Happiness Reigns!

Hell, I don’t even know if I spelled the title right, but at this point, I don’t give a damn. Part of my cell phone died today, and I was told it has “water” damage, despite the fact it hasn’t ever been doused with an ounce of H2O; my kitchen sink doesn’t work, and has to be fixed while I’m at work; just went to see the movie “Juno” and it sucked, and it’s going to snow while I’m driving up to, and home from, Madison in the next 48 hours. Ya wanna know why I don’t give a damn…because I got Justin riled up! Riled up to a point where he texted me to see if I read his post on todays blog! Since he gave you five things about sports that get him pissed off…here’s my Top-5 things that make me happy to talk about.

1. The 2004 MLB Playoffs. Hell, the Cubs didn’t even make the playoffs, finishing third with guys like Moises Alou, Corey Patterson, LaTroy Hawkins along with injured souls Mark Prior and Kerry Wood making major contributions. What made that playoffs great was Yankees/Red Sox baby! The best series/comeback any of us may ever see in our lives. Big Papi’s homers, Roberts’ steals, bloody socks…it was pandemonium baby! Possibly the best closer in the history of baseball blew a World Series for the 2nd time in his career (Luis Gonzalez and the D-Backs ring a bell Justin?). We can talk about that year anytime!
2. Talking fantasy baseball trades. Hell, you call me any day or night during pellet season, and I’ll try to fleece you and your mother for every damn sunflower seed. Let’s see…four titles in two years, including blockbuster trades that two years ago landed me Albert Pujols, and last year landed me not only NL-MVP Matt Holliday, but possibly the second half player of the year Mark Teixeira for Kevin Youkilis, Hideki Matsui, and Chris Young (check out the “Post All-Star Break” section of those stat pages…they are, let’s say, Pittsburgh Pirate-esque). By the way…those two trades were proposed and completed by none other than, you guessed it: Mr. Justin Jacobs himself! My calendar has a big green circle around the days spanning between June 25-July 5. I call those ten day: JJ’s Panic Room.
3. Michael Jordan. Since I couldn’t argue with Justin about his case for Shaq, why not include the greatest player in the history of basketball in my section. Before I move to my next point, I have to admit that I blasphemized during last years NBA Playoffs. I compared LeBron James to MJ. Won’t ever happen again people, I apologize!! Michael was the best scorer, shooter, passer, defender, and leaper when he played…LeBron doesn’t qualify in any of those departments. And nobody ever will.
4. Two Words: Any Steinbrenner!
5. Calling Joe Montana “A product of Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense.” (Just so you know…Justin just choked on his cereal, and spilled coffee all over his lap because he’s reading this on the blog) OK, I really don’t believe this point…but Justin and I got into an argument one day about it, and it’s just one of those buttons I enjoy pushing from time to time. So I’m pressing it hard enough to make my thumb go blue.

Can’t argue with Justin’s Top-5 coaches, except for Lambeau. Sorry J, but that wasn’t even football back then. I love the old school, but that’s ancient school, and Lambeau doesn’t qualify for the Top-5. I’ll admit…maybe I was a little hasty putting Joe Gibbs into my five, but he’s damn close. And I was rattling off those Honorable Mention names as I thought of them, not meaning for the order to be taken literally. Belichick is already in that group because he has three titles (and soon to be a fourth) during an era where the NFL encourages and builds rules around parity. The late great Bill Walsh should be in that five, taking the place of Gibbs, and for that I apologize. I’ll fight for Holmgren to be in that next group though. He is one of the few coaches that has ever been successful while being a teams coach and GM simultaneously.

One last note before I go to bed. Reports from espn.com confirm that USC head football coach Pete Carroll is interested in the head coaching vacancy in Atlanta. HELLOOOOO! Are you crazy??? Didn’t Arthur Blank just go through this a year ago? He brought in a hotshot college coach (Bobby Petrino) who bailed on him without warning because he saw a better opportunity with less pressure somewhere else. Pete Carroll has NFL coaching experience, albeit not anything that would make me throw millions at him. The reason Carroll may find it interesting is because he would get total player personnel control. This just doesn’t work in the NFL anymore. Holmgren was the last success story, and I guarantee it can’t happen again. I’m sure Pete will show interest, then go about his vacation in Hawaii, knowing that he’s going to sign a Top-5 crop of players for his non-depleted Trojan program again in 2008, and forever and ever, Amen.

(Note: No post for me tomorrow, because I’ll be in Madison attending the Illini/Badger basketball game with my cousin Ty.)

C-Ruter

You Wouldn’t Like Me Angry

I’d like to start this blog off with a top five list of things that people say about sports that will instantly piss me off to the point where I will have a bad day. Here’s the List.

