Drama in Enver: The Unspoken Truth

While the Jay Cutler era is finally over in Enver, there is still a bitter taste in many a mouth over what transpired. I for one am glad I don't have to see Cutler's man bangs on ESPN anymore, and was getting even sicker of the Favre-like coverage on the matter. Since Cutler was traded to Chicago the controversy has died down. Every possible angle of what went wrong was covered, from ownership and coach secretly shopping the QB to Cutler himself not returning attempted phone calls thus spurning the trade. I waited and waited for some so-called expert to pick up on it but they never did. Before I touch on what I think happened, let's first focus on the drama itself.

First, I refer to the city of the Broncos as Enver. Needless to say, there hasn't been a "D" in Enver for years. In fact you'd have to go back to Tom Jackson and the "Orange Crush" to find defense in Denver. That was in the 70's.

When Enver blew a 3 game division lead with 3 games to go this past season, the blame fell on ex head coach Mike Shanahan. Enver replaced the head coach with Patriots Offensive Coordinator 32 year old Josh McDaniels. The youngest head coach in the NFL promtly began shopping Cutler, whom many considered the next John Elway. When word got to Cutler all hell broke loose. Cutler believed he was untradeable, and if that was the case he should have played better. 17-20 as a starter and almost as many turnovers as TD passes doesn't exactly scream John Elway. Neither does missing out on the playoffs every year Cutler has been the starter.

So when McDaniels began shopping Cutler for Matt Cassel, the QB McDaniels molded into an 11 game winner in New England when Tom Brady blew out his knee, people (unexplainably) were shocked. Cutler went into diva mode and quickly began bashing the coach and organization for "listening" to trade offers. Cutler obviously doesn't know this is a business, and definitely didn't get that memo stating "Shut up and play".

Even if we ignored both sides of the story (trade bait and diva mode) I believe Cutler and McDaniels relationship was doomed from the beginning. One man (in my opinion) can be blamed for all of this, and he is ex-coach Mike Shanahan. It's no secret Cutler was pissed when Shanahan got the ax for another dismal year, but Cutler was never going to take the blame for it. As we've learned in sports, there is always a fall guy. So please, don't insult my (or your) intelligence by believing that Shanahan wasn't the voice in Cutler's ear as a result of his firing. 

Shanahan just seems like a snake. Part of the reason I think this would never surface is because nobody really cares about Rocky Mountain sports. There is a west coast media, an east coast (bias) media, a mid west media and then there is Enver. Anything can fly under the radar in Enver because only Enver media cares about Enver sports, let alone covers it. It just seems to logical for Shanahan to whisper rumors into Cutler's head. Things like: The organization is going to re-build. The new offense will not be a run-n-gun. You can't be better than Philip Rivers without me. Or the most logical: They are shopping you around.

While all the drama was focused on Bronco ownership shopping around the next John Elway, Shanahan was lying in the weeds, stirring up controversy for the organization that just handed him a pink slip and a cardboard box. It makes to much sense for a disgruntled ex-coach to get a hold of his former players and tell them where they're at isn't the place to be. It's not like Shanahan hopes the Broncos succeed after he leaves. He wants them to suck, he wants to say "I told you so". Don't let the naysayers blow smoke up your hole. Shanahan is the reason this even became news. Don't be blind to the fact that organizations in any sport "listen" to trade offers, they would be stupid not to. Obviously the Yankees wouldn't  care for a Jeter trade, but Jay Cutler isn't a winner. 

Enjoy throwing passes to horrible receivers in the windy city. When the S hits the fan in Chicago, Shanahan will have already gotten out of Dodge. His motive wasn't to make you better, it was to make sure Enver wouldn't win upon his departure.

-P

MARCH MADNESS 2009

It's finally here.... the moment ( one shining moment?) we've been waiting for. The day even a good economy didn't want to see. Several sources predict that 1.2 billion dollars will be lost in productivity due to the majority of the nation's workforce watching "the dance." The only way this might change is because there a less people working now. Enough of the politics, here are the games...UPSET SPECIALS IN CAPS

EAST REGION

pitt, tenn, fsu, PORTLAND ST, ucla, nova, texas, duke.

pitt, florida st, villanova, duke.

pitt, duke.

