Early NFL Playoff Picks

NFC

Arizona Cardinals (+2.5) vs Atlanta Falcons
The Cardinals have been tough all year at home (6-2 SU) and seemed to turn a corner this Sunday, at least offensively. The Falcons should be able to run the ball against the Cardinals but Michael Turner has not been a Superman away from home or outside in general. The Cardinals have one of the worst pass defenses in the league and it will be up to Matt Ryan to lead the Falcons to a road victory in the playoffs. Chalk this one up as a learning experience for the young Falcons who should be a force in the NFC South for the next decade with Matt Ryan at the helm. This Falcons team reminds me a lot of the Philadelphia Eagles team in 2000 with a young QB (McNabb) and relatively unknown coach (Reid).

Philadelphia Eagles (-3) at Minnesota Vikings
This probably seems like the Captain Obvious pick after the Eagles destroyed the Cowboys but never write off a team with a superstar the caliber of Adrian Peterson. Unfortuneately the Eagles are well-coached enough to force the Vikings Tavaris Jackson to do enough to win the game. Does anybody really think Jackson is going to come through with Jim Johnson blitzing him damn near every play? The Vikings run defense is stout still but Pat Williams will not be 100% for this game and Andy Reid and the Eagles aren't going to primarily run the ball anyway. Unless Adrian Peterson can go for 200 yards and at least 2 scores I cannot see the Vikings pulling this one off, even at home, not matter how well Brad Childress knows Andy Reid and McNabb.

AFC

Indianapolis Colts (-1) at San Diego Chargers
Does anybody really want to bet against Peyton Manning right now? The Chargers may have shredded the Broncos defense but who hasn't? The Broncos defense might just be as bad as the Lions and that's saying something. San Diego has had a ton of problems in their secondary and their pass rush is severely weakened without Merriman. Plus the Colts are probably going to be as healthy for this game as they've been for any game all year. Do you really think a Norv Turner team is gonna get up for this game? Don't look now but LT is banged up again going into the playoffs. It's just too easy to see the Chargers sticking with LT at far less than 100% while their most dynamic weapon (Sproles) watches from the sideline.

Baltimore Ravens (-3) at Miami Dolphins
This is the closest game to pick this week. Miami turned the ball over fewer than any team in NFL history this year. The Ravens win most of their games by converting turnovers forced by their defense. How would the Ravens fare if their defense cannot get the ball or field position for the offense? What about Derek Mason's shoulder? In the end you have to think that both Flacco and Pennington take care of the ball. So that basically leaves the question of who can run the ball better and who can stop the run better. I believe that the answer to both questions is the Ravens. Giving the 3 points is pushing it a bit here because this could very easily be a 1 or 2 point game. These teams are very evenly matched. That Ravens D is a veteran unit with a lot of history together and Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are the unquestioned leaders of that team. I'm not sure that the Dolphins have a locker dynamic similar to that and the Dolphins are much younger as a team overall. Watch out for a Willis McGahee sighting, seemingly out of nowhere.

Fantasy Football Update

Fox Sports Fantasy Football is now live. That means you can draft fantasy football teams now. Just remember, if you draft them, make sure you play them in September. Nobody likes dead teams. If you just want to practice drafting most sites now offer a "Mock Draft Lobby" where you draft but that's it.

Off to the track, lets hit them 'fectas!

Whurly.

Whurly = Worry + Early

The Belmont Stakes

I'm not a professional handicapper. And as a handicapper my area of expertise is NFL money lines, not the ponies. But it's the sport of kings and it's amazing what a $1 superfecta can win. Big Brown is the prohibitive favorite (2-5, bet $5 to win $2) but he has issues. Think Curt Shilling's bloody sock type of issues. So I'm gonna take a crack at my top 4. I don't ask for much but if I give out the winners and you rake in the dollars, buy a round for the bar. OK?

WIN
Denis of Cork (12-1)

PLACE
Big Brown (2-5)

SHOW
Icabad Crane (20-1)

4TH
Anak Nakal (40-1)

There you go. Win, eat, drink at be merry. Remember, Big Brown is sponsored by Hooters. I don't know if they have any specials if he wins, but bug your waitress anyway. Girls love difficult guys.

Fantasy Sports News

Check out who's open and who's not as of June 5th.

FANTASY BASEBALL

• CBSSports.com (Until 7/17)
  
• Yahoo Sports (Until 6/15)

FANTASY FOOTBALL

• NFL.com (LIVE)
• CBSSports.com (LIVE)
• FOXSports.com (OFFLINE) (ALERT WHEN AVAILABLE)
• Yahoo Sports (OFFLINE) (ALERT WHEN AVAILABLE)
• ESPN.com (OFFLINE) (NO ALERT AVAILABLE)
  

Joba, Joba, Joba

The latest Joba news

• Johnny Damon questions Joba Chamberlain's move out of bullpen (Daily News)
• Leaky pen with Joba a starter (Newsday)
• A turning point in Chamberlain's career (NY Times)
  

I guess everybody has to take sides on this huh? Isn't there some way to stretch him out as a long reliever and keep him in the pen but spot start him every 10 days or so? If you can let Chamberlain pitch the 7th and 8th innings (maybe even the 6th on occasion) and turn the ball over Rivera the game is basically over in the 6th inning. But by using Joba for more inning less frequently he should be available to start should the Yankees suffer an injury in the rotation or they really need a spark. Doesn't that make more sense than starting him every 5 days when opponents know he's always going to be on some sort of pitch count?

Well that's my take on that, and yaameen.

The NBA Finals Begin. Finally.

Well here we are. Every prognosticator on the planet is dropping his or her dime on who's going to win the NBA Finals. It's pretty easy for me. I always pick the best team to win. Maybe not to cover, but to win in the end. If you look back through the rest of the decade there's probably only one exception to this rule. That would be the Miami Heat beating the Detroit Pistons. But I write that off as Larry Brown's fault. Every team he's ever coached in the NBA has tuned him out after awhile, much more so than other coaches. That's why he's a coaching nomad. Do you really think he lasts longer than 2 years in Charlotte? Maybe 3. Max.

Anyhow, the Celtics are the best team. Kobe is the best player. We've heard all about how this is the best defensive team (Celtics) against the best offensive team (Lakers). I think we're all forgetting about who's not playing. That would be Andrew Bynum, center for the Lakers. For all of their talent, the Lakers are not a team built to bang under the hoop. They lack a shot-blocker in the paint and Lamar Odom is their best shot blocker. Gasol is a nice player but he's a finesse guy and KG will make him earn everything the hard way. The Celtics bench is far more experienced in these situations and does anybody put it past Sam Cassell to hit a game winner or two? This is what they got him for. The Lakers need the kids to do it in order to win. Kobe can try but if he gets frustrated, it's all over. So.....

Celtics in 5

I'm probably wrong. Most people are. The easy thing to do here is pick it to go 7 games or even 6. I think every game comes down to the last 3 minutes and it's just a matter of who scores last. In that situation I like the Celtics multitude of options better than I like the Kobe Show. I picked 5 games instead of a sweep because I'm sure Kobe will at bare minimum will the Lakers to at least 1 victory. So KG for MVP I guess.

I am in no way disparaging the Lakers. They're a helluva a team, I just think they arrived a year early. Give them a healthy Bynum, more experience for the kids and a veteran role player or 2 and they're the favorites next year. To win the whole thing, win or lose this year. A loss just delays the inevitable for the Lakers. The Celtics have maybe 2 more years after this left in their "window". I don't know if Jesus Shuttlesworth even has that long left in him. But that's alright, who doesn't want a He Got Game sequel? And you know Rick Fox needs work. He's the go to guy for a role player in a basketball movie.

It's Monday. If Only I Were Garfield. Or There Was Football Tonight

It's So Monday And You Don't Even Know It Yet (Morning Edition)

• Here's a great piece by Darren Rovell of CNBC.com about the last shot of Game 5 of the Spurs vs Lakers game. To recap the Lakers were up 5 as the clock expired and Laker Sasha Vujacic hit a "meaningless" 3 as time expired to help the Lakers win by 8? Guess what the spread was? You got it, 8 points at tip-off and it fluctuated to 7.5 at some sportsbooks.
  
• It seems that the rumor that Matt Leinart could actually lose his starting job to Kurt Warner are heating up. And why not? Warner tossed 27 TD passes last season. Leinart got hurt and disappointed fantasy owners everywhere who had him as a sleeper tossing 27 TDs.
  
• I know a bunch of guys who attended the Best Buy 400 at Dover yesterday. I don't do the NASCAR thing but they left at 5 AM and came back home bearing gifts as the sun set. By gifts I mean leftover food and beverages. They swore it was a great time and actually seemed to mean it. I doubt that I'd go but these are not guys you would ever see watching a race on TV so I'm assuming this means that the tailgating was so excellent the race was just an ancillary event.
  
• We're not going to touch on Jason Taylor's press conference much. He wants a trade but does not want to destroy his image while pursuing a trade. He also claims that this is his last season in the NFL. My money is on him getting traded as training camps open for a conditional 2009 draft pick that can be no lower than a 4th and no higher than a 2nd. If you're still interested click here for more.
  
• I'm going to hit all of the Detroit Piston shit right here, right now. It looks like Flip Saunders is staying. Can you imagine 'Sheed playing for Larry Brown under MJ? Could Rip Hamilton both be moving as well? That seems about right because I can't picture them trade Billups or Prince.
• Can one kid single-handedly change the course of a season instantly? The early results are in and the test is positive. The kid is Jay Bruce and the team is the Cincinnati Reds.
  
• Check out an entertaining bit on some dream position eligibility scenarios for fantasy baseball. Wow, I feel more like a stat geek from just having written that. And I'm not a huge sabermetrics guy. Yet.
• Quick injury updates on Ryan Zimmerman, John Smoltz and David Ortiz.
  
