Vick in Philly

Mike Vick is back!




I don’t care if you like him or not, Vick and Donovan McNabb together in a backfield together is going to be insane. Plus having Vick with the Philly fans is going to be even crazier.

This could go either way with the Philly fans, these are people who booed Santa Clause, and threw snowballs packed with batteries in them at refs and opposing coaches and players, so expect anything with them from lavish adoration, to mean spirited rated R language.

Think of what you could do with Vick and McNabb in Madden 10, (once they update the rosters to have Vick in the game) especially since Madden has installed the Wildcat offense into the game this year. They could be the most used team in Madden this year.

Plus, the Eagles have a great foundation to help Vick. Since 2001, they have been one of the best teams in the NFL year in and year out.

McNabb is one of the best players in the league on and off the field, their head coach Andy Reid is Mormon, and is very dedicated to helping young men overcome struggles in their lives. Couple that with the advice he is getting from another deeply religious man in Tony Dungy and a firm foundation for Vick to succeed is definitely in place in Philadelphia.

So Vick landed on his feet, and luckily it isn’t in a place like St. Louis or Detroit, where he would not have much of an impact on a downtrodden team. Philly will be there at the end of the season, like they are every year, and with Vick, they add another weapon to an already dangerous offense.

Check out the playmakers Philly has now around McNabb; Brian Westbrook and rookie LeSean McCoy will be the running backs, along with Vick more than likely. Their wide outs Desean Jackson and another rookie Jeremy Maclin, are quick as a whip and have the chance to be a special combo together, and their tight end Brent Celek is a good receiver.

So what does this all mean for Mike Vick’s future? Well he signed a two year deal, but in all actuality it will be a one year deal.

Vick signed up for the first year at $1.6 million. He has an option for a second year at $5.2 million with the Eagles, but unless something bad happens to McNabb, and Vick shows that he is fully back to what he was, Philly will more than likely cut him after this season and either let him go, or re-work another contract.

Vick needs money worse than a 16 year old kid who wants to party, but only has a 20 dollar allowance a week, so Mike will be on his best behavior, and hopefully at his peak performance.

If he can show flashes of his old self, then he should be able to earn a nice paycheck next season, and hopefully compete for a starting spot somewhere else.

His conditioning and reflexes are going to be tested right away, and who knows if he still has them after 19 months in a federal penitentiary. But at least he has a chance to test those skills, and we the fans will get to see something special this season.



It could be a train wreck, or it could be spectacular, regardless we will all be watching.

A Open Letter

Dear Bucs and Broncos fans,

I am writing this letter to you on August 7th, 2009. You don’t know it yet, but your respective teams are going to be harder to watch this season than Paul Bearer in a speedo on Siesta Key.



Let’s start with the Broncos.

What can I say; the damage already speaks for itself. In a span of 6 months, Denver went from having one of the most promising offensive football teams, to a squad that has Kyle Orton and Chris Simms as its quarterbacks.

Which is more depressing? Having Orton and Simms as your QB’s or the state of our Economy? If you are a Broncos fan, it’s easily the former.

Head Turd, err I mean Coach, Josh McDaniels and owner Pat Bowlen are squarely to blame.

Bowlen fired Mike Shanahan at the end of last season, mainly because of a late season collapse that saw Denver blow a three game lead, with three games to play.

This was hardly Shanahan’s fault, as the Broncos were on their 6th string Running Back (Tatum Bell, who had been out of the league because he stole a teammates bag of belongings in Detroit, was signed to be the starter; if that doesn’t scream desperation, I don’t know what would), and had numerous injuries up and down the defense.

They even had player, Spencer Larsen, who started at both Linebacker and Fullback in the same game, which isn’t a big deal if it’s Pop Warner, but is when it’s the NFL.

So Shanahan gets the axe, and they bring in Josh McDaniels, who had been New England’s offensive coordinator for the past three seasons.

McDaniels comes in and immediately looks to try to trade for Matt Cassel, who he coached in New England. The Chiefs wound up acquiring Cassel, and eventually word leaked out, that McDaniels tried to get Cassel.

This set-off a chain of events that ultimately saw Jay Cutler, one of the top young quarterbacks, to be traded to the Bears for a 2009 First round pick, a 2010 First round Pick, a 2009 Third Round Pick and quarterback Kyle Orton.

I’d rather have Randy Orton, than Kyle F. Orton on the Broncos. At least Orton could RKO McDaniels for being an idiot.



With Cutler being traded, the Broncos top wide out, Brandon Marshall has now become disgruntled, asked to be traded, and is making up injuries, so he doesn’t have to work out with the team in training camp.

Compounding matters is Denver’s schedule. The Broncos have home games against San Diego, Dallas, New England, the New York Giants and Pittsburgh.

On the road they have San Diego again as well as games against Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, and Indianapolis.

Expect a 6-10 season from Denver at the best and a 3-13 at the worst.

On to the Bucs.

They are not in as bad of shape as Denver is long term, but 2009 looks really tough.

I think this story about the Bucs off-season pursuit of then free agent, defensive tackle, Albert Haynesworth will sum up everything you need to know about the Bucs in 2009.

The Bucs were the leaders in the clubhouse to sign Haynesworth, and offered him more money than the team that eventually signed him, The Redskins did.

So why did Big Al go to D.C. instead of the Bay Area? Simple, new Bucs head coach Raheem Morris said the ugliest word a proven, veteran football player can hear… The R word…. REBUILDING.

As soon as that word left the lips of Morris, Haynesworth was all but a goner, and he took the 2009 season with him.

Tampa Bay would then go on to release the face of the franchise, Mr. Derrick Brooks, even though he pleaded with them not to, and offered to take a pay cut to stay around for one more season.

The Bucs also let go of Warrick Dunn, Joey Galloway, Ike Hilliard, Jeff Garcia, and Cato June. Granted, these players are older, but are their replacements any better?

Byron Leftwich? That dude is slower than the kids on the Short Bus.

Derrick Ward? He has never been THE MAN, at any point of his NFL career, and two years ago, was rated in the low 70’s in Madden 08. Highly doubtful that he will be the answer in the Bucs oft-injured backfield.

