I Need a new hobby

I live a very simple life, it doesn't take to much for me to have a good time.  One thing I enjoy more than most is watching sports.  Quite honestly I just don't watch sports, I live them.  Whether its the Ravens, Orioles or Caps I get emotional invested like many other people do.  I don't watch a lot of reality TV or sitcoms so for me its sports or practically nothing.  There is just one problem, when you get so emotionally attached to something it makes it that much tougher when your team fails.  Sports is the worst to get so attached to, because only one team a year wins it which plainly means the odds are against your team winning.  I bring up this topic because Monday night sent me to the brink.

Being the sports nut I am of course I planned my night around Game 5 of the Capitals-Rangers playoff series.  Just like the first series the Caps were in this one has been extremely close.  The Caps lost a marathon Game 3 and then rebounded to tie the series in Game 4.  Game 5 didn't start well Rangers took an 1-0 lead into the first intermission.  But like most of their games the Caps did not give up and took a 2-1 about midway through the third.  The Capitals then started playing their gritty defense until a minute was left in the game and it seemed Washington was going to steal one in MSG.  As rewarding and enjoyable as sports can be for players and fans it can be just as cruel.  In the first round Joel Ward scored a game winner in Game 7 to send the Caps into the second round.  On Monday Ward committed a awful penalty with 28 seconds left to essentially give the Rangers a 6 on 4 power play.  They didn't waste any time and scored with 6.6 seconds left to tie the game.  Let me say that again 6.6 seconds, that's how close the Caps were from winning Game 5.  Instead they lose later in OT to fall behind 3-2 in the series.

Gut-punching is just the first term that comes to mind.  I compare this loss to the Ravens AFC Championship game loss with only one difference.  When Cundiff missed the kick against New England the Ravens season was over, the Caps are still alive even if they are on life support.  To say I was a little perturbed throughout the day on Tuesday that would be an understatement.  I was ill-tempered, short with people and honestly probably not the best to be around all day.  It still amazes me that even after working in sports that a loss still affects me the way it does.  For those who don't follow sports as closely as I probably think I'm insane well I cant really argue that.  As much as I would like not to watch the Game 6 match up between the Caps and Rangers because of the fear of a giant letdown I will watch.  And whether ill admit it or not win or lose for the Caps ill enjoy every minute of it.   I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment.  GO CAPS!

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Dontrelle Willis Situation: Another black eye for the Orioles



Last time you'll see Willis in an O's uniform

For fifteen years the Orioles have been what many consider as the laughing stock of baseball.  Being an Orioles fan as much as I want to dispute it I cant.  Whether it be horrible free agent signings, terrible draft picks or god awful trades the O's have been tough to love.  This off season in my opinion was not any different.  First Dan Duquette gets hired a guy who hasn't worked in baseball in 10 years, and there is probably a reason for that.  Then for a time the Orioles were rumored to be interested in Manny Ramirez, someone who is currently serving a 50 game suspension.  Now for the icing on the cake Dontrelle Willis was signed to a minor league deal.  This seemed harmless until this week.
First of all let me start by saying Dontrelle Willis is lucky to have any sort of contract in baseball.  In the early 2000s Willis looked to be the next great lefty in the game.  However since 2006 Willis hasn't had an ERA lower than 5.00 and has only won 14 games in that same time.  Willis signed with the Phillies early in the spring and didn't last too long and was quickly released.  That's when the Orioles swooped in and signed the well traveled lefty.  Much wasn't thought of the deal and it looked to be a low risk move, that was until this week.

Apparently Willis thinks hes better than the Orioles think he is.  Willis wants to be a starter, whereas the O's see him as a situational lefty, hes actually neither but that's another discussion.  Willis isn't exactly lighting the world on fire either at Norfolk, hes 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA in just 3.2 innings pitched.  With those numbers how can you not make him a starter.  So after a disagreement Willis just left.  That's right got up and left the Tides without any explanation.  Oddly enough that is not the worst part of this whole debacle.  In his infinite wisdom Orioles GM said he would welcome Willis back if he decided to return.  ARE YOU F#%&!$^ KIDDING ME!?!?!  Why in the world would you welcome someone back who walked out on your team.  What kind of message does that send to not only your team but the entire organization.  Willis is a selfish player who is only worried about himself and could care less about the good of the team.

