SimonOnSports

The Muss goes for #20 today seeing if he can get past that almost hump. If he adds the 20th victory the Hall of Fame resume looks a lot better than it does right now.

A little vacation video...

Seriously, starting a charity is nice but the coolest thing that happened to you? Apparently Phelps funny bone is not as solid as his butterfly stroke. Courtesy of AA

I'm headed down to Hotlanta tomorrow morning til tuesday for a wedding, so there are some cached posts on the way, but nothing substantial. Perhaps I shall just do a celebratory post of the Mets not making the playoffs now, and have it up on Sunday afternoon...

Maybe I should be excited about the AL Central but I'm really not. The Twins are in first and they have the same record as the Yankees, so they just aren't that good a team. They have 3 games against KC this weekend which screams boredom, win all three and they are as good as in. Meanwhile the White Sox still control their destiny, sweep the Indians and beat the decrepit Tigers and they get a play in game. Lose one and they might be screwed. Schedule Twins Fri Sep 26 KC 8:10 PM Liriano (6-3) Davies (8-7) Sat Sep 27 KC 3:55 PM Perkins (12-4) Meche (13-11) Sun Sep 28 KC 2:10 PM Baker (10-4) Duckworth (3-2) White Sox Fri Sep 26 Cle 8:11 PM Danks (11-8) Lewis (3-0) Sat Sep 27 Cle 7:05 PM Vazquez (12-15) Jackson (1-3) Sun Sep 28 Cle 2:05 PM Buehrle (14-12) Lee (22-3) Mon Sep 29 Det TBA Floyd (16-8) Garcia (1-1) Who's In / Who's Out I'm not doing too much analysis for this cause it's just not exciting, combined these teams are 8-12 in their last 20.

3 teams, 3 games left, 2 spots remaining. So who gets in, who is out? Or will there be some extra baseball played on monday? Let's take a quick look at some key questions. Schedule Brewers Fri Sep 26 Cubs 8:00 PM Suppan (10-10) Dempster (17-6) Sat Sep 27 Cubs 3:55 PM Bush (9-10) Lilly (16-9) Sun Sep 28 Cubs 2:05 PM Sabathia (16-10) Marquis (11-9) Mets Fri Sep 26 Florida 7:10 PM Pelfrey (13-10) Volstad (5-4) Sat Sep 27 Florida 1:10 PM Niese (1-1) Nolasco (15-7) Sun Sep 28 Florida 1:10 PM Santana (15-7) Olsen (8-11) Phillies Fri Sep 26 Washington 7:05 PM Blanton (8-12) Balester (3-6) Sat Sep 27 Washington 3:55 PM Moyer (15-7) Lannan (9-14) Sun Sep 28 Washington 1:35 PM Hamels (14-10) Perez (7-11) Will the Cubs Lay Down? The Cubs didn't exactly put their best lineup out there last night against the Mets and I doubt they will over the course of the next few days. With Zambrano's recent struggles, either Lilly or Dempster will likely be their #2 starter which

I don't want to talk about it. Let's just say I'll do better this week (can't do much worse). 5. Tennessee Titans (-3 1/2) vs. Minnesota Vikings The Vikings picked up W #1 last weekend but they weren't facing the Titans defense who will make Gus return to his Frerotten days. 4. Philadelphia Eagles (-3 1/2) at Chicago Bears The Eagles are arguably the second best team in the NFL right now. They pummeled Big Ben into a submission and they will do the same to Kyle Orton this weekend. All while putting up points on the overrated Bears defense. 3. Jaguars (-7 1/2) vs. Houston Texans Whoops... messed that up. We'll go with the Texans to lose again. 2. Washington Redskins (+11 1/2) vs. Dallas Cowboys I know the Cowboys are probably the best team in the league right now, but 11 1/2 points in conference against a team that's played well the past two weeks? I'll be stupid and say the Redskins are going to keep it close. 1. San Diego Chargers (-7 1/2) at Oakl

