Sunday, July 28, 2013

Another Dead Week

Well, it’s another week where I have to unfortunately fill fodder till all the men in the NFL decide stuff their jerseys full of padding for an actual football event they call the preseason. Hello their America and welcome to another Dead-zone edition of my blog! It will be short so you can get back to your tequila sunrise hangover and can get back to sleeping with a women, or man, you have never seen before. Roll the stories out.

Did I mention NFL players got back to work this past week? Everybody is back to business. The country’s most popular sport has all 32 back on the field to finally hold up the idea that someone will once again be crowned number on the biggest stage in sports. Super Bowl 48 will be played this season in one of the coldest stadiums in the country on February 2nd 2014. That is about 6 months away from now. They need to rename that green day song to wake me up when July & August end because there are actually no relevant sports stories occurring in these months. Either way, training camp has started and excitement in every camp is building except if you are a Jaguars fan.

Percy Harvin got injured. As a Vikings fan, all I have to say is: Wah. Just look at his history and don’t tell me you didn’t think there wouldn’t be some sort of risk. The guys injury record has been about as eminent as King Kong chilling on the empire state building in 1930’s. Oh wait that was a movie? The world wasn’t in black in white in the 1930’s? My mind has been blown. I’m bored. Let’s move on.

The NFL isn’t testing for HGH this upcoming season and Ryan Braun is now known as Ryan Fraud for lying to everything and everyone he’s ever known because he was involved in the biogenesis epidemic that occurred in major league baseball. So can we now finally have the discussion of the two way street the NFL has on it’s plate. They either need to invest in a ton of flags for players to wear or they need to just have robots playing the game. Seriously? Guys doing HGH, running 4.3 40 meter dashes, weighing 250+ pounds and smashing other players with 3 tons of leverage is going to stay out of the courts for the next 30 years? This league is turning into the most hypocritical piece of crap I can ever remember. Football: the game of warriors (while Quarterbacks can only be touched between the belt and the neck, and ducking your head is illegal if you decide to use it as a battering ram…Yeah I just said that). At this point it’s either robots or flags because HGH isn’t going to be tested for in the NFL then what kind of message does that send to baseball. Yes, I’m aware, they are unrelated, but at a young age, kids will point to the popular sport like football and say HGH doesn’t matter while in baseball it shouldn’t either BUT the purists are bitching and complaining that the Steroid era will keep players out of the Hall of Fame. What’s it going to be sports world, Steroids or no Steroids? I need answers, and I need them quickly because I literally have nothing else to talk about.

LeBron is done on team U.S.A….. Shocker? Not really. He’s been on 3 U.S.A. Teams in his career, he doesn’t need to prove it at the international level any more. Good for him. Alfonso Soriano is back on the Yankees, I feel like I’m 12 again (yay). The Clowney hit would now be deemed as illegal… I’ll politely say, LOL to that one simply because if you want the sport of football to continue and you consider that hit illegal, don’t expect football to make it to year 2020. That’s all I’ll say about that topic.


Go outside, no juicy news here. Aaron Hernandez hasn’t missed much either, his hearing is in another month because everybody is on vacation. Toodles. 

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Phil's 5th Major

So, another boring week of nothingness goes along and sports really took another backdoor to the great outdoors (which is awesome). The only really thing that happened was the first NFL training camp started, making the Sunday teases finally slow down for a bit getting this Football thing rolling in another couple weeks. Other than that, let’s hit up this news from the past week once more.

Yoenis Cespedes gave us all chills during the homerun derby as he absolutely pummeled baseballs into the third deck at Citi Field in New York on Monday night. In fact, he hit them so hard he was out the first series back with the Oakland Athletics. Here’s the thing everybody, if he was that hurt after hitting the amount of bombs he did, along with considering his strength, don’t you think Josh Hamilton and Bobby Abreu took steroids? I mean let’s face it, when those guys put on the show they did back a 5-10 years ago, they were swinging pretty hard along with swinging a lot. Maybe Yoenis really doesn’t use drugs and maybe we can start slowly rolling away from this steroid era conversation especially after the monstrous performance by Yoenis, because he owned the night on Monday.

