The most underrated baseball player ever?

More than any other sport, baseball is a game known for numbers. Whether it is Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak, a 20 win season, or a .400 batting average, history looks at players based on their statistics. I never saw Pete Rose play, but I know he is the all-time hits leader (with 4,256 of them). I never saw Cy Young pitch, but I know he is the career wins leader (511).
Since I look for anything to do that involves sports whenever I have free time, I was playing a game on sporcle.com (which is actually a really great site where you can quiz yourself on anything from sports to science or geography) and I took a quiz to try to name every member of the 500 home run club. Members of this club can officially be considered some of the best power hitters in the game. After that, I tried the quiz to name every member of the 3,000 hit club, which is the other prestigious club that only the best hitters are a part of. When I finished, I was surprised to see some of the names that were missing.
Guys like Babe Ruth, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams are considered some of the best to ever play the game, but none of them had 3,000 hits. So I looked into which players were members of both the 500 home run club and the 3,000 hit club, and found that there were only four players that are members of both clubs. One of them is the man that many people consider the greatest all-around player in the history of the game, Willie Mays. The second is one of the best hitters ever, Hank Aaron (who was definitely helped by the fact that he played for seemingly 350 years). The third was Rafael Palmeiro. I saw Palmeiro play, and he was a great player, but I was a bit surprised to see him mentioned in this category. The fourth player, however, I would have never guessed if you gave me all the time in the world to try. It was Eddie Murray.
I remember the end of Murray's career, but for the most part, I didn't get to see him play much. I knew of him as "pretty good," but I never realized just how great he actually was. A look at Eddie Murray's career is like looking at a player that has done just about everything as a major league baseball player. Murray finished his career with 3,255 hits and 504 home runs. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 1977, made eight All-Star teams, won three Gold Glove Awards at first base, and won a World Series in 1983 with the Baltimore Orioles. His 1,917 career RBI are the most all-time among switch hitters, and he hit a home run from both the left side of the plate and the right side of the plate 11 times (which was a record when he retired, but has since been surpassed by Mark Teixeira). One of the few things he never did was win an MVP award, and I think this just helps to underscore the fact that he is so underrated.
His nickname was "Steady Eddie" and I think that is the perfect description of him. Murray was never in trouble off the field, and he was never out in public looking for the spotlight like Pete Rose or Babe Ruth. Following his retirement in 1997, Murray made a donation to the Baltimore City Parks & Recreation Department that allowed for the creation of the Carrie Murray Nature Center (named after Eddie's mother). During his Hall of Fame induction speech, he even remembered to thank his little league coach and made sure to acknowledge the hundreds of Baltimore area little leaguers that had come to watch his induction ceremony. Of course, he also remembered to give the kids personally autographed baseball bats, balls, and Hall of Fame programs. He also served as a hitting coach for the Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Dodgers after he retired. His #33 jersey was retired by the Orioles in 1998.
There are many athletes that are talented at what they do, but there are sadly a lot that also do not handle the spotlight well. Guys who go about their business in a professional manner are the ones that should really be appreciated. However, because these guys don't seek the spotlight, they are overlooked far too much. With some deeper digging though, we can find athletes in the latter category, and some of them, like Eddie Murray, may be some of the best athletes to ever play the game.

Daily Rangers Update: The second period is coming to a close in Game 2, and the Capitals are winning 2-1. They have been much better than Game 1, and the Rangers need to get more going on the offensive end of the ice. There is still plenty of time left to get 2 goals though and win this game. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: Patrick Corbin was impressive today making his major league debut, pitching into the 6th inning and getting the win. He even dropped down two great bunts, one of which he turned into an error that put him on base. The offense came from all around, and Justin Upton hit his second home run of the year in a 9-5 win. Next it's off to the nation's capital for three games with the Nationals, who have been great during the first month of the year. Trevor Cahill and Jordan Zimmerman will be on the mound tomorrow.
Daily Giants Update: It seems more and more like Osi Umenyiora will not be back. He came out today and publicly said that he was not satisfied with his contract, although he has done that every offseason for the past few years and has not gone anywhere, so we will have to wait and see what happens.

A dark beginning to the NBA Playoffs

Back in December when the NBA lockout ended, I said something that it seems other people are starting to realize as well now. I hadn't started writing this blog yet so I guess there isn't any proof that I actually did, but I really did! I said that the NBA pushed this new collective bargaining agreement through without getting all their details figured out, and that the league would pay down the line.
Christmas is the biggest day of the NBA regular season as far as television goes. The league gets to broadcast every big market in the league throughout the course of the entire day. Families spend the day together, and I would guess that the basketball games are on at some point during most Christmas celebrations. People may not be sitting in front of the TV watching every second of every game, but I would bet that the televisions are tuned to ABC or ESPN for people to watch at various times during the day. After all, you can only watch "A Christmas Story" so many times before you need a break from Ralphie and the Bumpus' dogs.
As far as attendance at the games, places like Madison Square Garden and the Staples Center and the United Center will sell out, the celebrities will be out, and the cash will be flowing into the league offices. The fact that this season started on Christmas day was no coincidence. Both the league and the players knew that if there was no NBA on December 25th, everyone would be losing a lot of money. The two sides were far apart as the months went on, and when late December rolled around, it still seemed like a longshot that an agreement between the NBA and the Player's Association would be reached. However, as if the magic of the Christmas spirit became the mediator between the two sides, a deal just happened to be finalized in time to start the season on Christmas. I guess David Stern and Billy Hunter were behind on their Christmas shopping, because the deal getting finalized when it did was no coincidence. In deciding how the profits from the league would be split, the two sides could not agree. The one thing they could agree on though, was that having no profits on Christmas day would really hurt everyone at the negotiating table. So, as though Santa Claus gave us all a present on Christmas morning, we had basketball on December 25th.
I thought that the league would pay a few years down the line when this new CBA expired and we would be in the exact same position when that happened. Once again, the two sides would be light years apart in their negotiations, and we wouldn't get a full season because David Stern and Billy Hunter refused to give up basketball on December 25, 2011, even if it meant guaranteeing more of the same trouble in the future. What I didn't anticipate was the effects we would see by the time the playoffs rolled around.
Instead of a normal 82 game season spread out over about seven months (an average of about one game every 2.5 days), we got a condensed 66 game season that took about four months (an average of about one game every 1.8 days). Now that may not seem like a big difference, but by the beginning of April, it was obvious that the difference was huge. Players were getting injured more frequently, and consequently, they were playing less. It started with minor injuries or just off-days for some older players like Tim Duncan and Paul Pierce (among many others). Coaches wanted their teams to be rested when the playoffs rolled around, and from the perspective of the coaches, that is very understandable. Once they are guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, they want their team to be at full strength. However, towards the end of the season, it became somewhat ridiculous in some circumstances. On April 24, two of the marquee teams in the league, the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics, played a game in which LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, and Ray Allen all sat out. No offense to JaJuan Johnson and Dexter Pittman, but the fans don't watch the NBA to see those guys play. The fans want to see all of those guys that didn't dress for the game.
Now the fans still choose to buy their tickets knowing that because of the shortened schedule they might not see some superstars, but the point to be made from this is that the compacted season had an obvious impct on the basketball we saw on the court. Any slight bump or bruise meant a player would sit for a game or two. The teams wanted to take no chances that their stars would injure themselves playing in the third game, in three nights, in three cities. While some freaks of nature like LeBron James and Kevin Durant could go the entire season without injury because of their supreme talent and conditioning, that was not the case with most of the league.
Despite that, the league wasn't drastically changed due to any of this. The teams we thought would be good were good, and the teams we thought would be bad were bad. However, within the past two weeks, that has changed. Dwight Howard announced not long ago that he needed to have surgery on his back and would miss the rest of the season. With him gone, the Orlando Magic probably have no legitimate shot to win the Eastern Conference. Kobe Bryant has been bothered by a shin injury that seems more serious than originally thought, and without him the Lakers chances to win the Western Conference are greatly diminished (although if Andrew Bynum dominates like he did today for the next month that might not be the case). The Celtics stars are still not fully healthy, as Ray Allen will miss Game 1 tonight against the Hawks. The Spurs seem to be staving off injury despite the age of some of their stars, but we can't be sure that will be the case for the entire postseason.
However, the biggest loss of all occurred yesterday in Chicago. Derrick Rose had been banged up the entire year, but he was on the court for Game 1. With about a minute and a half to go, Rose took the ball to the basket, took off, came down while hardly being touched, said he heard a pop, and went down grabbing his knee. For anyone that is a fan of football, that can only mean one thing, and that thing is not good. Rose tore his ACL, and the Bulls can only cross their fingers that he will be back in time to start next season. As he went down, the chances of the number one seeded team in the Eastern Conference to win a title may have went as well. The Bulls played surprisingly well without Rose during the regular season, but in the postseason you don't get games with the Raptors or the Bobcats. The teams are better, the games are closer, and you need to be at your best every night you take the court. The Bulls will not be at full strength now, and the feeling around Chicago is that the Bulls may already be done as far as a championship run goes despite the fact that they are up 1-0 in their first round series.
On the same day only a few hours later, Iman Shumpert of the Knicks went down with the exact same injury. Now he is by no means close to the level of Derrick Rose, and the Knicks weren't going to win anything if they were at full strength or not, but he still suffered a serious injury. Ricky Rubio, one of the brightest young stars in the league on an exciting young Minnesota Timberwolves team, also suffered a torn ACL earlier this year.
Now if this were the NFL, it wouldn't sound out of the ordinary because of the physical nature of football. But this is the NBA. Players don't go down with torn ACL's very often, and yet within the last four months three teams have lost their best point guards to the same injury. Just like I do not believe the collective bargaining agreement being finalized at the time it was was a coincidence, I don't think these injuries can be a coincidence either. More games in less time means more injuries, and the NBA is learning that the hard way. I knew that the way the CBA was reached would come back to bite the league eventually, I just didn't think it would be at the expense of the health of some of the best players in the league. We should be talking about what is great about the NBA right now, but a black cloud has already covered the skies over the playoffs. On December 25th, we were able to see some of the best the game has to offer. But now, when the games matter most, we won't see some of those players and it's a shame that that has to be the case.

