Why Pirates? Why? By: Vas Tumati

As always, I follow my life sucks rants with an article that follows the heart of this blog, an article about sports. I hope you all got a good a laugh at the thought of me running around in 80 degree heat trying to find any indication of where I was, but now let’s talk baseball.

Having grown up in Pittsburgh, I am a huge Pittsburgh sports fan, with exception of one sport, baseball. Like many other people of my age, I got drawn into Braves baseball by Braves on TBS, but with good reason; the pirates haven’t had a good season since I was six years old. Go easy on me, it’s hard to accuse a kid that young of being a fair weather fan. So why after all these years have I not recanted my ways and returned to being a Pirate fan even though I recognize the incongruence? I say this, if the owners don’t care then I won’t either.

Even though, admittedly, I am a Braves fan, I still have a soft spot for the Pirates, I mean, I did watch a lot of games in both Three Rivers and PNC. However, I can’t take is easy on them for some fuzzy childhood memories. They are about to approach a record setting, and this for all four major professional sports, 17th straight losing season. The closest they came to a winning season was 1997 when somehow finishing below .500 was enough to barely miss taking first in the central. It’s not for lack of talent or lack of coaching, it’s the owners! They don’t care and it shows.

Look at the history of the team, they are perenially the youngest team in the league. This year they have a scant average of 26 years old. Age aside, as soon as a player shows any sign of talent the owners trade them away for fear of having to pay a hefty salary that might cut into their profit margin. The earliest player I can remember is Jason Kendall but there is a long history of this. Off of the top of my head I can name Aramis Ramirez, Brian Jiles, Jason Bay, Nate McClouth, and Xavier Nady. If you notice, all of the players I mentioned have had great seasons with other teams.

Any time I bring the Pirate’s losing ways up someone is quick to scream “SMALL MARKET SYNDROME!” Really? Because last I checked, the Rays made the world series last year, the Marlins started off the year hot and have won two series since the last time the Pirates had a winning season, the Rangers are tied for their division lead right now, and the Rockies (though 10 gb in their division) have a better record than the Pirates. All of the teams I listed are in the bottom ten in terms of payroll, and a lot of the teams in the bottom ten have made playoff runs in the last few years. So the key to winning is not a big payroll, it’s smart scouting and smart owners who care about winning.

So until the Pittsburgh Pirates actually start caring and make an effort to win, I will continue to be a Braves fan first pirates  fan second or maybe third, but rather than give a damn I’m sure they’ll just trade Nyjer Morgan because he made the Sportscenter top ten the other day.

Tiger 3.0?

First off let me begin by apologzing to our fan; singular. While I don’t know what Mike and Neil were doing, I got very very busy with school and neglected to write anything for months, in fact I missed most of the NBA finals because I would pass out from study exhaustion about a quarter of the way into the game. It may not seem like much of an excuse but, I am a medical student first and everything else comes in a distant second. Good news though, I had my last final friday and now have eight weeks of freedom to celebrate and pretty much do nothing but write about sports all day (this free time may turn into an interesting event for our fans: details to come later).

Now I know we have missed a lot of sporting events this year due to our disappearing act but I would like to keep it current and talk about the rainy US open and my favorite golfer Tiger Woods. No one can argue with the fact that Tiger is the greatest golfer of all time, he has an unshakable concentration and a wonderful all around golf game. He also works harder than any other athlete, he reportly puts 10 hours a day into practice and working out, everday, no exceptions. Honestly though, I think he is losing it and we can’t blame it on the knee. Yes, he has won tournaments this year including the Memorial, but only one of the wins was in the accustomed “Tiger-style”. Look at his first win of the year, the Arnold Palmer invitational, he did not so much win it as Sean O’Hair lost it. His other win at the memorial, that was impressive, he looked like the old Tiger and hit every fairway, he almost made it look like he was playing his video game. His other outings, however, not so impressive, for Tiger anyway. He did finish eighth at the masters and sixth at the players, which is fantastic for any golfer professional or otherwise, but it is somewhat lacking for Tiger.

