Seems I haven't done this in quite a while.  I took a refresher course by visiting 38pitches.com to read my boy Curt Schilling's blog.  Apparently the media will only take the posts he writes that might ruffle a few feathers.  Otherwise they refuse to glorify the blogs that he writes in which are positive and uplifting.  No surprise.

But then you have the anti-Schilling, Gary Sheffield, whining about some Cleveland Indian that he's going to handle personally.  Hey Gary, you probably shouldn't charge the mound when you are a RUNNER.  I mean what kind of #### #### is that?  Take first base and shut up.  I won't ask you to stop being a #### because you have and always will be a ####.

Christ 2 paragraphs in and I still can't figure out this blog stuff...

Ok, maybe a change of sport will do the trick...

Congratulations on the Americans for winning the Ryder Cup.  Or should I say, congratulations to Nick Faldo for helping America win the Ryder Cup.  First off, Colin Montgomerie should be a lifetime member on Team Europe.  He plays until he dies or hits John Daly's belt size.  Second, you bring one of the best match-play players in the world, Darren Clarke.  I've always liked Faldo in the booth and as a player but what the hell were you thinking?  You had America by the nuts with Tiger out of the tournament and you let it slip away - along with some key players on the team.

Was golf not your sport?  Ok, I'll switch it up...

The NFL has gotten pretty interesting with all the injuries that have happened to key Quarterbacks and other position players.  After 3 weeks I can say that even though Dallas may be the front-runner as the best team in the NFL, they have some gigantic holes on both sides of the ball that need to be addressed.  And can someone teach Patrick Crayton how to catch the ball?  Open and close son.

New England may have gotten jacked up by Miami of all teams, but losing Tom Brady is obviously bigger than anyone thinks.  It goes to show how bad the New York Jets are.  Yes Brett Favre lovers, his new team sucks.  And Chad Pennington looks better than anyone expected.  Chad's a very good QB with a bad arm - but his arms looked better than it has in quite a while.

What the hell is wrong with you Indianapolis?  Can you please win a home game!  Wow!  And why hasn't Peyton talked about the "breakdown in protection", because there has been A LOT of that going on.

Hey does anyone watch hockey?  Well then I'll move on...

Get back to baseball for a moment, the Ned Yost firing was poor.  That move basically said, "WE ARE IN A PANIC!!!".  Really?  Isn't that the last thing the team should be thinking?  Yost got the team that far, and I doubt Dale Sveum was going to be the answer to all the problems with Milwaukee's pitching and clutch hitting.  Congrats.  They can go back to obscurity anytime.

And finally, J.P. Ricciardi of the Toronto Blue Jays made another bonehead move that was so bad that firing him tonight would be a day (let alone 3 years) too late.  The Blue Jays will now call Las Vegas their AAA home.  Yes, because when Toronto needs a pitcher they can just call Vegas and they will have a well-rested pitching in a snap.  Buffalo was there for the taking and Ricciardi must have said to everyone, "Naw, lets go with Vegas.  It's closer to Toronto plus I like to gamble".  Yes this is certainly a gamble that won't pay off when your team needs a pitcher pronto.  Horrible decision made by the worst GM in baseball.  Ed Wade is slightly better.  Slightly.  It's about as good as Charlie Weis's leg.

On that note, I will go back to watch the Monday Night Football game where the Jets have held down the San Diego offense to just 45 points thus far...

The easy part about the Beijing Olympics is that if you live on the east coast you know the games are exactly 12 hours ahead in time.  That means the television is on live coverage of the Olympics as we speak and it sure beats the hell out of watching reruns of Melrose Place.  Although seeing a young Heather Locklear is great, the Olympics are more fresh.

I'd like to congratulate Canada on their fine showing thus far.  If we really are America's dandruff then someone toss us some Zest fully clean (not sure if you guys know Pert Plus so I used Zest instead).

Now on with the blog...

- A rare hockey spot to start; in my city the hockey fans are amped up over the possibility of Brian Burke becoming the GM of the franchise.  Known as a genius, Burke truly is not.  He has simply taken credit for teams he never put together and has portrayed the arrogance of a legend before he could build himself as a legend.  Though he finds the time to rip other General Managers in the league he simply hasn't understood that he's not as big as he thinks he is.  Toronto Maple Leaf fans will find that out quickly and will want him shipped out of town.  I'll save you guys the trouble by telling you to hold out for hope that they don't overpay for the gravy-training GM who's bark is much bigger than his bite.

