Owners vs. Players- Get used to the new headline of owners vs. players because following Fridays unsuccessful attempt to bridge the gap between the two sides the NFL has officially plunged into the unknown. There was hope early on in the week that both sides could reach some sort of agreement to prevent a lockout but as the week progressed it became evident that a wide gap between the two sides remained. Revenue sharing between owners and players continues to be the main issue between the two sides and as of now it appears that the league is in serious danger of having a shortened or nonexistent season. Obviously this is disappointing news for anybody that considers themselves as fans of the NFL but the real loser of this situation has to be yours truly because without the NFL next year there will obviously be no fantasy football. At least this means that we won’t have to deal with ESPN fantasy expert Mathew Berry anymore. Seriously how do you become qualified for the job fantasy expert? Back to the owner vs. player problem, as was stated in last weeks post I’m backing the players in this one but the reality is that the players have the chips stacked against them in this battle. Owners can survive without their teams playing in a season but players on the other hand not so much. It’s a tough spot to be in as they want to make sure they get a fair share of league revenue but the fact is that without a season most NFL players have no way of earning money. This is of course besides Titans running back Chris Johnson who has claimed that he will be joining the US track and field team (someone tell Chris Johnson that the pay for track and field athletes isn’t anything special). Besides the loss of fantasy football the other main downfall of this whole lockout thing is that there won’t be any of HBO’s Hardknocks. Then again its not like any team was going to top the entertainment provided in last season by the New York Jets, so maybe this isn’t such a big loss overall. Regardless not one of the finer weeks in NFL history but at least my Yahoo news feed didn’t throw anymore Tom Brady hair pictures up there so it wasn’t all that bad.
NBA- In wake of the NFL’s lockout announcement rumors about an NBA lockout in 2011/2012 have ramped up. The current agreement expires in July so there is still time and obviously this isn’t a main priority for the players considering they are still playing right now. Upon losing to the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday the DEFCON system had to be reevaluated considering that the Heat were already at DEFCON 1. Government officials were sent to Miami to create a new DEFCON system and were hard at work on this task when they were abruptly told to stop following the Heats victory over the Lakers on Thursday. To be honest I’m a little surprised that the Lakers lost to the Heat given the way the Heat had been playing but lets face it the Heat are a very good team that is capable of beating anybody in the league. As a friend pointed out to me during the Heat game, why exactly do the Heat have such poor fan support? One of my initial problems with LeBron’s defection to Miami was the fan support that he left in Cleveland, no matter what was happening you could always count on buzzing crowd in Cleveland. If you watch almost any Heat game (like the Laker one on Thursday) at tip off you can see vacant seats in many places throughout the arena. I understand there is a lot more going on in Miami than Cleveland but I find it absolutely baffling that the Heat, when facing off against an elite team against the Lakers, struggle to sell out their arena. Back to the actual games, the Heat are going to struggle against good teams (like the Blazers) if James, Wade, and Bosh aren’t firing on all cylinders. I’ve never really been a Chris Bosh fan for whatever reason, most of it comes through handling his free agency through twitter, and seeing LaMarcus Aldridge abuse Bosh during the game was fantastic. Quick note on Aldridge, his last two months of basketball have been phenomenal but I still think the all-star committee got it right in leaving him off the Western conference squad.
I’ve never understood the obsession about Bosh being a superstar player, yes he put up impressive stats in Toronto but I’m more inclined every day to chalk this up to the fact that he was the only scoring option in Toronto. He’s not a player that you can build your team around and I think a fair comparison for him is a slightly worse version of Pau Gasol. Their career path is pretty similar in that they struggled playing for small market teams and then joined contenders. Obviously Gasol has flourished in his role on the Lakers while Bosh has so far struggled on the Heat; there is obviously a lot of time for Bosh to change this sentiment but I was very unimpressed with Bosh’s play against the Blazers. Quick note on the Blazers I was primed to write a glowing review on them following back to back wins against the Orlando Magic and Heat but then they somehow lost to the Charlotte Bobcats. This team is obviously improving as the season goes on but I still don’t think they can be considered a legitimate contender in the Western Conference. In other news the Knicks once again lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers, which is impossible to explain considering the Cavaliers have only one player that could actually play on a contender (Baron Davis). The Cleveland Cavaliers, owners of twelve wins, now posses three wins against the New York Knicks, for those of you that aren’t math majors that is twenty-five percents of the Cavaliers win total. The Knicks are exciting to watch but as evidenced by their eighteen-point loss (the game wasn’t even this close) to the Mavericks the Knicks aren’t a serious contender in the East. The Denver Nuggets have faded back into obscurity following Melo’s trade but since trading Melo they posses a record of six wins and two losses. Will see if they can hold up this pace but dealing Anthony could be a matter of addition by subtraction. Then in the weekly crazy Kevin Love line of the week Love tallied 16 points and 21 rebounds en route to establishing a new record for most consecutive double doubles (52).
