Yes Mike, It's Wrong

Yesterday Percy Harvin was traded from Minnesota to Seattle. Harvin had an up and down career in Minnesota. When healthy he was one of the best receivers in the game. The key word there was "when". Harvin has spent a lot of time injured particularly with migraines. Well ole Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wondered out loud on Twitter if Harvin had been faking those migraines.

Given the full scope of the Percy Harvin experience in Minnesota, is it wrong to at least wonder whether his migraines were real?
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 12, 2013

Um yes it is Mike. Sure I guess Harvin could be faking like he has a migraine but why would he go through the trouble to see a migraine specialist? Unless Harvin plotted this whole thing out like a villain!

Or Harvin really does suffer from migraines. My mother has suffered through migraines her entire life and from what she described to me what it's like to suffer through them, I doubt Harvin is faking them for some sort of advantage against the Vikings. I could see him milking a knee or arm injury, but not a migraine. So yes Mike it's wrong to wonder if Harvin was faking his migraines.

Whitney's Death Is Josh Hamilton's Lesson or Something Like That

It was two weeks ago that Josh Hamilton was spotted in a Dallas area bar. This was news because of course Josh Hamilton is a recovering addict. Actually the story barely made a blip on the radar because Hamilton was spotted during Super Bowl week and the media was more concerned whether or not Peyton Manning could bend his neck to eat a salad or something like that.

Just last week Whitney Houston died from a drug overdose. Well here comes the terrible column's comparing Whitney's death to Josh Hamilton. First let's start with this terrible Forbes.com column:

"Of course, Ms. Houston’s demise comes just weeks after Texas Rangers All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton fell off the wagon for the 2nd time since returning to Major League Baseball after fighting his own substance abuse issues that drove him away from the game.

Days after Mr. Hamilton’s relapse, the Rangers hired Shayne Kelley to essentially play watchdog to ensure that Mr. Hamilton will stay clean going forward.

Perhaps, Mr. Kelley, you should have Mr. Hamilton sit down and read all about the rise and fall of Ms. Houston.  Have him YouTube some of her best performances when she was at the height of her career, and then look-up photos and videos of her during her troubled times."

Yes let's treat Hamilton like a 17-year old kid who got caught drinking a beer for the very first time. What next? Showing Hamilton a video of "Red Asphalt"? Hamilton getting caught at a bar was a cry for help. Drug addicts don't go out in public to fulfill their needs like Hamilton did. But go on and show Hamilton videos of Whitney Houston.

This column didn't stop the idiocy. Jennifer Floyd Engel of Foxsports.com wrote a very similar column to the Forbes.com column:

"As Hamilton himself pointed out, it is a short distance from drunken screw-ups to much, much worse. What he needed in that bar that night was somebody to say, "I'm not going to let you do this to yourself," not a bodyguard blocking the door as he did it to himself. What he needs now is what he asked for in his press conferences — prayers.

It is the irony, of course, that was on full display at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, which came a day after Whitney's death. We usually wait until after a person is gone to say a prayer, or realize how serious the problem was, or wish we had done something besides gawk at the train wreck.

And that is part of the tragedy of the death of Whitney, and the lesson."

The problem here is that addicts will never get help until they help themselves. You can beg and plead and offer to pay for rehab, but unless a addict wants to change then they're never going to change. You can take a lesson from Whitney and offer Josh Hamilton help, but he has to want to change his lifestyle. Maybe the death of Whitney Houston will scare Josh Hamilton, but he has got to change by himself.

And that ends the horrible columns portion of the lesson today kids.

A Serious Lack of Hindsight

"'I think when you have a preseason game, when you don't have your regular-season ticket holders coming to the game, I think that plays a big factor into it,' 49ers president Jed York said. He said that's another reason why the NFL wants to eliminate some preseason games in favor of 18 regular-season games."- Jed York via the Sacramento Bee. 

I couldn't be more ashamed that this man owns the football team I cheer for. I'm actually ashamed that entire Clampett clan from Youngstown owns the 49ers. But they're the owners so we have to deal with them even if Jed lacks some serious hindsight.

