Objects in Mirror may be Closer than they Appear...

Is it just me, or is Francona managing the lead away with the handling of the Red Sox pitching staff?

The Yankees have shaved three games off the Sox lead because -

• Francona brought in Paplebon too early (bullpen error two in that game, by the way)
• Left Schilling in too long
• And expected Gags to hold a one-run lead

In spite of months of evidence that he should do the contrary, Tito did the above and it has cost the Sox three games.

This now makes, I think, four games that Gags has cut off the Sox division lead. Do you suppose he's somehow on the Yankees' payroll? I want that investigated.

Say it ain't so, Rod, say it ain't so...

By now most out there know about the report that has hit about when Rodney Harrison was first doping. I think paraphrasing the final lines from Bernard Malamud's great baseball novel, The Natural is somehow appropriate.

Not necessarily accurate...but appropriate.

For those of you who have never read the book, it is the novel from which the movie was adapted...and it has a decidedly different ending. The character of Roy Hobbs was inspired by Shoeless Joe Jackson, and what happened to him during and after the Black Sox Scandal.

At the end of the novel, after Hobbs has refused to take the Judge's money, he strikes out at the plate anyway. Overcome with emotion over blowing his chance, he falls asleep on a clubhouse bench.

After he comes to early the next morning, he is greeted by a paperboy selling newspapers with the headline that Hobbs was bought off and the paperboy imploring him to, "say it ain't so, Roy."

The fallen hero imagery of the reference spoke to me.

Get well....

Joe Andruzzi. You're fighting your toughest opponent yet.

Get Walking....

Kevin Everett. It's good to hear that you have motion in your hands and legs.

One final comment on Vick until sentencing...

So, as I am sure many that have followed the Vick dogfighting case will recall, a number of athletes such as Deion Sanders and Emmitt Smith gave some form of defense of Vick's dogfighting - based on cultural differences (ie: it should be considered okay because culturally, he grew up around it in the South).

Whoopi Goldberg engaged in the same defense just a couple of weeks ago. She said, "He's from the South, from the Deep South ... This is part of his cultural upbringing. For a lot of people, dogs are sport. Instead of just saying (Vick) is a beast and he's a monster, this is a kid who comes from a culture where this is not questioned."

Boy, that's just lovely. I can't wait for the next Ku Klux Klan member who gets charged with murder and hate crimes to start talking about hating non-whites as part of his/her "cultural upbringing," and warning us to not call him/her a monster because he/she comes from a culture where that just isn't questioned.

If Vick were picked up for snorting or dealing cocaine, would she have claimed the same "cultural" defense because he came from a poor black community where drug dealing and use is part of the "culture"? Of course not. Because it's commonly understood that the act is illegal.

And let's face it - if he didn't know it was illegal, why go through great pains to create a set-up where he can at least try to deny involvement?

Let's face it Whoopi, your "cultural" defense is indefensible.

Quoth the Raven...

A couple of things to address...

Hey, San Diego...welcome to the Norv Turner era. I wonder what the over/under will be on when AJ Smith gets whacked for replacing a hall-of-fame coach with football's version of Rain Man.

From Don Banks this morning -

"I know the truth and I know what I believe, and that's all that's really important,'' said Brady, when asked about the perception of the Patriots' tarnished legacy. "Hopefully everyone who follows us realizes that. But if you don't, then who really cares? We've been proving it to people for seven years, and it's been the same thing. We're not changing what we do.''
Sideline cameras aside, no, they're not. Not one bit. Critics be damned. Two games into another season, and despite the tumult of the past week, they're still the same old Patriots. Maybe even better. For the other 31 teams in the NFL, I can't think of anything that could possibly rate as a worse piece of news.

So, on the second Monday of the season, here are my questions -

If the Patriots had an unfair advantage in the first game of the season, then what was the Jets' excuse for that performance in Baltimore? What, then, is the Chargers' excuse for losing to the league's most scrutinized team yesterday? Belichick manage to replace Philip Rivers with a pod-person?

Let's face a couple of incontrovertible facts here -

For all the talk about the Pats offense - and it has been impressive - the defense has been just as impressive in spite of missing two of their key starters.

The Patriots might be the deepest team in the NFL. Without defensive stalwarts Rodney Harrison or Richard Seymour, New England has done the following on defense through the first two weeks -

Given up a league leading 214 yards per game
Given up 56 yards per game on the ground (2nd in the league) while facing Thomas Jones and reigning league MVP LaDanian Tomlinson (Tomlinson averaged a mere 2.4 yards per carry against the Pats)
Given up 158 yard per game through the air (5th) and have sacked opposing quarterbacks 8 times (4th)
Achieved an average margin of victory of 24 points

All this while playing two of last year's playoff contenders and last season's consensus "best team in the NFL."

Did the Pats have an unfair competitive advantage over the Chargers last night that made a big difference between last night and last season's narrow playoff victory? You bet. Any team that thinks Norv Turner is a better coach than Marty Schottenheimer is automatically giving its opponent an unfair competitive advantage.

Now for the weird question of the week...

Belichick did something mind-bogglingly stupid and against the rules and deserved punishment for it. He got it. He also, in a season in which many pundits have already claimed they are the team to beat, managed to create an "us against the world" situation for his team. So...was he hoping to get caught in order to give his team that extra impetus?

Gone for the last two seasons has been (even the ability to claim) the mantra of "no one thought we could do it." So...was this done to give the team a rallying cry? How do we defend one of our own, how do we defend our legacy?

I think it's unlikely, but I wouldn't rule it out as a possibility.

Nine is a magic number...

I wasn't thrilled with the Red Sox performance this past weekend. They screwed the pooch on Friday, and spit the bit on Sunday...both faux-pas a result of Terry Francona doing a piss-poor job of handling his pitching staff.

I understand that Schilling was pitching a good game and had a low pitch count. But this whole season he has had trouble holding a lead. He should never have been around to face Jeter. I won't even get into Friday's debacle.

Now for the good...

With twelve games left, the Sox magic number is down to nine. It could have been lower, but this isn't bad.

Eric Hinske will never pay for another drink in Boston. He may have been thrown out in the play at the plate (props to Jorge Posada for holding on to that ball), but he was responsible for the run scored by Jacoby Ellsbury later in the game. The ball clearly beat Ellsbury to the plate, but the gun-shy Posada braced for the collision instead of getting the tag down.

I almost think that Hinske should have been given an RBI for that.

Whadda week...

So...let's go through a few thoughts...

RSN -

Daisuke Matsuzaka is looking tired. I know that the Red Sox are trying to treat Clay Buchholz with kid's gloves, but I think it would help their chances in the post-season to maybe skip Matsuzaka for a turn or two in the rotation - cut back a bit on his throwing, so he's fresher come post-season.

Patriot Nation -

Bill Belichick did something mind-bogglingly stupid.

Not a sentence I thought I would ever find myself writing.

But Video-gate has been interesting to follow outside of Pats territory. Lost on most it seems are the following -

1. The video camera was confiscated in the first quarter along with the tape. The Patriots never had an opportunity to analyze the tape.
2. I have heard analysts talk about how a tape like this can give a team a huge advantage due to their ability to make adjustments to what an opposing defense is doing in the second half - here's the problem with that: a coaching staff would have to sync the film of the opposition's signals with game film to see what's happening on the field. Halftime is ten...maybe fifteen minutes? That's gotta be one talented analyst. So the idea that it can help in the same game is absolutely ridiculous.
3. I have heard others talk about it giving an advantage in the case of a rematch. I have heard former players talk about how teams typically change their defensive signals when facing a team for the second time in a season. So no advantage there, either.

Was what Belichick did wrong and paranoid? Yes. Did he and the team deserve to be sanctioned? Yes.

Is it going to hurt his legacy in the league? Only in the short-term. Does it tarnish the Patriots' legacy? Also, only in the short-term. The fact is that Belichick is not the first coach to do anything like this and won't be the last. Check out Jason Cole's article at Yahoo Sports. He points out that Mike Shannahan got caught by the league filming Chargers' practices - PRACTICES! That means they physically sent someone to San Diego during the week. This article from the Washington Post notes that the Broncos won their Super Bowls while out of compliance with the salary cap.

If there's anything that can give a team an unfair competitive advantage, it's spending more than allowed.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like what Belichick did, and am not defending it. My point is that Shanahan's transgressions have not impacted the esteem in which he is held around the league and in the press. This is unlikely to taint anything Belichick and the Patriots do for anything more than just the short-term.

Tiki the Beeyotch

Tiki Barber in his soon-to-hit-the-stands autobiography reportedly blames Tom Coughlin for his recent retirement.

According to multiple sources, Barber wrote, "If Tom Coughlin had not remained as head coach of the New York Giants, I might still be in a Giants uniform, (Coughlin) robbed me of what had been the most important thing I had in my life, which was the joy I felt playing football. I had lost that. He had taken it away."

He also claims that the Giants shorted him $10 million in what he was worth as a top flight running back.

Let's start with the money - as a player, if you don't like what they're offering you, then don't sign the contract. Nobody held a gun to your head and made you sign. Don't use the franchise tag as an excuse either. If you're getting franchised, you're still getting the money. So stop whining about money.

Now, let's deal with the Coughlin thing. Don't pin this on him. He saved your career.

