Recently there was an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by Pirate’s beat writer Dejan Kovacevic (try pronouncing THAT one) about the lack of black players in major league baseball. If you’re wondering why he had to dip into the ol’ cliché bag so early in the season, well, you just haven’t been treated to this Pirates team. In a month he’ll do a 5 part series on whether or not Pete Rose should be in the Hall-of-Fame. Then a month later he’ll have to be talked off the Clemente Bridge cuz he’s sick of the team, but I digress. There are many theories as to why the typical black youth doesn’t want to play baseball anymore. Whether the game is too boring, or just too boring, the reasons are varied in their sameness. However, the thing I’ve always wondered is not so much why they aren’t playing as why they should be, or why any athlete should choose baseball over any other sport if given the choice. First, the pros and cons of playing each of the 3 major sports.
Football
Pros:
- The easiest sport to play, if you can take the punishment
- Has the best odds of actually being able to make a roster (1696 roster spots in the NFL)
- The most popular sport in North America, so you’ll have that going for you
- Only Americans play it, for now, so you won’t have to compete with “them damn foreigners”
- 16 work days a year, especially if you play for the Cardinals
Cons:
- No minor league, so it’s make an NFL roster or play Arena ball for $500 a week. Or worse, go to Europe to play American football.
- The most physically demanding sport by far, your average NFL veteran (5 years or so) will be in at least some degree of abnormal pain for most of his life.
- No guaranteed contracts, even though it’s the most popular sport in North America.
- The human body is not supposed to weigh 300+ lbs unless you’re about 7’9”
Basketball
Pros:
- The kids seem to like it
- Guaranteed contracts
- In the same vein, Allan Houston made $100,000,000 (!)
- Groupies, groupies, groupies
Cons:
- About 360 NBA roster spots for, um, about 500,000,000 people around the world. So in other words Babe Ruth will come back from the dead and be the pitcher for Barry Bonds’ 714 & 715 home runs (which he will hit right handed) before you make an NBA roster
- If you’re not at least 6’4” and/or supernaturally quick you can pretty much forget it.
- Have you ever fallen on a basketball court? Hurts doesn’t it? Now, imagine it after getting hit by Shaq.
- Child support, child support, child support
- Again, no minor league. Playing in front of 100 people can be embarrassing to even the most talented failure
Baseball
Pros:
- Guaranteed contracts
- After your 4th season in the majors you’re guaranteed at least $1,000,000, no matter how bad you are
- Easiest game on the body, unless you count pitchers’ arms
- Approximately 1200 Forty-man roster spots for all MLB teams, more than 3 times better than the NBA
- Minor league system, so even if you suck you can still make a good living for awhile in Birmingham or wherever.
- If you’re left-handed you’re pretty much in
Cons:
- Brutal schedule with very few days off in a 7 month range, but for at least $250,000 it’s worth it
- Hardest game to play at a high level. One year you have it, the rest of your career….nothing (see: Perez, Oliver)
- Um? I dunno, other than that it seems like a pretty sweet gig.
Others:
Hockey – Pro: Best looking women
Con: They won’t know who you are, and no one else will either
Golf – Pro: Big money for little effort
Cons: - Not a sport (or, hardest “sport” to even gain a novice level of skill)
- Could you pick a single golfer outside of the top 5 and John Daly out of a lineup?
Nascar - Pro: Love and admiration from #### everywhere
Con: Scorn of all the other ####, and they can be mean
Well there you have it, I’m sure I left out some pros and some cons for each, but those are the major ones. So, if you have a young one at home the best advice you can give them is to study hard and get good grades. Or if they must be an athlete to make your childhood dreams come to fruition, the smart money is to go with baseball. And for the love of God get that basketball away from them, unless they want to learn Italian too.
