It's About Damn Time

(Note: This will most likely be my last post on this website due to the editing bug below that decided to turn a couple paragraphs into white on its own. Sorry for the inconvenience.)

Those were the first words out of LeBron James's mouth as Stuart Scott gave him the mic after the Miami Heat dismantled the Oklahoma City Thunder Hurt Locker-style in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to give James his first championship and the Miami Heat franchise their second.

This phrase that LeBron so genuinely stated was the sentiment that most if not all of NBA fans should have felt as well. Note I said "NBA fans." Not "Heat fans." Not "LeBron fans." NBA fans. What we as basketball fans just witnessed (4 years after this commercial was aired but still) was one of the single greatest playoff and Finals performances that we will ever see. 

For the playoffs: 42.7 minutes per game, 30.3 points per game, 9.7 rebounds per game, 5.6 assists per game, 50% Field Goals Made, 73.9% Free Throws Made.

In the Finals: 44 MPG, 28.6 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 7.4 APG, 44.2% FGM, 82.6% FTM

Bask in the glory of those statistics. And if you are not a believer in pure stats go back and re-watch the games or highlights if you are in need of some context. He was BY FAR the best player in the Finals in every single game. The only sensible argument is Russell Westbrook's 43 point "I Put the Team On My Back" performance in Game 4 in which LeBron had a ho-hum 26-9-12 statline.

That's another thing: if a player is scoring 28-9-8 on a nightly basis and your reaction is just "Meh" you know you are truly watching something special unfold. I've never watched a player in my lifetime be this ridiculously consistent game after game after game and yes that includes Kobe Bryant, who throws up a 8-24 shooting performance once in awhile. It is such an advantage as a team when you know exactly how someone will play every single game, no matter the opponent, or situation.

But then there was that whole situation last year and that's where doubt of LeBron James's abilities were born. It then grew up and became pure unadulterated hate toward him. And believe me when I, a LeBron fan since he was in high school, saw that something was wrong, something was REALLY wrong. But all of this hate and criticism, in reality was a statistical anomaly. In his previous 5 playoff appearances, critics have conveniently forgotten that James averaged 29.7 PPG, 8.5 RPG, and 7.3 APG. Pretty in par with his playoff averages this year right? Oh and not to mention he was playing with the likes of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden, Jeff McInnis, Ricky Davis, Larry Hughes, Flip Murray, Boobie Gibson, Delonte West, Mo Williams, and Antawn Jamison. The only All-Stars on that list when they were on the same team as LeBron? (Drumroll please)......Ilgauskas twice and Williams once. Not exactly the help he was looking for. So instead of wallowing away in Cleveland, LeBron joined up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami.

And here is where the distain for the self-crowned King really began and grew, and grew, and grew until it turned into something positively sinister in nature.

The Decision was bad. The fact that Kevin Durant announced he was signing an extension with the Thunder over Twitter a day before The Decision didn't help LeBron either (Funny how it all came full circle for this series). People also forget that, no matter how awful this was in the public image for LeBron, this disaster raised $4 million for the Boys and Girls Club of America.

Also that James joined forces of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in South Beach majorly irked NBA enthusiasts. But what other options were there? Stay in Cleveland (no way, nothing changed), go to New York (join Amare Stoudamire), Chicago (join future MVP Derrick Rose, I still think this was his best pure basketball option, but then again there was that number 23 guy in Chicago before him), New Jersey (would have to get pieces later, run by secretive Russian billionaire, not a good mix), or finally, take his talents to South Beach, join up with his best friend (Dwyane Wade), get whatever Chris Bosh will give, and enjoy the weather and no sales tax. Sounds like a well thought out business and basketball decision to join Miami right? Well according to a vast majority of people this was "cheating" to join up with two other All-Stars.

When was the last time a team with the makeup of the Cavaliers (Superduper star and really no one else) wins a championship? Definitely not the Mavericks, Lakers, Celtics, or Spurs from the last decade. The 03-04 Pistons didn't have someone who would belong in the same sentence as LeBron in terms of dominance. None of Michael Jordan's championship teams. Not a single Laker, Celtic, Detroit team from the 80's. Starting to get the picture here? Basketball is a team game and it takes a team to win a championship no matter how great the star player is. James was never going to win one in Cleveland unless Mr. Comic Sans was going to bring in talent, which didn't happen. Gilbert's declaration that Cleveland would win a championship before LeBron would was at the time an absolute joke so you can imagine what he is feeling like now.

What I'm going to say next is going to anger many people: I have never been happier for someone to win a championship, in any sport. He and his publicity crew (aka his best friends from high school with no clue what they were doing) made a mistake. These are still kids we are talking about. LeBron was 25 years old at The Decision. This also goes hand in hand with their elaborate Welcome Party declaring "not one, not two, not three...etc." championships will be won. Did he actually believe they would win 7 championships or was he just pandering to his new blood thirsty fans? That only he knows. But the pure hatred that he played with last year affected him greatly and would have affected any person with a heartbeat and a conscience in the same situation. Imagine basically the entire country except the state of Florida flat out detests you as a human being for moving and wanting to succeed. No athlete ever has ever or will endure what LeBron James endured and ultimately conquered.

Now comes the fun part. LeBron learned that he could go to the paint any time he pleases or post up anyone he pleases. When he realized this, I realized it and nearly relieved myself right there on the couch because I knew what this meant for him and his game. He has this knowledge and the championship that has eluded him is now his. It can only get easier for him. That seemingly asinine statement he made at the Welcome Party about the amount of championships now seems more plausible than a complete farce. As for next year in the Eastern Conference, Derrick Rose will be coming off a torn ACL, Dwight Howard doesn't care about winning in Orlando, Ray Allen won't be on the Celtics and Garnett may be retiring (Avery Bradley and Rajon Rondo will pose a legitimate obstacle though). As for the Western Conference it looks like it's Oklahoma City's to lose for the next 5 years at this rate.

3-plus more championships and more MVP's doesn't seem that farfetched now does it? It's about damn time.

Their Time is Now

It begins tonight with the tip-off and will end with one team who should feel good about themselves and one team saying "Well, better luck next year."

The only problem is that both of those emotions will be held by the Oklahoma City Thunder when after the Miami Heat defeat them in this year's NBA Finals.

Now I know what you may be thinking: the Heat are coached by Erik Spoelstra, Chris Bosh is still coming off an injury, Dwyane Wade has looked certifiably awful on many occasions these playoffs and he's also leading the team in blocks per game, Mike Miller might as well be walking on the court with the aid of one of those walkers with tennis balls on the bottom, Shane Battier is old, and oh yea it's LeBron James in the Finals, how do you have them winning?

My answer is simple: it's just their time.

No person has ever done so much but accomplished so little. Of course I'm talking about the most unfairly treated athlete in professional sports history, LeBron James. Think about it for a second. He has made it to the Finals two years in a row and won three of the last 4 regular season MVP trophies. He is averaging 30.8 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 5.1 APG, and 1.9 SPG in these playoffs, leading the Heat in each of those categories. Reread that last sentence again and let those numbers sink in. As far as I'm concerned that is one of the best playoff performances of all-time. He has single-handedly carried this team to where they are now, and yes that means Dwyane Wade too. If I was Doc Rivers in the last series I would have pleaded for Wade to take as many shots as he could in the first half of all of the games. That's how poorly he played.

