The best seat in the house is the view from the couch

Ho hum, just another week in the wild world of sports... yeah, ok buddy.

This has been an unreal week already, and today is only Wednesday. From Schilling to Spahn, Cartwright to 'Zo, and oh yeah, don't forget football.

Let me preface this column by saying that I know I told you I would write a hockey column soon. And I will, just as soon as there is nothing else to write about. It's not that I don't like hockey, it's that the sport is pretty hard to follow up here, as only two channels carry the games and even the local team doesn't get all of its games televised. The Bruins are one of the most historic franchises in SPORTING history, yet even with a good team they still don't sell out games or get ratings. Sad.

So let's move on to other news. First, the passing of Warren Spahn, the greatest lefty of all time. No, that's not opinion, that's fact. He has more career wins than any other lefty, and he missed 4+ years to serve in WWII. When was the last time a modern day player took off a few years to go serve his country? Spahn could probably have won 500 games at the rate he pitched; he's 6th all-time with 363 wins, behind five of the greatest pitchers ever (Cy Young - gee, that name rings a bell, Walter Johnson, Grover Alexander, Christy Mathewson, and Pud Galvin - personally, I'll admit I've never heard of Pud Galvin).

He was a Hall-of-Famer, a 14-time All Star, and a 13-time 20 game winner. He pitched complete games in 382 of his 665 career starts. That's insane. His last 20-win season came in 1963 when he went 23-7 with a 2.60 ERA... at the age of 42. THAT'S insane. The old mantra of "Spahn and Sain, and pray for rain" was so true because those two pitchers were so dominating that they were almost guaranteed a victory every time, much like the modern day Randy Johnson / Curt Schilling combination in Arizona. Warren Spahn will be remembered as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, and the best ever to toss it from the south side.

Speaking of Curt Schilling, it appears the Red Sox have a new #2 starter. I hope. I can't even comprehend the starting rotation of Pedro, Schilling, Wakefield, Lowe, and either Burkett or Suppan next year. But Schill still has to waive his no-trade clause, which is apparently more difficult to do than anyone imagined. Schilling doesn't want to pitch in a fly-ball park because he is a fly-ball pitcher, so the Sox management found a new stat to show that overpowering fastball pitchers (Pedro, Clemens, etc.) have been able to pitch in Fenway with relative ease. Schilling wants a contract extension so that he can retire after this contract. Fine, he's in pretty good shape, give him a 3 year extension to bring him up to the age of 41 (he's 37 now) and then he can retire after that.

Maybe the Sox can even go after an Andy Pettite or a Greg Maddux now as a #3 guy (can you imagine either of them as #3 guys?) behind this unreal starting two. I don't think Steinbrenner is going to let Pettite out of his sight for the next five or six years, and he might just pull another Mo Vaughn / Bernie Williams deal like he did back in 1997. You all remember that, right? The Sox had decided to focus on signing Williams away from the Yankees rather than devote time to their own guy, Mo Vaughn. What happens? Williams agrees on a 6 year - $90 million deal from the Sox, but then renegs before signing because Steinbrenner offers him the same deal and he wants to stay as a Yankee. Mo Vaughn, meanwhile, decides to sign with the Angels for about the same amount yearly, and the Sox get left with no legit power threat for a few seasons until Carl "T-Rex" Everett and Manny Ramirez sign in 1999 and 2000.

Speaking of Manny, would anyone be against a Manny for A-Rod deal? Think about it, the salary actually goes up a little, but they could move Nomar midway through the season. I would make the trade, put A-Rod at second (Walker's arbitration eligible) until near the deadline, then move Nomar for young power pitching - Brandon Webb or Dontrelle Willis both come to mind, or perhaps Eric Gagne who was almost traded for Nomar last year. If the Sox dump Manny on Texas and take A-Rod's contract, they could sign a young second baseman, say, Luis Castillo, to put at second once Nomar moves. It's pure speculation, but it could work. Think about this lineup: Castillo (2B) - Damon (CF) - Nixon (RF) - A-Rod (DH) - Nomar (SS) - Ortiz (1B) - Mueller (3B) - Millar (LF) Varitek (C). Varitek as a legit #9 guy? Wow, remember all those records they set last year, they might all get shattered if this happens...

Now, the NBA. A month into the season and two underachieving teams have fired their coaches, the Bulls and the Magic. Bill Cartwright probably deserved a little more time to try and get through to what essentially amounts to a college team with all of the youth he had. Doc Rivers, however, deserved a lot more. Yes, he got canned after his team lost 10 straight (it's 13 now), but the consecutive losses aren't his fault. He got saddled with a team that looked wonderful on paper, T-Mac, Grant Hill, and then a bunch of character guys, plus enough money to sign over a marquee free agent or two the past few seasons. But then they lost out on Duncan, Kidd, Olowakandi, and everyone else they wanted. Grant's ankle will never get better. T-Mac's back just can't carry everyone, and suddenly they're staring a 10 game losing streak straight in the face one year after going to the playoffs. So, natural reaction? Fire the Head coach and top assistant in order to promote the second assistant. There's a great line relating to firing a head coach to promote an assistant: Do you think that the assistant had all the answers the whole time, but was just keeping them to himself? Bring in an outsider (this goes for the Bulls too).