Daily Rangers Update: Game 2 will be tomorrow night. A win tomorrow means we can go back to Washington with a chance to win once on the road and end the series in five games. That can't happen if we lose tomorrow though, so that needs to be taken care of first. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: The bullpen couldn't hold the lead last night and the Marlins walked off with a 3-2 win. This afternoon was much better though. Wade Miley was sensational, and has now beaten the Marlins and the Phillies in the first two starts of his career. And as if that isn't enough, more young and talented pitching is on the way, as Patrick Corbin makes his major league debut tomorrow in the final game of the series with Miami. It seemed like only a matter of time before Josh Collmenter lost his rotation spot, and the time has come. We'll see how Corbin looks tomorrow, I'm excited to see him finally get his shot.
Daily Giants Update: No undrafted free agent signings yet, but there will be some soon. Now, it's not likely that any of them will make an instant impact, but you never know. The team is starting to take shape so we will know how it all looks sooner rather than later.

Thoughts on the NFL Draft

The Indianapolis Colts just officially ended the NFL Draft exactly the way they started it; by taking a quarterback. Andrew Luck went first, and Chandler Harnish went last. I've got my money on Luck working out better, but at least Harnish earns the title of "Mr. Irrelevant," even if he never does actually play an NFL game. First I'll give you my thoughts on the Giants draft, and then just some general thoughts...

Round 1 - David Wilson (RB, Virginia Tech) - Doug Martin went one spot before our pick, and I would have loved to have been able to get Martin. Wilson is supposed to be a tough runner who can get yards up the middle, which is exactly what we need following the departure of Brandon Jacobs. He's not too great in the passing game out of the backfield, but supposedly has great intangibles, a great work ethic, and puts the team first. He should get a shot at a lot of carries, and between Bradshaw, Ware, and Wilson, I think our running game can be good as long as everyone stays healthy.
Round 2 - Rueben Randle (WR, LSU) - This seems to be the pride of the draft according to the front office. Supposedly they wanted to take him in the first round, but were able to get him in the second round. I don't know if that is particularly a good thing because that means no one else thought that highly of him, but he sounds pretty good. Big guy with big hands. He sounds a lot like Hakeem Nicks, and there is nothing wrong with that. I think this will allow us to move Victor Cruz into the slot sometimes and give Eli plenty of options in the passing game. I like this pick.
Round 3 - Jayron Hosley (CB, Virginia Tech) - He's small, has good hands, and has room to improve as far as tackling goes. Sounds like a nickel corner. Aaron Ross is gone, but with Terrell Thomas coming back from an injury, as well as Corey Webster and Prince Amukamura firmly entrenched above him on the depth chart, Hosley will not need to come in and play right away. I doubt he will ever be a top-flight cornerback, but we don't need him to be(at least right now). This pick sounds pretty good.
Round 4 - Adrien Robinson (TE, Cincinnati) - Big guy with good hands who can stretch the middle of the field, but needs to improve on his blocking. Depending on how long it takes Ballard and Beckum to get back from their injuries, Robinson might be the guy we need to make an instant impact. Martellus Bennett was signed, but I think Robinson will still probably get a lot of playing time if we open the year without Ballard and Beckum. He sounds like he might be pretty good, but once all of our tight ends are healthy, we'll get a true sense of if/how he fits in.
Round 5 - Brandon Mosley (OT, Auburn) - He has played all over the place on both sides of the ball throughout high school and college, so the word is that we will use him to fill in at either guard or tackle. He is strong but has a lot of room to improve because he has played so many positions. He also had academic problems in high school and college, which is not a good sign. He sounds like a bit of a project. Kevin Boothe started that way though and was a big part of our offensive line this season, so at best I think Mosley will be a serviceable starter, but that might be asking too much.
Round 6 - Matt McCants (OT, UAB) - I'm not too thrilled with this pick. He only played one year in high school, and he was suspended for the entire 2008 season in college. He is athletic for a big guy and the team wants to turn him into a right tackle, but this doesn't sound like a guy I want protecting Eli at this point. I'm not expecting much here.
Round 7 - Markus Kuhn (DT, NC State) - We are by no means deep and talented at defensive tackle, so I'm not surprised we took one. This guy isn't huge relative to the position and will need a lot of work. He will probably get a good look though because of our lack of good depth here, but it would still be a surprise to see him play much this season.

So, overall I think I would give this draft about a B- or a C+. We addressed the positions that we needed, but I don't think any of these guys will be stars. There is a reason that the defending champions get the last pick of each round though, so it isn't like we need instant impact superstars anyway. These guys will help fill out our depth chart, and at this point I think that is exactly what we need.

As far as the rest of the draft goes, I have to say that I really enjoyed the first round. Thanks to the new rookie wage cap and a shorter time limit in between picks, the first round was full of trades and action. It took half as much time as normal, which is a huge positive too.
One thing that definitely stood out to me was how well it seems the rest of the NFC East drafted. Dallas moved up to get Morris Claiborne, Philadelphia seemed to get some good value, and of course Washington got the Heisman Trophy winner. The division is going to be very tough next season. Other than that, let the undrafted free agent signings begin, and then minicamp won't be far behind that!

Daily Rangers Update: Madison Square Garden was rocking this afternoon, and the Rangers won 3-1 to take Game 1 of the series. Chris Kreider was great again and could not have gotten off to a better start with the team. Ruslan Fedotenko gave a spectacular effort when Washington had a 5-on-3 advantage in the second period, Brad Richards played well, Lundqvist made some big saves, and we got off to a good start. Game 2 will be Monday night. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: Joe Saunders was excellent last night, throwing a complete game, three-hit shutout. Miguel Montero had a big two-out hit, Aaron Hill hit a home run, and Jason Kubel continues to stay hot. We are in the top of the 5th inning tonight and up 2-0. The first inning got off to a great start offensively, but Anibal Sanchez has been very good since then. Ian Kennedy is putting on a textbook display of a tightrope walk. He has not had close to his best stuff, but there is still a 0 on the board and that is all that matters.
Daily Giants Update: None needed today, as I've already provided it. The only thing I need to add is that we are still the Super Bowl champs.

Finally a college football playoff?

After years and years of refusal, it seems like the powers-that-be in college football might finally be giving the fans what we have been clamoring for for so long. The BCS is one of the most polarizing topics in all of American sports. Some people love it, some people hate it, most want it to be tweaked at least a little bit, and everyone has an opinion on it.
In my opinion, the system usually does a pretty good job of selecting the best two teams to play for the national championship. Even though I would have liked to see Oklahoma State get a shot at LSU this past season, the two best teams in the country were probably Alabama and LSU. This year was abnormal because the two had already played once in the regular season, but they were still, at least in my opinion, the two best teams in the country. What made the game so unsatisfying was that Alabama lost in the regular season and then won the title game, and therefore were crowned as champions. I couldn't help but feel cheated by seeing two teams chosen by a computer as the two best in the country play one another for the title despite not having to go through a playoff system. If LSU and Alabama had to go through a playoff system and then squared off again for the title, it wouldn't have mattered that LSU won the first matchup. Alabama would have won legitimately by beating anyone in their way when it mattered most. Teams like Oklahoma State and Stanford would have had a shot at the title, and if they were beaten by Alabama and LSU, then the two teams would have truly earned their shot at a rematch for the national championship. What was so unsatisfying was the fact that Oklahoma State and Stanford never even had a chance to prove themselves against Alabama or LSU. Despite Alabama, Stanford, and Oklahoma State all having one loss at the end of the regular season, the Cowboys and the Cardinal got passed over because of the computer rankings, and instead we got a rematch of a game we had already seen.
It would be like giving the two teams with the best record from each sport a pass directly into the title game without them having to even go through a postseason. It allows for no margin of error at all in the regular season. Of the four major professional American sports, none of the defending champions were an overall #1 seed. The St. Louis Cardinals and New York Giants were wild card teams, and the Boston Bruins and Dallas Mavericks were #3 seeds. The Kentucky Wildcats were the overall #1 seed in NCAA basketball this past season and they won the title, but they had to go through a 68 team tournament, in which they came out on top. Therefore they proved, without question, that they were the best team in the country. The biggest problem with the BCS is that it leaves far too much room for doubt. Aside from the fact that the "non-automatic qualifying" conference teams have realistically no shot at playing for the title (sorry, Boise State), even top teams in top conferences don't all have legitimate chances to prove themselves.
The biggest reason that this playoff system has not been already implemented is money. The four BCS bowls (Rose, Orange, Fiesta, and Sugar), want the best teams they can get to play in their games, therefore optimizing their profit. The fact that there is now a BCS championship game, along with those four major bowls, was hard enough to implement. Now those four major bowls are guaranteed no chance of their games directly impacting the national championship. Add that to the fact that there now needs to be two extra teams included in the four major bowls (to make up for the two they lose to the BCS title game), and the profit made from those four games drops considerably.
What this newly proposed system will do can solve that problem though. The BCS championship game will still exist, but now those four major bowls will rotate as the hosts of semifinal game sites each year. One year, the Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl might be the site for the two semifinal games. The next year the two semifinal games would be played at the sites of the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl. These games would still feature the top teams in the country, but they would also now have a direct impact upon the national championship. If this past year Alabama had to play Oklahoma State in the Rose Bowl and Stanford had to play LSU in the Fiesta Bowl, the interest in the games would without question be higher, and the games would have produced much more money. Everyone involved would be better off. More teams would get a shot to play for the title, the bowls would make more money, and the fans would be happier and more satisfied at the end of the season.
I still think that there should be an eight team playoff instead of a four team system, but at least this is a good start. The best teams would get a legitimate shot at the title. The smaller bowls would still exist for the teams outside the top four (or eventually, hopefully, eight), so those schools and bowls could still make money as well. I don't see much of a downside to this new system. Detractors say that adding an extra game to the schedule would put the athletes in jeopardy, but there is already a break of almost one month between the regular season finale and the title game anyway, so there would be plenty of time to play an extra game and recover by the time the title game comes around.
It took far longer for these steps to finally be taken than it should have, but at least the wheels seem to be in motion for a start. As I said before, this new system will be better for everyone involved. The best part of the college basketball season is the tournament. While football could never have a tournament close to as big as the basketball tournament, and it wouldn't need to, some sort of playoff system would lead to a more satisfying end to each season, and it seems like we are headed in that direction, even if it is coming along at a snail's pace.

