Football is done with (except for the combine and the draft and mini-camps and "voluntary" workouts) until training camp in July or August.  Hockey and basketball are in full swing.  But the sport that grabs the attention of fans everywhere right now is baseball.  Spring Training has sprung, and even fans in Kansas City, Washington, Pittsburgh and, yes, Baltimore have hope that this year is the year they break through and become the feel good Tampa Bay Rays of the 2009 season.

But through all the mess, there is still the dark, ugly cloud of steroids.  In the last week Alex Rodriguez (arguably the biggest star in the sport right now) was revealed to be one of the 104 players who tested positive for a PED in 2003 (the fact that the results of those tests were supposed to be kept private, and that part of the collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the player's union does not allow for those who DID test positive to be punished makes the release of his name and the timing of it to be more than a little fishy, but maybe next time we can delve into this with more fervor).  Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa...all have been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion without their guilt ever being proven.  Baseball has been tarnished and tainted by the steroids scandal.

Why hasn't football?

It is a valid question.  After all, it isn't like the sport is clean by any stretch.  In just the past few years a Super Bowl team and the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year have been accused or tested positive for steroids.  It seems like every year there is at least one player of note being suspended for violating the league's substance abuse policy.  And yet football is not painted with the same broad stroke of mistrust and anger aimed towards it that baseball is.  Why is that?  Well, I have a few reasons that I think explain it.

1. Football has been open about the existence of PED's being used and has tested for it for years.

Football has been testing since 1987 and has had a policy in place for disciplining players since 1989.  Baseball, on the other hand, had its head in the proverbial sand until a former player with a vendetta brought it up and forced it into the consciousness of the average sports fan.  And even then, the league moved lethargically towards an kind of policy or disciplinary action for offenders (of course, the blame for that is as much if not more with the player's union and their unwieldy amount of power than with the league, which was all but powerless to institute any policy until public opinion forced the union to change its stance).  Baseball's refusal to even acknowledge the possibility of the existence of PED's in the sport made the inevitable revelation that much bigger and more the object of scorn and derision.

2. Players are more visible in baseball.

Football is more of a team sport than baseball.  Baseball is a team sport, but it is a team sport that consists of a lot of one-on-one match ups, specifically pitcher versus hitter.  The team (except for the catcher) is only involved some of the time.  And there are a lot of closeups of players faces, which are easy to see, since the only thing on their heads is a cap.  In football there are head encompassing helmets with face masks, and many players wear visors that obscure their faces even more.  They are in big bulky pads that are underneath their uniforms, making them look bigger and not as human.  It is easier for the fan to root for the jersey number and the logo on the helmet.  In baseball you know what they look like and what shape they are, there are not all those artificial accouterments beneath the uniform.  Most any fan can pick Roger Clemens out of a lineup.  How many could pick out Rodney Harrison?  Being faceless has its advantages when it comes to public scrutiny.

3. More history means more reverence.

Who is the career home run leader?  Who's record did he beat?  Who's record did the PREVIOUS leader beat?  

There is a decent chance that you were able to name at least two of the three players (Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth - just in case you weren't sure).  

Who holds the record for most career touchdown passes?  Who did he beat to get the record?  Who had the record before HIM?

You might have gotten the current guy, since his recent string of retiring and un-retiring over the last few years has kept him at the forefront of even the most casual sports fan's mind.  the second guy is less definite, and unless you are a sports nut you might not even know who number 3 is (Brett Favre, Dan Marino, and Fran Tarkenton - just in case you weren't sure)

Baseball has been around since the 1800's, and was the most popular sport in the country for a long time.  Baseball is known for its records.  Talk to a sports fan and say these numbers...

• 56
• 714
• 4256
• .406

I could go on and on with these (DiMaggio's 56 straight games with a hit, Babe Ruth's career home run total, Pete Rose's career hit total, Ted Williams' average in 1941, the last time a player has hit .400 or better for an entire season).  There is a reverence for baseballs' statistics and the players involved with them.  It goes back to the point about the individual players in a team sport.  Especially as a hitter, it is you against the world.  And hitting is what you watch.  Defense is a reaction to the bat hitting the ball.  So those numbers mean a lot to sports fans.  Especially fans who grew up watching and living sports.  Fans who can still remember the first time they walked through that opening of the stadium, past the concession stands, and saw the field laid out before them.  The green grass, the buzz of the crowd, the sun on your face, watching batting practice, seeing your team's big bopper in the batting cage hitting ball after ball into the stands until you didn't think there was any other place the ball could go whenever he stepped up to the plate...it all adds up to a Norman Rockwell painting, but it is real life, and it is as vivid a memory to me as anything I can remember ever.  And I know I am not the only person who has that memory, no matter what stadium they went to.  There is a piece of innocence there that football doesn't have, and that lends itself to fans being more hurt when that memory becomes tainted.  And that leads us to my final point...

4. We expected better of baseball.

Football is compared to war, and in war all that matters is that you win, and damn the consequences and the costs.  Even if that cost is your honor.  A lot of the terminology is based in military terminology (George Carlin does a much better comparison than I could ever hope to do.  Read it HERE).  Football is a violent, nasty sport where the average career is a little over 3 years.  I really think that we as fans are more understanding of someone using a PED to help them get through an injury or last another year.  Football breaks you, and fans laud the big hit that knocks an opponent out and who cares what it winds up doing to the hitter OR the player laid out on the field.  A lot of fans do not understand that while baseball is not a contact sport, it will grind you up into powder, especially at the major league level.  They play 162 games.  That is twice as many games as the NHL and the NBA and 16 times as many games as the NFL.  Mentally and physically it is taxing to a level that I cannot comprehend.  There is a reason that amphetamines were set out in candy dishes in the 70's and 80's.  But still we look at MLB and see ourselves playing sandlot baseball with our buddies, a ghost man on 2nd and two fingers down always means a curveball.  Football is us as a nation of overaggressive pain junkies, getting our fix vicariously through the hits on the field so that we can stomach another week of being cooped up in the office with those annoying coworkers.  Baseball is us sitting in the stands, enjoying the game with a beverage and a buddy, or playing catch on a hot, lazy, hazy summer day until Mom calls us to come in.  We are not personally offended when Jeff Mitchell gets busted for steroids.  We are when Andy Pettitte is.

So where do we go from here?  Who knows.  I think the baseball situation is going to get worse before it gets better.  And I expect that baseball will continue to be held to a higher moral standard than football.  And I will still be a fan of both.  Just a slightly more jaded one.

By now most of you have heard about Ray Lewis and his flat out refusal to think about giving the Ravens a "hometown discount".  I am having mixed reactions to this.

First, there is Mr. Bisciotti saying he doesn't see the team using the franchise tag on Lewis, and that he expects the team to go all out in re-signing him (which effectively cuts out a major negotiating tactic from Ozzie Newsome).  Then there is Terrell Suggs saying that maybe he, Lewis, and Bart Scott could ALL give the team a hometown discount in order to stay together.  And kudos to Suggs for even contemplating having a team first mentality, when that is such a rarity in professional sports (and major college sports too, for that matter). 

Now add to that the mixed feelings of understanding that this is (barring some kind of miracle) going to be his last contract (or at least the last one with any real big money to it) and that Lewis would want to maximize the amount of money he makes mixed with the fact that he has made a LOT of money in his 13 year career and that the team and the city showed him a lot of loyalty during his legal issues of 1999-2000.  So while I can see his point, to outright deny the possibility the prospect of taking a little less in order to stay and finish his career here in front of the fans who have made him a multi-millionaire many times over is a bit of a slap in the face, at least to this fan.  One would think the psychic income would account for SOMETHING, if he really means what he says about Baltimore always being his city and how much love and respect he has for us as fans.

