Double Dipped

Remember this first catch, I posted it a few weeks ago... well, stay tuned for #2!

Flawless Thoughts

Now that our Farve anxiety has ended, there is the first game to look forward to. The question for me is - will Farve make it through the first game? His Vikings will be taking on the defending champion Saints, the team that ruined his Super Bowl dreams almost as bad as they ruined his ankle.

Tiger Woods has seemingly gotten things together hot on the heels of his (ex) wife breaking her silence about the hell she's been through. Woods must have also been married to the golf universe, because similar to his marriage, the last 6 months of viewership for PGA events could be described as hell as well.

The Cowboys have traded Jessica Simpson for Kim Kardashian, this seems like a move that could win them a Super Bowl. If the Cowboys do win it, I'm sure that we will see the Redskin's owner Daniel Snyder babysitting Kourtney Kardashian's kid!

Who's my sleeper team this year? If the Falcons or Ravens could be considered sleepers, I'd pick them. The Falcons are a team that seem to have all the pieces and all the heart, while the Ravens WERE one piece away from a contender - that was before they picked up Anquan Boldin, the toughest WR in the game if you ask me. He said he wanted to go back in the game the same day the Jets knocked his lights out! That's a football player right there!

The Yankees and Rays have an exciting battle going on, equally as thrilling are, Philly/Atlanta, Cincinnati/St. Louis, and San Diego/ San Francisco. Maybe I was wrong, maybe we don't need a hard salary cap in baseball, maybe the free market will prevail after all, if only that would happen for Wall Street!

VOSJ: Brewers Ace Gallardo Robbed at Gunpoint

In the "things that make us go, 'hmmm'" category, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported this morning that Brewers starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo and a clubhouse attendant were robbed at gunpoint at 2:35 a.m. (CDT) Friday. A team spokesman told the newspaper that Gallardo was not injured, but that attendant Alex Sanchez was struck in the head with the butt of handgun. Thankfully, according to another member of the organization, both men were “doing fine.”

Gallardo had pitched in a loss to the Dodgers Thursday night, a game that began around 7 p.m. local time and ended just after 10. What was Gallardo was doing hanging out with a clubhouse attendant more than four hours after the game, you ask? According to the article, Gallardo said that he and Sanchez were "just going out and getting a bite to eat before heading home and trying to stay out of trouble ... Unfortunately trouble finds us.” Hmmm...

Now at first, I figured the context of the reporters' questions (perhaps something akin to my inquiry, above) would explain the pitcher's defensive explanation of the attack. But according to The Green Bay Press Gazette, which reported the story yesterday, Gallardo did not take any questions after briefly discussing the incident outside the team clubhouse. Without any information about a potentially provocative question from reporters, methinks Yovani doth protest too much. Then again, maybe he’s just a tad crabby at being pistol whipped worse than the clubhouse boy lately. In eight starts since coming off the DL (strained oblique muscle) in mid-July, Gallardo has tossed just 37 1/3 innings and posted an ERA of 6.27 with a WHIP ratio of 1.61. Gallardo was selected to his first All-Star game earlier this season.

The Joys of Weekend Golf

So I get a call from a friend of mine the other day asking me if I'd care to join him for a round of golf today at Dyker Beach.  Being that it has been quite some time since my last outing I happily accepted.  His next statement to me was "We have an 11:15 tee time, so really thats 11:45."  Now, if you have played golf before on a weekend at a public course you know to always expect backups, a longer round, and a delay getting out to the tee. 

Pictured above is the line at roughly 11:05.  It is still growing.  If we get out by noon I will be shocked.  Why do I even bother making a tee time?  How hard is it really for a public course to stay SOMEWHAT on schedule.  An hour wait is really unacceptable anywhere.  Just another reminder of why I never play on the weekends.  Its been so long this nonsense had never even crossed my mind before jumping to play today.

On a positive note, its a GORGEOUS day, and I'm out on the golf course, ready to break 100!  Watch out now!

Sports Tweet Of The Week

Covering for Josh this week, I couldn't resist to post this tweet a day earlier than usual. Pretty hilarious.

Minutes ago, Chad Ochocinco tweeted:

OGOchoCinco
Coming soon http://twitpic.com/2ibw6s

The More The Merrier?

As an increasingly likely labor lockout looms, NFL owners are preparing to vote on a proposal to expand the regular season to 18 games. WAIT!!! NO!!!! STOP!!! WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT GIVE US MORE OF THE GREATEST GAME ON EARTH!!! OK, OK, so perhaps the rabid fan contingent is the not most critical factor in the outcome of this debate.

