I've had the idea to write this post for quite a while now. Just never had the time to work on it and put my thoughts down. Most of my posts are about current events and such but this is something that I've always wondered about and I know most people would never think of it, but do you really want everyone in the world to root for your team. You ever heard the phrase, "how can you be insert team name fan." That phrase really bugs me, as if that person has no logical reason to be a fan of whatever team they like. I for one know a few reasons why people are fans of certain that don't happen to be the home team. This is a point I've made a million times, people ask me why do you like who you like? Well when I was picking teams as a kid, Wisconsin sucked at everything but making cheese. The Badgers were garbage in both football and basketball, the Packers sucked, the Brewers and Bucks well they were non-existent. My baseball allegiance is simple, my 4th cousin played for the Giants, when he retired in 1996 my fandom was well established and they had Barry Bonds then so it wasn't hard to keep liking them. They had a star player and were a decent team, not 1st place every year but were in contention year in year out. Since Robby retired the Giants have been to 3 World Series, winning 2, and my fandom has never wavered.
Football is a little more complicated, when I was a kid I saw the Redskins win the Super Bowl, then they did it again a few years later and since then, I've been all-in. It has been a long 20+ years since they've had success but I've stuck with the team, never thought about jumping ship. Not sure why I didn't flip to the Packers when Favre showed up but I never did, I guess I was to ingrained in the Skins even though they stunk and frankly nobody could've blamed me for jumping to the hometown team. College that was a little more difficult, I was a Michigan fan b/c of the Fab Five and the football team drug me a long. When I was between 10-14 everyone loved Michigan, I was one of the few who stuck it out, many of those fans soon became Wisconsin fans as they grew up. I for one stuck by until Rich Rod showed up, jumped ship to Iowa and haven't looked back. Now my move to being an Iowa fan hasn't been called out too much but it has happened, well I have my reasons and who are to tell me if I'm right or wrong.
Now onto what my post is about, why do you ask someone why they like a certain team. How can you be a Bears fan? How about this, well my dad was a Bears fan and we watched the Bears every weekend growing up and now I'm with the team. Would you rather that person say, you know what your right why am I Bears fan, hey give me your Packer hat, I just switched GO PACK GO. There's no honor in that. I need to be liked so much I'm just going to jump ship. We as sports fans hate two things, the first is our rivals, the second is fair weather fans. I for one hate fair weather fans more than my rivals. In fact most of my rivals fans are fair weather fans. Ever notice there is a tong of Cowboy fans around the age of 30? Stupid idiots got caught up in a 4 year run and have been in misery since then. Do I like they root for the Cowboys no, but I respect it since they've stuck it out.
Hating our rivals is something we do, and razzing the rival is part of the territory. However, I would rather you stay my rival then all the sudden you decide you don't like the Dodgers anymore and are instead a Giants fan. I think everyone makes a decision as to why they are fan of certain teams. It's not my job to try to convert you, in fact what fun would it be if everyone liked who I liked, being the out of town fan my whole life I'm actually not sure what to do when I'm in a group of people who like the same team I do. The NFL has 32 teams and 32 fan bases, some are larger than others but all teams have fans and we need to respect those fans. Just remember next time you ask someone why they like the team you hate, if it wasn't for them you wouldn't have anybody to make fun of when you whip their team. In fact that's what makes sports, the fact you can razz you best friend about Iowa beating Iowa St. while he was at the game and probably had to cry himself to sleep.
That's it for this week, I'm real busy so not sure when the next post will be up. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson for my thoughts during the baseball playoffs, and college and NFL seasons.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Thoughts of the week 8-13
Got nothing better to do right now figured let's pound out a post. Let's get some thoughts of the last few weeks in.
So tired of the Dodgers, what their doing is incredible and I'll give them credit but it's not the playoffs yet and they haven't earned jack. On another note I'm not shocked by this at all when you spend 200 million dollars on a team you should be in first place.
Was home yesterday afternoon and saw AJ Pierzynski get tossed during a no-hitter for arguing balls and strikes after Yu Darvish walked a guy when he thought he had strike 3. After the ump called ball 3 I knew AJ was done and then Darvish walked the guy and AJ got up and started bitching right away. I know a little about baseball and umps and arguing balls and strikes is something you don't do. I saw a few analysts say the umpire can't toss him there, oh yeah he can. What AJ was assholish and he was attempting to show up the umpire, as a catcher in the league for over a decade he knows what he can get away with and what he can't.
Football is amping up, saw a few preseason games last week, still too early to get excited.
Can the Redskins take the microphone away from RG III already? Stop doing press conferences saying you want to play, we know you want to play. But you have go through the system first, gotta crawl before you can walk, and you gotta walk before you can run RG.
Johnny Manziel is an idiot. Who in their right mind thinks it's ok to sign 4000 things for dealers. You idiot wait till your out of school, side note if you sign 4000 things your not helping yourself out in fact you autograph is almost worthless now.
Brian Vickers was announced today as the full time driver for the 55 next year, well since he's the only guy who can win in that car good for him.
Tony Stewart was getting a lot of shit because he broke his leg in a dirt race last week. I for one am ok with him racing other races during the week as long as it doesn't effect him on Sunday, and since he's been doing it his entire career and he has 3 Cup titles I guess it doesn't effect him, so therefore keep it up Champ.
I'm heading to Kansas City in a few weeks to catch a Royals-Tigers game hope the Royals keep this mini-run their on up and we can see some pennant chase baseball while we're there.
I didn't see this, but I heard about Adam Jones getting a banana thrown at him San Francisco this weekend. If anyone thinks that moron represents the thoughts of Giants fans then they are crazy. I honestly can't believe a town that we all would think is the most open-minded city in all of America would have someone be so blatantly racist. It's sick and if I could apologize to Adam Jones on behalf of the Giants Nation I would.
That's it for this week just a short one today, as football heats up maybe the posts will as well. Twitter @derekbredeson give me a follow.
So tired of the Dodgers, what their doing is incredible and I'll give them credit but it's not the playoffs yet and they haven't earned jack. On another note I'm not shocked by this at all when you spend 200 million dollars on a team you should be in first place.
Was home yesterday afternoon and saw AJ Pierzynski get tossed during a no-hitter for arguing balls and strikes after Yu Darvish walked a guy when he thought he had strike 3. After the ump called ball 3 I knew AJ was done and then Darvish walked the guy and AJ got up and started bitching right away. I know a little about baseball and umps and arguing balls and strikes is something you don't do. I saw a few analysts say the umpire can't toss him there, oh yeah he can. What AJ was assholish and he was attempting to show up the umpire, as a catcher in the league for over a decade he knows what he can get away with and what he can't.
Football is amping up, saw a few preseason games last week, still too early to get excited.
Can the Redskins take the microphone away from RG III already? Stop doing press conferences saying you want to play, we know you want to play. But you have go through the system first, gotta crawl before you can walk, and you gotta walk before you can run RG.
Johnny Manziel is an idiot. Who in their right mind thinks it's ok to sign 4000 things for dealers. You idiot wait till your out of school, side note if you sign 4000 things your not helping yourself out in fact you autograph is almost worthless now.
Brian Vickers was announced today as the full time driver for the 55 next year, well since he's the only guy who can win in that car good for him.
Tony Stewart was getting a lot of shit because he broke his leg in a dirt race last week. I for one am ok with him racing other races during the week as long as it doesn't effect him on Sunday, and since he's been doing it his entire career and he has 3 Cup titles I guess it doesn't effect him, so therefore keep it up Champ.
I'm heading to Kansas City in a few weeks to catch a Royals-Tigers game hope the Royals keep this mini-run their on up and we can see some pennant chase baseball while we're there.
I didn't see this, but I heard about Adam Jones getting a banana thrown at him San Francisco this weekend. If anyone thinks that moron represents the thoughts of Giants fans then they are crazy. I honestly can't believe a town that we all would think is the most open-minded city in all of America would have someone be so blatantly racist. It's sick and if I could apologize to Adam Jones on behalf of the Giants Nation I would.
That's it for this week just a short one today, as football heats up maybe the posts will as well. Twitter @derekbredeson give me a follow.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Loserville
Welcome to Loserville population 1. Since June 1st my 2 favorites the San Francisco Giants worst record and Denny Hamlin can barely finish a race. I haven't had much to write about since then and in fact I feel like these two things have the biggest reason to do with it. I've embraced losers in my days, the Redskins were a joke from 1992 till last year. However, for some reason this year I barely want to watch a race and if the last place Giants happen to be on I can barely watch since they're playing so terrible. I asked myself yesterday after Denny wrecked on lap 15 why I can't handle the losing this year and I came up with this post.
In the last 3 years I've been spoiled. 3 years ago Denny won 8 races, finished 2nd in points and has been a decent chance to win almost every weekend there is a race, except Daytona or Dega. The Giants obviously have won 2 of the last 3 World Series both teams being complete surprises. Last year the Redskins sold the farm got RG III he took them to a division title and the playoffs on a crazy winning streak to end the year. Now let's fast forward to now.
Denny had the accident in California that wasn't his fault. Hurt his back, missed some races, first race back he gets out of the car and it soon wrecks. That should've been a sign of things to come. I think since the end of May he has one top 20. The Giants were in the top of division at the end of May, since then worst team in baseball, with injuries and poor pitching piling up. I think the cherry on top of all of this is RG III coming back from having his knee rebuilt and the way things are going for me now I don't like his chances of making it this season.
Which brings me to the bigger question why all the sudden can't I handle the losing. I live among Cubs fans I should be able observe and learn from them. My best friend is a Dale Jr. fan he's been losing for years. I'm a self-admitted front runner and from my days as a kid the teams I picked were good, Michigan, Redskins, and Bulls. In fact first baseball game I can remember is the Giants in the World Series in 1989. But as I stated above I've dealt with losing my whole life so why now the problems. I honestly think it's the doom of the NFL season ahead of me, the Redskins have never had expectations and all the sudden they have some. I'm not excited at all for football. I haven't prepped for fantasy which I usually am by now. I think this RG III knee injury thing is really bringing me down and the unknown of his status if weighing on my sports watching. The fact my other favorites are underperforming doesn't help but I do feel fearing football starting is hurting me.
The Giants have shown some signs of getting out of this funk, the pitchers have been better than what they were just now the team can't score any runs. Worst part is this is basically the same team as last year, just missing Angel Pagan from the line up and Ryan Vogelsong from the rotation, both on the DL. They didn't trade any of the pieces at the deadline and sound like they want to make Hunter Pence a Giant for a long time, that'll help and whatever Tim Lincecum decides to do after the season I hope he comes back. I guess they can go for 3 in 5 years.
Denny on the other hand, for him the season is a total loss, he has no chance at the Chase. The team is trying their crazy set-ups in his car, hence why he can't finish races b/c his car is so jacked up. My only hope is he can win a race this season or maybe steal a few wins in the Chase. I hope he doesn't jack his back any more and can come back next year stronger.
I guess I'm starting to feel like a Cub fan, wait till next year blah blah blah. Either way I'll have to get over it and maybe remember the good times, I mean it wasn't all that long ago and the Giants are still the reigning champs. As football gets closer maybe I'll start writing more, in the meantime follow me on the twitter @derekbredeson and keep a close eye on the baseball races with all these suspensions things might get shaken up a bit.
In the last 3 years I've been spoiled. 3 years ago Denny won 8 races, finished 2nd in points and has been a decent chance to win almost every weekend there is a race, except Daytona or Dega. The Giants obviously have won 2 of the last 3 World Series both teams being complete surprises. Last year the Redskins sold the farm got RG III he took them to a division title and the playoffs on a crazy winning streak to end the year. Now let's fast forward to now.
Denny had the accident in California that wasn't his fault. Hurt his back, missed some races, first race back he gets out of the car and it soon wrecks. That should've been a sign of things to come. I think since the end of May he has one top 20. The Giants were in the top of division at the end of May, since then worst team in baseball, with injuries and poor pitching piling up. I think the cherry on top of all of this is RG III coming back from having his knee rebuilt and the way things are going for me now I don't like his chances of making it this season.
Which brings me to the bigger question why all the sudden can't I handle the losing. I live among Cubs fans I should be able observe and learn from them. My best friend is a Dale Jr. fan he's been losing for years. I'm a self-admitted front runner and from my days as a kid the teams I picked were good, Michigan, Redskins, and Bulls. In fact first baseball game I can remember is the Giants in the World Series in 1989. But as I stated above I've dealt with losing my whole life so why now the problems. I honestly think it's the doom of the NFL season ahead of me, the Redskins have never had expectations and all the sudden they have some. I'm not excited at all for football. I haven't prepped for fantasy which I usually am by now. I think this RG III knee injury thing is really bringing me down and the unknown of his status if weighing on my sports watching. The fact my other favorites are underperforming doesn't help but I do feel fearing football starting is hurting me.
The Giants have shown some signs of getting out of this funk, the pitchers have been better than what they were just now the team can't score any runs. Worst part is this is basically the same team as last year, just missing Angel Pagan from the line up and Ryan Vogelsong from the rotation, both on the DL. They didn't trade any of the pieces at the deadline and sound like they want to make Hunter Pence a Giant for a long time, that'll help and whatever Tim Lincecum decides to do after the season I hope he comes back. I guess they can go for 3 in 5 years.
Denny on the other hand, for him the season is a total loss, he has no chance at the Chase. The team is trying their crazy set-ups in his car, hence why he can't finish races b/c his car is so jacked up. My only hope is he can win a race this season or maybe steal a few wins in the Chase. I hope he doesn't jack his back any more and can come back next year stronger.
I guess I'm starting to feel like a Cub fan, wait till next year blah blah blah. Either way I'll have to get over it and maybe remember the good times, I mean it wasn't all that long ago and the Giants are still the reigning champs. As football gets closer maybe I'll start writing more, in the meantime follow me on the twitter @derekbredeson and keep a close eye on the baseball races with all these suspensions things might get shaken up a bit.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Mid-Season Report
Before the baseball season I made some bold predictions, we're around the half-way pole so I figured I'd revisit those predictions and see if I'm right or wrong.
Prediction 1-Yankees and Red Sox will miss playoffs. Well the Red Sox are tied for first place, Yankees are in 4th. I'll give myself a B for that one, since the Red Sox are up front but this division is close and anyone could win it yet.
Prediction 2-Sleep on the Blue Jays. Jays are in last but only 6 out and they just rattled off 9 in a row. I'll go with a B+ since they are in last.
Prediction 3-Fuck the Dodgers, money doesn't win. Dodgers are in last, enough said. I'll stick with a A- on that one.
Prediction 4-The Angels are going to be tough. They are in 3rd out West 7 1/2 out. They aren't the powerhouse I predicted. I'll say I failed on that prediction F.
Prediction 5-Giants win the West. They lost 6 in a row before winning yesterday, they are in 4th 6 1/2 out. I'll give that an F as well.
Prediction 6-Watch out for the Nationals. Their in 2nd 4 1/2 out, Bryce Harper has been hurt and honestly none of the other guys have been as good as advertised. Still a lot of season left and Harper is rehabbing, I'll give myself a C for this one.
Prediction 7-NL Central is garbage. By far the wrongest I could possibly be. Best 2 records in the National League are from this division and the Reds have the 4th best. This one is an F-, I'm wrong a lot.
Prediction 8-Watch Starling Marte, next breakout star. Chris Davis is the breakout star of the year with Manny Machado and Yaisel Puig right behind him. Marte has been good, just not breakout good. I'll give myself a C for him.
Prediction 9-Aroldis Chapman is the best closer in baseball. Well Jason Grilli and Jim Johnson have the most saves and Chapman has been ok just not as dominant as last year, C- for that one.
Prediction 10-Tigers got the AL central on lock. They are tied with Cleveland for 1st. Cleveland could fall apart tomorrow, B- for that one.
Prediction 11-The Upton are going to strike out a lot. Justin is 12th in K's and BJ is tied for 13th yeah that wasn't very bold prediction but I'll still give myself an A.
Prediction 12-I like the Rays and Royals. Both are in 3rd primed to make a run at the Wild Card if not division, C+ for that one.
Prediction 13-AL Awards Trout and Verlander. Chris Davis and Miguel Cabrera are crushing for MVP, and Verlander has something wrong with him. I get a D.
Prediction 14-NL Awards Votto and Strasburg. To be honest I'm not really sure who is carrying the NL, maybe Goldshmidt and Cargo, and Harvey and Wainwright for pitchers. Gotta give myself an F for this.
Prediction 15-AL Playoff teams Rays, Tigers, Angels, Royals and A's. Playoffs started today it's Red Sox, Orioles, Tigers, Rangers and A's. So I got 2 out of 5 that's 40%, that's an F.
Prediction 16-NL Playoff teams Nationals, Reds, Giants, Phillies and Dodgers. Playoffs started today it's Braves, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Cardinals and Reds. That's 1 of 5 20% F-.
The last prediction is the WS so I can't really tell that right now. As you can see I have way more wrong than I do right but hey I got half a season to make this up. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson, have a good week and enjoy the fireworks.
Prediction 1-Yankees and Red Sox will miss playoffs. Well the Red Sox are tied for first place, Yankees are in 4th. I'll give myself a B for that one, since the Red Sox are up front but this division is close and anyone could win it yet.
Prediction 2-Sleep on the Blue Jays. Jays are in last but only 6 out and they just rattled off 9 in a row. I'll go with a B+ since they are in last.
Prediction 3-Fuck the Dodgers, money doesn't win. Dodgers are in last, enough said. I'll stick with a A- on that one.
