That Guy Sports Blog

Guess Who's Back....

2007-07-16T20:05:00.001-04:00

....back again. Thatguy's back. Tell your friends.

Its that time of year that we told you we'd be back. With the first rookies in the NFL reporting to camp 3 days from now (Jets fans rejoice) thatguysportsblog is making its comeback.

As we told you some short time ago, we're all set and ready to go for football season. Full bore, full tilt, full time. Just like Bruschi.

What can you expect to see this season?

The best Fantasy NFL Football analysis in the game.
The best gambling analysis in the game.
The smartest and most insightful opinions on the game.
Reactions to all things NFL and CFB
A lot of making fun of Peter King
No ESPY's coverage though

oh and a very, VERY slanted stance on all things football, both college and professional - with a little high school mixed in.

If you love Notre Dame, you won't love this blog. You'll read it, you'll argue with me, but you'll be wrong. SEC fans? You've come to the right place. Patriots fans? likewise. Not so for the Colts, Chargers, or Dolphins though.

You'll see some of the most beautiful women associated with the game of football, like her:

So what's next?

Sit back and enjoy....that's what. Because your favorite blog that nobodies heard of is back.

Check out NFL Training Camp reporting dates for your squad here.

THATGUY SPORTS UPDATE!!!!!!

2007-06-13T21:00:00.000-04:00

************************************

Much to your surprise, and potentially you're chagrin, thatguysports is NOT dead.

In fact its just the opposite. As we type this, our creative minds are coming up with a new and improved format that will cater to the real sport in our lives, football.

When NFL training camps begin, thatguysports is back.

What you can expect to see this year, an NFL Cheerleader of the week, College Football insanely hot fan of the week, training camp reports, weekly college and professional picks against the spread, and a weekly fantasy breakdown.

In short, thatguysports will be YOUR one-stop shop for all things football.

Stay tuned.......here's a taste of the women in store for you (courtesy of Southernfriedfootball.com)

An Open Letter to Professional Golfers

2007-05-09T21:38:00.000-04:00

Dear Professional Golfers (a.k.a. guys I'd give anything to be),

I realize you are really nothing more than other pampered professional athletes, but sometimes I seem to forget that. Thank you for reminding me that when the Boston Globe prints articles like this one today.

I realize you guys think you're something else, and there's no doubt that you're all very gifted, but by my count, the vast majority of American's aren't born to families who can afford expensive golf memberships to clubs that many of you essentially grew up in. So while you're clearly gifted, you also have had a TON more ability to, well, not have to work a single day in your life thereby allowing you to practice golf your entire childhood and making you nasty at it.

But what you fail to realize is that being nasty at golf doesn't entitle you to playing the game by different rules.

You already have the luxury of having your fairways lined by "man-made hazards" which allow you to basically hit a ball anywhere and not ever worry about losing it. Furthermore you can even take an free drop where ever you like.

But this quote goes over the line for me:

"I know it's exciting and adds a lot to the tournament," said Jack Nicklaus, "but maybe almost a little bit too much, at times, because it really becomes such a big factor -- where a guy has played great all week and all of a sudden he can go from first into about 10th."

Don't think Jack Nicklaus is alone in this thinking...there are a ton of quotes in there from golfers about this.

Newsflash: THAT IS GOLF. Welcome to the world of a 18 handicap! I was 3 over after 6 holes last week and wound up getting an 8 on a par 3. Why you ask? Because that's what happens.

So stop crying about it, stop complaining, and just once triple 17 this weekend and think to yourself:

"Wow, this is what its like to be an everyday working man, weekend warrior golfer."

Yours truly,

That Guy

That Guy Sports Take on Cycling

2007-05-04T09:04:00.000-04:00

After an intense discussion with some haters at lunch yesterday, thatguysports today is exposing the biggest athletic frauds in the entire world. Cyclers. Or as I prefer to say, "Bi-cyclists." a.k.a. "anabolic bodybuilding on a bike."

These guys are the biggest frauds in the world. They ride a friggin bike for Christ's sake. 3 year olds ride bikes. Half the time they're riding downhill.

But they'll tell you the bikes they ride are somehow different from other bikes, and that they have, stop me if you've heard this one, "Higher Lung Capacity" than other athletes. In reality - they're just on steroids.

With that, here's my list of guys that would win the Tour de France blindfolded, but they play real, other sports.

Football players:

Antwan Randel El
I just think he'd be a good cyclist. He's obviously quick, has speed, and isn't going to be hampered by his size. Randel El, easily win the tour de bike race.

Wes Welker
He'd be my favorite to do so actually. He'd destroy Lance and Floyd.

Ladanian Tomlinson
There is legitimately nothing he couldn't do.

Reggie Bush
See Tomlinson.

Majore League Baseball Players

Jose Reyes
He'd be nasty on a bike. He could possibly outrun a bike.

Honestly, any lead off hitter with speed could easily win the tour de bike race.

Pick one. Any of them.

Hockey

Ovechkin, Crosby, Patrice Bergeron.

All could do it easily.

Boxing

Floyd Mayweather could gamble, talk trash, and call his uncle while winning a bike race like the tour de france.

Basketball

Baron Davis, Chris Paul. Easily.

The thing that makes cycling the worst, is that you couldn't put any cyclist in another sport and have them do well in it. They ride bikes!

Anyway, I'd love some more athletes that could easily win the tour de huffy race in France. Post away.

Baseball Update: April month in review

2007-05-02T20:25:00.000-04:00

Disclaimer:

I'm really much more of a football guy. Even though my buddy shoota refers to me as "Mister Baseball" at times, its really more of a joke than anything else. So take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. As mh says, its much more of a "Coco sucks" mentality here.

With that, let's take a break from wishing the summer away so the Patriots can go 16-0 and walk through the playoffs, and lets get into some great moments from the month of April.

Best thing to watch as a Red Sox fan:

The Yankees starting rotation dropping like flies - Now every Yankee fan knows what it was like to be a Red Sox fan last year. When you start trotting guys out like Kyle Snyder and Kason Gabbard to start games, you just don't care anymore. That's what Yankee fans are saying now about these guys that they trot out night after night.

And the Phillip Hughes injury last night just HAD to hit a nerve for the bombers, no?

Worst thing to watch as a Red Sox fan:

JD Drew wearing Trot Nixon's jersey number. Because it is REALLY starting to look like we've seen this movie before. scal may have hit the nail on the head with this one.

Story that nobody cares about:
Barry Bonds chasing Hank Aaron. As much as ESPN is trying to get us to care, we just don't. And won't. Ever. So stop talking about it, and stop trying to make us care. We don't care that nobody cares even. Just move on.

Best team nobody really notices:
Milwaukee Brewers. Trust me on this. When you're at about a 20 game per week betting clip, you find things out like "JJ Hardy can kill the ball" or "Prince Fielder is a HR just waiting to happen." If only their starters would stop getting hurt in afternoon games. This team is good.

Worst team nobody really notices:
St. Louis Cardinals. Get Pujols out and you win. Plain and simple. The bottom half of that line-up flat out stinks.

Best saying I invented:
"Riding the Meche-train."

Second story that nobody really cares about:
Where the fat slob Clemens will wind up (Mind you he is on my bench of my fantasy team).

Best pitching coach performance:
Shoota from the Sheppard Hill Rams.

Leading team to win it all:
Red Sox. They have the best pitching top to bottom and Manny and Ortiz haven't even really gone off yet.

Worst team to make the playoffs:
Any team from the AL West. It stinks so far this year.

Best pitcher nobody knows about:
Hideki Okajima. Lights out reliever so far this year.

Worst titled blog:
Thatguysports blatant ripoff of thatguysportsblog. screw them. They should get their own site. Clowns. Besides. Who the hell cares about Oregon State??

2nd best team to root for:
Arizona Diamondbacks. A great late night wager for any day of the week.

That's folks.

Coming soon: Bad announcer fantasy point system. I think its a great idea.

News and Notes

2007-05-01T21:13:00.000-04:00

Seeing as how we're basking in the glory of another NFL Draft weekend we'll be ready to tackle the Major League Baseball season starting tomorrow.

I just don't have it in me to go at it right now - and besides, does anybody really care about baseball right now except for those losers who bet baseball moneylines? And in all seriousness, who would do that?

Anyway, there's another thatguysports. Which kind of sucks. I really don't want to give out the web address but I'm sure you're smart enough to figure out what it is. Regardless, his site sucks and this one is legit. I'm 100% starting an e-feud with him. e-feud = ratings.

Check out some of these stories from the last few days:

Ryan Glasper has every right to hate Tom O'Brien.

Fatso still hasn't decided where he's playing next year. He's also telling us for the fifteenth time since March 1 that May is the month he'll decide. Thanks for checking in you toad.

The Panthers screwed up a good draft a little bit today. Why cut Keyshawn now? It takes a LOT for a rookie WR to produce in his first year.

Look, more reasons to hate the Boston media.

Check back tomorrow for some good'ol MLB talk. At least MH will have something to read.

NFL Draft Spectacular: Draft Grades

2007-04-30T20:26:00.000-04:00

When it comes to grading a draft I tend to look at things a little bit differently than guys like Mel Kiper and such. For example, if you have to go to the 7th round to find a great pick, I'm not going to rank that draft as a good one. You shouldn't make your best pick with your 6th, 7th, or 8th overall pick in an entire weekend of picks.

I'm also not going to give credit to a team for picking a good player if I think they could have picked a better one. Its just that simple.

Lastly, I'm not looking at next year's draft. Trading a pick this year to get something next year has nothing to do with my grades and vice versa, you're not getting knocked any grades for trading next years picks to move up this year. Its all about this past weekend for me.

Without further ado, thatguysports draft day grades.

Arizona Cardinals: C+
Some nice picks late, but I don't like Alan Branch at all, and Levi Brown in my opinion isn't a lock to be a superstar. Would've like to have seen them work on their defense a little bit more - they have an offense that is decent. Their defense is swiss cheese.

Atlanta Falcons: D
I hate this draft. I think Jamaal Anderson is overrated and Chris Houston is going to be a bust. They didn't help their offense at all - another raw WR is NOT what they need (Laurent Robinson), and they didn't help their offensive line much at all.

Baltimore Ravens: C
I'm not big on drafting a return specialist early in a draft unless its a Daunte Hall type, but I don't think Figurs is that guy. Grubbs is a Guard, and no doubt he is a good one, but how hard is it to develop a Guard?
Their best pick? Lleron McClain. Guy's a stud.

Buffalo Bills: B-
I like the Posluszny pick where they got him but I despise the Marshawn Lynch pick. He didn't do squat against teams that had defenses more stout than the crap the Pac-10 rolls out week in and week out. That being said, John Wendling was a great pick where they got him.

Carolina Panthers: A-
Great draft. Beason is a stud. Dwayne Jarrett and Ryan Kalil will be solid contributers if not Pro-Bowlers. Georgia DE Charles Johnson is solid as well.

Chicago Bears: C
I hate Greg Olsen. Their best pick was Beekman from BC.

Cincinatti Bengals: C
Leon Hall was their best and only solid pick.

Cleveland Browns: A+
Sorry folks but you don't worry about next year's draft when you find a QB you love, AND who wants to play for you. Case and point with Cleveland.
Joe Thomas to anchor the line, Brady Quinn at QB, and Eric Allen at Corner.

Dallas Cowboys: B-
Anthony Spencer is a good counterpart to Demarcus Ware, and James Marten at Tackle is solid.

Denver Broncos: C+
Jarvis Moss and not a whole lot else. Not enough improvement for a team that really faded down the stretch last year.

Detroit Lions: C-
Sure, they got Calvin Johnson. But Drew Stanton SUCKS with a capital SUCKS. Matt Millen continues to have pictures of somebody - as that's the only way he keeps his job.

Green Bay Packers: D+
Not a big Justin Harrell fan. Not for where they drafted him.
Nobody else of merit.

Houston Texans: F
Okoye may be good, but if he becomes a pro-bowler, he's the only solid player they picked up yesterday.

Indianapolis Colts: B
As much as this pains me, its a good draft for Indy. I obviously love Gonzalez. Daymeion Hughes will be a solid corner in their Tampa 2 system.

Jacksonville Jaguars: C-
Reggie Nelson and a bunch of guys who went too early. Not the kind of draft you write home about.

Kansas City Chiefs: B-
Dwayne Bowe and Turk McBride will be solid players for them. Nice draft with limited picks for them this weekend.

Miami Dolphins: F
It doesn't get much worse for this team. Sure, Beck was one of my sleepers at QB but if you're going to pass on Brady Quinn for a WR why not pick up the best one available? They basically used a 9th overall pick to replace Wes Welker. I'm not kidding.

Minnesota Vikings: A-
Adrian Peterson, enough said. Sidney Rice, enough said. Brian Robison will be a Patrick Kearney/Jared Allen type in the NFL and they got him late. Great draft for Minny this year, although the fact they got their draft card in on time is still a feat for this franchise.

New England Patriots: C+
I'm not talking about the Randy Moss trade. They had two top 28 picks and only have Brandon Mayweather to show for it. Why not take an LB with 28? You need youth at that position. Instead they trade for next year. I don't love what they did, but trading the 28th pick for a 1st next year AND Randy Moss is ok....i just wish they got younger on Defense.

New Orleans Saints: C-
Robert Meachem and nothing else.

New York Giants: D+
Why not take Joe Staley???? You NEED an OT for Eli Manning to succeed and you give him nothing. They only avoided an F by getting DeOssie and Steve Smith. But passing on Staley will haunt them for a long time.

New York Jets: B+
Granted, only 3 picks, but Darrelle Revis was my top corner, and David Harris is one of the young LB's I wanted to see the Patriots draft.

Oakland Raiders: C-
Jamarcus Russell will be a bust, and the rest is history. Best pick was Michael Bush.

Philadelphia Eagles: F
Horrible draft for this team. Kevin Kolb will suck and you already have McNabb. Abiamiri isn't my guy, and Tony Hunt will be useless at the next level.

Pittsburgh Steelers: B
Timmons will be great in their 3-4 and Wodley is solid. Add to that a sleeper in Dallas Baker who is only hampered by his 40 time.

St. Louis Rams: B+
Another draft I real like. Typical "lunch pail guys" in Carricker and Brian Leonard.

San Diego Chargers: C-
Craig Davis in the first round? Gross. Weddle is their best pick.

San Francisco 49ers: B+
Patrick Willis, my man Joe Staley anchor a great draft. This team will be solid next year (which is why I don't love the Patriots trading for their 1st rounder next year). It should surprise nobody if San Fran wins 11 games next year.

Seattle Seahawks: D
Useless. How's Deion Branch you losers?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: C+
Gaines Adams seemed to turn it on and off last year, but Sabby Piscitelli was arguably the most "My guy" in the entire draft this year.

Tennessee Titans: D
Chris Henry is god awful. He'll actually make Lendale White look like a good pro. Then draft 3 WR who are below average. Sick draft. I can't wait for Vince Young to fall on his face next year. Tennessee will be the most overrated team in the league next season.

Washington Redskins: C
1 for 1 is good. Blades may be a player if he can overcome his physical limitations.

NFL Draft Spectacular: That Guy Sports Mock Draft

2007-04-25T21:14:00.000-04:00

Here we go ladies and gentlemen, the 2007 That Guy Sports mock draft. Now, we're not shooting for 100% accuracy for teams and spots, if we get a team right but the spot wrong, we're calling that a win. Team wrong, but spot right, another win.

Onto the draft.

1. Oakland Raiders, Jamarcus Russell
2. Tampa Bay (via trade), Calvin Johnson
3. Cleveland, Brady Quinn
4. Detroit, Gaines Adams
5. Arizona, Joe Thomas
6. Washington, LaRon Landry
7. Minnesota, Adrian Peterson
8. Atlanta, Amobi Okoye
9. Miami, Levi Brown.
10. Houston, Darrelle Revis
11. San Fran, Adam Carriker
12. Buffalo, Patrick Willis
13. St Louis, Jamaal Anderson
14. Carolina, Greg Olson
15. Pittsburgh, Lawrence Timmons
16. Green Bay, Marshawn Lynch
17. Jacksonville, Jarvis Moss
18. Cincinnati, Leon Hall
19. Tennessee, Ted Ginn, Jr
20. Giants, Joe Staley
21. Denver, Alan Branch
22. Dallas, Robert Meachem
23. Kansas City, Dwayne Bowe
24. New England, John Beason
25. Jets, Aaron Ross
26. Philadelphia, Reggie Nelson
27. New Orleans, Justin Harrell
28. New England, Michael Griffin
29. Baltimore, Ryan Kalil
30. San Diego, Steve Smith
31. Chicago, Dwayne Jarrett
32. Indianapolis, Tony Gonzalez

Things that wouldn't surprise us. Adrian Peterson to Browns, Miami trading up for Brady Quinn.
Rams go Leon Hall.
Patriots at 28 go Lorenzo Booker.
Adrian Peterson to Houston.

that's all we have. there's no doubt I forgot about someody good. So hit me with it.

NFL Draft Spectacular: "My guys"

2007-04-25T20:08:00.000-04:00

Every sports fan has "his guys." You just have to. Todd Walker for the Red Sox, "my guy." Trot Nixon, NOT "my guy." Eugene Wilson after the Philly Superbowl, "my guy." You get the picture.

Well, here are my guys for the upcoming NFL draft.

