On the signing front!

Not really a post,just a quick long delayed update from the signing front.
One of these days,I am going to get around to getting one of those address books and I will then really get into this!!

Card Show-November
Former Bronco Quarterback Craig Morton

Ebay
Former Eagle Wide Receiver Mike Quick
Pirate reliever Evan Meek
Pirate starter Ian Snell
Pirates Prospect Quincy Latimore
Pirate Prospect Quinton Miller (2)
Pirate Prospect Matt Hague
Pirate Outfielder Brandon Moss
Cardinal Outfielder Brian Barton
Astro Prospect Jacob Priday
Former Jr Welterweight Champ Aaron Pryor
Former Bantamweight Champ Rafael Marquez

Lowell Devils at Hershey
Pascal Rheaume
Jeff Frazee
Matt Corrente
Petr Vrana
Mark Fraser
Rod Pelley
Barry Tallackson
Chad Wiseman
Kurt Kleindienst-Coach

Hershey
Simeon Varlamov

Through the mail
Former Sabres star Rick Martin
Angels Prospect Nick Adenhart

From a pack
Kyle Drabek-Bowman

Jim Rice gets his due,Questionable call costs Devils in Anaheim

Jim Rice finally got what he deserved today-Enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Rice was elected in his final year of eligibility with 412 votes from a possible 539 and a percentage of 76 %.
The 1978 MVP was an eight time All Star and was the dominant American League hitter of his time.
Rice will be joined by the all time leader in stolen bases and the consommate leadoff hitter,the well traveled Rickey Henderson in his induction in August.
Looks like we will have to move onto a new cause candidate on the regular ballot as the Veterans Committee seems to have little chance of inducting anyone that played past 1951......

The New Jersey Devils lost in Anaheim in a choppy and uneven effort 4-3.
The game was tainted with a bit of controversy as a third period goal by Anaheim's Chris Kunitz was declared a goal despite no one actually seeing the puck cross the goal line.
Replays showed the puck was not into the net,but did not show the pucks location and therefore the call of a goal could not be overturned.
Devil goals to Zach Parise (24),David Clarkson (8) and Bobby Holik (2).
The Devils travel to Vancouver tomorrow for a game against the Canucks.

Hell Raisers

1) This game turned in the first period after the Devils took a lead on Holik's redirection of a Mike Mottau shot.
George Parros came out on the ice and started hitting every Devil in sight without retribution.
The Ducks tied the game shortly thereafter and seemed to control the tempo of the game thereafter...

2) That reason is why I believe that the fans of finesse' hockey miss the boat.
Hitting and intimidation is part of the game and Parros did his job for his team.
Take the hitting out of hockey and you have ice dancing with sticks....

3) The Ducks took the lead with seconds to go in the first period when Travis Moen centered a pass to Sami Paulsson that beat Scott Clemmensen shortly after.
My problem was that Moen beat Paul Martin to the puck.
To me,it looked like Martin was counting the seconds to the periods end and was not going all out and paid the price.

4) The Devils had only 21 shots on goal against the Ducks and Jean-Sebastian Giguere,but the save that made the difference was when Giguere stopped Jamie Langenbrunner on a shorthanded breakaway.
I wish Langenbrunner had tried to lift the puck,but he didn't and Giguere was able to come up with the blocker.

5) During intermission,MSG+ had Sherry Ross from the radio booth as their guest and Ross said something that made me think a bit about the Brendan Shanahan signing.
Ross admitted that she thought little about the rumors of an imminent signing of the veteran as she didn't think they were realistic,but afterwards she said that this could be the first domino of deals to come to add the often wished for attack minded defender or another player of note.
Ross knows her stuff and is honest enough to admit when she is wrong as well....

Bonus Rounds
Anaheim's uniforms are just awful......

But the Ducks Bobby Ryan sure isn't.
I was quite impressed with both the rookies abilities and that he seems to have some grit to his game as well.

Bullpen Notes

Now that football season is officially over,we can focus on spring training coming up soon.
33 days to go!

