Carl Pavano has apparently suffered brain damage

Carl Pavano is one of the most infamous players in major league baseball. This guy will go down in history as one of the greatest thiefs in sports. Al Copone didn't steal money hand over fist the way Carl Pavano has. In the past 4 years, Pavano has cashed in on 40 million big ones for a total of 26 games for the yankees. Instead of being grateful to the yankes paying him the money and not locking him in old yankee stadium while it gets demolished, he's opened his mouth for the first time ever today to bash the yankees for not patting his buttom during his 4 year DL stint.

Pavano cried that he didnt get the support from the team during his rehab, that he was often down emotionally and had to pick himself up off the ground and set new goals for himself. From what we know, he spent the past 4 years crashing ferraries, screwing around with alyssa milano(very sorry alyssa, i still love you), and drinking away his tears made entirely of money. This guy needs to shut up and possibly do his job. Just a 40 million dollar idea.

Overrate stars: volume 2

Our second victim in the overrated athlete department is Chicago's own and finest Antoine Walker. This segment won't necessarily

Free agency must really suck

I have never seen an offseason in major league baseball where so many fine free agents basically have to beg for teams to sign them. I am used to 5 to 10 teams all fighting for a single free agent, driving up the price, leading to very modest 252 million dollar contracts. After the top free agents were signed early in the winter, by the yankees of course, the rest of the free agent market has been stagnant to the point that i believe many of our favorite baseball players may be out of jobs next year. To give you an idea of the last few years of signing, we have people like carlos silva, kyle lohse, gil meche, and the like signing 7 figure per year deals. And these guys range from average to extremely pathetic. Last year, we only saw one real free agent casualty as kenny lofton decided to not play as opposed to accept a minor league deal. This year, i believe we will have 10 to 20 kenny loftons.

Despite what Scott Boris may say about the recession not affecting the MLB, he's the greediest agent of all time, it certainly is. Established major league talent such Abreu, Dunn, Lowe, Garland, Glaving, Thomas, Hudson, Pudge, Kent, Griffey, and even the superhuman manny ramirez are finding it difficult to get a contract a 10 year veteran deserves. These guys will end up playing somewhere, but at a greatly reduced price. Prior years saw players such as carlos lee, soriano, vernon wells, alexis rios, chase utley, JD Drew absolutely break the bank on free agent deals. Similar talent in the form of Dunn and Bradley and Burrell are lucky to receive the type of money the immortal Gary Matthews JR is making. Going young means going cheap and that is what 29 teams in baseball are doing. When the cubs need to let go true cubs in Wood and Derosa to save a couple million dollars, you know things are not the same and wont be for a while.

It's going to be sad seeing guys like garciappara, vidro, edmonds, anderson, and even richie sexson flipping burgers next year at your local wendy's. ummm, wendy's!

Bob Stoops just crapped his pants

Last night's BCS championship game was underwhelming to say the least. It had nothing to do with the gators or tim tebow or fox. The gators played exactly the same type of game that they played all year long. Tibow has an average game passing the ball, he runs for several crucial first downs, he pumps his first, and harvin and demps break several long running plays. They have a simply offensive strategy and the best athletes allowing them to contend every year.

The disappointing part of last nights game was the fact that "big game" Bob Stoops laid an egg for the fifth straight year in a BCS bowl. Now i'm not simply drinking the haterade here, i'm a huge OU and Texas fan for that matter. But the sooners that i saw in the championship game had zero correlation to the sooners that dominated the big 12 all year long. Surprisingly it had absolutely nothing to do with the players. Sure, Bradford could have been more accurate on the long bombs, and the defense could have prevented florida's long running plays, but I put all the blame on head coach Bob Stoops.

Someone explain to me why the sooners ran the ball so freakin much last night. Firstly, they were missing their most dynamic palyer in Demarco Murray due to a dislocated knee cap. This guy is one of the most talented running backs in college. He has the size of adrian peterson and appears to just glide past defenders. His back up, Chris Brown, was the starter for the sooners prior to Murray's arrival, however, he lacks the size and strenght to be you're primary offensive weapon. 4 straight rushes from inside the 10 doesnt work with a 5'10" guy. And were was Mossis Madu? This guy broke out for 114 yards in the big 12 championship game and barely saw the field with Murray out.

The hurry up offense didnt give the sooners any advantage on any single play all game long. Most the time, they would line up within seconds of the last play, only to retreat so bradford could spend 30 seconds trying to figure out the third base coach's signal play. The only times when the sooners seemed to rush the snap was in the red zone and on late down situations. Wrong freakin time Stoops.