I figured I may as well do some actual writing about sports before I get pigeonholed as “The Wrestling Guy”. So here goes __________________________________________________ _____________________
An Outsider’s View
Not having an NBA team here in Pittsburgh gives me a unique perspective on the NBA playoffs. The perspective of someone who barely watches any NBA games over a regular season. So here’s my poorly researched, uninformed, but ultimately just as good as any “expert’s” analysis.
Glen Rice is still playing right?
Eastern Conference
1. Detroit vs. 8. Milwaukee Not a difficult pick here you would think. Being the 8th seed in the East is like being the least successful Backstreet Boy. The worst of a week bunch, but still better than those sitting at home. Michael Redd is Milwaukee’s only hope, he’s kind of a less explosive, better shooting Dwayne Wade. If he’s able to go off and gets help from the Sports Guy’s brother and the Aussie, then maybe they can get the series to 6 games. Otherwise it’s a walk for the Pistons
Pick: Detroit
2. Miami vs. 7. Chicago At this point Shaq has trouble getting in and out of his car without getting winded, so he won’t be as big of a factor as in previous years. But he’s still Shaq, and he can still #### his huge #### off of defenders all the way to the basket without getting an offensive foul called on him, which means he’s good for at least 15 and 10 per night (and in other words, still the best all-around center in the East). Chicago has a bunch of kids who aren’t ready to make a run yet. Could go 7 games, but I doubt it
Pick: Miami
3. New Jersey vs. 6. Indiana Two teams going in opposite directions, New Jersey going up, Pacers on the way down. Easy pick for this one it would seem, so I’ll just point out that Vince Carter turns 30 next year. Anyone else feeling old?
Pick: Joisey
4. Cleveland vs. 5. Washington LeBron James’s first playoff series, so this series will be closely watched. The former Bullets are one more Superstar away from being any kind of threat to make a long playoff run. James has a better supporting cast than given credit for with Larry Hughes and Ilgranius Zylgouszvous (or whatever) among others along for the ride. If they can get past the Wizards (not a given) I think they can give the Pistons a run for their money. Of course, I also finished dead last in an NCAA pool I did, so whatever I say is wrong.
Pick: Cleveland
Western Conference
1. San Antonio vs. 2. Sacramento Duncan is playing on one and a half legs, and Sacramento has become a much much better team since Ron Artest Formerly Known as Batcrap Crazy. I don’t know if this is a popular upset choice, but I’ll take it, what the hell?
Pick: Sacramento (watch them get swept now)
2. Phoenix vs. 7. LA Lakers Man, the west is tough. I’d like to go with the Lakers, just because of Kobe, but picking the 8th and 7th teams to both win is stretching just a tad. Also, the fact that the Laker’s 2nd best player is either Lamar Odem (talent of Pippen, work ethic of a Shawn Kemp condom) or a guy named Smush, well that’s not a recipe for success
Pick: Suns
3. Denver vs. LA Clippers So does getting into the playoffs make the Clippers not the worst franchise in sports now? Even if they finish with a sub .400 record again next year? Also, were they to somehow make a run and win it all, would it be diminished at all by the fact that they basically tanked to avoid playing Dallas in the first round? I think it would
Pick: Clippers
4. Dallas vs. 5. Memphis Pau vs. Dirk, bad Euro facial hair vs. bad Euro facial hair. All I know is that Cuban has said he’d like to buy the Pirates, and even if it’s only grandstanding, that’s enough to make me pick his team
Pick: Dallas
Tune in to competing networks to see just how wrong I am
Next Time, Rent a Boat. Ask Fred Smoot for Details
The fact that Duke Lacrosse merchandise is selling like doughnuts at the Bettis family residence may seem a bit ghoulish, but I have to have something to put next to my replica OJ Simpson jersey don’t I?
In all seriousness, why would you buy a shirt that says “I think rape is funny”?
