Cheap Seats

OK, I have neither the Nationals or Braves winning the World Series, so tonight's game can be thrown out of the equation, as I am in fact posting my season predictions before Opening Day tomorrow.

I will follow the format that my overlings at The Dallas Morning News used in their predictions. Here goes nothing...click said link to continue reading...

ADAM BOEDEKER

AL West: Mariners
AL Central: Tigers
AL East: Red Sox
AL wild card: Angels
NL West: Padres
NL Central: Cubs
NL East: Mets
NL wild card: Rockies
World Series: Tigers over Mets in 7
Team on the rise: Tampa Bay Rays (no more devil)
Superstar on the rise: Texas Rangers OF Josh Hamilton
Biggest on-field story of the year: The Yankees missing out on the postseason for the first time since 1993. The lineup is ancient now and has no proven youth. The starting staff is dwindled down to nothing but rookies, who will one day be good, but not this year.
Roger Clemens indicted, retired or active: Active. He'll sign on with the Red Sox around the All-Star Break to try to distract from his ongoing legal battle. He'll finish with less than five wins and tarnish his god-like image in Boston. He'll be indicted, but it won't be until after the season.

Rangers will teeter around .500, ultimately falling 5-10 games short.

Yay, baseball!

Posted by Adam Boedeker at 1:01 AM | Permalink | Comments

Ryan Zimmerman made sure the Nationals had a memorable Opening Night at their brand spankin' new Nationals Ballpark when he had the Nats' first hit since the first inning in the bottom of the ninth and it just so happened it was a walk-off homer to give Washington a 3-2 win over the division rival Braves.

There are so many great things about this picture. Mainly, Dmitri Young's fat, happy, diabetic face. Get used to it -- he'll be a Ranger very soon by my estimations. It also symbolizes the beginning of baseball, which behind the first two days of the NCAA tournament, is my favorite sports time of the year.

Yeah, I know the Red Sox and A's played in Japan last week and the games counted, but it didn't count in my mind. Baseball got started tonight, in America, and it will get in full motion tomorrow. Coming soon...my season predictions post. Stay tuned!

Posted by Adam Boedeker at 12:51 AM | Permalink | Comments

NFL owners are going to discuss banning long hair from the league at a meeting next week. This would have affect numerous players in the league and render many of them less tight.

But what ESPN didn't report is what Cheap Seats is about to break. NFL owners are considering numerous other rule changes similar to the Anti-Thug Act of 2008. Here's a run down of some of them:

-- Jerseys longer than six inches past the waist must be tucked in

-- In addition to a manageable length, hair cannot be dyed an "unnatural" color, such as blue, pink or orange

-- Male players cannot wear earrings

-- Players may not chew gum under any circumstances

-- No facial hair is permitted, including sideburns and soul patches

-- Player may not wear caps, beanies or hats on the sideline

-- Any player caught outside the locker room or the field without being accompanied by a coach will be suspended for a quarter of a game

Seriously though, it must suck to be Gene Upshaw. He has so little power that the NFL is actually imposing high school hallway rules on the players. You're getting taken for a nice ole ride, Gene. Also notable is that NFL owners have so little worry about that they're reduced to talking about hair length.

P.S. This move will look really racist if it passes. This would affect mostly black players with braids.

Posted by Jeff Andrews at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

After the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, I was down in all my pools because of Davidson's win over Georgetown, which I had going to the Final Four. Without one of my Elite Eight teams, I wasn't too confident about winning any money this year.

After the third round, that's totally changed. I've correctly picked all but one of the Elite Eight teams, and my sensible picks for the rest of the way have me believing in me. I have North Carolina, UCLA, Texas and Georgetown in the Final Four with UCLA beating UNC in the title game.

Help me decide what I'm going to do with all the money I win. Next year, I'll help you win some money by giving you sound advice.

Posted by Jeff Andrews at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments

The Stars loss to San Jose in overtime tonight was due largely because of Marty Turco slapping a Shark in the face with his stick. It resulted in a double-minor, a San Jose 3-on-5 advantage and a Dallas overtime loss.

Let the grilling of Marty Turco begin. His face whack will be the next highlight ESPN will show over and over again to fan the debate over hockey violence. Chris Simon, Todd Bertuzzi -- you are off the Budweiser Hot Seat.

