Domino Effect in the NFL

Now that Peyton Manning has signed with the Denver Broncos this will start a domino effect throughout the NFL quarterback community. The last time there was such a chain reaction was in 1998. In 1998 just like right now everything was because the Indianapolis Colts were going to draft a Quarterback with the first pick of the NFL draft.

In after a horrible 1997 season the Indianapolis Colts were going to start fresh by taking a quarterback with the top pick. Similar to this season the Colts were looking at two QBs who they thought they could rebuild their franchise around, however that is a story for another time. The Colts knowing that they were going to draft either Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf started a series of moves by trading starting QB Jim Harbaugh to the Ravens which was followed by Vinny Testaverde going from the Ravens to the Jets, Neil O’Donnell from the Jets to the Bengals and filling their need for a starting QB since Boomer Esiason had retired.

Of these previously mentioned players Peyton Manning has pretty much turned in a Hall of Fame career and Vinny Testaverde had some fun moments with the Jets before he moved on. Harbaugh stay was forgettable and O’Donnell was pretty much Jeff Blake’s backup.

Peyton Manning

Let us now take a look at the current free agent merry-go-round, the Colts just like in 1998 are stuck between drafting Andrew Luck out of Stanford and Robert Griffin III from Baylor and just like in ‘98 the Colts have to move their starting QB except this time around they released Peyton Manning. Manning has signed with the Denver Broncos, the top QBs that the Broncos had on their roster at the end of the season are also gone Tim Tebow has been traded to the Jets, now we wait and see between Drew Stanton and Greg McElroy who will be sent packing. MarK Sanchez will probably be the starting QB, but will Tim Tebow even be a quarterback or will the Jets use him as a running back or an H-back. The other former first round pick that the Broncos had on their roster, Brady Quinn has signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. Kyle Orton has gone from the Chiefs to the Dallas Cowboys where he has a pretty good chance of bumping Tony Romo to the bench, with Jon Kitna retiring the chain has come to an end just like in 1998.

Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow

There are of course still many more dominos to fall, we have yet to see all the teams that were in the Peyton Manning hunt fill their need. Matt Flynn has signed with the Seahawks after beeing the backup to Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, will the 49ers resign Alex Smith? or will he move to Miami where Chad Henne has left to go to Jacksonville however the Dolphins have brought in David Garrard. The Dolphins lost out on Manning and don't think they have a chance with Smith so they picked up Garrard thus forcing Henne to the Jaguars.

Loaned Out

In case you people who only pay attention to the Premier League, La Liga, Seria A and the Bundesliga arguably one of the top 10 football/soccer leagues just kicked of the other day. I am talking about the MLS (Major League Soccer) and don’t give me that crap about it being a horrible league, when was the last time you actually watched an MLS match?...I thought so. One aspect that is different from North American sports leagues and European leagues is how players switch teams. In North America players get traded from one team to another for other players, or when their contract runs out they are free to sign with any team they want. In Europe players are sold for millions of euros, and very seldom when a contract runs out they can sign with another team as in North America. In the NBA, NHL, or MLB when a player is not producing as they are expected or are young and just need more playing time they are usually sent down to the minor leagues to the parent clubs minor league affiliate. In Europe what they do is they loan players out to teams, sometimes to ones in their own league sometimes to teams in other leagues.

Landon Donovan

In the past couple of years players have been load out from the MLS to clubs in Europe from January till the start of the MLS season. In Europe the season runs from fall to spring were in the MLS the league runs from spring through the summer and into early fall. Because of this players can not be loaned to Europe at the start of the European season since the MLS season is on its last few weeks and in the playoff run. The next time the European transfer window is open is in January when it is also the MLS off season. Another problem with the MLS is that it very rarely sells players, they wait until someone’s contract runs out. Based off of this there is about a two month window when a player can go on a loan from the MLS to Europe.

David Beckham

In the past there have been only a handful of players that have been on load to a European club from the MLS. David Beckham went on load to A.C. Milan twice the second time ending in an achilles injury, Landon Donovan went on loan to Bayern Munich which had mixed reviews but his two stints with Everton were very successful. Robbie Keane was loaned to Aston Villa and Thierry Henry was back at his old club Arsenal. These two spells were very successful but how would players who are not superstars do in the Premier League or the Seria A? Will this become a new trend? Will clubs take a player on a two month loan as a trial period and then try to sign them at a later time if everything turns out fine?

