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AL Central Preview 2008-03-29 08:00:14 Continuing my Major League Baseball season preview by division, here are the AL Central teams listed in order of predicted finish. Detroit Tigers. Let’s get this out of the way first. The Detroit Tigers are not going to score 1,000 run this season. Every year during the pre-season, baseball writers, analysts, and fans anoint a team as being the one that will score 1,000 runs during the upcoming season. The Yankee teams of recent years have been perennial favorites to score 1,000 runs. But guess what? Even in these days of record breaking individual offensive production, only one team in the past 57 years has scored 1,000 runs: the 1999 Cleveland Indians. And while the 2008 Tigers are good enough to win their division, they won’t be scoring 1,000 runs this year. Cleveland Indians. The media loves to latch on to an up-and-coming team and announce that they are going to make the playoffs. The problem is that they are usually two years too early. Three years ago, it was the I ...

The Circle of Trust Has Been Broken-Canseco, His Wife, & A-Rod 2008-03-27 21:35:43 With all the rumors spreading about Canseco's new book, who's mentioned, and that A-Rod was interested in Canseco's wife there's only a few things to be said. Somewhere along the way DiNero's 'circle of trust' has been broken. Has anyone seen Canseco's wife? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but who is this beauty that has Canseco making such accusations. There's defending the woman you love and then there's the old someone has a high opinion of his wife besides even getting into the A-Rod factor. Canseco shocked the world with this first book as it brought steroids into the light of day and naming names as people laughed and ridiculed Canseco. Will the sequel be quite as earth shattering? ...

AL West Preview 2008-03-27 19:09:38 Continuing my Major League Baseball season preview by division, here are the AL West teams listed in order of predicted finish. Seattle Mariners. Despite being the Arizona Diamondbacks of the American League in 2007 (having given up more runs than they scored), the Mariners look like a real contender in the division. Yes, their lineup is aging, but the pitching is solid, with the addition of Eric Bedard being just what they need to compliment Felix Hernandez and a good bullpen. California Angels. Essentially the same team as last year isn’t quite good enough to win the division this year. Oakland A’s. Everyone’s favorite Moneyball team traded away Dan Haren and Nick Swisher – arguably the A’s two best players from last year. Where does that leave the A’s this year, other than hoping Bobby Crosby and Rich Harden can stay healthy for an entire season. Texas Rangers. The Ballpark in Arlington didn’t even play as that much of a hitter’s park last year so you can ...

ESPN Sports Nation Doesn't Know The Redskins 2008-03-27 18:56:46 ESPN Nation is having a mock draft and it appears that McShay and Scouts,Inc. provide the guidance. "Who are these people!?" and what are they thinking. Do those that voted even follow the Skins? How did McShay come to the conclusion that the Skins need more help at safety than at OL? ESPN Mock Draft I'm not saying that Mario Manningham is the next Desmond Howard or Westbrook, but let's get real here. How can safety be a higher need than DE? Does any history in the past 20 some Super Bowls Champions show you that pressure from the front line allows even more creativity than a smoke and mirrors back seven approach. No one need look any further than this year's winner, the NY GIants. The Redskins have a lot of needs but with Jansen's injuries and Samuals both getting older who else is on the OL at LG and OT? Does anyone remember what the Skins OL looked like prior to Jansen and Samuels? It was in pure shambles. Remember Shar P. at OT? A pass rusher to go along wit ...

Opening NCAA Tournament Weekend Recap, Upsets, and Teams You Love to Hate 2008-03-27 17:58:41 There were many great games, near upsets, and indeed a few David's slaying Goliath. To wrap up a previous conversation with Bob there were a couple of 5-12 upsets, but for those that really knew something about college basketball the Villanova game wasn't a surprise. They've had more upsets as a lower seeded team in modern day history than any other school. Toss in free throw shooting by Clemson and the fact that other than coming close with UNC they played some close games with mediocre teams in the ACC that didn't make the tournament. A lot is made of the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky making it to the sweet Sixteen, but how much of an upset is it when the selection committee pitted two Mid-Majors against each other for one less Mid-Major to challenge the power conference teams. San Diego played their hearts out and sure the loss of UConn's guard and leader played a major factor in the game, but here's where the real challenge begins for a solid WKY team. Drake was a ...

