Seattle and Denver are headed to the Big Apple for Super Bowl XLVIII. Best defense in the game vs. the best offense in the game. #1 seed vs. #1 seed. Only 2 teams in the NFL to play in states where weed is legal. I expect a hell of a game. I’m not making my official pick now, but in the cold and windy weather in my home state of New Jersey, I’m leaning towards the Seahawks and their mean-as-hell, talk-like-crazy defense.
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All posts for the month January, 2014
Late last week, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America banned Miami Herald columnist and ESPN commentator Dan LeBatard from participating in the voting process for the Baseball Hall of Fame ever again.
LeBatard lost his voting privileges after handing over his ballot to Deadspin.com, who in turn let their readership choose which players to vote for. When asked why he did this, LeBatard responded that he had become “disenchanted” with the voting process, and that he wanted to bring attention to its inherent flaws.
I’m not a huge fan of LeBatard’s decision because I think it makes a mockery of the process and reflects poorly on the sport itself, but I certainly understand and support his desire to make changes to the status quo. As my younger brother succinctly put it, “the writers in the BBWAA have their heads so far up their asses that they could lick their kidneys.” By trying to protect the integrity of the HOF from the stain of the steroids era, the BBWAA has actually diluted real Baseball conversation. Instead of debating which individual players are worthy of the HOF and why, the focus has shifted to whether an entire generation of players are worthy of the HOF and why. Addressing the latter is exceedingly difficult and messy for a few reasons, yet we expect uniformity in the decisions. The result is that we paint a picture of the steroids era with very broad strokes in order to absolve ourselves of the responsibility of celebrating/condemning specific players that we might ultimately be wrong about. What I mean by that is our fear of electing dirty players to the HOF is so great that it actually challenges the game’s integrity. We’re trying so hard to protect the sport from artificial greatness that we no longer appreciate/believe in authentic greatness. Because we don’t know for certain which players are clean and which are dirty, we have begun to discredit the sport’s authenticity to the point that everyone and everything is compromised.
To illustrate my point, let’s take a quick look at Craig Biggio. He played 20 years in the majors, compiling 3,000 hits, almost 300 home runs, and 5 gold gloves. And he looks like this…
No one in their right mind thinks this guy ever took steroids, but because his whole generation is tainted, Biggio and his contemporaries are all portrayed as guilty until proven innocent. He deserves to be in Cooperstown, but he’s on the outside looking in. In fact, we didn’t enshrine anybody in the HOF last year, and that’s not right.
The system needs to be changed. Former players, managers, and the fans need to be acknowledged, and we can’t continue to rely on the BBWAA with their bullshit moral standards that impune the integrity of the game itself.
— Thanks to my brother Jack for helping write this piece
Who is Ben McAdoo you ask? No, he’s not Ken Whisenhunt’s much nicer looking twin, he’s the new offensive coordinator for the New York Football Giants. He’s spent the past 2 seasons as Aaron Rodger’s QB coach in Green Bay, and before that hes had stints in San Fran, New Orleans, Stanford, Michigan State, Pitt, and Akron. I don’t know much (anything) about him, but he’s not Kevin Gilbride, which is awesome. As long as he doesn’t run draw plays on 3rd and long 80% of the time I’m sure he’ll be an upgrade. Hopefully he can get Eli back on track next season and return our franchise to its deserved glory.
AW: Let’s make some pics
SPICE: Down. Any strong thoughts?
AW: No strong thoughts lol. I like SF. I think Saints keep it close but who knows. I think Indy – NE is a tossup. I like Denver to win but I like SD with the points.
SPICE: I Like SD money line. But that may be clouded by what I want to happen. I like SF as well. NE gonna stomp IND, but again – same thing. Just think IND is way too one dimensional for Belichick.
AW: So many injuries for NE so I don’t know about that. I will concede I have no idea what will happen in any of these games. My only sure bet is SF doesnt get blown out. Any other team could win or they could get rocked. Except Seattle won’t get rocked…. And Denver won’t get rocked….