1. The 2004 MLB Season. I’m not going to get into this one, because it’s only going to upset me, but suffice it to say that if you want to piss me off, just bring this subject up in conversation.
2. Talking about any trade that I’ve made with Chad Ruter in fantasy baseball. If I have a weakness in fantasy sports it’s my uncontrollable need to make a bad trade in fantasy baseball around half way through the season. I’m pretty sure Chad sets his calendar by this event. People in my league get upset that the trades that I’ve made with Chad have had a lot to do with his four year reign has our fantasy baseball champion.
3. When people say that Shaq is a talentless giant who only dominated basketball because of his size. I had the pleasure of watching hundreds of Lakers games over the course of about eight years when the Lakers went from being a underachieving bunch of young talented players, to one of the greatest teams in NBA history. People forget when Shaq was in Orlando he was a slim, freakishly athletic player who could outrun opposing centers, tear down backboards from their frames, and even break dance. As Shaq got older and larger he became a great passer and weak-side defender who dealt with more contact than any other center in NBA history. When Shaq was at his peak he may have been the most dominant player in the NBA since Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.
4. Two Words: Hank Steinbrenner
5. And the newest addition to the list, not putting Bill Walsh in the top five of the greatest coaches in NFL history. I know Chad only mentioned this in passing in yesterdays post, but I’m not entirely sure he put Walsh behind Mike (Can’t manage the clock in a pressure situation to save his life) Holmgren just to incite a deep rage inside of me for future comic fodder.

Let’s get one thing straight here… Bill Walsh is the father of the modern day game and also led the 80’s 49ers (one of the greatest teams in NFL history, in my mind only surpassed by Noll’s Steelers and the 90’s Cowboys) to three Super Bowls and who’s philosophy led them to two additional titles. Not to mention the coaches who were either assistant coaches under Walsh or assistant coaches under the original Walsh disciples.

Joe Gibbs was a great coach for his time, but it was clear that he was not cut out to take a team from this era to a championship, and while his three Super Bowl wins were impressive, his legacy is not even close to the legacy that Bill Walsh has left on this game. The West Coast offense has become so infused with the passing game in the NFL that you will not find a team in the league that does not incorporate it in one way or another. It also rendered many defenses obsolete and made defensive coordinators create defenses that rely more on speed and zone reads than ever before.

It’s tough to argue about guys like Lambeau, Halas, Lombardi and Noll, as they were the forefathers of NFL coaching. However, when it comes to the modern game 1980-Present you’d be hard-pressed to find a coach who has had as much of an affect on the game as Walsh. In the future I’m sure Bill Belichick will be on that list so I have no qualms of putting him in the conversation of the top five. If I would had to make a top 5 for NFL coaches it would be: Lambeau, Lombardi, Halas, Noll, and Walsh. I think history will prove that these were not only some of the most prolific winners of all time, but they also left the game with the greatest legacies. (See me in ten years about Belichick, that kid is going places.)

If anything this post will show you what happens when Chad says something that sets me off, and Chad’s next post will probably show you what happens when I question Chad’s logic.

Enjoy

-JJ

Clemens Response

Enough with the introductions, let’s get down to business. This Roger Clemens situation has gotten to a point of laughability. It even got ESPN to let an F-bomb get dropped live…something that just doesn’t happen to the Worldwide Leader! If any of you watched the “Clemens response” on ESPN, you may have noticed this little smirk that beamed across Roger’s face while the taped conversation between himself and his former trainer Brian McNamee. To be completely honest, I have no idea why he was so pleased with himself. The 17 minute conversation told us absolutely nothing, and Clemens’ lawyer even agreed. He kept telling us that McNamee never refuted any of Roger’s statements over the phone, but the poor guy had no idea he was being taped, so why would he say anything one way or another? Just doesn’t make any sense.

Despite not learning anything at the press conference, and Clemens’ unusual emotional response, I can understand why he did it. As Justin mentioned, Clemens appears to be horribly guilty. The one other player mentioned in the Mitchell Report that shocked most of the baseball world was Clemens’ best friend and fellow Yankee hurler Andy Pettite, who soon after the report was released, came out and admitted that he accepted shots of HGH from McNamee while recovering from an injury, but claimed he never used them at any other time. This self indictment pushed the load squarely on the shoulders of Clemens to just come out and admit his guilt – despite the fact that the only evidence we have is heresay from a corrupt trainer who told the truth about one player for certain. Baseball fans across the country have already banished Clemens from their lists of players they believe are clean. He’s been found guilty in the court of public opinion without an ounce of tangible evidence – so if you’re looking at things from Clemens’ perspective, what the hell do you have to lose? Why wouldn’t you do anything in your power to attempt to prove your innoncence. It may not convince everyone, but if it sways a few people back into Clemens’ corner, then it doesn’t cost him anything to try.

A few other thoughts before I leave you for the night:

-Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs retired from coaching in the NFL today, for the second time in his career. It’s a damn shame too, because he was offered a two-year contract extension after dragging his team into the playoffs despite losing his best player (the late Sean Taylor) to a terrible murder tragedy, and his starting quarterback to injury, forcing to replace him with a 36 year old QB that hadn’t played a playoff game in his entire career. Gibbs is the only coach in pro football history to win a Super Bowl with three different QB’s (Doug Williams, Mark Rypien, and Joe Theismann), and is one of the Top-5 coaches in the history of the league – no doubt in my mind. (Note: The rest of that top-5 is Vince Lombardi, George Halas, Tom Landry, Bill Belichick…with honorable mentions being Mike Holmgren, Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, Bill Walsh, and Tony Dungy)

-At the time of this post, the preliminary results are in for the New Hampshire primaries, and it looks like John McCain (the most democratic republican on the planet) and Hillary Clinton have won. I have to agree with Justin though (which you’ll quickly realize, doesn’t happen very often), I’m an Obama kinda guy.