Yesterday the Twins decided to avoid having the elephant in the locker room all season long, and locked up their free agent to be and Minnesoootan God, Joe Mauer. He signed there with a no trade clause for the next 8 years for the generous hometown discount of $184 million. Locking up far and away the best catcher in the game doesn’t seem like a bad idea. It’s been highly debated if it’s worth using that much of the franchises total salary on one player. At first I thought it was pretty bold maneuver tying up all that money in one player, but after looking at it further there were some other factors that left me feeling like this was a good move for the Twins.
Getting this deal done well before he was a free agent most likely did get them a discount, believe it or not. If they had held off on the contract talks until the off season, they may have had to pony up an A-Rod type salary ($275 million) to keep him in a Twins uniform, and it would’ve been a distraction all year long. The Twins shifted from their normal MO of letting star players go via free agency, and signing one of their home grown talent must coincide with the grand opening of their new stadium, which looks pretty cool I must admit. It’s been reported that Minnesota’s payroll could hit the $100 million mark as soon as next season pushing them out of the small market team division. If they get five solid seasons out of Mauer behind the plate, and throw him on first base for those last few. He could be winning multiple batting titles. If it pans out that way, the Twins would sign the contract twice over. He could also be the next Eric Chavez, but I hope not for his sake. Will he stay healthy? Who knows, I’m not Nostradamus. My question to the league is, when are the A’s going to get their new stadium built? We were so close, and it fell off the table. We really want to sign some players to ridiculous contracts too!
Finally Dubs fans have something to roar about at Roaracle!
I’ve waited my whole adult life for this moment, and the possibility of my favorite team being sold to an owner that cares about the team could truly happen has made this a great Monday! The words “great” and “Monday” aren’t in the same sentence very often, unless your watching an ESPN MNF commercial, but today is special. It was reported just hours ago that owner, Chris Cohan, has hired Galatioto Sports Partners to assist him with the SALE OF THE WARRIORS! A team that is in the fifth largest market in the NBA is hoping the bidding will go over the $400 million mark. Personally, I think that’s a little high, because the Bobcats just went for $275 million, but I’m far from qualified to tell you what a teams’ value is. I’d think it would make it more difficult to get what the price he wants since there is the pending lockout looming large over every possible future franchise owner. Apparently there are more buyers in the running than the only previously reported one, Larry Ellison. We know that Ellison will be in the mix in the bidding war, since he previously had said he was interested over the past year plus, but also had said you can’t buy what’s not for sale. Now that they are, so let’s hope he can assume ownership of the team.
Despite owning one of the worst records in the league, the Warriors draw the 13th best attendance in the NBA. This is just one more reason this is great news for the best fans in the league that pack Roaracle on a nightly basis. We now actually have something to cheer for. Their first order of business when the team gets it’s new owner should be to rehire Chris Mullin. We need him back in the front office making smart personnel decisions. He was the main catalyst to getting together that very exciting 2007 team that upset the Mavs. Yesterday, there was no hope for the future outside of Curry, today the possibilities are endless!
Due to a Sunday morning obligation, I stayed in Saturday night and channel surfed what ended up being a wave of RFPs. The star of the show was none other than NBA Ironman, A.C. Green. Green was cohosting a religious show on channel 95. I didn’t even recognize him at first. Whereas most retired athletes tend to pack on the pounds, AC looks like he’s been on a decade long fast since his playing days. The guy is so skinny he looks like he should be writing for Doin Work! Obviously Green ditched the jheri curl long ago, but he’s also left behind the flat top he rocked in later years. Green now sports the semi-fro, with a soul patch to boot. We all know about AC’s incredible consecutive games streak – he basically played every game from 1987 to 1998. Nowadays he’s an ironman on God’s court.
After I got bored of that show, which was pretty quick, I stumbled upon some NBA D-League action. The Dakota Wizards were taking on the Erie Bayhawks. One guy stood out right away. Former Georgetown standout Michael Sweetney is a member of the Erie club. Now, talk about a guy who’s packed on the pounds. I didn’t even recognize him at first. There’s a number 50 across the front of jersey, but you can’t help but notice the belly and two boobs first. He can still play, as he went for about 20 points, but based on his appearance and lack of mobility, I wouldn’t expect to see him back in the big league any time soon.
