Tuesday, May 04, 2004

Well, quite a bit has happened since last I sat down and wrote a bit, so let’s try to cover as much as possible before I either get bored or lose feeling in my fingers…

THE NFL DRAFT

Even with all of the trades and the speculation, I somehow had 2 picks dead on (3 if you count Eli Manning ending up in NY). And although I hate all of the columns that give out draft grades before the draft picks have ever stepped onto a field, I will tell you this: There were three clear winners, and three clear losers.

WINNERS:

Detroit – No doubt about it. They took advantage of Cleveland’s love affair with Kellen Winslow Jr. and it paid off in the form of Roy Williams and an extra second round pick, then used some shrewd maneuvering with Kansas City to get back into the first round and fill in a hole at RB with Kevin Jones. Now, Joey Harrington gets put on the hot seat this season; he’s got no excuses for not getting it done. Not with the offensive talent that Matt Millen has assembled around him.

New England – Vince Wilfork at 21 and Marquise Hill (Who was supposed to be a first-rounder) with the LAST pick in the second round? Somehow they ignored all of the trade rumors, they overcame the Ty Law situation, and they still filled just about every hole they had. Bonus note: look out for P.K. Sam, the Pats’ fifth round pick. He’s built, he’s fast, and he played big-time college ball at FSU, so he’s ready.

San Diego – They got the guy they wanted, and they got a boatload of picks in the process. The Giants could have just as easily waited a day or two and driven the asking price down, and here’s why. Manning was prepared to sit out a year if need be. The Chargers didn’t have any leverage in the negotiations with New York other than having the player that the Giants wanted. So if New York waited it out, they could have probably gotten Manning for Rivers, and a first and fifth next year, or maybe even a SECOND and fifth. San Diego couldn’t afford to let Manning sit all year, they HAD to move him. New York just got impatient, and they paid for it.

LOSERS:

Dallas - They needed a running back, and they could have gotten the best one available if they’d just said no to Buffalo. Unfortunately, they decided to deal their first-round pick for a second rounder and an extra #1 next year, and it burned them. Julius Jones will be a serviceable RB in the NFL, but by all accounts, Stephen Jackson is the real deal, and Dallas essentially took a pass.

Cleveland - Kellen Winslow Jr. is certainly worth the extra second round pick, but more than likely, Detroit would have taken Roy Williams over Winslow anyway. Cleveland probably gave up too much for Winslow. Of course, if he develops into a 12-year Pro-Bowler and makes the HOF, I’ll shut up.

Kansas City – They have no true receivers for Trent Green to throw too, and Priest Holmes, superhuman as he may be, can’t carry this team forever. This was probably one of the best drafts in history in terms of WR’s available, and KC took a pass on getting one in the first round. I think they were looking toward the future and hoping that the Bills will be bad enough to earn a high #1 next year, so that KC could deal up and get Mike Williams. But still, that’s an awful big if…

IN THE MIDDLE

New York Giants – Like I said before, they overpaid. But let’s look at what they got. They got a guy who played at a mediocre football school and now has the unbelievable pressure of being the #1 overall pick playing in the biggest media market in the world and unseating the incumbent QB who only three years ago led the team to the Super Bowl, all while trying to live up to his family’s legacy and watching his big brother be the highest paid player in the game. Yeah, good luck with that.

THE NHL / NBA PLAYOFFS

Huh? These are STILL going on? I could’ve sworn they ended a week or so ago…

To be completely honest, I’ve tried to follow the playoffs, especially since even though the Boston teams put up less than stellar showings (more on the Bruins another day), I still had one team in each sport that I followed that was still alive, the Avalanche and the Lakers. No, I’m not a hypocrite by being a Celtics fan but still following the Lakers. I’ve followed Shaq since he came into the league.

Anyway, I lost interest in both playoffs after they dragged on for almost 4 weeks now, and each has at least 2 rounds left. How is it possible that the NBA playoffs still have a FIRST-ROUND game tonight?!? Unreal.

As for how I think it’ll all shake out…

NBA – Pistons over the Spurs in 6

NHL – Avs over Flyers in 7, then the NHL will close down for 2 years.

