College Football Week 1

Here at illbefrank each week we will take a look at the upcoming weekend's college football slate and give our thoughts and predictions vs. the spread. This year's opening games begin on a Thursday night with games continuing into Monday during a "weekend" unrecognizable to everyone but a college student, Real World roomate, or one of my friends. While Alabama, Florida, and Ohio State are all 30+ point favorites this week, there are a handful of good games and games with intriguing lines.


Thursday


Pittsburgh @ Utah (2.5): Unless you are a fan of rodeos or Extreme Cage fighting (who isn't?) it might take a little searching through the guide to find this Versus televised game. In one of the best games of the weekend the Big East favorites head to Utah with Dion Lewis, a solid defense, and high expectations. Quarterback play and the interior of the line will be under a microscope against a Utah defense that will crowd the line of scrimmage and make Pittsburgh through the ball to win. (WR) Jonathon Baldwin's matchup against Thrope candiate (CB) Brandon Burton will be a barometer of the game. Utah QB Jordan Wynn is coming off one of his best performances last year in the Poinsetta bowl and is an ideal quarterback for an offense that is committed to the run with (RB's) Eddie Wide and Matt Asiata. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham has had success when given time to prepare for an opponent (ask Nick Saban and Alabama) and that coupled with home field and early season stability at the QB position makes Utah (-2.5) the play.


Northern Illinois @ Iowa State (-3): Northern Illinois is improved and should contend in the MAC this season with returning (QB) Chandler Harnish, but they will not sneak up on Iowa State in Ames. Iowa State plays the toughest schedule in the country this year and they will be ready for the home opener at night on Thursday. (QB) Austin Arnaud returns for Iowa State along with equally athletic (RB) Alexander Robinson and 6 other offensive starters. Early season trends can be as unreliable as a Tom Cruise flick, but Northern Illinois' 1-20 record the last four years against teams with over .500 records makes Iowa State (-3) the play.


Saturday



Missouri vs. Illinois (-11.5) in St. Louis: I did a double take when I saw a Ron Zook coached team giving up double digit points to a Big 12 opponent on a neutral field. Zook is 21-39 in five seasons and has two new cordinators this year after firing his cordinators from last year. Wouldn't this be like the captain of the Titanic blaming the boat for hitting the iceberg? Redshirt freshman Nathan Scheelhaase takes over at quarterback after the Juice Williams era mercifully came to an end. Scheelhaase is more comfortable using his feet to make plays, which could be difficult against a Missouri defense that returns 9 starters. Missouri returns another good quarterback in Blaine Gabbert who torched this same Illini secondary last year for 319 yards and 3 TD's along with four returning offensive linemen. Even with (RB) Derrick Washington suspended Missouri has the firepower to put up too many points against Illinois' best side of the ball. Missouri plus 11.5 and the money line at +365 both are the play.



Colorado State vs. Colorado (-13) in Denver: One of the worst games on the schedule features two teams fighting for .500 and one of 125 available bowl invites. Wait 125 might be the number of golfers who make the Fed Ex playoffs, either way both numbers are way too high. This series has been even over the the last 11 meetings with Colorado holding a 6-5 advantage with the average margin of victory hovering around a touchdown. Double digits points in a pillow fight of a rivalry make Colorado State plus 13 the play.



Connecticut @ Michigan (-3.5): For my money one of the most interesting games of the weekend. Rich Rod searching for a quarterback and trying to get off to a start like last year against one of the most underrated teams in the nation. UConn returns 16 starters to team with a bruising rushing attack and a hard hitting defense. (RB) Jordan Todman will be the catalyst on offense and experienced (QB) Zack Fraser will benefit from his success through play action. Michigan hasn't made a quarterback decision between Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson proving the adage correct; if you have two QB's you really have none. Neither quarterback will look forward to facing UConn's hard hitting defense led by (DE) Greg Lloyd and (LB) Lawrence Wilson. UConn's style of play will remind Michigan fans of Michigan teams before the arrival of Rich Rod with his spread and lackluster defense. Randy Edsall is one of the best coaches in the country and this trip to Ann Arbor might be a first look at the program he will be interviewing to take over after the season. UConn plus 3 and the hook is the play along with the money line at +130.



Washington @ BYU (-3): BYU is coming off a 11-2 year with wins over Oklahoma, Utah, and Oregon State, but their two losses were both home blowouts vs. FSU and TCU. This year BYU has a lot of questions having to replace 6 of their front seven on defense along with 6 starters on offense including last year's (QB) Max Hall and both their leading rusher and receiver. Washington returns 17 starters and QB Jake Locker provides the early season stability BYU lacks at the position though Rivals #1 (QB) recruit Jake Heaps might have as much talent. By seasons end I expect BYU to be a strong team, but all the early season question marks leave the door open for Washington to make an early statement with a win and make some Mormons angry. Washington plus 3 and +130 are both the play.


Washington State @ Oklahoma State (-15.5): The last few years OK St. has been more flash than substance, but I expect that to change this year with a team that is strong on both lines. (RB) Kendall Hunter returns this year after missing last season with a foot injury. He will be the focus of the offense and will look to match his 08' numbers (1,555 yds, 16 TD's, 22 rec, 220 yds) running behind an offensive line that will be a strength even after losing Russell Okung to the NFL. Hunter could not have asked for a better start to his under the radar Heisman campaign vs. a Wash. St. defense ranked 117th against the run last year. Defensively OK St. has the best secondary in the Big 12 and they will be helped even more by the emergence of (DE) Ugo Chinasa who can put pressure on the quarterback. The play is OK St. to cover the 15.5 and blowout one of the worst teams in D-1. It always helps to have a 40 year old man as your coach, if you don't believe just ask Mike Gundy.

Oregon State vs. TCU (13.5) in Dallas: Oregon State will start a new QB this year in sophomore Ryan Katz and in turn the offense will lean heavily on RB Jacquizz Rodgers. This is a matchup of strength vs. strength as the Oregon St. offensive will go up against one of the best defenses in the nation. TCU gave up an average of 13 pts/game last year and should be just as tough this year returning 7 starters featuring (LB's) Tank Cander, Tanner Brock and (DE) Wayne Daniels. I don't see Oregon State scoring more then 20 points and with a seemingly always rebuilding defense they will be unable to keep up with TCU and their productive running game. TCU will be looking to make a national statement in Cowboy stadium and with a dynamic defense they are the play to cover the 13.5.



North Carolina vs. LSU (NL) in Atlanta: An important game for both teams and conferences has been overshadowed by the UNC agent/tutor scandal. UNC has the most NFL talent in college football and it looks like they were paid this year like NFL players. (DT) Marvin Austin has been suspended indefintely while the majority of the defense (all communication majors with the same tutor) are awaiting decisions on their eligibility for Saturday night. If (DE) Robert Quin and the best linebacker unit in the country play Saturday UNC should be a one or two point favorite, but if more suspensions are issued LSU could jump to a TD favorite. In a move as surprising as Jersey Shore's Ronnie not cheating on Sammi everytime he is at the club I was going to take the ACC team over the SEC team as a small favorite, so maybe the game going off the board for now has saved me from beating against the best conference in college football.



Monday



Virginia Tech vs. Boise St (-2) in Landover Maryland: Boise State, like Nascar will start the year with their most important game and with a win put themselves on the inside track to an undefeated season. Boise State has earned the right to be a favorite vs. a major conference heavyweight in a virtual road game due to their recent BCS success and QB Kellen Moore. In a sport dominated by quarterbacks he is an ideal college signal caller who inspires confidence in the rest of his team. The big question for Boise St. will be if their defense can hold up against the power running of Ryan Williams and Darren Evans. I think both running backs will have success and this game could come down to the late fourth quarter, in that case you want Moore and Boise (-2) as oppossed to VTech and Tyrod Taylor.

