that Lou may have actually failed us over the past few years with his signings. Obviously we have a salary cap mess right now and it looks like it's entirely because of Kovy's mega-deal, but to me, it's the $5 million he gave to Rolston, the $3.4 he gave to Dainus Zubrus and the $3.4 million he gave to Henrik Tallinder that really hurt the team. PLUS, I'm not sure what we accomplish by blaming Kovy. Let's face it, Kovy is going to be around for a long time - he has one of the most untradable contracts in NHL history. The ship doesn't get turned around by fans riding Kovy. If anything, it does the opposite: sour Kovy to NJ and make him want to leave. That won't accomplish anything.

Late Night Reader's Choice

This month's edition of Readers Choice comes from my old Lake Tamarack buddy Duker. He has the following Devils comment that he would like our reaction to:

Not to take away from Lou as a great GM, but I don't think he's got a handle at handling a salary cap based league. Rolston at $5, Salvador at almost $3, Elias at $6, and Arnott at $4.5 million those don't make sense. I won't complain about Kovy at $6.6 a year when Rolston and Salvador are getting about $8. The Devs haven't had a legitimate #1 D pairing in a long time and the farm system has yet to produce anything worth real note at D. Brian Burke consulted with Bill Pollian to understand how to work within a salary cap but I'm not quite sure what Lou has done.

Here is what our resident Devils blogger, The Crappy One, had to say...

the main problem is that lou has to outbid a bunch of dumber gms (sather comes to mind), but in doing so, positions himself as the dumbest. the salary cap was put in place to save owners from themselves, but as they've proven they're willing to spend too much for players that don't deserve it they've simply gone back to shooting themselves in the foot. on top of that, they've taken away a significant amount of leverage away from themselves and handed it to the players who can believe it's totally reasonable to expect some of the bloated salaries they have subsequently received. because they will get them which inevitably forces "role players" to play for the league minimum, which is why everyone either makes too much or barely anything. so the owners hurting themselves actually causes the players to hurt other players, to which I say Workers of the World Unite!

so was brian rolston really worth $20 million? no. should he have gotten that 4th year as someone signing a 35+ contract? no. can I blame lou for overdoing this one? yes. would I have done it if I were in his shoes? yes.

all things being equal, rolston should have received a contract in the area of $14 million/3 years (4.67 cap hit). it's easy to forget that he was coming off 3 consecutive 30+ goal seasons with the wild (he was one of their top producers), with 15, 13 and 11 power play goals in those seasons. he played at least 76 games a season dating back to 96-97 (81+ games 7 times). let's not forget that he was also really awesome at killing penalties. he was signed to provide some good secondary scoring from either wing.

it's easy to forget that something like half the league was bidding on him, to the point that tampa traded traded a third round pick at that year's draft just for his rights. but keep in mind that he lost 1/3 of his first season because of an injury that historically is a lingering one (it can take a year or more to fully recover from a high ankle sprain). then, once he returns he bounces around on all 4 lines, never really finding a legitimate shot at top 6 minutes. yet he still scored 20 goals last year. no, it's not worth $5 million, but all things considered, I'm not too bothered by it. of course you can make the argument that his age affected his injury and his injury risk and that's why he is overpaid at this point and frankly I wouldn't try to defend against that. he is overpaid and he shouldn't have received a guarantee for next year. but without some bad breaks (2 injuries and 3 coaches), I think that signing is viewed much differently. all contracts end up being a gamble to some degree and I think that all the significant facts would have supported taking the risk with rolston.

I have more thoughts on other folks, too. some of the moves have been completely indefensible, like hedberg adding $1 million more than any of the other completely serviceable backup goalies. or zubrus being overpaid by about $1 million. or colin white being overpaid by $3 million.

Enjoyin the NBA

I just got done watching an exciting NBA game between the Jazz and the Heat. Utah trailed by 22 in the second half and came all the way back to force OT. It was simply amazing considering Deron Williams fouled out, Al Jefferson played 17 minutes, LeBron had a triple double and Wade scored 39. In the end it all came down to Paul Millsap scoring a career high 46 on 19-28 shooting. He simply carried his team to victory.

This was the first Heat game I have seen this year and I have to say something seemed off. At the end of the day, LeBron and Wade had great numbers, but I had no idea where LeBron was in the 4th and OT and Wade missed a game clinching FT with 3 seconds left in regulation. This team should not lose at home. They were faced with some adversity and lost to a team that shouldn't be able to sniff their jock. It's only early, but I feel confident in saying that they will not win more than 70 games this year.

