The Noise Factor

When you build a reputation as someone who will have numerous topics to talk about, people tend to wonder why you decide to post exclusive stuff.  Well today, it’s back to the good ole’ days - and a chance to prove, once again, why it’s good to put bias aside…

- We start with the NFL as the stories continue to pile up over the naughty New England Patriots.  As a Patriots fan I have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for this whole episode to play out.  Only problem is the episode is never ending - like 24.

The Patriots may not be the only team spying on opposing teams or forcing players on IR to practice, but they are the ones that got caught.  No matter how much you want to spin the story around, they got caught.  Bill Clinton was caught committing adultery, but was he the only President to do so?  Probably not, but who cares?  He got caught.

Barry Bonds wasn’t the only guy on “the stuff”.  But thanks to BALCO’s carelessness and the fact that they could not hide vital information properly, Bonds got caught.  He probably wasn’t the worst offender when it comes to performance enhancing supplements, but he got caught.

Do you see a theme here?

No matter how much you want to justify what was done on your part you got caught and that’s all that matters in the end.  If you find out your son or daughter cheated on a test and got caught, do you care that the 5 kids in his or her row was cheating?  Nope.  Your kid is what matters.

- Once again the home teams in the NBA playoffs have showed their superiority thus far in the Conference Finals.  Detroit didn’t come out with their best performance yet they lingered for the entire game.  That may be the best Boston has to offer.  Have they truly lit the world on fire during the playoffs?  Nope.  They have barely been better than their opponents which says something about a team who dominated the regular season and can’t command that dominance on the court in the post-season.  Detroit must take Game 2 and if they do, they will win the Conference Final.

As for the West, San Antonio has to take that game no matter how tired they were after hopping off the plane.  You can marvel over Kobe Bryant’s 2nd half performance but you can’t expect a team to win games scoring 13 points in the final quarter.  L.A. did not do anything special besides have 1 player go off.  San Antonio scores near 20 in the last quarter and they take Game 1.  People may think the team is shell-shocked over giving up a game they should have locked up, but I disagree.  The Spurs have enough mileage and big-game experience to know that a Game 1 loss does not dictate the whole series.  They will bounce back, and they better hope Bryant is in a cloud again to begin Game 2.  And 3.  And 4…..

- Sticking with basketball, I’d like to talk about the draft except I don’t sit and watch College hoops with the same intensity I did when I was in high school.  But what I can talk about is some of the viewing I’ve done over the NBA salaries and team salary structures that I’ve been looking at over the past week.  A lot of teams have a lot of decisions they need to make and there are teams who may be poised to make a move now, while others may need to wait a year.  For example, the Chicago Bulls not only have the #1 overall pick but their team payroll will enable them to potentially make a big free agent move.  On the other hand, the Cleveland Cavaliers will have to wait another year before they can truly give Lebron James the help he desires.  If you want to check out more, simply google search “NBA salaries” and you will get some sites that will tell you what each team plays their players (Like how Michael Finley has been sucking the Dallas Mavericks dry - nice work Cuban).

- I sat at The Rogers Center watching the Blue Jays tank another game against the Los Angeles Angels of the Universe, and when I was filling out the All-Star ballot I really had difficulty deciding who to pick.  If I am having problems with the ballots, how do you think some of the other people in the park did?  Some of them don’t watch the game of baseball.  By the way, if you happen to check the stadium capacity crowd it may say 20 000, but it was really 8 000 - if that.  Gotta love fraudulent crowd numbers being posted up.

- People debate about which sport has the worst hall of fame standards, and I’m here to tell you that debate is over.  Its the NHL Hall of Fame by far.  In recent years they have set some bars fairly high.  For example, Doug Gilmour still hasn’t been elected into the Hall of Fame and he was a rock-solid 2-way hockey player.  However, with the Stanley Cup Finals in clear view, we have a bit of a debate on our hands involving Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood.  Osgood ranks in the top 15 in wins and could win his 3rd Stanley Cup during his career.  He is also poised to potentially take home the Playoff MVP award if he shuts down Pittsburgh.

