Big Mac is back

"I'm not here to talk about the past" I was home watching the Congressional hearings when Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmerio on a March day in 2005. The hearings were about performance enhancing drug use in baseball. Everyone was speculating what was Mark going to say about his alleged use. To be clear the only substance that we know Mark took was Andro, which was banned by baseball a year after it was spotted in his locker. But there has always been whispers, especially since Jose Canseco an admitted user and teammate, said that he and Mark took the drugs together. This isn't about Mark usage or not, this is more about how his past will affect the team he is coaching.

The job of a hitting coach is to make sure the team's batters are comfortable, noticing glitches and hitches in their swings and part-time psychologist. McGwire is credited with telling Tony LaRussa in spring training in 2001 that Albert Pujols would be a star. He has also worked with Skip Schumacher, Matt Holliday, Chris Duncan just to name a few. The players who worked with him have had nothing but positives things to say about how well he instructs players and the advice he gives. What I find odd is after 8 years of basically isolating himself from the outside world, why would he come back to the game if he does not want to face his past. His past will follow this team around as long as he is there. reporters are going to hound him and the players about his past.

Mark will have to open not only to the press but the his players as well. What's going to happen when a Brendan Ryan comes in and he's slumping and he asked Mark what did he do when he was slumping? Will Mark say "I'm not here to talk about past"? Now I know that won't happen but the scenario is plausible. Mark kept to himself alot as a player and now he is in a role where he has to inject himself into these players lives. His whole job is to make sure the hitter's head is clear when they are up to bat. I will say that during the great home run chase of '98, he seemed a little uptight. But Sammy Sosa got him to loosen up and you saw a very different more engaging side to him. Mark will need to be more engaging and loose with his players in order to win them over.

Finally, Mark is a career .263 hitter, I'm not really sure how that qualifies him as a hitting coach. Most of the batting coaches having higher averages or are former batting champs. In 98, Mark had 70 home runs and 61 singles. Hopefully he can help those guys who are line drive and gap hitters.

A few things working in Mark's favor are that LaRussa has his back and believes in him. TLR is one of the most loyal managers I have ever seen. McGwire also has a great relationship with Albert Pujols. Pujols thinks the world of Bic Mac and he feels the same about the Prince. That will go a long way in that clubhouse and possibly in the resigning of Pujols and Holliday. Finally, Mark has the fans in Busch. Those fans love Mark, steriods and Andro aside. He was wonderful with his time in the community and the many charities he supported. For that he will always be a legedn in St. Louis.



"I'm not here to talk about the past".. at some point next spring he will have to.

MLB

So I have started this blog and most of my post have been football related with the baseball playoffs going on. Its not that I dislike baseball but it just isnt nearly as appealing any more. A little background on me and my love affair with baseball. I am and always will be a lifelong Cardinal fan. So this isn't about me and their lackluster playoff showing this year (another post will talk about that and the McGwire addition). This is more about how baseball's salary cap,steriod use and slow pace has not only worn on me but a lot of fans.

Of the 8 teams in this years playoff, 5 of the teams had the highest payrolls in baseball. Mid-market teams don't have a chance to keep their great homegrown talents because of the lack of revenue sharing. The Cleveland Indians and their fans had to be absolutely sick watching Game 1. CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee, two dominant left-handed starters were pitching in the series, while the Indians are suffering through another rebuilding mode. Mid-market teams just don;t have a lot of hope and baseball should do something about that.














The steriod use in the game has been beaten to death. Here are my feelings about it. Baseball is predicated all on numbers. So players, manager, owners cheated the system and the record books to draw in popularity and to bring in tv revenue. After the strike in 95, football has replaced baseball as the national pasttime. Baseball solved the problem by allowing its players to use illegal substances so people would pay attention again. It worked for a while but I think a lot of fans are turned off by the sport now because they don't know what to believe anymore. The innocence of the game is lost and I don't know if it can be found again.


