I guess this post is really just for Dave and Kent. Anyway, the Angels have done little so far to bolster their roster after losing out on Texeira. The only signficant addition so far has been Brian Fuentes, replacing Francisco Rodriguez as the closer. Although this guy is a bit older, I think he's a good pick-up all things considered. We saved a few million with him, and his presence will give time for Jose Arredondo to mature until he's ready to be the full-time closer. After just one season in the majors, I don't think he was quite there yet. The thing I like most about Fuentes is that he posted a low ERA despite being in the most hitter-friendly ballpark in the major leagues. Plus, he's got a higher k per 9 innings ratio than Frankie did, doesn't have as a high WHIP. He should be pretty decent.
I read today that there is talk about trading Chone Figgins for Jermaine Dye. It's no secret that the White Sox have been coveting his speed and leadoff abilities for several years, and we are in dire need of another bat to supplement the lineup. I like it. Figgins seems to be on, but never at the right times. Maybe I'm just ungrateful for his service. We'll see how the new season goes. At first I was really down when they weren't able to pick up anyone significant, but I think we'll be able to manage. The only thing that I'm really happy about is that Tex went to the Yankees and not Boston. That division is going to destroy each other next season. We should be okay since neither Seattle or Oakland looks like they're going to be much better than last year anyway.
My only other sore spot when it comes to free agent dealings is John Smoltz to the Red Sox. I LOVE John Smoltz. The guy is so awesome, and such a competitor, and I can't hate the Red Sox more than I do. More than any other team in the whole league. Hate hate hate them. They're worse than the Yankees because people like to jump on their bandwagon, pretending that they're not the same money-changers that the Yankees are, when they are every bit the same. Plus they OWN us in the postseason. I don't think the Angels are intimidated by the Yankees, but the Red Sox sure do scare the hell out of them. Don't know why, but it's been that way for a long time now.
Rickey Henderson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame this week. This is a pretty cool article talking about not only how dominating he was, but how entertaining he was as a person. The guy was amazing. This was my favorite part of the article:
"But he didn't like day games," Candiotti said. "We had a day game in Oakland, and Rickey struck out. He walked all the way through the dugout talking to himself, he always talked to himself. He was saying, 'I don't know who's inside Rickey's body, but he better get out because the guy in there doesn't like day games, he only shows up on day games, so he better get out.' We were all laughing so hard. I wish I'd played my entire career with Rickey because he was just so entertaining. And he was just so good."And then this article from J.A. Adande about Michael Jordan, looking back at his retirement ten years later. I kind of love Adande as a writer. He covers sports for the LA Times, and he has some great pieces. In the article he talks at length about the legend of Michael Jordan, and noted also this video:
There really isn't ever going to be another athlete as iconic as Michael Jordan. I know it's only advertising, but who else is going to get a song dedicated to him in the hero-worship vein that Mike did? No one. Kobe is probably as talented, and I think even more athletic. Lebron is more physically gifted than them all. But Jordan had the whole league to himself for almost a decade and had all the intangibles.
Congrats to the Utes. The only problem I have with that whole debate about national champion is that NO WAY is Utah better than some of those other teams. I don't want to diminish what an accomplishment it is to go undefeated in a season, but they did not play the caliber of teams that the other big-time programs did. They beat an Alabama team that had backups playing for the whole leftside of their offensive line. Not to mention that they couldn't put on the field the best tackle in the nation.
USC crushed Ohio State, who barely lost to Texas. Florida dominated Oklahoma in the title game. The only way to really settle it is by having a playoff, but don't talk to me about Utah deserving the national championship.
Also, I love all the talk around here about what a jerk Urban Meyer is for leaving Utah. You really wouldn't leave Utah to live in Florida, get more money to do it (millions more), and have a program that's always going to be nationally recognized? Please...
Anyone want to go to spring training? I would kill to be able to do that one March. What does this song remind you of?
That's right...summertime.
