Month: May 2008 (Page 15 of 28)

Walsh speaks out about Spygate

May 15, 2008 / Anthony Stalter

Former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh is speaking out about his role in Spygate.

“If it was of little or no importance, I imagine they wouldn’t have continued to do it, and probably not taken the chances of going down onto the field in Pittsburgh or shooting from other teams’ stadiums the way we did.”

“On average, when you’re scouting a team, we’d do anywhere from 60 to 70 cut-ups on offense, 40, 50 cut-ups on defense. Special teams, you’re making another 10 to 15 tapes,” Walsh told The Times.
“When Belichick came along, we added even more to the preparation. We were doing more cut-ups, and we were also coming into the age of digital technology, too. So we were able to attach statistics to the video, on computers. The great thing about technology, it’s supposed to make things easier, but in a sense it creates more work for you.”

As SR friend John Paulsen mentioned to me in an e-mail, Walsh comments essentially throw Belichick’s “I misunderstood the rules” comments right out the window. At least from what Walsh is saying, it’s clear that Belichick wanted the tapes so he could have a clear advantage over his opponents. (As if that wasn’t obvious already.)

Should be interesting to see where this issue goes from here now that Sen. Arlen Specter wants to conduct his own investigation.

NFL

Mehmet Okur needs to learn how to block out

May 15, 2008 / John Paulsen

Utah center Mehmet Okur has played pretty well against the Lakers; he’s averaging 18 points and 11 boards against L.A., which is a pretty nice jump from his regular season stats. But the guy needs to stop flopping in crunch time and get his team a defensive rebound.

With 1:53 to play and the Lakers leading, 101-100, Okur was positioned for a defensive rebound when Gasol gave him a little shove in the back. Okur, like most international players, overreacted to the contact, trying to draw a foul. The refs didn’t bite and Gasol gathered the rebound. The possession eventually ended with a Lamar Odom dunk.

With 0:21 to play and the Lakers leading, 105-102, Okur again had position – this time in the lane – when Gasol put a forearm in his back and pushed him three or four feet towards the basket. When Sasha Vujacic’s missed shot came off the rim, Okur left his feet and again overreacted to contact from Gasol, taking himself out of the play once again in an attempt to draw a foul on Gasol. The refs didn’t bite and Gasol got an easy dunk that put the game away.

Had Okur lowered his center of gravity and stood his ground, I don’t think that Gasol would have been able to move him so easily. Those two offensive rebounds decided the game, and those are calls that you just don’t get in crunch time.

Otherwise, Okur played pretty well in Game 5, posting 13 points and 13 rebounds, but if the Jazz have a chance to come back and win this series, he’s going to have to realize that he’s stronger than Gasol and that he needs to use leverage to move the longer Spaniard out of the way.

NBA, NBA Finals

The good, bad and ugly from baseball’s first month and a half

May 15, 2008 / Anthony Stalter

It’s still early. It’s only been a month and a half. It’s only May.

I get it.

Even though the 2008 baseball season is still at a crawl, it doesn’t mean that the first month and a half haven’t provided a glimpse of what’s could be on the horizon for the rest of the year. After all, the Tigers and Yankees don’t look anything like the contenders they were supposed to be, and both clubs’ starting pitching staffs have shown zero signs of a turnaround.

On the flip side, the Rays and Marlins have provided excitement to not only fans in the state of Florida, but also baseball fans nationwide with their play thus far.

Below is a look at the good, bad and the ugly from baseball’s first month and a half. While the Diamondbacks and Lance Berkman offer plenty to gloat about, the Padres need a major injection of offense and Barry Zito and Ryan Howard look like they are in dire need of a hug.

The Good

The surprising Rays and Marlins
Nobody outside of the Sunshine State could have envisioned that the Rays and Marlins would both be first place clubs halfway through May. But they are, and even if it doesn’t last much longer, this is good for baseball. It’s nice to see young clubs come together and challenge big spenders like the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets. It gives a little hope to other low-salary teams and gives fans a break from all the Red Sox-Yankees banter that usually consumes the entire year (and will surely pick up in the second half).

