SimonOnSports

The Sports Guy wrote an article about Tortured Fan Bases and I figured I might as well send him my moronic story... I read Patrick from Albany's email and I had to laugh as my life story is terribly similar but likely worse. See my father grew up off Shrewsbury St. in Worcester (I'm assuming you know this well) in the 50s. Before the AFL rose to prominence and the Patriots existed he was a Giant fan, as they were the "local team". Then when the Patriots came to fruition he became a fan of them as well but never really got around to dumping his childhood team, so his football fanhood stood and continues to stand at 2, the Giants and Pats (when they play he leans Pats). On to me. As I child I followed my father in fanhood of all professional teams with the 1 exception of football. Why didn't I pick the Pats or the Giants, because as a moronic 5 year old I really really really liked the color Green. So I wanted the Al Toon figurine and the Jets stuffed ani...

There are smart people in the Major League Baseball offices wondering if there's hope of even discussing a potential move of the Rays to New Jersey or Southern Connecticut over certain protests from the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Phillies. [ Peter Gammons article on the Rays ] I caught wind of this thanks to a post by Matt at Fack Youk , who went over the potential landing spots city by city rebuffing all CT cities, but I'd like to put my 2 cents in as well. Frankly this is possibly one of the least likely things ever uttered by Peter Gammons. As Matt at points out in much longer analysis, Connecticut has just 3.5 million people, no viable Major League city, has essentially failed everytime a pro team was in the state and barely supports it's minor league teams. To think that Southern Connecticut could even really support a team if we had no other options would likely be questionable. But we do have options and this is the biggest issue.

The Packers of course kick off this record with their 25 point victory in Super Bowl I over the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs. Unlike many of the other records the Super Bowl I Packers held, this record stood for a lengthy period of time. It wasn't until 1984, Super Bowl XVII and the Oakland Raiders 29 point beat down of the Washington Redskins before the record was eclipsed. The Raiders record would stand just 2 years when the Chicago Bears completely over matched the New England Patriots winning 46-10. One would have thought that this record may have stood a lifetime. Not only did it not stand but the record was shattered 4 years later in Super Bowl XXIV when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Denver Broncos 55-10 in the Superdome. The record has now stood for nearly 20 years and I'm pretty sure we all can agree that we never would like it to be eclipsed. Check Out Additional Super Bowl Records

Honestly I have no idea if the IPad is the future of the world or is going to flop miserably and crush Apple's stock. What I do know is that the name is going to be made fun of whether the IPad is successful or is a huge flop.

This post is brought to you by SPORTSBETTING.com. Get best online sports betting bonuses at this sportsbook . If the athletes don't actually really care about who wins the game, does that make it easier or harder to gamble on? Or does it just make it dumb to gamble on? If neither the favored nor the underdog truly care about the end result than does talent mean anything? Is it dumb to put money on a game where the stakes are probably greater in your eyes than the eyes of the athletes? You obviously have figured out by now that I am talking about the Pro Bowl. The early line on this weekend Pro Bowl is the AFC +2. Why? Probably because their quarterbacks are more Pros than Pro Bowlers. But perhaps that is actually a good thing? Maybe these quarterbacks (Schaub, Garrard, Young) feel the need to have big games and prove that they belong while the NFC quarterback contingent of McNabb, Rodgers, and Romo don't have anything to prove? And this makes the AFC the better play...

The Super Bowl Passer rating involves just 4 quarterbacks and is currently sitting at a mark that will be very very difficult to break. Like basically every passing record in the Super Bowl, Bart Starr holds the first record. In Super Bowl I against the Chiefs, Starr was 16 for 23 for 250 yards with 2 tds & 1 int for a passer rating of 116. The record stood for 12 years until Terry Bradshaw barely topped it going 17 for 30 for 318 yards with 4 tds & 1 int for a passer rating of 119. This record stood for 2 years and was broken by a QB you really don't ever think about when it comes to Super Bowl success, Jim Plunkett. Plunkett went 13 for 21 for 261 yards with 3 tds & 0 ints for a whopping passer rating of 145 against the Eagles. Despite this record being light years ahead of the previous record, it only stood for 6 years and was broken by Phil Simms in Super Bowl XXI. Simms was an amazing 22 for 25 for 268 yards with 3 tds & 0 ints for a passer rating of 150...