Osgood has been a respectable goalie who’s had the pleasure of playing for some great hockey teams.  Some would argue that a more superior goaltender would have won more than 2 Stanley Cups from 1994-2001.  Perhaps, perhaps not.  Regardless, the Hall of Fame will have a tough time on their hands if Chris Osgood wins another cup.  He gets in but not Curtis Joseph?  I’m not the biggest CuJo fan but he was a top 2 or 3 goaltender for years.  Osgood?  Well, top 5 would be pushing it.  He has been a nice NHL goaltender who may fall into the Hall if his Wings take home the cup.

And the other debate that will begin if Detroit wins another cup: Are they the 2nd most storied franchise behind the Montreal Canadiens and ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs?  I’m already at yes.  I’m the jerk that says any Stanley Cup won 1967 and prior doesn’t count.

- Did Sergio Garcia win the Players Championship, or was it handed to him?  I’d say that he has to do a much better job in taking a tournament rather than hope for his opponent to make a mistake.  That is how great champions win on the PGA Tour.  If you want that trophy, go and get it.

- Should baseball use instant replay?  I think if the home plate umpire didn’t talk the 3rd base umpire out of the call he made we wouldn’t have this discussion.  Unless you have 100% proof that you saw something your partner didn’t, shut up.  That is what umpires do.  I should know, I’ve been one for nearly a decade and a half.  But, we are in the 21st century and perhaps it is time to use the instant replay.  If the call is made correctly I can’t argue against it.

Ok kids, fire away…

It’s the time of the year where we look forward to the morons who don’t follow the game of baseball close enough have to sabotage the All-Star voting.  Every year we select a guy (sometimes more) who perhaps does not deserve to make the All-Star game.

We loved doing that for Cal Ripken near the end of his career.  Just one of many examples - I respected Cal’s abilities when he was in his prime.

What fans don’t understand is that they hold a key to someone’s future.  Not following?  Well, how many times have you been in a debate with a friend who has to point out that a guy is or isn’t a Hall of Famer because “he only played in 5 All-Star games”.  THAT is not a good argument for several reasons…

1 - If we vote in a player who’s been horseshit the coach has a harder choice for backups.

2 - Every major league team has to be represented, and every year a major league team sends someone who doesn’t deserve to be there, thus snubbing a legitimate All-Star.

3 - What if a player was a ’second-half’ guy?  Wouldn’t a team feel good about a guy who hits 20 of his 35 bombs after the break to help carry the team through the dog-days of summer?

I put All-Star games in the same section as Gold Gloves; neither one of them are legit unless you have a ton of them.  For instance, Ozzie Smith is a gold glove shortstop.  He dominated the position for a long time.  Greg Maddux, same thing.  But someone like a Shawn Green or Vernon Wells?  Don’t bother; they won because of their bat.

Why am I doing this?  Because it tee’s up the guy I think should be put into the Hall of Fame, and some arguments you will bring to the table as to why he SHOULDN’T be in will be thrown out the window before this post ends - because I just buried them.

Fred McGriff should go to Cooperstown.

Here are his career statistics, courtesy of baseball-reference.com:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mcgrifr01.shtml

He is a two-time homerun champ who won each of those in both the American and National League.  They both happen to have been 36 back in 1989 and 35 back in 1992.   Winning homerun titles with those totals are unheard of in this day in age, so you can respect the era that was back then.  As he progressed further into the decade, he continue to consistently put up numbers and helped his team to the playoffs several years (1989 Blue Jays, 1993-97 Braves).  He won 1 world series in 1995 and was career .303 hitter in the post-season.

One of the problems he had in Toronto was the lack of exposure the city got.  From 1984-1993 there was not a team in Major League Baseball that was as successful as the Blue Jays over that time period.  Their lowest win total was 86, won 5 division titles, 2 American League titles and 2 World Series’.  Despite that, the team was not exactly splattered all over This Week in Baseball or the hot story in magazines (this was before internet, remember).  Perhaps it was because Toronto was in Canada, and it was tougher for people to embrace a team outside of their country.  Understandable since the Jays rarely ever had a prime-time game featured across America during their heyday.  So they missed Tony Fernandez making a jaw-dropping play deep into the hole, throwing a submarine strike to Willie Upshaw or McGriff to get the guy by a step.  They missed Jesse Barfield throwing a bullet from deep right to get the guy at 3rd or home.  They missed George Bell’s clutch RBI single with the game on the line late in the game.  They missed Dave Stieb tossing a great game only to lose 2-1.  They missed Tom Henke blowing everyone away for one of his 300+ saves.  They missed Devon White’s incredible catch in center.  I think you get the picture.

