"Oh the Pain"- NY Jets Draft Blunders

To quote WFAN host and life long Jet fan Joe Benigno, "Oh the pain". Pain is what Jet fans have felt for most of the franchises history. NFL Draft day is a time for hope and optimism. A great draft can lead to years of success, while a poor one will set the franchise backwards for a long time. The most scrutinized pick is the first one. For the Jets, that first pick usually comes early because of a poor previous season. Fans can at least cope with the fact their team sucked because they are compensated with a high draft pick. They hear the commissioner call out "with their first round pick the New York Jets select_____________".

We see and hear the reaction. Jet fans have become well known for this.  The wanna be scouts and general managers are ready to explode. An ESPN video montage was made of it because they are classic. You can hear that true New Yorker accent screaming, 'Ya gotta be kiddin". Most of them are at least 6 beers in, probably have no life considering they are actually at the draft, and now want to torch the building. The New York sports fan can be very rough.

Welcome to New York rook. It must be difficult for a 22 year old kid right out of college to deal with that. Their life long dream of being drafted in the NFL came true. This should be the greatest moment of their life. They just better hope the fans want them because if they don't, it will be a miserable experience. What makes it worse for Jet first rounders is the NFL draft is in the city. They are literally walking into a fire of doom. I actually feel bad for them.

It's difficult to criticize Jet fans for their reactions. Aside from Freeman McNeil, those are some of the worst draft picks in the history of the NFL. Johnny "Lam" Jones, Ken O'Brien, Roger Vick, Jeff Lageman, Blair Thomas, Johnny Mitchell, and Kyle Brady are not names that make Jet fans moist. You can feel their disappointment. They look like a high school kid finding out he got his girlfriend pregnant. What made the video even more hysterical was after each pick, hearing ESPN draft host Chris Berman screaming, "Ohhhh" in the background. It rubbed more salt into the Jet fans wounds.

Another highlight from the video is when the fan said "Obviously the Jets know something that the people up hear don't", after picking Ken O'Brien over Dan Marino. He was being way too kind. He should have said, "it is obvious the Jets are clueless and we should hang the owner and general manager by their balls."

My top 5 worst Jet first round picks (Since 1980)

5- Dewayne Robertson- his pick was not featured in the video. Most supported the pick, but he turned out to be a bust. He had really bad knees and tackled more donuts than running backs in his Jet career.

4- Blair Thomas- He was the second overall pick in the draft. He ran for 2,000 yards and scored 5 touchdowns in five years. Not very good.

3- Roger Vick- The fact they chose a full back in the first round is insanity. His job is to block. A tackling dummy can do the same job. You can draft full backs in the 6th or 7th round

2- Kyle Brady- The Jets drafted a tight end in the first round the previous draft (Johnny Mitchell-also a bust). They passed over Warren Sapp. Sapp became one of the greatest defensive lineman in NFL history. Kyle Brady couldn't catch a cold. He was a good blocker though (Just to make Jet fans feel better about the pick).

1- Ken O'Brien- Had a decent career but was chosen over Dan Marino. Marino became an all time great quarterback for the Miami Dolphins and O'Brien was just another average NFL quarterback. The awfulness of the pick is more due to the Marino factor (Similar to the Kyle Brady over Warren Sapp pick).

Capitol Disaster

It was bad news for Major League baseball and the Washington Nationals, with Stephen Strasburg out for the remainder of this season and most likely next season too.  Strasburg tore a tendon in his pitching arm and will undergo Tommy John surgery.  This is the worst possible surgery for a pitcher.  The injury and surgery has the longest recover for any type of pitching injury.  It is especially devastating for the Nationals and their fans.  Strasburg looked to be the real deal and gave the franchise hope for a bright future.  He threw over 100 miles per hour and a curve ball that made hitters knees buckle.  His 14 strike outs in his major league debut was amazing.  He was the reason why National fans went to games.  Their attendance increased by around 13,000 when he pitched.  They have been a miserable franchise ever since they came to Washington.  If you remember, they used to be the Montreal Expos.  A miserable franchise in one city becoming even worse in a new one.  

Baseball has become one big discussion on what's the correct way to bring up a young pitcher.  There are so many debates and points of view.  I have learned that nobody is right.  You never know what can happen.  Teams can protect them as much as possible or they can let them be free and pitch, but it really is a crap shoot.  One pitch can end it all.  Strasburg looked amazing this year.  He looked like he could become one of the next great pitchers in baseball.   The Nationals had innings and pitch limits on Strasburg, but it did not matter.  Throwing a baseball is not a natural motion.  The human arm is not supposed to do what a pitcher does.  Teams can try to protect young pitchers as much as they want, but there is no guarantee it will prevent them from injury.  There is no set way on how to handle them.  The limits on Strasburg did not prevent him from injury and he might never be the same.   

It is not all doom and gloom for the Nationals and Strasburg.  Despite the severity of the injury, around 75% of those who have Tommy John surgery come back in the same form or even better.  It has become the most common injury for pitchers.  The surgery is performed so often, it seems as if doctors perfected it. Recovery is much better than it once was.  At one point, Tommy John surgery was a career ender.  For many now, it has become a career booster.  Pitchers like Chris Carpenter, Josh Johnson, Billy Wagner, and Tim Hudson have recently had the surgery, and all recovered well and are performing at an extremely high level.  Some guys come back and throw harder than they did before the surgery.  Hopefully for the Nationals and Strasburg, it will be positive results.  He brought excitement to the game that is not always there.  Fans all across the country tuned in to watch him pitch.   There will still be the fear that he will never be the same.  I really hope he recovers because he is exciting to watch in a sport that can be extremely boring.  The city of Washington deserves a break.  Met fans love to complain about their futility, but at least they have won two world series.  The Washington baseball franchises not only have never won a title, but usually find themselves at the bottom of the standings.     
        

The Weakest Link

Unless you live under a rock, you must have heard someone on the Jets guaranteeing a Super Bowl.  Not only are the Jets very boastful about winning the Super bowl, but many in the media have agreed.  I have already read 4 football preview magazines and heard several television analysts predicting it.  I am still trying to figure out why.  I don't remember the Jets being a franchise with a history of success.   

They need to stop using last year as some huge building block.  Yes they made a nice run to the championship game, but it was a miracle for them to even make the playoffs.  They were luckier than any team in the history of professional sports. When they lost to Atlanta in week 15, their own coach said they were out of the playoffs.  From that point on they hit a royal flush.  Every team they needed to lose lost, and they played two teams that had already clinched the playoffs.  Everyone in the world knows they had no chance of beating the Colts if Peyton Manning stayed in the game.  The Colts proved that in the championship game.    

The Jets won 9 games last season.  They did not even win the division. Can they win a division first before we anoint them Super Bowl champs?  The Patriots are the defending division champions and the Jets have never proven they can overtake them.  When you have Tom Brady and Randy Moss on offense and Bill Belichick coaching,  knocking them off their throne will be very difficult.  Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have won 3 Super bowls.  They are true champions.  Why is it that we never hear them talk about it, yet the Jets can't shut up and talk as if they won all those Super bowls.  The Jets and Rex Ryan have never won a thing. 

Miami is also a major threat and the Jets couldn't beat them last year, going 0-2.  Lets also factor that historically the Jets tend to have successful seasons when nothing is expected from them.  Years where they have huge expectations usually turn into disasters.  Expectations are higher then ever this season and they have set themselves up for failure if they do not back up their words.

Darrelle Revis will play a major part in how far the Jets go.  With Revis they have one of the best defenses in the league, and are a clear contender to make the playoffs and also a potential Super Bowl contender.  If Revis was to hold out, they have no chance.  I will go with the assumption that Revis will eventually sign a new contract and play this season.  Even with Reavis, I see them coming up a bit short.

