What I Missed...

As many of you know by now, my last week was spent in Jersey away from the family. Apparently that time away did something to my brain as I tried to take The Incident to soccer practice this morning with no shoes on. I drove all the way to Edmonds, got out of the car to get her, noticed she had none on and then got back in the car. Apparently I forgot how to be a dad in only 6 days. Crazy.

Anyways, it seems that a lot of stuff has gone on in the past week. I have been fairly present on the blog over the past week, but definitely missed out on a lot. This is my opportunity to quickly address some of them

-I always like to lead off with Sounders' news (even in December) as we have found Keller's replacement. Oh wait, Sigi refuses to call him that. Instead, Michael Gspurning is the Sounders' new goalie. I will be honest - I had never heard of the guy (he's an Austrian playing in Greece) and have gotten all my info on him from SounderAtHeart. With that being said, I am pleasantly optimistic as it sounds like Gspurning might be able to present the team with something Keller didn't - confident play out of the back. I can't remember how many times I winced watching Kasey kick a ball played to his feet - it just wasn't a strong point of his game. If the G-Man (we learned that the G is not silent) can help start the build-up and be merely solid in the pipes, then this should be a good thing.

-Wait, so both Manchester United and Manchester City failed to make it out of the Champions League group stage, but Arsenal did? I knew City was in trouble, but I somehow missed that United was struggling. Wow, what a crazy result.

-Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson spurned the Marlins to sign with the Angels. I know I am not the only one who was shocked by this. After Pujols failed to meet the Marlins' deadline, it was assumed he would be taking the Cardinals 10 year, $220 million contract. Yet it was the Angels who swooped in to sign him for $255 million over 10 years. It is simply an amazing turn of events considering the Angels had never even been rumored as in the mix. I know Pujols has been the best player over the past 10 years, but assuming he will keep it up for the next 7 years (let alone 10 years) is a gamble (just ask A-Rod how his lat 30's are treating him). I know he is the best player in the game, but a contract like this could end up killing them, especially since their is a no-trade clause. Personally, I would have been upset had the Mets signed him for that much. As for Wilson, I think it is a perfect place for him. I don't believe he is a true #1 starter and he won't have to be in Anaheim, where Jered Weaver and Dan Haren are firmly the top two. Wilson should get 18-20 wins again as pitching third in the rotation will cover up some of his blemishes.

-UW lost a heart breaker to #11 Marquette and then by 6 to #5 Duke over the past week. Bottom line is that Huskies sit at 4-4 on the season, but I honestly think the recent results are something to be optimistic about. Marquette and Duke are quality teams and while they weren't true road games, UW did step out of it's home comfort zone and played fairly well. I think this is a young team with too much talent to miss the NCAA Tournament - it just might take a while to gel.

-David Stern stepped in to veto the three-team trade that would have sent Chris Paul to LA, Pau Gasol to Houston and Lamar Odom, Luis Scola and others to New Orleans. Apparently, many small market owners were upset that another big market team strong-armed a small market team into trading their star. I get it. It sucks, but the fact is that all three teams agreed to the trade. New Orleans can't afford to re-sign Paul at the end of the year, so they are trying to move on before the year starts. It is their prerogative to make the trade. The problem I have will the whole thing is that New Orleans is owned and run by the NBA. They have no owner. I understand that some moves need to be made in order to keep the team somewhat competitive, but this trade is one that will drastically change the league. This is Chris Paul we are talking about, not Darren Collison. I think the BA has a major conflict of interest here, but I'm not sure where to go since they do legally own the team.

-The rumor in Nets-land is that Dwight Howard is asking the Magic to trade him to the Nets after having spent some time talking to D-Will in the off-season (and after allegedly meeting against the rules with the Nets last week) about teaming up. The trade would be Howard and Hedo Turkoglu's contract for Brook Lopez and two1st round draft picks. This will be the only time I will comment until it becomes official (if at all). Obviously this would be amazing for the Nets, but they would still be a few open roster spots that they would need to fill. Howard, D-Will, Turkoglu and Morrow would be 4 of the starters, but I don't know who plays PF and who comes off the bench besides the horrible Travis Outlaw. I like Brook a lot and think it might be a good thing for him too - I have this feeling he wasn't a huge fan of Avery Johnson and think he can still be that 22/11 guy we thought he could be at one time.

