NL MVP Escapes 50 Game Suspension

Ryan Braun is off the hook; he will not serve his 50 game suspension and is cleared of all charges of using a PED (performance enhancing drug).  Does this mean he is innocent?  I couldn’t tell you.  As fans we have witnessed PED allegations towards our favorite ball players: Roger Clemens, Jose Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McQwire, Barry Bonds.  Our nation’s pastime has forever gotten a asterisk next to it and it has taken years to try to put the steroid era past us.

Ryan Braun’s acquittal is just the starting point to the debate.  Braun is the first baseball player to ever successfully win an appeal concerning PED allegations.  When addressing his victory Ryan said, “the truth is always relevant and the truth prevailed.”  At times Braun sounded like an old recording of a Rafael Palmeiro court case.

"If I had done this intentionally or unintentionally, I'd be the first one to step up and say I did it," Braun said. "I would bet my life this substance never entered my body."

Braun’s innocence will not keep his name out of the drug testing debate.  His name will be forever linked to it even if he never took any performance enhancing drugs.  It is understandable for him to be upset and if the process was as faulty as he claims, there is a real issue.

It may not be cost efficient for the MLB to fix little process failures but they must be addressed.  There needs to be a more professional system that as Braun states, needs to be held to the same standard of perfection as the ball players.  Issues like this could tarnish a player’s image.  Even if he is wrongfully accused there will always be doubt whether or not a player partook in a PED.  In his statement, Braun makes a good case.  He was consistently tested throughout his career, even twice before in that same season.  There are extensive records of his body weight, time around the bases and training regiment.  His numbers have been consistent for the past five years.  One blip of astronomical levels of testosterone in his body, and Braun gets a target on his back.  It seems odd and deserved looking into, not blasted in the headlines.

I don’t think this will spark in increase in the use of PEDs in the league.  I don’t think that players will feel left behind because they aren’t using them.  This wont be a repeat of the 90’s.  As a whole it seems like the league is doing a better job of enforcing testing now than the were 10-15 years ago.  They have also done a better job of putting these drugs in a negative light.  What I think will transpire from this is an even more bitter relationship between the players and the MLBPA.  Your future as an athlete, your reputation, and livelihood is in the hands of these people conducting the test.  And if they mess up, you the player could the one taking the fall.  It might come down to the players, the MLBPA and the commissioner working together to find a solution to breakdowns such as this.

As a fan we don’t want to hear that a big time athlete is using drugs to improve their game.  It instills to the kids watching that they might not be good enough to play pro ball unless they are “juicing”.  The game has evolved since the 90s.  Fans have accepted that fact that not everyone is going to hit 40 plus homeruns, and you can be a great ball player without it.  

I mean look at movies like “Money Ball”, where an underdog roster competes with teams with big payrolls.  Stories like Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s would not have been better with the inclusion of PED’s.  People appreciate good stories.

So that's sports: from the fan's perspective.

The NBA has a Case of Linsanity

With his lightning quick speed, high scoring efforts, heart warming story and humble attitude, Jeremy Lin has taken the NBA community by storm.

He scored: 25 points against the Nets, 28 against the Jazz, 23 against the Wizards, and now a an impressive 38 against the Lakers.  In those games he is also averaging 8 assists and almost 2 steals.  These numbers are impressive for a guy who had a hard time even making an NBA roster.  In fact even New York was considering cutting him until he had his break out performance against New Jersey.  In a span of about a week Jeremy Lin has become the most talked about guy in basketball.  The big question is will this last? 

Lin is a very talented and smart player (I mean he went to Harvard for goodness sakes).  I see this run of his continuing at least until Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire are back in the rotation.  Right now Lin is forced to be the offensive producer of the team.  Without the two all-stars, the next best scorer is Tyson Chandler with just under 12 PPG and he is supposed to be the defensive minded player on the team.  Once you bring back Stat and Melo, Lin's contribution is bound to change.

To be honest I've never felt that Melo was a great fit for this team, and as we saw with Denver, teams may be better off without him.  A New York offense with Melo involves a lot of isolation while, without him, we see the D'Antoni offense we saw in Phoenix, utilizing pick and roles.  Now, with the addition of Chandler over the offseason, the middle court is muddled up for Amare.  This makes for an odd set up for New York starters.  As talented as this team is, they don't really mesh together very well.  