MLB- Never to be outdone the MLB announced that they are planning there own lockout following this season. I’m not quite sure if this is a nice gesture to support their NFL and NBA colleagues or just the MLB trying to reclaim SportsCenter. Of course this is just a joke, sorry to frighten all you MLB fans, but there is really nothing to report besides spring training continuing. The countdown to the MLB season is at a little more than two weeks as I write this column, considering the monumental effort requiring in editing these articles it will probably be closer to one week until opening day once I publish this.
NCAA Football- It has been a nightmarish offseason for NCAA football as allegations of improper recruiting and most recently Jim Tressel’s violations have captured headlines. Regarding Tressel, the NCAA is a complete joke in only suspending Tressel for two games when he acknowledged that he knew of his player’s wrong doing. For a quick recap for those not up to speed with Tressel’s suspension, the NCAA this past week suspended Tressel for the opening two games of next season after he admitted that he knew of his players breaking rules dealing with improper benefits. These five players, headlined by Terrelle Pyror, were suspended for the first five games of next season following the NCAA ruling that they received improper benefits. When these allegations came out Tressel denied any knowledge of their actions and wasn’t punished as a result. A couple months later Tressel acknowledges that he was aware of their actions and didn’t do anything to stop it. Quick history lesson, the University of Southern California was put on a much harsher penalty, including a two-year postseason ban and loss of scholarships, for lack of institutional control in their recruitment and handling of Reggie Bush. It can’t be proved but then head coach Pete Carroll has always maintained that he knew nothing of Reggie Bush receiving improper benefits. These are two very similar situations dealing with improper benefits but in one situation the head coach was aware and did nothing and in the other the head coach was unaware (or at least Pete Carroll says he was). Common sense would tell you that Ohio State should have been the school punished more harshly but somehow the NCAA found it fitting to punish USC more harshly, which is just fine by me seeing as the Trojans play in the Pac-10. This whole situation is completely laughable and if I’m a Trojan fan I would be livid at the NCAA’s ruling against Tressel. Funnily enough this is the second questionable ruling against Ohio State in the past three months, with the first one being allowing Pryor and the five others to play in the Orange Bowl after they admitted to receiving improper benefits.
I deliberately waited on bringing up the Oregon situation until now hoping that more facts would pop up or the NCAA would make some sort of ruling but that hasn’t been the case. Here’s a quick primer on the situation, Yahoo sports reporter Charles Robinson published a report that showed Oregon paying around twenty eight thousand dollars to two men with close ties to recruits that ended up with Oregon. The main question regards Oregon’s payment of twenty five thousand dollars to Willie Lyles, a relative unknown in the college recruiting world. Just to clarify it is acceptable for a university to pay a scouting service for videotapes, player measurements, and player contact information, but these fees hardly ever approach the twenty five thousand dollar mark the Ducks paid Willie Lyles. There are many well-known scouting services that charge various figures, usually topping out around ten thousand or so dollars, for these services but Lyles isn’t known for offering these services and the twenty five thousand fee is very high. Lyles has been linked to Oregon running back Lache Seastrunk (who redshirted this past year) and the fee he charged Oregon has been interpreted as something of a pay off for Lyles insuring that Seastrunk ends up at Oregon.