The All-Star game was a huge yawner and the only thing that woke me up while watching it was when Rivera got the standing ovation in the 8th. That was when I realized it was the 8th inning, and that bed time was in the near future. On a more serious note, Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer of all-time and nobody will ever over take that name. He will have an award named after him for the relief pitcher of the year for his greatness. The tribute was fabulous, but at the end of the day, the National League squad got shut out and the AL has home field in the World Series… yaaaay.

Metta World Peace is now in New York. So no more Godzilla, no more 9/11, and no more attacking New York in movies for the next 2 years right? You can’t do it! Especially after having that name in the city for the next couple of seasons. Either way, the circus will be in New York for the next couple of season, Metta is just taking Tebow’s place for the time being.

The Espy’s were on this week. How about we set up another forum for cancer research funding to roar it’s ugly money grubbing head. If you know me, I find this cancer funding minutia overzealous and ridiculous similarly to my use of colorful vocabulary. I know, I know, Jimmy V. I understand. I also respect the guy tremendously and wish he could have been my coach at some point in my life. But considering the amount of promotion that goes into this terrible disease we deem as the ultimate death of what we call “normalcy” when it comes to our way of our “healthy” lives, I also don’t want to be giving trophies away rewarding athletes because a certain four letter network has the dough to do so. It’s pointless, unimportant, and nobody gives a damn except for the people running the business which, let’s be honest, is a great business but at the end of the day isn’t the Golden Globes of sports (even though they make it seem like it is). Nobody cares! And the best part is they replay it every opportunity they can because they have nothing else to put on TV at 1 A.M in the morning. For those of you thinking I’m the Grinch in this whole ESPY's ideal, I really could care less. You know why? If I were an athlete and I had to go to this sham of a marketing award show, I would wish to have my eyes gauged out and given to the poor rather then watch some comedian try to make jokes about all the major sporting events that happened this season. Yes I understand “there is more too it” like the Arthur Ashe award (which brought me to tears by the way) but on the whole, it’s all a marketing ploy from the people who bring you the world wide leaders in sports. If you bought into watching this nonsense, call yourself a mindless zombie and jump into an abyss for becoming a spineless consumer that our great country is turning you into.

Some dude on the Astro's hit a cycle on Friday. His team also got swept by the Seattle Mariners and lost all three of their games. This isn’t news…

The Charlotte Hornets, I mean Bobcats, are changing their name back to what it should be… shocker. If there is one thing Michael Jordan is bad at, it is being a GM. We found his chink in the armor America, Jordan can’t GM! Hey LeBron and Kobe, you have a chance of being better than Jordan at something!

A dude named Froome won the 100th time a bike race was done in France. Apparently it’s the biggest bike race in the world. Unfortunately, after seeing the Lance Armstrong saga unfold in January, the appeal of bicycle racing has just completely died. If you still find this race appealing, I seriously question your sanity and have some questions for your health in the near future.

Let’s get to the real news of the entire week and understand who the actual best golfer of the last 5 years has been. How about Phil Mickelson? The guy won his 5th major title on Sunday morning and did it in complete comeback fashion. I turn on the TV, I see him holding the Jug, and I’m thinking… dang how did that happen? He shot a round best 66 and completely Mariano Rivera’d everybody in the field. Closed. It. Out. He shut it down at The Open and nobody was going to catch him. While we all keep wondering when Tiger Woods will finally get his act together, a guy like Mickelson keeps writing his legacy in such a San Antonio Spurs fashion; behind the scenes. This guy since turning 33 has won 5 majors and finished within striking distance 1/3 of the time, while Tiger Woods has done very little in comparison since turning 33. Let’s also recognize something that outweighs anyone’s conversation behind Tigers ability to comeback in a Major. He never has, and on Sunday Phil Mickelson came back 5 strokes down to win a Major. Tiger has no excuses on being great anymore. If Phil can comeback after being 5 shots down, the excuses should tone down for Tiger through the media. The only thing Phil needs to do to solidify his legacy in the conversation as one of the greatest golfers ever is to nail down a U.S. Open championship that has eluded him his entire career. Once that gets nailed in, Phil will be in the conversation with Tiger… at least when it comes to his performance in his mid to late 30’s.


