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WHAT ABOUT BRETT FAV-RA?

Well, they finally did it. The Packers sent their golden boy Packing and it was far, far away from the NFC North. They sent him so far away that they would never have to see him again, ever, because the NY Jets won’t play Green Bay for three years and Favre will most likely be done by then…MOST LIKELY. Why were the Jets the ones with the winning ticket stamped for Favre-Land? Well, the first part of that answer was already mentioned, because they are out of the NFC all together. The second part of the answer is a bit more complicated.
Chad Pennington is a smart and savvy NFL quarterback who can think on the fly with out making too many mental errors while doing so. Chad also is one of nicest guys on the field, who always knows what to say and when to say it. He is polite and his rural, southern accent comes across so inviting, you would think he was running the local general store in town with his name on the front door. Chad, in my mind, is also the reason why Brett Favre is in NY wearing Gang Green. For nine years Pennington wore the number 10 for the Jets and after taking over for the journeyman Vinny Testaverde in 1999, started every game he was healthy enough to start. When he was unable to play, the Jets were mediocre at best with their other options and ever since Chad went down the first time with a shoulder injury, the QB position has been a revolving door of rookies and not so good veterans. The one problem that has kept Chad from achieving that high praise and success other QB’s have found is his arm. His arm is and never was strong enough to throw consistently down the field past then ten yards. He is known as a “dink and dunk” type of thrower. Which means he is very good at short, slanting type routes where he can hit the receiver in a crossing pattern or out on the flats. It also means he can’t throw far. Unfortunately, during a game, when the Jets’ running game is off and their defense is untrustworthy, not being able to rely on their QB to win with his arm ends up being a crutch for them. They lost a lot of games because Pennington under threw his receivers during a last minute drive, trying to win or tie the game. They also lost a lot of games due to interceptions thrown by Pennington, when he was trying to stretch the field and his ball just ended up being a lofty object floating in the air like a Frisbee. Season after season Jets fans had to wonder if Chad was going to be old Chad with no arm or if maybe he had found some miracle that transformed his arm into one like, uh…I don’t know, Brett Favre’s.
So trading a draft pick and releasing Chad Pennington was all that needed to happen to get a guy who still might be able to do what he did last year. He got his Packers to the NFC Championship, putting up MVP type numbers and turning 38 during while doing so. If Favre can perform like that, the Jets win out in the trade because last year they were a bad 6-10 and you have to think that anything is better then that. The Jets, prior to trading for Favre, also spent $140 million on upgrades to their Offensive Line and to their Defense as a whole. Who benefits from all that? Brett Favre and Thomas Jones, the Jets pro bowl running back returning for his second season. That also means that if Favre does make mistakes or his arm becomes fatigued, the new Offensive Line can carry a running game and the defense can secure a win, hopefully. I say hopefully because football is a sport where one or two injuries can change a team dramatically. Favre isn’t young and you might think that he is susceptible to injury because of that, but if you just take a look at his record of consecutive starts (257-check stat), which is still in tact, that thought seems far-fetched. There is one more thing that makes this situation seem like a plus for New York. The maturity, leadership and respect Favre brings to a team who never really had it. One guy who is going to reap the benefits of that is Kellen Clemens, the Jets sophomore and now second string QB. Clemens is a good athlete, with a great arm and good size; he stands at 6 feet 4 inches (check stat). He took over the starting position last year as a rookie when Chad was benched, but showed his lack of experience in almost every game. He also showed his potential, throwing 50-yard passes and moving in and out of the pocket well. What he needed was someone like Favre to take him under his wing and to teach him everything he knows about the game and their position. Having a teacher in Favre for Clemens is priceless and if he is going to be the future of the franchise, who better to learn from then the Mississippi Kid?

