Disgusting, Pathetic, Garbage: Just the Way Philly Likes It.

So the Eagles sign Michael Vick…I could probably end this post now. But I am going to continue and give my opinion as to why Philly can NEVER…EVER be forgiven in my eyes. Others may disagree but I could honestly care less. Let’s take two stances on this issue, the statistical reasons why this was a terrible idea and then the moral reasons why this was an even worse move.

Ok, so the Eagles sign Michael Vick who in his last NFL season hurled for over 2000 yards and trotted for another thousand and change with two touchdowns. Pretty impressive numbers by themselves, not to mention he averaged 8 yards a carry to boot. Now what if I told you they could have a quarterback that threw for 4000 yards last year and rushed for another 200 yards with two touchdowns also…is that something you might be interested in? Oh, wait…they already have that guy, his name is Donovan McNabb! Did Philly seem to forget that they already have an amazing QB??? I mean he was pretty much a top 5 QB last year despite his benching. Not to mention he had a 60% completion percentage. So Philly decides to cut his playing time to make room for a dude who may or may not have the speed he used to (those shower sessions in prison might have slowed him down some). Don’t forget that the Eagles have mucho tension in their locker room as well. This move can do nothing but add to that frustration and hinder their pursuit for a ring. I understand that they are questing for a ring like Aragorn and the boys from the Shire but this was a terrible move. Unless their motives are to use him like college teams use their speed QB’s but that tactic will run out of steam before it can even be effective. Any defensive coordinator who falls for that should be fired immediately.

On to the moral reasons why this was a terrible signing. Michael Vick was arrested for dog fighting charges but many people forget that he also TORTURED AND KILLED THESE ANIMALS…NOT JUST BET ON AND SPONSORED THEIR FIGHTS. In my eyes, and many others, this is a despicable and unforgivable act. You have to be a seriously disturbed and a fucked up individual to commit those acts on innocent and defenseless animals. Many people claim that he “served his time” or “paid his dues to society”…I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with them on that one. First off, to whom did he serve his time? Did the time he spent in prison un-torture those dogs? I was unaware that a couple of years in lock-up made someone innocent once again. “But other NFL players commit worse crimes and they still play, Jeremiah!” Yup, but does that make his case any more acceptable? No, HELL no. The NFL is messed up as is most professional sports, but I’m not concerned with that right now, I want to take my shots at Mike Vick. I hope, no I pray to whatever God will accept me, that his first play in the NFL someone rips his arms off at the shoulder and toss them to a pair of Pitt Bulls on the sidelines for a mid-Sunday lunch.

So once again Philly recaptures the trophy for scummiest city in the World…sorry Pyongyang…maybe next year.

Phil Hughes Experiment

The question has benn posed whether he should start or be in the pen. Right now without a question he is more valuable as a set up man. As a starter his ERA was 5.45 Thats a fifth starters number. As a reliever his ERA is 1.1 a dominant reliever.

This isnt saying he will stay in the pen forever but as of know it solidifies the Yanks pen. Halladay, Johan, Haren, Joba, Josh Johnson etc all started out in the bullpen and are have great careers. But hell for an ERA of 5.45 claim Harang off waivers for the Reds or start Gaudin

Holla if you don't give a shit about steroids

I'm going to take a look at the first 10 players listed in the Mitchell Report.

Howie Clark - Career .687 OPS

Chad Allen - Career .710 OPS

Gary Bennett - Career .630 OPS

Mike Bell - Played one season to a .767 OPS

Alex Cabrera - Played one season to a .799 OPS

Mark Carreon - Career .766 OPS

Jason Christiansen - 4.3 career ERA with 5 BB per 9

Kevin Brown - 3.2 career ERA with a 1.2 WHIP

Larry Bigbie - Career .726 OPS

Roger Clemens - no explanation necessary. 

So there's 10 players implicated for performance enchancing drug use. One is a Hall of Famer, one is in the Hall of Very Good, two had decent careers, and six just flat out sucked at baseball.

The rest of the Mitchell Report looks about the same way, except less Hall of Famers per 10 names. For every Clemens, Giambi, Pettitte and David Justice implicated, there are 10 Nook Logan's, Cody McKay's, Daniel Naulty's and Adam Piatt's.

