Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Wednesday 11/07 A.M. Quickie:
NFL Awards, Shula, Stove, NBA/CBB, More!

Today's Names to Know: Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson, Don Shula, MLB Replay, Miguel Cabrera, Jose Guillen, Matt Williams, Paul Byrd, Peja and Paul, Kevin Durant, Findlay, Kentucky, Strat-O-Matic and More!

NFL Midseason Awards: These are as obvious as the fact that the Pats are en route to another Super Bowl title, whether it's 19-0 or otherwise. There's a certain comfort to this much dominance:

MVP: Tom Brady
Rookie: Adrian Peterson
Coach: Mike McCarthy/Romeo Crennel

Must-Read: Matt Ufford's guest-post over at Free Darko about Peterson.

As far as awards go, it would be more interesting to debate the runner-up for MVP (Brett Favre?) and Rookie (Marshawn Lynch?).

Don Shula is a crank: As if you didn't have enough reason to disdain the 1972 Dolphins, their coach Don Shula said a perfect season by the Pats would be "tainted" by their cheating scandal. Ridiculous.

Roger Goodell won't reduce Pac-Man Jones' suspension: Because Pac-Man is JUST that big of a fool.

MLB GM Meetings: Replay rules. The GMs have recommended that baseball adopt a limited instant replay system on boundary calls, mainly related to home runs. I'm all for replay, so this is a start. Now, it's just up to the owners to approve it (along with the players' and umps' unions). Let's hope no one pulls out the "slippery slope" argument.

MLB Hot Stove: If the Marlins are shopping Miguel Cabrera, who's buying? (Hmm: The Yankees have a big gaping hole at 3B, but presumably don't want to give up one of their young arms to fill it.)

MLB Scandal Watch: Jose Guillen bought HGH. I can't hear Guillen's name without thinking of the climactic scene in Sam Walker's amazing book "Fantasyland" (which, if you haven't read, is a must-read sports book – one of my Top 5 favorite sports books of all time).

Matt Williams linked to steroids, too: Honestly, at this point, the bigger question is who WASN'T involved?

MLB Free Agency: It isn't nearly as dramatic as the first time, but Curt Schilling signed (re-signed) with the Red Sox, giving the team a veteran presence to go with all that youth... and presumably giving new life to one of the great athlete blogs in sports (certainly the best in baseball).

Meanwhile, the Indians picked up an option on pitcher Paul Byrd, and you have to wonder whether they picked up the option on his now-tainted reputation involving the league's steroid scandal. (His early ALCS performance presumably overrides that.)

NBA Last Night: The Hornets are totally for real, putting up 118 in a 16-point rout of the Lakers. Peja had a team-record 10 3's and Chris Paul had a team-record 21 assists. I think fans and experts underestimated the Hornets in preseason projections.

Meanwhile: Dwight Howard vs. Al Jefferson matched two of the Top 3 young post players in the NBA (and two poster-guys for the absurdity of not allowing players to enter the NBA directly from high school). Howard won the battle and the game, with 28/16. Jefferson had 25/10.

Kevin Durant Watch: 27 points (11-22 FG), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 6 turnovers in a 6-point loss to the Kings, dropping the Sonics' record to 0-4. At this rate, they will be in a position to draft high for a complement to Durant in Oklahoma City (Rose? Gordon? Mayo? Hibbert?)

CBB: Ohio State is not the same without their Big Three freshmen. Missing NBA'es Oden, Conley and Cook (but with a terrific recruiting class behind them), the Buckeyes lost to D-II Findlay. I will avoid the easy joke about OSU; any self-respecting Buckeyes basketball fan will either be lamenting the loss or simply muttering, "Yeah, but look at our football team."

(It's been a rough start for Big Ten hoops: Michigan State lost an exhibition game to D-II Grand Valley State over the weekend.)

Kentucky's Gillispie Era opens with a big win. Joe Crawford scored 20, and needs a rebound season after an up-and-down season a year ago. Meanwhile, another win for Memphis (Derrick Rose: 21 points).

CFB: Bill Callahan says he won't resign at Nebraska before the season is over. This is going to be one awkward finish.

NHL: Eric Lindros expected to retire. Wow, remember when that guy was going to be THE next big thing?