A Back up is a back up is a back up

So Brett Favre is back. I think thats great. This is Brett Favre, this isn't some schmo who had a few good seasons with one team, this a guy who made Green Bay a significant stop on the NFL supremacy train route. Favre IS Green Bay and he is the heart and soul of the city and franchise with the cheese on it's head. When you think of the Packers, you think of three things, Vince Lombardi, Cheese and Brett Favre. Bart Starr is a guy you think of as well, but not as much unless you live near or in Green Bay. How can a team turn its back on someone like the Packers have been doing for the last couple of months? They were shopping Favre around for trades, denying his reinstatement, treating him like a cancer spreading throughout the body. Why? Who is Aaron Rodgers? Who is Ted Thompson? They don't hold a torch to what Brett Favre has done for the city and for the team in Northern Wisconsin. Just because Favre thought he wanted to retire and was sincere about it, doesn't mean that if he decides he was wrong he should be ignored and thrown to the way side. Are you kidding me? All the players, all the coaches, all the front office personal can thank Brett Favre for their existence, because if it wasnt for him none of them would matter a bit in the NFL. The Packers owe Favre a lot more then just the chance to come back and compete for his "old" job. Aaron Rodgers is good guy, he is close to Favre and he has really taken this whole media circus well and with a touch of class. Not a lot of guys who were back ups to one of the best players in the NFL would be able to deal with this whole situation, but Rodgers has taken his lumps and been respectful because he knows this is all about Brett Favre. Which is actually the first time it has been just about Favre. Never has Brett Favre put himself before the city of Green Bay or the team, ever. He has been one of the most unselfish employees and team players anyone has ever known. So I think that if he wants to make it about himself once, I think that he is owed that and that if he wants to play again let him play. All these media people think it is open season too rip him apart and make him seem like a flip flopper and some devious guy. I am sorry, did anyone realize that this is Brett Favre, this is the guy whose name is on street signs and restaurants in downtown Green Bay. He has been the clean, golden boy of the NFL for 17 seasons. With all the big egos in the NFL, like Chad Johnson and Deion Sanders and Warren Sapp and so on and so on, Brett Favre has been as humble and as modest as can be and he has also been a bright ray of sunlight in this brutal and dark sport we have come to love. There is nothing I am taking away from the job of backing up a starting quarterback, it is tough and I am damn sure I couldn't do it, but the fact is, your a back up. Its like on Broadway when someone is an understudy to the star of the show. What it means is that they have talent and they have enough to be good, but not good enough yet to be the star. And as long as the star is alive, he/she is going to be that star because they have something the understudy or backup does not, thats what makes them the star. Its called life. I am sure deep down inside, the backups and understudies of the world are secretly hoping the person in front of them is going to break their leg and have to leave, but if that does happen are they ready to lead and take on the responsibility of winning and losing?
And one more thing. Who does Ted Thompson think he is? He has been the GM for about one minute, does he think he can tell Brett Favre to take a hike when he asks to come back and play for the team he has given his life for? If he wants to make this 2008 Green Bay team his own, with is stamp on it, then he can't just forget about Brett Favre because he was confused and emotionally drained after losing his father and playing in the biggest game other the Super Bowl. Thompson should give Brett whatever he wants or he should go work for the Atlanta Falcons where the fans don't care and would rather have Big Bird then Michael Vick as their quarterback.