So where does that leave me in regards to my previous post about the teams re-signing priorities?  Honestly, if anything it moves him down below Leonhard and Neal.  And that is iffy.  Probably it doesn't move him at all, at least to me.  But at the most it would move him from 3rd to 5th.  The big question becomes would the Ravens use the franchise tag on him, even after Bisciotti said they wouldn't?  If he truly trusts Newsome to make the personnel decisions (and looking at his track record with the roster why wouldn't he?) then it could still happen (although I would rather save it for Jason Brown, as stated in the aforementioned article).  The fact of the matter is that Ray Lewis IS 33, and about to enter his 14th season of football, playing a very physically demanding position.  He is in fantastic shape.  He seems to be playing as well as he ever has.  But this is the first time he has played in all 16 regular season games since 2003, and he is not going to be able to play forever.  It is not worth taking a cap hit that would cripple this team now or in the future in order to secure his services for another 2-4 years.  Offer him a fair deal.  If he refuses, we will have to see where he winds up.  If it is Kansas City or Detroit it is all about the money and always has been, and his proclamations of wanting to win another championship will be proven to be all talk.  If it is Miami, at least it is his hometown team, and they did have a good season last year.  If it is to the Jets or the Cowboys, he is probably trying to win it all AND get the massive payday (but if my memory serves the Jets are in salary cap purgatory, at least until Brett Favre makes up his mind about playing in 2009).

All we can do now is see how it shakes out.

Okay, last time we looked at the Ravens' Unrestricted Free Agents.  One sidebar to that, and that is the Franchise Tag.  After some careful consideration by me, and going with the assumption that the Ravens can actually sign Suggs and Lewis, then Jason Brown would be a prime candidate for the Franchise Tag.  And I think the team should seriously consider it.

Now on to the other free agents.  The ones that aren't all that free.  They're more like indentured servants with an option to buy.  First, the Exclusive Rights Free Agents or EFA's).  These are the players that can be retained outright by the team as long as a qualifying offer is made.  The offer has to be either $310K, $385K, or $460K depending on their accrued service time in the league.

RB – Jalen Parmlee

TE – Scott Kuhn

DT – Kelly Talavou

LB – Edgar Jones

LB – Jameel McClain

LB – Robert McCune

S –   Darren Stone

PK – Steven Hauschka

The only ones worth giving a thought to here are Edgar Jones, Jameel McClain, and Steve Hauschka.  I think all three will be tendered.  The other ones are special teams players and have not made any impact in any games.  Except of course for Mr. Darren Stone.  He is the schmuck that got the personal foul penalty on the Ravens possession late in the 4th quarter.  The one after the Ravens had scored another touchdown to make it 16-14, then held the Steelers to a 3 and out.  And THEN taken the punt back to the 40 yard line.  With about 5 minutes left we were approximately 30-35 yards out of field goal range, with the wind at our backs.  If any one play changed the game for the Ravens, it was moving from the 40 to the 12 (if memory serves, that is where the drive wound up starting from).  A couple of plays later, trying to force it on 3rd down, Flacco threw the game icing interception.  I have the feeling he might be looking for other employment in the near future.

So that is the ones who don't really have a say.  Now for the ones who have about a half of a say, the Restricted Free Agents or RFA's)...

RB – P.J. Daniels

WR – Demetrius Williams

WR – Marcus Maxwell

TE – Quinn Sypniewski

DT – Brandon McKinney

CB – Derrick Martin

CB – Evan Oglesby

S –   Dawan Landry

P –   Sam Koch

These are players whose contracts have expired and who have less than 4 years of accrued service time. The team must tender the player with an RFA offer.  Once done, another team can sign the RFA to an RFA offer sheet for any amount or with any terms that they choose, but the Ravens then have 7 days to match that offer sheet and retain the player under the terms of that offer sheet.  There have been cases recently with RFA players being signed to contracts by other teams with poison pills in order to make the original team unable to sign the player.  Look at Steve Hutchinson for an example of this.  If the Ravens were to choose not to match the offer sheet, then they would receive compensation based on which level of RFA tender was made to the player.  In other words, if the Ravens gave Sam Koch an RFA offer equivalent to a 2nd round choice, then another team signed him and the Ravens could / would not match that other team's offer, than the Ravens would get a compensatory draft pick in the 2nd round.

As far as signing these players, I look at Koch to be the most important signing.  I know he is a punter, but he is one of the better punters in the league, and the way this team plays the field position battle is always important.  Koch is excellent at placing the ball inside the opponent's 20 yard line.  He has the ability to control his kicks a lot more precisely than the majority of punters out there, and punter's offer sheets are not cap killers.  After that, Daniels and Maxwell are pretty much expendable except for special teams play.  The rest contribute on offense and defense and I look for the team to make quality offers to all of them.

So there isn't much here to talk about.  Most of this is cut and dry stuff.  So next time we will get into the imagination game and look ahead at what the team needs and where they might get it.  Also, who on the team that IS under contract that might not be here when training camp starts.

  

And coming soon, the BSR MLB PREVIEW POST!!!!!!!  Get your peanuts and Crackerjack ready.

One step at a time...

Fineous Reese is a reader of this little site, and when I was posting stuff a couple of weeks ago, it seems he noticed, since he asked me on TSG (yes, I just hyperlinked myself.  And it didn't even hurt) where the updates were, I figured I better oblige him.

First of all, as far as the Ravens / Steelers game, the better team won.  Flacco looked like a rookie for the first time since the beginning of the season, and the team did not execute on EITHER side of the ball.  The defense did okay, but far too many times they had the Steelers in a 3rd and long situation and didn't stop them from converting.  

But the hit on McGahee was illegal as all get out.  Not only was it helmet to helmet, the defender left the ground and launched himself at McGahee while he was still in the process of turning around.  McGahee is not at fault for crouching down as he turned to run, that is what you do when you are expecting contact, you lower your shoulders and meet it straight on.  The defender couldn't adjust because he was airborne at the time, flying at McGahee like a human spear.  He should be fined at the least, and suspended would be not at all egregious punishment.

So, rant off.  Now let's look at what the Ravens need to do this offseason.  I am going to look at one thing each post for the next few weeks and months, as well as touch on the upcoming baseball season (pitchers and catchers report in a little over 2 weeks).

First and foremost, they need to look within before they look to free agency or the draft.  Here is a list of the Ravens' Unrestricted Free Agents in what I consider to be the order of importance of signing...

OC – Jason Brown

LB – Terrell Suggs

LB – Ray Lewis

FB – Lorenzo Neal

S -    Jim Leonhard

TE – Daniel Wilcox

CB – Corey Ivy

LB – Bart Scott

OT – Chad Slaughter

PK – Matt Stover

WR – Terrence Copper

QB – Kyle Boller

QB – Todd Bouman

This list is a combination of need and signability, and also cap ramifications.  I have a feeling that someone (probably Miami or Detroit) is going to make a big push to sign Jason Brown, but as long as his deal isn't a cap killer, the Ravens need to re-sign him.  He is only 24 and he anchored a much better than expected offensive line last year.  This OL has a chance to be something special for the next few years, and it would be a shame to see him go.  Now, the Ravens DO get Marshal Yanda back, and his return as a starting guard would allow the team to move Chris Chester to center.  But Brown is somewhat undersized at 6'3" and 320 lbs.  Chester is 6'3" and 305 lbs.  Both have good technique, but are susceptible to being bull rushed.  I don't want to have to keep the RB or the FB back for max protect all the time, but of the two, Brown has better technique and could easily put some more muscle on his frame without losing any of his quickness.

