Category Archives: sports

Can Kentucky Win 2012 NCAA Tournament?

Since George Mason’s Cinderella run in the NCAA Tournament, it has been a crap shoot. A lot of upsets and senior-laden mid-majors making long runs. A lot of this can be blamed on the NBA’s age requirement for the draft. Can Kentucky win with a team with a group of freshmen leading the way?

Anthony Davis, and his unibrow, is a monster in the paint. He is leading all of college basketball in blocks and is already setting career records at Kentucky. They are the most complete team that Kentucky has had since Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer, Walter McCarty, & Tony Delk were college students. Their only loss came against Indiana and with a buzzer-beater.

Syracuse has a shot at holding their own against Kentucky. I’ve watched many of their games, but both teams could definitely have one bad game…and that is all you need to have to get booted from the tournament.

The Wildcats are the teams with a bull’s eye on their backs. It will take a nearly perfect tournament for them to win, since most of their rotation will have careers in the NBA.

Want to see the action in person? AT&T is hosting a sweepstakes right now to go to the Final Four AND the Championship game! That’s right, you get to go to both. To enter go to http://bit.ly/ATTSweeps for details. What are you waiting for? Get in the game!

I’m sharing the Sweepstakes on behalf of AT&T but all thought and opinions are mine.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

White Boy Of The Week: Peyton Hillis

Peyton Hillis did something that I’ve been waiting 24 years for, he wiped Craig James off the record books. In 1986, James, “The Great White Hope,” ran for 1,227 yards and was the last white running back to surpass 1,000 yards in a season. This weekend, in a loss, Hillis crossed that plateau and currently has 1,070 on the season. He has been a beast this season and exciting to watch. I’m glad to name Peyton Hillis as my “White Boy of The Week.”

I have watched nearly every Cleveland Browns game this year, mostly because they show most of them here in Columbus, Ohio. I was doing some research on Hillis for this post and ran across an amazing nickname for him. “The Albino Rhino” has been thrown out there and I hope it sticks. His running style is violent and he tries to leap or run over his opponent. He is prone to fumbling, which he did last week, but he will get that fixed this off-season.

Hillis has 11 touchdowns this season and to go along with his rushing yards, he has 57 receptions, 446 receiving yards, and two additional receiving touchdowns. He is a dual threat and someone that a cornerback or safety wouldn’t want to try to tackle in the open-field.

He was acquired by the Browns from the Denver Broncos for Brady Quinn. He was lost in the depth chart in Denver, but did shine when he was given an opportunity. He played his college ball at Arkansas, where he played fullback in front of first-round picks, Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. There has been a few weeks this season that Hillis had more total yards in a week than both McFadden and Jones combined.

Congratulations goes out to Peyton Hillis, he is having a fantastic season and should get a hefty contract this summer for his achievements on the field. He is currently making near the minimum, the Browns have him at a discount. The Browns are an improved team with Hillis and next season with a healthy Colt McCoy and possibly an addition of a wide-receiving playmaker, the Browns will keep getting better.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Uh Oh…I Agree With Buzz Bissinger

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Buzz Bissinger, is now the new sports columnist for The Daily Beast. He wrote the books “Friday Night Lights” and “Three Nights In August,” the man knows his stuff. He is often very controversial with his take on current events and very opinionated on his Twitter account. He made a splash a few years ago when he went after Deadspin founder Will Leitch and all sports bloggers on Bob Costas’s HBO show. Bloggers are supposed to hate him, but I kind of love him now. His latest take on the Cam Newton situation is a must-read, here’s my take.

I could lose my “blogger card” for writing a pro-Bissinger post, but the man hit his article out of the park. He has a fresh take on the “biggest non-story story” to his college football this season.

Cam Newton and his father, Cecil Newton, have been charged and convicted in the court of public opinion. Bissinger throws the spotlight back onto the NCAA, even comparing them to the mafia. His stance is that the NCAA are making millions of dollars on these kids and there are no guarantees that they will earn a dollar from the sport, especially if the player gets injured. He thinks that Cecil Newton allegedly low-balled Mississippi State and should have asked for more than $180,000 dollars. Bissinger thinks every player should receive the dollar value for how much his scholarship is worth. He calls it a “annuity,” which is exactly what should happen. Bissinger even uses the comparison that “the school is pimp and the player is a high-priced whore.” He isn’t trying to defame the players by calling them “whores”, he is just pointing out that is the role they play in the system that is in place. The school’s pimp hand is strong, but you can’t hate the player, just hate the game (NCAA).