Every ROSE Has It's Thorn

For baseball teams searching for that one coach/manager to lead them to the World Series, searching for that one person who knows more about the game and about how it should be played, need not look further then Las Vegas. Nestled in the corner of a sports memorabilia shop, in the Forum of the Ceaser's Palace Casino and Hotel, in "Sin City", is a man who many believe committed the ultimate sin against the game of baseball. Pete Rose sits at a table strewn with his jerseys, with baseballs, helmets, and anything he can sign with a sharpie marker, from 12 in the afternoon until 6 in the evening twice a week, every week. Rose is the all time, hit king in baseball, who at one point hit in 44 consecutive games, challenging Joe DiMaggio's record 56-game hitting streak. Rose had a career .303 batting average, with 160 home runs to go with his 4,256 hits. He is living history of how the game was played and should be played now. Rose hustled on every play, even during the 1973 All Star game, barreling over Ray Fosse, catcher for the American League, separating Fosse's shoulder and scoring the winning run. Rose gave all he had physically and mentally to the game and is one of the smartest baseball gurus around. He knows how to hit, how to field and how to win. There is only one thing holding Rose back from getting in a dugout again since 1989. Rose has admitted to the public and to baseball that he gambled on the game and on his team, the Cincinnati Reds, while he was the manager. Rose is serving a lifetime ban from the game, which in my opinion is too harsh of a sentence. Why is it, that guys like Andy Pettite or Jason Giambi who have admitted to cheating the game and taking performance enhancing drugs, can continue to play and collect a paycheck just because they said that they were sorry and told the truth? To me, doing drugs that enhance your chances of exceeding your standard performance is far worse then betting on your team to win. Rose never did anything to alter his God given talent, he never cheated to give himself more of an edge over other players and he never did anything other then play as hard as he naturally could. Why has baseball forgiven these players and continued to let them play without any consequence? Why is Pete Rose stuck handing out baseballs to 9 year old kids instead of handing them to his starting pitchers before they take the mound? This is the hypocrisy of baseball. I think there should be a balanced set of rules for all players. We should not let a living legend sit in a Casino signing baseballs, when he really should be sitting in a dugout signing lineup cards. There are far too many teams in baseball with tons of talent, but no one to lead them and to guide them to winning. Young players would flourish if they had the opportunity to learn from a man like Rose. Players would learn what it is like to run out every ball you make contact with, and I think that if Rose were a manager, we would see a sweeping change in how the game is played. Pete Rose has more to offer baseball than Jason Giambi ever will and I think we are missing out by not giving him a second chance. If the current trend is for everyone to get an opportunity to right their wrongs, why can't Pete Rose?

What's Next?

Well Mets fans, the time has come. The team has sunk to a low only seen during last September's collapse. The Mets have found new ways to give games away and lose ones that even high school teams can hold on to win. Although Billy Wagner is the up in your face, clear cut scape goat and person responsible for the last string of losses, there is much more out there in Mets world to blame. Here is my take on why things have fallen so far down for the Mets. Age. The average age of the Mets is 29.65 years old. Basically 30. The main reason for that is because the General Manager, Omar Minaya has seriously lost control of himself when it comes to handing out contracts. Minaya was under some impression that Moises Alou, 43 years old, El Duque, 67 years old, Luis Castillo 32 years old, Damion Easley, 37 years old, Pedro Martinez, 37 years old and Carlos Delgado, 36 years old, all could push the Mets into the postseason. Any average sports fan knows that with these particular group of guys at their respective ages, they couldn't push a fruit cart down the street, let alone a team into the playoffs. Alou, Mr. DL, as recently as today (6/13/08) is looking like he is going to back on the disabled list. Right after coming off the DL four days ago. But how come I knew and everyone else knew that Alou was injury prone and too old to rely on? Why didn't Minaya know this? Minaya is supposed to be a "baseball guy" and is supposed to know more then the average fan. There is not much to say about El Duque, he hasn't even played this year so basically the owners of the team are paying for a dead body. Luis Castillo had surgery on his knees in the off season and Minaya knew about this, but gave him an extension anyway. Wasn't there anyone else out there who could play second base, that wasn't coming off knee surgery and turning 33? I guess not. Pedro was already in the middle of his contract, so there is no fault there because back when Minaya signed him, it was a smart move and Pedro is great clubhouse presence and if he does pitch it should be considered a bonus. Now, with that said, Minaya made the mistake of banking on Pedro being healthy and picthing 30 games this year. Obviously Minaya was wrong because Pedro's first game of the season in April, he only lasted 3 innings and immediately went on the disabled list for two months. I can't really say too much about Damion Easley, its not like his contract broke the back of the organization, it didn't, but did we really need to bring him back as one of the only options off the bench? Probably not. And now I come to a special case, the last of the players I previously mentioned, Carlos Delgado. I question the length of his initial contract and I also question his desire to actually win. Last year we as fans began to see the dark side of Carlos Delgado, where he hits for a .200 batting average, swings at everything out of the strike zone and when he does make contact he hits directly into the shift the other teams defense continually puts on for him. How can a major league slugger like Delgado not be able to go the opposite way when he hits? How is that a problem for someone who has almost 500 home runs? Again, you would think and hope Minaya was watching for this last year and would have made an adjustment for this year, like getting another first baseman to compete for the job. But, alas, Minaya didn't do any of that, he apparently hoped Delgado would get better with age like a fine red wine.
So, here we are, 65 games into the 2008 baseball season and the Mets are 31-34 and are coming off three straight games where they left thousands of men on base and in scoring postion and the closer Billy Wagner has blown 3 out of 3 saves during that span. In these three games the Mets' whole season can be summed up. They get decent, but inconsistent starting pitching. They haven't been able to rely on their bullpen. They strand too many runners and don't get the clutch hits to put away teams when they have the opportunity to. Their manager has no fire in him. They have bad luck when it comes to hitting balls directly at the other teams fielders. And last, but certainly not least, the Mets play with ZERO HEART. There is not one person on that team that cares about winning, about the team, about the other players, about losing or about anything but their paychecks. The Mets have so much potential and talent and yet they don't seem to care enough to tap into that and pick themselves up from the bottom of the whole they have dug. I am and always will be a fan of the New York Mets, but that doesn't mean I have to like the players and managers they currently have.