As for the case itself, there is no DNA evidence, and apparently at least one of the 3 players has an alibi. However, the DA is still carrying on with the case, so there must be some kind of dynamite evidence or witness or some such thing. The lesson in all of this is, if you’re going to have sex with a stripper, make sure she’s so high/drunk she can’t remember it. __________________________________________________ ______________________
From best to Least Best
Today, after 17 years as the GM of the Penguins, Craig Patrick’s contract will not be renewed and he will be elsewhere next season. He is an odd story.
Once upon a time, he was the absolute best GM in all of hockey, pretty much no questions asked. The Penguins were the best team of the early to mid 90s, won 2 Stanley Cups, and it really should have been at least 3. But then something happened, and he just….lost it. Whether it was because of burnout, apathy, Alzheimer’s, whatever, he just became so incompetent that you could have literally picked out a knowledgeable fan from the stands and that person couldn’t have done a worse job. It all pretty much started with the worst trade in NHL history: Markus Naslund for Alex Stokanov. Yes, that’s right, one of the best players of the past 6 years was sitting behind Jagr, Lemieux, et al at the beginning of his career and was just kind of….there. Not really doing much of anything, but he had talent up the wazoo and I think into other people’s wazoos there was so damned much of it. So Patrick traded him for a guy who wasn’t on the team the next season, the rest is history.
After that, it’s kind of like if Scott Pioli (the defacto GM of the New England Patriots and the best personnel guy in football by most accounts) one day woke up and was Isaiah Thomas. And not Isaiah running a basketball team, a football team. It was just about that bad and that sudden. I’d like to thank Craig for all he did for the Pens, but also like to say good luck, and good riddance.
The following section is a running thing I’m doing this baseball season, the intro will stay the same the entire time, only because I’m too lazy to change it. This section is only of interest to Pirates and Tigers fans, the rest of you go take a smoke break or something. In December 2003 I remember I was coming back from visiting a friend in Michigan. Listening to the radio I heard that the Pirates had lost 5 players in the Rule 5 draft, one of whom was Chris Shelton. My friend couldn’t understand why I was suddenly ####ing my head off of my steering wheel.
See, I follow the minor league teams of the Pirates. Shelton had just won the High Single A Southern League triple crown, gotten a promotion to Double A Altoona and tore up that league in the short time he was there. And, to top it all off, he was only 22(ish), in other words prime prospect age. To give him away for absolutely nothing, even if for whatever godforsaken reason you don’t believe in him, is just part of what makes for the “Most Retarded Organization in Sports”. You may say, “Well what about the Knicks?”, to that I say “The Knick have made it to 2 NBA Finals since the Pirates last had a winning season, not just made the playoffs.”
Anyway, this season I’m going to keep track of Shelton’s stats, compare them with current Pirate 1st baseman Seas Casey, just to see what the Bucs are missing out on. In fairness, Casey may end up doing well for the Pirates, but he’ll only be here for a year, Shelton’d be here for at least 4. My ultimate dream scenario is that Shelton makes the All Star game this year, what with it being in Pittsburgh and all. As of 4/19:
Casey’s on the DL now, and is gone for 6-8 weeks. Typical. But in fairness, Craig Wilson is doing a ####up job so far replacing him. And also, so far hitting isn’t the problem for the Bucs, pitching is, and Shelton isn’t a pitcher. So it’s not quite as bad right now
Big Openings To expand your horizons a little, I’m going to talk about some of the movies that’ll be opening this weekend. I used to talk about the top 5 box office, but it got harder and harder to make jokes about the same movies over and over again.
Friends With Money – A movie with “Friends” in the title starring Jennifer Aniston? Cute. To be honest I haven’t heard a damn thing about this movie until I looked to see what movies were coming out this weekend. But if Aniston’s in it you can bet it probably will suck and won’t make any money. And Brad Pitt will leave the theater for a better looking movie.
American Dreamz – Seems as though Paul Weitz’s movie karma has run out, lousy premise (President gets picked by an “American Idol” style TV show) and lousy reviews so far. But considering he’s responsible for my most hated of movie franchises (at least until Napoleon Dynamite’s inevitable sequels come out) the American Pie movies I can only say “Good” and “I want my $8 back (even though I saw them all for free, shhhh).