Strat-O-Matic '86 Update: Heart-breaking season-opening loss! I lost my 1986 Cubs season-opener 5-4 on a walk-off pinch-hit single. As expected, my feeble bullpen (before games get to Lee Smith) is going to kill them/me this season. And check out yesterday's bonus post about Strat if you haven't had a chance.

Sports Media: The Basketball Jones rules. If you are an NBA fan and you are not listening to the Basketball Jones podcast every day, you are not an NBA fan. Tas and Skeets are fantastic, and it's the best sports podcast you'll find online. Go to the Basketball Jones to listen, or just subscribe via iTunes and make it easy on yourself.

NYC Readers: Tomorrow night, Varsity Letters returns with another great lineup that features ESPN's Bruce Feldman reading from his new book about college football recruiting, "Meat Market"; Steve Friedman reading from "The Agony of Victory"; and John and Rick Wolff, father and son, reading from "Harvard Boys." It's at 8 p.m. tomorrow night at Happy Ending (302 Broome). As always, it's free. Here is a link to all the info. Hope you can make it.

-- D.S.

100 comments:

Unknown said...

I still have the Lindros Score rookie card. That was the start of the hype in my mind. Sports marketing, media, etc.

Anonymous said...

second post!!!!

Anonymous said...

He had the tools to be one of the all time greats. Great hands, size, speed and a mean streak. He was fun to watch, what a shame.

Geoff said...

You realize Al Jefferson was pretty mediocre his first two seasons in the league, right? Like he could have gone to college for 2 years and come out the same exact player?

pv845 said...

I think what people forget about CBB is that there are only five players on the court unlike CFB where there are 11 on O and 11 on D. In CBB if you can get 2 or 3 good players, you can be unstoppable. Look at OSU last year. It doesn't surprise me in the least that CBB has D-II teams beating D-I teams

Matt T said...

That post on Peterson was excellent.

Any other year and Lynch would be the run away (heh) ROY. A lot of veteran RB's better be saving their money after what Peterson and Lynch did this year, to come in and take over games as rookies.

McFadden's gotta be loving it to, a team would be crazy to pass on him even if they don't need a back.

Anonymous said...

geoff that makes way too much sense

The heroin sheik said...

As I posted yesterday Dan I think the only team that might not have a problem with a bunch of roiders is the Devil Rays, but the more I think about it the more I am unsure. With all the chicken legged young guys on our roster at first glance it would seem that we would be one of the few clean teams but then I remember Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes. those guys at least by appearance look like they have had some roid rage in the past few years. Might explain why Dukes is so crazy and why Young threw that bat.

CMFost said...

I wonder if the Patriots will think about drafting McFadden with SF pick. They must not be too happy with Maroney considering how much time he has missed due to injury.

CMFost said...

Ok, So the question of the day is who is the active player that is going to snitch to the Mitchell Investigation and what will he say?

CMFost said...

Thank You, Don Shula, You just gave the Patriots some extra bulletin board material to use as motivation as they try for a perfect season.

Anonymous said...

last year is last year.
This year is this year.

OSU lost to a D-II team?! lol That's just awful. Though, basketball at the college level has to be more of a team game, and maybe OSU isn't a team yet.

bkelly126 said...

@cmfost
that's assuming Miami or St. Louis don't take him or trade out of those spots for another team to snatch him up. wasn't jerry jones at the Ark/USC game? hmmmm

as far as al jefferson, for every lebron or dwight howard there are 2 or 3 kwame browns

Anonymous said...

oh, it was just an exhibition game. nevermind. who cares?

Anonymous said...

@bkelly

and 15-20 who never even get drafted

David Kippe said...

um, slippery slope, yep, slippery slope..dumb to add replay.

David Kippe said...

and lindros was damn good til the concussions started adding up. ran into a team of destiny when they faced the wings in the stanley cup finals

David Kippe said...

how bout them Bulls! yep, that looks like your central division champs. and its gonna get worse, the annual circus road trip is coming up.

kway34 said...

There's a certain comfort to this much dominance

Not for everyone, with my team out and the Pats running rampent I'm wondering why I should watch the rest of the NFL regular season...

Ryan Bowman said...