Besides the trade for Kellen “The Soldier” Winslow (this never gets old http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I82BPA5QAaQ ) what else do Bucs fans have to look forward to this season?

These Hideous Things?



A rookie quarterback that no one had ever seen play a game in college? Ask Vikings fans what they thing of Tarvares Jackson, because that’s pretty much what Josh Freeman is.

And, just like the the Broncos, The Bucs also have a killer schedule looming in front of them.

Their whole home schedule against Carolina, Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, The Giants, New England, Green Bay, and The Jets, are all going to be tough. I can see maybe two to three wins tops against those teams.

Couple those with their away games at Carolina, Atlanta, New Orleans, Buffalo, Washington, Philadelphia, Miami, and Seattle and I forecast a 5-11 season for the Bucs.

So good luck watching these two teams compete for the higher draft pick come next April. Because that is the only thing to look forward to.

Signed,
Disappointed.

UFC Overview

With MMA and more specifically UFC exploding like Artie Lange on Joe Buck Live, it’s time to look at the effects it is having on the mainstream media, fans, and other sports.

UFC just held their 100th pay-per-view and had the highest gate revenue for a UFC event, with a 5.1 million dollar haul. The event was sold-out before the tickets were even made available to the general public.

They also had 1.5 million pay-per-view buys around the world, which at 45 bucks a pop is a huge amount of scratch.

Look, the UFC is hotter than Hansel right now, when your girlfriend or mom knows who the fighters are, you know that sport has gone mainstream.

Hell, even the world’s most beloved child molester was a fan of the sport. Yes Michael Jackson attended a UFC event a couple years ago with a mask over his face, sitting in a wheelchair near the cage, which may be the most normal thing about his last couple of years on Earth.

(Isn’t it funny that you could pretty much make up any kind of story about Wacko Jacko, and most people would believe it; Like hey did you know Michael Jackson turned himself into a hermaphrodite at age 33… I would definitely believe that.)

We now have people walking around from coast to coast wearing Tapout gear and Affliction shirts, just dropping cash on anything that can make them seem tougher, because nothing screams badass like a fat guy in an Affliction shirt.

And you know what? It’s all good.

What’s better than getting together with a bunch of friends, busting out your favorite cold beverage and watching two guys duke it out in a cage? Nothing that’s what.




UFC has managed to tap into the uber-important 18-35 year old male demographic. This is a group that has the most available dispensary income, mainly because they usually do not have kids, or house payments, or other bills, so they spend their money on things like pay-per-views and t-shirts because they can afford to.

So in the words of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, the UFC has “this thing, and its EFFIN golden”.

Right now, the future of UFC looks great. They have a ton of matchups to tap into, starting with the next pay-per-view, UFC 101. The main event is Forrest Griffin going up against Anderson "The Spider" Silva.

Griffin is the working man’s hero, coming all the way from the Ultimate Fighter (The UFC’s reality show, in which 10 guys battle for a UFC contract) and has held the lightweight title.

Silva is the more skilled athlete who also held the lightweight title, and is generally thought of as one of the fastest and quickest fighters in the game right now.

It should be a great matchup, and if you are a fan of UFC, you will spend money to see this fight.

The UFC literally has 20 matchups like this that they can make which means the company should stay strong for at least two more years, if not longer.

But let’s take a trip down memory lane to about 10 years ago.

In 1999, pro wrestling was crazy popular. The now defunct WCW had the n.W.o., Sting and Goldberg, and the WWF had D-X, The Rock, Stone Cold and tons of other memorable wrestlers and moments.



The TV ratings were off the charts, pay-per-view buys were as strong as UFC’s are now, and you could walk down the street and see a grown man wearing a n.W.o, or Austin 3:16 t-shirt with stunning regularity.

But what happened?

Wrestlers got old and retired (Macho Man, Scott Hall, Lex Luger), got sick of the business and left it (The Rock, Goldberg, Stone Cold) or worse, started dying young (Eddie Guerrero, Big Bossman, Bam Bam Bigelow, British Bulldog, and about 20 other guys) because of steroids and/or pain killers.



We also saw pretty much every matchup you could think of and the kid’s of that generation grew up and stopped caring about it as much, if not all together.

I know as soon as I hit high school, I stopped watching wrestling, and did not come back to it until I had a DVR, because no one is making time to watch wrestling live anymore.

Even now with a DVR, I find it hard to watch wrestling after watching a UFC or MMA event. It’s just too fake, and boring compared to the UFC, and I’m saying that as a fan of pro wrestling.

So what can the UFC learn from Pro Wrestling’s mistakes?

Well for one, that fame and popularity is fleeting. Do not assume that you are infallible. Because the other shoe will drop at some point, it always does.

Luckily the UFC and MMA as a whole, has one of the strictest drug testing policy in all of pro sports. The federal government is in charge of administering and checking the tests, unlike the WWE, who doesn’t care, and probably encourages their athletes to use steroids and pain killers.

They also have to keep the 18-35 year old male demographic spending money on their pay-per-view shows and merchandise. Without that, you lose sponsors, which in turn, means less money for marketing as well as for the fighters and promoters.

And lastly, they have to keep churning out fighters that the public will want to see, and stay current with.

Look at the WWE right now (or don’t, it’s a trainwreck). Their roster is littered with boring, cookie-cutter guys, who bring nothing to the show, and mostly suck at keeping anyone’s attention over the age of 12.


The only guys I will get excited to watch in wrestling are Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Triple H, and Edge. As luck would have it, three of those guys are out with injuries, which turns a two hour wrestling show into me watching fifteen actual minutes, thanks to my DVR.

The UFC has a ton of potential matchups to still promote, and they have the luxury of having these guys only fight two to three times a year, which keeps the bouts fresh.




Plus they have guys like me who are willing to have 5 or 6 friends over to throw down on a fight every month.

We make it an event that includes, drinking, grilled food, more drinking, more grilled food, and of course more beer drinking.

And like I said earlier, what’s better than that.

A Forgotten Superstar

In the Late 1990’s my brother Sammy received an autographed Mark McGwire 8x10 photo of his rookie of the year season and I received an autographed Ken Griffey Jr. 8x10 of his MVP season.


Back then, Sam would try to ruffle my feathers, and claim that his McGwire photo would be thousands of dollars, and that he definitely got the better of the two gifts.