I think that it is a great opportunity for players form the MLS to make a big splash but they still now that there is no pressure on them since no matter what happens after two months they will be back in the U.S.

Phd. in Bracketology

The Plumlee brothers and Seth Curry

It is that time of the year again when terms such as Cinderella team, sleeper pick, sweet sixteen and elite eight are thrown around. Almost every male between the ages of 12 and 65 believe that they have a masters in bracketology. If you are thinking how on earth does a children's story, a teenage girls most important birthday and some sort of a made up science connect with each other then let me explain. At the end of the college basketball season just like any other sports season you have a championship tournament. In the NCAA Div. 1 it is a field of 68 teams that play a single elimination tournament until there is a champion to be crowned. Just like any other science there are a number of terms that one most know before completely understanding what is bracketology.

Backetology-The science of picking the NCAA  basketball championship tournament correctly or to near perfection as possible.

The Big Dance- Slang term used for the tournament and the field of 68.

Cinderella Pick- A team that is picked to make it deep in the tournament, “Cinderella crashes the big dance”

Sweet Sixteen- The final 16 teams left in the tournament.

Dickey V

Elite Eight- The final 8 teams left in the tournament.

Final Four- The last 4 teams left, this is a pretty big step in a basketball program

Sleeper pick- a team that is picked to win a couple games but is not expected to make a run as deep as a Cinderella

Dickey V- The voice of this great science.

This madness is known as March Madness, of course you very rarely have all the number 1 seeds in the final 4 or all the 1 and 2 seeds making up the elite 8. 2008 was the last year that all number 1 seeds made it to the final 4. If we take a look at last season the number 11 seeded Virginia Commonwealth was the Cinderella that crashed the big dance making it to the final 4. Of course you can never forget about the thrilling finishes of what seems to be every game.

After all this you realize that it is almost pointless to analyze everyone and just go with the gut pick. So here are my picks.

South Region
Kentucky                      UConn                   UConn
UConn
Witchita State              Witchita State                                    Duke
Indiana
UNLV                           UNLV                      Duke
Baylor
Notre Dame               Duke
Duke

West Region
Michigan State         Memphis
Memphis                                                    Long Beach State
Long Beach State   Long Beach State
Louisville                                                                                         Murray State
Murray State           Murray State
Marquette                                                  Murray State
Virginia                    Virginia
Missouri

East Region
Syracuse               Syracuse
Kansas State                                            Syracuse
Harvard                 Wisconsin
Wisconsin                                                                                       Syracuse
Cincinnati              Cincinnati
Florida State                                             West Virginia    
West Virginia        West Virginia
Ohio State

Midwest Region
North Carolina     North Carolina
Creighton                                                  North Carolina
South Florida      South Florida
Michigan                                                                                         North Carolina
N.C. State           N.C. State
Georgetown                                              Kansas
St.Marys             Kansas
Kansas

Final Four
Duke over Murray State
Syracuse over North Carolina
Duke winning the championship over Syracuse

Yes I know there are a number of upsets that I picked, you just sometimes just have to go with the gut feeling, everyone knows that there will be upsets you just have to which one of them seems to out there that it just might actually be worth the pick. I am sure you noticed that I have #6 Murray State coming out of the West over #12 Long Beach State, I just don’t see Missouri making it and Long Beach has had one of the highest strength of schedules.
I have also decided to pick the NIT, CBI and the CIT.

NIT Final 4
Seton Hall over Arizona
Tennessee over Dayton
Seton Hall winning a title for the senior Herb Pope

CBI Final 4
Pitt over Butler
Oregon State over Washington in a PAC 12 match up
Pitt wins the title in an effort to end a forgettable season on a high note

CIT Final 4
Robert Morris over Manhattan
Drake over Kent State
Drake taking the title

Peyton's Place

Peyton Manning with the Cardinals?

