Sportsmeat

The other day I was debating my wife over whether I was a bigger Mets fan or Jets fan, and our conversation rounded into what is America’s Sport—football or baseball? My gut reaction was football. Yes, it hasn’t been around as long but it’s a national obsession. Saturdays in the south and Sundays in the north are completely reserved for football, whereas the baseball obsession tends to ebb and flow depending on how your team is doing (with the exception of St. Louis).

Then I got to thinking about Major League Baseball versus the National Football League. I still instinctively said the NFL, but then I think back to my blog from December 2006. I assumed a lot of cities were football cities (San Francisco for example) only to have those who dwell in those cities go with the baseball team. Also, in the SI poll on the 50 states—the Yankees and Mets were 1, 2 among New York’s favorite teams, ahead of the Jets, Giants, Knicks, etc.

So, meaters, I put it to you: What is America’s sport? Football or Baseball.

...but I'd be shocked if anyone comes up with a better candidate for Headline Of The Year than this one.









Shamelessly stolen from FireJoeMorgan.com.

Labels: Bartolo Colon, Ewww

So the draft dealt another blow to the groin to Celtics fans around the country—first you miss on Tim Duncan in the Rick Pitino master plan for rebuilding the dynasty, then you miss out on Greg Oden (and Kevin Durant, for that matter) in the Danny Ainge plan for rebuilding the dynasty. Back to the drawing board? Draft board? Fire Ainge and Doc Rivers?

Anyway, other than releasing all their good players in an attempt to relocate to Miami, the Celts are essentially left with two options: Trade the No. 5 pick and anyone else but Paul Pierce and Al Jefferson for Pau Gasol and try to make a run in the East. Or: trade Pierce and build around a young nucleus of Jefferson, Gerald Green, whomever you get back in the Pierce trade and whomever you draft at No. 5 this year.

Last thought: that trade last year of Sebastian Telfair for what became Brandon Roy REALLY didn’t work out. In fact, it’s the kind of thing GMs get fired for. Or perhaps not.

The obvious big winners in the draft are the teams in the Top 3, but for different reasons. The Blazers get Oden and the Sonics get Durant, and the Hawks get to keep their pick—
it was Top 3 protected – if the Hawks’ pick had been fourth or below, it would have gone to Phoenix. What other sport does this with protecting picks depending on what number they are? The lottery has made the NBA a little wacky, but I’m OK with this.

So let’s break down the three draft winners:

Blazers. This team will be young and very, very good, with a potential starting 5 of Jarrett Jack (23 years old), Roy (22), Martell Webster (20), Zach Randolph (25 – I can’t believe he’s 25; Jess Settles was 25 during his third senior year at Iowa) and Oden (19). The reserves are Dan Dickau, Travis Outlaw, Ime Udoka (who was a starter last year and performed well), Lamarcus Aldridge (last year’s No. 2 pick) and Joel Przybilla. Plus, the Blazers have Jamaal Magloire, Raef Lafrentz and Darius Miles to trade if they want to shore up the backcourt. Gotta like that future.

Sonics. If they can re-sign Rashard Lewis, this team will look pretty good when it moves to Oklahoma City, building around Lewis, Durant, Ray Allen and an emerging center in Robert Swift. Looks like the West will continue to dominate well into the 2010s.

Hawks. Getting to keep the pick is great, but who to take is a quandary. The best players are UNC’s Brandan Wright, Kansas’ Julian Wright and Florida’s Al Horford, but Horford is redundant to (though better than) Shelden Williams, and either Wright gives the Hawks another 6-7 to 6-9 tweener to go along with Josh Smith, Marvin Williams and Josh Childress. Of course, nothing wrong with stockpiling talent and see who emerges to play with Joe Johnson, but what this team really needs is a point guard or a center. It’ll be interesting to see if they reach for Mike Conley, Jr., or hope they can grab Acie Law with their No. 11 overall pick (if the Kings don’t take him at No. 10).

