GatorBait19

Let's see the Pats weren't supposed to win, Saints weren't supposed to win, Panthers weren't supposed to contend for it, Steelers weren't supposed to beat the unbeatable Pats in the playoffs. Point is that anyone any year can contend for a playoff spot or SB title at anytime in the NFL I brought up the HR race because you did. While it did help the MLB at the moment it happened it also hurt it in the long run and now the MLB has to recover from that, the fact baseball is boring to watch for a full 9 innings, and the fact that like you said if it aint the Sox, Cubs, Dodgers, Yanks, or another huge team no one cares. Why is this, simple the MLB doesn't market well at all. They market teams that I mentioned above, but that is it. Baseball was popular so far back because it was america's past time. Basketball, Football, and NHL weren't big yet. Baseball owned because it was cheap to watch and they had such names as Ruth, Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe Jackson and others. Those other leagues weren't at the star power yet. Also the number of teams weren't there and most of the teams were on the East Coast. Go look at an NBA arena compared to a NHL arena on game night. NBA usually have bigger arena's and they don't sell as much. NHL teams are pretty good at selling out their arena or being close to full. Now why you can compare the NBA getting just 60 more people in attendance go look at TV ratings compare to all four leagues and it's a clear that NBA is the second most popular league. The Pirates have had bad management I can agree with that, but names like Aramis Ramirez, Brian Giles, Jason Bay, Jason Kendall, Freddy Zanchez, Nate McLouth were going to be to expensive to resign and they traded them away for prospects. If there were a cap they would have a Cap number they have to keep to and we would see them being more competitive.

Bulls pushed the C's a couple years ago when they were as good as they are now. I am fine with the 7 game first round because of those match ups that do provide great games. It would be cool though if they could do okay if you win the first 3 games you win the series in the first round, but like Peter said it will never happen because of money. Baseball will get there one day with expanding the playoffs

Also the biggest thing with a cap outside of it's stopping teams from spending money at a point also makes it to where they have to spend at least a certain amount.

HR race is over now and they are going back to the regular way baseball was. Pitching! Baseball did grow to new levels, but with out a salary cap teams like the Rays, Marlins, SD, Giants, D-Backs, KC who have had nice players have to continue to just supply the Sox, Yanks and other big market clubs because they can't afford to keep star players. Salary Cap doesn't just bring parity it also helps with salary control as well. Baseball will never again be bigger than basketball and football to mainstream because of the fact that it is boring to most. If they could figure a way to cap the teams spending outside of luxury tax baseball could grow a lot better and make it a little more fun for people in KC and Pitt.

Agreed. The reason sports follow what the NFL does so much is because of the success it has had. Back in the 60's, 70's, 80's, and even part of the 90's NFL was the 3rd best sport behind Baseball and Basketball. Basketball was at it's golden age in the 80's and 90's with suck great teams as the Rockets, Knicks, Lakers, Celtics, Bulls. Baseball was in it's juiced stage and hadn't hit a strike. Then in NFL free agents and a Salary Cap with a floor hit and it took off (that and the product was better in the end). With the Cap teams became able to compete year in and year out and rebuild quickly with the right mangement. In Football you have a couple clear cut favorites each and every year but a bunch of teams who could surprise. Colts, Pats, Giants, Packers, Falcons, Saints, Bucs, Eagles, Bears, Ravens, Dolphins, 49ers, Seahawks, KC These are just a couple teams who did well or were picked to do well and didn't. Two big names who did extremely well last year were Bucs and KC each who picked in the top 10 the year before.

I don't think he's that bad. He's still just 28 and still does need some work. His biggest problem to me at least is that he came up to early. I think he can be a big name if he puts just a little more effort into things.