On a side note, it's a good thing that there has been some quality games on lately because I am totally bummed by the Nets play. After winning their first two games, they have now lost 5 in a row. Three of the five were against Miami and Orlando, but the losses at home to Charlotte and Cleveland (really...Cleveland??) sting. These are games you need to win if you are serious about making a charge for the playoffs. Again, it's early, but you need to win at home against those two teams.

Still, 2-5 is much better than 0-7 through seven games so I can't get too worried about their record. Instead, I should be worried about Brook Lopez. He has been receiving a lot of criticism for his play during the first few weeks. He is shooting under 40% from the field (>50% career) and has been terrible on the boards, averaging only 5.7 rebounds a game. I hope this is just a slump and a result of something else.

Mid-Season NFL Musings

The midway point of the NFL season is upon us and for the first time all year, I think we can finally make some sense of what is going on. Aside from the crazy parity, there have been numerous performances and issues that have captured my interest. As always, I have a bullet point list of thoughts:

• Fresh in my mind is last night's Steelers-Bengals game, so leading off is the performance of Terrell Owens. Hands down he has been the biggest surprise of the season. I thought he was done (and I know I was not alone) when he signed with the Bengals. I figured it was all for publicity. Apparently I was wrong. In his last 5 games he has 41 catches for 618 yards and 7 touchdowns. That is simply amazing - too bad the Bengals suck because a little more TO playoff drama would not be the worst thing.
• Speaking of drama, the situation in Washington is simply baffling to me. I have never really thought that Mike Shanahan was that great of a coach. Sure, he can churn out 1000 yards rushers (or at least he did while in Denver - not so much this year) and sure, maybe his teams overachieved a bit, but he never won anything without Elway. He was lucky to have lasted as long as he did in Denver. In Washington, Shanahan has feuded with Albert Haynesworth and now has benched Donovan McNabb, a QB HE TRADED FOR, for Rex Grossman. Seriously...Rex Grossman. That's like impeaching Obama and naming Paris Hilton our new president.
  
• Has their been a more interesting plot twist than Kurt Warner on Dancing with the Stars? Since his retirement, the Cards have gone through 3 QB's - Matt Leinart, Derek Anderson, Max Hall - and are a pathetic 31st in passing offense. Yet somehow at 3-5, the Cards are only one game out of the playoffs. I keep on waiting for him to come back, but then I remember that he is not Brett Favre.
• Ok, so let's talk about the best teams in the league. In the NFC, it's the Giants and Packers with the Falcons and Saints coming in 3rd and 4th. I know Green Bay and New Orleans have struggled, but I think they still have the most talent of the four. The AFC is a bit more top heavy as any one of five teams - Pats, Ravens, Jets, Steelers, Colts - could be the best team in the league. To me though, the most interesting teams in the conference are Houston, Tennessee, KC and Oakland. They may not be the best but I could see any of them pulling an upset in round 1. At this point in the season though, I'm going to say Steelers-Packers in a classic Super Bowl match-up.
• Those who know me know my love of Phil Simms. He remains my favorite player of all-time and is a pleasure to listen to on CBS. In Sunday's game between Indy and Philly, he hit the mark with his comments about illegal hits and concussions. I have not heard many former players be on the side of safety, and maybe it was because he was a QB and not a defensive player, but he correctly opined that football is a game. This is not a direct quote, but more of what I took from his comments: It is not life and death. It may be considered macho to hit people hard, but this is a game and a profession. Players should be allowed to live their lives off the field and not have what happens on the field leave them unable to live it to their fullest. My bottom line: players are stronger and faster than ever. More safety needs to be taken by the league because I'm not sure the players can police themselves. It's not macho to hit someone in the head - it's stupid and ignorant. Keep it clean. Lower your shoulder.
• I can't believe I bought into the Carolina hype. Somehow I looked at the offensive line and the ground game and thought it was possible to win 7-8 games if they got an early lead and bled the clock. Boy was I wrong - they are by far the worst team in the league, so much that I am convinced that Buffalo would beat them by 10 on a neutral field. With Matt Moore out for the season, we now get to see who sucks less (as a football player because we know the answer for who sucks as a person) -Jimmy Claussen or Tony Pike.
• I also said after week 1 that Philly was done. My thinking was that if their was 1 city in the country that could not handle a full-blown QB controversy, it was Philly. Well, somehow Andy Reid has fumbled this so many times that it actually is working for them. Mike Vick took the reigns after Kevin Kolb got hurt. Then Kolb stepped in admirably when Vick was hurt, only to be replaced by Vick when he was healthy. I don't know how this will effect Kolb in the long run, but for now, it is working.
  