Dan, why would one hope that no one brings up the "slippery slope" argument when it comes to using instant replay for fair/foul calls in baseball? It's a valid point. If we suddenly become "OK" with the idea of stopping the game to check a video replay of whether or not the ball was fair or foul, wouldn't it be likely that the next thing to go would be ANY fair/foul calls? Next might be ball/strike calls, or out/safe.

Say what you want..."slippery slope" is a fair argument. I want to point out that I am not necessarily against instant replay in baseball, but I do feel that it's a fair argument.

David Kippe said...

couldn't have said it better Ryan. its going to morph into so much more in the years to come. I hope I am dead wrong.

Erik Tylczak said...

Hell, a slippery slope is the biggest reason to be for such limited replay.

Ed Lamb said...

Hornets may be for real this season, but they are criminally misnamed.

New Orleans should be the Jazz, which they were before the original moved to Utah.

Utah should be the Hornets. Afterall, the nickname for the state of Utah is "The Beehive State."

Can't David Stern engineer some kind of straight-up logo switch for the franchises.

(Yeah, this has bugged me for years.)

David Kippe said...

@ed lamb,

team names and divisional placement has bothered me for years as well. but i learned to deal with the team names, because it was always fun to ask the quetion, why is a team named the Jazz?

However, until realignment happened in both baseball and football, I could never understand why Atlanta was in the west. The Braves were never ever west, in any city that they played ball in. I guess Milwaukee is the reason. But the what about when the St. Louis football Cards were in the East and the Atlanta Falcons were in the West? wtf?

The one that angers me and no one takes into consideration is that one team has been at a considerable disadvantage in sports. That is the Detroit Red Wings. Until the addition of Columbus to the league, the Red Wings were the only Eastern Time Zone team in the Western Conference. Meaning that a time change was in effect for all intraconference road games. How this hasn't been more of an issue is beyond me.

Dr. Zoom said...

Sure, Don Shula was being a little silly, but as (a) coach of the '72 undefeated team and (b) a long-time member of the competition committee, I can feel for his disgust with the seeming contempt the Pats have for sportsmanship in the game.

***

Wow. Dave Gumpert. Just wow.

CMFost said...

Baseball is a very tough sport to have Instant Replay in. I really only have replay for fair or foul when the ball leaves the field or HR or Not a HR. It would be impossible to have a review on a regular fair or foul call due to the fact if an umpire calls the ball foul all the runners stop and start heading back to the base they were on. So, if you review that and the ball is fair how do you determine what bases the runners should be on.

Erik Tylczak said...

cmfost:

Easy. If it's called foul, the play is dead. If it's called fair, a review can show it's foul and return the state of play to what it was before the ball was hit.

Have you never watched football?

The Mark Show said...

Dr. Zoom said:
I can feel for his disgust with the seeming contempt the Pats have for sportsmanship in the game.


Contempt for their lack of sportsmanship? Or the cheating scandal? You can be pissed all youw want about Spygate but are you actually saying that there should be an asterisk because of a perceived lack of sportsmanship?

Kirk said...

The only person that needs to be talked about for NFL MVP is Randy Moss. He has changed how every team plays them. He is the Reason why Brady is having a great season.

Anonymous said...

STUDS
1. LeBron James - 9/16 FG, 1/2 3PT, 5/7 FT, 14 REB, 9 AST, 3 BLK, 24 PTS
2. Dwight Howard - 8/12 FG, 12/16 FT, 16 REB, 28 PTS
3. Chris Paul - 7/18 FG, 5/5 FT, 3 REB, 21 AST, 3 STL, 19 PTS
4. Peja Stojakovic - 12/21 FG, 10/13 3PT, 2/2 FT, 5 REB, 36 PTS
5. Cuttino Mobley - 13/17 FG, 2/3 3PT, 5/7 FT, 3 REB, 33 PTS

DUDS
1. Tyrron Lue - 1/10 FG, 1/5 3PT, 0/0 FT, 1 REB, 3 AST, 2 TO, 3 PTS, 25 MIN
2. Sasha Pavlovic - 2/11 FG, 0/4 3PT, 2/2 FT, 2 REB, 2 AST, 3 PF, 2 TO, 6 PTS, 32 MIN
3. Chris Bosh - 0/4 FG, 1/2 FT, 2 REB, 1 AST, 3 PF, 3 TO, 1 PTS, 16 MIN
4. Nate Robinson - 0/3 FG, 0/1 3PT, 0/0 FT, 3 REB, 2 AST, 2 TO, 0 PTS, 15 MIN
5. Emeka Okafor - 0/6 FG, 0/0 FT, 7 REB, 0 AST, 2 TO, 0 PTS, 22 MIN

Biggs said...