Seriously, there are few things that irk me more than the way ESPN covers hockey. If you're hearing about hockey on ESPN it's for one of two reasons -- to pointlessly restate that "nobody cares about hockey" or to show some act of on-ice violence.

I guess with that TV deal went any acknowledgment of the National Hockey League by ESPN. That's some free negative advertisement for the Versus product. ESPN doesn't benefit from people watching hockey anymore, so why should they cover it?

Posted by Jeff Andrews at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

It’s almost creepy how aligned the Stars and the Mavericks have been this year. Both entered the year coming off consecutive playoff disappointments. Both made franchise-altering deadline deals that were initially praised.

Both have collapsed since the deals. Both are even in danger of missing the playoffs at their current paces and it’s safe to say the Dallas area won’t be celebrating a championship in June.

Nothing personified that more than tonight when the Mavericks lost to a playoff contender – again – and the Stars coughed up another third-period lead in a critical game. Neither has given fans anything to suggest they can be competitive in the playoffs, and things are only getting worse.

Dirk is hurt and the Mavs are struggling to gel around Jason Kidd. The Stars simply can’t beat anyone and seem to have lost their confidence.

Assuming the AAC inhabitants continue matching each other, here’s what we can expect to see in the coming years:

Tom Hicks on Dancing With the Stars

Antoine Walker becoming the Mavericks Ambassador of Shimmy and eventually general manager

Riots breaking out in Spain after Mark Cuban buys Real Madrid

The Stars letting Mike Modano sign with Phoenix, which will revitalize his career and lead him to consecutive Hart Trophies

Posted by Jeff Andrews at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'd like to thank the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers for providing the best NCAA tournament game in the past few years with last weekend's "upset" over Drake. It was a 12 over 5, but the fact that they're both mid-majors kind of lacked the upset punch for me. Nevertheless, it was a great back-and-forth game that finally ended in this buzzer beater, which didn't happen once in last year's tournament and is what March Madness is all about.

However, the Hilltoppers' run is about to come to an end against the No. 1 seeded UCLA Bruins. UCLA just has too much inside for WKU to handle. A 12 seed has never defeated a 1, so if it does happen it will be one those things Disney movies are made of.

Now, my boy Kige Ramsey has an insightful post about WKU athletics today. It actually is pretty informative and clears up a lot, mainly the origin of one of the greatest mascots in college sports.

Take it away, Kige...

Posted by Adam Boedeker at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments

With the first two rounds in the books and the Sweet 16 on the docket starting Thursday, there's much to talk about in the March Madness world.

Check out our new podcast, this week's happens to be NCAA tournament-centric.

We had a thrilling buzzer beater as Western Kentucky's Ty Rogers beat Drake at the buzzer with a long 3-pointer to pull the ever-so-popular 12-seed over 5. Another 12-over-5 game came when Villanova beat Clemson. So there were two of the popular upsets, and neither was the one I actually predicted (Temple over Michigan State).

That brings me to the Spartans. Michigan State has a great tournament record under Tom Izzo. I usually pick the Spartans to make deep runs but after a couple of years of them tanking my brackets, I decided to go against them this year. Now they're in the Sweet 16 and have a great shot at beating Memphis.

All of the No. 1 seeds are still alive though Texas A&M nearly pulled off a miracle in beating UCLA last weekend, but instead this happened in the final seconds.

Look, it's clear Donald Sloan was fouled on this play, but A&M shouldn't have let UCLA come back from a 10-point deficit. Also, I would've liked to have seen a 12-15 foot jumper taken or even a three from Dominique Kirk instead of taking the ball to the basket and encountering freshman beast Kevin Love, who finished the night with seven blocks for the Bruins.

Anyway, I think Memphis is the most likely of the top seeds to lose this weekend. The Tigers putrid foul shooting is going to eventually catch up with them.

The Hilltoppers, though a great story, don't stand a chance against UCLA. Love and Drew Collison will be far too much for the Sun Belt tournament champions.

Kansas has breezed through the tournament, just as I suspected, and will continue to win without much problem over 12-seed Villanova. The Jayhawks are the deepest team in the tournament, and North Carolina is right behind them. The Tarheels will get a pretty decent test from Washington State, who plays some of the best defense in the country that could hold UNC's potent offense somewhat in check.

