Reefer Madness

This could go very badly for the Mavs. In a radio interview Josh Howard openly admitted to using marijuana in the off season. He did say that we would never do something that might affect his play on the court and that's why he only does it in the off season, but he did admit to using. He also stated that it's no secret that a lot of players smoke recreationaly in the off season. I feel about the same as half of the country on the subject of marijuana use. And if Josh Howard wants to do that a little in his free time, no big deal. But this is one of those things that fall under the "don't ask, don't tell" umbrella. Especially the 'don't tell' part. The problem with this is three fold:

• It's against the law.
• It's directly against the league substance abuse policy and Howard will likely face some sort of disciplinary action by the league.
• It's going to have some ramifications on his team as well as the league.

I figure the Mavs have two ways to go with this. One is completely down play it and hope it blows over before next season. The other is to go ahead and trade Howard[1] and forget about it.

1. If they do trade his they need to be sure not to give him away. He's a great player and worth a lot in return. Maybe we can replace him with an aging small forward who can't guard his counterpart[2].

2. I'm referencing the Kidd/Harris trade here, it case it wasn't obvious.

Trivia Question

Who is the Red Sox all-time leader in stolen bases?

Hint: He swiped 168 career bases.

This is the Way it is Going to Play Out - NBA East

1st Round

Celtics v. Hawks - Celtics in 5. This will kind of feel like watching games during training camp.

Cavaliers v. Wizards - Cavs in 4. The 1st round of the east is going to be boring.

Magic v. Raptors - Magic in 5. Dwight Howard is going to step it up.

Pistons v. 76ers - Pistons in 4. There's no hope here for Philly.

2nd Round

Celtics v. Cavaliers - Celtics in 7. Boston is going to have to really work from here on out.

Pistons v. Magic - Pistons in 5. The Magic are too inexperienced and the Pistons are too good.

Conference Championship

Celtics v. Pistons - Celtics in 6. I bet Rasheed Wallace throws a temper tantrum in every game.



NBA Championship

Celtics v. Lakers - Celtics in 7. They wanted it more.

This is the Way it is Going to Play Out - NBA West

1st Round

Lakers v. Nuggetts - Lakers win in 4 and make it look really easy.

Jazz v. Rockets - Rockets in 6. McGrady takes over every game in the final minutes and it works 4 out of 6 times.

Spurs v. Suns - Suns in 7. This series will result in more technical fouls than all of the other series combined.

Hornets v. Mavericks - (long sigh) Hornets in 6. It pains me to write that.

2nd Round

Lakers v. Rockets - Lakers in 5. McGrady takes over every game in the final minutes but it only works once this time. Kobe could average 50pts a game in the series, but he'll probably just phone it in one night.

Hornets v Suns - Hornets in 6. The Steve Nash verses Chris Paul match up (former MVP vs current) will get way overplayed in the media, but it should be an amazing series.

Conference Championship

Lakers v. Hornets - Lakers in 4. Kobe and his crew will probably go ahead and get serious now.



The Mavericks offseason
Avery's job will be safe, at least for one more year. The Mavs will flirt with some big name trades but ultimately will shuffle around some role players and keep the core of the team the same. Thus building for another not-quite-good-enough season.

Top 10 Pitchers of All Time

This post comes directly from a conversation I had last night with Matt Tettleton. Mat is very opinionated on baseball and often times very wrong1. But here is my list of the best all time pitchers.


10. Warren Spahn - We often forget about this guy but he is probably the most dominate southpaw ever2.
9. Cy Young - It's hard to compare because it was a different time, but he was the best at that time.
8. Nolan Ryan - "Hitting of Nolan is like trying to drink coffee with a fork." -- Reggie Jackson.
7. Sandy Koufax - Would be ranked much higher if he'd player past the age of 30.
6. Grover Cleveland Alexander - Tied for third in wins (373) and second in shutouts (90).
5. Bob Gibson - He was the best of his era.
4. Roger Clemens - I'm going to go ahead and put an asterisk next to this one.
3. Satchel Paige - We can only imagine what he would have done if he'd been born white. Paige was once accused of cheating he said, "I ain't never thrown an illegal pitch, it just every now and then I throw something they ain't never seen before."
2. Walter Johnson - Ty Cobb once said the only time he's ever been scared in his life was the first time he saw a Walter Johnson Fastball3.
1. Christy Mathewson - 17 seasons with 373 wins, 2.13 ERA and .665 win pct. I'll admit this is a little of a surprise for number one, but the numbers don't lie. However, Mathewson's strikeout numbers are also fairly low because he wasn't a power pitcher at all. I see this as another example of his greatness, the fact that he couldn't relying on over powering his opponents but rather he had to be more creative to succeed. He also succeeded despite having a girls name4.



1) Except for is opinion that Nolan Ryan was effectively wild.
2) But maybe Randy Johnson deserves an honorable mention here.
3) Ty Cobb was once stabbed in a mugging.
4) Like a Boy Named Sue.

