Just Sayin...

Football

The NFL Scouting Combine is over. Thank goodness! As big as a football fan as I am, I couldn’t stomach watching it. I couldn’t make myself watch but for just a few minutes here and there. What did we learn? Um, Darren McFadden is fast. Really? That’s a shocker. All those games he played in didn’t show that? Um, Jake Long has really long arms and big hands. Apparently this is a great thing for an offensive tackle. Again, the fact that he dominated on the field for the past few seasons didn’t matter? Then you see a guy who has played nearly 4 seasons as a starter at FSU, WR D’Cody Fagg, blew out his knee in a drill. Now his career is likely over and his dreams of playing in the NFL are washed down the tubes because of some stupid, meaningless drill. I don’t blame any of these kids for skipping the drills in the future.
The only thing that would be worth televising (and actually very interesting) would be if we got to watch those interviews. We know what these kids can do, for the most part, because we’ve seen them play in games. Why do we need to see a bunch of drills and seeing guys run through cones? Heck, even when I actually played football, I hated that part of the practice. Agility drills and 40 yard dashes were dreadful. I won’t be watching the Combine in the future.


Baseball

ESPN’s Buster Olney said on Mike & Mike in the Morning that he is picking the Cleveland Indians to play the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. He predicts that the Indians would beat the Cubs and become world champs. If he’s right, I’ll be in heaven given that I’m an Indians fan. I have to say, I can see the Cubs making it. The NL is for the taking and they have the pieces and the manager to do it. The only team standing in their way is the New York Mets, realistically. Even then, the Mets haven’t proven in the past that they can do anything. In the AL, however, the Indians have to take out the new and much improved Detroit Tigers, the defending champs Boston Red Sox, and not to mention the evil empire known as the New York Yankees. Personally, I feel the Red Sox just have too much for any other team to handle. They have a great pitching staff from top to bottom. Their lineup is incredible. They also don’t feel any pressure. In short, they have no weaknesses. As much as I hate to say it, I think the Red Sox will repeat. I also hope that I just jinxed them.


Basketball

The Memphis Tigers finally lost a game. Tennessee beat the Tigers in a great game that could have gone either way. I’m sure everyone saw the game so I won’t go into details. History said that the Tigers were going to lose. I think the number 1 team has played at home to the number 2 team 5 times (counting this game) and each time the number 2 team has beaten the number 1 team. The Tigers can go about their business now and just play for what it’s all about anyway, which is winning the NCAA title. Being number 1 just puts a big bull’s eye on you and then being undefeated just doubles that pressure. Ask Tennessee how it feels to be number 1. Three days after beating Memphis and becoming the new number 1 team in the country, Tennessee loses to Vanderbilt. There’s a big pressure difference when it comes to being the hunter and being the hunted.

I'm Back

Since I've been on hiatus the last few weeks, I'm going to touch on a few different things...

NBA Trades

I won't go into details about all the trades but to touch on a few, the Lakers just plain ripped off the Grizzlies. I never will understand what the Grizzlies were thinking giving up Pau Gasol for a bag of peanuts. They got crap back in players and the two first round picks they get back won't help because the Lakers are too good for those picks to be high enough to matter. The NBA draft rarely produces any quality players that go late in round 1. The Grizzlies could have gotten more and have basically made the Lakers unbeatable coming out of the Western Conference. This trade compares to the trade the Atlanta Hawks did several years ago when they traded Rasheed Wallace to Detroit for basically a bag of roastet peanuts. Everyone scratched their heads on that one and the Detroit Pistons won a championship that year because of it. Get ready folks because history is about to repeat itself. The Lakers, once they get Andrew Bynam back from injury, will be unstoppable.

The second trade I want to discuss is the one that just happened. The Cleveland Cavaliers just completed the second best trade of the year. To me this trade brings them up to the Boston Celtics level. I won't go into details about every player in the deal but they essentially gave up Larry Hughes for Ben Wallace and Wally Szerbiak. Ben Wallace is a nice player to have, even if he is on the downside of his career, but the player that is going to be huge is Szerbiak. People are underestimating how huge this addition is. Szerbiak is the outside shooter that the Cavs have been lacking. He's one of the best shooters in the NBA. He will complement LeBron James very well because, unlike Larry Hughes, Szerbiak can score without dominating the ball. LeBron will now have a little more space to work with, and if teams doubleteam him, he now has two sharp shooters that can kill defenses. Point Guard, Daniel Gibson, along with Szerbiak will space the floor and give LeBron James more lane to work with. Ben Wallace is the player that does the dirty work. He doesn't need the ball to be happy. The Cavs starting lineup will be LeBron James, Daniel Gibson, Wally Szerbiak, Ben Wallace, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Experts all think that this Cavs team lacks a true point guard and that's what LeBron needs. I disagree. The Cavs are much better this way because LeBron is all the playmaker this team needs. He doesn't need someone else to dominate the ball and run offense. With his abilities, he needs role players around him while he creates the offense. A true point guard would take away his touches. That's why I never was on board the Jason Kidd to Cleveland deal. Also, once Anderson Varejao gets healthy, they will have another energy guy in addition to Ben Wallace. This team kind of reminds of the Philadelphia 76ers team that went to the NBA Finals back in 2001. The Cavs now have great role players surrounding a superstar player just like the Sixers had back then. I know this year, for the first time in a while, I will be watching the NBA playoffs with great interest and not just because there's nothing else to watch.

Steroids in Baseball

I really hate this topic because, like most people, I'm sick of hearing about it. I'll just write a little on it because it is news, after all. Truth is, most fans don't care one way or the other but you can't help to read or talk about it. My view on this whole subject is if you aren't going suspend players who have "cheated" in the past, there's no sense in talking about this crap anymore. We as fans know there were a lot of players who did this stuff. HGH, Steroids, Insilin, B-12 shots, pain pills, Ephedrine....you get the idea. WE DON'T CARE. Congress, please just let it go if you aren't going punish people who've used the stuff. Stop wasting people's time and our tax dollars for a sideshow.

Fantasy Baseball

The fantasy baseball draft is just around the corner for most people playing in leagues. Here are a few tips to think about when drafting your team. Some of these tips are my secrets to success and I've lived by these general tips. Trust me, they are valuable.

• Pitching is what wins your league.
  Even though pitching is important, it is not wise to draft a pitcher in the first few rounds unless an ace type pitcher slips to you. Don't reach for a tier 2 type pitcher in round 2 or 3 because the top 3 guys are gone and people are drafting pitchers.
  
• Always think about value when drafting. When there is a run on certain positions, don't follow. Some of the best valued players come during runs.
  
• Don't waste your bench on position players. Draft a couple of guys like someone who has slipped and should have been drafted sooner or even a sleeper, but don't just draft a guy just to sit on your bench for nothing. Your bench should be saved for pitching mostly.
  
• When drafting pitchers, try to target guys that have high strikeout potential with a low WHIP. This formula is why year after year I've put together some great pitching staffs. If a guy has a great WHIP and a good K rate, most of the time it means he's going to get you lots of quality starts.
  
• Don't reach on closers. This is the most simple thing to follow. Closers are plentiful. Getting an elite closer will cost you because you have to draft them early. I always use the quanity method over quality. Follow the same WHIP and K-rate rules when getting a closer. You don't want a closer who doesn't strike people out and just gets saves. They may get you saves but it will cost you in ERA, WHIP, and Ks. That's why when I draft closers I don't even look at the Saves category.

I could go on and on but this is good enough info to get you started. These are just general rules to follow. Drafts are unpredictable so each one is different. Have a plan but be open to changes in it when your draft goes in a way you weren't expecting. Good luck!