Stephen A. Smith is Still Angry

Earlier today on the front page of ESPN.com, ESPN’s personalities analyze the Brett Favre situation. Pieces include a Gene Wojciechowski interview and a video of John Clayton. Also included is a headline titled “Watch: Stephen A. is Angry”. We already knew that, thanks. I encourage you to watch the video on ESPN, and watch how S.A.S. attempts to control himself at first, and fails.

Links and Music

I didn't pick the greatest tim to start a blog. It's one of the two major dead periods in sports, the first two weeks of February being the other, and there really isn't much to write about. That's why you see things like the Favre category on ESPN's bottomline or headlines like "Obama interested in Nascar sponsorship". Frankly it's the most brilliant political move I've seen in years. That's how a democrat reaches the redneck audience, with his face on Dale Jr.'s number 88. Anyway, this post doesn't really have a topic, it's got links, music I like, and really no sports relation. Looking back at that paragraph, I'm amazed that I got off-topic in a post that has no topic. Be impressed.

Links:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1761896
Powerthirst, the greatest energy drink ever and possibly my favorite video ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URjeS5-NaXY
The final scene from There Will Be Blood. Dramatic in context, hilarious out of context. I've taken to yelling "I DRINK YOU MILKSHAKE!" after dramatic sports moments. Very satisfying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy4zgCsgqyo
Mad TV spoof of Dane Cook. I think any one of my friends does a better impression, but kudos to Mad on coming up with the material. No if only they had a funny person to act it out.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8331492
Jason Whitlock's latest article. I love the first line even if the rest is uninteresting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhmahD_EbHY
Dmitri Martin who, along with Daniel Tosh, is my favorite comedian.
I tried to find a clip from a Cold Pizza I saw where Stephen A Smith stares at Skip Bayless like he's about to kill him and they quickly cut to commercial, but no such thing could be found.

Music-
I'm going through artists A-Z with songs that I like that you may not have. Name drop these songs and you will sound interesting to all who listen. Thank me later.
Alkaline Trio- "Help Me" If you like this one I also recommend "Calling All Skeletons".
Ben Folds Five- "Brick" These guys also did a cool cover of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't S#!T".
Coldplay- "Violet Hill" Couldn't find a C I loved so I went with one of Coldplay's new ones. I think they're overrated (they may actually have a chance at being the defining band of this decade which terrifies me) but credit is due.
Dilated Peoples and Kanye West- "This Way" I love Kanye. His albums are great and he's kind of crazy. I'd like to see him team up with Diddy to try and resurrect Britney Spears. Remember I said that when MTV steals the idea this winter.
Eve 6- "Inside Out"
Foo Fighters- "Best of You" I know you have this song but pretend Sean Connery is singing. It's now a fantastic new song.
Gin Blossoms- "Hey Jealousy"
High Speed Scene- "The IROC-Z Song" This is off MVP 2005, the greatest baseball game ever made. I was sad to see the MVP franchise get liscensed out.
Incubus- "Nice to Know You" I think Incubus is underrated, they're one of those bands that XM loves but you'll never hear on regular radio.
Jimmy Eat World- "Sweetness"
K- I don't have anything that fits the somewhat unknown bill from a K artist. Yeah there's Kanye and the Killers, but you know them.
Less Than Jake- "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" It's skaa. Listening to skaa=interesting person.
Lucky Boys Confusion- "When Bad News Gets Worse" A second L to make up for no K.
Muse- "Knights of Cydonia" A Guitar Hero favorite.
Nine Days- "Story of a Girl"
Offspring- "Self Esteem" Noticing a lot of 90's music on here?
P- Same deal as K. I will shout out to anything Pink Floyd though.
Q- Nope
Reel Big Fish- "Our Live Album is Better Than Your Live Album" Skaa is happiness.
Streetlight Manifesto- "Everything Goes Numb" Great name for a band and a great album.
Savage- "Swing" To make up for no P.
Shinedown- "Heroes" To make up for no Q.
Third Eye Blind- "Third Eye Blind" Another album worth getting.
U- I can only find U2 and Usher. I am ashamed of the Usher part.
Verve- "Freshman" It's kind of depressing but whatever.
Warren Zevon- "Keep Me In Your Heart" Zevon wrote this after being given 6 months to live. Powerful but not sad.
X- Nothing. I refuse to recognize Xzibit.
Yellowcard- "Fighting" Off the Madden soundtrack.
Z-Again nothing. Way to go out with a bang. This articleis over. Unsatisfied? Me too.

