First thing's first: Happy New Year!  It's been a long time since I've made an entry, but for my final post of 2008 (or first post of 2009), I'm bringing back an old tradition.  Officially, Sports Graffiti has never seen the Year End Review/Upcoming Year Preview post, but back in the days when Tripod hosted my sports blog, and even later when it moved over to my own domain at www.lostedge.com, this particular entry was an all time classic.  The predictions have been remarkably accurate over the years, including an amazing run several years back when I correctly stated that the New Englad Patriots would defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl--a full 13 months before the game kicked off.  Even more ridiculous than that... I got the final score exactly right too! 

Here we go...

2008 Rewards
All Awards are for the Calender Year

TEAMS
Best Pro Basketeball Team: Boston Celtics
Best College Basketball Team: Memphis Tigers
Best Pro Football Team: New England Patriots (they played their best games in 2007, then lost the Super Bowl in 2008 to the Giants, but they're still the best NFL team ever.)
Best College Football Team:  Florida Gators
Best Hockey Team: Detroit Red Wings
Best Baseball Team: Philadelphia Phillies
All Sport Coach of the Year: Joe Madden, Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays
All Sport Executive of the Year: Dale Tallon, Chicago Blackhawks
Most Impressive Performance:  New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII
Comeback Team of the Year:  Chicago Blackhawks
Surprise Team of the Year:  Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays

PLAYERS
Best Pro Basketball Player: Lebron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
Best College Basketball Player: Derrick Rose, Memphis Tigers (remember, since rewards are based on the calender year, Rose is eligible as a pro and as a collegian since in 2008, he was both)
Best Pro Football Player: Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings
Best College Football Player: Tim Tebow, Florida Gators
Best Hockey Player: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Best Baseball Player: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
All Sport MVP: Lebron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
All Sport Rookie of the Year: Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
Most Impressive Performance:   Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics, during the NBA Playoffs (Sorry, Michael Phelps, but swimming isn't a sport)
Comeback Player of the Year: Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals 
Surprise Player of the Year:  Milton Bradley, Texas Rangers

2009 Predictions
A comprehensive look of what might happen in 2009

JANUARY
--In Wrigley Field, with temperatures topping out at 32 degrees, the Chicago Blackhawks defeat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in the NHL Winter  Classic.
--The Oklahoma Sooners defeat the Florida Gators in the BCS Championship Game 43-27.  MVP honors go to Chris Brown, who rushes for 135 yards and 3 TDs.
--Mike Shannahan is named head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
--Despite a vote of confidence from Jerry Jones, Wade Phillips is fired as Cowboys coach.
--A teary Brett Favre retires from football, again.

FEBRUARY
--Ray Lewis racks up 13 tackles and a fumble recovery in Super Bowl XLII as the Baltimore Ravens narrowly defeat the Minnesota Vikings 24-20 to take home the Lombardi Trophy.
--The day after the game, Bill Cowher resigns from his studio job at CBS to take on his new endeavor:  Head Football Coach of the New York Jets.
--Rounding out Baseball's free agent signings, Jason Giambi returns to the Oakland A's, Manny Ramirez joins the New York Yankees, the Red Sox bring back Derek Lowe, and Ben Sheets signs with the Atlanta Braves.
--Matt Cassell recieves the franchise tag from the Patriots.  He's traded to the Vikings for a first round pick.
--The Celtics' Paul Pierce creates a scare when he goes down hard and limps off the court during a regular season game.  He returns in the second half and scores 14 points.

MARCH
--Wake Forest, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and UCONN enter the NCAA Tournament as the #1 seeds.
--Before a standing room crowd of 56,000 at New Yankee Stadium, the Yankees beat the Cubs 5-2 in the stadium's first exhibition game.
--In a game that doesn't quite live up to expectations, North Carolina cuts down the nets in front of Georgetown, winning the National Championship 73-58.