10 comments:
The offensive line of Alabama doesnt play defense. I'll give you that if they had their o-line, we would have got 5 or 6 sacks instead of 8. But we still would have outscored them, because we walked all over their defense. There is no legitimate argument for Utah not deserving a national championship. We beat 4 teams in the top 25, including 2 in the top ten, one of which was ranked first in the country for 5 weeks. We beat the one team that beat USC. We proved we can beat high caliber teams. Its a split championship as far as Im concerned. Im sure you've already seen this, but here's what Rick Reilly had to say about it.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3815656
Alabama was overrated to begin with for the entire season. And not having an offensive line was integral to their ability to have any success on offense, and that translates to time of possession which greatly affects how effective the defense ends up being.
Okay, so they beat Alabama. I'm not that impressed. And they beat TCU, the other "Top 10" team. But who did TCU beat? BYU? Overrated the entire season and got taken apart by Arizona in their bowl game. And then Boise State, who beat nobody too except for Oregon. TCU got handled by Oklahoma, and that wasn't even when Oklahoma was rolling at the end of the season. And given all of that, TCU gave that game away with Utah. You can't deny that.
Utah beat Oregon State, who in turn had beaten USC. So? If the question were who finished with the best record, then Utah wins, no doubt. Teams sometimes have off-weeks, but that's not to say that because A>B, and B>C, so A>C. It's not that simple.
In any case, in the absence of a playoff, record is not the only consideration. Quality of opponents and style points weigh heavily. USC destroyed Ohio, which barely lost to a great Texas team. USC also tore apart Penn State, which was another highly regarded team throughout the season. In addition to all of that, 5 Pac-10 teams went to bowls, all 5 won. That's the sign of a very strong conference, something that the MWC can hardly boast. And that's just USC.
The thing that makes me lean most heavily away from crowning Utah champs was just watching the other top teams play. I watched several Utah games this year and was never overly impressed by any of their victories, with the lone exception being that Alabama victory. Even then, the outcome wasn't for sure until the 4th quarter. Florida, Oklahoma, USC all have exceptional athletes with exceptional coaches. And the level of competition for those teams is extremely high, whereas Utah is stuck with a mediocre conference and schedule. I just didn't see anything in their games that makes me conclude that they're better than some of those other top 5 teams. Sorry.
the fact that we even have to have an in-depth debate like this shows the desperate need for a playoff. And not just any playoff, it has to be a 16 team playoff for it to be done right. Also, the MWC went 6-1 against the Pac-10 in the regular season, as well as getting 5 teams in bowls and going 4-1 in those bowls with BYU being the 1 loss. Utah, TCU, Air Force, and Colorado State all won their bowl games. This season, the MWC was better than the Pac-10, no question. We deserve an auto bid into the BCS every year. Hopefully we get that in 3 years when they reevaluate the system.
No doubt about the playoff system, but I don't know if having a 16 team one is actually viable. That would require 4 weeks of additional games, and I'm not sure that could work with college.
Now you're just talking crazy. Not sure where you're getting that 6-1 figure because just looking at the Colo State schedule, they got handled by Cal 42-7. Outside of Utah beating Oregon State, was there any victory by the MWC over any of the top 5 in the Pac-10? It's hardly fair when all you're using are games like BYU killing a crappy UCLA team.
Once you get passed Utah and TCU, the rest of the teams in the MWC were very mediocre at best, with BYU being just a step above that. In the Pac-10 there are the 3 in the top 25 with Cal just falling barely outside of that.
Anyway...I'm not buying what you're selling, and vice versa. There just needs to be a playoff system.
Just for the sake of defending my figure:
UNLV beat Arizona State AT ASU.
BYU beat Washington AT Washington.
BYU beat UCLA 59-0(even coming from a Utah fan, that is one impressive score. No other team shut out UCLA this year.)
Colorado State lost to Cal.
TCU beat Stanford.
Utah beat Oregon State.
New Mexico beat Arizona(theres a top 5 in the Pac-10 win by a middle of the pack MWC team)
So thats where my 6-1 came from. And if we're comparing the 2 conferences, they both have 3 teams in the top 25, and two in the top 10. You might not agree with those rankings, but its hard to argue the MWC is not on par with the Pac-10 and other BCS conferences.
