Tag: Anthony Stalter (Page 12 of 133)

      2011 NFL Draft: AFC Team-by-Team Draft Needs

      April 22, 2011 /

      A couple of months ago I did division-by-division draft needs for every team. But now that we’re less than a week away from Roger Goodell taking the stage at Radio City Music Hall, I’ve decided to put together an updated post together on all 32 teams. So below you’ll find team-by-team needs for the AFC, as well as a quick summary for each division. (NFC team needs are coming soon.)

      AFC East

      New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick directs his team against the New York Jets during the third quarter of their AFC Divisional NFL playoff football game in Foxborough, January 16, 2011. REUTERS/Adam Hunger (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL)

      Bills: QB, CB, OT, DE, OLB, TE, S
      Dolphins: RB, C, OG, QB
      Patriots: OT, OG, OLB, RB, DE
      Jets: WR, DE, OLB, OG

      Quick & Dirty Summary: While quarterback is definitely a need for the Bills, they’re more likely to go with the best defensive player on the board at No. 3, which could mean LSU’s Patrick Peterson is headed for upstate New York…There’s a good chance that both Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams have played their final downs in Miami, so landing a running back in one of the first three rounds almost seems imperative for the Dolphins…With two first round picks, the Patriots could address their lines on both sides of the ball, but knowing Bill Belichick he won’t stand pat and will look to acquire more picks by trading one of those two selections…The Jets have huge decisions to make at receiver, where Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards are both free agents. It’s doubtful that Rex Ryan will address the receiver position in Round 1, but you can never tell what’s up his sleeve.

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      External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

      Selig won’t take Barry Bonds’ name out of the record books – not that it matters

      April 22, 2011 /
      Former San Francisco Giants baseball player Barry Bonds leaves the Federal Court House after his perjury trial at the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco, California April 8, 2011. REUTERS/Stephen Lam (UNITED STATES – Tags: CRIME LAW SPORT BASEBALL HEADSHOT)

      Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig told the media on Thursday that he won’t consider taking Barry Bonds’ name out of the record books in wake of the slugger’s conviction of obstruction of justice last week. This will make a lot of fans angry, but it shouldn’t.

      There was a huge outcry from fans that wanted to see an asterisk next to Bonds’ name in the record books when he broke Hammerin’ Hank’s home run mark in 2006. But that was never going to happen, and neither was Selig striking Bonds’ name from the record books altogether.

      But the fact that Bonds hit 762 home runs in his career only has meaning because we as fans give it meaning. If we refer to Bonds as the current home run champ, then that 762 becomes much more than a number. But if we refer to Bonds as the cheater that pumped himself full of drugs in efforts to break Aaron’s record, then that 762 holds about as much weight as the needle that Greg Anderson used to inject the former slugger.

      Don’t get it twisted: What Bonds did, matters. How he accomplished what he did, matters. The fact that he cheated, matters. But that 762 number? Means nothing. It’s a question at someone’s trivia night. In fact, I didn’t even know the exact number before I started writing this piece. I had to look it up, which should tell you how much it means to me.

      Do true baseball fans wish that Aaron’s number were still at the top of the record books? Yes, but in some ways, it still is. Nobody refers to Bonds as baseball’s all-time home run leader unless they follow it up with a “But…steroids.” And there’s a large contingent that refuse to even mention Bonds’ name when the record is mentioned. They’ll still refer to Hank Aaron as the all-time home run champ and will continue to do so until they take their last breath.

      It would be nice if Selig stepped to the plate and made a statement for once. It would be nice if he gave Bonds his middle finger and said: “Not in my record books, buddy.” But he wasn’t and isn’t going to do that. Baseball is run by conservative men who make conservative decisions. Selig wasn’t going to rock the boat with something like this, just like he will never allow someone as flamboyant and aggressive as Mark Cuban to come in and purchase one of his ball clubs.

      But as long as we the fans don’t allow Bonds’ 762 to have meaning, then Hank Aaron will always live on as the true all-time home run champion.

      External Sports, MLB

      Baseball to expand playoff system?

      April 21, 2011 /
      Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig speaks during a news conference in New York, April 21, 2011. Major League Baseball (MLB), in an extraordinary move, plans to take control of the day-to-day operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers because of mounting concern over the franchise’s financial plight. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      Commissioner Bud Selig told the media on Thursday that Major League Baseball is moving toward expansion of its current playoff system.

