WSBA Sports Blog with Jeffrey Schiffman

Jim Caldwell

2012-01-31T06:50:00.002-05:00

Yesterday the Ravens announced they had hired former Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell as their new Quarterback Coach. I like the move. This puts a buffer between QB Joe Flacco and Offensive Coordinator Cam Cameron. I'm not thrilled that the Ravens retained Cameron but bringing in Caldwell adds another strong voice to the Ravens offense. Caldwell is famous for helping mold Peyton Manning into a Hall of Famer. Caldwell will make Flacco a better Quarterback.

The most ridiculous thing to come out of this hire is suggestions that Peyton Manning will be coming to Baltimore. The Ravens are not going to "acquire" Manning. First of all his future as a productive player in the NFL is in doubt. He hasn't been cleared to play after surgery on his neck and IF he plays he would get 28 million dollars for the 2012 season. The Ravens have plenty of other needs and one of them is not Quarterback. Joe Flacco is a very good signal caller and will be resigned by the Ravens before his contract expires. The team is not going to invest $28 million in one player with a questionable future.

Calm down Flacco haters. He isn't heading out of town any time soon.

Ravens season

2012-01-23T10:49:00.000-05:00

Talked with my son, who lives in Baltimore, this morning and he says the weather matches the gloom in Crabtown about 12 hours after the Ravens lost to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game. It is overcast with light rain and fog. I suspect some Ravens fans are in a fog this morning after the game. Lee Evans' drop/strip of the game winning TD and then Billy Cundiff's miss from 32 yards on a field goal attempt that would have sent the game to OT will go down as the worst moments in Raven's team history.

Joe Flacco played like the elite quarterback everyone said he wasn't. He misfired on a few early throws but after that Fu Manchu Joe was right on. May have tried to get a little to cute on the interception in the 4th quarter but on the next play Tom Brady threw a pick on a fantastic play by Bernard Pollard and Jimmy Smith. Overall Joe outplayed the greatest QB in the history of the world. Maybe he will get some credit.

The future for the Ravens is not as bleak as many think. Yes Ed Reed will probably retire, and maybe Center Matt Birk, but a lot of the core performers on the Ravens will be back. The receiving corps will only get better with a full off-season to work with Flacco. Look for Torrey Smith, Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson to become a bigger part of the offense. Ray Rice and Vonta Leech aren't going anywhere. I do think that Cam Cameron is done. His vanilla play calling will be a thing of the past. I also think you will see the further development of Lardarius Webb and Jimmy Smith as cornerbacks.

There are no guarantees, going into a season, but I think the Ravens will be a playoff contender in 2012.

My early thoughts on the Super Bowl is the Giants will surprise the experts and beat the Patriots. Eli Manning is playing very well and the New England defense will not be able to stop the Giants running and passing game. I also think the Ravens showed everyone how to handle Brady. Get him off his spot and you ruin his timing. I think the Giants terrific rush will give New England lots of trouble. I like New York 27-17 over the Patriots.

Championship games

2012-01-20T07:37:00.002-05:00

Time to put up and make my picks for this weekend. I think we are looking at a Super Bowl rematch.

The Ravens come in a touchdown underdog in Foxboro on Sunday in the AFC Championship game and I think that is about right. I think the Ravens will have a difficult time slowing down Tom Brady and the Patriots offense. The Pats sport 2 Tight Ends who play like wide receivers and the Ravens have struggled all season against big pass catchers. The only way the Ravens can win is if they control the ball with Ray Rice and if they put incredible pressure on New England QB Tom Brady. I don't think Baltimore can do this enough and lose 30-21.

At Candlestick it will be the Giants and 49ers in the NFC Title tilt. The Giants are clicking on all cylinders right now. The G-men offense can dominate with a strong running game and Eli Manning has become a precision passer of late. The game might fall to Alex Smith and I don't think the 9ers QB can repeat his standout performance like he had last week against the Saints. Go with the Giants 24-17.

So we have a repeat of Super Bowl 42 when the Giants beat the Patriots 17-14 in one of the most thrilling title games in history.

Last Week 3-1 Overall 64-37

Ravens offense

2012-01-17T11:23:00.000-05:00

The Ravens offense has come under a lot of criticism this year for not being explosive enough. I agree they are not the Saints or the Packers and Joe Flacco isn't Drew Brees or Aaron Rogers. However, I think the Ravens offense and Flacco are getting a bum deal.

Flacco has faced a top 10 defense almost every week this season and the team is 13-4 and playing in the AFC Championship game. Not bad if I might say so. Look it up in 12 of the 17 games, the Ravens played this year, they have faced a team in the top 10 of the final defensive statistics this season. 2 games each, in the division, against the Steelers (#1) Bengals (#7) and Browns (#10). Then 2 games against the #2 defense in the Texans, and single games against the 9ers (#4), Jets (#5), Jags (#6) and Seattle (#9). Conversely the Patriots faced 4 top 10 defenses this season having played the Steelers, Jets twice and the Eagles.

Lets see how Tom Brady and the Patriots would have fared against those tough schemes every week. I don't think he would have thrown for over 5000 yards and they wouldn't have been 13-4. Give Flacco some credit for doing what he needs to win and at the end of the day that is what it is all about. For crying out loud the guy has won 48 games in his first 4 years in the league. NO one has done that in the history of the NFL!

We have seen what good defenses can do to good offenses in January. The #4 ranked 9ers pestered Drew Brees and company into 5 turnovers and in Green Bay the Packers turned the ball over 4 times in their loss to the suddenly healthy Gaints defense. The Saints and the Packers will be watching from their couch on Sunday when Fu Manchu Joe is slinging it Sunday afternoon in Foxboro.

Ground game

2012-01-12T11:04:00.000-05:00

Over the past decade or so the NFL has changed the rules to heavily favor the Quarterback and the passing game. That being said it could be running games that have a huge impact in the 4 playoff games this weekend.

The 9ers will use Frank Gore to control the clock and keep Drew Brees and his high powered passing game off the field as San Fran hosts the Saints. In Foxboro Saturday evening the Broncos will try and pound Willis McGehee at the soft Patriots defense. This also is an effort to limit the number of opportunities for Tom Brady and New England.

On Sunday in Baltimore both teams will try and run to set up the pass. In the Ravens case Ray Rice is vital to opening up the passing lanes for Joe Flacco. For the Texans they need their tandem of Arian Foster and Ben Tate to take the pressure off 1st year QB T-J Yates. In the win over the Bengals last week, in the Wild Card playoff game, Foster and Tate rushed for 190 yards on 33 carries while Yates threw 20 passes completing 11 for 159 yards.

In the final playoff game on Sunday the Giants will try to control the ball with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw to keep Aaron Rogers off the field.

Don't be surprised if early on the 9ers, Broncos, Ravens, Texans and G-men try to establish the run to gain the upper hand in their Divisional playoff games.

Picks

Saints over 49ers Sat 4:30
Patriots beat the Tebows--err Broncos Sat 8p
Ravens drop the Texans (Sun 12:30p on WSBA)
Giants surprise the Packers Sun 4:30p

Last week 1-4 Overall 61-36 63%

She Said What

2012-01-10T11:01:00.000-05:00

Not sure I understand the statement that tennis player Serena Williams recently made. She says never liked sports or anything physical and doesn't love tennis. That is quite a statement by a 13 time Tennis Grand Slam winner. Imagine if she had the burning desire for sports and tennis how good a player she would have been. I suspect some of this is out of frustration about the current state of her game. Injuries have dropped the 30 year old out of the top 10 rankings. Williams has been a professional for half her life and may just be burned out. She was driven by her father, from a young age, to be a tennis player. This also might be a bit of rebellion as her career enters its twilight. Serena, and her sister Venus, have carved out a huge place in the history of the game and you would hope, moving forward, they would be ambassadors for the sport. Somehow--at least in Serena's case--that's not going to happen. Too bad tennis could use some more icons to create interest in the sport.

New season

2012-01-05T11:24:00.004-05:00

Among all the hoopla of the start of the NFL playoffs the PGA Tour season quietly starts in Hawaii on Friday. This could be a very interesting season on the PGA Tour. Will we see the resurgence of Tiger Woods...will Rory McIlroy step up and become the next big thing on tour...will prodigy Rickie Fowler break through and win a tournament? What about the rookies. Last year's crop of 1st year players turned out to be exceptional with Keegan Bradley winning the PGA Championship in Atlanta. How about some of the old guys like Lancaster's Jim Furyk or Steve Stricker...can they return to form.

Tiger Woods is the biggest question mark. Woods played very well in Australia at the President's Cup and won his small field tournament around Thanksgiving. Woods seems to be completely healthy for the first time in over a year and has been able to finally groove his new swing. In addition Woods is back to putting well. Everyone bombs it on the tour but putting separates the top players from the grinders. I look for Woods to win a couple of tournaments and wouldn't be surprised to see him win at the Masters. He knows every nuck and cranny of Augusta National. Not sure for the other major venues...Royal Lytham (British), Olympic Club (U-S Open) and PGA Championship (Kiawah Island). Woods has not fared that well at previous majors at Royal Lytham with a tied for 12th in 2001 and tied for 18th at Olympic Club in 1998. Kiawah is hosting a major for the first time but it is a very quirky tract that calls for pinpoint accuracy off the tee and that is not one of Tiger's strengths. I'm excited to see how Woods does this season. We might not get a look at him in the U-S until the Match Play tournament in late February. However, rumors are swirling that he will play with Cowboys Q-B Tony Romo in the AT&T at Pebble the 2nd week of February. FORE!

Picks

Bengals over the Texans
Saints over the Lions
Falcons over the Giants
Steelers beat the Broncos
#1 LSU over #2 Alabama (Mon 7:30 on ESPN Radio 1440)

Last Week 2-2 Overall 60-32

BCS & the National Championship

2012-01-04T10:54:00.001-05:00

So far the BCS games have proved the point that a FBS Championship Tournament could be held for the top 8 teams in the country. The 3 BCS bowl games have been great contests. The Rose Bowl, won by #6 Oregon 45-38 over #9 Wisconsin, was a very entertaining game with both teams slugging it out until the very end. The Fiesta and Sugar Bowls have been won in overtime by #3 Oklahoma State and # 12 Michigan.

These first 3 games have been a pretty good argument for the NCAA going to an 8 team tournament, spread over 3 weeks, to crown the National Champion. Of course some seasons you will see some terrible match-ups but I think in the long run you get a true test of which is best team in the land.

Will be interesting to see how tonight's Orange Bowl between #23 West Virginia and #14 Clemson and the BCS Championship between #1 LSU and #2 Alabama play out.

What I believe-what I know

2011-12-28T07:40:00.004-05:00

This will be my last post of 2011. Some might say good riddance to the year. However some of the big stories of 2011 are going to linger into 2012.

Here is what I believe will happen in the New Year and some of what I know.

I know that the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse case will linger for most of the 2012. What I believe--Sandusky will eventually reach a plea agreement in the case.

I know Penn State will finally pick a new head football coach. I believe the program will NEVER be as big a draw as it was under Joe Paterno.

I know that this has been an incredibly disappointing season for Eagles fans. I believe that Andy Reid will not be fired. He will however have to turn around a downward trend in Philly to survive after 2012.

I believe the Saints are the best team in the NFL. I know that Drew Brees and company have the most potent offense in the game and a defense that is good enough to stop the likes of the Packers or any AFC opponent.

I believe the Angels will be the A-L representative in the World Series. I know that Artie Moreno's move to sign 1st baseman Albert Pujols and lefty C-J Wilson were very bold moves. Adding Pujols gives the Halos a bat in the middle of a strong line-up. Wilson goes from ace in Texas to #3 or possibly #4 starter in Anaheim.

I believe the Orioles will have their first winning season in years. I know that the move of hiring Dan Duquette as the GM was a good step.

I believe the Phillies will be a contender for the NL pennant. I know they will have to be more consistent at the plate if they hope to win another World Series.

Picks--

Bengals beat the Ravens (Sun 3:45pm on WSBA)
Steelers beat the Browns
Eagles over Redskins (Sun Noon 96.1 WSOX)
#24 Penn State over #21 Houston (Mon 10:30a on WSBA)

Last week 4-1 Overall 58-30

Loyalty

2011-12-16T10:09:00.002-05:00

Right now Pitt football fans must be thinking what did they do to deserve this. Earlier this week 1st year Head Coach Todd Graham bolted for the Arizona desert and the Sun Devils job. If you are a Panthers fan just say good riddance. This is a man who told them taking over the Pitt program was a dream job. In case you were wondering he said the Sun Devils job was also a dream job. This guy must spend a lot of time in bed with all his dreams. He led Pitt to a 6-6 record in 1 season and seemed to blame every loss on the players failures and took no responsibility. I say good riddance because Graham is just a lying carpetbagger. This is the 2nd school he has ditched after just 1 season. Graham even left Pitt after the athletic department denied a request by Arizona State to interview him.

Pitt hasn't had the best of luck lately with the football program. They are now in the process of looking for their 4th head coach in 13 months. However I think I have the answer to their troubles. Hire Penn State Interim Coach Tom Bradley. He has no chance of getting the gig in Unhappy Valley full time and has proven to be VERY loyal. Bradley has been coaching at Penn State for over 30 years. He has applied for the Pitt job twice. He knows the recruiting roads in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and New Jersey and might take a few players away from Penn State. Bradley might bring some respect back to the Pitt program. I hear those cries of he had to know what was going on with Sandusky at Penn State. No one has implicated him in the scandal that surrounds the Nittany Lion program. Bradley is just a solid football coach. Solid is what Pitt needs right now. Stop with trying to hit a home run with the "hot" coach. Go with solid and the transition from the Big East to the ACC will be smooth and maybe successful.

Choices

2011-12-13T10:04:00.002-05:00

Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin has a decision to make in the next few days...does he start a hoppled Ben Roethlisberger on Monday night against the 49ers or does he sit the quarterback so his high ankle sprain can properly heal. The Steelers are a lock to make the playoffs but have a shot to win the AFC North and possibly earn a first round bye in the playoffs. Roethlisberger was heroic in coming out for the 2nd half of the Browns game on Thursday night and leading Pittsburgh to a win over Cleveland. If he plays on Monday night in San Fran he could be hurting the Steelers Super Bowl chances. The 9ers defense is considerably better than the Browns and will do their best to pressure the Steelers all pro. Also playing into Tomlin's thinking is the state of his O-line. Center Maurkice Pouncey also suffered a high ankle sprain and could miss the game on Monday night. If Roethlisberger plays he will be VERY immobile and would be vulnerable to more hits. Tomlin might be wise to let Charlie Batch QB the next 3 games against the 9ers, the sad sack Rams and the Browns. If Roethlisberger sits you've got to figure the Steelers go 2-1 to finish up the season and get the top wild card spot. Pittsburgh would then face the lowest seeded division winner--most likely the Broncos or Raiders--on Jan 7th or 8th on the road in the first round of the playoffs. This gives Roethlisberger almost a month to rehab the ankle and be ready for a post-season run. I know most Steeler fans can't picture Pittsburgh winning another Super Bowl with Charlie Batch calling the signals.

