Monday, May 28, 2007
The vault
I have written in a long time so I have had to spend Memorial Day getting all the cobwebs and dust out of the vault and I am ready. I'm back.
1. The Rangers are upsetting me very much. I know that Jon Daniels is not Jon Hart. He may be worse. This is by far the worst I have ever seen the team play. I can't blame it all on Ron Washington. The players for the last year privately griped about how tough Buck Showalter ran the team and were doing back flips when he was fired and Washington was hired. Well boys, you still suck, but I guess the mood is more upbeat. I am not worried about Ron Washington because when I here him being interviews, he strikes me as a person who knows how to communicate with people and knows what he is doing. Washington will be a good manager but there are several things stalling him. Injuries are piling up and the GM is not making good deals. I know some have said the John Danks-Brandon McCarthy trade should not be properly evaluated until around May of 2008. But the justification for the trade was that Danks was not ready for the majors and McCarthy was Danks but major league ready. Well McCarthy currently had a good stretch in May which lowered his ERA to around the 6 range. While Danks who has more losses than wins as the 5th starter for the White Sox has an ERA just under 4. So does this make the front office look bad on scouting the opponents? We will have to wait and see how McCarthy pans out in the long run but I don't think you trade a lefty as rare as they are for another right handed starting pitcher.
2. Other trades that have to make people wonder about Jon Daniels are the Nelson Cruz/CArlos Lee-Kevin Mench, Francisco Cordero, Laynce Nix trade. I will defend this trade on some grounds. Cordero was struggling big time as the closer here. He gave up leads easily and lost the closers job to Aki Otsuka. HE needed a change of scenery to do better. It is the same thing people are considering for Brad Lidge in Houston. Kevin Mench is too streaky of a hitter to be reliable. When he is good he is very good but when he is bad he is really bad. As quick as he can be batting seven straight home runs in seven games, he can go seven games without a hit as well. And from what I here and see now, he is about the same streaky of a hitter and has as much home runs as Nelson Cruz has now. Laynnce Nix is still in the minor leagues so that part of the trade I can justify. But what I don't get is that most people in the Metroplex and baseball knew Lee would not resign with the Rangers, so why give up so much for a two month rental? I would have not giving the ridiculous $100 dollar offer for Lee the Astros. If the Rangers had, I would have been screaming A-Rod and Chan Ho Park. His defense is shoddy and he is not exactly in the top 30 even when it comes to the best players in baseball. So my question why not try JJ HArdy, or Prince Fielder or even Ben Sheets. I know there is no logical reason fro the Brewers to give up those guys but get a guy that will stay in Texas for a longer than 2 months.
3. The other infamous trade is of course Chris Young/Adrian Gonzalez-Adam Eaton/Aki Otsuka. From the Otsuka part I agree with this trade because I do not know where the Rangers would have been last year after Cordero lost his confidence. We may have lost more games. The Adrian Gonzalez I would have defended because we have MArk Teixeira and I would have justified that because there would have been no other place for Gonzalez to play but DH and we all know how players feel about the DH. But why did Rangers give up on Chris Young so easily. It was not as though he was terrible in 2005. And of course he has a breakthrough season while Eaton was on the DL for half of the season and leaves us for Philadelphia. The Rangers need to show patience on pitchers, the young ones in particular so that is why I feel MCCarthy, Kameron Loe, and Robinson Tejeda need to work out their growing pains by sticking it out and not sending them back to the bullpen or the minors when they struggle. Hey, that is part of the process ain't it?
4. Alfonso Soriano. Some of you will think well, we have Kinsler. But just imagine how it would be for Soriano to platoon left or right field for the Rangers. That is what the hing was for the justification of the trade to the NAtionals, that Soriano was not going to play in the outfield and the Rangers did not want to get in a power struggle with Soraino. Well, Frank Robinson did and won and Soriano had a great year posting the first 40-40-40 club member. The Nationals still stunk and Soriano hit most of the home runs while playing in pitcher friendly RFK stadium. Meanwhile Brad Wilkerson has been on the DL and where was this big time on base percentage that we were going to see. He was looking to challenge the most strikeouts by a player last year and fortunately the DL got him before his batting average could get worse than .200. Wilkerson has tried but that only gets you so far. Again I do not agree with the contract the Cubs gave him in 8 years and $136 because he will be 39 in that final year and that is too much for a player who has mental lapses in the outfield and second base plus has not much discipline at the plate. But we could have probably gotten him cheaper that that.