As for the rest of the Sweet 16, I think the best games will be Louisville-Tennessee and Texas-Stanford.

Texas might be playing some of the best ball in the tournament, and the Longhorns have the guard play that is so coveted in the postseason. D.J. Augustin and A.J. Abrams are both lethal scorers, and as I said in my podcast, I think Augustin might possibly be the best player in the country. I really enjoy watching him play because everything he does looks so simple.

The Cardinal have the twin towers that are Brook and Robin Lopez. They're good, but I can't stand watching them play. It should be an interesting matchup with Stanford's strength coming inside and Texas' on the perimeter. The fact that the game is in Houston certainly doesn't hurt the Longhorns, who conceivably could win a national title without having to leave the state of Texas from here on out. It's the best chance Texas has had to make the Final Four since 2003 when it had T.J. Ford.

As for the Louisville-Tennessee matchup, this is a toss-up. I like Tennessee and Bruce Pearl, but Louisville, by many accounts, is playing the best basketball in the country. The Cardinals are finally healthy and David Padgett is playing some good basketball. Another key factor in this game will be free throw shooting as the Vols are not much better from the line than Memphis.

The most potential Elite Eight matchups for me are North Carolina against either Tennessee or Louisville and the potential clash of offense versus defense should Kansas draw Wisconsin. It should be a good weekend of basketball, but there won't be any Cinderella stories continuing as Villanova, Western Kentucky and Davidson will all be out by the weekend.

Enjoy.

Posted by Adam Boedeker at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'm not one to jump on a player for having "off-the-field issues." Most of the time, these "issues" are pretty minor and are blown out of proportion.

Case in point: Tank Johnson. He had guns that were registered in Arizona instead of Illinois. Then he got arrested for drunk driving, which a blood test later cleared him of. So what exactly did this guy do?

But with Adam "Pacman" Jones, I'm a little more hesitant. This guy beat a guy down with a pool stick in college. His posse is accused of shooting and paralyzing someone. Trouble follows this guy, that much is obvious.

That said, how should the Cowboys, or any other team for that matter, approach taking on Pacman? I didn't listen to the Michael Irvin interview today, mainly because that show is horrible, but I think a team can make this work.

Pacman isn't a locker room problem, he's an off-the-field problem. Give him a support system and help him learn how to run his life. If you can do that, the Cowboys would get an absolute bargain.

Pacman is among the top cornerbacks in the league. Couple that with Terrance Newman, and you have the best corner tandem in the league by far. I certainly wouldn't want my boy Eli Manning throwing at those two.

If I were Jerry Jones, I'd do this in a heartbeat. The worst part of all this is Irvin got a three-hour interview with him and a bunch of national attention. That will probably keep his show going for a while. The morality play that is suppose to be a sports radio show will continue. Sigh ...

Posted by Jeff Andrews at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments

One of my favorite things in the world to do is a fantasy sports draft. Yesterday I got to do one for baseball and I'll do another one today.

Most of the leagues I'm in were formed in college and with friends at the time. We have long histories, and we've picked up some of my co-workers and random acquaintances on the way.

While picking your team for the year is obviously fun, the message board during the draft is my favorite part. Since I have a lot of college friends in my leagues, we resort to college humor. The trash talk is relentless, the cut-downs are foul, disgusting and frankly disturbing.

So yesterday I did the baseball draft with the league I'm in with college buddies. Today I'm doing a league I'm not really sure how I even got in. It was created by a sports writer and sent out to many sports writers with the note "I don't care who plays as long as they participate." It is also a keeper league.

I joined the league and do what I normally do -- start trash talking. I posted a bulletin about the brutality with which I'm going to dominate and which of their body parts will go flying in what direction when I put the beat-down on them.

It didn't seem to go over very well, even though it's all very tongue-in-cheek. Then one day I stopped to look to see who was actually in the league -- Dallas Morning News big wigs, including one person that would probably have to sign on off on me being hired there should I ever be so lucky.

