I’ve never been a huge fan of March Madness, but filling out a bracket is a national pastime. My Final Four is Kentucky, Michigan State, Ohio State, and North Carolina. I have Kentucky over North Carolina in the Championship Game. For my upset picks, I liked Davidson over Louisville and Harvard over Vanderbilt. I also like Murray State and Baylor to make a deep runs in the tournament.
The Yankees and incumbent catcher, Russell Martin discussed a multi-year deal during this off-season. The 29-year-old backstop rebounded in a big way last season as a member of the Yankees. Martin hit 18 HRs and drove in 65 runs in 125 games. More importantly, Martin was excellent with the younger Yankee pitchers. Martin, who is owed $8 million in 2012, is set to become a free-agent in 2013. Some of Martin’s counterparts are starting to secure multi-year contract extensions. And to be clear–Martin’s services won’t come cheaply if he continues to perform.
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Baseball screwed up.
Again.
But baseball has been screwing up since its inception in the late 1800s. Baseball fans have endured scandals, steroids, championship runs, and everything in-between. More times than not, the MLB has punished those who have broken the rules. As of 2008, the Collective Bargaining Agreement laid out strict rules for failed drug tests. First time offenders would serve a 50-game suspension with steeper penalties for each additional infraction. Manny Ramirez, who is no stranger to this rule, will serve his second suspension this season. While Manny is known for his theatrics and off-field comments, his career numbers (555 HRs, 1,851 RBIs, .312 career batting average) rank him among the all-time greats. With that being said, Major League Baseball did an absolutely horrible job by letting its most recent offender (Ryan Braun) off the hook. Here’s why:
Blah, Blah, Blah I'm A Cheater Blah, Blah, Blah--AP Photo
Chase Buddinger. Jeremy Evans. Paul George. Derrick Williams.
Let’s be honest. The casual sports fan probably has no idea who these guys are. Even the most loyal NBA fan (myself) had no idea who Jeremy Evans was. Well, these four professional athletes came together on Saturday night for Sprite’s annual ‘Slam Dunk Contest’. After watching the first round of dunks, I had to turn this off to watch something more entertaining. (Luckily for me, Operation Repo was on).
The NBA’s most storied All-Star event that once featured Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, and Julius Erving, has turned into a ‘who is that dude?‘ contest filled with the same old uninspiring dunks. With that said, here’s a way for the NBA to restore the Dunk Contest’s image and bring the game’s best out for the event.
Who?--AP Photo
During the last year, we’ve watched a few special New York athletes truly breakout. In New Jersey, Jason Pierre Paul registered 15.5 sacks and helped the Giants win the Super Bowl. In Manhattan, Jeremy Lin is the starting point guard of the Knicks and has taken the city (and now country) by storm. On Long Island, center John Tavares has scored 22 goals and is on pace to break his career scoring record. Moving forward, one young New York baseball player is ready to break out and his name is not Michael Pineda..
Who Is This Dude?--AP Photo
Last week, ESPN’s Keith Law ranked baseball’s best prospects. The Yankees had four prospects on the list, highlighted by #23 Manny Banuelos and #34 Mason Williams while the Mets had two highlighted by #27 Zach Wheeler. More details from Keith Law’s report will be provided after the jump.
Manny B--AP Photo
Huh?
While he is not listed on the active roster and has never made a tackle for the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick is the ultimate chess player for the Patriots. Belichick, the owner of three Super Bowl titles, a 15-6 playoff record, and countless AFC East titles, needs this Super Bowl to cement his legacy as an all-time great coach. Given his success in the last decade with the Pats, detractors will argue that Bill has done enough to be mentioned in the same breath as Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, and Vince Lombardi. However, I completely disagree. Belichick, known for his defensive brilliance, coached the 31st ranked defense this season. That same defense is playing its best football to date, but its two AFC playoff opponents did not have lethal downfield passing attacks that have roasted that same defense. The Giants do and are playing their best football to date.
Bill knows that his offense has carried the load for the entire season. Namely, the Brady-Gronkowski hookup has been damn near impossible to stop. Now that Gronkowski is suffering from a high ankle injury, that Patriot offense must feature Wes Welker and Aaron Hernandez more prominently. Ultimately, Brady will lead the offense and work out any kinks that may occurs. However, the onus is on Belichick to do something that six teams in a row have failed to do–stop Eli Manning and the Giants downfield passing attack. The Patriots have been burnt many, many times on deep passes and Bill must find a way to limit the damage.
This game has many, many storylines, but Belichick’s change at becoming an ‘immortal’ coach goes up in smoke if he loses to the same team twice in the Super Bowl.
For the first time in his career, Chad Ocho Cinco is not a focal point. Ocho Cinco, who has dealt with a number of issues this season, has only registered 15 catches for 276 yards and 1 TD this season. Ocho Cinco has not caught a pass since Christmas Eve and was not active for the AFC Championship Game. Ocho Cinco, the owner of seven 1,000 yard seasons, has been waiting for his opportunity to play in the Super Bowl. As a Giants fan, the thought of Ocho Cinco suiting up on Sunday does worry me and here’s why—
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The Yankees have had their share of bad contracts. We can start at the very top (AJ Burnett) and go back to the days of Kyle Farnsworth, Jason Giambi, and Roger Clemens (half-season edition). Despite the bad contracts, the Yankees have always had a stable core of veteran leaders and most sizeable free agent moves plugged an obvious hole on the team. After watching the Detroit Tigers give $214 million to Prince Fielder, I’m really having a tough time understanding their reasoning. For me, Fielder-to-Detroit is only good for one party–the Prince himself. This move clearly spells doom to the long-term future of the team, which isn’t so bad for Yankee fans. Here are three reasons why I hate this move for the Tigers..
After a perfect week last week, my record improved to 7-1 for the post-season. There are only two games this weekend, but both games will be very, very good…
Sunday, 3:00 PM: Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots (-7.5)
Sunday, 6:30 PM: New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers (-2.5)
Ray's Last Stand??--AP Photo
