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The Philadelphia Phillies clinched their third straight NL East pennant tonight, which begs the question, do they now run the division, much as the Braves did through the 90s into the early part of this decade? I don’t see many changes to their nucleus coming any time soon. The one glaring question mark I see is the age of Raul Ibanez. However, there are two things that alleviate that. First, the Phillies won their last two division titles without him. Second, the guy just seems to keep getting better with age. Meanwhile, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, and Jayson Werth are all in or entering their primes. On the pitching side, Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee have and will continue to be dominant forces. Since the Phillies don’t appear to be going anywhere soon, it’ll all hinge on whether any other team in the division can knock them off. Let’s take a look at our candidates…
The Mets would be the obvious threat, since they’re a perennial favorite to win the division outright. However, the morale, momentum, and the clock, all seem to be in a downward spiral. Until the Mets make some major moves, one has no reason to believe they’ll threaten the Phils.
The Braves have worked their way back into contention recently, but the cornerstone of the franchise, Chipper Jones, is in the twilight of his career and has even started the discussion about retirement. Odds are 2010 will be his last year. The Braves still have some key pieces in Nate McLouth, Brian McCann, and Yunel Escobar. However, their pitching isn’t getting younger, at least as far as Derek Lowe and Javier Vazquez go. The key question for Atlanta, with the imminent departure of Chipper, will not be if, but when to blow the team up and rebuild. They have the pieces.
The Marlins are always a threat to put together one solid season and dethrone the Phillies. Based on their history – 1997 and 2003 – they’re about due to make their traditional World Series run. Something tells me even if and when they’re able to do that, it’ll be as the Wild Card team.
The Nationals are the Nationals.
Well, since I’ve been following SJax on his rampage of 
He felt that may have been one of the reasons the NBA picked to fine him $25K for his comments, and didn’t fine a guy like Kobe for making the same statement. Here’s the 
First off, I’m not a 49ers fan, so sour grapes this is not. However, I am a Northern California guy, so I will admit the thought of them going 3-0 to start the season did have me a bit tingly inside. See, I’m a Raiders fan, and since they already got their win for the season, I have to hope for something else good to happen. It seemed to be in hand late in the game when I tuned in upon my return from Costco. (Side note: although they have huge ribeye steaks, I was left unsatisfied tonight) ANYWAY…. with the Niners up 24-20 in the latter stages of the 4th, it looked like if they could just hold on for one more Vikings’ drive, they would have this thing locked up. They did, and got the ball back with under 2 minutes to go – I believe. Three quick Glen Coffee runs and three timeouts later, the Vikings got the ball back and didn’t particularly look like they were going to do anything with the ball. Then, on what would turn out to be the last play, Favre, under pressure, manages to escape and rifle one downfield that was caught, albeit miracuslously, by none other than… wait, who was it? I know it was one of those sloppy seconds the Vikings like to employ at wideout. Oh, man… not Bernard Berrian. Not Bobby Wade. Billy McMullen? No, we’re on the right track though. Greg Lewis! I knew it was one of those ex-Philly receivers.
So, my first thought was, “damn, Favre does it again!” But the more I watched the replay, the less complimentary I became. Sure, he did a great job of avoiding the blitz, but when you watch the replay from the behind-the-pocket cam, it looks like Favre is simply throwing toward the end zone with nary a preference where or to who. I heard something to the effect of Favre admitting he had, in fact, no intended receiver on the play. My less than substantial efforts to track down his quote surprisingly went unfulfilled. However, if he said that, good for him. Greg Lewis also disclosed the fact that he wouldn’t have been in on that play except that Percy Harvin had run, like, 9 or 10 deep routes leading up to that play. What I do know is Percy Harvin doesn’t make that catch. Nate Clements was covering that play about as good as you can, but ultimately it was the couple inches that Lewis had on Clements in height that made the difference.
