JustSayin.net

Getting psyched for fantasy baseball again.  Looking forward to another year of DCRoto and perfecting my strategy.  More to come.

Yeah, about Rich Rodriguez, head coach of the Univerty of Michigan football team...

Facts first.  Michigan is a Big 10 school.  Michigan has traditionally been a "We are bigger than you and will run over you" school, with the occasional "Oh no, we're now behind and need to throw, how do we do that?" program.  That type of system requires a certain group of players to work.

Now facts about Rich-Rod.  He runs a spread offense.  The spread offense doesn't run over anybody.  They slice through and go around defenses.  It requires smaller, faster players and is based on passing.

College students/athletes are typically in football programs for 4-5 years.

So Michigan boosters, here is the $64,000 question.  Did you think Rich-Rod could win, considering he was using his system on players recruited for a completely different system?

When you invest in completely rebuilding your football program, you let the dude completely rebuild your football program.  It will take at least 4 years, then you can re-evaluate.  Things have to get worse before they get better sometimes.

Is it just me or are the baseball playoffs going further into the fall then normal?  I don't remember seeing Sid Bream in a ski mask while the Braves showed their postseason futility in the 90's.  Not that they make ski masks for heads like ole' Sid's.  It was like a giant Coors Light can with a mustache.  

Seriously though, what's the reason for the never-ending baseball season?  We all know that 90 percent of baseball fans checkout once NFL training camp hits anyway.  I was on my couch Monday night, while two MLB playoff games were on (1 in extra innings), and decided to watch the meaningless week 6 Broncos @ Chargers showdown.  Sorry baseball, something's gotta change.  

Maybe we could shorten the season to 100 games.  Are the last two months really necessary?  Sure the Rockies would never make the playoffs and Ryan Howard's numbers would be horrific, but I look at it another way ... at least the Mets would have less time to blow a 7 game lead.  

Another problem is going to arise when you get a Colorado/Detroit World Series and have to cancel game one twelve times because of snow.  Then we've got baseball in December and it's so cold Jim Leyland's arthritis won't allow him to chew gum.  The only way to conclude the series is to move it to Miami, where no one watches the World Series even if the Marlins are in it, so attendance will be somewhere around 652 a game.  What a mess.

And while I'm talking about Monday night, why does Jon Gruden look like he has a robotic arm in the pre-game booth analysis?  Weird.

Why does Horatio Caine always wear black?  I mean, he's on CSI: Miami for crying out loud.  In the summer months it's routinely near 100 degrees with a heat index of about 1200.  And this guy's strutting around in his black suit, dark shirt, and spouting off witty lines like "That's ... what we're gonna find out".  It really irks my Croc's (sp?).  

Here's my 10 things:

1. Speaking of Miami, when did the Dolphins get fun to watch.  These aren't ole' noodle-arm Pennington's dolphins anymore.  Chad Henne has a gun and the wildcat is here to stay.  You never know what's going to happen with that offense.  They're back, and a QB that gives them the 10+ yard pass, the Wildcat is even more potent.
2. Have the bad teams ever been so bad?  The Rams (112), Raiders (79), Chiefs (54), Redskins (9), Browns (66), Lions (59), and Bills (39) may not win another game, unless they play each other, the parenthesis indicate how much they've been outscored by in 4-5 games.  
3. The Cleveland/Buffalo game this weekend might have been the worst professional football game ever played.  It was 3-3 going into the 57th minute of the game.  The winning QB was 2-17 for 23 yards.  Anyone who paid to watch that game should be given their money back and it should be stricken from the record books.  Is there a precedent for that?
4. On that same subject, Terrell Owens is about 2 taco's away from taking a dump on Trent Edwards and the rest of his team.  Was there anyone who thought T.O. on an annually bad team, in a place where weather forces you to run the ball late in the season was a good fit?  I guess someone did since he's there, but the meltdown is iminent.
5. Welcome back Donovan McNabb.  In his first game back from the rib injury, he threw for 264, 3 TD's, and had a perfect passer rating.  The Eagles are here to stay and are
   right behind the G-Men.
6. Kyle Orton still has not thrown an interception.  The difference between him and Jay Cutler this year is 1 loss.  Cutler directly caused that loss by throwing 4 picks against the Packers in his
    debut.  Advantage Broncos thus far.
7. The Ravens have had 2 let downs in a row.  I still like them to make a Super Bowl run, but my confidence is not as high as it was.
8. One of the Ravens' losses was to the 'lookin' like 2005 again' Bengals.  Who knew they could finally play defense and Carson Palmer would bounce back this strong from his knee injury.  The AFC North is going to be one tight race the rest of the way, but the Bengals are one fluke Brandon Stokley play away from being 5-0.
9. The Cowboys confuse me.  I have no idea what to expect with this team.  If they ended 11-5 I wouldn't be surprised and likewise if they went 5-11.  It's all about Romo and the defense.  Can T.O. make that much of a difference?
10. By the way, MLB is in the middle of their playoffs right now and all I can think about is week 6.

