When success becomes a problem. What a bad season for the Kentucky Wildcats means for their program.

I don’t proclaim to be the best college sports fan.  As with everyone, I root for jerseys in college sports.  It’s the nature of the beast.  Especially in basketball when players are one-and-done or leave anytime after their first year.  I don’t subscribe to ANY high school watching.  I never watched a Lebron high school game, sure I took note of this up and coming kid, but I just don’t believe in watching any nationally televised High School anything unless I have some personal interest or investment in that school. 

The closest thing that I may do is watch the All-American football or basketball games where it’s basically graduated / graduating seniors at an all star game where these are the kids that we’ll be seeing at the next level.  Most of my attention is to how each kid choose his school (again, not that I care because they often don’t turn out to be anything) and to see the family reactions.  I loved this kid on last years Underarmor football game, sitting with his whole family, the happiest day of his life, he’s thinking he’s making the best choice / announcement of his life and goes, “I’ll be playing for Alabama” then looking at his mother, let’s just say Momma wasn’t happy.  She wanted her baby boy to go to LSU (I could have the schools flipped, but it doesn’t matter).  When mom’s not happy, no one is happy.  I often wonder if he still went with his choice or had his mind changed.  Also, because I’m cynical of all these choices that are made by (or for, in most cases) these children, I wonder if the mom was pissed because one school was better than the other academically and knew that the reality of her son playing football was still just a dream and he should take advantage of the only thing that is truly given to these players (a free education) or was she more sold that going to her choice of school would insure that her son have a better chance to make it to the Pros?  Or she could have just been a big LSU Tiger’s fan.  Maybe LSU’s colors worked better her wardrobe.  What was most curious was that all the other family members agreed with the kid.  Mom was the ONLY one who didn’t want her son to go to Alabama?  Surely she knew ahead of time and you’d think the whole family would be together on this decision.  It’s not like USC vs Florida where he would be so far away she’d never see him.  I need to know more!  Other than that, I won’t spend two seconds of thought on High School CHILDREN. 

Having said all this, I know that colleges need to get their basketball players from somewhere.  You can’t just pluck them off the street courts via creepy old guy street agents who roam the parks and rec centers for young boys who are good at playing with balls (yes, I compared street agents to child molesters.  Come after me street agents.). 

Without getting into all the good, bad and ugly of the NBA’s age limits or the notion of one-and-dones and all the other bad parts of college sports, this is a thought about the problem Kentucky basketball is going to have in the wake of all of their recent success and the nature of their success.

For the past few years, Coach Calipari has done an excellent job of turning Kentucky into the best NBA factory.  For how much I despise how the kids are treated leading up and through the farce of college sports, I actually admire Coach Cal.  He’s performing his job within the boundaries of the NCAA and NBA rules (at least at Kentucky…and at least so far).  Not for a second do I believe when Coach Cal is listing the top 5, hell top 10, reasons to go to Kentucky basketball do the words, “you’ll graduate with a great education” ever pop up.  Maybe he slips up once or twice and HAS to say it, like you HAVE to say I love you to your girlfriend / wife when you leave the house.  Trust me, “later bitch” doesn’t have the same welcome when you come back home.  But I am sure he says, “Keep your nose clean, we’ll help you get through at least the first semester so you’re eligible.  Don’t worry, not every class at Kentucky is algebra or English lit, we have easy bullshit classes just like every other school.  If you work hard enough, you could be a lottery pick in the NBA. THAT I guarantee.”

This is all fine.  Again, I don’t blame Coach Cal.  He’s a great recruiter and a great coach.  He really does turn these kids into great players.  Here’s a list of players that were drafted to the NBA just since the 2008 NBA draft:

Derrick Rose

Joey Dorsey

Chris Douglas-Roberts

Tyreke Evans

Robert Dozier

John Wall

DeMarcus Cousins

Patrick Patterson

Eric Bledsoe

Daniel Orton

Enes Kanter

Brandon Knight

Josh Harrellson

DeAndre Liggins

Anthony Davis

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

Terrence Jones

Marquis Teague

Doron Lamb

Darius Miller

That’s twenty (20) in … hold on…I’m counting my fingers…I think that’s what, 5 years?  20 players DRAFTED in just 5 years.  More impressive, is to look at their names.  These aren’t just lucky mid to late round picks.  You’ve got some of the best and future NBA All Stars.  Give me Rose, AD, Cousins, Bledsoe and MKG against any team made up of players drafted in the last 5 years.  You could make a second team up from the leftovers and almost make the playoffs.

Here’s the problem.  So far, in 2013, his kids aren’t that good.  Inherently, you’re going to have a year or two where the Wall’s and Rose’s of the world aren’t passing through.  Not every prospect fulfills their potential.  Not every NBA or NFL draft has Luck and RG3 waiting at the top of the list. 

On average it seems that Coach Cal is turning out 4 – 5 players to the NBA each year.  This leaves space for the next crop of all stars to come in to take their place.  The Kentucky team only has one (1) Senior and one (1) Grad Student.  Let’s just say one of them has 17 minutes of playing time so far this year.  Not average, but total.  If you’re getting regular playing time, you’ve gotten about 450 minutes so far this year.  My point being, with a 12 – 6 record, no one fears that this team will win the championship again.  Again, that’s fine.  That’s the way it should be. 