• There is no one happier than me to see Darren McFadden's success, not because I know him or think he is a good guy. Nope, it's just that finally my confidence in him as a fantasy player has been rewarded. I feel pretty good with the Rodgers, Vick -DMF, Charles - Gates -White sextet leading my team.
• Finally, a few words about the Cowboys. I have always been a hater, so seeing them implode has been fun. I never once thought Wade Phillips was the right coach for the team (he is a GREAT coordinator, not coach)and it is showing. I mean, how can a team with this much talent suck so badly? Jerry Jones dug himself into a hole by saying he has never fired a coach in the middle of the season. Thankfully for Phillips, whose body language screamed "GET ME OUT OF HERE", and for the Cowboys, Jones ate some crow and fired Phillips yesterday. It won't help them this year but will allow them spend some time assessing who will be the best coach for this team.

Ok, I think that is all I have. Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Loss Bring a Lot of Questions

As I watched the Sounders get dismantled in every way last night, I tried to think what I was going to write. I mean, there was no way I could get a whole post out of the performance. Simply put, LA was the better team. Our defense got dominated. Our midfield was absent and our forwards were simply just out of it. It was a terrible way to end a good year.

So instead of recapping the game and discussing the season, I want to take this opportunity to raise a few questions. I am unsure what the guys at gosounders and Sounder at Heart have planned, but these are my concerns as I wake up this Monday morning.

• First, I can't but think whether we are letting golden opportunities slip by. Winning MLS Cup is only going to get tougher as more teams come into the league. I'm not saying that Portland and Vancouver will instantly be contenders, but with 18 teams in the league, more teams will now be missing the playoffs than making them. Can we sustain the momentum we have or did we just see the high point?
• Obviously whether we continue being successful will depend on the team we field. This is where a lot of the questions begin. The most pressing concern is the Expansion Draft, where it is highly likely that the Sounders will lose two players to Portland and Vancouver. I will save my thoughts on who will get protected and instead say that the Front Office has their work cut out for them. With the recent signings, Portland has indicated that they are going to be looking for Midfield and Defensive depth in the draft, while it is no secret that Vancouver likes to develop young. Both of these suggest that someone like Keller or Jaqua won't be selected if left unprotected, but is the FO willing to make that gamble? WE'll have to see.
• Regardless of what happens in the Expansion Draft I think we need to cut our ties with certain players. First and foremost, Tyrone Marshall and Pete Vagenas. I know Sigi loves that he count on their veteran presence, but at $169k and $117k respectively, we cannot afford to keep them on the roster. They have to move on.
• I wanted to put Jaqua on the list too, but I think the team may need to hold on to him (at one point I thought he was a lock to go to Portland, but I feel less so these days)simply because we don't know what is going to happen to Fredy and Blaise. Fredy sure hasn't done himself many favors with how he has performed down the stretch in both '09 and '10. For all the talk that Hanauer was thinking of locking him up as a DP (and the fact that he got his green card and bought a house in Seattle) had he continued his torrid pace from August, there was a strong possibility that he might move to Europe. I have to wonder if his recent form will lead to another year in Seattle. As for Blaise, I'm not really sure what we will get out of him. I continue to be a big supporter, but have to ask where he was in the playoffs.
• Another question is what will happen with Keller. His contract is officially up, but he has consistently talked about coming back for one more year so he can play against Portland and Vancouver. I know the club and Keller have to come to terms, but what if they don't???
  
• Finally, how are we going to address our midfield? Sturgis has been serviceable in the center of the pitch with Ozzie, but at the end of the day I have to wonder if we are missing out on a great opportunity to have someone more offensively talented. I get giddy thinking about someone like David Ferreira or Schelotto in front of Ozzie as they would NEVER have to get back on defense. I don't think I ever felt overly excited with Sturgis even though I was comfortable with him starting. Is Fernandez the answer there? Or will he continue to fight for playing time with Sanna Nyassi? Either way, Sounders need to come up with a solution.
• Oh, and one more finally...it may be blasphemous to say, but does Sigi need to take any blame for what happened against LA? Right now, I am not convinced that he is, but would love to hear from others on this one.