The main reason why the Jets will not win a Super Bowl is because of quarterback Mark Sanchez.  I think Sanchez has the potential to be a very good quarterback, but he is not close to being there yet.  This is only his second year in the league.  Most second year quarterbacks have sophomore slumps.  Most of the time, it is in the 3rd year where you see major growth.  Two years ago Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan had great rookie seasons.  Many felt they would make huge improvements in their second season and both struggled.  Ryan was worse and Flacco basically stayed the same.  Sanchez was not as successful as those two in his rookie year.  Sanchez was not even good.  12 touchdown passes and 20 interceptions is a bad season.  He looked awful in the middle of the season.  Do you remember the 5 interceptions in the Buffalo game?  They basically had to color coordinate plays for him in order to simplify the offense.  He played ok in the playoffs, but he wasn't forced to do much.  The Jets won a lot of games last year in spite of him.  It is very difficult to win in the NFL when your quarterback does not play well. 

Even if Sanchez makes some improvements, it will not be enough to beat top playoff teams.  Can Sanchez go toe to toe with Peyton Manning or Tom Brady?  Not a chance.  The Jets defense will not shut them down. They may think their defense is great, but we saw how big of a fraud it was in the second half of the championship game against the Colts.  It looked like the JV versus the varsity.  Sanchez does not have the ability to carry the Jets offense and shoot it out in those types of games.  If he tries to, it will end in many pick 6's for the opposition.  Like I said before, the Jets defense is not great.  They are good, but good is not enough against Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.  Unless Sanchez takes major steps, the Jets have no chance of winning a Super Bowl.  Maybe they can sneak into the playoffs, but that is as far as I see them going.

In Need of Replay

Yes it is true, I am actually writing about soccer.  I am shocked about it too.  I guess this one goes out to my fans in the UK. 

I am not a soccer fan but I actually watched some of the World Cup.  It was hard not to considering how many promos ESPN had for it.  They threw it in your face so much that it made you want to puke.  In all honesty, the event didn't do it for me.  I never played the sport and I guess I just don't get it.  I guess it's because I am an American.  The games are very boring.  If you score first, you're most likely going to win the game.  If a team has a two goal lead, they should just call a mercy rule because the game is basically over.  Some of the U.S games had their exciting moments, but once they were eliminated, I lost interest.  I couldn't get myself excited enough to watch the Netherlands or Guam. 

What I noticed most was how bad the officiating was.  They were major league baseball bad.  I lost count of the bad calls.  When watching the post game shows, the majority of the talk was about the bad officiating.  That is not a good thing.  We shouldn't even know who the officials are.  When the bad officiating becomes bigger than the event, something is wrong.  This was soccer's national stage and the officiating ruined it.

I can understand missing a call or two, but to actually screw up a play where a goal is scored is really bad.  In the England vs Germany game, England scored a goal and it was ruled no goal. The ball fully crossed the line hitting the net, and the refs completely missed it.  There is no excuse for that.  The rules are simple, when the ball crosses the line hitting the net, it is a goal.  A five year old understands that.  A blind referee couldn't screw that one up.  Every ref in that game should have lost their job.  They shouldn't have been allowed to finish the game.  It was that bad.

The officiating in the U.S games was more criminal.  They made such obvious bad calls on multiple plays in every game.  Do the soccer refs know what offsides is?  It seemed like they were clueless.  It was so bad that it looked like the games were fixed.  I do not know a lot about soccer, but I know that the U.S was screwed over. 

The officials are human beings and I do not expect them to be perfect.  We see bad officiating all the time in every sport.  It is amazing how officiating in all sports seems to be at an all time low.  There mistakes are more noticeable because we live in a time of replay and high definition television.  New technology has totally changed how we look at officials.  We also have the technology to solve most of these mistakes.  Most sports have implemented replay systems to correct official mistakes.  World Cup Soccer should consider doing the same.  For UEFA president Michel Platini to say video replay is not needed is comical.  I am not saying they should have replay for everything, but it needs to be installed to some extent.  Replay on whether it is a goal or not a goal is a must.  Replay for offsides is also necessary because it seems like that call is screwed up all the time.  Maybe Michel Platini missed the World Cup because there is no possible way someone who watched the event could argue against replay.

Don't Kiss the Ring Yet

I first have to admit that I am not a Yankee fan.  I hate the Yankees.  Part of being a pathetic Met fan is rooting for whoever the Yankees play in the playoffs.  I do this because my own team is never in the playoffs.  The only reason I pay attention to post season baseball is to root for the Yankees to lose.  And yes I did root for the Phillies last year in the World Series.  I don't care that they are division rivals of the Mets.  I would never root for the Yankees.  I would root for Al Qaeda if they played the Yankees.

Despite my dislike, I can be very objective about the Yankees.  I understand the greatness of their franchise.  My hatred only comes from jealousy.  The Yankees are the defending champs and have been one of the two best teams in baseball this year.  Withstanding a Met-like collapse, they are a lock to make the post season, and will be the favorites to win the World Series.  Those are all facts which can not be denied, even from a jealous and bitter Met fan.  One fact I can argue is the Yankees are not a lock to win the World Series.  I do not even think they are a lock to win the American league.  Teams in the American League have got much better.  Tampa, Boston, Minnesota, Chicago, and Texas are all very capable of not only competing with the Yankees, but defeating them in post season series.  Aside from Minnesota, those teams have very good pitching staffs.  Pitching staffs that are just as good as the Yankees and possibly better.

On route to their World Series title last season, the Yankees were barely challenged by their American league competition.  They swept Minnesota and defeated Los Angeles in 6 games.  So what is different about this year?  First, like I stated before, the other teams have gotten better.  The bigger factor preventing the Yankees from a repeat is the questions in their pitching staff.  C.C Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, and A.J Burnett all pitched great in the post season last year.  They also got unexpected great performances by relief pitchers David Robertson and Demaso Marte.  Their offense will always be good.  They have a stacked line-up, but everyone knows playoff baseball is all about pitching.  If you have paid attention lately, the Yankee pitching staff has been very vulnerable.

C.C Sabathia is an absolute beast.  He has proven to be a true ace and Yankee fans should be fully confident that will continue.  He is the one sure bet in the starting rotation.  The only other lock they have in their pitching staff is closer Mariano Rivera.  We all know about Rivera's historic post season career.  He is the closest thing to having a lock down closer.  If you pay attention to baseball playoffs and closers, there is Mariano Rivera, and then there is everyone else.  Rivera gets the job done almost all the time.  Most of these other closers choke in the big spot. 

After those two, the rest of the staff is a big question mark.  A.J Burnett defines inconsistency.  For every great game he pitches, he has 2 that are awful.  Burnett is such a front runner too.  When things go his way, he is unhittable.  The minute he faces any adversity, he totally collapses and gets destroyed.  He is so gutless. I am so sick of hearing about how 'he has such great stuff'.  Go look at his career record and you will see he is a mediocre pitcher.

Andy Pettitte is a warrior and I respect everything he has done.  For the most part, he has always come up big in the post season.  He was having a great season, but age and the injury bug caught up with him.  He has been on the disabled list for over a month and felt discomfort the last time he threw.  I suspect that eventually he will be back, but he is no given anymore coming off an injury.  If he doesn't come back, the Yankees are in extreme trouble and would be lucky to get past the first round.

Phil Hughes had a great first half and is one of the best young pitchers in baseball, but he has been terrible lately.  He has never pitched this deep into the regular season as a starter and looks to be slowing down.  He has not made it past the 6th inning in his past 7 starts.  The Yankees used him as a reliever last year and have discussed doing it again this post season.  However, with all their question marks, I do not see how they can put him in the bullpen.

The biggest reason Hughes can not go to the bullpen is because of the second failed tenure of Javier Vasquez.  It is amazing how Vasquez went from being one of the best pitchers in the National League to a guy who looks like he barely belongs in the major leagues.  He has been so bad lately that Joe Girardi put him in the bullpen.  We saw how Vasquez looked in the bullpen in 2003.  I know Yankee fans all remember the Johnny Damon grand slam in game 7.  At this point I can't see him starting a game in the post season.  It looks like it will be a second post season of Vasquez pitching in the bullpen for the Yankees.  I hope for similar results.