In all of the other tournaments he has played this year, we have nothing but a seemingly awkward and random bag of shot selections. His putting has been off, granted he missing by less an inch right or left everytime, but these are putts we are used to seeing Tiger make. This is where we can’t blame the knee, pulling or pushing balls to the left and right does take a lot of full body strength and puts a lot of strain on all of the joints, but Tiger has been making those shots with ease, in fact his driving has become more dangerous because how strongly he can shape a ball on his “new” knee.  In fact it his remarkable ability to recover from bad shots that keeps him near the top of the leaderboard in all of these tournaments. Putting, on the other hand, is something of a simple motion and, obviously, has the largest impact on the game; let’s also add that putting surface is where the game is won or lost.

The question remains, however, is the apparent loss of putting skill due to the loss of last season and all of his practice time? Or is this all just age? Granted Tiger probably has another ten years on tour, assuming he and his family avoid any major problems. I do have to stress that even in his current state he is one damn amazing golfer but it begs the question are we every going to see the old Tiger again? And, I mean the Tiger that won 6 majors in two years.  Or, are we going see the Tiger that went on a three year drought without any major wins? All I can really say to the affirmative, the next couple of seasons are going to be interesting ones for golf fans everywhere.

As a side not separate from the article, I wish the Mickelson family all the best and hope everything goes well.

Whoa Man-Ram by: Vas Tumati

First off let me apologize that we have not been writing all that much. I have a good excuse though, school takes up a majority of my time. Today alone I got up at 6 am, worked out, studied for six hours, played two hours of basketball, watched the denver game (aside: dude, how awesome is Chris “the birdman” Andersen?), and now I am writing this article and will probably do a little more studying while watching the Cavs game. By the way, today is what I like to call a light day. So get off of my back! On to the article!

Other than quirky, and what I find witty, title to the article I can honestly say I don’t care about Man-Ram. For those of you who have been under a rock for the last couple of days Manny Ramirez has received a 50 game suspension for violating the leagues banned substance policy. Basically, he was caught taking hCG through some paperwork. In addition, they found that he had an elevated amount of testosterone in his urine some of which they could prove was from an artificial source. hCG is mainly used as a fertility drug for women, but has off label use as a drug that restarts natural testosterone production after a cycle of steroid use.  Technically, in pregnancy, hCG has some growth hormone like action but outside of a pregnant woman and her fetus it does very little affect human growth.  Man-Ram claims that he went to a doctor for a personal issue and was prescribed the medication, but he did not ask for a medical exemption from the league. Basically, Ramirez is claiming ignorance in this situation and is taking the suspension for violating the rules.

Let’s be perfectly honest here; Manny Ramirez is probably on steroids. Let’s be more honest, pretty much every player in the MLB is on ‘roids. If nothing else, I think all of these steroid “stories” have proven to us, the average fans, that if you can get away with something you’ll probably do it. I don’t care anymore, we know these players are taking every advantage they can get and there is nothing we can do about. Baseball has always been a sport plagued with substance abuse. Locker rooms in the MLB are filled with booze, many players are known to throw back 10 or 15 drinks on flights . In the 80′s the MLB struggled with a severe amphetamine problem, players used to take whatever “upper” they could find to get them through the 162 game season.  We are not even talking about the number of players from the good ol’ days that died of cirrotic livers or alcoholic pancreatitis.

At the end of the day all of these performance enhancing drugs have little affect on the game.  If I were to start taking ‘roids today I would probably still bat a .015 in the MLB, the people I play softball with will probably still drop the easy fly balls or  miss the perfect textbook throw to first or still try to make the play at first instead of making the easy flip to second. I hate the argument but baseball does require skill. I know some performance enhancing drugs can make you recover faster so you play better more often but they take their toll, players aren’t going to be as durable.

