6 comments Random Thoughts: Thursday Edition

I haven't done some random thoughts in a while so I figured I may as well go ahead and do some today. As always, hang on tight because my thoughts are going to be all over the map. There will be a little bit less dissection of articles today so feel free to jump in with any opinions you may have. I know no one here is shy.

Don't forget to update your College Football Pick' Em before Friday when the first game is played between Boise State and Fresno State. I am going to do my best to be in first place after this week, I am still recovering from my tough first week. Also, don't forget to put your lineups in for the NFL Fantasy Football League either. Just a hint, I wouldn't start Jake Del-Whom?.

-I could not find a link but those who subscribe to the latest Sports Illustrated may have read the article by Joe Posnanski about how the American League is widely considered a better league than the National League. I don't think I really want to dispute that point because I feel like in the long term the National League is an inferior league in some respects to the American League. In the World Series pretty much anything can happen, so I don't know if I believe World Series victories can be proven to show which league is superior.

An example Posnanski used was John Smoltz going from the Atlanta Braves to the Boston Red Sox and then to the St. Louis Cardinals this year. He stunk in the American League but pitched well in the National League. Really, his success in the NL can be explained because he went from the AL East, a strong division, to the NL Central which in my opinion is a weak division. I do realize he pitched against some bad teams with the Red Sox as well, but he was coming off shoulder surgery and is in his 40's. I would guess he wasn't 100% when pitching for the Red Sox. I think there were more factors than the change in leagues that caused his ineffectiveness with the Red Sox.

Examples like Smoltz this year are always used, especially for pitchers who make the change between leagues, and I am not exactly sure what to think. Some pitchers like Josh Beckett and Johan Santana have dominated in both leagues, while other pitchers, like Derek Lowe, have been above average in both leagues. Another example that is commonly used for the difference in leagues is C.C. Sabathia and how he dominated with Milwaukee last year. Again, he went to the NL Central, which I think is a weak division, plus he also dominated a certain amount in Cleveland before being traded.

What made me scratch my head in Posnanski's article is he used an example of an AL pitcher who has spent most of his career in the NL (and I can't remember who it was) and he was getting batted around by the Kansas City Royals. Posnanski used examples of players like Mike Jacobs, Willie Bloomquist, and Miguel Olivo as guys who teed off on him...inferring these are AL hitters who are batting around an NL pitcher. What sort of confuses me is that Jacobs has spent his entire career, until this year, in the National League and Olivo has bounced around between the two leagues. It's not like they were "American League" hitters who were hitting well against this inferior pitcher. These were guys who have extensive time spent in the National League, they didn't just become better hitters because they play for an American League team now.

What I am saying is what confuses me the most about the NL v. AL pitcher debate is that in this day in age players tend to play in both leagues, so whereas the AL may overall be a stronger league, there are many NL-experienced players hitting these pitchers hard as well. Mike Jacobs isn't a better hitter in Kansas City than he was in Florida, he may have better players around him (not in Kansas City of course). That's the only thing about the NL v. AL debate that misses the mark for me.

Javier Vasquez has pitched better in the National League generally in his career, but how do you explain the fact he gave up 1 run to the Red Sox this year (in the game I went to, which is how I remember it) and has pitched well against the Phillies which have an American League lineup? Sure it was only a couple of games and that is a VERY small sample size but players and sometimes I think the differences in the leagues can be overstated. I am not arguing the difference in the talent of the leagues overall, because I do believe the AL is stronger top to bottom, but I don't see how players who come from the NL to the AL become better hitters. Maybe I am missing something. Maybe I am rambling. Am I wrong in thinking the difference is overstated a little bit?

-I have had this article bookmarked for a long time. It's by Sean Deveney and I am really not criticizing it but just wondering how bad it must be to be a Knicks fan.

It has been a summer of utter frustration for the Knicks. And fans of the team should be very happy about that.

But team president Donnie Walsh entered this summer with a clear idea of what he wanted to accomplish. He wanted to be set up to get through the winter of 2009-10 without screwing up his prospects for the summer of 2010.

So basically what he is saying is the Knicks can't be trusted to sign the right players so it's a good thing no one wants to play for them because they would sign the wrong players and ruin the spending frenzy that will be the 2010 free agent class. Again, the Knicks should be glad no one wants to play for them because they will choose the wrong players anyway. I don't even know if this registers as a backhanded compliment or what it is.

It seems like every team is trying to line up for a big spending summer next summer. I know the Knicks are lining up to be a player in that, but I can't help but wonder if the draw of playing in New York is a little bit overrated...or maybe it is overrated when the Knicks don't have a good team.

The Knicks are certainly counting on combining cap space and a big-market vibe to lure free agents. Back in 2000, the Bulls found that doesn’t always work, when they were spurned by Tracy McGrady and wound up with, ahem, Ron Mercer.

I am not saying it won't happen, but I find it bizarre that Jason Kidd spurned the Knicks this off season because he doesn't want to play for them but they seem to think somehow they can lure an even bigger free agent next summer. Actually if they play their cards right, they probably could, but I just find it interesting Deveney thinks it is great the Knicks didn't sign anyone because Donnie Walsh is stupid and would only end up screwing up the team for the 2010 year. I don't necessarily see how a free agent wouldn't want to play for the Knicks this off season but next off season they would. Maybe money is the difference.

-Gregg Doyel, who I am not ashamed to admit I am beginning to start to like, thinks football is the easiest sport to learn to play. Or at least the easiest sport to take a break and then come back to play.

It must be. How else could Greg Paulus, as good as he was in high school, take four years off from football and be able to return this season as a starter in Division I college football? And he isn't merely doing it in a BCS league, which the Big East allegedly is, but at the most demanding position on the field -- which quarterback most definitely is.

I can see where Doyel is coming from here. Paulus did take four years off and then start to play football again, but he did it for Syracuse which is a program in full rebuilding mode. Would he start for 80 other D-I or even 20 Division I-AA (which is what I will still call teams like Appalachian State and Richmond) teams? Probably not. Paulus is playing pretty well this year for Syracuse but he isn't setting the world on fire, and Paulus used to be quite a good football player so it's not like he just picked the football up and learned quickly.