I do agree I think there are to many teams, but teams not having stars is the teams fault. The Trail Blazers for an example look at there picks since 2001 (only cause 2000 was a horrible year) they are known for missing of stars in drafts 2001: 1st Zach Randolph; they passed on the likes of Gilbert Arenas, Gerald Wallace, and Tony Parker. Overall a pretty nice pick. B for overall grade 2002: 1st Qyntel Woods, 2nd Jason jennings, 2nd Federico Kammerichs; 1st Tayshaun Prince, 2nd Carlos Boozer, 2nd Luis Scola. They wouldn't have been able to grab both Tayshaun and Boozer, but could have taken at least one of them and Scola was 3rd to last pick. Hard to judge because wasn't a huge pool they could have picked from, but a D- overall grade 2003: 1st Travis Outlaw, 2nd Nedžad Sinanović; 1st Kendrick Perkins, 1st Josh Howard, 1st Leandro Barbosa, 2nd Mo Williams, . The big draft with Lebron and everyone. Now obviously they wouldn't have been able to select them, but they did pass over some big names. Outlaw wasn't a horrid pick, but they did pass on two all-stars and two solid starters. C overall grade 2004: 1st Sebastian Telfair, 1st Sergei Monia, 2nd Ha Seung-Jin; 1st Kris Humphries, 1st AL Jefferson, 1st Josh Smith, 1st Jameer Nelson, 1st Kevin Martin, 2nd Trevor Ariza. This was the Howard draft and I have always said you can screw up with a 2nd round pick and even a late round pick like Monia, but a top 12 needs to be money. Telfair came out with all the hype, but never lived up to it. They would have been better off with one of the other 1st rounders (maybe not Humphries as much because he is just now starting to do well.) F+ overall grade I also noticed a trend with their bad drafting came better slots to pick from. 2005: 1st Martell Webster (6th overall), 1st Linas Kleiza (traded to Denver), 2nd Ricky Sanchez (traded to Denver). 1st Andrew Bynum, 1st Danny Granger, 1st David Lee, 2nd Monta Ellis, 2nd . They traded the number three overall pick away to Utah that was used on Deron Williams. They could have had there choice of Paul or Williams at three and have had a great PG (which they need) Portland blew a chance to get one of two superstars. F- Overall grade 2006: 1st Tyrus Thomas (traded to Chicago for Aldridge), 1st Joel Freeland, 2nd James White. 1st Rudy Gay, 1st Rajon Rondo, 2nd Paul Millsap, This is the year they got two main pieces of their team in Roy and Aldridge, but per drafting wise (both were traded to them) they didn't select well. So they did miss out of Gay and Rondo, each healthier than Roy, but it was a good draft overall because of the two trades. A overall grade 2007: 1st Greg Oden (1st overall), 2nd Josh McRoberts (37), 2nd Derrick Byars (42, Traded to 76ers), 2nd Taurean Green (52), 2nd Demetris Nichols (53, traded to Knicks). 1st Kevin Durant (2nd), Al Horford (3rd), 1st Mike Conley Jr (4), 1st Joakim Noah (9th), Wilson Chandler (23rd), 2nd Marc Gasol, 2nd Ramon Sessions. They did get Fernandez in this draft and the 30 overall pick for Byars. New York acquired Zach Randolph, Dan Dickau, Fred Jones and the draft rights to 53rd pick Demetris Nichols from Portland in exchange for Steve Francis, Channing Frye and a 2008 second-round draft pick. This one was a slam dunk. Oden was that missing Center they thought they needed.... just injuries destroyed him. Overall grade D+ 2008: 1st Brandon Rush (Traded to Indian), 2nd Joey Dorsey (Traded to Houston), 2nd Ömer Aşık (Traded to Chicago), 2nd Mike Taylor (traded to Clippers). Portland acquired the draft rights to 11th pick Jerryd Bayless and Ike Diogu from Indiana in exchange for the draft rights to 13th pick Brandon Rush, Jarrett Jack and Josh McRoberts. In a three-team trade, Portland acquired the draft rights to 25th pick Nicolas Batum from Houston, Houston acquired the draft rights to 33rd pick Joey Dorsey from Portland and the draft rights to 28th pick Donté Greene and a 2009 second-round draft pick from Memphis, and Memphis acquired the draft rights to 27th pick Darrell Arthur from Portland. There were some players selected, but only two years removed it's hard to judge this class. I understand that there are a lot of variables when it comes to drafting. What positions do we need, they make trades where a team tells them who to draft, etc. But out of everyone Portland drafted only one All-star in Zach, a huge bust is Oden, passed on two superstars in one draft and another in a 2nd draft. There may be some truth to the whole you luck into a superstar, but you also have to be able to draft to give those superstars players around them and Portland as well as other don't do that.

lol I just find it funny because each and every year they spend a whole day with rookies talking to them about money and they still don't get it... oh well and they could put injuries and stuff in there that are related to football. If a guy gets some type of head sickness 15 years down the line and he played LB then he is covered. I get where it would be hard, but the NFL does need to do something to support these guys. The avg age of a football player at death is 55, I understand that Players should be able to take care of themselves, but if I am giving my body to you (cough like the Military) why can't you at least pay for my Medical insurance for life. Not even family insurance, just my medical insurance.

So I watched the Haywood and Amare thing and it (to me) looks like haywood gave Amare a forearm to the face and Amare reacted. I can see why the dropped the Tech because there isn't a huge thing and both didn't really seem like it was on purpose (even look Haywood looked at Amare right before he threw the forearm.)

So Von Miller is another player who is filing a suit against the NFL............................................................................................................................ Has anyone told him he is the only player to file that hasn't even had a contract, team, or touched and NFL football field? I can understand it because it's his future, but he is kind of screwed no matter what. From what I keep hearing the vets agree there needs to be a rookie scale (mainly because it means more money to be spent on vets). But, when you haven't even been drafted I just feel that you need to leave this to the big boys.