First of all, I erased all my trash talk bulletins. But now what do I do? I don't want to not talk trash because that’s like, my thing in fantasy drafts. But the viciousness I usually do it with just isn't gonna fly here. I don’t want to sacrifice my individualism, but I also want to be presentable to corporate America.

I’m having a moral crisis here.

Posted by Jeff Andrews at 1:20 AM | Permalink | Comments

I'm not much of a gambler, so when March Madness rolls around, I fill out one bracket. I look down the desk and see some co-workers whose names begin with an "A" and end with a "dam Boedeker" filling out a handful of brackets in an attempt to win a pool.

Some of these co-workers then come into the newsroom and brag about "their" perfect brackets. I imagine if I filled out a bunch of brackets, I might have a perfect one at 4:30 p.m. on the first day of play, too.

In my world of keepin it real and puttin it to all my haters, my bracket isn't perfect. UNLV, Marquette and especially Kansas St. spoiled my day. I had USC in the Sweet 16. Belmont almost gift-wrapped a happy conclusion to arguably my biggest bracket gamble -- Xaiver beating Duke. But they choked.

t could have been a lot worse though. If Georgia had beaten Xavier, it wouldn't have mattered. I woke up, ate some insanely good blueberry pancakes, and turned on the TV to see Xavier struggling with Georgia.

Had it not been for the Duke game, Xavier-Georgia would have been the game of the day. Georgia left everything on the court before Xavier stormed back to win. I was hooting and hollering for the first time in awhile, and Georgia won me over with its heart.

One exception though -- Dave Bliss. Georgia's big man had the most irritating look on his face for the entire second half. He was getting dominated inside and basically glared at the ref like it was his fault. Sorry, Dave. You just sucked.

Friday I'm going to be rooting hard for Mississippi State and Arkansas. I also want Drake and Connecticut preserve my perfect West Region, which I think they will.

Posted by Jeff Andrews at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

My favorite 48 hours in sports starts in approximately 24 hours with the first two days of the NCAA Tournament.

I'm going to break down each region and tell you how I think teams of local interest will fare once March Madness kicks off.

In the East region, I see No. 1 North Carolina making it to the Final Four with staunch tests from Notre Dame and Tennessee. I think the most intriguing first-round game will be a battle of mid-majors with No. 7 Butler and No. 10 South Alabama, out of the Sun Belt. I think Butler will win the game at the free throw line and with its tournament experience.

As for the biggest upset of the first round, I'm going with St. Joseph's over Oklahoma, an 11 over 6. St. Joe's shoots the lights out from beyond the arc, and Oklahoma hasn't impressed me all year despite having an out-of-this-world RPI and strength of schedule. Blake Griffin is good, but both he and Longar Longar have been battling injuries all season. I think it will catch up with them.

In the Midwest, I see the Big 12's Jayhawks getting out of the bracket into the Final Four without too much trouble until the Elite Eight game against Georgetown.

The most intriguing first-round matchup here has to be between No. 6 USC and No. 11 Kansas State and the battle between two of the nation's most revered freshmen, the Trojans' O.J. Mayo and K-State's Michael Beasley, who has my vote for the Wooden Award. Beasley takes the cake in the one-on-one matchup, but his teammates have been awfully inconsistent this year, and I think the Trojans will come out on top.

My upset alert? Well, it really isn't much of an upset, but I'm picking No. 10 Davidson over No. 7 Gonzaga, though I wouldn't be surprised if No. 12 Villanova pulls off the typical 12 over 5 with a win over Clemson, though I picked Clemson in my bracket.

In the South region, I think the Big 12 will have its second representative in the Final Four in the form of the Texas Longhorns, who will beat No. 1 Memphis in the Elite Eight in Houston, something Texas A&M couldn't do last year in San Antonio.

The best first-round matchup here is another 6 vs. 11 in Marquette vs. Kentucky. Marquette is an extremely athletic team with superior guard play and likes to spread the opponent out. Kentucky is the opposite with the style of Billy Gillispie. A lot of people wrote off the Wildcats after some horrific losses early in the season and then seemed to not realize they finished second in the SEC East and seemed to have a bit of a renaissance. I'm actually going with the Wildcats in my bracket, but that's not my upset of the region. That would happen to be a 12 over 5 with Temple beating Michigan State.