And in 1999, he was right.

McGwire was belting home runs 500 feet, and looked like Paul Bunyan, with muscles on top of muscles bulging out of his skin-tight uniform.

When McGwire broke the single season home run record, Sammy was happier than a pig in slop. (This at the time was a pretty accurate statement of Sammy’s life by the way)

It seemed like Sam’s words were going to come true, and that his McGwire photo would end up being the more enviable and valuable item.

That was until we found out about steroids and PED's and what players were using them.

Eventually we figured out why McGwire suddenly looked like a WWF wrestler and was hitting moon rockets out of ball parks.

He was on the juice.

McGwire was accused of doing steroids and never denied the accusations, only claiming he didn’t want to talk about the past.

It’s fitting in a poetic sense that after moving two or three times, Sammy ended up losing his McGwire photo, while the Griffey photo has stayed with me through the years, and is located in my game room right now.

McGwire has been gone from baseball and the public eye since 2003, and we haven’t seen or heard from him since, except for one Congressional session when he was called to the stand, to testify about steroids.

Griffey on the other hand is still playing, and winding down what will be a first ballot Hall of Fame career.

Griffey came into the big leagues in 1989, and captivated fellow players and fans with his superb defensive skills in centerfield, as well as with in my opinion, the sweetest stroke in Major League history.


You couldn’t watch a summer SportsCenter top 10 in the 1990’s without a Griffey highlight in there at least once a week. This is a guy who had it all; speed, power, vision, grace and swagger, all mixed into one.

Spanning from 1989 to 1999, Griffey racked up 1,752 hits, 398 home runs, 1,152 RBIs, and 167 stolen bases. He led the American League in home runs four seasons (1994, 1997, 1998, and 1999), was voted the A.L. MVP in 1997, maintaining a .297 batting average throughout the decade.

He had crazy range in the outfield, tons of Web-Gem caliber diving catches, and he often dazzled fans with over-the-shoulder basket catches, Willie Mays style.



Thinking back to those days, I can still remember him robbing opposing hitters of home runs by leaping up over the wall and pulling them back, almost making it look easy. To this the day, there hasn’t been another player who robbed homer’s as often and as effortlessly as Jr. did. (Torri Hunter came close, but he didn’t do it as long Griffey did)


Griffey won 10 Gold Gloves, seven Silver Slugger awards, was the Home Run Derby champ three times and got one MVP award in the 1990’s. (Although looking back at the list of other MVP winners from 1994 and on, is like looking at a who’s who of steroid users)

Man, I would not have traded a Griffey baseball card for anything during the 5th grade. It seemed like he was a mortal lock to go down as the best player to ever play the game.

He was the coolest thing around, not just in baseball, but in all of sports.




The Kid had his own Nike shoes, which were always looking snazzy. He had his own Video Game, Ken Griffey Jr’s Winning Run for Super Nintendo and later Ken Griffey Baseball for Nintendo 64, both solid games that both me, my brother, and all our friends would play non-stop.



He was in a Simpson’s episode, the one where Mr. Burns “employed” Major League players at his Nuclear Power Plant, so they essentially could be ringers in a softball game. In the episode, Griffey overdoses on a nerve tonic given to him by Mr. Burns, causing him to have gigantic head.



He was the bad guy in the 1994 movie Little Big League. Well, he wasn’t really a bad guy, and he was only on screen for like 5 total minutes, but his scenes are what I can still remember of that movie.

And then the injuries came.

It started with the broken ankle while leaping into the outfield wall to rob a home run, and continued with other horrible leg (mostly hamstring) injuries.
Griffey had season-ending injuries in 2002, 2003, and 2004.

Worse yet for Griffey, the cumulative effects of the injuries lowered his bat speed, resulting in less power and fewer home runs.

He missed 260 out of 486 games from 2002 through 2004, diminishing both his skills and his star reputation. Consequently, Griffey was no longer the ubiquitous presence he once was on cereal boxes, television commercials, and the All-Star Game.

Couple all these factors, with the rise of steroid use, giving players like McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds unheard of Home Run totals, and Griffey started to fade away from the forefront.

But the 2005 season saw the resurgence of a healthy Griffey. The picture perfect swing, which depends heavily on excellent lower body strength, returned to its original form.

His 35 home runs in 2005 were his highest since his first year with the Reds in 2001 as Griffey moved up the career home run list.

He would go on to have two more solid seasons in 2006 and 2007, but the Griffey that I grew up with and knew was long gone. There were no more Nike commercials, or video games or movie appearances. In his place was an aging outfielder with bad legs and a slower swing, and three kids of his own.

Yet, the memories of Ken Griffey Jr. circa 1990’s are still with me to this day, and once he retires, his numbers are going to look very impressive, considering most of his contemporaries from his days were on steroids.




I believe he will continue to gain more acknowledgements for his part in Baseball history as time wears on.

One came in August of 2007, when Griffey was selected as an all-time Gold Glove winner, a list of nine players considered the greatest defensive players in the last fifty years.

And for Sammy, he learns two more things; don’t count your chickens until they hatch and the most important one, the older Brother always wins.

I have to admit I’m starting to get the Summertime Sports Blues.

We are currently in the midst of the worst part of the year for sports on TV.

Now this is not an annual thing, because every other year we get either the Olympics or the World Cup to help pass the time from the NBA Draft, to the start of College Football, but in the odd-numbered years, we get the vortex of suck.

Last summer we had Michael “Bong” Phelps and Team USA Basketball to watch and cheer for in the Olympics. Three summers ago we had the 2006 World Cup and the sweet head butt from Zinedane Zidane in the title game.






But just like in the summer of 2007, the summer of 2009 is going to drag from now until about the end of August. That’s 6 to 7 weeks of nothing but baseball (I refuse to count the Tour de France, no one watches that), and I’m sorry it is not 1956 anymore, and people do not care about baseball like they once did.

Sure baseball is still a very popular sport, but in today’s fast-paced world, the majority of people find it hard to carve out three hours of their night to watch a baseball game. There are just too many other options out there, from other things to watch on TV, to the internet, to video games, and good ole’ fashioned outdoor activities.