John Beck, QB, BYU.
I love everything about this guy. Prepared, can make just about any throw, and he was a GREAT factor in BYU games going over quite often this past season. He's just a solid QB who has Tom Brady written all over him.

Brian Leonard, FB/RB, Rutgers.
Anybody who brings up images of Mike Alstott clearly has to be one of your guys. How can he not be?

LeRon McClain, FB, Alabama.
You knew you weren't going to see this list end without a Tide player on here did you? Well McClain will be the next great lead blocker. He is a stereotype fullback. Block, run for 1 yard, and catch the ball out of the backfield. He can do it all. Punishing is an adjective to describe McClain.

Sidney Rice, WR, South Carolina.
Pro-bowl receiver for a long time to come. Good hands and great play making ability.

Anthony Gonzalez, WR, Ohio State.
See above. Great route runner, tremendous hands, and always plays big in big games. I'd take him over Ted Ginn in a heartbeat.

Joe Staley, OT, Central Michigan.
I had him and Joe Thomas on this list until I heard that Joe Thomas is fishing w/ his dad instead of going to the draft but is still letting a camera on the boat. Lame. Staley is legit though. He is down in Daytona w/ his cousin drinking right now. He said so last week on the NFL Sirius channel.

Adam Carriker, DE, Nebraska.

Brian Robison, DE, Texas.

Zak DeOssie, ILB, Brown.
Trust me, the next solid Ivy League Linebacker.

Zach Latimer, ILB, Oklahoma.
A PLACE AT THE TABLE!!! YOU TRYING TO LEAD ME ON!??!?!

Latimer.

John Beason, OLB, The U.
Skeet skeet!

Ramzee Robinson, CB, Alabama.
Roll Tide.

Michael Griffin, S, Texas.
Will be able to play Strong, Free, and even Nickel. Plus special teams.

So there you have it. "My guys." Who are yours?

Coming tomorrow.....Mock it up baby!!!.....

NFL Draft Spectacular: Defensive Backfield

2007-04-24T20:34:00.000-04:00

In all honesty this is where I am a stud. Just know that going into it.

Cornerbacks

Darrelle Revis, Pitt
Total complete stud. Gretat ball skills and a guy who had few opportunities to make plays b/c teams didn't go at him, but when they did, they paid for it, big time, when he'd convert an INT into a touchdown. Also returned punts.

Aaron Ross, Texas
Size, physicality, speed. Ross has it all. He supports the run very well and obviously played in a high level in college. He's going to be a stud in the NFL.

Leon Hall, Michigan
I don't think you can go wrong with any of the top 3, and Hall is right there. Dwane Jarrett exposed Hall a little in my opinion in the Rose Bowl and he also didn't fare very well against Ohio State. That said, Hall has the size and speed to be a player at the next level.

Eric Wright, UNLV
Talent and skill, but character issues. Enough said. I mean the guy left USC. Who the hell does that???

Chris Houston, Arkansas.
I don't love Houston. SEC isn't really a passing conference, so I question the cover skills of Houston.

Marcus McCauley, Fresno State
Another guy I don't love. He got benched in 2006. That takes a lot. Pat Hill guy though, which usually translates well in the NFL.

Tanard Jackson, Syracuse.
Don't knock the player because of the program. Tanard Jackson can play. It just may not be at corner. He may need to move inside, or get considerably faster.

Sleepers:

Ramzee Robinson, Alabama. Football player. He will be heard from.
David Jones, Wingate. Solely a question of competition.
Corey Graham, UNH.

Busts:
McCauley, Houston

Safety
(One of the deepest positions in this year's draft)

Laron Landry, LSU.
My #1 guy defensive player in the draft. He is a stud. 100% stud. I'd give anything for the Patriots to have a guy like this.

Michael Griffin, Texas.
Only reason I put him above Reggie Nelson is the special teams, punt block skills he has.

Reggie Nelson, Florida.
Another stud.

Eric Weddle, Utah.
Versatile is his middle name. He reminds me of the guy from the Bengals who has the weird last name. He's a holder too.

Aaron Rouse, Va Tech.
No questioning his skills. Needs to be more consistent - classic underachiever.

Brandon Meriweather, The U.
He beat a guy over the head with his own helmet. I'm all set with this guy. Pacman Jones.

John Wendling, Wyoming.
Skilled, athletic and intelligent. He has the Patriots written all over him.

Sabby Piscitelli, Oregon State.
May be a LB, regardless, he's obviously skilled. Just need to find a place for him to play.

Sleepers:

Piscitelli, Wendling.

Gerald Alexander, Boise State . Versatile and incredibly athletic.

Busts:

Meriweather.

NFL Draft Spectacular: Linebackers

2007-04-23T22:10:00.000-04:00

The play makers of an attacking defense. And one of my favorite positions.

Inside Linebackers

Patrick Willis, Mississippi
The only thing that concerns me about Willis is that a lot of his plays were made after a gain by the offense. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he played for a poor team and that's more the reason than anything else. That said, he's a sideline to sideline guy who has size and can move.

Originally most mocks had the Patriots landing him but there's really no way he's there when they pick.

Buster Davis, Florida State.
If David Harris didn't play for Michigan I'd have David Harris here. Instead of Greg Olson's disappearing act playing on a lesser team than in the past, Buster Davis elevated his game. He's a great 4-3 MLB.

David Harris, Michigan.
Great run stopper that seemed to have improved on his coverage skills and his speed. Granted he played in an inferior conference in the Big-10, but he's obviously very good at playing against teams that run straight ahead with no real rhyme or reason. He'd be perfect for the AFC North.

Zak DeOssie, Brown.
Smarts, good size and great athletic ability. DeOssie has a ton of upside. I love saying upside.

Bust: HB Blades. I think he sucks. Don't draft him. Undersized.

Sleeper: DeOssie and Justin Durant of Hampton.

Outside Linebacker

Lawrence Timmons, Florida State.
Stud outside guy who can play the edge, get after the qb, or drop into coverage. A complete player who played against very good competition in the ACC. A stud.

John Beason, The U.
Member of the 7th floor crew, the greatest rap group of all time:

"(What's your name?) Big Beast. (What you do?) Skeet skeet. (How you do it?) Bust a nut, aim for her mouthpiece.

I mean how can that guy NOT be a solid player. Regardless, Beason is not a character issue - he's a very good player. Versatile and quick with good size. I love this guy.

Rufus Alexander, Oklahoma.
He flat out makes plays. And you can't coach that.

Stewart Bradley, Nebraska.
Typical 3-4 OLB guy, Bradley is a "worker." He does his job, brings his lunch pail to work, and just gets it done. Nothing flashy, but solid performance.

Paul Posluszny, Penn State.
I am not high on Posluszny. The reality is that he could be the 2nd guy taken and be a horrible player. Injured two years ago, who knows how he'll play when he gets to the NFL. I don't like this kid - but the Patriots may take him which I'll have to be ok with. In Bill I trust.

Bust: Posluszny

Sleeper: Stephen Nicolas, South Florida

NFL Draft Spectacular: Defensive Lineman

2007-04-22T20:14:00.000-04:00

The heart and sole of any championship football team is its defense. Except for this year's championship team who won solely because the NFL officials deemed it so. But I digress. Here's a look at the Defensive Lineman and how we at thatguysports have them ranked. By the way, DE is LOADED this year. DT, not so much.

Defensive End

Gaines Adams, Clemson.
Stereotypical 4-3 DE. A monster against the pass who's only knock is that he seemed to be bored at times. Will make an impact immediately (In so far as a DE can when he winds up on a bad team like Adams probably will).

Adam Carriker, Nebraska.
Versatile player, a lot like Richard Seymour of the Patriots. Tall for a DE but with bulk on top of it. Could be a DT as well if called on.

Jarvis Moss, Florida.
For my money, Moss will be the best player in this position of this draft. He's not a classic tweener b/c of his 6'6'' height but would it surprise anybody if he wound up playing the role that a Willie McGinnist or Adalius Thomas fell into?

Jamaal Anderson, Arkansas.
Here's what bothers me about Anderson: I don't really remember him. Jarvis Moss, remembered. Gaines Adams, remembered, but Anderson - not remembered. Maybe that's just my inability to remember things, but I just don't. Thus, he's in the 4th spot.

Anthony Spencer, Purdue.
Classic tweener. Will provide TREMENDOUS value in the late 1st into the 2nd round.

LaMarr Woodley, Michigan.
Another tweener guy. Most Michigan defensive players worry me because of the lack of speed in the Big-10 (see: State, Ohio getting destroyed in the national title game when they finally played some speed). He's "long" not in that way, but in the football way, and he has a "motor."

DE Sleeper

Brian Robison, Texas.

DE Bust

Tim Crowder, Texas.

Defensive Tackle

DT in my opinion is really a 2 man race.

Amobe Okoye, Louisville.
If this is the first time you've heard of him, ESPN is channel 849 on HD in the Boston marketplace, and I suggest you check it out. They do shows about sports. He's a great story, and some have commented that he's almost the Greg Oden of this NFL Draft.

Justin Harrell, Tennessee.
Coming off an injury, Harrell isn't where he could have been if he played all year. That said, I think he'll be a good pick for a team who may not need him to bring his A game immediately.

DT Bust:
Alan Branch, Michigan.
I think he flat out sucks. Classic guy w/ the tools who can't compete on the field.

Sleeper:
Walter Thomas, NW Mississippi Juco
Coach him up and watch a guy who apparently has talent grow and watch him sprout to stardom.

NFL Draft Spectacular: Offensive Lineman

2007-04-20T07:14:00.000-04:00

Look, I'm 5 foot nothing and I don't get game tapes sent to me. I have no real idea who has good footwork and who can deliver a blow when pass blocking.

So I don't have a ton of comments on the OL here.

Guys I like - there are two of them at the top of the list.

Joe Staley Central Michigan and Joe Thomas of Wisconsin.

Staley was on Sirius yesterday and he was hilarious. No way he fails in the NFL

Thomas, well...he's a stud and he's going fishing with his father on draft day instead of New York or anything else. That's a stand up guy in my opinion.

That's all for the OL.

OL is all coaching anyways in the NFL. Up this weekend: The Defensive side of the ball. Where I am a borderling GENIUS.

NFL Draft Spectacular: Tight Ends

2007-04-18T20:51:00.000-04:00

This position is easy for me to sum up.

There are three top prospects in my view and there are 3 categories for them all.

My rankings:
1) Zach Miller, Arizona State
2) Greg Olson, Miami (Fl)
3) Ben Patrick, Delaware

Patrick is a sleeper, and the bust (in my opinion THE bust for the entire draft) is Greg Olson of Miami.

He went from game-breaker to afterthought when he wasn't surrounded with superstars. Needing decent role players around you is one thing, but Olson only thrived when he had superstars around him. No thanks.

NFL Draft Spectacular: Wide Receivers

2007-04-18T20:35:00.000-04:00

Wide Receiver is absolutely LOADED this year in my opinion. No fewer than 5 guys could be legit superstars in the NFL. Here's how we rank the candidates.

1) Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech

If you don't know a single thing about this guy then you need help. Not because you should know who he is, but more because it appears that you're getting all of your sports information from this website. And if that's the case, you need help.

Johnson is the total package with size, speed, hands, and intelligence. He should be the first player taken on the 28th.

2) Sidney Rice, South Carolina

I know most reports show Ted Ginn or Dwayne Bowe in this spot but I put a lot of weight behind a complicated Steve Spurrier offense. Rice will be passed on by a lot of teams and they'll soon regret it.

3) Dwayne Bowe, LSU

Size, hands, strength. Best competition possible. Bowe has it all and legitimately had eye surgery that improved his vision and pass catching. Maybe Reche Caldwell can get help after all.

4) Ted Ginn, Jr., Ohio State

Ginn's injury is the only reason he isn't ranked higher. That and in my opinion he wasn't asked to run complicated routes in the Ohio State system. If he can run his 4.3 range after his injured foot heals then he's the #2 guy available. But I have my doubts. One setback this off season and he's behind the 8-ball to learn an offensive system.

5) Steve Smith, USC

Produced at a high level all through college on a top team. Ran a great 40 time and just makes plays. You can't put enough of an emphasis on a guy like that.

6) Robert Meachem, UT

See: Smith, Steve. Its just too bad he played for a piece of crap like Phil Fullmer (roll tide).

7) Dwayne Jarrett, USC

His 40 time scares me. There are TE's that run faster than him.

Bust potential:

Jarrett, Ginn if he becomes injury prone.

Sleeper:

Anthony Gonzalez, Ohio State
Fundamental stud at WR. Great hands, runs great routes, and plays with some speed and spunk. Yeah I said spunk. Love Gonzalez.

David Ball, UNH
Break any record of Jerry Rice and you're a sleeper in my book.

NFL Draft Spectacular: The Runningbacks/Fullbacks

2007-04-17T20:07:00.000-04:00

1) Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma

As close to a can't miss guy as there is at RB. He's going to be an absolute monster even though Chris Brown was as impressive as Peterson at times in the Big 12 and Peterson runs high like Brown does. Let's look past that, ok?

2) Antonio Pittman, OSU

Can run inside and outside and doesn't dazzle anybody. But is rock-solid. What's the difference between him and Lawrence Maroney? Another Big-10 back who played on a big stage. Always seemed to break a big run when it counted.

3) Brian Leonard, Rutgers

Mike Alstott. Enough said.

4) Marshawn Lynch, Cal

I hate Lynch for the record. He's my pick for "Most likely to celebrate draft day in a strip club VIP room like Pac-Man Jones." Maybe its the dreadlocks, or the fact that he does look JUST LIKE PACMAN JONES.

5) Michael Bush, Louisville

I know, I know...injury prone. But isn't a broken leg a lot different from a "hamstring" guy?

6) Lorenzo Booker

Ok this may have something to do with the fact that he could wind up a Patriot. Why not start the "spin" machine early?

Busts:

Marshawn Lynch, Chris Henry, Arizona (came out early and "raw" isn't something that works in the NFL typically).

Sleeper:

Kolby Smith, Louisville.

Made the loss of Michael Bush tolerable. Which is not an easy thing to do.

NFL Draft Spectacular: The Quarterbacks

2007-04-17T19:53:00.000-04:00

1) Brady Quinn, Notre Dame.

Sorry folks, but I'm not on board the Jamarcus Russell bandwagon. My NFL Draft source said something to the affect of "Russell looked like he was lifting donuts not weights" after he saw him at the combine in Indianapolis. That tells me that this guy isn't ready.

But Quinn is. Playing under a very solid offensive mind in a pro-style offense will make Quinn ready immediately to grasp any NFL system. Not to mention that his 6'4'' frame makes him a stereotypical quarterback.

2) Jamarcus Russell, LSU.

The only reason he isn't 3rd is that I'd lose all credibility if I put him there. That said, Russell reminds me a lot of the guy in Boys in the Hood who gave Little-Ricky (little meaning pre-high school ricky - when he had the red mesh shirt on) his football back. The one who was shirtless with sweatpants and a do-rag on. That's what I see when I see Russell at QB.

Someone tell me how he's any different from Byron Leftwich or Daunte Culpepper? Sure he may put up some good #'s like they do, but the next big game they play in the playoffs will be their first. Same for Russell.

3) John Beck, BYU.

Pro system, seems like a very good leader, and he's described as taking a backseat to nobody when it comes to preparation. Sounds like a winning combination to me. Hopefully he goes to a team with an aging or mediocre starting quarterback and Beck picks up the slack mid-season.

Green Bay ring a bell?

Best chance to be a bust:

This is a tie. 3 way tie. Russell b/c he'll be the first QB taken and he won't be the 3rd best, and Kevin Kolb and Drew Stanton.

Stanton is a classic underachiever. I don't want a guy with that stigma leading my hopes and dreams every fall.

As for Kolb? Well...when was the last time a Texas Tech QB amounted to anything in the NFL?

That's what I thought.

Sleeper:

Jeff Smith, Georgetown (KY)

6'6'' with a cannon for an arm. You can't coach that. Put this guy with a solid Quarterback coach and watch him blossom in 2 years. Think he'd do well learning from a Peyton Manning?

That Guy Sports NFL Draft Spectacular

2007-04-16T14:27:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year, ladies and gentlemen. NFL Draft fever has captured thatguysports with just two weeks until one of the best days of the year for an NFL fan.

thatguysports will be your home for all things NFL Draft. Positional breakdowns of our top prospects at each position will be posted in the coming days. Sleepers, busts, and "my guys" will be highlighted, and we'll end the week with a full mock draft that will surely be mocked by many of you.

So stick around because this is where thatguysports shines.

We'll Be Back

2007-04-13T19:16:00.000-04:00

Don't worry sports fans, thatguysports isn't dead in the water.

We're coming back with a vengance for a solid two weeks of NFL Draft coverage.

Stay tuned.....

What did I miss?

2007-04-03T20:26:00.000-04:00

Sorry fans, thatguysports went on a brief hiatus. I think I blacked out for a full week.

What did I miss?

I think the Final Four was meant to end. Can somebody let me know what powerhouse from the Big-10 won? I'm sure the top conference in the land must have had a winner in some sport this year.

What's going on with the NBA? The Celtics obviously keep losing right? I mean there's no way they'd string together a .500 record to make sure they don't sniff Greg Oden in any manner, right?

The Bears traded Lance Briggs by now I'm sure. The last I heard, the Redskins were ready to mortgage their draft and trade them the 6th pick in a loaded draft. I'm sure they took that deal. No way they'd hold on to a guy who legitimately doesn't want to play for them. Especially with that sweet of a trade offer on the table.