I personally love this coach. He is the best recruiter in the nation outside the state of florida, constantly stealing top recruits from the state of texas. He helped steve spurrier win a national championship in florida as a defensive coordinator, only to go on and lead the sooners to a championship his second year in Normal, Oklahoma. However, the past 6 years have all been disappointments, including 2 loses in championship games. Many people, including myself, thought this was the year Stoops would take back his reign as the top collegiate coach, but it was not to be. Stoops is possibly the most famous and beloved citizen of the state of oklahoma. If you think your town is borring, you obviously have never been to normal, oklahoma. However, even he will be on thin ice if this continues for the next few years.

Blackhawks 1 Avalanche 2 : 22-9-7 51 points

I actually missed out on this dual between western conference foes because of the national championship game, but i'll eventually watch it on the DVR. From the highlights, it looked like an intense match up with numerous scoring opportunities above the 2-1 score. The hawks put 44 shots on goal, while both avalanche goals were controversial, as the first appeared to be kicked into the net by ryan smyth, and the second coming on the power play which was caused by a premature puck drop on the face off. It was a highly competitive game that could have gone either way. Problem is that the red wings are up to 61 points and distancing themselves in the central division

DeRosa interview on Sports Central

Yesterday I heard a interview from Friday’s edition of Sports Central with David Kaplan on WGN 720am with Mark DeRosa. It was interesting to hear Mark’s perspective on being traded and how he found out about it. Mark was saying he was following the trade rumors of when his name was being mentioned in the Peavy trades. He never heard anything from Hendry and when the Peavy rumors ended he assumed it was over.

He was on the golf course with former Brave’s teammates Chipper Jones and Brian McCan starting hole number three when he received a call from Jim Hendry. He wasn’t sure if he should answerer the phone because he figured he was traded when he saw Hendry was calling. He said he has a good relationship with Henrdy, but they usually didn't communicate over the phone. Chipper Jones told him he has to answer it so he did. After talking to Hendry he called his wife and told her he was traded. She told him to turn off his phone and enjoy the rest of his game that there was nothing to do. When he turned his phone back on after the game he said he had over 20 messages from people. He said it was one of his worse golf games and that he was like “numb” for the rest of the day.

He sounded that he would really miss Chicago and is still devastated. Kaplan asked him if he would be open to signing as a free agent again after this season and he said that he doesn’t like to burn any bridges so he would be open. However, he sounded doubtful and that he was still hurt that the Cubs traded him. He was a nice guy and will be missed on the field and in the clubhouse.

Is it me...

Is it me or are the Nationals somehow involved in every Free Agent signing this winter? They haven't made a move since the Willingham deal, BUT every FA from Mark Teixeira to Milton Bradley to now Derek Lowe and Tim Redding.

It's kind of annoying.

Cuban’s view on buying the Cubs

Mark Cuban was once interested in buying the Chicago Cubs. He made an initial bid, but never made it to the final rounds. Many people, especially Cub’s fans were excited that he could be the next owner of the Cubs. They liked his enthusiasm and devotion to winning by spending money and doing whatever it takes. It was believed that the current owners in major league baseball would not welcome him into their club and approve him. It never made it this far because he didn’t submit a bid in the last round. At his blog he talked about his whole process of trying to buy the Cubs. Check it out at: http://blogmaverick.com/2009/01/06/the-cubs/

Blackhawks 6 Cayotes 0 : 22-8-7 51 points

As the score indicates, this was a whooping of immense proportions. With Kane out with the high ankle sprain, Toews absolutely dominated this game with his open ice skating. He finished the game with 2 goals and an assist but that doesnt tell the whole story. Adding injury to defeat, Walker destroyed Ed Jovanowski's face with a single punch to the eye causing him to drop to the ice in a bloody mess. Unfortunately this is not in the video recap but i gotchya.

Lil' Bayless

Words cannot describe my laughter.

Will Cubs have an owner by opening day?

The Tribune Company is close to picking the winning bid for the Chicago Cubs. They have been reviewing three separate bids since early December. All ownership changes of any major league team is not supposed to be done during the season. There are ways around that like when the Tribune Company was sold during the season, and because it was a parent company Major league Baseball did not approve it. Major League baseball did approve the CEO in Crane Kenney, so the new ownership of the tribune company could not change that without the approval of MLB. They have three months to pick an owner and then finalize the details by opening day of the 2009 season.

