Someone get Jay Cutler his ba ba; more Case of the Mondays

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More Mile High Musings for a Monday that, fittingly, begins with 30 fresh starts and ends with a championship finish...

• I guess I should weigh in on the Jay Cutler saga, you know, being that I'm a Broncos fan and I write for a blog and all. One problem: I don't quite know how I feel about the whole situation, like whose side I was on (Cutler's or the Broncos') or who was the winner in April 2nd's big deal (Bears or Broncos).


• The one thing I do know about the situation...well, to be honest, I can't say it any better than (of all people) George Karl, coach of the red-hot Denver Nuggets. When the DP asked Karl, who's dealt with a similar situation last summer with the Melo trade rumors, about the Cutler ordeal barely 24 hours before Baby Jay was shipped to Chicago, Karl said this:


• "My thought is - I'd take them up to the mountains, put them in a cabin, and make them spend three days with each other."


• Okay, when the man who took three years to figure out that giving JR Smith more than 15 minutes a game might be a good thing for your basketball team can make logical sense with his 'football GM' hat on, that's not a good sign for the Denver Donkeys, now is it?


• I get that Jay has the maturity of a six-year-old girl with Barbie-doll separation issues. I get that many of the all-time greats (John Elway and Carmelo Anthony, for two) have dealt with trade rumors far, far better than he did. I get that Cutler - a franchise player for two years - could have easily strolled across the locker room and asked his new teammate, safety Brian Dawkins and the Eagles' franchise player of 13 years, how to act like a man when your employer curiously wants nothing to do with you.


• But something doesn't sit right with me, when respected football writers like my personal favorite Peter King paint this picture of Pat Bowlen as not only a fantastic owner (which he is), but also a man you do not disrespect under any circumstances.


• Pat Bowlen's letter to Bronco Nation reeks of a spin job; methinks Mr. Bowlen felt his ego was more important than winning football games.


• Bowlen wrote that "it has never been about one player, and it never will be." Tell me, Patty, how it wasn't about "one player" when you allowed "one player" to set your franchise back five years because he didn't pick up his cell phone. Give. Me. A. Break.


• You allowed it to be about one player by surrendering to his so-called demands instead of fining the crap out of him and forcing him to make nice with Josh McDaniels.


• That's my thoughts on the Ghost of Broncos past; since I want to get to baseball, I'll post something about the Broncos future tomorrow. But quickly, I will say that I believe in Kyle Orton. Yes, this man. He is not "horrible" as I've heard so many good people and Bears fans (the same people, strangely enough) claim. We'll talk more about Orton tomorrow.



• I tell you: nothing says Opening Day quite like ponchos and down jackets, huh?


• Watching that Mets-Reds slip 'n slide...er, baseball game...earlier today, those fans looked like they'd rather be sipping cocoa in the ski lodge then freezing their arses off at a baseball game.


• As it was, two games were postponed on Opening Day (Rays-Red Sox and Royals-White Sox). Good thing; with soaking-wet fields, you wouldn't want the players to catch pneumonia by getting their Sox wet.


• Here's the part I don't get: when all 30 teams are in action, you've got eight NL games and seven AL games each day. Why aren't we dictating that every game being played before, say, April 15, is either in a dome or a warm-weather city?


• Florida, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Houston, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Arizona. And Colorado, St. Louis and Washington as possible backups.


• Tampa Bay, Toronto, Minnesota, Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles, Texas. And maybe Kansas City and Baltimore as possible backups.


• But no, let's schedule games in Boston, Chicago, and Cincinnati. What's funny is, out of the 13 games on Opening Day, 10 of them are in one of those domed or warm-weather locales.


• However, if MLB doesn't learn anything from this year, they never will. The three cold-weather games? Two postponements and the aforementioned tundra-like affair in Cincinnati.



• All right, Yankees fans, you finally got to see your $23 million a year 'till 2015 investment in action. And what did we get in return from Carsten Charles Sabathia, aka Mr. $700,000-per-start?


• (Consulting the box score...talk amongst yourselves...hmmm, this doesn't look good. Earmuffs, kids.)


• 4 1/3 innings, 96 pitches (only 50 strikes), six earned runs, eight hits, five walks and a whopping zero strikeouts. Lemme repeat that, because I sure as haaaaail did a double-take just typing that: five walks, zero strikeouts. Against the devastatingly powerful Orioles lineup.


• Stathead alert! Today was CC's 255th career start, and only the third time he failed to strike a batter out (both in 2005: May 5 at Minnesota and July 25 at Oakland). He's also never walked that many (five) while failing to ring up a single batter. By the way, on a separate note: CC's career postseason ERA is 7.92.


• 700 grand for that masterpiece today. Don't spend it all in one place, CC (or should I say, BB?)


