Did He Really Do That?

      Something tells me Blake Griffin poster sales are doing pretty good already, so after Monday night I'm sure there will be another spike in production.  Since he's entered the league, he's provided us with eye popping thunderous dunks night in and night out.  From the dunk contest to a live in-game situation, he's been putting butts in seats and getting those same butts out of those seats as they stand in amazement after he reeks havoc on the rim.  Griffin is also quite the opportunist, his leaping ability allows him to not only create highlights with an open lane to the basket but it allows him to attack even if someone is brave enough to stand in his way.
      On Monday another brave solider decided that he needed to be on a Blake Griffin poster!  As Griffin caught the ball from a pass from Chris Paul and made his way to the lane, Kendrick Perkins decided he wanted to be a prop in Blake's latest athletic performance.  Griffin took off to the air and Perkins did as well to deny the block, which didn't stop griffin at all from once again getting the butts out of the seats.  I can't explain this better than you can watch it, please take an opportunity to watch the video for yourself.

       So this has been all the talk this Tuesday January 31st, but there seems to be a bit of controversy rising.  People are disputing whether or not this is an actual dunk.  If you watch the replay again or you watch it in slow motion you can see it actually look more like he just threw the ball down into the basket with his hand barely grazing the rim.  So is it really a dunk?  Does this take away from the play?  My opinion?  NO WAY.  I couldn't do that if I had a trampoline and a jet pack.  It still was a ridiculously athletic play and if you didn't have replay or slow motion to analyze what really happened, would you have stayed in your seat and said "eh, it's a power layup".  I seriously doubt it.  Give this man his credit.  Once again he wowed the crowd and made Kendrick Perkins delete his twitter account!  Thoughts?



This dunk is eerily similar to the one he had last year over New York over Timofy Mosgov.

Next article will be up before the super bowl!

Paid Like a Prince

       On Monday I took a quick browse through my espn headlines and rushed to twitter and tweeted "PRINCE FIELDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET YOUR NATS TICKETS FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".  Well turns out I was wrong.  There were reports that Prince Fielder had agreed to a contract with the Washington Nationals and all that was left to be done was a physical and him actually flying into D.C to sign his new contract. Turns out..... that was not at all the case.  The following day it was announced that the 1st base slugger was signing a deal with the Detroit Tigers.  A big blow to nationals fans right?  Well........


        Turns out the 27 year old three time all star signed a nine year deal for 214 million dollars.  Fielder would have definitely helped out a Nationals team whose Achilles' Heel was scoring runs.  In the last five years Fielder has averaged 40 homeruns with a .553 slugging percentage.  Last year the Nationals finished a game behind .500 (missing one game that was not able to be rescheduled because of rain delays) and only scored 624 runs.  Only five teams that have over 80 wins scored less than 700 runs and no team that scored less than 700 runs made the playoffs.


      With a roster full of promising young talent such as Strasburg, Harper, and Zimmerman; there's no doubt that this team could be a big bat like Fielder's away from the playoffs.  The Lerner family who owns the Nationals has been criticized for being cheap when it comes to spending money on free agents that could help this team.  Last year they proved that perception wrong last year by over spending for right fielder Jayson Werth who produced an a less than impressive season and if they would have given Fielder his 214 million dollar deal for nine season they would have overspent again.


     Fielder is a 1st baseman which is a position that weaker defenders/ fielders normally play.   Standing at 5'11 and weighing in at 275 pounds, Fielder does not have the body type that would indicate he will be productive until he's 36 years of age, none the less the next five seasons.  Being that he has signed to a team in the American League they assume less of a risk if his body begins to deteriorate, because they can slide him to the designated hitter position.  The Nationals do not have the same option being that they are in the National League where there are no DH's.  


     If this were a video game where money was not a real factor inking Fielder is a no brainer, however real money is in the equation so we must keep it in mind before handing out 100 million dollar contracts like they're wizards tickets on stubhub.  For a young team whose payroll stood at 63.8 million dollars in 2011 committing to a contract that would have given one player a third of the salary from the previous season may not be the best idea.


    Being a native of this abysmal sports town I get it, we want to be better NOW and Prince Fielder would have been the easy and quick way to do so.  We want another winner in town that we can get excited for much like we cling to the success of the Capitals.  However, let's not forget the CAPS weren't built over night, and after over a decade of trying to do the same thing with the redskins and watching them fall flat time and time again we need to learn to be Patient.  


