So Much to Talk About, So Little Concentration

It's been over two weeks since my last post and for that I apologize. To be perfectly honest the sports world has be rather boring for these last few days, but I do have a few little small rants.

Dear Kevin Garnett, who are you to call Charlie Villanuva a cancer patient? You two have the same hairstyle? Not only is it offensive to him, but to a large number of the general population. Half the time you look like the Incrediable Hulk with your over exaggerated expressions. You should be careful, you're old you might pull something, give it up douche!

Dear NFL, good for you for not suspending Andre Johnson and that white kid he kicked the crap out of. Sometimes events likes this are good for your business and you need to look the other way with some of these things and with the war path Roger Goodell has been on this year it's good to see him lay off, perhaps he was afraid Johnson would whip his ass if a suspension was handed out.

Is Sidney Crosby a dirty player? I believe he showers so probably not and who is Brandon Dubinsky? No names should not call out world class players because it sheds light on how shitty you are!

Dear Dirtbags! Who steals a dead man's stuff? Pat Burns who recently passed away was laid to rest yesterday. During a reception following the mass his widows vehicle was broken into and personal items of pat's were stolen. Player signed jerseys, jewelery and Pat's wallet. This news disgusts me! Who would do such a thing? Some people are just so insensitive....anyone want to buy an autographed jersey?

Ron Gardenhire Manager of the Year or Just a Pitty Vote?

Last week Ron Gardenhire was named the American League Manager of the Year after being runner up the previous 5 years.  Some think this was a great and well deserved victory for Mr. Gardenhire, but I think it's complete horse crap!  Big deal you've led the Twins to the playoffs 3 of the last 5 seasons, but come on, the Twins play in the Central which has been competitive once in the last 5 years.  He also has not made it past the divisional playoff round in any of those 3 seasons.  Guiding the Twins to Central Division Titles is like walking to get the mail everyday.  It has to be done, someones has to do it, so you just do it.  I'd like to see Gardenhire lead his team to division titles in the East or West.  The Central Division in the Major Leagues is like the East and West Divisions "slow" cousin.  I won't take anything away from the fact that the Twins had one of the best records in the majors this year at 94 - 68, but they still did not make it past the divisional round.  They were in the top 10 of all batting statistics (which you almost need to be to make the post season), but again did not make it past the divisional round.  What I can't figure out is how Gardenhire has been on the ballot for the last 5 years with some of the dismal records the Twins have posted.  In my opinion the person who deserved the award was Ron Washington of the "where the hell did they come from" Texas Rangers.  Over the past couple of seasons the Rangers have slowly improved under the watchful eye of Washington.  They reached their full potential this season making the playoffs for the first time in a decade and winning a playoff series for the first time in franchise history (They won two!!!  In one playoff season!!).  They were 1st in Batting Average, 5th in Runs Scored, 6th in On Base Percentage and 9th in Slugging, but they did this all with a team patched together of former drug addicts, a guy pitching in the Japanese leagues just a year ago, a guy who's career seemed to be over and a group of young guys who just love to play the game.  Washington even inspired a youngster from Texas to dress up like him for Halloween.  I didn't see any kids from Minnesota dressing up like Gardenhire for Halloween, they were probably busy dressing like Bret Favre and sending pics of their junk to friends or perhaps playing hide and find Randy Moss.  I just can't understand what the media personnel who get to vote for these awards were thinking?  Do they feel bad for Gardenhire being a bridesmaid but never a bride?  Did they not watch the 2010 baseball season and playoffs?  Have they not watched the Twins fold like an accordion during their last 3 playoff appearances. It's too bad that Washington didn't win, but perhaps next year if the Rangers fail to make the playoffs they voters will feel for Ron Washington and vote him to win because that seems to be the logic.

Dear Ron Gardenhire,
    Do something that makes you worthy of winning manager of the year...like maybe...WIN!!!!

Dear Media Personnel Who Voted for Manager of the Year,
   WTF is wrong with you?  Is it because Ron Washington is black?  If so, you disgust me!!!  It didn't go unnoticed that both managers that won manager of the year are white...I'm on to you...this must be a Bud Selig conspiracy...I'll get to the bottom of it, you racist bastards!   

Pest or Performer?

