By request: the Wizards

Andray Blatche, 398,762 (-3.1) [FA]
Donell Taylor, 398,762 (-3.1) [FA]
Calvin Booth, 900,498 (-2.6) [FA]
Mike Hall, 398,762 (-3.1) [FA]
Jarvis Hayes, 2.1 million (-1.4) [FA]
Antawn Jamison, 9.0 million (+5.5) [FA] (has since signed a contract, I think)
Roger Mason, 719, 373 (-2.8) [FA]
Mike Ruffin, 1.0 million (-2.5) [FA]
DeShawn Stevenson, 900,498 (-2.6) [FA]
Gilbert Arenas, 10.7 milion (+7.2) [1]
Etan Thomas, 6.1 million (+2.6) [2]
Antonio Daniels, 6.0 million (+2.5) [3]
Brendan Haywood, 3.3 million (-0.2) [3]
Darius Songailia, 4.6 million (+1.1) [3]
Caron Butler, 6.0 million (+2.5) [4]

The first key number is six red numbers, meaning they technically pay six players "starting" money. On deeper look is some more complexity, which actually speaks volumes about this particular team composition. Notably, the Wizards are known for being a three-headed pig, but they have zero max contracts. I'm not sure what Jamison's contract is now, but he used to average 9 million on his contract- granted this was weighted by his rookie contract that he extended, and the past season he actually earned 12 million, but it simply means that he's not paid that much. He and Arenas combine for the bulk of the high money, but even with Arenas netting a max contract he makes considerably less than other star players. Caron Butler rounds out the top three on the team, but his contract, also, is about right. He's paid a decent amount of money for someone who's probably an all-star calibur offensive wingman, who works hard on defense but isn't really there yet defensively. All in all, the top three on this team actually make a surprisingly low amount of money for their stats...

The flip side is, of the six people in red figures, three don't start. Them's alarming numbers. First is Darius Songailia, who I keep having to remind myself exists. He battled injuries the past season, but he's a forward, he's still probably not going to start, unless the Wizards shift to a rather big setup (which is possible, mind you, except for one problem...) with Arenas, Butler at 2, Jamison and Songailia at 3/4 and a C. Except they have crap 5s so that wouldn't work that spectacularly, but eh. At this point, this is an overpay, a fairly hefty one, and it's also a contract that won't be going away anytime soon (he's their longest contract). Then Antonio Daniels, who's paid as much as Caron Butler, and Etan Thomas, who's paid more. Daniels is a streaky bench shooter. That's really about it. If you pay 6 million a year to Caron Butler and you pay 6 million a year to Daniels, there's something wrong. That being said! 82games.com says Daniels had their fourth-best plus-minus rating, so he might actually be worth it. Ginobili-like, if you will.

Etan Thomas and Brendan Haywood form a head-scratcher. The two of them are really not much better than the rotation of Elson and Oberto, but they cost almost twice as much. In particular is the salary of Thomas, whose contract is large and long, for a fairly low-impact player. That's the kind of overpayment you can't really be doing. Combined, the Wizards are paying a whopping 9.4 million per year, on average, for 48 minutes of Center-ing. Does the production feel like it's worth that much? Arenas obviously didn't think so.

The green players are one of the more interesting ones on this team. A bunch of them are great. DeShawn Stevenson provides a much needed defensive presence... at the veteran's minimum. He's going to be getting a big contract though, probably to starter money, because he's worth that much (that would give them, if you're counting, a bloated seven people in red figures). Ruffin, Hayes and Haywood are role players and they're paid as such. Ruffin probably won't be getting much more than the vet minimum raise, while Hayes, I'm not sure. The rest are all projects. I think the Wizards were one of the most active teams in regards to these test players, incidentally, as they routinely had at least four players, including Awvee Storey and Peter John Ramos on their roster whom were cycled.

Relatively speaking, though, the Wizards have a good amount of quality players. Most of their overspending isn't on fat, long contracts, but rather relatively low overspends (probably to beat out competition for the players), and they hold down the contracts of their star players, giving them a good amount of cap space and all. Grunfeld seems to know what he's doing, which is nice. They have the 23rd highest payroll in the league.