Chris Weinke spent six years in the minors, then came back to Florida State -- when Florida State was the top program in the country -- and won a Heisman Trophy. Josh Booty spent five years in the Florida Marlins' organization, then quit and won the starting quarterback job at LSU. Quincy Carter played professional baseball before going to Georgia and eventually making it to the NFL. Drew Henson played professional baseball after playing football at Michigan, sucked at it, then returned to football and was good enough to make a start in the NFL.

Michael Jordan was an excellent basketball player and he tried to play baseball and failed. He is an elite athlete who couldn't make the switch to baseball. Part of the reason Weinke, Booty, Carter and Henson came back to football was because they were no good at baseball. Baseball just happens to have a minor league system so guys can hang out for quite a while there, which means guys like Booty, Henson, Weinke and Carter were older and more mature (in theory) when they started in college. Maturity helps a person's chances of succeeding at the quarterback position in college.

These guys did all make it to the NFL, but they also weren't very good quarterbacks in the NFL. I would argue possibly that being a COLLEGE quarterback can be pretty easy to come back to if you have the right skill set and some experience beforehand, but to be an NFL quarterback is not an easy thing to do. It's the difference in being able to build a deck on the weekend and say that construction is the easiest job in the world and then building an entire house and finding it easy at that point. Sure, it may be easy to make the transition on the lower levels but at the higher levels it is near impossible to take time off and then be good enough. I don't know if I am confident enough to say football is the easiest sport to just pick up and play. Many football players were also basketball players and could have some measure of success again if they just stepped back on the court.

Kansas point guard Sherron Collins was a dynamic receiver in high school. Adam Dunn, sloppy as he looks, was a stud quarterback recruited by the Texas Longhorns. Dunn's teammate with the Nationals, Elijah Dukes, would have played linebacker for the North Carolina State football team if it weren't for off-field issues.

Darin Erstad was a punter for Nebraska! Does anyone know this? He has a punter's mentality!

So again, Gregg is right and he is not right. He's right that on the lower levels football is easier to pick up if a person hasn't played the sport in a while, but it can be harder on more upper levels, like the NFL. I don't know if there is an easiest sport to leave for a while and then come back and play. If I had to choose I would almost say basketball simply because tall people who are athletic enough to play another sport and have previous basketball experience can pick the game back up pretty easily I would think.

-Ok, I just want to prepare Pats fans. Don't hate me, but Peter King drives me crazy when he fawns over the Patriots and Bill Belichick.

He wrote that article after the Monday Night Football win over the Bills. I am not going to dissect it, because it not exactly bad journalism, but was there ever any doubt Peter King had a "Tom Brady is back" article ready to go? I realize it was a nationally televised game, and it was an exciting nationally televised game, but I KNEW Peter King would write an article about Tom Brady and the Patriots after the first game. Again, I don't care if they are his favorite team, I really don't and it is fine. Just don't deny it angrily in a mailbag and on Twitter, like he has done in the past, because then it just seems disingenuous.

The same Sports Illustrated that had the Joe Posnanski article in it about the National League being weaker than the American League also featured a sidebar story about Bill Belichick, by guess who...Peter King, where he fawned over Bill Belichick and the personnel moves he has made recently to get draft picks. The story was mostly focused on the Richard Seymour trade, and Belichick HAS made some shrewd moves to help the Patriots team in the draft, but this level of fawning and attention on the genius of Belichick by Peter King is bordering on Brett Favreian levels at times.

-Jay Mariotti, the original hack writer's hack, thinks that Serena Williams' legacy is forever marred.

Turns out the angel has fangs. Can we ever look at her the same way again? With one malicious, threatening, swaggering, finger-pointing, racket-waving, f-bombing tantrum, Serena Williams took a sword to her legacy and did irretrievable damage.

Serena was out of line, there is no doubt about that, but how many times has John McEnroe or Jimmy Connors pitched a fit on the tennis court? Their legacy was in some ways enhanced by these tantrums. Serena was scary but really the line judge should never have made that call in my mind.

Tennis is not baseball. It's a dignified game that allows officials to be questioned but never exposed to hostile words, not that any referee in any sport ever should be. John McEnroe suffered a permanent smudge on his legacy because he acted like a boor on the court, but even he never said he'd like to "kill" a linesman.

A permanent smudge being that he is considered one of the best tennis players of his era, gets endorsements because of his legacy of having a temper and now is the lead analyst for nearly every major tennis tournament? A lot of players wish they had that smudge.

Also, I am 90% sure Serena never threated to "kill" the linesman. Let's just make things up shall we?

It's difficult to determine on the TV replay if she used he word "kill," but officials and fans within earshot at Arthur Ashe Stadium said she indeed did.

I wasn't there and didn't hear what Serena said, but witnesses and many other people have claimed to see Bigfoot, aliens and many other fictional/non-fictional characters. That doesn't mean they are necessarily real. Witnesses are reliably unreliable.

Rarely have we seen a premier athlete crash and burn so quickly, so shockingly.

Let's use some hyperbole why don't we? It's very rare for a premier athlete to ever crash and burn quickly, so I guess in some way this sentence is correct. Serena had a major blowup in a crucial point of a Semi-Finals match for the right to make the US Open Finals...when the linesman made a completely borderline foot fault call to bring the match to Match Point. As I said earlier this week, I would be beyond livid if this were called against me.

People think I am crazy because I don't like Roger Federer and I don't like Serena Williams. I think they both, in their own way, can be bad sports and refuse to give their competitors the proper credit that person deserves. In this case, I don't condone what Serena did, but I can actually understand what would make her that angry. Most of all, here legacy is not forever marred.

Serena's backers say we'd be giving breaks to male players who've thrown tirades, from McEnroe's screaming rants to Jimmy Connors' wagging finger to Andre Agassi firing a serve at a Wimbledon lineswoman and wondering about her sex life. Did any of them threaten to kill a line judge?