Also on the Bayhawks is former Santa Clara University star, Big John Bryant. While Bryant’s size is the main thing keeping him from the NBA, he put it to work last night. In just 17 minutes, he logged 6 points to go with 6 rebounds, but he made his presence felt on the defensive end, blocking 5 shots. The Dakota team boasted an even more unknown player that caught my eye in Corsley Edwards. Edwards was a former 2nd round pick of the Sacramento Kings in 2002. While he struggled from the field, 3-13, he saved his best play of the night for the final possession. With the clock winding down, Edwards drove and dished to a wide open guy (it’s the D-league, you expect me to remember everyone?) for a buzzer-beating, game winning layup.
I’ve heard of many athlete’s taking up different types of conditioning regiments, and know that some turn to different types of fighter training to get their stamina up. Whether it’s boxing or martial arts keeping them agile and strong for the rigors of their sport they do what they need to stay at the top. I’ve never really seen it go the other way though. You don’t often get to see a well rounded martial arts guy playing non boxing/MMA sports. Anyways, whoever this guy above is, he took it to a new level with his nun chuck abilities. He shows us he can hit for power in the batting cages. I don’t think there’s a pitch that’s out of his zone with that kind of unorthodox swing. He’s got a different type of nun chuck when he feels like hitting the links. I wonder if he has a full set? Amazingly his swing still looks better Charles Barkley’s does! If he wants to pimp a chick, he can even impress the ladies with his badminton skills. If he was on your team for anything, you know he’d be able to help you celebrate in style opening champagne bottles for the team. He’s the full package in a multi-sport athlete. If West Eastern State can find the IvanBrothersthen why not look for some talented young kid in some crazy martial arts community in Asia!
Easily the most time I've spent on CBS's website...
I’m not even going to try and recap the amazing day that happened yesterday. Personally I thought it was far and away the best 12 hour stretch of basketball I’ve seen in my lifetime. There were buzzer beaters, overtime, comebacks, cinderella stories, the whole enchilada! I’m hoping that today will bring just as much excitement, but am somewhat skeptical that the games will live up to yesterdays excitment… I don’t even know what my favorite moment was from yesterday, because there were so many of them. If there was ever a time when Sportscenter needed a top 20 plays list, yesterday was the day for it.
7 of the 16 games were decided by 3 points or less
11 of the 16 games were decided by single digits
4 of those games were decided by a shot made in the last five seconds
Quincy Pondexter’s performance was something out of Steph Curry’s book, leading a storming Washington Husky team back from a 14 point deficit making every shot he took over the last six minutes including the game winner. Murray State, Ohio, and Old Dominion all gave us reasons to believe there could be another George Mason, although I don’t see any of them making it to the elite 8, but then again, after yesterday’s action anything is possible. It was good to see St. Mary’s get their first tourney win and rep the WCC. If you liked buzzer beaters Ishmael Smith, Pondexter, and Danero’s will all be highlights for the rest of the tourney. I’d write more, but the games are about to start, and I’m at work, so it’s time to start streamling again! If today is anything like yesterday, then every basketball fan won’t want to miss a minute of the action! Feel free to let us know what your favorite moment was from day 1.
So Ron Washington failed a drug test for cocaine. Shame on him. But since the story broke, I’ve witnessed a man take responsibility and hone up to his mistakes better than any other sports figure of this generation. While most of these guys deny accusations for months, sometimes years, until their glass house of lies comes crumbling down, only THEN to make apologies and fess up to their misdeeds, Ron Washington submitted a dug test, notified the administrators he would likely fail it, and then proceeded to communicate with each party of interest what was going on. Wash has always been a mastermind on the field, but he showed me that he is one off of it too. This news surely would’ve outraged the media in most scenarios, but Wash has been one step ahead of the game the entire time. He’s an unproven, black manager of a non-contending team. Major League Baseball and/or the owners could have easily made an example of him, but Wash is a guy who earns respect, and I think it’s obvious that all parties involved respected the way he took responsibility for his lapse in judgment. I always suspected Wash of being a closet pothead, but now we know that third base wasn’t the only line he was handling all these years.
