Friday, March 24, 2006
Random Stuff
There's definitely no better time of the year for a sports fan. The NCAA basketball tournament is simply the most entertaining sporting event in existence. Spring Training is in full gear. The NFL draft is less than a month away. The NCAA hockey tourney is underway, and the Gophers look poised to make a run at the title. The NBA and NHL postseason is approaching (neither of which I personally care about, but there are plenty of people out there who do).
I do have one major problem with the NCAA basketball tournament, though. Why don't they stagger the starting times of the games in the first round? Every year there are moments where 2 games are coming down to the wire, and CBS can only air one at a time. It makes no sense whatsoever. Stagger the tip-off times by 20-30 minutes, and you solve that problem.
As long as I'm bitching about that, the NCAA hockey scheduling is crazy, as well. The championship game is played Saturday, April 8, at 7 PM Eastern Time. Sounds good. The semifinal games are played Thursday, April 6, at 3 PM and 8 PM! You've got a total of three games to be played, and you schedule one at 3:00 (that's noon on the West Coast) on a Thursday? I realize there aren't very many college hockey fans out there, but...
TWINS
Tony Bautista's name came up the other day, in a Baseball Prospectus daily email:
Bottom 5 2006 AL Starting Third Basemen, by PECOTA Projected VORP
Player, Team, Projected VORP
Tony Batista, MIN, -0.3
Sean Burroughs, TBA, 4.5
Aaron Boone, CLE, 6.4
Joe Crede, CHA, 9.0
Brandon Inge, DET, 13.5
Yep, that's right- dead last. And a negative VORP. How lovely! On the bright side, one of the local baseball writers (I'm too lazy to find the article right now) recently penned the phrase "if Bautista makes the team." Gardy seems determined to add some veterans to the clubhouse, regardless of whether they actually help the team on the field, so I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for the "out machine" to get cut.
VIKINGS
The signing of Mike McMahon means we won't see Joey Harrington wearing Purple this season. Not that I'm a fan of Harrington, but the Vikings better do some sort of planning for the future. This article makes it sound like Childress may be trying to trade up and grab one of the top 3 QBs in the upcoming draft. I'd love to see them move up and draft Leinart, but I doubt it will actually happen. The Vikings also signed a couple more players: safety Tank Williams and pass-rushing DE DeQuincy Scott. Williams was charged with a DUI a year ago, so he fits right into the proud Purple tradition.
I do have one major problem with the NCAA basketball tournament, though. Why don't they stagger the starting times of the games in the first round? Every year there are moments where 2 games are coming down to the wire, and CBS can only air one at a time. It makes no sense whatsoever. Stagger the tip-off times by 20-30 minutes, and you solve that problem.
As long as I'm bitching about that, the NCAA hockey scheduling is crazy, as well. The championship game is played Saturday, April 8, at 7 PM Eastern Time. Sounds good. The semifinal games are played Thursday, April 6, at 3 PM and 8 PM! You've got a total of three games to be played, and you schedule one at 3:00 (that's noon on the West Coast) on a Thursday? I realize there aren't very many college hockey fans out there, but...
TWINS
Tony Bautista's name came up the other day, in a Baseball Prospectus daily email:
Bottom 5 2006 AL Starting Third Basemen, by PECOTA Projected VORP
Player, Team, Projected VORP
Tony Batista, MIN, -0.3
Sean Burroughs, TBA, 4.5
Aaron Boone, CLE, 6.4
Joe Crede, CHA, 9.0
Brandon Inge, DET, 13.5
Yep, that's right- dead last. And a negative VORP. How lovely! On the bright side, one of the local baseball writers (I'm too lazy to find the article right now) recently penned the phrase "if Bautista makes the team." Gardy seems determined to add some veterans to the clubhouse, regardless of whether they actually help the team on the field, so I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for the "out machine" to get cut.
VIKINGS
The signing of Mike McMahon means we won't see Joey Harrington wearing Purple this season. Not that I'm a fan of Harrington, but the Vikings better do some sort of planning for the future. This article makes it sound like Childress may be trying to trade up and grab one of the top 3 QBs in the upcoming draft. I'd love to see them move up and draft Leinart, but I doubt it will actually happen. The Vikings also signed a couple more players: safety Tank Williams and pass-rushing DE DeQuincy Scott. Williams was charged with a DUI a year ago, so he fits right into the proud Purple tradition.