The World Series-Contending D-Backs
Outside of a recent sweep at the hands of the Cubs in Chicago, perhaps no team in the entire league has played better than the Arizona Diamondbacks. Compared to other division leaders, the D-Backs’ 4.5-game advantage over the second place Dodgers in the NL West is rather commanding. If starter Brandon Webb (league leader in wins with eight) continues his domination over National League hitters and youngsters Justin Upton (.331 batting average) and Chris Young (nine home runs) continue to be big contributors, ‘Zona is going to be tough to beat after the All-Star break.

Lance Berkman is one bad man
Offensively, Berkman has come on like a bat out of hell, raising his average from .295 at the end of April to .392 as late as May 13. Thus far in May, he has eight multi-hit games, five dingers and 13 RBI. On the season, he already has 13 long balls, 38 RBI and an on base percentage of .470. He also leads the ‘Stros in every major offensive category including batting average, home runs, RBI, runs scored and on base percentage. More importantly for the club, he’s also helped Houston stay competitive in the NL Central, just 1.5 games behind the front-running Cubs.

The Bad

The Tigers are in what place?
Granted they’ve had injuries, but there’s no way a lineup that consists of Miguel Cabrera, Gary Sheffield, Curtis Granderson and Magglio Ordonez should be middle of the pack in runs scored. But run support isn’t nearly the biggest issue haunting this team right now – the pitching has been brutal. The Tigs’ pitching staff ranks dead last in ERA with a horrendous 5.03 mark and other teams are batting .269. You know things are bad when your best pitcher (Jeremy Bonderman) has a staff-best 4.80 ERA among the starters. It’s still early, but if this team doesn’t get better production from the pitching staff, then the Tigers are going to become a permanent fixture in the basement of the AL Central.

The Padres offense
It’s incredibly unfortunate for the Padres to waste such solid pitching in Jake Peavy, Chris Young and Greg Maddux on the worst offense in MLB. San Diego has scored a league-worst 135 runs and is averaging just over 3.3 runs a game. Over the past couple of years, this club could rely on pitching and playing small ball to stay competitive. But now it appears that strategy has backfired, and acquiring band aid-type fixes like Jim Edmonds (recently released) isn’t going to cut it anymore. Unless the Pads trade for another bat to complement Adrian Gonzalez, Peavy, Young and Maddux’s efforts will continue to go for naught.

Hank Steinbrenner’s meddling
It’s going to be a long season if every couple of weeks we have to listen to Yankees Senior VP Hank Steinbrenner complain about his club’s performance. First Hanky made it public knowledge that he wanted reliever Joba Chamberlain to be in the starting rotation and now just recently, the baby boss called out his squad for essentially not earning their paychecks. While it’s nice to see an owner care about his club’s performance, the bottom line is that it’s up to the players and manager Joe Girardi to turn around the Bronx Bomber’s lackluster play – not the meddling part-owner. And besides, haven’t we seen this before from the Yankees? Wait until the second half before pushing the panic button on this team, although the pitching is a major concern.

The Ugly

Barry Zito’s mental focus
Forget how much he makes ($126 million over seven years) and his current record (0-7), Zito just doesn’t look comfortable on the mound. Granted, he’s not getting any run support (barely 3 runs a game), but he’s just not making wise decisions either. Even when he’s had good stuff, he’ll battle a hitter for six-plus pitches and then he’ll throw his 83 mph fastball in the zone and then act surprised when it gets crushed. He looked better in his last two starts, but if Zito doesn’t start taking a better approach on the hill, he’ll not only continue to lose but the Giants will start thinking about unloading him, too.

Ryan Howard’s swing
In just 144 at bats, Howard’s hitting just .181 and even worse, he’s struck out a total of 56 times already. Pitchers are even challenging Howard in hitter’s counts (something that was unthinkable the past two seasons) and are still getting the ball past him. Part of the problem appears to be that he’s dropping his back shoulder, but in general, he’s just flat out not recognizing pitches right now. The Phillies haven’t needed Howard’s big bat thus far (they’re just 1.5 games behind the surprising Marlins in the NL East), but they’ll certainly need him as the pennant chase heats up. Hopefully Philly fans won’t boo him into submission before he finds his stroke.