1st and 5 (Encroachment)

The start of Summer used to be my favorite time of year: Blue skies, fresh cut grass, bird’s chirping, the Waterbury Open. It marked the longest amount of time before I had to start going to school again and there was no possibility of snow. But now, I’m 24 and not ambitious (or intelligent) enough for Law School, so that no longer plays a factor. And I live in Southern California, so, weather-wise, even Christmas Day is like Summer. Subsequently, September and the start of football season is my new favorite time of year. With that in mind, here are a five thoughts I have on the upcoming season: (It’s actually 4 football thoughts and one TV thought. I had a tough time coming up with material without giving away too many of my stances on individual players that matter. I still have a fantasy draft coming up and of the 8 people that read this blog, I think 7 of them are in the league. So with that said, here are 4 NFL thoughts and 1 TV thought without giving too much away as far as my fantasy beliefs on individual players (except Matt Leinart)):



1) I’d like to recognize the master of public relations, Roger Goodell, and his Big Ben suspension. I’ve been hearing some questioning as to why his suspension is most likely going to be reduced to 4 games instead of the initial 6. First, Goodell has set a precedent for shortening suspensions in the past with Michael Vick and Pacman Jones. So, you can’t play either the quarterback card or the race card. Second, it’s my belief that he never had the intention of suspending him for 6 games. In his mind, the offense only called for 4 games. He set it at 6 games initially to set Roethlisberger up for success and get him on the right step to public image recovery. Now he can say that Big Ben has realized the err of his ways and begun the path to turn his life around. In reality, behaving like the other 99.9999% of people who don’t rape girls for 3 months in no way deserves a suspension to be cut by a third. But by setting the suspension high in the first place, it gives Goodell the opportunity to release a statement saying how much Ben has reformed his life and is no longer an asshole. This helps not only Ben, but also the Steelers, a team with arguably the largest nationwide fan base (maybe behind the Cowboys), recover from an ugly offseason. Which, in turn, helps the NFL make more money. Goodell is pushing David Stern (who I believe won the 2008 NAACP Image Award for his work instituting the NBA dress code) for Marketing Commissioner of the Year.



2) Eli Manning is an enigma. He has the largest gap between ‘how interesting a person should be’ and ‘how interesting a person actually is’. He is the youngest sibling of the number one family of football (although I think the Colquitt’s could make an argument here). He was the number 1 overall pick in the draft. He refused to sign with the team that drafted him, forcing one of the biggest draft day deals in the past decade. He quarterbacked the Giants to the biggest Super Bowl upset in history. Yet, I have no emotional tie to the guy at all. And I know that we shouldn’t really have any emotional ties to professional athletes, but the fact of the matter is that we do. Except for Eli Manning. He could suffer a career ending injury tomorrow or win the MVP this year (30 to 1 by the way), and I wouldn’t care at all.



3) The NFC West has to be the worst division in sports. When a team led by Alex Smith is the heavy favorite to take the division this year, you know you’ve reached the bottom of the barrel. I’ve tried to buy into Charlie Whitehurst in Seattle, but it’s tough. The Rams are a couple years from relevance. And after catching his sideline interview in the Cardinals 2nd preseason game, I’m kind of rooting for Matt Leinart to do something. You could tell that he still thinks he hasn’t been given a fair shot. And really, this year he may be right. Switching starters after giving one guy 5 series against first team defenses and another guy 10+ series against second team defenses may not be fair. But, this is Leinart’s 5th year in the league and he’s already lost the starting job once in his career. If he doesn’t have it, then there’s no point in wasting the first four games of the season, then doing the inevitable and putting in Derek Anderson. You might as well start the season with Anderson. Either way, things aren’t looking bright.
On the plus side for Leinart, in retrospect it seems he was correct when he controversially decided to stay for his senior season at USC. At the time, he was coming off a Heisman winning year and would have potentially been the top quarterback drafted. Think about the ridicule he would be getting if he were the #1 overall pick and played like this. However, by staying the extra year at USC, he fell in the following year’s draft and avoided the pressure and scrutiny that comes with being the top pick. Although, any negative press would have been short-lived, as Leinart would soon have Purple Drank Russell to take the public ire away from his lackluster performance. And, of course, the other positive in staying 4 years at USC: he was able to hang with 98 Degrees front man Nick Lachey (and his tribal body art) for another year. If only he could bring this type of foresight to the west coast offense, this whole paragraph would be a mute point.



4) In my mind, I’ve had a recent revelation when it comes to gambling. Now, this may end up not working or it may be the way everyone else already approaches wagering, but it’s new and exciting to me. In a previous post, I discussed my plans to force a love affair with the Premier League. Well, my efforts to dive in head first have, of course, including betting. And three weeks in, I’ve been cleaning up. My first inclination (and probably the correct inclination) is that my winnings have been luck and things will even out over time like always. But, then I had a couple beers and a more philosophical answer started to swirl around my mind. I had no preconceived thoughts on any of these teams. I didn’t know (or care) what Didier Drogba did 3 years ago. Which team won the title in 2006 means nothing to me. All I’ve been looking at is the most recent data: the statistics from last year and the first few games this year. The facts that Liverpool hasn’t shown me much and Man City and Arsenal have looked solid are all I have to go by.
I started to think about NFL bets. I’ve been looking too far into the past. Pittsburgh always beats Cincinnati; that’s just the way it is. Going into last year, they won nine of the previous eleven match-ups. I had that thought in the back of my mind for their two games last year. I knew that the Steelers were without Polamalu and couldn’t stop anyone. And I knew that the Bengals found a running game with Cedric Benson and had looked good all year. But come on. It’s the Steelers. They’ll pull it together against the Bengals. Looking back on this, it seems idiotic and it is idiotic. It just took me a while (and an undisclosed amount of monetary losses) to figure this out. It isn’t that I have too much information, it’s just that I use the wrong information. So that’s what I’m going to change this year. If the Lions have played well for a few weeks and the Vikings haven’t, I’ll take the points. And if this doesn’t work, I’ll start betting against the Pakistani cricket team.



5) I was excited to see AMC’s gruesome twosome Breaking Bad and Mad Men roll at the Emmys. When Breaking Bad first came out, it had one the best premises for a TV show that I can remember (If you don’t know, it’s about a high school chemistry teacher who gets diagnosed with cancer and begins manufacturing meth so he can leave his family the money when he dies.) But I didn’t see how they could make it into a lasting series without it feeling drawn out. I mean the guy has terminal cancer, if he just makes a miraculous recovery then I’m out. But thats exactly what happened and the show has gotten better because of it. Now he’s too deep into the game to get out and the end that he initially planned on (death by cancer) isn’t going to happen. It’s a ridiculously good TV show and it took home the two dramatic actor awards. I heard about halfway through this last season that Aaron Paul (plays the chemistry teacher’s former student/ drug connoisseur/ side kick/ best friend/ love interest (I made that last one up)) had entered he Emmy discussion and I wasn’t sure what the buzz was about. Then I started to pay attention more to his role. He deserves whatever accolades he gets. Just this past season he went from a guy coping with the death of his girlfriend, to a rehab patient, back to a drug dealer/manufacturer, and finally to a killer in the season finale. I’m a huge proponent of Mad Men, but Breaking Bad takes it to another level.

Strike the Pose

With the start of September and summer winding down, RVs around the nation are gassing up, beer distributors are stocking up, butchers are slaughtering more red meat, coeds are trying to put together that perfect sporty yet sexy outfit, roadtrips are being planned, and the bands are tuning up. All these events taking place at one time can only mean one thing, the start of the college football season.

Being an alum of Penn State, a distinction that all 3 members of the I'll Be Frank staff hold, nothing is as fun as the start of the football season. Football was all we had, it's all that has ever mattered at the school. You go to that school to watch football games and party, academics are a far third on a list of importance.

