Archive for the ‘football’ Category

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: September 27, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
1

To say that Week 3 in the NFL was not good to us and your picks would be an understatement. I guess you can say that myself, Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy tied for the win in Week 3. Sadly we where all 7-9 while Dan the Man finished at 6-10. Overall Schaumburg Stu is leading at 29-18. Dan the Man and I are one game behind at 28-19 while Mr. Fantasy is at the bottom of the pile at 27-20.

If you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast you’ve heard us joke about us jinxing a team when the four of us agree that they’ll win. We last Sunday we agreed on 11 games. Seven of those 11 teams that we all agreed would win lost. Now through a couple of weeks it can be tough to tell what a teams identity is, but some of the teams that lost where clearly upsets. I’d say if you’re a fan of a certain team the worst thing that could happen to them is for the four of us to agree that they’re going to win a game.

Well Week 4 will get rolling Thursday night with the Green Bay Packers hosting the Chicago Bears. Hopefully will have a better week of picks than we did last week.

I always flip around to the different sports networks to see what their talking about. Now yesterday when I was bouncing around from channel to channel there where a couple of them that had breaking news on their crawler and I was waiting for it. When I final got to see what these couple of networks where trying to pass off as breaking news made me chuckle. Their big huge breaking news was that Dwayne Wade was planning to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers after he clears waivers. How is that breaking news? Now I understand that one of the networks playing this off as breaking news paid way too much money to televise the NBA and they have to play any basketball story up as bigger than it is to justify their own stupidity, but anyone else calling it breaking news just hasn’t been paying attention.

On Sunday Wade agreed to a buyout with the Chicago Bulls after playing just one season with them. Wade played in 60 games last season averaging 18.3 points per game while playing an average of 29.9 minutes per game. Wade shoot 43.4% from the field, but just 31% from behind the 3-point line.

Once Wade was bought out it was pretty clear where he would end up signing and even though there where some other teams mentioned I think everyone knew that Wade would end up in Cleveland with LeBron James. While playing together for the Miami Heat Wade and James won back to back NBA titles in 2012 and 2013. Wade also won an NBA title with Miami in 2006. Wade was the series M.V.P. in 2006.

Wade will be entering his 15 seasons and he didn’t play in back to back games last season. Now there are reports that guard Isaiah Thomas is going to be out until January with a hip injury; so it looks as though the Cavaliers starting back court will be Wade and former M.V.P. Derrick Rose. On their training camp roster the Cavaliers have Jose Calderon, Kay Fedler, J.R. Smith , Iman Shumpert and John Holland to go along with Rose and Wade at the guard position. Even when Thomas returns from injury does this look like a good enough back court to win an NBA title or get into the NBA finals?

When Wade clears waivers and signs with the cavaliers it will be for their veteran’s minimum of $2.3 million dollars. Wade could’ve signed for more money with another team, but it’s clear that he wanted to team back up with James again.

With the NHL season lurking just around the corner it’s time for fantasy players to make sure they’re ready for their upcoming fantasy drafts. There are some quality players that are going to start the season on injured reserve, but should be worth taking a chance in and stashing on your bench until they return.

Ryan Kesler of the Anaheim Ducks had hip surgery and looks to be out until the New Year. Kesler played in all 82 games regular season games for the Ducks in 2016-17. He totaled 58 points on 22 goals and 38 assists. Kesler also played in 17 playoffs games last season scoring 8 points on 1 goal and 7 assists. Keep an eye on Kesler’s status as he could be a good add towards the end of your season.

Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils has been an under rated fantasy player and that will really be true this season as it appears he’ll be out four to six more weeks after having pectoral surgery in August. Zajac played in 80 games for New Jersey last season. He totaling 45 points on 14 goals and 31 assists. Depending on your leagues depth Zajac will be a good centerman to bring on when he’s healthy.

Ryan Ellis of the Nashville Predators is recovering from off season knee surgery and it’s being reported that he’s still about three months away from returning. Ellis played in 71 games last season totaling 38 points on 16 goals and 22 assists while be a +17. In 22 playoff games Ellis scored 13 points, 5 goals and 8 assists while being a +4. The Predators look to be a team on the rise; so you’ll have to analyze the situation very carefully to see if there will be minutes for Ellis when he returns from injury.

Anther defenseman on the mend is Andrej Sekera of the Edmonton Oilers. Sekera torn his ACL in the post season and it looks like he’ll miss a minimum of half the season. Sekera played in 80 games last season. He ended up scoring 35 points on 8 goals and 27 assists while posting a +14. Sekera played in 11 post season games. He scored 1 goal and assisted on 2 others for a total of 3 points, but was a -1 for the playoffs. Sekera did have his second best scoring season in 2016-17 and has put up 30 points or more in both of his seasons with Edmonton half a season is a long time to wait. Maybe the timing will be right and Sekera will return just as you’re looking for a guy, but I don’t think it’s worth holding a roster spot for him.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but the podcast is also available any time you want at TuneIn.com

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: September 23, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
0

I think that we’re all use to bad Thursday night football games, but so far this season the NFL has delivered two out of the three weeks of this season. Honestly though who thought that the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers would keep that streak going this past Thursday, but they did.

Now the game looked like it was just going to be a blow out as the Rams had a 34-20 lead heading into the 4th quarter, but the 49ers got themselves back in the game and ended up being just an unconverted 2-point conversion away from possibly sending the game into overtime.

In the end the Rams ended up with a 41-39 victory and improved their record to 2-1 while the 49ers fell to 0-3 even though they’ve played three close games to start the season.

I’m not sure if fantasy owners where expecting this, but the game provided them with some very good numbers to start off Week 3.

Jared Goff was 22 of 28 for 292 yards and 3 touchdowns. Goff was credited with 1 rushing attempt for -1 yards as well. Brian Hoyer went 23 of 37 in the game for 337 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interceptions. Hoyer also ran the football 1 time for 9 yards and a touchdown. Did you start either of these guys?

As for running backs Todd Gurley put up some big fantasy numbers. Gurley carried the football 28 times for 113 yards and scored 2 rushing touchdowns. He also caught 5 passes for 36 yards and had a receiving touchdown as well. Who had Gurley having a 3 touchdown night? Carlos Hyde did well for the 49ers as well. Hyde carried the football 25 times for 84 yards and scored 2 rushing touchdowns. Hyde also added 3 receptions for 10 yards. I’m sure Gurley was in everyone’s starting line up, but I wonder how many people used Hyde this week.

