The Mount Rushmore of..............

It's the crutch, the fun topic of conversation, the social media chatter, the fodder for sports talk radio, it's about to be used by some dude in Iowa for his blog post for the week, it's a simple question. Who is on the Mt. Rushmore of (blank)? You can pick anything, Mt. Rushmore of this or that is something that can be talked about and debated for hours on end. I'm going to do a post about the Mt. Rushmore of things, but not the normal schtick, like the Mt. Rushmore of baseball, (Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Walter Johnson, and Willie Mays). No let's have a little fun and get into some deep cuts of sports Mt. Rushmore's, four guys who maybe you don't think of that often.

The Mount Rushmore of Brett Favre's back-ups: Ty Detmer, Doug Pederson, Mark Brunell, and Matt Hasselbeck. Apologies to Aaron Rodgers, but he was drafted as the replacement, not the back up. These 4 stallions were brought in to hold a clipboard as Brett worked his magic on the field for 12 of Brett's 16 years as a starter in Green Bay, 16 years where he didn't miss a start. This is one of my favorite things of Brett's career, he was so good, and had such a bevy of back-ups who watched his crazy play and then left and had success in other places. 2 of these guys played for the Eagles (Detmer and Pederson) and 2 of them followed coaches who were with the Packers to new places (Hasselbeck/Holmgren and Pederson/Reid). After hearing how Rodgers was treated by Brett in Green Bay I doubt he taught any of these guys a thing, it was probably more the coaches, but either way it's a fun list. Detmer didn't have much success, started for a couple years in Philly. Brunell was pretty good in Jacksonville, made the AFC Championship game once, and was a lefty so that's noteworthy. Pederson in typical back up QB fashion is a much better coach than QB, he won a Super Bowl while using a back up QB to win it. Hasselbeck had great years in Seattle, lost a Super Bowl also put his foot in his mouth in a playoff game in Green Bay once.

The Mount Rushmore of Guys who were in college for 8 years: Donovan McNabb, Aaron Craft, Luke Recker, and Greg Paulus. Sorry Jess Settles, this category if for guys who "felt" like they were in college for 8 years, not literally in college for 8 years. McNabb was the first guy I remember thinking, damn that dude is still playing. He threw passes to Marvin Harrison in college and then played another 3 years. McNabb also walked onto the hoops team for 2 years, which only made his time seem longer. Aaron Craft is the king of basketball players who seem like they play forever, he is probably the most hated hoops player in recent Big Ten history, he wasn't good, but he was good enough to piss you off. Not a tremendous athlete, but he had a good mind for the game, and played hella good defense. Was a pain in the ass. When Luke Recker was at Iowa I admired him from afar, I wasn't an Iowa fan but he was my favorite player to watch, dude was amazing. Those couple years he was a force at Iowa seemed longer. You could pick any white guy from Duke and put him on this list, but I decided on Paulus because, he sucked so much at basketball, he quit the game and spent a year at Syracuse to play football. He wasn't good at either thing but the fact he got to do it shows how entitled he was.

The Mount Rushmore of great hopes: Brien Taylor, Jimmy Clausen, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Jake Locker. All sports are hard to gauge how successful a young person is going to be at them, however once people nail a couple they get a feeling like we have to keep doing this. I found this diamond and showed how smart I am, I'm going to dig a little deeper and find another one. Brien Taylor was the first great hope of my youth, taken #1 by the Yankees who obviously weren't very good, he was the arm that was going to turn it around in the Bronx. Well he never panned out, he hurt his shoulder in a fight, had surgery and never fulfilled the prophecies about his talent. When I was a kid Taylor and Todd Van Poppel were the 2 cards we were trying to get, neither was any good. I read about Jimmy Clause when he was in high school, he was heading to Notre Dame to win National Championships and Heisman Trophies. He had 2 brothers who played at Tennessee and he was better than both and had a QB guru that he trained with. Well he was alright, never got close to winning anything. Notre Dame sucked when he was there, but Clausen left early anyway, which lead to this. Still think Mel Kiper should pay us back and retire. Daisuke Matsuzaka came from Japan with 8 pitches including the gyro ball, Major League hitters didn't stanch a chance. He had 2 decent years to start, then he fell apart. Hardly the hype train he was billed as. Jake Locker is bad at football, that's probably why he returned for his senior year after being projected as the #1 pick after his junior year. When Locker finally made the league he didn't do well, drafted by the Titans at pick 8, he was out of the league in 3 years. Not bad for a bigger taller right handed Steve Young.

The Mount Rushmore of side arm/submarine pitchers: Terry Leach, Dan Quisenberry, Darren O'Day, and Byung-Hyun Kim. When I was kid we would emulate hitters and pitchers stances. I loved doing my Griffey or Bonds impression, and when we played catch I would drop down low and throw like Terry Leach of the Twins until after about 2 throws and my arm would hurt. Dan Quisenberry was of the same time frame and was better than Leach. BYK stared for the Diamondbacks in the World Series where they beat the Yankees, he was unhittable that season. Darren O'Day is the best sidearmer around right now, he's had mild success for a few years. I've heard Walter Johnson and Satchel Paige threw side arm, but these guys were true drop down throwers.

The Mount Rushmore of knee injuries ruined my NBA career: Derrick Rose, Grant Hill, Amar'e Stoudamire, and Brandon Roy. I really just wanted to talk about Derrick Rose and Grant Hill. Those 2 were poised to be the best players in the league. Rose was electric, probably the best point guard since Iverson. He could take you off the bounce, dish to anyone, and was amazing. Hill was poised to take the mantle from Jordan and carry the league for 10 years, instead both of these guys knees let them down, and one injury lead to another injury and another and so on. They both had very high highs in the league but their full talent was never seen. Amar'e Stoudamire was a dunking machine, his Suns teams were so fun to watch, then his knee went and so did his explosiveness. Brandon Roy was a good college player and was ready to take his talent to the next level and again never got to fully blossom. Damn shame.

The Mount Rushmore of baseball manager mustaches: Phil Garner, Cito Gasten, Eric Wedge, and Jim Leyland. Baseball players, especially relief pitchers had the best facial hair but these guys crush it in the lip work department. Just look at these glorious men Phil Garner, Cito Gasten, Eric Wedge, and Jim Leyland just beautiful.

That's it, have some fun and come up with your own.

The Fictional Baseball Players Game

  Good evening friends of the feathered, welcome to Dyersville, Iowa, home to the historic Field of Dreams. I'm your play by play announcer Harry Doyle and I'm joined in the booth by my co-host Scott Smalls. Scott we'll get to you in a second. But first let's talk about what we're about to witness. We have 22 of the greatest fictional baseball players assembled here to take part in a once in a lifetime game. These are the elite fake baseball players and we have quite the range of players. We've got men, women, some children, and even a cartoon rabbit, can you believe Scotty a cartoon rabbit?

Yeah Harry that's hard to believe, almost like a kid raised in the 60's not knowing who Babe Ruth is.

Not sure what that's supposed to mean Scott, but based on that stupid hat you're wearing I got a feeling you aren't the biggest baseball fan. The players are strange and so are the managers, for Erb's team we got a 12 year old kid from Minnesota, we'll get to Billy Haywood's line up in a second. For Brady's team it's former Major League star turned manager Jimmy Dugan, some say Jimmy has a drinking problem but I don't see it. First the line up for Haywood's band of misfits. Batting lead off and playing center field it's Willie Mays Hayes, in the 2 hole and playing SS Bennie Rodriguez, batting 3rd and playing left field is T-Rex Pennebaker, hitting clean up and playing first is Clu Haywood, up 5th and catching is Jack Parkman, hitting 6th and in right field is Alejandro Heddo, the 7th man and on the hot corner is Ray Mitchell, hitting 8th and playing 2nd is Mickey Scales, and finally the pitcher Billy Chapel. What you like about that line up Scott?

Lots of speed Harry, and enough power, Chapel was strong on the mound his last outing throwing a perfect game, this team will be formidable.

Alright and for Jimmy Dugan his line up card looks like this, Leading off and playing short is Bugs Bunny, 2nd up and playing 2nd base is Marla Hooch, in the 3 hole and playing left field is Bobby Rayburn, cleaning up and playing right field is Roy Hobbs, batting 5th and playing 1st is Jack Elliot, up 6th and pitching is Steve Nebraska, the 7th hitter and catching is Dottie Hinson, in the 8 hole and playing 3rd is Roger Dorn, and finally Lonnie Ritter bats 9th and plays center field. This line up has a little of everything, what you like here Scott?

This is powerful line up Harry, all these hitters have the power to launch one into the corn tonight, they might be a little slow on the basepaths so we'll have to see if that has an effect on the game.

Well Scott, it looks like the opening ceremonies have ended with the National Anthem being played and noted baseball fan Annie Savoy has thrown out the first pitch, she was quickly rushed off the field since it appeared she was trying to give pitching advice to Steve Nebraska. Stepping in is Willie Mayes Hayes, strike 1, strike 2, and strike 3, Hayes goes down quickly. Stepping up next is Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez, what can you tell us about the Jet Scott, says you were friends in the past.

