Archive for the ‘football’ Category

How was your Week? 8/23/14

Posted: August 23, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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Pittsburgh Steelers running backs Le’Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount Where arrested along with a female 3rd passenger and will be charged with marijuana possession following a traffic stop Wednesday afternoon. Bell was also charged with driving under the influence (DUI) of marijuana A traffic officer pulled over Bell’s Camaro when he noticed a strong odor coming from the vehicle. The officer found a 20 gram bag of marijuana inside the car. Bell, Blount and a female passenger all claimed ownership of the marijuana according to police. Blount and the female passenger were arrested and released while Bell was taken to a local hospital to have blood drawn before being released. The Steelers had a game Thursday night against the Philadelphia Eagles and while both Blount and Bell played Bell missed the team flight due to the arrest and had to buy a ticket on a commuter flight to make the game in Philadelphia. There was a little media uproar over the fact that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin allow Bell and Blount to play in the game. Blount carried the ball 7 times for 32 yards while Bell ran the football 9 times for 23 yards. Last season Bell set a franchise record for total yards by a rookie running back last season, smashing the mark set by Hall of Famer Franco Harris. The second-round pick out of Michigan State ran for 860 yards and eight touchdowns and caught 45 passes for 399 yards despite missing the first three games of the season with a foot injury. Blount was in the mix in the New England Patriots backfield last season and signed with the Steelers as a free agent this off-season. Blount rushed for four touchdowns setting the Patriots record for most rushing touchdowns in a playoff game last season against the Indianapolis Colts. Blount finished the day with 166 rushing yards on 24 carries. Since these arrests just took place this week the National Football League (NFL) hasn’t made any type of ruling or suspension for Bell and Blount. Bell should be a fairly high draft pick in most fantasy drafts this season and if your league is big enough you’d like to have Blount as a handcuff for Bell. A looming suspension for either player may make fantasy owners look another direction for running backs.

On Thursday, the Chicago White Sox traded 2nd baseman Gordon Beckham to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Beckham was the White Sox 1st round draft pick in 2008 and was #8 overall. Beckham spent a little over a year in the minors for the White Sox making his major league debut on June 4, 2009. I bring up Beckham because he’s one in a long, long line of 1st round major league baseball draft pick that never reached the heights in his career that scouts and other experts thought he would. While a very good defender Beckham never really hit in the majors; his career average is .244. While I don’t think you could say Beckham is a bust there have been some throughout baseball. Do you remember Danny Goodwin? He was selected #1 overall twice. Once by the White Sox in 1971 and then again in 1975 by the California Angels. Goodwin’s career lasted 6 seasons. He played in 252 games with a career batting average of .236 with 13 home runs. How about Brien Taylor? He was the #1 overall pick of the New York Yankees in 1991 and never made it to the majors. In 1993 Taylor suffered a dislocated left shoulder and torn labrum while defending his brother in a fist fight. Following surgery, he was never the same pitcher and ended up spending most of the rest of his professional career struggling in Class A. He was done for good-by 2000. What about Matt Bush the 2004 #1 overall draft pick by the San Diego Padres. Bush received a $3.15 million signing bonus, but he was arrested a few weeks later. After a few more arrests and a few more teams Bush is out of baseball having never played in the major leagues. How about the #1 overall pick in 1966 Steve Chilcott. The Mets took Chilcott over Reggie Jackson; who went 2nd to the Oakland A’s. Chilcott played 7 seasons in the minor leagues, but was plagued by injuries and never made it to the major leagues. In 1979 the Seattle Mariners selected outfielder Al Chambers with the 1st pick in the draft. Chambers played 57 games in parts of 3 seasons for the Mariners. Let’s find one more. Remember Bryan Bullington? in 2002 he was taken #1 overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of Ball State University. Bullington spent parts of 4 seasons in the majors. 2007 with the Pirates, 2008 with the Cleveland Indians, 2009 with the Toronto Blue Jays and 2010 with the Kansas City Royals. Bullington pitched in 26 major league games and was 1 – 9 with an ERA of 5.62 over 81 2/3 innings. Now I could go on and on with draft picks that didn’t work out, but there’s 5 for you to look at.

So how was your week?

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

8/20/14 Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: August 20, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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What I’ve noticed when I turn on a highlight show no matter what network it is they have three stories that are always on the show. They mention Tony Stewart and the incident he had about three weeks ago. There’s a story in the show on little league player Mo’ne Davis. They also have an update on Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel. So here’s pretty much my take on these three stories.