5. Mark Teixera. I feel he is the second most important Ranger in the organization behind Michael Young. I think of those two as the Jason Varitek-David Ortiz of the Rangers. Obviously they really are near the way those two are but that is where the potential is. Now there is talk the Rangers should ship him now while he is at a high value. I don't thin we do this. I say keep him. We own his rights for next year. But again I am not behind the scenes. I know they have tried to work on an extension for him and apparently talks have stalled. His agent is Scott Boras which makes me wonder if there is more going on than what I think but really the agent works for the player. So if Teixeria really wanted an extension, he would have one. So maybe he wants to explore the market when he is a free agent, if that is the case I would offer him the contract that Carlos Lee got be unlike Lee, this guy can hit from both sides of the plate and has Gold Glove caliber defense. It would not be ridiculous. But if he refuse to sign, then trade him and get a good package. Try to get Phillip Hughes from the Yankees. Not realistic but worth trying. Clean out the Angels system because they have their minors loaded.
6. I have wondered why the Rangers could justify giving Vicente Padilla a $34 million dollar contract for three years and not afford to give Gary Matthews Jr. a 5 year 50 million dollar deal the Angels gave him. The justification was that it was too much money for a guy who had one good year. Well, didn't PAdilla have one good year? I just think the lineup may have a better spark if Matthews was still here. Now he plays for the division rival and is licking our chops. Kenny Lofton but everyone he is a one year rental. I say go after Torri Hunter and Jermaine Dye in the off season. Both have stated they would love to play for Ron Washington and Hunter lives in the Metroplex. Of course money will be the biggest factor and if we have to overpay, than overpay for them. They both have good defense especially Hunter who has won multiple Gold Gloves. This would make up for the lost of Matthews. But think about it. Hunter will command almost in the 2o million per year range and MAtthews would have been in the 11 million dollar range. We could have saved a bundle.
7. I know you cannot expect to go to every home game of any team and have some people rooting for the visitors. But is is a disgrace for the Rangers to play there home games and people cheering so loudly that when the visiting team scores or wins, it sounds like an away game. I am speaking of the games with the Yankees and Red Sox. It was ridiculous. Rangers fans, where are you? Come to the game and out yeall those fans. I experienced it first hand when I went to the Rangers/Yankees series and I hated it. I will never go to a Ranger-Yankee game again.
8. There is speculation that Tom Hicks will oversee any trade done in the summer by the Rangers because of Daniels' history of trades-transactions. Anyone knows that I trust Hicks less than Jon Daniels or John Hart's handling of anything sports related to the Rangers. I call for Hicks to sell the Rangers to Mark Cuban. Hey why not? 13 years ago, no one went to Mavericks games unless the Bulls, Shaq or other big time teams came, similar to the Rangers situation. But now the Mavericks sell out every home game with their fans mostly, and sell out visiting teams arenas as well. The Rangers do not exactly sell well as evidenced by the Devil Rays switching their home games with the Rangers at Disney world to get more people to come. So if Cuban is looking to but a team, don't go for the Pirates or Cubs, buy the Rangers. Of course baseball head man Bud Selig will never go through this. He does not want an owner who is a Maverick(no pun intended) and willing to cause controversy. They just want suits. I would thin every commissioner wants an owner like Mark Cuban. He wants to win and make money. Kind of like Jerry Jones. Cuban is just a passionate fan at games and NBA head honcho David Stern needs to ease up on these restrictions. But Cuban would do wonders for the Rangers. Remember nobody would have believed 13 years ago that the Mavericks would have been in the Finals and teams like the Bulls, Lakers, Celtics would sell out to see the Mavericks play. I know it is wishful thinking but hey I can dream can't I?