Did Serena threaten to kill a line judge? We don't know, so this is pure conjecture at this point. I like how Mariotti separates anyone who disagrees with him into "Serena backers," like it is all black and white. You are with him or not with him. This is what makes him one of the most unpopular writers in America today, his ability to create a "me against the world" attitude.

Serena may have some PR work to do but her legacy is in no way marred by one incident on the court like this. I think her previous accomplishments overshadow this incident.

-I was watching the end of the Angels-Red Sox game last night and I saw the two borderline non-strike calls to Nick Green. The check swing looked like it could have been a strike and I definitely thought the pitch that walked the run in was a strike. There was no doubt in my mind. That being said, I don't like whining.

That left Fuentes wondering aloud whether the umpires were too “timid” or “scared” to go against the sellout crowds at Fenway.

I thought those were two straight bad calls as well. Of course Fuentes would not have had to worry about walking a run in if he had not walked Ortiz and given up two (semi-lucky) infield hits after that. Fuentes was also the guy who gave up the game winning hit after going 0-2 on Alex Gonzalez, so the loss was his fault as well. Bad calls suck, but they do happen. You have to deal with them.

“I’ve heard it from other guys that come in here and say that. That’s either because it’s a mistake, or they’re scared.”

Maybe that's true and maybe it is not. I don't really know. I know there used to be talk the Atlanta Braves pitchers got a few extra inches off either side of the plate, which may or may not have been true. I do find it ironic the most famous "questionable home plate umpire strike zone" involved a situation where the Atlanta Braves were hurt by Eric Gregg in the 1997 NLCS where he gave Livian Hernandez about a foot on either side of the plate as a strike. Yes, it still pisses me off but I am over it now.

My point is this. Maybe the umpires are scared to call strikes, I don't know why they would be, it's not like the crowd will rush the field and murder them. They will just yell expletives like they always do. It doesn't really matter because if Fuentes had gotten either of the three batters before Nick Green out, the Angels would not have lost the game. Blame the umpire all you want for those calls, at least one was a bad call, but blame yourself for being in that situation and not having the guts to get Alex Gonzalez out afterwards. He sabotaged himself at that point. You are a professional and get paid a lot of money, put it behind you and get the next guy out.

I think we are lining up for a Red Sox-Yankees ALCS again this year. The Angels are probably going to meet the Red Sox in the first round and will undoubtedly get swept because they are too busy whining and not focused enough on closing baseball games out.

-There is no excuse for Bill Plaschke's writing. Absolutely none.

Every week he writes a new puff piece. First it was about the old scout who had cancer and couldn't scout very well, then it was Juan Pierre and now it is Joe Torre's bench coach.

I will make you all suffer with some of my favorite samples from the column.

The Dodgers bench coach has been more than just the guy with the fungo bat and stopwatch and sweaty sleeve from throwing a basket of balls.

He has been the guy mowing the grass, spreading the lime, working the hose; the guy with the rake, the shovel, the strain.

He has been the guy taking tickets, selling snacks, peddling advertisements, sweeping the floor, guarding the door.

Thirteen paragraphs into this story, you might still be saying, "Who?"

But not Manager Joe Torre, who often leans into Schaefer's ear and whispers, "How?"

I will pay $50 to anyone who can convince me these last two "paragraphs" are examples of fine journalism. These aren't even paragraphs, they are sentences.

No Dodgers coach is more in the middle of the game. Yet, no Dodgers coach is more of an outsider.

It's only a joke that he's not allowed inside the stadium without ID -- or is it?

"I always keep my field pass with me," he says. "You never know."

Like Torre, he believes in statistics; but he also believes in instincts.

"Statistics are one-dimensional, I also need to look in a guy's eyes," he says. "Around here, we believe that sometimes you can find the answer in a guy's eyes."

I wonder if his instincts tell him Juan Pierre is not a starting outfielder in the major leagues. That could start an argument between him and Plaschke.

Schaefer just shrugs again and smiles, saying nothing, saying everything. The Joe Whisperer.

For lack of a better word this article is crap. I would expect nothing more from Bill Plaschke. There are many unemployed writers in the United States right now and this man is still holding down a job. It's beyond unfair.

8 comments Saturday Stuff

It's Saturday, which means I am too lazy to write a really long post today, and you are probably too busy to read a really long post. So I will shorten it out and jump all over the sports world for the day.

-Greg Paulus was playing basketball 5 months ago and today he is the Syracuse starting quarterback. I am not sure if this says more about his ability to come back and play football after 4 years of being an underachieving point guard or says more about Syracuse's complete lack of options at the quarterback position.

"My first thing was to go to the staff and say, 'Who is Greg Paulus?'" Marrone said. "I hate to say that now, but I really didn't know."

No offense to Doug Marrone but if he doesn't know who Greg Paulus is, even if he doesn't follow college basketball, I don't know how well that bodes for him as the Syracuse head coach. Paulus was a pretty highly recruited college football quarterback five years ago and if Marrone was involved at all with football I would think he could remember this. I realize he comes from the NFL and all but I always thought Paulus was a pretty highly recruited guy, especially since he comes from the Syracuse area and Marrone is an alumni...I just thought he would know the name.

I personally am excited to see Paulus start for the Orange but I really am not confident in his ability to win football games at Syracuse because of the talent level of team and the fact he hasn't played competitive football in 5 years. I have to admit I will try to watch a Syracuse game or two though to watch him play. Even if he sucks it will get some interest in Syracuse football this year.

-TMQ is back. I am not going to cover it all for this week, because as was mentioned in the comments, it really did not have a whole lot to do with football. Still, just based on the first and last sentences we have a lot to look forward to this year.

TMQ travels back in time to August 2009!

That is the title of his lastest crap filled entry into sports journalism.

Does anything make sense in football anymore? Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers allowed 57 sacks, rushed for 2.9 yards per carry in the playoffs -- and won the Super Bowl. The other Super Bowl entrant, the Arizona Cardinals, reached the big game despite finishing last in rushing yards.