The players, for one, don't seem to be taking kindly to the idea. Some are concerned with increased risks of injury, others with the dilution of the value of each regular season win (to be sure, the more games, the more room for error, and with that, the potential for less excitement and less meaning wrapped up in each weekly battle). Those in favor point to chopping down the unnecessarily long preseason in favor of more games that actually count. And for the season ticket holder who pays regular price for these games, this may be especially true. After all, who wants to toss away a couple hundred clams to see the starters play for a quarter, at best?

Still, the rebuttals to the case for an 18-game regular season (which, admittedly, range far beyond those raised here) seem to have merit. Could extra games really dilute the intensity of a divisional turf war in October? Isn't it bad enough that we must endure a Week 17 that not even fantasy owners are willing to stake their seasons on? Could Weeks 18 and 19 mean a virtual month off for the top teams’ top talent?

Look, I cannot, in my right mind, oppose more football - certainly not more meaningful football. But the more I consider the potential downsides of an 19-week football bonanza, the more even this pigskin junky must pause at the prospect.

Fantasy Football Is Here!!

Over the weekend, I partook in my first fantasy draft of the 2010 season. It was a great time as always, however I have a warning to the general public: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT drink the latest malt liquor/energy drink combo known as “four Loko” before or during your draft or auction (or really ever, assuming you want to live to age 40). Do, however, encourage your opposing owners to enjoy a can or two, as this should gain you a decisive advantage within 20 minutes of completion.

I am sad to report that I gained no such advantage from my league-mates’ pre-auction inebriation. I'm still debating exactly how this may have happened, but I’m pretty sure I jinxed myself when, while donning my No. 17 Plax Burress jersey, I replied to a friend’s snide remark, "This jersey is indicative of what I am about to do to myself in this auction." As was then inevitable, after purchasing the contract of Aaron Rodgers (in a league with only 1 starting QB slot), I proceeded to win the bidding for Peyton Manning while trying to price enforce and thereby committed almost 20% of my auction budget on my reserve QB. Talk about a solid bye week replacement!

Somehow I knew something like this would happen. And without the four Loko excuse of my opponents, I can’t help but be extremely disappointed in my performance.

VOSJ: Clemens' Indictment Afterthought

No matter one's personal opinion of Roger Clemens, fandom or animus aside, the way people view these types of stories is more a function of the times in which we're living than the principles or morals of the viewer. Before 24-hour cable news, the internet, Twitter and, yes, the blogoshere, the circus surrounding Major League Baseball's steroid scandal would not have been possible. And without it, we all might have a very different perception of the people at the center of the story.

No one that I've read or heard has captured this truth as well as New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat, in his Aug. 22 piece, "What Roger Clemens Wants."

Yes, I Swear... I Am Not A Moron

We all knew this was coming... Even Clemens did. But the fact that he still denies his guilt is somewhat appalling. I know everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and I am still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I fear I will be proven wrong. The thing that bothers me the most about this whole situation though is Clemens' unwillingness to let it go. If you remember, congress was about to cancel his hearing. He never would have had to "lie". It was only due to Clemens' demand that the hearing go on that it did, and THAT now may land him in jail and permanently tarnish his reputation.

As a baseball fan I don't think steroids should take away from a players legacy. I am NOT saying that it was right to do them, and I in no way condone cheating. But the fact of the matter is that 90% of the league was doing it so it was more or less an even playing field. That era is over and we need to let it go and move on.... something that Clemens apparently couldn't do, and look where it's about to land him!

Sports Tweet of the Week

Mark Schlereth tweeted "Funny" about this video and he was right. DJ Steve Porter takes a crack at the Bret Favre saga. Ra Ra Ra!!!

Fantasy Camp

My palms start to sweat and I stop and take a deep breath…I am 10 days away from my first fantasy draft of the season. My eyes burn from reading Top 200 lists, mock drafts, player profiles, and season outlooks. After taking a break to watch “Hardknocks”, I am reminded of what all of this work is for; GLORY!
Coin flips and a fair share of flops might make you want to pull your hair out, but opening day will finally arrive, and hopefully you will conquer. Each pick has the ability to make or break you. The pressure is on and it sure feels good.
As giddy, wide-eyed, new proprietors come in, broken down and frustrated owners leave. For some, the weight of coaching can become too much to bear. Luckily, a young new coach is usually right around the corner, ready to make a league debut, with a strange new team name in hand.
Keeper deadlines will soon be here. Do you keep a young, hopeful rookie with dreams of an empire or a trusty veteran for this years Superbowl. The same questions arise each year, and yet each year feels more exciting than the last. Fantasy football seems to have an undying appeal and somehow makes the greatest sport in the world a little bit greater. I should have been asleep two hours ago, I do have a life besides football, but when fantasy season rolls around, I need reminding.