The Jet is a Legend Harry, he is a do it all player, and is the guy who got me interested in baseball. Can you believe he wouldn't let me wear this hat when we played together?

Well apparently he's a fashion designer as well, and while you were going on Scott, the Jet goes down on three straight pitches. Next up is T-Rex, and he's down on three straight pitches as well, Nebraska looks locked in early. After a half inning it's still zero's on the board. Now stepping in for the home team is lead off man Bugs Bunny, Chapel winds and throws, Bugs hits a 2 hopper to short and Benny fires over to 1st to get him by a hare. Next up is Marla Hooch, she's looks like a great hitter and that's about it, anything to add Scott?

ummmmm

He's not the best color man in the business for nothing folks, Hooch looks at strike 1, then on the 2nd pitch hits a line shot into center but Hayes makes the running catch. In steps Bobby Rayburn, he's struggled a little since leaving Atlanta but he's got a great swing. Rayburn quickly works the count 2-1, and then pops out to Mitchell in foul territory. After 1 still 0-0. The top of the 2nd looks like the 1st as Nebraska mows down Haywood in 3 straight pitches, in steps Parkman who does that little shimmy that makes all the women here in Iowa puke. Nebraska serves him 3 straight strikes as well. Next up is Butch Heddo, and he's quickly out, again on 3 straight pitches, that 6 K's for Nebraska on 18 pitches. To the bottom of the 2nd still zeros. Bottom of the 2nd, and Roy Hobbs strolls up to the plate, he gives the 2nd pitch he sees a ride but again Hayes chases it down. Jack Elliot is up next and he quickly rolls over one to his counterpart at first, and Haywood steps on the bag. Nebraska steps in hoping to help his own cause, but instead he becomes Chapel's first strikeout victim and after 2 innings it's 0-0. Top of the 3rd and Mitchell is set to lead it off for team Erb, what would you do to disrupt Nebraska's timing here Scott?

I think trying to foul one off would be a good idea, you can't take any pitches, he's too locked in. I've hit one homer in my live and know that feeling when you get a good swing but it doesn't look like Nebraska is letting them get one of those swings.

Thanks Scott, while you were babbling Mitchell went down in 3 straight pitches and Scales is down 0-2 already, Nebraska works fast, and called strike 3, Scales is out. Chapel is next to hit, and again 3 straight strikes from Nebraska. Nebraska is perfect through 3. Bottom of the 3rd inning and Dottie Hinson steps in to take her cuts, she hits a screamer to short and Rodriguez gloves it. Dorn steps in, saw him talking to Annie Savoy pregame in the locker room, and Dorn tries to get hit by the first pitch he sees but the ball breaks over the plate for a called strike, 2nd pitch Dorn lifts into left and T-Rex makes the catch. Last up is Ritter, and looks like Billy Haywood his former manager had some words for Lonnie after he rolled over to 2nd base and didn't run it out. After 3 innings it's still 0-0 and both pitchers are perfect. You trying to tell me with both of these great offenses nobody can get a fucking hit?

You can't say fucking on the air Harry!!!!

Ahhh who gives a shit nobodies listening anyway, this entire premise is made up. It's a little silly if you ask me, not as silly as your hat, but almost. In steps Hayes to lead off the 4th, and he lays down a beautiful bunt towards, even if Dorn were an average fielder it would've been a tough play but Dorn almost spiked himself trying to pick up the ball. So finally we have a base runner following the bunt single, now let's see what the Jet does. Nebraska checks on Hayes twice at first, finally he goes home and it's a called strike but Hayes steals 2nd. Next pitch Benny swings like he's trying to knock the cover off the ball and misses again, strike 3 is called down he goes. T-Rex steps in and after missing strike 1, he puts a charge into the 2nd pitch and deposits it in the corn long over the left field wall and out of the stadium, and suddenly it's 2-0. Clu Haywood steps in, still leads the league in nose hairs, he hits the first pitch he sees into the glove of Roy Hobbs and it's the first put out that isn't a K for Nebraska. Parkman steps in again, does that little shimmy that drives the women here in Iowa crazy. Parkman swings and misses at strike 3, appeared Nebraska said something about letting him name the pitch if he touched it and Parkman missed. Here comes Bugs Bunny to face Chapel to start the 4th, he hits a chopper over Rodriguez, the ball almost took a cartoonish hop. Then Marla Hooch hits a line shot between Scales and Haywood, and the home team is in business with runners on 1st and 3rd and nobody out. Chapel is a bit flustered here, looks to be favoring his pitching arm after he walks Rayburn on 5 pitches. So here comes Hobbs with the bases loaded and nobody out. On the 2nd pitch Hobbs does the unthinkable, he hits a drive over the right field wall, over the corn and the ball lands on home plate of the original Field of Dreams, how far is that home run Scotty?

Looks to be about 800 feet Harry, might want to check his bat and make sure it's legal. He put a real whammer on that ball.

"Whammer" what the hell is that supposed to mean? Any way now stepping up is Jack Elliot, who once homered in 7 straight games in the Japanese League. Let's see if Chapel settles down after the huge grand slam. Elliot hits a slow roller to second and Scales scoops it and tosses to Haywood for the out. Steve Nebraska comes to the plate with the lead now. Chapel looks in, shakes off Parkman a couple times, here's the pitch Nebraska hits a screamer right over Chapel's head. He'll get to 1st, with 1 out for Dottie. Dottie hits the 3rd pitch past a diving Rodriguez and Dugan is in business again with runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out. Dorn will try to create more separation here. He hits a slow roller towards, Mitchell charges at an unbelievable rate to field it throw to 2nd and Scales sends it on to 1st for the double play. Looked like Mitchell got a push behind there even though there was nobody around him, pretty strange. Either way Brady's team gets 4 runs and after 4 innings it's 4-2. Heddo leads off the 5th for Haywood, he looks pretty scary up there, like an oversized John Kruk. Nebraska sends in his offering, and Heddo lifts one into the gap in left, he's chugging for 2 and slides just before the throw from Rayburn. Give Heddo credit for sacrificing the body, he's got a family to think about. Mitchell is next, after making that great play on defense. Still think he had help.

It appeared so Harry, on the replay he's moving closer to the ball but his legs aren't moving. Very strange.

Now that the mystery is solved, Mitchell hits a pitch 6 inches outside that goes down the right field line, and the ball appears to carom off of something in midair and lands in fair territory, man this guy is the luckiest hitter on the field tonight. Heddo comes around to score and Mitchell is at 3rd with a triple after Hobbs thought that ball was going foul and didn't chase it down right away. They walk Scales to get to Chapel, so runners on the corners nobody out for Billy Haywood, who has come out of the dugout and is coaching third base this inning. It's a suicide squeeze, Dottie got the ball but was too far up 1st baseline to make a play at so she throws to 1st to get Chapel, and a run scores as Scales moves up to 2nd. Hayes steps in, he lifts the 2nd pitch towards Rayburn in left and instantly drops down and starts doing push-ups. Rayburn makes the catch and Hayes is retired. Now Rodriguez will bat, trying to tie the game. Looks at strike 1, now on the 2nd pitch he smashes a drive to deep right center, and as the ball is flying it splits into 2, I think The Jet just hit the guts out of the baseball.

That's the second time I've seen him do that Harry, incredible feat.

Well let's see what the ruling is from the umpires, appears they're ruling a ground rule double, so the run scores and we're tied at 4. Now it'll be T-Rex trying to get the lead for the visitors. His last homer was longer than Scott's baseball career. Nebraska though digs deep and gets T-Rex on 3 straight pitches, it's feast or famine for this guy. After 4 1/2 innings we're all tied up at 4. Ritter leads off the 5th for the home team. 1st pitch, Ritter fouls it straight back at us, Scott that one is yours, (POP).

OW OW OW, right in the eye.

You alright there Scotty?

Not again!

Here Scott put this ice cold Busch Light on there, should help the swelling, I'd offer you some of my drink but I'm not sure your old enough. Thought for sure nothing could get past that big ass brim on your hat but it did. While Scott icing his eye Ritter lined out to right, Bugs Bunny hit a bases empty grand slam, and Marla Hooch hit a double. That brings up Rayburn who looks at strike 3, he isn't having a good night the plate. Hobbs now digs in to face Chapel who has struggled since the 3rd inning. Hobbs drives it deep to right again but this time Heddo leaps at the wall and robs him of the homer, stranding Hooch at 2nd. After 5 it's 8-4. Scott is now resting in the back of the press box, think I'll be alone the rest of the game.

