Swagger of the Week

I have delayed on Swagger of the Week, but honestly, no one has really stood out to me as a worthy recepient of such an esteemed award. This weeks award goes to Russian hockey sensation Alexander Ovechkin. Last Thursday he scored his league-leading 50th goal. Ovechkin has gone over 50 goals in three of the last four seasons, scoring 46 in the other season. Since his rookie season in the NHL, he has averaged 54 goals & 48 assists, good for 1.28 points per game. The scary part is that he is only 23 years old and still has plenty of upside. If you want an idea into how important he is to his team, look at his splits. In 44 wins, Ovechkin has 43g/31a/74pts, in 27 losses he only has 7g/13a/20pts. The icing on the cake is that in games in which he has multiple points, the Caps are 24-2! Meanwhile, the Washington Capitals are 3rd in the Eastern Conference and are a team that can do some damage in the playoffs.

While Ovechkin obviously knows how to ruffle goalie's feathers by finding the back of the net, he has also managed to find a way to draw the ire of old-school hockey players all over. Ovechkin is not shy when it comes to displaying his swagger. His most recent post-goal celebration has been a major topic among hockey circles. Many feel his celebrations are over-the-top and meant to intentionally show up the celebrating teams. Well, they do do that, but people need to accept the fact that these days with instant information "the show" is and will continue to be a major factor in sports. Also, the guy is a clown and legitimately looks like he is having fun every night that he plays. Hockey should be embracing this guy given the state of hockey today. This especially applies to hockey's dismal TV ratings, people need to be entertained or they lose interest. Why not add some flash to the game? Hockey badly needs its own pop star. The NBA has Kobe, Dywane Wade, Shaq, etc, the MLB has A-Rod, Manny, Jeter, the NFL has T.O. and Tom Brady. Sports is entertainment, and love or hate these players, they are entertaining to watch and they stir up debate about the sport. Debate and controversy make headlines, and hockey doesn't get headlines (obviously they don't want bad headlines). The NHL badly needs a guy like this. The closest thing they have is Ovechkin, after that its Crosby, who is a god in Canada, but is not even close to being as popular in the US. Embrace this kid's swagger hockey people, you have no idea how badly you need an entertainer.

NFL Felons, Disaster in Denver, WBC

I have kind of neglected the blog the last week or so. I'm writing an article on the Rugby 7s for ForUs magazine's website (my friend Kristen is the editor) and it is taking up my time. Here are some quick thoughts on the past week's events.

• Its about that time of year for NFL players to start getting into legal trouble. Matt Jones was jailed for testing positive for alcohol, a big no-no since he was caught cutting up lines in his car and is now on probation. Upon his release from jail, he was also released from the Jaguars. Foolish. Donte Stallworth is likely to be charged for running a man over in Miami and killing him while presumably driving under the influence. Charges are going to depend on the toxicology report, which has yet to be released. While he is innocent until proven guilty, the fact that another multi-millionaire sports star is under suspicion of getting behind the wheel when they are wasted is getting really old. The NFL actually has a number that you can call and they will send you a ride, free of charge. Finally, the NFL's newest $100 million dollar man, Albert Haynesworth, has been indicted on two traffic charges. While they are misdemeanors, Haynesworth will be sued by a man who was badly injured in an accident caused by him. The 'Skins PR department might be in for a busy year. Also, Brandon Marshall got into a domestic dispute, and may be seeing an 8-game suspension due to his repeated violations of the league's personal-conduct policy. Speaking of bad PR and Denver Broncos...
  

• The Jay Cutler saga has turned into a complete fiasco. I put blame on both sides of this one. First of all, Cutler should know by now that the NFL is a business and that the Broncos are inclined to consider all scenarios, including ones that involve trading him. He is having a hard-time with the vote of no-confidence and instead of taking it like a man and saying to McDaniels "I will prove to you I'm your guy," he instead turns around and throws a fit like a child and asks to be traded. In Sunday's meeting, Cutler said that new coach Josh McDaniels "made it clear he wants his own guy" and that he did pursue Cassel because he has developed him from when he first entered the NFL. By initially lying to Cutler about his pursuit of Matt Cassel, McDaniels lost the trust of the Broncos' franchise quarterback. While Cutler hasn't won any playoff games, he is still a rising star, played in his first Pro Bowl last year, and was the leader of the second-best offense in the league. He has excellent chemistry with receivers Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal, who make up one of the most potent 1-2 receiver combos in the league and is also well-liked in the locker room. In the end, I just don't understand why they would even think about trading Cutler if they want to win now. The Broncos go and spend all of this money in free agency in an attempt to shore up their terrible defense, but then botch their relationship with the most important member of the team. The AFC West is not strong and the Broncos should have won last year. Now Cutler will miss the teams first non-mandatory workout and the Broncos start preparing for next season with a big question mark on who will be directing their offense. What a mess.

