Not Good

So, I left work today in the snow and thought I saw the lights in the parking lots flicker on, but it was not the parking lights. Seconds later I heard the sound of thunder and realized that is was thunderstorming and snowing at the same time. I don't know what this means, but it can't be good.

I've been pretty bad lately, but between not feeling good, trying to get my post-employment life under control, and all the other messes I've been dealing with, the blog has suffered. Not that Pikus or Reynolds care, but that's another story.

The Boilers lost a heartbreaker to Xavier. Ho hum. Another year, another crushing defeat. But the future looks bright in West Lafayette. Painter really has the program heading in the right direction. They're a young team with quite a bit of talent. Next year should be a good one. Just like everything else, right?

Baseball starts this weekend, the 2nd of my fantasy drafts is this weekend and I can't wait! Nothing like a weekend in Indianapolis in March!!! This is a keeper league and lots of questions await the first couple of rounds, should be exciting!

The Sweet Sixteen starts tonight.

The first game is Xavier vs. W. Virginia. WVa is coming off a huge win over Duke. But I, along with a considerable number of others, thought that Duke was very overrated. But there is still something about beating Coach K in the postseason. And I didn't see much of the Purdue-Xavier game, sadly because I was at work, but from what I heard, Xavier really won that game. The line is even, I got Xavier.

Next is UNC vs. Washington St. I think the best question to ask is whether WSU can keep UNC under 100. UNC is playing some great basketball right now. I don't care who you are playing, putting up 100+ points in 2 straight games is impressive. They will continue the winning, but they won't put up 100. UNC is giving up 8.5, I got UNC

The first late game is Western Ky vs. UCLA. Hopefully UCLA doesn't keep getting the ridiculous calls they've been getting. But they win, they just have too much ability to lose this one. UCLA is giving 12, I think WKy keeps it close but UCLA pulls away in the last 10 minutes. I'm taking UCLA

And the nightcap, probably the best game of the night, Tennessee vs Louisville. This is going to be a great game. Great coaches, great players, high tempo, fun game to watch. Tennessee is getting 3 points, I'm taking the Vols and the points.

Happy Sweet Sixteen!

It looks like a blizzard outside right now. Why do I live in Chicago?

PTI just ended and Dick Vitale is talking about the NCAA tourney on SportsCenter, the DirecTV just went out, I've never been so thankful.

Best Lineup In Baseball?

I have the time today, the tourney is starting on Thursday, I have to work tomorrow, so I figure I have nothing better to do today than check out the Indians lineup for this upcoming season.

Leading off will be Grady Sizemore. He should be able to build on the All-Star season he had last. He's probably the only true 5 tool player they have in the lineup. Hopefully he will steal some more bases than he did last season. He stole 33 bases last year, up from 22 the previous, but he's really the only speed the Indians have in the lineup. It would be nice to see him steal close to 50 this year.

The 2 spot should be filled by Asdrubal Cabrera. I really think this kid is the real deal. He was fantastic in the field teaming up with Jhonny Peralta up the middle and if he can hit around .300 this season, he will be very effective getting himself on base and moving Sizemore into scoring position for the meat of the lineup.

In the 3rd spot should be Hafner. Hopefully he's a little upset about his dismal performance in the playoffs when I'm still convinced he couldn't see the ball. Although his homerun totals and his average were down considerably last year, he still knocked in 100 runs. Which would tell me that he got some key hits when he needed them. Travis had a wrist injury last season, and I remember Jim Thome had a wrist injury and had a horrible season in the year following but was able to bounce back in a big way the next. Let's bet on Travis having a year like he did in 2006!

Hitting Cleanup will be Victor. Arguably the best hitting catcher in the bigs, he put up some solid numbers last year .301/25/114. I'm guessing he's going to get some more time at 1B to try and keep the knee problems down to a minimum. He should have another big season.

Behind Victor will be Ryan Garko. He had a pretty solid 2nd half of the season and can hopefully take the next step in protecting Victor in the lineup. The more good pitches Martinez gets to see, the better off the Indians are going to be.

Next up will be Jhonny Peralta. After a dismal 2006 both at the plate and in the field, I think he put to rest the thoughts of trade/release/move to 3rd/demotion with the way he played last year.

Casey Blake will be hitting in the 7 spot. This is another guy that put to rest the demons last year. With the acquisition of Andy Marte to play 3rd, and Gutierrez/Michaels/Delucci/Nixon to play the outfield last year. There was a real possibility of a short future in Cleveland. But, we found out that Marte sucked, and we needed a 3rd baseman. He filled in so well that there's really no question about who will be at 3rd this year. Hopefully a little stability will be good for Blake

The 8 spot will be filled with Delucci/Francisco/Michaels. Whoever is playing in the OF that day. I would really like to see them go after a power hitting outfielder this season. Maybe they can give up some pitching to get another big bat in the lineup?