Last night while I was watching Michigan officially put the nail in their season, a score on ESPNs bottom line jumped out at me. The score involved two perennial Big East Power schools. Teams that typically have a chance to make the Final Four every year. So who were these teams? The UConn and Rutgers Women's basketball teams. What was the score? About 8-gazillion for UConn and about 20 for Rutgers. At the end of last year's regular season I chronicled just how ridiculous their 36 game win streak was , well somehow this season they just might be topping their feats. 1. Once again UConn has yet to win by anything other than double digits. At this point triple digits may just be more of likely scenario than a single digit game. 2. Their current average victory is 39 points which is 7 more than last years 32. 3. They have doubled up their opponents 7 times in 20 games. They even TRIPLED two. 4. Their average victory over ranked teams is 25+ while their average victo...

Lionel Messi is quite arguably the greatest soccer play in the world right now and at just 22 years of age he has already amassed a ridiculous 101 goals for Barcelona. When I was 22 the only thing I was doing was looking for a job and slugging back Milwaukee's Best Light while not really looking forward to college graduation. Any-who, Barca TV put together a video tribute which includes every single gaol throughout his young, but already prolific career. The 2nd video of the remaining goals is after the jump.

When I have a few random topics I feel like discussing but none of the topic deserve a whole post, then you get the quick notes. Michigan Be Done Well the Michigan season is about as good as over now that they have fallen to 10-10 and lost maybe their best opportunity to pick up a landmark victory. First off they choked and not necessarily on the defenses last possession. Up three their last two actual full possessions ended in a shot clock violation and a DeShawn Sims airballed three. Mr. Bielien, you need to draw up something better than that. Oh and how the hell was this not a foul? Since when can you full out grab someones jersey when they go up for a shot?

The Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl I set a the initial low mark with 10 points against the Green Bay Packers. This mark only stood for two years as Weeb Ewbank's defense held the heavy favorite Baltimore Colts offense to just 7 points in the biggest upset in Super Bowl history. The next year, in Super Bowl IV, the Minnesota Vikings equaled the Colts previous low by putting up just 7 points against the Kansas City Chiefs. Two years later the Miami Dolphins set the current Super Bowl's poorest offense output by putting up just 3 points against the Dallas Cowboys. The Dolphins did redeem themselves the next year by going undefeated, so I'm pretty sure this negative record doesn't bother them much. To my semi-surprise there has yet to be a shut out in the Super Bowl. Check Out Additional Super Bowl Records

Thanks to NBA.com's new and nifty +/- stat tracking site , we can now get Brian Scalabrine's season +/- without adding it up ourselves. Quite obviously Scalabrine has the lowest +/- of anyone on the roster, coming in at -27 through 33 games played. GO SCALS!

The record quite obviously begins in Super Bowl 1, like all records, when led by Bart Starr the Green Bay Packers put up 35 on the Kansas City Chiefs. This record stood alone for 12 years until Terry Bradshaw and crew dismantled the Cowboys and put up 35 as well. The record was finally topped by the LA Raiders and Marcus Allen in Super Bowl 18 over the Redskins. The 49ers equaled the record the next year when Montana and the boys put up 38 on Dan Marino and co. The record was topped the next year when Ditka and the Bears demoralized the New England Patriots putting up 46. Finally four years later the 49ers put up a whopping 55 points on the Denver Broncos setting a mark that hasn't be topped in nearly 20 years and may just hold up for a while longer. Check Out Additional Super Bowl Records

Last year I did a series of posts on the progressions of NFL Super Bowl Records. I figured its a good time to post a list just in case people were interested. Super Bowl Team Scoring Records Most Points Scored Least Points Scored Largest Margin of Victory Super Bowl Passing Records Best Passer Rating Most Passing Yards Most Completions Most Passing TDs Most Interceptions Thrown Super Bowl Rushing Records Most Rushing Yards Most Carries Most Rushing TDs Super Bowl Receiving Records Most Receiving Yards Most Receptions Most Receiving TDs

