Career Lights Out

Its old news by now, but perennial pro-bowl linebacker Shawn Merriman of the Chargers has decided to play this season with 2 torn knee ligaments and going against 4 doctors' suggestions in the process.

I don't understand. Am I missing something? Last time I checked, Merriman is only 24 years old, only 3 years into his NFL career, has been to 3 pro-bowls, is one of the best defensive players in football, oh yeah and did i mention he is only 24 years old?? What is he thinking? I understand that people can be stubborn and that he is a gamer and just wants to play, but at some point it becomes irresponsible. Most of the time when players 'play through the pain', i respect them more, the way i always respected McNair and Leftwich for playing injured so often. But in Merriman's case? I am losing respect for him because of how irresponsible of a decision this is.

Merriman claims that the injury isn't career threatening, but id have to say that when 4 doctors tell you to get the surgery and you are dealing with a knee injury, which are never a joke, you might be putting your career in jeopardy. I get the fact that he prepared for this season and he wants to play and that the Chargers are a favorite to win the Superbowl this year, but does he really think he will stay healthy all season playing on a torn up knee? Merriman is making the worst possible decision. What he needs to do is shut it down for the season, get healthy, and come back next season and lead his team to the Superbowl, because it isnt like LT is going anywhere fast. If Merriman isn't there this season, the Chargers will still probably go deep in the playoffs, although I doubt they'll win the Superbowl, and next season will still be superbowl favorites, but with a healthy Merriman. If Merriman plays, they'll make the playoffs, but by that time, the ticking time bomb that is Merriman's knee may have blown up and he may have done irreversible damage to his knee. Merriman is putting his potential hall of fame career on the line just to play this season even though hes only 24 years old.

The fact that Chargers management hasnt spoken up, publicly atleast, shocks me. If the cornerstone of my defense was trying to do this, i would tell him that he had no choice but to get the surgery. Not only is Merriman's choice to play irresponsible, its also selfish, because it puts the Chargers' future success at stake. Lets say Merriman's career is ruined- what happens then to the Chargers who were trusting him to be their defensive leader and cornerstone for the years to come? Yes, football contracts arent garunteed and they can cut him, but its not as if Merriman is any ordinary football player, he is a potential hall of famer at this point and losing him will definately hurt the team.

Its pretty clear what i think Merriman should do. Who knows, maybe he will come to his senses or someone will finally talk him out of this terrible decision. However, despite the fact that i dont really like Merriman as an athlete because of his over the top celebrations, steroid use, and he also seems like he has an asshole personality- i never like to see any athlete, let alone a rising star, have their career cut short. It sounds cliche, but if the self nicknamed 'Lights Out' continues with his current decision id have to gamble, although nothing is certain, that his career will be 'Lights Out' very, very soon.

I had to post this video even though its the same. The gun shot is too much, haha.

Ocho Cinco and Mucho Hurt-o

Chad Johnson has legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco, meaning that his jersey name will now officially read, "Ocho Cinco". I'd probably have to say that this is one of those red flags that other teams will not like when inquiring about a trade for Chad Ocho Cinco, formerly Johnson, who's motivation and focus is often questioned. Chad has unquestioned abilities, but his focus has often been an issue. If Chad really wanted to get traded, I think he should be showing potential suitors that he is focused on playing good football, rather than doing things that make teams question if they want the All-pro receiver on their team, like changing his name so that his jersey will read "Ocho Cinco".

In other news, Monta Ellis is going to be out for 3-4 months, meaning the Warriors already unpromising season looks to start off even worse. Pretty much i figured that the W's were going to have a bad season by essentially handing the keys over to the teams' 22-year-old guard after the surprising loss of Baron Davis, but with this, it looks like the starting point guard starting off the season may be Marcus Williams. In my opinion i dont think Monta going down affects the immediate future of the Ws at all since the Ws arent going anywhere this season. However, it does scare me that the Ws just signed the 22 year old to a $66 million contract and hes been injured three times already in his young career. Best case scenario, Marcus Williams takes full advantage of his starting time and reaches his potential that made him a 1st round pick, and the other young guys get valuable experience and Monta comes back at full speed and the Ws are a dangerous playoff sleeper. Another good/ok scenario is that the Ws suck as expected and they land a top 3 pick in the upcoming draft and land a superstar, although i dont know who the top prospects are this year. Worst case- the Ws are a so-so/crappy team that just misses the playoffs again and has a bad pick in the draft as well- so basically, they do a bit worse than this year. I dont want to admit that the Ws are taking steps backwards since making the playoffs finally and just barely missing them again this year. However, i think Ws fans need to admit that they are in a rebuilding effort and its better to do it now with our young core, than to pile on bad contracts and fight for a low playoff seed in the west.

