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      King: Broncos setting dangerous precedent

      June 17, 2009 /

      Peter King of SI.com writes that the Brandon Marshall situation in Denver is starting to resemble what happened with Jay Cutler a couple months back.

      The Brandon Marshall story is starting to smell like the Jay Cutler fiasco, with one exception: The Broncos are clamming up. During the Cutler thing, Josh McDaniels was an open book, talking to me four or five times at length about everything — how he had nothing against Cutler, how he didn’t offend him (in his view), about how he wanted Cutler to be his quarterback. But Monday night, I texted McDaniels, who is a big texter. Nothing. Texted his assistant and got back that the coach is laying low and had nothing to say for now. Texted Marshall, who’s also a texter. Nothing. So this one’s going to be contested below ground, it appears.

      My feeling is the Broncos will play a harder brand of hardball with Marshall, in part because he’s the second star trying to shoot his way out of town in four months. Owner Pat Bowlen might regret how precipitously the organization acted in rushing a franchise quarterback out of town if this stalemate with Marshall lasts into training camp.

      Yes, Marshall wants to be traded. Now the interesting story is whether Denver will acquiesce and, if so, what sort of precedent that will set. Cutler seemed to write a how-to book on The Right Way To Force a Trade. If the Broncos deal Marshall, the next time a star feeling underpaid (Ryan Clady, Ryan Harris, Eddie Royal, i.e.) wants out, the Broncos will have shown they’re weak and ineffective with unhappy players. That’s why I feel strongly they won’t let Marshall out, and they’ll let him sit as long as he wants, even if that means he won’t be in camp by September.

      The Broncos are an absolute mess right now. They fire Mike Shanahan and replace him with McDaniels and in the ensuing months, they’re essentially forced to trade their starting quarterback and might have to do the same with their most potent offensive weapon. Granted, this isn’t all McDaniels’ fault, but clearly players are taking issue with the way the team is being run right now.

      And King’s right – the team might be setting themselves up for future problems down the road.

      NFL

      Amazing football toss at Penguins’ Stanley Cup parade

      June 17, 2009 /

      I don’t know how old the man is who threw this pass, but scouts need to get to Pittsburgh ASAP and recruit this guy:

      Just judging by this video, I think we can determine that this guy has great size, arm strength and accuracy. As long as his receivers are all 70-feet high, he should succeed at any level…

      General Sports, Video

      NBA consensus mock draft (6/16)

      June 16, 2009 /

      Chad Ford and Draft Express updated their mocks, so it’s a good time to take another look at the consensus. I also added Rotoworld’s most recent mock to the equation, and added a column (“consensus”) that makes a pick if two or more of the mocks agree on a player.

      A few random thoughts…

      Continue reading »

      NBA, NBA Draft, Rumors & Gossip

      Report: Sosa tested positive for banned substance in 2003

      June 16, 2009 /

      According to a report by the New York Times, Sammy Sosa is one of the baseball players who tested positive for a banned substance in 2003.

      In some respects, this is hardly shocking news seeing as how many people already suspected that Sosa took banned substances during his playing career. But nothing had ever been confirmed until now.

      What’s interesting is that earlier this month Sosa announced that he planned on retiring from baseball and that he would “calmly wait” for his “induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame.” Looks like you’ll be waiting awhile for that, chief.

      Either way, Sosa has bigger issues on his hands than whether or not he’ll be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. If this report is true and he did test positive for a banned substance, that means he lied under oath before Congress at a public hearing in 2005. He claimed that he had never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs, but the tests done in 2003 could prove otherwise.

      Granted, there was no steroid policy in place in 2003, so just like Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, Sosa technically didn’t break any MLB rules. But for a league desperately trying to clean up its image, this is yet another chink in the armor for MLB.

      There’s still a list out there of 104 names of players that tested positive for banned substances. The test results from 2003 were to remain anonymous and therefore MLB won’t release the names, but it should. At risk of pissing off the player’s union, baseball should just release the names, take it’s medicine and then attempt to move on. Why not? What’s the difference if Sports Illustrated or the New York Times reports whose names are on the list or MLB does it themselves?

      As long as there are still 100-plus names out there of players who tested positive, then this steroid issue will forever remain the elephant in the room.

      MLB

      Bill Simmons chimes in on Kobe

      June 16, 2009 /

      Bill Simmons isn’t too keen on all the talk about how Kobe Bryant went through a metamorphosis this season.

      They had the second-best player in the league (Kobe), the second-best center (Pau Gasol), a talented forward with a unique set of skills (Lamar Odom), a breakout swingman (Trevor Ariza), a terrific leader and character guy at point (Derek Fisher), and that’s about it. They caught three breaks from February on — Kevin Garnett’s knee injury killing Boston’s season, Cleveland stupidly opting not to move Wally Szczerbiak’s expiring contract for one more piece, and Yao Ming breaking his foot in Round 2 — and cruised from there. You would not call them great, just very good. I would compare them to the 2003 Spurs, 2005 Spurs or 2006 Heat — the cream of a flawed crop of contenders.

      Did they deserve to win the title? Of course. But they didn’t win because Kobe “really wanted this” and “trusted his teammates” and “finally figured it out” and all that revisionist crap.

      If you’re playing the “Shut up, Kobe was better this spring!” card, your only real evidence is two signature Kick-Butt Kobe Finals Games (Games 1 and 5). But if you’re selling the “Kobe finally gets it” angle, then why was he gunning for 40 points at the tail end of a Game 1 blowout when he had already taken 30-plus shots? In Game 2, why did he go one-on-four for the winning basket (and miss) and ignore three wide-open teammates? Why did everyone so willingly gloss over the fact that, from the second quarter of Game 3 through overtime of Game 4, he missed 31 of 46 shots and kept shooting, anyway? Or that, near the tail end of Game 5, Kobe was so desperate to drain the clinching dagger that he clanged two 27-footers and allowed Orlando to climb within 12? Or that he didn’t have a single clutch moment in the Finals other than his sweet dish to Gasol during their frantic Game 4 comeback.

      The entire piece is worth a read, especially for all of the Kobe apologists and Kobe haters out there. Simmons is quite complimentary towards the end.

      I think Bryant altered his game somewhat, but it had as much (or more) to do with a much improved supporting cast as it did with any substantive changes to his mentality as the Lakers’ best player. He still took a number of bad shots, but he passed the ball more. The mentality to take over is still there and he doesn’t have complete trust in his teammates, but I’d say he has an appropriate trust in his teammates.

      Simmons focuses on the change between last year and this year and, honestly, I don’t think Kobe changed much in that span. In the instant the Lakers acquired Pau Gasol, Kobe went from unhappy to happy. It was that acquisition that made Kobe believe that the Lakers really had the roster that could go the distance. His outlook was more positive and it (usually) translated to his on-court demeanor.

      NBA, NBA Finals

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