It is now the 3rd season without the USC trio of Bush, Leinart, and Lendale. In these 3 years the Trojans have continued to extremely talented. They have continued to pummel ranked opponents, but something has changed. Each year the Trojans come up limp against one of the lesser in conference opponents. In the past 3 seasons the Trojans are 10-1 against ranked opponents with all ten wins by a touchdown or more. Meanwhile they have a total of 5 losses in these 3 seasons. All 5 of these losses coming in conference with 4 coming against unranked opponents. I just don't get it. I understand that it's easier to get up for big games like USC or the Rose Bowl but still, how can a team throttle a two time BCS title participant and then in their next game get outclassed by a 1-2 team with a loss to Stanford? Maybe it says something about Pete Carroll and what always appears to be a laid back attitude. Maybe it says that he prepares and prepares for the big time matchups and eases

So, I have no idea how the friggin Beavers beat the Trojans yet again last night but if there's answers it just might be in this sign.

May 2nd Yovani Gallardo leaped over a sliding Reed Johnson on a play at first. And with all leaps, Yovani landed, his landing just so happened to leave one key body part not intact. On that fateful leap the sophomore pitcher with all the promise in the world tore his ACL apart and seemingly ended his 2008 season before it even got underway. Well tonight after 4 months and 3 weeks of rehab, Yovani has fought his way back into the Brewers rotation and will make the start this evening . I've heard of athletes recovering quickly from ACL surgery, but just over 4 months? That is some solid dedication some diligent rehabbing and the benefit of being a 22 year old. With 4 games left to go its tough for me to not pull for the Brewers with what some of their pitchers are fighting through (not Sheets of course). Between Gallardo coming back from an ACL rupture and Sabathia pitching on short rest potentially three straight starts, it seems like every Brewer pitcher is doing whatever it

It's not quite the week for the SEC as last, but still the SEC is almost the only relevant conference right now in college football and until everyone has a loss they will continue to have the biggest game of the weekend. 5. Wisconsin Badgers at Michigan Wolverines Hey I know you don't care about this game and neither does anybody outside of the northern midewest, but for some reason I think Michigan is going to pull off the upset here. 2 weeks to prepare, they can't possibly play worse than they did in South Bend, Wisconsin is invetiably going to choke. This is probably the heart overwriting the brain, but McGuffie is gonna get it done. The Pick: Wolverines by 1 4. Texas Christian Horned Frogs at Oklahoma Sooners Hey look the Sooners actually want to play a team with talent this week. Well that's fun. I'd imagine the spikey frogs won't be a problem for the Sooners at home though. The Pick: Sooners by 13 3. Virginia Tech Hokies at Nebraska Corn Huskers Imagi

The good ole media has pretty much crowned Brandon Webb as the 2008 NL Cy Young award winner with a sliver of love being thrown the way of Tim Lincecum, but where's the love for Johan Santana? Isn't it 2008? Isn't it time to start devaluing wins? Let's compare the stats of the three candidates and see where Webb stands out. Wins: Webb 22, Lincecum 17, Johan 15 Innings Pitched: Johan 225 1/3, Lincecum 220, Webb 219 2/3 ERA: Johan 2.64, Lincecum 2.66, Webb 3.24 WHIP: Johan 1.17, Lincecum 1.18, Webb 1.2 Quality Starts: Johan 27, Lincecum 25, Webb 24 K/9: Lincecum 10.31, Johan 7.87, Webb 7.21 K/BB: Johan 3.28, Lincecum 3.07, Webb 2.79 Average Game Score : Lincecum 61.6, Johan 59.3, Webb 56.2 Those are just a sampling of some of the more popular statistics used in evaluating pitching in the year 2008. Webb has the advantage over Santana (or Lincecum for that matter) in one thing wins. The one thing the pitcher only has a 50% control over. Santana definitively has