Happy Trails, Alex Smith!

"Happy Trails, Alex Smith!" will be what we'll be hearing from Tony Kornheiser very, very soon. Up to this point, i have been a supporter of Alex Smith attributing his struggles to a combination of: normal rookie learning curve, weak supporting cast, musical chair offensive coordinators, and injuries. However, today the Niners announced that six year journeyman, and lifetime backup JT O'Sullivan was to be the starter entering the season, i am pretty much now conceding that Alex Smith is in fact a bust. For some time now, i have felt that Alex Smith may not have been the best pick for the Niners, wishing they had instead taken Braylon Edwards in 2005, tanking a year and then taking another QB in 2006 (which included Leinert and Cutler or even Kellen Clemens or Tavaris Jackson in later rounds). But instead, the Niners took Smith who not only was injured again this past season, but was upstaged by former nobody- Shaun Hill.

With JT O'Sullivan being named the starter in SF, this pretty much puts the nail in Alex Smiths proverbial coffin. I don't know too much about O'Sullivan other than the fact that he played in Martz's system last season with the Lions so he has a good grasp of the offense, was born in California and played at UC Davis so he has local ties, and has been playing well in preseason. While these are all good things that give some promise to O'Sullivan as a QB, I am pretty much taking them with a grain of salt considering that O'Sullivan is playing for his 8th NFL team in 6 seasons after being drafted in the 6th round in 2002. Maybe the 7 other teams just didn't see his true potential? Lets hope.


While i wish O'Sullivan all the best and i hope he is the next Tom Brady (coming out of nowhere and having huge success), lets just say i wont be holding my breath. On a positive note, John Clayton of ESPN mentioned yesterday that if Smith doesn't start, he doesn't reach his incentives and that could save the 49ers over $20 million. While im happy the Niners realized change is needed, i do feel bad for Alex Smith and hope maybe he gets one more shot this year after grasping Martz's system if he ever does, considering his intelligence was one of the high points on which the Niners drafted him on. Like i mentioned before, i dont feel like his failure to this point rests solely on Smith's shoulders- he was walking into a slaughterhouse being drafted first and its not like the Niners have really helped surround him with any help (Issac Bruce? Ashley Lelie? Bryant Jackson?).

At this point all Niner fans can do is wait and pray that somehow this season wont be a step backwards from an already bad 2008 season that atleast showed flashes of promise, because it looks like its going to be another long season.

Phelps-mania

Looks like Phelps wasn't done at after swimming:

On a more serious note of just how insane Michael Phelps is, if you haven't read it somewhere else, this the diet of the beast himself:

Breakfast: Three fried egg sandwiches; cheese; tomatoes; lettuce; fried onions; mayonnaise; three chocolate-chip pancakes; five-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast; bowl of grits; two cups of coffee

Lunch: Half-kilogram (one pound) of enriched pasta; two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise on white bread; energy drinks

Dinner: Half-kilogram of pasta, with carbonara sauce; large pizza; energy drinks

A normal person consumes 2000-4000 calories a day. Phelps consumes 12,000 calories a day including around 2000 alone from energy drinks.

Here's some more Phelps footage from the 100m Butterfly:

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LT is back!

Love and Baseball

My recent entries haven't exactly been the deepest or most profound, but today, im going to return to voicing my opinion on recent sports news, sports trends, and anything else sports. I guess thats what my original intention was for this blog; to voice my opinion on sports. and the reason for recording it here is that i think just like your opinion on anything else, fans' perspective and opinions on sports changes. recording it here will allow me to see what things changed my mind and shaped me into the sports fan that i become. At the risk of sounding like im over thinking all of this and taking sports too seriously, i guess a big reason i love sports is the meeting of preparation and logic with chance and in effect never being able to predict what will happen.

