Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions

Welcome to the third installment of "Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions" here at the Block Party.

Over the next couple of weeks, to get ready for the NBA season (which opened yesterday!) Kris and Dan are going answer a bunch of questions. One question and two responses per post. Pretty straight forward.


Question 3: Can the Mavericks rebound from the playoff disaster against Golden State?


Kris says:

I will admit it even after the fact; I was on the Mavs bandwagon all season last year. I saw them play a ton on TV and I really thought they had what it took to win the whole thing; they were just so dominant in the regular season. They were explosive and varied on the offensive end and they even played some defense. But for whatever reason they ran into a buzz saw known as the Golden State Warriors.

The question is now can they rebound form that terrible loss and have another great season. I don't think so. There are just some teams I feel have a certain window of opportunity and this version of the Mavericks I think have run their course. We have sent his version of their starting lineup and it hasn’t gotten the job done in the playoffs. Their bench is rounded out with veterans like Dampier, Stackhouse, Eddie Jones and Trenton Hassell. Those guys don't really excite me anymore. I was a big believer in Devan Harris when he came out of Wisconsin but for some reason he doesn’t truly fit on this team, they are always better when Jason Terry is running the show. Unfortunately if Terry is running the show that means one of the crusty vets like Jones or Stackhouse is in the game.

What happened to the Mavs last year in the playoffs was a complete and total embarrassment. When something like that happens it is up to ownership and management to shake things up a little. It is obvious that everyone there was too comfortable and you could tell by their lack of reaction toward what happened, the only guy that seemed truly pissed was Avery Johnson, the coach. This was the time where Cuban needed to make the big splash and trade Dampier, Diop and Howard for a guy like Jermaine O’Neal or swap Nowitzki for Kobe . The leadership is the key ingredient that is lacking. This team has obviously shown a lack of heart and resolve on the court. It is so hard for championship teams to have a resolve and rebound from things, never mind a team that wasn’t strong enough to win a championship and has no on court leadership.

This then begs to the larger question and that is do European (or other foreign) superstars have the cut throat win at all costs mentality to lead to a championship. It is best summed up as a Jordan-esque quality; though we began to see it from LeBron last year, Wade with the Heat, Billups with the Pistons. The Spurs don’t really count; they are just so boringly efficient at both ends of the floor they exude the expression the total is better than the sum of the parts.

Dirk has the opportunity to prove me and everyone else wrong, but it is up to Dirk and Dirk alone. He needs to stand up and be counted, the great ones do it, ask Peyton Manning.

Dan says:

Dallas won 67 games last year.

They bring back the exact same team, which wasn’t particularly old to begin with. The exact same coach, who has been incredibly successful so far, taking the team to the Finals in 2005-2006 and to the best record in the regular season in 2006-2007.

I think they will recover just fine.

They ran into the worst possible matchup for them in the playoffs last year. Golden State was hot, they were motivated, and they played a style that Dallas did not match up against well.

The largest concern is this: in that playoff series, Golden State was determined not to let Dirk Nowitzki beat them. This is a normal tactic, leaving it up to the rest of the team to step up and lead. For Dallas, no one did, with the exception of Jerry Stackhouse, who is not even a starter. Jason Terry and Josh Howard were non-entities against the Warriors, and so Dallas failed.

I don’t expect that to happen again, as Josh Howard is a terrific player just coming into his prime, and Jason Terry is a talented and prideful veteran.

I think with fiery and ultra-competitive Avery Johnson as their coach, they will use that loss as motivation to have an even better year.

I think Dallas will easily be one of the top 4 teams in the West, and come playoff time, they’ll have just as good a chance to come out of the conference as anyone else.

Of course there will be questions, about their depth (they’re really only about 7 or 8 deep, depending on how you feel about Devean George), about Dirk and his “desire to win”, about Avery having the tendency to get outcoached occasionally.

But every team has questions, and these aren’t any more serious than any other top team’s questions.

So, Dallas is still a very good, very dangerous team. Losing badly in the playoffs last year will have no impact on what they will be able to do this year.

Here Come The Warm Jets: Week 8

The season is only half over, and yet this team has already committed its greatest offense to its fans.

It has rendered all the rest of the games this year utterly irrelevant.

Nothing they do the rest of the year will particularly matter one way or the other. They won't play a relevant series of downs again until 2008.

Fans look forward the entire year to the football season. This team ended it prematurely for everyone. It's not even Halloween and the NFL is done for Jets fans.

Sure, they will spout rhetoric about still trying to win games and play for today and not the future, but that is fiction, spin, what they have to say in this media culture. In truth, this is about going through the motions, until the year is over, and they can figure out what to do next.

There is really only four things they have left to do this year:

1 - Start to figure out what they have in Kellen Clemens. Is he going to be good enough to count on to start next year?

2 - Figure out if there is anyone worth keeping on the defense, and if so, how best to use these people.

3 - Beat the Dolphins. If the Dolphins go 1-15 and the 1 is against the Jets, then the entire team, including the coaching staff, needs to be not only fired but actually lit on fire.

4 - Do not get humiliated against the Patriots. Belichick will be out for revenge against Mangini. Everyone will expect the game to be something like 77-3. They have to show up for that game and protect that small and tiny shred of a thing called the pride of the franchise, whatever may be left of it by the second to last game of the year.


That's all that's left for the 2007 Jets, this most frustrating and inexplicable of teams. Allow the fans, who have been robbed of half a season, to at least maintain some degree of dignity and hope, however misguided or fragile.

If they can't even do that, then, then, I don't know. Blow everything up, again, and start all over again, again. And we can wait until next year for another three years, again.

It ain't over till it's over

Let me preface this by saying, I still hate the Boston Red Sox and hope them and all their fans die in fiery plane crashes.

Now that being said, I still felt compelled to watch the last few innings of the World Series last night. As I was watching I kept asking myself why? Why was I watching the inevitable? Since the Yankees have lost I probably haven't watched three innings of playoff baseball. But as I watched the Red Sox wrap up another World Series sweep I felt the excitement that is what baseball provides.

No matter how big the lead is, at the end of the World Series you have to get three outs. It is not like the other sports; you have to make the plays in order to win. In basketball you can be up by 15 and cruise to victory in the final game of the series. Plenty of times the Super Bowl has been anti climactic, we already know the winner, guys have been hugging each other on the sideline for 10 minutes and the celebration is sort of fake, even though the joy is real.

Last night as I was watching, you could see the anticipation on the face of the Red Sox. This is just one more of things that makes baseball so unique and I think why certain people are so protective of the game and its traditions. Papelbon finally blew away Seth Smith with a fastball and the celebration is still spontaneous. You never know where the game is going to end. When the Yankees won in 1996 who would have thought Charlie Hayes would have caught the ball down by the tarp at third base. That spurred the Yankees celebration to go toward the mound but never really reach it, because the celebration always seems to center around whoever made the final play. And that embrace between pitcher and catcher, that is the embrace of 1000 celebrations, gloves and hats go flying in the air and one grown man leaps into another’s arms.

Baseball is so great for so many reasons and means so much to plenty of us baseball nerds. The spontaneity of the celebration is just another one of those joys we baseball fans should relish. P.S.Watch the video again, after the strikeout when Varitek is sprinting out to the mound he takes the final ball and slips it into his back pocket.

Filowitz's Friday Five

Saturday edition!

1) I'm in New York City, on vacation.

2) I'm still annoyed that the Red Sox are going to win.

3) I'm still annoyed that the Patriots are so damned good.

4) I'm still annoyed that the Knicks aren't going to be any damned good.

5) I did get to eat a real bagel, so it's not all so bad.

On Campus 10/27/07

5 Games to Watch

#21 California vs. #4 Arizona State- It is the week of the Oregon vs. USC game and that might be the second most important game in the Pac-10. The Sun Devils sit atop the conference with perhaps the most difficult stretch in the country coming up (they go to Oregon & UCLA and then have Southern Cal at home). Rudy Carpenter leads Dennis Erickson’s squad with 16 TD passes and over 1700 yards. Jeff Tedford’s Cal Bears have lost two in a row in conference for the fourth straight year, but they haven’t lost 3 in a row. ASU needs to get this stretch off on the right foot.