There is NBA free agent chatter, but that is not something you can watch on TV, and once the big names sign, it doesn’t really matter after that.

Other than one night of UFC fights this past weekend, there has not been one must see sporting event on TV since the NBA finals.

USA-Brazil soccer was decent, and Federer vs. Roddick was good, but those are the exception to the rule, and because they are played overseas, they do not come on at a time when the majority of US sporting fans are watching TV.

So what are we to do with ourselves?

Well I for one will be picking up NCAA Football 2010 by the end of this week, and once I do, I will go into my yearly hibernation of playing the Dynasty Mode with the Florida Gators. (Dynasty mode gives you the opportunity to play a team year after year)

Around the fictitious year of 2020 I will probably announce my retirement and move on into the world of Madden 2010 Franchise mode, (which is the same as Dynasty for college football) and start a franchise with the Bucs.

My skin should look extremely white and pasty and I will probably gain at least 10 pounds in that time from eating Doritos and Charleston Chews. Basically I will look like all the South Park kids did in the world of warcraft episode.




This will all be worth it when video Tim Tebow wins his second Heisman trophy and third National Championship in my Dynasty, and then after uploading him from NCAA into Madden, Tebow will take the Bucs back to the Super Bowl.


It will be glorious.







Now I just have to figure out how to carve out all this videogame time and keep my girlfriend from smashing my Xbox into a thousand pieces.

The Mountain "Pest" Conference

Living in Utah has its advantages and disadvantages. Utah has mountains and snow, and great micro-brewed beers. The economy is not totally in the crapper, and they do have a NBA team.

There are many disadvantages though, and most of it can be chalked up to the Mormon Church and its reaches into State Government out here. Most of the gripes are related to alcohol and tobacco taxes and restrictions, as well as the whole state basically shutting down on Sunday’s.

But hands down the biggest downer about living out here is the college football factor.

Growing up in Florida blessed me with the opportunity to watch and attend college football games all over the southeast.

I’ve been lucky enough to watch games at the Swamp in Gainesville, at Doak Campbell in Tallahassee, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando and on one fall weekend my brother and I attended a game at Neyland Stadium in Tennessee with our Uncle.

I don’t use the word hate lightly, but I hate the Tennessee Volunteers. Yet the game day atmosphere in Knoxville is electric. The stadium holds over 100,000 people and sits right next to the Tennessee River. The campus comes alive, with scores of people "Sailgating" on boats on the river to people tailgating all over the surrounding areas of the stadium.

Neyland Stadium with the Tennessee River by it




FSU is right behind Tennessee in my personal hate club, and yet going to one of their home games is an absolute blast. I’ve been to games at Doak as both a child as well as a young adult who tried to commit alcohol poisoning on himself (almost succeeded), and had a great time both ways.

The craziness starts hours before kickoff and reaches a fervor when Chief Osceola throws his flaming spear into midfield right before the start of the game. (It’s no coincidence that Flaming and FSU go so well together)

Doak holds a fat amount of people, and in my opinion, narrowly edges UCF and the Citrus Bowl for the best looking girls at the games. Just be careful about sitting too close to the FSU wide receivers, they will either rob you or throw a chair at your face.

The Swamp in Gainesville is a beautiful stadium, located in the heart of the campus of the University of Florida. Yes I am biased to it, because I’m a huge Gators honk, but the stadium is surrounded by serene lakes, historic brick buildings and towering trees, that give it an intimate setting.

The fans are loud and passionate and have a great knowledge of the game. There are numerous places to tailgate, and the cops are not pricks, they let people enjoy themselves, which as an 18-20 year old that would drink it up, was greatly appreciated at the time.

The stadium itself is huge, with seating just over 90,000. It is called The Swamp because according to then Coach Steve Spurrier, "a swamp is where Gators live. We feel comfortable there, but we hope our opponents feel tentative. A swamp is hot and sticky and can be dangerous. Only Gators get out alive."


Truer words have never been spoken.








All of these stadiums have one common factor; 75,000+ fans that come in after tailgating for at least 4 hours, and are passionate and knowledgeable. Most of these fans expect National Championships, and they are more than vocal about it once the game starts.

But in Utah, they have one decent stadium setting at the University of Utah, and one abomination of a college football atmosphere down in BYU.

Both places have very little areas for tailgating, and in BYU, tailgating, and I use that term very loosely, consists of eating jello and drinking caffeine free soda. I wish I was making this up.

You can thank the Mormon Church out here for that one, as BYU is a no-tolerance dry campus, and they make all their students sign an honor code that states they won’t drink alcohol, smoke or basically have a normal college lifestyle during their four years there.

If you break any of those rules, you will get kicked out of school. And because most of these kids are straight up lames, they will drop a dime on you and snitch you out to school authorities. So this makes a tame crowd of 60,000 people, even more pacified compared to SEC and ACC fans.

Utah’s stadium is located at the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, which is cool. What is not cool is the lack of areas to tailgate and drink alcohol, as well as the relative puny seating capacities of roughly 50,000 or so.



Utah's Rice Eccles Stadium



Recently Utah and the Mountain West Conference have been making a fuss about being included in the BCS Bowl System. They claim that they are an equal to the SEC and ACC, which is a total farce.

If Utah had been in the SEC last year they would have been a six loss team instead of undefeated. The Ute’s narrowly beat Oregon State and TCU, and both of those games were at home.

Imagine what would happen if they had to face LSU, Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee on the road, coupled with home games against Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss and Auburn; I see at least 6 losses there easily.

Instead Utah and BYU claim that because they can beat teams like Wyoming, San Diego State and Colorado State that they are just as good as Florida or Florida State.

Please, get real Utah and BYU.

You go on the road and play these joke teams like New Mexico and UNLV, where there might be 15,000 fans and you think that is equal to Florida going into Tennessee with 100,000 or Florida State going to Virginia Tech with 70,000 screaming, passionate fans.

And I haven’t even mentioned the disparity in talent or depth. Utah is good, but not great. They may have a handful of athletes, but the Florida and Florida State walk-ons and practice team players would beat the BYU and Utah starters most years.