So were does this leave Lin?  There will still be opportunity for him to play but I just don't see him being the main offensive contributor like he has been the past 4 games.  The truth is he won't be dropping 25 points every game all year and he won't continue to lead the Knicks in scoring.  That being said he still can be an effective point-guard.  It would be realistic that Lin could be the 3rd best scoring option on the team once Stat and Melo return.  The question is: will Lin be the commander of the offense upon Melo's return? Will be he effective distributing the ball to Amare and Carmelo or will he be pushed to the side, allowing Melo to do his thing?  D'Antoni who might be on the hot seat as it is, has a mess to figure out here soon.  

The Knicks were a more balanced team before the Melo trade and are still struggling to find an identity.  That may be one reason why the fans have grown fond of Jeremy Lin.  People like seeing the underdog prevail, they like seeing a new success story.  Not only that but New York likes seeing winning basketball in MSG.  

Jeremy seems to be a class act and I look forward to seeing the Lin-sanity train continue.  So that's sports: from the fan's perspective.

NFL Offseason and Contracts

Now that we’ve watched another great Super Bowl it is time to find something else to do on Sunday’s.  Basketball ratings are sure to go up.  With the end of the football season also brings the offseason; a part of football that is very interesting to many fans.  

The offseason is a place for middle of the road teams to gain ground.  Its often how 8-8 teams improve to the point that they could compete for a Super Bowl.  It could also be a detriment to a team that can’t afford to keep their star players.  Trades, rookies, signings, the identity of a team could change very quickly in an offseason.  

This is all very exciting but what happens when players aren’t happy with their current situation?  We see players request trades like Carson Palmer did last season.  Trade requests are across sports as well; for example Dwight Howard for the Magic.  This can often cause a cancer in a locker room, yet often times, trading that individual removes the infection.  

This isn’t your dad’s National Football League anymore.  Most players don’t stick with teams for their whole careers.  Sure the Peytons (maybe not much longer), the Bradys, the Fitzgeralds might stay loyal, but commitment may be a thing of the past.  Even Super Bowl champ Eli Manning was originally drafted by the Chargers only to be traded to New York because he was reluctant to play in San Diego.  I’m sure Giant’s fans are happy that Eli stuck around in New York however.

What about players who hold out for better contracts?  Those are the ones that bother me the most.  Players will often outplay their contracts and then ask for a better one.  The player that comes to mind recently was Chris Johnson, who after holding out and receiving record money, flat out sucked on the field.  These players only interest are their bank accounts.  They don’t appreciate the team’s goals, the fans or ownership.  

I even recall Anquan Boldin complaining when he was in Arizona that he thought he deserved to be paid more than Fitzgerald.  Fitz, the class act that he is, offered to take money off of his contract and give it to Boldin; management didn’t like that idea and soon Boldin was off to Baltimore.  

So since players have the right to request a new deal to match their performance, shouldn’t owners have that same right?  If a player is getting paid way more than they are worth, why can’t the owner request to rework that players contract?  The player would argue, no its my contract we agreed upon, I’m getting paid!  This doesn’t seem equal.  

Luckily there are some good eggs in sports though.  It’s refreshing to see an emerging star play through his crappy contract and then get rewarded with a big deal on that same team.  This goes across all sports.  E.g., Clayton Kershaw and Derrick Rose.  

I’m sure things aren’t changing anytime soon.  So that’s sports: from the fans perspective.  

A Rematch of the Greatest Super Bowl Ever

Are you ready?  It’s almost the time for the best unofficial holiday of the United States.  Dips are being concocted.  Posters are being drawn.  Parties are being assembled.  Pizza’s will be ordered.  Commercials will be critiqued.  With all of these other activities going on, how much of the game will you actually be watching?  Hopefully I don’t miss a second of it (outside Madonna’s halftime show maybe).  

The New York Giants

If you would have said that this team would be in the Super Bowl after loosing 4 in a row (weeks 10-13) many people would have said you were crazy.  This team most of the season could not run the ball or stop anyone on defense.  They were riddled with injuries everywhere but in the passing game (which was brilliant all season).  The one thing this team had going for them was Eli Manning.  The guy was getting MVP talks early in the year simply for his 4th quarter comebacks (NFL fan’s be glad Tebow didn’t get hat kind of recognition).  More than that but brother Eli even threw for way more yards than ever before, throwing for almost 5000 yards!  Most of this was due to the emergence of Victor Cruz.  Cruz often took patterns over the middle or little hitches, and turned them into huge TD scoring plays.  Cruz can thank Hakeem Nicks for taking double teams helping him to be able to be so open over the middle.  Nicks is a premier NFL receiver due his route running, his body size and his monstrous hands (he wears a 4x!), which all helps him just outmatch many corners.  This tandem has been one of this years best at WR. 