The sad part of all of this is that I am still against using steroids. I have just lost all hope in the sport of baseball, there is no purity left, I have just come to accept that everyone is taking every advantage regardless of the rules.

The Nick Adenhart Tragedy on a More Personal Level. By: Michael Oshita.

At some point in our lives, we’ve all experienced some sort of tragedy.  Most of the time it deals with the death of a loved one, a close friend or a co-worker.  And while we all aspire and dream to have a long, healthy life, one where all of our dreams and aspirations come true, the reality is for some people that dream will never happen.  It was Billy Joel who one sang that the good die young, much earlier than when they were supposed to.  People like John F. Kennedy Jr, Roberto Clemente, and Jim Valvano, tragic lives cut short before they should have.

Then there’s the story of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher Nick Adenhart.  I’m sure by now you all know the tragic trail of events that unfolded last week.  Just hours after making his first start of the season Thursday night, a debut that saw him pitch six scoreless innings against the Oakland A’s, Adenhart and two others were killed in a hit-and-run drunk driving accident around 12:30 A.M. in Fullerton California.  The driver of the other car  fled the crash on foot and was captured about 30 minutes later.  Yesterday afternoon, Orange County Superior Court Judge Roger B. Robbins increased bail to $2 million for 22-year-old Andrew Gallo, who has been charged with three counts of murder as well as felony drunken driving and fleeing the scene of an accident causing death or injury.

Adenhart’s story is tragic; the result of multiple bad decisions by one individual.  According to court records, Gallo had previously pleaded guilty to drunken driving in 2006 in San Bernardino and didn’t complete the terms of his sentencing in that case.  He also was driving on a suspended license at the time of last week’s crash and was still on probation from the earlier case.

I know firsthand the results of drunk driving.  That’s why I never do it.  I’ve seen the devastation it can have on not only a person, but also how it affects his friends and family around him as well.  When I was in 7th grade, one of my best friends was hit by a drunk driver while riding his bike home from a friend’s house.  The driver Mark Walters of Lebanon, Ohio was a 5-time DUI convict.  Today, my friend Josh is paralyzed from the waist down while Walters is soon set to be released from prison, having only received 9 years for his crime.  

The best part about Josh though is his ability to look forward to the good things in life.  While he may never walk again, he keeps a remarkalby positive attitude.  He has big dreams and aspirations of one day opening up a school in Hawaii.  And as a friend, I’ll be there every step of the way.

Everyone Loves the Final Four by: Vas Tumati

While I am aware that the second game hasn’t been played yet, I am still too amped from the first game, Michigan State versus Connecticut, to not start writing right away. Plus, I spent the majority of the day laying in bed for no real reason and I just wanted to be productive. As I have stated before I have left my humble home in the midwest and now live in the New York, in fact very close to Connecticut, so the hype surrounding this game was high all week. I was lucky enough to pick Michigan State to win the game and was more or less scorned for it but such is the nature of the NCAA basketball tournament. Now let me preface this and say I am not a big MSU fan at all and, in fact, as an IU alum and someone who bleeds cream and crimson, I pretty much hate every other team in the Big Ten. However, that game was too, for a lack of eloquence, awesome to not throw support behind MSU.

As anyone who has been within earshot of me during a sporting events know that I am curmudgeony grumpy 22 year old and I can find fault with just about anything. I was expecting to get angry calls from the neighbors complaining at my yelling at the refs through the TV, but alas I agreed with almost every single call that was made tonight. On top of the great reffing, I absolutely loved the way the game was played tonight. Both teams were physical, strategic, athlectic, and played some damn good defense. Having nothing to blame in the game I just have to get behind both teams for playing well.