When the Commissioner announced that he was moving the Pro Bowl to the week before the Super Bowl I thought "Hmmm... Maybe I'll actually watch now." See I'm not sure I've watched a single Pro Bowl in my life. After the Super Bowl I'm just not really into it. We've already watched the big game. There's college bball, NBA and pitchers and catchers to look forward to. I've never been motivated to watch a game in which most people don't try and many don't bother to show up and frankly I'm just not in the mood for football the week after the Super Bowl. But when it was announced that it was the weekend before the Super Bowl I thought perhaps I'll watch now. There's nothing else going on that weekend. I'm still in the football mood. Maybe it's a good way to kick off Super Bowl week. Well I was wrong. The 2010 Pro Bowl has a new set of issues. First off all the players on the Super Bowl rosters are stripped off the ...

Want a simple look at why the Colts and the Saints are in the Super Bowl and why others are on the golf course? Well here it is, a simple look at each playoff games winner and loser and how many turnovers and missed field goals happened for each respective team. In the ten games only the Jets vs. Colts did the teams have an equal number of turnovers but in that game the Jets threw in two missed field goals. In every other game the team with more turnovers was defeated. Then you throw in all the missed field goals from the losers and you have a sure fire recipe for failure. Meanwhile the Colts and Saints have a combined 3 turnovers and zero missed field goals in 4 games. This is why they are in the Super Bowl and the Vikings, Jets, etc. are headed to South Florida for the Pro Bowl.

Dear Brett Favre, Brett I was pretty down after the Jet game and I really could have used some cheering up and you somehow provided that to me. See I watched the entire Saints game hoping the Saints would win so that you wouldn't get into the Super Bowl because frankly you don't deserve it after the bullshit you pulled the past two offseasons. For most of the game it looked as if the Saints might win despite getting incredibly outplayed because your teammates were handing the ball over time after time. But then the Saints offense started puttering, your team scored the tying td and you had the ball with 1 minute left at the Saints 35. Everything looked purple but then this happened: What a perfect time for an Arm Punt Brett! You put a huge smile back on my face and you helped end your teams season. Great job Mr. Gunslinger. Thanks for the Memories, Simon

The 2009 New York Jet season has finally come to a conclusion so its time to look back at the roller coaster ride that it became. Preseason Expectations Before the season started there wasn't very large expectations on the Jets. They were coming off a collapse from 8-3 to 9-7. They brought in a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback. Sure they had fortified the defense with Bart Scott and Jim Leonard but the offense was sure to struggle with a Sanchez in his rookie season and with really no dominant target in the receiving corps. I predicted 9-7 , which I thought was optimistic, and no playoffs. Going Up: 3 Game Win Streak to Open the Season After the first game the Jets gave you a modicum of hope. The defense completely crushed the Texans and Mark Sanchez played great. The game was so lopsided that you had to think that either the Jets were really really good or the Texans were flat terrible.

The breakdowns are done. Now time to look at the turnover battle. The Jets Colts are pretty even this season in the turnover game. The Jets forced one more turnover than they gave and the Colts forced two more than they gave. Obviously the Colts numbers are influenced and skewed some by Curtis Painter but the key as always is probably turnovers. The Jets need to get turnovers to give opportunities to their meager offense and they need to avoid turnovers to keep Peyton Manning away from easy touchdowns. Sometimes football is a simple game. If the Jets turn the ball over more than the Colts do this weekend their chances of winning are slim to none.

The Australian Open has begun thus giving me the opportunity to do one of my absolute favorite things, peruse the Women's Tennis Photo Wire. These faces can not be made up, though I'm not sure any can top Jelena Dokic from last year . Zvonerava has the Bug Eye look absolutely perfected.

It appears as if Dinara Safina is on the Serena Williams protein diet. Jesus look at those arms.

