NFL Free Agency Targets

Ring Ring.....

That's the sound of Albert Haynesworth's agent cell phone ringing precisely at this moment, Friday February 27, 2009 at 12:01 am.  It's the start of the NFL free agent period.  Haynesworth is the NFL's biggest free agent target, both figuratively and literally.  The DT is expected to get the biggest contract of all available free agents.  Per John Clayton from ESPN, he expects Haynesworth to sign a deal within two hours of the open of free agency.  We'll see if it happens that fast, but he is expected to get offers of over $100 million.

UPDATE (7:00 am) - Haynesworth has agreed to a seven-year deal with the Redskins. 

The most important free agent to a team is Kurt Warner of the Arizona Cardinals.  The 37-year old QB lead the Cardinals to the Super Bowl.  If they expect to make it back, they must re-sign Warner.  They are several millions dollars apart on money ($10-$12 a year vs $14-$16), but I don't expect Warner will seriously consider signing with another team.  It's either the Cardinals or retirement.  Expect to see him back with the Cardinals.

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted atdcthesportsguy@gmail.com

Starbury: Next Stop, Boston?

Wow, the stalemate between the Knicks and Stephon Marbury is finally over!  They reached a buyout agreement earlier today.  This comes after five months of haggling back and forth, which ultimately ended in the Knicks prohibiting Starbury from coming to the facility and him earning his $20.8 million salary for doing nothing.  With the buyout agreement, it appears that he will forgo approximately $2 million in exchange for his release.

If Starbury clears waivers, he is expected to sign with the Celtics and reunite with Kevin Garnett, who he previously played with in Minnesota, before forcing a trade to New Jersey.  If he does, it will help the Celtics with much needed depth (along with Mikki Moore, who they signed today).  It will definitely give them a boost in their attempts to repeat as NBA Champions.

The only thing we have yet to see is if Starbury is in game shape, since he hasn't played in over a year.  We'll see how much he'll be able to contribute, although I think he'll be able to fill the role they have for him.  He'll probably get worked in quickly during these last weeks of the season, but his playoff minutes will probably be limited.

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted atdcthesportsguy@gmail.com

NBA Trade DUD-line

The Phoenix Suns trade Amar'e Stoudamire to....

The Phoenix Suns trade Shaquille O'Neal to....

The New Jersey Nets trade Vince Carter to....

The Washington Wizards trade Antawn Jamison to....

The Houston Rockets trade Tracy McGrady to....

The Milwaukee Bucks trade Richard Jefferson to....


Well, at least that's what everyone thought. There were many big names floated about as the trade deadline approached. There were many teams motivated to make moves, some to get better, and others to get under the salary cap or the luxury tax.

The buzz coming to the deadline was that the many of those mentioned above could be moved to contending teams. Can you imagine Shaq in Cleveland with LeBron? I don't know how they would manage the line-ups with Shaq and Z together, but they would have made it work somehow. When Shaq has been teamed with a great side-kick (Kobe, D-Wade), he's won a title. What might have been?

Amar'e to multiple teams, Vince to San Antonio, Jamison to Cleveland.... all of those trades would have changed the balance of the conferences. All of them make my head hurt even thinking about it. Too bad none of them happened. It would have been very interesting ending to the rest of the regular season and playoffs. I think it would have had the same impact of the 2003-2004 Pistons getting Rasheed Wallace at the trade deadline a few years ago, and then winning the NBA Championship.

The best trade that was made was rescinded. Tyson Chandler was traded from the New Orleans Hornets to the Oklahoma City Thunder, however, he didn't pass his physical. He was exactly what OKC needed, so if I was the GM, I would have let him sit out the rest of this season (not like they were going to the the playoffs anyway) and paired him with a vastly improved Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Jeff Green. Pair that with the high lottery pick they have (hopefully Blake Griffin, if they get the #1 pick), they would definitely be a young team on the rise.

The best trade that actually went through was the Rafer Alston to Orlando Magic trade, and it wasn't motivated by the salary cap or the luxury tax. The Magic lost Jameer Nelson for the year, and only had Anthony Johnson and Tyronn Lue as PG alternatives. They definitely needed a player the caliber of Skip if they have any chance to contend for the Eastern Conference Finals. In his first start, Skip had 12 points, 9 assists, and ran the offense effectively.


DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted atdcthesportsguy@gmail.com

A-Rod Reality: The truth shouldn't matter

OK, now that we've had a week to digest this A-Rod admission and his apology, let me say this. Can we just get over this? I don't think that his admission was any big revelation. Everyone was attacking Barry Bonds and hoping that A-Rod would soon pass his HR record since he was "clean" and Bonds was the bad guy. The fact of the matter is many players of various skill levels and positions took PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) during that time span.  Was A-Rod entirely truthful in his admissions at his press conference?  Probably not, but that's besides the point.