APRIL
--The Arizona Cardinals trade WR Anquan Boldin to the Colts for second and fourth round draft picks.  Boldin goes on to lead the AFC in catches and touchdowns.
--Snow once again causes problems during MLB's opening week.  Home games for the Brewers, White Sox, Tigers, Cubs, and Indians are all postponed due to inclimate weather.
--For the second straight season, the Kansas City Chiefs are forced to burn a premium draft choice in their attempt to replace the pass rush of Jared Allen, and select DE Brian Orakpo from Texas as the third overall pick in the NFL Draft.  To the surprise of few, the Detroit Lions make QB Sam Bradford of Oklahoma the top choice.

MAY
--The Yankees place starter AJ Burnett on the disabled list with "shoulder inflamation."  Burnett doesn't return to the rotation until after the All Star break, but is only mediocre the rest of the season.
--Unable to garner interest from any MLB team, Sammy Sosa reluctantly retires. 

JUNE
--The Boston Bruins hoist the Stanley Cup on home ice, defeating the San Jose Sharks in 6 games.
--In his first game in Fenway Park as a visitor since being traded to the Dodgers, Manny Ramirez is booed (figuratively, of course) to death.  He goes 0-4 with an RBI in a Yankees 3-0 victory over the Red Sox.
--Kobe Bryant and the Lakers get their revenge.  The Lakers down the Celtics 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals.  Bryant, who averages 37.0 ppg in 7 games, easily wins MVP.
--In a shocking turn of events, the Dallas Cowboys give Terrell Owens his outright release.  Owens signs a 1 year contract with the Redskins.
--Browns QB Derek Anderson is another cap casualty, as Cleveland dedicates its' offense to Brady Quinn.  Anderson signs with the Lions. 

JULY
--Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood and defenseman Chris Chelios announce their retirements from the NHL.
--In the game of the year, young stud Aces face off in Tampa Bay.  The Ray's David Price no-hits the Mariners through 9 innings, but doesn't get the win.  Felix Hernandez shuts down the Rays, allowing 2 hits and zero runs through 9 innings.  Tampa Bay wins in the 11th on a walk off suicide squeeze bunt.
--The National League cannot win an All Star game if their lives depended on it.  The AL beats the NL 10-6 in the Mid-Summer Classic, earning home field advantage in the World Series.
--The White Sox trade slugger Jermaine Dye to the reeling Devil Rays, who find themselves 5 games behind the Red Sox for the AL Wild Card.
--Mark McGuire is once again ignored by Hall of Fame voters, getting onlly 37% of votes.  His silent frustration tells an obvious truth.
--Ben Gordon signs a lucrative multi-year contract with the Phoenix Suns.

AUGUST
--Chicago officials are seperated on a plan to rebuild Wrigley Field, as crumbling concrete forces park closures for random stretches throughout the summer.
--EA Sports debuts NFL Madden 2010.  Micheal Turner graces the cover.  His overall rating in the game is a 93.  He plays all 16 games in the 2009 season for the Falcons.
--The New York Mets begin their annual NL East decent a month early, losing 12 of 16 games and falling 4 games behind the Phillies in the divisional race.  They'll rebound to capture the divisional title.


SEPTEMBER
--The Chicago Cubs, amongst heated pressure from fans everywhere, fail to win their third straight divisional title.  They still hold on to win the NL Wild Card. 
--The Ravens unveil their Super Bowl banner on NFL opening night.  They beat the Chargers 21-14.
--Tom Brady makes his return to the New England Patriots.  His debut is unspectacular, however, as he throws for only 197 yards, 1 TD, and 2 INTs.  The Pats lose to the Colts 27-10.
--Lebron James shocks the NBA world, signing a 10 year contract extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers.  During the length of his contract he wins 5 MVPs, and 1 NBA Championship.
--Tony LaRussa resigns as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.

OCTOBER
--All that money finally did what it's intended to do... the Yankees roll over Diamondbacks and win the World Series in 4 games, none of which are decided by more than 2 runs.  Derek Jeter wins the MVP, batting .408 in the series with a walk off Game 2 home run.  Mariano Rivera saves all 4 wins.
--Just 5 games into the season, Notre Dame officials convene and decide to fire coach Charlie Weis following the team's awful 1-4 start.
--Rogers Clemens publishes his tell all book in which he gives explicit details of his own steroid usage throughout his baseball career.  The book sells 2.5 million copies.
--Ryan Howard is named NL MVP after hitting 60 regular season home runs.  In the offseason, he is awarded an 8-year, $160 million contract.