I was not ready for the season to come to an end. Now that it is I can fully concentrate on the Devils and Nets until Spring Training starts for both the Sounders and Mets. Unfortunately neither of those teams will make the playoffs, which means it is going to be a long offseason.

Lost in the Shuffle...

It was a bad weekend for Seattle sports teams as the Huskies, Sounders and Seahawks all got dominated. Lost in the headlines however, was Huskies basketball, who opened their 2010-11 season with an exhibition win over Saint Martin's.

I know, it was only an exhibition. I know, they only won by 19 over a Division 2 opponent. I know, it's only November. The thing is - the Huskies are ranked in the top 25 and expected to win their conference. Watching a winning, exciting team will help us forget about how terrible the football team is. Slowly UW is becoming a basketball school.

Now, getting to the box score, I think we can take two things from this game. First, we got to see one possible starting lineup, as Scott Suggs and Abdul Gaddy joined MBA, Isiah and Justin Holliday to start off. Off the bench, CJ Wilcox and Terrence Ross both got 21 minutes and freshman Aziz N'Diaye got 11. Obviously this will all change, especially with Venoy Overton coming back sometime, but it's nice to see who Romar trusts at this point in the season. The second take-away is the fact that Isaiah Thomas only took 2 shots and instead walked away with 11 assists. We all know Isaiah will be the guy who can get buckets when we need him to, but if he is able to be smart and look for the pass first instead of hoisting up unwarranted shots, we are going to be a dangerous team.

Very Nervous

I know no one will read this (readership sucks on the weekends), but I have to write about my feelings. I am really nervous about tomorrow. I don't want tomorrow to be the last day of the Sounders season. I know we are a great team. I know we are capable of winning tomorrow. We just need to get the job done.

So far, all three MLS series have been won by the lower seed. Deep down I know that this means nothing, but I can't shake this feeling that it does mean something. The probability is low that all four series will be won the lower seeds. Fate is against us. But then again, probability can mean nothing when it comes to sports. Maybe this is the year when chaos ensues. SJ went to NY with a defecit and won. Why not the Sounders too? Fate is with us.

I'm working myself into a lather - I love this team and don't want to season to end. Come on Sounders, let's get it done tomorrow.

We love you Sounders, We Do..
We love you Sounders, We Do..
We love you Sounders, We Do..
Oh Sounders, We love you!

Just Beat the Damn Rangers

The Devils are reeling. They are in last place and have a ton of injuries. Their definitely is a negative aura around them right now. I know one win won't be enough to get them out of their duldrums, but it definitely would be a great start. Winning cures all. And winning against your hated rivals would go a long way in getting the team on the right track. A win tonight against the stupid Rangers would not only give the team a two game winning streak, but it would make us fans a lot happier. Don't get me wrong- it wouldn't mask a 5-9-1 start, but it sure would raise spirits a little bit. We all HATE the Rangers. Beating them is always fun. So let's get it done tonight.

I am calling out three players - Marty Brodeur, Ilya Kovalchuk and Anton Volchenkov. All three of you need to step up and show your worth. These are bad times right now and we need leaders to help us get out of it.

Sounders Have Uphill Battle

Part of me wanted to reflect on the 2010 Sounders in a positive light this morning. I wanted to remember opening night when we once again had Qwest Field rocking. I wanted to remember when we sat in last place with a 4-8-2 record and the subsequent run we went on to end the season. I also wanted to remember our terrible showing in Champions League and of course of US Open Cup victory. But then I realized that by thinking about the season as a whole, I was conceding our game this weekend. That is not something I want to do. Sure, we have an uphill battle if we want to advance to the Western Conference Finals, but if there is a team in the league capable of winning on the road when hope looks lost, its the Sounders.

We have had a terrible time against the Galaxy this year. In all competitions, we are 1-3-0 against LA with our only win coming at Starfire in US Open Cup action. In MLS, we have been outscored 8-1 in three games. In order to advance, we need to reverse the trend. There is no such thing as a moral victory for this team anymore. The bar has been set high - we want trophies. Failing to get out of the first round would be a failure. I know some might think that is a little over the top, but I believe it. US Open Cups aside, MLS teams have one thing to shoot for -the MLS title. Not only have we never won a playoff game, we have never even scored. Not one goal in three games.