On August 8th at Canandaigua Motorsports Park Tony Stewart was racing in the Empire Super Sprints series in upstate New York. As you all know during the race Stewart’s car collided with a car being driven by Kevin Ward Jr. Ward’s car was forced into the wall and he was out of the race. Ward Jr. proceeded to get out of his wrecked race car and started walking in the on coming cars looking for Stewart. I’m sure you’ve seen and or heard what happens from here. Stewart’s car hits Ward Jr. killing him. Stewart hasn’t raced in a NASCAR or any event since the incident. At first Stewart was going to race two weeks ago on the road course at Watkins Glen, but put out a statement on what happen with Ward Jr. and decided not to race. Stewart also missed Sunday’s NASCAR race in Michigan and there’s no time-table as to when he may return to the track. A lot of reports are really going after Stewart for not coming out and doing an interview or making a full statement. Let’s tell the truth here; they don’t care about Stewart or anything like that they’re just looking for a story. They seem to forget that this is an actual ongoing legal investigation and Stewart make have been advised by a lawyer to not comment until the investigation is over. While this is a horrible situation it’s in Stewart’s best interest to wait to talk about the incident. I think what’s worse than anything is that reporter have hounded the Ward family to get them to comment on the accident. I’ve seen comments from Ward Jr’s father and sister and it’s sad that they weren’t even given time to grieve before they were accosted by reporters looking for a quote. The investigation is close to being wrapped up and will see what they find and if Stewart will make a statement. I know the other thing that reporters are going after Stewart for is racing at Canandaigua Motorsports Park that night or at any non NASCAR event. NASCAR is a sport where guys don’t forget where they started off at and a lot of drivers go back to these tracks where they cut their teeth at. It’s also a big deal for whoever owns that certain track a NASCAR guy is going to race at. How many extra fans went out that night just to see Stewart. Of course hindsight is 20/20.

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t watched much of the Little League World Series. There is a local team in the tournament still; so I’ve been checking in on them from time to time, but that’s really about it for me. Of course by the coverage it’s gotten you wouldn’t realize that there is more than one team even playing in this tournament. It seems that all of the attention has been focused on a 13-year-old pitcher from Philadelphia Mo’ne Davis. For whatever reason the first thing that popped into my mind was if she’s 13 years old why is she even in this tournament. The division she is playing in is for ages 10-12, but I know if you turn 13 after a certain date you play at the lower level. It’s weird that I remember that, but when I played in Little League I had to play with the ids a year older than me because I have a July birthday. Since they’re pushing the fact that she’s 13 I’m guessing her age is fine. There are so many issues with this story it’s not even funny and it was announce yesterday that Davis will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. As the competition gets tougher what happens if she goes out and has a bad outing on the mound. It’s not like they can go out there and rip her performance; she’s just a kid. Is she the first girl to play in the Little League World Series? A girl being a talented little league player isn’t new to me at all. When I was playing one of the top players every year I played was a girl by the name of Cathy Wold. It’s been a long time and I hope I got her last name correct. Davis herself has handled all of this new-found fame well. She’s even said that she’d like to play college basketball at the University of Connecticut and play point guard for Geno Auriemma. I believe Davis and her team the Taney Dragons of Philadelphia who represent the Mid-Atlantic region in this tournament play tonight (Wednesday) against the Las Vegas team.

The player who dominates the sports news every time you turn on a major sports only network is Johnny Manziel. If Manziel isn’t living it up and posting photos of himself and some other famous person to his Instagram account he might be flipping off the team he’s playing. With all the so-called outside distractions that reporters love to comment on when it comes to Manziel he’s shown on the field that he’s as good if not better than any other quarterback that was drafted in May. Even though the Cleveland Browns named Brian Hoyer the starting quarterback for Week 1 Manziel made his case on the field and the Browns could’ve easily went with Johnny Football. Manziel completed 63.6 % of his passes this pre-season and rushed for 27 yards on 6 carries and his quarterback rating was a 79. If you look at the stats Manziel outplayed Hoyer, but remember these stats were put up against 2nd team players. Right now Hoyer is the best choice as starting quarterback for the Browns. Cleveland’s first three games would be rough for a player like Manziel and Hoyer’s experience should help them. The Browns open Week 1 in Pittsburgh against the Steelers. They’re home Week 2 and Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints and then the Baltimore Ravens before they get a Bye in Week 4. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if come Week 5 in Tennessee that Manziel isn’t under center against the Titans.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

Let’s call it Wednesday 8/13/14

Posted: August 13, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in football, sports, Uncategorized
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If you listen to Sports Time Radio you know that we play in two 20 team fantasy leagues for baseball and football. One of the leagues is done using an auction format style draft while the other uses a more common snake style draft. Well the football drafts are coming up at the end of the month and it’s time to get ready for them. The auction league is much, much easier for me to get ready for. The snake league on the other hand can be difficult. How many of you have wanted a player and he goes a pick or two before you where going to take him and then you have to scramble and find another player at the last second? To add a little more pressure when that happens we run the leagues through Yahoo and there is a time limit on how long you have to make a pick. What’s given me trouble the last few seasons has been the running back position. We have to start two running backs each week and of course you’d like at least one running back on your bench to cover your bye weeks. That means that 60 or more running backs can be selected in our draft and if you don’t get a quality guy early on your in trouble. I’ve been trying to get running backs in order and here’s what I’ve come up with; maybe it will help you out as well.