NOVEMBER
--Among those who retire from MLB: Mariano Rivera, Frank Thomas, and Pedro Martinez.
--Ohio State QB Terrell Pryor has the best game of his career, passing for 340 yards and 3 TDs in a win over Michigan.
--The sale of the Chicago Cubs is finalized.  The new owners are a group of billionaires who plan to keep the team in Wrigley and upgrade the stadium in 2010, bringing a more modern look to the oldest stadium in baseball.
--The Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys both lose at home on Thanksgiving day.

DECEMBER
--Charlie Weis is back in the NFL.  He lands an offensive coordinator position with the Carolina Panthers.
--Norv Turner is fired as coach of the Chargers after they fail to make the playoffs. 
--The Indianapolis Colts and Atlanta Falcons enter the NFL playoffs as their respective conferences' top seeds, and are the favorites to meet in the Super Bowl.

Make the Correct Calls, Or Else Ditch Replay
Last week at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, a Colts kick returner fumbled while apparently tripping over an invisible line.  The referees ruled the player down by contact, but the Chicago Bears challenged that the player was not down by contact, and that they recovered the fumble.  After review, it was painfully obvious that the Colts runner was not touched and fumbled in mid-air.  The call stood as called due to, apparently, the ref's being unable to determine who recovered the football, even though Bear's running back Garrett Wolfe emerged from the pile with the ball in hand.  Yesterday during the Broncos-Chargers game (in which Broncos coach boldly--and successfully--went for a 2-point conversion down by 1 point with 0:24 remaining), Broncos QB Jay Cutler clearly fumbled a ball that was originally called an incomplete pass, and the Chargers recovered the would-be fumble.  After the booth review, since it was inside the 2-minute warning, the call was not overturned.  Don't ask me how the Broncos ended up with possession 8 yards back from the previous play because I don't have the slightest clue how that can be possible if the pass was incomplete.  A correct call on that play and the Chargers are in first place this week rather than Denver.  The point is: If the NFL and its referees cannot overturn a slam dunk replay, the ditch the replay rule all together.  It is indeed only slowing down the game and wasting time if they can't overturn the most obvious of mistakes. 

Only Fourteen Games to go, Chiefs Fans
The Kansas City Chiefs have started out 0-2, and with the way they've played, I see no reason to believe things are going to get any better.  During these two miserable games, they've allowed 9 sacks while achieving only 2, can't run the football, can't stop the run, and their asinine, convservative playbook is producing only 9.0 points per game.  These are al the same problems that plagued them last year, en route to a 4-12 season, a 31st ranked offense, and a current 11-game regular season losing streak.  Yesterday, an apparently healthy QB Damon Huard, who was recently ranked by foxsports.com as the 6th best backup QB in the entire NFL, and who was starting this game due to an injury to opening day starter Brodie Croyle, was pulled from the starting lineup in lieu of a practice squad WR Marques Hagans.  Hagans was replaced by 3rd stringer Tyler Thigpen after one play, a QB draw.  Hagans was inserted later in the game, for a 2nd down and 17 to go, a play in which he also ran a QB draw.  Thigpen rarely attempted a throw longer than 10 yards, as evidenced by his atrocious 4.57 yards per attempt.  With any luck, the Chiefs will lose the next 14 games, and by finishing 0-16, the Hunt family will have no choice but to fire GM Carl Peterson, HC Herm Edwards, and every single one of Edward's awful assistants.  The worst thing that can happen to a Chiefs fan at this point is for the team to come back and finish with a respectable record, thus buying Peterson and Edwards more time to further screw up the team.

Patriots Win, But Skeptisicm Remains.
I watched most of the Pats-Jets game yesterday and picked the Jets in my weekly Pro Football Pick'em on fantasysports.yahoo.com.  Though the Patriots won without the best player in the NFL, QB Tom Brady, I'm planning on staying as far away from them in picks for the next couple weeks.  I need to see the team play more games minus Brady before I can conclusively say that they are still a serious contender.  After the Brady injury, I predicted they could do no better than 10 wins, more likely, 8.  Brady makes that big of a difference.  Will I pick them this week at home to beat the 0-2 Miami Dolphins?  Yes.  But I'm not all that confident about it, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see the 'Fins pull the upset.  I'm also in a Survivor Pool on Yahoo, and there is no way I am circling New England this week.  Instead, I'll look at Buffalo at home against Oakland, Chicago at home against Tampa, or Denver at home against New Orleans.