This is LeBron's time to finally silence his critics, with a ring on his finger when this is all set and done. But would a ring really be the answer? I'm going to say no. I do not think anything short of scoring the game-winning basket of every game plus winning AT LEAST two or three more titles will silence these, for all intents and purposes, idiots. LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of our generation and he's playing against the second best in Kevin Durant (before all Kobe Bryant fans start popping every vein in their bodies, let me state that in the NBA timeline, Kobe is the past and LeBron and Durant are the present and future of this league. You can't run from Father Time...well unless it's to Germany).


"At the end of the day in this series I'm going to play my game and try to do whatever it takes on both ends and make plays," James said at Chesapeake Energy Arena. "Whatever the results, I'm going to be satisfied with that. I'm going to be happy with it because I know I'm going to give it my all."

This is what he has been doing that has been the difference between this year's playoffs and last year's playoffs. Having said that there are still improvements to be made, especially with free throws and three pointers (Is Dwyane Wade shooting basically the exact same percentages for both categories? Yep. Is he being lambasted in the media every day for it? No, that would just be silly.) If LeBron plays the way he has played the entire playoffs and the Heat lose the series, a very real possibility, I would bet that most blame would still be put on LeBron. Remember folks, basketball is not the 200 meter freestyle. There is a team involved. LeBron took his talents to South Beach to form a Big 3, not Iron Man with Hawkeye and Black Widow from The Avengers (side note: go see The Hunger Games, anyone can be good with a bow and arrow, and all Scarlett Johansson did was martial arts. When did those become equivalent to controlling thunder and lightning, becoming a radioactive green monster, and creating a kick-ass suit that can fly?) The teammates around him need to show up and show why the team and not just LeBron want this championship so badly.



The pressure that has been put on LeBron James to win this title has been debilitating at best. It mystifies me how someone who performs so well can be criticized so much. Watching ESPN First Take this morning, they were debating whether they were more sympathetic for LeBron trying to win a title or Tiger Woods winning the U.S. Open. I couldn't believe this was a legitimate question. James left a team on national television and the sports media has never stopped to look back at the wreckage they have caused while Woods cheated on his wife with multiple women but all of that has seemed to vanish Houdini-style into thin air. It boggles the mind.



James is 27 years old, Wade is 30, and Bosh is 28. There is no better time than the present for this team. The Thunder are all still extremely young (Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka are 23 and under) and haven't felt that feeling of losing in the Finals yet. Miami felt it last year and knows what it takes for them to not feel it again.



The Oklahoma City Thunder will have many, many more opportunities to capture it's first NBA title (Yes their first. Nothing from Seattle carries over on my watch.) Their time will come. Now though, is LeBron and the rest of the Heat's time. And after this is over the pressure will be off the Heat.



Now that is an utterly frightening sight.

2012 NFL Draft Guesses Part 2: AFC

Click here to read about the NFC's draft.

Now in my above NFC Draft Guesses column I used a lot of links to YouTube clips and pictures. The theme in this one is the meme. Now, if you are not aware of what a meme is it is a picture or two with a short caption poking fun at a situation. If you find yourself saying, "Why is Keanu Reeves telling me this?" go to this website to get a breakdown of what some of the more obscure pictures are in reference to.

AFC West


Denver Broncos- If you wonder why I call this column a "guess" look no further than the Broncos. They just signed the guess of all guesses, Peyton Manning. Now I can take an educated guess that he will be pretty darn good. I don't think it will be Indianapolis good but one a top 10 quarterback is not farfetched. Having said that, playing quarterback after having 4 neck surgeries is about as safe as, well...playing quarterback after having 4 neck surgeries. No one knows what a year of not playing and those surgeries will do on him. With no 1st round pick to utilize the Broncos did most of their work in free agency. They picked an average defensive tackle from Cincinnati in Derek Wolfe in the 2nd round but hey when you go from nothing to average it's a win. In the 2nd round they also picked quarterback behemoth (he's 6'7"!) Brock Osweiler from Arizona State. He could not have landed in a better learning situation. The key phrase there is "learning situation." If "learning" unexpectedly becomes "starting" because Frankenstein goes down early, the Broncos are in deep, deep trouble.

Kansas City Chiefs- After recent top defensive linemen draft picks Tyson Jackson and Glenn Dorsey have shown that college dominance doesn't necessarily translate to professional success, the Chiefs tried to reverse their fortunes to see what a defensive lineman who wasn't dominant in college will do in the NFL. They drafted defensive tackle Dontari Poe with the 11th overall pick. This is the same guy who did not make the All-Conference First Team. Now if he was playing in the SEC or Big 10 it would be just a little alright. He played for Memphis in Conference USA. If you are the 11th PICK IN THE DRAFT you better damn well be able to dominate CONFERENCE USA and the likes of RICE, EAST CAROLINA, and UCF. As you can tell by my caps-on rage I'm not pleased with what I see. No one else in their draft stood out for being particularly good or bad but just a resounding "Meh." Their biggest questions are whether Jamaal Charles and Eric Berry will come back healthy, how much more can Matt Cassel contribute, and how long will it take for the honeymoon to wear off for Romeo Crennel.

Oakland Raiders- How are you enjoying Carson Palmer now Raider fans? Now you have felt exactly half of the force of the trade from a drafting standpoint (this is painful enough already so I won't mention the actual playing of Palmer). The Raiders gave up the 17th overall pick in the draft and a conditional 2nd round pick in next year's draft (turns into a 1st round pick if the Raiders make the AFC Championship game...so it's a 2nd round pick) to the Cincinnati Bengals for Palmer. The Raiders also had no 2nd round pick because they traded that and a 7th round pick to the Patriots for a 3rd and 4th round pick last year. With those picks last year the Raiders took Joseph Barksdale and Taiwan Jones. I'm not even going to spend any energy Googling who those two people are because I know I'm not going to get those 7.4 seconds back in my life. The one good thing about their draft is that they stole Arizona WR Juron Criner in the 5th round. His ability to produce hinges on the ability of whichever of the two USC NFL castaways is throwing him the ball.

San Diego Chargers- The Chargers on paper were not bad by any means last year, but when your coach and GM have been dead mean walking for about 3 or 4 years now your team will suffer. Why Head Coach Norv Turner and GM A.J. Smith still have meaningful positions of power with this team is as perplexing as studying how the Universe works (Trust me I know. I took a class this year called Alien Skies. Mind. Blown.) They lost their big time receiver Vincent Jackson to Tampa Bay and in the draft they tried to cover this loss by drafting...no one. They did not draft a wide receiver. Off to a great start. They did actually do something right by upgrading the defense. The Chargers spent their first 3 picks on South Carolina DE/LB Melvin Ingram, UCONN DT Kendall Reyes, and LSU S Brandon Taylor. These three should be able to produce immediately in a positive way and improve an average defense. Because they still have the two aforementioned higher management disasters and Philip Rivers another 8-8 season seems in order.