I am rooting for the Phillies simply because the Yankees payroll is ridiculous. The Yankees feel like why draft well and build a team, when you can buy one. And for all those Cardinal fans who hope that they will resign Matt Holliday, know this. Holliday will either be a Yankee or an Angel because that is where the money is. Boras or the union will not allow him to take less money. So again, the rich will only get richer.

Good Guy Of The Week

If you know me, then you know I am not a FLorida Gator Football fan at all. However, this week Good Guy Of the Week is Tim Tebow. Not only has this kid won two National Championships, a Heisman, and numerous first-team awards but he is also a stand up young man. When he put the scripture John 3:16 on his eye black in last year's BCS title game, it was the most searched item on Google and Yahoo the next day. Next time you watch him, see what scripture he has written on his eyes. He has such a presence about him that people are drawn to him. On a side note, while watching him warm up at the game, instead of him throwing the ball around, Tebow was catching passes. I think he is preparing himself for the next level as a tight end.

SEC problems

The SEC has a huge problem on its hand with its officials. But before I get to that I want to send a shout-out to Starkville, Ms and the Mississippi Bulldogs who played a great game against top ranked Florida. With a ten point lead and less than a minute to go, that crowd hung around and supported their school and their team until the clock read triple zero. 57 thousand plus, a new school record, rang their cowbells until the end.

Sitting at the game when Florida intercepted the pass and ran it back to the end zone. The defensive back held the ball out and was showboating and the ball was knocked away and Miss St. recovered. The officals said he crossed the lines. The replay clearly showed he did not cross the line and the ball should have been returned to the Bulldogs. That call could have potentially changed the game. The previous week, the referee crew had two terrible calls against Arkansas that favored Florida and decided the game. These phantom penalties or no calls seem to benefitting the top 2 teams in the SEC. Alabama's D-linemen Cody blocked a field goal to end the game and took his helmet off before time ran out and it was not called and it cost Tennessee the game. Lane Kiffin and Dan Mullen were both reprimanded by the SEC for criticing the officials but the have a very Valid point. Their players are going out and doing everything right and it seems as though the officials have it in for them. Missing obvious calls or not checking with each other to make the right calls is bad for the conference. If Florida and Alabama are to make it the SEC championship game, they should get there because they deserve it, not with help from the officials. Conferences need to get away from having their own officials, universial officials are needed so that there are no biases being perceived by the coaches, players and fans.

Here are some pics from the game:

Cruise Control Games

Quick update because I will be in Starksville, Ms. watching the Gators take on the Bulldogs:)

Here is what I think shold be Cruise Control games for teams this week:


CRUISE CONTROL:

Tennesee taking on Bama. Bama should easily win this game because of their defense. The way this game becomes close if the Vols stud safety Eric Berry makes life difficult against the Tide's ineffective Qb and Mark Ingram.

Texas at Mizzou. Gabbert is hurt and so are the Tigers. Texas should have no problem beating Mizzou in Columbia. So much for the Tigers being the North champs for 3 straight seasons.

Louisville at Cincy. Even though Pike isnt starting, Louisville is terrible.

Sneaky game is the game I will be attending. The stars are aligned for an upset in SEC. Night game for the underdog. Former cooridinator taking own his former boss and pupil. Tebow is still not right after his concussion. I can almost guarantee this will be closer than it should be.

Later

The Wedding Crashers (BCS Style)

Wedding Crashers, what a fabulous, funny movie. Two guys crashing weddings for the free food, drinks and try to meet women. No one knows who they are and they make up names and careers and seemily belong at a the huge party. The same can be said for the BCS Busters as some people call them. I like to think of these schools as the Wedding Crashers. Know of the major conferences want these schools to share in the pie and the spotlight of the major bowls games. The BCS is totally suppose to keep these schools out. However, we have seen that the schools can play with the so call big boys and they have beaten them as well. Ask Alabama and Oklahoma how if the so called mid-majors can hang. This yeear I have three teams that can not only crash the BCS party but have a chance to knock of one of the SEC, Big 12 or Pac-10 best (Sorry Big-10 but Ohio State and every other team that has gone to the Rose Bowl norally gets thrashed therefore you cannot be considered a super major conference:)