Daily Rangers Update: Game 7 last night was great. Exciting down to the end, a lot of great hockey, and most importantly, a win for the Rangers! Now it's on to the second round to face the Capitals. Game 1 is tomorrow at 3:00 at Madison Square Garden, so hopefully the momentum from last night carries right into the new series. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: The off-day yesterday seemed like a good thing. The offense has banged out 14 hits so far tonight in Miami and Joe Saunders has been brilliant. Three more outs to get and we start the road trip off with a win,
Daily Giants Update: We got David Wilson last night in the first round to bolster the depth at running back, and Rueben Randle tonight to bolster the depth at wide receiver. Doug Martin went one spot before Wilson, and I would have loved to have gotten Martin, but Wilson was graded pretty highly. Randle is big and we needed a wideout following Mario Manningham's departure. I still would like to see us get help along the offensive line, but there are still five rounds to go and Jerry Reese has a history of drafting well, so he has done more than enough to earn the benefit of the doubt.

Proof that we are all under the spell of the NFL

So tonight is the NFL Draft. It used to be a two-day weekend event, starting Saturday morning, going through the day, and then picking up again on Sunday to finish. Now, because that was such a big hit, it has become a prime time event. The first pick will be made in just over an hour, and we will see the first round tonight. Tomorrow night, we will get to see the second and third rounds, and then the fourth through seventh rounds on Saturday.
This isn't the Super Bowl. It isn't a regular season game. Heck, it's not even a preseason game. Yet, because it involves the NFL, it's a prime time event. Unless you are Mel Kiper Jr. or Todd McShay, you probably won't know most of the names being announced by the end of tomorrow night, but that doesn't even matter. What the draft is, is basically a list of young kids that will have a shot to make the team next season. Obviously, the top of the draft is full of guys that will be playing next year, but in two years, it's likely that about half of the players selected tonight won't be making much of an impact with the team that originally drafted them. For all the promise and great expectations placed upon these kids, the draft is many times remembered for failures more than successes. All the mock drafts and 40-yard dash times can't predict what will actually happen when these guys step on the field.
As I am writing this, some of the guys expected to be drafted early in the first round are walking into Radio City Music Hall on a red carpet surrounded by cameras. This is a perfect example of how the NFL can turn anything it wants into a spectacle that will be watched nationwide.
The NBA Draft is interesting for maybe half of the first round, and the NHL and MLB drafts are full of guys that won't even play for a few years. The NFL is a league of instant impacts though, and I think that plays a role in making the draft as big as it is. Players used to be drafted and then "groomed" for a season or two before they started to play regularly. Now, guys like Cam Newton and A.J. Green and many others have come into the league and made a huge impact right away. Some of these guys will be asked to play huge roles on their teams the minute they are drafted. Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III will have huge expectations placed on their shoulders as soon as training camp begins, and that is why so many people watch the draft. Instead of seeing your team select players that will make an impact a few years down the road, we are seeing instant stars that will be picked by teams tonight.
Another reason I think the draft is such a spectacle is that it involves all 32 teams. Any game on television involves two teams, but the draft is about the entire league. The Colts, who had a terrible year, are soon to be "on the clock" and they will have their moment in the sun when Andrew Luck walks across that stage and puts on a Colts hat. The same will happen with every other team in the league. No matter what their record was last year, they will be in the spotlight at some point in the next two days.
I have to say that I will be watching as much of the draft as I can, and a poll on ESPN.com from earlier today showed that most people throughout the country will be doing the same thing. Tomorrow morning, I could simply look at a list of the players drafted and I would know who was going to which team. Instead, we tune in to basically see nothing happen. We wait for the clock to tick down in between picks, we listen to Roger Goodell announce the next pick, and then the Jets and Eagles fans boo the player as they walk up on to the stage. The same thing happens every year, yet we still all watch. The NFL is the only sport that could make such a spectacle out of what is really a pretty boring event, but all of us watching it will just be more evidence of why the NFL can make even the simplest of things into a nationally televised, prime time event that we all can't wait to see.

Daily Rangers Update: The puck drops for Game 7 any minute now, and the season will end tonight for one of these two teams. Big name players step up in big games like this, so we better be hearing names like Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik tonight. Win and the season continues. Lose and we have to wait again until next fall. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: An off-day today is probably a good thing. Joe Saunders takes the mound tomorrow night against a Marlins team that has gotten off to a slow start. Saunders has been terrific so far this year, so hopefully that continues.
Daily Giants Update: We will be closing out the draft tonight (which is a good thing). I've seen a few more changes in projections. There are a lot of good offensive linemen available this year and we need help there, so I wouldn't be mad if we heard a name like Bobby Massie or Jonathan Martin called. Jerry Reese has proven that he is a master of drafting, so whoever we get I'm sure will work out.

The best commentator in all of sports

So Game 7 between the Capitals and the Bruins is heading into overtime and that is great news for hockey fans throughout the country. The game is tied, it could go either way, it has been competitive, physical, and fun to watch. What really makes this game, and most of the playoff games we have seen so far this postseason, great is Mike Emrick. Emrick is the number one play-by-play commentator for NBC, and in my opinion he is the best in the business.
Play-by-play commentary in each major sport is handled much differently. Hockey games are probably the "easiest" games to call. The action is non-stop, the games are fast-paced, and there is not much down time. Football games contain a lot of down time, and in a lot of ways, the color commentator is more important because he is breaking down replays, and giving the viewers a better picture of the game. The actual plays only last a few seconds, so the play-by-play guys aren't nearly as important. Of the four cable networks that do football games every week, I don't have a problem with any of the play-by-play guys. Al Michaels has been around the longest and I think he is the best of the bunch, but without a color commentator, football games would be much less interesting to watch on television.
Basketball is based a lot on color commentary as well, although the play-by-play guys do play bigger roles because the action is more continuous than football (except, of course, in the fourth quarter when all that happens is fouls and timeouts). Dick Vitale is a great color commentator in basketball because of his excitability, but he does nationally televised games and is so obviously biased towards the ACC that, in my mind, it takes away from his appeal sometimes.
Baseball is actually probably the hardest to call because there is so much down time throughout the course of a game. Add that to the fact that there are so many more games in a baseball season than in any other sport, and it is even tougher. There is a lot of back and forth between play-by-play and color commentators, so they need to be able to entertain as well as call the games. I am probably biased about this, but I really like the Diamondbacks announce team for that reason. Daron Sutton and Mark Grace both are former players, Sutton was a pitcher (not nearly as good as his father Don, but still a pitcher), and Grace was a first baseman. Therefore, as a team they can provide insight as far as offense, defense, and pitching is concerned. They are also very entertaining. Grace always had an outgoing personality as a player, and he and Sutton can always provide some laughs during the course of a game. The fact that baseball has so much down time also makes what Vin Scully does even more impressive. He works alone, and does the job of both the play-by-play and color commentator. He is an endless source of information, and I am always amazed when I watch a Dodgers game and listen to him how he is the last man left in the business to work alone and also the best in the business.
Anyway, my original point was that Mike Emrick is my favorite commentator to listen to. As the number one national television guy, Emrick calls games for numerous teams throughout the year. Despite this, he is always 100% into the game. Hockey is exciting enough because of the non-stop action, but Emrick makes it doubly so. You would never know if he were calling a game between the two best teams in the league or the two worst teams in the league. You would never know if the game was a blowout or if it were close. For the entire game, he seems to be on the edge of his seat while he does his job. When a shot rings off the post or a great save is made, Emrick makes you want to jump out of your seat with his calls. Ed Olczyk is the color commentator with Emrick, but you could really stick anyone next to him and Emrick would still make the game greater than it already is. He never misses a player's name or trips over his own words, and he makes me want to watch the full game, every game.
The NHL playoffs are great for many reasons, but I think one of the biggest reasons is that we get to hear Emrick call games almost every night. He is intense and into the games during the regular season, and he only gets better as the season goes on and the games get more important. It's too bad hockey games are on NBC Sports and a lot of people have never even heard of that channel, because if they did, they would be in for a treat every time they turned on a game. Emrick shows no bias at all towards any teams, and it seems like he is just excited to be watching hockey no matter the teams on the ice. Just listen to a Chicago White Sox game and hear the commentators outright root foor the White Sox on the air with no shame whatsoever and you will only appreciate Emrick even more. He loves what he does and he does it exceptionally well, and therefore he easily gets my vote as the top play-by-play commentator in all of sports.