It’s no secret that college football is the biggest money maker for nearly every school. It helps fund other sports that lose money and Title IX sports that have to be offered. I am not against Title IX, but it is always brought up when people suggest that colleges pay their players.

I have an idea that isn’t a new one, but should be thrown back into the discussion. Colleges and universities sell jerseys with numbers that correspond with players currently playing. That money goes straight to the institution and no dime goes to the players. I live in Columbus, Ohio and #2 jerseys (Terrelle Pryor) sell for a higher price than other numbered jerseys. Also, when Beanie Wells went pro, #28 jerseys (the number he wore at Ohio State) sold for a reduced price. Fans want to wear the jersey number of their favorite player. The players should get a cut of profits from their merchandise. You could either give them their share every year or the university could invest that money into a mutual fund and given to them after their eligibility runs out. Georgia player, A.J. Green, was suspended at the start of this season for selling his jersey, even though a fan could buy a similar jersey on the school’s website or all over Athens, Georgia. He received less than $1,000 dollars for it, but was suspended for four games.

I don’t know if I can go all out by comparing NCAA to the mafia or a pimp, but we should all agree that the system is broken. The rules that make up what define an “amateur,” were written before college sports programs turned into Fortune 500 companies. If the system isn’t fixed or definitions re-written, we could end up with another SMU scandal and the NCAA would have to basically dismantle an entire program to prove their point. Wait, I guess if a “high-priced whore” gets out of line, a pimp gotta go what a pimp gotta do, right?

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A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

2010 Men’s College Basketball – All-Name Team

Not everyone can have the last name ‘Jordan’ or ‘Chamberlain’, some of us have to go through life with a pretty ridiculous name. Most of these names are pretty rough to grow up with, but some are names you wish you may have, especially if you are named something bland like Joe Smith or Bobby Roberts. We had a few players graduate and are not on this year’s All-Name Team, but we do have many new faces, which we will enjoy for the next few years.

Once again the smaller schools have stepped up their game and are well-represented on the team. The bigger conferences really need to step it up and start recruiting some soon-to-be household names. The Syracuse Orange did have three players make the list, Jim Boeheim knows how to recruit!

Jimmer Fredette – G – BYU Cougars
Blondy Baruti – F – Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Deverin Muff – F – Eastern Kentucky Colonels
A.J. Yawn – G – Florida State Seminoles
Andrew Dick – G – Texas Longhorns
Bak Bak – F – California Golden Bears
Robo Kreps – G – Illinois-Chicago Flames
Ryan Bacon – F – St. Peter’s Peacocks
Ted Wang – C – Texas A&M-CC
Beloved Rogers – G – Prairie View A&M Panthers
Brendan Bald – G – Vermont Catamounts
Hippolyte Tsafack – F – Memphis Tigers
Scootie Randall – F – Temple Owls
Jihad Ali – G – Georgia State Panthers
Dinko Marshavelski – F – Northeastern Huskies
Papa Lo – F – Bryant University
Drake U’u – G – Cal Poly Mustangs
Casper ware – G – Long Beach State 49ers
Tripp Grooms – C – Citadel Bulldogs
Onochie Ochie – G – Southeastern Louisiana Lions
Pooh Williams – G – Utah State Aggies
Scoop Jardine – G – Syracuse Orange
Mookie Jones – F – Syracuse Orange
Fab Melo – C – Syracuse Orange
Storm Stanley – C – St. Francis (PA) Red Flash
Pawal Kielbasa – C – Chicago State Cougars
Zimmy Nwogbo – F – Charleston Southern Buccaneers
Gorkem Sonmez – G – Radford Highlanders
Billy Kidd – F – Delaware Fightin Blue Hens

Let me know if you have any other additions to this list.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Re-Do – 2007 NBA Draft

You can’t really judge any professional sports draft until after three years. I have done “NBA Draft Re-Do” posts since the 2005 Draft and they are always eye-opening. When you start to weed out the busts and players that never achieve their potential due to injury, sometimes you’re left with mixed bag. This year was not different, luckily I didn’t have to add Josh McRoberts as a potential NBA Lottery pick, that would have been ugly. Does Greg Oden even make the cut? Here is my 2007 NBA Draft Lottery, if the draft were held today.