Now to makes matters even better Willis has filed a grievance against the Orioles for putting him on the restricted list.  This seems like an awful lot of trouble for a mediocre player at best.  The reason this is a black eye for the Orioles is because they refuse to cut ties with him.  Would the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies (obviously not they already cut him)or any other good team put up with this crap? I doubt it.  In fact knowing the way the Orioles do things they will probably promote him to starter, call him up to the majors and put him in the rotation.  Look I'm no genius and I'm not saying that i could run a ball team but this one seems easy to me.  Willis is washed up and is not worth the trouble just cut him now before this gets any uglier or more embarrassing.

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Baseball is Back!!!

This by far is my favorite time of year, the start of baseball season. The only problem is being where I am from its difficult to get overly excited about the upcoming season. However this post will be mostly positive. Tonight the Marlins introduce their new stadium to the baseball world and hopefully tonight will be the start of another unforgettable baseball season. So now its time for the predictions that will be way off come October.

AL EAST (*Wild Card Teams)
1. Yankees
2. Rays*
3. Red Sox
4. Blue Jays
5. Orioles

The Yankees offense is just too strong and though their pitching is not great but its good enough. Tampa will edge out Boston again this year only this time no epic comeback is needed. Toronto should keep the race close in what is quickly becoming not just the toughest but most competitive division in baseball. As for the Orioles.....I got nothing.

AL CENTRAL
1. Tigers
2. Royals
3. Twins
4. White Sox
5. Indians

This may turn out as the least competitive of all the divisions. Barring major injuries its hard to see any team other than Detroit winning this division. Really you can put those other 4 teams any order you want none of them will be within 10 games of the Tigers when its all said and done.

AL WEST
1. Rangers
2. Angels*
3. Athletics
4. Mariners

The American League West did its best to steal all the off season headlines, with the Angels getting Pujols and CJ Wilson and the Rangers getting Yu Darvish. This race should be one of the most entertaining of the entire season. I give the slight edge to the Rangers because of their recent run of success but both teams will make the postseason.

NL EAST
1. Marlins
2. Phillies
3. Nationals
4. Braves
5. Mets

I have hopped on the Marlins bandwagon, with the additions of Reyes, Bell, Buehrle and Guillen at the helm the Marlins are primed to take the East. The Phillies are hard to go against with Lee and Halladay but early season injuries to Howard and Utley could be too much for Philly to overcome. Also don't sleep on the Nats they should make some huge strides in 2012.

NL CENTRAL
1. Reds
2. Cardinals*
3. Brewers
4. Pirates
5. Cubs
6. Astros

Cincinnati got dealt a huge blow by losing Ryan Madson for the season but I still feel they are the best in the Central. St. Louis will obviously take a step back losing Pujols but are still good enough to make the postseason. Milwaukee will hang around but losing Fielder will be too much. Pittsburgh, Chicago and Houston will be battling for fourth place.

NL WEST
1. Diamondbacks
2. Giants*
3. Dodgers
4. Padres
5. Rockies

Arizona came out of nowhere last season to win the West and I expect more of the same this season. San Francisco was plagued with injuries last season, but healthy they should be back in the postseason. LA's biggest headline was being purchased by a group that included Magic Johnson, it will probably be its only one this season. Not much excitement coming from either San Diego or Colorado, other than Jamie Moyer being the number 2 guy in Denver at age 49, yikes.

AL Champ: Detroit Tigers
NL Champ: Arizona Diamondbacks

World Series Champ: Arizona Diamondbacks

Probably not a team most people have winning it all but I hate going with the trend. Arizona has an exciting up and coming team and they are looking top build on last years amazing run. Detroit signed a Prince and have a pitcher coming off maybe the most dominating performance by a pitcher ever. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter I'm just happy baseball is back.

