Sports Spin Around the City

Lots of topics to touch on from an interesting weekend in the world of sports. First off, I'm declaring this a BoSox/Yankee free zone. If ESPN covered the rest of the sports landscape like they cover that series, there would be no need for other forms of entertainment. Guess what sports fans, Tiger Woods won another random tournament. I'm sorry, but in my world that is about as newsworthy as Mischa Barton looking frail or Amy Winehouse buying an 8 ball. Congrats to the guy, he's great, but I don't need a 5 minute expose on it. So for me it is on to topics meaningful to my Midwestern readers.

Patrick Kane is apparently a dumbass. But Pete he's just a kid and he made a bad decision. Screw that. I was 20 at one point too and guess what...I never punched a cabbie and took his money. Hopefully he gets his act in gear and does whatever Buffalo says is necessary to make up for being an idiot. Then when he gets back to town, Duncan Keith and Big Buff can put him in a headlock until he learns his lesson.

College football practice has officially begun and for the next three days young fast guys will look great in helmets, shirts, and shorts. Unfortunately for these freshmen, by the middle of the week they'll have to suit up in full pads and likely get trampled into a redshirt. I wish I could dispute this but the Big Ten is being properly rated. We just lack talent in football at this point. Michigan being down hurts the whole league, and Wisconsin and Purdue are two teams that are still on the downswing. Many teams have opportunities to change the perception with OSU hosting USC, Purdue going to Oregon, and Penn State facing the weakest non-conference schedule in the modern era. Many of these schools will face an improving Notre Dame squad as well, so the Big Ten will have its chances. Juice and Regis could do something special in Chambana this year, but the defense will have to be much better.

NFL Hall of Fame weekend is always spectacular. The introductions never fail to provide the excitement of the new season to come. The ceremony has become destination television for me now that some of my favorite players growing up are becoming eligible for enshrinement. Rod Woodson is probably the best all around defensive back of my lifetime for his work at corner and safety. He also made a pro bowl as a return man. Derrick Thomas took over for LT as the most feared rush linebacker in the league during the early 90s. If you doubt him, just fire up Tecmo Super Bowl with the Chiefs and watch him run wild. Bruce Smith was Strahan before Strahan. A consistent pass rusher and run defender on the edge for some great Bills teams. Randall McDaniel was the best guard in the 90s and one of the best ever. The weekend was capped last night with the preseason opener. We're all winners when the AFL jerseys come out. God I miss the Oilers. If they can bring back the damn Browns, let's bring back the Oilers. I can't wait for the Dallas Texans jerseys later in the year. Don't ever wear those referee throwbacks again though. That was an orange disaster. Great fake punt call by Jeff Fisher and some nice drives by the Titans. The Titans are still a very good team without much star power, but they can really play defense. The Bills can't block anybody, but TO will still make some plays. Vince Young's next start will be later this fall in the UFL, mark it down. He needs to go into a Tommy Maddox exile and hopefully regain his ability to play. He was brutal on every play other than the touch pass to the corner.

I saw a guy put on a Cubs jersey Saturday, then immediately trip and twist his ankle to go on the DL. Seriously though, what is with the injuries? The offense will need to step it up two notches to carry this team through the pitching issues. I still think that they'll win that division because the Cardinals just aren't that good. Somebody needs to mail a pack of Dexatrim to Geo Soto for crying out loud.

The Sox remain 3 out of first since they can't beat the Injuns. Luckily we caught the only win of the weekend on Saturday, but this team has no excuse for not hitting better. With that in mind, they will not remain in this race unless Mark Buehrle rights the ship. Danks and Floyd can't carry the entire rotation. Torres battles, but doesn't throw strikes and Contreras is done.

Fantasy Reality Check

Will somebody tell those CBS douchebags that they can't steal my fantasy sports segment. Hey Bill Cowher, go get a coaching job already! This advice will be real simple: open another webpage, go to your fantasy team, cut the big name guy on your bench that has sucked all year but was great in the 90s, and pick up Mat Latos or Derek Holland. Just do it like Mars Blackman and Johnny Kilroy told you my friends. Anybody else remember the Johnny Kilroy Upper Deck card? That was officially taking the alter egos too far. That's all the baseball advice that you need for now. If Matt Thornton is still available in your league, grab him too. He's the best left handed reliever in baseball and he strikes out everyone.

We've got four weeks left until the start of the NFL slate, so I'll be adding a segment each of the next few weeks to tackle the entire fantasy football gamut. Later today we'll begin with quarterbacks, so stay tuned good people.