- Don't buy into the new headline involving Brett Favre; this is all head games.  He probably feels tired after the first few days of practice but don't buy into "arm fatigue".  Last year he was throwin 90+ MPH bullets to his receivers.  This is just a way for people to doubt him going into the season, only for him to emerge a hero.  There is no arm fatigue, just head games with the rest of the league.  He's back, his arm is back and this is classic Brett Favre setting himself up to be the feel-good hero for mankind.

- I haven't yet seen the US Olympics team's basketball highlights from their last game against Angola but if they can't blow them out by 40 and if Dwight Howard is jawing with any Angola player then there is a problem.  Any game against Angola should be a friendly ####-kicking.  Canada's lack of medals thinks that is poor.

- What Michael Phelps is doing is nothing short of remarkable and if you are a sports history buff you may want to take notice and start watching his incredible display in the pool.

- If people think the New York Yankees need to pack it in I have news for you: Tampa Bay is reeling.  Losing Carl Crawford for the rest of the season is a killer.  Add Evan Longoria into the mix and you have 2 of their 3 best players out of the lineup.  The spread may say 8.5 games but bigger leads have been blown this late in the season.  Then again, Detroit is only 9.5 games out and they seem to have packed it in.

- Dear St. Louis Rams: Steven Jackson is your best player.  SIGN HIM.

- With all the condoms being distributed among the athletes you can bet that all the athletes you have found hot on TV is getting some. 

I can't top that last point so why try?  Let's call it a night...

 

If you are a big fan of the Olympics and you can't wait to watch the events that unfold over the next 2 weeks I commend you.  It seems every time the Olympics come around I become less interested.  It takes a bunch of millionaire basketball players to make me pay attention to basketball.  Meanwhile, athletes who've had to sacrifice themselves over years of training for this very day, who don't have luxury cars or houses or jacuzzi's, don't draw as much interest.  That seems unfair but that is reality.

Let's walk around the leagues...

- FINALLY!  Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers have parted ways.  Here are a few thoughts about that whole situation:

*The Green Bay Packers may have moved on, promised Aaron Rodgers a starting role and felt like they had to eliminate what could have been a cancer on the team, but if they were a QB choke-job away from winning the Super Bowl and Favre is the better quarterback why get rid of him for very little in return?  How badly did they want him out of Green Bay?

*By the time Rodgers is ready to lead, IF he's ever ready to leave, will the rest of the team still play at the level they were at last year?  Doubt it.  They will lose defensive players , guys will get hurt, running backs will break down and every team is a big injury or two away from a disastrous season.  Green Bay needed to take their shot this season.

*There is more that meets the eye with that situation.  What it is we may never know.  I just don't see teams giving up a 4000 yard passer with a 2-1 TD to INT ratio very much.  We know Favre is selfish and will put himself above the team whenever he can, but was he also taking too much control over the offense?  Did McCarthy only want Favre to throw 30 times instead of 40 per game and that ticked Favre off?  We won't know, but it had to be bigger than just a couple of mind changes and a little jerking around in order for the Packers to get rid of their beloved quarterback.

- Did Kobe Bryant really say he'd play in Italy for $50 million dollars?  Before I go there, did Kobe grow up wanting to be an NBA superstar and win championships?  We assumed so.  I just wouldn't expect the one player that people talk about as a cold-blooded assassin who should have the ball with 5 seconds left on the clock.  All this tells me is Kobe will play for the money.  And all this does is validate the argument I have made for nearly 3 years that Bryant isn't MJ, isn't as clutch as you think and now I have a brand new one: a money-over-winning player.  I'm sorry, making 50 million in Italy does nothing for the guy or this "legacy" that he's built.  If he had a shread of killer-instinct that people say he has he would have said "Hell no.  I play to win NBA championships".  Sorry Kobe fans, your boy isn't what you thought he was - then again we could have told you that 5 years ago when he was in Colorado.