So you arrive back a State College about a week before classes begin, you catch up with friends that were lost during the summer, hit up College and Beaver Aves for some good ol' fashion drinking, and enjoy the few days before school starts.

The first week of classes is a joke. It's syllabus week, at PSU the tradition is you only go to class long enough for the professor to outline the structure of the class, and then you are free to make your way back to College and Beaver and resume the drinking.

So Friday comes, classes are finally done, what's there to do? How about Power Hour? Maybe some beer pong or flip cup? It doesn't matter, it's friday, you're back at school with your friends, the girls are still skinny and tan (as anyone who has ever been to PSU in the winter can attest, once the temperature drops, the hoodies go on, the tans are lost, and we, men, are forced to stare at hooded monsters in spandex and furry boots (trust me, some girls should not be wearing spandex.)) Anyways things could not get much better. The weather is still beautiful and tomorrow when you wake up, it will be time once again for JoePa to hike up those khaki pants and lead his players onto the prestine grass of Beaver Stadium, with 110,000 friends cheering them on.

So after a night at Cell Block for $1 shots, or the Saloon for Monkey Boys, you head up to Canyon Pizza for a slice of grease and pepperoni, or maybe you go to the underrated Grillers for burgers and fries, or maybe you throw a curveball and hit up DP Dough for a calzone, once again it doesn't matter, it's Friday night and you're in college.

So Saturday morning rolls around. It's 7 a.m. and you just went to bed at 3. You feel like you were on a weeklong Purple Drank bender with JaMarcus and Lil' Wayne, but you throw on your replica jersey, grab a case of beer and head up to the stadium.

You get there and your ambitious friends (possibly still awake from the night before) have set up their 2001 Ford Ranger in the Intramural fields. They have bloody marys, beer bongs, and Dizzy Bat. Old people in RVs are friendly as can be to the obnoxious students that surround them, offering up food and beverage without regard. Still buzzed from last night, you crack open that first beer and feel the Natty light dribble down your gullet.



As the drunken stupor from last night reappears, you struggle, worse than Lou Holtz's pronunciation of words ending in S, to give friends directions to your tailgate.

"Look for the Penn State flag next to the RV and blue tent, we are right there."

Yeah that narrows it down a bit.

So everything is perfect, you are back with friends, the girls are still hot, the weather is nice, the beer is flowing, and football is back.

And with that I will run through a list of Heisman hopefuls for the 2010 season.

The players are in no specific order. They will be accompanied by their 2009 stats as well as their current odds to win the award.



Mark Ingram - QB - Jr. Alabama +400
2009: 1,658 rushing yards, 17 TD, 334 receiving yards, three TD - Heisman Trophy

Ingram pulled off the double double in 2009, he came away with the Heisman and his Alabama Crimson Tide won the National Championship.

There is no doubt that Ingram is a beast and deserved to win last year, albeit, in a down year where the nominees weren't as prolific as in recent years. Nonetheless, the trophy still resides on Ingram's mantle, yet it will be hard to repeat. Only Archie Griffin repeated as Heisman winner, and like Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford, the winners preceding Ingram, the odds are not in his favor.

The emergence of runningback Trent Richardson should take away carries from Ingram. It appears that Alabama may try to employ more of a two-headed attack in the backfield. Also if Greg McElroy improves, the passing game should shine with the ever dangerous Julio Jones. But if Alabama can hold onto the top spot, Ingram will most likely be the reason, and will be in high contention to win again.

EDIT - Now it appears that Ingram will miss significant time due to arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday morning. This severely hurts his chances of repeating, and gives Penn State a minor chance on September 11.






Ryan Mallett - QB - Jr. Arkansas +1000
2009: 3,627 passing yards, 30 TD 7 INT

Last season Mallett led the SEC in QB rating, passing yards, and passing touchdowns and there is no reason why he can't duplicate this effort. He threw 5+ TDs three times in 2009, stats that Heisman voters salivate over.

The 6'7" transfer from Michigan (you think ol' Richie Rod up in Ann Arbor is now wishing he wouldn't have put all his eggs in the Terrelle Pryor basket) led Arkansas to Top-10 rankings nationally in scoring offense and passing.

The Razorbacks return 9 starters on offense, including receivers Joe Adams, Greg Childs, and Jarius Wright, as well as running back Dennis Johnson.








Terrelle Pryor - QB - Jr. Ohio State +350
2009: 2094 passing yards, 18 TD, 779 rushing yards, seven TD

Going into the season, Pryor is the favorite to win the award. As long as his lungs can sustain the beating they took from cigarette after cigarette at The Headkeeper, he should be in contention all year long.

Pryor had all the hype going into college after a phenomenal highschool career in J-Town. It was actually surprising that Scaife family didn't rename the Tribune Review to the Pittsburgh Pryor Paper.

After a few years of mediocrity but with glimpses of superstardom, Pryor finally had his coming out party against Oregon at the Rose Bowl in which he threw for 266 yards and 2 TDs, and ran for 72 additional yards.

Ohio State will be televised nationally more than enough to make Pryor a household name to even novice fans. OSU have taken the reins off of their star, and if the Buckeyes can make a run at the title, Pryor should have the numbers to make the trip to New York in December.





Dion Lewis - RB - So. Pitt +1200
2009: 1,799 yards, 17 TD

2009 was nothing short of amazing for the freshman out of Blair Academy in New Jersey. To prove how great his season was, Lewis broke Tony Dorsett's 36 year record for rushing yards by a freshman.

Last year Lewis ran for 100+ yards in 10 games. In the last 4 games of the season he ran for over 150 yards. In Pitt's bowl game, Lewis ran for 159 yards against a UNC defense ranked 6th in the nation.

The recent trend has seen sophomores win the award, but Lewis faces challenges brought upon by 6 new starters on offense including the QB position.

If Pitt can win the Big East and make it to a BCS game, Lewis will certainly be a big part of the success. If he doesn't win the award this year, he will be a favorite to win it in 2011.





Kellen Moore - QB - Jr. Boise St. +1500
2009: 3536 passing yards, 39 TD 3 INT

Absolutely ridiculous numbers for Moore as a sophomore at Boise. He led the team to an undefeated season and has his team ranked in the Top-5 going into the 2010 season.

Boise returns all but one starter as they begin their charter season in the WAC. Playing in a semi-larger conference can only help the Broncos and Moore.

Boise faces another Top-10 team in Virginia Tech to open the season, and if they can get past the Hokies, they should vie for another undefeated season and a chance at the National Championship. By starting in the Top-5, they won't have to pass as many teams as in years past, and do in fact have a chance to play for the championship and their first ever Heisman.






Jake Locker - QB - Sr. Washington +1200
2009: 2800 passing yards, 21 TD, 388 rushing yards, seven TD

Not overly spectacular numbers from the player that Mel Kiper projected as the number 1 pick in the 2010 draft, but with another offseason under his belt, he will look to improve those numbers, solidfy his draft position, and make a run at the Heisman.

It's hard to believe that someone would pass up the opportunity to go #1 in the draft, but I guess the risk of injury didn't concern Locker. I guess Sam Bradford proved that even if you get hurt you can still be the top pick.

His game and skill set translates better to the pros, because his supporting cast at Washington isn't all that good and will ultimately prove to be the downfall for his Heisman contention.





Case Keenum - QB - Sr. Houston +1200
2009 statistics: 5,671 passing yards, 44 TD

Keenum led the nation in passing yards, distancing himself from #2 by 1,400 yards. Last year he was 3-0 against BCS conference schools and threw for 500+ yards 4 times.

Houston being a small school may make it hard to get the national attention he deserves, but if he is able to put up similar numbers and become the all-time leading passer in NCAA history, he will make headlines.

