Buried Ortiz Jersey The Reason Behind Slump?

For those of you who enjoy watching ESPN Sports Center day in and day out, by now you would have found out that construction workers recently dug up a David Ortiz jersey that was buried in the brand new Yankee Stadium underneath nearly a full foot of concrete. Skeptics are blaming this jersey in which was supposed to place a curse on the Yankees in their new stadium for Ortiz' slump? Really?

From one Redsox fan to all the others out there, has it ever occured to any of you people that the man could just be getting a bit worn out? At 6'4 and 230lbs, being an athlete more than likely isn't the easiest thing to do. If anything, I would blame Manny Ramirez not being in the lineup more than I would this stupid buried jersey. I mean, come on, can't we be a little serious here.

If a Jersey has that much influence on the guys game, then god damn, I'm going to go grab a local softball team from one of the churches and burry their best players jersey in their outfield so my team can win at least one game this coming season.

Wes Welker Benched as Julio Lugo Returns

Julio Lugo returned to the starting lineup tonight, marking the end of Wes Welker's stint as starting SS for the Red Sox. Welker filled in admirably for Jed Lowrie when the starter went down with a wrist ailment and later settled for surgery. Hitting in the nine-spot, Welker was able to maintain a .298 average with seven RBI and seven runs scored.

It's probably for the best though. Welker does need to report to mini camp in short time to prepare for the 2009 NFL season. It makes you wonder how he was able to balance both the MLB and NFL schedules in the past. He's played full seasons for AAA teams and MLB clubs like the Rays and Braves all while playing for the Dolphins and Patriots. It's almost like there are two of them.

Wait a minute...

In all seriousness, it's been fun to watch Nick Green play for the Sox this season, not only because of his solid play, but because, at first glance, the guy looks like Wes Welker. Maybe not so much when two pictures are compared, but in game it looks like Welker gained three inches in height and enjoys playing for the Sox in his offseason.


Anyone else out there thinking the same thing?

UFC 100. Most anticipated MMA event EVER?

UFC 100 isn't for a couple of months now but all MMA fans should be getting their remotes ready to order what could be one of the best events in a long time, possibly ever.

Heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar will take on Frank Mir for the title, Mir's first title shot since his terrible motorcycle wreck that nearly took his life. Brock Lesnar has simply dominated the UFC since his entrance a couple of years ago, but Mir is not afraid. Frank has compared getting punched by Brock Lesnar as being punched by your baby sister. Ha, that couldn't make Lesnar too happy now, should it? Exactly. Which is why this fight will be amazing. Lesnar has also accused Mir as winning a "make believe belt from Nogueira, in a fight that shouldn't have ever happened."



Lesnar quite possibly could be on a momentum booster that could propell him past Mir in July. Lesnar is coming off a VERY impressive win over UFC legend Randy Couture, in which Brock took the belt away in a match which quite simply, Brock dominated. Mir is ALSO coming off a very impressive and emotional win over Antionio Nogueira in late 2008. He dominated that match as well. As far as the match goes, it's going to be a GREAT fight, seeing two dominating forces going heel-to-heel in an event that should go down in MMA history.

Also taking stage at UFC 100 will be the Welterweight Championship match of Georges St-Pierre taking on Thiago Alves. Pierre, of course, is coming off a win against BJ Penn @ UFC 94 in which he defended the title successfully. Alves, who was named MMAWeekly.com's 2008 Fighter of the Year, is looking to steal the title from a very tough Pierre.

Bottom line, I can NOT wait, along with the millions of other MMA fans. The LIVE weigh-ins will be Friday, July 10th and the event itself will take place on Saturday, July 11th, 2009 LIVE from Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. Be sure to watch it!

Lions odd draft approach?

It's no secret that the Detroit Lions need help in every single position outside of the kicker and punter. (Yes, they even needed WR) The route they went in on both days of the draft was weird to me though, in many ways actually. Their first pick was obviously Matthew Stafford, so I won't comment on that one.

The first weird pick to me was Pettigrew, and I'm not questioning it at all because honestly Pettigrew was my favorite player in the draft. I had no idea the Lions were even considering him, and while TE is a need it is not a bigger need then MLB or OT. I would have liked to see Oher or Maualuga (sp) at 20 but I love Pettigrew so an okay pick to me.

The third round opened with Louis Delmas. (Haha Chris) Once again it is a pick that addresses a need but with Maualuga still on the board it does not make much sense to me. This begs the question if Maualuga was not impressive in workouts or what. Delmas was a great pick, but just not where I thought they would go.

Next the Lions went with DeAndre Levy. I don't know much about him, so I can't really comment much. With their second 3rd round pick they went with WR Derrick Williams from Penn State. This pick was a great pick just once again I expected them go to in a difference direction. Williams will step in as a great slot receiver and a return man.

