Weekend Hangover - Love/Hate - Defending Isiah?!?

LOVE

- Knicks fans are up in arms about the return of Isiah Thomas to the front office as a special consultant. Knicks fans have been calling into talk shows and bragging about how they are canceling their season tickets with the return of Thomas, and are quoting George Costanza: “It’s like an onion, the more layers you peel, the more it stinks!” While Thomas does have an impressive track record as the “Bizarro World” King Tut – everything he touches turns into a turd instead of gold – the Indiana Pacers, the CBA, the Knicks and now Florida International U. Yet I actually think there is a value to having Thomas return to the Knicks. During the recruitment of this summer’s free agent class, it was obvious who the biggest winners were – those teams where the owners, presidents, or GMs could flash championship bling at the young players. Riley was able to convince Prince James and Chris Bosh to bring their talents to South Beach. Jerry Reinsdorf and his Jordan-fueled rings were able to get Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver. And the Lakers were able to add Kevin Martin and resign Derek Fisher based on the recruiting of Kobe and Phil Jackson.

The Knicks were going into the meetings with these free agents with an aging Donnie Walsh (who never won a championship with the Pacers), James Dolan (who has a reputation as a bumbling fool) and Allan Houston (a solid player that couldn’t get a ring with the Knicks). None of those people could inspire today’s young free agents that they know what it takes to win an NBA championship.

Thomas does that. Thomas has credibility with the players because he was an amazing player and he has the hand jewelry to prove that he knows what it takes to win it all. As long as Walsh and Houston control the personnel decisions, the Knicks can benefit from having Isiah as an ambassador for the team when they recruit Carmelo Anthony next summer.

- Loved having football back on television on Sunday night – even if it was pre-season. But the football highlights of the weekend were the Hall of Fame speeches. I didn’t see all of them, but my personal favorite was Emmitt Smith. Emmitt was a trainwreck when ESPN put him on the air with no training, leading to classic comments like being “blowed up” among many other lowlights. So I was ready for the Hall speech to be off the charts in unintentional comedy. Yet the NFL’s all-time leading rusher was tremendous, sounding smooth, confident and emotional. And his thanking of Darryl Johnston was awesome. Well done, Emmitt.

HATE

- Fans who think that because Lance Armstrong raised money for a good cause, he can’t be a cheater and a bad person. Whether or not he took steroids does not take away from his remarkable drive and determination to beat cancer. What it does change is that he cheated to be successful at his sport – just like Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Raphael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, Jose Conseco and many, many more athletes. Combined with the stories about how he was kind of a prick in his break up with Sheryl Crow, you realize that despite his humanitarian efforts to raise money for cancer research, he has some ugly traits – just like all those other cheaters. Keep them separated – praise him for raising money for a good cause and for being driven enough to recover and inspire others, but be realistic and realize that it is becoming overwhelming evidence that he didn’t win all of those Tour de France races on simple sweat effort.

- What is the deal with the Tampa Bay Rays? They have the second-best record in all of baseball but they seem to put it on cruise control for random games. They have been no-hit twice this year, thrown a no-hitter themselves (Matt Garza) and then they were completely dominated by Brandon Morrow yesterday. Morrow was one out from a perfect game and struck out 17 Rays along the way. So why do the Rays forget to show up every couple weeks and will that be a problem in the playoffs? Probably not, but they have the potential to be less reliable than a story from Jen Sterger about Brett Favre’s texting habits.

- It was a tough weekend for Tigger on the golf course, shooting the worst final round he has ever shot, 77 and finishing in 78^th place at 18 over par. Ouch. I’ll leave it to the gold experts to determine how much of his problems are physical and how much are mental, but there is no doubt that he has completely lost his mojo. Maybe he is simply stressed because Mistress #1, Rachel Uchitel had to check herself into rehab again this weekend.

Degenerate Friday - Bucks Fans as Bad as Philly Fans?

You would think that living on the East Coast for the past 5 years I would be used to insane and clueless fans. Living in Boston, Sully and O’Malley continually solved the Red Sox pitching woes and knew exactly how to get Manny Ramirez to play hard. Living in New York, Vinny from Staten Island and Tony from Queens know more about how to develop a young pitcher like Joba Chamberlain than Joe Girardi, Brian Cashman or the Steinbrenners could ever know. And in both cities I was in close proximity to the most irrational and moronic fans of them all – Philadelphia fans. They have no self-awareness and are the most fair-weather fans I’ve ever seen.

So imagine my surprise when I’m perusing the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and read an article on Keyon Dooling joining the Bucks and the ways in which he can help Brandon Jennings. A very nice article by Charles Gardner about the 10 year veteran who once was a top ten pick and seems to finally have found his groove in the NBA.