• And Yankees fans, don't say I didn't warn you: Sabathia's gonna go something like 14-10 with an ERA in the high 3s, maybe low 4s this year. Sounds like $23 million well spent.


• For those of you screaming, "You guys both took him to win the Cy this year!" Well, consider this my official retraction. I'm going with either Ervin Santana or Roy Halladay. No, that's not a knee-jerk, one-game reaction.



• From the That Really Grinds My Gears Department: Tried out MLB.com's TV package today. I've done it the past three years, for some reason, since I've received the worst customer service out of any company to which I write checks. MLBTV's new "Nexdef" technology provides a crystal clear picture...but the damn thing freezes every 15 seconds, and doesn't refresh, so you end up watching the sixth inning when the game is actually in the eighth. Do not purchase this product, not worth the money.



• How 'bout my Marlins, huh? Highest run-scoring team of the day (as of 7 pm CST). Not bad for my World Series pick. Good start. Nice way to kick things off for Benji's favorite team, too; Rangers a 9-1 winner over the Tribe.


• Not so good for the Rox, 9-8 losers to the D-Bags Snakes.


• C'mon, Cookie, you're better than that.


• Quick shout-out to Michael Bleach of the Badger Herald, whose column last Thursday set the all-time Herald Sports record for "most commented story". (And to think, I only helped him once!) Had no idea softball people were that passionate, but it is a very well-written column and the ensuing commentors are insightful.



• BREAKING NEWS! So this news came out while I was putting this together: San Antonio Spurs douche guard Manu Ginobili's is out for the remainder of the season and playoffs because he committed too many flopping violations with an ankle injury.


• BREAKING VIEWS! Manu's season is over. So is the Spurs'. It's a two-horse race in the West now. (I will now go pump my fist Tiger-style for the next three hours.)
  
  


• Tonight's NCAA championship game should be a great one. The villain powerhouse against the Cinderella underdog that everyone's pulling for...for a reason other than basketball.


• Personally, I want to apologize to the Michigan State Spartans for doubting them. Sitting behind their bench during a bad loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, the players seemed dysfunctional; I didn't get the feeling they really loved each other the way great teammates should. Kudos to Tom Izzo's crew for showing another iconic Big Ten coach how it's done in March and April, and it's great that you've lifted the spirits of Michigan.


• That said, speaking of teams that love each other, Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green didn't all come back to school just to lose in the championship game to a team it previously beat by 35...on that same court. Tar Heels win tonight, but it might be closer than you think - maybe the first single-digit win of North Carolina's tournament.


• Blake Griffin, thou art behemoth. Courtney Paris, thou art creatureth larger than behemoth.



• Brad Hawpe = Brandon Webb's daddy. And that's all I have to say about that.

Have a good one.

-AJ

2009 MLB Preview Extravaganza, Part II (Brenner's picks)... and our first Weekly Links

AJ's PICKS (all right, let's hear from someone who kind of knows baseball. But...no, not really)

You Play to Win The Game! Divisional and Playoff picks

AL East: Yankees....................................................NL East: Mets
AL Central: Indians...............................................NL Central: Cardinals
AL West: Angels.....................................................NL West: Dodgers
AL Wild Card: Red Sox...........................................NL Wild Card: Marlins

AL Penthouse (best record): Yankees.....,...........NL Penthouse: Mets
AL Outhouse (worst record): Mariners...............NL Outhouse: Nationals

ALCS: Yankees beat Angels
NLCS: Marlins beat Dodgers

World Series: Marlins beat Yankees in 7 (That's right, folks. We're on the every-six-year-plan with the Fish, and their last title was...let's see...consulting Wikipedia...ah! Six years ago! It's their year!)

Hardware heroes

AL MVP (ranked 1 through 5):
1) Grady Sizemore, Indians. Can do it all at the plate and in the field. And just look at that puddum.
2) Josh Hamilton, Rangers
3) Evan Longoria, Rays
4) Alex Rodriguez, Yankees
5) C.C. Sabathia, Yankees

NL MVP:
1) Albert Pujols, Cardinals: Well, I paid $70 for him in our auction draft - almost 30 percent of my cap. He'd BETTER deliver.
2) Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
3) Manny Ramirez, Dodgers
4) Ryan Howard, Phillies
5) Ryan Braun, Brewers

AL Cy Young:
1) CC Sabathia, Yankees: he's a big man.
2) Ervin Santana, Angels
3) Roy Halladay, Blue Jays

NL Cy Young:
1) Tim Lincecum, Giants: could win 20 and whiff 250 this year.
2) Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies (okay, I'm a homer)
3) Ricky Nolasco, Marlins

AL Rookie of the Year: Travis Snider, Blue Jays
NL Rookie of the Year: Cameron Maybin, Marlins

Best shot to win a Triple Crown, AL: Alex Rodriguez, Yankees
Best shot to win a Triple Crown, NL: Albert Pujols, Cardinals

Other random crap we’ll try to predict

Most underrated team: Cincinnati Reds (and, obviously, my WS pick, Florida)
Most overrated team: Oakland Athletics

Surprise player (most likely to overachieve): Yovani Gallardo, Brewers
Disappointing player (most likely to underachieve): Matt Holliday, Rockies Athletics. His career batting average outside Coors Field is .280, folks. Overrated, perhaps?