The Sentinel – Jack Baur vs. Wall Street. Um, not much more can really be said about this movie can it?
Silent Hill – Based on the video game. Why there’s no Madden 2006 the movie I’ll never figure it out.
This is a story that is getting absolutely overlooked. But it’s fascinating on more than one level.
Today the St. Louis Blues got the first pick overall in the NHL Draft in the annual draft lottery, helped by the fact that they finished with the worst record in the NHL While that may not be news in of itself, before this season the Blues had not missed the playoffs since 1979! That’s fairly incredible, it’s the longest such streak in professional sports history, by a wide margin I believe, although someone may want to do the research for me.
The other, perhaps even more incredible thing is that despite being in the playoffs all those years in a row not only did they never win the Stanley Cup, they never made the finals! Why aren’t they mentioned in the same breath as the Buffalo Bills, Atlanta Braves, and Utah Jazzes of the world? Oh right, nobody except Canadians and hardcore hockey fans care about the NHL.
With the Draft a week away, here's my last look at guys who have no first round pub, but will be successful. Or, if they aren’t you’ll forget by the time it’s known at least
Elvis Dumerville DE Louisville – I may have included him before, but I’ve seen where he’s slipping down to 6th round territory. A guy with his pass rushing talent should not go overlooked for that long, even if he is only a situational pass rusher he’ll be a very good one
Dusty DvoracekDT Oklahoma – Probably a marginal to good talent, but can be very entertaining if you take away his meds. And really isn’t that the most important thing?
Also, why is my default avatar a FoxSports logo? Did I even have to ask?
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Bust a Cap
According to Paul Tagliabue the NFL labor situation is “as dire as dire can be”. Unfortunately he did not follow that up with “I must say”, cuz that would have really been terrific.
I’m of the mind that a salary cap is half placebo and half actual useful tool for small market teams. The biggest thing that hard salary caps do is save big markets from themselves. Notice how the NY Rangers will make the playoffs this year after years and years of overpaying players? Notice how the Yankees have not won the World Series since they began the annual “Give the best player in free agency a $100 million contract”? Heck, they were kind of lucky to even make the playoffs last year. Notice how the Knicks are paying about $20 million per win? When you’re a team of nothing but high priced players you generally will not win. The lone exception is baseball, see: Red Sox 2004, Marlins 1997. But even that is not a foolproof way to do it, like my Yankees example
Conversely you have small-markets teams in baseball like the Pirates and Royals saying how baseball’s economic inequities is what cause them to lose year, after year, after year. Bunk, complete and utter bull-dink. They suck because they have completely stupid and incompetent management, just like the Knicks (who have a huge payroll), and just like the Bengals used to be (lost for 10 years straight with a salary cap).
Not having a salary cap does not mean doom for teams like the Steelers, Green Bay, KC, or Seattle. However, if the NFLPA dissolves and the draft is declared nul-and-void, which is a possibility down the line if things aren’t straightened out, then all bets are off.
Word is Vince Young scored a 6 out of 50 on the Wonderlic test, or a 16, which ain’t much better. Now you can argue that “Being stupid does not mean you can’t be good at football”. While you are right, do you really want a guy who can’t tell you how many feet of rope you can buy for 60 cents if rope costs 10 cents (or such similar things) playing for your team against a Bill Belichick defense? Probably not.
A 6 would be like that recent episode of Famiyl Guy where Peter takes the test to get $100,000 grant, and they tell him he’s borderline retarded. Only I think a 6 would take you under the border of that. Oh, and I’m sure University of Texas alums are very proud that this guy made it through 4 years without flunking out. Some poor grad students really earned their tuition writing his papers for him.
Well, the cool media thing to do these days is say “I don’t care about the World Baseball Classic”. I even heard some guy filling in on an ESPN radio show say that it was bad because it “was a made up event”. Like on the 6th day God created the Olympics and World Cup and they have always been in existence. What a Vince Young that guy was.