In 2003 Barber was 4th overall amongst running backs with six fumbles lost, and near the bottom of the league in fumbles total with nine. It was his fourth straight season with at least eight, and the third of four seasons with nine. There were whispers that the Giants were frustrated with his propensity to put the ball on the ground. Scouts talked about him as a third-down back and wrote pieces that attributed his fumble-itis to the fact that he just wasn't built to be an every-down back.

It was believed that Barber, in spite of his great yardage, was likely to end up on some other team's roster as a change of pace back.

Not the most lucrative of positions - certainly not compared to starter's money.

Coughlin came in and fixed him. The coach changed the way Barber carried the ball. In the three subsequent seasons Barber fumbled the ball a total of eight times. Coughlin made Barber one of the premier backs in the league.

For that, he gets an ungrateful pissant retiree who is engaging in revisionist history to make himself feel better about retiring early.

If he can't separate facts from the fictions in his mind, I'd really prefer it if Barber just went quietly away...although, at this point I would settle for him just going away.

Feet of Clay

Breaking with tradition during September call-ups...

Traditionally, this is the time when teams that are no longer in a race - whether so far ahead that the team has run away with the division, or so far behind that only the die-hards are still watching - showcase next year's rookies. Normally, teams like the Red Sox who have a lead that can still go away will only be playing those September call-ups in blow-outs.

Seldom will those rookies get field time on a first place team still looking to put the division away...after all - the veterans got them this far, and front offices don't want to crush the sometimes fragile psyche of their potential stars of tomorrow (see Craig Hansen).

The Red Sox in particular have a habit of protecting their rookie call-ups - particularly the pitchers. Under Theo, they have traditionally brought their future starters out of the pen, easing them into their transition to the bigs.

Never made sense to me, but that's what they did.

This year they threw Brandon Moss, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Clay Buchholz into the heat of a pennant race. They've been rewarded with sterling defense, a home-run that provided the team with its margin of victory in a close game, and a no-hitter.

Not bad, considering the veteran leaders let the team down in a three game set against New York.

Other thoughts...

One -

Rodney...after two straight seasons with catastrophic injuries, I understand what you were thinking. I'm not happy about the four game suspension, nor your use of HGh that got you that suspension.

I respect that you manned up and admitted to it. I respect that you didn't try to hide behind the concept that your name was on a list, but you didn't do anything...who was the player who claimed to have ordered human growth hormone, but claimed to have never used it? I respect that you didn't try to hide behind excuses, or the union.

I know how hard it is to come back from injuries having screwed up the tendons in both my ankles after the age of thirty.

I understand it. I really do.

I also have no words for how disappointed I am in you.

Two -

I'm not a big college football guy. I'll watch Penn State and Boston College football games, but not a whole lot else.

However - how great was it to see Michigan's "easy" early season opponent, Division 1 AA's Appalachian State out play Michigan in every facet of the game, and seal the deal on a block of a short field goal attempt that would have given Michigan the win?

Chalk one up for the underdog.

Three -

How is it the Yanks can play the Sox so tough in a three game set, holding the Sox to an average of two runs per game, and then play the lowly Devil Rays, dropping two of three while giving up an average of just under eight runs per game? As I write this, they are losing to the Mariners by a score of 6-1.

Four -

I know this hasn't been a good year for JD Drew. He's been a catastrophe and a rally killer at the plate - but I have to give him props for the way he gunned down the Baltimore player at the plate to help get Lester out of the first inning. It was nice seeing the Sox right fielder channeling Dwight Evans.

Some quick thoughts...

How is it the Red Sox can dismantle a solid pitcher like Mark Buehrle and then five games later make a mediocre Roger Clemens look like he's vying for the Cy Young award?

Imponderable - If Indians fans are "on the reservation," Red Sox fans are part of "Red Sox Nation," and Phillies fans are "phanatics," does that make Padres fans "pod people?"

A couple of comments on Peter King...

Peter King this week took issue with the NFL's pre-season, noting that football's exhibition season should be shortened from four weeks to three for several reasons. On ESPN radio this week he noted that the Giants suffered severe injuries in last week's game to four players that were likely to make their roster.

In general, I like Peter King - I don't always agree with him, but he tends to put a lot of thought behind his arguments. This was not one of them.

He talked about how the pre-season should be shortened to three games in order to avoid these injuries, using the Giants as an example. Of course the Giants injuries came in the third game rendering the argument...shall we say impotent?

Personally, I'm one of the few freaks that genuinely likes this time of year. I like to see the guys on the bubble, sometimes find somebody to root for to make the team. I will have my butt parked on my couch tomorrow night with the channel tuned to the NFL network to catch that last Patriots pre-season match-up with the Giants.

Also at SI.com, King listed what he felt were the top 500 players in the NFL - approximately the top 30 percent. Interesting read - 21 of the Patriots 22 starters made the list (T. Brady, Watson, Light, Welker, Moss, Stallworth, Koppen, Neal, Mankins, Maroney, Seymour, Warren, Wilfork, Vrabel, Colvin, Bruschi, A. Thomas, Hobbs, Samuel, Harrison, Wilson). Go over there for the actual rankings.

Little more than a week to kick-off. Can't wait.

Why I haven't posted regularly for the last week...

Today I welcomed Calliope Smith (middle name to be determined) to the world.

Born August 29, 2007, 11:06 AM, 8 lbs, 5 ozs, 20 inches.

Mother and daughter are doing well...dad's still not so sure and sister Aurora (Borealis Smith...yes, that's what we named her. Wanna make something of it?) pictured below is overjoyed to have a sibling. She is currently vacationing on the Outerbanks and will not meet Calliope until this weekend.

She will begin her indoctrination into Red Sox and Patriots Nations ASAP.

Back to my regularly scheduled sports rants tomorrow...and boy, do I have some catching up to do.

TWIR...the week in review...

The Yankees won two games in a row, Friday and Saturday, and lost a half game in the standings to the Red Sox who dismantled the White Sox.

Tim Wakefield and Josh Beckett both have 16 wins on the season and Daisuke Matsuzaka has 14. That's huge in the absence of an effective Curt Schilling.

Michael Vick is likely done in the NFL. The NAACP should stop wasting their time with this and find someone whose civil rights are actually being violated and help that person.

With the exception of one lapse in pass coverage late in the first half, the Patriots looked sharp in their pre-season match-up with the Carolina Panthers. Some quick observations -

• After looking a little tentative and indecisive on his firs couple of rushes, Maroney looked good.
• I'm not sure I like the offensive line going to a zone blocking scheme - it seemed at times that too many people were coming free in the backfield on running plays. The pass blocking, on the other hand, was almost flawless.
• Tight end Marcellus Rivers is making a strong case for sticking with the team. He had two more catches including one for a touchdown, and is a decent blocker. If the Pats cut him and no one picks him up, I will be shocked. I can't figure out why the Giants cut him.
• Donte Stallworth made a hell of a play coming back on a severely under-thrown fluttering duck from Brady.
• Wes Welker appears to have come as advertised and might be the biggest impact free-agent the Pats picked up.
• Am I the only one who is wondering if Randy Moss is pulling a T.O/Terry Glenn here with the hamstring injury?
• Mike Richardson looks like a real player at corner. Hopefully that arm in the sling was precautionary and nothing more.
• For a team playing with only one of its starting defensive linemen, the guys up front did a good job of slowing down the run and of getting penetration.

One final observation (not Patriots)...

Just another example of how ESPN's product has been slipping. ESPN has a piece about baseball teams and "who's the face of the franchise." In the case of the Red Sox, Eric Young at baseball tonight said that it was the Green Monster.

While not the worst choice, it is indeed a choice that required no thought, reflection, or the realization that an inanimate object associated with where the team plays cannot be the face of the franchise. That would be like saying the face of the franchise in Toronto is the Sky Dome because there is no player who is big enough, or has a strong enough personality to be the face of the franchise.

Not surprisingly, three of the other four sources named David Ortiz, and the fourth named Mr. Red Sox, Tim Wakefield.

Ultimately, I guess you have to wonder what the criteria are for being the face of the franchise. My own criteria, and the player has to meet any three of these to qualify - is he the guy the press go to for a comment? Is he the guy that kicks the rest of the team in the ass when they aren't playing well? Is he the guy that carries the team on his back when the team needs him to? Is he the guy that the Team actively markets to get fans to games? Is he the guy that fans automatically associate with the team?

The only exceptions to this can be owners. As much as Derek Jeter is the face of the Yankees, so to is George Steinbrenner. The player doesn't even have to be the best player on the team, he just has to...well meet a number of the above requirements.

To give you an example - two of the sources named Miguel Tejada the face of the Orioles. I live in Oriole country, and I don't see it. Brian Roberts, Peter Angelos, even Kevin Millar I think all are better choices.

It's an interesting, albeit flawed list. Worth a visit none the less.

Testing the limits

According to an AP report, Michael Vick's guilty plea will not include pleading guilty to the gambling charges or the charges that he was involved in animal cruelty. He will be pleading guilty only to the interstate commerce for the purpose of dogfighting charge.

From all reports, the Feds have Vick dead to rights on just about all of the charges, so what remains to be seen - on Monday - is whether or not the judge accepts the plea.

