Best Manager (ESPY)

Tough pick today!

The Nominee's

Ozzie Guillen -- Chicago White Sox
Bill Cowher -- Pittsburgh Steelers
Billy Donovan -- Florida NCAA hoops
Jim Larronaga -- George Mason NCAA hoops
Pat Riley -- NBA hoops

Pat's the first to go in my mind. I don't respect the way he took over the team this past season and therefore throw him out.
Ozzie's personality is fresh air to me. I love his ability to bring in the Latin community from just being hired players to being in management. However, he's too quick to speak too often and doesn't come across as someone i could respect.
Billy Donovan -- Great job in tournament. Can't argue against him just don't 'feel' it when talking about UF hoops.
Jim Larronaga -- I have deep love for CAA hoops (UR was there when i was in college and now ODU plays in the conference somewhat centered around the non ACC D1 schools in virginia). His coaching job in the NCAA tourny was nothing short of incredible. My problem is they shouldn't have been there. That's not his fault but they took Hofstra's spot in the tournament and played a player (after a 1game suspension) that blatently punched another dude in the groin on the court.
Bill Cowher gets my vote. THis is somewhat a lifetime acheivement award and somewhat gutteral Yell from ame to all NFL teams to notice the power behind STABILITY in management. Hearing Hines Ward talk about his hold out and how Cowher was a main reason he wanted to rejoin the team while I was living through the T.O. soap opera said it all. Cowher bleeds yellow and black. Cowher also hurried back home after the SUPERBOWL to see his daughters compete in atheltics. Great game planning to beat teams that were 'better' on his run.

Team of the Year (ESPY)

This is one of the hardest categories for me...

nominee's

Lady Terrapins (Maryland women's hoops) -- National Champs with 2 frosh, 2 soph coming out of the incredibly tough ACC.
Chicago White Sox -- MLB World Series Champs. Wire to wire greatness. First championship in almost a century
Texas Football -- Brought down the mighty Trojans on way to NCAA championship
Pittsburgh Steelers -- Improbable playoff run to beat the Colts on way to winning superbowl.
Miami Heat -- Coaching change, aging superstar, emerging young star, NBA champs.

I throw out the Lady Terrapins and Steelers first. Terrapins did not actually win the ACC and just had a good tournament. Likewise the Steelers only had the best playoff run as they did not come in first during the season. These teams had great moments at the end but were not great all season.

I give the Heat a pass on that test because regular season NBA is so meaningless. However, the Heat do get marked off for very favorable officiating in the finals. THe coaching change was also handled poorly. I'm hunting here because all teams deserve it but that's enough to eliminate them.

Both the White Sox and Longhorns were great from beginning to end. Both came as somewhat of a surprise. UT has the benefit of an entertaining last final game while the White Sox kind of coasted through the series. However, I'm giving it to...

Chicago White Sox -- being 2 years removed from the Red Sox championship I think we've become accustomed to the end of long curses. I don't think it can be understated just how long the futility of the White Sox had been evident. A futility not just of losing but also of losing fans/publicity in their own city. The Sox did it the 'right' way with pitching and not just outslugging the others. Scary thing is they are better this year!

Female Athlete of the Year

I don't think it was a great year for the women this year...(a surprise considering winter olympics usually bring on the women nominee's big time).

The nominee's:
Annika Sorenstam -- Golf
Hannah Teter -- Snowboarding
Sheryl Swoops -- Basketball
Melanie Trexel -- Drag Racign

Ok...so i have to eliminate Ms. Trexel for a variety of reasons. I don't know her and even if i thought of considering driving a sport I certainly don't see racing a straight line a sport.

Hannah Teter competes in a US created sport so any world accolades come with a giant asterisk.

Now I have to choose between the two. I don't follow golf but my understanding is that while Annika is the best in the world she wasn't quite the uber-dominant golfer that she was the year previous.

Sheryl will get my vote this year. Some of this is for her body of work but she did win her 3rd league MVP and led the WNBA in scoring.

(i miss mia, julie, brandy, Brianna & Tiffany)

Best Male Athlete

I think this category is tough this year as none of the atheletes really WOW'd me.