Sorry Ryan but I just don't believe you

Since the announcement was made yesterday I have been pondering what exactly I would say about Ryan Braun winning his appeal. Well quite frankly I don't believe his claim to innocence is as strong as he makes it out to be. I hate the fact that I dont believe him because Braun is one of my favorite players but Ive been burned before. One thing that stuck out for me is Braun saying he was tested 25 times and passed all of them. So what, you can be in a fight 25 times and never kill someone but if you kill someone in fight 26 does that soften the blow? I know a little bit of a stretch but I think you know what I'm getting at. There are so many questions that have yet to be answered that maybe taking such a strong stance on this issue might be a little premature. My biggest problem with this whole thing is that the Braun camp is that they are attacking the credibility of the collector rather than trying to clear his name. I know there needs to be a protocol for these type of things but until you can show me how this guy did alter the sample, I will stay on the side of Ryan Braun tested positive for a PED.

The main reason Ryan Braun won his appeal was that the urine collector (who does it part time, weird) did not send the sample right away. He got the sample on a Saturday and did not send it to Montreal until Monday. This is directly from the MLB CBA "Absent unusual circumstances, the specimens should be sent by FedEx to the Laboratory on the same day they are collected." That obviously didn't happen and that's why Braun won. I have beat up on Braun this whole post but MLB only has itself to blame. First of all how do you not know that FedEx is open on Saturday? Last time i checked Sunday was the only day mail isn't delivered. In a way you cant blame them for taking that stance, and i also understand following procedure. If you don't have a protocol to follow it allows the opportunity for samples to be tainted or messed with. Plain and simple MLB screwed up and in principle they were right in that the collector did not follow the rules of the CBA. In my opinion however unless you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that either the collector deliberately tampered the sample or because it was kept in the basement it was altered, you cant overturn the suspension.

Whether or not you personally think Ryan Braun took any PEDs, his name will always be linked with Manny, Palmeiro, McGwire and everybody else associated with PEDs. Braun says he is a victim of the process but the real victims are the fans of major league baseball. Now we have to hear about another star player who will have that infamous cloud of suspicion over him. I want to be wrong about Ryan Braun and if I am I will be the first to admit it. I just cant get over the fact they were more worried about the process of the test rather than proving Braun didn't test positive. People will also doubt Braun because the year in question was his best statistically. All in all it is yet another black eye for the sport of baseball, one that might take a while to heal.

I'm going to post two Videos and let you all decide for yourself who you want to believe.

First this is Braun's press conference from earlier today.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:7611725

Next is Dr. Gary Wadler who is the Chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:7612292

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Divisional Round Predictions

Just like the regular season the playoffs even after just one weekend are just as unpredictable. We saw Tim Tebow perform another miracle and the Falcons only score 2 points. We also saw that the Saints offense hasn't slowed down at all. But now we get to see what the top 4 teams in football can do after a week off. This upcoming weekend may be the best football we see during the entire postseason. Now its time to see if i can improve on my 2-2 record from a week ago.

# 3 New Orleans Saints @ # 2 San Francisco 49ers
This game has created that old debate can a great defense stop a great offense. The 49ers definitely have one of the feel good stories of the year, that goes along with a hard hitting defense. New Orleans has put up over 40 points in four straight games, to say that they are clicking would be an understatement. Many think that the Saints are actually the best team in the NFC and that they have the fire power to beat GB. I however love SF's defense and if you look at the numbers New Orleans is not as prolific on the road, especially on grass. The big question is can San Fran score enough to win, i believe they will.
PREDICTION: 49ERS 26-21

# 4 Denver Broncos @ # 1 New England Patriots
Can Tim Tebow do it again, I don't think so. I will give Tebow credit he has done what most of us thought he could not, win. However the last time New England played Denver Tom Brady and the Pats offense proved to be too much for the Broncos. Now the Pats defense is nowhere near as good as Pittsburgh's, even a heavily injured Pittsburgh defense. The main difference is New England's offense is leaps and bounds better than the Steelers. Tebow and the Broncos will keep it close but the Pats are just too strong.
PREDICTION: PATRIOTS 31-17