It will be interesting to see who the new owner is and what changes they may make. Will they keep the payroll the same or increase it? Will they leave the same management from Crane Kenney to Jim Hendry to run things or will they bring in their own people. That will be the interesting part in the whole transaction.

Salary Cap?

In short, no.

A salary cap in baseball would not work for several reasons.

The first and foremost reason is that, despite the volume of "overpaid bums" in the league, players in the MLB are underpaid given the league's annual revenue. In 2007, the cumulative league revenue totaled somewhere around $6.075 billion. At the same time, cumulative payroll was just under $2.625 billion. 43.2% of team revenue, in other words, went towards MLB salaries. That pales in comparison to the salary cap of other sports. The NHL's salary cap is set at 54% of league revenue, while the NFL is set at 55%.

Clearly, given the revenue of the MLB, the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is not out of control.

Secondly, teams ownership already pockets as much change as it can. The Marlins, whose payroll was gutted to be under $25 M last year, are receiving federal funds to build their new stadium. Same goes for The Yankees, who are getting money from the NY taxpayer to build a new stadium that charge ticket prices that restrict 80% of the population from being able to afford the "luxury" of a live baseball game. If anything is out of control, it is ticket prices. I'm all about free market and understand that if people are willing to pay, they should be able to pay, BUT I'm not a fan of the fact that live Baseball, in recent years, has become oriented to the wealthier and business class. That's just a case of shutting out the grassroots fan base from being able to enjoy a day out and cold glass of overpriced beer. More power to league revenue, but if any cap is being placed in MLB, I say it be placed on ticket prices. Don't, however, keep teams from spending any more money then they currently are. At least the Yankees, who are charging $250 a seat at new Yankee Stadium, are trying to give the fans their money's worth.

Welcome Milton Bradley

Put the injury risk aside: when Milton Bradley is healthy, he is insanely productive. At $10 million a year, Bradley's contract is pure risk/reward. He'll surely provide more at $10 million than Marquis would in 2009 (even if he only plays 5 days a week). He's also coming off a season with an OPS of almost 1.000. Can you name anyone else who could sign a contract so "inexpensive" off such a stellar season (even if he did only play 126 games)? Like Ben Sheets, Bradley is going to sign for less than he's worth because of looming questions. Yes, those questions are legitimate (the list of Bradley's injuries is ridiculously frivolous, including "his hand hurt"), but much like Rich Harden who posted an ERA under 2 in the dozen starts he made for the Cubs, the reward ceiling potential is quite high. It's not like the Cubs resigned Mark Prior, who hasn't pitched in 3 seasons, or Chris Carpenter, whose elbow is made of bone spurrs. They got a guy who can produce in perhaps 60-70% of the teams games with above average defense skills and is a much better asset than the alternative at the same price (Jason Marquis).

Who else could one want besides Adam Dunn (who, by the way, doesn't even TRY at baseball!*)? Pat Burrell is a streaky righty and Bobby Abreu is on the decline of his career (power down, BBs down, etc.). Raul Ibanez maybe?

Let's take a look at the 37 year old Raul Ibanez's defensive range:



To him I say we already signed Jacque Jones once.


My prediction for Bradley, if he doesn't stay 100% in 2009, is 110 games, 400 AB, 20 HR, 60 walks. That's a very reasonable prediction and very much in line with his career numbers. That's also pretty fucking good production for a guy who would only play in 65% of the team's games. DeRosa did that in 149.


*Side note: I don't care how little you try when you mechanically hit 40 HRs and take 100+ BB a season.

Overrate stars: volume 2

With today's news that unemployed

Two Coaches Bears should target

Before the Bears season started there were low expectations for the Bears. This is because last season they didn’t look good and they didn’t upgrade the team. With that said this season turned out to be a disappointment because they showed flashes of being competitive, but always seemed to choke. For instance, they lost to Atlanta by a touchdown, not showing up for the last game of the Season against Houston. There supposed strength of being a strong defensive team turned out to be their Achilles heal and their offense showed flashes of being average if they had some receivers. There are two head coached recently fired that the Bears should consider adding to their staff.

The Bears will probably hire Rod Marinelli as their defensive coordinator. Lovie Smith and Rod Marinelli go back when they were mentored by Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay in the mid 1990’s. The current defensive coordinator of the Bears, Bob Babich is friends with Lovie, but after this season I think a change will occur. Lovie knows a change is needed for the defense and his former colleague is now available who has a long deserved resume for a defensive coordinator. Even though being the head coach of a 0-16 team isn’t something you want on your resume. Jerry Angelo was also in the front office as scouting for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during this time. Thus, they all have a history together.