Dustin Moseley and Ivan Nova, come on.  Let's be real.  I would be shocked if either guy got a start in the post season so I won't even waste my time discussing it.  That is really it. They have no where else to go and will have to rely on the guys who got them there last year.  I am not saying they can't get the job done.  I just want to point out its no guarantee.  They have more question marks this year than last, especially with the Pettitte injury.  I would feel much more comfortable about the starting staff if I knew Pettitte would be 100% healthy for the post season.  At this point, there is no proof to that.

Their bullpen aside from Mariano Rivera is shaky.  Joba has been awful this year.  So much for him being the next Rivera and the whole Joba sensation.  Yankee fans built this guy up more than anyone else I have ever seen.  They almost sounded like Met fans.  He has been terrible and there is no way a Yankee fan could have any confidence in him.  Robertson and Marte have not been good either.  Robertson has been better lately and Marte was great last post season, but I would not call them locks to get big outs.  Kerry Wood was once a great pitcher around 10 years ago as a Cub.   So many question marks for a team with a 250 million dollar pay roll.  It does make it more interesting though.  The post season will be more enjoyable knowing that the Yankees can actually be beat.  I know Yankee fans have a hard time dealing with that considering they are the most spoiled fans in the history of sports.  Wah, we only won one world series in 9 years, shut up.  America is built on competition.  You do not always have to have the best team and all the best players.  It is ok to give other teams an opportunity.  Those other teams will have a legitimate shot to remove the Yankees from their throne.           

Why Ruin a Good Thing?

There is nothing better than the NFL.  It is the greatest league in the entire world.  I would watch the Browns play the Lions.  Would I watch the Royals play the Indians, or the Nets play the Clippers?  Not a chance.  I would rather be water boarded than watch those games.  For football though, it doesn't matter who is playing.  Any NFL game gets me jacked up.  Every year I look forward to a wonderful 16 game season.  There is no possible way to screw it up.  Right?

In an attempt to butcher the league, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL owners want to extend the season from 16 to 18 games.  Why ruin something so good and special?  Sixteen is a perfect number.  Football is already a violent sport with tons of injuries.  Every week teams lose multiple players to injuries.  Multiple week injuries, season ending injuries, and career ending injuries will all rise.  The average career of an NFL player is around 2 1/2 years.  Half of the retired players can barely walk or remember what they ate for breakfast that day.  It is sad to see these once great athletes as cripples and inferior forms of what they once were.  I am not just talking about the guys in there 60's and 70's.  You have players in there 20s, 30s, and 40s that will never be the same.  An 18 game regular season will only shorten more players seasons, careers and lives. 

I also think it could ruin the quality of play in the post season.  The playoff teams will be lucky if they keep half their players healthy.  Do we really want to watch playoff games where several of the best players on a team are not playing because they are hurt?  Don't we already have enough of that in a 16 game season?  Additionally, players who actually survive the regular season will have played an extra two full games.  Two extra games equals many more hits given and received.  All those hits take a major toll on the body.  These guys are phenomenal athletes and physical specimens, but they are still human beings.  They will be more tired and beaten up, causing the level of play to decrease. 

The only positive of an 18 game regular season would be cutting the pre-season from 4 to 2 games.  Pre-season football is worst than sex with a condom.  It is the biggest waste of time.  The best players barely play because the coaches are afraid of getting them hurt.  Most of the guys playing in the games are not even going to make the team.  I could care less who the third stringers are.  They will be bagging groceries in a few weeks.  You have to have an incredibly poor social life to actually watch an entire game, and even be a bigger loser to go to one. The stadiums are half empty and most of the games are not on television. 

What makes it worse is season ticket holders are forced to pay for two pre-season home games.  Tickets to football games are expensive enough to begin with.  You basically have to sacrifice your child's college education in order to afford season tickets.  Paying full price for games that don't matter is grand larceny.  It is virtually impossible to sell the tickets for equal value.  I can't imagine anyone being dumb enough to pay to watch a pre-season football game.  The paying customer is then forced to either give the tickets away for free, or just not go.  The hard earned money they work for is being thrown into the trash.  What is also sad is it's probably impossible to give them away for free.  People are not wetting themselves for pre-season football tickets.  I wouldn't watch a pre-season game if it was being played in my backyard. 

Unfortunately, without an 18 game season, there is no chance of the owners shortening the pre-season.  A 16 game season will guarantee the continuing of a 4 game pre-season.  The owners are very smart and will take every penny they can get.  They will either get your money with two extra regular season games, or by continuing to force you to pay for two pre-season home games.  They could care less about the health of players, quality of the games, or amount of money fans are spending on tickets.  The fans are ultimately screwed because they love the sport so much and are very dedicated to their team. They will continue to watch the games on television or be suckered into spending the money on tickets.  For most fans, football is their passion and religion.  The stadium is their church.  No matter how many times the fans are screwed, they will continue to come back because that is what true fans do.  They have us all by the balls.

A New Uniform for Roger?

You have to give Roger Clemens credit for not backing down to the federal government in their steroid investigation of him.  He is basically giving Congress a big fuck you.   Does anyone else find it disturbing for congress to waste time going after a baseball player lying about using steroids?  Is this what tax money goes towards?  Shouldn't they worry about fixing the economy, fighting terrorism, and solving oil spills in a timely fashion?  That is another story in itself.

Back to the "Rocket Man".  This guy is so stubborn and defiant.  He is willing to go to jail for perjury instead of admitting what everyone else knows.  Just admit that you added a little something to your rocket fuel.  It is that simple.  Maybe he actually believes in his own lie.  He must go to the school of George Costanza where "its not a lie, if you believe it"  Hey, O.J Simpson still says he did not kill Nicole and Ronald, so that quote has some validity to it.  Maybe Clemens has lied so much that he actually believes what he is saying.

My feeling is that Clemens knows exactly what he is doing.  In his distorted mind, continued denial will help him gain public support.  He is obsessed with his legacy and making the baseball hall of fame.  I am sure there are a couple of morons out there, that might fall for it.  They might say, 'he must be telling the truth because why would he risk going to jail'?  The majority of us are not that dumb.  Most sensible people  know it's not natural for a 40 year old man to throw 95 miles per hour.  It is also not natural to triple in size in muscle from your rookie season to day you last played?  The public also saw your roid rage on display in the 2000 World Series; throwing a bat at Mike Piazza. 

There is more evidence that is even stronger.  His own trainer, Brian McNamee, swore under oath that he injected Clemens with steroids and other performance enhancing drugs (PEDS).  His own best friend, Andy Pettite,  also testified in front of Congress backing up McNamee's story and admitted his own use of human growth hormones.  Clemens then admitted to Congress that him and Pettitte are not talking anymore.  I wonder why they are not talking?  Maybe because Pettitte told the truth and made Clemens look guilty and like an idiot.  The only evidence missing on Clemens is video footage of him injecting the stuff.  I am sure though he would still deny and claim the tapes were tampered with.

Just tell the truth Roger.  Is it really worth going to jail?  We all know you are a liar.  Admit what you did and maybe one day you will make the hall of fame.  You might be dead, but it could eventually happen.  Almost everyone else was doing it, so I doubt they will keep everyone out.  Like my mother told me, honesty is always the best way. 

I can't stand Clemens, but sending him to jail is a waste of tax payer money.  I just hope the baseball writers take a stand and never vote him into the hall of fame.  That will be the biggest punishment, worst than prison.  His huge ego can't handle not being a hall of famer.  If it wasn't, he would have cracked a long time ago.  I hope his ego does him well when wearing an orange jump suit, and some 300 pound dude named Jim makes him his new bitch.