Daily Rangers Update: Game 7 is tomorrow night. That's all that really needs to be said. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: We were completely shut down by Cole Hamels this afternoon, and the team still isn't playing too well. An off day tomorrow is followed by an east coast trip (which means early games that won't end at 1:00 in the morning!) to face the Marlins, Nationals, and Mets. Maybe a change of scenery will do something to wake the team up from this semi-slumber they seem to be in.
Daily Giants Update: Osi Umenyiora said that he wasn't too optimistic about remaining with the team, which was expected but it will still be tough to see him go because that seems inevitable now. With one year still left on his deal, hopefully Jerry Reese can pull off a trade and get some draft picks in return for Umenyiora to help bolster the depth that has taken a pretty big shot so far this offseason.

Not quite keeping the "Peace"

So the artist formerly known as Ron Artest, Metta World Peace, small forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, was just suspended seven games by the NBA for elbowing James Harden of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the head during a game this past weekend.
*By the way, for the sake of this writing, I will use his given name, Ron Artest, instead of Metta World Peace because I still cannot bring myself to continuously refer to him as that.
Over the weekend, Artest delivered what was definitely a brutal shot to the head of Harden, and a suspension was warranted. He claimed it was accidental, and I'm not sure whether or not to believe him because the whole thing looked very awkward. Either way, he will be out seven games (which will include playoff games), and the Lakers have to deal with that.
I like Artest. He plays the game hard, he works well as a piece with the Lakers because he doesn't need to score a lot, and he is still one of the best defensive players in the NBA. I try to give him the benefit of the doubt, and for the most part, I feel like a lot of people try to do the same thing. However, it seems like it is getting harder and harder to do so, and this suspension sure does not help matters.
Early in his career, he was known as a good player with an attitude problem. His ability overshadowed some of his problems, and that seemed to be the way it would be until 2004.
On a night in Detroit, Artest was at the center of what is, in my opinion, probably the worst incident in modern professional sports. Members of the Indiana Pacers climbed into the stands in Detroit and fought some of the fans at the arena. Where the blame lies for that is no matter right now, but the bottom line is that Artest was suspended for 86 games. In the eyes of some people, 86 games may have been too lenient, and I think an expulsion from the league might have been warranted.
Since then, Artest has also been suspended for seven games in 2007 for a no-contest plea in a domestic violence case. Now if all of these things had happened to some players that I already didn't like (such as Flozell Adams or Nyjer Morgan, for example), I would absolutely hate them. Yet, there is something about Artest that, at least for me, makes it hard to hate him, and it seems as though the NBA feels the same way. Harden, who is a very important part of the Oklahoma City Thunder, may miss more time than Artest will. If that is the case, the Thunder will be without a player that could be essential in helping them win a championship this season.
It seems like every time Artest has accomplished something in his career (winning an NBA title, winning defensive player of the year), he has done something stupid to offset the good. His career has been marked by extreme highs and extreme lows, and it seems as though you can never tell which will come next. He has been a role player his entire career, and he has been an excellent role player. Many players in the league are not satisfied with their roles as complementary parts, and it is guys like those that prevent teams with a lot of talent from winning anything significant (a.k.a. the Knicks). Ironically, the man Artest took out with that elbow, James Harden, is one of those players that is more than satisfied with his role as a complementary part, and he is part of the reason the Oklahoma City Thunder are so good.
Artest knows his role on the Lakers, and he plays it perfectly. He defers to Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum on offense, and guards the opposing team's best perimeter player on defense. I think that is part of the reason that I do like him. Just looking at his play on the court, he seems to be one of the most unselfish players in the league. However, off the court, he seems like the complete opposite of that many times. And when his career is over, he will probably be remembered more for those off-court problems than his play on the court. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I know I'm not the only one that feels that way, but it seems like he continues to offset some good with more bad, and it gets harder and harder to accept that each time even though I really wish that I could accept it.

Daily Rangers Update: Game 7 is less than 48 hours away. Madison Square Garden will be rocking on Thursday night, and I have full confidence that the Rangers will win. Some of the big names finally made an appearance in Game 6, so hopefully that is a sign of good things to come. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: Joe Paterson did all he could to try to give away a 9-0 lead last night, surrendering 5 runs without recording an out in the 9th inning, but Craig Breslow came in to restore order, and the game ended in a 9-5 win over a Phillies team that has been decimated by injuries so far this year. We are in the bottom of the 2nd inning tonight in a scoreless game. Josh Collmenter is on the mound, and he has to know that Trevor Bauer and Tyler Skaggs are waiting to kick the door down and take his spot in the rotation, so hopefully that can push him to some victories in his next few starts.
Daily Giants Update: Hopefully, by the time the Giants make their first round selection, the Rangers will have moved on in the playoffs. Eli Manning, the Super Bowl MVP, will be hosting Saturday Night Live in two weeks as well, so that is definitely something that should be fun to watch.

The worst NBA team ever?

So over the course of this lockout-shortened NBA season, we have seen a lot of things that we don't normally see. We've seen a condensed schedule with teams playing much more frequently than normal. This has caused coaches to rest their top players more often than normal, so there have been a lot of games without guys like Dwayne Wade, Tim Duncan, and Kobe Bryant. We have seen the Los Angeles Clippers, a team that for as long as I can remember has been absolutely terrible, actually play like one of the best teams in the Western Conference. However, the one thing that stands out the most is the Charlotte Bobcats.
Less than an hour ago, the Bobcats lost by 28 points to the lowly Washington Wizards. However, as has been the case all season long, no one has been anywhere close to as lowly as the Bobcats. With tonight's loss, Charlotte's record dropped to 7-57. The loss was the 21st in a row for the Bobcats, and they have won 10.9% of their games this season. With two games left, the Bobcats need to win one in order to avoid setting the record for the worst winning percentage in the history of the league. The last time they won a game was March 17th. The highest point of their season was when they started the year with a win to go 1-0. It has been downhill ever since. And downhill is a compliment in this case, because it has been more like going down Mt. Kilimanjaro as opposed to going down a hill.
If there is one thing "impressive" about all of this losing though, it is the fact that the Bobcats players actually get out of bed and continue to play each game. I cannot imagine what it must be like to take the court for a team with such a historically bad record. I know these guys are all professionals, and it is their job to play, but how can they have any motivation whatsoever to actually play four quarters of basketball? The only thing they have to play for at this point is to literally avoid having the worst season in the history of the league.
Playing for the 2012 Charlotte Bobcats has to be the toughest job in all of sports. Questions have arisen as to whether or not the Bobcats could actually beat the defending NCAA champion Kentucky Wildcats. While I believe that they could because the jump from college basketball to NBA basketball is too large for even the most talented college team to overcome, with each loss the Bobcats suffer, the question is getting harder and harder to answer.
Charlotte previously was home to the Hornets from 1988 until 2002, when the team moved from Charlotte to New Orleans. Despite that, Charlotte was granted a new franchise in 2004 when the Bobcats played their first season. In their eight seasons in the league, the Bobcats have finished with a winning record only once, and that was in the 2009-2010 season. That was also the only time they ever made the playoffs, and they were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Orlando Magic.
With the Nets on their way from New Jersey to Brooklyn, and rumblings of other teams possibly on the move as well, the best way for the NBA to solve this problem might be to start contracting teams. And if that happened, Charlotte should be the first team to go. I don't think it's fair to the players on the team, but more importantly, the fans of the Bobcats. Going to a Bobcats game and cheering for a win this season has been pretty much like leaving a $100 bill on the floor of a public restroom and coming back the next day hoping to find the bill in the same place that you left it. Watching the team on television is bad enough, but spending money to go and watch them in person is simply an investment not worth making. The NBA has always been a league of extremes. The best teams are great, and the worst teams are terrible, but the Bobcats have brought this extreme to a new low. Anthony Davis is expected to be the #1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Imagine what he must be thinking with the Bobcats the most likely team to get that pick (thanks to the horrible rule the NBA has of deciding their draft order through a lottery and not based upon the records of the teams in the previous season).
So for the sake of Davis, and guys like Kemba Walker, Boris Diaw, and the rest of the Bobcats roster that have had to endure such a historically bad season, I think it is in the best interest of all parties involved to dissolve the franchise. They are not only poorly representing the city of Charlotte, but they are drawing attention to the NBA for all the wrong reasons. The playoffs should be great this year with a seemingly large field of teams that have a legitimate chance to win a title, but 20 years from now, no matter what team wins the title, the 2012 might be most known for how the Charlotte Bobcats played the worst basketball in the history of the NBA.

Daily Rangers Update: Game 6 ended not long ago, and the series will be coming back to Madison Square Garden for a Game 7! It took until the second period, but the offense finally was able to get the puck past Craig Anderson. A very questionable call made the score 3-2 in the waning moments of the third period, but the Rangers were able to stave off a frantic final minute to hold on for the one goal win. The season will end for either the Senators or the Rangers on Thursday night, and hopefully it will not be the Rangers.
Daily Diamondbacks Update: After a win yesterday that ended a shaky strecth of baseball, things are looking great tonight. Justin Upton finally got his first RBI of the season in his first at bat, and followed that up with his first home run of the year in his second at bat. The bases have been full of Diamondbacks all night and it's only the fourth inning. Diamondbacks 8, Phillies 0 with plenty of baseball left to play.
Daily Giants Update: No news is still good news for the defending champions, as the draft is now only three days away.