9. Enough Rangers. Let us move on to Cowboys. A lot was made of the fact that the Cowboys passed on Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn. I think this is much about nothing. The Cowboys did the right move. Tony Romo needs to go into the season knowing he is the Man and needs to prove himself. Quinn would have been a good insurance policy but it would have been another media firestorm if the Boys got him. Besides, most scouts had said that believe he was a good quarterback but not a great one, not worth the price of getting in the first ten picks or so. So why get a guy to tutor for two years or so to rebuild when the pieces are in places right now to compete. I believe Romo is the real deal as far as a good starting quarterback. Will he be Staubach or Aikman. No he won't. But he will be better than what the Cowboys have seen since Aikman retired. And he needs to play without someone looking over his back. I just have a feeling that this move will be looked upon the way the Cowboys passed on Randy Moss. Other teams passed on him but the Cowboys are criticized the most for not. Now from the looks of things, it looks like a good move to pass on him. For the record I felt they should not have drafted him. The Cowboys were in too many headlines for the wrong reasons and the last thing they needed was more controversy. So only in time will we know if this was a good move. Besides the Cowboys will have 2 first round picks and considering the Browns have only had 1 winning season since returning in 1999, at worst it could be top 15. But like many Cowboys fans everywhere, we are rooting for every Browns opponent next year including the Steelers.
10. The Cowboys could not have waited for the beast to leave to get all tough. Now that Parcells is gone players like TO and Julius Jones are jumping on him. TO was not surprising that he reacted this way. I was more surprised that he participated in mini-camp. But Julius Jones reaction was surprising. I mean every workplace when the head boss leaves, there is going to be people who have to adjust. The Rangers are going through the same thing. It is natural for any pro team to hire a guy that is different from the regime before. I mean would it have made sense for the Cowboys to hire Tom Coughlin to follow Parcells? No. So you hire a guy who is different. As far as the backlash from players, I mean we all knew Owens was going to say something and what he said was not all that controversial considering what he has said in the past but the media have to ham it up to make it a worthy story. Jones on the other hand said he felt like a robot last year on the team. Well, if Phillips is letting you decide how to hit the hole yourself, than you better have a good year Jones and back it up. Of course he probably will because it is a contract year.
11. Enough of the Parcells bashing. He left a better team here then when he arrived. I mean it was a failure because the Boys did not win the Super Bowl and no playoff wins or division titles.
But the Boys have the pieces in place to compete in the next few years. Really, was there ever any optimism during the Dave Campo era? If there had been only two openings and those openings were the Cowboys and Raiders and all the coaching candidates that were interviewed had their choice, where are they going to choose? Of course, Phillips does not have to do much tweaking with the system in place, they know the 3-4 and mostly every starter is returning so from that part, Parcells did contribute.
12. Went to the Metroplex to see a Ranger game and got to see the construction of the new Cowboys stadium. I just come to think that with the recent news of the Metroplex getting the Super Bowl in 2011 that what a big deal it is for the area. But still I feel Dallas dropped the ball. I mean why do you not want to build the stadium in Dallas. I mean it was the same politics that forced the Clint Murchinson to build Texas Stadium in Irving. I mean Irving was still in Dallas County at least. These are the Cowboys!!! To have the stadium in the Fair Park/Cotton Bowl area would have been a wise move. And Jones is paying for half of the stadium. The Indianapolis Colt's stadium is going to be payed all from taxpayer money. I just don't think it is right for the Dallas Cowboys to not play their home games in Dallas. I mean the stadium is still going to be the best in the league and the fans will still travel to Arlington to watch but lets just hope they do not take a page out of a certain MLB teams way of handling of their name and begin to call their team the Dallas Cowboys of Arlington. It just does not seem right. Of course the Giants and Jets play their games in New Jersey. Not even the same state.