If you're a Whatifsports.com Hardball Dynasty (HBD) player, you most certainly have some ideas on how to fix or improve this ever-growing and highly popular internet fantasy baseball game.  If you're never played it or never heard of HBD, read the following anyway, and check HBD out for yourself. 

1) Stolen Base Aggressiveness Tweak

The Manager Settings screen allows you to globally set how often or how "aggressive" your players will be in attempting steals.  However, the game doesn't take into account for players with poor speed or baserunning skills.  If you've got a great leadoff hitter with speed and baserunning ratings in the 90's and set your aggressiveness to a 4, you'll also see your 35-year-old cleanup hitter with multiple knee surgeries and 15 speed attempting stolen bases as well.  There should be a threshold setting where a player below a certain speed or baserunning rating will not attempt steals, or the game should allow players to micro manage basestealing on an individual basis.  I might want that leadoff man to steal every time he reaches first, but that cleanup guy should stay put 100% of the time.  If I set my aggressiveness too low, my leadoff guy won't steal either.  That's a problem.

2) Drag and Drop 'Roster Management' Screen

If you play HBD and also play fantasy sports on Yahoo! just think of the possibilities!  To demote an ML player down to AAA, just click and drag his name over from the ML roster to the AAA roster on a split screen.  The left side shows your ML club with a drop down box showing the other levels (AAA, AA, HiA, LoA, Rookie).  The right side shows the AAA roster with another drop down box.  To move a guy from AA to HiA, select the drop down box on ML and change to AA.  Select the drop down box on AAA and change to HiA.  Drag the AA player's name over to HiA, and press 'submit.'  VOILA!!!  Also, another screen can be added for other moves such as transactions on the 40-man roster,  to and from the DL/trade block/playoff roster, and all moves related to the Rule V draft.  Once perfected, this simple Drag-and-Drop feature must necessarily be copied over to the lineup and pitching staff screens.

3) Pickoff Rating

I understand that this might be somewhat controversial.  A pickoff rating for pitchers would add an extra dimension to the base running game and could also figure in to the stolen base aggressiveness tweak ("Ok, I don't want any player slower than 85 to run on any pitcher with a pickoff rating of 75 or better.").  The pickoff rating, the way I see it, should be two dimensional.  It should obviously tell you how good a pitcher is at picking off baserunners and how often he'll try to pick a runner off.  But it should also tell you how quick a guy is to home plate.  Some righthanded pitchers are not going to actually pick guys off first base, but they are so quick in delivering to home plate that their catcher has a better chance to throw a potential theif out once he is on the move.  A guy like this might still have a decent pickoff rating.

4) Better Homerun AI

Simply put, a guy who hits .185 vs left handed pitching is not always going to hit the ball over the fence 60% of the time he makes contact just because he can bench press 300 pounds.  I'd like to see a lot less players hitting 60+ or even 50+ home runs.  Even in the steroid era in baseball, there were only a handful of players hitting 50 HRs each season, and this year, there will be zero.  I know there are several factors leading to this including the parks and the pitchers that some GMs will throw out there, but I'd still like to see something done to more accurately reflect real life Major League Baseball in the power department.

5) Specialists that actually see Innings

I had a left handed specialst on my roster at one point that was probably born for the role.  He had very low stamina (single digits) and halfway decent control with a rating vs righties in the 30's and a rating vs lefties in the high 70's.  Over approximately 50 games, he saw a grand total of 2.1 innings pitched and didn't allow a baserunner.  Frustrated, I changed his role to setup B to get him some work.  I have no idea how the AI determines how and when a specialist is used but it needs further fixing. 

