Monday, December 30, 2013

A Football Post? Heresy!


This will be an interesting year for me to watch the playoffs – I have no team for which I have strong feelings for.

I have three teams I root for a lot (Bears, Giants, and the Jets – I’ve tried to let them go, but their scrappy performance and Rex Ryan’s coaching job have brought me back in) and three teams I passionately root again (Dallas, which was due to growing up in the ‘70s and my father’s JFK assassination-fueled dislike of the city; Oakland, because of Al Davis, and a third team to come).  So, in order of least liked to most, here’s who I’m rooting for – and against:

12. New England Patriots:  the Jets’ arch-rivals, exacerbated by Bill Belichick, whose cowardly departure from the Jets to coach the Patriots after one day to coach the Patriots (admittedly, Bill Parcells had done something similar in reverse a few years before, but this was far more blatant) was nauseating.  Can’t stand him, can’t stand the team.  (My father, on the other hand, was a big Patriots fan, but he died before Belichick took over.)

11. Philadelphia Eagles:  Long-time irritating rival of the Giants.

10. Cincinnati Bengals:  The Browns have done such an awful job running this team.  They’ve done better the last few years, but I have a feeling what you’re now seeing is as good as it’s going to get.

9. Carolina Panthers:  More a geographical annoyance; I spent two years living and working in North Carolina while my wife went to Duke, and they weren’t fun.

8. New Orleans Saints:  Don’t hate them – Drew Brees is a good guy, and the city’s been through a lot – but don’t have any strong feeling for them, either.

7. Seattle Seahawks:  No strong feelings one way or another.   I’d probably like them more if they hadn’t had seven players suspended over the course of this year for substance abuse.

6. San Francisco 49ers: Might rank a little higher if Jim Harbaugh weren’t such a pain.  On the other hand, if Harbaugh weren’t the coach they probably wouldn’t be in the playoffs.

5. Kansas City Chiefs:  It’s been a long time since they were in a Super Bowl – the only teams of the original NFL-AFL merger that have been out longer are the Jets (by a year) and the Lions (never) – and KC is a nice town.

4. San Diego Chargers:  I have a lot of friends there.  Pittsburgh would have ranked higher; they’re an admirable organization and I have relatives who are huge Steeler fans.

3. Indianapolis Colts:  Relatively local.

2. Denver Broncos:  Denver’s also a nice city, and Peyton Manning’s a good guy who deserves a second Super Bowl win.

1. Green Bay Packers:  Surprise!  Despite yesterday’s loss and the rivalry, I like the Packers.  Locally owned by the city is a big reason, but they also have the history (I’ve read Instant Replay three or four times), and I liked them before moving out here.  Yes, there will always be bitter feelings between Green Bay fans and Chicago fans, but there’s also a ton of respect.

 
*****
 

Now, onto today’s bowl games:

-          Armed Forces Bowl (Middle Tennessee v. Navy) – this start in about fifteen minutes, so I guess I ought to post this soon.  Navy’s had a pretty good record in bowl games, and I try to root for the guys in the armed forces whenever I can, so it’s an easy call here.  It’s about the lousiest of the games left to play, however – the only one ranked lower is the Heart of Dallas Bowl, which is inexplicably being played New Year’s Day opposite three other bowl games and the Rose Bowl parade.

-          Music City Bowl (Georgia Tech v. Ole Miss) – hard to get excited about this, but it’s in Nashville, so the fan bases won’t have too far to travel.

-          Alamo Bowl (Texas v. Oregon) – this should be a good game.  Oregon had BCS hopes at the beginning of the year, and then fell apart at the end.  Texas and Mack Brown are parting was, because once you’ve won a championship, nothing less will do after that.   I guess I’d like to see Oregon win.

-          Holiday Bowl (Texas Tech v. Arizona State) – almost always a good game, but it starts so late (9:15 PM Central?!?) that I doubt I’ll watch much.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

The Future of The Yankees

Apparently, they've finally figured out they need to develop prospects.

In the last 40 years, the Yankees have had two great runs - the 1976-1981 teams that won five division crowns, four pennants, and two World Championships, and the 1995-2013 teams, that have made the playoffs all but one year and brought home five World Championships.  The first group was put together with a couple of free agent acquisitions and savvy trades (Sparky Lyle for Danny Cater, Graig Nettles for a bunch of prospects and has-beens, Chris Chambliss for a bunch of prospects and has-beens... wow, the Yankees should have sent Cleveland a thank-you note), the second with an amazing core of prospects that all panned out (Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Bernie Williams from a year or two before).  But they've been doing it lately with free agents and guys that signed too-long contracts (yes, we're looking at you, Mr. Rodriguez).

It may take a few years.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Miami Cold

Cold is the best description of the feelings Florida residents have for the Miami Marlins, who built a new baseball park (primarily at the residents' expense) and brought in several high-priced free agents, then dumped them all within a year.  And things aren't getting any better, per Buzzfeed.

Friday, January 25, 2013

This Is Why God Invented Snowblowers

Carl Pavano will likely be out six to eight weeks after rupturing his spleen shoveling snow.

Not to get too far upon my high horse, but Pavano made eight and a half million dollars last year and over 70 million in his career, per Baseball Reference.  (He was still a free agent up until now for this year, however - think teams will be lining up to sign him now.)  You think it's possible to hire somebody to shovel the driveway, or buy a snowblower?

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Seattle Mariners Trade for Michael Morse

The Mariners get Mike Morse from Washington in a three-team trade.  Sort of understandable, given the Nats just resigned Adam LaRoche.  Although I'm thinking (1) LaRoche is two years older than Morse, and (2) Morse has more upside, but whatever.

A's dump George Kottaras as part of the deal, who would make a good backup catcher for someone.