Anyway, the WBC is a very cool, and obviously overdue, idea. The problem it does have is timing, they cannot play it in Spring Training, the quality of baseball will more than likely be terrible. Of course that also raises the question of “well when do you play it then?”, to which I say “Do I look like Bud Selig? (please say no)”.
I do have a prediction. Everyone’s saying how there will be injuries, I am calling this one right now. Canada and Mexico play each other in prelims, the Pirate’s Jason Bay will be batting against fellow Pirate Oliver Perez. Perez will blow his arm out on a pitch to Bay, and the blowing out will cause him to throw a 90+ MPH straight into the perfect spot on Bay’s head causing him a head injury that will cause him to miss the season.
Apparently the wind was blowing with the runners in the Dome at Indy. There were great 40 times, a lot of sub 4.5 times. Next are 2 guys who I’ve never heard of, but had great times and such at the Combine
AJ Harris RB Northern Illinois
6’0”, 220 lbs, 4.34 forty (fastest among running backs who ran)
Had very, very few carries with Northern Illinois, for whatever reason. Could be this year’s Willie Parker. Or could be just some guy who runs fast.
Quincy Butler CB TCU
6’1”, 200 lbs, 4.40 forty
Know nothing about him, but he has a great size/speed combo. And really isn’t that all there is to football?
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It’s Official, Black People go to the Movies
The latest from Hollywood is that if you aren’t ####ing Jessica Simpson and/or Lyndsay Lohan, you’re just not really trying hard enough. Aside from that, what else do you really need to know?
1. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion ($30 million) – Okay, seriously, black community, is it some kind of thing with men playing big beefy women something that gets you spending your money? Cuz if so I’m investing in the new “Untitled John Goodman as Mama Cass” bio-pic. Also, the writer of this movie has two Aerosmith band member’s last names in his name. Coincidence? Yeah, probably
2. Eight Below ($15.9 million) – A story about being lost in the artic wilderness that does not involve cannibalism. Well, maybe members of the lost party were cannibals, but they were just able to keep their urges in check
3. Pink Panther ($11.1 million) – If the part of the hot singer played by Beyonce was played by Cedric the Entertainer, they could have made a lot more money apparently.
4. Date Movie ($9.1 million) – Absolutely the unfunniest comedy in years. Do not see this movie, if they are showing this movie in your local theater line up point and laugh at people coming out of it. Can I be any more clear?
5. Curious George ($7.2 million) – One of the few feature length “hand” drawn animated movies to come out in theaters recently. Kind of sad really.
Okay, I’m holding my breath until I get a comment on my last blog. What can I say, I’m very petty. Now get to it before I give myself some kind of brain damage. Or more-so anyway.
If you’re like me you don’t know a bump draft from a restrictor plate (although I would hope I would be able to differentiate just by looking at each, but I digress), but you’re hearing a lot about the Daytona 500 today. I have a few very uninformed thoughts.
How is it a guy can get caught cheating and then be able to compete and win a race the next day? Wouldn’t that be like Barry Bonds being caught with a syringe filled with steroids in his arm and the next day hitting a home run in the World Series?
NASCAR Officials should send Tony Stewart a big fat bonus check for his antics. Not because they were a good thing to do, but because had he not done what he did this is a fairly non-descript event. NASCAR is right there with women’s skeleton on the minds of Pittsburghers normally, but people couldn’t stop calling the local talk shows today talking about Stewart and what he did. NASCAR couldn’t have asked for better publicity, well maybe another death, but that’s a different story.
Lastly, two big questions: is NASCAR a sport? And why the hell is it so popular anyway?