#9 Kansas vs. Texas A&M- The Jayhawks sit alone atop the Big 12 North standings and the Aggies are in a dead heat with the state of Oklahoma for the Big 12 South lead. The undefeated Jayhawks have a balanced offense lead by the tandem running attack of FB Brandon McAnderson and HB Jake Sharp who both have 500+ yards on the season. Sophomore signal caller Todd Reesing has only thrown 4 INT’s all year and is scrappy player who helped grind out road wins in the Little Apple and Boulder. What do the Aggies have to stop all this, well and 8-0 all time record versus Kansas and one of the bets home fields in football at Kyle Field.


Boise State vs. Fresno State- Over the past 7 or so years these two teams have challenged the BCS hierarchy. This year while neither is reaching national attention they are a combined 11-3 and both undefeated in conference. Also, both teams travel to Hawaii later this season, so to remain undefeated is key. Everyone knows about Ian Johnson the Broncos RB but the star of this game could be Fresno State freshmen Ryan Mathews who is averaging 6.5 yards per carry and has rushed for a n average of 130 yards the past 3 games. (NOTE: This game is Friday nigh on ESPN)


#7 West Virginia vs. Rutgers- Last year this game produced a classic which I listened to via phone conversations with my dad while in the parking lot of the I-43 Sheboygan Super Wal-Mart. The Scarlet Knights are in the middle of playing three ranked teams in a row, and they got off on the right foot last week against South Florida thanks to the re-emergence of pre season Heisman candidate Ray Rice. Rice’s counterpart Steve Slaton has carried the Mountaineers all year as QB Pat White has been banged up. This game should be played at a high level and it will most likely comes down to which beta up QB, White or Rutgers Mike Teel, makes more plays.


#15 South Carolina vs. Tennessee- The Ole Ball Coach heads back home to the Volunteer state where he hails from. The numbers speak for themselves, Spurrier is the only coach to bring three different teams into Neyland and win, and he is 8-4 against Fullmer. Both teams come off hugely disappointing losses last week; South Carolina’s leaving their QB situation in a quagmire, though incumbent Chris Smelley will get the start. The Vol’s offense will look to pound the ball with Arian Foster, rather than try and pass against an aggressive blitzing pass defense. At this point with the SEC East up for a grabs a win is a win and a loss eliminates either form title contention.


4 Players to See

Percy Harvin, WR Florida- Harvin is the ultimate weapon for the unique offense of Urban Meyer. With Harvin’s ability to run with the ball Meyer lines him up in the backfield at least 8-10 times a game. He has already equaled his total receptions from last year (34) for over 600 yards and rushed for another 200+. Look for Harvin to be a big factor for the Gators this week against Georgia.


Tyler Lorenzen, QB Connecticut- Of no relation to former Kentucky great and current New York Giants back up, the hefty lefty Jared Lorenzen, but still a pretty good college QB in his own right. Lorenzen has been a steadying influence for the Huskies all season long; he is big (6’5 225), accurate (60.8% completion) and a good scrambler (over 40 yards on the ground 4 times). Last week Rutgers QB Mike Teel was effective against South Florida, with Lorenzen’s ability to move outside the pocket he could prove to be trouble for the Bulls.


Chris Long, DE Virginia- Some have him rated as the highest defensive player in the upcoming NFL Draft. Last week he tortured the Terrapins recording 2 sacks, 3 tackles for loss and forcing 2 fumbles. This week against an inexperienced NC State team Long could have another field day. He uses his quickness to live in opponents backfields.


Tony Dixon, RB Miss. State- Dixon is the Bulldogs only offensive weapon. In their four wins this year Dixon has run for an average of 120 yards and 2 TD’s. The Wildcats struggle to stop the run and produce points in bunches on offense so Bulldogs coach Sly Croom will call on Dixon to be a ball control specialist this week, which could lead to a high yardage total.

Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions

Welcome to the second installment of "Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions" here at the Block Party.

Over the next couple of weeks, to get ready for the NBA season, Kris and Dan are going answer a bunch of questions. One question and two responses per post. Pretty straight forward.


Question 2: Do the Bulls have enough to really challenge for the Eastern Conference title?


Kris Says

I am on the band wagon of the baby Bulls. Of course this is a tough question to answer because of the lingering Kobe saga. I do believe that if the Bulls were going to pull the trigger on the deal they would have done it earlier in the summer. That being said I will evaluate the Bulls on their current roster and not try and make any Kobe predictions.

I love they way the Bulls are built, especially they way they have acquired role players. Everyone knows they can score with the electric backcourt of Hinrich and Gordon and budding superstar Luol Deng. But up front they have a steady diet of role players, which sort of reminds me of other Bulls championship teams. They will start veterans Joe Smith and Ben Wallace. Now I have made fun of Joe Smith in the past, but this is a team where he can flourish, there is no pressure on him. There is plenty of scoring in the backcourt and Ben Wallace will always be the defensive stopper in the front court. In the draft the Bulls added Joakim Noah (by the way his name is simply pronounced JOE-KIM, nothing fancy) and Aaron Gray which were both nice picks. Also they have last years #2 pick Tyrus Thomas and third year man Andris Nocioni. What this gives them is scoring (Nocioni & Gray) defense (Wallace & Noah) and rebounding (Smith & Thomas). Now obviously all of them won't play but it is a nice rotation of players to choose from.

Like I said most of us know about their backcourt abilities. But besides the starters they have quality experienced backups. Chris Duhon has proved to be a consistent bench PG in this league, more than I ever thought he could. Also they signed free agent guard Adrian Griffin who can be a defensive stopper off the bench and second year man Thabo Sefolosha. Again like the front court it makes for a good mix of players with varying abilities.


The Bulls have the pieces in place, a team that has been together for awhile, a solid starting five, a mixture of veterans & quality young backups and a coach who has been with the team. However, basketball for the most part has always been a game of superstars (with certain exception like the ’04 Pistons). I feel that Luol Deng needs to now make that jump from promising young player to NBA superstar, be a an All-Star starter and someone his team can count on in big games. I think if he elevates his scoring to the 25ppg. range then the Bulls will be the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Dan Says:

To make a run at the Eastern Conference? Yes, certainly.

Let's take a look at why:

- This is a team that won 49 games last year, and destroyed the Heat in the playoffs.

- They didn't lose any major player in the offseason.

- They didn't go through any major player or coach related offseason turmoil.

- The nucleus of the team is young, just entering their prime. If anything, most of these guys should get better.

- There is no dominant team in the East.

The biggest question mark about this team is that they don't have any consistently dominant scorers. Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, and Luol Deng are all decent scorers, but as evidenced in the Detroit series in last year's playoffs, they can be stopped by certain types of tough defensive teams.

But let's take the optimistic approach. Let's say Hinrich and Gordon have typically solid years. Let's say Deng continues to be one of the best small forwards in the league, as he showed most of last year. Let's say that Tyrus Thomas furthers his development, and plays more dominant, explosive minutes. Let's say that Joakim Noah and Andres Nocioni prove to be good energy guys for the second unit. Let's say that Thabo Sefolosha gets to show what he can do for more minutes. Let's say Ben Wallace doesn't die this year.

Then I'd say you're looking at a young, talented, and deep 50-win team that can contend with any other team in the East.

They'd still struggle against Detroit most likely, as that is a bad matchup for them. But they're deeper than Boston, they're tougher than Toronto, and they are superior to Washington, Cleveland, and Orlando.

And none of this is to mention that they have the assets to trade for Kobe. Which is a whole other story.

So, bottom line, this Bulls team certainly has enough to contend for an Eastern Conference championship. They won't beat any of the Western teams in the Finals, though. No chance there.

Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions

Welcome to the first installment of "Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions" here at the Block Party.

Over the next couple of weeks, to get ready for the NBA season, Kris and Dan are going answer a bunch of questions. One question and two responses per post. Pretty straight forward.

One twist: if there's a question you want Kris and Dan to answer about the NBA, submit it in the comments. And if it's not totally dumb, we'll answer it in a post. Cool? Cool.


Question 1: Will the Eastern Conference be legit this season after the additions of All-Star caliber players like Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Zach Randolph, Jason Richardson, and Rashard Lewis?

Kris says:

The Eastern Conference teams definitely did what they needed to do in order to compete. Some teams went with youth additions on their bench like the Pistons or some like the Celtics and Magic made the big splash by acquiring All-Star players. Clearly the East is not as top heavy as the Western Conference, there are still no dominant forces like the Texas Two and the team in Phoenix, but the East can compete this year.