     Prince Fielder is a big fish in a pond of baseball players.  So it's easy for us as fans that to look at him as the one who got away but time will tell if that's really the case.  This is a very young team and our number one prospect in Bryce Harper seems to be a slugger in his own right.  If he comes on and produces big numbers at a small fraction of the cost, it's a win for the Nats, who can try again to catch a less risky big fish, next season.

Who's the Man------ning

                 Maybe that's a bad title.... you'll live.


            When Eli entered the league in 2005 it was easy to dislike him, with his older brother in the middle of a hall of fame career and his father a retired QB respected around the league, it was almost as if everything was set in place to usher Eli to stardom.  In fact, Eli's first mark in the league was the Manning camp raising a lot of noise about the San Diego Chargers trading that number one pick because they didn't think San Diego was a good place for Eli.  Eventually San Diego drafted Eli anyway and traded him to the Giants for a kings ransom.
         
            Automatically this heightened fans expectation of the young Manning because of the price given to get him, the return should be no less than the production of his older brother Peyton, who dominates the regular season and cruises to a top seed in the playoffs annually.  However it did not really work that way for the younger Manning, though his numbers are decent, he's yet to have the ease in the regular season as well as the explosive record setting performances.  My response to this..... SO WHAT???
           
             If you go back and look at Peyton and the Colts regular season game logs from when they joined the AFC South they run through the south normally undefeated or with a single loss and struggle in games outside their own division against other strong contenders.  Since the division realignment in 2002 the years the Colts have struggled with teams such as the Patriots and San Diego which have kept them to a 9-9 record despite the dominance they have always enjoyed in the regular season.  9-9 for .500 in the playoffs probably doesn't look too bad until you really dissect the numbers.

            First lets look at the fact that the Colts with Peyton Manning have made the playoffs 9 times!  Also the Colts won the Super Bowl after winning a game against a wild card team in the 2006 season meaning that they played and won 4 post-season games that season alone.  In that 2006 season playoffs run he had a very unimpressive QB rating of 63.025 and threw for an exceptional 3 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.  In the very same season in 2006 during the regular season Peyton threw 31 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.  So obviously the Colt's defense stepped up to the plate while Peyton froze in his tracks and peed his pants like a kid at an elementary school recital.
           
            In the meantime the younger Manning who can not seem to get the same amount of respect as his older brother went on to win his own superbowl the very next season.  The Giants also played in Wild Card weekend that year (also playing 4 games), Eli was able to throw 8 touchdowns and ONE interception, and knocked off the 18-0 New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.  In the regular season that year Eli threw for 23 touchdowns and 20 interceptions.  So one brother steps up to the plate when it's all on the line while the other crumbles under the pressure.

            However, still to this day 5 years later neither brother has managed to win another Super Bowl and Eli still sits in his brother's shadow even though playoff record has become 6-3.  One of those losses coming in his first full season as the full-time starter.  Now it seems Peyton's career may be all but over and when you look at the level of success he's had in 9 trips to the playoffs compared to what his brother has done with his 5 you have to wonder.

           With the way Eli performed so far in the playoffs this season having his way against the Falcons in Atlanta and rolling along knocking off the 15-1 Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field.  Eli is undoubtedly the better of the two in clutch situations, but that begins to raise the question.  Is Eli better?  To many that's a tough one.  For me, it's a no brainer, I'll take Eli.  What do you think?

The Woeful Wizards

          In a city where we are constantly heart broken and disappointed by the demise of one of our most prized possessions (the Washington Redskins) we don't have much to smile about when it comes to sports.  Sure the caps have been a bright spot as of recent years, the Nats seem to be turning a corner, but this is a football and basketball town.  Though the skins still continue to struggle the one thing we have to admit is there seems to be an improvement in the professionalism and structure of the organization that has existed in recent years.  Then there is the Washington Wizards.

            Growing up in the 80's and 90's when this team was the Bullets I remember my father taking me to U.S Air Arena and we would watch that team lose game after game and a good season would be hanging around a .500 record.  Then there was the Jordan era where in 2001- 2003 we had our own version of Brett Favre in Minnesota, Jerry Rice in Oakland, Emmit Smith in Arizona, an old man who squeezed out whatever he had left in the dish rag of his legendary career.  Though it may have been harmful to his legacy, it was entertaining to most fans.  The Verzion center (MCI center at the time) was a full house every night to come grasping at the opportunity to see Jordan be "His Airness" of the 90s.
         