If you disagree, I’ll say this: John Olerud was hitting over .400 as deep as early August of 1993.  People down south didn’t get serious about it until around the All Star break in July.  Meanwhile, all I heard about was Andres Gallaraga doing the same thing in Colorado.  I don’t have another reason than the fact Olerud was playing in Canada.

I’m not bitter about that.  It’s about the point I’m getting to right now about McGriff.

Fred played in 5 All-Star games.  A Hall of Famer typically plays a lot more than that.  Problem is, he was getting snubbed, not because he didn’t deserve it.  Watch…

McGriff didn’t play his first All Star game until 1992.  In 1988 he was legitimately snubbed by Mark McGwire (voted), George Brett and Don Mattingly.  In 1989, he was snubbed thanks to the squad carrying only 2 first baseman and the undeserving Mark McGwire’s vote.  Fred had 20 bombs at the All Star break (more than Big Mac) and was hitting 30 points higher than McGwire.  Back then, having 20 homeruns in the first half was a big deal.

1990 - same thing.  McGwire was hitting .223 and you voted him in over McGriff.  They also decided to take Brook Jacoby after they already had a backup third baseman (Gruber) and a Cleveland Indian (Sandy Alomar).  That is 2 All Star snubs.

1991 McGriff moves to the National League, where Will Clark has a monster year and gets voted in.  His backup was the surging John Kruk who also had a big season, and the undeserving Eddie Murray who was hitting .259 with 8 bombs.  McGriff?  Only .281 with 18 bombs.  LA was already being represented by Darryl Strawberry, and they had a huge number of outfielders who didn’t deserve to be there over Crime Dog either.  That’s snub #3.

1993 was a tough one for McGriff as John Kruk had a big first half and was voted in.  As mentioned, Gallaraga was hitting .400.  The other was Gregg Jefferies.  The overhyped boy wonder had a monster first half too.  Mark Grace was the DH that game.  So how could McGriff get in?  Well, they could have took only 1 backup shortstop than to let the weak Jay Bell get in.  You can’t have enough backup DH’s on a team.  This was the year that, without McGriff, Atlanta doesn’t win the division.  His arrival jump started that team when they simply weren’t hitting.  Snub #4.

After that, there are no more snubs.  We should be talking about Fred McGriff: 9-time All-Star.  Then we’d be talking about Cooperstown.  So when someone brings up the All Star argument, they better be ready to justify the selections.

A few more reasons why I’d vote for McGriff; his numbers are similar to Hall of Fame players like Willie Stargell, Willie McCovey, Eddie Matthews and Ernie Banks.  Other guys who may make it in are Jim Thome, Gary Sheffield and Carlos Delgado.  McGriff was also against performance enhancing drugs and looked the exact same as he did when he broke into the major leagues.  He placed in the top 4 in homeruns for 7 straight years - until the outrage in power kicked in.  Without the juice, we’re talking about a guy who perhaps has another homerun title or two under his belt.

But as I look back to his statistics he is still a tough sell.  Putting him in might suggest that he is the reason why Cooperstown is simply the Hall of Very Good.  Valid argument indeed.  What I can say without a shadow of a doubt is if we had a proper history without the contamination of performance enhancing drugs we would be celebrating the career of Fred McGriff, the best homerun hitter of his time.

The brother passed along an article about the possible baseball hall of fame class of 2013.  The names I read through were incredible - a list compiled with possibly 2 of the best hitters of the 1990’s (Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Thomas) and some of the most dominant pitchers of our time (Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddux).  Of course, this all depends on whether or not these players retire after this season.  I doubt all the players will.

