Why Is Joe Flacco So Good This Year?

At the end of last year, if you told me to rate three young QBs for the next season between Matt Ryan, Tyler Thigpen, and Joe Flacco, I would rank them in that order. Ryan would ROY honors and then added another awesome weapon: Tony Gonzales. We'll see how Thigpen does in Miami but Joe Flacco is a top ten, maybe even top five QB this year!? WTF!?

Last year Flacco was 22nd in passer rating, 18th in YPA, 20th in completion percentage, and 25th in Y/G with 14 TD to 12 INT. This year he's 5th in passer rating, 7th in Y/G, 6th in YPA, and 9th in completion percentage with 6 TDs to 4 INTs. What gives, why the sudden turn around?

This year Baltimore didn't really do anything different on offense. They didn't add anyone big on the O-line or any big receivers, at all. Sure, they're running game with McGahee and Rice is awesome, but they're running game last year was nothing to slouch at either.

I think one important thing to look at was Flacco's game log last year. Within his first four games he threw 7 of his 12 INTs to only one TD. Since that game he threw 12 TDs to only 5 INTs. Then you look, and one of the games towards the end of the year was versus the Pittsburgh Steelers with their awesome defense (it's acceptable that any QB, no matter how good or bad they actually are, do bad against an amazing defense)where Flacco threw 2 picks to no TDs. You take that game out and Flacco threw 12 TDs to 3 INTs in his past 11 games. Excluding the Steelers game, Flacco had a passer rating of 95 or better in four out of his last five games at the end of the 2008 season.

I think next it's probably helpful to look at Flacco's receivers.

2008:
Derrick Mason: 11th in DYAR, 15th in DVOA, 67% catch rate (among WRs)
Mark Clayton: 61st in DYAR, 59th in DVOA, 50% catch rate (among WRs)
Todd Heap: 19th in DYAR, 22nd in DVOA, 55% catch rate (among TEs)

2009:
Derrick Mason: 32nd in DYAR, 38th in DVOA, 55% catch rate (among WRs)
Mark Clayton: 55th in DYAR, 55th in DVOA, 47% catch rate (among WRs)
Todd Heap: 4th in DYAR, 6th in DVOA, 63% catch rate (among TEs)

You may not understand the statistics I used but it's clear that (yes in the limited sample size) Mason and Clayton, Flacco's two main receivers are worse or just as bad as they were last year. Yes, this year, Heap is significantly better, but can one player, a TE, really explain the sudden boost in Flacco's numbers, probably not. In fact, these numbers are boggling because why does Flacco have such a good completion percentage when his receivers are worse?

So I took a look at Baltimore's RBs. L'Ron McClain has caught 80% of the passes thrown his way and Willis McGahee has caught 75%. Ray Rice has been no slouch catching 65% of his passes. All three RBs combine make up one third of Flacco's targets.

Throwing to Clayton and mason makes up about 40% in Flacco's targets and Heap makes up about 21% with about 10% going to other receivers. So if you look at it this way, about 50% of all of Flacco's passes are going to players that catch the ball: a RB or Heap.

I also took a brief look at Flacco's O-line had it's significantly better than last year ranking 7th this year in pass blocking. Sure Flacco seems to have more time to pass the ball, which will make any QB better, but I didn't think Flacco was all that good to begin with, so having even more time won't help a bad QB.

So if you ask me why is Flacco so good? I would say it's because of his dump off passes to his backs and because of Todd Heap. His others receivers have been garbage for three games, especially in terms of efficiency. But the other half have been doing very well. Does this explain why Flacco went from a below average starter to a top 10 QB? I don't know. But I think this explains explain why Flacco doesn't suck this year. Sure, he looked like he was developing at the end of last year which probably is a considering factor. Flacco has only played 19 regular season games plus three playoff games. Maybe he was worth being drafted in the first round and the more time in the pocket helps his development? However, just based on how Flacco seems to be getting his fantasy points still makes me think less of him.

In honor of Patrick Swayze

150 Posts!

Congrats fellow GOI authors, this post is the 150th post we have written this month! Granted 140 of them are Cubsfan4evr's basketball posts, but we have clearly outdone ourselves this month breaking our record of 121 posts in a month.

Sexy Rexy Is Getting People To Visit GOI! Sort Of...

So I've been posting my football stuff on footballoutsiders.com message boards. Considering I use some pretty advanced statistics, even for the GOI authors, what better forum to explain myself than on the site that created the advanced statistics. Here's a comment I got from my Cedric Benson post:

Fascinating. I targeted Benson in several leagues based on an article I read about how he admitted he'd been lazy (for lack of a better word) in Chicago, that getting cut for him was a wake-up call, and that he was newly motivated as a result. Interesting to see that he's actually getting help. Thanks for the link!

Your welcome zhengyiquan, glad I could help!

Analyzing the Tyler Thigpen Trade

TBO and I have raved about Thigpen since last year. He was on my fantasy team and did well for a few weeks- even helping the ex-Bear Mark Braldey get some fantasy headway. When the Chiefs got Cassel I thought it was dumb because my Chiefs already had a young good QB- Thigpen. Then when news broke that Thigpen- who for some reason was 3rd on the Chiefs depth chart- got traded to Miami, I thought Miami was getting a steal. But then I looked at Thigpen's numbers from last year.

Tyler Thigpen was 27th in passer rating, 24th in YPG, 29th in YPA, and 30th in completion percentage. For some reason after "watching" Thigpen play I thought he was good, but stats don't lie. So TBO told me to look even further, that I should "trust my eye", and that the Chiefs O-line and receivers were awful last year. So I'm going to do that and compare what he did last to what Miami did last year/ have done so far this year to see how Thigpen will fare in Miami; to see if my instinct before looking up his numbers was right, or if the numbers won't lie.

I think one way to help decipher completion percentage is by looking at Thigpen's wide receivers- and look at their catch rate. A quaterback can make good passes to a reciever, but if that receiver messes up/ doesn't catch the ball, the numbers look bad on the quarterback (see: Jay Cutler, game one this year).

Dwayne Bowe was the Chiefs best reciver last year, and he only caught 55% of his passes- that means he only caught a little over half the passes thrown his way. Mark Bradley was Kansas City's 2nd best receiver- and he was garbage. Besides having negative DVOA and DYAR, he only caught 48% of his passes. However, Thigpen did have the benefit of throwing to Tony Gonzalezx last year- and he caught a darn good 62% of his passes. There are some other wideouts that caught a handful of passes but again, with unimpressive catch rates.

But now let's see how the Dolphins receivers did last year. Davone Bess caught 72% of his passes last year, Greg Camarillo caught 66% of his passes, Ted Ginn caught 66% of his, and TE Anthony Fiasano caught 64% of his.

On the face it, it seems the Miami receivers will only help Thigpen's numbers because they seem to have a better ability to catch balls. However, it wouldn't be a good argument if I didn't look at other factors. As Skip Bayless has argued, the Miami system is one of just dink and dumps, which makes for higher comp %. And Chad Pennington has always been an extremely accurate passer. So the high comp % is probably to a combo on Pennington's accuracy and the west coast offense. But won't Tyler also do dink and dumps as well? Now I'm not quite sure how Thigpen's accuracy truly his given his small sample size, but given the offense he will now play in and the recievers he has, his completion percentage should gratly improve.

Now I think it's also fair to look at the team's offensive lines. No matter how accurate you are, if you're getting bombareded and rushed all the time, no way you're going to complete throws.

Last year Miami had the 12th best pass blocking offensive line. Kansas City has the 21st best. Clearly Pennington has much more time to get off his throws, especially compared to Thigpen. However, in three games, Miami has the 25th best. Si Thigpen is absolutely not coming into the same situation as he was before. However, I think Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano has shown to work his way around a poor offensive live. The dink and dumps and the wild cat formation is designed to take advantage of a poor offenisve live. I actually didn't think Miami's O-line was all that good last year, but Sparano designed plays based off of the QB and RB to show a statistical improvement in his offensive line.

What concerns me most about Thigpen is when I look into his game log. TBO said if you discounted his first couple of games, then his numbers improve. However, they actually don't. In 5 out of his last 7 games, Thigpen has a completion percentage under 55% and never boasted a passer rating above 86. Yes, there was a streak between week 5 and 10 where he threw 5 TDs and no INTS, but in the time where he should have improved (weeks 11-17), he threw 10 TDs but 8 INTs.

However, considering their starter is now out for the year, I'd have to think that Thigpen is Miami's best option, and the pick they gave up probably won't be that high considering the Chiefs don't seem to care about Thigpen. So on that front getting Thigpen will probably be worth it. But how well will he play? And to be honest I can't really tell you based on the evidence I've been given. I assume that Thigpen can dink and dump, but will Miami's receivers make Thigpen better, catch more of his passes and thus improve Thigpen's numbers? Or was it that the Chiefs receivers had a low catch rate because Thigpen wasn't that good? I don't know. My first gut reaction, after actually looking at Thigpen's passing numbers is that Miami is getting a subpar QB that has experience. But who's to say that Thigpen won't improve, or even make the Miami receivers better? There's no evidence to say that he can't? But if you twisted my arm and made me say how Thigpen will do, I'll tell you that he'll Kyle Orton-eqsue- at best.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….The Bench

I have just looked at most of the Chicago Bulls players. When I looked at each player I talked about their role on the team. Now I am going to talk about the Bench, and more specifically the back-up for each position. I will not be going into every bench player. When I talk about the second unit I am referencing: Kirk Hinrich, Brad Miller, Jannero Pargo, James Johnson, and Taj Gibson. These are the five back-up’s and their respective positions. Players are interchangeable to play other positions if someone else is not performing, injured, or in foul trouble.

Kirk Hinrich and Brad Miller are the only two dependable consistent players the Bulls have off the bench. They are both veterans who know how to play the game and the Bulls will be relying on them to come off the bench and provide a spark. For Kirk Hinrich that will mean to come in and knock down some shots while playing with Derrick Rose, or handling the ball and giving Derrick Rose a break. He will be the primary back-up for both guard spots. Brad Miller will be backing up Power Forward and Center. He will need to come in and shoot. The staring Power Forward and Center are not shooter’s or proven yet in the case of the streaky Tryus Thomas. Thus it will be crucial that Miller can provide some offense at these two sports, because most of the Bulls big men are defensive oriented players. Hinrich and Miller will have to carry the Bulls second unit while the regulars get a rest.

The Bulls have veteran journeyman in Jannero Pargo. Pargo is a proven shooter and can score in a hurry, but as we learned in his first tour of duty with the Bulls he is very streaky. Some night he will come off the bench and look like Ben Gordon, but the other half he may have trouble getting in rhythm. He will give the Bulls an offensive option off the bench, but is not a proven or dependable player. I like Pargo and think he is a good pick up for the Bulls for his price tag, but it will be interesting to see how he fits in and is used.

The last two players who will be relied heavily on are the rookies James Johnson and Taj Gibson. James Johnson is supposed to be a good offensive player who can run the floor and knock down shots. From the tape I have seen on him he seems to run the floor well, but I think it will take him some time to develop his shot and become the important six men we need from him offensively off the bench. Taj Gibson is a defensive player which may provide some defensive energy off the bench, but the Bulls roster seems to be stacked with those types of players. I don’t see him getting much playing time and doing much as a Bull this season. Thus, it will be up to Hinrich and Miller to keep the game close when the starters are resting and James Johnson and Pargo will need to step it up and define their role with the team.

Oregon Football

All Sports fans have gone to many sporting events throughout their life where they have been disappointed with the outcome and the play of their team. I have gone to over a dozen Cubs games this season and I have lost count of how many times they won because for the most part they lost when I went. I don’t think I saw more than four wins! Tony Seminary is an Oregon alumni who decided to attend the season opener of Oregon vs. Boise State on September 3rd. He was disgusted in the product on the field so he wrote the Oregon head coach Chip Kelly an e-mail with an invoice. You can read more about this story and what Chip Kelly did at ESPN news. I wish all coaches did what he did!

The Cubs Keep on winning

The Chicago Cubs had a very disappointing season. There were real big expectations for them this season after going to the playoffs the last two years by winning the central division title. They were swept in the playoffs the last two years and had something to prove this season. It didn’t go plan and this was the first of the three seasons that Lou has been the skipper of the Cubs that they didn’t win the division or make the playoffs. I am mad that they didn’t, but this is the third consecutive season that the Cubs have had a winning record. As sad as that may be, it is still an accomplishment for the team. Lets hope they re-group this off-season and trade Bradley and are better next season.

HR distance vs Pitch location

Via: Baseball Analysts

Southern girls are easy (NSFW)

A couple decided to join the 1.2 billion dollar club at the new Cowboys stadium. And of course some peeve had a video camera in the bathroom and just so happened to place it over the door and capture a couple seconds of gods greatest invention. Once again, NSFW.

Tyler Thigpen to Miami

ESPN has just reported that the Chiefs have traded Thigpen to the Miami Dolphins for an undisclosed pick. Miami needs Thigpen to replace Chad Pennington who is now out for the year.

The Kardashian's Love Shitty Black Athletes Who Have Not Nor Will Not Reach Their Potential

TBO has reported that Khloe Kardashian (who?) is marrying Laker Lamar Odom. Well I'm happy to report that big sister Kim is now back together with Reggie Bush.

Of Course A Bears Offensive Player Is Good AFTER He Leaves The Team

This time I am talking about Cedric Benson. Benson was the Bears first round draft pick and 4th pick overall in 2005. We also got Thomas Jones recently as well and for the first two years Benson was a Bear, our running game looked amazing. In 2005 and 2006, Benson, granted as a back up, averaged a fine, above average, 4.1 YPC. Benson looked ready to become a starter so Chicago traded away Thomas Jones to the Jets. Jones then becomes a pro-bowler and Benson ends up being so bad, that he gets cut. Story of a first round Bears draft pick.

Then the Cincinnati Bungels picked him up and after an awful year last year (averaging only 3.5 yards per carry), is now having a great year. Benson is 8th rated RB this year in Yahoo!, 3rd among all RBs in yards, and now averaging 4.4 YPC- his career high. Yes granted we are talking an extremely limited sample size of only three games, but come on, what gives!

So I did a little research and I think I've found out why Benson has been good so far- the Bungals rushing O-line is much improved this year.

Yes, Benson does rank 10th overall in DYAR and 12th in DVOA. Imagine DYAR to football is like VORP in baseball, but accounting for defense. And DVOA represents how valuable per play is a back compared the league average. This is impressive considering the past two years Benson was negative in both these categories, ranking him towards the bottom of the list. But I don't think this explains why Benson is so good. I think these are casual trends to help show how good Benson is, but I don't think it fully explains it. What makes a RB go from being in the bottom of the league to being a top ten back?

I think that's best explained by his offensive line. This year, the Cincy O-line ranks 10th in run blocking. And if you look even further than that, they have fantastic run blocking tackles. The Bengals Left Tackle Andrew Whitworth is ranked first in run blocking among all LT's and their Right Tackle, Anthony Collins, is ranked fifth. Left Guard Evan Mathis is pulling his weight as well ranking 9th among LG in run blocking. Having three out of the five O-lineman be in the top 9 in run blocking, and two playing right next to each other to help open up holes, really helps a running back actually gain yards.*

Here's a list of where Benson's O-lines rank according to run blocking and Benson's YPC:

2009 (Bengals): 10th; 4.4
2008 (Bengals): 32rd; 3.5
2007 (Bears): 30th; 3.4
2006 (Bears): 7th; 4.1
2005 (Bears): 15th; 4.1

No surprise that when Benson has a top tier run blocking O-line that Benson succeeds.

*Yes, I am making the assumption that when a Bengals left guard is first in run blocking I attribute it to the starting LG Cincy has on its team. Sure, that player probably doesn't play every down to take full credit, but he plays most. I don't think it's an unfair assumption to make

My Look at the Bulls Update

As all of the readers of GOI should know I am doing a preview on the Chicago Bulls 2009-2010 season. I have already looked at the front office, Coaching staff, and players. Next I will be looking at the bench, the biggest questions surrounding the Bulls season, and my overall analysis of the team. These are additions to my preview that I didn't originally decide to do when I posted all the topics I would look at back in my first post on this so I decided to add a post about them. If you have any ideas for things I should look at on the Bulls before the season please let me know. I am always open to suggestions.

James Johnson Hazing Period

The Chicago Bulls training camp just started a few days ago. I did a post on James Johnson who is one of the Bulls rookie. This article in the
Chicago Tribune talks about how our top draft pick is doing. It also talks about the veteran leadership the Bulls have in Brad Miller and Lindsey Hunter. Both of them are helping Johnson learn the plays and what to do. Brad Miller who is more of a jokester is the one who is making Johnson do the typical rookie stuff like get doughnuts and stepping on Johnson's back during pushups. I didn't like the Hunter signing at first, but maybe it is a good thing.

Here is a video on Johnson's experience in training camp so far.

Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Aaron Gray

Aaron Gray was the Bulls 49th overall draft pick (second round) in the 2007 NBA draft. Gray went to College at the University of Pittsburgh where he named the Associated Press Third Team All-American after leading his team to the sweet 16 in the 2007 NCAA tournament. The Bulls have had a lack of a true center and a presence in the post for a number of years. This was way the Bulls drafted him after he was a force to be reckon with at the College level. The 7 foot 270 pound center has not been able to adapt to the NBA level. Gray is slow and can’t jump very well. The Bulls just re-signed him last week because they needed some depth at center and Gray gives them a true center (the only one of their roster), even though he is a work in progress. Gray has a big body and could be a good low-post option off the bench. He is also a good option for bigger centers the Bulls may face like Dwight Howard and Shaquille O' Neal. The Chicago Bulls already have 4 players between the power forward and center spot so Aaron Gray doesn’t figure to get much playing time unless for injuries or foul trouble. Aaron Gray has shown flashes of being good at times and does several things well for a big man like pass.

Here is a highlight video of Aaron Gray:

Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Brad Miller

Brad Miller is a savvy 11 year veteran the Bulls acquired in a trade from the Sacramento Kings last year before the trade deadline. This is Miller’s second tour of duty in Chicago. He played in Chicago from 2000 to 2002. Miller is a 7-0 center who is 33 years old and he showed his age last year while the Bulls were making their playoff run. So the Bulls will have him come off the bench and provide an offensive boost off the bench. Brad Miller has always been more of an offensive minded player, which is a good fit because he is the only big man we have that is. Tryus Thomas could be a good offensive player, but still has a lot to prove. Brad Miller alongside Kirk Hinrich will be filling one of the biggest question’s this Bulls team has coming into the season, the bench. When I am done looking at the players I will be analyzing the team as a whole. I think Miller will have a good season and look to see him playing down the stretch at the end of games even though he is coming off the bench.

Matt Millen sucks at life

GOI Football Prediction Results: Week Three

Pigskin Pick 'Em:

1) Sexy Rexy

Overall: 32 out of 48, 66.67%
Last Week: 12 out of 16, 75%

1) The "Bright" One

Overall: 32 out of 48, 66.67%
Last Week: 10 out of 16, 62.5%

3) Cubsfan4ever

Overall: 31 out of 48, 65%
Last Week: 12 out of 16, 75%

Fantasy Football League:

1) Cubsfan4evr (2-1): 284 points
2) The 'Bright' One (2-1): 277 points
BTW, TBO sucks because he lost to DME, a guy who knows NOTHING about football. This is worse than losing to Pod Vader in the Man's League
3) Sexy Rexy (2-1): 271 points
4) David "MVP" Eckstein (2-1): 248 points

Eliminator Challenge:

1) Sexy Rexy, Green Bay Packers (3)
1) Cubsfan4evr, Baltimore Ravens (3)
3) The 'Bright' One, Washington Redskins (0)
3) J O'Brien, Houston Texans (0)
3) David "MVP" Eckstein, DNP (0)
3) Richard, DNP (0)

Salary Cap Football:

1) The "Bright" One: 243.72total points, 94th percentile
2) Sexy Rexy: 235.92 total points, 91st percentile
3) Cubsfan4ever: 201.96 total points, 59th percentile

Football Board Bets:

1) Pierre Thomas, ranked 32rd among all RBs, 14 attempts
2) Reggie Bush, 1 rushing TD
3)

Ahmad Bradshaw: 20 total fantasy points
Fred Taylor: 28 total fantasy points

The Kardashian family just got bigger

News to me but Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian got married over the weekend. If you are wondering which one is Khloe, she's the fat one who's not Kim. I will bet money this thing does not last. Not cause it's in LA or cause of the celebrity status, but because Khloe is way too needy and self conscious. I have watched enough VH1 to know this. Girl admitted that she's depressed on the show and no better way to cure depression then getting married to a basketball player. Odom has baggage of his own. He's been busted for pot going back to college and has a notorious sugar tooth. Maybe that's what brought these two love bugs together. Their mutual love of twizzlers

Merrill Hoge is on my list

This one is simple. Trey Wingo says "Devin Hester has jets". Correct. Merrill Hodge adds his own insight. "The thing that'll allows him to be a great wide receiver is that he has great hands". Wrong

Sexy Rexy back me up on this

Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Joakim Noah

Joakim Noah played collegiate basketball for the University of Florida. He had a great college career starting on two Gators' teams that won the 2006 and 2007 NCAA Tournaments. Then he was drafted 9th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. Last season Noah started 55 games down the stretch of the Bulls playoff run and he showed that with more playing time he will get rebounds and a make a few shots per game. He also blocked more shots with more playing time. I am not a big fan of Noah. He reminds me of Reggie Evans, which means that if he gets the playing time he will get rebounds and a few points, but is not anything spectacular. I think Brad Miller is better, but think it is better to bring him off the bench this way there is some scoring with the second unit.

Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Center

The Bulls starting center looks to be Joakim Noah. Noah will be entering his third season in the NBA and with the Bulls. Noah is known more as a defensive player only averaging 6.7 PPG so far in his two year career. He does average 1.1 BPG, 0.8 SPG, and 6.6 RPG. He will be backed up by veteran Brad Miller who is in his second stint with the Bulls entering his 12th season in the NBA. Brad Miller is a good shooter and scorer. Miller will be a big part of the Bulls success coming off the bench with the second team. Kirk Hinrich and Brad Miller are the only two veterans coming off the bench and they will need to carry the Bulls offensively while the starters are resting. The third string center is Aaron Gray whom the Bulls just re-signed to a one year deal. He will be entering his third season with the Bulls. Gray is the only true center the Bulls have and has the big body to go against other true centers in the league. He needs to improve a lot to be a factor though.

Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Taj Gibson

Taj Gibson was just drafted by the Bulls with the 26th overall pick in the 2009 draft. He is a 6-10 forward who weighs 214 pounds coming out of USC after his junior year. Taj Gibson can play power forward and is known for his defense. He will be backing up Tryus Thomas who is also a defensive player. If he plays well in the pre-season he will have the chance to come off the bench and show what he can do. From the little I know about Taj Gibson I was not excited about this pick. We will see how he plays for the Bulls this season.

Here is a highlight video of Taj Gibson.

Finally! Redemption

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Tryus Thomas

Tryus Thomas was drafted 4th overall in the 2006 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. Then, Thomas was then traded along with forward Viktor Khryapa to the Chicago Bulls for forward/center LaMarcus Aldridge whom the Bulls drafted 2nd overall in the same 2006 draft. After three years the Bulls have looked to make a bad trade. LaMarcus Aldridge has averaged 15.4 PPG, 6.8 RPG, in his first three seasons. In comparison Tryus Thomas has averaged 7.7 PPG, and 5.0 PPG. The reason the Bulls traded Aldridge for Thomas was the upside and great athleticism that Tryus Thomas possess. Thomas showed flashes of brilliance in the past three seasons as a Bull, but hasn’t been able to do it consistently. Tryus looked at the end of last season like he was putting his game together and averaged career highs in 10.8 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.9 BPG, and 1.1 SPG. Let’s hope Tryus Thomas continues where he left he off and becomes a force to be reckon with.

Here is a video of Tyrus Thomas 2009 Highlights.

Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Power Forward

Tryus Thomas looks to be the Bulls starting Power Forward. He played well last year down the stretch starting throughout the playoffs. He averaged 10.8 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.9 BPG, and 1.1 SPG. All were a career high. Tryus Thomas has the ability to be a good offensive player and a great defensive threat. He has the ability of being a double double player, but it has taken him awhile to put his game together. Let’s hope he can continue that this season. Thomas will be backed up the rookie Taj Gibson. Taj Gibson is also known for being a defensive player. The Bulls look to get great defensive out of this position, but the offensive numbers will be up to Tryus Thomas.

NBA Live 2009

While I was writing my blog post on Luol Deng I came across this picture of him on the cover of NBA live 2009. He is on the cover of the copies that were distributed in the United Kingdom. I guess he is very popular in the United Kingdom. I find this amusing because usually players on the cover are coming off really good seasons and one of the best players in the league. Luol Deng does not meet this requirement. So who will be on the cover next?

Bradley To the Giants?

One of Jim Hendry's main goals this off-season will be to trade Milton Bradley. I have heard several rumors of the Cubs talking to the Mets, Padres, and other teams. None of those deals sound good because the Cubs will have to eat most or all of the 22 million remaining and get nothing good in return if anything. I read a good artice in the
Chicago Tribune by Paul Sullivan which discuses the Cubs getting Aaron Rowand in return. I was never a big Aaron Rowand fan and I think he is over paid, but the Cubs would at least get a center fielder back and can move Fukudome to Right field, his natural position. This would make the outfield defense a lot better than it was this year. The Cubs would have to take on more money in Rowand's deal, but that is why the Giants may be interested to do it.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….James Johnson

James Johnson was just drafted by the Bulls with the 16th overall pick in the 2009 draft. He is a 6-8 forward who weighs 257 pounds coming out of Wake Forest after his sophomore year. James Johnson can play both forward spots and the Bulls like his game being able to drive to the basket and spot up. Johnson will be given a chance to play a lot backing up Luol Deng at small forward. Johnson has said he prefers to play power forward, but the Bulls have plenty of options there already. The Bulls bench is young, inexperienced, and most importantly unproven besides for Kirk Hinrich. Thus, Johnson will have a chance to be a big part of the Bulls coming off the bench and providing a spark. Johnson reminds me a little bit of Luol Deng in the little I have seen him play.


Here is a highlight video of James Johnson.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Luol Deng

Luol Deng was drafted in 2004 by the Phoenix Suns with the 7th overall pick and traded to the Chicago Bulls. In his rookie season he averaged 11.7 points and 5.3 rebounds to make the NBA All-Rookie First Team and to help the Bulls return to the playoffs for the first time in several years. In his third season with the Bulls Deng was the only player to start all 82 regular season games and he had his best season averaging a career high in 18.8 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game. Deng has not averaged that many points or rebounds since this 2006-2007 season.

On July 31 2008, Luol Deng agreed to a six-year deal worth a guaranteed $71 million dollars with incentives up to $80 million. This makes Deng the Bulls second highest paid player for the 2009-2010 season. Luol Deng has a career average of 15.4 PPG and 6.3 RPG. In order for the Bulls to have a big year and continue to get better Deng has to get better and have a big year. I would like to see Deng averaging between 20-25 points this year, rebounding over 8 times a game, and being the good defender he has shown flashes of being because he is tall and fast with good wingspan to cover most guards and forwards. You could say that Deng is one of the key factors for the Bulls to have a good season.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Small Forward

The Bulls will have Luol Deng as the starting small forward. Luol Deng was injured most of last year and has taken a few steps back the last few years. He has to show he was worth the 5 year contract the Bulls gave him. Deng need to have a big year and be the offensive player and rebounder we need him to be. The Bulls have Rose to handle and distribute the ball, they have Salmons to shoot the ball, and they need Deng to be a big contributor to the team’s success. Backing up Deng the Bulls don’t have a ton of depth. They will be counting on rookie James Johnson. Johnson played mostly power forward in College and the Bulls already have a logjam at Power forward/center so Johnson doesn’t figure to get much playing time there. Johnson will get most of his playing time at small forward backing up Deng, so he needs to make the most of it. If Johnson struggles the Bulls can have starting shooting guard John Salmons back up Deng at Small forward and have Hinrich or Pargo take Johnson’s playing time.

I think Chris Arreola has brain damage

The WBC heavyweight championship fight last night between Vitali Klitschko and Chris Arreola was one of the best fights I have seen in a long time. Though the match was dominated by Klitschko, Arreola kept on attaching and kept on taking shot after shot to the face. The real fun began after Arreola's corner decided that he could no longer take the pounding the giant Ukrainian was applying.

After the bell sounded to conclude the fight after the 10th round, Arreola breaks down crying like a little girl, or at the least a grown man with the mental capacity of a little girl. Taking straight punches to the melon will probably mess up your amygdala. The only other person crying in the building was his 8 year old daughter. Arreola barely got himself together to do a post fight interview, and proceeded to show his emotions by swearing every other word. Utterly hilarious. Klitschko's interview was more civilized as he complemented Arreola for having a strong chin. I'm sure what he wanted to say was [insert bad russian accent] "I am surprised he still alive"

The Real American Idol

VH1 is the shit. If it wasn't for ESPN, i'd be watching it all day long



Definitely going with the Bill Simmons non-sports related pop culture tonight

Japan thinks(correctly) that America is lazy

Honda is making sure that in the future, none of us will ever have to do anything, ever again. They have already made walking obsolete with their U3-X unicycle. Thing can motor you at a whopping 3.7mph around the house, basically walking speed. I'm sure this will be the first in many new inventions with the purpose of making daily struggles obsolete. Cause walking from the living room to the kitchen is simply inhuman.

Superman gets a concussion

The impossible has happened. The immortal man, with a heart of gold and a head of steal, was knocked unconscious by an unblocked blitzer. Football players laying motionless is never something to applaud, in fact I hate the inhuman physicality of the sport on player's body and mind, but seeing the giant that is Tim Tebow get taken down brings some satisfaction. If the media didn't make him out to be god, this video would not be as rewarding. He did eventually get up after 5 minutes, and proceeded to throw up endlessly

Hispanic players swim don't walk

We have all heard the baseball cliche, "you can't walk your way off the island, but you can swing". This obviously refers to hispanic baseball players' propensity to be free swingers. The names Soriano, Guerrero, and Pudge come to mind as players to whom the regular strike zone does not apply. I wanted to do a crude analysis to determine the validity of this statement; however, being a medical student with no time to breath, this will be a very crude examination. Instead of breaking down the entire league into ethnic groups groups and finding significant variations, I will instead just look at the composition of extreme values within statistics I deem important to the topic.

Firstly, I looked at the top and bottom 20 players in terms of walk percentage with a minimum of 350AB. That represents a respectable 3-4 months of baseball and a good way to weave out bench players.

In 2009, 16 of the 20 lowest walk rates belong to latin american born players ranging from Bengie Molina 2.8% to Vlad Guerrero 4.8%. In 2008, 14 of bottom 20 were hispanic. And in 2007, 9 of bottom 20 were latin. The field in 2oo7 was constituted by really bad/old players who slightly disrupted the trend. They included Barfield, John McDonald, Jay Payton, Corey Patterson, and Craig Biggio.

Sorting by highest walk rates, 2009 featured 6 of top 20 being hispanic. However, this included several players who were born in the United States like Arod and Carlos Pena. 2008, 5 of top 20. And 2007 featured 3 of the top 20 walk rates.

Second, I looked at what fangraphs describes as swinging at pitches outside of the strike zone(0-swing%). 12 of top 20 swing percentages in 2009. 10 of top 20 in 2008. 12 of top 20 in 2007.

Lowest O-swing% break down: Only 3 of the top 20 in this list included hispanic players each of the last 3 years. It should be noted that Bobby Abreu and Luis Castillo were in the top 20 each all 3 years with Castillo leading baseball every year.

Considering the ethnic breakdown of the current state of major league baseball: 60% White, 30% Hispanic, 8% Black, and 2% Asian, the trends at the extreme values of walk rate and plate discipline appear to confirm the propensity of Latin American born players to "swing" their way off the island. To rephrase an old Chris Rock joke about african americans, "we're 10% of the population, yet we're 90% of the final 4". The same applies to baseball, "Hispanics are 30% of the baseball population, yet they're 80% of the if you see it you can hit it club"

The Matt Capps Collapse

In his second full season as a closer, Matt Capps followed up a 3.02 ERA/3.28 FIP 2008 season with a Brad Lidge-like 4.98 FIP (5.68 ERA). What happened? Will he regress further next season or bounce back? Should the Pirates just cut ties with the downtrodden flamethrower? Pirates GM Neil Huntington strongly hinted that Capps will probably come back next season. Is this the right move for the Pirates?

Matt Capps is traditionally a one pitch (fastball) pitcher. In 2007 and 2008, Capps burned his 92+ heat 78+% of the time and his fastball was at least a full win above average in quality. Capps had immaculate control of zone as well, posting a 4.0 K/BB in 2007 and a ridiculous 7.80 K/BB last season, despite maintaining a league average career K/9 rate of 6.88.

As such a fastball oriented pitcher, it is no surprise that Matt Capps is also a FB pitcher (0.82 GB/FB career). Considering his command of his fastball, however (a filthy 0.84 BB/9 in 2008!), it should come at no surprise that Capps rarely missed his spots therefore was not really hurt by the long ball in the past (0.57 and 0.84 HR/9 rates in 2007 and 2008, respectively).

That was that, though. This is now.

2009 was a different story for the Pirates' closer. Capps cut down his fastball usage from 78.6% last year to 69.0% this year (a 12.2% relative change in usage) and starting mixing in his very average (sub average in the past two seasons) slider more and more (from 14.8% last season to 24.3% this season). The results were not very pretty. Capps' new pitch selection resulted in some dramatic changes in command and control. His BB/9 increased by almost two full runs, to 2.75, this year and although Capps has a career high K/9 rate of 7.57 this season, he is simultaneously posting the worst K/BB of his career at 2.74 (4.20 career K/BB). This loss of command has resulted in a huge spike in long balls (1.72 HR), despite an improved and neutral GB/FB rate this season (0.99).

To add fuel to the fire, as Matt Capps' fastball quality is on a three year decline. Where it was worth almost two wins above average in 2007 and a win above average last year, Capp's fastball is slightly below average this season. Furthermore, as Capps' slider has increased in usage, it has also regressed from -0.27 runs below average per 100 pitches last season to -1.04 runs below average per 100 pitches this year.

So what does this mean for Matt Capps? Well, for one thing, it means that if Capps wants to revert to his pre-2009 level of production, he desperately needs to go back to the basics -- the things that made him successful as a reliever in the first place.

Capps has upped the mustard on his cheese a full mile per house, from a career average 92.7 MPH to a career high 93.7 average speed per pitch on the gun this year. While some extra speed is nice, it has resulted in slightly over one less inch of horizontal movement and half an inch of vertical movement. Or, in other words, Capps is throwing his fastball flatter, which is never good if you want to keep the ball in the yard. Capps should work on throttling back on the gas just a bit and putting back that little extra late life on his fastball.

Secondly, Capps needs to just plain cut down on the slider usage. Clearly, a second and even third pitch (Capps does have a change up that he mixes in around 6% of the time) give a reliver options when he needs it, but there is no reason for Capps to be increasingly reliant on poor secondary stuff when he needs to get batters out. An extra slider here and there to keep hitters off balance is fine; just don't go all slider happy on the batter -- remember, you are not Michael Wuertz.

Finally, Capps just needs some luck to return to his side. This season, Capps has become incredibly hittable and is posting a ridiculously high .363 BABIP. Coupled with the spike in walks and home runs, you can see why Capps is having such a poor season in 2009. The HR/FB rate is a bit inflated at 13.9% (league average is 11% and pitchers tend to, on average, regress to this number) and the HR/9 should therefore decline a bit next season, even if Capps does not regain the command that let him continuously post HR/FB rates below 7% in 2007 and 2008.

Capps, who made over $2 million this season, is rounding out the end of a $3 million two year deal he signed last season. With a couple more years of arbitration ahead and a subpar year this season, Capps should remain relatively cheap for the near future -- at least for 2010. Considering how overpaid relievers tend to be, I do not see the Pirates ditching Matt Capps in the offseason to avoid a potential arbitration raise because 1) the Pirates have no quality in house relief options to fill the void that Capps would leave and 2) the Pirates do not really have an abundance of resources to splurge on the open market -- even if their opening day payroll is projected to be $20 million lower next year than this year and even if the FA market continues to stay depressed. Even if Capps does not regain his 2007-2008 form, he is still a quality reliever who throws strikes. Teams like the Cubs who have plenty of power arms in the pen with poor walk rates would love to have a guy like Capps. Thus, at worst, Capps could surely provide a valuable and relatively affordable trade piece for Huntington come the trade deadline next season or even this offseason -- teams always seemed to be in desperate need of quality bullpen arms.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009………. Jannero Pargo

Jannero Pargo will be entering his 7th season in the NBA after taking last season off and playing overseas in Europe for more money than he was offered here. Pargo has played with four teams in the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, and New Orleans Hornets. Now he will be entering his second stint with the Bulls after establishing himself as a good shooter off the bench with the Hornets from 2006-2008. During his two seasons with the Hornets he backed-up Chris Paul at point guard and shooting guard. Pargo can handle the ball well and play point guard if needed, but he is a shoot first, pass second type of point guard. The Bulls like good passers and distributors so Pargo will back-up Salmons at shooting guard and provide offense off the bench with the second team.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….John Salmons

John Salmons played college basketball at the University of Miami in Florida and was drafted 26th overall by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2002 NBA Draft. He was then immediately traded with Mark Bryant and rights to Randy Holcomb for Speedy Claxton to the Philadelphia 76ers where he played through the 2006 season. His best season with the Philadelphia 76ers was the 2005-2006 season where he averaged 7.5 PPG. Then he spent three years in Sacramento averaging 12.5 for the 2007-2008 season. Last season he spent 53 games with the Sacramento Kings averaging 18.3 points and then continued averaging 18.3 PPG seasons while with the Bulls.

Now Salmons will be starting at shooting guard with the Chicago Bulls. He will provide some offense and some much needed height in the backcourt being 6-6. Salmons shot the ball well last year and looks to finally being a steady scorer. Salmons averaged 18.3 PPG last season with the Bulls and will need to continue that with the Bulls. He doesn’t have a long history of being an effective shooter so the Bulls need him to continue what he started last season and help carry the offensive load for the bulls this season.

Worst Trashing Talking Ever

Read this article about the comments between Seahawks WR T.J. Whose-your-mama and Bears LB Lance Briggs.

Houshmandzadeh talks about how he's pissed that the Bears didn't go after him in the off-season (Hey, me too!) but then says:

It is what it is, they got good receivers there. Devin Hester is going to develop into a pretty good receiver. He has great quickness, great lateral movement, great speed, great hand-eye coordination. So, he should be able to develop into a pretty good receiver, if he has the coaching and they open up the pass game for him.

Briggs responds saying that T.J. is just bitter

Whose your mama responds by saying that Lance didn't didn't want to play in Chicago either at one point but then says:

"Hey, you know what, though, Lance is a good player. When you watch Lance on tape, man he's a beast. He knows it. He can say what he wants to say if he plays like that."

Houshmandzadeh went on to praise the Bears' secondary and quarterback Jay Cutler.

"I can't do too much talking, because I haven't had the ball thrown my way much this year," Houshmandzadeh said. "So you have to get the ball before you can talk."

Rules of trash talking:
1) Go all out if you're going to trash talk
2) If you don't, at least have a last name that I can spell to make fun of you


If you want a good trash talk, do what Jets S Kerry Rhodes last week before they faced New Endland. Now THAT'S how you trash talk

Fantasy basketball anyone?

Basketball season is starting to heat up and that means fantasy basketball is starting. We have created a fantasy basketball league and invite all basketball fans to join that read the Game Of Inches. Our league is through Yahoo and is a standard Roto league with a live draft. The draft time may change to accommodate the majority of manager’s schedules. You can join by clicking the yahoo page and then clicking on Join Custom and type in the league Id and password which is below.

League ID#: 138369
Password: ChicagoSports

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Shooting Guard

Ben Gordon departed as a free agent this past offseason and he was the heart and soul of this team’s offense. Ben Gordon starting or coming off the bench was the team’s best shooting guard arguably since Michael Jordan. The Bulls have a big hole to fill in Ben Gordon leaving after being the Bulls primary scorer and clutch shooter since he was drafted in 2004. Last season Gordon averaged 20.7 for the Bulls and 18.5 PPG in his Bulls career. The big question is can anyone currently on the Bulls roster fill the shooting void he leaves.

The Chicago Bulls will look to John Salmons to take over the load of Ben Gordon. Salmons came to the Bulls last year in a trade from the Sacramento Kings. Bulls fans quickly learned that he can shoot while he filled in at small forward for the injured Luol Deng. Now with Deng coming back and Gordon gone, Salmons will move over and start at shooting guard. John Salmons averaged 18.3 PPG as a Bull last year in 26 games. Thus, he is capable of starting and carrying the offensive load. Salmons is a late bloomer though and is only averaging 8.8 PPG throughout his seven year career. So there is some uncertainly if he is capable of handling the load for an entire season.