The nominee's are:
Lance Armstrong
Vince Young
Shaun Alexander
Lebron James
Albert Pujols

It's my opinion that this is Lance's award from the get-go. He's hosting the celebration on ESPN. He's the only individual athlete of the bunch which predisposes one to be the best male athlete (the others achievements can be offset by teamates).

I, for one, can't stand Lance. Sorry. I know it's probably unamerican of me. He just comes off as so very conceited. I also think people are quicker to condemn barry bonds and mark mcgwire than they are Lance Armstrong.

Shaun is a RB and i rarely consider RB's great. I figure they are product's of offensive lines.

SO it's Albert, Lebron or Vince. Albert put up crazy number but couldn't win the title. He also had a decent team around him. Lebron was the sole reason Cleveland made such a dramatic swing in performance this year. But I'm going with...

Vince Young. He seemed to be the main reason Texas took home the championship. Many games were won by him alone. I think that is what i'm looking for in male athlete of the year.

ESPY's (Best Play)

Ok so while we gear up for football I'll stay away form more baseball and soccer analysis as so many of you hate the sports.

What better thing for a sport's addict than the awards show for sports. IT's a way to combine reality (based on real stats) with fantasy( how do you compare an olympic snowboarder with an NFL QB)? The awards are July 17 so until then I will average a prediction a day.

Today i do Best Play:
1.) Nathan Vashem -- Longest NFL play. He returned a missed field goal 106 yards. He used blockers amazingly and was a great play. (I barely remember it)

2.) Tyrone Prothro -- Alabama Catch. Won the game with this catch over LSU. He jumped up, reached OVER the LSU defender and ripped the ball out of the other players hands. (Saw tape of it incessently)

3.) David Wright -- one handed catch. He was running away from better and one handed a catch. (BIAS alert -- he's a local hero in hampton roads...I never saw this play on tape or live)

4.) Aaron Rowand -- Recklessly crashed into outfield wall to make catch for Phillies. Play came days after he noted to team how dangerous wall was. Broke his nose and went on DL for the catch. (BIAS alert -- my favorite baseball team)

5.) Reggie Bush -- Punt return. Solidified Reggie's legendary status this year against Washington as he pinballed his way down field on a punt return.

MY CHOICE -- Tyrone Prothro. . To me to win a best play it should be spectacular and have meaning in the game. David Wright, Reggie Bush and Nathan Vashem's were all spectacular but I don't believe they had have overly significant game meaning (I may be wrong). Aaron Rowands catch meant a lot in the game and started a winning streak for the Phils but the outfield wall crash is overdone. Prothro's catch i had never seen before. A guy climbing over another to make a catch out of the others hands. All this to win a game. That gets my vote.

Brett Myers and Interleague

Fantasy -- A quick rule for me in fantasy baseball is to stay away from Philadelphia Phillies pitchers. I'm predisposed to picking them as they are my favorite team. However, they play in a ridiculous hitters park and aren't strong across the board. My one exception is always my favorite pithers in teh bigs Bret Myers. So once again, I have him on my fantasy baseball team.
Friday morning Bret was arested for punching his wife in the face in public. Bret was set to start today against the Red Sox. I am choosing to sit him on the bench on my fantasy team and give up any stats he might acrue today. I don't know how long he'll stay on my bench. I also don't know if I'll feel bad if he's proven to be innocent.
I just know my philsosophy is that fantasy sports, as a hobby, is intrinsically supposed to be enjoyable. My enjoyment does come from winning but even deeper 'liking' the guys on my team. To play a guy that was just arrested for domestic abuse kills the second enjoyment factor.

REALITY -- Interleague play is 10 years old this year. Yet another change to a tradition done with the desire to build revenue. We can't turn back the clock but I haven't discovered a single good thing about interleague play.

Bad calls effecting the real and the fantasy

REALITY -- Two major sports had ref issues this weekend. The U.S. soccer team played a match that was marred by horrible officiating. The NBA finals last night had a play where the coach is also claiming the officiating blew it. It lead me to try to find the areas in sports where the ref's have taken over the game.

MLB -- This is too easy. Umps regularly have their 'own' strike zone that can be highly subjective. The two ump issues i recall prominantly is the blown call in the Cardinal v. Royals world series in the 80's. Also the Jeffrey Maeir (sp?) home run in the baltimore yankee series in the 90's.