6) Ability to include Future Cash considerations in Trades

Ok, maybe I shouldn't have given that 33-year-old free agent a 5-year contract.  Ooops, my bad.  But just because I made that mistake doesn't mean I should have to live with it over the life of the contract.  In my world, I've seen GMs try desperately--and unsuccessfully--to trade players with years on their contracts.  Sometimes, paying the full salary for this season isn't enough, but if I could pay half of the remaining two or three years on his deal I am more likely to be able to find a fool--er, ummm, make that a bargain shopper--to take him off my hands.  Everybody wins!

7) Another new rating for pitchers--Command

Command of the strike zone and control are two different things, in my book.  While control is a rating that would indicate how likely a pitcher is to issue a walk, command would tell the GM how likely he is to hit his target within the strikezone.  For example, the count is 0-2 and my pitcher is about to throw his wipeout pitch: Uncle Charlie, the curveball.  A pitcher with a high command rating would put that sucker right in the dirt where it needs to be.  BAM!  Strike 3.  A player with poor command would be more prone to hang that meatball over the middle of the plate. 

8) Coach Hiring

Hardly anybody likes the coach hiring process.  All that needs to be done is allow us to sign coaches to multi-year deals.  Improve the AI a bit so they don't want to get other offers from teams as often, especially when they have a high loyalty rating. 

9) Ability to Convert starters to relievers and relievers to starters

John Smoltz: was a starter, then a closer, now a starter.  Mariano Rivera:  Starter, then closer.  Derek Lowe:  Starter, then closer, now starter.  Jonathan Papelbon:  Starter, then closer.  Kerry Wood:  Starter, now closer.  Bobby Jenks:  Starter, now closer.  Ryan Dempster:  Starter, then closer, now starter.  It's probably not very often that teams draft college and high school pitchers as relief pitchers.  Normally these guys are starters, and sometimes they struggle as such, until a coach with an outside the box mind converts them to the bullpen.  To keep things simple (and realistic), you shouldn't be able to convert any pitcher you want from starter to closer or vice versa, but more likely a pitching coach would send you an email in your correspondance box telling you he feels that Joe Schmoe or John Ron would have a better career if he were converted from one to the other.  The GM has the option to make the change, and to aid in this decision, the pitching coach (with help from the advanced scouts, of course) would tell me what changes I can expect to see in projected stamina and durability.  For example, Joe Schmoe is a starter in Class High A with current/projected stamina of 52/69 and durability of 20/23.  The HiA pitching coach thinks he'll be better as a relief pitcher and says that he can change those ratings to 18/25 and 70/85, along with improving his control and pitch 1 and 2 ratings if converted to a reliever.  It's up to me to decide if I want to do it.  How often and how accurate these projections are depend on:  How good is my pitching coach and how high is my advanced scouting budget?

10) Softer Demotion Penalties

I don't like that if I bring up a mediocre or decent prospect to the majors and then later decide I need the roster spot for somebody else, that I am almost obligated to keep him on the ML roster because if I demote him to AAA I know he will take ratings hits accross the board.  Just make it so only players with terrible makeup will see this effect.  The majority of professional athletes have enough mental fortitude that taking one demotion in their lifetime isn't going to permantly regress their ability to do their job.

11)  Allow injured or demoted players to gain back projected ratings

I had a star player on my roster miss 11 games with a forearm cramp.  Although just 25 years old, and only sustaining the most minor of all injuries, his projected power rating permantly went from 85 to 83.  Absolutely absurd.  More realstically, his current power rating, which is 79 should have fallen to 77 for a couple weeks, while still partially recovering from the cramp.  His projected power should have stayed at 85.  A demoted player might occasionally see current ratings drops, but this should rarely and/or moderately have any affect on his projected ratings.

There are other aesthetic/cosmetic changes I'd like to see made, but these are the major ones that have significant impact on how the player plays the game.  Stay tuned for the possibility of Part II.  And for those interested, I run the Tampa Bay Angry Dragons in public world Spahn.

Don't Tell Me how to Feel
I absolutely hate being told how I should feel after a win or a loss. A feeling is a naturally occurring phenomenon and if my feelings don't match the way some clown thinks I should feel, that doesn't make me an "idiot." Following the recent three game sweep that the White Sox handed the Cubs at U.S. Cellular Field this past weekend, an associate claiming to be a neutral-that is, he is a fan of both the Sox and the Cubs-told me I'm an idiot for being happier than usual after the three wins.

