The NFL Draft is kind of a big deal. Mel Kiper Jr. devotes his entire life to a two-day spectacle that decides the futures of every NFL team. I watched most of it and was always shocked that no matter who gets called Mel Kiper tells you anything and everything relevant to that player. The man is simply astoundingly good at what he does. He has a job that's completely different every year. It's a rotating door of human beings that he has to know about and then throw away for next year's crop.
I bring up this useless information because the Raiders had the worst draft I've ever seen or even heard of. Al Davis needs to leave the Raiders alone and just agree to front them money. Having his hands in anything football related at this point is just a complete embarassment. I've heard that he insists on being a part of game planning. What other owner has that kind of blind arrogance? Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban are certainly involved, but for the most part let the coaches do what they get paid to do. I feel SO sorry for people who have to play on the Raiders. Sure they make millions of dollars, but their boss has been a Looney Tune his entire life and being older than petrified shit certainly doesn't help anything.
Only Al Davis entrusts his franchise to a 33 year old offensive coordinator with NFL pedigree and fires him 1.2 years later. He hires "yes" men who enable him to still be bat-shit insane and do what he wants rather than face reality. He looks like skeletor and in another crucial draft grabs a bunch of fast guys who can't play football. If I were a sprinter I'd sign up for the draft just knowing after I posted some outragous 40 time that Al Davis will call my name very early on a special Saturday and give me enough money to live my days worry-free. Darrius Heyward-Bey was a late first round pick at best that Al Davis took in front of Michael Crabtree (Perhaps the best Sophomore WR prospect ever), and Jeremy Macklin, another CLEARLY better player. Bottom line is most people could've done better throwing darts drunk at a board full of names. Sorrry Raiders and may God have mercy on your souls during another year of complete and total failure and torment.
On the happy side of things the Jaguars posted a stellar draft where they pulled 2 VERY good OT who will probably play right away in Eugene Monroe and Eben Britton, a big DT who should contribute this year in Terrence Knighton, and a bunch of talented WR who will hopefully turn out. Packers got a couple of kick ass defensive studs who will help a slow and aging unit. Bottom line is until the season starts it's all speculation, but things are looking up for some, and still shitty for others.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Coffey is Sweet
The Brewers clearly aren't kicking a whole bunch of ass lately, but there are some things that are looking up. Todd Coffey is clearly the bright spot during the recent shit-show road trip. Coffey has played phenomenally well in Hoffman's absence, and in reality may just straight up take the closer role from the 6 million dollar man (We can rebuild him, he's old as fuck).
Braun seems to remember that he's the face of the franchise and went 5-5 in the Phillies beat-down of us, meaning hopefully his most recent slump is over. Nobody is hitting THAT well, the pitching staff is not performing well either, bullpen especially, and we're still .500. That's great considering how poorly they've been playing in reality. Hoffman will come back, Riske will come back, and that should really solidify things in the pen. The starting rotation will probably be pretty hit or miss all year with Gallardo and Looper being pretty solid. I hope to God Manny Parra bears some resemblance of his previous knowledge of pitching, he's seeming real Dontrelle Willis-like where he has no idea what he's doing out there anymore.
NFL Draft is coming up and I will certainly be watching. The only advice I want to reach across is to the Jacksonville Jaguars in stating if they move up and pick a player they could've gotten two rounds later, I'm looking at your underperforming punk-ass Derrick Harvey, I'm going to just snap. If Mike Crabtree is available and he is not taken I will be drinking myself into a coma.
Somebody also fill me in on how ESPN can just change the draft until 3pm CST. They are just milking this thing for all its worth. 8 hours of coverage before and 8 hours of drafting? How can't there be a full on brawl between Kiper and McShay at some point? I'd also like to see Merrill Hoge get punched in the face, or Sean Salisbury get beaten to death while John Clayton lights him on fire.
