I’m sure all of you have heard about Joe’s ungodly lucrative contract by now.
What interests me is that the Yahoo story that broke it generated over 1700 comments in a couple of days. It now has nearly 1900 comments!

I never imagined someone as low-key as Joe would generate such a reaction despite occasional fireworks such as this.
So many of the comments focus on what a ridiculous contract this is for someone who kind of choked in the second round of the playoffs last season, and is really good, but not at the Wade-Bryant-James level.
That’s a fair criticism, though Joe is also one of the few players who can claim to have led his team to more wins in each of five consecutive seasons while never getting into trouble off the court… I think that kind of consistency leading into this season’s playoffs built up a reserve a goodwill with the Atlanta franchise that 5 or 6 bad subpar games weren’t enough to erode.

But there’s another stream of vitriol running through the comments: the absurdity of professional athletes being paid tens of millions per season for playing games. I think the recession has only stirred the cauldron for those who see seemingly more dollars and media attention going to “pampered” athletes while the middle-class wages relative to cost-of-living have dwindled through the last few decades.

With the increasing chatter about this free-agent class in the preceding weeks, I believe a reserve of animosity was welling up in some of the general (internet-using) public, and news of Joe’s megadeal broke the dam. Unfortunately, Arkansas’ finest was the first to face the torrent.

Amid all the talk about the insane money being thrown around, the Boston Globe ran an interesting piece about a former NBA champion who’s now living out of his car. This player, Ray Williams, says he believes that players such as Joe Johnson should be sharing their new-found wealth with him since he helped blaze the golden trail upon which their Air Jordans tread.
Based on the majority of the 200+ comments, though, I’m not sure if Williams will get any help.

Steve Nash doing some crazy Matrix shit.

I can’t take credit for this. The good folks at Interbasket came up with it.

The first weekend of NFL football ends tonight (Monday, Sept. 8th) with a BANG - McFadden in black. The Raiders host the Broncos at 10:15E on ESPN.

Here’s what I expect to see from these two extremely similar teams:

These are two wear-them-down run-oriented offenses; and with both teams possessing excellent pass-defenses (check out those four cornerbacks), mediocre receivers, and new offensive lines that lack the necessary cohesiveness for pass blocking, I expect run, after run, after run.

Both teams will start with the same game plan:
1) run the ball with some success
2) protect the ball (win the turnover battle)
3) good special teams play - good punts, good returns, make FGs
4) get ahead and force the other team into passing situations
5) run the clock out against fatigued defenders

The difference between the two teams will probably be that the home-town Raiders have the better running backs. The Raiders rushing attack starts with Justin Fargas, not McFadden. Fargas gets the veteran nod after a strong season last year in the same offensive scheme. Kiffin, who has been extremely impressed with Darren and plans on utilizing all of his gifts before the season is over, says that tonight will not be The McFadden Show. He says he’s worried that the pressure might be too much, since it is his first NFL game and it’s Monday Night Football. (This would be The McFadden Show if I were the coach, since Darren usually plays his best in high pressure games. I’m wondering if Kiffin is bluffing). The Raiders have another stud RB right behind McFadden - the young, big, fast, shifty, and soft-handed Michael Bush. The biggest potential downfall of this crew is a lack of depth at the fullback position, since they lost their best blocking fullback to a career-threatening injury last week.

If the Raiders have a large lead, I highly doubt that the Broncos can pass their way back into the game, or break off long runs. If the Broncos have a large lead, the Raiders will look to big TE Zach Miller down field, or hopefully they will give McFadden chances to break some long ones.

(Did you catch Felix’s first game yesterday? He took his first carry into the endzone from 11 yards out and finished the game with nine carries for 62 yards and 1 TD.)

DMac just signed a $60 million dollar contract to play for the silver and black Raiders ($26 million is “guaranteed”). This is a pretty amazing contract considering the comparables from last year and that he signed about 45 days sooner than fans expected, which I think says a little something about how much he impressed the Raider’s organization after just a few weeks of practices. Early on, head coach Kiffin repeatedly stressed that they don’t want to overextend Darren’s responsibilities to the point where he’s OK at a dozen things but not great at any one thing, like the Saints have experienced with Reggie Bush. After each practice though, coach Kiffin commented that he was amazed at how easy everything is for DMac, both physically and mentally. It has been reported that Darren has practiced as a running back, wide receiver, quarterback (”wildhog”ish), and kick returner in just six days of full-team practices. The day before McFadden signed his contract, coach Kiffin said they were anxious to get him signed (and avoid Darren missing practices) because they have so many ways they want to use him immediately in the upcoming season. Coach Kiffin recently explicitly said that Justin Fargas, the returning starter, is “by far” the best “runner,” and that Michael Bush is expected to be the best short-yardage running back. Still, despite the depth the Raiders have at running back, it looks like McFadden, who coach Kiffin describes as “the most talented,” will get his chance to shine… starting with the opening kickoff.