@ Geoff

You're being kind. Jefferson was downright atrocious in his first two seasons in the league. He definitely would have benefited from a year or two in college.

Luke Bell said...

@ Erik:

And what if it is called foul by the umpires, but the review shows it was fair? You would have no way of knowing where the runners would have ended up had the ball been properly called fair.

Unless you only want the replay to be able to overturn balls called fair that were proven to be foul. That seems silly to me. No replay!!

Ryan Bowman said...

Basically, if any fair/foul call were questionable, they'd have to play it out as if it were fair, then review it. The system couldn't work exactly like in football because, to understand what the result of the "play" would be were the ball fair, the ball would have to be assumed fair to determine where runners would end up, how many runs scored, etc.

Imagine this. Team has the bases loaded. The batter hits a hard shot right down the first base line and into the corner. He stretches it out into a bases-clearing, three-run triple. THEN, the umpires pause the game for five minutes to determine whether or not the ball was fair or foul.

They determine after a lengthy delay that the ball was foul. The batter and all three runners have to return, likely winded or at least a little drained, to the bat and bases, respectively. Meanwhile, the pitcher hasn't done squat with his arm in five minutes.

I think the system would potentially be abused. Managers might use it to try and "cool off" a pitcher. Or maybe even to make an "exhausted" batter return to the plate. It's one thing if the batter in the situation above was Jose Reyes; what if instead the player who hit the triple was Manny Ramirez? :P

Geoff said...

I think you missed CMs point, Erik. What if you have a guy on first and second and someone hits a ball down the line ruled foul. Well the manager challenges and OH HEY it was a fair ball and the guy gets awarded a base. What do you do about the guys already on base? Do you put them on second and third when they very well could have scored? Do you allow the guy on second to get ruled home and the guy on first awarded 3rd? What if the guy on first could have scored on the play? It would just be a mess and baseball would be better off without it.

The heroin sheik said...

bkelly jerry jones was probably at the ARK/USC game because he played football there with Jimmy Johnson

The Mark Show said...

@Geoff,

Just like there are certain plays in football that aren't reviewable you could make it so that if a ball is called foul it's not reviewable. It's pretty simple. I don't think they should do it that way, but that's one way to get it done.

Geoff said...

Oh I know they would have to limit it and I think CMs point was that it would be impossible to use in certain situations. That is the slippery slope part... what do you rule as replayable once you introduce it in the first place. You know if they do it for home runs than someone along the line there is going to be a close play and someone will bitch that it should be reviewable.

David Kippe said...

ugh, we went through this about two months ago, lets not do it again.

Erik Huntoon said...

First, the Pats got busted THIS season for cheating. Not last year, or 3 years.. this season. So if the do go 16-0 or 19-0.. yes, that should absolutely taint the accomplishment. By how much is a totally different matter. I just don't understand how all of a sudden we are just supposed to turn a blind eye to blatant rule breaking to start this season.

As to Lindros.. if his health hadn't gotten in the way I think he would have definitely lived up to the hype. The way you write your blurb about him is pretty mocking which is kind of pathetic. If you go back to his first 8 or 9 years, he was averaging around 35 goals a year. Everyone wanted him on their team and hated to play against him. Maybe not 'the next big thing' but certainly a great player when he was fully healthy.

Anonymous said...

Replay in baseball - I'm all in favor of getting it right, but the problem is that baseball is already an incredibly slow moving game.

Don Shula - should STFU. I'm not Pats fan, but if they go undefeated, it's ridiculous to suggest an asterisk.

Al Jefferson - so basically he's right where he would have been skillwise if he had gone to school, only he made NBA money for a few extra years. Where I come from, that's considered smart.