- 3 reasons why Tampa Bay could hold off Boston and New York in the American League East: Carl Crawford, BJ Upton and Carlos Pena.  None of the 3 keys to their offense has had a good year.  Crawford hovers around .300 every year and is barely over .270.  They NEED him to heat up because when he is hitting and running the bases well he's one of the most lethal weapons around.  Upton, who's power numbers have dropped, is hitting just above .260 and is slumping.  He's a guy who should be hitting .280 and they need him to carry the team for a week or so with a power surge.  Pena is a .260 guy at best.  He's under .240 and they need him to also have a power surge and somehow lift that average.  The Rays have not hit all that well this year and if their pitchers hit the wall in September, which could happen, they will need the hitting to step up. 

- The Florida Marlins may have wanted to send rookie sensation Mike Stanton to Boston for Manny Ramirez.  He is proving that he can carry teams offensively AND the NL East is as vulnerable as ever.

- Someone should tell Prince Fielder to chill out.  He can't take his anger out on teammatesespecially since we aren't sure if he's upset with them, himself, his dad or the fact that he hasn't seen his #### since high school.

- The waves must be too great in San Diego for him to refuse a deal to Boston.  Either that or Boston just want as many outfielders as they possibly can and Giles would rather start than have a shot at a ring.  It's probably a tougher decision than we think; start for a bad team, ride the bench for a serious contender.  I'd probably take the ring.

- The PGA Championship is this weekend? 

- 20 years ago today: Wayne Gretzkey was traded to the Los Angeles Kings.  Has it been THAT long since the biggest trade in hockey history took place?

That will do for this morning...

A pre-season game, a holdout, an arrest, a fight, a selfish superstar or two...Football season must be back.  Well, just training camp which is good enough.  And if you are anti-Olympics, Football is the perfect place for you!

To kick start this post, I read another good article written by Mark Kriegel on Brett Favre.  Perhaps the real reason why I thought it was good is the fact that I have said over and over again that Favre is a "me-first" player, and Kriegel did a great job of exploiting that fact.  Face it, we've been going after Terrell Owens, Randy Moss and Chad Johnson pretty hard.  I am not the one that will say they did not deserve any ridicule they received from bloggers, but we have allowed Favre to skate under the selfish radar forever and that should have changed years ago, let alone today.  Though he is a better quarterback than Aaron Rodgers, the question is whether the team can accept a Hall of Fame quarterback who will have no trouble throwing any one of those players under the bus at any time.  Certainly not the kind of positive atmosphere you want from a team that was a QB choke-job away from getting to the Super Bowl.  To have that team crumble with the talent they have would be a disaster that would be much worse than the situation that team is in as we speak.

Here's a link to Kriegel's article: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8410850/Never-t
hought-we'd-see-Favre-like-this

And speaking of Owens, he no-shows to a practice and already people are talking about it.  Let's overlook the fact that Dallas coach Wade Phillips also gave Jason Witten and Zach Thomas days off from practice as well.  But Owens is a headline grabber and I the only reason I can say it wasn't a mistake for me to read it is because I learned that Phillips is giving his veterans some rest.  Other than that, Owens missing practice is a non-issue.

But what is an issue is Steve Smith beating the #### out of Ken Lucas.  Every year we hear about teammates getting into a scuffle of some kind - it's football and it happens.  Although we haven't heard about Smith getting into fights with teammates in a while that does not mean he hasn't.  All this means is this fight and the one he had several years ago that got him in trouble the first time were worse than any minor scuffle he's had in between.  He and several other football players have issues, that is a given.  Odds are if you are a Carolina Panther player you better not cross Steve Smith unless you are absolutely 100% convinced that you can beat the #### out of him.  Otherwise, be kind and rewind for Smith.

Speaking of rewind, don't you think the biggest Super Bowl upset in history should allow the New York Giants to get more press than they have received?  I would think they would be getting more respect than they have gotten up to this point.  I would also think that Eli Manning would have received the benefit of the doubt by now and not have people question whether he's The Man or just Peyton's little brother.  I will bold this for all of you to see: YOU CANNOT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS!!!  Seriously, there's a big deal over quarterbacks winning championships to enhance their greatness.  People dog Dan Marino for not winning a title.  People use to dog John Elway, and then appointed him the best clutch quarterback in NFL history.  Eli now pulls into a tie for Super Bowl victories with Big Ben, Peyton, Brett Selfish-Favre and Kurt Warner, but he's apparently still horseshit.  What is really horseshit is Marino not getting the props he deserves for being a great quarterback, yet lesser quarterbacks get a pat on the back for winning a ring.  Winning the Super Bowl is a team thing and not a quarterback thing.