Felix Jones can’t have any regrets about playing second fiddle to McFadden after his favorite NFL team drafted him in the first round. He is the first running back the Cowboys have drafted that early since they picked up Emmitt Smith a long time ago. The Cowboys actually drafted two running backs this year - Felix and Tashard Choice. When Coach Wade Phillips was asked by a reporter to compare Marion Barber (the Cowboys starting running back) to rookie Tashard Choice, he turned the question away and said that it’s tough to compare a rookie with a pro bowler. Less than a minute later the same interviewer asked the coach what he thinks of Felix Jones… and Phillips starts comparing Felix to Hall-of-Famer Thurman Thomas. Jerry Jones, the team’s owner, commented that he likes how smooth and elusive Felix is, and that he loves his “bubble-butt.” In other words, the Cowboys love Felix. They expect him to contribute immediately as the primary complement to Marion Barber’s power running game, and to return kickoffs with Pacman Jones or Mike Jenkins. Felix’s job requirements are almost identical to his role at Arkansas, but now he’s doing it for “America’s team.” Jones hasn’t signed a contract yet, but Emmitt Smith is giving him pointers, so the day will come.

As NBA fantasy experts, we all know that the last ten games of the regular season are usually a bit of a joke. Ordinarily, this would be the time that we would tune into the NCAA tournament while NBA guys we’ve never heard of finish the final pre-playoff stretch. This year, though, is an extraordinary one.

New Orleans is currently at the top of the Western Conference at 49-22. Phoenix’s record is 48-24 - which is just 1.5 games behind New Orleans. What’s unbelievable is that Phoenix is currently 6th in the conference, which means there are four teams sandwiched in that tiny space between New Orleans and Phoenix! Then there’s poor Denver, who is only 5.5 games behind New Orleans and they’re in the dreaded 9th spot (only the top 8 make the playoffs). Although the season is almost over, Denver shouldn’t be too upset because they still have a chance to make the playoffs…. and a chance at finishing first in the conference! This is crazy.

In the East there are still six teams fighting for the final playoff spot. The current holder of the 8th spot is my beloved Atlanta Hawks. They’re trying to hold of the Nets, Pacers, Bulls, Bobcats, and Bucks.

So while you’re cheering on Davidson to an NCAA championship, don’t assume that the NBA has nothing to offer, because the pros are showing just as much fight as the kidos.

Have you ever wondered why you are not a pro footbal player? Here’s the short answer. Meet 21 yeard-old Vernon Gholston, a defensive end projected to be picked up in the first round of this year’s draft. He’s 6′3″ and 266 lbs. He jumps like Lebron James (42″ flat-footed vertical), can pump iron like Hulk Hogan (can bench 225 lbs 37 times), and his peformance in the running tests will be better than some of the running backs drafted, including his 40 time of 4.57 seconds.

Joel and I were having a conversation earlier today about what it would be like to race against a fast football player in the 40-yard dash. More precisely, we wanted to know how far behind we would be once they crossed the finish line.

I found some useful information on average 40 times and splits (10 yards, 20 yards) here.

If I can run as fast as the average offensive lineman, then I’ll hit 10 yards in 1.8s, 20 in 3.05s; and 40 in 5.3s. That’s 2.25 seconds to run the last 20 yds. Since I’m probably running about the same speed over that 20 yard interval, that’s 8.8 yds/sec. I’ll only get to run that fast for 1.25 seconds though, because that’s when the other guy will finish (4.3s). 1.25 seconds x 8.8 yds/sec = 11.1 yds. That puts me at 31.1 yds, or 8.9 yds behind (almost 27 feet behind in a 120 foot race).

A 4.9 40, an average time for a QB, would put me 6 yds behind.
A 4.55 40, an fine RB time, would put me 3 yds behind.

The flu might be bad for my body, but it sure has given me lots of time to research the upcoming NFL combine and draft (which isn’t obviously a good thing). This article will probably only be interesting to the truest of true Razorback fans, or those interested in mocking pathetic sports fans.

My interest in following Razorbacks into the NFL hasn’t panned out too well… yet. Matt Jones’ injury problems plagued him long enough for his coach to not count on him anymore. Ahmad Carroll was awesome 95% of the time, but absolutely horrible the other 5%, which is fine if you play for a good team, but not fine if you play for a crappy team with angry fans looking to blame someone not named Brett Favre (oh, and then there’s the gun charges). Cedric Cobbs was playing great for the Broncos, but then suffered an injury after fumbling an important punt. I think he’s out of the NFL now. Shawn Andrews is multi-time pro-bowler, but I can rarely catch his games and the media doesn’t care about offensive linemen. Ken Hamlin is a pro-bowler and has a reputation as a hard hitting safety, but he also missed a season and lost some of his bang after he had his skull busted open in a bar fight. Chris Houston is starting for Atlanta, although he’s got a long way to go before he’s a stud.

