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 “####.” 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 #### 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 ####.

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.

Young/Vazquez Trade a Good One for D-Backs and White Sox
CF Chris Young of the Diamondbacks looks to be a stud prospect boasting speed, power, and outstanding defense.  Much has been made of the former White Sox farmhand, who, on December 20, 2005 was traded along with Orlando Hernandez and Luis Vizcaino to Arizona for SP Javier Vazquez.  I've heard general comments from White Sox fans saying that it was a mistake to trade Young, and recently Foxsports.com's own Ken Rosenthal quipped that this past offseason's acquisition of Carlos Quentin from Arizona would finally help ease the pain of losing out on Young to Arizona.  What seems left out in this talk every time is that the White Sox acquired a bona fide #1 or #2 starter in Vazquez, who is MLB's second leading strikeout pitcher since 2001 and went 15-8 with a 3.74 ERA in 2007 while playing his home games in hitter friendly U.S. Cellular Field for a 4th place team that lost 90 games.  Sure, the White Sox could use the speedy CFer in their leadoff spot right now, but something tells me that their GM Kenny Williams wouldn't be willing to give up Vazquez to re-acquire him.  A potential 30/30 OFer is about the going rate these days for an Ace.

Rays' Seeason a Pleasant Surprise But...
This in response to Foxsports.com's Dayn Perry's column that the Tampa Bay [Devil] Rays winning season is great for baseball.  It sure is nice to see somebody besides New York and Boston atop the A.L. East, but I greatly fear a Tampa divisional title would give MLB execs a false sense of parity in baseball.  (By the way, they will always be the Devil Rays to me, just as the Angels will always be the Anaheim Angels, or occasionally, the California Angels).  Before this season, I'd have given the Devil Rays a 0% of ever making the playoffs under MLB's current structure.  I now see that they are a legitimate contender for the not only the division, but the pennant.  However, these types of seasons are few and far between.  MLB is in desperate need of a salary cap that would give other small(er) market teams a more fair chance more often.  All top notch free agents have three teams that can afford to sign them:  the Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets; once in a while the Cubs, Dodgers, or Angels will join the mix.  In a couple seasons when the Devil Rays' players hit free agency, they will let them walk and they'll stink again... that is if they don't head towards Marlin-i-zation and trade them all before it even gets that far.  The Red Sox and Yankees will never stink so long as they are allowed to throw money around like it's candy.

Whatifsports (WIS) a Must See for Any Sports Fan
Here is a unpaid advertisement for www.whatifsports.com, a subsidiary of Foxsports.com.  WIS is just an amazing website, and if you're a sports fan who hasn't heard about it yet, you should check it out immediately.  Ever been sitting in a bar with your buddies and argue about who would win a series between the 1927 Yankees and the 1969 Mets?  Or how about Grant Hill and Christian Laettner vs Bobby Knight's undefeated Indiana team?  '72 Dolphins against the '85 Bears?  Jordan's Bulls against Wilt's Lakers?  Whatifsports uses a highly complex simulation to match any historical teams in MLB, NFL, NBA, CBB, NHL, and CFB, and then generates a box score with play by play so you can read it as if the game were actually played.  I've simmed all these games and hundreds more and I can't get enough.  WIS also has SimLeagues where you can mix and match players from any era on any team and form your all time dream team (How about Nolan Ryan throwing pirtches to Ivan Rodriguez behind the plate with Brooks Robinson, Ozzie Smith, Roberto Alomar, and Keith Hernandez as their infield defense?).  My favorite though is the Dyansty leagues.  I'm in a MLB Hardball Dynasty where I get to play GM of a baseball franchise complete with 5 minor league teams.  There's a Rule 5 draft, amatuer draft, international free agents, and full trades and free agent signing.  It's just absolutely awesome.

Now that the dust as all but settled on the Jared Allen trade, and I have had time to evaluate what has recently taken place with Kansas City Chief offseason events, I have a few thoughts on the upcoming season and what I would do if I were the the GM in Kansas City (Oh, how I love to pretend I run my own NFL team).