I’m just going to cut right to the chase, the million dollar question is what city will Peyton Manning be calling home for the 2012 season? We know that the Giants, Cowboys, Eagles, Packers, Lions, Bears, 49ers, Saints, Panthers, Falcons, Patriots, Steelers, Bengals, Texans, Chargers have a pro bowl quarterback or someone very close to it. The Vikings, Rams, Buccaneers, Jaguars, and Titans drafted or invested in young QBs the past couple of years. The Bills, Jets, Ravens, and Raiders have QBs that are above average and would rather fill other needs. The Chiefs can bring back Kyle Orton and have Matt Cassel also on the roster who are both adequate and they have other spots that need attention on the roster. The Browns and Seahawks are just not close enough to having a winning season and Peyton wont sign with a team that he does not feel that they are close to making a run at a title. I don’t see Peyton wanting to face his brother Eli twice a year so the Redskins are out. That leaves us with the Cardinals, Dolphins and Broncos, the Denver Broncos are riding the wave of Tebow mania and it could be bad PR. So I think that Manning will either end up in Arizona or Miami.

Let us take a look at the Denver situation, yes the Broncos have said that they are committed to Tim Tebow in the future but they may only be a hall of fame QB short of being a real tittle contender. I don't know how much Timmy would like to sit for three seasons behind Manning? Yes he could learn from Manning and the Broncos could use him on a couple of plays in each quarter, but for some reason I dont see the Broncos makeing a real hard push for Manning.



Arizona would be a good choice, just imagine Manning throwing down field bombs to Larry Fitzgerald, and the Cardinals have the cap space I think to make a run at Reggie Wayne as well. The Cardinls team is actually pretty good and did put a string of wins together at the end of the season. The Dolphins team is not as good as the Cardinals and have a couple more problems to take care of, the weather is just as nice in south Florida as in Arizona. What the ‘Phins do have that the Cards do not is that the Mannings own a place down there and the state of Florida has no income tax. It will definitly be interesting to see where Peyton Manning  ends up.

Just Say NO

Len Bias

What does Len Bias, Eugene and “Big Daddy” Lipscomb have in common or “Bam” Morris and Tim Montgomery? Before we answer that question we should take a step back and take a look at the four gentlemen; Len Bias was the number two pick over all by the Boston Celtics in 1986, Eugene Lipscomb was a Pro Bowl defensive end from 1953-62. Bam Morris was the starting running back for a number NFL teams and completing the pair is Tim Montgomery who was won a gold medal in the 2000 Sydney games. Bias and Lipscomb ended up just like former pro wrestler Bam Bam Bigelow and Oklahoma tight end Austin Box. Bias died of a cocaine overdose the day after he was drafted, Lipscomb died of a supposed heroin overdose (Steelers owner Dan Rooney refutes this since according to him Lipscomb was afraid of needles), Austin Box overdosed this past year. Bam Morris and Tim Montgomery spent part of their life just like Travis Henry, in jail. Morris was sentenced to 30 months for drug trafficking, Montgomery was sentenced to 46 months for heroin trafficking and Henry 36 for drug trafficking.

Just like society pro athletes are usually doing the same drugs, acid in the late 60s and 70s, coke in the late 70s and 80s. The Len Bias was not the only one with drug problems from the 1986 NBA draft Chris Washburn was the 3rd pick over all by the Golden State Warriors was banned by the league by 1989 for failing three drug tests, Roy Tarpley went number seven to Dallas and got the boot from the league for violating drug policies in 1990, and William Bradford went six to the Suns and was busted a couple of times for drug possession (idiots).

Darryl Strawberry

What I don’t get is why someone would throw everything away on drugs. You are at the top of the world you play a game for a job and you are living the dream that millions have dreamt. If was a pro football player you get to watch film on a 3-4 defense and break down the tendencies a wide receiver has when they run a crossing route. If you are a basketball player you can work on your jump shot all day, who wouldn’t want to do that.

I just don’t get what would make you even think about touching, coke, heroine, X, or meth, when you can work on you slap shot or fielding grounders, you get to be a child all day and it is OK!! You are a looser if you throw it all away. I really don’t see the positive side of being involved with drugs as an athlete. You also have to think of the fans, I was crushed when I found out that Darryl Strawberry was busted for coke and I would never want a kid to think of me like that…Say it ain’t so Joe.

The 34th Franchise

A couple weeks back the Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the National Football League said that if the NFL was to award a team to the city of Los Angeles it would have to find a city for a second expansion team. The league office said that it would like to keep a balance schedule and be easier to go from 32 teams to 34 rather then 33.