Sean Avery, you either hate him or you love him.  If you are a New York Rangers fan you love him, if you are any other hockey fan you hate him.  His latest action has drawn a lot of ridicule from around the league, especially within the Oilers organization.  If you don't know what he did check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjZF1Cdx7Eo.  Now for those of you who follow hockey very closely you know this isn't out of the ordinary for Sean Avery.  Just last year Avery was cut from the Dallas Stars when he made a comment about Dion Phaneuf's girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert, referring to her as his "sloppy seconds".  Avery has always had an edge to him, but is this such a bad thing?  It gets people talking about hockey even if you don't watch hockey.  I for one think he is a complete douche, with no balls.  He often walks away from fights he starts or gets the bigger guys on his team to finish his battles.  Some of Avery's other well documented incidents include his dance routine in front on Martin Brodeur during the Stanley Cup Playoffs a couple of years back (see it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb4WaZMVtyE).  He also called Jason Blake a cancer patient, when in fact he had cancer.  Not a real top notch guy, but he is entertaining.  There are only a handful of guys like this in the NHL and probably for good reason.  You have Steve Downie, Daniel Carcillo and Sean Avery.  These are the guys who are always in the headlines.  To be fair, Steve Downie is a good hockey player when he focuses on hockey and not being some psycho running around on the ice trying to kill someone.  Daniel Carcillo was a healthy scratch during the 2010 playoffs a couple of times because his coach thought he was not focused enough on the team aspect and that he could be more of a problem then a solution for them to win a game and just the other night Carcillo at full speed left his feet and lunged at an opposing player, but missed and is now out with ligament damage in his knee.  But back to Sean Avery and his antics.  Do they belong in the NHL?  Probably not.  Do they make the game fun to watch?  Yes, at times.  Should something be done about Sean Avery?  No not by the NHL, but perhaps by other players.  No one has ever stepped up and beating the living piss out of him.  Does he deserve it?  HELL YES he does.  Sean Avery probably doesn't have too many friends, even on his own team.  In interviews and on the ice he comes off as a narcissistic, bipolar, out of control, unstable individual.  I tried to look up any community work he does (as most athletes do) and I couldn't do anything, not saying that he doesn't but I think parents and community groups would be hard pressed to sell someone like him to the community.  Sean Avery can be a good hockey player, but I think that sometimes he gets too caught up in his "bad boy" persona and spends all of his energy making people hate him instead of playing hockey.

Dear Sean Avery,
   Did you mother not love you?  Did you father tell you constantly that you were a mistake?  Did you brother/sister make out with your girlfriend in highschool?  Did you get pants by the school bully during a Christmas Concert where you played one of Santa's little elves?  Because you certainly act like it!!!  Tell you what Sean, I like you antics (when they don't lead to a concussion) but do the NHL and all it's fans a favour, keep them clean, fun and show people that you know how to score goals, not just annoy the piss out of everyone!

Checking Out and Reality Checks

I'm not much of a basketball fan, but you can't help to read or see things in the news about Lebron James and Chris Bosh.  All this media surrounding the big signings by the Miami Heat in the off season, building a dynasty team, sports writers predicting they are going to win over 70 games (they've already lost 4, all to good teams and their wins; with the exception of one have come against mediocre teams).  Outside of all this hype is the fan animosity towards both James and Bosh.  Throughout this whole process both players have denied giving up on their respective former teams, but both were quick to turn their backs on the cities that made them superstars.  The fans of Cleveland have taken their displeasure a little further then those in Toronto by doing their own spoof of Lebron's Nike commercial (check it out here if you haven't seen it yet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F959ukD6nBc).  For Bosh it's been more the media and his former general manager that have taken him through the ringer.  Call out Bosh for quitting on the team, making a big media frenzy over Bosh's comments that he left Toronto so he would get more "tv exposure.".  To me all of this is crap.  Bosh did an interview with a Toronto sports station where he makes excuse after excuse (or what sound like excuses) about why the second half of his season wasn't very good.  Maybe your just not very good Chris?  Your play thus far in Miami has been average.  You are not playing your role on the team.  You are the big fish in the pond, going to the ocean.  You play with Lebron James and Dwayne Wade...two elite athletes who are much better than you.  Plus you are injury prone and will likely not make it past the all star break before your season is done.  As for Lebron James, I can't say a whole lot.  He's a good player, he was drafted by a crap team and he made them a playoff team, and championship contender, BUT!  You did not need a network special to make your decision and tell North America who would be lucky enough to have you, because you play thus far hasn't warranted any of that publicity.

Dear Chris Bosh and Lebron James, until you help Dwayne Wade bring a championship to Miami (which could still happen this season, I'm not discounting that) you will simply be two players who were supposed to make a team unbeatable, but until you both realize that the Heat is Wades team and accept your roles as team players instead of being the team you are not going to win anything.  I hope you meet the Cavaliers or Raptors in the first round of the playoffs and they beat you in four games.  Neither of you deserve to win a championship and as the season progresses and the losses begin to accumulate lets see you not quit.

NFL Rules, Firings, and Can Some One Tell Me What a G6 Is!???

So Wade Phillips got fired....we'll I guess it was about time.  The Cowboys are absolutely terrible, and as a casual fan of the NFL I don't have a favorite team but you could always count on the Cowboys being competitive and making a run at the playoffs.  When Romo went down two weeks ago you could almost feel the crowd collectively accept that the season was lost.  No offence to John Kitna but he's terrible.  Any time he's been brought into a game you can pretty much kiss that wager goodbye. What gets me though is that whenever a team is playing poorly the coach always gets fired.  I guess he is the guy who's supposed to motivate and keep a team on track, but the coach always seems to be the fall guy.  It's too bad but maybe now Wade could get himself a job with the rest of his Keebler Elves!