Last year I would have told you that I didn’t really believe any of the Eastern teams could win the title. However, this season I can see Chicago, Detroit , Boston , and Miami all being title contenders. Furthermore, I think teams like Cleveland, Washington, and New Jersey if they were able to add pieces during the year via trade could clearly make a move. Just remember by the February trading deadline there could be some interesting Western Conference players looking to be dealt, including Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady (if the Rockets struggle again), Pau Gasol and Shawn Marion.

At the very least the East will be much more compelling this year. Clearly the story of the offseason was made in Boston and you can’t argue that even non Boston fans might be pulling for this team a little because of the quality of people and players that Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett are. We also have the drama of watching LeBron and see if he can follow up that unbelievable playoff performance and take his game to an even higher level, which is scary to think about. Add those factors to the fact that the Big Fella says he is healthy and ready for one more shot at glory and you have an Eastern Conference worth watching this year.

Dan says:

If the question was “will the East be more compelling this year” then the answer clearly would be yes.

Of course there is the new Big 3 in Boston. The Bulls seem like they should be better, with a lot of the young talent (Deng, Heinrich, Gordon, Tyrus Thomas) having more experience going into this year. The Heat still have Wade and Shaq. The Nets still have Kidd and Carter and Jefferson. The Pistons still have their core, and some intriguing young guys (Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiel, Rodney Stuckey) to work into their rotation. LeBron still plays for the Cavs (though no one else seems to.) Washington’s big three (Arenas, Jamison, Butler) could have given the Cavs trouble in the playoffs last year if they were healthy, and they’re all back this year.

In tier two, the Hawks have some players worth watching (Josh Smith and Joe Johnson) along with two top-10 picks from this past draft (Horford and Law IV) so they could bring some excitement. Same with the Bobcats, adding Jason Richardson to a team that already has the best and most exciting player to watch you don’t hear enough about, Gerald Wallace (worth the price of League Pass by himself.) And the Knicks, well, they won’t be boring with all those characters on the team, if nothing else (though they will sure to be maddening, frustrating, and ultimately heartbreaking for their fans. That's another topic for later.)

But the question here is “will the East be 'legit'?” And, despite being better than last year, I don’t think they are quite legit yet.

These teams in the West would be favored to win the East if they switched conferences tomorrow: Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, Houston, and Utah.

These teams in the West would be considered strong contenders to be in the top three in the East if they switched conferences tomorrow: Denver, New Orleans, Golden State, and the Lakers.

That’s nine teams in the West that are better than or just about as good as the top three teams in the East (Detroit, Boston, Chicago.)

Think of it this way: if you put Detroit in the Finals, which team in the West would they be favored against? Any of the top five in the West? Maybe Utah? What about Boston or Chicago? Would they really be favored against any of those top five?

So while there is certainly a lot to watch for this year in the East, and while there is certainly a lot of future potential, I don’t think the addition of those All Star players makes this conference any more of a legitimate threat to win a championship in 2008.

World Series Preview of The Obvious

The teams will play each other.

One team will score more runs than the other.

There will be weather.

Fans will attend the game, and be excited to do so.

Pitchers will face batters.

Batters will face pitchers.

Umpires will umpire.

Tim McCarver will annoy everyone.

Here Come The Warm Jets: Week 7

Um, what the fuck is going on?

Seriously.

What the fuck.

I don't even know any more.

I am out of answers.

Can they fire someone? Everyone? Will it matter?

Fuck it.

Fucked again.

Fuck.

Heaven is a Place on Earth

Yes this about sports, so don’t worry.

As most logical thought provoked human beings you have conceived of the notion of a Heaven and what it is like. Is it a literal place, like Camden, or is it more of a feeling a peacefulness inside you.

Well this weekend I was finally able to answer that question. Heaven indeed can be a place, figuratively, here on Earth. I had that warm feeling on Saturday morning when I clicked on ESPN.com to see that the Allan Houston comeback attempt was over. I felt my heart ease into a peacefulness that I have never before enjoyed in my life. I can only imagine that it is the peacefulness of Heaven written about in the Bible.

I tell you, since the news of him making a comeback attempt was announced I haven’t been able to get good nights sleep. Seriously, I have tossed and turned all night, with dreams of Houston having 27 points in the first three quarters of a playoff game and then going 0-7 with 1 made FT in the 4th quarter. I could see it now, his defensive assignment, maybe say Ray Allen going for 17 in the 4th quarter and overtime of the decisive regular season game deciding home court advantage. I could imagine browsing the box scores and wondering why Allan Houston is only averaging 1.7 rebounds per game. All of these things kept me up at night, waking up screaming in a cold sweat.

But alas now my heart and mind are at ease, Allan Houston will officially never play for my beloved Knickerbockers again. The rest of the weekend was a celebration, yeah I know my football team lost to Vanderbilt, but Allan Houston isn’t coming back.

Speaking of Vanderbilt, the line of the Millemium goes to The Ole Ball Coach. When asked where do you go from here and what do you do coach? Spurrier responded with this quip, “Where do we go, we go to Knoxville and play Tennesee next week. What can we do about the guys, well we can’t trade em, so we just gotta play with them.”

Filowitz's Friday Five

1) Good for you, Joe Torre. I applaud a man that leaves with both his head and middle fingers held high. This is actually a win-win situation, though. It is probably a good time for a change for the Yankees, and this, in the end, will be best for both Torre and the team, in the long run.

2) Speaking of the Yankees coverage, have you heard what the Orioles and White Sox have been doing this offseason while the playoffs are still going on? You haven’t? What about the Cardinals, or the Padres? No? Weird.

3) Right now, I’m hoping that the Red Sox force a game 7, only for them to lose in that game 7. That will be the most entertaining outcome, as who doesn’t love playoff game 7’s, and is also guaranteed to simultaneously create the most joy (Cleveland fans) and the most pain (Red Sox fans.) No word on how much sunshine and rain it’ll cause, though.

4) Amaré Stoudemire just got a tattoo on his the inside of his bicep that says “Knowing is Knowledge”. That is so tremendous, on so many levels. You need to read the FreeDarko guys talking about it, here and here.

5) I’m officially excited about the start of the NBA season. I’ve realized that for me the NBA has now surpassed baseball as my second favorite sport to follow, behind the NFL. In fact, this year, I’m going to get League Pass so I can watch more games (I need to see Kevin Durant play, and the Suns, and the Warriors, and the Bobcats, seriously, and to see more Knicks games than I would here, and so much more.) There will also be some other NBA-related projects I’ll be involved in coming soon. For those of you that fell out of love with the NBA five or six years ago, I’m telling you, come back now. Or just keep checking in here.

Here Come The Warm Jets: Week 6

We are witnessing, in effect, the end of the Chad Pennington era.

Mangini, being the stubborn guy that he is, won’t make the change soon, as it’ll look like he’s bowing to media pressure. He’ll probably wait until after the bye week, or the last month of the season.

But I think we can say with confidence that this is the last year we’ll see #10 as the regular starting QB for the Jets.

Instead of constantly lamenting yet another lost season, I thought I’d revisit three of the best Jets QB seasons of my lifetime.

1986. Ken O’Brien. Completed 62% of his passes, 3,690 yards, 25 TDs, 20 INTs. This year included one of the best QB games ever, against Miami and Dan Marino. The Jets won that game 51-45. Kenny threw four TDs to Wesley Walker, and had 449 yards. I think it was around then that solidified my decision to be a Jets fan (thanks a lot for that, Kenny!) The Jets go 10-6, win a playoff game against KC, and then lose a memorable playoff game in OT to Cleveland.

1998. Vinny Testaverde. Completed 61.5% of his passes, 3,256 yards, 29 TDs, 7 INTs. I remember that summer being at my uncle’s house in California when I heard the Jets had signed Vinny. I was dazed, wandering around the back yard, mumbling “Vinny?” to myself. Oh, how I was wrong. After years of guys like Neil O’Donnell and past-his-prime Boomer Esiason and Browning Nagle and Ray Lucas and Glen Foley, it was a dream to have a real QB throwing real passes and giving us a real chance to win every week. The Jets go 12-4, destroy Jacksonville in the playoffs, and lead 10-0 at halftime in the AFC Championship game, only to lose 23-10 to Denver.