What about next year?  There’s a whole graduating class of High School Seniors that have their dreams of going to the NBA and a handful of really talented ones want to go to Kentucky, knowing that’s the school and coach that will help get them to the NBA.  But let’s assume that only one player leaves this Kentucky team early.  Assuming the Sr and GS students leave as well, that’s only 3 open spots. 

With the success that Coach Cal has created and the drive that kids have to get to the NBA as fast as they can, I’m sure there are more than 3 five-star recruits looking to join the team next year.  So what do you do if you’re Coach Cal?  My heart tells me he’s a good man and he’s not going to kick off a sophomore or junior that’s working their tails off and getting good enough grades to stay eligible.  However, say you’ve got a group of kids that consists of the next Rose / Wall and AD / Cousins and MKG?  How does he make that decision of who he wants and who will have to “rough it” at North Carolina or Kansas or UCLA (or god please, SDSU)? 

This year Coach Cal has constantly, and correctly, said that this team needs time to gel and learn to play together.  Last year’s team was special.  A group of mainly freshmen and sophomores don’t usually learn to play so well together and unselfishly in just a few months.  What if this team and these players need another year?  Or worse, TWO?

Will the NBA factory dry up for a few years?  I have no doubt that if you give Coach Cal even B+ players, over time he’ll turn the group into a solid title contending team.  But that’s not the job Coach Cal has.  He’s supposed to turn out players each year to the NBA.  He’s supposed to be making final fours and “get these kids the fuck out” (my best Eddie Murphy’s drunk father standup voice).  What if that’s not the case for a few years.  What will the Kentucky brand look like?  An actual college athletic program?  It’s, almost, unthinkable.   Maybe Kentucky will only get one new Rose or AD per year.  Maybe they’ll have to be like…DUKE?!  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.  “I don’t wanna graduate my students, you can’t make me” a manic Coach Cal screams as he’s curled up in some dark hallway in Rupp Arena. 

In the end, all these kids will be fine.  In fact, this could be the best thing for some of the Kentucky players.  Every year, EVERY YEAR, too many kids think they’re ready for the NBA and leave college early to try and make it in the Pros.  Most of them never realize their dreams of fame, fortune and championships.  They’d be better served staying in college.  There are also plenty of other fine colleges that will get who Kentucky can’t and have the coaches to make them into top NBA prospects.  They’ll most likely be one-and-done regardless of the college they go to.  You have to admit; having the Coach Cal label slapped on you sure helps put more eyes on you and gives you the benefit of the doubt.  Would Cousins still be seen as having great potential if not for his time at Kentucky and Coach Cal’s blessing.

Success in the college world is so fleeting for the schools and especially for the players.  That’s why it’s so rare to have schools and coaches that are successful for years, multiple classes, generations or decades.  Syracuse, Duke, UCLA, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas and Indiana are such rarities that we don’t often take a step back and see what true success is.  It’s not just one class of freshmen.  We should be judging them on more than the last two years. 

Unfortunately when you’re seen as the NBA factory, you’re success is not just winning but how fast you can churn out winners, mold these talented but raw kids and move them on.  I wonder if Kentucky looses in the 2^nd round of the NCAA tournament a few consecutive years because they’ve been “saddled” with this crop of players for a few years, will Coach Cal still be seen as having success?  His version of success is a lot different than all the other coaches in the NCAA.

Then again, these are good problems to have.   

Peyton's Power

Wanna see what true power is? Look no further than Peyton Manning.

Yes, it’s sad to see him leave the Colts. I don’t know why but it was. He’s not retiring or dead. Both team and player will go on but for a player and owner to put up such a classy divorce is very rare. We all know this was a business decision that was only made because of a hundred rare occurrences had to take place, but a business decision none the less. Here are just a few things that ALL had to happen to lead up to the Colts cutting Manning:

Andrew Luck comes out for the draft in 2012
Manning has not 1, 2, 3 but FOUR neck surgeries
Manning misses an entire season, which before that he played 14 years and never missed a game
The Colts lost 2 games. Winning 1 more would have knocked them out of the first slot in the draft.
For the first time in 9 years I believe they won less than 10 games. You’d think a team like that could at least win 3 games with a backup QB?
Manning just signed a new contract prior to last year which included a $28 MILLION bonus if still on the team March 9th
Only a grainy cell phone video has come out of Manning passing, no other proof he can play let alone throw a football
Almost all of Manning’s “friends” on the team where in their final year as well, i.e. Saturday and Wayne
No other team in the league, Cleveland / Miami / Jacksonville / St. Louis / Seattle / Minnesota, (just to name a few horrible teams) couldn’t have lost more games than a recent Superbowl champion

It’s such a confluence of events that is almost unbelievable. But they all happened and more, which led the Colts to decide on cleaning house and moving forward to a new era in team history.