If you happen to be drafting in the top four picks you’re going to get a top quality running back. You could put the names of Adrian Peterson, Vikings, LeSean McCoy, Eagles, Jamaal Charles, Chiefs and Matt Forte, Bears into a hat and as long as that player stays healthy you’ve got your guy. I have them ranked with Charles #!, Forte #2, Peterson #3 and McCoy at #4. Charles is on top because he doesn’t have the weapons around him that Forte has and that’s a good thing in fantasy football. Peterson has never really been involved in the Minnesota passing game and that can hurt his value especially in PPR (Points Per Reception) leagues. I think McCoy will be hurt be the addition of Darren Sproles this off-season more than people think he will be. There are four guys who aren’t quite to the level of the top 4 but you’d like to have. Marshawn Lynch, Seahawks, Eddy Lacy, Packers, Le’Veon Bell, Steelers and DeMarco Murray, Cowboys. Most experts would’ve included Lynch with the top-level guys, but look for his carries to be cut down this season. He;s also added up quite a few carries the last couple of seasons and that will wear on a running back. Bell and Lacy are kind of the same back. Both of them are coming off of solid rookie seasons where each of them missed games due to injuries. When healthy though they’ve proven they can get yards and touchdowns for fantasy owners. If there was a guarantee that Murray would play all 16 games this season he would be right up there with the top guys, but he always seems to be injured. If you take him this season and he stays healthy you could have a fantasy star on your hands. For me it’s Lynch at #5, Bell at #6, Lacy #7 and Murray #8. As we move along it gets tougher to rank guys as it’s guys coming off of injuries or guys who haven’t reached their potential yet. Montee Ball, Broncos, Doug Martin, Buccaneers, Arian Foster, Texans, Alfred Morris, Redskins, Andre Ellington, Cardinals, Giovani Bernard, Bengals, Reggie Bush, Lions and C.J. Spiller, Bills. For me I have Ball at #9; he had surgery for an Appendectomy, but all signs point to him being ready for Week 1 and he’s got Peyton Manning as his quarterback. #10 is Martin; he’s coming back off of an injury, but his new head coach s Lovie Smith and old school guy who likes to run the football. #11 I’m going with Spiller. There’s so much talent there and you think sooner or later he’s going to have that breakout season. I have Morris at #12 and Foster at #13. These are two guys in new systems with new head coaches that had great success in their old systems. Will that carry over? Bernard is #14; if he was the only back in the Cincinnati system he;d be ranked higher, but you have to wonder how much time he’ll share. Bush is #15; another guy in a time share situation and that’s to bad. He might out up big numbers if he played every down. Ellington lands at #16 for me. His head coach has praised him and said he’d be the every down back; you’ll just have to take that chance. We’re headed towards what would be the end of our 1st round; so if you reach a little here I can understand that. This next group could reward your choice. Ben Tate, Browns, Ryan Mathews, Chargers, Rashad Jennings, Giants and Toby Gerhart, Jaguars. Tate is #17; this is his first shot at being a teams every down back. He has had some injury issues; so there may be some risk reward with this pick. Jennings is at #18 another running back who needs to prove he can stay healthy, but if he does the Giants like to run the ball and if he’s their guy you’ll get the fantasy points. Gerhart would be that “sleeper” pick at #19. He’s the every down guy on a bad Jacksonville team, but he is effective in the passing game; so he should score points for you even on a bad team. Mathews split time last season, but got the majority of the carries; so I have him at #20. He’s another guy who needs to stay healthy for his fantasy owner. Remember you’re going to need to start two running backs every week. Zac Stacy, Rams, Frank Gore, 49ers, Chris Johnson, Jets and Ray Rice, Ravens. #21 Stacy could be a guy who ends up being better than this draft positions. The thing that may hold him down is the division he plays in. #22 Rice is in a new system run by Gary Kubiak and backs in that system do well. Remember though he’s suspended the first two games of the season. Johnson at #23 is with a new team that has a young quarterback and may rely heavily on the running game. That would be a huge plus for Johnson’s fantasy owner. Every year they say that #24 Gore’s carries are going to be cut or he’s going to play less and every year he puts up solid numbers. There’s always a chance that could happen; so there’s some risk with this pick. Bernard Pierce, Ravens is way up my board at #25. He’ll get to start the first two games of the season and Kubiak’s system has always featured two running backs. #26 Stevan Ridley, Patriots. you know he’s going to split time when you draft him, but he’s the rushing guy in that split. He should also be the guy getting the goal line carries. #27 Joique Bell, Lions maybe the best of the time share running backs out there. He should get those short yardage goal line carries. #28 Trent Richardson, Colts They seem dedicated to giving him carries. Will produce some numbers based on opportunities, even if he doesn’t wow you while doing so. #30 Steven Jackson, Falcons At one time a top-tier fantasy running back, but those skills appear to be gone. He should still get the bulk of the carries in this offense. #31 Darren Sproles, Eagles he goes from one offense where he fit in well to an offense where he might be a perfect fit. This is a pick that may pay off big for you. #32 Bishop Sankey, Titans should be the first rookie running back off of the board. The concern may be that he doesn’t get the goal line carries. #33 DeAngelo Williams, Panthers he’s been a let down for me before and I’ll try to stay away from him, but it’s that time of the draft. #34 Pierre Thomas, Saints he should get the most playing time out of their three headed backfield. With Sproles gone he could be used in the passing game more. #35 Danny Woodhead, Chargers had a good season last year and you’ll be looking for him to repeat that. #36 Shane Vereen, Patriots is mostly used in the passing game, but from time to time will get a carry. #37 Fred Jackson, Bills he’s Spiller’s back up, but if there’s an injury or if Spiller doesn’t produce Jackson could be a value pick. #38 Knowshon Moreno, Dolphins was the breakout running back last season, but left Denver. Had minor knee surgery recently. #39 Chris Ivory, Jets they like to run the football and someone has to carry it when Johnson doesn’t have it. #40 Mark Ingram, Saints I bought the hype that he would breakout last season and it cost me, but here I am again making him my last ranked running back. Here are a few more names in no particular order if you;re still looking for running backs. Khiry Robinson, Saints, Lamar Miller, Dolphins, Maurice Jones-Drew, Raiders, Andre Williams, Giants, Terrance West, Browns.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