13. Love Roger Goodell. I mean he really laid down the hammer on the bad guys. Titans CB Pac-Man Jones gets a 1 year suspension and Bengals WR Chris Henry gets 8 games. Goodell is doing the right thing because he does not want his league to become like the NBA and become a league of perceived thugs and hoodlums. That is what provoked David Stern to institute the dress code and other rules about the league. Goodell is laying down the hammer and I am glad of it.
14. I also love the rule where teams will wither be fined or lose draft picks if they knowingly take a player with a history. But I guess the Patriots missed the memo on that. They traded for Randy Moss and drafted foot stomping Miami Hurricane Brandon Merriweather. Patriots must really be desperate to win next year if they sold their soul to the devils of the game. I mean if you have so many issues that the Raiders do not want you? And of course who can forget the Florida International-Miami brawl with Brandon Merrriweather clearly stomping on F-Int players. He was not trying to be a peacemaker. He was trying to start something. Well the Cowboys could use those draft picks if they need to be taken Bob Kraft.
15. Pac-Man Jones, you cannot go to a strip club the night before you are to meet with the commish. I mean did you not seriously think he would have you followed? He will never learn. Mark my word on that.
16. Goodell has a tough situation approaching with Michael Vick. I think they should wait it out to see what exactly is involved with the dog-fighting situation and see if Vick does have connections. He does not have the rap sheet that other guys like Tank Johnson, Adam Jones or Chris Henry have. I think everyone saw some of those approaching. But with Vick, we don't know enough to see if he was involved after all it was not his house but a house he lets his cousin live in.
17. Clinton Portis you are ignorant. Maybe the cops need to see what you are doing in the privacy of your home? I mean why else would you defend dog-fighting?
18. Remember when the Cowboys were the center of attention for all their legal problems in the 90s? I mean a certain part of me is satisfied that other teams are going through this situation and not the Boys for a change.
19. Shut up Yankees fans and management. I wished the Rangers had your "problems".
20. Roger Clemens minor league starts are being televised. Please. Who cares? I want to see him beat on some guys who are not in the majors yet? And that will determine the kind of season he has?
21. I still say Clemens gets a free pass on the steroids issue.
22. The commissioner has to be there for Bonds to break the record. He just has to. I don't think it will tarnish his legacy, hold on I'm talking about Bud Selig am I not? I mean it could not make it any worst. I mean a cancelled World Series, tie All-Star game and the steroid cloud. You did nothing about the steroid mess, so you better sit through the chase and see it first hand.
23. I think Hank Aaron should be there to show he has class and to support a fellow baseball player but I will not come down on him if he does not attend. I mean his record is being broken under a suspicious cloud and I don't think he wants to see that, so I do not fault him for that.
24. Watching the NBA playoffs. I was worried when the Warriors were the Mavericks opponents because for some reason, that team has the blueprint on how to beat the Mavericks and sure enough, they did. But Dirk Nowitzki is getting a lot of heat for stuff that is not all his fault.
25. A rule is a rule. Amare Stodemire and Boris Diaw left the vicintiy of the bench area after a small brawl broke out after Spurs forward fouled Suns Guard Steve Nash. You don't leave the bench folks. This rule was created so no major brawl will start. Is it a dumb rule? I don't know about that but if it is David Stern people, you know it will not be changed.
26. The Spurs win and Suns loss was not tainted by this, the Suns did not finsih the job and should have won Game 5 in Phoenix but ran out of gas and could finsih the job.
27. The NBA draft winners are the Trailblazers and Sonics. I mean this should prove the lottery is not fixed. I mean realistically would you not want teams like the Celtics, Timberwolves or Bulls to get one of these great players in Greg oden or Kevin Durant? I mean you think David Stern is crazy about those two players going to the Western Conference and load up the already talented west with more talent? And for teams that will be starting most of their home games at 10:00 or 10:30 Eastern time? Most of the nation will be asleep when these guys are playing. So the lottery is not fixed. Is it perfect? No. Does it have flaws? Yes. But it is still a good system. Teams that tanked the season on purpose got what they deserved.
28. The sport of cycling is just losing more credibility.
29. I know it is an Anaheim-Ottawa Stanley Cup final, but other than that I don't know what else to think of that.
I'm done and out.