The Rams had two receivers go over the 100 yard mark in the game. Robert Woods had the most yards for them with 108 on 6 receptions, but Sammy Watkins was the Los Angeles receiver to have in this game. Watkins also had 6 receptions and went for 106 yards, but he had 2 touchdowns. Pierre Garcon had good numbers as well as he went for 142 yards on 7 receptions, but it was Trent Taylor and Garrett Celek who caught the 49ers touchdowns in this game. I actually had Garcon starting in one of my leagues, but I wonder how many line up Watkins and Woods where in.

I don’t think that either teams Defense/Special teams will be much help to you in fantasy this week as they both let up quite a few points. The Rams did have 4 sacks to go with 1 interceptions and 1 fumble recovery while totaling 83 return yards. The 49ers had 2 fumble recoveries to go with 65 return yards.

The win improved the Rams record to 2-1 while the 49ers fell to 0-3. Both team are on the road for Week 4 as the Rams will take on the Dallas Cowboys in AT&T Stadium while the 49ers will face the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium.

We’ve haven’t heard much about this lately, but as we get closer to NBA training camps opening Carmelo Anthony is still a member of the New York Knicks.

Now Anthony has a full no-trade cause in his contract; so he’ll be able to pick which team he ends up on if a deal is worked out. Anthony had agreed to go to the Houston Rockets, but the teams where unable to work out a deal for him. There are reports now that Anthony has added the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder as two more teams he’d be willing to accept a trade to. Now it’s no surprise at all that Anthony would be willing to go to the Cavaliers. He and LeBron James are friends off the court and James has mentioned being interested in playing with Anthony before. Now you have to wonder if either of these teams would have the assets required to make a deal for Anthony. The Knicks aren’t looking for any long term veteran type contacts in a deal and draft picks are only going to get you so far. Cleveland is still the best team in the Eastern Conference, but would the addition of Anthony to go along with their earlier acquisition of Paul George give Oklahoma City enough to challenge the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference?

Now don’t forget that the Portland Trailblazers still remain interested in acquiring Anthony, but as of now he hasn’t said that he’d accept a trade to Portland. Portland’s top two players guards Damon Lillard and C.J. McCollum have been trying to convince Anthony to join the Trailblazers if a deal could be worked out, but so far no word out of Anthony on if he’d go to Portland. Could Portland emerge as the front runner for Anthony if deals with the Cleveland and Oklahoma City can’t be worked out?

The Knicks open camp on Monday and you can just how awkward it’s going to be as Anthony plans on reporting to camp. You’d have to expect a ton of tension between the two sides and Anthony has been encouraging the Knicks to show urgency in their pursuit of a trade before the season.

Anthony has two years and $54 million dollars left on his contract, but he has an option year for the 2018-19 season that would pay him $27.9 million dollars for that season if he chooses to opt into that.

Do you remember Anthony Bennett? I’m not surprised at all if you don’t, but he was the #1 overall pick of the 2013 NBA draft. After playing just one season at UNLV the Cleveland cavaliers made Bennett the top pick in that 2013 draft.

Bennett was with the Cavaliers for one season before he was dealt to the Minnesota Timberwolves along with Andrew Wiggins in the deal that landed the Cavaliers Kevin Love. Bennett also stayed just one season in Minnesota before being waived and signing with the Toronto Raptors. Bennett played just 19 games for the Raptors as he spent most of his time in the D-League before being waived. The Brooklyn Nets signed Bennett next and again he spent most of his time on their D-League team playing just 23 games for the Nets before they released him. Bennett them found his way to the Euro League where he played with the Turkish team Fenerbache.

So it’s looking like Bennett is going to end up being another 1st round NBA bust, but maybe not. The Phoenix Suns have signed Bennett to a non-guaranteed contract and he’ll be joining them for training camp this week. It appears that it may be another trip to what is now called the G-League for Bennett, but at least he’s going to get another chance to prove himself in the NBA.

You can listen to the Sports Time radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: September 20, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
0

Well we’re two weeks into the NFL season and I already had the best week in our picks. For Week 2 I went 12-4 to take the top spot. Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy where 11-5 while Schaumburg Stu went 10-6. Overall Schaumburg Stu and Dan the Man are tied at 22-9. I am a game behind at 21-10 while Mr. Fantasy is a couple of games out at 20-11. You can hear our picks for Week 3 on the Sunday morning edition of Sports Time Radio.

There where a couple of injuries on Week 2 that could affect your receiving stats for fantasy.

The Cleveland Browns lost what appeared to be the guy who was going to turn into their #1 receiver Corey Coleman with a broken hand.  Coleman has been targeted 13 times in the first two weeks of the season. He has 6 receptions for 62 yards and a touchdown. The Browns placed Coleman on injured reserve; so if he’s to return this season the earliest it could be is November 19th (Week 11) when the Browns host the Jacksonville Jaquars.

If you’re in a deep fantasy league and you’re looking for a receiver to fill Coleman’s spot on your roster you may want to take a look at Rashad Higgins who could be the player who gets Coleman’s targets.

The Carolina Panthers also suffered a big loss in their passing game when tight end Greg Olsen was diagnosed with a broken foot and was placed on injured reserve. Olsen had just 3 receptions on 6 targets in the Panthers first two games, gaining 28 yards. While Olsen may have gotten off to a bit of a slow start to this season he has had three straight 1000 yard plus receiving seasons and that’s going to be difficult for Carolina to replace. Olsen had surgery on his foot yesterday and is eligible to come off of injured reserve November 26th. On the 26th the Panthers are on the road against the New York Jets.

Ed Dickson should be the player that takes over for Olsen as the starting tight end. Dickson hasn’t been a huge receiving threat since joining the Panthers, but back in 2011 he did catch 54 passes as a member of the Baltimore Ravens. Chris Manhertz is listed as the 3rd tight end for Carolina and he just 1 career catch. Carolina did activate fullback Alex Armah from the practice squad to fill Olsen’s roster spot. Armah may get some snaps as an H-back while Olsen is out.