As I said, Manning is not dead. By all accounts he’s ready, willing and able to play again. This has made him into the most coveted free agent in NFL history. I can probably only think of 5 – 10 teams that shouldn’t blow up their current roster to get this guy and give him everything he wants. From offensive player selection, signing free agents, whom to draft, what coaches he wants and the plays that he feels comfortable with. As head coach, you basically have become a glorified defensive coordinator. Let Manning be Manning if you’re going to let a man, who will be carried into the Hall of Fame, cook the meal than let him shop for the groceries. Done deal. Even if you think you have a potential QB, you don’t…. Unless you have a QB with the name Brees, Manning, Brady or Rogers; you don’t have a QB as far as this is concerned. I know Stafford and Newton look good. I know teams have invested tons of money into first, second and back up’s waiting for their chance QB’s but forget all that. this is Peyton Manning who could be still in his prime who’s had a years rest. If he can play, you do whatever it takes to get him. Because at this point, you don’t have to give up anything in a trade, it’s just money. Unlike in other sports, the NFL is printing money right now. It’s not just the big markets, it’s every NFL team. So spend some of this money and immediately turn your franchise into a Superbowl contender.

This is what true power is. What’s crazier is that the earlier that Manning decides where he wants to play the more power he’ll have; over the draft and free agent signings. If he waited a month, teams would have already made some of these key decisions. But the sooner Manning finds a home the more control / say the team will be able to give him.

Manning is also the biggest domino to fall. He affects every free agent QB. He will affect what ever team he goes to current QB situation (Smith, Kolb, Schaub all frozen in fear). He will affect how and what position players teams are going to draft. Manning is truly the first domino.

It’s hard to come up with words that have not already been said about this process. For one of the first times that I can remember, this is the most power that any one player has had over any sport. The next few days should be completely fascinating. Then the repercussions of Manning’s decision will also be fun to watch.

The Favre Zombie, but this time it's good!!

It’s that time of year where panic can lead to the improbable to happen. When it comes to the NFL, improbability becomes probably in lesser time than it takes Terrell Pryor to run to the Raiders in the 3rd round of a supplemental draft.



Whether it’s the NFL marketing machine or the fact I like good football and can enjoy excellence for just being excellence or I like cheering for good guys; I’ve always been a fan of Peyton Manning. He’s everything you’d want in a franchise quarterback. I don’t need to go on because if you’re reading this and don’t know all the good things about Manning, then you will never know and probably don’t watch sports or TV at all. Even the most casual of fans has to have seen one of his 20-something endorsements and knows, even peripherally, that he’s a star NFL player and people generally like him.



His “Hall of Fame” ticket is stamped and is waiting for him to retire so that the 5 year clock can start counting down. Not even Tom Brady is as valuble to his team as Manning is. Without Brady a few years ago, the Patriots still where able to win 10 games and make a strong showing. Manning on the other hand is the Colts. Without Manning, can anyone say that they’d win more than 5 games, if that? They can’t run the ball and they’re defense is terrible AND that’s just what their executive say (really, I believe their president, Polian said that this weekend). When their owner, Irsay, tweets that he’s looking for Bret Favre’s street, it blows up the internet.



Most people dismiss this or say it will / would never work. I disagree. For once, I’m on the Brett Favre train. Go get that self-centered egotistical, penis twittering, crock wearing fool. I actually think it’s a great idea.



First off, let’s talk about Manning. Again, HE IS THE FRANCHISE. You sit him and make him realize that this is his neck and no matter what, he needs to come back healthy. In all likelihood they’re not going to the Superbowl. What’s great about Manning is that we can say that today but it wouldn’t be a surprise if they made it, that’s how good he is. He makes the team that good. With a healthy Manning no one would say it’s impossible for the Colts to make the playoffs and go on a 4 game run to end up at or winning the Superbowl. He just signed a new 4 year contract and could easily play a few more years after that. He rarely gets hurt on the field. He hasn’t missed a game, EVER. So as hard as it is, you have to sit him because he’s your meal ticket for the foreseeable future. Even if he were to sit the entire season, if that buys you another healthy 4+ years, you do it. There’s nothing that the consecutive start streak will do for him than he already has going. It’s nice but it’s meaningless in the long run. Favre’s future Hall Pass wasn’t teetering on if he gathered 300 straight starts or even if he had 250. Neither is Peyton’s. It’s a nice feather for your cap but nothing more than a feather.



Why I like Favre in this situation is because



1) He’s a capable QB. He’s smart enough and just enough of a gunslinger that with a dumb’d down version of any offense he can go out there and make plays. No one would expect the clockwork timing of a well run Manning machine but at least he can go out there, read a defense and even if he had to call plays in the huddle could do it.

2) He’s 200% better than any other QB that the Colts have. You know why the Colts haven’t won a preseason game in 3 years? Because their backup QB’s are in them. They’re horrible. The Colts where extremely lucky to get Manning. They’ve drafted well but overall have not put a team around Manning that lessens the load as other teams do. The Colts haven’t had a good defense in 30 years. At best they’ve been able to put together make-shift squads that can last for a few games. Either because of injury or system, they’ve never been able to put a good defense around Manning. They spend most of their resources filling in the RB, WR and TE positions. All meant for Manning to use but seemingly ONLY for Manning to use. I’d pray for Sorji to make a comeback as back up, compared to Painter.

