Month: June 2008 (Page 2 of 40)

      Welker takes swipe at Samuel

      June 29, 2008 /

      Patriots’ wide receiver Wes Welker took a mild jab at cornerback Asante Samuel, who spurned New England to sign a $57 million contract with the Eagles in the offseason.

      “Asante’s a great player, so it hurts not to have a guy like that. But then again, it’s part of the business of the game,” Welker said. “He chose money over championships, and that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

      Whoa, whoa, whoa – slow down, Wes. Now that you guys can’t videotape other teams’ practices, defensive signals, film sessions and daily meetings, don’t just assume that you’re going to keep winning championships. Your team didn’t look to hot against the Jints without the use of cheating.

      NFL

      Jeter overrated? Numbers say otherwise

      June 29, 2008 /

      Mike Harrington of THE BUFFALO NEWS is baffled at one of SI.com’s latest polls, which asked: Who is the game’s most overrated player? Derek Jeter was the answer, but Harrington says look at the numbers.

      Come on. We’re only talking about perhaps the finest all-around shortstop of a generation and a player who will finish his career with more hits than any New York Yankee in history. More than Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio. All of them.

      Now, you can certainly make the case this season has not been a vintage Jeter year, especially April and May. And he turned 34 on Thursday — 34! — so his range at shortstop is not what it once was.

      But according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Jeter’s team has the highest winning percentage among all active players who have appeared in at least 1,000 games (.601). That counts pretty high in my book.

      No coincidence the Yankees’ new dynasty began in 1996, Jeter’s rookie year. And while the Yankees have been a postseason flop since blowing the 2004 ALCS, they keep going back. You get that perspective when you spend three days in a city with a team like the Pirates, who haven’t even been above .500 since 1992.

      While the Yankees’ June resurgence is largely credited to the return from the disabled list of Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada, Jeter’s play has been a pretty big boost too. Jeter entered Saturday’s game with the Mets with mundane numbers for the season (.285 average, .345 on-base, .397 slugging) but he’s really turned it on of late. He was on a 15-game hitting streak and his June numbers were .316/.391/.459.

      People either hate Jeter because he plays for the Yankees or the fact that he’s often referred to of the golden child of baseball. Calling him overrated is laughable. He might not hit a ton of home runs and his RBI numbers are usually low because of where he bats in the order, but the guy gives himself up on every play in every game. He’s also one of the most clutch players this generation has ever seen and I’d take his leadership in the clubhouse any day. Stat freaks like to hammer him, but watch Jeter play on a regular basis and then tell me he’s overrated.

      MLB

      If The Baseball Season Ended Today…..

      June 29, 2008 /

      It’s always fun to look at the baseball standings at different points during the season and project those to the postseason. Especially when teams like the Tampa Bay Rays are in contention. But this isn’t the beginning of May. In fact, this is almost the beginning of July, meaning the halfway point is near, or here, for each team. So the chance that these eight teams could wind up in the race for the World Series is not far-fetched. Here are the projected match ups…..

      Tampa Bay Rays (48-32) vs. Los Angeles Angels (48-33)
      The Rays are the surprise of the season. Everyone knew this team had the bats, but their pitching has been stellar, with a team ERA (3.71) ranking them fourth in the majors. Naturally, Tampa has no postseason experience and the Angels seem to be there or almost there every year, but don’t think the surprise season would end for the Rays in early October — this team is for real. As for the Angels,
      there is a ton of talent on that roster, but they haven’t reached the World Series since winning it all in 2002.

      Chicago White Sox (45-35) vs. Boston Red Sox (50-33)
      Did anyone think the White Sox were going to contend this season outside of the South Side of town?
      Jim Thome and Paul Konerko are struggling, but Jermaine Dye (18 homers, 49 RBI, .306) is quietly having an MVP type season and Javier Vasquez has 104 strikeouts. Meanwhile, the Red Sox are trying to fend off the Rays, and of course the Yankees are never far behind (currently five games out). But Boston has the bats (Ortiz, Ramirez, Lowell) and the pitching (Beckett, Dice-K, Papelbon) to win it all again.