Brendan Shanahan's Great New Policy

As I wrote about a few days ago, one of the biggest stories of the NHL playoffs has been the violence and suspensions that have seemed to come on a nightly basis. Game 3 of the series between the Phoenix Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks contained what was by far the most significant of those acts. About halfway through the first period, Raffi Torres left his feet and launched himself into the head of Marian Hossa, resulting in a game misconduct for Torres, and Hossa being taken off the ice on a stretcher. It was a vioent hit, absolutely worthy of a fine and a suspension. When I found out that the suspension was for 25 games though, I was very surprised.
Depending on whether or not the Coyotes advance in the playoffs (they lead the series with Chicago 3-2 at the moment), this suspension is likely to last into next season. After I saw multiple replays of the hit, I was not convinced that it was worthy of a suspension of that length. An NHL regular season is 82 games, so to be suspended for 25 of them is an extremely long time. So just looking at the ruling from that perspective, I was not convinced that the hit was worth a 25 game suspension.
However, after the suspension was handed down, the man who made the ruling, former NHL star Brendan Shanahan, did something that I don't remember ever seeing a league executive do. Instead of just releasing the news to the media, Shanahan got in front of a camera and told anyone watching exactly why he handed down the ruling that he did.
He showed multiple videos of Torres delivering illegal hits, some from this season, and some from previous seasons. Shanahan broke down how and why each of the hits was illegal, and by doing so it clearly demonstrated that Torres had a history of violent hits. I had always known that Torres was a physical player, but because of the videos that Shanahan showed, I really was able to see that Torres had a history of crossing the line from physical to dirty.
Shanahan explained how all of these hits and their resulting fines and suspensions had played a role in him handing down this 25 game suspension. Torres is only the fifth player in the history of the NHL to receive a suspension of at least 25 games, and we all got a clear explanation of why exactly that ruling was made.
I don't remember ever seeing a league official do what Shanahan did, but I was very impressed by him doing it. By releasing his statement on television, it not only demonstrated why Torres deserved the suspension that he received, but it also put a face to the name of the man that handed the suspension down. It was as if Shanahan were showing that he was not afraid to step forward and stand up for himself and the standards of the NHL.
There have been plenty of suspensions handed down in all kinds of different sports, but in most of those cases, all we get is a news release with a number of games and a name on it. We don't always get a full explanation of why a certain ruling was made, and we don't get to actually see more than a signature from the person handing down the ruling. I think what Shanahan did was great for a number of reasons, and I now have a full understanding of why Torres received the suspension that he did. Now maybe this will just be an isolated occurrence because the suspension was such a significant one, but I think executives from other professional sports leagues should take note of what Shanahan did so when they might have to hand down suspensions in the future, everyone will get a clear picture of why a ruling was made.
Seeing Torres committing multiple infractions over an extended period of time now has given fans a much clearer picture of his history as a player, and maybe it will make Torres think twice in the future before delivering a hit. If it does, we have Brendan Shanahan to thank for keeping dirty hits out of the game, and I think other professional sports leagues would be smart to look into making similar strides to show the fans why exactly it is these rulings are made.

Daily Rangers Update: Craig Anderson was terrific last night for the Senators, and a 1-0 loss at home means we are going back to Ottawa with the season on the line. A lot of the scoring has come from guys like Anton Stralman and Brian Boyle, and we have not seen some of the bigger names making plays when they need to be made. It would be great to see names like Brad Richards or Marian Gaborik in the scoring column tomorrow night, because if we don't there may not be any more season left. There is absolutely no margin for error now, so nothing less than a win tomorrow night is acceptable. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: The offense struggled last night despite another great effort from Joe Saunders, who has gotten off to a terrific start, but the losing streak reached 5. Things went much better today though, as Gerardo Parra hit a grand slam and we finally got some key hits at key times. Until the entire lineup is back to full strength, we are going to need production from everyone, and that happened today. Wade Miley will get the start tomorrow in place of Daniel Hudson as we begin a series with the Phillies to hopefully get us back above .500 after a very bad week.
Daily Giants Update: Less than a week until the draft. Tight end Coby Fleener from Stanford still seems to be the projection of most. We will find out soon as the defending champs will make the 32nd pick of the draft on Thursday night.

Perfection Achieved

So today looked like it would be a great day of sports for a few reasons, and it still will be, but Philip Humber stole the show in Seattle. A game that nobody outside of Seattle and Chicago probably saw in its entirety (because, God forbid, we miss the Red Sox and the Yankees) went from just another April baseball game to a historic one. Philip Humber went 9 innings, faced 27 batters, and retired them all in order. In baseball lingo, that would be referred to as a perfect game.
One thing that cannot be disputed about baseball in comparison to our other professonal sports is its history. It has been around since the 1800's, and what Humber did today has only been done 21 times during that long history. No-hitters are great, but sometimes those can be skewed by walks and/or errors. In 2010, I watched Edwin Jackson throw a no-hitter for my Diamondbacks despite walking eight batters. If not for a zero in that hit column, eight walks would have been looked at as a terrible putching effort. Jackson threw 150 pitches, almost half of which were balls, however the game still ended with the Rays not producing one hit, and what Jackson did was still something that is one of the greatest things a Major League pitcher can do.
The difference between a perfect game and a no-hitter is quite significant in my eyes though. A perfect game means exactly what its name implies: perfection. The pitcher has to be brilliant, but his defense and teammates have to be flawless as well. 27 up, 27 down. While Fox regrettably didn't let most of us watch Humber until the 9th inning, he had to be awesome all day to do what he did. In comparison to Jackson, Humber got through the game throwing 96 pitches, and that included a strenuous 9th inning in which he went to a full count on two of the three batters. At one stretch during the middle innings, Humber retired nine batters by throwing only 20 pitches, which in terms of Major League Baseball, is outstanding.
The 9th inning was edge-of-your-seat baseball, but Humber pushed through as the entire nation was watching. The last out was recorded on a check swing strikeout of Brendan Ryan on a full count that seemed to be somewhat questionable, but I think, honestly, Brian Runge (the home plate umpire) was trying to avoid a Jim Joyce/Armando Galarraga situation in which the 27th out of a perfect game was ruined on a controversial call. We never actually saw a replay of the check swing to get a second look, but its a moot point now. No matter the way the last out was recorded, you can't argue with the result.
Looking at the list of perfect games thrown throughout Major League Baseball history is, in some ways, looking back at some of the best to ever do it. Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay, Cy Young, and what I believe is easily the best pitching performance ever, Don Larsen in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. Dallas Braden threw one in 2010, and he has not done much else in his Major League career. Monte Ward also threw one in 1880 in a game between the Providence Grays and Buffalo Bisons (both cities that have not had Major League teams in many years). However, no matter the rest of the career, the 21 times a perfect game has been thrown are 21 games that will never be forgotten.
Humber was drafted out of Rice University, where he was very good, but then he bounced around from the Mets to the Twins to the Royals and now to the White Sox. As a prospect, he was somewhat highly thought of, but until now he was nothing more than a middle of the road pitcher. So while we won't know where Humber will go from here, he now finds himself in what is probably the most exclusive club in all the Major Leagues. So when you get that trivia question many years from now about the only pitchers to throw perfect games, some of the names will be easily recognizable as some of the best to ever do it, but a few will be less-known. Humber is only 29, so he still has many years left to play, but for now, at the very least, he can say he had his day in history on April 21, 2012.

Daily Rangers Update: Game 5 is underway in the second period with the Senators up 1-0. A loss today means heading back to Ottawa with the Senators one win away from winning the series, so hopefully someone can kick-start the offense and put the series in our hands. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: The offense really struggled last night, and it is clear that without Chris Young and Justin Upton, the rest of the lineup is not nearly as dangerous. To add to the pain, Daniel Hudson went on the 15-day disabled list today, so we will need someone to fill his spot in the rotation. We could see Wade Miley fill that role, or we could see one of the young guns come up from the minor leagues. Either way, we can't let this snowball into an extended losing streak. The third game of a four game series is just underway, with the game tied 1-1 in the first inning. Upton actually just hit a double which is more than he has done pretty much all year. Hopefully his thumb injury won't linger.
Daily Giants Update: By this time next week, we will have a few young new members of the team. Jerry Reese has had a history of great drafts, so hopefully this year will be no different for the champs.

My new favorite TV show

So as is the norm when I get home from whatever I happen to be doing each day, I turned on ESPN today a few hours ago. I was especially happy today because I was able to catch the second half of what is quickly becoming one of my new favorite TV shows, "Gruden's QB Camp."
I liked Jon Gruden when he was a head coach in the NFL, and since he has left that line of work and become a TV personality, I have grown to like him even more. What Gruden does on this show is sit down with a number of quarterbacks in the upcoming draft and converse with them about various topics, followed by watching them workout on the field throwing the ball. The show really gives a great perspective on what a coach looks for on film, and it teaches the viewers about some of the finer points of the quarterback position.
On this episode, Gruden was working with the man who is now, according to the Indianapolis Colts, going to be the first pick in the upcoming draft, Andrew Luck. Gruden spoke with Luck about some general quarterbacking subjects, and then proceeded to run through tape of a play that Luck had run at Stanford many times. The play was designed to be a swing pass to the fullback, and Gruden went through multiple videos of Luck throwing the pass to perfection to the fullback coming out of the Stanford backfield. Gruden then showed tape of Stanford playing Oregon when the same play was called. The fullback was covered coming out of the backfield, and Luck looked back across the field to a wide receiver that appeared to be open, but instead decided to tuck the ball and run for about six yards. Both Gruden and Luck agreed that it appeared Luck was tempted to make the throw across the field, which is something quarterbacks are often times unsuccessful in doing.
Finally, Gruden showed video of Stanford running the same play in one of their biggest games last season, against the USC Trojans. This time, with the same play called and the same players running the same routes, Luck hardly even glanced at the fullback, threw back across the field, and promptly had his pass intercepted by a defender and run back the other way for a touchdown. The defender read the play, and was in perfect position to make the interception in stride and take the ball in easily for the score.
I found this all to be extremely insightful as far as the world of coaching tape goes. The progression from Luck running a relatively easy play for an easy completion to him making an ill-advised throw that ended in points for the other team was a great lesson in how coaches see the game and how even the best players can make bad mistakes over the course of a season. Gruden was trying to get the point across to Luck that he should never try to be too much of a hero because the coaches and players in the NFL will take advantage of his mistakes much more frequently. Even though Luck will be the top pick in the draft and has been labeled by some as the best quarterback prospect since John Elway, what Gruden did was illustrate the fact that he still had things that needed to improve upon.
After the time in the film room, Gruden took Luck outside on to the field and watched him throw different routes from various positions on the field. Not only does doing all of these things humanize the prospects that we will see on draft day, but it helps the viewers to really look at the game of football in a different light than most of us normally do. Gruden did episodes with various other quarterbacks that are projected to be drafted, including Kirk Cousins, Brandon Weeden, Russell Wilson, Robert Griffin III, and others.
There are many ESPN shows that I like and I make sure to watch when I can, but "Gruden's QB Camp" is quickly moving up near the top of that list. Some of the personalities on ESPN are there just simply to disagree with everyone and try to cause a firestorm (Skip Bayless), other former ESPN personalities are there to be complete fools that have no right being on television (Jim Rome), but Jon Gruden is there to help the viewers better understand the game of football, and he does one heck of a job in doing so, so I will continue to tune in every time I see him on TV.