2002. Chad Pennington. Completed 69.2% of his passes, 3,120 yards, 22 TDs, 6 INTs. Chad was inserted as the starter on week 4, after the team started 1-2 and Vinny was looking way over the hill (and now he’s still throwing TDs, five years later. I bow before my Vinny overlord.) He lost his first couple of games, but showed promise. The Jets then went on a late-season surge, including huge blowout wins over New England (30-17) and Green Bay (42-17) to win the AFC East. They played the Colts in the playoffs, and had my single favorite game ever as a Jets fan, a 41-0 shellacking of Peyton Manning’s team. It was a perfect game, in which the Jets could do no wrong. They go on to lose to the Raiders in the next round.

Oh, Chad. There was so much promise for you after that year. We thought we had our QB of the next 10 years, leading us to playoff and eventual Super Bowl glory. Yet it was not to be, Chad, as you got yourself injured over (before the 2003 season) and over (during the 2004 season) and over (at the beginning of the 2005 season) again. And now it is abundantly clear that if there are to be meaningful victories in the Jets future, sadly it will not be with you at the helm.

So let us usher in a new quarterback. Let the Epoch of Kellen Clemens begin! Let all Jets fans dunk ourselves in cleansing waters, so that we may come out refreshed and renewed, with nothing but brightness and glory ahead.

Unless, of course, history repeats itself and we are shown promise yet are ultimately disappointed and left ragged and demoralized, still wandering the desert in search of the promised land with no Moses to guide us.

Oh, the Technology

As the college football season endures the year of the upset, my job with other collegiate sports including basketball also begins to heat up. Take yesterday for example, I had 2 basketball practices and a soccer game to attend. When days like this come along you have to do the best you can to follow what is happening elsewhere in the sports world.


Just two weeks ago, when the Yankees were still alive, I was at a high school football game on the night of Game 2. During downtime in the game I would text message Josh to get score updates, and sometimes call my father on my cell phone as well. Yesterday while at the soccer match one of the guys in the press box has that ESPN bottom line on his phone, so we were getting constant updates on the LSU/Kentucky game and the Vanderbilt/UGA game. As this was happening I started think back about the good ole days. I told the young men, who are college students, about how we sometimes had to follow particular games, just back 10-12 years ago when I was in college and not everything was on TV, heck I think there may have only been 2 ESPN’s then.


It was fall of 1995 when I was freshman roaming the halls of York College and my beloved Yankees made the playoffs for the first time in my life, or at least the life I could remember. It was Game 2 of the Yankees versus Mariners series. In our room we had a TV, but it didn’t work so well, plus our campus cable package was weak. As I get older my memory fades, but I remember somehow watching the beginning of the game. I think we watched it in the Sparts Den (which was the little café in the student union). When that closed we had to head back to the dorm. Well in the dorm we didn’t get the channel that the game was on, so what were we to do? Again the era before the cell phone, you folks remember that right? Most of the people were heading to bed trying to pretend they were going to class in the morning so me and one other dorm mate (Chris Bonhert if I remember correctly) sat in the lobby of Manor North and watched CNN for almost two hours and had to wait until the score scrolled back around on the news-ticker. As the evening got late we celebrated a two run Yankee victory, but we weren’t even sure how they won. We had to wait until the morning to read the paper, watch SportsCenter or heck even wait 5 minutes for the story to download on the original ESPN website, which was something like www.espn.sportszone.com.


Now of course just like every story you have, somebody can top it with their own. Unfortunately for me, the person who can top my story is my own father. On May 8th 1970 in Madison Square Garden the New York Knicks won their first NBA Championship. As most people know that game was made famous by an injured Willis Reed limping on to the court and helping the Knicks to victory. Well my parents were on their way from Fort Sam Houston returning to the Garden State after my father was discharged from military service, or so the story goes. They decided to spend the night in Waco Texas and the hotel didn't have a TV or something like that, remember folks this was 1970. My father had a friend in Texarkana who had a TV and was watching the Knicks game. My father called him and listened to the game through his friends play by play description as his favorite team won the championship.


So folks if you can't see your favorite teams game, just rememeber the age of technology that we live in where you can quickly access scores and updates rather than watching a news ticker for two hours or periodically calling a friend in Texarkana for updates.

On Campus 10/13/07

5 Games to Watch

#11 Missouri vs. #6 Oklahoma- North versus South here in the Big 12, where Gary Pinkle’s Missouri Tigers coming in undefeated and 2-0 in the Big 12 and still high after last weeks win against Nebraska. The Mizzou offense is ranked 4th in the country but more of load will be on QB Chase Daniels shoulders as leading rusher Tony Temple will be out. The Sooners are 1-1 in conference after that bad loss at Colorado a few weeks ago, falling a second time may hurt their chances at the title game. Bob Stoops team has all the numbers going for them; the game is in Norman, they have won 16 of the last 17 versus Mizzou, and Gary Pinkle’s 2-15 record against ranked opponents, but I don’t think the Sooners will role in this one.



Louisville vs. #15 Cincinnati- Coming into the season the Cardinals were still the darlings of the Big East, but under new head coach Steve Kragthorpe they have stumbled to a 3-3 record. Meanwhile first year head coach Brian Kelly has his Bearcats off to a blazing 6-0 start including a win last week at Rutgers. The Bearcats should be able to put up points against one of the worst defenses in the country, but the key could be the Bearcats defense. The Cardinals are hard to slow down and the ball hawking Bearcats will have to take advantage of every opportunity to add to their nations best 25 takeways.




#19 Wisconsin vs. Penn State- The Badgers took a major blow last week losing on the road the Illinois, and now they had back out on the road to Happy Valley. Things haven’t been so happy recently for Coach Paterno, after consecutive road losses the team came home to a slew of player arrests and a traffic incident on campus involving the legendary coach. All those distractions need to be set aside because Wisconsin’s high octane offense is looking for a rebound performance from last week. Badger RB PJ Hill figures to get a bigger load last week for two reasons; one the loss of big play receiver Luke Swann and two last week he rushed for a season low 83 yards in their only loss. Penn State needs a win here or it could be bye bye to the Big 10 title.



Connecticut vs. Virginia- If I had told anyone in the country that when UConn and Virginia locked horns their combined record would be 10-1 I would have been put in an asylum. The Wahoo’s are out to a quick 3-0 start in ACC play behind the strong running of Cedric Peerman and Andrew Pearmen (obviously not related). UConn has a steady scoring offense lead by Junior QB Tyler Lorenzon who is completing 65% of his passes. If the UConn offense gets off to an early lead the Wahoo’s may have trouble coming back even though they are at the friendly confines of Scott Stadium



Texas A&M vs. Texas Tech- Embattled A&M Coach Dennis Franchione hs his team on the cusp of the top 25 with a 5-1 record and 2-0 in the Big 12. This week the Aggies travel to Lubbock for a showdown of 5-1 teams. The Red Raiders are ridiculously efficient, scoring 52 ppg and gaining 600 yards, while QB Graham Harrell is completing 74% of his passes. The Aggie defense will have a tough time slowing down Tech so it will be up to QB Stephen McGee to put up some points if he wants to lead his Aggies to victory.



4 Players to See


Matt Ryan, QB Boston College- Ryan may be the best QB in the country and is starting to garner some true Heisman hype. He has his team off to a 6-0 start for the first time since 1942 and their highest ranking since Doug Flutie’s Eagles in 1984. Ryan is a machine completing 63% of his passes for over 300 yards per game. He marches his Eagles into South Bend this week and tries to keep them perfect as the Irish look for their second win of the season. If he has another big game he can move his way up to the top of many voters Heisman lists.



Victor “Macho” Harris, CB Virginia Tech- This young man certainly doesn’t lack an y confidence, as you can tell by his own nickname. Harris has two TD’s already this season, an INT return against East Carolina on opening day and a 100 yard kickoff return versus Clemson last weekend. Duke QB Thaddeus Lewis has thrown 23 INT’s in only 18 games as a starter so look for Harris to try and read some passes and try and score another TD in this blowout.



