Really Good Story

Generally, the intentions of this blog are not to find touchy feely stories and make the masses cry but this story might just do that. Read about Eli Florence here and here. Should you read these make sure you start by reading the first link. Eli is a high school sophomore from Lake Fenton, MI near Flint. He has been diagnosed with leukemia and his spirit and personality have left quite an impression on the student body at his school. As evidenced by the picture he was crowned homecoming king, which was a surprise to him. It's an unprecedented to have a sophomore crowned the homecoming king but if you read the articles you'll learn why.

(Photo from Tri-County Times, Fenton Michigan)

Upset Special: Week 7

I'd like to provide more analysis for these upsets but time does not allow. It seems I go to the two worst BCS conferences for my upset picks a lot and this week is no different. This week's pick comes from the Big Ten. This is by far the worst conference to watch in all of the land. I find the style of play to be offensive. There is a reason why the conference does so poorly in out of conference games. It's also a reason why Illinois is going to be a tough team from here on out. In fact the people in the Midwest probably think Illinois is a revolutionary team with so much team speed. Revolutionary for the Midwest but not for the rest of the country. A team with a lot of speed and an exciting offense in the Midwest is more rare than a Colorado Rockies loss. Don't worry I will have much more to say about the Big Ten when Ohio State is yet again undefeated at the end of the season after playing nobody that would be bowl eligible in any other conference.

Now back to the Upset Special for this week. This week I have the poster child for boring, slow Big Ten football pulling off the upset. Wisconsin (+6.5) is in Happy Valley to play Penn State. You could not pay me enough to watch this game. I predict the first team to 3 will win this game, which means I have Wisconsin getting a field goal sometime late in the 3rd quarter.

Season to Date: Things have been very much up and down for the Upset Special. I am 3-3 on the year. Last week's pick of Purdon't over Ohio State was so bad I should never pick again but I'm giving it a go anyway.

The AL East's Minor League

I have heard and read talk that the NLCS between the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks is terrible for baseball. Apparently nobody knows anything about these teams and as a result TV ratings will suffer. Additionally, these teams are from the West and people on the East Coast think the only baseball worth watching is their own. I contend that the East Coast, particularly fans of the Red Sox and Yankees, should be watching this series very closely. As I see it the young players on the Rockies and Diamondbacks are going to be the free agents and players acquired through trade that the Red Sox and Yankees will be getting in 5 or so years.

Yankees and Red Sox fans contend they have built their teams with an abundance of homegrown talent but I find that laughable. The Rockies and Diamondbacks rosters are what I consider homegrown. Having a couple pitchers and 3 or 4 everyday regulars that came up through the system does not constitute a roster choked full of homegrown talent. When all is said and done the East Coast should be thrilled with the NLCS. They get to watch their AAA teams on national TV and get a good look at how their next stars perform under pressure. These fans will get a great idea of what they are trading their homegrown talent for and having to pay a few extra dollars for the nosebleeds when the Rockies and Diamondbacks become free agents.

(Photo from Jim McIsaac/Getty Images.)

Now That's A Bargain

At the end of every season some folks like to make a list of the most overpaid players in a given league. When it comes to Major League Baseball my favorite team, the Dodgers, usually has half of the starting 9 so it makes me happy to note that the most overpaid player is not a member of the Dodgers. You'd think the Red Sox paying J.D. Drew to be a 5-tool player only to find out that he hits like a pitcher would be the worst investment of the year but it is not. This year it is a legend that runs away with the award. The worst investment in MLB this year was none other than Roger Clemens. On so many levels his season was an utter failure and may go down as one the worst signings in history.

First, let's review what exactly Clemens was being paid. For his part-time work Clemens was rewarded with a pro-rated salary valued at $18,500,000. With luxury taxes added to that the Yankees spent $26,000,000 to have Clemens wear the pinstripes. Additionally, Clemens publicly admitted that he came back for no other reason than to win a World Series. That didn't exactly work out very well as they were unable to win anything this year except the Wild Card. Since the Yankees and Clemens failed so miserably to attain their goal it is likely Clemens is distraught over his performance. After all, he would have come back to the Yankees for free because he so desperately wanted to win.

