Basketball, Hockey, Football, and Baseball (Who says there's an offseason?)

After about two weeks of badgering from my only faithful reader, Daniel Hustler Bernard, I have decided that now with nothing to do until my flight leaves tomorrow night at about 9:30, I will grace the blog spot with another entry to my collection of blogs about the current events in sports. We have a lot to cover in this one with the NBA season in full swing, the NFL season approaching week 11, the return of the NHL, and the MLB off-season. So let’s get it going.
The NBA regular season has started and there are some already big storylines to go with it. First off is the Dress Code that is meant to improve the image of the league especially after the brawl that took place last year. The dress code made big headlines in the late summer early fall. The Code has been called ridiculous, racist, among many other things. The start of the season came and there was little fuss in terms of the dress code (That’s a little anticlimactic). On the playing surface things are back to normal, Miami (6-4), Philadelphia (7-5), and Detroit (8-1) are leading the Eastern Conference. Out West Minnesota (5-4), LA Clippers (8-2) a big surprise in my book, and defending champions San Antonio (9-2) are leading the charge. A lot of people wondered how the first pick in the NBA draft, Andrew Bogut would play in the NBA, to say the least he is playing fairly well, he is averaging over 8 rpg, over 7 ppg, and 2 apg. He does this in about 25 minutes per game, it is still a little early to tell, but I think with some experience he will end up being one of the premier centers in the league, but I want to stress, “With time.”
It is never too early for a controversy or trade rumors. I heard today on Around the Horn on ESPN that Kevin Garnett is not happy in Minnesota especially with the way the organization handled the whole Flip Saunders dilemma last season. ESPN.com is reporting that the Knicks and Warriors might be interested and could give the Timberwolves what they want for Garnett. Jackie Mac Mullin brought up a possible good trade that would make me very happy and that is Garnett for Paul Pierce. Now as much as I like Paul Pierce, I like the Celtics more and I want to see them win, so with that said I would be perfectly happy with giving up Pierce for Garnett and here is why. Kevin Garnett is one of the top big men in the league and that is what the Celtics have lacked in recent years, Mark Blount has not lived up to the contract he signed before last season so I would try and throw him in the mix for Garnett. I mean Garnett has averaged 20 plus points per game in his career, that’s 10 seasons and the man is only 29 years old. As for Pierce the position he plays the Celtics have plenty of guys who are perfectly able to take up his spot. One main guy being Ricky Davis, yes he had his problems before coming to Boston, but he has matured a lot under Doc Rivers, and I can see him fitting very well in the role Pierce now fills. I know Mac Mullin was theorizing or maybe just a little wishful thinking, but that trade would be a very good thing from a Boston standpoint. No matter who Minnesota could get for Garnett it would not be a good deal because losing a guy like Garnett is never a good thing.
Another controversy has been with the Miami Heat where new acquisitions Antoine Walker and Jason Williams got into a scuffle on the floor. I have one word of advice for Williams; listen to what Walker says he’s a proven leader given his years with the Celtics, especially that amazing fourth quarter comeback in the Conference finals a few years ago. He is a pretty selfless guy and will let the guy who is hot shoot because he wants to win. Looking at the headlines the Heat is not having a problem sharing the ball with different guys contributing every night. Expect a rematch of last years Conference finals between the Heat and Pistons. My teams from the West will be the Spurs because they got the team idea that the Patriots of football have used to win three Super Bowls. I think that could take them to another title come June.
Enough about Basketball, what about hockey? I attended my first live NHL game a few weeks ago and I like what I saw. From watching in the past the game being played now is a lot more exciting. The fear of shootouts has led to the teams involved in overtime games to play extremely hard in the overtime period. The game I went to I witnessed the Boston Bruins blow a 3-1 lead in the final three minutes to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Bruins ended up losing the game in overtime. It was depressing to me being from New England and being as much of a Bruins fan I can be since only recently following hockey. I can’t make any picks for the long run here because I need a little bit more hockey knowledge before I can perform such a task. Read my next post for my picks in the NHL.
In other hockey news there was a little bit of a tragedy on the Detroit Red Wings bench last night in the game against the Predators of Nashville. Jiri Fischer a defensmen for the Red Wings collapsed on the bench early in the game on Monday, November 21, 2005 and had a seizure this is due to complications of having a thick heart he was diagnosed with the disorder about two years ago. His heart stopped and the Medical Staff reacted quickly using the automatic defibrillator and his heart restarted. The staff also administered CPR until Fischer had a steady pulse. The game was cancelled and will be made up at a later date. I just want to give props to the Medical Staff for their quick actions, if medical staff was available to Corey Stringer, Reggie Lewis, among many other athletes who have died due to the physical stress they put on their bodies day in and day out Fischer could have easily been on that list. My prayers go out to the Fischer family, teammates and his fans.
The NFL has gotten a lot better for me in the weeks since my last entry. For one the Patriots finally won two games in a row the first time that has happened this season so they are sitting pretty at the top of the AFC North with a record of 6-4. Also Tedi Bruschi made his return from suffering a stroke after last years Pro Bowl. His return was a joyous sight for every Patriots fan. Considering the injuries that the Patriots are dealing with week to week having Bruschi back was a step in the right direction. It’s just Brady being Brady, he has been playing considerably well given the injury to some of his five layers of protection. Was it identity theft or fraud monitoring that went down?