If you are currently frustrated with everything I have written, simply go to this website and forget everything: http://green.msn.com/galleries/photos/photos.aspx?
gid=220&page=1

Enjoy...

I thought I would never talk about the WNBA in any blog I would ever write in my lifetime.  It shows that I should never say never, and that the reason I wouldn't touch that topic is that I don't get ESPN 2 in Canada.  Unless the WNBA is carried by an ABC or FOX or CBS, I'll never get to watch the WNBA.  Needless to say, my knowledge of the game is weak.

However, I have watched WNBA games and it has been rough for the most part - and I only mean the execution rather than physical play.  But the LA Sparks and Detroit Shock (shocked that I knew?) had a brawl that has captured the attention of sports fans across the continent.  Lisa Leslie, a star WNBA player as well as a mom and a player who was involved in the brawl, handled herself so well that I had to write about this.  What she said was this incident will bring more attention to their league and it's not the way they wanted to do it.  I agree that she didn't want the attention to happen like this, but she's got to be somewhat happy that the league that she has worked so hard to help build has become significant for at least a few seconds.  I bet that the other side story to this matchup that people care about is Michael Cooper v. Bill Laimbeer - two former rivals from a long time ago who happen to coach women for a living.  Aside from them, do you have any connection with the WNBA?  I know Candace Parker is related to Toronto Raptor Anthony Parker.  So this brawl hasn't hurt the league thanks to all the exposure and attention it has gotten.  All you have to do is check Youtube for further evidence.

One guy who might get hurt is Rick Mahorn, who pushed the biggest star down to the ground (Leslie).  People can talk about how he was trying to break the fight up, but if you check out the different camera angles you will see he just pushed her down - accidentally or not.  For those of you who don't know who Rick Mahorn is, he was a former Detroit Piston that everyone talks highly about because he was part of 2 championships when in reality he just happened to be at the right place at the right time (yes, that was me deflating Mahorn as a player). 

And Leslie handled herself well.  Would you hear an NBA player talk about how he is a father who wants to set a great example?  Say what you want about the league, about Leslie or otherwise, she proved that perhaps there is a sports league that has a few classy athletes.  Although that doesn't help as it comes on the heels of a brawl that has put their league on the map for the time being.  I would watch the NBA over the WNBA 100% of the time but I now find myself respecting the league after this incident.  Strange...

OTHER STUFF:

- I got to attend the Rogers Tennis tournament in Toronto and stood about 10 feet away from Roger Federer during warm-up.  I have never seen a bigger crowd around a practice court than I did on Monday when Federer was preparing for his doubles match.  He was bounced from the tourney on Wednesday but I bet he could use the relaxation time to get re-vamped for another US Open run.

Side note: Apparently, Andy Roddick's family kicked people out of their row that was not cheering for Andy.  They were in a seating area that was for general admission.  I guess we know where he gets his insecurities from.  I got this from some ladies who sat close to the family.

- Brett Favre might want to use a pay phone and call collect rather than use his team phone.  Although the Minnesota Vikings should know better and deserve to be punished for going against NFL rules, does Brett ever think about anyone but himself?  I guess he wants everyone to bow down or bend over backwards for him.  Sad.

- The AL Central is showing how overrated their division is.  The Chicago White Sox are well below .500 against the AL East, at .500 against the AL West while their record has been padded by their play within their division as well as their weak NL opponents.  Minnesota is worse as they can't beat the East or West.  Detroit cannot win in the central, but that will change over the next couple of months as they continue to make their charge towards first place in that overblown division.  The AL East has and will continue to be baseball's strongest division.

- Dear Lebron, don't tell me, show me...

I can't believe July is almost over!

As we prepare for another Major Championship tomorrow, let's look at what we have presently...