The Miami Dolphins have t overcome quite a bit already this season and we’re just headed into Week 3. The Dolphins first game of the season was moved to Week 11 because hurricane Irma rolled through Florida. Miami took to the road and they brought along their families as well. The Dolphins then went out and out together a come from behind 19-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, but it wasn’t without some drama.

Miami’s starting outside linebacker Lawrence Timmons went AWOL before the game and did not play. Unbeknownst to the Dolphins Timmons left the team Saturday night.

The Dolphins announced yesterday that Timmons has been suspended indefinitely. While the length of Timmons suspension hasn’t been announced the collective bargaining agreement allows teams to suspend a player for up to four games for detrimental conduct, but that doesn’t mean that Timmons will be out four games.  Timmons just joined the Dolphins this past off season signing a two year $10 million dollar deal with the team.

There have been reports that Timmons was dealing with a personal matter, but he was also scheduled to meet with a doctor on Monday. There doesn’t appear to be any type of injury involved here; so the doctors appointment looks to be for Timmons mental health.

With Timmons out last Sunday Chad Allen handled the outside linebacker duties against the Chargers, but look for Rey Maualuga to get some playing time there. Maualuga was signed a month ago after spending 8 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals. The Dolphins also made a trade. Miami acquired linebacker Stephone Anthony fro the New Orleans Saints for a 2018 5th round draft pick. Anthony was 31st pick in the 2015 draft by the Saints, but he hasn’t played in the first two weeks of this season because of an ankle injury.

The Dolphins stay on the road for their Week 3 game as they take on the 0-2 New York Jets.

The Chicago Cubs got some good news as they try to close out the National League Central and defend their World Series title.

Jake Arrieta is schedule to make his first start on Thursday since lasting just 2 1/3rd innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 4th. This will give Arrieta the opportunity to get 3 starts in before the playoffs would start.

Thursday is game one of a four game series between the Cubs and the team that’s chasing them the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers are hosting this series, but just 11 days ago Milwaukee went into Wrigley Field and swept a three game series against the Cubs. The Cubs currently have a 3 1/2 game lead on the Brewers in the N.L. Central.

Arrieta is 14-9 this season with an E.R.A. of 3.48. Arrieta has started against the Brewers twice this season and he has gotten the win in both games. On April 9th Arrieta pitched 7 innings giving up just 3 runs as the Cubs got a 7-4 win. Then on May 21st Arrieta pitched 6 innings giving up just 1 run as the Cubs won that game 13-6.

You’d like to say that Arrieta’s return is more important that the result of the game, but since it’s against the team right behind the Cubs in the standings the result is just as important.

The St. Louis Cardinals are trying to hang around in the National League playoff race. St. Louis is 3rd in the N.L. Central, but they’re 6 games out of the division lead, but they are just 3 1/ games out of the second N.L. wild card spot.

The Cardinals may have received a little help as pitcher Adam Wainwright has been activated from the 10-day disabled list. Wainwright went on the disabled list August 18th with a right elbow impingement. Now even though Wainwright was winning games as a starter 12-5 with an E.R.A. of 5.12 in 23 starts this season the Cardinals are planning to use him out of the bullpen. Wainwright did make 61 appearances out of the bullpen back in 2006, but his last relief appearance was in 2015. Of course at this time of year you use your pitchers where you need them.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but you can also listen to the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com

Don’t forget that I’m on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: September 16, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
0

You have to figure that the NFL and their broadcast partners where pretty happy with the first Thursday night game of the season. While that game did end in an easy victory for the Kansas City Chiefs over the New England Patriots it was a close game heading into the final quarter. New England actually had the lead going into the 4th quarter, but Kansas City ran off 21 points to pull away for a 42-27 win. That was Week 1, I’m not sure they where as happy with the Week 2 game.

Week 2 had the Cincinnati Bengals hosting the Houston Texans. Both teams looked terrible in Week 1, Cincinnati was shut out by their division rival the Baltimore Ravens 20-0 and Houston looked lackluster as they got beat 29-7 by the Jacksonville Jaquars. To be fair we did get a close competitive game to watch, but it was very difficult to watch.

The big story coming into the game besides how poorly both teams played in Week 1 was the fact that the Texans have already made a chance at quarterback. Houston decided that they where going to go with rookie Deshaun Watson at quarterback. Watson relieved Tom Savage in Week 1 and led the Texans to their only touchdown of that game. Now on his 22nd birthday Watson would be making his first NFL start.

These two teams didn’t put up much offense in Week 1 and that carried over to this game as there was just one touchdown scored. Watson was the player who managed to score the touchdown when he scrambled 49 yards just before halftime to out the Texans up 10-3. Cincinnati added a field goal before halftime to make it a 10-6 game, but there wasn’t much offense after that. The only points of the 3rd quarter was another Cincinnati field goal. In the 4th quarter it was the Texans who kicked the field goal to get the game to it’s 13-9 final score.

Watson threw for just 125 yards in his debut going 15 for 24, but he didn’t turn the football over. He was also the Texans leading rusher in the game with 5 rushing attempts for 67 yards and the games only touchdown. Andy Dalton was 20 of 35 for 224 yards for the Bengals with no touchdowns or interceptions. Each quarterback was sacked 3 times in the game.

Neither team looked very good, but the Texans picked up the win and managed to even their record at 1-1. Cincinnati dropped to 0-2 and the Bengals have no scored a touchdown in 8 quarters this season. Cincinnati’s lack of offense prompted the firing of offensive coordinator on Friday. Quarterbacks coach Bill Lazor will take over the Bengals offense.

A coordinator change is one thing, but you have to wonder if it’s time for the Bengals to start looking for a new head coach. Marvin Lewis has been their head coach since 2003, he’s the longest reigning head coach in the NFL, but it might be time for a change. Lewis is 118-105-3 as Cincinnati’s head coach and has taken them to the playoffs 7 times. While that may look like a good number when you look close at the Bengals playoff appearances you realize that they where a wild card all seven times and they are 0-7 in those games. Up until last season the Bengals had been to the playoffs 5 seasons in a row and 6 out of the last 7 seasons. Their record dropped to 6-9-1, it was the first season they had been under .500 since 2010. While we are just two games into this season with the way the Bengals have looked you have to wonder if they’ll be a serious playoff contender. I have the feeling that their window has closed and that this is Lewis’ last season. What do you think?