NFL -- This playoffs seemed marred by dubious officiating. Seahawk fans still feel they got taken in the Super Bowl on the TD run by Big Ben. The Colt v. Steeler game also had some calls (palamaou's INT) that dominated the post game discussion

NBA -- Jordon rules anyone? What other league has the talk of "the fix" more than the NBA.

NHL -- I think of Brett Hull's goal in the crease in the 90's. Swallowing whistles in the finals. Because of power plays an overly officiated hockey game can be very detremental.

FIFA -- Saturday's game says it all.

Gymnastics/Diving/any other 'judged sport -- French judges anyone?

Tennis -- in/out?

Golf -- This is the one i couldn't come up wit anything. I'm no golfer and don't watch much of it so i may be missing something.

FANTASY -- I lost my chance at a fantasy championship this last year on a dubious call by referee's. In my playoff game I lost by only a few points and my oponent had Steve Smith. Steve Smith went airborn before the goal line and tried to reach the ball out to score a TD. This is the rule i call a Mike Vick rule because he's great at getting the ball to 'break the plane' of the endzone while in mid-air out of bounds. Was Steve in? Was it a TD? The debate raged. The ref decided he was and there went my Fantasy Football championship.

Football Helmets and Franchis Opportunity

REALITY -- I'm late on this story as the end of school took over. Let me opine about Big Ben's Bad Bike.
For those who don't know the Pittsburgh Steeler Quarterback got himself into a motorcycle wreck while not wearing a helmet. It doesn't look like he'll lose any playing time so the whole sports argument is steeped in what COULD have happened. This isn't sports first interaction with motorcylces as a top 10 draft pick a few years back screwed himself up to the point of not being able to play from a bike wreck. A dodger second basemen spent time on the DL for the same reason.
I am just as frustrated as the next person. How can someone so rich doing the job that so many of us would give anything to do be so reckless. Doesn't the team deserve more than that? I wanted them to sue Ben for his entire signing bonus and this year's salary.
Upon further review, however, I don't think they can, or should, do a thing. Can my school system take money from me if i do something promoting lack of intelligence (like watching american idol on tv?)? Can a coke executive have money taken from them if they are caught going to a dallas cowboys game (highly sponsored by Pepsi)?
It's just our idolotary of sport's atheletes that lets us say it's not fair they could do something dumb. Yes, sports fans, athletes are allowed to be stupid. They are paid much more than most of us for playing a kid's game but they still deserve fairness.
Ben, stop riding your bike without a helmet (shoot stop riding your bike entirely). But Steelers be concernced for his well being and let it go.

FANTASY -- I comission a fantasy football league that is this side of ridiculous in it's form. We have the normal head to head league of 10 teams. However, we also add in the banter of ultra-competitive owners, seasonal awards, weekly power point recaps and predictions, a record book across the seasons. Obsessed? Probably (i do have a sport's blog don't I). But we are in need of a few new owners. If you'd be interested in talking about it. Please leet me know.

Czech Nightmare and Summer Months.

REALITY -- Rough day for the US. My fears going into the cup were confirmed. I had watched a few US matches over the last month and felt we had taken great strides offensively and were stronger up front than before. However, it seemed our defense had taken some significant steps backward. This seemed all to apparant in the loss this afternoon. The Czech didn't have a lot of strong possessions but the few they had were potent. On the flip side, we had many possessions and decent setups. However, once with the lead the Czech defense closed in well and we never saw a clear shot on net within shouting distance of the 18. Our only 'real' chances were shots like Reyna's that hit the post in the first half. We move on to Italy on Saturday. Oi Vei!
My favorite match to this point has been the Swedish v. Trinidad match Saturday afternoon. THe cynic comes with the same quotes of 0-0 ties that you hear every soccer discussion. To which i saw possessions in the first minute mattered as much as possessions in the 90th minute leaving hte entire game crucial. Unlike NBA or NCAA hoops where what happens up to the last five minutes is only important in that neither team starts to put a lead together of more than 10.