• More crap on the latest NFL team to be linked to Los Angeles. The worst part is the speculation will never end until there is a team in LA.
  
• Looks like Gilbert Arenas is going to opt out. Odds are this is just a formality before he signs a multi-year deal with the Wizards. The only dark horses I can see are the Clippers or the Warriors. The Clippers would be interested if Brand and Maggette opt-out. The Warriors would offer a sign-and-trade scenario with Baron Davis and Arenas switching teams. Remember Arenas was originally a second-round pick of the Warriors and almost signed with the Clippers before heading to Washington.
• Mike Lieberthal has officially retired as a Philadelphia Phillie. Here's a nice article about him from the Philadelphia Daily News.
  
• Is Matt Holliday on his way out of Colorado?

The People's Champ Is Back?

Let's preface this with the video of the play that makes him relevant.





That's right folks, Freddie Mitchell might be back. We've been here before though. With the Kansas City Chiefs and a few AFL teams. Let's be upfront here, I've never been much of a Freddy fan. Although he could celebrate a 4 yard catch on 3rd and 9 better than anybody I've ever seen. He was just a fool with no separation speed and never seemed to really get the offense down. Remember what Bill Belichick thought of him? As a fantasy football owner I hope Freddie makes the Ravens and kills but I somehow doubt it. But in light of all of this, he still has fans and a loyal following in Philly. I just hope he somehow ends up on the Dolphins and Bill Parcells fights him. 5 million unique hits on YouTube, no problem.

An Uncapped Year In The NFL

If you have no idea about the current NFL labor situation read this before continuing any further or this will just be nonsense to you. (Courtesy of The Mile High Report)

A great primer for this post would be this article written by Michael Lombardi for SI.com. Within the article, Lombardi discusses how NFL teams should prepare for an uncapped year in 2010.

Lombardi basically states that due to the new restrictions there will be very few quality free agents available in 2010. Therefore teams should re-sign their own players ASAP and stockpile draft picks. There definitely is a great deal of logic to that approach. In fact, that is most likely the approach that 25-30 of the 32 NFL teams will take.

Let's be honest here. It's not like there have been oodles of quality free agents available the past few off-seasons. That's why we've seen an increased number of trades. Both of the trends are likely to continue in the future. But the possibility of an uncapped year looms and player agents are salivating. There will be at least a couple of very good players who elect not to re-sign with their current teams in order to hit the open (and uncapped market). Not that it doesn't happen currently but it should happen a bit more especially given the new service requirements necessary to become a free agent.

Remember there will also be no salary floor any longer. So you will have a few teams who will go for the Florida Marlins approach. They'll stockpile young talent and acquire a couple of short-term rentals if they're playing well. They won't re-sign their own players to big money deals until they have a new stadium. The Buffalo Bills immediately jump out at me as a team that would fit this profile.

I don't think that we will see a situation where a team goes out and spends $300 million to acquire 2 starters at every position. But teams with cash will now have the luxury of paying top dollar to multiple players at the same position. This allows you to have two #1 WRs, two #1 CBs, two #1 RBs and so on and so forth. It will also allow teams to sign higher priced role players they may not have been able to sign before. A high-revenue team can now spend $3 million on wedge-buster or $3.5 million for a punt returner. This is where teams will gain an edge.

So who's going to go for broke? As I stated earlier, most teams will concentrate on developing young talent and re-signing their own players for reasonable prices. But you can be sure that a couple of owners will go all Steinbrenner on us in an effort to buy a title. So who will the guilty parties be?

1. Dallas Cowboys. They have a new stadium opening in 2009. They have been awarded the Super Bowl in 2011. Jerry Jones is a very wealthy man and has never been afraid to spend money to win. This is the perfect storm right here. Check out how much it will cost to go to a Cowboys game. They will have a decent young core of players, a rich and willing owner and a spanking new stadium that will produce endless streams of revenue. You know that friend of yours who is an obnoxious Cowboys fan? Well, in a couple of years he's going to make your "won't shut up about all Boston sports teams" friend look like a quiet saint.
2. Washington Redskins. Owner Daniel Snyder has more money than Jerry Jones and has never been afraid to spend it. In fact, until recently the Redskins never really acknowledged that there was a salary cap until it came time to cut players and restructure contracts so that they could sign more players. The Redskins have one of the highest revenue producing stadiums in the league and have been among the league leaders in revenue since Snyder bought the team. The thought of Snyder and Jerry Jones going to a bidding war over players might be what ultimately gets the owners back to the negotiating table with the players.
3. Seattle Seahawks. That one surprised you a bit didn't it? Owner Paul Allen is the richest owner in the NFL. To the tune of over $20 billion. Not bad eh? The Seahawks got a new stadium in 2002 and have consistently spent money on free agents to try to get that elusive Super Bowl win. The Seattle fans are very passionate and the possible loss of the Supersonics will leave the Seahawks and the Mariners as the only games in town.
   
4. New England Patriots. It's not like the Patriots have been "Skimp Biggie" in the past decade but they could still pick up the pace. Owner Robert Kraft is very well off in the financial department. The Patriots have been winners all decade which has led to excellent revenue both from their fairly new stadium and merchandising. Couple that with the fact that most of the other big spenders will be in the NFC and Tom Brady will be in his mid-30's. This might be the last shot to buy another title or two before Tom Terrific hangs em up.
   
5. New York Giants/New York Jets. The New York teams are always at an advantage. Both teams have very wealthy owners and the teams are set to open an new stadium in, you guessed it, 2010. The Jets easily spent over $100 million this summer alone and the Giants have been very proactive in recent years on the free agent market. The Giants will also be trapped in the same division as the Cowboys and Redskins and the Jets will be stuck battling the Patriots in their division every year. So it's not like they'll need a lot of motivation to try to go the extra mile.
6. Houston Texans. Now that one made you look. Owner Robert McNair is loaded and Reliant Stadium is barely five years old. The Houston fans have always supported the franchise, despite never having sniffed the playoffs. The Texans have tried to spend money in free agency but just seem to end up wasting it. Plus there will be a palpable need to compete with the Cowboys to be Texas' Team. Years of being stuck behind Peyton Manning and the Colts might just be what sends them over the spending edge.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Are you really surprised? The Bucs and Jon Gruden in general have always loved their veteran players. The Glazer family, who own the team, are among the wealthiest owners in the NFL and have never hesitated to spend to win. Their stadium isn't even a decade old and they've always had strong fan support. This will also give Jon Gruden the opportunity to buy every QB over 35 who's on the market.

If your team's not on the list, don't panic. Very rarely does buying a championship actually work. The irony lost in all of this is the lack of a salary floor in an uncapped year. One team could have a $200 million payroll and another could have a $10 million payroll. The irony is that at the end of the day the total amount of the salaries paid to the players will actually increase. The number of large deals given out may ultimately decrease, but the value of these top end deals will be mind boggling. It's very possible that 2010 will see the NFL's first $200 million man. How is this going to help the owners save money?

Fantasy Football 2008 Position Rankings - K

Here we go fantasy football. Over the next few days we will be posting our position rankings for the 2008 Fantasy Football season. Today we'll cover the Kicker position. Thanks to Cesar for being my sounding board.

JUNE RANKINGS

K

• Seriously, don't draft a kicker until the last or second-to-last round of your draft. I'll give you a couple of guidelines so just apply them and pick one. You'll probably end up dropping him a week or two into the season when a free-agent kicker starts to separate himself from the crowd. I do this every year and I always end up with a top-5 kicker anyway. Look at Nick Folk for the Cowboys last year. DO NOT carry more than 1 kicker unless you start more than 1 kicker. Carry a handcuff for your QB or RB or take a shot on some crucial backup players instead of wasting a roster spot on a kicker. Or you can play "Musical Kickers" and just pick up a new one every week based on match ups. That works too.

1. Kickers who play in a dome have added value
2. Kickers who play in outdoor stadiums in the north lose value in December
3. Kickers for high scoring offenses are the safest bet for a couple of points every week
4. Kickers on teams with bad red-zone offenses offer the best chance for double digit points from your kicker
5. If your league awards extra points for longer field goals study the career distance numbers for all of the kickers. You want guys who have shown they can hit from 50+ yards.

It's just a kicker, draft one late and keep trying to upgrade via the waiver wire all season long. Never try to trade for a kicker. If somebody will give you a player of value for your kicker, do it. See, how hard was that?

Fantasy Football 2008 Position Rankings - TEAM DEF

Here we go fantasy football. Over the next few days we will be posting our position rankings for the 2008 Fantasy Football season. Today we'll cover the Team Defense position. Thanks to Cesar for being my sounding board.

JUNE RANKINGS

TEAM DEF

1. San Diego Chargers
2. Minnesota Vikings
3. Pittsburgh Steelers
4. Seattle Seahawks
5. New England Patriots
6. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
7. Indianapolis Colts
8. Jacksonville Jaguars
9. Chicago Bears
10. Philadelphia Eagles
11. Dallas Cowboys
12. Baltimore Ravens
13. New York Giants
14. Green Bay Packers
15. Oakland Raiders

JUST MISSED

• Carolina Panthers
• Washington Redskins
• Tennessee Titans
  

Fantasy Football 2008 Position Rankings - TE

Here we go fantasy football. Over the next few days we will be posting our position rankings for the 2008 Fantasy Football season. Today we'll cover the TE position. Thanks to Cesar for being my sounding board.

