It Takes a Big Man to Admit When He's Wrong...

...and right now you can consider me William Perry. It’s not often someone goes out and just admits it (Clemens, et. al.), but I was wrong. I liked Tampa to win, at home, New England “Hangover” curse I made up, Eli, Tiki, Ronde, everything. That was my double secure lock of the season. It just goes to show you, this is why I don’t gamble, it proves everything I’ve known for a while. Mainly, the undeniable fact that I, am an idiot. But those of you who know me, know that I am an idiot, and there has never been a doubt in their minds. With that said.

LSU will win tonight, consider it my triple secure lock of the Bowl season. From the guy who brought you TCU over Texas, comes LSU over Ohio State.

The Superdome is practically a light jog from home for LSU and their fans. These fans travel to an insane extent as it is, when it’s a stone’s throw from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, they will be there, and they will be loud. This is the closest thing to a Home National Championship game we have ever seen.

LSU beat some really good teams, Ohio State beat…Michigan. Ohio State’s defense is good, Laurenitis is really good, built in the Urlacher model of a quick LB who plays all over the place as long as the DLine keeps the OLine off of him. The rest of the Buckeyes D aint that bad either. But LSU has been dominant on both sides of the ball all season.

LSU is in the all powerful SEC, the Big Ten is looking at being demoted in favor of the WAC as far as the BCS conferences go. LSU will win this one hands down, have I ever been wrong?
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A few morning Stories

Apologies to all of you out there, no updates yesterday had a busy day didn’t get around to any new updates. With that said let’s recap some stuff.

I get RSS feeds in my email. Which means every time a site updates, I get a memo about the new story. Coming into work today I read my ESPN updates like a police blotter. I know I have stressed this a thousand time by now, but how far is this going to go. When is this going to stop. Read my first post God Help Us if you need the background of what I’m talking about. The top stories of today and yesterday included the words affidavit, judge, plea, appeal, gun, and so on. The stories are about Sean Taylor’s assailants entering not guilty pleas. 3 or 4 stories about the baseball/steroid investigation, Todd Sauerbrun released for off-field issues, and so on in that order. I’m sick of it, and you all know I’m sick of it.

It seems like everyday something new is coming out in the steroid investigation. And the last two days are no different. Jason Grimsely’s testimony from last year came out and didn’t name the big names that everyone thought it would, to add more to the "he said – he said" aura surrounding this investigation. Yesterday it was reported that players will not be at the hearings, despite now having the power of the law on their side. Today it has been reported that they will. When will we get a straight answer on all of this, well we all know, never.

I don’t know where I stand on Curt Schilling’s comments regarding Clemens. Schilling said that Clemens’ Cy Young’s should be taken away. Though I think if you look at Clemens’ early numbers compared to his Cy Young numbers, Schilling’s got a point, where does it end. MLB is not supporting an asterisk on Bonds’ record (further showing my belief that they secretly supported the steroid era until forced into fighting against it). They are going to have to re-write a lot of record books if they want to remove the steroid era players from their “earned” spots in history.

I love Zo. Always have. He has had such an amazing career, and Wednesday night he tore the patellar tendon in his right knee. If it is in fact his last game (having previously stated that this would be his last season) he went out the way he wanted to go out. Well, almost, “That's not the way I envisioned myself walking off the court (with the help of teammates) for the last time in my career," he said. "I've been through so much in my life. If I had to crawl off the court I would have. Nobody was going to push me off on a stretcher off the court. That wasn't going to happen." You gotta love his will and attitude. The man missed a year for a kidney transplant. He’s got a lot of heart. The earliest timetable for his return would be late April, early May, but that is not common on a 37 year old. With that said, Zo has a ton of heart and I for one wouldn’t be all that amazed if he came back. And if not he can say he ended his career having to be dragged off the court. Once Zo is gone, it’s pretty much down to Shaq holding onto the NBA of my youth. Unless Jordan makes another comeback, he looked pretty good at the Bobcats practice earlier this week.