Anything else I miss??

Reality Check

2007-03-28T08:04:00.000-04:00

Ok so not really a reality check, but work is busy for the next couple days so I'm not really able to post. I'll try to get something out tonight.

in the meantime read these cool sites.

Barstool Sports

I'm Bringing Blogging Back

Awful Announcing

Deadspin

The Big Lead

Boston Media Members Hate Bloggers

2007-03-26T20:57:00.000-04:00

Attention all who write on the Internet: Dan Shaugnessy hates you. With a passion.

Check out the hatred in this article from the Boston Globe today. To all you non-Boston area readers (3 of you I think) this is what the Boston media does. They take shot after shot at people that they don't like (Schilling being one of them mind you), until that person runs out of town.

Now I'm not the biggest Curt Schilling guy on the planet. Not by a long shot. I think he loves the spotlight as much if not more than winning games. But his whole blog, 38pitches.com, is completely harmless. Of course, not to the pricks that work for the Boston Globe.

Theismann OUT

2007-03-26T12:47:00.000-04:00

Joe Theismann is off of Monday Night Football. And an entire nation of Monday Night Football watchers rejoice. I'll be honest though, this is bittersweet for me. I really enjoyed the genuine dislike that Theismann had for Kornheiser and the things he said.

Jaws will be a great addition though.

Maybe Theismann will be the anchor for Arena League coverage.

Gilbert Arenas Is Awesome

2007-03-26T11:49:00.001-04:00

Just another reason why Gilbert Arenas is thatguysports favorite athlete right now.

Farewell to the ACC

2007-03-26T08:01:00.000-04:00

What a weekend in college hoops. What a day yesterday for games.

Kudos to Georgetown. MAJOR kudos. They beat 8 guys yesterday. Between the 5 they were playing in white and Carolina blue, and the 3 they were playing in black and white stripes.

34 fouls shots to 18. And anybody who watched that game yesterday knew that the physicality of the game was the same for both sides. Just an embarrassing example of officiating.

That said, is Roy Williams able to look himself in the mirror today? I can't figure out if he just thought his team was supremely talented compared to Georgetown, or if he thought that they'd just stop the bleeding themselves, but to the best of my observation yesterday, he just watched the game slip away.

The ACC has to be the biggest disappointment in collegiate athletics this year.

OSU or OCD ?

2007-03-22T08:06:00.000-04:00

Check out this article about Thad Matta.

Before every game, he has to have a piece of Juicy Fruit or Orbit — “I don’t
know which one he chews currently,” associate head coach John Groce said —
presented to him by a team manager. Matta has to unwrap it himself, then wad up
the wrapper, then shoot it into the trash can behind the bench.
Every game.
Without fail. Lest the Earth split open and swallow him on the spot.
Or maybe
it’s the tie choice that has kept the Buckeyes rolling. Before each game,
Matta’s daughters, 8-year-old Ali and 6-year-old Emily, have to pick out dad’s
neckwear.
“Sometimes it might not match,” Groce said. “But if it doesn’t,
that’s OK.”
At this point, Matta would wear a maize-and-blue tie if his
daughters selected it. There is no going against the established ritual.
“He
is the most superstitious person I’ve ever met,” said Xavier coach and longtime
friend Sean Miller. “It’s really bizarre.”

I'm reading this to my wife so she doesn't think the fact that I need to check the locks on the door of my house 3 times before I come to bed isn't so weird.

There's more stuff in the article, or just read where I got the story from - Here.

Vick Rejoices

2007-03-22T07:39:00.000-04:00

After reading this story I think Michael Vick may be the only person happy about the trade of Matt Schaub to the Houston Texans.

Think about it, Texan fans can't be happy. They just lost more early draft picks and this team still has many holes, most of which lie directly in front of or behind the quarterback.

Falcons fans can't be happy. They still have Vick as their quarterback and are now being told that his backup may be Anthony Wright. All of this after bringing in a QB guru in Petrino to coach. Schaub was penciled in as the starter by week 5.

Schaub can't be too happy. He has to compete for the job with a nearly identical starter, who in reality isn't that bad - when he has an opportunity to actually throw the ball and not run for his life. Now Schaub gets to learn a new offense, one that has a bad running game, and poor pass protection. The Texans have given up 100 sacks in the last 2 years when the defensive team has rushed 4. That's pitiful.

Carr isn't happy. For obvious reasons.

This one blows my mind a little. Take an OL, take a DL, take a corner. Do anything other than trade the pick away for the same player you already have.

Roethilsberger on Roethlisberger: "I'm just extremely overrated."

2007-03-21T10:02:00.000-04:00

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Ben Roethlisberger refused to say that injuries were the reason he had such a bad year last year.

"Coach Cowher always came to me and asked me how I felt, and I was always
100 percent honest with him. I was always honest with the doctors. Everybody
knows that Pittsburgh has some of the best doctors in the country -- look at my
face for instance," he told the Post-Gazette, referring to the injuries he
sustained in the motorcycle accident. "We have an unbelievable medical staff.
They cleared me and, if they gave me clearance, we never hushed anything."
"No, I don't think anything was rushed. I think I just didn't play well. I
had a bad year. I'm sure [Whisenhunt] had a bad year once in his career,"
Roethlisberger told the newspaper.
"I think that a lot of times, I got
caught being a little too confident and knowing the offense too well and trying
to force things a little too much," he told the Post-Gazette. "I wouldn't change
a thing. I learned from it, it's a learning experience, and you know what, it's
going to make me better."

I've been saying this since mid-season last year. When a Quarterback is playing behind stud Offensive Lineman and a running game that averages 5 ypc and he has to throw between 15 and 20 times a game anybody can put up good numbers.

Roethlisberger is like a bigger version of Joey Harrington. Only with a less-gay name.

NBDL Future Star, "Big Baby" Davis

2007-03-20T20:47:00.000-04:00

Here's something different in professional sports:

An athlete opting to stay in school when his value is at his peak, but opt to go to the NBA the year after a mediocre season for you personally and your team as a whole.

Glen "Big Baby" Davis is declaring for the NBA draft.

I am speechless. I am without speech.

Who is advising him on this? Please please please please PLEASE can a reader of mine get in touch with him somehow and advise him that this isn't a great idea? Please?

The Chicago Bears Fear the Superbowl

2007-03-20T20:36:00.000-04:00

That can really be the only explanation I can come up with. They let Ron Rivera go, a guy who many felt was next in line for a great head coaching job. They trade Thomas Jones so they could go with more of a 1 running back system when everybody else is going towards a dual running back system (and winning with it).

They piss off Lance Briggs to the point that it wouldn't surprise anybody if he really didn't play next season.

And now they trade for Adam Archuleta. The same Archuleta who found himself on the bench after signing a lucrative free agent contract.

I know that they didn't trade much for him, but is he even any good anymore? I feel like Archuleta peaked in his 2nd year.

They say they want Archuleta to play closer to the ball, but doesn't Mike Brown do that for the Bears? Archuleta failed alongside another solid Safety in Sean Taylor this year, why would he do any better next year?

Thank God I'm not a Bears fan.

CBS is Idiotic

2007-03-20T14:20:00.000-04:00

I first heard about this on barstoolsports and I had to see for myself. There's no way that it was true, and there's no way that CBS consciously decided to do this. But in reality, there is and they did.

Gus Johnson isn't announcing any basketball games this weekend.

Here's who is.

What's the over-under on how many times Jay Bilas has to correct a drooling Dick Enberg on a player's name? I have 7 in the early game and 17 in the night-cap. Enberg has to be a 5 pm dinner, 7:30 pm sleep guy.

I have him calling Southern Illinois "the Illini" by the 2nd TV timeout. I have him calling Brandon Rush Brendan Roy by the 2nd half, and there's a good chance Jay Bilas kills himself in between games.

Its amazing to me how stupid television networks are.

I realize there's no way to rid ourselves of Billy Packer the miserable grandparent, but I was really hoping the senile one (Enberg) would be put to pasture.

Wow.

Steroids in the WWE?

2007-03-20T09:26:00.000-04:00

No way! (No kidding).

According to this AP report on ESPN.com, there are several WWE wrestlers who are implicated in the Mobile, Alabama pharmacy steroid scandal. Apparently Edge, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero (shocking), and The Hurricane were on the list.

The first 4 I understand, but The Hurricane? This seems more improbable than MannyAlexander using steroids while on the Red Sox.

NIT Hoops, its FANNNNNNNtastic!

2007-03-20T09:12:00.000-04:00

Found this over at Awful Announcing.

Billy Walker, star of Kansas State hoops who tore his ACL is clearly into the NIT. Admittedly, the kid is hurt, but come on. Eating on the bench?

This brings me back to my days of riding the pine on a D3 football team. By mid-3rd quarter me and Z-balls would be discussing where to go to eat after the game.

Can't Get Enough of This

2007-03-20T09:07:00.000-04:00

The "Great Greg Paulus Flop."

Worst Sport Ever?

2007-03-20T07:53:00.000-04:00

Open water swimming. Easily.

Read this.

I'm a big ocean guy. Really, I am. Fishing is fun, cruising around is fun, even the beach can be a little fun, but swimming through schools of stinging jelly-fish = not a good time.

Some chick lost her goggles and hand to cling on to a buoy in order for a person on a jet-ski to bring her another pair. That sounds like a sick time.

Best Story of the Year

2007-03-20T07:46:00.000-04:00

You can have your Superbowls, you can have your March Madness and any other story you want.

I'll take this one. I love Vegas stories. But I love Joey Porter in Las Vegas stories even more.

This is like back in high school when you got into it with your Thanksgiving Day rivals. I wonder of Porter talked trash to Levi Jones about Carson Palmer's knee. Or did Levi Jones talk trash about last year's Steelers team being the worst Superbowl champion of all time.

Either way, I love the fact that these two duked it out at a casino in Vegas.

Thank GOD the Patriots didn't wind up with Porter. Its impossible to root for this guy. Oh and the fact that its another incident for a Bengal player - its reached the point that you can't make this sort of thing up.

Peter King, Again

2007-03-19T10:37:00.000-04:00

Man I feel like I repeat the same blog entry every week.

Some gems from his MMQB today.

e. What language is it that Bill Raftery speaks, actually?

Hey Peter. If you want to make fun of an announcer your best bet is to NOT make fun of THE best in the business. Let me guess, you'd rather listen to Billy Packer and his incessant rambling and complaining? Or perhaps some of the no-name color commentators that CBS throws at us in the 1st and 2nd round.

I can't wait for the day Gust Johnson, Raftery, and Jay Bilas announce a game together. That's my dream team.

g. I missed it. When did Kentucky stop being Kentucky?

Thanks for keeping up with college basketball this year Peter. They haven't been good all year long. Please tell me he thought Kentucky would beat Kansas. That would be awesome.

k. Just discovering the iPod, one of the great inventions of all time, and my
one recent find was Norah Jones. What an incredible voice. Shows what a music
dolt I am that I barely knew her.

Yeah Norah Jones resonates well with fans of the NFL.

Can't Peter King just stick to the NFL??

Non-Madness Sports News

2007-03-18T13:27:00.000-04:00

I think I know what being post-partum is like now. I'm suffering from Post-march madness depression. We'll never have 4 games playing at the same time for a long time. Regardless, here's some non-madness notes.

- This week seemed to be a turning point in the world of the NFL Draft. With more and more free agent signings, teams needs are starting to change. Check out NFLDraftcountdown for their latest Mock. Their links page is another great way to find solid draft coverage. I love the fact that the Raiders have the #1 pick in a draft where the top QB is no lock and the best player is a WR that if they draft him, they'll have no way to get him the ball.

- Roger Clemens still loves the limelight and just can't seem to stay out of the headlines. For the fifth time since pitchers and catchers reported, he is announcing that he has nothing to say. Until May. No kidding you fat toad.

- I'll consider my fantasy draft a success this weekend if I don't get sucked into Eric Bedard like half of humanity did last year. Even if he is starting the Oriole's opener.

- Don't wind up sitting next to a freshman in college's family if you want to avoid a $30k fine.

- Pretty interesting article from the Boston Globe's football notes yesterday.

Pardon me if I don't bleed for the NFL players who retire and don't get their tuition reimbursed under the current program. Here's an idea: Put 50 grand away out of the $10 million signing bonus that you just got to pay for your tuition.

Professional athletes are unbelievable to me.

Here's a novel idea for the NFL: Take the money that you pay for tuition reimbursement and invest the hell out of it. Then use it to fund pensions for pre-AFL/NFL merger players. You know, the guys in the Hall of Fame that get 800 bucks a month from the league?

I think Michael Vick can do without his Va Tech education. I had a buddy who knocked up his girlfriend the summer after his Junior year and had to drop out of school...who's reimbursing his tuition for him to go back to school.

- The iditarod is idiotic.

- Check out ESPN.com's San Diego Chargers draft preview article. I love this stuff.

Here's something you should take into account when you're handicapping next season. When a team's Key Addition reads like this:

Key additions
The biggest addition is head coach Norv Turner, who has his third head
coaching job. While he is generally regarded as a solid offensive coordinator,
Turner's teams in Oakland and Washington underachieved with him as head coach.

Then that's a warning sign for the season. "Underachieved" is an understatement.

-*****BREAKING NEWS*******

Roger Clemens still fat, and still un-decided on future plans. Will make announcement in May. Still.

March Madness: Reaction to the First Two Rounds

2007-03-18T12:51:00.000-04:00

Some are calling the first weekend of the NCAA tournament boring. Here at thatguysports, we're not quite as outraged. The weekend went a lot like we thought it would.

There seemed to be quite a difference between the top 4-6 seeds in a bracket and the bottom seeds in the bracket. More-so than ever.

No 5/12 upsets. No 14/3 upsets. 2 6/11 upsets (both very "popular" upset picks). Even the 10/7 games went the way of the seeding.

Now the fun starts in my opinion. Look at today's games - many spreads under 5 points. Here is where the cream will rise to the top.

Some knee-jerk reactions to the weekend:

- Tough tournament for the ACC. Many had Georgia Tech as an upset but they didn't last day 1. Maryland doesn't get to the sweet 16 either, and Va Tech takes the pipe as well. What an overrated conference.

- Great tournament for the SEC so far. Vanderbilt with an upset to get into the Sweet 16, beating a very good, "hot" Pac-10 team in Washington State. Tennessee overwhelming Virginia. Florida surviving a scare. 3 teams in the Sweet-16.

- Kudos to Butler who came under fire for not winning their own conference tournament. Clearly their schedule throughout the year and winning the pre-season NIT helped them tremendously en route to their Sweet 16 birth.

- Ohio State should become the independent and Notre Dame should join the Big-10 instead of the Big-East as an "also-ran" with the rest of the losers. Every major sport is Ohio State and everybody else.

- Looks like I was wrong about the Pac-10. 3 teams in the Sweet-16 if the USC score holds up. Solid showing thus-far.

- Does Billy Packer talk to everybody as if he's permanently annoyed, or just during times that he broadcasts games. I feel like he announces as if he's a perpetually annoyed senior citizen. Wait, I think he actually is that. Can't CBS make Raftery their #1 color guy? He just called a horrendous travel call by the officials in the Nevada game with a very dry "Where?"

- How does Gus Johnson not become CBS's #2 play-by-play guy for every sport? Take over for Dick Enberg and his senility in football PLEASE.

- Its nice to watch a series of games on CBS and not hear Randy Cross or any sort of "Cross Talk."

- Right now I'm hanging in there on my bracket pool. Riding Kansas for all I can, Texas A&M and Georgetown are my keys. Florida is almost a lock for everybody - G'Town and KU are fairly split. A&M is a 2nd top choice out of that bracket.

Need Nevada to pull off an upset right now - that would be HUGE.

More to sometime on Monday, but for now this is it.

A Break from the Madness

2007-03-14T20:35:00.000-04:00

This is like the calm before the storm for college hoop fans everywhere. Last night, my wife got to control the remote.....because she certainly isn't going to control it from 12:25 tomorrow until Sunday late afternoon.

Wednesday was a great sports day though, I'll tell you that much. Where do we start?

Somebody needs to coach-up Alex Rodriguez. Lets see here....if I'm the highest paid athlete in a certain sport who hasn't won anything in my life, and I'm already not very well liked by most fans, and its getting worse because I said I may opt out of my already insanely high deal in order to leave the biggest sports market in the country, on my list of "what NOT to do," I think should be this.

"It's a do or die situation," he said on WFAN-AM's "Mike and the Mad Dog" show.
"Either New York is going to kick me out of New York this year, say 'I've had
enough of this guy, get him the hell out of here,' and we have an option. Or New
York is going to say, 'Hey, we won a world championship, you had a big year, you
were a part of it and we want you back.'"

Seriously A-Rod? You're "leaving it up to the fans????" New York fans seem like the type who are pretty good at rising to the challenge. So I say: CALL HIS BLUFF....for the headlines alone.

A-Rod saying that is like an old SNL Bad Idea Jeans comercial.

"This is a big bump I have to overcome. I'm going to deal with it like a champ.
I've got to make sure people know I don't hate gay people."
-- Tim Hardaway

Ok Tim.

The Big Lead has their own cultural NCAA tournament. I think a bigger snub than Syracuse this year is the fact that PacMan Jones Making it Rain got snubbed in this one.

Friend of thatguysports, Manzo over at barstoolsports identifies a critical aspect to the NCAA Tournament. Where is Gus Johnson announcing?