That of course is what makes this seem like an impossible task. We need to beat the Galaxy in regulation. If we lead by 1 goal, we go to OT and then a shootout. If we lead by 2 goals at the end of regulation then we win the series. It's that simple. Unfortunately, winning by 2 goals seems highly unlikely giving that we have only one goal against LA in 3 games this year and 0 goals in 3 career playoffs games...surely that won't happen.

But then again, it might just happen. That is the beautiful thing about sports, and especially soccer. Nothing is ever guaranteed. We saw Kasey Keller horribly mishandle a ball against LA in May, so who is to say that Donovan Ricketts won't do the same. Or that Eddie Lewis won't score an own goal. Or simply that Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero and Blaise Nkufo show up in the biggest game of the year and run the Galaxy off the field.

LA has Donovan, Beckham and Buddle -they are a good team, but I truly believe in my heart that if we show up to play and get one break to go our way, we won't be contained. Call it lack of confidence in LA's defense or call it total confidence in our offense, but I think we can get it done. And we have to get it done or there will be no competitive soccer for the rave and green until March.

[UPDATE - I am just got word that SJ went to NY and erased a 1-0 aggregate deficit to win 3-2. Frustration with MLS playoff seeding aside, this has to be promising for the Sounders in their attempt to move on]

Saturday is Going to be Brutal

This was supposed to be the year that glory was restored to the UW football program. We had an exciting second coach, a potent offense and a Heisman Trophy candidate QB who passed up millions of dollars to return for his senior year. This was the year.

When we beat USC, to put us at 2-2 on the season, I wrote that the next two games were of highest importance. Beating the Trojans was a great feeling, but if we could not beat both the Sun Devils and the Beavs, there was a good chance we would stay home for the holidays again. It wasn't a huge shock that they laid an egg against ASU before beating OSU in OT the following week. At 3-3, the Huskies were staring at the conference's top 3 teams: @ AZ, Stanford, @UO. Losing to Arizona sucked, but we were on the road. Surely we had a chance at home against the Cardinal. Wow, were we all wrong. The defense was terrible. the offense even worse. We lost 41-0.

Now this weekend we have to go to Autzen Stadium to play the top-ranked Ducks. It is not going to go well. Let me give you the facts:

• The Ducks average 51.0 points a game (1st nationally); the Huskies give up 34.1 (106th)
• The Ducks average 308.8 rushing yards a game (3rd); the Huskies give up 144.3 (74th)
• The Huskies average 21.8 (93rd) points a game; the Ducks give up 17.9 and Jake Locker is not playing
• Oh, did I mention that the Huskies haven't won at Autzen since 2002 and have been outscored on average by UO 42-17 during their 6 game series losing streak
  

The Ducks are going to run ALL OVER the Huskies. I have been joking with my friends that they might set a single game record by running for 1000 yards (Interestingly, the single game record is 768 by Oklahoma vs K-State in 1987) and while that may not be realistic, LaMichael James certainly has the opportunity to approach LaDanian Tomlinson's single game rushing record of 406 yards set in 1999 against UTEP. Afterall, James ran for 257 four weeks ago against Stanford and 239 last week against USC - both defenses which are head and shoulders above UW.

The only thing worse than a rout by UO is that the game will be nationally televised on ABC, which means the rest of the country can learn what we in Seattle already know - this team is not any closer to relevance than they were last year. At least we have basketball.

JerseySounder's Most Hated Sports Town

Prior to the Sounders playoff game against the Gals (which I will not be covering for JS because I did not watch a single minute of it), Sigi Schmid uttered the famous phrase that Boston made famous in the 80's - Beat LA! The phrase has certainly made a resurgence thanks to the Suns and Celtics battles against the Lakers in the past few years. I have also now heard it at 'fringe' sporting events like MLS and WNBA. So it got me thinking...do people really hate LA sports or are people simply too lazy to think of something else to say? To shed some light on the mystery, I emailed 30 of my closest friends to see what Sports Town they hated the most.

Before reveling the results, let me break down the voters: I received 17 ballots of which we had 7 Bucknellians, 3 Seattlites, 3 high school friends, 2 Califorians and Irishman and myself. Here are the votes followed by select commentary

1. Philadelphia - 6
2. New York - 4
3. Dallas - 2
4. Boston, LA, South Bend, Portland, Denver - 1

Thanks to all of you who voted for Philly. It means I can continue ripping on the city without angering the majority of my readers. Anyways, before we get to their comments, a quick blurb about how I feel. I consider myself a NY fan even though my two most hated teams are the Rangers and Yanks. I love NJ's only two teams, the Devils and Nets, whose natural rivals are NY teams. But I also love the Mets, another NY team, and would rather have the Giants or Jets win their divisions than any other team. I sort of look at NY as my older brother - I want to beat them at every opportunity but I will stand up for them against other cities like Philly, Boston, and Pittsburgh.

