Dallas Mavs Roster Oct. 30 2008

The Dallas Mavericks roster this year seems to be set.  No major changes this year.  It’s talented, it could compete – but the title is still far from reach.  Talent is not the main obstacle, in the drags of the nba season it is the tendency to lose and cool, extinguish the fire to hold that trophy high that will be this team’s greatest enemy.  The fire they had in the 2006 nba playoffs, but let the fire morph into fear and hesitancy as the 2007 season turned into the 2007 playoffs.

This year they come to the floor armed at point guard with:

Jason Kidd, Josea Berea with Jason Terry filling in at this position as well.

Old and fragile, but capable of suppling the play necessary if Kidd comes through.  It is a big if and will only succeed wildly if Kidd is inspired by his greed for a new LARGE Contract.

At shooting guard they come armed with:

Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, Antione Wright and Gerald Green.

Again fragile.  Jason Terry is streaky by nature – which is common among shooters.  He is small for this position and despite his preseason talk in the past two years – he hasn’t come to play and play hard in the postseason.  Jerry Stackhouse will play inspired for 10 games, get injured and then take a while to get back to inspired play, then go through the whole cycle again.  The wild cards here are Antione Wright and Gerald Green, let’s hope they bring something consistently good to the table.

At small foward the Mavs come smoking with:

Josh Howard, Devon George and Shawn Williams.

If the Mavericks season turns out how they want it to, these boy will be running and dunking.  Easy baskets, easy baskets, easy baskets.  These guys have to play like kids, happy and energetic.  I think if Josh Howard isn’t too sparse between the ears it will show this year.  He could come out swinging and completely turn his image back around.  Devon George needs to get back to being a role player – a good role player.  Giving the defense, the hustle and the occassional 3 that championship teams need.  Go figure Shawne Williams, I don’t know much about him.

The overwhelming strength:  Power Foward

Dirk Nowitzki, Brandon Bass and Jason Singleton.

Nowitzki and Bass can bring it.  They’ll need to.  This team doesn’t run without Dirk and losses its margin for error without Bass.

Center

Eric Dampier and Desagana Diop.

Not a strength but not bad, I imagine Bass will be spending a lot of time here.\

Prediction:  Same old, same old.  They’ll be fun to watch, fun to track, but ultimalely it won’t amount to much as the harsh reality of getting bogged down in referee calls, opponent superstar play and lack of self will to seperate them from the pack in the playoffs will eventually paint the Dallas Mavericks in the 2008-2009 season – not the best.  Now for the fun part go PROVE me wrong.

The Dallas Mavericks Roster – both trick and treat.  Happy Seasons.

I love this guy.  He’s my favorite person in the world.

And I found this recently too.  It was hard for me to believe it at first, but if you see it – it makes sense.  If you click on more info you will receive a play by play of naughty stern.  The guy throws the fourth card against the bubble denting the corner of the card.  Stern looks in and grabs a card with a card on top of it.  Guess which card comes out – that’s right the dented one.  The dented corner ends up in David Stern’s left hand.  This guy is filthy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mN3OGRGybA

Moving To First – Last Place Move

Hank Blaylock has made a Ranger career decision, he’s moving to first base.  The team is not smart to let him do so, but then again when were they ever accused of being smart.  First Base is a position you put baseball players who aren’t good at defense.  It’s the position you put your offensive fire power in order to hide their defensive inequities.  It’s a position you manage until your 22 year old, Double A hitting .313 with 10 homers and 33 RBI’s, prospect is ready to break into the Majors.  It’s not a position you put your solid defensive third baseman in order to let Ramon Vasquez play, and I like Ramon Vasquez.

This can be traced (in my opinion) to Ron Washington’s inability to A:  Stick with Jason Botts; and B:  Allow Frank the Cat to be Frank the Cat.  Ron has certain players he goes out of his way to play (last year it was Jerry Hairston Jr., this year Ben Broussard) and certain players he refuses to give a fair shake – Jason Botts and Catalanotto come to mind.  He puts them in bad situations and expects them to impress him.  He pulls them early and often while playing them very little to begin with. 