Building an NBA team: money

Random thought I had, while looking at the Spurs and the Cavs, and what the Cavs need to do to improve themselves on this year, was GMing 101: don't overpay. But ironically, that seems so much more difficult for GMs to keep to than it should, which is a shame for like, 75% of the fans in the country.

Basic math is that, there are 15 players on every team's roster at any given point, barring any extreme cases, like a guy being waived and a team not replacing him, or a team doing the 10-day contract thing and having a little pause as they try to find someone. According to insidehoops.com, the salary cap per team was 'officially $53.135 million' for the 2006-2007 season (the past one). Per average, then, every player should be making 3.54 million, if you were to have a roster filled with blank '50 pointers' to pull up EA game stats (on a scale of 1-99).

It's a bit hard to check per-year salaries for players though, and since I'm not being paid for this I'm going to be lazy and take every contract and simply divide the money by the years on it to figure out how much a player's being paid. It'll be a rough assumption, that the salary cap managers on every team is balancing the year-to-year contract so that when a bunch of people are on the hefty end of the contract, others are still on the light end. Granted, some teams utterly fail at this, but I'm going to kick office incompetence out the window.

Lets take a look at the Spurs, for example, as they've been hailed as the New England Patriots of the NBA.

Of the players hitting the market on their team this year, they had...
(Name, salary, over-under, years left)

Matt Bonner, paid 2 million (~1.5 under average) [FA]
Melvin Ely, 3.3 million (~0.2) [FA]
Mike Finley, 2.7 million (~0.8) [FA]
Jacque Vaughn, 900,498 (minimum salary for a 6-year veteran, ~2.6) [FA]
James White, 398,762 (minimum for rookie, ~3.1) [FA]
Brent Barry, 4.9 million (~1.4 above) [1]
Bruce Bowen, 3.6 million (~0.1) [1]
Tim Duncan, 17.4 million (~13.9) [1]
Francisco Elson, 3 million (~0.5) [1]
Fabricio Oberto, 2.5 million (~1.0) [1]
Beno Udrih, 1.1 million (~2.4) [1]
Jackie Butler, 2.3 million (~1.2) [2]
Manu Ginobili, 8.7 million (~4.2) [3]
Tony Parker, 7.0 million (~3.5) [4]

Five players had above-average salaries. If the number sounds familiar, it should: that's the number of players you can have on the floor at the same time. Essentially, they're paying five players enough money to be starters, and the rest money to be spot-players. But two of them don't start, you say? Logistically speaking, their only real 'mistake' was Brent Barry, whom they signed, if you remember, to be a three-point sniper. He didn't really pan out (which is why they have Finley), but the man was not inept- he regularly netted playtime, even in the Finals, as a spot shooter, which is a big plus. Ginobili's the other one, but I won't bother getting into that. Their rotation at center combined for 1.5 million under, which is incidentally the amount over that Barry and Bowen combine to. Bowen, incidentally, is paid almost like a 50-point player, but that's kind of what he is, being one-dimensional. All of the greens (sorry if you can't see the colours) combine to offset the max contract given to Tim Duncan. No one can really argue against the max contract against a player to Duncan's stature, right? :) Basically, they pay their star player a max contract, their two other studs starting money, and the rest are good, solid players given around or under the average salary on a 15-player roster, with a good balance of veteran minimum contracts and project players (Udrih, White).

I don't know what Robert Horry's contract is, by the way, so apologies for that.

Now I'll take a look at the Cavaliers, and why I feel they're sort of in the dump.