Utah’s past season of success can be attributed to Urban Meyer’s last recruiting class while he was at Utah. Almost every key contributor to the Ute’s 2008 team was a Meyer recruit. And it took them all four years to get it to come together and go undefeated against an inferior schedule.

They also caught a break playing against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Not taking anything away from the win, because it was a great victory for Utah, but they did play a Bama team that was missing its best player in left tackle Andre Smith, who wound up being the 6th pick in this year’s NFL draft.

The Tide could have cared less to be there against Utah, because of the loss in the SEC Championship against Florida a month before.

Alabama had been undefeated all year and ranked number one for half the season, and it all slipped right through their fingers when the Gators beat them in the last game of the regular season.

So Utah, BYU and TCU, need to temper their expectations and face the reality that playing against inferior opponents in non-hostile environments and racking up a 10 win season because of it, does not make you an equal to SEC and ACC teams.

If they are stuck on getting to the BCS title games, here’s a fun suggestion. Transfer into the Pac-10 or Big 12 conferences.

Oh wait BYU had the chance to join the Pac-10 in the 1970’s, and passed because, you won’t believe it, they did not want their athletic teams playing on Sunday’s. So BYU you are not allowed to complain ever again, you made your bed, now lie in it.

Utah, I believe should try to transfer into the Big 12 conference. If Colorado can be in the conference so can Utah.

But I don’t foresee that happening anytime soon because Utah is tangled up in a bad contract with the Mountain West, and it has to with some obscure cable channel called The Mountain that maybe 38 people watch when it’s not football season.

So until then, enjoy the dominance of SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Big 10 teams winning national championships, and look forward to being relevant nationally every four years or so Mountain West fans.

Sports > Movies and Music

Seeing so many people “profess” their love for Michael Jackson in the wake of his death a couple weeks ago got me thinking about how shallow and desperate people are to try and latch onto something now-a-days.

Where were all these people who loved Wacko Jacko in May? Why were their absolutely no radio stations playing any of his songs on their airwaves since the late 1990’s? Why were MTV and VH1 not airing any of his music videos?

I’ll tell you why, because he was written off as a child loving pervert that could not make money for them anymore.

But as soon as he died, guess what starts happening; People start professing their love for Michael, and start babbling about how big of a role Jackson was in their lives. Jackson video’s and tribute pieces started showing up on half of my TV channels, and I have a lot of TV Channels.

What a bunch of crock. Nobody cared about Jackson, and now that he’s dead everyone is trying to coattail him one more time. I’m so sick of false adoration for people just to get on TV or to make money.

This got me thinking about how sports are so much better than movies or music.

Nobody is going to celebrate J.R. Rider if he were to die suddenly. You’ll remember Rider as the NBA player from the mid 1990’s who won a slam dunk contest and who also kicked a pregnant woman in the stomach, which may or may not be worse than what Jackson did to little boys.

We’re not going to have tributes for Rider, or have people coming out to say how great of a performer he was in his heyday.

Sports are no-nonsense, straight to the point events. There are no real gray areas like there are in movies and music.

Because movies and music can all be graded on individual tastes and preferences, and there is no clear cut winner, we have things like Transformers movies and Ja Rule records that make a lot of money and absolutely suck.


We have 2 week tributes for Michael Jackson, even though this is a guy who had alarms outside of his bedroom to notify if someone was coming to his room and secret doorways in his closet for him to do whatever he did with young boys. He is one of the most ultimate pervs ever, and yet we are worshipping him right now.


Luckily in sports we do not do stupid things like this. We’re not celebrating the Detroit Lions and their 0-16 record. They do not get to be revered for any past accomplishments that they have done. They suck, and they catch flak for it.

That’s why I love sports. There are no sissy men around to start up tributes to people or teams that do not deserve it. We don’t have little teen age girls who buy crap music records which artificially enhance their standings on the Top 100 records.

Everything is determined on the field of battle, and because of that, we do not have to deal with the non-sense that seems to be everywhere in this day and age.

Yes I understand that Jackson was one of the biggest stars to ever live, and he came of age during a time when music videos meant more than they do today. But for anybody under the age of 25, Jackson is just that weird dude with the messed up face who talked like a girl.

In sports when we celebrate something or honor someone, it is because they have earned it by winning an event or by putting in the work and setting records. There are no false accolades or stupid tributes run over and over again on TV to make money.

So in the words of South Park’s Mr. Jefferson, “People are Ignorant”, and worshipping Michael Jackson is supremely Ignorant.

And just to show you how bad this Wacko Jacko adulation has been, enjoy this magical tribute song by the ambassador of crazy Ron Artest.

Free Agency Discussion

NBA Free Agency starts at midnight eastern time tonight, and although the economy is lousy and three-quarters of the league’s cap space is tight, expect some deals to go down as soon as midnight strikes.


Today is also the last day for player’s to exercise their extensions or to opt out of their contracts.


Word out of Utah is that Paul Millsap will be offered a 6 year 65 million dollar contract from Oklahoma City tonight. Because Millsap is a Restricted Free Agent, the Jazz will have seven days to either match the offer, work out a sign and trade (which is unlikely) or let him go.


What’s making this a tough decision for Utah, is that Carlos Boozer has the option to re-up with the Jazz for one more year at 12.7 million dollars, or to opt out of his contract and become an Unrestricted Free Agent who is free to sign anywhere.


Word is he is more likely to re-up for 12.7 million because only three teams have the money to pay him in 13-15 million range. Those teams are Oklahoma City, Memphis and Detroit.


Memphis sucks, and OKC doesn’t want to break the bank for Booz, because they have Durant coming up for an extension soon, Detroit is the only real threat to steal him away. But Detroit looks to have another player on its mind (See Below) and may not want to commit to such a large deal with Boozer.


If Boozer re-ups, then the Jazz will be stuck with him for one more year, and he could leave freely next season. It would also mean that they would be over the salary cap, which would make them pay the Luxury Tax, something that the owner will not want to do.


Memo Okur can also opt out of his contract, giving the Jazz another decision to have to make on a big man.


Because this Jazz team has not been able to win against the elite teams in the playoffs (See against the Spurs in ’07, Lakers in ’08 and ’09) I don’t think they should pay the tax to keep this team together.



