Monday Round-up

Happy Monday to all!

I would like to start off by saying congratulations to the Boston Red Sox for beating the 2007 5A Colorado High School champions. It was nice that they won that contest to play in the World Series but I felt bad that those kids probably missed some school this month just to get swept. But I'm sure that it's an experience that they will all remember as they go through college and such.

My only thoughts are, 2 titles within 4 years of each other after waiting 86 years for just one? Either the curse is gone or Babe Ruth went comatose even in the afterlife. Needless to say, the Red Sox are one player signing away from becoming the New York Yankees (See: A-rod opts out of his contract). You know that they are going to try and sign him and why not? He's a great player. Boston has a good group of playoff guys, so A-rod's playoff choking may not even hurt them at all. You must understand that if Boston does sign A-rod, I'm making peace with all my family and friends because of the certain looming of the end times. The vortex of good sports teams has stalled over the Boston Area and shows no signs of leaving any time soon. The Patriots are destroying anything in their way and leaving women and children in their deadly wake, the Celtics might even win more than 20 games this year, Boston College is second in the BCS ( if they win the title, can they play the Pats for fun?) and the Bruins...well...we can't have everything we want.

Anyway, enough with my Boston rant. On to much bigger and not so better things.

I am talking about the Vikings.

(Sigh)....another loss to a Philly team who is definitely not the same team that used to dominate the NFC. They lost to the Bears and the Vikings essentially beat up on the Bears...so statistically that would make us better than the Eagles right? Wrong, because neither of those teams have Brad Childress, Kelly Holcomb/Brooks Bollinger, Bobby Wade as their # 1 receiver. There is something wrong with this team and it's pretty easy to figure out. We have NO pass defense and no Quarterback. It's gotten to the point where I've even had the discussion that involved "Hey, Aaron Brooks is available..." I get lightheaded just thinking about the Vikings putting their trust in Aaron Brooks. The sad thing is that he is an upgrade to our situation. My only question is why do we even have WR's? If our leading receiver has about 3oo yards this year, couldn't we trade those yards for more salary cap money or something? There has to be some compromise with Commissioner Godell on this.

The road only get's harder here on out. The Vikes have the Chargers next Sunday at the dome (a team that scored 35 first half points against the Texans yesterday) and then Green Bay at home. The last time we beat GB at home, Randy Moss made Joe Buck throw up his lunch and go on a 5 minute tirade of why fake mooning the Lambeau faithful was like throwing a puppy in the trash can. Hopefully the Vikings can do something to save this season. If not, it'll be good for the fans I suppose. We wont have to watch for too long in the draft next year to see their pick.

If you haven't already, go see Saw IV. If you've seen the first 3, you'll enjoy this one. If you don't understand the movie after you see it, check out the Wikipedia page on it. Just keep your eyes open during the movie and try to remember some of the past characters because some of them may show up in this movie. It wasn't as gross as the 3rd one but still had some pretty sick (literal meaning and slang meaning) traps. Also, there is a new Alien v. Predator movie to go along with my personal favorite National Treasure 2. Nicolas Cage is just a solid actor (see: Lord of War & Face Off).

As always, leave your feedback and enjoy the day!

The Emergence of a Star

Ladies and Gentlemen…may I present to you the 2007-08 MVP of the National Football League, Adrian Peterson.



Sorry, I might be getting ahead of myself a little bit here. But any of you who caught the Vikings vs. Bears yesterday afternoon saw something special.


You saw the emergence of the next great running back in the NFL not named LaDanian Tomlinson.


I’m tired of hearing that the Bears defense was lacking some of it’s firepower. I must have been watching the wrong game, but I remember seeing Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Adewale Ogunleye, Adam Archuleta and Alex Brown. But yes, you’re right…the Bears were clearly missing their Defense.


Shenanigans.


Adrian Peterson rushed for 224 yards on 20 carries and even had a 53 yard kick return to set up Ryan Longwell’s 55 yard field goal to beat the Bears as time ran out. The rookie from the University of Oklahoma, also the first running-back taken in the 2007 draft, has arrived in the NFL and he brought the snacks.


"I just got comfortable, more comfortable with the speed of the game, I knew anything was possible," Peterson said


He got comfortable alright. He made himself at home at Soldier Field. Rumor has it that the maintenance crew put up a locker in the Bears locker room with Peterson’s name on it. Since only the home running back is supposed to run like Peterson did.


He broke Chuck Foreman’s team record of 200 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles in 1976 and Ricky Williams’ record of 216 at Soldier Field in 2002. In other words, he had a day.


As for the rest of the team, yes…Adrian Peterson did not play every position today, the Vikings looked like an NFL team. Tarvaris Jackson did not turn over the ball, 9-23 with 136 yds and 1 td to Troy Williamson. The defense shut down the Bears rushing attack and made Brian Griese toss the football 45 times. If Rex Grossman had been starting today, the Vikings might have won this game by 35+.


Coming out of the bye week, the Vikings looked like they were on a mission. They looked crisp and not very sluggish for a team that hadn’t played for a week.


They’ve got another test next week down in Dallas against a Cowboys team that was subsequently crushed by the Patriots today 48-27. Other than that, the Vikings have a favorable schedule ahead of them.


