Denver Looks to Unload another Star

Well unless you have been under a rock or you don't care about football you know that the Broncos are looking to trade Star Wide Receiver Brandon Marshall. Putting all of his personal issues aside how can you not be enraged if you are a Broncos fan. In a matter of months you could lose not only one of the best quarterbacks in the game but one of the best wide outs as well. It it unusual but i don't agree with the Broncos cleaning house in this way. With the Jay Cutler situation i do believe Cutler was being a baby the way he acted, but nonetheless i can understand why he would be upset hearing that the Broncos wanted to trade him. The Marshall situation is a little different Marshall wants to leave because he believed he is under paid and with a new quarterback his value might decrease after this season. Either way you look at it the Broncos have already lost one and are about the lose another fantastic player. This would be like the Patriots losing Tom Brady and Randy Moss. Maybe the most surprising thing about all of this is that some Denver fans actually don't have a problem with these two players leaving. I find that hard to believe, its OK to buy into a new coaches system and way of doing things but i don't understand how you could approve of this. Maybe I'm the one who doesn't get it who knows but i will be very surprised if the Broncos have better than an 8-8 record for the 2009 season.

Say it aint Sosa

On ESPN earlier today they reported that Sammy Sosa is another of the 104 names that tested positive back in 2003. Two questions come up in my mind, is anyone surprised or does anyone care. When Sosa was at the congressional hearing he all of a sudden forgot how to speak english. So ever since then there has been a cloud of suspicion over Sammy's head. Also the man hit 60 home runs in a season three times, before 1998 it had happened twice in the entire history of baseball if that doesn't raise eyebrows i don't know what does. There is a more glaring problem in this story to me if you are going to release one or two names from this 104 person list you have to release them all. Whether you like or dislike Sosa and A-Rod is irrelevant it is not fair that you pick and choose what names you decide to release. This steroid era is never going away i can accept that but if you release just one name every 4 to 5 months your just prolonging it more than it should be. Now obviously this all but ends Sosa's chance to be in the Hall of Fame as many writers have vowed to never vote for anyone linked to steroid use. It is bad enough that any names were released at all this was suppose to be anonymous just for Major League Baseball to see what kind of problem they had, why these tests weren't destroyed i don't think anybody will ever know. But they should do the right thing and release the rest of the 102 players, Sosa and A-Rod should not have to carry this by themselves when over 100 players are guilty of the same thing.

Stallworth to get 1 Month in Jail

It was announced earlier today that Donte Stallworth will be serving a month in jail after killing a man in March. For those not familiar with the case Stallworth was in Miami where he was drinking in a hotel bar, after he left he struck and killed 59 year old Mario Reyes, Stallworth's blood alcohol level was .126. Stallworth stated in his report that he tried to warn Reyes and also Reyes was also not in a crosswalk at the time of the accident. The first time i saw this i was extremely outraged i cant believe that he killed someone while driving drunk and all he gets is 30 days. I know the family got an undisclosed settlement so apparently they at least got something but this case shows the double standard for professional athletes. If me or any other average Joe got ourselves into this situation and was unable to buy our freedom there is no way we would get just 30 days. I'm sure that Stallworth is very upset about what happened and he will have to live with this for the rest of his life. But at least he gets to live the rest of his life and in a month he can get back to playing football. While the family has to go on missing a family member every day. This has to change just because Stallworth can buy his freedom doesn't mean he should be able to, i go with the old adage if you do the crime you do the time. One other point of interest will be what Roger Goodell and the NFL will do to Stallworth.

All Start Rosters Shaping Up (Part 2 NL)

In my Last blog i went over the American League Voting Results as of now, so on to the National League.

Catcher-Yadier Molina, St. louis Cardinals
1ST Base- Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
2ND Base- Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
3RD Base- David Wright, New York Mets
ShortStop- Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies
OF # 1- Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies
OF # 2- Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
OF # 3- Carlos Beltran, New York Mets

Looking at the National League so far there aren't any glaring problems i have. The only one i can really think of is Yadier Molina, hes not having a great season but the only reason he leads McCann is because McCann was injured for part of the first month. The Most interesting part of the National League Race is the Outfield. From # 1 to # 5 they are only separated by 700,000 votes that may seem like a lot but consider that Chase Utley leads Orlando Hudson (who is second) by an outrageous 1.4 Millions votes. With a couple weeks left to go it should be interesting to see how it all plays out.