Sasha Pavlovic, 1.4 million (~2.1) [FA]
Anderson 'floptastic' Varejao, 860K (~2.6) [FA]
Daniel Gibson, 398,762 (~3.1) [1]
Ira Newble, 3 million (~0.5) [1]
David Wesley, 1.8 million (~1.7) [1]
Drew Gooden, 7.7 million (~4.2) [2]
Donyell Marshall, 5.5 million (~2.0) [2]
Damon Jones, 4.3 million (~0.7) [2]
Eric Snow, 5.0 million (~1.5) [2]
Shannon Brown, 1.3 million (~2.2) [3]
Larry Hughes, 12 million (~8.5) [3]
Zydrunas Iglauskus, 11 million (~7.5) [3]
LeBron James, 23.5 million (~20) [5]

First of all you should see the relatively large amount of red. They're paying, you've got it, SEVEN players over the 15-player average, and they generally aren't by small margins. Take a look at the players they're paying this money to, too. Drew Gooden is being paid more than Tony Parker, and he's not going anywhere for two years, unless he gets traded. Donyell Marshall makes as much as Elson and Oberto combined, and he gets less total play time than the two of them, with arguably less impact also. Damon Jones gets paid between Bowen and Barry, except he plays as much as Barry, but also plays point guard, which would entail he'd have to, you know, pass the ball, which he sucks at. He also plays the same position as Eric Snow, who makes a ton of money, who also ends up sharing positions as Larry Hughes (when healthy). That being said, the man gets benched tons because of his one-dimensional-ness, but he plays a position that doesn't get called upon to guard the best player against 99% of teams. How many monster scoring pointguards do you see in the league? Two? Baron Davis and Gilbert Arenas, that's probably around it. Oh, and Deron Williams, except he passes well too.

They're also paying Larry Hughes almost twice as much as Tony Parker, and Ilgauskus alarmingly close to Tim Duncan numbers. Oh yeah, their star player is LeBron James, who also makes a tremendous amount of money. The problem stems from the fact that they can't really get rid of these contracts, unless they trade, which would entail receiving a largely similar salary, and they'd also have to find someone dumb enough to grab these bloated salaries. Marshall, Jones and Snow in particular don't seem like they're going to attract too many offers. Snow, incidentally, might be tough for them to move because of his leadership. So they're basically paying him 5 million to be a leader, since you can assume Gibson's being groomed for that PG slot.

They have two key free agents this year, Pavlobrick and Floptastic, but they're both, ironically, two of their three cheapest players. That doesn't quite add up. They'll get the contracts of Newble and Wesley off at the end of next year, and they'll probably look forward to getting Newble's 3 million off the blocks, but that's still a fairly paltry sum they have to really "improve" their roster. They either have to be vicious scouts, extremely lucky, or they won't really improve much except their depth, by signing backups and/or projects.

What the Cavs are probably going to have to look forward to, then, is the time when Marshall/Jones and Snow have their contracts expire in... two years. Also rejoice, Cavs fans, at the fact that Gooden is going to be paid Ginobili money in two years if they want to keep him. Hughes and Z-Man's contracts aren't going anywhere, either, which means, pretty much, the Cavs already have their three-headed pig. Banking on those two and LeBron on caring them, the rest are simply role players. Oh wait, Hughes and Z-Man aren't that great. Cavs are basically paying those three TWICE AS MUCH as Parker, Manu and Duncan. Something's very wrong there. Of course, the Spurs have the luxury of saying "we're going to win, so please take one for the team and play for less," which their players do. So we'll give the Cavs a slight benefit of the doubt.

I don't know Scott Pollard's contract, for the Cavs.

Comparably speaking, I'm going to look at the LA Clippers, a team that's good but not that great, because they haven't been able to punch through the big mountain.

Jason Hart, 835,810 (~2.7) [FA]
James Singleton, 641,748 (~2.9) [FA]
Elton Brand, 13.7 million (~10.2) [1]
Sam Cassell, 6.5 (~3.0) [1]
Will Conroy, 398,762 (~3.1) [1]
Paul Davis, 398,762 (~3.1) [1]
Shaun Livingston, 3.5 million (~0.0) [1]
Corey Maggette, 7.5 million (~4.0) [1]
Quinton Ross, 0.7 million (~2.8) [1]
Aaron Williams, 1.8 million (~1.7) [1]
Yaroslav Korolev, 2.0 million (~1.5) [2]
Cuttino Mobley, 8.4 million (~4.9) [3]
Tim Thomas, 6.0 million (~2.5) [3]
Chris Kaman, 7.1 million (3.6) [5]