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens- The Ravens ended up trading down out of the 1st round, but they still ended up with 1st round talent. They drafted LB Courtney Upshaw from Alabama who many say is a better prospect than his teammate Dont'a Hightower. The pick was arguably the pick of the draft then but now it has to be for the Ravens to compete. They lost Defensive Player of the Year Terrell Suggs, likely for the year, with a torn Achilles tendon. If Upshaw plays half as good this year as Suggs did last year the Ravens will still have a fighting chance with that Larry Merchant defense, very old and you think it's done but it just keeps coming back with a vengeance. They were average across the board on offense last year, I was looking for them to make a move on that side of the ball but it came late in the draft with 6th round pick Tommy Streeter from Miami who is big and raw but not an immediate contributor. 

Cincinnati Bengals- The Bengals were one of the biggest winners of the draft just from an amount of picks standpoint: 10 picks including 5 in the first three rounds. The used their first 1st round pick (thank you Oakland) on shutdown corner Dre Kirkpatrick from Alabama. After losing Jonathan Joseph to free agency last year Kirkpatrick will step into his big shoes and see if he can duplicate the year Joseph and Leon Hall had together two years ago. They used their second 1st round pick on Kevin Zeitler, a guard from Wisconsin. Basically any offensive lineman from Wisconsin starts immediately in the NFL and makes a great impact. They capped off their impressive draft by nabbing two playmakers at defensive tackle in Penn State's Devon Still and Clemson's Brandon Thompson. Now one of the weird story lines of the draft happened with Rutgers WR Mohamed Sanu. As the story goes, Sanu was contacted when the Bengals were picking in the 1st round by someone who said he was part of the Bengals organization, welcoming him to the team. The problem was that this someone was just a prank caller. I cannot imagine what Sanu's emotions would have been in that couple of minutes where he thought he was going in the 1st round and getting paid 1st round money, the Bengals picking someone else, and then being just mad, confused, worried, etc. So the fact that the Bengals actually picked him, two rounds later than he originally thought however, just kind of makes me feel like he is going to receive some good karma there.

Cleveland Browns- The Browns had the most picks in the draft of any team and they used them to get what they wanted. In direct contrast to what the Rams did, sitting back and waiting for either Justin Blackmon or Michael Floyd to fall to them, the Browns were proactive and did everything possible to get the guy they wanted, Alabama running back Trent Richardson. They gave up their 4th, 5th, and 7th round picks to move up just one spot to ensure they would draft Richardson. Some say this was a lot to give up for one spot but when you start out the draft with 13 picks you are playing with house money at that point. This actually made too much sense which is why it's being questioned by some analysts. Those same analysts were also bashing the Browns for taking a running back so high, saying that you could still find good value later in the draft who will get the same results. I am aware that there is no more important position than the quarterback, but when your quarterback is Colt McCoy (or later Brandon Weeden, I'll get to him soon) the best thing for him is to feel comfortable knowing you have a pretty sure thing at running back behind you. One more thing...Trent Richardson or Montario Hardesty? I thought so. As for Father Time aka Brandon Weeden, it was a great value pick. He was fantastic last year and Colt McCoy was sub-par at best. Yes Weeden is 28 years old. That can't change. The positive to this is that he his mature way past his professional years. A 10+ year career is very unlikely but why can't he come in and just play good football for a couple of good years now? It doesn't help that they still don't have a wide receiver that I would touch with 50 foot pole while wearing a Hazmat suit but still. (What's with these red head quarterbacks in the AFC North now? Is there a Lucky Charms factory that needs guarding up there?)

Pittsburgh Steelers- After locking up superstar wide receiver Mike Wallace in free agency (seriously, not a single team felt the need to make a run at him? Not even the receiver-less Browns made an offer. Things like this make me feel like I have a good chance of becoming an NFL GM.) With no real need to improve on their first ranked defense (Tim Tebow thinks otherwise), the Steelers went ahead and did Steeler things like drafting two offensive linemen with their first two picks. Guard David DeCastro from Stanford fell way below he was expected to go and the Steelers snagged him up. Next they picked offensive tackle Mike Adams from Ohio (State). As a University of Michigan student I feel obligated to include that he was part of the tattoo/memorabilia scandal that happened 2 years ago. Adams was suspended for the team's first 5 games of the season last year. All bias aside, he is actually a good football player and will help the Steelers line solidify. They also drafted Miami LB Sean Spence and the speedster from Florida Chris Rainey. Another ho-hum draft by the Steelers but one that will prove very effective. 

AFC South

Houston Texans- It looked like the year the Texans were going to finally break through and become a team that would be reckoned with. The stars and planets were all aligned; Peyton Manning would not play the entire year, Chris Johnson had career lows in every category, and Jacksonville was still in the division. Then Andre Johnson got injured, only played 7 regular season games, and didn't come back into looking like one of the most feared receivers in the league until the playoffs rolled around. But then another problem arose. Quarterback Matt Schaub got hurt and the experimentation began with Jake Delhomme's Corpse and then after people realized he was actually dead, replaced him with the ballerina Matt Leinart (I will never let that down. He took ballet as a class in college). So the Texans finally arrived at rookie T.J. Yates whom I have to say did a serviceable job and won a playoff game they should have won. Losing one of the best defensive players in the game, Mario Williams, stings a lot. So the Texans addressed this (I love when teams actually do that) by drafting the appropriately named defensive end from Illinois Whitney Mercilus. No one will ever replace Williams but Mercilus is a good start.

Indianapolis Colts- Let it begin. An era without Peyton Manning in Indianpolis looks more out of place than Justin Bieber walking out with Floyd Mayweather, 50 Cent, and the rest of that entourage before the Cotto fight. Luck is going to be a top 10, maybe a top 5 quarterback in the next 3 years. He simply has to be. I think that anything less and he will be considered a bust because of all of the praise he has received over the last two years. He is no where as marketable as Robert Griffin III as evidenced by his two pre-draft magazine covers (ESPN and SI), his trading card, and especially his first commercial with adidas. Luck can barely make comprehensible speech and even when he does we have no clue what he is talking about because he is so smart. But this has nothing to do with his on field play. He's going to be a star for years to come. Since the NFL is a copycat league the Colts wanted to jump on the two tight end bandwagon by drafting tight ends Coby Fleener from Stanford and Dwayne Allen from Clemson. My problem with picking the second tight end is that I have no idea who their running back is going to be. With Joseph Addai leaving (not saying much but still) I don't think the Colts are comfortable with having Donald Brown carrying the load. They drafted Vick Ballard from Mississippi State in the 5th round but I don't think he will produce at all. Don't look for a magical year or even years ahead but a giant leap forward has just started. At least they are in better position than this next team.

Jacksonville Jaguars- The good news: Maurice Jones-Drew led the league in rushing last year. The bad news: this was because they were DEAD LAST in passing yards. They still have Owen Wilson, I mean Blaine Gabbert as their quarterback which is a definite negative. Did you know that the Jaguars had a top 10 defense last year? Neither did I. But scoring a hair above 15 points a game did that defense no favors. They moved up in the draft a little to get the best receiver Justin Blackmon from Oklahoma State. I have no problem with that. He is an absolute playmaker. The problem is the person throwing him the ball. I don't think he can be an NFL quarterback from what I saw last year. He looked legitimately frightened out there as if 11 Hannibal Lectors were staring him down. With Blackmon and Laurent Robinson too there are no more excuses for Gabbert. This leads me to their 3rd round pick Bryan Anger from Cal. Great last name for a linebacker or defensive end right? Too bad this name from above was given to a punter. Yes you read that correctly. A punter was picked in the 3rd round. Now I realize field position is important but I think a player that will be on the field 30+ times a game is a little more important. I'm not exactly sure what the Monopoly Guy is up to but he better know something I don't.

