End Of A Legacy

Greg Maddux is one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history and definetly one of the best of this generation. Maddux proved that you dont have to be a power pitcher who can throw up to or around 100mph and have a good career. Maddux used his head. He kept hitters off balanced by mixing up his pitches, locations, and speeds and not letting a hitter get into any rhythm. Maddux was so good at working the mental part of pitching, he was nicknamed The Professor.

Maddux had two stints with the Cubs and Dodgers, a short stint with the Padres, and an 11 year run with the Atanta Braves where he helped the Braves win the World Series in '95.

He won 335 games, has a cumlitive ERA of 3.16, has 3,371 strikeouts, and has been named to eight all star games

Since 1990, Maddux has only lost the Gold Glove Award once since 1990 (if your keeping score that means he has 18 Gold Glove awards including this years' 2008 trophy). Maddux is a four time Cy Young Award Winner; winning all four titles in consecutive years.

Maddux will be without a doubt inducted to the baseball hall of fame and more than likely will get in his first year of eligibility (something that rarely happens these days)

Maddux will be remembered for alot of things but I'll personally remember him for this

My dream scenario

There will be a SEC vs Big 12 matchup in the BCS Title game January 8th and either Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, or Alabama will be crowned the winner.

But why stop there?

Here's my proposal.

A plus one game...against the worst team in the NFL

The Detroit Lions are 0-12 with some tough games ahead and most likely wont finish the season with a win which in my opinion officially make them the No. 1 in college football. Now I'm not suggesting that a college football team can beat a NFL team, that would be crazy. The NFL team would win every time. But it make a lot of people really upset. This is the time of year in college football when everybody gets all worked up and demand answer and never get them. So why not come up with a scenario that will add fuel to the fire.

If you not part of the solution then you part of the problem.

Might as well have fun with it

So who could be our National Champs this season?

The Detroit Lions

Vs.


or



or



or

Its Not Easy Being A Giant

The past 2 years has been an up and down roller coaster for the New York Giants and their fans. First Tiki Barber announces he plans to retire at the end of the 2006 season..while they still had games left on the schedule. The Giants finished the season with an 8-8 record and was eliminated from the first round of the playoffs by the Eagles thanks to a David Akers field goal as time expired.

Not too long after his retirement Barber took shots at his former coach and quarterback Eli Manning.

This was a low point for the Giants

In the 2007 season, coach Tom Coughlin decided to try a new approach to coaching and he was a much nicer and calmer person.

Michael Strahan, the NFL all time leader in sacks, came close to retiring himself but decided against it just before the regular season started.

The Giants ended up winning two more games than they did the year before and made the playoffs and amazed everyone(myself included)when they beat the 18-0 New England Patriots and Eli Manning, who was critizied by his former teamate, was named the Super Bowl MVP.

This was a hight point for the Giants

Following the Super Bowl, Tight End Jeremy Shockey, who had been injured earlier in the season, didnt feel he was a part of the team anymore and refused to particpate in any team activities and was eventually traded the New Orleans Saints. While they lost one player by their own decision, they lost another due to retirement. Strahan who had put off retirement the year before, decided now that he has a championship, it was finally the right time to hang it up. The Giants also lost four key defensive players to free agency. And to top it all off, the Giants two-time Pro Bowl Defensive End, Osi Umenyiora suffered a season ending injury during a preseason game.

Low Point

Dispite all of the off season woes the Giants still has managed a record of 11-1(as of Dec. 2) and are tied for the best record in the NFL and currently lead the NFC
East Division

Definite High Point

Just when you thought it was safe to be a Giants fan, Plaxico Burress, who has had many off the field problems, goes and shoots himself in the leg, is charged with gun possesion, and is suspended by his team for the rest of the season. Apparently Antonio Pierce wanted a piece of the spotlight because he allegedy stashed the gun Plax shot himself with in New Jersey (good idea Antonio, the cops will ever think to look for a gun in New Jersey) and could also face charges for trying to cover up the incident.

A Very Low Point

The New York Giants will have more hight points in 2008 as the heavy favorites in the playoffs this season. But they will also have more low points as Burress faces criminal charges and may or may not be traded or released at season's end.

If there's one thing I'm thankful for this holiday season its that I'm not a Giants fan and that as long as the Giants keep that roller coaster moving, I'll always have something to write about

We Want The Old Vince Carter Back

Vince is averaging 22.6 ppg, 3.8rpg, and 5.4apg and could be headed to the All-star game for the 9th time in his 10 year career. He's also a heavy favorite to be selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame when his career is over.

But who cares?

We wanna see the Vince Carter that jumped over the 7'2 french center at the 2000 Sydney Olympics


And more importantly we wanna see Vince healthy and exciting. The exact opposite reason thing he started out as. Otherwise he's just plain boring. Whatever happened to the "Half Man Half Amazing" basketball player who had everyone in shock and awe just a few years ago.

Vince's body(espescially his knees) is beat up and beat down and the sad reality is that we'll never see it again.

Oh well, at least we got the memories

Dustin Pedroia Is My Hero

Sports heroes can come in all different shapes and sizes and Dustin Pedrioa(the 2008 American League award winner )has proven that.