#1 Extra Base Hit : Aubrey Huff A lot was made the past few days of Stephen Drews 40, 10, & 20 splits so one might have thought he was the extra base hit leader. Some may have thought Albert Pujols the best hitter in baseball had the most extra base hits. Others may have gone with Hamilton or Utley or Wright or Braun or any of the studs in the league right now. Would anybody have thought it was Aubrey Huff who has the most extra base hits in baseball? #6 Grounded into Double Play : Derek Jeter Here's a stat most probably didn't know about the disappointing Yankees this year; Derek Jeter hits into a ton of double plays. He's certainly having a down year average wise and overall stat wise but his 26 double plays have consistantly been rally killers. #1 Pitcher Per Plate Apperance : Nick Swisher I would have thought the Greek God of Walks would have dominated this category or hitters like Adam Dunn, Ryan Howard, Jack Cust etc. Players that either strike out, walk or h

#3 RBI Against: Andy Pettitte If you're a Yankee fan then you know that this has not been the prototypical year for Andy Pettitte. He's struggled often to get the big out in the big spot and has given up runs in seemingly every game. But I don't think any Yankee fan would have thought that Pettitte gave up the third most RBIs in the league. That's miserable. #5 WHIP: Ricky Nolasco Talk about floating under the radar. Did you know that Nolasco has 15 wins with a 3.55 ERA? Probably not. And if you didn't know that then you certainly would not know that Nolasco is fifth in major league baseball in WHIP which is better than that of Johan Santana, Brandon Webb, Tim Lincecum and CC Sabathia. #10 WHIP: Dave Bush For some reason Ned Yost decided it was a good idea to platoon Dave Bush in the starting rotation. This is the same Yost that skipped many of Bush's start in 06 when he was arguably the best pitcher on the staff. #1 Stolen Bases Against: Gavin Floyd Floy

CC Sabathia is about to make a boat load of money this offseason. He's a durable left handed ace who when ported to the National League won his first 9 decisions. He's been so dominant for the Brewers the 2nd half of the season that there were proponents for his Cy Young candidacy. And then September rolls around the Brewers hit the shitter and CC Sabathia is 0-2 in his 4 starts. CC Sabathia has pitched for 4 teams in his career that were in the playoff race in September. In 2001, his rookie season, Sabathia helped lead the Indians into the postseason. In 2005 the Indians fought for both the wildcard and the division but came up short on both ends. Last season the Indians took home the division and this year he's obviously fighting with the Brew crew for the wild card. So let us simply look at his September numbers for these years. In 2001 Sabathia threw 35 2/3 innings over 6 starts to the tune of a 4.29 ERA. He went 3-1 with 4 quality starts and two miserable starts where

As a Jet fan, you listen to the GM and coach chirp all offseason about the additions they made. How they got Calvin Pace and he's perfect for the system. How Gholsten is going to a superior pass rusher this year and how he's a physical specimen. How the line is going to be solid with the additions of Faneca and Woody and their run game is going to amongst the best in the league. How the Jenkins is finally the 3-4 nose guard that the scheme has needed. And of course how Brett Favre opens up the offense and now the squad has no limitations. And so Jet fans listen they get their hopes up, they think maybe they'll be a playoff team this year. Obviously because we're Jet fans and are typically massively pessimistic we temper these expectations some, but we should make the playoffs right? The GM and coach sure think so. And what do we get as fans? We get a nationally broadcasted embarrassment. A full blown embarrassment. The offense turned the ball over 4 times and threw in a

The Jets and Giants are opening 'jetBlue' Stadium in August of 2010. Both teams are selling off Personal Seat Licenses to the fans which essentially is a big 'Go F Yourself' to any season ticket holder (or its an asset that might have even more value in the future if you care to look at it in a positive light). Each team has devised its own system to determine the price of the PSLs so let's take a look and see who are the winners and losers. First of all let's just say unless you're loaded you aren't getting premium or club seating anytime soon. The premium seating on the field level around the 50, have at minimum a 20K PSL. So unless you got the cash to drop over 100K in one year for 8 days of enjoyment, I'm guessing you'll pass up on this offer. So let's just do an analysis of which side is better for fans/corporations. Corporations Better 'Bargain': (Giants by a lot) It's pretty simple to analyze which team has a better deal fo