Here’s where I think Ron Washington is not just one, but two steps ahead of the game. He’s long been heralded a player’s coach. Guys seem to play harder for Wash – Chappy alluded to it a few months back, how the A’s demise over the last few years may very well be a direct correlation of Washington’s departure. The manager said he used cocaine once last season, and that’s what caused him to fail the test. He ran the risk of alienating himself from the owners and his ballclub. Instead, you see players like Michael Young coming to his defense. But there’s one player in that clubhouse who suddenly can relate to Wash more than anyone. That player also happens to be the team’s best player. Josh Hamilton, as everyone knows, has had his own battles with cocaine. While Washington’s incident is nothing compared to Hamilton’s years of addiction, when Rangers fans think of drug use, they won’t be zeroing in on him anymore. Wash took the heat, for lack of a better word, off of Hamilton – not that there was much, but still. The best player on the team and the manager just got that much closer on a personal level. Any time the best player on the team and the coach are on the same page, it’s a recipe for success on the field. We’ll see how it plays out, but Washington’s blunder off the field may very well be the best move he makes all season in terms of his teams’ performance on it.
I’ve been searching for a solid baseball video game for awhile. And by awhile, I mean since 2007 when Electronic Arts stopped making their MVP baseball series. I tried out the 2K9 series last year, and thankfully I rented it opposed to buying it. The game was un-realistic to say the least. I also tried out The Bigs, and that one was even less like the real game, and felt more like NBA Jam (side note: I’m very excited about the new edition of Jam). Anyways, I think I’ve finally found my replacement for the EA MVP Series, and after about ten games played it is; Sony’s MLB 10 The Show.
The graphics are great, but they better be for every PS3 game. The best part about the game is obviously how much control you have over everything. The pitching is tough, and like real life the pitchers get angry, and over throw when they aren’t getting calls. It’s great how they did borderline pitches that are grazing or missing by millimeters. If your guy is on a streak of strikeouts, then when you slightly miss a corner the ump still gives it to you. It also works the other way when you can’t throw a strike, and you get squeezed on the corners having everything get called a ball. Fielding is fairly good, even though it randomly switches what player you are from time to time it usually changes you to the correct/closest person. They don’t make it super hard, and that’s a big plus, because I hate playing those games when a weak grounder ends up being an inside the park home run. Hitting is tough, but I think I’m getting the hang of it and finally not swinging at every pitch. If you square one up it’s usually out of the park. While hitting you can swing for the fence or you can use the left toggle to “go with the pitch” and spray it all over the field. All in all great gameplay, and I didn’t really scratch the surface of some of the truly cool features. I just wanted to let everyone know that if they are looking for a lifelike game this is it.
Another great feature in the franchise mode is the announcers. Yeah I know you rolled your eyes, but in this game they seem to not recycle the same phrases nearly as much. They also talk about the batters previous games. They will talk about how hot or cold they are and spit out stats like if they homered or went 3 for 3 or struck out five times. It’s pretty refreshing so far, because I don’t think I’ve really heard them repeat anything more than a couple times over about ten games. One downside is you have to listen to one of my most despised announcers, Rex Hudler. If you want to know how much I can’t stand him, read this one I wrote a little while back. Pretty good when the games can last an hour or more. Two thumbs up for the show! Oh, and so what if I only wrote this post because my hands were getting tired from playing!
Who knows the NBA Rookie of the Year candidates better than Doin Work? Name one blog with more content about the Kings and Warriors. We’ve been gushing about Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry all season long, so now that it’s down to a two-man race for the award, who better to weigh in on the subject than us? We’re breaking down the analysis into three categories which we feel make up the criteria for the award. The first is Stats – no explanation needed. The second is Team Performance / Influence – how well has the team played and how much is a result of the player’s impact? The third is Future Outlook – meaning whose resume is going to look better 20 years from now. Most voters will probably tell you that has nothing to do with the Rookie of the Year award, but that’s not true. Sportswriters love being right. They want to vote for the guy who’s going to have a couple MVP awards in his career so they can say, “I voted for him.” You think any writers out there are watching any Wizards’ games bragging that they voted for Mike Miller for ROY? Come take a trip with us up and down I-80 to see if the trophy is going to end up in Oakland or Sacramento this year….
