This years NFL Rookie of the Year final five players to vote on are Devin Hester, Vince Young, Maurice Jones-Drew, Reggie Bush, and Joseph Addai.  All five have spectacular years this year, especially as rookies.  Hopefully the so called "sophmore jinx" doesn't get any of these guys.  The finalist don't even include some of the best players in the league. 

 Marques Colston the Saints star WR, AJ Hawk,  Santonio Holmes, Matt Leinart, Jay Cutler, and Laurence Maroney give the NFL a very bright future.  There were so many impact rookies this year it was amazing.  I have set up a poll on FanIQ.com so you can vote on the Rookie of the year for yourself if you are a member or you could sign up here. 

Each of the four teams playing in this years Championship games has one of the above metioned players on their teams right now.  This is why you can never discount the value of good drafting.  Of all the rookies from this year  the one I am most excited to see play next year is Vince Young.  He is the guy I thought he would be, a winner.  Things just happen for him when they need to and he has all the talent in the world.  He is very exciting to watch and look forward to seeing how the Titans play next year.

  Al Davis the owner of the Oakland Raiders has not gone wild but he has definatly gone crazy.  According to the Oakland Tribune he is willing to trade malcontent WR Jerry Porter.  That isn't the crazy part though.  He is reportedly looking for two first round picks in return.  That is right, he wanted two first round picks.  I dont think most teams would give two first round picks for Randy Moss, let alone an outspoken, underacheiving, disinterested Porter.  The other vice on any deal for Porter is Davis wants Porter to repay $4 million of his $13 million bonus so he could be traded.  Davis also says maybe now he just wants one number one pick, maybe less.  Porter is barely a season into his current deal, which would leave the Raiders with a tremendous cap hit of $6.45 million in 2007 if he's traded or cut this year.  Al it is time to get a GM that tells YOU what is going to happen and you write the check.  That is what an owner does, write the checks and stay out of player personnell decisions.  Also Al, great move on bringing in Aaron Brooks and drafting Michael Huff instead of drafting Leinhart or Cutler.

  Charles Rogers worked out for former Michigan State head coach and current Miami Dolphins coach Nick Saban.  The underachieving, one failed drug test away from a year suspension, cut by Detroit Rogers apparently "laid an egg".  The Dolphins were actually going to make him a contract offer if he looked good in the workout.  According to MiamiHerald.com........."right there in front of Nick Saban, who recruited Rogers out of high school, Bobby Williams, who coached Rogers at Michigan State, and Charlie Baggett, who was the receivers coach at Michigan State early in Rogers career, there was nothing but disappointment among the onlookers.  All were hoping to see a spark of the talent Rogers showed for the Spartans. But it simply wasn't there."  So as it looks right now, the Detroit Lions have made the right decision on shipping him out, and it wasn't a popular one at the time when they did.  But how does Charles react to all of this?  He fired his agent this week.

  Billy Volek has made quite a few headlines for being traded recently.  The BIG question is, WHY?  He has been a back up forever and has never done anything with his chances throughout his career.  But somehow his being traded is making headlines and I have to hear about him being traded on every football show I watch.  Hey if he can't beat out Kerry Collins as the starter in Tennesee, why would you want to trade for him?  On the Volek story all I want to say is NEXT!

 

I was thinking about all the different types of sellouts around sports and I think I have come up with a few different examples of how many different ways Players, teams, and or fans are sellouts or will sellout. In no order of significance.

1. Yankee fans selling out on A-rod. It is already happening in New York that many fans and reporters are willing and advocating the trade Alex Rodriguez. Trust me now is not the time to bail out on the youngest player to hit 450 HRs because he is the highest paid player of anything in the World. This is the same guy that the Yankees traded Alphonso Soriano for and have been rumored to want to reacquire. The Yankees and fans sold out on Soriano in trading him, the fans and media are selling out on A-Rod and Brian Cashman (ironically named in being the Yankees GM) has sold out the Yankees future by making far too many trades.

2. The city of Detroit for not scheduling a Lions game and Tigers game on the same Sunday. When the Lions open up their season and the Tigers close theirs down, it would have been possible to sellout two games on the same intersection of downtown. The Lions continually sellout the home games and the Tigers have been selling outain and are making a playoff run which in turn may be the only way they would be able to have the two-fer of sellouts in October. Being the great sports town that Detroit is, the fans would sellout both games for sure.

3. Chris Brown of the Tennessee Titans is selling out on the Titans and his fans. The oft injured Brown is in the final year of his contract. The Titans drafted Lindale White as well. Brown's agent, Wynn Silbermann, formerly asked for a trade last week. Brown and his agent believe being traded away from a crowded backfield is his best career move. To me that tells me he is either not competitive or just does not believe he is good enough to get the bulk of the carries. How much does he think he is really going to get as a free agent? I am not looking for a player who wants out at the first sight of serious competition for his job. To me he is just a sellout.