1. The Rangers are upsetting me very much. I know that Jon Daniels is not Jon Hart. He may be worse. This is by far the worst I have ever seen the team play. I can't blame it all on Ron Washington. The players for the last year privately griped about how tough Buck Showalter ran the team and were doing back flips when he was fired and Washington was hired. Well boys, you still suck, but I guess the mood is more upbeat. I am not worried about Ron Washington because when I here him being interviews, he strikes me as a person who knows how to communicate with people and knows what he is doing. Washington will be a good manager but there are several things stalling him. Injuries are piling up and the GM is not making good deals. I know some have said the John Danks-Brandon McCarthy trade should not be properly evaluated until around May of 2008. But the justification for the trade was that Danks was not ready for the majors and McCarthy was Danks but major league ready. Well McCarthy currently had a good stretch in May which lowered his ERA to around the 6 range. While Danks who has more losses than wins as the 5th starter for the White Sox has an ERA just under 4. So does this make the front office look bad on scouting the opponents? We will have to wait and see how McCarthy pans out in the long run but I don't think you trade a lefty as rare as they are for another right handed starting pitcher.
2. Other trades that have to make people wonder about Jon Daniels are the Nelson Cruz/CArlos Lee-Kevin Mench, Francisco Cordero, Laynce Nix trade. I will defend this trade on some grounds. Cordero was struggling big time as the closer here. He gave up leads easily and lost the closers job to Aki Otsuka. HE needed a change of scenery to do better. It is the same thing people are considering for Brad Lidge in Houston. Kevin Mench is too streaky of a hitter to be reliable. When he is good he is very good but when he is bad he is really bad. As quick as he can be batting seven straight home runs in seven games, he can go seven games without a hit as well. And from what I here and see now, he is about the same streaky of a hitter and has as much home runs as Nelson Cruz has now. Laynnce Nix is still in the minor leagues so that part of the trade I can justify. But what I don't get is that most people in the Metroplex and baseball knew Lee would not resign with the Rangers, so why give up so much for a two month rental? I would have not giving the ridiculous $100 dollar offer for Lee the Astros. If the Rangers had, I would have been screaming A-Rod and Chan Ho Park. His defense is shoddy and he is not exactly in the top 30 even when it comes to the best players in baseball. So my question why not try JJ HArdy, or Prince Fielder or even Ben Sheets. I know there is no logical reason fro the Brewers to give up those guys but get a guy that will stay in Texas for a longer than 2 months.
3. The other infamous trade is of course Chris Young/Adrian Gonzalez-Adam Eaton/Aki Otsuka. From the Otsuka part I agree with this trade because I do not know where the Rangers would have been last year after Cordero lost his confidence. We may have lost more games. The Adrian Gonzalez I would have defended because we have MArk Teixeira and I would have justified that because there would have been no other place for Gonzalez to play but DH and we all know how players feel about the DH. But why did Rangers give up on Chris Young so easily. It was not as though he was terrible in 2005. And of course he has a breakthrough season while Eaton was on the DL for half of the season and leaves us for Philadelphia. The Rangers need to show patience on pitchers, the young ones in particular so that is why I feel MCCarthy, Kameron Loe, and Robinson Tejeda need to work out their growing pains by sticking it out and not sending them back to the bullpen or the minors when they struggle. Hey, that is part of the process ain't it?
4. Alfonso Soriano. Some of you will think well, we have Kinsler. But just imagine how it would be for Soriano to platoon left or right field for the Rangers. That is what the hing was for the justification of the trade to the NAtionals, that Soriano was not going to play in the outfield and the Rangers did not want to get in a power struggle with Soraino. Well, Frank Robinson did and won and Soriano had a great year posting the first 40-40-40 club member. The Nationals still stunk and Soriano hit most of the home runs while playing in pitcher friendly RFK stadium. Meanwhile Brad Wilkerson has been on the DL and where was this big time on base percentage that we were going to see. He was looking to challenge the most strikeouts by a player last year and fortunately the DL got him before his batting average could get worse than .200. Wilkerson has tried but that only gets you so far. Again I do not agree with the contract the Cubs gave him in 8 years and $136 because he will be 39 in that final year and that is too much for a player who has mental lapses in the outfield and second base plus has not much discipline at the plate. But we could have probably gotten him cheaper that that.