• March Madness begins on Thursday! More on this, plus maybe some useless picks, later in the week.

• Team USA gets mercy-ruled 11-1 by Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, then comes back and handles the Netherlands, eliminating the cinderella-story Dutch. Jake Peavy is gonna have to pitch better than that, he got shelled by Puerto Rico giving up 6 runs in two innings. USA will have to win tomorrow and then on Wednesday in order to win their pool and qualify for the semifinals.

• There are a lot of key MLB players who may be starting the season with injury issues. Cole Hamels may need an MRI with elbow soreness (gulp). Johan Santana had an MRI for his sore elbow cancelled and made his spring debut last week, so that is promising but needs to be watched. Dustin Pedroia, Chipper Jones, and Ryan Braun all suffered injuries in their WBC game versus the Netherlands. Manny Ramirez aggravated a hamstring in his spring debut. Its only three weeks til Opening Day and these guys all need to be healthy for their teams to perform well.
  

• Upcoming posts: Swagger of the Week probably tomorrow. March Madness brackets Thursday. There will also be a big MLB 2009 preview with team-by-team analysis coming out in the week before Opening Day, which I will be co-writing with my esteemed colleague Santo Anthony Scrimenti, you know you are excited.
  

LT Makes Rare Sacrifice

Sorry Drew Brees, just like I wrote 6 weeks earlier, Ladainian Tomlinson will remain a Charger for the next three years, and likely for the rest of his career. It was announced tonight that Tomlinson reached an agreement with the Chargers on a restructured contract where he will make the same salary he is due for the upcoming season and will take a pay cut for the next two years. In exchange, he is likely to receive more guaranteed money for the final two years of his contract. Full details of the contract have yet to be released. It has been an emotional process for Dean Spanos, AJ Smith, and Ladainian Tomlinson, just like discussing the future of any player that has been the face of a franchise for such a long period of time. In the end, a compromise was reached.

It is refreshing to see a player that will sacrifice money for the greater good of the team. A lot of people thought LT shouldnt take a pay cut and that he was being disrespected. Sure, LT could have gone elsewhere and tried to get a bigger contract. He instead decided that staying with the Chargers is his best chance to win a championship. The new contract will help this cause by allowing San Diego the financial flexibility to resign all of the players necessary to make another run at a Super Bowl. Twenty-five players, 10 this year and 15 next year, will be eligible for free agency over the next two seasons. This includes such players as Philip Rivers, Chris Chambers, Vincent Jackson, Shawne Merriman, Antonio Gates, Jamal Williams. These are just a handful of the players that make up the nucleus of the Chargers and represent their future.

This will give LT his best chance to win a Super Bowl as a Charger. On top of that, it also gives the organization the opportunity to sign their future stars so that they may remain competitive when Ladainian Tomlinson's brilliant career is over. You stay classy, LT.

Swagger of the Week

This week's Man of Swagger goes to the self proclaimed Man of Steel Shaquille O'neal. Shaqtastic is having a renaissance year while averaging 18.2 pts on 60.8% shooting, 8.8 rbs, and 1.5 blk a game. Not only has Shaq regained some of that old swagger in his game, but it appears that the always quotable center's verbal swagger is still fully intact. In a win over Toronto last Friday in which Shaq scored 45 points, Chris Bosh complained that Shaq was parked in the paint and not getting called for 3 in the key. Upon hearing about Bosh's complaints, Shaq responded by saying, "I heard what Chris Bosh said, and that's strong words coming from the RuPaul of big men...I'm going to do the same thing I did before - make him quit. Make 'em quit and complain. It's what I do." Wow Shaq, the RuPaul of big men? Classic. He then went on to score 33 in a Suns win over the Lakers. Shaq is clearly feeling it this year.