For a while there it looked like this would never happen, but the Cleveland Indians final lost a baseball last night. After running off 22 straight wins the Indians dropped a 4-3 decision last night to the Kansas City Royals.

The night started off well for the Indians. Francisco Lindor lead off the bottom of the 1st with a double off of Royals starter Jason Vargas. Then after a walk and a ground out an Edwin Encarnacion sacrifice fly gave the Indians an early 1-0 lead.

After Trevor Bauer recorded a strikeout for the 1st out in the top of the 2nd inning Alcides Escobar hit a solo home run to leftfield to tie the game at 1-1. It was Escobar’s 5th home run of the season.

The Indians have been finding ways to bounce back in these games while they where on this streak and the bottom of the 3rd looked like one of those times. With 2 outs Austin Jackson doubled. Jose Ramirez followed Jackson’s double with his 27th home run of the season to leftfield to give the Indians a 3-1 lead.

The Royals knocked a run off the Indians lead right at the start of the 4th inning. Brandon Moss led of the inning with his 22nd home run of the season to centerfield to cut the Indians lead to 3-2.

Kansas City then tied the game in the top of the 5th inning. Lorenzo Cain doubled with 1 out and Eric Hosmer followed that with a single to score Cain and tie the game at 3-3.

The Royals took the lead for good in the top of the 6th inning. Bauer recorded the first out of the inning via strikeout, but after Alex Gordon singled Bauer was removed fro the game for reliever Joe Smith. Smith struck out the first batter he faced, but Whit Merrifield and Lorenzo Cain hit back to back singles off of him. Cain’s single to centerfield scored Gordon and gave the Royals the a 4-3 lead.

While Vargas did get off to a rough start he managed to pitch 5 innings and pick up his 16th win of the season. Ryan Buchter (1 inning), Trevor Cahill (2 innings) and Mike Minor (1 inning) came out of the Royals bullpen to hold the Indians to just one hit over the final four innings of the game. Minor even picked up his 1st save of the season.

The teams meet again this afternoon; so maybe the Indians can start a new winning streak or maybe this is the beginning of a Royals winning streak. Jason Hammel (8-11) will try to keep the Royals winning while Carlos Carrasco (15-6) will try to get the Indians back in the win column.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live in BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is also available any time you want to listen to it at TuneIn.com

Don’t forget that you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: September 9, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
0

On the Sports Time Radio podcast we make picks for the NFL games like a lot of other shows do. There are four of us who make picks, myself, Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu and of course Mr. Fantasy. We’ve now develop this thing called the Sports Time Radio jinx. It seems as that when the four of us agree that a team is going to win a game we jinx that team and they end up losing. Now this doesn’t happen 100% of the time with our picks, but it’s happen enough for us to notice it. So as you know Week 1 of the NFL season kicked off Thursday night with the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots hosting the Kansas City Chiefs. On the podcast we all selected the Patriots to win this game. As you know the Chiefs scored 21 4th quarter points to pick up a 42-27 victory. So I looks like it’s happening again. On this Sunday’s podcast Mr. Fantasy and I will announce the rest of our selections for Week 1 and will have to see how many picks we agree on and how many of them go the other way. You should probably be hoping that we don’t all agree that your favorite team will win it’s game.

When Kansas City used the 10th pick in the draft to take quarterback Patrick Mahomes out of Texas Tech a lot of people thought Alex Smith’s job was in jeopardy. Smith is in his 13th NFL season after being the #1 overall pick of the San Francisco 49ers in the 2005 draft. Smith has always completed a high percentage of his passes; 61.9% for his career and an even higher 64.8% in his five seasons with the Chiefs, but he’s never been seen as a downfield passer. Smith has been know to make the smart play and take the dump off pass instead of trying to force something downfield. In his career Smith has 161 touchdown passes to just 91 interceptions and since being with Kansas City Smith has never thrown more than 8 interceptions in a season. Now Smith may not be flashy, but he wins games. For his career Smith has a 80-56-1 record as a starter and since being with Kansas City Smith is 42-20 as their starter. You have to wonder with the numbers he put up against what was thought to be a good Patriots defense if Smith will be cut some slack.

On Thursday night Smith went 28 of 35 for 368 yards and 4 touchdowns. Kansas City’s rookie running back Kareem Hunt caught two of Smith’s touchdown passes. Hunt caught a 3 yard touchdown pass and a 78 yard touchdown pass. Smith’s other two touchdown passes where a 7-yarder to Demetrius Harris and a 75 yard pass to Tyrek Hill. Are the two 70 plus yard touchdown passes enough for Smith to lose his reputation; I doubt it, but he did average 10.5 yards per passing attempt.

Rookie running back Hunt was another Chiefs player who really announced his presentence to the NFL. Hunt took over as the Chiefs #1 running back after Spencer Ware was ruled out for the season after tearing knee ligaments. Hunt averaged 8.7 yards per carry on 17 carries Thursday night. He ran for a total of 148 yards and a touchdown. Hunt also added 5 receptions for 98 yards and two touchdowns. Add to this the fact that Hunt fumble on his first carry and it turned out to be quite a debut. Hunt actually set the record for most yards from scrimmage in a debut. Hunt combined for 246 yards to set the record.

Of course it’s just one game in a 16 game NFL season, but it sure  started the right way for Kansas City. Playing opening night gives the teams a little extra time to prepare for Week 2. The Chiefs return home to host the Philadelphia Eagles while the Patriots head out on the road to face the New Orleans Saints.

Two years ago Aaron Altherr of the Philadelphia Phillies hit an inside the park grand slam when Washington Nationals outfielder Michael Taylor misplayed a fly ball. Well last night it was Taylor who was rounding the bases for an inside the park grand slam when Phillies centerfielder Odubel Herrera misplayed the line drive Taylor hit. The inside the park grand slam helped Taylor’s Nationals pick up an 11-10 win over the Phillies Friday night.

According to MLB’s record there have only been 28 inside the park grand slams since baseball expanded in 1961. An even odder stat is that it’s only happen twice this millennium and Taylor has been involved in both of them. After a reporter reminded Taylor of his involvement in Altherr’s inside the park grand slam Taylor said “feels better to be on this side of it”.