Allen led the NFL in sacks last year, despite
playing in only 14 games.

As a Chiefs fan, I'm quite obviously upset, and my initial reaction was that of fury. But then, I was able to read further into the details of the trade, and I realized a few things:
1) Getting a first and two third round picks for a franchise player isn't all that bad of a deal.
2) There was no way Allen was ever going to sign a long-term contract with Kansas City (and could you blame him?), and they would have lost him for nothing at the end of the season.
3) The Vikings completely overpaid for Allen financially.

I wrote in December that the Chief's top offseason priority should have been to sign Jared Allen to a longterm contract. At the time, the figure I had in mind was around 5 years and $55 million. He ended up signing a contract getting in excess of $70 million for 6 years, which reportedly includes $31 million in guaranteed money.

Allen is easily one of the top three DEs in the NFL, but he's not quite worth that much dough.

Just because I have come to the realization that Allen and the Chiefs were just not a match made to work out, doesn't mean I'm happy about the trade, however (Likewise, even though pulling the plug on Grandma's life support is the right thing to do, that doesn't mean I'm going out to the bars to celebrate).

I'm happy for Allen, who becomes rich beyond my wildest dreams. And I'm happy for the Vikings, who now own the NFL's best pass rushing end and best overall defensive front four. But I'm upset as a Chiefs fan, primarily because I know the Chiefs have absolutely no chance to make the playoffs next year, and most likely will not sniff .500 for several years to come.

If the Chiefs were serious about trying to win this upcoming season, they might have followed a plan similar to what I outlined in my December writing (link above). But it appears that they will not come close to achieving any of my goals.

I could much more easily come to accept this trade if Tamba Hali, the other starter at DE for Kansas City, were almost as good as Allen, and if they had a third DE about as good as Hali. As of now, the Chiefs have nobody capable of applying consistent pressure on the passer, which weakens their entire defense. The Chiefs likely figure to draft a DE in the first round, and if that player is drafted fifth overall as speculation has, the Chiefs will have to pay him about $20 guaranteed (last year's fifth pick got $18.1 million). I don't often make guarantees, but I will guarantee that neither Chris Long nor Vernon Gholston will be anywhere near as good a player as Jared Allen, a DE who comes around once every 8-10 years. Which tells me that either Long or Gholston would be paid about two-thirds the amount Allen would get for about a quarter of the production.

Another thing to take into consideration is the opportunity cost of drafting a DE with that 5th pick. As terrible as the offense was last year, I was desperately hoping for that pick to help the offensive side of the ball. Now they have a big void to fill at their rush end position.

The Chiefs do have gaps all over the place, but their one major malfunction, as I have written about so much recently, is that their GM, Carl Peterson, has an awful track record of drafting, especially recently. Over the past 8 NFL drafts (dating back to 2000), he has drafted only three Pro Bowl players. Two of them are no longer with the team (Dante Hall and Allen) and the third will probably never be the same due to overwork and injury (Larry Johnson). Peterson had his run in the early 90's but the game has changed and his way is outdated. I don't trust the Chiefs to draft a quarterback because that player is doomed to failure due to the fact that coach Herm Edwards runs an offense not conducive for a young QB to learn and develop (far too conservative). The Chiefs need a front five to protect whomever their QB is next year, but a Peterson drafted offensive linemen has not made the Pro Bowl in a Chief's uniform since.... Will Shields, picked in 1993. In the Peterson ERA (going back to 1988!), the Chiefs have yet to draft a Pro Bowl QB, WR, OT, or DT.  The last Safety to go to a Pro Bowl was Jerome Woods (selected 1996), the last CB was Dale Carter (1992), and the last LB was Derrick Thomas (1989).  So yes, Kansas City has 13 draft choices in 2008 and will need every last one of them to fill the myriad of holes on both sides of the ball. But I have ZERO confidence in Peteron's ability to adequately fill those holes given his recent failures in the draft. Alex Marvez recently rated the Chiefs number 21 out of 32 NFL teams in best drafts over the last five years.