College football has always been kind of a gray area and Oregon is the latest program to come under NCAA scrutiny for recruiting practices. As a Duck fan I’m not going to lie the situation does appear sketchy but I don’t know all the facts so maybe I’m missing something. Maybe Lyles actually supplied the Ducks with a variety of recruiting services we just don’t know that yet, so give it some time for the facts to come out. The NCAA has already started their investigation into Oregon and Lyles, although knowing their speed it may be a couple decades before we get final results. It doesn’t look great for the Ducks and for a second consecutive offseason the Ducks are going to be portrayed in a negative light but I don’t think it’s a given that Oregon ends up getting in major trouble in the investigation. First you have to look at it like this, would Oregon really be stupid enough to write the Lyles expense in their expense documents if they felt like they were doing something wrong. I certainly hope not considering that I’m trying to get my degree from Oregon and writing an illegal expense in public documents indicates a serious lack of intelligence and or common sense. Secondly its going to be fairly easy to prove that Oregon was doing business with a sketchy individual in Lyles (this has basically been proven), but its going to be very tough to prove that Oregon paid Lyles in return for Lyles guaranteeing that Seastrunk would end up in Eugene. Barring Seastrunk or Lyles admitting to wrong doing, not likely in my books, I don’t think the NCAA can hit Oregon with a major penalty. I think that its very likely that Oregon ends up getting some sort of minor punishment like a loss of scholarships or something of that nature but I think the ultimate end result of this is that the NCAA will start cracking down on these street agents like Lyles. Some feel that the NCAA, because of the questionable nature of recruiting, is targeting Oregon unfairly but the fact is that Oregon has a paper trail linking them to Lyles. I have a friend that maintains that all elite football prospects are paid under the table for committing to a school, this is impossible but there is ample evidence that this sort of action does exist (SMU violations, Fab Five at Michigan, Reggie Bush). Its almost impossible to regulate all of this and recruiting obviously isn’t a clean area of athletics but that’s just the way it is. The good news from my point of view is that the NCAA hasn’t gotten wind of my recruitment to the Wet Bandits and I hope it stays this way.
NCAA Basketball- I’m not going to break down selection Sunday but if I had to pick my two favorites entering the tournament I would pick Ohio State and Kansas as the teams to beat. I will say that I accidently gave my Dad, a Middlebury and Harvard graduate, false hope that one of his college team made the college tournament only to realize that they in fact didn’t make it. I spoke a little to soon in stating that Harvard was going to make the dance before they lost in heartbreaking fashion to rival Princeton on Saturday. I’m not sure how my Dad’s recovery is going, but I’m not entirely sure my Dad would have been aware of Harvard’s situation if I hadn’t brought it up. Back to the teams that made the tournament, I’m not quite sure how UAB made it seeing as they beat no one but it was worth it just to see Virginia Tech’s fan base cry bloody murder. Note to Virginia Tech fans, beating the number one team doesn’t guarantee tournament entry especially when you lose the majority of the games to lesser teams following the Duke victory.
1. Boston Red Sox- The Red Sox, after a disappointing 2010 campaign, moved aggressively in the free agent market and came away with Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. It’s not very often that a team can add two all-stars in the prime of their career but this just speaks to the spending ability of teams like the Red Sox and Yankees. The investments in Crawford and Gonzalez have set the bar for the Red Sox at championship or bust but its not like this is anything new for manager Terry Francona or the Red Sox. This team boasts arguably the strongest offense in the MLB with these new signings, but the key to Red Sox making another title run will be keeping this team healthy. This team last year was never healthy and as a result never reached its full potential. Getting Jacoby Ellsbury (the Greg Oden of baseball) and Dustin Pedroia back healthy can also be considered offseason additions since neither Ellsbury nor Pedroia played half the season last year. This team had serious issues closing games last year but I think that Jonathan Papelbon will bounce back from last years down campaign. Also I think that this will finally be the year that it can be proven that J.D. Drew actually can’t show any emotion, or Apple comes out and says Drew was a robot designed to play baseball. Regardless this team is aiming for a title and if they can stay healthy (a big if) they look like the favorites heading into the season.