Now at the same time that I am commending Shaq's swagger, you can't not mention his return to form without recognizing the amazing job that the Phoenix Suns' medical staff is doing, and has been doing over the last four or five years. They have kept Shaq, Grant Hill, and Steve Nash healthy pretty much all season except for a few games that Nash has missed. It is really impressive, and I think that if Shaq stays motivated and continues to work with the training staff that he will play even better next year.

There are some gripes I have about Shaq too. His RuPaul comment was hilarious, but this whole back-and-forth he and Stan Van Gundy are having is getting way out of hand. Meanwhile, the Suns have dropped two straight on an important road trip and are now 2.5 games out of the 8th playoff spot. Shaq will have good games where he scores a lot, then he'll turn around and talk about how he needs to get the ball more and he is still the same dominant player. Well Shaq - Amare Stoudemire was officially ruled out for the season and playoffs by his eye doctor today - so now you will get your wish. There is nothing wrong with talk, but you are going to have to lead by example. The Suns are going to need you to step your game up all around the court. You were late on switches so many times in that loss to Miami last night and you're rebounding numbers aren't as high as they should be. When you said today that "I demand my respect," you are going to have to get that by getting the Suns to the playoffs and being a leader.

That all being said, keep elevating your swagger Shaq, you can still dominate the game.

Good Times on the Horizon

Next to the entire NFL season. It is almost my favorite time of the year when it comes to sports. In two weeks, there will be the be the beginning of a smorgasbord of high-level competition that runs a solid two months straight. Ya...a smorgasbord. It is the time for desperation plays, game-winnings shots, the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat. Players all stop talking and put everything they have out on the field of play, leaving nothing behind. Sports fans all over the country are joined together through a common bond -- the hope and desire to see their team that they have poured their heart and souls into to win a championship. On top of the two consecutive months of championship caliber basketball and hockey, MLB baseball begins and then we all get our football fix on NFL draft day. Whats even better, the clocks go ahead an hour on Sunday morning. The days get longer and warmer and boom...spring is here before we knew it. So, in a time of economic turmoil, there are plenty of things out there to be positive about. Here is the upcoming schedule of what is probably the greatest two months of sports....

March 19 - March Madness begins
April 5 - MLB Opening Day
April 6 - NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship
April 15 - NHL Playoffs begin
April 18 - NBA playoffs begin
April 25/26 - NFL Draft
End of May - Stanley Cup Playoffs
June 2 - NBA Finals

Enjoy...

Quick recap of the week...

MLB

• Alex Rodriguez will miss 10 weeks for surgery to have cyst removed, may miss 4 months for torn labrum in hip -- yikes, the hits keep coming for A-Roid. It figures that within weeks of admitting to using steroids from 2001 to 2003 that A-Rod would have a torn ligament, an injury that stems from steroid abuse. It may or may not be related in Rodriguez's case, but the timing is just so perfect. Speaking of timing, the conspiracy theorists are already saying that this is to let the whole steroid controversy surrounding him subside and that Bud Selig is breathing a big sigh of relief. I don't think this helps at all though. The only thing that can make this start to go away is for him to keep playing great baseball. This worked for Jason Giambi when he admitted to steroid use and made a comeback and started playing well again.

• Manny Ramirez resigns with the Dodgers for 2 years, $45 million -- The Dodgers were going to sign Manny all along, they had to. Scott Boras drove the price up higher and higher because he had all the leverage. He even tried to push it up to $55 million. Manny made the Dodgers an obscene amount of money through ticket sales, dreadlock wigs, and jerseys and Boras and Manny knew it. The investment will pay itself off because Manny can keep people going through the turnstiles during touch economic times

NBA

Utah is red hot right now, they have won 9 in a row. New Orleans and The Team T-Mac Quit On have won 8 out of the last 10 and are rising up the Western Conference standings. Cleveland is plugging away winning 9 of their last 10, both they and Boston have already clinched playoff spots (the Eastern Conference is terrible). Dwayne Wade continues to play MVP caliber basketball, he is almost single-handedly putting the Heat into the playoffs. I can not wait to watch him play in that first round, but that is probably as far as the Heat will go. Shaq is back as far as making headlines goes, hes had both good and bad ones but there will be more on that later. The last quarter of the season has begun, each team has 20-22 games remaining and it is time for teams on the fringe to ramp up their game.