Arian Foster, RB Tennessee- Foster has emerged as the go to back for the Vols this season, and wouldn’t you know it, like most years for the Vols, he has a nose for the end zone. Last week on only 17 carries he scored 3 times against Georgia. Mississippi States defense has surrender a slew of rushing TD’s lately so look for Foster to pick up his second 100 yard game of the season and have another 2 or 3 TD performance.



Chris Smelley, QB South Carolina- It looks as if Spurrier is going to ride the season out on the redshirt freshman’s shoulders, rather than the experienced Senior (only the Ole Ball Coach can get away with this stuff). Smelley has started the last two games and lead the Gamecocks to home wins against Miss. State and Kentucky. Smelley will get his first road test in Chapel Hill this week and the Ole Ball Coach would like to see his signal caller be a little more accurate and raise his completion percentage from 54% to around 60% to help keep some drives alive. This could be time for Smelley to help break the South Carolina offense out of its shell against a battered Tar Heel defense.

Filowitz's Friday Five

1) I know it’s become cliché to say this at this point, but it really is hard to get overly excited about the Rockies-Diamondbacks series. The Rockies have been a fun story and everything, but there’s not that emotional aspect to the series that adds any additional drama. What this has become, in essence, is an NHL playoff series. There are certainly fans that care passionately, but for most of us, it’s just something you watch if you have the time and otherwise just check in on to see what happened. This would not have been true, of course, if either the Phillies or the Cubs had made it.

2) How could it be that in the best sports month of the year there were two consecutive days without baseball? Baseball is all about not having very many days off. Giving so many days off in the playoffs changes the dynamic of the game. We want to see games every day. So what if all the first round series ended early? I wish, just once, a sport would care more about the sport and less about TV dollars and luring in the casual fan who doesn’t really care.

3) I don’t wish to alarm anyone, but it looks like the Celtics are going to be really freakin’ good with KG. This is a major conflict for people like me who love watching KG play, and have hoped for so long that he’d finally get a supporting cast that will help him shine. If only this wasn’t going to happen in Boston. Right now, the Red Sox are the favorite to win the World Series, the Pats are the favorite to win the Super Bowl, and the Celtics are one of the favorites to at least make the Finals out of the East. And, hey, is that a couple of horsemen I see riding towards us? So now we know it is the duty of good people everywhere to root for the Indians, and probably the Cavs, if only to stave off apocalypse and a string of really annoying columns from Bill Simmons.

4) I saw an incredible Yo La Tengo concert last night. They were at this relatively small venue, The Lakeshore Theater, and it was a sit-down thing (which is great, as in my older age, I don’t have as good a time standing around for hours.) The band sat on stage, played songs, answered questions from the audience, joked around, and generally created this very intimate setting, like they came over to your house to play a show for you and your friends. This is my favorite band, and to see them in this setting was just about perfect, inspiring, even.

5) Happened to catch an “NFL Greatest Games” showing of the NFC championship game from 1992, Cowboys vs 49ers. Do you realize how many people from that game are now TV personalities? Troy Aikman, Moose Johnson, Jimmie Johnson, Emmit Smith, Jerry Rice, Steve Young, even Michael Irvin up until his recent firing. I hated both those teams, and now they are everywhere. Things are not looking up for me right now.

The Yankee Experience

"When did a baseball season in New York become solely about the finish line, and not about the journey? How can a team that clawed its way out of a 14½-game hole be deemed a failure for falling to a team -- the Cleveland Indians -- that features two of the league's top five starting pitchers? Do the memories of Alex Rodriguez's 54 home runs and Chien-Ming Wang's 19 wins and Derek Jeter's steely determination and Joba Chamberlain's meteoric rise fade to ashes without a diamond-studded ring?"

Thank you Jeff Pearlman for that paragraph and all the wisdom it posses.

Now being a long distance Yankee fan down here in Columbia, South Carolina I don't often get to experience the joy of watching my team every night. Inevitably whenever I call my parents on a spring/summer evening I usual find that they are tuned into the YES network watching their beloved Yankees play. This season was one of the most joyful in recent memory for a Yankee fan, so much so that at the beginning of August I coughed up the dough to subscribe to MLB TV just so I could watch the Yankees make their charger toward October.

Watching the young guns like Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano fuel Alex Rodriguez and make him smile again was a joy to me as a fan, knowing that as a kid A-Rod like all if us picked up the bat and ball and fell in love with the beauty of the game. However most of that joy has been stripped away by the $250 million cloud that hangs over his head, but those young guys helped him rekindle that joy that lead to his success this year.

Watching Derek Jeter turn from media darling and Hollywood glamour good looks into now a grizzled veteran fighting through injuries to help keep his team alive. It was for me an interesting transition to watch Jeter go through, he is no longer the young up and comer, he is the battled hardened vet you love to root for.

The most joy might have been when the Yankees took a 5th or 6th inning lead knowing that the big kid from Nebraska was going to start warming up, then he would enter and throw a flurry of pitches that the batters couldn't touch. As he fist pumped his way off the mound the crowd would cheer wildly in the Bronx like they have for all their heroes.

Am I disappointed that they didn't go farther in the playoffs, sure I am, but really is it the end of the world, certainly not. As Pearlmen says enjoy the ride, the journey is the big part of sports. Let us not get too wrapped up in the losing the playoffs, let us enjoy all the moments we share together while watching our favorite team play.

Here Come The Warm Jets: Week 5

All I can say after this latest embarrassing Jets loss:

What a relief!

Now at least I don’t have to worry too much about the rest of the season, as it is effectively over.

Now I don’t have to fret about winning or losing every game. Now I don’t have to monitor the records of several other AFC teams to make sure that they’ll make it as a wild card team. Now I don’t have to be as maddeningly frustrated as the Patriots look to go undefeated.

Now I can afford to not watch a game or two if I don’t feel like it, especially if it’s not on TV in Chicago and I have to get my hung over ass out of bed to be in a bar by noon just to see it.

Now I don’t have to feel so guilty about wanting to see the Chad Pennington Era come to an end.

Now I don’t have to concern myself with ever getting too cocky or too used to having a good team, which I suppose could happen if the team actually had two consecutive good years. Now I don’t have to worry about ever being spoiled by success.

Now I can settle back into that familiar feeling of contempt, disgust, and general pessimism about the future that defines Jets fandom, which is much more comfortable.

What a relief!

On Campus 10/6/07

Shit, I don't know what happened here, I had this post all typed up and saved I thought, but I guess it didn't save. I have tried looking for it and recovering it but to no aval. So unfortunately there will be no detail but here is a series of games to keep your eye on during Gut Check Saturday and some players that could have a bigg effect on todays games. The one thing I will say is if you get a chance to watch the Wisconsin/Illinois game be sure to check out the wideout for Ron Zook's Illini Arrelious Benn, he is a fucking beast.

5 Games to Watch

#25 Nebraska vs. #17 Missouri-


#10 Oklahoma vs. #19 Texas-


#20 Cincinnati vs. #21 Rutgers-


#5 Wisconsin vs. Illinois-


#12 Georgia vs. Tennessee-


4 Players to See

Curtis Painter, QB Purdue-


Todd Ressing, QB Kansas-


Keon Lattimore, RB Maryland-


Arrelious Benn, WR Illinois-

He said what?!?!?

I'm a big fan of radio, so much so my journalism concentration was based in radio.
I'm also a big baseball fan, so when I heard XM Radio would be broadcasting every MLB game, I was first on line to purchase the new technology.

In my haste, I got one of the prototype devices, so much so that occasionally it picks up sound waves it probably shouldn't.

I don't listen to the news or political stations, so I can't tell you if it has the White House frequency, but it does seem to get interviews of sports athletes before it gets cut up for public consumption.

Sometimes, it even gets the stuff before the reporter hits record on his digital device...

Don't ask how, just believe in Mr. Universe

There is only the truth of the signal. Everything goes somewhere and I go everywhere.

So without further ado...

Holden Cushner talks with Kaz Matsui after the Rockies' 10-5 win.

HC: Kaz, great game. We'll be ready to roll with this equipment in a sec, but how's it been for you this year?

KM: Fine. I'm just glad I was able to Escape from New York without Kurt Russell.

HC: Hey, I thought you needed a translator?

KM: I thought you were a bitch ass and apparently I was right.

HC: Where's all this hostility coming from?