Let’s call it Wednesday 7/30/14

Posted: July 30, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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Is there another sports league that gets more negative publicity than the National Football League (NFL)? It seems like almost daily there’s another NFL player arrested for something or failing a drug test. There’s the ongoing storyline with Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and his now wife. ESPN’s Steven A. Smith was suspended over the comments he made about the situation. There’s the suspension of Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon. Gordon not only failed a drug test, but then got arrested for DUI. Just a month ago Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman John Abraham was arrested for DUI. Just in the month of July besides Gordon; Jimmy Smith of the Baltimore Ravens, Keelan Johnson of the Philadelphia Eagles, Jo-Lonn Dunbar of the St. Louis Rams and Jacksonville jaguars wide receiver Justin Blackmon have all been arrested for different offenses. There was also Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay’s arrest for DUI and I didn’t even mention that former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is still in jail awaiting trial for murder. I also left out former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. I thought Kluwe was trying to do something good when all of this first started with him, but more and more it’s starting to seem like he’s just out for himself.

Even through all of this the NFL remains the most popular sport in the United States. If you’re reading this I’m guessing you have at least one (1) if not more NFL fantasy drafts coming up. I myself actually have 3 (three) fantasy drafts coming up. I have a money league team that I share with Mr. Fantasy. Then there are the 2 (two) Yahoo fantasy football leagues we have. There’s the Sports Time Radio league which is an auction style draft and then there’s the league we’ve had for years titled Next Year is Here; which is a more traditional snake style draft. If you’re interested in joining either of our leagues they are free and run through Yahoo sports; email me at Sportstimeradio@hotmail.com

The Major League Baseball (MLB) trading deadline is tomorrow or at least the first trading deadline is tomorrow. Is your favorite team a buyer or a seller this season? David Price looked like he was going to be the big pitching prize on the market this season, but then his team the Tampa Bay Rays began to play better. Now the talk has turned to Boston Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester. Lester is a free agent after this season and the Red Sox look to be out of it in the American League (A.L.) East. Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington has said he’d need to be blown away by an offer to move Lester as the Red Sox hope to resign him in the off-season. It looks like the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners are the primary suitors for Lester heading into Wednesday. The Miami Marlins aren’t entirely out of the Lester sweepstakes. However, the Marlins won’t part with top prospect Andrew Heaney in a Lester deal or a deal for any rental player. Last night, Lester was scratched from his scheduled start tonight. A clear indicator that the Red Sox are looking to deal there ace. Lester may not be the only Red Sox starting pitcher headed out of Boston at the trade deadline. John Lackey’s name has come up in trade rumors with the Kansas City Royals and the Los Angeles Dodgers showing the most interest right now. Lackey’s five-year, $82.5MM contract with the Red Sox contained a clause that gave Boston a 2015 club option at the league minimum in the event that he missed significant time with an elbow injury. A torn ulnar collateral ligament that required Tommy John surgery triggered that clause, making Lackey a highly appealing trade chip even to teams with the most modest of payrolls. It seems as if the Dodgers are in on even big name pitcher or just pitcher whose name comes up on the trade market. They’ve been linked to Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres closer Joaquin Benoit. Benoit got the Padres closer job when Huston Street was trade to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It seems like teams are looking for pitching, pitching and more pitching. Will have to wait and see if any of these big names pitchers changes teams and how much a team will have to give up to get one. If your favorite team could land a Lester, Price or Hamels in a deal it could lock up a playoff spot for that team and maybe get them into the World Series.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

How was your week 7/26/14

Posted: July 26, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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Now that NFL training camps are open fantasy football drafts should start happening. Yesterday (Friday) on Sports Time Radio we spent the entire show discussing football. There’s also suppose to the first Mr. Fantasy mock draft coming soon; so look for that. The conversation of who would be the #1 overall pick in our league came up. I believe that it will be Philadelphia Eagles running back LeShom McCoy or Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles. Mr. Fantasy added in Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. While any of these 3 would be good choices I think Charles is the pick here. Out of these 3 running backs Charles is the only one with an experienced NFL quarterback in Alex Smith. While Nick Foles had a break out season last year for the Eagles there are still some questions about him and remember he didn’t play a full season. Even though Peterson is used to have what you would call a below average quarterback under center it allows teams to stack the line of scrimmage against him and it does hurt his numbers. Can you just imagine the kind of numbers Peterson might out up with just an average quarterback. Does Peterson having Matt Cassell, Christian Ponder or rookie Teddy Bridgewater handing him the ball make you think teams won’t be keying on him. Top running backs always need help from a quarterback and while McCoy will get some help from Foles I don’t think Peterson will get enough from his quarterback and Charles will get the most from Smith. If you don’t end up with a top 3 pick; what do you do? Well with the Marshawn Lynch hold out Matt Forte clearly looks like the next best running back on the board. After Forte there are a group of players that could have great seasons for you or could leave you looking at your team asking yourself why you drafted this guy in the 1st round. In our league you have to start 2 running backs a week; so we have to hunt up other guys as well. I have three running backs that I’m looking at and wondering if I get them as my 2nd running back will they be worth that spot. Toby Gerhart is with the Jacksonville jaguars now and all reports are saying they like him as a 3 down back. If this is the case even on a bad team Gerhart might be worth a shot. This is the first time Gerhart will be the #1 running back for a team and that may have him trying to prove something. Another running back who hasn’t really been under the radar the last few seasons, but has changed teams and is that teams #1 running option is Ben Tate. The Cleveland Browns signed Tate to be their #1 running back and take some pressure off of Brian Hoyer to start and then Johnny Manziel, Tate has put up good number before as Arian Foster back up with the Houston Texans, but in Cleveland he’s the clear-cut #1 running back. The 3rd guy on my list is Rashad Jennings now with the New York Giants. David Wilson is coming off a serious neck injury and even when healthy was a disappointment last season. Jennings has some injury concerns of his own, but the Giants like to run the football and this could increase his numbers for you. Jennings should be the Giants #1 running back and it’s nice to have the #1 running back on a year that likes to run the football. If your that Fantasy football guy who likes to try to find the best rookie running back this may be a tough season for you to do that. Off the bat it seems like the only one who might get a reasonable amount of playing time would be Bishop Sankey of the Tennessee Titans. While Sankey is scheduled to split time with Shonn Greene; Sankey is the receiving back out of the pair. This should help Sankey pick up points from 20 yard line to 20 yard line, but it’s Greene who the Titans will use in-goal line situations. That means Greene will steal some touchdowns that belong to Sankey and of course points from your team. As always it’s still early in the NFL season and injuries change things in a big, big hurry. Will have to see how pre-season plays out, but it’s always fun to talk about it.