You get the point, same thing with the next 2 picks in Sammie Lee Hill and Aaron Brown. I wanted the Lions to take Terrance Taylor over Lee Hill, but Hill is a big guy with alot of talent but he needs to work on some things to get better. Aaron Brown is a running back from TCU, and running back is not a great need for the Lions.

Lydon Murtha led off the 7th for the Lions, which I thought was a decent pick. I don't know much about him but OT is the biggest need on the team. It won't be hard for him to be worse than Backus, so I expect great value from this pick even if he is no good.

Zack Follett who is a OLB, and Dan Gronkowski ended the draft. Dan confuses me, and is the only pick that I really argue. He is a TE, and they got Pettigrew in round 1. I would have liked them to get Ellerbe who is a MLB, but they didn't.

The Lions had a great draft overall in my eyes, They didn't take their biggest needs but they got the best avaliable player each time in their eyes. When you are an 0-16 team I can live with that. I expected them to draft heavily on defense but they went mostly offense. I think the offense will be greatly improved this year, whether it is Culpepper or Stafford under center.

Crossing My Fingers for Jason Taylor

Not to lump myself with the mass of dissatisfied Patriots nation, but...well I too am a little dissatisfied as the first day of the 2009 NFL Draft comes to an end.

In Bill Belichick I will always trust, but man anyone else still not comfortable with the idea of Pierre Woods starting and Gary Guyton being our backup option in the middle? I like both of the guys don't get me wrong, but I'm sure as heck not comfortable enough to like them as possible starters yet.

I figured our need at either or maybe even both Linebacker positions would be addressed on day one and they weren't. The defense did get a little better with the additions of CB Darius Butler, S Patrick Chung and NT Ron Brace. All players will at the very least add some depth to their respective positions and possibly help out on special teams at the bare minimum come regular season.

The second day is still very much in the future and the Patriots know how to find gems in later rounds, but the lack of a LB on the first day has me really wondering what our starting line up will look like and it gets me hoping mightily for Jason Taylor.

I'm off the Peppers bandwagon, if it happens great, but I'm sick of the story because nothing has come of it and nothing appears to be able to come of it. So I return to the Taylor idea. It has been reported that if Miami doesn't want him he would heavily consider New England. It has also been reported that after the draft the Dolphins would be deciding on Taylor's future with their team.

So it's my hope at this point that the Patriots can do one of two things or even both if they want to really make my day. One, find some proven pass rushers in the later rounds. Two, sign Jason Taylor for a year or two to hold a spot for a youngster. If neither happens I'm gonna be one heck of a complainer about this years draft until I'm hopefully proven wrong.

Thoughts?

Zack Greinke has an impressive streak going

Many of you probably haven't even heard of him, or if you did you would think that he sucks. He is 37-45 on his career and his best season is only 13-10 which was last year.

Even though his record is not impressive, he is on a very impressive streak. Last year he ended the year with 14 innings without allowing an earned run. This year? He has pitched 29 innings without allowing an earned run.

That adds up to 43 innings in a row without allowing an earned run. He did allow a run tonight (Against the Tigers), but it was not an earned run so his ERA still sits at 0.00. If the Royals hope to make a serious run at the playoffs, It will have to be behind his arm. Currently he sits at 4-0 on the season, and has pitched two straight complete games. He has thrown 10 strike outs in both games.

Personally, I don't know how long his streak will continue to last. I'm going to assume his arm will weaken and he will get beaten up to finish the season, but it's a good story for him and fans of Kansas City. They haven't had anything to be happy about lately. Comment your season predictions for him, maybe he could be last years Cliff Lee. Even though Lee was already sort of respectable, I don't think anyone saw a season quite like that coming from him.

Days until draft, still no deal done for Lions

Detroit has noted it's desire to sign the upcoming #1 pick early the entire off season. There is just two days until the draft and still no deal is done.

Matthew Stafford is going to be the #1 pick..IF his agent gets a deal done. Reports have come out that state the Lions have a deal done with Aaron Curry if the Stafford one does fall through.

Detroit fans are hoping that Staffords agent wants tons of money, because they all want Curry. If I was Detroit I'd just move on from Stafford. Sure you may be getting a franchise QB, but wasn't that Joey Harrington as well? When you are 0-16 you have tons of holes and Curry seems to be the safest pick in the entire draft.

Next years QB class will also be alot better than this years in my opinion. Culpepper has also lost weight and is in just as good if not better shape than he was when he was putting up monster numbers. I really dislike Culpepper but I'd rather have him under center this year.

The draft takes place at 4:00 PM on Saturday. It will be televised on ESPN.

Brady's Return: Realistic Expectations Necessary

I would hope that fans of the NFL and even New England Patriots fans understand the fact that Tom Brady will never return to the statistical form of his 2007 season. For starters he doesn't have to have that kind of season and historically he never even got close before. He also may not even be able to either.