After taking out guys like Brendan Wright, Acie Law, Spencer Hawes, and Yi Jianlian from the draft, after pick #6, it starts to get ugly, you have been warned. Continue reading →

35 Snarky Reasons To Watch Every Bowl Game

There are 35 college football bowl games this season and to be honest, not all of them are worth watching. I do my best, or worst, to try and convince everyone to tune into every bowl game this season. I use cheerleader quality, famous alumni, Justin Bieber lookalikes, and Hawaiian shirts to coax you. Also, I added a picture of the USC song girls, just because you know you will miss them this bowl season.

New Mexico Bowl: December 18th: BYU vs. UTEP – This game is hard to promote. Jenn Brown is the sideline reporter and it could be funny to hear her try to attempt to pronounce BYU’s Kalama Kaluhiokalani.

uDrove Humanitarian Bowl: December 18th: Northern Illinois vs. Fresno State – NIU’s head coach left to coach Minnesota and Fresno State was destroyed the last time they played on the blue turf. I suggest drinking until the blue turf starts to look like a lake and you think you’re watching a water polo match.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: December 18th: Ohio vs. Troy – Justin Bieber plays wide receiver for Troy.

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl: December 21st: Southern Mississippi vs. Louisville – Man Law #345 – If a bowl game is sponsored by meat, you must watch.

MAACO Las Vegas Bowl: December 22nd: Utah vs. Boise State – You may see a few Utah fans head explode just from being in Las Vegas.

S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl: December 23rd: Navy vs. San Diego State – Drink every time Craig James says something that makes you want to punch him…you’ll be blacked-out by halftime.

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl: December 24th: Hawaii vs. Tulsa – Although nothing will beat the year Notre Dame played in this bowl and Charle Weis sported an Hawaiian shirt, it’s always funny to see head coaches look like extras from an episode of Magnum P.I.

Little Caesars Bowl: December 26th: Florida International vs. Toledo – The legendary broadcast team of Dave Lamont, JC Pearson & Quint Kessenich will announce this game, enough said.

AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl: December 27th: Air Force vs. Georgia Tech – The triple-option versus the triple option…quarterbacks might just want to sit this game out.

Champs Sports Bowl: December 28th: West Virginia vs. NC State – The over/under on the amount of WCW’s NwO Wolfpac t-shirts in crowd will be at 30.5…and those will just be from West Virginia wrestling fans.

Insight Bowl: December 28th: Missouri vs. Iowa – Okay, nothing to watch here, the country is still laughing that a team that lost to Minnesota made a bowl game.

Military Bowl Presented By Northrop Grumman: December 29th: East Carolina vs. Maryland – Ralph Friedgen will eat any ECU player that crosses his sideline.

Texas Bowl: December 29th: Illinois vs. Baylor – Baylor fans have a short trip and their fans should outnumber Illinois fans, should feel like a home game for Ron Zook.

Valero Alamo Bowl: December 29th: Oklahoma State vs. Arizona – I would just DV-R this game and watch Mike Gundy’s “I’m A Man, I’m 40” rant on YouTube for 3 hours…could be more entertaining.

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl: December 30th: Army vs. SMU – June Jones takes his SMU team to play Army in the Armed Forces Bowl. What is Jones biggest regret? Leaving Hawaii or arguing with Jeff George?

New Era Pinstripe Bowl: December 30th: Kansas St vs. Syracuse – The announcers will spend more time talking about the Yankees signing Derek Jeter than the actual game.

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: December 30th: North Carolina vs. Tennessee – Butch Davis versus Derek Dooley: A chess match! Okay, maybe it will be more like checkers.

Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl: December 30th: Nebraska vs. Washington The nation finally realizes that Jake Locker is over-rated while Mel Kiper stands on the sideline with a boner for him.

Meineke Car Care Bowl: December 31st: South Florida vs. Clemson – Florida area & Southern belle cheerleaders…ESPN should just have a split-screen with the game and the sideline.

Hyundai Sun Bowl: December 31st: Notre Dame vs. Miami – I can’t wait for all the awesome highlights from Warren Sapp, Raghib Ismail, Tony Rice, Rick Mirer, Bernie Kosar, and Michael Irvin. This game should have an 80’s night promotion.

AutoZone Liberty: December 31st: Georgia vs. UCF – The eBay bidding for A.J. Green’s jersey has no reserve and you can start your bidding now.

Chick-fil-A Bowl: December 31st: South Carolina vs. Florida State – Jimbo Fisher should wear a Bobby Bowden mask on the sideline so Steve Spurrier will call bonehead plays and lose.

