I was watching "Meet the Press" last Sunday and on it they had a debate about paying college athletes. On the show they had the President of the NCAA Mark Emmert, United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who played basketball at Harvard, and former Obama Aide Reggie Love, who played football and basketball at Duke. Each of these guys made points about why or why not college players should be paid, they did a much better job than I ever could. I encourage you to look up the segment and watch it. This however is my blog where I spout my views so I'm going say why I feel college players should be paid but also why there are a few stumbling blocks in the way of that happening. I probably should do more research but I'm not going to, this is a blog not a term paper, here we go.
The biggest reason I feel players should be paid is that the University's make money off of them and don't have to give much back in return. But Derek they get a scholarship and have their tuition and room paid for. Yeah your right a kid that helps you earn millions of dollars from TV deals, apparel sales, and sold tickets is compensated with a $9,000 a semester tuition and then housing and meals which is another $9,000 a semester, so we'll say $36,000 a year. Let's compare that to the Iowa football team that made $50.6 million in 2011-2012. Football teams are allowed 85 scholarships which rough math equals $3.06 million in tuition and boarding per year. Now there is other things including travel, coaches pay, facilities, recruiting and other fees but that's a $47.54 million difference. The kids play for "free" and the college gets 47 million, and that's Iowa the team that was 18th in revenue in 2012. I also just looked up a James Morris #44 Hawkeyes jersey, it sells for $59.95 on the internet, not a single cent goes to James Morris, even though it's not his name on the back we all know who's jersey that is. Once again the money from that sale goes to the university.
Last June the Big Ten Network gave each of the 12 members of the conference $284 million from TV contracts and NCAA tournament revenue. Now I know they have studio shows, camera crews and whatever else but they gave the schools 284 EACH after they took their chunk that's 3,408 million dollars in profit. That's probably b/c they don't have to pay the people who make their shows watchable. If you don't have to pay the help you just get to keep all the money for yourselves. All the programming is basically free for the network b/c the field hands get a scholarship that gives them a "free" education.
Let's visit that term "free" education. That thing isn't free, you have to work your ass off to earn it. You have to go to class, go to practice, workout in the off-season, not be allowed a job b/c a booster may give you an unfair wage. If something happens to you, your athletic scholarship can be taken away at the end of the year, b/c a scholarship is only a one year deal. Let's say your a kid from a poor family, you work your ass off get a football scholarship. You start as a freshman, first game of the year your ruin your knee, football career over. Now some schools will honor that scholarship but some won't, and boom you got 1 year of education then you're out the door. Back home with a wrecked knee, no money, and 1 year of college. But Derek that's the risk they take, your right that is the risk and for some that was the only way out, but if they had made some money with say a 1 year contract they at least could land on their feet.
Now the hard question, how much should they make? That is where things get sketchy. I would propose say full tuition and board x2, so $36,000 a year in "salary." That is just the jumping off point. Who should make the money is another question. I think if they are a revenue maker for the school those athletes should be paid, and by revenue I mean if the sport makes a profit, after scholarships, coaches, travel, and equipment. Most sports that doesn't happen in college, in fact most schools football and basketball fund the rest of the university. Now a few may make money off of other sports say hockey at North Dakota or whatever, but mostly we're talking football and basketball. Those are the revenue generators for almost all the major colleges sports. Mark Emmert made a valid point on "Meet the Press" if we pay these athletes then they become employees of the university, and what university is going to make an employee go to calculus. That I don't have a counter for b/c I don't want to sound dumb and haven't done enough research to counter his argument. I will say if you put stipulations about earning potential and grades in the rules, BUT then that leads to buying grades and whatever else, I never said this isn't a slippery slope.
Somebody on Sunday told me, "Where does it stop? Do you pay high school kids? Do you pay D2 or D3 kids?" The answer is it stops at basketball and football at Division 1 schools. D2 and D3 don't offer scholarships, and frankly there isn't a lot of generated revenue. High School kids don't draw a lot of revenue either, somebody told me what about kids who make it to state, I'm pretty sure most state tournaments break about even. The answer to any where does it end question is simple, it ends somewhere right now, so if you change it a little for it to end at D-! schools that's where it ends.
So here is my proposal: For the 5 major conferences ACC, Big 12, Big 10, SEC, and Pac-12. You offer 85 scholarships for football and 13 for basketball (both of which are the current allotments) with full tuition and board as well as $36,000 in salary per scholarship player provided they maintain a GPA of 2.0. If you have another sport that generates revenue from ticket sales and TV deals then you can pay those athletes as well, we don't want boosters giving money for these funds. Also if a player has jersey sales they should get 10 percent of the profits. Also each contracted player shall be given full medical coverage for 10 years after graduation (must graduate) if they don't go professional in sports. Well that's my proposal I'm sure it has holes and flaws but that is just what I came up with off the cuff. The rest of the conferences well those schools don't generate as much money, and if they think it's an unfair advantage guess what guys it's already unfair b/c Alabama plays on CBS every 3 Saturday's and your lucky to be on CBS College Sports Network once a year. Your already behind b/c big schools can offer more.