The quote stems from a serious of shootings and fights at Candlestick Park on Saturday during a 49ers-Raiders game. I've heard every excuse made why these serious of events happen and yet no one will state the real reason why three different incidents took place on Saturday. Candlestick is a dump and the Yorks are too cheap to pay for security.

Candlestick Park has always been a dump but since the Giants left the place is a toilet inside a dump. And for whatever reason, places like that attract the worst humanity. A's fans like to complain that Giants fans who fill AT&T Park are bandwagon fans, and maybe they are, but at least the people at AT&T Park show respect to one another. Sure you have fans there as well that get drunk and talk trash, but they at least keep it civil.

The other problem that Jed is too gutless to talk about, his family is too cheap to pay for more security guards. When you go to the Giants games, there's an usher in every aisle. At Candlestick during 49ers games, there's maybe one usher every five aisles. How can you keep calm with so few ushers/security guards?

A couple of years ago I attended a 49ers game. I counted at least two fights that broke out in the stands. One of the fights ended before any security arrived. And the other fight lasted a least a couple of minutes before a security guard stopped the two idiots. I remember sitting there in my seats thinking, "I'm never returning to this hole again". And I haven't. Not until Jed Clampett realizes he doesn't employ enough security guards. Not until Jed Clampett realizes it's the 49ers faults why these incidents keep happening. 

So go ahead and stop playing the 49ers-Raiders game. Ask for an expanded season to keep the scalpers away. Curb the tailgating at Candlestick. Blame alcohol. Keep lying to yourselves and everyone around you that it was just a Raiders-49ers thing. More of these incidents are going to happen at Candlestick though until the Clampetts hire more security guards. They have no one but themselves to blame.

I'll get off my high horse now.

NFL Network Is Slowly Killing NFL Films

I've always had a love for history. From California history to world history. I love it all. I especially love sports history. That's why I always loved NFL Films. Where else could you learn about the "Ice Bowl" or the "Immaculate Reception"? NFL Films also had their follies series which I loved. So that's why it makes me sad to read an article about the slow death of NFL Films by the NFL Network.

Its budget has been slashed, its workforce has been gutted by two rounds of layoffs and buyouts, and it essentially has been reduced to an assembly line for cheap, quick-turnaround content for the NFL Network, which, 8 years into Bornstein's tenure, remains barely watchable.

Most of the signature programming that made Films so distinctive has been eliminated by Bornstein/Katz because it was determined to be either too costly or too yesterday or both.

Leave it to a couple of ESPN rejects to slowly kill NFL Films. I'm surprised Mark Shapiro isn't running the NFL Network.

Just Another Reason To Hate Anaheim

The city of Anaheim sucks. Look at all the evidence to back this fact up. They tried to pry the Kings out of Sacramento. They worship a monkey. They wear Snuggies. They let one of Hugh Hefner's prostitutes playmates throw out the first pitch. Their own baseball team barely wants to associate with Anaheim. And then there is this. Last night the Angels established a Guinness World Record by having the most people wear luchador style masks, aka Rey Mysterio mask, at their ballpark last night.

"At the start of the fifth inning on Tuesday night, a vast majority of fans in Angel Stadium donned the red wrestling masks they'd been handed coming through the turnstiles, setting in process a Guinness World Record.

An official was on hand to certify the achievement after it reached the 10-minute mark, which was the original idea of Angels marketing associate John Rozak.

It shattered the existing mark of 250 people wearing costume masks at the same gathering."

Don't you want to just punch these people in the face? I mean seriously. Wrestling masks? Why not give away knifes for you can commit the most murders in one sitting place? If it wasn't for my love of Disneyland, I would stay away from Anaheim like it was Chernobyl.

More photos of these idiots dressed like Rey Mysterio.

(Story via Angels.com, Pictures via SI.com)

Media Meltdown: St. Louis Writers Just Don't Get It

Ed. Note: Sorry for not posting the Must list this week. School and other factors played a part in me not getting to it this week. Plus do you really want me to explain why you should watch Cal vs. Stanford this week? I didn't think so.