TicketCity Bowl: January 1st: Northwestern vs. Texas Tech – Can we renamed this the “Hangover Bowl”? Northwestern’s QB, Dan Persa, is out and the only shot the Wildcats have of beating the Red Raiders if an SAT test is the actual 4th quarter.

Outback Bowl: January 1st: Florida vs. Penn State – Joe Paterno may actually think he’s playing the game in the Outback. The Gators should use a kangaroo as their mascot to really throw him off.

Capital One Bowl: January 1st: Alabama vs. Michigan State – The best two teams that aren’t in a BCS bowl game. But we all know what usually happens when an SEC team plays against the Big Ten. Richardson and Ingram will score more times than co-eds on New Year’s Eve.

Gator Bowl: January 1st: Mississippi State vs. Michigan – Remember when pundits were giving Denard Robinson the Heisman trophy after three games? He may need another amazing game to save Rich Rodriguez’s job. If Michigan is down at the half, RichRod could be watching from a sports bar.

Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO: January 1st: Wisconsin vs. TCU – Wisconsin’s rushing attack versus TCU’s stingy defense. TCU will be Little Mac and Wisconsin is King Hippo. The key here is to hit him in the stomach when Bret Bielema opens his mouth.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: January 1st: Connecticut vs. Oklahoma – There’s really only one reason to watch this game, hoping that UConn grad Molly Qerim attends the game and Fox shows her in the stands.

Discover Orange: January 3rd: Stanford vs. Virginia Tech – The last time Virginia Tech had this big of a game, they were beaten by Boise State. Andrew Luck is better than anyone on BSU, sorry Va Tech may have trouble in this one.

Allstate Sugar Bowl: January 4th: Ohio State vs. Arkansas – Ohio State vs. Michigan rivalry will be storyline in this game. Ryan Mallett played his freshman year against the Buckeyes, completing one pass for eight yards. Call me crazy, but he will have better numbers in this game.

GoDaddy.com Bowl: January 6th: Middle Tennessee vs. Miami (Ohio) – Tune in the game, watch for the commercials.

AT&T Cotton Bowl: January 7th: LSU vs. Texas A&M – Barrett Bailey, Patrick Peterson, Jordan Jefferson, David Detz, Jarred Joseph, Terrence Toliver, and Lazarius Levingston. LSU’s team is sponsored by alliteration. Sounds like characters in a Dr. Seuss book.

BBVA Compass Bowl: January 8th: Pittsburgh vs. Kentucky – Dave Wannstedt was fired and Kentucky’s head coach is named Joker. He may try the “pencil trick” to the new Pitt coach.

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl: January 9th: Nevada vs. Boston College – Kyle Brontzman will not be attendance.

Tostitos BCS National Championship Game: January 10th: Oregon vs. Auburn – Cecil Newton has big money riding on this game, courtesy of the Auburn University football boosters. Also, at this point, Oregon could wear jerseys that resemble the World League’s Orlando Thunder.

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A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Suck It Lebron, Cleveland Awarded Lingerie Football Team

Lebron may have taken his talents to South Beach, but the Lingerie Football League awarded an expansion team to Cleveland. They were also looking at Columbus, but Cleveland beat them out. I am sad that they didn’t pick Columbus, since I would be a season-ticket holder, but a drive up to Cleveland may need to happen. I did some research on this league and found out some facts that people need to know…also I posted some pictures of some of the players. This could be my most-read post once this is all said and done. Oh, and yes, the Cleveland Crush will be playing at Quicken Loans Arena. Continue reading →

Josh McRoberts: My New Man Crush?

If you have read anything on this site over the last few years, you know my stance on Josh McRoberts. I hate Duke, he made a horrible decision by going pro when he did, and he had a failed relationship with “The Hills” actress, Lauren Conrad. When he landed on the Indiana Pacers a few years ago, I wasn’t exactly thrilled. He was a throw-in when Indiana traded Jerryd Bayless to Portland for Brandon Rush on draft night. Not many people expected that the Pacers would keep him around, but he has kept a spot on the roster since and even earning a few starts, due to injury, last season. He has made the most of his opportunities. Has he changed our mind?

The only player that has received more negative publicity on this site than McRoberts has been Adam Morrison, so what I’m about to tell you might surprise you. I am a fan of Josh McRoberts. I “liked” his page on Facebook to prove it. You have to like a guy who knows his role. He isn’t going to light it up and take 20 shots a game, his job is to eat up minutes and grab rebounds. He only takes 3-4 shots a game and most of those are put backs on rebounds. It’s something that other Pacers players should relish, because a player like Dahntay Jones, another Duke player on Indiana, has done so far this year too. Jones signed a 3-year deal before last season to become the Pacers defensive stopper, but he ended up trying to become Ron Artest and jacked up ugly shot after ugly shot. It was so bad that the Pacers tried to package D. Jones with Solomon Jones in a 2 for 1 trade, for anybody, so they could keep their 2nd-round pick, Magnum Rolle. They didn’t receive any offers, so they had to keep the Jones boys and cut Rolle loose, who is now doing well in the NBDL.