A few words on the retirement on Tony "roll over" Dungy.
One,my dislike for the Colt coach is not personal,he seems like a very nice man.
Two,he leaves the Colts with a World title,but one could argue that Indianapolis could have had one or two more considering their talent laden roster.
Three,Let a year or two go by and Dungy's name will come up for every open job like Bill Cowher's does now.

Until tomorrow when I hope to finally write about some things that I haven't had time to!!

Photo Credits
Rice:Unknown
Rupp:AP Photo

Brendan Shanahan comes home and Devils crush Kings

The New Jersey Devils started the day off strong with bringing back Brendan Shanahan to the fold and then following up with a big win to kick off the six game road swing.
More on the Shanahan signing below.


I didn't get to watch last nights win for the New Jersey Devils 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings,but a recap can be found here.
Three goals on the man advantage and an excellent game for Kevin Weekes paced the way for the win.
Devils goals to Zach Parise (23),Patrik Elias (19),Travis Zajac (11),Jamie Langenbrunner (8) and Brian Rolston (7).
The Devils travel down the road to Anaheim tonight and I will get to watch that game,so the Hell Raisers will be from watching the game...

Hell Raisers

1) Two milestones in the win as Zach Parise scored his 100th career goal and Brian Rolston played in his 1000th NHL game.

2) Kevin Weekes looked to have earned some playing time with his 34 saves against the Kings.
I totally agreed with Brent Sutter with playing Scott Clemmensen so much when he was sizzling hot,but his last few games were less than stellar and I think that the time is right to give Weekes some extra pipe time....

3) Nice to see the punchless power play appear for a change.
The Devils equalled their season high for power play goals in a game with three.

4) Fire and Ice reports that just before the Langenbrunner goal that Zach Parise was crushed by a hard hit by the Kings Matt Greene.
Greene was pummeled by Mike Rupp shortly thereafter continuing Rupp's recent run of tough play.

5) Mike Emrick returned to the booth for the game after missing games due to health issues and the death of his father.
Nice to see the Professor back in the booth......

Devil GM Lou Lamoriello announced the return of a star of the past before the game when the Devils came to an agreement to a contract for the remainder of the season with Brendan Shanahan.
Shanahan spent his first four years with the Devils (I mean Shanahan wore red and GREEN as a Devil!) before signing with St.Louis as a free agent in the days when teams had to be compensated for losing free agents.
The Blues comp offer was for two players that turned out to be pretty decent in Rod Brind'amour and Curtis Joseph.
Lamoriello and the Devils knew that Joseph was not a need with a youngster named Brodeur on the horizon and asked the arbitrator for another Blue instead..
A fellow named Scott Stevens,you may have heard of him and to the horror of the Blues,the arbitrator chose the Devils offer as compensation.
The rest was Devils history.

I realize that Shanahan turns 40 in a few weeks,but he was still solid for the Rangers last season in specialty situations and should help the Devils in those areas at least.
Shanahan is skating with the team but will not sign his contract until he is ready to play due to salary cap issues.
That means someone will be headed to Lowell,bet on it being one of the two defensemen between Sheldon Brookbank and Jay Leach.
Overall, I am fine with the signing.
Low risk and short term makes it worth the risk

Bullpen Note

If Pittsburgh tops San Diego today and they should.
I am finished with football for this season.
There is no more sickening AFC title game than Baltimore vs Pittsburgh.

Photo Credit
Shanahan:Upper Deck
Langenbrunner:AP Photo

Welcome.Dayton!

Here's Dayton!
Our new addition to our Family!
Dayton is a 9 month old Boxer.
More pics to come over the next few days!

And thanks to Battlin Bob for helping us transport Dayton and his things to his new home!

That was so bad,I thought I was watching the Pirates!

The New Jersey Devils. with the exception of Mike Rupp,simply didn't show up to play and it showed with a loss to the lowly Atlanta Thrashers by a score of 4-0.
Scott Clemmensen allowed three goals in two periods and was yanked in favor of Kevin Weekes,who played the third period.
The Devils are off tonight before spending the weekend in California against the Kings and Ducks.
Let's hope they give a better effort than in this one!.