Sean McGurr said...

Both the Michigan and OSU CBB games were exhibitions. Not that they still shouldn't have won, but...

ToddTheJackass said...

So, Luke, are you going to complain about Liverpool dropping 8 goals in an 8-0 soccer match?

I love the HR review system. Since everytime the umps just get together to discuss it and/or the manager comes out to argue for 2-3 minutes anyway, might as well have a better system in place, since it likely won't make any difference in terms of time.

Also, the Schilling "weight" clauses were hysterical. Seriously, acknowledging he came to training camp last year as a lard ass was actually pretty big of Schill, no pun intended. Good deal for both sides I'd say.

The Mark Show said...

@Generik,

They got caught in the first game of the season. According to Goodell they weren't using the videotape during the Jets game, they were taping to use it for future games, so they didn't have any advantage in that game, and since the tape was immediately confiscated they didn't get an advantage for anything farther down the road. It's not like Spygate and subsequent fine and loss of draft pick is being erased from the history books, but it's ridiculous to suggest putting an asterisk in the record books.

Is there an asterisk next to the Denver Broncos Super Bowls even though they illegally manipulated the salary cap to sign players they otherwise couldn't afford? The Broncos had to forfeit draft picks also but no one is calling for asterisks for them.

Darklawdog said...

Ohio State shouldn't have an All American on their team.

Aside from that, with me living in Findlay, how tough is the GLEAC?

Grand Valley and Findlay both beat Big 10 teams.

As an OSU fan living in Findlay I do find it a bit humorous.

Darklawdog said...

Oh as an added not. Findlay gave OSU a tough game last year as well.

The heroin sheik said...

That liverpool game yesterday was an absolute assbeating. I thought what arsenal did a few weeks back was amazing but when robocrouch is bookending that kind of a beatdown you know you suck.

Boomhauertjs said...

guyinthecorner:

Thanks for acknowledging LeBron's near triple-double. Dan only recognizes LeBron when he has a bad game.

Darklawdog said...

A third note ( I really should think more before hitting publish).

Last week, Findlay lost to the Dayton Flyers, by 4 or 5.

verbal97 said...

Re: Lindros...he deserves having a sub-expected career for the shit he pulled with the Nordiques.

Re: OSU's loss. What's the deal with Big 10 teams in football AND basketball losing to lower division schools?

Re: Replay in baseball. Dumb!!! Are there really that many fair/foul mistakes made on home runs? Now if out calls were reviewable that would be worthwhile as far as getting it correct goes, but I still wouldn't like it. Baseball games are LONG enough!

verbal97 said...

As a Liverpool fan, I'm EXTREMELY pissed at ESPN. No video feed, so the game was literally unwatchable. I tried listening, but everytime Tommy Smyth said "watch this" I wanted to throw a bowling ball through my TV.

ToddTheJackass said...

Where did this foul/fair thing come in? ALL that they are proposing including for 2008 is HR calls. This includes fan interference, foul/fair, caroms, etc, when they are disputable on HR calls.

Like I said, considering that any controversial HR calls take a few minutes anyway, with umpires convening and managers arguing. For HR calls, it likely won't slow down the game at all.

To repeat, this proposal does not apply to all fair/foul calls, only to HR calls.

While Verbal is right that this probably won't occur very often, it makes sense given the technology is there, and that it already takes a lot of time as is for umpires/managers to dispute the calls anyway.

The heroin sheik said...

verbal that game was on espn yesterday around 1 or so. I saw the whole thing and it was the equivalent of the patriots playing a high school team. You really didnt miss much other than 8 freaking goals being scored.

The Mark Show said...

ToddTheJackass said...
Where did this foul/fair thing come in?

The discussion of other things was a result of the "slippery slope" premise...

Beetle said...

Hey generik420,
The NFL specifically stated that the Pats were not using the video to "cheat".
So there goes that limp-wristed argument.
Also, in the week following "spygay" (mis-spelled on purpose as only whiny little bitches are still hanging their hat on the issue)
Don Shula is on record saying that what the Pats did was no big deal and that teams are always trying to decipher the oppositions signals.
Obviously, at that time, Shela was thinking that the 2007 Pats could make a run at perhaps the most overrated football team of all time.