Prediction 4-The Angels are going to be tough. They are in 3rd out West 7 1/2 out. They aren't the powerhouse I predicted. I'll say I failed on that prediction F.
Prediction 5-Giants win the West. They lost 6 in a row before winning yesterday, they are in 4th 6 1/2 out. I'll give that an F as well.
Prediction 6-Watch out for the Nationals. Their in 2nd 4 1/2 out, Bryce Harper has been hurt and honestly none of the other guys have been as good as advertised. Still a lot of season left and Harper is rehabbing, I'll give myself a C for this one.
Prediction 7-NL Central is garbage. By far the wrongest I could possibly be. Best 2 records in the National League are from this division and the Reds have the 4th best. This one is an F-, I'm wrong a lot.
Prediction 8-Watch Starling Marte, next breakout star. Chris Davis is the breakout star of the year with Manny Machado and Yaisel Puig right behind him. Marte has been good, just not breakout good. I'll give myself a C for him.
Prediction 9-Aroldis Chapman is the best closer in baseball. Well Jason Grilli and Jim Johnson have the most saves and Chapman has been ok just not as dominant as last year, C- for that one.
Prediction 10-Tigers got the AL central on lock. They are tied with Cleveland for 1st. Cleveland could fall apart tomorrow, B- for that one.
Prediction 11-The Upton are going to strike out a lot. Justin is 12th in K's and BJ is tied for 13th yeah that wasn't very bold prediction but I'll still give myself an A.
Prediction 12-I like the Rays and Royals. Both are in 3rd primed to make a run at the Wild Card if not division, C+ for that one.
Prediction 13-AL Awards Trout and Verlander. Chris Davis and Miguel Cabrera are crushing for MVP, and Verlander has something wrong with him. I get a D.
Prediction 14-NL Awards Votto and Strasburg. To be honest I'm not really sure who is carrying the NL, maybe Goldshmidt and Cargo, and Harvey and Wainwright for pitchers. Gotta give myself an F for this.
Prediction 15-AL Playoff teams Rays, Tigers, Angels, Royals and A's. Playoffs started today it's Red Sox, Orioles, Tigers, Rangers and A's. So I got 2 out of 5 that's 40%, that's an F.
Prediction 16-NL Playoff teams Nationals, Reds, Giants, Phillies and Dodgers. Playoffs started today it's Braves, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Cardinals and Reds. That's 1 of 5 20% F-.
The last prediction is the WS so I can't really tell that right now. As you can see I have way more wrong than I do right but hey I got half a season to make this up. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson, have a good week and enjoy the fireworks.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Thoughts of the week 6-9 edition
Not a heck of a lot going on besides the NBA Finals but I don't watch basketball enough to even bother writing an entire post about it. Anyway a few thoughts for the week.
Yaisel Puig is the real deal. It sucks he plays for the Dodgers but the dude came up this week hit 4 bombs and 10 RBI in his first 5 games, not to mention he has a gun and doubled a guy off at first to end the game last Monday.
Didn't watch the end of the race today because I was playing softball but I saw Jimmie won and Denny got 8th. That's a decent day for Denny but if he's gonna get in the top 20 and make this chase we need a lot more of that and not so much of last week. I have faith he has winnable tracks ahead of him just needs that break at the end of the race to go his way.
Watched some of tonight's game between the Heat and Spurs. I am by far the biggest LeBron fan I know, mainly since everyone hates him, but the guy is the best player in the league and he takes games over. He's not going to disappear for a whole series like Bosh did. He plays great defense, dishes like Magic, and plays physically like a power forward.
I love reading when people say the NBA is fixed. Why would it be fixed? What do they have to gain with it fixed? The TV deals are already made so they won't get more TV dollars in their next contract b/c the Heat won or lost. In fact if there was a conspiracy I would think it would be to make the Heat lose since everyone hates them. I'm sure ESPN isn't going to take off 2 million from the next TV deal b/c in 2013 the Spurs won.
The Nationwide series ran at Iowa this weekend, man do I wish they would add some seats there and get a cup race. The Cup level needs another short track and Iowa is the perfect place for a race, just need the facilities to get better and double the capacity
The last ESPN the Magazine was one of the best issues in a while, I read the whole thing cover to cover. They had great articles about Mike Tyson, Brittney Griner, and a coach from Minnesota who lost his job b/c he had a video of his kids naked on a cell phone. Excellent read, also had a nice piece about Tim Tebow and why he'll never get another job and how it's his fault.
The Tebow article was great b/c they said the guy is a media whore and he does things to keep himself on the camera's and deflect his lack of football ability.
I know I don't tend to talk pop news much, but did you see Bieber at game 7 of Indy-Miami, what a douche and kid get your life figured out.
Seeing a lot of NFL news lately about RG III and his health, hope the guy gets 100% healthy and doesn't hurt himself anymore.
Another thing that is a hot topic of late is the Redskins changing their name. I honestly wouldn't mind a name change, as long as the colors stay the same and I'd prefer the logo to remain. If they could change to Indians or Warriors or something along that lines it would be ok. I understand Native Americans don't like the term "Redskins" but who is racist against them and uses the term Redskin? I think people use a more derogatory term, but I may be wrong. Personally I don't think about the team name all that much, too me it's the same as Giants or Hawkeyes just my team.
This steroid witch hunt is about ridiculous. MLB is going to interview a guy they were suing about a week ago. I went through this crap with Barry Bonds and I'm honestly over it. If you catch guys catch them don't do this back channel gotcha justice bullshit. MLB is mad at Ryan Braun for making them look a fool last year, and I'd put money down the Yankees are bankrolling this investigation just to void A-Rod's contract.
That's if for this week, twitter me @derekbredeson, see ya next week.
Yaisel Puig is the real deal. It sucks he plays for the Dodgers but the dude came up this week hit 4 bombs and 10 RBI in his first 5 games, not to mention he has a gun and doubled a guy off at first to end the game last Monday.
Didn't watch the end of the race today because I was playing softball but I saw Jimmie won and Denny got 8th. That's a decent day for Denny but if he's gonna get in the top 20 and make this chase we need a lot more of that and not so much of last week. I have faith he has winnable tracks ahead of him just needs that break at the end of the race to go his way.
Watched some of tonight's game between the Heat and Spurs. I am by far the biggest LeBron fan I know, mainly since everyone hates him, but the guy is the best player in the league and he takes games over. He's not going to disappear for a whole series like Bosh did. He plays great defense, dishes like Magic, and plays physically like a power forward.
I love reading when people say the NBA is fixed. Why would it be fixed? What do they have to gain with it fixed? The TV deals are already made so they won't get more TV dollars in their next contract b/c the Heat won or lost. In fact if there was a conspiracy I would think it would be to make the Heat lose since everyone hates them. I'm sure ESPN isn't going to take off 2 million from the next TV deal b/c in 2013 the Spurs won.
The Nationwide series ran at Iowa this weekend, man do I wish they would add some seats there and get a cup race. The Cup level needs another short track and Iowa is the perfect place for a race, just need the facilities to get better and double the capacity
The last ESPN the Magazine was one of the best issues in a while, I read the whole thing cover to cover. They had great articles about Mike Tyson, Brittney Griner, and a coach from Minnesota who lost his job b/c he had a video of his kids naked on a cell phone. Excellent read, also had a nice piece about Tim Tebow and why he'll never get another job and how it's his fault.
The Tebow article was great b/c they said the guy is a media whore and he does things to keep himself on the camera's and deflect his lack of football ability.
I know I don't tend to talk pop news much, but did you see Bieber at game 7 of Indy-Miami, what a douche and kid get your life figured out.
Seeing a lot of NFL news lately about RG III and his health, hope the guy gets 100% healthy and doesn't hurt himself anymore.
Another thing that is a hot topic of late is the Redskins changing their name. I honestly wouldn't mind a name change, as long as the colors stay the same and I'd prefer the logo to remain. If they could change to Indians or Warriors or something along that lines it would be ok. I understand Native Americans don't like the term "Redskins" but who is racist against them and uses the term Redskin? I think people use a more derogatory term, but I may be wrong. Personally I don't think about the team name all that much, too me it's the same as Giants or Hawkeyes just my team.
This steroid witch hunt is about ridiculous. MLB is going to interview a guy they were suing about a week ago. I went through this crap with Barry Bonds and I'm honestly over it. If you catch guys catch them don't do this back channel gotcha justice bullshit. MLB is mad at Ryan Braun for making them look a fool last year, and I'd put money down the Yankees are bankrolling this investigation just to void A-Rod's contract.
That's if for this week, twitter me @derekbredeson, see ya next week.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Underrated/Overrated
Every once in a while my XM Radio in my Blazer gets turned on for free and I love it b/c I get to listen to sports talk radio. Obviously these people have to have something to talk about 24/7 so with the NBA Playoffs going on they all talk about LeBron and where he ranks all-time, and I heard a guy say he can't even put LeBron in the same category as MJ, this got me thinking, has MJ actually become overrated? Is that possible, the guy ESPN named the best athlete of the 1900's, arguably the greatest basketball player ever, has he actually become overrated. I think he has, and in fact I think a few guys have become overrated after their careers and few are underrated, I'm going to make a little list here. A few guys who I think we either speak to high of, or we forgot about them.
Michael Jordan overrated, the guy is the greatest ever, but this notion that we can't compare anyone to him has gotten a little out of hand. When he was in the twilight of his career and a little after the media wanted to proclaim the next Jordan. I can name a list of guys but Harold Miner was one for sure, in fact they called him "Baby Jordan," the 2 closest guys I can think of are Kobe and LeBron. Kobe is the pure scorer who's won lots of championships and LeBron is a physical specimen who has a rounder game. Now I don't want speak bad about Jordan but this notion that we can't compare people to him is absurd, it's sports it's all we do. We compare today's players with yesterday's players and vice versa, how would this guy do against this guy. Are LeBron and MJ the same player, no. LeBron is a much better defender and facilitator where MJ had the killer instinct and had incredible will to NOT lose. There is a thing about MJ though, Steve Kerr and John Paxson both hit game winners for the Bulls that won championships. So the notion that MJ is the ultimate closer and always took the final shot is bull. So I guess I'm trying to say we can compare guys to Jordan doesn't mean their better than him, and sometimes we forget Jordan's game had flaws but since we only remember the greatness we forget them. He didn't win a championship every year he was in the league people.
Barry Sanders underrated, this may seem weird especially since he just got named to the Madden cover by a fan vote. I think though that as we get farther away from his career and more into the fantasy era we forget Barry's greatness. The guy was a human video game, by far the best RB in the league and maybe the best of all time close to Jim Brown in many peoples eyes. In the days of LaDanian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson, and Arian Foster we sometimes forget how great Barry Sanders was. Barry has some of the best runs of all time and I hope time makes him greater not worse in our eyes.
Derek Jeter overrated, I don't want to take anything away from Jeter but if he's considered a winner and all that crap than we should look at how he got his championships. There is also talk that he is one of the 5 greatest Yankees of all-time, wow the greatest organization is all of sports and this guy is one of the 5 best, he's not even one of the 5 best Shortstops of all time so how is he one of the greatest in his organization that has some of the greatest at their positions. He's never won the MVP, in all of his championships he only has one World Series MVP. How is that all-time Yankee great, he's not better than Babe, Mantle, DiMaggio, Gehrig, or even Reggie Jackson in my eyes. The guy is a great player but he's never been the best Shortstop in the game let alone one of the best 5 players in Yankee history.
The entire 1st round draft class of 1983 underrated, I watched ESPN's 30 for 30 about Marino and Elway and during that they talked about the guys drafted in that 1st round, mainly saying who passed on Marino as he fell into the 2nd to last pick in the 1st round. Growing up we heard about the great QB class of '83, 3 Hall of Famers in Elway, Marino, and Jim Kelly, but as good as those guys were there were plenty of studs taken that weren't QB's. There are 3 other Hall of Famers, Eric Dickerson, Bruce Mathews, and Darrell Green. A couple of key pieces to Super Bowl winners, Jim Covert and Willie Gault for the Bears, Jim Jeffcoat with Dallas, and Terry Kinard with the Giants. The QB's in that draft were a combined 2-9 in Super Bowls, with Kelly losing 4, Elway winning 2 but losing 3, Marino losing 1, and Tony Eason losing 1 with New England. Sounds like a pretty loaded 1st round to me, 6 of the 28 are in the HOF, just a little under a quarter. Don't sleep on the rest of this draft either Richard Dent went in the 8th to Chicago, and Roger Craig, Dave Duerson, Henry Ellard, Darryl Talley, Jesse Sapolu, and Charles Mann all were taken after the 1st. In fact just looking the Bears built half their 85 championship with this draft. The Redskins didn't do too bad either.
The 90's Atlanta Braves overrated, they call them the team of the 90's sometimes, is 1 championship all it takes to be the team of a decade? The Braves were good, but stop it, they weren't the best team of the decade in fact they might be the biggest disappointment of the decade. They had Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine yet only won one. I know a lot of people want to crown them all these great pitchers but they should all have more than 1 ring.
Joe Montana overrated, I know I called Joe the greatest QB of all time on this blog a few weeks ago. I though realize sometimes I overrate people and I'm willing to admit it. I overrate Joe Montana simply b/c he had the greatest WR of all-time. Since he had Rice he got a lot of extra yards that Rice made after the catch. I guess I'm trying to say it's not to hard to play QB when your throwing to the greatest of all time. That being said I still think Montana is the best ever.
Terrell Owens and Randy Moss underrated, these guys are 2 of the best ever yet nobody wants to give them credit because they had bad attitudes. Owens and Moss dominated the game for a decade like no other WR's before them had, even Rice. They are both freakish athletes with size, speed, hands, and jumping ability. Their off field problems stack up on them so most of us don't want to give them credit, but if you and me were picking teams I would take these two at WR.
Well that's all for this week, got a new computer so hopefully the posts will be back to weekly. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Michael Jordan overrated, the guy is the greatest ever, but this notion that we can't compare anyone to him has gotten a little out of hand. When he was in the twilight of his career and a little after the media wanted to proclaim the next Jordan. I can name a list of guys but Harold Miner was one for sure, in fact they called him "Baby Jordan," the 2 closest guys I can think of are Kobe and LeBron. Kobe is the pure scorer who's won lots of championships and LeBron is a physical specimen who has a rounder game. Now I don't want speak bad about Jordan but this notion that we can't compare people to him is absurd, it's sports it's all we do. We compare today's players with yesterday's players and vice versa, how would this guy do against this guy. Are LeBron and MJ the same player, no. LeBron is a much better defender and facilitator where MJ had the killer instinct and had incredible will to NOT lose. There is a thing about MJ though, Steve Kerr and John Paxson both hit game winners for the Bulls that won championships. So the notion that MJ is the ultimate closer and always took the final shot is bull. So I guess I'm trying to say we can compare guys to Jordan doesn't mean their better than him, and sometimes we forget Jordan's game had flaws but since we only remember the greatness we forget them. He didn't win a championship every year he was in the league people.
Barry Sanders underrated, this may seem weird especially since he just got named to the Madden cover by a fan vote. I think though that as we get farther away from his career and more into the fantasy era we forget Barry's greatness. The guy was a human video game, by far the best RB in the league and maybe the best of all time close to Jim Brown in many peoples eyes. In the days of LaDanian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson, and Arian Foster we sometimes forget how great Barry Sanders was. Barry has some of the best runs of all time and I hope time makes him greater not worse in our eyes.
Derek Jeter overrated, I don't want to take anything away from Jeter but if he's considered a winner and all that crap than we should look at how he got his championships. There is also talk that he is one of the 5 greatest Yankees of all-time, wow the greatest organization is all of sports and this guy is one of the 5 best, he's not even one of the 5 best Shortstops of all time so how is he one of the greatest in his organization that has some of the greatest at their positions. He's never won the MVP, in all of his championships he only has one World Series MVP. How is that all-time Yankee great, he's not better than Babe, Mantle, DiMaggio, Gehrig, or even Reggie Jackson in my eyes. The guy is a great player but he's never been the best Shortstop in the game let alone one of the best 5 players in Yankee history.
The entire 1st round draft class of 1983 underrated, I watched ESPN's 30 for 30 about Marino and Elway and during that they talked about the guys drafted in that 1st round, mainly saying who passed on Marino as he fell into the 2nd to last pick in the 1st round. Growing up we heard about the great QB class of '83, 3 Hall of Famers in Elway, Marino, and Jim Kelly, but as good as those guys were there were plenty of studs taken that weren't QB's. There are 3 other Hall of Famers, Eric Dickerson, Bruce Mathews, and Darrell Green. A couple of key pieces to Super Bowl winners, Jim Covert and Willie Gault for the Bears, Jim Jeffcoat with Dallas, and Terry Kinard with the Giants. The QB's in that draft were a combined 2-9 in Super Bowls, with Kelly losing 4, Elway winning 2 but losing 3, Marino losing 1, and Tony Eason losing 1 with New England. Sounds like a pretty loaded 1st round to me, 6 of the 28 are in the HOF, just a little under a quarter. Don't sleep on the rest of this draft either Richard Dent went in the 8th to Chicago, and Roger Craig, Dave Duerson, Henry Ellard, Darryl Talley, Jesse Sapolu, and Charles Mann all were taken after the 1st. In fact just looking the Bears built half their 85 championship with this draft. The Redskins didn't do too bad either.