Identity Theft

His initials are L.T, but LaDainian Tomlinson is not the real L.T.   Everyone in New York knows that the real L.T is Lawrence Taylor.  Lets look past him being an accused rapist of an underage girl (also an ex-coke and crack addict), because all we really care about is what he did as a football player.  O.J Simpson murdered two people, and he is still an all time great player and hall of famer.  As a sports fan, I only care about the athletes on the field.  

On the field, there was nobody better than Lawrence Taylor.  He changed the way the game was played.  There was never an edge pass rusher in the league like him.  He was bigger and faster than everyone on the field.  Defensive coaches had to game plan stopping him and could never get the job done.  They would triple team him and Taylor would still sack the quarterback, make the tackle, force the fumble, or intercept the pass and run it back for a touchdown.  The man was an animal.  Giant fans would loudly chant L.T. 

Now that Tomlinson is a Jet, he really needs to drop the L.T.  New York is only big enough for one L.T.
He could get away with it in San Diego.  Nobody cares about anything going on in San Diego.  The only thing I know about San Diego is they have hot girls. 

Tomlinson was a great running back.   He is washed up now.  The Jets will realize that once the season begins when they give him the ball and he runs straight into the defensive line.  He lost the burst of speed he had when he was younger.  He is a 30 year old running back and that is like 60 in NFL years.    

Even at his best he was never Lawrence Taylor.  Tomlinson never won a Superbowl; Taylor won 2.  Taylor never sat on the sidelines during a playoff game because he was injured; Tomlinson has bitched out of several playoff games.  Taylor would have played with a broken leg (he would have coked himself up so much that he couldn't feel the pain).  Tomlinson is not the greatest offensive player in the history of the NFL; Taylor is the greatest defensive player in the history of the NFL.  Taylor starred as an aging drugged up linebacker (he played the part perfect) in the movie "Any Given Sunday", did a cameo in "The Waterboy" where he told a group of children not to do crack, and defeated Bam Bam Bigelow at Wrestlemania XI.  Tomlinson's wife had some crappy reality show.  Can you really compare the two?  The only edge Tomlinson has over Taylor is as a humanitarian and citizen.  Personally, I would take the victory over Bam Bam Bigelow at Wrestlemania .   

Surprise, Surprise

  

He's not coming back, he might come back, he doesn't think he's coming back, he's definitely retiring, he will come back if he is healthy, he's coming back.  That is the story of Brett Favre.  Same old song, same old dance.  I think America has become sick of this.  Every summer we go through this and every year we see him in uniform.  He began doing this his last couple of seasons in Green Bay, and they finally got sick of him and told him good bye.   He wanted to go to the Vikings, but Green Bay would not trade him to a division rival, so they traded him to the Jets.  He played awful and looked very old at the end of the season for the Jets and retired.  Two months later he was on Minnesota.  He had a great year in Minnesota and was rumored to be retiring, but now looks like he will be playing with Minnesota again this season. He changed his mind for the 9 billionth time.  Explaining all that was very exhausting.    

It is being reported that Favre is in Minnesota and will play for the Vikings this season.  Did anyone believe he was not coming back?  When it comes to him, I have learned not to listen to anything I hear in the media, especially ESPN.  It is comical how almost every report they give on Favre is wrong.  They are probably very happy though considering they cover him as if he was the president of the United States. Every announcer on their station kisses his ass.  It makes me vomit in my mouth.  Chris Berman is the worst of them all.  He talks about Favre like he is the greatest quarterback of all time.  Favre is a great quarterback, but there are many other quarterbacks that are better then him.

We also need to stop calling this a comeback. You have to actually sit out a season in order make it a comeback. Playing a full season and retiring at the end of it, and then deciding to play the next season means there is no comeback. Also, when you do it every year, it makes you obnoxious.

What bothers people most is that he is such a phony.  Just come out and be honest.  The public is not dumb enough to believe all the bullshit.  Tell the truth and state you are probably going to play, but do not want to go to training camp and you want to get more money out of the organization.  At least we would respect his honesty.

Why wouldn't Favre want to play?  He is playing on one of the best teams in the NFL.  Minnesota easily could have gone to a Super Bowl last season.  They might have if Favre did not throw his usual interception in overtime.  That game was quite enjoyable to watch for Favre haters.  His ass was beaten by the Saints defense all game, and he threw an interception to cost his team the game.  I guess the only bad thing was New Orleans defense did not fully break his ankle bad enough to force him into retirement.

Karma is a Bitch

So I am in Amsterdam with my wife on vacation and yes there are other things to do here besides smoke pot.  I get an email from my brother telling me that K-Rod is out for the season because he hurt himself beating up his common law father-in-law.  I said to myself, what a surprise that something bad happened to the Mets, and told my wife sorry I need to write about this. 

K-Rod tore a ligament in his thumb and is out for the season.  The God he looks up and points to when he gets the last out of a game did not save him from this one.  I am ashamed of myself for not predicting this would happen, it so fits the Mets.  I guarantee that there is not one Met fan that is surprised by this.  They are the Mets and these things always happen (Duanar Sanchez taxi cab accident 2006).  Lets face it, K-Rod deserved something bad to happen to him.  He beat up an old man in front of women and children.  Karma really got him good.     

This should officially clinch him being off the team.  This has to be a violation of his contract because it is not a baseball injury.  The Mets should do everything in their power to have it voided.  Someone should have told K-Rod to use his non-throwing hand when punching someone.  What a moron.  Wow, you can hurt your hand when punching someone, what a shocker.  His hands are only worth about 12 million a year, so it makes a lot of sense. 

I can only imagine what the reaction would be if the Mets were in a pennant race.  Losing your closer would be a team killer.  But luckily, the Mets are not anywhere close to a pennant race.  The organization might think they are in one, but anyone with half a brain knows they are not.  This K-Rod situation is the only Mets news lately because the rest of the city has forgotten they exist.  Soon this story will go away, hopefullly so will K-Rod, and the Mets will play the rest of the season in their half empty stadium.  Suck it Wilpons.  Enjoy meaningless September baseball and look towards 2011.     

Mr. Overrated

I would first like to proclaim myself the Nostradamus of sports.  In a previous blog, I entitled it Anger Management?, and yesterday Frankie Rodriguez announced in an apology he would enter anger management.  I am Jesus.

Now when I first started this blog, it was not my intention to make it into a bash the Mets blog, but it seems like I have been doing it a lot.  They just provide me with too much material and make it way too easy.  I actually am a Mets fan.  I say that with pride.  So big deal if it makes me a born loser, and my future children victims of years of abuse because they will be Met fans too.  Big deal if it made me into the most negative person in the world who thinks everything in life will turn out bad.  My wife has accepted it and so should society.  Being a Met fan has toughened me up for life.  Yankee fans are a bunch of pussies.  They do not know what suffering is.  They do not understand failure.  Failure for a Yankee fan is, "Oh, we lost in the first round of the playoffs", cry me a  freakin river.  A Met fan hardly knows what the playoffs are.  Playoffs for a Met fan are called the NFL.

Those that know me and follow my blog (The six of you) know that I am not a big David Wright fan.  I actually can not stand the site of him.  I hardly ever call him David Wright anymore.  Sometimes I refer to him as David K.  The K stands for strike outs, which it seems like he does at least once a game.  I also like to call him "girl arm" for all his sissy looking side arm throws that never reach the first basemen.  The name I will refer to him for now on is Mr. Overrated.  My goal is for Met fans to start listening to everything that I have been saying about him.  I want them to see the light. 

Those that do not see the light should have watched Saturday nights game against the Phillies (If you are a loser like me and have no life then you probably did).  The situation was bases loaded, two outs, Mets down 2-0.  To be fair, the Mets probably would not have won the game regardless considering Roy Halladay was pitching.  The Mets offense is so pathetic that they can not hit bad pitchers. What makes anyone think they could hit one of the best.  A weak ground ball was hit to Mr. Overrated.  So it should be very simple, field the ball and step on third to end the inning.  Well Mr. Overrated decided to do his best impersonation of Bill Buckner, and let the ball go threw his legs allowing another two runs score making it a 4-0 game, giving the Mets ultimately no shot to come back in the game.  In all honesty, a tee ball player would have made that play.  A one armed midget would have made that play.  The fans superhero was not able to do so.  So I hope Met fans stop drinking the Wright kool-aid and come aboard my bandwagon of seeing him for what he is.  That would be, Mr. Overrated.