Clu Heywood starts us off in the 6th, he promptly hits a double to right center, bringing up Parkman. He does that little shimmy getting in the box. He's yelling at Nebraska on the mound again. This time he crushes it deep to right. Parkman makes it 8-6 with a 2 run homer and is making some obscene gestures towards Nebraska, that doesn't seem necessary. Next is Heddo, another gapper leads to another double. Mitchell squibs one down the line, so runners on the corners for Scales. He looks into the dugout wondering if Haywood wants him to hit, not sure why it's not like these teams have any bench bats. Scales gets one right on the screws it gets over the left field wall by a 3 inches, it's now 9-8 in favor of the visitor's. Chapel goes down quickly on 3 pitches, Willie Mays Hayes pops out to short this time and again is doing push ups in the batters box. Bennie goes down on 3 pitches again and Nebraska halts any further damage, after 5 1/2 innings it's 9-8. Bottom of the 6th hasn't started well for Chaple, Elliot took him deep, then Nebraska knocked a triple down the right field line, and Dottie hit a double, giving the home team the lead 10-9. Dorn strikes out for the first out of the innings. Ritter hits one into left scoring Hinson but he gets caught trying to stretch it into a double. Bugs Bunny strikes out on one pitch and inning is over. It's 10-9 after 6.

Top 7 and T-Rex starts it with a base hit to left. Haywood then smashes a double, scoring T-Rex to tie the game. Parkman hits a single, so it's runners on the corners with nobody out and Heddo up. Jimmy Dugan is looking at the bullpen and decides to go to his closer, Henry Rowengartner. Rotary gurder is young man who broke his arm and has a ferocious fastball. Rosenbagger and Heddo have some history let's see how this plays out. First pitch is 103 MPH fastball right down the middle, strike 1, next pitch 104, strike 2. Now Rowengartner winds up and throws the ball underhand? I'm being told he calls it the floater, Heddo waits on it and crushes this thing into the corn out of the stadium. It's a 3 run homer and Erb's team takes a 13-10 lead. Rowengartner learns his lesson and feeds fastballs to the next 3 hitters ending the damage and gets out of the inning. It's time to stretch with Erb's team leading 13-10. Now trailing by 3 Brady's team will have to get by Jim Bowers. Leading off the 7th is Marla Hooch who again laces a single to right. Rayburn gets booed as he comes to the plate, then he doubles to left, but Hooch stops at 3rd. Bowers is now squeezing his glove before facing Hobbs. He gets Hobbs to strike out on 3 breaking pitches. Elliot is up next and they walk him to Rowengartner. The diminutive Rowengartner draws four straight balls and walks a run in. Now he's at first base taunting Bowers about the size of his ass. This game has a little of everything doesn't is Scott. (soft mumbles from the back of the room) So now it's Dottie Hinson's turn, down 2 with the bases loaded. She gets a hold of this one, and it's over the wall for the 3rd Grand Slam for Brady's team tonight. Making the score 15-13. Dorn leans into one and gets plunked. But Ritter grounds into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning, after 7 it's 15-13.

 Ryan Dunne is in to relieve Rowengartner, as Dugan is going to the bullpen again. Dunne is a young pitcher with not much experience at this level. Dunne gets Hayes to strikeout, and Rodriguez to ground out to Hooch. T-Rex skies one into foul territory and Rayburn strides over and make the catch to end the 8th, Dunne looked real good there. Bowers not to be outdone gets Bugs to strike out, and Haywood shifts on Hooch and Scales is right there to make the catch. Here comes Rayburn, and he hits a massive homer to straight away center, making it 16-13. Bowers gets Hobbs in 3 pitches, to the 9th inning we go it's 16-13.

Clu Haywood lines out to center on the 2nd pitch from Dunne, and then Dunne gets Parkman to strikeout. Now Dunne is looking into the stands, is he watching Annie Savoy leave? Why is Annie Savoy leaving the game, and why is Ryan Dunne watching her when he's 1 out away from closing the biggest game in fictional baseball history. Now he's running after her, what is Dugan gonna do, Dunne is leaving the game, what an idiot. What in the hell is going on down there. Well Dugan conferences with the team, looks like he wants to try Hobbs to get the last out, I believe Hobbs was a pitcher in the past. So now he moves Dorn to right leaving Bugs Bunny with the entire left side of the infield to himself. Hobbs walks Heddo, then Mitchell hits a ball that goes right at Ritter but then stops suddenly and drops to the ground, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd and Scales is the tying run. They walk Scales again to face the pitcher. Bowers stands in, he's holding the bat upside down, but again Hobbs can't throw a strike and walks a run in. It's 16-14, and in steps Willie Mays Hayes, but before he bats, Dugan is taking Hobbs off the mound and going to Marla Hooch to pitch. Her first offering is crushed by Hayes, who yells "TOLD YOU SKIP I'M A POWER HITTER NOW", and it's 18-16. And Dugan regrets his choice immediately, he now turns to Bugs to pitch, and Bugs gets Benny on 1 pitch. To the bottom of the 9th and it looks like Wild Thing Ricky Vaughn is coming in to close it down. Wild Thing gets Elliot on 3 pitches 95/97/98 on the radar gun. Brady's team has to take the 2nd out since Ryan Dunne has apparently left the stadium and is chasing Annie Savoy to Cedar Rapids. Down 2 runs, Dottie Hinson hits a double, bringing up Roger Dorn. And Wild Thing delivers him a fastball at 99 mph strike one, next pitch is 101, strike 2, Vaughn winds up and throws, STRIKE 3 he got em, 103 MILES PER HOUR!!!! Vaughn walks up to Dorn and says some expletives before punching him in the face. Erb's team win 16-14, and that's all folks. What a game, what an atmosphere. Thanks for tuning in, we'll catch you next time.

The Fictional Baseball Players Draft

With the world at a stop the need for content, and creating your own content is at an all time high. We have nothing to talk about except for hypothetical situations. This week I've enlisted my friend Chris Erb to join me in a draft. The premise is simple, we're going to create 2 baseball teams, both teams will be made up entirely of fictional baseball players. After our draft the 2 teams are going to play a game and that will decide the winner. The game will be played tomorrow so be sure to come back tomorrow night to read how things turned out. The draft has a few rules. First of all it's a snake draft, since I'm the home team I've given Chris the first pick. Rule B) Whatever position is taken has to be filled by the person with the next pick, so you can't sandbag on your 1B and draft other guys after someone gets taken. The rosters will be all 8 position players, OFers can play anywhere, IFers have to play their position, we'll draft 3 pitchers, a starter, a reliever, and a closer, pitchers don't have to be relievers in the movie, you can have a SP be a RP. Finally we'll pick someone to manage our clubs and create a line up to be turned in. Finally, the game will contested right here in Dyersville at the stadium MLB is building for a game nobody is certain is going to happen. The game is a figment of our imagination so why not play it where imagination and baseball collide.

The hour is upon us and Commissioner Kevin Costner comes to the stage to welcome everyone to the draft, and announce that Chris is on the clock.

Round 1 Pick 1: Billy Chapel SP (Kevin Costner, For Love of the Game) Erb comes out swinging, picking up the commissioner, trying to buy some faith from the league offices. Chapel pitched a perfect game at age 37 and quickly retires. I'm guessing Chris is hoping he finds that magic again.

Round 1 Pick 2: Steve Nebraska SP (Brendan Fraser, The Scout) Nebraska is discovered by Yankees scout Al Percolo in Mexico. What Steve has in talent he loses with his erratic behavior, but when Nebraska has it he's unbeatable. In his most famous start (a World Series game vs St. Louis), he throws a perfect game with 27 strikeouts in 81 pitches and also hits 2 solo home runs. I'll take my chances with the mind games.

Round 2 Pick 1: Bobby Rayburn LF (Wesley Snipes, The Fan) Bobby Rayburn is my favorite movie baseball character ever. He's Barry Bonds, a 3X MVP who signs with the Giants and can't wear his favorite number. I'm putting Rayburn in LF hoping to snap my CF later in the draft.

Round 2 Pick 2: T-Rex Pennebaker LF (Brian White, Mr. 3000) T-Rex is what you want in LFer, he's got the pop to bat in the middle of the order, and the arrogance to boot. He pops 50 homers for the Crew that season and will fit nicely in the middle of the line up.

Round 3 Pick 1: Willie Mays Hayes CF (Wesley Snipes, Major League) If you look at any fictional team on the internet Willie is the CF for almost every team. He'll bat lead off and steal you 100 bases, provided his shoes are tied. He may run like Mays and hit like shit, but when he gets the ball on the ground he's almost impossible to get out. Plus he can make so many plays in the OF.

Round 3 Pick 2: Lonnie Ritter CF (Joseph Lattimer, Little Big League) Lonnie is the best fictional CF in the world but considering I have to pick my CF here, I gotta take him. He bats in the middle of the order for Billy Haywood's Twins, plays solid defense and provided his ribs are ok he'll do the job in CF for my team.

Round 4 Pick 1: Jack Elliot 1B (Tom Selleck, Mr. Baseball) When the Yankees decide it's time to move on from the aging Elliot they trade him, to Japan. Jack goes to Japan and finds great success, so much success he almost breaks the most treasured record in Japanese Baseball, held by his manager, by homering in 7 straight games. Instead of trying to break the record though Jack bunts and gets home 2 runs helping his team win the pennant.

