Thursday, November 17, 2011
This Is Why I Can't Have Nice Things
So, there is apparently a sexual abuse scandal at my alma mater, Syracuse University. This is another reason why I have stopped going to church. Just when things are going well, something awful happens in my life. This is one of those things. I do not want my school, my basketball program, or my legendary coach besmirched by something like that. The information is not nearly as damning from what I have read, but you never know.
If it is completely false, then fine. We move on. If Boeheim knew nothing about it, then he is safe. Chancellor Cantor and AD Dr. Gross can't be fired because they weren't there at the time, which might be a shame cause I don't like either of them. If it turns out that Boeheim did know what was going on like JoePa did, then he has to be fired like JoePa was.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Just Some Thoughts
I have no one topic I feel like writing at length about right now. So, here are a few short thoughts on a bunch of things. Enjoy!
- JoePa has to go now. He should walk away, set a good example, take some responsibility and retire. But he won't. He has already says he is done at the end of the year, not now. And that is not acceptable. Jason Reid of The Washington Post wrote a great column on this today. Read it here.
- I have to confess something- I do kind of miss the NBA. Not that much, of course. But being unemployed allows me to keep my crazy hours of staying up very late. What I miss is watching the West Coast NBA games on TNT or ESPN. I miss Clippers-Suns. I miss watching the Warriors and the Trail Blazers. I know it sounds insane, but I liked knowing that, at 1 am, there would be live sports on. Plus, my man Hakim Warrick plays for the Suns, and my man Jonny Flynn is on the Rockets. Need some Pro-Cuse time. Speaking of...
- College Basketball has started! YAY! Cuse has played two exhibitions and won pretty easily. It will be interesting to see how we do against real teams, not St. Rose.
- I went out drinking for a friend's birthday instead of watching Alabama-LSU. The bar had no TVs. From what I saw on SportsCenter, I made a good choice. Please no rematch, BCS. I will be rooting hard for Stanford, Boise and OK State the rest of the way just to avoid that possibility.
- I do not like the Nationals being linked to Roy Oswalt or Ryan Madson. We don't need an old, injured starter, nor do we need an overpriced closer. We have a great young closer named Drew Storen. We have a great young setup man who could close on any other team named Tyler Clippard. Clip n Store = better than Madson. As for Oswalt, Mark Buehrle is younger, better, less injury-prone. Sign him!
- Sid the Kid (who I hate) might be back Friday. Welcome back, I suppose. I will like you if you come back and take out Jagr.
- Happy Birthday Adam Dunn. I have faith you will bounce back. I always liked you Adam. Always have, always will.
- The World Series of Poker winner, some German 22 year old, won $8.7 million. Nice work if you can get it.
- I have watched Pulp Fiction 4 times in the past week. I love that movie. You should see it if you haven't.
That's all for now.
- JoePa has to go now. He should walk away, set a good example, take some responsibility and retire. But he won't. He has already says he is done at the end of the year, not now. And that is not acceptable. Jason Reid of The Washington Post wrote a great column on this today. Read it here.
- I have to confess something- I do kind of miss the NBA. Not that much, of course. But being unemployed allows me to keep my crazy hours of staying up very late. What I miss is watching the West Coast NBA games on TNT or ESPN. I miss Clippers-Suns. I miss watching the Warriors and the Trail Blazers. I know it sounds insane, but I liked knowing that, at 1 am, there would be live sports on. Plus, my man Hakim Warrick plays for the Suns, and my man Jonny Flynn is on the Rockets. Need some Pro-Cuse time. Speaking of...
- College Basketball has started! YAY! Cuse has played two exhibitions and won pretty easily. It will be interesting to see how we do against real teams, not St. Rose.
- I went out drinking for a friend's birthday instead of watching Alabama-LSU. The bar had no TVs. From what I saw on SportsCenter, I made a good choice. Please no rematch, BCS. I will be rooting hard for Stanford, Boise and OK State the rest of the way just to avoid that possibility.