Some may think I'm crazy given Michigan State's Tom Izzo's track record in the NCAA Tournament, which is very impressive. Temple is one of the hottest teams in the tournament and had to win the A-10 Tournament to even get in, which the Owls did.

In the West, I have UCLA getting into the Final Four with some tough tests along the way from Texas A&M, Connecticut and Xavier/Duke (I have Xavier). UCLA has one of the best 1-2 punches in the country with big man Kevin Love and all-everything point guard Darren Collison.

My most intriguing first-round game goes to Purdue vs. the Cinderella story of this year's tournament, your Baylor Bears and Scott Drew's resurrection of a program that was left in shambles just a few years back by Dave Bliss and a much-publicized internal murder case. I think Purdue wins this game, but it all depends on which Baylor team shows up as they've been one of the more up-and-down teams in the Big 12 this year. The Boilermakers are young, but should be able to beat Baylor if they can contain the Bears' wide-open offense, especially from outside.

As for my upset in this region? Well, I don't have one. My only upset pick is Xavier beating Duke in the Sweet 16, and that's just a 3 over 2. If I had to issue an upset alert, I'd go with Baylor over Purdue or Western Kentucky over Drake.

So, that leaves the Final Four of North Carolina, Kansas, Texas and UCLA. Kansas and UCLA will meet in the championship game and Kansas' ridiculous depth will overcome and finally get the Jayhawks another title after so many close calls and blown chances.

Here's to the Madness.

Posted by Adam Boedeker at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments

The Houston Rockets 22-game win streak ended just now with a 20-point home loss to the Boston Celtics, who beat San Antonio last night. I realized two things in watching this game.

First off, the Celtics might indeed be the real deal and might give the Eastern Conference their first legitimate shot at a title since the Pistons, even though all the love from the media is in the West.

Second, as I was telling Jeff tonight, despite this ridiculous streak the Rockets just went on, I was never sold on them. Now, don't get me wrong, I appreciate the greatness of what they accomplished with this streak -- the second-longest in NBA history. But, with that being said, I think they just caught lightning in a bottle and aren't really that great of a team. Honestly, taking a look at their upcoming schedule they could lose some serious ground in the next week and a half and be out of a playoff spot. Kind of like the Mavericks. The Western Conference is just nuts. I think Dallas will get in the postseason, but as crazy as it might sound, I'm not completely sold on the Rockets, who were in first place heading into tonight's game.

Posted by Adam Boedeker at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well, we're one day through the best conference tournament in the land and there was one major upset. Here's how I think things will unfold on Friday...

No. 9 Oklahoma State vs. No. 1 Texas
Thanks to one of the worst offensive possessions in college basketball history, the Cowboys will be playing Texas in the second round. The Pokes got in two good shots on the Longhorns this year but both ended in Texas wins. That leaves open two possibilities: The Pokes get over the hump and beat Texas or Texas gets its act together and rolls. I like the latter.

No. 12 Colorado vs. No. 4 Oklahoma
It finally happened! A No. 12 seed in the Big 12 Tournament won for the first time ever when the Buffaloes beat Baylor on Thursday, which I loved to see. The Buffs actually beat OU earlier this year. This game all depends on the effectiveness of a banged-up Blake Griffin. The OU freshman sensation had knee surgery just two weeks ago, but I like the guys from Norman.

No. 7 Nebraska vs. No. 2 Kansas
The Cornhuskers got a double-double (17 points, 13 boards) from Aleks Maric, the undervalued big man in Lincoln en route to a win on Thursday. I would've liked to have seen another installment of the Border War with Missouri-Kansas, but it wasn't meant to be. Not that it mattered. Kansas rolls.

No. 6 Texas A&M vs. No. 4 Kansas State
Five words: Michael Beasley and Bill Walker. That's just too much for the Aggies, who locked up a trip to the Big Dance with Thursday's win over Iowa State.

Posted by Adam Boedeker at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments

My favorite sporting time of the year is just around the corner and the precursor is always the conference tournaments, most importantly the Big 12 Tournament.

In the past, the Big 12 has been a bit down, but this year's been different. It was so clustered past the top three that no seeds were decided until Saturday -- incredible.