Picks

Dallas over Tampa (Sat Night)
Chargers beat the Ravens (Sun WSBA 7:50p)
Eagles fall to Jets (Sun 3:15 WSOX 96.1)
Patriots beat the Broncos
9ers over the Steelers (Monday Night)

Last week 4-1 Overall 54-29

Over paying

2011-12-08T08:12:00.001-05:00

The St Louis Cardinals are about to sign 1st Baseman Albert Pujols to a 10 year $220 million contract. This is an idiotic move by the Cards. Pujols is 32 years old and some believe he might be even older. I understand giving the future Hall of Famer a 4 year deal worth about 22 million per year but not 10 years at that price. There is no way Pujols is going to be a very productive player when he is in his early 40's at the end of the contract. The Cardinals are one of the most popular teams in baseball and have no need to keep Pujols. The slugger's production is already declining. Over the past 4 years Pujols has seen his batting average drop from .357 in 2008 to 299 this past season. In addition Pujols drove in a career low 99 runs this past season. I'm not sure the Cards will be getting top value if Pujols continues to produce at the levels he did this just completed season.

Picks

Steelers over Browns
Ravens over the Colts (Sun 12:30 on WSBA)
Dolphins over Eagles (Sun Noon on 96.1 WSOX)
New England over Wash
Giants beat the Cowboys

Last week 3-2 Overall 50-28

B%S

2011-12-06T09:53:00.001-05:00

Once again we have further proof that the top level of college football needs a playoff. LSU and Alabama will face off for a 2nd time this season in the BCS Championship game in New Orleans on January 9th. The Tide could be champs of college football without beating the team that WAS a Division and Conference champ. Doesn't seem very fair to me. In early November LSU beat Alabama 9-6 in overtime. The Bayou Tigers then went on to win the SEC West and then beat Georgia in the SEC Title game. I think we would all agree that LSU deserves to be in the Title game. However Alabama over Oklahoma State not so. Alabama couldn't win their division and didn't have to beat another ranked team to be the Conference champ...something the Cowboys did. Some might argue that Ok State's loss to an unranked Iowa State shows they are inferior to the Tide...I would say B%S. Oklahoma State won a conference that included 3 other ranked teams. I think the main facto, in the Cowboys losing the shot at the B%S Title game, is their losing the next to last game of the regular season while the Tide fell to LSU in with 4 weeks left in the season.

I say scrap this idiotic system and go with a full fledged playoff. Let's decide it on the field. All the other divisions in college football decide the champ with a playoff...do it for the biggest schools...end of discussion. I think an 8 team 3 week playoff would work. The first 4 Quarterfinals games could be played at the Orange, Rose, Sugar and Fiesta Bowl sites on New Year's Day....Semifinals the following week and the Championship game the following week. All 3 rounds could be played while players are OUT of school on Christmas break. So no more arguments that players will miss class time. Games would be done by mid January and players wouldn't miss a day of classes. If I can figure this out then all those genius' running the college's should be able to figure it out too!

Here is this year's Bracket--using the top 8 in the final B%S poll

LSU v Kansas State @ Sugar Bowl
Alabama v Boise State@ Orange Bowl
Oklahoma State v Arkansas @ Fiesta Bowl
Stanford v Oregon @ Rose Bowl

Semifinals @ Cowboys Stadium-Dallas....Reliant Field Houston
Sugar Plays Fiesta Winner in 1 Semi and the other has Orange winner taking on Rose Winner. (flip the match-ups each year)

Championship-Jack Murphy Stadium-San Diego

Semi-final winners.

Pretty simple stuff.

NBA

2011-12-01T08:08:00.001-05:00

The NBA and its players came to their senses over the holiday weekend and finally hammered out a new collective bargaining agreement that gives both sides what they want. The owners get about 300 million dollars a year in savings and the players still get the chance to earn big salaries. The league says the season will start on Christmas. I've got to say I think this should be the new normal for the NBA. Cut the season down by about 2 months and play about 60-65 games in a season. This seems about right for me. I don't care, or start paying attention to the NBA, until after the Bowl Season ends, anyway. The sports landscape is pretty crowded for the first 2 months of the season with the MLB Playoffs, NFL, and College Football all crowding early season NBA games out of our minds. However once January comes around baseball is over, College Football is done and the NFL season is winding down...the NBA only has to share the spotlight with College Hoops. This is further proof that the NBA is better suited for the shorter season starting around the Christmas holiday. Somehow I don't think David Stern will listen to me and follow my advice.

Picks

Eagles over the Seahawks (Thur 7:30 on 96.1 WSOX)

Wisconsin over Michigan State

LSU over Georgia

Ravens over the Browns (Sun 3:30 on WSBA)

Bengals beat the Steelers

Last Week 6-0 Overall 47-26

Thanksgiving NFL

2011-11-22T11:00:00.001-05:00

On Thursday evening in Baltimore the brothers Harbaugh will take sibling rivalry to a new height as the John led Ravens take on the Jim led 9ers. When the schedule was released back in April everyone said oh how nice the NFL made a family friendly decision to have the 9ers come to Baltimore and take on the Ravens for a Harbaugh lovefest. Most people figured this would see a struggling new coach taking on a veteran team with the outcome being no surprise. Fast forward about 7 months and the 9ers are 9-1 having won 8 straight and looking like a contender for the Super Bowl. The Ravens have been a little bit inconsistent--especially on the road--but still are 7-3 and tied with the Patriots and Steelers for the best record in the AFC. The game will feature 2 great defenses and could be decided long after the turkey is cold around 11:30 Thursday evening. The game will also see 2 of the league's best runners in the 9ers Frank Gore (870 yards rushing-5 TD's) and Baltimore's Ray Rice (663 yards rushing, 51 catches for 513 yards and 8 TD's). I don't think it is going out on a limb to say that the Harbaugh boys could be giving us a preview, Thursday night , of the Super Bowl in Indy.

Picks

#15 Wisconsin over #20 Penn State (Sat 2pm on WSBA)
#1 LSU over #3 Arkansas
9ers over Ravens (Thanksgiving 7:50 on WSBA)
Patriots over Eagles (Sunday 3:15 on 96.1 WSOX)
Green Bay over Detroit
Pittsburgh over KC

Last Week 4-2 Overall 41-26

Expanding Baseball playoffs

2011-11-18T08:17:00.001-05:00

Yesterday MLB Commissioner Bud Selig announced the playoffs will expand starting as early as next season. I like the idea of adding 1 more wild card team for each league. This means 10 of the 30 teams will make the post-season. Not sure if I totally agree with the idea of just a 1 game playoff between the 2 wild card teams. 1 and done after a 162 game season is a little harsh. I believe the best way to do this would be a best of 3. This would give us a 3 game Wild Card...best of 5 Divisional...best of 7 for the League Championships and the World Series. I think this is the fairest way to pick the baseball champions.

I would also hope, down the road, MLB will decide to cut the regular season by a dozen games to 150 and end the regular season in Mid September. This would mean that the World Series would be over by Mid October. Hopefully Bud Selig and Company will read my blog and embrace my suggestions.

Picks

#21 Penn State over Ohio State (Sat 2p on WSBA)
#17 Nebraska tops #20 Michigan
Ravens over Bengals (12:30 on WSBA)
Giants over Eagles (Sun 7:30 on 96.1 WSOX)
Cowboys over the Redskins
Patriots over Chiefs (Mon Night Football)

Last Week 3-3 Overall 37-24

What's Normal

2011-11-11T06:23:00.001-05:00

You have to wonder how long it takes for things to return to normal at Penn State. I think this stain on the University will take a long time to wash out. Over the next few years their will be reminders about the horrible scandal that has cost Joe Paterno his job and sterling reputation. First there will be a preliminary hearing for Jerry Sandusky on 40 sex abuse charges in about a month. There will be hearings for former Athletic Director Tim Curley and of course there are the perceptions that the University swept the allegations under the rug. Watch for lawsuits to be filed against the University by some of Sandusky's victims as well.

My belief is the alums will be the savior for Penn State. Their loyalty will be what helps clean the stain off of College Avenue. However those alums, and the supporters of the University, have to accept that Penn State enabled Jerry Sandusky for almost a deacde and a half and possibly longer. Once the supporters have accepted the mistakes made by Mike McQueary, Joe Paterno, Tim Curley and Graham Spainer they can help the school rise from the ashes. No one disputes Jerry Sandusky's actions are inexcusable. He is a monster who preyed on young boys. The former Penn State coach was just a flawed man who made mistakes like all of us. The one thing I hope EVERYONE takes away from this whole thing is that if you learn about such a heinous crime...don't worry about the chain of command...call the police.

Picks

#19 Nebraska over #12 Penn State (Sat 10:30a on WSBA)
#4 Stanford over #7 Oregon
Ravens downs Seahawks (Sun 3:30p on WSBA)
Steelers beat the Bengals
Eagles beat the Cards (Sun 12n on 96.1 WSOX)
Patriots over the Jets

Last Week 1-4....Overall 34-21

Very Unhappy Valley

2011-11-09T06:58:00.000-05:00

I think the debate over whether Joe Paterno continues to coach the Nittany Lions after this season is over. Paterno will not survive the firestorm about his role in the child sexual abuse scandal surrounding former Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Peterno did follow the letter of the law in reporting the allegations to A-D Tim Curley a decade ago. My beef with Joe Pa is he NEVER followed up. In fact I think Paterno should have told his former QB Mike McQuery to call police and tell them what he say in a shower in the football building. Legally Paterno is ok...morally he is bankrupt. If anyone approached me and told me that he had witnessed a 10 year old boy being raped in a shower at the school I wouldn't have hesitated to tell that student he needs to report that HEINOUS crime to police. In Paterno's case he called his boss and NEVER asked another question about the report. We are not talking about taking a stapler or some paperclips. We are talking about rape.

The stain on the University and the football program can only be removed if Paterno is removed. In fact I truly believe the punishment handed out by Curley--banning Sandusky from University Buildings--was criminal negligence. The fact that Curley and his boss President Graham Spanier knew about serious allegations and failed to call police shows they are morally bankrupt as well.

It is time for the University Trustees to break out the brooms and clean out Paterno, Curley and Spanier.

Steelers-Ravens Weekend

2011-11-03T10:45:00.003-04:00

The Ravens and Steelers will do battle again on Sunday in one of the best rivalries in the NFL. For Ravens fans I say forget the week 1 beatdown of Pittsburgh. Equate that game to the Ravens effort against the Jags a few weeks ago. All teams in the NFL have a bad day. For Pittsburgh that was the opener at M&T. The Ravens can point with disgust to the Jags loss and the 1st half against the Cards.

All that being said I think the Steelers exact some revenge at Heinz on Sunday Night. The Ravens are really struggling on offense right now and they can't afford to get behind like they did against the Cards. However the Ravens can still win the game. Some Ray Rice runs will soften up the passing game and could lead to some open receivers down field. The Steelers secondary is suspect right now. The Steelers still win this one but I believe it could be a close one.

Picks:

#2 Alabama over #1 LSU
Steelers over the Ravens (Sun 7:50p on WSBA)
Eagles over the Bears (Mon 7:30 on 96.1 WSOX)
9ers over the Redskins
Buffalo over NY Jets

Last week 3-3 Overall 33-17

Local Love

2011-10-27T11:22:00.000-04:00

We've come to the time of the year where most of the fall high school sports are starting to wind down and teams are playing in either league or district playoffs. Now is the time to support your local athletes. The kids who play will appreciate having fans in the stands...especially the secondary sports like Boys Soccer, Girls Volleyball and Field Hockey. For the most part these kids play in front of friends and family. Some extra voices in the crowd will bring a smile to their faces. You will also see some very skilled athletes at work. A good number of the athletes play for the love of the sport. Very few will get college scholarships out of their high school careers but yet they spend long days practicing and perfecting their games. For that they deserve a special pat on the back. Finally it is pretty cheap entertainment. The price tag for most of the games is $5 bucks and a hot dog at the concession stand will be a couple of bucks. I've had the opportunity over the past 5 or 6 years to become an avid volleyball fan. My son played, and since he has moved on to college, I have continued to support the boys and girls teams at my son's high school. Last night the Hempfield Girls won their 3rd straight Lancaster Lebanon League title in a 5 set thriller over Penn Manor. It was a great match and both teams played well. A fun night at the gym...better than watching a rerun of Glee.

Picks

#21 Penn St over Illinois (Sat 2pm on WSBA)
#13 Nebraska over #9 Michigan State
Ravens over Cardinals (Sun 12:30 on WSBA)
Cowboys over the Redskins (Sun 7:20 on 96.1 WSOX)
Patriots over the Steelers
Chargers over Chiefs (Monday Night)

Last week 2-4 Overal 30-14

Lesson Learned

2011-10-25T11:02:00.001-04:00

The Ravens had better hope that last night's pathetic performance--especially on offense--was a one off. The 12-7 loss to the Jags was historic in some senses. The team failed to get a first down until midway through the 3rd quarter and looked absolutely inept at times. In the first quarter the game had the same feel as the loss to Tennessee in week 2. The biggest concern has to be the offensive line which was woeful. Ray Rice rushed for 28 yards and Joe Flacco was sacked 3 times and harassed all night long. That unit had better get its act together.

Now some perspective the Super Bowl Championship team of 2000 went the whole month of October without scoring a touchdown. Eventually Coach Brian Billick replaced Tony Banks with Trent Dilfer and the Ravens went on their Super Bowl run. I'm not saying that Joe Flacco should be replaced but he will need to be more Dilfer like. The Ravens have the 1-5 Cards on Sunday at home but they face 2 road games after that in Pittsburgh and Seattle. If the offense plays like it did against Jacksonville their is no way they can beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Right now the Ravens are tied for 2nd in the division with the surprising Bengals at 4-2. Lets see where they stand on November 20th when they host Cincy.

Tragic

2011-10-19T09:45:00.000-04:00

The Sunday death of defending Indy 500 Champ Dan Wheldon in a 15 car crash in Las Vegas was tragic because it could have been prevented. In the days leading up to the race numerous drivers--including Wheldon--complained about the Vegas track. They said the width of the track would allow for wheel to wheel racing at over 225 MPH on the track and that it would be hard to separate the contenders from the also rans. A mistake by one of those also ran drivers led to Wheldon's car running up the rear tire of a car in front of his and his car getting airborne. Wheldon was a 2 time winner of the Indy 500 and a Indycar Series champ 6 years ago. At 33 he was also the father of 2 young children. Yes racing is dangerous but Indycar must be more mindful of WHERE they run their races because lives are at stake.

Picks--

#22 Penn State over Northwestern (Sat 5:30 on WSBA)
#4 Wisconsin dumps #15 Michigan State
Ravens over the Jags (Mon 8p on WSBA)
Steelers over the Cards
Chargers over the Jets
Washington beats Carolina

Last Week 4-2 Overall 28-10

World Series

2011-10-18T11:22:00.000-04:00

Says here that I'm supposed to make picks for this year's World Series. Since I picked neither the Cards or the Rangers to win their divisional series I guess I have a bit of egg on my face. None the less the 2 will meet starting Wednesday night in St Louis.

My gut says go with the hot team...but they are both hot. The Rangers have just scorched the ball since the start of the postseason averaging almost 5 runs a game. Nelson Cruz has been playing out of his mind with 6 bombs in the post-season and the Texas pitching has been pretty good. The Cards have been equally productive at the plate averaging over 5 runs a game.