STATS
Tyreke Evans (MCeezy)-The numbers don’t always tell the whole story, but I think in this case they do. Evans is averaging more than 20 pts, 5 reb, and 5 ast for the season. This fact has been well documented, including here, but in case you missed it, the only other rookies to do that are Lebron James, Michael Jordan, and Oscar Robertson. He’s in the top 20 in the league in Points, Assists, Steals, Minutes, and triple doubles. Sure, he has one, but no one who’s not named Lebron James has more. In fact, Evans’ last outing he came up one rebound shy of his second triple double. Curry’s got a slight edge in 3pt and FT%, as well as steals, but Evans’ overall numbers definitely trump those of Curry.
Stephen Curry (Chappy)- I have to concede that Tyreke’s numbers are superior to Curry’s, but in Curry’s defense, his first two months under Nellie were inconsistent to say the least. There were games when he’d play 35-40 minutes, and the next night he’d play 10-15. I’m not sure if it was Ellis saying that they couldn’t play together, but either way Nellie didn’t seem to trust him that much. Since the Warriors were struck furiously by the injury bug, Curry’s minutes went up and so did his production. Since December, he’s had close to the same numbers as Reke averging 20 pts, 4 rebs, 4 assists, and nearly 2 steals. He’s easily been the most improved rookie over the season. Continue reading
With the upcoming March Madness tourney about to start, I thought I’d do a “what if” post. What if college basketball players were like their football counterparts and had to stay in college for all four years!?! Think how much different the brackets would be! Would it be a no brainer to pick the Texas Durantulas? Probably not, but I’m going to run through the teams that I think would be in mix based on guys they’d still have. I’m not completely sure who the champ would eventually be, but it’s always fun to debate, and I’d have to give it to Senior Kevin Durant!
Memphis – No they wouldn’t have Derrick Rose, because he would be deemed ineligible from that whole cheating on his SAT thing. They would still have Tyreke Evans and Shawn Taggert though. Having both of these guys back would improve their defense. They already showed they could score without them, but they’d just be that much better by being able to shut down the opponents key players. I’m 99.9% sure they would’ve added to their impressive winning streak, and pushed it over 70 games. Continue reading
Although Northern California is best known for its wine production, there are some great breweries out here as well to satisfy any beer aficionado. Now I’m not just talking some home brewin’ favorites, there are some legitimately great beers that come out of this area. The most well-known is probably the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, CA. Beyond that, there are countless lesser-known breweries in the area that deserve a visit. I’m really not sure why I haven’t made a point to visit all of these by now, but I have been slowly chipping away over the last few years. There’s nothing like tasting an entire catalog of beers directly from the source. This weekend, I paid a visit to one of the more notable breweries in NorCal, Lost Coast Brewing Co. in Eureka, CA. Lost Coast is one of the original North Coast beer producers, and arguably one of the finest. The problem is, I’ve never really liked any of their beers. I wanted to like them, because I think they make really good beer, but the problem is none of them seemed to be suited to my tastes. I made a stop in yesterday hoping to find a diamond in the rough – a Lost Coast beer that I could truly love.
They are best known for three beers: Great White, Alleycat Amber, and Downtown Brown. I’m not a fan of white beers, but damnit if I don’t respect Great White. It’s very well made, it’s just Continue reading
Oregon Ducks quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was arrested for 2nd degree burglary. He stole a couple laptops and a guitar from a fraternity house. Chip Kelly, Oregon’s football coach, said that Masoli would be suspended for the entire 2010 season. The once Heisman hopeful, can redshirt for a season while he is on suspension and won’t lose his scholarship or waste a year of eligibility. It will be up to him if he wants to return in the 2011 season. It’s a big blow for a team that had high hopes for the Pac-10 title, with no clear front runner in the conference. Without any extra investigation on my part whatsoever. I like it, it shows that Oregon isn’t slipping him a bunch of money under the table to their players as he would be an obvious beneficiary. He definitely wouldn’t have had to rip a laptop off. He’d already have one, and some other “gifts” to swap for some cash. I guess there’s a slight possibility that he may have done it for “fun” because he didn’t like that frat, but I’ll assume he committed the crime for financial reasons. I wonder if Masoli is wishing he went to USC, and at least got paid!