(side note - As I watch the LA v. Utah game, I think to myself that I could be writing about the basketball or hockey playoffs, or the fact Barry Bonds could have his nuts stapled to the wall but the Hall of Fame discussions are always good.)

The other notable names mentioned in this piece were: Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling, Mike Piazza, Trevor Hoffman, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.  Another name that was tossed into the mix was Jeff Kent.

All of these players, at one time or another, made an incredible impact on the teams they played on.  But I don’t necessarily believe all these guys should be in.  I’d vote for these guys with only 1 exception: Mussina.  He is the only pitcher in the group that was just not quite up to that A+ level.  In his prime he was a solid pitcher who was on the cusp of dominance - but fell just short of elite level.  Then again, he could be compared as the Craig Biggio of pitchers and Biggio will make the Hall based on his 3000 hits.

Now that I’ve established who I would vote for, here are the others who will continue to play beyong 2007:

Catcher - Ivan Rodriguez

- He could retire after this year and he’d get in without a problem. 

1B - Albert Pujols

- He’s in.  Barring injury he’ll pass 300 homeruns this season and potentially reach 1000 RBI’s for his career.  He’s only 28 years old but he’s done enough in his short, yet illustrious career to be put into Cooperstown.

2B - None

3B - Chipper Jones, Alex Rodriguez 

- Chipper was in before the amazing start to this young season.  He’s been a constant at the position and would hold the consecutive 100 RBI’s record if he wasn’t shipped to Left Field.  As for A-Rod, he’s in unless somehow he is able to prove Jose Canseco right.  So far the odds are in Alex’s favor.

SS - Derek Jeter

- I dubbed him “The second-coming of Paul Molitor” a while back.  The knock on Jeter is that he doesn’t drive in enough runs.  Well, I bet if he hit 3rd in the Yankee Lineup for a full season he’d drive in 90-110 every year.  He’s in without a doubt.

OF - Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, Ichiro Suzuki

- Vlad continues to put up numbers quietly despite being one of the most dangerous hitters of our time.  ManRam is just dangerous period.  Ichiro is a funny one; he won’t reach 3000 hits and doesn’t have the power numbers.  But, he’s never had under 206 hits in a season and if you combine his Japan stats, his numbers are sensational.  Since this is the Baseball Hall of Fame and not the MLB Hall of Fame, couldn’t we consider his Japan stats?  We can all agree that baseball in Japan is better than AAA, right?  In fact it’s probably the second best baseball league in the world. 

Regardless, Ichiro’s hitting run has been remarkable and I’d put him in.

Pitchers - Mariano Rivera

- All the other Hall of Fame candidates were mentioned, and they may retire after this year.  The way I see, if Trevor Hoffman is in, Rivera is a shoo-in. 

On the cusp OR need some work: Andruw Jones, Todd Helton, Johan Santana, Miguel Tejada, Omar Vizquel, David Ortiz, Jim Thome, Gary Sheffield, Edgar Rentaria, Garrett Anderson, Carlos Delgado, Andy Pettitte, Tim Hudson, Billy Wagner, Francisco Rodriguez.

- All of these players lack that SOMETHING.  Some have milestones (Thome has over 500, Sheffield closing in, Helton career .330 hitter).  But the knock on most of these guys are the lack of dominance at their position.  Andruw may have a bunch of gold gloves but his .260 average hurts him AND the way he’s playing nobody is sure if he can get out of his funk.  The two exceptions to the dominance argument are Johan and K-Rod; these two guys are young and if they avoid injury could have themselves a shot at Cooperstown. 

A few interesting names that I never thought I’d put down: Garrett Anderson and Edgar Rentaria.  When I looked at their stats and their ages I saw some interesting things.  IF Anderson hangs on for another 43 or 4 years (he’s currently 35) he has a shot at 3000 hits (he’s at 2245 - still a long way to go).  Rentaria is 32 and has 1972.  He’ll reach 2000 before 33 and may play another 6 or 7 years and he’s been a top-tier shortstop for quite some time.  But, he’s no Jeter or A-Rod or even Michael Young.  Heck, Miguel Tejada has an MVP and would be considered the more dangerous player during this era.  Tejada isn’t close to milestones, however.

