Archive for June, 2011

Hot Oriole Prospects


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Manny Machado the Orioles top hitting prospect and 18th ranked MLB prospect made his debut for the Frederick Keys last night. In his debut he went 1-4 with a solo homerun and turned a double play with Jonathan Schoop. Machado is quickly drawing some of the same raves and reviews that fellow first round pick, Matt Wieters, did when he was climbing through the farm system. Machado is going to be on a quick rise through the system assuming his production is close or better than his current production of a .280 ish average.

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Jonathan Schoop pictured above is also proving to be a very interesting player who is looking more and more like the future double play partner of Machado’s. Schoop was drafted in the 2009 draft and is currently 19 and with Machado 18 the Orioles seem determined to try and keep these two paired up in their development as long as both produce.

I would suspect that we are watching the opening day double play tandem for the 2013 season. It is not out of the realm of possibility to see these two promoted to Double A Bowie at some point this season, with thoughts that they see majority playing time at Triple A Norfolk during the 2012 season will a potential for a mid/late season call up.

2011
06/24
CATEGORY
Baseball
MLB
Orioles
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Will David Lighty Find An NBA Home?


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Draft night came and went last night without David Lighty hearing his name called. Unfortunately for Lighty being a team player and leader doesn’t earn you consideration in the second round. Team also look for that eye popping talent and often overlook the need for a great team player and leader. Lighty is that piece that helps set great teams apart from good team because he will do anything you ask and he will do it with 100% effort. His impeccable effort and hustle obviously wasn’t enough to warrant a pick, so Lighty will have to catch on through free agency whenever the CBA is resolved. Not to be forgotten is the fact that Lighty has some play making ability and be can shoot the three, so the fact that he didn’t get drafted is mind boggling to me.

2011
06/24
CATEGORY
Basketball
Draft
NBA
Ohio State
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Cavs 2011 First Rounders


Congrats to the Cleveland Cavaliers and their 1st round draft picks, Kyrie Irving & Tristan Thompson. Thompson is an interesting pick and so lets see where they play him with JJ Hickson in the line up. As for Irving I think he needs and should play right away for the Cavs and develop alongside a really good point in Baron Davis, assuming the Cavs keep him. Only time will tell on how good these two will be and how far they can take this team over the next few years.Kyrie Irving & Tristan Thompson Drafted in Thursdays NBA Draft by the Cavs

2011
06/24
CATEGORY
Basketball
NBA
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2011 NBA Draft


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With the NBA Draft set to start tonight at 7 pm on ESPN the trade rumors are beginning to swirl as teams make a last minute push to try and position themselves to make the pick that fits their style of play. The most talked about team still is the Cleveland Cavaliers and what they will do with the 1st and 4th overall picks tonight. Many experts have them selecting PG Kyrie Irving number 1, but what they do with the 4th pick is still widely speculated. IF they keep the 4th overall selection they are said to be interested in either C Enes Canter or F Jonas Valanciunas. As far as a trade goes it looks like Dan Gilbert is trying to parlay the 4th pick into 2 picks later in round one as well as attempt to package his two 2nd round picks and move back into the 1st round.

There is talk of the Bobcats and Cavs looking at a draft and trade involving each team selecting a player the other team wants with their respective picks and then swapping those players with the Cavs netting the Bobcats 12th overall selection as well. If Gilbert can pull that trade off and still manage to parlay his two 2nd round picks into a late 1st round selection I would have a hard time imagining the Cavs not making the playoffs this year

2011
06/23
CATEGORY
Basketball
Cavaliers
Draft
NBA
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Irving or Williams for the Cavs?


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Number 1 Pick?

The Cleveland Cavaliers currently hold the number 1 and 4 overall picks in this years NBA draft held this Thursday night. The current favorite to for the number 1 pick is PG Kyrie Irving from Duke, but there is speculation that Arizona’s F Derrick Williams could make a late push for that selection. However, in the weeks following the NBA Draft selection show there has been speculation that the Cavaliers could actually end up with both the 1st and 2nd overall selections in this Thursday’s draft.

According to Pro Sports Daily the Cavs have had conversations about a 3-team deal with the Timberwolves and Pistons. The trade would have the Cavs receiving G Richard Hamilton and the 8th overall pick in the 2011 draft for players unknown at this time. The Cavs would then turn around and send their 4th overall pick along with the newly acquired 8th overall pick to the Timberwolves for the 2nd overall selection. This would allow the Cavs to draft both Kyrie Irving and Derrick Williams with the 1st & 2nd overall selections and still maintain their 2nd round selection.

In this move it is speculated that the Cavs would buyout Richard Hamilton and possibly release Ramon Sessions. The Cavs opening day starting five could then be as follows: Kyrie Irving PG Anthony Parker SG Derrick Williams F JJ Hickson F Anderson Varejo C. I even think they could find a way to keep Hamilton and insert him into the SG position and provide some veteran leadership for a young team and he also provides more scoring ability than does Parker. The bench would include Christian Eyenga, Baron Davis, Antwan Jamison, Daniel Gibson and Manny Harris, with the rest of the bench to be determined if the trades go through.

This lineup would present plenty of matchup problems due to size and shooting ability and would easily put the Cavs back in the playoff discussion. More importantly I believe this lineup alone would be enough to cause problems for the Miami Heat as they don’t currently posses the kind of size and athleticism that the Cavs would if they draft both Irving and Williams. If the Cavs pull off these two trades and come through with these selections it would be a great way to quickly forget about the player that donned the number 23 for the last 7 years. I hope for Cleveland’s sake that they are able to come out of a weak draft with two of the best players in the draft and quickly turn this thing around.

