Saturday Highlights

Fred has posted something below and I do not want to cover it up, so please go ahead and read it so you can learn about he and how his family is able to bond over their sports differences with alcohol. I wanted to post something else today but I am stuck at work all day and I truly don't have the energy to put up an extraordinarily long post today. The only thing that gets me through the day is knowing I am going to be really busy at work next week too (note sarcasm).

I have a couple notes today and things I want to talk about. The first thing I want to do is focus your attention on two new friends of the blog. I don't put sites up there that I don't have on my favorites and go to everyday. I am not a blog pimp or anything. Sometimes I get people wanting to exchange posts and I don't put them up because you guys and I am not interested in it. This isn't Facebook where you just "friend" anyone with a pulse. "F" that shit in the "A," I am not a blog pimp.

So in respect to these two blogs I do read, I just wanted to let everyone know I don't put anyone with a blog on my blog roll. I am about three weeks too late in putting up the link to Respect Jeter's Gangster in our blog roll but I have done so and please go visit them. I had not heard of them until Fred called them to my attention, even though they are Yankees fans and he is a Red Sox fan he appears to like them as well. That's about as big of a compliment as you can get I guess in the sports world.

The other blog is Fire Rick Reilly, which we all know is a cause I can get behind. He should perhaps be in jail for stealing money from ESPN. In the line of "Fire" blogs this is a great one and of course when it is for such a great cause you can't help but get behind it. Since Reilly doesn't put up but one column per week of course there is other bad sportswriting covered as well. Great blog, check it out.

-The BotB Yahoo Fantasy League needs one more team to play, so someone needs to sign up fairly soon for it. If you need the information, just email me and I will give it to you...it is also in a couple of the old posts. I think I am changing it to a one QB league simply because I think 2 QB's is going to be hard to play with 12 people. I am also changing an interception thrown by a QB to -2 or -3 points. I haven't decided yet and may try to play with the WR stats a little too. Either we still need one more person.

-As Fred mentioned below, everyone is excited that Mark Sanchez played well last night.

Excuse me if I don't get too thrilled over him playing one series and going 3-4 for 88 yards against the St. Louis Rams. That team has the skill level of a good Pac-10 team and if I recall correctly they didn't exactly set the NFC West on fire last year...and the NFC West stunk.

One of those completions was a 48 yard completion to David Clowney, so take that out of the equation and Sanchez was 2-3 for 40 yards, which is still good, but I am not getting too excited. Erik Ainge completed a 50 yard completion to Clowney as well and he went 10-17 for 148 yards. Erik Ainge did that,. yes Erik Ainge. He didn't play THAT WELL in college. Also Kellen Clemens went 4-4 for 24 yards. So it was a good night all around for the Jets QB's not just Mark Sanchez.

I still don't think Mark Sanchez is going to be a great NFL quarterback, though you wouldn't know it from the madness that has surrounded his amazing one series and one long pass completion. I think he is already getting Pro Bowl votes. I will tell you when I am wrong about Mark Sanchez, and I am not wrong yet. Let's see what he does not in the preseason and not against the Rams. Actually let's see if he can beat Kellen Clemens out for the starting job first.

-On the other end of the spectrum, Kyle Orton had a bad night with the Broncos and now everyone wonders if he should be the starter in Denver. High drama in the Mile High City. Since when did one bad preseason game mean absolutely anything? Also, it is Kyle Orton, what did everyone expect him to do? Come out throwing touchdown passes all over the field?

In all seriousness though, I would give Chris Simms a shot at the job there in Denver. I believe he could have some success in the short term in McDaniels system.

-Ken Rosenthal thinks that beanballs are senseless.

I commented on this last week and I still feel that way. I also am not sure about the term "senseless" being used in conjunction with a beanball. Usually I think of murders or the torture of animals as being "senseless," since those seem to be more severe events. I don't think beanballs are senseless.

As always, I think that beanballs are part of the game and I think if a player is going through intentionally at another player they should not throw near the head or near any other important body parts. Otherwise, I don't believe the hitter has the right to crowd the plate and not allow the pitcher to pitch inside at all.

-Chase Utley's wife is angry the Eagles did not allow SPCA into the Mike Vick press conference and did not contact them before signing Vick.

I am a huge supporter of animals and in general completely agree with the ideas of the SPCA. I think if the Philadelphia chapter of the SPCA thought about it a little more they might realize why they were denied both access to the press conference and knowledge of the signing.

As far as the press conference goes, the Eagles probably wanted to get Vick on the podium and not have him subjected to questions about animal cruelty or be bombarded with questions from angry SPCA members who don't believe he has entirely repented. I am not saying it is right, but Vick is going to have plenty of chances to show he is sorry and I don't think starting a dialogue the same day he is introduced as a member of the team is the best way to go about it. Of course, the Eagles are also looking to protect Vick from tough questions in a forum that is not of his choosing as well.

I find the idea the Eagles should tell the SPCA they are about to sign Vick to be a little absurd. If they had done this, it would have started a furor among animal rights activists in the area. It's always easier to ask forgiveness than for permission. The Eagles wanted to sign Vick and if it had gotten leaked it was going to happen then there could have been hold ups in the process. I am not saying it is right, but the Eagles have a right to sign the players they want to sign and they don't need to ask permission if they don't want to.

As I said before, Vick will have a chance to show he is sorry and to take steps to recover his reputation and show he cares about animals. I don't think the press conference announcing his arrival is the best place for this. The SPCA is going to have time to talk to Mike Vick, I don't think it needs to force itself on the situation unless it is clear neither Vick nor the Eagles are going to make strides to start a dialogue.

-I woke up the other day and a question came to me. I have wanted to throw this hypothetical situation out there.

The Marlins are currently in the NL Wild Card hunt and are also still in the hunt for the NL East. Imagine a team came to them and proposed a trade that would take a guy like Hanley Ramirez off their hands for a bunch of good prospects. This team would just blow the Marlins away with a trade that would improve their team in 2 years and save them money on salaries but cause them to fall back this year. Do you think the Marlins would take the trade? (Let's also pretend it is not past the trade deadline) I think they would.

Hypothetically say this was the trade:

Red Sox get Hanley Ramirez

Marlins get Clay Bucholtz, Nick Hagadone, Casey Kelly, Lars Anderson, and Luis Exposito.

This is clearly hypothetical but I would bet the Marlins would sacrifice this year to get prospects and save money. If the Yankees wanted Josh Johnson (I don't know how much he makes but I am guessing he is near arbitration at this point) and offered four of their top prospects, which is more value than Johnson could get normally, do you think the Marlins would have made that trade?

It is pathetic that I think the Marlins would sacrifice competing this year for saving money.