This man frustrates me beyond belief. Someone needs to inform him there are more facets to the game of football than just random cherry picked statistics. He acts as if the team that wins the Super Bowl every year should be last in sacks allowed, first in rushing, and first in every other defensive and offensive category.

Rookie quarterbacks, who are never supposed to win, were dominant 2008 players, with Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan combining to go 24-12. The previous two rookie quarterbacks to start an entire season, David Carr and Peyton Manning, were a combined 7-25.

David Carr was drafted #1 by an expansion team and Peyton Manning was drafted #1 by an awful Colts team. The team around the rookie quarterback also has something to do with that quarterback's success.

Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan both went to teams that had good players in place, in fact Flacco wasn't even drafted in the lottery, he was just a good rookie quarterback. Ryan went to an Atlanta Falcons team that had a massive hole at quarterback and was actually solid in other positions on the roster. They were able to draft #3 because their quarterback was in jail and they had no backup options...and their coach quit before the season was over. The Falcons didn't really have a horrible season based solely on not having talent on the roster. You have to look at other circumstances in the situation before you start just talking about how things are weird in the NFL.

Why all this strangeness? Because an NFL playbook from the year 2387 came backward in time and altered the football timeline -- just like the spaceships from the future that altered the timeline in the latest Star Trek movie.

I have nothing to say to this, except this has nothing to do with the NFL at all and I don't know how Gregg Easterbrook gets to write a column for ESPN.

"Pip Pip! Cheerio! Trap Press, Lads!" The Boston College men's basketball team beat Duke and North Carolina -- but lost to Harvard.

This was the last sentence of the article, before the preview of next week's article. Boston College beat North Carolina and Duke, then lost to Harvard back in Februrary 2009. That was almost seven months ago and he still finds the need to mention this in his weekly column that is supposed to be about the NFL.

Just based on the first couple and last couple sentences we can look forward to another year of idiocy from Mr. Easterbrook and his column which he refers to in the third person called TMQ.

-Josh Levin has written what is my favorite article of the day. It is entitled, "Sports Illustrated's Peter King Falls Out of Love With His Favorite Source."

In the column Levin documents Peter King and Brett Favre's relationship and includes money quotes like this:

In the beginning, King writes like a proud parent documenting his child's first steps. In recent weeks, he's taken on the demeanor of a father who's forever getting strung along by a drug-addict son

I think Mr. Levin may have missed the irony that Brett Favre did have a drug dependency on Vicodin when comparing Favre to a drug-addict son. I don't ask much of you guys but if you enjoy my MMQB Review every week, and really how couldn't you, then just read the short documentation of Favre and King's relationship. It is interesting to read and even includes links if you like to read Peter's old columns to make fun of him to yourself.

-I swear this is the last time I am going to bring up Lord Favre without prompting by a columnist like Peter King. Mike Florio of Profootballtalk.com, which is one of my favorite sites and has been since it was in its infancy, has broken down the Favre situation and has some interesting thoughts. It shows just how calculating Brett Favre has been through this entire second un-retirement.

I've long believed that everyone connected to the sport of football will lie in the name of obtaining or securing a strategic advantage.

It's true. The NFL basically consists of a bunch of lies being told only interrupted by sporadic playing of football.

In February, Favre laid the foundation to secure a free-and-clear release from the Jets.

Step 1. He knows the team wants to move on without him, so give them a reason to do so. Say you are going to retire, maybe cry a little and you even get a little free coverage where people wax poetic over you? What's wrong with that?

When he got what he wanted in April, Favre said it had nothing to do with any desire to play for the Vikings.

Clearly a lie. We knew that then and we know that now.

Momentum continued to build in that direction until, all of a sudden, Favre told Vikings coach Brad Childress (whom Favre calls "Chilly") that the Second Annual Retirement would not become the Second Annual Unretirement.

Ready for a conspiracy theory that actually makes sense?

The powers-that-be would have us all believe Chilly accepted Favre's decision without any effort to change his mind. Then, Chilly ignored Favre for 20 days, and Favre ignored Childress for 20 days.

Do we really believe Childress would not have tried to change Favre's mind if he truly wanted him to come play quarterback for the Vikings? If Favre is completely on the fence about whether he wants to play or not and Childress needs to save his job, I can't believe he would seem to accept Favre's retirement without a fight.

But Chilly supposedly called Favre on Monday, on a whim. And Favre — who agonizes over every decision in his life — instantly determined without deliberation or debate to re-retire from retirement and relocate to Minnesota for six months.

This is my question. How are we supposed to believe Brett Favre made the decision to come back in one day when it has taken him weeks before this to make a decision?

He didn't just fly to Minnesota to hammer out a contract. He came, he saw, he practiced. All in one day. And he'll play in a game on Friday night.

This was clearly thought out beforehand and the Vikings players knew it, which led to the Jay Glazer report.

So if (when) Cook explained that Brett doesn't want to do the training camp thing, the two sides needed to come up with a plan for pulling the sheet off Favre after the Vikings departed Mankato.

It is just too coincidental for me to believe that Brett Favre decided he wanted to play again the day after training camp ended and Brad Childress let him do this. Everyone knows Favre did not want to attend training camp, so he made up an excuse that sounded like he was being selfless...saying he knows he couldn't make it through the entire season and then just waited for training camp to end.

The only semi-plausible approach was a renewed commitment to retirement, with the express (and top-secret) understanding that the Tuesday after the preseason opener would be the day Favre officially unretires.

If this is true, there is nothing wrong with this. It's not illegal or really unethical. It's just another example of how Brett Favre will lie to get what he wants and he also doesn't seem to care who or what he hurts to get what he wants. I am sure Rosenfels, Booty, and Jackson were not in on this plan so they thought all along they were competing for a starting job instead of Lord Favre's main backup.

I believe this conspiracy theory is true and I am amazed at the lengths that Brad Childress will go to keep his job. He could pretty much have lost all of his team's respect with this effort to get the God of Interceptions on his team.

-I have had a love/hate relationship with Gregg Doyel and right now it is more on the "love" side of the equation.

The post about how he doesn't like Jay Mariotti is good stuff, but in the comments he lists the writers that he actually enjoys reading...