Frank’s situation has changed a little because of Broussard’s release, but is now going to change again with Hank’s move.  Opposing managers know all they have to do is bring in a lefty around the sixth or seventh inning and you won’t have to see Frank anymore.  They desire their lefty against whatever righty we have to throw up there because, A:  Frank is a good hitter, and B:  Frank won’t be able to face whatever righty you have out there later in the game.   Frank hit .231 with a .375 on base percentage against lefties in 19 PA’s last year.  I don’t know which one is worse the fact he was only allowed the opportunity to hit lefties 19 times, or the fact that somebody needs to tell Ron a .231 average and .375 on base percentage is not reason enough to pull him for Jr. Jerry Hairston or Chris Comcast Shelton.  Frank hit .299, .293, .301, and .300 in the four years prior to becoming a Ranger.  In the three years he was healthy he averaged 117 more AB’s than he did last year.  He hit .260 last year and is hitting .247 this year.  If you want to know how to screw up a good .300 hitter I suggest a chat with none other than Ron Washington.   Frank is and has been a good hitter in this league, why is he the first guy Ron pulls for hitting?  It’s not a trick question – Ron’s a jackass.

A good manager puts his players in the best position to help the team win.  The reason I call Ron a jackass is because there is no reason to be a dirty, rotten, fool about this game.  There is no reason to stand in your own way.  Jackasses have to be coerced.  They’re stubborn beasts of burden who refuse to move even if it benefits them.  And because of Ron’s refusal (for whatever reason) to get out of his own way, Hank for no apparent reason (oh, other than the great Ramon Vasquez, and I like Ramon) is going to move to first base.  Congratulations Rangers, for being intellectually baseball challenged.

A Love Poem For Devean George

The Kidd Trade nixed by George, by George.  George Please, Please!!! don’t allow this trade to go through ever.  And on this Valentine’s Day I would like to tell everyone who I love, so I made a love poem.  Enjoy.

Devean George I Love You 

Devean George I love you,
there is no other way to say,
the feelings I have for you,
on this our valentine’s day.
While others drink in heated passion,
and burn their shallow lusts too fast,
We defy all of culture’s trendy fashions
with a gentle tickle of love that lasts.
The secret is my admiration,
for a city you helped save,
The epic tale of a terrified nation
where one man steps up to block its grave.
Yes our love goes beyond the flesh,
the 6 foot 8 frame and piercing eyes,
the gazelle like motion and muscular chest,
It is your will that breaks and ties.
The will pictured in heroic dreams,
And it is that will I emphasize,
The one in which you saved my team,
And won my love as your prize.

 

New Year’s Joke

So have you heard the Joke of this new year?  You know the one about the Giants being on a roll and ready to beat those disintegrating Cowboys.  Ya, stop me if you heard this one last year just before game 9 on the NFL schedule.  Oh the Giants have a better feel defensively now!  Oh how they put pressure on the quarterback!  Oh how Eli has just looked outstanding!  That a boy, let’s give Eli a butt pat (you know their so hard on him in New York, always comparing him to Peyton, you know that’s just not fair).

I know the Cowboys didn’t look great ending the regular season.  And I know Terrell Owens is a “game time” decision.  But everyone who thinks the Giants have a rat behind’s chance of winning, I gaurantee have been smoking something more than the nice cigars they received for Christmas.  The Cowboys are better, have been better and will be better than those rotten Giants.  Did they play a good game against New England? Sure.  Did they beat a team in Tampa Bay who could only manage 9 wins in an extremely weak division?  Sure.  Then again they won 10 games in a very tough division.  Good team?  Yes.  Better than Cowboys?  Uhhh, No.

More

Hopefully I’ll write more than I have been lately.  The Mavericks are floating along, the Stars have been rejuvenated offensively, the Rangers have made good moves but still lack the finishing touches.  And the Cowboys will win this weekend.  Maybe there’s just nothing more to say.

Roger Clemens Denies Steroid Use In Youtube Video

Update 12-24-07:  It is actually posted on Youtube now.  Here you go.

On his website in a Youtube Video he denies steroid use and says he will be interviewed by Mike Wallace of 60 minutes after Christmas.  So if you want to see it click here. 

Recent 12-22-07

Recently things have gotten out of hand.  But this is the year of out of hand, because now we know all of sports is rigged.  From Floyd Landis to Bill Belichick to Marion Jones to Shawn Merriman to Tim Donaghy to David Stern to Roger Clemens to Rodney Harrison to Barry Bonds and Bud Selig.  And remember nobody has or can yet be caught with a drug test for HGH.  We’ve let these bozo’s take control – we keep coming to the games and they juice up to make millions off of us.  But oh well, here is some of the semi-recent events that have taken place and I haven’t blogged about yet.

