It’s one thing to leave the game because you realize you cannot play it at the level you used to.  Mike Schmidt and Ken Griffey, Jr. did that.  I don’t like it, but I can understand it.  It is another thing entirely to be pissed off at your manager because he won’t take you out while you’re getting shelled to the point where you throw at Chipper Jones to get yourself ejected and then abruptly quit.  That’s what Zambrano did.  That’s cowardly.

And the sad thing is, this is not the only time Zambrano has acted out.  A Gatorade cooler or two has met its ultimate demise at the hands of Z’s bat.  When he gets pissed, he’s a headcase.  Just ask Michael Barrett.  You remember him, right? The Cubs catcher who had to deal with Zambrano in 2007?  Z was getting shelled by the Atlanta Braves and, being the man that he is, Zambrano decided to take his frustrations out on his battterymate.  Manager Lou Piniella had to send them both home because they had a dugout brawl.  Oh, and then Z decided to take the fight to the clubhouse and bloody Barrett up to the point that Barrett needed stitches.  That’s a quality teammate right there.  And he clearly hasn’t grown up since.

Carlos Zambrano is a grumpy, grumpy man

Zambrano is just the latest example of a professional athlete having an opportunity to be great and just throwing it away.  Because Zambrano clearly has the stuff to be a dominant pitcher.  He’s only 30 years old and he’s been a top of the rotation level pitcher since 2002.  He’s the same guy that has posted a career ERA of 3.60 and struck out almost eight hitters per nine innings throughout his career.  But the thing is, nobody made a serious attempt to trade for him at the deadline because nobody wants to deal with him.  He’s just now worth the risk.  It’s a sad story, but he’s put all of this on himself

Look, I don’t know if Zambrano is serious about retiring, but if  he changes his mind and I’m Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry, I try to find some way to void his contract.  Because by doing so, you are saving your team the remainder of his 17-something million dollar deal for this year and all of his $18 million salary in 2012, a total of about $24 million you can use on players that aren’t cancers to your team.

In what was supposed to be a night for Bobby Cox, who had his number retired earlier in the evening, and Dan Uggla, who extended his hit streak to an Atlanta Braves-record 32 games, Zambrano had to steal the headlines for himself.  Mike Quade said it best.  ”He walked out on 24 guys.”  I know there are people playing baseball all over the country that would kill for an opportunity to pitch in the bigs.  Too bad Zambrano threw his away.

Two days ago, you could arguably say that Wade, the general manager of the Astros, made an intelligent deal.  He wasn’t able to land Dominic Brown in a trade with the Phillies, but in return for Hunter Pence, Houston got two actually decent prospects.  Jarred Cosart is a Top 50 prospect according to both ESPN’s Keith Law and Baseball America.  The same can be said about Jonathan Singleton.  It was a solid trade.  The Astros actually got value, which is odd because normally Wade insists on bending over for his former employer.

Now he looks like a winner!

Then today, to my delight, Wade gave my Atlanta Braves Michael Bourn for absolutely NOTHING. Four players with almost no upside.  Jordan Schafer is a center fielder who has failed in his two little stints in the big leagues and has no idea how to stay healthy.  They got a southpaw in Brett Oberholtzer that projects as a back-end starter for a mediocre team, which is light years better than Houston will be anytime soon.  In Paul Clemens they get somebody named Clemens, and people in Houston like that.  And in Juan Abreu, they get a AAA reliever that can throw 100 miles per hour but has control problems.  In short, they got zilch.  But what did they give up?

Oh, I don’t know.  The outfielder with the highest WAR in baseball over the last couple of years by anybody not named Ryan Braun.  A guy who over the last three seasons has stolen 61, 52, and, to this point in the season, 39 bases.  Somebody with a 4.3 Baseball Reference WAR this season alone.  Somebody who fills a glaring need for the Braves: a prototypical leadoff hitter who can play outstanding defense in center.  And he’s under team control through 2012.  And ED WADE HAD ALL THE LEVERAGE.

It just doesn’t make sense how Wade has a job.  It really doesn’t.  This guy has zero track record of doing anything right.  The only explanation I can come up with is that he got started in baseball through the public relations department and maybe that has helped him shine a positive light on the absolute crap he’s been responsible for.  This is the same guy that traded Curt Schilling in his prime for Omar Daal, Vicente Padilla and Travis Lee.  The same guy who gave Mike Lieberthal and David Bell humongous contracts when they were clearly washed up. And yet, the Astros gave this man a two-year contract extension in 2010 that runs through 2012.  I’m sure the new ownership will love that.

