The Alice Mavericks??

Josh Howard has an interesting quote in the Dallas Morning News:

They used to call us the Alice Mavericks, or whatever.

I don't know if it's Howard's fault, or Eddie Sefko's fault for writing it wrong, but somebody got it wrong.

The quote is in reference to how the Mavericks never used to play defense, so other teams would think they were soft. To that extent, I suppose "Alice Mavericks" makes sense, calling them by a girly name. But actually what Howard meant to say (or Sefko meant to write) was that they used to be called the "Allas Mavericks" because they had no 'D.' Get it? They didn't play defense, had no 'D' so therefore take that letter out of their name and they become the Allas Mavericks.

It's a small bone to pick, but a bone. Chew on it.

Pick Russell, says Dan Pompei

He says it right here:

So who should Davis pick?

Given the state of the Raiders, Davis needs a hero. Russell would look better in tights and a cape, as well as in black and silver.

As you can tell, with the "given the state of the Raiders..." Mr. Pompei does not avoid taking many shots at the Oakland Raiders organization, particularly Al Davis. But that's to be expected. Hopefully we can give them a reason to stop doing it.

Devils 2, Rangers 1

Well, the Devils keep scoring 2 goals. Thankfully, it's usually enough when Brodeur only lets in 1 or none at all. Another great divisional game. Another slugfest (with Marty getting in on the action!) as emotions were running high. And the penalties were kinda taking off there in the late stages of the game, similar to the Islanders game. Gotta love end-of-the-year divisional games. No, you actually have to. You are FORCED to.

The Devils got off to a quality start and played their typical game of hockey in the first period. They had more shots and the only goal, a nice play resulting in a goal for Ralf. The second period, and the third period for that matter, were definitely controlled by the Rangers. Petr Prucha, who never scores goals unless it's against the Devils, got another one. They had tons more shots than the Devils did, ending up with a 36-26 edge, with all but one getting stopped by the Vezina Trophy winner Martin Brodeur. The Devils only amassed five shots, but they were the right ones. At least one of them was, as Zach Parise beat Lundqvist for the game winner. I don't understand how that automatically makes him the first star. Brodeur played lights out, stopping 35 shots, some of them trickier than others, and he gets beat by Parise ONLY because he scored the game winner. Something not right about that. I mean, granted, Zach is playing great but come on.

Good game, team. Let's beat 'em again next time.

Mock Draft

Lance Zierlein at the Houston Chronicle Blog says it's Calvin (Hobbes not included):

I know that J.Russell is the consensus here for most mocks, but don't forget that Al Davis isn't your average owner and he also remembers being burned by Todd Marinovich and Marc Wilson as first round QBs in 1991 and 1980 respectively. I'm going to gamble that the Raiders trade one of their disgruntled WRs and the Raiders go with the best player on the board, Calvin Johnson.

Interesting. He also adds this, and by adding I mean putting this before his draft board:

...a very real possibility and that is Al Davis and the Raiders passing on JaMarcus Russell. Al Davis has been burned by QBs before and he might not be willing to sink "first pick of the draft" money into a QB with "potential" rather than a monster like Calvin Johnson.

Mock Draft

The Football Expert sees J-Marc dressing in the Silver & Black:

Calvin Johnson’s recent forty time of 4.33 at a simulated combine at a speed camp is very tempting. Al Davis realizes though that if Aaron Brooks is still under center, you could lineup Superman and Captain America and still go 3-13 every year.

Got to give him credit for making me laugh at least. Russell is clearly the frontrunner.

Josh Hamilton profile

Nice article by Mark Sheldon at the Red's MLB site. Here.

You have to cheer for the guy and hope it works. But at the same time, you want there to be some reason to keep him around. You want there to be ability and skill. Hopefully that will be the case.

The Prospect

Here's Homer Bailey, folks. The guy who will probably not get a shot at #5, but might. The guy who is eventually our #1 for maybe three years until he receives a huge contract from some other team.

And he's not the only one with outrageously ugly long hair. Why do pitchers do this? It's nasty and I can't imagine it helps - even mentally. There must be something about it, but yikes.


There's Arroyo a post or so down below. Then there's Paul Wilson. Double yikes.










Then there's Majew, of course. "Hey, don't blame me for The Trade."











Then there's guys like Billy Bray, Todd Coffey, Harang, Weathers, and others who just get it. Keep it short, keep it simple, and don't look like a girl. Fair enough?