The 90's Atlanta Braves overrated, they call them the team of the 90's sometimes, is 1 championship all it takes to be the team of a decade? The Braves were good, but stop it, they weren't the best team of the decade in fact they might be the biggest disappointment of the decade. They had Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine yet only won one. I know a lot of people want to crown them all these great pitchers but they should all have more than 1 ring.
Joe Montana overrated, I know I called Joe the greatest QB of all time on this blog a few weeks ago. I though realize sometimes I overrate people and I'm willing to admit it. I overrate Joe Montana simply b/c he had the greatest WR of all-time. Since he had Rice he got a lot of extra yards that Rice made after the catch. I guess I'm trying to say it's not to hard to play QB when your throwing to the greatest of all time. That being said I still think Montana is the best ever.
Terrell Owens and Randy Moss underrated, these guys are 2 of the best ever yet nobody wants to give them credit because they had bad attitudes. Owens and Moss dominated the game for a decade like no other WR's before them had, even Rice. They are both freakish athletes with size, speed, hands, and jumping ability. Their off field problems stack up on them so most of us don't want to give them credit, but if you and me were picking teams I would take these two at WR.
Well that's all for this week, got a new computer so hopefully the posts will be back to weekly. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Hating
Lately I've been doing this annoying thing where everyone's Facebook statuses bug the shit out of me. Being from Wisconsin/Iowa a lot of statuses have been about the Bulls-Heat series and a few things about LeBron. Disclaimer I've watched 2 quarters of NBA basketball this year, some of the 3rd of game 3 and some of the 4th of game 2 of the Heat-Bulls series. So what I'm about to rant about has really nothing to do with basketball actually being played, instead it has to with why people hate LeBron James.
I've been a LeBron guy since ESPN put one of his High School games on national TV. The player I watched that night was unselfish, passing like a mad man to his teammates, and a man among boys. He was huge and has only gotten bigger. Since that night years ago, LeBron has gone on to become 1st overall pick, biggest free agent ever in sports, 4-time MVP, took a team of losers in Cleveland to the Finals, and has 1 Championship. That's a pretty good resume, should he have a few more titles probably, but he's 28 and if he plays to 35 that's a chance for 7 more titles. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. The NBA is probably the hardest league to win championships, in fact 2 teams (Boston and LA have half the Championships) In the last 20 years 8 teams have championships, Detroit, Boston, and Dallas being the only teams with 1 in that time, leaving 5 teams sharing 17. That's insane, yet we crush LeBron for only having 1. The Dallas loss was bad but that was his 1st year in Miami and they hadn't clicked yet. I'll give you he doesn't have enough championships but they only give out 1 a year.
Now I understand your a Bulls fan and you don't "like" the Heat because they are playing your team. You have to cheer against them, I get it but does that mean you have to say "I hate LeBron." No it doesn't you can easily cheer for your team without hating the opposition, in fact hating should be saved for a special few. I hate 3 teams, Cowboys-Redskins rivals, Dodgers-Giants rivals, and Notre Dame-not sure why but hey somethings you can't explain. I usually don't hate any particular players, maybe Romo, but I don't dislike Matt Kemp or even Manti T'eo. Hating individual players is hard because you never know when they might end up on your team. Think Yankee fans hated Johnny Damon, plenty of NFL players flip flop teams inside the division just so they can get 2 games against the team that didn't pay them. I say this, Chicago fans who hate LeBron when he was a free agent there were rumors him and Chicago native Dwayne Wade were coming to the Bulls, would you hate LeBron then? Once again though I don't expect you to say I love LeBron but hating him seems a little strong.
When I brought this topic up on facebook the other night someone said it's natural to hate the best, the Patriots, Yankees, and Heat for example. Well I don't hate the Patriots and if you hate the Patriots shut up they haven't won a championship in almost a decade, 2005 being their last championship. Do you hate Pittsburgh, or the Giants, they've won 2 each since the last Patriots win. Do people really hate winners, if your not from Chicago and your a Bulls fan your probably a fan b/c of Jordan and his winning ways. Now the guy who is closest to him you hate yeah that makes total sense. This idea of hating the guy who is just like your favorite happens a lot, people in Nascar hate Kyle Busch, a guy who will win at all costs and isn't happy if he doesn't win, sounds a lot like Dale Earnhardt to me. I think people just want to hate to hate, whether it's jealousy or just going with the flow.
When it comes to LeBron people have plenty of ammo, whether it's the Decision, the fact he didn't win a championship right away, maybe b/c he acts like a kid and has fun playing the game, you know isn't serious enough. The Decision is as much ESPN's fault as it was LeBron, and acting like LeBron is the first free agent to not tell the city he's leaving that he isn't coming back is stupid. Guys leave all the time and don't say good-bye before leaving. Get over yourselves he owed Cleveland nothing, he owed you nothing and if he decided to go to Miami to try to win championships shouldn't we applaud him since we kill guys who just play for money and not championships. Hating a guy who is shoved down our throats isn't reason either, you know there are 200 channels to watch, I for one barely watch ESPN anymore b/c they only talk about a few people. I instead watch MLB Network for my baseball, Speed for my Nascar, and ESPN during the NFL and College Football season, but only the pregame shows not Sportscenter, tired of hearing about someone turn off the TV. If LeBron were a jerk like Barry Bonds was I'd understand the hating but he's not a jerk. He's fun loving always joking with teammates and having fun, he's no more cocky than any other player in the NFL or NBA including the cockiest little guy in the world Nate Robinson a Bull.
I guess in all this long winded repeating of myself I'm trying to say, this guy is one of the best ever, appreciate what your watching and stop hating. I went through this when I was younger saying I hated Kobe, but I grew up and eventually started appreciating him and his talent. Let's save our hate for guys who deserve it, Mike Vick, Ben Roethlesburger, other guys who broke the law, but hating a guy just b/c he's the best, LeBron, Tom Brady, Jimmie Johnson is a bit stupid. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson or read some older posts.
I've been a LeBron guy since ESPN put one of his High School games on national TV. The player I watched that night was unselfish, passing like a mad man to his teammates, and a man among boys. He was huge and has only gotten bigger. Since that night years ago, LeBron has gone on to become 1st overall pick, biggest free agent ever in sports, 4-time MVP, took a team of losers in Cleveland to the Finals, and has 1 Championship. That's a pretty good resume, should he have a few more titles probably, but he's 28 and if he plays to 35 that's a chance for 7 more titles. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. The NBA is probably the hardest league to win championships, in fact 2 teams (Boston and LA have half the Championships) In the last 20 years 8 teams have championships, Detroit, Boston, and Dallas being the only teams with 1 in that time, leaving 5 teams sharing 17. That's insane, yet we crush LeBron for only having 1. The Dallas loss was bad but that was his 1st year in Miami and they hadn't clicked yet. I'll give you he doesn't have enough championships but they only give out 1 a year.
Now I understand your a Bulls fan and you don't "like" the Heat because they are playing your team. You have to cheer against them, I get it but does that mean you have to say "I hate LeBron." No it doesn't you can easily cheer for your team without hating the opposition, in fact hating should be saved for a special few. I hate 3 teams, Cowboys-Redskins rivals, Dodgers-Giants rivals, and Notre Dame-not sure why but hey somethings you can't explain. I usually don't hate any particular players, maybe Romo, but I don't dislike Matt Kemp or even Manti T'eo. Hating individual players is hard because you never know when they might end up on your team. Think Yankee fans hated Johnny Damon, plenty of NFL players flip flop teams inside the division just so they can get 2 games against the team that didn't pay them. I say this, Chicago fans who hate LeBron when he was a free agent there were rumors him and Chicago native Dwayne Wade were coming to the Bulls, would you hate LeBron then? Once again though I don't expect you to say I love LeBron but hating him seems a little strong.
When I brought this topic up on facebook the other night someone said it's natural to hate the best, the Patriots, Yankees, and Heat for example. Well I don't hate the Patriots and if you hate the Patriots shut up they haven't won a championship in almost a decade, 2005 being their last championship. Do you hate Pittsburgh, or the Giants, they've won 2 each since the last Patriots win. Do people really hate winners, if your not from Chicago and your a Bulls fan your probably a fan b/c of Jordan and his winning ways. Now the guy who is closest to him you hate yeah that makes total sense. This idea of hating the guy who is just like your favorite happens a lot, people in Nascar hate Kyle Busch, a guy who will win at all costs and isn't happy if he doesn't win, sounds a lot like Dale Earnhardt to me. I think people just want to hate to hate, whether it's jealousy or just going with the flow.
When it comes to LeBron people have plenty of ammo, whether it's the Decision, the fact he didn't win a championship right away, maybe b/c he acts like a kid and has fun playing the game, you know isn't serious enough. The Decision is as much ESPN's fault as it was LeBron, and acting like LeBron is the first free agent to not tell the city he's leaving that he isn't coming back is stupid. Guys leave all the time and don't say good-bye before leaving. Get over yourselves he owed Cleveland nothing, he owed you nothing and if he decided to go to Miami to try to win championships shouldn't we applaud him since we kill guys who just play for money and not championships. Hating a guy who is shoved down our throats isn't reason either, you know there are 200 channels to watch, I for one barely watch ESPN anymore b/c they only talk about a few people. I instead watch MLB Network for my baseball, Speed for my Nascar, and ESPN during the NFL and College Football season, but only the pregame shows not Sportscenter, tired of hearing about someone turn off the TV. If LeBron were a jerk like Barry Bonds was I'd understand the hating but he's not a jerk. He's fun loving always joking with teammates and having fun, he's no more cocky than any other player in the NFL or NBA including the cockiest little guy in the world Nate Robinson a Bull.
I guess in all this long winded repeating of myself I'm trying to say, this guy is one of the best ever, appreciate what your watching and stop hating. I went through this when I was younger saying I hated Kobe, but I grew up and eventually started appreciating him and his talent. Let's save our hate for guys who deserve it, Mike Vick, Ben Roethlesburger, other guys who broke the law, but hating a guy just b/c he's the best, LeBron, Tom Brady, Jimmie Johnson is a bit stupid. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson or read some older posts.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Thoughts of the Week 4-29 edition
Was going to do this yesterday but so glad I didn't, lots of big news today let's get right into it.
Hoo-Ray Jason Collins came out as gay. I don't understand why it took so long but glad it finally happened. Sports is usually ahead of society see Jackie Robinson who beat the civil rights movement by almost 20 years when he broke the color barrier in baseball. Homophobia is so stupid and if any athletes have a problem shut up. We as humans walk by or work with people we're attracted to all the time but somehow we have the self-control to not hump everything in sight, pretty sure gay people are the same.
After saying I wasn't excited about the draft I watched the entire 1st round on Thursday night. A few thoughts from that. Why do we do Mock drafts? Todd McShay, Mel Kiper Jr. and Mike Mayock all get it wrong, every year. All it takes is for one team to like you and for them to feel your the right fit. EJ Manuel got drafted in the 1st round by Buffalo, ahead of all the other QB's. He was the #1 on Buffalo's board that's why they took him, may be #1 on your board but your board don't mean jackshit to Buffalo. You want to give analysis tell me about the kid that's fine but to say someone drafted poorly or not is a joke. Mel Kiper had Geno Smith going in the top 10 and he didn't go till the 2nd round, the 2nd QB I can remember Mel whiffing on when he had Brady Quinn going in the top 10. Yet, every year ESPN marches him out weekly during football season and we all have to listen to him bumbling ass.
The guy the Chiefs took screams workout warrior. I didn't like the pick would rather of taken Luke Joeckel who played in the SEC and played big boy football.
Green Bay got a great guy in the 2nd with Eddie Lacy he's gonna be force for them.
Montee Ball from Wisconsin went to Denver and everyone went crazy, he's gonna be so good. blah blah blah. For one he'll be behind Moreno or McGahee if not both. Also the Bronco's have 3 studs at WR and Peyton is going to be throwing a lot.
The Ansah dude from BYU screams bust.
Tim Tebow got cut this morning by the Jets, that's awesome on so many levels. I'm not going to dig too deep b/c he is a back-up QB, but he was a publicity stunt for them and when his story ran out, they ran him out. He'll sign up somewhere nobody worry we're not done with this guy yet.
Bryce Harper is a beast carry on.
Haven't watched a dribble of the NBA playoffs, you shouldn't be shocked by this just saying.
The race Saturday night was awesome and if you missed I feel bad for you. Kevin Harvick made an awesome move on a green white checkered and went from 7th to 2nd in one corner if you can find it watch it. Richmond is one of the tracks I really want to go to and I think we'll be heading that way sometime in the next 5 years or so. I think Nascar needs more short tracks the 3 they have just aren't enough compared to the dozen or so 1.5-2 mile ovals that don't produce as good of racing.
Friday night in the Nationwide race Nelson Piquet Jr. did a big no-no when he kicked Brian Scott below the belt, I don't have an opinion on Piquet as a driver but that was a cheap shot and you don't do that shit.
Well that's it for this week, follow me on twitter @derekbredeson and once again well done Jason Collins hopefully more athletes will follow on your footsteps.
Hoo-Ray Jason Collins came out as gay. I don't understand why it took so long but glad it finally happened. Sports is usually ahead of society see Jackie Robinson who beat the civil rights movement by almost 20 years when he broke the color barrier in baseball. Homophobia is so stupid and if any athletes have a problem shut up. We as humans walk by or work with people we're attracted to all the time but somehow we have the self-control to not hump everything in sight, pretty sure gay people are the same.
After saying I wasn't excited about the draft I watched the entire 1st round on Thursday night. A few thoughts from that. Why do we do Mock drafts? Todd McShay, Mel Kiper Jr. and Mike Mayock all get it wrong, every year. All it takes is for one team to like you and for them to feel your the right fit. EJ Manuel got drafted in the 1st round by Buffalo, ahead of all the other QB's. He was the #1 on Buffalo's board that's why they took him, may be #1 on your board but your board don't mean jackshit to Buffalo. You want to give analysis tell me about the kid that's fine but to say someone drafted poorly or not is a joke. Mel Kiper had Geno Smith going in the top 10 and he didn't go till the 2nd round, the 2nd QB I can remember Mel whiffing on when he had Brady Quinn going in the top 10. Yet, every year ESPN marches him out weekly during football season and we all have to listen to him bumbling ass.
The guy the Chiefs took screams workout warrior. I didn't like the pick would rather of taken Luke Joeckel who played in the SEC and played big boy football.
Green Bay got a great guy in the 2nd with Eddie Lacy he's gonna be force for them.
Montee Ball from Wisconsin went to Denver and everyone went crazy, he's gonna be so good. blah blah blah. For one he'll be behind Moreno or McGahee if not both. Also the Bronco's have 3 studs at WR and Peyton is going to be throwing a lot.
The Ansah dude from BYU screams bust.
Tim Tebow got cut this morning by the Jets, that's awesome on so many levels. I'm not going to dig too deep b/c he is a back-up QB, but he was a publicity stunt for them and when his story ran out, they ran him out. He'll sign up somewhere nobody worry we're not done with this guy yet.
Bryce Harper is a beast carry on.
Haven't watched a dribble of the NBA playoffs, you shouldn't be shocked by this just saying.
The race Saturday night was awesome and if you missed I feel bad for you. Kevin Harvick made an awesome move on a green white checkered and went from 7th to 2nd in one corner if you can find it watch it. Richmond is one of the tracks I really want to go to and I think we'll be heading that way sometime in the next 5 years or so. I think Nascar needs more short tracks the 3 they have just aren't enough compared to the dozen or so 1.5-2 mile ovals that don't produce as good of racing.
Friday night in the Nationwide race Nelson Piquet Jr. did a big no-no when he kicked Brian Scott below the belt, I don't have an opinion on Piquet as a driver but that was a cheap shot and you don't do that shit.
Well that's it for this week, follow me on twitter @derekbredeson and once again well done Jason Collins hopefully more athletes will follow on your footsteps.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Boston
It's almost been a week since those bombs went off in Boston killing 3 and wounding over a 150 people. The suspects hbave been found, the city is recovering, things are starting to get back to normal. I on the other hand am not sure how to feel about this Boston bombing, for one you think what a tragedy, what a city to shut down and find these guys, what a story. On the other hand you have people who say, who cares it's only 3 people who died, it was a rogue attack not a huge plot, in fact more people are dead in West, Texas and why aren't you crying over them. I'm kind of caught in the middle but there is a reason we as sports fans should care about this bombing, but I feel we must keep it in perspective does that even make sense I don't know.
The bombing itself is a tragedy, when people die at the hands of others we should be concerned, whether it's from terrorism, mass shootings, or drunk driving. This isn't an accident gone horribly wrong like in West, Texas. This was an act of terrorism and we as Americans don't stand for terrorism, in fact we started 2 wars that both lasted over 10 years b/c of 9-11, but a mass shooting doesn't get a single gun law passed. The fact it happened at a sporting event should neither be shocking, nor taken lightly. Where else do 75,000+ people gather in such a small area. A marathon isn't exactly the sporting event I thought would be attacked, I figured a football game or Nascar race would be the obvious places since they hold the most people and typically sell out. Either way, a marathon is an easy target, 26 miles of open area, you can't rope that off, people coming and going. No amount of security could stop what happened, they had dogs in the area. The bombers came in during the event set down the bombs and walked away, not sure how you stop that.