      “The more we’ve talked about it, I think we’re moving inexorably to that,” Selig said. “But there’s a myriad of details to work out.”

      I think an expanded playoff pool would bring more excitement not only to the postseason, but to the regular season as well. Under the current system, all six division winners reach the playoffs, as well as one Wild Card team from each league. It sounds as if Selig wants to add one more Wild Card team to the mix in each league, meaning the clubs with the top two records from each league would each get a bye.

      Some baseball traditionalists might resist the change, but all things must change over time. The current playoff format wasn’t introduced until 1994, so there’s nothing wrong with adapting a new system nearly 20 years later – especially when the new format would keep fans interested and going to the ballpark deep into the second half.

      Think about it: how many times in the past 10 years has a divisional race been decided in early August? And then what happens to the fans of those clubs that find themselves out of contention? They stop going to the park.

      Adding another Wild Card team to the postseason mix would ensure that fan bases of contenders would keep coming to the park, which means more revenue for Major League Baseball and that team. The fans get to see a potential playoff participant, the team can keep selling beer, hot dogs and ballcaps, while the league grows its popularity. It’s a win for all parties involved.

      External Sports, MLB

      Why it’s in the owners’ best interest to stall

      April 19, 2011 /
      Jerry Richardson, owner of the Carolina Panthers, arrives to continue negotiations between the National Football League (NFL) and the National Football League Players’ Association (NFLPA) in Washington March 11, 2011. The parties were still negotiating a range of sticking points, including how to divide more than $9 billion in annual revenues, but the players’ union insist one issue, the NFL’s proposal to add two more games to the regular season, was off the table. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS)

      What I want as a fan as it pertains to the NFL lockout and what I think will happen are obviously two different things. I want the lockout to end yesterday, so that free agency will open and the NFL draft won’t seem like a major inconvenience to all parties involved.

      But what I think is happening right now is pretty obvious: The owners are stalling.

      Some believe that both sides want to get a deal done now. I don’t. I think the players wanted to get a deal done when the discussions first began, while I think the owners wanted a lockout all along and were ready to use the negotiated TV contracts to fund said lockout. But when Judge David Doty ruled that owners like Carolina’s Jerry Richardson (photo above) couldn’t use that money, the leverage swung in the players’ favor and things changed dramatically. The owners then wanted to get a deal done, so they put together what they thought was a reasonable offer before the CBA deadline expired. But at that point, the players wanted to decertify because they knew that if things went to court, Judge Doty would get them the best deal possible.

      But then they went to court and Judge Susan Nelson was chosen to oversee their case – not Judge Doty. The scales have now tipped back in the owners’ favor, even if Judge Nelson lifts the lockout in these upcoming weeks.

      Read the full article at the Washington Post.

      External Sports, NFL

      Teams may regret passing on Ryan Mallett

      April 19, 2011 /

      When he speaks to the media, I can see why he rubs people the wrong way.

      When the rumors about his drug use in college are brought up, I can see why some draft evaluators say that they “wouldn’t touch him” if they were a NFL GM.

      But when I look at Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett, I see a quarterback prospect that could potentially make a lot of teams regret passing on him in next week’s draft.

      Here’s what we know about him on the field: He has a cannon attached to his right shoulder and is a prototypical pocket passer, which is something that usually makes pro scouts drool over. At times, he has been known to struggle with his accuracy and ball placement, but when his pocket is good he will set his feet properly by getting into a wide base and will square up his target. Michael Vick he’s not, but he doesn’t have to be either.

      Here’s what we know about him off the field: He admitted to at least experimenting with drugs in college and according to one GM, Mallett was also the first quarterback ever to admit his drug usage to him during interviews. After the way he spoke to the media at the scouting combine, there are many observers who think he’s brash, cocky and arrogant. In fact, some have even gone as far as to say that he’s the next Ryan Leaf.

      Here’s what we don’t know: We don’t know what his behavior will be like once he’s a millionaire. We don’t know if his “experimenting” with drugs in college is actually a real issue and whether or not it’s actually a habit that he needs to kick. We don’t know how he’ll respond to the media on a daily basis or whether or not he can become the first quarterback who played under Bobby Petrino to succeed in the NFL. We may think we know these things, but we don’t.

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      External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

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