This series may come down to pitching...not starting pitching...but the bullpens. I like how the Rangers pen has picked up their starters in the post-season. Coin flip over and it goes to the Rangers in 6.

O's GM search

2011-10-13T10:28:00.001-04:00

The Orioles are beginning the search for a replacement for Andy McPhail. Earlier this week he stepped down after 5 years on the job. In that time frame McPhail failed to change the losing culture in Baltimore. McPhail's legacy might be the hiring of Buck Showalter as manager. I think a lot of Orioles fans expected more tangible progress. The team seems to be cursed when it comes to developing young pitchers. The current crop has been disappointing at best. Brian Matusz seemed to regress all season long. Chris Tillman might be a bust. Zach Britton's results were very uneven this just completed season. The good news on Britton is he pitched well in the last 6 weeks after a rough patch earlier in the summer.

McPhail did play a key role in establishing the future of the team under Showalter. He drafted Catcher Matt Wieters, traded for 3rd Baseman/1st Baseman Mark Reynolds and traded and then signed to a multi year contract Shortstop J J Hardy. These 3 players and Centerfielder Adam Jones are the beginning of a brighter future for the Orioles. The farm system is still years away from producing, top of the roster to bottom of the roster, players that will make the Birds a contender in the very tough A-L East.

The next GM will be fighting an uphill battle, that even a respected and successful baseball man like McPhail, couldn't scale. I wouldn't be surprised if Rangers Assistant GM Thad Levine is the guy that gets the nod. He has been a key player in the rise of Texas with a limited payroll. I think owner Peter Angelos might be willing to raise the payroll but don't look for the Prince Fielder's or Albert Pujols of the world to come to Baltimore. I would however like to see the Orioles get in on the bidding for Phils pitcher Cole Hamels. He is the kind of pitcher to put at the front of rotation. He would be a vast improvement over Jeremy Guthrie...that's for sure.

McPhail tried but in the end the club is no better than when he took over 5 years ago.

Picks

Penn State over Purdue (Sat 10:30 on WSBA)
#23 Michigan State over #11 Michigan
Ravens beat the Texans (Sun 3:30 on WSBA)
Redskins dump the Eagles (Sun Noon on 96.1 WSOX)
Steelers crush Jags
Lions over 9ers

Last Week-4-2 Overall 24-8

Urban Meyer

2011-10-11T10:03:00.002-04:00

Lots of stories swirling around Urban Meyer becoming the next head football coach at Penn State. Not sure what to make of all this. It is certainly apparent that Joe Paterno is on his last legs as Coach in Happy Valley. He is 84 years old and looking frail of late. He almost got run over again on the sideline on Saturday against Iowa. Paterno has spent most of the season "coaching" from the press box. The handwriting is on the wall. Most of the speculation came from an internet story that the former Florida coach has talked with University officials about replacing Joe Pa. As chance would have it Meyer was in State College this past Saturday to broadcast the Penn State-Iowa game. Of course both sides denied that any talks had taken place. For the sake of Penn State I hope the 2 sides have talked. Meyer would be the perfect choice to replace Paterno. He wouldn't have to live up to Paterno's record because he established himself as a top tier coach by winning and competing for National Titles at Florida. Meyer would breathe life into a program that has been suffering for the past decade or so. Penn State is no longer getting the top recruits...the difference makers. Bring in Meyer and all that changes. You will see Penn State fighting for Championships again very soon after his arrival. Does anyone think that Penn State is going to be a national power again under Paterno?

I think the marriage would be a perfect one. Meyer walked away from Florida due to all the stress of being the Gators coach. Being Penn State's coach doesn't have nearly the same level of pressure. State College is a nice sleepy little town far removed from the big media centers of the state. A perfect place to decompress after a long season.

Now the reality check...is Joe going to let it happen. I think it will be tough but he is starting to come to the realization that his time is short. Meyer and Paterno are friends and I think Joe Pa would find it fairly easy to turn the reins over to Meyer. You have to believe that Meyer will also keep Joe in the loop and might even trot him out to see some of the prized recruits.

This is a marriage made in heaven. The alums will love it and the program will be revitalized. Meyer will make a fortune and I don't think he will be giving Tim Curley a discount but the University will make the $$$'s back in spades. Go for it!!!!!

Phils angst

2011-10-06T08:18:00.000-04:00

I suspect a large number of Phillies fans are scratching their heads this morning. Last night the Cards forced a game 5 in the opening round of the playoffs with a 5-3 win. The Phils got 3 hits in their first 3 batters and scored a pair of runs in the first inning but managed only 3 hits after that. This is the 2nd time in the series the Phils have gotten an early lead and then coughed it up. For another post-season Phils 1st baseman Ryan Howard is struggling. So far he is just 2-15 in the series. 2nd baseman Chase Utley has just 1 RBI in the series. We've seen this before with the Phillies. Several times during the regular season the Phils struggled to score runs and of course last year in the NLCS the Giants shutdown the Phillies.

A game 5 in the first round of the playoffs was not on the mind of many Phillies fans. They figured to brush aside the Cards but King Albert and the rest of scrappy Cards aren't following the script.

The Phils do have the upper hand tomorrow night because they have Roy Halladay on the hill. I think they still win the series and are the favorite against either the Brewers or D-backs in the NLCS. My pick still won't make the next 36 hours or so any easier for Phillies fans.

Picks

Iowa over Penn State (Sat 2p on WSBA)
#3 Oklahoma over #11 Texas
Titans over Steelers
Eagles over Bills (Sun Noon on 96.1 WSOX)
Patriots over Jets
Lions beat Bears (MNF)

Last Week-5-0 Overall 20-6

Curse of the Andino

2011-09-29T08:42:00.001-04:00

Who says baseball can't be exciting.

Red Sox nation will be seeing Robert Andino in their nightmares for a long.time. The Orioles 2nd baseman stroked a single to left in the bottom of the 9th last night to give the Birds a 4-3 win over Boston. The walk off win helped eliminate Boston from the Wild Card spot. About 3 minutes after Andino's game winner the Rays beat the Yankees 8-7 on Evan Longoria's 12th inning solo homer to capture the final A-L playoff spot. Tampa trailed the Yanks by 7 runs in the 6th inning but rallied with 6 in the 8th and forced the extra innings. Tampa caught the Red Sox after trailing by 9 games on September 1st. The Red Sox become the first team in baseball history to fail to make the playoffs after leading by those 9 games.

The National League collapse happened in Atlanta when the Braves blew a 1 run lead in the 9th and then lost 4-3 to the Phils in 13 while the Cards beat the Astros 8-0 to make up a 10 and a half game deficit in the final 5 weeks of the season.

Amazing stuff yesterday evening. One can only hope that the post-season is just as good. The A-L divisional series sees the Tigers take on the Yankees and the Rays battle the Rangers. In the N-L--the Phils host the Cards while the D-backs battle Milwaukee. I like the Tigers and Rays and the Phils and Brewers in the first round of the playoffs.

Picks-

Penn State over Indiana (Sat 10:30a on WSBA)

#7 Wisconsin over #8 Nebraska

9ers beat the Eagles (Sun 12n on 96.1 WSOX)

Texans beat the Steelers

Ravens top the Jets (Sun WSBA 7:50p)

Last Week--5-1 Overall 15-6

Ngata

2011-09-22T07:04:00.003-04:00

The Ravens have inked 2 time All Pro Defensive Tackle Haloti Ngata earlier this week to a new 5 year $61 million contract with $40 million guaranteed. Besides the big smile, on the 6th year pros face, the biggest impact will be on running back Ray Rice. The deal with Ngata will allow the Ravens to go into the off-season without having to pick between Ray and Ngata when they use their franchise tag. Both players could have become free agents and the Ravens would have had to pick between the 2 stalwarts. With the Ngata deal taken care of the Ravens can now focus on a deal with Rice in the off-season instead of during the 2011 campaign. Rice will be making just half a million dollars in the final year of his rookie contract this season. Look for the Ravens, and the versatile Rice, to come to terms on a new deal sometime next summer.

The Ngata deal also makes him the highest paid player, other than a QB, in the league. Any way you look at the Gentle Giant is set for life.

Picks

Penn State over Eastern Michigan (Sat 10:30a on WSBA)
#7 Oklahoma State over #8 Texas A&M
Ravens over Rams (Sun 3:30 on WSBA)
Eagles beat Giants (Sun 12n on 96.1 WSOX)
Steelers over Colts
Dallas beats Washington (Monday Night Football)

Last Week 3-2 Overall 10-5

Penn State

2011-09-17T15:57:00.000-04:00

Another pathetic performance by Penn State--especially on offense--but they survive at the Linc against Temple barely on Saturday. Right now the Nittany Lions look like a 2nd tier Big 10 team with little chance to compete with the Big Boys like Michigan State, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Back to another creampuff this coming Saturday when the Nits host Eastern Michigan. Thank goodness for the MAC or Penn State might have to schedule some tougher opponents in September.

Picks
#1 Oklahoma beats #5 Florida State
Ravens over the Titans (Sunday 12:30 on WSBA
Steelers beat the Seahawks
Falcons over the Eagles (Sunday 7:20 ON 96.1 WSOX)
Rams over the Giants (Monday Night)

Last week 3-2 Overalll 7-3

Week 1

2011-09-08T08:21:00.004-04:00

It was painful at times but the NFL season is upon us. Tonight a pretty good match-up as the last 2 Super Bowl Champs do battle at Lambeau. The Packers entertain the Saints. I actually think when all is said and done these 2 teams will do battle in the NFC Championship game in late January. The Packers might be a better team this year than last year. A lot of people forget that the Packers were ravaged by injuries last year. Should be an interesting game this evening...nice to have REAL NFL action back.

Picks

Packers over Saints
#3 Alabama drops #23 Penn State (2p on WSBA-AM)
Steelers over the Ravens (12:30 on WSBA-AM)
Eagles dump the Rams (12n on WSOX-FM)
Giants over the Redskins

Last Week: 4-1 Overall: 4-1

College Game

2011-09-02T09:30:00.002-04:00

Penn State opens their 2011 season with the usual cupcake. The Lions host Indiana State Saturday (airtime 10:30 on WSBA). This scrimmage won't help Joe Pa's boys get ready for the visit from #1 Alabama next Saturday but better to start with the cupcake before they get pancaked by the Tide.

I think at the end of the day the Lions are an 8-4 team, at best, with little chance to compete with the 4 elite teams on their schedule. Alabama, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Iowa are going to give the Nits fits. Right now the team really lacks any offensive threats and the defense is unproven. Will Penn State go to a bowl game...of course they will but will they be fighting for a Big 10 Championship in Indianapolis on December 3rd...not very likely.

Week 1 Picks

Penn State over Indiana State (Sat 10-30 on WSBA)
#4 Oregon over #3 LSU
USF over #16 Notre Dame
#5 Boise State over #19 Georgia
Maryland beats Miami

Hungry for Football

2011-08-08T07:58:00.002-04:00

If you don't think people are hungry for football...I gave you this. Over 24 thousand people turned out for the Ravens practice at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday. The practice session started at 10am on a Saturday but got that kind of turnout. The team decided to hold the event because they had to cancel training camp at Westminster. I guess people are glad their football is back.

Finally

2011-08-04T10:54:00.002-04:00

The NFL preseason is upon us. Teams are starting to take shape but I still think you are going to see some roster instability right up to the start of the regular season on September 8th when the Packers take on the Saints.

With many teams having salary cap issues I think a lot of veterans are going to be floating around looking for jobs. Teams have 13 million dollars less in cap room than they did in the final capped season back in 2009. That means a lot of teams are going to have to go with younger untested players instead of more high priced veterans. A lot of those experienced players could be on the outside looking in.

Get strapped in and ready for a wild ride especially at the start of the season.

Jeter

2011-07-11T08:14:00.004-04:00

Congrats to Derek Jeter on his 3 thousand hits. The Yankees shortstop got the milestone hit in style with a home run--his first this season in Yankee Stadium--to leftfield. Earlier last week Yanks broadcaster Michael Kaye called Jeter the 2nd greatest shortstop in history behind Honus Wagner. This is something that I would expect from one of the mouth pieces for the Yankees...but Kaye is off base.

Don't get me wrong I think Jeter is a Hall of Famer on the first ballot. The 3000 hits guarantees it. But 2nd best in history. I would contend that Jeter is maybe 3rd or 4th on the list.

Here are some of the numbers. Jeter has a career 313 average with 237 homers and 1159 RBI's as well as 481 doubles in his career. He does have 5 gold gloves but frankly he has never been a great fielding shortstop, He has no MVP awards but was Rookie of the Year in '96 and is a 12 time All Star. Here are the guys who had better careers then Jeter...Cal Ripken, Ernie Banks and Ozzie Smith.

Lets look at their numbers Ripken has 3184 hits with a 262 career average. Cal has over 200 homers and over 500 more RBI's and 120 more doubles then the Yankee Captain. Ripken was also a Rookie of the Year but also a 2 time MVP and 19 time all star and won the Gold Glove twice. Most would agree that Cal got cheated out of a few Gold Gloves during his heyday.

The other shortstop I think was better than Jeter is former Cubs great Ernie Banks. Banks was a 2 time NL MVP, 14 time All Star. Banks had a 274 career average with almost 26 hundred hits...512 homers and 1636 RBI's.

Some would make an argument that Ozzie Smith compares with Jeter. Smith had 2460 hits and was a 15 time all star and probably the best fielding shortstop in history with 13 Gold Gloves. Smith didn't hit for the power of Jeter but was a better base stealer.

Kaye is welcome to his opinion but I think his pinstripes were blinding him to the reality.

Mid-season

2011-07-05T09:20:00.005-04:00

The Major League Baseball season has hit the midpoint and its time to look at how things are going for the Orioles and the Phils.

The big question for Orioles fans has the team improved since last year? The answer is maybe. The record on July 4th of 2010 was 25-56 and they were 25 games out of first place. This year the record is 10 games better but with little chance of competing for a post-season spot. The good news has been in a few areas. O's Shortstop J-J Hardy has been a great addition. Hardy was hitting around 300 and has some pop in his bat, and since Brian Roberts has been out, has been a good lead-off man. Hardy is also a great defensive shortstop and warrants the Orioles inking him to a nice long term deal. O's Centerfielder Adam Jones is beginning to show why many project him as a longtime All Star. Jones has hit 283 with 13 homers, 15 doubles and 46 RBI's in the first half and could be selected for the final roster spot on the A-L All Star team. Catcher Matt Wieters was named to his first All Star game earlier this week. The 3rd year backstop is batting 262 with 7 homers and 33 RBI's. In addition he has been fantastic behind the plate and has been very difficult to run on having thrown out nearly half of the base runners who've tried to steal on him.

The biggest disappointment so far this year for the Birds has been the pitching staff. Brian Matusz started the season on the disabled list and after several poor outings of late his been sent back to Triple A. Lefty Zach Britton looked like he was going to be a Rookie of the Year candidate but has struggled the past 5 starts losing 3 of the 4 with a no decision. I expect this is more an adjustment by the league but he now has to step things up and make his own adjustments. Chris Tillman is back in the minors and Chris Jakubauskas could be heading back their after a horrible outing last night against the Rangers in which he gave up 6 runs in just 2 innings. The lone bright spot among the young starters have been Jake Arrieta. The righty is 9-5 and been the O's best pitcher so far this season.