If someone were to test positive today for PEDs, they would get a 50 game suspension, not a lifetime ban. Why are Hall of Fame voters (i.e. sportswriters) so intent on not letting ANYBODY that has a positive PED test, or just even has just been linked with PEDs, in the Hall of Fame? Not even getting into the fact that it wasn't even against MLB rules when most of these players used PEDs, but that shouldn't disqualify a player from the HOF. Are we going to remove the many players that took uppers (amphetamines) to increase mental alertness and physical energy from the HOF? They are also PEDs, but don't have the media stigma that steroids has.  NFL player Shawne Merriman from the Chargers was suspended four games for use of PEDs two seasons ago, and it was in the news for maybe a day. We've been talking about Bonds forever, and it looks like it will be the same for A-Rod.

Is the argument because the baseball purists say it will skew the numbers for records (i.e. home run records)? You mean like uppers did? You don't think that helped increase numbers. You mean like pre-integration? You don't think the numbers for Babe Ruth and Roger Maris were better because they didn't play against black players? Do they have asterisks?  If baseball records/numbers really are sacred, why are all ball parks designed differently?  Old Yankee Stadium was 318', 399', 408', 385', and  314' ft from left field to right field.  Tiger Stadium was 340', 365' 440', 370', and 325'.  You don't think the Babe, Maris, Mantle, etc... had an advantage over Al Kaline and Hank Greenberg?  Definitely!  Asterisk?  Nope.  Want to sell extra tickets and bring excitement to your fan base?  Just shorten the fences by a few feet.

A-Rod answered, strike that.... A-Rod was asked if he felt that his numbers were tainted, or if his numbers should be wiped away for the years that he used PEDs.  That's ridiculous, you can't go back and erase numbers.  The NCAA does it, but am I really suppose to believe the Fab 5 never happened?  A-Rod's numbers are his numbers.  Bonds' numbers are his numbers. Bonds is the home run king, period.  A-Rod will eventually become the home run king.  Both deserve to be 1st ballot Hall of Famers when they are eligible.

This should just be another era in baseball, The Long Ball Era.  No different than the Dead Ball Era, the Live Ball Era, Integration Era, and the Free Agency Era.  The only reason this is getting as much media attention is because we now live in a soap opera/tabloid/paparazzi news society. That's what sells.  That's why sometimes we have to turn off SportsCenter.  Do we really need to know A-Rod's cousins name or who transported the substance from the Dominican Republic to the United States?  (BTW... that was actually a question at his press conference.)

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted atdcthesportsguy@gmail.com

Games 2 Watch (G2W) 2/17/09 to 2/19/09:

The G2W section will highlight some of the most interesting match-ups over the next few days. Here are the must watch events from 2/17/09 to 2/19/09:

Tuesday 2/17/09 - NCAAB - Michigan State Spartans at Purdue Boilermakers - 7 pm EST / 6 pm CST on ESPN (*Game of the Mid-week)

The Big Ten leading Spartans face off against the 3rd place Boilermakers.  Both teams should be near full strength, as Raymar Morgan and Robbie Hummel should be in the line-up for both teams.

Wednesday - 2/18/09 - NBA - LA Lakers at Golden State Warriors - 10:30 pm EST / 9:30 pm CST on ESPN

Should be another high scoring affair.

Thursday - 2/19/09 - NBA - San Antonio Spurs at Detroit Pistons - 8 pm EST / 7 pm CST on TNT

Thursday is the NBA trade deadline and there was speculation that Rasheed Wallace may be heading to SA.  We'll see.

We'll also end with the game results from the last G2W.

Friday 2/13/09 - NBA - All-Star Weekend - NBA All-Star Celebrity Game - Rookie Challenge - Rookies vs. Sophomores 

Saturday - 2/14/09 - NBA - All-Star Weekend - Shooting Stars, 3-Point Shootout, Skills Challenge, H-O-R-S-E, Dunk Contest 

Sunday - 2/15/09 - NASCAR - Daytona 500

Sunday - 2/15/09 - NBA - All-Star Game - East vs. West 

Monday - 2/16/09 - NCAAB - Pittsburgh 76 Connecticut 68 - (*Game of the Weekend)

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted atdcthesportsguy@gmail.com

Games 2 Watch (G2W) 2/13/09 to 2/16/09:

The G2W section will highlight some of the most interesting match-ups over the next few days. Here are the must watch events from 2/10/09 to 2/12/09:

Friday 2/13/09 - NBA - All-Star Weekend - NBA All-Star Celebrity Game - 7 pm EST / 6 pm CST on ESPN - Rookie Challenge - Rookies vs. Sophomores 9 pm EST / 8 pm CST on TNT

Come back to look for exclusive All-Star Weekend coverage!