All Star Rosters Shaping Up (Part 1 AL)

As we are now roughly a month away from the mid summer classic i would like to take time and look at the Current All Star Starters. In the American League here are the leaders

Catcher- Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
1ST Base- Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees
2ND Base- Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers
3RD Base- Evan Longoria, Tamp Bay Rays
ShortStop- Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
OF # 1- Jason Bay, Boston Red Sox
OF # 2- Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
OF # 3- Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners

For the most part in the American League i agree with the majority of these selections, i just have two glaring problems one you see and one you dont. First the one you see Josh Hamilton being the # 2 Outfielder, first he hasnt played since May 31st due to injury and second his numbers are far from impressive hitting .240 with 6 HR and 24 RBI. My second problem is Ken Griffey is sixth in the voting and Adam Jones is 7th. Griffey is hitting .211 with 6 HR and 16 RBI while Adam Jones is hitting .324 with 12 HR and 41 RBI. Now you put these guys stats together no doubt you vote for Jones but Griffey is way more well known. But that is the problem with the All Star voting in Baseball, most fans vote simply on name recognition. The average fan doesnt look at stats and compare all they see is Griffey and Jones and 9 time out of 10 Griffey will get that vote. Its unfortunate that guys who arent well known dont get the voting mumbers they should. One good thing is that if Jones doesnt get voted in he will hopefully get a chance to be a reserve. So be sure to check out my next blog and ill go over the NL Starters.

Sid the Kid Wins First Cup

The Pittsburgh Penguins capped a tremendous season last night after defeating the Red Wings 2-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Now the NHL's best players has his first championship, but this post will not be about Crosby. I wanted to make the comparison of Pittsburgh and Boston. Since the Year 2000 Boston has 6 Professional Championships (Red Sox-2, Patriots-3, and Celtics 1). Now Pittsburgh hasn't been as successful as Boston but since 2005 the Steel City has 3 Professional Championships (Steelers-2, Penguins-1). Even their failures aren't bad for instance, the Boston Bruins lost in the Eastern Conference Semifinals but after a season that they had the best record in the Eastern Conference. And the Penguins last year of course lost in the Stanley Cup Finals. The only team in the two combined cities that i can think of that doesn't have a chance of winning a Championship is the Pittsburgh Pirates (0 Playoff Appearances since 1992). And Honestly being from Baltimore I'm wondering when we are going to if ever have a run like these 2 cities. The Ravens are the best chance for Championship dreams after advancing all the way to the AFC Title game a year ago. The Orioles while i see a bright future in the near future not so much. And the closest NHL and NBA teams are both in Washington DC. So congrats to the Penguins and Crosby but don't take this the wrong way i hope your success is short lived.

16 Years Old and Baseball's Chosen One?

In a recent article in Sports Illustrated they did a cover story on a 16 year old prodigy Bryce Harper. Harper is a catcher at Las Vegas High School and he has hit a 570 foot Home Run and can throw a 96 MPH fastball. They are going as far as saying that he is Baseball's LeBron. Also his parents are considering taking him out of high school a year early so he can enter next years draft and not the 2011 draft. Now if the kid is good the kid is good but arent we putting a little to much pressure on someone who is just 16 years of age. Also is there a reason to rush him a year if Harper is as good as everyone says does it matter if he gets drafted in 2010 or 2011? We are seeing the same kind of hype and pressure on a certain catcher here in Baltimore. It has gone so far that a fan site for Matt Wieters has his Hall of Fame plaque and it says that he led the Orioles to 20 World Championships. Now i do believe Wieters will be a great player but putting him in the Hall of Fame is a little premature, though i understand why O's fans are putting all their hopes on this kid after 12 straight losing seasons. For Wieters and Harpers sake i just hope the pressure doesnt get to both of them. In Harpers case if you are already being called the Chosen One what do you have to do to not be a bust. How many records do you have to break? How many Championships do you have to win? Can Harper ever live up to the hype of being baseball's chosen one? only time will tell.