It seems like when Dan the Man wasn’t looking the San Francisco Giants took the National League West division lead from his Los Angeles Dodgers. While the Giants only have a half of a game lead over the Dodgers as I’m writing this a lot of baseball experts had the Giants as dead when the Dodgers went past them into 1st place earlier in the season. In pre-season picks we all went with the Dodgers to win the West, but a lot of people made that choice. I did have the Giants in the playoffs as one of the wild card teams. As the trade deadline draws closer you wonder if either team will make a move to try to separate themselves in the division. There has been some talk that Matt Kemp would be okay with being traded by the Dodgers and you have to wonder what they could get in return for him. Kemp is signed through 2019 for around $20 million dollars a season. I guess the question I would ask is would Kemp the right combination of prospects and a whole bunch of money be enough for the Dodgers to land David Price. Dan the Man’s ears just perked up. Yes I said David Price. While the Tampa Bay Rays have worked their way back into the pennant race in the American League East you have to wonder if a deal like that could happen. Would the Dodgers be willing to deal a Joc Pederson, Julio Urias, Corey Seager or Alexander Guerrero in a package to bring back Price. It would be a lot to give up, but it could give the Dodgers a World Series. Without a deal by either the Giants or the Dodgers will have some fun watching the N.L. West these last couple months of the season.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

7/23/14 Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: July 23, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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Every time I heard someone talk about the New York Yankees making a trade they ta;l about how they need to add pitching. Well the Yankees made a trade yesterday and it was for a third baseman. The Yankees dealt infielder Yangervis Solarte and minor league pitcher Rafael De Paula to San Diego in exchange for Chase Headley. Headley has been struggling this season in San Diego. In 77 games Headley was hitting.229 with 7 home runs and 32 RBI’s. Headley’s big season was 2012 where he finished 5th in the MVP voting. He’s battled injuries since then and hasn’t regained his form. Maybe a move to New York helps Headley find that 2012 form again. Solarte had been getting regular playing time for the Yankees, but was sent to the minors a few weeks ago. Solarte appeared in 75 games for the Yankees hitting .254 with 6 home runs and 32 R.B.I.’s. De Paula was pitching in Class A ball for the Yankees. He was 6-5 in 17 starts and had an ERA of 4.15. Will the Yankees go out and try to get more pitching like people say they need. The Yankees have talked to the White Sox about left-handed starting pitcher John Danks, but it never got farther than talks.

It looked like the biggest pitcher that would be on the trade market would be Tampa Bay Rays lefty David Price. You have to wonder if he’s even available right now. Tampa Bay is 5-3 in their last 10 games and are currently on a 6 game winning streak. Tampa bay is 48-53 and 8 games out of 1st place in the American League East. With 60 games left Tampa Bay can easily make up those 8 games, but I don’t think they could do that without Price. Will this winning streak be enough to get Tampa Bay to hold onto Price or is there a team out there that can bowl the Rays over with an offer they can’t pass up. It’s going to take quite an offer to get Price and you have to wonder if someone even has the prospects Tampa Bay would want in a deal for Price. Will find out in 8 days if Price is going anywhere.

I saw an interesting segment on which teams should’ve trading players and who they should be trying to trade. The thing I found interesting about this was the two experts they had in this segment had the Philadelphia Phillies moving quite a few players. They had the Phillies dealing or trying to deal 1st baseman Ryan Howard, second baseman Chase Utley, shortstop Jimmy Rollins, outfielder Marlon Byrd, staring pitcher Cliff Lee and closer Jonathan Papelbon. Some of these players may be dealt by the Phillies, but all of them I don’t think that will happen. The Phillies are 13 games out of 1st place and in last place in the National League East, but if these players were traded it may be the biggest in season make over of a major league team. As nice as it is to talk about these players being traded you must have a team that’s interested in them for that to happen. While pitching always draws interest and I could see Papelbon and Lee being traded. Do you want any of the other Phillies listed? Byrd is the one player I’ve actually heard talked about. It’s been said the Seattle Mariners might have an interest in Byrd. Seattle is looking for right-handed hitting power and Byrd has 19 home runs and 21 doubles so far this season. I haven’t heard any of the other names Howard, Utley or Rollins being mentioned in any trade talks. I guess it is fun to speculate and think about what a guy could do for a contending team if he was traded there.