And the end of the lineup will be shored up by Franklin Gutierrez. Another young guy that should hopefully build on the succes he had last year. He had moments of "...We don't need another guy in RF, Gutierrez is our guy!!!" and "...Why is this guy even in a major league lineup???"

Solid lineup from top to bottom. A good mix of vets and younger guys. Let's hope that they can build on last season. Let's hope that they have a little more desire after how last season ended. If nothing else, this should be a very entertaining team, they should have a very good shot to win the AL Central. Times are looking good at Jacob's Field. I'm really looking forward to this season.

I will never call Jacobs' Field, Progressive Field.

And I took these pictures at at Sox-Indians game at US Cellular last season. I know, they're really good....

Opening Day is Right Around the Corner!

If you can believe it, Spring Training is quickly coming to a close, opening day is a mere 2 weeks away, and I haven't said a thing about the Indians.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I'm not quite sure yet, the lineup is little different from last season. I think this is a good thing. To come as close as they did to beating the Sox last fall, I think these guys are hungry to get back to the postseason. Hopefully Hafner went to an eye doctor.

The strength of this team is going to be the starting rotation. Anchored by last season's Cy Young winner, and free agent-at-the-end-of-the-season, CC Sabathia. He just keeps getting better and better each season. Hopefully his head doesn't get bigger than it already is thinking about all of those dollar signs that await him at the end of this season. The #2 guy is going to be Carmona. If he can get back half of what he did last season he's in store for another good season. Next in the rotation is admitted HGH user Paul Byrd. The crafty vet is coming off arguably his best season in the bigs and lets hope he can have another good one. #4 in the rotation is Jake Westbrook. He finished last season pitching really well by winning 8 of his last 11 starts in August and September. And from what I can figure, the #5 starter is up for grabs. Between Laffey, Lee, or Sowers. With a little luck one of those guys will step up and take over the spot in the rotation.

The bullpen should be solid again this season. The bullpen is boring. Middle relievers are about as exciting to talk about as hemorroids. With a little luck Borowski figured out how to get 3 consecutive batters out over the winter. Even with all of his breakdowns, he was able to rack up 45 saves with an ERA over 5 and opposing batters hitting close to .300 against him.

I'll get to the lineup tomorrow. It will give me something to do.

Oh Mel...

I've been thinking about Mel Kiper all day. No, I don't have a whole lot else going on. But I found this on Wikipedia

ESPN's coverage of the 1994 NFL draft was less than eight and a half minutes in when Kiper said, "The Colts have to come out of this draft with a quarterback." Tennessee's Heath Shuler and Fresno State's Trent Dilfer were regarded as sure-fire future NFL stars, and Indianapolis' starter was Jim Harbaugh. The Colts wound up with two of the first five picks. With No. 2, they chose running back Marshall Faulk from San Diego State. With the fifth pick -- Shuler having gone to the Washington Redskins with the third pick -- the Colts were expected to take Dilfer. Instead, they
chose Trev Alberts, a linebacker from Nebraska. Kiper's reaction to this was "To pass up a Trent Dilfer, when all you have is Jim Harbaugh -- give me a break. That's why the Colts are picking second every year in the draft, not battling for the Super Bowl like other clubs in the National Football League."

Less than 10 minutes later, at a location away from the draft site, ESPN's Chris Mortensen was interviewing Colts general manager Bill Tobin. Mortensen asked a question about the Colts' bypassing a quarterback with their top-five choices. Mortensen didn't mention Kiper in his question to Tobin. Tobin's 55-second response was "We got a guy up here ... and who in the hell is Mel Kiper, anyway? I mean, here's a guy who criticizes everybody, whoever they take. He's got the answers to who you should take, to who you shouldn't take. He tells us about your team. He tells us about the Rams. Mel Kiper is a tortoise. He tells us about Tampa and everything else. In my knowledge of him, he's never even put on a jockstrap, he's never been a player, he's never been a coach, he's never been a scout, he's never been an administrator, and all of a sudden, he's an expert. He's in our paper two days ago, telling us who we have to take. We don't have to take anybody that Mel Kiper says we have to take. Mel Kiper has no more credentials to do what he's doing than my neighbor, and my neighbor's a postman and he doesn't even have season tickets to the NFL."