Backing-up John Salmons is former Chicago Bull Jannero Pargo returning for his second stint with the team. Pargo was a Bull for three years from the 2003-2004 season to the 2005-2006 season. He came off the bench those three years like he will again this time around. After he left the Bulls he went to the New Orleans Hornets and established himself as a very good shooting guard off the bench. Last season he went and played in Europe for more money than he was offered here. Now he is back in the NBA and with the Chicago Bulls. I like the Bulls bringing back Pargo and think he will do well in the role he will have. I remember Pargo with his first stint with the Bulls and watched him with the Hornets. He is a short guard like Gordon and has a similar game. I like both shooting guards the Bulls have in John Salmons and Jannero Pargo. Both are not established though and don’t have much history in being consistent so they will need to come through and prove it.

Milton Bradley is a Mama's boy

Don't be mad at Milton Bradley, you'll make his mommy sad. She explains how all the negativity around Wrigley was affecting Bradley's performance on the field leading to his miserable season at the plate(we dont care about his walks, Eckstein). She has insider info from Milton himself that he would be open to returning to the Cubs next season, assuming he is still allowed to cross the Illinois border.

"Milton eats, sleeps and drinks baseball. He loves it. That's all he wants to do"..."I watched his swing, and I could tell what was wrong," Rector told the Sun-Times. "His mind wasn't on baseball. He was thinking about all of these other things."

There probably is some truth to all the pressure getting to Bradley's head. A guy doesnt come off consecutive .950 OPS seasons and suddenly regress to the .700 level. Unless he went on a crispy chicken sandwich binge after signing his fat contract. When I heard Bradley's mom had an opinion on the suspension, i thought even she would think Milton is an embacle. I guess it's nice there's one person in the world who doesnt hate Milton Bradley.

The Marlins know how to celebrate a win

There is so much goodness in this video of the Marlins coming back in the bottom of the 9th to steal another game from 2007 Brad Lidge. First some white dude i've never heard of gets the game winning single. Then another white dude i've never heard of comes dashing out of the dugout with excitement taking out half the team in the process. Then Hanley Ramirez runs toward the first white dude and actually slides to stop instead of just not moving his legs. Thats a true baseball grinder. Someone who slides to stop when doing normal everyday activities like going to the bathroom, walking you dog, or congratulating someone on a win. Hanley then goes NFL superbowl on us and decided to dump a gatorate bucket on said white guy. Too bad no one was in attendance to witness the joy.

GOI Football Predictions Week Three

Here are my football predictions for week three. My selections are in bold.

Cleveland at Baltimore
NY Giants at Tampa Bay
Tennessee at NY Jets
Jacksonville at Houston
Atlanta at New England
Kansas City at Philadelphia
Green Bay at St. Louis
San Francisco at Minnesota
Washington at Detroit
New Orleans at Buffalo
Chicago at Seattle
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati
Miami at San Diego
Denver at Oakland
Indianapolis at Arizona
Carolina at Dallas

Finally science invented something of use

I'm just going to steal..errr..barrow fangraphs article:

I'm pleased to announce that FanGraphs has arrived on the iPhone & iPod Touch!

This initial version of the FanGraphs Baseball iPhone App includes:

- Live win probability and win probability graphs.
- Live box score and play-by-play data.
- Basic/Advanced/Value stats for any baseball player.
- Minor league stats.
- Historical game data going back to 1974.

Here are the screenshots:









The app is currently priced at $2.99 and is available now. You can either click here to take you directly to the app store page, or search for FanGraphs in iTunes.

Be sure to leave us feedback so we can start adding additional features to the next version!

Hidden Fantasy Baseball Gems

Recently I did a post about the biggest fantasy baseball busts. That made me think I should do one on the best fantasy baseball picks. There is no definition of what a fantasy baseball gem is but, it is a player doing much better than what was expected of them before the season started. These are young guys finally breaking through or guys who have been okay steeping it up and taking it to the next level to be a major contributor to your fantasy team. Most of these players probably didn’t get drafted, or were the last the players drafted on your team. Here are a few fantasy baseball gems from the 2009 season and hopefully my fellow contributors will join in with a few in some follow up posts because I am sure there are others I am forgetting. This list is not in any specific order.

Mark Reynolds-In yahoo fantasy baseball leagues Mark Reynolds was projected to go 197 and he is currently the 15th best player according to them. Reynolds is a power hitter who strikes out way too much. Now for the past 2 seasons he has struck out more than 200 times per season. Last season he did hit 28 homeruns with 87 runs, 97 rbi, and 11 sb, but he only hit .239. This season he is hitting more homeruns when he connects with the baseball for 43 homeruns, 93 runs scored, and 100 rbi’s with 24 stolen bases. His average is a respectable .266 which is good for someone who helps in every other scoring category. A guy who hits over 40 homeruns and has 100 runs (he is close with 93) and 100 RBI’s and invaluable and he does all three plus 24 stolen bases which is great for a power hitter with his numbers. I don’t know if he will repeat next year, but he was probably the best fantasy baseball gem for being someone undrafted or starting on your bench to one of your best fantasy producers.

Aaron Hill-Aaron Hill was injury plagued during the 2008 campaign and only hit 2 homeruns with 19 runs and 20 rbi’s because of that. This is the reason he was projected to go 288 in yahoo leagues. He ended up continuing where he left off in 2007 and didn’t let his injury plagued last season to affect him from getting better this season and putting it together. For second basemen who hit 17 homeruns in 2007 he has put up great power with almost doubling his 2007 homerun total currently with 33. He has also scored 94 runs and 100 RBI’s with a respectable .286 average. The offense numbers he put up for an second basemen is great and there are not many others at this position who put up close to this type of production except for Chase Utley.

Kendry Morales-This season Kendry Morales was given playing time and showed the Angels he has the power they thought he had. He hit 31 homeruns, with 99 RBI’s, 77 runs, and hit .304. For a player who probably went undrafted in all of your leagues, he came out of nowhere and if you picked him up early enough, was a great catch.

Adam Lind- Adam Lind had 290 at-bats during the 2008 campaign and didn’t appear on many people’s radar for having the potential to be a major run producer, but he did that this season hitting 30 homeruns, driving in 106, and scoring 86 while hitting over .300. He turned out to be a nice power threat from a late pick.

Jayson Werth- Werth used to be a fourth outfielder for a number of years who showed last season he as a everyday player. This season he showed it he needed was more playing time to put it together and he hit 34 homeruns and scored/drove in 92 runs so far this season.

Justin Upton-Justin Upton broke into the league at a young age, but had some problems learning his game of baseball using his power and his speed. This season he did batting over .300 with 25 homeruns and 80 runs/RBI’s along with 19 stolen bases. Upton still has a lot of room for improvement and could easily be a 30 homerun 30 stolen bases in the next few seasons.

Jason Bartlett-Many forget that Jason Bartlett hit .286, 48 runs scored, 37 RBI, and 20 stolen bases during the 2008 season. This is why he was ranked 302 in yahoo leagues before the season started. This season despite being injured he broke out and is hitting .322with 83 runs, 64 RBI’s (impressive for a table setter) 14 homeruns (not a homerun hitter), and 25 stolen bases. Imagine next season if he stays healthy and gets a lot more at-bats than 472 while batting second for the Rays.

Pablo Sandoval-I drafted Pablo Sandoval in a few leagues because I thought he would put up decnt numbers and help me out because he was eligible to play three positions including catcher which is sometimes very hard to get decent production out of. After a few weeks or so I dropped him in most leagues because he was barley hitting 200. I learned the hard lesson and didn’t hold on to the rookie long enough. He ended up rewarding those who did hold on to him and is putting together a very good season in which he could win Rookie Of the Year. The best part of him this season was his catcher eligibility, but still helped where ever you played him.

Ben Zobrist- Ben Zobrist was given the chance to be the Rays every day shortstop a few years ago, but he failed to lock down the job because he couldn’t hit. He played a lot at first because of his great glove, but after a while they went with better offensive options in Brendan Harris or Jason Bartlett. This year because of injuries he was given a lot of playing time and showed he can play good defense everywhere, but can also hit the cover off the ball anywhere. He had a solid season and hopes to continue off of it next season.

Marco Scutaro-After being a utility man for a few years he showed he can hit and score runs besides for being a good glove. He has scored 100 runs, with 60 RBI and a .282 average for a guy that you can play at three spots in fantasy. He gives you good flexibility and was projected 308 in yahoo leagues.

Michael Bourn-Every season I am looking for players who came help me with stolen bases. There are very few elite stolen bases candidates and if you miss out on Jacoby Ellsbury (64 SB) and Carl Crawford (59 SB) whom were drafted in the top 30 then you need some other options. Michael Bourn turned out to be this guy if you could pick him up fast enough after he was projected to go 274. He has learned how to hit and get on base this year to steal 58 stolen bases.

Juan Rivera-I have always been a fan of Juan Rivera, but he is usually over passed and not given the playing time. This season he was given a chance after the big three year deal and he has showed what he can do. A few years ago I wanted the Cubs to go after him instead of Fukudome but we didn’t.

That was a few position players who turned out to be fantasy baseball gems for the 2009 season in my opinion because they played much better than what most people thought, and where they were drafted if they were. Hopefully my fellow contributors will post on some other players, especially pitchers which I didn’t get to in this post, but there were a few like Edwin Jackson that I got burned on like I did with Pablo Sandoval.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Lindsey Hunter

On July 15, 2009 the Bulls re-signed Lindsey Hunter for his second year as a Chicago Bull. Hunter is a 16-year NBA veteran who has appeared in 28 games with the Bulls last season averaging 2.6 ppg and 1.3 apg in 9.5 mpg. In his career he has averaged 8.6 ppg, 2.7 apg, 2.2 rpg and 1.21 spg in 25.0 mpg. He owns a career shooting percentage of .388 from the field, .361 from downtown and .746 from the free throw line. Hunter is toward the end of his career and not expected to play much because his best days are well beyond him.

Lindsey Hunter is here to be more a mentor to Derrick Rose. Hunter is an experienced point guard who is here to teach Rose how to see the floor and distribute the ball. There was rumor in the off season that he would retire and the Bulls were going to hire him to help out in player development. The Bulls decided to keep him on as a player to teach Rose and help with his development. The Bulls also needed some more players on their roster so instead of going with a young guy they decided to bring Hunter back for his final year as player with the Chicago Bulls. Hunter is not expected to play much, but if a player gets in foul trouble or injured, he could be forced into action.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009………. Kirk Hinrich

Kirk Hinrich was drafted in 2003 by the Chicago Bulls with the 7th pick overall. He went in possibly one of the best draft classes ever with Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade being drafted ahead of him. After him several good players went including T. J. Ford, Mickaël Piétrus, Luke Ridnour, David West, Boris Diaw, and Josh Howard. Josh Howard and David West are bigger guys that the Bulls might have been attracted to if they weren’t in a market for a point guard. A few months before the draft the Bulls second overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft Jay Wiilliams, was injured in a motorcycle accident. Jay Wiilliams was supposed to be our point guard of the future, but after his accident where they didn’t know if he would ever walk again, they drafted Kirk Hinrich. Jay Wiilliams can walk now and tried to make a comeback in 2006 and was signed by the New Jersey Nets, but released before contracts are guaranteed. Back to Kirk Hinrich……..

I remember the pre-season for the 2003-2004 season. I was watching a game and remember this little white guy running up and down the court who looked winded and 2 steps behind everyone else. When I found out that he was Kirk Hinrich, our first round pick who was drafted 7th overall. Later I found out he had a viral infection that took him months to recover from. After the season started and he recovered from the viral infection he looked much better. He solidified his position as the starting point guard pretty quickly and was named to the NBA's 2004 All-Rookie first team. He held the distinction for being the only rookie during that season to record a triple-double, with 11 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists versus the Golden State Warriors on February 28, 2004. Hinrich has gone on to have a good career with the Bulls. He has career averages of 13.9 points per game, 6.1 assists per game, 3.4 rebounds per game, and 1.3 steals per game.

In the 2006-2007 season Hinrich averaged 16.6 PPG, 6.3 APG, and looked to be the Bulls point guard of the future and one of the cornerstones to build around. Then Hinrich took a step back during the 2007-2008 season and the Bulls drafted a true dynamic point guard in Derrick Rose. This pushed Hinrich to the bench which he accepted and the captain of the team never complained. Hinrich got injured last year, but when he came back he gave the team a big lift. His assist were down at a career low, but hopefully him and Rose can learn to play together and Hinrich and Rose could be a deadly combination. This is because both handle the ball very well and they both can shoot. Last season with the Bulls pushing to make a playoff run Rose coach Vinny Del Negro played Rose a lot playing him most of the game. Because of this at times Rose did look tired. This is why the Bulls need to play Hinrich more backing up Rose because he is more than capable. This way Rose will stay fresh and be ready when we need him. Many people seem to think Hinrich is a back-up and bench player, but I think he is still very good and should be a starter on most teams in the NBA.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Derrick Rose

The Chicago Bulls had a disappointing 2007-2008 season. It was the first time in a few years they missed the playoffs. Thus, they were expected to have a draft pick in the top 15. The Bulls hit the jack pot and with a 1.7% chance won the number one pick in the 2008 NBA draft. There was a lot of debate if the Bulls should draft Michael Beasley or Derrick Rose. Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose both came out of college after their freshman year. Beasley had a great freshman year and accomplished more than Rose did during his year at college. Rose had a great run during March madness and raise his stock. We have seen many players do very good during March madness and turned out to be over rated so far. Some of those players are Tryus Thomas, Glen Davis, among others. Thus, I didn’t want the Bulls to draft Rose because Beasley was better over the whole season and would fill the big hole the Bulls have for a big man who has double double potential. With the number one pick in the NBA draft the Bulls drafted Chicago native Derrick Rose. I am glad I was proven wrong pretty quickly.

Last year Derrick Rose had a great rookie season to win Rookie of the Year honors. He became the third Chicago Bull in history to win it with Michael Jordan (1985) and Elton Brand (2000). He averaged 16.8 points on 47.5% field goal shooting, 6.3 assists per game, and 3.9 rebounds per game. Rose showed last year he is a great distributor and can take the ball to the bucket at will. Last Year when Paxson was general manager he said that Derrick Rose is the future of the team and the Bulls are rebuilding around him. That is why the captain of the team, and one of their best players Kirk Hinrich was moved to the bench to make room for the sensation in Rose. The trades we saw made during last season were to find players to complement the game of Derrick Rose. After this upcoming season the Bulls will have salary cap room to make some changes and bring in a big guy for Rose to feed the ball inside too. Rose is young and should keep developing and there is no limits to where he can take the Bulls!

Jackie MacMullan is on my list

Jackie MacMullan was on Around the Horn today debating whether Mark Reynolds' new record of 206 single season strikeouts is really a bad thing. Most the panalists agreed that it really doesnt matter given his 43 homers on the season. However, Mrs. MacMullan said that you would never see Mark Reynolds' name in the book Moneyball.

Uhhhhhh, wouldn't Mark Reynolds be the perfect guy to put into Moneyball? This guy is Jack Cust on steroids, wait Cust is on steroids. This guy is Jack Cust on myostatin inhibitors.
His walk rate increases every year up to 12% this year, K rate increases every year up to 38% and his iso jumped to the .300 range. He even has 24 steals this year, which is anti-moneyball, but he steals at a 73% clip which is satisfactory. If you want to play for the 3-run homer, Mark Reynolds is your guy. I think MacMullan meant Chris Davis is not a Moneyball guy.

The .300 iso level needs to have a cool name like the Mendoza line. I recommend Jimmie Foxx who had a career .284 iso and 6 seasons over 300. We can call is the "double X" line. Awesome

100 Posts!

Congrats fellow GOI authors, this is the second time we have hit 100 posts within a month!

Why I'm Buying Steve Smith (The Crappy One)

Sure saying "the crappy one" is a misnomer because I think he's good and I'm about to write a post about him, but this post is dedicated to the Giants wide out (we all know the Panthers receiver is fucking amazing, even if crappy Jake Delhomme is throwing to him).

Sure, it's easy to praise a guy who, after two weeks, is third in the NFL in receiving yards (well I'm going to do it anyway!) but I think he will keep this up all season. Right now Smith is 2nd of all receovers in DYAR and 12th in DVOA. That essentially means when Smith catches the ball, he is the second best receiver and 12th out of ALL receivers on average per play. But the key this year that I think will make him both a valuable fantasy wide receiver and a real one, is now he's getting thrown to.

This year, Smith is top 5 among wide outs in targets (24) and is tied for the league in receptions (16). Smith, yes only over two games, has a very good catch rate (76%)but he has shown to have a good catch rate in the past. Last year, Smith was one of only ten receivers to have a catch rate over 70%. So if he's getting the ball thrown to him a lot and has the ability to catch around 3 out of every four of them, he will then have a lot of reception and a lot of receptions means a lot of yards.

And I'm a big fan of receptions. People can quote efficiency all they want and it's helpful to a degree, but give me the guy who can actually catch the ball and make plays. Sure, guys like Devery Henderson are extremely good and efficient at what they do (although maybe he's starting to be a bad example because he's getting thrown to more and more) and more efficient than guys like Andre Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald, but give me the later any day of the weel over Henderson. Now I'm not going to claim that Steve Smith is in the elite stratosphere and guys like Johnson, Fitzgerald or Randy Moss, but I think's coming darn close.

I also am a believer in reciever being consistent. For the most part what you see out of a reciever is what you get. Bernard Berrian probably won't gain over 1,000 yards and Wes Welker probably won't gain more than 4 TDs this year. It's obviously different with younger receivers because they need to prove themselves and develop. But once they do develop, I think very rarely will you see them get any better. And I think we're seeing the final stages of Smith's development. He's gotten used to playing at game level and he's getting used to starting- and doing very well.

At the minimum, I think Smith can be Wes Welker (fantasy wise). He can be a guy that racks up the yards but doesn't really score (Welker has 5 TDs in the past two years), which still has great value to it. But if I were a gambling man, I would put money that Smith can get at least 5 more TDs in 14 more games (assuming health). Now, I'm not sure how often he's getting looked to in the red zone and how often Eli Manning is looking to Boss or Manningham more than Smith to gain TDs and I think it's too early to tell that. But no matter, I can easily see Smith go to Hawaii this year.

Welcome to the OC bitch!

Aaron Corp got an introduction to what it's like being the starting quarterback for the Southern California Trojans. And that introduction ended with him getting kicked in the balls by Jake Locker and the greatly inferior Washington Huskies. I predict the Huskies will go like 4-5 in conference this year, thats how bad they are. Still Aaron Corp manned up and still found a way to completely tank. Dude threw for 110 yards and an interception. Not ever the Matt Barkley treatment of just handing off to the RBs wasnt enough. They out rushed Washington 250-50 and still lost? How is that even possible. I'll tell you how; Corp went all Cade McClown on the hearts of all USC fans.

You know the Cade McNown training regimen. Party it up hard, bang some playboy playmates, get sparknotes version of playbook, and hope for the best. Like be out of the league before your rookie contract is up. Dude was obviously not prepared for DIVISION I FOOTBALL, IT'S THE PAC 10, IT AIN'T INTERMURALS. Maybe he just wasnt prepared for the moment of playing in The Coliseum. I'm pretty sure next time Matt Barkley has to miss a start, Pete Carroll will start THE FORMER #1 OVERALL RANKED PROSPECT MITCH MUSTAIN instead of some frat boy reject. Oh, no i'm not judging him as a frat boy. It's a fact. According to some USC girls, and who wouldnt trust that, Corp was out the night after the loss partying it up at some frat house..errr..preparing for his next start. Anyone who checked facebook, twitter, blogs, or an actual human being knew that Corp was getting massacred and prepared for expulsion from USC. Honestly I'm surprised he was let into the party. Even frat houses have some standards.

Grad School, Shmad School!

Even though three of the GOI authors are either in law school or med school, this post will be the 97th post we've done this month, and there's still eight more days left in the month. At this pace, we should far exceed our record posts per month, which was 121 back in April. We're on pace to write 132.

So who says being in an institution of higher learning doesn't give you time so write posts that maybe about a hundred people will read!

Is Johnny Gomes Adam Dunn Lite?

Dusty Baker hates clogging up the bases with walks.