At the end of the article, the first couple of comments from fans almost knocked me out of my chair. Here were the Milwaukee fans, typically a little over-optimistic, but not as cynical or insane as the fans in many other cities, declaring that Kenyon Dooling has nothing to teach Brandon Jennings. Really? Are you serious? There is nothing that Jennings, an offensive dynamo but horrendously bad defender, can learn from a very good on-ball defender who has been around the league for 10 times as many seasons? The fans’ reasons were all based on the fact that Jennings has more talent than Dooling, so there is nothing he can learn.

Did Kobe Bryant learn things from Derek Fisher? Who on the Lakers controls Bryant’s temper, competitiveness and has his ear continually? Fisher. And there is no doubt that Fisher has much less given talent than Kobe. And Kobe’s coach? Phil Jackson was a solid, but not spectacular NBA player, so having less talent than Kobe, I guess he can’t teach him anything……oh wait, they’re positioned to win their second three-peat together.

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In other news, since it is Degenerate Friday…here are the things not to bet on this weekend:

Don’t Bet On:
- Fat Albert Haynesworth passing his conditioning test
- Brett Favre staying out of the headlines for the next week

- Tiger Woods winning the Bridgestone tournament this weekend
- Darrelle Revis being in training camp anytime soon
- ESPN not cramming the Red Sox – Yankees series down our throats when it’s pretty obvious the Red Sox are not going to catch the Yanks or Rays
- Every story you read about Nolan Ryan and his financial backers buying the Texas Rangers will have a picture of Nolan giving a noogie to Robin Ventura.

Brett Favre is NOT Retiring

Haven’t we seen this act before? Brett Favre is supposedly retiring…for the third time (officially the third time – unofficially it is 432,132 times). Like the Rocky movies, they keep making sequels and while the first couple times it was entertaining, at some point it just becomes an old guy who can’t let it go. And that’s where things currently stand. Two years ago he forced a trade to the Jets in July. Last year it was the boy who cried wolf when Favre waited until July to go back and forth before suiting up for the Vikings. This year, no one believes him. Just like if Sylvester Stallone decided to make a final Rocky movie more than 15 years after Rocky V…..wait, that actually happened. And then Stallone made a Rambo IV movie 20 years after Rambo III. Maybe him and Favre are related?

I feel bad for Vikings fans, because now they understand what it is like to have your franchise hi-jacked by Brett Favre, held hostage and potentially left for dead. If Favre stays retired, the Vikings will be lucky to win 8 games with Tavaris Jackson at quarterback. Yet if Favre had told the team back in March or April that he was going to retire, don’t you think the Vikings would have made a major push to get Donovan McNabb? Or at least drafted Jimmy Clausen. Instead, Brett took a big, steaming dump on another franchise who had bent over backwards to please him.

So why don’t I believe Favre is really retired? Simple: Favre is an attention whore, a greedy ego-driven diva and the king of excuses.

Attention Whore
He loves the attention from the media and the fans. He likes to be the center of all the storylines and loves to pose for the cameras more than Paris Hilton. He loves the specials about whether he will or won’t retire. He wants the reporters camped out at the end of his driveway so he can put on his old Wrangler jeans, beat up baseball hat, and smirk into the camera “Aw, shucks. I just play football.” Yeah right, Brett. You just love everyone begging you to play and using your “power” to get Coach Childress to pick you up from the airport himself. He also knows that Vikings fans will drop a deuce in their pants when they realize how bad the Vikings will be without him, and therefore they will love him even more when he rides in on his white horse just before the start of the regular season. And he will love the slobbering that ESPN will lavish on him from Chris Berman, Chris Mortensen (Favre might as well pay him as his personal PR person) and Sal Paolotonio.

Greedy Ego-Driven Diva
There is no doubt that a part of Brett’s ploy is to get more than the $13 million currently on his contract. He sees the enormous contract Sam Bradford signed. He sees that Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are about to break the bank. And he wants his piece of the pie. So he’s going to put the pressure on the Vikings to add another year and a few million more in his contract. He doesn’t need the money. He already has enough to buy most of Mississippi. But Brett sees it as a sign of respect to be paid among the elite quarterbacks in the league and he needs the attention and what he believes is his due respect.

Yet this is the same Brett Favre that called out Sterling Sharpe and Javon Walker when they held out because they had outplayed their current contract. No wants to talk about that. Yet what Favre is doing is basically holding out for more money and to avoid training camp. Way to be a team player, Brett.