Saturday - 2/14/09 - NBA - All-Star Weekend - Shooting Stars, 3-Point Shootout, Skills Challenge, H-O-R-S-E, Slam Dunk Contest - 8 pm EST / 7 pm EST on TNT

Come back to look for exclusive All-Star Weekend coverage! (But I won't fault you if you go out for Valentine's Day)

Sunday - 2/15/09 - NASCAR - Daytona 500 - 3:30 pm EST / 2:30 pm CST on Fox 

Jimmie Johnson leads the race for the Sprint Cup.

Sunday - 2/15/09 - NBA - All-Star Game - East vs. West - 8 pm EST / 7 pm CST on TNT 

Come back to look for exclusive All-Star Weekend coverage!

Monday - 2/16/09 - NCAAB - Pittsburgh Panthers at Connecticut Huskies - 7 pm EST / 6 pm CST on ESPN (*Game of the Weekend)

#1 vs. #4

We'll also end with the game results from the last G2W.

Tuesday 2/10/09 - NCAAB - Michigan State 54 Michigan 42

Wednesday - 2/11/09 - NCAAB - North Carolina 101 Duke 87 (*Game of the Mid-week)

Thursday - 2/12/09 - NCAAB - Arizona State 74 UCLA 67 

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted atdcthesportsguy@gmail.com

Whatever happened to..... The Franchise

I caught the 2nd OT of the 2003 NBA All-Star game on NBA TV the other day.  KG ultimately won the MVP, but what I found interesting was who was on the court for that overtime.  The East squad had AI, Paul Pierce, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Ben Wallace.  The West had KG, Kobe, Shawn Marion, Tim Duncan, and Steve Francis.

Whatever happened to The Franchise?  Of the 10 players on the court, Francis is the only one not contributing to a team at a high level.  As a matter of fact, he's not contributing anything, seeing that he was released from the Grizzlies last month.  He hasn't played this year with the Grizzlies or the Rockets (who he was with before he got traded to the Grizzlies).  The previous 3 years, he's played a total of 78 games.  I know injuries (tendinitis in right knee and quad tendon surgery on left knee) had something to do with it, but did he lose it that quickly?  I mean, he's only 31.  You would think he'd be able to contribute something to somebody. Anybody.  We'll see if a playoff team will pick up this veteran down the stretch.

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at dcthesportsguy@gmail.com

Fantasy Basketball - Pick-up of the Week (Update from 1/27)

I hope you heeded my advice in my Fantasy Advice Pick-up of the Week on 1/27.  I suggested that you immediately pick-up Ramon Sessions due to the injury to Michael Redd.    In the five games that he played without Redd, he averaged 16.2 points, 2.8 boards, 4.8 assists, 1.0 steals a game.

I also said that his numbers would be even better if he took over the point guard duty from LukeRidnour.  Well, Ridnour is now out 3-5 weeks with a broken thumb.  In the two games without both Redd and Ridnour, he's averaged 35.0 points, 4.5 boards, 9.5 assists, 2.0 steal a game.  That will make a big difference for the playoff stretch.  What's amazing to me is that in Yahoo! leagues, he's only owned in 68% of leagues.  He should be owned universally in all leagues and all formats!  If you're in one of the 32% of the leagues that he's not owned in, please do yourself a favor. 

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at dcthesportsguy@gmail.com

Random Grammy Thoughts

I'm not all that into award shows, but I did get a chance to watch the Grammy's on Sunday.  The lasting image I have is the VERY PREGNANT (as in, due date was that same day pregnant) M.I.A. performing T.I.'s Swagga Like Us along withKanye West, Jay-Z, and Lil Wayne.  Wow, what is she wearing???? 

It was good to see Jennifer Hudson win the first Grammy of the telecast for Best R&B album. She returned to the national spotlight by singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Let's hope there is more good news for the singer, that lost her mother, brother, and nephew a few months ago.

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at dcthesportsguy@gmail.com

Games 2 Watch (G2W) 2/10/09 to 2/12/09:

The G2W section will highlight some of the most interesting match-ups over the next few days. Here are the must watch events from 2/10/09 to 2/12/09:

Tuesday 2/10/09 - NCAAB - Michigan State Spartans at Michigan Wolverines - 7 pm EST / 6 pm CST on ESPN

In a strange Big Ten scheduling quirk, the only meeting of the season for these rivals.