The Cleveland Indians extended their winning streak to 16 games last night with a 5-0 night over the Baltimore Orioles.

Edwin Encarnacion got the Indians off on the right foot as he hit a three run home run in the bottom of the 1st inning to start Cleveland on their 5-0 victory. Encarnacion’s home run was to dead centerfield and landed in the trees next to Heritage Park. That’s the area where past Indians stars are immortalized.

With their 16th win the Indians extended the longest winning streak in franchise history. This is also the longest winning streak in the past 15 years of baseball. Cleveland is now four wins away from tie the 2002 “Moneyball” Oakland A’s at 20 in a row and with five more wins the Indians would tie the 1935 Chicago Cubs for the longest winning streak in baseball history at 21 games. To be fair the 1916 New York Giants did win 26 straight games, but there was a tie in that streak.

The Indians haven’t lost since August 23rd when the Boston Red Sox beat them 6-1. On this streak the Indians have beaten the Red Sox and Orioles one time each. The Kansas City Royals and the New York Yankees three times each and they’ve beaten the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers four times each.

Now to get those five more wins and tie the 1935 Cubs the Indians will have to beat the Orioles two more times this weekend and then sweep the Tigers in a 3 game series Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at home. Do you think the Indians can do it?

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but the podcast is also available on TuneIn.com

Don’t forget that you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: September 6, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
1

Yesterday arbitrator Harold Henderson upheld the six game suspension of Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott. Now even though Elliott is suspended he’ll be allowed to play in the Cowboys Week 1 game against the New York Giants. NFL attorneys explained that due to the timing of Henderson’s decision Elliott will be allowed to play Week 1. I think this is the first time I’ve seen a player who is actually suspended being allowed to play.

Now Elliott’s situation is still up in the air as the NFLPA is trying to get a temporary restraining order that would allow Elliott to continue to play. If the temporary restraining order is not granted by the court and Elliott and his attorneys don’t take the case any farther he would be out until November 5th when the Cowboys face the Kansas City Chiefs.

Elliott’s attorneys have said that they intend to take the case to federal court if need. They said that “Mr. Elliott is looking forward to having his day in federal court where the playing field will be level and the NFL will have to answer for its unfair and unjust practices.”

Of course the NFL has filed a lawsuit. In New York federal court the NFL filed asking to have the league’s punishment be enforced.

Elliott took part in Tuesday’s meetings and walk-through at the Cowboys’ practice facility, The Star, in Frisco, Texas, before heading to Paul Brown District Court, roughly 50 minutes away, in time for the hearing. He is expected to be at the Cowboys’ full pads practice Wednesday.

Before Elliott was cleared to play in Week 1. The Cowboys were 3.5 point favorites over the Giants at the majority of Las Vegas sportsbooks. The line ticked up to Dallas being a 4 point favorite after the news was announced.

There’s already been a change to the Week 1 schedule. With it looking more and more that hurricane Irma will impact Florida this weekend the NFL has postpone the Miami Dolphins/Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. As it turned out both teams had their bye week scheduled for Week 11. Now Miami will host Tampa Bay on November 19th.

With the postponement the Dolphins and the Buccaneers will have to play  straight weeks, which isn’t great for either team. The Miami players made it pretty clear that they wanted to play Week 1 and keep the bye week no matter what the circumstances where.

There where only really two choices for the NFL to make. Either find a neutral site and have the teams play or go with the postponement. I think that the NFL made the correct choices as now the players will have time to prepare for the hurricane.

It was confirmed yesterday by the MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred that the Boston Red Sox used what was described as electronic communication to steal signs and rely them to their players during the game.

It was the New York Yankees and their General Manager Brian Cashman who filed the complaint with MLB back on July 18th. The investigation was first reported by the New York Times.

Commissioner Manfred was at Fenway Park yesterday and said that he expects the investigation to be completed before the end of the regular season. Now Commissioner Manfred also mentioned that baseball doesn’t have a rule against stealing signs, per se. It’s the use of the electronic device by the Red Sox that violated the rule.

MLB’s investigation is being conducted by Bryan Seeley. He’s a former assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. attorneys office in Washington D.C. Seeley is now the head of MLB’s department of investigations.

What do you think the Red Sox punishment be?

Speaking of the Red Sox they defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 last night in a game that went 19 innings and lasted 6 hours and 19 minutes.

The Blue Jays scored a run in the 2nd inning and then a run in the 6th inning off of Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriquez and it looked like those two runs where going to hold up. Marco Estrada pitched 7 scoreless inning for Toronto giving up just 3 hits along the way. Dominic Leone worked a 1,2,3 8th inning before turning the ball over to closer Roberto Osuna.

Andrew Benintendi started the bottom of the 9th inning with a walk. Mookie Betts followed with a double putting the tying runs on base. Hanley Ramirez grounded out to 3rdfor the first out. Benintendi scored on the ground out and Betts moved up to 3rd base. Mitch Moreland was the next Red Sox hitter and he grounded out to 2nd as Betts scored the game tying run on the ground out. Xander Bogaerts got an infield single and stole 2nd base, but Rafael Devers stuck out to end the inning.

The Blue Jays managed to get a runner to 3rd base in the top of the 17th inning, but that was the only real scoring threat either team had until the bottom of the 19th inning.

Betts led off the bottom of the 19th with a double to leftfield. Ramirez followed with a single to centerfield scoring Betts and ending the game and giving Boston a 3-2 win.

There where 19 pitchers used in the game, 12 of them by the Red Sox. Those 12 Red Sox pitchers recorded 23 strikeouts in the game while the Blue Jays pitchers racked up just 12 strikeouts.

Ezequiel Carrera and Kevin Pillar had two hits each for the Blue Jays while Darwin Barney picked up three hits in the game. Mookie Betts had three hits for the Red Sox while Eduardo Nunez, Dustin Pedroia and Hanley Ramirez each had two hits for the Red Sox. Nunez and Ramirez here the only two players in the game with eight official at bats. Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mitch Moreland where the only two Red Sox starters without a hit as they both went 0 for 7 in the game. Steve Pearce and Josh Donaldson both went 0 for 6 for the Blue Jays. Toronto catcher Luke Maile was 0 for 4 in the game, but drew 4 walks.