Orioles fans are hoping that Manager Buck Showalter's tutelage will lead to a second half like last year and the Orioles finish at or near the .500 mark.

The Phillies have been baseball's best team so far this season...living up to the expectations of most experts. The law firm of Halladay, Lee and Hamels have won a combined 29 games and throw in rookie surprise Vance Worley's 4 wins and the Phils starterss have been the best in the business. No surprise that Halladay, Lee and Hamels were all named the the NL All Star squad. I expect that Halladay will be the N-L starting pitcher on Tuesday night in Phoenix.

The offense has been a bit spotty but it seems like Ryan Howard has his home run swing on and Chase Utley appears to be completely healthy after missing the first month of the season with a bum knee. Ben Francisco has played well in right with 6 homers and 31 RBI's while Dom Brown has 5 homers and 13 RBI's. Look for the Phillies to be active in trying to pursue a closer as both Brad Lidge and his replacement Ryan Madson has spent time on the D-L. The Phils are playing on a 100 win pace but only have a 4 game lead on the Braves. I expect them to be a post-season team but being pushed by the Braves will mean they will have to keep the peddle to the medal in the NL East Division race.

Baseball purests say the division leader on the 4th of July is normally makes the playoffs. If that is so then the AL teams are the Yanks and Indians with the Rangers and Angels tied for the West lead and the Red Sox the Wild Card. In the National the Phils, Cards and Giants lead their divisions with the Braves up in the Wild Card. Should be a fun 2nd half.

MLB All Star Picks

2011-07-01T08:18:00.002-04:00

The All Star game is set for a week from Tuesday in Phoenix. As you will remember the outcome of the Midsummer Classic will decide who gets home field advantage for the World Series.

The past few years the All Star game has been dominated by pitching. I've got to believe that will be the case again this year. My guess is the Tigers Justin Verlander and the Phils Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee will be the starters for the game. Don't look for a lot of scoring.

Here are my selections for the July 12th game.

Catcher
AL: Alex Avila, Tigers
NL: Brian McCann, Braves

First Base
AL: Adrian Gonzalez, Red Sox
NL: Prince Fielder, Brewers

Second Base
AL: Ben Zobrist, Rays
NL: Rickie Weeks, Brewers

Third Base
AL: Alex Rodriguez, Yankees
NL: Placido Polanco, Phillies

Shortstop
AL: J.J Hardy, Orioles
NL: Jose Reyes, Mets

Outfield
AL: Jose Bautista, Blue Jays
Curtis Granderson, Yankees
Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox

NL: Matt Kemp, Dodgers
Ryan Braun, Brewers
Lance Berkman, Cardinals

Starting Pitchers
AL: Justin Verlander, Tigers
Jered Weaver, Angels
Josh Beckett, Red Sox
Gio Gonzalez, Athletics
James Shields, Rays

NL: Roy Halladay, Phillies
Jair Jurrjens, Braves
Cole Hamels, Phillies
Cliff Lee, Phillies
Tommy Hanson, Braves

Relief Pitcher
AL: Mariano Rivera, Yankees
NL: Joel Hanrahan, Pirates

Lets so what the fans do with their picks.

Told you so

2011-06-15T10:38:00.002-04:00

All signs point to the NFL lockout ending by the first week of July. The owners and players are meeting at an undisclosed location near Baltimore this week trying to hammer out the framework on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. This is the 3rd session this month. The talk must be serious because unlike before the location for the meetings has actually been kept secret by all sides. When the media is invited that usually means both sides want to posture and are not really serious about working out a deal. Another positive sign is the owners meeting on Tuesday in Chicago. Several media outlets are reporting the owners have been told by the League office they should be prepared to stay overnight. This can only mean that the owners will be meeting to review a CBA.

If an agreement is reached look for a brief 2 week free agency period in mid July with teams heading to training camp on a near normal schedule. This is all great news for fans. I really don't care that players missed mini-camps and OTA's in April, May and June. I actually think missing some of those off-season events may have opened the eyes of a lot of owners to what life without football would be like. At the end of the day the owners live and die with their teams and the thought of not being able to hang out with the players really struck home for some of the owners. The players also got a feel for what it would be like to not get paychecks. Many players get paid to attend Mini-camps and OTA's. The missed regular season paychecks would be even bigger than the lost wages this spring.

I fully expect to be sitting in the pressbox at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday September 11th watching the Steelers and Ravens. How is that for optimism.

Pay to Play

2011-06-06T10:31:00.004-04:00

In the wake of the tattoo scandal at Ohio State a number of college football coaches have started to call for players to receive stipends to give them a little walking around money. In my opinion this is a REALLY bad idea. Do they really think that players, who trade a few trinkets at the local tattoo parlor, are going to be satisfied with a few hundred bucks a month for playing football?

South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier has suggested $300/game for those players on the football squad. He says the money would come out of his pocket and would amount to about $300 thousand dollars a year. OK but I suspect a stipend arms race would begin. South Carolina gives their players $300...Alabama says that is chicken feed we are going to give players $500. See where this is going. Plus why just the football players. Doesn't every college athlete deserve some extra cash for bringing glory to the university. How about the girls on the Penn State Volleyball team. The Nittany Lions have won 4 straight national titles. Seems to me they have brought more glory to Penn State than the football team of late. Why shouldn't they get a $300 stipend. I'm sure they get hungry in the middle of the night and don't have cash to pay for a pizza!

Once again college football coaches have it all wrong...they want to use cash to solve their discipline problems. Do a better job policing your players and you won't have to worry about them trading Big 10 Conference rings for a tat!

Woe is OSU

2011-05-31T08:18:00.003-04:00

These are tough times for the Buckeyes. Yesterday football coach Jim Tressel resigned under pressure in the wake of the scandal in which players traded memorabilia for tattoos. Tressel lied to the NCAA and Ohio State about when he learned about the violations.

Tressel was a great recruiter and coach for a decade in Columbus leading the Buckeyes to 106 wins, 8 visits to BCS games and 1 national title. That is a pretty good run for any coach. The problem is Tressel--like many major college coaches--lost control of his program. He was willing to allow his elite players to get special favors and look the other way. The shame of it all is Tressel has smeared the good name of a fine university over winning a few football games.

This is just the start of the troubles for Ohio State football. The NCAA investigation continues and I suspect when it ends more dirt will be unearthed. Don't be surprised if the NCAA comes down hard on the football program with a loss of scholarships...recruiting restrictions and probably a post-season ban for at least 1 year. The NCAA won't stop their investigation just because Tressel is stepping down. The restrictions could have long term effect on the Buckeyes program.

Penn State fans might be gloating this morning but they shouldn't. The troubles at Ohio State should be a warning to ANY program that without tight controls things can get out of hand.

Golf's Future

2011-05-25T09:35:00.003-04:00

I attended media day yesterday for the AT&T National at Aronimink outside of Philly. Tiger Woods was the attraction. The Media Conference was a packed house for Woods. If Defending Champ Justin Rose was the featured guest the media and sponsor turnout would have been have as many people. Tiger Woods is the future of golf. We can talk about all the young guns like Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald or Ryo Ishikawa but none of them fills a room with Media and Sponsors like Tiger.

Woods put golf on the map when he broke through in the late 90's. For the decade after Nicklaus, left the game, a series of good but not great players prowled the fairways and golf was only for golf geeks. Now everyone wants to know how Tiger is doing. The money being made by players today is all because of Tiger. I can guarantee you that winners wouldn't be making $1 Million plus if it weren't for Tiger. The overlords of golf had better hope that Woods' knee gets better because without him they are going back to smaller purses and lower attendence at Media Day events and come tournament time.

For the record...I would have attended the Media Day without Tiger. See I'm a golf geek and wouldn't pass up on playing one of the best golf courses in Pennsylvania. I strongly suggest you plan on getting to Aronimink in late June for this year's tournament. It will be the 2nd and last year the event will be played on the Donald Ross gem before AT&T and Tiger head back down I95 to Congressional for the 2012 tournament.

O's Bullpen

2011-05-17T09:29:00.002-04:00

It was another tough night for the Orioles bullpen last night. 4 relievers coughed up a 6 zip lead to the Red Sox as the Birds fall 8-7. To say the least the Pen has been inconsistant. It looks like Mike Gonzalez is totally useless with an 8 and a half ERA and Closer Kevin Gregg is 0-1 with a 3 and a half ERA. With some quality efforts out of the pen the Birds could easily be over 500 and right in the hunt for the AL East Race. They have already proved they can play with the division lead Rays taking 5 of 6 in Tampa this year.

With the Orioles starting pitching settling in it is now time for the front office to figure out a way to beef up the bullpen. Guys like Britton, Tillman, Arrieta, Guthrie and Bergesen are pulling their weight...now it is time for the pen to show up and hold on to the leads they have been given by the starters.

Volleyball weekend

2011-05-10T10:32:00.002-04:00

Over the last 6 years I have become a real fan of volleyball. It all started when my son Sam started playing in 9th grade. He played for 4 years in high school for Hempfield High and still plays club volleyball at West Chester University. A lot of people might not know it but Pennsylvania is a hotbed for developing volleyball talent.

This past weekend Sam & I took in the NCAA Men's Final 4 and championship games up at Penn State. All 3 matches were great with lots of local talent on display. 4 players from the York-Lancaster area played in the Ohio State-Penn State match. Starting for Penn State were Red Land's Nick Turko & Central York's Ryan Wolf with Scott Kegerreis from Honey Brook coming off the bench. Ohio State was led by former Hempfield Star Shawn Sangrey. The Buckeyes beat the Nits 3-1 and then went on to win the NCAA Title with a 3-2 win over UC-Santa Barbara. Sangrey showed why he is one of the best players in the country with 30 kills in the title match. Saturday night was the 3rd championship match that Sangrey had won on the Rec Hall floor. In 2006 & 2007 he led Hempfield to back to back State titles.

We also got a chance, on Friday Night, to see the U-S Men's National team scrimmage at Rec Hall. The setter for one of the teams was former Hempfield and Penn State grad Luke Murray. He helped the Nittany Lions win the National Title in 2008.

College Men's Volleyball is still growing. Starting next year the NCAA will begin sanctioning a Division 3 tournament. If you have a boy who is lucky enough to live in a school district with boys volleyball check out the sport. It is easy to learn and full of action. There is an old adage--volleyball players are basketball players who can't sink a jump shot!

If you want to see some of the area's 2 best teams...head over to Central York on Wednesday evening and catch Central York hosting Northeastern. Both teams are currently ranked #1 in the state in their classification and the Bobcats are the defending AA Champs. Should be a good night for the sport in York County. On Friday afternoon at State College the Bobcats beat the Panthers.

U-S Open

2011-05-04T10:29:00.003-04:00

The U-S Open is about 6 weeks away and will be playing in the neighborhood. The 2011 U-S Open will be played at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD. It is a short 2 hour run down to Suburban DC to see the best golfers in the world play at the famed 18 just outside the beltway. The first round tees off on Thursday June 16th and will finish on June 19th. If their is a tie on Sunday evening an 18 hole playoff will be held on Monday the 20th. Tickets are still available for the weekday and practice rounds. I'm fairly certain the tournament will be decided on the 18th hole. The 18th will be played as a 523 yard par 4. In the picture above you will see the 18th on the right. All approaches will have to be exact...hit it left and you are wet...long ah wet...right into a bunker with the chance of having your sand shot roll across the green and into--you guessed it--the water. All the slopes around many of the greens have been shaved. The greens will also be running very fast all week...the USGA says they will set the greens to run about 14 to 14 & a half on the stimp meter! The floor in your kitchen is only a 12!

If you have never had the opportunity to walk a major golf event this may be one you won't want to pass up on. It will be fun to watch the best in the world look like Sunday hackers.

Defending champ Graeme McDowell played the course on Monday morning before meeting with the media and predicted that no one will break par. You should have seen the beaming faces of the USGA officials. They love when players complain about how hard a course it. One hole that McDowell singled out as very tough was the par 4 11th--which plays just shy of 500 yards. He says anyone not in the fairway will have to lay-up because the green is guarded by a pond to the right...traps to the left and a shaved collection area at the back...oh and the green is 2 tiered with a hump in the middle. Good luck.

Your next U-S Open chance comes in 2 years when the tournament is played at famed Merion Country Club outside of Philly.

Which is it

2011-04-20T09:25:00.003-04:00

The Orioles recent 8 game losing streak has lots of Birds fans wondering if this season is going to be just like the last dozen or so. I would say yes and no.

Here is the good news the young arms they have in the rotation are starting to show big league onions. Zach Britton could end up being the stud at the front of the rotation the team has lacked since Mike Mussina took the ball every 5 days for the Camden Yards 9. Jake Arrieta and Chris Tillman have given the team some quality efforts in the first 3 weeks of the season that show a lot of promise. When Brian Matusz comes off the disabled list in a few weeks the Orioles could have the kind of young rotation that can start piling up the wins and keep the Orioles out of the kind of 8 game losing streaks they just ended last night with an 11-0 win over the Twins.

The real source of the 8 game losing streak is a lackluster hitting attack and a shaky bullpen. The O's scored just 20 runs in the 8 game losing streak. Kind of hard to win a lot of games when you are averaging 2 and a half runs per game. Right now the Birds are one of only 2 teams in all of baseball without a 300 hitter in the lineup. At times this season veterans Derek Lee and Vlad Guerrero have looking like old men and Mark Reynolds is hitting below the Mendoza line and piling up strikeouts at an alarming rate. Reynolds has struck out 16 times in as many games. The amazing thing is that is below his pace of the last few seasons when he whiffed well over 200 times. The good news for the Orioles, on the hitting front, is 2nd baseman Brian Roberts appears to be fit. He is tied for the lead in home runs with 3 and leads in RBI's with 14. If Roberts continues to set the table at the top of the line-up the O's will be in good shape.

One other factor in the Orioles losing streak has also been an inconsistent schedule. They have had a number of rainouts and most games have been played in un-springlike weather.

Give this team time. I don't know if this is the year for them to break through but the building blocks are there.

NCAA Fraud

2011-04-05T07:58:00.003-04:00

Congrats to U-Conn and Coach Jim Calhoun on your 3rd National Title since 1999. You didn't deserve to be on the bench last night in Houston.

In the middle of the season the NCAA suspended the Hall of Famer for recruiting violations in the Huskies program. The only problem is the suspension doesn't start until next season. Instead of sitting out 3 games during the Huskies run to the national title this year Calhoun will be sidelined at the start of the 2011-12 season against 3 meaningless opponents. This treatment of Calhoun is the same treatment that Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel got from administrators in Columbus for his lying about knowledge of rules violations by top players. Tressel should have been suspended immediately and miss the team's bowl game. The actions of the NCAA and Ohio State are shameful. What lesson are we sending to other coaches or athletes. If you run a top program you won't have to sit out if the penalty might effect attendance and revenues.

Shame on the NCAA.

MLB 2011

2011-03-28T11:11:00.003-04:00

The weather outside might not feel like it but the Major League Baseball season officially kicks off this week. The World Series champion Giants open the season on Thursday night playing their division rival Dodgers. The Orioles open on the road at Tampa Friday evening and the Phils entertain the Astros to kick off the 2011 season.