Ultimately, he will fall victim to being a "system" quarterback, as were the likes of Graham Harrell and Colt Brennen.





Jacory Harris - QB - Jr. Miami (FL) +1500
2009: 3,352 passing yards, 24 TD 17 INT

The obvious knock on Harris is his decision making that produced the 17 INTs in 2009. However, his electric playmaking skills were able to bring Miami out of the abyss and to a 9-win season. Miami starts the year in the Top-25 and if Harris can produce similar numbers with less picks, and makes the U a formidable contender in the ACC and nationally, then he will get some votes for the Heisman.

Harris doesn't lack confidence, he told Sportingnews.com that if he makes the Heisman ceremony, "I'm gonna wear a pink suit to the ceremony, pimp cup and all." Maybe put some Drank in that cup.





John Clay - RB - Jr. Wisconsin +1200
2009: 1,517 rushing yards, 18 TD

A likely candidate to lead the nation in rushing yards and TDs, Clay will be the focus point of the Wisconsin offense.

Clay finished 2009 with 6-straight 100 yard rushing games. If he can lead Wiscy to the top of the Big Ten, then he might just follow in the footsteps of Badger great Ron Dayne and earn a trip to New York.






Noel Divine - RB - Sr. West Virginia +1400
2009: 1,465 rushing yards, 13 TD

With a unsettled QB situation in Morgantown, the 5'8" playmaker will undoubtedly be the focal point of the Mountaineers offense.

His speed, quickness, and agility make him a threat to go the distance every down. He is no stranger to the SportsCenter and the highlight reel, which is huge in terms of national recognition. Could develop enough hype to be this year's C.J. Spiller and make a run at a slot in New York. If WVU can get back to the top of the Big East that will go a long way in helping this "devine" runner's Heisman hopes.





My Heisman pick:




Ryan Mallett

A Top-10 offense in 2009, 9 returning starters, including all of last year's playmakers, Mallett will be given the opportunity to duplicate, if not surpass his outstanding numbers from a year ago. Arkansas has a chance to be the surprise team in the SEC this season. As with any Heisman contender, the more your team wins, the better your Heisman resume looks. Winning in the SEC is magnifide due to the strength of the conference. Mallett should also make a run at Locker and the #1 overall spot in the 2011 draft.

The Disease of Me

As Tiger Woods is wrapping up his worst season as a professional golfer and his divorce papers are filed, this is a good time to discuss his year. It started with an akward press conference that I am still upset I wasn't invited to attend as I met the three requirements needed to attend:

1) I have a sport jacket (One is even velvet)

2) I can act somber (Especially on command)

3) I am white (Even though a Walt Frazier jersey is my go to piece of clothing)

Tiger read a statement admitting to multiple affairs and asking for privacy for himself and family as they dealt with "his" issues. He refused to take questions and for the most part read from a pre-written statement that went through more professional edits than his autobiography "The Chosen One: Tiger Woods and the Dilemma of Greatness". He was unsure when he would return to golf (at the time him missing the Masters seemed as unbelievable as saving his marriage and both in time were proven correct) and vowed to get back to his Buddhist roots.

In a complete shocker Tiger was back at the Masters after a brief stint in a Mississippi treatment facility and was treated like a conquering hero at the Masters by the fans and most of the media. There was not a place more taylor-made for his return than Augusta, where former champions are cheered regardless and women are second class citizens. If O.J. would have been a golfer instead of a running back he could have moved into the Butler cabin after his trial and would have had tee times and dinner reservations for life. Tiger played one of his best tournaments of the year that week and finished T-4 and talk of his return to greatness began.

Lost in the shuffle, as everyone fom TMZ to ESPN tried to find all of Tiger's porn star and cocktail waitress girlfriends, was Tiger's connection to Anthony Galea. Galea, a Canadian "sports medicine specialist" who is not licensed to practice medicine in the United States and is facing charges in Canada for supplying athletes with PED's and is currently under a FBI investigation in this country. Tiger flew Galea to his Orlando home four times between February and March of 2009' for treatment. Tiger claimed the treatment was a blood spinning technique used to help his surgically repaired knees; even though sport trainers and doctors will tell you this is most commonly associated with HGH treatments given at the same time. Gallea's list of athletes he has worked with also include known PED users A-Rod, Olympian sprinter Donovan Bailey and Redskin WR Santana Moss. Moss admitted during FBI questioning that Gallea supplied him with HGH and Actovegin and was known around athletic circles as a guy to go to when you needed a boast or were covering from injury. Why would Tiger resort to this guy and his techniques? "The Disease of Me"; he couldn't be injuried and miss majors in his prime. The FBI made arrangements with Tiger to meet and discuss his relationship with Gallea and Tiger met with FBI investigators in early July. With Gallea facing charges and the FBI planning to meet with Tiger again this story is far from over and as Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens can tell you it usually takes a few years for past PED use to be made public and FBI investigators are a lot harder to lie to than ESPN commentators.

Tiger continued his normal golf schedule playing a few tournaments before the US Open at Pebble Beach where he had previously won by a record margin. A Saturday 66 masked an awful Sunday round that again left him T-4 and the talk of his return to greatness increased as everyone pointed to Saturday's round. Tiger's inconsistent golf continued throughout the summer as his scores worsened. He stumbled to a middle of the pack finish in the British Open at St. Andrews, also a course and tournament he formerly dominated on. Tiger played like a ten handicapper at the WGC at Firestone and finished second to last in the non cut event a week prior to the PGA Championship. His poor play at the PGA left him outside of the Ryder Cup automatic qualifiers and just inside the Top 125 needed to qualify for the first Fed Ex event.

I find the most amazing part of his summer to be the continuing and seemingly growing fan support Tiger has received since his initial press conference and subsequent tournaments. I watched the majors with golf fans and was stunned as they openly cheered for Tiger to get in contention as if they were in the CBS golf tower. I am an unabashed golf fan, as well as being in a competitive fantasy golf league with friends and continue to be amazed at other golf fans and their love for Tiger after all he has done. That is the most important fact to remember throughout this episode: what he has done was due to his massive ego (refer to the title of his autobiography in the first paragraph) known as "The Disease of Me"that helped him dominate golf and win 14 majors while intimating his opponents. "The Disease of Me" also fueled his depravity and the life altering consequences as a result of this behavoir. Tiger Woods used the American public and golf fans in particular; his con was that he was a child prodigy who was committed to breaking records on the course and the spokesman who led the perfect family life. He used this con to sell everything from video games to Buicks and the fact that the public continues to back this fraud is truly vomit inducing. Save the cheers and sympathy for players who are truly fighting adversity and not a guy who turned his marriage and subsequent life into a caricature even for a professional athlete all due to the "Disease of Me".

Tiger's year will extend to the Ryder Cup since it is inevitable that US captain Corey Pavin will pick him as a captain's pick or be forced to answer more questions about his exclusion then his ongoing fued with Jim Gray. (Which would make for a great Wrestlemania match; Pavin would enter to cheers while "I'm an American" is playing and Grey would enter to jeers as NWO music played.) The rationale seems to be that he is the #1 player in the world, the guy destined to break Nicklaus' major record, and that his driver's license does indeed say Tiger Woods. Shouldn't his career Ryder Cup record (10-13-2), a few losing matches from having the worst record of any player who has played in multiple cups, play a factor? Or how about the state of his current game, 42nd in scoring average behind luminaries like Freddy Jacobson and Ricky Barnes and his current streak of not contending? How about his overall lack of a "good team guy" quality; his personality and "The Disease of Me" is perfect for an individual sport and every other golf tournament except the Ryder Cup? In previous Ryder Cups he has partnered with veterans like Mark O'Meara, Davis Love, Jim Furyk, and Steve Stricker, making it known he wants nothing to do with his peers or being a veteran leader to this young team. Mickelson is the guy the 10' American players like Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, and Hunter Mahan talk about being a leader and a guy they want to play with, not Woods. Rory McIlroy is 100% correct when he said that no European is afraid of Tiger and would relish the chance to play against him. This sentiment would go double for a two man team of Tiger and Furyk or Stricker. Did it really take a 21 year old from Northern Ireland to finally say the Emperor has no clothes?