Round 4 Pick 2: Clu Haywood 1B (Pete Vuckovich, Major League) It will be dueling Yankees 1B in this game, as Haywood led the league in every offensive category including nose hairs. Clu can also be a distraction for opposing base runners at 1B, he did get Willie picked off on Opening Day, and then hit a Grand Slam that has landed yet.

Round 5 Pick 1: Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez SS (Mike Vitar, The Sandlot) When you pickle the beast and win, you become a Legend, and as Babe Ruth teaches us, there's heroes and there's legends, heroes get remembered but legends never die. Benny had so many feats on the diamond, even a kid he was a prodigy. He knocked the guts out of the ball, hit a ball right into Smalls glove and played all 9 positions. He's the perfect SS for this game.

Round 5 Pick 2: Bugs Bunny SS (Bugs Bunny, Baseball Bugs) He can play all 9 positions, so why not Shortstop. Bugs has the versatility we need, and in a pinch he can pitch for us, he once stuck out the side in one pitch.

Round 6 Pick 1: Roy Hobbs RF (Robert Redford, The Natural) Took long enough for the best player to get picked. Hobbs was the best prospect in the world till he was shot on a train by a psychopath. He disappeared for a while before returning to baseball later in life. Playing for the New York Knights he showcased his "light tower power" and hit one of the most famous home  runs in cinematic history.

Round 6 Pick 2: Alejandro "Butch" Heddo RF (Tom Milanovich, Rookie of the Year) Heddo has some pop. He lead the league in homers while playing for the Mets. He also takes Henry deep in his first pitch. He's a little big for the OF but I think he'll be fine with WMH patrolling CF.

Round 7 Pick 1: Jack Parkman C (David Keith, Major League II) Catcher is probably the 2nd deepest fictional position in movies, and Parkman is arguably the best of them. He has tremendous power and can name pitches.

Round 7 Pick 2: Dottie Hinson C (Geena Davis, A League of Their Own) She's best player in one of the best baseball movies ever. She puts an entire league on her back and carries them to the promised land. She has what you want in a catcher, great knowledge of the sport and when her pitchers are out of gas.

Round 8 Pick 1: Marla Hooch 2B (Megan Cavanagh, A League of Their Own) What a hitter!!!

Round 8 Pick 2: Mickey Scales 2B (Antonio Lewis Todd, Little Big League) A light hitting speedy defender, looks perfect on Chris's team. Don't be shocked though, every once in a while Mickey puts a charge into the ball when he gets aggressive and be's a hitter.

Round 9 Pick 1: Ray Mitchell 3B (Stoney Jackson, Angels in the Outfield) On a team that need divine intervention to be any good, Mitchell was the only player that was good before the Angels showed up. He'll hold down probably the toughest position in movie baseball to fill.

Round 9 Pick 2: Roger Dorn 3B (Corbin Bernsen, Major League) He isn't high priced talent, can still hit the ball, just can't field it, and I'll make sure he's out of town before his wife gets jealous, but Dorn is a pro and I can trust him to what's best for the team in any situation, including getting plunked if need be.

Round 10 Pick 1: Ryan Dunne RP (Freddie Prinze Jr., Summer Catch) Dunne has a lot of potential, that's why I only want to use him in short relief. If he can keep his head on he'll help us late in the game.

Round 10 Pick 2: Jim Bowers RP (Jonathan Silverman, Little Big League) Bowers is the perfect bullpen arm, he keeps the team loose, has some quirk to himself, but also doesn't take himself too seriously.

Round 11 Pick 1: Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn Closer (Charlie Sheen, Major League) Wild Thing lives for the big moment, typically a starter, he was coming out of the bullpen in game deciding situations before it was cool. He'll dial up the fast ball when needed and throw triple digits.

Round 11 Pick 2: Henry Rowengartner Closer (Thomas Ian Nicholas, Rookie of the Year) He may be a kid, but he's got a rocket arm. If we're up late in the game and need someone to lock it down, we'll be turning to Henry so lock it down. He isn't just a one trick pony either, if he gets in a jam he's always got the floater.

Round 12 Pick 1: Jimmy Dugan Manager (Tom Hanks, A League of Their Own) Will be interesting to see what Dugan does with ballplayers and not girls. He's old school, will fight for his team and make sure nobody cries, because there is no crying in baseball.

Round 12 Pick 2: Billy Haywood Manager (Luke Edwards, Little Big League) Provided Billy doesn't watch "Night Nurses from Jersey" the night before the game he should be fine. He's 12 but demands respect from the players, and the employees of the Twins. Billy also has a few tricks up his sleeve, and one Bill Haywood has to be able to speak him mind to an umpire. This might be difficult for him since the game is National League rules and he doesn't have the DH.

The Line Ups will be:
Team Erb                                                         Team Bredeson
Willie Mays Hayes CF                                    Bugs Bunny SS
Benny Rodriguez SS                                       Marla Hooch 2B
T-Rex Pennebake LF                                      Bobby Rayburn LF
Clu Haywood 1B                                             Roy Hobbs RF
Jack Parkman C                                             Jack Elliot 1B
Alejandro Heddo RF                                      Steve Nebraska P
Ray Mitchell 3B                                              Dottie Hinson C
Mickey Scales 2B                                            Roger Dorn 3B
Billy Chapel P                                                 Lonnie Ritter CF

Reminder to come back tomorrow night for the game, let us know your thoughts on the draft, I know we left some talent out there but filling positions is tough.

Movie Villains #HassleBracket Preview

  What is it about a tournament that gets me so excited. When I was kid I would get out my basketball cards, put 2 guys on a team like NBA Jam and play out a tournament in my bedroom with my NERF hoop, (yes I played all four players in the game, having an imagination was OK in the early 90's.) Often those tournaments would end the same every time, Scottie Pippen and BJ Armstrong would destroy whomever came from the other side of the bracket (side note I didn't have an MJ card so he wasn't eligible.) The beauty of the bracket is there is always a winner, you divide it up and play until only one is standing, whether it's wrestling, March Madness, or something I've started in the last couple years, the #HassleBracket. The Hassle Bracket has been a labor of love, I've quite a few, including movie coaches, fictional athletes, sports logos, sports villains, candy, and movie franchises. With all the craziness of the world I've decided to create another bracket that starts April 1 on my alternate twitter account @crap_heads, this time it's Movie Villains, and tonight I'm going to go into each Region of the bracket and give a few thoughts. I did all the seeding for these brackets, which is hard since I haven't seen about half the movies. I have to trust the internet for who belongs where, and if they are even a "villain". I learned early on, just because I think someone should win doesn't mean that's who everyone likes. Feel to free to play along and vote each day all the way through the month of April.

Jay Region
 The Jay Region looks like a tough draw for #1 seed Hannibal Lecter, his possible 2nd round match up will be either Jack Nicholson or Jack Nicholson, as his 2 characters from The Shining and The Departed face off in the 8-9. The 2 seed Hans Landa also has an uphill climb as he gets 2 athletes if he makes the 2nd round, he'll face Ivan Drago or Johnny Lawrence. The rest of the bracket is also tough with a couple of villains from Harry Potter (I purposely give Jay Harry Potter people since he went to Orlando for the Wizardly World of Harry Potter), Hans Gruber from Die Hard, Michael Corleone and others. This one should be fun.
Favorite: Hannibal Lecter
Sleeper: Hans Gruber
Super Sleeper: Max Cady
My Prediction: Biff Tannen, only because Back to the Future just did so well in the Movie Franchises bracket

Troy Region
Troy didn't like his Region of the Movie Franchises bracket so for this one I tried like hell to make him happy. He got the top seed, and tournament favorite Darth Vader, who is going to face some Lord of the Rings dudes in the 2nd round. Emperor Palpatine got the 2 seed, not sure he'll make it face Vader but if he does, I assume the same results from their last confrontation. Thanos got the 3 seed, I heard he killed all the Avengers so he's obviously a bad ass. Troy does an outstanding Jaba the Hut impersonation as well as a great Bane, so they both are in there. Brings me to another point when I do these match ups I try to do the opposite of march madness and put 2 guys from the same universe together, there is no conference play, so Bane vs Two-Face needs to be seen. Xenomorph from Alien might be a little overseeded, but this bracket is tough.
Favorite: Darth Vader
Sleeper: Bane
Super Sleeper: King Longshanks or Ra's Al Ghul
My Prediction: Darth Vader, I think he wins the entire thing and probably has no close match ups.

Serge Region
This one is loaded with cult villains, aside from top seed Joker (only from Dark Knight) the rest of these villains are from blockbusters, rather movies certain people like. Kevin Spacey is this region twice, 3 seed Keyser Soze (Usual Suspects) and 11 seed John Doe (Se7en). Dr. Evil gets a shot at actual Bond Villain Auric Goldfinger in the 8-9 game. The Terminator gets hosed with a 13 seed and faces Anton Chigurh (one of my favorite villains ever). Tyler Durden also underseeded could make an upset in the first round as well. Some horror guys will try to make waves in the bottom of the bracket as Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Chucky all could challenge Agent Smith to be the representative in the Elite 8.
Favorite: The Joker
Sleeper: Michael Myers
Super Sleeper: Tyler Durden or Chucky
My Prediction: The Joker, I think Heath Ledger made that roll iconic and has created a following for the Joker that is probably made him more popular than Batman.