With just 4 teams left, let us see which conferences and which universities are assembling the cream of the NFL crop. Conference Leaders The Big 10 once again is making a strong statement this post season. They not only hold strong at the #1 spot but they are a solid 9 players ahead of the next best conferences. 1. Big Ten - 41 2t. Big 12 - 32 2t. SEC - 32 4. ACC - 31 5. Pac 10 - 21 6t. Big East - 13 6t. Mountain West - 13 8. MAC - 7 Non-FBS - 37 Team Leaders The Wolverines finally give up their lead in the standings. So who grasps the lead? Whom else but the f'n Buckeyes. 1. Ohio State - 8 2. Michigan, Tennessee - 7 3. Illinois, Oklahoma, USC - 6 Check out the spreadsheet with every conference broken down after the jump...

Pitchers and catchers is less than 1 month away and as free agent after free agent gets signed to a deal, I'm beginning to wonder: "Where is Erik Bedard? I haven't heard a single thing about him this offseason. I don't even have a clue who is actually interested in signing him. I know he had season ending surgery but I can't find any details about when he may be ready to pitch? How is this guy so under the radar? When he pitches nobody can hit him, yet I hear more rumors about Jon Garland and Joel Pineiro?" Those are Erik Bedard's career stats. He's 30 years old and has gotten injured in each of the past 3 seasons. He's a tremendous risk/reward free agent. At the start of last years season he made his first 11 starts pitching to the tune of a 2.47 ERA with over 1 K per inning and an incredibly low BAA. And yet this offseason he's been invisible. How are the Mets not in on this party? I don't care if he can't come back til Ju...

Why is Deron so Sad and Carlos so Happy? It's pretty simple. The Jazz reto Green Jerseys are pure awesome while their typical uniform with the purplie-blue and navy is absolutely horrendous. Not to mention that the old Jazz logo is ten times better than the new "lightning" inspired Jazz print. If Karl Malone and John Stockton wore these jerseys the Jazz would have won an NBA title, instead they wore purple and were Michael Jordan's bitch.

Only 4 teams remain in the chase for the Lombardi trophy. let us see how their 4 yardage rankings stack up against each other. New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts For a team that was 14-0 the Colts do not look that impressive in the NFL Yardage Rankings. They have the leagues worst rush offense. Their defense is below average in the rush game and about average against the passing attack. The team is built on Peyton Manning and their 2nd in the league passing attack. The Jets on the other hand should have no problem containing the run and little problem rushing the ball themselves. The issue comes with can their nearly bottom passing attack provide more offense than it did last week (100 yards isn't going to cut in two weeks in a row) and can their league best passing defense combat the Colts passing attack? Last weekend against the Chargers the Jets gave up a decent chunk of yardage. They will need to be better if they are to stay in this game and they will need to prote...

The New York Mets are in the pitching free agent mix. They are rumored to be interested in at least two pitchers with one being the favorite. Take a gander at the simple stats and seem whom you would prefer but take a guess at whom the Mets actually prefer. Free Agent 1 Free Agent 2

By moving the NFL Pro Bowl to the week before the Super Bowl the league has set it up so that a large portion of the Pro Bowlers want nothing more than to not go to the game. This weekend the 25 Pro Bowlers playing in the Conference Championship game know this, Win and they skip the Pro Bowl and play in the Super Bowl, Lose and its the Pro Bowl consolation prize. Nobody wants the consolation prize. Here are the 25 players who really want to skip out on next weekends festivities. Indianapolis Colts (6): Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Jeff Saturday, Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis New York Jets (4): D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Nick Mangold, Alan Faneca, Darrelle Revis New Orleans Saints (5): Drew Brees, Jon Stinchcomb, Jahri Evans, Jonathan Vilma, Darren Sharper Minnesota Vikings (10): Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson, Sidney Rice, Bryant McKinnie, Steve Hutchinson, Jared Allen, Kevin Williams, Antoine Winfield, Percy Harvin, Heath Farwell

We've heard of people naming their kids after their favorite athletes or naming them after their favorite television station but this is the first time I've heard of a boy named J.E.T.S. (Jake Edward Thomas Schonberg). Theoretically I could name my own child J.E.T.S.. I'm going to have to see how interested the girlfriend is in this theoretical, my guess is not so much.