The Bears should also should take a look at Mike Shanahan. Shanahan was recently fired as the head coach and director of player personal for the Denver Broncos after being with them for over 14 years. Shanahan is known for his offense experience. I don’t think Jerry Angelo or Lovie Smith will even think of Mike Shanahan because he will probably be looking for a head coaching job or for a role Angelo fills already. The Bears lack experience and the personnel in their organization to draft, sign, and run the offense because most of the organization is made up of defensive guys. So it would make sense to bring someone in who could complement the organization and provide another perspective. I don’t think Mike Shanahan is the best offensive guru out their, but the best available, and would help our offense. Sadly, egos will get in the ways so he won’t even be considered for a job like offensive coordinator.

Chicago Cubs Imminent moves

Jim Hendry had a busy week. The Chicago Cubs traded Mark DeRosa and signed Aaron Miles this week. They are also going to sign Paul Bako, trade Jason Marquis, and sign Milton Bradley.

The Cubs need a back up catcher for Soto. Before the 2008 season the Cubs never had a catcher who was good at calling games, throwing out base runners, and could provide some offense. With Soto, our backup catcher won’t play as much as he did in the past. Thus, we don’t need to pay for a good back up like Blanco who was a good receiver and is the second best active catcher at throwing out base runners.

The Cubs are looking to bring Paul Bako back for his second stint as a Cub. Paul Bako played for the Cubs from 2003 to 2004 and is a decent back up. Last season he played for Dusty Baker in Cincinnati and played in 99 games. He batted .217 in 299 at bats and made 5 errors and had 9 pass balls. Bako knows his days playing are limited. He has a career batting average of .231 and is 36 years old. He is supposedly going to sign a one year five hundred thousand dollar contract. This would be his lowest salary since 2001 where he made $450,000. The Cubs could go with Koyie Hill, but think Bako is a better option so they will look for him to start around 30 games next season. Hopefully he will continue to mentor Soto. This is where Blanco will be missed the most.

The Cubs have agreed in principal to trade Jason Marquis to the Colorado Rockies for Luis Vizcaino. The cubs will pay one million of Marquis’s salary and take on all of Luis Vizcaino salary for 2009 of 3.5 million and get 500 thousand dollars for his buyout. The Cubs will save around 5 million dollars from this deal. Vizcaino is paid like a top setup man, but is actuality a mediocre reliever who will give the bullpen some veteran presence with Kevin Gregg. Vizcaino is 34 and appeared in 43 games for the Rockies last season pitching 46 innings with a 5.28 era and has a career era of 4.34. Marquis who has one year of his three year contract left went 11 and 9 in 28 starts last year with a 4.53 era. His departure opens up a roster spot for Jeff Samardzia, Sean Marshall, or possibly Jake Peavy via trade. Jason Marquis is on a family vacation right now and will take his physical when he returns. This is why the trade has not occurred yet. I think they could have received more for Marquis than pretty much a salary dump. He is a good fifth starter who will eat innings for your club and stays healthy.

The Cubs will save 5 million on trading Marquis and have already saved 4 million on trading DeRosa which is 9 million they can use on other needs. They look to add a left handed hitting outfielder with this money. The Cubs have supposedly also agreed in principal with Milton Bradley. Their waiting until the Marquis trade is official and signing Bradley will probably not happen until the middle of January.

Milton Bradley will play center or right field for the Cubs depending on what Fukudome does. If Fukudome can hit Major League pitching than Bradley will start in center with Fukudome in right. If Fukudome struggles like he did last year, than Fukudome will be on the bench with Joey Gathright or Reed Johnson starting in center and Bradley playing right field. Bradley is a switch hitting outfielder with power and speed who batted 321, with 21 homers, and an on base percentage of .436 last year. Bradley could fit anywhere in the line up from the 3, 4, 5, or 5 hole very nicely. The two problems with Bradley are that he is injury prone and has some personality/temper problems. The Cubs have outfield depth so if he misses some games it shouldn’t be a huge problem. The big concern is his temper and that he played with 6 teams in nine year. He has a lengthy past of not getting along with teammates, managers, and members of the media. It could be interesting to see how Bradley handles Chicago. Bradley is the best Free agent outfielder for the Cubs, but none are ideal fits.

The Marquis Trade and Bradley signing are not official yet so let’s see if they happen! Maybe something better will come along before they do!