If the judge does not, look for the Feds to move forward with the superseding indictments and for a court case that is going to only further tarnish Vick's reputation and cause greater damage to his chances to repair his image. In essence, if the case goes forward and more facts surface regarding how deep Vick's involvement in this subculture really is, the worse it will be for any earning potential or possibility of returning to football.

With the narrow scope of what Vick is pleading guilty to, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the judge assigned to this case throws the plea out.

Can't find my way home....

It appears, in the last couple of years, that the NAACP has lost its way.

I know that football is an emotional game, and it is difficult as a fan not to get emotionally invested, but for the second time in three years, the head of a major chapter of the NAACP has made a truly bone-headed statement to the press in regards to a professional football player. With the presidents of two major chapters in the last three years taking some idiotic stances, I think the organization has lost the right to have their membership showing blind faith in its leadership (this doesn't even include issues like the embezzlement of the organization's funds by its leaders in 2002 in the smaller chapter in Frederick, MD).

The first time was in December of 2005 when J. Whyatt Mondesire, head of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP essentially called Donovan McNabb an Uncle Tom because McNabb no longer scrambled like he did early in his career. Of course one of the major facts that Mondesire ignored in his argument that McNabb was better before he became a pocket passer, is that until McNabb stayed in the pocket, the team didn't even make it to the NFC Championship game, let alone the Super Bowl.

The same man compared McNabb to Doug Williams, calling him, "no Doug Williams," for his failure to perform in the Super Bowl. For that, Philadelphia fans should be thankful. Williams was at best a mediocre quarterback who had one great game and a couple of good ones on his way to his Super Bowl win with the Redskins. Williams was in and out of the league, playing 1978-1982 for Tampa before toiling in the USFL until 1986 when he joined Washington. He was gone before the 1990 season, playing in only 21 games during his four seasons in Washington.

Head to head, McNabb was and is the far better quarterback =

Williams - 8 Seasons, 88 games

Att 1240  Comp 2507  Percentage 49.5 Yards 16998   Yd/att 6.8 TD 100 INT 93

McNabb - 8 Seasons, 104 games

Att 1898  comp 3259  percentage 58.2 yards 22080   yd/att 6.8 TD 152 INT 72 

Statistical comparisons aside, this attack confounded the NAACP brain-trust who openly wondered if Mondesire shouldn't have more pressing civil-rights concerns.

One has to wonder the same about R.L. White, president of the NAACP's Atlanta chapter who yesterday said, "As a society, we should aid in his rehabilitation and welcome a new Michael Vick back into the community without a permanent loss of his career in football. We further ask the NFL, Falcons, and the sponsors not to permanently ban Mr. Vick from his ability to bring hours of enjoyment to fans all over this country."

That's an easy request for a man to make that is not reliant on the general public to pay his salary. The NAACP does not get its revenues from a consumer base - many of whom are dog owners.

White compared dog-fighting to hunting. Not necessarily a stretch, but also the wrong group to attack as they are often dog owners.

He mentions that others were saying things to save their own hides. Probably true - but that doesn't necessarily mean that what they were saying were lies either - particularly in light of the video evidence that the Feds supposedly had...not to mention the fact that is seems the money trail kept leading back to Vick.

Like Mondesire, White ignored a number of facts in this case. If Vick receives a lifetime ban from the league, it won't be for dog-fighting. It will be for gambling. If sponsors do not return to Vick, it will not be because he failed to rehabilitate himself, it will be because they believe that he is no longer a viable marketing commodity and would more than likely cause sales to drop rather than increase.

Finally, being in Atlanta, home of the Genarlow Wilson debacle - like Mondesire, doesn't White have some real civil rights issues he needs to be working on?

Mid-week observations

Getting tougher in the Bronx

The Yankees have been great since the All-Star break, climbing to as close as four back of the AL-East leading Red Sox. They have cut what was once a 15-game deficit to what is now six games and are in the thick of the wild-card race, climbing from as many as ten games under .500 to 70-56.

In spite of all that, I still think the Yankees are done.

This is why -

The Bommahs are 22-25 against the East. A winning percentage of 0.468.

Against the West they are 12-15 - 0.444.

However they have owned the teams in the Central. Against the Central they are a gaudy 26-8. That's a winning percentage of 0.765.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, they only have seven games remaining against the Central. At their current paces against each division, that means we're looking at five wins against the Central and two against the West. The Yanks have 25 games remaining against the East which translates to maybe 12 wins.

Realistically, I think the Yankees finish with a respectable total of 87...maybe 89 wins. The Red Sox could go .500 in their remaining games and still finish with 94 wins.

The Yanks could still make the wild-card, but I'm guessing Seattle gets it.

Wake-up call

The Red Sox have two fifteen game winners and one fourteen game winner. With approximately seven starts remaining, Tim Wakefield has a legitimate shot at 20 wins. I think 18 is more realistic, but Wake's year could give the Sox a staff with three starters with at least 17 wins.

When is the last time that happened?

Welcome to the Bigs, rook

I've said this before and I will say it again. Right now the Red Sox have to have three of the leading candidates for Rookie of the Year in Dustin Pedroia, Hideki Okajima, and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Unfortunately for Oki, I think Pedroia is more likely to get the award.

Don't get me wrong, Pedroia has had a deserving season, but I don't think the Sox are in first without Okajima. He has been the rock in the bullpen, and the most consistent of the three. I just don't think middle relievers ever get the credit they deserve.

This ain't gonna be The Longest Yard

Vick couldn't beat the feds and now he's facing a local DA in Virginia who is going to use the Feds evidence and Vick's own confession as a cudgel in trying to convict him on animal cruelty charges. If my understanding is correct - each charge carries with it a maximum five-year sentence that can be ordered to be served consecutively rather than concurrently.

If Surry County prosecutor Gerald Poindexter convicts Vick of all charges, the soon to be former Falcons quarterback could be looking at serving up to an additional 40 years in a Virginia penitentiary after he gets out of federal prison.

What do you suppose the over-under is on when his brother finally screws up enough that he's out of the league as well?

From Don Banks -

Before he would let our conversation end, the veteran personnel evaluator made
one more point, and said it was something he thought a lot of people within NFL
circles have felt as Vick's long, sordid dogfighting saga has played out the past four months.
"I don't know what's going to happen to Michael Vick, and I don't care,'' he said, slowly and with emphasis. "The guy has embarrassed the NFL and embarrassed the game that a lot of us care about greatly. He's not worth any more time and energy and attention. It's his problem now.''

Banks in his article at si.com talked to a number of personnel people around the NFL about Vick's future in the NFL based on speculation that the earliest Vick could return would be for the 2009 season - really a best case scenario for Vick. There's a fair chance he could receive a lifetime ban from the NFL for the gambling aspect of his recent issues.

Realistically, I'm guessing a two year suspension which can only be served while he is on a roster. Assuming he remains on the Atlanta roster until June so they can minimize the salary cap hit, we're probably looking at ten games this season before he starts his jail term which will eat into next season. That means Vick will likely still be looking at 22 games - and that's only if he can get onto a roster, a team that is willing carry close to a season and a half of dead money before this guy can play. That would be after a four season layoff.

At best, he would come back as a back-up quarterback, or maybe a wide-receiver or running back. I doubt anyone would consider one of the statistically worst quarterbacks in the league for a starter after a four year layoff. But there's a chance someone might look at him for another position.

But who would take a flyer?

The following teams are unlikely to take him due to being set at QB and because Vick doesn't fit what the team does - or his reputation for not being a hard worker will also hurt him with the following -

Patriots - QB
Jets - not a hard enough worker for Mangini and probably are set at QB
Colts - QB
Bengals - QB
Chargers - QB
Saints - QB
Seahawks - QB
Packers - Green Bay just plain won't accept him
Rams - QB
Falcons - Arthur Blank will have burned that bridge
Giants - Mara family unlikely to take a flyer on Vick
Steelers - Ditto for the Rooneys

The following recently addressed QB issues and hope they won't have to address the position in four years -

Raiders
Browns
Redskins
Cowboys
Eagles
49ers
Cardinals
Texans
Chiefs
Broncos
Titans
Bills
Dolphins
Vikings

Teams that might be in most need of help at the QB position, or might address it between now and then -

Jaguars
Panthers
Ravens
Lions
Bears
Buccaneers

Personally, I think that the suspension will operate like a scarlet letter. No one is going to want to invest money in a player that can't earn the money for a year and a half. It's why no team, no matter how deficient on defense, has signed Tank Johnson.

A lot of people are speculating that Vick will one day return to the league, but I think that the suspension is tantamount to the end of his career. I wonder if he actually has enough saved up to sustain himself while he finishes his degree. If not, I think he needs to get used to the words, "would you like fries with that?"

You knew I had to comment

So Michael Vick accepted a guilty plea today to the dogfighting charges.

Surprise, surprise.

There's a lot that's sad about this -

It's sad that many of those who supported Vick throughout this will continue to maintain his innocence, claiming he was railroaded by the federal government; that they will do so in spite of the fact that, according to the indictment, there was video evidence that he attended dogfighting; in spite of the fact that there was no evidence that a single one of his cronies could have in any way funded an operation like this.

There will be those that continue to defend him, like Clinton Portis did, because, "they's his dogs, he should be able to fight 'em if that's what he wants to do."