Daily Rangers Update: One extra off day today means Game 5 is tomorrow. With the series tied 2-2, and Game 6 being in Ottawa, it is pretty much a must-win game. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: Josh Collmenter actually pitched pretty well, definitely making his best start of the season. However, he left the game and things snowballed into a very bad night. The combination of Chris Young going on the DL, Justin Upton missing another game, and Miguel Montero getting the night off ended up working out very poorly in a 10-2 loss to drop us to 7-6. Trevor Cahill takes the mound tonight to hopefully end this little skid and get us back in the win column.
Daily Giants Update: Not much new to report. Jerry Reese said it is still possible that Osi Umenyiora could be re-signed, but I would not be surprised if he is not. The draft is less than a week away as the Super Bowl champions try to start the new season off right with a good infusion of young talent.

One of the best of all time

When the subject of the greatest coaches of all time is brought up, there are a few names that immediately come to my mind. Phil Jackson, John Wooden, and Vince Lombardi are three of them. However, as is the case with nearly everyone in the world of sports, I never think of any female coaches. There are many reasons that this happens.
Women's sports are not nearly as popular as men's sports, especially at the professional level. The most popular women's professional sport is probably tennis, and that is an individual sport and not even a team sport. A lot of the most popular tennis players are more known for their looks than their actual ability anyway, which doesn't help matters when it comes to defining the best female athletes. The only women's team sports that are popular are collegiate and national sports like Olympic softball and World Cup soccer. Those national sports only come around once every four years, so this just takes away more of the attention from women's athletics.
The only women's sport that is popular and followed year in and year out is college basketball. This year it was Brittney Griner and Baylor putting together what was possibly the best season in the history of the sport. What is a shame though, is that once Griner graduates, she will probably fade into the background because the WNBA is just simply not at all popular. The collegiate basketball players have their time at school, their names are known, and then once they graduate, they fade away. Women like Diana Taurasi and Chamique Holdsclaw have their time in the spotlight in college, and then they turn pro and are hardly paid attention to.
The most long-lasting names in women's sports are the collegiate coaches, one of which stepped down from her position yesterday. About eight months ago, Tennessee Lady Volunteers coach Pat Summitt revealed that she was suffering from early onset dementia, and it was clear that it was only a matter of time before she would have to stop coaching. She will remain with the school in an advisory position, but there will be no more wins or losses added on to her career totals, and what unbelievable totals those have been.
Over the past 38 years, she has had one of the best coaching runs in the history of any sport, men's or women's. She led the Lady Vols to eight national titles during that time, the most all time of all women's college basketball coaches. While that in itself is a truly great accomplishment, a look at some of her other records make her career even more impressive. She led the Lady Vols to a record of 1,098-208 in her time as coach, a staggering .841 winning percentage. She led her teams to 16 conference titles, meaning that nearly half of the years she coached, her teams were tops in the SEC. Her teams never failed to reach the NCAA Tournament, and she led the Lady Vols to 18 Final Fours. The accomplishment that she is probably most proud of is that she has never had one player complete their basketball eligibility without a degree.
To put those numbers into some perspective, no men's Division I college basketball coach has led his team to 1,000 wins, and four of the top seven winningest men's coaches have coached longer than Summitt, with the other three having all but no chance of reaching her victory total by their 38th year. Only three of the 25 coaches with the most total victories have a winning percentage of .800 or better, with the great Adolph Rupp of Kentucky being the closest at .822. Only two men's schools have reached the Final Four 18 times, and those programs are UCLA and North Carolina, both of which have had multiple coaches over that time period.
In a sport that is marked by new faces that come and go every four years, Summitt has been the model of consistency for the last four decades, and has been the face of not only women's college basketball, but women's sports. Many of her former players have been forgotten, and many future Lady Volunteers will be forgotten as well, but there is no denying that Pat Summitt, unquestionably one of the greatest coaches of all time regardless of sport or gender, will be known for being the model of success and one of the most enduring images in the history of women's sports.

Daily Rangers Update: A 2-0 lead could not stand up and turned into a 3-2 overtime loss, evening the series at 2, with both losses coming in overtime. It isn't good, but we needed to win at least one of the games in Ottawa and we did that in Game 3. Game 5 will be Saturday night back home at Madison Square Garden, with the loser being pushed to the brink of elimination. Being at home in what is pretty much a must-win game is where we want to be, but it still has to get done. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: Daniel Hudson pitched very well, only surrendering one run into the 8th inning, but leaving with men on base, one of which came around and scored after David Hernandez came into the game. The offense struggled mightily though after scoring once in the first inning. Add to that the fact that Chris Young was placed on the 15-day disabled list and Justin Upton still does not seem like he will be back to full strength in the next few days, and it might be a little bit of a struggle for the next week or two. We open a series with Atlanta tonight and Josh Collmenter takes the hill after struggling in his first two starts. Tyler Skaggs and Trevor Bauer are waiting in the wings in the minor leagues, and if Collmenter continues to struggle, we might see one of the young guns sooner rather than later. First pitch is in just under an hour.
Daily Giants Update: The schedule for the upcoming season was released last night, and even though we knew who our opponents would be on the last day of the 2011 regular season, now we know when we will be playing them. The best part is we do not have to play the Saints in New Orleans, which is great news considering our recent history of getting destroyed every time we take the field in the Superdome. And we are still the defending champs.

An unfortunate celebration of the NHL playoffs

So three more NHL playoff games were played yesterday, and as seems to be the norm thus far in the playoffs, more suspensions are coming. I have never seen anything like what has happened during this first week of playoff games. It seems like every day, multiple players are being suspended. Yesterday, Raffi Torres hit Marian Hossa so hard that Hossa had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. Some of the other players suspended have been Arron Asham, James Neal, Carl Hagelin, Andrew Shaw, Nicklas Backstrom, the list goes on and on.
It's a shame that all of this negativity has overshadowed the playoffs. The NHL playoffs are full of great drama and action. Teams go on unbelievable runs, goaltenders make fantastic saves, but still, all we have been hearing about is suspensions.
I never understood why hockey is not as popular in this country as the other major sports. Sure there are fanatics in Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota, and other cold places, but for the majority of the country, hockey is not relevant. The country is fascinated by the NFL. Anything with the letters "NFL" on it is consumed en masse. TV ratings surpass all of the other sports, attendance at games has never been better (unless of course, you are a Jacksonville Jaguars fan), memoribilia flies off the shelves, it is clearly the most popular sport in the country. There are many reasons the NFL is so popular, one of which is the physical nature of the game. People like watching athletes get hit and two giant men squaring off, face to face, to see who comes out on top.
If hockey were played in a gymnasium, it would still require its athletes to be in great condition, it would still be fast-paced and exciting, and it would still involve all the physicality that the average American sports fan craves. The fact that it has all these things and also is played on an ice rink makes it even harder and more exciting to play. Going to see a hockey game live and in person is by far the best experience of the four major sports. I recently went to a New York Knicks game and it seemed as though we spent more time watching the Knicks dancers shoot t-shirts into the stands than actually watching the game. Baseball is comparatively boring and monotonous in the eyes of most people, and football games are fun to go to, but it is really a sport that is made for television. I go to one Giants game each year, and watch the rest at home on a big TV on a nice comfortable couch. Going to see a hockey game live is an incredibly exciting experience. I was never too big of a hockey fan until I went to Madison Square Garden and saw the Rangers play the Devils in person. It made me truly understand and appreciate the speed at which the game is played. Seeing non-stop action with guys changing lines and skating up and down the ice is incredible to watch. Yet, the NHL is not nearly as popular as the NFL, NBA, or Major League Baseball.
One of the main reasons, in my opinion, is that the game is full of "goons" who are out there to do nothing but fight. Guys that play only a few minutes each game and spend the entire time they are on the ice trying to fight or take out the best player on the opposing team. The enforcer comes out, knocks out the star of the other team, the #1 goon on the star's team comes to fight the enforcer, and we get scrums and melees and suspensions. What is worse is that these guys do not have short memories, and this is especially evident in the playoffs. If Team A has a star taken out by Team B, two months later the teams might play again, and the first thing that happens is the enforcers of Team A and Team B fight. There were multiple games this season where the puck was dropped to start the game, and immediately everyone on the ice dropped their gloves and started fighting with members of the other team. Then the coaches of each team start yelling at one another as if it was the other guy's fault that the fights happened. They know why their opponent starts the game with his "goon line" on the ice. Then they put their "goon line" on the ice and there just happens to be a huge fight two seconds into the game. Come on, no one in their right mind can say it was the fault of the other. The two coaches knew what they were doing the minute they sent all their fighters on the ice.
It's a shame that buffoonery like this can get in the way of such a brilliant sport. Right now should be the best time of the year for the NHL. They have nationally televised games involving their best teams going on every night. Instead, all we hear about is how many new suspensions are announced each day. Instead of buying tickets or watching games, people are being turned off because they look at the sport as the WWF on ice skates. With football season still a while from getting into full swing, and with baseball season still in its infancy stages, there is no better time than ever for the NHL to shine the spotlight on its game. And the spotlight is shining on the NHL, but it is for all the wrong reasons. Until the NHL cleans up its image, its popularity will never have a chance to get close to any other sports. Unless of course, John Cena and Vince McMahon have time to watch in between their next WWF show.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: Last night was disappointing in more ways than one. First of all, Ian Kennedy was not at his best, and the Pirates used a late RBI from Andrew McCutchen to get a 5-4 win. What could be worse though is the fact that Justin Upton was not in the lineup due to a thumb injury that seems to be more serious than it originally seemed. Chris Young made a brilliant catch in center field but ran into the wall in doing so and is now on the disabled list after flying out of the gate. Not good news all around. At least a nice matinee game just got underway today so I won't have to stay up late to watch. Daniel Hudson squares off against James McDonald in the rubber game of the series.
Daily Rangers Update: Game 4 is tonight in Ottawa. A win would put us in command of the series heading back home, and if Henrik Lundqvist plays as well as he did in Game 3, there is a very good possibility of that happening. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Giants Update: The draft is getting closer each day, as is Eli Manning's appearance as the host of Saturday Night Live. All is well in the land of the reigning Super Bowl champions.