I use to be a big supporter of the league is broke and while looking at some different things I have changed my mind a lot. first let me say the league still does have faults, I think the salary cap is still extremly high for the amount of players per team and the min salary limit does make it where you see some stupid contracts....... but in saying that some contracts like Drew Gooden, Hakim Warrick, Eddy Curry and others are completely on owners. I do think the league is losing money. Not teams like the Lakers and other big market teams, but the Wolves, Kings, Wizards and others I could see. Again though went you put product on the floor that doesn't warrant the price of a 30 dollar ticket plus another 30 dollars on food and stuff, when the couch is just as comfy and I can pause the game The owners and players in each league are to blame for the arguing. I think a split of 50-50 rev is fair. Owners of real companies wouldn't do this, but when the players are the reason the fans dish out 30 bucks per game for tickets (depending on the league) then it's only fair. Also for the NFL I think the NFL should cover all medical expenses of retired players that is determined Football related. Player X who retires can't be in a car wreck and have back problems the rest of his life and have the NFL pay, But player Y retires and had a bad back injury when he was playing and the pain comes back. Also players need to stop complaining about what they get after the retire from football, They make 60k a year for like 5 to 7 years. That is more than enough time to get a better education and getting a good job. 75% of players that are drafted are homeless four years after they retire. They need to take a hold of their lifes and realize football (unless you are a Manning or Brady) is not going to make you enough money to live off of for the rest of your life for one big reason..... You spend it on stupid crap and don't save or invest in something that will give you income after your years of playing are done. J. Russell will probably never play in the NFL ever again (unless he changes out of no where) and he already owes 195k on a house that the bank is about to take back from him

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=6202323 Over this past year I have lost a lot of respect for Stern. I use to see him as a guy who was cleaning up the sport with such moves as dress code, suspending Ron Ron for a year (even though I thought it should have been longer) and others. But I started looking back at things and now I wonder if Stern is the best man for the job now. In this article he talks about how Stan will go back and look at his what he said and realize his mistake, but Stern dropped down to his level and gave a personal attack at Stan and his team by saying Stern said: "It didn't bother me personally. I see somebody whose team isn't performing, whose star player was suspended, who seems to be fraying ..." The Magic haven't lived up to the hype this year, but at the same time they are 6 games behind the C's for the top spot on a team with only one All-star/good player. Stern has done a good job with the NBA don't get me wrong, TV viewership has risen, but we have see superstars join forces and teams become Division 2 like basketball teams. I just wonder if there is someone else out there who could breathe new blood into the NBA and clean the sport up again. There is one guy I think would do a great job, I can't remember the name lol. When I figure it out I will post it.

Thing is Billups contract comes off the books the year of 2012 when Paul, Howard, and Deron's contracts are up. The Knicks I believe don't have anyone on the books for the 2012 season past Melo and Amare. Personally I would shoot for Dwight Howard over a PG. A good PG can be found in the league and you don't really need one that can run the offense. There are plenty of them that can be found that can develop. Hell Nash might come for vet min just to try and win a title, but a dominate Center is difficult to find. 1) Paul 2) Williams 3) Rose 4) Rondo 5) Westbrook 6) Curry 7) Wall 8) Collison 9) Jennings These are names that are big or are on the rise at the PG position 1) Howard 2) Noah 3) Hoford 4) B. Lopez 5) Bynum that is really it to me for the true center position and outside of Howard none are game changing bigmen like Howard. Again this is my opinion so take it for what it's worth, but Mike has a good resume for developing talent. Steve Nash (wasn't an MVP and was a 2 time all-star who couldn't sniff 10 assist a game) Amare (4 overall pick who developed nicely for Mike. Him and Howard would be scary next to each other). Marion (A good player, but really became a better all around player on Mike) Joe Johnson, Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, Barbosa, Wilson Chandler, Landry Fields, Dino Gallarin. So running a older PG like Billups or Nash for a year or 2 and developing the next starting PG might not be a horrible thing for this team.

So off topic, my wife some friends and I went to a restaurant in new tampa area called wasabi which is a Japanese grill and we saw john cena. He was in our group for people we ate with. Real fun night all in and cena is funnier than crap.

hmm, well I don't know about that Peter. Here is the only way it could happen, Pat calls up the Wolves GM, he says how about Bosh for Love. Wolves GM laughs and says "they called me dumb for drafting 4 pg, how did you pull off the big three?" Pat ponders this and then gives another trade... "How about then Carlos, Mario, and Joel Anthony, that would give you 2 more PG's and a Center and you don't have to take on the Bosh contract." See the Wolves would get more PG that they need and a nice center

They all out score and rebound Bosh. I will forgive the scoring by Bosh, but when you're main goal is to Rebound on the Defensive and Offensive sides off court and you CAN'T do that, then yes those names are ahead of him. Zach for 6 of his 11 years as avg 20 pts, 10 REB. He hasn't been the greatest blocker, but he is also small for his size.

