Ah, summer time rolls around again and the 2004 baseball All-Star game from Minute Maid Park has concluded. Another year of the greatest accumulation of players who have put up fantastic numbers in the first half of the season. You got I-Rod catching; he leads the majors in average. You got the Hall of Fame outfield for the NL (until Griffey got injured), Clemens making the start for the NL team, and good old Jason Giambi making the start at first for the AL. All is well, or is it?
Often times, football fans refer to their sport as the sport with no off-season. Sure, there is that treacherous seven month period in which fans will not seen a pass thrown or a hit made, but will see much activity in between seasons, both in college and pro. In college, this period is used for the recruiting battle in which schools all over the nation run over scouting reports, meet with new players etc. just hoping that their program will be the right fit for the star they are trying to attract. But for those of us who do not hold a high position in the sport, we are left to use this period to analyze, speculate, and argue about who is who in the nation, and who has the best opportunity to make it big the next season. Fans and media alike all have their opinions as to who belongs in the top 25 heading into the 2004 season. Below you will find my rendition as to who belongs where in the college scene heading into 2004.
Mister Payne gives his thoughts on the early summer NBA moves. Topics discussed include:
The Lakers
Tracy McGrady
Carlos Boozer
The Nuggets
Payne’s Power Rankings
While any Raiders fan should be pleased with Oakland’s house cleaning this offseason, they should also be plenty worried about coaching, age, quality and defensive scheme.
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Fantasy Baseball Surprises
Who would have thought Carlos Delgado, fantasy stud, would be having such a terrible year? Not me, that’s for sure! In fact, he’s killing me but I am too afraid to drop his butt in hopes that he will be traded to the Dodgers in the coming weeks. Carlos is just one of many players whose trade could impact the fanatsy landscape and cause you to swim to the upper echelons of your fantasy league.
Here are ten players who will make or break your fantasy team this second half….
I do not track these statistics, but if I were a betting man (and I am), I would wager that the percentage of calls into WEEI that cry for Red Sox manager Terry Francona’s head to be put on a chopping block is somewhere around 10-15%. He might be the most unpopular Red Sox manager since, well…. Grady Little. The more things change…
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An ode to Griffey
A player seemingly blessed with unlimited potential has struggled and persevered through his entire career. Battling the injury bug he climbed his way to the top list of baseball’s elite smacking his 500th home run of his lustrous career with the Cincinnati Reds. A journey through pain, suffering, losing, and winning has brought him this far, and he thought it was finally over. Not yet.
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Offseason Talking Points
Every now and then during the offseason something will happen or some thought will enter my head that allows me a few pleasant moments to ponder the upcoming NFL season. If I’m lucky, they’ll even allow me to start up a conversation.
Here is a list of a few of them.
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Time to Go
Sometimes NFL players just don’t know when to call it quits. If only they’d think to ask me.
So here’s a list of a few formerly elite RBs in need of a trip to the glue factory, and a couple more I think will be in a similar position within the next three years.
We were treated to quite a show on Monday night during the Home Run Derby. Miguel Tejada, the smallest guy in the competition, blew everyone out of the water. In the second round, Tejada had 15 home runs. This mark set the all-time record for most home runs ever in a single round. This record seems to be broken almost every year. In an era where it is becoming increasingly easier to hit a home run, records tumble every season. It’s only a matter of time before Bonds passes Hank Aaron’s all-time mark. 80 home runs? 200 RBIs? It may not be long before these seemingly unattainable numbers are achieved during a single season.