Tiger may win again, and he may even win majors again, but he will never be the same. He is in the middle of a PED investigation and he threw away a storybook marriage, quality time with his two children under age four, respect from his peers, and the adoration of millions all because of "The Disease of Me". The one thing that is going to be more uncomfortable then his interviews with the FBI investigators is going to be when he has to explain to his children what he did to their mother. No longer feared on the course, he should be laughed off the course for what he turned out to be: a con man who fooled everyone for a long time but in the end is just another absentee father and failed husband all due to "The Disease of Me".

Total Time, College Style

A few weeks ago I took a look at NFL totals and gave my thoughts and plays. This week I have picked out a few plays from the college ranks as I look to get over my Dustin Johnson PGA Championship play. All college totals include regular season games only and every game on the schedule must be played for the total to be in play. The "every game must be played" clause has come into play in recent years due to weather cancelling games that were never made up.



First I will start with the teams I like to go UNDER:



Ohio State (10.5): A chalk pick to play for the national title; the SI cover boys are coming off an impressive performance in Pasadena where they beat up on Oregon. They bring back Heisman hopeful Terrelle Pryor and his favorite target and member of the great name team DeVier Posey. The defense is as stout as expected from a Jim Tressel team led by LB's Brian Rolle and Ross Homan. The 10.5 win total is based on the assumption that Pryor will pick up where he left off last year in the Rose Bowl. Like a season of the "Real Housewives" Pryor can be spectacular but also inconsistent and I don't think one game vs. the Pac 10 champs has solved that problem. Two of OSU's four road games are @Wiscy and @Iowa where boths team are capable of running straight at the undersized front seven. They also play their second game of the year at home vs. a talented Miami team that is capable of making a national statement in Columbus. The combination of those three games and the offense's inconsistency has me taking OSU to go under.



LSU (7.5): Les Miles, who takes over for Phil Fulmer as the SEC coach on the hot seat, will start 7 Tigers on defense who are juniors or younger and their offense will rest on the shoulders of QB Jordan Jefferson. Jefferson will have to make a drastic improvement this year to push defenses away from the line of scrimmage and take better care of the ball so he doesn't put his own defense in bad situations. He will not get a chance to get his feet wet as LSU opens the season in the Georgia Dome vs. a North Carolina team that has more NFL defensive players on their roster than the Rams. A bad showing in the opener could easily carry over to a schedule that features road games @Vandy, Florida, Auburn, and Arkansas. Only one of those games looks like a sure win and LSU also has tough home games vs. Miss St, WVU, Bama, and Miss. LSU will have to improve on their 0-6 record the last two years vs. Florida, Bama, and Miss to have any chance of winning 8 games. This combination of QB, inexperienced defense, and head coach has me taking LSU to go under.



Pittsburgh (8): The popular pick to win the Big East and play in a BCS bowl game are big expectations for any Dave Wannstedt coached team that doesn't include Jay Fielder. An unsettled QB situation will make Dion Lewis the center of the offense and in turn he will get all the attention from opposing defenses. Out of conference games beginning with the opener @Utah, home vs. Miami and @ND are not locks and finishing the season @Conn, @S. Fla, home vs. WVU, and @Cincy puts 8 wins in doubt. The opener @Utah is a huge game as evidenced by the team not suspending recently arrested DE Jabaal Sheard after assualt charges and this game will go a long way in determining Pitt's win total. I like Utah and the season ending stretch has me taking Pittsburgh to go under.



Colorado (6.5): While Colorado plays out the next year of two in Big 12 purgatory it is very unlikely that Dan Hawkins will make it to the Pac-10 as head coach. Only the return of Koy Detmer as QB could save this team from going under the win total. The schedule has them on the road @Cal, Mizz, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska; while at home vs. Colorado St, Hawaii, Georgia, Baylor, Texas Tech, Iowa St, and Kansas St. Even returning the majority of their offense winning five games seems like a stretch for the team that will be battling Washington St in a year or two for 11th place in the Pac-?.



The teams I like to go OVER:



Washington (6): The Huskies have a senior quarterback in Jake Locker who is projected as the first pick in next year's NFL draft and a coach in Steve Sarkisian who upgraded the roster upon arrival and returns 17 starters from last year. Washington's schedule isn't ideal beginning with the opener @BYU followed by home games vs. Syracuse and Nebraska before playing @USC. Their four remaining road games are Arizona, Oregon, Cal, and Wash St. Three of those last four road games should be winnable and in a wide open Pac-10 Washington seems like a team that could take a step forward. As the early 90's proved Husky stadium can be a tough place for visiting teams and with a future #1 pick at QB and a coach on the rise I like Washington to go over the win total.



Arkansas (8.5): The key to Arkansas' win total will be their defense. Last year they ranked near the bottom of the SEC in every defensive stat, but should be improved this year under former NFL defensive coach Willy Robinson as cordinator. A slight defensive improvement is all that is needed for an offense that is led by Ryan Mallett and should allow Arkansas to contend in the SEC. Mallett is one of 9 offensive starters that returns to a unit that is deep and explosive. The schedule has four road games @Georgia, Auburn, South Carolina, and Miss St, while Alabama is at home and Florida is not on the schedule. Having at least two potentially winnable road games and Miss and LSU at home should be enough to allow Arkansas to go over the win total.



Georgia Tech (8): Paul Johnson and the triple option scheme his team employs are always a tough matchup for an opponent with only a week or two to game-plan. Preparing for Georgia Tech should be even more difficult this season as Louisville trasfer Anthony Allen becomes the lead running back and QB Josh Nesbitt enters his third season in the offense. With Al Groh bringing his 3-4 defense and knowledge of the conference to Tech a return trip to a BCS bowl is a strong possibility. Playing in the ACC Coastal division with games @UNC, vs. UVA, @VTech, vs. Miami, vs. Duke as well as out of conference games @Kansas and @Georgia doesn't leave many easy wins, but even with that slate I like GT to go over the win total.



Stanford (7.5): While Oregon and Oregon St. replace QB's this season, Stanford will utilize Sophomore Andrew Luck more this season after the graduation of Toby Gerhart. Seven starters along with Luck return for John Harbaugh who will continue to field job offers from the NFL after this season. The schedule has the Cardinal @UCLA, ND, Oregon, Washington, Arizona St, and Cal; if Stanford can win half of those road games they should be closer to 9 wins than 7. I expect Stanford to battle for the Pac-10 title and in turn go over the win total.

Crazy As Ever

The George Steinbrenner I knew was actually Larry David. He was the rambling, semi-coherent septuagenarian yelling for George Costanza to get him a calzone. He was the mild mannered owner who sat back and let Derek Jeter and Brian Cashman do all of the work. He was a guy who I heard was crazy, but I had never seen act out. Mark Cuban is a wild, over-involved owner. Jerry Jones is a lavish, extravagant owner. But George Steinbrenner was cordial. He was willing to spend the money on the top players, but stepped back and let them take him to the promise land. That was the George Steinbrenner I knew. That was what I witnessed. Then, he died.