-Brandon Roy retired at the age of 27. He was one of my favorite players in the league because his game was really like none other. He could have been a top-10 player if not for those terrible knees. Every time I thought about him running around with bone-on-bone friction, I cringed and prayed he would get out before he injured himself beyond repair. While he will be missed, it is the right move.

-Ryan Braun, the 2011 NL MVP, has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Apparently he did so a month before winning the award, and since being informed of the results, has has been disputing his case. According to Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn "a source close to Braun said that when he was told about the positive test, he immediately requested to be tested again. That second test, using a different sample that was tested by Braun's camp, the source said, was not positive. Those close to Braun believe that the difference between the two tests will show that the first test was invalid. Although Braun's representatives acknowledge that a non-positive test would not negate a positive one, they believe the second test shows certain anomalies that will suggest problems with the first. They declined to specify." Man, this is a bit of a shocker, although it seems like there might be something sketchy here. I am going to hold back judgment until I find more info on what the anomalies are.

-Congrats to Brad Guzan for earning his first EPL start on Saturday, a 2-1 win over Bolton. Guzan has long been the second string keeper for the US team, but has recently fallen out of favor. He has consistently failed to get any playing time in the EPL, leading many to wonder if his opportunity has passed him by. I still think he is the best option if Howard was to go down tomorrow. Maybe not in 4 years, but certainly now. I imagine he will go back to the bench once starter Shay Given returns in a month, but who knows - maybe he will force the coaches hand.

Gotta Go To Mo's

One of the underrated things about coming back to Jersey for a few days (besides being able to watch the Devils) are the Jersey version's of Modell's and Sports Authority. I'm not sure anyone really appreciates how awesome the stores are out here, but I certainly do.

You see, whereas the Seattle versions center around outdoor sports, the Jersey versions center around sports gear. Go to any Jersey store and you will see a shit-ton of fan gear from all the major teams (except the Isles of course). I'm talking hats, jackets, jerseys, shirts, sweats as well as beer coozies, playing cards, beer glasses, slippers, signed photos, coasters, magnets, Christmas ornaments and a lot of stuff I can't even remember. It's stuff you just can't find in Seattle.

Yesterday I took a trip to the second largest mall in America, the 4-story Palisades Mall in West Nyack. For those who have never been, this place has a Lowe's Theater, an ice hockey rink, a bowling alley, a Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, Dave and Busters and a JC Pennys that is 3 stories high. I met my boy J-Will for lunch and he called the Food court a Food Mall because of all the choices (interestingly they had a place that specialized in Grilled Cheese sandwiches, a food that I have never seen an adult order at a restaurant).

My time spent in the Modell's at Palisades was very enjoyable. They had 2T and 3T Davd Wright jerseys and Mets jackets that would have looked great on The Incident, but I was disciplined and didn't splurge on. They also had a really beautiful Zach Parise jersey and Jose Reyes jerseys marked at only 20% off (I think they will learn that no self-respecting Mets fan will by this for anything more than 80% off). But my favorite items were some Panini sticker books. I'm not sure anyone reading this will know what they are, because the only place I had ever seen them was in South Jersey during, but they brought back some memories. basically, instead of buying cards, you bought packs of stickers and stuck them on the appropriate page. It was like having all your cards on one page to see. I was very tempted to buy one, but they only had 1 stinking pack of stickers left, which means that someone must be enjoying them.

Then I went to Sports Authority and looked at their wall of hats. It had to be 30 wide by 10 high and it was all NY sports teams. At first, it was impressive but then I noticed that you could buy Mets hats in black and white or red and white. If you have ever engaged me in a conversation before, you probably know my feelings on this, but I truly believe you need to wear your teams colors. A green or pink Mets hat is bad enough, but Mets hats in the colors of the Yanks or Phils is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE. If you buy one of these and call yourself a fan, you should be ashamed and have your fan card taken away.

After leaving the hat section, I then began to test all the ice hockey sticks - something I did all the time as a teenager in jersey, but something I have not done once in Seattle. The only things I didn't do were try to dunk on the 8 foot hoops and test out all the workout equipment because...well, at sometime you have to grow up. (speaking of growing up, why was I so happy that they had an amazing Lego Store?)

Anyways, the trip to the mall was a good one. I was proud of myself for not blowing our budget...I survived. And yet, I put myself through the agony again the next day as I stopped into another Modell's store. I had a Mets jacket in my hand that I had every intention of buying for The Incident. I walked around the store and then decided to put it back, to instead use my money on white Castle. Two days, multiple sports stores and no purchases. I am happy that I remained disciplined, but know that if I still lived in Jersey things would be different (I'm talking discipline with buying Mets gear, but in general things would be a lot different). So while Seattle sports stores aren't as exciting as their Jersey counterparts, my wallet is thankful that I get to shop in them on a regular basis.