And in another update, Fast Willie Parker broke his leg last night. This is terrible news for all Steeler fans, and I admit I root for the Stillers occasionally. Without him in their running game making a run at the AFC won’t be easy in the coming months. But in the Silver Lining report, that should open up a spot for an AFC running back in the Pro Bowl. I wonder who t should replace him.

To end on a good note, there will be a special guest in the audience this weekend in Buffalo. My favorite story of the year, Kevin Everett, has said that he will be in attendance this weekend for the Bills finale.
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You say the most when you say nothing at all

Well I didn't want to talk too much about the Mitchell report because I'm not the biggest baseball fan - call me un-american whatever - and I just wanna say, DUH. Of course these guys considered taking a shot in the ass to get more money. As the days have drug on, and eaten up a ridiculous amount of airtime, some athletes have come through with the "If I admit it, I'll be left off easy". But the largest story is Roger Clemens, the highly decorated pitcher has been listed in the report. Until yesterday his lawyer has been fielding questions and delaying his response, only for him to finally divulge,

"I am disappointed that my 25 years in public life have apparently not earned me the benefit of the doubt...I will answer the appropriate questions at the appropriate time."

Now, if I'm reading and hearing the same thing as everyone else, Roger Clemens has said exactly the same thing his lawyer has said, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Rocket, did you learn anything from McGwire, in 2005? McGwire's ass saw more than a needle after the media destroyed him for his silence. With all that is on the line for you, use your big boy words. Tell mommy who hurt you.

UPDATE:  Clemens says that  he never took any performance enhancing drugs.  Good game.  Just wait for your Congressional Hearing.  Don't let the silence over take you the second time around.

For his statement read/hear here: Clemens

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Added Thoughts on a Slow Day

I was recently informed that Tampa Bay Buccaneer WR Micheal Spurlock returned a kickoff for a Touchdown. No small feat by any means. Why is this important? It was the TEAMS first kick return for a TD in 32 years. By contrast Devin Hester has 4 Kick Return TDs, in 30 games.

Arizona Assistant Coach/Interim Head Coach Kevin O’Neil officially gets to add another title to be introduced as, Arizona Assistant/Interim/Head Coach – in waiting, Kevin O’Neil. I would love to see that on a business card.

The Bears offense looked pitiful last night. Apparently Kyle Orton is not the savior. Who woulda thought? He’s got 2 more chances to prove himself before April when the Bears announce they drafted Andre Woodson/Brian Brohm/Colt Brennan to be the new QB1 for Chicago.

Congress is getting involved, again, in the steroids scandal after the Mitchell Report’s release. They are planning a hearing of epic proportions. Part of me is picturing the scene from Godfather II when Frankie Pants is going to testify, and then recants seeing Michael with his brother. Imagine Radomski getting up there to testify and then turning around and seeing Clemens and Bonds on the flanks of his Mother in the audience. The other part of me is picturing the hearing scene in Casino with Gary Sheffield berating Sen. Mitchell on the stand. Either way, this should be epically more entertaining than the most recent steroid/congress hearings in March 2005, when McGwire refused to comment and Sammy played the whole “No Habla Ingles” card.



Part of me is angry at these coaches jumping ship after promising commits they will be there and signing these contracts. Then again if I’m getting a $1.1 million dollar pay-bump I’m not so sure I don’t do the same thing. With that said it is really disgusting that Rodriguez, allegedly, contacted Terrelle Pryor one of the most sought after recruits and told him to attend Michigan before telling anyone ANYONE that he was leaving the Mountaineers, except maybe Mrs. Rodriguez.

Back to Orton for a second. For those of you who watched the game, that 55 yard, off the wrong foot HEAVE he chucked that got picked off in the end zone, wasn’t a bad decision. Sure he didn’t need to make it, Chicago still had 1 Time Out and 98 seconds to score 7. The problem with the play is purely mechanics. His skills are not that of an NFL starting Quarter Back. Had he thrown the ball a half yard deeper and one and a half to the right, that’s a TD and an amazing play. Unfortunately, in the NFL 2 yards is a big difference. It’s the difference between First and Ten and Fourth and Two, between he caught it with both feet in and he didn’t get his left foot in, and in this instance it’s the difference between a TD and possible win and a Pick and a Loss.