Hasslers Region
I let my personal preference dictate the #1 seed here, it's for sure the weakest but Annie Wilkes from Misery is truly a great villain, and I've only seen the move once but when she wedges that board between his legs and nails him with the hammer, my god. So she is the weakest #1 but that's ok I gave her the respect I thought she deserved. The T-1000 gets the 2, he dominated T2, really made the movie so much better than the first. I like Jaws as the 4 seed as well, could be someone who gets far and does damage in the bracket. A tough 1st round match up for the Wicked Witch of the West facing Mr. Glass. Pennywise vs Scar could also be epic, Pennywise probably has the edge since IT was just redone. Nurse Ratched vs Warden Norton in the 5-12 will be a great match-up, I think Shawshank gets a little more play than Cuckoo's Nest.
Favorite:T-1000
Sleeper Lex Luthor
Super Sleeper: Warden Norton
My Prediction: Warden Norton, everyone loves Shawshank and the Warden was a damn prick in that movie. This region is very unpredictable.

This is going to be a fun bracket, I'm excited to get it started. One reminder, I'm putting the actor and movie for each villain on the poll, so you only get one actor for each villain, you can't decide every Lex Luthor or both Tommy Lee Jones and Aaron Eckhart count as one, you have to judge them based on that actors performance as that character. Let me know who you got, and let's have some fun. FYI if sports aren't back by May 1st (which they won't) I'll be doing a Sitcom Mom's bracket, something I've wanted to do for a while. 

Empty Stadiums

A week or two ago someone suggested the NCAA Tournament be played in empty arena's due to the Coronavirus. The idea at the time seemed so far fetched it was dismissed as nonsense. Well today the governor of Ohio announced that he recommends that all indoor events be carried out without spectators, in case you didn't know the First Four are held in Dayton, Ohio and Cleveland is hosting games in the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. That is only the first step, we are still over a week from 3 huge NCAA tournaments, the Men's and Women's hoops tournaments held at 16 different venues each, and the Wrestling Nationals being held inside a football stadium in Minneapolis in an attempt to have the largest crowd ever for tournament. Meanwhile, the MLS, MLB, NHL, and NBA have all restricted the media from entering the locker room. What does this all mean? Is it overreaction, perhaps action that isn't really action, or underreaction. I don't really want to get into a deep discussion about how we've as a country handled this virus, perhaps it's overblown but it's still happening. Instead, I want to look at what an event with no spectators would look like, and who are we really protecting.

I'll answer the 2nd question first, who are we really protecting? The professional teams are looking to protect their investments, first and foremost, the players are the most important asset they have. If a player were to get the virus from someone while on the time of the team, they could have a lawsuit. Same goes for these NCAA events, things could turn out poorly, if someone were to contaminate the athletes. I understand the virus doesn't affect people in good health, or even threaten their lives, but what if an athlete were to get the virus they would have to be quarantined for 2 weeks and that could mean consequences. For NCAA athletes they would miss their chance at the hoops tournament, NBA teams could miss the playoffs, MLB players could miss opening day. The fact that their life may not be in jeopardy isn't the problem, it's that their performance could be in jeopardy, and performance means dollars, and if you cost someone dollars they will try to get those dollars back from you. That's why MLB isn't worried about fans they aren't invested in the fans, and if a fan gets sick they won't cost the team any time or money.

The idea of playing a game without fans isn't unheard of. In April 2015, amid riots in Baltimore, the Orioles and White Sox played this game in front of zero fans. It was something to behold. There haven been plenty of other events held around the world without fans, and those are also strange to see. The good part is, you can hear what's going on, not the ambient sound of the fans talking. The downside of course is there no reaction to the game, is there real momentum without cheering? What is the bench mob to do when they have nobody to fire up? This could be a great experiment, does crowd noise really matter? Do crowds affect events? Obviously homefield advantage is real, because teams get to be at home, and in their normal routine. Now obviously the NCAA tournament isn't played at home for anyone, but the upper seeds do get preferential venue choice close to home. I for one think it will be neat to watch a game with zero fans, it wouldn't be preferable, but for a month so we can try to stop the virus from spreading, I'm all for it.

Let's try to keep an open mind the rest of the way with this virus while not overreacting, which is about impossible, I know. Let these leagues and organizations make the proper choices to protect everyone involved and maybe after a month this thing will start to clear up. 

The Baseball 15

  I subscribe to "The Athletic", a sports website with hundreds of writers that cover all the major sports, you get college football, NFL, NASCAR, NBA, Soccer, college hoops, MLB, pretty much whatever you want. Right now one of the writers at "The Athletic", Joe Posnanski is doing a series called the "Baseball 100", where Joe is "ranking" the 100 best baseball players ever and each day he writes a story about the players. I love this series, I read it every morning and am sad that it's going to end when baseball begins. So far Joe is up to #24 and he's included dead ball, live ball, negro league, and Japanese baseball players, it's just outstanding and worth every penny I pay for the subscription. Joe's list got me thinking, if I did a baseball 100 who would I pick? To me that seemed like a bit much and I couldn't do 1% of the work he's done, so I'm going to do something the same, but with a catch. I present "The Baseball 15" the 15 best baseball players I've ever watched play live in person. My first ball game was 1992 (2 guys from that game will be on the list) and my last game was in 2019 (also 2 guys from that game will be on the list) so that's 27 years of players to choose from. It isn't the largest sample size but I don't double up very much. Before we start though I have 1 player I must name who I've never seen play in person, we've been in the stadium together often but I tend to go to day games and Buster Posey often takes get away day off. Buster won't make the list and hurts me so much I've never made it to a game he's played in, not even a pinch hit. Him and Madison Bumgarner are my 2 biggest misses in Giants uniforms over the years, I've seen Matt Cain pitch twice and once saw a man with just a t-shirt on run towards Brandon Crawford https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocwaLWo7Hz4 Alas, no Buster.

#15 Robby Thompson, yes he doesn't belong on this list full of Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers, but Robby Thompson is my favorite baseball player hands down. He is related to me, 4th cousin once removed or something, but either way we are related. He is why I'm a Giants fan, as he played for the Giants in the late 80's and early 90's. He's one of the guys I saw play in Wrigley Field in 1992, my first ever game. Afterward, we got to meet Robby which was awesome, he was very gracious with his time and gave 10 year old me the thrill of my life. That was a special day I'll never forget and I'll probably always be his #1 fan.

#14 Ryan Braun, I've seen Braun multiple times, as I've gotten older I just like the way Milwaukee works for a game, it's easy to get to, traffic is alright, can get home in a decent time, it just works. Braun has nothing done anything memorable while I've watched him, that's why he's down here at 14. He is a good player and he does damage, but he's just ok when you see him live.

#13 Paul Goldschmidt, saw Goldy in 2016. He's a pretty good player and I do remember wanting to watch him swing the bat every time he got up. That day he didn't do much damage, 2 for 3 with a Run scored and a walk.

#12 Christian Yelich, Yeli made the news today as he signed an extension with the Brewers. I've watched him twice. Once in 2018 and once in 2019. He hit a homer last year vs the Giants, just an absolute laser shot to center field that hit the green background below the scoreboard. He's fun to watch patrol the OF as well. Seeing guys in their prime is pretty special.

#11 Nolan Arenado, 4th guy in a row I saw at Miller Park, but Arenado hit an extra inning homer that day and it was so cool. We also sat 3rd base line and got to watch the master at work down there, just awesome. He is one of the top 10 active guys right now, along with Yelich, just great to see greatness.

#10 Ryne Sandberg, I was trying to figure out how to do this list without including a Cub, but this dude is a hall of famer. He played that day in 1992 and honestly I can't remember what he did. The Cubs were the enemy and I was 10 so I wasn't having any of their success. You do though have to include hall of fame types when you have a list like this, especially with such a small sample size. Again nothing memorable that day but still very cool to be able to say, I saw that guy.

#9 Alex Rodriguez, Right after I moved to Arizona in 2004, my girlfriends co-worker had tickets to the Yankees vs D-backs and they offered to take us, I jumped at the chance. That night was the best I ever saw the BOB, the AZ fans were screaming and the Yankees fans were screaming louder. A-Rod didn't have a great game going 1 for 5 with a homer, but I was there and I booed the shit out of him.

#8 Miguel Cabrera, Oddly I've seen Miggy twice. 2007 I saw him with the Marlins in Milwaukee, and I saw him in 2013 in Kansas City with the Tigers. The 2007 game I was with my high school friends and I made some comment about what a cock Miggy looked like in his picture on the scoreboard, next pitch he went yard. My friends gave me so much shit, guess he can be cocky now and stuff like that, just incredible. He is very talented and getting to watch him work in the box was a thing of beauty, glad I got to see this great in his prime.