Wow You Guys Suck: Kansas City Chiefs, Obviously the Chiefs are just a miserable football team. In two weeks they managed to get destroyed by teams that had a top 4 draft pick last season. Herm just might be on his last legs here. Runners Up: Lions and Rams should join the Chiefs in a round robin toilet bowl competition for the #1 draft pick. This Scarecrow Needs a Brain: Al Davis, Senile old man can you just fire Kiffin or say he's coaching the entire year already? The Raiders aren't making the playoffs this year so it really doesn't matter whom your coach is, it's just annoying for everybody on the planet to deal with your senile old man stupidity on a day to day basis. Runners Up: Phil Savage for having the genius to sign DA to a long term deal and now 3 weeks into the season contemplating putting in Quinn, Jet fans for pretending their team was going to be good this year. Cough Cough Cough: Martin Gramatica, While former Saint Kicker John Carney was knocking home

Remember this is all about Quality Wins and Bad Losses so if you lose to a top ranked team its not going to kill you, if you lose to Arkansas St. in the opener it will haunt you the entire season. The SEC had big matchups this weekend and the chips fell exactly where I expected them to with LSU, Bama, Florida and UGA looking like the class of the conference. 1. USC - The idle Trojans could potentially get supplanted if an SEC team runs the table, but that victory over the Buckeyes won't be going away anytime soon. Quality Wins: Ohio State 2. LSU - The Tigers despite their questionmarks at quarterback were able to battle back on the road against a solid Auburn squad and now a firmly entrenched in the BCS race once again. Quality Wins: @Auburn 3. Alabama - Who knows if Arkansas is any good or whether Clemson is for real and will take home the ACC, but right now Bama is looking very impressive when matched up against fellow BCS schools. Quality Wins: @Clemson, @Arkansas 4. South Fl

Go America. Without Tiger the Americans seemed more unified seemed to have a better time and pulled out an early sunday afternoon victory. I certainly can't say that Tiger was the downfall of past Ryder Cup squad, but it seemed to benefit the squad that instead of him players like Boo Weekley, JB Holmes, Anthony Kim were around. Players that seem to make those around them laugh and enjoy themselves rahter than be nervous around the presence of the all mighty. Meanwhile the European powers crumbled under the pressure. Paddy Irish and Sergio Spanish did not come up big for a squad that needed them. Without some key European contributors (such as Luke Donald and Monty) the Europeans just did not have their A game. And they were sent packing by an enthusiastic American squad and crowd. My Predictions Solid Predictions 2. Anthony Kim will be your American Hero and will make you learn his name. Kim is going to a beast for America for a long time, he's passionate and he's got a g

Good/Fit Coach vs. Bad/Fat Coach Equals Large Victory for Fit Coach Joe Pa's BodyGuard Patrol Cause This Year There Will Be No Blown Out Knees Hungry Hungry Biceps A Little Seminole Blood Fills Up the Tank Arizona Apparently Is Not NASCAR Country It's Losing Football Games Country Sam Houston St. Employs the 12 Man Defense He Takes Visa or American Express 110,000 Fans of a Loser Summed Up By One Hands on Head Pose That's One Large Exuberant Buckeye Fan Someone Might Be a Bit Too Old For Stuffed Animals Those Tricky Ivy Leaguers Always Know How to Expose the Unbuttoned Chin Strap Hugging And Throwing Just Don't Mix It Ends Up in Tard Passes Butch Davis' New Under the Radar Middle Finger Or Just a One Fingered Time Out STIFF ARMED Check To See If Your Neck is Intact

Let's Do a Simple Math Equation: Jets + Big Blue = jetBlue. It might be corny to try to get a sponsor that incorporates the names of both teams, but it's certainly better than having a sponsor that funded the Nazi party right? jetBlue is the best sponsor for the New Stadium at the Meadowlands , get it done Woody/Mara/Tisch.