But this isn't all on Rivers. The GM and the team management deserve a little of the (dis)credit for this team as well. Look at the marquee names they've had on their rosterr just since 1998: T-Mac, Grant Hill, Keon Clark, Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Corey Magette, Matt Harpring, Troy Hudson, Mike Miller, Earl Boykins, c'mon, there's three former and probably at least one future all-star just in that list. But only two are still with the team, and only one is still playing. Oops.

Hindsight is 20-20, and the deal to send Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins to Detroit in a sign-and-trade for Grant Hill will probably come back to haunt the Magic. But think about it for a second. Grant Hill already had a bad ankle before going to Orlando. The Magic could have probably gotten him for much less, and still kept Wallace. So what it comes down to is just poor decision making by the team ownership and management. It's not something that Rivers should have been punished for. Just cut Hill at season's end, eat the cap hit (he's never going to play again) and re-build from there.

Finally, Alonzo Mourning. When I was younger, I, like many young boys, collected sports cards. I still do. But in 1992, when Zo and Shaq were the two hot commodities, I had reached my card-collecting peak. I thought that these two guys were going to change the way the center position was played, and I wanted to collect as many cards of these two as I could because I knew they were both sure-fire Hall-of-Famers. Well, I was half-right.

Nothing against Mourning, he was a hell of a player; no one had more heart or determination than him. But a Hall-of-Famer? I just can't see him enshrined alongside Jordan, Olajuwon, Robinson, Barkley, Ewing, Malone, Stockton, Shaq (eventually) and all the rest of the best players from the decade of the 90's. I understand that Barkley, Stockton, Ewing and Malone (so far) never won titles, but that shouldn't necessarily be the determining factor here. Zo never won ANYTHING. I don't think he ever got out of the first round of the playoffs, and if he did, I know he never reached the NBA finals. Every other person named at least made it to the Finals, some multiple times. And four of them won a title multiple times. If Kevin Garnett were to retire today due to injury, would he be a Hall-of-Famer? Jason Kidd? Paul Pierce, T-Mac, Iverson? The only legit "young guns" that could retire today and be Hall-of-Famers are Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan.

Alonzo Mourning will go down as perhaps one of the top 10-20 centers to ever play the game. But I just don't see him in Springfield anytime soon.

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Football!

I had the privilege and honor of meeting Coach Don Shula this past weekend at a dinner at Foxwoods. I got a great framed and autographed picture of Coach Sula and Coach Ditka, although Ditka didn't make it after a car accident and hip surgery. I have to say something right away: Coach Shula is truly one of the most likeable sports celebrities I've ever gotten to meet. Granted, in my short life there haven't been many, and only two other marquee names, but Coach Shula was just genuine. He had pictures taken with each and every one of the 200 guests, he joked with some of us, and he got up to the podium after dinner and recounted some of the best games in football history, because he was involved in them. He told us about Super Bowl III against Joe Namath, he recounted his infuriation in the "Snow Plow" game in New England (heh heh heh), and he reminisced about some of his favorite players and moments. But he told one story that really made everyone laugh, so that's the one I'll tell you.

He was getting ready for his final Super Bowl appearance by going over his routine and calming down. He told us that he usually tried to find a nice quiet place to sit down and read some notes, but more importantly to get his head straight and think about what he wanted to tell his team. Usually, it ended up being the bathroom. So he was standing in front of the mirror in a bathroom rehearsing his speech, when the owner's wife walked in looking for him.

"Are you OK Coach?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm just getting my notes together" he replied.

"Well, are you a little nervous about the game?"

"Nervous, why would you think that? This is the fourth Super Bowl I’ve been

in." Shula replied.

"Then why are you in the women's bathroom?" the owner's wife asked.

Coach grabbed his papers and went to the locker room.

Now on to this weeks' picks. Last week I went 7-9 (i'm getting worse) for a season record of 27-29-3. No pushes for 2 weeks now, weird. Here come this weeks picks. I'll try to keep it short.

Packers (-7.5) over LIONS: It's a thanksgiving day game in Detroit that once again no one outside of these two cities will watch because they'll be sleeping off the turkey hangover. The Packers look poised to take over the NFC north right now, especially with Minnesota facing the Rams.

COWBOYS (-3.5) over Dolphins: Dallas looked really good against Carolina last week, and if they can shut down Steven Davis for four quarters, what makes anyone think that they can't stop Ricky Williams?

RAMS (-5.5) over Vikings: Beating up on the Lions does not automatically make you a contender again. Nor does barely escaping the Cardinals. There's no field advantage here because they're both dome teams. When all outside fators like that are equal, just take the favorite. They're the favorite for a reason, you know.