Then there is David Ortiz; a guy who’s been one of the most dangerous hitters over the last 5 years but has a few problem spots: He won’t reach any milestones because he began his dominance fairly late in his career, he’s been DH’ing for the majority of the time and he doesn’t have any individual trophies. 

Todd Helton has the Coors factor.  Delgado has never been considered the best first baseman in baseball.  Andy Pettitte won’t get in because of the drug factor, Billy Wagner still hasn’t done enough and Hudson would need another 4 or 5 top-notch, injury-free seasons.  Easier said than done with the lack of durability in today’s pitching era.

Retired eligible Players whom I’d vote for: Jack Morris, Andre Dawson, Don Mattingly, Jim Rice and Albert Belle.

The guy who should be put into the builder’s wing: Jose Canseco - I mean, a lot of players took a cue from him and went on the juice.  (sarcasm boys and girls).

Looks like LA just iced it with the Gasol offensive rebound/dunk.  My night is done.

Did my mothers day deed the day before mothers day.  The brother and I pimped some shoes for her and then took her out to one of her favorite restaurants.  All was good in The Dan land.  But there are a few beefs to talk about…

- Saw a blogger use a quote from me for his title.  I love that quote so I’m down with that.  However, it was in regard to a particular female that he has yet to ask out.  And that was almost 3 weeks ago.

Now I typically don’t go out to embarrass or smear bloggers ever.  There were a few back at Coxsports that probably deserved some sand in the face, AND the blogger that completely lied to me still doesn’t know who they are.  Needless to say I keep my game pretty tight.  So, for this blogger that I’m calling it out its more for motivation tactics.  So here it goes…

The longer you wait, the chances of another guy deflowering her increases dramatically.  I’d rather get rejected than watch a scumbag draped all over the chick I want.  And besides, no woman would want someone scared to talk to another human being because that human happens to be a good-looking female.  Confidence matters.

NOW MAKE IT HAPPEN KID!!!!!!!!!!!!!  FUCK!!!!

- Richie Sexson is a pussy.  Straight up no balls.  Kason Gabbard’s high fastball might have crossed the plate.  Then after Sexson overreacts, he throws his helmet.  Gutless.  If you are going to run out to fight the pitcher you better go fists or feet and not throw a damn helmet. 

Otherwise if I was Gerald Laird I would have kept the baseball and stuck it in his back - and give Sexshit a reason to be pissed off.

I loved watching Milton Bradley being the voice of reason.  That would be like Shawn Kemp telling his kids to practice abstinence.

- Now that both NBA West series’ are tied at 2 we can safely assume that we’re in for a hell of a ride from now until the conference finals.  Both playoff series’ have lived up to the hype surrounding the conference that could perhaps be the deepest it’s ever been.  And, no team has a stanglehold over the other.  It seems to be very important to have home-court advantage and perhaps Gregg Popovich wished the Spurs were the 2nd seed rather than the 3rd. 

- Kobe, pass the damn ball.

- The Blue Jays picked up Kevin Mench and Brad Wilkerson.  Jerk Pull Ricciardi said they wanted a right handed stick to compliment Matt Stairs.  Gee, they use to have one in Frank Thomas.  Yes Frank didn’t want to have his role reduced.  But, you could have done it without making an announcement to the media the way they did.  They did it to make themselves look good and have Frank look like the jackass.  It worked because the idiots that call themselves Jays fans bought into it.  And, since the Jays are “overbudget” they get to pay both crappy players the league minimum which means an extra million combined.  They should have just waited and gotten Jim Edmonds instead of Brad “underachiever” Wilkerson. 

Just think that the Jays were willing to give Texas the world for Kevin Mench over 2 years ago.

- Kevin Garnett was a beast in Game 2 against Cleveland.  Not sure if you saw him and I’m not sure what his stats were but he was all over the floor on D and on O.  He played like an MVP and I noticed that he is extremely masculine.  It only took 14 years for me to realize that.