A Cubs fan's reaction

My first reaction when I saw the breaking news on the bottom line of “SportsCenter” was disbelief. I had just read from an “insider” on ESPN that Harden would be auctioned off within the next few weeks to the highest bidder. After seeing what the Cubs gave up on July 8, 3 weeks before the deadline, I couldn’t believe it. The only two players in the deal from the Cubs’ side that I see playing a significant role on a Major league team are Eric Patterson and Sean Gallagher. Gallagher is not going to be a long reliever like Jeff claimed, but he will not be a frontline starter. The Orioles were looking to trade Brian Roberts in spring training to Chicago in return for a package built around Gallagher, so the A’s aren’t the only team that found promise with him. Murton could be a bottom of the order, spot starter in the future, but he has never lived up to the hype he got when coming from Boston in 2004. What I like about this deal is that Harden will be a Cub next year as well, assuming the Cubs pick up his option. I like the playoff rotation of Zambrano-Harden-Dempster-Lilly, assuming Harden stays healthy, and that’s a HUGE if. Gaudin is not a bad pick up, he is a pretty good reliever and is only 25. The Cubs needed to pick up a reliever who can take care of lefties, and, although a righty, Gaudin pitches well against left-handers.

Cubs Get Harden

Cubs get: Rich Harden, Chad Gaudin
As get: Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton, Erik Patterson, Josh Donaldson

Well done by Jim Hendry to pick up a potential front line starter in response to the Brewers acquisition of CC Sabathia. Harden is a gigantic improvement over Ted Lily as a member of a playoff rotation. Can Harden stay healthy in Chicago? Maybe, but everyone knows the Cubs history with starting pitchers.

(Edit: I confused 22 year old Sean Gallagher with 25 year old Sean Marshall. That makes the deal look better as Galllagher will probably improve a lot in those 3 years. If he pans out, and the Athletics rarely miss on these deals, it could be a fair trade.)

I don't like the fact that the As continue to crap out on their fans once the tradeline rolls around, however if they feel good about Gallagher it is defensible. The rest of the guys however are only bench players. It's risky to trade an ace with a year left for a prospect who might become an ace, but Harden is an injury risk in his own right. Decent deal for Oakland, great one for the Cubs.

National League Rankings

Sorry for not posting a contender/pretender post, I started to write it but I realized that nearly every team is a contender because it’s the NL, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to win the East or West. However, I’ve come up with a list ranking NL teams by their chances of reaching the World Series at this point. This is after the C.C. Sabathia trade.

1. Chicago Cubs (53-36)
2. Philadelphia Phillies (48-42)
3. Milwaukee Brewers (49-40)
4. Arizona Diamondbacks (44-45)
5. St. Louis Cardinals (50-40)
6. New York Mets (45-44)
7. Florida Marlins (46-43)
8. L.A. Dodgers (44-45)

I wouldn’t even count out the Rockies at this point. They are just 6.5 games out of a terrible NL West, and they are starting to show flashes of success. The Cardinals are so low on the list because they are in the Central, and I see the Brewers passing them.

If anyone still doubts Alfonso Soriano’s impact on the cubs, take a look at this: The Cubs are 32-17 with him, and 21-19 without.

The Bulls are one of the most interesting teams to follow this offseason in the NBA, because both Luol Deng and Ben Gordon are restricted free agents. John Paxson would love to keep Deng, apparently the Bulls still think he has all-star potential. They would love to trade Ben Gordon, however his value around the league is much less than Deng’s. Clearly, the Hinrich-Gordon-Deng combination will have to be broken up in some way, and I’d be surprised to see Deng and Gordon both on the team. I’m not sure how many low-post guys there are available, and I’m not sure I’d like to see the rumored Hinrich-Al Harrington trade to Golden State.

Discarded Thoughts

I recently returned home from Indiana so I now have to unload all the thoughts I had over the past 4 days.

Gary, Indiana may be the most depressing place on earth. On the way from the highway to the beach in Gary, I counted 4 strip clubs, 2 fireworks stands, and a hot dog joint. I was however surprised by how many people there had multiple teeth.

The Bulls should trade Luol Deng. I used to like him a lot more than Ben Gordon, but in an up-tempo offense where does he fit? Gordon will benefit from a lot more open looks when defenses have to collapse on Rose, but I don't think Deng will because he doesn't have the range. He doesn't run the floor well and his defense is average. Sorry Luol but I just don't see how you fit in with this team. I was considering a swap for Josh Smith (an RFA who can run, block shots, rebound, and aboslutely bring the room down) but he doesn't shoot that well and that would leave us with only Gordon to keep opponents honest on the perimeter. Maybe Jason Richardson? There has to be a SF who can shoot and run who is available.

Jason Varitek should remove himself from the all-star game. He is in fact the worst starting catcher in baseball. His OBP is about the same as AJ Pierzynski's batting average. There are guys who don't deserve to be starting (cough Alfonso Soriano cough cough) but no one else I saw who absolutely has no business being in the game.

John Danks and Jermaine Dye got screwed, bad time to have the initials JD. You can make it right by voting for Dye in the online vote though.