There are a few players left on this team that I still like and will root for, but I find myself feeling sorry for them. Which is why I am sad to admit that I hope the Chiefs will attempt to trade Tony Gonzalez, Donnie Edwards, Patrick Surtain, and Johnson to contending teams. It kills me that Gonzalez, who in my opinion is the best TE in NFL history, gets knocked on by fans of other teams because he has never even won a playoff game, let alone a Super Bowl.

I am also sad to admit that I am hoping that the Chiefs go 0-16 in 2008. It has nothing to do with wanting a top draft choice (remember, I don't believe Peterson is adequate enough to successfully draft a Pro Bowl player in any round). It's because I think that might be the only way the Hunt family ever gathers enough stones to send Carl Peterson and Herm Edwards to the unemployment line. Edwards is a good defensive coach but he has ruined the once proud Chief's offense. The year before Edwards got to Kansas City, they had the #2 offense in the NFL and finished with a 10-6 record. In his first season they won 9 games, and last year they went 4-12, lost 9 games in a row, and had the 31st ranked offense. Hali and Derrick Johnson are much ballywhoed starters recently drafted by Peterson, but they have combined to make 0 Pro Bowls and Edwards has failed to develop them. I expect more from first round picks. Being a "good player" isn't good enough for me. Johnson was the 15th pick in the draft. I expect that by his third season he'd be one of the top OLBs in the NFL by now. He's not.

The worst thing that could happen to the Chiefs is that they rebound next year and finish 8-8. That gives the Hunt's a false sense of security seeing that they have improved. Peterson and Edwards absolutely must go. The Kansas City Chiefs will never win a Super Bowl under their leadership.

And isn't that what this league is about? Winning the Super Bowl? It's high time for the city of Kansas City to wake up and stop being content with "being a contender," "showing improvement," "making the playoffs," and being "a team on the rise." I don't care if they win the division. And I'm not happy with settling for an AFC Championship appearance. I want a Super Bowl win, and this trade of Allen sets the team back a few more years.

I need help.  I have a new “disease”.  Actually, this sickness has existed for some time now, and I’ve had it my entire adult life, but only in the past few months have I realized and come to accept that I am AAS positive.  That is to say, I’m an Adult Autograph Seeker.

That’s right.  I’m a grown adult of 27 years of age, and I enjoy meeting professional athletes and asking for their signature on a piece of memorabilia.  Since graduating high school I have meet several Chicago area athletes like Mike Singletary, Jon Garland, Neal Cotts, and Brandon McCarthy, and I have their signatures on photos and baseballs to prove it.  I have spent my own hard earned money to purchase autographs from other collectors as well.  These athletes include (among many others) Tom Brady, Tony Gonzalez, Derrick Johnson, #### Butkus and Frank Thomas.  

I couldn’t dream of going to a professional game without bringing Sharpie and something for somebody to scribble their name on.  What if I came face to face with one of my favorite players?  I couldn’t let myself live that down.  Oh yeah, and I still bring my glove to baseball games too.  I'm sooooooo bad.

Obtaining autographs was something I enjoyed as a kid, and I guess I never grew out of it.  I can remember meeting many all-time greats.  My first autograph was Hank Aaron, so I was off to a good start.  Although I was only seven at the time and I barely knew who this man was, let alone why my dad gave $10 to wait in line at the Villa Park Odium to get his autograph, I remember being honored to meet a man who had so many fans.  That same day I got Willie Stargell and Stan Mikita’s autographs too.  Mikita signed a game used hockey stick from his playing days in the early 1970’s.  Good ol’ Dad broke his stick skating at the ice arena where the Blackhawks used to practice and an attendant let him borrow a stick from Mikita’s personal bag.  My dad used the stick for about 5 seconds before taking it out to the car and driving home.  That is one heck of a souvenir!

