Category: External Sports (Page 114 of 821)

Consensus Mock Draft (Updated 6/22)

June 22, 2011 / John Paulsen

Here is the latest consensus mock draft from NBA.com.

In their draft preview, the folks over at Grantland described the draft this way…

There is no way to discuss this particular draft without stating the obvious — it is bombed out and depleted. Outside of Kyrie Irving and Derrick Williams, the two players vying for the honor of joining the Dan Gilbert hate-train, this year’s class is a collection of low-ceiling college guys and complete unknowns. What’s worse, the teams in this year’s lottery are all at least two, and sometimes as many as five, quality guys away from winning a playoff series.

John Hollinger’s Draft Rater agrees that Irving and Williams are clearly the top two players in the draft (at this point), but believes there’s value to be had in Tristan Thompson (whom Hollinger ranks #3) and Jonas Valanciunas (#4). He also believes that Kawhi Leonard and Kemba Walker have a great chance to turn into at least solid rotation players because the Draft Rater does such a good job predicting the upside of wings (as opposed to big men, who are tougher to gauge).

Unless there is a trade, it appears that Irving will go #1 to the Cavs while Williams will go #2 to the Timberwolves. It’s not a perfect fit for Minny, but they’d be dumb to pass on Williams if they can’t trade down. If nothing else, it would give them a good trade chip down the road.

The Jazz are looking for a point guard, and apparently aren’t sold on Devin Harris. Brandon Knight could be the pick there — he is a high character guy who had a 4.3 weighted GPA in high school.

If the Cavs take Irving #1 (which they should), it makes sense to go big at #4. J.J. Hickson is a solid prospect at power forward, so if Cleveland can land their center of the future at #4 (perhaps Kanter or Valanciunas), they’d be in reasonably good shape with a core of Irving, Hickson and Kanter/Valanciunas. Then again, they do have Anderson Varejao, but he is very limited offensively. Kanter is the polar opposite. He can score, but hasn’t shown much of a commitment to defense.

Walker to the Raptors makes a lot of sense. Unless they are planning to build around Jerryd Bayless or Jose Calderon, they need a point guard and Walker would be the best one available at #5. The Wizards could go any number of directions as they need help everywhere outside of point guard, where John Wall is the future. The draft is very fluid from #4 on and even the Jazz could surprise at #3 and take someone like Jan Vesely to play small forward.

External Sports, NBA

2011 NBA Draft

Twins broadcaster Gladden blames Buster Posey for injury

June 22, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Do you know that guy that purposely tries to stand out in a debate by stating how he would have done something differently? Mr. Hindsight I like to call him. He’s this guy: “Well, I don’t know why he did it that way – that’s not the way I would have done it. I would have done it correctly…pure, 100% correct is how I would have done it.”

Well meet Twins’ broadcaster Dan Gladden…that guy.

Gladden played for the Giants in the mid-80s before winning a pair of World Series rings with the Twins. With the Twinkies in San Francisco facing the Giants for a three-game series, Gladden went on KNBR 680 radio on Tuesday and flat out blamed catcher Buster Posey for the way he was injured during a collision at the plate with Marlins’ outfielder Scott Cousins.

From CSN BayArea.com:

“Don’t, don’t don’t change any of the rules,” Gladden said when asked about Posey’s collision with Marlins outfielder Scott Cousins. “We’ve been playing this brand of baseball for long time.
“What people don’t talk about — I haven’t heard one person — talk about the bad position that Posey was in when he tried to put that tag down. You don’t put your leg in a position like that to try to block the plate. It was Posey’s fault for getting in a position where he did where he laid that left leg down like that and went about just trying to just kind of block the plate. When I came around third base I looked for contact on every play with the catcher. And I’d keep an eye on his eyes. His eyes would tell me where the ball is. I had run-ins with (Mike) Scioscia, I had run-ins with Dave Valle, all the catchers.”

Can you see me? You can’t see me. I’m rolling my eyes. I’m rolling my eyes at these ridiculous comments.