2. New York Yankees- The Yankees are still going to score runs but the question is if their rotation will be able to contain other teams offenses. Slightly off topic but the Onions piece poking fun at Derek Jeter is hilarious and I felt it needed inclusion, link here, http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/derek-jeter-rejects-move-to-outfield-by-reminding,19407/ Behind C.C. Sabathia and Phil Hughes in the rotation there is the question mark known as A.J. Burnett and two spots still open for grabs. Andy Pettitte’s retirement was a tough blow for this team and picking from Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, and others to replace Pettitte is certainly not something that you would expect the Yankees to be doing, but this is their status as we approach the season. If Garcia and Colon (prospect Ivan Nova could also grab a slot) can be serviceable as the fourth and fifth starters this team will contend for a wild card slot. On the other hand if the fourth and fifth starters struggle I think that the Yankees could be watching the playoffs from home.
3. Tampa Bay Rays- As always I still included the name Devil Rays but at the last second I remembered manager Joel Maddon charges fans a dollar for saying the dreaded Devil Rays name. As we all know since intramural season is now over I am no longer getting payed by University of Oregon boosters so I can’t really pay the dollar fine. This team experienced something of a mass exodus through trades and free agency but their minor league system continues to churn out quality player after quality player so its hard to rule this team out as contenders. The new crop of players is led by starting pitcher Jeremey Hellickson, who pitched great in his stint as an injury replacement and spot starter, who will fill the void left by the departure of Matt Garza. This teams rotation is deep and talented and their offense isn’t too shabby either so a playoff berth isn’t out of the question but ultimately I think they will fade out of the playoff picture at the end of the season.
4. Toronto Blue Jays- I don’t think many people realize A) that Canada has a baseball team and B) this team will be good this year. Going back to my first point the Blue Jays are always kind of forgotten about and it doesn’t help their recognition around the league when they just traded their most well known player but this team is a year or two off from being a playoff contender if their players continue their development. The trade of Vernon Wells will hurt this team in the short run but this did wonders for their long term cap flexibility, not that any free agents are going to want to play in Toronto but still a good move. The Jays will once again struggle to finish with a .500 record due to the strength of the East but if they stay the course this team will surprise some people in the coming years.
5. Baltimore Orioles- Another team in the AL East that looks to have a promising future, the Orioles enter their first full season with manager Buck Showalter at the helm and if they can play how they finished last year they have a shot at escaping the AL East cellar. The Orioles still have plenty of holes but are beginning to see young talent break through to the major league level headlined by the debut of catcher Matt Wieters last year and this year promises to bring the debut of more homegrown prospects. I have to point out that Orioles star center fielder, and one of my favorite players, Adam Jones was given away by the Mariners (they seem to have a talent for giving away promising players) for nothing. The Orioles surprisingly were quite active in the offseason bringing in corner infielders Derek Lee and Mark Reynolds (still looking for a good strikeout nickname for him) and designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero to bolster the offense. This team is still going to have plenty of growing pains but there is hope for the future in Baltimore.
NL East
1. Philadelphia Phillies- The Phillies are the prohibitive NL favorites entering the year which is quite puzzling because their rotation has plenty of question marks (yes that was sarcasm ). Their offense still remains potent at every position with the only major transition being Dominic Brown and Ben Francisco filling in for the departed Jayson Werth. Side note, I don’t know what it is about the NL East but they have to have the most exciting young talent in the game (Brown, Stephen Strassburg, Mike Stanton, Jason Heyward) out of all the divisions. Also want to give some props to Cliff Lee who actually took a slight pay cut in returning to the Phillies over the summer. It was rumored that Lee would head to whichever team would pay him the most, funny quote from an ESPN writer, Cliff Lee would play in Siberia if they paid him the most, instead Lee took slightly less (were talking a hundred million dollars so really not that much) to return to Philly. Barring a complete meltdown this team is playoff bound and with their rotation should make good on the preseason hype of title favorites.