In my childhood I also attended a Blackhawks practice and got to meet and get signatures from Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick, Doug Wilson, and Ed Belfour.  At a card show once I met a young White Sox rookie named Alex Fernandez, who apparently was not quite popular yet.  I knew this because after purchasing a Fernandez rookie card and having him sign it, my friend and I noticed there was nobody else in line behind us, so we went back to the same dealer, bought a dozen more cards and got him to sign all of them for us.  At a different show years later I met Tom Waddle and Tom Paciorek.  I met Bill Cartwright at a White Sox game once.  

The point is this:  It was fun for me as a kid, and it’s fun for me now, so why do I get made fun of or get snickers from people just because I’m all grown up?  

I guess that’s just the kid in me still, or maybe it’s the sports fan, or possibly a combination of both.  I won’t give up my hobby, and I couldn’t dream of giving away or selling any of my autographs.  In fact, I’m all about getting more.  I don’t mind spending big money to add to my collection, but my preference will always be meeting athletes in person.  When I hear radio commercials touting that so-and-so will be signing autographs at this place on this date, my ears perk and my eyes light up.  God, I love that feeling.

For now, all my autographs are stored away in boxes until I can finish remodeling my basement.  Then, they’ll be on display for all my friends and family to view.  It’ll be my favorite room in the whole wide world.  I just wish I didn’t have to be embarrassed because of my AAS disease.

18-1 Patriots. Belichick walking off the field with :01 left. Manning’s throw. Tyree’s catch. Fourth and 13. Biggest upset ever? Those rascally ’72 Dolphins. There’s so much to discuss concerning the Super Bowl and I’m ready to delve in.

New England is the Better Team
In my recent memory of college and professional sports history, I cannot recall a time when I’ve looked back at the Championship game and couldn’t say “The team that won was not the better team”, moreover, the best overall team in the league. The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals and this year’s New York Giants are certainly the exception.

The ’03 Wild Card Florida Marlins defeated the heavily favored Yankees in the World Series. And the ’01 Diamondbacks did the same. New England beat the powerful St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. Denver beat Green Bay in Super bowl XXXII. In 2006 the Miami Heat upset the Dallas Mavericks to win the NBA Championship, and two years prior the Pistons upset the Lakers. 2006 also saw the underdog Florida Gators take down the mighty Buckeyes of Ohio State, and LSU beat Oklahoma in 2003. In Men’s Basketball, the Gators were the highest seed in the Final Four, even though they were seeded only as a 3, and won the National Championship.

Had the number 8 seed Edmonton Oilers beaten the Carolina Hurricanes to win the Stanley Cup in 2006 (they lost in 7 games), I would have had almost no choice but to acknowledge them as the best team in the NHL, even though their regular season record was only 41-28-13. Carolina won 52 games, the Red Wings, who lost to Edmonton in the first round, won 58.

The list goes on and on and on. But the point of all this rambling is that the better team did not win on Sunday.

I wrote in December that the Patriots are the best team ever... Even if they lose, and I stand firm in that belief. When I’m asked in 10 years who the best NFL team in history was, I’ll say the ’07 Patriots. If they played the Giants 10 times, they might beat them 8. I give credit to the Giants for playing a hell o####ame and beating the best team ever, but New York, despite Sunday’s results, was not the best team from the 2007 NFL season.

I Rooted for the Pats Because They Deserved It
Ordinarily, barring an actual rooting interest in a title game such as my favorite team playing in it, I like to root for the underdog. But I wanted the Patriots to win not because I like them, but because they played like the best team all season long and it would have put a nice cap on the season. I wanted to see them go undefeated. I would so love for a team to someday go 19-0 so that those pompous ’72 Dolphins would shut up (Ok, so the Patriots are pompous and arrogant too, but they’re the lesser of two evils for me right now). I also rarely, if ever, root for any New York team (You New Yorkers really do have a way of making Chicago feel like the “Second City”). So yeah, I’m disappointed today. Nobody will ever agree with me that the ’07 Pats are the best team of all times, and everybody will tell me I’m crazy because they didn’t win the Super Bowl. I think the rest of the world is just closed-minded. Listen, there have been other teams that have gone 18-1, 17-2, 16-3, and so on. They are in the discussion for best team, too. It doesn’t matter when your one loss came, in my opinion, as the 1998 Minnesota Vikings are also on my list of greatest NFL teams ever and they lost in the NFC Championship.