Play Ball! 2008-03-25 13:47:21 Did you hear it? No, everyone pretty much knows about March Madness (yeah, Georgetown is out!). The Major League Baseball season started this morning (for those of us in North America) or tonight, if you are in Japan or other parts of Asia. In not going to begin to figure it out for Istanbul. At least they didn't start the season tomorrow. The defending World Series Champion Boston Redsox defeated the Oakland A's 6-5 in 10 innings. Yes, it was also the first extra innings game for the season. What's sad is along with greedy MLB, who had originally decided not to pay coaches, trainers and other support staff, they had to get this series going in Japan, despite the Washington Nationals starting the season in a brand new stadium. OK, call me bias, but I'm not. Look at it this way. They went out of their way to schedule a single opening day game, to be broadcast on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball with the Atlanta Braves coming in for just this one game. If you are going ...

NL West Preview 2008-03-22 06:06:57 Continuing my Major League Baseball season preview by division, here are the NL West teams listed in order of predicted finish. Arizona Diamondbacks. As usual, the NL West looks to be a very tight race, with any of four teams being able to win the division. You would expect that a team which significantly outperformed their Pythagorean record last year to have a fall back the following year, but the Diamondbacks went out and improved. Dan Haren gives this team two Cy Young contenders, along with Brandon Webb. Chris Young and Stephen Drew are a year older and now should be able to provide some much needed spark in a lineup that was lacking in runs last year. San Diego Padres. Jake Peavy and the second Chris Young in the NL West (the one from Princeton) lead a team with a mix of veterans and young players. They look to have just the right mix to make a run in the West. Colorado Rockies. While the Rockies have a very solid lineup, I can’t imagine pitchers Jeff Francis, Ubaldo ...

CBS Coverage of the NCAA Tournament 2008-03-20 11:54:34 The time is 12:50 and yet as in prior years when CBS allowed fans to watch two different games on HD TV and low definition TV, this is not the case again this year. Once again CBS tries it's best to challenge is college sports fans by showing Duke vs. Belmont in the DC Metro area. It's my theory that CBS lost some of its best sports minds when they lost the NFL years ago. Why else would the Sports Division of CBS be unwilling to move non-home team games to better games. For example, Duke is scheduled in the local area while the most hyped and maybe even anticipated game of the day USC vs. KSU isn't even being shown as the primary game here. Ok maybe if you're Peter Angelos and would like to lay claim that Carolina is your territory then you'll have a case, but Duke - really? You're never going to be able to please everybody, but if common sense prevails then switching games without being trigger happy when the cases are warrented would keep complaints to a minimum as things ...

2008 NCAA Tournament - March Madness 2008-03-20 09:59:48 "It's go time", as Mendlebaum said on Seinfeld. People may not be trying to lift a heavy TV and throw out their back right now but they're probably frantically figuring all the permutations and scenarios dancing in their heads with only an hour to complete their brackets. Did you ever feel like as soon as the word spread about the 5-12 upset it would eventually become such common knowledge that every Joe Schmo in the office that knew nothing about sports would even know this rule until it virtually no longer occurred? Well a couple of years ago I made mention of this to some friends that it looks like the 6-11 is the new 5-12. The way the selection committee is taking fewer Mid Majors and even pitting them against each other makes for a tournament more like chalk and one in favor of the power conferences. When I pondered the brackets I kept certain things in mind such as WV. When reviewing websites and articles and the major pundits, some believe that WV is a strong threat to ...

Terps Win in First Round of NIT 2008-03-19 08:59:58 Well this is certaintly not the entry I wanted to write in mid-March about the Maryland Terrapins. In any case, the Terps travelled to Minnesota to take on the Golden Gophers. After a close first half, at which Maryland led by 1 point, the Terps continued to work hard and won 68-58 If they had only played this hard in the ACC Tournament or the end of the regular season. I'm happy that my team is back on the winning track. BTW, for those who watched, what's with that weird configuration at Williams Arena, with the trench around the court. That's kind of dangerous for the players, isn't it? ...