Proposed expansion of the L.A. Colosseum 

Will the NFL really work in Los Angeles again? Yes it is weird that a city that a city that has two NBA teams, two MLS teams, one NFL and MLB team does not have an American football team, however the league has survived very well since the Raiders moved back to Oakland and the Rams packed their bags to St. Louis. Lets just say the league finally gives the city the team that it has been waiting for since 1996 but what city will win the right to be the home town of the 34^th franchise?

There are cities that traditionally have a strong college football culture, but that doesn’t always translate to being a city that is idea for professional team. Then there are cities that are the largest with out an NFL team and the last type of city that has done everything that the league has asked or has required for them to do to be on the short list.

Based off of this you can probably come up with about a handful of cities that would true be a good fit for the league and they deserve a team. The cities that I have narrowed it down to are San Antonio, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, and Birmingham.

San Antonio- It is one of the largest cities in the U.S. to only support one pro sports team, the Spurs of the NBA. San Antonia did a good dib as temporary home for the New Orleans Saints after hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf area. The City is located in Texas and we all know how big football is in Texas. You could have the San Antonio Toros, or the Riders, Gunslingers, Wings, Force, or Talons. However I am sure the NFL can find a better name for the team.

Las Vegas- The when you hear this city you think of the glitz and lights of the Vegas strip but how stable is the city to host a team. The league has been trying to keep a squeaky clean image and I don’t think that Vegas would be supporting that. However on the other side almost all of the leagues that have taken a stab at major professional football in the past 20 years have placed a team in the city. How does the Las Vegas Locomotives sound to you, or the Outlaws, Sting, Gladiators, or Posse?

Oklahoma City- OKC is a bit the odd one out among these cities. The Thunder of the NBA have only recently moved to the city that has not really had any professional teams in the past however the state does have a strong college football tradition with both the Okalahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Some team names that have popped up in the past have been Oklahoma Outlaws or the Wranglers.

Birmingham- Alabama like Oklahoma has a great college football tradition where people yell “War Eagle” or “Roll Tide” but can the fans of the Auburn Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide be converted into NFL fans? Or at least enough to support a team? Birmingham has had a number of football teams through the years but for some reason I have a hard time picturing an NFL team in ‘Bama, but a name like Alabama Hammers has a ring to it, how about Alabama Viper, Birmingham Fire, Stallions, Americans, Vulcans, Thunderbolts, or Barracudas.

Blast from the past

In case you missed it on facebook but last weeks blast from the past was former NBA guard Jeff Hornacek.

Other News

If you are living in Budapest Hungary and are worried about not having enough time to get ready for swimsuit season, have no fear there is a solution. The BKV workout plan is available on youtube 

Geriatric Warriors

The past couple of days the Pittsburgh Steelers American football team released defensive end Aaron Smith and wide receiver Hines Ward. This has brought up the question, should these players retire? This got me thinking when does a player know that they should retire or better yet do they get the hint from society that its time to call it a career. One of the saddest sights to see in professional sports is when a former star athlete, one that was the face of the sport or of a team is struggling to hang on and is only a shell of him self. You see the player miss simple plays that they would have been able to make with their eyes closed only a couple seasons before.

Emmitt Smith

It is also a depressing moment when you see this former star struggling to make plays in another team’s uniform. You know something just doesn’t seem right but you just can’t put your finger on it. There have been countless examples of this but some of the most well known are Joe Namath playing his last season for the Los Angeles Rams (Namath played twelve seasons for the New York Jets) or Johnny Unitas with the San Diego Chargers (Johnny U played seventeen seasons with the Baltimore Colts). Namath that last season played only four games even though he was healthy and completed a career low 46% of his pass. His last season with the Jets should have been it for the former playboy of the NFL. Unitas probably held on three seasons to long but that last one was just as bad as Namath’s, five games and 44% of his passes were complete. When Emmit Smith left the Dallas Cowboys he was tripping over his feet with the Cardinals that was another sad sight to see, or Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards.

Sometimes you have players hang on one or two seasons too long just to win that championship title. Sometimes that forgettable season capped off with a championship puts a player in the Hall of Fame or they get the upper hand in an argument.