Carmelo Anthony could force trade to New York Knicks - NYPOST.com

Carmelo Anthony could force trade to New York Knicks - NYPOST.com

Oh how I long for the Knicks to be relevant again. Amare was a great step, Melo will be awesome as well... but what we REALLY need is CP3

Don't Beat Yourself Up!!

Poor, poor Mets. If they had any chance in hell to make a run at the wild card slot in the NL it is all but gone after losing their closer, "K-Rod" for the rest of the season due to a torn thumb ligament. I'm sure you've all heard by now that last week he was arrested for assaulting his father-in-law after a game. Let's be honest, if you're going to beat someone up, your goal is to hurt THEM, not YOURSELF.

This all just seems to fit with the Mets' persona. They are the black sheep of NY after all. Maybe one day they will rise to the top and provide a few days of joy to their ultra cynical fan base. But for now at least, they'll keep on keepin' on, and keep on being those same Mets.

The Voice of SmackJabber

I have decided to use my SmackJabber debut to ask you, humble reader, for some advice. As many of us slide toward fantasy football draft, er, auction day, I'd be interested to hear everyone's thoughts on the strategic implications of various rule variations on an otherwise standard 12-team fantasy auction.

My only fantasy football league, an integration of players and concepts from the wildly successful Scotch & Donuts auction-based fantasy baseball keeper league and the now defunct (at least for all I care) WP's Finest draft-based fantasy football league (my condolences to Lee and Josh), is entering its inaugural season. The league, which shall hereafter be dubbed Starkbierzeit (first non-league member to correctly nail the reference gets... well, I don't have Yankee tickets to give away at the moment, but let's just say we'll come up with something!), employs a roster structure with only 1 starting QB. The remainder of the roster in somewhat standard - 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex (RB/WR/TE), 1 K and 1 D/ST.

If you buy into the theory that there are 7 Tier 1 QBs (depending on the status of he who shall remain nameless until reporting for camp), but only 4 "elites" - Brees, Rodgers, Manning and Brady - how should one attack the bidding when trying to land the right field general?

How much of my budget should I spend on QB1 when there is no QB2?

-Brian

FREE YANKEE TICKETS!!!!

Thats right folks, today at SmackJabber we are giving away 2 tickets to tonights Yankee game!! You will have to do some work for them though, here's how you win:

1) You must be "following" our blog.
2) Refer all of your friends!! Have them follow us and fill out the form below
3) The person to get the most people to follow us wins the tickets
4) Contest ends at 3pm, you will receive the tickets via email

Ready???

GO!

---

And the winner is.... Dan Walsh!

Flawless Thoughts

In 24 hours the house the G-Men built will be lit up, but the Jets have already won, not only that game, but the super bowl according to their feisty coach. It doesn't matter what color the lights outside the stadium are Monday night, this will always be New Giants Stadium. The Jets were involved in what many call "the best super bowl of all time" with Broadway Joe's guaranteed victory, but the Giants have topped this with their win over Tom Brady's unbeaten Patriots in '08. Sorry Jets! In 24 hours the Yankees will be finishing their game in their new stadium against the Tigers, fighting off the Rays for the division. It sure is good to be a New York sports fan right now. New York pro sports teams have won 8 World Championships in the last 20 years! The only problem has been the decrepit New York Knickerbockers who are the laughing stock of basketball right now. To make things worse, it looked like Isiah Thomas was going to be involved again, until that deal was broken up by the NCAA. What a shot to the hearts of Knick fans. Listen James Dolan - you are the worst owner in sports! If you are trying to lose fans to the lowly New Jersey Nets, than this is a great path. Not to mention the mishandling of the New York Rangers, who didn't make the playoffs from the time you took over the team(1998), until the 2004/2005 season, despite leading the league in payroll most of those years. In a town of winners you most certainly are the loser!

Sports Tweet of the Week

ConanOBrien tweeted this earlier today - "Lebron tweeted that he remembers everyone who's done him wrong. Or more specifically, everyone who told him to grow an Abe Lincoln beard."

Baseball card hall of fame

...or shame as the case may be.

The 30 Worst Baseball Cards of All Time (30 pics)

Maybe you shouldn't encourage him...

Man playing poker to avoid prison
Play poker, or go to jail... hmmmm....

Nice Catch Buddy!

I mean that both literally and figuratively.

Didn't they move the goal posts to the back of the end zone 1000 years ago??

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

None the less... solid effort on the celebration.

A Whole in One

Throughout the timeline of an athlete’s career it can only be expected that there will be success as well as failure. It sure doesn’t appear that way when the greatest golfer of all time is failing.