Best writer in the business: Jason Whitlock
Most talented writer: Posnanski
Guy I don't read: Posnanski
Why: Too nice
Other must reads, other than our fine writers here at CBSSports.com of course: TJ Simers, Dan Wetzel, Mariotti (like watching a train wreck; I can't stop looking).
Peter King? Hell no.
Bob Ryan? Sometimes. Why not.
ESPN: Look, some day ESPN will own everything. Including healthcare and Iraq. So let's be nice to ESPN.

He said "hell no" to Peter King. I thought everyone liked Peter. I may be on the "hate" side of the equation with Doyel soon, and it appears he actually enjoys it when people hate him, so he may enjoy that. He is even running for the school board in Ohio. Seriously.

-I do have to say for a guy who doesn't like Jay Mariotti Gregg Doyel certainly writes a column 12 days AFTER Jay Mariotti writes a column that are very similar...even to the point it's almost a rip-off of Mariotti's column. Let's look at them side-by-side briefly.

Doyel's (August 18th - in black type)

Mariotti's (August 6th - in red type)

Those headlines are from years ago, but we can never forget. The first happened in 1920, when Chapman became the first, and still only, major league batter to die after being hit by a pitch.

A baseball, I'll remind you, is a lethal weapon. It's a rock-hard, tightly-wrapped object with a cork center that has killed one player and ruined the careers of others. In 1920, Ray Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch and died 12 hours later in a New York City hospital.

And that brings me to the other headline I saw, the one from the future.

Second major leaguer dies from beanball

Impossible, right? Nobody's going to die on the baseball field.

Call those rare occasions, if you insist. I'd say it's historical evidence that we're long overdue for another tragedy, especially if the sleepy lords of Major League Baseball continue to poo-poo the potential consequences of purpose-pitch retaliation.

Players throw at players until the umpire starts throwing them out of the game, and even then, it's not over. After a game earlier this month in Los Angeles, Milwaukee's Prince Fielder lugged his 270 pounds under the stadium, all the way to the Dodgers' clubhouse, to confront the pitcher who had hit him that night -- as retaliation, presumably, after the Dodgers' Manny Ramirez had been hit by a pitch two innings earlier. Fielder never got close to reliever Guillermo Mota, but the next night the Dodgers posted nine security officials outside their clubhouse door.

But what made this episode so surreal -- and frightening -- was the sight of the 275-pound Fielder barreling through the underbelly of Dodger Stadium and trying to bust his way into the home clubhouse, where Prince wanted to crown Mota in front of 24 teammates who I'm fairly certain would have turned the scene into bloody-Octagon-meets-Evander Holyfield's ear.

Just to make sure he was in control, the Dodgers tightened security at Chavez Ravine. When Fielder took batting practice Wednesday evening, nine guards -- again, nine -- stood watch outside the visitors clubhouse. Throughout the night, there were no fewer than eight outside the Milwaukee clubhouse and five outside the home clubhouse.

Even if Bud Selig doesn't get it, the courts know: In the wrong hands, a baseball isn't a baseball.

But Selig's men have shown no interest in a cleanup, preferring to let a little-boy, tit-for-tat mindset run rampant.

Dangerous enough to a kill a major leaguer? Let's hope not. But don't act like the textbook case of retaliation -- a baseball buried in a hitter's back -- is as easy as it sounds. Major league pitchers routinely fail to hit something as large as the strike zone, but they can be trusted to hit something as small as a batter's back?

Neither was the victim of a purpose pitch, but it's amazing that today's ballplayers don't understand the life risk if a baseball thrown at 100 mph from 60 feet, six inches away strikes a man in the face, eye or skull.

"I have to protect my teammates," Santana said. "You can call that whatever you want."

I call it assault. One day, I'll call it murder. Right now, I call it inevitable.

I'd like to see Selig dabble in reform. I'd like him to tell managers and pitchers to stop throwing at batters with a lethal weapon.

It's not like the two articles are completely the same but there are enough similarities to where I almost felt like I was reading the same article. Maybe Gregg Doyel should start reading Jay Mariotti's columns more carefully.

11 comments Ten Things I Think I Think Peter King Has Not Thought Of: NBA Playoffs Edition

There's not much out there again for this Friday. I really miss Gregg Doyel randomly taking his frustrations out on athletes and I thought today was going to be a day when he did that again. So instead I will give you all little tidbits from around the Internet.

1. I am actually moderately excited about the NBA playoffs this year because Kevin Garnett is injured and it doesn't feel like the Celtics tried to buy their way to a NBA Championship as much this year as it did last year, simply due to Garnett being injured...I know that doesn't make sense.

Anyway, here are my NBA playoff picks that no one really cares about:

Cavs 4-1 over the Pistons- The Cavs are just a better team than the Pistons...I just feel like the Pistons are a mess right now. Maybe I am wrong.

Celtics 4-2 over the Bulls- I think the Bulls will be able to take advantage of Garnett's absence for a game or two. Derrick Rose v. Rajon Rondo should be interesting to watch.

Magic 4-2 over the 76ers- Clearly no one on the 76ers can guard Dwight Howard and I think Philly takes a game or two because of how the Magic have struggled lately.

Heat 4-3 over the Hawks- I think it is a toss up between these two teams on paper and because I don't know which way to go, I am going to assume Dwayne Wade will make a play to steal a game in Atlanta (or get a couple important foul calls).

Cavs 4-1 over the Heat- I think the Cavs could very well sweep the Heat.

Celtics 4-3 over the Magic- If there was ever a series the big men for Boston will be tested it is this one but I think home court advantage and the Celtics ability to defend on the perimeter is going to play a big role in this series. I don't see the Magic winning a Game 7 in Boston either.

Cavs 4-2 over the Celtics- Last year, LeBron James and the Cavs took the Celtics to a Game 7 with Kevin Garnett and they did not have Mo Williams. LeBron has improved, he now has other scorers on his team, and the Cavs have the homecourt advantage (39-2). I don't know if the Celtics would have won this series even with Garnett.