SPICE: Definitely not. They’ll all be close except NE and IND in my opinion. Think NE wins by 10+. No way SF or Den lose by more than a TD. But as far as my SD pick, I still think Denver defense blows and Peyton is gonna choke
AW: Like I said I like SD with the points but not enough to pick them to win on the road, especially with Welker back. Do you like Saints with the points? I might teaser all 4 games, give myself a ton of points on a 4 team parlay. Then once i lose I just forfeit the bet and make new bets on the remaining games. I also really like the over 50 points for NE / IND game
SPICE: That’s insanse. Teaser are parlay, both are pretty nuts. How much do you get for SD moneyline pick, do you know?
AW: A little better than 3:1. it’s bold
SPICE: They won me a lot last week. and it’s the biggest upset I can see happening. I dunno if its bold, anything can really happen. my favorite bet is SF tho.
AW: I have no faith in the combination of Cam / Riverboat Ron.
SPICE: Especially with no Steve Smith
AW: He’ll be fine
SPICE: I Don’t think so…. btw Pats game gonna rain the whole time so over 50 may not be the move.
AW: Thatll also be fine a lil rain never hurt no one.
SPICE: I don’t know man… definitely impacts throwing the ball. Have you been using bovada.nv?
AW: No i haven’t but I may start using it. I know you got diamond dave hooked on it haha
SPICE: yea you should it’s dope, Dave’s all about it.
AW: What do i like more, SD +17 or Den -1?
SPICE: +17 for sure, that’s so many points for a playoff game. What’s your teaser?
AW: Saints +17, Colts + 15.5, SF + 7, SD +17 . Prob don’t need that many points in any game but playin it safe
SPICE: That’s pretty solid, what’s your payout?
AW: 1.25:1
SPICE: that’s not so great. I feel like a lot could go wrong for a little payout, ya know?
AW: Yea that’s true. its a lot of points though, I feel fairly confident.
SPICE: True. Just as a cautionary tale i did the same thing earlier this year, 10 points on 5 teams and put $___ on it. and one of the games ended up a draw and I got fucked.
AW: there’s certainly room for error but we shall see. It’s pisssing me off waiting this long for the games to start but Vandy vs UK is on at 3:30
SPICE: yea this blows I got up wicked early too
AW: On a different not, RIP to our football program (Vanderbilt)
SPICE: Seriously bro, back to being a joke. I honestly don’t get why Franklin left, SEC > Big 10. It must’ve been money for him and for the program.
AW: Yea, he can never be Paterno, and he can never overcome what Sandusky did to that school’s reputation. Plus they still have scholarship limitations and 2 more years of bowl bans… it makes no sense.
SPICE: Exactly. bowl bans for next 2 years, why not stay at Vandy and completely resurrect a program in the best conference.
AW: although winning in the Big 10 is clearly easier than in the SEC so he could hypothetically have national championship contenders at PSU if he wins that conference going undefeated or with 1 close loss to a formidable opponent. Still, I don’t see that happening.
SPICE: Yea but still I don’t see him as the kind of guy being like, “oh this is easier let’s go this way. Also his statement was a joke when he talked about how at PSU the athletes could really get a great education while playing football. How is that not the case at Vandy? We must not have offered him the money, or he really loved Penn State growing up.
AW: Yea I think it’s probably the latter. He’s from Pennsylvania, and how could Vandy not offer him the money with out billion dollar endowment. How much is his deal from PSU though I bet it’s a whole lot?
SPICE: 4.5 mil if he hits all the incentives, not sure what base pay is. The whole thing is just super disappointing, Motherfucker took away our tailgates promising a real football game and then bails.
AW: I never thought about that but yea that actually makes me furious. And what sucks even more is we were just starting to really fundamentally change the culture of the program.
SPICE: I’m sure it will kill recruiting and all the program’s momentum. There’s no way we get a legitimately exciting coach.