BEARS (-4.5) over Cardinals: God, can we just cancel this game? No one wins. The Bears stink, the Cardinals really stink, no one will watch this. The only way to pick a winner here is to see where it's played. Hmm, a team from Phoenix playing in Chicago in late November? Let's just say it'll be a bit chilly. Take da Bears and hope Kordell gets to play again so I can make fun of him next week.

TEXANS (-3.5) over Falcons: So much for Michael Vick coming back for this game. I finally dropped him from my fantasy reserve list after hoping for a quick recovery. At least I got Jay Fiedler off waivers. Anyway, the Texans looked very good against a strong New England team last week, so even though the Falcons almost upset the Titans, they ost their #1 RB Warrick Dunn for the season, so don't expect much out of them in the final weeks.

PATRIOTS (+3.5) over Colts: It scares me to bet on the home team's games. If they win and I have money the other way, I'm happy and mad. If they lose and I have money on them, I'm doubly pissed. That being said, I'm putting down dough on the pats this week. Harrison's gimpy, Pollard's out, Edge won't do much against the Pats, so it's all on Peyton, and I think we've see Bill Belichick can game plan for one player (anyone remember Super Bowl XXXVI?)

Bills (+4.5) over GIANTS: You see, the Giants just aren't as talented, coordinated, or lucky as the pats. They can't pull off the Bill Belichick patented Monday Night Football giveaway safety move. Is this going to be a trend now? Once again, the Giants dig a hole they can't get out of. They just don't want to win anymore. Take the Bills and the points, and laugh all the way to the bank.

Bengals (+2.5) over STEELERS: Wait, is that a +2.5? How's that? Um, aren't the Bengals in first place, and the Steelers are horrible? The only reason they've got 4 wins is because they get to play Cleveland a couple of times. This isn't even hard, the Bengals are playing on Pride right now, the Steelers are playing just to stop being laughed at and questioned. But this division is up for grabs (first place is 6-5, last place is 4-7). Take the Bengals and cross your fingers it doesn't go to overtime.

Eagles (+1.5) over PANTHERS: Wow, what a game. Second-best game of the week, behind Indy/N.E. The Eagles are playing damned good football right now, and I don't see the Panthers getting in their way. If the Bengals are playing on Pride, the Eagles are playing on Stubbornness. Remember how people wanted to bench McNabb a few weeks back? Now he's getting serious MVP consideration. As much as I like the Pats, I think it's going to be Eagles / Titans in the Super Bowl, provided McNair isn't too hurt. Take the points and don't change that channel.

Broncos (-3.5) over RAIDERS: I just hate the Raiders, OK. That, plus they can't possibly go on a 3-game winning streak after a 5-game loser, can they? And there'sno way the Broncos are as bad as they looked against the Bears last week, are they? Hmmmmm.....

Chiefs (-7.5) over CHARGERS: Here's my "over 5.5 points but I'm still taking them" team of the week, and maybe the year, the Chiefs. I wouldn't be surprised to see KC put up 50 in this game, or to see Priest go for 200+. Trent Green is becoming the big game QB Dick Vermiel always knew he could be, and that'snot good for opposing teams. With a weapon like Holmes in the backfield, even a mediocre QB could dominate.

SEAHAWKS (-7.5) over Browns: I almost left eh B in Brown in lower-case. This team is so inconsistent, it's scary. Put up 44 on Arizona (a 3-8 team), then only got 6 against Pittsburgh (a 4-7 team). Not much difference in the teams, so why the difference in scores? Because this team just can't put together two quality games, whether they're high quality or low. The Seahawks on the other hand, are looking to kill the next moving object they see after giving up 41 in the second half and OT to Baltimore last week. Couldnt' they see Marcus Robinson in the end zone? I mean the guy is pretty tall.

Saints (-2.5) over REDSKINS: Not happening this year for the 'Skins either. They looked good for one week, then went right back to making stupid mental errors and quitting in the fourth quarter. They had that game against the Dolphins last week, and they gave it up. Now Bruce Smith, one of the classiest guys in the league, is going over the coach's head to the owner to ask for more playing time? Last time I checked, owners didn't decide who played when, they just decided who got paid.

Bucs (-5.5) over JAGUARS: The Bucs looked really good on Monday night, albeit against a Giants team that has quit this year. The Jags have a QB controversy between two marginal, at best, QB's? That's not a good sign. 5.5 points or 55.5 points, take the Bucs. Well, if it were 55.5, you might consider taking the Jags.

Titans (-2.5) over JETS: 2.5?!?! Why, because it's in the Meadowlands? c'mon people, weather doesn't make up for, oh, that's right, no McNair. Hold on a sec....

JETS (+2.5) over Titans: There, much better. No McNair, no McWin.

posted by Big D @ 12:00 AM