- I do not like the Nationals being linked to Roy Oswalt or Ryan Madson. We don't need an old, injured starter, nor do we need an overpriced closer. We have a great young closer named Drew Storen. We have a great young setup man who could close on any other team named Tyler Clippard. Clip n Store = better than Madson. As for Oswalt, Mark Buehrle is younger, better, less injury-prone. Sign him!
- Sid the Kid (who I hate) might be back Friday. Welcome back, I suppose. I will like you if you come back and take out Jagr.
- Happy Birthday Adam Dunn. I have faith you will bounce back. I always liked you Adam. Always have, always will.
- The World Series of Poker winner, some German 22 year old, won $8.7 million. Nice work if you can get it.
- I have watched Pulp Fiction 4 times in the past week. I love that movie. You should see it if you haven't.
That's all for now.
Friday, November 4, 2011
10 Things I Would Do If I Ran The Nationals
So, I have some ideas for what the Nationals should do in the offseason. Most of them have to do with players, but I have some other things on my mind too. So, were I Mike Rizzo or the Lerners, this is what I would do-
1. Do whatever it takes to sign Mark Buehrle. I think he is the best free agent pitcher. He would help us immediately. He is a lefty with over 150 wins, is only 32, and has a World Series, Perfect Game and No-hitter. He would take the pressure off of Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg to be an ace. He would be the ace we could trot out if we magically made the playoffs. He fields his position very well. There is no downside to this. Sign him!
2. Stay away from Jose Reyes. I know he is very fast, and very impressive when he is healthy. But he gets injured, and will cost a ton. We could fill a bunch of other needs with the money we would spend on him. Some like the idea of getting him, then trading Ian Desmond and some prospects for BJ Upton. But there is no guarantee of that happening, and the Rays might want a prospect we are not willing to give up. I say we let Ian and Danny Espinosa each have another season to grow and develop, and then go after BJ Upton when he is a free agent if we want him that bad.
3. Bring back Rick Ankiel. He has the best outfield arm in the majors, and plays plus defense. He has power. He has timely power as well. I think he would be ideal off the bench or starting in CF at the beginning of the year.
4. Make a decision on Roger Bernadina. I want to keep him. I want his speed in my lineup, plus the pop he brings. He makes highlight plays on defense also. He just needs to be more consistent at the plate. If we can't find a place for him, I would try to package him in a deal to make our team better. But it is hard to dump a guy that can do this-
5. Dump Adam LaRoche. It didn't work. It was a mistake. Somehow move him. Michael Morse or Chris Marrero should play 1B. Our lineup at the end of the year worked. Morse needs to play every day, and Marrero did very well for a September call up.
6. Keep Bryce Harper down until at least June, possibly September. We have a lot of outfielders, and Harper is still 18. There is no rush to get him here. If we are contending for a wild card spot, then bring him up to infuse some energy into the lineup.
7. Do not touch Clip n' Store. Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen were the best part of our team. Leave them be and let them develop even more into the best lights out set up- closer combo in the NL.
So, our lineup to start the season would be similar to last years. Here is how I see it Opening Day:
1. Ian Desmond, SS
2. Rick Ankiel, CF
3. Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
4. Michael Morse, LF
5. Jayson Werth, RF
6. Danny Espinosa, 2B
7. Chris Marrero, 1B
8. Wilson Ramos, C
9. Mark Beuhrle, P
Our rotation, assuming it is a 5 man would be:
1. Mark Beuhrle, LHP
2. Jordan Zimmermann, RHP
3. Stephen Strasburg, RHP
4. John Lannan, LHP
5. Chien-Ming Wang, RHP
We would still have some great pitchers that we could bring up, namely Ross Detweiler, Tommy Milone and Brad Peacock. We have depth at the position, but Beuhrle would bring the experience.