3) Manning is the Alpha dog of the team (credit to Bill Simmons for this theory). What you fear most about Favre is that he comes in and wants to run the team. But this is one of the few teams where everyone knows that as soon as Manning is healthy, he’s the QB. Not even Favre could cause a QB controversy. Even if Favre won every game, a rusty Manning (who may cause a few losses getting his timing back) is worth more than sticking with Favre.

4) There’s a respect for each other and of the game that both Manning and Favre have so that we wouldn’t even have any issues. It’s like when Superman dresses up like Batman. For whatever reason Batman was injured or out of town and Superman had to pose as Batman, there was no question that things would go back to normal the second that Bruce Wayne would return. Even though if Superman wanted too, he could do everything Batman could do and 100 times stronger, it was just a given on whose who and what the respective roles are.

5) It’s sells tickets. I’m sure that the Colts tickets are already sold but it keeps the eyes on the team. If Manning is out for the first few weeks, we will all predict and not care to watch the Colts being dismantled by their opponents. This at least give them and their fans an attraction that isn’t there with any of the Colts current back ups. Also, what owner wouldn’t want a boost of Favre jersey sales? It’s a cheap pop like when a wrestler says, “here in Los Angeles…” and gets a huge pop. It’s cheap and easy but so what.

6) Lastly, it keeps the season alive. As I’ve said, Favre can go out there with any team and at least give them a chance to win. Better than that, the players will at least believe that they can win. As I watch the preseason and interviews, the players seem to know all their hopes ride on # 18 walking back on the field. This way, if they split the first 4 or 6 games, Manning comes back and takes over down the home stretch.

7) Best yet, Favre can walk away quietly and with respect. He didn’t ruin a team. He didn’t throw the game loosing interception in the Conference finals. He didn’t go off as a distraction. Manning is back and it’s time to go back to Hattiesburg.



I’m too tired of hearing the greats and the bads that come with Favre. This is almost a shot of redemption and a way to go off with good will from the NFL fan community for doing a good thing. I think both the Colts and Favre will be better off if they go for this.

The Slow Death of Heavyweight Boxing

Heavyweight boxing has stumbled and flopped its way to a deserved death. Watching the Klitschko vs Haye bout has confirmed that Heavyweight Boxing is dead or dying.

Anyone who’s watched boxing or anything in the realm of hand-to-hand combat will tell you the faults and missteps that boxing has taken over the years. Frankly, I’m bored of it. I’ll list a few so I can get them out of the way and move on:

1) Not having a single or “true” champion.
2) Too many PPV fights so that fans can’t grow to know any of the fighters.
3) The PPV fights are so expensive for boxers who we don’t even know, and there’s no track record that with recent unknowns that we’ll get a good fight. So why would someone was $50 on a PPV.
4) Not enough free TV fights, again so that we can know the fighters
5) Slowness. We’re in a world where people fast forward through commercials, an hour long match where in three minute rounds we watch 250+ pound fighters do the two stepping is just not fast enough.
6) More is made of pre-fight interviews and HBO 24/7’s, which have more action than the fights have, that we find the fights anticlimactic.


This fight was supposed to be everything that fans where hoping for. It was going to have everything that the boxing community was fighting to have. Two well know Heavyweights. I hate to come off racist but two English speaking, well mannered and well spoke boxers. Haye did everything that he could to show off his mouth but when the fight started he forgot to bring his fists to go with his mouth. Which by the way; during the fight, you could see Haye mock, talk to, joke with and play to Klitschko in attempts to throw him off. None of which worked. But the buildup was there. There was a championship belt up for grabs. AND FOR THE FIRST TIME, in what seemed FOREVER, THIS WAS GOING TO BE ON REGULAR HBO!!! We could see it for “free” and get a great show. If this only got 2 stars out of 5, it would have helped the boxing. We just needed a spark. What we got was a box office FLOP, literally and figuratively. Even Ice-T and CoCo get me locked in for 15 – 30 minutes. We’re talking about what was one time the USA’s #1 sport. More important that MLB, NBA and NFL or any college game. A sport that in numerous ways was a fight for equality, economic and racial. Even the venues where a statement. The Rumble in the Jungle was strife with political controversy. We didn’t have themes as big as other fights but at least this was in Germany and not some homogenized Vegas Strip casino (I love Vegas but we all know that its way more flash than substance).

This is supposed to be the “sweet science”. I can see that, because unlike other forms of sport, we can see where and what the boxer is doing and what they should be doing. “Stop dancing and go for body shots”, or “You’ve got to go for the knock-out!” I remember sitter that in high school watching the Tyson vs. Holyfield fight and was on the floor in disbelief that this man just ate another man’s ear off. Even at an age where you think you know everything, but really you know nothing, I could tell this was not only an unbelievable thing to watch but also the instant beginning of the fall into insanity for Tyson. Unfortunately I think it was that Tyson fight, and the subsequent other spectacles over the upcoming years that have now led to Boxing as becoming irrelevant.