I put Suggs ahead of Ray Lewis for one reason.  Suggs is 26 and in the prime of his career.  He is a hybrid DE/LB who can rush the passer and drop back into coverage.  Basically, he is the game changer that Ray was back in 2000.  That is not to say that Ray is not a very good player.  But Ray is not the same player he was 9 years ago.  He couldn't be.  His position is too violent.  He has lost a step, but compensates for it with his film study and his knowledge of how the game flows.  He can read a play as well as if not better than anyone who has EVER played the game.  And that might be even more impressive than his still quite formidable physical skills.  

Of the 3 LBs that are UFA's, that leaves Bart Scott out of the loop.  Now if he (as well as Suggs and Lewis) were to subscribe to the idea that Terrell floated out to the world the other day then a lot of things could change.  But looking at it from cold, hard reality, Scott is the odd man out.  I think he signs with the Jets, or as a consolation prize to the Cowboys if their push to sign Lewis fails.  If Lewis or Suggs (or God forbid BOTH) DOES bolt and he is still available the Ravens will snatch him up pronto (unless HE decides to follow one or both of them.  All three are close friends on AND off the field, and that could help or hurt the Ravens' chances of signing them depending on how the dominoes fall).

Neal, Leonhard, and Wilcox are all vital cogs that keep the team moving, and none should blow the market open to the point that signing them isn't economically viable.  Neal is invaluable as a leader in the huddle as a safety blanket for both the RBs and for Joe Flacco.  He is a 16 year veteran who still brings the pain every time he steps on the field.  Nothing on the field surprises him, and his emergence on the team coincided with the team going on a major hot streak.  The combination of him, LeRon McClain, and Haloti Ngata on the goal line offense is nigh unbeatable.  Leonhard offers solid play in the defensive secondary as well as good hands and better than average punt and kick return ability.  Wilcox is a decent blocker, but more importantly, Todd Heap has not had a good season in a couple of years.  It could be injury and it could be that he is no longer a front line starter.  Wilcox is no Tony Gonzalez, but he will do at least as well as Heap has been doing recently, and is a better blocker and gunner on special teams.

Stover is a special case.  He is worth keeping strictly from the standpoint that kickers as a rule do not cost that much against the cap and he is a fan favorite.  The only negative I have with keeping him is that the Ravens also need to keep a kickoff / long kick specialist, and that is a valuable roster spot.  But it is worth it from the standpoint of what he means to the team and to the fans.

Boller is above Bouman only because Boller is a really good man who has been nothing but a stand up guy who took more punishment (both on and off the field) than any one man should have.  But we have 2 good QBs and he is going to want to be able to compete for a starting job, and there will probably be someone somewhere that will be willing to give him a shot (again, the two most likely culprits will be the Jets or Detroit).

Any other name is just there because they are an UFA and to keep them would add depth to the team with players familiar with the system that we run.  

Next post, I am going to look at the other players that could move, and the consequences for both the Ravens and the team that signs them if it is another team.

I posted this on a site that I like to frequent in response to a thread that quickly turned into nothing but a load of bashing Baltimore and the Ravens and everything else.  I have probably said these things before, but I felt like saying them again, just in case someone out there doesn't understand where I am coming from.

I am a longtime Baltimore sports fan. I was born and raised a Baltimore Colts fan. I was given season tickets as a Christening gift and went to every home game from 1973-1984 sitting next to my Dad, my uncle, and my grandfather. When the Colts were taken from us, I watched all three of them wipe tears from their eyes.

I watched the Rams, the Cardinals, the Oilers, and the Raiders (twice no less) move. I watched the Bengals and the Buccaneers (as well as the other aforementioned teams) use Baltimore as leverage to get the deals they wanted from other cities. I did not hear the moral outrage when these teams shuffled across the map. I did not hear the fans in the new cities being spit on and cursed to. When the Rams moved from LA to St. Louis were the fans in St. Louis immediately vilified for having the audacity of rooting for the Rams? If they were, I sure don't recall hearing anything about it.

I watched the NFL try to shove the Redskins down our throats, thinking we would start rooting for them like good little minions. We said no. We rooted for a USFL team (that moved here from Philadelphia, but no one cared about that). We rooted for a CFL team (and the NFL wouldn't let us use name "Colts" because they knew that name was valuable).

I watched this city sell out a meaningless NFL pre-season game between the Saints and the Dolphins in 93 minutes (I still have the ticket stub). I watched the NFL put a team in Charlotte and another in Jacksonville and ignore us again. I watched as the Irsays, who as a condition of the city of Baltimore dropping their lawsuit to stop the Colts from moving to Indianapolis, agreed to vote in favor of Baltimore getting an expansion team if one was to become available, vote for Jacksonville instead of Baltimore. I watched as Tagliabue told us to take the money that was set aside for an NFL stadium and go build a museum with it.

I watched this city and its fans jump through every hoop imaginable in order to get a team the right way, and I watched this city get pissed on at every opportunity by the NFL and the other teams and cities.

Do I like the way that Baltimore got back into the NFL? No, no I don't. Do I think there was any other way we would have gotten back in? No, no I don't.

But I do think we as a city and as a fan base have paid whatever dues we should have paid in the vitriol that has been heaped on us for the last 12+ years, and we have paid more than we should have paid. Where was the hatred for Indianapolis when the Colts were taken from us? What happened to the promise made by the Irsay family that if and when Baltimore got another team that we could have back the name and the colors, then watch as the Irsay's tried to commit highway robbery for STARTING the bidding at $25 million? No matter the reason that Cleveland got to keep the name and colors, the fact is that they did. The fans of the Browns don't have to go to Canton and see Otto Graham listed as being a Baltimore Brown. We have to see Jim Parker listed as an Indianapolis Colt. And no matter WHO you root for, that sucks.

I could go on for another 9 or 10 paragraphs on this, but it doesn't matter. The minds have been made up long before reading this are not going to change. The Baltimore Ravens are going to be the team that everyone else likes to shiat on to make themselves feel better. I have to shake my head at it and sigh, because there is no longer any other way to react to it. I cannot keep getting mad at all the hate, I just have to shrug my shoulders. So go on hating us and cursing us and spitting at / on us if it makes you feel better. We're pretty much used to it by now.

Win or lose tomorrow, I will still be a Baltimore Ravens fan on Monday. If you don't like it, go fark yourself.

Okay, enough analysis.  It is time to get it on like Donkey Kong.  If Elmer Fudd was doing play by play for this game, he would be telling us all day about the Wavens' defense bwinging the Puwple Wain down on the Steewers, with Way Wewis making sacks and Tewwell Suggs with his one awmed sacks.  

And this time Hines Ward will be kissing his cousin, because the Steelers are going to stay home two weeks from now, while the Ravens are going back to Tampa.

I'm going to go with my heart on this one.  Final score...

Ravens 24

Steelers 13

Come back Monday for the post game analysis.

So it comes down to this...