Projected Lottery (assuming no trades):

1. Blazers – Oden, Ohio State
2. Sonics – Durant, Texas
3. Hawks – Conley, Jr., Ohio State
4. Grizzlies – Horford, Florida
5. Celtics – Yi Jianlian, China
6. Bucks – Brandan Wright, UNC
7. Timberwolves – Corey Brewer, Florida
8. Bobcats - Julian Wright, Kansas
9. Bulls – Roy Hibbert, Georgetown
10. Kings – Thaddeus Young, Georgia Tech
11. Hawks – Acie Law, Texas A&M
12. 76ers – Jeff Green, Georgetown
13. Hornets – Joakim Noah, Florida
14. Clippers - Tiago Splitter, Spain

OK. I know. I’ve been a lousy blogger of late—there are plenty of excuses but none of them valid so I’ll apologize here (and on Al Sharpton’s show if he’ll have me, but no way am I meeting with Corzine at the governor’s mansion) and move on.

In an effort to make up for last time, here’s my sweep of things that have bugged me, thoughts in general, etc., from the last two weeks.

Hockey

This will be brief. I just want to go on the record as rooting for the cold weather and Canadian teams. I’m sure the Ducks (who, apparently, are no longer Mighty) have a good fan base, but no way Anaheim cares more about hockey than baseball, football, basketball or jai alai. So it’s nice to see Ottawa, Buffalo and Detroit still around—these people dig hockey. I’m done here.

NBA

I read a story on Ira Newble (yes, he’s still playing, though not much more than I am right now) rallying his teammates to the Darfur cause. Yes, this isn’t new but it also isn’t getting any better. His take is to put pressure on China, which has been unabashedly supporting the Sudanese government and, by extension, Sudan’s support of the janjaweed militias.

I like it when athletes have a social conscience, so I was impressed that Newble has rallied all the Cavs to sign a petition supporting his cause (remember, Beijing is hosting the next Summer Games). All but two—LeBron James and Damon Jones—signed. When asked why, LeBron said he didn’t have enough information and Jones issued a no comment. Total bullshit. Both have major business investments in China so are pleading ignorance instead of greed. I know, I need to grow up and realize that professional sports is all business and LeBron and Jones are hardly alone (hell, Jordan built an empire by ignoring social causes to make money), but it’s still a little disappointing. You always hope for more, and I applaud guys like Newble for taking a stand.

NBA Playoffs

I haven’t watched as much of the postseason as I’d like, but I think it’s been a pretty good one so far. There have been great storylines, with the Warriors bouncing the Mavs (props to BT for recognizing a potential upset there), McGrady again failing to advance past the first round and a truly great series between the Suns and Spurs. But here are the two things that jump out to me:

-) Carlos Boozer. The dude has been amazing, averaging 24 points and 12 rebounds and shooting over 50 percent from the floor. Can you imagine if he was still on the Cavs, paired with LeBron, with Z as a third option and Larry Hughes as the fourth? That team would have a legitimate shot at winning the NBA title. Meanwhile, Utah has become genuinely fun to watch. I never thought I’d see that.

-) The suspensions. Technically, the rule is the rule and Stoudemire left the bench area, but we need a little more leniency on this one. If he was actually involved in the altercation, a suspension is warranted. But he wasn’t. This rule needs to be addressed in the offseason, because it very well may have ruined the best series we’re going to get all postseason.

-) The Spurs. They may be dirty (Bowen is definitely borderline and Duncan whines a lot), but this team knows how to win. They’ve been on top for a long time and, unlike the Mavs, consistently beat inferior teams regardless of style or star power. Another NBA Finals MVP and Duncan may have locked up the nod as best player of this generation (over Shaq, Garnett, Kobe, etc.).

Baseball

It’s still too early. I’m happy as a Met fan, as are Red Sox fans, Brewers fans, Gil Meche fans (ie, Royals execs), etc. Similarly, things don’t look good for the Blue Jays and the Yanks and Phils have given up a lot of ground early (both teams will be in the thick of the playoff race regardless). But the bottom line: We still have 125 games to go.

They really need to shorten the baseball season to 120 games, have at least one off day per week, start the season in mid-April and end it in early October. Again, money is the reason this won’t happen (no owner wants to lose the gate of 20 home games) but it would make sense for everyone else.