MLB

Change NBA Draft rule

May 15, 2008 / Coach Z

Last year, they changed the NBA draft rule to force young men to go to college for one year before putting their name in the draft. A player can get drafted into the Army, but he can’t play his trade in the NBA without a year of college. Who are you kidding? David Stern is so self serving. And for what 12 players? That’s how many freshman put their name in the draft this year. This rule brings on a whole new set of problems for guys who don’t really want to be in college. Ian O Connor wrote a great article on the potential problems.

College Basketball

Bill Simmons channels Doc Rivers

May 15, 2008 / John Paulsen

In the Sports Guy’s latest column, he transcribes Doc Rivers’ imaginary pep talk before Game 5.

First, Ray Allen wants to stop using the phrase “Big Three”…

ALLEN: Well, let’s stop using the phrase “Big Three” then. I’m not that type of player anymore — really, I’m a spot-up jump shooter and that’s it, and if I don’t have my legs for a road game, I’m useless. There’s not a ton of difference between me and Szczerbiak at this point. Two years from now, they’ll be changing my name to “Ray Allen’s Expiring Contract” unless somebody gives me a bionic pair of ankles.
DOC: What are you suggesting?
ALLEN: Instead of “The Big Three,” couldn’t they just call us “The Big Two Featuring Ray Allen?” That would take a ton of pressure off me.

Later, James Posey talks to KG about stepping up in big games…

POSEY: Look, KG, you’re my boy and I love you. When I hug you right before every tipoff, I hold onto you so tightly that it makes everyone in the first few rows legitimately uncomfortable. But everyone needs to be coached sometimes, and really, you haven’t had a good coach your entire career.
DOC: James, I’m right here. I can hear everything.
POSEY: Sorry, but it’s true. KG, listen, it’s OK to take 27 shots in a playoff game if you have Josh Smith, Zaza Pachulia and some dude named “Solomon” guarding you. It’s OK to complain that it’s stupid to be pulling our best rebounder and shot blocker 25 feet from the basket and wearing his legs out for a gimmicky double-team that we don’t even need to be doing. It’s OK to call for the ball because Ben Wallace’s dead body is defending you. Anyone who’s ever won a title, to some degree, has been a little selfish. What you do as a player and a teammate is absolutely fantastic in the regular season, but the playoffs are different — sometimes, you have to take over these games. You make $23 million a year. You’re the most talented guy on the team. If you don’t step up, we’ll either lose this series or Detroit will beat us. You need to step up the same way Duncan steps up every time the Spurs need him. You need to step up. Is it in you?
(KG turns to the camera intensely and takes a big swig of Gatorade.)
DOC: Kevin, was that a “yes” or a “no?”
GARNETT: Fine, fine, I’ll step up. Is this almost over? I promised TNT that I’d give them three minutes before the game to talk about how much winning means to me. You know, as long as I can win without going within 10 feet of the basket in close games.

Finally, Doc gives his last push…

DOC (more animated): I want you to leave everything you have on the court tonight. Play hard, feed off the energy of the crowd, and if we take a big lead, don’t be afraid to pound your chest, scream at the roof, tug at your jersey, bully scrubs who won’t fight back and do everything possible to add to your reputation as a bunch of front-running a-holes who act totally different when they’re up 20 points than they do when they’re down by three. If we lock this game up early, do whatever you need to do to get yourself some attention, even if it ends up ticking off the Cavs and motivating them for Game 6.

I’m definitely rooting for the Celtics in the East, but not because I have any particular affinity for the guys on their roster. I’d like to see KG play for a title, and I liked Ray Ray when he was on the Bucks. Rajon Rondo seems all right too. But Paul Pierce’s facial expressions are getting more and more annoying, as is Sam Cassell’s whole act. Boston fans are pretty irritating now, especially with the recent success of the Red Sox and the Patriots, so the whole “loveable loser” aura that surrounded the city after Larry Bird and Co. retired is long gone.

Still, the Celtics would draw huge ratings in the Finals, and would provide a fun matchup for whomever comes out of the West. But the way they’re playing, I think we’re going to see a certain Motor City team representing the East.