Month: July 2009 (Page 30 of 59)

      Do Broncos players have trust issues with McDaniels?

      July 17, 2009 /

      According to NFL Network analyst Jamie Dukes, some Broncos players have trust issues with their new head coach Josh McDaniels.

      Jay Cutler isn’t the only player who has developed trust issues with first-year Broncos coach Josh McDaniels. A few other players have privately expressed concern, and the media has joined the chorus in feeling that McDaniels has a problem with honesty.

      Some would say this is no big deal, but trust is the cornerstone of this society. We need to be able to trust our government. Trust is essential to marriage and relationships. We need to be able to trust our children. We need to be able to trust our friends.

      As a former NFL player, I can tell you that trust is the foundation between the player and the coach. When players trust their coach, they play at another level. Unfortunately, truthfulness seems to be a character trait that Bill Belichick didn’t pass down to young McDaniels.

      Thanks for the life lesson Jamie – I’ll certainly store that information in my back pocket and break it out from time to time.

      As part of his blog entry, Dukes uses the Brandon Marshall situation as another example of how some of the players don’t trust McDaniels. And maybe secretly they don’t trust their new head coach – after all, he didn’t handle the situation with Cutler appropriately and he does seem to have that Belichick air of secrecy in the way he goes about things.

      But Dukes doesn’t tell us anything new here. He recaps the Cutler and Marshall situations and then uses the “I was a former player, so I should know” reasoning to state his opinion. And anyone that watches Dukes on the NFL Network knows that this guy brings nothing to the table as a journalist. So when he comes out with a story like this, it’s important to take it with a grain of salt.

      Again, I’m not saying that he’s wrong, but I question the fact that he was so general when he said that, “a few other players have privately expressed concern,” and then goes on to mention only the names everyone else already knows about. If other players did express concern to Dukes about McDaniels, he could have printed what they said without using their names. But instead, he used a blanket statement and moved on without providing much detail.

      NFL

      Rick Reilly = that annoying ”friend”

      July 17, 2009 /

      Rick Reilly puts together a top 10 list of the best sporting events to see live and I couldn’t disagree more with his top 5.

      5. Tour de France — Like trying to get to 20 Super Bowls in 23 days, but worth it. Pick a climbing stage, bring friends and a bike, ride the course in the morning before the race (you’re allowed), have lunch in a hamlet atop some exquisite Alp, watch the heart-skipping finish, have a bottle of Bordeaux, spend the night, bike down in the morning. Rinse and repeat.

      4. North Carolina vs. Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium — Fans pulling the hair of Tar Heels players as they inbound the ball; students camping out for months in K-Ville for tix; the hilarious chants from the Crazies, who once yelled at Grant Hill’s parents, “One more kid!”; public school vs. private; an electricity that makes the Final Four and its corporate crowd seem like a three-day seminar on bunions.

      3. Wimbledon — There’s nothing in America within a par-5 of it. It’s a Windsor Castle garden party with grunting. It’s queens and cobblers, cheek to cheek, over grounds so huge it would take you and your Toro a month to mow. It’s a phantasmagoria of color — greens and purples and yellows — and that’s just Bud Collins’ pants.

      2. Kentucky Derby — My life’s aspiration was to be Damon Runyon, and the Derby is as close as I’ll get. With its wooden stands, elegant barns, men in seersucker suits and women in hats you could land an F-14 on, it’s 1927 everywhere you look. Don’t miss the fillies the day before in the Kentucky Oaks or the Barnstable Brown Gala or the awful race-day breakfast at Wagner’s Pharmacy, across from Gate 3. If you hear a tip there, book it, because everyone around you is a trainer, an owner or a groom.

      1. Masters — Sneak into the clubhouse for the peach cobbler and steal into the Eisenhower Cabin, where some paintings are actually by Eisenhower. Do the par-3 tourney Wednesday and Arnie’s first tee shot Thursday; see the droop-shouldered cut players driving out Magnolia Lane Friday, Amen Corner Saturday and golf history Sunday. Because Augusta already has most of the money printed in America, it has not sold out an inch. There are no ads, just flowers. No luxury boxes, just $1.50 egg salad sandwiches. Timeless.

      You know that friend that we all have? You know the one – the guy/girl that only likes things that are not in the mainstream? All of his or her favorite bands are underground and all the movies that he or she likes are ones that nobody else enjoyed because they, “just didn’t get it.” We’re okay with these friends, but we know damn well that the only reason they like certain things is because they’re not in the mainstream.

      Yeah, that’s Reilly in this piece.

      I’ve never been to the Masters, Kentucky Derby, Wimlbedon or Tour de France, so as far as I know they’re the most thrilling events of all-time to see live. But I’m more focused on Reilly here. Was he just trying to be different with this list? Is he trying to separate himself from other top 10 lists? Because I find it incredibly odd that he left out the main four (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) out of his top 5.