It's sad that many of these people believe that it's because he's black that he has been targeted by the feds, in spite of the fact that people like Donovan McNabb and Robert Johnson (the founder of BET) have not. It's sad that they think this is a racial thing when in fact it's about federal statute.

It's sad that a supremely talented athlete (he has a long way to go as a quarterback, but he's one hell of an athlete), is willing to throw his career away because he needed cheap thrills from a bloodsport, and needed the added excitement of gambling on said bloodsport. This was what was more important to him during the off-season than working on his game.

Don't pity him, because this is the path he chose, but it's sad that football was just a means for him to fund something else. If he wanted to be the best in the game he would have done what McNabb, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and countless other quarterbacks do during the off-season - they work on their game, they train, they try to improve. He thought fighting dogs was a better use of his time.

And that's just sad.

Remember when...

Welcome to my little nostalgic trip down memory lane in professional sports -

Remember when covering the courts was synonymous with covering basketball, not football?

When you didn't need a degree in chemistry to follow home-run chases?

Or have a degree in law to follow the NFL and NBA?

When hockey was relevant?

When NASCAR wasn't?

When the MLB All-Star Game was a good game because players had pride in the way they played - whether the game mattered or not?

When the Eastern European Olympic squads were vilified for their steroid use while American athletes were supposedly winning cleanly?

When athlete's hat and shoe sizes didn't mysteriously increase due to using "flax-seed oil?"

When basketball was still primarily a team sport?

When Al Davis still knew football?

When Matt Millen still had an untarnished legacy in football?

When Bill Belichick was the head coach that would ever only be a great defensive coordinator?

When 49ers-Giants was the NFL's marquee match-up?

When Pete Rose was a sure-fire, first-ballot Hall of Famer?

When you heard James Earl Jones deliver this line, "America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come," and some naive part of you actually still believed it?

when you could actually turn on ESPN expecting sports, MTV expecting music, and CNN expecting real and relevant news?

When the big scandal in sports usually involved Yankees pitchers swapping families?

When the Orioles were a contender?

When the term doubleheader meant that you were going to get to see two games on one ticket?

When going to the ballpark on the major league level cost less than $15.00 for bleacher seats a dog and a beer?

When it was hard to get into a Redskins game in DC?

When pitchers regularly started 35 to 40 games per season and it wasn't unusual to have between two and three starters with anywhere from 15 to 25 wins each?

When sportscasters didn't feel the need to turn every player's name into a nickname while showing highlights?

When George Michael was the man and The Sports Machine was the show to watch for the week's wrap-up of sports news?

Quick hits

Slim to none

Michael Vick's chances for an acquittal just went from Hell in a hand basket to...well, whatever could be worse than going to Hell in a hand basket. Maybe the best comparison is that his scrotum is about to get raked across hot coals by the feds.

With the news hitting that Vick's remaining two co-defendants in the dogfighting trial, Quanis Phillips and Purnell Peace are copping guilty pleas, Vick's defense just took a major hit.With Phillips and Peace copping pleas months before trial, it's probable that these two have worked out deals in which they will be testifying against Vick. This now gives the feds at least seven people that will be testifying against Vick.

Sayonara Mikey, don't let the turnstile hit you in the ass on your way out of the league.

Knuckling down

To some people's chagrin, and I will never understand why that is, Tim Wakefield right now is Mr. Red Sox. With approximately eight starts left, Wake is now second on the team in wins at 14-10, is second on the team in innings pitched 150.1, and third in ERA (4.55) among starters.

This guy has been invaluable to the team in his time here. He has started, been middle relief, closed, and even was the emergency starter two games after his scheduled spot in the rotation a few years ago. The man has been an innings eater and an absolute horse and last night, after a series in which the bullpen blew two games the team had essentially won, Wakefield silenced the Devil Rays' bats through six full innings, and finished the game with three hits over eight innings.

That's veteran presence.

Interesting tidbit from Steve Phillips

Phillips noted that Eric "Gags" Gagne, since coming to the Red Sox is throwing fastballs on roughly 62 percent of his pitches. During his streak in Texas where he was pitching so well - only 52 percent of his pitches thrown were fastballs, and his punch-out pitch was typically a change-up.

I would like to think that Red Sox scouts would have noticed this.

A common complaint...

In recent years, I swear that one thing I hear announcers talk about when I watch football is how tackling is a lost art.

Players are more concerned with the kill-shot - the highlight reel shot that gets them their fifteen seconds of fame on ESPN. They drop their heads, lower their shoulders, and smack the crap out of the ball-carrier. Sometimes they knock the guy down, sometimes they don't. Either way, it almost always seems to make ESPN.

It seems like there's only a handful of teams left that have reputations as sound tacklers - where it tends to be unusual for a wide receiver or a running back to get extra yards after first contact, because the defender actually wraps the guy with the ball. During Friday's exhibition between Tampa Bay and New England, I saw Patriots corner Randall Gay make a text book tackle of one of the Buc's wide outs - helmet on hip, left arm around waist, right around leg. It was how coaches should be teaching kids on the Pop Warner level.

As for why you see less and less of this - well, it could be because players now are what "Concrete" Charlie Bednarick describes as, "pussycats." The last of the 60-minute men, the true two-way players, Bednarick put the emphasis on, "pussy," when he made that statement.

Or it could be because of the following, as reported today in Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback Column at Sports Illustrated -

Speaking of ESPN, a great note from Ed Werder before the Cowboys-Colts
preseason opener -- the first tackle Dallas made in the game would be their
first full-contact tackle of the summer, because Wade Phillips hadn't had the
team in any full-contact situations yet. Amazing in this day and age that
full-speed tackling is very rarely practiced in camps around the league. Even in
tradition-loving places like Pittsburgh (one practice), Buffalo (two practices)
and Chicago (two practices), I saw zero put-'em-on-the-ground tackling drills or
full-contact tackling.

It's a wonder that tackling isn't worse.

Monday morning riffin'

Stupid is as stupid does. And people paid $30.00 to watch that.

The current numbers on Eric Gagne in a Red Sox uniform - seven runs in four innings over five games. Incredibly, that means that Gagne managed to lower his ERA for his time in Boston from 16.20 to 15.75 yesterday.

The Yankees certainly got hot at the right time - getting healthy against the bottom feeders over the last month, and then having games against struggling Indians and Tigers clubs. Of course it helps that the Bommahs are currently facing off against the only division in the American League against whom they have a winning record.

Approximately eight weeks ago the Yanks trailed by 14.5 games. Today that lead is four games. Sox fans can thank the Central for that as against the East (21-23), and the West (12-13) combined the Yankees are three games below .500 - the Central (23-7) on the other hand is having trouble buying wins against the Yanks who have a gaudy .767 winning percentage against the home division of the reigning AL champs.

Note to Vince Young - you're supposed to be the team leader. Team leaders don't get suspended from exhibition games.

Props to former Cardinals pitcher and current Cards outfielder Rick Ankiel - four games played since rejoining the club. During that time - 16 AB, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 6 K's and an on base percentage of .417. While it's pretty much impossible that he could keep this pace up over an entire season, right now this is how that translates over 500 at bats - 94 HR, 188 HR, 188 K's. The man's on fire right now, but will cool off. I just thought it was appropriate to recognize the tear he's on since his call-up.

A few bright things from Friday's exhibition match between the Patriots and Buccaneers after noting that the defense - starting and back-up alike - struggled against the run. Hopefully that works itself out. As a whole, really, it's a chance to get a look at the young talent and begin guessing who has a shot at making the team and who doesn't.

In extended time the following looked good -

Mike Wright appears to be continuing his progression as a reliable back-up, finishing the night with four solo tackles and a sack for a seven yard loss.

Linebackers Justin Rogers and Oscar Lua were active and combined for 11 total tackles (four and five solo tackles respectively) and one sack (Rogers).

Willie Andrews continues to progress, and late round draft pick Mike Richardson went step for step with one of Tampa's wide outs, almost making a highlight reel interception on a jump ball put up along the left sideline by Bucs back-up QB Bruce Gradkowski.

Just a guess at this point - but I would say keep an eye on Rogers, Lua, and Richardson.

Best bullpen in baseball Gags again

Gag - verb (gagged, gagging) 1 put a gag on. 2 choke or retch.

From the Oxford English Dictionary.

From here on out - Gags is my nickname for Eric Gagne, the trade-deadline pitcher that was supposed to propel Boston to the World Series. And it ain't because he's a laugh riot or 'cause he's silencing anyone.

I'm already on record as saying I didn't like the trade. Like Paul over at Behind Enemy Lines, I'm an, "It ain't broke, don't fix it," sort of guy when it comes to sports. If there was anything broken on the Sox, it certainly wasn't their bullpen. Could they have used some better hitters coming off the bench - sure, what team couldn't. But the bullpen? Before they traded for Gagne they had the best bullpen in the league.

But Gagne? Gagne has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Behind Enemy Lines already commented on Friday's Gag, and I was willing to let it go since anyone can have a bad day - but in his brief career with the Red Sox (and I'm not positive, but I think these numbers don't completely include today's fiasco), batters are hitting a whopping .474 off of Gags to go along with an astronomical ERA of 16.20, he has blown two hold/save chances and has almost given up as many runs (6) in a Sox uniform as he had in his entire time with Texas (8).