Hello Melo?

New York Knick fans have been suffering for a very long time.  They have not won a title in over 40 years.  They have made the NBA playoffs twice in the past 10 years.  Patrick Ewing was always given a hard time by Knick fans.  We all know he should have dunked that ball in game 7 against Indiana instead of doing a finger roll.  He should have also kept his fat ass on the bench in game 5 against Miami.  Knick fans were tough on him because they cared so much about the team.  They now truly appreciate all Ewing did for the organization.  Ewing never won a title, but he made the Knicks relevant.  He made them important. Since the day Ewing was traded away, the team has been anonymous.  The Knick fan is now a defeated person. The Garden is filled with tourists and corporate douches.  The fans lost their passion.  Do I even need to mention the Isiah Thomas ERA of New York Knicks basketball?  The city has become a Yankee, Met, Giant, and Jet town.  The Knicks are almost forgotten.  Does anyone watch MSG anymore?  Is MSG still a television network?

After years of disaster and embarrassment, Knicks President Donnie Walsh finally brought back some credibility to the organization.  The Knicks were actually under the salary cap for the first time ever.  He was able to get rid of almost every terrible contract that Isiah Thomas brought in.  The only one he can not get rid of is fat ass Eddie Curry.  Isiah Thomas making the Eddie Curry trade might be one of the dumbest in the history of all sports.  Curry is the biggest waste of space on the basketball court.  He is your classic example of eating yourself out of the league.  Even when Curry decided to lose weight before last season, he was still terrible and ended up getting hurt.  What a disaster. 

The ultimate prize of LeBron James did not come true in the off season, but there is still hope for the team.  The hope is for Carmelo Anthony to sign with the Knicks at the end of the season.  In my opinion, Carmelo is a top 5 player in the league.  He is an unstoppable offensive player.  He led Denver to the Western Conference finals two seasons ago.  Denver had a disappointing season this past year, being knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.  The team was forced to deal with the fact that their head coach had cancer.  I also think the team around him is not very good anymore.  Chauncey Billups is getting older and they really do not have any other big time players surrounding him.  Unlike Lebron, he won a championship (In College).  As of now he will be a free agent at the end of this season, and many believe he wants to play for the Knicks.  His new wife, La La, is from Brooklyn and  I doubt he would ever go to the Nets because they are joke.  Carmelo to the Knicks just makes too much sense   Put Melo with Amar'e and try to trade for Chris Paul, now the Knicks have their own big three to go against the big three tools in Miami.  Only a Knick fan can dream for this to happen.  The good news is this dream is not unrealistic.  There is an actual chance this can happen and Knick fans can only pray that it does.  However, if this fails the same way getting LeBron James did, it will be many more years of meaningless basketball in the world's most famous arena.

We Want Ike!!!

It has become too easy to make fun of the Mets.  They are like the fat guy that orders cheese fries with his triple cheese burger.  It's just too easy.  Whether it is Omar Minaya stumbling and stuttering in interviews, Jerry Manual yucking it up after a terrible loss, Johan Santana being accused of rape, or Frankie Rodriguez punching out his common law father-in-law (Or whatever you want to refer to him as).  They are a walking punch line.

Let's focus on manager Jerry Manuel.  I am not one to call for a person's job.  I do not think all the Mets problems are because of Jerry Manuel.  Baseball managers can be very overrated and it really comes down to player performance.  However, there are some things he does on the bench that can drive a Met fan to drink.  Rookie first basemen Ike Davis is one of the few bright spots on the team this year.  Since he was called up from the minors he has shown great defense, power, and professionalism.  He has his ups and downs like most first year players, but he has been one of the best rookies in the league.  Manuel's managing trend lately has been to sit Ike against left handed pitchers.  He is treating Ike as what the baseball people like to call, a "platoon player".  The interesting thing is that Ike has actually hit for a higher average against lefties (.273) than righties (.244).  Now logically, Jerry must be doing this because he has a better option to play first base against left handed pitching, right?  That better option is life time minor leaguer Mike Hessman.  I am not going kill Hessman.  He has paid his dues in the minor leagues for a very long time and is probably a very nice guy.  He is also the active leader in life time minor league home runs, which simply means he has been a minor leaguer for way too long.  Guys who are in the minor leagues for so long are there for a reason; THEY ARE NOT MAJOR LEAGUERS!!!   Oh, and just to let everyone know, Hessman is batting .182 against lefties this year and .204 against them for his career.  Oh yeah, he has definitely earned the playing time. 

Met fans are spending a ton of money on tickets.  They want to see there young players play.  I do not even understand how this is an issue.  Ike Davis is just flat out a better player and deserves to play all the time.  Manuel is a idiot and will probably not be brought back as manager next season.  He has failed with this team.  They have not won back to back games since June 23 and there season is basically over.  Yes it's only mid-August, but lets be real.  This team has proved they can not be consistent, they never win on the road (Won 2 road series all season- Baltimore and Cleveland- big deal), and are offensively challenged.  It is another sad season for Met fans.      

Anger Management?

It was a wild 24 hours for the New York Mets.  It started with a terrible 8th inning collapse in last night's game against Colorado.  Manager Jerry Manuel decided to allow Manny Acosta pitch to Melvin Mora with bases loaded and two outs in the 8th inning up 2-1, instead of going to closer Frankie Rodriguez.  The result, a grand slam home run by Mora and a 6-2 Mets defeat. 

Things only got worse after the game was over.  Frankie Rodriguez was arrested and charged with 3rd degree assault on who we thought was his father in law.  We learned some new facts about the story today.  First, it was not his father in-law who he assaulted.  It was his girl friends father.  The girlfriend is Daian Pena. Technically, she is his common law wife.  We also found out that not only did the Pena's father, now being identified as Carlos Pena (not the first baseman on Tampa Bay), go to the hospital with injuries, but also her mother was rushed to the hospital with what they are saying was an anxiety attack.  Daian and Carlos have a restraining order against Frankie.  He is not even allowed to go back to his own home. 

Details are coming out about what exactly happened.  The district attorney issued a release detailing the incident. According to the criminal complaint, Daian Pena was in the family lounge at the ballpark around 10:20 p.m. on Wednesday. Rodriguez entered and asked her to come into the hallway. He then asked Daian Pena to have her father come out to the hallway where, Daian Pena saw Rodriguez "pin her father against the wall and punch her father multiple times in the face and head," according to the complaint."The victim suffered bruising, swelling, abrasions and redness to the head and pain to his neck, and substantial pain, annoyance and alarm as a result of the defendant's alleged actions," the complaint says.- ESPN NEW YORK.  It is so pathetic that Frankie has to bully around an old man.  This guy is such an a-hole. 

Additionally, we learned that Frankie was in custody and locked up in a holding cell until 2:00 in the afternoon today.   The Mets have suspended him for two days.  They should try to do anything they can to get rid of this guy.  He is a ticking time bomb that is going to continue to explode. Word is also starting to leak out that there might be a history of violence in the relationship, and restraining orders have been filed in California and Venezuela.  It must be a bad situation if Venezuela is dealing out the restraining order.  I didn't even know the phrase restraining order existed there.  I though domestic violence was like church for them (That was mean). 

It really sucks to be a Met fan.  Can things get any worse for them?  This is starting to look a lot like 1992. (Google 1992 New York Mets to find out more about what I am talking about)

There was some good news for the Mets today.  Johan Santana, who is having his own personal issues, threw a 4 hit complete game shut out against the Rockies.  Santana looked dominant, striking out 10, and leading the team to a win they desperately needed.  Many Met fans and baseball people have questioned whether Santana is still an ace pitcher and he has shut up his critics.  He has looked like the old Santana so far in the second half of the season and should have more than the 10 wins that he currently has.  The team never scores runs for him, and at worst should have at least 14 or 15 wins.  At this point in the season he is one of the few bright spots on this team.  It seems like they only win when he pitches and despite his legal problems and pending law suit, continues to try to do everything he can to carry this miserable team.

