Always the horses, seldom the jockey...
Daily Commentary on the Dallas Sports Scene - By Bob Sturm - Sportsradio 1310, The Ticket - The Athletic Dallas - The Athletic - Bob Sturm
Mike Bacsik has been writing periodic baseball blogs here for the last little bit. He is a wealth of knowledge and is quite a resource. This particular entry was inspired by a reader email over the weekend. Check it out:
For all the baseball guys that don’t quite understand certain terms when it comes to baseball, I’m here to try to help. First pitching terms: When a commentator refers to a pitcher as a control pitcher it usually means 2 things. The pitcher throws strikes with multiple pitches and he doesn’t throw hard. The word command is similar but has nothing to do with the speed the pitcher throws. John Smoltz had great command of his fastball. He threw in the upper 90’s. Trevor Hoffman has great command of his changeup. Cliff Lee commands the strike zone with multiple pitches. These words (control/command) can be interchangeable but have a little different meaning.
Another one I get is what’s the difference between a curve ball and slider? Players like to use the clock to describe a pitchers breaking ball because a lot of times there is very little difference between a pitchers curve or slider. Also, most pitchers throw one or the other, not both. Back to the clock, a true curve ball has a 12 to 6 break (think of numbers on a clock). A slider from a lefty is going to be a 2 to 8 breaking ball. Opposite for a righty it will be a 10 to 4 breaking ball. This helps out hitters in the back of the order. It is the leadoff hitter’s job if he makes an out to describe to other hitters on the bench and the hitting coach how the ball is breaking. If the hitter says his breaking ball is flat, that means it has no depth to it and is a 9 to 3 or 3 to 9 breaking ball. In general curve balls are usually thrown slower than sliders. If a pitcher is more than 10 mph off his fastball than it is usually a curve. Less than 10 it is usually a slider but you can’t put everybody in the same box with that speed chart.
Sometimes you’ll hear a player say, he has good life on his fastball. Life means both speed and movement. This is WAY more important than just speed. Have you ever asked yourself, how did a guy like Tommy Hunter get so many swing and misses on his fastball tonight and in the same game Feliz throwing 8 mph harder to the same hitters get hit so hard? It’s because the starter had life on his fastball tonight and Feliz didn’t. (This might not be the best example but hopefully you get it)
The question of why didn’t that guy throw an off-speed pitch in that situation or how come he can’t throw a changeup are very common questions I get when someone really wants to break down a game. The simple answer I usually give is because he can’t. Pitching is different from any other position in all of sports. You only have so many throws in a day. Usually you can play catch for 10 to 15 minutes in a day during the season. For starting pitchers they get bullpen work on the 2nd day after they pitch. That bullpen will be anywhere from 40 to 60 pitches. Anything over 60 and your arm might not recover for your next start. Relievers rarely get any bullpen work because they have to be ready everyday. Think about other sports. If you want to become a 3 point shooter you can shoot up to 1000 shots in one day. Quarterbacks can throw for an hour straight and come back in the afternoon and have another throwing session. Hitters in baseball can take hundreds of swings in a day. A pitcher is limited in his work to develop his game. You will always spend most your time working on your fastball. That is always your best pitch. Also, you don’t want to get beat with your 3rd or 4th best pitch. A great question pitching coaches and catchers should ask there pitchers in spring training are what your go to fastball is, and what is your go to off-speed pitch? This way when a big situation comes up the catcher knows what your strengths are. If you go away from that the pitching coach can ask why did you throw that pitch because you told me your bread and butter was this not that. So the simple answer to how come he doesn’t throw that is because he can’t.
That’s enough on this topic. If you have any other baseball questions email Bob and he’ll email them to me. Next blog I’ll write about what a pitching coach says to pitchers when they visit the mound. Go Rangers!
This is new to the casual Rangers fan but we are getting close to making sure your options are available for your playoff roster. A player MUST be on the Major League roster before Sept. 1 or that player will not be available for the playoffs. I don’t want this to be confusing because baseball rules can become very confusing.
A team’s playoff roster is 25 guys. Usually 4 starting pitchers (the 4th starter might be your long man and not start a game), 7 relievers, and 14 position players. If you are on the MLB DL on Aug. 31 you are eligible to be on the playoff roster. That means guys like Kinsler, Guzman, Holland, and Treanor are all eligible to be on the playoff roster. But, let’s say Trainer is ready to come back on August 20. The Rangers will either keep Treanor on the DL until the rosters expand on September 1 or they will activate Treanor and DL Teagarden. The reason being, you don’t want to option Teagarden down because if you recall him on Sept. 1 he is not eligible for the playoff roster. Make sense?
Lets take an example: If for some reason the Rangers lose both catchers on Sept. 25th and neither can play the rest of the way the Rangers can petition MLB to let them have a catcher on their playoff roster that wasn’t on the team on August 31 because the team can’t win a playoff series without a catcher. Almost every time MLB will allow the team an exception to the rule.