2008: A Year In Review

Some interesting memories from the 2008 MLB season can be found here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=3801716

Long-term outlook for the Blackhawks Salary Cap

The NHL salary cap is actually a very good system. every year there is a max and min every team has to be within, and cannot exceed from it in any direction. the cap is based on the NHL's revenue and has been climbing every year. it's now at like 55mil, and should keep increasing. no player can make more than 20% of the team cap, and contracts cant be renegotiated until it expires.

The Blackhawks are actually at the salary cap, such that they actually had to send someone down recently to prevent exceeding it. There was also rumor they may go after mats sundin, who half-retired, but he went to vancouver, not that we had salary cap room for him anyway. We'll get some relief because Khabibulin's contract will expire after this year, and matrin havlat will also be done. hopefully they can keep their guys, but it's gonna be hard cause there are so many of them. we may have to let havlat go, which is a shame, and i'm not sure if they'll want to sign sharp to a long term contract. Tallon has basically done what kenny williams does. Develop home grown talent, plus trade for other team's 1st round busts, sharp, ladd, eager, and get rid of his own 1st round disappointments in ruutu, borque, and mccarthey.

If you look at the penguins, they have two of the best players in the league in crosby and malkin, who are equally good, but they will take up 40% of the team cap. so their team actually sucks. they got to the finals last year cause their goalie, fluery, who's not good got really hot(sub 2 GAA) and trading for marian hossa did the trick. i doubt they'll be back in the finals any time soon. kane and toews arn't nearly as good so they wont make 9-10 mil per year so that should free up space to lock up Keith, Seabrook, Versteeg, Bolland...Long story short. The future is good!

Blackhawks 5 Flames 2 : 21-8-7 49 points

Well the Blackhawks rebounded from back to back defeats at the hands of the Red Wings to destroy the Flames for the third time this year. Everyone got in on the action as they scored an even strength goal, power play, short handed, delayed power play, and empty netter. Quite a game. I recommend watching the game recaps just to hear the Canadian announcer and his silly Canadian accent.

Hinrich speedy return creates logjam

Kirk Hinrich has been out injured with a torn ligament in his right thumb since November 11th when he had surgery. When he got injured fellow guard Larry Hughs was out injured and they flipped spots on the active roster. Hinrich was supposed to be out until the middle of February, but he is way ahead of schedule. He is predicted to be back by the middle of January around January 13th. When he returns the Bulls will have another guard to try to find playing time for. He will join Derek Rose, Larry Hughs, Ben Gordon, and Thabo Stefolsha fighting for playing time. This will be another challenge for Vinney Del Negro to keep everyone happy.

The Bulls need to make a trade to find a big man to complement the Bulls. They need to trade one of their guards along with one of: Nocioni, Thomas, Noah, and possibly a draft pick to get a difference maker. Hinrich would seem to be the odd man out because Hughs has the big contract, Gordon is a free agent after this season, Stefolsha doesn’t have much trade value, but looks like he could be a decent role player, and Rose is obviously untouchable. Thus, Hinrich will have to get some playing time to show he is healthy in order to be traded and bring the Bulls the pieces they need.

What About The Cardinals?

With Aaron Miles out of the picture and the Cardinal's MI's on the farm too inexperienced for the everyday job, might the Cardinals sign Juan Uribe to play Second Base? If so, his contract might look like something in the 10 cheeseburgers and a side of fries per game range.

But seriously. I hate the Cards, but WTF are they doing this offseason? Their shitty bullpen isn't getting any new arms, their horrible starting rotation isn't getting any new faces and there seems to be no one in terms of new offensive production on the radar. I'm simply baffled. Maybe they're just giving up.

Same goes for the Brewers. They lost two top of the rotation starters, their closer and two other bullpensmen. What is their 2009 game plan? Hit the fuck out of the ball (Fielder, Braun, Weeks, Hardy) and then hope the other team forgets to bat? I don't think Dave Bush or Parra is an elite SP and Yovanni Gallardo, aka Ben Sheets Jr., can't stay healthy.

The Cubs are going to have an easy season.

Overrate stars: volume 1

Our first casualty is Baron David. David came to fame as a standout freshman point guard at UCLA, unfortunately that is where his career peaked. He is the classic example of someone who puts up superstar numbers through quantity and not quality. If I told you that he is a career 17 point, 7 assist, 4 rebound NBA point guard, you would run through the streets naked to get this guy on your team...or is that just me?