What to watch this weekend

• Mens College Basketball Conference Tournaments -- theres a bunch of them
• Cavaliers @ Celtics Friday 8pm EST
• World Baseball Classic -- there are lots of games on this weekend -- USA v. Canada on ESPN Saturday @ 2pm EST

NFL Free Agency Thoughts

NFL Free Agency Begins

There was a lot of action at the start of free agency, with a couple teams trying to make big splashes early on.

Moves I like:

• All Denver moves -- Denver signs FS Brian Dawkins, RBs Correll Buckhalter and JJ Arrington. Denver gets a lot better with this one. Brian Dawkins is a beast and will bring toughness to the defensive side of the ball. I really like Buckhalter, who played very well as backup to Brian Westbrook. However, Denver still has not done anything to shore up their awful linebacker core. Dawkins will help stop the run, but Denver was at the bottom of the league last year in rush defense and I don't think they will do much better if they don't address their needs at LB.

• Chiefs trade for Mike Vrabel -- Vrabel has been a big-time leader during his time with the Patriots. He will bring his leadership skills and experience to a Chiefs defense that does not have that. However, this in no way means that the Chiefs are going to become a shutdown defense. Most non-Chiefs fans couldn't name a single player on that D except for Bernard Pollard who shredded Tom Brady's knee on the first series of last years NFL season. I am surprised the Patriots would let him go for only a 2nd round pick, but Belichick must feel that with the emergence of Jerod Mayo that Vrabel was expendable. I would look for the Patriots to go heavy on defense in the draft.

• Patriots sign RB Fred Taylor -- I think this is a great move for the Patriots. Fred Taylor is a proven guy that will do well in the Patriots system. He can still grind out yards and make some big plays. I think Taylor still has plenty left in the tank and with a healthy Tom Brady back, there will be plenty of holes for him to run through. Maroney has been a bust, and I'd be surprised to see him back in a Patriots uniform again.

• Jets sign LB Bart Scott -- Peter King tells a great story of how Ryan recruited Bart Scott. Rex Ryan gets one of his guys from the Ravens that he knows how to use effectively within his great defensive schemes. The Jets defense was already strong last year and it only gets better with Scott playing the middle and being a leader on the field. If Ryan can get Vernon Gholston to play up to the potential the Jets pinned him to have when they selected him 6th overall in last years draft, then the Jets defensive unit can see a big upswing this season.
  

Moves I don't like:

• Chiefs sign QB Matt Cassel -- Cassel played very well last year when Tom Brady went down, but I think more credit goes to Belichick's fantastic coaching job than to Cassel's ability to play quarterback. Cassel was a product of an extremely successful Patriots system and I doubt that he will be able to replicate that success in a new system. It will help that Cassel has a decent receiving core in Tony Gonzalez and emerging star receiver Dwayne Bowe, but I think new head coach Todd Haley will have his work cut out for him. While I'm not sure of how much a role Haley had in Matt Leinart's development (Haley has spent the majority of his career as a receivers coach), Leinart is on the verge of becoming a bust and has not developed well at all. Also, Cassel will be getting paid $14 million this season, that is a big number for a QB that has only started 15 games.

• Redskins sign DT Albert Haynesworth to 7-year, $100 million ($41 million guaranteed) deal -- The largest guaranteed contract in league history goes to 27 year old Haynesworth, who has not played a full season since his rookie year and doesn't have the best reputation as a locker room guy. It is a huge gamble for the 'Skins that could reap big rewards if Haynesworth stays healthy and motivated. If the Redskins underachieve, then I doubt Haynesworth will play to his potential. Also, there is little chance that Haynesworth will be able to play out the full length of his contract or even legitimize the $41 million in guaranteed salary, it is just too hard for an athlete of his size to stay healthy over a long period of time. I do not think there is any coincidence that Haynsworth would have the most productive season of his career during a big contract year. Redskins owner Dan Snyder has always been known to take big gambles and give out big free agent contracts - lets just say his track record has not been good.

• Cardinals yet to resign QB Kurt Warner -- it astounds me that Warner has not been resigned yet. What is worse is that he has already talked to other teams. Warner just took the Cardinals to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history, and there is no reason why he couldn't do that again. One thing that worries me is that Warner has come out and said that this is going to be his last contract and wants to make sure he is taken care of, i.e. I'm gonna get mine. Warner shouldn't fool himself into thinking there is a better situation out there.
  

Unfortunately, its still only March 2nd, and there is a long way to go until the start of the season.