JUNE RANKINGS

TE

1. Antonio Gates
2. Jason Witten
3. Kellen Winslow Jr
4. Dallas Clark
5. Tony Gonzalez
6. Chris Cooley
7. Jeremy Shockey
8. Heath Miller
9. Ben Watson
10. Todd Heap
11. Alge Crumpler
12. LJ Smith
13. Donald Lee
14. Owen Daniels
15. Vernon Davis
    

JUST MISSED

• Randy McMichael
• Zack Miller
• Tony Scheffler
• Dustin Keller
• Greg Olson
  

Fantasy Football 2008 Position Rankings - WR

Here we go fantasy football. Over the next few days we will be posting our position rankings for the 2008 Fantasy Football season. Today we'll cover the WR position. Thanks to Cesar for being my sounding board.

JUNE RANKINGS

WR

1. Randy Moss
2. Reggie Wayne
3. Braylon Edwards
4. Terrell Owens
5. Larry Fitzgerald
6. Plaxico Burress
7. Marques Colston
8. Steve Smith (Carolina)
9. Torry Holt
10. Wes Welker
11. Anquan Boldin
12. TJ Houshmandzadeh
    
13. Roy Williams
14. Brandon Marshall
15. Marvin Harrison
16. Andre Johnson
17. Roddy White
18. Joey Galloway
19. Dwayne Bowe
20. Santonio Holmes
21. Donald Driver
22. Greg Jennings
23. Kevin Curtis
24. Hines Ward
25. Lee Evans
26. Bobby Engram
    
27. Calvin Johnson
28. Joey Porter
29. Bernard Berrian
30. Chad Johnson

JUST MISSED

• Derrick Mason
• Jericho Cotchery
• Laveranues Coles
• Chris Chambers
• Santana Moss
  

Fantasy Football 2008 Position Rankings - RB

Here we go fantasy football. Over the next few days we will be posting our position rankings for the 2008 Fantasy Football season. Today we'll cover the RB position. Thanks to Cesar for being my sounding board.

JUNE RANKINGS

RB

1. LaDainian Tomlinson
2. Brian Westbrook
3. Adrian Peterson (Minnesota)
4. Steven Jackson
5. Joseph Addai
6. Marion Barber III
7. Larry Johnson
8. Willie Parker
9. Maurice Jones-Drew
10. Willis McGahee
11. Clinton Portis
12. Frank Gore
13. Brandon Jacobs
14. Jamal Lewis
    
15. Michael Turner
16. Reggie Bush
17. Marshawn Lynch
18. Laurence Maroney
19. Thomas Jones
20. Ronnie Brown
21. LenDale White
22. Chester Taylor
23. Fred Taylor
24. Ernest Graham
25. Julius Jones
26. Edgerrin James
27. Ryan Grant
28. Jonathan Stewart
29. Travis Henry
30. Darren McFadden
31. Cedric Benson
32. Rudi Johnson
33. Rashard Mendenhall
34. Justin Fargas
35. DeAngelo Williams
36. Matt Forte
37. Ladell Betts
38. Ahman Green
39. TJ Duckett
40. Chris Brown

JUST MISSED

• Felix Jones
• DeShaun Foster
• Warrick Dunn
• Steve Slaton
• Jerious Norwood
  

Fantasy Football 2008 Position Rankings - QB

Here we go fantasy football. Over the next few days we will be posting our position rankings for the 2008 Fantasy Football season. Today we'll cover the QB position. Thanks to Cesar for being my sounding board.

JUNE RANKINGS

QB

1. Tom Brady
2. Peyton Manning
3. Tony Romo
4. Matt Hasselbeck
5. Drew Brees
6. Ben Roethlisberger
7. Derek Anderson
8. Donovan McNabb
9. Carson Palmer
10. David Garrard
    
11. Marc Bulger
12. Eli Manning
13. Jay Cutler
14. Jason Campbell
15. Philip Rivers

JUST MISSED:

• Jeff Garcia
• Aaron Rodgers
• Matt Schuab
• Jon Kitna
• Joe Flacco
  

So They Got D'Antoni. They're Still The Knicks. They Still Have Isiah.

I didn't come right out with this because I wanted to reflect a bit first. I've already stated my opinion on this from the Suns should have kept D'Antoni angle. So know I'm going to look at it from the Knicks end of things. Or at least give it the old college try.

The Knicks have 3 basic options right now.

1. The status quo. They trade youth for veterans or take on more contracts. Most likely this involves trading Marbury's huge (approx $20 million) expiring contract for players with multiple years left on their deals. They got D'Antoni to run this circus and they "retool" on the fly trying to take a shot in the always weak East. LeBron and D-Wade are not factors in the Knicks future because in this scenario the Knicks are capped out (and over the luxury tax line) for the next 5-7 years.
   
2. The nuclear option. Hold onto Marbury's contract for dear life, unless you can package it with Randolph's albatross of a deal and take back contracts that only have 2 years left. Extend only David Lee's contract. Do not trade for anybody with more than 2 years left on their deal. Do not sign any players, other than your draft picks, to more than a 2 year deal. Stockpile draft picks and cap space. D'Antoni's job is to develop the draft picks and any other young talent while keeping the fans entertained. And sane. The Knicks land LeBron or D-Wade and one more good player in a couple summers. Veterans sign on the cheap. The Knicks hope they can win a couple of titles. They are well over the luxury tax and have no cap room for a decade. But they have LeBron.
3. The half-assed option. The Knicks attempt to "rebuild on the fly" while stockpiling cap space for the LeBron and D-Wade pipe dream. Contracts with 2 seasons left hold more value than draft picks. Most of the young talent the Knicks have is traded away because they can't extend contracts while trying to pay veterans to field and competitive team and stockpile cap space. From a business standpoint this is by far the best option. You try to make a deep playoff run or two and then land LeBron. This allows you to REALLY pump up prices. This scenario also comes with the greatest risk. If you don't land LeBron you're handcuffing your ability to compete by not using money to add to your current team. Cap space isn't all it's cracked up to be. Look at Rashard Lewis' contract. He's a nice player, but come on. By doing this you basically ensure that you will not field the best team possible and you will not have massive amounts of cap space.
   

So why did they get Mike D'Antoni? For the record I'm scared to add up how much money the Knicks have paid to coaches over the last few years. Anyway, what is D'Antoni's objective/role going to be? We'll check it out in each of the above scenarios.

1. Donnie Walsh will bring in the veteran type players that fit D'Antoni's system/philosophy. They will expect him to build a team very similar to the one that he had in Phoenix the past few seasons. The team will have high expectations and will be expected to compete at a high level from day one. The Knicks as a team will get smaller and faster. This is a high pressure coaching situation. One losing season and one first round playoff exit in the first two seasons will not be an acceptable outcome. This is the approach used by Isiah when he took over the Knicks, which is why I feel that it is the least likely to happen. This will be the scenario favored by fans because it will be blatantly obvious that the Knicks are "going for it" right away.
2. This is probably the dream scenario for D'Antoni. The Knicks acknowledge that they're gearing up for a big free agency score in a couple of years and they get to work trimming the fat. D'Antoni's job is to figure out who fits in his system and develop all of the young talent that he can. Expectations are realistic and a first round playoff exit or two will seem like progress as opposed to a disappointment. This is similar to the approach used by the Sixers after they dealt Iverson away. Given the state of the Eastern Conference, anything is possible. If the Knicks strike lottery gold they could get good in a hurry. D'Antoni will be expected to be in the conference finals, if not the Finals in the last year of his deal.
3. Danger Billy King, Danger! This is the most dangerous scenario because it can lead you through a rebuilding process that takes you from here to win it now to blow it up. That pretty much destroys your team for the better part of a decade. The young players will not get enough time to properly develop or for them to be evaluated. Veterans will all be playing for their next contract which can lead to a lot of conflict and selfishness. D'Antoni will be the ringmaster, trying to balance out the young and the old and those with contracts and those without. If the team does ok the temptation will be to make a move or two to go for it now. If the team struggles it will be that much harder to blow it up after you've already added players and salary. This scenario never seems to be carried out successfully in the NBA.
   

So there's my thoughts on that. What are the Knicks rebuilding from? They haven't been a true contender this decade. Who are the building blocks upon which they build their team? The coach and the GM? David Lee. Is he your best player? Are Curry and Randolph worth anything? Does D'Antoni really want either of them? Does anybody? What about Jamal Crawford? He's quietly been their most consistent player when healthy. Can they really welcome Marbury back into the fold? What a mess.

That's the bottom line. A bloody debacle, it is. My best guess as to what happens? They hang on to Marbury's contract. They ship Randolph for anything that expires inside of three years. They use Crawford to dump another bad deal. They'll try to pump up the value of Nate Robinson and the rest of Isiah's young guns. They miss the playoffs for the next two seasons. Unless they hit lottery gold. In that case all bets are off.

What a world, what a country. The Knicks still have a chance. Wow.

From the horse's mouth.

Everything the Patriots Accomplished Since 2000 is Tainted

Now that we've seen some of the SpyGate tapes it's official. The Patriots were cheating. From at least 2000 until last September. Now why would they continue such a practice for so long, even if they thought it was legal? Obviously because they were finding the practice useful. Which means they were gaining some sort of advantage. By doing something against the rules. That is by definition, cheating.

The tapes show VERY clear shots of the opposing teams coaches sending in signals. With shots immediately after of the scoreboard to determine the situation in the game. The only reason to do all of this is to be able to know what a defense is going to do based on the situation and the signals from the sideline. If Tom Brady gets that information that's a ridiculously unfair advantage.

We cannot assume that the Patriots are alone in taping signals or cheating in general. But they got caught. And they've been very successful during the duration in which it was proved they were cheating. If we found out that the Lions had been cheating for the last decade nobody would care. In fact that would by hysterical. But for now:

Barry Bonds TO HR Records IS Patriots TO 3 Super Bowls

Fantasy Baseball - Waiver Wire Wesley Snipes

It's an odd reference but remember, before he was in jail, before he was Blade, before he knew Billy Ho couldn't jump, he was Willie Mays Hayes. The base-stealing machine out of nowhere. We're not primarily concerned with steals, any production is good production. We're going to look at a few guys who either went very late in drafts or were undrafted for the most part. What we want to know is:

• How good have they really been so far?
• Will they be the starter all year, barring injury?
• What is their real value?
• Who might you be able to get back in a trade for them?
• Can they really keep this up?