            Then came Gilbert Arenas a true star and along with Caron Butler and Antwan Jamison were able to string together some exciting playoff seasons from 2004-2008.  The city had something to be proud of, and then came the demise.  Injuries slowed down Gilbert Arenas and after an incident where guns were bought to the locker room the team was blown up, the three stars were shipped out and this team turned over a new leaf with rookie point guard John Wall, obviously implying that a rebuild of the team was in place. 

           So here we are now in year two of the "rebuild" and this team is worse than it ever has been before!  I can take losing; I live in this area I'm used to it but the way this team is losing in unacceptable.  This is a roster comprised of one of 2 of the most underachieving players in the league, Andray Blatche who makes 6.42 mil this season and Rashard Lewis who makes 22 mil (THE SECOND HIGHEST PAID PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE) and produces a whopping 9.1 points a game.  This is a roster that relies heavily on an undisciplined shooter in Nick Young.  This is a roster who's "star" player in John Wall seems to have entered year two with the same ability he entered the league with day one in year one, maybe worst.  In year two Wall has seen a decline in shooting percentage, free throw percentage, steals, assists, has yet to hit a three pointer.  Only statistic Wall has seen an increase in his numbers is at TURNOVERS, from 3.8 a game to a nice round 4.0 a game.

            The question rises if he bothered to work on improving his game this off season?  Where is this improved jumper we heard so much about?  Yet I hear several stories of how you can find most of these guys in the streets of D.C enjoying the nightlife.  I've even experienced firsthand I've seen them out hanging in the bars of the Verizon center after the games and hanging out in "Bar 7" during training camp.   I'M TALKING TO YOU ANDRAY BLATCHE, to think you had the audacity to open the season by telling us you of all people were our team captain and promising us hard work and a fun season, this hasn't been hard work and it's not fun.  Who in the world decided it was a good idea to name you team captain????  How does that happen you have the VP of the player's association in Maurice Evans on the roster along with Roger Mason Jr., both of whom are NBA veterans who have played meaningful roles in playoff games?  Andray, how about you focus on getting 10 rebounds a game or boxing our Kris Humphries?  How about getting in game shape Andray you look like you have no idea what a push-up is, no not the Flintstones ice cream bar.

          That move sums up my feeling of this team.  They are not concerned about and lack professionalism.  Javale McGee has the potential to be very similar to the type of player Tyson Chandler has become however he's too busy throwing alley oops to himself off the backboard in losing efforts and begging for all-star votes on twitter.  Look fellas I know you're young, maybe not so bright, that's fine but the veterans and staff are really who’s to blame here.  We have people in this organization who have no excuse to allow this to happen.  From the Ted Leonsis and Ernie Grunfeld, to Flip Saunders, Sam Cassell, to the veterans on the bench.  YOU ARE AN EMBARRASSING REPRESENTATION OF THE CITY I CALL HOME.  YOU LACK PROFESSIONALISM SO THEREFORE WE LACK RESPECT.

          Look up into the stands sometimes fellas check how empty the 400 level is and then scan down to the 200's and see there's not much of a difference.  Pay attention to the fact that there were 30 cent tickets for your game against Minnesota on stubhub.  Right now are headed to be dubbed with the title the worst team in NBA and that will forever be your namesake.  We deserve better as paying customers and devoted fans and you should want better for yourselves, as self-respect human beings.  

Welcome

So my friends that know me know that I'm a passionate sports fan, primarily when it comes to football and basketball.  Sometimes you'll catch me watching a little hockey and baseball.  You'll catch me on the golf course from time to time from the spring to the fall, won't watch it though.  I'll watch track and field and swimming in during the Olympics otherwise I don't care too much.  Soccer........ no.  Racing......no.  Now that we have that out of the way lets get to it.  I live in the Washington DC area and primarily those are my favorite teams however, though I pull for the skins I am a die hard JACKSONVILLE jaguars fan (emphasis and Jacksonville).  So obviously I have a lot to vent about and this is where I'll do it.  So anyway friends, family, randoms welcome.  I hope you enjoy it.