#7 Derek Jeter, Remember that night in 2004, yeah Derek Jeter went deep, 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs and of course a homer. He got the loudest cheers and boos, it was crazy to watch. I'm not the biggest Jeter fan but watching him play was pretty cool.

#6 Albert Pujols, The Machine wasn't as shiny when I saw him in 2014 at Target Field. The Angels had him as the DH that day so he didn't play the field and the game was a blowout in September so he was quickly out of the game because they had a game the next day in Cleveland. Albert did go 2 for 4 with a RBI and 2 runs scored, so he did bat 4 times in limited duty. The guy is an unquestioned Hall of Famer and probably on the short list of best players in the 2000's but he wasn't still Albert when I saw him so he checks in here.

#5 Frank Thomas, In 1994 I took a trip to New Comiskey with Boy Scouts to watch the Tigers play the Sox. That day was very cool as we got to walk on the field before the game. It was also a cool day as Julio Franco and Robin Ventura hit back to back home runs in back to back at bats, that's something you never forget, even if you're 12. The Big Hurt went 1 for 4 that day with a run scored. I remember watching him play though, it was so cool seeing him and Cecil Fielder stand by each other at first base, just 2 large humans, I still remember that.

#4 Justin Verlander, The highlight of JV I'll remember from that game in Kansas City in 2013 was watching him warm up, my wife and I were at the game early and seeing him long toss about made me lose my mind. He did get roughed up that day by Salvador Perez, but watching him throw from left center field to the RF foul line is something I'll always remember. The thing with pitchers is, the chance you have at seeing them is very slim, especially when you're me and go to maybe 2 games a year, that's why it took till now to get to a pitcher. Verlander was special to watch, and I felt privileged to witness his greatness.

#3 Mike Trout, Trout hit a homer the day I saw him in 2014, again it was a blowout and he was pulled early. He played outstanding though in his short work. That though isn't what I'll remember him for, instead I have this story. Again my wife and I were there early, as the Angels were warming up there was a gathering of fans around their dugout and foul line, everyone wanted Trout or Pujols to sign something. After the anthem, Trout found a kid, probably 12 with a sign that said "all I want for my birthday is Mike Trout's autograph" and he walked over to that kid and signed that sign. Just incredible the dude is about to go to work and instead of being a jerk and saying hey I gotta do my job, he signs for the kid and talks to him and gives him a photo opp, just amazing. Again another thing I'll always remember.

#2 Randy Johnson, Friday night in 2004, I was walking into the BOB when a guy selling programs stopped me. "Randy Johnson vs Barry Bonds you want a program to remember this night." I didn't buy one, if Barry Bonds (who was chasing 700) hit a homer off Randy Johnson I would remember it. We sat in the LF corner for this game because I was certain Bonds wasn't going deep, so we bought the RF tickets for the Saturday game. So we sat by the bullpen and had a perfect view of Johnson pitching to Bonds. Big Unit went 7 innings with 8 K's and 1 ER allowed. He did hit Bonds with a pitch in the 7th inning which I remember booing, because we were there to see Barry go deep. It was an epic match-up that Unit probably won, at least that night, and damn was it fun.

#1 Barry Bonds, I've seen Barry play 3 times, twice in Arizona in 2004 and once at old County Stadium in 2000. He never hit a homer in my presence but watching his at bats were incredible. As noted while talking about Randy Johnson, that battle was epic and we were living and dieing with every pitch. That night in 2004 was so cool to watch him patrol the Outfield, I yelled trying to get his attention and he did lift his glove up towards me, which I assume was acknowledgement. Only downside to that weekend was we decided to stay home Sunday, and he hit #699 that day, bummer.

The list is very distinguished and sorry to the honorable mentions of Joe Mauer, Prince Fielder, Cecil Fielder, Matt Cain, Lorenzo Cain, Robin Ventura, and Salvado Perez. Baseball games are my favorite sport to attend, they lend themselves to a relaxing day of visiting with your friends and enjoying some beers without assholes being jerks like at football games. Enjoy my list and please read Joe Posnanski list and subscribe to The Athletic for $5 a month.

Realignment Mania

  We've hit the time of year when rampant speculation on the future of college football occurs. We've gotten through signing day, the coaching silly season is over (unless you're Colorado and get your coach poached), spring semester has started so the transfer market is on simmer. What is there left to talk about? Well, a favorite of  mine, and many is what the future of each conference looks like, who is going to defect to who, will a conference fold, where does that leave school X? All fun and great questions. That's what I'm going to tackle below, a crazy speculation laden realignment of sorts of the 5 major conferences for football, with a little thought given for the Olympic sports. In the past I've always thought a 4-16 team conference alignment was coming, but I've since changed that stance and I'm leaning towards 5-16 team conferences, giving us 80 Power 5 schools. Now, the obvious idea is getting 2 8 team divisions in each conference, I still like divisions even though the new school thought is to rid ourselves of divisions. I think divisions are great in all sports, rivalries and division match-ups make sports. Hating the Dodgers is half of being a Giants fan. Also the beauty of the 8 team divisions is in football you get 7 division games, 2 cross-division games, and 3 non-conference games with at least 1 coming vs the Power 5, no more scheduling 3 FCS games Florida. I'll also try to reconnect some old rivals with these, what is college football rivals? All new teams to a conference will be in Italics.

ACC Atlantic: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina State, Syracuse, Wake Forest, Temple and Connecticut. Almost the same, with a couple subtle changes. Adding UCONN can maybe charge up Boston College. UCONN has been looking for a place to play for a while and they can help the ACC, and maybe help their basketball program. Temple, is a program on the rise in a football rich area. The rest of this group is already playing each other, you get some historic power with Florida State, and of course recent success with Clemson. It won't be the best division in the county but hopefully they can continue to go in the right direction. Wake Forest is my when they are good I like rooting them team from the ACC, must be the Tim Duncan effect.

ACC Coastal: Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Miami (FL), North Carolina, Duke, Maryland, and Notre Dame. Bet you didn't see that coming, Notre Dame wants to be in the ACC so they can just join them and stop this half in/half out BS they are pulling now. Giving Maryland back is a tough call, but they belong in the ACC. I enjoyed them in the Big Ten, but they love hating Duke and North Carolina. Notre Dame, Va Tech, and The U all have had history of being good so they can counter Clemson and give them an actual game in the conference championship game. Duke and UNC belong together in basketball. I like this iteration of the ACC. Georgia Tech has the ability to compete.

Big Ten East: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Indiana, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia. I'm sorry but you can't break up this division tOSU, Michigan, and Penn State belong together, can't beat someone do better. I know lots of people will scream to get rid of Rutgers but they have to stay, WE LOVE NEW YORK. I added Pittsburgh and West Virginia because #1 they belong together and #2 Penn State hates both of them, so that would be awesome. We need the Backyard Brawl in our lives and what a better way to have it than right after The Game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Indiana will always just be lumped with these guys, they really are in a tough spot.

Big Ten West: Northwestern, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, Minnesota, and North Dakota State. You didn't think I would break up my beautiful division did you? The Big Ten West is great in many ways, they do struggle against the big 2 out east in tOSU and PSU but they can close the gap. North Dakota State joining is a big leap as they are only a FCS team at the moment but they are the best FCS team of the last decade and have plenty of FBS scalps on their record. I kept Nebraska with the Big Ten just to spite them, they don't want to be with Texas anyway. Purdue, much like Indiana is just here so they don't get fined. jNorthewestern is here so all the alumni in Chicago can attend a game every other year.

Big Twelve North: Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Colorado, Utah, Brigham Young, Colorado State. Possibly the hardest division to fill. I decided to go east and west to find teams to group up with these 3 average to below average football programs. Kansas State is ok historically, Iowa State in on the rise, and Kansas is a basketball school. Missouri coming back makes sense, they hate Kansas. Bringing Colorado back is also a gamble, but bringing in Utah will help. Plus grouping these teams with Big 12 South will help with recruiting of Texas. Colorado State and Brigham Young are there for rivalry reasons, not sure if Colorado and Colorado State are true "rivals" but we can make it happen.

Big Twelve South: Texas, Texas Christian, Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and Southern Methodist. It's a division made up entirely of 2 states and oh what a beauty it is. You gotta keep Texas and Oklahoma together, believe me I wanted to put Oklahoma in the north but then you lose the Red River Shootout. The rest of the Texas schools and Okie State all are here by proxy of those other 2 schools. Texas A&M gets brought back because they have the rivalries we want, and adding SMU gives the DFW 2 teams but they can handle it, they had 2 back in the SWAC days.

Pac 12 North: Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Stanford, California-Berkley, Boise State, and Fresno State. Another division where we leave well enough alone. Oregon, Stanford, and Washington lead this group, Oregon State and Wazzu are up and down, Cal is there and damn it, we all want Cal to be good. Boise State belongs in the Power 5, they need to get out of the Mountain West, bringing Fresno along helps, plus Fresno fits the footprint.