Someone wake me up when people no longer care about Pete Rose, or when Pete Rose doesn't have to leak a story to the media or agree to do an interview in order to make himself relevant again. For the record, I always pick my high school team in the Thanksgiving Day Massachusetts High School Football pool that we do every year. I see nothing wrong with that.

I finally read Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback today. I'll leave you with this:

a. Craig Biggio has some Tom Brady in him. Same kind of superstar -- accessible,
team-first, thoughtful.

Wow...too easy.

Picks Picks Picks!!!

2007-03-13T20:36:00.000-04:00

If there's anything we're good at here at thatguysports its the early college postseason. Nobody was better than thatguysports during the pre-real bowl game period, and we're going to do our best to kill it this Thursday.

So here goes, all games for Thursday, broken down and analyzed. And failing that, we'll flip a coin or just bet against the team we hate.

Davidson (13) vs Maryland (4) -7

I can't figure this Maryland team out. They suck at the beginning of the season, get hot near the end and then lose to Miami in the ACC tournament. Davidson, a mid-major obviously trying to make a statement here. I don't think they do.

The pick: Maryland -7

Texas Tech (10) vs. Boston College (7) -3

Gene Wojciechowski wrote a great piece about watching the selection show in Las Vegas after spending the day with them. This is what he repeatedly said about Texas Tech and Boston College:

"I'm shocked they got in," when Texas Tech is named a No. 10 seed. …
"[Boston College] and Texas Tech -- both of those teams are so weak," said Coach
of the first-round matchup.

Ringing endorsement huh? BC at least wasn't a "I'm shocked they got in" scenario.

The pick: BC -3

Stanford (11) vs Louisville (6) -5

I think the Pac-10 is one of the most overrated conferences in the land, and I think the Big East doesn't get enough respect. Go to covers.com trends for this game and you'll see that Stanford sucks as a dog, and Louisville is solid as a favorite. That's good enough for me.

The pick: Louisville -5

Oral Roberts (14) vs. Washington State (3) -6.5

Wazzou isn't really an offensive machine, winning most of their games because of their defense. That to me says that 6.5 is too much to give to a team that beat Kansas outright earlier this season.

The pick: Oral Roberts +6.5 (In reality I just wanted to type "Oral" again)

Butler (5) vs. Old Dominion (12) +1

Arguably the hottest topic in the first round. ODU vs Butler. The public opinion I'm reading is very pro-ODU. At that point, and with that issue, I think I'm leaning the other way.

The pick: Butler -1.

Belmont (15) vs. Georgetown (2) -16.5

Hoya Paranoia is back. Belmont defends the 3 very well but the Hoyas are just physically dominant at almost every position. You don't need to throw up from behind the arc when you have this much of an advantage physically. Look for Belmont to hang for 5 min, but its not going to last.

The pick: Georgetown -16.5

Penn (14) vs Texas A&M (3) -13.5

Its tough picking against what seems to be an always semi-competitive Ivy League, but A&M has the defense to stymie Penn, and the explosiveness in Acie Law to score in bunches.

The pick: A&M -13.5

George Washington (11) vs Vanderbilt (6) -3.5

Vandy beat Florida which is impressive, however less so when you look at the fact that at one point Florida put the season in cruise control and let down their guard for a bit. GW can defend, Vandy is hit or miss offensively.

I say they miss.

GW +3.5 is the pick here.

Duke (6) vs. Virginia Commonwealth (11) +6.5

People think VCU will be overlooked by some in this match up, and its quite possible that they will be nationally. But as much as it kills me to say, Duke typically doesn't overlook teams. I think Duke wins this one easily. Lay the number.

The pick: Duke -6.5

Central Conn. St vs. Ohio State -21.5

Ohio State can blow you out, and Central Connecticut State is ripe to get blown out.
This one hits 30.

The pick: OSU -21.5

Michigan State (9) vs. Marquette (8) +1.5

The Big 10 is overrated and Marquette is a phenomenally coached team that still played well without arguably their best player.

Marquette +1.5

Weber State (15) vs. UCLA (2) -19

Weber State was actually a good team against the spread this year (17-7). That says something this time of year. I think UCLA is playing with a chip on their shoulder after a disappointing end to their season. Unfortunately for them, I think UCLA is looking ahead to the 2nd round, if not the sweet 16 already.

Weber State keeps it close in the first half, and loses by 16.

The pick: Weber State +19

BYU (8) vs. Xavier (9) -1.5

Xavier seems to always win their first round game. I don't see them winning by 1.

The pick: Xavier -1.5

Wright State (14) vs. Pitt (3) -10

I don't have a ton of analysis for this one. Call it a hunch. Dashaun Wood does enough to keep Wright State closer than the number.

The pick: Wright State -10

Eastern Kentucky (16) vs. UNC (1) -26

I actually think its going to be difficult for the Tar Heels to keep it close even with emptying the bench. UNC covers this one.

The pick: UNC -26

Gonzaga (10) vs. Indiana (7) -1.5

IU has enough to cover the number against a Gonzaga team that is still being viewed as if they're anything close to the solid team they were in the past. That's not the case though.

IU -1.5

Good luck to all.

The Real Bracketology: How to Run a Successful March Madness Pool

2007-03-12T18:20:00.000-04:00

Trust me when I tell you this....Running your March Madness pool can be one of the classic examples of "No good deed goes unpunished." That is, if you don't run it correctly. Follow my rules and guidance, and you'll be in the clear.

Lesson 1: Know your Audience

You want to re-create slamming your head against a brick wall? Try to explain to a 50-60 year old how to create a Yahoo or CBS Sportsline ID, find a private password protected league, and join it. Then make it worse by trying to teach him how to pick his teams, and make damn sure he doesn't forget to hit "Submit" (Multiple the frustration by 100 if you're talking about a FEMALE in this situation).

The moral of the story, know you audience and make it easier for the toughest entrants to deal with. Let the young population bitch rather than alienate the older generation. Participation is key for these, and you don't want to drive people away.

Young population? CBS/Yahoo/other Internet pool is a-ok.

Lesson 2: Don't require a PhD to determine points

a.k.a. KEEP IT SIMPLE. Escalate points by round (I feel as though they have to be doubled, but that's just me) but 1 point per right answer regardless of round is not the way to go.

Other possibilities:
"Upset pool:" 1 point per correct answer, bonus points for the difference between the seeds for an upset. 12 seed beats the 5 seed, 7 bonus points.

"Takeover pool:" 16 or 32 entrants, 2 or 4 teams, if the losing team covers the spread, the loser takes over the winning team. Winning team wins and covers, that player moves on. Its enjoyable to make fun of the person who has the 1 seed when the 1 seed beats the 16 seed by 30, but the spread was 30.5.

"Auction:" This is a wonderful pool for a bar. Promote the shit out of it, get people to show up, and auction off teams. You'll see some #1 seeds go for upwards of $500. Pay off something for each win to give a 10 seed some value, and have at it. Great way to watch the tournament.

"Fantasy Basketball:" Draft a team, 5 players, 10 players, whatever you want. Standard scoring system, and there you go.

Lesson 3: No such thing as too much information

Communicate, communicate, communicate. Give standings as often as possible, and invest a little time in telling people who has what team from the Sweet 16 on. Trust me, you'll do the work eventually, so why not do it when you're sitting down watching games a few beers deep.

Make sure to tell the pool what your picks are ahead of time. If/when you win, it'll be less questionable.

Lesson 4: Be a prick collecting money

Because if you don't, you'll be paying the winner out of your own pocket.

And there you have it. Do it well, and you'll be the hit of your office. Screw it up, and you're all done.

March Madness: How to Fix the System

2007-03-12T08:02:00.000-04:00

One of my 10 (up from the prior # of 9) readers brought up the idea of this ridiculous "play-in game," and why are legitimate tournament qualifiers playing against each other rather than at-large bids. It got me thinking.

Here's how you fix the idea of teams getting "snubbed" year in and year out.

For the most part, you're talking about 4-5 teams that have legitimate gripes. This year, I'll give you Florida State, Syracuse, West Virginia, K-State, and Drexel. Last year you had Maryland, Notre Dame, Indiana, and Miami of Ohio. Don't give me the crap that Appalachian State got hosed this year. That's crap.

Anyway, why only have one play-in game? And why have it be the winner gets a 16 seed and becomes fodder for the #1 team?

Who would be opposed to this:

Florida State vs. Texas Tech - winner is the 10 seed to play Boston College

Syracuse vs. Old Dominion - winner is the 12 seed to play Butler.

West Virginia vs. Arkansas - winner is the 12 to play USC.

You get my point.

Why not take the bottom 8 teams, and have 4 play-in games. Or the bottom 7 and have 3 play-in games.

Go to Dayton on Tuesday, and make them worth something. 4 games on the first Tuesday just like normal NCAA sites on Thursday and Friday.

Obviously its not going to happen - its just makes too much friggin sense.

March Madness: Keys to the 2007 Men's NCAA Tournament

2007-03-11T22:03:00.000-04:00

Thatguysports had a fairly decent NCAA Bowl Season if you ignore the mid point of the season (which I obviously am) so stick with me and I'll teach you how to win your NCAA March Madness pool.

I'll try to channel horrendous color commentator Randy Cross for a little thatguysportsblog version of Cross-Talk.

1. Avoid the ACC.

I know some of my 7 readers truly think the ACC walks on water, but I'm here to tell you that you should view the ACC this tournament season as the Big-10 during football. Over rated. Avoid them and you'll be in much better shape in this year's tournament than those that believe in the blatantly average mid-Atlantics (Maryland, UVA, Va Tech.)

2. Ride the Big-12.

Its entirely possible that 3/8 of the Elite 8 is from the Big-12. Nobody would be surprised if 3/4 of the Final Four is from the Big-12.

3. Forget about George Mason.

I'm here to tell you that there will be no George Mason this year. George Mason can't even be George Mason. No mid-major this year will threaten the Final Four. The parody that the country is seeing is not on the elite level. You hear far more discussion this year about mediocre teams that got left out than seedings for the teams that made it. Because this year there' s a clear-cut iron to the tournament. And the parody that you see, is at the "also-ran" level.

4. Get lucky.

If my calculations are correct, you're going to win your tournament pool this year by "guessing right" when it comes down to the Elite 8. I think there will be a lot of similar brackets from the 3rd round and on.

5. Remember that the Big-10 is extremely overrated.

In everything that it does.

6. The Big-East can't score.

Almost every team in the Big East would fall under the category of "can struggle scoring" at times. That is KILLER for the NCAA tournament. Granted the 6 fouls vs 5 fouls issue is long gone, but the style of play is the same. Oh and for along the same lines, please see: Ten, The Big.

So there you have it. 6 keys to your tournament.

You can thank me later.

Look for my complete brackets on Thursday.

What are the Buffalo Bills Doing?

2007-03-09T07:52:00.000-05:00

Can somebody do a coherence test on Marv Levy? Trading Willis McGahee to the Baltimore Ravens for 2 3rd round picks and a 7th is absolutely idiotic.

Hey Marv, why don't you find a QB and an Offensive Line to help out your offense rather than trading a guy who with those two things will put up absolutely HUGE numbers this year.

Does Marv Levy realize that his team legitimately has nothing right now? Get this:

The Bills, whose remaining running backs are Daimon
Shelton and Shaud Williams, are now in the market for multiple backs. They have shown interest in the Colts' Dominic
Rhodes and the Titans' Chris Brown, and both have visited the team. Former Patriots running back Corey Dillon has not visited Orchard Park, but the Bills are said to be interested.

Um...what? Daimon Shelton, Shaud Williams, and 3 guys who can't hold down a starters job full time are the potential answers for Willis McGahee.

Wow.

I'm convinced I could do a better job than Levy. He has to be senile, no?

Lots of positive feedback on the news and notes post from the other day. Good times!

Duke lost last night. It was awesome. Coach K can't lose enough. I wonder if they'll be a 5 seed or lower in the tourney - if they lost in the first round this year that would be sweet. I don't understand how anybody can like that program.

Does UCLA lose its 1 seed after yesterday? I say yes.

Mike Hampton got hurt yesterday. In related news, the sun is rising today, and will set tonight. And its cold in the northeast in winter. Carl Pavano and Mike Hampton should be forced to return money to the Yankees and Braves. These two are prime examples for why baseball and baseball contracts suck.

I can't wait for Pitt to win the Big East tournament, win a #2 seed, then have a ton of people pick them. Only to realize that they can't score.

The LSU Womens Hoop coach resigned because she was outed as having a relationship with a player. I can't comment on this story until I know if the player is hot. That's obviously very important.

I'd imagine this is going to make it difficult to bond with your teammates.

The paper said junior linebacker Clay Matthews created the group, "White
Nation." Teammates David Buehler, Brian Cushing, Dan Deckas and Dallas Sartz
joined the group.

"This group is not for the faint of heart," read the group's
description, according to the paper. "All members are athletes of Caucasion
(sic) descent. DISCLAIMER: In no way are the following memebers (sic) intolerant
of others, we are just doing our duty of protecting the Arian (sic)
brotherhood."

Ummmm yeah. The "Arian brotherhood" isn't intolerant of others.

News and Notes

2007-03-07T20:26:00.000-05:00

Some NFL Signings from the last couple days:

Joe Horn to the Falcons. He'll be a great weapon for Matt Schaub next year. Vick doesn't last week 4. They also signed a DB, Lewis Sanders. I've legitimately never heard of him. He played for Houston and didn't even start. Great signing.

Denver signs "Coveted backup quarterback Patrick Ramsey." I'm not joking. That's how ESPN described him. What is coveted about Patrick Ramsey? That he has a pulse? Is Sage Rosenfels also "coveted" if he becomes a free agent tomorrow?

Backup QB's are like NFL Coaches. Why have a retread behind your starter? Just get a young guy who has a good arm and works hard and mold him into what you want him to be. It worked out well for the Patriots with Brady didn't it?

Farewell to Daniel Graham. I hate the Broncos. Now I have to hate Graham. NFL = Not For Long.

Some early winners and losers from CBS Sportsline. They should have the Patriots first.

Here's a roundup of other moves...including one of my all-avoid team, Patrick Kearney.

Random Thoughts

ESPN's lead article right now is called "Pacmans Choice." I'm going to go out on a limb and say he chooses the "wrong one."

Can somebody explain to me how the Big-Televen even threatens the Final 4?

Why guys could never be good house-wives: I was home all afternoon because we had babysitter issues and instead of the many things I was supposed to do today, I realized when I got home that its March 7th and the Big East tournament was on. Tremendous turn of events.

Isn't it about time Kobe Bryant stopped slapping people? Who does that? He slaps. Jason Kidd didn't even slap when he knocked the $hit out of his wife. Kobe is the A-Rod of the NBA.

Can somebody tell Sports Illustrated that I don't need them to comment on social issues? I'd prefer reading about sports. I don't need Peter King to talk about movies, and I certainly don't need SI to have an article about the affect on sports that Global Warming has. Oh wow....in 90 years 4 stadiums in California may be swamped. If those stadiums are still being used in 90 years, anybody going to them should kill themselves.

Obviously the brackets need to be determined, but right now: Kansas, Texas A&M, Florida, and UCLA are my final 4.

LINKS

Check out The Big Lead's college hoop awards.

New barstoolsports edition came out today. The cover model is just KIND OF hot. No girls like that at Notre Dame, that's for sure.

18 Comments!!

2007-03-07T20:03:00.000-05:00

What does it say when the entry about how boring your blog is actually gets way more comments on it than anything you've ever written.

But at least there are 18 comments. That's worth something isn't it?

Anyway, there are actually people reading this blog...that's nuts.

Did I mention that Deadspin linked me last week? That was a huge highlight.

Anyways, I'm playing my own game with these comments - and I want some people to own up to this stuff too. I'm playing "Guess the Comment." That's right....I'm going to guess who said what.

In reality, this is just an excuse for me to start mentioning my buddies nicknames like Simmons does.

Anywho, here goes:

tailgater said...
freed... I think you should copy some interesting blog from another part of the country and pass it off as your own.
10:11 PM

That one was easy. "My buddy Kuppens."

Anonymous said...
when in doubt gratuitous skin photos usually can help. Of course this is a sports blog, so cheerleader shots may help in this down time
11:15 PM

I'm going with one of the barstool posters. My guess: Brian.

Anonymous said...
Raise songs to Bowdoin, praise her fame, And sound abroad her glorious name; To Bowdoin, Bowdoin lift your song, And may the music echo long O'er whispering pines and campus fair With sturdy might filling the air. Bowdoin, from birth, our nurturer and friend To thee we pledge our love again, again.
8:02 AM

This could be bigfin b/c he's a Bowdoin guy but its one of his buddies. T. Ryan?

Anonymous said...
It's March Madness so let's get some college hoops talk going. Cuse is in the house!!
8:04 AM

Kwall. that was easy.

Anonymous said...
A little more caustic opinion about sports personalities and criticism of the ridiculous actions that some of them do!
8:12 AM

Our wonderful on-staff Underwriter. Identity hidden for risk of losing job.