A tad less than 3 days away from the big game (not to be confused with The Big Game).  Things are becoming clearer.  For the Ravens the big issues are if CB Samari Rolle and OLB/DE Terrell Suggs are going to be able to play.  Both participated in the walk through but did not practice.  The biggest positive to take from that is that they have not yet been ruled out for the game, since the walkthrough is where they go over the actual game plan and strategies / tendencies they expect to face.  So that is a small silver lining on an otherwise dark cloud.

For the Steelers, SS Troy Polamalu practiced, but C Justin Hartwig did not.  Both are expected to play on Sunday.

This is news because for the Ravens, if Rolle can't go then they have to "Next Man Up" all their cornerbacks.  And against a passing offense like the one the Steelers have that is a dangerous proposition for the Ravens.  And if Suggs cannot play then they lose one of the best pure pass rushers in the league, again making the Steelers' passing offense better by subtraction.  If neither can go, it starts to look like a long game for the Ravens.  And as far as the Steelers go, Polamalu is a hitter / tackler / enforcer of the first order, and losing him puts the middle of the field up for grabs for the Ravens' offense.  And if Hartwig is out, the backup center plays.  The Steelers offensive line has been (rightly) maligned all season for allowing Roethlisberger to take the amount of punishment he has taken in the form of sacks and hits.  If the backup is in, the OL is going to have to help chip on Ngata, who is one of the best (and most underrated and under appreciated) nose tackles in the league.  If they have to use a back or another lineman to chip and double team him, it decreases the amount of plays they can run, weakens both the running AND the passing game, and allows players like Trevor Pryce and Marques Douglas to have less interference on THEIR way to the QB.  It comes down to numbers.  If the Steelers have to play Max Protect all game it can only increase the chance for a mistake down the field to help the Ravens turn the game to their favor.  A hurried QB is a QB who will throw up the air ball, and that is when Ed Reed is at his absolute playmaking best.

If I hear more you will know more.

I know, it is either feast or famine around here...

So we are just over 4 days from the big AFC Championship game, Ravens - Steelers III.  And the local sports talkers (the sports radio stations) are BUZZING with activity (if they weren't I would be real surprised).  And the odds are against the Ravens in this one.  The Steelers are more rested, have less key players injured, and they are playing at home.  The Ravens have injuries to at least 2 key defenders that caused them to miss time in a closely contested playoff game last week, their number 1 running back had to either hop off or be helped off of the field 3 different times in that same game, their offensive line has been hurting, and one of the stalwarts of the line missed time during the game (although he did come back in), and their top receiving threat has been playing with a bum shoulder for weeks, making him run with one arm pinned to his side most of the game.  It is going to be a lot to overcome, and while I hope for a win and will root with all my heart and soul for a win, I am not expecting or guaranteeing a win.  BUT if the Ravens ARE going to win, here is what I think they will have to do...

On Offense:

• Get Ray Rice involved.  Ray Rice brings an element to the offense that nobody else can bring.  He is small.  He is compact.  He is explosive.  He is a great safety valve on offense.  Get him involved with some screens and play action passes.  Let him get underneath the coverage (in the spot in the zone in between the line / linebackers and the secondary), get him the ball with some space and let him make some people miss.  
• Get Flacco going early.  The Steelers are going to commit to stopping the run.  The run is what makes the Ravens' offense go.  The only way to keep the Steelers offense honest and open up some running lanes is to get the passing game going so that the Steelers cannot put 7 and 8 men in the box.  And not just deep down field, either.  Quick slants, screens, crossing patterns, up and ins...make the Steelers drop the linebackers back into coverage and THEN Pound McClain and McGahee at them.  Short passes, continuing to control the clock and keep the defense off the field as much as possible (because they NEED to not be on the field for 35 + minutes again like they have the last 2 games).
• Clayton and / or Heap HAVE to step up.  Derrick Mason is having a Pro Bowl caliber year, but he is hurt, and even with 2 arms he cannot do it alone.  Heap needs to claim the middle of the field, and HOLD ON TO THE BALL when he catches it.  If he is EVER going to regain his old form, it needs to happen on Sunday evening.  Clayton needs to not only catch some short passes, but also burn down the field, even as (or maybe even ESPECIALLY) as a decoy to clear out the middle third of the field, as well as the underneath routes.  Make the safety move to his side and clear out some space.

On Defense:

• Contain Roethlisberger.  "Big Ben" kills you by getting out of immediate trouble, extending the play with his legs by getting out of the pocket, then finding an open man who has broken contain (because you cannot expect a DB to keep a guy covered indefinitely.  It is impossible in a react position to always react 100% correct to a deke or cut move).  Keep him in the pocket, and when you get him in your arms, TAKE HIM DOWN.
• Don't break contain.  The reason the Giants were able to gash the Ravens' defense is that the Ravens broke contain and did not stay in their assignments.  Then, when Brandon Jacobs cut back there was no one there to stop him.  I know the Ravens defense is predicated on getting to the ball, but if you get sloppy / overanxious you will get burned.  Keep Willie Parker running east / west instead of north / south, let him string it out looking for a cutback lane, but DO NOT give it to him.  Eventually he either runs out of bounds or right into your arms.  Then you have him and you put the Steelers in 2nd or 3rd and long, and that is when you can goad them into making a big mistake and possibly get that turnover.
• Don't let Hines Ward get in your head.  Hines Ward is one of those players that you love when he is on your team, but if he ISN'T on your team you can't stand him.  He has a smirk on his face after every hit and every catch.  And then there are the shots he dishes out.  Are they illegal?  No.  Are they dirty?  That is another question.  If he is in the path of a play, he has every right, in fact I would expect him to try and take out the man across from him in whatever way the rules allow.  But to lay a guy out with a crackback hit from the side when the opposing player is following the play and they are not involved in the play itself?  Calling it dirty or cheap is close.  I would call it shady.  Either way, it smacks of being a punk.  Like I said, if it is part of the play as it unfolds, that is what the game is.  But when it is 20+ yards away and the player is not full speed engaged in trying to make themselves part of the play, well...it is crap.  But that being said, if you let him get into your head and cost the team a penalty or two (or worse, get thrown out of the game) then he wins.  And the Ravens cannot afford to lose any one on one battles, because their margin of error is too fine to allow that to happen.

Overall, here is what it is.

My heart says:

Ravens 17

Steelers 10

My brain says:

Steelers 21

Ravens 13

All I can do is hope my heart is right.

Every 6 months or so, I am good for a post (it would seem).

Wow.  There has been a LOT happening in local sports since I last took the time to waste your time.  Hell, Spring Training starts in about a month.  I am once again going to openly proclaim that I will endeavor to post more regularly this year.  As far as actually doing it?  Well, I wouldn't put my mortgage on it.

So the Ravens are one game away from a berth in the Super Bowl.  And honestly, I had absolutely no aspirations of this team getting this far.  I was hoping for 8-8 and competitive in at least some of the losses.  Instead I get 11-5 and one loss from a 2nd seed and 1st round playoff bye.  I have had my wildest hopes for this team surpassed.  No matter the outcome of the game on Sunday, this season has been an unqualified success.

That being said, if they DO lose on Sunday I am going to be any combination of

• sad
• mad
• pissed
• pissy
• grumpy
• other random dwarf
• bummed
• et cetera

I usually subscribe to the "I'd rather get blown out than lose by a couple of points" theory of football.  If you lose by 2 touchdowns or more than it is one of those games where nothing is going right and you chalk it up to that.  Even in a playoff game where it is one and done if nothing is working than nothing is working.  You could say that nothing working is the reason I am doing this right now.  When you lose by a couple of points you sit there ruing that one play that cost you the game (there is always one play that makes the difference in a game like that).  But it is different when it is the Steelers.  It is different when it is a division rival between your team and the Super Bowl.  At this point ANY loss would be cause for me to be at least 3 or 4 of the aforementioned emotions.  And it is sucky that it makes me feel this way 6 days before the game as I sit here thinking about it, and it is awesome that my team has gotten to a point where I can be made to feel that way.  THAT is what makes being a fan fun.