Braun seems to remember that he's the face of the franchise and went 5-5 in the Phillies beat-down of us, meaning hopefully his most recent slump is over. Nobody is hitting THAT well, the pitching staff is not performing well either, bullpen especially, and we're still .500. That's great considering how poorly they've been playing in reality. Hoffman will come back, Riske will come back, and that should really solidify things in the pen. The starting rotation will probably be pretty hit or miss all year with Gallardo and Looper being pretty solid. I hope to God Manny Parra bears some resemblance of his previous knowledge of pitching, he's seeming real Dontrelle Willis-like where he has no idea what he's doing out there anymore.
NFL Draft is coming up and I will certainly be watching. The only advice I want to reach across is to the Jacksonville Jaguars in stating if they move up and pick a player they could've gotten two rounds later, I'm looking at your underperforming punk-ass Derrick Harvey, I'm going to just snap. If Mike Crabtree is available and he is not taken I will be drinking myself into a coma.
Somebody also fill me in on how ESPN can just change the draft until 3pm CST. They are just milking this thing for all its worth. 8 hours of coverage before and 8 hours of drafting? How can't there be a full on brawl between Kiper and McShay at some point? I'd also like to see Merrill Hoge get punched in the face, or Sean Salisbury get beaten to death while John Clayton lights him on fire.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Really deep Stuff
Yesterday some of my friends lost their father. I never wanted to take this to a personal note, but I guess it may be the thing to do.
There is simply nothing in this world that can prepare you for the loss of someone in your life. The loss of a parent is indescribable. If anybody didn't know my Mom passed away January 12, 2005 four days before I turned 20. I still think about it every day of my life. It's the hardest thing in the world to endure and watch someone melt away before your eyes. You have the luxury of telling the person how much you love them, but cancer is unbelievable cruel on a human being. It eats you up inside and the memories of it certainly haunt me still.
Why I'm writing this is to try to let you know how to help somebody going through something so terrible. I doubt they'll want to talk about it, but just keep an ear open to them. I can't tell you how much it would mean to them to be at the wake. My personal example is my freshman year roommate came all the way from Reedsburg by himself to sit through a line that took probably two hours just to say his condolence. It meant a ton to me and in my eyes solidified him as one of my best friends.
Everyone is going to deal with such a horrific loss differently, but just try to be there as much as you can. Don't beat them over the head with it, but try to help out where you can. Throw up a prayer or two to the big fella upstairs. Cook them a meal perhaps, that helped out my family a ton. Understand that you don't understand, but just let them know you care about them and will be there to help out with whatever. You REALLY lean on your friends and family during the rough stretch that follows, and you lean hard. Don't be weirded out when someone lets it all out around you, just be there for them, which may mean nothing more than, as corny as it sounds, being a shoulder to cry on.
The only sure thing in life is death. Everyone knows this, but you still can't prepare for it happening right in front of you. Basically if you are close to the Hedgepath's make sure to reach out to them, but apply this to anyone who is going through a similar situation. Your actions will certainly mean more to them than the few hours of your time will to you.
Next post will be WAY more light-hearted and bitchy, I promise.
There is simply nothing in this world that can prepare you for the loss of someone in your life. The loss of a parent is indescribable. If anybody didn't know my Mom passed away January 12, 2005 four days before I turned 20. I still think about it every day of my life. It's the hardest thing in the world to endure and watch someone melt away before your eyes. You have the luxury of telling the person how much you love them, but cancer is unbelievable cruel on a human being. It eats you up inside and the memories of it certainly haunt me still.
Why I'm writing this is to try to let you know how to help somebody going through something so terrible. I doubt they'll want to talk about it, but just keep an ear open to them. I can't tell you how much it would mean to them to be at the wake. My personal example is my freshman year roommate came all the way from Reedsburg by himself to sit through a line that took probably two hours just to say his condolence. It meant a ton to me and in my eyes solidified him as one of my best friends.