King of Excuses
Favre’s toughness cannot be questioned. Yet every time he fails, there is always an excuse as to why it’s not Brett’s fault. When the Packers struggled from 2005-2006 it was always blamed on a poor supporting cast. Yet the reality is that Favre was out of shape, unprepared and undisciplined and as a result he threw a ton of interceptions. It would not have mattered who was lining up wide for him. When he cost the Packers the 2007-08 NFC Championship with a hideous game, it was because of the cold. It couldn’t have been because he locked on to a receiver and threw a horrendous interception, could it? When he faded terribly down the stretch with the Jets in 2008-09, it was because of a torn biceps tendon. And when he threw another unconscionable interception that cost the Vikings a trip to the Super Bowl in 2009-10, what was the excuse? Oh yeah, it was his ankle injury, not his terrible decision-making.

So by announcing his retirement because his ankle hasn’t healed correctly, he is creating his built-in excuse in case he fails with the Vikings when he makes his way back to the team during the preseason. If the Vikings don’t get to or win the Super Bowl, it won’t be Brett’s poor decision-making or deteriorating skills that are the problem. It will be the ankle that didn’t allow him to play at full strength and he was a hero just for trying to gut it out.

Listen, I loved watching Favre play when I was growing up, and I consider myself extremely lucky to have had one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time leading my favorite team throughout all of my formative years. But enough is enough. Unfortunately his amazing playing ability has been eclipsed by his pathetic ego-driven diva act.

Getcha Popcorn Ready!

With camps getting started all over the NFL, it’s time to turn more and more of our attention to Lord Football. And I will not be wasting any space on whether or not the league’s biggest diva will or won’t play (we all know he’s coming back, but not until he plants enough doubt with his personal mouthpiece, Chris Mortensen of ESPN, so that in case he fails, he has some built in excuses). What other stories are of interest? Dez Bryant refusing to carry Roy Williams’ pads and then backing off because he “didn’t know it was a tradition” with the Cowboys? More boring than the drama surrounding The Bachelorette, Ali. And as Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News perfectly pointed out – if that’s the ‘Boys big problem, they are going to have a great season. Instead, we learned today that Terrell Owens had signed on to play with the Bengals this season. Well, Cincy – Getcha Popcorn Ready!!

I may be as crazy as the Timberwolves GM, but I actually think this could work very, very well for the Bengals. If Owens can keep his ego in check, he has a chance to put up really good numbers on a team that has the potential to be a factor in the playoffs. Here are the reasons it will not implode:

1 – Carson Palmer
No quarterback in the league has dealt with more “entertainers” at the wide receiver position than Palmer. His main target has been the always-entertaining Chad Ochocinco, and previously he was teamed up with the always-outspoken T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Palmer is as well-prepared as any quarterback in the league to block out egos and just try to make plays. While his numbers were very pedestrian as he came back from missing most of 2008 with an arm injury, he remains a cerebral quarterback and if his arm strength returns, he could be the comeback player of the year.

2 – The Fit
Owens is not nearly as fast as he once was, and he does not have the most reliable hands in the league, but he has the potential to find quite a few openings with Ochocinco stretching the field and rookie TE Jermaine Gresham attracting the attention of linebackers or safeties. It has the potential to fit the same way Katy Perry fits in a bikini – snug and very flattering.

3 – Owens’ Maturity
Has T.O. really matured? It’s hard to say, but despite his previous track record of being an enormous headache, he was very tame last season. Despite playing for a horrendous Bills team with quarterbacks that were more useless than Carrie Underwood in a Chelsea bar, Owens did not ruffle feathers. He posted his weakest season totals since he was a rookie, yet he was almost a model citizen. Has he realized that winning is more important than his diva act? Perhaps. Or was it just but on the back burner until he had the proper spotlight to promote himself? I want to believe that he will be entertaining, yet will play hard and not be a locker room cancer.

4 – The Competition
The AFC North should be extremely compelling this season, with Baltimore, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh all eyeing the division title. Yet the Ravens are dealing with a banged up secondary – particularly Ed Reed. The Steelers could find themselves in a hole early without Big Ben under center, and their defense was not as strong in 2009 as typical Pittsburgh defenses. Add that to the very young secondary in Cleveland and the Bengals look to have a very good chance to improve upon their poor 26th ranked passing offense.

Owens will no doubt form the most entertaining wide receiver combo with Chad Ochocinco, and when you add Antonio Bryant to the mix (whatever short time he is healthy), the Bengals could have a very potent passing offense that could help to balance the Cedric Benson-led running game. That could make the Bengals very dangerous, so you better getcha popcorn ready.