Now as to what I will be doing at 6:30 EST on Sunday January 18th.  I will be sitting in my house, with food that I have prepared and NOT ordered from any pizza / wing / sub / Chinese food establishment.  My wife will be in the house.  The dogs and the cat will be in the house.  They will all be allowed to roam freely about the rooms.  If Larry the Upstairs Neighbor is home, he will not be sitting in my living room.  If C3PO the Translator Lawyer is free after watching his beloved Eagles play the Cardinals, he will not be invited over.  On the off chance that Fineous is free from family responsibilities he will not be on my couch.  Why?  

I am not an overly superstitious man.  However, the last two games I have been in my house, sans any company that is not legally joined to me or of a subservient species that have been living in my house and are dependant on me for food and shelter.  Both of those games have been victories for the team I root for.  I am not going to tempt the Fates by messing with a winning formula.  It is like Crash Davis said... "If a player thinks that he is on a hot streak because he is having sex, or not having sex, or wearing the same socks every day without washing them, then he is.  And you have to respect that."

Yes, I am using Kevin Costner dialogue to justify my hermit-like existence.  What can I say?

I might get some flak for this. But whenever race is brought into sports, it causes a storm of controversy. And when it is used irresponsibly, it is cause to call it out for what it is.

There is a man who until the middle of last week was a pitcher for the Houston Astros. Before that he pitched for the Pirates, the Yankees, and the Rockies. Currently he is unemployed. Why is he unemployed, you ask? Because he threw the General Manager of the team to the ground and then tried to choke him.

Let me say in no uncertain terms that I think being unemployed should be the least of his problems, and in fact he should be locked up, like someone who isn't a professional athlete would be if they did the same thing to their boss. Now that being said, I needed to say the following.

I was reading the Sunday Baltimore Sun's sports page when I read the commentary by David Steele (who some of you may remember I have mentioned in the past). His main article was about Babe Ruth and Ruth's granddaughters pushing for the Babe's number to be retired throughout baseball like Jackie Robinson's number has been. Personally, I have no opinion on that. But in his sidebar, bullet point section he mentioned the following...

The last time a pro athlete wrapped his hands around his boss' neck, it led the national newscasts, anger-management and workplace-violence experts were consulted, the president of the United States was pressed for his reaction, and the player was kicked out for a year and became an instant pariah. Of course, the last athlete who did that wore cornrows.

Here is my problem with this statement. It is bad enough that too many times, and way to casually, incidents are made out to be a black / white issue (and by that I don't mean "cut and dried", easy to see one side or the other), mainly because I think it is the easy way out to make an explanation or rationale of something. But when it is taken even further that it is because the last case was someone who was "blacker" than the current case (I don't see any other way to interpret the cornrows statement), well that smacks of sensationalism to me.

Let's look at some facts. According to Chacon himself, he is not sure exactly of his heritage, since he was put up for adoption at age 4...

Chacon was born in Anchorage, Alaska, but has only dim recollection of his biological mother and none of his father (he believes his biological father was African-American and his mother Latina). His mother placed him in a Greeley, Colorado foster home when he was 4, and he was adopted by Tony and Blanca Chacon.

No matter his heritage, he is not Caucasian, as this GIS (Google Image Search) will show you. So basically Steele is saying that since Chacon is a clean cut minority, white people don't have as big of a problem with his choking someone as we did when "thuggy" Latrell Sprewell did it.

Well, here is another reason, maybe not so "black and white". According to Chacon (and I realize that it is just his side of the story) GM Ed Wade was yelling and cursing at Chacon, and Chacon asked him multiple times to stop before finally rising to his feet and taking the altercation to a new level. Wade has admitted to telling Chacon to "look in the [bleeping] mirror", and to raising his voice. He has admitted to these things after at first denying that he ever yelled or cursed at Chacon. Since he has recanted his defense once already, is it not possible, even feasible, that he yelled and cursed at Chacon before that moment? Is that a defense for throwing someone to the ground, or for any physical assault? Not in the least. But it isn't like there was no provocation in the matter. Now compare that to the Sprewell incident. In the course of a practice, P.J. Carlesimo (the coach of the Golden State Warriors, the team that Sprewell played for at the time) instructed Sprewell to make his passes crisper, or to use the parlance used by the coach, to "put a little mustard on the pass". Sprewell responded that he did not feel like being coached or instructed that day and told Carlesimo to stay away from him. Carlesimo approached him anyway, and Sprewell responded by choking Carlesimo for 15-20 seconds before other players pulled him off of Carlesimo's neck. He left the court, then returned a few moments later and threw a punch at Carlesimo, and landed a glancing blow.

So on one hand we have a guy who was yelled at and cursed at by the man who is supposed to be in charge of the entire team, even the coaching staff, and he is belittling another man. On the other hand we have a man who is doing his job by coaching a team, and who has a player who doesn't feel like doing his job, so with no provocation chokes and later punches the man.

Latrell Sprewell acted like a spoiled prima donna who thinks he is better than the other players, like he doesn't need instruction. He acted like a lazy bum who lashed out when he was called out for it, like if your boss were to come past your cubicle and sees you writing a sports blog instead of doing the work you were supposed to be doing (and getting paid to do), and tells you to get to work. Your co-workers will probably overhear your boss, and you will probably be embarrassed (not that this has ever happened to me). Would telling your boss that you don't need them to tell you how to do your job, then saying to stay away, and when they approach you anyway you try to kill them.

Shawn Chacon was wrong to refuse to go to the Manager's Office when Wade told him to go there for a meeting with him and Manager Cecil Cooper, but he did not start the altercation, and he did not begin the escalation of the altercation. And while Chacon was wrong for denying Wade's request to go to Cooper's office, in hindsight it was probably the best thing for him. I have no doubt that Wade's tirade would have been just as bad if not worse behind closed doors and without 24 witnesses (the rest of the team), and seeing how Wade initially denied yelling and cursing, I have to wonder if he would have admitted to it if said witnesses were not there to refute his statement.

Mr. Steele, you are in the wrong here, and stirring up racial issues only clouds the real issues in this case.

There has been a lot going on since my last post. Jim McKay passed away. Jonathan Ogden retired. I am hoping on Monday or Tuesday to address these things, plus some other points I have been thinking about lately. However, every so often I come across an article that I think needs to be read on its own merits. For instance...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3455278

As a fan of University of Maryland athletics, I have no love for any team that plays for Duke University. The phrase "Duke sucks" is used around this house with great fervor and frequency. That being said, it is always nice to have the courts (of law, not of basketball) decree this also to be fact.

Enjoy, and have a good weekend.

Yes, it has been a while since I posted here. As I have stated previously, I would love to post more often. If there is some enterprising entrepreneur who wants to finance my sports ramblings I would gladly find the time to be here much more often. Either way, I am again going to try and be here more often. If I have my time budgeted correctly (and I just might at that) I should be able to do a weekly post. Hey, it works for the City Paper...


So what have we missed? Well...