Stay classy L.A. Puig is back to business. See you all next week.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Cue the "Dead-Zone"

So today we cue the heart of the dead-zone when it comes to the sporting world. Most people could care less that sports is slowly grinding to its overheated halt hear in the dead of summer, but the fun will kick back into gear as the British Open and All-Star game happen this week and some topics can actually be discussed. But I digress; we do have some things to discuss! Alas! The blog can recommence!

Some large wads of cash were thrown around this past week. Victor Cruz got paid his well-deserved 6 year/ $46 million deal for the New York Giants. If any of you know who I am, I absolutely love Victor Cruz and think he is one of the most really liked guys in the NFL. He’s earned this contract and his play on the field will only get better. Matthew Stafford also earned an extension making him one of the top paid players in the NFL. I guess he’s earned it, especially after a 4 win campaign last season and losing his last 8 games of the regular season. I thought QB’s were supposed to get paid for winning. Look at Joe Flacco. Here’s the funny thing (I’m going to go ADD on you and switch topics, but stay with me), Joe Flacco is not as good as Matthew Stafford, but he wins. Matthew Stafford is better than Joe Flacco, but he losses. How the heck are these fools getting paid? The emphasis on the NFL QB is getting to the point where it’s beyond ridiculous and the sad thing is, they are getting more and more rules to favor them being safe. HELLO! By the time I have kids, I’ll raise my boy to become a QB for the NFFL (The National Flag Football League). Are you serious? A 3 year/ $53 million extension for a guy who lost the last 8 games he played in the regular season and only won 4 for the entire year? Hey Christian Ponder, looks like you’ll get a pay raise if you just show up to the stadium next season.

How about another terrible contract; Andrew Bynum (it’s going to be one of those trash blogs). This guy didn’t touch the floor last season and is getting guaranteed at least a couple million and potentially $12 million in incentives. How great is it to be a 7-foot basketball talent with no college education making millions of dollars sitting on your tush. I like where these giant contract days are going. Players making millions of dollars, pulling a peter griffin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH4b3cRbMHU), and sitting out an entire year to feed their family. I love America, and I’m going to leave it at that.

Oh and another really great thing happened this week! Freddie Freeman was voted in for the final vote of the All-Star game and was just shy of 20 million votes giving him the record for the most votes… and now he can’t play in the All-Star game, because he has (you’ll laugh), a BRUISED THUMB. The white hot player in Yasiel Puig got screwed both ways especially after Freeman got replaced by another brave in Brian McCann. How Yasiel Puig didn’t get into the All-star game is a shocker especially with the unlimited voting capabilities of the Final Vote set up by the MLB. You L.A. Fans just got your manhood stolen from you for this pathetic performance of not getting in the hottest player in baseball into the All-star game, along with having to beg the softest NBA superstar ever to stay in your market. How do you feel L.A. sports fan? I don’t want to hear it.

Let’s get off the soap box and wrap up this dead-zone update blog with the cool stuff that happened over the weekend. BAH-BAH-BAH-BILLUPS goes back to Detroit and can actually help make them a legitimate playoff contender next season especially with the signing of Josh Smith. It brought me back to my childhood when I saw that signing… Andre Kirilenko getting signed to the Brooklyn Nets. Now they are definitely contenders in the Eastern Conference for this upcoming season. Lopez, Garnett, Kirilenko, Pierce, Terry, Williams & Joe Johnson? Miami definitely has some competition now. Monta Ellis signs with the Mavericks giving them a legit shot at contending once again especially if Dirk can muster out another 2 years of productive basketball. If any of you know me, I’m a huge Monta Ellis fan, he’s the real deal.


Some baseball quickly! Tim Lincecum, you represented the North West well with your no-hitter on Saturday! It wasn’t the most exciting no-hitter I ever saw, but nonetheless what an outstanding performance and a congratulations! Chris Davis now has 37 homeruns heading into the break tying him for 2nd all-time before the break. I hope he is clean, but to be honest, gosh darn it I hope he hits 74 this season if he is clean. Enjoy the rest of your week, and enjoy the outdoors! 

