The NFL Draft- Combine

Well the combine in Indianapolis starts tomorrow so its time to start thinking about the 2009 draft. If you follow an NFL team its hard not to get excited about the draft, unless of course you are a Detroit Lions fan in which case you live for the draft. Some teams are in need of a complete rebuild, while others just need that one player to solidify their chances as a contender. In my next post I will try to give you an idea of what each team is looking for in the draft, and what they can do without. My Bears are in need of a solid QB and have been in this situation for the last 19 years of my life, so naturally the first position I look at every year is Quarterback. The football "Experts" say that no QB from this years draft has the potential to be effective in his first year in the NFL. Every year some player walks into the combine a virtual unknown and walks out with an Under-armor commercial. Already this year a lot of people are talking about Robert Ayers the defensive end from Tennessee. Ayers was only given one year to start at Tennessee but made the most of it with 49 tackles and 15 for loss. His Senior bowl performance raised some eye brows and has put him in first round consideration.  

Brett Favre Retiring for good?

I have come to the conclusion that Brett Favre gets off watching his never ending highlight reels on ESPN. I literally have to get up and leave the room every time they show them on ESPN, which makes it impossible to watch ESPN. Maybe this is turning into a rant against ESPN but I just dont understand why they do this. Its not just Favre, they get so caught up in some events and show you endless clips with endless commentary. Seriously by the end of the week they will have asked the janitors at ESPN for their reaction to Favre's retirement. Maybe this makes me a bad person, but I didn't care AT ALL about Pat Summit coaching her 1000th win, and yes the only reason is that I dont care about Womens's sports and ESPN's coverage only aggravated me. I just wanted her to win the damn game so they could stop talking about it. Ok thats all some time I will have to post my thoughts on the WNBA...... what a joke!

Buckeye's Hit Stride

The Ohio State Mens Basketball team has lost a lot of talent early to the NBA in the past couple of seasons. The result of this is having to rebuild the team nearly every season. This year was no different, with the departure of key players like Ron Lewis, Jamar Butler, and Kosta Kufos. This years team started out winning nine straight with key wins at Miami, and Notre Dame, as well as a tough home win against Butler. Even with the early winning streak the team struggled to find its identity, this coupled with the Injury to returning junior David Lighty made the Buckeyes season uncertain. Fast forward the Buckeyes are hitting their stride winning their last four Big Ten games against Michigan, Purdue, Indiana, and Minnesota. All season Evan Turner has been that catalyst leading the Buckeyes with 17 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.2 steal per game. Evan is making a strong case to be named Big Ten player of the year. The Buckeyes remaining schedule is @Wisconsin,@Northwestern, Illinois, Penn State, @Purdue, @ Iowa, and at home against Northwestern. College Gameday will be in Madison for the OSU, Wisconsin game which is sure to have an electric atmosphere.  

A little blast from the past

I was cleaning my room today when I stumbled upon some old treasures, treasures I have since long since forgot about. When I was a kid I wanted to be the next great football or basketball player. I would run around my old apartment complex tossing the football in the air while attempting diving catches. Other times I would spend hours upon hours in the summer outside shooting hoops and trying to drive into the lane against invisible defenders. Most of the time I imagined myself playing next to the greats; Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen, Reggie Miller, Karl Malone, Steve Young, Marshall Faulk, or a young Randy Moss. Winter time would sweep over the midwest, unperceptive of the young dreamers it forced inside. In those cold snowy winters I got a meager 3 hours outside to daydream before my parents were aware of the situation. When I went inside there was only one other option, the world of baseball cards. I never collected baseball cards, it was always football or basketball but none the less they still fell under that category to me. I would save all my money and march down to my local card store and blow it all in the hope I might open a pack to see one of my heros staring back up at me. Its a long but interesting story, how I fell in love with these cards but I will shorten it for you. My mother had some major surgery when I was young and my dad was never around, so I stayed with a friend from school out in the suburbs. His mother was a collector of anything from matchbox cars to dolls, but her real favorite was football cards. She showed me how to properly protect these little treasures and how to find their market value in a Beckett. When my week away from home was up she left me with a box of these cards and from then on I was hooked. I would spend some winter days looking at the pictures, looking at the players stats, and looking in the Beckett's at what I dreamed of opening a pack and finding. This hobby followed me through good times and bad until around the end of middle school or begining of high school. I still had my eye on what was going on with cards, but had to devote my money to other things. Every now and again I would find myself buying a pack or two, but not with the frequency that I did back in the day. Just last year I found myself purchasing a couple singles on ebay and it brought the memories and magic back. Someday I want to share these with my children not in the hopes that they will do the same, but in the hope that they can find something that will let their imaginations soar high above worldly troubles. You see to me these cards weren't about the athletes, or the money. They were about dreams, the kind of dreams that made you believe someday you would have a kid opening a plastic wrapper and seeing a picture of you living your dream.

Faces In The Crowd

I Cant really tell you what to expect from this Blog. Well to start out its my first actual Blog, and I just want to leave it open ended. So the first posts I have planned are a couple of interviews, we will see if either of the people I have contacted will be interested in an interview. Before things get rolling I will most likely attempt to entertain you with some of my musings, and if your lucky some rants. Thank you in advance for reading! Hey almost forgot to tell you check out the about me section! I have included a very brief description of myself.