Over on the Boston blog Barstool, they have a segment where every morning they post a hot chick and tons of pictures of her and title it Waking up with so and so. Today I wanted our readers to wake up with Forehead Tittaes! I guess this product would work, but mostly because it looks so ridiculous on thier heads, and not because our attention is turned away from their chest… I’ve been struggling with youtube lately, and can’t seem to get this damn video embeded! So here’s the link to the video funny stuff if you haven’t already seen it!
I know basketball season isn’t quite wrapped up, but the Warriors have had the most injury plagued season I’ve ever seen them go through in my lifetime. Nearly all NBA teams have close to 12 guys suiting up for every game, and the Warriors have had 9 or fewer players suit up for 31 of their 63 games thus far. It looks like this trend will continue to for the remainder of the season as even the D-Leagues they’ve called up are somehow getting hurt too. Being a die hard fan of everything that is Oakland sports, it’s tough to watch my team go through these kinds of problems. Anyone that follows the A’s would know that they’ve had their fair share of injuries over the past few seasons, and it got me thinking what team had the worst injury riddled season of all time in Oaktown!?! It wasn’t hard to pick a team to match up with the Warriors this year. The Oakland A’s had a ton of injuries last year (17 times they used the DL), but not quite as many as the 2008 squad (25 times they used the DL, and a team record). So my question is, who had the worst injury plagued season the 2009-10 Warriors or the 2008 Athletics?
Both these guys were supposed to see huge minutes this year.
2009-2010 Warriors
This Warriors season has had lots of lots in just one box season. It’s worse because it’s been mostly the players we thought would be starting. I remember watching a post game interview with Stan Van Gundy, and he was saying that having 8 guys isn’t a huge deal, but which 8 you have is the most important. Truer words have never been spoken. Not that I was thinking that the Warriors were going to have a great season, but I figured we would be better than this! It was announced that Andris Biendrins will getting season ending surgery. He had a terrible year that will come to an end before most knew it even started. They have a pretty long list of guys that are out for the season including three guys that might have been starters such as; Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike, Brandon Wright, and the guys they traded for are even out for the season like Raja Bell and Vlad Radmanovic. Even the guys who were there as expiring contracts have gotten into some games like Deavan George. It’s amazing how inconsistent their lineup has been. Five games ago the Warriors had three healthy centers and no backup point guards, On Monday they had four eligible guards and only one center. A summary of this season was in a game against the Bucks in mid-January. They didn’t even have enough players to finish a game! The refs didn’t even know what to do when the healthy body, Stephen Curry, received his sixth foul. They had to confer and ended up giving the W’s a Technical foul, and let Curry keep playing so they had the five guys to finish the game.
Will Chavy ever play more than four or five games at a time?
2008 Athletics
The 2008 A’s were a perplexing team. At the time I felt that they were good enough to make a run at a division title around the All-Star break being 3-5 games out of first, but those hopes were dashed around the trade deadline when we sent our proven players like Blanton and Harden off in trades. We essentially were waving the white flag for the season right there. Maybe I wasn’t looking at the overall picture enough at the time, because they had a ton of guys getting hurt, and maybe management felt that they didn’t have as good a chance as I thought they did at making the playoffs. Especially since the Angels traded for Texiera as the premier trade deadline splash. Anyways, they used the DL an amazing 25 times with those players missing a total of 877 games. Sure you have the often injured Eric Chavez type guys on there, but that’s beside the point.They obliterated every other team in the league in that category by 10. They didn’t even recovery that well in 2009 using the DL 17 times, and was second in the league in that category. Maybe it’s not The Curse of the Wash after all that is bringing them down, maybe it’s just the injuries!
All in all, Oakland fans have been getting used to hearing, so and so is having surgery. So and so, is day to day. So and so got in a moped accident. Ok, that last one was a cheap shot, but you get the point. Maybe these past couple of years will make them upgrade their training staffs. Maybe karma will kick in and give them a clean bill of health for the next three years! My pick for the most injured team, goes to the 2009-10 Warriors, they’ve been more banged up than Charlie Sheen the last couple months!
I had to steal this picture from Anthony over at Drippet. I think I’m going to have to get my hands on some of these, because it looks like endless fun even if you get pulled over! Well worth the $38 price tag to get them!
By
cali4dre
chappy81
dyslecix
mceezy
Doin Work 