Tennessee Titans- If running back Chris Johnson can get back to 2010 form and wide receiver Kenny Britt can come back this season from a torn ACL and MCL the Titans have a chance to make some noise in this division. It was only two years ago that Johnson broke the NFL record for yards from scrimmage and Britt was dominante. Heck in the two full games Britt played last year before his knee went all Baron Davis on him he had 14 catches 271 yards and 3 touchdowns. As insurance for Britt and more support for Matt Hasslebeck/Jake Locker the Titans drafted wide receiver Kendall Wright from Baylor who should provide a needed jolt to that offense. On the defensive side of the ball they drafted Zach Brown, a linebacker from North Carolina who weighs 245 pounds but runs a 4.5 40 yard dash, and defensive tackle Mike Martin from Michigan who can take up gaps as well as sack the quarterback. The Texans are going to be looking in their rearview mirror a lot next year with this team slowly gaining speed. 

AFC East

Buffalo Bills-  Chris Berman says it best...damn wrong video. Take two. Chris Berman says it best, "No one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills!" (I've heard him say that probably 100 times in my life. I have yet to have any clue what he is really trying to implore about the Bills. Are we playing Oregon Trail? Who died from dysentery?) The Bills made the second biggest splash in free agency by signing DE/LB Mario Williams to give their already scary front seven a powerful upgrade. They took care of their secondary by drafting cornerback Stephon Gilmore of South Carolina who will have a field day with fellow AFC East quarterbacks not named Gisele. Their very possible wild card berth hinges on the play of quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Will he be the quarterback that played for his big contract extension or will he be the quarterback that pulled a Harry Dunne after he put pen to millions of dollars. They also spent their second round pick on extremely large Cordy Glenn, an offensive lineman from Gerogia, to protect Fitzpatrick. Move over Jets we have a new number two in town.

Miami Dolphins- Speaking of number two, that's exactly what the Dolphins did to their team and fans this off-season: trading Brandon Marshall for 30 cents on the dollar, not signing Peyton Manning, not signing Matt Flynn even though their new head coach was his coach in Green Bay, signing Legadu Nanee to replace Marshall, and then finally the pièce de résistance, drafting a wide receiver turned quarterback with the 8th overall pick in the draft, Ryan Tannehill from Texas A&M. That all just made me physically sick to my stomach to type. Taking an experiment in the top 10, let alone the first round is not recommended by 10 out of 10 people who are knowledgable about football. Matt Moore cannot carry this team to the Super Bowl and it's too bad the hotness of Tannehill's wife doesn't count for anything on the field. Having said that, why not just see what Moore has left? He was serviceable. Worst case scenario he destroys the Dolphins season and they wind up with Matt Barkley in the draft next year. That sounds like a MUCH better plan to me. And even after Tannehill they didn't get anyone in the draft that jumped out at me yelling, "I'm going to be a great pro!" Running back Lamar Miller from Miami could be their diamond in the rough.

New England Patriots- What else do you expect? Another typical Patriots draft that ended with exceptional players. Well, typical other than how they ended up with their players. I was shocked when I saw that the Patriots traded up not one, not two, not three, not four, not five times (actually just twice but that video just never gets old). They stole athletic animal defensive end Chandler Jones from Syracuse with the 21st pick. His brother, Arthur, plays linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens and his other brother Jon is the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion who does things like this to other human beings. If there is one thing I can bet on for sure, it is genetics. And it's looking very much in Chandler Jones' favor. The second trade up occurred at the end of the first round when the Patriots drafted line backer Dont'a Hightower from Alabama. Whenever I watched Alabama play Hightower was always near the ball causing problems one way or another. This duo will be dangerous for years to come. And then talk about a possible Italian Job of steals. In the last round of the entire draft, the Patriots selected cornerback Alfonzo Dennard from Nebraska. He was a for sure first and second round pick but then he got ejected in a game for fighting. Then he punched a cop, which is generally frowned upon in society. So he fell to seventh. If anyone can turn this kid around it's Belichick. And if he does turn around then the rest of the league will take note very, very quickly. 

New York Jets- What do I do with these Jets? Their locker room got basically torn apart by Santonio Holmes and Mark Sanchez. They traded a washing machine and 78 footballs for Tim Tebow. They drafted Quinton Coples in the first round, a defensive end from North Carolina that has openly said that he gave as much effort on the field last year as Lamar Odom on the basketball court this year. Then they drafted a wide receiver, Stephen Hill from Georgia Tech who is big at 6'4" and 215 pounds and runs a 4.36 40 yard dash. Sounds promising until you see that he caught 49 passes...in his 3 year collegiate career. Yes he averaged 30 yards a catch. But that was because Georgia Tech lulled opponents to sleep with the triple option and then threw it up to him a couple times a game to keep the defense honest. This whole Tebow thing has me beyond confused. When was the last time a quarterback won 8 games, including a playoff game mind you, to be relegated to a punt protector on his new team? My prediction: the Jets start the year 1-4 with a win against Miami and losses to Buffalo, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Houston on Monday Night Football. After the Monday Night game, Tebow will replace Sanchez as the starting quarterback for the rest of the year, getting the Jets to at least a .500 record by year's end.

At the end of all of this however I can only say this:

2012 NFL Draft Guesses Part 1: NFC

It's the most wonderful time of the year! The time when 32 NFL teams shell out millions of dollars to kids (well except for Brandon Weeden) who have not done a single thing at the professional level to earn it yet! Isn't that just swell?

So without further ado, here is what I think about every teams draft day decisions/(un)educated guesses.

Let's start off with the draft as a whole. The first two picks went off without a hitch, or suspense (A rule needs to be made about this. A fine for divulging who you are picking before the draft starts. Just something. That had less suspense than finding out who the Democratic nominee for President was this year), to the Indianapolis Colts and Washington Redskins.

Then, like someone gave the Draft a Viagra, things picked up to say the least.

Minnesota traded the third pick in the draft to Cleveland for the Browns' 1st- (Pk 4), 4th- (Pk 118), 5th- (Pk 139) and 7th-round (Pk 211) picks.

Tampa Bay traded the 5th pick overall to Jacksonville for the Jaguars' 1st- (Pk 7) and 4th-round (Pk 101) picks.

St. Louis dealt their 6th overall pick they received from Washington to Dallas for the Cowboys' 1st- (Pk 14) and 2nd-round (Pk 45) picks.

So just to recap, what was the original 3-7 overall picks (Minnesota, Cleveland, Tampa Bay, St. Louis, and Jacksonville) turned into Cleveland, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Dallas, and Tampa Bay with Dallas and St. Louis being the obvious big movers.

Now that the background info is out of the way, it is now time to finally place some sort of quantifiable value to these draft results. Except that you can't. How can I grade a group of guys just out of college that have yet to play a professional down? I am no Houdini (but I'm definitely better than Kazaam, how this was allowed to happen I will never know) therefore I cannot predict what will happen with these players. The best I can do is judge a team's draft performance based on the needs a team has addressed as well as how I think a player will end up panning out in the NFL, so it's essentially an opinionated shot-in-the-dark. Well here goes nothing.