NEWS

I would like to take this time to address Pat Tillman, but I don’t really feel like there’s anything I can say that hasn’t already been said. There’s no way I can do justice to what his life meant to the country, let alone the NFL. What I can do is to ask you to click here to see the kind of people Pat Tillman lost his life defending. I certainly don’t agree with the column, but the irony of the situation is that people like Pat Tillman are the people that gave this jackass the right to criticize people like Pat Tillman.

MLB

There are so many surprises thus far into the season, I’m not really sure where to begin. So I’m not even going to touch the surprises, I’m going to focus on the one thing so far that’s not a surprise: Pedro is bitching about his contract YET AGAIN.

So everyone who is reading this, you all know me pretty well… brace yourselves, because I’m about to say something I never thought I would.

It’s time to dump Pedro.

And I don’t even care if he ends up in The Stadium.

Let him bitch and moan about his contract. Let him use the desperation “I’m being disrespected” clause. Let him go to free agency. Then let him see just how much the other 29 teams in the league respect him.

I’m tired of his complaining, I’m tired of his prima dona act, but most importantly, I’m tired of overpaying for a mediocre pitcher. Pedro today is not Pedro of 1999. He’s not going to blow guys away with an overpowering fastball. He can’t disguise his dominating changeup because the fastball doesn’t scare people anymore. He’s not locating, he’s dropped 3-5 mph off his velocity, he’s done. And unfortunately, everyone knows it but him.

Greg Maddux has been a very successful pitcher long past his prime because he’s smart enough and adept enough to realize that he doesn’t have any “kill” pitch anymore. But he’s got the brainpower to know how to pitch, not just throw. Pedro doesn’t have that, and he never will, because he has the machismo, the bravado, and the balls to think he can dominate just because he’s Pedro.

Once upon a time, Pedro Martinez was the best in the game, and was being compared to the best of all time. Now? He’s not even the ace of his own team’s staff, no matter what everyone in the front office says. Too bad he still thinks he can get the money of the best in the game. Hell, Roger Clemens, who is 5-0 and looks absolutely unhitable, is only making somewhere around $6M a year (I say “only” with a little chuckle).

By the time Pedro’s contract expires in October, he will have made around $100M in his time with the Red Sox. How much more does he really need? More importantly, how much does he really think he can get? Theo and the Trio are notorious already for not overpaying players, and for finding value where others thought there was none (Hello David Ortiz and Bill Mueller).

Pedro will hit the free agent market running after the season, and he will say he’s willing to take a “pay-cut”, by which he means he’ll lower his salary from the current $17.5M this year to maybe $14M-$15M, which is still a joke.

Back in 2000, when A-Rod and Manny signed the asinine contracts that threatened to shut down baseball altogether, I remember thinking that when Pedro became a free agent he’d command AT LEAST $20M a year, maybe ever the $25M that A-Rod got. Now? I’ll be surprised if he gets $12M.

That is, of course, unless the Empire decides to step in...

MOM’S CRAZY COMMENT OF THE WEEK

OK, this is about to become a running weekly theme, since my mother just keeps coming up with new material for me…

There are actually two this week, so here goes.

First, last week while I was watching SportsCenter:

Mom: “What the hell is Zach Day? Is that ANOTHER holiday?”

Me: “Uh, no ma. He’s a pitcher for the Expos…”

Don’t know why, that just made me laugh for awhile. Then she told me a story about something that had happened to her awhile ago as a preface to something she did last week.

A few years back, she used to work nights at a local hospital, and would always go to the same convenience store every night for a coffee and a newspaper. There was a clerk behind the counter who had been on crutches for as long as she could remember, and she wondered why he didn’t seem to be getting any better. Finally, she decided to ask one night…

Mom: “So, how’s your leg?”

Clerk: (Without missing a beat) “Still missing”

She’d never noticed that he was on crutches because he only had one leg. She never went back.

So this week, she was working with someone on a project, and he needed to go and type up a letter. Her response was to tell him “You’d better type it fast”. She forgot he only had 3 fingers on each hand. But, even better, when he got back she still hadn’t realized her mistake, and told him “Wow, that was fast. I can’t type that fast, I only go one finger at a time…”

Oops. Hope he doesn’t read this… J