It's a surprisingly decent make-up, at first glance. Six red numbers, which is better than the Eastern Conference team that made the finals, and only one player over 10 million, which is Elton Brand, who's definitely worth it. Plus, he comes in fairly cheap, costing less than Tim Duncan. Arguably, this is a relative bargain, because Brand might actually be better than Duncan right now, but the man is due for a new contract (if he hadn't already gotten one over the past year), which would give him +15%, as Gilbert Arenas noted. Still a relative bargain for the impact he has. His front-court mate Kaman clocks in at 7.1 million and is locked up for the long haul also, meaning they have a stud front-court for 20 million, or slightly less than Lebron James. Not bad.

So why aren't they an elite team? Quality vs. money. They have seven players who make average or more. Two of them are point guards. Two of them are shooting guards. Their 50 year old point-guard makes at least 3 million more than he should, at least judging from last year's performance, which proves sentimentality is overrated.

Flipside is, he did help them hover while Livingston was out, and he provides leadership, so it's not completely blown money- I'd say, judging from comments that were made leading up to and after the signing, the Clippers knew what they were getting from Cassell. Livingston, given his performance, is overpaid, but that's just his rookie contract talking, so free pass there, but the money vs. the amount he plays and the impact he has when he plays suggests heavily that he's overpaid.

Now you have three players who're paid over the average- two shooting guards and a small forward. Tim Thomas is overpaid, but since he is a starting player and he's the only really reliable SF on that lineup, free pass. Maggette and Mobley? Neither of them are really in the realm of Ginobili and others, they're more to the tune of Brent Barry, except with less self-control and some character issues. They're each being overpaid by like, 3 million, which combines for six million. Not to mention at least one has to be benched, unless it's Tim Thomas being benched, in which case they're still paying at least 6 million for a bench player who's not a difference-maker, like Barbosa or Ginobili. That's why they absolutely needed to trade one.

Only one team in the NBA really "succeeds" without true depth, and that's the Phoenix Suns, who succeeded, but can't get over the playoff hump because their players run out of gas. Now look at the guys in the green. Notice anything? If anything, you should notice they're all paid rubbish, a side-effect of the two excess bench-warmers and the ever-injured point-guard, and as a result they don't offer very much productivity. Hate putting money on impact, but when you don't have money, it's very hard to grab impact players. Like I said before, you have to be extremely good at scouting dirt cheap impact labour (ala Dan Gibson), you have to be lucky (like the Spurs) or you're just pretty screwed. This fact, combined with the fact that the players the Clippers pay aren't all that great, adds up to a team that's just plainly not that good, and they won't get much better anytime soon unless they unload contracts.

Judging by the money they're paying and the expiring contracts, they essentially have to build around Brand, Mobley, Kaman and Thomas, with perhaps Livingston being re-signed, although it's a big question-mark of whether he can stay healthy or not. Is it doable? Yes. They're fortunate that the big contracts of Cassells and Maggette are expiring next year (unless they re-signed Maggette last season, I don't remember, I just remember him being in trade rumours), which means they unload a lot of cap space, meaning they can get a fresh start at building a team around those four. Still, this is going to be a lost year.

NFL Mock Draft #1 p.1-16

Oakland Raiders

JaMarcus Russell (QB)

At this point, it's really hard to see Oakland going in a different direction. I don't think they should even think about trading down, because as long as they don't screw it up, they can get a serious franchise player (Russell, Quinn or Johnson), with all three playing a marquee position a la Al Davis. Regardless of whether they keep or trade Randy Moss, I think Davis may have learnt his lesson about going with terrible quarterbacks (incidentally, people who thought Moss turns anyone into a Pro Bowl QB have been proven wrong), so I think the Raiders will go with a quarterback. I think they've invested too much in their offensive line thus far (Robert Gallery a few years ago) to really want to invest another top three pick in the line, and with a fairly good receiver corps and running corps, this is the pick. Now the question becomes either Russell or Quinn, and the best analogy here is last year, between Vince Young and Matt Leinart. Quinn is the better-tested quarterback, in my opinion, who'll have a more solid immediate impact but may never become a Peyton Manning, whereas Russell mirrors Vince Young, but with less explosiveness and more polish. I don't think you can really go wrong with Russell, then, but of course that was the case with Ryan Leaf. Raiders pick Russell, and I seriously, seriously doubt this pick'll change.