The fun part of today was seeing Phil get into a good groove as he shot four under! It’s been a few months since he was close to the top of the leaderboard, so hopefully he can take something positive going into next season. I can’t think of one person that roots against the guy, and it’s pretty remarkable to be liked across the board the way he is. He’s had about as tough of a year as anyone could have with family health problems. Hopefully he’ll come out of the gates on fire tomorrow, and give us a show! It’s always fun when he’s in the hunt! Here’s a good interview with Phil, after today’s 
Birmingham always faced an uphill battle to stave off relegation this season, and a quick 7 points to start the season should give ample hope to City fans that reaching the all important 40pts is achievable. Bolton meanwhile may finally be facing the relegation dance they’ve been lucky to avoid in seasons past. I’ve always believed Bolton have over achieved in past campaigns, and avoiding relegation issues with the type of talent they put out on the pitch has been an accomplishment byself. I think this is there season of reckoning. 
Another week down in the NFL season, and I have little to show for it. This week didn’t even start off promising like last week did as I went 7-9 vs. the spread, and now am 15-17 on the year. I think there’s a chance I could be entering a Lamar Odom type state as he slowly realizes he’s tying the knot with Khloe. Whatever state of self doubt it is, I may have to reconsider continuing to post these picks publicly throughout the rest of the season. On a brighter note, I once again did good in my confidence games, and am now 9-3 on the season with picks that had a confidence rating of 4 or 5 on! This gives me hope, and has made me realize that I shouldn’t be picking every game out there. I have reconsidered, and will go a different route. Say goodbye to confidence ratings, and get ready for the six LOCKS of the week. I’m guessing there’s as good a chance I’ll have a few $$ on these games come Sunday.
By
cali4dre
chappy81
dyslecix
mceezy
Doin Work 
Coaches Gone Wild, Part I: The Hawai’ian Rainbow
Isaiah: poster boy for coaches with issues...
If you are a new coach at any level, whether it’s high school, college, or professional athletics, boy do I have a treat for you this week! With the rash of poor decisions being made by high profile coaches across the country, I have compiled four excellent examples of how not to behave as a person in such a position. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are several others out there, but these seemed to be the highest profile cases.
Each of these individuals is well versed in dealing with the media and speaking in front of large crowds. It pretty much comes with the position, because even at the high school level coaches are asked to make speeches for groups like Booster Clubs, local Rotary chapters, or Pop Warner/Little League/etc. to encourage young athletes. By the time coaches reach college and the pros, they are used to speaking in front of thousands and at times millions via broadcast. Whether they are in front of 10 media members, 100 club members, several thousand students, or on TV, coaches are asked to be a leader of their community and a positive influence in all facets of life.
This week I will present the case of each “Coach Gone Wild” starting in chronological order of events from the summer and early fall. We’ll examine exactly what they did and where they went wrong, and believe me it won’t be very difficult to find.
Brah, bathroom is that way!
07/30/09 – Hawai’i football coach Greg McMackin makes a huge blunder at the WAC media football preview for the 2009 season. Coach McMackin described how Notre Dame, their opponent and guest at the 2009 Hawai’i Bowl, had done “this little (gay slur beginning with f-) dance” at a celebration the night before. He used the term not once but three times while explaining why Notre Dame might have been so fired up to play Hawai’i in the 2008 Hawai’i Bowl. At the banquet the night before, as the Fighting Irish finished their version of a “ha’a”, an intense Polynesian war dance and chant performed by the Warrior’s before each game, Coach McMackin had his boys show up the Irish with a dramatic performance of their own. Needless to say this made quite the impression on the entire banquet, and the next day’s game was won handily by Notre Dame 49-21, giving them their first post-season victory in the past 15 years.
Not so cool Coach, not so cool
Here is Coach McMackin’s explanation of what happened and why: “What I was trying to do was be funny and it wasn’t funny,” he said, according to a recording of the conversation posted on the Idaho Statesman’s Web site (provided below, with full graphic language of original statements). “It’s not funny. Even more, it isn’t funny to me. I was trying to make a joke and it was a bad choice of words. And I really, really feel bad about it. … It was really stupid.”
http://voices.idahostatesman.com/node/20709 article –Idahostatesman.com
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/1412/story/666185.html article – tri-cityherald.com
1 Comment | tags: apology, Coach, Coaches Gone Wild, college football, dance, fighting, football, gay comment, gay slur, Hawaii, NCAA, notre dame, warriors | posted in Sports