Michigan State won the game the only way they could have being faster and smarter than UConn. I was impressed to see a six foot four inch Summers out jumping Thabeet and grabbing amazing rebounds. While I don’t have the official tally, I can guarantee that MSU won the rebounding battle on the offensive boards, which, after a week of analysts raving about the UConn frontcourt, is astonishing. Rebounding and athleticism aside, MSU was pinpoint accurate with their shooting, taking open shots square to the basket. In addition to shooting, MSU played absolutely agressive defensive and ran their half court sets to perfection. Michigan State was definitely a sleeper this year, I was surpised at the depth of the bench and aggressive play they displayed. I really did think the Big Ten had a down year this year, though that just may be due to my Hoosiers not playing well.

Though I can fawn over the great MSU play tonight, I can’t stay that UConn didn’t shoot themselves in the foot a little bit. Calhoun waited way too long to switch to the full court press. With more than half of the MSU team in foul trouble putting some pressure on MSU could have only made the situation better for UConn. Also, UConn, hit some free throws! If they had even gone 80% from the line tonight they would have won this game easily.  It was rather evident that UConn was just not as into this game as MSU was from the beginning. I know that MSU was basically playing a home game being only a hour away from East Lansing but I have seen plenty of teams play energetic basketball in hostile environments. The only real fire I saw from the UConn team was in the scuffle that erupted early in the first half and that dissipated quickly.

Some kudos definitely have to go the hated (by me) Izzo. Whether it was a byproduct of aggressive defense or sloppy play, fouling a lot and early broke the UConn stride especially since they tend to play a smaller number of players. Izzo coached teams are known for their speed and athleticism and his constant turnover of players was critical tonight. The fast up and down of the MSU offensive definitely broke the slow frontcourt of UConn. With the excellent coaching and play of the MSU team I saw tonight, I would not be surprised if they won it all this year.

What I Would Do If I Was Mitch Barnhart, UK Athletic Director. By: Michael Oshita

To be truly honest with you, I wasn’t really surprised when I learned Friday that Billy Gillespie had been fired from UK.  My initial thought was, “what took them so long?”  To me, this was a move that was long overdue.  If I were A.D. Mitch Barnhart, I’d have fired him as soon as UK wasn’t selected for the NCAA tournament.  But now that he’s gone, Big Blue Nation now begins a nationwide search for Gillespie’s replacement.  I’ve heard every name from Travis Ford at Oklahoma State, to Mike Pelphrey at Arkansas, to Sean Miller at Xavier.  But now that a few days have passed since the firing, I think I’ve finally come up with a reasonable plan of action as to what Kentucky needs to do.

First off, let me start off by saying I agree 100% with the decision to let Gillespie go.  As a person who grew up in Cincinnati, I followed UK basketball while as they made those great runs during the mid 1990s.  Under Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith, the Wildcats captured the NCAA Championship in 1996 and 1998.  That’s what Kentucky fans expect, they demand to be in contention for national championships year after year.  They can’t settle for winning postseason NIT titles or CollegeInsider.com tournament trophies.  At UK, you’re judged by how many NCAA tournaments you make and how far you take those teams.  Billy Gillespie simply didn’t get it done.  In just over two years at the helm of one of college basketball’s most historic franchised, he finished with a record of 40-27 (.597 winning percentage).  That’s great at a place like Oregon State or USC where basketball doesn’t mean as much, but it’s unacceptable at UK.

And don’t give me the BS excuse of, “oh, well he didn’t have anything to work with.”  Are you serious?  Give me a break.  If you have Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson on your team, you make the NCAA tournament, especially in a year the SEC is down.  This isn’t like the Tom Crean situation at IU.  Tubby Smith left Gillespie in very good hands with very good players.  Gillespie just couldn’t get those players to do what he wanted.  Note to Gillespie: if you want to keep your job, don’t lose to Gardner Webb and VMI at home.  The reason you schedule these cupcake games is so your team can pound the crap out of them and build their confidence.  Instead what happens?  You lose and make a mockery of your program.