1.  The Mitchell Report

2.  20 FSU players suspended for academic cheating scandal.

3.  Vick gets 23 months in prison.

4.  Bobby Petrino skips town not 1 year in to a five year deal with Atlanta.

5.  John Smoltz and Curt Schilling speak out demanding that Roger speak out if he is innocent, I don’t think they think he is.  But does it matter what I think that they think or we think that they think if he thinks he isn’t.

6.  The Grimsley affidavit is unsealed revealing the biggest suprise of all – Grimsley suspected Jose Canseco of steriod use.  Hmmm, thanks Grims.

7.  Jessica shows up to the Cowboy game in a pink, Romo jersey.  Romo is shot down into mortality (earning 3 points in my fantasy league and costing me a shot at the championship title).  T.O. comes out saying Mickey was right women make you weak in the knees Tony don’t let Jessica near you for the next 2 months.

8.  Brian Westbrook, against my beloved Cowboys, has a chance to score a touchdown at the end of the game, but instead kneels down at the 1 yard line (again an action that led to me not advancing in my fantasy league playoffs).

9.  Important to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area – the Mavs and the Stars, while not doing great, are still in their respective division leads or at least within a game.

10.  Can it be that for the second year in a row the Texas Longhorn’s have the best player in college basketball – DJ Augustin.

Okay consider it blogged.  Oh and Merry Christmas! 

 

 

 

 

Miguel Cabrera

Back in the day not a lot of people got a chance to see Vlad.  The baseball experts watched and knew about him.  They knew he was one of the best hitters in the game.  They knew he was young, had a cannon of an arm and played in a baseball town that largely ignored him.  The talent was there, but his team was lacking the money and talent to win and therefore catapult him into stardom.

Fast forward to today and put out your hand to meet Miguel Cabrera.  Now it might be said and is probably true that most people who know anything about baseball know about Cabrera.  And it might be said that Cabrera is already a star, which is true.  But believe it or not I don’t believe he gets as much credit as he should.  This guy simply has an amazing talent for hitting.  Which is why I compare him to Vlad.  Because as good as ARod is or others are, there are only a few who have that other worldliness when it comes to just pure hitting.  If I had to pick 3 baseball players just on their hitting ability and disregarding who would hit in front of them and who would hit behind them, just taking them on pure hitting ability. . . . my picks would be Manny Rameriz, Vlad Guerrero and Miguel Cabrera and not necessarily in that order.  Which is why I would be trying very hard this winter to get a deal done with Florida and with Miguel Cabrera.

Any deal of this magnitude and with the talent that would have to exchange hands would force me to demand to be able to talk with and talk out a deal for signing Cabrera long term before the trade could be finalized.  Where talking a combination of Edison Volquez, Chris Davis and Taylor Teagarden.  This trade is a little counter-intuitive.  The Rangers need pitching.  Why in the world would they trade that much for a player who is not a pitcher? 

The only answer I can provide is I believe Miguel Cabrera has the talent and will go on to have a similar career to the careers of both Guerrero and Manny Rameriz.  Which we would be reason number 1.  Number 2 is – as good as those hitting prospects project to be, you would be lucky if either one of them turned out to be 3 quarters of the hitter Cabrera already is.  Number 3 is – Jarrod Saltalamacchia is one of the best catching prospects in the game.  In fact better than Teagarden.  Number 4 – Last but not least you keep him from a team that is very interested in him, The Angels.  And perhaps with this move undo the Vladimir Guerrero curse that is visited upon the Rangers every time they play the Angels.  Perhaps even turn the fortunes of those two clubs around.

So for all those reasons listed I would send that package over for Cabrera and his newly agreed to deal.  What say you?

PS.  There was a video of the Angels rally monkey dying on YouTube.  But now I can only find this one worth watching.  I suppose it will have to do.

Rarely

The majority of the time a team allows a kickoff return for a touchdown they lose the game.  Not often does a team win a game when they allow an interception for a touchdown.  It is extremely difficult to win a game when you turn the ball over 5 more times than the other team.  But very Rarely do you win a game when you allow a kickoff return for a touchdown, 2 interceptions for touchdowns, you turn the ball over 5 more times the other team and you are reduced to having to attempt an onside kick with 20 seconds left after failing to convert a 2 point conversion.  And to do this against what ESPN commentators Jaws, T. K. and Mike Tirco think to be a quarterback in his 2nd start who walks on water, adds to the degree of difficulty (actually not really, but they sure were high during the game on a guy who managed 3 points.)