      If he did so just to be different, I find him more annoying than every before.

      College Basketball, College Football, MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, Tennis

      Red Sox willing to eat Lugo’s salary?

      July 16, 2009 /

      According to a report by FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal, the Red Sox are willing to eat Julio Logo’s remaining salary in a trade.

      The Red Sox, facing a roster bind as they prepare for the returns of shortstop Jed Lowrie and third baseman Mike Lowell, have informed teams that they are willing to assume virtually all of shortstop Julio Lugo’s remaining salary in a trade, according to a major-league source.

      While another source told FOXSports.com earlier Thursday that the Sox were “desperately” trying to move Lugo, the second source offered a different view.

      The Red Sox, he said, recognize that Lugo is a “sunk cost,” and would accept a fringe prospect for him in return. In other words, they are willing to assume the same financial burden that they would if they released him.

      A release could be the ultimate outcome. The Red Sox are likely to designate Lugo for assignment if they are unable to trade him once Lowrie returns.

      The problem with Lugo’s trade value — besides his erratic defense since returning from knee surgery — is his contract. Lugo, 33, is owed the remainder of his $9 million salary this season, plus $9 million next season. The Sox have been trying to move him since last off-season.

      Boston is going to have a tough time moving Lugo, even if they do eat all of his salary. He’s brutal defensively, has zero pop and is already 33. He’s done.

      MLB

      The Top 10 Head Scratchers of the 2009 NBA Offseason

      July 16, 2009 /

      The NBA offseason is by no means over, but the lion’s share is behind us, so it’s a good time to take a look back at a few of the…um…let’s say “questionable” decisions of the summer. Here are my Top 10, in no particular order. Feel free to add to the list if I missed something.

      1. Trevor Ariza plays spiteful hardball…and loses.
      Let’s get this straight — the Lakers offered Ariza the same deal he was getting on the open market, and he refused since the Lakers could have offered more, but didn’t? Um, okay. David Lee (the agent, not the Knicks forward) says that Ariza wanted to go somewhere where he’d be “appreciated.” Lee overestimated the market for his client, and the Lakers quickly moved on to acquire Ron Artest. Now instead of playing for the world champs, Ariza is stuck in Houston on a team that faces a very uncertain future. Lee now says that Ariza turned down a deal worth $9 million more, but still picked Houston. It sounds to me like he’s just trying to save face.

      2. Grizzlies acquire Zach Randolph.
      Once the Clippers traded for Randolph (and his toxic contract) last season, I thought the bar for NBA general managers had hit a new low thanks to Mike Dunleavy and his wily ways. But Dunleavy proved that he wasn’t the dumbest GM in the league when he convinced the Memphis Grizzlies to take on the final two years Randolph’s contract at the tune of $33.3 million. Remember that $25 million or so of cap space that the Grizzlies were going to have next summer? Yeah, that’s down to about $8 million with this brilliant move. Just when it looked like Chris Wallace was going to rehab his image after the Pau Gasol trade — Marc Gasol panning out, trading for O.J. Mayo — he goes and does this. Sigh.

      Continue reading »

      NBA, NBA Draft, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Will Jeremy Jarmon be worth a supplemental draft pick?

      July 16, 2009 /

      The NFL supplemental draft takes place today and eight players will stand by and hope that one of the 32 teams is willing to give up a pick in 2010 to acquire their services.

      One of those players is Kentucky defensive end Jeremy Jarmon, who was ineligible for his senior season after testing positive for a banned diuretic supplement. He was a force on the Wildcats’ defensive line during his sophomore season, but opponents started paying giving him more attention during his junior year in ’08 and his production dropped.

      That said, he certainly has the size (6’3”, 278 pounds) and physical ability to make it at the next level. While he’s not an explosive pass rusher by any means, he’s competitive and doesn’t give up on plays no matter how far away from the ball he is. And although his ineligibly last year looks bad on his football resume, that one situation doesn’t mean he has character flaws that pro teams should be overly concerned about.

      It’ll be interesting to see if one of the 32 teams parts with a draft pick in 2010 to take Jarmon today. He might be worth a fourth or fifth round pick for defensive linemen-starved teams.

      Here’s a list of the eight players available in this year’s supplemental draft:

      Blake Boyd, LB, Western Kentucky
      Jeremy Jarmon, DE, Kentucky
      Torris Magee, WR, Southern Miss
      Dixon McKinner, DE, Texas Tech
      Joe McMahon, G, Central Michigan
      Demetrice Morley, S, Tennessee
      Deon Murphy, WR, Kansas State
      Corey Surrency, WR, Florida State

      Update: The Redskins used a third round pick on Jarmon in the supplemental draft.

      NFL

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