The Eagles are having inner turmoil due to the suspension/everything else that has happened with the T.O. saga this year. It doesn’t seem like he will be back this season with the arbitrator keeping the suspension at 4 games and giving the Eagles power to deal with the situation how they see fit. Donovan McNabb is officially on Injured Reserve so that he can get the surgery he needs to fix the Sports hernia injury he has been playing with since early in the season. Best of all the Eagles are behind the Giants, Redskins, and Cowboys in the NFC East. And what about McMahon? Is he going to be the next Tom Brady and help lead this team to the playoffs? I think he has the potential to do omething like that if Philadelphia fans get the McMahon that we all saw in the second half of the Giants vs. Eagles game last Sunday. The Eagles won’t win the division but they can still hold on to the hop of securing a wildcard birth.
The Colts are still undefeated at 10-0 and having just beaten one of their more formidable opponents in the Cincinnatti Bengals, I have to hold out hope for the Steelers to end the Colts streak just like they did to the Patriots on Halloween last year and the Eagles a week later. Even if the Colts go undefeated in the regular season, they will not win the super bowl. If the Patriots make the playoffs people should watch out because it is possible that they will win a fourth super bowl. They won’t have home field advantage like they did in 2003. If you question if the Pats can do it without home field advantage remember 2001, and 2004 they won the AFC championship in both of those years in Pittsburgh a team a lot of non Patriots fans thought would annihilate the Patriots. I have seen time and time again the Colts “golden boy” Peyton Manning pull the choke card in the playoffs. Especially last year against none other than the New England Patriots who held the man who threw 49 touchdown passes to only three points. Until Manning can prove that he can win when it counts I can not call him the best Quarterback in the league. Yes he may be the most talented, but he is not the best and it may sound biased but that honor goes to Tom Brady the man who has three super bowl rings in only four years as a starter.
The last thing I would like to talk about in this post is the off-season in professional baseball. I found out today that the Phillies solved two of their most prominent problems in one move. The first problem was having two very capable first basemen. One is young and a pretty cheap price (Ryan Howard), the other older and taking up a lot of assets the Phillies might need to sign a closer (Jim Thome), with Wagner almost certainly going to the Mets, and Urbina probably going to jail for attempted murder; really Pat Gillick helped solve three problems with one move. The other problem being that their center fielder Kenny Lofton retired at the end of the season. The solution that Gillick decided on was getting rid of Jim Thome, who many in the Philadelphia area felt was overpaid and would rather see the new guy play. So he traded Thome to the White Sox centerfielder Aaron Rowand, this move clears out a high salary that could go towards a new closer depending on Wagner’s decision. “It’s so nice to have a GM that is more competent than Ed Wade I actually have faith in the Phillies this year,” Andy Porter in response to the deal that sent Thome packing (thanks roomie for the great quote).
My beloved Red Sox have also made an early off-season acquisition by trading three minor league prospects to the Florida Marlins for pitcher Josh Beckett and third baseman Mike Lowell. Hanley Ramirez and Anibel Sanchez were two of the prospects given up in this deal, and I personally thing this was a great deal for the Sox to make. Ramirez is said to be a player that will light this league on fire due to his tremendous talent, they have been saying this for about 5 five years and I have not yet seen him play regularly in a Boston uniform. All I have seen him play in is a Portland Sea Dogs uniform, that’s the AA affiliate of the Red Sox for anyone who didn’t know, that’s at least two steps away from Boston. Now I understand prior to two years ago we had Nomar, and then traded him for Orlando Cabrera to take the duties for the playoff stretch. But after the Red Sox chose not to resign Cabrera, why did they go out and sign Edgar Renteria instead of playing Hanley. If Hanley is so good why haven’t we at least seen him in a Pawtucket, which is the AAA affiliate for the Red Sox. On the terms of what we got in the deal we got a young dominant pitcher in Beckett, he is only 25 and has beaten the Yankees in a World Series. His playoff experience will help anchor the rotation which is shaping up to be quite young. The only concern about him is his health he has been on the DL nine times in his fairly short career, and he has not started over 30 games yet either. So with pitchers Beckett, Schilling, Clement, Wakefield, Paplebon, and Arroyo the Red Sox have a lot of options to what their starting rotation will be.
On the Third base side of this deal, the Sox have acquired Mike Lowell, an underachieving offensive third baseman, but a gold glove winner on defense. The pros to this side of the deal is finally giving Kevin Youkolis a chance to play a full season in Boston instead of switching between Boston and Pawtucket like he did last year, because he will most likely fill the spot at first that I can’t see them giving to Millar, due to his poor performance in 2005. Now a con for this deal, what about Billy Mueller? I love Mueller, he did a lot for this team since joining it in 2003. I mean yeah he has two bad knees, and he’s getting up there in age, but with them obtaining Lowell I can’t see them resigning Mueller, I also can’t see why they can’t. I mean this team has been a team by committee since 2003. Look in 2003 it was closer by committee, and then in 2004 it was Shortstop and second base by committee, and last year everything was by committee. I say the sox should keep Mueller and Lowell and split up the time between these two aging third basemen. Who’s with me?
Last but not least, the Theo Epstein ordeal. There have been mixed opinions both for and against him. Yes he resigned, and yes he helped get the pieces to win a world series our first in 86 years. My view if his heart isn’t in it let him go, Boston needs a GM who is willing to put in the time and effort to get this team back in to the World Series. Boston I’m willing to do that job, yeah I’m not a Yale Graduate, but I am a sophomore at Temple University and I love baseball, I think I could do a good job.
Ok well that’s it for this entry, I hope you enjoyed it, but I got a flight to catch so until next time keep your nose clean.