Given my choice, I will say it again - I would have kept Gabbard.

Gabbard gave the Sox four wins. Gags has given the Sox two losses.

Gags brings back memories of the Human Angioplasty, Heathcliff Socumb - but without that occasional ability to be clutch.

Early returns - it's looking like Theo got taken to the cleaners by the Rangers. As for myself - I'd rather have a team with Wily Mo and Kason, than one with Gags.

So much for sabermetrics.

Worth the read...

There has been a lot of blasting here, and on a number of other blogs, newspapers, and media-outlets of ESPN for their recent sycophantic coverage of the home-run chase - most, if not all of it, justifiable. However, let it not be said that I didn't recognize them when they actually post an article or two that takes cheaters to task. They're decent reads.

It got me thinking though. Particularly this paragraph towards the end of the first of the two articles -

And now when I look at the innocent face of my 5-month-old daughter, I want
sports to help her dream, too. I don't want her to see the greatest home run
hitter in baseball history and question whether he was a cheat. I'd rather she
not watch a suspiciously officiated NBA playoff game and instantly think the fix
is on. And God forbid she look at any future female sports stars and just throw
her hands up because she doesn't have their chemist.

That passage could easily apply to me and my 5-year-old daughter or my soon to be born daughter (at least that's what the ultrasound tech told us it was going to be).

It's getting hard to look at professional sports...any professional sports these days and not wonder.

There are golfers talking openly about the need for steroid testing in golf. Golf! That's ridiculous.

In cycling, Lance Armstrong - the poster boy for overcoming adversity - is constantly fighting allegations of doping, even into retirement. Some of the allegations coming from former teammates with nothing to gain by coming forward. I won't even go into Floyd Landis.

I've discussed the issues with baseball at length.

How many football players have failed drug tests this summer and are facing four game suspensions to start the season? Right now, I'm thinking around four.

I don't even follow auto racing, but I feel like I'm constantly hearing about some driver or other who's being docked points for rules violations.

Track and field? I competed in high school and college. It pains me that every time the sport makes the headlines it seems that it is because one of its biggest stars was caught doping. And those that weren't nailed decisively (Marion Jones), have consciously put themselves into doubt by surrounding themselves with coaches and trainers who have been busted as suppliers of performance enhancers.

Like Wayne Drehs at ESPN, I want my daughters to be able to look up to athletes. I want them to understand they have options - that they have the option to pursue athletic excellence on a level playing field, that a woman can be strong and athletic and not have to sacrifice anything but the time on the practice field to be that way.

Right now, my only answer can be to my daughters, should they come to me for advice in regards to performance enhancing drugs is, "you just need to work harder." Sadly, the chemists have been working smarter.

Converted

It's a great word.

Religious connotations aside - it has great meaning in sports - convert a save, two-point conversion, first-down conversion - there are any number of reasons why the term gets used. My favorite, however, has to do with players.

I bring this up because of Rick Ankiel - the one-time phenom pitcher for the Cardinals transformed from potential ace to Rick "The Wild Thing" Vaughn pre-glasses. In an effort to keep doing what he loved, Ankiel converted from pitcher to outfielder. Last night, in his big league premier at a position anywhere other than on the mound, Ankiel went deep. Not bad.

While there are always the unsuccessful experiments (Tebucky Jones at cornerback, for one), there have been a number of athletes who have seen the light, so to speak, and gone on to have greater success at a new position than the one at which they were originally drafted. Most notably Babe Ruth - a top notch left handed pitcher who went on to be one of the greatest hitters the game has ever seen. There's no way the man could ever match the myth of what he went on to become.

On a lesser note, there have been a number of others.

Tim Wakefield was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates as a corner infielder. When told by a scout that it was unlikely that he would get above AA ball with his tools, he began experimenting until he found his niche as a knuckleballer. That change has translated into 15 seasons (including this season) in the bigs during which time he has averaged around 11 wins per season.

Former Red Sox replacement outfielder Ron Mahay has had a nice career as a left-handed specialist. After five games in the outfield for the Sox, Mahay returned to the minors and remade himself as a relief pitcher. He has spent at least part of every season since 1997 in the bigs in stints with Oakland, Florida, Chicago (NL), Texas, and Atlanta while compiling an 18-10 record with a 3.96 ERA and 3 saves over the course of 331 games and 395 innings. Overall a solid career.

Antwaan Randle-El of course played quarterback in college, as did Matt Jones - but it's still too early to determine whether or not they will be totally successful conversions, or busts. Yes, Randle-El is certainly further along than Jones, but Randle-El has also regressed the last three seasons, catching fewer passes for fewer yards each year.

The Bears are experimenting with corner Devin Hester at wide-out.

On a game to game basis, the Patriots have been using offensive linemen as fullbacks, linebackers as tight-ends, and wide receivers as corners for several years under Bill Belichick - with the most impact coming from Troy Brown who tied the team for second in interceptions with three during limited time as the nickel corner while still playing special teams and offense. Then there is Mike "Touchdown" Vrabel. Any team that doesn't make sure he's covered on the goal line at this point...well they're just idiots.

I enjoy the stories of players like this. I'm no fan of A-Rod, but what unfolded in New York when they consummated the trade for him was fascinating (keeping in mind that switching from playing the field to designated hitter just isn't compelling). I for one, will keep on the lookout for more of these stories.

Double Jeopardy

As explained at http://lp.findlaw.com/:

''The constitutional prohibition against 'double jeopardy' was designed to
protect an individual from being subjected to the hazards of trial and possible
conviction more than once for an alleged offense. . . . The underlying idea, one
that is deeply ingrained in at least the Anglo-American system of jurisprudence,
is that the State with all its resources and power should not be allowed to make
repeated attempts to convict an individual for an alleged offense, thereby
subjecting him to embarrassment, expense and ordeal and compelling him to live
in a continuing state of anxiety and insecurity, as well as enhancing the
possibility that even though innocent he may be found guilty.''

In essence, the courts can only try someone once for a specific crime. This doesn't prohibit, however, the same charges being filed in regards to the same crime on both federal and state levels - which is what seems to be the direction that Virginia is going in with the Michael Vick dogfighting case.

That is not what I am referring to with Vick.

While it appears to be likely that Vick will face an indictment from the State of Virginia in addition to his federal indictment, I am talking about something different.

I am talking about the other indictment that could be handed down in Atlanta.

From 2004 through 2006 the Falcons won 11, 8, and 7 games respectively. In each of those three seasons, in spite of passing for more yards each year, his completion percentage dropped from 56.4 in 2004 to 55.3, and, ultimately 52.6 last season. Overall, he is a career 53.8 percent passer who has piloted the Falcons to two winning seasons. The only time that the Falcons have won more than nine games with Vick at the helm coincides with his highest completion percentage - 56.4.

Joey Harrington, for all the knocks he takes in the press, is the better quarterback. Over the last three seasons playing for Detroit and Miami - two teams no one could really consider contenders, Harrington has posted completion percentages of 56, 57, and 57.5 respectively.

If after six seasons of Vick, during which the Falcons could achieve ten wins only once, what will it say of Vick - the so called "most exciting player in the game," if Atlanta wins ten with Detroit's first-round quarterbacking bust at the helm?

Isn't that just another indictment of Vick?

His defenders point to the number of dropped passes his receivers had last season. They don't point to the fact that, until this past off season when the dogfighting was about to hit the fan, Vick didn't spend anymore time around Flowery Branch than the bare minimum required. He didn't spend the extra time developing that rapport with receivers that quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Donovan McNabb do.

Whose fault is that? The receivers?

For all the hype, and the excitement he has caused on the field (and off), nothing ever justified Arthur Blank's signing of this man to the richest contract ever for a quarterback. As much as you may here players and coaches give proper respect to Vick's athletic ability - you never hear them talk about him as a great quarterback.

Why? Because defensive coordinators would rather face someone like Vick than someone like Brady or Manning. They know if they bottle up Vick, then they force him to pass. That's not a prospect that defensive coordinators in the NFL fear - not the way they fear what Brady, Manning, McNabb, Carson Palmer, Brett Favre, Drew Brees, or any one of a number of other quarterbacks can do if stuck in the pocket.

Don't be surprised if Vick faces another indictment by the end of the season - only this one will be on the football field.

Sometimes I just have to defer to The Onion

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/64929

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/64579

I think they have a better handle on things than ESPN...

Cry me a river

I've been meaning to comment on this for several days now - the MLB Umpire's Union crying foul over the fact that baseball's executive offices, in the wake of the NBA ref scandal, wants the umpires to undergo background checks.

"We understand the need in light of what's taken place. But we feel we just don't need to have a knee-jerk reaction and a witch hunt,'' Lamell McMorris, spokesman for the World Umpires Association, told Sports Illustrated.

I understand that as the spokesman for the WUA, McMorris has a responsibility to his constituents to put the worst possible face on MLB's request. Unfortunately, he is giving in to severe hyperbole in describing what most of the rest of the baseball viewing public is viewing as a reasonable request.

I know I'm not alone in watching umpires with erratic strike zones and wondering how a pitch in the top half of an inning is a strike and in the bottom half a ball.

While I don't think background and credit checks are needed for all jobs, it seems to make perfect sense to me that it would and should be needed for game officials on the professional and collegiate levels.