Within 2 hours, that perception was completely changed. ESPN either has the quickest editors in the business or they had been sitting on a life retrospective of the late Yankees owner for some time. I was fascinated by his exploits before my memory fully kicked in (sometime between ages 6 and 23.) I sat there in astonishment listening to the stories of his prime. I knew he fired managers, but I never fully grasped to what extent. I knew he had arguments with players, but somehow I missed the story of him hiring a known felon to blackmail Dave Winfield so he could get rid of the player. (I’m shocked and a little ashamed that I didn’t know about this until now.) That is amazing. An owner actually putting someone on the pay role to dig up dirt on his starting left fielder. It made me long for the good old days. It made me wonder why things like this don’t happen in sports anymore. Have we become to politically correct to allow it? Is the media just not as investigative as they once were? Have the penalties for extortion become too harsh for anyone to risk it? Or am I simply missing something?



The more I thought about it, the more I realized that stories like Steinbrenner-Winfield are still happening all the time. It’s just that when you see it play out live, it never seems as amazing. If you see the build-up, the climax, and the aftermath, everything seems to make sense. Within context, nothing seems as amazing as it does out of context. The Steinbrenner example was a huge story at the time, but everyone knew Steinbrenner already. They were witness to two decades of erratic behavior, so when the news broke about Winfield-gate, people were able to temper their shock. They could believe his actions because they had the context of his previous relationships with his players and managers.

So when I say stories like this don’t happen anymore, I am missing something. In fact, with the emergence of the internet and 24-hour reporting, we have had more jaw-dropping stories than ever. The trick is, you have to remove the context. Twenty years from now, when Brett Favre is firmly entrenched in the halls of Canton and our kids are comparing his statistics with Matthew Stafford’s (I predict big things from him), some kid is going to read the “Retirements” section of his Wikipedia page in disbelief. To us, we think his indecision is more annoying than astonishing. But that’s because with lived through it. We remember Brett from his Packers days. We remember his first retirement, second retirement, third retirement, fourth retirement, fifth retirement, sixth retirement...wait, what number are we on? So when our kids come to us with “Hold on, so he just kept retiring and coming back right before the season every year???”, we will just shrug it off as nothing. “Wait, so Lebron thought it would be a good idea for his image to go on National TV to spurn his hometown and the team he played with for 7 years without warning them? Then he spent the next two months trying to play it off by acting like the city never meant anything to him, because he actually grew up in Akron and not Cleveland? Then he blew out his knee and became a rich man’s Penny Hardaway? (That last part is called foreshadowing)” and we will just half-heartedly nod. “OK, so you’re trying to honestly tell me that Shaq was in a movie where he played a street-wise Genie, then he launched a rap career in which he went by the alter ego Shaq-Fu? A rap career, that 13 years in, he could still only come up with lines like ‘I’m a horse, he ratted me out now I’m getting divorced, I love ‘em, I don’t leave ‘em, I got a vasectomy so now I don’t breed ‘em’?” Us: “Yep”.

(Side thought about vasectomies: They are one of the more under-rated plots in sitcoms. Vasectomies have been at the heart of some great episodes: Tim ‘the Tool Man’ Taylor getting one on Home Improvement, Jerry and Kramer pulling a Favre on the decision on Seinfeld, Jack on 30 Rock, Zach Morris on Saved by the Bell: The College Years (I think that happened), Antonio Cromartie on Hard Knocks and according to a quick Google search, some guy on Reba and the hit series LA Ink: Fresh Ink. To TV writers, a ‘vasectomy episode’ is as golden as a ‘the kids breaking something valuable and trying to find a way to raise money to replace it before their parents find out episode’. Also, I may or may not have thought vasectomy was spelled with a ‘b’ until spell check told me otherwise.)

Antonio Cromartie is still trying to list all of his children

Steroids in baseball will be a huge shocker to anyone who wasn’t alive to see it play out. If you think back to just the bullet points of the public realization that nearly everyone was on PED’s, it is pretty astonishing. McGwire and Sosa captivating a nation. Bonds breaking the career record, but no one caring because everyone knew he cheated. The Mitchell Report and players being called before Congress. A-Rod being exposed by a reporter. The Rocket going to jail (Again, it’s called foreshadowing). If you didn’t live through this in real-time, you would think this was the biggest scandal in sports history. And maybe it is, but to a person that has all of the surrounding details, it’s just something that happened.

I’m afraid, however, the steroids saga is going to be too well-known by future generations. It’s not going to sneak up on anyone. Something that changed the history (or in this case, erased the history) of an entire sport is going to be immortalized by writers in countless books and by Hollywood in endless movies and documentaries. Everyone knows about Pete Rose. The best thing about the Steinbrenner deal was that it was a big deal at the time, but it didn’t have lasting power. It was a fringe story in the history of the sport. The only writers who would spend significant time on it these days are the people who keep his Wikipedia page updated. (And those are the best writers. Thank God for Wikipedia. I owe much of the historical knowledge I’ve acquired over the past 4 years to the site. I trust everything that’s written there and, really, the only people I know who don’t view it as a credible source are high school english teachers.) Fringe stories are a big deal at the time but they fly under the radar for future generations. They are the best stories to happen upon. Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjanovic is a fringe story. Jeffrey Maier is a fringe story. Tom Dempsey’s half foot is a fringe story. Chad Johnson legally changing his name to Chad OchoCinco for the sole purpose of selling more jerseys and having the NFL refuse to recognize the change, only to blindly and completely accept it a year later is a fringe story.



The fringe story I’m most looking forward to regaling to future generations is the saga of Ron Artest. If you’ve watched him for the past eight years, his post game interview in Game 7 of the Finals was par for the course. But imagine if you didn’t have any prior knowledge of Ron-Ron and you just happened upon that game on ESPN Classic thirty years from now. By the time he gave his final shout out to Queensbridge, you would want to know everything there is to know about that man. And you would not be disappointed. From the brawl to the story about the table leg game growing up to the Kobe shower meeting to ill-advised shot after ill-advised shot, your eyes would widen. With no context to stifle Artest’s insanity, he’s amazing. (The NBA, where Artest happens.)

Pre-Psychiatrist Ron Artest

However, there is a reverse to the context belief. There are some stories that will amaze because of the context. I think I’ll look back at the Tiger Woods saga twenty years from now with the wonderment of a ten year old kid. Tiger has been in my conscious since I was 12 (his dominating ’97 Masters). He was the most famous athlete in the world for all of my teenage years. I had all the context I could have for him. And because of this, when the scandal played out, I became more amazed by the day. I thought I knew Tiger. He was a soft-spoken robot who hadn’t shown emotion since ’05 (aside from a few four letter words the mic would pick up throughout his rounds). He played golf, made commercials, pretended to drive a Buick, and was married to a Swedish model. His sole purpose in life was to win Majors. That was the Tiger I knew. So when rumors started to swirl, I initially dismissed them. In comparison to Steibrenner, I’m sure that when the rumor broke that he hired someone to blackmail his best player, people thought, “Yeah I could see that”. It all depends on the context that person has built up in your mind.

This and That

Today I will try and touch on a few issues from the world of sports.

First I want to know, why is everyone surprised about the whole Albert Haynesworth situation in Washington. No I'm not talking about his diagnosis of rhabdomyolysis, I'm talking about the disruption he is causing the Redskins because of his insubordination. Did anyone really think that this guy, with such a troubled past, would not cause any more waves.

Let's look at the past:

He comes into the league in 2002 as the 15th overall pick to the Titans.

In 2003, he is kicked (pun intended) out of practice for pulling a Bruce Lee and landing a boot to teammate Justin Hartwig's chest.

Then in 2005 there was this:



Come on, a 350 pound man stomped on another grown man's head. He goes from Bruce Lee to Ed Norton in American History X.

After that, Haynesworth was the peria of the NFL. He was toxic. He was the face of everything that is wrong in sports.

Then comes 2007 where he makes the Pro Bowl and All-Pro teams.

He follows up in 2008 with an even more dominating season, and is considered the most dominant defensive player in the league.

All is forgotten, and Haynesworth is loved by all in the league. ESPN, the same company that depicted Haynesworth as the ultimate villian a few years before, starts touting him as a megastar. He is on the cover of magazines and websites, becomes a face for the NFL and becomes a Titans legend.