Justin Upton - OF - Arizona Diamondbacks - .326 22 R 6 HR 19 RBI 0 SB
Yeah, I started with an easy one. I absolutely love this kid and expect numbers just like his brother BJ. He'll be a fixture in the starting lineup for years and he is just scratching the surface of his potential. The steals will come and he will develop more power as he gets older. Great keeper league guy and he'll be a high fantasy pick next year. I don't think I would trade or drop him unless something absolutely ridiculous was available. His average might drop slightly but if he gets a few steals it's a wash. If you can trade for this guy, go do it now.

Carlos Quentin - OF - Chicago White Sox - .288 26 R 9 HR 29 RBI 3 SB
Early on he was just keeping the spot warm for Jerry Owens. I really don't think that is the case anymore. He's proving to be an excellent source for HR and RBI. He is one of the few White Sox really doing anything offensively this year. I could see him only batting around .250-.260 but 30 HR, 90 RBI and 10 SB is very realistic. His upside is even higher. That being said, if you can get a Justin Upton, Jason Bay, Matt Kemp or something in that ballpark, I'd do it. I just think the White Sox implode at some point and it will ruin a lot of their players' value.

Nate McLouth - OF - Pittsburgh Pirates - .307 31 R 9 HR 29 RBI 3 SB
Now do those numbers seem familiar or what? To be honest, I like McLouth better. I don't think he has the power that he's showing now but I think he'll end up with 20 SB, 100 RBI and bat over .290 so that works for me even with only 20 HR. He's gotten a couple of nights off recently but he's not going anywhere. He'd be a good guy to put up on the block if you need pitching help because he does some of everything and owners are always interested in those guys.

Xavier Nady - OF - Pittsburgh Pirates - .340 22 R 5 HR 34 RBI 1 SB
This guy. Don't call it a comeback. Nady has been kicking around for a hot minute because it just never all clicked for him. Dude must have switched to the Clapper or something because he's been scorching hot. BUT. He's not going to steal bases. 5 SB, tops. He's not going to hit HR, 20 at the absolute most. And do you really think that he's going to bat .340 for the season? He might have 100 RBI in his future this year but I feel that is his main value. So unless you need RBI help I would be trying to sell on Nady right now. Find a team with a poor AVG and fewer RBI and try to trade for a more proven commodity.

Geovany Soto - C - Chicago Cubs - .315 16 R 6 HR 26 RBI 0 SB
Finally, a non-outfielder! And he's a catcher! Do you realize how hard it is to find a good, reliable catcher for fantasy baseball? There's usually about 7-8 of them. So anytime you find a new one, it's a double bonus. It looks like the Cubbies are gonna score some runs this year and Soto will be there for a lot of them. He'll get a few days off here and there but I think his numbers are right on pace for where they'll end up. He can hit .300 with 25 HR and 100 RBI. Take that every day of the week. Only trade or drop him for an upgrade at catcher, which means on of the top 5 catchers period.

Kevin Youkilis - 1B/3B - Boston Red Sox - .322 27 R 8 HR 30 RBI 2 SB
Alright let's get some things straight. Youkilis is on this list because his average draft position was 178 in ESPN Fantasy Drafts. That's roughly a 17th round pick. Then look at his numbers. Trust Billy Beane. If you've ever ready Moneyball (if you haven't) you know that Beane was obsessed with acquiring Youkilis. The Greek God of Hitting, he called him. I always thought that he hit for average and played good defense and offered little else. In fact I had him in 2 leagues this year and sold high on him after 2 weeks. Oops. He's a fixture in the starting lineup and will have at least 90 RBI and bat .300. But I think his power numbers are inflated right now and the stolen bases are an aberration. If you can get somebody to toss you say Miguel Cabrera or something that highly valued, do it. Or the other strategy is find a team owner who is a Red Sox fan and sell really high on Youkilis. Or find an owner who is a Yankee fan and get him to sell low on Youkilis.

Conor Jackson - 1B - Arizona Diamondbacks - .325 27 R 5 HR 30 RBI 3 SB
He's getting it done. The 1B job is his and he was a highly touted prospect. The kid can hit and I would look for .300 with 100+ RBI. He doesn't have a ton of power but can steal a few bases. Basically he's above-average for a 1B for SB but below-average for power. He's nice guy to hang onto, especially given Arizona's performance so far this season. That being said, if you can use Jackson as the centerpiece to get a top of the line pitcher or a big power hitting 1B like Ryan Howard I would do it.

Carlos Gomez - OF - Minnesota Twins - .268 21 R 2 HR 13 RBI 16 SB
Here's a guy that's all over the place. He started out the season on fire, then went into a huge slump and was on the verge of losing his job. Then he hits for the cycle. He's also been banged up a bit injury wise. He's great for SB and I would rather have Gomez than Michael Bourn. Still, he would be a sell-high guy for me right now. Unless you need the steals.

Ryan Church - OF - New York Mets - .319 28 R 7 HR 26 RBI 1 SB
Those stats look pretty good don't they? I just don't trust Church yet for some reason. I don't think he can play any better than he is right now. I don't see him hitting .300 and if he slumps he might lose his job, at least for a hot minute. If you can find a Mets fan in love with Church or you can get a more established guy with similar numbers I would do it.


We'll get to some more of these guys later. If you didn't notice I don't really waste too much time talking about players I don't like. But I obviously haven't mentioned everybody I like so if I missed somebody, I just might not have gotten that far yet.

NBA Playoff Thoughts

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(2) Detroit Pistons vs (3) Orlando Magic

Pistons lead the series 3-1 (My Pick - Orlando over Detroit in 7 games)

• How do you really call this one? You had the shot that happened but shouldn't have counted. Chauncey Billups went down and the Pistons won anyway. Detroit flat out won Game 1. This series could go either way still.
• Jameer Nelson has said something that's usually reserved for Rasheed Wallace.
  
• I don't think the Magic have their "point guard of the future" on their current roster.
• This is Detroit's last deep run with this current group. Maybe they add somebody but I can see a trade coming in the near future. Joe Dumars is always ahead of the curve.
  
• Dwight Howard flashes but cannot yet sustain dominance for long stretches. He will eventually though.
• The Magic need to pay Turkoglu. 3 years/$30 million sounds about right. But his agent will look at his production vs the production of Rashard Lewis. Then he'll look at the contract the Magic gave Lewis. Turkoglu will cost the Magic the luxury tax if they keep him.

(1) Boston Celtics vs (4) Cavaliers

Celtics lead the series 2-1 (My Pick - Boston over Cleveland in 5 games)

• LeBron is on his own. If he's gonna be Batman he needs some help. His Batman would ride a mountain bike, have a Swiss Army Knife as his main weapon and his only sidekick would be a 12 year-old Batgirl. At least Larry Hughes could resemble a heroin-addicted Robin when he was on.
  
• All that being said I like Delonte West. He'll most likely never play in an All-Star Game but he'll be a solid player in the league for the next decade.
  
• Will the Cavs offer Ben Wallace a buyout this summer?
  
• Sam Cassell can still do it. Rajon Rondo is playing excellent basketball but Cassell is a born closer. He's made Ray Allen an ancillary player at this point.
• Don't forget, Ray Allen is Jesus. Jesus Shuttlesworth.
  
• I don't think Paul Piece misses Antoine Walker. Does anybody?

WESTERN CONFERENCE

(2) New Orleans Hornets vs (3) San Antonio Spurs

The series is tied 2-2 (My Pick - San Antonio over New Orleans in 7 games)

• New Orleans came out strong and San Antonio took their sweet time to get going. No shit huh? This is vintage Spurs basketball. Let's hope New Orleans didn't blow their load too early.
  
• Manu Ginobili is a game-changer. Nice move by Popovich to stick him in the starting lineup to change things up. Ginobili just has so much energy on both ends of the court that makes his teammates better. Similar to the KG Effect on the Celtics.
• Chris Paul is the future. He and Deron Williams are going to have battles for the ages. Imagine if LeBron and D-Wade ended up in the West.....
• David West is another underrated guy. If he just continues to develop a bit each year he'll be a 20-10 guy without a problem. And I mean a REAL 20-10 guy who's a threat in the post and a legitimate beast on the glass. Not just a guy who grabs some long rebounds and scores some garbage time points.
• Tony Parker continues to be rock-solid. While rarely spectacular he makes very few mistakes and his jumper gets a little better every year. Plus he's always come to play in the playoffs. He's Tim Duncan's perfect setup man.
  

(1) Los Angeles Lakers vs (4) Utah Jazz

Series is tied 2-2 (My Pick - Utah Jazz in 7 games)

• If Kobe's back is really hurt the Lakers are in too deep. Neither Gasol or Odom do well as the primary offensive option. Kobe keeps defenses honest. If he can't hit his outside jumper or get to the hole at will as he normally does, the Jazz can sag off of him in their defense.
• Deron Williams has bad luck. If it weren't for Chris Paul he would get a lot more publicity. He makes the Jazz go.
  
• It just doesn't feel like it's time yet for the Lakers. Gasol has worked out very well but give Phil Jackson one more season. I fully expect the Lakers to be the #1 seed again next year.
• If you had to pick right now which Dukie would you want, Carlos Boozer or Elton Brand? Cleveland really screwed the pooch on that one didn't they?

Fantasy Football Already?

I haven't gotten to do a fantasy sports post in a hot minute so let us get down. We're going to make some assumptions here.