Detroit Lions

Brady Quinn (QB)

Scratch Johnson off your list, as they already signed Shaun McDonald from the Rams, and I think Matt Millen might have learnt to ease off that wide receiver pedestal. Now, there's still a 5% chance he becomes so enamoured with the talent of Johnson and goes for him, but lets assume there's an inkling of intelligence here, mmkay? They traded for George Foster from Denver, who won't immediately fix the offensive line issues, but he'll help. They replaced Dre Bly to the best of their abilities by snagging Travis Fisher from the Rams also. They signed two defensive ends, including DeWayne White from the Bucs. And they grabbed three insurance running backs in case Kevin Jones' injury takes him out. So what's left? Jon Kitna's still their starting quarterback. I think the Lions will ride the Mike Martz train and take a good, solid, intelligent quarterback in Brady Quinn, with the confidence that Martz can pull out the best in him and train him up to be their quarterback of the future. And this time, Quinn'll be a less risky pick due to his experience, the style of offence he was trained in (Charlie Weis) and because he's not a pick due to potential. They may still pick Joe Thomas, but I'd say Quinn's the bigger priority right now.

Cleveland Browns

Joe Thomas (T)

This is one pick that might be traded down. I think Phil Savage would prefer a ~8 pick to grab someone like Alan Branch, to help out with the front 3 on their defence. As it is, he's too smart to reach, and so he'll go for the value pick if he stands pat by going with Joe Thomas, which isn't really a loss at all. While their need on defensive line is greater, they also have issues with their offensive line, although last year that was due to injury. Grabbing Joe Thomas may be redundant if they believe their offensive linemen will return healthy (which they probably will), and will give them an 'over-upgrade' of sorts on that line (since they have bigger issues elsewhere), but again, it's not a terrible thing to have too much of. This'll give them better returns of Jamal Lewis (who absolutely need an offensive line in front of him) and improve the stock of the past few top-tier picks they've spent (Frye, Winslow and Edwards).

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Calvin Johnson (WR)

To be honest, the smart thing would be either to trade down or something, but this is almost a lock as Calvin Johnson. I don't think a Wide Receiver is going to change this team's fortunes at all, but having a superstar like Johnson can't hurt attendance, plus Gruden is probably wetting his pants dreaming up plays for a 6-5 4.3 player. Not really much to say here, fortunately or unfortunately, as this pick is almost a lock to happen...

Arizona Cardinals

Gaines Adams (DE)

The Cards have pressing needs at offensive line, obviously, as well as their general defence. The Cards were actually 16^th in the NFL in rushing defence, while a terrible 30^th in passing defence, which makes it clear which one they actually need more help in. I don't know how good of a run stopper Adams is, but I'm sure he'll be able to help their pass rush. I think they'd prefer to grab a linebacker or a defensive back, though, and if they can get trade offers they might entertain the thought of moving down in order to plug two holes instead of just one, since their need for Adams isn't that great.

Washington Redskins

Alan Branch (DT)

The Skins have a first round pick? They'll go defence again and grab Alan Branch, as their defence let them down last season. Gregg Williams' magic ran out with the lack of a pass rush from their line, and given how he'd like to be able to fake blitzes (instead of it being obvious he's going to have to blitz to put any pressure), Branch will be their man. This is a great pick for the Skins, as they get to solidify their biggest need with an impact player, and even if Branch doesn't fall here the likelihood is either he or Adams'll be here. The chances of this pick being traded are slim at best.

