First off Joe I respect you very much. I find your commentary on ESPN to be of the highest caliber. However tonight about 8mins ago you said something that I simply don’t agree with. One of the solutions to better USA performance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to have the players start earlier like the rest of the international community, AKA: January. You said and I loosely quote “…practicing from January, February, March then playing a season from April, May… I think that’s to much to ask of the players…” that’s as exact a quote as I could make.

So what you saying Joe is that it’s to much to ask of a man to work for 9 maybe 10 months out of the year when his work is a game and his average salary is THEE MILLION DOLLARS? I understand it’s a sport and physically “demanding” but I can show you several other jobs that are far more physically and mentally demanding that pays 1/100 of what these guys are making and they work year round save a few weeks vacation and weekends! It’s absurd to say that it’s “to much to ask” of these guys to represent their country in the greatest game in the most highly acclaimed international turnament because they might have to work an extra month?!? I don’t understand your logic here Joe. You trumpet their commitment and passion but say working an extra month is “to much to ask”? How committed can they be if they have to work 9 months out of the year instead of 8?

Also it was discussed that it’s important to make Baseball an international sport. HELLO! Korea is the Olympic Champion, Japan is the defending WBC Champion it’s already an international sport! Like it or lump it all this discussion is just smoke screen to cover the fact that the USA doesn’t care enough about international competition to really compete. If it’s “America’s Game” then we aught to show it don’t you think? Put the accuses aside and play for the win.

Top of the eight, one out, runner on third. The man on the mound just got burned for two runs off a hard hit double to left field accompanied by an error on the out fielder. Your man coming up to the plate is a good contact hitting, fast running, lefty with some power. There’s only right handers warming up in the pen and the opposite skipper decides to pull the infield in. The wind is blowing hard from left field. The stage is really set for making it a one run ball game. And you bring in Evan Longoria? What the F@*#!

This maybe another problem with the US team in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). Evan hadn’t hand an at bat yet in the WBC, is that why he was brought in at exactly the wrong time? To give him an at bat? The US needs to decide if the WBC is just another way to get work in during spring or if it’s a competition on the world stage of the highest calibur for international play. Untill the MLB and the US players figure out what it is they shouldn’t even compete. Skipper selection should also take this into consideration. It’s the greatest international competition in baseball, bigger, in my mind, then the Olympics by far. So why are we treating it as if it doesn’t matter? It’s our game, and we treat the highest honor of winning the international championship, truly being the best in the world, as if it was just another pre-season game.

What the FUCK!

I write this as the US practically throws the game now in the bottom of the eighth. Sad.

So the Lions make history at 0-15, never before has a team sucked so bad. They take the field at home to mocking t-shirts proclaiming them “2008 Pre-season Champions” due to their 4-0 pre-season performance and signs that say “Were B-A-A-A-D” and “The Home of the Detroit Skunks”. Things are pretty dismal and there is little to look towards for the future of the franchise.

However, despite all this there is a limit to criticism. After todays loss to the Saints, a big loss 42-7, during the post game interview a reporter repeatedly harassed the Lions head coach about his son in law the defensive coordinator. Granted the Lions defense is presumably the worst in the league but to get to a record setting 0-15 a lot of things have to go wrong and no one man can shoulder all the blame for said record.

Yet the reporter persisted, continuing to try and bait Lions head coach Rod Marinelli into saying something negative or damning about his son in law. It was shameful. Rod handled the heckler in a stand up manner insisting that he himself was involved in all decisions and the problems of these season were not due to the performance of his coaching staff. The reporter then ended with “Should your daughter have married a better man?”. What? This is football not a daytime talk show. Appalling, appalling performance by this reporter. Your upset, the Lions suck, we get it but this is by no means the approach that should be taken. Sound the cries of new leadership and firing of the staff but making personal attacks on said staff because of your frustration is inexcusable outside of your living room. Save those comments for your private time shouting at your television.

Nothing hurts more then a loss to a big rival.  Today the 11-1 Giants slipped to 11-2 after falling to the Philadelphia Eagles.  Having lived in philadelphia and been a closet Giants fan behind enemy lines I witnessed first hand the repeated let downs of the Eagles earlier in the century.  However this win for them today is truly painful as a Giants fan.  If your going to loose ok, but loose to the Eagles?  It almost to much to bare.

I blame bad play calls and a headless Hixon for the Giants failure.  Runs to the outside with BrandonJacobs, no deep safetywith Westbrook in the formation? Please.  But Westbrook deserves allot of credit, he played brilliantly.  So we lost, and to them but worst of all were the celebrations of McNaib.  Donovan, the last thing you should revert back to is being cocky.  Your job is in question, you’ve choked in more championship games then most quarter backs have played in and your team is going to miss the playoffs in part due to your failures.  Don’t start thumbing your nose at us.  Bastard.

We’ve all heard by now how “star” wide receiver Plexico (hell of a name right) Burress shot himself in the leg when trying to catch his loaded, safety off, hand gun that was tucked into his sweat pants at a night club. Pretty stupid. Perhaps the stupidest thing a football player has done in a long while. Yet the stupid seems to be contagious.

Shawn Ellis the “star” defensive end for the division leading New York Jets felt like he needed to get in on the stupid. He was pulled over and charged with possession of Marijuana, speeding, and get this, driving without insurance. Now the bogs have exploded with this little tid bit. Huge football contract and no car insurance? Well he does have car insurance just didn’t have proof of it in the car according to the AP. Still stupid but less stupid then it’s been made out to be.

So what’s with the epidemic of stupid in the NFL? I thought TO would have set the bar to stupid for others to pass him. Yet Brady’s girlfriend stupidness and now Plexico clearly taking stupid to the next level and even Ellis taking the stupid calls for action from the NFL. I think Stupid rehabilitation classes or a mandatory Stupid test when you enter the league and ever 3 years on going to make sure you don’t get to stupid and do something stupid.

I’m watching the Giants, Cardnals game and the most bizzare thing happened at the end of the first half.  The Cardinals, after using all three time outs to force a Giants’ punt, decided to execute a “free kick”.  The announcers tried to explain it and from what I was able to gather it was a kick-off style scrimmage kick but instead of using a tee a placeholder held it like a field goal kick.  In addition to this alteration the kick could directly score a field goal.  Ok, so it’s a really long field goal, sorta.

The Cardinals elected to use this play on their first down.   This may have been done, and probably was, because their was only 5 seconds left in the half.  However I was curious as to what the rule was for this type of kick.  I hunted about the interweb but was unable to find anything including on the NFL’s own site.  The only mention I found was from a high-school coach ranting about how punts were simply tradition and that the free kick from scrimmage was the way to go.  His argument made sense.  However even in his article there was no mention that the kick could in fact score directly.

I’ll be watching the commentary after the game and during the week to see if anybody is able to sufficiently explain.  In the mean time, anybody find any explanation on the “free kick” from scrimmage out here on the web?  Remember it’s a kick off, with a place holder, that can score a field goal.   Just when you thought you knew foot ball something bizzare comes out of the wood work.