There you have it. Clearly, steroids are the miracle drug. Shoot them in your ass and you're instantly going to hit 40 homers and slug .600. Bonds, Arod, Ortiz... none of 'em were any good. It was all the roids.

Let's make this clear: IF YOU SUCKED TO BEGIN WITH, YOU SUCK WITH THE ADDITION OF STEROIDS.

Some might point to David Ortiz as an exception to this. Yes, Ortiz out of nowhere developed power to turn from a 15 HR per year guy in Minnesota to a 40 HR per year guy in Boston. Because Ortiz has always been an extreme flyball hitter - 1709 fly balls, 1400 ground balls - his steroid use gave him the extra "boost" to power them out. Ortiz started with power. Nook Logan never did. Steroids with Nook Logan did nothing but make him less coordinated and slower. Ortiz conveniently in 2007 fell in line with Bill James' "Live fat, decline young" prediction - probably because of the 2005 banning of Andro - and fell back to around 20 HR per year. Ortiz has always had a good eye, leading to a good OBP, and his steroid use may have helped him turn his patient demeanor into better opportunities for homeruns. Without the skill of a patient eye, the steroids would have done nothing. Like in Nook Logan's case.

Brady Anderson is another ridiculous case of steroid usage affecting a player with skill. He always hovered around a .260 batting average, .350 OBP,  .420 slugging percentage. A decent player. Averaged around 15 homeruns per season. Probably around league average for the mid '90s.

Then came 1996. He used some steroids, improved his batting average to .297, OBP to .396 and slugging to .637. Surprising, sure. Proof of steroids? Nope. Oh wait. He also hit 50 fucking homeruns. He never broke 24 for the rest of his career. Again, had Brady not been a decent player in the first place, steroids would have had no effect. The fact that people use steroids as a trump card for "INSTANT SKILL" like it's a fucking power-up in a videogame is ridiculous.

Enough with the statistical arguments. How about the no one cares argument?

Does ANYONE give a shit? Show of hands? Is anyone less of a fan of baseball because the players roided up? Does anyone think the game is being tarnished and it's no better than the WWE? If you do, I will confidently say that you are retarded. Ok, sure, I'll pretend you actually care for a minute.

It's 1996 and you just broke into AAA Durham. Everyone around you is hulking up like it's nobody's business and you think you're at an unfair advantage because you're the only one not sticking stuff up your ass (unless you're Mike Piazza since he did that for fun). You're being ignored by management and you succumb to the pressure and roid up. Surprise! It didn't help. You still suck. 10 years later the media sees your name on a list of steroid users and they call you a cheat, say you tarnished the game, and ruined history. Sorry, shame on you for trying to level the playing field.

EVERYONE in the '90s was roiding up. Everyone. I wouldn't even be surprised if Griffey was juicing and he's supposed to be the White Knight of the '90s. From the basis alone of "everyone was doing it," how is it any different in the record books from the Dead Ball era, when pitchers doctored the ball routinely and hitters were terrible? 

Remember when ESPN gave a shit about steroids? Remember when they cricified Bonds for it? Even ESPN doesn't care anymore. Even they are over it. And ESPN is the worst thing ever. So please, get over it. And if you don't I'll write another one of these long annoying posts about steroids and nobody wants that.

AFC East

Patriots- they won 11 games last year and missed the playoffs. They added HB Fred Taylor, CB Leigh Bodden, and had multiple draft picks
Strengths- Their entire offense. Brady is back and with the addition of Taylor they are very balanced
Weaknesses- their defense is suspect. Their corners arent that good, Bruschi is getting old and they have unknowns at DE and OLB.
Prediction- They win their division by outscoring teams

Dolphins- they drafted CB Vonta Davis and QB/WR Pat White. They added OL Justin Smiley, Jake Grove, and Brandon Frye, also DB Eric Green and Gibril Wilson
Strengths- their rushing attack is great now with Pat White running the wildcat it should help them more. Also their defense is great and very physical
Weaknesses- their conference is tough and their passing attck isnt great. They lack a true number 1 receiver and Pennington isnt great.
Prediction- the wildcat wont catch teams off guard and they wont supply enough offense to win games. They finish third and miss the playoffs