Given his performance let's look at just how good of a teammate Clemens really was. All of these numbers are based on the $18.5M salary Clemens reportedly received and stats from the regular season and postseason. Even as a Yankees hater I cannot stomach having to run these numbers over the $26M he cost the team overall.


6 wins = $3.08M/win
69 strikeouts = $268,116/strikeout
101.1 IP = $182,571/IP
1646 pitches = $11,239/pitch
137.17 minutes worked* = $134,869/minute worked

*This was based on it taking 5 seconds for Clemens to wind up for every pitch. This is admittedly low for the amount of time Clemens worked since it doesn't count watching Posada flash his fingers between his legs and whatever else Clemens did.


After looking at the numbers one must conclude that his only value to the team cannot be measured by on-field performance. Perhaps he was a great DJ on the clubhouse sound system, I can't say for sure. All in all, Clemens' wife should be thankful Roger's cell phone reception died out on the golf course.

(Photo from Jim McIsaac/Getty Images.)

Upset Special: Week 6

I want to make sure I get this in before the kickoff in about 5 minutes. As a result, there will be limited analysis to accompany the pick. I have Purdue (or PurDon't if you are an Illini fan) defeating Ohio State at home. Purdue is a 7-point underdog but are playing at home. For me Ohio State is the college football version of the Yankees or Patriots, can't stand them. The silly tuba player that 'dots the I' doesn't impress me and the wishbone offense in the year 2007 does little to make me think they are any good. For that reason, I am going with the Boilermakers to win. I really don't know much about them but it's time Ohio State lost so why not tonight.

(Photo from Andy Lyons/Getty Images.)

Cleveland Tourism Bureau Can't Be Happy

The Yankees have lost their first 2 games in the playoffs and I could not be any happier. Most of Cleveland feels my same sentiments but there is a small group in Cleveland that may not be so happy. Of course LeBron James, raised in Ohio, is disappointed given his recent proclamation that he is a Yankees fan. After tonight I can assure you the Cleveland Tourism Bureau and Chamber of Commerce are a bit disappointed in tonight's game. There was an insect plague of Biblical proportions at Jacobs Field. You know the insects are thick when they are visible on my standard definition 24-inch TV. I can't imagine what it must have looked like on 60-inch Hi-Def.

My lovely wife was nice enough to watch the latter stages of the game with me and every time they showed a close-up of the pitcher (which was nearly every pitch) she said, "Eeewwww, Gross!" At one point she asked, "Where is this game being played?" I told her it was Cleveland and her response was very simple. "We are never going to visit Cleveland." I laughed and couldn't disagree with her. I want no part of insect plagues myself. We couldn't possibly be the only ones that watched that game and decided Cleveland was a place we didn't need to visit.

(Photo from Amy Sancetta/AP Photo.)

MLB Playoffs

It's October so we have some exciting baseball on our hands. Each pitch is huge, the games are usually very close and the crowds are in the game from the first pitch on. I understand that a lot of people are turned off by the length of the season and the pace of the game but the playoffs are different. You've got to give the playoffs a chance, trust me, you'll thank yourself. It certainly beats most of the TV shows. So you know, all Division Series games are being shown on TBS, Championship Series games on TBS and FOX and the World Series on FOX. As part of the playoff excitement I have made some solid predictions on each playoff series and am very confident I know exactly what will happen this month.