- Greg Norman leading a major tournament is almost unheard of at his age and at this time period.  He has managed to stay atop the leaderboard despite the playing conditions and the fact that he will not out-drive people in this tournament.  Not in this day in age.  But let's remember who we are dealing with; a guy who's had a knack for urinating a championship on a Sunday.  How many major titles SHOULD Norman have?  The answer is more than what he already has.  I don't expect him to hold up tomorrow, but this does not mean he won't win.  He could shoot 75 tomorrow and still win the title because there is no Tiger Woods to test his mettle.  Nonetheless, tomorrow's tourney will be interesting.

Speaking of Woods, he must think he can win this Major without arms or legs.

- Are the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers going to change their names to Golden State Clippers and Los Angeles Warriors?  Seems like these two teams are swapping players left, right and center.  What's the deal with that?  And how strong does Utah look with Denver getting weaker?

- Maybe Michelle Wie should have paid more attention in math class if she is making errors on her scorecard.  That is just brutal.

- The Tampa Bay Rays have gotten back on track thanks to the scheduling of the Toronto Blue Jays.  I should have bet on this series.  Stupid me...

- The Los Angeles Angels are handling the Boston Red Sox and now I've heard a couple people talk about whether or not they are the team to beat in the American League. 

Look, I like the Angels.  I will always remember them for being the FIRST team to bully the New York Yankees over the last 15 years.  Arizona may have beaten them in 2001, but the Angels bullied them in 2002.  The Yankees would beat down teams the way the Angels beat them down in the ALDS that year.  The Angels have had a knack for beating the Yankees consistently over the year.  The problem is, Boston has owned them in the playoffs.

So looking at a couple of victories in July is nice, but that does not say that much.  Let's factor David Ortiz since he has punished Los Angeles over the years.  The Angels may own New York, but the Red Sox own Los Angeles until we are proven otherwise.  I will say, however, that the Angels may be the best team to beat Boston in a best of 7 series.  Let's hope they avoid eachother in round 1.

- As of right now, I bet Green Bay is wondering if they should have let Brett Favre walk a couple years ago just so that Aaron Rodgers would be absolutely ready to take the 2008 Packers team to the promise land.  Maybe, maybe not.  But right now this team has received so much publicity over this that I would not be surprised if Green Bay lays an egg this year.  Favre has always craved attention and he's gotten that much.  But not all of this is his fault.  Although if he had stayed retired there would be no gun to the head of the Packers organization. 

- Whenever I watch Ken Rosenthal on Saturday Fox baseball games, I think of how much better he is over Keith Olbertool.  WAY better.  Sideline reporting can be pretty lame at times but Rosenthal's good.  The only memorable thing the previous #### bag ever had was when Chuck Knoblauch hit his mother with a throw.

I know I know, you guys are going to come in and talk about how great "The Big Show" was.  We'll see how bad it is when NBC tries to revive it for Sunday Night Football.  They will be nothing more than just half-wits and you can book that.

...Are you guys sure you don't want any hockey news?  Never mind.  Have a super Sunday.

When you are a franchise that finds out your starting quarterback is retiring - after nearly reaching the Super Bowl - you tend to be disappointed with the decision, but because you have a job to do you can't be stuck in the past and you have to look toward the future.

The Green Bay Packers were forced to do so when Brett Favre announced his retirement earlier this year. So when I see a headline like this:

Favre: I don't feel welcome in Green Bay

I don't feel bad for Brett. The organization believed the face of their franchise was through with football. Regardless of how selfish or classless Favre has been, Green Bay knew that losing Brett at that time was a liability. Why? Because they wanted to win a Super Bowl and they were so close this past season. Now they have to do it with basically a rookie quarterback. So be it. That is football. That is the way it goes. And now Favre says he wants to come back? The franchise was forced to move forward because YOU moved forward. Now you expect them to take a step back for you? What kind of self-service, me-first athlete are you?

You have put this organization in one hell of a rough spot simply because you've never truly cared for anyone except yourself. Go play for Minnesota or whomever, choke in the playoffs as you normally do on cue and keep padding the career stats so that you make Peyton Manning work harder to blow your records away. And maybe this year you can sincerely congratulate a running back who scores a touchdown that you felt should have been a pass.