• Standard scoring league (as opposed to PPR) (PPR = Points Per Reception)
  
• 10 teams in a 16 round draft
• Start 1 QB, 2 RB, 1 RB/WR Flex, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 Team DEF
• Non-keeper league
• No IDP's (Individual Defensive Players)

When ever I do a fantasy football post these will be the assumptions that I am operating under unless I say otherwise. I should probably do something smart like put these somewhere where they can always be easily seen. If I was smart I'd be a "real" writer and not a blogger right?

We're going to get the fantasy football stuff done by June so everything can be updated easily after June 1st cuts (if any), training camp and the preseason.

Welcome to the intro. Thank you for reading the intro. Please remember. If it makes it easier, all of my assumptions are the same as an ESPN or Yahoo standard league. Um kay?

NHL Stuff. Really.

Some NHL stuff because I've been neglecting hockey for basketball lately.

• Jaromir Jagr might very well be done as an NHL player. He says he's going to play next year, but unless he takes a huge pay cut, which would shock me. If he will take said pay cut don't be surprised if he lands with one of the teams that are still alive in the playoffs. A return to Pittsburgh for 1 more Cup sounds about right don't it?
• He's retired more times than Jay-Z or Jordan but I think it's about time to stick a fork in Dominick Hasek. He was one of the greatest goalies of his era, a surefire Hall of Famer and an MVP who personally carried an offensively challenged Buffalo Sabres team for over half of a decade. His mind my be willing but his body is broken down. Helluva a competitor, it wouldn't surprise me if he still tries to play in the Olympics, regardless of his NHL status.
• It would never be a popular subject but it might be time for the NHL to consider contraction (reducing the # of teams) or relocation. The league stretched itself too thin by over-expanding in the last 15 years. Too many teams led to too little talent, which led teams to overpay for players, which led to the year off and new CBA. Hit it here for the NHL attendance figures. If I had to pick 4 teams they would be Atlanta, Phoenix, Columbus and Nashville. Delete the 4 teams and hold a mini-draft with those players. Or move all 4 teams to real hockey markets. Go back to your roots. Try maybe Winnipeg, Las Vegas, Seattle and Ontario. Canada would get 2 more teams which is a no-brainer, Seattle has market hole with the SuperSonics leaving and being the first professional team in Vegas would give you instant market share.
  
• I like Wayne Gretzky, coach/executive about as well as I liked Magic Johnson coach/executive. That's not saying much. At least Johnson is an excellent businessman. Gretzky just has his wife place bets for him. Just playin. Maybe.
• Buffalo averaged the second highest average game attendance. Buffalo has let go of almost every key player they had over their 2 year Eastern Conference Finals run. They are young and talented but they have almost no veteran leadership that's not on the coaching staff. Sorry Sabres fans. If y'all don't go to the games the team will have to leave town. Tough situation for great fans.
  
• Watch out for the Boston Bruins next year. They've got some pieces and any New England area team seems to able to do no wrong lately.
  
• The NHL has to do something about the Vs. situation. The network has tried very hard but it's still difficult to find the channel in some markets. I've never liked their announcers very much and they still haven't mastered how to properly film and broadcast the games. They've improved but not enough. I'm not one to shill for the Worldwide Leader but having the games on ESPN2 or something would've been much better for the NHL.
  

NHL Playoffs. Conference Finals. Fight.

We'll get right to the picks son.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Pittsburgh over Philadelphia (6 Games)

• I feel like a hater but Pittsburgh is playing so well right now in all facets of the game. Philly has been carried by timely goals and excellent goaltending.
  
• The Flyers have to come out fast in Game 1. If they play poorly the Philly fans will begin to turn on them quickly. If the Flyers go down 0-2 expect the sweep. On the flip side, if the Flyers dominate Game 1, the talk amongst Philly fans will only be about whether this is the best team every in history.
• The Flyers have been involved in 6 one-goal games so far in the playoffs. They are 3-3 in those games.
  
• The Flyers have lost the first game of each of their first to series' by 1 goal.
• The Penguins have been involved in 2 one-goal games so far. They're 2-0.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Detroit over Dallas (7 Games)

• The Red Wings are due. It's been almost a decade since their last Cup. Well since 2001-02 to be exact.
  
• The Dallas Stars won their last Stanley Cup in 1999. In triple-overtime. In Game 6. With Brett Hull's skate clearly in the crease (in violation of the rules at that time) during the winning goal.
  
• Dallas has played well in the playoffs but they've never shown the ability to dominate for stretches like Detroit has.
• The last team to win the Stanley Cup with a sweep in the finals was the Detroit Red Wings. They did it back to back years in 1996-97 and 1997-98.
• The Detroit Red Wings won the Presidents' Cup Trophy (best regular season record) this season. Guess who was the last team to win the Presidents' Cup and the Stanley Cup in the same season? That would be in the Detroit Red Wings in 2001-02.

Well there you have it. That was quick and painless right? Well at least she told me it was. Because that's what she said. That's funny right? C'mon that's more than half decent.

Here's the Brett Hull Goal. Just because.

NBA Playoffs. Round 2. Fight.

We'll make this simple. Embellishment is the cement that holds bloggers together so it's tough to be succinct.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Orlando over Detroit (7 Games)

• Detroit might say that they got "woke up" by Philly, but the Sixers took something out of them and exposed a few flaws.
• Orlando has the deadly shooters that Philly did not
• As unguardable as 'Sheed can be, Dwight Howard is flat out unstoppable when motivated
• I just don't see Detroit getting it done
• If you told me Detroit won I wouldn't be surprised but what the hell

Boston over Cleveland (5 Games)

• I like Boston's bench a lot better, especially if Sam-I-Am gets going. Nobody on the Cav's bench really does anything for me.
• Don't underestimate Kendrick Perkins. He's been playing very well thus far in the playoffs.
• LeBron can't do it alone. Unless he's shooting 60% from the floor and 50% from 3 for the series, he's in trouble. The Celtics play excellent team D
• Unlike Detroit, I think Atlanta pushing Boston will be beneficial. Wining the first two games in blowout fashion gave the Celtics a false sense of confidence.
• Do you really think Wally World is gonna get it done? And don't you think KG will take just a little bit of pleasure in knocking out his former second banana?
  

WESTERN CONFERENCE

San Antonio over New Orleans (7 Games)

• Chris Paul is that good.
  
• David West is severely underrated. That always makes for excellent motivation in the playoffs. If he forces the Spurs to guard him with Duncan and he can get Duncan in foul trouble, all bets are off.
• That being said, San Antonio has been here, done that. Do you really think that they can be shaken easily?
  
• Tim Duncan hitting that 3 in Game 1 against the Suns. That changed everything. Call it an omen.
• Experience will win out in the end, but the Spurs will be running on empty heading into the conference finals.
• And just for old times sake, mark Big Shot Bob Horry to hit a huge one before this series is over.
  

Utah over Los Angeles (7 Games)

• This isn't a trendy pick. I've liked Utah all year and the might be the most balanced team in the league. They can play any style and they play Jerry Sloane's trademark good D
• Lamar Odom. He is the x-factor. He's always been supremely talented although injury prone. He's the third option here and he needs to thrive.
• No Andrew Bynum. His presence in the post would help Gasol and in turn Odom out immensely. He's also the Lakers main shot blocking presence.
• Kobe needs a year with these guys. Chemistry is not created overnight for a basketball team. No matter who wins the Finals this year mark the Lakers down as the favorite as the season begins next year.
• Deron Williams is also scary good. There will be some legendary battles between him and Chris Paul before their careers are over.
• Watch out for Kyle Korver, the Utah fans love him and the boy can shoot the lights out.

See that's wasn't that long winded at all.

Draft Zach Feinstein

Click the post title. Seriously. I've always wanted to declare for the NBA but I was under the impression that it cost money. Like $50 or $100 or something. I never did get around to doing it. But Zach Feinstein did. Just sit back and hope that he gets drafted on accident. Or on purpose but I highly doubt it.

Roger Clemens

So Roger Clemens finally made a right move today He apologized for 'making mistakes in his personal life'. Of course he said there were only small amounts of truth mixed in with all sorts of other lies. So he really hasn't made any progress at all has he?

I am, was and always will be a Roger Clemens fan. That's Roger Clemens the baseball player. He was a tremendous talent, an exciting pitcher, a good quote and one of the most fierce competitors to every play baseball. That same competitiveness that drove him as a pitcher has destroyed him as a public figure. Let's be up front about something. There are worse things than steroids and adultery. I'm not condoning either but be honest with yourself. Are those things worse than stealing, beating your spouse, drug abuse or DUI? Lying to Congress is a whole other thing but I'll get to that.

Clemens did not want to become Barry Bonds. When he was implicated in the Mitchell Report he went into full spin control ala-Bill Clinton. Ironically, this was basically the same thing that Barry Bonds did when the BALCO shit hit the fan. This was the wrong move. I can't believe that Clemens was advised to do so but he did. He went on a full out media blitz to issue complete denials. He was a character assassin, claiming it was him against a world of liars. As we've seen, this has all blown up in his face. He had other options.

He could've taken the very unsexy McGuire option and chosen to say nothing. He would be hammered in the public eye in the short-term but it would've worked out far better in the long run. Plus he would not be subject to possible perjury charges and defamation lawsuits.

Or he could've simply read from his (former) buddy Andy Pettitte's script. Admit to some minimal use of HGH to attempt to treat injuries, say it was a horrible mistake but he felt that so many other players were doing it (without naming names) that thought he needed to do whatever it took to be the best. After all he was such a competitor we all would've bought that right? Nobody would've been singing his praises as a role model but there would've been some quiet support for his honesty. He could've rode out the storm for a couple of years as more information comes into the public eye and we all realize how many players were on something. He probably still would've made the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. And it wouldn't have cost him a dime in lawyer fees.

