Football — the Oxycontin Edition

 Man

The NCAA and NFL amp us up last week with games last Thursday-Monday, then force us to go cold turkey on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I hardly knew what to do with myself.  Fortunately, tonight, in 30 minutes actually, we get hot ACC action — Ga Tech v Miami.

Ahh, Bernie Kosar handing off to Edge James; Michael Irvin catching the ‘9’ pattern.  Ray Lewis wreaking havoc. What?  Oh, my editor just informed me that all those giuys no longer play at the U.  Nevermind.

We still have Dennis Scott, Bruce Dalyrimple and Kenny Anderson dominating more athletic teams with its triple option.  What?  Those are hoop players?  Final Four in 1990?  Nevermind, let’s move on…..

OK, let’s talk college:

• Tennessee will get decapitated by Florida
• Texas Tech crushed by Texas
• Do you really think that 2008 0-12 Washington really has a chance versus USC, with or without Matt Barkley?
• BYU should beat FSU as they are at home, and Bobby Bowden lost it ages ago
• Can Cal wake up early and beat Minnesota, since the game is 9am west coast time? 
• Nebraska and Va Tech does pit two ranked teams, but I would call it “two rank teams”
• Cincinnati (Oregon State) and Utah (Oregon) have tests against reasonable Pac 10 opposition

Now onto the pros:

• Did you see that Jay Cutler Brian Urlacher dislocated his wrist during the loss against the Pack, and that explains all the interceptions he will miss the rest of the season
• Do they teach finance at Texas Tech?  Michael Crabtree is still so angry with his draft position that he is threatening to sit out the entire year and enter the NFL draft again next year, Mike Williams style.  I ws going to do a complex financial model demonstrating the Time Value of Money (TVM) and how a dollar next year is worth less than a dollar this year.  And I was thinking that the WACC would be 8-12%, but then I thought: Wait Crabtree — you would get around $16-18M guaranteed this year.  Next year, you will be drafted lower, and you will get less money.  Forget TVM, you will just get LESS money, absolutely.  Throw in lack of endorsements, and postponing your second contract by a year, and…….well, you are an idiot!  Remember, Eugene Parker, your agent, has a bunch of other clients and a lifetime of earning big money.  He can stand on principle.  You,  Crabtree, unless you have pre-IPO Google share, should sign, get your paycheck, and prove the Raiders wrong for drafting Heyward-Bey, on the field.
• So Brodie Croyle does a reasonable job running the offense in KC’s first game.  Not saying he is the answer, but makes you wonder if he is $63M worse than Matt Cassell
• JaMarcus Russell really sucks.  I have never seen a QB miss so many open receivers by such a wide margin in my life.  Sure, hit the 4th down bomb, but missed so many guys on other routes, that it makes you wonder.  Plus, doubt he cares. 
• Shawne Merriman is probably not on the short list of Nobel Prize recipients for anything academic.  And if he wants to parlay his fame into dating bimbos, well, I respect that.  However, you might want to steer away from equally crazy reality TV stars like Tila Tequila.  Not really knowing who she was, Yes MSG did some investigation for you.  I have published my research below, but the summary conclusion is that even though she appears quite appealing, women like this grow on trees for football players. 
• So Shawne, after the Steroid suspension, the knee injury, etc. try to find someone equally appealing, equally bimbo,  but less public, like Megan Fox

 

Don’t forget, Jim Kelly and Bennie Blades v Keith Brooking, Joe Hamilton and Calvin Johnson tonight on ESPN!

Spanning the Globe

The Lakers have just made a liar of Yes MSG by winning in 5, not 6.  Of course, if Jameer could play defense above the 3 pt line, or Dwight could hit free throws, I would have been correct.  Now, this game will be analyzed ad nauseumby everyone, so other than a few short points, I will move on to other topics especially since I go to Spain tomorrow to investigate the Real Madrid – Cristiano Ronaldo deal.