4. Monday Night Football is a sellout for selling out to itself. They moved MNF to ESPN this year and changed the crew up. To me if they were really looking for an improvement in ratings, they would have made adjustments to the actual games! There were so many things to tweak but they never really did anything bout the actual games. They should have had more variety of teams on, less Packers (so we didn't have to hear Madden say Brett Favre's name over 100 times per and besides he is washed up now, move on!), and had an 8 O'clock start time EST. They should have had some signs that the games didn't mean anything because there wer so many games that weren't sold out.

5. The Brewers and Carlos Lee are sellouts. The fans of the Brew Crew are the big losers in this though. The Brewers need to trade Carlos Lee or resign him to a multi year deal. The fans have not had a World Series contender since 1982 and have never even won the World Series. They need to run the team less like a business and more like a team that wants to win. How about making a run for once instead of setting new lows in mediocrity. The Brewers and Detroit Lions are like distant sports cousins I guess, but do they both Sellout on their fans?  Either way they have never won it all.  The Lions only claim to a chamtpionship in way back in 1957 before it was even called the Super Bowl.

6.  Maurice Clarrett was a sellout to the team that made him famous, the Ohio State Buckeyes.  He was also a sellout to the fans of OSU, and he was a sellout to coachs of OSU.  Then to top it off he sold out his NFL career by having a year off.  He then sold out his future when he was arrested for aggrevated robbery.  He is now better known for non football activities, which is not good.




Do you think you know about sports?  try fanIQ and try to predict all the games, divisions, and stats you can.  just follow this link!  http://www.faniq.com/index.php?id=24942

 

NFL


Tennessee Titans- Former San Francisco 49er first round pick Ahmed Plummer has played only nine games in the past two years after a succession of injuries. Twelve-year veteran Ty Law picked off 10 passes for the New York Jets in 2005, but also comes with a high price tag and, even more troubling, a warning label. They have had both in this month to see what interest each player has in Tennessee and a decision will come soon.

Detroit Lions- Warren Sapp a Lion?  The Lions released Dan Wilkinson yesterday in a move that suprised some.  He has talked about retirement all off-season.  He also has pending law suits in Maryland from a restaurant deal he had going from his Redskins days that didn't work out.  Ironically his lack of working out is what got him cut from Detroit. New head coach Rod Marinelli wants players who want to play and put in the extra effort needed to turn the franchise around.  Since Wilkinson was paid pretty well, that money can be used to pursue other free agents, if any players become available who might interest the Lions. There has been speculation in Oakland that the Raiders might part company with Warren Sapp, who had a strong relationship with Marinelli with the Buccaneers.

Pittsburgh Steelers- Joey Porter missed the first week of the Steelers' voluntary workouts, and now the question is whether he will participate in any of them.  Porter, a Pro Bowl linebacker, attended the team's mandatory three-day minicamp May 13-15 but was the only veteran absent from all four of their follow-up voluntary sessions last week at their UPMC training facility on the South Side.  He has two years left on a contract he signed in February 2004. He is scheduled to earn a salary of $3.85 million this year, and earn $5 million in 2007, which includes a $1 million roster bonus.


MLB


New York- take your pick which New York team picks up Dontrell Willis.  Both have had scouts following him the last two weeks.  He has had a slightly down season on a team that sold everyone else off before the season even started.  He was kept because he is still very young and has not had his first big pay day yet.

Kansas City- The Royals are now 19 games back of Detroit in the AL Central.  It is only May 23rd.  Yes their season is done and they will be unloading some players.  They made several off-season free agent signings and nothing has worked for them this year.  The biggest reason is they didn't sign pitching.  They have several veteran players they can trade off that may bring them plenty of young prospects for a team that has traded off every prospect that has every come to fruition for them.

Washington Nationals- Alfonso Soriano may also be headed out of town very soon.  He has been rumored to be traded since the time he was traded to Washington.  He may be headed toi the Mets, White Sox, Philadelphia, or St. Louis.

Los Angeles- If Morales struggles, the Angels will turn to the trade market, with Arizona first baseman Tony Clark considered a possible target. Clark is an attractive short-term option because he is signed only through this season and, because he's stuck behind young first baseman Conor Jackson, wouldn't cost as much as some of the front-line players the Angels are pursuing, such as Alfonso Soriano and Shea Hillenbrand.  The Angels are 11 games below .500 and in last place, a perfect fit for Tony Clark.  Ask any Detroit Tigers fan.