But what if a pitcher like Tanner Sheppers comes up on September 3rd and pitches in 10 games and gives up no runs and dominates every hitter he faces? In almost every case the Rangers wouldn’t be able to have Sheppers on the active playoff roster. Even if a guy like Feliz gets hurt, MLB will tell the Rangers that you have Holland, Nippert, and your fifth starter that can be on your roster. Pitchers that come up on September 1 will rarely become eligible for a playoff roster.
Another question Rangers fans might have is, what if a guy like Adam Dunn clears waivers and the Rangers trade for him on Sept. 2 because Vladdy gets hurt? Adam Dunn would not be eligible for the playoffs no matter what. Even though he was an active Major Leaguer on August 31st he wasn’t on the Rangers active roster on August 31st.
On September 1st the active rosters will go from 25 to 40. Most teams in a playoff race will expand their roster from 32 to 34 guys. Just try to remember who came off the DL and who came up from the minors. If Chris Davis is recalled in September he is not eligible to be on the playoff roster. Pedro Strop was just called up. If the Rangers believe he could be option for the playoffs they will DL him instead of optioning him down to OKC. Last note: you can change your 25 man roster from series to series but not game to game. Lets hope all Ranger fans will know these rules as the years go by. Go Rangers!
I hear a lot of media and fans saying how big this series is with the Angels and can’t understand why the players won’t just admit how important every series the rest of the way against the Angels are. There’s a reason and good one.
If a team builds up a series as a bigger than all of the rest, then what happens next? Do you relax against your next opponent because that series doesn’t mean as much? What if you get swept in the big series? Do you lose confidence that you’re not the best team in the division? How do you get up for the next big series and how long down the road is that series?
The players know who they are playing and what it means. You could see it after the 3-2 win against the Angels in the high five line. And the players can feel the energy in the crowd that this isn’t the Cleveland Indians they are playing. But in a 162 game season you can’t build up a July series as a division clincher or a catastrophic changing series. There is a magic number of wins to win the division, but it doesn’t matter who you beat as long as you get to that number. Sure, beating the Angels, Red Sox, and Yankees feels better than beating the Orioles and Royals but they all count the same. Ian Kinsler said it best a few days ago “We beat the Angels last year but they won the division by 8 games.”
As fans it’s great to build up games as bigger than they are because that is what we do. The Rangers sales staff is paid to build up the “important series” more than the “just another team” series. But players must be careful of this because they have to fight the feeling that this game or series is more important because that leaves you with 65 games left to play and you’re looking for that next high. Baseball is the most important sport not to get to high when things are going good and not to hang your head when things are looking bad.
The football mentality can mess up our baseball brain. Football is the ultimate fan sport. Every game means so much. Six games in and you have an idea if your team can or can’t make the playoffs. Hell, there are only 10 games left. I remember talking to one of my strength coaches who had also been a strength coach for the Colts. I asked him if NFL players took uppers (Rip Fuel, Greenys) before a game. He said only once did a player do it and he couldn’t play in the game because the drug made him to hyper and he had to go to the hospital. He also told me the locker room before a NFL game is scary. There are literally a couple dozen players in there going crazy, throwing up, hitting things, hitting each other, the adrenalin before a NFL game is nothing like a MLB game. Guys are taking little naps, playing cards a couple hours before the game, watching TV, watching film. It was awesome hearing him talk about the energy of a NFL locker-room but there’s no way you could create that atmosphere 162 out of 184 days. And yes, some baseball players try to create that high by taking uppers but not that many now because of testing.
That is why it is so important to have some players who have been through the pennant races. The young players really want to build up this series or that series as the big one. We are all fans at heart, but the more you get up for the Angels or Yankees the lower your energy and focus will be for the Orioles and Royals. It is a battle to fool yourself that this isn’t the end of the world or mission accomplished because we beat the Angels 3 out of 4 but it is necessary if you want to be a winner. This Rangers team looks like a winner and I’m glad that the players are trying to look at this series as just another one in July that we’re going to win.
I was stunned the other night when Chris Davis got a standing ovation from the Rangers crowd. He was batting .354 in triple-A, but where it matters he was batting .188 in 48 at bats with no homers and a .264 on base percentage. Yet, the fans at the ballpark craved for more Chris Davis? The positive side of this is the Rangers fans. Not many places in America would a liability to a team get a standing ovation upon his return to the team unless he had just overcome a major injury or a disease. What the fans did was nice, but this was the worst thing for the fragile confidence of Chris Davis.
Just to put into perspective how bad Chris Davis has been are his stats compared to the worst hitters in baseball, pitchers. Pitchers this year are batting .131 with an OBP of .162. So Davis would be an awesome hitting pitcher with a .186 batting average and a .266 OBP (before the Detroit series). Unfortunately 1st base is where Chris Davis has to be compared and this is scary bad because on average 1st basemen are batting .271 with a .356 OBP. Davis is closer to hitting like Cliff Lee rather than Derek Lee, and Derek Lee is having a bad year.