Out goes Adam Dunn, in comes Jonny Gomes. While both strike out at comparable rates (Dunn strikes out 32.5% of the time, Gomes does it 30.9% of the time) and have prodigious power (Dunn has a .275 ISO, Gomes has a .272 ISO), Gomes walks almost exactly half as much as Adam Dunn (8.9% versus Dunn's monstrous 17.3% walk rate). Even though Adam Dunn doesn't exactly miss Cincinatti, I am fairly certain stat-head Reds fans who live in their mother's basements miss his robotic annual production of 100 BBs and 40 HRs plenty...even if he never tried very hard.

But let's not be too hard on Gomes here. A marginally better than league average walk rate is nothing to sneer at when paired with legitimate power (.230 career ISO) and defense skills that are only half as crappy as his predecessor. In fact, in less than half as many PA's as Adam Dunn this season, Jonny Gomes has been, when you combine and compare offensive and defensive production, exactly half as valuable as Adam Dunn this season. Extrapolated, that insinuates that two have the same production rate per game for their respective teams. Such is true for 2009, but is this a legitimate expectation for 2010 and going forward?

Jonny Gomes has no doubt been a disappointment since his breakout 2005 campaign. In the following season, his BA plummeted (as should be expected from a person who strikes out 1/3 of the time) from .282 to .216. Bolstered by an 11 HR April, Gomes' season ISO remained quite high for 2006, but declined from .253 to .216 (league average is around .155). Gomes "regression" was so drastic that he was given a largely limited role in the majors (and banished mostly to the minors) from mid-2006 through last the end of last season, when he was non-tendered by the Rays. The Reds gaves Gomes a minor league contract with a chance to prove he still had something less to contribute and he surely provided them with a lot of bang for their buck (.264/.339/.540, with 20 HR and 49 RBI over 298 PA).

So what is with the roller coaster ride that is Gomes? The answer is largely attributable to two factors. The first is what we would traditionally call "a giant hole in his swing" (0.36 BB/K, 70.7% career contact rate against an 80.5% league average). The second is an inability to hit right handed pitching (.225/.312/.448 line vs RHP, .271/.368/.513 line vs LHP, a sharp .121 point difference in OPS).

These two factors have led to violent oscillations in Gomes' BABIP by season. Here is Gomes BABIP since (and including) 2005: .360, .253, .332, .200, .307. His career BABIP is .296. Such inconsistency is expected from a guy who strikes out three times as much as he walks because it makes the player more prone to extended slumps and more exposed to BA fluxations in the red (logically, if a player Ks a lot and has a poor BABIP over a period of time, the BA is going to fall from ugly, but acceptable to sub-terrible >> check out Dan Uggla's numbers from the first half of this season). However, Jonny Gomes, despite all of the inconsistencies and headaches has made large improvements in his game each of the past four seasons that make the likelihood that he sustains his steps forward on the season more Russell Branyan like and less Corey Patterson like.

Since his full time debut in 2005, Jonny Gomes has cut down the major league strikeout rate a couple percentage points, while settling in at a walk rate within the 9% range each of the past three seasons. After taking some steps back with a K% of 36.2% in 2006, Gomes took a big step forward in 2008 and again in 2009, reducing the K rate to the 30-31% zone. These gains weren't noticed much in limited and sporadic action in 2008 because of a .200 BABIP. Guys like Gomes who strikeout a lot (and especially ones who do not have the best control of the strike zone) make terrible terrible back up players because they have no chance to get into any rhythm during the season, which only exacerbates their weaknesses. Gomes steps forward in strikeout rates has largely been attributable to a change in his approach at the plate. Although Gomes is taking about 5% more swings at pitches than he was as a full time player in Tampa, he is also making 5% more contact with those swings than he was before (largely because he is swinging at more pitches inside of the zone and, compared to the last two seasons, swinging less at pitches outside the zone). Gomes has also cut down the frequency with which he takes a hack at the first pitch he sees from a below average 60.2% rate in 2005 to a slightly above league average 58.7% rate in 2009.

Oh yeah, and you know that lefty-righty split? Gomes has a .871 OPS in 174 PAs against righties this season (.894 OPS vs lefties). Gomes' BABIP vs righties is a bit high at .321, but even if that settles down to the .300 range (which it most likely will, going forward), Gomes would be producing a quality .800+ OPS line against RHPs.

All of these signs show that Gomes' steps forward are not simply the byproduct of luck, but rather legitimate improvements in peripherals and approach. The results have been nothing short of gravy for the Reds. Fangraphs values Gomes' limited playing time production at $3.6 million (largely attributable to his +1 wins in offensive production); yet he's only getting paid somewhere between $600K and $800K. Whether or not Gomes continues his steps forward next season remains to be seen. At 29 years old, the ceiling is seemingly limited, but he's already proven that he possesses the necessary power for success and has shown himself increasingly adequate in the other aspects of the game over time (albeit, often hindered by the forces of bad luck). Gomes is under team control for two more years before he is eligible for free agency, so the Reds probably figure to tend Gomes' a contract this off season. It will be interesting to see what kind of numbers Gomes puts up in a full season playing LF.

What do you think Gomes 2010 looks like if given an opportunity as a full starter again? Will he be continue to be Adam Dunn with less walks for The Reds or will Gomes regress to his post-2005 numbers? Either way, this experiment shouldn't cost the Reds too much next season and they will probably, therefore, take the risk of starting him in LF in 2010 as they attempt to rebuild their tattered franchise.

Someone has a comment on Caleb Hanie

Not to rehash the greatest moment in Game Of Inches history, obviously referring to my Caleb Hanie video, but some of the comments for the video on youtube are quite hilarious. The last one is almost incomprehensible. I want to know who this person is and where they are from, so I can contact him/her and find out what this statement actually means

he actully thought orton was going ta be on thise team and wen he got cut that he will start after orton but then wen he got trade he to denver he said fuck i might be cut

Yeah, i dont speak stupid

Bulls Bring Back Gray

Today the Bulls announced they have brought back Aaron Gray. He was a free agent who they were negotiating with to bring back for his third year with the Bulls. Gray was a second round pick of the Bulls a few years ago who hasn't done much in limited action. Gray is the only true center on the Bulls roster and is the only true low post presence they have. He hasn't been able to put his game together yet, and figure out how to use his body to score down low and be a good back-up center. Currently Gray would be third on the depth chart for back-up center. For the baseball fans reading this, Gray would be like David Kelton of the Cubs or Joe Bochard of the White Sox. I am sure "The 'Bright' One" is ecstatic about this move. He was always a big fan like I am of Aaron Gray.

UPDATE by TBO, NOT!!!

Bill Simmons is on Gary Bettmans list

Was listening to a recent Bill Simmons podcast with his best friend (only friend?) Jacko about the rivalry matchups in college football. J/k, they were talking about the Sox and the Yanks like always. The conversation swayed toward Jeter and Arod explaining the resurgence of Jeter and the lesser role Arod has taken this year.

Simmons made a few stupid comments during the podcast, which he is prone to do, and apparently makes him charming in a way. First he thought Lou Gehrig disease was a cancer, then not knowing the difference between a disease and cancer, and then just getting off the subject. Trying to make a wacky movie/music/sports connection, Simmons called Kate Hudson Arod's sloppy seconds(oh no he didn') saying not even the allegedly slutty Hudson could get Arod back on the baseball radar.

Overlooking the preposterous notion that Arod is having a down season(.400 wOBA), we know what happened the last time someone(Martin Brodeur's bitch) called someone else(Jack Bauer's daughter) sloppy seconds. Gary Betmann would so suspend Simmons for the rest of him life from ESPN. Of course, Bettman is not in charge of ESPN, otherwise we'd be watching sportscenter on Versus. So we can just laugh at the joke and laugh at the NHL for being stupid, though I do love the sport.

Joe Schad is on my list

It's one thing to have a slip of the tongue, or a freudian slip when you are forced to speak on television, but it is not acceptable to simply say the most obvious thoughtless things. I at least want statistical evidence to back up a completely obvious statement like water is wet and grass is green. Minutes ago on ESPNews, Joe Schad a college football analyst gave the following analysis of Jimmy Clausen

History has shown Jimmy Clausen plays better when healthy as opposed to hurt

Really? As opposed to all those athletes who play better hurt. Who intentionally smash their shins into telephone poles in hopes of being at 60%, which is actually 120% for those select few who thrive under pain. Lets make a list of all the athletes who perform better when injured

1. Curt Schilling
2. End of list
   

How Much the Cubs make for a Game

Recently "The 'Bright' One" sent me a link to this article on Yahoo sports. I found it fascinating to learn how much the Cubs make per game from all the different revenue areas. It gives you an inside view to how much the Cubs make and where any baseball team makes money from. I liked it a lot and think all Cubs fans would like to know this so I decided to post it.

Jay Cutler looks more drunk in slo-mo

Thanks to sportshumor23 and kissing suzy kolber

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Point Guard

The Bulls have three point guards on the roster in starter Derrick Rose, back-up Kirk Hinrich, and veteran Lindsey Hunter who is more of a mentor to Derrick Rose than player at this stage of his career. Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich will mainly be the only players handling the ball and distributing it. We will probably only see Lindsey Hunter come in at point guard for a few minutes a game unless Rose or Hinrich are injured or in foul trouble. The Bulls also have Jannero Pargo who can handle the ball, but will be used as a shooting guard. If any of the three point guards get injured or two of them get in foul trouble in the same game then we would see Pargo handle the ball. Pargo is a small guard who can handle the ball well, but it a shoot first pass second player like Ben Gordon was. We brought Pargo back to be a back-up shooting guard, but he gives us a little extra flexibility if needed at point guard.

The Bulls should be in very good shape at point guard. We have a young guard in Derrick Rose who is still developing and will hopefully continue to blossom during his second season. In my opinion, Kirk Hinrich is a starting point guard, and would be starting on most teams. With Hinrich around we should be able to keep Rose fresh and not have to play him most of the game like we did last year when Hinrich was injured. I like the Bulls bench a lot, especially compared to many teams and this is because of Kirk Hinrich who will be the best player off the bench. It will be interesting if Hinrich and Rose will even play a little bit together. I think that could be an interesting combination for a few minutes during a game. This will depend on the other bench players though in Pargo and Johnson to give Vinny Del Negro that option.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009………. Expected Depth Chart

Basketball will be starting soon with the season officially starting towards the end of October. Here is how the Bulls roster is shaping up after the off-season where they added James Johnson, Taj Gibson, Jannero Pargo, and brought back Lindsey Hunter for reasons I will never understand. Aaron Gray is still a free agent, but supposedly they are talking to him and want to bring him back. I guess we will see what happens.
Position Starters Back-up Reserves
Point Guard: Derrick Rose Kirk Hinrich Lindsey Hunter
Shooting Guard: John Salmons Jannero Pargo
Small Forward: Luol Deng James Johnson
Power Forward: Tyrus Thomas Taj Gibson Jerome James
Center: Joakim Noah Brad Miller Aaron Gray (FA)

Now that we have previewed the front office and coaching staff……on to the players! I was debating if I should look at the players by starters and then the bench or go by position. You will have to see what I decide.

GOI Football Prediction Results: Week Two

Pigskin Pick 'Em

1) The 'Bright' One

Overall: 22 out of 32 correct, 69%
Last week: 10 out of 16 correct, 62.5%

2) Sexy Rexy

Overall: 20 out of 32 correct, 62.5%
Last week: 7 out of 16 correct, 44%

3) Cubsfan4evr

Overall: 19 out of 32 correct, 59%
Last week: 8 out of 16 correct, 50%

Fantasy Football League

1) The 'Bright' One (2-0), 215 points
2) Cubsfan4evr (2-0), 214 points
3) Sexy Rexy (1-1), 192 points
4) David "MVP" Eckstein (1-1), 174 points

Eliminator Challenge

1) Sexy Rexy, Minnesota (2)
2) The 'Bright' One, Minnesota (2)
3) Cubsfan4evr, Washington, (2)
4) Journalissimo, Washington, (1)
4) David "MVP" Eckstein, Green Bay, (0)
5) Richard, Pittsburgh, (0)


Salary Cap Football

1) The 'Bright' One: 195.03 points, 98th percentile
2) Sexy Rexy: 178.63 points, 93rd percentile
3) Cubsfan4evr: 139.77 points, 58th percintile

Football Board Bets

1) Pierre Thomas, 0 carries (maybe if I said a non-Reggie Bush back will be top 12 I would have won this, Thomas probably won't get the carries to be top 12...)
2) Reggie Bush, 1 rushing TD
3)
Ahmad Bradshaw: 10 points
Fred Taylor: 12 points


On the bright side of everything, I know it's only 2 weeks into the season and I'm sure I just jinxed it, but my prediction of the 49ers winning their division looks like it's coming true!

The NFL now has strippers

The Dallas Cowboys opened up their new amusement park..err..football stadium that seated 105 thousand Cowboy fans, including 20K standing room only. The Bush family was in attendance along with Lebron James and Michael Irwin. Will this become the next Staples Center? No, it will be bigger. I'm surprised Jack Nicholson wasnt sitting in Jerry Jones' luxury box.

The best past was definitely the hookers..err..dancers in the new age cages working their stuff. And they are in the very back of the stadium, so your $10 nose bleeds just became worth the money. I'm glad Al Michaels said what we're all thinking. These girls are probably pole/cage dancers from downtown Dallas and moved up the socioeconomic layer to dancing for the Cowboys. Can't wait till Vince Young and Pacman make it rain

Jay Cutler: Illegal shot to the face

Yeah, that's what she said

LD rates by park

It's an older article that we've reference a few times on the blog, but check out how different parks categorize batted balls over at fangraphs.

Corey Hart is no Derek jeter

David "MVP" Eckstein thinks a 10 paragraphs soliloquy belongs in the comments section, I do not. (DME here, editing TBO's post w/o his permission -- this is actually an article I posted May 29, 2009 that no one probably read. Thus, the stats may be dated...)


In 2007, I drafted Corey Hart and he paid off big time. With a .295 AVG, 24 HR and 23 SB (not to mention the 86 R/81 RBI), Hart entered the 2008 season high on my list of guys to target. Hart, however, would prove to me over the course of last season that he is not a guy with 30/30 potential (he only had 505 AB in 2007), but rather a player with poor basic skills to go with raw talent.

Corey Hart has never been a batter with a good eye. His career BB% is a below average 6.1%, but since his first full major league season, he has seen his already poor pitch recognition erode further. Last season, Hart posted a laughable 4.2 BB%, 15th worst among the 213 players who had a minimum of 400 PA's. This season, Hart has a deceptively "high" 8.8%, largely due to the 13 walks he drew in the month of April (Hart has only drawn double digit walks in a month of play one other time in his entire career -- 14 in June 1007). Since May 1, Hart has walked at a 5.2% clip.

Hart's power has also been in the decline since his first full season -- or perhaps it merely spiked in 2007. Hart's 2007 ISO (.244) is almost a full .100 points higher than this season's rate (.150). In 2007, he hit a HR every 21.1 ABs. In 2008, he hit a jack every 30.6 ABs. This season, Hart's home run power has regressed even further, as his HR rate has fallen to one per 34.4 ABs.

The sheer power of Corey Hart isn't the problem (his career home run distance average is over 400 FT, 418.5 FT this season), but rather the ability to make quality contact with pitches. With a swing% above the major league average and contact rate almost 10% below the league average, Corey Hart helps pitchers beat him.

Other aspects that have hurt Corey Hart's game have been decreasing speed (his speed score has gone from 7.6 to 6.2 to 4.5 since his debut), decreasing range (from positive defense to negative), a complete inability to hit sliders (his wSL (run value per 100 sliders) is -4.0 and pitchers have increasing throw sliders to him since 2007) and an increased groundball rate. All of these factors, combined with the waning/deceptively non-existent slugging power collectively conspired to make Hart incredibly overrated. The .380 wOBA player of 2007 set a bar that the .327 and .309 wOBA players of 2008 and 2009 have not and could not live up to.

John Buck and Gordon Beckham getting intimate

The first time I have found Hawk Harrelson's play-by-play call amusing and all it took was a punch to the groin. Can't help but remember the classic Simpsons man getting hit in groin.

Fantasy Baseball 2009 Busts

Before baseball season was starting and fantasy baseball drafts were starting everyone was ranking their top choices for the fantasy baseball season. It is always hard to predict who will have a good season and whom is worth your top few first round picks. In my opinion I always want my first few picks to be steady consistent guys I know I can count on to be healthy and productive. I don’t want to gamble with my first few choices. I save that to the later rounds. I know baseball season isn’t over yet, but here are the biggest fantasy baseball busts. All of these players had bad seasons for a variety of reasons. The most common reason is injury and the player either missed most of the season because of it, or couldn’t find their stroke when they came back. I have two rankings in the column’s below next to their name. The first ranking is their projected ranking and pick in Yahoo before the season started. The second column is their current ranking and how they actually did. I decided not include all of their stat’s on why it was a bad season so you can look them up on your own.

Before Season Current Ranking Comments
1. José Reyes 4 1030 He had an hamstring injury which made him loose the best part of his game.
2. Grady Sizemore 6 165 A injurey plagued year.
3. Josh Hamilton 10 408 Was last year a fluke?
4. B.J. Upton 16 215 Always a streaky hitter.
5. Lance Berkman 18 130 His career on the downside.
6. Alfonso Soriano 19 273 He is showing old age.
7. Aramis Ramírez 28 286 The Shoulder injury lost all of his power. His average is up, but the power is gone like David Wright.
8. Alexei Ramírez 44 152 He is in Sophomore slump.
9. David Ortiz 46 216 He started the season looking like he had lost his timing with old age, but has started to find it lately.
10. Russell Martin 47 415 He lost his breand and butter of being a very good average hitter.
11. Álex Ríos 50 255 Will he ever show the promise that got him the big contract.
12. Geovany Soto 54 979 A big sophomore slump.
13. Corey Hart 57 353 He sould re-bound next year.
14. Rafael Furcal 58 359 He career looks on downside.
15. Magglio Ordóñez 62 431 He lost all of his power.
16. Garrett Atkins 64 983 Not given a chance in Colorado.
17. Chipper Jones 65 190 Age looks to be catching up with him. he is considering retirement.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Pete Myers

Pete Myers played in the NBA from 1986 to 1991 and from 1993 to 1998. He was drafted in 1986 by the Chicago Bulls in the 6th round (120th overall pick). He started his Bulls career in the 1986-1987 season and came back to the Bulls in 1993 after the retirement of Michael Jordan and replaced him as the starting shooting guard. He played with seven teams in his NBA playing career.

Pete Myers joined the Bulls coaching staff on December 28, 2001. He became the interim head coach for two games when Bill Cartwright was fired in 2003. When the Bulls hired Scott Skiles Myers went back to his regular duties as an assistant coach. When Skiles was fired in 2007, Myers was named the interim head coach again for one game before Jim Boylan became the head coach for the rest of the season. Pete Meyers has been an assistant coach for the Bulls for several years now and he never seems to get much respect. The Bulls just seem to keep bringing in more assistant coaches ahead of him on the food chain.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009………. Mike Wilhelm

Last season was Mike Wilhelm’s first season as an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls. It was his seventh season with the Bulls and they promoted him to an assist coach because they liked him as a scout and want to promote personnel they like within the organization. He will entering his second season as an assistant coach, eighth season with the Bulls, and 14th season in the NBA. Prior to becoming a full assistant coach with the Bulls he was an assistant coach/advance scout with the team for his first six years in the Bulls organization. Before joining the Bulls he spent the 2001-02 season as an advance scout for the Denver Nuggets. Mike Wilhelm started his NBA career with the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 1993-94 season as the team’s assistant video coordinator. He became the head video coordinator in 1996 and had that position until 1999 when he became the team’s advance scout. He has had coaching experience as a assistant coach for the WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers from 1997 through the 1999 season. His coaching career began in Sweden’s professional league where he coached the Sundsvall Dragons for two seasons from 1990 to 1992. Mike Wilhelm has experience as a video coordinator and looking at tape, being an advance scout, and will hopefully help the Bulls more this upcoming season.

The Overrated Joe Namath

I know we have at least one semi-loyal reader who's a Jets fan so I'm sorry to break this news to you: Joe Namath was a below average QB. In fact, I will put money that if Mark Sanchez is healthy, he will be a better QB than Joe Namath was. It's still in the minds of the football culture than QB Superbowl wins = Hall Of Fame and granted Joe Namath's promise and efforts in Superbowl III did help solidify the NFL to what it is today (helping prove the AFC was worthy to join with the NFC), but does that warrant him being a HOFer, I don't think so.

First of all, Namath has more career INTs than TDs, 220 INT to 173 TDs. That stat alone makes me believe he doesn't belong in the HOF, but wait, there's more. He barely completed over 50% of his passes (50.1%) and he averaged less than 200 yards a game (197.6) and a career passer rating of only 65.5. Hell, Kerry Collins can do that! Those numbers are so pedestrian that Rex Grossman can do that!