Average Collapse

So he we are, just over one quarter of the baseball season in the books and things don't look much different then they did at the end of last season for the Mets. The only differences are, Johan Santana is leading the pitching staff, Ryan Church is the leading offensive player on the team and Willie Randolph is finally coming under fire for the mediocrity and lack of intensity the NY Mets have displayed. What has remained from last year is, losing big games against lower tier teams, being dominated by the Braves, Aaron Heilman is still horrible out of the bullpen, Oliver Perez is still inconsistent, Pedro is hurt, Alou has just begun his second stay on the disabled list, El Duque (Orlando Hernandez) is nowhere to be found even though he is making a lot of money with an extended contract, Luis Castillo is not hitting much, Delgado is hitting a little, Beltran is hitting a little more and David Wright and Jose Reyes are still the only thing the team has to be proud of. What can fans in NYC expect from their favorite team, The Amazin's? I will take a hack at answering that question, but it might be a bit bias since I still have a glimmer of hope of winning. By the middle of this season, when the All-Star game comes to NYC at Yankee Stadium, the media will be focusing on all things New York and will throw Willie Randolph under the bus and the owners of the team, the Wilpons, will force GM Omar Minaya to look elsewhere for leadership in the dugout. When a team with a lot of talent and a large payroll like the Mets underachieves so much, the Manager of the team usually takes the blame. Its especially apparent when a team like the Mets collapsed at the end of the year last year, missing the playoffs and Willie really didn't show much emotion about it. Willie got another chance to take the reigns this year and to try to lead the team to victory, how he pulled off keeping his job is a mystery to me and to many fans. Other managers and head coaches have lost less then Willie did last year and were fired for it. The Mets need a manager who can evoke emotions from his players and the fans no matter what happens win or lose, so that people know he is actually there giving his all for the team and the city. Willie claims he is a "Joe Torre" type of manager, who is quiet, yet gets his message across. Joe Torre has won more championships then most managers have been involved in, he has the track record of being effective in the clubhouse and has also endured being fired by teams in the past, including the Mets. Willie needs to have his own way of managing, even though he was on the bench with Torre throughout the winning years with the Yankees, he has to separate himself from that and prove that he is his own type of manager. I wish that things were working out for Willie and the Mets, but its not and unfortunately the manager is liable for the record and state of the team and eventually he has to take the blame, it comes with the territory. The Mets are an average team right now and although they claim last years collapse is behind them, in reality it is still right in front of their faces.