His reasons? We've all heard them before. Because the Cubs are not in the White Sox division-they aren't even in the same league-so I should be happier if they were to sweep the Twins, Tigers, or Indians. While true that sweeping one of the latter teams benefits the White Sox in the standings more so than the Cubs, that doesn't mean I can't put something extra into my celebration.

For the record, I didn't celebrate any more than I would normally have if it were any other team. After all, the Cubs swept the Sox last weekend at Wrigley Field. But I was happy today that I didn't have to walk around with my head hanging low, trying desperately to avoid the fans of the other team and their inevitable humiliating comments. You know the feeling. At the office, you walk down five flights of stairs just because if you take the elevator, you have to walk right past the desk of that obnoxious fan of your team's rival. Sure, you're out of breath when you return from your smoke break, but at least you didn't have to hear that annoying guy rhetorically ask with a big silly grin "Hey, how about them Sox?" Guys like him-I'll call him Loudmouth-make my life hell. What's great is that when the Sox win I don't have to say a darned thing to him. My joy is that Loudmouth hangs his head low and tries to avoid me for a change. I love that.

Besides that, who are you to tell me who I can root for and root against, and why the heck can't I have both? Why is it "Don't worry about what the Cubs do, just worry about what the White Sox do?" That's absurd. I hate the Cubs. I love the White Sox. I'm going to be happy when the Sox win, and I'm going to be happy when the Cubs lose. If both happen in the same game, double the pleasure! I root for the White Sox when they don't play the Cubs, and I root against the Cubs when they don't play the White Sox. That's how it has always been, and that's how it always will be. That doesn't make me, or anybody else who is the same way, an idiot.

What's interesting, is what would happen if the White Sox and Cubs (who have both dominated their respective divisions and have both been in first place for several weeks) were to meet in the World Series. If the Sox won, I'd be happy that they won the World Series. I wouldn't be even more happy because they beat the Cubs. But if the Sox lost, I'd be disappointed about the loss, and I'd be even more disappointed that they lost to the Cubs. I'd rather die than face Loudmouth if that ever happens.

Cub's Chances of Landing Sabathia
From everything I've been hearing, the Cleveland Indians are on the verge of trading their Ace, left handed pitcher C.C. Sabathia, to the highest bidder. The Cubs would seem to be in the mix of possible suitors, and there is no doubt that GM Jim Hendry has a strong interest and prospects to deal. But, on second though, does he really have prospects the Indians want?

I've heard the names Felix Pie, Eric Patterson, Rich Hill, Shawn Marshall, and Ronny Cedeno thrown around. On paper it sounds like an impressive package of talent. But after much thought, I've ruled that the Cubs would have to give up much more if they realistically expect to acquire the services of Sabathia.


The Cubs better be prepared to meet the Indians'
demands.

Pie has been a disappointing prospect up and down between the Cubs and their Triple-A affiliate. When in the majors, he is almost exclusively used as a defensive replacement or spot starter. He has similar problems to former Cub Corey Patterson, such as the big question of whether he is a leadoff hitter with speed, or a middle of the order power hitter. Eric Patterson simply looks lost in the field, and lacks plate discipline. He doesn't look like an every day major league hitter to me. Hill, like Pie, has been up and down, and can't find a spot in a starting rotation that features Jason Marquis and his 4.96 ERA. If Hill can't supplant Marquis, how good is he really? Same goes for Marshall, who is only pitching right now in the majors due to an injury to Ace Carlos Zambrano. Ronny Cedeno has "tools" but he is a career platoon and/or utility player.  Ditto another AAAA outfielder named Matt Murton.

So, if I'm GM Mark Shapiro of the Indians, what does interest me on the Cubs? If I'm Shapiro, the next time Hendry calls me, I tell him, start with your starting SS Ryan Theriot, and build the package from there. Get back to me when you're ready to include an actual major league player instead of five players you can't wait to get rid of.

Does Hendry have the sand to agree to such a swap of blockbuster proportions? That I don't know, but I'm anxious to find out.