Bills- they played well last year but faded at the end. They drafted DE Aaron Maybin and added WR Terrell Owens and OL Langston Walker
Strengths- they have a very deep receiving core, Trent Edwards is prime for a big year and they can run the ball.
Weaknesses- They lost their two best linemen and could be rough on the offense. Their secondary and linebackers are inexperienced.
Prediction- They put up a lot of points finish last and miss the playoffs

Jets- they added LB Bart Scott, DB Jim Leonard, DE Marques Douglas, and CB Lito Sheperard. They drafted Mark Sanchez and RB Shonn Greene.
Strengths- their running games is great especially with their o line. Their defense should be great with the help of new head coach
weaknesses- Mark Sanchez is a rookie and lacks big time receivers.
Prediction- they play hard and finish second just missing the playoffs

NFC West

Continuing my breakdown of the divisions I move onto the NFC West

Seahawks- they might have had one of the best offseasons plus they get healthy this year. They signed WR TJ Houshmanzadeh, FB Justin Griffith, DT Colin Cole, and traded for DT Cory Redding. In the draft the got OLB Aaron Curry and OL Max Unger.
Strengths- A brand new season. Last year they were plagued by the injury bug. But now Hasselbeck and others are healthy. WRs are their biggest strength the have Housmanzadeh, Deion Branch, Nate Burleson, and TE John Carlson. They have Jones, Duckett, and Forsett at RB and they have one of the best LB core in football with Curry, Tatupu, and Hill
Weaknesses- their running backs are good but not great. Jones shows potential but is fragile. Maybe duckett and Forsett can take pressure off of him
Prediction- they are the best team in that division if healthy they win it

Cardinals- drafted Beanie Wells in the draft and signed CB Bryant McFadden
Strengths- Offense, offense and offense. Fitz Boldin, Breaston, Hightower, and Wells are nightmares for D Coordinators. Their secondary is great with Rodgers-Cromartie and McFadden at Corner and Rolle and Wilson at safety they are set.
Weaknesses- their front seven are suspect. They were great in the playoffs but a lack of pass rush could hurt them.
Prediction- they finish second but make it as a wildcard

49ers- they signed CB Dre Bly, DE Justin Smith and OT Marvel Smith. They also drafted Michael Crabtree and RB Glen Coffee.
Strengths- Running game. Their O Line is built to punish and with Gore, Coffee, and Robinson they will run the ball down your throat. Their defense is real good under Mike Singletary.
Weaknesses- QB. They have WRs that are good, a great running game, a solid line, and pass catching tight end and a great D but no QB.
Prediction- Singletary plays them hard and they play tough but dont be surprised when they draft a QB next year.

Rams- added steve Spagnuolo as their coach and their young defense should benefit. The drafted LB James Laurinitis, OT Jason Smith and signed FB Mike Karney, C Jason Brown, and S James Butler
Strenghs- Their RBs and O Line. They built their O Line to support the ground attck with S Jax and keep Bulger upright. Their defense is young and DL could created pressure with Long, Carriker, Smith, and Little and Witherspoon coming off the edge.
Weaknesses- LBers and WRs. They have a young group with no number one wideout and aside from Witherspoon there linebackers arent great.
Prediction- its a rough year but Spags keeps them competitive

M-1 is a Leech on MMA - Why Fedor wont fight in the UFC

The article below is the whole reason for writing this little blog. Read it if you want but its long and I note any points that I want to talk about in the blog, and I think my IQ took a dip from reading Jerry Millen douche up the place. He's like Dana White but without anything to back his words up (not even logic).

M-1 Official: UFC Is WWE of MMA

http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/07/31/m-1-official-ufc-is-wwe-of-mma/

(pretty much some bull where M-1 VP Jerry Millen blames Dana White for the Fedor deal falling through and call the UFC greedy, Typical posturing with a lot of fallacious logic)

The Backstory:

Affliction's folding has left the worlds top heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, jobless. So for the past week the UFC, the worlds top MMA promotion, has been trying to sign the fighter. The signing fell through.

Why M-1 and Millen suck:

Why has the deal with Fedor fallen through? One person. One person (well one organization) whom every MMA fan should hate: Jerry Millen. You know the guy that took Pride and ran it straight into the ground. Because M-1, the company that owns Fedor's current contract and the company that Millen represents, is making exorbitant demands for a single fighter.