NFC West

Arizona Cardinals- The Cardinals nabbed what some experts believed the best wide receiver in the draft in Notre Dame's Michael Floyd. Being about 6'3" 220 pounds with great jump ball ability and halfway decent speed (4.47 40-yard dash) Floyd will provide superstar Larry Fitzgerald with a dominant opposite receiver that he has been missing since Anquan Boldin went to the Baltimore Ravens. The problem is though if no one can get the ball to Floyd it won't matter what he can do. The Cardinals tried to solve their Kevin Kolb-John Skelton QB controversy (is it a controversy when both quarterbacks aren't good?) by drafting San Diego State quarterback Ryan Lindley in the 6th round and offensive tackle Bobby Massie in the 4th round. Completing only 53% of your passes against Mountain West competition does not bode well for Lindley however.

San Francisco 49ers- With all 11 starters coming back from a defense that allowed only 14.3 points per game last year, there was no need to take any high picks on that side of the ball. So they took early flyers, literally, in Illinois WR A.J. Jenkins and Oregon RB LaMichael James with their first two picks. Both of them ran mid to sub 4.4 second 40 yard dashes. Add that to the acquisition of whatever is left of Randy Moss, another year of learning (I would like to assume that happened but you know what happens when you assume) for Michael Crabtree, the monster that is Vernon Davis, and a healthy Frank Gore with his head not knocked sideways and the offense does not look half bad at all. The only question mark is still Alex Smith. I applaud what he did last year and he single handedly had the phrase "game manager" created for him, but it was still the first year we have seen this from him. Was it a fluke or has Jim Harbaugh figured out what Alex Smith's strengths are after all of these years. Smith is what will make or break this team's Super Bowl chances.

Seattle Seahawks- Well Mr. Carroll and the Seahawks sure do know how to raise a couple of eyebrows. The Poodle and the Seahawks picked DE Bruce Irvin with the 15th overall pick. He had so many off the field problems, such as being academically ineligible in high school and serving juvenile jail time for burglary, that he actually changed his name from B.J. to Bruce when he arrived at Mt. San Antonio College in California to get away from his past. I wish I was making this up. Now having said that he was a physical specimen once he got to West Virginia, utilizing his 4.5 speed to make opposing lineman look like a participant in this flash mob. Carroll did recruit Irvin when he was still coach at USC so if there was someone to reel this kid in it would be him. After picking Utah State LB Bobby Wagner in the second round to help mend the wounds of the Aaron Curry experiment (he was the 4th overall pick in the draft! see what I mean about grading these guys?) the Seahawks drafted Wisconsin QB Russell Wilson in the 3rd round. This comes after they signed super backup QB Matt Flynn to a 3 year $19.5 million dollar contract. I have no clue what Carroll has planned for Wilson but he was a winner at NC State and at Wisconsin and he's very athletic so I expect him to be a part of the offense in some form this year.


St. Louis Rams- It looked about as bad as that treasonous Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter movie. After first having the 2nd pick in the draft, they traded that for 3 first round picks (really two, one was RGIII) and a second round pick which I highly applauded. Then it was looking even better for them after Jacksonville moved up ahead of them to swipe WR Justin Blackmon and the Rams dealt their pick to Dallas for their first round pick (Pk 14) and their second round pick. This was the right move at the time with WR Michael Floyd still on the board. Then Arizona just went all Liam Neeson in "Taken" on the Rams draft plans by drafting Floyd. They end up drafting DT Michael Brockers from LSU with the 14th pick, too high for my liking. Instead of being proactive and going after Blackmon or Floyd they ended up with Appalachian State WR Brian Quick who is a big target (6'3" 220 pounds) but he has nowhere near the pedigree the other two receivers do. They need him to come in NOW and be dominant and I don't think it will happen for a while. They took a chance with all of those second round picks by using one of them on CB Janoris Jenkins. I am all for giving people a second chance if that person genuinely wants to redeem himself. He was the most dominant cornerback on a defense that had Joe Haden who was drafted 7th overall by the Cleveland Browns. If off the field issues cease to be an issue, he will be a stud. Overall just from the fact that they secured multiple 1st and 2nd round picks next year the draft was a success.


NFC North


Chicago Bears- It cannot go without saying that their biggest offseason acquisition of Brandon Marshall was massive even though it happened at the peak of Dolphins' GM Jeff Ireland's brain fart/yard sale of an offseason. But the Bears very quietly had a good draft as well. They chose Shea McClellin, a defensive end from Boise State. Every time I watched him he always had that Jared Allen/Sack before the quail hunt in Wedding Crashers crazy about him. I think that's always a good quality in a defensive end. Their next pick though could be the difference maker that team has looked for or an absolute bust. WR Alshon Jeffery from South Carolina. He's 6'4" and has weighed anywhere from 213 to 240 pounds. Which I believe is an issue for an NFL wide receiver. When he was fit and healthy he can get 7 catches, 127 yards, and 2 touchdowns against Alabama, dismantling 7th overall pick Mark Barron and 17th overall pick Dre Kirkpatrick in the process. Or he could be the guy who only had one 100 yard game last year. A Marshall-Jeffery-Cutler trio could bring havoc to this division.


Detroit Lions- Jeff Backus you are the weakest link. Being in Ann Arbor this past year I got to watch my fair share of Lions games on TV. The one thing I always noticed was either Backus getting called for holding, being flat out beat off the edge, or put on his back. His time is up. The Lions drafted Iowa OT Reilly Reiff to replace him. Another good pick from a franchise that is now back on track...except for the defense. Front seven, no problem. Back four, more porous than water through a colander. So what do the Lions do with their second pick? Draft a wide receiver of course, Ryan Broyles. Hell they didn't draft the best receiver available at the time (Reuben Randle). Does he hold the FBS (Division I for normal people like you and me) for career receptions? Yes. Did he also tear his ACL last year? Yes. Were they already 4th in the league in passing yards and did they draft a wide receiver last year? Yes and yes (Titus Young). So he's going to be the fifth or sixth best receiver on the team and they drafted him as their 2nd pick. They did get a cornerback with their next pick, Dwight Bentley from Lousiana-Lafayette, yes they did. But again in that 2nd round Trumaine Johnson, Jayron Hosley, Josh Robinson, Jamell Fleming, and others were there for the taking. That would have benefited the Lions a lot more than a player who will barely get playing time this year.


Green Bay Packers- Their first 6 picks of the draft were all on the defensive side of the ball which is good because well to say it kindly, if the Lions secondary was water through a colander, the Packers secondary was Niagara Falls through a chain link fence. Dead last in passing yards allowed. But here is where things get weird. Their defense is the ultimate example of bend-don't-break. They were 32nd in passing yards allowed but 1st in interceptions and 10th in QB rating against. So what is obviously happening is, the pass rush can't get to the quarterback, the offense marches down the field, the shorter field helps the defensive backs and they pick the balls off then. Enter USC DE Nick Perry and Michigan State DT Jerel Worthy to improve on the 27th most sacks last year and another ball-hawk to the list in cornerback Casey Hayward.