Anonymous said...

MOre important changes to baseball IMHO:

I prefer to not have replay but can live with it just on close HR calls which would be once a week at most per team.

In the 1960's, with the EXACT same rules, baseball games took a little over two hours. Now they take about 3. That is a 50% increase. Commercial time between innings accounts for some of that.
However batters are continuously stepping out of the box, adjusting gloves, pitchers step off the mound, etc. Just have umps not grant time out to batters more than once per at bat unless injury is involved. Pitchers should also have a limit on how often they can step off the mound, especially with no runners on base.

MLB tried to do this unofficially and it didn't work. Now they need to make it official and they can do it without even changing the rules. They tightened up the strike zone pretty well also without changing any existing rules.

My take is the rules are fine, we just need direction from the league to speed up the game.

Travis said...

actually geoff he wouldnt have come out the same player, he would have come out even more expereinced. College can only be a good thing for players, on the court and off.

Travis said...

hey cmfost.

The Pats would never use a top 10 pick for a RB. They would feel the value is better to trade the pick and get someone late in the 1st like a Joseph Addai.

Im not concerned though with Malroney, hes gonna be a great back.

Anonymous said...

I don't put too much stock in MSU or OSU losing if their game was anything like the exhibition game I watched last week (Northern Illinois-Aurora, which is D-III). For one team it's one of their biggest games of the year (even though it doesn't count) and the other is just taking the time to get in a run after just a couple of weeks of formal practice. Give it 2-3 more weeks and tip it off for real and I don't think any of these exhibition games would be close.

Beetle said...

Here are the teams and regular season records that the 72 Fins defeated on their way to "history";
KC 8-6
Oilers 1-13
Vikings 7-7
Jets 7-7
Chargers 4-9-1
Bills 4-9-1 (twice)
Colts 5-9 (twice)
Pats 3-11 (twice)
Cards 4-9-1
Giants 8-6

What frauds!!

danwise1856 said...

I know AP is the clear-cut ROY but how good has Joe Thomas been?
- Not one sack given up all season. Cleveland leads the NFL with the fewest negative runs. That is impressive for a rookie LT

Also, Dan needs to stop hating on all things Ohio State. As one who was fortunate enough to watch the game last night, there was no urgency when Ohio State was down. Should they have won, yes, but it was an exhibition and you could tell that Matta was getting a feel for his players and team.

$10 if this had happened at UF, Dan would be saying the same thing I just said.

pv845 said...

@ CycleDan: I completely agree. The games are inexcusably long anymore. I watched a scoreless game a couple of years ago in KC with about 2 hits per team. It took the pitcher an average of 30 seconds per pitch. The game lasted 3.5 hours. That is a waste.

CMFost said...

Travis, I know they would not it was more of a hypothetical statement. The patriots if they keep the draft pick will probably draft the best defensive player available.

Travis said...

on MLB replay.

If down the line calls were part of it its simple. If a call is overturned from foul to fair its umpires judgement, just as it is on fan interference.

If you have an arm like Vlad in left and Ortiz running and the ball is grabbed near the line without going into the corner rule it a single, if its Johnny Damon with Jacoby Ellsbury runnings give hima double.

Travis said...

About the * talk from Shula.

No way!

the video from the Jets game was confiscated during the first quarter of the game and had no impact on the result of the game.

Travis said...

Im still holding out hope that the Rams and Dolphins win a couple each and the niners continue to lose. a #1 overall pick will bring in a boatload of picks from a middle of the draft team who wants the top player :)

Nick Bell said...

Until the addition of Columbus to the league, the Red Wings were the only Eastern Time Zone team in the Western Conference. . . How this hasn't been more of an issue is beyond me.
As a Wings fan, that always struck me as strange too. But this begs a question: what team would the league move to the Western conference instead of the Red Wings? Every single Eastern conference team is more east of the Wings. So while the Wings may have to deal with time issues, at least travel is better than it would be for any Eastern Conference team. The only solution would be to have unbalanced leagues or add/remove teams, neither of which seems like a good idea to me.

verbal97 said...

@heroinsheik:

My team put on a record-setting performance and it was supposed to be on ESPN2 at 2:45. I think I have a gripe against the self-proclaimed but not really worldwide leader.