Can you believe we are already 1/4 of the way through the NFL season?  As Kelly said in the girl next door, "always leave 'em wantin' more".  That's why the NFL is the best, because it follows quotes from a D grade porn-producer in an obscure film.  

Baseball has been going since April, with games every day and most teams out of it by June.  Basketball is the longest, meaningless season.  Why have a 6 month regular season when half the teams make the playoffs anyway?  Hockey, well it's hockey.

The NFL is king, and as far as sports go, this is the best time of the year.  So in between pain killers for my recently dislocated shoulder and my wife yelling at me for typing too lout at midnight, I'm going to give 10 thoughts on the NFL thus far.

1. If I had to pick between the Broncos and Niners, I'm going Niners.  Easier division, better defense, less fluke-play wins.  The Broncos are 2 plays away from being 2-2.  The Niners will win the NFC West this year, and Mike Singletary wins coach of the year.
2. Brett Favre isn't playing great, the Minnesota offensive line is great, and if you give any good QB 5 seconds to throw, they will find someone open.  That was the difference in the Packer game for sure, and that's why Adrian Peterson runs all over the place (that and he's fast, strong, quick, and explosive).
3. The Redskins are one of the 6 worst teams in the league, with the Rams, Bucs, Chiefs, Raiders, and Browns.  Yeah I said it.  Jim Zorn's coaching career will last as long as Tony Dungy, Mike Shanahan, Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren and Marty Schottenheimer decide to say retired.  IF they come back and IF they can put up with Dan Snyder, they'll be coaching at FedEx Field the next season.
4. Mark Sanchez could be great.  He was put in a great situation this season.  He can trust his defense, doesn't have to do too much, and make good safe decisions.  We may see another rookie QB winning some playoff games.
5. My Super Bowl right now puts the Ravens against the Giants.  The Giants clearly have fixed their WR issues and the Ravens have found an offense.  Flacco is on pace to be a star in this league.  
6. Think of the top QB's in college football and think of their college careers (Brady - Michigan, P.Manning - Tennessee, Brees - Purdue, Romo - Eastern Illinois, McNabb - Syracuse - Roethlisberger - Miami of Ohio, Flacco - Delaware, Cutler - Vanderbilt).  Notice anything?  With the exception of Peyton and Tennessee, there are no NCAA powerhouses in there.  Maybe these guys who play for Division 1 powerhouses, with better athletes than any of their opponents, aren't as good as they look.  If I was an NFL GM and looking for a QB, I would look for a guy who elevated a lesser program to national prominence.  Diversity makes a good QB.  You don't want your first diversity to be at the pro level.
7. Pittsburgh got lucky last year.  Yeah it sounds bad.  The way they won every game last year was very similar.  Get a small lead, play conservative and be in the game at the end.  Hopefully a gamewinning drive in the last 2 minutes will help them win.  Well that's great, but it's risky too.  Letting teams hang around all 4 quarters is very dangerous.  They need to close opponents out or they'll be watching the Ravens in January.
8. The Patriots are getting better every week.  Brady is shaking the rust off, they are getting over the loss of Josh McDaniels, but they beat the Ravens last week, and will roll through November and December.
9. Mike Vick's return was the most overrated signing in the offseason.  He plays 10 plays a game on a good day.  He should have gone to the UFL to get the rust off and prove he could still play, then come back next year and sign a massive contract.
10. The two western divisions are awful.  Raiders, Chiefs, Seahawks, and Rams are bringing the rest of the league down.

That's it for now.  Talk to you next week.