New poll

Check it out on the right side of this page. If you have a comment about it, leave it here.

Starting it Off Right

Though the Rangers are only 2-2 to start the season there is early reason for hope and that's the starting pitching. The Rangers starting pitching through 4 games has only given up 5 runs in 24 innings pitched for a 1.88 ERA. The best start in the first four came from Kason Gabbard who pitched 7 shutout innings. The entire pitching staff only has an ERA or 3.79 and if you took out Dustin Nippets 6 run shelling in two-thirds of an inning the ERA is reduced to 2.38. And then there's that skinny first baseman hitting at the bottom of the order who has two homerun's thus far, one of which was a grand slam. Yes indeed, the Rangers are setting us up for a huge let down this year.

One Player Doesn't Make a Team

And there's the story of a player who made more than a team. Alex Rodriguez, aka A-Rod, aka Ass-Rod, will earn more money this season than the entire Florida Marlins team, and it's not even close. A-Rod's 28mill dwarfs Florida's payroll of 21.8 mill. The Marlin's highest paid player, Kevin Gregg, makes less than the league average (3.15M) and Johan Santana makes 12M more than the entire Florida starting rotation. There are two points I want to make with this:

A) Florida owner, Jeffrey Loria is a business man with a plan. When Florida entered the league in 1993 their payroll was at the bottom of the league. But in 5 years they were able to win a championship. They immediately dismantled the following off season and again had a very low payroll in '98. It took them 6 years this time to build another championship team and after the 2003 World Series they dismantled once again. Of course it's been 5 years1 now since their last championship and it may be a few years more before they win their next, but rest assure, Loria is a guy with a plan and he'll build a competitive team again.

B) This is what's wrong with baseball. Steroids and HGH use are really a minor issue compared to the games larger, more long standing problems. Baseball has no system in place to insure a competitive balance. There is no effective means of collective bargaining, or salary cap, or salary minimum, of max/min of individual salaries, etc. Baseball has a lot of issue on these ground which make the game significantly less interesting. In no other sport would you see one teams salary be 10 times that of another team, nor would you see one player make more than an entire team. Its really quite absurd. And these problems will persist as long as baseball has a weak commissioner2 who doesn't have the backbone to take on a players union which has way too much power. If congress really cared about making baseball a better sport they would start by forcing baseball to restructure it's players union and adopt some policies to create competitive balance. This, in turn would lead to less instances of steroid use since the players using it would have less protection. The days of Curt Flood are over and no one sympathizes with the plight of players anymore. It's time for someone in baseball to start to sympathize with the plight of the fan.


1) Ironically, the Yankees last championship came in 2000 and yet they continue to have the highest payroll year after year.
2) Bud Selig sucks.

Rangers Trivia and a Quote

If you were watching the game tonight you may have seen this. If not, it may be a difficult question.....


Kevin Millwood has started the last three Opening Days for the Rangers. Who was the last Rangers pitcher before Millwood to start on Opening Day?

Hint: It's not The Gambler.


And here's your quote of the day...
"Baseball stats are like a girl in a bikini: they show a lot, but not everything." -- Toby Harah

My Favorite Golfer

First of all let me say that I really like Tiger woods. He seems like a nice enough guy and his game is amazing. But for awhile now I have been searching for a "favorite golfer" and I feel like it should be someone other than Tiger Woods. In most sports I prefer not to root for the best team but rather a decent team with a chance. And now I have found my new favorite golfer: Tripp Isenhour.

Here are some reasons to like Tripp Isenhour:

• In his PGA Career he has placed in the top 25 10 times and in the top 10 3 times.
• His scoring average is a 73.5
• He's the exact height and weight of me.
• His first name is Tripp.
• His last name is pronounced the same as a former president and war hero1.
• And for this.

If you read that article you would see that he has been charged with purposely killing a hawk with a golf ball. He was filming some sort of instructional golf video and there was this hawk in a tree that would not shut up forcing Tripp and the crew to have to shoot multiple takes. So Tripp, obviously frustrated, took the bird out, sniper style, from 75 yards away. That's a total Roy McAvoy2 shot.

I would also like to note my complete contempt for birds. I've known people who had birds as pets and I could never understand why3. The are loud and obnoxious and smelly. The same goes for wild birds such as the pigeon, or the crow, or, in this case, a hawk. So I say, thank you Tripp, you've done this country a service. You too are a hero.

1. Americans love war heroes.
2. This is my 12th Sports Blog post and it's taken me this long to reference a Kevin Costner character. This makes me thing a "top sports movies" blog should be coming soon.
3. An ex-girlfriend of mine, her parents had a pet bird that could talk. It had learned to mimic the different voices of the family members. When she was a girl this bird would call her from it's cage in the voice of her father. She would come in the room to find just the bird laughing at her. In this case having a bird would be bad-ass.