You can study and learn every fact and number about sports, but you can never predict the outcome of any given game. You can train and prepare, but when it all comes down to it, so much of your performance that is remembered comes down to luck and circumstance. In order to compete, you must be at par with the rest of your competition, but after that point, so much after that has to do with execution and chance. Take for example these Olympics. These world class swimmers are the best in the entire world and when competing, there are only hundreds of a second that seperate the Winner from the losers. Are we to then assume that the winners always trained the hardest of the group or simply were born with greater athletic ability? Of course not. But what made them the winner? What gave them a .01 second advantage over 2nd place?

I think that's why of all sports i like baseball the most, i feel like in baseball its possibly the only sport in which logic and preparation can beat out chance. I guess a lot of this opinion comes from the book, Moneyball by Michael Lewis in which he studies and writes about the Oakland As and Billy Beane's quest to build a contending team while having a tiny budget. in part of the book it talks about how over the course of the regular season at least, since there are so many games, you can evaluate players accurately by their statistical trends. instead of following traditional ideas like believing batting average was an accurate representation of a players production, Billy Beane and his team analyzed statistics and found that that was not an accurate translation to success and runs scored. they took baseball and made it into a science, something that could be studied and that could translate into success on the field.

Unfortunately for the A's the postseason does include chance as a huge deciding factor and despite making the playoffs year after the year the As would fall in the postseason. anyway, to get to my point, my love for baseball comes from the fact that its not just a game, its so much more. Everything from management in the farm system and the constant replenishment of young talent and evaluating players accurately- its all insane to think that any organization in the MLB is running 100% efficiently from top to bottom. when people say that no one is above the game, i really think it applies to baseball the most. in other sports you can have one terrible year and land some crazy phenom in the draft like Lebron and go to the playoffs the next year. in baseball, how often do you see teams make 180 turns like that? in order to have lasting success you have to plan for years and continually prepare for the future. look at the Yankees- for years people said that they could just buy the market and would continue to dominate, but what everyone forgets is that they built that success on the backs of young players that came up through their farm, like Jeter, Pettite, Mariano (who by the way were scouted and found by Brian Sabean). my point is, i think i like baseball so much because it is so hard to succeed and STAY successful. i think i probably went off on a tangent somewhere and strayed from my original intention for this post, but oh well- its my blog. i have much more to say about all this, i just cant think of it all right now.

Check out them thighs!!

Now this isnt meant to be insulting at all. Merely an observation.
While watching the Olympics the other night, and watching the women's gymnastics team choke, something was bothering me seeing Shawn Johnson on tv. While this definitely isnt a knock on her at all- for the record i think she is pretty for a 16 year old and the 2nd best gymnast in the world- but watching her and seeing how bottom heavy she was, reminded me of someone, and i couldnt place my finger on it. The sheer size of her thighs combined with her height (4'9") made her look dis proportioned.
(By the way how could a girl from Iowa ever end up with such an African American name, when you hear the name "Shawn Johnson: dont you immediately imagine a black guy that plays for the Atlanta Falcons or something?)

I kept thinking all night after watching her on tv and continued today when she competed in the Singles all around competition, when it finally dawned on me! I knew who she reminded me of, and now ladies and gentlemen, may i present to you, Shawn Johnson's body twin..........

MAURICE JONES DREW!!!

Again may i remind you i am not insulting her, and i think with a closer look, you will agree with me:

You be the Judge.

Snoop Dogg and Buster Posey

A few days after signing Conor Gillaspie, who is a promising 3b/2b who i hope can someday be an everyday position player, the Giants finally signed their gem draft pick Buster Posey. Posey got a ridiculous $7.5 million, but im glad the Giants still got it done and got him signed. In my mind, Posey can hopefully become a Joe Mauer like player for the Giants (knock on wood) because of his amazing batting skills (he hit a ridiculous .463 this year in college). I dont have much else to say other than i really hope we see Posey up in the majors soon and helping to contribute to an offense that sorely needs his bat.


- Again, i know this is completely sports unrelated, but this video was too absurd to not pass along:



Apparently Snoop was hired to do the theme song for some Bollywood movie. First, why would you choose Snoop of all people in the world. And second, this makes me question what Snoop wouldn't do for money, unless he has some secret love of Bollywood.