However, numbers in the NBA can often be deceiving. And Davis has conned the fans and management for an entire decade. He is a career 41% shooter. That makes allen iverson look like mark price in comparison. Let me put it this way, if davis took every shot for your favorite team every game and made 41% of his shots, your favorite team would be making a top ten lottery pick every fucking year. Not to mention that he is a career 32% 3-point shooter. This is actually a respectable number, if you look past the fact that he takes over 5 3-point attempts per game. That is simply unacceptable in the NBA unless your name happens to be Lebron. Davis has made a career out of shooting too much, especially under Don Nelson's "i dont give a fuck" philosophy. Trust me, he's bad. Really really bad.

Apparently the Los Angelas Clippers don't seem to care, and their GM Elgin Baylor doesn't have the greatest track record or caring. Well, Davis has rewarded his new team and 5yr/$65 Million dollar contract with a sweet 36% field goal percentage. Who could have see this coming?

Do you want this man cheering for the Cubs?

Looking at the DeRosa trade

Mark DeRosa was traded to Cleveland to join his former teammate Kerry Wood. There has been much controversy about this trade and whether it was considered positive or negative. It seems like more people were upset about this move than letting Kerry Wood leave via free agency. Kerry Wood never lived up to his potential in Chicago after his big splash with his 20 strike outs game in his rookie season. With Carlos Marmol and other bullpen options everyone knows we didn’t need to overpay for him.

In DeRosa’s short two years as Chicago Cub he became a fan favorite because of his work ethic, attitude, performance, and versatility. Mark Derosa always gave his best effort. He never dogged it like other players we have. In addition, he never complained about playing multiple positions and batting anywhere in the order. He played every position with his best effort and provided top defense everywhere around the diamond. I actually felt his best defensive position was third base followed by second and then right field. I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes regular third basemen in the future.

Mark DeRosa was a big part of the Cubs success last year and helping them winning the National League central division title. Last season DeRosa led the Cubs in runs scored with 103, was fourth on the club in doubles with 30, tied for second in triples with three (others with three were Fukudome and Lee), fourth in home runs with 21, was third in RBI’s with 87, fourth in total bases with 243, fifth in walks with 69, and has a solid average of 285 with a on base percentage of 376, and a slugging percentage of 481. He also stole 6 bases and was not caught stealing. That shows he is a smart base runner because that isn’t really a part of his game. He did all of this in 505 at bats (fourth on team) while playing 149 games (Tied with Ramirez and Theriot). No matter where DeRosa played being his 95 games at second base, 59 in the outfield, 22 at third base while filling in for Ramriez when injured or to give him a day off, or his one game at first and shortstop respectively, DeRosa never missed a beat with the glove or let it affect his bat.

Mark DeRosa was coming off a career year at 33 years old. The chances of him repeating are slim. Even if he does in 2009, he will leave as a free agent after the 2009 season when his 3 year deal will end. Hendry signed him for a reasonably priced deal, and he will demand a big pay raise because of his production and versatility if his 2009 is similar to 2008. The Cubs have the habit of keeping players or getting players way past their prime. With trading DeRosa now, they are selling high and getting the most they can for him. The Cubs didn’t get any top prospects, but DeRosa isn’t a marquee player and they seemed to get the most they would for him.

They have other options for second base and other needs to fill on the team. The Cubs signed Aaron Miles who is another career utility man, like DeRosa was before he came to the Cubs. Miles is a switch hitter who will probably share playing time with Fontenot
at second base. The Cubs still have moves to make so we will see how the team shapes up.

Now that the Cubs have some young pitching prospects and they appear ready to make another move or wait until the right opportunity occurs. They could have the barging chips needed to land Jake Peavy, Brian Roberts Jr., Chone Figgins, and other players they are targeting.

Mark DeRosa will be missed in Chicago, but if Hendry can follow up with the right move, this will make the Cubs much stronger in the long run.

Tim Tebow's long lost brother from a different mother

The Cubs Done Fucked Up

Buster Olney speaks the greatest truth in his new blogpost. He affirms what we all already know: the Cubs done fucked up good.

That's all for now.

Rose best rookie in the eastern conference

Derek Rose was named Eastern Conference T-Mobile Rookie of the Month for December. An honor he also won for November. Derek Rose averaged 16.3 ppg (second among rookies) and 6.2 apg (first among rookies) for the month of December. He has led the Chicago Bulls in assist for 12 of their 15 games in December and scored in double digits for 14 of the 15 games. Rose ranks 15 among all players in assists in the NBA and 8th in the eastern conference. Rose is one of five rookies on the Bulls to have a 20 point and 13 assist game. He is averaging 17.3 ppg and 6.1 apg for the season.