Have you seen the roster he’s put together?  Absolute garbage.  Look, I really want to find fault with my criticism.  I want to go, “eh…., maybe he’s done a few good things,” but the fact of the matter is, he has been a horrible GM ever since he got his start running the Phillies.  And if the ownership group that is getting ready to purchase the Astros doesn’t fire him, well, it’s just going to get worse.  The roster is horrible.  Here, let’s look at their entire active pitching staff:

David Carpenter- Sucks
Enerio Del Rosario- His name is stupid. And opposing hitters hit .284 against him.  Next.
Sergio Escalona- He’s kind of pitched alright.  Only 20 innings, but I’ll give him a pass.
J.A. Happ- The centerpiece of the Roy Oswalt trade Wade made last year in a ridiculously one-sided deal.  Happ’s flourishing with a 6.01 ERA in 115.1 innings.  Happ-y Happ-y, joy joy.
Wilton Lopez- Decent
Jordan Lyles- Sucks
Mark Melancon- I think he’s their closer.  Of course, being a closer in Houston is like being the best-looking girl in West Virginia.  It’s nothing to brag about.
Brett Myers- Old, washed up with a 4.65 ERA
Bud Norris-  Actually effective
Aneury Rodriguez- Absolute dog shit.
Fernando Rodriguez- Kind of okay
Wandy Rodriguez- Their best pitcher

That might be the worst staff I’ve ever seen.  Somehow the Cubs and Orioles have managed to have higher ERAs than Houston in 2011, which is pretty hard to do, considering Houston’s ERA as a staff is 4.56.  Oh, and they have 14 saves…. AS A TEAM. In 33 opportunities. How bout that bullpen, folks? They’ve given up the fourth most hits, the second most runs, the second most home runs and have the 3rd highest batting average against in all of baseball.  Great job by Wade, who put the whole staff together.  Hitting has to be better, though.  Right?

Well, now that he has managed to give away his two best hitters, an already bad offense has become atrocious.  Here are some of the names that manager Brad Mills has the fortune of putting on his lineup card in a given day:  Brian Bogusevic, Jimmy Paredes, Carlos Corporan, Humberto Quintero, Jose Altuve, Clint Barmes, Matt Downs, Angel Sanchez, Luis Durango, J.D. Martinez and Jason Michaels.  You just can’t win with that.  It’s impossible.  And it should come as no surprise to anybody that, even in a bandbox like Minute Maid Park, their offense is 23rd in OBP, 29th in home runs, 25th in runs scored, 22nd in slugging and 22nd in OPS.

Ed Wade has taken a team that went to the World Series in 2005 and put them in a hole I’m not sure they can climb out of.  I foresee a Pittsburgh Pirates-like run for them full of disappointment and failure, especially if, as rumored, the new ownership group cuts the payroll even further.  Their farm system was ranked 26th before the season by Baseball America.  They had one player in the top 100, and Jordan Lyles is struggling to adjust to big league baseball right now.  The team is in a black hole.  And it’s their own doing.  Because by letting Ed Wade run your organization, you are essentially playing Russian roulette. Only every chamber in the gun is loaded.

Houston, we have a problem.

The new format this year will take some getting used to.  Whereas in years past, I could just ignore the Tuesday game in Dayton, this year I will be paying attention to a play-in game on Tuesday and on Wednesday.  With the field expanding to 68 teams, there will be two matchups of 16 seeds trying to sneak into what is now being referred to as the second round.  But for Clemson, UAB, VCU, and USC, they get a chance to prove they are worthy of competing in the opening weekend despite the fact that they were the last two teams in the field.  And the fact that brackets are still due on Thursday enables me to watch the Tuesday and Wednesday games very carefully.  For the record, I have USC advancing to the Sweet 16.  But if they lose Wednesday, I can change that pick.  And so can you.

Anyway, there’s really no amount of studying that can lead me to achieve a perfect bracket.  I watch a ton of college basketball and I’ve done a lot of research into this field.  But even I have been made to look like a fool more often than not in this 3-week fanfest.  Hell, just look at my picks from last year.  So what you will see below is a round-by-round analysis of my picks.  The games I feel are really important or could go either way will have an analysis by them.  Oh, and I tried to not be biased.  I really always do.  But growing up a Tar Heel fan has made that a little hard to do at times.  What follows is all of my picks for the field of 68 (Except for the shitty play-in games) and some statistics on each round of my predictions.  Enjoy.

Maybe the Black Falcon can inspire my bracket to be awesome

Second Round Games

East Region

1 Ohio State over 16 Texas- San Antonio/ Alabama State winner

9 Villanova over 8 George Mason- This is a tough game to pick.  Nova has really been garbage lately.  They lost to South Florida in the first round of the Big East Championship.  Yes, that same South Florida team that finished 15th in the conference.  In fact, Nova has lost five straight games, albeit four of them were to Syracuse, St. John’s, Connecticut and Pittsburgh.  In all, the Wildcats have lost 10 of their last 15 games!  If it sounds like I’m talking myself out of this pick, it’s because it’s really tempting to do so.  I mean, George Mason is 16-1 in their last 17 games! But they lost their last game where they got drubbed by VCU.  I don’t know why, but I’m taking Nova in this one.

5 West Virginia over 12 Clemson/UAB winner- I have Clemson winning over UAB.  Clemson could give WVU a fit, but at the end of the day the Tigers have zero RPI Top 50 wins.  I’m going with the Mountaineers.

4 Kentucky over 13 Princeton

11 Marquette over 6 Xavier- Maybe I’m just hating on the mid-majors?

3 Syracuse over 14 Indiana State

7 Washington over 10 Georgia- The Pac-10 Tournament champion Huskies are drastically underseeded.

2 North Carolina over 15 Long Island

West Region

1 Duke over 16 Hampton

9 Tennessee over 8 Michigan-  These 8/9′s are really a 50/50 thing.  I don’t like the Wolverines’ brand of basketball.  Then again I don’t like Bruce Pearl, either. I’ll stick with the Vols.