And Rarely do see a once untouchable dynasty’s stalwart in what you know in all likelyhood is his last game (as your manager), not by his own choice.  A manager who has one 4 World Series Titles (as your manager) and been to the playoffs 13 straight years.  13 out of 13, and in baseball which only allows 4 teams to the tourny that’s pretty good.  You see Mariono Rivera and Jorge Posada in the last year of their contracts, you see Derek Jeter the clutch player not be able to pull his team up even knowing his manager,the only manager he’s ever played for, job is on the line.  It’s the craziness of our sports world that we don’t appreciate the good things we got because the good things we got aren’t perfect.

How ’bout them Indians, my hat’s off to ‘em.  You never know how the game is going to go.  Watching Romo throw 5 picks and fumble the ball and still have to be confident enough at the end of the game to help his team win is kind of what sports is about.   And having the Indians go out against the Yankees and perform like they’ve performed all year is encouraging to see, it’s fun to watch.   Saying that I think the Sox will beat them and probably win the World Series.

And thinking about tonight’s, or is it last night’s game, my mind wanders back to week 6 MNF a year ago when the Chicago Bears didn’t score an offensive touchdown and still won the game 20 something to 20 something.   However I don’t think Dick Garrard’s Press Conference could be as entertaining as Dennis Green’s was that night.  Enjoy.

Thanks Coach!

I Thought

But then that’s not so helpful to me at all.  I thought Jason Botts was going to get a good, long shot (which includes next year).  I forgot that a person’s work in 167 at bats at the end of the season dooms the possibility that he can play and deserves the chance to play most of the year at DH.  I haven’t forgotten that this is a young team with players who have decently high cielings in some key areas.  A young team that needs a manager who’s willing to grow with them, which apparently Ron isn’t.  No to Botts at DH, No to C.J. at closer, No to Byrd (apparently for CF or RF).  Oh! and can’t we sing your praises Ron, your praises for turning Ian’s defense around in the last half of the season.  The defense that wasn’t so shaky until you came here. 

To begin the year you said you were a player’s manager, a manager who knew what the player’s went through and would have their backs all the way.  But I didn’t see it that way.  You had your selected group you wouldn’t touch, Young, Blaylock, Sosa and Millwood, but the rest have been fair game.  But then there is the backbone that holds it all together, the one area you are very consitent in, and that is supreme confidence in yourself.  Would it hurt not to throw your player’s under the bus or say you want a CF, RF, 1B, and Closer for next year?  And you would want Sammy Sosa back on the team, saying if there were any up and coming hitters in the organization you wouldn’t but that you didn’t see any of those guys .  Wow, Jason how do the tire marks feel?  C.J. are you glad your manager’s got your back on this?  I mean knowing that you haven’t proven anything and given the choice Ron doesn’t want to let you prove anything next year?

But guys don’t blame him.  At least that’s what he said early on when things were going bad.  Remember he said, “Anybody could look and see (that the bad play) is not Ron Washington’s fault.”  That’s right this is the guy who has your back.  And remember at the end of the season, when Ron was grading himself he received an A.  So if want to pull a Blaylock and blame the manager for your poor play you’ll just have to find another excuse (it’s hard to do better than an A).  But I do have some advice for you Jason, if you want to earn your manager’s respect – get on the juice or used a corked bat.  I’m feelin’ like not thinking about Mr. Ranger goes to Washington right now.

Glenn Miller – In The Mood.

Youtube Serena Williams Press Conference

Update Sept. 9, 2007 11:22p.m. - They’ve taken the video off of Youtube for copyright infringement.  So I’m now going to play a 19 second clip from 1999 that involves comments from Martina Hingis and Serena Williams. 

 

This is Serena Williams 2007 U.S. Open Post Game Press Conference.  What you see in this video is the “lucky shots” comment.  What you don’t see is the, and I’m paraphrazing, ”Everytime I lose its because I’m not playing well, not because the other person played well” comments.  It was the specific question a reporter asked her and she answered it honestly in her opinion.  She should of lied and come out looking like she has just a little bit of class.