This is just the beginning of this debate there are numerous lawsuits filed against the NCAA currently by former and current "student" athletes. I think these kids should be paid, they sacrifice a lot for a sliver of hope of making millions in the pro's. Less than 1% of college athletes make it to the pro level, and I think some of the millions should be spread out. I embrace this debate with anyone as long as they have an open mind and are willing to make valid points not just resort to name calling and telling people that's the way it is. That's it for this post follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Super Preview
I haven't posted in months but I couldn't pass up the chance to my annual Super Preview. Let's go to the tale of the tape and breakdown the Broncos vs. Seahawks.
QB: Advantage Denver. This is a no brainer and honestly a lot of these position battles are going to be no brainers. Peyton Manning is one of the best of all time, maybe not top 10 but at least top 11, Russell Wilson is not. Here's the difference as well for Denver to win Peyton has to be the difference maker for Seattle to win Wilson doesn't have to be a difference maker. I've been saying it all season Wilson is a good QB on a great team, Peyton is a great QB that makes his team great. This playoffs Wilson has won 2 games and has made 2 throws that were difference makers in those games. I'll also argue that his throw on 4th down against San Fran wasn't that great b/c it was 4th down and if he throws a pick there he changes field position for the better.
RB: Advantage Seattle. Marshawn Lynch is greater than Knowshon Moreno and Montee Ball. Lynch does it all for Seattle and when he gets going beast mode he's almost unstoppable. Moreno and Ball are both decent but Lynch is a top 5 back in the league, maybe top 3 with McCoy and Peterson.
WR: Advantage Denver. Once again no surprise, Thomas, Decker, and Welker are all better than Tate, Baldwin, Kearse, and even Percy Harvin. I think the real match-up of the game is Denver WR vs. Seattle CB. The Broncos aSere going to need win those match-ups and to me Decker is going to half to step up and be the he should get MVP guy, except they only give it to QB's anymore.
TE: Advantage Denver. Julius Thomas over Zack Miller. Thomas is an emerging star in the league and Miller has been a productive guy for many year. Thomas is going to have to be better than Vernon Davis was against Seattle. If Denver has 4 guys that can make plays consistently they will win.
Offensive Line: Advantage Seattle. I only say this because Denver doesn't have Pro Bowl LT Ryan Clady, both teams have stout O-Line's that do their jobs great. Seattle runs the ball and the o-line run blocks, Denver throws a lot and they protect Manning well. Whomever does their job better will win.
Defensive Line: Advantage Seattle. Seattle comes at you in waves, that Michael Bennett dude is awesome, and Cliff Avril and the rest of the bunch are pretty good. I've really ben impressed by them when I watch them. For Denver Terrance Knighton will be the difference maker, New England couldn't run the ball because he was a monster in the middle, if he can shut down Lynch forcing Wilson to beat them Denver will have an advantage in this game.
LB: Advantage Push. I really can't pick between these 2 LB Corps both are good neither are dominant. I think Denver misses Von Miller but they've played without him a lot this year. Bruce Irvin is a good hybrid guy for Seattle. I'm interested to see if Seattle puts Wagner on Julius Thomas, or if they bring a safety down on him.
Secondary: Advantage Seattle. I said this when talking about WR's this is Seattle's strength going against Denver's strength. All the DB's for Seattle are going to have to step up, and honestly I don't think Manning will shy away from Sherman the way Kaepernick did. How the officials call this game will be the difference maker, if Seattle can hold and impede the Denver WR's progress than they will win, it won't take long for Manning to get hit if they are allowed to hold. Denver secondary has to tackle Lynch when he gets through the front 7, don't try to strip the ball just try to tackle him and get him down.
Kick/Punt Return: Advantage Push. Since the playoffs started Trindon Holliday hasn't been returning punts because of his fumble problems, but Eric Decker has filled in nicely almost breaking some. Doug Baldwin has been good for Seattle as well. I doubt anybody will return a kick both kickers can get the ball through the end zone.
Kickers: Advantage Push. Prater and Hauschka are both money guys, both can hit from 50+. I think they both will play well.
Coach: Advantage Denver. John Fox has been here before and had Jake Delhomme as his QB, in what was one of the best Super Bowls ever. Pete Carroll is a good coach but I think Fox is better.
Weather: Advantage Seattle. I know both teams have to play in it, but if the weather is nasty I have to take Peyton Manning's history into account. He has a rough time in weather and the playoffs this year he's gotten lucky that neither game was too nasty in Denver. I think Seattle is built for a weather game.