Federer vs. Nadal was a fantastic tennis match. That's coming from a guy who has never watched 5 consecutive minutes of tennis.

Rafa Nadal looks disturbingly similar to Dramatic Chipmunk.
Check it out yourself: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1764124

There were some unbelievable baseball games played this weekend. Great time to be a fan.

The Breweres acquistiton of CC Sabathia should knock the Cards out of the playoffs. He's a very good pitcher and I'm glad he's out of the AL Central.

I watched the Olympic trials this weekend and I thought of a few ways to spice the track events up.
1. In the 3000 m steeple chase they have one hurdle which is followed by a small pool of water. They should put a crocodile in the water. It would add an element of strategy to the race. Do you go first and try and beat the crocodile and take a big lead? Or do you wait and see if the croc takes out one of your competitors? Would the runners team up, beat the croc to death, then run a normal race? These are the questions.
2. Add swinging boulders to the speed walking race, like in MXC.
3. There should be an obstacle course event.
4. Michael Phelps's new nickname is "The Torso".

I'm going to bed now, good night.

Contender or Pretender?

With baseball at its halfway point, I felt it was time to bring out my favorite cliche. Let's play playoff Contender/Pretender for the AL. Hopefully Ben will write one on the NL.

Tampa Bay- Contender. The team has a great 1,2,3 in Kazmir, Shields, and Garza as well as a fantastic bullpen. They play solid D and have Dioner Navarro who suddenly morphed into a good catcher (teams with good catchers are almost always playoff threats). What worries me about this team is the lack of power. They only have 1 guy on pace to hit 30 and maybe another 3 more who will hit the 20 mark. One slump from a guy in the middle of the order, especially if that guy happens to be Longoria, and this team will not be able to score the 4 or 5 a game it needs. This team reminds me of the Twins of 2 years ago, who made the playoffs and swept the As in the first round.

Boston- Contender. You spend that kind of money not to contend for the playoffs. Papi's banged up (that's what happens when you get off the juice) and Varitek looks like he belongs in the Beer Leagues, but this is still on paper the best team in baseball. I think they end up taking the division.

New York- Contender. For anybody else I say pretender. Their lineup is too strong to be counted out. Their starting pitching is bad but if they can keep their ERAs around 4, the hitting will win games for them. I would love nothing more than to see this team flounder and miss the playoffs. Can you imagine it? Last home game of the year, the entire New York crowd chanting "Yankees Suck!", when suddenly they hear a thunderous boom coming from the skybox! It's Papa George Steinbrenner! He's in a wrestling costume that he stole from Ric Flair and the floppiness is almost too much. He sprints in, throws his son off the balcony, then gives the finger to everyone in the stadium! The crowd loves it, especially Vin Diesel who for some reason the camera zoomed in on. Hank is still alive, but he has been banished to Pittsburgh, where he takes over the team and runs it further into the groud. Sorry Pittsburgh.

Chicago- Conteder. The 3-7 hitters can all hit 30 HRs, the 8 hitter is batting .300, Swish and Orlando are coming around, and AJ is a great catcher. The bullpen is one of the best in the majors and Buehrle looks like an ace again. I worry about Vazquez and Contreras, who both look finished, and was worried that we couldn't manufacture runs. Up until last night when Dewayne Wise singled with two out, stole second, and Cabrera knocked him in to win the game. This team is rolling right now.

Minnesota-Contetnder. Are a bullpen and defense enough to get you to the playoffs? It looks like it could be that way with the Twins, who have terrible starting pitching and 2 players on pace to maybe hit 25 long balls. They do have timely hitting though and Justin Morneau could reach 130 RBIs. They will be in the race the whole way, but the odds that the have a seat when the music stops are slim.

Detroit- Pretender. No #%$@#&% way this team makes the playoffs. Magglio is hurting with the dreaded oblique strain, the pitching is awful, and they play bad defense. Why would you build a bomb squad when you play in Comerica park? The Tigers go .500 and have to be blown up a year from now, just like Justin Timberlake should be. Hear that JT, I want you out of the game, you have 1 year. Ready! GO!

Los Angeles of Anaheim- Contender. Vlad can still swing, Torrii Hunter is patrolling center, Chone Figgins sets the table, and someone else will step up at some point. I'd like to introduce the readers to Joe Saunders, the Angels pitcher who is 11-4 with a 3.06 ERA. He makes this a really strong rotation along with Lackey, Santana, Garland, and Weaver. They also have K-Rod who may break the single season saves record.

Oakland As- Pretender. Duchscherer, Eveland, and Smith have been pleasant surprises. Unfortunately the lineup is terrible. As the Duke comes back to earth and Harden has another inevitable injury, this team will begin to lose ground. The team built around OBP has four starters with OBPs below .330. The return of Frank Thomas and Chaves could help but this team looks like an overachiever right now.