Hell Raisers

1) Brent Sutter sums it up very succinctly-“I feel bad for anybody who had to come and watch that.”
Not very often that I say that a coach says things that a blogger would write,but then again this is Brent Sutter....

2) More Sutter from Fire and Ice.

"Nothing can happen correctly on the ice unless you are focused off the ice. Mentally you need to be where you need to be, as far as preparing the right way. Looking at the things a hockey team needs to do to be successful, we've gotten away from that the 12 days outside of a one day (a 4-1 win over Montreal on Jan. 2). Some things have crept in. The players know what it is and it will get resolved. They're going to have to really dig in to resolve it.

"It's just what happens when you have success. You forget what we did as a hockey team. You start looking for other ways. You start getting away from the things you need to do as an individual and as a team. Indvidually if you're not doing the right things then the team isn't going to be doing the right things. That's just the way it is. It goes hand in hand."

3) It is so refreshing to have a coach that seems to care enough to show some emotion and even more that he is so honest about things. The performance last night was not about W/L,it was about effort and I did not see a lot of that,with one exception....

4) Mike Rupp was all over the ice hitting Thrashers and kicking Eric Boulton's ass twice in the game.Rupp apparently learned from Sutter's handling of him a few weeks back and has ramped up the effort....

5) This game showed one glaring Devils weakness again,the lack of speed in the Devil defensemen.Colin White returned in the game after missing some time,but the Devils lack speed other than Paul Martin and maybe Johnny Oduya (when he feels like it) and it was there last night...

Bullpen Notes

Congratulations to Zach Parise for being named to his first All-Star game.I thought Patrik Elias could have been named to the team as well,but Parise is very deserving of the honor.Parise leads the team in goals and is tied with Elias for total points on the team

The Lowell Devils also had just one player in the AHL All-Star game as goaltender Jeff Frazee was selected.Frazee was not even supposed to be at Lowell this season,but was promoted after Scott Clemmensen was needed in New Jersey.

Chris Wells announced,to no ones great surprise,that he will be entering the NFL draft in April.Wells was expected to announce shortly.Boom Herron and Brandon Saine look to be the top contenders to take Wells place in the backfield.

Until tomorrow,when we look at the Pirates a bit and catch up on the signing front

Photo Credits

Rupp:AP Photo

Frazee:Lowell Devils

It's Mangini

The Cleveland Browns officially ended perhaps the worst kept secret in the team's long history today by hiring former New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini to direct the fortunes of the Browns for the next four years.

First off, I don't have a problem with hiring Mangini as many do.
Yes,he had a losing overall record in New York (23-25),but that was mainly due to the dreaded sophomore flu,which occurs when a team leaps higher in record against a weaker schedule and pays for that against a tougher schedule the following season.
This flu hit Cleveland this year and New Orleans in 2007 ,while a version of the virus could be headed to Atlanta,Arizona,Baltimore and/or Miami next season.
So,I don't put much stock into that problem.

I also have little trouble not being angered by the Jets late season failings that saw the Jets lose to four of their five opponents (three of which finished with losing records).
Many point to this as reason enough to pass on Mangini.

But there are a few issues that make me not as happy about the hiring as I could be.
The biggest is his apparent obsession with hiring good friend George Kokinis as the general manager.
Since Randy Lerner apparently was obsessed with hiring a coach with previous experience,why would he not be just as interested in tabbing a GM with experience as well???
Well,it seems that Mangini and GM to be named getting along was a major issue to the Browns after it appears (after the fact) that Romeo Crennel and Phil Savage were far from on the same page.
The Browns have committed to an interview with the Eagles Tom Heckert and I would feel much better about all of this if Cleveland enters the off season with a Heckert/Mangini team instead of a Kokinis/Mangini duo.
It is unknown whether the Browns are truly interested in Heckert (scheduled to interview next week) or if it was just a media leak to take the increasingly negative media focus off Kokinis.but one can hope that the Browns are serious in hiring Heckert.
If Heckert turns out to be the choice,the Browns would finally have the type of experienced football man at the helm that both Pittsburgh and Baltimore have had for years and Heckert would step in without a learning curve,which is also a positive in the hiring of Mangini.