Here are my non-roster fixes
8. LET TEDDY WIN! This is a joke. He would easily win. It is historically innacurate. We won't be a winning franchise until Teddy wins. It is a curse. Do it!
9. Bring 5 Guys back. I had Shake Shack, and it was ok. Five Guys was better, and it is local. Northern VA's own. Come on!
10. Bring back the fireworks. Even if it is just for the end of a game and not for a home run. But the wins last year missed a little bit of pop. Also, we need a better victory song than "Raise Your Glass". We don't want to be wrong in all the right ways. We want to be right, and never lose.
That is my plan for right now. And I think it would work wonderfully.
1. Do whatever it takes to sign Mark Buehrle. I think he is the best free agent pitcher. He would help us immediately. He is a lefty with over 150 wins, is only 32, and has a World Series, Perfect Game and No-hitter. He would take the pressure off of Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg to be an ace. He would be the ace we could trot out if we magically made the playoffs. He fields his position very well. There is no downside to this. Sign him!
2. Stay away from Jose Reyes. I know he is very fast, and very impressive when he is healthy. But he gets injured, and will cost a ton. We could fill a bunch of other needs with the money we would spend on him. Some like the idea of getting him, then trading Ian Desmond and some prospects for BJ Upton. But there is no guarantee of that happening, and the Rays might want a prospect we are not willing to give up. I say we let Ian and Danny Espinosa each have another season to grow and develop, and then go after BJ Upton when he is a free agent if we want him that bad.
3. Bring back Rick Ankiel. He has the best outfield arm in the majors, and plays plus defense. He has power. He has timely power as well. I think he would be ideal off the bench or starting in CF at the beginning of the year.
4. Make a decision on Roger Bernadina. I want to keep him. I want his speed in my lineup, plus the pop he brings. He makes highlight plays on defense also. He just needs to be more consistent at the plate. If we can't find a place for him, I would try to package him in a deal to make our team better. But it is hard to dump a guy that can do this-
5. Dump Adam LaRoche. It didn't work. It was a mistake. Somehow move him. Michael Morse or Chris Marrero should play 1B. Our lineup at the end of the year worked. Morse needs to play every day, and Marrero did very well for a September call up.
6. Keep Bryce Harper down until at least June, possibly September. We have a lot of outfielders, and Harper is still 18. There is no rush to get him here. If we are contending for a wild card spot, then bring him up to infuse some energy into the lineup.
7. Do not touch Clip n' Store. Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen were the best part of our team. Leave them be and let them develop even more into the best lights out set up- closer combo in the NL.
So, our lineup to start the season would be similar to last years. Here is how I see it Opening Day:
1. Ian Desmond, SS
2. Rick Ankiel, CF
3. Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
4. Michael Morse, LF
5. Jayson Werth, RF
6. Danny Espinosa, 2B
7. Chris Marrero, 1B
8. Wilson Ramos, C
9. Mark Beuhrle, P
Our rotation, assuming it is a 5 man would be:
1. Mark Beuhrle, LHP
2. Jordan Zimmermann, RHP
3. Stephen Strasburg, RHP
4. John Lannan, LHP
5. Chien-Ming Wang, RHP
We would still have some great pitchers that we could bring up, namely Ross Detweiler, Tommy Milone and Brad Peacock. We have depth at the position, but Beuhrle would bring the experience.
Here are my non-roster fixes
8. LET TEDDY WIN! This is a joke. He would easily win. It is historically innacurate. We won't be a winning franchise until Teddy wins. It is a curse. Do it!
9. Bring 5 Guys back. I had Shake Shack, and it was ok. Five Guys was better, and it is local. Northern VA's own. Come on!
10. Bring back the fireworks. Even if it is just for the end of a game and not for a home run. But the wins last year missed a little bit of pop. Also, we need a better victory song than "Raise Your Glass". We don't want to be wrong in all the right ways. We want to be right, and never lose.
That is my plan for right now. And I think it would work wonderfully.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
My Heisman List, So Far...