2011
06/19
CATEGORY
Basketball
Cavaliers
NBA
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Dirk Wins It All


20110614-094057.jpg Dirk is a champion and Lebron needs to deal with that reality. If Lebron wants to pretend that all the criticism he is receiving is not the result of his own actions I suppose that is his right. However, the world knows that his performance during the NBA Finals was horrible and a star player and potential Hall of Famer cannot disappear for 6 STRAIGHT GAMES!!! So, now in the fall out of the finals when the criticism has reached its all time high Lebron is trying to take shots at the fans and media making the statement, “all the people that was rooting for me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today.” As a Cleveland Cavalier fan I can attest that they fallout of the decision maybe was a little rough, partly due to the fact that Lebron had the right to do whatever he wanted. However, I don’t think that the reaction of the fans from the decision and throughout the season is deserving of Lebron to sit in front of the media Sunday night and try and make himself feel and look better by stating that his life is better than those who oppose him.

As a public figure in sports and one that has brought as much attention to himself as Lebron has he needs to learn to deal with all the negative as well as the positive. The fact remains that he loves the attention as long as it is positive and he is playing well, but when things start to turn against him he crawls into a corner and pouts. If you remember last year with the Cavaliers during the playoffs against Boston he all of a sudden developed a “Sore Elbow” from out of the blue and he proceeds to showcase the same lack of talent and ability that we saw in NBA Finals this year. He just sits outside the perimeter and waits for the ball to come his way and hope that there is an open look, and when there isn’t he passes to someone with less ability instead of making his own shots like the great ones do.

The Miami Heat may end up winning at least one championship before it is all said and done with, but I do not believe it will be because of Lebron and if it is I don’t see it erasing the memory of him taking series off in back to back playoffs.

2011
06/14
CATEGORY
Basketball
Lebron James
NBA
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Lebron James: All Star or All Star Fraud


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Let’s look at Lebron’s night last night.

3-11 FG. 0-3 3pt. 2-4 FT 9 REB. 7 ASST. 4 TO. 8 PTS

Now we can all agree those numbers are subpar for a player of Lebron’s talent. So, if we take his career averages of 48% FG and 33% 3pt, 75% FT and apply them to last night his numbers look like this.

6-11 FG 1-3 3pt. 3-4 FT. 19 PTS

Now even with these numbers his performance is unacceptable for someone of his stature. I firmly believe that talent is great to have but unless you have the consistent desire to want to be the best and never accept less than the best talent will dry up and leave you hanging. Hands down Lebron is one of the most “talented” NBA players but he lacks the all time great desire of NBA greats such as Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Shaq. Desire is what sets great players apart from the really good ones. All NBA players have talent but it is how they harness that talent is what makes them great. I was real young when watching Michael Jordan but I can’t imagine him producing just 8 points with 4 free throws in the NBA finals!

2011
06/08
CATEGORY
Basketball
Lebron James
NBA
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Fresh Start For OSU


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So in a matter of months Ohio State has gone from minor self imposed sanctions to seeming like a complete debacle. Jim Tressel resigned a couple of weeks ago and yesterday we learned Terrelle Pryor is leaving Ohio State. When all of this crap started coming out in December last year I was all for suspending the players indefinitely and moving forward with the next wave of players. I questioned Tressel’s plan of letting the troubled players play in the bowl game and thought they were only allowed to play to try and protect OSU from being embarrassed. Now after months of continued cover up and lies I am now grateful that Tressel and Pryor are gone so all OSU fans can start moving forward and start fresh.

On a side note I think it’s time the NCAA revisits their approach to College Football. Either, the NCAA needs to figure out a way to pay the players so this issue of selling and trading memorabilia no longer prevents players from playing. Or, the NCAA needs more investigators to catch these transactions happening sooner so we can limit how corrupt these young players get. The NCAA needs to keep in perspective that as long as they are making money off these young players the players are going to feel like they are entitled to some kick backs for themselves.

2011
06/08
CATEGORY
Football
Jim Tressel
Ohio State
Terrelle Pryor
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NFL Lockout To End?


Today I saw the following on my twitter, “per ESPN’s John Clayton Judge Boylan cancelled next week’s mediation because both sides are engaged in confidential settlement talks.”

I am a little torn as to how to read into this. At first I think it says a lot that the judge canceled his mediation meeting, eluding to real progress being made in these talks. I think the smartest decision the two sides made was not inviting lawyers to this meeting. Lawyers can be very helpful but in this situation I think they prohibit the sides from agreeing to a new CBA deal.

I have always felt from day one that the two sides would get a new deal done, but when was always a question in my mind that I couldn’t answer. I believe the players weren’t in too much of a rush to get into full go mini camps and OTA’s, which could have prolonged a deal from getting done a long time ago.

If the two sides come to an agreement from this secret meeting then I will be pleasantly proven wrong after thinking that the owners were just out to get richer. Only time will tell if this situation will be resolved, but it is odd that a secret meeting is held during a dead time in the negotiations.

2011
06/03
CATEGORY
Football
NFL
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Heat up 1-0


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The Miami Heat won 92-84 last night in the home opener of the NBA Finals and it seems everyone wants to concede the title to the Heat. While the Heat looked really good last night the fact still remains it’s only one game, and there is a reason it’s a best of seven series! Also, let’s not forget that in the NBA playoffs you are expected to win your home games, so let’s not get carried away until they win on the road. And let’s be frank the Heat only managed to win by 8 and for the most part the last 4 points they scored were with the Mavericks chasing players to foul or steal the ball. So to keep perspective let’s wait and see how the series sits after Game 1 in Dallas this weekend.

2011
06/01
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Basketball
NBA
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