Saturday, March 21, 2009

Sporting Rants and Raves: March 21, 2009

Happy 24th birthday to Mr. Adrian Lewis Peterson formerly of the Oklahoma Laters and now of the Minnesota Purple People Eating Norsemen not to be confused with Mr. Adrian Nicholas Peterson formerly of the Georgia Southern Not Specifically Bald Eagles and now of the Chicago Midway Monsters Vs. Aliens Not Brown Bears whose birthday happens to fall on July 1st, the exact midpoint of the year during a leap year.

Try reading all of that in one full breath...

What better way to start the day than with the madness that is this month of March. I have enrolled myself in three brackets, as stated in my Thursday post. And at that time, I was doing better than I expected. But isn't it usually the case that the madness itself rears its ugly head at some point during the eventual completion of said brackets? Case in point, I had Wake Forest and West Virginia playing in the Elite 8 for a chance at a Final Four spot. Ugh. With Wake I should have known better, but WVU surprises me. But there are silver linings, e.g. the fact that I chose the entire Western region correctly in this first round. Oh, and that all of those teams - in each bracket - that I chose to win the big dance are still in the big dance. Not to mention the real Huskies dominated today while the other Huskies were undone by a collection of Boilermakers. More to come...

Say it ain't so, Donte'. Say it ain't so.

The World Baseball Classic continues with a powerhouse Venezuelan team taking on the Korean upstarts. Korea leads 8-1 at the moment. Venezuela has the ability to come back. But will they?

The Eastern Conference of the NBA can already boast of three teams in the playoffs, i.e. Boston, Cleveland, and Orlando. The Western Conference only has one for now, the Los Angeles Lakers.

Trivia of the Week: The Lakers are so named because they came from this city. And they came in this year. For extra credit, can you name the team (city and mascot) that became the Lakers back in 1946?

Many overlook the fact that the Women's NCAA tournament is now underway. Thus far, only a couple upsets. Tenth seeded San Diego State upended DePaul. And eleventh seeded Mississippi State handled the sixth seeded Lady Longhorns. Both upsets came in the Berkeley region. Meanwhile, I await the dominant Lady Huskies - real, not other - to take the court against a team that can only be described as 'from Vermont'.

John Elway is sad. Why? Because he doesn't understand why Jay Cutler and Josh McDaniels can't just get along. Neither can I. Okay, so Jay finds out that Josh is considering bringing Matt - of the Cassel variety - to Denver to be his QB. No big surprise that Josh - in his new home - wants a familiar face to accompany him. Well, that didn't happen. Matt went to Kansas City - see Scott of Pioli fame - leaving Josh with Jay. Jay then says he doesn't want to be the second choice and wants a trade even after talking to Josh. I know it takes two to tango. And Josh hasn't handled his communication very well. But this is business. And Jay - I think - still has his best shot of making a name in the league in Denver blue and orange. To Jay, I say get over yourself and deal. To Josh, I say figure out how to communicate a bit better; you're not Bill - of the surname Belichick - and you're a mile higher than you were out in Newer England.

Brett or Melky? The New York Yankees are looking for that man who will fill the shoes of Bernie, Ricky, Bobby, Earle, and the Mick. And what a travesty it would be not to mention Joltin' Joe. But I thought I should give him another sentence since he was above and beyond all the others in his contributions to the game. So, I ask again, Brett or Melky? Either? Or are we going to have to resurrect one of the late greats to christen the new stadium?

Maybe one team of dogs from the northwest have played their last in March 2009. But there is another team of dogs, and it stayed alive today. Next up? Tarheels.

Question of the week - Can you identify any similarities between the following names: Anquan Boldin, Plaxico Burress, Chad Johnson, Terrell Owens, Jeremy Shockey, Donte' Stallworth, Kellen Winslow Jr? Receivers / Tight Ends. In the NFL. Yes and yes. Have, in some way, made themselves look like numnutzes in their own respective ways. Yep. Have the same agent, Mr. Drew Rosenhaus. Also, yep. Now, to be fair, Rosenhaus' firm has many more clients. In fact, I counted 121 in the Wikipedia article. And these include more wide receivers like the Moss brothers, Ernest Wilford, Bernard Berrian among others.

But I'd like to call attention to the fact that Rosenhaus is connected to some of the biggest cry babies and - to some degree - screw-ups in the NFL. I can only imagine a conversation he might have with some of these wide receivers. 'You are the best out there. You deserve more than they're offering. You're better than they are. You are the man.' And they - I've heard that wide receivers love to have their respective egos massaged - believe every word of it. They then escalate that belief to the point that they believe themselves to be irreplaceable demigods within their respective organizations. Now, I know it starts with these players. But Drew ain't helping. He's a co-dependent of the highest order, telling them it's okay.

Some day, I hope these men grow up and reflect. Then they'll see that Drew has done them no favors.

Trivia of the Week: The Lakers are so named because they came from this city. And they came in this year. For extra credit, can you name the team (city and mascot) that became the Lakers back in 1946?

Minneapolis. 1960. EC: Detroit Gems

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