So here is what others had to say...

The Crappy One: "of course there is hatred for the yankees and rangers. but on the flipside, I have enough friends who like the mets that I'll support them in spirit (that means no homophobic slurs). plus, yankees fans hate the mets. the enemy of my enemy is my friend....the thing that actually changed my mind on it were the giants and jets... the fact that they play in new jersey but refuse to take the name pisses me off to no end. ny jets my sack. they play in effing east rutherford. NJ. not new york. same for the giants. and the fact that they call the new stadium "NEW MEADOWLANDS" is retarded, so they lose points for that, too. seriously, get the fuck out of my state if you can't bother calling yourself the new jersey giants."

D-Lib: "Philly - I've never understood why classlessness is something to be proud of."

E-Huge: "I would root for the Taliban if they played Notre Dame."

Buns: "The icing on the cake though is really the fans in Philly. I'm not sure if it's the general underperformance of their teams in the last 25 years or their inferiority complex with New York, but it's really easy not to like them. I've been to Philly several times in my life (all for business, never for pleasure obviously), and I can sort of see why there would be an inherent bitterness in the people. The place is a shithole that tries to market itself as lovable and as an underdog. So when the teams lose, the fans have nothing else to turn to. If the Miami Heat are getting blown out in a game, the fans are actually happy because that means they can leave the game early and hit up the beach. In Philly? Not so much."

J-Will: "This is Seattle. We don't hate anybody...Personally, since I lived on Colorado, I hate all teams from there."

The Wife: "Hatred is a strong word. I guess since my favorite team to support is the Sounders, I would say I would like to see Portland lose the most"

Duchene: "Oooo, that’s a toughy. There are three contenders. New York fans are definitely in the discussion. As everyone knows, they think that the universe revolves around them and that nothing exists outside of their world. I’m pretty sure they think the World Series was cancelled this year because the Yankees aren’t playing...Philly fans are almost exclusively loudmouths...I could go through the usual litany of why they are so obnoxious (vomiting on children, etc.), but those are all well known. But the winners, in an extremely tight race, are Boston fans. 10 years ago they were insufferable whiners like Cubs fans, but with the sudden run of success they’ve managed to maintain that whining edge while adding a layer of condescension. It really is an amazing combination. Add to the fact that all the people who can still afford to go to games in Boston’s are there because daddy or granddaddy did all the work and then passed along the cash and you have a truly unbearable fan base."


Major thanks to all those who contributed. I look forward to more email polls like this in the future.

Giants Give This Mets Fan Hope

The San Francisco Giants just one the World Series and as I watched the celebration, I couldn't help but get a little choked up. This franchise had not won a title since moving west from NY in 1957. During the celebration, Joe Buck gave a list of longtime Giants players who never got to lift a title. It definitely hit something inside of me. The thing about the Giants (as well as the White Sox and Red Sox before them) going generations without winning a title is not that the franchise necessarily feels the agony; no, it's the fans that feel the agony. It's the 55 year old men who have never been able to say that their beloved Giants are World Series champions. The fans are the true winners.

I know my drought hasn't been that long - 24 years to be exact - but I am starting to feel like I might not see another World Series title in Queens. That is why the Giants winning the title was such a good moment. It gives me some hope heading into next year. I mean, here was a team picked by SI to finish 3rd in the NL West with 83 wins; a team with odds of making the World Series was +3000, of which only 12 teams were worse. This was a middle of the pack team that went on a crazy rollercoaster ride to win the title.

Surely, this means that Mets have a shot next year, right?

For crying out loud...

Here's the Devils' injury tally so far:

Brian Rolston (10 gamesmissed), Bryce Salvador (12 games), Matt Corrente (6 games), Anton Volchenkov (10 games) , Mark Fraser (8 games), Anssi Salmela (12 games) and now rookie stud Jacob Josefson.

Oh yeah and by the way, Zach Parise is sidelined indefinitely after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery.

And yet Rod Pelley has managed to stay healthy the whole season.

Something tells me this will not be the year that Devils forfeit their first round pick.