A couple of other points here

• Roger Clemens' lawyer is Rusty Hardin. By all accounts he is an excellent lawyer. I cannot believe that he advised Clemens to take this course unless Clemens swore to him he was completely innocent and would settle for nothing less than complete exoneration. When (if) Clemens is charged with perjury it would be wise for them to part ways.
• This is America. Roger Clemens is innocent until proven guilty. Of a crime. Technically, performance enhancing drug were not against the rules of baseball, hence they did not test for them. So this is an opinion question about what is morally right or wrong. Therefore we are entitled to be of the opinion he is guilty regardless of the current evidence or lack thereof.
  
• So far there have been no other inaccuracies in the Mitchell Report. Including all of the information that comes from those Clemens has accused of lying. So we are asked to believe that Clemens is the victim of an elaborate conspiracy. Everybody else is guilty but not Roger.
• I won't believe another word Jose Canseco says. He blew his load with his first book and he realizes that now. He should've saved something for future books but he didn't. So he's just blowing air for cash.
• No matter how desperate the Yankees get they will not offer Clemens a job this time.
• Clemens opened himself up to the attacks on his personal life by challenging the character of his accusers. He's portrayed himself as the all-American family man and he obviously knew he wasn't. Being a professional athlete is a job and lifestyle so I'm sure the adultery rates are much higher than they are for a male with an average job. But if you attack others you open yourself up to attack.
  

All things being said I'm not sure how this is gonna end. We won't know anything until the first steroids tainted player makes it into the Hall of Fame. Then a decision will have to be made about how to deal with the great players of the Steroid Era. My guess is that Clemens eventually gets into the Hall of Fame but not for at least a decade. He and Bonds will end up going in together at some point, probably with Big Mac. Yet Pete Rose will still be up the street from the Hall in Cooperstown, signing autographs and wondering where it all went wrong.

Trajan Langdon Lives

Seriously, doesn't the title say it all? Well you probably did think Trajan Langdon was dead. But maybe because he was the "Alaskan Assassin" you could've thought that he was in jail or something. But he's not. In fact he plays for CSKA Moscow in the Euroleague. And they won the Euroleague finals this year. And Langdon was the Finals MVP. Not to shabby eh? Check out his stats if you like.

For those who don't know, Langdon starred at Duke in college. He had a typical Duke career including a traveling violation with seconds left in the national final trailing UConn by a point. He was drafted 11th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1999. He lasted 3 season before heading for Europe. Like I said, a typical Duke career. Imagine if he and Dajuan Wagner had panned out. The Cavaliers would not have LeBron right now. Maybe it was for the best.

I'm really impressed by how Langdon has handled himself and how honest he is. He could come back and catch on with an NBA team, if for no other reason, he can shoot the 3. But he'd be a situational player, buried on a bench somewhere. In Europe, he's a star. Big fish in a little pond and all that jazz. The thing is, he's cool with that. He's expressed no desire to return to the NBA. Although if he gets enough attention Mark Cuban will probably give him a call.

Did you know that Langdon was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 6th round in 1994? Did anybody? Well he was. Not sure what that really means but it's somehow impressive. Remember the baseball draft has just short of a thousand rounds. Well, almost. I've never been a Duke guy but I've always ended up following their players in the NBA. Just to watch the flameouts I guess. Who knows if anybody besides myself finds this interesting but I've always wondered what happens to professional athletes when they drop off of the radar. It seems that Langdon is doing much better than Nate Newton and a bunch of others.

MLB All-Star Game Tickets (Yankee Stadium)

Click the post title to enter MLB's lottery for All-Star Game tickets. It doesn't cost anything to sign up and if you win and don't want them, give them to me. Or to StubHub and make yourself a buck or a thousand.

Iron Man

I have to say I really enjoyed Iron Man. I see so few movies at the theater and this one was worth it. I could see the sequel being even better. I'll admit that I'll most likely be seeing the new Indiana Jones movie in a theater as well. I try to avoid trailers for movies that I want to see but I watched the trailer in the previews before Iron Man and it looked pretty bad ass. So I'll be dat. I was upset that Ghostface Killah's cameo was cut from Iron Man. Thankfully that's what DVD's are for. If you are going to see Iron Man stay for a bonus after the credits. It's worth it.

Yankees Stuff. Evil Empire Haters Be Warned.

Finally made it out to Yankee Stadium for the first time in over a decade. We'll get the logistics out of the way first. The game was Sunday and the Yankees won 8-2 to complete a sweep of the Seattle Mariners. Darrell Rasner assumed Phil Hughes' spot in the rotation and got the start after being called up from AAA. Adrian Beltre belted a 2-run homer to left in the first inning, but that was all the Mariners got. Rasner pitched six innings, gave up 5 hits, 2 runs with 4 k's and no walks. Definitely better than anything the Yankees have gotten from Hughes or Ian Kennedy thus far. The Yankees blew up for 6 runs in the third inning, highlighted by back-to-back homers by Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano. Cabrera is quietly playing very well right now and hopefully the home run by Cano can shake him out of his current slump. The Yankees and fantasy baseball players everywhere are counting on you. That was pretty much the ballgame. Good game for Yankees fans, bad weekend overall for y'all Mariners fans.

Some Yankee Stadium Notes and Whatnot

• Really wanted to check out Monument Park. I arrived at about 10:45 and was in line to get into the stadium right as it opened at 11. Then I messed up. Decided I had to use the bathroom. Then debated about getting something to eat first. Then took a couple of pictures of batting practice. Window shopped at the Yankee store for a hot minute then it was off to Monument Park. By the time I got there (call it about 11:20) there were already hundreds, if not thousands of people in line, I shit you not. The line stretched from Monument Park (left field) into the stadium, then up the ramps to the top level of the stadium where the line just continued. Give the number of people and the fact that they close it just before game time, getting in line did not assure me of getting in. Just another excuse to go again this year. Moral of the story is, if you want to see Monument Park go very early to the stadium, be first in line to get in and the proceed immediately to Monument Park. Or bring a very good, long book.
• Walked right past Angelo Cataldi (morning guy on Philly talk radio station, 610 WIP) right as I was walking up to the stadium. My buddy shouted him out and he acknowledged him and kept walking. Pretty sure he had a Yankee hat on.
  
• Digital cameras destroy batteries. Even the good ones. When you see AA batteries for sale at the Dollar Store (8 batteries for $1.00!) do not buy them for anything other than remote controls. I got about 7 pictures for every 2 batteries. I figured they'd be kinda lousy so I brought a bunch but that was ridiculous. So Good Batteries=Expensive, but worthwhile.
• Was not too impressed with the food offerings at Yankee Stadium. I really didn't get a chance to go to experience everything, I got a pretty good idea. Everything was out of this world expensive (to be expected). Regular hot dog and a soda ran you $10. And that's the small hot dog and smallest soda. Beers were $9 for a 16-oz domestic draft. Bag of peanuts was $5, slice of pizza was $5, smallest fries were $5, you get the idea. They did have a pretty decent selection and a lot of locations which helped with the lines (which were not too bad). Nothing I had was really very good, most notably a hot dog which was lower than gas station quality. The vendors were all pretty nice though.
  
• I actually wanted to get a scorecard and fill it out. I haven't done that since I played ball when I was a kid. Well to cop a scorecard you had to buy a program. For $7. Maybe I'm nuts but that's just too much for me.
• I openly mused how much it would cost for a family of 4 or 5 to come to a ballgame. That hurt. Then later some guy showed up with his family and they sat in front of us. Dude had at least 5 kids. Yeah the tickets were only $15 bucks but I'm guessing he spent $300 easy, without buying t-shirts or the like.
• Since I got there early I got a pretty good parking spot. There's not a lot of them though, so if you ain't on the train, get there at least 2 hours early. Expect to pay about $20.
• The new Yankee Stadium is going to be amazing. It looks like the current Yankee Stadium crossed with a modern version of the Roman Coliseum. Absolutely unreal. But it will be a long time until the parking situation is handled.
  
• The All-Star Game this summer will be a memorable experience. Good luck getting tickets but they'd be worth it.
  
• Be warned. It's a steep climb to the upper level seats. And there's a lot of ramps and very few escalators.
  
• There were a lot of cops in uniform (working I guess) at the game. There was one (kinda young guy) posted right by our section. He actually was more like a ticket guy, telling people how to best get to their seats. He would just look at your ticket and point pretty much. Then later I watched as two attractive younger females asked for his help. And I'll be damned if he didn't actually walk them all the way to their seats. Not like I wouldn't have done the same thing, but never be naive as to how the world really works.
• I love the New York fans. Good times.
• Couple of decent bars right around the stadium. Lots of flat screens, pretty waitress and decent food. Be warned though, stadium inflation applies here as well. Try to the tune of about $6 for a domestic bottle.
  

All in all, I had a blast and it was a beautiful day. Not bad indeed.

The Yankees Meet M*A*S*H

Ding-Dong the Wicked Witch is dead!

Or is she? Things are not all well in Yankee-land right now. The $300 million dollar man is on the DL. One of the most durable catchers in MLB history is joining him. So is the young fireballer who's talent is so great, and ceiling so high, he was valued more than Johan Santana by the Yankee organization. Let's break em down.

A-Rod. The $300 million dollar man. His injury is not serious but any missed games for A-Rod are a big deal. Look at it this way. For the sake of making this easier let's assume A-Rod makes $27 million per year. That's roughly $166,667 PER GAME. So we'll assume that over 15 days A-Rod misses 12 games. That's $2,000,004. That A-Rod made. While on the DL. For about 2 weeks. That's almost 10% of the Florida Marlins payroll for the entire season. My point is, that's how important A-Rod is, especially to the Yankees right now. The Yankees are not the dominant offensive team they should be right now. A-Rod has to be the MVP in the middle of that lineup. He needs to make everybody batting around him better. He can't do that on the DL. The Yankees might have more "Mad Money" than Jim Cramer but don't think for a second that they couldn't use that $2 million right now to buy some more bullpen help. When A-Rod's on he's worth every penny of his deal. But if he's not, that deal is an albatross that will not go quietly into the night. Look for A-Rod to turn it around when he gets off of the DL but he needs to step up as a team leader.