The scariest part of winning a championship

So I just read a story about the Alabama Crimson Tide football team, the BCS National Champions (which is a long story that I'll write about another day), suffering the unfortunate accident of their championship glass football being broken. The $30,000 trophy was on display at a team facility and accidentally knocked down and broken. The BCS National Championship football is by far the most breakable trophy I have ever seen in any sport. It's a hollow glass shaped football that is just asking to be broken. As proof, this is not the only time the trophy has broken. It also was broken in 2004 following the Florida Gators national championship.
Am I the only one scared to death of seeing this happen after every major sports trophy is awarded? College football is not the only sport that has seen its trophy suffer such a fate. Following their victory in the Copa del Rey final, members of the Real Madrid soccer team actually dropped their trophy off the top of the bus they were riding on and watched it get crushed underneath the bus. The Stanley Cup has also been dropped and dented, although never completely broken. I'm sure there are other instances just like these that have happened many other times also.
Aside from witnessing someone screw up singing the national anthem on live television, seeing a championship trophy dropped is something I would most hate to see happen with my own eyes. All that work the team put in, all that money spent on the trophy, the jubilation of finally being able to lift it above your head, and then in an instant it's shattered on the ground underneath a moving bus. As I watched the trophy presentation this past February when the Giants won the Super Bowl, half of me was excited beyond belief, and the other half was scared to death that one of our players would drop the Lombardi Trophy on national television.
The time I fear this happening the most is when the Stanley Cup is awarded. Championship trophies for all of the other major American sports are given out once each year. The Giants have won the Super Bowl four times. They have four Lombardi Trophies to display to prove that. The Diamondbacks have won the World Series once. They have one trophy to prove that. The Stanley Cup however, is not replaceable. What makes it so special is that there is only one. The name of every player that has ever played for a Stanley Cup winning team is engraved on the trophy. When Zdeno Chara was skating around the ice holding that thing above his head last year, I was praying that he didn't drop it and ruin almost 90 years worth of history in an instant.
Since the BCS national championship trophy has not been around nearly as long as the trophies of other major sports, I remember seeing the trophy the first time it was awarded and thinking to myself how easily it looked like it could be broken. The hands of all the players and the coaches up on stage trying to get a touch of the trophy and just one wrong move could knock it down in front of the entire country.
I know it's a stupid thing to think about, but I just can't help it. The Giants have four Lombardi Trophies on display at their facilities. There aren't three original trophies and one replacement trophy, and hopefully there won't be any replacements needed for future trophies. So the next time a team wins a championship, I'll be hoping that it is in the hands of someone who takes extra care of it. It cost $30,000 to replace the BCS championship trophy, and if I had to guess, I'd say that is the least expensive of all the major trophies we see handed out each year.
The next trophy awarded will be the Stanley Cup. So to whoever may be the one lifting it off that table and raising it above their head, I only have three words of advice: "Hold on tight!"

Daily Rangers Update: Henrik Lundqvist was excellent last night, coming up with multiple huge saves, and Brian Boyle has now scored in all three postseason games. A 1-0 win in Game 3 means a win in Game 4 could send the series back to Madison Square Garden with a chance to end. Game 4 is tomorrow night. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: Joe Saunders was shaky in the first inning, but limited the damage to only one run and cruised through the next six to pick up his first victory of the season. Chris Young hit yet another home run, and it turned out to be a nice 5-1 win. Ian Kennedy will try to get his third win of the season tonight as Jeff Karstens takes the mound for the Pirates.
Daily Giants Update: Antwaun Molden was signed to help bolster the depth in the secondary and Eli Manning will be hosting Saturday Night Live on May 5th, so I'll be watching that for the first time since Will Ferrell and Tracy Morgan left. And we're still the defending champs.

A Patriots' Day Celebration

So I got home from work and turned on SportsCenter. The first thing I see is a story about Bobby Valentine calling out Kevin Youkilis for not going all out every day this season so far and whether or not Dustin Pedroia would come to the defense of Youkilis. The next thing I see is video of Tim Tebow at Yankee Stadium from last night. The debate was whether or not the boos at the stadium were directed at him or Dwayne Wade, who was sitting one row behind him.
This is why I cannot root for baseball teams in New York. Does any of that really matter to anyone that lives south of New York? The answer is a definitive no. It does not. Since today was Patriots' Day, or as it should be called, Boston Day, the Red Sox played an early 11:00 AM game against Tampa Bay (which they lost 1-0). The Boston Marathon is run every year on Patriots' Day also, and that was won by Wesley Korir of Kenya. But that only gets on sentence in my rant for today because that is already more than anyone in Boston has thought about it.
The Red Sox are the only team that matters in Boston to the people of Boston. And the most important thing concerning the Red Sox? How they stand in relation to the Yankees. The soap opera of Yankees vs Red Sox has gone on for much longer than I have been alive, and it will continue to go on long after I die. As long as the population of Boston is higher than zero, the soap opera will never end.
The worst part is that the national media does nothing but throw gasoline on a fire that has already lasted longer than the one at the grave of John F. Kennedy (who, ironically, comes from one of the most famous families in the history of Boston). Red Sox vs Yankees. Yankees vs Red Sox. Celtics? Bruins? Rangers? Giants? Patriots? None of that really matters as long as the Yankees keep playing the Red Sox.
Eight years ago, the Red Sox ended the most talked about championship drought in the history of sports as they won the World Series. After years and years of trash talking from Yankees fans about the long World Series drought for the Red Sox, their reply was now that they had won, the Yankees still had far more championships than the Red Sox. After the Red Sox won again a few years later, it was still all about the total number of rings. Yankee fans walk around with shirts that display the number of World Series rings each team has so they can pad their egos. If the Yankees came in second to last place, it would be fine as long as the Red Sox came in last place. Red Sox fans complain about how the Yankees spend so much money and "buy their championships," yet the Red Sox payroll is the third highest in the league. It's like Donald Trump whining about Bill Gates having too much money.
I was in Connecticut with a bunch of Patriots fans when they beat the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. There was some clapping, maybe a beer or two, and then the countdown until Opening Day continued. The Red Sox gear came out and life was back to normal in New England. ESPN could now get rid of those pesky football highlights and keep us updated on what David Ortiz had for lunch and what movie Derek Jeter went to see.
The Washington Nationals are a team full of young stars and are off to a nice 7-3 start this season, but you would never know by watching any kind of sports broadcast outside of the Nationals pregame show. The national sports media has made the Red Sox vs Yankees rivalry by far the most important story of Major League Baseball year in and year out. The underlying meanings of Bobby Valentine's statements about Kevin Youkilis is the lead of every sports broadcast. Matt Kemp flying out of the gate on a 9-1 team? Nothing. Casual baseball fans probably could tell you all you need to know about the state of the Red Sox clubhouse and when they next play the Yankees and couldn't pick Matt Kemp out of a lineup of people if he were wearing a shirt that said, "I am Matt Kemp" on it.
There are some great baseball stories that are taking place already this season, and plenty more that will arise as the season goes on. Names like Eric Hosmer, Bryce Harper, Yu Darvish, Justin Verlander, and as I mentioned before, Matt Kemp are just some of the guys to watch. It's just too bad that hardly anybody will actually be watching.

Daily Rangers Update: We are 12 minutes into Game 3 and still scoreless. Carl Hagelin was suspended for three games which is not good. The elbow he gave Daniel Alfredsson was pretty nasty though, so the suspenson was warranted. We cannot lose both of these games in Ottawa, so getting that done in Game 3 would be good instead of having Game 4 be a must-win. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: Trevor Cahill was spectacular last night in going 7.1 innings and completely shutting down the Rockies offense. Chris Young remains red-hot, and Bryan Shaw came in to finish the game and earn his second save of the season. It's back home tonight to start a series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Joe Saunders is on the mound for the DBacks and Erik Bedard will be on the mound for the Pirates.
Daily Giants Update: No news is still good news for the Super Bowl champions. 11 days until the draft.