Minnesota Vikings

Jamaal Anderson (DE)
How far are the Vikings willing to reach for their number one reach? Probably not that far. As much as they need Dwayne Jarrett, I don't see them using this particular pick to reach down ~10 spots for him. Expect some massive shopping, so they can move down some. They may have a taker. As it is, we'll assume they stay, and if they do, they'll be forced to go with Jamaal Anderson, as they have four glaring needs in this order: WR, OL, DE and CB. Erasmus James is coming back this year, though, so the Vikings would seriously prefer to trade down to grab a WR. Anderson is the best 'value' pick for the Vikings right now, as they simply do not have much of a need for other positions at this draft spot...

Houston Texans

Levi Brown (T)

Years too late, the Texans finally fill one of their gaping holes at OL with Levi Brown. It's a bit of a “reach” pick in regards to Browns' value, but the lack of top-tier linemen annually as well the absolute pressing need for someone like Brown will toss him to the Texans. Not to say this is a complete reach, however, as other teams may very well have taken a flier on Brown within the next few picks anyways, but reports say he's not truly top-10 material.

Miami Dolphins

Leon Hall (CB)

The Dolphins have a lot of needs and a lot of holes to fill. They plugged one in with the human blackjack puncher... I mean Joey Porter. New head coach Cam Cameron might take a look at his players and decide that he'll roll the dice with the talent he has on offence, namely Culpepper, Chambers and Ronnie Brown, given how he can't get an offensive lineman anymore (Houston takes Brown above). The next pressing need on defence is the defensive backs, and Leon Hall makes the most sense here, as they have almost no one there right now.

Atlanta Falcons

LaRon Landry (S)
They have their pickings at Safety, which is their number one need, which bodes well for the Falcons. The question is whether they go with the polished, semi-proven Landry or rising Reggie Nelson. I think the Falcons will overlook the workout numbers and take the proven commodity in Landry, who's a better player than his brother, the starting safety for the Ravens. Not a bad defence, that.

San Francisco 49ers

Amobi Okoye
A very interesting pick that screams to get traded. The 49ers have three pressing needs: wide receiver, defensive back and defensive tackle. Of these, particularly with the release of Antonio Bryant, WR stands out the most. However, with Norv Turner no longer there, Nolan Ryan may turn back towards his forte, defence. Ted Ginn Jr. is a huge flashing pick, but I think Ryan'll go with Okoye, who they were high on anyways, in order to solidify their defense.

Buffalo Bills

Adrian Peterson (RB)
It seems like every few years the Bills draft a running back. This time they draft Adrian Peterson to replace the traded Willis McGahee. The jury is out for whether Peterson is durable enough, particularly with a power running game, but this does fill that hole quite well. Patrick Willis is also a potential replacement, given the loss of London Fletcher, as defence would be a high priority due to them also losing Nate Clements. Still, Ralph Wilson needs to fill seats, and I think AP would be a decent pick to be an attraction at the very least.

St. Louis Rams
Adam Carriker (DE/DT)

Needing to shore up their defence (as always), the Rams'll go with Carriker, whose versatility allows the Rams some freedom with their relatively thin defensive line. They also have a need at linebacker, but Willis is an ILB, and while 'Puz' would not be too much of a reach here, I think they may decide to go with the line instead. 31^st in run defence would do that to you.

Carolina Panthers

Patrick Willis (ILB)
At the very least, Willis would provide some depth for their injury-prone front-seven. But the image is that he'll pull them even further forward, solidifying their defence and needing them to require less of Dan Morgan. Given their loss of Witherspoon last year and the concern of Dan Morgan, this seems like a sure pick if Willis falls this far (as he likely will).

Pittsburgh Steelers

Darrell Revis (CB)
The loss of Joey Porter may actually signify a de-emphasis on the 3-4 for the switch to Cover 2, so despite panic attacks the Steelers have a high probability of ignoring the linebacker slot for a while. What's a problem, however, is their coverage, as has been for a while. Leon Hall is long gone, but they can still reach for Revis, given how this is a position of need. This is another trade-bait pick, as there likely isn't an immediate impact player that'll change the Steelers' fortunes, and they'd probably prefer to trade down for more picks to plug more holes. However bearing in mind that the team is just a year removed from winning the Super Bowl and they haven't lost that many players, one player like Revis may simply be the difference. We'll see. 'Puz' is an option here if they decide to fill the gap left by Porter.