Back to the standing ovation and why it was bad. Chris Davis can’t handle the pressure of the big leagues. Plain and simple, you can’t bat consistently over .300 in the minors and sub .200 in the bigs. There is a difference from Triple-A to the Majors but not .150 BA point difference. Davis needs to feel nobody cares because he cares way too much. Example: When you look at a player at the free throw line in basketball in the closing seconds of the game and they show a close-up of his face, can’t you see it in his eyes whether he wants to shoot the free throws or not? It’s the only time in basketball you can’t pass up the shot and in baseball you can’t pass your bat to someone who wants the challenge of beating a major league pitcher. Its not that a player doesn’t want to win, it’s just the fear of failure that gets in the way of success. Davis’ problem isn’t talent or he would hit in the low .200’s in the minors. It’s his head and when he doesn’t get the job done it hurts him to the point of giving up. Not giving up and quitting the game but giving up in the sense of mentally believing you can’t do it or just hoping you do it, rather than feeling the pitcher got lucky and I’m getting that S.O.B. the next at bat. When you cheer Davis for no reason, he now not only lets down himself and his teammates but the 20+ thousand people at the game. Then he starts thinking about his friends and family watching, because being from Longview most of these people are watching all his games.
How do I know? Who are you Bacsik? Unfortunately I went through these same pains in 2003 and those demons in your head that make everything bigger than they are. You think about how you are letting down so many people. You start looking at other guys and hoping to find somebody as bad or worse than you to make you feel you’re not the only person who sucks this bad. I remember subconsciously being happy I got sent down in 2003. Don’t get me wrong, Davis wants to be in the Major Leagues, but he doesn’t want the pressure that comes with it.
Truly the best thing that could have happened to Chris was to get traded to Seattle in the Cliff Lee trade. He needs to get away from home and Longview is close enough to feel like home. The Rangers are in a pennant race and this doesn’t help Chris either. Think about last year and when Davis looked like he was turning the corner; it was after the Rangers had fallen out of a serious playoff race. His BA went up 20 points from Sept.24 to the end of the season, .218 to .238. This will sound a little harsh but he needs to stop caring so much about his friends, family, teammates, and fans. You play for yourself.
Think of the movie ‘”Up in the Air” with George Clooney. He tells his audience at a conference to leave that backpack behind with all that baggage. It’s too much for one person to carry. Davis has way too much luggage at the plate to be successful and the Rangers will likely have to carry him all the way to the playoffs. Also, I recently heard Davis say “I don’t care if I go 0-4 as long as we win the game.” It sounds good on the surface but Davis is telling me he is in “give-up mode” on himself. I will praise him for his great defense. He doesn’t take his at bats to the field. I just hope Chris Davis realizes his career is on the line the next two and a half months. The Rangers making the playoffs does not make him a great player.
Every organization in baseball knows Chris has the talent and more time in minors at this point won’t help. He has proven he is a great Triple-A player. Now every team is starting to believe he can’t handle the Major Leagues. I hope he turns it around. All indications are that he is a great person on and off the field and nobody wants to see him be more successful than the Rangers fans. His next at bat at home I just ask you lightly clap.
C.J. Wilson has been great this year. He’s 7-5 with 3.35 ERA. You couldn’t have asked for more from a pitcher who hasn’t started since 2005. Now come the dog days of summer and nobody feels the dog days more than pitchers who are racking up innings.
If you have been a starting pitcher your whole career, or at least the last few years, you know how your body reacts to 30 innings a month. You’ll start to feel a little something in your shoulder or bicep or elbow. As you are sitting around doing nothing, which most pitchers do, you ask yourself, “is that a normal pain? How long has that bump been there? Does it hurt when I do this or that?” All these questions are self evaluations of “can I pitch with this ailment or is this just dead arm?”
As time goes on you know when you’re having “dead arm”. Dead arm is when nothing is wrong with your arm it just feels heavy and like it is moving in slow motion. Every pitcher gets it, and you start to have an idea about how long it takes for that feeling to go away. For me, it was usually 10 days. How do you handle dead arm? Do you throw less or more? More long toss or no long toss? Everyone is different. You just have to find what works for you. So what does this have to do this Wilson?
Before the season started I was concerned with moving C.J. into the rotation. He was a very good reliever last year. C.J was also a high pitch count and high energy level guy on the mound as a reliever. It didn’t seem to translate to a starters mind set. But C.J pitched great in Spring Training and earned his spot in the rotation. That wasn’t easy, but it was the easiest part of this season for him. His body and arm was at peak performance February through May. As this season has gone along, C.J keeps throwing a little slower each time. He is now throwing 86-88 mph’s and topping off at 90. In April he was pitching at 89-92 and topping off at 95. That’s a very different pitcher. It doesn’t mean he can’t win but it means there is less room for error.
Look at the difference in innings pitched from this year to the previous 5 seasons. 113 innings right now might not seem like a lot but there is a rule with prospects that teams follow. The Rule: A pitcher can only throw 120% more innings then he threw in the previous season. This is why Tanner Sheppers pitched in the bullpen the first two months of the season. They needed to keep his total innings pitched down this year because he didn’t throw a lot of innings last year in independent ball/fall league. Simple math, C.J threw 73.2 innings last year. Multiply that times 120% and you get 88.1 innings. We are already 25 innings past the max! Why the rule? Studies show that if pitchers throw more than 120% of the innings pitched in a season, the next year they have a high likelihood of sustaining a major arm injury. Wilson isn’t a prospect and is a free agent at the end of the year. Organizations tend not to “baby” players they don’t have to. The Rangers, at this time, have no further investment in him.