The Conference Championship games are just around the corner so why not take a quick look at all the lines in the sports betting world. New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts Money Line: Jets +290, Colts -360 The money line is probably something you want to avoid for this game unless you have superb confidence in the Jets winning. A pay out of nearly 3 to 1 for a jets victory could be enticing but the Colts Payout makes it completely not worth it. You're better off either not betting or laying the points... Spread: Jets +7 1/2 But are you confident that the Colts are going to win by more than a touchdown? The Jets have lost by more than 7 just twice this season and have won 7 of their last 8 games. When the Jets were in Indy they were still well in the game when Peyton left. If you're going Colts you have to go the spread -7 1/2 pick but I wouldn't have too much confidence. Over/Under: 39 This is a tricky number. 20 points a side doesn't seem like much bu...

This post is brought to you by SPORTSBETTING.com. Get best online sports betting bonuses at this sportsbook . With four teams left in the race for a Super Bowl championship, let's take a quick look back to the preaseason when all was unknown and Vegas set odds on who were the favorites to win the grand prize. Of the four teams remaining, the Colts had the best odds to win the Super Bowl. This isn't really surprising as they have won 11+ games basically every season the past decade. What might be surprising is that the Colts were seen as just the 6th overall favorite at 12-1 odds. The Pats led the way at 4-1 (Yay Tom Brady) and were followed by the Steelers, Eagles, Giants and Chargers. The Vikings weren't too far behind the Colts at 14-1 as the addition of Brett Favre made Vegas odds makers do a quick bump up and perhaps people should have listened. The Vikings were quite obviously a quarterback away from the Super Bowl and maybe we should have expected Brett F...

Yesterday provided us with two potential stories which are both mind boggling and humorous. Story #1 , Stephon Marbury to Play in China The first story is basically hilarious. Stephon Marbury is no longer retired, instead Marbury is going to become the 1st big name player to head over to China. Of all people to be a pioneer for American Basketball in China it quite obviously needed to the player whom is arguably the least sane. Could any basketball player have more of an odd career path than Marbury? He came into the NBA after one season at Georgia Tech and looked to form a dynamic duo with Kevin Garnett. But he decided he wanted to play at home and get the money so he was sent to New Jersey. In New Jersey he failed miserably just to see himself traded to Phoenix for Jason Kidd. In Phoenix he got the team into the playoffs but then was traded after a few seasons to the Knicks so they could bring in Steve Nash. All the while Marbury is averaging nearly 20 & 10 every sea...

Or by the equivalent of what it must feel like to get hit by a dump truck...

Dear Coach Calhoun, I have a request for this seasons recruiting class. I think it's time you start integrating ability to shoot into the equation on whether or not a player deserves a scholarship. This current squad you have assembled has not a single body anyone would trust to hit a three point shot. Just in case you have forgotten, the three pointer is now an absolutely essential piece of winning college basketball games now. I figure you of all people should know this given which of your teams have had the most success in the NCAA tournament. In 1999 you had Rip Hamilton and his deadly accuracy lead you to the promise land. In 2004 you had Ben Gordon and his ice water veins hitting clutch shots down the stretch. You also had Rashard Anderson and Denham Brown who were both capable of spreading the floor and knocking down a shot on that team. This season you have nobody. Not a one. Your team is one-dimensional. Incapable of spreading the floor and frankly not good....

In case it isn't evident the Jets are my favorite sports team. I get more emotional and fired up over the Jets than any other team I pull for so this weekends victory was arguably the most nerve racking and enjoyable sports victory I have ever watched outside of the 1996 World Series Win and the Aaron Boone home run (which likely will never be topped). The Jets defeated a team on an 11 game win streak that for all intents and purposes was a superior team. To put this victory in perspective the Jets won their 2nd playoff game in the same year for the first time since January 15th 1983. I was negative fourteen days old. Since my birth the Jets have been a mixture of failure and mediocre playoff teams while the closest rivals of the Jets have had tremendous success. The Patriots have won 3 Super Bowls and been to two others. The Giants have won 3 Super Bowls and been the better team in New York for 90% of my lifetime. Meanwhile the Jets playoff record going into this seas...