East Region Winner: Pitt

Midwest Region

louisville, osu, ARIZONA, wake, west virginia, kansas, USC, mich st

louisville, wake, kansas, mich st.

louisville, kansas

Midwest Region Winner: Loisville

South Region

north carolina, lsu, W.KENTUCKY, zags, arizona st, syracuse, clemson, oklahoma

north carolina, zags, arizona st, oklahoma

north carolina, arizona st.

South Region Winner: North Carolina

West Region: 

uconn, texa&m, purdue, wash, UTAH STATE, mizzou, MARYLAND, Memphis

uconn, wash, mizzou, memphis

uconn, memphis

West Region Winner: Uconn

Final 4

Pitt over North Carolina

Louisville over Uconn

Championship Game:

Pitt 82 Louisville 77

Don't take my word for it. By Sunday this bracket will be in flames. 

THE BATTLE FOR LOS ANGELES

The economy sucks, we all know that. While we struggle to make ends meet, owners of some of the most successful sports franchises like to pretend they are to. To that, I say pathetic. There are 5 Major League baseball teams in California, but only two are relevant, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (naming rights are another story). The A's, the Bondsless Giants and the Triple-A Padres stink.

This off-season has made teams and fans alike already decide if they want to be contenders or pretenders, and the two most important teams in So Cal have clearly decided. While the Angels have chosen to rob their fans, the Dodgers are taking the high road & and earned my appreciation. Let's begin with the Doyers.

A team that was oh so close to the World Series seemed prime for a title run going into Spring Training. M.I.A was the slugger that carried them there and along the way ignited a city with a populous of over 3 million. Manny Ramirez, aka MANRAM (for the sake of my wounded shift key) was no where close to a deal. With evil-agent Scott Boras at his side, MANRAM and the Dodgers were at ends, a dark cloud was looming over LA with the thought of seeing MANRAM go to the bay and all was looking bleak. 

Dodgers owner, Frank McCourt's offers ranged from child's play to a slap in the face and neither side was about to budge. Rightfully so, fans were losing their minds. When the negotiations seemed lost, it appeared that McCourt would settle for what he had on the roster and compete in the crappy NL West, citing the economy as an excuse. For what it's worth, the value of a sports franchise is very two sided. The side everyone knows is the payrolls vs. the salary caps and estimated revenues. The estimated part is the joke. As teams tried to act like they would be losing money they forgot smart people (like my readers) know that so much CASH is brought in via parking, concessions and merchandise. CASH valued so high that it didn't leave a paper trail for taxation or the impression that a team was on the verge of financially struggling.

What was so boggling about the MANRAM negotiations was that the Dodgers were playing dumb and playing with fire. They knew MANRAM was the reason for their success, but they forgot that he pays for himself. Last season when MANRAM came to LA every home game was a sellout which meant full parking lots, more food sold, #99 jerseys and dredlocks sold and an abundance of televised game revenues including playoff shares and ticket sales. The best part? THE DODGERS DIDNT PAY ANY OF MANRAM'S 2008 SALARY. So in doing the math, the MANRAM era brought all profit to the McCourts. 

Warning: YOU DO NOT WANT AN ANGRY MANRAM.

Fast forward to today's signing. The Dodger's got lucky and the fans can collectively breathe a sigh of relief. The Dodgers now have enough time to sell those lingering season ticket holdouts, earn nationally televised games and show their fans that they plan on being contenders at any cost (although very cheap, for the best RH in baseball history). In my opinion, the Dodgers would have still been in the green if they had offered a 3yr 70 million dollar deal with a player option for a 4th year that was heavily incentive based. Regardless, they will be getting some of my money this season.

Now to a team that won't be getting my scratch this year. The Angels won 100 games last year. They made the big mid season acquisition in Mark Texieria. They also bowed out in the divisional round of the playoffs again. Every year ends the same, only to bring new hope and a prayer that Angels owner Arte Moreno will shell out the big bucks for a bat that will get them over the hump. Rejoice Halos Nation! The big signing this off season... manager Mike Scoscia. UGH! The Angels did sign an aging Bobby Abreu, but all that did was create an even bigger crowd for 3 outfield spots. The fans wanted Texeria, the Angels should have offered him the money to get it done.