Any classy sports hero is in attendance to congratulate
the athletes who break their records. Not these clowns.

The Patriots had one loss, and it was unfortunate for them it came in the Super Bowl. But looking at this season and seeing who they played and how they won was incredible. The 1972 Dolphins only played two games all season long against teams who finished with a winning record. The Patriots beat the Cowboys in Dallas. They beat the Colts in Indianapolis. They beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh. And they absolutely destroyed two really good teams, the Jaguars and Chargers, at home in the playoffs. Heck, they even beat the eventual Super Bowl Champion Giants in the regular season. They had the best offense in NFL history, (arguably, by the time his career is over) the best QB in NFL history, and the second best WR in NFL history, not to mention one of the top five coaches in NFL history. That’s my case and I’m sticking to it.

Belichick Gives More Reasons to Hate Him
Nobody outside of New England likes Bill Belichick. From his ridiculous answers to questions at press conferences, to his Spygate scandal, to his hideous wardrobe, he’s an easy guy to dislike. Here’s two more reasons: His arrogance propelled him to go for it on 4th and 13 rather than kick a 49-yard field goal in the 3rd quarter. That field goal, had Stephen Gostkowski made it, would have ended up sending the Super Bowl into overtime for the first time in history. The Patriots were accused on many occasions of running up the score by going for easy fourth and one’s all season long, but they did so when they were well ahead and late in the game. This play made little sense. No weather, no wind, and a decent kicker. Should have been a no-brainer.

But that’s not all. Belichick walked off the field with one second left in the game, and in his post-game interview with the media, never congratulated the New York Giants on a tremendous victory. Bill Belichick is a sore loser.

The Play that Needs a Nickname
If you watched the game you know exactly what I’m talking about. Manning does his best Harry Houdini impression and escapes the grasp of two Patriot rushers, then rifles a jump ball down to David Tyree who makes a spectacular catch while falling backwards, trapping the ball between his wrists, fingers, and helmet. Nobody ever heard of Tyree before this game, but moments after scoring his first touchdown of the season, he arguably outdoes Lynn Swann for the best catch in a Super Bowl, thus cementing his name in history. Swann’s catch was surely more acrobatic and athletic, but Tyree’s was a brilliant combination of luck, balance, and more importantly, clutch. Hard to imagine anybody making a better, clutch catch, ever.


Tyree's catch was better, and more clutch, than this one.

Franco Hariss didn’t make a great play; he was merely in the right place at the right time for the “Immaculate Reception.” Dwight Clark made “The Catch” in the NFC Championship game, not the Super Bowl. I’ve heard a few suggestions for what this play might go down in history as being called, but haven’t liked one enough to make it official just yet. Maybe some readers will leave suggestions as comments to this blog.


I'm not impressed with Manning's playoff run.

Eli Manning is Still Just Average
Eli Manning played four great games in the playoffs and fared well in the Super Bowl, winning the MVP. I can understand why Eli was given the award; it’s because the real MVP of the game, the Giant’s pass rush, was just too broad, and the best player from that unit, Justin Tuck, just wouldn’t have been quite as “sexy” of a pick as Manning. Here’s the thing though. Before anybody starts touting Manning as an upper echelon quarterback just for winning the Super Bowl, just remember that the four good playoff games he played is a small sample size in comparison to the fact that he’s played three full seasons as a starter and hasn’t had a quarterback rating higher than 77.0, hasn’t thrown more than 24 touchdowns in a season, and hasn’t had fewer than 18 interceptions in a season. I’m no fool. Winning a Super Bowl MVP isn’t going to distract me from the fact that he’s still Eli Manning and still hasn’t played a full season worthy of taking him with the first overall pick in the draft.