2. Here's how I see the Western Conference playing out:

Lakers 4-1 over the Jazz- I don't know whether to blame it on the Lakers having Kobe Bryant or being able to control the paint with Bynum and Gasol...so I guess both are good reasons.

Hornets 4-2 over the Nuggets- This is my upset in the West. Though the Hornets really can't score, I don't really have a good reason other than I still need more proof the Nuggets will play defense and I think the screen and roll with West and Paul will work well. All the Hornets need is a 3rd scorer to show up (I see Peja in that role) and I think they will win it.

Spurs 4-2 over the Mavs- Duncan can't be guarded by the Mavs even if he only had one leg and Roger Mason Jr. is ready to step in and provide some of the points missing with Ginobli being out injured. The Spurs still play great defense and will make the Mavs pay for doubling Duncan.

Trail Blazers 4-3 over the Rockets- I think Joel P. and the much maligned Greg Oden can give Yao Ming some trouble and make him at least work for his points. I think at some point the Blazers overall ability to rebound and their good depth compared to the Rockets is going to win the series for them.

Lakers 4-1 over the Trail Blazers- Unfortunately, I think the Lakers are on another level from the Blazers. They have no one that can guard Kobe. Joel P and the much maligned Oden can't guard Gasol and Bynum. Maybe I would give the Blazers a chance in a year or so.

Spurs 4-2 over the Hornets- Parker will be able to keep up with Paul (at least as much as anyone can), the Spurs are going to be able to prevent Peja from getting open from 3 point range so the Hornets are going to have to rely on Paul and West for scoring. This is going to be a grind it out series, the kind the Spurs tend to win.

Lakers 4-2 over the Spurs- Much like the Celtics without Garnett, I don't know if the Spurs could beat the Lakers even with Ginobli. The Lakers merely average point guard play will rear its head here against Parker but I don't like any of the other matchups for the Spurs.

Lakers v. Cavs- My question is whether LeBron will need to taste the NBA Finals before winning one, (commenter Edward pointed out correctly to me that LeBron made the NBA Finals in 2007 with the Cavs and that me missing this is something I would point out in someone's else writing...he is right, I am a moron and forgot he had already made it...my pick does not change though, though my self esteem has been lowered) much like Isiah Thomas and the Pistons against the Lakers in 1988 or whether he will take over the game against the Lakers like Michael Jordan did to the Lakers in 1991. Maybe it will be neither option.

Putting LeBron v. Kobe as a draw, which it really is not, I see the Lakers doing too good of a job on the boards and making sure LeBron is a one man show. I see the Lakers as too big and experienced to lose this series. Will my half ass analysis work for them? I don't know...but I have Lakers in 6 games.

3. In one of the most bizarre stories I have heard in a while, Greg Paulus wants to play for Michigan...as a quarterback...like in the sport of football.

Paulus was supposed to be a great two sport athlete coming out of high school and Coach K made him pick and play only one sport. He chose basketball. Clearly, no matter what he says, Paulus has regrets.

Paulus is solely interested in playing quarterback and would enter Michigan's open competition under center if he chooses to join the Wolverines.

"The chance to compete for a starting job is important," Paulus said. "With me only having an opportunity to play for one year, the chance and the opportunity to compete at a high level is important. There is an opportunity to do that at Michigan."

First off, the type of offense Michigan runs does not seem too conducive to Paulus' abilities. Quickness is not his strongest suit and the Michigan offense runs the spread. I don't get exactly what Paulus is trying to do because he only has one year to play the sport...and there is a chance he will sit the bench.

"The quarterback position is like being the point guard," Paulus said. "You get the ball every possession and every play. That's exciting to me."

Yeah, but Paulus really, really underachieved at point guard at Duke. Who is to say he won't underachieve as a quarterback as well? I just don't get what Paulus' endgame is here. Does he want to prove he could have played two sportsin college, prove he made the wrong choice by choosing basketball over football or is he trying to make the NFL next year? If he is trying to make the NFL, I don't know if the Michigan offense is the best place to do it.

Maybe he will miss college so much, he can't leave.

4. Mike Freeman thinks Isiah Thomas going to FIU is a bad mistake by FIU. He tells us this by using bad jokes and not writing actual journalism.

Isiah Thomas is now coach of the Florida International basketball team. Thus sexual harassment training begins on campus promptly at noon Eastern.

Haha, I didn't see jokes like that coming. Ba-da-boom!

In a related announcement, FIU has renamed its home Anucha Browne Sanders Arena.

Haha...what a simple and juvenile joke!

In a sexual harassment lawsuit, Thomas was accused of calling Sanders a "bitch" and "ho." So the university has declared that bitch and ho tryouts start later this week.

Ok, you can stop now...seriously, the world gets the point.

Other names on the FIU wish list: Whitney Houston, John Daly and two Somali pirates.

(bengoodfella shaking his head angrily)

Having Thomas coach college kids is like asking Emmitt Smith to give speech therapy lessons.

But having Bob "The DUI Machine and 0% Graduation Rate" Huggins coach kids at West Virginia, Dayton, Cincinnati and Kansas State is the best idea ever? There are worse college coaches out there.

It remains extremely rare for a star player from that era who tried coaching to succeed in it. There were successful players (not necessarily greats) from the 1970s who developed into outstanding coaches like Pat Riley, Billy Cunningham and Phil Jackson. We'll see what happens with players from the 1990s and beyond.

This is not a very good reason to say Isiah will fail. Not to mention those players all coached pro teams and not college teams. There is a difference. Maybe Isiah's completely abrasive personality will work in Florida, but most likely he will run the team into the ground like he has done everything else in his life over the past 15 years.

We all make mistakes, but the declivity and debauchery experienced by Thomas has been fairly stunning. Thomas has proven he can't run a league (he drove the CBA into bankruptcy) or a team (he annihilated the Knicks). I'm not so sure that he can even run a lower-level program like FIU's.

Bill Simmons is not the only one who thinks Isiah sucked as a GM and a coach, he was one of the few that said so very publicly, but I think it is going to be very interesting to see if Thomas can manage to push a completely non-elite program like FIU's down the crapper in two years or less. I have confidence in him.