At the beginning of the season a lot was made of Greg Oden or Eric Beasley being the best rookie. Two months into the season those players have disappeared and Rose has shinned. Look for Rose to continue his dominance among all the rookies while he continues to be the Bulls best player and one of the few bright spots on the season.

My Relationship With Peyton Manning Is A Love/Hate One. Mainly, I Fucking Hate Him!

Today Peyton Manning won his third NFL MVP award. But does he deserve it?

Unfortunately he kinda does.

Well let's be fair and perfectly clear, I'm not really that upset by any stretch of the imagination that Manning won it. A few weeks ago I wrote that DeAngelo Williams deserved the MVP. I still believe that but I'm actually not going to take anything away from Manning this year. While I would prefer that have the Carolina back win the award, Peyton did do a good job and did have an MVP type season.

Reason Peyton Manning Should Have Won MVP:
-He was 5th in QB rating which as an indicator he's one of the best
-He was 3rd in TD/INT ratio
-He was 5th in TDs
-He was 3rd in completion percentage
-He was 1st in DVOA
-He was 2nd in DYAR
-He was the runner up to Drew Brees in DYAR so it's essentially being 1st in it
-He essentially won, at least, 10 games for the Colts by himself
-Indianapolis was 31st out of 32 in rushing yards per game so it's clear Peyton had no rushing help whatsoever
-His ability to fuck over defenses is incredible

Reasons Peyton Manning Should Not Have Won MVP:
-He has the best pass protection from an offensive line (it's really easy to put up great numbers when you have the most time to throw and make good decisions)
-He was only 13th in YPA
-He has two of the best receivers in the game in Reggie Wayne and (yes, look it up on footballoutsiders.com) Anthony Gonzales
-The only offensive category he was first in was DVOA

While Peyton was well rounded in essentially every single category, it troubles me that my MVP was not first in any of them and that he was fairly low in one of the most important ones, YPA. But he still was fucking awesome and being 1st in DVOA is essentially my argument for who deserves to win an MVP (and I still believe that). But when you compare him to the RB who was first in DVOA (and DYAR, YPC, and TDs in his category), then I give it to the guy who was #1 over the guy who was just above average.

Is Peyton Manning a good choice for MVP? Yes. Am I outraged by it? No. Would I have given the MVP to Peyton? No. But at the end of the day all I can do and will do is tip my hat to Peyton Manning for being a fucking awesome QB, a great football player, and a good role model. So Peyton Manning, as much as I fucking hate you, god damn do I respect you.

Coaches Discussion Part III- If You Lovie Something, You Must Set Him Free

This is my final coaches discussion.

Lovie Smith is the head coach of the Chicago Bears. Why!? How does he still have a job, he sucks! Let me explain.

In Part I, I listed the four qualifications of what it takes to be a good coach. Let's go through these and see how Lovie Smith fits into these four qualifications.

1) Overall game plan. Lovie is defensive minded. So course his signature is punch-you-in-the-mouth stingy smash mouth defense, running the ball, and really good special teams. His defense is the Tampa 2. The cover 2 with an awesome middle linebacker to cover the middle of the field on passing plays yet still able to stop the run on running plays. The key to this is having an awesome front four.

Lovie has this plan and then asked his GM, Jerry Angelo, to get the pieces to have this work. For the beginning of Lovie's tenure he did have the pieces. He inherited Brian Urlacher and Angelo went out and got players like Thomas Jones, Wale, and helped get a good rushing O-line. And with this the Bears were able to go to the playoffs and the Superbowl.

But the big problem with this is two things. 1) YOU NEED A QUARTERBACK! Lovie was so caught up in running the ball that he neglected the QB position. This has turned costly to the Bears in the long run. 2) When the front four doesn't work, you need to shift your game plan. For the past two years our front four has not been able to get to the QB. This disrupts the whole Tampa 2 scheme. When this happens, YOU NEED TO ADJUST. Lovie failed to do this.

Also, his type of offense causes a lot of three and outs which puts more pressure on the defense. For a long while the Bears defense were able to handle the workload but now it's causing long term negative effects.

Let me tell you an example of Lovie's game planning. In 2005, when Lovie actually managed to make it to the playoffs. They faced the Carolina Panthers. The reason the Panthers made it to the playoffs that year was Steve Smith. Everyone knew this. Everyone. So what does Lovie do? He uses a single coverage on Steve Smith. While granted Peanut then was a great defensive back in coverage and did goof up and trip on the first play of the game (which IS NOT Lovie's fault), YOU CAN"T PUT ONE GUY ON STEVE FUCKING SMITH. YOU JUST CAN'T! What did Steve Smith do that day? 12 catches, 218 yards, 2 TDs. Of course Carolina won.