5 Arizona over 12 Memphis

4 Texas over 13 Oakland-  Could be a very close game

11 Missouri over 6 Cincinnati- Cincy looked pathetic against the Irish.  They will compete, but I just feel like the Tigers are a better team.

3 Connecticut over 14 Bucknell

10 Penn State over 7 Temple- The Nittany Lions scored 36 points Friday night….. and beat the Wisconsin Badgers.

2 San Diego State over 15 Northern Colorado

Southwest Region

1 Kansas over 16 Boston University

9 Illinois over 8 UNLV- It seems like Vegas is ALWAYS in the 8/9 game

12 Richmond over 5 Vanderbilt- Richmond is dramatically underseeded.  This doesn’t make sense to me.  Oh well, bye bye Commodores.

4 Louisville over 13 Morehead State

11 USC (after beating 11 VCU) over 6 Georgetown- This is a game where I might get to be fortunate enough to change my mind without penalty if VCU somehow wins on Wednesday.  Georgetown has been a mess lately.  I realize they are getting their point guard, Chris Wright back, but how will he be able to gel with his team after missing this much time? Austin Freeman needs to step up or the Hoyas will be going home.

3 Purdue over 14 St. Peter’s

10 Florida State over 7 Texas A&M- The ACC’s 3rd best team is a 10 seed.  My, has the conference fallen.

2 Notre Dame over 15 Akron

Southeast Region

1 Pittsburgh over 16 UNC-Asheville/Arkansas- Little Rock winner

8 Butler over 9 Old Dominion- Butler could be a real scary test for Pitt in the round of 32.  If I’m the Panthers, I’m rooting like hell for ODU.

12 Utah State over 5 Kansas State- Somebody tell me how the country’s 24th ranked team is a 12 seed?  Utah State is 30-3!  They have the best fans in basketball, and they’ll probably make the trip out to wherever it is they are playing.  And for good reason.  I don’t care that they haven’t beaten a superstar team yet.  They’ll beat Kansas State.  Maybe then the country will take notice.

Overweight? Perhaps. Diehard? Absolutely

4 Wisconsin over 13 Belmont- I wonder if Wisconsin can crack the 40 point mark in this game.

6 St. John’s over 11 Gonzaga- The Johnnies are on serious upset alert here.  But even though the Red Storm are without their leading rebounder, their eight other seniors lead them past the ‘Zags.

3 BYU over 14 Wofford

7 UCLA over 10 Michigan State- I have no idea how the Spartans got into the Tournament.  Whatever, it’ll be short-lived.

2 Florida over UC- Santa Barbara

Number of teams remaining in field after second round, by seed:

1-seeds- 4
2- 4
3- 4
4- 4
5-2
6-1
7-2
8-1
9-3
10-2
11-3
12-2

Upsets I predict in 2nd round: 10/32

Big 6 records through 2nd round:
ACC- 4-1
Big Ten- 5-2
Big 12- 3-2
Big East- 9-2
SEC- 3-2
Pac-10- 5-0

3rd Round Games

East Region

1 Ohio State over 9 Villanova

4 Kentucky over 5 West Virginia

3 Syracuse over 11 Marquette- In a Big East affair, the Syracuse zone takes over.

2 North Carolina over 7 Washington- This one could easily go the other way.

West Region

1 Duke over 9 Tennessee

5 Arizona over 4 Texas- Rick Barnes is a horrible coach.  He is flat out awful at managing his talent.  It’ll cost him this year as he has to watch Zona advance to the Sweet 16.

3 Connecticut over 11 Missouri

2 San Diego State over 10 Penn State

Southwest Region

1 Kansas over 9 Illinois

12 Richmond over 4 Louisville- The Cardinals are extremely overrated and the Spiders are underappreciated.  This is the combination for an upset.

Somebody needs to remind Justin Harper to show passion

3 Purdue over 11 USC

2 Notre Dame over 10 Florida State- Seminoles stick around for awhile, but Ben Hansbrough puts the game out of hand with some late 3s.

Southeast Region

1 Pittsburgh over 8 Butler- After narrowly topping the Bulldogs, the Pitt Panthers see that their journey to the Final Four is not that difficult.

12 Utah State over 4 Wisconsin- This might not even be close.  Wisconsin’s pace is sooooo slow, and I feel like it would benefit every college basketball fan everywhere if Bo Ryan’s team was bounced as soon as possible.

6 St John’s over 3 BYU- In a matchup of teams who lost their leading rebounders, I’m taking the Johnnies over the Jimmers.

2 Florida over 7 UCLA

Number of teams remaining in field after 3rd round, by seed:

1-seeds- 4
2- 4
3- 3
4- 1
5- 1
6- 1
12- 2

Upsets I predict in 3rd round: 4/16   Total: 14/48

Big 6 records through 3rd round:

ACC- 6-2
Big Ten- 7-5
Big 12- 4-4
Big East- 14-6
SEC- 5-3
Pac-10- 6-3

Sweet 16 games

East Region

1 Ohio State over 4 Kentucky- It’s a Lighty and Sullinger show as the Buckeyes advance

2 North Carolina over 3 Syracuse- Somehow, someway, Harrison Barnes and Leslie McDonald are able to shoot their way out of that Syracuse zone defense as the Heels advance.