5. Mark Teixera. I feel he is the second most important Ranger in the organization behind Michael Young. I think of those two as the Jason Varitek-David Ortiz of the Rangers. Obviously they really are near the way those two are but that is where the potential is. Now there is talk the Rangers should ship him now while he is at a high value. I don't thin we do this. I say keep him. We own his rights for next year. But again I am not behind the scenes. I know they have tried to work on an extension for him and apparently talks have stalled. His agent is Scott Boras which makes me wonder if there is more going on than what I think but really the agent works for the player. So if Teixeria really wanted an extension, he would have one. So maybe he wants to explore the market when he is a free agent, if that is the case I would offer him the contract that Carlos Lee got be unlike Lee, this guy can hit from both sides of the plate and has Gold Glove caliber defense. It would not be ridiculous. But if he refuse to sign, then trade him and get a good package. Try to get Phillip Hughes from the Yankees. Not realistic but worth trying. Clean out the Angels system because they have their minors loaded.
6. I have wondered why the Rangers could justify giving Vicente Padilla a $34 million dollar contract for three years and not afford to give Gary Matthews Jr. a 5 year 50 million dollar deal the Angels gave him. The justification was that it was too much money for a guy who had one good year. Well, didn't PAdilla have one good year? I just think the lineup may have a better spark if Matthews was still here. Now he plays for the division rival and is licking our chops. Kenny Lofton but everyone he is a one year rental. I say go after Torri Hunter and Jermaine Dye in the off season. Both have stated they would love to play for Ron Washington and Hunter lives in the Metroplex. Of course money will be the biggest factor and if we have to overpay, than overpay for them. They both have good defense especially Hunter who has won multiple Gold Gloves. This would make up for the lost of Matthews. But think about it. Hunter will command almost in the 2o million per year range and MAtthews would have been in the 11 million dollar range. We could have saved a bundle.
7. I know you cannot expect to go to every home game of any team and have some people rooting for the visitors. But is is a disgrace for the Rangers to play there home games and people cheering so loudly that when the visiting team scores or wins, it sounds like an away game. I am speaking of the games with the Yankees and Red Sox. It was ridiculous. Rangers fans, where are you? Come to the game and out yeall those fans. I experienced it first hand when I went to the Rangers/Yankees series and I hated it. I will never go to a Ranger-Yankee game again.
8. There is speculation that Tom Hicks will oversee any trade done in the summer by the Rangers because of Daniels' history of trades-transactions. Anyone knows that I trust Hicks less than Jon Daniels or John Hart's handling of anything sports related to the Rangers. I call for Hicks to sell the Rangers to Mark Cuban. Hey why not? 13 years ago, no one went to Mavericks games unless the Bulls, Shaq or other big time teams came, similar to the Rangers situation. But now the Mavericks sell out every home game with their fans mostly, and sell out visiting teams arenas as well. The Rangers do not exactly sell well as evidenced by the Devil Rays switching their home games with the Rangers at Disney world to get more people to come. So if Cuban is looking to but a team, don't go for the Pirates or Cubs, buy the Rangers. Of course baseball head man Bud Selig will never go through this. He does not want an owner who is a Maverick(no pun intended) and willing to cause controversy. They just want suits. I would thin every commissioner wants an owner like Mark Cuban. He wants to win and make money. Kind of like Jerry Jones. Cuban is just a passionate fan at games and NBA head honcho David Stern needs to ease up on these restrictions. But Cuban would do wonders for the Rangers. Remember nobody would have believed 13 years ago that the Mavericks would have been in the Finals and teams like the Bulls, Lakers, Celtics would sell out to see the Mavericks play. I know it is wishful thinking but hey I can dream can't I?