C.J. has proven this rule wrong last year because at 46.1 innings pitched in ’08, he was able to throw more than 120% (55.2), by throwing 73.2 innings pitched in ’09 and so far this year he isn’t hurt. My concern for him is the start of August. Wilson got the all-star break for his arm to hopefully bounce back, but after about 3 starts I can see where the ultimate fatigue might set in. Can C.J fight through it and give the Rangers 70 to 80 more quality innings? Will he go back to not only having fastball command but above average fastball speed?
It also doesn’t help that Ron Washington put him behind Lee in the rotation. Why back to back lefties? Ron had the break to split them up. When (not if) the Rangers make the playoffs, where will Wilson be in the playoff rotation? If he isn’t in the top 3 (Lee, Lewis, Hunter), do you move him back to the bullpen for the playoffs to give you 2 lefties with Oliver and Wilson? Time will tell and let’s hope it is a tough decision for Ron on how to setup his playoff pitching staff.
First, I want to give a big thanks to Bob for allowing me to use his blog to post my thoughts. Now onto Cliff Lee and the playoff run.
Thank God the Rangers traded for Cliff Lee, because in DFW it slowed down “The Decision” LeBron brought upon the sports nation. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on Twitter and hearing on The Ticket Friday afternoon when the Rangers had STOLEN away Cliff Lee from the New York Yankees. I wanted details. The first trade I saw involved Justin Smoak, Derek Holland and 2 prospects. Honestly, I didn’t like that deal. It was way too much to give up for a 3 month “rent an ace.” About 15 minutes later I turn on MLB Network to see that Holland wasn’t in the deal and Blake Beavan was the main pitching prospect leaving. With that one swap of players I went from not liking the deal to liking it, but I didn’t LOVE the deal. Smoak WILL BE an all-star 1st baseman. Peter Gammons said he is the next Chipper Jones at the plate. That is high praise and if he reaches that potential then this trade could be looked at differently in a few years. Holland will be a 10 to 15 game winner the next 10 years of his career. I’m glad Texas was able to keep Lefty and let him become part of the future rotation.
Cliff Lee is one of the 5 best pitchers in the game, (Halladay, Lincecum, CC, Jimenez) and I can’t recall the Rangers having one of those since Fergie Jenkins in 1974. (25-12, 2.82 ERA, 29 CGs!) With Texas in 1st place this trade was a kill shot to the LA Angels. Yet the Angels won’t die easy. In fact if LA is within 5 games two weeks from now, I expect them to make a trade for an Adam Dunn or Prince Fielder. I still don’t believe that will be enough to catch Texas.
When you have an ace it takes the pressure off a lot of people on your team. First, the other starters won’t be forced to pitch into the 7th or 8th inning if they are getting tired. Because every fifth day Lee should give the Rangers an average of 8 innings. Secondly, giving the bullpen a day off (and this bullpen needs some rest) is huge in August and September. Third, less middle relief is a good thing. The Rangers can pitch O’Day or Ogando in the 6th in a tie game or just down a run instead of Nippert or Harrison, in the games Lee isn’t starting. Side Note: I can remember my former pitching coach, Carl Willis, telling me a story about Brad Radke. Radke was quoted as saying “a quality start is when Carl Willis doesn’t have to pitch.”
For the hitters, they need to believe if they do their job the team will win. Players know how important pitching is, but they look at pitchers similar to how football players look at kickers and punters. Obviously Cliff Lee doesn’t make the lineup better but he can hide weaknesses in the lineup if you’re winning games 2-1 or 3-2. Yes, I’m calling out the 1st base and Catcher positions.
This is a “now trade” because it’s hard for me to see Cliff Lee being a Ranger in 2011. From the Texas standpoint this trade will have a final grade at the end of the season. My grade will be this:
C: Rangers don’t make the playoffs (Took a good risk.) B: Make the playoffs but lose in round 1, the Rangers might have made it without the trade. A: Win a playoff series (this is where Cliff would take a team that couldn’t get there without him.) A+: Make it to the World Series…..Winning it is way above an A+
The Rangers have a tough second half of the season, 12 with the Angels, 7 against Boston, and 5 against the Yanks. Not to mention the Twins and Rays. But when the Rangers get to the playoffs they have an ace that can lead a team with no playoff experience (except Vlad) to an early 1-0 series lead. It will be up to Lewis, Wilson, and Hunter, I assume, to get the ball back to Lee to close out a short series. At least that’s the plan on paper. Winning a seven game series usually takes more than 1 pitcher.
Now if the Rangers can sign Cliff Lee in the off-season then this trade is an A no matter what happens. But the starting bid will be 5 for $100 million. That probably won’t get him because it will be a low offer considering what lefty starters (Santana, Zito, and CC) have received recently. Does Texas want him bad enough to offer a 5 year deal worth $125 mill? It’s not my money, and we have no clue today whose money it will be, but if you want an ace you have to pay. The Yankees still might outbid, but $25 million a year is more than enough to make it a hard decision to leave Texas. I’m not looking forward to the day that Lee signs somewhere else, but for now CLIFF LEE IS A RANGER!