Weekend Hangover - Love/Hate

LOVE

- Training Camp starts!! As much as I enjoy baseball, the boys of summer cannot compete with the grid iron in the fall. As camps start, there will be a ton of talk about position battles, who wants a new contract, what rookie is picking up the game quickly (once the rookies other than Dez Bryant finally start signing), and what aging veteran looks like he ran out of gas. Predictions will be made based on last season and hopes of a new season, and then finally in another month, real games will start to be played. And this morning the month-long heat and humidity in New York finally broke and the air had just the slightest chill to it…..almost like mother nature even decided to give a little head nod to football.

- The intriguing contract situation between Tom Brady and the Patriots. The Pats have always been ruthless in dealing with aging veterans, allowing players to walk or trading them instead of paying them large contracts. And yet, Brady has been the face of the franchise for the past decade and has been a great company man, taking below-market contracts to allow the team more flexibility to sign other players around him. Well, coming off some injuries and being likely in the second half of his career, Tommy had his Don Draper realization (great episode of Mad Men last night) that it’s time to own who he is and take what is rightfully his. There is almost no chance that Brady will hold out or cause any ripples because the guy loves to play football, but it will be interesting to see how the team handles the situation. Also keeping a close eye on the contract will be Peyton Manning, who can take the Brady contract to the Colts and say “This plus 10% is our starting point” next season.

- Loved seeing Andre Dawson get inducted to the Hall of Fame. The Hawk was among my favorite players growing up. Growing up a Brewers fan when the Brewers were in the AL, it made it okay to be a Cubs fan in the NL. And with almost every Cubs game on WGN – most during the day – it was easy to root for guys like Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, Shawon Dunston and Lee Smith, even if they never did win. Dawson went in as an Expo, which is a good thing considering there are no other Expos in the Hall of Fame and with the franchise moved, there likely will never be another.

HATE

- Talk about the looming lockout in the NFL. We get it. The owners want lower salaries for the players. The players don’t. Of course they’re going to argue over it and threaten to have no football next season. In the end, they’ll work it out because both sides know their meal tickets get punched when the games are played on the field. Even if there is a lockout, we’ll survive. College football will still be there, and hell half the players in college are getting paid more than the league minimum anyway, so it’s barely even amateur sports.

- The Angels pretty much stole Dan Haren from the Diamondbacks, and it does not start the baseball trading season with a bang. The Angels are still 6 games behind Texas in the AL West and even with Haren are unlikely to make up the ground on the strong-pitching Rangers. Yet it was still a good trade for them, not giving up many prospects and trading a middle of the rotation guy for Haren who has the stuff to be a top of the rotation guy. The Diamondbacks just pulled a Betty Draper and managed to find a replacement, but one not nearly as interesting as the stud they originally were working with.

Degenerate Friday! 2nd Half Predictions

Since my baseball futures bet of the Mariners went so well in the first half of the season, I figured I’d make some predictions for the second half of the season. I mean, I believe I wrote that the addition of Milton Bradley combined with the veteran leadership of Ken Griffey Jr. would carry the M’s offense. Yeah, that didn’t work out all that well – it’s hard to lead when you’re sleeping in the clubhouse and retiring before the all-star break, and it’s hard to provide offensive punch when you’re taking time off for mental instability. Anyway, let’s hope my second half thoughts can burst on the scene like Jen Brown – the next Erin Andrews chosen to be the ESPN sideline princess during college football season. She seems to have all the assets, understands her role and judging by her outfit at the ESPY’s, is not afraid of the limelight.

AL Playoff Teams:
AL East: Yankees
AL Central: Twins
AL West: Rangers
AL Wildcard: Red Sox

It’s a pretty boring picture in the AL, without many surprises. The Yankees have the best team in baseball, with a pitching staff capable of carrying them through even without their potent offensive line up. It’s a bad sign when you know that they will be involved before the trading deadline and all they are looking for is middle relief or set up help in the bullpen. It’s like having the assets of Brooklyn Decker and only having to worry about finding the right dress for the ESPY’s to showcase her talent – it’s not really fair to anyone else around.

The Red Sox have been fighting the injury bug all season and the continued absence of Dustin Pedroia will hamper the offense as they try to stay with the Rays for the wildcard. If they can get him and Josh Beckett back healthy and effective, they will reel in the Rays and pass them for the last playoff spot. The Sox pitching with Lester, Lackey and a healthy Beckett could make them a nightmare in the playoffs if they can qualify.