If it were up to me, NASCAR would get the “not a sport” label. That would be cuz it mostly involves sitting for long periods of time with the thing it tests most being the reflexes. If that qualified as a sport then the guys who play Madden for a living or the geeks who have LAN parties in your college dorm hall are athletes too. The only difference being that if they screw up they just lose a figurative life, not potentially lose their own life. The big test for “sport qualification” in my mind is simply if you put any of the participants in another sport could they excel if given the proper adjustment/practice period. You could imagine Randy Moss playing basketball in the NBA, Juan Pierre catching a few passes in the NFL, Jaromir Jagr being a great hitter in baseball, or pretty much any NBA player excelling at any sport. Could you imagine Tony Stewart, arguably the best driver in NASCAR, playing any sport at an elite professional level? Even with a few months to get rid of the gut? Hell no. Which in the end doesn’t necessarily make NASCAR drivers not athletes, just not elite athletes. So it’s not a sport, period
And why is NASCAR so popular? My answer, and it may sound like I’m joking (I’m not), is that NASCAR is a great excuse to tailgate and get drunk. I know it’s not the only reason, I’m sure the racing aspect is also a nice draw, but if that were they only draw then track and field would draw more than 500 people to an event outside of the Olympics. Sure it doesn’t have the speed/danger aspect that NASCAR does, but it’s also much more of an athletic event. Anyway, back to my original point. What percentage of a typical NASCAR at-the-event audience, who is of drinking age (or at least reasonably close), is completely sober would you say? If you’d say more than 30 percent you’re probably being generous. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with this, part of the reason the Steelers are so popular around here is because the Steelers are a great reason to just hang out, party, and drink. Multiply that by 5 and you have a real party, or NASCAR live event as they’re known. That’s one man’s theory anyway, otherwise it’s just watching cars go in a circle waiting for a wreck.
Imagine if Andre Iguodala played for the Supersonics. We’d never hear the end of it
Had Nate Robinson jumped over a 7 foot Frenchman like Vince Carter did in the Olympics many years ago he would have deserved to win the Dunk contest. I only say this because 5 tries for a dunk is too many, 16 is downright ludicrous. Also, Iguodala had the better dunks in the first place. But oh well, it’s not an important event so who cares I suppose.
Basically my only comment about the All-Star game was going to be about how hilarious it would have been had Flip Saunders accidentally put Dwayne Wade in with the 4 Piston starters during the game. Just so see Joe Dumars run down to the court and strangle him. But then Bill Simmons said it before I could, damn him.
Speaking of the NBA, and I know this has been said, but how exactly does Isaiah Thomas keep any job? Isn’t trying to trade for Steve Francis when you basically have the same exact player in Marbury, er um, Starbury just a sign that you’re basically not trying? He and Craig Patrick are about neck and neck in the “worst GM in sports who no one will fire/not hire to run a team again”
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Vincent’s Price
Okay, maybe this is a really stupid idea; but if you’re the Texans, or really any team who already has an entrenched QB but with a high draft pick, do you use your pick on Vince Young, but try and convince him to play wide receiver? I know, I know, he’ll never agree to it, but it wasn’t a year ago that experts were saying he would have to make that switch. At 6’5, 210 lbs, 4.4 speed, long arms and the best non-Bush athlete in the draft he could very easily be the best WR in the NFL within 3 years. Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as just saying, “Okay, you’re a wide receiver now”.
Kiper (my hero, seriously) and his ilk are stealing all my thunder in giving out players you’ve never heard of who will be big NFL contributors. I never saw it coming!
Jason Avant WR Michigan
Not overly big or fast, but could become a very good possession receiver in time. Like a blacker Hines Ward.
Reggie McNeal WR Texas A&M
Like Vince Young, he played QB in college. However, unlike Vince he did nothing to show he could do it in the NFL. He will have to make “the switch”, but he’s got good size (6’2”, 195 lbs) and is even faster than Young, so he could very well make that transition.
Freezing your #### of on a Date with George who hopes to make it to your Pink Destination
Now that’s innuendo
1. Eight Below ($25 Million) - Jeopardy answer: What are the Olympics ratings in relation to American Idol (in millions) that would be a best case scenario for NBC?