10/21 @ Dallas

10/28 Philadelphia

11/4 San Diego

11/11 @ Green Bay

11/18 Oakland


The Vikings have a chance to win all of those games, but I say they go 3-2 in that stretch. That would bring them to 5-5 and still in the playoff hunt in the wide open NFC.


My interest in the Vikings has been revived. I nearly went hoarse and nearly had an aneurism at the end of that game.


As always, your comments are welcome and have a great Monday!

A Great 2007 Major League Season

While the 2007 season was a disappointing one for many Twins fans, baseball as a whole experienced one of the greatest years in recent memory. In case you tuned out of baseball after the Twinkies were eliminated from contention, here are just a few things you may have missed: Barry Bonds last game as a San Francisco Giant; the Boston Red Sox finally taking the American League East away from the New York Yankees; the New York Mets losing the N.L. East title to the Philadelphia Phillies and missing the playoffs after leading the division by seven games with seventeen left to play; and finally, the thirteen inning exhilarating Colorado Rockies-San Diego Padres one-game playoff to determine who won the N.L. Wildcard. The Rockies won the aforementioned game to reach the playoffs for the first time in twelve years, and only the second time in the history of the franchise. As one can see, even the final week of the major league season was packed with twists and turns, and that doesn’t even begin to describe the great stories from this year.

This season saw the most historical achievements than any other previous year. Three players, Alex Rodriguez, Frank Thomas, and Jim Thome, joined the 500 home run club, along with slugger Sammy Sosa joing the 600 home run club. Also, the hallowed all-time home run record of 755 home runs, set by Henry Aaron, was eclipsed by Barry Bonds. Other milestones reached this year included a 300 win pitcher (Tom Glavine) and 3,000 hits (Houston second baseman Craig Biggio). Finally, the man who took much of the heat for the San Diego Padres one-game playoff loss, Trevor Hoffman, became the all-time saves leader this season, and currently sits at 524 for his career.

So much happened just in personal milestones, it almost hides the fact that young hitters came up from the minors for one of the best rookie classes since, well, last year. But these past two seasons have produced some of the best rookies in a LONG time, with many either already or on the verge of becoming all-stars (Hanley Ramirez, Prince Fielder, David Wright). Here are my predictions for A.L and N.L. Rookie of the Year:

A.L. Rookie of the Year – Dustin Pedroia (2B, Boston Red Sox): Pedroia held down the second base position the entire season, and finished the season with a .317 batting average, good enough for tenth in the American League. Considering that he also helped Boston to the best record in baseball, Pedroia seems like a lock for the Rookie of the Year award. Other possibilities for this year’s award include Tampa Bay outfielder Delmon Young and Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.

N.L Rookie of the Year– Troy Tulowitzki (SS, Colorado Rockies): Tulowitzki literally won this award at the last possible moment in my mind. Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Ryan Braun had this locked up, but in the end baseball is about offense AND defense. Braun, when called up from the minors, went on to hit 34 home runs with a .324 average, but his defense was terrible. He ended the season with 26 errors, and a .895 fielding percentage, both good enough for worst in the league. Insert Tulowitzki. He finished the season with a .291 average, 24 home runs, and had some spectacular defense down the stretch, leading the Rockies to win 13 of their last 14 games. He also went four for seven in the one game playoff for the wildcard, and scored the game tying run in the bottom of the thirteenth inning. To me, offensive and defensive stats, combined with a team’s performance, are what make a rookie of the year, and Tulowitzki had it all.

With that look at the year’s best rookies, all that is left are the Cy Young and MVP predictions. Two of the four have been decided since midseason, and the other two may have been decided in the last week of the season.

A.L. Cy Young – C.C. Sabathia (SP, Cleveland Indians): Sabathia finished well down the stretch, winning his final five decisions. Throw in the fact that he led the Indians to the playoffs and out dueled 2006 Cy Young winner Johan Santana three times this season, and he is the easy choice for the award.

N.L. Cy Young – Jake Peavy (SP, San Diego Padres): Peavy won the N.L. pitching triple crown (wins, strikeouts, and earned run average), much like Johan Santana last year. Peavy is a shoo-in.

A.L. MVP – Alex Rodriguez (3B, New York Yankees): It seems like A-Rod has had this award since the first day of the season. He has simply been the best offensive threat in the A.L. all season long. Combine the fact that he eclipsed 500 career home runs this year, and A-Rod is also a lock to win the award.

N.L. MVP – Matt Holliday (OF, Colorado Rockies): This award really could go to Holliday or any of the deserving Philadelphia Phillies (Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, or reigning MVP Ryan Howard), but Holliday I feel deserves this award because he is the only MVP candidate on his team. When you have a team like the Phillies that have that many players producing, you expect to win. Holliday took the Rockies on his back, and took them headfirst into the playoffs. Plus, he literally took them into the playoffs by scoring the winning run of their one-game playoff by diving head first into home plate, leaving a nice scrape right on his chin in the process. Holliday deserves this award this year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes elsewhere.

That about does it for the 2007 season recap. Baseball fans across the nation tuned in this year to witness one of the best seasons ever, with seemingly new stories every night. It’s hard to imagine that the season could get any better, but remember this – there are still the playoffs. As Dane Cook puts it SO delicately in those postseason commercials, there is only one October! Go Rockies!