So, we have a month left until the Heisman Trophy is awarded in New York City. It will probably end up going to Andrew Luck or Trent Richardson, with Landry Jones in third. It will be something like that. The thing is, that is boring. I am not saying that they aren't deserving. In fact, I think Luck is very deserving. But they are on good all-around teams. Alabama would still be amazing without Richardson. Oklahoma's defense is very good. Hell, Stanford has a Gonzaga Eagle on the bench at QB, you know that they would still be good (that's my story and I am sticking to it!). So, how would I fill out my Heisman ballot if I were voting? Like this:
1. Case Keenum- QB- Houston
I know, I know. Pass happy offense. Conference USA sucks. Look, he is undefeated, leads the world in touchdowns and passing, and the entire team is based on him and him alone. Without Case Keenum, Houston isn't in the Top 25. Oh, and he threw 9 TOUCHDOWNS IN A GAME! NINE! The Heisman shouldn't be about who is the QB on the best team, it should be about the guy that is the best in the NCAA. Keenum holds the records, why shouldn't it be him?
2. Kellen Moore- QB- Boise State
Take everything I said about Keenum, add in that Moore will be the all-time winningest college QB by the end of the year.
3. Andrew Luck- QB- Stanford
He is great. You know that. He will probably win it. More pressure. I hope he likes South Beach. But he almost threw that USC game away with his late picks.
4. Eh...
That's right, Eh. I am not super impressed with anyone else. Like I said, Trent Richardson is great, but he is on the best team in the country, with an amazing line and receivers that block for him. I don't know how good he would be with, say, Boston College's offensive line. Then you have some running QBs- Robert Griffin III of Baylor, Russel Wilson of Wisconsin, Brandon Weeden of Oklahoma State and Denard Robinson of Michigan.
They are all dual threats and are very impressive when they are on. Griffin made Baylor football relevant, and for that alone he should win something. Wilson was the favorite for the first 6 weeks in my eyes. Weeden has OK State lined up for a BCS title birth. Robinson has Big Blue at 7-1, and had that amazing game against the Fighting Irish. But I think there is a pretty obvious break between the top 3 signal callers and everyone else.
Landry Jones is interesting because when he played poorly against Texas Tech, the team lost big. If anyone would sneak into the #4 or 5 spot for me, it would probably be Jones. But, I would much rather he not have the Heisman pressure on him, and somehow drop to the Skins in the draft.
So, my Heisman ballot is 3 deep. All QBs of undefeated teams... I guess that is just as boring as I thought it was. But I am serious when I say Case Keenum deserves to win. Watch a Houston game, if possible. He is very impressive.
1. Case Keenum- QB- Houston
I know, I know. Pass happy offense. Conference USA sucks. Look, he is undefeated, leads the world in touchdowns and passing, and the entire team is based on him and him alone. Without Case Keenum, Houston isn't in the Top 25. Oh, and he threw 9 TOUCHDOWNS IN A GAME! NINE! The Heisman shouldn't be about who is the QB on the best team, it should be about the guy that is the best in the NCAA. Keenum holds the records, why shouldn't it be him?
2. Kellen Moore- QB- Boise State
Take everything I said about Keenum, add in that Moore will be the all-time winningest college QB by the end of the year.
3. Andrew Luck- QB- Stanford
He is great. You know that. He will probably win it. More pressure. I hope he likes South Beach. But he almost threw that USC game away with his late picks.
4. Eh...
That's right, Eh. I am not super impressed with anyone else. Like I said, Trent Richardson is great, but he is on the best team in the country, with an amazing line and receivers that block for him. I don't know how good he would be with, say, Boston College's offensive line. Then you have some running QBs- Robert Griffin III of Baylor, Russel Wilson of Wisconsin, Brandon Weeden of Oklahoma State and Denard Robinson of Michigan.