What a ripoff! (top-10 salary team to stumble): Since the $120 million Mariners are too obvious, I'll go the Chicago White Sox.
Livin’ on a budget (bottom-10 salary team to thrive): Since the $22 million Marlins or $43 million Rays are too obvious, I'll stay in the AL Central with the Kansas City Royals.

Biggest name to surface in 2009 season involving steroids (active players only): LeBron James, Caval...oops, wrong sport. How about Manny Ramirez, Dodgers? (Apr. 6 postscript: Jose Canseco apparently agrees this is possible)

WEEKLY LINKS

Story of the week: Big Ten commish stands up for his league...and the Big XII, and the Pac-10

Blog post of the week: Mark Cuban stands up for noble sportswriters and surviving newspapers

Video of the week: Not gonna YouTube this week...this airgliding video is sweeeeeeeeeet, I HUGELY recommend you watch it, you will not regret it

Audio of the week: If you haven't heard the "Pucker Pucker Pucker" man, your life is not yet complete. End of story. I might devote more space to this later this week.

2009 MLB Preview Extravaganza, Part I (Walnick's picks)... and our first Weekly Links

B-Dubs readily admits he's not a big baseball guy, so...he'll probably be more accurate than me anyway.

B-DUBS PICKS

You Play to Win The Game! Divisional and Playoff picks

AL East: Yankees....................................................NL East: Phillies
AL Central: White Sox............................................NL Central: Cubs
AL West: Angels......................................................NL West: Dodgers
AL Wild Card: Rays................................................NL Wild Card: Brewers

(AJ note: wow, now that is original analysis from Mr. Benjamin Walnick. I feel like I'm looking at the 2008 division winners and wild card, only somebody accidentally typed the Yankees in for winning the AL East instead of the Red Sox. Talk about chalk.)

AL Penthouse (best record): Yankees.................NL Penthouse: Dodgers
AL Outhouse (worst record): Orioles..................NL Outhouse: Padres

ALCS: Yankees beat Angels
NLCS: Cubs beat Phillies

World Series: Yankees beat Cubs in 6

Hardware heroes

AL MVP (ranked 1 through 5):
1) Evan Longoria, Rays: Leads team to playoffs again.
2) Grady Sizemore, Indians
3) Joe Mauer, Twins
4) Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox
5) Carlos Quentin, White Sox

NL MVP:
1) Albert Pujols, Cardinals: Best power and finesse hitter in last 15 years.
2) David Wright, Mets
3) Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
4) Jimmy Rollins, Phillies
5) Ryan Braun, Brewers

AL Cy Young:
1) CC Sabathia, Yankees: The horse brings a championship to New York.
2) Roy Halladay, Blue Jays
3) Cliff Lee, Indians

NL Cy Young:
1) Carlos Zambrano, Cubs: Finally puts together a complete season and leads Cubs to World Series.
2) Tim Lincecum, Giants
3) Cole Hamels, Phillies

AL Rookie of the Year: David Price, Rays
NL Rookie of the Year: Cameron Maybin, Marlins

Best shot to win a Triple Crown, AL: Alex Rodriguez, Yankees
Best shot to win a Triple Crown, NL: Albert Pujols, Cardinals

Other random crap we’ll try to predict

Most underrated team: Rangers WILL make a run at the Angels (I'm a homer)
Most overrated team: Atlanta Braves

Surprise player (most likely to overachieve): Chris Davis, Rangers
Disappointing player (most likely to underachieve): Mark Teixeira, Yankees

What a ripoff! (top-10 salary team to stumble): Detroit Tigers
Livin’ on a budget (bottom-10 salary team to thrive): Tampa Bay Rays

Biggest name to surface in 2009 season involving steroids (active players only): Ryan Howard, Phillies

WEEKLY LINKS

Story of the week: Big Ten commish stands up for his league...and the Big XII, and the Pac-10

Blog post of the week: Mark Cuban stands up for noble sportswriters and surviving newspapers

Video of the week: Not gonna YouTube this week...this airgliding video is sweeeeeeeeeet, I HUGELY recommend you watch it, you will not regret it

Audio of the week: If you haven't heard the "Pucker Pucker Pucker" man, your life is not yet complete. End of story. I might devote more space to this later this week.