Everyone is going to deal with such a horrific loss differently, but just try to be there as much as you can. Don't beat them over the head with it, but try to help out where you can. Throw up a prayer or two to the big fella upstairs. Cook them a meal perhaps, that helped out my family a ton. Understand that you don't understand, but just let them know you care about them and will be there to help out with whatever. You REALLY lean on your friends and family during the rough stretch that follows, and you lean hard. Don't be weirded out when someone lets it all out around you, just be there for them, which may mean nothing more than, as corny as it sounds, being a shoulder to cry on.
The only sure thing in life is death. Everyone knows this, but you still can't prepare for it happening right in front of you. Basically if you are close to the Hedgepath's make sure to reach out to them, but apply this to anyone who is going through a similar situation. Your actions will certainly mean more to them than the few hours of your time will to you.
Next post will be WAY more light-hearted and bitchy, I promise.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sup Tastes like Shit
Jeff Suppan is a hot topic for throwing barbs at. He has always been my whipping boy because he simply gets paid too much to be a Brewer. A small market team can't make big market mistakes. We may have paid market value for Jeff Suppan, but market-value was WAY overpriced. His career numbers are completely average. He's a "club-house" guy and a "crafty veteran", but that only goes so far. Sean Casey was a legendary nice guy, but he still backed it up with his bat. Suppan is 128-125 career with a 4.66 ERA, that's just not good. He came off a solid 3 year stint with the Cardinals getting aroudn 190 innings and finishing 16-9, 16-10, and 12-7 respectively culminated with a big-time postseason where he was 2006 NLCS MVP and he was worth something. Truth of the matter was he was never going to be a Greg Maddux who could defy age, but also teach young pitchers how to be the best they could be. We got an old pitcher getting older and he never had great stuff, but the marginal loss of speed that's common with getting older is killing Suppan. He's not finding the strike zone and when he is it's equivalent to BP. You can't tell me the Brewers couldn't start a revolving door of prospects to throw as a No. 5 starter that couldn't go 4 innings and give up 5 earned runs.
The problem is compounded by the Brewers being a small-market team without much money. The Yankees can continue to make it rain, as can other big-market teams, but Milwaukee cannot throw cash around like that. Nobody possibly thought Sabathia was going to get re-signed, but we got 1/2 the compensation we thought we were going to. This free-agent market left our staff razor-thin, and Torres' retirement just twisted the knife into the bullpen. Hoffman's stats declined last year. He was still very solid, but throwing 6 million at him is just a stop-gap. Looper was a solid pick-up to eat up innings, but he certainly won't come close to Sabathia, or even Sheets of last year. The Brewers have Ken Macha, but aren't playing the "Moneyball" games of the A's. You need to get value for aging veterans you can't afford to re-sign, AKA a shitload of prospects, but more importantly cannot afford to make BIG mistages in free agency. They picked up Holliday, Giambi, and Nomar at VERY discounted rates, 2/3 pan out they did an UNREAL job. Even if Holliday jumps ship after this year they will likely get back a few high draft picks since he'll be one of the best players in free agency. The Red Sox aren't a very good example normally but pulled great value for Smoltz, Penney, and before that Sean Casey. Veterans like that are obviously attracted to the poossible World Series every year, but the Brewers could have been a contender for Penney if they didn't have 12.5 million dollars committed to Jeff Suppan. Pedro is still around, but once again we don't really have any money to put towards anybody.
That is why the titled of this is what it is. Sup tastes like shit because we're married to the guy for 4 years and are getting treated like the Sham-WOW guys hooker from the relationship. I'm not saying he isn't a good person, I'm just saying paying him that much money on a team like Milwaukee is equivalent to giving your friends $200 for a Red Dog at the Bar.
Thanks to Baseballreference.com for the statwork and making me look competent.
Bottom line the Brewers are too good to rebuild, but not good enough to contend and we're going to chew on it for a few years.