Anonymous said...
Hail, Colby, Hail! Thy people far and near Stand at thy call, our alma mater dear. Thy shaded paths recall our steps to gather at thy shrine. Thy memoried halls reclaim our hearts 'til all our thoughts are thine. Hail, Colby, Hail! Hail, Colby, Hail! To thee we lift our hearts and homage pay! Our Alma Mater, Hail the Blue and Gray!
9:11 AM

This one is tough. I had no idea a Colby guy read this. I'm going with a random reader I don't know (thanks for reading though, seriously...just wait for football season when we all participate in the NESCAC pick pool).

bigfin said...
more skin.
9:28 AM
bigfin said...
For the record, I think your blog is just at boring as when you started it.
9:34 AM

This is bigfin. The nickname has to do with finishing blocks and pancaking people. He got the nickname in High School. He's now 30. I'm not joking.

ZBalls said...
First, do NOT post the Bates fight song no matter how many homos post their own. Make sure to point out to the Colby guy that between 1997 and 2000, Bates only had a winning record against one team and that was Colby.My favorite stuff it the gambling picks. I also enjoy any reaction to good games that you watched. I'm not a big fan of the ripping on writers. There's already enough of that on other websites and sports radio. I'll try to think of more stuff.
9:34 AM

"My buddy z-balls"

Anonymous said...
Bates has the worst athletic program in the nation.
11:12 AM

The Colby reader.

Scott said...
you need to pick a fight with someone semi-important in the blogging industry and then post tirades about him and copy his responses to you and put them on your blog and start a good ol' fashioned fight
1:02 PM

This kid is Scal. Huge degenerate gambler but wins. Has nightmares over what the gov't did to online gambling.

Anonymous said...
You just need to talk about ND football and how how much you love it.
2:47 PM

Some IDIOT ND fan.

Anonymous said...
I am entertained by your wisdom. But pictures of naked ladys would go along way in building up your fan base.
3:43 PM

This is nuts, no idea who this is.

dave k said...
COllege basketball and arena football should last until baseball gets really interesting. The hell with people that say its boring, its your blog. have some fun with it. Besides you have the chance to literally monopolize teh arena football market... Those 9 people will jump to 15 before you know it...
5:58 PM

Thanks for reading dave k. You may have something here.

Anonymous said...
What about some Big 10 banter?
6:11 PM

This dude's from Minnesota I think.

Anonymous said...
colby and bowdoin fight songs are awfully homo-ish, how about ripping on the 'eei hosts who are more interested in talking about their daily lives than actual intellectual sports banter.
6:36 PM

No idea. You can't get sports banter at EEI. Its just a sitcom at this point.

Anonymous said...
the patriots are not winning another one, it's march.
6:36 PM

That one was Bazzer. I'll bet almost anything.

Anonymous said...
You know what's boring...the people who comment on your blog.
7:28 PM

I'd like to say this one is my father but I just don't know.

How'd I do (Please comment).

That Guy Sports is Boring

2007-03-06T20:37:00.000-05:00

One of my 9 readers (up from 7 of a month ago) told me today that my blog is boring. I took that to heart. It hurt. Pained me even.

So what can I do to spice things up?

Rip on more national writers?
Make fun of athletes more?
More gambling picks?

I better have 9 comments to this....seriously - what do you all think I should be focusing on in what is easily the worst sports time of year (outside of the Patriots implanting themselves as 4 of the next 6 Super Bowl Champions.

Ron Borges Suspended

2007-03-06T07:41:00.000-05:00

The Globe suspended Ron Borges for two months without pay. This is the same suspension Bob Ryan got for talking about smacking Joumana Kidd so this is really a slap on the wrist for Borges.

Proves again that I think this guy has pictures of people over at the Globe.

Slap on the wrist.

Read the article here.

Patriots Acquire Wes Welker

2007-03-05T20:55:00.000-05:00

Well at least I'm honest.

I hate this move. According to many reports, one of which from ESPN, the Patriots got Welker and have to give a 7th and 2nd round pick for him.

I can't say I get this one. Granted, he absolutely KILLS the Patriots, but many guys do that you wouldn't expect to. Jerricho Cotchery does too. But I don't think he's worth a 2nd round pick.

Here are some of Welker's numbers:

2005
435 yards on 29 catches in 16 games

2006
687 yards on 67 catches in 16 games

Obviously he's a big kick and punt returner, and the Patriots have been less than explosive on the punt side of things, but Ellis Hobbs is a great kick returner. That's not a need for the Patriots right now.

Matt Light, Eugene Wilson, Deion Branch, all second round picks. I may say the Patriots are at their best when they're working in the second round.

Where does this leave them? The WR position is of no real need at this point. I think that much is clear. I see them trading down in the first round to add a 2nd round pick and to potentially get another pick back from their dealings thus-far.

Regardless, I'm on record as not liking this Welker deal.

Fire Ron Borges

2007-03-05T08:43:00.000-05:00

Here I am thinking I'm really ripping on Borges after his article yesterday in the Globe.

Well, here's a lot more on the issue.

Cold Hard Football Facts has this today.

I'm not even going to get into it - read it for yourself. Direct quote from the CHFF story:

On Feb. 25, Mike Sando wrote(14th & 15th paragraphs):
Jackson was leading the NFL in touchdowns last season when a
turf-toe injury forced him to miss the final three games. The injury prevented
Jackson from achieving his third 1,000-yard season in four years and the fourth
overall.

Jackson still led the Seahawks with 63 catches for 956
yards and 10 touchdowns.

On March 4, Ron Borges wrote(2nd paragraph):
Jackson was
leading the NFL in touchdowns last season when a turf-toe injury forced him to
miss the final three games. The injury prevented him from reaching his third
1,000-yard season in four years, but Jackson still led Seattle with 63 catches
for 956 yards and 10 touchdowns.

***

On Feb. 25, Sando wrote(16th & 17th paragraphs):
But
trouble arose in March 2004 when former Seahawks president Bob Whitsitt
allegedly shorted Jackson on a contract offer. Jackson said he signed the deal
anyway at the urging of his father, who has since died. Whitsitt has dismissed
the charge as preposterous, while Ruskell has resisted honoring a promise that a
predecessor denies making.

The dispute has escalated ever since,
with the Seahawks and Jackson’s agents exchanging a series of blunt letters,
sources said.

On March 4, Borges wrote(3rd paragraph):
Trouble arose
with Seahawks management two years ago after former team president Bob Whitsitt
allegedly shorted Jackson on a contract offer. Jackson said he signed the deal
anyway at the urging of his father. Whitsitt has dismissed the charge as
preposterous, while present club president Tim Ruskell has refused to honor a
promise that another person denies making. The dispute has escalated, with the
Seahawks and Jackson's agents exchanging blunt
letters.

***

On Feb. 25, Sando wrote(18th paragraph):
When Ruskell
became Seahawks president in February 2005, one of his first moves was to issue
a letter to players outlining his expectations. He urged full participation in
the team’s offseason program, including minicamps, but Jackson let it be known
he would honor his contract but nothing more. Jackson subsequently skipped the
voluntary portions of minicamps.

On March 4, Borges wrote (4th paragraph):
When Ruskell
became Seahawks president in February 2005, one of his first moves was to issue
a letter to players outlining his expectations. He urged full participation in
the team's offseason program, including minicamps, but Jackson let it be known
he would honor his contract, but nothing more. Jackson subsequently skipped the
voluntary portions of minicamps.

***

]On Feb. 25, Sando wrote (21st & 22nd paragraphs):
The
damage did not show up on initial tests. The team recommended rest. Holmgren
avoided giving a timetable other than to say he thought it would be “shorter
more than longer” after speaking with Jackson. The team ruled out Jackson for
the next game.

Jackson, acting on the advice of Florida-based
agents Mooney and Kendall Almerico, sought a second opinion from Dr. John Uribe,
a prominent Miami orthopedist known for treating pro athletes.

On March 4, Borges wrote (6th paragraph):
The cartilage
damage did not show up on initial tests, and the team recommended rest. The team
ruled out Jackson for the next game. Jackson, acting on the advice of his
agents, sought a second opinion and later underwent surgery to repair the
lateral meniscus in his right knee.

***

On Feb. 25, Sando wrote (24th paragraph):
He (Jackson)
wondered if the team was trying to rush him back.

On March 4, Borges wrote (7th paragraph):
That led Jackson
to wonder whether the Seahawks had rushed him
back.

***

On Feb. 25, Sando wrote (28th & 29th paragraphs):
The
Seahawks had shipped a 2006 third-round pick to Minnesota after signing Vikings
receiver Nate Burleson, a restricted free agent. Ruskell followed that deal by
sending a 2007 first-round choice to New England for Branch shortly after the
2006 opener.

D.J. Hackett flashed starting potential last season,
setting career highs with 45 catches for 610 yards and four touchdowns. The team
is expected to retain Hackett’s rights by making one of the higher qualifying
offers under rules for restricted free agents.

On March 4, Borges wrote (8th paragraph):
By then the
Seahawks had shipped a 2006 third-round pick to Minnesota after signing Nate
Burleson, a restricted free agent, and a 2007 first-round choice to New England
for Deion Branch. When D.J. Hackett also flashed potential, setting career highs
with 45 catches for 610 yards and four touchdowns, it made Jackson expendable.

Ron Borges was bad when he became the comedic sideshow act that he is today.

He got significantly worse when he started blatantly plagiarizing another writer from Tacoma.

Peter King: Again, Please Stop

2007-03-05T08:38:00.000-05:00

I hate when writers won't let something go (except for me of course).

Peter King again today:

f. I can hear it now: How can you praise Saving Private Ryan, with as gruesome a
first half-hour as you could ever see in a movie, and rip The Departed for being
too violent? Interesting question. My answer's simple. Ryan is a war movie, and
you know going in that if D-Day is going to be realistically portrayed there's
going to be some killing. But it was not gratuitous violence, which I felt
riddled The Departed.

ITS A MOVIE ABOUT ORGANIZED CRIME!!!!!!!!!!!! Last time I checked, organized crime was brutal.

Peter stick to football. I urge you.

Oh and my readers should go see Zodiac. Great movie.

This is the Real Duke Blue Devils

2007-03-05T07:45:00.000-05:00

Its just as simple as that. That basketball program is the biggest bunch of pussies on the planet, and Coach K is one of the biggest closet scumbags around.

I'm just mad that Dickie V wasn't able to do the game yesterday so I could hear what excuses he could make for Coach K's boy Gerald Henderson taking out Tyler Hansbrough in the late moments of yesterday's Duke vs UNC contest.

Listen to some of the shit coming out of Coach K's mouth:

"We'll take all responsibility, but if there's any way Gerald Henderson did
that intentionally, that's crazy," Krzyzewski said. "That's not the way he plays
and not the way we play. ... I feel badly for Tyler and what happened, but there
was no intent."

"The game was over before that," he said. "I mean the outcome of the game,
let's put it that way. That's unfortunate, too, that those people were in the
game in that play. Maybe this wouldn't have happened."

Thank god for Pat Forde who points out that Coach K called a timeout down 13 with under a minute left. Clearly he didn't think it was THAT over now did he?

This just sums up my thoughts on Duke Basketball for my whole life. They care so much about their image - that they're a bunch of clean cut golden boys. My contention this entire time is that there isn't a single clean program in division 1 male sports...the dumb ones get caught, and the smart ones don't. Coach K has been a smart one. Nothing more, nothing less.

I love this quote from Forde:

(There was only so much falling upon the sword Coach K could tolerate, right
there in the Dean Dome after getting his head handed to him. Taking the high
road is always easier when you're beating Carolina on a regular basis, which
Duke isn't doing anymore.)

Great point. At least the real Duke is coming out this year.

Ron Borges is a Hypocrite (Again)

2007-03-04T20:06:00.000-05:00

For those readers who are not familiar with the Boston Globe writer Ron Borges, he has a personal vendetta and dislike for all things New England Patriots. The reason's why aren't completely clear, but it has to do with Bill Belichick's dealings with Borges personally, with close friend of Ron Borges' Drew Bledsoe, and just a general dislike between the two.

Borges consistently rips on Belichick, enjoys when the Patriots fail to win a Super Bowl, and many think he gets legitimately angry when something that Belichick and the Patriots do something that works out well.

You may remember during the week leading up to the AFC title game that Borges wrote one thing in the Boston newspaper and another on MSNBC.com. Well, here's round 2 of the Borges hypocrisy game.

From today's Boston Globe:

Long before the free agency period began, strong side linebacker Adalius Thomas
was designated the year's premier catch by many pundits and personnel men.
Perhaps he will prove to be just that, but if history is any predictor, he
should be approached with caution.

Oh those national pundits! Always quick to point to the hot free agent or available player that will be sure to disappoint.

Wait, isn't Ron Borges himself one of those said national pundits? I mean, he does write for MSNBC. Didn't he write this article? And I quote:

There will also be good value available this year, even at what will be the top
of the pay scale. Which players seem most likely to deliver value for their
services? Barring injury, here's one list of likely candidates.
Best
values1. Adalius Thomas, LB: He wants a $18 million signing bonus and will
probably get it, likely from the 49ers. Wherever he goes, the 270-pound Thomas
appears headed toward making an impact.

Apparently until the New England Patriots make that move. Then its a bad one.

At least Borges is consistent. At what point does he become nothing more than a sports writing side-show....a good comedic shtick every now and then?

Read some more anti-Borges chatter on Boston Sports Media Watch.

Adalius Thomas to Patriots?

2007-03-02T10:12:00.000-05:00

Adam Schefter was on the Dennis and Callahan morning show this morning in Boston and he mentioned that the Patriots have the inside track to sign Adalius Thomas, and the signing could come in the next 48 hours.

While I love this move for obvious reasons, I can't help but mention that the Patriots really need the help at Inside LB not so much on the outside.

I hope this doesn't cement Mike Vrabel playing inside.

NFL ree Agent All Baggage Team

2007-03-01T21:19:00.000-05:00

With Free Agency upon us in the NFL tonight at midnight, taking a look at the top Unrestricted Free Agents is imperative. Why not talk about the guys who you wouldn't want within 100 yards of your team's locker room.

I give you this years UFA "All Baggage" team.

RB Jamal Lewis

Does it get any more baggage filled than clearly and unquestionably losing your manhood in jail? No offense to any former felons who read this blog. But what more can you do than go to the clink, clearly lose whatever edge you had to begin with, and come out 1/2 the man you were. Obviously I can't blame him for it - most men I would imagine come out of jail a lot different than before they went in. But I don't want to hand them the ball 25 times a game either.

DE Dewayne White

I know nothing about him - other than the fact that he had 14 sacks over the last 3 seasons. I don't think thats even good. Why does a team want a guy who's clearly a jag (just another guy)>

RB Ahman Green

See Jamal Lewis, subtract jail, add fragile.

DT Robaire Smith

ESPN describes him as "his performance seems to have hit a plateau the last few seasons." a.k.a. "he is what he is" - Bill Parcells.

WR Donte Stallworth

Sorry, but the reality is that this guy's only really played well when he's had a contract dangling in front of him. I'm not buying into it. He was still a punk in New Orleans.

until the Patriots sign him. Then I'm a believer.

DE Patrick Kearney

If "screaming while on the field" was a statistic, this guy would be in the hall of fame. Even when he played opposite John Abraham for like the 3 games Abraham was healthy for this year (again), he didn't do squat.

He is scary as hell.....of course most guys who are CLEARLY on steroids are.

LB Joey Porter

Sign him and you'll surely get production. You'll get a leader too. You'll get a guy who will give you everything and leave it all on the field.

And you'll also get at least 4 "locker room material" quotes for your opposition, and there's a pretty good chance he gets suspended for at least a game.

CB Fred Smoot

Minnesota Vikings "Love Boat" anyone?

LB Steve Foley

He got shot by a cop after a high speed car chase. I think that's pretty self-explanatory.

WR Joe Horn

If it weren't for Hurricane Katrina, people would still treat Joe Horn as if he was Terrell Owens for the cellphone celebration. But now people think he's a good guy because he got paid to play for the Saints.

I see through it.

Last but certainly not least:

#11. Drewwwwwwww Bledsoe.

Look I am a Bledsoe guy. I really am. But the reality is that some team will bring him in either as a starter for a rookie to be behind, or as a 1A guy to compete for the position, and here's what will happen. He'll have a great training camp. A great pre-season. You'll start him. He'll possibly have a good week 1. Then he'll turn into Drew Bledsoe.

And you'll lose a ton of games.

He's one of the nicest players in the entire league. Of that there is no doubt. But he's not a starter in the NFL anymore.

Gearing up for your March Madness Pool

2007-02-28T21:11:00.000-05:00

Its almost the time of year that gambler and non-gambler alike, fan and non-fan alike, male, female, etc etc etc all enter their office college basketball pool.

Time to size up your competition. Here's a list of other "thatguys" that you'll be SURE to encounter come tourney time.

When you’re the designated sports-obsessed individual in your office and you’re expected to run your office Superbowl Squares, NFL Picks pool, or any other sports-related gambling exercise, you know the March Madness pool is your baby. For anybody who also runs things, or for anybody who is thinking of doing it, here’s a nice list of people you can expect to deal with after sending out your brackets.

Johnny Gambler – You send your email with the details and this guy replies in a 1/100 of a second telling you he’s in….and that your pool is 1 of 7,500 he’s doing. On top of that he’ll mention all the other action he’s going to have on these games, and will also mention how many different pools he’s in, takeover pools, upset pools, auctions, you name it. He may even make a suggestion to totally complicate your pool not realizing 90% of the people entering it don’t really give a shit what the setup is at the end of the day. You can be sure that Johnny Gambler will be out of your pool by the 2nd Friday of the tournament and he’ll be the first to suggest you make next years pool an Upset Pool, because that’s when the cream rises to the top.