They are all dual threats and are very impressive when they are on. Griffin made Baylor football relevant, and for that alone he should win something. Wilson was the favorite for the first 6 weeks in my eyes. Weeden has OK State lined up for a BCS title birth. Robinson has Big Blue at 7-1, and had that amazing game against the Fighting Irish. But I think there is a pretty obvious break between the top 3 signal callers and everyone else.
Landry Jones is interesting because when he played poorly against Texas Tech, the team lost big. If anyone would sneak into the #4 or 5 spot for me, it would probably be Jones. But, I would much rather he not have the Heisman pressure on him, and somehow drop to the Skins in the draft.
So, my Heisman ballot is 3 deep. All QBs of undefeated teams... I guess that is just as boring as I thought it was. But I am serious when I say Case Keenum deserves to win. Watch a Houston game, if possible. He is very impressive.
All The Sports I Have Missed
Let's try to recap what has happened since I was gone...
MLB
- The Cardinals won the World Series. Congrats to them. I wasn't rooting for them, but am very happy for Arthur Rhodes winning a title. I loved him on the Orioles when I was a kid. La Russa then retired, and now they need a manager. We will keep you updated.
- The playoffs were a ton of fun. Lots of fun games. Game 6 of the World Series was very dramatic, even if it did have awful pitching and defense.
- Free Agency started two hours ago. I would love the Nationals to get Mark Beuhrle and a decent centerfielder. If somehow the Rays cut BJ Upton, we would throw a ton of money at him. Instead, I have a feeling we will land oft-injured prettyboy Grady Sizemore. The ladies and the gay community will be happy. I will be waiting for the day that Werth moves over to center for Bryce Harper in right.
- The top free agents are Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols and Jose Reyes. I think that Albert is staying put. He is the entire franchise in St. Louis. I think Prince is staying in the same division, but will be the first star for Theo Epstein and the Cubbies. I am still unsure of where Jose Reyes might end up. I could see the Mets breaking the bank for him at the price of the rest of their team. However, I could see a team like the Marlins making a huge, gaudy push for him, and then make ever-fatter Hanely Ramirez their third baseman.
- The Yankees and Red Soxs will fight over a bunch of free agents, mainly CJ Wilson. We will then hear about how he makes the team that gets him the favorite. And then neither will win the title next season.
NFL
- The Packers are amazing.
- The 49ers are really good on defense, have a ton of weapons on offense, and Alex Smith isn't making mistakes. Jim Harbaugh is getting out of this team what Mike Singletary couldn't.
- The Dolphins are awful. So are the Colts, but we know why. The Dolphins are in the lead for Andrew Luck because I can't see them winning a game. Though they do play...
- The Redskins. After Sexy Rexy went 3-2, the father-son morons known as the Shanahans switched to your favorite 30 year old 6-game starting Mormon, John Beck. He has been awful, and the Skins are 3-4. I love it, because at some point we will have to completely restart around solid youth and competent management. I would love it if we ended up in position to draft Landry Jones from Oklahoma, then use the rest of our small amount of picks to draft O-line to protect him. But that probably won't happen, because we are not so lucky.
- The Bills and Lions continue to impress me.
- The Steelers are back.
- The Saints are very inconsistant.
- My fantasy teams all have winning records.
NHL
- The Caps are off to the best start in franchise history. I just want them to go far in the playoffs.
NBA
- HA!
NCAA Football
- Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma State, Boise State, Stanford. Those are your realistic National Title contenders. 2 of them will be undefeated at the end of the year. And if not, CHAOS! I am predicting Alabama vs Boise in the title game, and I don't see Boise keeping up.
- More realignment, more questions, more to come.
- Case Keenum threw 9 touchdowns last week. NINE! WHAT?! He won't even be mentioned for the Heisman, and it is a shame. He is a lot of fun to watch.
NCAA Basketball
- #5 Syracuse played its first exhibition and won Tuesday night. Hooray!
- Syracuse freshman Rakeem Christmas wears number 25. Genius!