K-Rod The Jailbird

Not everyone can be as lucky as I am and get along with the in-laws.  Many people can't stand their in-laws, but to actually beat up your father-in law, Mets closer Frankie Rodriguez is taking disliking your in-laws to a whole new level.  K-Rod was arrested yesterday for apparently attacking his father-in-law.  He is being charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, after this altercation at Citi Field last night.  The father-in (who has no name and will just be referred to as "the father in-law") was forced to go to the hospital with a bump on his head and scrape on his face.  It's nice to see that Frankie has the ability to beat up an old man.  To make things even better, this apparently happened at the Citi Field family room where women and children were forced to witness this.  Frankie really is the role model figure.

At this point nobody really knows what led to the incident.  My guess would be that Frankie was already angry during the game when Manuel decided to not bring him in with bases loaded and two outs in the 8th inning and the Mets leading 2-1.  Frankie had to watch Manny Acosta give up a grand slam home run to Melvin Mora (former Met) giving Colorado a 5-2 lead.  I know that I was angry when I saw that and wanted to punch someone.  Maybe his father-in-law complained to him that the line for the Shake Shack was too long, and he couldn't get his burger. Or maybe Frankie is just angry because he is a Met.  Met fans feel your pain.
 
We all know that K-Rod is a hot head and this is not the first incident he has had since being a Met.  Last year he got into a fight with former Yankee relief pitcher Brian Bruney.  He also had an incident on a team bus with former Assistant General Manager Tony Bernazard, but Met fans applauded that because Bernazard is a total douche.  The final incident took place earlier this season where it was reported that he got into a fight with the bullpen coach.  Frankie is a real class act. A guy making 12 million is starting a fight with one making $100,000.

I have had enough with this guy.  He is a loose canon and he is not even good anymore.  Back during his days with the Angels he was a dominant closer.  He is no longer dominant and looks very average most of the time.  I can probably count on one hand the amount of times he has a 1, 2, 3 inning during his Met tenure.  Every time he is in to save a game, 911 needs to be kept on hold because your going to need an ambulance for the heart attack your going to have watching him pitch.  I think every time he screws up on the mound, Met fans should be allowed to punch him in the face.

The K-Rod incident only adds more fuel to the fire that is burning the Mets.  They have already free fallen in the standings, their stadium is half empty, and star pitcher Johan Santana continues to deal with his sexual assault civil case .  Did Johan at least have a good putting day before he banged this chick out on the golf course?  Probably not considering it's a sexual assault case.  Golfing can be a very frustrating sport.  All the Mets need now is a Vince Coleman-like fire cracker incident to put icing on the cake.

Rex's Plan

To quote one of my all time favorite movies The Hangover, "it's funny because he's fat".  That quote just signifies everything about Jets head coach Rex Ryan.  If he was a skinny guy, he would just be obnoxious.  Because he is a fat guy, he is still obnoxious, but also somewhat humorous.  We are only a couple of weeks into training camp and "the mouth" (Rex Ryan) is an everyday headline. 

Rex spoke again today about the Darrelle Revis contract situation and stated that he has a plan to solve the dispute.   Rex wants to get everyone in one room together and get the contract resolved.   Maybe they can all get into one big circle and Rex could sit in the middle with a guitar and sing Cumbayah.   Next thing you know, Rex will be suggesting they all sit around for a big circle jerk.  The guy really is incapable of keeping his mouth shut.  Hard Knocks will only give him a bigger platform to keep on yapping.  The one guarantee I can make is that this is not the last we here from Rex on the Revis issue or anything else about the Jets.  We all can't wait to hear what is next.    

Hard Knocks Comments:

1. Best quote of the night:  Antonio Cromartie- "I have to provide for the family".  Meaning your twenty kids (it's actually only 8)
2. Rex Ryan has a potty mouth- Dropping f-bomb after f-bomb.  Someone needs to wash his mouth out with soap. 
3. Rex looked ridiculous wearing shorts and converse all-stars
4. Does anyone think Rex performed priest-like acts on any of the players in their rooms?
5. How many times can they mention Darrelle Revis in one episode and how bad are they trying to make him look?
6. Does anyone really care about these rookies that they are spending so much time talking about? 
7. Are Jet fans nervous watching Sanchez throw so many interceptions in practice?  He looked really good catching the ball though.
8. What's so bad about tanning spray?
9. I thought Rex had surgery to make him thinner.
10. I am taking Joe Namath in my death pool.
11. Namath's daughter looks like a horse.
12. I was shocked that Rex Ryan did not go to Roscoe Diner
13. How hot are football player's wives?

Overall I actually thought the episode was pretty boring.  Do we really need Hard Knocks to learn how loud and obnoxious Rex Ryan is, or more about the Revis hold out when we hear about it everyday from the media?

Thank You Isiah

Isiah Thomas made his best move ever for the Knicks today. He decided not to take the consultant's job. Knick fans should all personally thank Isiah for this decision. The NBA ruled that it was a violation of league policy for him to take a consultant position because he is also the head coach of Florida International. If the NBA actually allowed this, it would have opened Pandora's Box, with teams being able to hire college coaches all across the country as team consultants. The NBA already has enough problems, and did not need anymore. Isiah can now go back to ruining a college basketball program, and Knick fans can take a deep breathe; get down on their knees to thank the god they worship.

The black cloud of Isiah Thomas will hopefully go away for good.  Garden interns can feel safe for now.  It is amazing that this decision is the best one ever made by Isiah. This shows just how bad he was as an executive. As I stated in a previous blog, the guy is a cancer, and should not be allowed back into the Garden. Many would say that he is one of the worst executives in the history of the NBA. To quote Will Ferrell in the movie Blades of Glory, bringing Isiah back into the organization was absolutely "mind bottling".

Knick fans can now go back to feeling good about the direction of the team; however, let’s not put it past owner James Dolan to screw it up. It would not surprise me to hear Isiah's name pop up again. Lets face it, Florida International is not North Carolina. Isiah might get sick of losing in college (which he will because he is also an awful coach) and decide to come back to the NBA.  We also know that James Dolan is dumb enough to hire him again.  Isiah must have some really good dirt on Dolan because there is no other possible explanation for ever bringing him back.

Long Live the Queen

Former Knicks and Houston Rockets head coach and current ESPN/ABC basketball analyst recently stated that the Heat could break the Bulls record of 72 wins.  Van Gundy might be very valid with his prediction, but my response is who really cares. The NBA is a joke. The Heat are a joke. I would hope the Heat would have a huge season considering they have two of the top three players in the league, and an additional top 15 player in Chris Bosh.

What happened to the NBA? What happened to being a competitor?  I always thought competitive sports was about beating the best, not playing with the best. LeBron pulled the biggest chicken shit move in the history of sports. He was supposed to be one of the all time greats in the history of the game.  LeBron was known as King James, and his play on the court for his first seven years proved that he could be one of the greats.  In obvious anger after LeBron made his "decision", Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert refered to him as the self titled former king. Many are now referring to LeBron as the queen as he has become Dwyane Wade's bitch.  I hope Lebron enjoys the taste and smell of Wade's junk.