Welcome to Super Bowl XLIII, as Tampa is back in the mix for the first time since Super Bowl XXXV, when Ray Lewis and the Ravens knocked those New York Giants around the ball yard.
I have never spent any time in this city, so I don’t really have my bearings, but the truth is this: In any of these Super Bowl cities, we spend 80% of our time in the same convention centers that every city has. I am not here to complain, but the truth is we could be in Jacksonville, Detroit, San Diego, or Tampa, and chances are we will still be in a large convention hall surrounded by dozens of other radio stations who will all do as we do: blab on and on about whatever.
It is what it is…It is fun, it is repetitive. It is the Super Bowl.
So, on an airplane that had Norm Hitzges, Gil Brandt, Michael Irvin (followed by Barry Horn who was covering Irvin sitting on an airplane having a bag of peanuts – he said it went very well, to the shock of us all), and our old pals Ben and Skin, we had enough radio blowhards to fill a city.
They fell behind by 31 points in the second quarter and played such uninspired basketball that a national ABC audience had to be switching to the Winter X Games before halftime. Or maybe a televised chess match, which would have been more gripping.
The Mavericks looked as if they were content to take a 2-2 trip back home. They won a tight game at Philadelphia to start the journey a week ago and had a huge win at Detroit.
The other two stops might as well be wiped from their memory. They lost by a combined 58 points at Milwaukee and Boston.
"I don't think they're 40 points better than us," said Dirk Nowitzki. "We have to chalk this one up to a bad game. But that's this league – you win some big games, and you have some disappointing losses."
The Mavericks arrived for the afternoon game with no staying power. They trailed, 15-14, with 4:44 left in the first quarter, then got outscored, 12-0. The Celtics' lead never dropped below 10 and topped out at 84-49.
"We wanted to go undefeated," Jason Terry said of the road trip, "but that's two games where we didn't follow the game plan, and if we're going to be a good team, we can't let that happen."
Defensively, the Mavericks were poor. Combined with an uncanny shooting game by the Celtics, particularly in the first half, it was an ugly scene.
The Celtics shot 65 percent in the half, including 8-of-9 from the field by Ray Allen, who had 20 points in the half and 23 for the game. Kevin Garnett and Eddie House also had 23.
"I wasn't happy with the defense," coach Rick Carlisle said. "When the shots weren't going early, it affected us defensively, and we've got to fight against that. It's disappointing, but you learn from it and take something from it."
Mike Bacsik is back with more:
Will the Mavs finish in LAST place?
Last place in the NBA isn't the worst record. Last place in the NBA is the team with the best record not to make the playoffs. There can be some exceptions, like 2 years ago when the Hornets just missed the playoffs in Chris Paul's 2nd year. They were building a winner and the arrow was pointing up. The worst record will get a pick in the top 4. And if there is only one constant in sports, it is that a NBA championship is won by superstars, not 5 pretty good players. A top pick can land a team a superstar. The last pick(14th) in the lottery won't.
The 2008-09 Dallas Mavericks look like they will be the 9th place team in the West. Do you believe this Mavs team will get better or worse after the all-star break? All indications point towards a Dallas Cowboys December collapse for these Mavs in March and April. The problem with just being bad enough to miss the playoffs but good enough to beat the doormats is that you usually can't get better through your draft pick. The Mavs will most likely have the 14th pick. What has the 14th pick produced the last 5 years? '04 Kris Humphries, '05 Rashad McCants. '06 Ronnie Brewer, '07 Al Thornton, '08 Anthony Randolph. No all-stars, no true difference makers and the end of the lottery.
The Mavs have very little to look forward to. There is no young star ready to emerge on this roster. The Thunder have Durant, Green, and Westbrook. The Grizzlies have Mayo, Gay and Conley. The 1st pick this year will get the stud from OU, Blake Griffin. The Mavs are one of the older teams in the NBA. Kidd, Terry, Dirk, Damp are all over 30. Howard is 28 and is regressing on the court. Not to mention his off the court problems in the past. The other players on the Mavs could be replaced without anybody noticing a difference in team success or failure.
Everybody who looking forward to the 2010 free agency period, stop dreaming! Why would a top free agent want to come to a team with an ageing star in Dirk, no solid role players, an organization that has never won a championship, and no draft pick in 2010 to help? Mark Cuban has said he never wants the Mavs to be a middle of the road team. He doesn't want a team that hangs around the 40 win mark and has no future of winning a championship or no way to win the lottery and get the next Duncan or Shaq. Cuban now has a team that is middle of the road, a team that will fight for 8th place in the West after finishing 7th last year. He has an old team with no young studs. Will Mark Cuban stay true to his word and drastically change this team or will he spin the truth and sell a bad product like the other Dallas high priced owner/bad parole officer does?
Eleven Hall of Fame quarterbacks have combined to win 23 of the 42 Super Bowls. Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana won four apiece, Troy Aikman three and John Elway, Bob Griese, Bart Starr and Roger Staubach two.