Vera wasn't fired just because of that one match. in his last 8 fights before Silva he was 3-5 and 1 of the loses were to a guy who is no longer with the company because they couldn't win fights.

lol that's even more funny you brought it up because they were talking about how bad this year's draft class is compared to 2000 and House and Miller are apart of that lol. I personally think it is the coaching. To me with the offensive weapons this team has it needs a higher tempo offense. Erik has done a good job getting the team on the same track and I don't think Pat would be the right coach either. To me there is no reason Bron, Wade, and Bosh can't avg 20 plus a night together with Haslem getting 8 to 10 and Miller getting 13 to 17 a night (if he could find himself on the floor). but this offense is a slow offense which is why I think teams stick with them so much. I have watched a couple games this year where they either start slow tempo and teams stick with them and then open it up in the 4th and blow them out or start fast get a big lead and then tone it down at the end of the night and finish close. They should have blow out the magic last week and were until the finale 7 minutes when the Magic almost came back. Erik needs to let them off the chain and go full blast. I know it's hard to with a weak bench because they are going to make the playoffs and you want energy come that time, but they need to work on the offensive side of the ball

Kevin Love, Blake Griffin, KG, Tim Duncan, Josh Smith, Amare, Gasol, Zach Randolph (I like his 20ppg and 13 RB at 6-9) David Lee (much better passer then Bosh), Aldridge are just a couple of people I'd use over Bosh.

Fact is Bosh was brought in to be a 10 REB a night type guy and he isn't close to that. Bosh was helped out with the Raptors when it came to REB's because their center is one of the worst in the history of the sport for his position. At the beginning of the year I would have said Bosh was a top 15 guy, but now I would drop him into 20-25 range. There are far better players out there right now than Bosh and it has nothing to do with his scoring. He is a good player and his huge drop in numbers has something to do changing teams and system, but a top 15 guy can go anywhere and still be fine. Also Bosh avg more minutes for a couple reasons. 1) he is much younger then the two 34 year old 15 plus season players. 2) He doesn't have a bench that would allow him less minutes. His scoring might be down because he attempts 3 less shots, but his avg has also dropped by 2% in shooting % and his FT attempts per game have dropped by 3 this season to only 5.7 attempts per game. Also Tim and KG aren't the main guys on their team anymore and havent been for awhile. Bosh still has better numbers then them offensively, but Defensively he is a guy whole might get you a steal (.5 per game) and BLK (.8 per game) which is down from his career avg. KG and Tim still know how to play Defense.

I still wonder what Lebron would have looked like as a Clipper. I still think it was one of his better options even with the crap ownership. They have tried in the past for big time free agents, but like Peter said as long as their owner remains they will remain the same team and if the CBA stays the same Blake Griffin will not accpet a long term contract when his rookie contract ends. He will probably take the one or two years to get out of RFA status and leave. Same with Eric Gordon. Also I still think D-Rose is the number 3 player in the nba

you were write to a degree. It use to be a 5 game series and in fact I think round 1 and 2 should be 5 games. it would make the playoffs go by a little faster and leave less time in between series, but as long as the all mighty dollar has a say it wont happen.

Isn't it Fedor's fault then if he wasn't in shape. He's made his money and we have seen what has happened to people once they hit that 34 and over mark. Most can't keep it up. Fedor was a great HW and people will knock on him for never going to the UFC and challenging there, but Fedor had the most dominating run in the HW division ever. He has beaten the top contenders in the UFC HW class outside of a couple names. Fedor to me has nothing left to prove and mayber the fight is out of the dog.

The staff interest me. I don't think they are horrible, but also not great. I still worry about CC, I understand is his one of the best Lefties in the League, but on opening day he will be 30 with over with over 2100 innings (including 230 each of the last 4 years). His weight isn't getting any better and I just worry for him that it will catch up to him soon. Phil Hughes is interesting and I will like to see if he can keep it up for a full 30 starts. Burnett is a question, but I love the hire of Larry R. at their pitching coach.

The media has been going crazy about this. Many have expected down here for the Rays to at least go .500 or better, but besides that for this to be a boring year. Now with these two many expect our best attendance and another solid year. These are two low risk investments to the Rays that could pay off greatly. It's no doubt we lost a lot of talent, but the Rays haven't made stupid moves in giving away talent for nothing and this upcoming draft we have I believe 12 picks before the end of the 2nd round. The Rays have drafted really well so this will be an interesting year.