2. Florida Marlins- There are three levels in the NL East; the Phillies at the top, then the Marlins, Braves, and Mets, and then at the bottom the Nationals. Out of the three teams in the second tier of the NL East I like the Marlins as the ones to finish behind the Phillies. As always the Marlins are full of young studs that will unfortunately be playing for a new team in a couple years due to the fact that the Marlins have no payroll. I think I might as well just start calling the Marlins a minor league team for big market teams because this has been their job in recent years, develop promising young players and then see them walk away to big markets. Memo to the MLB send this team to someplace that cares and get this team a new owner that will spend money on the team. Back to the actual team, led by Josh Johnson the Marlins have a great rotation that ranks among the best in the league. If Hanley Ramirez can get some support from prospects Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison on the offensive side of the ball I think that the Marlins could be a surprise contender for the NL wild card berth. Fearless prediction eighty-three wins and no playoffs for the Marlins, as well as a postseason move to Portland (we can hope).
3. Atlanta Braves- It’s a new era for the Braves with Fredi Gonzalez taking over the managerial reigns for Bobby Cox and we can only hope that we will never see Brooks Conrad play defense again. The dude might be able to hit but it’s going to be near impossible for him to win over Atlanta fans after his choke job in last years post season. The good news for Gonzalez is that with Chipper Jones coming back from injury and the addition of Dan Uggla (Florida not spending money once again) it appears that Conrad can go back to his utility/pinch hitter role that he excelled in last year. After the arrival of Jason Heyward last year the Braves are poised to break in another new top prospect this year in Freddie Freeman who will most likely be the Braves starting first baseman when they break camp. The rotation led by ace Tim Hudson once again looks to be solid but the bullpen is a relative unknown after the departure of closer Billy Wagner. My prediction for the Braves is for them to end the season right around .500.
4. New York Mets- This team has the talent to be a decent team but its hard to expect them to finish near the top of their division when almost all of their players are coming off significant injuries or have considerable injury concerns. The Mets have question marks at second base and center field and their depth behind the starters, for when they inevitably get injured, is pretty thin. Then there is the mess known as the pitching staff, I’m not sure where to start but the back end of their rotation for the beginning of the season, Johan Santana is out with injury, doesn’t look promising and who knows what closer Francisco Rodriguez will be able to give the Mets this year. As mentioned I’m not sure what exactly the Mets are capable of doing but I can guarantee that they will not be a National League playoff team.
5. Washington Nationals- The Nationals actually made news in the baseball world for the first time in a while (maybe ever?) and it actually wasn’t for whom they picked first in the draft. Although they also did that as well but they made news this past offseason for throwing money at Jayson Werth in attempt to bring some credibility to the perennial losing machine known as the Nationals. I understand why the “credibility” signings are made but I really don’t like these moves because what it really means is your drastically over paying for a player (see Royals Gil Meche). In the absence of Stephen Strassburg who will be sidelined for much, if not all, of the year while recovering Tommy John surgery National fans will at least have the pleasure of watching one man highlight show Ryan Zimmerman. However behind Zimmerman and Werth there is nothing to watch on this team, their pitching staff will make you want to turn off the TV. Expect another poor season as Nationals fans (if there are any) dream about the day that Strassburg returns and top prospect Bryce Harper makes it to the league.
The Week Moving Forward-
Owners vs. Players- Hopefully Vegas will set an over under line for the owner vs. player struggle, besides that there’s really not much to look forward to.
NBA- Now that the whole Heat DEFCON situation has gone away the focus can go back to the other 29 teams in the NBA, 28 once you subtract the Cavaliers of course. The playoff picture will continue to become more clear with the Portland Blazers leading the way of course (no bias involved there). As of now I’m still liking the Lakers coming out of the West but I’m kind of shying away from the Celtics in the East, I promise by playoff time I’ll pick an East favorite.
MLB- No one cares about spring training, but in case your wondering it’s unfortunately still going on.
NCAA Basketball- I will convince myself that three significantly lower seeded teams will pull out an upset only to see my bracket go up in flames when it doesn’t happen, it’s a yearly tradition. I will also be making it back home following finals to check on my Dad’s condition following the Harvard false alarm, I’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile enjoy the first two games of the tournament on TruTv, no that’s not a misprint.
NCAA Football- I will most likely throw one of my Wet Bandit teammates to the NCAA investigators to relieve pressure on the Duck football team.
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