But why do we care so much? If this bombing happened in Topeka, Kansas do we care? Maybe, but there are reasons why the media went bat shit crazy over this. First of all, it happened on the east coast, and those of us who don't live there understand this. If something happens along I-95, the media goes crazy, based on the fact that's where most of the media is based, and a large amount of population lives there. Secondly, this happened on Patriots Day in Boston, which is one of the biggest days of the year for them, the Red Sox play an 11 o'clock game, the oldest marathon in America is the Boston Marathon, it's just another reason to take the day off from work and go party. This is no different than any other city celebration and when people attack you on your day it tends to piss you off.
I for one am really in the gray area, this situation as it went on intrigued me. At first I was a little what's the big deal but as it went on I wanted to know why. What made these two men build and set these bombs. What is their intention, and when I heard they took the 2nd suspect alive I was happy, I don't like when people decide to do terrible things but don't have a reason for it. Should we maybe of sent more people to West, Texas and cover that story yeah probably, but here is something for that, b/c of the Boston thing West, Texas is getting sorted out and your not getting differing reports. They are getting time to find the bodies and search for people. The Boston coverage was horrible, CNN claimed Boston PD has a suspect when they didn't. The numbers of dead and injured were wrong. In fact the media handled this situation much the way Mark Sanchez handles the football, 90% of the time they were inept and unreliable. The hurry to get news first screws up the fact they might actually get something right.
I think we as a nation should care, do we need to all the vigils, and pictures on facebook, well probably not. But don't be surprised ESPN went crazy, you know they love Boston and the fact it's right down the road doesn't help. The national media is going to cover this b/c of the terrorism factor. In fact complaining about the coverage makes you just look dumb and unsympathetic, if you are just shut your mouth and sit there. We have cable and satellite companies that offer 200 channels find something else to watch, don't go on twitter if people are flooding your timeline, just let it pass. Facebook is tough b/c you can't help what your friends post and I for one have complained about other things, but sometimes just letting it be is better than bitching about stuff.
That's all for this week, hopefully I can come back next week and talk about positive stuff, follow me on twitter @derekbredeson. I'll end with the words of David Ortiz, "This is our fucking city."
The bombing itself is a tragedy, when people die at the hands of others we should be concerned, whether it's from terrorism, mass shootings, or drunk driving. This isn't an accident gone horribly wrong like in West, Texas. This was an act of terrorism and we as Americans don't stand for terrorism, in fact we started 2 wars that both lasted over 10 years b/c of 9-11, but a mass shooting doesn't get a single gun law passed. The fact it happened at a sporting event should neither be shocking, nor taken lightly. Where else do 75,000+ people gather in such a small area. A marathon isn't exactly the sporting event I thought would be attacked, I figured a football game or Nascar race would be the obvious places since they hold the most people and typically sell out. Either way, a marathon is an easy target, 26 miles of open area, you can't rope that off, people coming and going. No amount of security could stop what happened, they had dogs in the area. The bombers came in during the event set down the bombs and walked away, not sure how you stop that.
But why do we care so much? If this bombing happened in Topeka, Kansas do we care? Maybe, but there are reasons why the media went bat shit crazy over this. First of all, it happened on the east coast, and those of us who don't live there understand this. If something happens along I-95, the media goes crazy, based on the fact that's where most of the media is based, and a large amount of population lives there. Secondly, this happened on Patriots Day in Boston, which is one of the biggest days of the year for them, the Red Sox play an 11 o'clock game, the oldest marathon in America is the Boston Marathon, it's just another reason to take the day off from work and go party. This is no different than any other city celebration and when people attack you on your day it tends to piss you off.
I for one am really in the gray area, this situation as it went on intrigued me. At first I was a little what's the big deal but as it went on I wanted to know why. What made these two men build and set these bombs. What is their intention, and when I heard they took the 2nd suspect alive I was happy, I don't like when people decide to do terrible things but don't have a reason for it. Should we maybe of sent more people to West, Texas and cover that story yeah probably, but here is something for that, b/c of the Boston thing West, Texas is getting sorted out and your not getting differing reports. They are getting time to find the bodies and search for people. The Boston coverage was horrible, CNN claimed Boston PD has a suspect when they didn't. The numbers of dead and injured were wrong. In fact the media handled this situation much the way Mark Sanchez handles the football, 90% of the time they were inept and unreliable. The hurry to get news first screws up the fact they might actually get something right.
I think we as a nation should care, do we need to all the vigils, and pictures on facebook, well probably not. But don't be surprised ESPN went crazy, you know they love Boston and the fact it's right down the road doesn't help. The national media is going to cover this b/c of the terrorism factor. In fact complaining about the coverage makes you just look dumb and unsympathetic, if you are just shut your mouth and sit there. We have cable and satellite companies that offer 200 channels find something else to watch, don't go on twitter if people are flooding your timeline, just let it pass. Facebook is tough b/c you can't help what your friends post and I for one have complained about other things, but sometimes just letting it be is better than bitching about stuff.
That's all for this week, hopefully I can come back next week and talk about positive stuff, follow me on twitter @derekbredeson. I'll end with the words of David Ortiz, "This is our fucking city."
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Thoughts of the Week 4-14-13
Lots going on this past week, figured I write down my thoughts of the past week.
Going ALL the way back to last Monday and the National Championship between Louisville and Michigan, I only watched the first half of the game b/c it started after 8:00, why in the hell would you start it so late? I understand you want the west coast to watch but holy hell why include the west coast if it means you lose the East Coast and Midwest b/c it's so late.
When I went to bed Michigan was up and that Spike Albrecht kid was tearing it up, I think he just went unconscious in the 1st half and didn't realize where he was.
If you think Kevin Ware's injury had nothing to do with Louisville winning than you obviously don't watch sports. Guys use motivation all the time, whether it's being accused of cheating like the 18-1 Patriots, being told your not good enough Aaron Rodgers falling to the 20's, pretty much anything is motivation for athletes who are playing at a high level. These kids used him sitting in that wheelchair as a rallying cry. I also think Pitino used him, you know he broke his leg for this team don't let him break his leg for nothing or something like that.
I'm mad at myself I didn't watch much of the Masters like I usually do, but the Giants were in Chicago this weekend and since I normally don't get to watch them I watched Saturday and Sunday. I missed the Tiger thing on Friday, but how dumb was that. If it was an illegal drop, unless you called it when he did it shut up.
I saw Adam Scott won, I have a problem with him, he uses a "Belly Putter." I hate belly-putters, I think they should be banned, and even though I may of not voiced that before I've believed it for about 2 years now. To anchor a club to your belly is cheating. Guys who use belly-putters are guys who couldn't use a real putter than instead of fixing their game just go to the belly-putter and don't have to get any better. Be a man work on your flaws and get better.
The Giants were down to their last strike today and Hunter Pence hit a solo bomb to tie up the game before the Giants eventually won in extras. Pence is crushing this year, not sure if he feels more comfortable with Giants or what but he's playing way better this year than last. 2 years ago when we got Beltran I didn't like it, last year getting Pence was a great move and one we'll reap the rewards from for a few years.
Tim Lincecum pitched today, gave up 4 runs in the 1st then pitched lights out from there out. I like Tim but he can't get out of the 1st inning anymore, not sure if he should go to the bullpen or what but something needs to change. He hasn't pitched "well" as a starter since 2010.
So before the year I'm in love with the Nationals then they went out and got swept by the Braves this weekend. So I guess the Braves are pretty good, Justin Upton is crushing the ball. I'm not sure if their starters will hold on, but they have a great bullpen.
I didn't watch much of the race again for the 2nd straight weekend, I'm realizing NASCAR sucks when you don't have a dog in the race. Even though watching Denny stresses me out and I get way to amped watching him, when he isn't driving I feel no need to watch the race or even care who wins. It was a good race from what little I saw.
I guess Brad Keselowski went off after the race, something about Nascar messing his team. If he gets fined less than 25,000 I'm gonna go nuts, his comments were twice as bad as what Denny said after Phoenix.
We're a few weeks away from the draft and I think the NFL and NBA drafts are going to have something in common, no breakout stars. The NFL draft may be better than the NBA one, b/c this NBA draft is gonna be horrible.
Kobe Bryant went down with an Achilles, I know I don't talk much NBA, but this injury is brutal for the Lakers playoff chances, and even if they do get in they'll be bounced in 4 games. Before the year the Lakers looked like the team to beat but they got a shit coach, the games most overrated player in Dwight Howard, and a couple of old dudes past their prime in Nash and Artest. I'm not a Kobe guy but he should go out on his own terms.
Tomorrow is Jackie Robinson day, I think everyone in all sports should wear 42 not just baseball players, NBA players and Hockey players alike, well at least the black hockey players, what Jackie did took guts, courage, and pride. I can't state what he meant for black people for obvious reasons, but he beat the civil rights movement by 20 years. That was huge.
I wish Jason Day had won the Masters if only to show his wife more, DAMN.
That's all for this week, till next time @derekbredeson for any breaking thoughts.
Going ALL the way back to last Monday and the National Championship between Louisville and Michigan, I only watched the first half of the game b/c it started after 8:00, why in the hell would you start it so late? I understand you want the west coast to watch but holy hell why include the west coast if it means you lose the East Coast and Midwest b/c it's so late.
When I went to bed Michigan was up and that Spike Albrecht kid was tearing it up, I think he just went unconscious in the 1st half and didn't realize where he was.
If you think Kevin Ware's injury had nothing to do with Louisville winning than you obviously don't watch sports. Guys use motivation all the time, whether it's being accused of cheating like the 18-1 Patriots, being told your not good enough Aaron Rodgers falling to the 20's, pretty much anything is motivation for athletes who are playing at a high level. These kids used him sitting in that wheelchair as a rallying cry. I also think Pitino used him, you know he broke his leg for this team don't let him break his leg for nothing or something like that.
I'm mad at myself I didn't watch much of the Masters like I usually do, but the Giants were in Chicago this weekend and since I normally don't get to watch them I watched Saturday and Sunday. I missed the Tiger thing on Friday, but how dumb was that. If it was an illegal drop, unless you called it when he did it shut up.
I saw Adam Scott won, I have a problem with him, he uses a "Belly Putter." I hate belly-putters, I think they should be banned, and even though I may of not voiced that before I've believed it for about 2 years now. To anchor a club to your belly is cheating. Guys who use belly-putters are guys who couldn't use a real putter than instead of fixing their game just go to the belly-putter and don't have to get any better. Be a man work on your flaws and get better.
The Giants were down to their last strike today and Hunter Pence hit a solo bomb to tie up the game before the Giants eventually won in extras. Pence is crushing this year, not sure if he feels more comfortable with Giants or what but he's playing way better this year than last. 2 years ago when we got Beltran I didn't like it, last year getting Pence was a great move and one we'll reap the rewards from for a few years.
Tim Lincecum pitched today, gave up 4 runs in the 1st then pitched lights out from there out. I like Tim but he can't get out of the 1st inning anymore, not sure if he should go to the bullpen or what but something needs to change. He hasn't pitched "well" as a starter since 2010.
So before the year I'm in love with the Nationals then they went out and got swept by the Braves this weekend. So I guess the Braves are pretty good, Justin Upton is crushing the ball. I'm not sure if their starters will hold on, but they have a great bullpen.
I didn't watch much of the race again for the 2nd straight weekend, I'm realizing NASCAR sucks when you don't have a dog in the race. Even though watching Denny stresses me out and I get way to amped watching him, when he isn't driving I feel no need to watch the race or even care who wins. It was a good race from what little I saw.
I guess Brad Keselowski went off after the race, something about Nascar messing his team. If he gets fined less than 25,000 I'm gonna go nuts, his comments were twice as bad as what Denny said after Phoenix.
We're a few weeks away from the draft and I think the NFL and NBA drafts are going to have something in common, no breakout stars. The NFL draft may be better than the NBA one, b/c this NBA draft is gonna be horrible.
Kobe Bryant went down with an Achilles, I know I don't talk much NBA, but this injury is brutal for the Lakers playoff chances, and even if they do get in they'll be bounced in 4 games. Before the year the Lakers looked like the team to beat but they got a shit coach, the games most overrated player in Dwight Howard, and a couple of old dudes past their prime in Nash and Artest. I'm not a Kobe guy but he should go out on his own terms.
Tomorrow is Jackie Robinson day, I think everyone in all sports should wear 42 not just baseball players, NBA players and Hockey players alike, well at least the black hockey players, what Jackie did took guts, courage, and pride. I can't state what he meant for black people for obvious reasons, but he beat the civil rights movement by 20 years. That was huge.
I wish Jason Day had won the Masters if only to show his wife more, DAMN.
That's all for this week, till next time @derekbredeson for any breaking thoughts.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Thoughts of the Week 4-8-13
Had to take a week off b/c of sickness but I'm back this week with some thoughts of the last weeks happenings. Here we go......
True to form I stopped watching the tournament, not sure why I get so involved 1st weekend then just stop. I guess when you lose the element of surprise I don't care anymore. Probably didn't help I had all my teams wrong, and had Syracuse losing in the 1st round.
Baseball season is back and I couldn't be happier, last Monday when I was sick as hell, I watched Bryce Harper jack 2 out, that was awesome. Reminded me of a few years ago when Jason Heyward rocked the Giants.
Speaking of the Giants, I'm happy we won last year, and we got the MVP but can you please stop with the ceremonies, Friday night they raised the World Champs Flag, Saturday they honored Buster Posey with his MVP trophy that he had already received and then Sunday they gave out the rings and wore those hideous gold uniforms. That's 3 games with 3 ceremonies before them, when can they just shut up and play ball.
Giants started off taking 2 or 3 from the Dodgers yeah suck it.
Can we end this booing when former players come back? Josh Hamilton can booed for 3 straight days in Texas b/c he left and said Dallas was a football town. Well sorry Dallas but he spoke the truth, and honestly he took you to two World Series, 2 more than your franchise has ever been too. How about a little respect and give him the cheer he deserved.
I know we as fans feel slighted when guys leave "our" teams but why do we care. It's not like you get mad when your team signs a free agent, so you obviously had to get him from another team. You hear it all the time, this is a business, guys get traded, guys get cut, guys sign as free agents, be happy with the memories a guy made for your team instead of focusing on him "leaving" you. The only time I get upset is when guys sign with rivals but 9 times out of 10 they end up sucking anyway. You want to boo because a guy owns you then so be it, but just b/c he left doesn't make it ok. I for one call Carlos Beltran a bitch every time we play St. Louis but that's b/c he sucked when the Giants traded for him and anytime he plays us the last 2 years he kills us.
I know it's only a week but Toronto is in last with 2 wins, and R.A. Dickey has gotten rocked in his starts. I said this in my baseball preview sleep on the Jays, they're a band of losers brought together and will continue to lose.
I didn't watch the Nascar race closely yesterday b/c of the Denny situation. I saw the end and honestly Jimmie Johnson owns that joint and the only guy who has come close to taking it from him was sitting on the pit box, we need Denny back just to get in Jimmie's way for a few weeks.
I watched the NIT b/c Iowa was playing in it. They played 4 good games then took a dump in the championship. While leading up to it, people were giving flack b/c I was caring about the NIT. Saying things like it's not a real tournament, or your competing to be number 69. I got 2 things for that, 1 if you only care about who will be champion than all the Bowl games suck including the one your team is in unless it's for the trophy. Secondly if you say your competing to be #69, your wrong b/c the top 68 teams don't make the dance, pretty sure Iowa was better than 10-20 Liberty. I liked the NIT for Iowa b/c as young team they needed experience and being 1 and done in the tourney wouldn't have helped them.
Noticed a few quarterbacks moved last week, congrats to Larry Fitzgerald who's getting a washed up Carson Palmer but hey he's better than anybody Arizona had last year.
Have you noticed the interleague game every day? Me neither so baseball purists can shut up now.
Yu Darvish almost threw a perfect game last week and everyone said oh it's the Astros anyone can do that. Well even if it is the Astros it's hard to throw a perfect game against little leaguers let alone against professional athletes.
That's all I got for this week, twitter me @derekbredeson, read old posts, I'll be back next week hopefully with some deeper thoughts. I'll end this week with a little phrase I just love "wait till next year."
True to form I stopped watching the tournament, not sure why I get so involved 1st weekend then just stop. I guess when you lose the element of surprise I don't care anymore. Probably didn't help I had all my teams wrong, and had Syracuse losing in the 1st round.
Baseball season is back and I couldn't be happier, last Monday when I was sick as hell, I watched Bryce Harper jack 2 out, that was awesome. Reminded me of a few years ago when Jason Heyward rocked the Giants.
Speaking of the Giants, I'm happy we won last year, and we got the MVP but can you please stop with the ceremonies, Friday night they raised the World Champs Flag, Saturday they honored Buster Posey with his MVP trophy that he had already received and then Sunday they gave out the rings and wore those hideous gold uniforms. That's 3 games with 3 ceremonies before them, when can they just shut up and play ball.
Giants started off taking 2 or 3 from the Dodgers yeah suck it.
Can we end this booing when former players come back? Josh Hamilton can booed for 3 straight days in Texas b/c he left and said Dallas was a football town. Well sorry Dallas but he spoke the truth, and honestly he took you to two World Series, 2 more than your franchise has ever been too. How about a little respect and give him the cheer he deserved.
I know we as fans feel slighted when guys leave "our" teams but why do we care. It's not like you get mad when your team signs a free agent, so you obviously had to get him from another team. You hear it all the time, this is a business, guys get traded, guys get cut, guys sign as free agents, be happy with the memories a guy made for your team instead of focusing on him "leaving" you. The only time I get upset is when guys sign with rivals but 9 times out of 10 they end up sucking anyway. You want to boo because a guy owns you then so be it, but just b/c he left doesn't make it ok. I for one call Carlos Beltran a bitch every time we play St. Louis but that's b/c he sucked when the Giants traded for him and anytime he plays us the last 2 years he kills us.