- Someone whispered to me about Justin Verlander being worn down by the innings he’s logged over the last couple of years along with the innings he had in the minors at his young age.  My response is have we got to this point already?  How can a guy at 24 be burned out by throwing 390 innings in 2 years?  The answer is I don’t buy that crap.  He’s either not hitting his spots or his arm is hurting because that’s what pitchers go through - good mechanics or not.  His ass pitching is not due to overuse.

Ok guys, have a great time watching sports this week.  I think I need a drink…

I live in a world where hockey is the be-all and end-all sport in Canada.  The days when I can appreciate a great baseball game or basketball game are rare since the NHL rules the city and it’s surrounding areas.  So whenever I can catch 2 NBA West contenders facing one another or anything great that’s not part of hockey, I sit back in appreciation. 

Therefore, when I go to an American sports website I’ll get all the information I care about - unless, of course, something is terribly wrong.  About 10 minutes ago something did go wrong, and I’ll provide a link to it: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=MVP08

The story was about each supposed "expert" who picked 5 MVP candidates for the NBA trophy.  I did not have any problem with the choices within the top 3.  Whether the pick was Kobe Bryant or Chris Paul the choice was a worthy one. 

I’m not the type that sidesteps the issue so I’ll just come out with it: How can you call yourselves "experts" if Deron Williams doesn’t receive a vote?  Hedo Turkoglu?  What?

These are the same people who talk about how great the NBA West Conference is and they dismiss one of the great game-changers in the NBA right now?  How can you give Amare Stoudamire votes and give Williams a goose egg?  Amare isn’t the MVP on his team (yes, its still Steve Nash as Amare proved his value by being invisible when his team needed him during crunch time).  I don’t know what the thought process is with these "experts", because I don’t see it.

If I had 5 at the very end of the season I’d go like this:

1. Paul…2. Bryant….3. Duncan….4. Garnett……5. D. Williams

To round out the top 10 (if I had to), I’d go Lebron, T-Mac, Nash, Pierce and Manu

Again, I’m not here to say that I am better-suited to make picks over the ESPN "experts", but the overall body of work provided by the ESPN NBA MVP voters proves they are short-sighted and irresponsible.  Irresponsible because they didn’t look at every player carefully to go along with the games they followed since late-October.  Before choosing players, please check what each player did to make sure you aren’t excluding anyone.  I’m pretty sure Turkoglu doesn’t give Utah a division title if he was playing instead of Williams.  It’s a slap in the face to a guy who could carry his team to the Conference Finals if he gets any help from his teammates.

Quick points around the sporting world…

- Roger Clemens apparently suffers from beer goggles as he has been linked to John Daly’s ex.  She didn’t say no, which means she probably got slammed by the Rocket.   Again, I don’t understand the point of cheating on your wife with ugly chicks.  It makes you look bad and you might as well start sleeping with dudes if you can’t get better taste in skanks.

- Would the Detroit Tigers consider Barry Bonds?  Well who would kill him first, Gary Sheffield, Andy Van Slyke or Jim Leyland?  My money would have been on Kirk Gibson if he was still there.

Seriously, just play Brandon Inge in left field and bat him 9th.  Inge seems to play better when his playing time is in jeopardy.  Jacque Jones is not the answer.

- No Steinbrenner deserves to rip the New York Yankees after an off-season that saw them re-sign Alex Rodriguez to a billion dollars and signed LaTroy Hawkins.  That off-season concludes that you are no better than the year before and that you really don’t care about winning the World Series.   If they thought they had the pieces to win everything, they were sorely mistaken.

- If the Atlanta Hawks win Game 7, mark that down as one of the biggest upsets in sports history.  What’s scary about that is I think they can do it.  But if I was a betting man I’d go with Boston.

- Is it just me or does Kerry Wood look thin?  No I don’t mean his hold on the closer’s job, I mean he looks really thin.  I thought he looked much thicker and stronger.  Perhaps my eyes are deceiving me.

- As good as Rick Carlisle has been as a coach in the NBA, is he that much better than Avery Johnson?  I’d say no.  This is a franchise that makes you want to scratch your head while they continue to tug the little one year in and year out.

- Anyone that goes 100-1 is incredible.  Congratulations to Rafael Nadal - that record on clay courts is absolutely dominant.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!