FANTASY -- With summer comes the reality check for many a fantasy baseball player. Micromanagers (the antithesis of strong fantasy baseball managers) now get to see how their trades and waiver picks on hot spring players show up in the summer months. The balls start to fly out of the park on your ace pitchers. Your Detroit Tigers remember that they are Detroit Tigers. Your mind starts to drift to the real fantasy jewel, the NFL, as training camps open in August. It's a great time for good fantasy baseball owners to make shrewd moves and stay consistent to sneak up and steal a league or two from the early braggadocious in the division.

NHL Playoffs & McNair

REALITY -- We've all seen the numbers. NHL is once again getting obliterated in it's T.V. ratings. Interest has dropped off the face of the earth. I'm fairly certain that if the NHL hasn't been able to interest me (who would watch competitive snail smushing if it existed) then it's really lost any ability to win over anyone outside of Canada or the city of Detroit.
Most say the downfall came with the lockout two years ago. I don't downplay the negative outcomes of that lockout but we need to realize that each of the other major sports have recovered from similar work stoppages. Fans can be forgiving. There is something more rotten in the NHL barrel.
It's my contention that the style of the game has a lot to do with it. LIke the NBA the NHL is a playoff sport. Teams kind of slowly pace their regular season to just get by. Once in a while there will be a dramatic game but mostly it's just positioning for the playoffs. (Note my fear that the NFL is risking becoming more this way if they add 2 more playoff teams as KC and others would like). Once in the playoffs, however, the NHL seems to say nothing matters but one thing: the HOT goalie.
More than any other sport i know the entire teams ability or ineptitude can be compensated by the play of a HOT or cold goalie. This is disinteresting to me as it seems to fly in the face of a team concept. the hot starter in baseball is huge (see Schil of 2 years ago) as is the hot hand in basketball (#23) but in each circumstance there was some semblance of a supporting cast.
I may be out to lunch here but it's an issue that, until corrected, will leave me treating NHL much like vanilla ice cream...sure it's nice if i'm given it but i'd never ever choose it.

FANTASY -- The implications of todays Steve McNair trade to Baltimore are significant in my mind. Baltimore has seemed to be a team that needed a QB that was at least serviceable to succeed (See Dilfer of 5 years ago). Their D is old but still on their game. They have the runner and wides to make things go. So I think Baltimore's offense will greatly improve from McNair's addition. However, even improved Baltimore's offense doesn't make me move anyone's stock off the charts, except, their RB. Billick will enjoy running behing his massive OL now that he has at least the threat of the pass. So excuse me while i pass on Steve on draft day but trade up for whoever their 1 back is.
Tennessee? Who cares as there are way too many issues there to start wondering if their QB will put up numbers.

Copa Mundial & Soriano

My name in lights: www.espnradio1310.com/TonysTales.asp?SectionID=4 it's the local ESPN radio station's fantasy baseball league. (each person picked 4 hitters in the NL and AL)


REALITY: This is not a 'you should watch soccer' or 'soccer will take over america' type post. This is just a moment where I get to look forward to a sport's spectacle that makes march madness look like a a playground pick-up game. I understand soccer is a niche sport in the US and that's fine. I just want to offer some thoughts/suggestions if you should choose to try a game on for size.
* The game is about momentum, energy. Consider it much like a game of risk. Do you bunker down in Australia, play it safe, only to hope the other attackers wear themselves thin and you have a chance for taking it at the end. Or, rather, do you try to conquer europe and show your power claiming the momentum that comes from the bonus armies you receive each round.
* U.S. has a very good squad (as evidenced form the last cup) but their chances of getting out of group (a 4 team round robin to start the tourny) are slim. They have the proverbial death group with Italy (world powerhouse smarting from a point shaving scandal) The Czech's who have one of the world's best Keepers (next to Italy's Buffin and U.S.'s Keller its a stacked group for GK). Finally the best African team is in the group. For the first time the US squad will play an offensive oriented game as their strength in is in their attack (and goalkeeping of course).
* Traditional powers reign. Again, you will see Brazil, England, Italy, Spain, France and host Germany in the final rounds.
Hope the Cup goes well and the ball bounces the US's way so they can get out of group (only to have to face brazil in the second round....gulp!)