The Unhelpful Assistant – He’s probably reminded you that March Madness is coming…as if he was the only one to realize that. But you know damn well why he’s doing it; he wants to know if you’re going to run your pool again. You know “Because I’ll help you out with it if you want.” Now just what is he going to do to help you?? Not a damn thing. He doesn’t want to take the fall if any higher-up finds out about the pool and isn’t happy about it. But by the same token, when you’re a 40-something with 3 kids, you’d love to walk around talking to your buddies about how you’re “helping out with the pool,” as if he’s the office-version of Rick Tocchett.

The Paranoid Guy – As if he was some undercover spy, the participant will only talk to you in code about the pool. If he mentions it outright, surely he’ll get fired. The walls are tapped, and there is CTU surveillance everywhere. You mention the word POOL and Jack Bauer drops from the ceiling to take you in. “I got your email about the, uh, thing, I’ll get back to you on it.” He doesn’t realize that 75% of the principles of your company have already submitted their entry. You can be assured that he will email you no fewer than 3 times a day giving you updates on what he “hears” about the pool…you know…to keep you in the loop on any potential sting operation. This guy is a cousin of the “un-helpful assistant.”

The Cheapskate - $10 is way too much to kick in for a chance to win $250. He could swing $5, but $10 is breaking the bank. Besides, he already has one entry at $10, his wife has his balls on their mantle, and there’s no way he could get away with doing a second.

The Big Winner – You’re giving out 10% of the pot to the 2nd place finisher. The Big Winner only does winner take all pools. Mind you, he doesn’t know his ass from his elbow about college basketball, but if anybody asks why he’s not in the pool he just can’t wait to tell them that they payout wasn’t worth it for him.

Mountain out of a Molehill guy – He turns his entry in 5 minutes after you send out the brackets….then he gives you an updated version the next day. No fewer than 5 updates will be handed in between now and the start of the tournament. And you can be sure the first one he did would’ve “won the whole thing” only he didn’t go with is gut.

The Hot Girl – You can’t wait to get her involved in the tournament because it’s another reason to talk to her at work. But she really doesn’t want to deal with the pool, probably ha no interest in college hoops, but still wants to be involved somehow. So she tells you she’ll have her boyfriend enter the pool. Now you already hate the guy because you’ve seen what a douche-bag he is. He has spiked hair, wears sunglasses at night, and loses his sleeves once the weather gets warm. You just can’t figure out what she sees in him. You can’t tell her no, so you accept the entry. And now you have an entry you can root against for 3 weeks.

The Female Who Doesn’t Watch Basketball – a.k.a. the favorite to win the pool. Her boyfriend watches enough college hoops for her to know what teams are good, she’s heard of UConn and she knows they’re talented. She may have even watched both UConn – Villanova games this year because there was nothing else to do on those days. She hits a couple round 1 or 2 upsets, and takes Oklahoma State to the final 8 when they’re a 5 seed. She’ll ask you a ton of questions about how it all works before she submits her picks, and when you get them you know damn well she filled it out in 30 seconds. But you also know she’s now the favorite. In all honesty, you don’t mind it. Having her win it is much better than the other options in your office.

People Care about PacMan Jones

2007-02-28T15:01:00.000-05:00

There is an outpouring of support for PacMan Jones and a slew of hope for him to straighten things out, according to this ESPN article.

I'd like to point out: I wish I had such low expectations of me from my family.

I worry every day about him. I got this age number -- if he can just make it to
26, I think he'll be OK. ... But his daddy didn't make it past 26. I worry, and
I hope and pray that [Pacman] can go beyond that and many, many more years. Me
and his mother both talk about that all the time." -- Willie Louise Davis,
Pacman Jones' grandmother.

I mean making it to age 26 may be a bit of a stretch there Grammy.

And this clown gets to play a sport that I'd play for free. All year long.

Again, I bring up the fact that PacMan Jones watched the draft, and had a camera in there for ESPN from the VIP room of either a strip club or a night club.

I immediately said to myself: "Wow Jeff Fisher must want that pick back."

Nightly Links

2007-02-27T21:41:00.000-05:00

The Big Lead gives us their College Hoop top 20.

Dickie V doesn't realize he's on the air rips University of Florida - Awful Announcing.

Tommy Lasorda loves girl on girl porn. - Sports By Brooks.

I love the NBA

2007-02-27T21:24:00.000-05:00

So the Allstar game in Las Vegas ends and people start telling horror story tales of gunplay, gangbangers, and all sorts of rather unfriendly occurrences.

Now, they recommit to New Orleans. Great thinking!

The city that has had shooting after shooting before, during, and after Mardi Gras is an ideal location to follow-up the NBA All-star game from this year. Never mind the fact that I'm pretty sure you have to stay in a 10 mile by 10 mile square to avoid the rest of the city that was ravaged by Katrina

At this rate, '09 will be in the West Bank, and '10 will be in Fallujah.

Major League Baseball Steroid Talk!!!

2007-02-27T21:03:00.000-05:00

Hey have you heard about Major League Baseball and the possibility that players were on steroids????

If the answer is "no," then I suggest you get out of your cave, dig out of your hole, and thank your lucky stars that you've been out of the loop.

I actually hate steroid talk. I think its lame, there's just nothing else to talk about right now in the world of sports, now that Manny Ramirez reported to Red Sox Spring Training before he was originally reported to do so.

But there are some times that the sheer hilarity of the situation requires me to comment on it. I mean lets be serious for a second, if I wasn't going to comment on it, then I wouldn't be "that guy," and clearly, I am that guy.

Anyways, Gary Sheffield says the players union calls the steroid investigation a "witch hunt." Here is how Wikipedia defines witch hunt (and obviously if its on wikipedia it must be true):

Metaphorical use
In modern terminology 'witch-hunt' also has a metaphorical usage, referring to the act of seeking and persecuting any perceived enemy, particularly when the search is conducted using extreme measures and with little regard to actual guilt or innocence.

Little regard to actual guilt or innocent.

Hey Gary, weren't you already implicated in the Balco investigation? You're guilty. You've already been proven as guilty. So where's the witch hunt? Can somebody explain to me what this juice-monkey is talking about?

Go ahead and don't cooperate, I actually enjoy the stories from time to time of the ridiculous excuses, blatant lies, and classic denials. Especially from a scumbag like Sheffield.

Peter King: Please Stop

2007-02-26T20:56:00.000-05:00

Peter,
I made it nearly through your entire article today and I didn't get annoyed or aggravated until this gem:

How sad at the Oscars. The Departed kicked tail. I say that's bad
because
... well, have you seen it? Did the gore bother you? The
over-the-top,
pandering, blood-gurgling murderous spree was too much for me.
We must
be inured
to it by now, because the Academy voted Oscars not only
for
the movie but also
for Martin Scorsese for making the flick. What's
next, I wonder. A beheading in
Times Square? Gouging someone's eyes out?
So
sad we seem to be in search of the
next great gruesome thing in
movies.

Peter. You need to stop with this. Stop being a pussy. Stop with the holier than thou attitude.

The Departed was hardly a horror gore-fest.

It was an unbelievable movie. You used to be a great football writer. You wrote about football. You didn't get involved in politics, you didn't get involved in social issues, and you certainly didn't get involved in movies.

Stick to what you know. I blame the amount of time on Bob Costas for your douchbaggery here.

Why Athletes Hate the Media: Part 2

2007-02-26T18:46:00.000-05:00

From today's boston.com. Check out the most embarrassingly unprofessional questions for an agent that could be asked of his client on earth:

Greg Genske, one of Manny Ramirez's agents, met with reporters after Manny
reported this morning. Here's a transcript (with some comments from Gene Matos,
Manny's other agent, further below):

Why is Manny here
today? “He was ready to report, and he’s excited to be here.”

What’s situation with his mother? “I don’t think it’s
appropriate to get into the health issues of his mother. Those questions would
be better addressed to Manny himself, when he’s ready to talk about it.”

Reporter: That might be October. Can you acknowledge whether
she’s in the hospital? “I’m not going to talk about the health of
Manny’s mother.”

Manny is 34 now. Do you think it’s time for him
to be more accountable instead of being babied like a 12-year-old?
“Well, I wouldn’t accept your characterization of his behavior to begin with,
and again I’ll just say he’s reported to spring training here, he’s happy to be
here he’s here before he’s required to be here, either by the team or the
mandatory report date. He’s happy to be here and ready to go.”

Do you think since he’s your meal ticket, you should try to help
him grow up?

“Again, I wouldn’t agree with your
characterization, either of Manny’s behavior or of whatever else you’re talking
about.”

He indicated March 1 was the day. What changed that he
moved that up? “Again. I think that’s something Manny would have to
answer but he indicated he was ready to go so that’s why he’s here.”

What was the deal with the auto show? “I have no idea
what the deal was with the auto show. I do know Manny had never had any
intention of being there.”

What has changed since he asked to be
traded last fall? “I’m not going to comment on anything about trades or
speculation or anything like that right now. He’s here right now, and he’s
excited to be here. You can tell that when he took the field.”

He never agreed to do the car show? “Not that I’m aware
of.”

So he doesn’t want to be traded now? “He’s just
focused on the season right now. He’s reported, he’s here and he’s ready to go.”

Why did he choose not to report with other position
players? “I think the Red Sox have already gone to the press with this.
They extended him the opportunity to stay with his mother, who had surgery this
off season.”

Was it at all important for you or Manny to arrive
before tomorrow’s mandatory report date? “I think it was important for
both Manny and me that he get to spring training as early as he could given his
family situation. That’s why he came today, because he was prepared to come
today.”

Have you had conversation with the organization at any
point to discuss whether Manny still wants to be traded? "No. We have
not had any conversations about trades."

What is his health
status? "He's in great shape, perfectly healthy. He's very, very
excited to begin the season." D

Did he have any treatment on his
knee in the offseason? Gene, do you know? Did he have any treatment on his knee
in the offseason? (Gene Matos is based in Miami and also represents
Manny). Matos: "In November and December, he did. He continued the
rehab he engaged in during the season."

Ever (sic) occasion he
had to go to a doctor and be checked out and discuss the possibility of whether
they had to do anything more aggressive than what he was doing in
Boston? Matos: "He has consulted with physicians and he has continued
rehabilitation."

What's condition of knee now going
forward? Genske: "I think he feels very good. He feels very good, and
he's optimistic he's going to have a great season."

Under any
restrictions? Genske: "He has green light ready to go."

You say we should ask Manny. Will he answer if we ask
him? Genske: "It's my understanding that he'll answer questions at some
point. We haven't talked about it, we don't have any plans, but I assume he will
at some point."

Has he received any assurances that this won't
be a chronic condition? Genske: "I think he's been given a green light,
that he's ready to go. We don't anticipate any future problems, but again one
never knows." Matos: "It's not chronic, it's not arthritis."

Gene, did you know anything about the car show? Matos:
"I don't know anything about that." Did the organizers get in touch with you and
ask you if Manny was coming? Matos: "I don't know anything about it, I really
don't."

You had zero conversations with anyone? Matos:
"I just know he wasn't going to be there. That's all I know."

If
neither of you think he ever intended to be at this car show, would you consider
legal action against these people for using his name without his
knowledge. Genske: "We're not considering anything at this time."

If what you say is accurate, it sounds like they used his name
inappropriately. Genske: "Again, I'm not familiar with the
circumstances surrounding the car show."

Sox seemed miffed they
got news of Manny coming late through Julian Tavarez. In retrospect, should you
or Manny have done a better job of communicating, given that he wasn't here when
other position players were? Genske: "I think we've done an excellent
job of communicating with the Red Sox. I'm not aware of them being miffed in any
way."

Want to hear my tape? I have it in the trailer.
Genske: "Thank you all."

What was your most despicable piece? Mine was actually insulting the agents by referring to Manny as his "meal ticket." I mean you have to be kidding me. Newsflash to you Boston media scumbags: Manny is actually YOUR meal ticket. If you couldn't create this Manny backlash, you'd just wind up running out of things to write.

Its amazing how quickly these guys pounce. How about the moron who ended the press conference with "Want to hear my tape? I Have it in the trailer."

Pitiful.

March Madness

2007-02-25T21:23:00.000-05:00

Its official. With Ohio State winning the Big 10 regular season title, and with next weekend being the start to championship week, its officially March Madness time.

Thatguysports has a few questions that need to be answered as we head into one of the best times of the year.

Will Duke continue its ACC tournament dominance with clearly a sub-par team?

If Dick Vitale has his way, yes. Fortunately for us Duke haters, Dickie V doesn't have much say in the matter. Of course he'll throw his .02 on the matter during the tournament and make it completely unwatchable, but I don't think he can help a clearly limited team this year. ACC semi-finals at best for the Dukies.

Will anybody in the Northeast have a vested interest in the tourney after the first weekend?

No. Not even close. They may not even make it to the first weekend. In the northeast we have Boston College who's probably in, but will be fodder for a mid-major, or disappointing big time conference team. The Eagles would piss themselves if they drew as an 8 seed, an Alabama as a 9. UConn is still questionable to make the Big East Tournament if I'm not mistaken, and Syracuse, and UMass are still a year or two away.

What's wrong with Florida?

Nothing. The SEC is talented from top to bottom, and they just happened to lose two league games in a row. They'll still be there near the end of the tournament with an Elite 8, Final 4 appearance.

Is the Big-10 for Real?

I still say no, but that's just b/c I hate the Big-10 with a passion. Ohio State is being run by a very very young backcourt, which usually spells doom for a team in the tournament. Wisconsin is the best bet for the Big-10, but what happens when they hit an elite team with speed that also has the depth to run non-stop for 40 minutes?

What conference will show the best in the tournament?

The SEC. It shouldn't surprise anybody if Florida, Vanderbilt, and one other SEC team find themselves in the Elite 8 depending upon where they are seeded.

Gun to head National Champ?

North Carolina.

________________________________________________________________

Nightly Links

I'm sure people have heard about Ryan Freel on craigslist...it should be known that thatguysports friend The Big Lead had the story first.

Stephen A. Smith to Sportscenter? - Awful Announcing.

Last but not least, check out this cheapshot on thatguysportsblog, and alternate Bustonian Teammate (b/c I'm an alternate, not full-time player) Keith Aucoin in an AHL hockey game this weekend.

The hit happens at 6 seconds.

Ottowa Senators - Buffalo Sabers Brawl

2007-02-23T08:13:00.000-05:00

Now this is what hockey used to be about.

News and Notes and Nightly Links

2007-02-22T20:27:00.000-05:00

Tough day of work for the kid today, so the stories of the day will be boiled down to a nightly summary.

My favorite story of the day, PacMan Jones. I love this guy. I need friends who bring 80 g's to a strip club in Las Vegas with them. Today on the barstoolsports message board I commented that PacMan Jones may kill a teammate at some point in his career.

I dare someone to argue with me.

I'm fairly certain Pat Riley wishes he didn't come back last night for the Heat. Losing Dwayne Wade is way worse than losing Shaq, and we all know that Riley isn't a huge fan of when he has to actually coach a team. My money is on another required leave with no information given. If Wade opts for season-ending surgery, that team doesn't stand a chance.

In more NFL news it looks like Adalius Thomas isn't going to be franchised by Baltimore after-all. I have to think this makes Thomas the #1 defensive Free Agent for 3-4 teams, which are growing by the year. Look for the Patriots to take a long look at this guy with the cap room they have available this year.

NFL combine starts this week, the list of stars who are choosing not to work out and to wait for their pro-day is growing. Thatguysports is hoping Zach DeOssie from Brown will have a good week. Great article about the kid from the Boston Globe.

Its Manny-gate here in Boston. I have nothing to say about it. Its the most tired story around. He'll put up the same #'s he always does. I don't care if he shows up now to gamble on pepper behind the batting cages. Nothing gets done in Spring Training. He's probably been working out since the season ended last year...give him 2 weeks to get his timing down and watch him rake.

The fat blowhard, Roger Clemens is making himself a story again by hanging out but not actually doing anything at Houston Astros spring training. God I hate that guy.

Some Links tonight:

Joumana Kidd hasn't been in the news lately (and that must just kill her). - The Big Lead

I hate the "PC Police." But making fun of Illinois fans is funny. - The Postmen

Cold Hard Football Facts makes more light of the Norv Turner hiring. I can't get enough of it. Rich Kotite legitimately has a better winning percentage. And identical playoff record.

____________________________________________________________________

Last but certainly not least, its been a tough year for all things Boston Celtics. First, Red Auerbach. Add to that a horrendous season. But not horrendous enough to get the worst record and #1 lottery spot.

Now, Dennis Johnson...former player, current NBDL coach passed away after running with his team. I'm probably a year or two too young to remember DJ vividly as a player, but the fact that he was such a mainstay for the Celtics during their 80's championship run cemented him in Boston sports history. Tragic loss for the Celtics. Again.

Rest in peace DJ.

Nightly Links

2007-02-21T21:30:00.000-05:00

Clearly Pac Man Jones is crazy. - The Big Lead

Check out the new BarstoolSports issue.

Weird athlete sponsorships from Awful Announcing.

I still enjoy Shaq dancing. - The Postmen.

Shame on the NBA

2007-02-21T21:04:00.000-05:00

Excuse me for a moment while I get on my soap-box (and for those that know me personally, there's a very good chance they're all exiting their browser right now).

A very brilliant, well spoken, and obviously handsome man called into 107.3 WAAF up here in Boston this morning (ok, I admit it...it was me) during their weekly "Ask the Owner" segment with Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck.