Every time Haye landed a punch, he’d look over to the ref as if he was going to call the fight. I’ve never seen anything like it. Instead of following up with another punch, Haye literally looked at the ref. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know nor do I care. It’s as if he’s looking for approval from the ref. Yeah, asshole, you hit him now do something. It took him until the last round to finally hit him with a few shots. But by then I was so sick of the boring and flopping of the match that I just didn’t care. I wouldn’t have even been watching except that the announcers kept saying that Haye’s only chance, ever, was to go for the knock-out. I’d really kill myself if I change channels on the worst boxing match ever just to see on Sportscenter that there was an amazing KO in the last round.

Watching Haye parade around the ring after the last bell rang as if he’d done ANYTHING, other than flopping, was almost surreal. ABDC has less dancing in it than this fight. Frankly, I’d rather see the whole Jabowalkee dance crew take on either of the Klitschko brothers. At least that circus would entertain me. Haye had the talk. Haye had the walk. Haye had the smiles and the gestures. Haye had the flop. But Haye didn’t have a punch. You’d think that would be a prerequisite of anyone who gets into the ring; must know how to and want to fight. By the fifth or sixth round, I wish the ref would have gone up to this guy and asked, “Son, you know this is a boxing match? You have to throw a punch to win. We don’t grade on showmanship.”

Klitschko didn’t do anything that impressed me. He may have been able to make up for Haye’s performance by putting on a technical show and by the end, listen to his corner and give us a KO that we so desperately needed, even if it was just to put us out of our misery and end the fight. Even after the fight he was telling us that he was disappointed because he wanted to give the crowd a KO. Klitschko would have been fine without making that statement. Now he just put in our mind that he wanted to KO this jabronee but couldn’t!?!? We have to remember that even if the Klitschos are a pair of well speaking English, Russian brothers that play chess, that they are still just boxers. Their chosen profession is to pummel your opponent’s brain in. Also, that they both came in the game when the last of whatever Heavyweights were on their way out. They didn’t have easy times with L. Lewis and others of his elk. Let’s also face the fact that there probably hasn’t been a boxer as big and muscular as either of them since Drago in Rocky IV (I should be ashamed to use such an easy reference but c’mon, I’m not supposed to bring this up in my one time boxing article).

Did I mention the flopping by Haye? No, well he did it over and over and over again. To compare it to a soccer player would only insult the best soccer flops. This was on the level of Vlade Divac flops. To beat on is already I’m sure everyone will be touching on. It was just a joke and a joke to his sport. The ref was great to figure out a way to punish the flops by giving him a standing count.

Is this the end of Heavyweight boxing? I don’t know. It seems to be. Time will tell and time is running out for these Heavyweights.

Finally!!!!!!

SDSU has finally won their first NCAA game. I haven't come out to make many pics because really, who knows especially this year. But I've got big hopes for my Aztecs. Let's keep it up.

This season will be a huge success if we can get to the elite 8, which I feel is very possible.

I'll definitely take a shot tonight to honor this great and long overdue win. I only wish I was 18 again and would have been parting from University Blvd. to PB!!!!

Go SDSU!!!!

What’s wrong with the heat, from a champion’s view.

Ok, I’m not a champion basketball player. I’ve never made it past high school in my illustrious career. I did spent a few years as a decent street baller when I got out of high school and was really working out. Keep in mind I was captain of my high school team, even thought we lost all but one game my final season. Never the less, I’d say I know a little about the game. I’ve studied it and maybe if the chips fell differently in my life I could have played at the collegiate level. The one thing that made up for in any lack of skill was that I knew the game. I’d spend off time sketching out plays and trying to figure out what match-ups where going to be most efficient. I still watch the game and can pick up an offense or defensive strategy fairly easily. Again, I’m not anywhere close to a coach or scout or anything that would make me official but I’m no just some schlub that say, Kobe should shot more and the Lakers would never loose.

Getting that out of the way is part of what baffles me about the Heat. People are coming down on the Heat like the world is coming to the end. The first thing I would say is that it hasn’t been a full season. These are superstars trying to fit together. Although you’d think it would be opposite, it’s much harder for Alpha dogs to get along and figure out there role as would it be if you got four talented 2nd or 3rd tier players that came in knowing what they needed to do. I do believe this is humbling for all three of these guys. First Bosh got the heat (maybe pun intended ) for not being a “star” like LeBron or Wade. Now it’s the big two that are really feeling it. Now Coach Spo is REALLY feeling it.

Put this in a vacuum. This is their first year playing together. You can see the egos on their faces being confused to why they aren’t winning. It’s not mad. It’s not disappointment. It’s confussion. They don’t know why this is happening. Which almost makes me feel sorry for them, except they asked for all of this.

I have a question. There 30 teams in the NBA now? Why only 3 – 5 teams really make it possible to even get two of these players to come to their city? Let’s face it, we saw Donnie Walsh clear what might have been the worst possible situation into something that would have allowed at least 2 max contracts. Why didn’t every team except the Lakers and Celtics do the same thing? If getting just two of these players would instantly mean championships, and there was also a very good chance that Bosh could be worked in, why didn’t more teams jump?