- What did anyone expect from Alex Rodriguez? Did you expect him to be a faithful, loving husband? Did you expect him to show class on the ballfield? Did you expect him to come through in the clutch? Did you even expect him to participate in the home run derby? If you said yes to any of these then you should probably take a break from sports and take some time off for personal reasons. It would be out of A-Rod's nature to do the right thing. I bet a long time ago he was a nice kid, did right by everyone and was a tough kid. Then somewhere down the line things changed; he stopped showing guts, he continue to plow through women despite being married and his insecurities caught up to him ON the field as well as off it. The more homers he hits the less impressed we are with him. He just cruised past Yankee legend Mickey Mantle and I could care less about it. Seriously, whatever is making you play without a Richard isn't worth all of this Stray-Rod, so move forward.

- Within 3 years the Washington Wizards will live to regret the Gilbert Arenas signing. First, will he stay healthy. Second, will he ever touch the production he had 2 or 3 years ago before he had the injury? Last, who the hell thought he was worth 111 million for 6 at his very best? Is he even a top 5 guard in the NBA? No way. He isn't a Deron Williams or Chris Paul-type of player, but he's more like an Allen Iverson - and he isn't even Allen Iverson. He may not even be Baron Davis. What a horrible move by Washington. This is a move backward.

- Sticking with basketball, Phil Jackson must think he can coach the cancerous Ron Artest, otherwise there would be little interest. Considering that Phil did win a ring with Dennis Rodman (3 rings) and Isiah Rider, he may be the guy to keep him in line. However, Artest will be asked to do more than what Rodman and Rider were asked to do on the court. And if Kobe doesn't get in Artest's face because Ron is "his boy", then Kobe is softer than you all realize. MJ would never allow a teammate to skate on stupidity. Who knows where the Lakers would move?

- I haven't watched a single minute of Golf since the U.S. Open. In fact I've watched more LPGA than PGA since Tiger announced he was going to the 60-day DL. I have moved forward to next year.

- Over to the NHL...naw, I won't do that to you. Not today.

-

When a person does something once, you can almost forgive that person and move past the issue.  Of course there are exceptions to the rule, such as infidelity  (or in A-Rod's case ####ing and overrated, over the hill singer with worse teeth than Michael Strahan), murder or theft just to name a few.

In the world of sports we have witnessed several athletes come back from retirement to play.  Michael Jordan, Mario Lemieux, Sugar Ray Leonard and Ryne Sandberg off the top of my head.  At this time, Brett Favre may be regretting his decision to retire and having seen other athletes unretire you can only understand that Favre is just like some of those other great stars of sports.

The only difference is this is not the first time Favre has yanked the chains of the Green Bay organization or the fans of that team.  Is he coming back or not?  Well, the issue should have been left to rest because he announced his retirement. 

The other problem that comes to mind is, once again, the obvious selfishness Favre has always had that is overshadowing every other story in the NFL.  He does not care about what this is doing to the organization, especially Aaron Rodgers, and the fans.  Now, you may think that he should not worry about anyone else except himself because of this situation being so tough.  Problem is, he made the decision in the first place.  Didn't he learn from 2006 to sit and wait?  He left the Packers organization hanging out to dry until the last possible second - which prompted the franchise to draft Rodgers in the first place.  Also, Football is the prototypical "team sports" which every player knows very well.  As such, an NFL quarterback always has to put into account his team and the players he works with everyday.  For him to put that team in this position is not only selfish but insulting to anyone affiliated with the organization. 

With Favre's illustrious career, Green Bay can't exactly cut him.  First, because this has been his team.  Second, he helped that team get to the NFC Championship game - only to cost his team a Super Bowl.  Lastly, Green Bay loves him.  With the unknown ahead of them with Rodgers as the starter, Green Bay isn't sure what to do.

Regardless of the decision, this is typical Favre; spotlight on him, he can't do no wrong and people generally feel bad for him despite the fact that he put himself in this position.  Perhaps he comes back, perhaps he plays for another team.  As of now, not every football fan sees Favre for what he truly is and that is sad.  At the very least, Green Bay's new quarterback may actually show genuine enthusiasm when a running back scores a touchdown.  Maybe he won't bother throwing snowballs at teammates or high-5 an NFL official after a touchdown.  Maybe he'll actually win a Super Bowl is stick it up #4's self-serving behind because that would be to a great ending to a pretty ridiculous situation Green Bay is in. 

Someone should tell every network that covers the NFL that it doesn't take guts to rip on Favre when it's obvious that he deserves it.