The conversation with AAF started with the NBA All Star game, and it eventually turned to the violence that occurred in Vegas during the weekend celebration. Grousbeck seemed genuinely surprised that it happened. I asked him why he'd be surprised...it made perfect sense to me. I don't think the national sentiment was one of "shock and awe" when the reports of the violence came about.

I asked Grousbeck, in a very tongue in cheek and sarcastic/cynical manner if he truly was surprised that the reported violence occurred, if deep down he had ZERO idea that it was possible.

I really didn't expect him to take a stand and answer it honestly, because if he did, I truly believe he would've been insulting the NBA fan base, but the way in which he answered the question struck me as interesting.

He didn't address the issue of the violence, nor the circumstances of the weekend that left the majority of those in Las Vegas genuinely worried for their safety (to the point that they'd rather wait for a 3 hour taxi ride, than walk from one casino to another), but instead chose to point out the ratings and publicity bonanza that having the NBA All Star game in Las Vegas created. In short, not so much commenting on the risk but solely focusing on the reward. And it wasn't as if he was pulling this out of his ass, he was legitimately relaying the pro's that the NBA saw and planned on with the Allstar game being in Las Vegas.

It begged the question: Did the NBA simply turn the other cheek and ignore the powder-keg that the NBA in Las Vegas could become, solely to promote the league nationally and internationally?

In my opinion, they did.

And for that reason, I think the NBA owners and David Stern should thank their lucky stars that one of their own wasn't harmed this weekend, a family of fans wasn't harmed this weekend, or something worse. If the reports are to believed, and there's no reason to believe that they're false, Vegas turned into a real life Grand Theft Auto this weekend.

And please spare me with the "how can you stereotype" like this argument then point to the Cincinnati Bengals and Tank Johnson as examples of those in the NFL who have had run-ins with the law.

That's two instances.

You could probably find at least 1 run-in on every NBA team. And I'm really not joking.

NBA All-star Game Altercations

2007-02-20T07:40:00.000-05:00

Well here it is ladies and gentlemen....obviously this weekend's NBA All Star game in Las Vegas wasn't going to end without incident.

The Las Vegas Review Journal has the story of the various incidents that occurred on Sunday night/Monday morning.

The part I love the most? That Pac Man Jones may have been involved.

Here's what I remember most about Pac Man Jones and I'll honestly never forget it. There is a 100% chance that Pac Man Jones was watching the NFL Draft the year he came out of college from the VIP room of a club. Strip club, or night club....either one. And he had a spinning blinged out Pac Man symbol hanging around his neck. I specifically turned to my buddies who were watching the draft with me and commented that Jeff Fischer wants that pick back.

And now he's involved with this. Again.

Anyway, I'm just glad that the balance in the world is restored as the NBA did deliver with All Star weekend turning into a horror show in Vegas as just about anybody thought it would.

The Big Lead has a little more on this story - including some examples of LA gang activity. I particularly like the "MGM was South Central LA" comment.

Nightly Links

2007-02-19T19:59:00.000-05:00

Wrong mascot on the wrong campus - AwfulAnnouncing

Shaq owns Lebron and Dwight Howard - We Are the Postmen

The Big Lead's College Hoops Top 20

A bunch of soccer stuff I don't understand - Thats on Point

Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, Celebrity Breakup?

2007-02-19T19:27:00.000-05:00

According to this report at ESPN, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez aren't having sleepovers anymore. I'm not joking. They're literally not having sleepovers anymore.

"The reality is there's been a change in the relationship over 14 years and,
hopefully, we can just put it behind us," he went on. "You go from sleeping over
at somebody's house five days a week, and now you don't sleep over. It's just
not that big of a deal."
Jeter had left the clubhouse by the time reporters
were allowed back in. His agent, Casey Close, said later that Jeter didn't want
to comment.
Most of the Yankees have long concluded the relationship between
their captain and Rodriguez is a non-issue.
"They're probably not as tight
as they used to be, but it's not a situation where they don't look at each other
and don't say, 'Hi.' They're teammates and they're still friends," Jason
Giambi said.

Is anybody else a little creeped out about this? I understand the analogy, and I really hope it is just an analogy, but why couldn't A-Rod have said something like "you party with someone" or "you gamble with someone," or even " You play video games with someone." Why "sleepover?"

Even as a Red Sox fan I feel strange jumping all over this story. Ok, maybe not that strange.

Did they do eachothers hair? Call girls together? Talk about their problems?

Did they prank-call people too?

"Hey Jason? This is Victor Conte....no, no ... its not Alex, its Conte" as Jeter laughs hysterically in the background.

AFC contenders, Rejoice!

2007-02-19T17:15:00.000-05:00

All AFC contenders should rest easier tonight, the San Diego Chargers will not be a factor this season, or any future season.

ESPN is reporting that The Chargers are about to hire Norv Turner as their head coach. That's not a misprint. Norv Turner of the 9-23 Oakland Raiders for two seasons, and Norv Turner of the under-performing Washington Redskins is now the coach of the San Diego Chargers.

Norv Turner is known for his down-field passing game and power running game. That should really bode well for a team with the fastest and slickest WR in the game that is a dual running/receiving threat, not to mention the relatively poor Wide Receivers that the Chargers have, as well as the Quarterback who is accurate but not really known for his down-field arm. Add to that the fact that Turner gets to work with Tedd Cotrell as his Defensive Coordinator. He was the mastermind behind the 4th to last Minnesota Vikings Defense under Mike Tice. I mean giving up 370 yards per game in the NFC Central is good, right? Right?

I can't help but wonder if Chargers ownership is trying to lose next year so they can fire General Manager AJ Smith and completely re-tool the organization.

Is now a good time to mention that Turner's career record as a head coach is 58-82-1? That's 24 games under .500 folks. TWENTY FOUR.

The road to the Super Bowl just got a lot easier for the Colts and Patriots.

An Open Letter to Tom Brady

2007-02-19T10:11:00.000-05:00

Dear Tom,

I'm not writing to you today simply as a fan, but also as a friend. You see, I feel as though you are a close friend of mine. No, we've never met and we never will, but your accomplishments have won me so much money and have given me so much happiness that I can't help but see you as a friend.

So please, don't take this as criticism, but take this as some friendly advice.

Get back with Moynahan. Full-time. You have to. You see, she won. She got'ya good and there's no other way around it. Think of it as taking a sack rather than throwing an interception.

By my calculations this kid will be born sometime before training camp. And I know I'm not the only Patriots fan thinking this, but we need you at the peak of your game next year. So make it easy on everybody and just suck it up and get back with the woman.

Its for the better. For everybody. For you, for the baby, but more importantly for Patriots Nation. We need you at your peak next year and we can't afford any less.
The last thing we need is you having to fly somewhere for the birth, fly back to training camp, fly somewhere else during the bye week, fly here, fly there, etc.

I think your sister would make a wonderful personal assistant turned nanny, and Moynahan really isn't anything to get sick over - she still looks damn good. So suck it up, take the sack, and regroup on 3rd down. You see, its all very simple if you boil it down to football terms.

Your friend,

Andrew
thatguysportsblog.blogspot.com

This is Why Athletes Hate the Media

2007-02-18T19:43:00.000-05:00

Regardless of whether you're a Boston fan or not, you should all read this despicable column by Dan Shaugnessy of the Boston Globe. For those not familiar with him, "Shank (as we call him)" was the clown who wrote the book about the Curse of the Bambino and made a bunch of money on it, only to come out with this gem after the Red Sox won the world series.

Red Sox-Yankees has evolved into the very best drama in all of sports and with
that comes no shortage of themes, which are often silly or contrived (remember
The Curse of the Bambino?). - Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe
04/07/05

So clearly he's not the most consistent writer on the planet.

Well, the other thing you have to realize is that Shank can't just write about the Red Sox, the Patriots, or any other sports team or story in the world, he always has to interject himself into the piece. Today was no different.

But he also has a
propensity to shut it down, and we never know why. And please, don't be a stooge
and attempt to perpetuate the farcical theory that Manny was too wounded to play
last September. Every man in the Sox clubhouse knows what went down; teammates
simply wouldn't say anything on the record, lest they risk "losing"
Manny.

The amazing part of the Manny-fan relationship is that
most Boston baseball customers, who are normally critical and discerning, have
lost their minds when it comes to Mr. Ramírez. The timeless rules and standards
don't apply. Manny can hit. It's a joy to watch him hit. And it's pretty clear
that he's incapable of offending the sensibilities of most Sox
fans.

That's all you really have to read. To sum up: Shank knows that his teammates are upset with the way Manny ended the season last year, even though we've never heard from any of them - not even a "leak," but Shank knows that. Furthermore, Shank is just down right angry that the fans of the Red Sox clearly don't vilify Manny Ramirez quite like Shank feels they should, or perhaps feels they would have in the past.

Here's how the rest of the season will play out:

- If Manny steps up and is the great soldier this year, Shank will somehow attribute this article as part of the reason why. There will be some type of piece in June or July about how the pressure on Manny to perform really got to him this year, so he's stepping up nicely. He just didn't want to have to hear it from the media again, thank Dan Shaughnessy everybody.

OR

- Manny shuts it down again, or becomes a distraction again. Shank will continue to bring this up, until finally a teammate or Manny himself goes off. And then Shank will say "I told you so."

Book it, and rest assured, I'll point it out when it happens - and it WILL happen.

Other items from the weekend.
Bridget Moynahan trapped Brady when they had their "goodbye" bang.

Reaction to this story from Kissing Suzy Kolber, and The Big Lead

NBA All Star recaps and blogs from Awful Announcing.

Weekend News and Notes

2007-02-17T08:20:00.000-05:00

The first few major Franchise tags were placed on NFL players yesterday, with my man-crush Lance Briggs being franchised by the Chicago Bears, and Asante Samuel being franchised by the New England Patriots. My dream of buying the Lance Briggs #55 Patriots jersey is now over, clearly my wife is happy.

Adalius Thomas is possibly next in line for the franchise tag. ESPN.com tells us why there are so many guys expected to be franchised this year, as well as what else to expect during the free agency period this NFL off season.

I flipped on this game last night for about 10 seconds and legitimately saw players running away from themselves when a player drove to the basket. Clearly there isn't a defensive MVP of these things.

Can people bet on this game? I hope so.

How dirty is Las Vegas w/ the NBA and all its groupies, entourages, and thugs out there this weekend?

Roger Clemens is trying to make himself the focus as he always does when Spring Training rolls around. *yawn* Wake my ass up when this fraud retires. Check out Oriole Post's ripjob of him.

Read this blog entry about the 5 worst players in the NBA and then ask yourself how Danny Ainge is still in the league, as he has placed 3 of these guys on the Celtics either via draft or trade. - That's On Point

Jeff Gordon butchers the English language "I'm disappointed in ourselves." Really, Jeff?

Get more of your NBA All Star weekend fix from Awful Announcing.

That's all for the weekend - pending nothing major comes up.

This NASCAR Thing is Confusing

2007-02-15T19:44:00.000-05:00

One of my seven readers (although it may be down to six per my pitiful hit count lately) emailed me today asking why I haven't commented on the Michael Waltrip NASCAR scandal. After informing the reader that this is a sportsblog, not a "hobby"blog, it dawned on me that maybe one of my remaining 5 readers (and I know its not you, Dad) may also be interested in my take on it. So here goes.

I flat out don't get it.

So they put something in the engine that makes the car go faster. Isn't that what racing is all about? Going faster than the other guy? Are there really rules for what you can put into a car? Like, its an anti-car-steroid policy? And if there are rules for it, may I ask why?

People go to NASCAR races to see people crash. And the more horrific the crash, the better. Well, the faster you go, the more horrific the crashes will be, no? What else is there to do at a race? Literally watch them go around and around....just admit you're there to see carnage.

Anywho, this whole thing baffles me. Can someone explain to me what the hell happened? And how the hell did they find out about this?

NASCAR is weird.

More thoughts about NASCAR:

His crew chief is getting fired. I assume that's bad. - ESPN

Glad we'll have to hear about NASCAR at Fenway Park now. - barstoolsports.com

NASCAR Power Rankings (without the season even starting) - ESPN

Tim Hardaway Needs to Speak Up

2007-02-15T10:26:00.000-05:00

There's nothing I hate more than a celebrity unwilling to take a stand and unwilling to speak his or her mind. Its like they just want to ride the fence and not take a stand on anything.

Especially Tim Hardaway. He really needs to come right out and say what he means about the issue of homosexuality and homosexuality in the NBA.

"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known," Hardaway said. "I don't
like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I
don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

What do you think he's trying to say here? I can't figure out his meaning. Its far too hazy.

This is by far the best part of the story though. By FAR:

Hardaway has been taking part in NBA festivities ahead of Sunday's All-Star game
in Las Vegas and attended an NBA Cares outreach event at a city
YMCA with Knicks forward Jerome Williams on Tuesday.

The NBA cares you know....just not if you're homosexual.

Dick Vitale is Awful

2007-02-15T10:10:00.000-05:00

Heading into last night's BC vs Duke game on ACC Wednesday on ESPN I knew I wasn't going to see an unbiased telecast. Certainly not with Duke supporter Dick Vitale court side.

But I really didn't think it would be half as bad as it was.

For starters, did ESPN have to show us 17 replays of Coack K doing his "white mans pump up" to his team after BC took a timeout with 5 min left in the first half? One replay, sure, I can live with that. But in excess of 10 of them? All of which Vitale screaming "Coach K is fired up!" "That's intensity baby" "Look at that man coach" "I can't wait to give Coach K his Valentines Day gift!" (I made that last one up). It was aggravating.

But usually you could expect some unbiased play-by-play out of Mike Patrick. Nope, not last night. He must have lauded the Official that Jared Dudley bumped for not giving him a Technical Foul what, 5 times? How about you point out that IT WAS A HORRIBLE CALL IN THE FIRST PLACE??? BC got jobbed in the first half - as most teams do that play Duke - but not one mention of it. None.

I've seen Vitale numerous times suck off Duke and all things Coach K time and time again, but I didn't see it as bad as it was last night. It legitimately made me throw up a little.

No First and Toal in '07?

2007-02-14T15:13:00.000-05:00

Thaguysports has obtained information that perhaps BC's Brian Toal is heading for shoulder surgery and may redshirt for the '07 season.

This may seem like horrible news for some, as there is a strong sentiment in the athletic community that once you get cut you're never the same, but the reality is that if Toal doesn't get his shoulder taken care of, it'll never allow him to last a full season.

Get it cut, get it fixed, and rehab to play a full season without worrying about it. This was one aspect that I hated about O'Brien. His stupid "First and Toal" with Toal's shoulder hanging by a string late in the season was idiotic.

Poor Form, Tiki

2007-02-14T12:20:00.000-05:00

Tiki Barber just sealed the fate of Tom Coughlin. I don't think there's any way Coughlin makes it through next season with the Giants.

Speaking after signing a contract with NBC, Barber reveals that according to him the big man upstairs was the only reason he didn't get injured more often.

Barber, who will work on NBC's "Today" show and on the network's Sunday night football coverage, said his problems with New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin had "started to take its toll on me" and that it was an "act of God' that the physical demands Coughlin placed on him did not result in serious injuries.
"Coach Coughlin is very hard-nosed, and I didn't get a lot of time off, couldn't sit down and rest myself, and so it was a constant grind -- a physical grind on me that started to take its toll," Barber told reporters Tuesday after his introduction the "Today" show's newest correspondent.

Talk about an indictment. There is a lot that bothers me about this. The first is that its obviously a cheap shot at his old coach. But why go public with it? If you don't like the guy, that's fine, but its not as if Coughlin refused anything less than what he demanded. Barber says himself:

"There'd be days where I couldn't move on Tuesday or Wednesday at practice, and he'd get mad at me for going half-speed. And I told him, 'Coach, I can't do it. I'm gonna be out here, I'm never gonna miss a practice, but I can't give you what you want all the time.' And he understood."

Read that bold line again. He understood.

So, lets clarify: Coughlin ran them ragged, made them practice when they didn't want to, and forced them to do more than what they felt their bodies could...but when he was told that it was too much, he understood.

Isn't that just coaching? What has he done wrong here?

Shame on Barber (one of my favorite players of all-time due to the amount of times he won me a fantasy football league). Now wasn't the time to bring this up. How can Coughlin expect to get things done next year?

Turn the Page: College Hoops Season

2007-02-14T08:10:00.000-05:00

Its official here at thatguysports. Football season is behind us and takes a back burner until draft coverage starts, and its college basketball season for now. UNC and Texas A&M were shocked again last night by Virginia Tech and Texas Tech respectively, and it begs the question of is it Florida and everybody else at this point in the season?

I just can't get sold on Wisconsin and Ohio State because 1) they're in the Big-10 and my 8 readers know that I hate the Big 10, and 2) they typically aren't great tournament teams (Neither is most of the Big 10 for that matter).

Boston College has an opportunity to put a scare into people this week. Home tilts against Duke and North Carolina could send a message that maybe they're the undermanned Alpha-dog in the ACC.

Is the ACC that bad, by the way? That a BC team that lost a Defensive Player of the Year candidate and who is completely outclassed at the guard position can make a legitimate run at the ACC title, and what, a 3 seed? 2 seed? Wow. That's as bad as Wake Forest winning the football championship.

Big night tonight with the top 3 teams in action and two on the road. Its doubtful that any of those top 3 lose, but would anybody be shocked if an Alabama team comes in and gives Florida a run for its money tonight?