Since they caught fire and became healthy, the teams dynamics have changed a little.  Yes the Giants will still throw the ball up and down the field but they have been more successful at running it down your throat as of late.  Not only that but the front 4 of the defensive line has been able to create enough pass rush so that the coach doesn’t need to use exotic blitzes to create pressure.  The Giants aren’t the best team in the NFC this season, but they are the best team in the NFC right now.

The New England Patriots 

The team formally known as the dynasty is there yet again.  Lets face it, this Patriots team the past decade has been Belichick’s brain-child.  I mean they can even put Matt Cassel behind the helm and still have a winning record.  On top of that they are playing with a defense that, if on any other team, would get laughed out of the league.  This will be Brady’s 5th Super Bowl appearance, the only other guy to achieve such a feat: John Elway who went 2-3 in Super Bowl appearances.  Making a Super Bowl more than once is amazing, but 5 times?  Common Brady your making the rest of the NFL look bad.  

This team all year has been dominant (offensively at least).  The Patriots help the tight ends reclaim to fame this year, with the beyond outstanding performance of U of A’s Rob Gronkowski (now simply known as Gronk).  The Pats were going to be contenders this year regardless, but with the emergence of Gronk, their offensive if quite possibly the best in the league.  

There were reports that Gronkowski got off a plane in Indi wearing a boot.  This freaked everyone out so during press day he did not have the boot as part of his attire.  Rob has a high ankle sprain which normally, keeps guys off the field for more than the 2 weeks he’s been off.  Gronks presence in the redzone has what has helped the Pats punch it in this year (he has 14 redzone TDs).  It will be interesting to see how his injury pans out, since I believe Gronkowski’s impact will heavily effect the outcome of the game.  

The Match-Up

The rematch!  Who can forget Super Bowl XLII, played here in Arizona?  Brady and the Patriots were going for history as the first team to win 19 games in a season and be the second team to go undefeated.  The Giants just happened to be who they were playing.  They were 10-6 and much like this season, in order to even make the playoffs they had to catch fire.  I’m sure many of you remember the game.  More specifically, I’m sure many of you can give a detailed story of Manning breaking away from a sack to throw the deep pass to David Tyree who made one of the best catches is Super Bowl history.  Needless to say the Giants upset the Patriots and Eli was thrust into an elite quarterback group; a Super Bowl winning QB.  This game was probably one of the most exciting games I have ever seen, on the biggest stage.  It is a modern day, football version of David and Goliath.  

Fast forward four years and we’ve run into a rematch.  To be honest I would love to see a close game but to ask for a repeat of the amount of excitement 2008 had would be asking too much.  Although I might have preferred different teams to match up in this years Super Bowl, my eyes will still be glued to the TV.  

I think the key for the Patriots will revolve around their effectiveness in the redzone.  Gronkowski won’t be 100% although I believe he will make an attempt to play.  This puts a heavy burden on Belichick to create a scheme that is different than the one they have been running all year.  As dead pan as his personality is, Belichick is an intelligent coach and will most likely figure something out.  If however the Patriots settle for field goals on drives, they may lose another Super Bowl to the Giants.  

As for the Giants, I think two things are crucial: can they create an effective pass rush with only four down linemen and can one of their premier receivers make the big play, scoring a long TD.  The Giants this season have lived off of Cruz breaking tackles and scattering off into the endzone,  or Nicks catching vertical routes or even hail mary’s like against the Packers.  If the Patriots can tackle well and limit the big plays, the Giants might struggle to keep up with New England.  

To be honest I’ve never liked the New England Patriots and will be rooting for the Giants this year.  But thats just me, who are you guys rooting for?  

Anyways, that’s sports: from the fans perspective.  

Will Peyton Manning be out of Luck?