9. Enough Rangers. Let us move on to Cowboys. A lot was made of the fact that the Cowboys passed on Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn. I think this is much about nothing. The Cowboys did the right move. Tony Romo needs to go into the season knowing he is the Man and needs to prove himself. Quinn would have been a good insurance policy but it would have been another media firestorm if the Boys got him. Besides, most scouts had said that believe he was a good quarterback but not a great one, not worth the price of getting in the first ten picks or so. So why get a guy to tutor for two years or so to rebuild when the pieces are in places right now to compete. I believe Romo is the real deal as far as a good starting quarterback. Will he be Staubach or Aikman. No he won't. But he will be better than what the Cowboys have seen since Aikman retired. And he needs to play without someone looking over his back. I just have a feeling that this move will be looked upon the way the Cowboys passed on Randy Moss. Other teams passed on him but the Cowboys are criticized the most for not. Now from the looks of things, it looks like a good move to pass on him. For the record I felt they should not have drafted him. The Cowboys were in too many headlines for the wrong reasons and the last thing they needed was more controversy. So only in time will we know if this was a good move. Besides the Cowboys will have 2 first round picks and considering the Browns have only had 1 winning season since returning in 1999, at worst it could be top 15. But like many Cowboys fans everywhere, we are rooting for every Browns opponent next year including the Steelers.
10. The Cowboys could not have waited for the beast to leave to get all tough. Now that Parcells is gone players like TO and Julius Jones are jumping on him. TO was not surprising that he reacted this way. I was more surprised that he participated in mini-camp. But Julius Jones reaction was surprising. I mean every workplace when the head boss leaves, there is going to be people who have to adjust. The Rangers are going through the same thing. It is natural for any pro team to hire a guy that is different from the regime before. I mean would it have made sense for the Cowboys to hire Tom Coughlin to follow Parcells? No. So you hire a guy who is different. As far as the backlash from players, I mean we all knew Owens was going to say something and what he said was not all that controversial considering what he has said in the past but the media have to ham it up to make it a worthy story. Jones on the other hand said he felt like a robot last year on the team. Well, if Phillips is letting you decide how to hit the hole yourself, than you better have a good year Jones and back it up. Of course he probably will because it is a contract year.
11. Enough of the Parcells bashing. He left a better team here then when he arrived. I mean it was a failure because the Boys did not win the Super Bowl and no playoff wins or division titles.
But the Boys have the pieces in place to compete in the next few years. Really, was there ever any optimism during the Dave Campo era? If there had been only two openings and those openings were the Cowboys and Raiders and all the coaching candidates that were interviewed had their choice, where are they going to choose? Of course, Phillips does not have to do much tweaking with the system in place, they know the 3-4 and mostly every starter is returning so from that part, Parcells did contribute.
12. Went to the Metroplex to see a Ranger game and got to see the construction of the new Cowboys stadium. I just come to think that with the recent news of the Metroplex getting the Super Bowl in 2011 that what a big deal it is for the area. But still I feel Dallas dropped the ball. I mean why do you not want to build the stadium in Dallas. I mean it was the same politics that forced the Clint Murchinson to build Texas Stadium in Irving. I mean Irving was still in Dallas County at least. These are the Cowboys!!! To have the stadium in the Fair Park/Cotton Bowl area would have been a wise move. And Jones is paying for half of the stadium. The Indianapolis Colt's stadium is going to be payed all from taxpayer money. I just don't think it is right for the Dallas Cowboys to not play their home games in Dallas. I mean the stadium is still going to be the best in the league and the fans will still travel to Arlington to watch but lets just hope they do not take a page out of a certain MLB teams way of handling of their name and begin to call their team the Dallas Cowboys of Arlington. It just does not seem right. Of course the Giants and Jets play their games in New Jersey. Not even the same state.
13. Love Roger Goodell. I mean he really laid down the hammer on the bad guys. Titans CB Pac-Man Jones gets a 1 year suspension and Bengals WR Chris Henry gets 8 games. Goodell is doing the right thing because he does not want his league to become like the NBA and become a league of perceived thugs and hoodlums. That is what provoked David Stern to institute the dress code and other rules about the league. Goodell is laying down the hammer and I am glad of it.