That being said, there’s news tonight that John Calipari is interested in the UK job.  source also said Kentucky was gathering information on Calipari over the weekend.  If I’m Mitch Barnhart, I do whatever it takes to bring Calipari to Lexington.  We’re talking about one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history.  If you have a chance to go get him and the interest is there, you give the man whatever he wants.  Multi-million dollar deal?  Done.  New practice facility?  Done.  UK cannot afford to make another hiring mistake again.  They must get an A-list coach, Calipari is their man.

Why not Travis Ford of Mike Pelphrey you may ask?  Simple, these men don’t have the type of experience it takes to run a big-time basketball program.  Just because Ford and Pelphrey played at UK, doesn’t mean they know what it takes to coach there.  I went to Indiana.  I played intramural basketball.  Does that make me the next Hoosier coach?  Of course not.  Using the former player argument never works.  Take a look at Indiana a few years ago when they considered hiring Steve Alford.  The guy couldn’t win at Iowa and can’t win at New Mexico.  Besides, it would be a completely different thing if both Oklahoma State and Arkansas (the two schools where Ford and Pelphrey coach) were in the Final Four right now.  Then you might have an argument.

The only good thing about all of this, is that it gives UK a chance to start over.  A clean slate.  Fans will now judge them by the decisions they make now.  And rather put yourself in a losing situation like they did two years ago, take your time this time.  Find the right coach.  In the end, only time will tell.

Mr. Arenas, Please Have a Seat. By: Neil Harrington

As the NBA season is beginning to come to a close in the final few weeks of regular season play, the league has been without one of the decades most entertaining point guards.  Mr. Zero is thinking about making his return to the NBA in the very near future.  My question is WHY?!?!

I can understand the fact that from Wizards front office perspective, you would like to know if he can still play and how much the injury and time away from the game has affected his play.  But he is playing for a team that has been eliminated from all playoff contention so obviously he can’t come back and play the savior this year.  The Washington Wizards have to see it and realize that the season is already a lost cause and nothing can be salvaged, so why risk your franchise player to another injury or re injury of his surgically repaired knee.  Mr Arenas,  take the rest of the year off and come back and be the Wizards hero in 2010.  We know how badly you may want to play again but you need to put your team ahead of yourself and realize that in order to make the playoffs next year they will need a healthy Agent Zero.

The Sports Background and Interests of Neil Harrington. By: Neil Harrington

For the next 500-1000 words or so I would like to take this time to hopefully not bore you to sleep  about who I am and where my sports views come from.  I was born and raised in the South Suburbs of Chicago in a town called Homewood.  I grew up a die hard Chicago fan..when it comes to baseball I am definitely more of a White Sox fan than a cubs fan.

I can attribute much of my love for sports mainly to my father but also to my mother as well.   As a child I can recall my dad watching some sort of event on TV growing up, whether it be Football, Basketball, Hockey, Baseball, Golf…Sports was something that I saw daily in my house growing up.

I would say my love for sports started at a very young age.  I started going to Bulls games with my family when i was a small child and I can still remember my first Notre Dame football game back in 1993 when Notre Dame played Purdue @Purdue.  It was a cold and rainy afternoon and my dad told me later in life that he was worried that due to the weather and it being my first football game that I would want to go home and wouldn’t be able to sit through the weather.  But I did not ask to leave or think of it once because to me this was a special moment.. I sat through all four quarters that day and watched Notre Dame beat Purdue 17-0.   Thia occurrence started an amazing bond that I still have with my father up til this day around the world of sports.

For the next several years my dad acquired Chicago Bears season tickets…and yes I sat through those horrific times and watched some pretty horrific players(in no particular order): Alonzo Spellman, Jeremy Lincoln, Cade McNown, Curtis Enis, Shane Matthews, Kordell Stewart, Rashan Salaam, and the countless other airhead players who should never have been allowed to play any form of the game football that sadly wore a bears uniform through the 90′s and the first 5 years of the new millennium.  But I still love the team and going to the games.  I also sat through some pretty crummy weather as well… There was a Jets game in the mid to late 90′s that I can remember that rivals how cold it was for the Monday Night game a few years back against Atlanta when the temperature was below zero.  A rainy preseason game against Kansas City that turned into mud fest and was later cancelled due to lightning…. and yes the walk back that day, through the old parking lot, through McCormick place and into the garage was one of the most miserable walks I can remember.  But enough of my rambling.