These two teams meet again tonight and luckily there are expanded roster for September; so the fact that 19 pitchers where used shouldn’t affect either bullpen. Joe Biagini (3-9) makes the start for Toronto while Doug Fister (4-7) will start for Boston.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio podcast live in BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that you can listen to the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com.

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: August 26, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in Boxing, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
0

It’s Week 3 of the NFL pre=season and for most if not all teams that means the starters will play more than in any other pre-season game. Of course with more playing time there’s more chance of an injury happening and last night two playoff contenders lost a couple pf important offensive pieces.

Now we’re waiting on confirmation of his actually injury, but early reports are that New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman torn his ACL in Friday nights game against the Detroit Lions. The Patriots have an MRI scheduled for Edelman today to find out the extent of the injury.

The oddest thing about Edelman’s injury was that it was a non-contact injury. About two minutes into the game last night Edelman ran what’s called an “in-break: route. Edelman beat Lions linebacker Jarrad Davis and caught the football at the Detroit 29 yard-line. Edelman turned up field and planted his right foot into the ground or I guess turf would be a better word to avoid Lions safety Tavon Wilson and lunged forward for extra yardage like we’ve seen many receivers do at the end of a reception. As Edelman hit the ground he almost immediately grab the back of his right knee. Now Edelman was able to walk off the field under his own power, but was noticeably limping. After a few minutes of being looked at by the Patriots medical staff on the sidelines Edelman was carted to the locker room.

If Edelman is lost for the season the Patriots will have to find a way to replace his 98 catches and 1106 receiving yards from last season.

Just this off season Edelman signed a two year extension $6.5 million dollar extension to stay with the Patriots until though 2019.

No matter if Edelman miss the entire season or just a few games the Patriots will look to the newly acquired Bradin Cooks as well as Chris Hogan, Danny Amendola and Malcolm Mitchell to fill his role.

The other injury Friday night was to Kansas City Chiefs starting running back Spencer Ware, but reports are it’s not as serious as first thought. Ware went down in the Chiefs first offensive series of their game last night against the Seattle Seahawks as he was fighting for extra yards on a swing pass.

As the played end Ware tried to get up, but ended up going back down to the ground grabbing his right knee. Ware was unable to put any weight on his injured knee and ended up having to be carted off of the field.

The original report was that Ware had torn the PCL ligament in his right knee, but Kansas City head coach Andy Reid said that Ware’s X-rays where negative. The Chiefs have scheduled an MRI for Ware on Saturday.

Ware took over as Kansas City’s #1 running back last season. He carried the football 214 times for 921 yards last season. Ware is also a big factor in the Chiefs passing offense. Ware added 33 receptions for 446 yards last season.

In the pre-season Ware has been splitting carries with rookie 3rd round pick Kareem Hunt and you have to think that if Ware is going to miss any time that Hunt would take over as the #1 running back for Kansas City. The Chiefs do have a couple of veteran running backs on their roster in Charcandrick West and C.J. Spiller to turn to if needed.

Now earlier in the week Jacksonville Jaquars head coach Doug Marrone made it a point to say that the teams starting quarterback position was “up for grabs”.

After Chad Henne made the start in the Jaquars Week 3 pre-season game against the Carolina Panthers it looked like he’d be the guy under center on September 10th for Jacksonville’s Week 1 game against the Houston Texans. After Thursday nights pre-season game Marrone said he wasn’t ready to name a starter, but neither quarterback looked great in the game. Henne went 8 for 14 for 73 yards in the five series he played and Blake Bortles went 12 for 16 for 125 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception in the seven series he played. So after not being ready to announce a starter after the game Marrone turned right around on Friday and said that Bortles will be the starter for Jacksonville Week 1.

According to the team’s announcement, Bortles has only been named the starter for the  season opener and was not declaratively named the Jaquars’  starting quarterback for the entire season.

As it seems as though the Jaquars have no confidence in their quarterbacks it brings to mind the one burning quarterback question that’s floating around the NFL. Would the Jaquars sign Colin Kaepernick? Now in a radio interview before Thursday’s pre-season game Jacksonville’s owner Shad Kahn said that he would “absolutely” be OK with signing Kaepernick if recommended by Tom Coughlin and the teams coaching staff.

Now Kaepernick has met with a couple of other NFL teams, but has yet to receive a contract offer. Khan’s comments at least provide a possible opening for Kaepernick to return to an NFL team, but that move appears to be a long way off from happening.

Well I guess tonight is the big night if you’ve been drawn into the circus that was the set up to the Floyd Mayweather Colin McGregor fight.

The weigh-in was yesterday and both fighters came in under the 154 pound weight limit. In believe that earlier in the week there was some talk and it may have been started by Mayweather that McGregor wasn’t going to make weight. but he did. McGregor weighed in at 153 pounds and I found it interesting that his trainer said he’d be back up to almost 170 pounds by the time of the fight.

Now I’m in the group that doesn’t care about this fight at all. Where do you stand? Will you be buying the pay per view and watching at home either by yourself or maybe you’re having a viewing party? Will you be going out to watch the fight? Maybe your local watering hole is showing the fight. You might also be one of the people going to watch it on the closed circuit television broadcast. Who knows maybe you’re in Las Vegas right now and you’re going to be going to the fight tonight. Any way you watch it this fight is going to make a ton of money, but in the end will it be worth it. I never bought into the hype and I can’t justify pay the price to get it on pay per view, but if you are going to watch the fight let me know in the comments below how you’ll be viewing it.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTaklRadio.com but don’t forget you can find and listen to the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime

 

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: August 23, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
0

this season. T,he Cleveland cavaliers granted Kyrie Irving’s wish and traded him to the Boston Celtics in Tuesday. All in all it looks like Cleveland got a pretty good deal for Irving. In return for Irving the Celtics sent point guard Isaiah Thomas, forward Jae Crowder, center Ante Zizic and the Brooklyn Nets 2018 1st round pick that the Celtics owned. It’s an unprotected 1st round pick; so the Cavaliers will receive the pick no matter where the Nets finish.

It was back in July when Irving met with Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and said he’d like to be traded. In the meeting Irving mentioned that he’d like to go to a team where he could be the focal point and that he no longer wanted to play along LeBron James.