Overall grade: C+

2) Second half adjustments. Lovie is god awful with this. He can not make adjustments if his life depended on it. I don't have exact stats but I can tell you by watching a lot of games during Lovie's tenure I can tell you our fourth quarter play is fucking awful. I don't know what Lovie does during the halftime but it doesn't work

Overall grade: F

3) Ability to keep a cohesive locker room. Lovie is a cool, calm, collected guy. He's not an authoritarian by any stretch of the imagination. This causes his players to love him. And Lovie loves his players. But at some point, you need to be the bad guy and need to be a dictator and Lovie is not able to do that. He loves his players to a fault. The biggest example of this is Rex Grossman. While granted Grossman really was a rookie on a phenomenal Superbowl caliber defense, it is clear now Orton should have started. But how many times did we hear "Rex is our quarterback"? No, no he shouldn't have been. But to his credit, Lovie's job as a babysitter and making sure everyone plays nice and buys into his system has been excellent.

Overall grade: B+

4) Random game time decisions. Lovie is also terrible at this. I mean god awful. He doesn't know how to properly challenge plays, he is terrible at determining what to do on 4th-and-1, and he makes terrible decisions in the fourth quarter. Let's just take this year for example. Using the prevent defense in the Bucs game and the squib kick in the Atlanta game cost the Bears easy wins. Again, I don't have any stats to prove my case but I can tell you from watching lots of games that Lovie is bad at this.

Overall grade: D+

Now in all fairness the Bears record is not entirely on Lovie. The McCaskey's are terrible fucking owners and Jerry Angelo is a bad GM. Angelo is really bad at drafting (see Dan Bauzin, Garrett Wolfe, Chris Williams), really bad at trading and picking up free agents (see Chris Harris, Adam Archuleta), and really bad at distributing money (see Brian Urlacher, Tommie Harris). This doesn't help Lovie one bit. Ron Turner is also the worst offensive coordinator, probably ever (However, Lovie is not totally off the hook on this because he does have a lot of say in what plays Turner runs and whether Turner deserves to keep his job). But Lovie Smith does a bad job at the things he can control.

But in all fairness, I only pointed out the bad things Lovie has done. He really has done some great things. The Tampa 2 worked out so well in 2005 and 2006 which helped the Bears win the NFC North and make it to the Superbowl. The ability to run the ball has worked out well for the most part in Lovie's tenure and our special teams has really been an underrated part of the reason the Bears have won so many games. Lovie's game planning is also not terrible in every game. Like in the Tennessee Titans game this year, he knew Fisher would run the ball and that Kerry Collins sucks. So what did Lovie do? He put Mike Brown on the line to absolutely destroy the Titans running game and they forced Collins to put the game on his back. Unfortunately Collins did put the game in his hands and he did win the game but it was absolutely the right game plan to do.

But for the most part, every coach does do some good but you have to weigh it against the bad. In Lovie's case, the bad outweighs the good and Lovie deserves to get fired. He hit his peak in 2006 and it doesn't look like he can get the Bears back any time soon. Therefore, he needs to go.

Winter Classic: Red Wings 6 Blackhawks 4

Despite the final result, the winter classic in wrigley field proved to be a major success. On a national stage, the NHL had a tremendous performance on and off the rink. The game was aesthetically gorgeous in person and on television. The hawks dominated the first period due to the physical nature they displayed in the first 20 minutes. It appeared that the red wings experience allowed them to make crucial adjustements. They dominated the final two periods with their own physicallity along the boards and in front of the goal.

The game play was very similar to the indoor game. The puck didnt slide as much as it does indoors, and the staking was slightly affected as well. I noticed the power play defense was disrupted due to the difficult skating conditions, causing breakdowns defensively, leading to numerous odd man goals. Cristobal Huet has a nightmare of a game. He allowed 3 extremely weak goals through the five hole, that i have not seen from the hawk's goalies since the second week of the season. Clearly, as good as the blackhawks team is, it is not at the red wings level quite yet. We have surrendered 21 goals to the wings in 4 games, while only allowing more than 4 goals to one other team all year(league best San Jose). If the hawks plan to contend for the cup, they must bring their skill and more importantly strength for a full 60 minutes.

Still it was a great event!