Pac 12 South: Southern California, California-Los Angeles, Arizona, Arizona State, Nevada-Las Vegas, San Diego State, Nevada, and Hawai'i. USC is the obvious leader of the pack, their success will be what leads this division. UCLA used to be so good, and they play in the freaking Rose Bowl, who wouldn't want to play there. Arizona is in Tuscon so I get why they suck, ASU is in Tempe, you should be able to recruit to Tempe. The new schools are all from the Mountain West and we are just raiding that bitch, Nevada and UNLV can both be decent, San Diego State plays in an NFL stadium they would be able to recruit to San Diego, and Hawai'i is freaking Hawai'i, plus they've been decent in the past.

SEC East: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisville, Central Florida, and South Florida. We already know I took Missouri back, and we're flipping Vandy, so we had to add 3, and UCF and USF can be those 2 of those 3. UCF has won a "National Championship" more recently than all of these schools. We gotta keep the rest of the rivalries rolling. UGA vs Florida, and Florida vs Tennessee are storied rivalries. The SEC East has to be a little better counterweight to the West but they are close and Georgia is so close to climbing that mountain. Kentucky is here for hoops and adding Louisville will be a great rivalry for each school.

SEC West: Alabama, Auburn, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and Memphis. It's the jewel of college football, this division has won the most national titles since the year 2000, plus they are the only division to have 2 teams play each other for the Natty. Alabama is the top, LSU and Auburn give them fits, Ole Miss and Mississippi State hate each other. Arkansas should be better and can create a rivalry with Memphis. Vanderbilt is here to help the conference GPA, and I flipped them on their division to put Kentucky with Louisville.

That's the 80 teams, sorry to Cincinnati I wanted to find a home for you but decided on Temple instead. Maybe talk Vanderbilt out of sports. For hoops I would do play everyone in your division twice, and find 6 random games from the other division to play, you'll miss someone but you can get them back the next year. For football, you play 7 division game, 2 conference games, where you do a home and home in consecutive years and then not see them again for 6 years. I know this will never happen but it's fun to talk about, and fun to try to figure out. Conference alignment is a neat deal.

Daytona Rewind

  Speedweeks is what all us NASCAR fans look forward to from Thanksgiving to February. A week after the Super Bowl every year is pole qualifying and the Busch Clash (formerly the Bud Shootout), it's a non points race and really just a marketing thing to get people excited for the Daytona 500. Thursday brings the qualifying duels, two races that set the starting grid for the 500. And finally on Sunday the big race, the Daytona 500, the biggest race of the year, the top of the top in stock car racing, debatably the most prestigious race in America. (I know the Indy 500, but it doesn't have that affect on me) This years races were something to watch.

The Busch Clash was a slimmed down 18 car field, made up of the elite drivers. It was a crash filled race with plenty of crazy moments, including a car a lap down pushing his teammate to victory. Denny Hamlin (who will be very prominent in this post) in a car held together with tape pushed his damaged teammate Erik Jones to a win, a move he would use again a little over a week later. The Clash was ridiculous with plenty of drama sprinkled in, including a riff perhaps at Penske racing. But it was still 7 days before the 500 so guys had plenty of time to settle down.

The Duels were very tame, since drivers had to use those cars in the 500 they wanted them as perfect as possible.The drivers didn't show any of their cards in those races. There was ominous sign in the duels, right as the cars in the first race were coming to take the green flag a rain storm hit the track and delayed the start, a little foreshadowing of Sunday. Joey Logano brought home the victory in duel 1 and William Byron took the 2nd duel, Byron wouldn't be so lucky on Sunday/Monday.

Sunday hits and we're all excited. It's Daytona Day and everyone is amped to watch. President Trump is the Grand Marshall for the race, a very big deal. He gives the command and drives the Presidential Limo on the track. After all the pomp and circumstance of that is done, the cars get lined up to come to the green and as they come out of turn 4, rain starts. The race is delayed. Just like the duels we get all excited and we get nothing. Well that shower goes through and they dry the track, finally the race gets started and the cars get racing, they line up and race single file for 20 laps before another storm comes in, then another storm and another storm, and finally they say enough and delay the race till Monday. The choice of waiting till 4:00 to restart the race was a bit peculiar to me, but I'm pretty sure Fox wanted the viewers and the race to end under the lights, which it did. So that's it for Sunday, 20 laps and just a tease.

Monday afternoon they get fired back up and get back to racing, I missed the first hour or so of the restarted race getting home from work. I didn't miss much after that. While I wasn't watching though Ricky Stenhouse did turn William Byron causing a 1 car accident. I didn't see it but saw the replay when I got home, it was a dumb accident. After the 1st stage the Toyota brigade came to the front and dominated the 2nd stage. There were a few hickups along the way including Martin Truex Jr, hitting a gas can from Chase Elliot on pit road between stages. The final stage was what it always is in the 500, chaos. The closer you get to the end the more aggressive everyone gets and the more incidents there are on track. There were a couple large accidents, including the "Big One" with around 19 to go. Then with 7 to go there was another wreck, on the following restart Denny Hamlin made his move. Coming to the flag Denny got behind the 6 car of Ryan Newman and pushed him so far in front of the field for 3 laps, nobody could catch them. It was incredible to watch and if the race didn't end the way it did, more people would be talking about that push. Then Denny bailed on Newman and took the lead. In doing so the field caught up to them and another accident happened. They stopped the race to clean up and we had NASCAR overtime, which is a green-white-checkered, a 2 lap sprint to the finish, but we weren't done wrecking yet. With the field getting the green Michael McDowell got into the back of Clint Bowyer and wrecked a few cars with barely getting past the Start/Finish line. So we have to do it again. This time they restart clean and for 1 lap things are fine. The field gets in position to make their moves on the final lap and the entire race changes. First domino to fall is Chase Elliot spins coming out of turn 2, it's a single car incident and I think he kept it going. NASCAR didn't want the 500 to end under caution so they looked at the situation and decided in the split second to keep it green. It happened so quickly and the race to finish continued so the Fox cameras didn't stay with the 9. Heading into turn 3 Ryan Blaney pushed Ryan Newman past Denny, who immediately got behind the 12 of Blaney and shoved him as hard as he could. Now I know I'm a Denny fan but the guy knows how to race in these situations, he is the new king of Daytona. He did exactly what he should've done, he didn't give up. Denny pushing Blaney gave Blaney a huge run on Newman. And Newman blocked him, twice, this is the Daytona 500 people you block as long as you can. After the 2nd block, Blaney decided to give Newman a push, in doing so though he hooked the bumper of Newman and shot him into the wall. Denny barely missed him, and the spin took a lot of momentum from Blaney. Denny passed Blaney coming to the line and won the 2nd closest Daytona 500 ever, (he already won the closest 500 ever in 2016). Now back to Newman, after hitting the wall and flipping Newman's car was compromised and upside down when he was hit by a Corey Lajoie, a driver on a lesser team that was in the running because of the rules package. Newman's car then slid down the front stretch on it's roof before coming to a stop somewhere in turn 1, near the exit of pit road.

The track crews quickly got to Newman, while the Fox broadcast wasn't sure who won. They really didn't know what to say or do. NASCAR eventually ruled Denny the winner, his 3rd 500 victory. Fox did a split screen of Denny's in car and Newman's care on it's roof with a large amount of safety personnel around it. So us viewers at home, see that Newman isn't ok because we got picture in picture going, Denny Hamlin is in a race car with a helmet on, he can't see it, he's also unplugged his radio so communication can't be made. Denny proceeds to do some donuts in the grass, a subdued celebration for him, he is one of the better guys at burning it down after a win. He stayed off the track, didn't even go get the flag. Then Denny went to Victory Lane, and saw the accident on the video board before getting out of the car, his entire demeanor changed. His interview with Fox was very low key, he made sure he put Newman first then talked about the race. There wasn't the usual coke shower or anything. I saw on social media people calling Denny classless and other names, it wasn't his choice to have the victory lane celebration, that's the sport. Once the team knew the seriousness of the crash they were very somber and didn't get overly joyous.

Meanwhile the crews were busy trying to remove Ryan Newman from his car, he was the most important thing in that moment. NASCAR had most of their energy focused on the 6 car. The Fox producers tried to do the normal post race stuff, but it was horrifying to watch as all the drivers looked sick, especially Blaney who really wanted no part of being on TV. There was an ominous feeling on the broadcast. Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon were audibly disturbed in the TV booth and I think they couldn't get off the air quick enough for their liking. Eventually the crews got Newman out of the car and transported him directly to the hospital and thus began the longest 2 hours in NASCAR in a long time. There was no news of his condition which lead to speculation and lots of people assuming the worst. There was prayers, blame, and lots of differing opinions on twitter. I as someone who wears his heart on twitter during sporting events, was at first overjoyed with the finish, I didn't watch the 6 flip and get hit on the first watch as I was concentrating on the 11 and hoping he won. There had been so many accidents at the end of these races I was only focused on the finish, it wasn't until the Fox cameras stayed on the 6 that I realized what happened. After taking a minute, the joy of winning was quickly taken away with fears for the worst. It was as if anyone associated with Denny or his fans wasn't allowed to be happy. I understand the situation but man it was hard to watch. Finally after 2 hours NASCAR read a statement from Newman's race team announcing he was alive and in serious condition, with non life threatening injuries. They updated his status this afternoon that he was awake and talking, without revealing his injuries.