Now with all these fines and rule adjustments.  One quick note on this...it's football, guys are going to get their bell rung game in and game out.  Yes the opponent should have enough respect to try and avoid making contact with the head, but just as in hockey and other high impact sports it's going to happen.  These are fast pace games where a guy has only seconds to react.  Players wear helmets for a reason, just as easily a guy could have his kidney ruptured or a rib break and puncture a lung on a hard hit to the midsection.  So tell me Roger Goodell and the NFL, are you going to eliminate hitting all together?  Let's have flag football from now on!

Dear Far East Movement....What the FUCK is a G6 and how can you be "Poppin bottles in the ice, like a blizzard"....and what do you mean when you verbally vomit about "When we drink we do it right gettin slizzard.  Sippin sizzurp in my ride, like Three 6"...this shit will cause your brain to go to muss quicker than James Harrison laying a crushing hit on you!

Jockey Boxing

I have a lot to say today....

Breeders cup started today and organizers couldn't have asked for a better start.  In case you haven't seen it check it out  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lujax6gMAqU then continue to read.

This is exactly what horse racing needs!  Horse racing has always been portrayed as a classy sport for classy people, but let's be honest.  Horse racing is for average joes like you and me.  You can't go to a race track now a days that doesn't have some form of a casino attached to it.  You've already got people there pouring money into odds on a horse winning why not add a slot machine or two to entice them to win back what they lost on the horses on the way out.  A racetrack in the city where I call home has tried to encourage a younger crowd by adding a "party" tent during weekend races complete with a bar, food and Beer brand girls.  It is these things that will attract a younger crowd to horse racing.  All young people want to do at sporting events is to enjoy live sport and a few beverages.  If you add the possibility of winning money and women in small shorts and shirts this is just a bonus, not to mention a fight of two.  Whether it's because of controversy during the race or if the two little guys just don't like each other a fight every once and a while is good for the sport, especially when the participants in the fight are pretty much midgets!!!!  Sorry, little people, big fights!!!


Dear Sport of Horse Racing,
    Let the little guys fight!!!!  Keep the horse out of it, but you know maybe merge the idea of UFC in the winners circle.  You could call it JFC (Jockey Fighting Club) - you can have that one for free!  Thank me later.

Thanks for Helping Us Win the World Series...Now Take Your MVP Trophy and Piss Off!

So I haven't blogged in a couple of days because I've been off from the job that actually pays me, so I haven't had compute access as often as I do when at work, but today I saw a story on the ticker on SportsCentre that just made me angry.
  Edgar Renteria was let go by the Giants today when they opted out of his option year which would have paid him $9.25 million next season.  This was obviously a business decision, free up some cash so you can try to bring in another big bat which they have already admitted they need to try and repeat as Champs next year but Renteria wasn't awful this season.  He batted .276 with an OBP of .332 and Slugging percentage of .375.  Now he only had 3 home runs but he has also never hit more than 16 in his entire career, but he has two big ones from this years World Series.
   Now my beef isn't so much with the fact that the Giants cut him, right after he was named the MVP of the World Series, who pretty much won the clinching game for them, but that they put this contract together.  Obviously his term of payment for next year has a lot to do with performance bonuses.  I can't imagine that he was signed for $9.25 million over two years.  Obviously the performance of the ball club and his contributions lead us to this figure. 
   Ball clubs throw all these performance bonuses into contracts of these players to motivate and help their chances of landing a said player.  You can't tell me that when Renteria was signed in the off season that the Giants actually thought they would compete for the World Series and that Renteria would be one of the key reasons.  The treatment of Edgar Renteria and 2 time World Series MVP is simply unfair and a kick in the nuts.  I certainly hope that Renteria lands with another contender for next season and finds himself in the World Series, NLCS or NLDS agains the Giants and he shows them that he maybe was worth $9.25 Million.

Dear San Fransico Giants,
     You are worse than Anna Nicole Smith...you used an old man to get ahead.  I hope you and your fans enjoy this win cause it'll be the last one you have for another 54 Years!!!  You now have the Curse of the Ria on you...nobody wants anything ending in Ria on them!!!

Did You Lose a Bet? I'm Betting You Did!

Dear Ken Rosenthal,
    Did you lose a bet?  You have gone from dressing like a normal sports reported to dressing like Pee Wee Herman.  What is with your new style of dress?  What is with the bow ties, and pastel colored shirts?  Was this an idea of the 20th Century Fox broadcasting company or someones idea of a cruel joke as part of a bet?  I am truly hoping that this is something that you are being made to do and not something that you decided to do on your own.  If it is something you came up with on your own then why would the people at Fox let you do it???  Why would they let you dress like a Pee Wee the pervert during the biggest sports broadcasts of the year?  You look like something the '70's threw up!!!  You are reporting on baseball, not the financial forecast for the upcoming fiscal year!! 

Dear Fox Sports,
    WTF!!!???  Do something about this!