His 27,663 career yards thrown looks impressive, but that's only because he played for 12 years. But he's only 45th all time on career yards thrown and 46th all time in pass attempts and 64th all time in passes completed. I'll give him credit that he was fairly efficient when he completed passes ranking 13th all time in yards per pass completed. However, he only ranks 133 all time in adjusted net yards per pass attempt.

Joe Namath so inefficient when he threw the ball and did a fairly bad job doing so that he does not belong in the HOF. However, he makes for some great interviews!

Sham-What the fuck is this

Something doesnt add up...

Delonte West forgot the bullett-proof vest

Delonte West obviously learned nothing from the Maurice Clarett arrest back in the day. No, not that it's wrong to drive around at night with guns and booze, but if you're gonna do it, do it right. Be safe and put on a bullett-proof vest.

Who in their right mind would get on a motorcycle in the middle of the night with a handgun in the pocket, pistol in the pantleg, and a shotgun in an empty guitar case over his shoulder and not wear a bullett-proof jacket? Clearly West is still an amateur when it comes to the whole fully loaded, drive-by, massacre scene. Really, what could West possibly need an arsenal of weapons in suburban Maryland? When I think of Maryland, gang banging is the last thing that comes to mind. I know Ray Lewis lives in Maryland, but he killed that dude, allegedly, during the super bowl in Miami. Also Michael Phelps is from Maryland, and he's a super douche, but the worst he has ever done is give VD to half the strippers in the state.

Lady Gaga Is Fucking Retarded

I really think Lady Gaga has a mental disorder. Here's what she wore at the VMA's, it included a fucking neck brace! Who does that!? She also had a fucked up performance. Can we as a nation please stop pouring praise to her! Seriously everyone at the VMA's was jerking off to Lady Gaga like people at ESPN jerk off to Derek Jeter

Awesome Chicago Rap Stealing

Obvious sampling from "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga and "Whatever You Like" by T.I. with references to "I Love College" by Asher Roth and "Blame It" by Jamie Foxx and T-Pain [Sidenote: because of stupid auto-tune, I thought T-Pain sang all of "Blame It"]

Yet despite "stealing" from four artists in a three minute song, the lyrics are actually really good

How to calculate passer rating

Almost nobody in the world knows exactly what the QB Passer Rating is and more importantly how to calculate it. We just know a large number is Peyton Manning and a low number is Rex Grossman. I'm a little embarrassed I never looked up the significance of the stat, considering I use the QB rating as an analysis of past and present quarterbacks. Finally, I decided to hit up wikipedia and find out what the rating actually tells you about a quarterback

It is actually a well thought out statistical analysis of quarterback efficiency based on 4 main attributes. They are completion percentage, yards per attempt, TD per attempt, and interceptoins per attempt. Each of these categories are set to an upper and lower limit with increasing diminishing returns for the upper limits. If you do reach the upper limits in each category, such as 12.5 yards/att and no interceptions, then you will have a perfect rating of 158.3

If you want to calculate it yourself, just employ this easy to use formula.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009………. Jim Paxson

Jim Paxson is the brother of John Paxson, the Chicago Bulls Excecutive Vice President of basketball operations. John Paxson hired his brother Jim as a consultant for the Bulls in 2006. I don’t think many people know that Jim Paxson is on the Bulls payroll, so I decided to include him in this preview of the Bulls.

After Jim Paxson retired from playing in 1990 at only 32 years old he joined Portland's front office as assistant general manager. In September of 1998 he was named as vice president of basketball operations for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was promoted to general manager in 1999. He was the general manger of the Cleveland Cavaliers until April of 2005. After six years as general manager he was fired by the Cleveland Cavaliers. During his time there he was general manager when they drafted LeBron James and he hired Paul Silas to coach him. Now he is helping the Bulls get back on the winning track………………only if he could get us LeBron James.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Bob Ociepka

Bob Ociepka is one of the Chicago Bulls assistant coaches on Vinny Del Negro’s coaching staff. Bob Ociepka was born in Chicago, Illinois and went to school at Quincy College. He started his coaching career at the high school level for York High School in Elmhurst, IL. While he coached there for four years during the 1980’s he served as a part-time volunteer scout for the Detroit Pistons. His first assistant coaching job in the NBA was for the Indiana Pacers in 1989. Then he bounced around as an assistant coach for several teams. He served as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers from 1993 to 1996, the Philadelphia 76ers from 1996 to 1997, the Detroit Pistons from 1998 to 1999 and again from 2001 to 2003, the Cleveland Cavaliers from 1999 to 2001, the Milwaukee Bucks from 2003 to 2006, and the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2007 to 2008. Then he joined the Bulls coaching staff after learning under many coaches.

He was hired along with Bernie Bickerstaff and Del Harris before last season to provide experience for Vinny Del Negro and help teach him. Bernie Bickerstaff and Del Harris (now retired) each had close to 30 years of NBA experience so Bob Ociepka and his experience went under the radar last year. Now with Del Harris retired, Ociepka would figure to be the second go to man for Vinny Del Negro behind Bernie Bickerstaff. I think many Bulls fans knew a lot about the Bulls coaching staff last season from new head coach Vinny Del Negro, experienced former NBA coaches in Bernie Bickerstaff and Del Harris, but I don’t think many people knew about Bob Ociepka. I barley ever heard him mentioned! Let’s hope he sticks around in Chicago for a while!

Week 2 Predictions

Atlanta over Carolina
Minnesota over Detroit
Green Bay over Cincinnatti
Tennessee over Houston
Kansas City over Oakland
New England over New York (A)
New Orleans over Philadelphia
Washington over St. Louis
Jacksonville over Arizona
Tampa Bay over Buffalo
Seattle over San Fransisco
Pittsburgh over Chicago (breaks my heart)
Baltimore over San Diego
Denver over Cleveland
Dallas over New York (N)
Indy over Miami

The Brad Lidge Turnaround

Last season Brad Lidge was arguably the best closer in the game. Lidge was 2-0 with a 1.95 ERA in 72 games and 69.1 innings pitched being perfect in save opportunities going 41/41 during the regular season. Lidge was also perfect during the playoffs for the World Champion Phillies. Once he was handed the ball in the 9th inning (except for the All-star game) you had complete confidence the game was over. This season that isn’t exactly the case. Brad Lidge who was Mr. Automatic for the 2008 season is doing the opposite for the 2009 season. This season Lidge is 0-7 with a 7.11 ERA in 58 games so far this season. Charlie Manual is still going to Lidge even though he has blown 10 saves this season. Lidge started his career being very good in 2003 and was through the 2005 season. He started to loose it during the 2007 playoffs and lost it with that big homerun he gave up in the 2005 World Series. He was terrible in the 2006 season and then got better in 2007, but still had 8 blown saves so the Astros traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies where he dominated in 2008.
Brad Lidge’s stuff seems to have declined this season and his pitches are just not that good. He is the same pitcher he has been in previous seasons. So the question is can Brad Lidge be the good pitchers who used to be the for the 2010 season?

The Riot’s Car

When I was waiting to see Ryan Theriot last Saturday he drove by the store looking for parking. He was driving a BMW 750 series which was very nice. While leaving the store I saw his car on the street and decided to take some pictures of it for our viewers of Game of Inches. His license plates were from Louisiana so he obviously has it registered there and drives it up to Chicago during the season.

The front of the car:




Here are the side views:




The decked out tires:


The Inside of the car:

He left his money visible for everyone to see. Not the smartest thing.




Not the neatest person.

MLB Fatty All-Stars (25 man roster)

Halfway into a post about who has the worst facial hair in MLB history, I discovered that some blog already did the "Worst Facial Hair All-Stars"...thus was born this list.

C--Geovany Soto
C--2006 Pudge Rodriguez
1B-Prince Fielder
2B-Dan Uggla (yeah, it's all muscle, but he's still a big guy!)
SS-Edgar Renteria
3B-Kevin Youkilis
MI-Luis Castillo
MI-Miguel Tejada
CI-Dmitry Young
LF-Manny Ramirez
CF-Andruw Jones
RF-Carlos Lee
OF-Jack Cust/Vernon Wells
DH-Jim Thome
PH-Ryan Howard
SP-Carlos Zambrano
SP-C.C. Sabathia
SP-Bartolo Colon
SP-Sidney Ponson
SP-Carlos Silva
RP-David Weathers
RP-Bobby Jenks
RP-Jonathan Broxton
LOOGY-Scott Eyre
CL-Heath Bell

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009.......Bernie Bickerstaff

This will be Bernie Bickerstaff’s second season as an assist coach for the Chicago Bulls. Last year the Bulls had two veteran assist coaches on the staff in Del Harris and Bernie Bickerstaff. This past off season Del Harris retired so Bernie Bickerstaff will be the most experienced assistant coach so I assume he will be the lead assist like we used to have under Scott Skiles with Jim Boylan.

Last season Vinny Del Negro made it clear he has to learn a lot about coach. You could see Bernie Bickerstaff and Del Harris in the middles of huddles and them taking players aside after plays during games. This season without Del Harris it will be up to Bernie Bickerstaff and his 30 years of NBA experience to help lead the team. Bickerstaff has done it all in his 30 years in the NBA. Before he joined the Bulls in 2008 he was the Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Charlotte Bobcats and served as Head Coach & General Manager of the Bobcats from 2004 to 2007. Before his three year stint with the Charlotte Bobcatse he served 10 seasons as an NBA head coach for three different teams in Seattle, Denver, and Washington. While at Denver he was also president and general manager for seven seasons. He also spent 12 years as an assistant coach. In 1987 he won NBA Coach of the Year with the Seattle Supersonics. He has an NBA coaching record of 415-517 which is a .445 winning percentage. He ranks 33rd on the league’s all-time victories list. I am glad we have him on the coaching staff.

The Score at Bears Training Camp

Back in August I went to Bears Training Camp with “Sexy Rexy” and “The 'Bright' One”. We went to the Score tent and listened to the Boers and Bernstein show. We went to the tent to listen right when we got into Bears training camp and were the only listeners at the time. During a long break where they took their headphones off Boers and Bernstein ignored us. Jason Goff who is one of their assistant producers and has his own show sometimes came over to us and was really nice though. Here are the pictures of The Score and the Boers and Bernstein show when we went.


A overview of the Score Tent

My experience meeting Ryan Theriot

As everyone should know last Saturday I met Chicago Cub Ryan Theriot. Thanks to “David "MVP" Eckstein David” for posting the picture promptly that night! I was in the city, loop to be more specific with my family celebrating my brother’s birthday. We were walking around the city and passed this sports store. They said that Ryan Theriot would be there shortly signing autographs so we went in. Ryan Theriot came a little late at 4:28pm (supposed to be there at 4:00pm) because of the Cubs game that day. The Cubs game on Saturday which “The 'Bright' One” and “David "MVP" Eckstein David” were at started disappointing, but then the Cubs rallied back to score 5 runs and tie it up. Then is had a sour ending when Cubs closer Carlos Marmol gave up runs in the 9th and the Cubs bat went silent in the bottom of the ninth and lost. I was surprised how the line to see Ryan Theriot was pretty short. I was number 15 in line with my family and I would guess there weren’t more than 25 people in line in all when I left from seeing Theriot.

I was very excited to see Ryan Theriot and came up with a few things for small talk when I was in line waiting. They were:
•Tough lost today after that comeback
•What stat do you try to incorporate most into your game? Ex. Average, Stolen bases, runs scored.
•How do you like playing under Lou?
•Do you like playing shortstop or would prefer second base?

When it was my turn to see Theriot I said my first line of “Tough lost today after that comeback” and got a mumbled response from him that sounded like “yeah” but could barley understand. I was so taken back by his response and how unfriendly he was I was caught off guard and didn’t ask any of my questions! As you can see from the picture that “David "MVP" Eckstein David” posted on my behalf that night he didn’t seem to excited to be there and didn’t even smile for the picture. I have heard stories about Theriot being a great guy, but I was disappointed in my experience. Especially, because he was doing something for the fans and presumably getting paid, you think he would have been more fan friendly.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Vinny Del Negro

Vinny Del Negro is the head coach of the Chicago Bulls. Vinny Del Negro will be entering his second season after the surprising hire by Joh Paxson before last season. Paxson tried to hire Doug Collins and then Mike D'Antoni. After missing out on both of them he turned to hire Vinny Del Negro who had no prior coaching experience at any level. Del Negro worked as a radio commentator for the Phoenix Suns before being promoted to director of player personnel for the Suns in 2006. In 2007, the Suns promoted him to assistant general manager. The same off-season as the Bulls hired Del Negro the Suns were looking for a new head coach and did not consider Vinny Del Negro who was their assistant general manager. The Bulls brought in two veteran coaches in Bernie Bickerstaff and Del Harris to help Del Negro coach and teach him the ropes.

I wasn’t impressed by Del Negro last season. He was brought in here by Paxson because he thought that Del Negro would do a good job being a “cheerleader” and getting along with the players. Del Negro seemed to bump heads with a few players that we heard reports about throughout the season. As expected for a coach with no previous experience, Del Negro was not good at calling plays, running the offense, or getting the Bulls back to good defense like they used to play. Great defense under Scott Skiles is how the Bulls got to the playoffs for a few years. The Bulls did make it to the playoffs and did play better defense, but we need to see it for an entire year. The Bulls played well last year and did make it to the first round of the playoffs. I think that was because of the development of Derrick Rose, the clutch shooting of Ben Gordon, and the young players developing. I don’t think Del Negro is hurting the team, but he defiantly isn’t helping. I think an experiences coach who could help mentor Derrick Rose, teach the young guys how to play, and be better and calling plays would make a big impact on the Bulls. That is just my opinion. I think the Bulls will have a good year though.

Dan Haren's consistency is disturbing

My love of Dan Haren is well documented across various mediums (I've raved about him on our blog in addition to both our podcasts and ESPN's Fantasy Focus Baseball podcast). Simply put, Dan Haren is as good as he is because he throws an effective four pitch mix: a fastball, cutter, curveball and splitfinger fastball. Each of Haren's pitches are above average (three of them are at least a full win above average in value) and he mixes his pitches well (no pitch is thrown less than 13.3% or more than 45.9% of the time), keeping hitters entirely off balance. He also has scary good control, as evident by the1.39 BB/9 and major-league leading 6.35 K/BB. However self-evident these numbers may be in eliciting how good Haren's control is, nothing is as telling as a picture (which of course is worth a thousand words). Below is a locational chart of every pitch Dan Haren has thrown in 2009, courtesy of The Hardball Times:



Notice the consistency in location/movement among his four offerings? That's just nasty.

Oh, and for the record, Matthew Berry, Dan Haren has been absolutely stellar over his last four outings. Take out the 5 or 6 bad starts that "ballooned" his ERA from 2.3 to 2.7 in late July/early August and Haren has been absolutely consistent all season.

My Fantasy Baseball 2009 Teams……………..Over Performing Team From No Where

This team is currently in second place with 84.5 points. The team in first place has 100.5 points so there is no way I can win this late in the season. I didn’t think this team would do that well. Except for Pujols, Martinez, and Nelson Cruz I didn’t think like my offense that much. I currently have 8 points in runs and average. I have 9 points for RBI, SB, and HR. I also didn’t think my pitching staff was that good. They somehow have 11 points for wins, 9 points for saves, and 8 points for K’s and ERA. I have teams that I thought was built much better than this one, and somehow this one did much better than I ever expected.

League: Yahoo Public 284986
Catcher: Víctor Martínez
First Basemen: Albert Pujols
Second Basemen: Clint Barmes
Third Basemen: Marco Scutaro
Shortstop: Jason Bartlett
Outfielder: Carlos Lee
Outfielder: Michael Cuddyer
Outfielder: Franklin Gutiérrez
Utillity Player: Nelson Cruz
Pitching Staff:
J.A. Happ
Randy Wolf
Randy Wells
Bobby Jenks
Francisco Cordero
José Valverde
Kevin Millwood
Edwin Jackson
Tommy Hanson
Wandy Rodríguez
Ted Lilly
Zach Duke

The Madden Curse

If you don't know, the Madden Curse is if you are in the cover of the current Madden, you will either have a shitty season, get injured, or both

This year there are two players on the cover of Madden 2010: Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu.

Game One: Troy- gets injured, Larry- 6 catches, 71 yards, TD

2009- Brett Favre- sucked balls the last eight weeks and missed playoffs
2008- Vince Young, knee injury in September and hasn't started since
2007- Sean Alexander, missed six starts due to a foot injury and shitty season
2006- Donovan McNabb, tore ACL
2005- Ray Lewis, season ending leg injury in week 6
2004- Michael Vick, missed most of season due to leg injury

So good luck Cubsfan4evr with your "awesome" Larry Fitzgerald pick haha!

GOI Football Prediction Results: Week One

Pigskin Pick 'Em

1) Sexy Rexy: 13 out of 16 correct, 81.3%

Awesome pick of the week: 49ers over Cardinals
WTF pick of the week: Lions over Saints

2) The Bright One: 12 out of 16 correct, 75%

Awesome pick of the week: Jets over Texans
WTF pick of the week: Titans over Steelers

3) Cubsfanforevr: 11 out of 16 correct, 68.8%

Awesome pick of the week: Eagles over Panthers
WTF pick of the week: Bengals over Broncos

Fantasy Football League:

1) The Bright One (1-0), 114 points
2) Cubsfanforevr (1-0), 88 points
3) Sexy Rexy (0-1), 91 points
4) David "MVP" Eckstein (0-1), 64 points

Eliminator Challenge

Sexy Rexy: Saints, still in
Cubsfan4evr: Saints, still in
The Bright One: Patriots, still in
David "MVP" Eckstein: Vikings, still in
Richard: Eagles, still in
J O'Brien (???): Bengals, eliminated

Salary Cap Football

Sexy Rexy: Overall rank: 16,013, 91.93 points
The Bright One: Overall rank: 437, 123.96 points
Cubsfan4evr: Overall rank: ???, ??? points

Football Board Bets

1) Pierre Thomas injured, DNP
2) Reggie Bush, no rushing TD (or receiving one for that matter)
3)
Ahmad Bradshaw: 7 points, 12 carries
Fred Taylor: 8 points, 25 carries

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….Gar Forman

Gar Forman came to the Chicago Bulls in 1998 along with former coach Tim Floyd. Forman came to the Bulls because of Tim Floyd. He was an assistant coach under Floyd at Iowa State and Floyd wanted Forman by his side. Paxson liked Forman and he outlasted Floyd and is now the General Manager. Forman has spent the last 11 years in the organization now. For the last few years from 2004 to 2009 he served as director of player personnel. He will be working with Paxson, but handling day to day functions.

Forman was the General Manager to start this past off-season. So the moves the Bulls had made were officially done under his watch. This past draft was his first big moves for the Bulls in drafting James Johnson and Taj Gibson. We will see how his first two draft picks will play out. Forman has been in the Bulls organization for 11 years so he knew Jannero Pargo who he has brought back for his second stint with the Bulls. I am not a fan of Lindsey Hunter who he re-signed. It is early so we will see how Forman does as General Manager of the Chicago Bulls. He will be working closely with John Paxson who is his boss as VP of Basketball Operations. Thus, Paxson would probably have to sign off on any big moves.

The Best Fantasy Teams Series- Fantasy Football

I have several Fantasy Football teams that are starting this week. I decided to post the teams that I think will do well and finish within the top three. They all happen to have the same quarterback in Kurt Warner. All of them also have a wide receiver from Arizona. Here are the teams:

League: Yahoo Public 925359
QB: Kurt Warner
WR: Anquan Boldin
WR: Marques Colston
WR: Roy Williams
RB: LaDainian Tomlinson
RB: Brandon Jacobs
TE: Greg Olsen
K: Ryan Longwell
Defense: Dallas
Bench: Bernard Berrian, Jeremy Maclin, Rashard Mendenhall, Cedric Benson, David Garrard
Summary: This team has a steady quarterback in Kurt Warner and an explosive running game in LaDainian Tomlinson and Brandon Jacobs. The wide receivers are anchored by Anquan Boldin and Marques Colston is steady. I am hoping that Roy Williams has a rebound year. In case any of my wide receivers get injured or if Williams can’t rebound I have Bernard Berrian who I would feel comfortable starting if needed. I think he will have a good year with Brett Favre now. I also think that my tight end Olsen will have his break out year with Jay Cutler throwing to him.