Because smart basketball people know that it’s not always the best “talent” that you put on the court the one who wins. In a book that Jordan wrote, he said he’d rather go out there with four guys that new the game and new their roles than ever to be joined with another superstar. Granted Jordan’s ego might have something to do with that statement but it’s never been more true. Look at all the championship teams they had. Jordan needed Pippen. But if Pippen didn’t have the personality or didn’t recognize Jordan’s greatness none of this would have worked. The where the first team without a real point guard and without a superstar center to win multiple championships. But that doesn’t mean that the players that they had where from the free agent scrap heap to at least fill up a 12 man roster. Cartwright, Armstrong, Grant, Paxson, Perdue, King just to name a few from the first run. Then by the end you had players like Harper, Kerr, Kukoc, Rodman, Wennington and Longley. I was a huge fan of the Jordan Bulls so I knew all these guys. None of them would jump off the page but they where all talented, all knew their roles and where all slapped on the ass by Jordan and pushed by Pippen and zen’d by Jackson.

All championship teams need their role players and need good ones. More importantly they needed their stars to know their roles. The great Celtic teams now and then know this. The Laker teams have known this. Do you think that Rambis ever aspired to be better than Magic? No. He would do what 100 other players wouldn’t and it was all for the betterment of the team. If not for the loss of Perkins last year would the Lakers have won the championship? If the Celts had ANYONE that could fill the void at center maybe they win game 7?

Why didn’t the bulls clear off more space to get all three of these guys? They had the pieces to trade and dump salaries. Even if you had to get rid of Rose, you’re getting 3 top 10 players in the league right? Why not give up on superstar for 3? Because 3 superstars don’t always make a good team. Why didn’t Portland blow up all the young talent they have to bring these guys over here to the west? Why didn’t San Antonio get rid of their aging superstars and replace them with this trifecta of talent? Why didn’t the Thunder take apart their team to bring in these superstars? Because they have a TEAM not just a few all stars that can run up and down the court and destroy the bottom dwellers of the league.

I’ve been hearing a lot of criticism about Bosh lately. I don’t think it’s his problem. He’s not the one that’s been causing these recent defeats. In fact if I where going to make the decision to get rid of one of the three it wouldn’t be Bosh. Bosh is their forward / center presence. The problem is LeBron and Wade. This isn’t an all star team league. Not every game is run and gun and whoever scores last wins. It was fine when they got their sea legs and where able to rattle off a few victories by playing good / fun street ball. But now you’re seeing the real season start. March and April where teams are locking down playoff positions and actually playing like they care, notice the Lakers (who where on the brink of collapsing) have run off 7 straight wins against all types of teams, most notably the Spurs last night.

LeBron and Wade play the same position and need the same things. What’s worse is neither seems to want to tell the other, no this is my shot!! They’re still playing as friends and don’t want to offend the other. James might be the greatest player right now. All around, I take him first no questions asked. He does everything, except make that last shot. Why do you think Kobe is the most feared player in the league. He’s not close to the athletic player he once was when he was winning dunk contests. He’s not even the best team player consistently and always need Phil to remind him what it takes to win. The reason no one wants to play the Lakers is because in the last few minutes of a game, Kobe will kill you. You know he’s getting the ball and you know you’ve got a very good chance of him finding a way to score (and possibly get a key assist). He’s a winner. Love him or hate him, he’s a winner. I hate to use that term today because Charlie Sheen has seemed to change the meaning of that, FYI great SNL weekend update this week.

Wade has that. We’ve seen it in the playoffs when they won their championship and the year before when he was a star on the rise. For all of LeBron’s greatness and eventually he’s hold all the records for scoring and wins and rebounds and assists or whatever he sets his mind to, what he may not be able to win is a championship. That’s not something you can just say, yeah I’m going to that this year.

My opinon is you trade Wade or LeBron and fill the rest of the team up with defensive stoppers a knock down shooter AND most importantly a point guard. You’re now in the East where you’re going to go up against Williams, Rondo, Billups and the MVP Rose. At the moment they have no one to stop or even slow down a #1 point guard.

Celtic and Laker length can kill them but it’s not something that their speed couldn’t offset. The Heat’s pure athleticism will offset the length in a well played game where they can keep the tempo up. But where they can’t hide their faults is in the point guard position. Even if the Lakers don’t have a true point guard, they haven’t in 5 championships seasons. They make due and with Phil coaching them they can seem to manage. But the Heat haven’t proven that they can do that. We give the Lakers the benefit of the doubt when they trot, even drag there asses around for the first two thirds of the season we’ve seen them turn it on. Shit, they’ve played 100 plus games for the past 4 years. Not even the Bulls did that because Jordan took those two years off. I dare say if the Lakers could three-peat that would be an even bigger monument to their ablity since they’ve had to endure a loosing finals experience at the beginning of their run (not to mention Kobe and Gasol being in the Olympics in 2008).

I don’t hate the Heat. I think it’s great to have a villainous team in the league and I wish they owned up to it more. Just be like yeah, we did what we did and we’re going kick your ass. That’s what takes a game to higher levels. But when I watch them play, I see LeBron and Wade getting in each other’s way more often than I see them knowing what is going on. Maybe it’s coach Spo. I have a feeling that it’s just hard to get kids that have been told all their life, they are the man; now differ to this other guy. What’s worse is that they like each other. So they’re each trying to be nice. If they hated each other they’d probably do better because they’d each want to prove why they want to take the last shot. At the moment they seem confused. LeBron, who’s never been the greatest last shot taker, is hoisting up 3’s while Wade is open on the wing?