In other news:

Pat Forde at ESPN.com has a cute little Valentines Day article today.

This video isn't graphic b/c you don't see anything, but we all know what she must've looked like. - Barstoolsports

More to come today as I'm home w/ the kiddo.

College Hockey > the NHL

2007-02-13T09:30:00.000-05:00

You want to enjoy hockey again, go to a college hockey game.

Last night at the TD Banknorth Garden the Beanpot Finals were played between BU and BC, and let me tell you - it was insane.

At least 10 times the crowd was on its feet as someone got laid out by a hip or body check.

The NHL hasn't been that exciting in years. Bring back the ability to hit people and you'll get the fans back to the NHL. Its just that easy.

Onto to some news and notes:

I have no idea what the Chargers are doing right now. Take a 14-2 team and completely blow up the coaching staff so you have to start fresh with new coordinators and a new head coach.

It blows my mind. Whey fire him now? College coaches know what they have for recruits coming in, so they're much less apt to leave if they've had a good class. You think Pete Carroll is going to leave USC and another #1 class?

Maybe Charlie Weiss is the only answer from the college ranks, or some retread from the professional ranks.

How quickly will Mark Whipple's agent call San Diego?

More on Schottenheimer's firing and some good links. - The Big Lead
Kissing Suzy Kolber's take on it.
barstoolsports' Uncle Buck gives us a Red Sox post. - barstoolsports.com

Now that they're winning again, Pat Reilly is planning on rejoining the Heat. Great job of sticking by your team through the good times and the bad, Pat.

NIghtly Links

2007-02-12T17:25:00.000-05:00

The Big Lead's updated College top 20. - The Big Lead

Steroid talk is fun. - We are the Postmen

Cold Hard Football Fact's Dominant Dozen - CHFF.com

Announcer Grades

2007-02-12T09:31:00.000-05:00

I love these types of articles. I don't agree 100% with what Dr. Z says, for example, Madden and Michaels are still horrendous in my opinion, but the fact that he has the ESPN Monday Night crew down at the bottom makes me smile.

I think he has Enberg too high, he seemed borderline senile to me this year, but I thought Deion, Marshall, Collinsworth, and Vermeil were highlights this year for the NFL Network, with Bryant Gumbel as an obvious low-light. I still don't think his audio was properly synced with the video...there's no way he's that slow (I mean he's a Bates guy for the love of God).

Some highlights that made me laugh:

Cross played on a four-star team last year when he was with Harlan, but the
split-up has hurt both of them. Enberg's a nice guy, and he adds a certain
comfort level to the show, but Cross seems to be taking the easy slide now and
then, falling into the "offensive line really did a good job on that play," type
of analysis. Sorry, Randy, but you were a guard for many years. We want to hear
which lineman did a good job on whom. It's not impossible. If Vermeil can do it,
you can.

I hate Randy Cross- and I can just hear him saying those idiotic words.

So here's the full article.

Worst Statline Ever?

2007-02-12T07:37:00.000-05:00

In the Boston Celtics 18th straight loss last night, Brian Scalabrine put it what had to have been one of the most pathetic stat-lines in the history of the NBA.

He started the game, and played 37 minutes....the second most on the entire team.

He was 0-1 from the field, and that attempt happened to have been a 3 pointer. He had one offensive rebound (5 total) and had 5 assists. In 37 minutes.

Did anybody watch this game (I certainly didn't). Did Scalabrine just stand at the top of the key and pass? Did he move at all? You'd think in 37 minutes, the Timberwolves would at least have a defensive lapse that (combined with actual movement from Scalabrine) would result in a shot at a field goal attempt near the basket, no?

This is amazing. Did he even cross half-court?

Can somebody please spike Paul Pierce in the knee so the Celtics don't accidentally finish with the 3rd pick in the draft....PLEASE?

Onto the links:

Cold Hard Football Facts has the keys to Indys Superbowl run.

Pete Manzo over at barstoolsports highlights the toughest formations to compete against.

Somethingawful.com gives us some Superbowl photoshops.

Nightly Links

2007-02-08T21:01:00.000-05:00

Anytime anybody is making fun of Duke, I am on board with it. - Saved by the Blog.

Cold Hard Football Facts has a blog now.

This just blows your mind. Such huge money. For Bronson frickin' Arroyo. Unreal. Espn.com

Notre Dame has decided to tell everybody what they're doing next year, so teams can already start to scheme against them. Brilliant. Oh and they lost every major defensive recruit they had committed. Looks like Weiss is going to try to outscore people again. It worked last year.....no wait.

What are the Dallas Cowboys Thinking?

2007-02-08T07:39:00.000-05:00

According to an ESPN.com report, Wade Phillips will be named Dallas Cowboys head football coach sometime today.

Yes, you read that right. Wade Phillips.

In a league in which young coaches like Sean Payton and Eric Mangini revitalized fledgling programs, Jerry Jones selects Wade Phillips. He of an 0-3 playoff record, and a 45-35 career coaching record for the Bills and Broncos.

Mind you, this comes on the heels of a failed attempt by Dennis Green and Art Shell to rejuvenate their coaching careers with the Arizona Cardinals and Oakland Raiders respectively.

When will these owners learn....retread coaches just don't work. They may win you some games, but they're certainly not "the answer" when it comes to long-standing stability.

Jason Garrett is the coach of this team by '09 at the latest.

USC is amazing

2007-02-07T13:04:00.000-05:00

Top 3 recruits in the country and two play RB.

Unreal.

It is unconfirmed as of yet if the "thong or not a thong" controversy from the Rose Bowl contributed to the signings, but it certainly didn't hurt.

Thong or not a thong:

Dad, thanks for not doing this to me when I was at Bates

2007-02-07T13:02:00.000-05:00

UConn's signeed Greg Lloyd Junior, son of former Steeler Greg Lloyd:

Found at profootballtalk.com

On Saturday, Lloyd will become 18, and a protective order preventing his
father from having any contact with him will expire. "I can't protect him
anymore," his mother, Rhonda Lloyd, told the Hartford Courant. "That's a scary
thought for me." "I'm living great without him in my life," Greg Jr. said. "I
don't have to be scared every day. That's much better than the way I was living
back when he was around." The elder Lloyd was accused of sticking a gun in his
son's mouth in 2001, apparently due to the child's school grades. Two trials on
criminal charges arising from the incident resulted in hung juries. The issue
did not go to trial a third time. The younger Lloyd isn't interested in
rekindling a relationship with his father. "If he said he wanted to try again, I
would say no," Greg Jr. said. "It's too late for that." Lloyd was an All-Pro for
the Steelers in the 1990s. He pleaded no contest in 2004 to pointing a gun at
his wife's head.

Updated Signees as of 11:45

2007-02-07T11:41:00.000-05:00

Teams of interest:

Alabama

SIGNED LETTER OF INTENT

Josh Chapman
DT
Patrick Crump
OL
Luther Davis
DT
Jeremy Elder
DE
Tarence Farmer
DB
Nick Gentry
DT
Jeramie Griffin
RB
Darius Hanks
WR
Jennings Hester
LB
Kareem Jackson
DB
Rolando McClain
LB
Alfred McCullough
DT
Kerry Murphy
DT
Jamar Taylor
RB
Chris Underwood
TE
William Vlachos
OL
Alex Watkins
DE
Chavis Williams
DE

Notre Dame

SIGNED LETTER OF INTENT
Armando Allen
RB

Jimmy Clausen
QB

Taylor Dever
OL

Gary Gray
DB

Robert Hughes
RB

Duval Kamara
WR

Kerry Neal
DE

Andrew Nuss
OL

Emeka Nwankwo
OL

Steve Paskorz
ATH

Brian Smith
LB

Harrison Smith
ATH

Golden Tate
ATH

Brandon Walker
K
Ian Williams
DT

Boston College

SIGNED LETTER OF INTENT

Lars Anderson
TE

Dominique Davis
QB

Corey Eason
DE

DeLeon Gause
DB

Chris Johnson
QB

Dominic Magazu
WR

Kenny Plue
OL

Nathan Richman
OL

Mark Spinney
OL

National Signing Day

2007-02-07T07:46:00.000-05:00

Check back here today for updates as declarations are made, I'm hoping to update a few times today with latest news.

Some questions heading into signing day that will be answered:

- Can Nick Saban bring a top flight class to Alabama?
- Will Randy Shannon start to turn around the University of Miami today (He's had a great last week with changing a few verbals from other schools to considering the U).
- Who can top Urban Meyer?
- Will coach tummy-tuck Charlie Weiss improve a defense that is horrendous, or will he just hope and pray that Jimmy Claussen doesn't royally suck like his brothers did.
- How will BC do today?

Check back today as you wish for some info.

This is way better than blogging about the NBA and/or the NHL.

Nightly Links

2007-02-06T21:13:00.000-05:00

Great Art Monk vs Michael Irvin HOF comparison. The Big Lead

A-Rod to use escape clause in '07? ESPN.com

I love NHL ratings statistics. Sportsbiz

Red Sox closer: Not Papplebon. ESPN.com

barstoolsports helps us find some other things to laugh at. Viva la Stool

Rocky IV Training Gone Wrong

2007-02-06T08:29:00.000-05:00

Check out the story in this link. I don't even know where to begin.

First, why train somewhere that carrying a hatchet is required to protect yourself against bears? Furthermore, what would your sparring partner have to do to throw said hatchet at him in a fit of rage?

Were they running through the woods sparring with each other? Just a very bizarre story.

This cracked me up though:

Slayton told the deputies Bell had become angry with him during a training
session in the woods and threw a hatchet the boxer was carrying for protection
against bears. Slayton fled, dodging large rocks Bell threw at him,
Wiltshire said.

Whoever is fighting O'Neil Bell should realize that the throwing of the large rocks will definitely make his right cross a LOT stronger.

One and Done for Peyton Manning

2007-02-06T07:51:00.000-05:00

To all the Colts-haters out there, take solace in knowing one thing. This was a "one and done" situation for the Colts. They won't come close to the Superbowl next year.

John Clayton on ESPN.com has the piece; and it tells quite a story about the Colts salary cap situation heading into this off-season.

The Colts have a dozen unrestricted free agents and only $2.5 million of cap room, but numbers can be deceiving. Manning has a $10 million roster bonus that will be converted into a signing bonus to save cap room. That could save $8 million. The Colts could save a little more by cutting wide receiver Brandon Stokley and defensive tackle Corey Simon. They can restructure some contracts.

Players that are heading into free agency include Cato June, Dominic Rhodes, Nick Harper, Rob Morris, Mike Doss and most important, Dwight Freeney. Now, assuming the Colts don't let Freeney go (They should...he of zero tackles, zero sacks in the Superbowl...but they won't), if they extend him by one year w/ the franchise tag, he eats up 75% of the room that the Colts have available. And this doesn't even take into account the room needed to sign draft picks.

What does this all mean? Well, in short....there are going to be some changes in Indy. Guys will have to restructure, which may happen, but will all of them? Doubtful. So all in all, we're not looking at the next dynasty here folks...we're looking at a one and done.

No wonder the NFL gave the Colts every call possible against the Patriots. They knew this was Manning's only shot.

Nightly Links

2007-02-05T20:57:00.000-05:00

New addition to the blog....nightly links. Hoping to pick up anything that you all may have missed throughout the day.

Oxana Baiul is freakishly scary. Barstool Sports.

Funny take on Prince being the real MVP last night, and a great nickname I've never heard for Peyton Manning. kissingsuzykolber (a hilarious blog I just discovered).

Phil Mushnik still has his head up his ass about things...Simms is HARDLY respectable anymore. NY Times.

The Big Lead's college hoop poll. The Big Lead

Michael Jordan was nasty...and Chicago owned Indy in hoops. We are the Postmen

Superbowl Reaction

2007-02-05T08:38:00.000-05:00

Wow.

Does Rex Grossman suck or what??? That's about all I took from the Superbowl last night. The Colts were content to run the football (because Urlacher sucks, and is the most overrated player in the NFL) knowing the entire time that if they stopped the run, they'd let Grossman lose the game for the Bears. And that's exactly what happened.

I will say this: Peyton Manning did NOT deserve the MVP. That's as clear as anything after this game. Joseph Addai / Dominick Rhodes could have been co-MVP's, or even Bob Sanders was more deserving than Manning. But of course, the national media is able to wax poetic about Manning, the "first family of football" and how he only has one fewer MVP than Tom Brady.

yawn. At least it rained all game long....that's all I was rooting for.

Some observations:

- What was with all of the half-and-half jerseys that people had in the crowd yesterday. I mean I understand the geography of these two teams, but were people from Indiana that live closer to Chicago really "torn" as to who they should root for? A good friend of mine from out that way has legitimately been a fan of both teams for years....so I guess those in that area couldn't lose last night?

More examples of how the Midwest is weird.

- Here's ESPNs coverage of the Superbowl.

- CNNSI's coverage of the Superbowl.

- Peter King does it again. In today's MMQB, Peter gives us this gem.

Offensive Player of the Week
Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis. For all the
reasons listed above, plus this one: Five scoring drives in the first three
decisive quarters, and the ability to neutralize Brian Urlacher for much of the
night (except for a brilliant deflected pass early) by disguising so much of
what he does. Nine years is a long time to wait for a championship, but I have a
feeling we won't have to wait nine more for Manning's second one.

Please stop Peter. You're awful. Jeff Saturday was the offensive player of the week for his job on Urlacher, not Peyton Manning. Come on Peter. Terrible.

Decent week coming up even though football ended last night. National signing day is Wednesday, and college hoops picks up. All is not lost!

Superbowl Breakdown

2007-02-03T16:51:00.000-05:00

The Line: Colts -7

Bears win and cover.

I hate this game with a passion. I hate both of these teams. I hate their fans. I hate their coaches. I hate their quarterbacks.

I hate their middle linebackers.

I hate them all.

But the reality is that the Bears aren't going to all pass out on the sidelines like the Patriots did. The Bears aren't stricken with the flue like the Patriots were, and the Colts can't turn up the heat in an outdoor stadium like they did in the dome in the AFC title game.

The Bears can move the ball, and if Grossman has a good start to the game, he'll play consistently well. And I think he does.

27-17 Bears.

Weekend Notes: The NBA Gets it Right (Finally)

2007-02-03T07:57:00.000-05:00

Carmello Anthony isn't on the all star team right now, and for good reason. He was suspended for over a month for sucker punching somebody in a game, and that tends to overshadow being the leading scorer in the NBA. Sorry, but lengthy suspensions tend to over-rule some things.

It still astounds me that "lights out" Merriman was chosen for the Pro-bowl after being suspended for steroids.

Some other things around the world of sports:

- Brett Favre isn't retiring. YAWN. He is completely useless as an NFL QB and this is going to end in tears. You think the Ted Johnson story with painkillers and/or medications is a sad one, just wait until "the gunslinger" winds up drooling all over the place, eating vicodin like candy.

Retire Brett...you don't have it anymore.

- The Celtics lost again.....wow. The Durant/Oden sweepstakes continues.

- Thank God one of the best tournaments to watch in Golf, the FBR Open is on tomorrow to cut out the requirement to watch 4 hours of the Peyton Manning love-fest.

Superbowl predictions coming tomorrow.

Ted Johnson Story

2007-02-02T07:58:00.000-05:00

Today's Boston Globe has a tough story to read for this Patriots and fooball fan. It is being reported that due to some possible mishandling of his treatment with concussions, Ted Johnson is suffering from various post-concussion syndrome symptoms, and there is a direct correlation between being forced to come back too soon and when these symptoms began.

I don't know how to react to this one...its a tough story to say the least.

Bear in mind, I'd absolutley trade depression, drug addiction, memory loss, etc for the chance to play in the NFL. I mean half of my buddies from a D3 football program could've been considered addicted to aderol in college....not to mention the other reasons half of us don't remember shit. I mean my back hurts nonstop but that may be more due to my fat nature than any football injury.

I just hope this doesn't turn into a witch hunt. Bill Belichick reportedly admitted to Johnson that a mistake was made, and Johnson seemed ok with the results of their conversations. This better not turn into something more than it is today...an unfortunate story, but one that isn't rare and shouldn't be foreign to those that get paid millions of dollars to play a sport.

What Happened to Peter King?

2007-01-31T14:04:00.000-05:00

Read these three paragraphs from this week's MMQB and ask yourself why a total pussy like this is allowed to have one of the best jobs in America.

a. Finally saw The Departed. I know it's a great story with great acting.
But the gratuitous gruesomeness went waaaaaay overboard and ruined the movie for
me. How many people getting shot in the head with the blood spraying out
everywhere do we have to see in order for Martin Scorsese to make his point that
mob violence can be pretty horrible? And are there any state troopers still
alive in Massachusetts? After watching this killathon, you'd think they'd all be
dead. Two-thirds of the way through the movie, I couldn't wait for it to end.

b. The only thing worse than the stomachache I had leaving the theater was
the revulsion I felt seeing eight or 10 children walk out after the movie with
their parents or guardians. One 2- or 3-year-old was being carried in a woman's
arms. With parents like those, God have mercy on those children and how they
will grow up viewing the world.

c. Good for Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes
finishing 1-2, respectively, in the skating Nationals. Two beautiful skaters,
and good kids, apparently, with their scholastic heads on straight.

Figure staking and "that movie was too violent."

Take your balls off the mantle of your house Peter and get back to talking football.

Man he sucks now.