The Ravens did exactly what I hoped that they would do and traded down in the draft and got some extra picks (including one that they had traded to Buffalo last year in order to get Willis McGahee, leading to the pick being listed as "Baltimore from Jacksonville from Buffalo from Baltimore. The pick went through almost as many teams as Steve DeBerg. Or a Steve DeBerg pass). They went from the 8th pick to the 22nd pick, then moved back up to the 18th in order to draft Deleware QB Joe Flacco (look HERE and HERE to get an idea of who he is and some lingering draft reactions). There are those that say that the Ravens "reached" for him by taking him so early, and there are those (including some in the Ravens draft room) who feel that Michigan's Chad Henne (info on him HERE and HERE) was the better choice. The argument basically breaks down to Flacco played the majority at a 1-AA school, which is not as tough competition-wise as 1-A, where Henne played. Also, Flacco played a lot of his snaps out of the shotgun, while Michigan runs a pro-style offense. All that being said, I like the Flacco pick, and thought that overall the Ravens had a solid draft.

QB Joe Flacco
RB Ray Rice
LB Tavares Gooden
SS Tom Zbikowski
OG Oniel Cousins
WR Marcus Smith
OT David Hale
FS Haruki Nakamura
WR Justin Harper
RB Allen Patrick

It was a draft that covered a lot of needs but not at the expense of talent. I think the surprise of this draft is going to be Ray Rice, a running back from Rutgers.

Now baseball...

The Orioles have played 62 games and have 100 left. So far they are 31-31. If ANYBODY says that they thought this team would even be within 10 games of .500, let alone AT .500 this far into the season they are probably going to also try and sell you a bridge. Manager Dave Trembley has done a great job with this team, and Pitching Coach Rick Kranitz is another big reason for the team's success. Andy MacPhail got a king's ransom for Erik Bedard and Miguel Tejada, and wisely decided not to just take the best offer for Brian Roberts or any other players who are available (and as far as the major league roster goes Adam Jones and Nick Markakis are off limits for sure, and I can only hope after what he has shown this season that Daniel Cabrera has joined that list), which has been known around here as the Syd Thrift School of Generally Managing Things (his fire sale of veterans landed us ONE player who was worth a damn in Melvin Mora and one who had more steroids in him than the entire field at the Preakness in Jay Gibbons).

There is every chance that in the next 6-8 weeks (baseball's non-waiver trade deadline is July 31st. Non-waiver means that the player, as long as he is eligible to be traded (does not have any kind of no-trade clause in his contract or does not have trade blocking rights as a result of MLB's Collective Bargaining Agreement) can be traded to any other team as long as the Commissioner's Office reviews the trade and deems it is for a fair market value) that some or all of the following players, including Roberts, Aubrey Huff, Kevin Millar, Jay Payton, Cabrera, George Sherrill, Ramon Hernandez, and Luke Scott could all be wearing a different uniform. Or maybe none of them will be. Either way, MacPhail will get AT LEAST fair market value for them, and if his ability (and the abilities of his scouts) stay up to the task then in 2010 / 2011 Camden Yards will be vying for the right to sell postseason tickets. And more than that no fan can ask for, especially after a decade of inept and clueless "leadership".

Finally, a few local notes...

The Johns Hopkins Blue Jays came very close to being repeat National Champions of lacrosse, as well as being the first team with 10 National Championships in the sport. Instead they lost to Syracuse University, who also came into the game with 9 National Championships and left with 10. Even so, the Blue Jays had a great season, coming back from the brink of not making the Tournament to losing 13-10 after eliminating the Number 1 team, the Duke Blue Devils (a team that came in with only one loss on the season, to go with 18 wins, including a trouncing of Johns Hopkins earlier in the season). Dave Petramala is one hell of a coach and I have all he confidence in the world that they will be back in the mix next year.

The Baltimore Blast won their 4th Major Indoor Soccer League Championship in 6 years, then the league folded. It looks like the folding is mainly to reorganize and get rid of some dead wood, but still it was a bit of a surprise to have THAT be the rain on the parade.

That should just about cover everything until I get back (hopefully) next week. Until then, have fun, if you live in the area stay cool, and if you have any questions about anything sports related, leave a comment and I will try to cover it.

Tomorrow is the NFL Draft. There has been all kinds of speculation as to who is going to go where, and the topic has been discussed by all sorts of people ad nauseum (myself included).

Around here the big speculation is on if former Boston College QB Matt Ryan will fall to the 8th pick in the 1st round so that the Ravens can draft him. I myself do not think that he will make it past the Atlanta Falcons' 3rd pick, let alone the Kansas City Chiefs who have the 5th pick. And even if he does, since the Chiefs just got Minnesota's 1st round pick and both of their 3rd round picks in the Jared Allen trade and the Falcons have 3rd and 6th picks in the 2nd round, there is an excellent chance that one of them makes a deal with the Patriots, who hold San Francisco's 7th overall pick (the fact that "Spygate cost the Patriots the 31st pick in the 1st round and not the 7th shows how little Roger Goodell thought of the infraction).

Everyone who cares to know is aware that the Dolphins have signed Michigan OT Jake Long (which means I really hope that they draft him with the 1st overall pick, otherwise there could be some real confusion). I am going to refuse to do my own mock draft, since I can honestly say that I have not spent the time really looking at the needs of all 32 teams with enough energy / verve to be able to make truly informed predictions. I have said previously that I could easily see Darren McFadden falling to the 8th pick, which would make a trade with Dallas possible (although they could also get their Arkansas fix by drafting Felix Jones with the 22nd pick). It is also established that New Orleans covets LSU DT Glenn Dorsey (and who wouldn't really. He has all the makings of being an awesome player), although if he makes it to the 10th pick I will be more than amazed (since that means that the Ravens also passed over on him), and the Saints probably do not have enough draft ammunition to move up to the 2nd or 3rd pick, which is probably be where he is going to be drafted. However, Sedrick Ellis should still be available, and both the Bengals and Saints would love to add him. The Bengals are drafting 9th, the Saints (as previously mentioned) 10th. Might one of them be willing to give us a second day pick (4th-7th) round plus their 1st in order to move up a slot or two to make sure they get him and the other one doesn't?

This is the second time I have mentioned trading down. Since the last time the Ravens got some compensatory picks for free agents that left the team after 2006 and now have 9 picks in the draft (compensatory picks cannot be traded). I firmly believe that the draft is the way to build a team in ANY professional sport. But no matter how much information you have the draft is always a bit of a guessing game, so the more picks you have the better off you are. I am not a fan of using a top 10 pick on a QB, the position is too risky and costs too much both in cap room and team commitment. The last thing the Ravens need is to bring in an unproven QB to start when they are 16 months removed from being 13-3 and having a 1st round playoff bye, because the pressure to start him immediately will be too much to bear and too much for anyone else who does start (I will say until my dying day that the reason Kyle Boller didn't work out better is because of Billick's starting him his first season after that sham of a QB competition between Boller and Redman). The Ravens need to draft another QB, but the need isn't as pressing as some have said. But a QB drafted in the 2nd or 3rd round would not be the worst thing in the world. I need to see more of Troy Smith. I need to see if Boller really learned anything while serving as Steve McNair's backup. I do not need to see $30 million put in the hands of an unproven rookie who gets thrown to the wolves as soon as the team needs a spark.

Lets see where this ends up, shall we?

Who's On First?

It is Opening Day, you know. Enjoy.