With all that hasn't happened, the Angels have announced loud and clear, "We won't spend our money because we don't have to." Owners aren't fools, Moreno knows that they have to do nothing to win the AL West. With their boring brand of "Angels Baseball"(small ball) only to see it bite them in the arse every October. If there's one thing we've learned from Dane Cook it's that "THERE'S ONLY 1 OCTOBER!" Why then, year in and year out, do the Angels do this? Cause they make that money. OC's finest roll out to regular season games to drop cash, even knowing in the back of their minds that the present team can't win it all. They might as well have every parking, ticket sales, food or merchandise employee/vendor wear black ski masks. 

The roles in LA have reversed. The team in the NL will now slug it out, while the team in the AL will bunt it's way to victory. In this economy, screw it, in any economy, I want the most bang for my buck. I'm denouncing affiliations and switching to blue. TRUE BLUE. Don't say I'm jumping on the bandwagon, I'm driving it. 

The Battle for Los Angeles is over

The Truth about Notre Shame

Now that college football's recruiting season is done, and all of the over-hyped high school players have been graded, I once again cannot notice who always seems to be in the top 15 every year. Notre Dame once again has been able to land top recruits from all over the country to turn the Irish around; bringing a proud football school back to national prominence. Let's face it, there are a lot of people that love Notre Dame football. Probably greater than the number of those that hate it. No matter what their record, win or lose, Notre Dame always grabs headlines. 

This season's recruiting class for Notre Dame is ranked 14th in the country. Last year the Irish boasted the #1 ranked recruiting class with 10 of the top 150 players in the nation. In 2006 the Irish gobbled up another 10 of the top 150 including the #1 overall rated player in QB Jimmy Clausen. With all of this talent, Notre Dame should continue to be dominant in college football.

HUH?!? Are you as confused as me? So many "great" recruiting classes, so many "top" players. Notre Dame is 10-15 in the past 2 seasons. Which means they win about as often as Charlie Weis exercises. The sad thing is outside of their recent blowouts with USC, Notre Dame typically plays a schedule that could get them 9-10 wins and a possible BCS berth. If you look at Weis' era minus the success he had with Tyrone Willingham's players the Irish are awful.

Yet every year the Irish sign 5 star and 4 star players?

Enter Rivals.com and ESPNinsider. Rivals.com specializes in college football, offering scouting reports and grades on high school football players. Every year Notre Dame has players that rank high but stink in college. There are passionate ND fans all over the country. Rivals and ESPN know this. Envision a proud Irish grad walking down the street and seeing a news stand with a Rivals magazine that has Notre Dame on the cover with a headline like, "Irish Land Top Recruits!" Think he buys the magazine? Rivals, trying to sell subscriptions, knows it. By featuring Notre Dame's "prized recruiting class" they are just blowing smoke and selling mags. The rankings, I feel, are skewed for this reason alone. This sort of thing is over looked and is the reason you see Notre Dame in the pre season top 25 every year.

It really favors both sides. Magazines fly off the racks, and Notre Dame can hide their sub par seasons with excitement for the next one featuring elite talent. It's the circle of lies.

The top talent every year ends up everywhere but South Bend. I'm not alone in this observation. The notion of parity in college football is absurd. Washington finished 0-11, but USC (11-1) got the top national recruit. That's why the same teams compete for the (mythical) National Championship every year.

We now know Weis just cannot bring the top tier talent to Notre Dame that is required to be a 10 win team year in and year out. But it's really not his fault. Notre Dame has its own nose to high in the air to realize their football program isn't as desireable as it used to be. It's a cold weather school. ( So rule out kids from So Cal, Florida and Texas) The student body is predominantly white and catholic. The academic standards are to high to get players with low test scores in and list goes on and on. 

Face it Irish fans. Notre Dame isn't a football power any more. Don't be fooled by the fine print and bright colors that grace the magazines you covet. The answers are on the field.

-P