Historically, if you win two Super Bowls you can book passage to Canton. Only two quarterbacks who have won multi-Super Bowls are not enshrined – Tom Brady, who is not yet eligible, and Jim Plunkett.
Kurt Warner could join that group of multi-Super Bowl winners Sunday, when his Arizona Cardinals play the Pittsburgh Steelers. He won his first Super Bowl as quarterback of the St. Louis Rams after the 1999 season.
Brady will one day be enshrined, but there's no guarantee with Plunkett. He re-invented himself with the Raiders in winning those two Super Bowls. But he never even went to a Pro Bowl in his 16-year career.
Warner twice has been the best quarterback in the league, winning NFL MVP honors in 1999 and 2001 with the Rams. That alone makes him a Hall of Fame candidate. The path Warner has taken to championships would enhance both his legacy and candidacy.
Warner took the worst NFL franchise of the 1990s to a Super Bowl in 1999 and the worst franchise in NFL history to a Super Bowl this season.
The Rams owned a 45-99 record in the 1990s with six last-place finishes when Warner became the quarterback in 1999. St. Louis won it all that year.
The Cardinals won only two playoff games and two NFL titles in the first 87 years of franchise history. No team had a longer championship drought than the Cardinals at 60 years. This franchise hadn't won a playoff game since 1998 or a division title since 1975. Thanks to Warner, Arizona finds itself playing for an NFL title Sunday.
This morning, I watched the Senior Bowl, finally. I will leave it to the National Football Post to cover it fully ...But, Harrell did not look the part...
The play of QB Pat White is going to force scouts to take a closer look at him as a quarterback. He isn’t your prototypical pocket passer, but he creates plays on the move and has the arm strength to make all the throws. The kid wants to play QB at the next level, and I think the team that drafts him will need to force White to prove he isn’t an NFL-caliber signal caller before they move him to WR. He’s the type of athlete that can add a throwing dimension to the “wildcat” formations of the NFL.
The other quarterbacks had their moments, but Texas Tech product Graham Harrell really struggled. He lacks arm strength and seems to be a bit scheme limited at the next level. However, don’t count him out by any stretch. If he finds the right kind of offense (west coast scheme), I believe he can not only play, but will play well at the next level.
Small schools quarterbacks Nathan Brown and Rhett Bomar ran hot and cold, but there’s definite potential there. Bomar has a big arm and is a good athlete, but concerns about his accuracy linger. He has never completed more the 59 percent of his passes in a college year and needs to improve his timing in the short-area passing game. Brown, on the other hand, simply needs time to adjust to the next level. He was the only QB all week to consistently stick the deep out and displays the timing and anticipation skills to make scouts wonder just how high his ceiling is. He’s only 6-1 and has a lower than ideal release, and his passes wobble a bit down the field, but he flashes NFL-caliber talent. Brown intrigues me and would definitely be worth a mid-round pick to see how far he can develop.
With the sport of boxing and the U.S. economy both taking a beating, HBO is shifting its strategy and relocating many of its big fights from pay-per-view (PPV) to its network.
HBO Sports chief Ross Greenburg hopes the move to make more top-tier fights available to HBO customers will infuse some life into the sport.
"The sport needs more eyeballs," he says. "It's ironic, but while in bad times you'd expect the sport to suffer, it could actually trigger the opposite effect."
In 2008, HBO Pay Per View offered eight events, bringing in $190 million in revenue based on 3.7 million buys.
But as the economy worsened, buy rates began to drop. Even midsize events that were projected at 300,000 buys were dipping below 200,000. A big December fight between PPV king Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao did garner nearly 1.3 million buys, but sponsor rebates may have padded that figure.
HBO's shift means satellite and cable providers will have fewer pay-per-view boxing events in 2009. The network probably won't do its first PPV bout until May, a proposed fight between fan-favorites Ricky Hatton and Pacquiao. By May of last year, HBO had already done four events.
"It's tough to get people excited about dishing out 50 bucks every month in this economy," Greenburg says. "Everyone overreached in 2008; there were too many pay-per-view events."
The first example of HBO's strategy is its World Championship Boxing airing of the Jan. 24 bout between "Sugar" Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito, which Greenburg says would have absolutely been on PPV last year.
Email of the Weekend (from one of the great emailers of this blog’s history)
Bob,
By signing on with the new Irvin-produced American Football Idol, Jerry Jones has completed his metamorphosis into P.T. Barnum presiding over the three-ring circus that is the Dallas Cowboys. Seriously, what does Ringling Brothers have that the Cowboys don’t? We’ve got clowns, fat men, strong men, a red-headed geek, a guy who can catch 6 footballs at once. And now we’ll have Michael Irvin and Dieon Sanders bringing their big bag of distraction and “look at me” attitude to a Cowboy training camp that is already chock full of distractions and “look at me” attitudes.
Once again, you only have to ask ‘What would New England do?’ to know whether this is a good idea or not. Would New England sign up with this show? No, of course not, especially if the Patriots were coming off as disastrous and distraction-filled a season as Dallas, which of course they would never experience because they are New England and don’t permit distractions.