It is Opening Day (I am pretty sure that has been trademarked by someone, I am just too lazy to acknowledge them), and I am excited. Yes I am aware that the Orioles are probably going to be a giant vortex of suck this year. Of course, last year they lost 93 games, and over the last 10 years they have averaged 89.6, or as I like to say, 90 losses per year. So from that standpoint how much worse can it be?



Don't answer that.



Be that as it may, for the first time in years the team has an actual plan other than "Let's throw some money at some borderline talented players and if EVERYTHING possible breaks in our favor (and all the other AL East teams suffer total roster failure) we could win 85-90 games and make the playoffs". That was not working. Instead Orioles owner Peter Angelos brought in one of the best baseball minds in the business in Andy MacPhail, and told him "do what you have to do". And so far he is. He traded Miguel Tejada (making my Orioles jersey moot, but I will forgive him that) and Erik Bedard for 10 prospects. The odds are that Brian Roberts will be gone no later than the trading deadline (and he will probably be joined by a few more players if MacPhail thinks he can get something for them). All of this has been well documented and talked about by many people (including me). So what else could be filling me with such excitement?



There are a few things that are not talked about, like MacPhail establishing an international scouting department, with a focus on Asian and Latin players. And along that same line, his building academies in Latin American baseball hot spots, and committing the resources necessary to make them viable pipelines of talent (the Orioles are woefully behind these trends, but at least they are finally making the attempt to rectify that). But there are two other things that really have me excited for the future.



1. The signing of first round pick Matt Wieters. I like this because the Orioles signed a Scott Boras client (something they have been loathe to do in the past), and they went after a player that they knew would cost them. It is a fact that in baseball probably more than any other sport the draft is a risky proposition. The sheer number of minor league teams (the Orioles alone have 7 minor league teams, there are 30 teams in MLB, some teams have more than 7 minor league teams, very few have less, and there are independent league teams too. Average roster is 25 players. Do the math) means that there are a lot of players in any organization at any time. The odds are against most of these players. That the Orioles spent $6 million just on his signing bonus is a sign that they are omitted to using their resources on the future instead of blowing it on a Jay Payton or an Aubrey Huff , who have already proven out as mid range ability players at best. Angelos signing off on a move like this is very encouraging. But not nearly as encouraging as my second point.



2. The cutting of Jay Gibbons. Look HERE, HERE, and HERE for 3 reports of the release of Jay Gibbons. All of them say pretty much the same thing, but all are worth looking at if for no other reason than what MacPhail says. In particular, when he says

"I gave him the ramifications and what my thinking was," MacPhail said. "I hadn't really reached any conclusions myself. I was wrestling with this one. I was really, to be honest with you, looking for some advice. His advice was, 'You gotta do what you gotta do.' Those were the last words that he left me with, and I took the position of, 'Well, this is what we have to do.' "

The thing that really strikes me is that Angelos, known for meddling in the day to day baseball operations (much to the overall detriment of both the team and the team's reputation) told MacPhail to do whatever he felt was best for the team. The Orioles owe Gibbons just shy of $12 million over the next two years. For ANY team that is a lot of money to eat in order to (probably) lose 90+ games while giving his roster spot to an unproven young player, even if that player had a better spring training than the veteran player. If this does not prove to people that Angelos is serious about rebuilding from the ground up and that he has promised to allow MacPhail to do his job and not get in the way I don't know what will. And to anyone who has a problem with MacPhail going to Angelos about it, the man is the owner of the team and has a right to be involved in the financial decisions. Don't think that the Steinbrenners and John Henry, as well as every other owner, aren't asked for their opinions before their money is spent. The important thing is that Angelos listened to MacPhail and basically said "do what you have to do, I've got your back". They cut a major league player that is owed a good bit of money for an unproven player with minor league options. It is possibly the most encouraging thing that I have seen or heard about this team in years.

I am going to enjoy this team this year. I think that they are going to play hard, play fundamentally sound, and "leave it all on the field". Also, to use another cliche, "this year it is about the name on the front of the uniform, not the one on the back of the uniform". And until they put "Baltimore" back on the road jerseys, "Orioles" will do just fine by me.

4 1/2 hours until Opening Day. I'm ready. Are you?

Okay, it is obvious that with everything else I am doing in my life, the twice a week thing (or even once a week) isn't going to happen with any regularity. But whenever I can get here I will. So without further ado...

• John Harbaugh is the new Ravens head coach - An excellent choice. I know I have been trumpeting the abilities of Rex Ryan as a head coach, and I will fully admit to fervently backing him as the successor to Brian Billick when the whole search first started (and even before Billick got fired if the truth is to be told), but in the grand scheme of things I think that John Harbaugh will be a better overall choice. There is a reason that Ryan didn't get the job with the San Diego Chargers after 2006 and both the Atlanta Falcons and the Ravens after 2007. It seems that he might be a little TOO "straight from the hip" as it were. Ryan even said as much after it came to light that the main reason he didn't get the Falcons job (it went to Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Smith) was because of the tenor and tone of some of his responses to questions in the 2nd interview. It seems that he might have a little too much of his father (Buddy Ryan) in him. I am beginning to think that he will either remain a coordinator for his entire career or he will have one or two unsuccessful to moderately successful head coaching gigs in between his stints as a defensive coordinator. I really do like him as a coach so I hope that I am wrong. But with all that said, Harbaugh's specialty for the last decade has been special teams. Personally I have always wondered why special teams coaches don't get the recognition that offensive and defensive coaches do. Especially when you realize that while special teams play is at LEAST as important to the game as the offense and defense (when you consider the amount of impact a good or bad special teams play can have on the outcome of a game and compare it to the amount of time special teams units are on the field compared to offense and defense, it may be MORE important). Add to that that most special teams players are a mixture of backups and probably never-will-be off. and def. position players, and that the special teams coach is the only coach besides the HEAD coach that deals with players from both sides of the ball, and special teams coaches seem to me to be uniquely qualified to be head coaches. They are like the backup catcher in baseball (who always seem to make the best managers because they have to know EVERYTHING about not only their team but the other team and spend a lot of time on the bench sizing up how their hunches play out when compared to what actually happens during the course of a game). There is an excellent chance that Harbaugh will not only do well, but also open the doors for more special teams coaches to run teams. Special teams is all about building a unit out of castoffs, formation and execution. Let's see what Harbaugh does with that mentality while running an entire team. Jason Garrett might be an excellent head coach one day, but I don't know if he is really ready, and he has only had one year of success (and that was with a loaded squad). I want to see Mike Singletary run a defense before I give him the keys to a team.
• The Bedard Trade - It is finally done, and if you look at the package that the Orioles got for him (especially if you compare it to the package that the Minnesota Twins got for Johann Santana - a better pitcher) might turn out to be the deal of the year. I am preaching patience to all the Orioles' fans this year (and probably next). And along that vein I hope that MacPhail completes the trade of Brian Roberts, but at this point not only am I not going to give him grief for not making it already, I am going to praise him for waiting as long as he feels he needs to in order to get the deal that he wants. Looking at what he did with the Twins and the Chicago Cubs, he gets more than the benefit of the doubt, he gets a free pass until he proves that he doesn't deserve it any more. I don't see that time coming any time soon.
• The NFL Draft - I said previously that I think the Ravens should trade down in order to collect more picks, since I don't see anyone of the value of the 8th pick that would fill one of the Ravens dire needs, at least not anyone that the Ravens couldn't get later on. The Ravens are picking 8th. None of the mock drafts I see are anywhere close to agreeing on anything. I have seen Matt Ryan going from 1st to 8th, and Glenn Dorsey going from 1st to 5th. An intriguing possibility is Darren McFadden, who I have seen going to the Oakland Raiders, but also with wildly varying draft positions. I know that the Dallas Cowboys have expressed some serious interest in him (especially with Marion Barber as a restricted free agent and Julius Jones as an unrestricted free agent). I also know that Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones is an Arkansas alum who would love to add him to the team. To me, that smells like trade bait, and willing trade bait. I can only hope that Ozzie Newsome pulls one of his patented awesome moves*.