Jingoist said...

I am not a college hoops fan (outside of March Madness), but I do know a D-II hoops team defeating a D-I program is NOT as impressive (not even in the same area code) as a D-IAA program upending a D-I football program.

Heck, the community college hoops team here gives the local college D-I programs a run for their money.

There is simply not the disparity in skills from level to level in basketball that there is in football- for a variety of reasons, namely:
1. volume of basketball players vs. football players per capita.
2. Academic acumen of said players- i.e., more players are apt to NOT be given preferential access to top programs because there's more "students" to pick from.
3. Even thought the NBA now has age/school requirements for draft eligibility, the fact is more players can still jump early to the NBA, thus depleting D-I schools of a blue chip recruiting class and skewing the talent of said program down into D-II territory (at least temporarily).

Look at THE Ohio State University. You cannot suffer the loss of 3 starters, recruited just 1-2 years ago and not feel a pinch for a season (or 2).

Geez, I said I am not a college hoops fan, but that was an awful lot of contemplation for said topic. Sorry.

David Kippe said...

RE: MSU and OSU losses.
Didn't the original Dream Team lose an exhibition game/scrimmage to a college select team? Mostly because Daly was playing with different lineups. then the played again and it was like a 50 pt blowout?

Unknown said...

Prediction: Lindros will suffer a concussion during his retirement press conference.

How does a 6'4", 240-pound guy have a jaw like a glass chandelier?

The heroin sheik said...

Not to rub it in verbal but you could tell within five minutes that it was going to be all liverpool. You almost had two hat trick heroes. the funny thing is that on everygoal it seemed to be a situation where the goalie got his hands on the ball and then the rebound was kicked into an empty net. Garrard was dominating and crouch was pretty damn good too. It was much more dominating that the 7-0 beatdown Arsenal put on slavia prague.

The heroin sheik said...

Jamie LIndros could get a concussion brushing his teeth.

Jingoist said...

Remember when Lindros and (I think) Kordell Stewart adorned the cover of the first issue of ESPN The Magazine?

I believe the first cover title was, "We Got Next".

Next pension check maybe, but that's about it.

Jingoist said...

Don't forget that Brett Lindros (Eric's younger brother) who played for the Islanders retired prematurely from concussions too. I wonder where genetic predisposition begins to fit in.

Man, imagine those family gatherings years from now? I'm serious. As a parent or sibling, it is frightening to be faced with worrying that now both are at higher risks of diseases like dimentia, Alzheimer's, MS, problems with motor skills, hearing/sight, etc. And then at some point, inevitably dealing with those issues.

I guess, you have to take it as it comes.

Dr. Zoom said...

Mark, I never said there should be an asterisk. I said "I can feel for Shula's disgust with the seeming contempt the Pats have for sportsmanship in the game." For me, that encompasses both Spygate and their recent running up the score.

marcomarco said...

Gallo on AMJump actually had a valid take on the replay thing. (Disclaimer, I almost never read it, but happened to today)

Critics of instant replay worry it will slow the game down. Right, instant replay will be so much less efficient than a 60-year-old man dressed in pajamas screaming like a toddler for 10 minutes. Got it.

marcomarco said...

oops, looks like Bomani Jones did the Jump today. I guess Gallo still sucks.

The Mark Show said...

Zoom,

Shula has no place to comment unless he wants to be a hypocrite because his Dolphins also lost a first round pick because he signed on to coach while he was still under contract with the Baltimore Colts which constituted tampering.

marcomarco said...

Thank you Don Shula, for throwing more logs on the Belichick fire.

Dolphins score will now be 72-0.

verbal97 said...

Shouldn't the '72 Dolphins have an asterisk for playing only a 14 game regular season?

Travis said...

no * for the Dolphins for only playing a 14 game schedule. But for those who say the Pats are trying to tie the Dolphins as the only undefeated teams.... If the Pats go 19-0 it wont be a tie, no one will rmemeber the 72 dolphins anymore.

Luke Bell said...

Didn't the Patriots have to give the Jets a 1st round pick for hiring Belichick? Just asking...

marcomarco said...

Obviously a homer, but an interesting read nonetheless.