If you have perused this site over the past few weeks you would have noticed that I have been using charts like this . Well here's the breakdown of which teams created the greatest "polygon" area. ~While there isn't a 100% correlation between having top ranks Os and Ds it certainly helps. Of the 12 teams that made the playoffs 9 finished within the top 13 of the "well rounded" test. The three teams that did not were dominant passing offenses with low ranked rushing attacks and middle of the pack defenses. Scoring points through the air also goes a long long way. ~Of the teams remaining the Minnesota Vikings have the highest "Well Rounded" area and the Colts have by far the worst. The Colts simply put didn't have that impressive of a defense and had basically no rushing attack. The Colts are Peyton Manning. This is why he deservedly won the MVP. ~For the dorks out there, getting the area was actually very very easy. The polygon...

Happy MLK Jr. day. I'm taking a breather from the blog today to get some shit done and celebrate the Jets. I shall be back with a vengeance tomorrow.

This post shows you a simple chart Giveaways and Takeaways for each team in each Divisional Playoff Matchup. In combination with the breakdown of the Divisional Matchups this am the Turnover Battle breakdown should give you a solid background when deciding whom you shall go with. Saints vs. Cardinals Are you ready for no defense and pray for turnovers? This Saints Cardinals game gives you two teams whose defenses value are almost solely tied to their ability to create turnovers. The Saints had a much better +/- than the Cardinals during the regular season which probably explains their superior record and why I think they have the edge this weekend.

Blogging the Offseason worked so well for the MLB that I'm bringing it back for the NFL. You can find all the posts under the label Offseason or just go here . Today's blogger is BW from the Tampa Bay Bucs blog, Buc 'Em . 1. The NFC South has been won by whomever finished last in the division for several years running right now. What do the Bucs need to do to keep that trend going? BW: The Bucs have a long way to climb to make this happen. The biggest issue is fixing the defense. Our offense is average and will provide us an opportunity to win games assuming our defense can hold teams to 20ish points. Our 2010 opponents give us a chance to get some wins, but ultimately, it will come down to better run defense and an ability to limit the big play. 2. Should Raheem Morris have been let go after the season or do you think he's moving the team in the right direction? BW: This is a touchy subject in Buc world. I was not thrilled with the hire, but the guy won ...

Everyone will remember the Jets 2009 draft as the time they moved up to get Mark Sanchez but what people may forget is that this is not the first time the Jets have gone this route. 2007 Move Up to Get Darrelle Revis aka Hero The Jets desperately need a corner and the Panthers were looking to move down so the Jets flew from 25 to 14 to pick Revis. In the process the Jets gave the Panthers their first round pick, a second round pick (#59) and a 5th round pick (164) while also receiving the Panthers 6th round pick. The Panthers used their selections to draft Jon Beason whom has started all 48 games in his three years as a Panther and made the Pro Bowl last year. They also selected Ryan Kalil whom became their permanent starting Center towards the tail end of his rookie year. 2007 Move Up to Get David Harris The Jets didn't take long in 2007 to move up again. They traded their 2nd round pick (63), their 3rd round pick (89) and the 6th round pick they received from the Pant...

The below charts show a diamond for each team. The corresponding points on the axis are based on their yardage ranks. So for instance the Jets rank #1 in Pass D, so their axis point is at 32, or the best. Their pass O ranks 31st so their axis point for pass O is at 2 or basically the worst. In each chart I've labeled each axis to clarify what you are looking at. Saints vs. Cardinals The Cardinals for the second week in a row look relatively over matched. The Saints have a dominate rush and pass offense which should easily be able to torch the Cardinals for points. The Saints also have a decent rush D which should be able to hold Beanie Wells and co. to limited production. Once again the Cardinals are going to be entirely reliant on Kurt Warner morphing into Superman. The big difference between last week and this week is that the Saints pass Defense is expected to be terrible. This game has shootout written all over it with a mild edge to the Saints whom should also be ab...