Irving is 25 years old and this will be his 7th NBA season. Irving has had some injury issues in his career, but he played in 72 games last season and posted his highest scoring average at 25.2 points per game while averaging just over 35 minutes a game.

Thomas is 28 years old, but is also heading into his 7th NBA season. The Celtics had the best record in the Eastern Conference last season at 53-29 as Thomas posted a career high scoring average of 28.9 points per game. Thomas also handed out 5.9 assists per game while playing just shy of 34 minutes a game. Now Thomas did have a hip injury that caused him to miss the final three games of the Eastern Conference finals series against the Cavaliers. Thomas has spent the off season rehabbing the injury as he opted not to have surgery. Interestingly the Cavaliers still acquired Thomas even though they don’t know when he’ll be able to return to the court.

Jae Crowder is 27 years old and is entering his 6th NBA season. Crowder averaged 13.9 points per game, 5.8 rebounds per game, 2.2 assists per game and 1 steal per game for the Celtics last season in 72 games. Crowder has averaged scoring in double digits the last two seasons with Boston.

Ante Zizic was the Celtics 1st round pick in the 2016 draft, He was the 23rd pick in that draft, but he hasn’t played a game in the NBA since being drafted. Zizic played 20 games for Darussafaka in the European League. Zizic averaged 9 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game. Zizic started 17 of the 20 games he played in and averaged playing just under 22 minutes per game.

As far as salaries go Irving has 3 years left on his deal. He’ll make $18,868,625 next season. It goes up to $20,009,188 in 2018-19 and then in the 2019-20 season he’ll make $21,329,750. Thomas is in the final year of his contract and will make $6,261,395 before becoming a free agent. Crowder has three seasons on his contract. He’ll make $6,796,117 this season. In 2018-19 he’ll make $7,305,825 and then in the final year of his contract his salary will be $7,815,533. Zizic signed a two year deal that totals $3,597,960. Zizic’s contract has two options years for the 2019-20 and 2020-2021 seasons.

This is an interesting deal especially since it was made by the two teams that net in the Eastern Conference finals last season. The Celtics have added Gordon Hayward as a free agent and they used the #3 pick in the draft to take Jayson Tatum all in an effort to get past the Cavaliers and into the NBA Finals. Will the addition of Irving be enough for them to do that? Or do you still have the Cavaliers as the favorite in the Eastern Conference?

If you’re a Cavaliers fan the question you have to be asking is; how does this trade effect LeBron James status. James is in the final year of his contract and most people think he’ll leave the Cavaliers as a free agent after the season. Now getting that Nets 1st round pick that should be a lottery pick, but they’re not going to get someone the caliber of James with that draft pick. Of course James can get more money from the Cavaliers than he can from any other team, but it appears in all likely hood he’ll be moving on after the 2017-18 season. With James the Cavaliers are a threat to win the NBA title, but if he decides to move on where does that leave the Cavaliers?

Professional athletes use social media for quite a few things and it appears that Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Von Bell used his Twitter account to imply he’ll return to the Steelers the day after the teams final pre-season game. Bell simply tweeted out 9-1-17 and the a tweet that said you’re welcome.

Bell was given the franchise tag by the Steelers and is scheduled to make $12.1 million this season. Bell skipped training camp and hasn’t signed his franchise tender yet as he tries to get a new contract done with the Steelers. You’d have to expect that when Bell and the Steelers agree to a contract he’ll be the highest paid running back in the NFL. Devonta Freeman of the Atlanta Falcons is currently the highest paid running back in the NFL. Freeman’s new contract pays him an average of $8.25 million per season; so look for a number above that in Bell’s new contract.

The Steelers open the season on the road as they’ll travel to Cleveland to face the Browns on September 10th.

Now this is the third week of pre-season games for NFL teams and that means that the starters will play more than in any other pre-season game.

Now this will give the fans and of course fantasy players a good look at the starters. The first thing that jumped out at me was the fact that the Browns have decided to start rookie DeShone Kizer over Brock Osweiler at quarterback. Now does this mean that Kizer will be the Browns starting quarterback in Week 1; who knows, but remember when Kizer was drafted the Browns mentioned that the plan was to bring him along slowly and they even went so far as to say that he might not play in a 2017 regular season game. Of course this is Cleveland; so you never know what they’re going to do, but it’s something to watch.

Don’t forget that you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkradio.com, but you can also find the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: August 9, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
0

Depending on how big of a fan you are football season may be sneaking up and you along with your fantasy draft. Slowly but surely I’ve been trying to take a look at which players I should target and which players I can let go. Now I’m just getting started on this; there is something I’ve notice. We run our league through the Yahoo website and as I was looking at their player rankings the one thing that jumps out is that running backs are back. Last season the rankings featured the wide receiver, but coming into this season running backs take up six of the Top 10 spots in the rankings. They also hold the first two spots with David Johnson of the Arizona Cardinals at #1 and Le’Veon Bell of the Pittsburgh Steelers at #2. This is quite a change from last season.

Now it’s not like the wide receivers have went anywhere. The Top 20 spots are split evenly with 10 wide receivers and 10 running backs holding down those spots. In case your wondering the first quarterback comes in at #30 and that’s Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers.

Now in our leagues where we actually start two running backs a week it can be tough to find guys and you normally have to hit your second running back to compete. Last season I was a big believer in LeSean McCoy of the Buffalo Bills and he paid off big for me. Of course after the way he played last season I won’t be able to sneak him by anyone this season. So where do we go looking for running backs.

Maybe you’re buying one of the rookies and you’re going to try and land Leonard Fournette of the Jacksonville Jaquars or Christian McCaffrey of the Carolina Panthers. They should be the first two rookie running backs off the board. Then there’s Joe Mixon of the Cincinnati Bengals. I’ve really seen a lot of the fantasy experts high on Mixon, but he’s in a crowded backfield with Jeremy Hill and Giovanni Bernard. Are there enough carries to go around? As we get closer to the regular season we might be able to add Dalvin Cook of the Minnesota Vikings into the conversation. Depending on how the Latavius Murray injury goes Cook could pick up some carries. Now one more rookie running back to check in on could be Samaje Perine of the Washington Redskins.