Basically they want to “co-promote.” Both parties, UFC and M-1, add up the fighters purses the rent on the arena guard and all the other costs of running an event then split the costs down the middle. Then the two parties “[are] willing to take half the profit or half the loss” (Millen).

The profit splitting sounds harmless right? Except that the UFC hasn't lost money on a card since 2004. Its like going up to McDonald's and saying I want to do business with you. I've got this great idea for a new McBurger. You pay for half of your company's operating costs I'll pay the other half. Then in return we'll split the profit. No one would agree to that. McDonald's took a risk just to start a business and now that the cash is coming in in dump trucks I want to take a piece.

For example, if it costs McDonald's $100 to stay in business, and they make a gross profit of $1000 with out the new McBurger. Then the company makes $1000. With me some new guy off the street the starting cost is $50 each. Now say with the new McBurger they rake in $1500. Then McDonald's has to have to split $1500 with me. So $750 each. In other words by splitting McDonald's lost $250.

The UFC – M-1 co-promotion is the same idea as the new burger. M-1 is offering the new fighter but because the UFC is already an established brand the card regardless of whose on it will make huge amounts of money regardless of whether the new expensive fighter is on it or not. So the UFC makes more money without the co-promotion. Bottom line the UFC is a business and it or any business for that matter are not willing to let some upstart ride their coattails, steal their money and damage their reputation. If M-1 wants to join up with the UFC then they should pay at least half of the hundreds of millions in losses that the UFC ate for a decade. Actually more because there is no risk involved and they eventually would make all of that money back.

The real situation is even worse than the McDonald's example. Brock Lesnar's fight against Randy Couture brought in roughly 700k-900k PPV buys, and after his shit talking and antics is worth even more so figure 1million buys (to make the math easy). Fedor's Affliction shows on the other hand only brought in about 100k buys each. So if each buy is $50, then Lesnar is worth $50 million dollars, and Fedor only $5 million. Its like a rival company wanting to split the profits but only make 10 percent of the cash. This of course discount the UFC's marketing ability. With the UFC behind him Fedor could be made into a money making force, especially with his background, but without the UFC Fedor isn't worth shit. In other words Fedor, Millen, and M-1 give almost nothing and take half.

M-1 still wants to co-promote in spite of the fact that they're basically getting free advertising for Fedor, introduction into the largest MMA fan base in the world, and would probably be able to get massive advertising deals from every company promoting the UFC from Budweiser to Tapout. Now throw $2 million dollars a fight on top of that, more money than the UFC pays the entire rest of the card combined. The fact that Dana White even was willing to let Fedor compete in combat sambo (basically MMA in pads and headgear) whenever he wanted just shows how greedy the M-1 is. They say they want to do whats best for the sport but really they just want to huge piles of UFC gold.

Millen also says that they would split any losses. But M-1 has been attached to two company's that have gone under, Bodog and Affliction. Affliction paid Fedor 300k and M-1 the other million when every other big name on the card made a million dollars by themselves. Thats not co promoting thats the some thing boxing promoters do to their fighter: Do none of the work and take most of the money. Its part of what killed boxing and M-1 is trying to do the same in MMA. In other words M-1 used Bodog and Affliction to make some quick cash then bailed when If they are truly willing to split the losses why is M-1 still around? Because there nothing but a group of leeches. When the money's flowing they take it like the greedy bastards they are but when the ship starts sinking they're the first to jump off.

UFC is the WWE of MMA:

Sure UFC is the leading, basically the only, MMA organization around effectively making them the force in the sport like WWE, but honestly who cares. All the best fighters would stay competing and fighting against each other at a high tier of combat. As an added plus, with one MMA organization, MMA wont turn into boxing with 4 world boxing authorities that refuse to unify the heavyweight championship (or any championship) meaning only the best champ and no alienated disenfranchised fans.

To summarize, Millen and M-1 simply want to take money from an established enterprise and in doing so are detrimental to the sport. Without Fedor the UFC can still continue to grow with him they will simply lose money unless M-1 gets much less greedy (which almost certainly ain't happening).

Jerry Millen says that competing organizations is good for MMA, that co-promoting is good for MMA. He's wrong (he's like 0-5 in this paper). A single elite organization was necessary so that MMA doesn't stagnate and end up like boxing.