Going back to McRoberts, he should be a fan favorite. He is from nearby Carmel, Indiana and he’s white as a camera flash. Larry Bird may have went a different route in the draft this year and tried to take the best available players instead of playing it sage. Paul George, Lance Stephenson, and Magnum Rolle were all acquired on draft night. George plays the same position as Danny Granger, but his upside was the highest of any player left on the board. Stephenson was once known as “The Lebron of NYC,” as the best prep player in the city, but bonehead decisions and lack of motivation dropped him into the 2nd round. McRoberts is a player that Bird imagined that he would go out and acquire. A “gritty” and “scrappy” role player that he can plug in and do their job.

No one expects McRoberts to do anything on this team, no pressure at all. Hibbert trimmed down and he’s a beast inside this season, Granger is the leader and will lead this team in points, and Darren Collison is a slasher and can do whatever is left. The Pacers don’t look that attractive on paper, but on the court, they are pulling off some improbable wins.

Within the last week, the Pacers smoked the Heat, pushed the Thunder to overtime, easily beat the Lakers on the road, and dominated the Kings at Sacramento. If you told me that the Pacers would be 9-7 after 16 games, I would have asked you to pee in a cup. This team could easily be 10-6 or 11-5, if a few balls bounced the other way. The production on this team is essentially the same team as last season, minus Troy Murphy and adding Collison and James Posey. Why is this team winning games? You have a few players on contract years (T.J. Ford, Mike Dunleavy) and Jim O’Brien came into this season fighting for his job. Players are accepting their roles and Ford seems to be happy and not sulking on the bench as the 3rd PG option. He has been very productive as the backup PG and looks to be mentoring Collison.

Are the Pacers a playoff team? In an Eastern Conference that looks very top-heavy, absolutely! I project that the 7th and 8th seeds in the East will be 4 or 5 games under .500. If they complete this Western Conference road trip undefeated or with a lone loss, they are setting themselves up for a pretty nice December and January. You can’t win a season this early, but you can definitely lose a season this early. If Indiana headed into January with a horrible record, O’Brien would be a sitting duck and the Pacers would start looking for trade partners to move their expiring contracts for assets. It is setting up to be an interesting season in Indianapolis, if they can make the playoffs without Reggie Miller, maybe the fans can finally move on and accept this team. If I can accept Josh McRoberts, there’s hope for peace in the Middle East.

I leave you with an alley-oop by McRoberts that happened last night against Sacramento, click here to check it out.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Did Heisman Trust Leak The Bush Story?

This is purely speculative, but could the Heisman Trust be the party that leaked the story about Reggie Bush getting stripped of his Heisman trophy? Could they have leaked the story to see what the public’s reaction to the news be? It makes sense, right? I explain why this would have been a smart move and breakdown the whole Reggie Bush situation.

Yahoo! Sports ran a story yesterday that former USC tailback, Reggie Bush, would be getting his Heisman trophy stripped from him. He won the trophy as the best college football player in 2005. He took gifts and cash from agents and boosters while he was a college player, which retroactively made him ineligible to play during the 2005 college football season. USC was hit with sanctions and was forced to forfeit the games in which Bush played that season and was hit with the loss of scholarships and a two-year postseason ban.

The Heisman trust came out after this story went public and said that the trust hasn’t even taken a vote on the subject and are still deciding what to do about the whole Reggie Bush situation. I doubt that an established site like Yahoo! would have ran this story without multiple sources confirming that he was indeed getting the trophy stripped. The trust have never been put in a situation where they would have to strip a player of their award. The public could have reacted negatively to the story and could have swayed the votes of the trust. Since the reaction seems to be somewhat positive of the news, I’m sure the trust will act in stripping Bush of the award.

I want to stress once again that this is purely speculative, but it makes sense. The trust wants to make sure that the award keeps its prestige and isn’t tarnished in any way. If Bush is stripped of the award, it is rumored that the trust would just say that the award was vacant that year and wouldn’t award it to the person that came in as runner-up, Texas quarterback Vince Young. Young mother even came out today and said that Young told her that he wouldn’t accept the award if they decided to give it to him.