• OK, regardless of how 3 games really pivoted on single plays, 4-1 is 4-1.  Orlando might have stretched the series back to LA, but no way you say that if “Courtney hits the layup” or “Fish misses the 3” and Orlando wins the title.  Nope.
• Kobe’s legacy is even more secure.  Sure, I still hold that this Lakers team would not have beaten any of the last title holders, but hey, they only get to play who they get to play; not Kobe’s fault.  And winning as the lead dog is more special.  So Kobe is now cemented as the second best shooting guard after Michael; which, is significant when you compare that with his legacy prior to this series when he was considered, oh wait, the second best shooting guard behind Michael.  Nevermind.
• Magic Johnson’s coat — am I the only one watching ESPN – what is Magic Johnson wearing.

Ok, let’s move on to other items in the hoop world:

• Staying with Hoop, supposedly the Cavs are interested in Shaq in a trade for Ben Wallace corpse, and Sasha Pavlovic, since every team needs a Slavic player who can hit at times a 3.  Or at least sport a greasy hairstyle that would make any Argentinean Soccer Player proud.
• However, how does this help the Cavs?  This is a one-year, win the title, keep Lebron Hail Mary pass.   I guess Shaq could somewhat defend Dwight Howard by himself, mainly because Dwight has no moves.  But can he defned KG and the rest of the Boston front line?  I doubt it.  This deal would end in disappointment
• Nevertheless, I would LOVE, absolutely love, a 2010 Finals between Kobe and Lebron/Shaq.  That would be EPIC.  And seeing that I have no financial interest in the Cavs, I say do the trade.
• Ricky Rubio.  For those of you unfamiliar with the most famous Spanish athlete after Rafael Nadal, Rubio is the 18 year old point guard for the Spanish National Team (that won the Silver in Beijing) and Joventut in the Spanish league.  Well, Joventut is hurting for cash, so has reportedly sold Rubio’s contract to the Spanish of the IRS so that the government gets the buy-out of Rubio’s contract, which he has to do in order to play in the NBA as the expected 2nd pick in the draft later this month.  The IRS!  And people complain about the US Government bailing out AIG and owning GM.  I would prefer they had bought the Sonics.

And non-hoop items:

• The Stanley Cup.  For those of you who missed it, Pittburgh went into Detroit and won a game 7, 2-1, when Niklas Lidstrom’s literally last second shot was blocked by the Pens Fleury to preserve the win.  Amazing game, and makes me wish I had watched more than 60 minutes of hockey this season.  Also of note, this was the first game 7 victory on the road for a team in ANY sport since the Pittsburgh (again) Pirates in 1979 against the Baltimore Orioles.  This was the first in Hockey since the Habs (Montreal) over the Chicago Blackhawks in 1971.  More impressive, Pittsburgh has played in 5 or 6 road game 7s in its history and won them all.  That is right, ALL of them.  Wow.
• Megan Fox and Carrie Prejean.  One is an ‘actress’ from the Transformer movies, who recently said that she hoped to become a good actress someday;  the other is the recently dethroned Ms. California, who claims she lost her crown because she is against Gay Marriage.  Now I am not here to make a political statement, I just want to be the first to start their race for Cinemax stardom, as I know we are all united in our hopes for that outcome.
  
• Boston Red Sox v NY Yankees — Boston has not lost in 8 games against NY this year, so not really worth mentioning.
• Beirut:  The March 14 coalition of western leading parties soundly defeated Hezbollah
• Tehran: Ahmadinejad defeats more reformist candidate Moussavi in Iranian elections, but could result in a recount, annulment, civil war.  Stay tuned.
• Real Madrid: As mentioned at the beginning of the post, I have to head to Madrid since the soccer club Real Madrid just bought the rights to Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo for $131 MILLION DOLLARS.  That is the fee just to talk to Cristiano.  Sort of like the $52M posting fee Boston paid to negotiate with Dice-K.  Oh, and this was on top of the $92M that Real Madrid paid for Kaka, ex of Inter-Milan.  So that is $223M dollars just to negotiate. Heck the Yankees paid $180M to Teixeira, $160M to Sabathia, and $80M to Burnett, but that was the contractual value; the fee to negotiate was ZERO.  Euro soccer is crazy!

Hasta Luego!

Yes MSG