Boise State
Vince Vaughn's character is confident crahser of the group. You can tell he thought of crashing the weddings.These are the Boise State Broncos They have been a top program for the past few years. Chris Petersen and his team took out Adrian Peterson and Bob Stoops in the Fiesta Bowla few years ago, in what many have called one of the greatest bowl games ever played. The Broncos had an eventful start to the year by knocking off a ranked Oregon and having one of their players punched by a Duck. All of their toughest games in the WAC will be on the road which means their team will be battle tested, especially when playing on a nuetral field. They have already beaten Tulsa and if they get past this weekend against Hawii, it should be smooth sailing for them. Kellen Moore leads the nation in passing efficinecy as a sophomore, along with a three-headed monster rushing attack that keeps this team well-balanced. The problem is that no of the pollster respect Boise State to bump them into the title game even if they do go undefeated. They get punished because of their conference is weak. I know this school is capable of pulling off another stunner and could possible win a championship.

TCU


John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) was the successful attorney in the film who rode his buddy coattaails. This aptly describes TCU. The Horned Frogs playing in the Mountain West conference have to live up to legacy of what the Utah Utes have done. Utah manhandled Bama in the Sugar Bowl. Now TCU has this opportunity to represent the conference. Its only fitting that their toughest games are upcoming. They play BYU tomorrow in Provo and still have Utah and a tough Wyoming team at home. What makes this TCU team different from past contenders in the past is their offense is much improved. They have always had a stellar defense but this year they can light up the scoreboard. They are scoring a healthy 33 points a game and they are averaging more yards on the ground this year since 2000 (when LaDainian was in school). I just cant see TCU making through the rest of their schedule undefeated. That Utah game will be tough, their biggest advantage in that is that it is a home game. Going undefeated will only get them to the Sugar Bowl, not the national championship game.

Cincinnati









Walken character, Secrectary of Treasury William Cleary as the Bearcats, you might ask why. If you remember he was thought of as a potential presidential candidate. Think of Bearcats as a big school in a conference that gets no love. No one respects the Big East and to that effect Cincy. Most people don't know who the coach of the team is (Brian Kelly). Their starting qb and semi-Heisman candidate Tony Pike wasn't even on the depth chart last year. But this team is loaded with studs all over the field. Gilyard is the best receivers in the country but Pike just doesn't focus on him, he throws it all over the field. Again the pollster look at the Bearcats as a cute team in a cute conference. They probably won't get the chance to have a Disney ending to their season because no sees them as a mainstay. In the state of Ohio in the last few years, the Bearcats have arguably been the best team in the state.

Someday the system will be perfect and maybe just maybe there will be a playoff. The only way that will happen is whenone of the Wedding Crasher's wins a National Title and then big boys and pollster will take them seriously. But for now all we can do is laugh when the party is hijacked and the crasher steals the bride's day.

Closer Than It Should Have Been

Florida,Alabama and Texas all three teams played in games that shouldn't have been nail biters but were. The interesting part about all games is that each teams revealed flaws on how they can be beaten.

Florida struggling with Arkansas showed me two things:1. Florida does not have the explosive receivers on the outside that they had last year. Tebow does not have a Percy Harvin or Chris baker to get the ball to that puts pressure on teams defensive secondary. They have a pet play where they throw the ball down the seam to the tight end Hernandez that can be defended if you have a big safety.
2. The Gators running game is Tebow. Even though Moody, Demps and James have big-time yards per carry stats, the tough yards and main part of the running game is TT (Tim Tebow). What the University of Tennessee did was sent their stud safety and assigned him to Tebow. The way to beat the Gators is to make Tebow run and shut him down. Its tough to down because he is very strong, but if you have the athletes on defense a team can pull off the upset.