KM: Sorry about that. I could always speak English, but it just seemed easier with a translator heading to New York. Those guys never gave me a fair shake. I mean, I was a rookie in a new league and they expected me to bat .300 right off the boat.
The fact that Ichiro did it was because that guy is amazing and Godzilla was put in the middle of Murderer's Row, aka the New York Yankees lineup. I never stood a chance with the Mets.

HC: Wow, you sure have a lot to say.

KM: Well, you go 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a grand slam and see how great you feel.

HC: Talk about that grand slam at-bat. What were you trying to do?

KM: I was trying to be the hero.

HC: Seriously?

KM: What do you think? First off, I was in Philly and I could piss from second base and hit a fan in the left field bleachers. Next, who was on the mound, Kyle Loshe? That guy's a bum like that whole pitching staff. They threw their best with Hamels, now they're done.

HC: Aren't you afraid the air in Colorado might wake up their big bats?

KM: About as scarred as meeting the real Godzilla in my bathroom stall tomorrow night? By the way, do you have the number to a massage place where I can catch a "Happy Ending"?

Filowitz's Friday Five

1) There’s nothing more enjoyable than seeing the Yankees get utterly demolished, is there? Knowing all those smug Yankees fans have to shut up and eat a little crap for a day is amusing to me. So, so amusing. For more fun, if you see a Yankees fan, remember to yell at them: Ken-ny Lof-ton! (clap clap clap-clap-clap) Ken-ny Lof-ton! Or say to them, “They have twelve runs. You don’t.”

2) At the same time, knowing that Red Sox fans will feel extra smug after seeing their team do well and the Yankees struggle isn’t much better. I prefer to see Red Sox fans also have to shut up and eat some crap. So does that mean I want the Yankees to win or to lose? I’m confusing myself over here.

3) This would be a good time to point out that I don’t really have a team that’s “my team” in baseball. I love to watch and follow baseball, but I’ve liberated myself from the confines of specific team fandom (as articulated by the FreeDarko guys in regards to basketball.) So I root for scenarios, stories, things that make it fun for me. For example, the Cubs doing well would be a lot of fun for me, since I live a mile and a half from Wrigley. Mostly, though, this has to do with being able to see the anguish of other teams’ fans – especially Yankees and Red Sox fans, and to a lesser degree Phillies fans. My baseball fandom right now seems to be rooted in schadenfreude.

4) The TBS coverage has been decent. The huge advantage they have over Fox is that they don’t actively hate baseball fans, as any network that employs Tim McCarver, Jeanne Zelasko, and Scooter the talking baseball clearly does. There’s also no obnoxious sound effects every few minutes, and no gratuitous interviews with “stars” of the network’s shows. Just baseball, with more or less competent announcing, and the always awesome Ernie Johnson in the studio. The only thing I wish would go away is Frank Caliendo. But looks like we’re stuck with Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson imitations for the next month (oh, how timely and relevant!)

5) Boy, the Cubs sure did strike out a lot in the first two games. Ten times in game one. Thirteen times in game two. You're not going to win any games if all you do is strike out. I suppose we have to blame Bartman for this. Stop making Cubs hitters miss pitches, you!

The apparently biased Yankee playoff preview

After doing copious amounts of research for this piece I have discovered that the team has made wholesale changes since the hey day of the early 90s when the town was painted red by the Wild Thing,Voo Dooed by Pedro, dressed by Dorn and blessed by Harris. Apparently Jake Taylor no longer cleans the dish and ogles Rene Russo.

No folks, a new Tribe is in town and other than a humongous pitcher what do they have going for them? They throw out guys named Casey and Travis and Grady and Trot. They are no match for the soon to be 27th time world champion New York Yankees

We all know by now that the Yanks destroyed the Tribe in the regular season highlighted by a walk off A Bomb from A Rod in April and ending with a 6 game sweep.

In the end it comes down to something similarly uttered by the Evil Geno Auriemma

We have Joba and ARod and you don't


At the end of 4 games you will be saying:
The New York Yankees, Ruth Gehrig, Dimaggio, Mantle, Jeter, Rodriguez and Costanza!

The Sherman Avenue Block Party Completely Biased Baseball Preview: ALDS: Red Sawx vs. Angels

Since I deferred to Josh on the Yankees series I have to analyze this piece of crap series between two teams I wish would fucking die. I mean seriously who can bring themselves to possibly like either of these teams?



First the Angels, I guess my man reason for hating them is for pretending they are in Los Angeles. Your not in LA you are in Anaheim, just live with it, there is nothing wrong with Anaheim. There are other things I hate; the rally monkey, John Lackey, the Mexican guy who owns the team, the old cowboy who used to own the team and yes the fact that they own my beloved Yankees.



Now the reasons for hating Boston are so obvious. First and foremost as a New York sports fan I an breed to hate all things New England and having visited the fare city of Boston I just plain don’t like it, with all those khaki-fied preppy Ivy league wanna-be elitist snobs. Oh yeah, and what is worse is the khaki-fied preppy Ivy league wanna-be elitist snobs who pretend to be hardcore Sawx fans, especially since their World Series a few years ago.



The only worse type of Sawx fan is the non baseball Sawx fan who likes them just because they hate the Yankees. Listen I don’t mind if you hate the Yankees, but at least know why you hate the Yankees. Don’t say you hate them for ruining sports because of escalating salaries and teams buying championships (by the way Boston look in the mirror, Kevin Garnett is the one who changed pro sports contracts forever and Danny Ainge sold his child to get that guy). Say why you hate them, you hate them because they win, nobody hates the bad teams. Nobody hated the Hartford Whalers, nobody hates the Devil Rays, nobody hates the Jets (okay so that was a cheap shot Dan).



Hmmmm, so you want analysis of this series. Well since I don’t condone the slaughter of the innocent is their anyway a Typhoid epidemic could wipe out both teams without harming the fans?



Okay, I guess not so these games are going to have to be played. The Red Sox are way better than the Angles. The Angles feasted on the week Western Division with superstar teams like the Athletics and Rangers. Come to think about it the Rangers are becoming about as irrelevant the Indians once were. And speaking of irrelevant so is this series since it is simply a prelude to the team that will get steamrolled by the Yankees in the LCS.



So, Sawx in four I guess……….and the children were saved by, let’s say………..Moe.

The Sherman Avenue Block Party Completely Biased Baseball Playoff Preview: NLDS, Phillies vs. Rockies

I shouldn't be writing this.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. It was the beginning of a new era in the NL East and my new baby girl was destined to live in a time where her father didn't worry about the Braves. He didn't worry about missing the playoffs because these were the new Mets, Los Mets. This was our season, our year and all that crashed down in the span of 17 days...

17 painful days.

17 days that could age a baby girl like Naomi into a full-fledged teenager, watching Jose Reyes disappear into another harmless pop-up as Jimmy Rollins' preseason decree proved true for a total of 24 hours, but the placement of that time was vital.

Everyone is quick to jump on the Philthies bandwagon since the Mets figured out a way to lose to the bottom feeders while the No-Account Philthies beat those same crappy teams.

My advice, stay away from this train wreck and remember, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia when you're not talking about their sports teams. The city is cursed and chock full of crap teams that can't get it done when it matters.

As bad as the Mets collapsed, I will take some pleasure in watching NL MVP to be Matt Holliday and NL Rookie of the Year Troy Tulowitzki wait on Jamie Moyer (14-12, 5.01 ERA) and his 56 MPH arsenal.

Yeah, I'm picking the Rockies but not for the reasons you may believe. I don't really care about the Philthies like that. I'm not like some bitter Yankee fan, finding reasons to hate another franchise that has little to nothing to do with the one I root for and that should tell you exactly how much I respect the Philthies.

Sure, they won the last eight meetings against my Mets, big deal. Any team that sweeps a four-game series, then lose five of the next seven against the same no-account Marlins that delivered the final blow by sending Tom Glavine packing for Atlanta with an exit befitting a Brave.

By the way, the best SS in the National League during the first half, second half and likely next year is Hanley Ramirez. Reyes was the best in the first half of the season, but his attitude and numbers dipped as the year wore on.

Nevertheless, I'm willing to bet that 28 GMs would take Ramirez and Reyes before Rollins and not just if they were going in alphabetical order.