In 2003, on-line gamblers in the US bet an estimated $6 billion and the estimated gross amount for sports wagering on-line (worldwide) was in excess of $63 billion. According to the Online Gambling Research and Markets Group, on-line gambling will reach $125 billion by 2015.

Is it really too much for a professional sports league to ask that they have every reassurance that their game officials aren't beholden to sports bookies?

What really bothers me about the WUA's stance is the last item they sent to MLB offices demanding that this be negotiated, and that the following statement was in the letter - "The safeguards that will be adopted to ensure that umpires will not be subject to disciplinary or other adverse job actions stemming from or based upon any of the information."

In essence, they are saying that if we agree to let you do these background checks, we don't want you to be able to do anything about it if you find that one of the umpires is doing something he/she shouldn't be doing.

This is all indicative of a greater problem in professional sports.

The inability of the groups to realize that, ultimately, the most important aspect of what they are doing is creating a product.

For example, in television, there is a misconception that the program is the product and that viewers are the target. The product in television is the audience, the program is the vehicle by which a television station builds product to sell to advertisers. The program is designed to capture certain types of audiences to sell to certain types of advertisers (ie: we are going to produce a news show called The View, the demographic will be stay-at-home moms, and women pushing into middle age, we are going to try to sell this advertising block to Folger's Coffee, tampon producers, and family restaurants). It is why quality programming is often ditched for poorly written pablum that appeals to the masses. Small loyal audiences don't demand the advertising dollars.

In the case of professional sports, the product is the game. Sure, there are spin-offs - jersey's, caps, bobble-heads, etc., but none of those exist without the game and the fan base for each team.

It seems like most of the pro-leagues and their unions are forgetting about the importance of the product. What the umpires are saying to me is that they don't give a rats ass about the product as long as they can get something in exchange for what they should already be doing.

The MLB players' union long ago told me it didn't care about the product - and often still reminds me by telling their players things like, "don't cooperate with the Mitchell investigation."

The NBA has a variety of similar issues from players like "Starbury" to refs that seem to think they are the reason people come to the games.

Roger Goodell is giving a good-faith effort along with the player's union in football, but this attitude of insult over the franchise tag does the players no favors - nor do hold-outs by rookies who have yet to prove anything

I'm not even going to get into ticket prices.

My message to the umpires - shut-up and submit to the checks, or find a job like the ones the rest of us have.

Heroes

Lately I have been feeling old...like something of a dinosaur, really.

Growing up, I remember coaches and fathers alike used to point to Pete Rose, a player with limited ability and unlimited hustle, as someone to emulate. "Look at the way Charlie Hustle plays the game - that's what hard work and determination will get you." Now he's a punchline...a sad joke at which no one laughs.

We used to play youth sports in order to learn the value of sportsmanship, teamwork, and hard work.

Now I hear sportscasters at the nation's single largest sports media outlet proclaim a cheater the best hitter ever in the wake of the home-run record being broken. Who cares if mounds are lower, and stadiums are smaller then when Hank Aaron did it. Who cares if the man who did it utilized drugs banned by federal law in order to allow his muscles to recover faster, in order to allow his strength to grow, who cares that he took a huge short cut.

Is it something that starts from the top? We have a president who lost the popular vote...twice, and pardoned a crony that compromised national security by outing a CIA agent.

Does it start with fraternity? We have a baseball player's union, possibly the most powerful union in the nation, which did everything it could to preserve the steroid era of baseball until bullied by Congress into adopting a testing policy.

Maybe it's just me.

I have always had a soft spot for the guy that goes undrafted, or is called too small - Tedy Bruschi, Troy Brown, David Patten - none of those guys were supposed to make it. Bru was too small for linebacker, Brown was drafted in a round that no longer exists, and Patten was undrafted and a cast-off.

It is, I realize, the Underdog Syndrome - I liked watching Greg Harris pitch, I am a fan of Dustin Pedroia. My favorite Sox player of all-time isn't Yaz, or Rice, or even Fisk - all of whom I enjoyed watching - no, mine was always Evans. The guy who played the position that the worst were relegated to in little league. I looked up to him because that is where I first played in little league.

I liked the scrappers like Wally Backman, Trot Nixon, Tim Goad. I liked the guys that got their jerseys dirty and wore it like a badge of honor.

Lately honor has seemed like an empty word in sports.

Franchise faces like Drew Bledsoe and Mike Minter, guys who literally bled for their teams and dragged their teammates out of the dregs of one win seasons are walking away. We are left with things like the Tour de France and the legion of riders expelled this year for doping. We are left with the ongoing saga of an Emperor and his new clothes in baseball, and all the pundits that are telling him how beautiful his new outfit looks. We are left with a criminal minority taking the thunder away from the rest of the NFL with shootings, assaults, and dogfighting (and lord only knows how pervasive that really is).

It all makes me feel a little old, a little out of date, and a lot disappointed with where this has all gone.

Fortunately, for as bad as it seems, there are things that come up like the IronMan Triathlon, and the stories of the amateurs that run in it. Thankfully there are still some athletes out there who can still be heroes.

The Wily Mo Pena era has ended

A moment of silence please.

Separating fact and fiction

I've been paid to write about sports.

I have been very fortunate, meeting Bela Karolyi, interviewing NFL Films president Steve Sabol, Olympians Shannon Miller, and Kate Sobrero, even talking to the Red Sox front office (that was back in 1996). One of the hardest things, I think, for a good sports journalist to do is to separate personal feelings as a fan from the truth of what is happening on the field.

As fans we can be either hyper-critical or hyper-sensitive about our teams, favorite players, or even executives associated with said team.

I try very hard, and with some difficulty, to look at my favorites with a jaundiced eye. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. In order to prove a point to those of you who took exception to my analysis of your favorite teams or players in my NFL Questions segments, I will give a breakdown on my favorite NFL franchise from top to bottom - identifying strengths, questions, and areas that could be weaknesses -

The New England Patriots -

Bill Belichick, HC - As head coach and pretty much the last man standing in personnel decisions, Belichick generally gets the benefit of the doubt due to the Super Bowls and the multiple playoff berths. It's hard to fault a HC who has been at the head of the class in the NFL since 2001.

Josh McDaniels, OC - Still has some serious development issues as an offensive coordinator, as evidenced last season in a game against (I believe either) the Chargers (or the Dolphins) where McDaniels would call an abundance of runs in the red zone, but largely abandoned the run between the 20's in spite of the fact that the Patriots showed no ability to get the passing game working during the contest. During this game, McDaniels showed no ability to adjust to what was either working for the Patriots, or not working for their opponent. This is an area that needs attention.

Dean Peas, DC - Not much to complain about on the defensive side of the ball when your team allows fewer than 15 points per game (14.8).

All positions will list the players I believe are likely to make the team for both offense and defense.

Offense (up to 26)-

Quarterbacks (3) - Brady, Cassell, Testaverde

• Last season Brady was erratic, although you wouldn't be able to tell based on numbers. His completions and yards were not outside of normal. However, watching the games, Brady often threw short of his receivers and his completion percentage was helped by receivers coming back on underthrown balls. A lot was made about the fact that Brady was getting used to a new wide-receiver corp. If that is true, then why should he struggle any less this season when the projected top three wideouts on the team will be three brand new receivers?
• Cassell will be listed as second on the depth chart and is still a largely unknown commodity.
• Testaverde will primarily be a clipboard holder and a sounding board for the younger quarterbacks. If Testaverde is in a game, the Pats are likely already running away with the contest and Belichick is just trying to get him one more TD pass for the consecutive season record. Either that, or something catastrophic has happened to the two who are ahead of him on the depth chart.

O-Line (9?) - Light, Mankins, Kopen, Neal, Kazcur, O'Callahan, Mruczkowski, Elgin, Hochstein

• While the strength of this line lies in the middle with Kopen, Mankins, and Neal - Matt Light had a strong season last year - particularly against some of the speed rushers that he has traditionally struggled against, shutting down the likes of Dwight Freeney, but continued to struggle against his nemesis Jason Taylor. During the contest with the Dolphins, Miami moved Taylor around and he ate up the Patriots right-tackle-by-committee. The Patriots need one of the right tackles to step up and take the job. Right now tackle is the most likely point of attack for an opposing defense.

Receivers (6?) - Moss, Stallworth, Welker, Gaffney, Washington, Brown, (Jackson - IR)

• On paper they look great. In reality - two burners (Moss, Stallworth) who have had trouble staying on the field, both due to hamstring issues, a reasonably well regarded slot receiver (Welker), a Texans bust (Gaffney), a speedster whose routes are raw even after several seasons in Cincy's receiver land (Washington), and a slot receiver who has lost a step (Brown). This group, to my thinking, is a total crap-shoot. If Moss and Stallworth can stay on the field this can be the strength of the team - Gaffney coming off the bench represents better value than having him as a starter. I gave Washington the nod over Caldwell only because he has special teams value - but I would not rule out Caldwell over Washington just because of the year in the Pats system. Brown will continue to have value to the team as a special teamer and a reserve corner.

Tight ends (4?) - Watson, K. Brady, Thomas, Kranchick(?)