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Fireworks like it's 1936

So we all just got off out 4th of July weekend… None of us are ready to go back to work yet… the sports world is moving slow… and football was on the screen Sunday morning teasing me that it is 16 days until the first training camp is scheduled in all of the NFL. Since you are not working at this moment (and either hung over, on lunch break, unemployed, or just extending your already extended July 4th holiday weekend), enjoy this blog that actually has some juicy topics and idea’s that Sports Illustrated decided to take a week off on. Sit back, relax, and give your eyes a reading extension they so desperately need after a weekend of drinking, fireworks, and awkward family interactions. Let’s get it started.

Back on Monday, after I had previously said she was going to break the match streak, she got dumped the day after her praise on this blog site. Serena’s 34 match streak was snapped by Sabine Lisicki in the middle portions of Wimbledon which ended the chances of an American finishing in the Wimbledon Finals. Let’s face it America, we are just not with it in the rest of world when it comes to tennis. The talk of our society getting softer because Americans don’t dominate tennis anymore is similar to that of how the world has finally caught up to us when it comes to sports such as basketball, baseball, and golf. We aren’t getting softer, the rest of the world is just getting better. As much of a bummer it is to not see an American dominating tennis courts across the world, I also understand how much better some of the top tennis athletes are these days. For an American to jump to that top stage it would take a serious Tiger Woods effort and the last time that happened, since Tiger Woods jumped onto the scenes back in the mid-90’s. Until I see a young superstar phenomenon on the David Lettermen show hitting 70 mph serves at the age of 6, I won’t have faith yet.

Speaking of the rest of the world, Andy Murray was the first British tennis player to win the Wimbledon Championship since 1936 (77 years). I will admit, I am not an expert at tennis, but if you weren’t riveted by that performance against the best tennis player in the world (Novak Djokovic) with the crowd at the back of Andy Murray the way it was, you clearly don’t have a pulse and need to be sent back to Mars because hairs were standing on every winning point Murray scored. Also with the quality of tennis and the intensity that was being played with on every volley, I was absolutely enthralled with the effort and was asking for more by the end of the match. Granted, this is the Super Bowl of tennis, and this quality of tennis probably isn’t an everyday thing, but the intensity of that match and the way both players was dishing it out between one another could be put in a dictionary next to definition of sports. That was some absolutely amazing stuff from Andy Murray on Sunday.

There needs to be a wink and a nod to Marion Bartoli as well. I didn’t watch the Women’s Championship match at Wimbledon, but I did watch the Venus VS documentary on ESPN celebrating the success of Title IX over the past 40 years since the inception of allowing women to play in collegiate sports. Considering the amount of work Venus put into trying to get Women equal pay in the Wimbledon Championship payout and eventually succeeding, I have grown to appreciate Venus Williams a lot more after that documentary, and understanding the importance of what she did, it should help you recognize that the difference between men and women competition in the realm of tennis is no different from one another. Maybe next year I’ll check out a bit of the women final next year, whether there is a Williams sister in it or not.

The 4th of July is a holiday known for its flare, heat, and (the most American thing ever) gluttony. Joey Chestnut only enhanced the ideal of how fat our country is getting especially with breaking his own record of 68 hotdogs in 12 minutes now having the record of 69 hotdogs in 12 minutes and winning his 7th straight hotdog eating contest. Let me make this very clear everybody, Joey Chestnut is not an athlete. He’s a human being that puts hotdogs in water, helping them slide down his gullet, to give America a spectacle of pure gluttony that we have a serious problem with. We shower these pigs with glory and give them respect for shoving processed food into their ever churning stomach when our country doesn’t have the heart to accept the problems of obesity in our youth. The reason why I hit this topic so hard and spit the truth people often avoid is because it is problem. It’s summer time! Go outside! If you are reading this blog and feel out of shape, go on a walk, go on a run, and get active. It is summertime, and I could care less if it is 170 degrees out because if you sit outside for 10 minutes in that type of weather, you’ll lose 10 pounds. Get fit America! I’ll now step down from my soap box.