Dave in Tulsa
Speaking of Irvin, a Super Bowl classic from Detroit:
The joy of the Mavericks’ exhilarating victory in Philadelphia was extinguished by a blizzard of 3-pointers, long 2-pointers and a few dunks Wednesday night as the Bucks treated the basket like an arcade game.
If this had been the State Fair of Texas, the Milwaukee shooters would have left Fair Park with a truckload of stuffed animals.
The Bucks made 83.3 percent of their shots in the second quarter and followed it with 73.7 percent in the third. In the fourth quarter, well, by then, it didn’t matter.
The second game of the road trip was a disaster for the Mavericks, who were pummeled by the Bucks 133-99.
The Mavericks were hoping their dramatic victory over the 76ers on Monday on a last-second shot by Dirk Nowitzki would give them momentum. Instead, the Bucks handed them their worst loss of the season.
"I’ve very disappointed and I’m sure the team is, too," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "The momentum carried in the first quarter and then after the first, it was bad. There’s not much else to say. I’m extremely disappointed."
The Mavericks had a decent start, leading 30-22 after the first quarter. Despite having a sore wrist and ankle, Josh Howard seemed back to his old self, scoring 12 points in the first period. The Mavericks also limited the Bucks to 29.2 percent from the field.
In the second period, however, the Bucks erupted. Michael Redd, one of the top shooters in the league, missed all three of his field goals in the first period, but went 4-for-4 in the second.
And reserve guard Ramon Sessions hit all six of his attempts and had 17 points in the period as the Bucks scored 42 points, which is a season high by a Dallas opponent.
Charlie Villanueva led the Bucks with 32 points, Redd finished with 27 and Sessions had 21.
"It’s just embarrassing," Dirk Nowitzki said. "It was no defense at all. They got whatever they wanted — wide-open shots, drives, layups."
And now, making his “Bob’s Blog” debut, is the great Mike Bacsik. He is part major-league baseball player, part Mavericks fan. And, I have offered him a forum anytime he wants it to write about his Mavs without filter to this audience (for whatever that is worth).
So, today, Mike tackles the Diop trade:
Minor Trade for MAJOR Mistake
Last Friday the Mavs traded away DeSagana Diop to the BobCats for two spare parts, Matt Carroll and Ryan Hollins. Can Carroll and Hollins help? Yes, but not enough to decide an outcome of a game. First let me rant about the worst free agent signing in the NBA this off-season. Then I will get to the two players the Mavericks acquired.
Diop is a career backup Center at best. The MAJOR mistake by the Mavs was to use their entire Mid-Level Exception(MLE) 5 years $32 million on a guy who's best numbers in his career are 3 points and 5.4 rebounds a game. I don't think anybody thought at the end of the 2008 season the Mavs biggest need was a backup Center with no offensive game. Diop was traded last year in the Harris-Kidd trade to New Jersey. The Nets didn't even have a Center on their roster.(Mavs got both of N.J. Centers, Magloire and Malik Allen) Diop was so bad for the Nets that after a few games he couldn't get off the bench. But because Gana was on the 2006 NBA Finals team Cuban and Donnie had to have him back. Now, what has been one of the biggest needs for the Mavs in the last 5 years? A Shooting Guard/Wing Player. Who was available in free agentcy? C.J Miles, Matt Barnes, Michael Pietrus, J.R Smith, and James Posey all signed for the same amount or less with their current team. Now compare those guys with Matt Carroll and you see how bad the Mavs screwed up.
On to what the Mavs got for Diop. Matt Carroll has a nice 3 point shot. Unfortunately that is all he has. He is a catch and shoot white boy. A comparable player for Mavs fans would be Tim Legler. These guys have a place in the NBA but they are not difference makers. Why did the Mavs want him? Because he makes less money then Diop. Plain and simple. Carroll is owed $21.4 million over the next 5 years. Diop 5 years at $32 million. In the 2010-11 season Carroll will make $4.3 compared to Diop's $6.5. It's not much but I guess every penny helps if the Mavs are to pry away a top free agent that year.(Don't count on it) The other player the Mavs acquired is 7 foot center Ryan Hollins. Honestly I knew very little of him. So I went to see what his draft card said 2 years ago from Chad Ford of ESPN. Chad Ford says "He's long and athletic and he can block shots. He's been an underachiever at UCLA, but if he ever gets it, he could be good. He has potential to be a pro if he has time to develop, but it will take a lot of work. He's really a major project for a team to invest in, reminiscent a bit of Loren Woods of the Toronto Raptors." He is insurance on a Mavs team that only has one other center, Dampier. Hollins contract expires after this season.
This will go down as a nothing trade. Two teams getting rid of trash they didn't want anymore. What shouldn't be forgotten is, when the Mavs needed the MLE to fill a huge hole, they got nothing. It's sad to think over the last 3 years a few of the right moves and the Mavs would still be a top 5 team. Now in July of 2009 you can look forward to David Stern saying "With the 14th pick in the 2009 NBA draft the Dallas Mavericks select _____." Not all because of Diop, but his signing is one of the major problems this year.