At the start of the 2007 season the Yankees organization brutally botched the Bernie Williams scenario . Instead of signing the best postseason player in franchise history for one final swan song, they signed Doug Stinkevich and Andy Can't Hit a Lick Philips. What a miserable idea. This season in centerfield the Yanks have played Melky and his 36 RBI in like 400 at bats and Brett .180 Gardener. Bernie would have been better than either even at 40. So why bring this up now? Bernie needs a real send off. He deserves it. He was a great Yankee. In the 2 seasons since he has left he has never gotten his send off, never gotten the ovation he deserved. On sunday he will be at the stadium for the final home game at the House that Ruth Built. On sunday the Yankees should go one step further than honoring him on the field, they should sign him to a 1 day contract and suit him up. The season is done and over, and Bernie is probably better than Melky or Gardener anyway, I don't ca

10. The Cup comes down to Sunday afternoon and the last couple of pairings. 9. The Europeans will definitely have better outfits. 8. Chad Campbell will be a miserable captains choice for the Americans. 7. Pink Pants Poultier will be a beast for the Europeans. 6. JB Holmes will hit the ball hard and far, the home state Kentucky fans will love him, and he will fail them. 5. Bald man Furyk plays better this year without Tiger than he did in 06. 4. Phil Mickelson remains mediocre in Ryder Cup play. 3. Sergio continues to carry the Europeans and loses only 1 match. 2. Anthony Kim will be your American Hero and will make you learn his name. 1. America wins by 1 point (14 1/2 - 13 1/2) cause Europeans obviously have to hate Kentucky.

Ya... When I said I had no confidence last week, I meant it. I went 6-10, but I went 3-2 in the suggestions (1 loss being the Jets). This week I'm feeling better if not for the reason that all home teams other than the Boys are favored. So it's a doggin week. 5. St. Louis Rams (+9 1/2) at Seattle Seahawks Ok Ok I know this seems stupid. I mean the Rams got throttled both weeks this season, but listen to me for a sec. The Rams lost to the Eagles and defending Superbowl champs. Both teams are A) Good and B) Have dynamic offenses. The Seahawks just lost to the F'n 49ers at home. This game will be close. 4. New York Giants (-13 1/2) vs. Cincinnati Bengals This spread looks huge I know. But the Bengals are terrible on both lines. They can't protect Palmer which has made his stats go through the shitter. And their defense is as bad as ever. All you need is a two td win at home from the Superbowl champs and you'll get it. 3. Tennessee Titans (-4 1/2) vs. Houston

You're in a deep league you've drafted Tom Brady and Vince Young as a backup and somehow missed out on the waiver wire pickups of the Castle and the Drunk . Now you're left with only to options: Vikings new starting QB Gus Frerotte and Chiefs new starting QB Tyler Thigpen. So who do you go with? The Case for Gus Frerotte 1. The Man Gives a Mean Headbutt . 2. You've actually heard of him before. 3. He does not play for a team that just lost by double digits to the Raiders. 4. He could potentially throw a dump off pass to Adrian Peterson and enjoy the benefits. 5. For some reason even though they have Peterson, Childress likes to throw the ball. 6. Has actually started a game before. 7. Did Not start at a college that lost to a tooth paste company's football team . 8. Stupid people picked the Vikings to win the Superbowl. The Case for Tyler Thigpen 1. There's limited chance he leaves the game due to a self inflicted head butt injury. 2. He's not named Gus F

It's SEC week in college football which equals fun (unless the score is 3-2). 5. Georgia Bulldogs at Arizona State Sun Devils So Arizona St. lost to a bad UNLV team last weekend, but... maybe they were looking past the Rebs and at the Bulldogs. Right? So maybe this game will be a good one right? Probably not, but hey you never know when teams have to travel cross country to play, I mean UT lost to UCLA and look at how they fared last weekend. The Pick: UGA by 2 4. Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Florida St. Seminoles Wake Forest is under the radar (probably cause the ACC sucks) and no one has any expectations for Florida St. after all of their off the field incidents this offseason and Bobby Bowden's senile tendencies. This matchup is amongst the biggest for the ACC Atlantic of the season and the winner gets a leg up on the trip to the title game. The Pick: FSU by 11 3. Alabama Crimson Tide at Arkansas Razorbacks It's Bobby Petrino's first big game for the Razorbacks a

Wow, Man U would look really good sprinting up and down the Field with Ben Bernanke emblazoned on their jerseys. And with AIG getting 85$ Billion (with a B) from the Fed perhaps it should happen.