National League Division Series
Cubs defeat Diamondbacks in 4
Rockies defeat Phillies in 5

American League Division Series (got the losing teams wrong initially, thanks go out to Anonymous for the heads up)
Angels defeat Yankees Red Sox in 3 4
Indians defeat Red Sox Yankees in 4 3

National League Championship Series
Cubs defeat Rockies in 5
American League Championship Series
Indians defeat Angels in 6

World Series
Cubs defeat Indians in 7

My paternal grandmother is a life-long Cubs fan and I have a feeling she is going to be able to finally celebrate a win. That really is the only reason I am picking the Cubs because I don't think they are the best team.

(Logo from MLB.com)

I Was First

Many blogs and articles written by hoity-toity journalists are starting to wonder if Norv Turner is the right man for the job. As a Broncos fan I strongly dislike the Chargers, but as a fantasy football team owner I love LaDainian Tomlinson. Turner is trying to single-handedly destroy my team by being a terrible football coach. It comes as no surprise that Turner is not doing well since nothing on his resume suggested he was going to be good when the Chargers hired him. Well, maybe one thing. He did attend the University of Oregon but that was a lot of coaching losses ago.

In an effort to toot my own horn (no hidden meanings with that verbiage so don’t try to take it that way) I called for Turner to be fired after watching the Chargers preseason game against the Seahawks. The Chargers had one too many players on the field for a Seahawks field goal. The Seahawks missed it but were given another chance and made it. In the end the field goal did not factor into the game but it was an early indication that Turner has no idea what is going on. Again, it’s nice to see the Chargers stumble since the Broncos haven’t exactly set the world on fire but Can’t Beat Ginormous needs some points from Tomlinson. Turner is coaching the way he always has so others will start to follow my lead and wonder if he should still have his job.

Jeff Tedford Teaches Elementary School

As an Oregon Duck fan some may paint this as sour grapes but it simply is not. However, it is true that I don’t like Cal-Berkeley or anything/anyone associated with it. That includes the hippie commune trying to save trees near Memorial Stadium. I was lucky enough to go to one of the better college games of the season, if not the best, and noticed something in the first quarter. Cal’s head coach uses a poster board on the sidelines during the game. Is that even legal? You’d think there would be a limit to the size of the “sheet” coaches use on the sideline. Tedford has to be at the maximum allowable size.

I know the incredible science projects I was able to document on poster boards so there must be play calls for every situation imaginable on that sheet. I think it looks a little silly. Especially when Tedford has all of those plays on the 3’ x 4’ monstrosity and all he can come up with in the final 5 minutes is run the ball up the middle. It ended up working out for him but it likely was a little closer than he would have liked. You have to figure that for Cal’s next game the posterboard will be 6” wider to include aggressive play calls at the end of games. It will be interesting to see if the "sideline sheet" police will allow that. With a #3 ranking already just imagine how high Calvin and Hobbes would be if Tedford stapled 2 poster boards together.

I'm bummed I can't find a picture of this. With Cal ranked #3 you are bound to see him in the next few weeks so keep an eye out for the posterboard.

(Photo from The Daily Californian.)

Upset Special: Week #5

Only someone that does not get paid to write a blog can identify his upset special two days after the game has happened. With things being busy I am to announcing my upset special for the week that just completed at this time. Only the people I told at work before the game started will believe my selection but it is South Florida (+7) over West Virginia. If you follow my thoughts on college football this shouldn’t be a surprise and I have no reason to lie. If I wanted to be obnoxious and pick a game after it happened I would have gone with the Colorado upset over Oklahoma so people would think I was a genius. Everyone knows I think the Big East is lame and I thought West Virginia was overrated since they played exactly no one before playing the now 6th ranked South Florida Bulls. People like to hype up Boise State but what South Florida is doing is more remarkable. This is only the school’s 11th season fielding a football team and they are now ranked 6th and play in a BCS Conference. That is simply amazing and further proves that the state of Florida has wicked amounts of talent.

Season Record: 3-2. South Florida’s performance overshadows my blunder of a pick the previous week with South Carolina over LSU. That did not pan out at all but South Florida makes me feel better.

(Photo from Chris O'Meara/AP Photo.)