No Mo-Town

Well, we are finally here. One of the greatest weekends in sports of the year. The NBA and NHL have hit the home stretch and teams are fighting for playoff berths. Ballpark hot dogs and peanuts are consumed as Opening Day (or in this case, Opening Night) hits stadiums and televisions across the country. Golf previews everywhere are gearing us up for the roars to come at Augusta National.

And finally... the Final Four. Please fasten your seat belts, and return your tray tables and seat backs to their upright and locked positions. This year we travel to lovely Detroit, Michigan; home to a 33% drop in population over the past few decades. Yes, literally one-third of the city is empty/abandoned/a ghost town. Have you heard: the auto industry is dying up there.

What a beautiful destination for one of sport's greatest showcases!

This really grinds my gears. The Superbowl is played in nice locations such as San Diego, Miami, Phoenix, etc. The biggest college football bowl games are played in similar places where the weather is nice and there are plenty of flashy activities. Then the other big sports: NBA, MLB, NHL, all have home and home series for their playoffs.

So, why does college basketball continue the trend of putting their fantastic finish (and maybe sport's greatest "playoff") in landlocked mundane locations. Indianapolis, St. Louis, Atlanta, Minneapolis, etc. Are you telling me that you would leave your HD TV behind and drop a few hundy on a trip to Minneapolis?

Nothing against these cities, but I'm just not intrigued enough to get up off the couch and attend one of my favorite sport's championship.

Now I'm not saying the NCAA has completely dropped the ball. Things are a little better when April Absurdity ends in San Antonio (home state bias alert). At least the weather is warm and you have the Riverwalk. In 2003, the association hit a homerun when the tournament led to New Orleans, but these occurrences don't happen often enough. They need to be routine.

Now, I understand that some of this has to do with it being a college sport. We don't want the little collegiate children getting themselves into any trouble, but college football has been fine (for the most part) and they play their games in Los Angeles and Miami.

Maybe, this is just a manifestation of me hoping that I have press credentials one day and get a free trip to the beach. Maybe this is just me nitpicking what I think is sport's greatest postseason. Or, maybe this is a change we need. As college basketball fans, we deserve a fantastic getaway when our team survives the tournament (unlike a random computer deciding that we deserve a good vacation).

One thing is for sure... we don't deserve a vacay to 8-Mile Road.

-B-Dubs

TNEA of the Month: April

OK, now for those who actually scrolled down this far and made it past the picture...

April is widely considered the best sports month of the year. Opening Day; NFL Draft; NBA and NHL races heating up; Final Four (love how March Madness has turned into April Absurdity); and of course, the birthday month of yours truly.

Thusly, April deserves a strong candidate for this month's TNEA, or The Next Erin Andrews if you're new to the club. Every month, Tribute will pay respects to a young woman out there, preferably in the world of sports, who just might have the the good looks and good charm to one day take over for the lovely Erin Andrews, should she ever choose to leave her ESPN gig and spend the remainder of her days throwing down the Gator Chomp in Gainesville. Or lusting into the hands of another man in SEC land.

Now, if you had to guess which one of the lovely ladies at the top of this post is the focus of our fawning this month, it'd be tough, now would it? It's a good month indeed; three good candidates right there.

But alas, one must portray more than just babe-like symptoms to take over for EA; experience is a must, too. The blonde on the left is Melanie Collins, of NBA.com League Pass (discovered her during halftime of the Nuggets-Mavericks game), of Big Ten Network (where's your hot correspondents, Big XII Network? What up?) and most importantly, of the Tempe12 models.



Now we love Charissa Thompson, March's nominee. She's also with the BTN. (Seriously, B-dubs, scoreboard. 2-0) But Charissa, the smokin' ex-Rockies sideline girl, doesn't have a lineup of pics like these...

What more can you say? Melanie's a Penn State grad (B-dubs needs a shovel to dig out of this Big-Ten-stomps-Big-XII-like hole) and is our age. Yep, the 22-year-old Nittany Lion graduated last year, and is already working along the likes of Gary Payton, Chris Webber and David Aldridge for NBATV.

Hot damn. Now that's setting the bar high for future TNEA candidates. But we'll do our best, starting again on May 1.

-AJ

Bobcats Bandwagon Seats: Get 'em while they're Hot

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Finally, I’m doing it. I’m gonna jump on a bandwagon before ESPN can beat me to it (which always results in the rest of the free world jumping on said bandwagon). I’m gonna be the first one, and all my fine-looking readers can join me while there’s still room.

I desperately want the Charlotte Bobcats to make the NBA postseason.

