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Michael/Male/26-30. Lives in United States/Pennsylvania/Wexford/Christopher Wren, speaks English. Spends 20% of daytime online. Uses a Fast (128k-512k) connection. And likes baseball /politics.
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United States, Pennsylvania, Wexford, Christopher Wren, English, Michael, Male, 26-30, baseball , politics.

Monday, January 10, 2005

Much to talk about... 

Let's start with ... Baseball. With Carlos Beltran inking a 7-year, $119 million deal, I’d say the off-season has come to a close. Aside from Carlos Delgado (future Baltimore Oriole?), all of the free agents are signed and the only deals will involve trades (Sammy Sosa to the Mets?)

What do I think of the Beltran deal? If he’s healthy, this is a good deal for the Mets. If he isn’t then the Mets have signed their death warrants. Deals of this magnitude make or break franchises. If Beltran isn’t 90% or better, then the Mets could be hamstrung for a long, long time. Between him and Pedro, the Mets have a lot of cash locked up in long-term deals that could come back to bite them in 2007 and 2008.

If he’s healthy, it is hard not to like the deal. Here are Beltran’s projected 2005 stats (thank-you, Bill James), along with Mike Piazza:

Beltran: .296 GPA / 120 Runs Created / 31 HR / 33 2B / 38 SB
Piazza: .288 GPA / 73 Runs Created / 22 HR / 21 2B

They could be a fearsome twosome, provided that Piazza is healthy. In terms of his career, Beltran has a bright future ahead of him. I hardly think Beltran’s presence swings the NL East to the Mets, but this makes the division an honest-to-goodness four way race for supremacy. I think the Mets need an RBI guy (Beltran is a two-hole hitter) to close the gap and I can’t see them signing Delgado, and I can’t see Sammy being the difference-maker.

Studes at THT likes the deal and has a nice write-up here.

NFL: I have to admit surprise at the way the NFL playoffs have unfolded. The road team won three of the first four games? Well, I batted .500 in week one: I got the Jets and Colts right, but the Vikings and Rams surprised me.

First, my two cents on Randy Moss: I was shocked when I watched Moss’ interview with Andrea Kramer and he criticized Mike Tice. Then I was shocked when the Vikings won. Then I was shocked and pissed off by his endzone celebration. I was reminded of a scene from Bull Durham when Nuke (Tim Robbins) complained to Crash (Kevin Costner) that he didn’t understand why he didn’t like him, Crash replied:

“Because you don't respect yourself, which is your problem. But you don't respect the game, and that's my problem.”

Randy Moss is used to having people kiss his ass and tell him how wonderful is he all of his life. When he messes up, people make excuses for him and give him second, third, fourth and sixteenth chances. At some point he needs to grow-up and realize that actions have consequences, that having an amazing vertical leap doesn’t save you from being an ignoramous whose immaturity and stupidity stain the game, disrespect the fans and shouldn’t be tolerated by the Vikings or the NFL. Randy Moss doesn’t respect himself and behaves like a spoiled seven year-old. That’s his problem. That he disrespected the fans of Green Bay and of the NFL, that should be the NFL’s problem. And no mere fine of $50,000 is sufficient here. The NFL needs to fine Moss $1 million or suspend him for regular season games. If Randy Moss can’t get it through his thick skull and into his pea-sized brain that he’s a cancer to the NFL, then they should explain it too him in the only way he'll ever know: his wallet.

Divisional round predictions: Falcons over Rams 19-17; Eagles over Vikings 34-24; Steelers over Jets 31-7; Colts over Patriots 28-27. I don’t think the Falcons are that great, but they are a better team than the Rams. As for the Stillers (I mean, Steelers), I’d be shocked – shocked – if they lost to the Jets. The Steelers are the better team by a landslide and people around here know it and fully expect them to end up in the Super Bowl. If they lose to the Jets, there will be mass suicides in Western Pennsylvania. The game of the weekend will be the Colts and Pats. I like both teams, I believe that both are well-coached (the Pats especially), but I think Manning is too hot and Brady is still going to be rattled by what happened in Miami. I think Manning will tear up the Patriots secondary (especially now that Ty Law is gone) and that the Colts will face-off with the Steelers in the battle of Armageddon on January 23rd for the Super Bowl.

The Eagles and Vikes. This will be a good game and I suspect that the entire NFL world is now pulling for the Eagles to win. I heard Sean Salisbury, ordinarily a commentator I respect, give the Vikings the edge and I wonder what he’s smoking: yesterday morning everyone on ESPN said that the Packers were a lock to win the game. Now that the Vikings won they are the ciche choice to go to the NFC title game. I don’t buy it. One, the Eagles beat the Vikings 27-16 in week two. Two, the Vikings offense is explosive, but not consistent. Consistent teams beat the Eagles: the Bucs and the Panthers both ran the ball and controlled the clock. Those are the teams the Eagles have trouble beating. The Vikings are very turn-over prone: Culpepper made few mistakes against the Packers, but the Eagles are much more aggressive on defense. They’ll pressure Culpepper, frustrate Moss and force the Vikings to cough up the ball a few times. O.K., the Eagles are without T.O., but I think this will unify the team and make them play stronger. And you never know: someone might step up and have a monster game. Westbrook might rush for 150 yards. Greg Lewis could catch a 150 yards worth of passes. Chad Lewis and L.J. Smith might shred the Vikings LBs all game long. I like the Eagles in this game and I expect them to advance to the battle of the birds in the NFC title game.

Weekend: Didn’t get to see 24, but we taped it and we’ll tape tonight as well. I hope it was good. My wife rented Garden State, which was written by, directed by and starred J.D. from Scrubs (Zach Braff). I liked the movie a lot, but my wife was disappointed. I hung out with a close friend on Sunday and he gave me an endorsement of the A&E presentation of MI-5. I watched the first season and I was impressed, but I have little-to-no time these days.

Tomorrow a post I expect everyone to have an opinion on: “Blowa: a Re-evaluation”.

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