Utah is one of the smaller markets in the league, and if you have to pay the luxury tax, you’re not only paying extra money, you are also losing out on the money that you would get from the other teams that are paying the tax.


The player that Detroit seems to want to get is Ben Gordon from Chicago. This would help Detroit in two ways. Not only are you getting one of the best end of the game players, you are also hurting a division rival in Chicago by taking its most clutch player away from their team.


Detroit could conceivably sign both Boozer and Gordon, and I wouldn’t put it past GM Joe Dumars to make a move like that. Especially after the debacle that was last season, when they traded Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson and got swept in the first round by King James and Cleveland.



I’ve been hearing that Hedo Turkoglu is either going to Portland or Sacramento. I can guarantee he won’t be back with the Magic next season. After the draft day trade that sent Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston and Tony Battie to New Jersey for Vince Carter and some white guy that will never play, it made it clear Orlando will not be re-signing the Turkish Assassin who almost broke my TV with his face in the playoffs.













Check out the man hands on horse face, and Hedo is always good for a laugh.





I mean seriously, Turkoglu’s face ranks right up there on the break the tv meter with the lady with the horse’s face on sex in the city, relief pitcher Julian Tavarez, who obviously shaved his face with a fork, and Chris “I look like an alien” Kaman.

The back-bone of the All ugly team.

Keep an eye out for Mike Bibby, because Atlanta traded for Jamal Crawford last week, Bibby may be on the move to a new team.

Big Baby Davis is a restricted free agent; another team may make an offer to him, just to mess up Boston’s cap situation and force them to make a decision.

Raymond Felton is another restricted free agent. If I was a team with cap room, and needed a point guard I’d definitely be offering Felton a deal. He’s a good player, who seems to be coming into his own.

Jason Kidd is an unrestricted free agent, and he is free to sign anywhere. Look for offers from Dallas, The Laker’s, and maybe even New York to come his way.

Allen Iverson is unrestricted. After such a tough year last year, expect a small market for the Answer. Charlotte may be a landing spot, especially with his old coach Larry Brown there.

Rasheed Wallace is unrestricted and could re-sign with Detroit, or leave for another contending team. I’d like him on the Jazz if a combo of Boozer, Millsap or Okur leave. He'd be a nice pair with big Dwight down in Orlando as well.

Ron Artest is unrestricted, but I expect the Rockets to re-sign him to a nice deal. With all the injuries to the main stars in Houston, the Rockets can’t let Ron-Ron get away.

Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom are both unrestricted, but expect L.A. to re-sign both players, or Kobe will have to choke someone if they don’t. And we don’t want Kobe choking people again, not with puppet Kobe tearing it up.

Charlie Villanueava will not sign with the Bucks, and is specualted that he will join up with Lebron and Shaq in Cleveland. If he does, look for the Cavs to not re-sign Anderson Varejao.

Other players to watch are the Knick’s David Lee and Nate Robinson and the Magic’s Marcin Gortat, who are restricted.

Grant Hill, Andre Miller, Channing Frye, and Shawn Marion are all unrestricted and can still contribute in this league.

More NBA

Well Washington did trade their pick, only it wasn’t to Phoenix.

It was with Minnesota, for Mike Miller and Randy Foye coming from the Wolves and the Wizards giving up Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila and Oleksiy Pecherov and the number 5 pick in the draft.

It feels like Washington is giving up a lot for two guys who are decent, but not great.

But in the end, I guess they felt like having a starting lineup of Gilbert Arenas, Mike Miller, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, and Brendan Haywood with Foye coming off the bench as sufficient enough to make a run in the Eastern conference.

It does make the Wizards immediately better, and Arenas, Butler and Jamison are not getting any younger, so it does make sense to go for a move like this.

It was only two summers ago when Boston GM Danny Ainge did a similar thing with the fifth pick.

The Celtics were coming off a horrible season, and hoping to get the first or second pick to grab either Kevin Durant or Greg Oden. They didn’t get the pick, and wound up trading it and Delonte West to Seattle for Ray Allen. They then traded Al Jefferson and some other retreads for Kevin Garnett.

The rest is history as Boston would go on to win the title the very next season.

I do not see the same thing happening with Washington, because K.G. is a crazy dedicated player, who was on a mission to get a ring that year. You don’t see that same fire out of Agent Zero (Arenas’ nickname) or Jamison.

Tough Juice (Butler’s nickname, I’m not making this up) has a little bit of it, but nothing like Garnett’s. We’re talking about level of passion from a guy (Garnett) who made Big Baby Davis cry on the bench during a regular season game this past year, all for making a couple turnovers. Garnett makes DMX look sane and rational by comparison.

The Wolves now own picks at 5, 6, 18 and 28 in the first round. Look for them to offer the fifth and 18th picks for the second pick, to try and select Spain’s Ricky Rubio.


Two more trades have been made in the last 24 hours as well.

San Antonio just got themselves back into the game by acquiring Richard Jefferson from Milwaukee for the poo-poo platter of Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto, and Kurt Thomas, all of which have expiring contracts.

Milwaukee is basically saying we have no shot, let’s just clear some cap space with this deal. The Bucks are one of the most irrelevant teams in the league right now. They are never on national television, and they have no real superstar on their team at all.

Maybe the cap space helps, but what free agent is excited to go to Milwaukee? I mean if you like having man boobs and living in a city known for beer and brats, then yeah you would love it, but there aren’t that many Brian Scalabrine’s and Eddy Curry’s running, oops, I mean half jogging around the NBA right now.





Check out those A-Cups on Scal

So now San Antonio is conceding they only have a year or two left with the group of Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, and Tony Parker to get another ring, and that’s what they hope to get out of the Jefferson deal.

I think it makes them the second best team (provided they stay healthy) behind the Lakers in the West at the moment.

In the latest trade, which has yet to be finalized as of this writing, it looks like the Golden State Warriors are shipping Jamal Crawford to Atlanta for Acie Law and Speedy Claxton.

Trading Crawford was a highly expected move all summer for the Warriors, as head Don Nelson was adamant in his dislike of Crawford. Crawford’s long contract also turned off the Warriors, and this trade should help them manage their Salary Cap more efficiently.

