I while back I was ready to axe the Danny Ainge experiment. Some of his trades made absolutely no sense to me, but today I think he may have saved his job. With the acquisition of Kevin Garnett, the new look Celtics are a force to be reckoned with. It is not a foregone conclusion that they will win the East, but they are now in the top three teams. With Garnett, Pierce, and Allen, they have all the firepower they need to contend for the top spot along with the Pistons, Heat, and Cavaliers. I believe the Magic are still not in contention with the Lewis signing, but they will be better than they were last year.
The key to the Celtics is for all three stars to remain healthy. KG has been remarkably healthy with Allen and Pierce each missing significant time over the last few years with injuries. Should all three play in every game, they will be in the thick of things come post season.
The Celtics mortgaged their future giving away Green, Gomes, and Jefferson, but they did manage to unload Theo Ratliff and Sebastion Telfair. That alone was worth the trade. Should Jefferson turn out to be a true star in the NBA, the Celtics still gained an existing Super Star in Kevin Garnett. It will be fun to watch to see if the Irish Green can regain some of the former glory of the Bird years.
Don't look now, but Barry Bonds is 1-1 and has a stolen base. Seems to me his knees are feeling fine. Those who keep saying his playing days are over just say that because they don't want to see him break the HR record. Well get over it, because it won't take long now.
Last year saw the end to one of the most impressive streaks in all of baseball, the Atlanta Braves 14 consecutive NL East champions and post season births. Many have written them off as a team that is rebuilding, but I think they are poised to take the NL East again this year. Their weakness last year was in their relief pitching which they shored up this year with the addition of Mike Gonzalez. He would be the closer on any other team, but for now Bob Wickman has that role. That means they have an effective set up man and a good closer. I look for Gonzalez to take over the role of closer before the year is out, but until then if teams plan on scoring on the Braves they better do it in the first 7 innings.
As for offense, the Braves have Andruw Jones who is at the end of a contract year so expect big things from him. Chipper Jones is as healthy as he has been in years. Edgar Renteria is a good power hitting shortsop and of course they have Brian McCann behind the plate. He should be the starting catcher this year for the National League All Star team, if he remains healthy. Many think the offense of the Braves depends on Chipper Jones, but I feel that McCann will be the most important piece to that puzzle this year. Especially since they traded away Laroche for Gonzalez. The pieces are in place for the Braves to dominate this year. Let's see how long they can remain on top.
Many people blame the refs for Seattle's loss to the Steelers in Superbowl 40, but I put the blame squarely on Jeremy Stevens' shoulders. It looks like that the Seahawks are finally going to remove him from the team, and I say it is about time. He single handedly dropped several passes that would have changed the game against Pittsburgh, and his off the field antics have grown very old. During the run to the Superbowl he made several comments about winning that was totally inappropriate. He has had many off the field problems to compound his on the field efforts. And in my book, this is a good move by the GM in Seattle. Now who will they get to replace Stevens? That is the question.
One of the hot new shows on NBC this year is Heroes. In it, different characters learn about their special abilities as they try to save the world. Well, I would like to do a parody comparing certain sports figures to the Heroes of NBC. Without further adieu, I give you Sports Heroes.
NBC Hero: Nathan Petrelli, he can fly but has trouble remaining faithful to his wife.
Sports Hero: Kobe Bryant whose high flying antics include a few trips to Vale.
Fox Blogger Hero: TravisDW. Also looks like he has been flying a bit in his avatar.
NBC Hero: Hiro Nakamura, he can bend the time and space continuum.
Sports Hero: Ichiro whose swing is from the Ted Williams era.
Fox Blogger Hero: Dudski whose posts are from a different era.
NBC Hero: Claire Bennet the Cheerleader who can regenerate.
Sports Hero: Scottie Pippen, the ageless one who is trying to regenerate his career. (although you will never confuse his mugshot for that of a cheerleader)
Fox Blogger Hero: Dusty Outlaw who just never dies.
NBC Hero: Peter Petrelli, he absorbs others powers and is possibly the strongest hero of all.
Sports Hero: Steve Nash, is there anything he can’t do on the court.
Fox Blogger Hero: ShooterB who pops up when needed. His writing is powerful and versatile.
NBC Hero: D.L. Hawkins who can pass through solid objects.
Sports Hero: LaDainian Tomlinson who passes through the walls of linemen in the NFL.
Fox Blogger Hero: Demonicume who has an obstacle to overcome every day in South Carolina.
NBC Hero: Niki Sanders who has a deadly alter ego.
Sports Hero: Pacman Jones who is always causing trouble.