The NBA this week was overshadowed by the Dwight Howard saga so most of the other news was a side of fries. Tyreke Evans was traded to the Pelicans in a three team deal, Josh Smith signed with the Detroit Pistons, and Andre Iguodala was dealt to the Golden State Warriors making them look like a pretty attractive team coming into the 2013-2014 season. There were more moves, but we all know the biggest fish in the pond was Dwight. The Houston Rockets signed the biggest baby superstar in all of sports and only his actions can save him now. America, name the last big time superstar to flee from the money, spotlight, legacy, and the best franchise in his respective sport? I can’t think of one. Dwight is going to a better team at the moment, and I don’t think anybody would dispute that, the real problem here is this guy is being given a free pass to leave an opportunity of greatness after he told the media he was SO EXCITED TO BE IN L.A. This guy is a complete head case and will become a no name a year from today. Quote me on that. Who leaves the best opportunity in sports to play on a team that has less pressure to give themselves a better chance to succeed? Do true warriors decide to fight on less powerful grounds? Here’s a better analogy, do great division one athletes want to play football at Alabama A&M over the University of Alabama? Dwight Howard chose to play at a less powerful franchise because he didn’t get what he wanted and because his head started overhearing the hate, he flied like the little girl he is! The guy is a 16 year old girl locked in a 7’0 man’s body! I guarantee he will find a way to dig the Rockets into a hole of despair through the burying of his coach, his teammates, and whenever he gets injured he’ll play through it and blame his lack of energy on his “ailing” shoulders. I don’t know if you’ve seen this man Dwight Howard, but this guy looks like he’s sculpted by the sculptures of god. With the amount of pampering these athletes get, and how much treatment they receive and the money they make, with how Dwight Howard looks, all I see is a big excuse. From now on, I’ll be calling Dwight Howard “The Big Excuse.” That’s all this guy is. There is nothing that shows me he has the maturity beyond a teenager. To be quite frank, it makes sense considering he never went to college. So you really can’t blame him for that, but at the end of the day, come on man… seriously? YOU LEFT THE LAKERS. Let’s anoint someone else as the best center in the league and get this pre-teen girl off his pedestal. All you need to do is read his constant comments towards the media about his “image” and how they portrayed him as “flip-flopping.” Seriously Dwight? You are the most talented powerful big man in the league and you are worried about 5’5 media heads writing about how you were flip flopping when you really weren’t? Who freaking cares what other people think! There’s no wonder Kobe freaking hated you. You are the most pansy athlete I’ve ever seen with the amount of stardom you have, and I’m going to rip you on every single chance I can because guess what Dwight, superstars don’t shy away from the bright lights. You did.

Let’s get to some awesome news that I absolutely loved this week when it came to the NBA. Brad freaking Stevens! If you don’t love this move, you have got to be on some serious drugs. This guy is the definition of class and critical thinking. The former Butler head coach is only 36 years old and received a 6 year 22 million dollar deal this week to coach the Boston Celtics. Doesn’t that just sound smooth and almost like it came out of a movie box office? I would not be shocked if this guy became the next Gregg Popovich with his players. The amount of interaction he had with his players at Butler will be insurmountable at the NBA level, especially with the rebuilding they will be going through over at least the next couple seasons. This guy will be studying other teams, he’ll be studying systems that will work in the NBA through a “team” mentality instead of this garbage “pass the ball to the superstar and watch” B.S. that the NBA has gone through since the retirement of Jordan. I personally am hoping that Brad Stevens becomes the savior of this league and ultimately makes the NBA a more watchable product then it has been the past 15 years. If he can bring a hint of the college game to the NBA, we’ll see the NBA start marketing the way we all wish they would; the team.

Let’s get to baseball before we head out of here. Homer Bailey threw another no-hitter on Tuesday and he’s the first player to throw the last no-hitter as well as the next no-hitter in baseball in consecutive seasons since Nolan Ryan in the 70’s. With the amount of no-hitters occurring these days, they are almost a dime a dozen, but non-the-less, it was the first one of the season and it was well deserved. Congrats to Homer Bailey! To the All-Star selections, the American League pretty much got it right. Those fans got the starting lineup correct and the reserves were selected properly. The National League, not so much. The starting lineup is nowhere near who should be starting and the popularity contest was quite evident in the voting for this team. 

Get off this blog and go back to work, outside, and get in shape America. See y’all next week.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Boston Needs a Beer; Oregon Sucks

While we are stewing in the hot and muggy beginning of July across America, the NBA Fireworks are starting off our patriot week early with free agent discussions behind closed doors. The dog days are here, and the starting place for those dog days is Boston.