West Region

1 Duke over 5 Arizona

3 Connecticut over 2 San Diego State- Kemba Walker and the Huskies embarrass the Aztecs with a 22-point margin

Southwest Region

1 Kansas over 12 Richmond- The Spiders run is over, and the Jayhawks are one step closer to the Final Four.

2 Notre Dame over 3 Purdue- Cold-shooting day for E’Twaun Moore and the Boilermakers aren’t able to recover

Southeast

1 Pittsburgh over 12 Utah State- This one will be a barnburner

2 Florida over 6 St. John’s- Lavin’s luck will finally run out in 2011.

Number of teams remaining in field after Sweet 16, by seed:

1- 4
2- 3
3- 1

Upsets I predict in Sweet 16- 1/8 Total: 15/56

Big 6 records through Sweet 16:

ACC- 8-2
Big Ten- 8-6
Big 12- 5-4
Big East- 16-7
SEC- 6-4
Pac-10- 6-4 (All Pac-10 teams eliminated from Tournament)

Elite Eight games

East Region

2 North Carolina over 1 Ohio State- Kendall Marshall and Harrison Barnes put on a show as the Heels win a thriller to advance to the Final Four

West Region

3 Connecticut over 1 Duke- Fans are not treated to a fourth meeting of the 2011 season between Carolina and Duke as the Huskies spoil the Devils’ run in this rematch of the 1999 NCAA Championship Game.

Southwest Region

1 Kansas over 2 Notre Dame- The Jayhawks cut the nets down and look strong doing so.

Southeast Region

1 Pittsburgh over 2 Florida- Jamie Dixon is finally able to take the Panthers to the Final Four for the first time ever.

Final Four Participants:

1-seeds- 2
2-1
3-1

2 Big East teams (Connecticut and Pittsburgh), 1 ACC school (North Carolina) and 1 Big 12 school (Kansas)

Final Four

2 North Carolina over 3 Connecticut- Kemba Walker’s glorious Husky career comes to an end as the Heels move on.

1 Kansas over 1 Pittsburgh- The Morris twins are too much too handle, setting up a title game between the Tar Heels and Roy Williams’ former team.

National Championship Game

North Carolina 81
Kansas 80

Harrison Barnes hits a game-winning three as time expires to cement his place in Carolina lore.

Harrison Barnes is named Final Four MOP

I'd smile too if someone gave me $86 million at this stage of my career

Fangraphs does some great things.  And what they’ve calculated is that “assuming a typical 0.5 WAR per year decline, as well as a $4.5-$5 million/WAR figure with five percent inflation per year, a back-of-the-napkin estimate has Wells being worth $37-$38 million through 2014.”  This means that if Wells has the normal production decline of a player his age, he is worth slightly more than half of his salary.

Wells had a solid season in 2010.  Then again, was there an offensive player in Toronto that didn’t benefit from the bandbox that the Jays play in?  Wells put up a .273 average/ .331 on-base percentage/ .515 slugging slash-line in 2010 to go along with a .362 wOBA.  He hit 31 home runs, 16 more than his total in 2009. He put up a 4.0 WAR, an astronomical leap from his 1.5, 1.5, and 0 totals that he put up from 2007-09.  According to Fangraphs, Wells played like a $15.9 million player in 2010.  He was paid $15,687,500.

In return for Wells, the Jays get Juan Rivera and Mike Napoli and, quite frankly, the better of the deal.  Rivera put up a .252/.312/.409 slash-line with a .314 wOBA in 2010.  He hit 15 home runs and had 0.5 WAR.  Napoli had a career-worst season in 2010.  His slash-line was .238/.316/.468 with a .340 wOBA.  He did manage to hit 26 homers and put up a 3.6 WAR.

On the surface, looking at statistical numbers only, it doesn’t seem like that bad of a deal.  But the Angels are taking on $86 million for four years of a declining Wells.  The players that the Jays are acquiring make just over $8 million combined per season.  Also, if the Jays acquired Napoli for Wells alone that would be a solid deal.  The fact that they got Rivera as well makes this deal grotesquely in favor of the Jays.  Even after a horrible 2010, Napoli is 29 years old and will improve.  He can catch, play first and DH.  The park in Toronto won’t hurt his numbers one bit, either.

If you’re still skeptical about Napoli, take this into account.  Before his .316 OBP in 2010, he put up OBPs of .360, .351, .374 and .350 in his first four Major League seasons.  These numbers from a catcher, a position that places a premium on defense and thus doesn’t always produce the offensive juggernauts others do, are incredible.  He’ll only improve.  He hasn’t reached his prime yet.  And even in an off year, he managed to hit 26 homers.  The possibility that he could put up a .350 OBP and hit 30 homers in 2011 should have all Blue Jays fans salivating.