• With a fondness for creating mismatches with a big receiving tight end, Belichick will try to get the ball to Watson a lot. Unfortunately, unless he has worked on his hands, Watson was prone to drops and fumbles, many of which hurt the team on the scoreboard last season. If he has corrected that problem, then Watson becomes a strength - if he hasn't, then he is a definite problem. Brady is considered one of the best blocking tight ends in the game, and that's what he will be expected to do. Thomas showed signs of being a factor in the passing game last season and could develop into a legitimate weapon.

Running backs (4)- Maroney, Evans, Faulk, Morris

• Evans and Faulk are known quantities, their jobs defined. Maroney needs to prove he can stay healthy carrying the load as the primary back after getting banged up while sharing it last year. Morris will likely be used as a change of pace from Maroney.

Defense (up to 25) -

Line (6?) - Seymour, Wilfork, Warren, Green, Wright, K. Brown

• The strength of the defense, these guys take the punishment in order to allow the linebackers to make plays. The team can survive injuries to any one of their top three linemen, but there is a much more noticeable drop-off if two go down. Health is imperative here, as is the continued development of back-up Mike Wright.

Linebackers (10?) - Bruschi, Vrabel, Thomas, Colvin, Seau, Izzo, Alexander, Woods, Mays, Lua

• A lot is being made of the age and the possibility that some of these guys may have lost a step. The bigger concern is health. Vrabel and Bruschi played less effectively last season due to being banged up, and Seau was lost for the season after a horrific broken arm. That was three of last season's top four 'backers. The Patriots need some of the younger linebackers to develop at a quicker pace in order to give the older guys breathers and minimize their chances for catastrophic injury.

Corners (4) - Hobbs, Gay, James, Andrews

• For whatever reason, injuries have killed this position for the Patriots in recent years. With Samuel holding out, Hobbs jumps to the top of the depth chart and Gay gets the chance to prove he can stay healthy. Tory James, a long time starter provides depth as does wide-receiver Brown. Andrews makes the team primarily for his special teams contributions. Safeties Hawkins, Wilson, and Merriweather also have experience on the corner. Still, this is an area where the Patriots have the potential to be exploited.

Safeties (5?) - Harrison, Wilson, Sanders, Merriweather, Hawkins

• Like corner, this has been a position hit by injury over the last couple of seasons. They are a better defensive team with Harrison on the field than without. As such, it might be worth limiting his workload to passing downs in order to try and keep him on the field. However, his injuries have allowed Sanders to develop, and Hawkins is better at safety than expected. Merriweather is still a largely unknown commodity that was drafted to eventually be Harrison's replacement.

Special teams (3)

Punter (1) - Miller

• When uninjured, Miller is an excellent directional punter with the now rare ability to coffin-corner his punts. If he is not completely recovered from last season's shoulder issues, look for the Pats to go in a different direction.

Kicker (1) - Gostkowski

• After a strong rookie campaign, Gostkowski needs to avoid a sophomore slump. If he struggles, the Pats faithful will give him an earful.

Long snapper (1) - Paxton

• Solid, gets the job done and gets down the field quickly on punts.

Gunners - Andrews, Washington

• Washington performed this roll in Cincy and Andrews acquitted himself nicely in this role in Foxboro last year.

Questions

Apparently Adam "Pacman" Jones will moonlight as a professional wrestler during his suspension. This begs the question - will they create villain wrestlers for him named Blinky, Inky, Pinky, and Clyde?

Wade Phillips is taking the heat in Dallas for missed practices by Terrell Owens. Anyone else surprised in the least?

Can anyone out there explain to me what Brady Quinn is thinking? Get the deal done and get into training camp - you've already made yourself public enemy number one in Cleveland - don't make it any worse.

Does Michael Strahan really think he has any leverage whatsoever in his hold-out? The man has played in 33 of the last 48 regular season games over the last three years and turns 36 in November. Either get into camp, Mike, or retire - you're not getting an extra dime out of the Mara family and they're unlikely to trade you to someone who will.

What do Michael Vick supporters really think of his chances in federal court? Innocent until proven guilty is a lovely concept, but let's face some basic facts. Vick isn't facing Mike Nifong who was pandering to his electors, or the mess that was the O.J. trial - also a local jurisdiction case. He is facing a court system in which 90 percent of those charged cut deals. The other ten percent that go to court? 95 percent of them end up convicted.

The feds are deliberate in their approach, and they don't indict unless they think they have the subject dead to rights. Think about it in this context - for every 1,000 people that the feds indict, the proof is so strong that 900 of them accept deals, and 95 of the remaining 100 are convicted. Five of every 1,000 walk away from the charges - 0.005 percent of those who are indicted are found innocent. Those are long odds for anyone, no matter how good the lawyer.

When will the DA's office in Georgia figure out that the system is supposed to be about justice and not one's own personal conviction stats and let Genarlow Wilson walk?

Why is it that all my questions today are related to football?

Monday Morning shots

Of the Red Sox 68 wins, 56 have come from the starters. Of those, 40 have come from Josh Beckett (14), Daisuke Matsuzaka (13), and Tim Wakefield (13). With approximately ten starts left for each pitcher (based on the current rotation alignment - Schilling will get 11 starts while the rest of the staff will get ten each), while unlikely, it is not out of the realm of possibility that the Sox could end the season with three 20-game winners.

Realistically, Beckett has the best shot, with both Matsuzaka and Wake ending up around 17 wins each. If Schilling wins just five of those 11 stars, he will have 11 wins, giving the Sox four pitchers with at least 11 wins in the rotation.

Overall, opponents are batting .248 against Red Sox pitching.

Surging
Down in the Bronx, the Bommahs are undergoing a renaissance, having vaulted into serious contention for the wild-card while beating up on teams like the struggling White Sox, the Devil Rays, and the Royals. While New York papers and the Yankee fandom are rejoicing, there should still be major cause for concern in the House that Ruth Built.

Even against the dregs of the American league, the Yankees pitching staff gave up 14 runs to Tampa Bay, 6 or more three times to Baltimore, 13 in a loss to Chicago, and 5 or more twice to Kansas City. Chicago is last in the AL in batting average and all four are in the bottom 6 in the AL in runs batted in.

Yankees pitching (against which the league is hitting .269) is still struggling and erratic, and will be tested this month starting tonight with a set against a quietly surging Blue Jays club. This starts a 23-game stretch for the Yankees against other surging teams like the Orioles who played the Yankees tough last month, and playoff contenders like the Angels, Red Sox, Tigers, and Indians.

If they survive that stretch and are still in the lead for the wild card, only then will I buy that they have a shot at the post-season. With their pitching, they could easily find themselves trailing the wild card by five games come September 1.

Religion going to the dogs...
Was forwarded this article this morning. I'm not even sure where to start with the problems related to the statements made regarding Michael Vick, "being an outstanding human being," but I suppose I will try (what can I say? I gotta be me)...

The dogfighting trial aside, this is someone, according to just about every account that I have read, has consistently put himself above his team. He presented himself to a woman under an alias and gave her a sexually transmitted disease. He flipped Falcons fans the bird. He believed he was above Federal statute when he tried to take a water bottle (complete with a smuggling compartment) onto an airplane. He blew off Congress when he was scheduled to appear on April 24 to discuss the need to fund after school programs. And, even on the off chance that he's as innocent as he claims he is of the dog fighting charges - these are Vick's friends, the people with whom he chooses to associate.

Yup, that's an outstanding human being. You've got me convinced.

I have to wonder how long it will be before the politicians that are scheduled to speak begin pulling out of the event "honoring Michael Vick."

One day makes all the difference
One day after releasing former pro-bowl defensive tackle, and current pro-bowl injury Corey Simon, the Colts lost defensive tackle Anthony "Booger" MacFarland, possibly for the season with a torn patellar tendon.

This means that the Colts defense will lack the following starters from last season - MacFarland, CB Nick Harper, LB Cato June, CB Jason David. Considering the team's struggles against the run last season, Tony Dungy can not be a happy camper this morning.

An open letter to the commentators at ESPN...

I know that many of you who were not either professional or collegiate athletes, were journalism or English majors while in college. It is why I hold you to a higher standing of the language which is the canvas for your art - and why I hold in utter contempt the recent page 2 column by the Notorious PhD.

It seems to be consensus that Hank Aaron's home-run record is the, "most sacred record in sports." I hear this regularly from the pundits. Then I hear the ESPN pundits take Hank Aaron and Bud Selig to task over their disapproval of Barry Bonds', an admitted drug cheat, breaking of said record.

Let's think about this - the term sacred is a synonym for the word holy. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Holy: adjective (holier, holiest) 1 dedicated to God or a religious purpose. 2 morally and spiritually excellent and to be revered.

"Morally and spiritually excellent." Let's stay with that for a second.

Aaron was known to despise cheating of any sort - so much so that, according to reports, he feels that Gaylord Perry who admitted to using the spit-ball, should not be in the Hall. Aaron broke the record with quiet dignity while fielding death threats due to his race.

Many are claiming this is about race, but I fail to see how a criminal breaking a black-man's record could be about race.

And let's make no mistake about this - Bonds is a criminal. Multiple witnesses have testified to his use of substances that are banned by federal law - use of substances that were solely meant to enhance his power numbers.

If the record is so, "sacred," then why do you so badly want a criminal to break it?