I wasn’t inside the radio studio when Gladden was on-air but I can picture him sitting there with a puffed-out chest talking about his days as a player. He apparently wanted to remind everyone what a tough-nosed athlete he was back in the day but in doing so, he didn’t bother to get his facts right while describing Posey’s injury.

Posey wasn’t blocking the plate, period – end of story. You can make the argument that he was moving in that direction to seal off Scott Cousins’ lane, but if you actually watched the play then you cannot definitively say that Posey was blocking the plate. So for Gladden to say, “You don’t put your leg in a position like that to try to block the plate,” is ridiculous and it shows how little the broadcaster was paying attention when ESPN showed the replays 72,000 times following the injury.

I love how Gladden says that he hasn’t “heard one person” talk about Posey being in bad position. Is he serious? Has he heard of the internet? Somebody get my man a computer and show him how to Google, because there have been plenty of people who have blamed Posey for the incident – and just like Gladden, they obviously didn’t watch the play. It’s a shame everyone just can’t admit that it was an unfortunate, legal play and move on. Instead, we’re subject to foolish claims by guys like Gladden, who apparently think that just because they played the position they can make up things that didn’t happen in order to talk about themselves.

External Sports, MLB

Anthony Stalter Buster Posey dan gladden dan gladden buster posey twins broadcaster

Megan Rapinoe: Pressure Makes Us

June 22, 2011 / Staff

The U.S. Women’s World Cup begins on Sunday and the pressure is on. The Germans have won the last two titles and are hosting this year’s tourney, so it’s going to take a big effort for the U.S. to come away with a championship. NIKE is following the USWNT as they prepare.

Pressure is always there. At this level you have to learn to love it. Join Megan Rapinoe & the USWNT on a 9-month journey to conquer the pressure.

The first game for the U.S. is against Korea on 6/28.

External Sports, Soccer

U.S. Women's soccer

Report: Players to receive 48% of all revenue in new CBA

June 21, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

ESPN.com is reporting that the players will receive 48% of all revenue under the framework of the labor deal currently being discussed at the owners’ meeting in Rosemont, IL.

Here are the proposed details for the new Collective Bargaining Agreement:

• Players get 48 percent of “all revenue,” without extra $1-billion-plus off top that previously had been requested by owners.
• Players’ share will never dip below 46.5 percent, under new formula being negotiated.
• Teams required to spend minimum 90-93 percent of the salary cap.
• Rookie wage scale part of deal but still being “tweaked.”
• 18-game regular season designated only as negotiable item and at no point is mandated in deal.
• New 16-game Thursday night TV package beginning in 2012.
• Owners still will get some expense credits that will allow funding for new stadiums.
• Retirees to benefit from improved health care, pension benefits as revenue projected to double to $18 million by 2016.

I obviously have not been involved in these discussions and I’m not a lawyer. But in this simpleton’s opinion, this looks like a good deal for both sides (based on the information provided above, that is).

Considering the players will lose some of the revenue pie I think it’s safe to say they lost quite a bit of leverage over the past couple of months. But one of the big things that they were fighting for was improved health care and pension benefits for retired players, which is what that last bullet point highlights. And when you take into account that teams will be required to spend a minimum of 90-93% of the salary cap, the players should make out just fine under this new CBA.

Another big thing that the players are definitely against is the 18-game schedule. While that still appears to be an option for down the road, at least it’s not going to hold up the current discussions. It’s one less item that the two sides have to argue over right this second.

It’s nice to see that the framework for the new CBA is in place and the two sides continue to work together to reach common ground. It’s still a fluid situation so let’s not assume anything right now. But hopefully they won’t hit any more snags and the lockout will lift in the upcoming weeks.

External Sports, NFL

2011 NFL lockout new nfl cba NFL lockout

The FIFA Women’s World Cup begins this week

June 20, 2011 / Staff

Looking for something to pay attention to in the doldrums of summer? The FIFA Women’s World Cup starts on Sunday in Germany and Nike is following the U.S. Women’s team as they prepare.

After winning in 1991 and 1999, the U.S. Women finished in third place in 2003 and 2007. Germany has won two consecutive titles and if the U.S. hopes to break that streak, they will have to beat the Germans on their own turf.

External Sports, Soccer, Video