AW: The only things that make me believe we won’t completely fall back to our previously atrocious standards are 1.) Now that we got a taste of success the school realizes that football can be a legit money maker and Vanderbilt loves money and 2.) Whoever hired Franklin must be at least somewhat competent.
SPICE: Meh, I hope you’re right. That makes sense, I’m just a pessimist,
AW: I think you’re totally right about recruiting though because even if we hire an amazing coach it’ll take a season or two to prove he’s the real deal. So momentum wise i agree we are fucked. At this point I’d be ok taking Lane Kiffin just to keep the buzz goin.
SPICE: Same here I’d be pumped. But we’re just gonna get some no name coordinator. To be fair- so was Franklin, but I don’t think you catch lightning in a bottle twice.
AW: That’s true but keep in mind the other candidate we seriously considered was Gus Malzahn so the guy making these calls has to be fairly intelligent when it comes to this shit.
SPICE: good point. guess im just bummed – I really thought he’d stay. And that 4 or 5 years from now we’d be a legitimate consistent program.
AW: He could have changed the culture completely and built a strong foundation for years to come.
SPICE: I just feel like that is the ultimate challenge / accomplishment for a coach to take a team from the bottom to perennial legit program. In the SEC no less.
AW: It totally sucks no doubt
SPICE: Now he has to start over at PSU and its not as impressive in my opinion because Penn State has been historically great. and the Big 10 is not close to SEC.
AW: Yea it could have backfired tho if he stayed and Vandy didn’t improve, his stock was at an all time high now. That being said I don’t see PSU contending on a national stage for a long time.
SPICE: True. But I can’t imagine Vandy fans would ever he calling for his head. And the SEC East is relatively week. If he got Vandy to win the SEC East he’d be a god and get any offer he wanted.
AW: True he could have coached here for 40 years if he wanted to and be our version of Joe Pa. The Penn State job will definitely be harder to keep, but he’s obviously proven he’s capable.
SPICE: I agree, I guess its akin to you being a GM for the Astros and starting to build a sweet foundation and get some success… and then the Mets come calling right after their Madoff ponzi scheme fiasco. You’d probably take the Mets job, no?
AW: Depends how sweet the Astros really were but yea I think I would leave for the Mets unless I thought I could eventually compete for a World Series in Houston… I don’t know if Vandy could ever win a championship.
SPICE: I guess Franklin didn’t think we could compete for a ‘ship. I disagree
AW: The problem with PSU is that their reputation is tarnished to the point that it will fuck them more in recruiting. Top tier prospects won’t want to go there as much as they used to. The scholarship limits and bowl bans are secondary to the recruiting issues.
SPICE: The only difficulty Franklin would have at Vandy that he wouldn’t have to deal with as much at PSU is the whole academic standards thing.
AW: You think Vandy could someday win it all?
SPICE: Yea I think now that we have tasted success and the administration has seen football excitement translate into big money, we could really grow into legit program. And as far as academic standards are concerned, we’ve allowed more scummy dudes in lately for the sake of winning.
AW: I still think the academic standards are too high to compete with some big-time programs, and we don’t get enough money from boosters that is solely dedicated to football.
SPICE: I don’t think money is an issue. Vanderbilt is smart enough to know that money poured into the football program is an investment…. I hope. Ideally we become Stanford. It’s realistic, especially because SEC country is easier to recruit from.
AW: Money isn’t the biggest issue because we have so much of it but in any case we will never spend half of what schools like Texas or Alabama does. It’s unbecoming of the ‘Harvard of the South’.
SPICE: If Stanford can do it, so can we. As Stanford proved, it’s all about the coach.
AW: Ehh, winning consistently in the pac 12 is much easier than doing so in the SEC just because the quality of your opponents. And Stanford has had much more historical success than Vandy, winning there is sort of institutionalized, it’s not just the vision/work of one great coach (Like Vandy’s success is.) Shaw stepped in after Harbaugh and the program didn’t take a step back… I think the reason for leaving Vandy is that we are happy winning 8 games a year, whereas PSU is not. That can also be a reason to stay with Vandy, for the security and relatively low standards, but I’m not surprised that a coach as ambitious as Franklin would want to coach a program where greatness is expected.