Final Score: Seattle 5 Denver 4. That's pretty close and so far I have yet to pick my own winner. Just looking at what I've typed I'll say Denver 34 Seattle 24, but I won't be surprised if Seattle wins, I don't really have a dog in this race since I don't like either team. The question is what Peyton Manning shows up, the guy who beat the Bears or the guy who threw that killer pick six against New Orleans. Have a good week, follow me on twitter @derekbredeson, and on Tuesday GO HAWKS.
QB: Advantage Denver. This is a no brainer and honestly a lot of these position battles are going to be no brainers. Peyton Manning is one of the best of all time, maybe not top 10 but at least top 11, Russell Wilson is not. Here's the difference as well for Denver to win Peyton has to be the difference maker for Seattle to win Wilson doesn't have to be a difference maker. I've been saying it all season Wilson is a good QB on a great team, Peyton is a great QB that makes his team great. This playoffs Wilson has won 2 games and has made 2 throws that were difference makers in those games. I'll also argue that his throw on 4th down against San Fran wasn't that great b/c it was 4th down and if he throws a pick there he changes field position for the better.
RB: Advantage Seattle. Marshawn Lynch is greater than Knowshon Moreno and Montee Ball. Lynch does it all for Seattle and when he gets going beast mode he's almost unstoppable. Moreno and Ball are both decent but Lynch is a top 5 back in the league, maybe top 3 with McCoy and Peterson.
WR: Advantage Denver. Once again no surprise, Thomas, Decker, and Welker are all better than Tate, Baldwin, Kearse, and even Percy Harvin. I think the real match-up of the game is Denver WR vs. Seattle CB. The Broncos aSere going to need win those match-ups and to me Decker is going to half to step up and be the he should get MVP guy, except they only give it to QB's anymore.
TE: Advantage Denver. Julius Thomas over Zack Miller. Thomas is an emerging star in the league and Miller has been a productive guy for many year. Thomas is going to have to be better than Vernon Davis was against Seattle. If Denver has 4 guys that can make plays consistently they will win.
Offensive Line: Advantage Seattle. I only say this because Denver doesn't have Pro Bowl LT Ryan Clady, both teams have stout O-Line's that do their jobs great. Seattle runs the ball and the o-line run blocks, Denver throws a lot and they protect Manning well. Whomever does their job better will win.
Defensive Line: Advantage Seattle. Seattle comes at you in waves, that Michael Bennett dude is awesome, and Cliff Avril and the rest of the bunch are pretty good. I've really ben impressed by them when I watch them. For Denver Terrance Knighton will be the difference maker, New England couldn't run the ball because he was a monster in the middle, if he can shut down Lynch forcing Wilson to beat them Denver will have an advantage in this game.
LB: Advantage Push. I really can't pick between these 2 LB Corps both are good neither are dominant. I think Denver misses Von Miller but they've played without him a lot this year. Bruce Irvin is a good hybrid guy for Seattle. I'm interested to see if Seattle puts Wagner on Julius Thomas, or if they bring a safety down on him.
Secondary: Advantage Seattle. I said this when talking about WR's this is Seattle's strength going against Denver's strength. All the DB's for Seattle are going to have to step up, and honestly I don't think Manning will shy away from Sherman the way Kaepernick did. How the officials call this game will be the difference maker, if Seattle can hold and impede the Denver WR's progress than they will win, it won't take long for Manning to get hit if they are allowed to hold. Denver secondary has to tackle Lynch when he gets through the front 7, don't try to strip the ball just try to tackle him and get him down.
Kick/Punt Return: Advantage Push. Since the playoffs started Trindon Holliday hasn't been returning punts because of his fumble problems, but Eric Decker has filled in nicely almost breaking some. Doug Baldwin has been good for Seattle as well. I doubt anybody will return a kick both kickers can get the ball through the end zone.
Kickers: Advantage Push. Prater and Hauschka are both money guys, both can hit from 50+. I think they both will play well.
Coach: Advantage Denver. John Fox has been here before and had Jake Delhomme as his QB, in what was one of the best Super Bowls ever. Pete Carroll is a good coach but I think Fox is better.
Weather: Advantage Seattle. I know both teams have to play in it, but if the weather is nasty I have to take Peyton Manning's history into account. He has a rough time in weather and the playoffs this year he's gotten lucky that neither game was too nasty in Denver. I think Seattle is built for a weather game.
Final Score: Seattle 5 Denver 4. That's pretty close and so far I have yet to pick my own winner. Just looking at what I've typed I'll say Denver 34 Seattle 24, but I won't be surprised if Seattle wins, I don't really have a dog in this race since I don't like either team. The question is what Peyton Manning shows up, the guy who beat the Bears or the guy who threw that killer pick six against New Orleans. Have a good week, follow me on twitter @derekbredeson, and on Tuesday GO HAWKS.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Flip Flop Fanning
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)