Thursday, December 09, 2010

12/09 Quickie: Meyer, Crawford, Lee, Heat

Today's Names to Know: Urban Meyer, Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, Luke Scott, Matt Cassel, Amare Stoudemire, LeBron James, Derek Fisher, Carlos Pena, Paul Konerko, Kyrie Irving, Terrence Jones, Quincy Miller, Cam Newton, Sidney Crosby, Jenn Sterger and More.

Urban Meyer: I got it out of my system yesterday. I cannot begrudge him (even after this brutal season), not after the memories he has given Florida fans.

I was surprised to hit up popular Florida message boards last night and see such an anti-Mullen sentiment. I'll take him or Charlie Strong over any other coach out there (including Bob Stoops).

Cliff Lee: Are we going to get a decision from Lee today? I suspect the Yankees will pay what(ever) it takes (reportedly 6Y/$140M), and Lee will announce for New York.

Carl Crawford: Goes to the Red Sox for 7Y/$142M, giving Boston the top OF on the 2011 free-agent market -- and a hell of a lineup bump, when combined with Adrian Gonzalez.

Luke Scott: It's not every day a MLB player goes public as a birther. Yahoo's Dave Brown had the sportswriting line of the month, after Scott made his claims: "[Sigh]"

Matt Cassel: Ahh, the appendectomy. A few years ago, I had an emergency appendectomy. Let's put it this way: I wasn't ready to play pro football a week later. Or two. Or 10.

Amare Stoudemire: A quarter of the way through the NBA season, there's a pretty good case to be made for Amare for MVP. (Last night: 34 and 14 in yet another Knicks W.)

LeBron: 33 in a Heat win over the Jazz in SLC. It's Miami's 6th win in a row, and all that talk about the team's struggles from two weeks ago are a distant meme.

Derek Fisher: At the buzzer!

Carlos Pena and Paul Konerko: Both Chicago teams keep big-hitting 1B. Pena had a feeble, sub-Mendoza year; Konerko bashed the ball. Pena will have 2011 to earn another deal. (Konerko got a 3-year deal. Being a franchise hero has its perks.)

Kyrie Irving: Sidelined indefinitely with a toe injury! It shouldn't stop Duke from rolling along -- that's how good they are this season, that they could lose their best player (the likely No. 1 overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft), and still be awesome. (See last night's blowout of Bradley, featuring a career-high 28 from backup guard Andre Dawkins.)

The bigger question: Given his amazing NBA prospects, should Irving just shut it down for the year, rather than risk more substantial injury?

Terrence Jones: Speaking of super-frosh in college hoops, Kentucky's Jones (27 last night in a W over Notre Dame) is possibly my favorite player in college hoops this season.

Quincy Miller: He is the top-ranked basketball player in the HS class of 2011. If the union can strike a deal with the NBA before June to eliminate the NBA's age limit, he could be a Top 5 player taken in the 2011 draft, rather than the 2012 draft. (They won't, but regular readers know that I have always been very against a draft age limit.)

Cam Newton: Should take home the Maxwell Trophy for being the nation's top college football player tonight at the CFB Awards. (More: Bednarik: Bowers; Biletnikoff: Blackmon; Walker: James. Now, I'm gonna let James finish, but the RB of the year is Marcus Lattimore.)

Sidney Crosby: I don't talk about hockey much, but The Kid is on fire (4 multiple-goal games in his last 6), and so are the Pens (11 straight Ws).

Jenn Sterger: The NFL is done with its investigation into the Favre-Sterger situation, and the report is being reviewed in the Commissioner's office. Expect... well, nothing.

Quickish: If you haven't yet and want to get updates on the company (big ones soon), you should definitely "like" the Facebook page and follow the Twitter feed.

-- D.S.

3 comments:

David Kazzie said...

Luke Scott is a mouth-breathing idiot, and his comments dovetail nicely with the idiotic spiel by Steve Czaban on his show this morning -- he took backhanded potshots at Islam (of course, never mentioning the religion by name) during a discussion about those "Co-Exist" bumper stickers you see everywhere.

We've become a nation of Stupid.

BLT said...

It's a toe injury for Irving, not a knee, hip or back. He can recover and still have a great season. If he shuts it down, he would have to have phenominal pre-draft workouts to remain a top 10 pick.

BLT

Andy said...

Easily Ben Roethlisberger's worst year in pro football, 2006, came after he had an emergency appendectomy just before the first game of the season. There are some confounding factors (motorcycle accident in June, Super Bowl hangover) that have historically taken on a greater prominence when explaining his struggles that year. However, I tend to think rushing back following the surgery, and the lingering effects of the operation go a long towards explaining his struggles. If I'm the Chiefs, I'm very conservative with Matt Cassel.