The Angels missed out on Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, Jayson Werth, and every other high-profile free agent this offseason.  So they made a move just to say they made a move.  As a result, it is one of the dumbest trades I’ve ever seen.  It will harm them in 2011 and beyond.  They are now stuck with possibly the worst contract in baseball for a 32-year-old, past-his-prime outfielder for four years.  And they gave up Juan Rivera and, more importantly, an up-and-coming star in Mike Napoli.  The Angels have harmed their franchise going forward and their fans that love this deal now will soon have the misfortune of seeing the light.

I'd be happy too if I got to have my first-ever playoff start against a team that went 7-9 in the regular season

As I’m sure everybody following playoff football is aware of, Seattle beat last year’s Super Bowl champs, the New Orleans Saints, in the Wild Card round of these playoffs, 41-36.  But just because Marshawn Lynch decided to go beast mode for one week does not mean they had any reason to be in the playoffs. They weren’t good this year.  They were a mediocre-to-awful team.  Period.  And that showed yesterday when the Bears knocked out America’s favorite loser at Soldier Field.

Anybody who thinks I’m being too harsh on the Seahawks needs to keep things in perspective.  If the Seahawks had lost their Week 17 game against the Rams, they would have been 6-10 (!) and had the 7th overall pick in April’s draft.  Now, they’re picking 25th.  In fact, entering the Week 17 game against St. Louis, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran an online poll on their website, and the MAJORITY of Seahawks fans said it would be better for the franchise if they would lose to the Rams!  People were openly pulling for their team to miss the playoffs!  Why?  Because they, being at least semi-intelligent, were aware that Seattle didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell at winning the Super Bowl.  Higher draft picks allow them to stock up their team for the future.  The fact of the matter is, the way this team is built now is not conducive to them competing with the upper-echelon teams in the NFL.  Let’s examine their ten losses, including Sunday’s defeat, carefully.  Note the large margins of horrible football their losses:

Week 2- Loss to Broncos (who went 4-12 and own the 2nd pick in the upcoming draft), 31-14

Week 4- Loss to Rams (7-9), 20-3

Week 8- Loss to Raiders (8-8), 33-3

Week 9- Loss to Giants (10-6), 41-7

Week 11- Loss to Saints (11-6, counting playoff loss to Seattle), 34-19

Week 12- Loss to Chiefs (10-7), 42-24

Week 14- Loss to 49ers (6-10), 40-21

Week 15- Loss to Falcons (13-4), 34-18

Week 16- Loss to Bucs (10-6), 38-15

Divisional Round- Loss to Bears (12-5), 35-24

Ten losses.  The CLOSEST being their season-ending failure in Chicago yesterday.  Those ten losses by a combined TWO HUNDRED POINTS.  They lost the MAJORITY of their games and in those losses they lost by 20 points a game.  That is beyond horrible.  That’s embarrassing.  And let’s not call them an underdog story.  You can’t just be horrible and be an underdog.  That’s not how it works.  The Boise State Broncos football team over the years full of 2- and 3-star athletes competing with the powerhouses of college football?  That’s an underdog story.  Cornell representing the Ivy League in the Sweet 16? That’s an underdog story.  The 1991 Twins going from worst-to-first and winning the World Series?  That’s an underdog story.  The 2010-11 Seattle Seahawks winning the worst division in football history in the last game of the season, beating a rookie quarterback to do so, then getting lucky and winning a game at home to a much better team while two teams with better records that BEAT YOU by large margins in the regular season (the Giants and Bucs) sit at home and then losing by 11 to close out a double-digit loss campaign in which you lost games by 20 points a game? A run-on sentence, definitely.  An underdog story?  Not by a country mile.

His coach, Jim Harbaugh, is on the way out.  Three of his starting linemen are walking across the stage this year to get their diplomas.  It’s been a great ride for Luck at Stanford.  But at the end of the day, he needs to realize it’s time to move on.   And it’s not just because I’ve shown some not-so-objective love towards the Panthers.  It’s because his stock is as high as it can possibly get.  Several scouts have said he’s the best prospect they’ve seen since John Elway.   That level of praise doesn’t fall on everybody.

The man completed 70 percent of his passes.  He threw 32 touchdowns compared to a miniscule eight interceptions.  He TORCHED the Virginia Tech defense in the Orange Bowl Monday.  18 for 23, 287 yards.  4 touchdowns.  One fluky interception.  The man is good.  I think he will be great at the next level.  So many things can happen between now and another year of college football to derail a professional future, though.  He’s secured himself the number one pick.  He needs to take it.

And let’s be honest.  There are a lot worse places Luck could end up than Carolina.  It’s on the East Coast, where he will be a lot closer to his family in West Virginia.  The weather is reasonable.  And unlike places like Oakland or Buffalo, the ownership generally knows what they are doing.  The Panthers are many things.  One thing they are not is perennial cellar dwellers.  They will rise.  But not without a quarterback.  And Andrew, you have an opportunity to be the best quarterback in the franchise’s quarterback.  That’s not saying much for a franchise whose biggest name at the position has been Jake Delhomme.  But it’s a legacy he can have.  He can be a GOD in Charlotte.  He needs to seize the moment before it no longer presents itself.