Intsantly Relpaying Baseball

Last night (May 18Th) on ESPN Sunday night baseball, the New York Mets and New York Yankees played the last of their two-game Subway Series at Yankee Stadium. The Mets won the first of the two games on Saturday, behind a solid performance from their ace pitcher, Johan Santana and big HR's from Jose Reyes and David Wright. The Mets had to face the Yankees only star this season so far, pitcher Chen-Ming Wang. He has a 6-1 record this season and really is the only bright spot for the Yankees. The Mets faced the challenge and performed the way all Mets fans thought they would from day one. In the fourth inning of the game, the mets were leading 3-0 after Moises Alou hit a 2-RBI single to right field with one out, setting up a great situation for the next batter, Carlos Delgado. Delgado came up to bat with Alou on first base and Ryan Church on third base. Delgado hit a slicing fly ball to the left field corner of the stadium, the ball made its way over the wall and appeared to stay fair, resulting in a big three-run home run for Delgado. The umpire working the third base line, Mike Reilly, initially called it fair and signaled it a home run. That would have opened the game up for the Mets and would have given them a 6-0 lead. Then what happened next was something commissioner Bud Selig should be wary of. The Yankees short stop, Derek Jeter challenged the call, saying the ball was foul, prompting the officials to have a conference on the field. The home plate umpire, Bob Davidson, eventually overruled the call and said it was a foul ball. Mets bench coach, Jerry Manuel and head coach, Willie Randolph began arguing the call, knowing Davidson blew the call. Manuel, usually a soft spoken guy, was livid, screaming in defense of the initial home run call which was evidently the right call. Davidson ejected Manuel from the game and threatened Randolph he was next if he didn't stop arguing. What makes this whole situation frustrating, is that viewers like myself, watching the game at home got the opportunity to watch the replay over and over again. Getting to see the ball hit almost two feet fair inside the foul line and then seeing the umpire at home plate who is an older man and is almost 320 feet away decide it was foul was horrible. Just to make sure Mets fans had the right to be mad, Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, the ESPN Sunday night baseball commentators were stunned to see the umpires call this foul and did not stop talking about the incident for the rest of the game, making the case for Instant Replay. Viewers at home and Joe and Jon had the advantage of replay. But, why is this an advantage? Its not like instant replay is this amazing technological endeavor that only NASA can afford to have. Football, basketball and hockey all have inserted instant replay into their mainstream decision making and it has worked in favor of fairness for all teams involved. Baseball and Bud Selig are making it seem like Replay is something that will taint the "purity" of baseball and it's history. I thought steroids, HGH, free spending and astronomical ticket prices already did that? If a beer and a hot dog can cost $15, why can't baseball have instant replay? Last night, fortunately for the Mets, the botched call didn't affect the outcome of the game because the Mets creamed the Yankees and didn't even need the 3 runs missing from the Delgado foul ball home run. Other times, teams, including the Mets, have been on the other side of botched calls. For example, the Mets' Carlos Beltran hit a shot to left center during the teams third game of the season in Miami, it looked like a home run and was called that initially, but after the umpires conference, they overruled and said it was a double. That did affect the outcome of the game. I think Bud Selig should implement some sort of replay for baseball, especially with the playoffs coming in September and the umpires' calls being the last word in decision making. There should be one other tool available to back up the umpires and make sure they don't have to give statements like Bob Davidson had to do this morning. "I (expletive) it up. I'm the one who thought it was a (expletive) foul ball. I saw it on the replay. I'm the one who (expletive) it up so you can put that in your paper," Davidson said. "Bolts and nuts, I (expletive) up. You've just got to move on. No one feels worse about it than I do."