I know it's only a week but Toronto is in last with 2 wins, and R.A. Dickey has gotten rocked in his starts. I said this in my baseball preview sleep on the Jays, they're a band of losers brought together and will continue to lose.
I didn't watch the Nascar race closely yesterday b/c of the Denny situation. I saw the end and honestly Jimmie Johnson owns that joint and the only guy who has come close to taking it from him was sitting on the pit box, we need Denny back just to get in Jimmie's way for a few weeks.
I watched the NIT b/c Iowa was playing in it. They played 4 good games then took a dump in the championship. While leading up to it, people were giving flack b/c I was caring about the NIT. Saying things like it's not a real tournament, or your competing to be number 69. I got 2 things for that, 1 if you only care about who will be champion than all the Bowl games suck including the one your team is in unless it's for the trophy. Secondly if you say your competing to be #69, your wrong b/c the top 68 teams don't make the dance, pretty sure Iowa was better than 10-20 Liberty. I liked the NIT for Iowa b/c as young team they needed experience and being 1 and done in the tourney wouldn't have helped them.
Noticed a few quarterbacks moved last week, congrats to Larry Fitzgerald who's getting a washed up Carson Palmer but hey he's better than anybody Arizona had last year.
Have you noticed the interleague game every day? Me neither so baseball purists can shut up now.
Yu Darvish almost threw a perfect game last week and everyone said oh it's the Astros anyone can do that. Well even if it is the Astros it's hard to throw a perfect game against little leaguers let alone against professional athletes.
That's all I got for this week, twitter me @derekbredeson, read old posts, I'll be back next week hopefully with some deeper thoughts. I'll end this week with a little phrase I just love "wait till next year."
Friday, March 29, 2013
Somethig for the Fellas
Took a day off so figured I'd blog a little. About a month ago I posted a question on twitter about hot singers in music videos. It got me thinking maybe I should find some of the best girl singer music videos do a mini-post about it, and hey at least the research will be fun. Well I guess this is gonna really sexist but I don't care here are some of my hottest chicks who sing music videos.
Maybe one of my favorite videos off all time Mariah Carey, Honey. She may be annoying now but holy hell when she jumps in the pool, WOW is all I can say.
Britney Spears, Baby One More Time, classic video and when I was 16 I couldn't stop watching it.
Christina Aguilera, Come on Over, my god when she shakes her ass, it could make a 17 year old boy lose his mind. Dirrty was close but Come on Over has been my favorite of hers forever.
My first new school girl Katy Perry California Gurls is awesome, not to mention the fact she's naked for most of the video.
My only group video is the Pussycat Dolls, Don't Cha, not much else to say.
How about a sports reference, Eric Decker's girlfriend is blazing and so is her video for Wanted, Jessie James
Speaking of Athlete wives Carrie Underwood is probably the most gorgeous girl in country music.
Another sports related person, Jennifer Lopez (part owner of the Dolphins), Love Don't Cost a Thing. She has a great ASSets in this video.
My girl Rihanna turned heads when she first came out
How can I do a list without Beyonce, I'm on record she's not my favorite but she's pretty hot
AND finally Christina Milian, not the best musician but who cares.
Well that's all I got, I probably forgot some nice ladies if I did feel free to tell me. Enjoy and if I lost some female readers, so be it, but this is a sports blog and you gotta take it. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson and stay tuned for my regular Monday post.
Maybe one of my favorite videos off all time Mariah Carey, Honey. She may be annoying now but holy hell when she jumps in the pool, WOW is all I can say.
Well that's all I got, I probably forgot some nice ladies if I did feel free to tell me. Enjoy and if I lost some female readers, so be it, but this is a sports blog and you gotta take it. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson and stay tuned for my regular Monday post.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Baseball 2013
I promised it last week it's my 2013 baseball blowout. I've never actually done this before so I don't know how it's gonna go kind of shooting from the hip here and since that's how all my posts go I guess it won't be any different. I don't want to go division by division and give you straight winners, how about instead some bold predictions or maybe not so bold.
- For the first time in what seems like 40 years the Yankees or Red Sox won't make the playoffs. Sox are a mess have nobody on their roster I'm afraid of and they Yankees have everyone on the DL. CC and Hughes could keep the Yanks close but with only Cano in the everyday line-up it's over for them.
- Sleep on the Blue Jays, they spent too much, in fact the Marlins tried this last year and how did that work out?
- Speaking of spending money, fuck the Dodgers, money can't buy team chemistry which is what you need. Once again I'll bring this up, the guys they got from Boston weren't winning there why would they be different in LA. Greinke is garbage in any important game and has never pitched under pressure.
- Speaking of spending money, the Angels are gonna be tough, they have the best hitter of the last decade, they have the best hitter of the next decade and they have the best power hitter of when he's right can crush. Besides the Rangers got nothing, The A's are weird, The Astros are garbage, and the M's are tough but not Angels tough.
- I don't want to make any bold predictions for the Giants. I think they'll win the West provided, Scutaro is the hitter he was in August and September last year. Pagan is the guy he was in the playoffs and in the WBC. Lincecum is can break out of his funk, and Vogelsong can keep dominating at home.
- BEWARE of the Nationals. They went out and got Soriano from the Yankees to close games. Strasburg is gonna go a full season. Don't forget Gio and Jordan Zimmerman. The line-up is tough and Harper is only gonna get better. I liked this team last year and I'm sure I'll watch them 2nd most this year.
- The NL Central is garbage. Reds will be good, Cardinals have zero pitching, Brewers suck, Cubs suck more, and the Pirates well let's see about those Pirates.
- Speaking of the Pirates keep your eyes on Starling Marte, this kid is gonna be awesome, he's my breakout star of the year. Anthony Rizzo is a good bet for that as well.
- I'm man crushing on Aroldis Chapman this year, he might be the best closer of all time when it's all said and done, if he stays there he'll be better than Mariano.
- I almost forgot to mention the AL Central, oh that's right the Tigers got that on lock, Cleveland your a few years away.
- Any outfield with the Uptons in it is bound to strikeout a lot.
- I like the Rays and Royals. Watch out for the sneaky Royals pitching.
- AL MVP: Mike Trout AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander
- NL MVP: Joey Votto NL Cy Young: Stephen Strasburg
- AL playoff teams, Rays, Tigers, Angels Division Champs Wild Cards Royals and A's
- NL playoff teams, Nationals, Reds, Giants Division Champs Wild Cards Dodgers and Phillies
- World Series Nationals over Angels, MVP Bryce Harper.
Monday, March 18, 2013
The Madness
This year the madness actually is maddening, I filled out my bracket as I always do right after the selection show and when I was done, I looked at my Final Four, and went I don't like any of these teams. That is the case of this years bracket we don't like anybody. I think every bracket has at least 4 legit Final Four contenders, that's at least 16 teams that could win it all. I think the number is probably more like 18-20. Let's go region by region and I'll give my winner out of it leading to Final Four.
Midwest, Louisville is the overall number 1 seed yet ended up with the hardest bracket by far. Duke is the 2, Michigan St. 3, and Saint Louis 4. Other contenders Creighton at 7, Okie St. at 5 and St. Mary's in the play-in game, ST MARY's. I think predicting this bracket is nearly impossible. I went with Michigan St. simply because they are battle tested in the Big Ten, they play great defense and can come from behind. I haven't watched much Big East this year so I'm not huge on Louisville.
East, Indiana got the number 1 in this bracket but once again it's wide open. Miami could've been a 1, Marquette is the 3 (overrated I think), Syracuse the 4. Contenders are #8 N.C. State and preseason favorite, UNLV at 6, Montana the 13, Butler vs Bucknell in the 6-13 game is a good match-up. Illinois could be a sleeper if they play like they did in November and December. I've liked Indiana all year, but they've played like crap lately and they tend to forget they have Cody Zeller sometimes. I've chosen Miami not sure why but once again who else you gonna take. They beat Duke, play good defense and have a ton of seniors, in a tournament without a dominant player older teams are gonna play better and seniors are a premium.
West, Gonzaga got the number 1, but this a tough region I think you can say 6 teams can win a national title out of it. #2 Ohio St. #3 New Mexico, #4 Kansas St, #5 Wisconsin, and #6 Arizona are all tough outs. Add in Iowa St. that is older and Ole Miss the SEC tourny champs that just beat Florida and holy hell is this tough. If you make the sweet 16 and your not Gonzaga or Arizona it's gonna be tough b/c they'll have great crowds in L.A. my pick is Gonzaga, got nothing to back that up, I haven't watched them play a game all year, but I think it'll end up between Ohio St. and them and Ohio St. doesn't have the size to match-up with the Zags up front.
South, Kansas got the number 1, not a huge fan of it. I think Kansas is by far the worst #1 in the tourny, and the Big 12 is a bad conference so I don't think they earned this over Miami or even Duke. This region is tough as well #2 Georgetown, #3 Florida #4 Michigan are all pretty good and have ability to be great especially Michigan and Florida. VCU is the 5 and are really good, San Diego St. is the 7 tough, Minnesota is the 11 and have size and seniors 2 nice things to have. Don't forget the 8-9 game of North Carolina and Villanova leading to a match-up with Kansas. What a great coaching match-up in the "3rd round." After saying all that I decided on Georgetown, which will probably blow up in my face since they always under perform.
This season is especially tough b/c there is a ton of parody, no true dominant team, and almost every team has a bad loss. So with that being said I have zero confidence in my Final Four of Michigan St., Gonzaga, Georgetown, and Miami. My Champion is Miami over Gonzaga, yeah I know it's horrible.
That's all for this week, check back next week when I do a baseball preview, and follow me @derekbredeson where I'll have plenty to say about the first 2 rounds this weekend. Final thought Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin have a beef, which right or wrong I'm taking Denny's side of course. I saw Joey call Denny the worst teammate ever when they were together. Well, Joey who gave you the keys to Martinsville and Pocono? Denny did, you wanna cry b/c he spun you yesterday go ahead but let the past be the past, I'm starting to think your the worst teammate ever since yesterday you pushed Denny into your teammate on a restart costing him the race and in Daytona you fucked up the bottom line by getting out of line once again costing your teammate.
Midwest, Louisville is the overall number 1 seed yet ended up with the hardest bracket by far. Duke is the 2, Michigan St. 3, and Saint Louis 4. Other contenders Creighton at 7, Okie St. at 5 and St. Mary's in the play-in game, ST MARY's. I think predicting this bracket is nearly impossible. I went with Michigan St. simply because they are battle tested in the Big Ten, they play great defense and can come from behind. I haven't watched much Big East this year so I'm not huge on Louisville.
East, Indiana got the number 1 in this bracket but once again it's wide open. Miami could've been a 1, Marquette is the 3 (overrated I think), Syracuse the 4. Contenders are #8 N.C. State and preseason favorite, UNLV at 6, Montana the 13, Butler vs Bucknell in the 6-13 game is a good match-up. Illinois could be a sleeper if they play like they did in November and December. I've liked Indiana all year, but they've played like crap lately and they tend to forget they have Cody Zeller sometimes. I've chosen Miami not sure why but once again who else you gonna take. They beat Duke, play good defense and have a ton of seniors, in a tournament without a dominant player older teams are gonna play better and seniors are a premium.
West, Gonzaga got the number 1, but this a tough region I think you can say 6 teams can win a national title out of it. #2 Ohio St. #3 New Mexico, #4 Kansas St, #5 Wisconsin, and #6 Arizona are all tough outs. Add in Iowa St. that is older and Ole Miss the SEC tourny champs that just beat Florida and holy hell is this tough. If you make the sweet 16 and your not Gonzaga or Arizona it's gonna be tough b/c they'll have great crowds in L.A. my pick is Gonzaga, got nothing to back that up, I haven't watched them play a game all year, but I think it'll end up between Ohio St. and them and Ohio St. doesn't have the size to match-up with the Zags up front.
South, Kansas got the number 1, not a huge fan of it. I think Kansas is by far the worst #1 in the tourny, and the Big 12 is a bad conference so I don't think they earned this over Miami or even Duke. This region is tough as well #2 Georgetown, #3 Florida #4 Michigan are all pretty good and have ability to be great especially Michigan and Florida. VCU is the 5 and are really good, San Diego St. is the 7 tough, Minnesota is the 11 and have size and seniors 2 nice things to have. Don't forget the 8-9 game of North Carolina and Villanova leading to a match-up with Kansas. What a great coaching match-up in the "3rd round." After saying all that I decided on Georgetown, which will probably blow up in my face since they always under perform.
This season is especially tough b/c there is a ton of parody, no true dominant team, and almost every team has a bad loss. So with that being said I have zero confidence in my Final Four of Michigan St., Gonzaga, Georgetown, and Miami. My Champion is Miami over Gonzaga, yeah I know it's horrible.
That's all for this week, check back next week when I do a baseball preview, and follow me @derekbredeson where I'll have plenty to say about the first 2 rounds this weekend. Final thought Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin have a beef, which right or wrong I'm taking Denny's side of course. I saw Joey call Denny the worst teammate ever when they were together. Well, Joey who gave you the keys to Martinsville and Pocono? Denny did, you wanna cry b/c he spun you yesterday go ahead but let the past be the past, I'm starting to think your the worst teammate ever since yesterday you pushed Denny into your teammate on a restart costing him the race and in Daytona you fucked up the bottom line by getting out of line once again costing your teammate.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Thoughts of the week 3-11 edition
Not much too talk about, just figured I'd lay down a few thoughts.
The race yesterday was the best so far of the year, the teams are learning how to adjust the cars. Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne had a great dual at the end. I was very happy to see Kenseth get the win for Joe Gibbs Racing.
The Nascar vs. Denny saga can end when Nascar admits they made a mistake in fining Denny. All Denny said was the teams have a lot to learn and the cars are gonna race like the old cars did at the beginning, until the teams learn what the cars can do we're gonna have snoozer races.
Team USA in the World Baseball Classic is a joke and I don't care who they beat, until we get the great pitchers to do this tournament we won't win. This entire tournament is stupid btw b/c who wants to play in a tournament before the season starts?
NFL Free Agency starts tomorrow a whoopity doo, I don't get too excited for this probably b/c I'm not near the Redskins and don't hear any of the rumors on who their gonna get. Also, the Redskins have made so many terrible signings in my lifetime I actually don't look forward to who we're gonna waste money on. That said I hope we get some safetey help, and hopefully a long term solution at middle linebacker.
College Basketball is setting up for a great tournament, can't wait and hopefully the Hawkeyes can win a couple Big Ten tourny games and get in the dance.
In nonsports related subjects I'm watching "The Bible" and "Vikings" on History Channel, both have been ok so far, Vikings has some potential but since they have 1 hour segments it goes fast, and not much story gets told. The Bible is good I like the Old Testament stories and so far that's what the Bible has shown. Kind of wish they spent more time with David but I think they're already moving on. Pretty good movies so far check them out.
Well that's it for this week I know pretty lame but I can't make up stories to talk about, come back next week when I'll have plenty to talk about with the bracket out. In the meantime follow me @derekbredeson on the Twitter machine.
The race yesterday was the best so far of the year, the teams are learning how to adjust the cars. Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne had a great dual at the end. I was very happy to see Kenseth get the win for Joe Gibbs Racing.
The Nascar vs. Denny saga can end when Nascar admits they made a mistake in fining Denny. All Denny said was the teams have a lot to learn and the cars are gonna race like the old cars did at the beginning, until the teams learn what the cars can do we're gonna have snoozer races.
Team USA in the World Baseball Classic is a joke and I don't care who they beat, until we get the great pitchers to do this tournament we won't win. This entire tournament is stupid btw b/c who wants to play in a tournament before the season starts?
NFL Free Agency starts tomorrow a whoopity doo, I don't get too excited for this probably b/c I'm not near the Redskins and don't hear any of the rumors on who their gonna get. Also, the Redskins have made so many terrible signings in my lifetime I actually don't look forward to who we're gonna waste money on. That said I hope we get some safetey help, and hopefully a long term solution at middle linebacker.
College Basketball is setting up for a great tournament, can't wait and hopefully the Hawkeyes can win a couple Big Ten tourny games and get in the dance.
In nonsports related subjects I'm watching "The Bible" and "Vikings" on History Channel, both have been ok so far, Vikings has some potential but since they have 1 hour segments it goes fast, and not much story gets told. The Bible is good I like the Old Testament stories and so far that's what the Bible has shown. Kind of wish they spent more time with David but I think they're already moving on. Pretty good movies so far check them out.
Well that's it for this week I know pretty lame but I can't make up stories to talk about, come back next week when I'll have plenty to talk about with the bracket out. In the meantime follow me @derekbredeson on the Twitter machine.
Monday, March 4, 2013
A Storms a Brewin'
It's here March, the month that belongs too college basketball, conference tournaments start next week, then on March 14th the Big Dance starts. College basketball doesn't get too much pub b/c it's so fluid, you can't put a lot of stock in the rankings. You can watch the Big East, Big Ten and ACC but it's hard too make defining statements unless their is that dominant team like Kentucky last year. With all this fluidity upsets happen all the time, which leads to today's column, the court storming. I'm not a huge fan of storming the court, and I think there has to be something done about it. I've felt this way for a long time, I believe I touched on it last year or the year before but never spent a whole post on it, but Coach K bringing up his beef with it last week led me to write about it today. I've elected myself Court Storming President, I'm gonna lay out some rules for proper storming.