A few people, people such as Skip Bayless, think that he should return to Palo Alto for, among other reasons, the fact that the NFL’s labor situation isn’t fully settled.  To me, that’s all the more reason for Luck to go pro.  First off, it doesn’t matter if he declares now or waits a year, he will still be subject to the rookie wage scale that will be a part of the next collective bargaining agreement.  And if there’s no football, Luck can go to class in Stanford and not worry about getting hurt on the football field.  I don’t get the argument people make that you can either go pro OR go to school.  You can do both.  But what you don’t want to do is become the next Jake Locker.  The road from phenom to flawed isn’t pretty, and I don’t want Luck to have to travel on that road best left untraveled.

Over the last six months, my life has pretty much revolved around baseball.  Sure, I went to class.  I worked (barely).  I tried my best to find a girl.  But Atlanta Braves baseball has been my life since April 5th.  April 5th.  Seems like just yesterday that Jason Heyward hit a Carlos Zambrano 2-0 pitch about a million feet out of the park to right field in his first Major League swing.  Seems like yesterday baseball was beginning anew and I had something to consume my spring nights other than binge drinking and the such.

Fast-forward to September 21st, 11:25 PM.  We’ve lost two straight to the Phillies, pretty much eliminated from the divisional race.  The Padres lead 4-0 and the Rockies trail by 3, so it’s looking likely we will have a one game lead on the Friars and a slim 3-game edge over the Rockies when play is complete today.  The Braves have hit a wall.  The ebb and flow of the season has almost completely run its course.  Now it’s time to see what the Braves really have.

I remember the last time the Braves were at .500.  A May 20th game against the Reds.  Down 8-0 in the 2nd inning, I’ll admit it.  I turned the game off.  Went downstairs.  Played Xbox.  But see, the aura of Braves baseball kept me in tune.  Receiving updates on my phone, I realized we just might have a chance to win this damn game.  And sure enough, Brooks Conrad’s grand slam happened.  It’s been a fun ride all season.  Who would have thought the Braves had the offense to win so many games late?  Who can forget that night at home against Philadelphia way back in April, where the hometown Bravos trailed by three with 2 gone in the ninth?  Lo and behold, Troy Glaus stepped up for a homer and Jason Heyward followed him with a game-tying longball immediately afterward.  Nate won it in the next inning, and it was just pandemonium.  Until I realized that that would immediately precede a nine-game losing streak.  A streak that left me in doubt about our chances.

But that’s the way the Braves season has been.  Ups and downs.  Lows and highs.  Bobby Cox having his senile Sunday lineups.  Tim Hudson having a phenomenal season.  Kenshin Kawakami tanking it until he finally lost his job.  Overtaking the Marlins after trailing 6-1.  Losing a 10-1 lead to the Rockies.  But here we sit.  10 games left.  Holding onto a playoff spot for dear life.

If the season were 180 games long, I really have no doubt we wouldn’t be playoff bound.  This team is too banged up for the grind of regular season baseball with few days off.  But once you get to the playoffs that’s another story.  Days off between almost every game.  So it’s real simple.  How much does your will to win fight the physical pains of a 162 game season?  How can we hold off the Padres and Rockies without Chipper Jones, Kris Medlen, and perhaps Jair Jurrjens?  Pardon me for what is about to be an absolutely atrocious analogy, but it’s like a competitive eater that hits his wall 10 minutes into a 12 minute contest.  He’s ahead.  Barely.  His stomach is killing him.  But how much does he want to win whatever the hell competitive eaters win?  He knows there will be Pepto Bismol ahead regardless of the outcome, so he fights through said wall and gives it all he can to come out on top.  Right now, the Braves are said competitive eater.  We still have our hands wrapped around a playoff spot, but we’re losing our grip.  There will be off days soon, whether we make the playoffs or not.  We just have to decide if we want to make a 162 game season meaningful or full of disappointment.

It’s really, really stressful right now in my life.  We’re in the middle of the season in Elon football.  I have classes.  I still have to find a girl.  But what held true on April 5th still holds life on September 21st.  Braves baseball is still here.  Let’s win this thing in spite of (and I guess you could say for, even though he makes absolute bonehead decisions) Bobby Cox and Billy Wagner.  Eminem once said that you only get “one shot, do not miss your chance to blow.  This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.”  For me, the last time the Braves made the playoffs (2005) seems like a lifetime ago.  Who knows where we will be in future years?  Let’s go capture this opportunity while it’s sitting in front of us.  Don’t make my life since April 5th meaningless.  10 more games.  That’s all I ask.  Play 10 more games to the best of our ability and let’s get into the dance.

I know this isn’t my best piece of writing in my collection.  I had to find some way to let my heartfelt opinion out on what baseball means to me.  Instead, I probably diverted completely to a rallying cry for the Braves who will never read this.  It just had to be written.  Feel free to give me feedback.  If I tagged you, it’s because I know you like baseball, Braves or otherwise.  Tell me what baseball season means to you in a comment.  Say something.  Just don’t hush.  The wonderful months of baseball season are coming to an end.<span> </span>

I’m not an idiot.  I know loyalty in sports isn’t what it used to be.  Players leave for free agency in every sport all the time.  That’s not the point.  I can understand LeBron leaving Cleveland.  I really can.  THE WAY HE DID IT, however, are callous to the point where I just don’t understand how a human being can do what he did.