Injury scares and youth movement

This is coming a day late, but yesterday while i was checking the boxscores for games and knowing that another promising Lincecum vs Oswalt matchup was taking place, i checked in on the game in the 5th inning with Yabu pitching. Since the score at the time was still 1-1, i immediately panicked and searched the game notes and online to see if something had happened to the cornerstone of he Giants' future success, Lincecum. I couldnt find anything, i couldnt find an updated online source that recorded pitch count, hoping that maybe Lincecum had amassed around 100 pitches in 4.1 innings. My second thought was that maybe Bochy decided to rest his young ace and for once protect the Giants' young arms, but i quickly woke up from my dream that Bochy wasnt a constant pitcher abuser, as shown by Lincecum and Cain being numbers 6 and 8 on the pitcher abuse scale in all of MLB.

I decided that maybe everything was ok since i couldnt find anything, so i continued on with my day, half nervous that one of the Giants' lone brightspots this season, may be injured. Later that night, i was pleased to discover that The Kid was ok and was healthy enough to be walking around the clubhouse after the game and there was no fractures; just a big bruise. Im hoping that Bochy will let the young ace either skip his next start or atleast push it back a few days to insure a full recovery, AND to plan for the future. The injury scare reminded me just how unpredictable things can get when dealing with young pitchers who seem poised for stardome. God forbid if anything ever happened to Lincecum (knock on wood) id be devestated. Which brings me to a funny quote from the Disfrute El Lefty Malo blog:

Bochy is flirting with a breach of the prime directive. If he were Bart Simpson, he would have to stand at the chalkboard before every game and write

I promise to keep the young pitchers healthy. I promise to keep the young pitchers healthy. I promise to keep the young pitchers healthy…

And while it may seem like a joke, it is very serious. the Giants coaching staff, more specifically Bochy, needs to be reminded that this season doesnt mean much in the long run and that protecting our young arms for future success is what is ultimately important.

In other big Giants news, im glad to report that reports say that upper management is finally giving the younger players time to develop and get big league experience. The Giants are call up Travis Ishikawa, Pablo Sandoval, and Ryan Rohlinger and send down John Bowker and Stephen Holm plus designating Jose Castillo for assignment. All three prospects have been tearing up the minors recently batting .312 (Ishikawa), .339 (Sandoval), and .296 (Rohlinger). While im happy with what Bowker did this year, giving Giants fans some offensive hope from the farm, he has been terrible recently. Hopefully getting these young players big league experience will help the offense in the future. Now, if only we can trade Winn for some prospects so he can stop blocking Schierholtz from getting called up and playing consistently.

Olympic Revival

Since the Beijing Olympics started on 8/8/08, i was able to catch the opening ceremony on tv last night. As far as Olympic opening ceremonies go, from what i remember, they are usually very extravagant and over the top. However, watching the show that the Chinese put on last night stood out as even more extravagant, over the top, and more importantly, seemed like some sort of coming out party for them. For a long time, China has been rising as both an economic powerhouse and a military one with over 2 million soldiers and double that of the next closest nation (who else would you guess, the US). As i watched the countdown to the opening ceremony and the 2008 drummers in the middle of the stadium drumming in unison it felt like i was watching some kind of military ceremony as the drummers seemed like they were there to intimidate more than entertain. And if intimidation was the goal, i think it may have worked to an extent.

Opening Ceremony Drummers pt 1

Opening Ceremony Drummers pt2


China has been trying to garner international recognition as a world super power for years and they viewed these Olympic games as the time when the entire world would be forced to focus in on them and i am sure they have been planning since before the day they even were selected to host the games. While the Olympic games might not hold the same importance that they once did internationally, China has clearly shown that they still hold them in very high regard. Whether you see it through their Child Athlete Schools that train young Chinese nationals since birth with the sole purpose of representing China in the Olympic games or through the tireless effort and practice you can see that has gone into planning and preparing to host the 2008 games.

I remember just a few years ago, it felt like people cared so much more about the Olympics. I dont know if its simply because i stopped caring as much about the Olympics, or people all over the world stopped paying as much attention. However, I remember watching the 1998 Olympics in Nagano late at night live on tv as Jonny Moseley won the Men's Moguls event and going to school the next day and it was what everyone was talking about. Since then, the last time anything crazy happened in the Olympics, you wouldn't hear a word about it at school, except maybe a quick, "You watch the Olympics last night?".