Fox Blogger Hero: Lisa who has a dark side. Watch as she defeats her opponents in Rev’s bracket challenge. Also, she is willing to sleep with the judges for gain much like Nike slept with Nathan to clear her debt.
NBC Hero: Matt Parkman who can read peoples’ thoughts.
Sports Hero: Peyton Manning. He knows what the other team is thinking when he calls out his audibles from the line of scrimmage. He also knows what everyone thought of him prior to this Super Bowl.
Fox Blogger Hero: MeanDovine who always knows what to say to bloggers.
NBC Hero: Isaac Mendez who can paint the future.
Sports Hero: Gilbert Arenas who seems to know when he will score 50 points weeks in advance; if only his predictions were as accurate as Mendez’s paintings.
Fox Blogger Hero: Norcal who ranks the draft better than anyone.
NBC Villain: Sylar, who is very powerful. He absorbs the powers of the other heroes.
Sports Villain: Barry Bonds who is about to surpass Hank Aaron for the new all time HR record. Is anyone more hated in sports? Also like Sylar, he absorbs his powers from other sources.
Fox Blogger Villain: You decide who the Fox Sports Villain is and post below.
The 07-0 NFL season just got a lot longer for the San Diego Chargers. It looks like we will have plenty to talk about during the off season as the Chargers start looking for a new head coach. Unfortunately, most of the big names have already committed to coaching somewhere. Who is left for San Diego to choose from? Jim Mora Jr? Ron Rivera? Maybe they can lure Jimmy Johnson out of retirement. Who will want to come and coach here when you win 14 and you are fired.
For my part I am not that sad to see Marty go, but you never fire your head coach unless you have a replacement in mind. I sure hope Dean Spanos and GM Smith have someone really good in mind because 14-2 was pretty good. Now LT and Rivers will have to learn a whole new system. The defense led by Merriman will have to adjust. I just don't see it happening, but who am I to judge. To me it looks like the Chargers are going backwards, but only time will tell. What are your thoughts?
Of course Bobbie Petrino just signed a 10 year deal with Louisville, but now he is leaving for the Falcons. Can't he honor his contract?
Does anyone remember when Herm Edwards left the Jets to go and coach the Chiefs? He had two years left on his contract, but he bolted ship for greener pastures. Sure in the end the Jets got a draft pick, but the fact is that Edwards was under contract and the Chiefs lured him away much like the Tide lured Saban away. This is a business. I don't fault Herm or Nick. You do what is best for you and Herm knew he would be fired the next season if he had another losing season. Why the Chiefs wanted him, I will never know, but for those who continue to criticize Nick I think you are being a bit hypocritical if you do not criticize coaches like Herm Edwards.
Of course there are many more examples of this in both the professional and collegiate level. You might remember how Bill Parcells wanted out of his Patriot's job so he left and took a position as assistant coach at the Jets, and had Paul Tagliabue not brokered a deal the Patriots would have sued the Jets. Bill jumped ship and took another job, but does he receive Saban type criticism? Nope, because he is Bill Parcell.
The only thing Nick did that was wrong was his being dishonest with the media of his intentions, but just maybe he wasn't sure he was leaving until he made it to Tuscaloosa and had all of that money waived in front of him. Just maybe, but even so he has every right to leave Miami just like owners who fire coaches who have multiple years left on contracts.
Continuing with a theme I started yesterday, many people want to compare these two fine guards and make bold claims about one being much superior to the other. I find most of these claims to be unfounded and based upon the pure and unadulterated “fan” love of the person making the claim. One stat that is often quoted or written is that Jason Kidd makes the players around him so much better than they were before. I have also heard from one blogger that said to take a look at how much better Dirk got once Nash left. Let’s examine the facts and then each of you can make up your own minds about which guard makes his players look better.
First off we will examine the stats of Shawn Marion because he has played under both Steve Nash and Jason Kidd. There are not too many players that have played for both guards so that comparison is hard to make based upon facts.
Shawn Marion played with Jason Kidd from 1999-2000 and averaged 10 points a game in his first season and then 17 points a season in his second season. Combined he averaged around 14 points a season under Jason Kidd. Enter Steve Nash in 2004-06 and Marion is averaging over 20 points a season. To be fair, Marion only started in 1999.
Next, let’s take a look at Dirk Nowitzki. He Steve Nash came to Dallas from Phoenix in 1998 which just so happened to be Dirk’s first year in the NBA. Dirk averaged 8.19 points a game in that first season, but then he improved to 17 points a season, then21.76, 23.41, 25.14, and 21.82 in Nash’s last season at Dallas. It appears that Nowitzki improved every year except his last, and I would make a case that Nash had a lot to do with this boost in offensive production for Dirk. Without Nash Dirk’s numbers did go up to 26 points a game the last two seasons, but he has had to carry more of the load once Nash left. This year his numbers are back down to 23 a game which is more in line with the numbers he had with Nash there.