Alabama has a great defense and a terrific and Heisman caliber running back in Mark Ingram, however they have and will continue to struggle with their passing game. Although they are undefeated, Saban and his guys have been relying completely on Ingram to get them through their last few games. Mcelroy has not been able to get the ball down the field to receivers or tight-ends. You are going to see teams load up the box and dare them to throw the ball.

Texas can be summed up simply with these words, YOUR STARTING QB CANNOT LEAD YOUR TEAM IN RUSHING!!! There is no way this team can continue to win if McCoy is the best back they have. They are getting absolutely nothing from the running game. The worse part about the Spread Offense is that teams aren't running the ball effectively in it. Texas is just not getting any yards from their backs. The other part is that McCoy and the Texas offense has started slowly in all their games. They just look out of synch. Texas is going to go undefeated this season. The game within the BCS is when you lose a game, not who you lose to.

Later this week the "Wedding Crashers of the BCS"

Weekly List

Apologies for not posting for a few days I was under the weather so here is my weekly list

What The HEAVEN Happened

Ohio St., Nebraska and Kansas

OSU thought they could just waltz into West Lafayette and knock around Purdue. They left with another mind-boggling loss. The problem with this team over the last few years is the conservative play-calling of Head Coach Jim Tressel. He makes it clear that he settles for field goals and field position instead of trying to go for the jugular against teams. In this game, their passing attack look confused and Pryor was not comfortable. Its clear to me that top recruit Pryor is better at running the football than passing it. What's also clear is that he is not being developed as a passer. Ohio St. has failed against most top ranked teams outside of its conference. Tressel recruits to win the Big Ten, not championships. The problem is his grace period has run out from his last championship. The vultures are circling and I'm not sure how much longer he can survive.

Nebraska was feeling great about itself after scoring 27 unanswered points against Mizzou in the rain. Fans were calling for the Defense to get their famed "Blackshirts" back. Not going to happen this week and it should happen for the rest of this year. The Cornhuskers got blasted at home by Texas Tech. This is no disrespect to the Red Raiders but the Huskers should have controlled this game if their defense was as a good as they thought they were. They were down 21 points to a backup qb. Pelini was so beside himself that he benched his starting qb. What made matters worse for the Huskers is that Kansas loss to Colorado.

Kansas was ranked in the top 15 and their qb Reising was getting a little Heisman pub. There is no way this team deserves to be in the top 15. Take a look at their schedule to start the season: Northern Colorado, UTEP, Duke, Southern Miss, and Iowa St. A bunch of below average teams and just b/c they blew them out they get ranked high. In the past 5 years there has not been a more overrated team than the Kansas Jayhawk football team. They go into Boulder and are down 21 to a true-freshman qb who played less than 2, count them 2 quarters of Division-1 football. This was a game they should have easily won but KU "What H$%& Happened?"

Limbaugh, McDaniels and other items

So Rush Limbaugh was removed from the group that has interest in buying the Rams. Like no one saw that one coming. Checketts is a pretty smart guy and used the media to try and gauge the fan reaction and what they got was an uproar from players and a few owners. Although Limbaugh is a polarizing individual, should that keep him from being an owner? No. The sad part is he was never even given the opportunity to go through the whole process. Checketts brought him in because of his money, not his political views. As previously stated, I dont agree with everything he says but he should be afforded a fair opportunity to be an owner. If all men are created equal, Rush was not treated very fairly during this whole process and that's not the America I know.



Another fascinating fact to this story is how a few players actually took a political stance on something. My generation has grown up without athletes being politcally active. The closest has been Charles Barkley and his on and off again flirtation with being the govenor of Alabama. Bart Scott of the NY Jets and Mathias Kiwanuka of the NY Giants (Pictured on the left) both said they wouldn't play for the Rams if Limbaugh bought them. Their opinions as well as the players union head speaking out against Limbaugh is truly amazing to me. Most guys will give you all the cliches because they are afraid to speak their minds. Given todays intense media coverage, and TMZ world, guys give the same cookie cutter answer because they are afraid to be blasted 24/7 on ESPN or the web. Jackie Robinson, Jim Brown, Tommy Smith have to be proud of these guys for showing some kind of substance.