As we Bucknellians know, the Mods are a world of their own, tucked between Lewisburg's major thoroughfare and the Bucknell Golf Club and isolated from the campus proper. There are lots of things to do over there -- build a hot-tub in your porch, as some enterprising engineering students did when we were there; toss beer cans in the air and practice hitting them with baseball bats; or just fall asleep in a parking spot, wearing one sandal.

Well, boys, add one more to the list:

In case you haven't noticed, Jeff Weaver - he of the 3.09 ERA in 2 starts against the Mets in last year's Championship Series - is receiving Karmic retribution in a big way. His "performance" today continues the worst beginning to a season for a starting pitcher ever. I have done no research to support that claim, but it simply must be true. To wit, here are his statistics, by game (in this handy chart that I may or may not have created myself):


That's right. According to ESPN, Weaver's best game this year was a 3 inning, 3 run outing which the Mariners (yes, they are the poor schlubs stuck with this waste of space) lost to the Angels. His worst outing of 6 earned and 1 out(!) was against the Kansas City Royals (No offense, Budds). And this j.o. (who, as you can see, ESPN thinks is a "loser") is making $8.3 million this year.

Only one logical conclusion can be drawn from this - it is a very unwise decision to f#@% with the Mets.

Labels: Complete Wastes of Space, D-Bags, Horrible Pitchers, Jeff Weaver

Surely you didn't think that I wouldn't highlight my earlier post on the possibility of Warrior success versus the Mavs? My adopted team has shown well this series. True, they are coming off a tough loss last night, but I challenge anyone who watched that game to tell me that the Mavs were the better team.

Even in their losses, I felt that the Warriors played better for the majority of each game. In Dallas' Game 2 win, the Warriors were right there with the desperate Mavs, on the Mavs' home court, before they lost their cool (albeit the Warriors' self-destruction that game was somewhat justified - the officiating that game was atrocious. After the W's took a 60-58 lead early in the third, the Mavs shot the next 16 free throws of the game, helping give Dallas a 13 point lead by the end of the third (and causing Davis and Jackson to go insane)).

Last night's game was interesting in that it followed a classic NBA formula: Home team jumps out to a 15-20 point lead with the help of an amped-up crowd, visiting team chips away at the lead to bring it back even, home team makes a couple plays at the end to pull it out. The only strange thing is, when games like these happen, the home team is always the underdog. Always. Which made me realize something for the first time last night - the Warriors are better than the Mavericks. They simply are. If these teams would play 100 times, the Warriors would win 70. The Warriors are more athletic, while the Mavs are more skilled. But - not to get too alpha male on you - it all comes down to sack. The Warriors have it. The Mavs don't. All eight Warriors play fearlessly, attacking and not worrying about mistakes. The same can only be said for Josh Howard and Jason Terry on Dallas' side. Dallas' caution, indecision, and general lack of confidence has been their downfall.

For the majority of last night's game, from early in the second quarter until the final three minutes, the Warriors dominated, outscoring the Mavs 80-50. Then, the two teams virtually switched identities. Don Nelson took his foot off the gas pedal. With three minutes left and his team up 9, he pulled in the reins and clearly instructed the team to run down the clock. The Warriors ran 1-4 sets on offense the rest of the way (with the exception of one ugly post-up by Jason Richardson). Not coincidentally, the Warriors did not score again.

Now, you might think that this is the biased opinion of a sore loser. And you'd probably be right. Clearly, some credit must go to Dirk, who made three consecutive huge plays (two three pointers sandwiching a blocked layup - the only shot in the last three minutes that the Warriors took while going to the bucket). But even with Dirk's heroics, I don't think the Mavs would have had a chance at winning if the Warriors kept attacking.

The bottom line, though, is that the Warriors are still in good shape. They are heading to Oakland, where their home court advantage has been as big as any that I've ever seen in the NBA. They have to be feeling pretty confident after destroying Dallas for much of the game. And what's more? BT will be there on Thursday, making some noise for the home team.

Revised prediction: Warriors in 6.

Labels: BT Gloating, Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks, Playoff Basketball, Warriors