The NBA used to be great. You had teams and players that really hated each other. You had great rivalries: Lakers/Celtics, Bulls/Pistons, Knicks/Bulls, Knicks/Heat. I still laugh when I think about Jeff Van Gundy riding Alonzo Mourning's leg during a bench clearing brawl.  Do you think that Jordan, Magic, Bird, or even Kobe would have done what LeBron did?  No way.  Those guys have balls.  These all time greats are laughing at LeBron.  LeBron should have stuck it out in Cleveland and tried to bring a title to his home state. One title in Cleveland would be remembered more than 10 titles in Miami.  And speaking of Miami, it is the biggest joke of a sports town. It's amazing how every time a Miami team plays a New York team, half the place is filled with New York fans. The people in Miami are more concerned about getting a tan on the beach.  So let LeBron go there and be apart of his gay little orgy with Wade and Bosh.  We have all learned that LeBron was too big of a pussy to shoulder the load in Cleveland. Now the only load LeBron will be carrying is the one Wade shoots in his face.

Can someone also try to explain to me what the LeBron James brand is?  Is it his piece of shit ugly sneaker? Was it that crappy television production "The Decision".  I am still trying to figure this one out.

Most Overrated Player In Baseball?

I am not going to come out and say David Wright is a bad baseball player. That statement would make me look like a fool. What I will say is that he is not what the Mets organization or fans have made him out to be. The Mets have made him out to be a "franchise player". Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez are franchise players and can carry an entire team on their back. Wright is a nice player that needs a lot of support. He proved that last season when the Mets suffered incredible injuries to almost the entire team. Wright suffered greatly from this with the worst season of his career.

Met fans have this man crush on him which I do not understand. "Oh, he is a home grown Met". Big freakin deal. So is Jose Reyes and Met fans want to trade him all the time. The home grown thing is such bullshit anyways. I want a team out there that will win. I could care less where they come from. They can be a bunch of murderers and rapists for all I care. Just give me a winner. Mark Messier was not home grown and he is the most glorified Ranger in the history of the franchise. Mark Messier brought NYC a title. He was a winner.

Offensively, Wright is super streaky. He will have an amazing week where you can't get him out and then follow it up with a week where he looks lost at the plate.  The sight of him swinging at pitching five feet in front of him in the dirt is disturbing. He will put up nice numbers at the end of the year, but he strikes out way too much and has too many hit-less droughts throughout the season. He absolutely kills the line up when he has these 1 for 15 series with 8 strike outs. There are way too many of those. A franchise player has to be more consistent. He is a good guy to have on your fantasy team.  The real game is not played in a fantasy world.

Defensively he is god awful. I think he must have blown a couple of voters in the past in order to get him the gold glove award at third base. Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, and that blind dork from American Idol must have been the ones voting. Anyone with halfway decent vision can see that he is a terrible fielder. He has what I refer to as "girl arm". Third basemen are supposed to have powerful arms, and Wrights throws are on the level of a 12 year old chick in a crappy softball league. Met fans will defend him and say he has a good glove. They are just feeding you more bullshit because half the time he looks as if he is scared of the ball. Just because SportsCenter shows a few highlights of him making nice plays does not make him into a good fielder.

Wright is the so-called leader of this team, yet has never won a thing. Met fans love to blame the owner, general manager, manager, Reyes, Beltran, Castillo, Mr. Met, and basically everyone else in the organization. Why does Wright always get a free pass? It is time for Met fans to open their eyes and realize he is not as good as they thought he was. The only reason why they protect him so much is because he is a home grown American player. Yes I am saying it, AMERICAN PLAYER. If you think the American factor does not play big for Met fans then you are totally lost. Met fans have constantly complained in the past that the team was too "Latin", and Wright represents their 'American Golden Boy".  He is the face of the franchise: good looking, dressed nicely, and always speaking to the media.  That is all very nice, but in New York sports you need to come up big in the big game and prove that you are a winner.  Wright continues to fall short of that.  Derek Jeter has many of the same attributes as Wright, but the big difference is that Jeter is a winner.  All Wright has proven in his career so far is that he can lead a team to losing.

Same Old Jets

It is quite simple.  If the Jets have any Superbowl hopes, they need to sign Darrelle Revis.  He is the best cornerback in football, and arguably the best defensive player in the game.  Wasn't that all we heard last year from Jets loud mouth coach Rex Ryan?  Every week it was, "Darrelle Revis is the best defensive player in football", "if you don't vote Darrelle Revis defensive player of the the year then you don't know anything about football".  Well news flash fat ass, Revis heard you and brought your comments to the negotiation table. 

I understand the Jet fans love Rex's confidence and bravado, but this fat bastard can't keep his mouth shut.  Instead of getting off season surgery to lose weight, he should of had surgery to shut his yap.  He has never won a thing in this league. Yes the team made a nice run to the AFC championship game, but lets remember that they won 9 games, and at 7-7 got lucky enough to play two teams that laid down for them.  Do you hear any other coaches in the league guaranteeing that their team is going to win the Superbowl?  Didn't you do that last year Rex?  Did your prediction come true?  No you failed.  Your so-called great defense got destroyed by Peyton Manning and the Colts. 

Rex is his own worst enemy with his mouth and moronic statements.  Last season all he did was boast about Revis being the best defensive player in the league and then today at a news conference he stated "Don't feel sorry for us," Ryan told reporters Tuesday, displaying his trademark bravado. "We have everything we need here on defense."  Rex then said "We have a great collection of individual talent," Ryan said. "These guys will play great as a team. That's what we'll do. Obviously, Revis is a tremendous player. Ray Lewis, a tremendous player. Ed Reed, tremendous player. Kris Jenkins, a tremendous player. But it's about the unit, and we've been selling that from the day we walked on here. "We can get it done," Ryan continued. "We're not afraid of anybody."- By Rich Cimini, ESPNNewYork.com

I don't even think Rex really believes that.  The Jets created this problem with Rex's big fat mouth and by going to Revis after the season promising to restructure his contract. This is a battle the team will not win because they can not play their style of football without Revis.  Football is the only sport where I do not criticize the player for holding out in an attempt to get a new contract if they out performed their current one.  This is a brutal and violent sport where any day can be your last.  Revis saw one of his best friends on the team, Leon Washington, not get his contract, break his leg in the middle of the season, and then be traded to Seattle in the off season.   Football is unforgiving and the team will drop you like a bad habit if you serve no use to them.  Revis has out performed his contract.  He was the best defensive player in the league last season.  The Rex Ryan defense revolved around Revis shutting down the opponents number one receiver.  This allowed Rex to run all of his blitz packages.  No Revis = lots of touchdowns  for the opposing quarterbacks and receivers. 

Jets owner Woody Johnson stated that he does not expect Revis to be on the team for the start of the season.  My question to Johnson would be, how could you give contract extensions to your coach and general manager, sign all these different free agents to multi-million dollar contracts and then allow your best player to become a hold out?  Johnson is raping his loyal fans with these stupid PSL's and high ticket prices.  I guess this is how he repays them and shows his appreciation.  The Jets are already struggling to sell their PSL's, and are basically begging people to buy them.  Jet fans are now supposed to do this when the teams best player is holding out?  Good luck.  Only the Jets can have such a good thing going, with a potential Superbowl contending team, and then find a way to f it up.

Saving Isiah

Here is my job resume

1. Failure as Toronto Raptors Executive Vice President

2. Bankrupted the CBA

3. Failure as Indiana Pacer Head Coach

4. Knicks President of Basketball Operations
- Fired Don Cheaney
- Hired and fired Lenny Wilkins
- Hired Larry Brown and was forced to pay off his contract
- Named himself head coach and failed as head coach
- Traded numerous 1st round draft picks for Stephon Marbury and his awful contract
- Traded numerous 1st round draft picks for Eddie Curry and signed him to an awful contract
- Traded for the awful contracts of Steve Francis and Zach Randolph
- Signed Jerome James and Jared Jefferies to miserable contracts
- Put the Knicks into salary cap hell and led the Knicks to numerous losing seasons
- Accused of sexual harassment against an MSG employee
- Had an "accidental drug overdose" where he originally claimed it was his own daughter who required medical treatment

Am I missing anything else???