Minnesota Vikings- The Vikings were the very first winners of the draft by gaining a 4th, 5th, and 7th round pick by simply moving down a pick from third to fourth. And they still got the player they were going to get all along in the left tackle of the future Matt Khalil from USC. That's taking candy from a baby. They desperately needed someone to look after Christian Ponder's (or whatever quarterback is starting in 2 years) blind side. Playing against Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, and Jay Cutler a combined 6 times a year it is highly recommended that you are either able to outscore them or attempt to stop them. The Vikings are in no place to try and outscore anyone especially after this gruesome injury to their one offensive star. They got Notre Dame S Harrison Smith who started all four years there as well as speedster (he ran a 4.33 40) CB Josh Robinson from UCF. The Vikings then added some weapons for Ponder with Arkansas wide receivers Jarius Wright and Greg Childs in the 4th round. It's a start but they still have a long way to go, most notably seeing if Christian Ponder is a legitimate franchise quarterback.

NFC South


Atlanta Falcons- The Falcons have now felt the true impact of the Julio Jones draft day trade of last year. With no first round pick to either draft or deal for more picks, these guys had more bite than the Falcons. They drafted a center who will start on Day 1 in Wisconsin's Peter Konz...and that was basically it. They better hope Julio Jones has a breakout campaign this year or else the boo birds will start to come out.


Carolina Panthers- Joining a hopefully healthy beast in Jon Beason is Boston College LB Luke Kueckly, who can basically do anything a linebacker is ever asked to do, stuff the run, cover the pass, tackle in space, force turnovers. He's the real deal. He is a defensive Andrew Luck, extremely polished in his craft and very smart. I do not think they addressed one key weakness of theirs: the secondary. They allowed the most passing yards per attempt in the league and had the third highest QB rating against. The only defensive backs they took were in the 5th and 7th rounds. That's not going to get the job done with their current squad: Chris Gamble, R.J. Stanford, Charles Godfrey, and Sherrod Martin. She shares my disgust. Cam can only score so may points, the defense is going to have to make some plays once in a while to help him and what the Panthers did does not come close to accomplish that.


New Orleans Saints- Talk about a bad offseason. Did Nicolas Cage and Adam Sandler get word that this team was a new movie or something? Holy shit...I mean no head coach, no GM for 8 games plus if he gets something for this new listening to opposing coaches allegation, the heart of the defense Jonathan Vilma suspended for the year plus more defensive players for an extended period, first round pick taken, no second round pick, hell they still haven't signed Drew Brees to a long term deal yet. They are beyond disarray. They could go 10-6 or 6-10, no one has the slightest clue how the players will react when it comes game time. So I'm just throwing my hands up at this one, no analysis can explain what may happen. Wisconsin WR Nick Toon is the only possible bright spot they have had in months.


Tampa Bay Buccaneers- If Josh Freeman can return to the form he was two years ago this team has a chance to disrupt some plans. With the 7th pick they drafted Alabama S Mark Barron who flys to the ball, isn't afraid to play in the box, and can be a threat to intercept any ball around him. The Bucs had another 1st round pick too and with that they drafted Boise State RB Doug Martin with the 31st pick. A combination of him and LeGarrette Blount could spell trouble for the rest of the division. I just wonder if this little incident is now water under the bridge between them. Hopefully it is because this duo will be an exciting 1-2 punch to watch. The Bucs then scored big in the 2nd round by drafting Nebraska LB Levonte David. This kid brings an energy to the position that has been missing since Derrick Brooks left. They snuck up on us two years ago, they have the recipe to do it again this year.


NFC East


Dallas Cowboys- Jerry Jones sure does know how to shock America and even his own draft picks. Shooting up from the 14th pick to the 6th pick while giving St. Louis their 2nd round pick, the Cowboys selected LSU CB Morris Claiborne, the most opportunistic defensive back to come out of the Draft in years. It is like he is a glitchy NCAA Football video game, sometimes running the receivers' routes ahead of them. My first reaction when I found out he scored a 4 on the Wonderlic Test was that I couldn't care less because the test has nothing to do with football and should be finally abolished. Claiborne then said this about his performance on the test, "I came to the Combine for football and I didn't see any football questions on the test. So I didn't finish it. That test doesn't tell me who I am." He truly had me at hello. He is 100% right. I am all for destroying this test of nothing. The combination of Claiborne, top free agent cornerback Brandon Carr, and a decent year by Mike Jenkins will do this team wonders next year.


New York Giants- The defending champs needed to draft a running back. They lost Brandon Jacobs in free agency, who averaged less than 4 yards a carry anyways, and they were dead last in the rushing department in the NFL. So they drafted RB David Wilson from Virginia Tech with the last pick of the 1st round. He will be a very good complement to Ahmad Bradshaw. Let's hope he does not take these habits (Go Blue!!!!) with him to the professional level. Yes that is a 22 yard loss on a run you just witnessed. With no fumble. Plays like that will turn Tom Coughlin's skin tone into the color of a fire truck. With the loss of Super Bowl savior WR Mario Manningham (again Go Blue!!!!) to the 49ers, the Giants nabbed WR Rueben Randle from LSU who's big body (6'4" 210 pounds) will be the red zone target Eli Manning has been desperately needing. Rounding out their draft the Giants drafted CB Jayron Hosley in the 3rd round, another great steal. This comes after basically all of their cornerbacks and their brothers got seriously injured. Look for another Super Bowl run from the New York Football Giants.


Philadelphia Eagles- The focus of the draft for the Eagles was defense and they accomplished this by drafting Mississippi State DT Fletcher Cox, Cal LB Mychal Kendricks, and Marshall DE Vinny Curry. This fits what announcers and analysts last year contracted verbal diarrhea from, the Wide 9 defense. At least once a game it had to be mentioned by someone on TV and absolutely zero people watching cared. I'm happy this was finally replaced by Jon Gruden and Andrew Luck's Spider 2 and 3 Y Banana. They used their 3rd round pick on Arizona QB Blaine Gabbert, I mean Fabio, sorry third time's a charm Nick Foles. Knowing Michael Vick's injury history too well, Foles will get an opportunity to get in at least a game or two this year. Closing out their top picks they selected Georgia CB/WR/KR/PR Brandon Boykin at he end of the 4th round who will have to contribute immediately with the departure of Asante Samuel.


Washington Redskins- Let the career comparisons of Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck officially begin. As far as I'm concerned RG3 is already winning by a count of 4-1 with the one in Luck's favor only being that he was drafted before RG3. Griffin was on the cover of ESPN Magazine and the cover of  Sports Illustrated leading up to the draft. He got the cover of NCAA Football 13 with Barry Sanders. And his first trading card was released, which by the way makes him look beyond awesome. Griffin has a MUCH better supporting cast around him so him outperforming Luck this year is a reality. Paying so much to get him cost them valuable picks this year and next but it will be worth it. The big hoopla recently was the media attention the drafting of Michigan State QB Kirk Cousins in the 4th round. Why this was blown up so much I have no logical answer for you. Griffin is their franchise quarterback for the next 10+ years, Cousins is an average insurance policy so the Redskins fans don't have to see the likes of Rex Grossman or John Beck again if Griffin gets hurt at any point. Simple. There is no quarterback controversy. That is not physically possible when you draft a quarterback with the 2nd overall pick. It is, as Stephen A. Smith would say, asinine, asi-ten, asi-eleven, and asi-twelve that KIRK COUSINS will challenge RG3 with the starting job. Let the positive future of that franchise begin.