Rule 1) You may only storm the court once a year, if you storm when you beat Michigan, then you can't wait later in the year and storm against Indiana. If you storm twice your losing the "specialness" of storming to begin with. If you storm that many times, then why not storm after every win. Yeah we beat Texas A&M Kingsville, lets rush the court. I also think if you decide to storm the court more than once maybe your team is actually good and beating a top team isn't that much of a reach.
Rule 2) You may only storm against a Top 10 team. You storm after beating #20 that's lame, besides that team will probably be out of the rankings b/c they lost to a team who felt they were bad enough too storm the court when they beat you. A Top 10 team normally has 0-4 losses so a loss is rare and hey they should've beat a terrible team like yours.
Rule 3) You may only storm if your not ranked. This happened this year already NC State stormed on Duke, when NC State was ranked, not only that they started the year ranked higher than Duke so in actuallity their team underperformed. This is also goes for if you were ranked in the last month, Minnesota stormed on Indiana last week, Minnesota underperformed so much that they fell out of the top 25, but they played well one night and stormed against Indiana but they'll get back in the top 25 this week. If your ranked and you beat a top 10 team, you were probably favored in the game. Homecourt advantage is a big deal in college basketball, I remember Wisconsin storming the court a few years ago in a game they were favored in, that's right a game they were picked to win and they felt the urge to storm the court. If your ranked you should win sit your asses down and watch your team win.
Rule 4) You may only storm if you haven't been stormed upon. A few years ago Notre Dame was involved in 3-straight court stormings, they stormed, were stormed upon, then restormed, that's a 3-game span where court storming was seen as needed? You have to wonder was the 1st one wrong? The 2nd one wrong? The 3rd one? Where does it end? I wish I knew who those 3 games were against but I can't recall right now. If you were ranked high enough to be stormed upon then you were too good to be storming other teams.
The final Rule, that we can't control is this, ESPN and other news outlets stop showing court stormings unless they follow the above 4 rules. Why do these kids do this, b/c they get on TV and if you would take away the exposure the kids would end this crap. I understand they're college kids and they get caught up in the moment, but if their isn't an end game they'll stop doing this.
That's all for this week, I'll be back next week, follow me on twitter @derekbredeson. One thought on Joe Flacco, just b/c your highest paid doesn't mean your the best, if that were true nobody could make more than Jordan, Rice, or Bonds.
Rule 1) You may only storm the court once a year, if you storm when you beat Michigan, then you can't wait later in the year and storm against Indiana. If you storm twice your losing the "specialness" of storming to begin with. If you storm that many times, then why not storm after every win. Yeah we beat Texas A&M Kingsville, lets rush the court. I also think if you decide to storm the court more than once maybe your team is actually good and beating a top team isn't that much of a reach.
Rule 2) You may only storm against a Top 10 team. You storm after beating #20 that's lame, besides that team will probably be out of the rankings b/c they lost to a team who felt they were bad enough too storm the court when they beat you. A Top 10 team normally has 0-4 losses so a loss is rare and hey they should've beat a terrible team like yours.
Rule 3) You may only storm if your not ranked. This happened this year already NC State stormed on Duke, when NC State was ranked, not only that they started the year ranked higher than Duke so in actuallity their team underperformed. This is also goes for if you were ranked in the last month, Minnesota stormed on Indiana last week, Minnesota underperformed so much that they fell out of the top 25, but they played well one night and stormed against Indiana but they'll get back in the top 25 this week. If your ranked and you beat a top 10 team, you were probably favored in the game. Homecourt advantage is a big deal in college basketball, I remember Wisconsin storming the court a few years ago in a game they were favored in, that's right a game they were picked to win and they felt the urge to storm the court. If your ranked you should win sit your asses down and watch your team win.
Rule 4) You may only storm if you haven't been stormed upon. A few years ago Notre Dame was involved in 3-straight court stormings, they stormed, were stormed upon, then restormed, that's a 3-game span where court storming was seen as needed? You have to wonder was the 1st one wrong? The 2nd one wrong? The 3rd one? Where does it end? I wish I knew who those 3 games were against but I can't recall right now. If you were ranked high enough to be stormed upon then you were too good to be storming other teams.
The final Rule, that we can't control is this, ESPN and other news outlets stop showing court stormings unless they follow the above 4 rules. Why do these kids do this, b/c they get on TV and if you would take away the exposure the kids would end this crap. I understand they're college kids and they get caught up in the moment, but if their isn't an end game they'll stop doing this.
That's all for this week, I'll be back next week, follow me on twitter @derekbredeson. One thought on Joe Flacco, just b/c your highest paid doesn't mean your the best, if that were true nobody could make more than Jordan, Rice, or Bonds.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Daytona
Well with no football, baseball spring training in the early stages, and it not being March so I don't care about college basketball outside of Iowa. I'm stuck with NASCAR to talk about, I know a lot of people don't like it but I gotta talk about it. Just gonna shoot out my points no long narrative. I watched Saturday's Nationwide race and of course the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
Saturday's race was a different style than Sunday's, the Nationwide cars allow for 2-car tandem driving. Basically two cars hooked up bumper to bumper go faster than one car. I know a lot of the drivers didn't like it, but I do. This might be the best racing of the year, lots of passing, lots of moving back and forth. The 500 had about 2 passes for the lead on track yesterday, Saturday had 18 different leaders in 200 less miles, what sounds more exciting to you?
Now, with that style bad things can happen and the wreck at the end was crazy. It was a perfect storm where all the cars were together and a driver blocked when he shouldn't have and all hell broke loose. If you didn't see it, one cars front-end basically broke completely apart while flying up in the fence. The motor ended up busting through the fence and a tire as well as some suspension ended up going over the fence and up about 30 rows hitting fans at a high rate of speed. I saw some people bashing people who said the catch fence did it's job, those people are idiots b/c the fence did do it's job. It kept the car on the track, what's better a motor just getting through the fence or an entire car in your lap? These cars are doing 190 MPH it's gonna be hard to contain all those parts and have it safe for the drivers, they'll figure it out a little more but your not gonna make the fence much safer than it already is.
The 500 was normal, all flair and no drama. I was nervous only after 3 Toyota motors blew up, causing concern for Denny in the 11. The end of the race though all boiled down too where you were on the final restart.
Greg Biffle for the 2nd straight year was in 2nd place on the white flag, didn't make a move and let the leader at the white win the race. Biffle does a great job getting in position to win these races but then decides for whatever reason he doesn't wanna go and win, this is the Daytona 500 and if your points racing you need to grow a sack and go get the win.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a shot at victory but I think made his move too early b/c by time he and Mark Martin got to turn 4 they lost their momentum, but hey at least they tried something unlike Danica and Biffle who just sat behind Jimmie and couldn't wait to watch him win.
Oh Danica, happy with 8th good for you sister. Does this mean she's a good driver, no, it means in a race where passing is hard she kept getting in the right line on restarts (the outside) and her pit crew didn't mess up on pit road. She does have a few things to learn, #1 when you have the last pit stall you can drive straight out, you don't have to run into cars to get in line, just drive straight out and blend in when your up to speed. Good day for her but this isn't a sign of things to come, she'll be in the back next week.
The racing yesterday was boring and I hope they fix this before Talladega, I heard Jr. say something about when it's hotter in Daytona in July the track will be slipprier and the bottom line will come in. I hope so b/c yesterday if you were on the bottom you were screwed.
Kind of a short one today, but honestly there wasn't much to write about. I'll see ya next week, in the meantime twitter me @derekbredeson or read some older posts.
Saturday's race was a different style than Sunday's, the Nationwide cars allow for 2-car tandem driving. Basically two cars hooked up bumper to bumper go faster than one car. I know a lot of the drivers didn't like it, but I do. This might be the best racing of the year, lots of passing, lots of moving back and forth. The 500 had about 2 passes for the lead on track yesterday, Saturday had 18 different leaders in 200 less miles, what sounds more exciting to you?
Now, with that style bad things can happen and the wreck at the end was crazy. It was a perfect storm where all the cars were together and a driver blocked when he shouldn't have and all hell broke loose. If you didn't see it, one cars front-end basically broke completely apart while flying up in the fence. The motor ended up busting through the fence and a tire as well as some suspension ended up going over the fence and up about 30 rows hitting fans at a high rate of speed. I saw some people bashing people who said the catch fence did it's job, those people are idiots b/c the fence did do it's job. It kept the car on the track, what's better a motor just getting through the fence or an entire car in your lap? These cars are doing 190 MPH it's gonna be hard to contain all those parts and have it safe for the drivers, they'll figure it out a little more but your not gonna make the fence much safer than it already is.
The 500 was normal, all flair and no drama. I was nervous only after 3 Toyota motors blew up, causing concern for Denny in the 11. The end of the race though all boiled down too where you were on the final restart.
Greg Biffle for the 2nd straight year was in 2nd place on the white flag, didn't make a move and let the leader at the white win the race. Biffle does a great job getting in position to win these races but then decides for whatever reason he doesn't wanna go and win, this is the Daytona 500 and if your points racing you need to grow a sack and go get the win.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a shot at victory but I think made his move too early b/c by time he and Mark Martin got to turn 4 they lost their momentum, but hey at least they tried something unlike Danica and Biffle who just sat behind Jimmie and couldn't wait to watch him win.
Oh Danica, happy with 8th good for you sister. Does this mean she's a good driver, no, it means in a race where passing is hard she kept getting in the right line on restarts (the outside) and her pit crew didn't mess up on pit road. She does have a few things to learn, #1 when you have the last pit stall you can drive straight out, you don't have to run into cars to get in line, just drive straight out and blend in when your up to speed. Good day for her but this isn't a sign of things to come, she'll be in the back next week.
The racing yesterday was boring and I hope they fix this before Talladega, I heard Jr. say something about when it's hotter in Daytona in July the track will be slipprier and the bottom line will come in. I hope so b/c yesterday if you were on the bottom you were screwed.
Kind of a short one today, but honestly there wasn't much to write about. I'll see ya next week, in the meantime twitter me @derekbredeson or read some older posts.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Movie Night
Last week a friend of mine wrote a blog with a starting line up of fictional baseball characters, naturally he did a horrible job and I was gonna write up my own list. I realize that if I did that it would just be stealing his idea. Well then I started thinking what could I do with movies so I decided to rank my top baseball movies, the list was gonna be 10 but I realized their are a lot of good baseball movies, so it expanded to 15. Baseball movies are the best sports movies, football movies tend to look fake, and have guys you can't believe playing positions, Scott Caan is a midget and played WR in Varsity Blues, Adam Sandler is neither a QB nor a psycopath that can play LB. Hockey movies were ruined by the Mighty Ducks b/c nobody can live up to them, and I think Slapshot is the only other fictional hockey movie worth watching. Basketball movies are ok, but with a gem like Hoosiers out there why watch another one? Baseball is different probably b/c anyone can play, if you look athletic you can fool me into thinking you can play baseball, you never watch a baseball movie and go oh that guy can't play. So here we go, starting at number 15 counting down to 1, FYI there might be a few spoiler alerts so if there is a movie you haven't seen I suggest you watch it.
15. The Rookie, the list has fiction and non-fiction movies on it, I'll start with a based on a true story movie. Dennis Quad plays a high school baseball coach who was drafted in his younger years, before he blew out his shoulder. His team finds out he has talent and makes him a deal they make the playoffs he tries out for the pro's again at age 35, of course their a basement dweller but they rise up, make the playoffs and he tries out with the Rays. Gets signed goes threw the minors, wants to quit, gets called up in September, pitches in a Major League Game. I've never watched the whole movie all the way through but it's a good inspirational story and has some lessons in it.
14. Bad News Bears, I'm lumping both the 1976 and 2005 version together here. Simple plot, a coach who's made poor decisions gets the crappy kids baseball team. It's a rag-tag bunch with no talent, the coach recruits a girl pitcher and rebel athletic kid and hilarity ensues. I'm not a huge fan of either movie but I know a lot of people love it. I think Walter Matthau was way better than Billy Bob Thorton, but who am I to judge.
13. Cobb, Cobb is about Ty Cobb the great baseball player of the early 1900's. Robert Wuhl plays a writer who goes and sees an older dyeing Cobb, played by Tommy Lee Jones, to write an autobiography. Well, Cobb was a racist, drunk, and abusvive ass but he wants his the book to tell about what a great guy he is, and basically have it be full of lies. The 2 travel together with Cobb being an ass the whole time, it's a great movie and I think is shows what Ty Cobb really was a hard-nosed prick who played the game hard.
12. The Scout, A scout with the Yankees, played by Albert Brooks, makes a bad signing when his sure fire ends up throwing up all over the mound. His punishment is he gets sent to scout the Mexican Leagues where he finds the gem of Steve Nebraska, played by Brendan Frasier, of course though there are bumps along the rode of getting Nebraska to the pro's. It's a pretty funny movie and Frasier playes the crazy guy pretty well, it also has a ton of cameo's from pro's and media types.
11. Mr. Baseball, Tom Selleck's mustache stars in this amazing movie about and aging star who gets traded to a team in Japan. He at first clashes with the culture thinking he's a big shot, but eventually he meshes with his manager and teammates. The movie culminates when Selleck's mustache is on the verge of breaking his own managers record of home runs in consecutive games, but the oppossing team refuses to pitch to him and he eventually hits the home run but steps on the plate in the process, then at the end of the game with bases loaded and down a run the mustache lays down a bunt. I liked this movie when I was a kid, haven't seen it in a while but it's worth a watch if it's on Netflix or HBO sometime, I mean Tom Selleck's mustache is in it, and it's from the 90's so the mustache was glorious.
10. Hardball, Keanu Reeves stars in this masterpiece. Tell me if you've heard this story before, guy screws up, guy coaches inner-city kids team, he convinces them they can win, they win, a tragedy happens, they go onto win championship. Yeah I know it's corny but this movie was full of great characters, G-Baby the team manager who dies and the kid who listens to Biggie while pitching, which leads to a great scene. Pretty good movie if you get over the cornyness of the plot.
9. The Natural, Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a great baseball player who had a lot of shit happen to him. Well Hobbs makes it to the pro's at the age of 35, he helps turn around his team. He has this bat he made from a tree that was struck by lighting when he was a kid, well he uses that bat to crush the ball, but in the climax of the movie he breaks that bat, but the batboy brings him a new handmade bat they made together and in a storm Hobbs hits a homer that hits a light station and causes sparks to fall down onto the field while he rounds the bases. Been a while since I've seen the Natural but it's a good movie with a ton of people in it.
8. The Fan, Robert De Niro plays an obsessed fan of the San Francisco Giants who just signed Bobby Rayburn, (Wesley Snipes) away from the Braves. De Niro calls sports radio all the time, takes his kid to all the games, and basically a nut case. Well, Rayburn doesn't live up to the hype to his contract at first and the fan base gets upset, De Niro is the only guy sticking up for Rayburn, and feels it's his job to get him out of his slump. Well he takes strides to help Rayburn out, including killing the player on the team with "Rayburn's" number. When he feels like he isn't thanked properly De Niro goes crazy and a ton of shit happens. I haven't seen this movie in 15 years but it was one of my favorites, Rayburn was said to based on Barry Bonds a little bit, but it was merely coincidental. This is psycothriller as well a baseball movie.
7. Little Big League, maybe the baseball movie I've watched the 2nd most ever. Billy Haywood is a kid who inherits the the Minnesota Twins from his grandfather after his death. Billy is a baseball genius knows stats, situations, line-ups, basically anything baseball the kid knows, he fires the teams manager and when nobody wants to work for a kid he decides hiring himself seems like a good idea. Well he turns the bunch of losers into winners by reminding them the game is fun, (like you've never heard that story before) but of course Billy starts getting too serious and forgets how fun the game is. The cast is full of characters, and cameo's from players and media types alike. I love this movie and want to watch it right now, it has some of the best lines and is just funny. I'll leave with you with this from the movie, a cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays two days and leaves on Friday, how did he do it?
6. Field of Dreams, probably the movie closest to me, literally I live 3 miles from the field. Kevin Costner plays a broke farmer who builds a baseball field in his corn field, b/c he hears a voice telling him "if you build it, he will come." Well he does and more than just he comes, a lot of players come including Shoeless Joe Jackson of the 1919 Black Sox. Eventually the "he" is revealed as Costners dad and they have "a catch" on the field, something that tugs at all fathers and sons heartstrings. The movie has a ton more to it, but I don't want to get into it too much, it's a lot of fantasy and super-natural stuff going on all at once. Great movie and if you haven't seen it watch it and if you want to visit the field let me know we'll go have a catch sometime.
5. Bull Durham, back-to-back Kevin Costner movies, this time Costner plays Crash Davis a career minor league catcher who's job is too get young hot shot pitcher Nuke LaLoosh, (Tim Robbins), to the pro's. Susan Sarandon plays the town slut, who's main goal is to sleep with guys on their way to the big's, she romance LaLoosh but her and Crash keep butting heads before eventually falling for each other. LaLoosh does make the big's and Crash bcomes the Home Run king of the minors. The movie is full of great lines and scenes. Let me not forget the Durham Bull Home Run Celebration that is very 80's and very minor leagues. Great movie and #1 on Rotten Tomatoes for Sports movies. Also where Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins fell in love in real life so it's got that going for it.