So good luck Florida International.

I don't really care who Isiah harasses, I care that he has always proven incredibly bad at running anything or overseeing a team of players. FIU is going to have a 3-24 year in two years and Isiah still won't be fired.

5. Heath Bell, or as I call him "my new hero," thinks that Baseball Tonight is very biased.

“I saw John Kruk on 'Baseball Tonight,' and he said, 'They're playing real well, but I don't believe in them,'” Bell said before Monday's game. “And I saw ESPN's promo for tonight's game. They mention the Mets are opening Citi Field, they mentioned the starting time, but nowhere did they mention the Padres. That gave me the (expletive).

Gave him the "shits?" I hope that is what he was saying because that would be fantastic. I actually don't find that Baseball Tonight is that biased that often, I think SportsCenter's coverage of events tends to be more biased. I just think the guys on Baseball Tonight are just not the smartest people in the world at times and their analysis is weak as well.

“I truly believe ESPN only cares about promoting the Red Sox and Yankees and Mets -- and nobody else,” said the closer, a former Met.

Well, that is semi-true. ESPN is generally based in the Northeast so it is easier to cover these teams as well.

ESPN gave the O’s the same treatment as they did Peavy after Baltimore took the first two games of the season from the Yankees last week. They showed nothing but the struggles of the Yankees, complete with shiny graphics and statistics, while leaving out any mention of the Orioles.

I noticed that as well and it really made no sense to me at the time. It was all about the Yankees losing the game and not the Orioles winning the game. It has gotten to the point I expect this from SportsCenter though and no longer really notice it.

I think the one thing I can add to this line of conversation is that after the Padres beat the Mets on Sunday Night Baseball this week, they interviewed David Wright instead of a Padre immediately after the game. I thought that was a little bizarre, even with it being the first game in the new stadium. Usually they interview a player from the winning team.

But can we get a clip? Just one clip from a non-NY/Boston team doing anything?

I was initially going to argue a little bit with this article but when I turned the television to Baseball Tonight immediately after reading this, they were doing a phone interview with A.J. Burnett. What does everyone here think? I think SportsCenter focuses on only a couple of teams but I thought Baseball Tonight, though inane, was usually pretty good about talking nonsense about every team. I do see a lot of Atlanta Braves articles on ESPN.com, so I know they get some coverage. What do you all think?

6. I am a couple of days late on this one but Peter King pisses me off in his MMQB Tuesday Edition as well as he does in his MMQB.

David Charney of Mercer Island, Wash.: "Responding to Mike Vrabel's comments about the playoffs, exactly how much money does he think his last contract would have been worth if the Patriots had not been in the playoffs and won the recent Super Bowls?

I guess he is going to find out now that he plays for the Chiefs and he tries to get a new contract. This comment by David from Washington is exactly what I was thinking when I read Peter's MMQB but did not know exactly how to phrase it, so I cut it out.

Fans like you (and there are tens of thousands out there, maybe hundreds of thousands, who feel the same way) don't want to hear about players feeling ripped off for having to play playoff games for $33,000.

How about there are millions of fans out there who feel the same way you elitist asshole? $33,000 is not a lot relative to what NFL players get paid for the season but it is a lot compared to what Americans make on average per fucking year. This whining for the players comes over really, really poorly.

Nick of Gainesville, Fla.: How can anyone possibly complain for being paid $33,529 (on average) per week? The average American household makes roughly $50,000 per year. That means in two playoff weeks, an NFL player makes more than the average American family. And that is on top of the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars they are paid during the regular season. I have a degree from a well-regarded law school, and I still make less per year than a player does in the playoffs.''

You would think with Peter getting weekly email about this issue from people who complain he is out of touch with the world and he should quit whining on behalf of the players, he might think that perhaps he is in the wrong. Nope, his little head just keeps on spinning out bullshit.

Nick, if you got an average of $8,000 per case, and then it came time to argue the biggest case you'd ever had before the Florida Supreme Court, and you got $500 for it, would you feel that was fair? Everything is relative.

What a horrible comparison. Attorneys also take cases pro bono many times...especially when it comes to high profile cases that may to go the Florida Supreme Court. Also, if an attorney takes a case to the Florida Supreme Court and wins it, his business will increase so it is worth it for him in the long run. That is very similar to a player who plays well in the playoffs.

Everything is relative you idiot. Relative to what Americans and other people around the world earn, making $33K for three hours of work is a lot of money. It goes both ways. At what point will Peter realize he is wrong on this issue? He did not publish any question from a reader who agreed with him, probably because there was no one.

Steve of Saint Peter, Minn.: "Regarding the timing of this year's draft: I remember you including a statement last year about seeing a NASCAR race in an airport while the Yankees and Red Sox were playing, and remarking on how you were surprised by how little people outside of the northeast cared about said rivalry. As a person who lived in Washington state during last year's draft, I can assure you that a 1:05 p.m. start on the West Coast is more inviting to West Coast viewers than a 9 a.m. start. Why should the NFL schedule one of its premier events around one/two games in another sport, especially when most people couldn't care less about one (if not both) of them? Remember, the country does not schedule events around Yankees-Red Sox games, nor does everyone live in the Eastern Time Zone.''

In your eye Peter. What say you?

Good points, sort of. I would say this: Whenever I talk to football fans in the West, I find they love NFL games starting at 10 a.m. That's all I'm talking about here -- starting the draft at a time suitable for both East and West coast fans. I'm not saying the NFL should be cowed by a couple of baseball games, but it's common sense: They knew the FOX game of the week starts at 4 p.m. on April 25. Why start your premier event of the offseason at the same time, as it turns out, as rivalry games involving two of the three biggest markets in the United States? It's not good business.

Fuck you, sort of. Some of the readers of this here blog live out West and they don't mind the 10am start for games and the draft time either...but Peter still doesn't get it. The NFL should still not schedule their draft around an early season baseball game on a competing network...even if it is the Yankees and Red Sox. I can't help but think Peter has a trumped up importance of his favorite team's baseball games.

