The Sports Guru

I watch alot of those cop/killer shows on Discovery or A&E and the like. You always see these guys who get accused of these awful crimes claim their innocence, but never convincingly. You know the type. I joke with the Gurette that you can usually tell if someone is guilty or innocent by the way they react to being accused. I know if I were accused of a crime that I did not commit I would raise holy-h*** trying to prove it wasn’t me. Looks like Floyd Landis is that type of guy.

Take Rafael Palmeiro for instance. He fails a drug test, goes on to claim it was from a “B12″ shot, then makes assertions that “his side of the story will be told”. A year later we are still waiting for that story. If I were innocent I would be screaming it everyday, granting interviews to everyone, etc. Not Palmeiro, who has faded into oblivion, hoping that in 4 years people will forget and still elect him into the Baseball Hall-of-Fame.

Not Landis, however, who knows he is at the cusp of losing everything he has worked for his whole life. Cycling, unlike every other sport in the world, convicts and punishes before you get a chance to defend yourself. Even Palmeiro went throuogh his entire appeal process with an arbitraitor before the suspension was handed down. Not cycling, where newspapers across the globe are portraying Landis as a cheater. The French must be loving this, seeing as they have been trying to nail Lance Armstrong for a decade. They had to have been pissed that another American won “their” race, and one with a degenerative hip no less.

To his credit, Landis isn’t taking any of this lying down. In a Press Conference today in Spain, Landis again claimed he is dope-free and vowed to fight to clear his name. “We will explain to the world why this is not a doping case but a natural occurrence, we will request the ‘B’ sample immediately, and I will have a representative there,” Landis said. He said the result would be made public as soon as it was known.

Bravo Landis. I was initially skeptical of all of this, knowing how incredibly dirty this so-called sport is. But the more Landis sticks his nose out and claims he is drug free, the more interviews he does, the more press conferences he holds, the more I am changing my opinion of him. Not becuase I know the medical reasons why Landis may or may not have high testosterone, just simply becuase Landis is ACTING innocent. He is acting like he was as shocked as everyone else. Palmeiro had over a month to prepare for the public outcry, to prepare his “defense”. The best he could do? Throw a teammate under the bus.

Not Floyd, he is going to go down scratching and clawing. “I would like to make absolutely clear that I am not in any doping process,” Landis said. “I ask not to be judged by anyone, much less sentenced by anyone.” The next fews weeks are going to be intriguing. I really do hope that Landis is telling the truth and he isn’t just an incredible liar. My guess is that he is not and all the hard work to show that it is “Innocent until proven guilty” will reap rewards.

An athlete who cheats does so because they don’t want to work. By working as hard to prove that he is not a cheater, Floyd Landis is showing that in fact he isn’t. Cheaters don’t work this hard.

According to THIS, the Teaxs Rangers have made the first move of the trading season by acquiring slugger Carlos Lee from Milwaukee.  On paper, if the players involved are correct, this trade seems to be a good one for the Brewers.  Everyone loves Kevin Mench, and despite his struggles Francisco Cordero is a sold arm out of the bullpen.

I imagine this officially checks the Brewers off as sellers at the deadline and the Rangers as buyers.  How realisitc a shot the Rnagers have, I don’t know.  But the message to the fans is a good one, that we are going for it.  Something that Indians management has failed to do.  Nothing is guarunteed, so you have got to go for it when you have the chance.  Kudos to the Rangers for giving a little back to their fans.

Projected Record
4-12

Projected Schedule W/L
Seattle           (L)
@Chicago     (L)
Green Bay     (L)
@St. Louis    (L)
@Minnesota(L)
Buffalo           (L)
@NY Jets       (L)
Atlanta           (L)
San Francisco(W)
@Arizona       (L)
Miami            (W)
@New England(L)
 Minnesota     (W)
@Green Bay   (L)
Chicago           (W)
@Dallas          (L)

Another year, another new coach in Detroit.  This time I think they got it right in hiring Rob Marinelli, a defensive task master, to get the ship righted in Motown.  After years of having coaches that let the inmates run the asylum, Marinelli will come in a regain control, though it will take time and there will be some bumps along the way.  Anytime you are trying to change a culture of lose it is going to take time.  As my game-by-game illustrates I think it is going to be a tough early road for the Lions.  By the end of the campaign, however, I think you will start to see some flashes of the disciplined team Marinelli is going to expect.

 Team Strengths – The last three years the Lions used 1^st Round picks on Receivers and so far none of them have panned out.  This should be a strength for this team, and it still may be when all is said and done.  Mike Williams, Charles Rogers and Roy Williams don’t have the Joey Harrington excuse anymore as the Lions sent him packing to Miami.  On the other side of the ball, defense is beginning to become a strength for the Lions and they further focused on the D by drafting LB Ernie Sims in the 1^st round and S Daniel Bullocks in the 2^nd.  The team is high on both and bring speed and toughness to a defense that under Tampa Bay disciple Marinelli will need.

 Team Weaknesses – Quarterback.  The Joey Harrington experiment finally ended, and to replace him the Lions brought in Jon Kitna and Josh McCown.  Kitna has been serviceable throughout his career, but is still prone to make the big mistake at the worst time.  He had a real chance to shine after Carson Palmer was hurt in the playoffs and fell flat.  McCown has a lot of the tools, but makes too made too many mistakes in Arizona and couldn’t survive in a QB-friendly system with Denny Green.  The O-Line is suspect as well, and they need to get something from the running game, where Kevin Jones took a step backward last season.  3^rd Round Pick Brian Calhoun is a solid backup and should see plenty of action to keep Jones fresh.

 Best Case Scenario – Whoever wins the QB battle(my guess Kitna) has a great season and the wideout trifecta finally sees the light and plays to their potential.  The defense plays solid, and the Lions avoid the injuries that always seem to plague them.  There are games on their schedule that are winnable and if the Lions can get to 7 wins this year would be a huge success.

 Worst Case Scenario – The Lions find out the problem wasn’t Joey Harrington and due to O-Line concerns have trouble keeping a QB healthy.  Williams, Williams and Rogers continue to underachieve and the defense can stop people.  The Lions aren’t that much better than anyone to just show up and win and will need to play hard.  As close as a 7-win season is, a 2 win season is not far behind.

My Opinion – Only Russ Grimm would have been a better choice for the job and the Steelers’ Super Bowl run probably kept that from happening.  Matt Millen did well to get Marinelli, however, who comes in with the same intensity and no-nonsense attitude that Grimm has.  There are a lot of toss-up games on the schedule, and I think the NFC North is the worst division in football.  The Lions will struggle with a new coaching staff and OC Mike Martz’s intricate schemes, but by the end of the season things will be looking up in Detroit.