Look I'm first one to admit, I don't fully understand sabermetrics and baseball. I couldn't tell you the difference between WHIP and VORP. I leave these stats up to the guys who used to run Fire Joe Morgan and stat geeks like Keith Law. But I can tell you one thing, Tim Lincecum deserved the Cy Young and St. Louis writers just don't understand that.

I'm especially looking at St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell. This is the same guy that wrote inflammatory remarks about Rush Limbaugh in a column when Limbaugh was trying to buy a minority part of the St. Louis Rams. So anything he writes I take with a grain of salt, especially since that one quote against Limbaugh turned out to be a complete fabrication.

Mr. Burwell though completely pissed me off with his column today. He just doesn't understand why pitcher's wins don't count anymore in Baseball. First let me explain why pitcher's wins should not be the measuring stick for pitcher's value before I dissect his ridiculous column.

1) Wins are a phony stat in baseball with the rise of bullpens, specialty pitchers, and closers. Hardly any pitcher today goes the entire distance. (Lincecum tied the majors in complete games.)

2)Let the great people of Fire Joe Morgan explain why wins are a phony stat.

A simply awful pitching statistic that should be swallowed up by the earth itself, personified, given ears, and forced to listen to a tape loop of Bermanisms for all of eternity. The reason being – and again, you know this, intuitively, even if you have never quite expressed it to yourself – if Carl Pavano gives up nineteen runs in five innings but the Yankees score 20 runs, and they hold on to win, and Pavano gets the win, is Pavano a good pitcher? No he is not. (This scenario is assuming he ever comes back and actually pitches, btw.) If Francisco Liriano throws 9 innings of no-hit ball, but gives up a run on four consecutive errors by Terry Tiffey and gets a loss, is Francisco Liriano a bad pitcher? No he is not. Wins stink to high heaven as a way to value pitchers because they are in very large part dependent on the actions of the other guys on the team.

There you go Mr. Burwell. Now it's time to dissect your ridiculous argument.

"Apparently I have been misled for all these years. Here I was thinking that guys who win 18, 19, 20 or 25 games were some kind of special. I always figured that a guy who was able to go out on the mound every five days and pretty much guarantee his team a victory was one of those Cy Young-type hurlers everyone dreams about. Now I find out that I am wrong. Baseball's new wave of deep thinkers and pseudo-intellectuals have told me so loud and clear with the voting in this year's Cy Young awards.

What was my greatest fear in the past is now upon us. Armed with their "advanced metrics" and clutching their spread sheets, the new-age baseball voters have officially taken over the sport both in the front offices and behind the scenes. Baseball's seamheads have won the battle — and I fear are about to forever dominate the old-school vs. new-school war — with the results of this year's Cy Young voting."

So basically Burwell calls the likes of Law, Joe Po, and Buster Olney geeks. Well done sir for taking a secretly back-handed shot at some of the best baseball writers in America. You should be so proud of yourself. And yes, their way of thinking has changed the game. I know it's hard for old-timers like yourself, Joe Morgan, and Tim McCarver to comprehend this.

"Particularly in the NL voting, I am taken aback, because two voters — ESPN.com's Keith Law and Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus — did not include Chris Carpenter on their ballots. Law also had the NL's winningest pitcher, Adam Wainwright (19-8), in third place on his ballot behind Lincecum (15-7) and Javier Vazquez (15-10). And apparently all of baseball geekdom is perfectly cool with this."

He's still confused over the facts that pitchers like Lincecum and Vazquez had better seasons than Wainwright and Carpenter, but their wins didn't reflect their season.

"Look, I think Lincecum is a heck of a pitcher, arguably the most gifted hurler in baseball. But I always thought the Cy Young was intended to honor the pitcher with the best season, not necessarily to reward the guy who has the best stuff."

So I guess leading the majors in strikeouts and 2nd in ERA doesn't count as the best season? Becuase Lincecum did both of these things.