Yes, LeBron, you are an MVP. Until you have your yearly chokefest in the NBA playoffs

First of all, setting up an hour-long “special” on ESPN is ridiculous.  Did you see the way D-Wade and Chris Bosh accepted their deals to Miami?  A quiet announcement with no week-in-advance hype, a short interview on ESPN with Michael Wilbon.   LeBron on the other hand is an attention-seeking jerk who decides to have this special in Greenwich, Connecticut (Which by the way, to me, means he just threw a dart on the map and decided to go there for his announcement) and disguise it like something good by donating money to the Boys and Girls Club.  Pardon me if I don’t buy LeBron James as a saint.

Then, LeBron decided it would be a good idea to not tell his former employer he was leaving.  He effectively, and I heard this analogy on ESPN so I can’t take credit for it, didn’t tell his girlfriend he was dumping her and instead proposed to another woman on national television.  He pissed all over the Cleveland fans, who have given LeBron everything over the past seven years.  Now, that is over.  Art Modell is more welcome in Cleveland than LBJ is.

And one more thing.  This whole Dan Gilbert letter. I love it.  Just because Gilbert owns a professional basketball team doesn’t mean he has to give a politically correct “We’ll miss you.  Thanks for the memories” response that you want him to.  Let’s take a look at some of his letter, piece by piece.

“This (The Decision) was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his “decision” unlike anything ever “witnessed” in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.”

That’s true.  He promoted himself for the last six weeks to the point where most people, myself included, went from fans of the King to people that just wanted James to shut up.  And I have never seen a free agent have anything similar to this press conference decision that he had.  I was half expecting him to be like a high school player and have hats from the different teams on a table so he could pick his suitor.  Okay, more Gilbert:

“You simply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal. “

No question about it.  Cleveland sports fans have had it tougher than any city in America.  Bar none.  The Indians, Cavs, and Browns haven’t won a title in forever, and now their crown jewel has left a city that loves their sports teams to a city in Florida that really doesn’t care.  Miami fans, who don’t even show up to Marlins games, don’t deserve a star of LeBron James’s caliber.  They deserve a team with 12 Smush Parkers.

““I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE”

You can take it to the bank.”

I hope Gilbert’s right.  While I don’t see Cleveland winning an NBA title anytime soon, nothing would delight me more than seeing LeBron fail, like he always has, year after year in the postseason with the Heat, and never get a ring.  What’s wrong with this statement by Gilbert, though?  ESPN analysts seem to hate it.  I love it.  He’s got a little Mark Cuban in him.  He’s a fan of his team, something that is surprisingly rare of people that own PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAMS.  Yeah, he’s a little more wealthy than the typical Clevelander, but he, like the average Joe, is a fan of his team.

“Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

Sorry, but that’s simply not how it works.”

I agree.  Completely. I heard another analogy I like.  LeBron joining Wade and Bosh in Miami to win his first ring is like somebody getting a prostitute just to say they are no longer a virgin.  He took the easy way out.  In 2006, he told ESPN the Magazine that he didn’t want to go ring-hunting with somebody else.  He wanted to win it all in Cleveland.  Well, we now see how truthful that statement was. Now for the end of Gilbert’s letter:

“The self-declared former “King” will be taking the “curse” with him down south. And until he does “right” by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma.

Just watch.

Sleep well, Cleveland.

Tomorrow is a new and much brighter day….

I PROMISE you that our energy, focus, capital, knowledge and experience will be directed at one thing and one thing only:

DELIVERING YOU the championship you have long deserved and is long overdue…. “

I agree 110 percent with this letter.  LeBron decimated the Cleveland franchise.  He was never a true Clevelander.  Wearing Cowboys merchandise to Browns games and Yankee caps to Indians games prove that.  He doesn’t care about being loyal to his team.  He only cares about himself.  LeBron, I hate you.  Dan Gilbert, you’re my hero.

Sleep well, Cleveland.  LeBron’s championship dreams will, hopefully, never be fulfilled.

I should somehow find a way to have a key on the professional badminton circuit and then petition ESPN to let me on the air because I can talk about myself and make little to no sense for three hours.

Obviously, I’m not talking about a badminton announcer.  That would be stupid.  I am talking about former Reds’ second baseman turned two-time Sports Emmy-winning (WHAT?) Sunday Night Baseball announcer Joe Morgan.  There are many horrible announcers in the baseball world, Ken Harrelson, Chip Caray, and Tim McCarver included.  But they don’t approach the stupidity that is Joe Morgan.

There is something really wrong with this picture

Andy Harris told me about the website FireJoeMorgan.com not too long ago.  I’m not trying to copy their whole idea.  Well, that’s a lie.  I sorta am.  But just once.  And for good reason.  Morgan sucks.

And everybody knows Morgan sucks.  The only ones who say he doesn’t are the ones that think because I don’t work for Sports Illustrated I shouldn’t have a sports opinion.  He works for ESPN, so obviously he knows what he’s talking about.  No.  He really doesn’t.