The problem is compounded by the Brewers being a small-market team without much money. The Yankees can continue to make it rain, as can other big-market teams, but Milwaukee cannot throw cash around like that. Nobody possibly thought Sabathia was going to get re-signed, but we got 1/2 the compensation we thought we were going to. This free-agent market left our staff razor-thin, and Torres' retirement just twisted the knife into the bullpen. Hoffman's stats declined last year. He was still very solid, but throwing 6 million at him is just a stop-gap. Looper was a solid pick-up to eat up innings, but he certainly won't come close to Sabathia, or even Sheets of last year. The Brewers have Ken Macha, but aren't playing the "Moneyball" games of the A's. You need to get value for aging veterans you can't afford to re-sign, AKA a shitload of prospects, but more importantly cannot afford to make BIG mistages in free agency. They picked up Holliday, Giambi, and Nomar at VERY discounted rates, 2/3 pan out they did an UNREAL job. Even if Holliday jumps ship after this year they will likely get back a few high draft picks since he'll be one of the best players in free agency. The Red Sox aren't a very good example normally but pulled great value for Smoltz, Penney, and before that Sean Casey. Veterans like that are obviously attracted to the poossible World Series every year, but the Brewers could have been a contender for Penney if they didn't have 12.5 million dollars committed to Jeff Suppan. Pedro is still around, but once again we don't really have any money to put towards anybody.
That is why the titled of this is what it is. Sup tastes like shit because we're married to the guy for 4 years and are getting treated like the Sham-WOW guys hooker from the relationship. I'm not saying he isn't a good person, I'm just saying paying him that much money on a team like Milwaukee is equivalent to giving your friends $200 for a Red Dog at the Bar.
Thanks to Baseballreference.com for the statwork and making me look competent.
Bottom line the Brewers are too good to rebuild, but not good enough to contend and we're going to chew on it for a few years.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
2009 Tar Heels Please Sit in the Pantheon of Greatness
I'm done slurping the Tar Heels Kool-Aid after their beatdown of Michigan State. It's so rare that a team lives up to such high expectations, but to exceed them is simply astounding. That game against Michigan State was over in 10 minutes, the rest of the game was on cruise control. Now the only hope is that Ellington, Lawson, Thompson, and Woods all stick around. I'd settle for two out of that group, which seems likely. The Tar Heels won every game by double digits, we get to enjoy domination like that in the women's game, but never the men's. Everything came together, including the overall health of the team, and after that it became clear they were the class of 2009 that everyone thought they could become. Now imagine that team with defensive lockdown specialist Marcus Ginyard and it's entirely possible that they go undefeated. Wake, GT, and Maryland definitely don't win with Ginyard gaurding the respective stars that accounted for over 100 points in UNC's losses. They'll be decent next year bringing back Woods, Zellmer, Thompson, Helms, and another blue-chip recruiting class... SUCK IT DUKE.
Brewers got piss pounded because Jeff Suppan isn't good. I have a problem when you're opening day starter throws at the same velocity as the old guy pitching BP before the game. For idiots, BP stands for batting practice. I like the lineup and the fact that most of the team has bought in to working year round, but it's not realistic to think you can be good with our pitching staff. Looper and Hoffman are dinged up, Suppan is trash at this point, Bush is streaky, Parra fell apart after the all-star break and Gallardo is coming off MAJOR knee surgery. The bullpen is a bunch of people that nobody has heard of and our playoff streak ends at one... the life of the Brewer fan.
Interesting side note: I was watching Girls Next Door and Hef, the 83 year old shtooping two 18 year old blond twins (How awful is that?), needs to talk to someone about life decisions. Hef doesn't turn to his numerous children, ex-wives, his brother, or any member of his family. Hef jumps into a talk about how he needs to let Holly have a family with somebody who can provide her with that to his 80 year-old secretary Mary, who seemed to be his best friend in the world. I just found that very interesting considering he's Hugh Hefner, finding friends should be about as hard as finding beer at Brewer's Opening Day. Playboy seems like a family as tight knit as the clothes the hot girls wear.