League: Yahoo Public 708033
QB: Kurt Warner
WR: Anquan Boldin
WR: Bernard Berrian
WR: Santana Moss
RB: DeAngelo Williams
RB: Chris Johnson
TE: Jeremy Shockey
K: Robbie Gould
Defense: Tennessee
Bench Players: Jay Cutler, Reggie Bush, Lance Moore, Muhsin Muhammad, Jamal Lewis
Summary: This team has a steady quarterback in Kurt Warner and a very good running game in DeAngelo Williams and Chris Johnson. After Boldin my receivers aren’t as strong as I would like as the previous team, but my depth at that position will hopefully pay off. I am hoping to make a trade to upgrade at wide receivers. I think Shockey will rebound and Tennessee has a good defense.

League: Game Of Inches
QB: Kurt Warner
WR: Anquan Boldin
WR: Larry Fitzgerald
RB: Chris Johnson
RB: Marion Barber
TE: Heath Miller
K: John Carney
Defense: Pittsburgh
WR/RB: Cedric Benson
Bench: Santana Moss, Hines Ward, Eli Manning
Summary: I am in two private leagues and this is one of them. I have two top notch receivers and a steady quarterback in Warner whom I seem to take in most of my leagues. My running game could be better, but I think my running backs will be solid.

What do you think?

My Fantasy Baseball 2009 Teams……………..Good Drafts pay off

This is probably my best fantasy baseball team for the 2009 season. I am currently in second place with 95.5 points. There is no way I will catch first place which is “David "MVP" Eckstein” who has a controlling lead of first place. I had a great draft which made my team really good. Before this draft I had another draft in Fantasyland 2 which went really bad. My pitching was terrible in that league so I made it a priority in this league. I had an abundance of pitching so I was able to trade Brandon Inge, Roy Oswalt, and Ryan Dempster for Víctor Martínez and Bobby Abreu to improve my offense. I was also was able to get some steals from the waiver wire in Scott Feldman, Barry Zito, Anibal Sánchez, Tommy Hunter, J.A. Happ, Rick Porcello, Jason Marquis, Clint Barmes, and Scott Rolen. Between my abundance of pitching and good waiver moves the team I thought would be good turned out to be a good team.

League: Insert Creative Name Here
Catcher: Víctor Martínez
First Basemen: Adrián González
Second Basemen: Brandon Phillips
Third Basemen: Scott Rolen
Shortstop: Clint Barmes
Outfielder: Jacoby Ellsbury
Outfielder: Andre Ethier
Outfielder: Bobby Abreu
Utillity Player: Manny Ramírez
Pitching Staff:
Rick Porcello
Scott Feldman
Jonathan Broxton
Brian Wilson
Tommy Hunter
Chris Carpenter
Chad Billingsley
Jason Marquis
Edwin Jackson
Anibal Sánchez
J.A. Happ
Barry Zito

My Fantasy Baseball 2009 Teams……………Good Teams Under Perform Cntinued

This team is currently in 5th place and has a terrible offense. The pitching staff is really good and leads the league in Wins and K’s. It also has a very good ERA and whip, but it it slacking in saves with 7 points and I should have got them another save.
League: Yahoo Public 274195
Catcher: Brian McCann
First Basemen: Adrián González
Second Basemen: Brian Roberts
Third Basemen: Marco Scutaro
Shortstop: Ryan Theriot
Outfielder: Ryan Braun
Outfielder: Shin-Soo Choo
Outfielder: Michael Cuddyer
Utillity Player: Casey Blake
Pitching Staff:
Dan Haren
Adam Wainwright
Josh Johnson
Randy Wolf
Clayton Kershaw
Randy Wells
Jered Weaver
James Shields
Joe Saunders
Scott Feldman
Brian Wilson
Francisco Cordero

The Best Fantasy Teams Introduction

At the begging of a season you never know how a fantasy team will do. There are several times you think you your team is great and then it doesn’t do that well. There are also a few occasions you don’t like your team and then it does better than you think. There are a number of factors that could affect how your team performs from injuries, career down years, and just a bad combination of players. I usually have several fantasy teams in fantasy baseball, fantasy football, and fantasy basketball. Fantasy Baseball is winding down where I had several teams and Fantasy football is starting where I also had several teams. I decided I am going to analyze the teams and look at some of them. Rarely do people go back and analyze their teams and see what went right and what went wrong. I don’t plan on doing every team because that would be boring, but I will look at the Fantasy Baseball teams I thought were going to be good and they were, or the teams that I thought were going to be good and weren’t. I will also look and if there are any teams that I thought they weren’t that good and they did better than I thought then we will look at them. Maybe I will learn something for future drafts from this. I will also highlight in this series a few teams from my Fantasy Football teams just staring that I think are good teams and look forward to input on them!

My Fantasy Baseball 2009 Teams……………..Good Teams Under Perform

This team I thought was going to be better than it has performed this season. It is currently in 4th place with 78.5 points. First place has 98.5 points and the best finish I can have for this team is third place where I would need 82-83 points.

Here is a chart which shows the standings and my competition ahead of me:
Rank Team R HR RBI SB AVG W SV K ERA WHIP Total
1. Boston Red Sox 11 12 12 3 12 12 6 12 10 8.5 98.5
2. Pete_Bombers 12 8 9 10 9.5 9 4 10 11 10.5 93
3. Bruce Sutter 9.5 11 8 7 3 7 12 8 9 7 81.5
4. Cubsfan4evr1 5 1 3 12 7 11 11 11 7 10.5 78.5

As you can see my speed and stolen bases are good with Ellsbury and Crawford. My runs scored are much worse than I would have thought with two leadoff guys in Crawford and Ellsbury. In addition I thought my other players would also be good with runs scored. My pitching staff is good like I would have thought being second in wins, saves, and strikeouts.

League: Yahoo Public 339794
Catcher: Yadier Molina
First Basemen: Miguel Cabrera
Second Basemen: Clint Barmes
Third Basemen: Chipper Jones
Shortstop: Asdrubal Cabrera
Outfielder: Carl Crawford
Outfielder: Jacoby Ellsbury
Outfielder: Jason Kubel
Utillity Player: Jermaine Dye
Pitching Staff:
Yovani Gallardo
Josh Johnson
A.J. Burnett
Brian Wilson
Rafael Soriano
David Aardsma
Ted Lilly
Javier Vázquez
Tommy Hanson
Jarrod Washburn
Scott Feldman

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009………John Paxson

John Paxson started his journey with the Chicago Bulls Organization as a player in 1985. After his playing days he retired and joined Phil Jackson coaching staff for a year. He thought it was too demanding on his time and joined Neil Funk broadcasting Bulls games on the radio. After many years of analyzing the Bulls on the radio and breaking them down every night he became the Chicago Bulls General Manager in 2003 replacing Jerry Krause who was the Bulls General manager for many years during their dynasty years. John Paxson had big shoes to fill for what was done during Krause’s tenure of Bulls General Manager. Even though Krause often was critiqued and never given much kudos for what he did.

The rebuilding years under John Paxson have been shaky for the Bulls even though they did make the playoffs they were in and then bounced out in the first round. During Paxson’s tenure as GM there have been rumors that he was going to quit and become an Athletic director and then towards end of last season there came reposts he was going to quit immediately during the season. Paxson denied these reports and did not resign after the season. After the season fans weren’t surprised when Paxson did officially resign as the Bulls General manager. Paxson seemed burnt out of being the Bulls General Manager and always tired. Paxson is remaining with the Bulls as VP of Basketball Operations. Paxson is still second highest in command of the Bulls Organization and the new General Manager’s Gar Forman’s boss. Thus, Paxson will still be involved, but not involved with day to day activity. He will leave that to the man he handed the job to, Gar Forman. This way Paxson can spend him time on strategic planning for the organization.

A Look at the Chicago Bulls 2009……….

Basketball season will be starting next month and the Chicago Bulls made many changes from the start of last season to the 2009-2010 season coming up. Last season the Bulls made three trades during the season. First the Bulls acquired Brad Miller and John Salmons from the Kings for Drew Gooden, Andres Nocioni, Cedric Simmons, and Michael Ruffin. Next they acquired Tim Thomas, Jerome James and Anthony Roberson in exchange for Larry Hughes. Then they traded Thabo Sefolosha to the Thunder for a 2009 first-round draft pick which turned out to be Taj Gibson. After the season the Bulls had a change in management with John Paxson stepping down as General Manager and Gar Forman taking over. John Paxson will remain in the organization as Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations. Then this off-season the Bulls made several moves in signing Jannero Pargo and re-signing Lindsey Hunter. They also added James Johnson and Taj Gibson in the draft. The Bulls have changed a lot in personal over the year so I decided to take a look at the team and each player on the roster and my view on them and their role on the team. So over the next few weeks I will be posting on a few players a week. Here is a look of the topic’s to come:
•Bulls Depth Chart
•John Paxson
•Gar Forman
•Vinny Del Negro
•Bernie Bickerstaff
•Bob Ociepka
•Derrick Rose
•Kirk Hinrich
•Lindsey Hunter
•John Salmons
•Jannero Pargo
•Luol Deng
•James Johnson
•Tyrus Thomas
•Taj Gibson
•Jerome James
•Joakim Noah
•Brad Miller
If you have more suggestions on what to look at let me know.

News Flash: Federer is good at tennis

Me Trying To Kick a Field Goal

So I don't know exactly how to embed a video I have on facebook where I don't have the actual video, but if you want to see try to kick th football from like 2 feet away, click here

Friend of the podcast Keith, trying to kick a FG

Apparently I Need "Celeb" Sports Pics

Here's some pictures I got while at the 2009 Bears Expo

OK, so I don't know how to format these correctly, but
1) Kevin Jones
2) Anthony Adams
3-7) Actual Locker Room pics
8) GM Jerry Angelo, CEO Ted Phillips, coach Lovie Smith
9) Soldier Field

Relax Chicago Fans...

Dear Chicago Bears fans,

One of my greatest worries is that you will turn on Jay Cutler. I can easily foresee that Jay struggles in is season debut, new team jitters or what have you. And then in his second game, when the Bears face the Pittsburgh Steelers, he just will flat out suck because let's face it, he'll be facing the best defense (and a well rested on at that). So if Jay Cutler sucks it up for two straight games, DO NOT boo him!

He is not Rex Grossman. He is not Kyle Orton. He is not ANY past Bears quarterback. He is better than all of them. So if Jay Cutler sucks for ANY period of time, just relax. It will be alright. I know you will be pissed at him, but let's not do anything to harm our franchise QB. OK.

So if and when Cutler starts to slide or whatever, just remember, we actually have a GOOD quarterback. Thank You.

Sincerely,
Sexy Rexy

Cubsfan4ever picks up some celeb slack

"Celeb watch" -- Cubsfan4ever w/ Ryan Theriot. You know what this means -- SexyRexy's gotta pick it up or he's off the blog!

Albert Pujols is a baseball god

Not that anyone needed reminding of this fact, but Albert Pujols is really, really good at baseball. However, let's depart from Fangraph's quality analysis of what Albert has done this year in terms of WAR, OPS and WPA and look at something else that he's doing. As of this writing, Albert Pujols has 85 extra base hits (XBHs) -- 47 HR, 37 2B, 1 3B. Only twelve hitters in the history of the game have ever hit 100+ XBHs in a single season. Only three people (Albert Belle 1995, Todd Helton 2000 and Barry Bonds 2001) have accomplished this feat in the past 60 years. One of those people (allegedly) was on steroids, one of them played in a baseball field that was on steroids and the other was a huge asshole. Albert Pujols, by contrast, is characterized by pure talent (dual MVPs in his eight year career) and humanitarianism (Roberto Clemente Award winner in 2008). Let's just hope that Pujols has never juiced.

What do you think? Will Pujols get 15+ XBHs over the Cardinals' final 21 games?

Interesting Factoid: Albert Pujols only played baseball for one season while attending community college. During that season, he turned an unassisted triple play and hit a grand slam in the same game.

Iverson to the Memphis Grizzlies

Allen Iverson is reported to be signing with the Memphis Grizzlies. I find this interesting because a character like Al on a roster with mostly young players should be interesting to see how he affects them and if he influences them for the better or worse. We don’t know what Allen Iverson’s role will be on the team. There starting backcourt seems set in Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo. Allen Iverson at the top of his game is better than Conley or Mayo at this stage of their career, but we don’t know what Allen Iverson will do and Conley and Mayo is the future of the Memphis Grizzlies where I would be surprised if Allen Iverson is there more than a year.

This is the projected depth chart of the Memphis Grizzlies without the signing of Allen Iverson.
Point Guard: Mike Conley
Shooting Guard: O.J. Mayo
Small Forward: Rudy Gay
Power Forward: Zach Randolph
Center: Marc Gasol

It is assumed that Allen Iverson will be coming off the bench. If Allen Iverson puts his ego aside and does come off the bench he could be great. Allen Iverson is a ball hog who can shoot and score points in a hurry. Iverson with the second team (that is very weak for the Memphis Grizzlies) could eat valuable minutes giving the starters a rest and possibly not making a bigger gap in the score for the Memphis Grizzlies. This is a big If because it is hard to imagine Allen Iverson coming off the bench and not causing problems about it. If Allen Iverson proves he can and is effective this year in this role, he could be great for a good team coming off the bench with the second unit. Not many former league MVP’s (2001) come off the bench, especially a player who has created controversy like him in the part. He has averaged 27.1 points through his 13 NBA seasons.

NFL suicide picks

Game of Inches readers and writers:

Let's join an Eliminator Challenge league on ESPN. The rules are simple. You are allowed to select one NFL team each week that you are sure will win. If they win you continue onto the next week, if your team loses you are basically out for the year. The catch is that you are only allowed to pick a team to win once all year, so you cant pick the patriots every single week, just once. I took the liberty of creating a league, so if you have the guts(even you DME you little baseball pansy) go to the ESPN Eliminator Page and chose

League: game of inches
Password: sabermetrics

Season starts tomorrow so try to hurry up people

My Cubs/Sox game experience 2009

Every year for the past consecutive four years I have gone to a Cubs/White Sox game at Wrigley field. I have also been to a few before this streak. It is a tradition for me to go to the game with my sister. We were supposed to go on July 16th and then it was rained out. The game we were supposed to go to was a night game. The Cubs made the makeup game during the day though on Thursday September 3rd, 2009. Because of this she couldn’t come with me to the game because she had work. Thus, I was able to take my girlfriend to her second Cubs game ever (second this year with me) and first Cubs Sox game. Before the game I was telling her how much fun it is and how the Cubs games against the White Sox and St. Louis have been the best games I have ever been to. When she asked why, I said it is hard to explain, but to wait and see. That it is because of the electricity and mood is like no other game. Well I was disappointed after the game last Thursday. The Cubs offense was flat and they couldn’t hit a minor leaguer making his 3rd career start, the bullpen faltered again, and Soriano dropped a fly ball because he was trying to hop before he caught the ball. Why is Soriano still doing the hop, even though his knew has been bothering him and limiting his mobility? It was not a special game like it usually it. The crowd was flat, the game was boring and unexciting like most I have been to this year, and for the third consecutive game I have been too they have lost. The crowd tells it all……………………………………………..this season is over. It is time to say “Wait until next year”.

NFL Predictions for Week One

For the past few years I have been in a football pool where I have to predict the winner of each game. The person who has the most wins every week wins some money. At the end of the season the top three people who have accumulated the most wins also win some money. Usually you need a winning percentage around 59% percent to win, but it does vary year to year. Last season my winning percentage was at 53% I think. This season I will post my predictions on the blog so everyone can see how I do. I am not in this pool with anyone who writes for GOI so I would welcome feedback before I officially submit my picks!

Here are my predications for week one:
Tennessee at Pittsburgh
Miami at Atlanta
Philadelphia at Carolina
Denver at Cincinnati
Minnesota at Cleveland
NY Jets at Houston
Jacksonville at Indianapolis
Detroit at New Orleans
Dallas at Tampa Bay
Kansas City at Baltimore
San Francisco at Arizona
Washington at NY Giants
St. Louis at Seattle
Chicago at Green Bay
Buffalo at New England
San Diego at Oakland
-The team I predict to win is in bold.

Fill In The Blanks: The All Jewish Baseball Team

C-Brad Ausmus
1B-
2B-Ian Kinsler
SS-
3B-Kevin Youkilis
LF-Ryan Braun
CF-Gabe Kapler
RF-Gabe Gross
DH-Dave Newhan

SP-Jason Marquis
SP-Aaron Poreda
SP-Scott Feldman*
SP-
SP-
RP-Scott Schoenweiss
RP-Craig Breslow*
RP-Mike Koplove*
CL-John Grabow

The announcer will be Steve Stone and the team will be managed by Bob Melvin, Shawn Green will be the hitting coach and Sandy Koufax will be the pitching coach. It will be owned by Jerry Reinsdorf and the GM will be Theo Epstein.

*-denotes a later add to the post

Is Garrett Jones the next big thing?

No, no he is not. However, his performance this year is something that needs further discussion.

Anyone who has missed the tremendous season Jones is having, which you probably have considering he plays for the Pirates. After picking him up from the Twins mid-season, he has racket up 19 home runs and a .420 wOBA in just 250 at-bats. Those numbers would put him in the same breath as Chase Utley. Is Garrett Jones the next Chase Utley?

Jones is a 28 year old rookie, a la Jake Fox, and has had a successful minor league career with a career .200 iso despite the .762 OPS, which DME defines as Matt Kemp power. He is average or below in walk rate, defense, speed, and pitch recognition. His 26% HR/FB rate would put him second in the league behind Reynolds, somehow I doubt a career minor leaguer has the second best power stroke in baseball.

For all you over ambitious fantasy players out there, dont go drafting Garrett Jones next year thinking he is the next big thing. He is nothing more than this year's Matt Joyce, and the Pirates should probably unload him to the Rays for Edwin Jackson before next season. Oh, wait, Jackson is no longer on the Rays? My bad

How Do You Measure A Wide Receiver?

This is a question I posed back in December when I was trying to determine greatness for individual positions to see who DESERVES to go to the pro bowl. You can absolutely judge and quantify a wide receiver (much more so than say a safety) and there are many numbers you can look at. But sort of similar to baseball, there are a lot of numbers out there to look at and not all of them are per se helpful (at least not individually).

Normally, I would would go to football sabermetrics to determine this answer. However, for wide receivers this does not help so much. There are two main statistical categories that are normally good: DVOA and DYAR. According to footballoutsiders.com:

The simple version: DYAR means a wide receiver with more total value. DVOA means a wide receiver with more value per play.

Last year Andre Johnson was #1 in DYAR, yet Devery Henderson of the Saints was #1 in DVOA. I don't think even Henderson's mom would think her son is better than Andre Johnson. Last year, the top five wide outs in terms of DYAR were:

1) Andre Johnson (Texans)
2) Larry Fitzgerald (Cardinals)
3) Roddy White (Falcons)
4) Vincent Jackson (Chargers)
5) Steve Smith (Panthers)

Pretty elite list, no? Now let's take a look at top wide outs by DVOA

1) Devery Henderson (Saints)
2) Vincent Jackson (Chargers)
3) Anthony Gonzalez (Colts)
4) Steve Smith (Panthers)
5) Roddy White (Falcons)

At first glance, you would probably say that DYAR is the better metric for judging wide outs, especially considering the names consistently, year after year, atop of DYAR lists versus those a top the DVOA.

But wait a minute, that's not quite fair to those on the DVOA list; the main reason the guys on the DVOA list don't really top the DYAR list is because they don't get thrown to. Using that logic, Craig Biggio is a guaranteed Hall of Famer just because he got so many ABs that he was able to join the 3,000 hits club. Andre Johnson caught as many passes (115) than Henderson had balls throw to him (56). If Henderson had had 171 passes thrown his way like Johnson did, he would have easily have been the best receivers last year. In fact, here's what Henderson's numbers would have been if that had happened:

171 passes, 97 receptions, 2,417 yards, 9 TDs, 24.8 YPR

Here's what Andre Johnson did do:

171 passes, 115 receptions, 1,575 yards, 8 TDs, 13.1 YPR

The reason Henderson's numbers looked so good and the reason he was #1 in DVOA, because he had a league best 24.8 Yards Per Reception. Judging wide outs using a baseball sabermetric mind, we WOULD say that Devery Henderson was better than Andre Johnson, just Johnson had more passes thrown his way (ABs). But the problem, is that judging a wide out by his average is not really the way to go. It's perfect for a RB, but not so much for a wide receiver. Take this scenario:

Player A: 10 catches, 100 yards, 1 TD, 10 YPR
Player B: 2 catches, 100 yards, 1 TD, 50 YPR

By average terms, we would say that Player B was better because he was able to do more with less and his five times greater yards per reception. But I don't believe that true in real life. I would actually argue that Player A was better because he (probably) got more first downs for his team and was consistently available throughout the entire game, versus Player B, who probably just one amazing play. Both look good for fantasy football, but I would say Player A was better in the real game. So while a wide out like Andre Johnson may get more passes and catches, that actually does make him better! Receptions are analogous to ABs in baseball, but in baseball, you don't FORCE ABs, their automatic. Not true in football. A wide receiver had to FORCE himself to get open and the consistently make catches.