2. Date Movie ($21.8 Million) - I’ve never been a big Alyson Hannigan guy. But by God does she look super-duper hot in the commercials for this movie or what? I dunno what they did, but I suspect ILM is behind it somehow.
3. Pink Panther (20.9 Million) - Peter Sellers is turning in his grave. And so is Ted Wass. If he were dead. Or had any right to be that upset about it.
4. Curious George (15.4 Million) - Jack Johnson, who does the music for this movie, has the most perfectly boring name for a most perfectly boring style of music. It’s almost as if his parents said “We want our son’s songs to be played on elevators all over the world, what name can we give him to help him along that path?”
5. Final Destination 3 ($11.5 Million) - Now if only in the next movie they have some chick choke to death on fake tanning cream/spray maybe we can scare all women off that fake tanning ####.
I’m at the local drive thru, and I catch myself thinking “Hey, this drive thru chick is pretty hot. I should talk to her.” Then I notice she’s wearing a high school wrestling jacket. This means three things.
1) She’s in high school. I’m unfortunately a few years away from admitting to finding high school girls attractive being acceptable
2) She already has a boyfriend
3) Her boyfriend is in high school and could more than likely still kick my ####.
The Seahawks face an interesting, and somewhat unfortunate, conundrum this offseason. Do they sign Shaun Alexander to a big fat contract? Or do they sign all-world guard Steve Hutchinson to a big fat contract? Now I may be ill-informed, as we all know no one knows what goes on in Seattle, but I wouldn’t think they have enough space under the cap to keep both. So do they keep the guy who just ran for 1880 yards and broke the record for touchdowns in a season? Or do they keep the second best guard in the league, the guy who most helped get Alexander those yards?
PR-wise, keeping Alexander is the smart move. Football-wise, Hutchinson is the best bet, use their first rounder on a running back, it’s a deep running back draft this year.
Just my thoughts, ill-informed as they may be.
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Reuniting with your XFL
They ran an article on here talking about how lame the XFL was, which ironically enough is pretty lame in itself. Well I’m here to tell you, the XFL very easily could have worked, they just made 2 big (and extremely easily avoidable) mistakes. But first, why it could have worked
For one thing, and people forget this, there was a tremendous positive buzz for the XFL before it began. Sure there were a few scoffers in the media asking if the players would wear Mexican wrestling masks during game, but they sold out every opening game and had a record Saturday night TV audience. Vince McMahon may not be an honest man, or a humble man, or even a good business man, but he is a tremendous marketer. He knows how to get people to watch something. Whether or not it’s something worth watching, weelll, that’s another story.
They were way ahead of the curve on production values. You see ideas the XFL came up with (i.e. the overhead camera, other camera tricks, et al) in the NFL today.
The “promoting the individual” aspect of the league could have really taken off, right along with the “pick your own nickname” angle. The fact that people still remember “He Hate Me” 5 years later proves that.
Now, the mistakes:
Perhaps the biggest, costliest, mistake was going straight into the regular season with the teams only having played a couple of scrimmages. Okay, think of our favorite team’s first pre-season game, and think of how sloppy and un-watchable it was for the most part. Now imagine that there was a fantasy draft so that no one player on your team had ever played with another player on the team. Now imagine that instead of it being the first pre-season game it was the first regular season game. Not a very good way to introduce someone to something they’ve never seen before is it? These weren’t the most skilled players to begin with, now add not being on the same page with anyone else and you have a big ol’ mess. The games got better and better as the weeks went along, but by that time the damage had been done. The saying “You never get a second chance to make a first impression” applies here more than most situations. Especially when the aforementioned media members were poised and ready to denounce it at the first sign of crappiness
Slightly less important, but nevertheless just as damaging in the long run, was the decision to play the games in prime-time. Had they played those first few crappy games on 3 PM on a Saturday or Sunday the “first impression” damage may not have been as severe. It could have been given less of a harsh spotlight and given more of a chance to gain an audience instead of giving it an audience it wasn’t ready for right away.