My grandfather passed away last Friday at the age of 96. I have spent the last few days in new Jersey trying to help my mom sort everything out with my grandmother. It has definitely been an interesting few days, but every time I get a little sad I try to think of all the good times I had with him. One of the things we always had a good time with was talking baseball. My grandfather was a Yankees fan. I obviously am a huge Mets fan.

He would wear his Yankees hat high on his head (with no curve of course) and would always ask me "Robert, did you watch the Yankees last night? They won again." To which I always said "No. I hate the Yankees." He would always laugh and then proceed to tell me about the new players on the team who he hadn't heard of. Then he would try to throw me a bone and tell me that he did actually watch the Mets the other day. At first, I think he was just kidding me, but in the previous few years, I'm pretty sure he would watch the Mets. You see, he didn't have cable and relied on the weekly Yankees games on 11 or the Mets games on 9 to watch baseball. Still, he would always carry on the old conversation and razz me about the Mets.

I opened up his closet today and on the top shelf was his Yankees hat. I took it down and thought for a split second about putting it on my head. Then I looked at the size and luckily it was a 1/4 size too small for me (thus eliminating any chance of me committing adultery) so I didn't put it on. Instead, I just held it in my hands and I couldn't help but smile. While I hate the Yankees more than the Devil himself, I was happy to be holding the hat and have since given serious thought to bringing it home. I'm not sure exactly what I would do with it if Grandma is ok with me having it, but I think it is something I want to do...and I don't think it makes me a bad fan.

Feels Like a Slap in the Face

So Jose Reyes is no longer batting leadoff for the New York Mets. He is no longer with the only franchise he has known since he was 17. He is now the newest signing of the newly named, newly rich Miami Marlins.

I had a feeling this day would come, and at times I even suggested that I would be ok with it. I feel like I have said it so many times - the Mets were in a shitty situation with Reyes. If he re-signed, his next tenure was bound to be destroyed by injuries. If he left, his tenure with his new team was bound to be highly successful. Simply put, we were damned if we do, damned if we don't.

But now that I sit here knowing that Reyes is officially leaving Flushing, I can't help but be a little sad. Not only does this symbolize the end of a once promising era, but it pretty much signifies the start of our rebuilding process. I thought that we could possibly win 80 games in 2012 and 2013...but now I think we are headed for 65 wins over the next two years (at least). Oh, and I think we trade David Wright. I know Sandy said that Reyes' status did not affect Wright's status, but come on...it obviously does.

I understand that this fan base, which can be hot and cold with players, had it's low moments with Jose Reyes. I understand that he might have been frustrated with the fans and I fully believe that players don't owe anything to the fans, but this just feels like a slap in the face. Jose, it's ok that you wanted to get paid, but to go to the Marlins, an inter-division team, is just insulting. I get that they have a new stadium and new direction. I get that Miami is close to the Caribbean, but come on. The Mets gave you the opportunity to make it to the big leagues. The Mets stuck with you when you were constantly hurt. The Mets were willing to pay you pretty decent money...and yet, it wasn't good enough. You went to the Marlins. the only worse teams would have been the Phils, Yanks and Braves. Come on, Jose.

There is No Debate

I want to be brief with this because to me there is no debate. Alabama is the second best team in the nation and deserves to be playing in the BCS Title Game. It's not the match-up that I would want - I would love to see high-flying Oklahoma go against the LSU defense - but when you look at the resumes, it's the only option.

I understand that Alabama did not win their conference, let alone their division. But in the world of the BCS, where they award at-large bids to teams who don't win their conference, you don't need to win your conference to play for the title. If you want to mandate that teams must win their conference in order to play for the title, then the BCS needs to get rid of at-large bids. It's as simple as that.

I understand that they already had their shot, but it's not like they got blown out. Everyone making this argument seems to believe that their loss was the definitive statement that they aren't worthy of a shot, but the fact remains that they lost 9-6 in Overtime to the team currently ranked #1. If this had been 1990, we would have had a tie and both teams would still be ranked 1-2. But in 2011, there must be a winner and thanks to a little bit of luck, LSU happened to get the FG in overtime. Had one play gone differently, we might be talking about Alabama being #1.