Jorge Posada. A 36 year old catcher who signed a huge 4 year deal last off-season. He'd never been on the DL in his entire career. Guess what? There's a first time for everything. This is bad. The Yankees have 3 or 4 guys who should be the DH so there's no room for him there. He can play some first base but that forces Giambi to DH and pushes Cabrera, Damon, Matsui or Abreu to the bench. With exception of Cabrera, that means putting a $10 million+ per season player on the bench. So that's not a great option either. So the Yankees need Posada to catch. If you put a gun to Brian Cashman (Yankee's GM) right now I suspect he would say that he expects very little, if anything, from Posada the rest of this season. Next to Derek Jeter, Posada is the most important Yankee in that locker room. Not to mention the Yankees will be playing musical catchers all season. Posada was also their second best hitter last season. If Posada can make it back by the All-Star break at 100% or very close to it, the Yankees will be a much better team. Without him..... let's just say it won't be pretty.

Phil Hughes fractured his 9th rib sneezing. It's been tough to verify the sneezing part but Sportscenter said it so it must be true. It's been well documented that Hughes is the youngest pitcher in the big leagues. And is hype has been building for 3 seasons now. Remember, Joba Chamberlain came out of nowhere. Hughes was and has been the Yankees highest profile young pitcher since Cashman took over. The Yankees have time and time again refused to part with Hughes in any deal. He's supposed to be their future, their next ace to put up in the rotation with Wang and Chamberlain, someday. Yet he's been injured constantly and has not pitched even average this season. Hughes flashed his dominance last year but this year has been a whole new ballgame, literally. Maybe this injury is the problem. But we won't get a chance to find out until after the All-Star break most likely. If he doesn't return to form this year it could spell curtains for Cashman. Parting with Hughes and Ian Kennedy in a Johan Santana deal doesn't look so crazy right now. Except for the team trading for Hughes and Kennedy. Remember though, it takes a certain kind of pitcher to pitch well for the Yankees. That's why it's even harder for them to import pitchers from other organizations. A startling number of pitchers were successful for one team, unsuccessful for the Yankees and then successful again upon leaving the Yankees. Look for them to stick it out with Hughes and Kennedy. Hell, they don't really have any other options unless the Yankees want Billy Beane to rob them blind and severely deplete their farm system.

So what the hell does this all mean? It means that the Evil Empire is in trouble. They're gonna need to kick, claw and scrap their way to a .500 record going into the All-Star break. If they can do that and Posada comes back healthy and Hughes pitches like he did last year, they've got a shot. The Red Sox do not look as strong as they have in recent years. The AL East is the deepest and strongest it's been this decade but the Yankees and the Red Sox are clearly to the front runners. They always are.

So where does Joba stand in all of this? That's gonna require it's own post. You do know it's Friday right? I typically only see 1 movie in the theaters per year but this might be an exception year. I'm mosdef going to see the new Indiana Jones but I really want to see Ironman. I haven't gone to a movie on opening weekend since T3 but I think I just might. Oh and a word to the wise, don't see Speed Racer unless you want to have a seizure. Yeah the Wachowski brothers made the Matrix. But they're not the Wachowski brothers anymore because one of them had a sex change. Just some food for thought on Friday.

Now I Feel Pretty Bad

Sorry DC. I ripped on you the other day about your injury on the show "Pros vs Joes" and that was insensitive. Well not really, but today I found out that you need a heart transplant. Seriously. I'm sure that there are numerous cities full of NBA fans (Charlotte, Detroit, Philly, etc) who would have some things to say about that. By which I'm implying that Derrick Coleman was often accused of playing "without heart". I think the main problem with DC was that he was so talented. He could've (coulda, shoulda, woulda,) been a sure fire Hall Of Fame player. His skills were that good. He could've been a player who was a combination of the best parts of Rasheed Wallace and Chris Webber. A complete inside/out player. Never happened though.

DC was such a tease. He would rarely turn it on for a string of games. Don't get me wrong, he played well at times but he was just scratching the surface. But occasionally, for some short bursts within games, he exploded. His body continued to let him down as the seasons wore on and went past. I was very conscious in comparing him to Sheed. Similar size, similar skill set and a similar mindset. My opinion has always been that if you took Kobe Bryant's drive (desire, hunger, passion, whatever you want to call it) and put it into Rasheed Wallace you would have the best player in the NBA. Sheed would be Dirk with defense, rebounding, attitude and leadership. Sheed could play anywhere on the floor, post up anybody, shoot over anybody. Yet he only seems to do it for short stretches at a time. Hence the comparisons.

Anyway, I'm not baggin on ya DC. Alright maybe a little, but that's just the voice of a frustrated fan. You're an OK dude DC and I hope that you undergo a successful heart transplant and live a long and productive life. Two pieces of advice though. (1) If you have any children as athletically gifted as you, please find a way for Kevin Garnett to be their role model, teacher and coach. (2) Do not go back onto a basketball court under any circumstances ever. You're cursed like the Cubs, man. Good luck and best wishes DC. Here's hoping Sheed visits you in the hospital.

So They Lost, Does It Really Matter

The Philadelphia 76'ers finally fell tonight to the Detroit Pistons. Let me go out on a limb right now and pick the Orlando Magic over the Pistons in Round 2 of the Eastern Conference. Were the Pistons the better team versus the 76'ers? Absolutely. Does that really mean anything? Not a chance. Why did the Pistons win? 2 reasons. (1) The Sixers have zero 3-point shooters. (2) The Sixers were not able to match up against Rasheed Wallace and Rip Hamilton.

So what does this really mean? It means (A) The Sixers have a bright future (B) The Pistons will have their hands full against the Magic, much less against the Celtics (Hawks permitting). The Magic have the players to match up against the Pistons. Even more so, do the Celtics. The Pistons are aging notably and although their bench is young, they lack that spark 'Sheed first brought to them. That is the spark that Garnett brings the Celtics and the spark that the Spurs never lack.

Tomorrow I'll do the the "What the Sixers can do to make themselves better next year" post. I feel that Philly exposed Detroit more than Atlanta has exposed the Celtics. The Sixers had their best player (Andre Iguodala) play as bad as he possibly can and the Sixers still won 2 games, including 1 in Detroit. Joe Johnson has done his thing against the Celtics, but we all knew that he was a dynamic scorer. (That trade for Joe Johnson from Phoenix does look a lot better now doesn't it?)

Does this mean that Iguodala has hurt his contract value? Absolutely. But that's tomorrow's business.

Mavericks Fire Avery Johnson

The writing was really on the wall for the Lil' General huh? What a story. Groomed as Don Nelson's successor. A Finals appearance and a Coach of the Year award in his first full season as coach. You could've written off blowing a 2-0 Finals lead to the Heat. They had a highly-motivated Shaq, an en fuego Dwayne Wade and a nice supporting cast of veterans. True to that, the Mavericks won 67 games the next season. That's the 5th most in NBA history. And then the Creator became the Destroyer. Don Nelson's 8th seeded Warriors ran over the highly favored #1 seeded Mavericks. The teacher had whipped the pupil. Mark Cuban, to his credit, maintained his cool for a hot minute. There were no immediate changes, trades or signings. In the Mavericks defense the Celtics summer moves prompted quite a few veterans to sign with the Celtics. Had the Celtics still been bottom feeders the Mavs may have been able to get a James Posey, PJ Brown or Sam Cassell.

The Mavs started out slow and it was curtains. The Mavs had lost the edge that Johnson had given them when he first came on as coach. You could also tell that owner Mark Cuban and Johnson were no longer seeing eye to eye on things. Then the Lakers acquisition of Pau Gasol for a jar of farts and some other throw ins happened. Mark Cuban finally flipped his lid. It was win now time, the future be damned.

Mark Cuban had stated for several seasons that he would under no circumstances trade young PG Devin Harris. The Mavericks needed an honest to god post presence both on offense an as a shot blocker on defense. Not to mention the combination of Devin Harris and Jason Terry at the point was at least adequate if not above average. But Cuban wanted a Hall of Fame type player. Ironically, he needed such a player to restore the attitude it the locker room that he had found and lost under Johnson. So he traded for Jason Kidd.

Not only did he trade for Jason Kidd he did it at an enormous expense. Kidd cost him Devin Harris (the Mavs best young player and the only player they had that could match up with the Steve Nash and Tony Parkers of the world) Desagana Diop (their best post defender) a couple of throw ins, $3 million in cash and 2 first round draft picks. Not to mention having to sign and trade Keith Van Horn to make the cap numbers work. This skyrocketed the Mavericks luxury tax bill and sent their payroll over the $100 million dollar threshold. That's Isiah Thomas territory kids.

The scent of desperation was in the air and the sharks were circling. The Mavs stumbled out of the gate with Kidd and their effectiveness against their Western Conference rivals was worse than it was before the acquisition of of Kidd. Then Avery Johnson parked Jason Kidd on the bench with the game on the line. That was it. You had Cuban and Kidd on one side and Johnson on the other. Now it wasn't just win-now. It was win-now-or-else.

Most of us figured the ultimate outcome would be or-else. It just happened sooner than later. The Hornets had quietly been an elite team all year and Dallas just happened to be in town for the coming out party. Without Devin Harris they didn't have anybody remotely capable of holding Chris Paul in check and CP3 ran wild. Game, set and match. It wasn't even close.