In recent years since steroids have become such a hot topic in sports and especially in baseball I’ve heard many sports writers say or write that they wouldn’t vote for the accused users on the first ballot for the Hall of Fame (HOF) but would vote for them thereafter. Or, some people have predicted that Mark McGuire, who was snubbed in his first year of eligibility in the summer of 2007, will make it.

If you’ve read my blog in the past you may already know that I am firm in my stance that no steroid user should ever make the HOF. I’m going to challenge the seemingly popular public opinion that getting into the HOF after waiting umpteen years is somehow less satisfying than getting in on the first ballot.

Sure, it might be somewhat anguishing waiting all that time, but if you won the lottery at age 45 does it mean any less than if you had won it with the very first ticket you purchased on your 18th birthday? Who cares? You’re still a millionaire.

Using steroids is not on the same moral plane as murder, but what if it was? What if a judge reduced a life sentence down to 5 years because he thought the guy really learned his lesson? That prisoner is saying “hey, that wasn’t so bad, my crimes were well worth it.”

We live in a society that does not reward the bad guys. Baseball should be no exception.


Cheaters don't win, in any sport, or in life.

Using steroids is cheating, and cheaters aren’t supposed to win. Major League Baseball should, by any means necessary, see to it that anybody ever suspected—that’s right, I said suspected, not proven—of using performance enhancing drugs never even sees his name on the ballot.

There is too much left open to subjectivity in this debate, and this is the only way I see that works. You were indicted by a grand jury on charges of perjury, Mr. Bonds? Bye bye Cooperstown. You failed a steroid test, Mr. Palmeiro? No HOF for you. Your name appeared on the now notorious Mitchell Report, Mr. Clemens and Mr. Pettitte? Sorry, no can do.

While in previous posts I have argued that baseball should retroactively pull post-season awards (MVPs, Cy Youngs, etc) from users and erase their stats from the record books, I have now come to the conclusion that even if it did so—a nearly impossible slippery slope to maneuver around in and of itself—not every sports publication would acknowledge such a move. Would ESPN.com actually remove all references to Barry Bonds from its website? No, but the one thing that is constant is that name on a plaque in the halls of baseball glory in Cooperstown, New York.

There are several reasons why I believe that proof of steroid usage is not necessary in enacting this baseball law. The first, and the most obvious, is that baseball law is not synonymous with and is not governed by the court of law. In this regard, users are not “innocent until proven guilty” because they are not being sent to prison. Rare it is that a player actually fails a Major League steroid test for several reasons. First, the Player’s Association has not approved a test involving blood, which would be necessary to detect certain drugs, including Human Growth Hormone (HGH). Other drugs, like erythropoietin (EPO) and insulin, are difficult to detect using any means. Also, many cheaters were able to successfully cover up their usage with other drugs. Norbolethone (aka “The Clear”) is a drug that balances the levels of natural testosterone and epitestosterone, which means, according to Bonds’ currently imprisoned former trainer Greg Anderson in the book Game of Shadows “You can take [the steroids] the day of [a drug test], pee, and it comes up clear.”


Anderson explained how easy it was to beat
the steroid tests.

This is all very important because, for most of the past decade, there has either been no steroid testing in baseball, not a strict enough test, or too many subsidiary drugs to conceal drugs that were being tested for.

There is also precedence for banning cheaters in spite of there being no criminal evidence or intent. The first commissioner of baseball, Kennesaw Mountain Landis, banned all 8 members of the Chicago “Black Sox” even after they were all acquitted of charges by the judicial system. Landis was a real commissioner who ruled baseball with tough love. The current commissioner, Bud Selig, is a cowardly pud who apparently feels no action is obligatory to restore the sanctity of the game.

Many have stated that it is hypocritical for voters to keep Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa out of the HOF when they are same people who voted for these guys to win the Cy Young and MVP. This logic is not valid. Just because they were wrong then doesn’t mean they have to be wrong for the rest of their lives. In the same way, it is asinine to make any argument that says “Player X (Ty Cobb, ####lord Perry) is in the HOF, so Player Y (Bonds, Clemens) should also be.” In hindsight, it was probably a mistake to put Perry, an admitted ball doctor, into the HOF, but that doesn’t mean we have to make the same mistake over and over and over again forever. Times have changed. It’s time to raise the bar. This is the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Pretty Darned Good or the Hall of Spectacular, but I Cheated.