The question is would you hire this individual for a job?  If you ask that question to Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan, the answer would be yes.  If you ask any other sensible human being the answer would be an automatic Hell No!!!!!  The individual with this stellar resume happens to be Isiah Thomas.  Once a great player, Isiah is now looked at by most in the NBA as a total joke of an executive.  The only thing he gave to the Knicks was embarrassment, and the best moment of his tenure was when he was fired.  I wouldn't let Isiah run a lemonade stand.  I wouldn't even let him come back to the Knicks as a janitor or food vendor.  So the million dollar question is, What is James Dolan thinking?  My answer to that is, I have no freaking clue.  Ever since he owned the Knicks and Rangers, the teams have won nothing, and aside from a few decent years by the Rangers, have been laughing stocks.  Dolan will spend the money, but the problem is that he has no clue how to spend it. 

Dolan finally came to his senses after the 2008 season and got rid of Isiah.  He then hired a credible basketball person in Donnie Walsh.  Walsh managed to wash up most of the mess Isiah created and actually got the Knicks under the salary cap.  They were a player in 2010 free agency.  Yes they struck out on LeBron James, Dwane Wade, and Chris Bosh, but they did manage to sign all-star forward Amar'e Stoudamire and make several other moves to improve the team without hurting themselves with the salary cap.  They will be in the hunt the next couple of years to acquire superstars like Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, or Deron Williams.  Knick fans were finally given a reason to be optimistic.  This hope will now potentially change with the re-hiring of Isiah as a consultant.  The man should not be consulting anything.  Let Isiah stay at Florida International and ruin their program.  The Knicks do not need him.  Jimmy Dolan is spitting in his fans face by bringing him back to the organization.  My prediction is Donnie Walsh retires within the year and Isiah runs the team.  Bring back the bad signings, traded draft picks, sexually harassed women, and years of continued shame.

Has Tiger lost his Woods?

This might just be a stupid opinion in my distorted mind, but was Tiger a great golfer because of his sex addiction? The great musicians and artists had drugs and alcohol, Barry Bonds and A-Rod had steroids, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley had gambling, and now we learned that Tiger Woods had casual sex with many and I mean many women. If you have followed Tiger from the beginning, you know that he has an addicting personality. He is obsessed with golf, winning, and making money.     

We now also know he is addicted to having sex with multiple (and some very disgusting) women. Tiger would bang out all his stress and frustrations in the bedroom and then be free and relaxed on the golf course. Wilt Chamberlain was said to have slept with over ten thousand women and he only had one of the greatest careers in NBA history. So I argue that all the sex helped make these athletes great.  Now is it possible that when Tiger went to sex rehab, his sex addiction was cured, but his golf game was ruined? This man was one of the greatest figures in the history of sports and now looks like a broken man and a flat out bad golfer. Yes, I am saying that Tiger looks like a bad golfer.  It is amazing that I am saying that.  It's like saying Einstein was a moron.  

Many speculated on how his golf performance would be affected by everything that has happened to him over the past year. It is amazing how that “car accident” led to everything which we have learned about Tiger. Many said he would never be the same. And although it is very early in his “come back” I do not think anyone expected to see him shoot 18 over par in a golf tournament. He was absolutely terrible over the weekend.  He looked lost on the golf course.  I could find a couple of regulars at Bethpage Black that could do what Tiger did.  He has not looked like the dominant golfer he was and in fact has looked very ordinary. The players on the PGA tour once feared him, and now that is all lost.

We can now question whether he will break Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors. It is obvious that everything that has happened to him has been a major distraction in his life and career. Tiger was known to be the “gym rat”, practicing on the course over and over again.  He is now spending his time trying to keep his family together and his focus on the course is not what it once was.  Maybe this will only be a short term funk for him.  It has only been a couple of months since he as been back on the course, but that question of will Tiger ever be Tiger again will continue to be discussed.  He still has one major tournament left this season and if he wins, we will all shut up, but if he continues to play the way he has, the story will only continue.  My career advice for Tiger is a trip to Vegas this week and a phone book for escort services.  We can call it How Tiger Got His Groove Back.

Meet the Mess

Mets fans tend to be very pessimistic, due to a history of frustration and disappointment.  The Met fan also happens to be a miserable person. Have you ever met a happy Met fan? There is no such thing.  They take their fan hood into their everyday lives and expect everything to end in pain and suffering.  Surprisingly to most of the baseball world, this season gave them some hope.  Before the season began Met fans hoped to be competitive.  Achieving this would be a difficult task considering all-star shortstop Jose Reyes would miss all of spring training with an overactive thyroid, all-star center fielder Carlos Beltran would miss the entire first half after having off season knee surgery (Nice move telling the team about your knee a month before spring training), and a pitching staff after ace Johan Santana was very questionable. Despite these obstacles, the team began to surprise its fans.   They played exciting and inspired baseball for most of the first half of the season.  They became a dominant team in their new stadium. Unsuspected heroes formed in Angel Pagan, R.A Dickey(Best Name in Baseball), Ike Davis, and John Niese.  The team finally looked as if they were headed in the right direction.  Met fans were actually happy.

Then the tide began to turn. Beltran finally returned to the line up after missing the entire first half and the hated Luis Castillo also returned.  The worst return however belongs to Oliver Perez who is stealing the 12 million dollars given to him irresponsibly by general manager Omar Minaya.  This team that was already pathetic on the road began the post all-star break with a 2-9 west coast road trip.  The 2-9 record was actually generous considering the Mets were given a gift in San Francisco by the awful umpiring of Phil Cuzzi. The offense with the new additions to the line up looked anemic, being shut out 4 times and failed to score more than 3 runs in all but three games. You know it is a sad day when Aaron Heilman is shutting you down. I think mediocre high school pitchers could have shut this team down. They finally came home and won 2 out of 3 from the Cardinals, but followed it up with another awful series against the last place Arizona Diamondbacks.  Back it was on the road and the results like usual were not any good losing 4 out of 6 to division rivals Atlanta and Philly.  The pitching staff for the most part has continued to pitch well, but the offense continues to flounder.   Here is a good fantasy baseball tip: find out who is pitching against the Mets and add them to your starting rotation.

The team is now under .500 and free falling faster than a coked up Lindsay Lohan.  Atlanta has soared ahead of them.  The defending national league champion Philadelphia Phillies, despite injuries to their two best players have continued to play well and top them in the standings. Their once hopeful playoff chances are basically over. Were changes made to spark the team? No.  Omar Minaya on the west coast trip stated that he was pleased with the performance of his manager and coaching staff.  I am actually surprised ownership allowed Minaya to speak publicly considering it is impossible to understand half the things he is saying. Did they make a trade to improve the offense or pitching staff? No.  They will continue to charge the hardworking fans an obscene amount of money for tickets, despite the fact that ownership does not believe in this team and was not willing to expand their payroll to improve the team.   Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez should have been off the team.  Eat up the rest of the money on their contracts and say goodbye to them.  It's not like they were doing anything to earn their money.  And speaking of the Wilpons, I understand that they spend money, but they run this franchise as if the Mets are second class citizens.  The Yankees who have the best record in baseball and won the World Series last season made three separate moves to try and improve their team at the trading deadline.  The Yankees play to win championships.  The Mets goal is to play meaningful games in September.  Too bad September is going to be a ghost town in Citi Field.  The Wilpons are never ever willing to go the extra mile in order to get the team over the top. They simply settle for mediocrity.  The only thing worse than the Wilpons in this city is Knick and Ranger owner James Dolan.  Lets hope the Mets do not decide to bring Isiah Thomas in to run the organization.  I think that even the Wilpons are too smart for that.

Like most years for Met fans, aside from 69 and 86, the year will end in another disappointment.  The Brooklyn Dodgers started the expression “Wait till next year”.  Unfortunately for Met fans, I do not see things getting better for them in the future. The catch phrase for the Mets should change from "You Gotta Believe" to “You Gotta Grieve”.   The biggest highlight for the rest of this year will be senior citizens walking the field for a day game against the Rockies.  As a Met fan myself, I want to bring my parents to court charging them with child abuse for raising me as a Met fan.