AFC analysis coming later this weekend.








  

An Ode to the Slam Dunk Contest

Oh how far something can fall, then proceed to crash and burn like this little mishap at the Daytona 500 (You bet that's a NASCAR reference. You better save this article because that will be the only NASCAR reference made by me ever. Well unless it's about Danica Patrick's looks. Or another fiery crash...).

Let's meet this year's Dunk Contest Participants:

Derrick "They Needed Someone" Williams, Jeremy "I Wear Braces and Average Less Than 2 Points A Game" Evans, Paul "I Somehow Grew 2 Inches In The Past Year" George, and last and least Chase "I Only Have 6 Dunks This Year" Budinger.

What do all of these players have in common? That's right NONE of them are All-Stars. This leads to my first rule of the Dunk Contest:

1. You have to be an All-Star to compete in the Slam Dunk contest.

Seems pretty reasonable right? The best players get the most highlights because they are able to get on Sportscenter Top 10 on a nightly basis. Just imagine LeBron James, Andre Iguodala, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant throwing down massive slams just like they did in the actual All-Star game. Literally every one of their dunks in the game were at least ten times more entertaining than any Dunk Contest dunk. The common counterargument against this would be that "You can't make them compete in something that is optional." David Stern single handedly changed the landscape of the NBA with Tradegate and will probably find a way to get the New Orleans Hornets the first pick of the NBA Draft. I'm sure he could coerce the league's feature players to showcase the best the NBA has to offer.

Lastly, I'm tired of these All-Stars not competing because if they lose it will "damage their reputation and image." Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, and Dominique Wilkins did not cement their place in NBA lore by skipping out on the Dunk Contest. They didn't win every time, but by just putting their talents on public display, they exponentially multiplied their popularities. Will the day ever come that someone like LeBron finally grows the balls to be put in the limelight and possibly lose? I just don't know. But until that day comes the Slam Dunk Contest will only share one thing with contests of the past: the name (well if you don't include the sponsors, you know what screw it they are nothing alike, who am I trying to kid).

What is also nothing alike to the Golden Days of the Dunk Contest is the emergence of props. The second rule of the Dunk Contest should be:

2. No props (vehicles, chairs, ladders, medieval moats filled with alligators, etc.) can be used.

Last year a big hoopla was thrown for Blake Griffin who dunked "over" a car. First of all looking back at the tape, how do I not remember a full choir singing "I Believe I Can Fly" in the background? Second of all he jumped over the hood of the car not the roof. Thirdly it just HAD to be a Kia didn't it?

This year's festivities included Derrick Williams dunking over a motorcycle (why Budinger duplicated the exact same dunk without the motorcycle in the next round is beyond me), Chase Budinger dunking over an seemingly intoxicated and new civil rights activist(?) Diddy or whatever he's calling himself today in another sponsored dunk for whatever he was promoting, Jeremy Evans dunking over Kevin Hart who was promoting his own movie, not mention he is also 4 inches away from technically being a little person, and then Budinger again using a blindfold that he and everyone else with a working brain knew he could see under after he missed his first attempt. (I don't count jumping over tall teammates as props, nor do I hate on Paul George's "Tron" dunk because it was actually cool and more importantly IT WAS A GOOD DUNK. How he didn't win with that and dunking over 7'2" Roy Hibbert with the other no-shows doing what they did shall remain a mystery.)

Watch this video and this one as well to become nostalgic and remember what the Dunk Contest use to be all about: dunking! What a novel concept right? There were no illusions, choreographed dance routines, and no sponsors to be seen. It is the most exciting part of basketball in its pure, unadulterated form. Is the problem that players have lost the imagination of these pioneers? I find that very hard to believe. On average the players today are much more athletic than their predecessors, therefore they should be able to do do dunks at an equal or higher difficulty. There is nothing about any one of those dunks in the above videos that would not excite the public today. For the sake of the Dunk Contest and for the sake of the entire NBA, props have to be eradicated like a horde of locusts.

The last rule I have will make the contest much tougher but it's for the best:

3. The time limit gets eliminated and you get a maximum of 3 attempts per dunk.

I was veeeeeeery close to just cutting it down to one attempt but finally decided that would be extremely harsh if someone were to try some Inception-like dunk. I came to this conclusion after watching Derrick Williams struggle for about 6 attempts before he dunked it. At that point I do not care if he is parachuting into the arena and then dunking the ball, whatever he will do will seem awful. You miss the first time the audiences reaction is, "Wow that looked really cool. I hope he makes it this time." That turns into, "He's got to make it right now" after he misses a second time. And then after the third time forget about it. Into the Pity Pit he goes. You just feel bad for the guy and wouldn't mind him just laying it up so he can get off the court with whatever dignity he has left.

Now having said all of this I will still watch the Dunk Contest year after year regardless of the participants because as a basketball fan I am obligated to and you never know, there could be a diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered and explode onto the national scene Jeremy Lin style (you notice the lack of coverage on him since being obliterated by Miami? I enjoy the silence). But until these 3 rules are adapted, the Dunk Contest will never live up to its full potential.

Is this who we want to crown as the NBA's best dunker? 

Didn't think so.

Tackling the Lindemic

Why?

Why has the entire sports world come to a screeching halt for an undrafted basketball player from Harvard?

Why is the Leader of the Free World making public comments about this mystery man? (For the record I nearly gagged when I got a text from ESPN NBA saying that President Obama said that this man's recent success "transcends the sport.")

Why did I just get a text from ESPN saying that he just got 10 points and 13 assists? And why does he get the front page on ESPN.com for this "accomplishment"? This was against the Sacramento Kings. I do not care who you are but that should not get that much attention, but again...he is Jeremy Lin (I refuse to use the term "Linsanity."Any take on the word "insanity" is trademarked by Vince Carter. This is "Vinsanity.")

Jeremy Lin is being hailed as the Messiah of Basketball for New York. I know for a fact that he single-handedly saved Mike D'Antoni's job. He has been the biggest part of a desperately needed 7 game win streak for the Knicks while both Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudamire were not playing. I cannot argue that he has brought a consistant buzz and excitement to Madison Square Garden that has not existed there for years. In these 7 games he has averaged 24.4 points and 9.1 assists per game. That's very impressive. The teams he's played though over that same span are about as good as Nicki Minaj's Grammy performance. They have a combined win percentage of .383 with the only good team, and I use that term very hesitantly, is the Los Angeles Lakers. I will give him all the credit in the world for inducing a Mike Breen "BAAAANG!" on Asian Heritage Night in Toronto (strange how they plan things that way...).

Did it only take us a week with football to become so deprived that we needed to create a folkhero? I am very happy for Jeremy Lin and his recent successes but let's stop drinking the purple Kool-Aid for a second and step back and really examine this thing. Is there a chance he can come even close to sustaining this kind of stat-line for 5 games? Sure I could maybe see that. But 15? Or 30? Or into the playoffs? There's just no way. Teams will start to get film on him and play him to his weaknesses like going left or they will try and counter his exceptional ability to split the high pick and roll and go to the basket.