So, here's how it's going to go down. The top four seeds get first-round byes. That would be No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Kansas, No. 3 Kansas State and No. 4 Oklahoma.

On Thursday, things will get kicked off with No. 8 Texas Tech vs. No. 9 Oklahoma State. Next up will be No. 5 Baylor vs. No. 12 Colorado, followed by No. 7 Nebraska vs. No. 10 Missouri and finally No. 6 Texas A&M vs. No. 11 Iowa State.

Continue reading for my expert predictions...

Texas Tech (16-14) vs. Oklahoma State (16-14)
winner plays Texas
Just two weeks ago, Tech had beaten Kansas State in Pat Knight's first win as Tech's coach, and the Cowboys were in last place in the league. Since then, the Cowboys have gone on a tear and Tech has suffered its two worst losses in school history, a 40-plus point loss to Texas A&M and a 54-point loss to Kansas. Sandwiched between those games was a rousing home win against No. 9 Texas. Needless to say, the Red Raiders have been horribly inconsistent this year. However, Tech has not lost in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament since Bob Knight's arrival, and I don't think that will change this year. Tech wins.

Baylor (21-9) vs. Colorado (11-19)
winner plays Oklahoma
This game won't be close. Colorado has absolutely nothing as Richard Roby has all but disappeared. He should've gone pro last year. Baylor has already secured an invitation to the Big Dance and will be the media darling after its unprecedented turnaround. Freshman LaceDarius Dunn dropped 38 points on Texas Tech in Saturday's win, which likely sealed the Bears' trip to the Dance.

Nebraska (18-11) vs. Missouri (16-15)
winner plays Kansas
Nebraska's been on the up as of late, and Missouri's been falling since early January when internal strife wrecked the team. The Huskers are tough to stop inside and that will be wear they beat Missouri.

Texas A&M (22-9) vs. Iowa State (14-17)
winner plays Kansas State
Earlier this year, the Aggies looked to be a sure bet to make the Tournament. Now, they might need this win to lock up a berth, and I think they'll get it. The Aggies are a god-awful free throw shooting team so if the Cyclones can keep it close they'll have a chance, I just don't see that happening.

I'll be back with more predictions for Friday's games when they are decided.

Posted by Adam Boedeker at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments

Looks like Kige and I are kind of on the same page.

Posted by Adam Boedeker at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments

Look, we can argue until we're blue in the face about who the greatest quarterback of all time is. There's Joe Montana, John Elway, Johnny Unitas, Dan Marino, etc.

I don't know if Brett Favre is the greatest of all time, but what I do know is that the greatest statistical quarterback in NFL history announced his retirement today, and he's doing it while he's on top of his game -- at least close.

This wasn't an Emmitt Smith retirement or a Troy Aikman one, where they stuck around a couple of years too long and ended up going out on bad teams with their talent noticeably in decline. You see, Brett Favre went 13-3 last season and lost in the NFC Championship game to the Giants. Sadly, his last NFL pass was an interception that sealed the win for the Giants.

I'm a little surprised Favre's stepping down after the success the Packers had last year and most notably because of the fact they have the youngest team in the NFL with some great young talent, most notably Greg Jennings, who became his favorite target. The previous two seasons before last were not good ones for Favre, but he kept coming back, and now after his best season in years, he's done.

Aside from having a cameo in "There's Something About Mary", Favre leaves the game as the NFL's all-time leader in touchdown passes (442), passing yards (61,655), interceptions (288) wins as a starter and most impressively, most consecutive starts (275). That's the number that sticks out to me when I think of Favre. With all the beating the quarterback position takes, 275 straight starts is bordering on insanity. When you think of durability like that, you think of offensive linemen or something, definitely not quarterbacks, but Favre is an exception.

How's this for durability? The last time a quarterback other than Favre started a game for the Packers was on Sept. 20, 1992. On that day, Favre replaced an injured Don Majkowski, who was affectionately known as the "Magic Man", and went on to symbolize the Green Bay franchise. On that day, Green Bay's probable replacement for Favre, Aaron Rodgers, was 8 years old growing up in Chico, Cali.