While Alabama lost by a field goal in overtime to the top ranked team in the nation, Oklahoma St, playing under difficult circumstances following the loss of the schools women's basketball head coach, lost in Ames, IA to Iowa St, a team that is 6-6 on the year. I'm sorry, but they need to win that game. They blew through all the other challenges during the season - Oklahoma, Texas, Baylor, Kansas St, but choked with the finish line in site.

If you throw out the names and conferences of the two schools in question and simply look at the resume, you see one team's only loss was to a 12-0 team while the other lost to a 6-6 team. I'm sorry folks, but it just doesn't add up. While Oklahoma St would be a more interesting opponent, Alabama is the more worthy opponent.

**

In other college football bowl news, how exciting is the Baylor-Washington game gonna be. Three weeks ago I officially backed Robert Griffin III as my Heisman candidate - now I get to see him officially shred my team's defense. Yikes.

Roger Levesque. Zach Scott.

Following Taylor Graham's retirement today, those are the only two remaining USL Sounders on the team. I'm not sure anyone would have seen that coming - surely the bets would have been on LeToux and Graham but at the end of the day, Graham could only do one thing...and he did that below average. Say what you want about Scott and Levesque, but the two continue to hold on because of their flexibility. Whether it is in the center or on the sides, Zach Scott has shown that he can fill a role. Whether it is as a forward, midfielder or defender, Roger Levesque has shown that he can fill a role. Neither are the best players in the league, but they are versatile. Versatility is a great thing in a league with a salary cap.

There are a lot of other news and rumors going on around the team. I will try to summarize them for those who get all your Sounders information from this site.

First, MLS's convoluted version of free agency, the Re-Entry Draft goes down on Monday. In a nutshell, when a team decides not to exercise an option or sign a player to an extension, the player then becomes available in a draft (because you know, free player movement is too crazy an idea right now). The Re-Entry Draft happens in two stages. In the first stage, players must be signed by the team that selected them at last year's salary (or better). Players that are not selected in Stage 1 are then available in Stage 2. At that time, teams can offer any salary to them that they feel. They have exclusive negotiating rights for a certain amount of time. If they cannot agree to a contract then they become a free agent.

Ok, so the Sounders released Nate Jaqua, Pat Noonan, Terry Boss and the aforementioned Taylor Graham. The same day, Terry Boss retired on his doctor's advice because of reoccurring concussions. I was sad to hear that it came to this, but kudos to him for stepping away before his brain turned to jelly.

As for Jaqua and Noonan being released, I'm not sure there has ever been a sentence involving those two that made more people happy. They have been punching bags for the past two years. Fans hated them and now they are gone. I personally think that they both served a role on this team and wonder if they will be missed. Again, they were not great players, but they allowed Sigi to mix and match his team late in the season without having a huge drop-off. I personally refuse to think that Nate is done - this is MLS. He can still get 5 goals a year. He just needs a change in scenery.

Moving away from the re-Entry Draft (which I personally don't think we will take part in), it appears Mauro Rosales has been re-signed, for a salary some are saying will be comparable to El Flaco and Montero. This is certainly well deserved after he received only 40k last year, but it will be tough on the salary cap. When I wrote my piece last week about not pulling the trigger on Braun for Riley, I said it would have been a straight up trade salary wise, but I forgot to mention that we actually needed to shed salary to re-sign Mauro.

I wondered what they would be doing with the Right Back position since Riley wasn't that highly priced. Some reports say they are looking at Heiner Mora, a RB from Saprissa and the Costa Rican national team. That is great, but I have to think his salary would be as much if not more than Riley's. So what gives. Well, the guys at SounderAtHeart held a chat tonight (check it out, there is a lot of great stuff in it) and suggested that Sigi will look at Evans as a possible starting RB next year. Personally, I think this makes tons of sense since the Midfield will be uber-crowded once Zakuani returns. It is possible that not only Evans would be on the bench, but Friberg as well. Finding an internal replacement for Riley not named Zach Scott would be amazing.

Also in the chat, the guys seem to indicate that Michael Gspurning is indeed going to be our starting keeper next year and that the team would be stupid to trade for Stefan Frei. (personally, I have never seen him the -play, but I really like Frei, regardless of how many goals he gave up last season). They also indicate that the team is looking at Honduras for some talent as well as keeping an eye on the Tanzanian trialist famous for his play in the Manchester UNited friendly.

