Cardinals and Steelers chat with Will

So here's part of a chat that Will and I had yesterday. We were talking fantasy football, and it turned into talking about the Cardinals and Steelers this year and what they have to do to win. We also effectively (in my opinion) disprove the theory that Mike Wallace of the Steelers is going to be some sort of breakout player this year. I hope you enjoy the chat, maybe we'll post them a little more often.

me: I'm not sure that the cards are going to stop throwing the ball anytime soon.

2:26 PM But at the same time, don't you see the offense changing at least a little bit?

  As in a litttle more running?

 William: Well at least when they throw it, its not gonna be deep bombs to Fitz, its gonna be slants etc.

  You obviously havent read my FPL posts.

 me: no, just our blog posts, haha.

 William: I dont know what they will do, but here is what they HAVE to do to stay competitive:

 me: I did read the one that collinsworth quoted though.

2:27 PM William: Run the ball effectively, reduce the number of 3rd an longs and make Leinart a game manager as opposed to putting him in situations where he must win the game - he will not.

  They need to bring that run/pass balance back closer to 40/60 or 50/50

  instead of 30/70, which is right where they've been for a while.

 me: So that translates to run the ball more, give leinart half the field to look at when he passes, and keep the passing game to short outs and hitches. With ALOT of TE mixed in.

  

 William: YES

2:29 PM me: So how is the TE not the MVP (for the Cardinals)?

  I just look at Kevin Kolb throwing to Brent Celek as the prime example.

 William: The flip side of this, is their D has to be stingy because they won't hang points up like they used to. Having 21 pt first half deficits must be a thing of the past.

  Well - I think you will see greater TE production, but they have so many that they use and none of them have Celek, Witten, or Owens type hands.

2:30 PM me: Right, because noodle armed rainmakers to Fitzgerald aren't going to win ball games.

 William: exactly

  haha

 me: Another thing, I don't understand how Mike Wallace is going to be this great sleeper.

2:31 PM He caught alot of long balls because everyone keyed on Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes... with Santonio being the supposed threat for the long ball.

 William: Well he would be, if the womanizer was huckin' the ball.

 me: He just surprised people/teams last year and will probably get more attention this year.

 William: That's true.

  He also wasnt even that productive last year!

  I had him in my league

 me: Now there's no Santonio and he doesn't have triple chin Ben throwing to him for the first 4-6 games

 William: He was OK at best.

2:32 PM me: Right, and with Mendenhall looking GOOD, the Steelers should be able to run more

  and use the pass as more of a change of pace than anything else.

 William: Assuming that the line holds.

 me: Exactly, losing the right tackle means less time in the pocket.

  

2:33 PM William: Well that, and they need to get back to winning games with defense.

 me: So there, we just talked people out of the big ticket sleeper in fantasy football (Mike Wallace).

Salary Caps

You will probably figure out very quickly that I may or may not be a little long winded in my posts. I guess I go by quantity over quality with the attitude that if I write enough, I'll eventually come to a valid point...

So, all this talk about who will win the LeBron sweepstakes, why the money the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Phillies and Mets throw at players makes baseball too predictable (although, with the Mets and Cubs throwing awful money after bad, they are trying their best to disprove this), hockey players signing very long contracts to spread out the big pay day – to allow more high priced talent to follow - and the looming uncapped NFL season got me thinking about the state of major sports and their salary caps. It’s hard to ignore the differences and the issues that each salary structure brings. There are some that I feel work better than others (I don’t think baseball works, whereas the NFL has been doing a good job for the most part), and I would like to take a look at each of them individually – in a six part column. But wait! Don’t stop reading yet. Four of the entries will be talking about each individual sports league. If there is a league you don’t watch or care about (example: the NBA), simply skip that entry. You won’t miss anything because each of the four “body” entries will be independent of each other.

I will start off with the NBA, to talk about what I think is the most glaring issue at the moment in any major sport (aside from that whole lock-out thing in the NFL that’s coming at us faster than Chris Johnson and his 4.2 speed) – the courtship of King James. Aside from the terrible moniker – that I probably stole from someone – this is a big deal that I think is going to be an even bigger deal to the NBA when all is said and done.  Also, I will wonder aloud to anyone that will listen about why GM’s fall all over themselves to sign bad players to massive contracts that will end up crippling to the team.

