Who knows if these are real, they can CGI anything these days…
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Even though his annual retirement dance has long become an absurd spectacle, I’ve always maintained that Brett Favre can do whatever he wants.
Play. Don’t play. Sit on your tractor. Take pictures of weird people at Wal-Mart – I don’t care. Who am I to say when an athlete’s time is up? It’s not my decision.
With that in mind, no, I don’t think that it’s a mistake that Favre has decided to come back. Regardless of whether or not you’re entertained by his offseason antics or he makes you want to give yourself an at-home lobotomy, there’s no question that he can still play. And play at an elite level, for that matter.
But will he lead the Vikings to a Super Bowl? I think there are two distinct reasons why he won’t:
1. His Health.
Two years ago, Favre suffered a biceps injury and it played a huge role in sinking the Jets’ playoff hopes in the final month of the season. Last year, he made it all the way to the NFC title game, but he suffered a nasty ankle injury (the same ankle that required surgery in the offseason), which was one of the factors in the Vikings’ demise. Say what you want about Sir Fickle, but the man is a warrior. He’s never missed a game throughout his career and I suspect he never will. But at 40 years old, does anyone really think he’s going to stay healthy enough to lead the Vikes to the Super Bowl? Granted, no player is healthy by about Week 10 of the season, but they’re not 40 years old either. Let’s just play the trends here; the last two years an injury has sunk his team’s Super Bowl hopes. So let’s make it a third this year.
We can add a few teams to the list of Carmelo Anthony’s ‘acceptable’ trade destinations.
Ken Berger of CBSSports reports:
Melo would accept other destinations as well, and the Magic are believed to be at the top of his list along with the Knicks, according to a person familiar with his strategy.
Chris Mannix of SI.com has a source that says Anthony is interested in being traded to the Rockets or the Nets, as well.
Multiple league sources familiar with his situation told SI.com that Anthony would also be open to signing a long-term deal with Houston or New Jersey should either of those teams offer the Nuggets an acceptable trade package.
Getting Anthony, 26, to agree to an extension is the key to any deal as he can become a free agent after the 2010-11 season.
The trade and the extension would probably have to happen simultaneously for any team other than the Knicks to risk trading for Melo. The Knicks on the other hand could probably trade for Anthony with the confidence that he’d want to re-up next summer. As a side note, the Knicks are reportedly offering Danilo Gallinari and Eddy Curry for Anthony, which is an Anthony Randolph short of the deal I suggested a few days ago.
I don’t think Denver is all that interested in financial relief, because they could just let Anthony’s deal expire next summer. They need to get a good young player or two and/or one or two first round draft picks. The Rockets have the the rights to the Knicks’ first-round draft picks in 2011 (Top 1 protected) and 2012 (Top 5 protected), but they just traded away Trevor Ariza, who could have been the key name in a possible package.
But how about Kevin Martin, Jared Jeffries’ expiring deal and one or both of those first round picks? That would give the Nuggets a youngish, reasonably-priced shooting guard to replace some of Melo’s scoring.
The Magic could offer Marcin Gortat, Mikael Pietrus and Brandon Bass for Anthony, though Gortat is probably the only quality starter in that offer. The Magic’s first-round picks aren’t as valuable as Houston’s since the Knicks still project to be worse than Orlando. The Magic do have the advantage that they are in the Eastern Conference, assuming the Nuggets would prefer to trade Anthony out of the conference.
The WEC puts on its next show tonight as WEC 50: Cruz vs. Benavidez 2 takes place from Las Vegas.
The card features a WEC Bantamweight Championship bout between Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez along with a lightweight contest between Shane Roller and Anthony Pettis.
The main card airs live on Versus at 9PM ET. Here are my picks for the winners.
WEC Bantamweight Championship Bout – Dominick Cruz (15-1) vs. Joseph Benavidez (12-1): This fight is a rematch of a bout that happened a little over a year ago where Cruz won a unanimous decision. Now Cruz is the champion and Benavidez is the challenger and in this fight, look for Benavidez to get the nod. He underestimated Cruz and his wrestling in the first fight and anticipated more standup, which left him flat footed and allowed Cruz to control the fight. This time around, Benavidez should be able to dictate the pacing and placement of the fight. I like Benavidez to win by submission in round four.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Braves will finalize a deal for Cubs’ first baseman Derrek Lee sometime on Wednesday.
Apparently the only thing holding up the deal is Lee’s troubling back. He had an injection in the epidural of his lower back on Monday to help ease the discomfort created by a bulging disk and has missed the past two games.
Lee is in the final year of his contract and is still owed $3.4 million. He has struggled for much of the season while hitting just .251 with 16 dingers in Chicago. But his .939 OPS since the All-Star break is attractive to the Braves, especially with Troy Glaus struggling at the dish.
Lee (who has a no-trade clause in his contract) can reject the deal, just as he did in July when the Cubs were ready to send him to the Angels. But Atlanta has reportedly already been told that he would accept a deal, so the only issue that remains is his back.
It’s doubtful that the Cubs will get much in return for Lee at this point, but the key is that they’ll get a little financial relief heading into what will be a rebuilding year in 2011. The youth movement is already on in Chicago, who has traded Ted Lilly, Ryan Theriot and Mike Fontenot over the past month.
Now if only the Cubs could find someone to take Alfonso Soriano, Koskue Fukudome and Carlos Zambrano off their hands.
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