The obvious comparison that has been brought up is Tim Tebow. Both guys were just "not suppose" to succeed in their respective sports but both of them succeeded when they were actually given a fighting chance to show the world what they could do in the spotlight.  Now having said that Lin is producing on a much, much higher level on a much more consistant basis. Lin actually had the same field goals made to attempted (9-20) in his sixth start as Tebow did completions in pass attempts in his sixth start (wait why am I bringing this up...thou shalt not speak of Tebow in vain). Anyways what I'm trying to say is that this level of play can only last for so long. People figure you out pretty easily and then it's the player's job to beat the defender when the defender knows what you are going to do. And you forget that The Center of the Galaxy has yet to be on the same floor as Lin. Carmelo Anthony is a black hole. Lin will NEVER be able to shoot the ball more than 12 times a game at most, which means he will not be able to get to the free throw line were he has thrived so far.

Listen I want Lin to do well and this Linsanity has legitimate legs thanks to the vomiting ESPN has done since this has started. I mean I guess there is only so much you can talk about in today's 24/7 news cycle. But give it a little rest, a little time to marinate before we are crowning Lin as a "miracle" or "savior" for the sport. Come talk to me when he CARRIES his team to the Finals. Or even the playoffs. Or even this level of play for 10 more games.  He has done nothing to deserve any of this over the top credit yet. He's playing well and was misevaluated by NBA scouts. He will never be more than a run-of-the-mill starting point guard. Everyone needs to calm down and breathe, it will all be okay. It will all be over before you know it.

(If you have wondered why my blog posts have been lacking in quantity lately, 3 tests and a 6 page paper in one week will do that to you. School does actually exist despite popular belief. I also received a bid from Delta Kappa Epsilon and have started the pledge process. It has been the best decision in my life and I'm looking forward to the lasting brotherhood that I am now part of, after initiation of course. Expect a more consistant posting schedule in the future)

Special Team Kerfuffles Blind Truth of More Serious Kerfuffles

All everyone was talking about at the end of both NFL Championship games was Kyle Williams and Billy Cundiff. And yes those two individuals played important roles in the demise of the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens respectively, but I think there is much more than meets the eye with what happened with these two players and I do not think they should be the social pariahs the sports media is portraying them as.

First of all you have to consider the bigger pictures in both scenarios.

Exhibit #1: Kyle Williams

He's only been in the league for two years. This year he had a TOTAL of 6 punt and kickoff returns combined. Not exactly Devin Hester but slightly above Jacob Hester (he had 3 total returns). What I'm trying to say is this guy was not the right candidate to carry a 49ers special teams unit that was the best in football this year. That was Ted Ginn Jr.'s job until he injured his knee. The very person who prompted this reaction from Dolphins fans when he was drafted. But I digress, where was I again?...oh right trying to explain why it was not entirely Kyle Williams's fault the 49ers lost. 

Alex Smith started to look like the Alex Smith we have all come to question for 7 years. Big shocker there. I'm sorry but you just cannot change 7 years of history thanks to a new coach, a freak-of-nature tight end that decides he wants to play, and a naked bootleg and game-winning touchdown drive against one of the worst defenses in football the week before. That's like Nicolas Cage winning an Oscar and people forgetting he put out recent movies as Ghost Rider, Bankok Dangerous, Knowing, Season of the Witch, and the new Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (how this new movie is allowed to be made will remain as confusing as quantum mechanics). It just doesn't work like that. Smith started overthrowing receivers, throwing into double coverage, and channeling his inner Bill Murray by trying to kill the gopher in the ground he thought he saw all day.

San Francisco going 1-13 on third downs will never win a playoff game. Being outscored 90 plays run to 57 will never win a playoff game. Losing time of possession by 11 minutes will never win a playoff game. Just the fact the 49ers were even remotely close to winning this game is a remarkable accomplishment in of itself. This just shows how good their defense is. Eli Manning threw the ball 58 times and only had 316 yards (sorry no John 3:16 connections here) averaging a measly 5.4 yards a completion with what I firmly believe is the best wide receiver trio in the entire league with Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, and Mario Manningham. Eli also would have had at least 2 interceptions if the 49ers defense did not try and incapacitate each other while going for the same ball.

So yes Kyle Williams gave the Giants some easy points and the ball grazing his knee was no one else's doing but his own (I learned in freshman football that when someone yelled "Peter" to get as far away from the ball as possible to avoid such a situation...still a mystery as to what "Peter" referred to), but I would point more to the offenses inability to do anything except find Vernon Davis wide open twice for touchdowns. Their wide receivers had a combined 1 catch for 9 feet. Case closed. 

On to exhibit two.

Exhibit #2: Billy Cundiff

This was a little bit harder of a pill to swallow for Ravens fans. 49ers fans were thankful for just being in the position they were in; Ravens fans had just about booked their tickets to Indianapolis. Baltimore was better on first downs, Joe "I Still Think Handlebar Moustaches Look Good" Flacco threw for more yards than Tom Brady, rushed for more yards, won the time of possession battle, and had less turnovers. So what was the problem you ask? The fact the Ravens were 1 for 4 for scoring a touchdown while in the redzone.

On top of the list of things never to do in a playoff game on the road is to take a field goal when it's 4th and 1 at your opponent's 3 yard line. Your telling me the 6' 6" 245 pound mustachioed menace couldn't get a single yard? Not even a chance for the tree-trunk legged Ray Rice? Nope didn't happen. The offense didn't even come on the field to try and draw the defense offsides or just get a delay of game. There is no difference between a 20 and 25 yard field goal. There is a big difference between 3 points and 7 points and the confidence that you show by putting your offense out there. Worst case scenario: the Ravens don't get the first down and the Patriots have 97 yards of field to go with a shaky Tom Brady and grab bag of running backs. (Tidbit of advice to Cam Cameron because Lord knows he needs all he can get...Julian Edelman was covering Anquan Boldin man-to-man for most of the fourth quarter. Does Cam realize that Edelman is actually a wide receiver and Boldin is WR #1 on almost any teams' depth chart? Absolutely boggles the mind this man's job is to find mismatches in coverage)

Back to the field goal itself.

At first I just thought that he simply shanked a chip shot. A Pro Bowl kicker last year should basically never miss a field goal from that close of a distance if all of the basic conditions were met. The problem was that one of the most important conditions of all was missing: time. Watch this video a you will see the multiple problems that are happening.

#1: Cundiff is running onto the field from what seems to be a considerable distance. Not a good start.
#2: He reaches the holder with about 10 seconds remaining on the play clock and it's running. Still not going well for Billy.
#3: He gets no time to take a breath (remember he just ran 30+ yards to get there 5 seconds earlier), take a practice kick if he wants to, line himself up nicely, etc. Just the situation you want your kicker to be in to put a conference championship game into overtime.
#4: The Ravens still had a time out left.

That last one is the killer.

Assuming that John Harbaugh saw the play clock was winding down as his kicker was racing for the holder what would be the detriment of calling a time out? You are not going to run a play after this. A timeout is not a college meal plan; the meals that you don't use rollover to the next semester, the timeouts you don't use vanish like LeBron in the fourth quarter. The seemingly logical thing to do was to call a timeout, let Billy do his usually warmup routine, and at least give him a fighter's chance.

Kyle Williams and Billy Cundiff became the easy scapegoats to blame entire losses on. But remember, all 11 teammates of theirs on the field during the course of the game and their respective coaches was not named Kyle Williams or Billy Cundiff. Those people should be getting more blame then they are.