NO MORE FAVRE

I am only posting this because it seems like that's all they want to talk about is the possibility of Favre returning yet again. They even have Rachel Nichols outside Favre's house giving updates. The latest on Favre is that he sent X-Rays of his arm to the Vikings and depending on the severity will depend on his decision. First of all i don't want to see Favre play anymore and i think he is being extremely selfish. The only reason Favre is coming back is to stick it to the Green Bay Packers. Yea the Vikings are a pretty good team but there are other teams that need a quarterback so why the Vikings. It also cant be because he loves playing at the Metrodome, his stats are horrible in that building and hes only won 5 times there. Bret Favre was one of my favorite players but this constant retire, un-retire is getting very old. Actually i don't know what i dislike more Bret Favre or the coverage ESPN is giving him. They even reported on a text message he sent to Trent Dilfer regarding his retirement. Soon they will report on what he has for lunch. Personally if Favre does make another return i hope in his two games against Green Bay the Packers destroy the Vikings and Aaron Rodgers has career days. The only interesting part in this whole saga is the response the Green Bay fans give Favre if runs on the field with a Vikings jersey on. No matter what happens this is the last i will write or say anything about Bret Favre, i am officially boycotting Favre this is one of the stories that i don't care about at all.

Add Manny to the List

As many of you already know Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games for Testing positive for a performance enhancer. Once again a power hitter that at least i was hoping was clean is not. According to Manny he got the prescribition from a doctor which had something in it that triggered a positive test. As much as you want to believe him can you? We believed Rafael Palmeiro when he shook his finger at congress, we believed A-Rod when he said he never used and we all know how those two scernios played out. Unfortunatley i dont think we will ever get past the steroid era. And everytime someone does test positive a dad has to explain to his son why his hero takes drugs. The saddest thing of all is that any player who puts up good number will be under a cloud of suspicion. Manny cheated plain and simple but do we blame him or blame the culture. True nobody forced Manny to take these drugs but due to the abundance of steroid use he might have felt he had no other choice. Maybe he felt he had to keep up with everybody else. No matter how you look at it, its another black eye for baseball seeing one of its best players test positive. Hopefully, its over but honestly would it surprise anyone if Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard or Prince Fielder tested Positive. The answer is no.

NCAA Lacrosse Tournament

This Saturday the 2009 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament Gets underway and though its not a mainstream sport I'm still going to make my predictions Round by Round.

NCAA FIRST ROUND
# 1 Virginia (11-5) vs. Villanova (13-2)
Villanova is coming off a CAA Conference Championship victory over Towson, Nova also only has 1 Victory against the RPI Top 20 which is Hofstra, Virginia is coming off a loss in the ACC Tournament but are the # 1 Seed for a Reason
PICK: Virginia

# 8 Johns Hopkins (9-4) vs. Brown (12-3)
The National Runners up of a Year ago did not have the best of seasons with no wins against any RPI Top 5 teams, Brown has an impressive record but only 3 of its 12 wins are against RPI Top 20, the Blue Jays should win this one.
PICK: Johns Hopkins

# 5 Cornell (10-3) vs. Hofstra (11-3)
Neither team has strong resumes but Cornell has two strong wins over Duke and Princeton, Hofstra lost in the CAA Tournament and that doesn't look good for them.
PICK: Cornell

# 4 Princeton (12-2) vs. UMass (9-5)
Princeton has 5 RPI Top 20 wins including 2 in the Top 5, Princeton is definitely one of the favorites, UMass had a magical run to the finals a couple years back but that wont happen this year.
PICK: Princeton

# 3 Duke (13-3) vs. Navy (11-4)
In this battle of the ACC and Patriot League Champions, I see Duke as way to powerful for Navy, though i would like to see the upset don't think it will happen here.
PICK: Duke

# 6 North Carolina (11-5) vs. UMBC (12-3)
UNC has impressive wins over Hopkins and Maryland in the ACC Tournament, UMBC won the America East Title i like this match up for UMBC this will be my first upset.
PICK: UMBC

# 7 Notre Dame (15-0) vs. Maryland (9-6)
Notre Dame's High seed for an undefeated is attributed to its weak schedule, Maryland snuck in despite losing its first game in the ACC Tournament I think Maryland give Notre Dame its first loss.
PICK: Maryland

# 2 Syracuse (12-2) vs. Siena (12-5)
6 RPI Top 20 Wins and a solid schedule give the Orange a 2 seed, while Siena has no wins in the Top 20 this would shouldn't be close.
PICK: Syracuse

So those are my first round picks make sure to check it out next week when i make the next rounds picks.