4. A League of Their Own, the movie about girls playing baseball. This wouldn't be on the top of this list unless Tom Hanks was in it, he killed it in this movie and is 1 of my 3 favorite Tom Hanks performances. The scene where he's drunk in the dugout was just awesome. The female cast was awesome and each girl played their parts great. I love this movie if you haven't seen it, shame on you go watch it, come back and tell me you didn't like it then we'll no longer be friends.
3. 61*, Billy Crystal directed this HBO movie about Micky Mantle and Roger Maris' 1961 season when they as teammates chased Babe Ruth's single-season home run record. This is an excellent look into the lives of the 2 men, the "true" Yankee Mantle who everyone loved, and the "outsider" Maris who was from the midwest, didn't embrace New York or the media. Barry Pepper played Roger Maris and did a great job of doing so, they made the uniforms look perfect to the era. Great great baseball movie and a true eye opener to how that season shook down.
2. The Sandlot, of all the "kids" baseball movies this is the best. A group of 8 kids who get together everyday and play baseball need a recruit so they get the new kid, Scott Smalls, who has no talent, is very naive, and frankly doesn't know how to be a kid. Well between challenging the local little league team, chewing tobacco, and other hijinks the kids face their greatest advasary in the Beast, a junkyard dog behind a fence that keeps all their home run balls. They normally let them go, but Smalls hits his stepdad's Babe Ruth autographed ball over the fence. The movie is full of characters, Bennie the Jet, Yeah-Yeah, Timmy and Tommy Timmons, Squints, Ham Porter, Kenny DeNunez, and Bertam Weeks. Awesome lines throughout the movie, just go watch it, again.
1. Major League, I have to include the whold franchise here, even though the 1st Major League is the best, the 2nd one does belong somewhere on this list, and back to the minors does have some funny spots. The movie is based around a bunch of losers who rally together and go onto win their division. With characters like Willie Mayes Hayes, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, Jake Taylor, Roger Dorn, and Pedro Cerrano. Bob Uecker plays the greatest baseball announcer ever in Harry Doyle and has about 15 repeatable lines. Just an awesome set of movies, especially the first 2, with line after line after line you can repeat forever. This is probably my 2nd favorite movie ever, just awesome.
Well that's my list I know I didn't put a few movies on there, Rookie of the Year and Angels in the Outfield both are immediate ones I think of but I didn't really care for either movie so there's that. I suggest seeing every movie on the list, I know just writing about them makes me want to watch The Fan and The Sandlot right now. I might write something up tomorrow, for my regular post, in the meantime, follow me on twiter @derekbredeson.
15. The Rookie, the list has fiction and non-fiction movies on it, I'll start with a based on a true story movie. Dennis Quad plays a high school baseball coach who was drafted in his younger years, before he blew out his shoulder. His team finds out he has talent and makes him a deal they make the playoffs he tries out for the pro's again at age 35, of course their a basement dweller but they rise up, make the playoffs and he tries out with the Rays. Gets signed goes threw the minors, wants to quit, gets called up in September, pitches in a Major League Game. I've never watched the whole movie all the way through but it's a good inspirational story and has some lessons in it.
14. Bad News Bears, I'm lumping both the 1976 and 2005 version together here. Simple plot, a coach who's made poor decisions gets the crappy kids baseball team. It's a rag-tag bunch with no talent, the coach recruits a girl pitcher and rebel athletic kid and hilarity ensues. I'm not a huge fan of either movie but I know a lot of people love it. I think Walter Matthau was way better than Billy Bob Thorton, but who am I to judge.
13. Cobb, Cobb is about Ty Cobb the great baseball player of the early 1900's. Robert Wuhl plays a writer who goes and sees an older dyeing Cobb, played by Tommy Lee Jones, to write an autobiography. Well, Cobb was a racist, drunk, and abusvive ass but he wants his the book to tell about what a great guy he is, and basically have it be full of lies. The 2 travel together with Cobb being an ass the whole time, it's a great movie and I think is shows what Ty Cobb really was a hard-nosed prick who played the game hard.
12. The Scout, A scout with the Yankees, played by Albert Brooks, makes a bad signing when his sure fire ends up throwing up all over the mound. His punishment is he gets sent to scout the Mexican Leagues where he finds the gem of Steve Nebraska, played by Brendan Frasier, of course though there are bumps along the rode of getting Nebraska to the pro's. It's a pretty funny movie and Frasier playes the crazy guy pretty well, it also has a ton of cameo's from pro's and media types.
11. Mr. Baseball, Tom Selleck's mustache stars in this amazing movie about and aging star who gets traded to a team in Japan. He at first clashes with the culture thinking he's a big shot, but eventually he meshes with his manager and teammates. The movie culminates when Selleck's mustache is on the verge of breaking his own managers record of home runs in consecutive games, but the oppossing team refuses to pitch to him and he eventually hits the home run but steps on the plate in the process, then at the end of the game with bases loaded and down a run the mustache lays down a bunt. I liked this movie when I was a kid, haven't seen it in a while but it's worth a watch if it's on Netflix or HBO sometime, I mean Tom Selleck's mustache is in it, and it's from the 90's so the mustache was glorious.
10. Hardball, Keanu Reeves stars in this masterpiece. Tell me if you've heard this story before, guy screws up, guy coaches inner-city kids team, he convinces them they can win, they win, a tragedy happens, they go onto win championship. Yeah I know it's corny but this movie was full of great characters, G-Baby the team manager who dies and the kid who listens to Biggie while pitching, which leads to a great scene. Pretty good movie if you get over the cornyness of the plot.
9. The Natural, Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a great baseball player who had a lot of shit happen to him. Well Hobbs makes it to the pro's at the age of 35, he helps turn around his team. He has this bat he made from a tree that was struck by lighting when he was a kid, well he uses that bat to crush the ball, but in the climax of the movie he breaks that bat, but the batboy brings him a new handmade bat they made together and in a storm Hobbs hits a homer that hits a light station and causes sparks to fall down onto the field while he rounds the bases. Been a while since I've seen the Natural but it's a good movie with a ton of people in it.
8. The Fan, Robert De Niro plays an obsessed fan of the San Francisco Giants who just signed Bobby Rayburn, (Wesley Snipes) away from the Braves. De Niro calls sports radio all the time, takes his kid to all the games, and basically a nut case. Well, Rayburn doesn't live up to the hype to his contract at first and the fan base gets upset, De Niro is the only guy sticking up for Rayburn, and feels it's his job to get him out of his slump. Well he takes strides to help Rayburn out, including killing the player on the team with "Rayburn's" number. When he feels like he isn't thanked properly De Niro goes crazy and a ton of shit happens. I haven't seen this movie in 15 years but it was one of my favorites, Rayburn was said to based on Barry Bonds a little bit, but it was merely coincidental. This is psycothriller as well a baseball movie.
7. Little Big League, maybe the baseball movie I've watched the 2nd most ever. Billy Haywood is a kid who inherits the the Minnesota Twins from his grandfather after his death. Billy is a baseball genius knows stats, situations, line-ups, basically anything baseball the kid knows, he fires the teams manager and when nobody wants to work for a kid he decides hiring himself seems like a good idea. Well he turns the bunch of losers into winners by reminding them the game is fun, (like you've never heard that story before) but of course Billy starts getting too serious and forgets how fun the game is. The cast is full of characters, and cameo's from players and media types alike. I love this movie and want to watch it right now, it has some of the best lines and is just funny. I'll leave with you with this from the movie, a cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays two days and leaves on Friday, how did he do it?
6. Field of Dreams, probably the movie closest to me, literally I live 3 miles from the field. Kevin Costner plays a broke farmer who builds a baseball field in his corn field, b/c he hears a voice telling him "if you build it, he will come." Well he does and more than just he comes, a lot of players come including Shoeless Joe Jackson of the 1919 Black Sox. Eventually the "he" is revealed as Costners dad and they have "a catch" on the field, something that tugs at all fathers and sons heartstrings. The movie has a ton more to it, but I don't want to get into it too much, it's a lot of fantasy and super-natural stuff going on all at once. Great movie and if you haven't seen it watch it and if you want to visit the field let me know we'll go have a catch sometime.
5. Bull Durham, back-to-back Kevin Costner movies, this time Costner plays Crash Davis a career minor league catcher who's job is too get young hot shot pitcher Nuke LaLoosh, (Tim Robbins), to the pro's. Susan Sarandon plays the town slut, who's main goal is to sleep with guys on their way to the big's, she romance LaLoosh but her and Crash keep butting heads before eventually falling for each other. LaLoosh does make the big's and Crash bcomes the Home Run king of the minors. The movie is full of great lines and scenes. Let me not forget the Durham Bull Home Run Celebration that is very 80's and very minor leagues. Great movie and #1 on Rotten Tomatoes for Sports movies. Also where Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins fell in love in real life so it's got that going for it.
4. A League of Their Own, the movie about girls playing baseball. This wouldn't be on the top of this list unless Tom Hanks was in it, he killed it in this movie and is 1 of my 3 favorite Tom Hanks performances. The scene where he's drunk in the dugout was just awesome. The female cast was awesome and each girl played their parts great. I love this movie if you haven't seen it, shame on you go watch it, come back and tell me you didn't like it then we'll no longer be friends.
3. 61*, Billy Crystal directed this HBO movie about Micky Mantle and Roger Maris' 1961 season when they as teammates chased Babe Ruth's single-season home run record. This is an excellent look into the lives of the 2 men, the "true" Yankee Mantle who everyone loved, and the "outsider" Maris who was from the midwest, didn't embrace New York or the media. Barry Pepper played Roger Maris and did a great job of doing so, they made the uniforms look perfect to the era. Great great baseball movie and a true eye opener to how that season shook down.
2. The Sandlot, of all the "kids" baseball movies this is the best. A group of 8 kids who get together everyday and play baseball need a recruit so they get the new kid, Scott Smalls, who has no talent, is very naive, and frankly doesn't know how to be a kid. Well between challenging the local little league team, chewing tobacco, and other hijinks the kids face their greatest advasary in the Beast, a junkyard dog behind a fence that keeps all their home run balls. They normally let them go, but Smalls hits his stepdad's Babe Ruth autographed ball over the fence. The movie is full of characters, Bennie the Jet, Yeah-Yeah, Timmy and Tommy Timmons, Squints, Ham Porter, Kenny DeNunez, and Bertam Weeks. Awesome lines throughout the movie, just go watch it, again.
1. Major League, I have to include the whold franchise here, even though the 1st Major League is the best, the 2nd one does belong somewhere on this list, and back to the minors does have some funny spots. The movie is based around a bunch of losers who rally together and go onto win their division. With characters like Willie Mayes Hayes, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, Jake Taylor, Roger Dorn, and Pedro Cerrano. Bob Uecker plays the greatest baseball announcer ever in Harry Doyle and has about 15 repeatable lines. Just an awesome set of movies, especially the first 2, with line after line after line you can repeat forever. This is probably my 2nd favorite movie ever, just awesome.
Well that's my list I know I didn't put a few movies on there, Rookie of the Year and Angels in the Outfield both are immediate ones I think of but I didn't really care for either movie so there's that. I suggest seeing every movie on the list, I know just writing about them makes me want to watch The Fan and The Sandlot right now. I might write something up tomorrow, for my regular post, in the meantime, follow me on twiter @derekbredeson.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Danica
Oh freaking boy, Danica Patrick won the pole for the Daytona 500. The world is going nuts, ESPN is talking about Nascar, what everyone wanted. The nation's 2nd most popular sport is finally being recognized by the morning talk shows and being talked about outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. This is gonna create a lot of buzz, and now the debate begins is she talented or just pretty. Couple other questions get brought up, was this fixed by Nascar, as a media ploy, or is this something to show what her future can be.
I have a big opinion about Danica, I'm not her biggest fan, I used to like her in her Indy days but then she decided printing money was more important than being a good race car driver. She's had 9 years on major racing circuits and has 1 win, 1 win in 9 years, pretty sure you lose your job if you win once every 9 years. My stance on this has been posted in the past, I've written about Dale Jr. in the same light, and I've admitted this, Nascar or even racing in general isn't about performance it's about dollars. You can be the most talented driver in the world but if you don't bring money to the table you don't get the ride. I was watching Mike and Mike this morning with 2 guest hosts and one guy aseked the other, do you think she's one of the top 42 drivers in Nascar, I thought to myself no, there is no way, my favorite team Joe Gibbs Racing has 5 drivers on it's roster that all better than her, and 2 of them are racing full-time in the Nationwide series. I'd put Danica on par with a decent Nationwide or elite Truck driver, last year in elite equipments she didn't win a race in the Nationwide, let alone average finish of 28th in the 10 Sprint Cup races she ran. This is where Nascar differs from every other sport, money pushes the talent, not talent pushing the money. A-Rod makes ass loads of money, he has 1 ring and people kill the guy, we killed LeBron for years b/c he didn't win a championship, yet in Nascar our "favorites" are always the guys who don't win. Most hated drivers Kyle Busch over 200 wins in all three series combined, Kurt Busch Cup Champion, Tony Stewart 3-time cup champion. Jimmie Johnson 5-time champion probably the 3rd most popular driver on his own team behind Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon. If anyone won 5 in a row in another sport that guy would be huge. Yet, the sports favorites Dale Jr. 1 win in 5 years, Carl Edwards 0 wins last year, and now Danica Q-rating of 76, 0 wins in Nascar in 2 years of full-time driving, went from not driving a stock car to having a premiere cup ride in 3 years.
Danica did this herself, she had a choice, make money and gurantee myself a ride forever or become a better driver and earn myself a ride. She's not the only person to do this, Paul Menard for one has sponsorship from his dad pretty well guarantees him a ride as long as he wants one, he's won a race, but he wouldn't of been in that car had his name not been Menard. Don't get me wrong these people are obviously great drivers, you don't got faster than everyone if your a mediocre driver, I'm not saying Danica can't drive stock cars, but I'm saying she didn't earn her ride, didn't take her lumps, didn't have to impress scouts to get where she is, instead she smiled, grew her hair long, and basically let the fact she's a women in a man dominated sport sell stuff for her. I don't even find her all that attractive, I've always said she's "athlete hot", in a room full of dudes, she's cute but in normal circumstances she's not overly good looking. I understand she has to get hers but doesn't mean I have to agree with how she got there. I think the Nascar world needs to take a step back and not hate her bc she's a woman but hate her b/c she isn't all that great of a driver, and if your a Danica fan realize I'm not hating b/c she's a woman it's b/c she's not an elite driver yet has an elite ride.
Onto the question of did Nascar rig qualifying yesterday. They might have, but are you trying to tell me that competators are gonna just let the sport put her up front. These compete all the time, they don't care what it is they want to win, and I know a few of them (Kevin Harvick) are tired of hearing about her, so why would they let the sport do this. Her teammates Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman each ran top 5 times yesterday, and the motors they run had 5 of the top 6 times. Ryan Newman is probably the best qualifier in the whole sport in the last 15 years, he might of helped her out a little. Did Stewart-Haas maybe give her the best car they got, I don't have all the answers but I highly doubt they fixed this.
Is this a sign of things to come, HA, no freaking way. Read above her cars were fast yesterday as a team, you don't get points for winning the pole. You get points for winning, it's not how you start it's how you finish. She can have this week but it's gonna be a long year for her, there is a ton of talent in Sprint Cup racing and I can name 15 guys I would think that will win races this year instead of her, will she get lucky and get a fuel mileage win, maybe but heres the thing about that, you gotta be on the lead lap to win a fuel mileage race and she has a hard time with that. I think Danica needs to go back to Nationwide full time, win a race, then make this jump, it's too early for her, she's been racing stock cars for 3 years, most of these guys have been doing it their whole lives. She has talent, she can win, but this isn't her time. If your going crazy b/c she got the pole settle down and relax she hasn't won anything yet.
That's all for this week, see ya next week, in the meantime follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
I have a big opinion about Danica, I'm not her biggest fan, I used to like her in her Indy days but then she decided printing money was more important than being a good race car driver. She's had 9 years on major racing circuits and has 1 win, 1 win in 9 years, pretty sure you lose your job if you win once every 9 years. My stance on this has been posted in the past, I've written about Dale Jr. in the same light, and I've admitted this, Nascar or even racing in general isn't about performance it's about dollars. You can be the most talented driver in the world but if you don't bring money to the table you don't get the ride. I was watching Mike and Mike this morning with 2 guest hosts and one guy aseked the other, do you think she's one of the top 42 drivers in Nascar, I thought to myself no, there is no way, my favorite team Joe Gibbs Racing has 5 drivers on it's roster that all better than her, and 2 of them are racing full-time in the Nationwide series. I'd put Danica on par with a decent Nationwide or elite Truck driver, last year in elite equipments she didn't win a race in the Nationwide, let alone average finish of 28th in the 10 Sprint Cup races she ran. This is where Nascar differs from every other sport, money pushes the talent, not talent pushing the money. A-Rod makes ass loads of money, he has 1 ring and people kill the guy, we killed LeBron for years b/c he didn't win a championship, yet in Nascar our "favorites" are always the guys who don't win. Most hated drivers Kyle Busch over 200 wins in all three series combined, Kurt Busch Cup Champion, Tony Stewart 3-time cup champion. Jimmie Johnson 5-time champion probably the 3rd most popular driver on his own team behind Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon. If anyone won 5 in a row in another sport that guy would be huge. Yet, the sports favorites Dale Jr. 1 win in 5 years, Carl Edwards 0 wins last year, and now Danica Q-rating of 76, 0 wins in Nascar in 2 years of full-time driving, went from not driving a stock car to having a premiere cup ride in 3 years.