# 3 Houston Texans @ # 2 Baltimore Ravens
The fans of Baltimore have been waiting for this game for 4 years, finally a home playoff game. Houston comes in on a roll beating Cincinnati pretty easily 31-10 on wild card weekend. This game is a rematch of a week 6 game between the two, a game Baltimore won 29-14. Two glaring differences, Andre Johnson did not play and Matt Schaub did. Houston will have to depend on Arian Foster to carry the load against the tough Ravens D. The last rookie QB to win at Baltimore was Jake Plummer back in 1997, if the game rest on Yates' arm, that doesn't bode well for Houston. This game should be close but the Ravens are just a better team.
PREDICTION: RAVENS 24-13

# 4 New York Giants @ # 1 Green Bay Packers
You better hop on now before the Giants bandwagon breaks down. It seems like everybody is saying that the Giants are primed to upset the best team in football. Now i will say if any team can do it, it is New York they have done it before. However lets not forget that this Giants team was 9-7 this year, lost to the Redskins twice and were embarrassed at home by Seattle, my point they are inconsistent. Green Bay is a well oiled machine and despite how well the Giants are playing GB is still the favorite. Also big thing about this game, NY has a very suspect secondary, so their D-Line MUST get to Rodgers to have a chance, my guess is they wont get to him enough.
PREDICTION: PACKERS 34-24

We are one step closer to the Super Bowl, and these games have the chance to be the best slate of games in the entire postseason.

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Wild Card Weekend Predictions

So after a long and at times strange regular season the playoffs are finally here. Which in Baltimore is partly good and partly bad. Good because the Ravens will host a playoff game for the first time in 5 years, bad because the football season is almost over and that means the Orioles are peeking their heads around the corner. But enough of the birds time to make some predictions for what should be an exciting wild card weekend.

#6 Cincinnati Bengals (9-7) @ #3 Houston Texans (10-6)

Out of all the games this is the less intriguing to me, good thing its first so we can get it out of the way. The Bengals season came out of nowhere, most had them finishing last in the AFC North. The rookie combination of Dalton and Green made for some exciting plays in Cincy. The one thing that worries me about the Bengals, they are 1-7 against teams with winning records. Houston might have been the number one seed without the injuries. Jake Delhomme had to make an emergency appearance in week 17. Arian Foster has to be licking his chops after Ray Rice ran for 191 a week ago. Houston should be rocking and lets not forget a T.J. Yates led Texans went into Cincinnati and beat the Bengals earlier this year, it should happen again.

PREDICTION: TEXANS 20-14

#6 Detroit Lions @ #3 New Orleans Saints

Amazing that in the same day we have games with two totally different levels of interest. By the time this game is over it might remind you of a game of Madden you would play with your friends. This game marks the first time two 5,000 yard passers will play against each other in the postseason. Every part of me want to pick the Lions but just last week the Lions let Matt Flynn throw for over 500 yards, in a game you needed to win to have better playoff seeding. So if Flynn can do it, what do you think Drew Brees can do. That being said New Orleans is not known for their defense. Saints win in a shootout.

PREDICTION: SAINTS 40-37

#5 Atlanta Falcons (10-6) @ #4 New York Giants (9-7)

The Giants had to win its last two games just to get into the postseason as the NFC East champs. The Giants might be one of the most head-scratching teams in the postseason. This is the same team that went into New England and beat the Pats, but also lost at home to the Seahawks. One thing that has been overlooked is the tremendous season Eli Manning has had. The Falcons come into the game trying to shake off numerous years of disappointment when it comes to the postseason. Last year the Falcons went 13-3 and were one and done. Matt Ryan needs to start winning playoff games if he wants to be in the same group as the elite, he at least gets one this postseason. I just don't trust the up and down Giants who by the way are just 4-4 at home this year.