"If I lived in Dallas I would have a problem with this NL vote, so don't tell me I'm a homer. And as evidence of that, please refer to my NL manager of the year ballot where I voted for Colorado's Jim Tracy over Tony La Russa with no hesitation (La Russa was second on my ballot)."

Thanks for clarifying that your not a homer. Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle clarified that he wasn't a homer either. And you know what, your both still wrong.

"So here's what I still don't get. How can you look at what Wainwright did from a won-loss standpoint and essentially dismiss it in favor of Lincecum? As gifted a pitcher as Lincecum clearly is, he faltered down the stretch when his team was in the playoff hunt. In his last 10 starts, the San Francisco ace was only 3-4 with a 3.15 ERA. I'm sorry, but that has to mean something, doesn't it? If won-loss records are suddenly obsolete, why do we bother to keep the stat?"

Yes Bryan, you clearly don't understand and clearly you didn't watch one Giants game this season. I keep going back to this one particular game, but I have Justin backing me up on this. The San Francisco Giants traveled to Philadelphia for an early September game. Lincecum lost that game 2-1 to Pedro Martinez and the Phillies.

So let me get this straight. Lincecum lost a game to Martinez (no shame in that since Martinez is a sure fire hall of famer) and lost to the Phillies in Philadelphia. He lost a game 2-1 to the eventual NL Pennant winners in their bandbox of a stadium. But that doesn't mean anything because Lincecum lost.

Excuse me Mr. Burwell, but did you see the lineup protecting Lincecum this year? Bengie Molina was the fucking cleanup hitter! Aaron Rowand was the sixth place hitter and Randy Winn waw the second place hitter, not exactly the murders row of hitters. If he had a Chase Utley or Ryan Howard or Albert Pujols, he probably would have had more wins. But he didn't have those players though and still won 15 games and recorded 10 no-decisons. The best hitter on the team was Pablo Sandoval and he's only 23 and doesn't fully understand the game yet. Lincecum could have easily won 20 games this season if he had a competent lineup protecting him and he would have qualified to win the Cy Young in your faulty knowledge.

"So tell me again, why is winning not an important stat anymore?

It makes me feel like they're either trying to out-think themselves or justify their sabermetric fascinations when I hear people tell me that a pitcher's victories aren't all that important."

Burwell is stuck in the old sports writers world. Old timers like him will never understand today's writers and the way they think. Old writers are still stuck in the past when wins for pitchers was all that mattered. The baseball world though has moved on and Mr. Burwell and the rest of his type better keep up.

Tim Lincecum deserved this award and the majority of baseball writers thought the same thing.

Why don't wins count anymore? (Stltoday.com)

The WNBA is Worthless

Remember in May when the WWE and the Denver Nuggets playoff game was double booked for the Pepsi Arena? The WWE made this huge deal about Denver owner Stan Kroenke didn't have enough faith in his own team and didn't schedule the game in advance.

The Nuggets eventually won this fight and played their scheduled game while the WWE had to retreat to Los Angeles to host Monday Night Raw. Well another event has been double booked.

The WNBA team Atlanta Dream have an upcoming playoff series against the Detroit Shock. Only one problem though, the Phillips Arena has "Sesame Street Live" already booked for the Phillips Arena. And the WNBA team didn't win this battle. Via AJC:

The Atlanta Dream will be forced out of their homearena for the first round of the WNBA playoffs because of "Sesame Street".

The Dream is set to play their first home playoff game Friday night against Detroit at Philips Arena. But "Sesame Street Live" already had booked shows for next weekend at the downtown arena, so the Dream will play at Gwinnett Arena, about 25 miles northeast of Atlanta.

If a decisive third game is needed, it also would be held at the Gwinnett Arena on Sunday. The series opens Wednesday at Detroit.

The WNBA is completely worthless. They have no leverage to force out "Sesame Street" out of their building to play a playoff series. Then again who is watching a WNBA game? I know I wouldn't. In fact I'm sure the majority of the people in this country would rather watch "Sesame Street" then the WNBA.

'Sesame Street' forces Dream out of Philips (Atlanta Journal Constitution)