- Butler lost an exhibition to a Division II team. They will still make at least the Sweet 16.
That's all I can think of right now!
MLB
- The Cardinals won the World Series. Congrats to them. I wasn't rooting for them, but am very happy for Arthur Rhodes winning a title. I loved him on the Orioles when I was a kid. La Russa then retired, and now they need a manager. We will keep you updated.
- The playoffs were a ton of fun. Lots of fun games. Game 6 of the World Series was very dramatic, even if it did have awful pitching and defense.
- Free Agency started two hours ago. I would love the Nationals to get Mark Beuhrle and a decent centerfielder. If somehow the Rays cut BJ Upton, we would throw a ton of money at him. Instead, I have a feeling we will land oft-injured prettyboy Grady Sizemore. The ladies and the gay community will be happy. I will be waiting for the day that Werth moves over to center for Bryce Harper in right.
- The top free agents are Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols and Jose Reyes. I think that Albert is staying put. He is the entire franchise in St. Louis. I think Prince is staying in the same division, but will be the first star for Theo Epstein and the Cubbies. I am still unsure of where Jose Reyes might end up. I could see the Mets breaking the bank for him at the price of the rest of their team. However, I could see a team like the Marlins making a huge, gaudy push for him, and then make ever-fatter Hanely Ramirez their third baseman.
- The Yankees and Red Soxs will fight over a bunch of free agents, mainly CJ Wilson. We will then hear about how he makes the team that gets him the favorite. And then neither will win the title next season.
NFL
- The Packers are amazing.
- The 49ers are really good on defense, have a ton of weapons on offense, and Alex Smith isn't making mistakes. Jim Harbaugh is getting out of this team what Mike Singletary couldn't.
- The Dolphins are awful. So are the Colts, but we know why. The Dolphins are in the lead for Andrew Luck because I can't see them winning a game. Though they do play...
- The Redskins. After Sexy Rexy went 3-2, the father-son morons known as the Shanahans switched to your favorite 30 year old 6-game starting Mormon, John Beck. He has been awful, and the Skins are 3-4. I love it, because at some point we will have to completely restart around solid youth and competent management. I would love it if we ended up in position to draft Landry Jones from Oklahoma, then use the rest of our small amount of picks to draft O-line to protect him. But that probably won't happen, because we are not so lucky.
- The Bills and Lions continue to impress me.
- The Steelers are back.
- The Saints are very inconsistant.
- My fantasy teams all have winning records.
NHL
- The Caps are off to the best start in franchise history. I just want them to go far in the playoffs.
NBA
- HA!
NCAA Football
- Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma State, Boise State, Stanford. Those are your realistic National Title contenders. 2 of them will be undefeated at the end of the year. And if not, CHAOS! I am predicting Alabama vs Boise in the title game, and I don't see Boise keeping up.
- More realignment, more questions, more to come.
- Case Keenum threw 9 touchdowns last week. NINE! WHAT?! He won't even be mentioned for the Heisman, and it is a shame. He is a lot of fun to watch.
NCAA Basketball
- #5 Syracuse played its first exhibition and won Tuesday night. Hooray!
- Syracuse freshman Rakeem Christmas wears number 25. Genius!
- Butler lost an exhibition to a Division II team. They will still make at least the Sweet 16.
That's all I can think of right now!
Where The Hell Have I Been?!
I know, it has been an entire month since I posted. And I know, you have missed me... Or at least I hope you have. What have I been up to that has taken up all my time? Nothing. Like, really. I have been unemployed since September 21, so it isn't like work has taken up all my time. I still have school, sure, but it is my last semester and the work load isn't that big for these two classes. So what have I been doing? Watching sports, Top Gear On Demand, seeing movies, staying up far too late and sleeping far too late, and partying with friends. So, to sum up, I have no excuse for not posting, because I was doing the same damn things I had been doing when I posted every day. My apologies. I will try to do better.
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