To Invest or to Spend

If you are not familiar with the world of soccer or the sport that is known as football in the rest of the world, one of the biggest rivalries in the sporting world and the world of football is F.C. Barcelona and Real Madrid. Just like the Red Sox and Yankees both clubs accuse the other one of being the evil empire, both of them are big spenders but they do it differently. The Yankees of the late 1990s were said to buy they best players they could but yet had more home grown talent and spare parts on their roster then the team with the second highest payroll in all of baseball, the Boston Red Sox. At that time the Yankees had Derek Jeter, Alfonso Sorino, Nick Johnson, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Ramiro Mendoza, Bernie Williams, Jimmy Leyritz, Shane Spencer, and Ricky Ledee who were all home grown starters. Mean while during this time span (1996-2000) the Red Sox stars that were home grown were Roger Clemons (who left after the 1996 season) Jeff Suppon (1997) Nomar Garciaparra, John Valentin, Mo Vaughn (1998), Jason Veritek and Trot Nixon, I think you get what I am trying to say.

Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué

This situation is very similar to what has been going on in Spain for at least the past seven seasons. If you take a look at the two teams starting with the 2005-06 campaign when Barcelona won the champion’s league through this current season you will see that the imports disappear and more home grown talent is in the lineup where as in Madrid it is the other way around. Barcelona has committed to building through their youth system where as Madrid goes out and throws money at their problem. Some say that Barcelona and the Yankees are just as bad as Real Madrid and the Red Sox. Barcelona spends money on bringing in anyone that is under 18 to their academy or goes out and picks up the 19, 20, and 21 year olds from lower level teams, of course the lower level teams will sell their players because the money that comes in will be enough for them to finance their next three or four transfer periods. The last part is Barcelona spends money on keeping their stars with the squad, just like the Yankees keeping Jeter, Williams, Rivera and Posada around for the remainder of their careers. The argument is that both pairs of teams are throwing money around as if they would be playing monopoly, while the smaller teams are struggling to keep the players they have.

Ikes Casillas

If we look at the 2005-06 Barcelona team they had four “home grown” (Xavi, Valdes, Puyol and Oleguer) players in their starting 11 and 43% of the total roster where as Madrid had 3 home grown (Guti, Raul, Casillas) and 38% of the total roster. Below are the following seasons.

season	Barcelona home grown vs imports	% of total home grown	Madrid home grown vs. imporst	% of total home grown
06-07	4/11 (Valdes, Puyol, Xavi, Messi)	39	2/11 (Guti, Casillas)	35
07-08	5/11 (Valdes, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi)	36	2/11 (Guti, Casillas)	28
08-09	6/11 (Valdes, Puyol, Pique Xavi, Iniesta, Messi)	46	2/11 (Casillas, Raul)	24
09-10	8/11 (Valdes, Puyol, Xavi, Pique Iniesta, Xavi, Sergio, Messi, Pedro)	50	3/11 (Guti, Casillas, Arbeloa)	20
10-11	7/11 (Valdes, Xavi, Pique Iniesta, Xavi, Sergio, Messi, Pedro)	52	1/11 (Casillas)	20
11-12	8/11 (Valdes, Xavi, Puyol, Pique, Iniesta, Sergio, Messi, Fabregas)	57	2/11 (Casillas, Arbeloa)	28

Xavi, Leo Messi,  and Andrés Iniesta

As you can see Barcelona has more home grown talent. This means that they spend less money on filling in the rest of the roster spots. The other added bonus is that the players are familiar with each other and by the time they get to the top squad they are playing like a well oiled machine. When a team brings in a bunch of new players it takes time for them to jell together and start performing as a team, during this time the other teams that they are competing against you have a chance to pull away or get a jump on them

            Since the 2005-06 season Barcelona has won four domestic league titles, one domestic cup, five domestic super cups, three European cups, two European super cups, and two club world cups for a grand total of 17 trophies in the span of seven season and have a chance to still add more this season. Real Madrid during the same span has won two domestic league titles, one domestic cup, and one domestic super cup for a total of four trophies. 

Raul and Guti

            All I am saying it is better to build from with in and to save up the money for a rainy day when your star player has a season ending injury and you need a quick fix.