The below chart plots a teams Wins-Losses and correlates it to their turnover margin. You'll notice pretty quickly that a positive turnover margin is pretty essential for the success of an NFL team. Of the 12 teams that made the playoffs only the Cardinals had a negative turnover margin. The Bengals were dead even on turnover margin and also made the playoffs. The Chiefs and the Bills were the two teams that finished with a positive turnover margin and were still absolutely dreadful.

This is a mild rant and is surely off topic but this morning I went to a new gym for the first time. I decided it was a good idea to A) Go in the morning so that I would actually go instead of convincing myself after my commute home to skip the gym B) Join a gym that's less than 20 minutes away from my apartment. So on my first journey to the gym this morning I head to the treadmill for a little warm up mile to wake my sorry ass up. Then after the mile run I search for the Water Fountain to hydrate, something I in general find very useful while working out. Much to my dismay there is no "bubbler" to be found. So I head downstairs and start doing some not so heavy lifting with essentially a mouth that feels like the beach. Eventually I can't take it any more so I head to the locker room and start paddling water in my mouth like a fucking dog. So naturally my question is why in the world would a gym, where water is fucking essential, not have a water fountain? ...

Blogging the Offseason worked so well for the MLB that I'm bringing it back for the NFL. You can find all the posts under the label Offseason or just go here . Our first blogger is TheRaiderWay from the Oakland Raiders blog, Silver and Black Pride . 1. How eagerly are you awaiting the time when Al Davis is no longer in the front office to make executive decisions? This is a question that comes up often and my answer is the same. Al Davis is the Raiders and I’m not looking forward to him not making executive decisions, but rather looking forward to the day that he brings on a GM-type person to help him. The last time the Raiders were winning was when they had Bruce Allen as that GM-type person as a facilitator between Al and the rest of the organization’s departments. Before Allen, they had Ron Wolf, which was during times of consistent success. The Raiders organization needs now unity with the single purpose and goal of winning. 2. What are your thoughts on JaMarcus Russell?...

This post is brought to you by SPORTSBETTING.com. Get best online sports betting bonuses at this sportsbook . The Australian Open starts this coming weekend so its time to start thinking about just who is going to win the tournament. The main contenders are obviously Roger Federer (2:1) and Rafael Nadal (2:1) whom combined have won this tournament seemingly every year. But honestly who wants to gamble at 2:1 odds and are either truly a lock to win the tournament? Federer has come back to the pack some over the past year and showed vulnerability against people not named Nadal when he got crushed by Juan Martin Del Potro at the US Open. Nadal and his lingering knee issues will have to show me something before I jump back on the bandwagon. Nope my pick this Aussie Open is Andy Murray (4:1). He has the skillset to compete with any of the top players from Roddick to Del Potro to Federer. Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, and Del Potro have all gotten their break through major victory at...

The rents called on saturday and said they were selling all of my old bedroom furniture and that it was time to get my ass in gear and clean out all of the crap I left in my old room when I moved out. Amongst many ridiculous things I found that I kept as a child was this Baseball Legends calendar from 1993. Well it just so happens that the dates of 1993 and 2010 line up. Wee, free calendar.

I would like to preface this short post by saying that I absolutely love Charles Woodson. He is my favorite Michigan Wolverine of all time. His run in 1997 was epic and I have been a huge fan of his for over a decade now. With that being said, Charles Woodson winning the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award was complete and utter bullshit. Charles Woodson had a great season. He did things that Revis was unable to claim. He forced more turnovers. He was slightly more help in the rushing attack. He scored more defensive touchdowns. He had a fabulous season but he is no Darrelle Revis. When you look at the Packers schedule you'll notice some major differences between a Jets box score and a Packers box score. The first thing you'll notice is that the quality of #1 wideouts faced by the Packers throughout the pales in comparison to the quality of #1s the Jets faced and yet the Packers opponents were far more likely to have successful games. Devin Hester had 90+ 1 td. Oc...

