The Sports Guru

There are so many things I want to write about my fingers are trembling.  Every time I look up there is another story that just begs me to dissect it.  Instead of writing 5 or 6 articles I figured I would just touch on each and give my 2 cents….

***According to this and this, Derek Jeter is branching out into the Men’s Grooming product business with the release this fall of his signature scent, Driven.  He spoke of the help his mother and sister gave him during development of the product, including the mixture of scents and design of the bottle and logo.  Let’s think about this for a minute.  We all know Jeter IS Mr. Yankee.  My thought is this takes in a little too far.  If A-Rod had come out with his own scent he’d be getting killed in the press.  Not to mention Jeter is releasing his scent through AVON, a company that claims right on their web-site to be “the company for women”.  Athlete fragrances haven’t done well in the past(i.e. Michael Jordan) and this one will probably do no better.  I can’t imagine being asked by the Gurette, “ohhhh, what cologne are you wearing?” and me responding, “I’m wearing Derek Jeter”.  Creepy.
 
***I am going to offer my services for free to every American League Manager out there.  Usually I would charge for this type of expert consultation, but I am feeling generous today.  In fact, let’s make it a “Man Law”.  Do not pitch to David Ortiz after the 1st inning, under any circumstances.  How many walk-off hits and home runs does this guy have to hit before teams realize that he might be pretty good.  The latest  example of this was last night when new Indians closer Fausto Carmona decided to “challenge” Papi with a 2-0 fastball in a 2 run game.  Oops.  Papi proceeds to hit it about 450 feet, winning the game.  How is it that Barry Bonds is hitting about .200 and teams still walk him twice a game yet Papi is leading the Majors in virtually every clutch stat possible.  I know it’s Manny Ramirez hitting behind Ortiz, but it doesn’t matter.  Ramirez might beat you, Papi WILL beat you.

***ESPN’s Jayson Stark wrote a brilliant piece dealing with Roger Clemens and the Trade Deadline that passed at 4:00 PM yesterday.  Clemens made a tough decision in May when he chose his home-town team over the team that drafted him.  I really thought there was a strong possibility of Rocket heading back to Boston to finish his career.  Roger is nostalgic, and ending his career by helping the Red Sox win another World Series would be the stuff of legend.  Was it close to happening?  As Stark puts it, the Astros and Red Sox travelled down that road, going so far as to talk names.  The conversation stopped when Astros Owner Drayton McLane ended the talk.  If what Stark says is true it proves just how selfish McLane is.  Roger deserved to go out his way.  Sure, he chose to come back to the Astros, but that’s Roger.  He feels loyalty to his hometown and to McLane.  Roger would never had demanded a trade.  Similar to Greg Maddux, Clemens would do what was better for the team and keep his mouth shut.  The Astros could have gotten 2 or 3 prospects to inject into a system void of any significant talent.  And Clemens could have finished where it started.  It would have been magical, but the greed of a billionaire got in the way.

***Speaking of the Deadline.  Can someone tell me why the Indians didn’t trade Aaron Boone to ANYONE for a bag of peanuts and tall draft?  If there is anyone wasting a spot on a roster more than Boone I haven’t found him.  Boone was a nice player in his day, but the knee injury efectively ended his career.  He has essentially been cashing paychecks and booting ground balls for the last 2 1/2 years and the Indians should have ended it.  Let’s hope that they’ll do the right thing and simply grant Boone his release and move on.

***Color me stupid for wanting to believe Floyd Landis.  According to this, it appears that a portion of the Testosterone found in his system is synthetic.  In layman’s terms, Landis was doping.  I defended Landis in this blog last week saying I believed him because he was “acting innocent”.  It is starting to appear that I was fooled.  Not again.  I am officially boycotting writing about cycling on this Blog.  I talk about sports, and cycling is a farce filled with cheats and liars.  Foll me once, shame on me, fool me twice, I kick you off my Blog.