Now let’s look at two players who moved to NJ and are playing under Kidd. Eddie House came to NJ from Phoenix where he played for Steve Nash in 2005. At Phoenix under Nash he averaged 9.83 points a game and shot 42.2% from the field. At NJ this year House is averaging 5.6 points on just 35.7% field goal shooting. It looks like a decline under Jason Kidd. Then there is Jeff McInnis who averaged 12.83 points in Cleveland last year with a guard named LeBron James. Now McInnis is averaging 5.32 in New Jersey. Another drop in production from a player who moved to NJ!
Is this conclusive proof that players score more and play better with Steve Nash? Maybe not conclusive, but definitely it proves that players do not play better with Jason Kidd. If you can find another player whose production has gone down as a result of playing with either of these two guards, feel free to share it. For now, my own observations of watching these two guys play, the records of their teams, and the statistics points to Nash makes his players look and perform better than Jason Kidd.
What happened to Romomania? Funny how losing makes people start second guessing the coach. Romo has played well, but unfortunately the reason the Cowboys were losing had very little to do with Drew Bledsoe and more to do with a poor defense. Sure Bledsoe made some bad throws from time to time, but the Cowboys offensive line and running game were not producing at the time either. Now that Barber is running well, Bledsoe would have more time in the pocket. The trouble is that no matter who is the QB, the Cowboys are still in trouble.
Vince Young, Matt Leinart, and Jay Cutler may be the three best QB’s to come through a draft in a long time. All three have already established themselves as the number one QB on their teams. Is it just me or does Jay Cutler look like he may be the best of the three? He looked very poised against the Bengals on Sunday, but then again, he was playing against that “vaunted” Bengals’ defense. Forget about Wonderlick tests because Vince Young is showing why he won at Texas. He is a winner. Some QB’s have all the tools but for some reason or another they can not get their teams over the hump. Joe Montana did not have the prettiest spiral or all the physical tools of a Jeff George, but he was a winner.
Jim Mora Jr.: If you have to come out defending your record you have already been fired. My guess is that Mora is trying to establish his resume in the press so that someone will want to hire him. Which team that will be is hard for me to tell, but maybe Mora would be desperate enough to actually accept the Raiders job should it be offered. No one else wants to work for Al Davis, but I don’t see any other franchise offering Mora a job right away.
Shawne Merriman has decided not to appeal the four game suspension thereby all but admitting his guilt in regards to testing positive for steroids. Prior to this he had said that he tested positive by taking tainted supplements. My guess is that he realized his appeal would only delay his suspension because there was very little hope that he would be found innocent.
Furthermore, I believe he filed he first appeal under false pretenses. He knew that the Chargers were playing the Rams this week and they needed him to win that game. Now two of the games he will miss are against two of the worst teams in the league, the Browns and the Raiders.
Merriman is guilty and he knows it. His own team mates have all but admitted it. Here are the words of his teammate, Shaun Phillips,
"He's upset because he let his team down, but we're OK,"
It appears Merriman will apologize and soon all will be forgotten unless the CHargers lose 3 out of 4 of the next games and miss the play offs. Just one man's opinion.
Last year saw the end to one of the most impressive streaks in all of baseball, the Atlanta Braves 14 consecutive NL East champions and post season births. Many have written them off as a team that is rebuilding, but I think they are poised to take the NL East again this year. Their weakness last year was in their relief pitching which they shored up this year with the addition of Mike Gonzalez. He would be the closer on any other team, but for now Bob Wickman has that role. That means they have an effective set up man and a good closer. I look for Gonzalez to take over the role of closer before the year is out, but until then if teams plan on scoring on the Braves they better do it in the first 7 innings. 
First off we will examine the stats of Shawn Marion because he has played under both Steve Nash and Jason Kidd. There are not too many players that have played for both guards so that comparison is hard to make based upon facts.
Next, let’s take a look at Dirk Nowitzki. He Steve Nash came to Dallas from Phoenix in 1998 which just so happened to be Dirk’s first year in the NBA. Dirk averaged 8.19 points a game in that first season, but then he improved to 17 points a season, then21.76, 23.41, 25.14, and 21.82 in Nash’s last season at Dallas. It appears that Nowitzki improved every year except his last, and I would make a case that Nash had a lot to do with this boost in offensive production for Dirk. Without Nash Dirk’s numbers did go up to 26 points a game the last two seasons, but he has had to carry more of the load once Nash left. This year his numbers are back down to 23 a game which is more in line with the numbers he had with Nash there.