Malcolm Charles of Southport, N.C.: "If the NFL wants to get rid of the appearance of referees in the tank for the Steelers, then it might be wise for Mike Pereira to not acquire a football autographed by anyone, much less Mike Tomlin and Dan Rooney.''

Peter's readers are actually smarter than he is. I think this is a great point.

7. Rick Reilly gets paid millions of dollars to ride in a car with Kobe.

This is a part of continuous series called, "Look at all the cool shit I get to do and get paid for." I will put up a couple excerpts because it was pretty boring to read.

7:21 a.m. I immediately spill my coffee in the $300,000-plus Ferrari, but how was I supposed to know he'd demonstrate its 0 to 60 mph in 3.1-seconds right at the very moment I was about to sip my delicious venti mochachino?

I wish Kobe had pushed him out of the car while doing 6o mph. What type of person brings a fucking cup of coffee into a Ferrari?

As a couple in a red Hyundai shrieks, "Kobe! Kobe! Take care of us tonight!" he turns into the players' gate, where a guy with a mirror on a pole checks under the Ferrari for bombs. I'm terrified what they'll find.

They check under his car for bombs? Really? Someone would want to bomb Kobe? I wonder how many NBA players have their car checked for bombs everyday?

It's 5:31 p.m. The Kobe Kommute is over. He's still got the game to go. (The Lakers will defeat the Clippers, 88-85, with Bryant scoring 18 points on 5-for-15 shooting—proving that, occasionally, Kobe DOES miss things.) As for me, I'm so exhausted, there's only one thing I want to do.

He is exhausted. He was not with Kobe from 12pm to 5pm when Reilly was in a hotel and he is exhausted right now 30 minutes after leaving the hotel. He was actually doing work for 5 hours in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. He rode in a car and never actually had to do any work. I just thought I would share that.

8. Gene Wojciechowski wrote an article about the Cubs bouncing back from last year's playoff defeat. This article is fresh from ESPN's new Chicago ESPN which features only stories about the city of Chicago.

When I read this article I could not help but remember Scoop Jackson's crappy article last year about how he thought the Chicago Cubs fans were going to give up on the team now. (Is it pathetic if I go back and read an article I wrote and laugh at it...like it is entertaining me? I think it kind of is...or is it more egotistical to do that?)

If anyone needed more proof Scoop was completely wrong, I will let you look at this year's attendance and their Spring Training attendance record.

ESPN should never have let that Scoop article get published. It was pure crap.

9. Terence Moore. The man would have a team full of 40 year olds playing baseball for the Atlanta Braves if it were up to him. This week he thinks the Braves should just wait around for Tom Glavine to get healthy and not replace him with a better, cheaper, younger, and not injured pitcher.

If we weren’t talking about Tom Glavine, it wouldn’t be worth it.

He’s ancient. He’s hurting. Mostly, he’s not Tommy Hanson, the Braves’ 22-year-old pitching sensation who could bring his roaring fastballs in a flash from the Class AAA likes of Gwinnett Stadium to the big time at Turner Field.

I don't even need to write anything at this point. I think Terence summed it up for me. Of course he also left out that James Parr, Jo Jo Reyes, Jorge Campillo (though he is injured), Charlie Morton, or anybody else in AAA/AA would be a better choice to start a game instead of Tom Glavine.

We are talking about Tom Glavine, though. As a result, those in charge of such things with the Braves should wait slightly longer than forever before saying so long to their future Hall of Fame pitcher and his increasingly creaky body.

Because he was good 10 years ago, they need to allow him to take up payroll and a spot in the rotation. Brilliantly horrible logic.

Glavine would choose the right thing. He is a splendid combination of wisdom and pride. For instance: After he discovered recently that this latest shoulder issues will require two weeks rest before the need of another evaluation, Glavine said, “Right now, for me, the glass is probably half-empty, simply because I’m frustrated and tired with this whole rehab thing. But at the same time, being as close as I am — or was — I’m not willing to just say, ‘OK, that’s it.’ I’m willing to put in a little bit more time.”

I loved Tom Glavine. He should have retired after last year and he didn't. Who is to say he will retire now? Give him a gentle push.

He’s the guy who threw that shutout for eight innings to help secure the only world championship for an Atlanta professional sports franchise.

14 years ago, which in Terence Moore's world was just yesterday. He absolutely loves older ball players and I just don't get it.

He’s the guy who should be allowed to exit the home clubhouse at Turner Field as a player without being shoved.

Because of something he did 14 years ago and the fact he used to be a good pitcher. If Terence Moore wrote for the LA Times he would want Sandy Koufax and Kevin Brown to come out of retirement. Maybe Terence should retire...

10. Gregg Doyel thinks those people who hate Tiger Woods, of these type of people I have never met one, should just get over it.

This is another example of a columnist stretching out a 200 word column into a longer column by just rambling around and talking about nothing.

You people exist, you people who really and truly have reached your Tiger Woods saturation point, and you know what? I feel sorry for you. And not just because, two words into this story, you're being referred to as "you people."

I feel sorry for you because you're out of sync with the rest of us. You're ahead of your time, or behind your time. Whatever you are, you're screwed. Most of us want all the Tiger Woods we can get, which means the rest of you -- you people -- can either come along for the ride ... or you can stop following golf.

And you know you can't stop following golf.

Which means you're screwed. Like I said.

Who says journalism is dead? Current journalists can ramble on and create a 1,000 word column with little to no effort. Just like this one from Gregg Doyel.

Your existence makes no sense to me, by the way. I can feel sorry for you without comprehending your actual reality. In that way, in my mind, you're kind of like a compulsive body-piercer or a pyromaniac: I feel sorry for them, too. Have no idea why they are the way they are, but I feel sorry for them.

I always thought the introduction of a paragraph or an article was supposed to grab the reader's attention and want them to read more of what is being written. Apparently now the purpose of the introduction is to just ramble on and on around your main point to kill time and space when you really have nothing to say. Hell, anyone can ramble around in circles, but who can really ramble around in circles and get it published on a major sports web site? That takes talent.