Josh McDaniels


Josh McDaniels and his Denver Broncos are 5-0 and boy is everyone starting to tout him as a really good head coach. He is becomaing a media darling, making his rounds on all the national shows and everyone is praising his work. I'm still a skeptic considering his rough offseason and who they have played. Also one person is not getting enough credit for the Broncos turnaround and that is Mike Nolan, the defensive coordinator ( more on him in a minute).

McDaniels started his job by running out the franchise QB, and alienating the franchise receiver. He came into the Bronco orginization acting like Bill Belichek, but he hadn't won anything!! This is what I know, when he was faced with adversity with Jay Cutler, instead of bringing him in to try and talk it out, McDaniels acted smug like qb's are a dime a dozen. Granted both parties could have acted a little more mature but McDaiels is the coach and should have been more forthcoming with Jay about what he wanted from him, not try and trade him behind his back. What I notice from all of Belichek's disciple's is how all of them appear very smug when speaking to the press or in interviews. Bill can do those thing because he won the championships. When things start to go sour we will really see what type of coach McDaniels is.

The real reason why the Broncos are 5-0 is the stellar play on defense. Mike Nolan brought in the 3-4 style and those guys are back to being the "Orange Crush". Nolan has always been a great defensive coach. His Ravens, and Niners teams were either at the top or in the top half of the league in most defenseive catergories. His problems as a head coach was drafting Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers while in San Francisco. Nolan found out regardless of how good your defense is, you have to score points to survive in that league. The Broncos defense will really take off once they get more 3-4 guys in their scheme. I like Mike Nolan and I hope he succeeds despite people overlooking his work.

Good Guy Of The Week:

Every week I am going to post a good guy or girl in sports. Good people doing good in the community. First up, Tony Dungy.

Coach Dungy has prided himself on doing the Lord's work and doing it the Lord''s way even by coaching. Coach Dungy has a prison ministry that he started in Tampa and Indianapolis. He was appointed to the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation in 2007. He also has written two great books "Quiet Strength", "You Can Do It" (which is a children's book) and "Uncommon" all of which has been on the New York Best Seller's list. Dungy is one those guys that just makes you feel good about life. Here's to you Coach Dungy.

Florida vs. LSU

This is the big game of the night. Tebow is medically cleared to play two weeks after getting a concussion. (More on Tebow later) LSU has won their last 32 night games at home. The thing about this game is that LSU is horrible on offense in the red zone and their defense is not that great as in years past. If they make mistakes early this game could be over quickly. Something has to give tonight. Hopefully Tebow is healthy and isnt feeling pressured to play. Concussions are serious injuries and if one those defenders get a clean shot on him it could be lights out again. Im just hoping for a close exciting football game.

CFB and Playoff Baseball

Early Nominations:

"What the HEAVEN Happened"
Georgia, Kansas, Auburn

Cruise Control:
Penn St, Va. Tech, Texas

Tougher than it should have been:
Houston, Oklahoma St., South Carolina

Ole Miss can upset Bama if they create turnovers from Bama's first year starter, Greg McEilroy. Bama's d is tough but Ple Miss has the athelete's to pull off a stunner. Houston Nutt loves this underdog role and his team will be ready.

Looking forward to the Cardinals-Dodgers tonite. Coming off that horrendous loss in L.A., the Cards are trying to avoid the sweep. That said, being in the deficiet could have been avoided by two key plays. 1. Colby Rasmus cannot make the 1st out at 3rd base in the 7th after the Cards took the leave, 2. Tony La Russa should have had another reliever (John Smoltz) warming up as soon as Franklin got into trouble. That game was a must-win and its not showing confidence in Franklin by bringing in Smoltz, its showing your team how important it is to not be down 0-2. I appreciate LaRussa's ;oyalty but sometimes that can put your team in the worst possible situation.