Obama/Edwards Ticket

I support and will vote for Barack Obama for President of the United States. I am tired of watching Senator Obama and Senator Clinton duke it out during their run for the Democratic nomination. Obama has the lead and seems to me, to be the clear cut winner, he just needs Hillary to back out, swallow her pride and help support her party. The Democratic Party as a whole is suffering while the two candidates fight over the one slot. Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate, is campaigning around the country like he is already the President. The Republican party has always been strong when it came to uniting as one party. The Dems need to come together and realize their goal of ousting the Republicans from the White House, form a unified party and point all their attention towards beating McCain, not each other. When Senator Obama does finally achieve the status of "Democratic Nominee", I believe he should ask Senator John Edwards to be his running mate as Vice Presidential Nominee. Senator Edwards was and still is a very popular speaker and Senator. He was widely popular around the country during his first run for office in 2004, running solo and then with Senator Kerry. He also had good numbers during this current election, but he gracefully bowed out, hoping his fellow Dems would follow suit once one of them came out ahead. He is very smart and is one of the most successful lawyers in North Carolina. He has always campaigned for ending poverty in America, he has also endorsed efforts to slow down Global Warming and amongst many other positions, is Pro-Choice. Although he has said he won't accept, if he is asked to run as VP, I think that if Obama calls and speaks to Edwards as eloquently as he does to the rest of America, Edwards would then change his mind and they can then change the world together.

God is Watching Us

Within the last two weeks, our world has seen the wrath of Nature and possibly God. In Burma, there was a Cyclone that already has killed 35,000 people and is on its way to killing an estimated 100,000. In China there was an Earth Quake that lasted for 3 minutes and was a record 7.8 on the Richter scale. This Quake has claimed 5,000 people and has trapped more the 3,000 students in around 900 school buildings that have collapsed. In Chile, a Volcano erupted killing thousands and here in our country Tornadoes and storms have ripped through the south, and mid-west, killing 50-100 people. Whether your are spiritual or not, you have to think to yourself that we are causing these catastrophes to occur because of our neglect for our environment and mother nature. There are people who believe the world will end in 2012, that God or whatever higher being you believe in will cast his spell on us and restart with a human race that cares about their world and that doesn't take advantage of what we were given. It goes back to the Adam and Eve story from the Christian religion. God gave Adam and Eve anything and everything that they wanted, the only thing he said was don't eat the apple from this particular tree. Of course, as all humans do, they didn't do what they were told, ignoring the advice and ate the apples and were punished dearly. Now I am not religious, although I do believe in God, I don't however believe in a church or the bible. The story of Adam and Eve has significance because it is an example of what is going on now, just on a much smaller scale. Humans have been given this amazing world, with vast amounts of resources and opportunities to live healthy, meaningful lives. Everyone has the capacity to save what is left of this planet and even help promote new growth for our future, it is only able to happen if you choose to do so. Most people choose not to, and continue to abuse our world and continue to think no matter what they do, the earth will keep on giving. Unfortunately that won't only affect those people, it will affect all of us. I hope that there are others out there that are seeing these global catastrophes occur and are thinking about what they can do to help. The problem, is that there are plenty of citizens out there that still believe Climate Change is a Liberal way of thinking. They also believe that God will save them as long as they went to church on Sunday. Thats fine, but when God strikes down upon us with furious anger and vengeance like he/she has started to with the natural disasters, going to church on Sundays will be a distant memory of wasted time. I am not saying that God is causing these natural disasters, I am not saying that he/she ISN'T. I am only saying that nature is acting in a way that makes it seem like it has had enough. It is the same concept of the bully/victim situation in High School. Eventually the victim can't take the abuse anymore, and repercussions follow. I wish our news sources (American Media Outlets) would make some sort of connection to these disasters and catastrophes happening around our globe. Because a lot of people in America, sadly, follow what is said on CNN and Fox News like a clock, instead of thinking for themselves. I say American news because BBC world and other International news channels offer more in depth investigations, leaving the ego-centric and ethno-centric reporting to us. That topic is a whole other blog post that I will get to soon enough, but for now, just watch Headline News and then watch BBC World News and you'll see what I mean.