Ahhhhhhhh....................spring training photographs make me smile.

San Diego Chargers hire Norval Turner

That's right folks, Norv(al) Turner is back to being a head coach in the AFC West. At least it will still be easy to cheer against the Chargers. I mean, this guy is no Marty Schottenheimer, who is easy for anybody to dislike. But he's still the guy that did JACK SQUAT for the Raiders when he coached us. And people are saying, "Well, he's going to the Chargers, Senator. 14-2. He's not going to an awful situation like with Oakland." And to that, I slap the young man in the mouth for speaking these atrocities. Uhhhhhhhh......go Raiders!

Pitchers & catchers report

Exciting times!

West 153, East 132

Entertaining game, even though the winner was decided very early into the contest. I thought the West would be hampered by not having two great guards (Nash & Iverson) but that did not appear to be the case. Kobe & Co. took over and dominated the whole way through.

Josh Howard - 20 mins, 3 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists
Dirk Nowitzki - 16 mins, 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists

Devils 2, Islanders 0

How many times must I type in that score? It seems a lot. It seems this score happens every time the Devils and Islanders play. Brodeur just knows what he's doing. The Devils figure out how to score at the most opportune times. The defense knows when to open it up and when to shut it down. This game was physical. And rightly so. Lots of fights, lots of other aggressive penalties, lots of bad blood. And yet, you look up and see the score was the same it's always been. America's Goaltender let in two goals, and the Canadian Beast shut 'em out again. That's 11. That's quite a few. 91 overall. There is no one else even close to winning the Vezina Trophy this year. It's Martin Brodeur, hands up and hands down and hands everywhere in between. It would definitely help to have Gionta and White back, but when I'm listening to the games, I don't miss them as much because everyone else is picking up their game. But those are still two huge cogs in the machine and if they need time to get ready for the grind, so be it. As long as they can come back 100% or close to it, we'll be okay. We've got Brodeur back there. Which is good enough most times. It's always good enough against the Isles. That's just how it goes.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu

In a night that featured Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry, it was the above guy who shined the most for the Mavericks. And he doesn't even really play with the Mavs. Pops was named the MVP of the NBA's first Developmental League exhibition game. And he got 30 points and was a beast. Nowitzki got third in the 3-point shooting contest and Jason Terry came in last. Oh well. Go West, tonight. Young man. I already said that but there it is again.

Mock Draft

The big boys at CBS Sportsline check into things:

JaMarcus Russell, QB, LSU -- Why not? Raiders need a quarterback who can handle the vertical game. Russell qualifies. Still, you never can be sure when it comes to the Raiders -- though it's probably safe to assume they don't use this first-rounder on a kicker.

Wow. Four sentences, half of which contain only two words, and he manages to get in two slaps in the face to the Oakland faithful. Granted, the old adage, "You never knwo when it comes to Oakland (or Al Davis) isn't much of a slap, but that is the intention, and EVERYONE writes it. The kicker thing is funny, though. Ah, screw it.

Mock Draft

Football (at About.com) weighs in on the whole deal, retroactively hopping on the bandwagon:

1.Oakland Raiders - Calvin Johnson, WR Georgia Tech With rumors swirling of an instant fallout between Randy Moss and new head coach Lane Kiffin, it seems likely that Moss won't be wearing the silver and black next season. That opens up a spot for a top-shelf WR in Oakland, and that's where Johnson comes in.

It still makes a good deal of sense, but it doesn't seem very practical here. The guy is a beast, that's for sure. Wouldn't hurt to have him, but I don't think WR is a pressing position. Not only for the Raiders, but for any team really. There are more important cogs. It is nice to see something different than JaMarcus Russell, however. Still.......something makes me think for making a big deal out of this that the Raiders trade the #1 pick away, so all of these mock drafts won't mean a dang thing.

Reds MLB asks me some questions

Here you are, ma'am

Could the jockeying for position also include super prospect Bailey? Unlikely, but a lights-out spring could make the question all the more intriguing.

The Reds also haven't named a closer yet to open the regular season. Weathers, Stanton, Ligtenberg, Bray and Coffey are among those in the mix.

Another spring storyline: Could this be the year that Griffey moves from his familiar center field to right field?

1. No go on Bailey
2. There won't be a clear closer, but it will be Weathers to start. If not, it's Coffey.
3. Sadly, no.