The Phillies come into the season with some real question marks in their batting order and in the bullpen. Chase Utley will start the season on the DL with a bum knee that could require surgery. This puts the whole Phils line-up in flux. Throw in Dom Brown being out for the first month of the season, after surgery on his wrist, and the Phils might struggle to score runs. Closer Brad Lidge also starts on the DL as well with a sore shoulder. Good news is Philly has the 4 aces. I also think GM Rueben Amaro has the green light to make a deal for a bat or a closer if he needs to pull the trigger come July. Don't be surprised if Joe Blanton or Cole Hamels is dangled as bait. I still like the Phils to go back to the World Series but it will be on the strength of their starting pitching staff.

Now the Orioles. Shocked to see a story in the newest issue of Sports Illustrated on skipper Buck Showalter. Maybe the national media will pay attention to the Birds. The additions they have made to the roster have a lot of question marks. Will Vlad be healthy for 162 games, will Reynolds strike out 200 times, will J.J. Hardy's offense make up for what he is lacking in defense? If the shortstop matches his slugging numbers of a few years ago then the Orioles will actually look at breaking the streak of 13 straight losing seasons. The young pitching will really be key. Will Arrieta, Bergesen, Tillman and Britton live up to their billing? If they do then the Orioles could be the surprise team of 2011. Lot of pressure on those young arms.

Here are my 2011 divisional and wild card picks

AL East-Red Sox
AL Central-Tigers
AL West-Rangers
Wild Card-Yanks

NL East-Phils
NL Central-Brewers
NL West-Giants
Wildcard-Braves

In my heart of hearts I see a Red Sox-Phils World Series but who would have figured that the Giants and Rangers would have played in the fall classic last year. PLAY BALL!

NCAA's

2011-03-17T08:19:00.003-04:00

Like millions of us across the country-including the President--I have filled out my brackets for the NCAA Hoops tournament starting this afternoon. This has been one of the most unpredictable college seasons in years. There is no clear cut dominate team this season. Every time a team jumped to the top of the rankings they were knocked off. The top seeds are all flawed teams.

My biggest surprises early in the tournament. Memphis over Arizona and Oakland beats Texas--both in the West. In the Southeast I like Utah State over Kansas State.

OK here are my final 4 picks. Ohio State out of the toughest region the East...Duke from the West...Notre Dame out of the Southwest and St John's comes from the Southeast.

Notre Dame and Ohio State in the final with the Buckeyes hoisting the trophy in Houston on April 4th.

Buckeyes football

2011-03-09T10:16:00.002-05:00

Jim Tressel got off easy. The Ohio State football coach was suspended for a couple of games and fined a quarter of a million dollars by the university for not revealing he knew about NCAA violations by players--including his prized QB Terrel Pryor--8 months before the University found out. In December the Buckeyes coach said he'd just found out the players had traded memorabilia for tattoos. In fact Tressel had received an email about the violations shortly after the players got the body ink in April!

The suspension and fine have been imposed by the University which self reported the Tressel violations. The NCAA continues to look into the matter and could lengthen the suspension and increase the fine. Lets look at the NCAA's track record of late. The college sports governing body ordered Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl be suspended for 8 SEC games this season for lying about possible NCAA violations. That's a quarter of the Vols schedule. In 2009 the NCAA made Oklahoma State wideout Dez Bryant sit out the entire season for lying about a dinner with Deion Sanders. These are 2 examples of the NCAA coming down hard on those who lie to them. Jim Tressel lied plain and simple and he shouldn't be allowed to have any contact with the program for more than just 2 weeks. Check out the 2011 Ohio State schedule you will see that Tressel will miss the Akron and Toledo games. See what I mean about getting off easy.

New Season

2011-03-02T07:53:00.003-05:00

Orioles fans may have seen yesterday how much the addition of Vlad Guerrero to the Birds lineup means to Adam Jones and Nick Markakis. The 3 homered in the first inning for the Orioles against the Rays yesterday in Sarasota. Vlad will be the kind of hitter in the Birds line-up that forces teams to pitch to Jones and Markakis. If Guerrero hits like he did in 2010 for the Rangers, with nearly 30 homers and over 100 RBI's, the entire Orioles lineup will benefit. Throw in veteran 1st Baseman Derek Lee and the Orioles should have a much more explosive lineup this year. I also think this will take some of the pressure off of catcher Matt Wieters. Wieters struggled last year trying to be a big bat for the Orioles. He is still learning to be a major league catcher. Dropping him to 7th or maybe even 8th in the line-up will make him a better player in the long haul. If he blossoms this season the Orioles could really be dangerous.

The Orioles will live and die with their young pitching but a more potent offense will take some of the pressure off the staff . However if they can perform like they did in the final 2 months of last season the Birds could be a contender in the American League.

Pressure

2011-02-23T10:54:00.003-05:00

Talk about pressure to win...how about the Phillies. Some analysts are saying that not winning the World Series this year would be a huge disappointment and the other day former GM Pat Gillick said this team could top the MLB record of 116 wins in a season. The 2001 Mariners--with Gillick as GM--tied the 1906 Cubs for the league record in wins during a regular season.

What Gillick didn't say was the Phils would win the World Series because he knows better. FYI the 2001 Mariners lost the the Yankees in the ALCS 4-1. So much for consolation prizes. Trivia question--who had the most wins on that 2001 Mariners staff--stay tuned for answer.

A lot of Phillies fans consider last year a disappointment because the team failed to win back to back World Series titles. The hitting went south in the NLCS against the Giants and that doomed them. Let's use the 2010 Phils and the 2001 Mariners as perfect examples of teams that were killed, in the post-season, by a lack of hitting. The 2001 Mariners, take out a 14-3 blowout of the Yanks in game 3 of the series, averaged just 2 runs in their 4 losses to the Bronx Bombers. Very hard to win a short series scoring just 2 runs/game. During the '10 NLCS the Phils averaged just a bit over 3 runs a game in the series against the Giants. It seemed like every time they needed a big hit one of their key players like Howard, Utley or Werth came up short in that series loss.

This once again proves the point to win the regular season you need strong pitching but you can endure some slumps by key players. In the post season if you have the kind of poor postseason that key Phils hitters had you will go down in flames.

I still think the Phils are a favorite to win the World Series. Top to bottom they have the best starting rotation and maybe the best hitting line-up in the National League but that is on paper. You have to play the 162 game regular season and then roll the dice in the post-season.

Answer to the trivia question is Jamie Moyer was 20-6 with a 3 and a half ERA for the 2001 Mariners.

New beginning

2011-02-14T10:17:00.003-05:00

Today is the day that pitchers and catchers for both the Orioles and Phils have their first workouts in sunny Florida. Do we need another sign that spring is just around the corner? Forget those stupid rodents and their shadows...today is a harbinger of spring to come.

Both the Orioles and the Phils are starting the season with lots of promise.

The Orioles have reworked their infield changing 3 of the 4 starters from the previous year. In addition they have added a big bat for the middle of the line-up. Vlad Guerrero will DH this season. He is coming off a season where he hit 300 had 29 homers and 115 RBI's for the AL Champion Rangers. The young Orioles pitchers have another year under their belt and I expect them to start stringing together quality starts. Do I think the Orioles make the playoffs--hell no! But will they be improved over the last few seasons--hell yes. 82 wins is realistic and I think they might even fight for 2nd in the division. The Red Sox are an improved team but both the Rays and the Yankees have come back to the pack in the division.

The Phillies season starts with huge expectations. The team has added another great arm in Cliff Lee. I'm not really worried about the Phils pitching staff. The reason they didn't make the World Series last year was the offense. The biggest question going into 2011 is how do they replace Jayson Werth's bat. If Dom Brown struggles in the first part of the season don't be surprised if the Phils are in the market for a slugging outfielder in July.

Could be a fun baseball season in these parts. I just hope all the snow melts in the next couple of weeks.

Pick time

2011-02-04T06:54:00.003-05:00

Well I guess I have to commit to who will win the Super Bowl on Sunday in Dallas. First things first...this is a great match-up. A lot of so called experts are looking pretty good after picking 1 or both of these to make the title game. I think this is a game that will be decided in the 4th quarter.

Now for the pick. I like the Packers. Green Bay has throttled all their competition in the post-season and has been playing due or die football for the past month and a half. Remember the Packers needed to win their final 2 regular season games to guarantee a postseason berth.

Look for the Packers to try and spread out their offense running 4 and 5 receivers to blunt the Steelers blitz defense. This will put the game on the back of Aaron Rodgers. So far the Green Bay QB has been a post-season stud. I don't think the Packers are going to run the ball. I also think the Packers defense is going to blitz from the ends to contain Ben Roethlisberger. The Steelers offensive line is porous at best and without starting Center Maurkice Pouncey could be really in trouble. Wouldn't be surprised if Roethlisberger is sacked 3 or 4 times in this game.

Super Bowl Preps

2011-01-26T10:01:00.002-05:00

Super Bowl 45 is set with the Packers taking on the Steelers. Could be a great game. I think a lot of the focus will be on the Quarterbacks. Both Roethlisberger and Rodgers are among the top 10 in the league...however I think it will be the defenses that decide this one. The Steelers and Packers are the #1 & #2 scoring defenses in the League during the regular season. The Steelers give up an average of 14 and a half points a game while the Packers give up 15. I think the Packers will be able to put pressure on Ben Roethlisberger...the question is can they keep him from getting out the pocket and doing damage. The Steelers will also need to keep Aaron Rodgers under control...he had a number of key scrambles in the NFC Championship game against the Bears.

One other key injury to keep your eye on is the high Ankle sprain suffered by Steelers Rookie Center Maurice Pouncey. The Florida standout was the glue that held together the Steelers shaky offensive line all season.

One other NFL Note--Bengals receiver Chad OchoCinco has decided he will go back to being Chad Johnson. Since he changed his name in the 2009 season #85 has averaged about 70 catches while when he was just Chad Johnson he averaged 90 catches in a stretch from 03-07. I wonder if I can exchange my OchoCinco Jersey?

Super Bowl Final 4

2011-01-21T06:31:00.003-05:00

So who goes to Dallas for Super Bowl 45 on February 6th. I think the Jets and Packers are fighting for the Lombardi in Jerry's place.

In the early game I just think the Pack is the bully in the NFC. They dismantled the Eagles and Falcons in the 1st 2 rounds of the playoffs. They have found a running game and that will take the pressure off of Aaron Rodgers. First team to 20 wins this one.

At Heinz the Jets and Steelers will do battle for a 2nd time in a month. Like how the Jets have shutdown the NFL's 2 top QB's in Manning and Brady in the 1st 2 rounds of the playoffs. Think Rex Ryan and his defenders will be able to take down Roethlisberger. Look for Darrell Revis to lock-up Hines Ward...that is going to be the key match-up in the game.

Lots of green at the Super Bowl next month.

Last week 3-1 Overall 60-32.

Crying in your beer

2011-01-18T10:02:00.002-05:00

Lots of angst in Baltimore over the Ravens loss to the Steelers on Saturday in Pittsburgh in their Divisional Playoff game. Most of the blame is being placed on the shoulders of QB Joe Flacco. It think some of it is misplaced. I'm not going to apologize for the terrible overthrow of Todd Heap that was picked off by Ryan Clark. But Joe didn't cause the fumble he will get credit for in the statistics. Replays showed that Center Matt Birk snapped the ball into his own left leg. Tough to blame on the QB. Despite all those troubles Flacco had in the 3rd quarter he was spot on with 2 throws in the 4th quarter that could have set up the Ravens to win or tie the game. The passes to Q & Housh were perfect. The veteran receivers dropped the balls...can't blame those on #5. Flacco has gotten better every season he has been in Baltimore. Yes he holds the ball too long sometimes...yes he locks onto receivers and misses wide open guys but that is part of the development of a quarterback. I looked up a number of Hall of Famers and their development. Most of the HOF QB's won their 1st Super Bowl/League title by their 5th year. Plenty of great QB's have NEVER won a Super Bowl. Please note that Dan Marino is in Canton without a SB Ring. Same for Warren Moon and Dan Fouts. Sometimes all the pieces have to fall in the right place. Ask yourself how Tom Brady feels today. He was on the path to another Super Bowl appearance this year and up jumped the Jets. A few years ago his team was UNDEFEATED in the regular season but lost in the Super Bowl. We don't think any less of him.

Some things didn't bounce the Ravens way on Saturday. A Ticky-tac penalty on Webb's punt return for a touchdown, Chris Carr lets a rookie Wide Receiver get behind him on the Steelers game winning drive, 2 veteran Receivers drop easy balls. Stuff Happens...that's why they play the games.

Classy Fans

2011-01-14T07:01:00.003-05:00

Not sure if you heard about the classy actions of some Eagles fans last weekend in Philly. An Allentown college professor and his son were attending the game. Problem was the Professor and his son were Packers fans. They waited for the gates to open at the Linc in their car while Eagles fans tailgated around them. About 90 minutes before the game they went in the stadium. When they came back after the game they found that their car had been vandalized. Some lights had been broken and the side mirrors torn from the car. Now some would say this could have happened in any parking lot before any college or NFL team. I would agree and that is the problem. Not sure why anyone wants to spend hours standing in a parking lot drinking before a game they have paid hundreds of dollars for. I hope some of these people have designated drivers...somehow I DOUBT it.

Picks

Steelers over the Ravens (Sat 4p on WSBA)
Patriots over the Falcons
Bears beat the Seahawks
Patriots silence the Jets

Last Week 3-2 Overall-57-31

Wild Card Playoffs

2011-01-06T07:55:00.002-05:00

The NFL playoffs kick off this weekend. Most of the time the first round games are dogs. Don't know why but that seems to be the trend. Remember last year when everyone predicted the Patriots would crush the Ravens in the 1st round. Turned out exactly the opposite. Some teams limp to the first round with so many injuries that they can't win in the 17th game of the season. To that end I actually think 2 of the 4 games this weekend will be pretty good.

The best games will be the Jets & Colts in Indy on Saturday night and the Packers @ the Eagles Sunday afternoon. I think the Colts are starting to get healthy and will end the season for Sexy Rexy and the Jets. Packers take down the Eggles (96.1 WSOX 3:30p) in the Linc. As for the other games...the Ravens roll by the Chiefs (WSBA 12:30p)...the Saints end the NFL embarrassment and beat the Seachicks.

One other thought. I like Auburn over Oregon in the BCS Title game (7p ESPN 1440). I think the Tigers are going to manhandle the undersized Ducks. Look for Cam Newton to make his college swan song a real tour de force.

Randy Edsall

2011-01-04T10:20:00.003-05:00

I hear a lot of screaming and gnashing of teeth from the Maryland faithful about the hiring of Glen Rock native Randy Edsall as the new football head coach. Many have said this is a lateral hire from ousted Coach Ralph Friedgen. I would disagree. Friedgen has never been able to raise the profile of Terps football despite significant upgrades to the facilities in College Park. Need I remind those fans that the Terps were 2-10 in '09 and everyone was ready to show Friedgen the door.

Give Edsall a chance. He is a very strong recruiter who will keep the home grown kids in Maryland and will also bring top players from nearby football hotbeds like New Jersey, Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania. His handling of the death of UConn star defensive back Jaspar Howard last year was a great example of his leadership. Remember the other top candidate for the job Mike Leach was dismissed by Texas Tech, a couple of years ago, for locking an injured player in a closet. Edsall will make Maryland proud both on and off the field.