That, I believe, leads a nice transition into my last metric to judge a wide out: catch rate. Here's how footballoutsiders.com defines catch rate:

Catch Rate represents the percentage of passes to this receiver completed. This is a reference to incomplete passes, not dropped passes: dropped passes are not specified in publicly available play-by-play, and unfortunately we cannot yet correct for this.

Unfortunately catch rate is not perfect yet, but it's pretty damn close. It essentially states that how well does a receiver do when the ball is thrown to him. It doesn't account for how many passes a receiver was thrown, just individually, how well does a player do when the ball is throw the receiver's way. And isn't that really what a wide out's job is: to catch passes thrown his way. Last year, there were only ten receivers who topped 70% in catch rate with a minimum of 50 passes thrown his way:

1) Ike Hillard (Bucs): 81%
2) Wes Welker (Patriots): 75%
3) Greg Jennings (Packers): 72%
3) Devone Bess (Dolphins): 72%
3) Anthony Gonzolaz (Colts): 72%
6) Anquan Boldin (Cardinals): 71%
6) Antonio Bryant (Bucs): 71%
6) Josh Reed (Bills): 71%
6) Eddie Royal (Broncos): 71%
10) Steve Smith (Giants): 70%

Sure, this list doesn't look at flashy or "good" as the DYAR list, but I think this is the better metric than both DYAR and DVOA. Sure, the vast majority of this list consists of guys that you don't think are "good", but that's because they don't get thrown to a lot. Sure, you can make the argument that because these guys weren't good they couldn't get open and thus the limited time they did get open they were able to catch what was thrown. But the fact that these guys couldn't get open makes them not good. And I don't know about that. It could be true, but I think that logic understates just how well these guys did when their number was called.

So back to our original question: how do you measure a wide receiver? Well I don't think you can use just one measure. I think it's just fine to look at the "traditional" and fantasy football numbers just fine. Despite what I wrote in this article, you'd be hard pressed to say that Devery Henderson and Ike Hillard are better than Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, and Randy Moss. Those guys put up a ton of yards and TDs. Sure they may not get it as efficiently as guys like Henderson or Anthony Gonzalez, but they sure as hell produce.

But that's not to say you shouldn't look beneath the surface either. Looking at DVOA, DYAR, and catch rate is extremely useful. But I think for wide receivers, it's mainly a secondary source to the primary of catches, yards, and TDs.

Best baseball suspension ever

I was wondering why Brandon Lyon had gotten the save for the Tigers the last 2 days and not their normal closer Fernando Rodney. I even picked up Lyon in my fantasy league for a chance to get a few cheap saves. Apparently Rodney was suspended for 3 games for endangering the lives of all 4 people who attended the Tampa Bay Rays game last week. Deadspin has video of the B.K. Kim type celebration that Rodney displayed.

It would have been worse for Rodney, as he could have been given 30 days in jail for throwing a fastball at some woman's head like Cubs minor leaguer Julio Castillo. Just one in a series of cases on athletes going bonkers on adrenaline and attaching the fans.



Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson didnt get any jail time for wailing on the wrong freakin fans. Just proves that it doesnt matter who you beat down, as long as someone gets beat down. So never throw beer at basketball players and never quirt water onto hockey players. They're not the most level headed people in the world.

Geovany Soto, where have you gone?

From both a real-life and fantasy perspective, Geovany Soto's 2009 season has been a massive disappointment. From a .285/.365/.504 triple slash line in 2008 to a .218/.323/.380 line in 2009, many people (from sports radio hosts to blog writers) have called Geo Soto this season's biggest disappointment, citing such baseless claims as "the sophomore jinx" and "it's mentally difficult to play in Chicago." I would agree that Geovany Soto's 2009 season has been disappointing, but for entirely separate reasons, many of which leave hope for 2010.

At the first and foremost level behind "the slump," Geovany Soto's 2009 season has been marred by a series of shoulder and oblique injuries. Injuries that, especially early on, the Cubs never let properly heal. After straining his shoulder in the beginning of the season, a look at Soto's game log reveals that the Cubs only sat their backstop out for five games (pinch hitting him once in that span). Shoulder injuries, as anyone named B.J. Upton or this Orthopedic study will attest, can unequivocally disable a player's performance level. I'm no Doctor, but from what I can gather, the shoulder muscles (specifically the supraspinatus muscle) are essential to arm elevation and stabilization of dynamic arm motion. Additionally, injuries and pain in the shoulder "may manifest throughout the body." This is not to even mention the fact that hitting for power comes from the torque generated by the hips and from the oblique muscles.

So what does this all mean? It means you absolutely don't rush someone with a shoulder strain (or an oblique injury) back to the lineup; you give them time to heal and recuperate, rather force them to play hurt and potentially aggravate minor injuries (for more information on aggravating minor injuries, check out what the Mets did to Johan Santana this season, despite an All-Star break evaluation that indicated Johan was pitching through persistent soreness). A look at Soto's monthly splits from 2009 highlights the effect of injury on a player's game -- the .398 OPS in April and .731 OPS in May clearly indicate that Soto's power stroke was greatly affected by the early season injury that was never allowed to properly heal. He looked healthy come June (.916) and early July (.841), until a oblique injury in the beginning of the second half sidelined him over a month and again affected his power stroke (.492 OPS). Soto's been strong in the EXTREMELY tiny sample size of September PA's he's been given (1.214 OPS in 9 PA's), but with the Cubs disasterously disappointing 2009 season almost over (11.5 games back of the Cardinals), the Cubs (and Geovany Soto) should focus more on resting their all-star backstop for next season rather than "breaking him out of his slump" -- especially because Soto's core skillset has improved each season in the majors, including this year.

Outside the power aspect, which I strongly account to mismanaged injury, Geovany Soto's peripheral statistics have simultaneously improved and been the subject of poor luck this season. In 2007 and 2008, Soto has respective K rates of 25.9% and 24.5%. This season, Soto has continued to shave down the strikeouts, posting a 23.2 K%. Over this same time frame, Soto has increased his BB rate from 8.5% to 11.2% to a current rate of 13.4%. Soto has gone from a batter with a giant hole in his swing (0.36 BB/K in 2007) to a hitter with quality command of the strike zone (0.67 BB/K, 0.50 MLB avg). Soto has largely accomplished this step forward in his game by gradually cutting down on his hacks at pitches outside of the zone (22.3% O-Swing in 2007, 20.5% in 2008, 18.1% in 2009; MLB avg is around 25.1%). Soto has also increased his contact rate this season (77.6% in 2009, 74.7% in 2009).

The usually elite line drive rate is down a significant chunk (from 21% to 19.8%) compared to last season, but that may have a lot to do with his shoulder injury early in the season (it is difficult to drive the ball when you have lingering soreness and pain lifting the shoulder). This may account for some, but not all of the 86-point plummet in BABIP -- the rest has been pure bad luck. Even at his depressed seasonal LD%, Soto's quick XBABIP (LD%+.120) is somewhere around .315 or .320 -- well below the .251 mark he's posted on the season. The massively low BABIP (and consistent 1.9ish speed score over 2007-2009) screams for better days ahead. It's not like smoking marijuana slows down your reflexes or anything, right?

Put this all together and you get the portrait of a productive player who has been hampered by injury and bad luck. Geovany Soto's minor and major league numbers indicate that he has the legitimate power -- even if his true maintainable ISO is only around .180 (Matt Kemp territory), well below the .200 career average mark, he's still a 20+ HR hitter -- and quality eye (13.4 BB% this season, 11.4% career average) to provide the Cubs lineup with the necessary offensive production required for success. 2009 may be a lost cause, but if the Cubs can keep Soto healthy going into 2010 and get some positive luck regression from Geovany Soto (in addition to Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley), the Cubs prospects for success in 2010 look pretty good. Not as good as they appeared going into this season, but Cubs fans should have some hope going into next season -- especially if pre-wrist injury Derrek Lee is back for good. Let's just hope the re-sign Rich Harden in the offseason.

The Greatest NFC Playoff Run EVER!

How fortuitous that right after I do a brief NFC North post when I was bored, that I come across an SI article predicting every single division, how the playoffs will shake out, and the scores of those games. I wrote a post long long ago back in the day of GOI's origins about just how dumb magazines making predictions are, especially considering they are going to, for a fact, not even be close. Injuries will occur and teams we thought would finish in the cellar will rise to win their division and we'll all throw away all the predictions we had in the beginning of the year (except for the stupid "analysts" who will pick a team only because "they picked them at pre-season" instead of, you know, doing actual analysis and watch games and base teams off of that). And even though I have made meaningless NFL predictions, I fully admit I will be wrong.

But back to the SI article. They say the Bears will go 12-4, win their division, and get the #2 overall seed in the NFC. But the kicker, is that the Viking and Packers will get the 5th and 6th wild card spots, respectively.

This will make for the best NFC playoff run ever.

You see, for the Viking and Packers both win their first weeks while the Bears have a bye. Then the Bears will face the Vikings and beat them. THEN, in the NFC Championship game, the Bears will face the Packers, and of course punch their chesseheads in.

ANDwhileUNFORTUNATELYtheBEARSwillLOSEinTHEsuperbowlTOtheDOMINANTnewenglandPATRIOTS, according to Sports Illustrated, the Bears will have a monster NFC playoff run.

I hope SI is right because that would be AMAZING, but now I just read this article and laugh.

Breaking Down the NFC North

Here's my predictions for how I think one of the best divisions in the NFL will turn out

Quarterbacks:
1) Aaron Rodgers (Packers)
2) Jay Cutler (Bears)
3) Brett Favre (Vikings)
4) Matthew Stafford (Lions)

Runnings Backs:
1) Adrian Peterson/ Chester Taylor (Vikings)
2) Kevin Smith (Lions)
3) Matt Forte/ Adrian Peterson (b/c I think Forte will miss at least 8 games) (Bears)
4) Ryan Grant (Packers)

Wide Receivers:
1) Greg Jennings/ Donald Driver (Packers)
2) Calvin Johnson/ Dennis Northcutt (Lions)
3) Bernard Berrian/ Sidney Rice (Vikings)
4) Devin Hester/ Earl Bennett (Bears)

Tight Ends:
1) Greg Olson (Bears)
2) Visanthe Shiancoe (Vikings)
3) Brandon Pettigrew (Lions)
4) Donald Lee (Packers)

Offensive Lines:
1) Vikings
2) Bears
3) Packers
4) Lions

Front Seven (Defense):
1) Vikings
2) Packers
3) Bears
4) Lions

Defensive Backs:
1) Packers
2) Bears
3) Vikings
4) Lions

Division Standings:
1) Minnesota Vikings
2) Green Bay Packers
3) Chicago Bears
4) Detroit Lions

Lions Name Stafford the Starter

As TBO and myself as publicly stated many times, the Lions QB battle should have never been a competition to begin with; Stafford should always have had this job.

I can point to a handful of examples where the rookie took the reins and ended up doing well (Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Peyton Manning) and you can rebuttal with countless of examples of the rookies sitting on the bench and watching the proven veteran (Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Steve Young) However, I am still under the contention that if you feel you have a franchise QB, why not play him? As good and serviceable as I'm sure Daunte Culpepper is, what good does his presence do? The Lions just came off of a 0-16 and have lost their past 17 in a row. They're garbage and they're not going anywhere.

So why not let the young kid develop? Peyton Manning went 1-15 his first year. Hell, is Stafford did that, he's Detroit's newest hero! There is absolutely no expectations for the Lions to win. Sure, Culpepper would probably give this team a better chance of winning NOW, but who cares about now? This team needs to look to the future and let their young guys fulfill their potential. If you were a Lions fans (first of all my condolences), what would you rather have Stafford to start developing now so in 2-3 years he'll be a star or wait 2-3 years and THEN watch Stafford develop just to get a win now and then. While that fan base might be anxious for just a freaking "W", I think rational fans would rather have the former.

The only logical argument I've heard for benching Stafford, if that that Lions O-line fucking blows, so if Stafford starts, he'll get sacked so many times that it will stunt his growth. Now that's extremely valid and one can point to David Carr for the best example. Since the Texans were so new, Carr's o-line sucks and he get sacked more than anyone. But when he left Houston, he still sucked. I think he was just a shitty pro player to begin with. Hell, even when he had Steve Smith to throw to (the good one), he didn't look all that hot.

I think it's best to get thrown out there in the fire. In most jobs I had, I had little to no training yet I was flung out there to work anyway. Sure, I fucked up in the beginning, but through experience, I became a better worker for it. I think the same should be true for Stafford. Sure, he's going to suck to begin with. He's going to get tackled and sacked and beat up. But over time, I think he'll start to get a better feeling for the game and he'll start learning to avoid sacks and order his offensive line what to do.

Plus having Calvin Johnson to throw to doesn't hurt either.

I think they key here with Stafford is all about development. Does he start making better decisions, learning his players better, does his accuracy improve? it's better to get this out of the way now so in a few years, the Lions can say they have an elite QB.

Who is in Left for the Cubs?

A few days ago on Tuesday September 1st, 2009 I wrote an article called Jake Fox. VS. Alfonso Soriano. In the article I wondered why Lou was still playing Alfonso Soriano who was obviously injured and not performing. Now Lou has shut down Alfonso Soriano for the time being. In his place for the last two games has been Bobby Scales. I want to know why Jake Fox who has been tearing the cover off of the ball isn’t playing. Jake Fox can hit so the Cubs should play him as much as possible for the rest of this season. I stated my reasons in the other post, but there is no reason to play a 32 year old journeymen infielder. The Cubs need to play the young guys to see what they have because this season is over. The Cubs have a month left of the season and should use it to prepare for next season. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

The Score Overnight

In 1997 The Score started having 24 hours of local sports talk with Les Grobstein being the host for overnights. He was on for 4 ½ years and then left in August of 2001 when The Score decided to have syndicated programming overnight. This is when they went with Sporting News Radio. Several months ago when Dan Patrick started his own program they decided to add The Dan Patrick Show and then to go to Sporting News Radio. A few months ago they decided to go back to local sports talk overnight. They brought Les Grobstein back to be the host for The Score overnight again. They still have their contract with The Dan Patrick Show so they still have to show it. They have stopped with The Sporting News. The Score likes the idea of having local sports talk at night and in the morning leading into the morning show. So Les Grobstein comes on at 10:00pm (when they used to go to syndication) and stays on to 1:00am. Then at 1:00am they show The Dan Patrick Show (Syndicated) to fulfill the contract. Then at 4:00am Les Grobstein comes back on. I don’t know when the contract with The Dan Patrick Show ends, but I assume they won’t renew it then and Les will be on all night.

I have started listing to The Score overnight with Les Grobstein recently and have enjoyed it very much! Les is defiantly a good fit for overnights. I don’t know if he would make it during the day though. That is because he doesn’t seem to have topics and he just goes with the flows. He also takes a lot of callers and allows them to dictate where the conversation goes. Les does a good job of recapping the sports which happened during the day. He is very knowledge and always able to provide all of the reasons for something happening. Les isn’t like some of the talk shows on The Score that try’s to create controversy. He just tells it as it is. I enjoy Les very much and recommended that you give him a try.

Cedric Benson one highlight

You're welcome Cubsfan4evr1

Cubsfan4ever once stated in one of our podcasts that he believes Andres Blanco is the best defensive player to ever play baseball. Move over Ozzie Smith, you've got nothing on Andres Blanco. Well, Andres Blaco pulled off one of the best defensive plays of the season. MLB doesn't allow you to share their videos, so just got to the link.

A Diamond for the Cubs?

Larry Rothschild has a new project in the form of Thomas Diamond. The Cubs claimed Thomas Diamond off of waivers the other day from the Texas Rangers. He is coming off Tommy John surgery and the Rangers ran out of patience with him. Lets hope the Cubs can be beneficiary of this. Diamond was the 10th overall pick in the 2004 draft by the Texas Rangers. Some big name players that were drafted ahead of him in the first round were Justin Verlander (2nd pick), Jeremy Sowers (6th pick), and players drafted after him were Jered Weaver (12th pick), Billy Butler (14th pick), Stephen Drew (15th pick), Joshua Fields (18th pick), and Philip Hughes (23rd pick). A few years ago he was one of the top pitching prospects for the Rangers with John Danks and Edinson Volquez. He will be added to the 40 man roster and have from now until spring training to rehab and works some things out. Hopefully he will be able to make the club and contribute next season.

Chicago Cubs Milestones 2009

We have seen a few Chicago Cubs players achieve personal milestones in their career this season. I feel that they have gone under the radar so I wanted to point some out. Alfonso Soriano who was been having a very disappointing season achieved two milestones this season. He reached 1500 career hits on August 18th, 2009 against the Padres. Back on April 25th against the Cardinals he also reached 5000 career at-bats. Aramis Ramirez achieved 5000 carrer at-bats back on April 21st, 2009 against the Reds.

The Cubs have a few players who are approaching some baseball milestones in their career. Third basemen Aramis Ramirez has 1480 career hits and is only 20 hits away from 1500. He should be able to achieve this milestone by the end of the season if he stays healthy. Derek Lee is also approaching 6000 career at-bats. He currently has 5901 and can also reach that milestone this season.

There are some Milestones that we may see some Cubs players achieve next season. Derek Lee has 287 career homeruns. I doubt he will hit 13 more this season, but should be knocking on that door when the 2010 season starts. Aramis Ramirez currently has 930 career RBI’s and if he stays healthy should easily get to 1000 career RBI next season. Alfonso Soriano has 290 homeruns and will only need 10 more to get to 300. If he wasn’t shut down this season he could have possibly achieved it this season. Those are some Milestones on the North side of town we should see next season.

Chicago White Sox Milestones 2009

The Chicago White Sox have had two players achieve many career milestones this season. Any guesses on who they are? You shouldn’t be surprised they are Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye. Paul Konerko reached 6000 career at-bats on August 31st, 2009 against the Twins, 300 career doubles on August 5th, 2009 against the Angels, 1000 RBI’s against the Reds in interleague play on June 21st, 2009, and 300 homeruns on April 13th against the Tigers. Jermaine Dye reached three milestones this season and three of the same that Paul Konerko reached. Jermaine Dye reached 100 RBI’s on April 18th, 2009 against the Rays, 300 homeruns against the Tigers on April 13th, 2009 (Same day as Konerko), and 6000 at-bats back on April 11th, 2009 against the Twins to start the season.

New veteran Mark Kotsay has played in 1498 games and is only two away from 1500. He can reach that any day depending on his playing time. Jermaine Dye has 977 career runs scored and should reach 1000 by next season. Dye also has 1060 career RBI’s and should reach 1100 next season.

A Perfect Shot

The Ball Girl

Here is a short video of a play in a minor league baseball game.

Pay special attention to the ball girl.

Marat Safin P-I-M-P

Marat Safin likes the ladies and the ladies love Marat. He has had quite a few Russian ladies sitting in the players corner part of the stands. With Marat announcing that he will retire follow the 2009 ATP season, I believe a gallery of his "accomplishments" needs to be put together. Kinda like a going away tribute.


Something tells me she's easy. Can't really put my finger(s) on it


Love the 1980's top. Just hit the Russian stores


FYI - Her hair is actually black and her face is white


Double the fun for the next Hugh Hefner


I love you Dasha Zhukova!!!

Andy Roddick is underacheiving? You cannot be serious

Andy Roddick got kicked out of the US open with a 3rd round loss to the immortal John Isner. After a short rebirth at Wimbledon, taking Fed to 5 sets and beyond before finally going down in defeat. People had large expectations going into the US Open, the only major that Roddick has won back in 2003. Well dude did what he always does. Act like a baby, turn his cap backwards crooked, and bail out of a grand slam in the early rounds.

His fellow countrymen James Blake and Sam Querrey also got knocked out today(Blake is down 2 sets to none so i'll go out on a limb and say he's out). It would be fine for Roddick and all Americans to suck at tennis, expect for the huge press that follows them and artificially hypes them as the next great thing. Have anyone accomplished less for the notoriety they have received than Roddick. Dude is like 1-19 against Federer all-time. Not exactly the next Sampras, Aggasi, or Mcenroe. Marat Safin has 2 grandslams; as does Jevgeni Kafelnikov. Russians are better at tennis despite playing drunk half the time.