Yesterday it was announced that Lane Kiffin after just one season at Tennessee is leaving and headed back to USC to become the head coach of the Trojans. The reaction to his leaving has caused ridicule everywhere. "How can you leave after one year?" "It's a joke that these coaches don't have to live up to their contract". These are some of the things that are being said on the airwaves this morning. My question is why? Think of it this way. You leave a position at your current employer because you know there's a major barrier for getting the job you truly want at your company. So you find another company that's willing to give you the job you want but not necessarily at the place you want to be. If in a years time your old employer offers you the job you truly wanted in the first place because that individual that was blocking you decided to move on, what is the chance that you aren't going to jump at the opportunity? This is essenti...

Every athlete who gets caught with steroids has a cockamamee reason behind their usage so I figure I might as well write my own theoretical steroids admission if I ever get caught and people want to question why I did it. I am here today to admit the mistakes of my past. I am not proud of what I did but I did in fact use the cream and the clear during the early days of my blogging career. I apologize to all three of my readers as I know I have let you down deeply but I need to get it off my chest, it's been haunting me. So you're probably wondering why did I do it. Why did I take performance enhancers? It obviously wasn't to improve my performance in the blog or in any of my many softball performances. Steroids obviously didn't help my grammar or intelligence which is in a steep decline. It wasn't because I want to stay healthy during the blogs early life. My fingers were strong my mind was meh but steroids did not help me there. It wasn't because GMC...

Now that 4 teams have been swiftly eliminated from the playoffs we can take a look at which conference is holding up as the #1. [Picture Taken Back When Braylon Edwards had hands] Conference Leaders The SEC took the biggest hit with the Bengals loss as they were a major contributor to the SEC's original playoff lead . The Big Ten currently holds a commanding lead of 8 over the ACC. 1. Big Ten - 72 2. ACC - 64 3. Big 12 - 60 4. SEC - 58 5. Pac 10 - 44 6. Big East 28 7. Mountain West - 26 8. MAC - 16 Non-FBS - 85 Team Leaders The Wolverines lead for the second time in a row even though they took a big hit from 20 down to 12. They are followed by LSU and Ohio State with 11 each and then a slew of squads with 10 each the most surprising being the Fighting Illini. 1. Michigan - 12 2. LSU, Ohio State - 11 3. FSU, Miami, USC, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Illinois - 10 Check out the spreadsheet with every conference broken down after the jump...

Jets vs. Bengals ~The Bengals were easily the worst team in the playoffs and it didn't help on Saturday that Carson Palmer was atrocious. At the time of his ACL tear Palmer was seen as the next great NFL Quarterback. He was putting up Peyton Manning like numbers. He was seen as a future. Now? He's basically a middle of the pack quarterback and his play was brutal. OchoCinco may have been shut down by Revis again but Palmer was of no help overthrowing basically everything out of his hand. ~The Bears gave up Thomas Jones for a flip-flop of 2nd round picks and then just gave up on Cedric Benson. Benson was essentially the only good thing about the Bengals offense and Jones didn't have his best game but did get in the endzone. ~Shonn Greene when he doesn't drop the ball is a beast. If Saturday was any indication he likely will be a Pro Bowler at some point in his career. ~If Sanchez plays the same next week the Jets have a chance against San Diego. The prob...

I was supposed to have this in by noon, and well I'm late. I forgot. So I'm not sure if my ballot is going to count and well to be honest I threw this together way way quickly for it to be my best effort. Regardless, here is the final blogpoll of the year. Rank Team Delta 1 Alabama 2 Florida 3 3 Boise State 3 4 Texas 1 5 Ohio State 4 6 Iowa 4 7 Cincinnati 5 8 Oregon 1 9 Virginia Tech 2 10 TCU 6 11 Penn State 13 12 Georgia Tech 4 13 Pittsburgh 8 14 Brigham Young 4 15 Southern Cal 5 16 LSU 4 17 Nebraska 6 18 Wisconsin 19 West Virginia 5 20 Oklahoma 21 Mississippi 22 Stanford 5 23 Oklahoma State 8 24 Navy 25 Miami (Florida) 12 Last week's ballot Dropped Out: North Carolina (#16), Arizona (#19), Oregon State (#22), Houston (#25).