The number one golfer in the world seems like the number one loser. During the last couple of outings on the course he has looked miserable. You rarely meet a person that has not seen or heard of Tiger’s skills. Yet, at this time, his indiscretions seem to make more news than his accomplishments ever have. I’m pretty sure people are talking about golf more than ever now, albeit not really about the game itself. Maybe we forget that Tiger Woods is an actual person and people are cyclical just like the rest of the world. Evidently, the modern athlete is not allowed to make a bad decision on or off the field. Is that realistic?

Blast From the (not so distant) Past

I know this happened a while ago, but I laugh every time I see this picture. Is that bad?

When do players cross the line?

Greed, selfishness... being a bonehead. These are all thoughts that came to my mind this morning when I heard the Jets owner believes Darrelle Revis will sit out the entire season. WHAT!?! The Jets have always sort of been the dark horse of NY, and while I am a Giants fan I would never project any ill will towards the Jets (unless of course they were playing the Giants). Beginning last year, the Jets made HUGE strides to turn this around. Rex Ryan, Mark Sanchez, high profile, well liked guys. No one thought they would even win 9 games let alone do what they did and make a run at the Super Bowl with a rookie coach and a rookie quarterback. Most did think coming into the year that Darrelle Revis was a solid cornerback, but by season's end he had become a stud.

This offseason, the Jets continued to make moves to better themselves. Antonio Cromartie, another Pro-Bowl cornerback shores up the secondary, while Ladanian Tomlinson was brought in to support the up and coming Shonn Greene. Tomlinson might now be the back that he once was but with a solid offensive line, and plenty of time off, the ability he brings to the table is nothing to scoff at. Lets not forget the addition of Santonio Holmes either to run along side Baylon Edwards. Yes, he is suspended for the first four games of the season, but he will be there when it matters most.

All of this equates to one thing, the priming for a strong run at the Super Bowl. So now with all this in place, arguably their best player is going to hold out for a bigger contract. Talk about impeccable timing. Now??? SERIOUSLY??? This is the second high profile hold out of the summer. The first, Chris Johnson, has since been settled. Johnson however, I would like to give the benefit of the doubt. Johnson was scheduled to receive $550,000 this year, and while the number is nothing to be upset about (I know a lot of people who would LOVE to make that much money, myself included), the fact of the matter is that he IS worth much more than that to the team. Add to that the fact that the average running back's career is roughly 2.6 years, after the stats he put up last year he does deserve to be more in line with the salary of the better RB's in the league.

Revis on the other hand is scheduled to make $6.3 million this year. Who wouldn't take that AND a solid chance to win a Super Bowl?? Let's see, $6.3 million and immortality, or fines, fines, fines... more fines, losing guaranteed money on a contract thats still valid, and tarnishing your image. Seems like a no brainer to me. Granted, I am not an NFL player and make no where near a 7 figure salary (I'm still hoping one day that will come to fruition) but when is the greed and the selfishness too much? I really do feel bad for the Jets if he doesn't play this year, and in some ways will be rooting for them to win it all more so if he does.

So close...yet SO far

If any of you were watching the Yankees game (or listening to it, following it, whatever the case may be), then chances are you were just about as frustrated as I was. Thames misses a home run by about an inch that would have tied the game, then, with the bases loaded, and NO OUTS, Granderson, Jeter, and Swisher all proceed to strike out! I find this completely unacceptable! I know, I know... we still have the best record in baseball, and the highest +/-, so I probably shouldn't be complaining. Even so, that was such a poor effort, I really needed to get that off my chest.

The Greatest Catch Ever?

WOW... Just wow

Greatest of all time??

Last night Derek Jeter passed The Babe on the all time hits list. Is it too early to start classifying him as the greatest SS of all time... possibly even one of the greatest players of all time?? Where does he rank on the "All Time Greats" list? Where will he rank once his career is all said and done? One thing is for sure, it will be a very somber day when he retires.

Flawless Thoughts

As the last hours of the weekend tick away I find myself a bit less apprehensive of the week to come. Collinsworth and Michaels voices lull me into a football intoxication and I feel like I am coming out of a dream, could it be, is Sunday back? The first pre season game brings thoughts of fantasy drafts, close calls and red zone miracles. Yes, it is August, and yes there is the annual Bret Favre fiasco. Is he injured, too tired for slingin, or just ready to be the Wrangler man full time? T.O.and Ochocinco are both Bengals, how will there ever be enough popcorn?

Weclome to SmackJabber!

Unfortunately there is not much to be said at this point without ruining the surprise.... What I WILL say is check back often as we have a lot of great things in store for the future!

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