How about we all get off the Andy Roddick bandwaggon and wait until Lebron picks up a tennis racquet.

Ryan Perrilloux suspended? No f-ing way

Remember when Ryan Perrilloux helped LSU win the national championship in 2007 as a backup QB and was suppose to take over the helm and lead LSU to a second title. All was right with college football, or it should have been until Perrilloux decided to single handedly ruin the entire football season for being retard. In his short time at LSU, Perrilloux was questioned in a federal investigation, probably involving drugs. Then he was arrested for using a fake ID to enter a riverboat casino. Then he got into a fight at a New Orleans nightclub. Along with missing class, meetings, and practice, he got busted for pot and was finally kicked out of LSU. It got so bad, that Les Miles decided it would be a better idea to start a Harvard transfer, than Ryan Perrilloux. Nice going retard

Ryan transferred to Jacksonville St University in order to show NFL scouts he has the tools to play that he showed at LSU. He had a successful season last year going 8-3 with 2000 passing yards and 19 TDs. This year has not gotten off to a great start. Dude is already suspended for the first game of the season against Georgia Tech. How stupid to you have to be to get suspended by Jacksonville St? Matt Jones got busted for cocaine in Jacksonville and wasn't even suspended until a year later, cause what happens in Jacksonville, well no one cares cause it's Jacksonville. But Perrilloux has perfected the art of pissing people off and is now on the bench once again.

To play football, you have to follow the rules. Ryan doesnt follow the rules so obviously he does not want to play D1 football. Then why does he just not quite college, go snort whatever it is people snort, get thrown in jail, get raped in jail, get released only to end up back in the slammer again within the year, and repeat the cycle forever. You know, just like every other southern redneck

Characters Welcome! The Winner!

I know you've all been on pins and needles waiting to see who the best character on TV is, so I'm going to give you peace baby birds. The winner is:

DR. GREGORY HOUSE (House)

There you go, you can sleep better now I'm sure

Who is the Greatest American Artist?

The USA is a great country with a rich history of music. However, if you look throughout our music history, the vast majority of the greatest artist are not American. In fact, they're mostly British. So you do you think is the greatest American artist or band? No way in hell am I going definitively give an answer just because music is so subjective, my answer is guaranteed to be wrong and someone else's answer is guaranteed to be right by... everybody else besides me.

So I will pose two questions: 1) Who is your favorite American artist (guaranteed no wrong answers here) and 2) Who do you think is the greatest American artist? I determine "greatest" by national likability (different than the gayer "drinkability") and historical significance. Essentially, which artist, if never existed, would have completely changed American's musical landscape the most?

Here's a list of suggested artists to choose from:
-Bob Dylan
-Chuck Berry
-Michael Jackson
-James Brown
-The Doors
-Elvis Presley
-Nirvana
-Bruce Springstein and the E Street Band
-Stevie Wonder
-Guns N Roses
-The Beach Boys
-Creedence Clearwater Revival
-Johnny Cash

By no means is this list the only artists you can choose from but just some suggestions

Jay Cuntler on South Park

TBO is 23

TBO turned 23 September 4th! Yeah

A happy birthday also goes out to Mike Piazza, Beyonce, and one of my med school classmates who has a shocking resemblance to Eva Mendez

The best birthday present I can receive is a Cubs world series. Obviously that is not possible this year on the account that the Cubs have gone down faster than Kate Winslet on the Titanic

But second best is the first Saturday of the college football season. College football has taken over as my second favorite sport, after the amazing 2007 season that made me live for Saturdays. There was nothing better than SEC football on ABC on a Saturday afternoon. The Illini magically made it to the Rose Bowl, which they obviously didn't deserve, but still an amazing experience.

Looking at the TV schedule for football today, I dont understand when or if I will leave the house tomorrow. So many good games, so much excitement, that I just want to get to bed so I can wake up sooner(Oklahoma Sonners that it, oh burn)

Here is the schedule on comcast cable in Chicago. I recommend you tune in to a couple games to get your college football mojo going for the season.

11AM

• Navy v Ohio St - Navy will get raped, but I am dying to see if Pryor will become the second true sophomore to win a Heisman
• Minnesota v Syracuse - 2 mediocre teams from mediocre conferences, but I want to see if the Orange have dug themselves out of a grave and Minnesota always has NFL talent, ie Marion Barber and Lawrence Maroney
• Towson v Northwestern - I hear NW is going to be awful this year(damn I miss Damien Anderson and Zack Kustok) and I have no clue what Towson is. This may not get my complete attention if you know what I mean

2:30PM

• Nevada v Notre Dame - People are saying ND can't possible win less than 10 games based on how easy the schedule is(they play nobody outside USC) and will probably go to the Championship game. Well they better win this game, and i'm not sold they will
• Western Michigan v Michigan - If R-Rod doesn't win the opener against the hick school to the west, he may be more hated in Michigan than he is at West Virginia, which is saying a lot
• Illinois v Missouri - I find it annoying that the Illini start every season against Missouri. There are a million teams out there, how about you mix it up a bit. With Daniels and Maclin gone, this should be a win for Zook. Although I will never support Juice playing QB. He's like Vick, but worse in every single way(especially raping and killing dogs)
• Georgia v Oklahoma St. - Georgia is one of my fav 5. Losing Stafford and Massoquia hurts, though they dreadfully underachieved last year, so I'm looking forward to the new regime lead by Mike Green

3:30PM

• San Jose St. v USC - This will be an attempted manslaughter, though I am curious how good Matt Barkley is. If you ask ESPN, he is the next Montana. If you ask California high school DB's, he's an interception machine(18int senior in HS)

6PM

• BYU v Oklahoma - I love Bob Stoops. If I was a D1 prospect, I would play for Stoops. Can't wait to see what Bradford does this year with a healthy Murray and a young receiving core
  
• Northern Illinois v Wisconsin - DME and Sexy Rexy are not at Northern, so I have a rooting interest(haven't decided if I'm for or against) and Wisconsin plays football like the people there live. Slow and hard
  

6:30PM

• Western Carolina v Vanderbilt - It only takes a few players to put a school on the map. WCU produced Chris Johnson who's the fastest guy in the league, while Vandy has produced Jay Cutler
  

7PM

• Alabama v Virginia Tech - Nick Saban showed that his dominance at LSU was no joke as his magic has struck twice in the SEC with Alabama. Dying to see the new talent on offense. VT always has freak athletes on offense, defense, and special teams. Hopefully the offense will flourish under Vick jr. Tyrod Taylor.
  

9PM

• Maryland v California - This game is a must watch based solely on Jahvid Best. Monster year last putting up over 1800 all purpose yards and is an early Heisman candidate. I think he's the real deal for this year and the pros. Watch out!
  

9:30PM

• LSU v Washington - LSU is always a must watch. Let's see if they have the QB spot figured out(thank you Ryan Perrilloux for single handedly ruining last football season). Jake Locker was drafted in the MLB draft, yet remains as the starting QB for the Huskies. Hopefully he can become a QB and show his true athleticism
  

11PM

• Montana State v Michigan St. - A nice game to fall asleep to after a long day of football. Michigan St always puts up huge points with solid QB/RB talent.

In the words of Keith Jackson, ohhh nellie

Spare Conversion

Here is a follow up to my last post on trick bowling plays. This one is using a spinning ball to pick up a spare. This one is harder than it looks.

Bowling: Two Lane Trick

As most of you know I love many sports with Baseball being my favorite. You may not know that I am a fan of bowling. During the PBA season I usually watch it weekly on ESPN. Occasionally they will have special tournaments in which the bowlers have to pick up special patterns and trick plays. Here is one that I came across of which is really hard. For those that going bowling you will see how hard this one is.

I love college football

Opening night of college football did not disappoint. South Carolina took down NC State in a defensive war and then Boise St. beat down the Oregon Ducks on the blue turf. But the real fun started after the games were over, when Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount decided to give the opponent a punch to the face, Carmelo style. Then he proceeded to go all Ron Artest on the Boise St fans before 10 people had to restrain him from killing someone. With a name like Blount, what did Oregon really expect. He's acted out before so this should come as no surprise. He is an athletic freak at 6'2" 220 pounds and ran for 1000 yards last year on only 137 carriers, but punching out some white guy may get you kicked just off the team.

If i was the white guy, i'd just quite football. You get taken down by one shot to the jaw? Dude needs some steroids, not for the muscles, but to grow some testicles

Derrick Mason Gets No Love

While I was sitting in my basement pissed at the beginning of my draft because my computer shutting down for three rounds (just ask TBO how he liked his BJ Upton auto drafted pick) had fucked my whole strategy and I was forced to come up with a new one on the spot, I was pleasantly surprised when, it the midst of the computer auto drafting defenses for everyone, I was able to pick up Derrick Mason. Now maybe this is where most people are taking him or maybe even later. Guys one or two rounds ahead of him were Bernard Berrian, Santonio Holmes, Donnie Avery, and Steve Smith (the shitty Giants one). And I'm thinking, why?

Last year, Mason tied Wes Welker for fantasy points. In the past two years, Mason has finished 22nd and 21st respectively among wide outs. In the past eight years, Mason has only not gotten to 1,000 yards once. That year was in 06, and if you exclude that year (which obviously seems to be the outlier), he has consistently gotten 80+ catches for the past five years. Yes, he's gotten and probably will get you only about 3-5 TDs next year, but the fact that he's got a developing good rookie and consistency. AND, if you want to talk about guys who don't get TDs Wes Welker (who went four rounds ahead of Mason), will probably only get three TDs (In Brady's 50 TD year, Welker only caught four of them and last year he only caught three, one of which was on the last day of the season when most leagues have already ended)

I'm obviously not advocating Mason to be a stud or even a top teir receiver, I'm just curious why people seemingly don't like Mason. His consistency is probably better than flashier second tier guys because week to week, you know exactly what you'll get from him as opposed to those 1 point games one week and 13 points the next.

While these numbers don't pop, Mason is almost guaranteed to be a great #2 receiver yet he was the 29th receiver taken in my draft. He obviously should have been, at minimum, the 24th receiver taken overall.

And the key here is value. As Matthew Berry has so keenly pointed out (maybe link will come later), the difference between the #1 and #12 number two receiver is minimal. It's essentially one to two points per week which is almost negligible. So why not take the guy who will be the twelfth #2 receiver as opposed to the first #2 receiver four rounds later?

So while I may be frustrated with how my starters currently look, I'm sure as hell with my depth (although now I am starting Mason because I traded away my starting two WRs I drafted). And now that Mason didn't retire, it's absolutely time to reevaluate Mason.

NASCAR Question

Sure, I don't think NASCAR is actually a sport, and it's not. But it's talked about on ESPN so I guess SOME people think it's a sport- although I don't know how sober they are.

Anyway, I was wondering, mainly to TBO because apparently he knows all, what's the difference between the Sprint Cup Series and the Nationwide Series? The points leaders and stuff all seem to be for the Sprint Cup Series, and if that's the case, why have the Nationwide Series at all?

Also, TBO, have you ever seen Stump the Schwab? I was watching a rerun of it today on ESPN classic and I think the Schawb would beat you (although he lost on a tie breaker in the episode I saw...)

Maybe this would have been a better email than blog post?.... Oh well

Bring me to your leader

DME on WGN

Remember that Playboy Rockstar Brunch I attended a month ago? Well apparently I am in various promotional pictures from the event available on WGN (picture #2, as well as parts of me that show up in #5 (half body) and #10 (playing guitar)).

That puts me on CBS (alex rios article), WGN (playboy brunch appearance), WGN radio (arguing with Dick Durbin) and ESPN' Fantasy Focus in the last 30 days. Look out MLBN, I'm coming for ya!

Fred Taylor = Elijah Dukes

No Fred Taylor doesn't send his wife texts threatening to kill her or get fined for being late to practices while helping out America's youth, dawg. Just read on.

This year in our fantasy baseball draft, I touted Elijah Dukes as the huge sleeper for this year's baseball season, dawg. Now I based this mainly off of Baseball Prospectus' numbers (they also told me Ian Kinsler would have a high average, Garrett Atkins was worth my 5th round pick and be like a healthy A-Ram but with a better average, and Matt Wieters would actually make contact with the ball). Obviously I wasted my money on this shitty service and should have just done research myself (If you looked at Dukes' numbers in a small sample size, it made sense why BP and Matthew Berry touted him as a sleeper, but his past numbers looks pretty good in waivers now...whatever) Anyway, now it is colloquially known at GOI: Who is your Elijah Dukes this year? Obviously this is meant to be a sleeper that DOESN'T bust, but now that I have actually done research for myself, I can say my opinion with confidence this year. For fantasy football, my Elijah Dukes is: Fred Taylor

Taylor has a career 4.6 YPC. This ranks 8th out of all active RBs. Guys ahead of him: AP, Michael Turner, MJD, Brandon Jacobs, DeAngelo Williams, and Frank Gore. All are first or high second round draft picks. Out of all active RBs, Taylor has the 6th best yards per game and is 16th of all time. Taylor also gets plenty of attempts ranking 20th all time in rushing attempts.

Taylor is now bringing his great gifts to the highly talented Patriots offensive line. The Patriots had the third best rushing O-line last year and THE best line two years prior. Every RB the Patriots threw out there was effective- the problem was injuries/ lack of carries. The main Pats back to get significant carries was Sammy Morris and he was top 10 in DVOA and DYAR. I can also verify his fantasy impact because him and Pierre Thomas helped win me my fantasy football league last year. Kevin Faulk and Lamont Jordan played a significant amount last year, but not enough to qualify their numbers with the big boys. But out of guys between 20-99 rushes, Faulk ranked first and Jordan ranked 5th. So no matter who runs for the Patriots, they seem to be effective.

Now I will admit, I think Taylor is your #2 RB or your flex guy at best. I don't think he's a top tier back, but I do think he'll finish in the top 25 among backs (thus, your #2 guy). I can say with confidence that when Taylor plays, he will be great in real life, but sadly (and yes I realize this is a fantasy column) I am worried about how he performs fantasy wise. The realist in me says the Pats, with a healthy Brady, will throw more (and not to Taylor) and Maroney and Faulk will take carries away from him. But Maroney has never played more than 14 games in a season (13 and 3 consequtively the past two years) and Taylor is by far better than Faulk. However, in '06, when Maroney only played in 13 games and Brady threw for 50 TDs, he still was the 25th best fantasy back. And when MJD was taking TDs and carried away from Taylor, Taylor still was a top 20 RB. The cynic in me tells me that Taylor won't get enough carries or TDs to be productive in fantasy, but by looking at his past numbers, I find it hard to believe that a guy who has proven to be as good as Taylor on a team THAT good doesn't produce. And frankly I'll take the risk that Taylor gets the carries.

The most important thing to look at is where you can get Taylor. I got Taylor in the 13th round of a 15 round draft (and if I hadn't gotten him I'm not convinced he even would have been drafted). I'm not sure what his ADP is, but in Yahoo! leagues, he's ranked 56- out of all RBs! If you can get a guy who will be top 60 among all RBs and WRs (meaning worth at least the flex position) or even a guy who will be top 25 among all running backs (meaning worth a starting RB spot), why would you not take him!? Even if Taylor does performs like he did last year, who cares!? Chances are you're not going to start (or even keep) any player you drafted past the 12th round anyway (unless your smart and you drafted your sole K and DEF), so he's absolutely worth the risk.

Maybe I'm making excuses for Taylor because if I'm wrong like I was with Elijah Dukes, I gave myself an out, dawg. But there is absolutely no excuse why you don't draft/ pick up now in FA Fred Taylor.

Jake Fox. VS. Alfonso Soriano

Alfonso Soriano was the opening day left fielder for the Chicago Cubs. He has played a lot even though he has been struggling all season. Soriano is one of the streakiest hitters in the league so everyone including Lou says to leave him in the lineup so when he goes on his amazing hot streaks which we have seen in the past he will carry the Cubs. The problem is Soriano has only had one of those streaks this season. That was for the month of July where he batted .345 with a .409 on base percentage and a 583 slugging percentage. He had 5 homeruns and 3 doubles along with 16 RBI’s. Besides for July he has only batted over 200 for two months with starting the season in April batting .284. How can we actually play someone every day who batted .216 in May, then .198 in June, and .185 for the month of August? Soriano has played in 115 games this season. The Cubs have played 130 games. Soriano has the second highest at-bats of all Cubs behind Ryan Theriot with 470.

Soriano has not played the last few days because he has been bothered by some soreness in his knee. This has made it hard for him to run, especially in the outfield. It was hard for most Cubs fans to notice, because it didn’t look much different than the Soriano were used to seeing out there defensively in left field. The other day Soriano had a MRI on his knee and Lou said it was good news. He would get a cortisone shot, and be back in a few days. I want to know why were rushing him back to play when he hasn’t been good all season. Let him rest and let some younger guys play in left to see what they can do.

One player that comes to mind who could start in left field in place of Alfonso Soriano is Jake Fox. Jake Fox has shown in a small sample of at-bats that he can hit the ball. The Cubs are 10.5 games behind St. Louis in the division and have several teams in front of them in the wild card. They need to play Fox to see what they have. The Cubs need to figure out if he is the real deal, or if he will turn out like Mike Fontenot and Micah Hoffpauir if he plays more. The Cubs don’t have a place to play Jake Fox next year with Bradley and Soriano in the outfield corners and Lee at first signed through the 2010 season. The Cubs could try to shop Jake Fox this off-season and trade him for some good relievers or young prospects, but they won’t get much in return for him now because he hasn’t done much at the big league level and he isn’t a top prospect. So play Jake Fox so we can see what we have.

Chicago Cubs Free agents

The Cubs have a handful of free agents after this season. Sadly, except for Rich Harden none of the expiring contracts are significant. Thus, the Cubs will not have much money to spend this off season unless the new owner, Tom Ricketts decided to extend the budget a significant amount from the 134 million dollar payroll the Cubs had for the 2009 season. Here are the free agents
Rich Harden-$9 million
Reed Johnson-$3 Million
Kevin Gregg-$4.2 Million
John Grabow-$2.3 million
The Cubs will also have several players who are arbitration eligible. The bullpen can be re-built with two players most likely leaving. I could see the trying to re-sign John Grabow, but we will see how it shapes out.

This seems fixed!

September call-ups

Today is September 1st, which means September call-ups for both baseball teams in town. Here are my predictions of what players will be called up.

The Chicago Cubs
The Cubs triple-A affiliate The Iowa Cubs are in a playoff race. Thus, only a few players may be called up today. The rest may be brought up when they are done. I think three players will be brought up today being a infielder, outfielder, and a pitcher. Then in a few weeks when the Iowa Cubs are done we will see three to four more players come up. Today I think we will see:
1. Micah Hoffpauir-He was slumping at the big league level so was sent down last month after being on the team the whole season.
2. Andres Blanco-He can’t hit, but is one the best defensive infielders I have ever seen. He will upgrade the defense
3. Justin Berg-He had a brief stint this year on the big league roster and only pitched briefly, but looked good.

Then later once the Iowa Cubs are done they may bring up:
•Jeff Stevens
•Mitch Atkins
•Jeff Samardzija
•Bobby Scales

When ready to come back from injury:
•Reed Johnson
•David Patton

The Chicago White Sox
•Cole Armstrong
•Josh Fields
•Dayan Viciedo
•Jhonny Nunez
•Carlos Torres
•Wes Whisler

When ready to come back from injury:
•Dewayne Wise
•Chris Getz

TBO: Top 12 Running Backs

Even shorter and even sweater

1. Adrian Peterson - I was petitioning for him to be the top pick in 2007 draft. I was right
2. DeAngelo Williams - Given a chance to play full-time. 5.5 YPC, 18TD. Runs hard
3. Michael Turner - Lead league in YAC playing in great Atlanta running offense
4. Brandon Jacobs - Dude runs over Urlacker. Gets in end zone
5. Matt Forte - Not best speed, but great running/catching combo
6. M.J. Drew - See Forte
7. Steven Jackson - See Forte
8. Chris Johnson - Fastest guy in league. Limited touches but super effective
9. Frank Gore - Underrated playing on west coast. 4.7 average with catching skills
10. Steve Slaton - Slightly less explosive version of Chirs Johnson
    
11. Brian Westbrook - Legs shot from carrying Eagles for years. Still gets yards and TDs
12. Clinton Portis - Biggest workhorse in league. Surprised he can still walk. 1 year left.

Tomlinson is done. Can't move. Even playing for great team will not help. Last year was just sad.