Are you ready for some football? All the NFL teams training camps will be up and running by this weekend. Are you ready for your fantasy season? How do you think your favorite team will do this season? Can the Seattle Seahawks repeat? Slowly but surly these questions should start to get answered as we see more and more of these teams. We have two twenty team fantasy leagues that Mr. Fantasy, Dan the Man and I play in. One is an auction league; so you have to figure out what you’re willing to pay for who. Our other league is a regular snake style draft set up. You need to start two running backs every week in this league and with twenty teams it can be tough to find a good mix of backs. They come off the board pretty fast and I think I know who the first five or six picks will go. Not in exact order, but the players that will be picked. After that it’s tough to figure out who’s going where. Hopefully I’m picking in the Top 5 in this years draft.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

Let’s call it Wednesday? 7/16/14

Posted: July 16, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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So this may be the slowest sports week of the year. Major League Baseball is on their All-Star break. Most of the big name free agents in the National Basketball Association have signed with teams. National Football League training camps don’t open until next week for most teams. The National Hockey League gets pushed to the side unless they’re actually playing games. Even the World Cup has ended; oh what to do.

If you’ve been following NBA free agents and where they ended up signing, did you notice that the Los Angeles Clippers didn’t sign any players? Could that be because Donald Sterling still owns the team? This is going to be the case right into the regular season unless something big happens. Even though Sterling was offered a unbelievable $2 billion dollars for the Clippers I don’t think he wants to sell the team and will do everything he can legally to hang on to them. While I don’t side with Sterling or the comments that he made he is allowed due process like any other American is and we have to deal with this. I don’t know why he didn’t take that offer and run; since it was way over what the team is worth, but he didn’t. It looks like his family would like him to take that offer, but that might end up being decided in court as well. As it looks, this will drag out into the NBA regular season and how will this affect the Clippers? Would you go to a Clippers game if Sterling still owns the team? Why would Sterling hang on to this team if attendance drops and the Clippers start to lose money. Who knows when this will wrap up as it looks like Sterling is going to go through every and any legal channel he can find to some how try to hang onto the Clippers. It’s a tough spot for the NBA and new commissioner Adam Silver to be in to start the season.

Did you watch the MLB All-Star game last night? I think the MLB All-Star game is far and away the closest to an actually game than any of the other sports. The American League defeated the National League 5-3. Max Scherzer was awarded the win while Pat Neshek took the loss. Glen Perkins of the hosting team the Minnesota Twins got the save for the American League. Mike Trout won the Most Valuable Player award. Trout was 2 for 3 with a triple and 2 RBI’s in the game. While Trout was a good of choice as any, weren’t you secretly rooting for Derek Jeter to win the MVP in his last All-Star game? I can honestly say that I was and Jeter did enough to win the award, but Trout did a little more. Jeter went 2 for 2; leading off the bottom of the 1st with a double and scored the 1st run for the American League. Maybe it would’ve been overkill had they given Jeter the MVP award, but hey Mariano Rivera won it last season pitching just one inning. Jeter got his moment to say goodbye after 6 innings as Alexei Ramirez came out to replace Jeter after the American League had taken the field. It was a nice moment for the 14 time All-Star as Jeter waved to the fans and tipped his cap. Jeter waved multiple times at the National League dugout and I think he hugged everyone in the American League dugout.

The British Open starts tomorrow (Thursday) or as it’s just being called now The Open. ESPN has the coverage and you know they have to be jumping up and down that Tiger Woods has decided to play. While I think it would be a bit of a surprise if Woods ended up winning this tournament, but it would be a great scenario if it happened. Woods isn’t that far removed from being injured and you have to wonder if he’s 100% healthy. I’m sure Woods is most people’s pick to win this weekend, but there are some other golfers to watch. Lee Westwood should’ve won The Open last year at Muirfield and he may bounce back and win this year. How about Bubba Watson? He can play big in big tournaments or he could go out and double bogey the front nine, but he’s fun to watch. Graeme McDowell may surprise some people this week. He’s from Northern Ireland and should be familiar with the course; so don’t be surprised to see his name high on the leaderboard though the weekend. So there are a couple of other names other than Tiger Woods to look out for over the weekend for you.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

How was your Week? 6/14/14

Posted: June 14, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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Did you stay up to watch the Los Angeles Kings beat the New York Rangers in double overtime to win the Stanley Cup? I can say that I did. While I didn’t watch the entire game; I go back and forth between the hockey game and the different baseball games o that where on. Once overtime started I was locked on as the Kings where one goal away from winning the Stanley Cup and the Rangers where one goal away from going to Game 6. Schaumburg Stu had this series right on; he had the Kings in five games while I thought the Kings would win the series in six games. Alec Martinez scored the Stanley Cup winning goal for the Kings in the 2nd overtime. Martinez scored 14:43 into the second overtime on a rebound off of Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist’s pads. It’s the second Stanley Cup win for the Kings in three seasons; they won in 2012 as well. This is also three Stanley Cup wins in a row for the Western conference and four out of the last five as well.