For Atlanta, they get a 20 points a game scorer in Crawford, and also protect themselves against the possibility of losing free agent Mike Bibby. Bibby still may re-sign with the Hawks, but the blow that comes if he leaves is for now pacified a tad bit.

Having Crawford in a lineup with Joe Johnson, Al Horford, and Marvin Williams should mean that the Hawks will stay in the playoffs and score a lot of points. It remains to be seen if this makes them any better though, because Jamal Crawford plays absolutely no defense, and is known to be a ball hog at times.

2009 NBA Draft

With the 2009 NBA draft coming up Thursday night on ESPN, I thought it would be a perfect time to preview and speculate on what may happen at the draft and in the future.

But first I want to talk about a subject near and dear to my heart. Every year there is a draft, and you really cannot underestimate the comedy factor of some of the player’s suits. Some guys go classy, and keep it G, while others look like they are the backup dancers to one of the Puffy and Mase video’s from back in the day.

Who can forget Joakim Noah’s sweet bow tie? You stay classy Joakim!

Or what about Jalen Rose’s delightful red number; Hey Jalen this red suit defined your career, a lot of flash but ultimately not that great.

But the greatest Draft day suit is hands down the Mailman’s unbelievable suit from the 1985 draft. Karl Malone, wow, I mean just where in the world do you find a suit like that? From the Waterboy’s Closet?

Look at the awesome skinny half-tie. Check out the Miami Vice style white pants. Dark Blue Jacket over a light blue shirt. And look at the Machismo that is just dripping off Malone. It does not get any better than this.

This magnificent suit will never be topped, especially in this day and age, so just sit back and marvel at the Greatest Draft Day Suit Ever.

Anyways, back to the draft.

This year’s draft is headlined by Blake Griffin, who may or may not be the first African-American Ginger. Griffin is a stud despite maybe not having a soul (I keed, I keed), and should make the Clippers who have the first pick, jump from a 15 win team to a 25 win team, which means the Clips will still suck.

Too bad Griffin is going to NBA hell, because he is a really talented player, who has a very quick first step for a man of his size. Think of him as a cross between Kenyon Martin and Karl Malone. Look for him to leave the Clippers in 4 years once his rookie contract expires, just like Lamar Odom did.

Memphis has the number two pick and most people are speculating that they will take the 7’3” giant from UCONN, Hasheem Thabeet.

Thabeet is a stellar shot blocker, who can block a shot with either hand, (which is a rarity) and really take over a game with his defensive presence.

The downside with Thabeet , is that he has little to no offensive game at all, which is not a good thing if you are picking him at number two.

The hope is that because Thabeet is so raw, (He came to America from Africa when he was still in his teens) that maybe his offensive game grows as he matures.

Oklahoma City has the next pick at 3, and they could go in a number of different ways. If Thabeet falls to three I would expect them to grab him, because they do need a center. If Memphis takes Thabeet, then OKC could go for a shooting guard like James Harden from Arizona St. or for 18 year old Ricky Rubio from Spain.

This draft has been hailed as an underwhelming group to pick from by draft experts, but I disagree. I think the very top of the draft is what is weak this year. There really is no Lebron, or Kobe or D-Wade or even Derrick Rose in this draft and that’s why people may be down on the draft this year.

But I believe there are many solid players in this draft, who will be in most teams 8 man rotations for years to come.

A player like Brandon Jennings, who left high school last year and went to play for a pro team in Italy, will be a very good player. You cannot underestimate how much playing against older professionals will help this kid’s game in the long run.

I also like Gerald Henderson of Duke. This is a guy who’s father played in the NBA, which means he has had the best training, food, coaching and whatever else available, because his father had the means and knowledge of what it takes to make it to the Association.

Henderson has a killer jump shot, can drive and get to the hole pretty well, and has played in a ton of big games while at Duke. Look for him to be a leading candidate for rookie of the year next year.

Another guy that I think will do well is Jonny Flynn from Syracuse. Flynn, who is a point guard, has a lighting quick first step, and is a great floor leader.

Also keep an eye out for point guards, Stephon Curry who can flat out shoot the rock, Jrue Holliday who is an uber athelete, Ty Lawson who is a very talented player, but who is injury prone, and Tony Douglas from FSU, who is a great defender and a player who can get really hot, really quick on the offensive side of the game.

On the big guys, I like Tyler Hansbrough, even though most draft experts do not. I think if you can average a 20 and 10 for 4 years in the ACC, then you can be a quality player in the NBA. I also like Dajuan Blair from Pitt. I think he will be a Paul Millsap type of player who can get you rebounds and blocks, and a guy who has a sneaky offensive game.

Lastly make sure to keep an eye on what Washington does with their pick at number 5. They have been trying to shop it around, and there are rumors that Phoenix could trade Amare Stoudemire for the number 5 pick and maybe Antwan Jamison.

The Knicks are also looking to move up from the number 8 pick, and they too may make a run for Washington’s spot.

Nadal or Federer?

If you were asked who do you think is better at this very moment, what would your answer be?


Would you go with the cool veteran in Roger Federer, who never seems to change his expression on the court, and who plays with such an effortlessness that is utterly remarkable?


Or do you go with the young gun in Rafa Nadal, a player who has set the tennis world on fire in the past two years with his gutty play and never back down attitude?


The answer is a tough one.


Federer has dominated this decade, winning 14 Grand Slam titles, and just recently completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open. Federer has reached the semifinals or better of the last 20 Grand Slam tournaments. He also has a gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Games. (Albeit a double titles, but still gold nonetheless)


He won five straight Wimbledon titles from 2003-07. He is currently on a five year winning streak at the U.S. Open and will look to make it six later this summer in New York. He is one Grand Slam win away from passing Pete Sampras for the all-time lead.



His numbers are staggering when looked at and can almost make your head hurt after a while. When all is said and done, he will probably have the most Grand Slam titles in tennis history for a while and could go down as the greatest player of all time.



Unless a certain Spaniard passes him up.



Rafael Nadal who just turned 23 may be the one guy to catch Federer in the all-time Grand Slam department. Granted it will not be easy, but in the past year we have seen Nadal snap Federer’s dominance at Wimbledon, in one of Tennis’s greatest matches ever.