The Twins will be able to outlast the Tigers & White Sox in the Central and the Rangers will run away the west with the addition of Cliff Lee. Lee can carry the Rangers to the AL Championship Series and gives them a fighting chance with his dominance of the Yankees. Unfortunately the Yankees veterans will prove too much for the Rangers, despite the playoff experience of Lee & Vladamir Guerrero.

Divisional Round:
Yankees over Twins
Rangers over Red Sox

AL Champ: Yankees over Rangers


NL Playoff Teams:
NL East: Braves
NL Central: Reds
NL West: Rockies
NL Wildcard: Mets

The Braves made a smart trade getting rid of the immensely talented but mercurial Yunel Escobar for Alex Gonzalez. In Bobby Cox’s final season, the team is all pulling in the same direction and can’t afford the distraction of the often-disinterested shortstop. With the return to health of Jason Heyward and Nate McClouth, the Braves offense will be able to match their strong pitching and hold off the Mets and Phillies for the division crown.

The Reds have been among the surprises in baseball this season. While they had the talent to compete, no one knew if the youth would finally come through. They are much like the 2008 Brewer team in that they have a young core of talent that should be able to carry them, but they could definitely use an extra pitcher to give them the leverage to hold off the Cardinals. They should try to get involved in the Roy Oswalt sweepstakes, yet it might be more difficult to get a division foe to trade with than it would be to get a Vegas VIP hostess job without frontcourt enhancements.

The Padres have been a tremendous story during the first half of the year with a pitching staff that has kept them at or near first place most of the season. Yet the Rockies have been coming on as of late and all the experts seem to think they are still the team to beat in the NL West.

The Mets will also be heavily involved in the Roy Oswalt sweepstakes and may be the team capable of taking on his big contract. Also look for them to be there to get Ted Lilly from the Cubs. That addition of a pitcher combined with the return of Carlos Beltran, even if he is not at full strength, should be enough to hold off the injury-riddled Phillies for the Wildcard.

NL Divisional Round
Braves over Reds
Mets over Rockies

NL Championship: Braves over Mets

World Series: Yankees over Braves

Site Update & All-Star Thoughts

SITE UPDATE: I’ve officially re-entered the real working world this week, so there will be some changes to the schedule for posting on the site. The goal is to still put up 3 posts a week – The Weekend Hangover, Wednesday and Degenerate Friday. I plan on using a combination of the Kramer (TCB, Jerry – Takin’ Care of Business) and the Peter Gibbons from Office Space (I typically show up an hour late, sneak in the back door and then space out for a couple hours) to quickly move my way up the corporate ladder. Who am I kidding? I’ll be humping it for the man, just like everyone else. So wish me luck and expect posts at least three times a week.

All-Star Thoughts

- RIP Mr. Steinbrenner. From a few of the stories I read, he appeared to be nicer to the people he served (the city of NY) than he was to those he worked for. As a fan, you couldn’t ask for more as an owner – a guy who wanted to win and it didn’t matter what it cost him or who he offended as long as he won. As an employee, you couldn’t have a worse boss – an emotional, irrational and micromanaging nightmare. Yet he was able to put Gene Michaels in control during his two year suspension, and Michaels helped to lay the groundwork for the current Yankee title-winning core. Nothing like a great parody clip of “Big George” from Seinfeld to send him off.



- RIP Captain Phil from the Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel. I am not the show’s biggest fan, nor did I make sure to DVR every episode. But on the few occasions when I did see the show, it was always entertaining to watch him run the ship. He kept his crew loose and obviously cared about his sons, and he was definitely one hard working s.o.b. Good luck as the captain of that ship in the sky.

- The heat and humidity in New York the past week has been more insufferable than trying to keep up with Mel Gibson's latest psychotic tirade. Just walking down the street has me sweating like Travis Henry and Shawn Kemp on Father's Day.

- I can’t decide what is more annoying, the arrogance of Joe Buck, or the fact that he is so smug that he thinks he can make fun of himself for being arrogant. Listening to him announce the all-star game is insufferable as he reminds us all how smart he is and how great his life is. He has a great voice for announcing and had an amazing announcer of a father, but I wish he would just go away.

- The only redeeming quality of Joe Buck annoucncing? It is a reminder that football season is just around the corner. Training camps are typically running by the end of the month and opening day is just under 2 months away – September 12. And the start of the season will be interesting with many teams filling in for suspended stars…the Steelers and Roethlisberger, the Jets and Santonio Holmes, and the Chargers and Vincent Jackson. It sure will make fantasy football values interesting. Remember when everyone stayed away from Brandon Marshall because he was going to miss the first few games of the season? He then went on to produce awesome fantasy points the rest of the season.