I Love You Man is hilarious and entertaining. Jason Segal propelled himself to one of my favorite comedic actors. I personally think Seth Rogan wishes he was Jason Segal. He's just effortlessly funny and his naturally big/goofy appearance just helps him out. Paul Rudd is good, I just don't laugh at the awkward guy that much. I wish Andy Samburg and Jon Favreau were used more. The side characters were not used enough, each of them could have been used more for easy laughs. I'm going with an 8 out of 10 and the catch phrases to come out of it as "Suck it Gil" and "Slappin' the Bass" in whatever accent you choose.
Brewers got piss pounded because Jeff Suppan isn't good. I have a problem when you're opening day starter throws at the same velocity as the old guy pitching BP before the game. For idiots, BP stands for batting practice. I like the lineup and the fact that most of the team has bought in to working year round, but it's not realistic to think you can be good with our pitching staff. Looper and Hoffman are dinged up, Suppan is trash at this point, Bush is streaky, Parra fell apart after the all-star break and Gallardo is coming off MAJOR knee surgery. The bullpen is a bunch of people that nobody has heard of and our playoff streak ends at one... the life of the Brewer fan.
Interesting side note: I was watching Girls Next Door and Hef, the 83 year old shtooping two 18 year old blond twins (How awful is that?), needs to talk to someone about life decisions. Hef doesn't turn to his numerous children, ex-wives, his brother, or any member of his family. Hef jumps into a talk about how he needs to let Holly have a family with somebody who can provide her with that to his 80 year-old secretary Mary, who seemed to be his best friend in the world. I just found that very interesting considering he's Hugh Hefner, finding friends should be about as hard as finding beer at Brewer's Opening Day. Playboy seems like a family as tight knit as the clothes the hot girls wear.
I Love You Man is hilarious and entertaining. Jason Segal propelled himself to one of my favorite comedic actors. I personally think Seth Rogan wishes he was Jason Segal. He's just effortlessly funny and his naturally big/goofy appearance just helps him out. Paul Rudd is good, I just don't laugh at the awkward guy that much. I wish Andy Samburg and Jon Favreau were used more. The side characters were not used enough, each of them could have been used more for easy laughs. I'm going with an 8 out of 10 and the catch phrases to come out of it as "Suck it Gil" and "Slappin' the Bass" in whatever accent you choose.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
The Heel is for Real
UNC just finished another piss-pounding of a quality team on a hot streak and I'm enjoying it very much. I love how they can just pull Zellmer and Woods off the bench and not lose much productivity. Lawson is playing at a ridiculous level where he doesn't turn the ball over, yet constantly pushes the pace and drops dimes. Tomorrow night will be the culmination of Hansborough's college career, do you really think he's not going to win a Championship?
Tonight also marks the start of baseball, which is a decent time. It's going to give you something on TV every day for the next 6 months, that's not a bad thing. I won't pretend to know how things are going to pan out, but I really like the Red Sox and they're crafty pick-ups of Smoltz and Penney, two veterans who can be called on at any time. You know if you option Clay Bucholz to AAA that things are going well, kid struggled last year but as a rookie went 3-1 with a no-hitter, he has decent stuff we'll say. I look at the Brewers to be .500ish, but no dice on the playoffs run, the Central is really deep this year and pretty tough overall. This can't include the Pirates who just had some of their top prospects lose to a community college team, yes they suck with committment. I like the Mets in the NL to meet the Sox, they improved their bullpen astronomically by adding Putz and K-Rod, and their lineup has never been an issue. They are a bunch of no heart pansies come postseason time, but this year they have the bullpen to not fuck up 8th inning leads.
The NHL playoffs are coming, also known as when I start to watch and act like I care somewhat. Hockey in HD does look just astounding, and color announcer Mike Emrick is simply the best announcer for any one sport, he carries the entire broadcast like nobody else. When he raises his pitch for a slapshot and just gets SO excited it makes me happy. SHOT SAVE MADE, REBOUND AND A GLOVE SAVE VAN BIESBROOK. I don't know much about hockey, I do know the Bruins are rocking again, I'll just go with the Red Wings because they have crafty veterans that seem to have no trouble raising their games come playoff time.