I for one liked the XFL, especially once the teams actually got acclimated and the games got better, maybe I’m a sucker. But sometimes in any business venture the smallest things you don’t consider can come back to bite you big time.
This week’s edition of sleepers features players I’m not even sure will get drafted, or even be invited to a camp. But if they are I’m thinking they’ll do well. Odd thing to do I know, but bear with me.
Jeremy Bloom WR/KR Colorado
An x-factor type of player. He’s not very big, and hasn’t played much football over the years (he’s also an Olympic caliber skier, for those who didn’t know). However he does run in the legit 4.35 40 range, and if you ever saw him return kicks at Colorado you know that he has potential to be a very, very dangerous return man in the NFL if given a chance. His upside is a Tim Dwight with more agility, which sounds less impressive than it should. I’m not even sure if he’ll be drafted, but I’m predicting one of 4 teams will choose him/pick him up, the Steelers, the Patriots, the Broncos, or the Raiders.
Thomas Smith DL Pitt
Played DE his first 3 years at Pitt, then moved to D-Tackle this season. Not a flashy player, but was the most important player on the defense. The difference was night and day between games he didn’t play much or at all (ND, Rutgers, WVU, Louisville) and the games he did play (the rest). Of course those games he missed were also the only ones against teams with offenses, but still. I’m convinced he could do well in a 3-4 scheme as a backup, which when you select in the 5th-7th rounds is about as well as you hope to do anyway.
Where to take your “escort” for Valentine’s Day Week
A depressing weekend at the movies.
1) Pink Panther ($20.2 million) – The biggest problem Steve Martin had during the making of this movie, aside from the movie itself (crappy by all accounts), was Beyonce constantly asking if he could get her OJ’s autograph cuz they were in the Naked Gun movies together.
2) Final Destination 3 ($19.2 million) – First a plane crash, then a 30 car pile-up, now a roller coaster. In Final Destination 4, death stalks a bunch of teenagers who barely avoid a tragic Segway accident.
3) Curious George ($14.7 million) – Not to be confused with the much more mature Bi-Curious George. Which disgustingly enough also stars a ####. Sorry
4) Firewall ($13.6 million) – Harrison Ford, in my opinion, is the most underrated crazy celebrity in Hollywood. Have you ever seen the guy on Letterman or Leno or shows like that? He’s usually got the Fugitive facial hair going. He mumbles, and what you can hear doesn’t really make as much sense as it should (he’s not incoherent, but… I really can’t explain it), and he barely looks at anyone. It’s like he’s afraid to be out in public. Maybe it’s just me
5) When a Stranger Calls ($9.1 million) – Apparently, according to other bloggers, this is a remake of a movie made in 1979. And to those people I say “Haha, I wasn’t even born in 1979, envy my youth.” I’m kidding, if only because in 20 years I’ll probably kill anyone who does something like that to me, I’m going to be 25 soon and I already feel old
Okay, so far the most exciting thing that’s happened is that a guy was disqualified for “straddling a gate”. I think NBC paid a few billion too much for this, but hey what do I know?
Ever since I ran down Kevin Pittsnoggle in this blog not only has WVU gone 1-2, but Pittsnoggle himself scored 0 points against Pitt. The lesson? I have eerie powers, don't f with me ####.
I'm Travis. I'm a born and raised Pittsburgher, although I'm only now starting to pick up the accent. Like many Pittsburghers I can pick out which famous people are from Pittsburgh (especially athletes, cuz outside of Michael Keaton that's about it around here) and mention it to anyone I think doesn't know. Which usually results in a "Um, who the hell cares?" I'm a fan of all Pittsburgh teams, and the Penguins are probably my favorite, mostly because they're the only team that's won anything since I've been alive (1981). (Update, Steelers won the Super Bowl, duh) Other hobbies include movies, TV, travel, and general milling around.