Lets take trip down memory lane to past seasons. We're going back in time, back to a team without a deep threat like Randy Moss and without the "Slot Machine" Wes Welker. This was a time without huge names, but that didn't matter one bit in New England. This era yielded some pretty heavy duty hardware like say 3 AFC Championships, 3 Super Bowl Championships and 5 playoff appearances.

I am by no means here to say that the Patriots record breaking offense of '07 was holding them back, heck they only lost to one opponent after beating them earlier(albeit in the biggest game in franchise history). All I'm trying to say is that the Brady led Patriots had immense success before his "breakout" season. He was a prolific winner before and there's no reason to believe that he has to put up the same stats for this team to have a success.

In his six previous seasons (as a starter) Brady never put up more than 28 Touchdowns and averaged a little over 24. That was with "weapons" such as David Givens, Reche Caldwell, and David Patten. So it's no stretch to think he will have little trouble producing more with the likes of his Hall of Fame caliber WRs again this year. However I'm warning that expectations have got to be in line with him coming back from a year off and knee surgery.

His knee will hold him back, how much it will affect his game is beyond any of us, we all will have to wait and see. Whether it's an adjustment period to the permanent brace or a slow start similar to Peyton Manning's recovery I believe he will feel the affects for a time being and it will show in his production.

The Patriots may have been and may still be the "Class" of the AFC East, AFC or even the NFL, but it would be incredibly over zealous to think other teams won't get better. Randy Moss catching a bomb for 65 yards won't happen too many times before a defensive coordinator decides to go with a different approach.

With all Brady has to go through getting back into playing form and the leaps and bounds other defenses are sure to be making in progression I believe it's fair to say you will see a decline in his numbers. Historically that hasn't been too much of a bad thing. Brady may not have won the MVP before his '07 season, but I think Patriots fans were more than content with his two Super Bowl MVP trophies.

Pirates, the real deal?

Just a few days after ESPN reporters went on record saying that the Marlins were the best team in Major League Baseball this season, the Pittsburgh Pirates are looking to complete a series sweep (Hey why not? It's the third inning and the Pirates are already leading 1-0). Seems to me that the pesky pirates could be the real deal, couldn't they? The Pirates haven't seen the playoffs since 1992 and the most news out of Pittsburgh on the baseball side of things has been their absolutely beautiful ballpark they built in the middle of the city.

The Pirates are off to an 8-6 start, and they are leaving many experts wondering if they could be a team that sticks around for a playoff run later in the season. Let's not get too excited, it's only two weeks into the season right? Wrong. The club has setup a great group of starting pitchers, and their bullpen isn't too shabby either. I'm not going to say they will be around looking to get into the playoffs though, that's definitely not happening for me this year, maybe next year. However I will give them a thumbs up for being a very pesky ball club and taking out what people say are the best team in the leagues.

A major issue with saying the Pirates are going to the playoffs, well it's clearly their lineup. Doumit has been deemed off the field anywhere from eight to twelve weeks with a wrist injury that he's going to need surgery on. He was by far the best up and coming big hitter in their lineup. Without him that batting order lacks quite a bit of power. Unless someone like McLouth continues to step up, you might see run support begin to drop for the outstanding starters on the team.

I'll put the Pirates at winning 74 games this season. If Doumit wasn't injured I would surely give them a few more wins, with him in the lineup smashing the ball, it gave the other guys so much more to hit. Won't see that now. Maybe the Pirates will prove me wrong and make the playoffs, I doubt it though.

The Yankees Wind Tunnel

Ah yes, the newly built Yankee Stadium. What a dream baseball stadium. State of the art, modernized, top of the line....Wait, is this the new Yankees Stadium we are talking about? Whenever a new stadium is built, there is obviously a hand full of problems that you are going to be dealing with, it's just a matter of working out the bugs, but the Yankees hit the jackpot of problems with this one.



Five games into it's young existence (If you count the two exhibition games) the new 1.5 billion dollar Yankee Stadium has already given up 25 home runs. That doesn't count all the balls that are rocketing out to the outfield. Is this a design flaw? It's only April and the ball can't stay in the park. What will happen when it's 90 and humid? The new stadium is just across the street from the old ball park, but it's not configured quite the same way as the old like it was originally planned.

Some have come out saying that the way the stadium is configured makes it play like a giant wind tunnel on a ball. Off the bat, a hit may look like a routine fly, but once it's in the air, does it ever sail a long way. One final thing, if they don't figure something out (And it isnt really anything easy to fix, if you could fix it at all.) then you can say good bye to all the hot big time free agent pitchers that the Yankees draw in. No one is going to want to pitch in a Stadium that plays like a live action slugfest video game. Seems like the Yankees could be finding themselves having the same problem teams like the Rockies, Rangers, Reds, Phillies and Astros have had for a long time now.

If things don't change in the new stadium, then let this be a lesson to other teams looking to build a new stadium when they don't nessecarily need it, granted the old ball park did smell like a giant urinal.