Editors Note:Heckert has withdrawn his name from consideration since he would have no say in the hiring of the head coach.
This development pretty much says that George Kokinis will be the GM....

I also wish that the Browns would have talked to more candidates.
I know they made the obligatory trip to Mecca to talk to Bill Cowher and talked to Mel Tucker to satisfy the Rooney Rule,but no interviews with coaches that I would have loved to at least seen given a chance.
Marty Schottenheimer is 65,but would have been very motivated to turn the ship and fast.
Many saw his age as a detriment,I saw it as an advantage-he didn't have time for a long time rebuilding term.
Dan Reeves brought three different teams to the playoffs and two to the Super Bowl and reportedly is looking for one last run.
I really like what Russ Grimm would have brought to the table as he would have been the perfect fit-tough,hard nosed football and would have had the added bonus of a grudge against the Steelers for the way they hosed him in favor of Mike Tomlin.
Jim Schwartz of Tennessee seems to be a star in the making for someone and has a Cleveland background,but the Browns canceled his interview after talking to Mangini.
None of those candidates even got an interview.

I don't have much of an opinion on the new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll,who is moving with Mangini from the Jets where he was the quarterbacks coach,but I do like the hiring of Rob Ryan from the Raiders as the defensive coordinator.
I have been a long time admirer of Buddy Ryan and the defenses that Rob had put together in Oakland were underrated when considering the constraints that Al Davis seems to place on the Raiders organization.
So,I will give Mangini a plus and a undecided on his first two hires.

All and all,I am open minded on this one and despite wishing that there had been more of an open process,I am on board.
However,be ready for next weeks screaming post on the hiring of George Kokinis.......

Bullpen Notes

The New Jersey Devils play their last home game for the next 13 days tonight against Atlanta.
Here is hoping that we get a better effort than has been given lately.

Our friends over at Bag of Health and Politics sends us this sad note on the shooting of former Hagerstown Sun Robby Tolan in his own driveway on New Years Eve.
Tolan was reportedly unarmed and best wishes for things working out well for the outfielder.....

The Attorney General of the state of Utah is launching an investigation into the BCS for Anti-Trust violations..
Now I think the BCS is as rotten as anyone,but can anyone tell me that in this time of multiple troubles in our nation that the top problem in the state of Utah is the Bowl Championship Series???

Tonight's National Championship Prediction-Oklahoma 41 Florida 31

The lovely Cherie sends us this list of verbal miscues by the soon to be former President over the years.
Funny stuff....

A final word to the Republican Party and their supporters.
Think back to about eight years ago to all the terms that were thrown at Al Gore for his appeal of the Florida fiasco such as Sore loser and the type and now look at the same people that are telling Norm Coleman of Minnesota to appeal,arbitrate,sue etc for his loss to Al Franken for the Minnesota Senate seat AFTER a full recount was finished (something that was never allowed in Florida).
Frankly,I think Coleman has the right to take any measures that he wants and have no problems with it.
I mean why run if you didn't want to win and take every possible legal measure to do so,so my problem isn't with Coleman,it is with the GOP members that called Gore and his campaign everything that they could think of for his attempts,but encourage Coleman to do the same thing.
Hypocrisy at its finest....

Photo Credits
Mangini:John Kuntz:Cleveland Plain Dealer
Coleman vs Franken:Terry Gydesen:MinnPost.com

Fiesta Bowl thoughts

Yesterday,two days after the Fiesta Bowl, I received a phone call from a friend on how I felt about the last second 24-21 loss to the heavily favored Texas Longhorns.
Honestly,not that bad and I will detail some thoughts about the game below,but the game should quiet the Ohio State bashers for a little while.
Not only did the Buckeyes lose on a last second touchdown pass,they did it as a sizable underdog.
No shame in that.......

Buckeye Leaves

1) When did I know the game was lost?
A few seconds after the Boom Herron TD run that gave the Buckeyes the 21-17 lead.
I never had the feeling that OSU was in good shape even after the run.
The first thing that entered my mind almost as soon as Herron hit the end zone-too much time,we left them too much time...........