SPICE: Do you think that’s why he left? Because fans were content with back-to-back 9 win seasons? I think that shows our fans are realistic, but 2 years from now our fans wouldn’t be happy with that.
AW: Also, I don’t think he could ever get an NFL job if he stayed at Vandy. It’s just not a big enough program to prepare a coach for the next level. However, if he brings Penn State back to national prominence then I could see him getting a shot in the NFL.
SPICE: I disagree
AW: I don’t even know if he has interest in the NFL but it’s something to consider
SPICE: If Vandy gets to SEC championship game under his tenure he could get any NFL job he wanted.
AW: Nah, he’s way too gimmicky.
SPICE: He was interviewed by the Redskins and Browns…
AW: I mean we run the wildcat like half of the time, that’s not NFL offense
SPICE: He only runs the wildcat out of necessity. We have shitty QBs. He almost got an NFL job after 3 seasons at Vandy, if he gets a 10 win season or makes noise in the SEC conference championship then he definitely gets a shot
AW: He’s a great recruiter and excellent motivator but I’ve never heard anyone say hes like an offensive or defensive guru or anything like that. I don’t think he fits the mold of an NFL coach in the same way that he’s perfect for a college program.
SPICE: Why do you say that? If he got a stud QB with those recruiting skills… who knows. Only times Stanford has been great is when they had Luck or Elway. I agree he doesn’t necessarily translate to the NFL perfectly, but he would’ve been the hottest coach by far if he continued winning at Vandy.
AW: Not if he just kept winning 9 games every year, his stock would cool and like I said I don’t see him winning 11 any time soon. We could be perennially good but we’d never be the best. And as far as the Redskins and Browns interviews, he obviously didn’t get the jobs. It’s very possible he was just being interviewed because of his blackness & the Rooney rule.
SPICE: Meh I guess that’s where we fundamentally disagree. I really thought we were on the up and up. College football is the ultimate positive feedback cycle. And your theory about the Rooney rule is possible but I’m not so cynical. Regardless, I bet he’s an NFL coach one day if he keep this run of success.
AW: I really don’t know if his style translates to the NFL I need to see what he can do with a legit QB and a pro-style offense.
SPICE: I agree it doesn’t translate perfectly, I just think he’d get a shot.
AW: Being a great leader is his best quality.
SPICE: You could argue that’s the most important quality in a head coach.
AW: I agree it’s extremely important, but more so for a college coach than a pro one.
SPICE: By the way I found my favorite bet of the weekend – Blount over 65 yards. It’s pouring in NE… but back to Franklin, to sum up, it a bummer.
AW: Yup. It really fucking Sucks
Great recognize Great. Hulk Hogan loves the Patriots because he’s a champion, and he sees that some of the same qualities which have made him so successful over the years are also integral to the Patriots’ organization. It’s clear that Hulk really respects how the Pats go about their business.
That being said, I think he needs to tone down his rhetoric a little bit for the sake of public perception. Many casual NFL fans look at the Patriots’ success and they think back on “spygate” and they assume that the Patriots have probably had some unfair advantages during their title runs. Belichick is certainly perceived as a guy who will test the limits of equality to gain an upper hand on his opponents. Antonio Smith of the Texans accused the Pats of spying as recently as 8 or 9 weeks ago after New England completed a big second-half comeback against them…
So when Hogan is ranting about how he’ll step in for the Pats if their “knees wobble… or their livers quiver, brother” it kinda makes me suspicious. Like are you on the 53-man roster, brother? You can’t just strap your arm to a player’s hips and score as many TD’s as you want, or whatever the hell you were trying to say, and think that the rest of the league won’t take notice. It was a great motivational speech though.