Area football fans screamed and yelled when the Ravens brought in John Harbaugh 3 years ago. How is that working out? Pretty good I'd say. The Ravens are going to the playoffs for the 3rd straight year...something no other coach in team history has done. Don't be surprised if the Susquehannock grad puts the Terps in their first BCS game in 5 years.

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T16:05:00.003-05:00

Well we have reached that time of year when we get to kiss 2010 goodbye and say hello to the future.

Here are a few things I think will happen in 2011.

Tiger Woods will win a golf tournament and maybe even a major.
The Patriots will win another Super Bowl and cement Hall of Fame status for Bill Belichek and Tom Brady.
The Orioles will be a 500 team and could vie for 3rd in the AL East.
Joe Paterno will announce his retirement before the end of the season...come on Joe it is time.
The NFL and its players will reach and agreement on a new Collective Bargaining agreement that averts a strike/lockout.
The NBA and its players will not and the 2011-12 season will not start on time.
The Beatles will not get back together

Hope you have a great New Year's...see ya on the radio.

Picks

Penn State beats Florida (Sat 11:30 on WSBA)

Ravens over the Bengals (Sun 12:30 on WSBA)

Cowboys beat the Eagles (Sun 3:15 on 96.1 WSOX)

Steelers over the Browns

Rams beat the Seahawks

Last Week--2-2 54-29

Happy Holidays

2010-12-23T06:56:00.002-05:00

We've reached that time of year when it is time to wish everyone a Happy Holidays. Enjoy the time you spend with friend and families.

It is also a time to look ahead to the coming playoffs. It looks like local NFL fans will get some extra football after January 1. The Ravens, Steelers and Eagles will all make the playoffs this season. Wouldn't be surprised to see 1 or maybe even 2 of those teams in the Super Bowl in Dallas in February.

Picks-

Steelers over Panthers
Ravens dump Browns (Sun 12:30p on WSBA)
Eagles beat the Vikes (Sun 7:20p on 96.1 WSOX)
Falcons over the Saints Mon Night

Last Week--4-3 Overall--52-27

R2C2

2010-12-15T07:35:00.004-05:00

Tip of the cap to the Phillies for not giving up on signing free agent Pitcher Cliff Lee. GM Ruben Amaro, Jr stayed in contact with Lee and his agent knowing that the Lefty had been offered contracts for more years and money by both the Yankees and the Rangers.

The addition of Lee gives the Phils the best rotation in baseball and one that could make history. The team now has 6 20 game winners and 3 Cy Youngs. The good news is all 4 of these pitchers have performed well in the post-season. I suspect that Charlie Manuel will go Right-Left-Right-Left with his rotation. Halladay-Lee-Oswalt-Hamels. Not bad having a World Series MVP as your #4 starter.

Does this move insure that the Phillies win the World Series...NO. I think the Phillies still need to fill the hole they have with the loss of Jayson Werth. He gave them fantastic defense in right and also was a force in the batting order. Should the Phils have paid the big bucks that Werth got from the Nats? Again the answer is no. I think Philly will see how Dom Brown does in the first few months as Werth's replacement. If he stumbles Philly might be in the market for a bat for the 2nd half of the season. It wasn't pitching in the post-season that was the Phils problem it was and anemic offense.

Picks

Chargers over the 9ers on Thursday Night
Saints beat the Ravens (Sunday 12:30 on WSBA)
Giants dump the Eagles (Sunday 12n on 96.1 WSOX)
Cowboys rip Redskins
Jags beat the Colts
Pats dump the Pack on Sunday Night
Bears over the Vikes on Monday Night

Last Week-5-0 Overall 48-23 68%

Jayson Werth

2010-12-09T07:39:00.004-05:00

I hope Jayson Werth enjoys his 126 million dollars in the basement of the N-L East. On Sunday Werth signed a huge contract with the Nats. The 7 year deal makes Werth a very rich man but he will NEVER have a chance to win a title in DC. I understand getting paid for what you've done over the last few years but Werth was a piece of the Phillies success. You might list him as the 4th or 5th most valuable player on the Phils roster the last 3 to 4 years. Now he will be making the kind of money that Ryan Howard and Chase Utley get. If Werth was willing to play for a winner he would have taken a 4 year maybe 60 million dollar deal. I'm sure he would have been fine with 15 million dollars a year. The Nationals have 1 all star quality player in Ryan Zimmerman and play in the 2nd hardest division in baseball and should have been more prudent with their cash.

Picks

Colts beat the Titans in Thursday night action
Tampa drops the Skins
Steelers roll over Bengals
Eagles edge by Dallas (Sunday Night 7:30 on 96.1 WSOX)
Ravens trip Texans (Monday 8p on WSBA)

Last week 4-0
Overall 43-23 65%

NFL Playoff Picture

2010-12-07T08:01:00.003-05:00

The Steelers and the Patriots won big divisional games this weekend and now have the inside track on 1st round byes in the playoffs.

If you are a Ravens or a Jets fan-- despite the loss this weekend--you still have the inside track to be the Wild Cards in the AFC. The Jets are 9-3 while the Ravens are 8-4 and have big leads for the Wild Card with just 4 games left in the season.

Oakland, Indy, Sand Diego and The Dolphins are all at 6-6 and 2 games back of the Ravens in the Wild Card Race.

If the Playoffs were to start today in the AFC...New England and Pittsburgh would have byes in the first round. The Chiefs (8-4) would host the Ravens in the Wild Card Opener while the Jags (7-5) would entertain the Jets. You've got to figure in both those wild card games the visitors would be the favorites...setting up regular season rematches for the AFC Divisional playoff round with the Ravens at the Patriots and the Steelers hosting the Jets. The Ravens lost to New England earlier this season while the Steelers host the Jets on December 12th.

The NFC playoff picture is not as clear with close races in 3 of the 4 divisions. Right now if the playoffs were held...the Falcons would be the top seed and Chicago would be the 2nd seed with 1st round byes. The Eagles currently lead the NFC East but have the same record as the Giants but play them one more time this season..the loser there could be in a dogfight for a Wild Card spot. The Saints are in the Wild Card drivers seat with a 9-3 record but they also face the Falcons in the next to last game of the season. There are too many variables in play to determine the 6 NFC playoff teams right now.

Eagles Season

2010-12-03T09:30:00.003-05:00

Where would the Eagles season be without Michael Vick. Imagine if you would Kevin Kolb as the starting QB all season for the Eagles. I suggest they would be a 6-6...5-7 team at best. Vick has almost singlehandedly propelled Philly to an 8-4 record atop the NFC East.

Last night against Houston he willed them to a 34-24 win. Vick threw for 2 touchdowns and ran for another. Can't imagine Kolb ever being that dynamic. I'm hearing some talk among NFL types that Vick is the NFL MVP. I don't think he wins it but he certainly has been the NFC MVP the first 3 quarters of the season.

Picks

Steelers over the Ravens (Sun 7:50 on WSBA)
SEC Title Game-#1 Auburn over #18 South Carolina
Giants beat the Redskins
Patriots over the Jets

Last Week 5-1 Overall 39-23

Here we go again

2010-12-01T10:39:00.003-05:00

Stop me if you've heard this before. Steelers Linebacker James Harrison has been fined by the NFL for an illegal hit on a Quaterback. The league docked Harrison $25,000 for his hit on Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick Sunday that drew a 15 yard roughing the passer penalty. Harrison planted his helmet into the chest of a defenseless Fitzpatrick.

This is the 4th time this season Harrison has been fined for a total of $125 thousand. In each case Harrison didn't think he deserved to be fined or for that matter penalized. The league has said it is going to crack down on these illegal hits. Fining these guys isn't going to do it. The fines amount to tip jar money for top NFL players. Until the league sits guys like Harrison, for a game or 2 after repeated violations, the problem is going to continue until some player gets seriously injured and has his career cut short.

Harrison is a dirty player...always has been. One of the reasons the Ravens cut him in training camp in 2004 was his attitude and dirty tactics. When he takes out a marquee NFL player, with an illegal hit, the league will finally suspend him.

Home stretch

2010-11-26T08:12:00.002-05:00

The NFL season is hitting the home stretch and we sort of know who the top teams are at this point in the season. The good news for local fans is the Ravens, Eagles and Steelers are all atop their divisions. Not many folks are surprised that the Ravens and Steelers are playoff contenders but the Eagles are one of the surprises of the season.

Andy Reid has done a fantastic job making the Eagles one of the elite teams in the NFL this season. Both the offense and defense have gotten better every week and right now I'm sure most teams don't want to face the Greenbirds. It should be interesting how the Eagles hold up over the last 6 games of the season.

Picks

#11 Michigan St over Penn State (Sat 10:30 on WSBA)
Ravens over the Bucs (Sun 3:45p on WSBA)
Eagles trip the Bears (Sun 3:15 on 96.1 WSOX)
Steelers crush the Bills
Chargers beat the Colts
9ers over Cards in one of the Worst Monday Night games in history

Last Week 3-2
Overall 34-22

Expanding MLB Playoffs

2010-11-17T06:58:00.003-05:00

Major League Baseball owners and players are talking about an expansion of the playoffs--possibly as early as 2012. No exact format has been announced but I have some ideas.

I would like to see an expansion of the playoffs to 6 teams per league and add an extra round of playoffs. My idea also calls for cutting the regular season by 6 games to 156.

Here is the format. The 3 division winners and 3 wild card teams would make the playoffs in each league. Each division winner would play a wild card team in a best of 3 series with the first 2 games at the division winner and the 3rd game--if needed--would be at the wild card team. The division winners would be seeded 1-3 depending on record while the wild cards would be seeded 4-6 depending on their records. #1 plays #6, #2 plays #5 and #3 plays #4. The divisional playoffs would remain a best of 5. The Championship Series and World Series would remain best of 7's.

The proposal would increase the number of playoff teams from 8 to 12.

Picks--

Penn State over Indiana at Fed Ex (Sat 10:30 on WSBA)
Ravens beat the hapless Panthers (Sun 12:30 on WSBA)
Eagles over Giants (Sunday 7:20 on 96.1 WSOX)
Raiders over the Steelers
Titans beat the Redskins

Last week 3-1
Overall 31-20

Problems in Dallas

2010-11-10T06:51:00.002-05:00

So Jerry Jones fired Wade Phillips as the Cowboys coach...too bad he didn't fire the GM. Yes I believe that Phillips should have been fired. The team has gone backwards this season. At the beginning of the year there was lots of speculation that the Cowboys would be the first team ever to host a Super Bowl. That ain't going to happen .

Jones however is the main problem with the team. NFL owners can't serve as GM's. They don't have the chops to do it. Jones is in over his head and as the game gets more and more sophisticated his team is falling further behind the 8 ball. Until he makes a decision to hand over the reins of the team to a qualified NFL professional the Cowboys will remain a 2nd tier team.

Picks

Falcons ground the Ravens (Thur 7:50 on WSBA)
Ohio State snaps Penn State's win streak (Sat 2pm on WSBA)
Steelers shutodwn Brady and Pats
Eagles beat the reeling Redskins (Mon 7:30 on 96.1 WSOX)

Last week--3-2
Overall 28-19

Good news

2010-11-05T06:26:00.003-04:00

If you are a fan of a baseball team with one of the lower payrolls in the game you must be thrilled that the Giants won the World Series this week. San Fran's entire pitching staff was developed by their minor league system. No high priced free agent pitchers made a start for the team in the post-season. Yes they had some rented players who played key roles in the title run but most of them were cast-offs. Pat Burrell, Cody Ross, Edgar Renteria and Juan Uribe aren't exactly A-list players. The Giants wins showed you don't have to acquire the top free agents to be a contender and a winner of a World Series title.

Picks

Northwestern over Penn State (Sat 2p on WSBA)
Ravens hold off Fins (Sun 12:30 on WSBA)
Colts beat the Eagles (Sun 3:15 on 96.1 WSOX)
Steelers beat the Bengals
Packers over the Cowboys

Last Week 3-3
Overall 25-17

Has it really been a decade

2010-10-29T08:36:00.004-04:00

This past weekend in Baltimore the Ravens hosted 40 players and coaches from the Super Bowl 35 Championship team. The team had one of the greatest defenses in the history of the league and won 11 straight games to win the Super Bowl down in Tampa. Seems amazing that it has been 10 years since that group dominated the league. One thing fans forget about the team was they were not a juggernaut on offense. The team went through a 5 game touchdown drought early in the season and lost 3 straight games in early October primarily because of the struggling offense.

It was great to see QB Trent Dilfer who never got enough credit for doing a great job he did managing the Ravens offense. Hopefully, for Ravens fans, it won't be another decade before the team wins another Super Bowl.

Picks

Michigan drops Penn State back to 500 (Sat 6:30p on WSBA)
#1 Oregon beats #24 USC
#14 Nebraska gives #7 Missouri their first loss
Steelers drop the struggling Saints
Indy beat the Texans
Washington over Detroit

Last Week--6-1
Overall-22-14

Phils post-mortem

2010-10-26T09:31:00.002-04:00

I'm sure, by now, that Phillies fans have gotten over the loss to the Giants in the NLCS or maybe not. I'm sure the least popular guy in Billy Penn's town is 1st baseman Ryan Howard. To put it mildly he had a terrible series. Here are the brutal #'s--7 for 22 with no homers and no rbi's plus 12 strikeouts. Everytime he came up in a big situation for the Phils he seemed to wave and miss. Let's give some credit to the Giants pitchers. The San Fran starters and relievers did an amazing job in the series of staying away from big innings. Think back to most of the big wins the Phils had late in the season and in the divisional series...they were all fueled by 1 big inning. The Giants pitching staff limited those big innings and won the series. I know Phillies fans want to crucify Howard but without his late season hitting they would never have made the post-season! Give the guy a break.

I think the World Series will be an interesting affair. If the Giants pitchers can continue their mastery on the mound I think they win a pennant for the first time in 56 years. My gut tells me they can't and the Rangers win but it could very well be a 7 game series. One little thing to watch...all the games in San Fran will be played in twilight conditions--4 pm starts--I think that will be a huge advantage for the pitchers.

Cliff Lee

2010-10-19T09:47:00.004-04:00

I've been hearing lots of Phillies fans bemoan not keeping Cliff Lee at the end of last season. The Rangers lefty has been great in the post-season but I don't think they would have gone after Roy Oswalt if they had Lee on the staff this year. Say what you want Oswalt was the fuel in the regular season that helped get the Phillies to the post-season. His pitching in August and September was great and let me remind you about what he did in the NLDS series against the Reds and then the performance on Sunday night after Halladay lost.

I think the Phillies would never have pursued Halladay if they didn't trade away Lee. Let's see what finally happens but stop crying about not having Lee...things have worked out just fine.