Standing in at 5'9 and 180 pounds he definitely has turned heads in a sport dominated by Goliaths and has gave us all a false sense of hope that the average man can play profesional sports and be good at it. Even though for most of us its obviously not true, its nice to have that thought run across our heads.

A breakdown of his stats in 2008:

He hit an average of .326(second best in AL),
17 home runs
83 runs batted in
Led AL with 118 runs scored
He also led in double(54),
Led the AL in runs scored(118)
Made 6 errors at second base in 773 plays(.992 avg)
213 hits(tied for most in the league)
3rd player ever to win the MVP award a year after winning Rookie of the Year award(Cal Ripken Jr. and Ryan Howard are the other two)

But wait there's more. He hit leadoff, second, and even cleanup for a team that had David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis and was the main reason they made it to the ALCS in 2008.

Not only did Pedroia take home the 2008 MVP trophy but he is also the 2008 Silver Slugger winner and Gold Glove winner

So my question is...When does the Dustin Pedroia Fathead come out? I'll have plenty of wall space for it

Dont Call Jimmie Johnson Boring

This past Sunday Jimmie Johnson became only the second NASCAR driver to win three consecutive championships. The only other time this has happened was three decades ago when Cale Yarborough won in 1976, 77, and 78. Naturally with history in the making one would think that leading up to the race Jimmie would only have to answer questions about the comparisons to Yarborough, or his emotions leading up to the big race. While I'm sure he did get some of these questions at press conference, he was hit with another..."What do you think of people calling you boring?"


I will never understand how a NASCAR driver can be called boring but a blogger at Yahoo Sports found a way. On their website, a list of the most boring champions in recent years was made and Jimmie made the list. A few days before the race Johnson was asked about it and he questioned why it should even matter when he as an important race coming up.

Why should it matter?

Its extremely hard to win one championship in any sport, let alone 3 consecutive. Many great athletes have either fallen just short of a title or has never gotten close. Some key examples include, Charles Barkley , Dan Marino , Karl Malone , Patrick Ewing , Tony Gwynn . These players still have to answer questions about not winning a championship even though they're all in their respective hall of fame

Now think of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000 ,'01 , and '02 , and the Chicago Bulls in '91 ,'92 ,'93 and again in '96 ,'97 , and '98 .

Now imagine being strap down inside a chevy for 4 hours, almost every week, going up to 200mph, and racing the heat of Fontana, CA and the misarable weather of Charlotte, North Carolina. Your risking life and limb for about 8 months to entertain people who pay good money to see you cheat death. Jimmie Johnson doesn't have commercials where he's being chased by hopeless middle aged women, he doesn't climb the fence after a win, he doesn't race dirty, he doesn't have any notable rivalries, and he's not be the son of a legend. Jimmie just does what he has to do....Win.

Let's face it, he's not gonna tell a knock-knock joke during post race interview but neither would you after doing what he has to for a living. He's gonna kiss his wife, thank his sponsors, thank his team, and thank the fans for coming out

All the boring stuff that he would be ridiculed for if he didn't do it.

I'll admit the routine can get old especially with that other showman he beat out to capture the history making championship win but at the end of the day Jimmie Johnson will be remember as a legend and not for being boring.

But for those of you who still cant jump on the bandwagon. Here's something you might like...

Jimmie Johnson highlights with some music to go along with it...enjoy

Not Very Classy San Diego

Apparently the San Diego Padres are having some financial problems. Actually they have one major financial problem. Their owner John Moores is going through a very nasty divorce and because of that he needs to cut costs. The Padres are on the verge of trading their 2007 Cy Young award winning pitcher, Jake Peavy. The story doesn't end there unfortunately. The Padres informed their future Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman that he wont be back for 17th season with the team.
Here's a quick history of Hoffman's career:

Hoffman has played 16 years with the Padres
He is the all time Major League Baseball leader in saves(554)
He has played over 900 games in the Majors
6 time all-star(1998,1999,2000,2002,2006,2007)
2 time Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award(1998,2006)
Holds MLB record for most Pitching Appearances with one team(803)

Hoffman isn't the first franchise player to be let go by the team he helped make relevant again and you would think that someone with his kind of resume should be told that he is being let go after a long sit down conversation with handshakes and well wishes at the end.

It didn't actually turn out that way.

Only there was no face to face conversation. The way Trevor found out that he wasn't coming back to the team made the Omar Minaya/Willie Randolph situation look great in comparison. There was no face to face conversation. A phone call at 3am would've been much better for Hoffman. The Padres didn't call Hoffman at his house or on his cell. The Padres didn't send him a text message. The Padres didn't even send him an email.

They faxed him.

Of all the ways to break up with someone that has to be by far the worse way to do it. Even Jennifer Aniston had it easier. Usually when someone would break bad news over the phone, through a text, or any other impersonal way of communication, its considered improper. But leave it to the San Diego Padres to take it a new low. Trevor is off to finish his amazing career somewhere else and we'll have to see his trade mark high kick delivery in a different uniform next year. And he deserves to add to his saves record with a team that will appreciate him and respect him a little better than San Diego.