2) I felt that it was not destined to be when the Buckeyes stopped Texas on 4th and 3 on the Ohio State 40,but watched an official from the other side of the field run across and give Texas a more favorable spot,allowing them to make the first down.
The original spot from an arbiter right in front of the play looked to have placed the Longhorns short of the marker.
Jim Tressel asked for a replay,but (shock) it was upheld.
Not that I am saying that there was a Texas bias,just that at that point in the game-anything not blatantly obvious was not going to be overturned.....

3) Chris Wells ran for over 100 yards in the first half,but missed much of the second with a concussion.
Want the most plausible reason for the loss?
Without Wells,the Buckeyes went almost the entire third period without a first down,allowing Texas to control the ball and pull ahead....

4) I did like the coaching staff finding a way to use both Terrelle Pryor and Todd Boeckman in the lineup and use different looks.
Where was this in the regular season.most notably against Penn State?
A little bit of original thinking might have won a game that was there for the taking.....

5) Note to the writers that boosted poor Texas for the National title before the game and to the few that continue to-cannot have it both ways.
If Texas really had gotten screwed and the Big Ten is so awful,why did this game come down to the last seconds????
If we had a vote (and we don't) Our top three would be Utah,Florida/Oklahoma winner and then Texas....

6) Should Anderson Russell have made the tackle on the game ending play?
Yeah,probably-he went for the ball not the man and paid for it (Damn,didn't he see
All the Right Moves?),but at least,he was trying to make a play....

7) For those of you wondering just what the hell I am talking about in the above note.
I am referring to coach Craig T.Nelson yelling at cornerback Tom Cruise in the film when Cruise goes for the ball instead of following the man.
"This is a man,this is a football"
Sorry,no YouTube of this.

8) Two roughing the passer penalties on Thaddeus Gibson?
One of them was legit,but the other clearly showed Gibson hitting Colt McCoy on the shoulder pad.Awful call....

9) Terrelle Pryor needs to work on his passing.
I think he will improve as he goes along,but a major problem for Ohio State as the season progressed was a lack of confidence in the frosh being able to run a normal passing game.
It was clear to everyone (even Mack Brown) that when Pryor was in the game that some sort of running play was coming.
That type of predictability needs to stop in 2009..

10) And to do that,perhaps Jim Tressel needs to consider a shakeup on the offensive staff for next season.
With a talent such as Pryor,being predictable is the one thing that you don't want him to be.

Bonus Rounds

I saw Colt McCoy's parents on the broadcast more than I have seen my parents in the last year and I might recognize Mrs.McCoy before my own mother-Enough already!
It was four years ago now,but I haven't seen this type of overkill since Brady Quinn's sister/AJ Hawk's wife slammed us over the head for an entire evening in the OSU Fiesta Bowl win over Notre Dame!!

The Buckeyes non-conference schedule for 2009?
USC comes to Columbus as does Navy,New Mexico State and the Buckeyes will be in Cleveland for a battle against Toledo.(Yes,We will be attempting to attend that one).....

In Big Ten play,Indiana and Iowa rotate onto the schedule for the next few years,while Michigan State and Northwestern leave for two years....
As good as Iowa can be,this is a gain for OSU.....

Bullpen Notes

Yes,I know that Eric Mangini has been hired as the new coach of the Browns and watch for a post later today on my thoughts on the Browns whole hiring process since the season ended.....

The Pirates lost out on Rocco Baldelli as he signed with Boston.
I wont hammer Boston for their usual spending on this one,Baldelli is a New England native.
Pittsburgh cannot compete with that considering the difference in money as well...

That the Pirates still seem to consider Nyjer Morgan as their starter in left is still mind blowing.
For all the flaws in Steve Pearce,I would still rather see a Brandon Moss/Nate McLouth/Pearce outfield than a Morgan/McClouth/Moss version.......

Still have more on my mind on the fan letter to the Pirates on their lack of improvements to the team over the winter,but with the Mangini hiring and the Devils playing tonight,that will likely be the Saturday post.....