Wednesday - 2/11/09 - NCAAB - North Carolina Tar Heels at Duke Blue Devils - 9 pm EST / 8 pm CST on ESPN (*Game of the Mid-week)

Carolina vs. Duke is the best college basketball rivalry.

Thursday - 2/12/09 - NCAAB - UCLA Bruins at Arizona State Sun Devils - 9 pm EST / 8 pm CST on ESPN

Watch one of the best nationally unknown players in the country in James Harden of ASU.

We'll also end with the game results from the last G2W.

Friday 2/6/09 - NBA - Suns 115 Warriors 105

Saturday 2/7/09 - NCAAB - Memphis 68 Gonzaga 50

Sunday 2/8/09 - NBA - Lakers 101 Cavs 91 (*Game of the Weekend - Cavs suffer 1st home loss of the season)

Monday 2/9/09 - 24 

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted atdcthesportsguy@gmail.com

Games 2 Watch (G2W) 2/6/09 to 2/9/09:

The G2W section will highlight some of the most interesting match-ups over the next few days. Here are the must watch events from 2/6/09 to 2/9/09:

Friday 2/6/09 - NBA - Golden State Warriors at Phoenix Suns - 10:30 pm EST / 9:30 pm CST on ESPN Maybe not the best match-up, but there should be alot of points scored.

Saturday 2/7/09 - NCAAB - Memphis Tigers at Gonzaga Bulldogs - 9 pm EST / 8 pm CST on ESPN Two Top 20 teams face-off.

Sunday 2/8/09 - NBA - LA Lakers at Cleveland Cavs - 3:30 pm EST / 2:30 pm CST on ABC (*Game of the Weekend) Kobe pays LeBron a visit in what could be a NBA Finals preview.

Monday 2/9/09 - 24 - Kiefer Sutherland - 9 pm EST / 8 pm CST on Fox Once again, gotta go back to my man Jack!

We'll also end with the game results from the last G2W.

Friday 1/30/09 - NBA - Celtics 86 Pistons 78

Saturday 1/31/09 - Tennis - Australian Open Women's Final - Serena Williams over Dinara Safina 6-0 6-3

Sunday 2/1/09 - NFL - Super Bowl XLIII - Steelers 27 Cardinals 23 (*Game of the Weekend - major understatement!!)

Monday 2/2/09 - NCAAWB - Sooners 80 Lady Volunteers 70

Note: No G2W was posted for 2/3/09 to 2/5/09, so here is the results from the marquee match-ups.

Tuesday 2/3/09 - NCAAB - North Carolina 108 Maryland 91

Wednesday 2/4/09 - NCAAB - Clemson 74 Duke 47, Michigan State 76 Minnesota 47

Thursday 2/5/09 - NBA - Lakers 110 Celtics 109 OT (*Game of the Mid-week)


DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted atdcthesportsguy@gmail.com

Sleepless Night

There are several college football coaches that will have a sleepless night tonight.  If you don't already know, tomorrow is National Signing Day in college football.  Recruiting is a coach's life blood.  It's a simple equation.  If you don't have talent, you don't win games.  You don't win games, you lose your job.

It starts out with being able to recognize and develop talent for your system.  That's not an easy thing.  There are so many variables in high school football.  How do you evaluate a player that plays against inferior talent?  If you have a RB that runs a 4.4, and the next fastest player on the field runs a 4.7, it'll be pretty easy to outrun everyone.  Play against players of the same ability (i.e. similar speed), not so much.  How do you evaluate a WR whose QB can't hit the side of a barn, or who has a run first mentality?  How do you evaluate a OL who is 6'7" and 300 lbs, and all of his opponents weigh 100 lbs less?  Not to mention projecting position switches and a player's potential.  Kids in Texas start playing organized tackle football at 5 years old, playing anywhere between 64 to 80 games prior to reaching high school.  By comparison, I played a total of 5 games prior to reaching high school (in Michigan).  Has the Texas kid reached his max potential?  Has the Michigan kid even scratched the surface of his potential?

Some coaches are sleeping easy, while they know they have solid commitments come the eve of NSD.  For others, it's a wait and see game.  Has your "verbal commitment" since beginning of the season sign that Letter of Intent with your school, or does he have a change of heart and sign with another school that he's made an official visit to?  Who does that uncommitted "superstar" high school athlete sign with on NSD, your school or your hated rivals?  It's a hard job, but that's what coaches are partly paid to do.  To evaluate and sign talent of fickle 17-18 year old kids.  Oh yeah, and most importantly, win!

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted atdcthesportsguy@gmail.com