Okay, unfortunately I must abruptly wrap this up now, but as always feel free to ask questions you want answered, either about things I have covered or just things you are curious about. And I also promise to (hopefully) make the next post much more coherent and theme based and less bullet point-y.

*Moves not actually patented, but are universally classified as awesome with enough consistency by the community at large that the awesomeness of his moves are not to be questioned.

I know it has been a while since I posted, but life keeps getting in the way. In order for me to afford to get online I have to have gainful employment. Said gainful employment has been kicking my proverbial ass lately. Ass trumps blog.

Anyway, I do have some thoughts os the new Ravens coach, and I will try to expound on them no later than next week. But right now I need to comment on the Orioles, Erik Bedard, and the trade.

According to ESPN the Bedard trade between the Orioles and the Seattle Mariners might finally go through later this week, possibly as soon as Friday. The question that everyone has had is what was the hold up? As recently as a couple of days ago we were told that the trade was all but done, and that two of the prospects that Baltimore was supposed to get were pulled from what they were doing (one was playing winter ball in the Dominican) and told that they had to go get physicals so that the trade could be finalized. The next thing you know, the trade is still not finalized and both sides are claiming that a deal was still under consideration but nothing had been finalized. Well that is all well and good, but if the deal wasn't about to happen, why would the Mariners pull one of their players from winter league ball? The only reason anyone could find would be so that they don't get injured and cause the trade to be dropped.

Immediately speculation turned to Orioles owner Peter Angelos, and that he might have nixed the trade like he has done in the past (in 1996 when Pat Gillick wanted to trade Bobby Bonilla and David Wells, and as recently as this past season when he overruled a trade of Brian Roberts to Atlanta). The thing is, we as fans had been assured that Angelos told Andy McPhail (a very respected baseball man who led one team to 2 World Series championships and another within 5 outs of making the World Series for the first time since WWII) that McPhail would have complete autonomy to do what was best for the team. When Andy McPhail came to Baltimore last season, a lot of heads in baseball turned, and people started thinking that maybe Angelos had learned his lesson and that he was going to let people with baseball acumen make baseball decisions. Now everyone knew that it wasn't the case and that Angelos was meddling again, and McPhail should quit because he would never be able to rebuild this team as long as Angelos owned them...

There is one basic problem though. McPhail came out and said that Angelos had not interfered. McPhail has always been known as a straight shooter who doesn't spin fanciful tales to the media or fans. He might keep things a little too close to the vest for some people, but holding info until you are sure it is correct is not a bad thing. So McPhail sys that Angelos is not the reason that the trade isn't happening. How do the fans react? Read the comments from the last link and see for yourself. They keep saying "McPhail is lying! It HAS to be Angelos' fault!!!". Well, according to the ESPN article, that isn't the case. It is really about the legal issues that sprang from the comments of one of the players involved in the trade. One of the Mariners, to be exact. It seems that due to the comments made, there was a potential problem. In case you don't feel like reading the ESPN article, here is the passage in question...

When Jones was quoted as saying the deal was completed, this created a rules question, sources say: If the Jones went for his physical examination, would the Orioles then be beholden to accept him, even if the physical exam did not go well.

The Orioles have asked the Mariners for written language that Seattle will submit Jones and Sherrill for a physical examination by the Orioles -- and if they pass physicals, then and only then will Baltimore be obligated to finish the trade. The inherent risk for the Mariners is that if either Jones or Sherrill were to flunk their physicals in Baltimore, then the respective value of the players would be diminished within the industry.

This becomes MORE problematic when THIS is factored in (courtesy of www.baltimoreorioles.com and www.mlb.com)

Apparently after agreeing in principle to the deal, the Orioles heard something about Jones having a potential health problem -- a degenerative hip (osteoarthritis) similar to the ailment that ended Albert Belle's career in 2000, just two years into the five-year, $65 million contract he signed with the Orioles.

The medical report on Jones was unsubstantiated and Mariners trainer Rick Griffin told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Tuesday that he couldn't talk about the situation because of HIPPA regulations. General manager Bill Bavasi said: "All I can tell you is that we brought Adam Jones home from Venezuela. Beyond that, we're not saying anything."

So as long as the Mariners agree to cover the mistake that Jones caused when he spoke out of turn, here is no problem. If they refuse, then there is always the chance that they are aware of problems with these (or other) players, in which case the Orioles shouldn't make the trade anyway. But the fans have to immediately jump to the wrong conclusions, which fans have done since the beginning of fandom. However, now that the internet is here, these opinions have gone from bars and watercoolers to in the face of everyone who cares to see it, and in fact we are overwhelmed by it. This is why I try to wait a bit before commenting on anything. I might not have the scoop, but I try to have a more balanced look at the whole picture.

And that leads me to the whole Orioles rebuilding project. Miguel Tejada is gone. Bedard is all but gone. Brian Roberts appears to be heading quickly out the door behind them. Reaction has been mixed, both to the returns for the departed players and the need for / wisdom of their departure. Now for my opinion...

The Orioles need to start over if they want any chance to ever compete with the Yankees and Red Sox. The fact is that with the star players that they do have, they have been a consistent 90+ loss team for a decade. They are not going to win consistently with these guys playing, because they don't have enough around them to do so. So the smart thing to do is to trade them for prospects that might come up in the next 2-3 years (when these guys would be leaving as free agents) and do something. Any time you can add 3 or 4 potential pieces for the future at the cost of 1 piece now that, while it hurts to lose it, it will hurt just as much to have it for 3 years and not have it do anything for you. AQs far as I am concerned, the untouchable pieces of the Orioles are Nick Markakis, Adam Loewen, and Matt Weiters (the minor league catcher they drafted last year). The Orioles have control over them for longer than 3 years, and they have a lot of potential (Markakis is a borderline All Star as it stands today, and if Bedard and Roberts ARE traded, and with Tejada gone and Melvin Mora not the player he was a couple of years ago, there is a good chance he will be the All Star representative for the Orioles in 2008). And if in 3 years the team is not moving enough in the right direction, they can also be traded for more prospects. Once you have a nucleus of solid players (read: more than 2 or 3 out of 25), THEN you go after free agents to fill a weakness. Free agency is not how you build a team (and yes, I am looking at the Yankees right now. They win enough in the regular season, but they have fallen apart in the postseason the last 7 years. Is that just a coincidence? I don't think so). So I am all for tading Bedard, Roberts, Mora, Huff, Payton, Gibbons...basically anyone on the team besides Markakis / Loewen / Weiters that the team can get a viable prospect or two for. I am not a poker player, in fact I never play the game. But I do know the basic concept that if you have nothing in your hand, you fold, save your chips, and try again next hand. The Orioles have been sitting with a hand that was all junk, maybe weith an 8 high, for the better part of a decade. Time to fold and wait for the next hand. The nice thing is, in MLB poker, when you fold, they give you some more chips. Maybe even a blue one.