Any way, any how. Doesn’t matter. Just make it happen. I want the Bobcats in the playoffs for the first time in its franchise.

Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Charlotte Bobcats playoff tickets now on sale! Order now!

Almost sounds like “Colorado Rockies: National League Champions” or “Arizona Cardinals: NFC Champions”. Which sort of illustrates my point, and Kevin Garnett’s: ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!

(By the way, I'm damn well aware those first two links are one and the same. I just can't get enough of that picture. No disrespect to the Cardinals. Humor me. The KG one is cool too.)

(Doo doo doo. Moving along...)

But honestly, the Bobcats aren’t as crappy as you might think. First off, from a long-term point of view, they’re the picture of progress. Their win total in each of the franchise's five years of existence are as follows, starting with 2004-05: 18, 26, 33, 32, 34. The 34 represents this season's mark (34-41), as Charlotte has already set a franchise record with seven games left.

Also consider, the Bobcats finished 24 games out of the Eastern Conference playoffs their first season. Since then, they’ve cut that total in succession to 14, 7 and 5 games last year. Right now, Charlotte sits 1.5 games out of Chicago’s eighth spot. Again, progress is the operative word here.

This ain't smoke and mirrors, people. Just look at Charlotte’s well-balanced and talented lineup. Charlotte? Talented? You betcha.

Larry Brown’s credentials as a coach speak for themselves, and Brown’s got a solid team leader and go-to scorer in Gerald Wallace (16.9 points a game); an able point guard with Raymond Felton (13.7 and 6.8 assists) backed up by Texas’ very own D.J. Augustin; very good big men in Emeka Okafor and Boris Diaw, with an experienced backup in Juwan Howard there to guide them; and solid-sometimes-deadly shooters with Raja Bell and Vladamir Radmanovic.

Wallace, Felton, Okafor, Diaw, Bell, Augustin, Radmanovic, Howard. That sounds like a better overall team than past playoff teams like the ’08 Sixers (AI 2.0 and Andre Miller as the only players who would get minutes for Charlotte this year), the ’06 Bucks (needed a out-of-his-mind shooting year from Michael Redd just to stumble in), or the ’05 Grizz (starting point guard: Jason Williams. ‘Nuff said), to name a few.

But you know what I love most about this team? It’s the frisky thought of seeing the Kitties play powerful Cleveland in the first round. Charlotte’s got a smart coach, talented young players, star power (read: MJ and Nelly), a nice home record of 22-17, the ability to beat upper-echelon teams (Lakers twice, Boston, Atlanta, Utah and Portland) and most importantly, fans from a basketball-crazy state that would turn Time Warner Cable Arena into an absolute frenzy for playoff games. Is that not everything you want out of an eighth seed? I think the Cavs are awesome, just awesome…but I don’t think I’d be rushing to bet my house that Cleveland gets out of a Bobcats series alive. Nothing against Cleveland and its tortured fan base, but the sheer thought of 82 brilliant games by a resurgent Cavs franchise crashing down in about a week and a half has to excite any red-blooded sports fan.

The Bobcats actually swept the Lakers this year, and just tonight took the Celtics to double OT in their own building on the business end of a back-to-back after beating the Kobes last night. It’s not a cakewalk schedule ahead to finish out (five of seven on the road), but remaining games against Philly, Detroit and Chicago (6-7-8 in the East) give Charlotte a small measure of holding its own destiny.

So I’m not waiting for ESPN to build up hype for this previously-listless team like it did in ’07 for the Rox or in ’08 for ‘Zona. The ’09 ‘Cats bandwagon is officially open for business.

Matter of fact, on second thought, I ain’t jumping on the bandwagon. No, sir.

I’m driving the damn thing.

-AJ

Headlines: April 1st

I would love for someone to come up with a better nickname for this recurring post. Any ideas?

Without further ado,

Officer who detained Texans' Moats resigns
This was about as easy to predict as the first round playoff loss for the Mavericks will be.

Stallworth to be charged with DUI manslaughter
I really thought flashing his brights at the pedestrian would be enough to get him off the hook....
But really this is a sad story, hearts go out to the family of Mario Reyes.

Dream job: Calipari takes over at Kentucky
I looked up "Dream Job" in the dictionary and didn't see: If you fail in your first game, everyone in the state will be screaming for your head.

Yanks' Chamberlain pleads guilty to DUI charge
I never understood why these guys making this much money can't hire a friend or personal driver to stay sober and zip you around town. Seriously.


Broncos decide to try to trade Cutler
Too afraid to make a crack here... "AJ... put down the gun."

Jeter to bat leadoff, Damon No. 2
OMG?? WHAT?! Who cares.... evidently not me.

Rivers: Celtics to shut down injured Garnett
Obviously he wont be 100% for the rest of the year. Will we finally get a Lebron/Kobe finals? *Shake Magic 8-ball* "Signs point to yes"

McCain supporting pardon for Jack Johnson
Took eight headlines to get to a cool story.

John McEnroe joins ESPN's U.S. Open coverage
I may watch the Open coverage just to hear McEnroe make some cracks. Should be quality TV. Can he throw eggs like he did in Mr. Deeds?

Kiper: Latest thoughts for the Lions at No. 1
Story is just not as fun when you can't track the impending Matt Millen epic fail.

Time to jet. No video link today... but I do have maybe the most important link I have ever discovered.

Enjoy it here!

Stay Classy,

B-Dubs

Be Like Mike Tiger

On March 18, 1995, two words were leaked to media sources everywhere: "I'm Back."

Michael Jordan had announced his comeback and in his first game back lit up the New York Knicks for 55 points. The Bulls went on to lose to the Orlando Magic in the playoffs that year, before reeling off another three-peat.

Tiger Woods went out on top... just like MJ. Forced to quit the 2008 season early due to his "Joe Theisman" leg, Tiger still finished the season strong with perhaps his greatest victory of his career. No one will soon forget the marathon that was the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

Now, almost 10 months later, Tiger is back. He did not come back as flashy as Michael, as it took two tournaments to warm up, but he made a valiant comeback at Bay Hill to capture his 66th victory on tour. Clutch as usual, he stroked the 20-footer on the final hole to clinch the victory and snapped his leg and fist up in celebration as Stevie lifted him off his feet. I watched the leg intently pleading to the golf Gods that Tiger didn't pull a Bill Gramatica.


Mr. Woods hopes that he can not only follow MJ's lead, in dominating after his absence from the sport, but also recover faster. I don't doubt Tiger for a second and would venture in guessing that he wins two majors this year. He continues to knock off the rust and is rested and healthier than ever.

With all of the craze surrounding Tiger's absence, rehabilitation, comeback, and first victory... I started thinking about Tiger vs. MJ. Who is/was more important to his sport? Who is/was more popular at the peak of their respective careers?

I answer both of those questions with the same response: TIGER.

Let's think about it.

Jordan was enormous for the game of basketball. However, he came in during the careers of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, the NBA was already flying high. The NBA was crushed by his retirement, his great success on the diamond and then again with his second retirement. The league still survived and prospered with the emergence of the Lakers dynasty. Now you have Lebron and Kobe, and the NBA is doing just fine.


Tiger is golf. Before Tiger, purses were in the hundreds of thousands, TV ratings were low, sponsors were few. Now, Tiger brought the largest cable TV audience... EVER with the front 9 of the U.S. Open playoff. Purses for tournaments are in the millions, and sponsors rush to events that he plays. When Tiger was hurt this past summer and fall, TV ratings plummeted for the PGA Tour. Without Tiger Woods, the PGA tour will be in the same boat as the NHL... nothing. Events wouldn't even make it on the major networks and like the NHL (please call your cable provider to inquire about purchasing Versus), the PGA Tour would have to put events up on the Golf Channel.

Lets look at recognizability. MJ was God in the 90's. For the most part though, that was in America, and maybe Europe where basketball was just becoming popular at the time. Golf on the other hand, is a global sport. Tiger is perhaps the most recognizable human being on the planet. The list may go like this: The Pope, Obama, Tiger. Without question, Tiger Woods is bigger now than Michael Jordan ever was.

So believe it or not, I believe Tiger has passed MJ as the biggest sports superstar of this generation, and maybe ever. The dominance of Eldrick can be enjoyed by all generations. The elderly play golf; heck, all of my grandparents are obsessed with Tiger (except for you Grandpa Phil, who still believes Fuzzy Zoeller is the greatest to ever play the game). My parents' generation loves him, because they saw Nicklaus play and can respect the trouncings that Tiger delivers. My generation grew up watching Tiger and yes we are still amazed by his freakish abilities. The cycle will continue, as the next generation of kids watch and play golf because their parents are infatuated with the excellence that is Tiger Woods.

I almost feel like I am sensationalizing and exaggerating the phenomenon.

But I'm not.

Kids and adults alike aren't and won't be saying I want to Be Like Mike...

everyone wants to Be Like Tiger.

Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays

The first Tribute installment of Mile High Musings, for the final Monday of March Madness...

• I wake up this morning, cook my usual breakfast of cereal (Lucky Charms today. For those who care, they were magically delicious.) and flip on SportsCenter before I head to Monday morning class. I figure it'll be a quality show; we just finished with the Elite Eight, with some great games (Pitt-Nova and State-L'Ville) and enjoyable storylines (Spartans get home court, Tar Heels and Huskies clicking on all cylinders, Blake Griffin coming up juuuuuust short). The NBA conference races are heating up, and Opening Day (or Christmas come early, as some like to call it) is just around the corner. Oh, and that golfer guy that used to be good did something good yesterday. Rawr.
  
  
• But instead, I'm watching full-blown coverage of Kentucky Head Coach Watch: Day 37. Now they're saying Memphis boss John Calipari might - might! - be interested in the gig. (Since when are People Magazine gossip writers doubling as ESPN producers? Oh, wait, forever...that's right.) They've brought in three consecutive talking heads (Dickie V, Steve Lavin and a writer from the Lexington paper) to speculate: "how would Coach Cal fit in at Kentucky?"



• I turn to my roommate Justin, and boldly predict: "The moment Calipari agrees to work at Kentucky, the coverage will shift to, 'how will Coach Cal fit in at Kentucky?', and SportsCenter will basically reuse the same scripts again because they think we're idiots." To this, Justin nodded.



• Or maybe he was just nodding off*. All this Kentucky talk - you know, discussing the future of a program that, uh, hasn't made a Final Four in a decade - was putting this tried-and-true college basketball fan to sleep.
  *not actually my roommate, but sort of resembles him after a long night of Grand Marnier
  
  
• Sure enough, sources say Kentucky is working on an eight-year deal for Mr. "Free Throws Don't Matter" himself. It's a good move for him; he's accomplished everything he could at Memphis, and now gets a chance to show he can do it consistently in the big boy conference.
  


• I just didn't need to hear it 89 times today, ESPN. We got it. Especially with everything else going on in sports right now.
  


• If you hadn't had a chance to catch B-dubs' eugoogoly on the 08-09 Sooners, it's a great read, even if you don't bleed cream and crimson.



• Here's my personal eugoogoly of the Badgers' season: They came. They started. They did not finish. And thus, they did not conquer.



• Anything else you needed to know?



• First and only fantasy baseball draft of the year is Sunday. I had four football drafts last fall, and spent approximately 68 hours slaving over big boards and draft lists.



• Which is approximately 68 hours more than I've spent on the baseball draft.

• And it's an auction draft. Never been in one of those. We'll see how it goes, but I got a feeling I'm gonna end up being a worse GM than Chris Wallace.



• Sounds like somebody took Jay Cutler's pacifier away from him. They also took 100,000 grand from his wallet today for missing 10 days of workouts.



• I still think he'll be a Bronco on Opening Day in September. Not wishful thinking, just looking at it objectively.



• Because if he does get traded, and Denver doesn't get equal value, Josh McDaniels' stay in the Mile High City will be quicker than Antonio McDyess' third tour of duty.



• Speaking of which - and not to squeeze sour grapes on this magical Nuggets season - if Dice stays a Nugget, then LA's got some company up there on its lofty perch. Too bad.



• Believe it or not: Birdman > Marcus Camby. Ya heard me.



• I was close to tears the night Denver gave away Marcus for an expired grocery coupon. Wanted to throw away my Nuggets allegiance. But while the Chauncey trade officially turned things around, and rightfully got the pub for doing so, it's the addition of Chris Andersen that pushed Denver over the top. He's got the same defensive presence and a little bit more energy, for less than 10 percent of the price.



• That all being said, I'm still scared you-know-whatless of playing Utah in the first round and getting knocked out AGAIN before the playoffs really get started.



• Oh, wait...just saw that Utah is 1-14 on the road against winning teams this season. And they nearly blew second-half leads of more than 20 points in their last two home games, to less-than-awe-inspiring Phoenix and New York. Never mind.
  
  
• Apparently, Andrew "Out 8-12 weeks with a knee" Bynum is back in action, scoring left and right once again. But not for the Lakers.
  
  
• The Los Angeles big man, who was hurt on Jan. 31 and was hoping to be back before the end of March, was seen clubbing it at the Playboy Mansion over the weekend. Bynum was allegedly hoisting up models on his shoulders, jumping velvet ropes and playing the life of the party, doing everything but doing a cannonball into Hef's pool.
  
  
• I got no problem with mackin' on Playmates any chance you get. But seriously, man, can't it wait til' the end of the season? Way to support your teammates and get back out on that court for a few garbage games before the playoffs start.
  
  
• But hey, any friend of Nuggets Finals chances is a friend of mine. And we share initials. Attaboy, AB.
  


• Obligatory "Heroes" update of the week: Sylar's been quiet this season. With the new skill he just acquired, though, I'd say he's about to become Comeback Bad Dude of the Year. The good guys are in BIG trouble...as is Danko. I give him two, maybe three, more weeks of life.



• LATER THIS WEEK: A scintillating nomination for TNEA of the Week (Wednesday; hot babe alert!), B-dubs' Immediate Reactions (Thursday), and our Preseason MLB Power Rankinsg (TBD), final thoughts on the overall seasons of Wisconsin and Oklahoma sports (TBD) and Final Four stuff throughout the weekend.

Have a good one.

-AJ

Oklahoma Sooner Men's Basketball: Eulogy for the 2008-2009 Season

.
There were some expectations.... some.

The Sooners only lost two seniors from the previous season in which they bowed out of the NCAA tournament in the 2nd round as a 6-seed.

The Big-12 was down. National champion Kansas lost over half-a-dozen players. Texas lost its best player and leader of the team. Kansas State lost Michael Beasley... which was their team. The Big-12 was ready for the taking.

There were questions, however. Was Blake Griffin ready to step up and be the leader and rock that the team needed? Was the guard play good enough to take the team deep into the tournament? Was freshman Willie Warren going to ruin the team chemistry with his selfish play?

The questions were answered. All points pointed to this Oklahoma Sooner team being something special. In Jeff Capel's third year in Norman... Sooner basketball was back and Oklahoma was primed for a title run. They ran through non-conference play with only one hiccup on the road at Arkansas. Then started Big-12 play 11-0. Oklahoma was #2 in the country and primed to take over number one as they headed to Austin to play an overmatched Horns team.

But then the unthinkable happened.

The, now hands down, best player in the country, Blake Griffin, got popped in the head by an sweeping elbow and was knocked out the the game. Concussions are a scary thing, and it was disturbing to see how "Out of it" Blake was during that game and the next on the bench.

Blake "The Behemoth" Griffin (nicknamed by AJ) returned after a week and the Sooners won against Texas Tech. The team chemistry, however, seemed shaky. The Sooners finished the season with 3 wins and 2 losses including a quarterfinal loss to Oklahoma State in the Big-12 tournament. All of the question marks returned. It was evident that the Oklahoma guards were not playing well enough to support Mr. Griffin for a tournament run.

Then, Jeff Capel pulled his team together. After struggling down the stretch, OU came out strong against Morgan State... but it is Morgan State.

An impressive and dominant 2nd half against Michigan sold me on the fact that this team was back on track and in mid-season form. Then came the mighty Orangemen. I thought it would be a dog fight and prayed that the Sooners would prevail. However, it seemed that the Crimson and Cream were the only players in the gym on Friday night. Syracuse couldn't hit a shot and OU couldn't miss one. Tony Crocker had the game of his life, and OU prevailed with ease. The only thing trying to stop OU and especially Blake Griffin, was the side of the backboard trying to attack Blake's forehead.

Then came the Tar Heels. Everyone in the country knew that the Sooners were overmatched at most positions. Even the great Tyler Hansbrough was going to at least contain BG23. Nay. Blake had his way with that wide-eyed school boy. Unfortunately for "The Behemoth," he was the only Sooner that remembered how to play basketball. Defensively OU played UNC quite well. The problem was the Oklahoma guards couldn't throw a marble into the Pacific Ocean. The team started 0-16 from the land of treys. That will not win you ball games. The sad thing is, if OU hit 25% from the land of treys... they are in the basketball game if not sending the game to an extra period.

In the end, before we bury this team, let's reflect on the great moments we had together and the pitfalls.

-Holding off Davidson's late charge and seeing Blake Griffin and Stephen Curry on the same court was a sight to behold.
-Beating Purdue to win the Pre-season NIT.
-Losing to Arkansas... a terrible team.
-Beating arch nemesis Texas by 15 pts in the first Big-12 home game. First win against Texas in about 5 years.
-Going to Stillwater and winning is always fun.
-Blake's 40 and 23 in only 31 minutes against Tech.
-Watching Blake go down in the Texas game.
-Watching the comeback against Kansas without Blake, and being crushed by the loss.
-Getting dismantled by Mizzou on the road.

-Holding off OSU for my last home game. Willie, I will never forget your 25-footer that sealed the game.
-Disappointed after landing in Boston and seeing we lost to OSU in the quarters of the Big-12.
-The first three rounds of the tournament were fantastic and exciting, especially the Syracuse game.
-Knowing we would lose, but hoping against UNC.

A few last words.

I will miss the Griffin brothers. Taylor Griffin was so underrated as a Sooner. He was awesome to watch and showed real heart in his final season. I will miss so much looking forward to Sportscenter's top-10 because it was guaranteed I would see at least two Blake Griffin plays. Blake... you are an animal and you will be missed.

Here is to you not playing for the Clippers next year...

and to the 2008-2009 Sooners.... may you rest in peace.