I'm not exactly sure what is going to happen, but I do think that there is a lot of moves still to be made by Hanauer and company. I don't think it will be a big time signing like Nicholas Anelka or Didier Drogba, but I do see them making one final trade to gain some more financial flexibility. While they won't be giving up any of their core players, I do think there will be some movement. I do know one thing though - whatever they do, I am excited by the possibilities.

*****

Oh, and one final thing, best of luck to Arlo White in his new gig as the voice of MLS on NBC. I know he was only with the club for two years, but I am going to miss him. Even in losses, I would always go to the website Monday morning just to listen to his calls. Some of my favorite moments over the past 2 years included not just the players, but Arlo as well. He will always be etched in my memory for his calls on Fucito's stoppage time winner against KC and Montero's late game winner against Chicago.

I don't want to compare him to the legend Doc Emerick, but this is now the second announcer that NBC has stolen away from me. While I wish him the best, I can only hope that we don't get another Kevin Calabro debacle.

In Tebow I Trust?

In the NFL there are great QB's, good QB's, average QB's and below average QB's. Then there is Tim Tebow. I simply don't know where to group him because I have never seen anything like him. He is a crappy QB who somehow is winning with a less than spectacular team.

The NFL has it's share of bad QB's - Curtis Painter, Rex Grossman, Matt Moore, Tyler Palko, Tavarius Jackson - yet I might argue that Tebow is at the bottom. Have you ever seen him throw? He is terrible. Yet somehow he is winning.

In the past decade, the NFL has seen Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, Jake Delhomme and Rex Grossman start under center in the Super Bowl. All were average QB's who played on great teams. Tebow is a below average QB on a team that drafted 2nd in the draft last year. Yet somehow he is winning.

I don't know how he is doing it but I am starting to come around on him. A few months back it would have been tough to find a bigger Tebow-hater than yours truly, yet somehow this ride he is taking us all on is doing something to me - it is capturing my imagination. Tim Tebow is not a good QB yet his team - a group of professional football players - believes in him like they are in college still. Even if he only completes 5 passes through the first 3 quarters he has instilled confidence in his teammates.

It is just amazing. After all, the Broncos changed their game plan to fit his needs. But unlike the sophisticated wishbone offenses seen in the college ranks (Army, Ga Tech, Air Force), this version of the wishbone leaves little to the imagination. Sure, there are some fake handoffs, direct snaps and reverses but at the end of the day, it's all about having the ball in Tebow's hands and letting him make decisions in the open field. The opposition knows that it is going to be Tebow all the time and yet he is still winning.

This is a team that started 1-4, traded their Pro Bowl WR and have old-man Willis McGahee as their starting tailback. In their last 4 games they have run the ball a total of 179 times (~45 times a game) while only throwing the ball 68 times (~17 times a game) for a ratio of 2:6 to 1. There is no balance and no semblance of a passing game. Opposing defenses aren't kept honest - they can play the run all day long and never be caught off guard by the pass. And when they are, Tebow throws a duck. He is a horrible passer. And yet hey continues to win.

Trust me, I don't want to believe. But when I saw San Diego settle for a 51 yard FG attempt in OT last week, I knew how the game was going to end. Novak would miss the FG. Tebow would drive Denver down the field. Matt Prater would hit the game winner. There was no doubt in my mind...and as expected, that is exactly what happened. Normally I would not buy into this - I mean, it has to be a fluke right? A few good weeks doesn't mean anything. Yet Tebow continues to do it. Aside from the blowout loss to Detroit, Tebow has been directly responsible for all wins - three fourth quarter comebacks (including 2 OT wins) and one comeback from a halftime deficit. He has not only given his team hope, but NFL fans as well. And unlike others, he has not failed yet.

I sometimes mock his image and his beliefs but I think there is something go on here (ok, the Tebow Knee is a bit too much - he is certainly overplaying it right now). He has GOD on his side. How else do you explain that a QB with a 45% completion percentage and an average of 128 yards in his 6 starts is somehow 5-1?

[ok, let's take a step back. The defense is remarkably good and the offense is not turning the ball over. In Tebow's 5 starts excluding the Detroit game, they have turned the ball over 2 times. Tebow himself has only turned it over 3 times in 7 games. It might not be pretty, but it is something the rest of the league hasn't seen yet. Not turning the ball over and winning the possession battle is winning them games]

I don't know if it will last - you have to imagine the rest of the league will catch on sometime - but if it continues for another two weeks, then I will be ALL IN. As for now, I am simply left to question my faith...in Tebow