FANTASY: I am playing fantasy World Cup but I don't have near the knowledge to compete. I'll keep you posted. My thoughts today have been around the NL only baseball league I play in. What do you do with Alfonso Soriano. Soriano is gold in the world of fantasy. He is putting up offensive numbers second only to Albert PUjols. Soriano, however, is second base eligible (note the difference between fantasy and reality). There are only 2 other second basemen that are even reliable fantasy hitters let alone the stud Alfonso is. However, Soriano is playing out a contract for a mediocre to bad baseball squad. There also happens to be a team that has a few pinstripes on their uniform in need of an extra outfielder.
You can not get value for Soriano in a NL only league. There is no trade that could be done. The only one would be Pujols and even with the injury that owner wouldn't pull the trigger. So do you take less than value for the corner of your franchise. Or risk waiting it out and losing him outright with a trade to the AL in a few weeks.
My vote. You ask for Jake Peavy, Pedro or Chris Carpenter and pull the trigger.

Monarch Football & Rookie Pitchers

REALITY -- Old Dominion University held a press conference on Thursday announcing the start of a football program (still three years away). As a new student at ODU, and as one that has really enjoyed their basketball program I am looking forward to this new addition to west Norfolk.
ODU will be joining the new CAA football league (division I-AA). The CAA was made famous this spring in the success of the George Mason Patriots on the hard court. It's a conference that's origin was in the second tier division one schools in Virginia and North Carolina. Schools that wanted to play at a division one level but weren't able to (and weren't interested in) putting the resources together that would allow them to compete with the big dogs of the ACC. During the late 90's and early 2000's though the CAA lost some important participants (east carolina and my alma mater University of Richmond). In an effort to increase revenue for this non football playing conference they quickly lost their original identiry and added teams in NYC (Hofstra) Philly (Drexel) and Atlanta (Georgia Southern).
The naysayers correctly point to the fact that I-AA football never makes money. It also may sap resources from the STRONG mid major basketball programs at ODU. I'm one that thinks there is hidden revenue that isn't charted. Current ODU alumni are distanced from their, then, commuter school ODU. Host a real homecomming and tailgate before saturday football? My guess is the larger amount of alumni returnin to campus will see the 'new' ODU (monorail and all) and open up a bigger checkbook. This may not be on the ledger for the I-AA football but it's football revenue all the same to me. The only question I have about the start will be what sweatshirt I wear the first time UR Spiders travel to Norfolk to play the Monarchs.

FANTASY -- I am currently leading my primary fantasy baseball league by a very slim margin. I did the very hard thing this week of trading away a player I also happen to root for in real life. Justin Verlander pitched for ODU and I took great pride in following his QUICK assension up the minors and to the Detroit Tigers. He's been light's out this spring and has joined the Tigers in a resurgent success. However, fantasy is fantasy and the reality is rookie pitchers are generally NOT ready for the rigors of a 162 game magor league schedule (minors play about 140 and college dramatically less). It is my guess that Justin will hit a wall at some point and either get injured or wear out letting people start hitting his fastball. Add to that the fact Detroit is playing over themselves (even though a quality team) and it was the right time to trade him for max value. Tune in in September to see how this worked out...

FANTASY to REALITY

Welcome to Fantasy to Reality.

My REAL sports addiction developed during my 7th and 8th grade years at Moorestown Middle School. As I began the awkward process of figuring out what it was to be a young man I decided that I needed to study the sports section of the local paper so that I wouldn't look odd when the other guys at lunch would talk. Little did I know that simple act of pre-teen social conformity would lead to such an addiction.

My FANTASY sports addiction developed my second year in Fredericksburg (1997). I joined a fantasy football league with some friends as a natural extention of my sport's addiction. This has developed into a deep love of mine that occupies a considerable amount of my free time.

However, as in real life fantasy and reality are very different animals and it's the downfall of many a fantasy sport's player. For instance, Michael Jordon would not be considered in the top 10 of fantasy basketball performers (his shooting percentage was way to low). Fantasy can not take into account the importance a Tom Brady (also a traditionally low scorer) brings into a game. Taking on it's own, however, Fantasy sports are fun!

This is just an attempt by yours truly to ruminate and muse on each of the two areas of the sports/entertainment arena.