So the Mavericks and Avery Johnson decided to part ways today. No real surprise there. Cuban couldn't handle Johnson's lack of recent playoff success and Johnson couldn't handle being micro-managed and ignored by Cuban. It was obvious that the Mavericks needed a change and this is the cheapest and fastest one possible. Not to say that there aren't more moves on the horizon. There most certainly are. But Cuban will be limited in what he can actually acquire without parting with Josh Howard or Dirk. But after Josh Howard's comments about his off-season activities, maybe such a move could be coming. We'll hit on that more in an upcoming post.

All in all this is a good move for the team and for Avery Johnson. Probably both in the long-term and the short-term.

Suns To Fire D'Antoni. Is This Really A Good Move?

This is not official yet but is being reported heavily by SI.com. Let's hop in our Delorean, feed Mr. Fusion and hit 88 miles-per-hour. No, we're not going back to 1955, we're so sick of that year. Instead let's go back to 2003. Some guy (Mike D'Antoni) who has been coaching in Europe is picked to take over as the coach of the Phoenix Suns at mid-season. He brought with him a fast-paced style of basketball that hadn't been run in the NBA in more than a hot minute. He led a D-League team to 21 wins in 61 games. Remember this is immediately after the Stephon Marbury trade. Howard Eisley, Charlie Ward, Antonio McDyess and Maciej Lampe replaced Marbury, Penny Hardaway and Cezary Trybanski. Who woulda thought that 4 years later it looks like McDyess was the best player in that deal? (Just a note, when researching the Marbury trade I noticed that the Knicks still owe the Suns their first-round pick in 2010. Unless the Suns have traded it away, which they might have. Isiah is just the gift that keeps on giving ain't he?)

Bryan Colangelo made a series of outstanding moves to provide D-Antoni with the firepower he needed to run his system. He drafted Amare Stoudemire, acquired Joe Johnson, Quentin Richardson (then traded him for Kurt Thomas, thanks again Isiah), Leandro Barbosa, Raja Bell, Boris Diaw (in a trade for Joe Johnson, Tim Thomas and most importantly Steve Nash. (Someday soon we'll revisit that signing, it's worth it) So it's fair to say that D'Antoni was given a lot of talent to work with. The supporting cast was in a constant state of flux but the core remained the same until Marion was dealt for Shaq in 2008. (Although I'm still convinced that the sole purpose of that deal was to dump Marcus Banks and his contract)

Mike D'Antoni Suns Career (03-08)

YEAR TEAM G W L PCT POSTW POSTL
2004 Phoenix Suns 61 21 40 .344 0 0
2005 Phoenix Suns 82 62 20 .756 9 6
2006 Phoenix Suns 82 54 28 .659 10 10
2007 Phoenix Suns 82 61 21 .744 6 5
2008 Phoenix Suns 82 55 27 .671 1 4

Let's examine the talent of the Phoenix Suns under D'Antoni

Players who've been All-Star caliber under D'Antoni and under another coach
-Steve Nash
-Joe Johnson
-Shawn Marion

Players drafted under D'Antoni who have been very good to All-Star caliber
-Amare Stoudemire
-Leandro Barbosa

Players who have been better under a coach other than D'Antoni
-Kurt Thomas
-Marcus Banks

Players who have thrived under D'Antoni as opposed to another coach or team
-Raja Bell
-Quentin Richardson
-Tim Thomas
-Boris Diaw

*Not included in this list are Grant Hill and Shaquille O'Neal both of whom were acquired after Colangelo departed. Hill was as productive for D'Antoni as he's been this decade and Shaq played much better than he had in Miami this season, silencing his detractors who called for his retirement.

It's safe to say that D'Antoni has gotten the most out of his players. Kurt Thomas was hurt too often and he got erratic playing time due to the Suns running "small ball" a great deal of the time. Marcus Banks was only ever any good in college and for about 25 games in Minnesota which he parlayed into his contract with the Suns. He's not a cerebral or unselfish enough point guard for D'Antoni's system. Other than those two, every major rotation player D'Antoni's ever had has played as well, or better, than he has his entire career. That's the sign of a good coach. Some other signs include never winning less than 54 games in the regular season, reaching the Western Conference Finals twice and reaching the post-season every year in a grueling Western Conference. Yes he's failed to make it to, or win the NBA Finals but it's a select group of teams that have been able to do that this decade. The Pistons and the Heat had their moments but the 2000's have belonged to San Antonio and Los Angeles. It's not like the Suns were losing to the #8 seed every year in the playoffs.

We have a couple of historical examples for this and they don't bode well for the Suns. Two coaches with a very similar history (albeit in different sports) are Marv Levy (Buffalo Bills, 4 straight Super Bowl losses, multiple other playoff losses) and Andy Reid (Philadelphia Eagles, 3 straight conference finals losses, 1 Super Bowl loss, multiple other playoff losses). I guess that the trend is that sometimes it just doesn't happen even if the team and the coach are both excellent. Both of these coaches continued to get their teams to the post-season year after year and that's something you have to do in order to give yourself a chance to win it all.

So should the Suns fire D'Antoni? Not a chance in hell. Even with Shaq they're still built to run and their window is currently next year. That's it. It's one year at a time from here on out and they don't have a lot of rebuilding options. Shaq is untradeable, Amare is their most important player and without Nash they have a gaping hole at PG. Plus at Nash's age and with his medical history, it's questionable how much they could really get back for him. So the Suns' options are to (A) Keep D'Antoni, actually use a draft pick or two and get another big man for the rotation (B) Bring in another coach to run D'Antoni's system. Why would you buy a Go-Bot when you already have Optimus Prime? (C) The Hiroshima option. Trade everybody except Barbosa and Amare, hang onto to Shaq's deal as it expires and make a push for Dwayne Wade in 2010. (D) If AI opts out of his contract this June do everything possible to get him to take a mid-level deal for a year or two to make a title push, Denver ain't going anywhere (E) Trade Nash straight up for Jason Kidd. Why not? Seriously, why not? They both would get to return to their original home-after-home. Again.

To recap, you're best chance to win is roll with what you've got and try to make a couple of short-term tweaks. Most of the Suns contracts will expire in or by 2010 so they're in pretty good shape for the future. And they MUST USE THEIR DRAFT PICKS TO DRAFT PLAYERS. Part of the Suns problem is a lack of quality depth which stems from trading away first round draft choices year after year for cash. And to avoid the luxury tax. These aren't NFL rookies there, their is a set pay-scale and they're cheap for 4 years. Get with the program.

NFL Draft 2008 Grades

I linked y'all to Mel Kiper's Draft Grades. I do not believe in grading a draft anything before two full season after its conclusion. You cannot project exactly how a player is going to fit and perform in your system. So evaluations of this kinda are pointless. Yet millions of NFL obsessed fans will pour over these draft grades for the next couple of weeks. With such a high demand the sports outlets feel obligated to put out something. In my opinion, evaluating the draft picks 24 hours after the draft is more difficult than projecting next years first round 364 days before it occurs. But in the name of content I feel that there are several ways in which a draft can be evaluated in the immediate aftermath.

-Filling needs. In this case we will not penalize any team for "reaching" to fill a need. It happens, especially when you cannot find a team to trade down with. Free agency is over and this draft is basically the only way to fill the remaining holes on your roster. Taking the best player on the board is great but your lineup needs to be almost complete before you have that luxury.

-Getting value. This is the good old "take the best player on the board" mantra. This happens when a player falls for an inexplicable reason. Most of these falls are either because of medical issues, character issues or teams drafting to meet their needs. This is how players like Randy Moss slide so far.

-Paying off your mortgage. This is when teams stockpile future draft picks. It's not always a success and it's never sexy to the fans. But acquiring multiple picks in the next draft allows a team to greatly increase their options. They can trade for veteran players much easier and target specific players in the draft because of their wealth of picks. New England, San Diego, Dallas and Philadelphia all excel at this.

You cannot assign a letter or numerical grade to a draft class at this point. This is one area where a college grading system can help. In my system teams can get a "+" a "/" or a "-". A "+" means teams met at least 2 of my 3 criteria. A "/" means a team met at least 1 of my criteria. A "-" means a team failed to meet any of my criteria.

So without further ado here's my "grades" in particular order within their tiers although the teams I think of first probably did a little better in my mind. But I always forget somebody for a minute. It's the curse of not making enough notes before I start writing these things.

+ TEAMS
Kansas City
Minnesota (Jared Allen is included in this grade in my system)
Carolina
Green Bay
Washington
Dallas (Pacman Jones is included in this grade in my system)
Pittsburgh
Miami
Buffalo
Cleveland (Shaun Rodgers, Brady Quinn and Corey Williams are included in this grade in my system)
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Indianapolis (Tony Ugoh is included in this grade in my system)
New Orleans
New England
New York Jets
New York Giants
Jacksonville

/ TEAMS
San Francisco (Joe Staley is included in this grade in my system)
Cincinnati
Arizona
St Louis
Oakland
Tampa Bay
Atlanta
Chicago
Seattle
San Diego (Eric Weddle is included in this grade in my system)

- TEAMS
Tennessee
Houston
Detroit
Denver

You'll notice a few trends here. 18 teams had "+" drafts. And with good reason. These players were drafted for a reason and everybody should be looking for them succeed. The players are young and healthy so there is great reason for optimism. Only 4 teams had "-" grades. And all four teams have had some trouble drafting in recent years. This happens because when teams miss on draft picks they fail to fill needs. Which means when the next draft rolls around you have more needs to fill than ever. It's a vicious cycle which can only be broken by having an outstanding draft, dabbling in free agency and trying like hell to find some good undrafted players. The NFC East is really setting up to be a war zone this year. All of those teams genuinely hate each other and they're all in win-now mode. San Diego just didn't have enough picks to properly place them this year.

We're all drafted out for a bit. We'll delve more into this later. Enjoy beeoches.