With the NHL season over there is only one playoff series left. The San Antonio Spurs lead the Miami Heat, 3 games to 1 in their NBA finals series. After a win on the road by Miami, San Antonio bounced back and won both games in Miami this week and I don’t think anyone would’ve predicted that. We talked on the show about San Antonio being able to go into Miami and split games, but I didn’t think they would win both games. The Spurs have their 1st chance to close out the series tomorrow (Sunday) in San Antonio. Kawhi Leonard has been the breakout star for the Spurs especially the last two games. Leonard has drawn the defensive assignment of guarding LeBron James and has done a solid job. Let’s face it no one player is going to shut down James and Leonard has done a better than average job. James is also guarding Leonard and part of the reason for Leonard’s success on defense is he’s making James work to cover him. Leonard has put up 29 points on Game 3 and then 20 points and 14 rebounds in Game 4 both Spurs wins. Do you think the Spurs close out the series tomorrow night?

Besides the NBA finals there’s a lot of talk about where a couple of players will be playing next season. Carmelo Anthony has been saying for a while now that he’ll opt out of his contract and enter free agency and Kevin Love has told the Minnesota Timberwolves that he won’t sign an extension and will enter free agency after next season. It seems like Anthony has been linked to every NBA team since he announced he’d opt out. There;s been a lot of Carmelo to the Chicago Bulls talk, a little Carmelo to the Los Angeles Lakers talk, but the new one if Carmelo to the Miami Heat. This talk started when the Heat got into trouble in their series. This could be done in Miami, but it would take some doing. I believe LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh would have to opt out of their deals and then agree to resign at lower salaries than they have right now. Carmelo would also have to agree to a much lower salary than he could get from another team. This is the main reason I don’t see this happening, but if some how Carmelo ends up with Miami it will kill the NBA for me. Now in Love’s case he has a contract for next season and the only way he’s going anywhere is if Minnesota agrees to trade him. Love has mentioned the Bulls and the Golden State Warriors as two (2) teams he’d like to play for. It would be a blockbuster trade if Love is moved, but would a team take him without an agreement on a new contract. Love would be a great fit for either the Bulls or the Warriors, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll end up with either of those teams. Minnesota hasn’t mentioned anything at all concerning Love, but it’s very early and as we get closer to the draft and then the season things should pick up.

If you’ve been listening to the show; Sports Time Radio
you know that Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy with help from Schaumburg Stu every now and then have been predicting games not well, but they’ve been predicting games. It started as just selecting winners in the playoff games, but as the playoffs got smaller other picks have been added. They’ve had a bad week and going into today (Saturday) they are 32-41 overall. Mr. Fantasy made the picks for today and he went with Uruguay to beat Costa Rica in Group D of the FIFA World Cup. He has Shelby Miller pitching more innings today than Steven Strasburg; they’re pitching against each other today. His 3rd pick was Robinson Cano to get an extra base hit in the Seattle Mariners game tonight. You can tune in tomorrow (Sunday) at 11:00 a.m. and hear us discuss they struggles they’ve had or just follow along with their picks.

I woke up this morning to find out that former Pittsburgh Steelers coach and Hall of Famer Chuck Noll passed away. Noll went 209-156-1, including the postseason. He also led the Steelers to four Super Bowl titles. Noll was the Steelers head coach when their defense had the “Steel Curtain” nickname. Noll is seventh on the NFL’s all-time list for regular-season wins by a coach, and in 23 seasons he went 193-148-1 during the regular season. Noll was 82.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

So how was your week?

6/7/14 How was your Week?

Posted: June 7, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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So we’re into June and finally the NBA and the NHL seasons will be coming to an end. While I’ve enjoyed the NHL playoffs quite a bit this season and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals was an overtime thriller the season is just too long. The same goes for the NBA. These finals can be great, but it’s June and it’s baseball season with football mini camps right around the corner. There has to be a way to end these seasons soon than they do, but I’m not sure either league would be will to try to do those things. I still don’t understand why the playoff series games aren’t every other day. I know television has a lot to do with the scheduling and the leagues aren’t going to turn down that money, but you’d think the networks would be willing to work with the leagues. I’m under the impression that the NBA and the NHL think the playoffs going longer are a good thing and maybe I’m the only guy who’s lost some interest in them. I guess it’s one of those issues someone will have to let me know about.

We’ve been having some fun on the show (Sports Time Radio)) as Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy have been picking the playoff game winners and some other random games that I’ve been throwing at them. Schaumburg Stu even picked some games when he filled in for Dan. Mr. Fantasy had a rough Friday as he went 0-3 and their record fell to under .500 at 24-25. Now since Saturday is an off day for the show I did have Mr. Fantasy make some picks for Saturday. He selected Maria Sharapova to win the French Open woman’s title. The match is actually being played as I write this. He took Mark Buehrle to get a win in today’s game for the Toronto Blue Jays. Now if Buehrle takes the loss or gets a no decision that will be a loss for Mr. Fantasy as Buehrle has to get a “W”. His third pick was the Los Angeles Kings to win Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. Not only have Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy to pick the NBA and NHL playoff game winners they’ve had to select winners in WNBA games, NASCAR races and as you read a sentence or to ago professional tennis. Along with, if certain baseball players themselves will do certain things during a game. A couple of predictions they had to make was, would Nelson Cruz or Jose Abreu homer in the game they where playing that night. As you see somethings it doesn’t boil down to just winners and losers, but what will happen in a game. Like will Mark Buehrle get the win today? Of course the tag line for Sports Time Radio is any sport any time and we’ve proved that.