We're not even talking about the Big 10 and ACC, both of which are horrendous and had like one team in the top 25 at the end of the season, but have an auto BCS bid. Thanks for this discussion, I enjoy it!
Also, the MWC was 2-0 against the SEC, with Utah spanking Alabama, and one of our worst teams, Wyoming, beating Tennessee.
I can't hate on your Utah love. It's quite admirable actually. So I can concede that the Pac-10 and MWC might be playing on a pretty level playing field, but I still have my reservations about crowning Utah. And that's not to say that given an opportunity they couldn't beat those other top contending teams, but those arguments are undoubtedly tenuous.
Sounds like you may have argued this point before...
I do hate the auto-bid from weak conferences. That's just dumb.
there's so much going on in this discussion its almost not worth getting into.
first, the mwc went 3-2 in bowl games. air force and byu both lost.
second, i agree that we need a playoff system. although i think most people agree with that and that the system is flawed.
i dont completely agree or disagree with either person here. im still on the fence about utah being the national champions. they did go undefeated and were this any other year (how about 1984 for example), they would be the outright national champions. byu finished as the only undefeated team in 84 and was pretty much by default the national champion.
but i cant quite say that utah is the national champion because you cant honestly say they are the best team in the nation. granted, the mwc conference isnt a bad conference, but its not great either. just as good, if not better than the big east or acc. probably not better than the pac 10. we did do much better than them during the regular season, but the pac 10 mopped up on every conference during the bowl season. everyone said the pac 10 was weak, but they sure looked strong during the bowl season.
utah did look good. much better than i thought. they are a legitimately good team. i would say better than alabama. they handled alabama. but you cant honestly think that if they were in the big 12 or the sec this year that they would have been undefeated. byu and tcu arent bad, but thats not like playing texas, then texas tech, then oklahoma and oklahoma state, then missouri.
its a messed up system that wont be fixed for a few years. lame.
chris, why cant we agree on the angels? getting rid of frankie was a great move. i bet hes terrible with the mets. either way, he's not worth the heartache and all the scares. he's overrated and done.
i like dye, but for chone? not sure about that. i love chone. he's not a big bat, but i look at him as one of those players in the league that is just invaluable. one night he is at third base, then short stop, then outfield. he's fast, can bunt and drive in runs. if it was a big time bat or an all star i might feel differently, but i dont think dye is worth it. your batting order isnt gaining too much with dye.
we do agree on the redsox. i hate them. i hope they all die, just after i have a chance to visit fenway in person.
i went to spring training for the first time ever last year. it was awesome! i dont think ill be able to go this year, which is a bummer, but i really want to try and make it a yearly thing. its major league baseball in minor league parks. small crowds filled die hard baseball fans. and tickets are cheap. totally worth it. especially when utah is freezing cold.
I can't even tell you what a jones it's giving me to have so much back and forth on this sports post. If we could get enough contributors who could contribute regularly, it would be fun to have an all-sports blog.
Your comment about Fenway and the Red Sox is so funny and so true. DIE RED SOX DIE! but can I please come and watch a game from atop the green monster first? That has got to be a top 5 sports-venue-to-visit-before-I-die for every male out there.
I have plenty of love for Chone, but just look at their numbers. Dye had a similar OBP (.344 v .367), and over the last 4 years he's averaged more than 30 home runs a year. Plus the White Sox are getting about 145 games out of him a season, and Chone for whatever reason has durability issues. He's missed almost 50 games each of the last 2 years. Dye is only a couple years removed from having an MVP caliber season. We'll never get that from Chone.
In any case, the argument seems futile because the Angels GM is denying all these rumors. Please be huge for us Kendry and Brandon.
my apologies for giving Air Force a win that they didnt have in the bowl game. contributing to a sports blog would be pretty fun, I agree, as long as I dont have to be neutral! I'll always be a MWC homer at heart.
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