The problem with the Heat is the same problem that a lot of failing corporations have. They have too many people that may be great but they’re all trying to do the same job. And because they both make a lot of money, there isn’t enough left to fill up the rest of the company with quality workers.

Week 2 thoughts

The most over rated thing, other than preseason football, is NFL week 1 football. People make such big deals out of everything they see in one game that it’s like no one is thinking straight. That’s why it’s be best 2 weeks of football betting, because real gamblers and evaluators don’t get thrown into tail spins and start to declare teams Superbowl champs or failures based off of one week of games. Vegas is in the business of taking your money so these two weeks is where you’ll find the most inaccurate lines, not because the casinos and bookmakers don’t know what their doing, but they ride the wave of stupidity that’s out there. Their job is to get people to bet on both sides.

I give you the example of the Colts and the Cowboys. In full disclosure I’m a Colts fan and a Cowboys hater. If you where to take a poll during the off season, it wouldn’t be unlikely that many people would have the Colts vs ‘Boys in the Superbowl. The Colts have P. Manning and the Cowboys are loaded at all the key skill positions.

Both loss their first games of the year. Oh, how the writers / anchors / columnists / pundits / talk shows all yelled about each team. The cowboys where still Superbowl bound and just came across a fired up team and had a bad game, along with bad coaching and QB decision making, this really isn’t indicative on how the Cowboys are and they’ll be fine. Conversely, this was the end of the Colts run. Manning had a horrible team around him (even though there are few changes and the ones that where made have been rated as successes), their defense is porous and couldn’t stop the run, neither could they themselves run the football and all the changes in coaching have left no one there to make sound decisions.

If you’d believe what these people where saying, you’d think that the Cowboys where just a game or play away from being the most unstoppable group of players ever, just so happen to not win a playoff game in the past 15 year except for one. And you’d think that the team that’s dominated the NFL, won 12+ games every year, have been the model of consistency, produced and found gems in late round picks since they where always winning and never had a top 20 pick in any round for the past 5 to 10 years, and where always a threat to make a good run on the Lombardi trophy where now inexplicitly crashing and burning.

Well week 2 prove both things to be wrong. The Cowboys are in trouble and the Colts are fine. I’m not saying that I could have told you but shit, I could have told you!!

Yes, the preseason games are not a good barometer to figure out what a team is going to do during the regular season. I think the Colts have lost 90% of their preseason games over the past 5 years. But if you where to study the play and not the scores and Fantasy numbers of the preseason and relate that to what the teams show in week one, I think you can make fair conclusions that are far better than most analysis out there. I like the Colt / Cowboy comparison because both show perfect examples of what I’m talking about.

The Colts don’t win or care about winning preseason games. I think I’ve made that quite clear. But when you watch the preseason games you can learn a little something. Add that to what happens in the first game of the season, I think we’ll have made a better analysis of their team. Even though the Colts aren’t looking at the scoreboard of the preseason, I look at what their starters are doing on the field. I watched game 2 or 3 of their preseason and the starters marched up and down the field to score touchdowns and set up field goals. They seemed to be clicking on all cylinders. Then the second quarter started and boom, you get a change in philosophy and at that point they seem to drop off. In reality they’re judging players in each position to see who’s going to make the team or not. Peyton’s sitting on the sideline still listening to the calls, probably making a few himself, and really just going over what should happen on the field and honing his skills. Even to the point of looking at the receivers that are fighting for their jobs because he knows that one or two of them will make the team and he’ll need to throw them the ball eventually so he’d better learn their tendencies. This is what makes a good, championship team. You even look at their starting defenders. They showed promise of having a fast team that is going to play great with a lead and, as they always do, have a hard time playing from behind against a running team.

Meanwhile you watch the Cowboys and they too show terrible scores. Not as bad of score differential. They play a little tougher and harder to win these meaningless games. When watching their starters I noticed something. They can’t score. Every game I watched the Cowboys play in the preseason, Romo couldn’t hit a receiver, their runners couldn’t find wholes and half their starters seemed to be injured. But when you heard analysis on the Cowboys they where great and many people’s pick for NFC and Superbowl supremacy. I’d like to stress that their starters didn’t score one or maybe only one TD in the whole preseason.

Now let’s see what happened to the teams week 1. The Colts got rolled by a team in the Texans who’ve been waiting for this match up all off season. Their main goal is to get over the hump of loosing to the Colts and maybe if they can do that, just maybe win their division, get into the playoffs and possibly do some damage. They where ready for the Colts. They had been practicing for the Colts for 4 months. They new that they needed to get a lead or stay tied and just keep ramming the ball down the Colts weak run defense. Guess what, they played a perfect game. Keep in mind they only pulled away in the fourth quarter so the score was a little more one sided that the game actually was. Also, you had the running back for the Texans going for over 200 yards. These are numbers that sound impressive. But if it where 4 different players that each got 75 yards, we wouldn’t think too much, just an overall beating of the Colts. Bad loss, but again only week one. We are just used to seeing the Colts first loss in week 13 or 14. But in the end isn’t 13 – 3 still just 13 – 3, who cares how you get there.