Alex the Great vs. Sid the Kid

After Tuesday nights Game 7 thriller the NHL will have their dream match up as the Washington Capitals take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ideally you would like to see your two best players in the Stanley Cup but unfortunately both guys play in the Eastern Conference. If your the NHL you have been waiting for this since both Ovechkin and Crosby entered the League, and with good reason. Since Crosby has been in the NHL he has been slated as the next Gretzky earning the nickname Sid the Kid, but Ovechkin is the one putting up all the numbers. Ovechkin has more Goals 219-132, Ovechkin has More Points 420-397, Crosby actually has more Assists 265-201.
Ovechkin also has all the Hardware he has won the:
Calder Memorial Trophy - NHL Rookie of the Year: 2006
Lester B. Pearson Award (Most Outstanding Player): 2008
Kharlamov Trophy - 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Hart Memorial Trophy (Most Valuable Player): 2008
Art Ross Trophy: 2008 (112 points)
Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy: 2008 (65 goals), 2009 (56 goals)

Crosby has Won
Art Ross Trophy (Most points in the regular season): 2007
Lester B. Pearson Award (Best player as voted by his peers): 2007
Hart Memorial Trophy (Most valuable player in the NHL): 2007

No matter how much hardware the two have won or who you think is better, this could finally be the moment that the NHL becomes wildly popular this Crosby-Ovechkin Rivalry could be to the NHL what the Magic-Bird rivalry was to the NBA.

Hey Ravens forget Boldin draft Heyward Bey

There has been plenty of talk leading up to draft week of the Ravens trading for Anquan Boldin, which all in all i don't disagree with but to me you have to weigh the options. First of all Boldin will be 29 this year so realistically you might have 4 to 5 years max with him. Second the Ravens don't have much cap room to play with so if you sign Boldin for 4 to 5 years that probably means 2009 will be the last for Suggs in a Ravens uniform. If you draft a wide receiver you will have much more time with that receiver, also Boldins style is not what the Ravens need, they need a game breaker, Boldin is solid but he doesn't stretch the field. The one player i like is Maryland's Darrius Heyward-Bey. Heyward-Bey proved at the combine that he could stretch the field running a 4.3 40, the fastest of the receivers. Now on Baltimore radio for awhile now they have been saying that if you draft Heyward-Bey its like drafting Yamon Figurs. I totally disagree Heyward-Bey had more catches, more yards and more TDs than Figurs, and to me Bey is a more accomplished receiver. Bey does not have hands like bricks and the only reason his college numbers aren't better is because look at the quarterbacks at Maryland not exactly Heisman candidates. To me Heyward-Bey is the game breaker the Ravens offense sorely needs and hopefully the Ravens feel the same.

"Baltimore" Back on the Road Jersey

When the Orioles went into Texas Monday Night a little bit of history was made. For the first time since 1972 Baltimore was on the road jersey. To be honest i don't see the big deal, i really don't care what it says on the front of the jersey. Maybe i have a little different perspective because i have always seen "Orioles" on every jersey (i was born in 1986). Also I am a little surprised on how passionate the Oriole fans were on the subject. Sometimes it seemed the fans were more worried about what was on the jersey and not who was wearing the jersey. I also heard some fans boycott the team until they made the change this season, which is stupid. Hey i am an Oriole fan just as much as any other person in Baltimore, but i just feel there are more important things than the uniform. Be mad at the team because they have had 11 losing seasons, be mad that until McPhail this was one of the worst run franchises in baseball, but don't be mad at a team because on what it says on the uniform.

Teixeira Greeted with Rude Homecoming

When the Yankees made their opening day trip to Baltimore the main storyline was Mark Teixeira's first time in Baltimore since signing with the Yankees. Not surprising to anybody was the reception Mark got from Oriole fans. Every time Teixeira came to the plate he was overwhelmingly booed. The crowd also had signs that said "Sellout" and "Severna Park hates you Tex". Maybe the most surprising thing about the boos was the backlash Baltimore fans got. Peter Gammons on Baseball Tonight thought it was a little extreme, and Colin Cowherd of ESPN Radio thought the O's fans were being petty. First of all this is not the first time fans have booed an opposing player, hell the Yankees fans have booed their own players. Second i think the Oriole fans have a very good reason to boo. Every time Mark Teixeira was interviewed over the last couple seasons whenever the Orioles were brought up he stated how much he wanted to play for his hometown team, but when the opportunity arose he went to New York. I have no problem with Mark taking more money but dont say one thing and do another, if you didnt want to play for the Orioles you should have said it from the start. As far as i am concerned if the fans want to boo let them boo all they want. Mark Teixeira could have been like Call Ripken in the eyes of Oriole fans but now he will be treated like Bob Irsay.