One final thought:

throughout the article Millen, continually states that the UFC's determination not to accept the deal is a hindrance to the sport and that they should accept the deal. He repeatedly says that the UFC is holding back the sport. But why should the premier power in MMA bend to the will of a tiny organization with only a single chip. The UFC shouldn't. The only people holding up the sport up are M-1 and Millen. If any thing they should let Fedor take his million bucks per fight and then take 10% managers fees like the leeches they are.

Personally I think M-1 will fold in a year or two and Fedor will be forced into the UFC but he's already 32 years old and not getting any younger. Lets just hope that when Fedor finally ends up in the Octogon he still has some juice in the tank.

This has all been my opinion, hope you liked it

- Joe

The Dog Days Race

With the trade deadline past and only two months in the season left Im= am going to make my predictions of AL and NL teams, and awards.

AL East- Yankees: added utilityman Jerry Hairston Jr which gives them a solid back up. They spent too much money to come in second. Sabathia is know for his second halfs and so is Burnett. Joba looks to have found his stride and Hughes is the setup man. Everyone knows they can score runs especially in New Yankee Stadium. Dog Fight til the end but the beat boston by 2 games

AL Central- White Sox: adding Jake Peavy seals it for me I like their staff over the Tigers and maybe over anyone else. They have been scoring runs behind Dye, Thome, Pierzynski, Konerko, and Ramirez. Gordon Beckham the rookie has been great at third and the signing of Scott Posednik might be the best move they did, he is getting on base and producing runs. They win the division handedly.

AL West- Angels: how can you pick againstthem they are 4.5 games up with Vlad and Torii on the DL. Their pitching has struggled early this year but is coming around. They run away with this division once they get healthy. Just proof you need to hold on to your prospcets because Aybar, Izturits, and Morales have been great.

AL Wildcard- Red Sox:their starting pitching is alright their bullpen is great and adding V-Mart and Kotchamn pushes their offense and them in the playoffs with Youk, Pedroia, Bay, and Ellsbury they have a great offense now

Contenders- Rays and Tigers push for a spot but come up short

AL MVP- Mark Texeira. I think Morneau deserves it but since the Twins dont make the playoffs its a disadvantage.
AL Cy Young- Felix Hernandez. Greinke wont get enough wins and Justin Verlander comes up just short
AL R.O.Y- Andrew Bailey. Beckham and Brett Gardner are runner ups

NL East- Phillies: they added Lee and the rotation is great. Ibanez, Howard, Utley, Werth, and even Feliz are raking and J Roll is coming around. Only problem is Lidge is very very very hittable this year. Marlins fight to the end but go down swinging

NL Central- Cardinals: add Holliday, Lugo, and DeRosa to a lineup already with Pujols, Ludwick, Shumacker, and Molina; and you have a very good lineup. Their pitching is good and so is the pen. They are in a division with the Cubs, Astros, and Brewers and should be competitive til the last game.

NL West- Dodgers: great offense, great pitching, and now great pen. Their entire team rakes and ther pitching is fantastic. they win big.

NL Wildcard- Giants: they have great pitching and a great pen. Adding Garko and Sanchez was huge to team with Sandoval, Rowand, Renteria, and Molina. The wildcard race will be crazy but they sqeak in and dont be surprised if the go deep in the playoffs because of their 1-2 punch of Lincecum and Cain

NL MVP- Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young- Tim Lincecum
NL R.O.Y- Tommy Hanson. Colby Rasmus is the runner up

Football vs. Futbol: Does America have room for the World's Pastime...

Jeremiah: So...with the rising glory of American soccer...can America finally accept the world's pastime as one of its own?

Mike:It really depends on how much of a frontrunner America decides to be... and since it's been shown in the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic that we really don't care until we're owning and winning everything... things don't look good.

Jeremiah: But even if we're the best, even if we dominate the world of soccer and wipe the floor with the Brazilians causing Pele to roll over in his grave, Americans will never accept soccer even though it brings together all of the things that Americans love.

Mike:Teamwork, athleticism and hot chicks dressed up in patriotic colors... but that's the thing, how do we know we won't accept the sport? Look at the US team about a month ago. We beat Spain and got to the Confederations Cup final and suddenly people gave a shit about soccer. Think how much bigger that wave of support would have been if we consistently dominated. If we weren't rolling out the MLS All Stars to play against Portugal, which is pretty much the European Continent All Stars, then yeah maybe we'd have a chance and we'd get more than 16 fans per game.