If Mark Cuban's team continues to slide as Nowitzki continues to age, moving the former MVP could become a legitimate option. Nowitzki agrees, pointing to the departures of former teammates and close friends Steve Nash and Michael Finley. "When Nashy left and Fin left, some guys said they would never trade me and I'm untouchable," Nowitzki told NBA.com. "I said, 'Screw that.' If they can get Kobe tomorrow or Shaq in his prime five or six years ago, you've got to be stupid not to do it.
"Whatever Cuban wants to do, he's running the show, it's his franchise, he spends a lot of money every year on us, and if they can get better by getting rid of me and want somebody else, have a shot at a franchise player, then just go right ahead." Nowitzki's tone was hardly defiant. He just laid out his thoughts in a matter-of-fact chat after a recent Dallas home game. Nowitzki's contract expires in 2011, though he can opt-out after next season and join the blockbuster 2010 class. Europe's greatest NBA export is not actively looking to leave Dallas. But the precedents set by a pair of 7-footers who took their former franchises as far as they could go makes the concept, at the very least, viable.
I'd imagine the Mavs' annual trip to Milwaukee causes some grumbling around those parts. After all, the draft-day Dirk deal ranks right up there with the most lopsided trades in recent NBA history.
If the Mavs traded Robert "Tractor" Traylor straight up for Pat Garrity, the Bucks still would have been on the bad end of the deal. But Garrity was just a throw-in with the big German.
Dirk has developed into the best European ever to play in the NBA. Traylor has developed into a tub of goo who lasted a grand total of two seasons with the Bucks and started all of 73 games in his NBA career, which he tried to resuscitate by playing for the Cavaliers' summer league team last year.
Just for giggles, let's compare the career stats of Dirk and Tractor Traylor:
"I think leadership sometimes comes with your ability to perform and your personality," Romo said in a telephone interview Wednesday night. "And some of it comes with experience. In a lot of ways, I think I've gotten to the point where I've gained experience.
"I'm definitely going to take a more active approach with that as we move forward from last year to this season. I'll be very excited to get back out there and be with the guys and figure out a way to improve and get better and do the things we need to do to win. Period."
=== "I think this was definitely the most trying physical year I've had in my athletic career," Romo said. "Sometimes you have to go through that, and if you do go through something like that, you can be stronger."
Romo did not want to talk about his relationship with Terrell Owens, joking, "Haven't we been through that already?" or his practice performance, which sources questioned late in the season.
However, Romo has said he treats practices like games in order to be ready for any situation that might arise when things are for real, and his coaches have never questioned his work in practice.
"I promise you," Romo said, "this football team is going to be a good football team next year."
Big night for the Stars, as they get a much needed win in Florida. I think any of us watching it were not terribly optimistic as we hit the first intermission and the Stars looked like they were not going to finish anywhere but last in this two team battle. They had no energy, and they had no real intention of competing.
Well, as usual, this team that came out of the gates sleep walking sprung to life without any warning and that left all of us (including Razor) wondering if the teams had switched uniforms during the break.
The “compete” level in the Stars really was apparent in the final 40 minutes, and it was nice to see the best players playing well. Brad Richards was really good; Modano scored another of those crazy “no angle” goals – he has scored from that very spot at least 100 times, but each time it looks like he has no angle.
A few other notable items to discuss from the night in Florida include Matt Niskanen’s fighting career which might not lead to a career in the octagon when he is done with hockey.
Full marks for courage, the results need improvement for the sake of his body.
His 1st fight in 08-09 – that ugly night in Boston with Sherriff Hnidy
His 2nd fight in 2008-09 – Stillman with a strong punch to the kisser
Meanwhile, the headlines today screamed about another hat trick for the Stars this one was the very first in the career of the great Mike Ribeiro. Ribeiro actually scored the natural hat trick with his empty netter last night, and has to love the taste in his mouth as he hits the all-star break.
The hat trick tied the team record for the Stars, as they now have 5: Brunnstrom, Parrish, Eriksson, Neal, and now Ribs. 5 also was achieved in 1998 and 2004, so the Stars have nearly 40 games to get magical #6.
That, of course, led to this email from a fan:
Hey Bob,
There seems to be an abundance of hat tricks this year for the Stars. This can't be normal, but since I'm biased and really only focus on Stars hockey, maybe it is. Though being the genius sports mind and celebrity that you are, what is the record for the most number of hat tricks a team has had in a single season? Surely the Stars have to be creeping up on that???
P1 Dan
Thanks, Dan, although your use of the word celebrity is both reckless and ridiculous. But, to his question of whether the Stars are creeping up on the record for hat tricks in a season….uh…No.
Year Player, Team HT 1981-82 Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton 10 1983-84 Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton 10 1980-81 Mike Bossy, NY Islanders 9 1988-89 Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh 9 1991-92 Brett Hull, St. Louis 8 1917-18 Joe Malone, Montreal 7 1970-71 Phil Esposito, Boston 7 1975-76 Rick Martin, Buffalo 7 1992-93 Alexander Mogilny, Buffalo 7
And then this:
MOST CAREER HAT TRICKS ALL-TIME
Player HT Wayne Gretzky 50 Mario Lemieux 40 Mike Bossy 39 Brett Hull 33 Phil Esposito 32
That is right. 50 hat tricks. 50. Just 49 more Ribs.