I come from a huge line of Illinois fans and alumni. My grandfather went to Illinois, My grandmother to Illinois… many of my aunts and Uncles…Illinois…My mom…Illinois….My stepbrothers…Illinois… several of my cousins…Currently at Illinois…My sister…Currently at Illinois….So naturally you would think I too would become a fighting Illini and also sport the orange and blue around the house. WRONG! I am a proud Hoosier and bleed Crean and Crimson..yes I said Crean. I am a firm believer that he will do great things for the IU basketball program in years to come.  But, can you just imagine how hard it was for me to show my face this past winter with only 1 big ten win!

I also like to play many sports leisurely, I am a former IU Club volleyball player (starting middle blocker all 4 years so far),  I am a pretty decent 6’4″ small forward with a good outside shot, Never played competitive football in my life, but am always down for a game of flag football with the guys,  I got an 80mph batting practice fastball with no movement (I also tend to leave this one up over the plate) that Jim Thome would be licking his chops over, an inconsistent golfer with scores that can range anywhere from 88-100,  But my first love is one of the more obscure sports…Bass Fishing.

What in the world is going on with my National Champion?!?(Neil)

I’d like to first say hello to all of the loyal readers.  I would also like to thank Mike Oshita for giving me this opportunity to be able to get my thoughts and opinions out there.  My name is Neil Harrington, I am currently a senior majoring in secondary education at Indiana University.  For those who may not know me or my history with Mr. Oshita,  it goes back a while, and I must say there have been a few  some …OK many, heated debates between the two of us on a daily basis about anything.  But, mainly it has to do with sports. 

Like almost half of everyone else in my pool I chose Pittsburgh as my National Champion.  What a silly mistake I will not make again if they get a number one seed next year!  Every game with this team is an adventure all the way up until the last few seconds of the game.   An interesting fact to point out is that throughout this whole Tournament Pittsburgh is the only team that is still alive that has failed to cover the spread in every game they have played.

 OK!… First Round!…East Tennessee St.?!?! Pittsburgh is a 21 point favorite and manages to win by 10,  but for those who watched it you know it was a nail biter up until the last few minutes of the game!  Second Round!…Oklahoma St.  A slightly better team than East Tennessee St., but none the less a team they were supposed to beat by about 9.5 points.  Now you will look at the final score and see that Pittsburgh won by 8… But if you actually watched the game you will know what I am talking about when I say Pittsburgh was very fortunate to win that game given that there was a point in the game in the last four or five minutes when the game was either tied or Oklahoma St. was up.  Onward we go to the next round Xavier.  Pittsburgh is a 6.5 point favorite in this one and only wins by 5.   Now don’t get me wrong Xavier is a good team.  A 4 Seed … who also were lucky in the second half of their second round game that Wisconsin couldn’t shoot the ball into Lake Michigan if they were standing on North Avenue Beach.  Remember, Wisconsin got up by 10 with about 16 minutes to go…  All they had to do was turn about 5 or 6 of their misses into made baskets and it would be a ball game.  This brings me to one of my conclusions that the four seeds this year appeared to be relatively harmless in the tournament (Wake Forest out in the first round, Washington losing to Purdue,  Gonzaga escapes W. Kentucky because the referee never saw the coach call for a timeout.)  And all the while Pittsburgh barely escapes this Xavier team.  Recall that if Fields did not hit that ridiculous three pointer with under a minute to play Xavier would have actually moved on! 