Danica did this herself, she had a choice, make money and gurantee myself a ride forever or become a better driver and earn myself a ride. She's not the only person to do this, Paul Menard for one has sponsorship from his dad pretty well guarantees him a ride as long as he wants one, he's won a race, but he wouldn't of been in that car had his name not been Menard. Don't get me wrong these people are obviously great drivers, you don't got faster than everyone if your a mediocre driver, I'm not saying Danica can't drive stock cars, but I'm saying she didn't earn her ride, didn't take her lumps, didn't have to impress scouts to get where she is, instead she smiled, grew her hair long, and basically let the fact she's a women in a man dominated sport sell stuff for her. I don't even find her all that attractive, I've always said she's "athlete hot", in a room full of dudes, she's cute but in normal circumstances she's not overly good looking. I understand she has to get hers but doesn't mean I have to agree with how she got there. I think the Nascar world needs to take a step back and not hate her bc she's a woman but hate her b/c she isn't all that great of a driver, and if your a Danica fan realize I'm not hating b/c she's a woman it's b/c she's not an elite driver yet has an elite ride.
Onto the question of did Nascar rig qualifying yesterday. They might have, but are you trying to tell me that competators are gonna just let the sport put her up front. These compete all the time, they don't care what it is they want to win, and I know a few of them (Kevin Harvick) are tired of hearing about her, so why would they let the sport do this. Her teammates Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman each ran top 5 times yesterday, and the motors they run had 5 of the top 6 times. Ryan Newman is probably the best qualifier in the whole sport in the last 15 years, he might of helped her out a little. Did Stewart-Haas maybe give her the best car they got, I don't have all the answers but I highly doubt they fixed this.
Is this a sign of things to come, HA, no freaking way. Read above her cars were fast yesterday as a team, you don't get points for winning the pole. You get points for winning, it's not how you start it's how you finish. She can have this week but it's gonna be a long year for her, there is a ton of talent in Sprint Cup racing and I can name 15 guys I would think that will win races this year instead of her, will she get lucky and get a fuel mileage win, maybe but heres the thing about that, you gotta be on the lead lap to win a fuel mileage race and she has a hard time with that. I think Danica needs to go back to Nationwide full time, win a race, then make this jump, it's too early for her, she's been racing stock cars for 3 years, most of these guys have been doing it their whole lives. She has talent, she can win, but this isn't her time. If your going crazy b/c she got the pole settle down and relax she hasn't won anything yet.
That's all for this week, see ya next week, in the meantime follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Monday, February 11, 2013
The Greatest?
Wasn't sure what to talk about today, with football being done and we're over 2 months away from the draft, there isn't much NFL news. NASCAR is a week away from starting, baseball is starting spring training, I don't watch the NBA, and College Basketball is really hard to give opinions on b/c every week a top team losses and you can't make bold statements untile March. I gave it a little thought and decided I'd start a debate. I've had a few on facebook with other people about who is the greatest this or that, and 9 times out of 10 that discussion is the greatest QB in NFL history. QB is probably the most debated position in all of sports, name your top 5 RB's Smith, Brown, and Sanders end up on everyones list. Top WR Jerry Rice all day. Baseball uses stats to differentiate greatness. Basketball you use your eyes b/c a guy can take over a game, and talent will show.
Quaterback is different, how do you measure the greatness of a QB? When making a top 10 list you'll get a few names over and over, Montana, Brady, Marino, and Elway. Some guys will show up a lot, but most people don't have a concrete list that they stick by. I for one have my list fluctuate quite a bit. I have 2 things a QB must have, #1 is rings, QB is the most important position on the field, and only 1 team has won multiple championships in a small amount of time without a dominant QB. The QB controls the game more than any player, they also get all the glory and blame. The #2 thing I need is numbers, plenty of guys can have a ring(s), but if they put up mediocre numbers and just so happened to rise up 2 playoff runs (ex: Eli Manning), than your not top 10 eligible for me. So looking at my requirements Championship rings and great passing numbers let's look at my current top ten all-time QB's in NFL history.
10) Sammy Baugh, Washington Redskins 1937-1952, 2 championships, 2-time MVP. NFL HOF 1963. Sammy is credited with being first player to use the forward pass. My stance of being first doesn't make you best, but he did play a long time, and when he retired he held 13 NFL records. He obviously played in the pre-Super Bowl days, so his 2 rings were NFL Championships, which was just a 1 game playoff between the 2 division champions of the NFL.
9) Bart Starr, Green Bay Packers 1956-1971, 5 championships (2 Super Bowls) 1-time MVP, NFL HOF 1977, 2-time Super Bowl MVP. Starr is the epitome of a winner. He wasn't the best QB, but he is historically one of the most effecient, at his retirement he was 2nd all-time in passer rating. He played on runcentric teams, but he called those run plays. He was also one of the few guys who Vince Lombardi would actually listen too. Starr also has one of the most famous plays in NFL history with his QB sneak in the Ice Bowl in 1967.
8) Steve Young, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1985-1986 San Francisco 49ers 1987-1999, 3 Super Bowl championships-1 as starter, NFL HOF 2005, 2-time MVP, 1 Super Bowl MVP. He has probably the best run of all time against Minnesota in 1988. He backed up Joe Montana for his last 2 rings before becoming the starter and finally winning one in 1994. Young was the first of the new-age running QB's that could throw and run. Steve lost most of his prime years backing up Montana, but he played longer b/c of that as well. He made multiple championship game runs. Was also one of the most effecient passers in history as well.
7) Brett Favre, Atlanta Falcons 1991 Green Bay Packers 1992-2007 New York Jets 2008, Minnesota Vikings 2009-2010, 1 Super Bowl Championship, 3-Time NFL MVP. Brett holds records for passing yards, passing TD's, completions, attempts, QB wins, QB Starts, Interceptions, and 297 games started streak-most for any position. Favre is by far the most controversal guy on the list, he has a ton of numbers but he also has a ton of interceptions. The 1 ring does hurt him, but he had his 2nd ring taken by a guy higher on this list. He also had a ring taken by the Vikings coaching staff, he didn't do himself any favors throwing the killer pick against the Giants in the NFC Championship game. The guy was the true "gunslinger" it hurt to type that, he made a lot of plays but also missed a lot of plays. I'll say this about Favre he never had that go-to-guy who was a sure fire hall of famer on his team. He made the talent arount him better.
6) Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins 1983-1999 0 Super Bowl rings, 1-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 2005. Marino is the one guy on my list without a championship. I think Marino is the exception of the rule that you must win. His teams were never that good on defense, and never had a decent RB. He retired with pretty much every passing record, and really took the forward pass to a new level in his early years. He was one of the best of his era and it really was a golden age of QB's, Marino played against half of this list. His lightening quick release was legendary, he made mortal WR's great.
5) Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh Steelers 1970-1983 4-Time Super Bowl Champion, 1-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 1989, 2-time Super Bowl MVP. Probably the most understated QB when it comes to these lists. The guy never gets any credit, he played with an all time defense, 2 great WR's, and plenty of talent in the backfield. But, if you give Bart Starr credit in Green Bay you gotta give credit to Bradshaw in Pittsburgh. He was the QB of a great team and kept everyone happy, he is one of the few QB's in history to have 2 Hall of Fame WR's on his team. I put a premium on winning and the guy has 4 rings, you have 4 rings you get in my top-5 b/c there is only 1 other guy with that many.
4) John Elway, Denver Broncoes 1983-1998 2-time Super Bowl Champion, 1-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 2004, 1-time Super Bowl MVP. If John doesn't have Terrell Davis and Mike Shanahan he's around 8 on this list, didn't win rings until his last 2 years in the league. What Elway has is the flair for the dramatic, it's only fitting his rings came at end of his career b/c that's when he flourished, at the end of games the guy is probably the best ever. He has some of the most iconic 4th quarter finishes in history. Elway played a little like Steve Young with his running, but had Dan Marino's arm. Some lists will have John higher b/c his skill was so great, and he did more than anyone else. I like Elway a lot, and frankly this top 4 is really just splitting hairs.
3) Tom Brady, New England Patriots 2000-present, 3-time Super Bowl Champion, 2-time NFL MVP, 2-time Super Bowl MVP. It's no secret I love Tom Brady, he has been the premier QB of the last decade plus. Not only does he have 3 rings, but he's gotten all 3 with no names at WR, the one year he had an elite WR all he did was go 18-1, with 4,800 and 50 TD's. Tom has been to 5 Super Bowls, had the last 2 taken away in the final moments, when his defense couldn't get stops. He's also led Super Bowl game winning drives. Brady is the best QB in the NFL right now, and frankly it's not close, Manning isn't a playoff performer, Rodgers needs more time, and Brees is in a pass happy offense. Brady is a proven winner and a great QB.
2) Johnny Unitas, Baltimore Colts 1956-1972 San Diego Chargers 1973, 3-time NFL Champion (1 Super Bowl) 3-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 1979. A lot of lists have Johnny #1 but I can't do that. He played in an era when the forward pass wasn't something teams practiced to stop, he did play when there wasn't many rules, so guys couldn't get the seperation they get today. I think Johnny played in an age that most writers want to remember him as the greatest but he didn't play in a great passing era. He was a pure passer, and honestly his reputation gets him on my list, not the fact I really like him.
1) Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers 1979-1992 Kansas City Chiefs 1993-1994 4-time Super Bowl Champion, 2-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 2000, 3-time Super Bowl MVP. By far my favorite QB of all time, maybe in my top-5 for all time players. He won 4 rings, had some of the most dominant performances in Super Bowl history. Threw one of the most famous passes ever, hitting Dwight Clark for the catch to propel San Fran to their first Super Bowl appearance. Holds all the postseason records for passing, and has most of the Super Bowl passing records. Montana did have the greatest WR ever, but Jerry Rice wasn't hurt too much having a great passer throw him the ball. Sterling Sharpe was ok, then he got Brett Favre and was amazing, I know that's not the greatest comparison but I'm just trying to say a great WR isn't great unless his QB can get him the ball and if that QB is all time great he'll only help you out more. Joe Montana is the best there ever was according to me and he proved it time and time again including taking the Chiefs to the AFC championship game.
As I said this can be debated and I encourage you to do so, this is just what I thought today, I can be swayed. The only guy I'll refuse to put on this list is Peyton Manning, he's overated and has a longer list of playoff losses and choke jobs than he does playoff breakthroughs. I'll see you next week in the meantime follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Quaterback is different, how do you measure the greatness of a QB? When making a top 10 list you'll get a few names over and over, Montana, Brady, Marino, and Elway. Some guys will show up a lot, but most people don't have a concrete list that they stick by. I for one have my list fluctuate quite a bit. I have 2 things a QB must have, #1 is rings, QB is the most important position on the field, and only 1 team has won multiple championships in a small amount of time without a dominant QB. The QB controls the game more than any player, they also get all the glory and blame. The #2 thing I need is numbers, plenty of guys can have a ring(s), but if they put up mediocre numbers and just so happened to rise up 2 playoff runs (ex: Eli Manning), than your not top 10 eligible for me. So looking at my requirements Championship rings and great passing numbers let's look at my current top ten all-time QB's in NFL history.
10) Sammy Baugh, Washington Redskins 1937-1952, 2 championships, 2-time MVP. NFL HOF 1963. Sammy is credited with being first player to use the forward pass. My stance of being first doesn't make you best, but he did play a long time, and when he retired he held 13 NFL records. He obviously played in the pre-Super Bowl days, so his 2 rings were NFL Championships, which was just a 1 game playoff between the 2 division champions of the NFL.
9) Bart Starr, Green Bay Packers 1956-1971, 5 championships (2 Super Bowls) 1-time MVP, NFL HOF 1977, 2-time Super Bowl MVP. Starr is the epitome of a winner. He wasn't the best QB, but he is historically one of the most effecient, at his retirement he was 2nd all-time in passer rating. He played on runcentric teams, but he called those run plays. He was also one of the few guys who Vince Lombardi would actually listen too. Starr also has one of the most famous plays in NFL history with his QB sneak in the Ice Bowl in 1967.
8) Steve Young, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1985-1986 San Francisco 49ers 1987-1999, 3 Super Bowl championships-1 as starter, NFL HOF 2005, 2-time MVP, 1 Super Bowl MVP. He has probably the best run of all time against Minnesota in 1988. He backed up Joe Montana for his last 2 rings before becoming the starter and finally winning one in 1994. Young was the first of the new-age running QB's that could throw and run. Steve lost most of his prime years backing up Montana, but he played longer b/c of that as well. He made multiple championship game runs. Was also one of the most effecient passers in history as well.
7) Brett Favre, Atlanta Falcons 1991 Green Bay Packers 1992-2007 New York Jets 2008, Minnesota Vikings 2009-2010, 1 Super Bowl Championship, 3-Time NFL MVP. Brett holds records for passing yards, passing TD's, completions, attempts, QB wins, QB Starts, Interceptions, and 297 games started streak-most for any position. Favre is by far the most controversal guy on the list, he has a ton of numbers but he also has a ton of interceptions. The 1 ring does hurt him, but he had his 2nd ring taken by a guy higher on this list. He also had a ring taken by the Vikings coaching staff, he didn't do himself any favors throwing the killer pick against the Giants in the NFC Championship game. The guy was the true "gunslinger" it hurt to type that, he made a lot of plays but also missed a lot of plays. I'll say this about Favre he never had that go-to-guy who was a sure fire hall of famer on his team. He made the talent arount him better.
6) Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins 1983-1999 0 Super Bowl rings, 1-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 2005. Marino is the one guy on my list without a championship. I think Marino is the exception of the rule that you must win. His teams were never that good on defense, and never had a decent RB. He retired with pretty much every passing record, and really took the forward pass to a new level in his early years. He was one of the best of his era and it really was a golden age of QB's, Marino played against half of this list. His lightening quick release was legendary, he made mortal WR's great.
5) Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh Steelers 1970-1983 4-Time Super Bowl Champion, 1-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 1989, 2-time Super Bowl MVP. Probably the most understated QB when it comes to these lists. The guy never gets any credit, he played with an all time defense, 2 great WR's, and plenty of talent in the backfield. But, if you give Bart Starr credit in Green Bay you gotta give credit to Bradshaw in Pittsburgh. He was the QB of a great team and kept everyone happy, he is one of the few QB's in history to have 2 Hall of Fame WR's on his team. I put a premium on winning and the guy has 4 rings, you have 4 rings you get in my top-5 b/c there is only 1 other guy with that many.
4) John Elway, Denver Broncoes 1983-1998 2-time Super Bowl Champion, 1-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 2004, 1-time Super Bowl MVP. If John doesn't have Terrell Davis and Mike Shanahan he's around 8 on this list, didn't win rings until his last 2 years in the league. What Elway has is the flair for the dramatic, it's only fitting his rings came at end of his career b/c that's when he flourished, at the end of games the guy is probably the best ever. He has some of the most iconic 4th quarter finishes in history. Elway played a little like Steve Young with his running, but had Dan Marino's arm. Some lists will have John higher b/c his skill was so great, and he did more than anyone else. I like Elway a lot, and frankly this top 4 is really just splitting hairs.
3) Tom Brady, New England Patriots 2000-present, 3-time Super Bowl Champion, 2-time NFL MVP, 2-time Super Bowl MVP. It's no secret I love Tom Brady, he has been the premier QB of the last decade plus. Not only does he have 3 rings, but he's gotten all 3 with no names at WR, the one year he had an elite WR all he did was go 18-1, with 4,800 and 50 TD's. Tom has been to 5 Super Bowls, had the last 2 taken away in the final moments, when his defense couldn't get stops. He's also led Super Bowl game winning drives. Brady is the best QB in the NFL right now, and frankly it's not close, Manning isn't a playoff performer, Rodgers needs more time, and Brees is in a pass happy offense. Brady is a proven winner and a great QB.
2) Johnny Unitas, Baltimore Colts 1956-1972 San Diego Chargers 1973, 3-time NFL Champion (1 Super Bowl) 3-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 1979. A lot of lists have Johnny #1 but I can't do that. He played in an era when the forward pass wasn't something teams practiced to stop, he did play when there wasn't many rules, so guys couldn't get the seperation they get today. I think Johnny played in an age that most writers want to remember him as the greatest but he didn't play in a great passing era. He was a pure passer, and honestly his reputation gets him on my list, not the fact I really like him.
1) Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers 1979-1992 Kansas City Chiefs 1993-1994 4-time Super Bowl Champion, 2-time NFL MVP, NFL HOF 2000, 3-time Super Bowl MVP. By far my favorite QB of all time, maybe in my top-5 for all time players. He won 4 rings, had some of the most dominant performances in Super Bowl history. Threw one of the most famous passes ever, hitting Dwight Clark for the catch to propel San Fran to their first Super Bowl appearance. Holds all the postseason records for passing, and has most of the Super Bowl passing records. Montana did have the greatest WR ever, but Jerry Rice wasn't hurt too much having a great passer throw him the ball. Sterling Sharpe was ok, then he got Brett Favre and was amazing, I know that's not the greatest comparison but I'm just trying to say a great WR isn't great unless his QB can get him the ball and if that QB is all time great he'll only help you out more. Joe Montana is the best there ever was according to me and he proved it time and time again including taking the Chiefs to the AFC championship game.
As I said this can be debated and I encourage you to do so, this is just what I thought today, I can be swayed. The only guy I'll refuse to put on this list is Peyton Manning, he's overated and has a longer list of playoff losses and choke jobs than he does playoff breakthroughs. I'll see you next week in the meantime follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
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