It is pretty funny how sports fans and Americans, in general, have a short memory when things start to go right.

All this success was parlayed into a contract with the Redskins in the spring of '09 for 7 years and $100 million, with $41 million guarenteed.

His first season was nowhere near as dominant as his time with the Titans, at one point he called out D-coordinator Greg Blache and stated that he could not "survive another season in this system if it stays the way it is." Now the old Albert is back.

So the 'Skins hire Mike Shanahan as their head coach, and the pairing of Shanahan and Haynesworth is about as brutal as Flavor Flav and Mrs. Ivan Drago.



Before the draft, Washington was looking for any suitors to take the bohemeth and his even larger contract out of their hands. No takers.

This combination was never going to work. The disciplinarian ways of Shanahan, and a $100 million man-child, not a good mix. So here, as we have seen this summer, Haynesworth has been failing conditioning drills, Shanahan not allowing him into training camp until the conditioning is successfully completed, then not giving Haynesworth reps with the starters, which in turn has the big d-lineman pouting about how he is a 9-year vet and shouldn't be playing in the 3rd quarter of a preseason game.

This is and will end badly for both sides.


Next topic: Pittsburgh Pirates

So it's official, there will be an 18th consecutive losing season. In fact, with the resent surge from the Orioles under Buck Showalter, the Pirates are in line for the #1 pick in the draft. As documented earlier, they haven't been too successful at that. What bad luck for Pirates' fans, the year we get the #1 pick is the year after two of the highest-rated players in draft history, Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper, go #1 to the Nationals in consecutive years. The Pirates' fans are like Harry in Home Alone when he is trying to get in the McAllister's house. You try and try, keep getting up after every blow, hoping that at some point you will succeed, and yet you still end up looking like a bird with a missing gold tooth.

Then today it comes out that the Pirates' ownership has made $29.4 million in profits over the 2007 and 2008 seasons. This allowed them to pay their partners $20.4 million. Ok say the ownership group has been making a nice bit of change during this run of 18-straight losing seasons, yet the product on the field remains the same.

So they paid almost $12 million for 2 high school fire ballers, built a complex in the Dominican and forked out $2.6 mil for a 16-year-old Mexican, but what good is that to the fans who pack the stadium on bobblehead and SkyBlast nights and are forced to watch Ronny Cedeno and Ryan Doumit trot onto the field at beautiful PNC Park.

This is the first year in my life that I haven't been to a game, and I made a promise to myself that I would give these youngsters on the team 1 year to prove themselves. If there is no significant improvement by the end of the 2011 season, that's it. I'm cutting ties with the only team I've ever rooted for. Baseball isn't fun anymore. Why would I torture myself listening to John Weiner and Bob Walk announce a game. It is just brutal. Come July, the Buccos are already out of all contention and there isn't anything for those clowns to talk about.

Pittsburgh is a resilent town, with loyal fans, but I think a lot of them are in my position and are completely fed up. The last winning season was when I was 6 years old. Since I was 6, I haven't seen the Pirates in the playoffs. Not once.

A winning team will bring fans and money to the organization, but winning means you have to also spend money, so in the long run the best thing for the Nuttings and their ownership group is to keep losing, cut salaries, and make huge profits for basically doing nothing.


Penguins sign Arron Asham. Ok so to be honest, I didn't know what to do when I say this. Of course I love when the Pens make moves, but Asham, a Flyer, really.

He signed a 1-year deal worth $700,000. Last season he scored 10 goals with 14 assists and 124 penalty minutes while with the Flyers.

Ray Shero, who has done a miraculous job as GM, was estatic to get Asham. I on the other hand am not. And it's not because I have grown accustomed to hating the guy. I'm a realist and know that hockey is a business and allegiances are easily broken, I get that, he's not a Flyer anymore, he's a Penguin. My problem with this signing is, don't we have a bunch of guys that fit this role? A "tough" guy, who chips in occasionally on offense, but is in the lineup as a 3rd or 4th line grit player. Matt Cooke and Mike Rupp come to mind immediately.

What does this signing do for young guys trying to make the NHL roster. Does it hurt guys like Dustin Jeffrey, Nick Johnson, or Mark Letestu, guys that could someday play a role as a top-6 forward? Hasn't our problem been finding consistant scoring wingers to play with Crosby and Malkin? With our financial situation, these wingers are going to have to be developed in house. This Asham signing has made it even more difficult to develop these players at the NHL level. We have more than enough gritty players: Cooke, Rupp, Max Talbot, Craig Adams, and Eric Godard. I would have thought it would have been wiser to take a crack at a guy like Lee Stempniak, who had the most goals last season of any of the free agents not named Ilya Kovalchuck.

Shero also said that he is still in talks about bringing Billy Guerin back for one more run. The Pens currently have $1.7 million to spend, so Guerin would need to take a pay cut from the $2 million he made last year.

In other Pens' news, it is being reported that Evgeni Malkin is gearing up to play wing beside Jordan Staal. Personally I like this move. Malkin is a very talented centerman, but his shot is the best on the team, and is underutilized when he is playing center. By teaming up with Staal, he will be able to unleash his rocket more often. Playing with Malkin, Staal will be able to surpass the numbers he put up his rookie season.

Another reason I like this move is it allows Geno to focus more on the offensive end of the ice. Although he led the league in takeaways in 2008-2009, he is sometimes criticized for his lack of defensive zone prowess. Staal on the other hand, is gearing up to be a perennial Selke Award finalist. He is a defensive machine, and his ablility to compensate for Malkin's expendature of energy on the offensive end of the ice, will make this one of the top lines in the league.

Opponents of this move will say, you don't want to break up the 3rd line, the best 3rd line in the game. That may be so, but that line will never produce the numbers that a Staal/Malkin combo will. We have defensive centermen who can fill in for Staal: Talbot, Adams,and even Letestu.

This could very well be make or break seasons for Tyler Kennedy and Max Talbot in Pittsburgh. Talbot is still here because of his heroics to win the Cup, but after an injury-plagued and less than productive 2009-10 season, he has a lot to prove. Kennedy started out strong last year, but completely flamed out by the playoffs. He needs to put a few more pucks in the back of the net to keep his 3rd line spot in the lineup.

With a renewed defensive unit and the combos of Crosby/Kunitz and Malkin/Staal looking to be in place, let's piece together 2 more top-6 wingers and get this show on the road.

NL West

After listening to some reader responses, and finding out noone cares about MLB divisional reviews, I will keep my NL West recap relatively short.


San Diego Padres (74-49)



So with a NL leading 74 wins, the Padres have completely taken baseball by storm. A team projected to waver below .500, and trade its best player, Adrian Gonzalez, by the deadline, San Diego has used strong pitching and a relative lack of offense to take control in the west.

Here are the Padres' offensive production. MLB ranking in parentheses:

Batting average: .251 (24)
Home Runs: 98 (22)
Runs Batted In: 510 (17)
Hits: 1040 (25)

Not very flattering stats for the National League, if their best team is this offensively inept.

Pretty much the Padres offense consists of Adrian Gonzalez .297/25/79. Even that is a down year from what he has produced previously.

Having the best pitching staff in the majors is the only reason they are as good as they are.

Here are the Padres' pitching production. MLB ranking in parentheses:

ERA: 3.27 (1)
Strikeouts: 972 (2)
Saves: 38 (3)
WHIP: 1.22 (1)

Led by breakout start Mat Latos 13-5, 2.33 ERA, 144 K, the Pads have dominated hitters from the onset of the year. Latos is joined by double digit winners Jon Garland (13), Clayton Richard (11), and Kevin Correia (10).

At the back end they have Heath Bell and his 37 saves and 1.84 ERA. Other than his meltdown in the '09 All Star Game, he has been pretty unhittable the last few seasons.