While Cole Hamels (15-5, 3.39 ERA) and Oliver Perez (15-10, 3.56 ERA) are both lefties, there are big differences. Oli P. throws at 94 MPH and has Game 7 experience. Hamels throws a really good changeup and gets to pitch the rest of this season in that joke of a stadium, Citizen Bank Park.

Here's why the Rockies will win.
1. They have a complete lineup for top to bottom, kind of like my Mets do when healthy. Willie Tavarez and Kaz Matsui are to Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo at the top of the lineup. Holliday and Todd Helton are hotter than David Wright and Carlos Beltran and guys like Garrett Adkins and Brad Hawpe batted over .290 this year from the bottom of the lineup like Moises Alou.

2. The Philthies bullpen
They have Jose Mesa AND Roberto Hernandez. Need I say more?
Oh, OK. How about Tom Gordon?

3. Honestly, does anyone really want to see the Philthies in the NLCS? I thought not.

4. While it may seem like this will be an offensive series, it will come down to pitching and the Rockies are better. The games will be close and the Philthies are horrible in 1-run game, low scoring games and they might throw Jose Mesa AND Roberto Hernandez...

5. The Denver metro area is due something after trading for Iverson and getting bounced early in the NBA playoffs, after banking on Jake "The Snake" Plummer at QB and that not working out and with the gap of time since the Avalanche were great and the NHL mattered.

6. This was Wally Backman's number and since the Diamondbacks gave him a job, then fired him just because he was a drunk wife beater, I'm rooting for the Cubs.

7. I got nothing else, but I was a little disappointed with the Eureka season finale.

And with that, I return my focus back to the Giants hopes of finding a way to have
Eli succeed while giving enough reason to fire Tom Coughlin.

The Sherman Avenue Block Party Completely Biased Baseball Playoff Preview: NLDS, Cubs vs Diamondbacks

I find it generally ridiculous when sports announcers and pundits try to use destiny or fate or other supernatural elements as reasons why teams win or lose. It is the mark of someone without anything better to say, without the ability to do any real analysis of what went on, and without the ability to admit that chance plays a bigger role in sports than most will acknowledge.

Consider the Chicago Cubs.

If they win their series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, pundits will say that they are the team of destiny, that they and their fans are finally due to get their rewards.

If they lose their series against Arizona, pundits will say things about the curse of Bartman and some billy goat.

So either way, it would have little to do with the baseball being played, and instead to do with magical forces that we cannot see or measure or truly understand.

That’s bunk.

Whatever will happen in this series will happen because of actual human agency, the free will of each player to do whatever it is they will do, in combination with the large role that chance tends to play, since the difference between success and failure in baseball has to do with fractions of an inch (in the angle of a swing, rotation of a pitch, wind speed, and many other variables.)

Considering only these factors, and the fact that I live in Chicago and have seen many, many Cubs games this year, and the fact that I can’t say for sure if I’ve seen three innings of the Diamondbacks this year, I can say with confidence that the Cubs will win this series.

The Cubs have the most solid and balanced team of any left in the National League. Their starting pitching is very strong at the top with Carlos Zambrano, and extremely solid after that with Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis, Rich Hill, and Sean Marshall. The bullpen has standout Carlos Marmol and Bob Howry, along with solid veterans Scott Eyre and Ryan Dempster. The top three guys in the lineup (not in the batting order) Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, and Aramis Ramirez, are as good as any top three in the National League. To use the word solid again, the rest of the lineup is full of solid veterans like Cliff Floyd, Jaques Jones, Jason Kendall, and Mark DeRosa.

The point is, the Cubs are poised to do very well in these playoffs. There are no glaring weaknesses on the roster, and some very big bright spots. Not to mention a manager, Lou Pinella, who has been there before and knows what it takes to win in the postseason.

The only weakness of the team, really, is that they do not play consistently. When everyone is on at the same time – when Zambrano is pitching his best, when the top three are all hitting well – they look basically unbeatable, as they did for large parts of September. When they aren’t playing well, they rarely seem to have enough to pull out a game.

The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, are a confusing team. Their pitching is very good, but not ridiculously dominant. This isn’t like when they had Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. This isn’t the 2005 White Sox. They also have no offense worth speaking of – no one on their regular roster hit over .300, no one on the team had over 85 RBI, only one guy on the team had over 25 HR (I defy you to name him. Give up? His name is Chris Young. If you knew that, I defy you to describe what he looks like, or even to tell me if he’s black or white.)

And yet they had the best record in the National League. Which to me speaks to how bad the National League was this year more than to how good a team the Diamondbacks are.

So the Cubs will win because they are the better team, because they have the ability to win with either their pitching or their hitting, or both, depending on the day.

The Cubs will win because teams like the Diamondbacks that no one ever sees or cares about don’t all of a sudden become awesome in the postseason.

The Cubs will win because they have a better home field advantage, since Chicago fans are going to be insane, while fans in Phoenix will be at least a third Chicago fans anyway.

The Cubs will win because Chicago is vastly superior to Phoenix in just about every way.

The Cubs will win despite talk of superstition and karma and curses and goats and some poor guy who just wanted to catch a foul ball.

Because I say all that is bunk.

And I am often right.

2007 MLB Awards

AL MVP: In a unanimous ballot the award of course goes to Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees. A-rod’s season was an historical one after mashing 54 HR and driving in 156 he became only the fourth player to go 50/150. All season long he came through for the Yankees including 2 walk off homeruns and a game winning solo shot in Boston against the evil Jonathan Papelbon, and batted .357 and knocked in 22 in the dreaded close and late category.RUNNERS-UP: Magglio Ordonez, Vladimir Guerrero, David Ortiz, Fausto Carmona


AL CY YOUNG: Garnering all but one first place vote the Majors only 20 game winner Josh Beckett of the Boston Red Sox . Beckett came out of the gates smoking his way to a 9-0 record. The rest of the season he was still the most consistent starter in the AL with 200 innings while only walking 40 guys. He had the 6th best ERA in the league at 3.27 and WHIP of 1.14.RUNNERS-UP: Fausto Carmona, Chien Ming-Wang, CC Sabathia, Kelvim Escobar


AL MANAGER: This was a tough award to vote on but the Cleveland Indians of Eric Wedge were the most consistent team in the AL. Coming off a disappointing season last year and a final weekend where they blew a playoff spot Wedge stuck with his team and moved Fausto Carmona into the starting lineup which proved to be a great move. Wedge all year long used his bullpen effectively and outdistanced the clearly more talented Detroit Tigers.RUNNERS-UP: Joe Torre, Mike Sciosia, Terry Francona, Jim Leyland


AL ROOKIE: In early MAy the Angels were looking for a spark so the inserted speedy leadoff man Reggie Willits (he is white). Willits responded by batting .293, stole 27 bases, and had the 10th best OBP in the AL; while being the lineup sparkplug that his team needed. Many a night he was the difference maker infusing his young energy into a veteran team. RUNNERS-UP: Delmon Young, Dustin Pedroia, Brian Bannister, Akinori Iwamura



NL MVP: Okay this was a tough award to pick especially because so much changed throughout the last week and we voted a little early. We only had five candidates but it could have been so many more, consider that we didn't have a candidate from the two best teams in the league, the Diamondbacks and Cubs. Our actual order finished like this: Fielder, Wright, Holliday, Peavy and Utley. But here I am invoking my executive privilage and handing the award to Matt Holliday of the Colorado Rockies, and yes some of this has to do with his gutsy performance last night. Not only that but down the stretch let’s look at what he did; on September 9 the Rockies lost 3-1 to the Padres and Holliday’s averaged dipped to .331, the lowest it had been since July 28th. Then over the next 22 games where the Rockies went 17-5 Holliday raised his average 9 points to take the batting title. The last three weeks he batted .405 11 HR and 25 RBI in 22 games. That is what an MVP does. He finished better in his leagues triple crown race than did Alex Rodriguez, he led two categories and finished 4th in the other. Don’t give me that Coors Field crap either because the only other time a player has had a season like this in Coors Field was by Larry Walker in 1997 and he won the MVP Trophy.