Picks

Penn State beats Minnesota (Sat 10:30a on WSBA)
Ravens keep Bills winless (Sun 12:30 on WSBA)
Tennessee bursts Eagles bubble (12n on 96.1 WSOX)
Steelers rip Miami
Washington over Chicago
San Diego beats New England
Giants over Cowboys

Last week 4-1
Overall 16-13

Good investment

2010-10-07T09:50:00.003-04:00

The Phillies pay ace pitcher Roy Halladay about 477 thousand dollars per start. I'm guessing this morning most would agree it was a pretty wise investment. The veteran became only the 2nd pitcher in big league history to throw a post-season no hitter last night when he blanked the Reds 4 zip. Oh by the way he also drove in a run and scored a run in the win. Halladay has proven to be everything the Phils expected when they made the deal for him in the offseason. Yesterday's no-no was his 2nd of the year--remember the perfect game in the spring! This makes him only the 5th pitcher in major league history to throw 2 no hitters in a season. You have to go back 37 years when Nolan Ryan pulled off the feat. The performance was as dominating as I've ever seen. The Reds never really came close to getting a hit. Rollins made a good--not great--play on a ball and Werth had a sliding catch. The closest Cincy came to a hit was the final out when Carlos Ruiz made a nice play on a dribbler in from of home. If you are a Phillies fan don't break out the bubbly just yet but at least put in on ice for a 2nd World Series title in 3 years....last night was a great start!!!

Picks

Illinois dumps a confused Penn State (Sat 10:30 on WSBA)
Ravens make it 3 straight & beat Denver (Sun 12:30 on WSBA)
Packers dump Redskins
Eagles fly over 9ers (Sun 7:20 on 96.1 WSOX)
Jets dump Vikes Monday night

Last Week-1-4
Overall-12-12

Baseball Post-season

2010-10-04T10:52:00.002-04:00

Well baseball's elite 8 are set to start their month-long run to the World Series title. The National League has the Phils, Reds, Giants and the wild card Braves while in the Junior Circuit it is Tampa, Minnesota, Texas & the Defending World Series champion Yankees.

I like the Phils to beat the Reds in one divisional series. Seems to me the trio of Halladay, Hamels and Oswalt is just to much for Cincy but the Reds have found a way all season long to win tight games. The Phils pitchers won't be the difference in the series it will be the Phillies hitters. I think they will feast on the Reds pitchers and make it easy for the Fightins' pitching staff.

The other NL series could be very interesting. I think the Giants have a bit more than Atlanta but this one might be a 5 gamer.

In the American League I like the Twins and the Rays. The Yankees would pitch C.C. Sabathia in all 5 games of the series if they could. The defending champs starting pitching staff is a shambles and I don't think they are able to make it past the 1st round of the playoffs. The Rays just are a better team than the Rangers top to bottom. Texas won the weakest division in the AL this season and has been on cruise control for a month. Hard to get back into the swing of things. The biggest question for me in this series is will Tampa can sellout the Trop.

Week 4

2010-10-01T07:23:00.002-04:00

Should be really interesting the "welcome" that Donovan McNabb gets Sunday at the Linc when the Redskins faces the Eagles. This will be the first time that D Mac returns to Philly since being traded to Washington. I really think McNabb will be warmly welcomed at the beginning of the game because the Eagles fans have really embraced Michael Vick as the starting QB. I expect that most Eagles fans respect the 11 years that McNabb spent in green and will give him his due.

Picks

#17 Iowa manhandles #22 Penn State (Sat 6:30p on WSBA)
Steelers dump the Ravens (Sun 12:30 on WSBA)
Eagles hold off McNabb and Redskins (Sun 3:15 on 96.1 WSOX)
Bears over Giants
Dolphins beat the Pats

Last Week 3-4
Overall 11-8

Good news for Birds

2010-09-23T06:22:00.005-04:00

When Buck Showalter was hired in early August I said it would be a good measure for the future if the Birds could go 500 in the final 2 months of the season. The last few years the Orioles have been flat out awful in August and September. This year is a marked difference. Despite last night's loss to the Red Sox the Birds are 29-18 under Showalter with 9 games remaining in the season. This guarantees the Orioles a winning record in the final 2 months of the season. In fact the team is playing on a 100 win pace during the first 2 months of the Showalter tenure. The club is finally playing to its potential. The young pitchers have matured and the top players have been pulling their load. It will be interesting to see what off-season moves the team makes to build on the late season revival.

Picks:

Temple over #23 Penn State (Sat 2p on WSBA)
Ravens over the Browns (Sun 12:30 on WSBA)
Eagles beat Jags (Sun 12n on 96.1 WSOX)
Steelers beat the Bucs
Skins dump the Rams
Fins over the Jets
Pckers beat the Bears in the Monday Nighter.

Last week 5-2
Overall 8-4

Week 2

2010-09-15T09:59:00.002-04:00

The Ravens spent the off-season upgrading their offense getting Anquin Boldin and also adding T.J. Houshmandzadeh to give Joe Flacco more targets. By the end of the season these 2 big additions may prove to be critical to the team's success but in the end the team will go as far as their defense takes them. You only needed to watch the 2nd series of the game Monday night against the Jets to realize that. The Jets forced a Flacco fumble and recovered on the Purplebirds 14 but only ended up with a field goal because the defense shut down Mark Sanchez and the Jets. Combine the lock down defense with a much improved offense and you have to think the Ravens will live up to the hype and be a Super Bowl contender this year.

Week 2 Picks

#22 Penn State over Kent State (Sat 10:30 on WSBA)
Ravens top Bengals (Sun 12:30 on WSBA)
Eagles beat the Lions (Sun 96.1 WSOX)
Titans beat the Steelers
Houston tops the Redskins
Colts over Giants (Sunday Night game)
New Orleans tips SF (Monday Night game)

Last Week 3-2
Overall 3-2

Picks for Week 1--NFL

2010-09-09T06:58:00.002-04:00

The NFL season gets started today with a rematch of last season's NFC Title game as the Saints host the Vikings.

Here are my picks for the weekend:

#1 Alabama over #18 Penn St (Sat 5:30 on WSBA)
Falcons fly by the Steelers
Packers beat the Eagles (Sun Noon on 96.1 WSOX)
Dallas dumps the Redskins
Ravens over the Jets (Mon 6:30 on WSBA)

Ray Lewis' Future

2010-09-07T09:52:00.003-04:00

I think I know what Ray Lewis is going to do when he retires. The Ravens All Pro Linebacker is going to become a recruiting coordinator for Ozzie Newsome. When the Seattle Seahawks cut All Pro Wide Receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh on Saturday #52 picked up the phone and convinced the former division rival to come to Baltimore. Housh signed a 1 year $855 thousand dollar deal to play for the Ravens and get a chance to win a Super Bowl ring.

The move was a no brainer for the Ravens. They did have to part company with former 1st round pick Mark Clayton but it was WELL worth it. Last season Houshmandzadeh had 79 catches for 911 yards and 3 touchdowns. Clayton--traded to the lowly Rams--had 34 catches for 480 yards. Clayton was constantly injured during his years in Baltimore. Houshmandzadeh gives the Ravens 5 receivers with Pro Bowl honors. He joins Wideouts Anquin Bolden, Derrick Mason, Todd Heap and Ray Rice as targets for Joe Flacco. Talk about match-up problems. Throw in Donte Stallworth, when he returns, and the Ravens offense is going to be VERY pass oriented.

Good start

2010-08-04T09:56:00.004-04:00

The Orioles are off to a good start for new skipper Buck Showalter. They won the first game he was in the dugout beating the Angels 6-3. The club rallied for 4 runs in the 6th inning fueled by a Luke Scott 2 run homer and 3rd base prospect Josh Bell drove in his first major league runs with a double. Jeremy Guthrie was outstanding going 7 innings and giving up just the 3 runs. That's great but how long is it going to last. One of things I will need to see is if some of the young guys progress in the final 2 months of the season. Young players like Matusz, Arrieta, Wieters, Adam Jones and to some degree Markakis have all gone backwards this year. I think one of the reasons for optimism at the beginning of the season was some of the progress those players had made in 2009. Frankly part of the reason the team has won only 33 games this season is the lack of progress from some of these young players. Let's see if Buck can live up to his reputation for developing young players. This team has plenty of them.

Talking with some beat guys this morning...they all say their was a new buzz in the ballpark last night but still only 17 thousand people attended! I would be encouraged if the Orioles play
the final 60 games of the season at 500...now that would be progress!

One other note to pass along. Longtime Baltimore Sun Sportswriter Jim Henneman had this nugget. Interesting to see that when traded to the NL West leading Padres the fading Miguel Tejada was installed as the team's staring shortstop--a position he hasn't played all season--and batted 4th. Face it folks Miggy is nearing the end of his career yet when he is traded the the National League he becomes the cornerstone of a pennant contender. Says a lot about both leagues. Does anyone think a NL team can beat the Yanks or Rays in the World Series?

Good News for Charm City

2010-07-29T09:51:00.003-04:00

If you are a Baltimore sports fan the long nightmare is over. You can now officially divert your attention to the Ravens. Watching and cheering for the Orioles has become painful at best. They have already lost 70 games BEFORE August. I wouldn't be surprised if this team comes close to 110 losses for the entire season. Now we can just ignore the Orangebirds and turn our attention to the Purple and Black.

The Ravens opened training camp on Tuesday and veterans report for workouts tomorrow. One early Power Ranking by Don Banks of Sports Illustrated has the Ravens ranked 3rd overall in the NFL behind just the Jets and Cowboys. I might argue with Don on placing the Ravens 3rd overall but I'm a believer that the Raven's offseason moves make them a true contender to make it to Dallas in February. I think the added weapons for Joe Flacco will make the difference in getting the Ravens to the next level. Anquin Boldin and Dante Stallworth will give Joe more options instead of just Ray Rice and Derrick Mason. In the end the additions may make the Ravens a better running team as well. Teams will not be able to bring all their backers and safeties to blitz Flacco and stuff Rice at the line of scrimmage. For the first time in years the Ravens offense might be better overall than the defense. I also like the confidence Joe Flacco is showing. It is obviously he is very comfortable with the offense and I expect a great season from him.

The Ravens will have to be ready to go at the start of the season. Baltimore opens at the Jets in the new Meadowlands Stadium on Monday September 14th and then the following Sunday goes to Cincy on a short week to face the defending division Champion Bengals. If the Ravens post 2 wins to open the season this will propel them to what could be a special year in Crabtown.

Steinbrenner

2010-07-13T11:02:00.003-04:00

By now most of you have heard of the death of Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner. He passed away early Tuesday morning after a massive heart attack at his home in Tampa. The "Boss" had been in poor health lately and his death was not totally unexpected.

Love him or hate him you have to admire what Steinbrenner did for and with the Yankees. He invigorated the slumping franchise when he bought it back in 1973 from CBS. He paid the absurd price of $10 million for one of the grandest franchises in baseball history. At the time the Yankees were a second division team years removed from the glory days of the 50's and 60's.

Steinbrenner turned around the franchise by vowing to get the best players possible no matter what the cost. He did that and eventually his teams won 7 World Series titles. Steinbrenner was a bully and was arrogant but he helped make the Yankees the most recognized franchise in baseball worth easily a billion dollars.

With all the success the team had on the field his greatest legacy might be a decision to create a TV network built around the club. The YES network brings in hundreds of millions of dollars every season to help the team fund its extravagant spending. Many other teams--including the Orioles--have followed in Steinbrenner's footsteps and created regional networks to try and tap into advertising revenue streams.

RIP George.

The Open

2010-07-12T10:41:00.002-04:00

The Tee times are set for the start of the 3rd Men's Major of the year. The British Open is being played at St Andrew's in Eastern Scotland. Tiger Woods has won the last 2 times The Open has been played at the famed links. Woods raised the Claret Jug in 2000 & 2005. Will he do it again?

Woods will start the his quest for a 4th Open title on Thursday at 4:09a Eastern time when he plays with Justin Rose and Camillo Villegas.

Some other notable groups--a trio of U-S Open champs will play together the first 2 days at St. Andrews as 2010 Champ Graeme McDowell is put with 2003 Champ Jim Furyk and 2007 Champ Geoff Ogilvy starting at 8:23a Eastern. Phil Mickelson plays with Monty and Goosen at 9:20a Eastern. Defending Champ Stewart Cink gets a couple of Englishman in his group as he is joined by Els and Poulter in a 8:42a tee time and last year's runner up Tom Watson--a 5 time Open Champ--plays with Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa and 2008 & 09 Champ Padraig Harrington at 9:20 Eastern.

The weather for Thursday is expected to be overcast with spotty showers and temps in the mid 60's.

Golf Major's

2010-07-07T11:03:00.002-04:00

Just spent the July 4th weekend walking around Aronimink Golf Club following the PGA Tourwith the pros at the AT&T National. Although Tiger was sort of a non-factor the golf course turned out to be the real star of the event. The pros walked off the course singing the praises of the Donald Ross gem. Almost to a man they all said they would love to play a major in Newtown Square. The pros will be back for a 2nd year next July to play the 2011 event there because Congressional Country Club will be hosting the U-S Open next June.

Tournament officials were really happy with the response from sponsors and fans. Over 200 thousand people attended the AT&T this year. Talking to some golf writers all agreed that Aronimink could be in line for a PGA Championship. The PGA has already run a tournament at the facility back in 2003 when the Senior PGA Championship was played on the course. Unlike the USGA the PGA is not as concerned with the final winning score. They won't mind if the winner is say 8 to 10 under par. The time line might hurt Aronimink a bit because the U-S Open is set for 2013 at Merion. No way are they going to play 2 majors in the Philly area in the same year! I would suspect it might be 2015 at the earliest before Aronimink could host a major.

However if you are a golf fan you will be treated to a nice little run here in our neck of the woods. Here is a list of the major golf tournaments coming up over the next few years with-in a 3 hour drive.

2010--Women's U-S Open @ Oakmont
2011--U. S. Open @ Congressional CC
2013--U-S Open @ Merion
2015--Women's U-S Open @ Lancaster Country Club
2016--U-S Open @ Oakmont

Also remember last year the ladies played the U-S Open @ Saucon Valley. Heady stuff if you are a golf fan. Get your tickets or you miss out on the fun.

It might be the pitching dummy

2010-06-23T09:43:00.003-04:00

I think the Phillies need a little pitching help if they have a chance of getting back into the NL East race. Ace Roy Halladay is going through one of the worst stretches he has had in years having lost 3 straight. In his defense Halladay has gotten only 12 runs in his 6 losses and has pitched well enough to have won at least 4 of those 6 games. One can't figure Jamie Moyer is going to continue to pitch like he has for most of the month of June. With last night's win Moyer has won 3 of 4 games and has only given up 5 earned runs in those games. The Phils hope he doesn't revert to the guy who got ripped for 9 runs in an inning earlier this month against the Red Sox.

Cole Hamels continues to be up and down while Joe Blanton is 2-5 with a nearly 7 ERA and Kyle Kendrick needs to string together a few good starts to convince me he can be an important part of the rotation. The wild card is when/if J.A. Happ returns to the rotation. He has been inconsistent in rehap starts the past few weeks and his velocity is not where team officials want it to be. He could be heading back to the disabled list.

This raises the question when/if the Phils try and get a pitcher as the trade deadline approaches. The best options are trading for Cliff Lee or Kevin Millwood--the 2 best available pitchers--or resign Pedro Martinez. Trading for Lee could be costly. The Mets and Yankees are reportedly interested in the former Cy Young winner. The question is who makes the Mariners the best offer. Millwood might be the better option. The righty has not been as bad as his record appears. He has gotten no offensive support in Baltimore and it seems every time he takes the hill he is facing the other team's ace. Don't discount a return for Pedro. He will be rested and ready for another turn at a ring.