San Francisco Giants (69-56, 6 GB)



With one of the best young pitching staffs in baseball, the Giants were a darkhorse pick to win the NL at the beginning of the season. Led by reigning 2-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, and supported by the young arms of Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez, they were primed to make the jump to powerhouse in the West.

Not the case.

Lincecum has not been able to show the stuff that made him the NL's last 2 Cy Young winners. He is 11-8 with an un-Lincecumly high 3.72 ERA. He is still striking people out, 173, but because his team has no offense, he has to be near perfect to win.

Lincecum's sidekick Matt Cain has been a disappointment as well. He is 9-10, and hasn't been able to pick up the slack produced by a struggling Lincecum.

The offense is putrid. Led by offseason pickup and 2009 offcast, Aubrey Huff, .295/21/70, they aren't exactly as bad offensively as the Padres, but their pitching is nowhere near as dominant and that is why they are 6 games back.

Pablo Sandoval was supposed to make the jump to superstar after a 2009 season where he produced a .330/25/90 stat line. This year, the Kung Fu Panda, has regressed to a .265/10/49 line.



Colorado Rockies (63-60, 11 GB)



With Troy Tulowitzki and his Kenny Powers mullet on the DL for a good portion of the season, the Rockies have been a 2-man show for most of the season.

Led offensively by MVP candidate Carlos Gonzalez, .315/25/79 19 SB, the Rockies perform decently well in baseball's best hitters' park. Not quite the days of Larry Walker, Dante Bichette, and Andres Galarragga, but not bad.

The big story this year for the Rocks was Ubaldo Jiminez's ridiculous start to the season. With 15 wins at the All-Star break, it is safe to say that he has cooled down significantly and currently has a record of 17-4, a 2.66 ERA and 156 strikeouts. Everyone knew he wouldn't be able to keep up his original pace, but 17-4 is still pretty good and his name will definately be in consideration for a very tightly packed Cy Young race.



Los Angeles Dodgers (63-62, 12 GB)



L.A. has definately been one of the bigger disappointments in baseball this season. Blessed with one of the best outfields in the game, along with a strong young pitching staff and a dominant closer, the Dodgers were poised to make a run at the NL pennant.

Didn't happen.

Andre Ethier got off to a torid start, but was derailed by an injury that put a stop to his ridiculous beginning.

Matt Kemp has not lived up to his reputation as one of the games top young player. I guess it's tough to be the replacement to Chris Brown and his wicked left hook.

Manny has been Manny, in terms of taking games off. This time it has been due to injury. We might just be at the end of the line for one of the games top hitters.

The staff has been anchored by budding star Clayton Kershaw who has 11 wins a 3.03 ERA and 163 K. For the most part, he has been the only bright spot in the rotation.

Jonathon Broxton, a top closer the past few seasons, has recently let his hold on the closer role slip through his fingers. With recent struggles he has had to see the likes of Hong Kong Fooie and Octavio Dotel steal his ninth inning spotlight.





Arizona Diamondbacks (49-76, 26 GB)



Just not a very good team. They have a little power and rank fifth in the majors with 143, but that's about it.

Long gone are the days of Schilling and Johnson dominating in the desert. The team is 30th in ERA at 5.04. Ian Kennedy leads the staff with a 4.41 ERA.

When you can't hit for anything but power, and give up more than 5 runs per 9 innings, you just aren't going to win many games.

The Right Kind of Drama

As I watched the last couple episodes of HBO's "Entourage" I couldn't shake one thought; I miss Drama. Not the drama of Ari trying to convince the celebrity website Gawker and his female rival Amanda and former underling Lizzie not to release audio tapes of him using language fit for a George Carlin show. Supposedly these revelations would put Ari in hot water with the family. Are we really supposed to believe that his family would be shocked by his language? I think this shock would be comparable to Jets CB Antonio Cromartie's inability to name his eight children and their ages, three all the age of three is really something to think about? There is also plenty drama surrounding A-list movie star Vincent Chase and his relationship with porn star Sasha Grey and his hard partying lifestyle. I guess a cocaine habit, drinking tequila all day to the point of passing out and taking your porn star girlfriend to a meeting with your potential boss is not a great career move and thankfully we have "Entourage" to point that out. You don't need to ask someone who had a Martin Kaymer PGA Championship future bet how this storyline is is going to end for Vince. This season has also brought us another underwhelming Turtle storyline along the lines of past storylines like his search for weed, managing a rapper, and going to college. This season Turtle's entrance into the importing business has enabled the show to turn into a half-hour tequila comercial. The trips to Mexico and the secretive "boss" that Turtle deals with tries to convey the feeling that you are following George Young while he travels to Columbia to meet Pablo Escobar for the first time and then you realize the product is legal and this storyline was already done on "How to Make it in America". At least Turtle has a hot girlfriend you say, that is correct and wasn't a compelling storyline when his girlfriend was Jamie Lynn Sigler and hasn't been compelling in the "E"/Sloan storyline either.

The show needs more Johnny Drama; he steals every scene he is in as evidenced by his opening scene with a random lady on last Sunday's episode "Tequilla and Coke". This season he has been as under-utilized as a girlfriend for Anderson Cooper or a running back in a Mike Martz offense. He is the heart of the show and brings much needed comic relief; high points this season have been his ping pong games with John Stamos and him threatening Bob Saget with a baseball bat.


We can only hope his animated show with director Billy Walsh focuses more camera time on his story as opposed to Turtle and the Maxim girl and the overdone movie star gone over the edge. Enough with the guest stars, if I wanted to see Jessica Simpson I would be the third person ever to watch "Employee of the Month" and if I wanted to see Chris Bosh I would look in the background of a Lebron James or Dewayne Wade interview.

Let's take a look back at the personal chef, trainer to the stars, bodyguard, and Tarvold; star of "Viking Quest" with the tagline "From the past.....comes a warrior of the future." Johnny played the role of Tarvold to award winning acclaim (Razzie) which led to parts on 21 Jump Street, Pac Blue, Nash Bridges, Melrose Place, and 90210 to name a few. He begins to steal the spotlight in the first season when he comes on stage to accept an apology from Jimmy Kimmel during Vince's appearence on the show. In Season 2 we find out he was banned from the Playboy mansion (along with double digit IQ's) and is considering calf implants, but only if the surgeon accepts SAG insurance. He also appears at Comic Con is season 2 in full Tarvold costume and wows the crowd with his famous line VICTORY!!!!


Drama catches his big break in Season 3 when he lands a job as a regular on the TV show "Five Towns" and his back and forth with show creator Ed Burns is as entertaining as his scenes for the fictional show that leave "Entourage" fans searching the guide for "Five Towns".


"Viking Quest's" popularity in France leads to Drama meeting his girlfriend Jacqueline there while attending Canes, he seals his popularity with the French by having sex in public on a beach while his fans cheer him on. His season five breakdown on "The View" after his breakup with the obsessed Jacqueline was the funniest thing ever associated with "The View". Also in season 5 a hometown Queens bar is renamed "Johnny Drama's" after he invests his money and star power to the owner who needs to settle a gambling debt. Drama is also involved in a heated match on the golf course in season six with Mark Wahlberg and Tom Brady and shows in that episode that "Entourage" can have guest stars as long as they play off Drama's lead.


Season six left us with high expectations as Drama left "Five Towns" and got a network holding deal after his re-audition for the new "Melrose Place" after an anxiety attack and mild heart attack lost him the initial role.


The show is becoming a little too familar and the only person who can save this season and next year's half season of episodes from the same old character stories, LA hot spots, and the never ending list of guest stars is Drama. What storyline would be unbelievable or un-entertaining for the Mets and U2 fan and the guy who is a little too big of a Brooke Shields fan?