Jeremiah:One word: pride. We Americans are too scared to say we love anything foreign and unfortunately soccer, er, futbol, has been forever labeled a foreign sport. Even though soccer is extremely exciting, fast paced, and full of most things we as Americans love, most of the populace would rather watch toothless rednecks race around an oval 500 times.

Mike:Well that's why we need to put an American brand on it. I'm not saying we should start making it full contact, but if we get some charismatic stars and stop relying on David Beckham to be our Albert Pujols, Americans will take a hold of the sport. It's just a joke that Landon Donovan is our biggest star when the guy's biggest claim to fame is that he's shy, quiet, chokes under pressure, and whines about his team. We tried to market Freddy Adu as the second-coming but that failed too. We're just stuck without a big centerpiece. Find a soccer equivalent of Arod or Pujols and we'll get the casual fan to convert.

Jeremiah:What if we took it a step further? Americans love three things: porn, McDonalds, and spending money. Let's give Steinbrenner the reins to an American Premier League and have him buy up every European star. Hell to buy Liverpool FC it would only cost him 300million pounds. Think of all the corporate sponsors that would take hold of that enterprise. Here's the catch, we have to convince fans of Shaq and Tony Stewart to start rooting for guys like Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres.

Mike's Final Thoughts: First off, I never want Steinbrenner to touch anything else in the world that I enjoy. But I do like the idea that we need to make the MLS a league that players want to come to the States for. Beckham was supposed to be the first, but he ended up being the only one. It’s totally impossible for us to buy guys like Messi or Torres because there’s no way that they leave the top competition in the world for the MLS, but if we get just a FEW decent European stars, the level of play will increase tenfold.So yeah, the first step is to just improve the league. If the MLS shapes up, we can produce better national teams. Better national teams mean less embarrassing losses in the World Cup. Less embarrassing losses obviously means we are no longer the laughing stock of the soccer world. Of course all this is easier said than done. But the point stands true: Americans will take a hold of the sport and embrace it as one of their own as long as we don’t keep playing the role of underdog. We don’t like being the underdog. We like going into competitions as the favorite. The potential for fandom is there, we just need to win.

Jeremiah’s Final Thoughts: So to answer the original question of, Can Americans finally accept soccer in to their lives? No, at least not a for a good while. Should we? Most certainly. Every time I try to sell soccer to a non-futbol lover, I always get the same excuses and in my closing thoughts I’d like to dismiss some of them.

1) “It’s so boring! The scores are like 2-1…in a good game!” First off, how is it even bad that a game is low scoring? I personally love the buildup of 2-1 soccer games or pitching duels where a decisive 8th can make or break a game. But to address it directly, a 21-14 game of football would seem normal when in reality its only 3-2. Just because you get seven points instead of one doesn’t mean a team is scoring any more. Plus, games are only 90 minutes long…with virtually no commercials! (save for halftime) Average baseball games are around two hours if you’re lucky, probably even closer to three hours. Its fast paced, even though its low scoring, the suspense and waiting are what makes matches so spectacular. That being said, I really wish they’d do away with ties outside of pool play.

2) “C’mon, those guys fall down like every other play!” It’s all part of the strategy folks. Unfortunately soccer players don’t get to take a break every down, or even get subbed out every game. That’s right, at least 9 of the 11 players on the field have to play the full ninety minutes non-stop, trying doing that without faking an injury to suck some wind. And besides, if a D-Lineman could get tossed out for jumping offsides, or clipping, don’t you think a meaty O-Lineman would be rolling around on the ground every other down to take rival players off the field?

3) “This is America, I watch Americans play sports!” Oh really? Take a look around the MLB…now the NHL…now even the NBA. Foreigners have found an athletic niche in American Sports and they aren’t leaving anytime soon. If they played American style Football overseas we’d see crazy Slavs, Mc’s, and Aussies turning their rugby skills into Linebacker phenoms.

One last thing, 5.5 million people tuned in for the NASCAR Spring Cup: Lenox Industrial Tools 500 last month…I never want to hear again that soccer is too boring for us.