Any other nominations?

Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh is part of a group with Dave Checketts who are interested in purchasing the St. Louis Rams. A big deal is being made of Limbaugh's political view and how the league might not want him as an owner. The league owners are a bunch of guys that have "old money" and they all probably have a lot of the same political belief as Limbaugh so accepting him in that regard would not be that much of a problem. I guess most people feel that since most of the players are black that they wouldnt want a owner who made controversial statements about Donovan McNabb. Mark Cuban, Jerry Jones, Al David, George Steinbrenner (when he ran the Yankees) all said or did something that rubbed people the wrong way that hasn't prevented them from beings owners. Its not about the things you say or your political beliefs that should determine whether or not you can own a franchise. The only thing that should matter is if you have the capital and understand how to put the right people in place to make your franchise competitive. Limbaugh is not and would not be the lead owner, Checketts would be. But the more the press makes this about his views on politics, they will make this deal very difficult for Goddell.

Tie-breaker

Fantastic finish in the tie-breaker game. Twins defeat the Tigers to come back from 7 down to win the division. What I find interesting is that the Yankees chose to play on Wednesday and not Thurdays and take the extra day of rest. It works to their advantage because theTwins went into extras and now have to play 18 hours later. Whoever starts for the Twins will have to go at least 7 innings just to get their bullpen a rest.

What a great time of year this is. Playoff baseball, Pro and college football and basketball will be starting up. Speaking of CFB, here are somethings I will be talking about as the seasons progresses:
"What the H@%& happened" list of teams that lost games they shouldn't have for inexplicable reasons (examples FSU losing to USF, Houston to UTEP, with a cakewalk into a BCS game they completely layed an egg in El Paso and lost to a team that scored just 7 points the week prior)
"Cruise Control" Teams who have an easy game
"Tougher than It Should Have Been" (examples Va Tech just hanging on to beat Duke. How do you hold Miami with a Heisman candidate at the qb position to less than 20 pts and nearly escape a school that is known for medicine and basketball!!) Hokie nation hang your head in shame.

That's all for now

The First...

So this is where we can talk all sports, voice opinions, laugh argue, disagree but most importantly enjoy the beauty of all sports. Just keep it clean and respect others. With that said let's begin....

The MNF showdown is pretty entertaining. Like him or not, Brett Favre still has a rocket in his arm. He came in this game with a point to prove and is doing so. However, this is not the game I was looking forward to. The real test will be in Lambeau on a cold Sunday in Nov. Its easy for him to play this game in the climate controlled dome. But all the memories and emotions will really come out at that game. Now for the next 48 hours the media will gush on how great Favre is and forget about the selfishness and arrogance of him over the past three years. In his press conference, he will probably downplay the game But know this is and ALWAYS was about beating Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy and to a certain extent Aaron Rodgers. Favre never wanted to see anyone replace him. What he wanted was for the Packers to wait patiently for him every year while he thought about if he wanted to play or not. He has always been cold towards Rodgers, never really wanting him as a teammate. In a career full of great plays and dramatic finishes, the last part of his career will be remembered for the toying of media and fans emotions and the pure disdain he had for Ted Thompson. There is no doubt he can still play, I just wish he would have shown more class in this situation.

In other news:
Bobby Bowden needs to go. I love him and he did great things for Florida State. But the time has come to clean house and that includes OC Jimbo Fisher who runs the same five plays every week. The Noles are undisciplined, uninspiried and not organized when they have lined up the last two week. Reports are saying that Fisher is handcuffed and would make different calls on both sides of the ball but can't. If the sideline is this chaotic then changes need to be made from the top done. Just pitiful from a coaching standpoint.