In 2005, two Chicago based radio personalities read an all-inclusive list of baseball HOFers. They then spent approximately 45 minutes “kicking guys out” who didn’t deserve to be there, thus reducing the list by at least 40%. Though this was done just for fun, it is something I keep in mind when deciding who should go and who should not. The HOF is too watered down anyway. Phil Rizutto? Bill Mazerowski? Puh-leeze.

(Oh yes, and before you spout off the “Rizutto was a key member of a Yankees dynasty winning many World Series’” argument, you may want to read this July 2006 post stating that Individuals Don't Win Championships, Teams Do).

If baseball has stood firm this long with the decision to ban Pete Rose, there isn’t much in the way of taking it one step further with steroid cheats. What these guys have done; bulking up and hitting jaw-dropping, tale-of-the-tape home runs in awe inspiring quantity, is far worse than gambling. Betting on a game doesn’t affect the outcome.

Just because everyone else was cheating doesn’t mean it was ok for Player X to cheat too. To quote myself when I wrote in August of 2007 in The Difference Between Ruth, Aaron, Maris and Bonds, McGuire, Sosa, “So if 20 guys all get busted robbing a bank does the police let them go because they had strength in numbers? More importantly, and more realistically, if the CEO of a tax firm turns a blind eye to his accountants fudging numbers on purpose would the public brush the incident off its collective shoulders and chock it up to an oversight? Hell no! They’d all be punished, all arrested, all fired. Selig is just as much to blame as the McGuires and Sosas of the world.”

Putting cheats in the HOF is a slap in the face to people who actually deserve to be there. This feeling is equivalent to an injured U.S. soldier going down to the corner Wal-Mart and seeing Purple Hearts on sale for $19.99 plus tax. That act of heroism during battle doesn’t seem all that heroic now that everybody has the medal.

And making a guy wait X number of years before finally letting him in is not punishment enough, either. I wouldn’t let a murderer out of prison early, just as I wouldn’t allow my toddler to have the cookie 10 minutes after saying “no” the first time. Not only should steroid cheats never be voted into the HOF, but their names should never even appear on a ballot.

The “Roy Williams Rule.”  It was put into place because the Dallas Cowboy safety was the player primarily responsible for ending several player’s seasons via the horse collar tackle.  Williams has been at this since entering the league, and it’s time the NFL makes an example out of him.

Most recently, Williams put the hurtin’ on Eagle’s QB Donovan McNabb.  Though McNabb was not seriously injured on the play, Williams drew a 15-yard penalty.  Williams’ current teammate and former Eagle, Terrell Owens, was a 2004 victim of Williams and ended up missing the team’s first two playoff games, almost costing them a trip to the Super Bowl.

The horse collar tackle adds significant and unnecessary risk to the game.  Through the years, it has caused many Achilles and calf injuries, and also has broken several ankles.  It’s frustrating and painful for the injured player to go through rehab, his team is worse off without him, and the fans become angry. 

Though Williams is not the only culprit in this crime, the rule was put into place because of him and he remains today the primary offender, as the McNabb penalty was Williams’ fourth in the last two seasons.

A one-game suspension is not nearly enough, as it has now become blatantly obvious that Williams has not learned from his previous mistakes.  He should be given a 5-game suspension, and be forced to serve it during the playoffs if the Cowboys advance.  This sort of punishment is unprecedented, but it’s high time the NFL take proactive action against this ferocious penalty.  And Williams should be made the example.

Dallas coach Wade Phillips, furthermore, is off his rocker for defending his player.  Attributing his actions to having “strong hands” and not being able to adjust to the new rule, Phillips apparently gives merit to the appeal that Williams filed today.  Phillips continued “And the