While occasionaly I question my fanhood, Darren and Felix have recently revived my hopes that all of my internet searches over the years, and time and money spent watching games, will have a great pay off.

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The best dunk I’ve ever seen - any one of Dwight Howard’s (6′11″ and 270 lbs) four dunks from last night. NBA.com has a great video that you can watch as a streaming video and download as a quicktime file for even better viewing. If you’re not sure you want to invest the time in the video, check out this picture of Howard. While no one else stood a chance against him, I would have liked Jamario Moon to be in the final instead of Gerald Green.

Interested in a little free friendly fantasy action for the college bowls? Just pick your winners by Dec. 20th and rank the games according to your confidence in your prediction.

Get in the action now:
http://games.espn.go.com/bowlmania/group?groupID=17979

Game Front: http://games.espn.go.com/bowlmania/frontpage

Group: JttM
Password: donotpassgo

After Chase Daniel blew his chance in the spotlight yesterday, the Heisman race has boiled down to two players: Tim Tebow and Darren McFadden. McFadden deserves the trophy. Here are my four arguments.

Unlike most sports fans, I’m not a statistics guy. One of the many things statistics won’t tell you is who has a giant target on their back. 99% of hard-core college football fans believe the Glenn Dorsey is the best defensive player in the nation. If one just looks at the stats they would argue that their are dozens of better defenders in college football, because Dorsey’s stats are pedestrian. But nobody would freaking do this because it’s easy to see why his stats aren’t staggering - he is double teamed on almost every single play. Anyone that has watched an Arkansas game this season knows that a similar story is true for McFadden. Our opponents often seemed more concerned with stopping McFadden than winning the game. Tebow had the luxury of starting this season without an X on his back. Plus, it’s much harder to limit a quarterback on a solid team than it is a running back on a team with a subpar quarterback. When sports commentators are talking about McFadden and the Heisman, they usually start with something like “he is the most outstanding player” or “he is the best player,” but then use statisitcs to argue why Tebow deserves the Heisman. This makes about as much sense to me as saying Glenn Dorsey is the best defender in college football, but Jo Schmo who had more sacks deserves the award for best defender.

Tebow’s stats are as amazing as everyone thinks they are. However, McFadden’s stats are better than most are giving him credit for. He set an SEC record for most all-purpose yards in a season. He needs just 167 yards to break Heisman-winner Herschel Walker’s SEC record for most yards in a season. He tied the record for most yards in a game. He moved past Heisman-winner Bo Jackson and into third place for most yards in an SEC career. He threw four TD passes without an interception. He was the only player to run for more than 100 yards against LSU this season (206 yards and 3 rushing TDs). Although he failed to hit 100 yards in three games, Auburn was really the only team that could limit McFadden without sacrificing the win. And most of Auburn’s success was due to their offense keeping the Razorbacks’ offense off of the field.

What if… McFadden had gone to Florida as a quarterback. If McFadden had Florida’s receivers, practiced the QB position, and got as many play calls as Tebow, he would be having similar success. He probably wouldn’t have as many passing yards, but would have more rushing yards. One reason McFadden didn’t go to Florida as a QB is because he would rather be one of the best RBs to ever play football than a gimicky college QB without a clear position in the NFL. If Tebow was a running back at Arkansas… third string.

Looking back on this season twenty years from now… McFadden was one of the most exciting players and best RBs to ever play college football… and Tebow scored a lot of touchdowns.

McFadden deserves the Heisman.

gone. Thoughts?

then you’d agree that more laterals should be used in football. Here’ a video clip that proves my point. Trinity laterals so many times that the defense gets too tired to tackle.

NBA.com’s Pick One Challenge

Basic rules of the game:

# Pick one player for each day of the regular season that a game is played.
# Accumulate points based on that player’s Points, Rebounds and Assists (Fantasy Points = P + R + A).
# Earn double points when you select a T-Mobile Rookie [Rookie Fantasy Points = (P + R + A) X2].
# You cannot pick the same player twice.

You can make selections whenever, not just on game day.

If you want to play send me an email.

Is anyone else liking football more these days? With so many players, strategies, and coaches, there’s just a richness to football that other sports don’t have. Plus, there’s Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.