This whole situation is muddy and it would be best to keep the award vacant, it isn’t Miss America. In doing this, the trust would set a precedent that this would be the way to handle situations like this, if they were to happen again. Let’s hope that this will be the last one like this, since it has taken the NCAA five years to react to a situation that came out many years ago.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Toby Gerhart Has a Hot Girlfriend

Toby Gerhart’s wait to be drafted into the NFL lasted until the middle of the 2nd round. He should be a decent back in Minnesota’s offense, he’s very physical, but most of America, especially sports bloggers, took notice of Toby Gerhart’s girlfriend. I dig deep into the blogosphere to find her identity.

Well, i didn’t have to dig too deep. I went to one of my favorite blogs (SPORTSbyBROOKS) and found out the beautiful lady’s name. Her name is Meredith Ayres and she’s a swimmer from Stanford. Apparently, she has a thing for two-sports stars. Maybe if it doesn’t work out with Gerhart, she can call up Deion Sanders or Brian Jordan.

Here are a few more pictures of the lovely Meredith Ayres.

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A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Seantrel Henderson Is A Beast

Seantrel Henderson was the last big name to announce where he was going on National Signing Day for college football. I live in Columbus, OH and I’ve been hearing about this guy for a few weeks now and all of the local radio hosts were salivating at the chance that he’d be a Buckeye. Well, Henderson threw everyone a curveball tonight and he picked USC.

Notre Dame, USC, Ohio State, Minnesota, and Florida were all in the hunt for the 6’8, 300-pound Offensive Lineman. He’s a senior at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. It appeared that the University of Michigan was the early favorite, but he changed his mind more times than you can count on both hands. No one had any idea what college he was going to pick leading up to tonight’s live broadcast on CBS College Sports Channel. He is going to be the left-tackle at USC, protecting QB Matt Barkley’s blindside for the next few years. I doubt he will redshirt since he already has a professional body and appears to have nice technique. Lane Kiffin has proven that he is a great recruiter, let’s see if he can coach all this talent and win championships. Here is the video of Henderson picking USC and another video which is Henderson’s junior year highlight reel.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Bert Blyleven Deserves To Be Hall Of Famer

Blyleven deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, if not only because of that awesome shirt, but he was a very good pitcher. Let’s face it, baseball’s Hall of Fame has turned into “the hall of very good,” and Blyleven deserves in. He fell 5 votes shy today for being an inductee, but he is a sure money bet of making it next year. Andre Dawson is the lone candidate and the entire ceremony will be dedicated to the former great of the Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs. In the following article, I try to make my case for Bert Blyleven to be inducted in baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Blyleven played during a time, when multi-channel ESPNs and regional Fox Sports Net channels did not exist and MLB Extra Innings packages on DirecTV wasn’t even invented, you may not have caught Bert Blyleven’s best work. Unless you caught the highlights on Sportscenter where Chris Berman used a nickname of Burt “Be Home” Blyleven, you would just think that he was an average pitcher. His career ERA was 3.90, but his early career was his peak, but he kept a roster spot on small-market teams. His record was 287-250, just 37 games over .500, but from 1982 until the end of his career in ’92, his ERA was over 4.00. If a pitcher wins nearly 300 games, it nearly negates this feat once a pitcher reaches his 250th loss, like Blyleven.

An argument that Blyleven has for his induction is that his numbers are measurable to Nolan Ryan’s. Blyleven does not have Ryan’s no-hitters or his dominance of one-hit games either. Blyleven’s win-loss record has a lot to do with Blyleven’s teams not scoring many runs, thus having him lose many one-run games. He pitched in a different era than what today’s pitchers will be held up to. Middle-relief pitching was approached as need-based, rather than a necessity, Blyleven pitched in almost 300 career complete games.

Let’s crunch some numbers, in his 22-year career, Blyleven pitched a complete game in over 40% of the games in which he has started. He has never ranked higher than third in the Cy Young voting and has only played in two All-Star games in his 22-year career.

Bert Blyleven will be immortalized into the Hall of Fame. Sometimes players start racking up statistics just cause longevity and not exactly superb play. Blyleven’s 3701 strikeouts are amazing, but his K/9 statistic of 7.4 per 9 innings isn’t super spectacular, but nothing about Blyleven really is. It’s a solid number and Blyleven was a solid pitcher and long-term performance needs to be rewarded with an induction in Cooperstown.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.