Penguins 5, Devils 4

I warned you.

Not bad offensive hockey, and that's going to have to be the case the rest of the way against Pitt, because their goalie is not a stud. Otherwise, pretty poor game. There's no denying the Penguins are the best team in the NHL as of currently and they are dangerous, that's for sure. They will challenge for the Atlantic.

NBA All-Star Game Tomorrow Night

Go West! (young man)

Mavericks 80, Rockets 77

What can you say? The Mavericks win in all sorts of ways, this one being ugly. I finally got to watch them on TV, and it was not pretty. Which, as I said, is ugly. But it was still fun to watch. It was fun to watch McGrady and Nowitzki go back and forth in the second half, matching big shot with huge shot. It was like nobody else was on the floor for a while. But Nowitzki was the better mean because he earned it. I hate Tim Duncan. Can't stand the man. But this T-Mac of Tracy McGrady is starting to climb the ranks. He has a sweet shot and is a good player, but he is such a whiner. And he gets pansy fouls called for him all the time. Good thing he can't make a freakin' free throw. Or else the Rockets would have won this game. They were so bad from the line, thank goodness.

The Rockets had this game in hand, although it was close. They were scrappy, they were fighting. They just ran into a team who would not and will not lose. It's as simple as that. Jason Terry, who had a very poor game, was of course the guy who made the winning shot. And for the Rockets, the worst guy on the floor for them (I think Alston maybe) took this horrible-looking shot. It was so bad. But the Mavericks got it back and made the shot. I am pretty sure that was NOT the shot the Rockets wanted to take, but oh well. The Mavs continue to win. Nowitzki, unspectacular through much of the game, turned it on for his little fued with McGrady. Stackhouse had huge buckets to pull the Mavs closer, and then Nowitzki hit back-to-back 3's to put the Mavs on top late. They held on. Nice.

It's to be expected, but the Mavericks won again. So many dang games. 44 wins. 9 losses. They won't post the best record of all-time, but they could be in contention to be one of the best teams of any given year. In NBA history. That's pretty amazing right there.

Raiders sign Sands, Thomas

Raiders keep two free agents

Pretty good moves, I'd say. Not really high on either one of them, but Sands was a very capable backup last year, and even got some starts and played hard. He played well at times, but the thing was he played hard. And you could tell. He had a couple breakout games. If he can keep that going, he's worth 4 years, $17 million. Robert Thomas was basically an unknown, but a good special teams player, and became famous for his play against the Steelers. $2 million a year isn't bad at all. But more importantly, these were the two guys the Oakland Raiders wanted to keep, and they are kept.

Devils 5, Canadiens 2

Wait a minute, the Devils scored THREE GOALS on the Power Play? Since when? Since what? Well, if you keep in mind that 66.66% of those goals scored were on a 5-on-3, it's not quite as great. Right right, I complain. I complain when there is hardly anything but good news. I know this. And I'm STILL complaining about the Power Play, even when 3 of the 4 goals (not counting the empty netter) were scored with the extra attacker. It will take me a while to believe, though the Devils have always been great at drawing penalties. So they will always have their chances, that's for sure.

Elias put on a nice show. His scoring and skating are always abilities people can point to easily and show how impressive he is. At the same time, his passing is underrated. Some of the passes he makes are just incredible. He is a very fluid player and played very well. Good for Ralf getting two goals, hitting the right shots at the right times (being 5-on-3).

I mean, what else do you want from this game? This is a great game. This is a game the Devils win 99 times out of 5. The scoring and skating and passing were dead-on. The defense had some lapses, but they were shuffling and juggling their lineups. They still played very well, limiting the Canadiens' shot total to a mere 21, no double digits in any period. Whereas the Devils were one shot away in the first period from having double digits in all three periods. Brodeur played a solid, if unspectacular, game. He faced one more shot (21) than BOTH of Montreal's goalies (Huet - 20, Aebischer - 20). They won the FACEOFF battle, which no one has explained to me yet. They drew 8 penalties and gave up 2. And how bout that scrum? Janssen is back, my friends.

Here's what I'm concerned about. Tomorrow night. Penguins vs. Devils. The Penguins are arguably the hottest team in the league right now. They should give the Devils fits the rest of the year, battling for the Atlantic Division. They are good. The Devils know this. The Devils must win.