Wrong Foot

Highlight:
The 1972 Dolphins ran up the score against the Patriots, 52-0, that season, but you don’t hear anything in regards to a “lack of class” on Shula’s part.

wolverine425 said...

In 1972, the Dolphins completed the NFL's only perfect season to date in the Super Bowl era, winning all 14 regular season games, two playoff games and Super Bowl VII.

Shula makes me sick. Patriots are a far superior team to the 72 Dolphins. They only had 14 regular season games and the majority of them were against sub .500 opponents. Go hit the links shula and stop your bitching. You should worry about the sad state of the current Dolphins.

Travis said...

Yea the Patriots had to give up a pick to the Jets, but the Jets played the whole situation rather classless.

As an assistant Belichick was entitled to listen to offers that would give him a promotion with another team, getting wind of what was happening. Bill Parcells resigned so the Jets could elevate Belichick to head coach thus blocking the Patriots to freely hire him.

Jingoist said...

And then, Parcells tries to look good by calling Mr. Kraft on the phone with his whole, "Hello, this is Darth Vader" (Evil Empire) reference that's now part of the lore that helped them settle their differences and iron out the Belichick hiring.

Anonymous said...

travis-

The Pats lose the pick. They don't give it to the Jets. Think about how little sense that would make if it actually happend.

k said...

Word on Sam Walker's Fantasyland. I could not put that book down and I heartily rec it to even my non-baseball-fan friends.

The Mark Show said...

Guy:

When Belichick was hired the Pats gave a first round pick to the Jets...

Ben K. said...

Matt Williams linked to steroids, too: Honestly, at this point, the bigger question is who WASN'T involved?

Should the biggest question focus around not what happened in the past but what MLB and other major sports orgs are doing to make sure this doesn't continue into the future? We're so concerned about the sanctity of stuff that's already happen that we seem to lose focus on the things upon which we (and by we, I mean those in charge) can have an actual impact.

verbal97 said...

anyone want to predict the beatdown coming to the Jets and Dolphins from the Pats?

Travis said...

The Jets received the Patriots 2000 1st round pick and eventually traded it to San Francisco who used it to draft Pro Bowler Julian Peterson.

The Jets ended up with 4 first round selections that year.

Travis said...

I have a friend whos a NY sports fan, he told me a couple weeks ago he's terrified to watch the Jets/Pats game later this season because he thinks the Patriots wont stop even if theres 5 seconds left on the clock.

Anonymous said...

Does anybody else see it coming a mile away: Pats finish a 16-0 regular season, only to lose in the playoffs (probably to the Colts but possibly to the Steelers)?

The Mark Show said...

Voice:

That would be the ultimate ironic ending to this season for the Pats. God that would suck. And of course all the Patriot Haters would go absolutely ape shit.

Travis said...

BILL DONT BE SUCH A JACKASS POSTING CRAP AND GETTING COMMENTS SHUT OFF FOR THE REST OF US. DICKHEAD!

The Mark Show said...

Travis,
That's a great way to get him stop, throwing a little fit probably doesn't encourage him AT ALL! Jesus, just "collapse all comments" at the top of the page and then open only the new ones you want to read...

TBBUCSRAYSLIGHT said...

Bill,

I told these fine people at danshanoff.com yesterday that we would stop with these childish pranks. So please come back to LOV and leave Dan's lemmings alone.

blue

Marcus T said...

Why is Don Shula a crank? It's not as if he called a press conference to announce his disdain. He was asked a question on a radio show, and he answered honestly. And guess what? I am sure there are more than a few people out there, myself included, that agree with him. The Patriots blatantly cheated, and got reprimanded heavily by the NFL which shows how serious of an offense it was. Why shouldn't it taint the season, and there SB titles? If they cheated against the Jets, I wonder what they might have done against a juggernaut like the Colts in the playoffs...hmm...

The Mark Show said...

Marcus you're missing the point, and the point is that the Pats were punished in accordance with their violation. Furthermore, Goodell and the NFL stated that there was no evidence that the Pats cheated in any other games, including the Super Bowls. History will show that the Pats got caught cheating in the game vs. the Jets and that is fine, but there is absolutely no reason to put an asterisk out there.