So this season the Indianapolis Colts were the biggest losers.  Now that the season is over, it’s time to trim the fat.  First out the door is Jim Caldwell.  This is a guy who in his rookie season took the Colts to a Super Bowl (where they ultimately lost to the Saints but that’s beside the point).  He’s been in the system for years and received the reigns after Dungy called it quits.  Even with Manning backing up Caldwell, he still gets canned.  So with Caldwell’s firing in place what does that say about the direction the team is heading? 

Let’s face it; this team’s success has been due to Peyton Manning.  The only thing that hadn’t changed from 2000-2009 where the Colts are the winningest team (.719 winning percentage) in the regular season: Peyton.   He’s won with, a putrid running game (outside of Edgerrin James) and a defense who, other than  a few great pass rushers, haven’t stepped up to the plate.  Then the one year that Peyton doesn’t play, we get this.  To me it’s clear this organization rides Manning’s coat tails a little more than they should.

Now, Owner and CEO Jim Irsay and General Manager Ryan Grigson are left with a decision: what to do with Andrew Luck.  Its clear Luck will be drafted number 1 overall by the Colts; otherwise they run the risk of being the team that could have had the next big thing.  Its not a sure thing that Manning will even take another snap in this league (although all signs are indicating he will).  Even if he’s not 100%, I’m sure most teams in this league would give up a lot to get a stiff necked Peyton. 

So what to do with Luck.  A few teams out there might even give you half of their defense for this kid.  I mean look what the Cardinals gave up for a backup Philly QB with less upside than Luck.  The possibilities are endless for the Colts.  There is still run the risk of Manning’s health.  Odds are Manning will have another pro-bowl season next year and I’ll stand by that until he proves me wrong; after blessing us with the career he’s had, Peyton deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Keeping both Luck and Manning is quite reminiscent of two great quarterbacks over in Green Bay.  When it’s all said and done I’m sure “Cheese Heads” are happy with that outcome, although I’m sure Favre wasn’t.  If I were an Indy fan, I would want the same scenario.  Keep Manning for a few more years, then kick him to the curb when Luck matures.  If only it were that simple.

Caldwell’s departure doesn't bode well for Manning’s future in Indi.  It shows management wants change. There are two types of coaches that the Colts can hire.  One that will be there for show and continue to run the team like it’s been for the past 10 years, or hire a coach that will inspire change.  The latter might cause controversy with Peyton, since he practically is the offensive coordinator.  Hiring a mirror image of Caldwell though would hinder Luck’s grooming.  I’m probably not the only one that thinks Caldwell is no Mike McCarthy. Maybe they could convince Peyton to come back as head coach instead. I doubt however, anyone would enjoy that unless they enjoy seeing the constant scowl on his face on the sideline.

It’ll be interesting to see the course of action the Colts take during this offseason.  Personally I’d like to see both QBs stay in Indy.  I wouldn’t object however to seeing Peyton going elsewhere and giving another team a chance at the title (much like Warner did with the Cards). 

So anyways that’s sports: from the fans perspective.  

-That 1 Sports Guy

The Phenomenon of Tebow Time

Love him, hate him, you still watch him.  Tim Tebow has caught the attention of the nation with his comeback victories, team oriented attitudes, his work of the field and the kneel now known as "Tebowing."  Is there more to it than that?

The biggest appeal towards Tim is he is different than most people we see on TV yet is relatable.  He preaches we and not me, and somehow makes everyone on the team better (defense included).  He can look dismal for 3 quarters then quietly win a game in the 4th quarter.  He even openly stated in a press conference that he's a virgin.  How many NFL players would do that?

One reason I think people watch Tebow is due to the adversity he has faced.  As corny it is, that commercial he made stating all they said he couldn't do is inspiring (I don't remember what he was indorsing however).  The media hounds him for his imperfections and remains an underdog in every situation, yet continuously proves them wrong.  Its the same thing we seen in modern film.  The movie will start with a lovable loser who fights through a struggle and eventually, in some awe inspiring feat comes out on top of the situation.  If Tebow's story was a movie, my reaction would have been, no way!  That would never happen in real life!  Yet he's done it.  Tebow's feats have stretched our imaginations and entertained us along the way. 

Although there are a plethora of better quarterbacks, I wouldn't mind seeing Tebow's continued success in the league.  I'd rather hear news segments about a fullback throwing a game winning touchdown pass than hearing Brett Favre is coming out of retirement again.