But, maybe this is good for the world. Maybe China's over the top opening ceremony that has everyone talking is the start of an Olympic games that will revive international competition and the 2008 games will make the Olympics relevant again.

Gang Green

Looks like Brett Favre will be staying in a green uniform this season, just not a Packers one. Scratch what i said about the Bucs yesterday, looks like Jeff Garcia dodged a bullet with Favre going to the NY Jets.

Looks like Joey Galloway will return back to earth and Laveranues Coles' fantasy stock will be sky rocketing instead.

Also, i wonder what happens to the Madden 09 cover now; will Favre be wearing a Jets or Packers jersey?


EDIT:

So, according to EA Sports this is their answer to the trade.

When to say When

With Brett Favre on the verge of going to the Tampa Bay Bucs after his relationship with coach McCarthy seems to be beyond repair and the Packers' organization ready to move on, I'm wondering, is Favre condemning himself to tarnishing his own legacy by falling victim to not knowing when to hang it up?
To refresh our memories, lets take a look at a few NFL greats who didn't know when it was time to just hang up the pads:

Chris Carter

Emmit Smith

Jerry Rice

Joe Montana

Joe Namath

Ronnie Lott


I for one don't want to see Favre, who is statistically one of the top-3 quarterbacks of all-time, turn into Michael Jordan on the Wizards. Despite his storybook playoff run to end last season, I think Favre should have hung it up after his interception plagued 2005 season in which he threw a 29:20, int:td ratio. Favre has forced the Pack into a bad situation looking like the bad-guys while simultaneously becoming a distraction at a time when the Packers need to focus on the season ahead and rally around their new leader (Rodgers). IMO it is selfish of Favre to drag this out for so long, despite his desire to continue playing since he had his time to decide after the season ended, not now during training camp. Favre needs to be reminded that no one player, despite his personal accomplishments, is bigger than the team or the sport and in realizing this he must see that his actions are preventing the Packers from moving on into the post-Favre era. Seeing Favre in any other jersey besides a Packers one will just make me shake my head, so that is why i think he should save himself the embarrassment and retire. Even if Favre goes to Tampa and wins the superbowl, i will still stand by my opinion that he needs to hang it up. The Packers were forced into in a lose-lose situation and its too bad this is what the outcome became.

On a side note, Joey Galloway's fantasy stock just sky-rocketed.

Random Youtube find:


I can only imagine how the league would have been different if Larry Jordan was the same height as his brother Michael and not 5'8".

You must be atleast this tall to Win

Tonight, for the second straight start, the Giants bullpen let young Ace Tim Lincecum down, leaving him with a no-decision after leaving the game with a 1 run lead (2-1 tonight and 3-2 on 6/26). Since the All-Star break, Lincecum has yet to record a W, despite two stellar performances in his last two games.

In the last two starts, Timmy has allowed 3ER, 3BB, while compiling a whopping 24Ks in 14.0 innings- to put that in perspective, that gives Lince a 8K/BB ratio. Unfortunately for Timmy, he has been forced to turn things over in the late-innings to the bullpen with only 1 run leads, thanks to the Giants' offensive woes. After turning the game over to Tyler Walker (why are we pitching this fossil during our "youth movement"?) against the Dbacks (6/26), the Giants experienced what may have been the most painful loss of the entire season as the Dbacks rallied for 3 runs in the 8th against Walker eventually leading to a loss. Again on Friday, I was nervous seeing Lincecum forced to leave the game once again hanging onto a 1run lead, and the game was turned over to Jack Taschner, who proceeded to give up a game-tying solo shot (way to raise your trade value)to A-Gonzo. While i feared the Giants were headed for heartbreak again, they were able to tough it out in extras against Trevor Hoffman. And as happy as I am that the Giants were able to recollect themselves and win the game, i couldnt help but feel bad for the Kid who was stuck with the no-decision once again.

The bullpen woes and offensive inability of the Giants pretty much garunteed that there was no chance Lincecum was going to become a 20-game winner this season (the fact that it was even a possibilty at one point is extremely impressive). However, i think that as the young arms in the pen gain more experience, hopefully throughout the remainder of this season, they will come into their own and will help all Giants fans to rest a little easier the next time the Franchise is forced to hand the ball over late in the game.

Or if all else fails, Timmy can simply go out and throw a complete game every night.
Might not sound like such a bad idea.