Back to the Cowboys. They too play a divisional rival in the Redskins. Playing at the Redskins, one of the more intimidating home field crowds in football. The Cowboys showed a lack of any offensive cohesiveness and made mental mistake after mental mistake. They chose to cap both the first and second halves with plays and performances that I can say I’ve never seen. It was like watching Necessary Roughness and thinking, no way a team makes these kinds of mistakes. There’s just no way. Sure enough, instead of sitting on a close game at the end of the first half, they go for a hail mary. Not just a hail mary but when it’s obvious they’re not going to get it, Romo flips it to a running back that would have to go 60+ yards to make a touchdown. It was never going to happen. What did happen was that the receiver got the ball stripped and since both teams where the other way waiting for the HM, Hall was able to pick up the ball and basically skip into the endzone to finish off the first half. Wade Phillips (who has about 2 more losses until a mid season firing) didn’t even know the Redskins scored. I couldn’t tell you if that was good because like everyone else, he figured his team had more brains than to try for such nonsense but if it did, Romo or the receiver would know to kill the play before anything terrible happened OR was he so stupid that he should have know that he has a reckless and directionless team and he should be out there every second they have the ball because they need to be coddled like a child at a store and be told to sit down and shut up until the grown ups are ready to leave.

Week 2 comes around and I’ll finish by making this quick. Colts demolish a usually good and talented team in the NY Giants. While the Cowboys loose again to a team that was predicted to be at the bottom of their division, the Bears. I can’t even say that I was picking the Bears. Sure they won their first game this year but it wasn’t in a fashion where I thought that they’d be dominant. But the Bears slapped around the Cowboys. It wasn’t even as close as some would think. I wouldn’t even say the Bears took and won the game but I will say that the Cowboys did a lot more to loose that game.

So what can we take away from these week 2 examples? The Colts aren’t dead yet. Maybe they’ve come back to the pack a little or maybe they just had a bad first game against a team whose entire season was based on winning week one? The Colts D looked good and when playing with a lead they can be dominant. They can pin their ears back and send what may be the best two defensive ends in the league to go full speed after the opposing QB because they know they have to throw the ball in order the catch the Colts.

As for the Cowboys, they suck. I thought they sucked going into the season and I think they suck now. I’ll give that they have some really good players. That’s what happens when you’ve got an owner willing to spend and are in a division where you have to have talent to compete. I never like to blame a coaching staff but maybe this is truly the wrong coach for this team. They needed someone that was not as disciplined as Parcells and usually when you get a coach like Phillips who’s more loose in the locker room and a player’s coach, you’ll get good results the year or two after the dictatorship regime. Now that it’s been three years, the ‘Boys look just like that – BOYS. They look like they need someone to kick them into shape and demand they do things better because they do have the talent. Maybe we can say that the O line is finally back together and over the next few weeks that will help get the team on a winning streak. But I can’t imagine that the O line has anything to do with the Bears torching the Cowboy’s D? The Cowboys might have some good pass rushers but when a sorry group of receivers such as the Bears have can light you up, there are problems. What are you going to do against Philly who have young fast and good WR’s?

I do like the phrases, “you are what your record is” and “the preseason means nothing”. I think in many ways these things are true.

This early into the season, I don’t think you can go by the “you are what your record is” wrap. 2 games does not make a season or can tell you how a team will end up. who knows, maybe the Cowboys will win the rest of their games. I doubt it, but maybe they can transform a starting cast that hasn’t shown anything of substance for over a month and a half period?

At this early of the year, I’d also not rely on, “the preseason means nothing” either. It does mean something. It means how you can judge or evaluate your team’s potential. The Colts didn’t fall off the face of the earth. They’re A1 group is pretty damn good. I think you’ll see them in the playoffs. I wouldn’t be surprised if when the Texans come to the Big Oil Drum, they put on a show to prove who’s the old king of the division. Only time will tell. But from the old “eye test” I saw, even in the preseason, that the Colts where still a damn good team while they where trying.

Of course this can all change next week. I’m curious to see the headlines all week long. Will the Colts be back as America’s sweetheart team or on a gentle decline down? Are the Cowboys going to finally have people saying, they have the talent but something’s missing? I was listening to the NFL network’s wrap up of today’s games and one of the worst commentators, I won’t mention anyone’s name let’s just say you wouldn’t be shocked to see his name in Neon somewhere or that he always loved to play in Primetime, still says the Cowboys are “clearly” a great team and headed for the Superbowl. Well, only 4 teams have made it to the big game after starting 0 – 2 and just 3 of those went on to win. Those teams where the Emit-less (contract hold out) Cowboys, first year Tom Brady Patriots and the Miracle Catch / all star front D line of the NY Giants. Three teams, that for whatever reason, are vastly different and have the ability to do what the now Cowboys can’t. So unless these Cowboys find a once in a lifetime scenario, they better work their asses off and win dominantly next week.

Otherwise we still might see the Colts in the Superbowl but I don’t know about the Cowboys part of it.