The entire saga of the last lap and how people reacted will what I remember about this Daytona 500, it was an incredible race, but that last 100 yards changed everything. It's moments like that that remind us that racing is dangerous and even though it's been 19 years since a death in NASCAR, it can still happen. How we react matters and what we must remember is not everyone has the same information as we do, it's a 2 1/2 mile track, you can fit a football field on the grass between pit road and the front stretch. It was a scary situation and I feel for Ryan Newman and his family, but he knew the risks and he's spoken out about the cars flipping. We have 3 more races like this yet this year and all we can hope for is this accident isn't repeated.

2020 NASCAR Vision

  Sunday marks the beginning of another season of NASCAR Cup Series racing. Another season of changes as NASCAR has moved away from the series presenting sponsor, they enter the final season of this car style, and they made a few subtle changes to the car package for the short track racing that was ruined last season by the lower horsepower. This season could look a lot like last year, tonight I'm going to give a few bold predictions for how I think 2020 will look.

A mid-tier team will make the final 8 of the Chase. Let's first get a look at the upper class of Cup teams, you have Hendrick, Penske, Stewart-Haas, and Gibbs. Those 5 teams have won every cup championship, but 1 since 2005 (Martin Truex Jr. in 2017). In a past life Rousch was elite but they are now the 3rd Ford team so they are solely in the middle class. The middle class has many great to good drivers, Kyle Larson and Kurt Busch at Ganassi, Ryan Newman at Rousch, Matt Dibenendetto at Wood Bros. Austin Dillon at Childress, and Ricky Stenhouse at JTG Daughtery. All of those guys are formidable in equal equipment, especially Larson and Busch. That said the way the playoffs work out this year with 3 short track races in the first round and Talladega in the 2nd round, I see someone like Stenhouse or Busch getting through both those rounds. Both drivers are Bristol aces and both can compete on a plate track like Dega. If they take a final 8 spot that will be so interesting as it means only 1 or 2 from the elite teams will be there. Predicting who won't be there is almost impossible but the way round 2 shapes up I think it could be a couple Gibbs drivers.

Jimmie Johnson won't win a race. Not the boldest prediction since JJ has struggled recently, but this is his retirement season and the last few years the retiring drivers have fared decently. Jeff Gordon famously won at Martinsville to give himself a chance at championship in his swan song. My thing with Jimmie though is, he hasn't had the speed and I question his team. Hendrick is strong with Chase Elliot but the 48 has seemed like the 3rd or even 4th car in recent years. I don't see where the 48 will be faster than the Stewart-Haas or Gibbs cars. He may use strategy to steal a win but it seems like the Penske teams usually have 3 different strategies in a race to disrupt that. I've grown to respect Jimmie the last few years but I don't see him having that signature moment this year.

Joe Gibbs Racing will break their record for wins in a season. In 2019 JGR set a record for wins by a team, the 4 cars combined to win 19 races and that was with the 20 or Erik Jones only winning once, the other 3 drivers won 18. If Jones can get more comfortable and win a couple more races I think 20-22 race wins will happen. They are racing the same package on the intermediate tracks and the JGR cars dominated those  races. They did lose Cole Pearn on the 19 but promoted his disciples to lead the team. Also with 2020 being the final year of the car, I'm not sure how much work teams will put in to find speed since most of the work will be null after the season. Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin have a knack to make things happen and Martin Trues Jr. is one of the better drivers on restarts. This season is shaping up well for JGR.

Chase Elliot will win the NASCAR Cup Series. I really wanted to tab Denny Hamlin to win this year but I like the way the Playoffs set up for Chase. Making it to the 3rd round will be key for him, he has won at the Roval, which making the 8 is the hardest part. Once in the 3rd round I think he can do his magic at Martinsville, somewhere he's driven well but has had incidents that aren't his own fault in the past. If he makes the final at Phoenix he stands a much better chance than when the final was at Homestead. It's extremely hard to predict something in November but I think this is the year of the 9 car and Chase Elliot leads the next generation of drivers into the new decade and becomes the face that NASCAR wants him to be. He's already the most popular driver but being a Cup Champion will make him even more relevant in the sport.

That's it for this one, be sure to watch the Daytona 500 on Sunday and hopefully Denny gets his 3rd 500 win. My pick is actually Brad Keselowski, I think he makes the moves at the end and avoids his idiot teammate to get the win. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson as I'll be filling up my feed with Daytona talk, enjoy the season.

Thoughts of the Week 2/4/2020 Edition

 No theme this week instead just going to give a paragraph on a few sports stories.

Super Bowl of fun, man was that a fun game. I was visiting with my friends a lot during the game so I don't have a super deep breakdown served up, but it was entertaining as hell. The 49ers and Chiefs each played a great game. A few highlights, the bomb from Mahomes to Hill was a game changer. The 49ers defense was no joke till the 4th quarter. Kittle got robbed on the OPI call. Lots of good hitting, 49ers running game was good. Chiefs running game was better than expected. Just a well played, excellent, fun football game. The commercials were fine, halftime was fine. The food at our party was elite.

Wrasslin, I pay attention to college wrestling, I enjoy it a lot. Friday night when #1 Iowa hosted #2 Penn State it was the most watched wrestling telecast in the history of Big Ten Network. It was a dual meet that in the grand scheme really means nothing, yet it was watched by 342,955, and the most watched college athletics broadcast of the night. Throw in the fact that 15,900 people were in attendance, you got yourself some buzz. This season for Iowa could be special as they have the best wrestler in the country in Spencer Lee, and have guys ranked inside the top 8 at every weight class. Watching wrestling, especially Spencer Lee can be very fun, with lots of action and points. Some matches can get bogged down but when you get two really good guys it's entertaining. The Big Ten duals and NCAA Championships are going to awesome, plus it's an Olympic year so after NCAA's there will be trials in State College, PA, plus the actual Olympics in August. Give it a watch, you may enjoy it.

Hoop Dreams, since I stayed away from the NFL I decided to fill my time I would give Iowa hoops my time this winter. They have payed off, this year's team is very fun to watch and even when they struggle I don't get as frustrated as I used to. Now I may be maturing or perhaps this team is pretty good and you never know when they can turn it on. Sunday's game vs Illinois was outstanding to watch, as 2 good teams duked it out for 40 minutes, neither giving an inch. With watching more Iowa, I'm paying more attention to the Big Ten, and boy is this conference something. Wisconsin (who is ok) just beat Michigan State last weekend, Illinois is the shock of the conference with winning 7 in a row until losing at Iowa on Sunday. The league is so deep and anyone can give another team fits any night. It has been fun, and the conference tournament is going to be electric.

Astros Hirings, as we get closer to pitchers and catchers reporting, the Astros selected a manager and general manager this week. Dusty Baker was named manager, you might remember Dusty from his previous hits in San Francisco, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Washington. I for one like Dusty, I know Cubs fans hate him. Dusty was a good manager for the Giants in late 90's/early 00's, he did a good job of making sure the PEDs were well hidden. He did make a huge mistake in Game 6 or the World Series giving the gameball to Russ Ortiz after taking him out, but hey that's almost 20 years ago move on. Dusty will do good for Houston as he's a players manager, but he'll also bring the discipline that AJ Hinch apparently lacked. I know nothing about the GM, except he was from the Rays organization and it seems everyone worked for the Rays lately.

Dantonio Retirinio, in a move that was a little shocking, Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio retired today. He has struggled since making the CFP in 2015, with 4 lackluster seasons that followed, plus a few brushes with the media over player behavior. After struggling in 2018, Dantonio reshuffled his offensive coaching staff, but that didn't work. I assume he was getting the ultimatum to fire his staff and start fresh and he didn't like that idea, so he decided to walk away. The timing is odd, since most of the big hires are done. I saw a couple names for the job are Luke Fickell and Pat Narduzzi, not sure if they'll abandon their players this late in the process. Spring workouts have just begun and getting an existing head coach to leave might be tough. I think a Jim Leonhard type might be the right fit for MSU, but they could look for an offensive minded coach since Dantonio was defensive guy. Perhaps they call up Joe Moorhead who was fired by Mississippi State, but hired to be the OC at Oregon, not sure what his fallout at Mississippi State was but maybe his message would work at Michigan State, especially after his success at Penn State.

That's all I got this week, we are getting close to Daytona, pitchers and catchers, plus March Madness, lots to talk about in the coming months. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.