PREDICTION: FALCONS 27-21

#5 Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) @ #4 Denver Broncos (8-8)

This might be the most watched out of all the playoff games this weekend. People want to see if somehow Tebow can do the unthinkable, well in my opinion he cant. Tebow the last three weeks has a 41 percent completion percentage, 1 TD and 4 INTs. In other words Tebow picked the worst time to play his worst football. Also rumors that Brady Quinn is taking snaps with the first team doesn't bode well for Tebow. Pittsburgh is really, really banged up. Numerous star players are either not playing or coming into the game with some kind of injury. Pittsburgh will lose this game if they make mistakes and makes a lot of them. Avoid the mistakes and they will be playing next week.

PREDICTION: STEELERS 17-6

In the words of a player not in the Playoffs....."CANT WAIT!!!"

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Ravens vs. Orioles, Same City but Worlds Apart

Today was the last day of baseball's winter meetings. Just like every other year some big moves were made. Unfortunately another repeat is the Orioles being very quiet. Well not too quiet they did pick up the amazing pitcher known as Dana Eveland, who has the incredible career ERA of 5.52. Now i am not naive, I know to get players to come here they have to want to come here. My main problem with the Orioles is that they tell us they want to get better and yet do nothing to strive towards getting better. New GM Dan Duquette has stated that the goal for the Orioles in the 2012 season is to be at least .500. I know the regular season is still a couple months away, but as an O's fan you cant feel confident with how this past week has gone. That is what leads me to the comparison to the Ravens, but really its how they are nothing alike.

Back to how the Orioles don't add the players they need to become competitive. Before the 2011 season the Orioles picked up players like Vladimir Guerrero, Derrek Lee, Mark Reynolds and JJ Hardy. Out of those four players JJ Hardy is really the only one who played well in all facets of the game. Both Vlad and Lee were and are past their primes, and Reynolds while the power numbers were there, he couldn't play third to save his life. As for the Ravens they don't miss nearly as much as the O's do. Now I understand football is different than baseball, but the general concept of picking up the right player for the right situations should not change. Just look at some of the Ravens off season pick ups. Bryant McKinnie, Vonta Leach, Andre Gurode, Bernard Pollard and Lee Evans. The only argument you can make is Evans because of his injury. Other than that each one of those guys have contributed, and some in a big way. The Ravens know when they have a weakness and address it accordingly. The Orioles say that they do and try to convince you they will be a winner. However the glaring differences don't stop at player acquisitions.

The front offices are incredibly different as well. First the Orioles, the major concern from fans and baseball experts is the involvement of Peter Angelos. Mr. Angelos has always been criticized for how he handles the team. Angelos has never given the reigns to his GMs to do what they need to turn the team around. Since Pat Gillick (the last successful GM) the Orioles have had five men try, all have failed and none have last more than four seasons. I am willing to bet that Angelos is the main reason it took forever to find a new GM this season, and why the guy they hired hadn't been in baseball for 10 years. The Ravens have had one figure head who has made all the football decisions, Ozzie Newsome. Plenty of guys have left who were under Newsome, but since he was hired in 1996 Newsome has been the man. Neither Modell or Bisciotti have never been known to meddle, and in my opinion its a huge part of the Ravens success. From 1996 on the Orioles have had two winning seasons (96 & 97), the Ravens have had eight winning seasons, two division titles and a Super Bowl. The numbers speak for themselves.

Baltimore might be one of the most unique sports cities in America, not saying that its a good thing. You have one franchise that does everything right, and even if there are complaints they aren't major ones. The other franchise does everything it possibly can to frustrate its fan base, not on purpose but sometimes it feels that way. One last thing, the Ravens make you proud to wear their jerseys and colors. When I tell people I am an Orioles fan a look of pity comes to their face. I don't know when the Orioles will be winners again and until they do me and most of Baltimore will continue to reluctantly suffer through the baseball season so we can enjoy the Ravens.

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