He also leaves the game as a three-time MVP winner, more than anyone in history. More than Montana, more than Elway, more than Marino...more than anyone. The crazy thing is Favre would've been the odds-on favorite to win his fourth this year if not for the record-shattering season Tom Brady put up. He threw for 4,155 yards, 28 scores and 15 picks and took the youngest team in football to the NFC Championship Game.

I was convinced Favre would be back for one more season to give the Super Bowl one more run. He played in two -- winning one. He put up the majority of his insane numbers without much around him. His best receivers were Donald Driver and Sterling Sharpe. His best running back was Dorsey Levens. In fact, the only other Hall of Famer Favre played with in his career, as of now, is probably Reggie White, who was on the other side of the ball.

Finally, the first thing that always comes to my mind when I think of Brett Favre (besides being the love interest of Cameron Diaz's finest character work) was what happened when Favre went to Oakland Coliseum, into one of the most hostile environments in the league, and had the hardcore fans in the Black Hole in tears. See for yourself. It was probably the greatest game he ever played and it happened under such horrible circumstances.

Favre will be missed. Watching him this season was a treat though as he looked like he was 24 years old again. I'm glad he was able to go out with some success unlike some other greats.

Posted by Adam Boedeker at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments

When the Mavs lost to the Spurs in the final minute of the game, I thought "It's just one game against a really good team." When they lost to the Lakers, I thought "It's just two games against really good teams."

After Dallas' loss to Utah last night, I'm changing my thinking. The Mavs are 0-4 against teams with winning records since the Jason Kidd trade. They just lost three of four, with the three losses being to Western Conference powers.

Maybe it wasn't so good to make such a drastic change this late in the season? When you change point guards, you're changing the dynamic of your team. This is like the Cowboys trading for a Pro Bowl quarterback in Week 10. The Mavs may not have enough time this year to get this to work.

That said, I'm not going to write off the trade, even if the Mavericks flounder this year. But it ain't looking good for 2007-08. The Mavs have a brutal April, so if they're going to put this together, it needs to be now. After Thursday's game, the Mavs don't face another playoff team until March 18. Time to get it together.

Posted by Jeff Andrews at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments

Big Ben Roethelisberger signed an 8-year, $102 million deal to remain a Pittsburgh Steeler this morning. There's no doubt Big Ben is an NFL star seeing as how he's 26 years old and has a Super Bowl ring, but is really worth that kind of dough? I don't think so. You'd be hard pressed to find a good number of folks who would call him a top 5 NFL quarterback, and that kind of money is top 5 money.

After rampant rumors that freak wide receiver Randy Moss was going anywhere but back to New England -- possible teams were Green Bay and Dallas, neither of which proved to have any truth to them. It now appears Moss will re-sign with the Patriots making New England the immediate favorite to win Super Bowl XLIII.

Could you have imagined Randy Moss and Terrell Owens on the same team with Tony Romo throwing them the ball? That would've been completely unfair and next to impossible to make work -- moreso on Owens' account than Moss'.

One guy that is rumored to be interesting in coming to Dallas is Denver receiver Javon Walker. Walker was great in Green Bay and earned a fat deal in Denver but injuries and shoddy quarterback play never allowed Walker to really take off with the Broncos. I think he'd fit nicely with a superstar throwing him the ball, and in Dallas he'd have just that.

As for receivers who aren't so great, there's Bernard Spare-ian, or excuse, Berrian. The former Bear, who didn't even get 1,000 yards last year, turned his mediocre season into a long-term, big-money deal. I'm not sure how this happened, but congrats to Bernard, he's now a No. 1 receiver when he should be a serviceable No. 2. We'll see how that works out.

Another funny thing happened in our great state when the Texans came to Dallas and robbed the cupboard, taking Dallas' third cornerback, Jacques Reeves, who started 11 games due to injury, for $20 million. That's just ridiculous and I hope it comes back to haunt the Texans and they never make the postseason for overpaying like that and further inflating the free agency market.

Perhaps the most interesting move came down yesterday when the Falcons cut Warrick Dunn and signed San Diego backup Michael "The Burner" Turner to a 6-year, $36-millon deal with $15 million guaranteed. Turner's been touted as the league's best backup for some time now and it was only a question of when he'd get his shot to be a starter in the league. Now he has it on possibly the worst team in the league.

More to come...

Posted by Adam Boedeker at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments