This Weekend - 9/30 & 10/1

NCAA
Mississippi at Georgia (BM) (JA)
California (BM) (JA) at Oregon
Michigan State at Wisconsin (BM) (JA)
Maryland (BM) at Rutgers (JA)
Clemson (BM) at Georgia Tech (JA)
Alabama (JA) at Florida State (BM)

NFL
Green Bay (BM) (JA) at Minnesota
Oakland (JA) at Miami (BM)
NY Jets (BM) (JA) at Buffalo
Houston (BM) (JA) at Atlanta
Chicago (BM) at Detroit (JA)
Baltimore (BM) (JA) at Cleveland
St. Louis at Dallas (BM) (JA)
Tampa Bay (BM) at Carolina (JA)
Seattle (BM) (JA) at San Francisco
Kansas City at San Diego (BM) (JA)
Pittsburgh (BM) (JA) at Arizona
Denver at Indianapolis (BM) (JA)
Philadelphia (BM) (JA) at NY Giants
New England (BM) (JA) at Cincinnati

Brandon: 35-14 Overall (12-5 NCAA, 24-8 NFL)
Justin: 28-21 Overall (9-9 NCAA, 20-12 NFL)

Stupid Marion

Dear Shawn -

I am concerned with your mental state of mind. Why would you want to leave the Phoenix Suns? Big deal if you are the 3rd best player. News flash, you will be the 2nd best player on the Lakers. You are the 3rd best player on a team who could win the championship! You play with Steve Nash! Steve Nash, the MVP... they guy who makes everyone around him better. I'm sorry you don't have solo commercials but it's pretty hard to have someone with your shooting form in a commercial. Just keep dunking in commercials, just "like this".

You must remember you are not a very marketable guy.

I am going to be a honest with you now Shawn... I don't think you can carry a team. You flourish in the Suns system because they run (so don't go to a team who doesn't run) and you get easy shots. Take a look at this highlight tape. Try to count how many shots you created for yourself.

So those few where you were in the corner and went baseline and proceeded to have a wide open dunk, if you leave the Suns, not only will you be on a team that cannot space the court out as well, but you will be given more attention on the defensive end. You will be met by someone outside the key. Remind you, you have no mid range game. When I see you shoot, I want to throw up.

I do understand why one would want to play with Kobe after watching this video though.

With all this said Shawn, I am actually a fan of yours. You are an NBA All-Star, one who has inflated stats from playing with Nash and for D'Antoni but you are a great slashers/rebounder/defender. Please don't be the next Scottie Pippen.

Talk to you later,

Brandon

P.S. Some think your tattoo on your leg reads "Demon Bird Moth Balls"... might want to check that out.

Price Per _______, Are They Worth It?

Amoah's post on the most overpaid hoopers made me think... how much do professional athletes actually make for the things they are supposed to do? Baseball players are supposed to get hits, score runs and pitchers are supposed to win games and get saves. Basketball players are supposed to make shots, get rebounds and distribute the ball. Football players are supposed to throw/catch/run for touchdowns, get sacks, etc. You get the point.

Let's take a look at 2006.


Muhsin Muhammed - He is known as a third down receiver and last year he made 45 first downs (75% of his catches were for first downs). He made $97,974 per first down.



Marvin Harrison - Peyton Manning's favorite target made $8,784 per yard last year. Multiply that by 1366 and that's a pretty good number. He's going to be a first ballot hall of famer.



Javon Walker - Denver paid a lot of money to get a receiver who make defenses pay for stackin' up against the run, this former FSU stud made $1,018,750 per touchdown last year. He has 8 last year! I'd smile like that too!

Randy Moss - Hauled in just 43 catches last year so he made $196,457 per catch. I wouldn't care about little $5,000 or $10,000 fines either.

Charles Woodson - He was ballin' last year. He was one of the few bright spots on the Packers last year, he was finally healthy again and that helped him get 8 interceptions - GB paid him $1,312,885 per pick last year. None of his million dollar interceptions were as nice as his one-hand INT in college though.














Ray Lewis - The backbone of the best defense in the league last year had 103 tackles and the Ravens paid him $53,406 per takedown.

Richard Seymour - Big man's base salary was only 585,000 last year but he received $24,106,160 partly because he signed this year too. It's really not that hard being a team first Patriot when you are getting $6,172,790 per sack (4).

Shaun Alexander - Paul Allen came out $2.16 Million per touchdown (7) last year. No wonder his wife is holding onto him so tight.

I wish he would hold onto the ball that tight. He has 6 fumbles in 10 games last year. Maybe he still has baby oil on his hands.

LaDainian Tomlinson - First of all... worth every penny. Okay, anyways... this workhorse had 348 carries last year and EARNED $12,215 per rush.

Let's move on to some basketball players.


Steve Nash - Enjoyed $12,868 for everyone of his career high 884 assists last season.

Kobe Bryant - NBA is all about winning and Kobe brought home $464,063 per win.

Ben Wallace - They paid the man to be the man in the middle of the Windy City and the former Defensive Player of the Year was a Beast on the boards again this year. At $18,879 per rebound I'd crash the boards too.

Kevin Garnett - $23,750,000 last season. He played 2,995 minutes last year. That's $7,930 per minute. That's $132 per second the Big Ticket was on the court last year. No wonder why they call him big ticket.

Let's check out how much people are making in the sport where you are an All-Star if you only succeed 3 out of 10 times... Baseball.

Andy Pettitte - Only went 14-13 last year in Houston. He made 16.43 Million last year (1.17 Million per win).

Mike Mussia - The Yankees workhorse last year earned $96,446 per inning (197.1) last year.


David Ortiz - Big Papi is clutch. The MJ of baseball right now, when you need an RBI he gets it. That's why in 2006 he took $96,715 to the bank every for RBI (137).

Ichiro Suzuki - This hitting machine has hit over 200 hits every year of his career. That's $55,803 per hit last year (224).

So tell me, who is worth it?

This Weekend - 9/22 & 9/23

College
Texas A&M (JA) at Miami (FL) (BM)
South Carolina (BM) at LSU (JA)
Penn State (JA) at Michigan (BM)
Michigan State (JA) at Notre Dame (BM)
Georgia at Alabama (BM) (JA)

NFL
Detroit (BM) (JA) at Philadelphia
Miami at NY Jets (BM) (JA)
Buffalo at New England (BM) (JA)
Arizona at Baltimore (BM) (JA)
St. Louis at Tampa Bay (BM) (JA)
San Francisco (BM) at Pittsburgh (JA)
Indianapolis (BM) (JA) at Houston
San Diego (JA) at Green Bay (BM)
Minnesota (BM) at Kansas City (JA)
Cleveland (BM) at Oakland (JA)
Jacksonville at Denver (BM) (JA)
Cincinnati (JA) at Seattle (BM)
NY Giants (BM) (JA) at Washington
Carolina (BM) (JA) at Atlanta
Dallas (BM) (JA) at Chicago
Tennessee at New Orleans (BM) (JA)

Brandon: 23-5 Overall (10-3 NCAA, 13-2 NFL)
Justin: 14-14 Overall (6-7 NCAA, 8-7 NFL)

Poor Donovan

That's right... poor Donovan. Instead of trying to figure out how to beat the undefeated Lions (never thought I'd say that) this week to avoid going 0-3 and losing his job, he decides to go on HBO and complain about how tough black QBs have it.

News flash Donovan, they ARE NOT booing you because you are black. They are booing you for the following reasons:

1. This is a team that many picked to win the division and you started 0-2.
2. You have a QB rating of 68.9 this year (23rd in NFL) while Jeff Garcia, who went 5-1 as the Eagles starter last year has a 116.8 QB rating in Tampa Bay.
3. Your commercials are horrible.
4. You were the one who looked like they were playing with a broken foot (Not T.O.) in the Super Bowl. 3 picks in the Super Bowl, I mean come on, you didn't throw 3 picks in a game that whole year. Only one time you threw 2 in a game that year. Did you throw the game? No pun intended.
5. You can't do this anymore.
6. You say things like "Sometimes when it rains, it aches a little more" when referring to your knee and "at 75 percent, I personally feel I can be one of the best quarterbacks in the league." (link)
7. You get hurt more than Greg Oden.

Donovan, you must realize the following:
1. Phily fans boo. It's a love/hate relationship.
2. Eli Manning, Chad Pennington and Rex Grossman aren't black. They get booed because they aren't performing just like you.
3. Every Phily fan regrets booing you when they drafted you. But they are now booing you because you aren't playing well.
4. When they picked Kevin Kolb last year, it was because they know it will take a couple years for a QB to understand a West Coast offense. Since you get injured all the time, you probably only have a couple of years left. Similar situation to the Packers picking Aaron Rodgers to eventually replace Brett Favre.
5. Race wasn't in Terrell Owens (black guy) when he said Brett Favre (white guy) would have led your to an undefeated season.
6. With owners/coaches/GMs jobs on the line, they have to be color blind when deciding who to draft and who to play.

Maybe someone should email Donovan how he's finished every year of his career...
2000: 1 TD, 1 INT, 59.1 QB Rating in Divisional Round Loss
2001: 1 TD, 1 INT, 73.1 QB Rating in Conference Championship Loss
2002: 0 TD, 1 INT, 58.5 QB Rating in Conference Championship Loss
2003: 0 TD, 3 INTs, 19.3 QB Rating in Conference Championship Loss
2004: 3 TD, 3 INTs, 75.4 QB Rating in Super Bowl Loss
2005: Didn't finish season due to injury, team missed playoffs
2006: Didn't finish season due to injury, team missed playoffs

Someone should also email that to Madden. Maybe McNabb wouldn't be a 94 in the game anymore. Eagles fans probably play the game, throw 4 TDs a game with McNabb and run for 50 yards... then they are dumbfounded on Sunday. I'm thinking he deserves an 82, until he proves me/us/Phily/the world differently.

Now let me get to what he actually said on the show... Donnie said that "There's not that many African-American quarterbacks, so we have to do a little bit extra,".

I can't wait for a white runningback to come out and say the opposite. "There's not that many white runningbacks, so we have to do a little bit extra."

Donovan, this is a professional sport. This isn't high school, this isn't a college, this is a professional sport. GMs/Owners/Coaches jobs ride on making the right decisions. If the guys in suits were raciest, they wouldn't draft black QBs in the first round. Since you were drafted in 1999, eight black quarterbacks (McNabb, Smith, Culpepper, Vick, Leftwich, Campbell, Young, Russell) have been drafted in the first round. Since 1999, there have been a total of 26 quarterbacks drafted in the first round. That's 31% of the QBs drafted in the first round since 1999. Tell me a QB on that list who has been treated unfairly.

I could go on forever but thinking/talking about Donovan McNabb makes my head hurt. You don't hear Adam Morrison talking about how hard he has it in the NBA. I bet if you play well (which means a lot better than you are now) then you won't get treated like Rex Grossman (white), Chad Pennington (white), Eli Manning (white) anymore. You won't get treated like Kyle Boller (white), Joey Harrington (white) and David Carr (white) were treated in their last starting jobs.

Just play ball!

NBA Teams enter Hoop-It-Up 3 on 3 Tourney

Now that I got your attention... what if every NBA team sent 3 players (I'll pick for them) to play in a Hoop-It-Up 3 on 3 tourney? Who would win? Keep in mind that even though a team of Kidd, Jefferson and Carter sounds good, they don't have a big man and would get killed by a team with a low post presence. To be a great 3-on-3, you have to have versatile players who can play different positions and guard different positions. With all that said, here go my rankings with the new rosters...

1. Celtics (Allen, Pierce, Garnett)
2. Nuggets (Iverson, Anthony, Camby)
3. Wizards (Arenas, Butler, Jamison)
4. Suns (Nash, Marion, Stoudamire)
5. Mavs (Terry, Howard, Nowitzki)
6. Lakers (Bryant, Odom, Bynum)
7. Magic (Nelson, Lewis, Howard)
8. Spurs (Parker, Ginoboli, Duncan)
9. Heat (Wade, Posey, O'Neal)
10. Rockets (Francis, McGrady, Yao)
11. Hawks (Johnson, Smith, Horford)
12. Cavs (Hughes, James, Gooden)
13. Jazz (Williams, Kirilenko, Boozer)
14. Bulls (Gordon, Deng, Thomas)
15. Pistons (Billiups, Hamilton, Webber)
16. Wolves (Foye, Davis, Jefferson)
17. Raptors (Ford, Parker, Bosh)
18. Clippers (Mobley, Maggette, Brand)
19. Blazers (Roy, Aldridge, Oden)
20. Bobcats (Felton, Wallace, Okafor)
21. Grizzlies (Miller, Gay, Gasol)
22. Hornets (Paul, West, Chandler)
23. Knicks (Marbury, Crawford, Curry)
24. Nets (Kidd, Jefferson, Carter)
25. Warriors (Davis, Harrington, Jackson)
26. Bucks (Redd, Villaneuva, Bogut)
27. Pacers (Daniels, Granger, O'Neal)
28. Sonics (Ridnour, Durant, Wilcox)
29. Kings (Bibby, Martin, Artest)
30. 76ers (Iguodala, Korver, Dalembert)

High School Football Rankings - By State

Enough NCAA & NFL? How about some HS Football... ESPN dropped this high school football ranking earlier this year... tell me what you think...

1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. Georgia
5. Ohio
6. Pennsylvania
7. Louisiana
8. Virginia
9. Alabama
10. Michigan
11. Illinois
12. South Carolina
13. New Jersey
14. North Carolina
15. Mississippi
16. Maryland
17. Oklahoma
18. Tennessee
19. Nebraska
20. Arkansas
21. Washington
22. Arizona
23. Iowa
24. New York
25. Wisconsin
26. Indiana
27. Kentucky
28. Missouri
29. District of Columbia
30. Colorado
31. Minnesota
32. Hawaii
33. Oregon
34. Utah
35. West Virginia
36. Massachusetts
37. Kansas
38. Nevada
39. New Mexico
40. North Dakota
41. South Dakota
42. Idaho
43. Connecticut
44. Wyoming
45. Delaware
46. Montana
47. Alaska
48. New Hampshire
49. Maine
50. Vermont
51. Rhode Island

Time to meet Terrelle Pryor

Last month Brandon presented you with the No. 1 ranked high school receiver, Julio Jones -- the next TO.
Now, it's time to show you the No. 1 ranked high school quarterback, Terrelle Pryor -- the next VY.


Height: 6'6
Weight: 220
40: 4.4
2006 Numbers
Rushing yards: 1,676
Rushing TDs: 29
Passing yards: 1,732
Passing TDs: 15
Ints: 11

He led his team to a 60-0 win this season and on the table he has offers from Florida, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Southern Cal, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Michigan State and Michigan, which desperately needs a new QB after the way Chad Henne and the Wolverines looked last week.

But Pryor can't just play football. Last year he averaged 21.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.9 blocks and 2.3 steals per game for his basketball team, Jeannette SHS, in Pennsylvania.

Remember, you heard it here: Terrelle Pryor -- the next VY.

This Weekend - 9/8 & 9/9

Plenty of great games on the first full weekend of football. That Baltimore/Cincy game on MNF is the one to watch though. You remember all that trash talk that went on last year... through in the fact that it's MNF and the first game of the year, Oh Yea!

College

Miami (FL) at Oklahoma (BM) (JA)
Oregon at Michigan (BM) (JA)
Boise State (BM) (JA) at Washington
South Carolina at Georgia (BM) (JA)
Notre Dame at Penn State (BM) (JA)
TCU (JA) at Texas (BM)
Virginia Tech at LSU (BM) (JA)

NFL

Philadelphia (BM) (JA) at Green Bay
Kansas City (JA) at Houston (BM)
Denver (BM) (JA) at Buffalo
Pittsburgh (BM) (JA) at Cleveland
Carolina (BM) at St. Louis (JA)
Atlanta (JA) at Minnesota (BM)
New England (BM) (JA) at NY Jets
Miami (JA) at Washington (BM)
Tennessee at Jacksonville (BM) (JA)
Chicago at San Diego (BM) (JA)
Tampa Bay at Seattle (BM) (JA)
Detroit (BM) (JA) at Oakland
NY Giants at Dallas (BM) (JA)
Baltimore (JA) at Cincinnati (BM)
Arizona (BM) at San Francisco (JA)

Brandon: 6-0 Overall (6-0 NCAA, 0-0 NFL)
Justin: 3-3 Overall (3-3 NCAA, 0-0 NFL)

Crystal Ball: NFL Predictions

BRANDON / JUSTIN

NFC East
1. Dallas 1. Philadelphia
2. Philadelphia 2. Dallas
3. New York 3. Washington
4. Washington 4. New York

NFC North
1. Chicago 1. Chicago
2. Minnesota 2. Detroit
3. Detroit 3. Minnesota

4. Green Bay 4. Green Bay

NFC South
1. New Orleans 1. New Orleans
2. Carolina 2. Carolina
3. Tampa Bay 3. Tampa Bay
4. Atlanta 4. Atlanta

NFC West

1. Seattle1. Seattle
2. San Francisco 2. San Francisco
3. Arizona 3. St. Louis
4. St. Louis 4. Arizona

AFC East
1. New England 1. New England
2. Buffalo 2. New York
3. New York 3. Miami
4. Miami 4. Buffalo

AFC North
1. Baltimore 1. Baltimore
2. Cincinnati 2. Cincinnati
3. Cleveland 3. Pittsburgh
4. Pittsburgh 4. Cleveland


AFC South

1. Indianapolis 1. Indianapolis
2. Tennessee 2. Jacksonville
3. Jacksonville 3. Tennessee
4. Houston 4. Houston


AFC East

1. San Diego 1. San Diego
2. Denver 2. Denver
3. Kansas City 3. Kansas City
4. Oakland 4. Oakland

NFC Championship:
New Orleans over Seattle - Dallas over New Orleans

AFC Championship:

New England over San Diego - San Diego over New England

Super Bowl XLII:

New England over New Orleans - San Diego over Dallas

AFC MVP:
LaDainian Tomlinson - LaDainian Tomlinson

NFC MVP:
Drew Brees - Shaun Alexander

NFL MVP:
LaDainian Tomlinson - LaDainian Tomlinson