Miami Tackle Vonnie Holliday said of Sunday’s win, “It was like winning the Super Bowl” complete with dancing, celebrating, and tears of happiness, seriously. Uhhh you might finish 3-13, but have the Patriots coming up so most likely you’re looking at 2-14 at best. Vonnie, I have never played in an NFL game, a surprising fact to many, but I am willing to bet, it was absolutely nothing like winning the Super Bowl. I wasn’t even like beating the Niners in the Wild Card game when you were a Packer in 2001. It was however exactly like beating the floundering Ravens to keep your team out of the record book as the worst in NFL history.

Back to Clemens, The "Rocket's Red Flags" piece, is hysterical, please give it a read.

What are the odds on who leaves first Rich Rodriguez (Mich), Dennis Erickson (ASU), Nick Saban (Bama), Bobby Petrion (Ark), or Lindsay Lohan (Rehab)?

How good is LeBron? I knew he was going to be good, but this good. I’ve always said there will never be another MJ, and there won’t. But there will be a LeBron James, and he’s getting better each year. He’s a freak. AND he’s a good guy to boot, he had tea with 4Real’s mom and her friends, seriously. I have been for awhile (since mid 2005 season) on the LeBron bandwagon and I’m not afraid to admit it. With that said how ridiculous is his new commercial, “you don’t want to be me, you want to be better than me”. Yeah, sorry to doubt you, but not possible Bron Bron.

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I Cheated...

...but only because playing fair didn't work.

First HGH was the new wonder-drug in the club-houses, the most popular by far. It was seen as the fountain of youth and a much better option than say, oh I don’t know, anabolic steroids. Now that players are being linked to it there’s a new addiction in the club-houses. “I uhhhh I admit that I used it but wait….I only used it once or twice and it was for medical reasons.”

Andy Petite, Paul Byrd, Fernando Vina, Brian Roberts among others are all treating us like idiots. They think that we’re buying this, “well, now that you caught me, yeah I did it, but it was only like once, I swear, and it was only because the rehab wasn’t working”. Well yeah, drugs work better than rehab, and if rehab isn’t working the drugs will, it doesn’t take an idiot to figure that out. If my swing is late, that means my bat’s too heavy, so if I drill a hole in the top and fill it with cork or Superballs, my bat will be faster and I’ll get more hits. I only corked my bat because my swing wasn’t working and I had to try something else. Welcome to the world of cheaters. This is really just insulting, you cheated, own it. So here’s a nice report by F.P. Santangelo. He actually admits to using HGH and that it was wrong, at first he explains it was for rehab but immediately says he felt the guilt and that he knew it was wrong and that he isn’t trying to cover it up. AND he tells us that it is bad, “I admitted it and I faced the music. And if by me being embarrassed helps generations to come not have to make the difficult decisions that I had to make, then it's good that this all came out. But I don't want to be Mr. Public Speaker and go talk to every high school in the world. Through my radio show, I just hope to get the word out about how bad this stuff is.”

Now I realize there is a good chance that came off as sarcasm, but I am genuinely happy that this guy isn’t trying to pull a fast one on us. It’s a sad fact though that when we think about it, the only person who has been up front and honest about this whole thing was Jose Canseco. And he had an ulterior motive, selling his book Juiced.

In case you missed the news, Roger Clemens has been removed as the Texas High School Baseball Association keynote speaker on the topic of, “My vigorous workout, how I played so long in professional baseball”. That’s a pretty short speech. “First eat a solid breakfast, because it’s the most important meal of the day. Then go get your HGH kit, make sure the needle is clean. You don’t want dirty needles. Have a teammate shoot you in the A$$ then hit the gym and mound. I hope this was informative.”

Also while looking up famous corked bat events earlier I came across this Sports Illustrated article from 1999. It is a great story about proven cheater (roids/HGH) Jason Grimsley helping out his Tribe Teammate, and fellow proven cheater (corked bats) Albert Belle. Enjoy.

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