So what is in store for this #1 seed coming up with their match up against Villanova.  You heard it hear first, Villanova is going to upset Pittsburgh in a very close game that will come down to the last few minutes of play.  Pittsburgh has not looked good at all this entire tournament.  This does not bode well for me and the 40% of the population in my pool that chose Pittsburgh as their National Champion.

Let’s look on the other side of the bracket at a #1 seed who actually looks and has played like a #1 seed… CONNECTICUT!!  Two people have chosen this team as their champ out of 32.. just two people!  If we were able to go back and adjust our bracket after the first week of game play I would make Connecticut my National Champion. 

They cruised through the first and second rounds blowing out Chattanooga and Texas A&M by 56 points and 26 points respectively.  They put Purdue away in a 12 point victory and looked good doing it!   Connecticut has dominated every game thus far in the tournament this reason is my mid-tournament pick to win the National Championship. 

Pittsburgh…Dominant??….Anything but!

Oh, NFL How I Love and Hate You. By: Vas Tumati

Now that you have all read about the horrible day I am having, and I’m sure you’re feeling much better about yourselves, let me get down to something I actually love, erm, hate, no maybe love, the NFL. It’s been busy week in the NFL, lots of trade rumors, draft strategy excitement, new NFLPA reps, and rule changes.

Rule changes happen every year, some good some bad. This year they have managed to split them down the middle. First, the NFL owners finally make a smart decision and fixed the draft order. The new system seeds the draft order based on the playoffs and not just straight record. Now, instead of some 8-8 team slipping into the playoffs and making a decent ways through and then getting the 15th or 16th pick overall, ala San Diego a couple years ago, or teams that finish 11-5 not make the playoffs and getting a 25th pick overall, teams that make the playoffs will  be moved further back. I think that the draft order change should have happened years ago, finally there is some more fairness attached to the draft, so the teams that truly need to help to make to the playoffs will be getting the picks they want and need. I don’t think I need to make an argument beyond it’s fair; the owners agree as well, voting unanimously in favor.  The second rule change I think they got right is the new on-side kick rule. The new rule states that if the onside kick goes out of bounds the ball automatically goes to the receiving team. In years past the bad kick was rewarded with a second attempt. I think the nature of this rule change was obvious and has been overlooked for years, and I think it is a great change. I am always for rewarding good plays instead of helping bad ones.

For every good rule change the NFL seems to make, they will follow it with bad one. The new NFL rules open up a host of new plays as reviewable. In wake of Ed Hochuli’s blown call I think the NFL Owners association is overreacting. Don’t get me wrong, I am for official review, I think it brings more purity and honesty to the game. At certain point though we are wasting time with these rules. Either they make everything reviewable or nothing at all. I am getting a little tired of the added time to games with the amount of reviews that happen now. When instant replay was first added to the NFL, I was excited to hear that they limited it to two challenges per team with a charged timeout. Every year they seem to lax up these rules add more time to games and oh yeah cram a new sponsor down our throats. I have on more than one occasion spent an entire sunday watching football without moving from the couch, but that is really only feasible for high school and college students; the more time and commericals they add to game the less likely I am to sit around watching it. Past the addition of time to the game, the rules are getting nitpicky. At this point, with the accuracy of cameras and refs why not make everything reviewable? I understand that some coaches may start trying to review holding calls or late hits but they are charged a timeout for wasted calls, but the review has already become a point of strategy in the game, I don’t think it will change much.

Lastly, I want to bring everyone’s attention to the new NFLPA union head Demaurice Smith, a little known outsider who managed to take over the union. By all reports the new head is taking the job by storm already putting together a transition team and putting forth a platform. From the outside he looks like a guy that knows what he is doing and so far I like the work that he has done. He’s in a tough spot though with the collective bargaining agreement expiring in 2010. If the deal manages to lapse without a replacement the NFL will be change forever and probably for the worst. I wish him the best of luck and hope that he can preserve the league. I guess it’s just something to look out for as we watch the 2009 season progress.