A Team to Root Against 2008-03-16 21:28:04 OK, this is not local, and I would not even care about this team if The Sports Freak and I had not seen the interview. But really, who is going to root for the Georgia Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament? The SEC Tournament was delayed during the quarter finals. On Friday night, a tornado struck the Atlanta area, including the Georgia dome, where the tournament was being held. Georgia and Kentucky's game was postponed. After discussing with the NCAA, it was determined the only way to preserve the SEC's automatic bid was to have the championship game done by Sunday afternoon. To facilitate that, Georgia and Kentucky would have to play early Saturday and the winner would have to play a semi-final game on Saturday evening. Essentially two games in one day. Georgia won both games, advancing to the SEC finals. I would have been happy for them. It felt like a good story. But then, on ESPN, Georgia coach Dennis Fulton decided to lash out during a press conference. That it was ...

UMBC to the Dance 2008-03-16 21:15:17 I really feel like I'm doing a disservice by discussing UMBC's first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament. They won the America East Championship over Hartford. I've never followed them other than the times the Maryland Terrapins scheduled them for one of those non-conference December games. You know, the ones that drag down RPI? For those that don't know, UMBC is the University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers. I did not know they were the Retrievers, although I think I saw them once or twice in my 17 years of going to Maryland games. Probably at good old Cole Field House. OK now I'm really doing a disservice to the Retrievers. Back to them. 15th seeded UMBC will take on 2 seed Georgetown in Raleigh, NC on Friday. While most will look at this game as an easy layup for the Hoyas to win, remember there have been 15-2 upsets in the past. And UMBC will have the backing of many Terrapins, since we don't have our team in the Dance. That and most of us can't sta ...

Book review: The Hardball Time Baseball Annual 2008 2008-03-16 15:14:51 We are living in a golden age of baseball writing, as evidenced by all of the enjoyable, thought-provoking and engaging content being written about all aspects of the game in many different media (books, newspapers, and the internet). The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2008 is yet another example of this high quality writing in what is already a crowded market for baseball books. Written shortly after the end of the 2007 season, The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2008 is a good mix of content, broken down into the 2007 season review, commentary, analysis, history, and team statistics. While at first glance, you might think that The Hardball Times Baseball Annual is similar to Baseball Prospectus, the two are fairly different, even if the opinions and focus on statistical analysis by the writers is similar. The Hardball Times Baseball Annual is more of an interesting read than Baseball Prospectus because the focus is on articles from various writers instead of BP’s team-based ...

American to the Dance 2008-03-14 22:06:05 Finally, we can all say, American Eagles can dance. American University, with former Virginia coach Jeff Jones guiding them, got an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the defeat over Colgate in the Patriot League Final. This is AU's first ever NCAA appearance since they joined Division I. A great event to continue their season after some highlight wins including a win over Maryland earlier in the season. Granted, after the Terps season, that does not look so impressive, but still, a Patriot team beating an ACC one can make headlines, not to mention fodder for local trash talk. Another local team makes it. I guess there is one more, but as a Terp for Life, I can't root for them. Go American! Go George Mason! Down with Georgetown! ...

Terps Get Punched...but not a Dance Ticket 2008-03-14 08:11:24 The Maryland Terrapins lost to Boston College Thursday night in the opening round of the ACC Tournament. It was a punch in the gut, but at the same time, all us fans felt that this was how it was going to end. Not a loss to BC, but more that it would end in dissapointment. This is not how they wanted to end the season. After nearly 12 minutes, BC had only scored 9 points and Maryland was in a double digit lead. But like much of the season, against Virginia Tech, Clemson, and others, the Terps let the lead go. With less than 10 to go, they were down 10 and put together a comeback. But it was too little too late. Too many missed shots, terrible turnovers, and no sense of urgency doomed the team. The season had a high with a win over then #1 North Carolina, but more lows like losses to American University and Ohio University. Another season, another NIT berth. I just hope at this point, critics don't ask for Gary Williams head, as they did early in the season. Gary is ...