First
mock draft I've seen:
9th Pick - Green Bay Packers - DE/LB - Everette Brown - Florida State
Most people have the Packers addressing their needs in the secondary here. I agree its a position they need to take care of BUT there is a new defensive coordinator in town, Dom Capers. He’ll be changing things over to a 3-4 defense and this guy Brown is the best available in making that defense work.
The Badger women enter the WCHA tournament as the second seed. Kind of a stunner after dominating college hockey the first 3/4 of the year they stopped putting the puck in the net and Minnesota was able to squeak by em for the WCHA regular season title. The tournament starts on Saturday in Minneapolis where the women will face the hated MN-Duluth Bulldogs (that is a descriptor for their roster as well as a nickname).
Worst contracts in baseball? You guessed it:
- Jeff Suppan, Brewers. Four years, $42MM ($10.5MM per year). Signed in December of 2006. Another heavily backloaded deal. This one was widely panned at the time. It was presumably signed based on Suppan's nice second half and playoff work.
- Bill Hall, Brewers. Four years, $24MM ($6MM per year). Signed in February of 2007.
The Vikings missed out on Housh, which is a good thing. Rumor is they are now in the Jay Cutler sweepstakes, which is not a good thing. Sage Rosenfels? Fine, not a huge upgrade. Jay Cutler? Big, big upgrade.
The Red Reporter has a nice preview of Pool C of the WBC (that's the US's pool you xenophobe).
MLB's website is calling the US the team to beat, but I'm not totally sure I buy it. The starting pitching is good, but shallow, and I think the outfield doesn't look as good as it used to. (It would hardly even be a question if there were full participation: Sabathia, Webb, Lincecum, BJ Ryan, Hamels, Papelbon, Holiday, Longoria, Hamilton, Teixeira, and Mauer, are all names you could have seen on the roster – and you could make a WBC championship team just out of those.)
I'll be up in Toronto this weekend taking in some real baseball, but missing fake baseball.
MLB 09: The Show comes out for PS3 this weekend, and is the greatest sports sim every created. If you have a PS3, pick this game up. If you don't but you like nerd games, it's reason enough to get a PS3. Do your part for this economy, spend your tax return (unless you're in CA...Best Buy doesn't take IOU's) on some family entertainment. Coolest thing about MLB09? They actually managed to get a life sized picture of Dustin Pedroia on the cover.
Jason Taylor is going to be released. Do you want him? The Journal certainly seems to, but that may just be sadness over missing out on their pet Canty. (Coverage of that whole thing was kind of loony).
Former Pirates team photog:
"I hope Barry dies"I kind of like wishes like that, because you know that no matter what happens your wish will come true.
Team USA plays the Yankees today at 1 oclock. The game will be on MLB.TV. I'll be watching. I'll probably throw up the game thread early since the Brauntosaurus will be playing.
MLB At Bat, the iPhone ap from Major League Baseball, is getting
robust as all F this year. Live radio broadcasts, both home and away, of all games. I canceled XM the moment I read that. It's apparent to me that the iPhone is just the Borg precursor but I do not care.
I rip the Journal a lot, but they are actually pretty hip. The Packers and Brewers (and other sports/news departments) have Twitter feeds that are frequently updated. It's a pretty good way to catch the latest the moment they have it. So while your content is still God awful, I applaud your delivery.
Watch
Eastbound & Down. It is tangentially about baseball, and it is awesome.
(First one is free HBO)