Kiper responded to Tobin with a biting tirade that drew huge cheers from the fans in the gallery and wry smiles from Chris Berman and the other ESPN commentators I'm secure in my position. Obviously, Bill Tobin's not very secure in his position. You cannot go with Jim Harbaugh and pass up Trent Dilfer. That's why the Colts are the laughingstock of the league year in and year out." Trev Alberts retired after three seasons. Dilfer was moderatly succsesful at Tampa Bay, though after being unceremoniously cut by Tampa after six years, he went on to win Super Bowl XXXV as quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens and has been a respectable mentor to young quarterbacks ever since.

Colts' incumbent Jim Harbaugh led the NFL in passing in 1995 while taking the Colts to the AFC Championship Game. Harbaugh was voted to the Pro-Bowl by his NFL peers.

Kiper grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and resides in Jarrettsville, Maryland with his family. He attended Calvert Hall College High School and Essex Community College. He never participated in football on any level in high school or college.

The Unemployment Blues

Since I have unfortunately become unemployed in the last month, I tend to look around and see what it is about me that makes me unemployable. I can't really figure it out. But as I am searching around, I see people in places, with jobs, and I have no idea how they are where they are. I have a couple of examples of this.

First is Hank Steinbrenner. And I know how he got to where he is now, his father George. But this guy has been the owner of the Yankees for about 2 months now, and he can't seem to keep his mouth shut. Apparently he feels it is necessary to open his trap and spew out whatever he feels no matter how ridiculous it sounds. "...I'm the owner of the Yankees by no work of my own, therefore I can say what I want and EVERYBODY must listen!!!" And his most recent effort, he makes the comment implying that the D-Rays should not try or feel emotion until they start contributing to the league financially. What???? How idiotic is this? If he were born to anybody other than George, where would he be now?

Next is Joe Lunardi. He does all of the bracketology columns on ESPN.com. He's on SportsCenter, probably on PTI and all of the other shows that ESPN has in the afternoon. What is the significance of this guys' job? If he's wrong, who cares?? If he's right, who cares?? He's not writing columns for a newspaper reporting on how teams do, he just says who is going to make the tourney and who is not. Does his opinion matter? No. Is he part of the selection committee? No. ESPN keeps reporting, on every timeout/commercial break/halftime show that Illinois State, OSU, and 2 other teams, I don't remember right now, are the first 4 that are going to miss the tourney. Does his opinion really matter? Absolutely not. About a week ago, he had UAB making the tourney. First of all, they don't have a chance at it, but it doesn't really matter, the selection committee takes no stock into what he says. Anybody can do his job, it doesn't matter if he's wrong or right. What a great gig. He gets to watch college basketball and put together a bracket every week that really doesn't matter diddly-squat. That's it. Wonder what he does for the other 7 months of the year.

The next one, and the biggest offender of this is Mel Kiper. This guy watches all the college football you can handle and reports on who is going to get drafted and what position they are going to get drafted. Do NFL teams really care about his opinion?? No. Do I really care what the 6th ranked LB in the draft is??? No. I love college football and NFL football. But I really could not care any less about this guy's opinion. He sits there with the rest of the ESPN crew on draft day and talks about the picks. Anybody can do this. And again, if he's wrong, nobody cares. And from recent history, he's usually wrong, but what does it really matter??? It doesn't. But the real crime here is that he sells 5 draft books each year. You can get all of them for somewhere around $70. I think there's a free agent book, draft book, his opinions book, and 2 other useless publications. All of his stuff on ESPN.com is on the Insider. And I've often in the weeks before the draft wondered, "...oh man, who's the Browns going to take in the 2nd round with the 47th pick?? I sure wish I had Insider so I could see who Kiper thinks the Browns needs??" But you know what remedied that thought??? Wait 2 f'n weeks and see who the Browns take with that pick. Why would anybody in their right mind pony up the cash to see what this guy thinks? It's a joke.

And I can't find a job??

I Don't Know Why I Got My Hopes up???

This blogsite is in operation for one reason, well, maybe more than one reason, but the main reason is that the teams that we cheer for, you know who they are, NEVER WIN ANYTHING WHEN SOMETHING IMPORTANT IS ON THE LINE. It doesn't matter how good of a regular season they had. It doesn't matter that the greatest QB in football history, Bernie Kosar, is engineering the O, that one of the best lineups in baseball history hit .300 in '95. These teams always lose when the big game comes around. That LeBron James was the best player in the league and made everybody, including Coach Mike, better. It doesn't matter that you have CC and Carmona and Westbrook pitching the final 3 when the Indians are up 3-1 against the Sox. These teams, somehow, figure out a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I'm not even going to talk about it. Just thinking about the last 5 mintues in regulation and the 5 OT minutes makes me want to get sick on the keyboard. 0-11 in OT?? The Freshmen finally played like freshmen. And Calasan needs to figure out the meaning of the word "shot selection". The worst defensive performance of the season. Painful.