Green Bay Packers

Marshawn Lynch (RB)
The loss of Ahman Green leaves them with basically no viable workhorse running back, which is a bad idea. Nothing really to say here, except that they might go with Ted Ginn Jr. instead.

Every American must read~

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601019_after_pats_birthday/

Written by Kevin Tillman. Enough said.

Winning > Morals in Miami...

Some of you may have heard by now about the UofMiami vs FIU Brawl. Some of you may have heard about the suspensions they levied out. Then the updated suspension (one whole addendum for Miami). What some of you may not have heard are the comments by the University.

Evidently, a brawl in Football that involved nearly the entire team is good for one whole game of suspension. Of course, for Miami, the next game is against Duke, so there's a good chance they'll win regardless. The next game? Not so much an easy ride, so maybe they need those players back. One game suspension it is. Miami president Donna Shalala calls the penalty fair. Now if I were you I'd be worried.

In baseball even, suspensions tend to last 3-5 games for brawls. And this is coming from baseball, which didn't even suspend people for being on steroids a few years ago! Now, you might be thinking (although misguidedly), heck, those guys are adults, they're professionals, they're supposed to be able to handle it yada yada yada. Yeah, except when Albert Haynesworth stomped on Gurode's face a week ago the five-game suspension levied against him was considered outrageously short. He might be out of a job now because of it (the Titans are possibly going to cut ties) and if he does end up being cut, there's a decent chance he won't even find another job in the NFL.

Apparently at the University of Miami, stomping on someone is good for a one-game suspension (reports point to at least one player having done so, although apparently not quite as effectively as Haynesworth, which sort of means something, and yet doesn't really, as if someone shoots at you and misses with a gun you're not going to want the punishment to rest on whether he hit you or not). The claim is that 'standards have been set' over there, but it looks like some eerie precedent of "hey you, reserve lineman, sitting on the end of the bench, come over here, son. I want a word with you." Followed by "I'm putting you in the game... the next time the runningback comes near you, beat the living daylights out of him. Don't worry we'll only suspend you for one game."

Wonder how many teams are going to want to play Miami next year after all the stuff they've done this year. FIU's not much better, but at least they dismissed players...

Alfonso Soriano (MLB)

(20:19:26) HeionSatsuKenshi: this is a disaster for the nats
(20:19:43) zhangshunyu7: huh?
(20:19:47) HeionSatsuKenshi: soriano
(20:19:54) zhangshunyu7: isnt he playing?
(20:19:58) HeionSatsuKenshi: so?
(20:20:00) HeionSatsuKenshi: now what?
(20:20:09) HeionSatsuKenshi: the nats have soriano signed for one year
(20:20:16) HeionSatsuKenshi: after mortgaging a good chunk of their future to get him
(20:20:22) HeionSatsuKenshi: he is NOT going to resign with them
(20:20:40) zhangshunyu7: well we just have to hope hes having a contract year crazy run and then trade him before the deadline
(20:21:05) HeionSatsuKenshi: that's disastrous
(20:21:17) HeionSatsuKenshi: you obviously don't make trades expecting to trade the guy you just traded for
(20:21:23) HeionSatsuKenshi: especially when you give up someone like wilkerson
(20:22:03) HeionSatsuKenshi: that's like if i were to trade moss for TO hoping TO goes on some monstrous run so that i can trade TO

World Baseball Classic

After reading Tom Verducci's article about the WBC, I'm going to have to say I surprisingly agree. I wasn't anti-WBC to begin with, as I liked the idea, but I was rather skeptical that they could pull it off and that people would be interested. Well I been told. I've been following Japan and South Korea the whole time and it's really been a blast, and I know I'm going to miss it next year. I wish they made it an annual thing...

Excerpt from the Game of Shadows

Much talked about in Baseball is the excerpt in Sports Illustrated from Game of Shadows. Here's a link to it.