17 seconds, a ball buster deal, and 1st degree murder declared all in one week... I would say it is time for a Boston Makeover. With the Celtics getting rid of their major pieces to the Big 3 with KG, Paul Pierce and Doc Rivers all scrambling out of Boston, the load on Rajon Rondo is only asking for a sub 20 win season. This Celtics team is asking for an implosion and unfortunately, their fragile superstar in Rajon Rondo has to carry the team as if he were the Big O (Oscar Robertson). I think the Celtics could be back to playoff form in the next couple seasons with supposedly a good couple drafts and free agent periods in front of us, but for now, they look like the same team (swapping Pierce for Rondo) prior to the Big 3 forming. You have to feel awful for guys like Bill Simmons who on draft night saw their entire franchise decide to give and reload for the "future." Either they will turn into a team of hope in the next three years, or they will go into a spiral similar to what they saw a good 20 years prior to 2008. Let's face it Boston, the last 6 years was a dream for the Celtics, and the nightmare is coming back. But, I can promise you, it won't be as nightmarish as what happened on Monday this week.

17 seconds.

The worst 17 seconds in Boston sports since the Buckner boot. No debate. The Stanley Cup Trophy was ready for a Game 7 with about a minute to go in the Garden and the next thing you knew, they were shinning it with 58 seconds to go. The Blackhawks were the best team all season and had the best streak in NHL History to start off the shortened season. They also were the most classy team saying they really complimented the Bruins on their season and understanding all the harm their city has faced in the past couple months. A true sign of sportsmanship at the highest form of competition in all of sports with that form of gratuity by Chicago. The hurt still doesn't feel better knowing that Game 7 was in your hands and you let it slip so fast.

Aaron Hernandez since last Sunday has seen his entire life flash before his eyes. The guilt, the stupidity, the sadness, the loss. His life is now grounded to the solitude of a cell where he can now think about his daughter's monumental steps in life, his family distancing themselves from him, and everything he knew before his cell disappear forever and ever. And the kicker, nobody would want it any different for him.

1st Degree Murder.

When you see those three words, it should feel like a shudder. A cold wind. A brush against your soul. It is how it sounds, death to the nth degree. Manslaughter at it's highest form. A cold... blooded... drubbing. This man's life is done and nobody is feeling sorry for him, and nobody ever should or ever will. A sad, disgusting waste of talent sitting in a cell, just like 90% of the human beings rotting their souls in such a bottomless pit of despair. Good bye Aaron Hernandez. Sad to know you have to wake up to the same wall tiling for the rest of your life.

Let's get to some cool news before the heat wave (cha-ching!). Wimbledon saw it's money making opportunity run down the drain with Federer, Shirapova, and Nadal all bounced in the early portions in the Super Bowl of Tennis. Yay, another opportunity for Tennis to flourish bounced down the drain as no names destroy the faces of the sport. I guess the only thing to look forward to now is to see if Serena can break her sister's record of the most match wins in a row. She'll do it, then the tennis world will again become silent in the public eye because let's be honest, most of us would rather be outside getting our burn on while women are grunting like rhinos on a tennis court. I'm just being honest, but I do respect the heck out of Wimbledon and knowing how intense those matches are and how important this tennis major is, you won't hear anything else from me.

Brian Shaw was hired on as the Denver Nuggets head coach. Yay! Another former player jumping to the coaching ranks except this time he did his time unlike Jason Kidd. I hope he becomes successful and has a great couple years before entering the coaching carousel with the likes of Vinny Del Negro who actually can coach. Oh my bad (it's gotta be the heat), I'll stop talking about guys who actually have proven to get the Job done.

The University of Oregon. If you don't want to be in the heat, get out of the damn kitchen. I've been waiting a while to lay a good reason into why the NCAA has some serious issues and why all (and I mean ALL) their decisions are based around money. What the Oregon has done with their recruiting scandal is 10 times worse than what Ohio State went through the past couple of years all because they sold their jerseys for tattoos. Reggie Bush and the entire USC program got bowl bans and history erased for improper benefits to certain players. Oregon. They get a slap in the wrist with loosing 3 scholarships per year, and gave Chip Kelly the boot by not allowing him to coach in college, even though he's in the NFL, for 18 months. So you are telling me you don't get a bowl ban if you have over 80 different jersey selections, Nike is in your backyard, and you have recruiting violations? Wait... Let's hold the phone for a second. What Oregon just got hit with was NOTHING. Kids are still going to come to Oregon because they can compete and because they have the coolest jerseys in all of America.