***An interesting story here.  Jason Taylor, former Akron Zip and current Miami Dolphin is married to teammate Zach Thomas’ sister Katina.  Well it seems Katina has filed for divorce and the big topic around Dolphins camp is how it will affect the locker room.  All the major players are saying the right things(though I haven’t seen anything from Thomas), but you’d have to think it won’t be that easy.  Without knowing the reason that Mrs. Taylor is requestion the split, it is hard to imagine that Taylor and Thomas will have the same type of relationship they have shared in the past.  The last thing a team on the fringe of becoming a contender is for family strife.  This will be one to keep out “eyes” on.

Projected Record

5-11, 3rd Place NFC North

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

Four Words epitomize what I think of the Minnesota Vikings in 2006:  Brad Johnson, Starting Quarterback.  the Vikings finally parted ways with Daunte Culpepper in the wake of the “Love Boat” scandel meaning that the team has kicked  it’s best two players to the curb the last two off-seasons.  Add to that a new head coach in Brad Childress and it is safe to say we can call the current version of the Vikings a team in “transition”.  The defense being built in Minnesota is intriguing to say the least, but there are too many holes on offense for this team to make any serious run.  The NFC North is the weakest division in football, which could help the Vikings steal a couple, but like the Detroit Lions the important thing for the Vikings is to show progress as the year goes on and to figure out exactly what they are going to do at Quarterback.

Team Strengths – Defense.  The Vikings have done a great job the last couple of years to bolster what was traditionally a weakness.  Unfortunitely it came at the expense of what was one of the most explposive offenses in football just a couple years ago.  They focused on defense in the draft by grabbing Iowa linebacker Chad Greenway in the 1st Round and Texas DB Curtis Griffin in the 2nd.  Add to that the signing of S Dwight Smith who was released by the Saints on July 25 and you’ve got some talent on the defensive side of the ball.  Napoleon Harris and E.J. Henderson join Greenway to form a formidable LB corp and Darren Sharper returns to anchor the secondary.  This D looks good on paper and will need to be to make up for the deficencies on offense.

Team Weaknesses – I look at the offensive roster for the Vikings and I just don’t know where they are going to get any sort of production.  Brad Johnson did a decent job last season after the injury to Daunte Culpepper, but to be honest it was a lost season and he didn’t play particularly well against any of the good teams he faced.  After Johnson the QB situation gets even worse with names like Mike McMahon, J.T. O’Sullivan and Tavarious Jackson.  Wrap it all up with Johnson reportedly unhappy about his contract and it all equals a big problem.  It looks no better at Running Back, where Mewelde Moore will battle with Chester Taylor for carries.  Five years ago it was Randy Moss and Cris Carter at wide-out, in 2006 it will be Koren Robinson and Dez White, yikes.  New Head Coach Brad Childress has an offensive background so it will be interesting to see what falls in the Twin-Cities.

Best Case Scenario – They actually win the 5 games I think they will win.  Unlike some of the teams I have talked about, I really don’t see any way the Vikings compete in the division or for a wild-card spot.  That said, if the Vikings can find out if they have a player behind Johnson at QB, and if the Defense plays as well they should it could be a successful season.
 

Worst Case Scenario – The Vikings find ouot that they don’t have a solution at QB and the Defense underachieves.  Of all the first-time head coaches in the league I am least excited about Brad Childress.  If he turns out to be a bad fit things could get ugly very quickly.  If Brad Johnson lets his contract woes carry over to the field the Vikes are in for a long haul.  A total collapse isn’t out of the question, but the team played hard last season through all the turmoil and I have no reason to think they won’t this season.

My Opinion – In the past few years the Vikings have cleaned house from the top down.  A new owner, new GM, new coach, new QB, new receivers, new attitude.  Like any house cleaning things are likely to get worse before they get better.  Daunte Culpepper and Randy Moss were the face of the franchise and now both are gone.  Someone else is going to have to step and take on that role.  By the looks of things the Vikings would like that to be a defensive player, and instead of the circus of past years, the Vikings are trying to create an atmosphere of hard work and stability.  Minnesota is a proud football region and things are going to be tough for the loyal fans in purple.  If my feelings towards Brad Childress are right, it may not get any better any time soon.