The most important question we should be asking about the New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints have been one of the most talked about teams over the NFL offseason, and none of the talk has been good. The bounty scandal involving the team has left them without their head coach for the entire season, without their general manager and some assistants for portions of the season, and probably some players for parts of the season as well once those punishments are doled out by the NFL offices.
All of these are obviously no small matter and will no doubt hurt the Saints' chances to win this year. What I can't understand though, is why they have not yet re-signed Drew Brees. Brees is one of the best quarterbacks in the league, he has led the team to a Super Bowl championship after years and years of being a laughingstock franchise, and he is the unquestioned leader of not only the offense, but the entire team. Especially now, with all the uncertainty and controversy surrounding the team, their leader needs to step up and take the reins. Yet, for some reason unknown to seemingly everyone but the Saints front office, they are prepared to begin their offseason workouts without Brees.
Sure, we are still months away from Week 1, and there is still a long way to go before any games that matter will be played, but if there were ever a team and ever a time that leadership was needed, the team is the Saints, and the time is now.
NFL contracts are nothing like the contracts in other major sports. Albert Pujols just signed a 10 year, $254 million contract with the Anaheim Angels. No matter what, ten years from now, Pujols will still be making that money. If he gets hurt, he still gets paid. If his performance drops off, he still gets paid. Once he signed that dotted line, he was $254 million richer.
NFL contracts are nothing like that. First off, there is no way a team would sign any player to a ten year contract, no matter the position or the ability of the player, simply because the large majority of the players in the league do not play ten years, most don't even play half that many years. Second, NFL contracts are not guaranteed for the initial length the deal is signed for. If a player signed a 2 year contract, played 8 games the first season and the team decided they didn't want him, he would be released and that would be it. No more money for him no matter what his contract said he was supposed to be paid. The only money that NFL players can be sure they will receive is the guaranteed money that their contract says they will receive up front. When Michael Vick signed a 6 year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles worth $100 million before the start of last season, the general reaction was that of shock at the huge number. However, only $40 million of that money was guaranteed. Now granted, $40 million is still a ton of money, but it still left $60 million on the table that Vick might never have received.
Thus far, Vick has played out the first year of that contract, and earned the money that the contract stipulated he earn in the first year. However, he has another five years left to play in order to earn all of that money. The chances of that happening for any NFL player are not always good, and especially with Vick due to his style of play. So if Vick were to get hurt this year and not make it until next season healthy, then that's it. He keeps the money he had already earned, and the rest is lost.
This may not seem like a problem to most people, but the majority of the players in the league are not multi-million dollar star quarterbacks. The undrafted rookie that signs a contract for the league minimum ($355,000), goes to training camp, fights for a spot on the roster, suffers a serious injury and is unable to play, not only doesn't receive the money that was supposed to be alloted to him in his contract, but he has to go out and try to sign with another team or find another job with no guaranteed money, and what could be a serious injury to deal with as well. We don't hear about cases like these because those guys fighting for the last roster spot are unknowns compared to Brees and Vick, but there are far more cases like the anonymous undrafted rookie than there are like the superstar quarterback.
What I'm trying to say is, because Brees has done so much for the Saints organization, because he has been such a model citizen in New Orleans, because he brought the team its first ever Super Bowl championship, because he, as Pete Rose would say, "puts asses in the seats" every Sunday, he is one of the players that should be paid like the superstar that he is. No one outside of the Saints front office knows exactly how much money Brees has generated for the franchise, but it is unquestionably a number that contains the word "billion." The Saints are in a state of disarray right now, and more than any other team in the NFL, they need someone to lead the team through an unprecedented situation both on and off the field. The man for that job is Brees, and if they are so stubborn that they do not get a deal done, I will definitely not be the only one with no sympathy for the team, and the lack of "asses in the seats" will prove that point.

Daily Rangers Update: Leads of 1-0 and 2-1 didn't stand up, and a late goal in regulation led to overtime where Ottawa won. What I thought was a questionable game misconduct call on Brandon Dubinsky early in the first period sure didn't help matters. Carl Hagelin may also be facing a suspension for an elbowing call on Daniel Alfredsson. The series has already gotten heated, and now it's heading back to Ottawa tied 1-1. Game 3 is on Monday night in Ottawa. We need to win at least one of the next two games or else we are in big trouble. The situation is by no means dire yet, but a loss in Game 3 would not help matters. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: A wet, sloppy, twice rain-delayed mess of a game ended in heartbreak when Todd Helton hit a walk off homer in the bottom of the ninth. Josh Collmenter was bad, and the rain delay actually helped because he didn't come back out to pitch after that. Down 6-1, we came back to take a 7-6 lead, but sometimes great players just make great plays in big spots and that is what Helton did as the game ended 8-7. Trevor Cahill goes today against Drew Pomeranz, and hopefully we can get back in the win column before heading back home.
Daily Giants Update: Minicamp and the draft are around the corner, so aside from that, no news is good news for the defending champs.

A historical look at the NFL Draft

2012 marks the 60th anniversary of the death of George Santayana. Who is George Santayana? He is a Spanish philosopher known for coining the phrase, "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." And what exactly does that have to do with the NFL Draft? More than you could imagine, actually.
Ryan Leaf, who is often the first name that comes to mind when you think of the biggest busts in NFL Draft history, is in the news again around draft time. And like pretty much every time he has been in the news since he was drafted in April of 1998, it's not a story you should read if you want to brighten your day. Leaf is currently sitting in a jail cell in Montana with four felony charges awaiting him when he is released in just under a month. Earlier this month, Leaf was arrested for breaking into the home of a friend and stealing prescription medication. After being arrested and bailed out, he was arrested again for burglarizing another home and stealing more painkillers, along with, this time, a drill. He must have figured it would be smarter to drill a hole in the wall and hide the pills this time. Not surprisingly though, his plan was unsuccessful, and he sits in a cell in Montana to prove that point.
The point to be made from all of this is the historical lessons that we have learned from the NFL Draft. It seems as though it is pretty much inevitable that the first two picks in the 2012 Draft will be Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, both quarterbacks. Both are projected to be franchise quarterbacks, and both had great college careers. Griffin even has a Heisman Trophy to prove it.
There have been plenty of quarterbacks taken #1 or #2 overall in past drafts, but only four times since 1971 have quarterbacks been taken with both the first and second picks. In 1999, it was Tim Couch and Donovan McNabb. The year before that was Peyton Manning and our favorite burglar (second favorite maybe, after the Hamburglar) Ryan Leaf. In 1993 it was Drew Bledsoe and Rick Mirer. Finally, in 1971, it was Jim Plunkett and Archie Manning. Presumably in 2012, it will be Luck and Griffin.
Bledsoe, McNabb, and Peyton Manning went on to have very good NFL careers, and in Manning's case, what will certainly be a Hall of Fame career when he retires. Tim Couch, Ryan Leaf, and Rick Mirer were terrible, and since 1993, the teams that selected those players (Cleveland, San Diego, and Seattle) have not exactly been juggernauts. 1971 is the outlier, as Archie Manning was a good quarterback for many years on a terrible New Orleans Saints team, and Plunkett won two Super Bowls with the Raiders. So just looking at those numbers, the history of #1 and #2 overall QB's being drafted in the same year is not very good.
That however, is only half of the picture. In that same time, from 1971-2012, there have been 18 QB's that have won the Heisman Trophy. Those 18 QB's are Pat Sullivan, Doug Flutie, Vinny Testaverde, Andre Ware, Ty Detmer, Gino Toretta, Charlie Ward, Danny Wuerffel, Chris Weinke, Eric Crouch, Carson Palmer, Jason White, Matt Leinart, Troy Smith, Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, Cam Newton, and Griffin. That is 10 unsuccessful QB's (many of which were complete busts), two QB's who are really more known for being a fairy tale phenomenon than an actual NFL quarterback (Flutie and Tebow), two solid, if unspectacular quarterbacks (Testaverde and Palmer), two that the jury is still out on (although Bradford is trending down and Newton is trending up), one point guard for the New York Knicks, and Griffin.
So that means that in the past 41 years, selecting a quarterback with the #1 and #2 overall picks has worked out for everyone involved a total of one time. Now maybe a situation like this will arise again in 2053 and we will have a once every 41 year occurrence, but I don't like the chances of that happening.
So the point of this all is that the NFL Draft is one of the toughest things to predict in all of sports. All time busts (Ryan Leaf) get picked #2 overall, and all time greats (Tom Brady) get picked #199 overall. So if George Santayana has taught us anything, it is that either the Indianapolis Colts or the Washington Redskins are going to swing and miss with one of these selections. Hopefully, at least, either Luck or Griffin doesn't end up in a jail cell in Montana sleeping next to Ryan Leaf.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: It's amazing how a plane ride from San Diego to Denver can make such a difference. Balls that look like home runs in San Diego end up being pop-ups, and balls that look like pop-ups in Denver end up flying through the thin air and getting caught in jet streams and going over the wall. A misjudged fly ball by Justin Upton, a bad start by Daniel Hudson, and a costly throwing error on an attempted pick-off throw by Bryan Shaw led to a 7-6 loss. Josh Collmenter takes the mound tonight against Jhoulys Chacin to try to get us back on track.
Daily Rangers Update: Game 2 at MSG against Ottawa at 7:00. A 2-0 series lead going back to Ottawa would be great, but with the Penguins and Canucks both down 2-0 with two losses at home, a win is by no means a given. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Giants Update: With the draft just 12 days away, thankfully we don't have one of the first two picks, and we already have our two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback so we can focus on other positions. A tight end is what seems to be the projection of most people, and with Jake Ballard and Travis Beckum both suffering serious injuries in the Super Bowl, we are low on depth at that spot, so those projections make sense to me.