Next, I’ll talk about the NFL, and it’s issues that will be addressed by a lockout in the near future. I know it’s not for sure that there will be a lockout, but I don’t see how it can be avoided since neither side has blinked and it seems like the owners want waaaaay to much. Big issues include how many teams want nothing to do with high draft picks (large investment in an unproven commodity), how do you pay for new stadiums that owners demand seemingly much too often, and how do you keep both sides happy with incentive laden contracts that sometimes cause both players and staff (coaches, GM’s, trainers, etc.) to make decisions that don’t necessarily help the team - all in the name of making/saving money.

The MLB. Most of you are probably rolling your eyes and praying that I don’t spend the whole time talking about the Red Sox and Yankees (since I’m sure most baseball fans would rather watch an endless loop of Royals vs. Pirates with Paris Hilton as the commentator than read one more thing about the Yankees and Red Sox), but hear me out. Baseball, unlike the other three major sporting leagues, allows the rich to stay rich instead of completely sharing revenue. This unfortunately leads to runaway trains like the Yankees since America loves a winner and there are much to many fair-weather fans and front-runners (don’t believe me? How many Cowboys/Steelers, Yankees/Red Sox, Lakers/Celtics, and Red Wings/Penguins fans do you know? I know more than a few, and these people are sick in the head). I’d like to talk about how baseball could actually be fairer than the other leagues since it allows the owners to spend as much as they want to create a winner, but since not all cities and fan-bases are created equal, this is near impossible.

Finally, I’ll take a look at hockey. A sport that only recently found their way out of a lock-out and is still trying to dig their way out of being more than just a quirky sideshow. This could be done simply by allowing ESPN to absorb them like they do every other sporting even worth watching – and some that aren’t – but that’s a story for another day. The real problem seen in the NHL is the length of contracts. High priced players are signed by teams to exceedingly long contracts in order to spread out the GDP of a second world country that’s being paid to them as much as possible in order to lessen the hit to the salary cap in any given year. This is a new development that will be interesting in about five years to see what it does to the league. Will it be like the NBA where teams are looking to dump terrible contract and collect expiring ones, or will it work out with the majority of players keeping their skills up enough to marginally justify their price tag?

In the end, I hope to at least begin a discussion by pointing out some interesting, frustrating, and great aspects about each of the major four sports leagues and their finances.

America and Hot Dogs

“Sure, I’ve been called a xenophobe, but the truth is, I’m not. I honestly just feel that America’s the best country and all the other countries aren’t as good. That used to be called patriotism.” – Kenny Powers

Our founding fathers prepared the soil on which this dream called freedom was cultivated. To paraphrase the Constitution, here are a couple of the building blocks of America:

1. Freedom
2. Being sweet
3. Kicking ass
4. Overeating

Sure, the US is the fattest country in the world. Who cares? We LOVE food. We love food so much that we honor our nation’s independence with a contest of who can consume the most hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. Then, after we are through watching human greatness personified, we turn to our very own grills, consume copious amounts of a domestic beer (Im told that nothing is more American than a Blue Ribbon winner), and then watch things explode.

BOOM! Welcome to America, land of the free!



According to Wikipedia, the only truly accredited source of human intelligence, The Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest has occurred almost annually since 1916. “According to legend, on July 4, 1916 four immigrants had a hot dog eating contest at Nathan's Famous stand on Coney Island to settle an argument about who was the most patriotic.” Imagine that. Just prior to World War I, four men from less superior lands adopted the way of OUR land and expressed their love for this fair country by gorging themselves on processed meat products.

Unfortunately, not all great ideas are appreciated in their time and this event trickled into relative obscurity until one Independence day, when a man by the name of Takeru Kobayashi doubled the previous world record by eating 50 hot dogs and buns. Slight problem here: only Americans win American contests on Independence Day. That’s non-negotiable. Kobayashi had a vice grip on the Mustard Belt for six long years. But in 2007, a true American hero by the name of Joseph Christian “Jaws” Chestnut emerged from relative obscurity to consume 66 hot dogs and buns, shock the world and restore American glory. The Mustard Belt was once again rested safely on US soil!




As with World War II, the Japanese struck first, but ultimately found out that the pimp hand of Uncle Sam is oh so strong.



Our hero has since defended the crown two consecutive years in a row, including an epic “Eat off” overtime victory in 2008 and a new world record of 68 hot dogs and buns in 2009. With Kobayashi holding out of the competition for contractual reasons (aka whining like KOBE–yashi), you can put another tally in the win column for the Red, White, and Blue.

So tomorrow, grab an ice cold American beer and allow yourself an hour to bask in the glory of the Stars and Stripes as you witness a young man push himself to the limit and perform the kind of overeating that puts Oprah and Kirstie Alley to shame.