Isn't that like deciding that Charlie Manson is indeed the second coming of Jesus? Hey...ignore the murders, this guy is the real deal! Please.

"Everybody else was doing it," is no defense. Do you remember your mother? "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you too?"

This isn't about breaking a record. This isn't about race. Those of you who convince yourselves that it is are fooling yourselves.

This is about compromising your morals.

What is it about Bonds that is allowing you at ESPN to whore out your moral compass? I would love to, just once, hear one of your commentators rip Bonds without excusing his actions. But of course, this is the same network that gave us that horrible, self-serving pile of steaming dung entitled Bonds on Bonds. I guess journalistic balance and integrity is something I shouldn't expect from a network whose first name is Entertainment.

I take little consolation in the fact that I have not yet heard the venerable Peter Gammons weighing in on the subject. I can only hope the taste of bile in the back of his mouth and his station in the pantheon of baseball writers have kept the brass at ESPN from pushing their pro-Bonds/anti-Aaron stance on the man.

Unfortunately, I know that this will reach none of them.

Sincerely,

The Angry Fan

A few Red Sox observations

The Red Sox landed Eric Gagne as the big piece to put themselves over the hump for the stretch run. I'm not sure I like this move all that much.

I understand the logic - get the proven arm to shore up the bullpen for the dog-days and the post season, while opening a rotation spot for the returning Curt Schilling. Really, I get it.

This is my problem - Kason Gabbard has been a more than solid replacement in the rotation for the marginally effective Schilling this season. He is a left-handed pitcher that hasn't turned 23 yet, and has shown veteran poise on the mound. I would have less problem with it if Gabbard were a righty, but he's not - he's a lefty in a division where the best regular season team for the last decade has struggled against quality lefties. The Sox could have been going into next season with two of them.

Instead the lefty was traded for a rent-a-player to improve what is already, statistically, the best bullpen in baseball. I think I would even have felt better about it if the Sox had gotten a decent bat out of it. Instead, they got a power-pitcher with a history of arm problems.

I'll give Theo to the end of the season on this, but I have to say, I'm not feeling as good about this trade as the rest of Red Sox Nation. Anything less than a World Series appearance would be unacceptable after trading away someone who could be a solid middle-of-the-rotation guy for years to come.

Our Dumb Red Sox Nation members...

Need to either learn math, or stay off the message boards. I say this because there have been a number of our idiotic brethren calling for the Sox to rid themselves of Tim Wakefield making claims like the following - and I quote, "my MOM throws harder than Wakefield!! he'll probably pitch until he's 50....and still be a .500 pitcher."

At least one argument that I read is that he's a waste because he takes up two roster spots by forcing the team to have to carry the light hitting Doug Mirabelli - and as such, doesn't get good run support.

Let's analyze these arguments just to see how ignorant and idiotic they are (I remember when Sox fans used to be knowledgeable).

Wakefield's career record is 164-143 (.534). Last time I checked, that was indeed higher than .500, unless I just don't understand the new math. This season he is 13-9 (.591), tied for the team in wins.

His 138.1 innings pitched in 22 starts is second on the team only to Daisuke Matsuzaka's 144. He has averaged 6.1 innings per start, the same number averaged by Schilling. The only regular starter that has had below six innings per start has been Julian Tavarez. Batters are hitting .261 against him. That's .027 points lower than Schilling or Tavarez.

As for run support - Wakefield is sporting a 4.55 ERA after today's game. Given that he averages just 6.1 innings pitched per start, that means he is giving up an average of 3.20 runs per start. The team is averaging 4.5 runs scored per Wakefield start.

So...can someone explain to me how these people learned to use a computer - it's obvious that they don't know how to read numbers.

Conspicuously absent

My apologies for my recent absence. There were some recent electrical storms that have wreaked havoc with my Internet access here in Western Maryland. I am, however, back now...so, on with the NFC West (finally)...

Arizona Cardinals - Can Matt Leinart and the Cardinals offense progress and build off of last year? Last season Leinart showed flashes of why he was a top draft pick as a QB, often making something out of nothing behind a spotty offensive line. The team has the skill position players in place to make the jump to contender in a weak division, but has historically had issues at quarterback and along the line. If Leinart can stay upright and get the ball out to his big wide-outs, then they will have a chance every week.

St. Louis Rams - Can the front office get Marc Bulger in to camp in time to build off of last year's success? Last season, after several down seasons, the Rams challenged the Seahawks for the division title. Inconsistency plagued the team as they sometimes beat the tough opponents and struggled against the weak ones. However, the offense - led by Bulger and running back Stephen Jackson - clicked down the stretch. If either of those two cogs is not ready for the opener, then the Rams are starting the season with a handicap.

San Francisco 49ers - Can the revamped receiving corps have success? San Francisco made a quantum leap forward last year, showing life on offense. In order to bolster the roster, the 49ers brain-trust went out and got Darrell Jackson from the Seahawks and Ashley Lelie from Atlanta to revamp their receiver corps. If Jackson is healthy, he could still be a legitimate number one receiver. However, it should be a cause for concern that the Seahawks were willing to deal him within the division, and Lelie has been a bust his entire career. A receiver with number one sort of talent, Lelie has only occasionally shown the ability to live up to his potential.

Seattle Seahawks - Can they hold off the rest of the division? Last season the 9-7 Seahawks back-slid, barely finishing ahead of the 8-8 Rams and the 7-9 49ers one season after walking away with the division and going to the Super Bowl. There are a lot of ifs that need to be answered with this team in determining whether or not they can hold off the rest of the division - if Deion Branch can step it up and be a legitimate number one receiver in a system other than the Patriots (most scouts have him as the second receiver), if the revamped secondary can gel in training camp, if Shaun Alexander can fend off time and return to the form he had two seasons ago while avoiding injury. These are some of the questions the team needs to answer - and if the answers to any of these are "no," then it could be a very tough season for the team from the Emerald City.

NFL Questions: AFC West

Last season this division had three layers - San Diego, then you had both Denver and Kansas City on the same strata, and then somewhere far below...lower than low can go, you had Oakland...or at least their offense and their overall record. The odd thing about it all is that this division sported the best team during the regular season - the Chargers - and they fired their head coach - one of the winningest coaches in the history of the game, and replaced him with, historically, one of the worst (by account of record) active head coaches in the game. KC is in salary-cap Hell, Denver doesn't really know what it has at quarterback and has questions on defense, and just about everyone is trying to figure out what Al Davis has been thinking for the last three years.

But what is the key question for each of these franchises...

Denver Broncos - There are many questions, not the least of which revolves around the quarterback, additions and subtractions on the defense, and the development of their wide receiver corps. The obvious question is whether or not Jay Cutler shows the progress Mike Shanahan is hoping for, and it is probably the most important question given the luck that Shanahan has had in regards to developing a capable replacement for John Elway. The closest he has come has been working with a free-agent, not with any of his drafted signal-callers. If Cutler progresses the way Shanahan's previous picks at QB have, then the Broncos aren't just in for a long season - they're in for a long couple of seasons. If he can improve on last season, then the Broncos will likely make the playoffs.

Kansas City Chiefs - Are the Chiefs really committed to their youth movement? In a win now league, the Chiefs are going to be forced to pick between Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard. Huard was the best signal-caller that the Chiefs had last year, and likely gives the team the best chance they have to win this season, but it also means that Croyle is left holding the clipboard. Based on the little bit of playing time that Croyle got last season, it would be surprising if he actually beat out Huard for the starting spot - but seeing as he is supposed to be the future of the team, Huard might lose this contest before it starts through no fault of his own other than the fact that he wasn't the team's first day draft pick at quarterback last season.

Oakland Raiders - Is Jamarcus Russell more than a one game wonder? Throughout last season, it seemed that the consensus top pick at quarterback was Brady Quinn out of Notre Dame. Russell's name seldom...if ever...came up. He has a great bowl game, and suddenly he's the best quarterback in the draft. Other quarterbacks that this happened to include the likes of Ryan Leaf, Jim Druckenmiller, and Akili Smith. All those previous busts, like Russell, was considered a supremely talented physical specimen - if on occasion a bit rough. Russell might break the mold, but if he doesn't, then watch for the Raiders to continue wallowing in the Black Hole of Despair which they have done a fine job of building for themselves. Even if Russell is everything the Raiders are hoping him to be, it's still likely to be a long season, but the team should show improvement.

San Diego Chargers - Can Norv Turner finally produce winners in what is likely to be his last shot as a head coach? After winning a power struggle with the winningest active coach in the NFL, it is completely possible that personnel guru AJ Smith's future as a general manager rests on the shoulders of Norv Turner - the head coach with a career record of 58-82-1. Not a bet that I would have made. The logic behind his hiring was that Turner and his staff run the same playbook that Marty Shottenheimer (200-126-1, by the way) ran, and as such, it means that the players will not have to learn new assignments.

Great logic - except for the fact that Turner, as a head coach, doesn't use that playbook the
same way that Shottenheimer does, as evidenced by their records. Sure, this team is likely to make the playoffs this year - Smith has kept the core starters together, and the team doesn't have to learn a new playbook, but I'm guessing that we see this team backslide over the next couple of years. Norv could be that replacement that finally gets along with Smith - but I would be surprised seeing as no one has yet.