It’s been reported by ESPN that former University of North Carolina basketball player Rashad McCants has said while playing at the school that he rarely went to his classes and that his tutors wrote his papers for him. McCants was the 2nd leading scorer on the North Carolina team that won the national championship in 2004-05. McCants also said that he made the Dean’s list in 2005, but didn’t attend any of the four classes he received A’s in. Those are just a couple of the statements McCants made about his time at North Carolina. None of his former teammates have come out to back up these statements and North Carolina’s head coach Roy Williams has denied knowing anything about these allegations. While I had never heard much about academic issues with the North Carolina men’s basketball team the football team did have some issues with this. The NCAA sanctioned the football program for improper benefits and academic misconduct involving a tutor, but the athletic department’s sports programs largely emerged from the academic scandal penalty-free. As sad as it is to say I actually do believe that this goes on in big time college sports programs, but that doesn’t mean that McCants is telling the truth in this case. I’m sure there will be some type of investigation and will have to wait and see what comes out of that.

I was happy to see the Baltimore Orioles call up two time Cy Young award winner Johan Santana even though he had to go right on the disabled list. Santana has been recovering from arm issues that forced him to under go two major shoulder surgeries. While he wasn’t ready to pitch for the Orioles his contract had a set call up date in it and the Orioles had to either call him up or let him go. As we know the Orioles called Santana up and placed him on the disabled list. Santana was in extended spring training in Florida when he suffered another injury. This time it was a torn Achilles tendon that will end his 2014 comeback attempt before it even gets going as Santana will have season ending surgery on the torn tendon. I hope he’s healthy and given another shot to make a comeback for the 2015 baseball season.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

So how was your week?

How was your Week 5/31/14

Posted: June 2, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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The New York Rangers have advanced to the Stanley Cup finals by beating the Montreal Canadians 4 games to 2 games in the Eastern conference finals. With the exception of one bad game in the conference finals Henrik Lundqvist has carried the Rangers in the playoffs. Now Lundqvist and the Rangers will get a chance to play for the Stanley Cup as they wait for the winner of the Chicago Blackhawks/Los Angeles Kings series. That series is tied at 3 games each with Game 7 being played tomorrow (Sunday) in Chicago. The Kings had a 3 games to 1 game series lead, but the Blackhawks found ways to win Game 5 in double overtime on a Michal Handzus goal and last night (Friday) got a game winning goal from Patrick Kane. Kane has always been considered one of the top players in the NHL, but has really shown his worth against a tough Kings defense. On the show I actually thought the Kings would win last nights game, but did mention if the Blackhawks found a way to win Game 6 they’d win Game 7 at home and go to the Stanley Cup finals again. No matter which way Game 7 goes the Rangers will be facing a team that has won the Stanley Cup recently. The Kings won in 2012 and the Blackhawks won it just last season.

The NBA playoffs are in the same situation as the NHL playoffs. One team the Miami Heat has closed out their series against the Indiana Pacers and are waiting to see of they’ll play the San Antonio Spurs or the Oklahoma City Thunder. San Antonio leads this series 3 games to 2 games with Game 6 being played this afternoon. The game has a 2:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST) which is where I live. The home team has won every game in this series; so can the Spurs be the first road team to win a game in this series and close out the Thunder or does Oklahoma City hold serve and go back to San Antonio for a Game 7. Serge Ibaka wasn’t the factor in Game 5 like he was in Games 3 and 4 and some reports have mentioned he’s injured again, but Oklahoma City has denied those reports. While the Miami Heat struggled in Game 5 against Indian they bounced back and closed out the series with a 117 – 92 win in Game 6. It’s looked like through the playoffs that we would get a rematch of last seasons finals, but can Oklahoma City change that outcome or id it Spurs vs. Heat again for the title.

Johnny Manziel went to Las Vegas over the Memorial Day weekend. What did you do? They showed Manziel in the crowd at the UFC fight and you just knew the media would try to turn this into something and they did. Now he didn’t miss any practices with his new team the Cleveland Browns and even if he wanted to go to the Browns facilities he couldn’t because they were closed for the holiday. New Browns coach Mike Pettine pointed out that other players went away for the Memorial Day weekend as well mentioning that South Beach was a destination for some of the players. Was there any media coverage of these players in South Beach? I didn’t see any; so why is Manziel’s trip news? I get it he’s Johnny “Football” or now Johnny “Cleveland” but maybe we should find out if he can play in the NFL before we start reporting every single thing he does. I did find it odd that this story really didn’t start getting reported until the Tuesday after Memorial Day. I guess all the media people where away for the holiday weekend.

On the show yesterday (Friday) I let Mr. Fantasy pick a line up for me that I entered under my Fanduel account. He end up finishing 3034th out of 3910 entries. Sadly not the best showing for Mr. Fantasy, but not ever entry can be a winner.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

So how was your week?

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