Enough about that.

So the final game of the night IU lost in incredibly dramatic fashion against the Gophers. The last 10 seconds of that game were simply amazing. Ending on another Hoffarber shot. This is the same guy that hit that one from his butt to win a state title last year.

If you don't know the meaning of home cookin' all you have to do is watch the end of that game. I've never seen anything like it. With IU down 2, Eric Gordon gets fouled on a drive to the basket. And All-World, greatest player ever apparently has a tough time shooting free throws with his hands around his own neck. Misses both ends of the 2 shot foul to tie the game. The second rolls around the rim, just long enough for DJ White to shove every Minnesota player out of the way to get himself up in the air for a tip in and a foul. Where the foul was, I have absolutely no idea. Watch the replay, if you see it, let me know. So there was 3.6 on the clock and White on the line for the win. Of course he misses, long rebound, White runs after the ball, pulls his best Brian Cardinal flop, and somehow ends up flying backwards into the 3rd row. If there was a foul, the ref that made the call was the only person in the country that saw it. White back on the line with 1.6. Misses the first. Makes the 2nd. The rest is history. Or so I thought. That Hoffarber kid hit another game winning, amazing shot. I can't even put into words what happened... Just watch!!



A couple of other things, I was 3-1 against the spread in last night's Big 10 Games. If you're keeping score. Of course my Boilers screwed me. Again...

And I heard a story about the fact that the majority of the Selection Committe members has zero basketball history. They've never played, never coached, probably never watched. So I guess this is why the big names make the tourney when they should not. Since this is the case, teams like OSU and Florida, who have no business making the tourney, will probably be in. Now it's all making sense.

And lastly, Memphis won the C-USA tourney this morning. They beat the perennial powerhouse Tulsa Golden Hurricane by about 60. Memphis should be the only team that makes the tourney from that conference. How is a championship game decided by that many points??

Two out of Three Isn't Too Bad....

I suppose picking those games yesterday was not the toughest thing I have done, but 2 out of 3 isn't too bad. I should probably start picking games against the spread, that would probably make things more interesting...

Anyhow, huge day in the Big Ten Tourney. I think the biggest story is how IU is going to come out? Are their players over the fact that their scumbag coach is gone and play some decent basketball? Or are they going to keep crying about the sad outcome of a cheater and liar? They are playing a Minnesota that had to come back from down 16 to beat Northwestern, who again pissed down their leg in the face of a close game in the final seconds. They're terrible. And the fact that Spencer Tollackson didn't play in the 2nd half all the worse for the Wildcats.

The day starts out with Michigan and Wisconsin. Wisconsin shouldn't have much trouble with the Wolverines. Although they have been playing better, Wisconsin is just too good. They are the #1 seed for a reason.

Next is the Buckeyes and the Spartans. I still think OSU needs a good showing in the tourney to get into the NCAAs. They were playing much better at the end of the season, but their record in the weak Big 10 can't help their cause. They have to win against the Spartans, if they look good, I think they have a chance.

And at 5:30 CST it's the Boilers and Fighting Illini. Illinois won a close one yesterday, can they come back today and play another solid game. The only chance Illinois has to make the NCAAs is by winning the Big 10. Teams fighting for their life become scary in situations like this. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain. But I dont' think they have enough to beat the Boilers this afternoon and their miserable season will come to an end.

So sit back and strap in for an exciting day of Big 10 basketball! Should be a good one!!!

Next week before the NCAAs start I plan on doing some spring training Indians coverage, it's finally starting to thaw out up here and I'm starting to be able to smell golf and baseball season right around the corner!! Giggidy!!!!

And for my predictions...

Wisconsin is just good, they're giving 13, they'll win by 20.

Michigan State is always good in tournaments. Tom Izzo is a fantastic coach in situations like this, I just don't see them losing. The Bucks are getting 4 points, I predict a close game, lots of fouls at the end, MSU makes their free throws. MSU.

Purdue is goign to be too much for Illinois, I'm surprised to see the Boilers only giving up 4.5. Illinois is coming off an emotional, close game last night. I dont' think they're going to have enough left in the tank to deal with the suffocating Purdue D. I'm taking Purdue giving 4.5.

And last but not least IU is giving 5.5. They're favored by more than Purdue? Interesting. Anyhow, I wouldn't be the least surprised to see Minnesota win this game. IU is really playing poorly right now. Even if they do win, I don't see them covering. I've got Minnesota.

We'll see how I do tomorrow! Happy Big 10 Tournament Friday!!!