In Joe Morgan we have an idiot that rejects the whole notion of “Moneyball.”  He always talks about how he hates “Moneyball,” but has admitted several times he has never read the book.  He says maybe he will read Billy Beane’s book when he retires, or at least a couple sentences of it.  One problem.  Michael freaking Lewis wrote “Moneyball” and you’re an idiot Joe so just stop talking.

But he doesn’t stop.  He just keeps going and going.  This past week, I watched like 30 minutes of the Sunday Night game and I heard two things in that short period of time that stuck out to me.  First off, as always, Joe Morgan makes everything about him.   So instead of talking about how Joey Votto deserves to be in Anaheim, he just displays his bitterness that Steve Sax got into the All-Star Game over Morgan years ago.   For like a whole inning.  (Why were the Royals on Sunday Night Baseball, anyway?)

Later in the broadcast, he went off about how stolen bases are unfairly criticized.  His whole argument, unsurprisingly, was stupid.  He said something to the effect of “with a man on first, if a guy grounds into a double play, nobody says anything.  They just say it’s okay, it’s a double play.  But when a man gets caught stealing, everybody criticizes the move.”

There are so many things wrong with that, Joe.  First off, as a Braves fan, when Yunel Escobar and Melky Cabrera always ground into a double play for the first pitch after a walk, I always get mad.  I don’t say, “Well at least Troy Glaus didn’t try stealing second and get caught.”  That’s just stupid.  Secondly, the reason people get mad when somebody gets caught stealing is simple.  One, it’s an out.  Outs are not good.  And two, it only makes statistical sense to steal if you are safe 80 percent of the time.  Anything less than that is not worth the risk.  That’s statistics.  Something you might learn in “Moneyball.”  But you can’t read, Joe, and the only statistics that matter to you are stupid ones like wins for a pitcher and runs scored, team-dependent stats that have nothing to do with the player.

I decided to use some more instances of Morgan’s stupidity to make my point that much clearer.  So, I have quoted some lines from FireJoeMorgan.com that will illustrate just what I am trying to get across.

Joe Morgan, for some reason, was chosen to write “Baseball for Dummies 1, 2 and 3.”  Why?  Who freaking knows.  But he wrote them.  And he came off as a dummy trying to educate dummies.  A pearl of wisdom from the book?  ”A WHIP below 1.50 is outstanding in these heavy-hitting days.” Wrong.  Idiot.  When he wrote that in 2005, the average WHIP was 1.38, so by definition every pitcher was outstanding.  85 percent of pitchers that qualified for the ERA title had a WHIP less than 1.38.  But let’s make everything outstanding, Joe.

“Teams draft mostly college players now, … and a black kid from a poor family can’t go to college unless he gets a scholarship. He can get one in basketball or football, but not in baseball.” – Joe Morgan.

The quote above is my next reason for hating Joe.  Everything to him is about race.  All the black players he talks about are apparently the bee’s knees of Major League Baseball.  When Willie Randolph was fired, Morgan made a big race deal out of it.  He talks every week about how there’s no black people in baseball.  Joe Morgan is a racist.  Shut up, already.  Not everything is a black and white thing.  You just want it to be.

“Of course I noticed it. How could you not? But they’re not the only ones. There are two or three teams that didn’t have any African-American players this year.” – Joe Morgan

“There’s a perception among African-American kids that they’re not welcome here, that baseball is not for inner-city kids. It’s not true, and I hate that the perception is out there.”- Joe Morgan

The above quotes are posted for emphasis, just to prove my point.  And what is my point?  If you don’t know yet, I don’t know what to tell you.  I hate Joe Morgan.  We all hate Joe Morgan.  Get Joe Morgan off the air.  You can get the same ignorant, racist, know-nothing-about-baseball analysis from Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson.  Instead we get it every Sunday Night on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.

But I have big news.  I have decided that this upcoming football season, I am going to write a book about my experiences as Elon University football student equipment manager.  Everything people wonder about what happens on a football team will be revealed by me.  Personalities of the stars, the stuff they go through, yadda yadda yadda.  But it’s going to be told through an equipment person’s eyes, something that is truly unique, at least to my knowledge.

I will tell it in diary form, starting with the first day of training camp.  I will try to make a new entry for each day, and I will break it up into different chapters as I see fit.  But I won’t publish a story of a day where nothing interesting happens.  Thankfully, I’m Adam Lawson, and something interesting always happens.

Unfortunately, I will not post the book online.  I will post an excerpt on this site, but I will be trying to publish this book for a profit, and putting the entirety of the masterpiece online would defeat the purpose.  There will be a few people I email the book to to get their opinions on it, and off the top of my head those people are my friends Robert Wohner and Andy Harris.  I will use their advice to edit my book and market my book to the max, to increase the quality of the book and the revenue potential of it.

Why RobWoh and the Red Head?  Well, Robert is my biggest fan.  He’s also my biggest critic.  And he won’t add me on Facebook.  Why?  Who knows why? It’s Robert after all.  And Andy Harris, despite the fact that he is a Phillies fan, definitely has qualities that I could use to help make a phenomenal book.  He reads the website “the Onion,” so I know he has experience reading things.

I don’t have a title for the book yet.  Just be aware that it is going to be phenomenal and you will want to get a copy.