14. I also love the rule where teams will wither be fined or lose draft picks if they knowingly take a player with a history. But I guess the Patriots missed the memo on that. They traded for Randy Moss and drafted foot stomping Miami Hurricane Brandon Merriweather. Patriots must really be desperate to win next year if they sold their soul to the devils of the game. I mean if you have so many issues that the Raiders do not want you? And of course who can forget the Florida International-Miami brawl with Brandon Merrriweather clearly stomping on F-Int players. He was not trying to be a peacemaker. He was trying to start something. Well the Cowboys could use those draft picks if they need to be taken Bob Kraft.
15. Pac-Man Jones, you cannot go to a strip club the night before you are to meet with the commish. I mean did you not seriously think he would have you followed? He will never learn. Mark my word on that.
16. Goodell has a tough situation approaching with Michael Vick. I think they should wait it out to see what exactly is involved with the dog-fighting situation and see if Vick does have connections. He does not have the rap sheet that other guys like Tank Johnson, Adam Jones or Chris Henry have. I think everyone saw some of those approaching. But with Vick, we don't know enough to see if he was involved after all it was not his house but a house he lets his cousin live in.
17. Clinton Portis you are ignorant. Maybe the cops need to see what you are doing in the privacy of your home? I mean why else would you defend dog-fighting?
18. Remember when the Cowboys were the center of attention for all their legal problems in the 90s? I mean a certain part of me is satisfied that other teams are going through this situation and not the Boys for a change.
19. Shut up Yankees fans and management. I wished the Rangers had your "problems".
20. Roger Clemens minor league starts are being televised. Please. Who cares? I want to see him beat on some guys who are not in the majors yet? And that will determine the kind of season he has?
21. I still say Clemens gets a free pass on the steroids issue.
22. The commissioner has to be there for Bonds to break the record. He just has to. I don't think it will tarnish his legacy, hold on I'm talking about Bud Selig am I not? I mean it could not make it any worst. I mean a cancelled World Series, tie All-Star game and the steroid cloud. You did nothing about the steroid mess, so you better sit through the chase and see it first hand.
23. I think Hank Aaron should be there to show he has class and to support a fellow baseball player but I will not come down on him if he does not attend. I mean his record is being broken under a suspicious cloud and I don't think he wants to see that, so I do not fault him for that.
24. Watching the NBA playoffs. I was worried when the Warriors were the Mavericks opponents because for some reason, that team has the blueprint on how to beat the Mavericks and sure enough, they did. But Dirk Nowitzki is getting a lot of heat for stuff that is not all his fault.
25. A rule is a rule. Amare Stodemire and Boris Diaw left the vicintiy of the bench area after a small brawl broke out after Spurs forward fouled Suns Guard Steve Nash. You don't leave the bench folks. This rule was created so no major brawl will start. Is it a dumb rule? I don't know about that but if it is David Stern people, you know it will not be changed.
26. The Spurs win and Suns loss was not tainted by this, the Suns did not finsih the job and should have won Game 5 in Phoenix but ran out of gas and could finsih the job.
27. The NBA draft winners are the Trailblazers and Sonics. I mean this should prove the lottery is not fixed. I mean realistically would you not want teams like the Celtics, Timberwolves or Bulls to get one of these great players in Greg oden or Kevin Durant? I mean you think David Stern is crazy about those two players going to the Western Conference and load up the already talented west with more talent? And for teams that will be starting most of their home games at 10:00 or 10:30 Eastern time? Most of the nation will be asleep when these guys are playing. So the lottery is not fixed. Is it perfect? No. Does it have flaws? Yes. But it is still a good system. Teams that tanked the season on purpose got what they deserved.
28. The sport of cycling is just losing more credibility.
29. I know it is an Anaheim-Ottawa Stanley Cup final, but other than that I don't know what else to think of that.
I'm done and out.
# posted by ttheman @ 2:57 PM 