Let me tell some of you who don't know much about Eugene if you've never been there. Going south on I-5 and driving towards that mucky campus, it smells like a dog died, fish were spilled along the side of road, and while you're driving moss looks it is growing on your windshield. It's a disgusting road to campus, and going inside any of the campus living areas or other academic buildings, you would think that it was a sink hole just off of I-5. Here's the best part, when you have been inside their campus academic building's and housing areas, then you look at their track.. their football field.. their new basketball arena.. it alllllll hits you like a brick wall. This is a scheme. They are making so much money off of these sports that if it weren't for their programs, nothing would ever get done to rebuild the school. The money in college sports is overtaking the moral credibility of the foundation sports was founded upon and this "sanction" proves that the Oregon or any other programs that don't hold the same standard as schools like USC or Ohio state when it comes to their athletic departments, immunity is basically given to those programs because if they were given the similar sanctions as USC and Ohio State, they would crumble. Your program Oregon is a bleeping joke. You cheat, you lie, and you piss off a lot of people because you are nothing special with a bunch of highlighter marker on your BS Nike spouting sanction free alternative jerseys that you deem as cool because it blinds half your crowd when the sun shines at the perfect angle. The NCAA felt sorry for you because you panzied out of your, what should have been, crippling sanctions that should have sent you back 3 years and kept your competitive advantage away from the rest of the PAC-12 North. The reason you didn't get slaughtered is because your program is a joke and nobody takes you seriously because 80% of Americans don't know where you are located on the map. Your sanctions are pathetic and your actions over the last 5 years by cheating your way to Rose Bowls and other big BCS Bowl games is nothing but the same drive to Eugene going south on I-5; smelling like a dog died.

The NBA Draft was also another crap shoot. I think this draft won't get enough credit down the road with how many of these guys have a legitimate shot to becoming really solid role players and filling huge voids on teams benches years down the road. This draft will not be a superstar defining draft, but I see a ton of really good team basketball players. If there is anything the NBA needs, it's a ton more of team basketball instead of this garbage "come see this player dominate" crap.

Back to baseball quickly, it's the halfway point and it's fitting it's the halfway point in 2013 as well. Where did half of this year go huh? Anyways let's get to this. The AL has it really tight at the top. Boston going into July has 50 wins (the most in the AL) with the Orioles 3 games back in the East. The Central has a fight with the Indians and Tigers at the top, and the West has the Athletics and Rangers fighting as well. With the AL fighting for spots at the mid-way point, the NL is looking like it's starting to shape out a little. The Pirates have the most wins in baseball with 51 and leading the Central by 2 games. The Diamondbacks are up by 2 over the Rockies in the West, and the Braves are riding solo in the East. Right before I get out of here let's show some love for Max Scherzer for being the first player since Roger Clemens in 1986 to start 12-0 in the regular season. Also the greatest switch hitter in Major League Baseball history had his number retired not even a year after his retirement. Chipper Jones is the greatest switch hitter ever, period, and whatever Atlanta wants to do with him, they most certainly can. I'll see you all next week and here were my players I voted for in the MLB All Star Game! Remember to vote before Midnight on July 4th! Enjoy and stay safe in the heat and on the 4th of July!

Here's who I voted for and who needs to be an MLB All-Star!

Position/AL/NL
C - J. Mauer (MIN)/Y. Molina (STL)
1B - C. Davis (BAL)/ P. Goldschmidt (ARI)
2B - R. Cano (NYY)/ M. Carpenter (STL)
3B - M. Cabrera (DET)/ D. Wright (NYM)
SS - J. Hardy (BAL)/ J. Segura (MIL)
OF - M. Trout (LAA)/ C. Gonzalez (COL)
OF - A. Jones (BAL)/ J. Bruce (CIN)
OF - N. Cruz (TEX)/ D. Brown (PHI)
DH - D. Ortiz (BOS)