      St. Louis Cardinals (46-36) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (44-38)
      The fact that the Cardinals, currently as the wild card, have a better record than the NL East leading Phillies is mind-boggling. Tony LaRussa really does know how to get the best out of his roster, and this season he’s proved that more than ever. The Phillies have a Murderer’s Row type lineup (their 110 home runs as a team is second in the majors) and a solid bullpen, but can they go the distance with the Marlins, Mets and Braves nipping at their heels?

      Arizona Diamondbacks (41-40) vs. Chicago Cubs (49-32)
      The D-backs jumped out to a huge lead but have been floundering lately. The Cubs, meanwhile, have the best winning percentage in baseball and are struggling this weekend against the crosstown White Sox, who they just may meet in the Fall Classic. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. The Cubs are just as talented as last season, when they wound up getting swept by this same Arizona team. Will history repeat itself?

      Projected AL MVP: Josh Hamilton, Texas
      Projected NL MVP: Lance Berkman, Houston
      Projected AL Cy Young: Cliff Lee, Cleveland
      Projected NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb, Arizona
      Projected AL Rookie: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay
      Projected NL Rookie: Joey Votto, Cincinnati
      Projected AL Manager: Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay
      Projected NL Manager: Tony LaRussa, St. Louis

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      Nets say “no thanks” to proposed Szczerbiak/Carter swap

      June 29, 2008 /

      The New York Post is reporting that the Cavs offered up Wally Szczerbiak (and the one year, $13 million remaining on his contract) for Vince Carter, who has three years and $49 remaining on his deal.

      This deal would have been a straight salary dump, and if you like Carter’s game (I don’t), it would have been worse for the Nets than the Grizzlies’ donation of Pau Gasol earlier in the year. The deal never went anywhere, but one wonders if the Nets would have bit had the Cavs offered up Daniel Gibson in the deal. For their part, the Cavs were wise not to sweeten the pot. Vince Carter isn’t the missing piece in Cleveland.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals, Rumors & Gossip

      Whitlock: Blame the white media for Imus’ coverage

      June 28, 2008 /

      Jason Whitlock made some interesting points in his latest article for FOX SPORTS about how the “white media” jumped on Don Imus’s recent comments about Adam Jones not wanting to be referred to as “Pacman” from now on.

      The hosts are generally clueless about the topic and, worse, scared to death that they’ll say something that provokes Sharpton to call their boss. The other guests are generally just as clueless, afraid they’ll say something that provokes Sharpton to call them an Uncle Tom or a bigot and are primarily concerned with demonstrating they’re worthy of an invite back or their own TV show.

      Imus suggested Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones’ six arrests were rather predictable given his African-American heritage. A day later, Imus clarified his statement — and tried to avoid trouble — by stating that he was making a sarcastic point about America’s unequal criminal-justice system.

      Imus was right both times. But Imus being right doesn’t make for good television and certainly does not pay for the conk in Rev. Sharpton’s wig.

      No, sir. This was a full-blown racial controversy, a Nielsen-ratings-mover, a chance for white talk-show hosts to climb into the Octagon and let Kimbo Slice and Jimbo White Rice knuckle up until the viewers tapped out.

      I digress. My point is that what Imus said warrants discussion. We just don’t need to discuss Imus. He is not our problem. Pacman Jones, with his off-field antics and stupidity, has done more damage to the image of American black men than Don Imus could ever hope to do.

      I know this wasn’t Whitlock’s main point, but he hit the nail on the head when he wrote about media hosts and guests being scared when the topic of race in sports is approached. But they’re not only scared because of Sharpton – they’re scared because there are too many sensitive people in this country. It’s gotten to the point where you can’t even have a reasonable debate nowadays because some people just roll out of bed offended at something or somebody. It’s a shame we as a society can’t talk more openly about the topic of race without the discussion turning into one big defensive mechanism.

      General Sports, NFL

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