NL CY YOUNG: Again here there were many deserving candidates but throughout the year it came down to Peavy vs. Webb and in our ballot it was no different they finished in a tie for the award. However we need to declare a winner and since he received more first place votes Jake Peavy of the San Diego Padres is the winner. He won the pitchers version of the triple crown by leading the league in Wins, ERA and Strikeouts, becoming the first national leaguer to do it since Dwight Gooden in 1985.
RUNNERS-UP: Brandon Webb, Jose Valverde, Brad Penny, Tim Hudson


NL MANAGER: Though there were many deserving candidates Bob Melvin of the Arizona Diamondbacks was the clear choice. His team finished in the lower portion of the Majors in almost all offensive categories, including 27th in runs, 29th in average and 18th in slugging. On the mound they were pretty good, but nothing outstanding finishing with the Majors eigth best era of 4.13, and somehow had the best record in the National League.
RUNNERS-UP: Ned Yost, Lou Piniella, Charlie Manuel, Clint Hurdle


NL ROOKIE: Again a tough vote because most of the rookies didn’t play the whole season. But since his call up in May Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers was one of the premier power hitters in the national league. Since his call up on May 25th Braun hit 34 homers and drove in 97 runs, compare that to his teammate Prince Fielder who since the same date hit 35 homers and only drove in 87.
RUNNERS-UP: Troy Tulowitzki, Hunter Pence, Yunel Escobar, James Loney

Here Come The Warm Jets: Week 4

The following post contains language not suitable for children and some sensitive adults.


After this weekend’s disgusting loss to the abysmal Buffalo Bills, I would less-than-politely ask the following people to please go fuck themselves:

Shaun Ellis. Dewayne Robertson. Kenyon Coleman. Bryan Thomas. Jonathan Vilma. Victor Hobson. Eric Barton. Darrelle Revis. David Barrett. Kerry Rhodes. Erik Coleman. C.J. Mosely. Sione Pouha. Eric Hicks. David Bowens. Brad Kassell. Cody Spencer. David Harris. Andre Dyson. Hank Poteat. Rashad Washington. Eric Smith. Mike DeVito. Drew Coleman. Abram Elam. Bob Sutton. Bryan Cox. Jim Herrmann. Mike Macintyre. Jerome Henderson. Dan Quinn. Eric Mangini.

And they can continue to go fuck themselves, and their mothers, if they continue to not be able to stop the most mediocre of offenses, and if they continue to give career days to the likes of Kyle Boller, Trent Green, and Trent Edwards.

Actually, they should all line up and let Jets fans punch each of them in the dick. Because that’s what they’re doing to us by making us watch them attempt to play what is known in the NFL as defense. And that’s what they’re going to do if Eli Manning has some kind of 26-29 3TD game next week.

So either go buy athletic protectors (for the dick punching) and a whole vat of lube (for the fucking of themselves and their mothers) or start tackling and covering people. Fuckers.

Quick Hitters

All it takes is September to remind me why I love baseball. It is certainly true that my team did mount a historic comeback and the team I most enjoy watching lose found a way to mount a historic collapse. But the essence of baseball and what makes it really different than the other sports is the pennant race and the ultimate tie breaker, the one game playoff. In the end baseball is king because the regular season means something and over a 162 game season you can run but you can't hide. The cream does rise to the top and mediocrity is left to play golf not allowed to serve as first round fodder to generate and extra round of playoff revenue. October is for the elite.

I can hear you muttering, the NFL is not the NBA or NHL, it only has 6 teams per conference make it to the second season. Certainly, you will have 10-6 NFL teams fail to make the playoffs, but for every one of them there are plenty of 8-8 teams that enter as wild cards. The NFL flaunts its parity with pride, the great Alan Selig has tried to emulate this with his prescriptions for "competitive balance", which on balance seem to have worked as you have not had a repeat world series champion this decade. But the greatness of baseball lies in the fact that only 4 teams per league are playing as of October 2.

Baseball's brilliance also lies in the fact that while the regular season is the best at selecting the worthy teams, it is a lousy predictor of who will ultimately reign as champion. Short series are predicated on dominant starting pitching, hot relievers and timely hitting. Baseball is the only sport where pure physicality is not dispositive. Often the "less talented" team will prevail based on key hits and an average pitcher with uncharacteristically good stuff. The only postseason that comes close is the NCAA tournament where a hot team can knock off the better team (see George Mason v. UConn). And while buzzer beaters are nice, nothing beats the walk off home run.

Objectively it is impossible to say that the best team truly wins every year and that is why postseason baseball is the best and most consistent of the playoffs in the major sports.

I cannot say that I have enjoyed a collapse more than the Mets the last few weeks. How stupid can you be to take a team that just wants to go back to South Beach and wake them up. The problem with the Mets all year has been a total lack of focus and leadership. Naturally you blame the manager. You would be wrong to do so. Willie has never gotten a fair shake from the Wilpons, being stuck with coaches he didn't choose and spies from the front office he cannot be held accountable. You have to look first at Omar Minaya.

One of the smart things the Yankees have done the past few years is bring in older players to help mentor the younger up and coming latin stars like Luis Sojo, Jose Vizcaino, Miguel Cairo, Chili Davis, Tim Raines, Ruben Sierra, all good clubhouse guys by the end of their tenure. The clubhouse is also ruled by Jorge Posada's hot temper and iron will. You think a Yankee would be allowed to get away with the antics the Mets displayed? You think Jeter or Posada would allow Cano to stand at home plate while the ball trickles down the base line in a must game? Would never happen.


Earlier in the season many Met fans proclaimed Reyes as the best shortstop in NY, he isn't even the best in his division. Jimmy Rollins, who should be the NL MVP, imposed his will on the stretch run the way Reyes did in the early season before the Mets became disinterested with the season. Rollins, knowing the Mets were down big, stole both second and third in the first inning, Reyes has failed to steal a base since September 15, in fact he had only 1 attempt since then.

A few other thoughts

Sherm Ave Fantasy Football - not to brag but I have rallied the troops after an abysmal 0-2 start to do what the Jets couldn't and square my record at 2-2. I suffered one of the all time worst defeats in the history of Fantasy Football where if you totaled my starters and bench points I still would have lost to my opponents starters. Look out

Boxing - it was great to be able to see a real live fight and not have to drop fifty bucks. Pavlik vs. Taylor was a refreshing trip to the fights of our youth where the two guys actually try to punch each other more than once a round.

Giants - great to see the new D coordinator Steve Spagnoulo exploiting the strengths of his unit by mixing blitz packages and making sure he had more guys rushing than could be blocked. ITs the only way to disguise the awful secondary play. Even Corey Webster can cover for 2-3 seconds. I'm still not sold on Eli, he makes too many dumb mistakes per game. I know his completion pct is up but he has thrown some of the most god awful intercepts I have ever seen and he still would rather try to float a pass off balance rather than step into a throw and take a hit or toss the ball out of bounds and live to fight another day. The offensive line is one fo the most underappreciated units in the game. The border war with the Jets Sunday will allow one team's season to continue and one will come to an end. Two enter, one leaves.

Rutgers - Its hard to believe that Rutgers was ranked as high as it has been based on its name. Yes, I will repeat that, Rutgers has garnered a high ranking based on its name and a Heisman candidate. Until Schiano finds a way to get his defense to use its speed to beat the bigger opponents it could be a long year. They are truly feeling the loss to graduation of an All Big East Nose Tackle and two linebackers who had been in the system for 4 years and understood the defense in and out. Never underestimate experience at the college level.

Don't forget to pick up your copy of Magic, hitting stores October 2. The new Springsteen Cd is an interesting compilation of pop hits, strong guitar driven rock and some 60s infused sound. There is an underlying political tone to the work but you have to real delve into the lyrics to find it, but it lurks within if you so desire. So far I am partial to Long Walk Home and Devil's Arcade. This album took me a few spins until I really appreciated the nuances and now i find myself singing the hooks.

The play in game just ended and I have a few thoughts:

With so much on the line, amazed at how boring the 8th thru 12th innings were

You had to know that the deadlock was ending when the Rockies brought in Jorge Julio, you know you are bad when you can't even pitch in the Mets bullpen.

How about Kaz Matsui in the playoffs, Jose Reyes at the salon frosting his hair.

Matt Holliday doesn't deserve the MVP just for sliding head first into home.

Seriously, who dresses Craig Sager, did he lose a bet as a child, I am happy I don't have TBS HD just so i dont have to see his ridiculous wardrobe in hi def.

Lastly, I don't care what SI says, Trevor Hoffman is not the greatest closer of all time and does not belong in the same sentence as Mariano Rivera.