Pitching perfection

2010-06-10T09:10:00.003-04:00

A number of people have asked me of late why it seems that pitchers seem to have the upper hand these days in baseball. I have a 1 word answer STEROIDS. I don't mean the pitchers are juicing either.

We are a couple of seasons north of full scale testing of players in major league baseball and that means that those who were taking Performance Enhancing Drugs are no longer getting any advantage from the supplements.

I want to use Yanks star Alex Rodriguez as the prime example in this. A Rod is an admitted user of PED's. In 2007 ARod hit 54 homers in 583 at bats. That works out to a homer every 11 times he went to the plate. This year Rodriguez has hit just 9 homers in about 220 at bats. That works out to roughly 1 home run in every 24 at bats. Yes Arod is 3 years older but he is certainly still in the prime of his career. It is hard for me to believe that Rodriguez has become half the hitter he was in just 3 years. This will be an interesting trend to follow--not just with ARod--for the next few years. I suspect we'll see a big drop in slugging numbers back to where they were in the late 80's before all the PED's were introduced to baseball.

O's manager change

2010-06-07T10:38:00.003-04:00

Happy now! The Orioles fired Dave Trembley on Friday and replaced him with 3rd base coach Juan Samuel on an interim basis. Barring a miracle turnaround Samuel will manage the team for a few weeks but at most until the end of the year. It is now time for the Orioles to jettison the kid gloves and get rid of some of the veteran salaries while they have some value. Trade pitcher Kevin Millwood. He has done all that was asked of him but win any games. Most times he goes out and pitches well enough to lose--especially with the way the Orioles score runs. Several top contending teams would be VERY interested in having him in their rotation.

Miguel Tejada been nice knowing you but the Orioles can use the remaining 100 or so games as on the job Major League training for Josh Bell. See if the kid can cut it. Ty Wigginton has been one of the most productive hitters this season for the Orioles--that speaks volumes for the Birds offense. Sorry to see you go Ty but some team looking for a utility player/pinch hitter would be a perfect fit. Finally admit that Garrett Atkins is a bust...eat the prorated contract and release the guy. He might end up in the Atlantic League at the rate he is going. His roster spot can be taken up by 1st baseman Brandon Snyder or Mike Aubrey. Same treatment as Bell...see if they can hack the majors getting about 400 AB's between now and September. The Orioles have gotten NO production from 1st base and it is killing the team.

This team is destined to be the worst in Orioles history and that is saying something. The 2010 version of the Orioles is currently playing at a .285 clip. Spread that over 162 games and you have a team that finishes at 45-117. The previous worst team was the 1988 Orioles that finished 54-107 after starting the season 0-22! Giving some of the young players a chance to learn on the job will pay dividends down the road that MAY yield results.

Blown Call

2010-06-03T10:49:00.003-04:00

In the light of Jim Joyce's blown call in Tigers' pitcher Armando Galaragga bid for a perfect game many fans and pundits are calling for instant replay on controversial calls in baseball. I'm not a big fan of instant replay and like the human element in the game. Look the NFL has instant replay and it seems to me 50 percent of the time the refs get it wrong upon further review. Look I feel awful for Galaragga and Joyce. The young Tigers pitcher is robbed of a bit of immortality and Joyce is going to live in infamy but I think adding instant replay to all levels of baseball just won't work and will ruin the game.

The only good thing to come out of the game--other than the Tigers win over the Indians--was the conduct of Joyce and Galaragga after the game. Joyce personally apologized to Galaragga and the young pitcher was very gracious in accepting the heartfelt apology.

Some have called for Joyce to be suspended. NO WAY. He blew the call but you can't suspend him for being human. If MLB does suspend Joyce they open a floodgate for every ump to be open for suspension due to a missed call. Leave it alone Joyce is recognized as a good umpire who has worked 2 All Star games and 2 World Series. For all those pillaging Joyce just look in the mirror and tell me you haven't made a mistake on the job that had a significant impact on a coworker. Nuff said!

NBA Finals

2010-06-01T11:04:00.003-04:00

On Thursday night the NBA Finals get started in L.A. where the Lakers host the Celtics. This is the kind of marque match-up the NBA loves. Kobe and the glitz of L.A. taking on the League's most decorated franchise. I'm not sure David Stern could have orchestrated it better. The only thing he would have preferred is the Lakers take on Lebron and the Cavs. Hey you can't have your cake and eat it too.

I think the Lakers will make mince-meat out of the Celtics. Boston kind of struggled to win the Eastern Finals against the Magic in 6. I wish Orlando had showed a little more heart and guts in the series. In addition to a tired, aging team I just don't think the Celtics can handle the Lakers. The biggest disadvantage for L-A is at point guard where Rajon Rondo is emerging as a star like Chauncey Billups did a few years ago for Detroit. I like the Lakers in 5. That would give Kobe 5 NBA titles and he would REALLY be in the conversation about greatest player ever. When he hits 6 then we will compare him head to head with MJ and declare a winner.

All the Fuss

2010-05-27T11:00:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about the Super Bowl being played outdoors in the Meadowlands in February 2014. So what if the events related to the game have to be held indoors. OK so they can't have a golf event or some such stuff. The Meadowlands arena will be a perfect place to serve as a headquarters for the game. They have room for a media center as well as tons of other events in the former Brendan Byrne Arena. I think the reason for the media gripping is that reporters won't get 2 weeks of fun and sun in some warm climate.

The game isn't played for the 70 thousand or so people in the stands. They are irrelevent to the game. The Super Bowl is a TV event. When hundreds of millions of people around the world watch the game the NFL doesn't care if its 25 degrees outside. The weather can become just another part of the story. I'm sure mostof fans don't remember when the Colts beat the Bears in Super Bowl 41 in 2007 that it rained for most of the game. When all is said and done no one will care what the playing conditions were like...only who won and lost.

Orioles

2010-05-18T09:48:00.002-04:00

In case you missed it--and apparently most of you did--the Orioles lost to the Royals 4-3 last night before about 9200 fans but frankly the turnstile count was probably close to half that. The crowd was the 2nd lowest in Camden Yards history and who could blame anyone. The Orioles and Royals match-up featured 2 of the worst teams in the majors. The Royals have already fired their manager and the Orioles might be about to show Dave Trembley the door. Despite some level of enthusiasm coming out of spring training the club is TERRIBLE. This is the 2nd time this season I have predicted that the 3rd year skipper would be shown the door but this time I mean it.

My originally call was just a reaction to the teams 1-11 start. Now after another 25 or so games the team is 12-27 follow last night's loss. All the major team statistics are in the bottom third of the majors. It seems like all their young stars are pressing. Matt Wieters, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis are the nucleus of a very good team but right now each of them is struggling. Jones seems to be struggling the most with a .245 batting average, 3 homers and 9 RBI's. Last year's All Star has also struck out 34 times. He needs to be more disciplined at the plate.

A new manager might take some of the pressure off the young players and let them salvage the remainder of the season. Now the question is who. I know this is crazy but I think Bobby Valentine--currently working for ESPN--would be the perfect guy. He has a history of winning with both veteran and young players. He is also a big enough name to take the pressure off the young players. I know he has a bit of an ego but this might be what the team needs. Another veteran manager might be Mike Hargrove. Hargrove did wonders with a very young team in Cleveland before his first stint with the Orioles from 2000-2003. Not sure if he would come back. Is there some Earl Weaver in the wings for the Orioles--I'm not sure--but they certainly could use some of the Earl of Baltimore's cache.

Phils Closer

2010-05-14T08:42:00.003-04:00

It is starting to become evident the Phillies will need a closer. Ryan Madson is out until probably July after he kicked a chair following a blown save and needed surgery on his toe. Now comes word that Brad Lidge has an inflamation in his surgically repaired elbow. The words inflamed pitching elbow should be a RED flag for Phils fans.

I think the Phillies will in the buyers market for a closer in the next 6-10 weeks. Don't be surprised if they make a trade to fix the back end of the bullpen. Right now it is hard to figure who the Phillies will target. As teams slip out of a chance to be in the post-season they will begin to be the sellers. Right now I wouldn't trust either Madson or Lidge.

Tiger's Neck

2010-05-13T09:43:00.003-04:00

Tiger got a little good news yesterday. He doesn't have a bulging disc in his neck. Just some joint swelling. Sounds like some rest and PT and he will be back on the tour. That might also be good news for local golf fans. Tiger is the defending champion at the AT&T National. For the next 2 years the tournament will move from Congressional in Suburban DC to Aronimink Golf Club in Suburban Philly. This might be the best chance to see the world's best golfers in our neighborhood. Tiger--if healthy--says he will play the event after personally helping pick the Donald Ross gem as the site for the 2 years that Congressional is unavailable due to the 2011 U-S Open.

At a news conference on Monday Woods said he wishes the PGA Tour would play more classic golf courses. These days the tour plays on numerous TPC courses and frankly those courses can be a little boring. Aronimink is one of the top courses in the U-S and is a notch below just Oakmont in Pittsburgh and nearby Merion in Pennsylvania. The greens are very similar to Pinehurst #2--another Ross creation. All the greens have a crown with collection areas for miss hit balls. I got a chance to play the course before the news conference and the greens will be the biggest challenge for the pros. I hit several shots that I thought would be close to the pin only to arrive at the green and find they had rolled 50 feet past. Lots of fun. In addition all the par 3's will be stretched out over 200 yards with the monster 8th stretched to almost 250 yards--downhill over water to a 2 tiered green. The uphill par 5 9th will also be a lot of fun. It could play out at around 620 yards! With all that said I still expect the winning score to be in the high teens. Those guys are really that good.

I strongly suggest you make the drive down the Mainline to watch. This will be the first time in a decade the PGA has played in Suburban Philly. Tiger did not play the 1 time the SEI Pennsylvania Classic was played just down the road at Waynesborough Country Club.

Tim Tebow

2010-05-06T09:10:00.003-04:00

I think I now know why the Broncos traded up in the first round of the NFL draft last month to pick Tim Tebow. It had nothing to do with football. Most of the "experts" think the Broncs were nuts to trade into the pick for a player that was probably going to be available in the 2nd round or maybe even later. Here is the reason I think Denver wanted the former Heisman Trophy winner--Jersey sales.

The league announced yesterday the sale of Bronco #15 Jersey's were the highest of any player in the last month. Pretty amazing. Tebow is at best 3rd on the Bronco's QB depth chart but he is #1 in the fans pocketbooks. Tebow probably won't even be active for any games this coming season but tons of fans at Invesco Field will be wearing #15. Amazing but profitable for the league and Denver. Good move guys.

By the way the #2 Jersey is sales is the new #5 Redskins Jersey worn by former Eagles QB Donovan McNabb. They are flying off the shelves in DC. I think D-Mac will be playing a lot more games this fall then Timmy T.

Ryan Howard deal

2010-04-28T07:58:00.002-04:00

I know there has been some criticism of the Phils for signing 1st Baseman Ryan Howard to a 5 year 125 million dollar extension. The thinking goes that in the final years of the deal in 2015 & 2016 the club will be grossly overpaying for a lumbering strikeout prone 1st baseman. History says the experts are right but frankly Howard is a guy who has worked to get better every year. After last season the team asked him to lose weight...he did...they asked him to work on improving his defense...he did...they asked him to work on cutting down in strikeouts--that is a work in progress.

Howard has been the cog in the Phillies great run the last few years. He has not missed an extended period of time during his entire career. It is hard to argue with 45 homers a year and nearly 140 RBI's for Howard in the first 5 full seasons in Philadelphia. I think it would be insane of the Phils to resign Howard in 2016-17 to the tune of $25 million but this move was prudent and at the end of the deal will be worth the investment.

Big 10 Expansion

2010-04-21T08:23:00.002-04:00

Penn State and Big 10 fans better get used to a bigger conference. The Presidents of the Universities are pushing for a growth of the conference to 14 and possibly 16 schools. It looks like the targets for expansion are Missouri, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Rutgers and Pitt. Lets assume all 5 join. Here is my take on how the conference would break teams up East-West.

East--Syracuse, Penn State, Rutgers, Pitt, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana
West--Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Notre Dame.

The biggest benefit to the Big 10 is a football conference championship game to be played the week after Thanksgiving. The conference championship games have become huge money makers for the conferences. The winner would get the Big 10 BCS bid.

The addition of the 5 schools would also add content for the Big 10 network and would add revenue for the schools. Look for this to happen before the end of June. I'm guessing play would start in 2012.

O's woes

2010-04-14T07:27:00.003-04:00

The Orioles season has not gotten off to a good start. The Orange and Black have lost several games due to bullpen implosions. The latest was last night when Mike Albers gave up a 3 run homer to Tampa's Carlos Pena in the top of the 10th to give the Rays an 8-6 win over the Birds.

The 1-7 start has a lot of fans and some media calling for Manager Dave Trembley's head. Right now I'm inclined to give Trembley the benefit of the doubt. The Birds young line-up has really struggled scoring runs. The hitting with runners in scoring position is really bad and that's not Trembley's fault. The pen, as previously stated, has been terrible. Closer Mike Gonzalez looks lost and I have never been a fan of last night's loser Matt Albers. Firing Trembley isn't going to change the hitting with runners in scoring position or the bullpen performance.

The one question I have for those who want to fire Trembley...who would you replace him with? FYI Earl Weaver isn't available.

Tee time

2010-04-08T07:08:00.002-04:00

Now that Tiger Woods has faced the music--I mean the media--will the golf world return to normal. I don't think so. Tiger is teeing it up today for the first time since his marital infidelity come to a crashing end in November. The world's top golfer is playing at the Masters this week and will return to playing a fairly regular PGA Tour schedule.

For probably the remainder of his career Tiger will be overshadowed by his multiple trysts. I do believe people will forgive him for his transgressions but they won't forget them. He is still an incredible draw for the golf world--even more so now. I think people will flock to watch the Masters and attend other events Tiger is playing in primarily because of the controversy. His private life could be a bit of a train wreck and like most people we crane our neck to see what has happened. If Tiger is able to win this week, with all the distractions, a lot of people will be watching the action.

MLB Picks

2010-04-05T07:28:00.003-04:00

Feet to the fire time. The baseball season is underway and I guess I have to give my annual predictions. I did pick the Yanks and Phils in the World Series last year but thought the Phils would repeat. Who knew that Cole Hamels would go south in the post-season.

AL East-Yankees
AL Central-Twins
AL West-Mariners
AL Wild Card-Tampa

NL East-Phillies
NL Central-Cards
NL West-Rockies
NL Wild Card-Braves

Brackets

2010-03-30T06:01:00.003-04:00

Lots of bracket busters during this year's NCAA Men's tournament but was this year so unusual? Yes their were some upsets with Kansas losing in the 2nd round to Northern Iowa but overall the elite are still in the Final 4.

Lets look at the 4 teams. Duke is the only top seed to survive. The Blue Devils have been in the Final 4 15 times since 1986. They are this year's blue bloods. #2 seed West Virginia was the Big East Champ and ranked in the top 10 for a good part of the season. 5th seed Michigan State struggled at times this season but is in its 6th Final 4 in the past dozen years. The real underdog this year is Butler. Hardly an underdog. The Bulldogs have won 24 straight games and have been ranked in the Top 15 for most of the season. Hardly any Cinderella's in this Final 4.

FYI I'm leading my pool with 3-4 teams picked for the Final 4. My problem is I had Kansas as the 4th team and had the Jayhawks winning.