I’m trying to not get too excited about Arkansas this year, since they just have so many glaring weaknesses. However, it’s hard not to think that our dynamic duo can’t overcome all of them, especially considering last year’s incredible season. And one thing really stands out after the Troy game - even though our offensive line isn’t as dominant as Arkansas has become accustomed to, and even though Marcus Monk wasn’t in the game to draw attention from the defense, and even though Casey Dick only completed one or two passes to wide receivers, and even though Troy (an athletic team) knew we were going to run, Jones and McFadden still combined for more yards than any other RB duo in the nation (watch McFadden knock that guy 20+ feet on Jones’ kickoff return).

This is true - McFadden, Jones, Hillis, and Michael Smith make up an NFL-caliber backfield. Throw in Luigs, Felton, and Monk (in a few weeks) and half of the offense will soon be NFL-bound. Plus, although Robert Johnson is an average receiver, he can throw the football as well as Casey Dick, thus providing another creative way to get the ball to McFadden and Jones. It’s hard to imagine any defense in America that can shut this crew down, especially after McFadden ripped that 80-yarder on LSU last season.

But can they overcome our inexperienced and penalty-prone secondary? Can they overcome a quarter-back who can’t handle pressure? Most importantly, can they overcome a coaching staff in denial? The most upsetting part of the Troy game was that the coaches, although they know our passing offense sucks, are still calling passing plays in important situations. I guess this is fine when you’re way up on Troy, but incompletions by Dick killed two drives in the FIRST quarter. Houston Nutt likes to be tricky, and for the most part I like that about him, but Nutt has a history of trying to fool defenses with a passing play when it seems obvious that a RB should get the ball (like in 3rd and short situations).

One last complaint about the Troy game. Where in the hell was the “wildcat” (aka “wildhog”) formation? They were running a “racehorse” formation that looked like the “wildhog,” but it was definitely not the same thing, nor did it produce like the “wildhog” did last year (except for the one 42-yard bomb from McFadden to Tuck). I hope that David Lee (the new offensive coordinator) is just trying to add more options and that the “wildhog” will show up against Alabama.

Oh, and if McFadden, the current frontrunner, doesn’t win the Heismann, it better be because Jones does.

Anybody else following McFadden’s Heisman hunt or the Razorbacks this year?

There’s more bad news for Mike Vick. A South Carolina inmate has filed a civil suit against Vick seeking “$63,000,000,000 billion dollars” in damages (yes, that would be $63,000,000,000,000,000,000) “backed by gold and silver “ to be delivered to the front gates to the Williamsburg Federal Correctional facility in South Carolina.

The facts in this dispute are complicated, but the allegations in the neatly hand-written complaint essentially boil down to the following:

1) Vick stole two white mixed pit bull dogs from the Plaintiff in Holiday, Fl.

2) Vick used the two dogs for his dogfighting operations in Richmond, Va.

3) Vick then proceeded to sell the stolen dogs on eBay and “used the proceeds to purchase missiles from the Iran government” because he needed the missiles as part of his pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda.

4) Vick stole the Plaintiff’s “identity from [the Plaintiff's] coat, and used it to open accounts at various pet stores to purchase food for the stolen dogs.

Other miscellaneous allegations include

5) Vick violated copyright law (referred to by the Plaintiff as “my copyright laws”) “by using the “Plaintiff’s copyright name on his personal football outfit and casual clothing.”

6) Vick “subjected [the Plaintiff] to microwave testing.”

7) And, finally, “Vick used drugs in school zones.”

In addition to the”$63,000,000,000 billion dollars backed by gold and silver”, the Plaintiff asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order against Vick so that Vick will “stop physically hurting my feelings and dashing my hopes.”

because

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Hey Zach, Pablo, and other runners, what is your opinion on running and needing to drink water? Do you guys prefer the hydration backpacks, holding water bottles in your hands, or the little holsters on your wast? Looking for some input on what you prefer for long runs.

Personal update…
Lizzie and me are moving to Hawaii in a few weeks for the summer. We already found a small place to stay at on the Kona side of the big island. Everyone is welcome to visit and crash at our apartment. Going to be there until late July and then going to Chicago for some work stuff for a week. And then moving to Egypt in August with Lizzie. She is studying at AUC for a year hopefully, still waiting to make sure she got in but I’m sure she did.

(I’m still looking for pictures for each dunk, so I’ll continue to update this post as I find them.)

1st Round:

1st Dunk:

Tyrus Thomas - tried to use a bounce pass from Ben Gordon to do a three-sixty at a difficult angle, but he lost his composure after several failed attempts and put in a stinker.

Dwight Howard - a mammoth windmill that scared the crap out of me. Great form!

Gerald Green - took a paul pierce pass of the side of the backboard, double-handed windmill with his head above the rim. Great dunk.

Nate Robinson - one-handed a bounce pass and spread-eagled his way to the rim. He sure got up there for this one.

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