That concludes the sports round-up, it's just a great time of year. The cherry on the sundae comes in the form of the NFL Draft, because football is a form of religion. Weather is improving, sports are heating up, it's just a great time of year. For people who don't care about real sports you even have the Masters.
I love Spring.
Tonight also marks the start of baseball, which is a decent time. It's going to give you something on TV every day for the next 6 months, that's not a bad thing. I won't pretend to know how things are going to pan out, but I really like the Red Sox and they're crafty pick-ups of Smoltz and Penney, two veterans who can be called on at any time. You know if you option Clay Bucholz to AAA that things are going well, kid struggled last year but as a rookie went 3-1 with a no-hitter, he has decent stuff we'll say. I look at the Brewers to be .500ish, but no dice on the playoffs run, the Central is really deep this year and pretty tough overall. This can't include the Pirates who just had some of their top prospects lose to a community college team, yes they suck with committment. I like the Mets in the NL to meet the Sox, they improved their bullpen astronomically by adding Putz and K-Rod, and their lineup has never been an issue. They are a bunch of no heart pansies come postseason time, but this year they have the bullpen to not fuck up 8th inning leads.
The NHL playoffs are coming, also known as when I start to watch and act like I care somewhat. Hockey in HD does look just astounding, and color announcer Mike Emrick is simply the best announcer for any one sport, he carries the entire broadcast like nobody else. When he raises his pitch for a slapshot and just gets SO excited it makes me happy. SHOT SAVE MADE, REBOUND AND A GLOVE SAVE VAN BIESBROOK. I don't know much about hockey, I do know the Bruins are rocking again, I'll just go with the Red Wings because they have crafty veterans that seem to have no trouble raising their games come playoff time.
That concludes the sports round-up, it's just a great time of year. The cherry on the sundae comes in the form of the NFL Draft, because football is a form of religion. Weather is improving, sports are heating up, it's just a great time of year. For people who don't care about real sports you even have the Masters.
I love Spring.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Chasing Amy
I watched Chasing Amy again tonight and I think it's a definite worth seeing. I remember it being good, but it raises great questions that you have to ask yourself. I love the dilemma of having to leave the baggage of the person you loves past behind them and moving on to making something new. It raises the premise of could you deal with your girlfriend being a former whore, for lack of an elegant word to describe it.
Maybe I'm reading way too deep into it, but there's parts of everyone's past that if you dig deep enough you aren't going to be happy with everything about them. Do you believe that people can change who they were? I like the premise of a "modern day" love story, not your Notebook type cookie-cutter story. Even the story of how "Chasing Amy" got its name with Silent Bob's 4 minute story is excellent. I'll go so far to say it's Kevin Smith's smartest work, certainly not the funniest, but the all-around best it is. The ending is preposterous, but looking past it I think it's a great story. The premise of a former "experimental girl" and lesbian finding true love and trying to commit to a regular relationship with someone who sweeps her off her feet is mind-boggling. Can you love someone for who they are, and forget who they were? So thought provoking for this guy.
Go see Chasing Amy, if you don't like it meet me outside, bottom line.
Maybe I'm reading way too deep into it, but there's parts of everyone's past that if you dig deep enough you aren't going to be happy with everything about them. Do you believe that people can change who they were? I like the premise of a "modern day" love story, not your Notebook type cookie-cutter story. Even the story of how "Chasing Amy" got its name with Silent Bob's 4 minute story is excellent. I'll go so far to say it's Kevin Smith's smartest work, certainly not the funniest, but the all-around best it is. The ending is preposterous, but looking past it I think it's a great story. The premise of a former "experimental girl" and lesbian finding true love and trying to commit to a regular relationship with someone who sweeps her off her feet is mind-boggling. Can you love someone for who they are, and forget who they were? So thought provoking for this guy.
Go see Chasing Amy, if you don't like it meet me outside, bottom line.
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