If you’re not sold on one of the rookie running backs maybe you’re looking for a veteran player who needs to bounce back. C.J. Anderson of the Denver Broncos was a solid running back going into last season, but was slowed by an injury. He could be a bounce back type of guy. Can the San Francisco 49ers be improved enough to make Carlos Hyde a fantasy value this season? Adrian Peterson is another guy coming back from an injury, but he’s with a new team that throws the football more than they run it. It’s going to be interesting to see how he fits in there.

Now there are some old faces in new places to take a look at besides Peterson. Marshawn Lynch has returned to the NFL and is now with the Oakland Raiders. Eddie Lacy is with the Seattle Seahawks. LeGarrette Blount is now with the Philadelphia Eagles while Mike Gillislee is with the New England Patriots and the oft injured Jamal Charles is a member of the Denver Broncos.

Now with all the movement at the running back position it looks like there are two guys who could really benefit from it and pay off for you in fantasy. Ty Montgomery looks to be the #1 running back in Green Bay and Spencer Ware appears to be the #1 running back in Kansas City. If they get the touches a #1 running back would get both of these guys could be good fantasy options.

Now I’m sure there’s a running back or two I left out here, but as we get closer to the regular season will take another look at the position and try to come up with some type of draft order for these guys. If there’s a running back you think should be included please leave their name in the comments.

While we’re on football it’s being reported that the Atlanta Falcons have signed running back Devonta Freeman to a 5 year contract extension worth $41.25 million dollars. The deal also includes a $15 million dollar signing bonus. On average Freeman will make $8.25 million dollars per season. The only running back who will make more this season is Le’Veon Bell of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now Bell is under the franchise tag and will make $12.12 million dollars this season, but as far as running backs under multiyear deals Freeman is now the highest paid of them all. Freeman unseats LeSean McCoy of the Buffalo Bills as the highest paid running back. McCoy will make $8.010 million dollars in 2017. Doug Martin of the Tampa  at Buccaneers is next on the list as he’ll make $7.15 million dollars for the 2017 season.

Freeman is a two time Pro Bowl player and has put up back to back season of over 1000 yards rushing. Freeman also scored 11 rushing touchdowns in each of the last two seasons. Freeman is also an asset in the passing game as he’s caught 157 passes in his three year career.

Out of all of the four major sports baseball has to be the toughest one to predict on a game to game basis. Here’s just one example for you.

The Houston Astros are considered the best team in the American League while the Chicago White Sox have the worst record in baseball since the All-Star break. The Astros sent a Cy Young award winner in Dallas Keuchel to the mound on Tuesday night while the White Sox countered with 5-11 Derek Holland. The Astros are 30 games over .500 while the White Sox are 24 games under .500. So with everything pointing to what should’ve been an easy Astros victory the White Sox go out and beat them 8-5. Now this is something that happens multiple times in baseball on a daily basis which makes it so much different than any other sport. It’s rare in the other three sports that a team that is at the bottom of the standings beats a team that’s at the top of the standings unless it’s the NBA and the better team is sitting it’s top guys out. Now it’s true that most of the time the better team wins the game, but a situation like this is one of the reasons that baseball is always interesting to watch.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio live in BlogTalkRadio.com or you can listen to the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com

Don’t forget that you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Chicago White Hawk’in Cutler

Posted: August 8, 2017 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio
0

It’s been many moons since I’ve put the “pen to paper” but a couple stories really sparked my interest and I just had to put my two cents out there.  I may be a couple days late but whatever.

IMG_0390 The Hawk

Hawk Harrelson says he’ll never go back to Wrigley Feild.  Well lets get the obvious out of the way, Who cares!  He’s been broadcasting full time with the White Sox since 1990 and it takes him until now after announcing that he will retire after next season to say what a joke the facilities for the broadcasters and the visiting clubhouse are.  If it was so bad, why didn’t he just not go this year?  Like others have brought up, does it have anything to do with the fact that he can’t hold the White Sox World Series wins over Cubs and the fans?

Now anytime that I’ve mentioned how he annoys the hell out of me and it actually ruins me from watching White Sox games, Big Jack brings me back to Earth to remind me that he is the last of the old school broadcasters that are not cookie cutter and actually show some emotion and enthusiasm for the team.  I began to put my attitude for him to the side and respect that he is the end of the old school broadcaster that we wil never see again.

Now don’t get me wrong, i am not going to sit here and tell how great the Cubs television broadcast team are because they are not.  Casper fits that defininition of the cookie cutter and JD, well I never understood how when he was brought in, Theo and company kept talking about the Cubs way this, Cubs way that, bought the color announcer is a long time Astro.  Not to mention the fact with some things he says makes its hard to believe that he even played the game.  I digress but in the end, The Hawk should just take an early retirement and personally, I think it would be amazing if the White Sox went retro and just let Steve Stone call the games by himself, Vin Scully style.

Jay Cutler Jay Cutler

Now, Sunday was to many a baffling day to many, the Miami Dolphins went and signed Jay Cutler.  I don’t know a whole lot about the situation down there but my thoughts good for Jay.  What I think is hilarious is Chicago radio and the Super Bears fans who worshipped this guy when Lovie was Coach but now he’s trash.  Whether you like him or not, unless Mitch makes it 10 full seasons as the Bears starter, Jay will go down as one of the greatest QB’s in Bears history.  Now, I can sit here and list the records he holds but will you can use Bing and see for yourself.

Now I’m not back peddling and saying I was his biggest supporter because I wasn’t.  I think what Bears fans don’t want to recognize and I understand why, Loyalty to the Bears and being a life long fan of the team, but at some point we have to realize when it came to the Bears and Jay Cutler, they had no clue and still haven’t shown they have a clue as to what the hell they are doing when it comes to building an offense.  Let’s not forget Jay had a new coach every couple years and new coordinators and a line that couldn’t protect him.  They wanted him to be the QB he wasn’t.  When they used his arm, they overused it.  I’ll say it, I think he had all the talent but not the leader you needed to win a Super Bowl and sadly the Bears couldn’t find that coach was that man.

After it is all said and done, I think it will be interesting to watch both the Dolphins and Bears this season, but I really can’t wait until he retires and we give it some time and the response he will get when he comes back to Chicago as a Bears Hall of Famer but will he be an NFL Hall of Famer?  Only time will tell.

Dan The Man

Older Entries
Newer Entries