Nadal beat Federer in a thrilling 5 set victory that lasted over 6 hours because of rain delays. Nadal entered the final on a 23-match winning streak. Federer reached the Wimbledon final without losing a set.


In their previous two Wimbledon finals in ‘06 and in ‘07 Federer won, with ’07 being a tough 5 set victory.


In ‘08 they played the longest final in Wimbledon history, and because of rain delays, Nadal won the fifth set 9–7 in near-darkness. It was one of the most exciting sporting events I have ever seen. The shot making and general game play was amazing. One guy would get the momentum, two plays later, the other snatched it back.

In the words of Vince McMahon, these guys had "grapefruits" down there. Neither was backing down, and it took every last bit of Nadal’s strength, both physical and mental to put down Federer.

Tanaka shows that he has some "grapefruits" as well.




The match was widely lauded as the greatest Wimbledon final ever, with some tennis critics even calling it the greatest match in tennis history.


Later that summer, Nadal won the gold medal in singles play at the Beijing Olympics, fully entrenching himself as the number one player in the world.




He has six grand slam victories, with four coming in successive years at the French Open from 2005-08. If he wins a two grand slams a year for the next four years, he would be tied with Federer at fourteen.



At 27, Federer’s career is winding down. Yes 27 is very young, but in the tennis world, 27 is equivalent to 36 in Baseball, 32 in Basketball, (which is about the time most baller’s knees go) and 31 in Football.


The only tennis player that I can think of that was still playing at high level in their 30’s would be the immortal Andre Agassi.



So the question that remains is will Nadal’s body hold up as well as Federer’s has so far. Nadal has had problems with his knees in the past two years, which be a cause for concern.



Knee and shoulder injuries are the two worst possible injuries to any athlete. The reason being is that knees and shoulders are very complicated in their set up, and it can be hard to get back to what you once were if a serious injury happens. The list of guys who could not come back from knee and shoulder injuries is a long and depressing one.


But with all that considered, Nadal has the chance to be one of the game’s all-time greats. And at this moment in time, I would have to slightly lean towards Nadal.



His game and his demeanor are so cocky and confident, that you would be a fool to bet against him. Yes Federer has a lead on him, but Federer is also going to be gone from the game in about 3 or 4 years tops, and I don’t see a challenger to Nadal out there right now once Roger retires.



But what do you guys think? Would you pick Fed or Rafa?

Welcome to Freak Out Sports

Welcome to Freakoutsports.blogspot.com. We are going to cover a plethora of different topics, but they will all boil down to sports. Everything from the actual games, to offseason news and happenings to general day to day events, will be covered, discussed and debated right here. Sports do not take a break, and neither do we, so expect hard hitting content year round.


Right now, football is in the midst of its off-season. Teams from the NFL, to College, down all the way to high school and Pop Warner are getting in their first practices together, and finding out what they have on their rosters for the upcoming season.

This is the time of year for younger players or player’s who sat the bench last season to show the improvement they have made and let the coaches know that they can be counted on when it means the most; In the game.

It’s also a part of the year when coaches put in their new wrinkles and packages to their game plan. Championships cannot be lost right now, but the first foundation to a winning season starts in off-season workouts and conditioning, and you can best believe coaches are harping that point to their players.

In Basketball, the Lakers and Kobe Bryant just won the World Championship over Dwight Howard’s Orlando Magic, and the next stop for the NBA is its rookie draft next week. The top draft picks at the moment are shaping up to be Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio, Hasheem Thabeet, Jordan Hill, and Stephon Curry.

Because of the economy, and because three-fourths of the teams in the league are near the salary cap, do not expect a busy off-season after the draft.

The top free agents this year are Carlos Boozer, Hedo Turkoglu, Ben Gordon, Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, and Ron Artest.


The second tier of free agents would be Trevor Ariza, Lamar Odom, Shawn Marion, Memo Okur and Paul Millsap.


Because most teams are saving their money for next year’s free agent class of 2010, expect a small market, with short contracts for most of these players.

The market will seem even smaller when compared to 2010's free agent class which is headlined by, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Manu Ginobili, Steve Nash, Shaq, Amare Stoudemire, Tracy McGrady, and Ray Allen.








Shifting gears, Major League Baseball is in the heart of its schedule, and some of the top storylines are the Yankees and its stacked lineup, the Red Sox and their usual (past decade) dominance, the upstart Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers making charges to win their respective divisions for the first time in many years, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Manny Ramirez, and more steroid talk which is always a bummer.



Honestly, I don’t care anymore about steroids. I do not want to talk about them and I especially do not want to talk about test results from five seasons ago. If testing is as stringent as Commissioner Bud Selig claims it is, then there is no reason for us to waste time on the topics of Performance Enhancing Drugs.


Let’s focus on the ball players out on the field, and on what they are doing right now.



MMA is always in season and they have a huge show coming up on July 11 at UFC 100. The main event for the night is a World Heavyweight title unification bout between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir. Lesnar is an absolute monster and is a former NCAA wrestling champion. Mir is one of the top technical fighters in the game right now, and has a submission victory over Lesnar under his belt from a fight two years ago.

Also at UFC 100, the best pound for pound fighter in the world Georges St. Pierre is putting his Welterweight Championship on the line against the always dangerous Thiago Alves. This may be the most exciting fight of the night, because both of these athletes go at it at breakneck speeds, so don’t blink or you may miss a K.O.


Boxing is also a year round event and they have a big fight coming up in July as well, as the undefeated Floyd “Money” Mayweather comes out of retirement to face off against Juan Manuel Marquez. The winner of the fight will presumably face off against Manny Pacquio, who is considered the top boxer in the sport at the moment.

Pacquio knocked out former champ Ricky Hatton in the second round a couple months ago. If it does indeed lead to a Mayweather-Pacqiuo matchup, it will be the biggest fight of this decade so far.


In soccer or futbol, the World Cup is exactly one year from this date, away. Many nations are competing in qualifying matches presently, for the right to go to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup. Expect the usual suspects of world powerhouses to make a run at the title in 2010 like Argentina, Brazil, England, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, and Spain.

Well that’s it for now. Feel free to comment and discuss topics where you see fit. As time goes by, we will go more in-depth on subjects in the world of sports. This particular posting was more of an introduction to get things rolling.